South Digimon Diaries
The story of the Digi-Destined from Argentina.
By Persona
Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to TOEI and Akiyoshi Hongo, and used without consent.
The Diaries Universe belongs to Lord Archive, and is used with consent. All rights reserved.
Okay now, on with the story.
****************************************
Chapter eleven: The Real World
==============
Julia's house, a week after Panjamon attacked the Betamon village...
Julia was in her room, sitting at her desk, doing the homework that her math teacher had given the class for the day.
Suddenly, the monitor of her computer lit up on its own accord, surprising her. Julia stood up from her desk; she recognized what was happening on her monitor all to well. It was a Digiport.
Julia's eyes opened wide as saucers when she saw who was coming out of the Digiport: David and Candmon. The reason she was so surprised was because David never came to the real world, except an hour every week to see her uncle for therapy. And he usually opened a Digiport straight into her uncle's office to do that. She noticed David's battered form when both David and Candmon fell down on the floor from exhaustion, both Digimon and Digi-Destined were breathing heavily.
Julia rushed next to David and knelt down on the floor. "Oh my... David, are you okay?" she saw that both David and Candmon had many cuts and bruises.
"We're okay... just tired..." David closed his eyes when he said this.
Suddenly the door opened, it was Julia's mother and Pyocomon.
"Julia? We heard noises, is everything... Oh my god, what happened?" asked Julia's mother in shocked when she saw David lying on the floor next to a kneeling Julia.
Pyocomon then noticed Candmon lying next to David, and noticed that he was injured too. "Candmon!"
**********************
A few minutes later, in the guest room of Julia's house...
David and Julia were alone in the guestroom. David was sitting on the bed, while Julia was sitting on a chair next to the bed. David had taken off his left shoe and Julia had raised David's left foot, placing it on her lap to study it.
She looked at a nasty looking bruise at David's left ankle. Julia played field hockey since she was in the first grade; she too had had her share of playing injuries. She knew how to recognize a twisted ankle when she saw one. "Well, it's a twisted ankle, but it doesn't look that bad. Give it a week or two and it'll be as good as new." she said to David.
"Yeah, I figured as much." replied David.
"So... care to tell me what happened to you?" Julia asked as she began to wrap a special cloth band that would keep David's foot immobile so it would heal properly.
"Okay, I'll tell you. It all started yesterday's afternoon..."
******************************
- Flashback to yesterday afternoon, in the Digital World -
To the untrained eye, David's log house was just next to a forest. But when David and Candmon had built the small house, they had taken many things in consideration. The location of the house was in a secure area, which David knew would be easy to hide in. Also, the forest right next to the house's location was David and Candmon's main food resource.
Right now, both Digimon and Digi-Destined were deep into said forest, picking up different fruits from different trees. At first, it came as a surprise to David when he had first tasted the fruits of this forest, since they didn't taste like any fruit on Earth. Instead, they tasted like hamburgers, or fried fish, or smashed potatoes, or pizza... and a whole other bunch of strange tastes. In time, David had learned which taste came from which fruit.
They usually went into the forest twice a day. Once at the crack of dawn, to pick up food for breakfast and lunch. After eating breakfast, both David and Candmon would train until it was time for lunch. After eating lunch they went back into the forest to pick up food for dinner. Which was what they were doing right now.
Usually, Candmon would climb the trees and pick up the fruit, then toss it down where David would catch it with a sack. Today was not an exception, especially since David's injured shoulder had not yet healed.
Candmon balanced himself with ease on one of the branches of the tree he was currently picking fruit from. He reached up and grabbed a round fruit that resembled an orange of the real world, but that both knew that it tasted nothing like orange, actually it tasted like egg salad. Like many times before, he tossed the fruit down. David easily cached the fruit into the sack.
"How's it looking now?" asked Candmon from the tree.
"The sack is half full, just a few more and we'll have enough for the day." replied David, as he looked at the contents of the sack.
Candmon was about to grab another fruit, when he stopped and looked around. "David, did you hear that?"
David looked around too. "Yeah, someone is here." Both of them had heard the footsteps of an approaching form, it made the mistake of stepping on a small twig. Living in the Digital World for three years, always looking over his shoulder for danger, had improved all of David's senses.
Candmon jumped down from the tree to stand next to his partner. "We know you're in there! What do you want!?" yelled David.
"Impressive, you have discovered me. But then, I shouldn't expect any less from the 'Digi-Destroyer'..." answered a voice from behind one of the trees. A second later, the owner of the voice stepped out in the open.
It was a walking tree like Digimon, with arms that looked like branches, and openings on its trunk that were his eyes and mouth. A Woodmon.
David flinched when he heard the Woodmon call him "Digi-Destroyer" it was never good when any Digimon called him that. "What do you want?" asked David, never keeping his guard down.
"I think is pretty obvious. I came to defeat you." replied the tree Digimon.
"Defeat me, how original." Said David sarcastically, angering the Woodmon and making Candmon giggle. Normally, David would just humor this Woodmon and fight him, and then defeat him in the most humiliating way possible. But that was the old David, "Look pal," he said to the tree like Digimon, "why don't you save yourself a beating and turn around while you can walk on your own."
David's attitude was angering Woodmon by the minute. Digi-Destroyer or not, he was going to beat him no matter what! Without another warning, Woodmon yelled in anger and hit the spot where David and Candmon were standing. Both Digimon and Digi-Destined easily avoided his clumsy attack by jumping out of the way.
David's experience in battle allowed him to know what kind of Digimon he was facing by the way he attacked. This Woodmon's attack was slow, hard, and untargeted. A baby stage Digimon would have done a better attack. This Woodmon fighting level was rather low; he was no match for him and Candmon. But then again, inexperienced Digimon like this were always very stubborn when it came to battle, mistaking bravery with stupidity.
"Why do they always have to make things harder..." David sighed as he grabbed his D-3 with his good arm after letting go of the fruit sack. "Candmon! You know what to do!" a dark purple light started to come out from the small screen in David's D-3.
"Okay David... Candmon evolve!" Candmon started to shine with the same purple light that was coming from David's D-3. A second later, a tall humanoid Digimon made out of fire was standing where Candmon was. "Meramon!"
"You don't scare me! Take that!" Woodmon threw a punch to Meramon. Meramon's judgement on this Woodmon's battle skills were the same as David's, he knew that he was no match for an experienced Digimon like him. So, Meramon stopped Woodmon's attack with ease by grabbing his arm before it hit. Woodmon could feel a lot of heat coming from Meramon's hand that was holding the thick branch that was his arm. A second after that, Woodmon's arm burst into flames.
"Aaaah! Fire! Fire!" Woodmon screamed as he ran around, moving his arm trying to put the fire out, but only making it worse.
"Stupid Digimon... wood and fire don't make a good combination." said David as he watched Woodmon run away, looking for some water to soak his arm with.
When Woodmon was gone, Meramon de-evolved back to Candmon. "What was that all about?" asked the fire Digimon.
"I don't know... huh? What's that?" David saw a paper lying on the floor. "What's this, that Woodmon must have dropped it when he was running away." David picked up the paper and gasped when he saw what was written on it...
********************************
"So, what was on the paper?" asked Julia, as she listened to David's tale.
In answer, David reached into his pant's pocket and withdrew a folded up piece of paper. He handed it to Julia.
Julia grabbed the paper and unfolded it to read it. She was more than surprised by its contents.
The paper looked like one of those Wanted signs on those old American Western movies. It had David's picture on it, but it made him look... well, evil. Below the picture was the following text: To every bounty hunter, I will pay $ 50,000 to whoever can bring me the head of the evil being known as the "Digi-Destroyer".
"Oh my... why would someone want to do this to you?" asked Julia.
"Well, I didn't know right away. It wasn't until later that I found out..."
*****************************
David and Candmon were walking on a large plain. They were both angry and they both wanted answers!
The fight with the Woodmon was not an isolated incident, now they were sure of that! Just last night, a Togemon attacked them while they were sleeping, destroying David's log house in the process. They survived of course, but it will take weeks... even months to rebuild their house! It had taken David and Meramon a lot of self control to keep their promise of not killing any more Digimon unless they had no other choice. The Togemon just suffered some big burns, until it ran away like the coward it was. Only a coward would attack someone while they slept.
The Togemon also had one of those "wanted" signs that the Woodmon had. David was going to find out who was behind all this, and then he was going to make him pay with interest!
As they walked trough the plains, they saw a lone Digimon walking in the distance. It was an Icemon, and since they were very far away from anything remotely cold, it was more than suspicious. But more importantly, he was carrying what seemed like a stash of rolled up pieces of paper that looked very much like those wanted signs!
"Hey you!" yelled David to the Icemon.
Icemon turned his head to see who was calling out to him. As soon as he saw David and Candmon walking towards him, he turned around and started to run.
At seeing the Icemon run, and knowing that it must have a reason to do that, David reached for his D-3 which started to shine with a dark purple light. "Candmon! Don't let that Icemon get away!"
"Candmon evolve!" Candmon started to shine in the same purple light as David's D-3, when the light dissipated a tall man made out of fire stood in its place. "Meramon!"
Meramon extended his right fist as he ran, "Fire Punch!"
The ball of fire flew sure and fast towards the fleeing Icemon and over his head. Meramon wasn't aiming at Icemon, but to the ground just ahead of him. The fireball impacted on the ground with enough force to lift up some gravel and dirt. It was enough to make Icemon stop dead in his tracks, covering his face.
When Icemon wanted to start running again, it was too late. Meramon and David had already reached with him. Meramon pinned Icemon's arms with both his hands, and lifted the ice Digimon over the ground, making him drop the things he was carrying.
David picked up the rolled papers that Icemon had dropped, and unrolled one up to see what it was. Sure enough, it was another wanted sign with his picture on it.
David turned to look at Icemon who was still being held tightly by Meramon. "Okay, start talking. Who are you working for? Why are you hanging this wanted signs all over the place?"
"I'm not going to tell you anything!" said Icemon.
"Meramon, melt this creep." ordered David as if it was the most common thing to do.
That did the trick, "Wait! I'll talk, I'll talk!"
Meramon smiled. He knew David didn't mean that last order, he was just trying to scare Icemon into talking, and it had worked like a charm.
"Good." smiled David.
**********************************
"So, what did you find out? Who was placing the wanted signs?" asked Julia as she listened to David's story.
"Ice Devimon." was David's simple answer.
Julia tilted her head to a side, "Ice Devimon? Who's that?"
"Well, I guess he's some kind of Digimon overlord, that has taken control of the freezing southern lands. He has gathered an army of Digimon to serve him, and apparently the Panjamon that we faced at the Betamon village was one of his subordinates. This Ice Devimon is trying to expand his domains north, and he won't stop until he has conquered as far as the northern jungles, turning everything into a permanent winter." answered David.
"But that doesn't explain why he would go trough all the trouble of hanging wanted signs with your face all over the place." said Julia.
"Actually it shows how smart this guy is. He must have found out that it was me who killed Panjamon, but instead of sending more of his Digimon to take care of me, he takes advantage of my 'fame', making every bounty hunter Digimon come after me to kill me instead." replied David. "That way he can kill two birds with one stone, he takes care of the 'Digi-Destroyer' without making his first move, that way nobody knows how powerful he really is, or how big of an army he has."
Julia was surprised; she hadn't seen it that way.
"Okay, but you still hadn't told me how you got beaten up so bad. Was it this Ice Devimon?" asked Julia, remembering what this conversation was about in the first place.
David shook his head, "No, I haven't even seen the guy yet. It was one of the bounty hunter Digimon."
Julia crossed her arms and smiled in mock surprise, "Huh? Are you telling me that the mighty David Albornoz got beaten by a common foe?"
"Ha ha, very funny Julia." replied a smiling David, "I had a lot against me you know. First of all, I had an injured shoulder. Second of all, Meramon and I could easily handle one, two and even three adult Digimon. But when eight of them get together and agree to split the reward they would get if they kill me, then you can see just how much odds I had against me. I had no choice but to escape to the real world trough a Digiport."
"Eight adult Digimon!? Oh David, I'm sorry I mocked you, I didn't know." Julia apologized.
David shook his head and smiled, "It's okay." Although in the outside he did not show it, inside he was angry with himself. He and Meramon should have been able to deal with those eight Digimon bounty hunters, even if he did have an injured shoulder. What was wrong with him? Was he getting softer? And if so, why?
When Julia finished bandaging the small cut on David's left hand, she noticed a growing dark spot on David's dark shirt, just where his injured shoulder was.
"The injury on your shoulder re-opened." pointed out Julia.
David looked down and to the right to his shoulder, and saw that indeed there was blood coming out of the bandaged injury. "Hmm, so it is."
"Did you just noticed? Doesn't it hurt?" asked Julia.
David shook his head; "It's not that bad."
Julia frowned, "David, enough with the proud attitude! You can admit that you're in pain, I won't think any less of you! Nobody would!"
"Okay, okay, I admit it. All my body hurts, happy?" replied David in a defensive manner.
Julia smiled warmly, "Now that's better. Wait here, I'll go get some clean bandages to replace the ones on your shoulder."
Julia stood up and walked to the door, when she opened she saw her mother standing there.
"Huh? What is it Mom?" asked Julia.
"Julia, could I have a talk with David?" asked Mrs. Martinez to her daughter.
To be continued...
======================
Author's notes:
I know, is cruel to put a cliffhanger right here. But it was the only place I could think of that would be okay. If I kept writing, then this chapter would turn out REALLY long, and I don't want that either.
I might start working pretty soon; so even if I do have the following chapters planed out it might take me a lot longer than usual to write them.
On a separate note: I had a small talk with other Diaries authors regarding some aspects of my story. I asked them what they tough about me making more author notes about Argentina which would allow me to make the story more interesting and with more complex characters. And I don't mean like the facts section, I mean like a full notes section about how it is like to live in Argentina. But I was afraid that doing that would just make the story boring.
All the author's that answered that message agreed that it would be something interesting and that it wouldn't make the story boring, but more enjoyable instead.
So that is why I'm writing the following notes about Argentina. If you don't care about that, or find it boring, then you don't have to read it, but it would help you to understand some aspects of the story better.
Okay then, let's start:
Let's start with the main differences in Argentina's laws when comparing them to the US.
In Argentina you reach majority of age (in other words, you are considered an adult) at the age of 21. Before that you are still a minor, and therefore you lack the rights an adult would have. You can't own anything, you can't get married (well, you can but you need a signed permit of your parents to make it legal, marriage through church is not recognizable by law), etc.
Also, abortion is illegal in Argentina no matter what were the circumstances. In other words, if you were raped and got pregnant as a result of that, you have to have the baby. (I know, it's silly but that's the way it is).
You start to vote after you turn 16. But in Argentina you don't have a choice, you HAVE to vote no matter what. Not to do so is punishable by law. (If you had an accident or something and can't go to vote as a result, then you have to present a note signed by a doctor.)
You can't vote just anyone. At every election you are presented with a list of candidates of every political party recognized by the nation at the respective election (in other words, you can't vote for yourself, unless you are one of the candidates), which include everything form left parties to right parties and everything in between them. Not voting for any of them is called a vote 'in blank'.
By law, the president of Argentina has to be catholic (which is the most practiced religion over here). This is stupid, and silly. Some presidents were known to convert to catholicism just after they won the elections just so they could be president.
It is silly that a country with so liberal thinking as Argentina. Has so many 'old fashioned' laws in its constitution. Then again, maybe the liberal thinking comes as a result of that.
According to the constitution, education is mandatory but free. From mid school to college, everyone has the right to free education which is provided by the public schools (and colleges) of the country. In public schools you don't have to wear any uniforms, but you do have to follow a dress code, if you're a boy you can't wear short pants, or shirts with a big slogan on them (this is not followed much, and there aren't many schools that actually care about this one). The dress code for girls is the same, but they also have to wear a white dustcoat over your clothes. There are no dress codes in college.
Private schools do have dress codes, but they are usually attended by kids who's parents can afford it. The private schools in Argentina are either english, german, catholic or of no ethnic group in particular (this last ones are usually founded by a national entity). And in a private school you do have to wear a uniform which is usually dark pants with a white shirt and a tie if you're a boy, or a plaid skirt (or scottish skirt in some cases) with a shirt (and some times a vest) if you're a girl. In winter they usually ad a sweater, with the school's colors, to the uniform.
Sports are VERY important in Argentinean society. Everyone, no matter what, has practiced some sport some time in their life (chess is not really considered a sport, so it doesn't count.). If you haven't, then you would be considered 'weird'. In my case, I used to be the goalie of a small indoor soccer team. Sports are the most popular entertaining event, even more than movies or TV (I'm counting watching a game on TV as a spot even of course). Being the most popular of them Soccer (which is called football here), with Basketball, Rugby, Boxing and car-racing in a close second. Other popular sports are Volleyball and Handball. Not ALL of these sports have a professional league, most of them, like Rugby or field Hockey, are still amateur.
Many of this sports are considered "just for boys" and others "just for girls" which means that if a girl practices a "boy's" sports she's considered a tomboy, and if a boy practices a "girl's" sport, he's considered a sissy. The most popular sports "for boys" are Soccer and Rugby. The most popular sport "for girls" is field Hockey. While this is changing a little every day, it still has a long way yet. The most traditional sport clubs (like SIC, Julia and David's club) STILL has a Rugby just for boys and Hockey just for girls policy.
Some other sports, like Volleyball, Handball or even Basketball in some cases, can go either way.
Sport events are part of our national history and identity. For example, a good soccer player is some times considered a national hero by many (Maradona is a perfect example of this).
It is normal for kids to hear stories from their parents, or even their grandparents, about old sport events that have reached the rank of "legendary", old books about said events make them appear very poetic, epical and heroic. And nobody would argue that. There are even songs written about said "legendary" sport events. Since it was really strange to record a sport event on film until the late 70s, everything that happened before than is only remembered in old black and white pictures, what we read in old sports magazines and the stories we hear from our relatives. All of this helps them become a "legend".
It would take too long to name all of this "stories", since they are too many of them. Every sport has its own story and its own legend, and many of them have more than just one (With Soccer being the one that has the most of this stories, with some of them going as far as the 30s and 20s).
Many of the rivalries that Argentina has with other countries are only sport related. One clear example of this would be England. Argentineans HATE England (and they hate us too by the way), we hate everything that they are, everything that they do and all of their way of life. And we especially hate them in Soccer, Rugby, or any other sport that both countries happen to compete in. This rivalry only increased after the war for Islas Malvinas (a.k.a. Falkland Islands, but never call them that in the presence of an Argentinean if you don't want to get in a fight). You don't believe me? Well then, hear this: The date of the first time that Argentina defeated England in a Soccer match was declared a national day by the government.
This is not the last thing that I will write about Argentina. I will add more as the story goes on and requires some deep explanation of why or how something or someone is the way he, she or it is.
+ Persona +
The story of the Digi-Destined from Argentina.
By Persona
Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to TOEI and Akiyoshi Hongo, and used without consent.
The Diaries Universe belongs to Lord Archive, and is used with consent. All rights reserved.
Okay now, on with the story.
****************************************
Chapter eleven: The Real World
==============
Julia's house, a week after Panjamon attacked the Betamon village...
Julia was in her room, sitting at her desk, doing the homework that her math teacher had given the class for the day.
Suddenly, the monitor of her computer lit up on its own accord, surprising her. Julia stood up from her desk; she recognized what was happening on her monitor all to well. It was a Digiport.
Julia's eyes opened wide as saucers when she saw who was coming out of the Digiport: David and Candmon. The reason she was so surprised was because David never came to the real world, except an hour every week to see her uncle for therapy. And he usually opened a Digiport straight into her uncle's office to do that. She noticed David's battered form when both David and Candmon fell down on the floor from exhaustion, both Digimon and Digi-Destined were breathing heavily.
Julia rushed next to David and knelt down on the floor. "Oh my... David, are you okay?" she saw that both David and Candmon had many cuts and bruises.
"We're okay... just tired..." David closed his eyes when he said this.
Suddenly the door opened, it was Julia's mother and Pyocomon.
"Julia? We heard noises, is everything... Oh my god, what happened?" asked Julia's mother in shocked when she saw David lying on the floor next to a kneeling Julia.
Pyocomon then noticed Candmon lying next to David, and noticed that he was injured too. "Candmon!"
**********************
A few minutes later, in the guest room of Julia's house...
David and Julia were alone in the guestroom. David was sitting on the bed, while Julia was sitting on a chair next to the bed. David had taken off his left shoe and Julia had raised David's left foot, placing it on her lap to study it.
She looked at a nasty looking bruise at David's left ankle. Julia played field hockey since she was in the first grade; she too had had her share of playing injuries. She knew how to recognize a twisted ankle when she saw one. "Well, it's a twisted ankle, but it doesn't look that bad. Give it a week or two and it'll be as good as new." she said to David.
"Yeah, I figured as much." replied David.
"So... care to tell me what happened to you?" Julia asked as she began to wrap a special cloth band that would keep David's foot immobile so it would heal properly.
"Okay, I'll tell you. It all started yesterday's afternoon..."
******************************
- Flashback to yesterday afternoon, in the Digital World -
To the untrained eye, David's log house was just next to a forest. But when David and Candmon had built the small house, they had taken many things in consideration. The location of the house was in a secure area, which David knew would be easy to hide in. Also, the forest right next to the house's location was David and Candmon's main food resource.
Right now, both Digimon and Digi-Destined were deep into said forest, picking up different fruits from different trees. At first, it came as a surprise to David when he had first tasted the fruits of this forest, since they didn't taste like any fruit on Earth. Instead, they tasted like hamburgers, or fried fish, or smashed potatoes, or pizza... and a whole other bunch of strange tastes. In time, David had learned which taste came from which fruit.
They usually went into the forest twice a day. Once at the crack of dawn, to pick up food for breakfast and lunch. After eating breakfast, both David and Candmon would train until it was time for lunch. After eating lunch they went back into the forest to pick up food for dinner. Which was what they were doing right now.
Usually, Candmon would climb the trees and pick up the fruit, then toss it down where David would catch it with a sack. Today was not an exception, especially since David's injured shoulder had not yet healed.
Candmon balanced himself with ease on one of the branches of the tree he was currently picking fruit from. He reached up and grabbed a round fruit that resembled an orange of the real world, but that both knew that it tasted nothing like orange, actually it tasted like egg salad. Like many times before, he tossed the fruit down. David easily cached the fruit into the sack.
"How's it looking now?" asked Candmon from the tree.
"The sack is half full, just a few more and we'll have enough for the day." replied David, as he looked at the contents of the sack.
Candmon was about to grab another fruit, when he stopped and looked around. "David, did you hear that?"
David looked around too. "Yeah, someone is here." Both of them had heard the footsteps of an approaching form, it made the mistake of stepping on a small twig. Living in the Digital World for three years, always looking over his shoulder for danger, had improved all of David's senses.
Candmon jumped down from the tree to stand next to his partner. "We know you're in there! What do you want!?" yelled David.
"Impressive, you have discovered me. But then, I shouldn't expect any less from the 'Digi-Destroyer'..." answered a voice from behind one of the trees. A second later, the owner of the voice stepped out in the open.
It was a walking tree like Digimon, with arms that looked like branches, and openings on its trunk that were his eyes and mouth. A Woodmon.
David flinched when he heard the Woodmon call him "Digi-Destroyer" it was never good when any Digimon called him that. "What do you want?" asked David, never keeping his guard down.
"I think is pretty obvious. I came to defeat you." replied the tree Digimon.
"Defeat me, how original." Said David sarcastically, angering the Woodmon and making Candmon giggle. Normally, David would just humor this Woodmon and fight him, and then defeat him in the most humiliating way possible. But that was the old David, "Look pal," he said to the tree like Digimon, "why don't you save yourself a beating and turn around while you can walk on your own."
David's attitude was angering Woodmon by the minute. Digi-Destroyer or not, he was going to beat him no matter what! Without another warning, Woodmon yelled in anger and hit the spot where David and Candmon were standing. Both Digimon and Digi-Destined easily avoided his clumsy attack by jumping out of the way.
David's experience in battle allowed him to know what kind of Digimon he was facing by the way he attacked. This Woodmon's attack was slow, hard, and untargeted. A baby stage Digimon would have done a better attack. This Woodmon fighting level was rather low; he was no match for him and Candmon. But then again, inexperienced Digimon like this were always very stubborn when it came to battle, mistaking bravery with stupidity.
"Why do they always have to make things harder..." David sighed as he grabbed his D-3 with his good arm after letting go of the fruit sack. "Candmon! You know what to do!" a dark purple light started to come out from the small screen in David's D-3.
"Okay David... Candmon evolve!" Candmon started to shine with the same purple light that was coming from David's D-3. A second later, a tall humanoid Digimon made out of fire was standing where Candmon was. "Meramon!"
"You don't scare me! Take that!" Woodmon threw a punch to Meramon. Meramon's judgement on this Woodmon's battle skills were the same as David's, he knew that he was no match for an experienced Digimon like him. So, Meramon stopped Woodmon's attack with ease by grabbing his arm before it hit. Woodmon could feel a lot of heat coming from Meramon's hand that was holding the thick branch that was his arm. A second after that, Woodmon's arm burst into flames.
"Aaaah! Fire! Fire!" Woodmon screamed as he ran around, moving his arm trying to put the fire out, but only making it worse.
"Stupid Digimon... wood and fire don't make a good combination." said David as he watched Woodmon run away, looking for some water to soak his arm with.
When Woodmon was gone, Meramon de-evolved back to Candmon. "What was that all about?" asked the fire Digimon.
"I don't know... huh? What's that?" David saw a paper lying on the floor. "What's this, that Woodmon must have dropped it when he was running away." David picked up the paper and gasped when he saw what was written on it...
********************************
"So, what was on the paper?" asked Julia, as she listened to David's tale.
In answer, David reached into his pant's pocket and withdrew a folded up piece of paper. He handed it to Julia.
Julia grabbed the paper and unfolded it to read it. She was more than surprised by its contents.
The paper looked like one of those Wanted signs on those old American Western movies. It had David's picture on it, but it made him look... well, evil. Below the picture was the following text: To every bounty hunter, I will pay $ 50,000 to whoever can bring me the head of the evil being known as the "Digi-Destroyer".
"Oh my... why would someone want to do this to you?" asked Julia.
"Well, I didn't know right away. It wasn't until later that I found out..."
*****************************
David and Candmon were walking on a large plain. They were both angry and they both wanted answers!
The fight with the Woodmon was not an isolated incident, now they were sure of that! Just last night, a Togemon attacked them while they were sleeping, destroying David's log house in the process. They survived of course, but it will take weeks... even months to rebuild their house! It had taken David and Meramon a lot of self control to keep their promise of not killing any more Digimon unless they had no other choice. The Togemon just suffered some big burns, until it ran away like the coward it was. Only a coward would attack someone while they slept.
The Togemon also had one of those "wanted" signs that the Woodmon had. David was going to find out who was behind all this, and then he was going to make him pay with interest!
As they walked trough the plains, they saw a lone Digimon walking in the distance. It was an Icemon, and since they were very far away from anything remotely cold, it was more than suspicious. But more importantly, he was carrying what seemed like a stash of rolled up pieces of paper that looked very much like those wanted signs!
"Hey you!" yelled David to the Icemon.
Icemon turned his head to see who was calling out to him. As soon as he saw David and Candmon walking towards him, he turned around and started to run.
At seeing the Icemon run, and knowing that it must have a reason to do that, David reached for his D-3 which started to shine with a dark purple light. "Candmon! Don't let that Icemon get away!"
"Candmon evolve!" Candmon started to shine in the same purple light as David's D-3, when the light dissipated a tall man made out of fire stood in its place. "Meramon!"
Meramon extended his right fist as he ran, "Fire Punch!"
The ball of fire flew sure and fast towards the fleeing Icemon and over his head. Meramon wasn't aiming at Icemon, but to the ground just ahead of him. The fireball impacted on the ground with enough force to lift up some gravel and dirt. It was enough to make Icemon stop dead in his tracks, covering his face.
When Icemon wanted to start running again, it was too late. Meramon and David had already reached with him. Meramon pinned Icemon's arms with both his hands, and lifted the ice Digimon over the ground, making him drop the things he was carrying.
David picked up the rolled papers that Icemon had dropped, and unrolled one up to see what it was. Sure enough, it was another wanted sign with his picture on it.
David turned to look at Icemon who was still being held tightly by Meramon. "Okay, start talking. Who are you working for? Why are you hanging this wanted signs all over the place?"
"I'm not going to tell you anything!" said Icemon.
"Meramon, melt this creep." ordered David as if it was the most common thing to do.
That did the trick, "Wait! I'll talk, I'll talk!"
Meramon smiled. He knew David didn't mean that last order, he was just trying to scare Icemon into talking, and it had worked like a charm.
"Good." smiled David.
**********************************
"So, what did you find out? Who was placing the wanted signs?" asked Julia as she listened to David's story.
"Ice Devimon." was David's simple answer.
Julia tilted her head to a side, "Ice Devimon? Who's that?"
"Well, I guess he's some kind of Digimon overlord, that has taken control of the freezing southern lands. He has gathered an army of Digimon to serve him, and apparently the Panjamon that we faced at the Betamon village was one of his subordinates. This Ice Devimon is trying to expand his domains north, and he won't stop until he has conquered as far as the northern jungles, turning everything into a permanent winter." answered David.
"But that doesn't explain why he would go trough all the trouble of hanging wanted signs with your face all over the place." said Julia.
"Actually it shows how smart this guy is. He must have found out that it was me who killed Panjamon, but instead of sending more of his Digimon to take care of me, he takes advantage of my 'fame', making every bounty hunter Digimon come after me to kill me instead." replied David. "That way he can kill two birds with one stone, he takes care of the 'Digi-Destroyer' without making his first move, that way nobody knows how powerful he really is, or how big of an army he has."
Julia was surprised; she hadn't seen it that way.
"Okay, but you still hadn't told me how you got beaten up so bad. Was it this Ice Devimon?" asked Julia, remembering what this conversation was about in the first place.
David shook his head, "No, I haven't even seen the guy yet. It was one of the bounty hunter Digimon."
Julia crossed her arms and smiled in mock surprise, "Huh? Are you telling me that the mighty David Albornoz got beaten by a common foe?"
"Ha ha, very funny Julia." replied a smiling David, "I had a lot against me you know. First of all, I had an injured shoulder. Second of all, Meramon and I could easily handle one, two and even three adult Digimon. But when eight of them get together and agree to split the reward they would get if they kill me, then you can see just how much odds I had against me. I had no choice but to escape to the real world trough a Digiport."
"Eight adult Digimon!? Oh David, I'm sorry I mocked you, I didn't know." Julia apologized.
David shook his head and smiled, "It's okay." Although in the outside he did not show it, inside he was angry with himself. He and Meramon should have been able to deal with those eight Digimon bounty hunters, even if he did have an injured shoulder. What was wrong with him? Was he getting softer? And if so, why?
When Julia finished bandaging the small cut on David's left hand, she noticed a growing dark spot on David's dark shirt, just where his injured shoulder was.
"The injury on your shoulder re-opened." pointed out Julia.
David looked down and to the right to his shoulder, and saw that indeed there was blood coming out of the bandaged injury. "Hmm, so it is."
"Did you just noticed? Doesn't it hurt?" asked Julia.
David shook his head; "It's not that bad."
Julia frowned, "David, enough with the proud attitude! You can admit that you're in pain, I won't think any less of you! Nobody would!"
"Okay, okay, I admit it. All my body hurts, happy?" replied David in a defensive manner.
Julia smiled warmly, "Now that's better. Wait here, I'll go get some clean bandages to replace the ones on your shoulder."
Julia stood up and walked to the door, when she opened she saw her mother standing there.
"Huh? What is it Mom?" asked Julia.
"Julia, could I have a talk with David?" asked Mrs. Martinez to her daughter.
To be continued...
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Author's notes:
I know, is cruel to put a cliffhanger right here. But it was the only place I could think of that would be okay. If I kept writing, then this chapter would turn out REALLY long, and I don't want that either.
I might start working pretty soon; so even if I do have the following chapters planed out it might take me a lot longer than usual to write them.
On a separate note: I had a small talk with other Diaries authors regarding some aspects of my story. I asked them what they tough about me making more author notes about Argentina which would allow me to make the story more interesting and with more complex characters. And I don't mean like the facts section, I mean like a full notes section about how it is like to live in Argentina. But I was afraid that doing that would just make the story boring.
All the author's that answered that message agreed that it would be something interesting and that it wouldn't make the story boring, but more enjoyable instead.
So that is why I'm writing the following notes about Argentina. If you don't care about that, or find it boring, then you don't have to read it, but it would help you to understand some aspects of the story better.
Okay then, let's start:
Let's start with the main differences in Argentina's laws when comparing them to the US.
In Argentina you reach majority of age (in other words, you are considered an adult) at the age of 21. Before that you are still a minor, and therefore you lack the rights an adult would have. You can't own anything, you can't get married (well, you can but you need a signed permit of your parents to make it legal, marriage through church is not recognizable by law), etc.
Also, abortion is illegal in Argentina no matter what were the circumstances. In other words, if you were raped and got pregnant as a result of that, you have to have the baby. (I know, it's silly but that's the way it is).
You start to vote after you turn 16. But in Argentina you don't have a choice, you HAVE to vote no matter what. Not to do so is punishable by law. (If you had an accident or something and can't go to vote as a result, then you have to present a note signed by a doctor.)
You can't vote just anyone. At every election you are presented with a list of candidates of every political party recognized by the nation at the respective election (in other words, you can't vote for yourself, unless you are one of the candidates), which include everything form left parties to right parties and everything in between them. Not voting for any of them is called a vote 'in blank'.
By law, the president of Argentina has to be catholic (which is the most practiced religion over here). This is stupid, and silly. Some presidents were known to convert to catholicism just after they won the elections just so they could be president.
It is silly that a country with so liberal thinking as Argentina. Has so many 'old fashioned' laws in its constitution. Then again, maybe the liberal thinking comes as a result of that.
According to the constitution, education is mandatory but free. From mid school to college, everyone has the right to free education which is provided by the public schools (and colleges) of the country. In public schools you don't have to wear any uniforms, but you do have to follow a dress code, if you're a boy you can't wear short pants, or shirts with a big slogan on them (this is not followed much, and there aren't many schools that actually care about this one). The dress code for girls is the same, but they also have to wear a white dustcoat over your clothes. There are no dress codes in college.
Private schools do have dress codes, but they are usually attended by kids who's parents can afford it. The private schools in Argentina are either english, german, catholic or of no ethnic group in particular (this last ones are usually founded by a national entity). And in a private school you do have to wear a uniform which is usually dark pants with a white shirt and a tie if you're a boy, or a plaid skirt (or scottish skirt in some cases) with a shirt (and some times a vest) if you're a girl. In winter they usually ad a sweater, with the school's colors, to the uniform.
Sports are VERY important in Argentinean society. Everyone, no matter what, has practiced some sport some time in their life (chess is not really considered a sport, so it doesn't count.). If you haven't, then you would be considered 'weird'. In my case, I used to be the goalie of a small indoor soccer team. Sports are the most popular entertaining event, even more than movies or TV (I'm counting watching a game on TV as a spot even of course). Being the most popular of them Soccer (which is called football here), with Basketball, Rugby, Boxing and car-racing in a close second. Other popular sports are Volleyball and Handball. Not ALL of these sports have a professional league, most of them, like Rugby or field Hockey, are still amateur.
Many of this sports are considered "just for boys" and others "just for girls" which means that if a girl practices a "boy's" sports she's considered a tomboy, and if a boy practices a "girl's" sport, he's considered a sissy. The most popular sports "for boys" are Soccer and Rugby. The most popular sport "for girls" is field Hockey. While this is changing a little every day, it still has a long way yet. The most traditional sport clubs (like SIC, Julia and David's club) STILL has a Rugby just for boys and Hockey just for girls policy.
Some other sports, like Volleyball, Handball or even Basketball in some cases, can go either way.
Sport events are part of our national history and identity. For example, a good soccer player is some times considered a national hero by many (Maradona is a perfect example of this).
It is normal for kids to hear stories from their parents, or even their grandparents, about old sport events that have reached the rank of "legendary", old books about said events make them appear very poetic, epical and heroic. And nobody would argue that. There are even songs written about said "legendary" sport events. Since it was really strange to record a sport event on film until the late 70s, everything that happened before than is only remembered in old black and white pictures, what we read in old sports magazines and the stories we hear from our relatives. All of this helps them become a "legend".
It would take too long to name all of this "stories", since they are too many of them. Every sport has its own story and its own legend, and many of them have more than just one (With Soccer being the one that has the most of this stories, with some of them going as far as the 30s and 20s).
Many of the rivalries that Argentina has with other countries are only sport related. One clear example of this would be England. Argentineans HATE England (and they hate us too by the way), we hate everything that they are, everything that they do and all of their way of life. And we especially hate them in Soccer, Rugby, or any other sport that both countries happen to compete in. This rivalry only increased after the war for Islas Malvinas (a.k.a. Falkland Islands, but never call them that in the presence of an Argentinean if you don't want to get in a fight). You don't believe me? Well then, hear this: The date of the first time that Argentina defeated England in a Soccer match was declared a national day by the government.
This is not the last thing that I will write about Argentina. I will add more as the story goes on and requires some deep explanation of why or how something or someone is the way he, she or it is.
+ Persona +