Chapter Five

More Important than Life

SnowBotamon had closed her eyes and prepared for the worst as she fell. But, it seemed, miraculously, she felt herself slam to the ground much sooner, and with less impact that she had expected.

She opened her eyes to look around. She had landed on a tiny rock protrusion jutting off the cliff's wall. If she had been anything but a baby Digimon, she would have missed it completely and fallen to her death. Her heart was racing as she looked up at the top of the cliff, where DemiMeramon was leering at her.

"You're very lucky," he said angrily. "But, then again, this way I get to push you off again."

"Yuki-chan!" came Poyomon's voice again.

"Poyomon? Poyomon! Where are you?" SnowBotamon begged.

Suddenly, Poyomon's head appeared at the edge of the cliff. "Yuki-chan!"

SnowBotamon couldn't help smiling when she saw him. "Poyomon!"

"Where did you come from?" DemiMeramon demanded. "Oh well. I'll eat you too! And first, since you're up here!"

Poyomon shook with fear. SnowBotamon's smile faded and she felt her heart sink when she saw how scared he was. She couldn't let Poyomon be killed too.

"Poyomon, you have to run away!" she called out. "You can still get away from here and back to the village."

Poyomon shook his head slowly. "N-no, Yuki-chan… I came to h-help you!" He took a deep breath. "Acid Bubbles!"

Greenish, acidic bubbles shot out of his mouth and at DemiMeramon. SnowBotamon's face lit up as they hit him and he was shoved back a little. "Acid and water combined!" she marveled. Maybe Poyomon was a baby, and DemiMeramon was In-Training, but Poyomon's attack had two advantages over DemiMeramon!

The angry fireball Digimon rammed into Poyomon, burning him and shoving him back. Poyomon's eyes squeezed tight as he tried not to cry. He attacked again. "Acid Bubbles!"

DemiMeramon shot fire out if its own mouth, which engulfed and popped the bubbles. It continued on and slammed into Poyomon, sending him flying backwards.

"Oh no!" SnowBotamon gasped. She couldn't see Poyomon anymore; he was too far away from the edge. She guessed that was a good thing, but she dreaded that DemiMeramon would still kill him, either way.

She had to do something! Her eyes scanned around and she noticed smaller rock protrusions. Maybe she could make it up them and try and help Poyomon. Summoning up her strength, she leapt for the closest one. She missed it, and fell back down to the larger one. She was too little to get to it.

"Poyomon! Run!" she called out again, getting angrier.

"No, Yuki-chan!"

SnowBotamon's eyes narrowed into slits. Why wasn't he listening to her? She could say two words to any of the other babies and they'd obey her mindlessly. Why was Poyomon so different from them? He was even more foolish than the other babies!

"Acid Bubb – ahh!" Poyomon's voice rang out.

SnowBotamon gasped. "Poyomon! Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, Yuki-chan," came the dull reply.

"Not for long," DemiMeramon laughed. "One more hit from me and he's a goner!"

"Yuki-chan… I'm sorry I couldn't save you..."

"POYOMON!" SnowBotamon shut her eyes tight to try not to cry. She couldn't just give up! She opened them again, determined. There had to be something she could do… Her eyes fell across the pieces of rock that could be used to hop up to the top of the cliff. But she had been so far away from the closest one when she tried to jump…

But, would an In-training Digimon be able to make it there?

Yes, she thought. And each step was big enough for one, too. But she couldn't Digivolve! She didn't want to be an In-training Digimon! Maybe there was another way. Maybe Elecmon would come along soon and save them.

She heard as DemiMeramon sent tiny attacks to jab Poyomon, and she heard his cries. The fire Digimon was just torturing him now.

"Y-yuki…chan…" she heard Poyomon say once more.

She couldn't let him die. And before she knew what she was doing, she felt something stir inside of her, and finally it was free.

"SnowBotamon Digivolve to…" She closed her eyes and felt her body expanding. She was growing bigger. Her tail started to grow, and her ears became pointed. Her eyes grew larger, and her teeth stronger and sharper. She opened her eyes to see she was no longer white, but a light green. She looked to her tail and saw it had purple stripes across it. She looked at her new form. And, the strangest thing about it was that she didn't feel sad at all. She felt free. "…Nyaromon!"

Nyaromon. Her new name. She was no longer SnowBotamon, she was no longer a baby. She was Nyaromon.

She realized she was smiling, but quickly frowned. It was time to save Poyomon! She leaped up to the first rock easily, then to the next, and the next, all in a series of graceful jumps. Finally, she was back on solid ground.

Poyomon was collapsed on the ground, being pelted with tiny sparks. His eyes were closed. DemiMeramon, hovering overhead, hadn't noticed Nyaromon's Digivolution or her return to the cliff side.

Glaring at him, she leaped into the air. "Tail whip!" Her new tail slammed against him, and he flew forward in the air.

Turning around, surprise filled his face, but he masked it with a glare. "Kitty's got claws," he said.

"Stop making stupid cat jokes!" Nyaromon demanded. "Tail whip!" She leaped up again and lashed him with her tail. The move was so swift that her tail wasn't even burnt.

He tried to retaliate, but she was too quick now that she was In-training. She jumped away from his fire, and jumped up again. "Tail whip!" She launched a series of fast attacks on him with her tail before she landed back on the ground, between DemiMeramon and Poyomon.

DemiMeramon also fell to the ground, face full of pain. He tried to get up, but Nyaromon leapt at him with her tail ready to strike again. She only had to hit him one more time before he surrendered. "Okay! Okay! I'm going!" As he floated off quickly, she heard him muttering, "Cats have more than nine lives these days…"

Nyaromon hit the ground, exhausted. She had used the last of her energy to fight DemiMeramon, but now she barely had any left. She looked over to Poyomon. He hadn't moved. Nyaromon hopped over to him.

"Poyomon! Poyomon! Are you okay!"

He opened his eyes a tiny bit. "Yuki-chan…"

Nyaromon smiled in relief, fighting back tears. "Poyomon… Please hang on…"

He closed his eyes again, smiling a tiny bit. "I'm not going anywhere, Yuki-chan…"

She had no arms, but she curled her tail around him and hugged him the best she could.

"Are you really leaving, Snowy?" cried all the babies mournfully.

Nyaromon nodded. "But I told you, I'm Nyaromon now. Not SnowBotamon anymore."

"You'll always be Snowy to us!" MetalKoromon said.

"Well, I have to leave. I'm not a baby anymore."

"You'll go say goodbye to Elecmon and Poyomon, right?" Paomon asked.

Nyaromon nodded. "Of course," she said.

It was about two days since she and Poyomon had fought with DemiMeramon, and Elecmon had found them in the forest. Poyomon had run away looking for SnowBotamon, and Elecmon finally went out to look for them. He had found them in the same place they had been.

Nyaromon healed much faster than she was used to. After one nights' sleep, she had felt fine, and by the middle of the next day, she was completely healed. Poyomon, however, was healing more slowly. Elecmon wasn't letting him leave his cradle now, because he was scared he'd get hurt again. And he had set Poyomon's cradle a little bit away from the others, because his immune system was low right now and couldn't handle any diseases the babies might have.

Nyaromon knew she had to leave, but she wanted to say goodbye to Poyomon first. He hadn't been awake much in the past two days, but she was hoping this time he would be well enough to say goodbye to her. Every time she thought about leaving Primary Village, her heart sank. She didn't want to leave. But this confused her. Of course, she hadn't wanted to when she was a baby, but she was now a bit more mature, and knew she had to leave. She was even looking forward to it a little, now that she was fast enough to catch food that wasn't grass. It wasn't as if she really liked the village that much. The same went for Elecmon – she respected him a little, but she didn't think she'd miss him. And she'd be glad to get away from the babies.

So what was it that made her not want to leave?

She crossed the village to Poyomon's cradle, where Elecmon was. He gave her a little sad smile. "Sorry," he said. "Poyomon's not awake right now… he's still very tired."

Nyaromon felt numb. She had to leave now, she knew. But she couldn't say goodbye to him? She told herself she was being silly. He was just another baby. But then… she knew that wasn't true.

"There's one thing I want to ask you before I go, Elecmon," she said.

"Go ahead."

"I just… why did I Digivolve? That whole time, my mind was controlling what my body did. I told myself that I could force myself not to Digivolve; that my brain had complete reign over my body. And it worked, too. Until then. I just… Do you know why I Digivolved?"

Elecmon smiled a tiny bit. "Mind over matter," he said. "I see. But… did you ever think that there might be something a little stronger than even your mind?"

Nyaromon stared at him, confused. "I… What do you mean?"

"People are said to rule with either their head or their heart. I'm sure you've thought yourself a logical person who rules by their head, right?"

"Well, yes. I mean, your heart isn't really anything people say it is. After all, your brain has power over it."

"You don't think the heart is important?"

"Well, not in decision-making, of course. It's a vital organ, but it doesn't have any powers like that."

"Ah," Elecmon said. "Well, you're right and wrong."

Nyaromon narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"The heart is, as you said, an organ. It is controlled by the brain, though not the conscious part. But the heart is also something more. It represents your soul and the very essence of you. The heart may not be a literal place where your emotions and feelings are stored, but it symbolizes this."

"Elecmon, I don't understand where you're going with this. What does this have to do with my Digivolving?"

"Even those who say they rule with their head will sometimes give into what their heart is telling them to do. The mind has power over the literal heart, as you said, but the abstract heart has power over the mind."

"So you're saying my heart wanted me to Digivolve?"

Elecmon nodded.

"Then why didn't it do it before? I could control it with my head before."

Elecmon glanced at Poyomon. "Your heart didn't want it until you realized that you'd rather do the one thing you'd do anything to avoid than have Poyomon be killed."

This jolted through Nyaromon like a shock. She remembered something she had thought before. She'd rather die than Digivolve. For a self-centered Digimon as she was – or had been, perhaps; she was more mature now – her life was everything to her. But she didn't want to Digivolve so much that she would rather have had her life taken away from her.

This seemed stupid to her now, especially that she felt so free and happy as Nyaromon. How foolish she had been as SnowBotamon! But maybe she'd think the same about herself now, when she became Salamon. That was too far away to think about now, though.

She had Digivolved to save Poyomon, though.

What did that mean? She would have rather died than Digivolve, but she became Nyaromon because Poyomon was in danger of dying. Did that mean she was willing to give up her own life for him?

"Oh," she said simply.

"Your heart then took over, and your mind couldn't stop it," Elecmon said.

Nyaromon was silent.

"You found something more important to you than your own life," he told her softly.

"I… I'd better go," she said, glancing towards Poyomon again. "Poyomon… Goodbye."

She turned around, trying not to cry. She couldn't cry. Her mind wouldn't let her.

"Yuki-chan?" came a weak voice.

Nyaromon turned around again, a smile spreading across her face. She couldn't help it this time. She smiled, and laughed, happier than she'd been in all her life. "Poyomon!"

His eyes were open and he sat up. "Yuki-chan, are you leaving?"

She nodded. "I have to go. How do you feel?"

"Better, I think." He frowned. "Yuki-chan, I don't want you to leave…"

"I don't want to either," she said. "But I have to."

"Can't you wait a little bit? I can try and make myself Digivolve!"

"No, Poyomon… I have to go now."

"You're not ready to Digivolve yet," Elecmon told him.

"Yuki-chan… Will I ever see you again?"

She didn't know, in her head. But something in her heart – the metaphoric one, that is – told her he would.

"Of course," she said. "After all, the Digital World isn't that big."

"Yuki-chan, you're my best friend…"

Nyaromon wrapped her tail around him and hugged him as hard as she could. "You're my best friend too, Poyomon."

"Um, Yuki-chan?" Poyomon squeaked.

"Yes?" She was still hugging him, still fighting back the tears.

"You're kind of crushing me."

"Oh!" Nyaromon released him, laughing a tiny bit. "Sorry." She looked at the sky to see the sun was about to set. "Poyomon… I have to go now."

"Oh." Poyomon looked down. A few tiny tears spilled out of his eyes. "Yuki-chan… I'll never forget you."

"Well, of course you won't!" Nyaromon smiled. A single tear fell from her eye, too, before she wiped it away with her tail. "After all, we'll see each other soon, won't we?"

Poyomon nodded. "Right!"

She had to walk away then, towards the gates of Primary Village. She turned around to look at it one last time. She knew she couldn't stay there.

"BYE SNOWY!" the babies called to her.

"Goodbye Nyaromon!" Elecmon called.

"Goodbye everyone!" she called back.

"Yuki-chan!" called Poyomon. Nyaromon saw that it was taking all his energy to call out to her. "I'll see you soon!"

"See you soon, Poyom- Poyo-chan!" Now she couldn't help it anymore, and she stopped trying to control her tears. They streaked down her face as she waved at everyone – but mostly Poyomon – with her tail.

Then she turned around, hot tears almost making it so she couldn't see. She hopped forward determinedly.

Primary Village had been her home since she was born, but it couldn't hold her any longer. She was free; not confined to its walls anymore. Even if she felt sad about leaving the babies – well, one of them – she knew it was time to go.

It was time to start her own adventure.

So that's pretty much the ending. There may be one chapter more, but it depends on if anyone even likes this story. xD So if you want to see another one, please review x3