Disclaimer: I do not own the idea of Digimon or the characters, but the kids are my own. Now please enjoy the next chapter...
Digimon X: Game 6-Swift As A Falcomon
By DigiScanner-Shonen
We've just exited another DigiBarrier into another area. It's a kind of mix between desert and forest. There are small houses in the distance, our next stop to rest. Charlie suggests that every time we come upon a village, we rest, restock and then continue on the journey. Sounds reasonable to me and the others, but Tucker, well...
I get the impression that Tucker and Charlie don't like each other.
People know me as Erin Hiwame back home in Tokyo. I come from a rich family, but sometimes, all the wealth and luxury can become a bit tiring. Even though you can buy anything you want, you can't put a price on friends. You want to belong with others, but you can't because of your status in life.
Digimon seemed to unite people from all different walks of life. Maybe it also tied together wealthy and not so wealthy people. That's why I got into it: to show others that I wasn't as different as them because my family was rich. And to have fun. Maybe it was because of my belief in that that I'm now tied together with Tucker, Charlie, Leah and Jake in Digimon X, the new online RPG.
My relationship with Jake seems to be the strongest out of all the others. He's young, and like me, am afraid that we'll never get out of here. He reminds me of my younger brother back home and how we're usually rivals, rather than friends. I took it upon myself to become his human guardian while we're here and, in a way, try to learn to be a better sister to not only my own brother, but to everyone. I even made a promise to him that I'd be his sister and that we'd get out of here soon.
I'm not sure I'll be able to keep that promise, especially since I'm starting to doubt that we'll get out of the game.
Everyone here has his or her own personal Digimon. Tucker has a Flamon that becomes Agunimon. Charlie has Bearmon that becomes Grizzmon when in danger. Leah's got Labramon that can become Seasarmon at any time. Even Jake has Betamon who can become Coelamon when threatened. Everyone's got their own Digimon but me. I hope that I get my partner soon.
And I think I'll get my pretty soon.
On the way to the village in the distance, the sun rises higher. It's probably almost noon. I can hear our stomachs growl, mine's especially loud.
"Can we eat yet?" I ask the others.
"No way," Tucker states, "Let's keep going to the village, then we'll get Bearmon to cook something up for us."
"Takeyama, don't you hear our stomachs growl? We're all hungry and we haven't eaten since we left the Swamp Village," Charlie tells Tucker.
"Hey! YOU'RE the one who suggested that we go straight to the village to rest and restock, Charlie! I'm just taking us to the place so we can eat lunch there!" Tucker says back.
"The Digimon need to eat too or they'll be too pooped to fight! I'm just reconsidering my suggestion! So let's stop before we press on!"
"No! We keep moving until we get there!"
"I don't think you heard me Takeyama! Maybe this will make you listen?" Charlie curls up his fist.
"Yeah, sure. And here's my friend to get you to listen!" Tucker likewise shows a fist, "Bring it on, Matsuhara!"
"You're gonna regret not following my advice, Takeyama!" Charlie shouts as he rushes to Tucker with Tucker dashing towards him.
"Guys, stop!" I say as I start walking towards them, "I just asked if we could eat sooner, but I can wait until we get to the village!" My words don't seem to get them to stop even as their partners hold them back from hurting each other.
"Guys! I said, 'STOP'! And when someone says stop, you st—WHOAH!" I suddenly yelp as I meet the ground.
"Erin! Are you okay?" Jake asks as he helps me up.
"Yeah, Jake, I'm fine. But what happened?" I say as I get up.
"Looks like you tripped over something, Erin," Labramon remarks as he points his paw to what looks like a yellow talon.
"Hm? I wonder how this got here?" Leah says as bends down and begins to pull on the talon.
"Leah! Let me help you with that!" Labramon says as he goes to help Leah pull. Soon I'm with the others pulling on the talon.
"Let's all give it one big tug!" Charlie says, "On my count of three, all right?"
"Hey! No way you're counting," I hear Tucker yell at him.
"Fine! YOU count then, Takeyama."
"Good. Okay, on three we give it our all. One...two...THREE!" Tucker screams as we all give a big pull and fall backwards as the thing that I tripped on flies up into the air and lands a few inches from Flamon.
"What is it?" Jake asks and we all huddle around it.
"A Digimon, obviously," Bearmon says as he begins to gently poke at the thing, "Come on, little Digimon, wake up."
The Digimon appears to be kind of small. It has a white feathered body, with wings coming out of the sides. The talons are almost the same length of its body. Large tail feathers are at the back. It has some hair at the front, cut like Jake's, also white as the body. The beak is small and yellow and the face has a couple of war-paint marks on the cheeks. The Digimon's eyes are closed and it is breathing very faintly.
Leah pulls out her DigiVice and analyses the Digimon. A screen comes up with the Digimon's information. "DemiFalcomon. A Rookie level, Data Bird Digimon. This Digimon, while small, is not to be underestimated in battle," she reads off the screen.
"DemiFalcomon doesn't look too good, then," Betamon says as he gently lifts up the Digimon with his fins, offering it to someone to hold.
"Poor thing," I say as I take it from him and hold it. It's bigger than my hands, but not as big as the other Digimon, "I wonder what happened to it? I hope it's okay."
"Well, it is breathing, sort of," Charlie points out and I see that it's breathing slowly.
"We have to help it! Bearmon, can you make something to help DemiFalcomon?" I ask Charlie's partner.
"Sure! I think I heard somewhere of a medicine that can help revive Digimon like this. It's a mix of cacti water and flower petals, both of which are handly in the vicinity."
"I'll get the cacti water, Jake and Betamon can help," Leah says as she heads off with Jake, Betamon and Labramon.
"I'll get the flower petals. Flamon, let's go!" Tucker says as he begins to dash off. He then stops and turns around. "Um, what kind of flower petals, Bearmon?"
"Red with green diamonds," Bearmon tells him.
"Got it!" Tucker says as he heads off again.
"Charlie..." I ask the only person who's left with me, "do you think it'll be okay?"
"Yeah, it will. Bearmon's got the recipe for anything. He'll whip something up and then we'll find out what happened to it and see if we can help," Charlie tells me.
"All right. I just wanted to know that," I whisper as I continue to look at DemiFalcomon and wonder what happened to the poor thing.
"Hey! We're back!" Leah yells as she and her party come with the cacti water that's held in Betamon's mouth.
"Great! Now all we need are those petals," Bearmon says.
"Yo! Petals ahoy!" Tucker yells as he comes carrying a handful of flower petals.
"Good, now give me those ingredients," Bearmon grabs the ingredients and takes out a makeshift bowl from one of his pouches. He puts the petals in and adds the water from Betamon's mouth. "Betamon, I hope you didn't add anything from your own mouth to this."
"I didn't!" Betamon defends.
"I hope not..." Bearmon mixes it together with his claws and lets it sit for a minute. He then motions for me to open DemiFalcomon's mouth. I comply and he pours the mixture into the Bird Digimon's mouth. It swallows and we wait for a result.
The Digimon's eyes open slowly and it asks me, "W-w-where am I? Who are you?"
"Who, me? I'm Erin Hiwame and my friends and I just saved you," I tell DemiFalcomon, who sounds like, and thanks to Leah's calculations, a girl.
"You did? I can't thank you enough, then," DemiFalcomon says as she gets up and bows in gratitude.
"It's no problem. But we're wondering why you were like that in the ground?"
"Hm? Oh! I was...oh no!"
"'Oh no'?" Tucker wonders, "What's this 'oh no'?"
"My home is being attacked by renegade Digimon! They showed up a few days ago, scaring the villagers just for the fun of it! I went looking for help, but one of them attacked me and I fell! I don't know how long I was out of it, but I have to find help!"
"Sounds like what happened to me a couple of days ago," Bearmon remarks, "But thankfully, these guys came and helped me save my home! I'm travelling with them because one of them is my partner!"
"Really? You saved that Bearmon's village?" DemiFalcomon wonders.
"Uh huh!" Tucker answers proudly, "And we helped defend Prairie Digimon from a Thundermon and solved the mystery of the Swamp Monster, which turned out to be Betamon here."
"Will you do the same for my village?"
"Of course! After all, it's all part of the..." Tucker begins, but we all glare at him and he stops in his tracks.
"Part of the what?"
"The...uh...business! Yeah, the stuff we do daily!"
"Oh, thank you for helping me! Now I'll show you to the village, come on!" DemiFalcomon says as she begins to flap her wings, but they do little to get her off the ground, "Come on wings, fly, FLY!"
"DemiFalcomon, you're still recovering from what happened. You can't fly yet," Bearmon points out.
"Right, I forgot. Then we'll run. Follow me!" she says as we follow her to village in the distance.
The village is made up of small buildings made up of bricks, stones and other things. They look kind of beat down, probably because of the Digimon attacks.
"HELL-OH!!" Tucker calls out into the village.
"Ssshhh! What are you thinking, you moron?" Charlie hissingly whispers to Tucker, "First we find out what our enemy is, THEN we fight it!"
"I'm just making sure the place is still populated!"
"Well, do it more silently! First we need to find someone who'll help us with this."
"Fine! Geez, you try to help and look what happens..."
"That's not helping, Takeyama! That's trying to get us all killed!"
"At least I'm not afraid to take them head on, unlike some of us."
"You think I'm scared of fighting them? I'm not! I just think it's better to come up with a plan than go fighting blindly!"
"Will you two just shut up? You're BOTH going to get us killed!" Leah tells them bluntly, "Let's just get into one of the buildings."
"Come on, we'll go to my house," DemiFalcomon tells us as we follow her through the streets, "It's one of the only safe places in the village, a few of the Digimon are there and they'll be sure to help us."
We continue to follow, but then duck behind a wall. "That's one of them," DemiFalcomon says as the Digimon she's afraid of moves around the buildings. It's small, purple, has spikes, many long arms and looks vaguely familiar from the Digimon Encyclopaedia, "There are five in total and they've been terrorising us since they came here."
Charlie pulls out his DigiVice and analyses the Digimon. "Chrysalimon. Champion level. This Digimon is contained within a cocoon, which adds to it's defensive power. It's Data Crusher and Unconnect Buster attacks are almost certain to delete a Digimon so be extra careful when fighting against the Digimon."
"They look harmless. What could they do that's so powerful to delete?" Tucker asks. His question is answered as the long arms of one of them attaches onto a nearby building and it yells "Unconnect Buster!" There's a surge of power through it's arms and into the building, where it deletes almost instantly. We all look on, shocked at what just happened.
"I withdraw the question," Tucker says.
"Hurry! My house is only a couple buildings away!" DemiFalcomon says as we begin to run only to be stopped by a Chrysalimon.
"So, more pathetic little things for us to delete? Good! Hey guys! We got some live ones over here!" the Chrysalimon calls and the others show up.
"Not good. Definitely not good," I say as Jake holds onto my hands and the Digimon begin to circle around us, "What do we do? Fight or run?"
"I think the answer's obvious!" Tucker yells as tries to look for an opening in the circle, "Follow my lead and RUN!"
We dash towards a small opening in the circle, Tucker and Flamon go through first, making it to the other side. "Hurry up!" he calls.
Leah, Charlie and their Digmon follow suit. Now Jake, Betamon, DemiFalcomon and I are left.
"Erin, I'm not sure I can do this," Jake says as clings to my waist.
"Yes you can! Look at me, Jake! You can do this! Now go!" I shove him, Betamon and DemiFalcomon through the hole. I'm about to go next, but the Chrysalimon have cut me off.
"So your friends escaped? No problem, we'll just go after them later!" they all say, "But first things first! Data Crusher!"
They fire beams from their eyes and they hit me dead on.
"AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" I yell as I feel myself become dizzy. "ERIN!!" I hear the others scream as they can only guess what happened to me. "Data Crusher!" I hear them scream again and the attack hits me again and I scream even louder. I collapse onto my stomach and feel pain throughout my body.
"Want us to put you out of your misery? Fine! Unconnect Buster!" the Chrysalimon yell as I faintly see the arms reach out for me. They lightly touch me and send a shock through my body and all I see is darkness.
Am I dead? Did I die, leaving DemiFalcomon, Jake and the others? No, I'm not dead, I tell myself as I slowly open my eyes. I'm staring at the ceiling of a building, with the others beside me, looking down on me.
"How do you feel, Erin?" Charlie asks.
"D-dizzy," I reply as I try to get up, only to have my head spin and I'm forced to lay down, "What happened to me?"
"You were hit by the Chrysalimon's Unconnect Buster. You were almost deleted," Leah says as she applies a damp cloth to my forehead, "Jake, Betamon and DemiFalcomon went ballistic on the Chrysalimon. We managed to scare them off and get you to safety."
"We thought you were a goner," Flamon says as Tucker brings Jake over to me. Jake looks like he's about to cry.
"Hey, Jake," I say slowly and grin at him. He bends over and gives me a hug.
"I thought I'd lost you," Jake says as he cries into my shirt, "I didn't want to lose you. You take care of me here, so I can't lose you, Erin. I can't lose my sister."
"It's okay, Jake, it's okay," I lift my arms up and hug him back, "You can't lose me, I promised I'd make sure you'd get home safely, remember? Just remember that and you'll know you can't ever lose me."
"All right, Erin," Jake says as he gets up and takes his place with the others.
"Where's DemiFalcomon?" I ask the others, "Where is she?"
"She...she...she's gone," Tucker says.
"Gone? Gone where?"
"She's gone after the Chrysalimon to take care of them once and for all."
"What? Why?"
"She kept saying that's the second time you saved her and that you risked your very life for her. She vowed to defeat the Chrysalimon or die trying."
"She can't die! We're here to help her! We've got to..." I say as I begin to get up, but I drop back into bed, "Guys, help me! I've got to get to her!"
"Erin, you almost died back there! Do you want to go through that again? This time you might not be so lucky and we'll lose you for good!" Charlie states, "And you know we can't lose one another while we're here. We'd have a lot of explaining to do to your folks."
"Charlie, I HAVE to go! I need to help her! She went looking for help and found us! We helped her come back to health and now she's gone to risk it again to fight the very things that caused her and I almost certain death! I couldn't live with myself knowing that I couldn't help her when she went to fight on my behalf! Could you, Charlie? Could any of you?"
They all take this in. And smile. "It's gonna be dangerous," Tucker says.
"I know," I say.
"We may have to fight and destroy the Digimon," Leah tells me.
"I know."
"It could be long and hard," Charlie says as he pulls me up from the bed and he wraps an arm around my waist and I do the same to his neck.
"I know. But I'm ready to help DemiFalcomon."
"Then what are we standing around here for? Let's go!" Tucker yells as we head out the door and go after DemiFalcomon.
We split into teams to look for DemiFalcomon and help her. Tucker and Flamon go one way, Leah and Labramon another. Jake, Betamon, Charlie and Bearmon all stay behind to help me. We search the village, looking for DemiFalcomon or the Chrysalimon.
"You see them?" Betamon asks.
"No, keep looking," Charlie replies.
We search for a few minutes, then come upon her. DemiFalcomon, hiding behind a house.
"Erin! You're okay! I'm so glad," she says, "But you have to get out of here! The Chrysalimon are everywhere and they could finish you off! Please, Erin, leave!"
"No, DemiFalcomon. You went after these Digimon for my sake, now I'm helping you fight them for both our sakes!" I tell her.
"All right, but you'll have to keep quiet!"
"Quiet?" a voice comes, "You want quiet? I'll give you quiet!" the Chrysalimon says as he and all of his buddies come to our one point.
"Here we go again," I say.
"DemiFalcomon, look after Erin," Charlie says as he sits me down beside the wall and pulls out his DigiVice, "Let's rumble! Bearmon!"
"Ready and waiting!" Bearmon says.
"Betamon, ready to teach these guys a lesson?" Jake asks.
"School is now in session!" Betamon answers.
"Right! DIGIVOLVE!!" Charlie and Jake hold out their DigiVices and they begin to glow.
"Bearmon Digivolve to..."
"Betamon Digivolve to..."
A small mountain of rocks surrounds Bearmon while a giant pillar of water rises and swallows Betamon. Light comes from within these entrapments, lasting for a few seconds, then stopping. The rocks and water fall down to the ground and Charlie and Jake's partners have now Digivolved.
"Grizzmon!!"
"Coelamon!!"
"Let's take these guys down once and for all!" Grizzmon says.
"Right with you!" Coelamon agrees.
"Data Crusher!" the Chrysalimon fire those beams from their eyes, but the Digimon easily evade them, giving them time to attack.
"Grizzly Slash!" Grizzmon slashes at one Chrysalimon.
"Fossil Bite!" Coelamon bites at another, turning part of it into stone. This doesn't stop them as they retaliate.
"Data Crusher!" they attack again, hitting them this time. The Digimon scream in pain as the attacks connect.
"Coelamon, no!" Jake cries.
"Grizzmon, hang in there!" Charlie tells Grizzmon.
"We're not going out of commission that easily! Bear Blaster!" Grizzmon fires his beam at the Chrysalimon.
"Ancient Bite!" Coelamon sends his own blast towards the cocooned Digimon. The attacks hit, but the Digimon seem unaffected by them.
"No way!" Charlie says.
"Way! Now move out of the way so we can finish off the red haired girl and the birdie!" the Chrysalimon charge past Grizzmon and Coelamon, heading straight for DemiFalcomon and me.
"NO, ERIN!!" the others scream. I close my eyes and brace myself for the hit, but it doesn't connect. I open my eyes and see that DemiFalcomon has taken it for me as she falls down to the ground.
"DemiFalcomon!" I cry. She took that hit for me on purpose! I pick her up and look her in the eyes.
"At least...I went out...defending someone...I cared about..." she says, gasping for breath.
"DemiFalcomon..." I say as I see how bad she took the hit, "Please, don't leave us...me now! Stay, please!"
"That's one down," the Chrysalimon say as they begin to reach out their arms for me.
"NO! DEMIFALCOMON!!" I scream and hold her tight. Suddenly, I feel warmth originating from her. She rises out of my arms and the Chrysalimon retract their arms. She's glowing with light and has a determined look in her eyes. We've seen this before: it's the light of Digivolution!
That means DemiFalcomon's Digivolving to save me!
"DemiFalcomon Digivolve to..." A small tornado comes and wraps itself around DemiFalcomon. There's a large flash of light, then the light and the wind die down and in it's place stands a larger version of DemiFalcomon, but with a longer body, four bigger talons in both front and back, the wings and tail feathers are larger, and the head looks more like a great eagle.
"Falcomon!!"
"Falcomon?" I stare in wonder. This was Falcomon's Champion form?
Jake pulls out his DigiVice for analysastion. "Falcomon, a Champion Data type Bird Digimon. Few are said to exist in the Digital World, and they are known for their graceful flying. Attacks include Wing Crusher and Falcon Striker."
"Ah, a Falcomon! This should be interesting, then," the Chrysalimon say as they prepare to attack again.
"Get on my back, Erin and hold on tight," Falcomon tells me.
"All right," I comply and get on her back, holding on to her feathers.
"Here we go!" Falcomon yells as we launch off the ground and fly around.
"Data Crusher!" the Chrysalimon launch their eye beams, but Falcomon's too fast for them.
"Try this! Wing Crusher!" Falcomon flies in fast and slices two of the Chrysalimon in half, deleting them immediately.
"Whoa!" I can hear Jake say, "That's so cool, Erin!"
"I know! Falcomon, you're amazing!" I tell Falcomon.
"It's not over yet! Hang on!" Falcomon dives again towards two more Chrysalimon.
"Unconnect Buster!" they launch their arms in an attempt to delete us. We dodge in and out of the arms and land on top of one of the buildings.
"Grizzmon! Coelamon! Now's your chance!" I yell to the other Digimon as Falcomon and I take off again, fighting against the arms.
"I see what you're doing!" Charlie says, "Grizzmon, you heard her! Attack!"
"Got it! Grizzly Slash!" Grizzmon slashes again at a Chrysalimon, weakening it.
"Coelamon! Go get them!" Jake orders.
"Fossil Bite!" Coelamon bites at another Chrysalimon.
"Falcomon, let's take the last one!" I tell the Digimon I'm riding.
"Hear you loud and clear! Wing Crusher!" Falcomon slices the last Chrysalimon, but it seems to not work that time.
"I don't get it! We were able to beat the other two easily! Why can't we do the same?" I wonder aloud.
"They have cocoons for extra defence, remember? We need to combine our attacks into one strong blast to beat them for good!" Charlie yells.
"Then let's do it!" Grizzmon says as he prepares himself to attack.
"Everyone, on my mark, attack at once with energy attacks!" Charlie commands, "Ready?"
"Yeah!" we all yell.
"NOW!!"
"Bear Blaster!"
"Ancient Bite!"
"Falcon Striker!"
The three attacks' combined energy penetrates the Chrysalimon's defence and are able to destroy them completely.
"All right! We did it!" I hug Falcomon as we come down to the ground and I get off her.
"That was great, guys!" Jake cheers as he hugs Coelamon.
"Amazing stuff, Grizzmon!" Charlie says as he playfully punches Grizzmon.
"You were just astounding, Falcomon," I tell the Bird Digimon, "I'm honoured to have flown with you."
"It's I who should be thanking you, Erin. You saved me three times now, I'm eternally grateful to you," Falcomon says as she De-Digivolves with the other Digimon, "I just wish I could repay you somehow."
Suddenly, I see a light glowing in front of us. I touch it with no hesitation. It becomes a DigiVice, a light touch of pink where the others' are coloured.
"I guess this is a good way to repay me, DemiFalcomon," I tell her, "You can travel with me as my partner!"
"Really?"
"Of course. I wouldn't want any other mon to share my adventures with. And I look forward to flying with you more."
DemiFalcomon then lightly nips at my cheek, probably her way of showing gratitude. Charlie, Bearmon, Jake and Betamon all come around me and welcome DemiFalcomon to our little group.
Around an hour later, we are all gathered at the edge of the village, facing all the grateful villagers.
"Thank you so very much for getting rid of those awful Chrysalimon," one of the Digimon says to us, "But we are sad to see DemiFalcomon go."
"She'll be with us, in good care," I assure the Digimon.
"That's good to know," the Digimon replies, "DemiFalcomon, you take care now. You, and the other Digimon, must work together with these kids. Together, I predict you will do some great things."
"I will," DemiFalcomon tells the Digimon as she hops onto my shoulder.
"Before we go, though, can you give us directions? We're looking for a way out of the Digital World," Leah tells the Digimon.
"Out of the Digital World? There is no way out of the Digital World that I know of."
"That's what we're afraid of," Tucker says.
"...but I think there may be somebody who may be able to help you."
"Really? Where?" Jake asks.
"In Digitropolis."
"Digi-what-opolis?" I wonder.
"The big Digimon city on this continent. It's quite a ways away, though. I'd say about six or seven areas east?"
"Who can we look for there?" Charlie questions.
"Try the Library. They have records of pretty much anything you'll want to know. Digimon, directories, histories... They might have some information there that might help you."
"Thanks," I thank the Digimon.
"Remember, work together or you will fail!"
"We will! Bye!" Tucker says as we head off.
"BYE!!" All the Digimon wave as we go onto the next area, our team now complete.
"Y'know, we need a name for these things," I tell the others as I hold up my DigiVice.
"You're right. But what to call them?" Tucker wonders.
"How about D-Bases?" Charlie suggests.
"Nah. Doesn't sound good."
"Maybe D-Evolvers?" Jake offers.
"Uh-uh."
"Perhaps...D-Coders?" Leah adds.
"Hm, D-Coders...Yeah, that's good!" Tucker says, "From now on, these DigiVices will be our D-Coders! And together with our Digimon, they'll help us on our long and harsh journey through the Digital World!"
"Yeah!!" We all cheer.
Our team is completed. We have a destination to go to. We're looked upon as heroes by a few Digimon. We'll continue our journey here, becoming heroes in the eyes of all the Digimon. And one day, I'll keep my promise to Jake. We will all go home. It's all really simple.
I just hope it doesn't become that difficult to accomplish.
TO BE CONTINUED!
I hope you all enjoyed this part of the story and will continue to do so. Please remember to review this chapter!