Me: This is the second (and last) chapter I'll be writing from Florida.
BWG: Aw man!
Me: Wait! You mean you're actually sad this will be the last chapter we're writing here?
BWG: No, I'm sad you're writing this chapter at all.
Me: …
Guilmon was in a wooden chamber carpeted with a grass floor. There were a few tree stumps all over the place, and a door at the end of the room. The door was held shut not by a lock, but by a strange blue flower with lengthy vines. As he approached the door, a gaggle of Numemon dropped from the ceiling. Guilmon easily took care of the slugs then examined the door. Oddly, as he got closer to the door, the flower on it covered itself in petals. Her took out his sword and hacked away at the vines, trying to get them off the door. To his surprise, they grew back instantaneously. Obviously the flower needed to be removed. He attacked the flower's bulb, but found his sword could not penetrate the petals. Frowning, he walked away in search of something he could use to destroy the flower. After he was a certain distance away, the bulb opened up again. Guilmon quickly figured out how the plant worked. It only opened when there were no possible hazards within a certain distance from its flower, but it would close to protect its delicate interior if it perceived a threat. What he really needed was some sort of projectile weapon. It didn't take long for him to find one. There was a giant nut just lying on the ground, waiting to be picked up. Guilmon grabbed the nut and tossed it at the open flower. The nut struck the delicate blossom, destroying the flower and freeing the door. Guilmon went through the cleared door, wondering what awaited him on the other side.
The next room was huge, extending up to an open sky and down to a grassy floor. There were various trees growing up from the ground, along with thorny roots waving from the walls and weird living platforms that creaked and moved back and forth along the walls. Guilmon took out his leaf and used it to glide over to one of the living platforms, then jumped to another one and glided from there to a ledge with a door on it. The only problem was there was a flower sealing the door. Fortunately, a Bomb Flower grew nearby. He plucked the bomb and threw it at the door, destroying the flower. He went through the door and found himself in a large open chamber with an abyss for a floor. What appeared to be a gondola hung from ropes strewn over the chasm. The ropes were hooked up to some sort of winch mechanism operated by a pair of fans attached to platforms on different sides of the room. The fans weren't turning, so the gondola wasn't moving. Guilmon had to figure out how to make the fans turn. On a whim, he took out his leaf and flapped it at the nearest fan. The resulting gust of wind turned the fan, bringing the gondola over to Guilmon! He jumped onto the wooden platform, and then tried to figure out how to use it to get to the door across the room. He was about to use his leaf to spin the fan again, when he realized there was probably a better way. Facing the door he had come through, he used the leaf once more, making a gust of wind that propelled the gondola all the way across the chasm! He hopped off and went through the door.
He was now in a corridor leading to a flower-sealed door. A giant nut sat on the ground in the middle of the room. Guilmon went to pick it up, but was surprised when a circle of thorny roots erupted from the ground around the nut, blocking Guilmon's access to it. He attacked the roots, only to find his sword had no effect on them. After numerous failed attempts to get through the roots, Guilmon studied his problem for a minute, and then realized that perhaps he should not be trying to get through the roots to the nut, but instead try to move the nut out from the roots. He backed away from the roots, causing them to retract into the ground. He pulled out his leaf and used it to make a gust of wind that blew the nut out of the root area and into safe ground. He picked up the nut, used it to destroy the flower, and moved to the next room.
This next room was another multi-level chamber, with a few ledges, doors, moving platforms, and a small flower/tree suspended from the ceiling by five strong vines. The level below Guilmon was the ground floor, with trees, weird-looking enemies floating around, and a boarded-up hole in the floor surrounded by water. There was a double-flower-sealed door down there, so Guilmon doubted he could do anything there just yet. He used his grappling hook and leaf to soar from platform to platform around the room, watching out for the nasty roots, and finally landed on a ledge with a locked door on the same level as the base of the hanging tree/flower. There was a giant nut sitting on the ledge. Guilmon looked around and saw another ledge nearby with a flower-sealed door on it. There was a platform ringing the flower/tree, which he could easily jump to and use to leap over to the flower ledge. He picked up the nut, jumped over to the flower/tree, and jumped to the ledge. He then threw the nut at the flower, destroying it and freeing the door. He went through the door and found himself in a corridor full of annoying Tsumemon. Whenever he tried to run past them, they glommed onto his body, slowing down. He was able to shake them off with a simple spin attack, but it still took some time to reach the door and the next room. The next room was tall, with a thick grassy floor. There was a ledge in the upper-left corner of the room containing a boarded-up alcove. In the lower-left corner of the room was a Bomb Flower. The boards were too thick to cut with his sword, so he knew he would have to use the bomb. Simple. He took a step toward the bomb and instantly hundreds of thorny roots erupted from the ground, forming a maze. Okay, not so simple. Guilmon drew his sword and used it to cut the thick grass as he made his way through the maze, knowing he would be able to use it to find his way out. After some time, he reached a fork. One path would lead to the alcove, the other to the Bomb Flower. Guilmon took the path to the flower. As Guilmon reached the end of the path, the roots retracted into the ground. But Guilmon knew if he made a move towards them, they would pop out again. He knew that there would be a wall of them blocking the direct route to the alcove. So how was he supposed to get the bomb over to the alcove? Simple. The same way he had gotten the nut. He plucked the bomb, dropped it on the ground, and flapped his leaf at it. The wind picked up the bomb and dropped it in front of the alcove right before it exploded, destroying the boards. Guilmon worked his way back through the maze and entered the alcove, where he found a treasure chest. He opened it, finding a key that would fit perfectly in the locked door back in the flower/tree chamber.
He returned to the big chamber, used the key in the door, and went through. The next room was full of water, with a gondola hanging over it. Guilmon used his leaf to bring the gondola over, and then rode it across to the next room. This room was tall and full of trees, with leafy ledges hanging from the walls. Some more of the weird flying enemies were wheeling about in the upper reaches of the room. Guilmon was a little more concerned at that moment with the wingless Mothmon that was trying to kill him. The strange insect crawled around him, looking for a chance to attack. Guilmon raised his shield in anticipation. Without warning, the moth suddenly stiffened, its eyes glowing red. The Gatling gun on its abdomen started firing rounds, launching the bug into Guilmon like a rocket. Guilmon quickly got back up as the Mothmon streaked away, only to get hit in the face as the bug unexpectedly spawned a dozen Tsumemon, all of which suddenly decided to attach themselves to him. As he struggled to get them off, the Mothmon turned around and started rocketing towards him again. The Tsumemon's weight kept Guilmon from moving out of the way, causing him to be bowled over once more. However, the attack did dislodge and destroy the Tsumemon, which was a plus. The Mothmon skidded to a halt, loaded the data of its children, and then prepared to spawn more. Guilmon quickly drew his sword and drove it into the Mothmon's forehead, killing it instantly. Guilmon loaded its data, and noticed a ladder materialize out of thin air. Guilmon climbed the ladder up to the leafy ledges, near a double-flower-sealed door. There was no nut or anything, so Guilmon ignored the door and climbed up another ladder to the highest ledge. The weird floating enemies took notice of him and started swooping in. Now that he was closer, Guilmon could see that they were Searchers, weird purple digital life forms with eyes painted on their big wings. When one of them got close enough to attack, Guilmon tried to cut it to pieces with his sword. His blade was knocked away by a sweep of the monster's wing. Suddenly deciding it might be a better idea to run; Guilmon hightailed it past the Searchers and ran to the other end of the room. As they started flying towards him, Guilmon suddenly had an idea. All but the strongest of flying creatures were at the mercy of the wind. Maybe if he used his leaf on them, he could knock them out of the sky and finish them off while they were disoriented. He took out his leaf and flapped it at the Searchers. The gust of wind surprised and disoriented the creatures, allowing Guilmon to rush in and delete them with a few swipes of his sword. Oddly, they left no data, but melted into blobs of red goo and vanished. Once the Searchers were gone, Guilmon noticed a branch he could use to swing across the room with his grappling hook. He did so, and landed on a ledge with a door on it. He went through the door and found himself in a chamber with a few trees and an alcove over the door housing two switches. There was also an alcove at the back of the room with a treasure chest that was sealed shut by wooden bars. As Guilmon took a step forward bars slammed shut over the door behind him. He looked up just in time to see a winged Mothmon swoop down from the ceiling and prepare to attack. Guilmon raised his shield instantly, saving his life from the barrage of bullets launched by the moth's Gatling gun. When the moth was done shooting, it used its Gatling gun to rocket towards Guilmon like its ground-bound cousin. Guilmon managed to sidestep the bug's charge this time, allowing him to pull out the leaf. Remembering how he had beaten the Searchers, Guilmon flapped his leaf, making a gust of wind that knocked the bug for a loop. While Mothmon was stunned, Guilmon ran over to it and unleashed a savage sword attack, severing one of the bug's four wings. Mothmon recovered and flapped away so it could perform its gun attack again. Guilmon didn't plan on letting that happen! He stunned the bug with his leaf again, and then severed another wing. He repeated this process twice more until the Mothmon was stuck on the ground. After that, it was easy to finish off the bug, but not before it could spawn a bunch of Tsumemon. After Guilmon finished off all his enemies, the treasure alcove opened up but the door remained closed. Curious, Guilmon opened the chest in the alcove and found…a boomerang! "Wow, cool! But I don't know how to use this thing."
"Don't worry, I can tell you that!" said a familiar voice.
Guilmon yelped and dropped the boomerang. "Did you just talk?!" he asked the boomerang in astonishment.
"No silly, I'm speaking to you from the stone in your pocket!" said the voice.
Guilmon pulled out the magic pebble, and then paused, frowning "Wait…you don't sound like Renamon!"
There was a groan from the pebble. "Of course I'm not Renamon, I'm Grani!"
"…I thought you sounded familiar. But how are you talking to me through the stone? I thought only the person who had the master copy of the pebble could talk to me through it!"
"…Kid, I'm the talking flying dragon boat here, remember? I'm a magical vessel, I have my ways."
"Oh."
"In any case, I've been watching you through the stone for a while now, and when you picked up the boomerang and mentioned that you didn't know how to use it, I thought, hey, why not speak up and tell him how to use the stupid thing?"
"Okay. So tell me, how do I use the stupid thing?"
"That is a Sepikmon-brand Spirit Boomerang. It is powered by the user's mind. When you attempt to use the boomerang, you must focus your will on a target, and then throw the boomerang. The weapon will automatically strike the target, and then return to you. You can target up to five things at a time with the boomerang. Try it on those crystals over the door."
"How do you-"
"The stone lets me see through your eyes. Go on. Try it." Guilmon picked up the boomerang again and looked at the crystals. Focusing on both of them, he tossed the weapon. The boomerang whirled through the air, struck both of them, and returned to Guilmon's hand. The bars on the door slid open. "Cool!"
"Yeah, wish I had hands so I could use thing. I'm sure that little weapon will come in handy, Guilmon. I should let you continue now. Good luck rescuing Mushroomon!"
"How…oh, right. The pebble. Never mind." The rock stopped glowing. He put it away and exited the room.
Back in the previous room, he dropped down to the ledge with the flower door on it and used his new boomerang to destroy both the flowers at once. With the door cleared, he went through it to the next room. He was on a higher level of the room with the water pool. Several spiky nuts hung from vines, blocking the way to a ledge on the other side of the room. Guilmon decided to use his new boomerang to get rid of the nuts. It took a while, but he managed to sever enough vines to clear the route to the ledge. He then used his leaf to glide across, and went through the door waiting for him. He was now at the highest level of the room with the flower/tree. In fact, he was overlooking the large plant! Guilmon looked at the vines holding it up and got an idea. They didn't look much tougher than the vines in the last room. He would wager good money that his boomerang could cut the vines, causing the flower/tree to drop and maybe smash through those boards on the floor below. Guilmon glided down to the top of the flower/tree, targeted all five support vines, and let loose the boomerang. The vines were sliced in a single clean motion, causing the entire plant to plummet down to the ground below, smashing through the boards and landing in a pool of water. A bit shaken by the fall, Guilmon looked around and saw a door and a small island with a fan on it. He didn't see any visible way back up the hole in the ceiling. Curious, he jumped off the half-sunken flower/tree and used his leaf on the fan. A huge wind funnel formed around the flower/tree, creating an updraft that could carry Guilmon back to the upper levels if he soared into it. Pleased, Guilmon waited for the funnel to die down then went through the nearby door. He found himself at the bottom of a Y-shaped corridor with a pool of water taking up most of the floor. A few platforms grew from the water, occupied by Tsumemon. He picked the living hands off with his boomerang, and then hopped across the platforms to the left fork of the Y. Unfortunately, it soon proved to be a dead end. There was nothing but a hole in the ceiling that Guilmon had no way of reaching. He tried the right fork and found a door guarded by Numemon and weird killer vines. The Numemon were easy to kill, but whenever he sliced apart a vine, it grew back. Finally he just gave up and ran past the vines to the door.
The next room featured a river of sorts that went forward several feet and then made a sharp left. A ledge leading along the right side of the room had a ladder leading up to an alcove higher on the wall. Hanging directly across from the corridor was a big flower suspended from the ceiling by four vines. Remembering the last giant flower, Guilmon climbed up the ladder, jumped to the flower, and cut down the vines with his boomerang. The flower fell into the water, taking him with it. The river current started pushing the flower downstream, like some giant raft. As Guilmon started floating closer to the bend, an Octomon jumped out of the water and began hurling rocks at him. Guilmon deflected the rocks back with his shield, knocking the octopus out. He did the same to two more Octomon as the flower went around the bend, finally stopping in front of a platform with a door on it. Guilmon hopped off the platform and went through the door. He was now in a room open to the sunlight. A wooden hill rose from the center of the room with a barred alcove containing an ornate treasure chest. Surrounding the hill were five pillars with crystals on them. Guilmon couldn't get a good vantage point on them from the ground, so he climbed up to the top of the hill and turned in a circle, locking on to all five crystals at once. He threw his boomerang, hitting each crystal in succession. The bars over the alcove retracted. Guilmon jumped down and opened the treasure chest, finding an eyeball key! Recalling the key from Dragon Roost Cavern, Guilmon realized that this key would undoubtedly open the door leading to the monster that was holding Mushroomon hostage. As he stowed away the key, he suddenly heard the distinct sound of bars slamming shut over the door. "Uh oh." He heard shrieking and looked up in time to see a pair of Birdramon drop two Hyogamon into the room. "Double uh oh." It was a very tough battle, but Guilmon was able to defeat the Hyogamon much like he had beaten the one at Dragoon Roost. It helped that the two ogres were stupid enough to knock each other over with their own spears most of the time they were trying to hit Guilmon. Once both were dead, the door still would not open. Guilmon looked for another exit and saw a corridor set high in the wall behind the hill. A branch hung from a nearby tree, providing a possible grappling hook point. He climbed to the top of the hill and swung out to the corridor. He went to the back of the passageway, dropping through a hole in the floor and landing back in the Y-shaped room. From there, he made his way back to the room he had dropped into with the flower/tree, and rode the wind funnel back up to the room above. He dropped down to the ground level of the large room, killed some Searchers, sliced the flowers off the door with his boomerang, and entered the next room. It was a long corridor with two data-thirsty wingless Mothmon. Not wanting to repeat his bad experiences with these bugs, Guilmon threw his boomerang at the two insects, stunning them and allowing him to kill each of them with a single sword slash. He continued down the corridor and into the next room. This room was large and round, with purple drapery hanging from the walls. There was a good deal of shallow water in the room, interspersed with small tree stumps. A short staircase led up to a huge door held shut by a giant eyeball lock. Guilmon ran up to the door and unlocked it with the eyeball key he had found. The door opened. Guilmon went inside. He was now in a chamber with roots lining the walls and ceiling. An enormous blue flower with five petals lay open on the ground. In the center of the flower was a miserable-looking Mushroomon. Guilmon had finally made it! "Hey, Mushroomon!"
The fungus looked up. "Huh? Who are you?"
"My name's Guilmon and I'm here to rescue you!" He started running over.
The Mushroomon panicked. "No! Wait! Don't come any closer-" A bulbous purple Blossomon head rose up from beneath Mushroomon and swallowed him up. It hissed at Guilmon furiously, then folded its petals around itself, sprouted about a dozen vines, and used said vines to attach itself to the ceiling and lift itself off the ground. Eight long, supple roots sprouted from the underside of the flower, growing barbed ends like whips. This was certainly not good. The monster was a MegaBlossomon, a rare flower that sometimes took days to digest its victims and was known for having almost impenetrable petals. How was Guilmon supposed to get Mushroomon out of there? Guilmon quickly rolled out of the way as one of the roots twitched and lashed out at him, barely dodging the attack. As he started strafing the flower in an attempt to dodge the deadly roots, Guilmon recalled that all the other flowers he had knocked down before were suspended too. Perhaps his boomerang would work one more time? He pulled it out, targeted five vines, and threw it. It severed the vines, causing the flower to dip a little. Guilmon saw the vines were already slowly starting to reattach themselves, so he knew he had to hurry! He started running around the plant, targeting vines that were not close to each other, and then threw the boomerang. The weapon sliced through the targeted vines and a few others too! With the loss of its supporting vines, the flower fell to the ground and opened up, revealing the dazed head of the monster. Guilmon ran over to the flower's head and started slashing at its neck, trying to sever the head and save Mushroomon. He managed to hack a bit of the way through the neck when MegaBlossomon recovered. The petals of the flower started folding inward. Not wanting to get trapped inside, Guilmon backflipped out of the flower before it could close. MegaBlossomon rose into the air again, growing back its vines and roots. It looked as if Guilmon would have to slice them down again. Guilmon started strafing again, slicing down vines with his boomerang and dodging root strokes. However, just before he could slice away the last few vines, one of the roots managed to grab him, shake him about, and then hurled him into the wall. Guilmon slid to the ground in pain and barely avoided the follow-up root whip. The flower's attack had given it enough time to fix most of its vines, meaning Guilmon had to start all over again. Now that he knew about the flower's new attack, Guilmon was better able to dodge the roots and slice apart all the vines again. When the flower dropped, Guilmon ran into the petals and started slashing away at the Digimon's neck again. When MegaBlossomon recovered, Guilmon was once again able to narrowly avoid getting trapped within the petals. As Guilmon started his strafing again, MegaBlossomon decided to use a new attack. It buried all of its roots in the ground. As Guilmon was wondering what good that would do, all the roots erupted from underneath him, sending him flying into the air. He landed with a thud, wincing in pain. He pulled himself back to his feet and saw the flower pull its roots out of the ground again and reorient on him. He began to run as MegaBlossomon buried her roots again. They shot up from the ground behind him as he kept running, narrowly missing him. As they flailed around, Guilmon targeted some vines and let loose the Boomerang. He started running again as the boomerang severed the vines and came back to him. MegaBlossomon sent her roots after Guilmon again, but he already knew how to avoid them and used the opportunity to slice down more vines. Soon enough, the flower was back on the ground again. Guilmon ran towards the head of MegaBlossomon and gave a few more sword blows to its neck, severing it at last. The flower's head squealed and launched into the air. It struck the ground and exploded into a cloud of data, leaving a dumbfounded Mushroomon behind. As Guilmon loaded the flower's data, a swirling vortex of wind appeared in the middle of the room and Mushroomon bowled him over.
"You saved my life man! I owe you one!" he said.
Guilmon pushed him off. "No problem. All in a day's work for a hero."
"Did RedWoodmon send you?"
"Yes actually. He says he needs you for the ceremony."
Mushroomon groaned. "Ah great! How are we supposed to get back to Forest Haven before the time for the ceremony is over?"
Guilmon looked at the wind vortex. "I think I have an idea. Hang on!" He grabbed Mushroomon and jumped into the vortex.
The pair reappeared on the lily pad platform before RedWoodmon, startling the giant tree. "Wha…Mushroomon! Guilmon! You're back!"
Mushroomon jumped out of Guilmon's hands and bowed to the tree. "I'm sorry I'm late, Great RedWoodmon."
The tree frowned. "All will be forgiven if we can complete this ceremony before it's too late. Children! Come out! It's time!" Immediately, the plants were all assembled around Mushroomon on the lily pad.
"Now Mushroomon, play! Play your song for the seeds of the future!" Mushroomon nodded and pulled out a violin. He began to play a light, joyous song of green forests, trees, and flowers. (Think Saria's Song) The other plants joined in by dancing wildly and erratically, jerking their bodies here and there and nearly bumping into each other. They started glowing, and pollen started to fly off them, floating up into the higher reaches of the great tree. There was a flash of light, and several great seedpods came into being on the highest branches of the tree. Putting away his instrument, Mushroomon led his fellow plants into the air, flying towards the pods. Each Digimon grabbed a seed pod and flew away, off into the horizon. "Where are they all going?" asked Guilmon.
"They are going across the ocean, to faraway islands, where they may plant my seeds and begin the process of growing new forests. They shall be gone for a few days, then return here and wait for next year's harvest before setting out again. This is how we endeavor to fulfill our dream, to one day cover this world in green forests and rid ourselves of this horrid ocean, so that all peoples may live as one under the branches of the trees…" He sighed wistfully. "It is a shame that I shall die before my dream can ever be fulfilled, but I know that my dear children shall continue this task in the years after my death. But enough about me, I believe I promised to give you something after the ceremony!"
There was a flash of light, and a green pearl with markings looking like an angel carved onto it. "This is Seraphimon's Pearl. It's what you wanted, isn't it? Take it, and use it to defeat Lucemon."
Guilmon nodded and put the Pearl away. "Thank you RedWoodmon." He was about to jump off the lily pad and leave when he paused. "By the way, I think I'd like that dream of yours to come true."
The tree smiled. "Thank you, Guilmon."
"So where to now?" Guilmon asked, hopping on Grani's back.
"We're going to Greatfish Isle."
"Greatfish Isle?"
"Yes, it's the home to a giant fish, hence the name!"
"…Can I eat it?"
"No! The fish has the last Pearl we need!"
"Oh. Okay then."
Grani took off and flew away, leaving the noble RedWoodmon and the green paradise of Forest Haven far behind.
"Hey Grani?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm still hungry!"
Me: Wow, I didn't think I'd finish that fast!
BWG: I'm sure you did a half-assed job on it.
Me: Shut up. Nightdragon0, thanks for the info on Lucemon's dragon form. I'll be sure to use it. Now, I've gotta get going. I'm leaving for home soon, and after that I'm going to LA!
BWG: …Can I come?
Me: We'll see. Do you promise to behave?
BWG: I promise not to beat you to a pulp if you take me!
Me: (Gulp.) Good enough!