Comparatively late compared to the last one, but I've been preparing for the Drama exam that I took yesterday. I believe personally that it was an unmitigated success, but only time will tell on that score. Anyway, I'm back with another Digital World update.
Secret of the 327th
Chapter 35:- Search For GranKuwagamon Part 1
The long, armoured body of MetalSeadramon snaked across the sky of the Digital World. He wound round Data Streams with ease, undulating up and down to maximise his speed. He was on a mission – to help seek out one of his own friends, who could be of extreme friends to some other friends of his.
But the problem with this was that GranKuwagamon rarely stayed in the same place for more than a week. Sure, he stayed on the same level, the Forest level, but he was rather nomadic, and wandered around it of his own free will.
Sitting on his head was an odd group of passengers, all of which had to take it in turns to sleep, so that they could make sure everyone else didn't slide of MetalSeadramon's head. MetalSeadramon was fast but he wasn't the best transport. The constant rocking, the slippery metal they were all sitting on and the lack of hands to catch them should they fall were his three most major design flaws in this category.
Nevertheless, he was very efficient, and there were only one or two minor incidents where Ai or Mako almost slipped and fell plunging down, but both times they'd been caught rather quickly be Ryo or Impmon and could stay on.
It took about a day of travelling to get to where they needed to go. Ai and Mako, needless to say, weren't all that thrilled at the prospect of yet another twenty-four hours on doing absolutely nothing but sit, even if it was on the head of a Meg-level sea serpent. Ever since their friends had been whisked away to the alternate dimension, they'd done almost nothing by this – on board Behemoth, who was swinging involuntarily up and down along with MetalSeadramon's tails, and now their current mode of transport.
Still, they did get some awesome views up here, and after the second slip, their fellow passenger Pajiramon had insisted that the two ride on her back to prevent it from happening again. How many people could truthfully say they'd ridden a centaur-like sheep, which had been riding a flying sea-serpent at the time? Not many.
Both let out a little cheer when MetalSeadramon announced, "We're almost at the Forest level. It shouldn't take too much longer before we arrive."
"Great," Impmon stretched and yawned, "And when we get there, then what? Do we have a plan, or are we just gonna blinding search the entire forest level and hope we strike lucky."
"Well," sighed Ryo, "that is about the only plan we've got. GranKuwagamon could be anywhere in those trees. We might even walk past him and not know it."
"That does not really inspire us, Ryo," Monodramon chuckled dryly. "Maybe you should go for something that's more along the lines of, I'm sure it won't take very long."
"He's got a point," said Ai. "What's the words Mum uses when we're looking for something for ages?"
"Wild goose chase?" suggested Mako.
"Yeah, that one. That's what we're on now, isn't it."
"I can't argue with you there, kids," Impmon mumbled. "I don't think my back will ever be the same again."
"Sorry, I'm sure," murmured MetalSeadramon.
"It's not you," sighed Impmon. "But I have been sitting down too much. And I haven't pulled a prank for a good week-and-a-half. Wherever Helicopter-head is now, I bet he's still going strong, while we're out here trying to find him. And that just annoys me."
"There is, of course, something else that we can do," said Sandiramon, still coiled firmly around MetalSeadramon's neck. "GranKuwagamon isn't the only Digimon on the forest level. There are numerous others that might have recently seen him and can point us in the right direction."
"True," said Pajiramon. "But I hope to Fanglongmon we don't have to go anywhere near the Geckomon village. Their infernal croaking gets on my nerves. I honestly don't know how they can call it singing and keep straight faces."
"Agreed," said Sandiramon.
"Agreed," said MetalSeadramon.
"Agreed," said Ryo and Monodramon.
"Are they really that bad?" laughed Impmon.
"Worse," said MetalSeadramon.
"Has anyone ever tried gumming up those stupid megahorns they wear around their necks? That might put a bit of a damper on their spirits," Impmon grinned. "If not, then I volunteer my services."
"If we go near them then be my guest," said Pajiramon. "But personally I'd like to stay away from them."
"We need to scour the forest level," said Sandiramon. "Unfortunately, Ryo was right. GranKuwagamon can easily blend in with the environment around him, and hide in the shadows. He often doesn't need to try to hide to go unnoticed."
"Oh, don't tell me," Impmon sighed. "We're gonna be splitting up, aren't we?"
"We'd cover more ground," said Ryo, fairly.
"Yeah, and we'd also be making ourselves more vulnerable," said Impmon. "If I see anything even attempt to hurt Ai and Mako, then I'm gonna rip 'em to bits before they can blink."
Ai and Mako grinned at each other. They were completely unphased by Impmon's colourful language. They'd gotten used to it by now, much to the chagrin of their mother, but fortunately they had refrained from using it themselves, otherwise their mother would attempt to throw Impmon out of the house for being a bad influence.
"Is he often this vindictive?" asked Pajiramon in a stage-whisper to Ryo.
"If the health of the twins are involved, he can become an unrepressed ball of purple fury," said Ryo. "Which will shortly become a tall, wild lance of black fury and unleash said fury on the assailant. The twins are possibly some of the safest people in our world. Even the hardiest of Earth's men would quail at the sight of Beelzemon lowering a shotgun at him."
"And I'd damn well use it too," Impmon thumped where he was sitting with a savage grin.
"Ow," said MetalSeadramon.
"Oh, come on!" Impmon rolled his eyes. "That didn't hurt and you know it, Cannon-nose."
"I know – I was just letting you know that I'm still here. And I resent being called Cannon-nose too."
"Well, you're gonna had to get used to it," Impmon leaned over the side of MetalSeadramon's head, so he was looking into the huge eye. "Everyone gets a nickname."
"Except your partners, I notice," said MetalSeadramon.
"Yeah, but that's because I'm not sure whether I should call them Munchkins or Oompa-Loompas."
Monodramon chuckled, while all the other Digimon looked puzzled by both references. Then, there was a whooshing noise as MetalSeadramon sailed over the lip of a large piece of ground that appeared to be floating in mid-air, which was actually what all the ground in the Digital World did, except at the bottom level. When he cleared it, they could quite easily see that it was covered in various trees.
It was like a patchwork quilt of greens, oranges and reds, with a few splashes on inexplicably random colours, such as magenta, pink, and even black and white. This forest would be enough to keep most botanists happy for a year with all the different species of tree. Unfortunately, no human botanist had ever had the chance to study them.
Ai and Mako stared in wonder at the multicoloured trees. The others had all seen this before, so they were much less struck dumb, but they still looked out across the expanse of trees. They stretched on as far as the eye could see ahead of them and to either side. There was an almost unbroken canopy, which meant that underneath it, it would probably be quite dark and shady – an easy place to miss a black bug, even if it was a big one.
"This is great," Impmon muttered sarcastically, folding his arms. "The words needle and haystack come to mind."
"Trying to find a needle in a haystack, when the needle looks like a piece of hay," nodded Monodramon. "I'm beginning to think we should have brought the others along. I can see WarGrowlmon tearing the forest apart in an attempt to find this guy."
"There's to be no tearing of anything," Sandiramon rose his head. "A lot of Digimon make their homes in this forest. We're not going to be destroying their habitat to flush out GranKuwagamon. That won't get you on his good side, or the good side of a lot of other Digimon."
"So, it's the old fashioned way, is it?" Impmon groaned. "Search blindly and hope for the best? Tell me again why I came."
"So that we can find GranKuwagamon and hopefully get the others back from wherever they are," said Ryo.
"It was a rhetorical question, Cardmeister," Impmon said, straight afterwards. "I know why I'm here. I'm just wishing old Zhuqs, I mean Zhuqiaomon, couldn't be of some more help to us."
"Well, we aren't going to get anything done by just hanging up here," said MetalSeadramon, swinging around and beginning to circle in mid-air. Behemoth protested vehemently from his lousy place on the ride, but MetalSeadramon wouldn't have been able to understand his rumbling even if he'd heard it, which nobody else did. "Shall I try and find a place to land?"
"Yeah," said Ryo. "We've gotta get as much searching down as we can before the light changes. It'll be even harder to find GranKuwagamon at night."
"I don't like the idea of walking around down there at night," shuddered Ai. "What could be hiding in the darkness?"
"Hopefully GranKuwagamon," Impmon replied, with a grin. "And if there's anything else, you guys just leave them to me."
MetalSeadramon began his descent, slowly lowering himself down and trying to locate a clearing where he could easily land without brushing his passengers off in the foliage as he went through it. It took him a few minutes to locate something useful – a clearing that was so small it was practically impossible for all of him to fit in.
So he didn't. He just brought his head and tail down to the ground, while his middle continued to float above the trees in a great, armoured arc. His tails released Behemoth and the motorbike revelled in the fact that it could use its wheels again by instantly starting its engine and zooming around the clearing, doing a good ten laps of it before it decided to calm down.
Ai and Mako slid off the serpentine head only after Ryo had done so, so the older boy could catch them on the way down. Impmon and Monodramon leapt down with no trouble. Sandiramon lowered himself to the ground by uncoiling until his neck touched the ground. His tail then released MetalSeadramon and slowly lowered itself after the head, almost ignoring gravity.
Pajiramon just jumped straight over the heads of everyone else and landed rather awkwardly. Her legs had been pressed under her belly for some time and she began to flex the knees to warm them up and get them in proper order.
"So," she said. "This is where we split up."
"Indeed," said Ryo. "And the sooner we get started the better. I reckon we should split into four separate groups. MetalSeadramon, can you go up there and do a search from the air, try and see if you can spot him from a height?"
"Not a problem," MetalSeadramon nodded his huge head. "If GranKuwagamon's decided to go flying, I'll find him."
"You two Devas should go together," said Ryo, "as you guys know the strengths and weaknesses of the other just in case we run into trouble. Impmon, you take Behemoth and your partners with you as you go that way," Ryo pointed off into the trees in a random direction. "You Devas go that way," he pointed in another direction. "And Monodramon and I will go this way.
"Now, this is the Digital World we're talking about," said Ryo. "So obviously there may be some large monsters like that MarineDevimon."
"He was scary," Mako said, demonstrating the child's amazing talent of stating the obvious.
"Well, at least he's gone," Ryo agreed, "But there may be others. Therefore, it only makes sense that we go to Mega level if we can. We'll have a better chance of taking on any attackers in those forms, after all."
"Sweet," Impmon grinned. "I always love digivolving. Gives me a rush-and-three-quarters."
While MetalSeadramon, Pajiramon and Sandiramon tried to get their heads around that last sentence, Impmon erupted into light and Ryo pressed his D-Arc to his chest and cried, "Biomerge Activate!" After that, he and Monodramon burst into light too.
"MONODRAMON BIOMERGE TO... JUSTIMON!"
"IMPMON WARP-DIGIVOLVE TO... BEELZEMON!"
The two Megas stood tall and proud in the clearing – Justimon brandishing his robotic arm and Beelzemon twirling his shotguns like the cowboy from hell. Ai and Mako smiled up at their partner, but they could help but feel slightly envious of Justimon. They couldn't even begin to imagine what it must feel like to be merged with their partner, to be merged with Beelzemon.
The descriptions the other Tamers had given them of biomerging hadn't really helped them form a picture in their minds of what it was like. They'd used words like incredible, unbelievable, indescribable from Henry and "It makes me feel hungry afterwards," from Guilmon. This had just made them more frustrated that they didn't know what they were missing.
They knew Beelzemon felt a similar way, but he never really talked about it.
"So, what do we do if we find Bugface?" asked Beelzemon, holstering his guns.
"We'll need to send a signal of some kind," said Justimon, in the dual voice of Ryo and the return of Cyberdramon's growling tones. "If I find him, I'll send a Justice Burst up into the sky. You others can use some other kind of attack to do the same thing. That way, everyone can see roughly what direction you're in and make their way towards you."
"A sound proposal," nodded Sandiramon.
"Well, let's get on with it," Beelzemon turned to walk over to Behemoth, who'd parked itself on the side of the clearing. "I don't got all day."
"Actually, you do," said MetalSeadramon.
"Yeah, but "I don't got all day" sounds cooler than the other potential things I could say right now," Beelzemon pointed out as he sat himself astride Behemoth's large seat. He turned his red eyes on the twins and said, "You little dudes coming or what?"
"You mean we got go sit down again?" asked Ai, while Mako pouted.
"Look kids," Beelzemon said in a surprisingly patient tone for him – but then again, he'd never been known to shout at his partners after he'd returned to them. "I didn't say you gotta like this. But those guys, wherever they are, are depending on us. We gotta do what we gotts do to get 'em back, and if that means sitting on my arse for the next month then I'll do it if I have too."
"Mum doesn't like it when you use that word," said Mako.
"Yeah, well you're mum doesn't like anything I say no matter what words I use," Beelzemon pointed out. The twins giggled – it was true. "Now, hop on. Tell you what, we'll go super fast for a bit and then we'll start searching properly."
Behemoth rumbled with anticipation as his Master said that. The motorbike loved going fast and back in the human world he broke the speed-limit practically everywhere he went. They could get away with this because the police seemed reluctant to try and pull Beelzemon over for some reason.
"Beelzemon the motivational speaker," Pajiramon chuckled as the ex-Demon Lord helped his partners onto the bike. "Who'd have thought?"
"The Digital World is full of strange things," said Sandiramon sagely. "And the Human World is even stranger."
"Not from our viewpoint," said Ryo from Justimon's body. "Now, shall we get underway?"
His answer came when Beelzemon kicked Behemoth into life and the bike hared off, probably of its own accord and they disappeared amongst the trees.
"I don't think that bike likes me much," said MetalSeadramon. "I'll see what I can find." He rose up and wound his way across the trees, disappearing from view.
"Let's hope we strike lucky today and that this search doesn't drag on for some time," said Pajiramon, as she and Sandiramon turned to make their way off into the trees. Justimon also turned and began to run in his own designated direction. The eyes beneath the metal faceplate scanned the surroundings, searching for any sign of the big Mega insect.
The clearing had cleared.
Ai and Mako screamed with delight as Behemoth surged forward on a wayward, random and almost uncoordinated path that took his careening around the tree trunks, dodging roots and genuinely making a very loud noise. Beelzemon grinned at his partner's delight, his fangs showing as he did. The wind whipped through the hair of all three, and the twins whooped at the wild ride.
Who needed a rollercoaster when you had a psychotic bike?
Any bystander might think that Behemoth was desperately trying to throw its passengers off, but the bike wasn't really trying to do that, although it would get a good, rumbling snicker if they did get hurled off. He was just celebrating after having to spend almost three days in the air, which was perfectly understandable.
At one point, Beelzemon saw another Digimon and brought Behemoth reluctantly to a stop. "Hey!" he yelled up at the Hawkmon sitting in the tree he'd stopped by. The Rookie level Bird Digimon looked startled by the sudden appearance of the lot.
He said, "My, my, this is an anomalous cluster. To what do I owe the untimely interruption?"
"Interruption from what? You weren't doing anything," Beelzemon pointed out.
"I was depositing myself in a contemplative state. I find it makes me feel obtrusively serene."
"Speak English," Beelzemon said. The twins tittered.
"It calms me down."
"Right, well, anyway. Have you seen a big, black bug? About so high," Beelzemon held his hand level with his neck. "Two huge pincers on his face, four wings, answers to the name of GranKuwagamon. Well, I say answers, but he doesn't talk the much, but what the hell."
"You're conduct in front of the children is moot, my good sir," the Hawkmon ruffled his feathers. "But I must notify you that I have not seen any such insect Digimon. It is exclusively plausible that he meandered this way during my meditations, but I cannot bestow upon you any more information than that. My apologies."
Beelzemon frowned up at the bird, then said, "You've read the dictionary too many times, you know that?"
"Pardon my ignorance, good sir, but what is a dictionary?"
"Never mind," Beelzemon shook his head. "So, just for the record, you haven't seen GranKuwagamon?"
"No, I'm repentant to say. I wish you well with your enterprise, er... what is your name, good sir."
"Beelzemon," said Beelzemon, without thinking.
The Hawkmon paled under his feathers. It stared at Beelzemon in horror for a couple of seconds then said, "Goodbye," and he was gone in a hurried flapping on wings.
"Hey, come back!" Ai shouted after him. "Beelzemon's nice. He wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Actually I would," scowled Beelzemon. "They're damn annoying."
"Alright then," Ai shouted, even though the Hawkmon was long gone. "He wouldn't hurt a spider."
"I don't think it's going to make any difference to him," Beelzemon muttered. "He's probably been brought up on tales of some of the awful stuff I did. I don't blame him for wetting his feathers. Let's get going, shall we?"
The twins nodded, and Beelzemon started Behemoth again. The bike roared into life and they began moving again. They moved much more slowly this time, winding their way through the trees and staring out at the shadows, straining all seven eyes between them for any sign of GranKuwagamon. They saw nothing, but they hadn't really expected to see anything.
Big forest, one bug.
Ai and Mako began to feel quite tired again after about an hour of this, during which time they spotted no flares from any of the others. The head of a MetalSeadramon was not the best place in the Digital World to sleep, particularly since it felt like the wind was rushing at you all the time. They'd managed to snatch a couple of hours here and there, but despite the roar of Behemoth's engines, his seat was much more comfortable.
Eventually they both nodded off completely and Beelzemon couldn't help but smile wryly at the sight of the two children leaning against each other on the bike. They weren't really cut out for this searching stuff. It was just too boring for them. Beelzemon didn't blame them, as he felt like having a kip himself, but he had another reason for trying to find their friends that he hadn't told the twins and that spurred him on.
After yet another hour, during with nothing happened bar they continued to drive through the forest and Ai and Mako continued to sleep, Beelzemon was still staring from left to right and hoping to spot something useful. He'd slowed Behemoth down considerable so that he could search better and he'd have much less chance of missing something important.
He looked up at the sky. There'd been no change in light, but he can tell that night was drawing in. Pretty soon, darkness would wash over them as it had done for the past eight days.
Anytime now would be nice.
A large bush off to one side and slightly ahead moved.
Beelzemon instantly brought the bike to a halt and stared at it, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. It had looked like the kind of movement a bush would make if someone had been watching them through the hedge, holding part of it aside so they could see, but had let go when they approached and the bush had sprang back to its original position and hidden them from view.
Beelzemon had no idea if that was actually the case, and it had been he didn't know if the person that had done it was a threat or not, but he still reached down and pulled the shotgun strapped to his leg out of its holster. It never hurt to be careful.
He shook Ai and Mako at the same time with one hand. They opened their eyes blearily and Ai asked, "Whuzzhapnin'?"
"I saw movement," Beelzemon whispered to them. "In that bush over there."
The twins became more awake when they heard this and stared at the bush fearfully. It made no further movement, and Ai whispered, "Are you sure?"
"Dead sure."
"Is it an enemy?" asked Mako.
"Don't know," Beelzemon slowly levered himself off the bike and pulled the other shotgun from the holster on his back. "But I intend to find out. Behemoth, you know what to do."
Behemoth didn't reply, but Beelzemon knew he'd been understood. That meant the same as it had with Zhuqiaomon – get them out of here if things get hairy.
Beelzemon slowly approached the bush, moving as silently as possible so as not to disturb the hiding whoever-it-was. He crouched down beside the bush and turned back to glance at his Tamers, who were watching him with looks of apprehension mixed with admiration.
He nodded at them, before standing up, whipping around the bush and pointing his shotguns at the space behind it.
The barrels were sighted on the ground. There was nobody there.
Beelzemon raised his guns so they were pointing upwards at the canopy and stared at the empty space. "I could have sworn..." he mumbled to himself, tailing off and glancing around, just to make sure.
"Are you looking for little old me?"
Beelzemon whipped around and aimed his guns in the direction of the voice, which had been distinctly feminine and sounded happy rather than fearful. This time, he found who he was looking for. The twins followed the voice too and they stared at the being who was standing on the branch of a nearby tree and smiling cheekily down at all of them.
None of them had, to their memory, seen this Digimon before. It was definitely a Digimon, and resembled a very elegant humanoid female. She was wearing what appeared to be a yellow leotard lined with green and without the arms or legs, so it just covered her torso, with a few leafy projections at the top, and a tulip at the base of her neck, the stem of which ran down the centre of her chest a short way. Her arms and legs were pink and ended in were, quite literally, five, white flower petals instead of hands and feet. There were more leafy projections around her hip. An enormous pink flower, tipped with yellow, bloomed from her back, and there was another pink flower, upside down, on her head. Her hair was short and ivy-like, reaching no further than her shoulders.
"Ooh, you going to shoot me?" the female Digimon winked at Beelzemon. "I'd prefer it if you didn't, but it's up to you."
Beelzemon was quite taken aback by her casual demeanour and lowered his guns to his sides. "Thanks," grinned the Digimon.
"She looks like Lillymon from the TV series," said Mako.
Ai raised the D-Arc and the holographic stats sprung up. "This says her name is Lilamon," she read aloud. Fairy Digimon. Ultimate level. And it says her attacks are Lila Shower, Beauty Slap, Marvel Shot, Lilac Dagger and ..." she struggled to read the last one.
"Un Deux Pollen?" suggested Lilamon, with a charismatic grin. She pronounced it "Un dew."
"Yeah, that," said Ai.
"Alright, lady," Beelzemon stowed his shotguns away – she didn't look like an evil Digimon at all. "What's the deal with the sneaking around?"
"Curiosity really," said Lilamon. "And it was really funny watching you sneak up on a bush. I've never seen a Digimon like you before, and are those little guys humans?" She looked oddly excited.
"Yeah," said Beelzemon, unsure of what to make of her.
"Ooh, they're so cute," Lilamon gushed.
"We are?" said the twins, glancing at Beelzemon in confusion.
"She said it, not me," Beelzemon pointed out.
"So who are you?" asked Lilamon, looking at Beelzemon. The Mega level hesitated to reply to the Ultimate, the memory of the last person who had asked that question and their reaction still very, very fresh in his mind. But avoiding the question would look suspicious, so he sighed and replied:-
"Beelzemon."
"Are you really?" Lilamon's eyes widened in surprise and wonderment.
"Yeah," sighed Beelzemon, bracing himself for the scream of fear he was sure would come.
"Oh, how cool it that?" Lilamon grinned, looking extremely excited. "I thought you looked like a real tough guy with the bike and the guns and stuff. And you're Beelzemon. The Beelzemon? Seriously?"
"Er, yeah," Beelzemon frowned in confusion at Lilamon's bubbly response. "You're, er, you're not afraid?"
"Should I be?" Lilamon winked again. "If you wanted to kill me you would have tried to shot me the moment you saw me, but you didn't. Plus, what would an evil Digimon be doing travelling around with two adorable human children?"
"I'm not adorable," protested Mako, while Ai said, "Thank you."
Beelzemon grinned – Lilamon's smile was quite infectious. "Well, you certainly seem to be of a bouncy nature. You remind me a bit of a friend of mine, although he's a guy and doesn't refer to things as cute. But the last Digimon who learned who I was flew off in a flap."
"Who was it?" asked Lilamon, frowning.
"Just some random Hawkmon," Beelzemon shrugged.
"Oh him," Lilamon waved a hand airily. "I know him. Very old-fashioned bird, you probably noticed his tendency for long and complicated words that nobody uses any more. He still holds all the old views, doesn't believe the stories about how you reformed and took on the True Enemy to save a human girl and then fought against your own brethren when Ogudomon attacked. I wouldn't pay him any mind."
"There are stories about that?" asked Beelzemon, bemused.
"Well, duh," Lilamon rolled her eyes. "Where've you been living – the Human World?" She paused, then said, "Never mind, but the point is that there are stories about all you Digimon who've been partnered with humans. You guys leave a mark wherever you guys. You're legends, all of you. Can I just say now that meeting you is absolutely awesome?"
"I'm not adorable," Mako repeated to anyone who was listening.
"What kind of stories?" Beelzemon ploughed on.
Lilamon counted them off on her petals. "How you guys took on the Devas and won, how you fought against Zhuqiaomon, how you can merge with your human partners, how you destroyed the True Enemy, how the prophecy trio creamed Ogudomon. Everything."
Lilamon beamed cheerfully down from her branch at them. Beelzemon grinned back and said, "In that case, it's good to meet you too, Petalhead," he held out his clawed hand. Lilamon giggled and stepped casually off the branch, hovered in the air for a second and then swooped down to extend one of her "hands." When Beelzemon gripped them to shake, he was surprised to feel that they felt just like fingers, instead of real petals, but then he supposed actual petals for fingers would be very flimsy and stupid.
"So," said Lilamon once she released her grip on Beelzemon's hand and walked over to plonk herself on Behemoth's seat beside the twins. "What are your names, kids?"
"My name is Ai," said Ai, "And this is my twin brother, Mako."
"Who is not adorable," Mako clarified.
Lilamon sniggered and said, "Oh, alright, you're not adorable. You're downright ugly. How's that?"
Beelzemon laughed, his hands coming to his sides. "You asked for that, Mako," he grinned at Mako's look of embarrassment.
"Aaw, I was just kidding," Lilamon ruffled Mako's hair. "You're not ugly, and you're not adorable. There, is that better?"
"Yes, thanks," Mako looked a bit flummoxed by Lilamon's personality.
"I like you," said Ai, reaching up to touch one of Lilamon's finger-petals with interest.
"Well, that's good, because I like you too," Lilamon grinned, allowing Ai to take a hold of the petal, before lifting her bodily into the air from it. Beelzemon looked surprised at this – clearly Lilamon was much stronger than she looked. She looked like a strong breeze could blow her away, but that was clearly not the case.
Ai giggled as she hung from the petal, and then again as Lilamon plopped her back down on Behemoth's back. When she did, Behemoth juddered in annoyance, causing Lilamon to leap up in surprise with a cry of "Oop."
She stared at Behemoth, and then said, "Oh, of course. Beelzemon's living bike. Silly me. Completely forgot about that. Sorry," she reached down and stroked Behemoth's seat. The motorbike rumbled again, but this time it almost sounded as though it were purring.
"Oh dear," Beelzemon chuckled. "He's effectively yours now. One stroke on the seat and he's anybody's. I gotta say, you sure gotta a way with people, Petalhead."
"Why thank you," Lilamon grinned and dropped herself onto Behemoth's seat again, continuing to stroke it in order to ensure the bike didn't try to throw her off in an undignified way. Behemoth used to try and possess any Digimon that sat on him other than its true master – but now that it had its true master, and its true master seemed to like the Lilamon, it didn't try.
"So," Lilamon wrapped her arms round her knees and took on an air of expectancy. "What brings you guys to our neighbourhood? We don't usually get humans around here, and I'm guessing that you're not here on holiday."
Beelzemon grimaced. Ai and Mako looked downcast – Lilamon had provided a brief distraction from their true purpose.
"Did I say something wrong?" Lilamon asked, noticing their expressions.
"No," Beelzemon shook his head. "But you're right. We're not here on holiday. We're on a rescue mission, or at least we're trying to be on rescue mission. We don't seem to be having much luck with the actual recuing part."
"Go on," Lilamon said, suddenly quite serious.
Beelzemon looked into Lilamon's green eyes. She looked sincere, and he was sure that they could trust her. Perhaps she could even help – she might have spotted GranKuwagamon in the area recently.
And so, he told her everything. Ai and Mako respectively remained silent, knowing Beelzemon was much better at explaining information than they were. Lilamon was a very good audience – she gasped and put her petals over her mouth at all the right points. She only asked a couple of clarifying questions, like who Parallelmon was, but other than a loud exclamation of, "THE PROPHECY TRIO ARE GONE?" she remained silent and just listened.
"So the Sovereign gave us three separate options in finding them," said Beelzemon, and began to tick them off on his fingers as he went. "Number one, ask Parallelmon, and since there's a fat chance of that happening that means that option is out the window. The second option would be to ask Anubimon. We'd probably have gone with this one, if only we knew where the hell we could actually find him and how. So that leaves us with option three, which is why we're here."
Lilamon nodded her head thoughtfully, putting her tongue in her cheek as she did. Then she said, "And what is option three exactly?"
"We're looking for an old friend of ours," said Beelzemon. "You must have heard of him if you know about the Ogudomon debacle. "We're looking for GranKuwagamon."
"GranKuwagamon?" Lilamon's face lit up in her biggest grin yet. "Of course I know him. He's a really good friend of ours. He's the one that told us all those stories about Ogudomon."
"He was?" Beelzemon frowned. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression he didn't like to say much."
"Well," conceded Lilamon. "Actually it was Gryphonmon that told us, but he spent so much time arguing with his tail that we got confused as to which points were true, so we asked GranKuwagamon for clarification."
"You know where he lives then?" Beelzemon said hopefully.
"You bet I do," Lilamon beamed. "He changes his home once a week for some odd reason, but he always tells us where he's going. We visit him sometimes – he's a good friend."
"Can you take us to him then?" asked Mako, a grin breaking out onto his face.
"I think I'd be an idiot if I didn't," Lilamon replied. "This is serious, and I want to help."
"We?" asked Ai.
Lilamon blinked. "Pardon?"
"You said, we visit him sometimes," pointed out Ai. "Who else did you mean?"
"Good spot," Lilamon winked, "Give the human a star. When I said we, I was referring to myself and two of my other friends. They should be..."
"Hey, Lilamon!"
"...Around," finished Lilamon, grinning at the new voice.
Two more Digimon emerged from the trees. The first was a bird of some kind. It had a basic body design similar to that of an ostrich, but its legs and neck were much stouter. Its head resembled that of a carnivorous dinosaur combined with a bird of prey, in that the top jaw resembled the hooked beak of a falcon and the bottom jaw had large, shark-like fangs.
Green plumage decorated his abdomen and upper legs, while orange feathers adorned his chest, lower neck and lower wings. His tail was orange with a large, red tip, and the tips of his wings were also red, but his head, upper neck, back and upper wings were encased in metal, as was his lower feet. His talons were huge and metallic, like knives, three pointing forwards and very large one entending from the back of the foot. His head was crowned with spiky red, feathers.
The second Digimon was, to put it bluntly, a dragon. A very large, cobalt-blue coloured dragon, with four great, blue limbs and two sweeping wings with deep-sky-blue skin stretching across it. It was standing on its hind legs, and there was an enormous tail sweeping back from him. At the head of its long neck, was a head encrusted with a metallic helmet, with two orange horns poking out from his nose and several sweeping from the back of his head. He also had a metal chestplate.
His front legs had great flaps of blue skin extending from them, flecked with red. A huge, metal lance was attached to his back and extended past his head and to finish off the picture, he was hovering in the air without flapping his wings at all. He looked like he was blocking gravity and just floating in the air.
"What's going on?" the dragon asked in a deep but growling voice, eying Beelzemon and the children. He was easily the largest being there.
Ai raised the Digivice and, pointing it at the bird, read the data aloud – "Diatrymon. Ancient Bird Digimon. Champion level. Attacks are Destruction Roar and Mega Dash Impact."
Mako took it next and read aloud the stats of the dragon. "Wingdramon. Sky Dragon Digimon. Ultimate level. His attacks are Blaze Sonic Breath, Explode Sonic Lance and Wing Blast."
"Hey guys," Beelzemon nodded. "What's hanging?"
"Who are you?" Diatrymon's voice was a raucous squawk. "I haven't seen you before."
"Hey guys," Lilamon swung around on Behemoth's seat so she was facing the newcomers. "You are not going to believe who you are looking at."
"I think I can take a guess," Wingdramon said. "I can see two humans... or at least I think they're humans. Are you humans, or some kind of In-training level Digimon?"
"Human," said Ai and Mako at the same time.
"I thought so," Wingdramon nodded. "And that would probably make you Tamers. Am I correct?"
"Yep," Lilamon nodded to her friend.
"Which would make you their Digimon," the dragon turned to Beelzemon. "But I do not know which one."
"Beelzemon," Beelzemon introduced himself with much more conviction than last time. "That's my name."
"Are you really?" Diatrymon cocked his head to one side. "By Fanglongmon, you look exactly like I thought you would. Is it true that you tried to punch through the Kernel Sphere of the True Enemy with your bare hands and you succeeded?"
"That I did," Beelzemon flexed his claws. "That thing was tough - I can tell you that for nothing."
"And I believe that you have a Mode Change," Wingdramon mused. "May I see it?"
"Ooh, yes," Lilamon clapped her hands together. "I'd love to see that. Pretty please."
Beelzemon felt quite stunned at all the attention and praise he was getting from these three Digimon, although Wingdramon seemed to have a calmness about him that made him seem mildly curious – it was difficult to tell if he was excited, like Lilamon clearly was. Diatrymon, seemed to be somewhere in the middle, amazed but not leaping about in joy.
For some months now, he'd been thinking of himself as a monster, receiving the horrifying flashbacks from his former life. He'd been feeling that he didn't deserve Tamers like Ai and Mako, whereas before, when he'd been a little troublemaker throwing fire at people, it had been the opposite. He'd met nothing but respect and fear from other Digimon, but these ones seemed genuinely happy to see him.
It felt good.
"Ah, alright," he shrugged, glancing over at a grinning pair of twins. Lilamon whooped and somersaulted in the air, and Beelzemon turned his gaze on her, asking for an explanation with his expression.
"Sorry, got carried away," she grinned, though she didn't look that sorry.
All three had different reactions when the huge, black, raven-like wings exploded out of Beelzemon's back and the large cannon appeared on his arm. Diatrymon took a step backwards and muttered, "Whoa." Lilamon raised one flower to her mouth and went "Oooooooh," in awe. Wingdramon raised his head and murmured "Impressive."
"So, anyway," Beelzemon said, gesturing to Lilamon with his cannon. "Can we get back on topic. Petal-head, you were going to show us the way to GranKuwagamon."
"GranKuwagamon?" Diatrymon asked curiously. "What do you want with him?"
After a brief retelling of their story, Wingdramon said, "I had a feeling that it would be something like this. From what I've heard, trouble seems to follow you Tamers and your Digimon like a magnet to iron. And, needless to say, that trouble usually finds its way to anyone who helps you."
Ai and Mako looked a little downcast. What was Wingdramon implying?
The dragon grinned a toothy grin. "I'm in," he said.
"Me too," Diatrymon nodded. I feel like a bit of an adventure right now. We didn't have anything planned. Would you like us to take you to him now?"
"What about the others, Beelzemon?" asked Ai.
"Good point, kid," Beelzemon nodded. "There are some others of us dotted around who-knows-where in this ocean of forest. Just let me call 'em, and when everyone's together in a big, happy family again, then you can take us to him."
"No probs," Lilamon nodded. "Call away. That means we get to meet another Tamer and his Digimon."
"I'd stay clear of Cyberdramon if I were you," Beelzemon said in a philosophical tone that didn't suit him, before pointed his cannon straight up. A moment later, with a shout of "CORONA BLASTER!" he launched a great bolt of pink energy shooting straight upwards through the canopy.
"Now I'm just getting envious," Diatrymon murmured.
"Momentai," said the twins in unison.
"What?"
"Nothing," Beelzemon said quickly. "Fanglongmon knows, Terriermon uses that word enough on his own. We don't need anyone else saying it."
Oh, if only he knew.
"I think it's funny," said Mako.
"Yeah, well," Beelzemon shrugged. "Anyway, that should let everyone else know that I've found something useful and they should all be heading this way if they spotted that. I'll send up another in a minute, just in case they didn't."
"Well, if we're going to be waiting around here for a bit," Lilamon sat on Behemoth again, "You know what time it is?"
"What?" asked the twins.
Diatrymon and Wingdramon both rolled their eyes at the same time and answered in unison, "Story time."
"You betcha," Lilamon giggled. "Come on kids, come on Beelzemon. Share with us some tails of you intrepid adventures."
"I thought you knew about all out adventures anyway," Mako said.
"Yeah, but I've never heard them like this. You know, first hand from a human. It'll be a new experience."
"Is she always like this?" Beelzemon asked the other two, as Ai and Mako began to tell the story of the day Impmon had come back to them to the attentive Petal-head.
"She's a very hyperactive person at the best of times," said Wingdramon. "But it's all good-natured, and Lilamon had to be one of the most eternally happy Digimon that I have ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen her upset about anything."
"Well," Beelzemon shrugged. "Let's hope I don't screw that up for her."
MetalSeadramon was the first to arrive. He'd been flying around a few miles to the south, and had been able to easily find his way to the site where the others were standing or sitting and either telling or listening to the tales of the other. But, once again, the giant sea-serpent was simply too big to alight on the ground. He didn't seem to be remotely bothered by this, as he used very little energy to stay in the air and wasn't at all tired.
So, he settled for just hovering above the trees and peered down between the branches at what was going on below.
Justimon arrived next. He came shooting through the trees like a meteor, practically leaving a trail of stardust behind him, even though they were nowhere near space. He came so fast and came screeching to a halt so suddenly that his scarves whipped past him and almost collided with Beelzemon's face, but fortunately the Mega was anticipating this and managed to duck underneath them.
Beelzemon decided to leave the introductions to Ai and Mako, as he didn't usually like to repeat himself over and over again. Lilamon treated Justimon in a pretty similar way that she had to Beelzemon, while Wingdramon and Diatrymon nodded politely and let Lilamon do the talking. Diatrymon murmured to Beelzemon that of the three of them, Lilamon was almost always the first to say anything.
Night washed over to them before the much slower-moving Devas arrived on the scene. Pajiramon and Sandiramon didn't have the option of taking to the air, and they came swiftly but carefully through the forest. Beelzemon had to let off several more Corona Blasters before they finally managed to locate them from the ground level.
In the trees, it was now much darker and would have been quite difficult to see anything were it not for Behemoth's headlight, and the bizarre bioluminescent glowing of Lilamon, which she claimed that she could turn on and off.
"Well, now that we're all here," Justimon said in Ryo's voice. "Shall we get going and try to find GranKuwagamon?"
"Finally," Beelzemon grumbled. "Been waiting for you to say that for ages. Lead the way, Petal-head. You can be the lamp."
Lilamon giggled. "That was the idea. Come on, guys. Let's show 'em how it's done."
Wingdramon was also relatively easy to see due to his bright blue colouration, but when Diatrymon turned his back he almost seemed to blend into the background. The three of them turned and began to head north-west, deeper into the Forest level. Wingdramon curved around trees, floating with his wings outstretched and not touching the ground with any part of his body, not even his enormous tail. Lilamon flitted from tree to tree, while Diatrymon stalked forward like a predator.
The others followed on behind them.
"It's lucky we were able to find them," said Pajiramon. "It seems that luck and fortune are favouring us if we're going to find GranKuwagamon this easily. I was certain it'd take us much longer."
"What do you make of them, Beelzemon?" asked Justimon. "Can we trust them?"
"I reckon we can," Beelzemon nodded. "I don't think anyone could pretend to be as enthusiastic as Lilamon. What about you two, kids?"
"I really like them," said Mako. "Diatrymon looks a bit scary, but he's quite nice... I think."
"What's Wingdramon doing?" Ai pointed at the blue, dragon Ultimate. "Isn't he going to land on the ground and walk?"
"Wingdramon hardly ever spend any time on the ground, child," Sandiramon hissed across to her. "Their wings have the ability to repel gravity, allowing them to stay aloft their whole lives without touching the ground if they wish."
"Well, it looks like he has every intention of doing just that," Beelzemon pointed out; as Wingdramon's massive wing momentarily blotted the glowing Lilamon from their view. Behemoth shone his headlight ahead of the group, highlighting the ground ahead so that they could avoid crashing into trees.
"How long do you reckon it'll take for us to get there?" shouted Justimon.
Diatrymon turned around to answer them, and as he did, his green underbelly and orange upperbelly made him much more easily discernable. "We'll probably be moving through the night if we keep up this pace. Usually we move a little faster than this."
"You reckon we should move a bit faster?" asked Pajiramon.
"Nah," Beelzemon pointed down at his lap again. Mako had fallen asleep again, and it looked like Ai was close to following his example.
"Actually, he's got a point," Justimon said. "I reckon it's about time we all stopped for the rest. The only sleep that some of us have had in the past three days have been on the head of MetalSeadramon, which isn't the best bed in the world. No offense," he called up.
"None taken," MetalSeadramon said as he poked his head through the foliage.
Wingdramon turned to face them. "So you want to stop?"
"I think it'd be a good idea," Justimon said, as he glowed briefly as his split into Ryo and Cyberdramon. "We can recharge and press on to GranKuwagamon when it becomes light again."
"Kidoke," Lilamon swooped over to them and sat on a branch in a nearby tree. Beelzemon carefully picked up Ai and Mako and leaned them against the trunk of a nearby tree, before de-digivolving into Impmon. Behemoth rumbled slightly and switched off his headlight.
Gradually, everybody fell asleep. Pajiramon and Diatrymon settled down on their haunches to fall asleep, Diatrymon sticking his head under one of his orange and red wings. Impmon began to doze off next to Ai and Mako, curled up beside them and ready to protect them. Sandiramon coiled himself up and shut his eyes.
MetalSeadramon and Wingdramon didn't touch the ground. They just continued to float effortlessly in the air until they too, fell asleep. Neither of them fell to the floor with a crash. They just hung there.
Lilamon surveyed the group, smiled and muttered "Good night all," then she extinguished herself and leaned against the trunk of the tree, shutting her eyes.
Lilamon was the last to fall asleep, but there was one more Digimon unaccounted for. No longer in his Rookie form, Cyberdramon stood rigidly on the branch of another tree, surveying the sleeping bunch with a critical, predatory eye. He inspected each of the newcomers in turn, examining their sleeping forms for any hint that they might be faking it, any hint of deception to cause harm.
There was none.
Half-relieved and half-disappointed, Cyberdramon stood sentry over everybody that night. He didn't fall asleep – he just stared out at the darkness, looking for any signs of a threat.
If Parallelmon was still out there – he'd be ready.
Lilamon was fun to right. I was trying to go for a mix between Terriermon, Tonks from Harry Potter and, of course, Lillymon. I also chose Wingdramon and Diatrymon because I don't think I've ever seen either used in a fanfiction ever, or in any of the TV series. So, there you go. They're on the scent.
Next time...
Update on Star Wars universe. What's happening to Ahsoka? What's happening to Aayla, Renamon and Lopmon? And most importantly, what's happening with Terriermon?
Coming up:- Chapter 36 : Awake