Chapter 2: Swirling Flame! Evolve to Matatomon!

Takatomon.

That's the name people call me now. Takatomon. It's a Digimon name, since I've been turned into a Digimon. Weird, isn't it? It happened to five of the other Digidestined as well.

Guilmon…my partner always seemed to be cheerful and happy like Terriermon, but not quite as rude. He always seemed to think about his appetite. I had to admit that I was starving as well: we had just defeated Airdramon after Rikamon had evolved into Rukinamon.

We had managed to find food in this damn forest. The twelve of us had separated, hunting for it, and minutes later, we were sitting in a circle, enjoying strange-looking fruits and berries. They weren't seedless, but they'd have to do.

Then Ryomon raised his hand like he was in class. "I have a question," said the purple dino-boy. "How do we get home?"

For a moment no one answered. I met Jerimon's eye. "I'm not sure if we can get home, Ryomon…" I began.

"Oh, come on," said Runomon, being confident as always. "If there's a way in this damn world then there's got to be a way out." The little fox-like Digimon was sitting next to Renamon, her feet curled under her body like a cat. I stared at her for a moment. Runomon had been the first one of us to Digivolve. I couldn't wait until I could do so as well.

"Runomon's right," agreed Alicemon. "I don't really want to stay here any longer than I have to, but being a Digimon is certainly amazing."

"Yeah right," snapped Henrymon, being unusually grumpy because of his sister. "I want to go home and help my sister."

"Come on, Henrymon," said Terriermon to the sort of rabbit-like Digimon. "Being here isn't that bad."

"But –"

"I say we just walk around until we find what we find," declared Runomon, and that was that. No one argues with Runomon, or Ruki.

"I don't want to do any walking!" exclaimed Jerimon, who else. "I won't be able to keep up."

Elecmon nuzzled her. "Come on, Jerimon," he muttered. "You're a Digimon now. You'll do better."

The twelve of us started walking again.

"I wonder what the new enemy is," mused Runomon. She was being carried by Renamon.

"Yeah," I chimed in. "Maybe it'll be, like, Blackwargreymon or something…but no matter what Digimon it is, it'll be dangerous."

"Dangerous? Who cares! That would be so, totally, awesome. And I love it when you go all military on me, Takatomon."

I sighed, ignoring the insult. "Runomon, sometimes you're too goddamn reckless."

"Do you know anything about the evil that's around here, Monodramon?" asked Ryomon.

"No," admitted the small dinosaur-like Digimon. "Sorry."

"Yeah, great," sighed Jerimon. She was still far behind us. "That means we'll have to do more walking!"

I slowed my pace and stood beside her. "Come on, Jerimon," I said kindly. "You're kind of slowing the group down."

"Gee thanks, Takato, for that info."

"Takatomon," I corrected quietly, but didn't dare say it louder. I grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to the group.

"I think I'm still hungry," announced my partner Digimon, Guilmon.

"Guilmon!" I scolded good-naturedly, giving him a small shove. The red dinosaur giggled.

"What can you expect?" teased Labramon, Alicemon's partner. "He's a Guilmon, after all."

"And what is that supposed to mean!"

"Chill, Guilmon," I said, sighing. "Labramon doesn't know what he's talking about."

"It's getting dark," observed Alicemon before her partner could strangle me. "Perhaps we should stop for the night."

"Good idea," agreed Jerimon. "My feet are killing me!"

"So are all four of mine!" replied Elecmon. Jerimon picked her up, giggling.

"Right," I said, stifling a yawn. "Let's go find somewhere to rest."

The forest we were in was dense with plenty of thick trees and exotic plants. We found a clearing to spend the night inside. Everyone curled up in their own spots, away from each other. Guilmon slept rather like a dog, his tail curved under his nose.

I volunteered to take the first watch, so I struggled to keep my eyes open as I watched for any sign of danger.

I looked again at my new form. My main colors were mostly red and black – black hair, black stripes, red body. I could feel long ears poking out of my head, but I had never actually seen what my face looked like. I was still wearing my white shirt and shorts with blue borders thankfully, and my hands had been reduced to three fingers and a thumb, each tipped with white claws, with a black stripe around my wrist. My legs were muscular and sturdy, with a single stripe around my shin. There were two white claws on my wide red feet, with a black stripe across the middle. Finally, poking out from behind, was a thin red tail with three stripes.

I was a serious freak show. I couldn't believe what I had become.

I crawled nervously over to a puddle of water nearby. I gazed at my reflection.

The ears were much like Guilmon's and tipped with black. My hair had become a bit longer, and there was a black stripe under my eyes. Like Jerimon, my nose and mouth were pushed out, sort of like a dinosaur's.

"Weird, isn't it?" said a female voice behind me. I turned sharply.

"Jerimon!" I exclaimed. "Damn. You scared me!"

The cat-dog-girl Digimon looked at her own reflection. "Why couldn't I have been turned into a pretty plant-like Digimon?" she complained. "A dog cat thing. I mean, seriously. A dog and a cat!"

"Shhh," I whispered. "We don't want to wake the others. I grinned. "Being a dinosaur-like thing is pretty strange too."

"But you get to look all cool! Cat-Dogs aren't cool. They scratch and shed beg and crap everywhere in the world and…"

"Oh, come on," I said, crossing my legs and sitting across from her. "Mixed Digimon can be awesome. There's a lot of them that are like that; Metalkabuterimon…Tankmon…"

But my words seemed to reassure Jerimon. She smiled. "If you say so."

XXXXXX

"Wake up, people! It's morning!"

Ryomon's ever-cheerful voice struck my ear. My eyes opened slowly. Sunlight was streaming through the tall leaves of the trees above. It was definitely morning, and I was still in the Digital World. So it wasn't a dream.

I sat up, looking at the rest of the group. Labramon was still asleep, and Alicemon was trying to wake her up. Runomon still had not Digivolved and was still being carried by Renamon. Terriermon was on Henrymon's head, ready to go. As was Monodramon, standing next to Ryomon. Jerimon was still asleep, of course, and Elecmon was nuzzling her, trying to wake her up.

I walked over to them and shook Jerimon's shoulder.

"Jerimon, it's morning. You've got to get up."

"Five more minutes," she mumbled, turning over. I sighed. "Fine! Sheesh, I'm getting up…"

I smiled as she stood up next to me, almost my height.

"Hey! Lovebirds!" called Runomon from Renamon's arms. Both of us jumped, startled. "Are we going or not?"

"Can we eat first?" groaned Guilmon from my side.

"You and your…" began Labramon, but Alicemon slapped a green hand over her mouth.

"Sure," I agreed, realizing how hungry I was. "Um…Runomon, Renamon, Jerimon, Elecmon, Guilmon, and I can go hunting, okay?" I realized that I had never hunted before and I would need to learn. Perhaps Guilmon could teach me. "The rest of you, find some fruits and berries and stuff. Okay?"

Everyone agreed with me. Usually, I don't like handing out orders like that. But I was officially the leader; after all, I was the coolest in the group.

So the Digimon that I had called followed me into the forest.

"What exactly are we looking for?" asked Runomon from Renamon's arms.

"Er, yeah. What the hell are we looking for, Guilmon?" I asked my partner.

"Well, there are always…" He stopped suddenly, sniffing. "Aha!" The red dinosaur trotted forward, into the bushes.

"Guilmon!" I protested.

"Your partner is very focused on food," commented Jerimon.

We chased after him, only to see Guilmon holding a large, almost pig-like thing in his jaws. We sweatdropped.

"Okay," I said. "That should be enough to feed us."

Twenty minutes later, the twelve of us were on our way again, full-fed. Even Guilmon looked satisfied. Ryomon, who was ahead with Monodramon, gasped suddenly.

"Oh my God," he said. "Look!"

The rest of us hurried to catch up wit him – and gasped at what we saw.

I don't think I have ever seen something so horrible in my life. It was an incredible valley/mountain crossover that had lava spewing from cracks in the ground, dribbling out of holes in the cliffs, and bubbling in pools scattered across. There were Digimon carcasses everywhere – some made of nothing but bones.

"We aren't going through there," said Jerimon defiantly. "We are not going through there."

"Maybe we have to," said Henrymon. "I mean, what if the place we have to go is right that way?"

"It is dangerous," I admitted, glancing at Guilmon. "But you're right, Henrymon; what if we do have to go that way?"
"We'll never survive," said Alicemon in her usual calm voice. "It's impossible – look at all those other Digimon that tried!"

"Come on!" cried Runomon from Renamon's arms. "You people give up too easily. Let's go!" Without waiting for an answer, she leapt from her partner's arms and rushed into the valley as fast as her little legs would take her.

"Runomon!" I shouted after the in-training Digimon. "Get back here. Ruki!" I sighed. "I guess we have to go now," I growled, wishing Runomon wasn't like that.

"Ruki, you bitch," muttered Jerimon, but went along with us anyway.

It was incredibly hot inside the valley; Henrymon kept wondering how a forest could suddenly become a volcano-thing, and I felt the same way. But this was the Digital World, anything could happen.

"I don't like it here," groaned Jerimon. "I don't like this at all…"

"Ruki!" shouted Henrymon. "Runomon, come on! We're not fooling around!"

"This sucks," sighed Ryomon, glancing at Monodramon.

"Ditto," agreed Alicemon, nodding. "Runomon? Please, girl, come out. We're dying out here."

Still, there was no answer. Grumbling, the rest of us continued. The incredibly hot ground felt terrible under my feet. I hated this. Where was Runomon? I wouldn't mind leaving her here, to be honest…

Then, we suddenly heard: "Ahhh! Bubble Blow!"

We froze. "Ruki?" demanded Renamon, springing toward her partner's voice.

"That was her, wasn't it?" I asked the others. They nodded.

The rest of us charged after Renamon. It was just like Ruki; she was in trouble and trying to defend herself – like she didn't need any help. When we reached the other side of a large hill, we saw exactly what I was thinking. Runomon was fighting a Meramon, a fiery man Digimon with every strength in her little body. Renamon leapt forward to help. She snatched her little partner out of harm's way.

The Meramon roared, showing off his flames. "Come on!" he roared. "Puny rookies! I can take you when you're in my element!"

"Drill Slash!" Ryomon's silver attack was launched. Meramon paused, watching the claws fly at him, but laughed when they hit: they melted as soon as they reached his flaming body.

"Crap!" exclaimed Ryomon.

"Guilmon, Digivolve!" I called to my partner.

"I can't do it!" the small red-dinosaur Digimon cried.

Everyone stared at Guilmon. "What?"

"I don't know – I just can't Digivolve for some reason…"

"Fire Ball!" Meramon launched a flaming attack at one of us – it struck Labramon and sent him rolling across the floor. Alicemon rushed to help her partner.

I hesitated, wondering what to do. "Run," I cried. "Run, you assholes! Hurry up!"

Our team fled. But just when we thought we'd actually make it out of here alive, another Meramon showed up – bigger than the first. We froze. Now what?

"Separate," I shouted. "Go on, move!"

Guilmon and I went off in another direction, away from the others who were fleeing as well. Shit, we are so dead, I thought bitterly. Well, if I was going to die, I was most certainly going to die fighting. I turned around and faced the Meramon that had been going after the others.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Flame-ass! Over here, you bastard!"

The Meramon turned stupidly. He certainly had rocks for brains.

"Twirl Flame!" I shot my fire attack at Meramon – but it hardly did anything to the fire-man Digimon.

"Crap."

"Pryo Sphere!" Guilmon shot his attack as well, but, like mine, it did nothing.

"Magma Blast!" Meramon used his secondary technique, throwing large, smoking fireballs at us. We leapt to the side to avoid getting crushed. Meramon stood their laughing, enjoying his victory.

"Oh, this is stupid," I muttered, standing up. "There sure as hell is no way I'm going to lose to this bastard! Takatomon shinka…Matatomon!"

I felt myself growing. I looked down at my body and saw I was now a champion. I now had horns sticking out of my head, sort of like Growlmon's, and my claws were wicked and curved. My tail was longer and had a scythe on the end.

I grinned evilly and flexed my new claws. This was great!

"I'm not going to let you fight alone." It was Guilmon. "Guilmon shinka…Growlmon!"

Now Guilmon had Digivolved – he was now Growlmon, a very large red dinosaur Digimon with a white belly and silver hair. He looked very cool.

Growlmon and I advanced toward the Meramon. Both of them looked less intimidated now. I concentrated hard on the flame building inside me, and screamed:

"Flaming Horn!" Both of my red horns glowed, with flames swirling around them. Thin ropes of fire shot at Meramon, making him freeze. Growlmon shot a Pyro Blaster and that was that.

The last Meramon charged at me. I ducked when he tried to punch me, and managed to kick him hard in the chest. I slashed forward with my incredibly long claws. Blood flowed from a gash on his chest.

"Shit," muttered the Meramon. "Fire Ball!"

I dodged the flaming sphere and cried,

"Swiling Flame!"

My entire hand had flames circling it, right down to my claws. I slashed at Meramon with them. He screamed in agony and disappeared, and I absorbed his data.

"Awesome!" It was Ryomon. "Takatomon – no, Matatomon, you were great!"

"Yeah," chimed in Jerimon, staring at me with great respect. I felt a funny feeling in my heart.

But then, I suddenly began to shrink. I shrank down, lower and lower, until I thought I'd touch the ground – but at last, I stopped, about ten inches tall. I had become a head thing, like Koromon, only I was sort of like a red Guilmon's head with a patch of brown hair.

"Takudamon," read Labramon from Alicemon's shoulder. "In-training lizard type, vaccine…"

"So cute!" cried Jerimon, rushing to pick me up. Despite myself, I tried to get away, but too late – I had been abducted by my girlfriend and was being lifted into the air.

"Runomon, you little bitch." It was Alicemon. "How could you run away like that on us?"

Runomon looked terribly offended. "Sorry," she snapped, "but you bastards were going so slow –"

"Stop arguing, you guys," said Jerimon. "You're supposed to be friends…"

And then she started to pet me. And to be honest, it wasn't half bad.

Yes, I know that Matato in Matatomon sounds like a name from Lion King, but give me a break...