Chapter 31: Gold Acorn Hunt
Tentomon wasn't lying about the external help.
Just as Guy, in Blitzmon form, left the Tree Tower, a silver beetle crept towards him. It had introduced itself as Searchmon, an Armor-level insect Digimon who could detect the smallest sounds and vibration in the area with the radar on its back. It looked bulky, but its height barely reached Guy's waist.
The beetle guided Guy through the palisades of giant trees. As they walked, Guy couldn't help but observe the trees, which had doors and windows carved onto them, and the insectoid residents. Since he arrived here, the insect Digimon had drawn his attention; their compound eyes and the appendages around their mouths never deterred them from expressing their emotions.
"We insect Digimon live together in harmony, but a lot of us actually love fighting and showcasing our power. That's why we have the Beetle Tournament monthly."
Guy kept looking at Searchmon as it talked. Its face was still, its compound eyes showed no emotion, reminding Guy of himself back when he'd just started acting with the Winter Troupe. Yet Guy could feel its enthusiasm in guiding him.
"I got something in my face?" Searchmon asked. "My radar didn't catch anything."
Guy pulled back a bit. "No. I apologize for my impudence."
"If you have a question, ask away!"
Indeed, Searchmon sounded so childlike and peppy. Much like the youngsters in the dorm, Guy had to say.
"Can you...smile?" Guy asked.
Searchmon chuckled. "Oh, what a funny question! Sadly, I can't. A lot of us can't. Our facial anatomy keeps our faces from showing emotion."
"But everyone's emotion always seems to come through?"
"We adapt to it! Because most of us are born this way, we learn to express ourselves with something else: gestures, speech, etc. Some of us can't rely much on gestures though."
Guy nodded in his understanding. He remembered seeing a few Wormmon, Dokunemon, and Kunemon in his journey; those little guys were caterpillars.
"HerakleKabuterimon always tells us, 'It's the heart that matters!' It's correct. It's easier to express ourselves if we put our heart into our speech and action."
"Put our heart into our speech and action…"
That reminded him, after acting with the Winter Troupe for more than a year, he'd tried even harder to put his heart in his speech and action. Perhaps his love for his troupe mates, and also their love for him, gave him the push to try his best all the time.
Ironic, wasn't it? People always associated "winter" with cold, but Guy always felt so warm around the Winter Troupe.
"Hmm, my radar detected something." Searchmon crept past Guy and towards the cluster of big trees ahead. They lacked doors and windows.
Guy followed the silver beetle and stopped beside it, in front of one of the smaller trees among the cluster. A green pupa with a pinecone-like shell as its lower body was hanging on a branch with a vine-like extension on its head. It had a pair of regular instead of compound eyes, just like most non-insectoid Digimon. Guy could easily see the annoyance on its face.
"Oh, it's Minomon," Searchmon said. "How are things?"
Minomon hissed. "This acorn hunt tradition is annoying. I gotta move around to find a good spot to enjoy the forest breeze."
"There are many acorn hunters right now?"
"Nah, it's already the last few hours, so there are only MetallifeKuwagamon and Shadramon. But HerakleKabuterimon is also there to find inspiration for his poem. 'Acorn hunt is rife with battles!' it said."
"Wait, Shadramon? You mean that Armor-level Digimon? Man, it still hasn't given up on its dream yet!"
"It only makes things noisier than ever," Minomon grumbled. "Like, why bother trying? Perfect- and Ultimate-level Digimon always dominate the tourney in the end."
"There's nothing wrong with trying I guess."
"It had better not take it too far. We don't need another GranKuwagamon incident here."
"GranKuwagamon incident?" Guy asked.
"I'll tell you once we get the Gold Acorn," Searchmon replied. "It's a long story."
"Very well."
"Please end this madness soon," Minomon pleaded. "I'm tired."
Searchmon nodded. "Well, we gotta be fast anyway. There are only around five hours left until the deadline." It crept past the tree Minomon was dangling on. "C'mon, Mister."
Guy followed Searchmon into the depths of the forest, but not without surveying the surroundings. Some trees stood out for their weird fruits like orange bananas and blue apples, which would help him find his way back to the Tree Tower just in case something bad happened to Searchmon. Not that he'd let any harm befall the silver beetle anyway; it'd helped him so much, so Guy thought he should thank the little critter by protecting it.
Reaching an aggregate of oak trees, Searchmon halted. "You can find Gold Acorns around here. They're big and shiny like a chunk of gold."
"Won't the branches snap?" Guy asked.
"That's why you usually find them lying on the ground instead of hanging on the trees- Hmm, I sensed something." Searchmon crept ahead and looked around. Then it looked up. "There's one! It's still hanging on the tree!"
Guy opened his forewings, jumped into the air, and flew towards the skewed, close-to-snapping branch that bore the Gold Acorn. Best to snatch it before someone else did; he had the strength and the armor to defend it, but not the speed to retrieve it from a rival. He couldn't recall having a good ranged attack as Blitzmon either.
"Look out!" Searchmon shouted.
When Guy reached out an armored hand, a crimson figure whizzed past him. The Gold Acorn vanished from his sight.
"Mister, turn around! Shadramon got the acorn!"
Guy turned and buzzed towards the fleeing crimson-armored humanoid insect, but the distance quickly grew so big that he could barely see it. Maybe he should just relent and try finding another Gold Acorn in the forest.
Shadramon suddenly stopped in its tracks, allowing Guy to catch up. Much to his surprise, the humanoid insect plummeted to the ground just like that.
Approaching Shadramon, Guy found a gash on its armored chest. Shiny golden particles spewed out of the wound.
The Digimon huffed. "It's MetallifeKuwagamon…"
Guy looked ahead and saw a humanoid beetle clad in golden armor gliding away from them. Its hand had a big saber formed from the laser blades that jutted out of its fingers.
A light bulb went off in Guy's head. He picked up Shadramon by its legs, whirled, hurled it at the fleeing Digimon, and resumed his flight. Shadramon screamed as it drew closer to MetallifeKuwagamon. Guy should've electrocuted it senseless so that it'd be a quiet projectile, but Shadramon didn't look like it'd survive it. It'd also take more time.
The humanoid beetle dived out of harm's way, and Shadramon slammed into a tree and slid down limply. Thankfully it was still there instead of exploding into crimson dust.
No matter how fast Guy flew across the forest, the distance between him and MetallifeKuwagamon wouldn't shrink. He probably should just give up and try to find another Gold Acorn in the forest, but soon decided against it. There was no telling whether there was another Gold Acorn or not; if the one in MetallifeKuwagamon's hand indeed were the last one, they'd have to wait until next month for another Beetle Tournament.
Guy looked around for something to throw, but found nothing. Tree branches wouldn't even scratch MetallifeKuwagamon's armor, whereas uprooting and throwing a tree would take too long.
Then from the bush, a leonine figure sprang and crashed into MetallifeKuwagamon. Both of them fell to the ground, with the armored lion's forepaws crushing the humanoid beetle's arms against the terrain. The Gold Acorn slipped out of its grasp.
Guy landed beside the armored lion and MetallifeKuwagamon and picked up the acorn. "Takato?"
"Get lost!" MetallifeKuwagamon struggled against Tasuku's hold, but to no avail. Its kicks didn't even bother the armored lion. "You don't even qualify for the Beetle Tournament!"
"My friend does, and I'm helping him out," Tasuku deadpanned. "Got a problem?"
Rare words from Tasuku's mouth. Guy could only stand still.
Roaring, MetallifeKuwagamon tried to headbutt Tasuku. Before its horns could poke Tasuku in the eye, the armored lion clamped his jaws on one of them and bit it off. MetallifeKuwagamon shrieked and reeled back in pain.
Tasuku spat out the broken horn. "Guy, grab the Gold Acorn and run. Don't worry about me."
From the looks of it, Tasuku shouldn't have a problem holding back MetallifeKuwagamon but… And Searchmon… Guy had left the silver beetle behind.
"Leave now! Wait at the Tree Tower! I'll be back!" Tasuku shouted as MetallifeKuwagamon attempted another headbutt. His jaws and teeth broke another horn.
Guy nodded and jumped, his forewings opened. The rapid flapping of his hindwings sent him buzzing across the forest. As much as he wanted to, he never looked back. Tasuku and Searchmon should be fine, shouldn't they? Guy could feel the accelerating heartbeat in his chest.
Guy retraced his steps to the orchard of weird fruit trees, then to the tree on which Minomon was hanging. Remembering Minomon's complaint, he took a slight detour to avoid bothering the pupa Digimon. He was close to the destination; he could even see the colossal silhouette of the Tree Tower right now. This shouldn't cause any problem.
Flying past the tree houses and drawing closer to the Tree Tower, Guy heard the cheer from the surrounding insect Digimon. It was supposed to speed him up, yet the thoughts of Tasuku and Searchmon held him back.
No. Tasuku's and Searchmon's help would be a waste if he messed up. He should never slow down.
After flying around the large trunk, Guy spotted the entrance of the Tree Tower and flew into it and down the hollow center of the building. Somehow, his body felt like it could handle another long, fast flight across the forest. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush. Or maybe the evolved form increased his stamina to beyond superhuman levels. Or both.
Once he reached Tentomon's desk and put the Gold Acorn down, the ladybug Digimon said, "Congratulations! Everyone, we have a new challenger this month!"
The surrounding insect Digimon erupted into loud cheers.