Dating Miss Biyomon

I don't own Digimon.

Clarifications:

I pronounce the new name, Lethemon, in this chapter as leeth-[slight click/pause]-mon, neither quite Leethmon or Leethamon. See if you can manage that. It (she?) is an invention of my own, so don't go looking for it.
And I don't want you spinning off on any red herrings. Lethemon isn't an ex-Digidestined. She, or it, has always been a Digimon, and so have all her kind. I just feel that, while this fic is about Digital Digidestined and crest-bearing Digimon, it is also at heart a good old-fashioned Digimon adventure fic. So it's OK to have some minor characters with a mini- adventure to themselves, right?

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Chapter Six:

Control Freak

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Her name was Lethemon, she said. One of the youngest of her group. And she'd come up the mountain looking for help, growing more and more concerned as the flow of escapees almost pushed her in the opposite direction.

Gabumon followed her, increasingly anxious, as she stumbled down the mountainside in a hurry to get home. Something was badly wrong.

Lethemon stopped. "We're pretty close now," she said in a hushed voice. "Keep quiet."
"Why?" whispered Gatomon. "We've got our own Digimon."
So Lethemon told them.

Myotismon was a cunning villain. Everyone admitted this. Even his enemies, of which he had many, granted him the ability to think on his feet -or possibly wings- and to return from apparent defeat almost invariably. It was something, like the fact the sky was blue, which every Digimon and Digidestined knew.
The latest defeat, for instance, had looked pretty absolute. Not only had the Digidestined stolen Gatomon Kamiya, little Kari, possibly Demidevimon, a Digivice and the Crest of Light from under his very nose, but on his return to Castle Myotismon he had found the old place under siege by a group of furious Regalethemon who'd promptly taken all his other servants into the bargain. For once in his life, he'd been frightened. Taking a few items of furniture and some strong padlocks he had fled into the cellars of the castle.
And stopped. Something was calling to the darkest side of his nature, down there in the foundations. Something small, but oh-so-significant. Barely breathing, Myotismon started digging with one elegant talon, and refused to stop until the object was lying in front of him, somehow blacker than the darkness. He gazed at it.
Yes. Oh, yes.

When you're the smallest in a big group of Digimon you don't always get noticed. There are plenty of opportunities to slip away if you want to go. So it was with Lethemon. While her older friends carried on the siege at Castle Myotismon, she'd gone off to explore a strange-looking corridor she'd found. There was a weird sort of light in it, something eerie in the whole atmosphere.
At the end of the corridor, a door had stood open, leading to what looked like another room. But light was flooding out into the passageway, and Lethemon knew Myotismon hated such bright light. Intrigued, she'd crept closer.
Surely it wouldn't do any harm just to peep around the door? After all, it wasn't as if she intended going anywhere.
And now she'd looked and seen the strange new landscape outside there wouldn't be any harm in just taking one step into it.
At least that's what she'd thought, until she turned to go home again and couldn't find the doorway.

Lethemon had run in panic. Suddenly the alien landscape didn't seem so wondrous and fascinating. Where was the way home?
She looked around frantically. Strange beings wandered the pathways of this huge place, chattering and pushing past one another. Lethemon found a place to hide and waited in terror until dark.
Then she heard something. It wasn't the footsteps of this place's normal inhabitants. It had to be a Digimon.
It –was- a Digimon. He was hurt and tired, looking only half conscious. Lethemon just had to help him.

"Do you know where we are?" she'd asked him as she bandaged his leg. He nodded, then winced as she licked his ear to wash it clean. She hadn't noticed the scratch.
"Don't you realise? We're in the Real World." He seemed quite casual about it. "Those creatures aren't Digimon, they're humans. Weird things. Who are you, anyway? How'd you get here?"
"Lethemon," she said shyly. And she told him her story, all about the siege and the open door.
"Your buddies must be pretty powerful," he said, "to take on Myotismon."
"It's not so much of a problem. All we need to know is someone's name. Then we can just say *Look into my eyes*... and they believe what we want them to believe, for a little while."
"Crikey." It was obvious her new friend was impressed. "Good thing none of them's working for Myotismon."
"Oh, no." She shook her pretty head. "No Lethemon or Regalethemon would ever use its powers for evil. Every little Lethemon has to promise that when it digivolves from a Baby."
"Good job," he said.
"So...Do you know how to get home?" She kept her paws crossed.
"Know how?" His laugh echoed against the walls. "I could do it with my eyes closed. I've been back and forth from there to here more times than you've had... what do you eat where you come from?... sugary berries, so don't worry about THAT."
"Can you take me?"

Something wasn't right. He had brought her out on a little ridge near Castle Myotismon. The siege should still have been under way. But everything was silent and still. There weren't even any guards outside the castle. Something wasn't right.
Lethemon took her new friend's wing and started to hurry away. She felt in her heart of hearts it was time to go home.

"I can't talk about it any more. It was just too awful."
Gatomon stroked her fur. "I see. What happened to your friend?"
"He ran away. I miss him."
"Can you really do hypnotism?" asked Tento. Lethemon smiled for the first time.
"Which one of your Digimon is the youngest?... All right... And your name is... Kari?" Lethemon sat in front of Kari, looking directly at her. "Kari... Look into my eyes. Look into my eyes. Kari, you are a... er... a fish."
"Ah, come off it," laughed Gabumon.
Kari started to cough. She flailed her arms and legs around desperately, struggling against an invisible threat. Tento was the first to realise. He lifted the little Digimon and held her gently in the glittering water of the mountain stream. Kari sighed and breathed deeply.
"Kari. Look into my eyes. You are now your own self."
The little Digimon shivered at the cold water splashing over her head. "Tento? What am I doing here? Get me out of the water!"

Tento nodded. This was going to be a problem.

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Miaow227- Thanks.