Chapter 34—A walk in the woods—
Tiffany and I continued travelling through the lake as we kept going south, though oddly the temperature stayed warm and didn't seem to change much this time… and I noticed that Tiffany was really quiet throughout too. Finally, I turned to her and said: "You've been pretty quiet on our way down here, Tiffany. Is everything okay?" and she shook her head before she responded: "Oh no, I… I'm sorry. I'm just naturally quiet by nature, but that doesn't mean I'm trying to be unfriendly. If you want to talk to me, feel free."
And I smiled as she went on: "But you… you're that hacker, aren't you? The one who helped Irene?" and I laughed before I said: "I'm not a hacker—I merely stayed behind and provided support so she could breach the area safely." and Tiffany nodded before she said: "Oh, okay. But even so, that's important and it's a good thing you did—thanks to you, we all know what we're up against and now we're getting ready to save our world." and I smiled before I said: "Thanks for the praise, Tiffany! Irene played a big part in it too, though—but now it's really exciting that we're all working together as a team! I'm excited to see where this will go!" and Tiffany grinned a little before we continued onward.
We kept going until we stepped into the next area—some beautiful woods with trees and flowers in full bloom! There were some colorful mushrooms around too and the sky had clouds scattered about here and there. As we stepped in, I looked around and marveled at all of the flora here… Tiffany also looked happy to be here as well. Once we stepped in, I said: "Wow… these are some beautiful woods…" and Tiffany nodded and said: "You said it! It's so warm and colorful here… I really like places like this." and I nodded before I went on: "Of course, it's usually easy to get lost in places like these, too… now let's see…" and I checked my digivice before I looked up (and I saw Tiffany looking at me) before I pointed to our left and said: "We're headed that way. Are you ready?" "Of course. No time like the present." Tiffany said. And then we headed off. We kept going through the woods (and enjoying the sights we did) until soon we heard a: "AHA! There they are!"
And we turned in the direction of the voice to see 2 Digimon View staff members approach us! One of the staff members then said: "Looks like there are only 2 of them… those brats must have split up." and the other one said: "Yeah… they're not making our work easy." and then he approached us (and Tiffany and I backed away) as he said: "You've been discovered! Now come with us! We won't hurt you if you come quietly!" and I frowned before I said: "Fat chance. If you aren't ready to battle, you'd better get out of here!" and then the other staff member said: "Tch… they aren't making this easy." "Did you really think we were just going to surrender?" Tiffany asked before the other staff member said: "Whatever! It's time to haul you in!"
And then he called out a Valdurmon while the other staff member said: "Go, MetalEtemon!" and he called out a humanoid Digimon that walked on 2 legs and its body was entirely covered in dark gray metal—except for its underbelly, which was colored silver. It had black sunglasses, a black teddy bear attached to a belt it was wearing, a yellow medal around its neck, a black band around its right arm and red written characters on its chest. It looked 6 feet tall.
I then felt my digivice vibrate and I checked it (and I saw Tiffany check hers too). It said: "Left to right: Valdurmon scan data: 10%, MetalEtemon scan data: 5%". I knew from having fought Valdurmon already that it was a holy Digimon, but my digivice said that MetalEtemon was an earth Digimon. I then turned to my Digimon and said: "Gryphonmon, you're up! Go get them!" and he said: "You bet!" and he ran on in. Tiffany then said: "Go, GranLocomon!" and she called out an enormous Digimon like a subway train! It had a face in the front with 2 eyes that had red irises and black pupils and 2 blue shoulder joints that were each connected to silver arms and had blue cuffs—they held opposite sides of a bar with a single rotating, spiked wheel on a bar in the middle. The rest of its body was colored silver, except for a blue frame around it and the back of its body (which was blue) and some gold pipes and red and cyan cables over the middle of its frame. It had many silver wheels and it looked 10'8 tall.
One of the staff members then said: "Valdurmon, attack them! Use almighty sun!" and Valdurmon said: "Almighty sun!" and then he sent a yellow line up into the air… before it suddenly turned into a giant, yellow-orange sun! The sun then came down and Gryphonmon and GranLocomon looked down as they started to tremble from the heat before the sun flashed and it disappeared. The other staff member said: "MetalEtemon, attack them! Use mudslide!" and MetalEtemon said: "Mudslide!" and a massive torrent of mud, bark, dirt, rocks and debris appeared and came flying at our Digimon! Tiffany then followed up and said: "GranLocomon, use destruction crush!" and GranLocomon said: "Destruction crush!" and he took his hands off his front bar (and it began to levitate above him) before it started shooting lasers at Valdurmon and MetalEtemon! Valdurmon took it hard, too! GranLocomon's bar then came down (and he caught it) before I said: "Gryphonmon, use supersonic voice on MetalEtemon!" and Gryphonmon said: "Supersonic voice!" and he started to screech as a powerful soundwave came out of his mouth at MetalEtemon… but MetalEtemon leapt out of the way!
One of the staff members then said: "Hmm…" before he went on: "Valdurmon, use saint's spotlight!" and Valdurmon said: "Saint's spotlight!" and he made a ray of sunshine shine down on him from above…Tiffany then said: "GranLocomon, do it again! Destruction crush!" and GranLocomon said: "Destruction crush—" before the other staff member said: "I don't think so! MetalEtemon, use banana slip!" and MetalEtemon said: "Banana slip!" and he conjured a banana peel in his hand before he threw it at GranLocomon's front wheel—and then GranLocomon suddenly tripped on it and fell down! As he got up, I said: "So he can stop a Digimon from attacking?! That's some serious cheapness!" and then the staff member laughed as he said: "Yup, that's right! Too bad for you!" and then I said: "Gryphonmon, use supersonic voice on MetalEtemon again!" and Gryphonmon said: "Supersonic voice!" and he screeched at MetalEtemon again… and this time he got him! It looked like it worked really well, too!
"Valdurmon, use almighty sun!" The staff member said before Valdurmon said: "Almighty sun!" and he sent another yellow line into the sky before it turned into another giant sun and then came down and disappeared. "GranLocomon, give it another try! Use destruction crush!" Tiffany said before GranLocomon said: "Destruction crush!" and he attacked both of them with it! I then said: "Gryphonmon, use lightning strikes twice—" before the other staff member said: "Not so fast! MetalEtemon, use banana slip!" and MetalEtemon said: "Intelligence drop!" and he cast a spell on Gryphonmon to lower his damage output with magical attacks! "What the—! That isn't right!" the staff member said before I chuckled and said: "Well then, shall we continue? Gryphonmon, use lightning strikes twice on MetalEtemon!" and Gryphonmon said: "Lightning strikes twice!" and then the sky turned purple and filled with dark, stormy clouds before MetalEtemon got zapped by a lightning bolt! Then a second one zapped him again!
"GranLocomon, use destruction crush!" Tiffany said and he did so before one of the staff members said: "Valdurmon, use almighty sun!" and Valdurmon did so before the other staff member said: "MetalEtemon, attack with mudslide!" and MetalEtemon said: "Mudslide!" and he attacked with another torrent of earth again. "Gryphonmon, use lightning strikes twice on MetalEtemon!" I said and the sky turned purple again and then storm clouds filled the sky before MetalEtemon got zapped by a lightning bolt, followed by another one!
Valdurmon then used another almighty sun before I had Gryphonmon use lightning strikes twice on MetalEtemon again (although only one bolt hit him this time—the other missed him) and Tiffany said: "GranLocomon, use destruction crush—" before the other staff member said: "MetalEtemon, use banana slip on him first!" and MetalEtemon said: "Mudslide!" and attacked our Digimon with it instead! GranLocomon then followed up with another destruction crush, but he was starting to look beat…
I then said: "Gryphonmon, get rid of MetalEtemon! Use lighting strikes twice!" and Gryphonmon said: "Lightning strikes twice!" and he attacked MetalEtemon with it… and he went down! The staff member called him back before Tiffany said: "GranLocomon, get Valdurmon! Use piston punches!" and GranLocomon said: "Piston punches!" and he went into high gear and zoomed up to Valdurmon before he rammed into him, then swiftly turned around and hit him with the other side of his body before he rushed right back to us. I guess that's all he can do with such short arms that had to hold a wheel… the other staff member then said: "Valdurmon, finish off GranLocomon! Use almighty sun!" and Valdurmon did so… and GranLocomon went down! Luckily, Gryphonmon was still standing, though…
One staff member then said: "Go, Merukimon!" and he called out a humanoid Digimon that walked on 2 legs. It wore a black full-body suit, brown pants, brown and white Mongol-style shoulder guards and had teal-colored forearm guards with dark blue stripes—the one on its left arm had 2 silver rings around it and the one on its right arm had a belt bound around the middle. It also had teal cuffs around its calves that had dark blue stripes on them as well. It had a brown belt with a tan cloth draping in the front and it had a blue medal with red borders held in place around its neck by a yellow band—it also had yellow strands on the sides of the bottom and a feather on the middle. It wore a headdress that had yellow-green colored strands like hair coming out from behind it that went down to its waist and a teal colored face mask like a wolf's head on the front that had a white jaw (although I could swear I saw skin that looked like real human skin in between the jaw and below the mask's lips) and blue-colored markings on it—it also had 3 feathers coming out of either side, a black nose on it and 2 white eyes with no irises or pupils painted on… It held a dagger in its left hand and had magenta-colored nails piercing through the hands on its full-body suit and it had toenails piercing through the suit's feet in the same manner… it looked 7'5 tall.
And I then felt my digivice vibrate and I checked it. It said: "Merukimon scan data: 5%." It also said that Merukimon was a nature elemental Digimon, so darkness attacks would be effective. I then said: "Gryphonmon, attack Valdurmon! Use lighting strikes twice!" and Gryphonmon did so before the other staff member said: "Valdurmon, use saint's spotlight!" and Valdurmon said: "Saint's spotlight!" and he made another ray of sunshine shine down on him. He looked like he was on his last legs, though… Tiffany then said: "Go, Beelzemon!" and she called in a humanoid Digimon that walked on 2 legs. It wore a black jacket and black denim jeans with black boots that had silver tips over its feet, with spikes of the same color coming out of them. It had silver holsters bound to its boots, with pistols inside of them and a red bandana bound around its right bicep. It wore a purple mask over its face and had short spiky blonde hair. It looked 7'2 tall.
Tiffany then went on: "Beelzemon, get Merukimon! Use tigerclaw!" and Beelzemon said: "Tigerclaw!" and he ran up to Merukimon before he swung his arm down and scratched him, hard! It knocked Merukimon down before one of the staff members said: "Merukimon, attack Gryphonmon! Use briar patch trip!" and Merukimon said: "Briar patch trip!" and he conjured a massive patch of thorny, spiky bramble before he ran up to Gryphonmon and hit him with an uppercut and sent him flying into the bramble! "Yow!" Gryphonmon said before he quickly flew out. I then followed up and said: "Gryphonmon, finish off Valdurmon! Use lightning strikes twice!" and Gryphonmon said: "Lightning strikes twice!" and he attacked Valdurmon… and that did it! He was down!
The other staff member called Valdurmon back before he said: "Go, Dorugoramon!" and he called out a Digimon that looked like a really cool, humanoid dragon and stood on 2 legs. It had a silver body with gold edges around silver greaves it wore over its shins and had deep blue-colored blades projecting up out of its knees… it had a deep blue-colored underbelly, deep blue-colored shoulders with bladed shoulder armor and bladed arm guards. It had silver, deep blue and gold wings and a tail that was silver on the top, gold in the middle and deep blue on the bottom with a blade at the end. It had a silver head with silver and purple antlers and a red upside-down triangle on its forehead. It had 2 claws and a thumb on its hands and its feet had 3 very long toenails each, plus a blade on the back of each foot. It looked 7'6 tall.
I then felt my digivice vibrate and I checked it. It said: "Dorugoramon scan data: 5%." It also said Dorugoramon was a fire elemental, meaning water attacks would work well against it. One of the staff members then said: "Merukimon, attack Beelzemon with thousand fists!" and Merukimon said: "Thousand fists!" and he sprinted up to Beelzemon (and he actually arrived really quickly) before he started punching at him too fast and too many times for my eye to follow… and eventually he ran back. "Beelzemon, use tigerclaw on Merukimon again!" Tiffany said before Beelzemon swiped at Merukimon with his claws again. "Great work, Gryphonmon! Now come on back!" I said as he ran back and I said: "Let's finish this up, Dianamon!" and she floated in.
"Merukimon, attack Dianamon! Timber!" One of the staff members said and Merukimon said: "Timber!" and he conjured a tree in front of Dianamon and then he ran up to it and punched it… and it started to fall! It landed on Dianamon, but eventually vanished before the other staff member said: "Dorugoramon, use napalm dunk on Beelzemon!" and Dorugoramon said: "Napalm dunk!" and he ran up to Beelzemon before he swiped at him in an upward motion with one of his claws (like an uppercut), knocking him into the air! Then a red substance appeared in his other claw as he flew up into the air after Beelzemon… and he swung his claw around, causing the substance to multiply around him rapidly! He then grabbed Beelzemon and slammed him onto the ground before he flew off and it rained napalm on Beelzemon. "Beelzemon, finish off Merukimon! Use double impact!" Tiffany said before Beelzemon said: "Double impact!" and he removed his pistols from his holsters and fired 8 shots at him! By the end of it, Merukimon was down (although Beelzemon recoiled at the end of the attack…)! "Dianamon, get Dorugoramon with whirlpool!" I said before Dianamon said: "Whirlpool!" and she created a swirling whirlpool underneath Dorugoramon! It sucked him in spat him out a second later—it looked like it worked great, too!
One of the staff members called Merukimon back before he said: "What the…?! This is bad!" and the other staff member shook his head before Tiffany said: "Great work, Beelzemon! Now come back!" and she called him back before she said: "Go, MarineAngemon!" and she called one out. I then said: "Dianamon, strike back! Whirlpool!" and she said: "Whirlpool!" before she conjured another whirlpool underneath Dorugoramon and it sucked him in before it spat him back out again. The other staff member then said: "Dorugoramon, attack Dianamon! Use napalm dunk!" and Dorugoramon said: "Napalm dunk!" and he knocked Dianamon high into the air with a swipe of his claw before he made napalm appear all around him, grabbed her and then slammed her on the ground before it rained napalm on her.
"Dianamon, get him again with whirlpool!" I said and she did so before the staff member said: "Alright, give it to Dianamon, Dorugoramon—use brave metal!" and then Dorugoramon said: "Brave metal!" and he spread his wings and leapt up high before he started to dive bomb Dianamon—soon he was surrounded by a red-orange fiery aura, too! When he crashed into Dianamon, it caused a fiery explosion and I heard her scream before he flew back, but when he landed, he looked exhausted… and Dianamon was down! "D-Dianamon?" I said before she said: "Oh my… he is a lot stronger than he looks… but worry not, Mark—you can do it." and I smiled before I said: "You did a great job. We'll take it the rest of the way!" and then I called her back before I said: "Mastemon, finish him off!" and she flew in before Tiffany said: "MarineAngemon, whirlpool!" and she did so. By now, Dorugoramon looked too tired to move, so I said: "Mastemon, use almighty sun!" and she did so before Tiffany had MarineAngemon use a whirlpool—and then Dorugoramon was down!
"Oh man… this is terrible!" The staff member said as he called Dorugoramon back. The other one then said: "Hmph! Don't get full of yourselves—we were just taking it easy on you. But we'll get you next time for sure!" and then they ran off as I frowned and said: "Tch… they sure do talk big." and then I called Dianamon out and healed her and Gryphonmon before I heard Tiffany say: "Oh… that's a good idea, Mark. That fight was a little tough on our Digimon and we'll need to be ready for the rest of the way." and then she called out GranLocomon and Beelzemon and healed them too.
Then Tiffany called all of her Digimon back and we kept exploring. We moved through the woods, following the route on our digivices' map functions, until we stepped through a trail… and out into a pasture with beautiful cherry blossom trees! Their blossoms were being blown around in the wind and there was a stream nearby too… when Tiffany saw it, she smiled widely and ran in, stopping underneath one of the trees. I chuckled before I approached her as I said: "You sure look happy, Tiffany. Are these your favorite kind of tree?" and then she turned to me as she said: "Of course! I used to play outside by these beautiful trees so much when I was little—I loved the cherry blossoms. I was so captivated by their beauty, even though they didn't stay like this for long… it's exactly why spring is my favorite season." and then I grinned and said: "That's true. They don't stay like that for long… it's all the more reason to appreciate their majesty while we have them, just like in other areas of life…" and then Tiffany nodded and said: "Yeah…"
And then we watched them for a minute more before we continued following our route. Eventually we came across 2 more staff members, but we managed to defeat them too. Once they were gone, we kept going and Tiffany said: "It feels like we've been at this for a while now… how much further do we have to go, Mark?" "I'll check. Hold on…" I said as I took my digivice out and looked at my map… and saw we were getting close! "Aw yeah! We're almost there!" I said. "Really? That's good." Tiffany said. I then said: "Yeah. There's a little more to go, but that'll just give us a chance to enjoy the scenery even more."
And Tiffany chuckled before I said: "Well as long as we don't have too far to go, why don't you tell me about yourself, Tiffany? What kind of hobbies do you have?" "Whenever I'm not playing Digimon View, I'll read and sing. That's about it, really—" Tiffany began before I said: "You sing? How neat!" Tiffany paused before she said: "…Why is that?" "Because I sing myself. I'm not a professional, but I do enjoy it." I said back. "Oh, you do? That's interesting…" Tiffany said before I said: "Yeah! I'm glad to find someone who shares an interest in it! I find normally people are shy about it—even if they're good—which is sad, because it's fun to share the gift of song." and Tiffany smiled as she said: "Sharing the gift… of song." and then she went on: "You know, you're pretty insightful, Mark. You're really aware of what matters." and I smiled and said: "Thanks, Tiffany! I can tell you are too." and then she smiled back before we kept exploring.
And it wasn't too long before we reached our destination and I said: "Alright, we're here… now it's time. Take out your contagion remote." and Tiffany nodded before she took hers out and we installed the malware. After we did, I said: "Alright! Now we've finally done our part!" "Yeah… but we'd better let everyone know that we're done too. I'll text them now…" Tiffany said before she texted the other teams and let them know we were done installing our malware. Then she said: "And that's done. Now all we need to do—per what Irene said—is to go to our Digihomes, and then the base." "Right. Well I guess that's it, then. See you back at the base, Tiffany!" I said before Tiffany grinned and said: "Yeah… see you there, Mark." And then we accessed our Digihomes through the malware!
When my Digimon and I arrived, ShineGreymon smiled and said: "And that did it! Now our part of the last wave of malware installation is complete!" "Yes! And just think—once the other teams finish, we'll be in a prime position to strike back against the developers!" Mastemon said. "That's right! That being said of course, I have to wonder what our next mission will be… I doubt it's going to be easy." BanchoLeomon said. "I think you're right… it was nice getting to see all of Amaterasu Server again though, even if it was just briefly…" Rosemon said before Hudiemon said: "That's right! For you, it was a trip right down memory lane." and they smiled together before Dianamon said: "And it will be nice to return to the base too—it's been a while since we were there." And Gryphonmon laughed before he said: "Well look at you! After all of that time we spent being sick of patrolling it, you're already itching to head back!" and then we all laughed before Sakuyamon said: "Of course, we should prepare and rest first—we'll need to be in top condition for our next mission, whatever it may be."
And I nodded before I said: "Exactly right, Sakuyamon! So you'd all better rest up now—then we can get ready for whatever mission may come our way next!" and my Digimon all nodded before they got into their hammocks and rested. When they woke up, they came over to me and then we returned to the base!
When we arrived, I sent a message back to Herbert, letting him know that we had returned and we were ready for further orders. We then started patrolling the base before I soon received a text message! I checked it… and saw Herbert was the sender! It said: "Excellent work, Mark! Thank you for installing the last wave of malware—everyone else is finished too, and we've already been collecting information through the malware you've all installed in the 12 locations. It seems some of the others are still resting their Digimon though… once everyone's recovered, we can all meet in the conference room. Until then, sit tight and patrol the base. I'll let you know when the time comes. From, Herbert."
I then looked up and I heard Hudiemon say: "And so, Mark?" "We're going to be patrolling the base just a little more, until everyone's Digimon have recovered. Once that happens, we'll be going to the conference room to discuss our next move." I said. "Not a bad idea. It's been a while since the base was guarded by anyone other than the officers, after all." Mastemon said. I nodded and smiled as I said: "I like your attitude, Mastemon! Now let's get to it!" and we continued patrolling the base.
