Chapter Four

Life Outside Primary Village

SnowBotamon woke up so early the sunlight was just appearing on the horizon, pale streaks of dawn inching up over the indigo sky. She shivered a little; she had never spent the whole night outside her cradle, and had realized it was colder in the wild. She had slept badly, tossing and turning all night long in a hollowed-out section of a dead tree. It provided her shelter from the wind, but not much else. Her temporary bed was spiky and uncomfortable, and even for her was a tight squeeze. Nevertheless, she woke sore, cranky, and tired. And above all other things, she was hungry.

She hadn't eaten since she left Primary Village. She had traveled all through the rest of the day, and stayed in the tree at night. She was achy from her journey, and also from the unsatisfactory night's sleep, which made her bones hurt even more than usual. She was so tired, she had to work to control her form. A part of her wanted to Digivolve so badly, and another part, her more conscious self, wouldn't allow herself to.

SnowBotamon hopped out of the uncomfortable tree hollow and looked around. Her stomach growled, and she sighed. She had to find food, soon, or else she wouldn't have enough energy to make this day's journey. But what could she eat? Elecmon wasn't here to make food for her. She'd have to find food herself. But where?

She saw patches of grass around her, and made a face. She knew some Digimon ate it, but also didn't want to be one. "There has to be something better," she said to herself.

After a long walk around the area she was in, she found that there were only mushrooms and the grass. Elecmon had taught the babies to never eat mushrooms, and she had read about the poisonous kinds, but not enough to distinguish the edible ones from the others. She wasn't fast enough or strong enough to catch another Digimon to eat by herself. And her stomach was growling even more loudly now.

Grimacing and feeling like she had lowered herself considerably, SnowBotamon sulkily went to the grass and sniffed it. She debated her options in her head: eat the grass, or starve. It didn't smell that bad; and it had a few dewdrops on it from the night. Tentatively, she bit off the tip of a blade.

Scrunching her eyes up, she prepared for the worst as she chewed it, but soon relaxed. The grass wasn't as terrible as she thought it would be, but it didn't have a taste at all. So she sighed and kept munching away at the grass.

After an hour of doing this same procedure, she was still hungry, but not as much so. Annoyed, she decided just to start walking again, and maybe she'd find some better food soon.

As she made her way through the trees, she kept her eyes trained on the branches above, scanning them for berries. She only occasionally glanced in front of her to see if she was about to collide with anything. She went fast, a scowl on her face.

She was paying so much attention to finding berries, she didn't notice the barely audible sounds behind her, or see the Digimon tracking her. She was being followed, by a restless DemiMeramon also looking for a meal, and a chase.

She had been traveling for around a quarter of an hour when she saw a berry. It was a single blackberry in a spiky plant, but it was something. Her eyes lit up and she hopped towards it quickly. Seeing nothing but the tiny dark purple berry, she forgot about the thorns and only recalled them when she came face-to-face with a spiked leaf. Eyes widening, she grimaced at realizing she was only about an inch away from certain pain. And the berry that had seemed accessible before was now high above her head. She leaned back, staring up at it in awe. Any other baby would have given up and looked for the next blackberry bush, but SnowBotamon was both very different from others her level and extremely determined.

She summoned up her energy, painted a scowl on her face, and leapt as high as she could at the berry. Keeping her eyes on the prize, she neared the small berry and snagged it in her mouth, then fell back to the ground. Rolling back slightly, she smirked and ate the berry before proclaiming, "Success!"

In a few seconds, of course, she was still as hungry as before, if not more so from having a taste of food. More irritated now than ever, she was about to continue along and search for more berry plants when she spotted a small, green-ish blackberry nestled high in the bush. It was small, and not entirely ripe yet, but it was food, and it wasn't grass. Again she summoned herself up, knowing that this jump was going to be harder, and sprang.

She missed this berry by a few inches and plummeted to the ground with a soft thump, issuing a wince from her. But she didn't give up. She jumped again, and still landed without profit. She tried again, and again, her jumps continually getting closer yet not quite reaching her target. The next time, she took a deep breath and leapt, using all her muscles to bring her up as high as she could. Her eyes gleamed and she grinned, seeing she was going to make it this time. She grabbed the berry in her mouth and closed her eyes in happiness. Then she felt herself falling back down again, but towards the bush. Her eyes flew open just as she was scraped and scratched by the thorns as she fell into the blackberry bush.

They were sharp and painful, especially to her soft baby fur, and she cried out in pain, eyes now shut tight, as her little round body was torn by the thorns on her way down. Finally she landed on the forest floor. Looking around through tear-blurred eyes, she saw she was in a kind of cage made from the thorns and leaves of the blackberry bush. She was in a closed-in hollowed place just a little larger than she. Somewhere along the way, she had lost the blackberry, and there it sat, near her. She grabbed it again and gobbled it down greedily. Hurting from the pain of moving again, she whimpered a little at the pain she felt from the cuts and in her bones. Her coat was bloody in places where the thorns had slashed her. For awhile all she could do was lie there in the claustrophobic thicket. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but she wouldn't let them spill out. She wouldn't let herself cry, ever.

Once the pain of moving had lessened, she weakly got back up and ventured slowly over to the side of the enclosed area. Inspecting the thorny wall, she looked for any openings she could maneuver her way through. She didn't see any large enough spaces among the twisting vines, but she did notice a thin space that she might be able to squeeze herself out of. It looked painful though; rimmed with thorns. It took her a few minutes before she bit her lip, set her face, and remembered she wasn't a baby. She proceeded towards the space and as carefully as she could, tried to slide out. The hateful thorns cut into her, but she didn't cry out. To do so would mean to lose energy, precious energy that she had to keep.

Sweat glistened on her fur. Her coat was a dust-like color now at best; the dirt from traveling, though she had tried to clean it best she could, had combined with the blood from her cuts to form a kind of dull grey-brown hue. But she didn't care about that now, even though more and more of the thorns tore at her and opened new wounds as she made her way slowly through the narrow passageway of vines.

Up ahead, she could see daylight. She panted heavily from the effort of avoiding thorns, the new cuts and scrapes she was accumulating, the increasing pain her bones felt from her falls, the lack of energy she possessed from her fasting, and finally her wretched Digivolution trying to take place. The pain all blended together to make one dark cloud hovering over her, blocking out everything she was fighting for. She didn't want it to be this way; she wanted to be able to live on her own. All she ever wanted was to be able to understand her meaning, her purpose! Why did she have to go through all this pain? Maybe she could just give up on it. Maybe her purpose didn't matter; maybe it was all something she made up just to feel different, more important, from the other babies. Maybe she had just wanted to pretend she had some master plan laid out for her, and her mind had convinced her this was true. How convenient it was, she realized, that her purpose was somehow a mystery! That would make it all the easier to keep going and to believe foolishly that she was actually going to accomplish something with her life.

This hurt more than all the other pains combined. It drained her energy completely and she collapsed to lie atop a somewhat smooth branch. She couldn't keep her eyes open, as much as she fought them. They were clouded with tears, tears from the immense pain she felt now. She had failed to do what she had always wanted to. She had no purpose, nothing special that set her apart from anyone else. She was just another baby. And through her clouded eyes, she saw the light of freedom at the end of the tunnel of thorns. It was the last thing she saw, she yearned for, before she fell into a deep sleep.

And, as she slept, she dreamt.

Nothing hurt anymore. Her pain had slipped away as quickly as she could manipulate the babies at Primary Village. But her thoughts weren't of manipulation now. They weren't on anything bad like this. They were only on good things; things that made her feel light, almost able to fly. She wanted to fly, now. She had an urge to do so. And, she realized with shock, she was having another dream like she had had before. She was seeing her purpose. Or feeling it, more like. It wasn't written in front of her, but all of a sudden, she just knew. This was what her purpose was. This was what everything she had ever done was all leading up to. This was what would finally make her free and let her fly.

And yet, the whole time she was dreaming, as she was having this feeling, she couldn't see a thing. Brilliant pale-pink light was blinding her, shining gloriously and healing everything that was wrong. And suddenly, the light vanished, leaving behind black. She couldn't see for a few moments, then her eyes adjusted and could see clearly. And at that moment, the vision changed again, to reveal a symbol that slightly resembled a pale pink sun. This was gleaming and pulsing with the radiance from before. This was the same dream she had before, she knew somehow. She felt the same way: peaceful, serene, safe. And as quickly as it had started, the dream ended and she awoke.

SnowBotamon opened her eyes and looked around. She was still in the same place, the tunnel of thorns, and her wounds were still there, hurting. But they seemed to hurt less now. She realized she was smiling. She let herself for a few minutes as she sat there and reflected. She did have a purpose. She knew it now. She wasn't exactly sure what, but she knew it was something true. How could a dream like that be wrong?

When she blinked, the image of the sun was emblazoned into her mind's eye. It still burned with immense light. Somehow, this gave her the strength to get up and continue walking. There was a reason to keep going. Her purpose, her whole reason was worth fighting for. And she wasn't going to give up now.

Gritting her teeth, she wiped the smile off her face – no matter how happy it made her feel – and set off towards the end of the tunnel with a stubborn scowl.

This time as she maneuvered around the thorns, she did so with less caution and more speed. They still cut her, but they didn't hurt as much. And her energy had been replenished slightly, so she was more graceful. She never looked back at where she had come from, but kept her eyes set on the light in front of her. She didn't blink once until she came to the end of the tunnel and squeezed out, feeling the last of the thorns slashing her as she emerged. But she didn't care anymore. Closing her eyes with relief, SnowBotamon laid back on the ground. With her eyelids shut, she saw the symbol again, blazing as strongly as ever. It made her smile slightly, feeling elated. Until she heard a voice nearby that made her fur stand on end.

"Nice job, kitty," it hissed.

She was extremely startled and jumped up. Her heart racing, she saw the DemiMeramon that had been following her without her knowing. "Who-who are you?" she demanded.

"DemiMeramon," he said. "And I must admit, SnowBotamon, your resourcefulness for that of a baby's is very advanced. However, I'm a bit hungry, so I'll just have to eat you now." DemiMeramon grinned, eyes gleaming.

SnowBotamon glared back at him, eyes in slits. "Just try and touch me and you'll be sorry," she spat.

"Your defiant eyes are almost enough to frighten me away," he said. "But not quite. I'm not afraid of you, little kitten." He hovered closer to her. "Shall we begin, then?"

"I'll begin it and end it too!" SnowBotamon growled. "Diamond Dust!" Pieces of ice shot out of her mouth at DemiMeramon.

He smirked as the ice hit him and fell to the ground as water droplets. "You may be resourceful, but you're still a baby. Didn't you notice that I'm made of fire?"

SnowBotamon continued to glare at him, but she felt panicky inside. She didn't have any other attacks besides Diamond Dust! How could she fight a fire Digimon like him?

She had to run. She didn't know how she'd be able to outrun DemiMeramon, especially being as tired as she was, but she had to get away. Now that she had her purpose, she couldn't just give up and get killed! It was either run or fight from now on. And she couldn't fight in this condition, or against this enemy.

She leaped away, hopping as fast as her little body could take her. DemiMeramon chuckled and took off after her. SnowBotamon gulped as she fled. A thought came to her. If she Digivolved, maybe she could fight…

No, she wouldn't Digivolve. She didn't want to Digivolve right now! Even though she didn't care much anymore about her Primary Village takeover, she didn't want to become her In-Training form. After all, it was the classic case of brains over brawn. She chose to stay a baby. She could control her Digivolution from Baby to In-Training. It was proving her brain had complete and total control over everything in her body.

She glanced back at her pursuer. He trailed after her, an evil smirk on his face. "I've got you now," he said. She was about to turn around again and face forward, but before she could, before she even had time to analyze what DemiMeramon had said, she heard another voice.

"Yuki-chan!"

A shock went through her. Poyomon? He was here? Or was she just imagining it? She looked around, but continued running. "Poyomon!" she called out. Her voice was full of much more pain than she had expected.

"Watch out, kitty cat," DemiMeramon smirked. SnowBotamon spun back around, facing forwards. An enormous gap in the ground loomed in front of her: a cliff. Squeaking, she tried to stop. She shut her eyes tight and waited until she was completely stopped, then peeked out of one eye. She had stopped right in front of the cliff. Sighing with relief, she closed her eyes again.

Until she was rammed from behind by what felt like fire. It burned her, and she yowled in pain. She went flying over the cliff's edge: it seemed in slow motion.

"Cat on the rocks – my favorite drink!" DemiMeramon laughed.

Idiot, SnowBotamon thought, that didn't even make sense.

"Unfortunately, you don't have any feet to land on when you fall!" DemiMeramon continued.

It felt so surreal. How could she die? She had just figured out her purpose, in a way. She had just gotten hope to keep on waiting for her light, and it would come.

"Poyomon!" she called out again, as she fell over the cliff.

Poor SnowBotamon. ;-; Review or DemiMeramon will make even more stupid cat jokes! xD