5/11/04: OK, lets see if anyone can catch the Magi Nation references? =
Hah, I really enjoyed writing this so there's a lot.
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The Digimon Adventure 01
A Combination Of Seasons 01, 02, 03, and 04
Episode #08
'Always A Naroom Inn'
Somewhere else in a nice mossy forest, Mark and Kuzumon were walking and laughing with each other. Then Kuzumon stopped. "Hey mon, I think we're lost."
"Lost?" asked Mark, his eyes widening.
"I think. I'm going to fly up over the trees and take a look around. Will you be OK down here?"
"Yeah, I'm a big kid! I don't need to be watched!" said Mark smiling and standing on tiptoe trying to look bigger.
"Great, I'll be right back." but before Kuzumon could fly up into the air a voice came from somewhere in the ferns.
"Hey!" it said.
"Who's there?" asked Kuzumon.
"Me!" said the Digimon stepping into the clearing. There stood a very well fed and groomed Digimon, wearing a green apron and holding a basket full of mushrooms. "Allow me to introduce my self. I am Gabumon, but my customers call me Poad. I couldn't help but hear you saying that you were lost. Why don't you guys come to my Inn and I can get you all fixed up, and fed too! What do you say?"
"Well sure! I'm starving!" said Mark before Kuzumon could say anything
"Wonderful!" said the Gabumon. "I shall escort you to my Inn. And tonight: Mushroom Stew!" he said holding up the basket of white and green mushrooms. An earthy smell wafted from the mushrooms, rich and delicious. "Here in the Naroom Forest we value our Mushrooms. They are the best in the DigiWorld!"
"Wow Poad, you must have been living in the forest for a long time to know so much about the mushrooms here. Usually Gabumon don't like to live in the forest." said Kuzumon, with just a hint of suspicion in his voice. He didn't know if this Gabumon was working for the forces of evil or not, and he didn't want to take any chances.
"Funny you should mention that." said Poad. "My Great Great Grandfather was a Gabumon, and my Great Great Grandmother was a Psychemon. My G.G.Grandfather Gabumon came to the Naroom Forest during the Great Depression, hoping to find some of the world famous mushrooms, and he did. He started the 'Always A Naroom Inn' and now I take care of the business."
"Wow! That's so cool! Um, what's a Psychemon?" asked Mark.
"A Psychemon is like a Gabumon, except they have green claws, a pink and green belly, a pink horn, and more purpily stripes than blue. I'm a half breed, so I'm a bit of both." said Poad. "Ah, here we are. This is my Inn." he said as he pointed to it. The Inn was actually a huge tree, carved out to have rooms and windows. It must have been at least six stories high. It's colorful occupants were all over the place, hanging out of windows, yelling greetings in every tongue imaginable, some were in the surrounding trees singing happy tunes, little children Digimon ran around on the moss and laughed. There was a beautiful waterfall bubbling its way down a rocky ledge, and the resulting stream cut across their path. The group walked over the stream on a small brown bridge, all the while looking up in amazement at the beautiful tree/building. A light breeze carried a light mist that sparkled in the sunlight. Surely this was a heaven in the DigiWorld.
"All right, we're here, and don't go walking around looking at the sky, you'll get dizzy and fall over." said Poad laughing. "Come inside and have a bite to eat." The group entered the Inn, all the while looking around at the beautiful tree/building. "Wipe your feet and shoes, please, then leave them in the rack. That is if you have shoes! I don't mean that you should take off your feet!" With that he began to laugh heartily. He began to walk towards the kitchen where he stopped and said to the human and Digimon pare, "Why don't you two check into a room and freshen up, dinner's too far away, so I'll prepare you a light snack. Oh and Marie," he said turning to the well groomed Biyomon at the counter, "These two are on me." He winked and disappeared into the kitchen with his basket full of mushrooms.
"OK, now then. I will need you names, data size and the length of your stay. You first Kuzumon." said the Biyomon.
"I am Kuzumon, 20.0 DG, and we don't know how long we will be staying. Probably only one or two nights. At the most." said Kuzumon.
"All right, and you, little one." said Marie as she wrote down the information into a large and old book with a green inked pen.
"I'm Mark Anthony Groves, and I don't have a data size, I don't think." said Mark looking down at his socked feet. His reflection in the marble floor looked back at him.
"Not a problem Mark, just step onto the DigiGram scale and we'll have you fixed up in no time." said Marie, pulling out a round blue scale. Mark stepped onto it, and the numbers showed 40.5 DG.
"Hey, that's how much I weigh in pounds back home!" exclaimed Mark with delight. "Cool!" And he hopped off of the scale. "How come you have to know how much we weigh?"
"Because, we wouldn't want to put you up on the top floor if you weighed some where around 1000.7 DG, now would we?" said Marie in a sing song voice while smiling. "You two have the choice of any room available because you two are very light." she said bringing out a large map of the Inn. "The empty rooms are blue and the full ones are red. I suggest this one." she said as she touched the room with her claw. The room then sprang to life in a holographic projection. "It has a wonderful view of the trees and off to the right is the waterfall. What do you think?"
"It's splendid." said Kuzumon. "We'll take it." And with that the room turned red, showing that it was occupied. Somewhere down the counter, a Hawkmon was helping a family of Patamon check into the Inn. Their five little Tokomon were all over the place, and making a wonderful amount of noise.
"Aw, cute little Digimon!" said Mark, bending down and petting one of the Tokomon. It purred and began to close its eyes as it curled up into a happy little ball of fuzz. Soon Mark was buried underneath a pile of five happily purring Tokomon. "Hey look Kuzumon, they like me!" One Tokomon was sitting in his hair and was falling asleep.
"Aw, would you look at that." said the mother Patamon. "We have to have him over to baby-sit sometime. OK kids time to go!" And she clapped her hands, waking the purring Tokomon. There were protests, but eventually all of the Tokomon were removed from Mark. "Thank you very much. I can tell you have a gentle heart." said the mother Patamon, and the family walked into the elevator.
"Wow Mark, you're a real charmer." said Poad wiping his hands on a dish towel, and removing his apron. "Why don't I get you all settled into your rooms, and show you a round a bit, what do you say?" he offered. "Then we can eat out on the terrace."
"Sure!" said Mark and Kuzumon together. Poad lead the two into one of the elevators, which seemed to be made of nothing but glass and polished marble. It slowly made its way up the side of the building to he fifth floor, and the polished wood doors slid open soundlessly. They walked down the hall a ways until hey came to a black door numbered 517. Poad slipped a silver skeleton key into the lock, and with a soft click it opened. Inside there were two beds, dressed in white sheets. The floor was a white tile, and there were green carpets by each bed. On the beds were towels, extra pillows and blankets, and bath robes.
"The bathroom is off to your left and the windows open out. Be sure to put up the screens at night, we don't want our guests being eaten by mosquitoes now do we?" he said as he chuckled. "Dinner is at 6:00 sharp, be there or dine on vending machine food. If you need anything the telephone is over there, on the dresser, just use the paper next to it, 1 will bring you to the main lobby, now that's only for emergencies, and 2 is room service, that's for your towels and things, anything else will be on the list. Now why don't you boys get settled in, and in about twenty minuets meet me at the terrace. There's a Inn map by the phone also. Any questions boys? Good. I'll see you in a few!" And with that, Poad left the room.
"Nice Digimon, huh Kuzumon?" said Mark. "I'm going to take a shower, how about you?"
"Nah, I'll just preen myself in the wash basin. I'm not too keen of water. Do you want me to shake out your cloths while you wash?" asked Kuzumon.
"Sure!"
A while later, both boy and Digimon were clean, and found their way to the terrace. Many other Digimon were eating and talking there, the lazy afternoon sun bouncing off of the multi- colored parasols and white pavement. Poad waved to them from one of the tables. They ran over and greeted their friend, taking their seats. On the table was a large plate with fruits and small sandwiches. And there was lemonade. The waterfall was bubbling somewhere behind them, cooling the air around it.
"What a lovely day it is, and this place is like heaven." said Kuzumon daintily picking up a fruit on a tooth pick with his wing/hand.
"Why hank you. It is my pride and joy." said Poad. Then he paused, thinking. "No, she is my pride and joy." he said pointing to a female Gabumon coming towards them. She too was wearing the traditional green apron and held a basket full of the same earthy smelling mushrooms. "This is Nora, my wife. Nora, this is Kuzumon and his friend Mark."
"How do you do?" said Kuzumon offering his wing.
"I am wonderful, thankie." she said with a heavy southern accent. "And how are you young Mark?"
"Great! This place is so cool!" he said happily.
"Why don't you share a bit with us hon?" said Poad.
"I wish I could, but promised to help in the kitchen. The new cooks need help with the mushroom dishes. They need a wo-mon's touch." she said giggling as her husband began serenading her. "Oh stop it!" she said laughing even louder. "I'm covered in dirt!"
"And dirt never looked better." said Poad kissing her on the nose. "I'll see you at dinner then?"
"Yes. By hon!" said Nora as she walked off.
"Your wife is lovely, do you have any children?" asked Kuzumon.
"Three mighty fine young lads and two young lasses. You shall meet them all in good time, but right now, let's talk about you." said Poad smiling. "Where are you coming from and where are you going?"
"Well I came from a summer camp on Earth, and I just met Kuzumon in the forest yesterday morning." said Mark.
"Ah, Eeaarth. I have only heard of that place in the fairy tales I read to my children. I did not know it was really a real lace. So then, you are human. That is why your name does not end on 'mon'. Most interesting. And how did you get here I wonder?" asked Poad, rubbing his chin.
"I don't know, there was a 'clips, and the sky was dark, and then we were hit by lightning, then I was here." said Mark in a hurry.
"Wow, that was a lot of talking from such a little guy." he said laughing. "And just what is a 'clips?"
"I'm not little!" protested Mark. "And a 'clips is where the sun is blocked out by, um, something else. I heard my sister's friend Lexxy said so."
"Ah, a solar eclipse. That is when the moon blocks out the sun." said Poad, taking out a pipe and a small box of a purplish leafy substance. He put the pipe in his mouth and opened the box, taking out the leaves and putting it in the pipe end.
When Mark saw this he exclaimed "Hey, don't you know smoking is really bad for your health?"
"Ah ha ha ha ha! No no my dear boy, this is lavender, you don't breath in, just blow out." said Poad as he lit the leaves. "It smells nice." he added, blowing a few smoke rings through the pipe. Indeed the smell was pleasant and calming. "So tell me my boy, where are you going?"
"The big mountain." Mark said simply. "This one here." He added, pointing to the mountain on his Digivice.
As Poad looked at the tall precipice on mark's Device, a shadow fell across his face. "My dear boy, do you know what that mountain is?"
"Um, really really tall?" He asked, missing the point. He clipped his Digivice back on his belt again.
"No! That is Kurayami Mountain, the awful home of the great and evil dark lord of the Digital World. His name is Kurayamimon. He is a very evil Digimon that has broken away from the Digital council. He has single handedly upset the balance of this world, for he was once a balancing force, but now he has become destructive and violent. Mark, if any of your friends are near that mountain, they need to go somewhere else." Suddenly Mark's Digivice began beeping.
"Oh! My Digivice." said Mark, unclipping the Digivice from his belt. "Hi this is Mark." he said into the Digivice.
"Hey Mark." said Michael. We discovered something the Digivices can do. Where are you?"
"Well I'm sitting with my new friend Poad and Kuzumon."
"Poad? Who's Poad?" asked Michael.
"He's the inn keeper of the 'Always A Naroom Inn,' that's where we're staying tonight. See?" said Mark, holding up his Digivice for Poad to see his cousin.
"OK, but listen, Rosie discovered that the Digivices can transport you over large distances. All you have to do is locate the place you want to go on the map, and wish to go there."
"That easy huh?" said Mark.
"Surprisingly, yes. We are all meeting at the mountain."
"But the mountain is dangerous, Poad told me so. And besides, we promised that we would stay for dinner."
"All right all right, but I don't think Mel will be too happy. Tomorrow I want you at the mountain, and what's so dangerous about it?" asked Michael, growing a little impatient.
"A bad Digimon lives there. His name is Kurayamimon, and he means trouble."
"Trouble? What kind of trouble? Mark? Mark are you st ... " said Michael, his voice trailing off into static. Then the screen went blank and in red words. It said 'Connection Terminated.'
"Michael? Michael! Hello?" Then he looked up at his Digimon partner and Poad who were looking at him with some sort of concern. "I think I broke it." he said quietly.
Then Poad spoke. "I think you should stay here until we can find out what's going on."
To Be Continued ...