Disclaimer: I don't own the Digimon, but the characters belong to the moderators and members of the Digital Connections forum – found here forum/ Digital-Connections/ 22352/ and under the "So you want to be a Digidestined?" topic
A/N: Here's to hoping the group will find more Digi Core trees – or at least the final DIgidestined teens…
Special thank you to Miss Anonymous hp for her amazing notes and background that have really assisted in piecing together this chapter, so thank you
Chapter 08
Chris and Akiza found themselves stuck at the Monmon village in Malware Square, about to become Digi-Chow when they noticed an infamous DigiCore tree nearby - the very thing they had been looking for.
Jake, Marie and Kate were being chased by a tall, dark Digimon after having learning where some of the DigiCore trees were located.
Charles, Sonja and Heather had been spending time getting acquainted with their baby Digimon whilst on the way to the Royal Knight's castle.
As for Mike and Ryan, they were in awed at the boss Digimon called Renamon fighting off Vilemon. Mike was the first Digidestined of the bunch to have a rookie level Digimon.
-o-
"Halt!" the Digimon pursuing Jake, Marie and Kate called out. "Do not be afraid."
There was no way that Kate was going to stop- having encountered evil Digimon like Chrysalimon and Datamon, she had always been suspicious of Digimon. In the effort to get away, she couldn't even use her D-Conner Digivice to find out who was chasing them.
It was only when she saw Jake disappear down a hole that she froze. "Jake?"
Marie caught up to Kate and peered over the edge of the hole into the darkness below. "Jake!" she called out.
"We have to jump- now!" Kate shouted when she saw the Digimon advancing closer and closer. "Now!" She stepped forwards, dropping down into the darkness, feeling like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Falling as if gravity was not even working.
Marie squeezed Pichimon close to her chest, feeling queasy in her stomach. "If this doesn't stop, I'm going to be sick!" In her head, she kept the same words going around again and again. 'This will all be over soon...'
The two girls came to a slow stop before they were dropped hard on the pebble floor. Jake pulled them to their feet before they had time to gather themselves. With no idea whether the Digimon has followed them into the hole, it was best to run first and ask questions later.
"You know... ever since we came to this Digital World, I feel like all we have done is run..." Kate panted, hissing through her teeth from the stitch in her side. "Woah..."
They were stood at the top of a slope, looking down into the opening of a cave. It looked like a refugee camp, with different styled tents marking out the Digimons' territories. Most of the Digimon were sleeping, apart from a few who were standing watch.
One little Digimon snapped eyes on the three and tightens it's grip on the spear it was holding. The Digimon was short and wore a samurai inspired outfit with a blue hood cloaking its face. The amber glowing eyes that could be seen reminded Jake of Wisemon. He raised his Digivice up in front of him slowly to determine the creature's name.
"Kotemon, the data type, rookie level Digimon. Kotemon sometimes take a vow of silence and train everyday with their kendo sword."
Jake took the lead in walking down the slope. "Kotemon? We are travellers- children known as the Digidestined. The three of us are running from a Digimon that was chasing us. What is this place?"
A Digimon they recognised, Koromon, bounded towards the Kotemon. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Marie followed closely. "We're seeking refuge and sanctuary. That Digimon was chasing us- big and scary looking one too."
Koromon's red eyes widened. "My Koromon friends haven't returned from their patrol... What did you do to them?"
"We didn't do anything to them!" the three teens chimed quickly.
A tremor from above started to shower dirt down on the camp. Something was trying to break through metres of the soil above them. Digimon nearby were immediately woken up, squealing with fear as they were dusted with the ceiling material. Panic surged through the cave as they fought to find someone who might be their leader. No one was stepping up.
Koromon spat at the three teens. "You did this to us. You brought that Digimon here. We're not safe here because of you!"
-o-
A rookie level Digimon called Renamon. My partner is a kick ass Digimon called Renamon. Mike thought to himself as he found himself staring at Renamon standing like a human with their arms folded.
"Take a picture Mike, it'll last longer," Renamon quipped. "Now that we've fought off that Vilemon, we should continue on our journey to finding another DigiCore tree so your new friend can get his own Digi-Egg."
Mike looked over at Ryan who was now sat down on a nearby rock. He ran a hand through his hair and thought about their next move. A strange Digimon echoed a shout like a bird call alerted the pair that they were not safe yet and partially sitting ducks out in the open of the gorge. Sandwiched between two tall cliffs that almost looked like they arched up and over them.
"So what's the plan, Mike?"
"We keep going- hopefully once we pass this gorge, it won't be long until we reach the suspected Digi-Core trees."
"What about my Digivice?"
Mike froze on his way, turning slowly to stare at Ryan with a quizzical expression. "You mean, you haven't had a D-Conner this whole time we've been walking?"
"D-Connect?"
"That's what they're called!" Mike replied with frustration brimming in his voice. "Well this is annoying..."
"I didn't exactly plan this either, Mike. My 'D-Connect' as you call it, was stolen by Datamon whilst he held me as a prisoner in the Circuit Labyrinth..." Ryan was about to mention something about Marie, but decided against it- just in case it made him out to be a bad guy. "Will I need my D-Connect?"
"There's a theory I want to test first." Mike pulled his D-Connect off his head and clenched it in his fists with closed eyes.
Catching Ryan completely off guard, Mike threw the device through the air so that it disappeared into a gorse bush.
Ryan wanted to question the other guy's actions, but decided it might be best to leave it and wait to see what happened next. What he saw next mad him feel like an audience member at a magician's performance. Astounded and in disbelief.
The other boy's hand dipped under his clothes and he pulled out the D-Connect on the same metal chain as before.
"What?" Ryan gawked at the device. "How?"
Mike concealed his Digivice again and smiled. "I call it the boomerang effect. If you focus enough on your D-Connect and feel the energy in your body, it brings it back around your neck. Datamon won't know what hit him. Give it a go."
There was a moment of utter silence as Ryan interlocked his fingers and focused on the device he had been given a fake of. With a strange sensation, he felt something was tickling his chest.
"Your face tells me that it worked- excellent! Now let's get moving. Renamon told me that there are four Digi-Core trees hidden around the Digital World. To the Spiwear temple!"
-o-
Stuck in Malwear Square, Chris and Akiza were waiting for an opportunity to escape from the Monmon. They had a feeling that they were about to become a sacrifice to an evil Digimon.
"Now!" Chris whispered, jumping up to his feet. "Come on!" He pulled Akiza up, feeling the rope on his wrists rubbing the skin red.
Akiza struggled and stumbled towards the structures they had seen a DigiCore tree behind.
Sidling through the narrow gap, they shuffled against the wall to get to the DigiCore. It was silent and dark, adding to the fear that someone or some Digimon was about to jump out and attack them. The chalky walls dusted Chris and Akiza's clothing with a powdery substance. With the wind whistling past Akiza, she felt nervous that something was approaching and hunched up closer to the other boy.
They could see the faint yellow glow of the DigiCore tree, filling them with a sense of success and exhilaration. This was the very thing they were looking for.
"What do you think they are?" Akiza asked, indicating large and round stone like shapes that were buried around the tree. She managed to free her hands from the rope ties and proceed to help free Chris.
"I don't know- maybe they're some sort of protective circle." He launched himself through the air over the stone line. "Come on, it's perfectly safe."
Akiza rolled her eyes, knowing she wasn't going to make it over in one jump. She planted one foot carefully on the stone and pushed off with the other.
"Ow- hey! Now that's no way to wake a guy up!" a voice cried out.
Akiza almost tripped, caught by Chris. "Who said that?"
A soft pop echoed nearby and the stone moved. It was a Digimon- now the stone looked more like an armour plate.
Chris let go of Akiza, whispering, "I think this is what the Monmon were calling an Armadillomon."
"Don't you know it's rude to whisper!" Armadillomon snapped in a southern accent, like a cowboy in old western films. "Now why don't you tell me exactly what you two are doing coming up to our tree?"
"We've come here to receive a gift from the DigiCore tree. There was another one tree up in the mountains, but not the one me and Akiza were looking for. We think this might be our one."
The Armadillomon wrinkled its face in deep thought. "You must be in some sorta story competition if you think I'm going to believe that. The gifts from the DigiCore are just legends and fairytales. It's not real."
Chris smiled. "Why don't you let me prove you that theory of yours wrong?"
"And let you mess around with the DigiCore? I don't think so. Please, if you wouldn't mind- I'd like to get some more sleep." Armadillomon cleared a path for the teens to leave. "Go on..."
Akiza's eyes glistened as she tried to appeal to the Digimon's heart. "Armadillomon, you don't understand. We really are a part of a group called the- um, the Digidestined! That means we have been chosen from another world to help save yours..." She started to lose her train of thought as she processed what she was now saying out loud.
"You mean, you're here to save us from Gulfmon and purify the spirits of the twelve royal knights?" Armadillomon asked slowly, still unsure about the story.
"Yes, and then some other stuff too! But what's inside the DigiCore trees are our Digimon part- friends... we've seen it happen, so if you just let us do our thing and then we'll be on our way, I promise."
Chris nudged her aside. "And we're on a tight schedule- what with us originally being the Monmon tribe's sacrifice in their weird Revival ceremony..."
Armadillomon's eyes narrowed at the sound of the other Digimon's name. "In that case, I'm going to offer you safe sanctuary within the Armadillomon circle. Those Monmon might think that they have Malwear Square, but you're not going to be their sacrifice today." The Digimon paused, checking the other sleeping Armadillomon the pair had mistaken for stones. "So whilst you're within the circle, you will not come to harm at the hands of the Monmon."
Chris nodded, going to the DigiCore tree. He saw the circular mist in the tree trunk, same as before on the Docu Mount. Bracing his hands, he prepared to force them into the circle and hopefully pull out a Digi-Egg. The anticipation got to Chris, who gasped when he felt the cold, slimey texture inside. His eyes widened when he found something.
Akiza immediately picked up on this. "You found one, didn't you?"
Pop!
Out popped a Digi-Egg in Chris' hands. "¡Si! ¡Si! ¡Si!" he exclaimed, jumping about in celebration.
"Looks like it's my turn..."
Akiza took up a position in front of the circle haze on the trunk of the tree. "This is never going to be a normal occurrence, is it?"
A tremor caught her off guard, nearly causing her to pull away from the DigiCore tree.
The stone stirred, multiple Armadillomon poking their heads out the dirt to see what's going on. They mumbled amongst each other until they snapped. Whipping around on Chris and Akiza, approaching slowly.
"Armadillomon!" Chris called our, hue eyes darting between the Digimon to find the one that helped them, but they all looked the same to him.
"Diamond Storm!"
-o-
"Did you hear that?" Sonja asked, whipping her head around to look behind their new camp.
Charles shook his head. "Take no notice Sonja, I didn't hear a thing. This place really does know how to confuse us. A random fridge with eggs, bread and milk? What's not to like, I guess..."
"I hope it's not someone else's," Sonja replied, perching on the ground beside the campfire and watching Conomon playing with Ketomon and Nixmon.
"So- I'm thinking we do some fried bread?"
Heather looked over at Charles with a puzzled expression. "You mean like... eggy bread?"
"Well that's another term for it, I suppose."
The three baby Digimon watched in awe and curiosity as their human partners started to cook the bread based meal. There were positive murmured as they started to tuck into the delicious meal.
Ketomon headbutted Charles shin playfully. "Come on! We want some too!"
The three teens came to an agreement to share quickly- unaware that they were about to meet three new Digimon. Three in training level Digimon.
"Ketomon digivolve to Hopmon."
"Conomon digivolve to Kokomon!"
"Nixmon digivolve to Moonmon..."
The newly digivolved creatures leapt up onto their partners.
Heather smiled softly at the grey droplet that was on her lap. "So it looks like food was the key to get you to grow to this new stage- and your names change too?"
"Uh-huh!" Moonmon beamed. "I'm now in my in training form. Next we'll be in our Rookie form."
Kokomon jiggled about, looking around her. "Don't get your hopes up though guys- I don't think food is going to be the constant answer to digivolving!"
The group laughed for a moment, their joyous giggles fading away into sighs.
"We really should continue making our way to the Alphamon's Castle in the South..." Charles said positively. "If things really are as bad as the passing Digimon have said, we should make haste in the hope that we can stop whatever force is trying to take over the Digital World."
Heather nodded. "You're right, but we also need to remember that the Royal Knights haven't been seen for a long time. How do we even know that we'll find them."
"That's why we've got to keep going."
"As soon as it's morning and we've all had something to eat, we'll try to quicken the pace, okay?"
-o-
"Diamond Storm!"
A yellow fox sprang into the air with its limbs spread out. Glowing diamonds appeared in front of the large creature, preparing to shower down on the Armadillomon that were closing in on Chris and Akiza.
"No!" Akiza squealed, pulling out a Digi-Egg of her own from the tree. "No!" She screwed her eyes shut, leaning back against the DigiCore and trying not to fall into the trunk circle.
The diamonds rained down on the Armadillomon, making them whipped around to see the fox Digimon land on the ground.
"Diamond Shell!" one Armadillomon bellowed, spinning into a ball.
It rolled quickly towards the fox, but a boy ran in front of the fox with his arms spread wide.
"Enough!" he shouted abruptly.
Armadillomon skidded to a halt. "Another one- you are... you are like them?" It's head turned to look over at Chris and Akiza. "The DigiCore tree is here to serve its purpose..."
The boy nodded slowly, his breathing unsteady. "Yes. The DigiCore trees will or has given us the gifts that we seek. The Spiwear temple gave me Renamon... Now this tree has given them theirs... I'm Mike by the way."
Chris and Akiza gave their names and watched the Armadillomon settle, drawing nearer to the DigiCore.
A thunderous stampede headed towards them immediately after. The Monmon tribe were coming, and they were not happy.
"Monmon, prepare for an attack on the Armadillomon for stealing our sacrifice!" they heard the chief Monmon shout.
Armadillomon snapped back, shouting, "Armadillomon, let's show the monkeys that we know how to peel a banana or two..."
"What?" Akiza murmured, trying to follow Armadillomon's thought process.
-o-
Kate pulled Marie through the crowd of panicking Digimon. "There must be a way out- a cave of a tunnel or something - can you see anything?"
"Up there!" Marie pointed halfway up the cave wall at a small ledge that looked like the opening of another passage. "If we could get up there, that should lead out of here..."
"But how?" Kate looked around, scanning the cave. The flap of her bag moved and Bellemon poked her head out.
"Look- we can climb up the vines." Bellemon bounded out and dropped to the ground. "If we bind enough together, it'll be a bridge strong enough for the Digimon."
"Great idea Bellemon. Marie, try and get Jake's attention. He can climb up the first vine and explore up ahead."
Without arguing or questioning the plan, Marie darted to where she had last seen Jake. He was standing side by side with a string of Kotemon at the mouth of the cave. They were waiting in anticipation of the approaching Digimon.
"Jake- me and Kate have a plan to get all these Digimon out of the cave but we need your help..." Marie whispered quietly, before explaining the plan.
"If you guys think it'll work." Jake sidled along the wall of the cave as Digimon ran about in chaos.
The climb up was relatively easy, but squeezing through the crack in the cave wall that the girls hoped was an exit was not. Rather than forcing his way through, Jake called back to them to send Digimon up. The thunderous rumblings were startling and made everyone jump.
"Okay Koromon, Kotemon and any other Digimon... climb up these vines to safety- there's a way out this way!" Kate called out, trying to get their attention.
Marie knew she should help Jake at the top and started to climb a separate vine, trying not to look down. At the top of the ledge, she pressed her body against the wall when she realised how high she was. The stomach turns were not helping the situation either. The Koromon and baby Digimon were beginning to pile their way through the crack in pursuit of Jake. It was the Kotemon that stood firm at the mouth. A large boulder dropped down from the ceiling and crushed the cone bridge.
Kate fell back and saw a small cluster of baby Digimon wailing at the crushed vines.
"It's okay, let's get you guys in here..." she opened up her rucksack and placed Bellemon on her shoulder before letting the Digimon that looked like balls of wool into the bag. Gently throwing the bag over her shoulder, Kate called out to Kotemon in a last attempt to get them to leave with her. As she started to scale one of the spare vines, more dirt showered down on her and littered the ground below.
"No where to run now!" a low voice boomed from below Kate.
Her hands trembled with fear when she pulled herself up onto the ledge. "Kotemon please!" Kate whimpered, reminding of how Darcmon had been lost to the cause because of her. It was something that had played on her mind.
Bellemon whispered in her partner's ear. "We need to go- the Yuramon are beginning to panic about why we've stopped..."
Kate opened her bag to let the Yuramon rush through the crack and took one last look at the Kotemon.
One of them was rushing towards her as a large crash ripped through the cave.
She leant over the edge, grabbing a clawed hand to help the Digimon up.
"I will lead... the refugee Digimon..." Kotemon wheezed.
Cries of pain ripped through the air as the Digimon struck the Kotemon, de-digitising then into a static mess. Kate wanted to see exactly who was chasing them, but forced herself to run.
Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = Another chapter out of the way – I guess I'm going to apologise now for the slow pace of the story, I'm just struggling for ways to integrate all of the characters without rushing it – any pointers on how to combat this, let me know!
