I don't own digimon
The Roads Both Taken
888
They were standing in the midst of a canyon. The trail that Gatomon and Piximon were leading them to sent them straight into the mouth of the rocky structure. The trail continued straight through the pass. They were making good time until they came to a fork.
"Well this is nice…" the blonde haired boy murmured as he looked at the giant split in the road. He looked at the others behind him. The group of digimon and the three humans looked back. "Piximon which way is the way to this storage area?"
"Well, you see," the pink ball of fur hovered forward and pointed at the rock outcropping in front of them. "The roads both lead to the same place. They both go around this bit of a plateau."
"Well then which way is best way?" Kevin hopped forward and inspected both roads. The one to the right was covered in gnarled trees and bushes, the left road had rocks and cactuses covering the path.
"The right road is good if you want to go fast, but if you're worried about danger…not such a wise choice," murmured Gatomon as the cat looked around, "The left road is good and safe but not exactly the most straight forward choice and it will make us lose about a week in travel."
"It's the old, they're the same just a matter of picking your poison, routine eh?" Kevin rubbed his chin. "Let's go right!"
"P-poison!" stuttered Tentomon as the insect buzzed about.
"Figure of speech," assured Kevin quietly.
"Uh…" Steven looked to Kevin, "I think we should go left."
"What do you mean? We'll lose a week!" retorted Kevin in shock. "I think if we have a choice here it's going fast over going safe!"
"It won't matter if we go fast if we don't get anywhere," returned Steven.
"What do you mean, you don't think we can handle anything this little country road will throw at us?" Kevin narrowed his eyes.
"No, I just think since we have a group of digimon and our siblings with us, we should be a little careful," whispered Steven. "I don't want my brother to be in danger…"
"Look, as long as that clown faced dweeb is around we're all in danger, as soon as we free those digimon from Metal Puppetmon's storage room, the sooner we can search for the others," explained Kevin quietly, "The faster we find the others, the faster we can go against Chaos Piedmon. Plus Piximon and the others will be with us, we couldn't be in better hands…"
"I still think going left is best," replied Steven quietly, "I think it's important that we can rest, we've been walking for several days, and since we started we've been attacked three times by Champion level digimon…I just think we should take a little easier road, even if it means losing out on some time."
"I think you're wrong, and just a little chicken to take the harder road," snorted Kevin loudly.
"Damn it!" growled Steven. "Listen, it makes sense. Our digimon are exhausted, from, firstly, the fight with Chaos Piedmon's goons and then with those fights with those little Champion digimon!"
"Little?" Mud Frigimon and Gatomon looked up.
"Sorry," breathed Steven quietly. He looked at Kevin, "we deserve a little rest."
"Rest is for tortoises!" snapped Kevin, "Look, fast is the way to go, we can handle ourselves!"
"Kevin, don't be a jackass," Steven growled. He narrowed his eyes, "Our allies and we need rest not rush."
"I'm not being a jackass!" shouted Kevin.
"Kevin," Piximon hovered between the two humans, "Steven, calm down."
"How about we put it to a vote," Kevin said quietly. "Everyone that wants to go left with Steven raise your hand."
The digimon looked at each other. Tentomon, three of the four Gotsumon, and Mud Frigimon raised his hand. Kevin looked down and saw Ryuudamon and Snow Agumon raising their hands. Snow Agumon looked up sadly.
"Sorry, Kevin, but I'm exhausted," replied the white dinosaur.
"I'm going with my brother," said Mark quietly.
"And I'm going with Mark," Lucemon nodded quietly.
"Fine then who wants to go with me?" Kevin looked around and saw Piximon, Gatomon, one of the Gotsumon, Michelle and Labramon raise their hands.
"Kevin, let's just go left," suggested Steven quietly.
"You think you're so smart," Kevin gritted his teeth, "getting everyone to vote with you."
"You're the one that wanted to vote on it!" yelped Steven in annoyance. "Don't be a sore loser!"
"I still think it's a bunch of crap," Kevin glared at Steven, "I refuse to go to left, when I know right is the better road!"
"Fine you go right, I don't give a damn anymore!" shouted Steven loudly, "I'm going left, and anyone that wants to come with me, let's go, if you want to go with Kevin go with him!"
Steven stuffed his hands into his pockets and started off down the rocky trail. Ryuudamon, Mark, Lucemon and the others rushed after him. Kevin looked at Snow Agumon and blinked.
"Aren't you going with Steven?" growled Kevin quietly.
"No, I'm going with you, you're my partner and my friend, I don't want to betray you," Snow Agumon walked forward, "Even if I think you are wrong, I'll still be at your side, as long as you think that the road to the right is the better road, I'll go with you."
Kevin smiled rubbed Snow Agumon's head, "Thanks…" He looked at Piximon, Gatomon, Labramon, Michelle and the one Gotsumon, "Come on guys…let's head out." Kevin turned and walked forward into the brush. "ACK!" yelped the boy as he disappeared into the foliage.
"KEVIN!" Michelle and Snow Agumon rushed forward and parted the bushes. The two of them closed their eyes and sighed, shaking their heads. Kevin was laid out on the ground; his foot hooked on the gnarled root of a tree.
"And the great explorer has a set back…" chuckled Gatomon as the feline hopped over the brush and jumped down on Kevin's back and hopped onward.
"One small step for man; one large stump for tree-kind," chuckled Piximon as he hovered past, "I hope he isn't always this proficient at navigation, or Mr. Expedient will end up being Mr. Expletive, yep, yep."
"Do you need some help up, Kevin?" asked the Gotsumon as the stony digimon lowered a hand down to the boy.
"Thanks…" Kevin said as he clasped the hand and stood up. Michelle, Labramon and Snow Agumon looked up at Kevin. "What?"
"Are you sure you want to go this way?" asked Snow Agumon.
"Are you kidding, that little spill has just made me that much more determined!" Kevin took up a bold stance, "I shall not be thwarted by this forest!"
"I think he might have cracked his head in that accident," said Labramon quietly.
"Hehe, you may be right," giggled Michelle as she took her brother's hand and lead him into the forest, following Piximon.
888
"Woo, it's a hot one isn't it?" whispered Ryuudamon quietly as he walked along side.
"Wearing all that black armor must really be a killer for you," replied Steven. He looked down at the little dragon lizard.
"Eh, I'm a dragon, it would be kind of silly of me to not be able to stand heat," responded Ryuudamon as he took off his helmet and rubbed his scaly head.
"How are you guys back there?" Steven turned and looked back. The Gotsumon were babbling as they played a word game. Mud Frigimon was walking next to Mark and Lucemon. The angel had his wings fanned out wide and walked between Mark and the sun.
"We're fine!" called Mark happily.
"Y'all donna have ta be aworryin' aboutus," chuckled Mud Frigimon, "Us mineral based digimon can take a lot of deprervation and sun before we need to stop."
"Well we're not all mineral based digimon back here!" yelped Tentomon loudly. The ladybug digimon buzzed towards Steven, "I'm hot, and tired and thirsty and hungry and my wings hurt!"
"Your wings always hurt!" sniped the three Gotsumon.
"Ah shut it you rock heads!" growled Tentomon loudly. "I want to find someplace to stop, preferably someplace with water!"
"Look guys, we need to get as far as we can," Steven looked at the other digimon, "I know it's hot, I had hoped we'd have gotten a cross breeze but, it doesn't look like we'll get one, so we have to just be tough. I just wanted to make sure no one was on the verge of collapse; we'll stop if we find a spring. Mud Frigimon, you did bring some canteens with you, right?"
"Yup, got 'em in my pack," nodded the chocolate brown man. He shook a satchel that hung over his shoulder and it clanked quietly, "I gottas some nuts and some herbs too, I even may have some jerked meat on me."
"Hopefully we won't run into too much trouble…" sighed Steven as he turned back around and started to walk again.
"If we run into any trouble I'm sure we can handle it," Ryuudamon smiled softly.
"I do too, it just…" Steven looked down, "If Kevin and Michelle have any problems…maybe we should've gone with them…"
"Steven, you stuck by your beliefs, I think you were right," Ryuudamon looked forward, "They have Piximon and Gatomon with them, I'm sure they are quite safe from any wild digimon."
"You're right, this is the right way to go, and Kevin and the others are more than capable of dealing with anything they come up upon," Steven nodded happily. "I just hope Kevin waits for us."
"He will," Ryuudamon smiled quietly.
888
"Mistress," A young woman kneeled dutifully in front of a dais.
She wasn't a normal woman though. She had leafy, veined wings on her back and a soft, peach colored flower on her head. Here eyes were large and black. Her small, one piece skirt was the same color peach as the flower on her head. The skirt fell above the middle of her thighs, exposing most of her two legs to the eye. Green, vine-like hair dropped to the woman's shoulder. One of the vines fell down over her chest. Her skirt rose up and small, golden leaf designs covered her chest and corralled her cleavage behind her clothing. Green armguards ran down her arm from her elbow and ended in golden sepals that surrounded her wrists. Her feet were covered by green boots that rose up to just below her knee.
"Yes, Lillymon?" replied a mature, feminine voice.
"The digi-destined have split up at the fork in the canyon road," replied the young woman, as she spoke, her eyes were caste to the ground. "What should we do?"
A red gloved hand, holding a thin wine glass filled with red wine, "I suspect it is time we did something, after all; they did kill one of Lord Chaos Piedmon's leads. Get LadyDevimon and the others together and go and deal with them."
"Of course, Mistress," replied the flower girl.
"Lillymon…" said the voice quietly.
"Yes, Mistress?" replied the flower child as she looked up.
"Keep the males alive, I'm sure we can find a most appropriate use for them," replied the voice of the mistress chuckled softly.
"And the human girl?" asked the flower child.
"Well, if you can find a nice use for it, you may keep it alive," replied the voice lazily.
"Thank you, Mistress," smiled the flowery digimon as she stood up and buzzed her wings. Lillymon then turned and buzzed off into the shadows.
The Mistress lifted the wine glass slowly to her ruby red lips and took a gentle sip of the wine, "Yes I think we will definitely have a use for those boys…" the Mistress's lips curled a little as she smiled softly.
888
"It's not much further now!" called Piximon as he buzzed forward. "The thorns end in about ten more feet."
"My clothes are just shredded!" groaned Kevin.
"Try having a coat of fur," Labramon grunted as she yanked her tail from one of the thorn vines.
"I'm not having much trouble at all!" cheered Michelle from Kevin's shoulders.
"Neither am I," chuckled Gatomon as the feline curled up in Michelle's arms.
"You two are real comedians," grumbled Snow Agumon. He winced as the thorns raked across his leathery skin. "This sucks muchly."
"I know…" grumbled Kevin as he heard another stitch snap as he brushed up against a thorn bush.
"Man, I'm glad that I'm made of stone," called Gotsumon from up ahead. The little rock digimon had breezed through the thorns like they were nothing and was now calling back to the others periodically to tell them where the thin patches were.
"Maybe next thorn patch we all can just ride on your shoulders then, Gotsumon!" called Kevin loudly.
"That's not necessary," shouted Gotsumon. "Don't worry, Kevin, you've got about six feet of rather thin thorn density ahead, just keep going diagonally towards the right."
"I see it," called Kevin as he walked sideways and sucked in his stomach, trying to keep his now patchily covered skin from being cut up.
"Wait!" called Labramon, "I'm caught up!" The canine growled loudly as she tugged at a clump of fur wrapped up in a twist of thorny vines. "Dratted thorns…"
"Here, let me," Snow Agumon waded through the vines, growling softly under his breath as the thorns scraped his skin, "Just get ready for a bit of a chill."
"Umm, what are you going to do…?" gulped Labramon. The white dinosaur only opened his mouth.
"Little Blizzard!" gasped the dinosaur as a wave of frost covered the vines. The iced greenery then shattered as Labramon tugged on the frozen vines.
"Thanks…" whispered Labramon as Snow Agumon led the canine through the vines.
"No problem," smiled Snow Agumon that is until a thorn scraped his arm, which caused the dinosaur to wince.
"Hurry up you two," called Kevin from the far side of the thorn patch. He let Michelle down on and then looked at his shirt. The blue shirt was nothing more than a tattered clump of cloth.
"Coming!" called the two Rookie digimon as they scrambled and tugged their way through the vines.
The two digimon appeared on the far side of the thorn bush. Snow Agumon was now a soft shade of pink, instead of white. Scraps and abrasions covered his scaly body. Labramon's normally well kept fur was now shaggy and filled with prickly thorns and other bits of plant that found away to catch a ride with the retriever. Labramon grimaced quietly at the state of her fur.
"This will take ages to get out," whimpered the canine as she tried to detach her thorn patch souvenirs from her person. "OW!" yelped the canine as thorn caught on to a chuck of fur.
"Shh…" hissed Gatomon quietly. The feline's ears swiveled in four different directions, "I hear water…"
"Water!" gasped Snow Agumon and Michelle.
"Yeah," Gatomon pointed down the path quietly, "down the path…shouldn't be far, maybe a twenty or thirty yards up ahead. Waterfall…shouldn't be hard to miss."
"Good, I'm getting a little tired," Kevin looked back at the thorn patch and rubbed his scraped up arm, "and we need a rest after that…"
"Everyone, forward, ho'!" Piximon swept his staff forward, "Gotsumon, do you still have the canteens, it maybe the last source of water for a long time!"
"Mud Frigimon gave me a satchel," called Gotsumon as he whipped a stick around and untied a checkered handkerchief. "Yep they're still here!"
"Good, it would be quite the travesty if we had a source of water and no place to put it," Piximon flew up the path, "Well, don't just stand there like a bunch of Woodmon, let's go, chop, chop!"
888
"Are you sure this is ok?" Amy called loudly in the wind.
"Amy It's fine, plus flying is more comfortable for me than waddling across tree roots," called the large, black bird under the girl's knees.
"Thanks Saberdramon," called Brendan loudly, "I know it must be a bit of a work out for you to carry us all!"
"Awe, it's no such thing, you're all as light as…" Saberdramon hesitated for a bit, "well, at least you aren't Mammothmon…"
"I don't know what a Mammothmon is…" Amy started as she looked back at Brendan, "but I don't think I like the way she said that…"
"Don't worry, you look nothing like those hairy elephants," called Tapirmon from behind Brendan.
"ELEPHANTS!" Amy shouted only to hear Saberdramon chuckle slightly.
"Amy, do you have a signal?" called Brendan loudly. He was holding up his digivice and looking at the screen.
"Not even a beep…" called Amy back loudly, "They just aren't here!"
"That can't be right," Brendan grumbled. "Those black clouds were in this direction."
"Those clouds could've been anything though," Amy replied loudly.
"No…those were no storm clouds like I've ever seen before," Brendan looked at his digivice, "and if it wasn't some sort of dark power then I'm blind. I was just sure that they'd be around in this direction…"
"Maybe we haven't gone far enough," suggested Saberdramon as she flapped her wings.
"That's always possible…" Brendan furrowed his brow and crossed his arms.
"Maybe we should follow this river," called Amy. She looked back, "It would give us a point of reference…"
Brendan blinked and looked at Amy blankly.
"What?" Amy narrowed her eyes, "If you make a remark…"
"No…it's just…that's by far the most intelligent thing I've ever heard you say…" Brendan smiled brightly.
"Really?" Amy smiled broadly.
"Well, I guess it's really not all that hard to beat some of the other stuff…" Brendan smirked a little.
"OI!" yelped Amy as she moved to scramble at Brendan. "I'm gonna throw you off!"
"You may want to wait a second…" gulped Tapirmon. "Saberdramon, incoming!"
"Mjolnir Thunder!" roared a squawking voice as a blaze of blue lightning whizzed past Saberdramon's left wing.
"What the…?" Brendan spun around. "That's one big parrot…"
"I guess we'll need a really big cracker…" gulped Amy.
"Good joke, just not the time," Brendan said with a little quiver in his voice.
"That's Parrotmon, let's just say a pet store won't be selling this big bird to anyone; his Mjolnir Thunder will fry you and his Sonic Destroyer is relatively self-explanatory," called Tapirmon as he looked back at the large green bird.
Two stout arms with golden bracelets hung around the wrists were outstretched in a talonful grabbing motion. The slicked back crimson plumes on the parrot's head sparked with energy.
"Saberdramon, here comes another one," shouted Amy loudly as she clutched Saberdramon's feathers.
"Mjolnir Thunder!" roared the parrot as the plumes flicked forward.
"TURN LEFT!" shouted the two humans as the bolts of lightning curled right.
"Sonic Destroyer!" a pulse of wavy energy flew forward and expanded as it traveled.
"Dive, DIVE!" shouted the children, loudly Brendan grabbed Tapirmon and crouched close to Saberdramon. Amy glanced back and screamed. "FOR ALL THAT'S GOOD; DIVE!"
"I'M DIVING, I'M DIVING!" growled Saberdramon, "You yelling at me, isn't helping my concentration! Who's the one that knows how to fly anyways, dang backseat fliers!"
The sonic shockwave buzzed painfully over the children's head as Saberdramon dove downward. They grabbed on even tighter. Saberdramon swerved to the left as a blast of lightning shot under her tilted wings.
"Nightmare Syndrome!" yelped Tapirmon as he scrambled out of Brendan's arms and turned. A black bolt flickered across the air and snapped into the parrot's thick beak.
"Well, that was effective," growled Amy loudly.
"I have to digivolve further if I'm going to be any use!" Tapirmon shouted back.
"We can't, if you digivolve Saberdramon will slow down…" Brendan yelped. He looked back at the advancing parrot digimon and then back at Tapirmon, "and that would be a very bad thing!"
"Can't you biomerge!" shouted Amy loudly.
"And if we de-digivolve after the fight?" shouted Brendan, "How can I be sure that we could make it back to the ground safely if we fought that thing? It's too big of a risk…"
"Compared to what? BEING SHOT DOWN BY BOLTS OF LIGHTNING?" shouted Amy.
"NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO START A FIGHT WITH ME!" returned Brendan loudly. He closed his eyes and rubbed his nose. He opened them and scanned the forest below, "Saberdramon, can you go low; I see a house or something up ahead!"
"Going low and fast; hold on tight!" called Saberdramon as she tucked her wings in and dove towards the ground.
The wind picked up considerably as the bird raged through the air. If they weren't being shot at with lightning bolts and at risk of being blown to smithereens, Saberdramon's dive could've have been compared to some sort of new age hyper-rollercoaster. The ground screamed towards as individual trees became discernable. The ground exploded as bolts of lightning crashed down from the heavens. Saberdramon then miraculously pulled up, giving the humans the stomach upturning of their life and buzzed over the trees. Leaves swept into Brendan and Amy's face as Saberdramon weaved back and forth trying to avert the bolts of hyper-heated air molecules being launched by the larger, parrot that had assumed a higher position comparable to that of Saberdramon.
"Almost there!" growled Brendan as the roof of the house became visible. "Not far now…"
"Uh oh…" Tapirmon poked Brendan on the shoulder.
Brendan turned his head to see Parrotmon had dropped down right behind them.
"Crap…" whispered Brendan.
"Sonic Destroyer!" The trees flattened as the shock wave flung forward.
"GET OUT OF…." Amy's voice was drowned out by the thorough and complete rumble of the explosively contained, thunderous squawk.
Saberdramon and her passengers were hurled forward by the vibrating air particles. The bird struggled to reign in the children and Tapirmon within her wings using her body as shield. The black raven crashed through the top roof spire of the house as she collapsed on the ground, rolling for several yards before emitting a bright golden light and fizzling down into a smaller figure. The children bounced and scraped across the ground as they came to a stop.
Brendan shook his head and looked over to Tapirmon. The little, elephantine digimon was knocked silly against a tree. A huge shadow swept overhead. Brendan looked up.
"Answer that phone," murmured Amy absently as she wobbled in her sitting position.
"Crap…" Brendan heard himself say over the annoying ringing that clanged in his head.
He saw the green feathered bird sweep past again. He saw the profile of the large, green macaw swing back around.
"This is it, we're cooked; we're deader than something that's…well, you can't be anymore deader than dead…" Brendan muttered blankly as he caught the sheen of electrical flares on the bird's head. "To think, after everything we've gone through, to be done in by an overgrown, pet bird…"
Brendan closed his eyes and did something he hadn't expected himself to do. He leapt over and covered Amy. The girl yelped in surprise.
"Get off of me you pervert!" yelped Amy as she struggled. Brendan closed his eyes tight but didn't move, even though the girl was hitting his back with closed fists.
"Mjolnir…." Brendan tensed up as the parrot's voice growled; prepared to take the full blast.
"Lion Whirlwind KICK!" roared an authoritarian voice. There was a wave of wind and the sound of intense and pained squawking.
Brendan looked up and saw Parrotmon being sliced by incredibly narrow bands of jet stream like wind spinning in a very tight tornado around the huge avian beast. He turned his head and a large arc etched in the ground, at the end of the arc was a white, armored foot that was attached to a white, armored leg. His eyes looked up further and saw a white, armored torso. He moved to look up at the savior's head when.
"GET OFF ME!" shouted Amy as a fist cracked onto the side of Brendan's head.
Brendan felt a little woozy and fell, his head hitting the ground. He looked up fuzzily and the face of a large lion swam into view. Brendan suddenly felt very tired and closed his eyes.
888
"Ready…" chuckled a thin creature as he looked over the edge of the cliff into the ravine. The creature was actually more than thin, in all actuality he was just red bones with a pair of black wings affixed to its spine and a black, horned helmet covering his skull.
The skeleton's companion snorted as it lowered its large, vermillion head. The companion's body was built like a number of single horned members of the Ceratop family from the Human World's Cretaceous period. Its armored back was chocolate brown, and contrasted sharply to the strawberry-sauce-red flesh of the creature's underside and legs, giving the entire monstrosity the visage of a strawberry flavored single-horned Triceratops covered in chocolate sauce.
"Are you ready, skinny?" growled the dinosaur as he puffed his lungs up.
The skeleton took up a fighting stance from behind the dinosaur, clutching a staff in its hands. The dinosaur turned a pile of boulders that were piled precariously close to the edge of the cliff.
"This will be most interesting! They are right there at that pond, and all we'll have to do is drop these boulders on them!" giggled the skeleton.
"I thought the Mistress wanted the males alive…" grunted the dinosaur, "Skull Satamon, you don't wish to anger the Mistress do you?"
"Don't worry, Vermillimon," growled the skeleton, "I'm sure the digimon they are traveling with will provide enough cushion to keep them alive but ensnared…"
"I hope so…the Mistress can be quite unforgiving," growled the dinosaur quietly.
"Just do it already Vermillimon!" snapped the skull impatiently as he danced behind the dinosaur.
"Volcanic Strike S!" roared the dinosaur as it vomited up an explosion of lava. The rocks immediately flew from the cliff and started to plummet to their target below.
Skull Satamon laughed inexhaustibly as he hovered over the dust cloud. He spun his staff in his hand like an old Vaudeville entertainer. Then something caught his eye.
"WHAT?" shouted the skeleton as he gaped downward. A stream of flaming feathers rammed into Skull Satamon's ribcage.
A red-sashed angel shot up from the ravine. Its golden staff spinning in one hand as it shot in closer to Skull Satamon the angel grabbed his staff stiffly and swung it hard. Skull Satamon's quick reflexes saved him as he cracked his own staff against the angel's.
Vermillimon narrowed its eyes and trudged to the edge of the cliff and looked down. There was a large, reinforced mud shield with a pile of boulders on top of it. The humans and their digimon companions had already retreated from under the shield. One of them had digivolved into a long necked, armored dragon digimon. The dragon barked something and a stream of energy slammed into Vermillimon's snout. The red dinosaur growled in annoyance and opened its mouth spewing another wave of lava down towards its intended victims. The dinosaur watched as the dragon was bathed in lava and heard the black armored beast's squeal of pain.
There was an explosion of light. Vermillimon retreated back as a golden flare raged upwards. Vermillimon looked up and saw a large, red and deep green, serpentine dragon rear up into the sky with a massive roar. Crown-like, bony projections adorned his head and his back had the same bony projections. Its forearms ended in clawed hands. One hand clutched an orange sphere and one clutched a green sphere. The dragon glared down at Vermillimon. The dragon opened its mouth and a spiral of flames built in its throat.
"I am HishaRyuumon and this is my, Juuouguruma!" roared the dragon as the spiral of flame flew from its mouth.
Vermillimon drove its snout downward projecting its bony frill upwards trying to deflect the spiral of flames from his body. The dinosaur then looked up and roared again firing a ball of earthen flame up at the long body dragon. HishaRyuumon took the blast to the face and instantly retreated backward only to have his back rammed by his angelic partner. Vermillimon saw Skull Satamon guffawing in the sky as he hovered above the dragon.
A small voice shouted up from the ravine. Vermillimon looked down and saw a stream of emerald light fire up from the canyon to the angel. The dinosaur closed his eyes as the light grew.
"Pidmon digivolve to…" announced the angel as the light burned through Vermillimon's eyelids, "…Asuramon!"
"JUUOUGURUMA!" roared HishaRyuumon and Vermillion instinctively moved its head so that his frill was positioned to protect his body. The spiral fire blast washed across his frill and bony snout.
The next thing Vermillimon knew, he was being rammed by the dragon and being pushed back. Vermillimon snorted angrily and dug his feet into the ground halting the forced slide of his body and then pushed back. Vermillimon thrust upward and tossed the dragon off of his body with a loud grunt. HishaRyuumon twisted in the air and curled back around opening its mouth. Another flame spiral was building in its throat.
"Juuouguruma!" roared the dragon as the fire spiral flew forward.
"Volcanic Strike!" roared Vermillimon firing his own flaming attack at the dragon.
The two attacks converged and exploded. The back draft sent Vermillimon skidding backward. The dinosaur shook its head and looked into the sky. He saw Asuramon and Skull Satamon fighting in the air. The four armed, multi-faced Asuramon was thrusting flaming fists at the skeleton, who, using his superior speed, duck and weaved through the strikes of fire to attack with his staff. Asuramon saw this though and grabbed the weapon with a pair of his hands and pulled, dragging Skull Satamon into a double fisted attack of his lower torso limbs. Skull Satamon shouted in pain as he flew back and clutched his ribcage.
Asuramon's face masks then glowed brightly and a single bar of white light fired forward. The attack was slow and clumsy though, and Skull Satamon quickly flew circles around it driving in closer to strike with his staff again.
Vermillimon growled and scanned the sky again, HishaRyuumon was missing. He looked around. Suddenly a blast of twisting flames seared past Vermillimon's body. Vermillimon looked straight up. The dragon was diving towards him. Vermillimon quickly scrambled and turned. His neck wasn't very flexible and it was hard to reach high arcing targets. He had to move. Another wave of swirling fire crashed into the ground on either side of his body. Vermillimon returned fire in aggravation as he tried to get into a proper position. HishaRyuumon lifted the hand that carried the orange sphere. A long orange energy blade appeared. The dragon pulled the blade back.
There was a sudden 'crack'. Vermillimon looked up to see Skull Satamon implanting the sickly yellow orb on the end of his staff into the jaw of the large dragon. The skeleton disappeared into a flurry of movement and the dragon arched backward flying backwards. Vermillimon looked for his partner and soon found him driving the end of staff into the back of Asuramon. The two Ultimate digimon tumbled back into the ravine. The two digimon glowed brightly before they shrunk down and disappeared over the cliff.
"Hurry up, Vermillimon!" shouted the skeleton as he glared down into the ravine, hovering above the ground. "Do it!"
"I'm gonna!" shouted Vermillimon loudly as he galloped forward. The dinosaur eyed the scene down below. The humans were clutching their partners and the other digimon were sneering up at him, save a Tentomon who was cowering behind one of the Gotsumon in the group.
"WELL?" snapped Skull Satamon loudly.
Vermillimon took in a deep breath and opened its mouth. "Verm Breath!" a stream of reddish orange gas flooded the ravine. "There, it's done…" Vermillimon snorted slightly as the gas faded, revealing its unconscious victims sprawled out on the ground.
"Grand!" Skull Satamon dropped down and rushed behind a rock outcropping. He stood up carrying several loops of rope. "The Mistress will be most pleased!"
"Yes…she will be…" Vermillimon retreated from the edge of the cliff, "You can leave the non-partnered digimon; they are useless to us."
"Maybe I should delete them!" Skull Satamon giggled madly at the thought.
"Do not waste time, tie up the prisoners and go, that gas won't keep them knocked out indefinitely!" growled Vermillimon, "I'll be back on the trail and I'll meet you back at the palace…"
Skull Satamon giggled loudly and dove into the canyon. A few minutes later he buzzed up out of the ravine trailing four figures, two human and two digimon.
888
"Look at it…" gasped Kevin as he drooled. The boy was glossily eying a pool of clear, blue water in a soft, green clearing that was being fed by a small waterfall that fell from the northern rock wall of the canyon. The southern wall was almost a mile away and the view was obstructed by thick forest. "Man oh man!"
"Yeah!" cheered Snow Agumon, as the little digimon ran forward with his partner into the small clearing. "Water, water…"
The two dropped down to their knees and plunged their heads into the water, slurping noisily at the clear liquid. Piximon and Gatomon looked at each other and sighed before moving forward. Gotsumon, Michelle and Labramon followed slowly behind Gatomon and Piximon.
"Gotsumon, would you please fill our canteens?" called Piximon as he sat down on a rock near the pool of water.
"Okey doke," nodded Gotsumon.
He untied the satchel and made a grab for the first canteen when an arrow zinged through the air and stabbed the small metal container. Gotsumon yelped in surprise and scrambled backwards, crashing into Kevin. Kevin lost his balance and plunged into the pool of water.
"What was that for?" yelped Kevin loudly as he hugged himself. "Cold, cold, cold…" Kevin flailed and crawled out of the water and shook quickly.
"There…was an…arrow…" gulped Gotsumon.
"What do you mean an…?" Kevin started to growl, but then something whizzed past his ear and exploded into the rock wall behind him. The boy gulped and turned his head. An arrow was implanted into the canyon wall. He giggled nervously, "Ooooh, an arrow…like the one that nearly turned my head into split bean salad…"
Snow Agumon ran in front of Kevin, "Don't worry I'll protect you!"
"Pit Bomb!" shouted Piximon as he launched one of his demon-winged bombs forward.
It exploded into the forest. There was a loud roar and a large beast leapt out of the forest. It was like a centaur, except it only had a human torso, the head was much like a ram. The creature's torso was covered in lavender armor as were its forearms. Its sheep-like legs ended in slender hooves. It pranced to a stop and turned its ram-like head. Large, curling horns swung around and cold black eyes glared at Piximon. It lifted one of its arms and lifted a crossbow. The digimon moved its hand to take an arrow from a quiver on her back.
"I don't think so!" growled Kevin as he lifted his digivice.
"Snow Agumon digivolve to…Shima Unimon!" The little white dinosaur rushed forward, glowed brightly and reappeared as a charging zebra unicorn. His horn was lower and his ears pressed backward. "Wild Thunder!"
The ram leapt back and smashed its feet into the ground, "Thunder Stomp!"
The wave of yellow energy slammed into Shima Unimon's strike of blue lightning and easily swept it backward sending blazing streams of lightning that threw the equine to the ground. The others gaped at Shima Unimon as the black and white zebra shook off the attack and stood, as they did the sheep swept her hand up and back and fired an arrow at Piximon. The pixie digimon swept his staff up and slapped the arrow into the water.
"Who the heck are you?" shouted Kevin loudly as the sheep fired another series of arrows at Piximon who responded by twirling his staff in front of himself and blocking the projectiles.
"I am Pajiramon, the archer," replied the sheep nonchalantly as she numbly rigged up another arrow and fired it at Piximon. "My Treasure Bow launches my just arrows and my Thunder Stomp crushes all enemies!" The sheep swung its horned head to Kevin. Her crossbow swept around and an arrow flew forward.
"Kevin!" shouted Shima Unimon as he charged forward and started to glow. "Shima Unimon digivolve to Cyberdramon!"
Kevin blinked as the light blazed forward. When he opened his eyes the point of an arrowhead was a hair's breadth from his nose. Cyberdramon was holding the shaft in his clawed hand. The black dragon growled and turned to Pajiramon.
"Look, we have no beef with you…" growled Cyberdramon.
"More like mutton…" whispered Gotsumon, who got a quick whap from Gatomon.
"Now's not the time," hissed the feline at the rock digimon.
"Why are you attacking us?" shouted Kevin loudly.
"Because…" a mature, provocative, female voice replied. "Our mistress bid it…Darkness Wave!" from the shadows of the forest a stream of black energy embedded with bats squeaked and chipped forward as the black mammals wheeled into the clearing and zeroed in on Michelle.
"Labramon digivolve to D'Arcmon!" the angelic canine spun her staff in front of her as the blackness swarmed forward. "La Pucelle!" A wash of pink energy bit at the bats as they smacked into the staff. Gatomon leapt up and slashed at the flying mammals with its claws and Gotsumon flung his head forward releasing stones into the others that tried to escape.
"Flower Cannon!" a green burst of energy flew forward and exploded into Gatomon, sweeping the feline into the bushes. A second blast sent Gotsumon rolling across the ground.
"Michelle!" D'Arcmon moved in front of the girl.
"I'm fine…" whispered the child.
Two figures appeared from the forest. One was a cute, flowery, fairy girl, with a peach colored flower adorning her head and a peach colored skirt whose dress was made from a peach colored flower. The other figure was voluptuous demoness. A black leather body suit clung to her thin but curvaceous body. One of her hands ended in long, crimson claws. Her white hair fell down below her shoulder, where large, black wings were attached to her body. Her pale face was half covered by a black face mask. Her red lips were smirking evilly and a shadowy specter was perched on her shoulder snickered at the digi-destined.
"She looks like a witch…" growled Michelle quietly.
"What did you call me?" shrieked the demoness.
"LadyDevimon, who'd have thought they'd let you back in the data weaver?" growled Gatomon as the cat rolled out of the bushes.
The demon narrowed her eyes angrily at the cat. "You're lucky I'm not interested in you!"
"We are not here to argue!" growled the flower child.
"We apologize, Lady Lillymon," breathed Pajiramon. The ram glared at the group. "You will surrender!"
"Fat chance, Lamb Chop!" shouted Kevin.
"I'm so happy you said that…" Pajiramon lifted her crossbow, "Because then that means I get to muss you up a bit first!"
Arrows flew forward before Kevin could make a reply, instantly sending Cyberdramon into a flurry of punches and grabs as he tried to get rid of the projectiles. LadyDevimon rushed forward her clawed hand twisted into a long, black saber that she thrust forward at Michelle. D'Arcmon stabbed her staff forward deflecting the blow and rammed her foot into LadyDevimon's face. The demoness screeched as she skidded backward. She brought her normal hand up and touched her lip and smirked at the little warm liquid building up at the corner of her mouth.
"You have quite the spirit, angel…" LadyDevimon smirked and disappeared only to reappear behind the angel and grab her by her upper wings and drag her into the sky, "Let's see how much!"
D'Arcmon struggled angrily as she was dragged upwards.
"D'Arcmon!" Michelle yelped as she reached for her partner.
D'Arcmon glowed brightly and LadyDevimon growled and kicked away from the angel as the glowing energy of digivolution flooded the angel.
"D'Arcmon digivolve to Wisemon!" The white robed sorceress glared up at LadyDevimon, "No one, but no one, pulls on my wings!" Wisemon flexed her hand forward revealing her claws, "Pandora Dialog!"
A bolt of white lightning sizzled forward striking LadyDevimon in the chest. The lady demon dropped to the ground clutching her chest, but she lifted her head with a smile, "Not bad…try this one on for size! Black Wing!" a shadowy replica of a black raven flew forward and crashed down on Wisemon, pinning the magician under the shadow. LadyDevimon took to the air as Gatomon and Gotsumon ran forward and swept one of her hands forward, "Darkness Wave!" A torrent of blackness flew down crushing Wisemon even further into the ground.
Over the pond, Piximon and Lillymon whizzed back and forth. Lillymon shot the pixie with a large, peach colored flower that blossomed from her wrist and the pink furred digimon was slashing back at the fairy with his staff. Lillymon lined her cannon up pointing it at Piximon only to have the pixie slap her arm with his staff, sending her shot off course into the pond.
Arrows whizzed past Kevin's head as Cyberdramon sliced his spiked arms forward and released a blaze of emerald energy at Pajiramon. The ram digimon leapt back and returned the attack with a stomp of its foot releasing a blast of yellow lightning at Cyberdramon. The black, muscular dragon grunted as the electricity rushed against his chest. Cyberdramon stood firm and then pushed forward sweeping his crimson wings back and diving at Pajiramon. The two digimon tumbled aggressively into the bush, exchanging fists, knees and head butts.
"Flower Cannon!" shouted Lillymon as she launched a leaf green burst of energy at Piximon.
"Pit Bomb!" yelped Piximon as he swept his staff forward and fired a black winged bomb at the burst. The two attacks exploded into each other releasing a flare of light that eviscerated the shadows of the forest. Piximon squinted as the light faded to see his opponent gone from view. "This isn't good…nope, nope…"
"I think the little Nerf ball finally got it right…" chuckled LadyDevimon as she appeared behind him.
"Watch out, Piximon!" yelped Michelle but it was too late. LadyDevimon blindsided the pixie with a blast of her Darkness Wave. Lillymon then appeared in front of Piximon and kicked the spherical digimon into the canyon wall.
"Piximon!" shouted Wisemon. The sorceress rose from the crater LadyDevimon had put her in. "You'll pay…" Wisemon flicked her arm up and manifested a book into her hand.
"Oh what are you going to do? Read us a bedtime story?" chuckled LadyDevimon.
"Good guess," whispered Wisemon as she flicked the book to the page she was looking for, "Let's just say, after I'm done, you'll need a nap…Eternal…"
An arrow whizzed by and the book flew out of Wisemon's hands. Cyberdramon dropped down in front of Pajiramon as the ram stepped out of the bushes. "I don't know how sheepy did it, but she lost me in the forest…"
"It's been fun, digi-destined, but it's time for us to finish this game," LadyDevimon rose into the sky and looked down. "Darkness Wave!"
Lillymon and Pajiramon retreated from the clearing as the black wave of energy crashed into the ground. LadyDevimon smirked as she watched the two partner digimon fade to their rookie forms. Gatomon and Gotsumon were lying a foot from Michelle. They had tried to protect the little girl but were only a few seconds late.
Lillymon hovered into the clearing and made quick work of tying the humans and their partners up in her flower wreathes. Pajiramon pranced over to where Piximon laid unconscious.
"What should we do with this one?" Pajiramon picked the pixie up by its two wings.
"Bring it along," Lillymon stated. The fairy looked up, "According to the Mistress, he has been quite the annoyance to Lord Chaos Piedmon…"
"Can I take the cat?" growled LadyDevimon, "As a play thing at least?"
"The Mistress said that we may choose to take souvenirs if we wished," sighed Lillymon. She flashed her hand forward and a string of flowers wrapped around Gatomon. "Anyone want the Gotsumon?"
"I may as well take him, if he proves an annoyance we'll just finish him off…" announced Pajiramon as the ram walked over and snatched up the rock digimon.
LadyDevimon and Lillymon loaded their prisoners on Pajiramon's back and then took flight. Pajiramon hopped up the side of the canyon, using her sharp hooves to cut new footholds as she went.
888
The Mistress smirked as she watched her underlings bring home their winnings in a water lily that was floating in small pool of water in front of her. The small water lily's view focused onto the boys.
"They are quite handsome, aren't they?" the Mistress mused to herself, as she touched the image with a long, red-gloved finger.
888
I have nothing to say about the chapter in general; it just sort of wrote itself once I got the idea. (I was really fretting on how I'd work these intermediary chapters out…)
One thing that I will ask, and it's not a plea or anything I just want some feedback about chapter 76: A Little Interlude in D-Sharp. Did it not interest anyone, was it bad? Did I make an error in writing it, or did it just suffer from the fact that I mucked around with the chapter order? Of all the recent chapters, that was the one I kind of wanted some feedback on and well, there was none, and I was worried that maybe I'm adding too much padding or if maybe you didn't like it or that it confused the hell out of you or you just decided that since it wasn't in the Digital World or had any action that it was not worth your time, or that since it was mainly flashbacks to other stuff that you felt jaded about it.
AND BEFORE ANYONE TRIES TO REPORT ME I'M ASKING FOR A RESPONSE TO A CHAPTER SO THAT I CAN WORK WITH IT AND MAKE IT BETTER! I AM NOT ASKING FOR A COOP OR A 'YOU-WRITE-THE-STORY' THING!
I would just like a little feedback on that one chapter because I think, at this stage in the game, that chapter may be the most controversial so far. I'd really just like to know your feelings on the subject and that's it, no need for plot suggestions or stuff like that (unless they are mechanical in nature like I think you should go on but try and keep it to a very weak side plot, or something like that, I probably will not consider I think you should have X go to 1 and be with Z at 8 because J said so…You get what I mean, I hope.) Mainly I'm just curious since there was a block of chapters that were sort of a black out on the response level. I DON'T BLAME YOU GUYS; I BLAME MYSELF FOR BEING A CHAPTER SHUFFLING BLOCKHEAD! You guys are truly great and wonderful and informative and definitely caught me a in a number of oops I look like a right Twiddle Dee Dumb moments…
Blue: Well, the help really was more of a, I should really try and keep things humanoid, because I had planned for Otamamon to biomerge into Giga Seadramon, and the human forms of Otamamon's Mega form are very non-aquatic, and then I had happened to see an AMV that had WarGreymon X in it and him using Poseidon Force…and that just about sowed it up in my mind. Mainly you helped seed the doubt in my choice of Giga Seadramon, which reviewers, when really on the ball, sometimes do.
Alforce: Well, I wrote the RenamonOtamamon thing because it was something that needed to be addressed (by children reading this and young teens, and well because I needed something to fill out the chapter and I wasn't sure how it would go). It's easier sometimes to see, things when you look at them through someone else's eyes. Actually that's a bunch of phooey. The reason I wrote it was because I thought it was hilarious and I wanted to have fun, and I wanted to write a chapter where we had Jason and Janet actually following through with the one off mention of possible romance and I wanted the Digimon to try and muddle through it and this is what I came up with. I know romance can become quite a problem; all you have to do is look at Koumi locc…or whatever it calls itself. Plus I always pictured Jason as being a very, hard person, someone that hurts but doesn't like to show it.
Jason's mutations were a last minute thing; because I did look into the possibility of Otamamon becoming Otamamon X…and…I don't think so. Whether Jason's mutations will survive the digital-human world barrier…will definitely be something to see, or if Jason relinquishing it will be a possibility, because the whole X antibody thing is just as new to me as it is to you. My story's general idea is often locked but the mundane things like Jason's X are very here and there. Which is part of the reason I am sort of bouncing back to non-Jason/Janetness…that and too much mush makes me sick…
Oh and ten, useless, irredeemable, 'won't change a thing in or out of the story' points to the person who can id the Mistress, specifically, before it's too late! Mmm, wait, don't do it in the reviews please, you can email me…I think…just look on the email thing on my profile it should work…(Crosses fingers). If you feel uncomfortable doing that…you can always play alone in your own household, just write down who you think it is, put the name in an envelope and then wait till her identity is revealed to see if you won! What fun! (Gah I'll never be a game show host).
Gosh I haven't wrote a review/author's note section this long in a while…