(Chapter three: Burning Recollection)
Ogremon looked off in disbelief, his new rival was just sent off the cliff and taking what would have been his fate if he hadn't evolved. The two Agumons who had head-butted him away from attempting to grab the being now stood in front of him.
All three Agumons grouped up together and were ready to face a new threat, as well as Ogremon in front of them. The human was strong when it came to In-training and Rookie Digimon, but facing a champion was another thing. They saw how she reacted to the Kuwagamon that flew overhead, and it made the two Agumon realize just how foreign the human was.
Of course, it scared them too, but one thing at a time.
"Are you two nuts?!" Ogremon yelled at the group "I thought you four were allies or something!" He pointed off towards the cliff, where his rival had been previously.
"We are, but she needed to escape!" The first Agumon yelled back "We're trying to keep her safe from you as she did with us!"
"Telling her to jump off a cliff might have been a bit too much, but the water flow will keep you from sniffing her out!" The second Agumon shouted.
"You deal with us now." The third announced, charging forward and yelling "Pepper breath!"
The fireball shot out at the champion Digimon, hitting him in the face and making him back up. Ogremon growled out in frustration that this first group he wanted to fight was actually fighting.
But he had lost interest in them since that girl appeared, he wanted to fight her! Not these overgrown geckos.
The Kuwagamon that had flown over was making such a ruckus above them, eventually started diving for the group of Digimon; so much was happening that it greatly annoyed the Ogre Digimon.
"Will you shut your yap!" He punched his fist out and yelled "Pummel Whack!" And a large purple force was flung straight at the large beetle.
He landed the hit, making the Kuwagamon swerve to the side slightly but twirled back in the air, and dived directly at Ogremon. It made him realize that might not have been a good idea.
"Hit the deck!" One Agumon yelled, jumping out of the way, the other two followed their friend's actions. They watched as the two champions Digimon duked it out, one was fighting for territory and the other was just angry about the whole situation.
"On second thought, I think it'd be best if we retreated." One said to the others, nervously watching two champions "let them fight it out."
"Aw! But we barely just started!" The fighting one said looking at the first one "can't we stay a little longer?"
"We just sent our friend down a cliff and into rapids-" the second Agumon said, visually stressed "we have to make sure she's okay! While we still can." They had to take this opening while the two bigger Digimon were distracted.
"Yeah, you can fight all you want later!" The first one said, taking off and down an unstable path that was running alongside the large river. If they're not careful, they too might get sent down rapids.
They had to meet up with her somehow. They hoped the human was still okay.
Sabrina struggled to keep her head above the water, trying to not hit objects along her wild ride. She was adequate at swimming, but she was not a tournament or Olympic winner. Swimming cost her more fatigue than actual running.
Eventually, the waters had calmed down, and the human got snagged on a nearby riverbank. All of her belongings, the leaf bag, her rock knife, all washed away from her as she had struggled... only a few things washed up with her.
Her sunglasses, at least a half-day of food of four power bananas, and two digicarrots.
Sabrina's back laid on the bank, facing the sky. It was colored an orange hue and she was just... at a loss for words as she breathed out heavily. The death grip on her sunglasses was released as her mind replayed what exactly just happened.
Tears pricked her eyes as she tried to not make a sound, she knew something bad would happen, but nothing like this. She never thought she'd end up in a different world when she went out into the woods. Sabrina never thought she'd have to survive and fight to see another day.
This place was insane! She could have dealt with the monsters if they were all small like Goblimon and the Koromons, but that... that large titan of a beetle- no. She couldn't handle that. She couldn't fight and she couldn't stay by her new friends' side.
She couldn't even make a proper plan to get rid of Goblimon, and instead gave him the power to evolve.
Letting go of her glasses completely, she slowly placed both hands to her face and whaled out. This place was real, the fear, the pain, was all real. She wasn't home anymore and she couldn't figure out how she'll get back.
She thought of her family and wondered if they were missing her if they knew she was gone. She cried out because missed them.
Just a moment, that's all she needs. Just a moment to herself. If anyone heard her, Sabrina couldn't care less anymore.
When the tears finally subsided and she was too tired to cry any longer, the human sat up slowly. Rubbing her face she looked over to her glasses and hung them on her collar of her shirt. She was soaked, cold, and now tired, but she had to keep moving.
Though as she hesitated, she thought that's what her new friends would probably want her to do.
She'll rest when she finally finds a safe place to sit. So gathering up what was left of her supplies, she stood, rubbing her face once more. The anxiety of the dark was started to kick in and it made it all the more troubling now that the monsters are real.
There seemed to be more misshapen signs everywhere lining the forest. Some signs were propped up by metal, bent out of shape and others hung from trees. This place was just one surprise after another.
Taking a bite out of a banana, Sabrina looked around for a passable structure for shelter. The sun was almost out of view and so far she hadn't seen anything.
"I don't know if silence is a good thing here or not..." she muttered.
Eventually, the human ran across a cave, well... it wasn't really a cave, more like something carved it out; a slant hole in the rock wall. Looking around, she made sure the place was really empty.
"Looks like I'll stop here for the night..." she looked at the hole, thinking about how she could make this place a little more secure. Taking a look around her surroundings, there were large rocks, fallen logs, and leaves.
Her rock knife was gone; she couldn't cut the leaves down with ease, so that will be off her list. The rocks and logs seemed like a good choice to make a protective wall, but she feared she might not have enough strength to move a single one.
"God, I'm too tired for this..." she ruffled her hair around in frustration. "A fire should be my main priority for now." She shivered, still damp from before.
Nighttime rolled in, a small fire roared and crackled, embers flying aways and turned to ash. Sabrina held her coat up, doing her best to dry it out, along with her socks. She'll worry about her pants and other clothing later.
Her strange device started beeping again, making her drop the coat for now and look at it. The same thing was happening before, but the arrow was pointed in a different direction, away from where she came. This device was definitely trying to lead her somewhere, but frankly, she was way too tired to care.
Sitting close, but no too close to the fire, Sabrina thought it'd be best to finally get some rest. Today was not a good day, and way too exhausting.
"God, I'm starting to miss my bed-" Sabrina stood up after sleeping on the ground and in an odd position no less; stretching out her back you could hear a few audible pops and cracks.
She never found it a problem since her bones crack all the time, "for a twenty-year-old, I'm sure feeling older the I really am..." she placed her hand on her sides in thought.
Looking around the shallow cave, she was half expecting the Koromon... or Agumon now, to greet her, but... That wasn't what happened. Being alone was alright but never for too long. Plus... she misses those funky little guys.
"Honestly, now that I think about it... I'm surprised I survived that fall." She looked at herself, then for her coat and the odd device, that once again started causing a commotion. She looked at it annoyed "what? What is it!?" She shook it around in aggravation.
The arrow had changed into a circle, but she still couldn't understand what it meant.
"I don't understand you!" She yelled out, holding it closer to her face.
A fireball came crashing at her feet, making the girl jump and yell in fear. She was caught off guard once again when she looked up; A man who was made out of fire stood before her at the entrance and he wasn't looking too happy.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" He had a gruff voice that asked calmly but held authority.
The human was at a loss for words, she was scared, but astonished that there was a living burning man in front of her. "I- well-" her words stumbled, and not too soon after her stomach growled.
The funny thing was? So did his.
"Looks like... I'm not the only one who's hungry.." she called out with a meek smile.
He growled out, but more in embarrassment.
"Hey, so here's a deal..." Sabrina held her hands up, looking at him "I'll help gather food and you don't fry me?"
The man side glanced at her, considering the offer. He then hummed out "fine. You will answer my questions along the way." He pointed out.
The human just frantically nodded.
"So, human, you're pretty far from home." The Digimon stated, looking at her. "How'd you get here?"
Sabrina was pretty surprised that he knew what a human was right off the bat "Yeah... I... have no idea how far exactly though." Sabrina spoke back, busying herself in something. "As for how... I'm still not entirely sure either. I might have hit my head or something..."
Whatever problems this fireman... Meramon, Sabrina found out, had against her sneaking into his home, were set aside. The human girl sat on a stone near a lake, beating away a smaller rock with another.
She was trying to make a spearhead this time, a simple knife won't do. This is also where her creative side comes into play; they need food, and she needed Protein. Don't get her wrong, fruits and vegetables were nice, but Sabrina missed eating meat. The best source for it was this lake that was nearby. She can see why the fire being refused to go anywhere near it, however.
Meramon sat far from the lake on a rock as well, yet they still had small talk. "I've been to the human world once, long ago..." he seemed thoughtful "I wonder how they're doing..." he mumbled that last part mostly to himself.
"Really...?" A grunt escaped her mouth as she got up and looked for some vines she could use to tie things together. "Did you meet a human? What were they like?" The small rock was fairly sharp from grinding it down against the stone she was sitting on.
"Small, and frail-looking.." he hummed out "but she was a good person."
"You make it sound like she's dead." Sabrina looked back at Meramon with a side glance.
Meramon was now in a deeper state of thought; Recalling the small child; remembering how he ended up back in the digital world. "There was a fight; I was in it." He said looking at his hands "I wanted to protect her... I needed to protect her."
"Must have been a really good friend" she stopped and looked at him, noticing the pain in his face. It stopped her from wanting to know what exactly happened.
"The best." He smiled.
The emotional moment was cut short when Sabrina cheered, however, changing the subject "There we go!" looking over her handy work, she then walked over to the shallow bank to get a good look at what could be swimming by.
Spotting a decent-sized fish, she focused "One... two... three-!" A spear zipped through the air, and splashed in the water, barely missing the fish. She growled out in frustration, she could just feel Meramon staring at her. Calmly stepping into the water she stood still, keeping an eye out for any other moment.
To no luck, Sabrina started to get frustrated, even more so when Meramon started stifling his laughter after every odd noise the human was able to make when she kept missing her mark; she finally gave up and crossed her arms at him "Like... I know you're made of fire..." she turned around "But a little help here...?"
Making a noise of protest and not wanting to get anywhere near water, Meramon stood up. Slowly inching closer to the human to see if he could actually be of some help. No, he just could see it being possible.
Unless...
Looking into the lake as he hummed, without warning he shouted "Blazing Flame!" Once he sighted a rather large fish. The fireball zipped past Sabrina and made contact with the water, making it bubble from the heat. In a surprise, the fish actually jumped out of the water in fright from the sudden attack.
Quickly as she could trudge through the water, she grabbed her coat off her waist and used it as a net to grab the falling fish. She turned her head over to Meramon with the stupidest grin "That... That actually worked! It shouldn't have- but it did!"
She didn't care if she was going to smell like fish later, this was going to be fun. Possibly the only fun she'll ever have. Might as well make the most of it.
Today was an eventful day, Sabrina managed to catch some decent-looking fish with Meramon's help as they hauled it back to their little hole in the wall. While her small fire burned, She was skimming her fish with a smile. At the same time, she watched Meramon grab half of the fish and literally cooked them in his hand.
The human looked surprised at what he was doing and questioned "Hey, aren't you going to... you know... remove the scales...?" Sabrina tilted her head and watched him.
Before she even got an answer, Meramon was already eating the cooked fish. She watched him as he managed to eat despite having stitches over his mouth.
Meramon hummed in question at her shocked face.
"Never mind." She got back to her fish cleaning. But while Sabrina was doing what she was doing, she had to ask a question that bothered her "by the way... why are you- a being made up of pure fire... doing in a forest like this?"
Finishing what he had, Meramon looked at the girl as she stabbed the fish onto wooden sticks and watched them roast.
"I'm may be made up of fire, but not everything I touch will combust." He folded his arms, and then looked her dead in the eyes "and as to why I'm here..." he growled out "I'm looking for a certain Digimon. The same Digimon who brought me back to the digital world."
Was this about the fight he mentioned earlier today? Sabrina sat in anticipation; a quest for revenge it seems.
"If it weren't for that blasted monkey, I'd be living a nice life with my human friend..." he grabbed a stone next to him and held it tightly. He seemed to burn a little brighter in anger.
"Personally... I'd see that as a problem," Sabrina stated, and Meramon tossed the rock in aggravation. This made the human recoil back. "Whoah! Hold on! What I'm trying to say is; Hiding a man made up of fire is a hard thing to do! Think about it!"
It took Meramon a moment, then realized that his anger was getting the best of him. He huffed out smoke; she had a point, but still, he wished he was able to say goodbye... his last moments of seeing his friend was pure fear on her face.
Slightly upset, Meramon got up and went as far back into the shallow cave as he could. Back facing the human he decided that it was about time to rest.
Feeling slightly upset that she angered Meramon, Sabrina stood up grabbed a fully cooked fish, and sat outside. She looked up at the stars and noticed she couldn't see Orion's belt at all. In fact... all the stars were different here.
It still made her homesick.
Sabrina guessed she was sharing this home with a living fire being now. If they both helped each other, they won't go hungry, and she'll be safe and warm. Taking out that strange device from before, she stared at it. It hadn't made any more noise since this morning.
Listening to the breathing from the other side of the cave, Meramon was definitely asleep, but this felt strange. Something in the back of her mind called out to her again; something familiar.
Though, Sabrina still needs to find a way home. Here's hoping that Meramon can help her.
Maybe.
Just maybe.