Chapter 57: Unsettled Findings
Big Blue held Pixie in his hands while he dashed under the shelter of Imperialdramon's wing. "I was wondering when you would arrive," Big Blue yelled. "The young Mr. Yamato told us that, besides himself, we were to wait for a blue creature with red wings and a cannon on its back.
"That would be me," Imperialdramon answered.
"He failed to mention containers of food, however," Big Blue added, eyeing the boxcars full of grain that Imperialdramon had tethered to himself.
"Well, he didn't know about them at the time. This is also a trade mission; we're trying to get a little variety in our diets back at the base."
"I see…how, exactly, do you plan to get Pixie across the ocean?"
"Like this," Imperialdramon answered as he beamed the two of them into the force field on his back.
Blinking in surprise, Big Blue said, "This is another thing the young Mr. Yamato failed to mention…"
"Where are we now, Big Blue?" Pixie asked.
"I am not sure, milady…it appears we are…on the Imperialdramon's back…"
"He's…got a roofed cabin on his back?"
"Not exactly; this is a force field!" Davis explained. "He can carry people around in here. But one question…do you have any idea where Gary is?"
"No, and I am not sure we wish to obtain such an idea."
"Huh?"
"The young Mr. Gary is self-centered, indifferent, and a poor ally."
"Everyone says that about me," Davis shot back, "But they wouldn't leave me behind, would they?"
Big Blue didn't know how to react to what Davis had just said.
"That's Pixie that you're holding?" Davis asked.
"Yes, and her recovery is hindered. She may have an infection of some kind, or she may have lost too much blood. I am not sure; I know very little about the sciences of medicine."
"Don't worry; we'll get her to a doctor once we're back to base."
"How long will that take?"
"I dunno…a few hours, I hope."
"You can cross your world's largest ocean within hours?"
"Well…yeah…"
"How…interesting…"
"We'll be leaving once we've found Gary."
"You aim to search him out?!!"
"Yeah. We need all the help we can get."
"This is not a worthwhile move, I should advise you."
"That's your opinion. All right, away we go! Search parties!" Davis shouted.
Pixie groaned. "Big Blue, I'm not sure I can make it that long…I know I'm a strong monster, but this---is…"
"Milady?!"
This grabbed Tina's attention. She looked at Pixie's wounds and gasped. "What happened to her?"
"She fell into a pile of jagged rocks and hasn't been able to recover since. She is probably infected and will not survive unless tended to soon."
Tina gulped. She knew only a little basic first aid, and the same could be said for everyone else on the trip. But there was one idea she had… "One thing that we do a lot in healing digimon is this: we make them change forms. The injuries that one of their forms get won't be passed on to the next form. So if we could make her digivolve somehow…"
"That is a thing that is unique to digimon; disc Monsters won't evolve that way."
"Maybe not, but this is worth a try…" Tina took the digi-egg of adventure out of her pocket and said, "I hope that this is the right one…"
"Pixie, module-evolve to…Mole Sprite!"
"Milady?!" Big Blue asked as he watched her get covered in yellow armor.
"Whoa…what was that?" Mole Sprite asked, just gathering her senses.
"That was something that Hare and Tiger learned how to do…along with the rest of the disc Monster crew. These digi-eggs help us digivolve our digimon, although it's not the only way we can evolve. But we found out that they work on disc monsters, too."
Mole Sprite looked herself over. "I feel like a whole new monster! I can't explain it!"
"Then your wounds are healed?" Big Blue asked.
"Yes, they are…I just feel tired enough...to..." Mole Sprite couldn't finish the sentence before she fainted. The digi-egg of adventure landed back in Tina's hands, and Mole Sprite regressed back to Pixie. Fortunately, Pixie's injuries were gone.
"Well…at least she'll recover."
"But she has overexerted herself in this…module-evolution. It will take a great deal of time for her to regain her strength. But…as you say, she will survive."
Brock and Ash stepped out and let out Pidgeot, Noctowl, and Crobat. June and Tina also stepped out of Imperialdramon's force field. Tina switched hats, held up her digi-egg of adventure, and yelled, "Digi-armor, energize!"
"Youngdramon, armor digivolve to…Gryllotamon, the tunnel of adventure!" Gryllotamon made another transformation: "Gryllotamon, mode-change to…velocity mode!" Gryllotamon became a yellow, streamlined dragster. Tina jumped in the cockpit, and June and Tibemon jumped in behind her.
"I sure hope you have a roof, Gryllotamon!" June moaned.
"Relax, I do," Gryllotamon answered as she sealed June and Tina in. "You may want to fasten your seat belts; this form hauls!" She suddenly peeled rubber and June's head fell into Tibemon's mouth. That wasn't the best experience for either of them.
"I wish you wouldn't do that," June and Tibemon said at the same time.
"Save it for the battles," Gryllotamon answered.
"I just wish the battles wouldn't start so quickly," Tina added, noting the slagsters just in front of them. Tina squeezed the triggers on Gryllotamon's steering wheel and took a few pot-shots at them with Laser Mandible, but it wasn't long before it became apparent that they wouldn't be getting out of that one with Gryllotamon alone. "Time for a detour!" Gryllotamon shouted as she turned around and they sped into an alleyway.
"Gryllotamon, what exactly was the plan in this?" June asked.
"You'll find out in a minute. Get out." June let out a squeak of disapproval as she, Tina, and Tibemon stepped out into the cold rain. "Gryllotamon, mode-change to…insect mode!" Gryllotamon returned to her normal, bug-like form, and she began using her mandibles to dig into the ground. When the slagsters looked into the alley, all they found was a hole…and they weren't smart enough to look into the hole to see if there was anyone inside.
"That worked," Tina thought to herself, peeking out of the hole.
Joey stuck his head out of Tina's overalls pocket. "Joey no thinks that urbo-ator-jorna worth unuyon!"
June shivered. Can we get back inside Gryllotamon and start looking again?"
"In a minute," Tina answered, putting on her raincoat. "We should wait until those slagsters---"
"Urbo-ator-jorna," Joey corrected.
"…Whatever…until they don't think we're here."
June sighed and pushed her umbrella open. "Here we are again…boy, I hate this weather!"
Tina shrugged. "I'm no big fan, but at least it's not roasting out. I've told you about my metabolism and my weird blood, haven't I?"
"Yeah, you did."
"Let me tell you, I can't stand a day when it's too hot out."
"I like it hot," June answered. "I love a hot day on the beach---"
"If the water is cool enough, I'll take a day like that…of course, I've never seen a big beach like the kind you have here in Japan. Minnesota has a lot of lakes, but no ocean views…you think it's safe to get out of here, yet?" she asked.
"I am willing to risk it," June answered. They climbed out of the hole and looked around.
"Looks clear," Tibemon thought aloud. It wasn't: a humbug flew up and was just about to make its annoying, loud scream when---"Shark bite!" Tibemon spat a ring of energy at the humbug, and it fell to the ground without making a squeak.
"So much for clear," Tina muttered. She peeked around the corner of the alleyway. She looked to the left and to the right…nothing. She gave Gryllotamon a thumbs up.
"Gryllotamon, mode-change to…velocity mode!"
"Not so loud," June cautioned as she climbed in. "When it comes to being attacked, once is enough for me."
They sped away and continued searching the city, until they found the wreck of Gary's car. Tina and June stepped out and looked the car over. "Let's see…red and white convertible, thoroughly trashed, surrounded with dead saberstrikes, and covered with cooling lava…hmm… sounds like the description Ash gave us."
"So…what do we do?" June asked.
"We've been away for a while, and this is the first clue we've gotten. I think we should tell Doofus about this."
"Doofus…?" June couldn't help but chuckle. "That's good. I think I'll call him that in the future."
"And he can't complain; that's the beauty of it. I called him that once, and he shouted, 'It's Doofus, not Davis!'"
"You sure got him, there!"
"I did!"
"That was sweet, let me tell you!" Gryllotamon said, beckoning her three passengers inside. "You should've been there!"
"I wish I had been there. So…where would you go if you were trying to stay alive and get out of the rain?" A loud engine revving-noise interrupted June. "Uh-oh! Slagster!" The four of them hid behind the wreck. "Where's the noise coming from?"
"Uh…over there," Tina pointed. Sure enough: in the distance, there was a slagster---and it was loudly revving its engine and circling something.
"What's it think is so interesting over there?" Tibemon asked.
"I don't know…but, personally, I value its opinion," Gryllotamon answered.
"So…how do we get there without being seen?" June asked.
"I have one idea," Gryllotamon answered.
******
The two of them were packed like sardines, alone, terrified, and the only shelter they'd found was a phone booth. It wasn't the best way to get out of the rain, but it was the closest at the time…and neither one of them had the gumption necessary to leave it and find a better place to take shelter in. This was especially true after the slagster showed up. The two were clutching each other tightly and screaming their lungs out for fear. Their screams went up a half-octave as they saw a huge, yellow creature land on top of the slagster, pick it up, and drop it on the ground to smash it to pieces. They saw another pair of girls jump off the yellow creature's back and walk towards the phone booth, and they kept screaming. They achieved that other half-octave when one of the two girls opened the door. (Didn't they feel proud to hit a super-high C sharp?)
"Are you going to be forever in there?" the girl asked, hands on hips.
The two cheerleaders stopped screaming. "Yes!" they simultaneously shouted.
The new pair of girls rolled their eyes and sighed. "We're…looking for this guy called Gary. Have you seen him?"
"No!" "Never!" "Gary? What kind of name is that?" "Never heard of the guy!"
"Because…we were told that he travels with six cheerleaders, and he drives a white and red car. We found that car a about a block over there."
"Oh, what're you telling us for?" "That's not important to us!" "Be relevant!" "We don't want to get involved."
"…Oh, well! We have to keep looking, then." Tina pulled a pair of blankets and a pair of rain ponchos out of her knapsack. "We have to give them these, you see, and there's this guy called Ash who's hoping to meet Gary. And I bet his cheerleaders are cold, wet, and really scared, so they'll want these."
There was a brief pause. "Oh, Gary! We thought you said Harry." "Yeah, we thought you said Harry." "We're his cheerleaders." "That's him." "That's his car."
"So…do you know where Gary is?"
The two cheerleaders looked at each other, than exploded into tears. "Ga-a-a-a-ary-y-y-y!!!" "We don't know where he i-i-is!" "We can't find him, and we're all alone in this storm, and the car's go-o-o-o-one!"
"Is it good or bad that we found these two?" Gryllotamon asked.
"GOOD!!!" both cheerleaders screamed.
"Wanna bet?" Tibemon asked.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Wow…that was fun, tormenting those two cheerleaders!
I guess you're wondering about that foreman. Well, I want to create the stereotypical fat cat that lives off the backs of the working class. You know, the kind of thing that would make it up to China for that rip on communism that I did in Endgame with those C.U.R.SE. groups. I heard that it was the Internet that started the Tiananmen Square thing…maybe Endgame could end up being the next instigation against communism! …Okay, I'll admit the chances for that are a million to one. But let's think about that: there are about 800 or 900 million people living in China, right? I think it was a little less than a billion. But, anyway, one billion divided by a million is a thousand. I have one thousand chances at restoring democracy and freedom to China. …That's not a high enough number; I'm not satisfied.
Anyhow…this is getting kinda…long, isn't it? I mean, Endgame was almost done by chapter 57. In fact, chapter 58 was the epilogue: 57 was the last one, the final battle, the big ker-blooey! And here I am, still writing. Let me tell you, if Endgame didn't snag the title of the biggest, longest, most drawn-out fanfiction in existence ever, MON: 2028 will. I can guarantee that: I bet there isn't one other author that has composed a new language and an entirely new breed of creature, just for his fanfiction! …Actually, there are a lot of people out on the Internet, so…maybe someone has. I'm jumping too conclusions.
But yes, I did make a new language so that I could describe the menace machine's special attacks. You've probably noticed the patterns in their attack names, and I'll have to publish a guide to the Linonian language, sometime.