Chapter 3: Fighting Fire with Fire
Three days. Three long, foodless, days.
"James, I'm hungry." Joey had long since changed back. He just didn't have enough energy in him to stay Kumamon.
"I am too Joey." We had walked the entire three days, only sleeping when we were too exhausted to go on any further. By now, the massive snow dunes were gone, replaced by another seemingly endless landform: tundra. The frozen and hard ground was bare except for a few scraggly looking trees and bushes. The unpleasant split sky had also departed.
The good thing though was that the further we went, the warmer the weather got. When we started, Joey's device thingy had read about 20 degrees, now it was around 50. Joey was alright with the cold, he was wearing a light blue sweater and jeans. I had gotten a cold in my shorts and t-shirt. I would have had my gloves, but I let Joey wear them, thinking they wouldn't help much in keeping me from freezing to death.
Time went on as such. Walking, walking, walking...
"FOOD!" Joey was ecstatic. We had gone five days without eating anything, and one day without any water. The sight of an apple tree beside an unfrozen creek prompted celebration.
"You get something to drink and I'll get some... some..."
"What's wrong?"
"I feel like I've got to sneeze but can't. ACHOO! That's better. I'll get some apples."
"Okay." The truth was that I had little skill in climbing trees. I hadn't done it since I had broken a leg falling from one when I was little. But I was the only one who could do it; Joey wasn't tall enough to reach the first branch.
"Just like pull-ups." I jumped and grabbed hold of the first branch. Pulling myself up, I thought I saw something in the distance. I could get apples from here, but curiosity is one of my best traits. Climbing to the top I saw more dunes in the distance mixed with rocks. It was a desert, a sandy desert, a hot sandy desert.
"Hey Joey?"
"Bwat?" Water spilled from Joey's mouth as he looked up after chugging from the stream.
"Ever heard of the pyramids?"
Another two days of walking, but not nearly as bad as before. We had eaten apples until we were sick, and then walked off with as many we could carry. I had gotten over my cold and taken my gloves back so I could carry more apples. Joey had taken off his sweater and revealed that he had a t-shirt beneath it.
"I hate the way sweaters are all fuzzy and scratchy on the inside." He was walking along with me using the sweater, with the hole for the neck tied shut with the sleeves, to carry apples. We were well into the desert by now and the temperature was much more favorable, about 70 degrees in the day. During our travels we had yet to see another creature, let alone a beast like Frostkawagamon. As we walked along between dunes and rocks, I thought I heard somebody talking, but I couldn't tell over Joey's carefree humming.
"Shhh. Do you hear that?" Joey stopped and looked at me with another of those innocent, questioning looks.
"Quit that. Seriously, listen." He stopped and looked forward. There was somebody talking in the distance, by some palm trees. It was an oasis. One voice sounded like a frustrated kid, the other was harder to place.
"What do you mean you don't like coconuts!?" The kid was furious.
"They're nasty! They aren't even food! There's only chunky milk on the inside!" The voice sounded odd.
"Can't you at least help me open them?"
"No, I already told you. My fire only singes the fur on the outside and my claws won't so much as dent it."
"I hate coconuts!"
"See, I told you!" The two voices continuously argued, rambling on about their poor luck.
"Come on Joey, let's get a closer look." He nodded and followed me slowly, silently dashing from rock to rock, getting ever closer to the oasis. Just before I could see who the voices were coming from, Joey tripped, spilling apples from his sweater all over the sand.
"What was that?" The kid's voice whispered, but we could hear it now since we were so close. I waved to Joey to hurry up, grab the apples, and get to the rock, but it was too late.
"Hey! It's another human like you Chris!"
"What? Really!? Hey! Over there!"
"I guess the jig's up Joey."
"What? Who's that?" I stepped out from behind the rock I was behind and helped Joey pick up the last couple of apples and walked to the kid. He looked younger than me, but older than Joey. He sported a pair of goofy looking goggles atop some short, but wild brown hair. Clipped to his pocket was a device, just like Jen's and Joey's, but his was dark red around the edges. Beside him stood an orange lizard about Joey's height; all he seemed to do was eye the apples we had picked up.
"Hey! I'm Chris and this is my buddy Agumon!"
"Can I have some apples?" There was a slight tint of whine in lizard's question, but it may have just been me.
"Hi! I'm Joey and this is James! Hey, wow! You have a thingy like mine!"
"Huh? Oh yeah! This thing has helped me out tons."
"Mine too!" Joey was so friendly I wondered how it was possible. Maybe it was why it said 'Friendship' on his device. "It's awesome! I can change into a superhero with it!"
"Really?" A disappointed look crept across Chris' face. "Do you have one, oh silent one?" He looked at me, the disappointed look replace with a cocky grin.
"No, I don't." The grin grew more smug and triumphant. "So how did you get here?" Just like with Joey, everybody explained what had happened to them, how, and everything until we all met. Meanwhile, Agumon had snuck into Joey's stash of apples.
"Agumon, you didn't ask!"
"Yes I did, but he never answered me!"
"You greedy little hog of a lizard, I ought a..."
"It's ok. We have lots more. There are still some left in my sweater and he has some in his pockets." Joey was a little too trusting. He had pretty much given away our food. But, I didn't want to make any enemies, so I covered up my little hiding act.
"Yeah man, here. I heard you don't like coconuts." I tossed Chris an apple and he blushed out of humiliation. He hadn't known we had heard him yelling. "So what is... um... what's your name again?"
"Agumon." Chunks of apple flew out of his mouth and landed on Chris.
"Yeah, what are you?"
"I'm a Digimon." More apple soared onto Chris.
"A what?"
"A Digimon, short for digital monster." Chris responded for his partner, not wanting to be sprayed with half chewed apple again. "They're the only things in the digital world besides us and the plants." Chris saw the confused look in my face and kept talking. "The Digital World is where we're at. It's made up of the data from our world."
"I do believe you are talking out of your ass."
"No, seriously. Agumon told me. Here, I'll prove it." Chris pulled out his device. "This thing only scans Digimon. Watch." He pointed it at Agumon until it beeped and showed me the screen.
"Agumon... Rookie."
"Yeah now watch what happens when I scan him." He pointed it at Joey and let it beep. A picture of the logo that Joey had showed me appeared, along with the word 'Friendship'. He did the same to himself. It showed a different logo, what looked like a sun, along with the word 'Courage.' And then aimed at me. "Say cheese!"
"Mozzarella!" It was the first time I had joked about anything since I had woke up in the digital world. The device beeped.
"What the...?"
"What is it?"
"It says something weird for you."
"What you talking bout'?"
"Look!" He shoved the device into my hands and I looked. It didn't show a logo.
"Digidestined... Strength Varies. What does it mean?"
"I don't know! That's why I handed it to you!"
"Figures; I'm the odd one without a device thingy so I get the screwed up title."
"So you're a digidestined?" A somewhat cruel voice bellowed from the other side of the oasis. All of us, Joey, Chris, Agumon, and me, looked to see what looked like a fire with human features: head, limbs, etc. "How lucky I am to be able to turn over such prized gifts to my master."
"I don't know what you're talking about bub, but we're not gifts for anybody! So scram!" This would only the first of many times Chris' loud mouth would get us in trouble.
"Ha! You'll do as I say or you'll burn."
"Yeah right! I could kick your butt! Just wait till you're eating snow!" Joey, who had been eating some more apples along with Agumon stood up and yelled at the flaming creature. He whipped out his device and scanned it.
"Meramon... Champion. So what if you're a champion too! We're champs!"
"That's not what it means." Agumon had finally stopped gorging himself and was looking at Joey. "It is how powerful he is. It goes from Rookie to Champion, Ultimate, and then Mega."
"Ultimate? We've beaten an ultimate! This will be a breeze!"
"You should watch your mouth kid. Fireball!" Meramon hurled a blast of flame straight at Joey.
"Get down!" Chris tackled Joey out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack himself.
"He's mine! Pepper Breath!" Another blast of fire, this one much smaller than Meramon's, launched out of Agumon's mouth, hitting Meramon.
"Ha! You think you can stop me with fire! I AM fire!"
"Chris!"
"I'm on it!" At this Chris held out the device which, like Joey's, sent light pouring in every direction.
"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!"
"Holy smack." I watched in awe as the light died down. A much larger, fiercer creature now stood where Agumon had.
"You're in for it now!" Chris was cockier than ever, believing Greymon to be unbeatable or something.
"Nova Blast!" A massive ball of flame projected from Greymon's mouth, pounding into Meramon.
"You just don't get it do you? I AM flame, you're just making my job easier."
"Not anymore!"
"Eh?" Meramon turned around to find Kumamon standing with his bazooka aimed. "Blizzard Blaster!" The snowballs pummeled Meramon back, but melted on impact.
"Grrr... that's a nice trick kid, but not good enough. Fireball!" This time he didn't miss. The blast threw Kumamon back a few yards.
"Joey!" I began to run to Kumamon when I noticed it again. The sky was split. "What the hell is going on here!?"
"Nova Blast!" Greymon put a little more 'oomph' into this one. Meramon accepted it gladly, not expecting the force to blow his flames out some.
"Arrgh!"
"Nova Blast!" It was hurting him, but not fast enough.
"Quit that! Fireball!"
"Nova Blast!" The two balls of flame slammed into each other, creating a napalm effect, spewing flames across the desert, singeing Joey, who had changed back after the blast, Chris, and me, and catching palm trees on fire. Wait... the oasis!
"Greymon! Over there!" I pointed out where the water would come up if it were coerced right.
"Good idea!" The deep voice coming from the giant lizard made me step back a moment, before I reassured myself it was on our side.
"Joey's burned pretty bad! Hurry up and finish him!"
"Oh I will." Meramon let loose a sinister laugh and prepared to hurl another fireball. If their attacks collided again, it could give us some serious burns.
"Nova Blast!" Before Meramon could counterattack, the fireball hit the center of the oasis, just in front of where Meramon was standing.
"You missed you fool!"
"No I didn't." At that point the water gushed out like a geyser, heated from the Nova Blast. The water blew Meramon into the air. The water cooled and the geyser subsided, dropping Meramon to the ground, unable to get up in his weakened state.
"No, this isn't over. He will get you. I'm nothing compared to him."
"I do believe you are talking out of your flaming ass." Chris, just to mock me, yelled to Meramon before Greymon finished him off.
"Nova Blast!" As the flames impacted, they blew Meramon apart into the millions of pieces the way Frostkawagamon had. At this, the sky returned to normal and Greymon devolved.
"Joey, are you ok?" Chris had turned his attention back to Joey before I could run over to help.
"Ow... it feels like a very bad sunburn."
"Try getting in the water, that will help cool you off." Chris began to help Joey up, but he let out a shout as he began to get pulled up.
"It hurts to move."
"Jeez, what do we do now?"