Author's note: I wrote this chapter completely by myself. And you'll see why it was just me once you get started reading this chapter. I'm not exactly sure how Snimon's attacks worked, but it sounded good enough and I did actually look up the names of the attacks. I just never heard Snimon talk in the show, so he didn't in my post! I also looked up Elecmon's, Leormon's and his digivolved-state's attacks. For you really big Digimon fans, you'll recognize Leormon's digivolved form. And no flaming on that fort, okay? You can tell me nicely why you don't think it works but I'm not really going to listen either way. Anyways, enjoy and more replies please! Thanks for those who did review... okay, they were short but they were nice!
Disclaimer: own... digimon? Really? you think I own digimon? Well in that case, could we remake the ending of Season 02 please? No, wait... nevermind. I don't really own digimon. But I do own Ami! Taru is owned by Kayhera... That's her username... maybe you should check out her stuff too!
Recap: So I was helping Taru out with her computer when these weird "Digi-vice" things came out and we went to the Digital World for the first time. We followed the map the digi-vices showed and found a completely empty village save for two eggs. I tried to stop her but Taru touched one and these two Digimon came out: Leormon (he's mine) and Elecmon (obviously Taru's). Trying to get home we saw some other kids with Digimon going through this TV. Taru had this wonderful idea to try it to and we got home. I went home to cook dinner for my mom and Taru had dinner with her dad and Ichigo, her neighbor. We both can't wait to go to the Digital World again!
It was good that there were only a couple more days of school before Winter Break. If Ami had to deal with it for too long, she would go crazy! It helped that with her mind was more on Leormonthan on school andshe wished more and more to return home. And, more importantly, to go back to the Digital World. As soon as she had gotten home she had called Taru up and said "We're going again tomorrow!" Not that she knew how they were going to manage it. It was going to be the first time ever that Taru would come over to Ami's house, and the first time they visited on a school day for none-school purposes. Something that the brainy girl quickly pointed out to Ami in her matter-of-fact way.
"Something wrong with that?" asked Ami, talking mostly about the none-school related part.
"Well, you're always just taking me out for ice cream and junk when it's my turn to visit. I thought you made it quite obvious that you didn't want me to go to your house," said Taru calmly, as if it didn't matter too much to her in the least. But the quick bye after Ami said "I changed my mind, okay?" told Ami quite clearly that she normally did care.
So along with these mysterious Digimon, Ami was thinking a lot about Taru and their relationship as friends. Unfortunately this led to walking around in a daydream state so eventually she knocked into somebody. Where the person she ran into just swayed on her feet a little, Ami felt her self fall forward and land on the floor. The person she ran into quickly kneeled down, helping her up one handed. In his other hand was a guitar case. Ami's eyes went up tothe face and she immediately recognized him as Matt Ishida, the lead guitaristin this local band. In fact she was quite sure they were going to have a concert on Christmas.
"I'm really sorry about that," said Matt, looking really embarrassed. "I just need to go to a band practice soon and…"
"No, my bad," laughed Ami, blushing slightly. "I wasn't paying attention. I was thinking about… my friend! She's coming over today to my house for the first time."
"Really?" said Matt, looking astonished. "So did you two just meet or something?"
"Oh, no, we've been friends for four years now!" continued Ami. "But my mom isn't exactly the greatest person to be around so mostly we hang out somewhere else."
"Four years, huh?" said Matt, suddenly looking as if he was thinking about something else. In fact his face looked so much like Ami's when she ran into him that she started laughing. He blinked, though for a minute and then joined into her laughter, putting a hand behind his head. "Well, I should head out. Have fun!"
"Yeah, you too," said Ami. "If I don't run into you again… figuratively speaking, hopefully… then I'll see you at your concert."
"Awesome! See you late!" said Matt, rushing off.
Ami laughed for a little while longer and then checked her watch. Her eyes went wide and muttered angrily to herself. Hitching up her backpack, she rushed out of the school toward the subway. When she reached the crowd and the usual place that she met Taru, she checked her watch again and hit herself on the head. Even after running all the way here she was more than fifteen minutes late. She looked around and couldn't see Taru anywhere. Finally, most of the people thinned out and she saw the girl sitting on a bench reading her math book. Sighing in relief, she walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. Taru gave a little jump, before looking up at her. At first she just stared up at Ami blankly but slowly a slight smile spread across her face.
"Wondered when you were going to show up," she said, putting her math book away and standing up. "What happen; you forget?"
"No!" cried Ami defensively. "I would never forget about you and I'm not ever going to abandon you if you need my help! I just ran into this guy at school… And we talked for a little while. I just lost track of time, that's all."
"Um… okay… I'm just teasing," said Taru, blinking and walking past her. But Ami could tell that to Taru, and even to her, this was not a joking matter.
Opening up her front door and looking at the mess in the kitchen, living room and her room Ami immediately regretted inviting her friend over. It would have been much better if she had had a day to clean up the house. But then she assured herself with the fact that she never would have. Putting on an embarrassed grin, she opened the door all the way so Taru could enter. As soon as the door closed a red and purple head stuck its head out of her book bag and quickly jumped out. It took Ami a minute to realize that it was Elecmon.
"I am allowed to come out, right?" said the Digimon, looking up at Taru.
"Don't worry, my mom won't be home until late," said Ami, shrugging. "So feel free to walk around anywhere and don't mind the mess."
"What about your dad?" asked Taru, looking up at her.
"Er…" said Ami, putting a hand behind her head and looking away. "He moved to America…after the divorce… actually after... but on a happier note!"
She walked into her room and pressed the power button on her computer. Leormon looked up from where he was resting on her bed and smiled slightly. He jumped lightly from the bed, yawned and sat waiting. Ami blinked at him until he turned his attention to Taru who was standing timidly in the doorway.
"I said to not mind the mess," said Ami, turning back to her computer and trying to find that weird window that had been on Taru's computer. After a while she looked up again and Taru had made it a few more steps into the room and was looking around at some of the pictures on top of her dresser. "I keep our photos over here," she said, pointing her thumb at her night stand.
"Oh," said Taru, taking her hands off the frames and turning away. "Sorry, I should have asked first."
"Nah, that's okay," laughed Ami. "Really, relax! I'm not like this at your house."
"But you've been coming to my house since we met," muttered Taru, obviously not wanting the older girl to hear. So Ami pretended thatTaru hadn't said anything and turned back to the computer.
"Oh, I give up!" she cried, throwing up a hand. She pulled out the device that Elecmon had referred to as a "Digi-vice" and pointed it at the computer screen. "Digimon World Portal: open sesame! Or whatever."
She rolled her eyes and was about to turn away because she hadn't really expected it to work. But as with the other day the screen suddenly glowed white. Quickly Taru grabbed her digi-vice and joined her as the bright light flooded the room and sucked them in. When they could see clearly, Ami was again in her yellow shirt and black jeans. She hooked her digi-vice to her belt and turned to Taru.
"Hey, we figured it out!"
"We?" said Taru, blinking. "I didn't do anything!"
"Sure you did!" said Ami, putting an arm over her shoulder. "If you hadn't decided to take a chance yesterday I wouldn't have had an inkling of what to do. So, we did it."
"If you say so…" murmured Taru, pulling away and looking around. "We're not in the same place we were yesterday."
"So? As long as we can find a TV we can get back to where we came from," said Ami, putting her hands into her pockets. "Now, let's go explore and see what's out there!"
"The TV thing is only theoretical since we've only done it once," said Taru. "Just letting you know."
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," said Ami, giving a backwards wave as she started off. "Come on, I'm tired of standing in one place."
All during the walk there was little to no sign of anything, Digimon, beast or person of any sort. As time wore on Ami wished she had prepared a bit more for this little journey but then remembered that she had already been late picking up Taru. She would blame Matt for this one. She had already been distracted because of the Digital World and then he decided to bump into her. Finally, when Elecmon started to beg for something to eat, Taru paused and brought out a few snacks she had packed in her bag. At least one person in the group was prepared. They were sitting down in the brush a little ways and snacking a bit when Ami opened up her cell phone.
"Who do you think you're calling?" asked Taru, blinking as she bit into her apple.
"I'm not," said Ami, waiting patiently as it turned on. Just as she had expected the time popped up saying they had been gone from home for about fifteen minutes. "I was checking the time. About what time do you need to get home?"
"Sometime before six I guess," said Taru with a shrug. "I told Dad I was going to be out so sometimes he expects me to just have dinner with you."
"Unfortunately I'm nearing broke…" muttered Ami. "I'm saving up to go to this concert on Christmas Eve and – "
"But we were going to spend Christmas Eve together!" cried Taru in an outrage. "And I don't do concerts."
"Well, it is my year to choose what we're doing," said Ami, checking her calendar on her cell phone, "so, isn't it my say what we do?"
"I'm not going unless you drag me!" said Taru stubbornly, crossing her arms.
"That can be arranged," said Ami, grinning, putting her cell phone away and finishing up her orange. She threw away the peel and Taru looked at her in shock.
"It's biodegradable," she said with a shrug.
"But there are creatures that live here that we know nothing about!" cried Taru. "What if they eat and die? You poisoned it!"
"An unfortunate accident," said Ami, getting to her feet and stretching. "Come on, let's see if we can't find something at least today… even if it's another empty village."
"But I'm still hungry!" complained Elecmon. Taru searched her bag but there was nothing left but her homework. Eventually Leormon handed over his snack saying he wasn't that hungry. Ami had noticed that he didn't eat very much.
'Maybe there are two types of Digimon: those that eat and those that don't,' thought Ami, letting Taru take the lead though she did so timidly. 'You know, I'm only a leader in which I can think of something to do when its needed. It's not always a smart something though.'
Half an hour passed and the most exciting thing that happened was that they found a river, into which Elecmon immediately jumped into. He splashed around for a minute as Ami watched him, laughing. Leormon stood quite calm as Taru hovered near by looking worried beyond belief. She had hardly met the creature about 24 hours ago and all ready she was ruling over it like a young mother. In a funny but out of character trick, Leormon walked up behind Taru and, in a pretense of yawning, knocked her over into the water so she was soaking wet on her arms, legs and a bit of her chest. Luckily the bottom of the river was made out of sand. Laughing, Elecmon exited the river and shook himself dry as Taru pulled herself out dripping water everywhere and glaring at the two Digimon. It was theshow of how well she controlled herself that Ami didn't burst out laughing at the strange sight but instead walked over to Leormon and pretended to scold him lightly for the heartless trick. He then went up to Taru and, in such a way that it even made Ami believe, he begged forgiveness for his "thick-headed-ness."
"Your Digimon is horrible!" muttered Taru later as she changed into her school uniform which, amazingly enough, had staid dry in her book bag.
"I don't know," said Ami, trying to sound neutral. "He waited till you set down your bag. You wouldn't have dry clothes if he hadn't."
"Maybe the Digital World would have made them dry!" said Taru. "I mean, your clothes change when we go through the computer."
"Sure," said Ami, shrugging but not really paying attention. She was watching Elecmon running around Leormon as the second Digimon lay around half asleep. He would raise hishead every so often to look at the jumping figure then lay his head back down to rest. She found Elecmon so cute and had always wished that she could have a pet but never could afford it. Leormon wasn't so much cute as really cool looking. He hardly did anything but lay around all the time except for the incident where he "accidentally" pushed Taru over. She wondered what power on this earth or another had stuck her with such a mellow Digimon when Taru could hardly keep up with her hyperactive one. Elecmon and Ami would have been a far better match.
With a fake cough, Taru brought the older girl's attention back to her as she flipped her head back, her bandanna back on her head. She pushed a stray strand out of her face and clipped her digi-vice on her skirt instead. After deciding she was all dressed, Ami turned away and walked out to the two Digimon. Immediately Leormon got to his feet and strolled leisurely over to her. She grinned sheepishly and ran a hand through her hair. Then she frowned and looked off at the now setting sun. Pulling out her cell phone she saw that they had wasted much of their time getting Taru out of the river.
"We should probably start heading back," sighed Ami. "Well, we can say we found a river!"
"Oh, yes!" said Taru sarcastically, picking up Elecmon like he was just a pet. "Very productive gang!"
"We should probably get out of the opening," said Leormon suddenly, looking up at the sky with his eyes narrowed. "Lately a lot of Digimon have been attacking at night. And they aren't friendly."
"That's nice to know," said Ami, hanging her head. "Okay, I guess we really should head out."
"Seems that way…" muttered Taru. "Maybe we should check around to see if there's a TV near by."
Not really paying attention, Ami unclipped her Digi-vice to see if she could get a map to show up showing the surrounding TVs. She even pushed a couple of buttons timidly, afraid that if she did she might break the thing. Just as she was sure she had found something at least useful, she heard Leormon start growling. She looked down at the small lion and saw him half crouching. Turning toward a startled Taru, she saw Elecmon struggling to get out of the girl's grip. When he did, he jumped to the ground and his fur stood on end.
"What?" asked Ami, suddenly a bit annoyed. Weren't they supposed to be going? They didn't have time to pick a fight with a Digimon that crossed onto their territory or whatever…
Suddenly she found herself being pushed backwards and landed in a bush along with Taru. A second later she realized that the Digimon must have pushed them. Just as she was starting to come out and was working herself to get angry a crescent of energy hit the ground right in front of her and a second nearer to the Digimon. In her surprise Ami fell backwards onto her rear both frightened and unsure of what was going on. When Taru cried out and pointed out a large green bug flying in the air with knives for hands, Ami shook her head and got back her senses. She got to her feet and brushed off the dirt just as the large bug swooped down trying to cut the Digimon down.
"What is that thing?" Ami shouted at Leormon as he got back to his feet.
"It's Snimon!" shouted Elecmon. "An angry insectoid Digimon that usually stays away from other Digimon. Guess he decided to come out of his hole in the ground…"
"Look out!" called Taru, pointing at the attacking Digimon. Giving a frightened shriek, Ami fell down to the ground just as Snimon flew over her. When she was sure he was gone she got back to her feet and rushed over to Leormon.
"We need to go!" she said earnestly. "We can lose him in the trees. There's a TV real close by. I don't care if he destroys that, we just don't need to get hurt!"
"You and Taru go," said Leormon. "We'll be right behind you."
"No!" cried Ami. "I'm not leaving you behind. We're all getting out of here or we're all staying. No exceptions!"
"Super Thunder Strike!" called Elecmon, his fur standing up, sparkling with electricity. It then formed into a single column and wound up to hit Snimon, turning him away from Ami and making him head toward Elecmon instead.
"That's scientifically impossible," called Taru, and Elecmon started running toward cover. "But, hey, it's cool!"
"You don't need to be stubborn," said Leormon patiently. "We know how to take care of this sort of thing and – "
"You don't get it!" cried Ami, her eyes wide. "If I leave now I'll feel like I'm abandoning you! And I'm not going to abandon you!"
"I'm telling you to go so – " started Leormon.
"No! I'm sticking this one out! I'll stay out of the way if I need to but we're leaving this together, you hear me?" screamed Ami, closing her eyes to try and stop the tears. She didn't get what had come over her.
But at that moment her Digi-vice started glowing along with Leormon. Snimon tried dive-bombing again and Ami was forced to fall backwards. The large Digimon then sent another crescent of light down at her. She cried out not sure what could save her when suddenly something else was flying above her and using a staff to throw away the attack. Ami gasped, sat up and looked around for Leormon but he was gone. She didn't know what made her think it but she realized that this new Digimon floating in front of her must be Leormon. In some weird way.
"Who's that?" asked Taru, looking at the figure wearing a wizard hat and holding a staff with a sun on the top. His cloak had a high collar so all that could be seen of his face were his eyes which were the same sapphire blue of Leormon's.
"That's Wizardmon!" cried Elecmon. "It was said he worked for an evil Digimon named Myotismon but betrayed him and paid for it dearly. I thought he was dead and wasn't coming back, but guess I was wrong!"
"Wizardmon?" said Ami shaking slightly as she got to her feet. "How?"
"Because of you I digivolved!" said Wizardmon, looking at her over his shoulder. He then twirled his staff elegantly as he turned back to Snimon. "You cared enough to stay when you could have very easily run away and saved yourself. Now let me repay that by protecting you."
And just then Ami understood why she had gotten Leormon (or Wizardmon… or whatever he was called) instead of a Digimon like Elecmon. He would be too busy goofing off that he would never really understand and though she would be able to keep up with him she could never connect with him. But Leormon would be patient and willing to hear her out and though he may not get half of what she said he would still care. Even if she did something completely stupid. Almost like Taru… except there were many thing she wouldn't tell Taru because she didn't need that weighing on her after her mother died.
She was suddenly snapped out of her trance when Snimon swooped down upon Wizardmon. He dodged it and Ami made a mad jump to get out of the way. As if realizing what he had done Wizardmon rushed over to her to make sure she was okay. She looked up at him grinning and then gasped as Snimon came back.
"Thunderball!" cried Wizardmon, a energy ball appearing in his free hand.
He threw it at Snimon, hitting it on the nose. It gave a cry and paused, stunned but not beaten. Shaking its head, its blade hands started glowing and sweeping it forward the crescent energy flew out. Ami gasped and jumped out of the way, grabbing Wizardmon as she went down.
"We need to get out of here!" cried Taru, hiding behind a tree now.
"Fat chance!" snapped Ami. "This guy's made me mad now and we're going to beat his butt from here to the edge of the Digi-universe!"
"Watch it!" said Wizardmon, pushing her back down as Snimon dived down and hit the Digimon straight in the chest with its head. Wizardmon flew backwards into a tree and Taru gasped.
"W-Wizardmon?" stammered Ami, kneeling on the ground and staring at the half unconscious Digimon. Snimon hovered in the air and its blade hands started glowing again. "Hold it!" shouted Ami, grabbing up a rock and throwing it at the large bug and hitting it square on the head.
The large bug paused and then turned toward her. It gave an angry cy and flew right towards Ami but her eyes were on Wizardmon who was slowly getting to her feet.
"Ami! MOVE!" cried Taru, coming out of hiding behind the tree and dropping Elecmon out of her arms.
"Magical Game!" called Wizardmon and a blast of energy hit Snimon in the back.
At first it seemed to do nothing but as it came close enough to hit her it seemed to dissolve and disappear completely. As Ami stood their shakily, Wizardmon started to glow for a minute then shrunk back into Leormon. As she got a hold of herself, Ami walked over and knelt down and picked up her Digimon.
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly as Taru and Elecmon timidly came out of hiding.
"I didn't mean to…" muttered Leormon. "To kill him… But…"
"It's okay," said Ami, smiling. "Thanks! You were awesome!"
"Are you two okay?" cried Taru, rushing over when she decided that Snimon was gone. "Where'd the Digimon go?"
"He de-digitized," explained Elecmon. "His data went off into the Digital World and maybe will go to Primary Village to be reborn."
Still holding Leormon, Ami pulled out her cell phone and checked the time. During the battle the sun had gone down completely but nobody had really noticed up until this point. Still a little shaken from the battle, Ami got to her feet slowly just looking at her cell phone, thinking. Then, with a half-hearted smile she looked up at Taru.
"Want to spend the night?" she asked quietly.
"What about school?" cried Taru in horror.
"I think you can afford to miss one day," said Ami. "But I really would feel better this way instead of you going home at this time of night."
"I ride the subway at night all the time!" said Taru. "I'll be fine."
"Just… call your dad…" sighed Ami. "See what he thinks, okay? I don't think I'm going to school tomorrow anyways and Winter Break is coming up soon."
"Well… I guess…" muttered Taru. "It would be kind of nice to not have to do school work for one day at least."
"Besides, you'll probably do all your homework plus some in the morning," said Ami with a grin.
"Are you okay?" asked Leormon.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, holding him closer. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You're just acting a little bit different, that's all," said Leormon with a smile. "But it's not a bad thing. I just noticed."
"Let's get to the TV and see how things work out, okay?" said Ami with a yawn.
"Why are you asking?" said Taru, blinking. "Do you think any of us are going to have a better course of action? I may be smart but I'm no leader."
"Uh… thanks, Taru," said Ami, raising her eyebrows questioningly. Putting away her cell phone, Ami grabbed her digi-vice and checked the map again. "It's this way… If I'm reading this thing right."
As they walked Ami noticed that Leormon has fallen asleep in her arms. She didn't blame the poor guy, that had been a big battle and she was feeling pretty sleepy herself. The walk wasn't a long one but during that time Ami decided that she was going to change a few things. Maybe she needed a few friends more than Taru. The girl was great and all, but there were some things Ami just couldn't do with her for many different reasons. But for now she would be happy for the friends she had. And she was extremely grateful that she got a Digimon that knew very well that she wasn't going to hide or run away while others were fighting.
'Leormon is the best Digimon I could ever hope for,' thought Ami, smiling as the reached the TV. 'I just hope I can be as great a friend to him as he is to me.'