Chapter 8: Tricks and Traps
"Wow that was refreshing!" Memoriamon hadn't been lying. He'd been messing with Jennifer's head too. Either that or she was just a morning person. When she woke up, she showed more energy than since I had broke her out of jail.
"Come on! Let's go! Our world isn't going to save itself!" She was kicking Chris, trying to wake him up.
"You're awfully happy this morning." Chris rolled over and just let her kick his back. He groggily moaned from the kicking.
"Jen, are you feeling okay?" Kristen was up now, rolling up her sleeping bag.
"Okay? I'm feeling better than I have in days! Hey James! You awake?" She was running over and took the shades off my face. I was awake, eyes wide open.
"Boo."
"Ack! Don't do that you cretin!" I thought I saw a wide smile come across Chris' face before he rolled over out of sight.
"Slow down Jen, we have all day. Besides, it's only," I pulled out my digivice and looked at the time, "6:36!? Jeez Jennifer, why so early?"
"I woke up last night to your screaming. I couldn't ever fall back asleep. I felt wide awake so I just stayed up." She had woke up to my screaming?
"What screaming?"
"You were screaming out crazy stuff like 'Super Punch' or something like that in your sleep." I didn't want to tell them about Memoriamon. He had been my problem and I had dealt with him.
"Oh, probably just your imagination." I stood up. "Okay, since were all awake, let's go."
"Everyone isn't awake. What about Joey, Agumon, and Tentomon? Or are they not part of the group? Besides, who elected you leader?" Chris was standing up now. He was trying to get me back for our mishap over night.
"That's a great idea. We could have elections for who's going to be the leader. I vote for Chris."
"What!? Kristen, you're supposed to be the Digidestined of Knowledge! How could you vote for him?" It was like a stab through my heart. I wanted to be the leader.
"Don't worry about it James, I'll vote for you." Dizzy... soooo dizzy. "So now it is Joey's decision."
"Hey Joey!" Chris was impatient and ready to coup me. "Who should be the leader?"
"Hmmm... jus five more minuts mom..."
"Joey! Wake up!"
"Hmmm... goggles..."
"You heard him! He said goggles! I'm the goggle boy of the group! Haha!'
"He's still asleep. Joey my man! Wazzup? Come on man, we need your vote." Joey just rolled over at my voice.
"Dad? Why do idiots always lead the group on this show?" He was talking in his sleep, and rolled over again.
"Yeah Chris, I think you're right. He was voting for you."
We had been walking slowly for about an hour enjoying the scenery. The forest canopy blocked most of the light, making it always seem like dawn or dusk beneath the trees. As Chris, our newly appointed goggle boy, walked between two trees, we could hear a distinctive 'snap.'
"What was that?" Chris looked down at his shoes, thinking he had stepped on a stick.
"Probably just some digimon in the woods." Kristen had an answer for everything. We walked on, but by the time Joey and Jennifer came through...
"SNAP! WHOOSH!" A hole flew open underneath them, and in they fell. "THUD!"
"Owww... my leg." I could hear Jennifer moaning from in the hole. Chris rushed back to practice being leader.
"Jennifer! Are you okay?"
"Yeah." She stood up and brushed herself off. "Just a few bruises, no biggie."
"Who would dig a hole like this?" Joey was up by now, too. A few moments later I thought I heard a muffled laugh.
"You guys hear that?"
"Yeah. Hey, who's there? Come out!" It hadn't taken long for being the leader to go to Chris' head. "Show yourself!" There were a few more restrained chuckles before whatever it was began to laugh histerically.
"Hahahaha! Oh my god you guys are dumb! Hahaha! Oh man, stop it! It's too much!" What looked like a blackish, bluish ball with wings had fallen out of a tree, rolling in laughter at our misfortune. He wore what looked like a helmet with a skull and crossbones on it. I went to scan it, but Chris cut me off.
"Demidevimon... Rookie! Alright, what do you want?"
"Whoops!" Demidevimon jumped up and took off, flying up into the canopy.
"Smooth Chris. You scared him off before we could get anything out of him."
"Shut up James! You couldn't have done any better!"
"Yeah? I bet you my gloves that the next time he shows up, that I could get some useful information out of him."
"Deal."
We had been going all day. It was a good thing that there was a compass in the digivice or we would have been lost in no time; everything in the forest looked the same.
"You know," The silence was driving me mad, so I just made something up to talk about, "we really shouldn't call these 'D-3's."
"Why not?" Kristen was intrigued by even the idea of intelligent thought. I think we had starved her of it over the past few days.
"Well, they were originally called D-3's because they had three functions. These have much more. They tell time, direction, scan, digivolve, communicate, show radar, and even digital code."
"So what do we call them, D-7's?"
"Nah, that sounds dumb." Chris jumped in, hoping to sound smart.
"How about D-Advanced?" Joey was running after us, since we had forgotten he couldn't walk as fast as we could.
"No, on the show they always made it sound like a word that started with a 'D' or something like that."
"How'd you know that Kristen?" Jennifer turned to her, somewhat shocked that she knew anything about the shows.
"Well..." Kristen was humiliated and searched for a way out. "It could pop up as useless trivia in a quiz bowl. Gotta stay up to date on modern animated programming!"
"What about the D-X?" I liked the letter X. You could slap it on anything and make it sound cool.
"That makes the least sense of them all." Chris stopped altogether to take advantage of making me look dumb.
"Actually, it makes the most sense Chris. Haven't you taken Algebra?" Mwa ha ha, the tables were turned.
"Yeah, X can stand for any number, it's a variable. If we call it that and find any more operations, we won't have to rename it." Game, Set, Match. Thank you Kristen! Chris just turned his head down and walked away.
"Do we really need another name for them? I mean 'D-3' sounds fine to me." Agumon and Tentomon were often looked over, since they were a couple feet shorter than the rest of us.
"We gotta have a new name! Every group of digidestined got their own special digivice." Joey began to get hyped again about being a digidestined. "Heyyyy! Maybe they'll make a show about us! I'd be on TV! That would be awesome!" I heard another muffled chuckle like earlier.
"Demi-dart!" What looked like a syringe flew from the shadows and hit Agumon in the neck.
"Ow! What was... wha..." Agumon passed out before he could finish his sentence.
"Demi-dart!" Everybody was scrambling now, but the dart hit Kristen shoulder anyway.
"You jerk! What's in he... da..." She landed with a thud.
"Yeah James! You're doing a great job getting information out of him!"
"Shut up! Why don't you come out from behind that tree of yours and ask him yourself!"
"I would if," A dart hit him in the back, "I wasn't hit." He fell against the tree and slid down on his side, a dull look in his eyes.
"Stop it you rat with wings!" Another dart flew out, this one at me, as I came out from behind the tree. I dived to the ground and watch the dart ricochet off the ground behind me. I jumped up and ran into the darkness. "Come on you three! We've gotta catch him!" Tentomon, Joey, and Jennifer followed me as I ran into the woods, holding out my gloves, now lit ablaze as I focused energy into them.
"My job here is done!"
"Yeah, but I'm not losing my gloves because of your wuss ass!"
"Grrr... Demi-dart!" Another dart flew at me and whizzed past my head. His aim was off, but I didn't want to think of what would happen if it hit me in the eye or anything.
"Missed stupid! Come on guys, help me out!"
"Right!" Jennifer pulled out her digivice and activated it. "Digivolve to... Kazemon!"
"I'm with ya James! Digivolve to... Kumamon!"
"Oh why did Kristen have to get hit? Come back here you fiend!" Tentomon was furious and buzzed past us, chasing the silhouette of Demidevimon. "Super Shocker!" The bolt of electricity hit Demidevimon head on and he fell to the ground. I dived on top of him before he could recover and take off again. It was much like holding a soccer ball; that is if a soccer ball ever tried to fight you.
"Let go of me! Demi-dart!" I felt the syringe drive into my chest.
"Ow! You bastard! What are you doing h...ere?" I could feel myself getting tired.
"Like I'd tell you. You'll be out cold in no time." I yawned.
"Yeah, but they won't." Kumamon and Kazemon stood around Demidevimon, ready to attack at the slightest provocation. "Why are you here?" I had a hard time holding him to the ground with the dart still stuck in my chest, the poison seeping through my body.
"Oh man... Myotismon sent me! Okay? Now let me go!"
"What does he want?" Kazemon took up the questioning, seeing I was pretty much holding Demidevimon down sub-consciously.
"Forget it! It's too late! It doesn't matter anymore!"
"Why not?"
"Because he already has what he came for! Hahahaha! Demi-dart!" He jammed another in my chest, even though I was easily out cold. He loosened himself and began to fly off.
"Blizzard Blaster!" Kumamon fired his bazooka at Demidevimon and watched him freeze solid and fall back to the ground.
"Super Shocker!" The last zap finally blew Demidevimon into data.
"James!" Kazemon flapped her wings, blowing gusts on me. "Wake up! We have to get back to the others! They're in danger!" The wind finally blew me over and she saw the two darts in my chest, right beside each other, shoved in my ribs. "Oh no! Come on Joey!"
"Tentomon, you stay here and make sure nothing happens to him!"
"I won't let you down!"
"Where are they?" Kazemon quickly looked around, trying to find where Chris, Agumon, and Kristen were.
"Crimson Whip!" A red whip of energy shot out from the darkness and knocked Kazemon to the ground.
"Where'd that come from!?" Kumamon was panicking. "Blizzard Blaster!" He spun about, sending snowballs in random directions. Kazemon began to get up.
"Crimson Whip!" Myotismon stepped out of the darkness, letting the snowballs hit him. He struck down the two repetitively, reveling in their screams of pain. Finally they devolved.
"What did you do to my servant?"
"Who are you?" Jennifer looked up, pushing herself off the ground. Myotismon just cracked his whip on her back again. She spat up blood and fell again.
"You will say only what I tell you to say. Where is my servant? Where is Demidevimon?" Jennifer didn't get back up; she couldn't stand the pain of that whip. Joey had yet to feel it yet, though.
"We destroyed him! He deserv... Owww!" The crack of the whip made Myotismon smile.
"So, you destroyed my pet, did you? I guess I'll just have to find some replacements until he is reborn at Primary Village. Let's go and wait there until he does, that way, we can have plenty of time together to get to know one another."
"Were not going anywhere!" Joey cried out, tears now flowing freely. Myotismon simply hit him again. "Please quit! James!!! Help!!!"
"Oh? There is another one of you? I guess I'll have to go and find him. I swear, information is hard enough to come by without worthless digimon getting it wrong all the time."
"No! Leave him be!" Jennifer was now standing up fully. "He isn't even supposed to be here!"
"What did I say?" The whip fell on her shoulders and she fell to her knees. "Speak when spoken to and never else!" He was merciless, soaking in every scream until she finally passed out from shock. Joey just cried harder, so, he faced the brunt of the Crimson Whip as well.
"Never cry. Crying is for the weak, as is friendship and love. That is why you two are on the ground and I stand here disciplining you." Joey should never have had to take that. He was facing pain at eight that most grown people would die in the face of. He too soon passed out. "Hmm... wouldn't want to hunt on an empty stomach." Myotismon lowered his head down to Jennifer's neck and sucked. He made sure not to take so much blood as to kill her though; he still had uses for her. "Now where is this James?"