The Digimon King And The King of Gondor
Chapter 13 Mysteries of Mirkwood
The next chapter is about Lunamon and her group that are lost in the forest of Mirkwood and they are not alone.
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Some of the Digimon that had found themselves in Middle Earth were having a better time of it than others.
And one of those who was not having the best of it were Lunamon and Lillymon. The white rabbit with a moon crest and the flower fairy Digimon were no closer to finding out what had happened to them or where any of the other members of the Fusion Fighters are at, and certainly not any closer to finding a way out of the horrible woodland that they had found themselves in when they had landed here yesterday. Yes, they had three Elite Monitamons with them at the moment and that was a small comfort, as they were certainly better than being all alone. But still, the sheer sense of aloneness that the forest around them produce seemed to be constantly trying to weigh in on them.
And to top things off, Lunamon was holding onto Lillymon as the flower fairy Digimon was in the air flying with her wings, The three green Monitamons were jumping from tree to tree as they followed them.
To recap on what happened since Lunamon, Lillymon and the three Monitamons had encountered one another would not take very long at all. They had simply been wondering in the same direction, or what they assumed was the same direction, in the air around the thick tangle of under growth of the dark forest, for as long as they could.
It had not been easy going for them. They still had no idea where the forest exist is at or if there is a village nearby. The undergrowth of the forest was not a good place to be, with upended roots and vicious thorny shrubs that appeared to be half dead all over the place, as well as several low hanging vines and branches, which made traveling through it hard for a humanoid, even a small one like Lunamon. The thorns and branches scratch at both Lunamon and Lillymon as they were flying through, even it is hard to navigate through the trees as they try to dodge them.
Lillymon was glad she was wearing her boots. She didn't imagine how thorny the ground was like below her.
Lunamon can see thorns around them as she was in the air with Lillymon as they try to get past through the thick forest.
The Monitamons were having a better time than them. Their small bodies and ninja skills enabled them to leap from tree-trunk to tree-trunk with relative ease, higher up and away from the low ground cover in thorns.
Still, at least they could take comfort in fact that they didn't appear to be going in circles. Every so often, they need to rest on the ground for a few minutes to recover before they move on. But the appearance of the forest itself had not changed at all. It was still dark and gloomy, still as eerie and terrifying as it had been since they started out.
Who knew how many hours of jumping, flying or walking they had done since then.
The lack of light was making it difficult for Lillymon in another way too. All Digimon possessed self-healing abilities that humans didn't have hope of matching, grievous injuries taking a relatively short time to heal in comparison. But, being a plant Digimon, Lillymon was able to heal and regain strength much better when she was exposed to sunlight. And here, in this forest, she was not getting none of it. The forest was to thick and everything was far too murky and... darker.
There had been a point where she had found a slender shaft of light that had managed to penetrate all the way down to the floor like some sort of faint spotlight and she had attempted to stand in it for a while to help herself to recover a little bit. But in doing so, everything around her seemed to become even darker and the light, faint as it was, did little to help her to regain her energy.
Lillymon did not stay under the shaft for long. The sheer creepiness of the place compelled her to keep moving. Staying in the same place for any length of time seemed like a foolish and dangerous idea for some reason. Perhaps it was some instinct buried deep into her but she decided to listen to it. Keeping on the move would make you a far less easy target for anything that might be out to get you. Not that anything had been out to get them yet.
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But when night had set in, Lillymon then decided that was enough. They would have to stop, as it was becoming even darker and she could barely see her hand in front of her face. Lunamon on the other hand can see in the dark very will even she is a dark Digimon type. But going ahead now would be a very bad idea. They had to wait for the sun and the little light it gave down here, to return.
The Monitamons had managed to find a large, fallen tree with thick roots that were still half buried in the ground. The five Digimon had landed into the open space between the base of the tree roots, but none of them had slept. It felt uncomfortably like they had been locked in some wooded cage that they could never escape from. But at the same time, it would be difficult for anything else to get in at them, and that made it good enough in their view.
And so they had huddled there, shuddering and breathing shallowly as they listened to the completely dead silence around them.
"Do you think we'll ever find a way out of here?" Monitamon G3 asked nervously.
"What kind of question is that?" Monitamon G1 hissed. "Of course we will... won't we, Lunamon, Lillymon."
"Of course we will." Lillymon nodded.
"We will all get out of here." Lunamon reassured. "We'll get out of this forest." Lunamon said as she was trying to force a smile onto her face as she continued. "I'm sure we will recover and be ready for tomorrow. Then if we haven't found a way out of this forest by then we can get out of here. You'll see."
"Once I have enough rest I will fly us out of this forest." Lillymon said to them.
"You're both very brave, Lunamon, Lillymon." Monitamon G1 muttered. "Much braver than we are."
Brave? Lunamon thought to herself, shaking her head. Oh, I am far from brave. I am terrified. I don't think that there's ever been a time where I've been more scared. I'm the last thing there is from being brave. She sighed to herself and mentally added, If I was brave, I would have told Shoutmon how I felt about him a long time ago. I would have fought harder for him when he needed me to. I am definitely not brave.
But then she looked down at the Monitamons and Lillymon and thought, But the Monitamons are terrified too. I know Lillymon is braver than me. Maybe I can... I don't know. I guess I should at least try and look like I know what I'm doing. Ugh, I am not sure I can do this.
They barely said anything else all through the night. The Monitamons had started to try and tell jokes to one another, Lillymon was watching her surroundings and staying on guard, but eventually the Monitamons had stopped, as even the sound of their own voices seemed to have eerie edges to them in the complete blackness. And Lunamon was beginning to feel the urge to go from beyond scared and into complete panic.
She resident as best she could, wrapped her arms around her dress and pulled her legs close and tried not to shiver too much.
What would Shoutmon do? She thought to herself. Probably just shout at the darkness and throw fireballs at any shadow that moved. What would Beelzemon do? Stay calm probably. How does he even do that?
Still, nothing happened during the night, although there was a point where they heard some kind of horrible noise coming from somewhere around them. They couldn't tell how far away it was or even what direction it was coming from, but all five of them promptly froze and listened hard with bated breath until long after the sound had gone away. They had no idea what it might have been and to be honest they didn't really want to know.
XXX
Eventually the light, or what little there was of it, returned and the three Monitamons hopped out of their hiding place as both Lunamon and Lillymon scrambled through the thick tree roots. To Lunamon dismay, she found that she had lost her bearings in the darkness while they had searched for shelter. Great, She thought. Some leader I am. Guess I made the right choice not to pursue Shoutmon, I'm definitely not Queen material.
All she could do now was pick a random direction and hope for the best, and so they set off into the woods once more, Lunamon was wrapping her arms around her body and hugging herself as she moved with the three Monitamons bounding through the trees and continually doubling back so that Lunamon and Lillymon could both keep up with their pace.
Hours more has passed like this and once again nothing changed. Lunamon was not only scared but... annoyed. She's very annoyed that this forest seemed to never end. This forest that they had somehow found themselves in didn't even seem to have a limit to it because no matter how far Lunamon walked, there's always seemed to be more of it.
As was it said before, Lunamon and Lillymon both usually liked forests. But not this one. This one was just too malevolent, dark and sinister, like something was attempting to penetrate through her and wrap around their souls and squeeze them. Which was a very disturbing metaphor and Lunamon was not happy with herself for thinking of it.
Eventually, Lunamon just sighed and sat down on a log. This was getting them nowhere. Wandering aimlessly through these woods was not going to do them any favors whatever Lunamon wanted to leave here, as quickly as possible, because with every hour she spent here the icy feeling of barely suppressed dread was creeping further and further up to her spine.
It felt like the forest was one big trap of darkness that was slowly closing in around her and she didn't want that trap to snap shut.
The three Monitamons and Lillymon all notice that she had stopped and they quickly turned back to her, pulling to a stop next to her. "What's wrong?" Monitamon G2 asked with concern. "Did you twist your ankle or something?"
"No, not that." Lunamon shook her head. "But... well... how are you guys feeling?"
"Not good." Monitamon G3 shivered. "This whole place gives me the creeps and I don't know why. Every time I look around a corner I think that there's something coming after me but it turns out to be a shadow." And he bumped the small satellite dish on top of his head. "And I'm not picking up any signals with this thing."
"Me neither." Monitamon G1 agreed. "This whole forest... there's something so wrong about it. It feels like Hell's Field did in some funny way. Like it's been... horribly tainted by something."
"I know what you mean." Lillymon agreed, as she shuddered. "Like there's an ancient dark force spreading through the soul and corrupting every growing thing around. And I don't like it. So I was thinking... can you guys send signals and images to each other, right?"
"This place feels so evil and its not safe here." Lunamon was feeling unease. "Maybe one of you can scout ahead?"
"Yes but, please don't ask us to go out there and try to scout around." Monitamon G2 begged. "I don't want to be anywhere on my own in this place. It gives me the willies."
"The trembles." Monitamon G1 confirmed.
"The shakes." Monitamon G3 added.
"Heebie-jeebies sounds like a childish word and doesn't really befit what I'm feeling right now, but I guess it's the closest thing I can come up with." Lillymon remarked.
"But its not that, I was thinking, could one of you hold onto Lillymon and head up to the top of the trees and take a look around above the forest. It's too dark down here, we can't see anything, except me. We need to have more of a bearing on where we're going." Lunamon said to them.
The three Monitamons glanced at each other.
"Er... why didn't we think of that?" Monitamon G3 asked.
"I was too scared." Monitamon G1 muttered.
"But it's so obvious." Monitamon G2 claimed.
All three of them smacked themselves on the tops of their television monitors that made up their heads and cried. "Oh!"
Despite the intense feeling of foreboding that was still trying to worm its way to the nape of the two females necks, Lunamon and Lillymon both couldn't help but chuckle at the odd behavior of the three little ninjas. Sometimes it was hard to believe they were the elites of their village. But then Lunamon said. "Are you guys up for it then?"
"I'll do it." Monitamon G1 cried. "I want to see some solid daylight again anyway." And he quickly jump on Lillymon's back as she fly up to the top of the trees.
Lunamon lost sight of them quickly as they did this and her eyes widened slightly as she beheld it. "Wow." She said. "Those two are quick."
The other two Monitamons stood tall as they could, while their monitors displayed happy symbols. "We trained hard to be as fast and agile as we possibly could, and Lillymon is capable to defend herself as well." Monitamon G3 declared.
"And it served us well." Monitamon G2 agreed.
Lunamon smiled. But then she tensed visibly. Every moment that they had been in the forest, along with the horrible sense of compassion the forest seemed to produce as well as the menacing sense of ominous, Lunamon had been constantly having, just in the back of her brain, the strange tingling yet horrible sensation of being watched.
But that sensation had just spiked, and she had no idea why.
Slowly, fearing what she would see, she turned back to look over her shoulder.
But there was nothing but the forest through which they had already passed. The shadows might have lengthened and pooled a little bit and seemed to be condensing before her eyes, but that was no different from the rest of the woodland they had already gone through. Scary yes, but not different.
And yet Lunamon couldn't shake that feeling of being observed by something out of sight. It was extremely bone-chilling.
"What is it?" Hissed one of the Monitamons, she couldn't tell which. "Do you see something?"
Lunamon shrugged it off and tried not to shudder before turning back. The feeling did not go away, but she did her best to push it down, but still began listening to the surroundings just in case it was not something to be dismissed. "Nothing." She said quickly, trying to ignore the nervousness that she could clearly see in the quivering two Monitamons, who had wide and fearful eye images on their screens. "Can one of you display on your screen what your friend is seeing?"
"Yes. I'll do it." Monitamon G2 nodded and began to display an image of dark leaves which was shifting and getting lighter as Lillymon and Monitamon G1 that both had ascended into the trees completed the last leg of the flying until they reached the top on the branch that stuck out over the forest and both looking out at the top of the forest, while Lunamon and Monitamon G3 crowded around the image down below and stared at the sights with him.
"It looks a lot better up here." Monitamon G1's voice came through Monitamon G2's speakers.
"I can see the sunlight from here and can feel the wind breeze." Lillymon said at the speaker.
And it did. Lunamon was mildly surprised to find that the top of the forest didn't look anything like it did down here. Here it was dark, scary and evil but up there everything was green, lush and quiet beautiful. It seemed that everything Lunamon knew and loved about nature from the Digital World with thick, rich leaves rolling away into the distance in a dense cover of many different species, types and shades.
It seemed to defy belief that a forest as amazing as what she was seeing had all this shadow and terror at its base.
"It's incredible." Lunamon breathed.
"Yeah." Monitamon G3 agreed. "But I don't see an edge to it. Is there an edge to it?"
Both Monitamon G1 and Lillymon looked around and the image shown by Monitamon G1 as he said. "Uh... no. No, I'm not seeing one. Looks like the trees roll on and on forever in any direction that I look in."
"I don't see no end of the trees." Lillymon said at the speakers.
"Not very encouraging." Lunamon sighed. "Can you two see anything else besides the trees?"
"Uh... hold on." Monitamon G1 continued to look around but Lillymon saw something ahead of them.
"What's that over there?" Lillymon pointed at the direction she saw.
Monitamon G1 look at what Lillymon was pointing at. He focus at the view he was seeing at the distance. Lunamon was surprised when the image on Monitamon G2's face zoomed in, she had not been aware that the Monitamons possessed that ability.
Still, Monitamon G1, Lillymon and therefore those down below could see something quite clearly in the distance, some huge rises of rock and stone that stretched out about the tree level in great, tall spires.
"Mountains?" Monitamon G3 mumbled. "Are those mountains over there?"
"Looks that way." Monitamon G1 confirmed. "Yep, I definitely think that those are mountains."
"By the direction the sun is going the mountains are west of us." Lillymon said.
"Mountains are a better place than anything that we've had so far." Lunamon let loose a slight breath of relief. "I vote that we head towards them. Anything's better than simple at staying around here, don't you think?"
"Yeah." Monitamon G3 agreed. "Good idea. Maybe some of the others are there too."
"Let's hope so." Lunamon said with a smile. "Monitamon, Lillymon, can you both come back down? We need to keep going."
"Coming." Monitamon G1 said.
"We will be down there in a moment." Lillymon said.
Monitamon G2 shut his screen off once again. Lunamon look back up into the trees and then, she saw Monitamon G1 and Lillymon both flown down to the ground through the branches. Once they landed to the ground Monitamon G1 let go of Lillymon as he stand on the ground.
"Were here." Lillymon said as they are ready to move out.
"Let's go." Lunamon nodded with slightly more enthusiasm than she actually felt. "Which way were those mountains?"
"This way." Monitamon G1 pointed, through with the complete lack of bearings that the forest brought with it, Lillymon also knows the direction too. Lunamon had no idea which direction of the compass Monitamon G1 was pointing towards. Still, she set off in the direction of his hand and the three Monitamons and Lillymon followed on, the Monitamons were leaping into the trees once again, they were filled with extra excitement at the prospect of an actual destination. Lillymon was walking right next to Lunamon.
But Lunamon paused and turned back again briefly, eyes narrowing as she stared into the shadows of the trees. That feeling of being watched had lessened slightly from the spike that had happened before but it was still there, at the back of her head. She shivered, both at the feeling and the mental image and turned to walk on, hurrying as best as she could in the thorny undergrowth to keep up with the Monitamons.
Lillymon was watching Lunamon that she sees that she was worried about something and she can tell that they are being watched as they move on.
And, after a few seconds of silence, something in the shadows behind them shifted, sneaking behind the trunk of a nearby tree with a very faint hissing noise.
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And so they carried on yet again through the foreboding trees, in much the same fashion as before, but this time knowing what lay ahead of them, a bit of a good distance away. The mountains were a solid to begin a proper search, Lunamon was constantly telling herself. It was their best option. Their only real option at the moment.
She had realized a while ago with a sense of uncomfortably that she had somehow become something like a leader in this little group. And she didn't like it. She didn't like it at all. The Monitamons and Lillymon were all looking up to her, seeming to expect her to look after them, though Lunamon had no idea why. The Monitamons might be small but they are more field experience than she is. And Lillymon is taller than them and the only one that is capable of handling herself.
She put it down to fear. They were scared and afraid and wanted somebody to look up at and at the moment Lunamon seemed to be the only person to fill that ache. But she had no experience at making decisions like this and certainly no experience at leadership. Shoutmon and Sorcermon have always been the leaders of the army they were leading. Not her. She just cheered everyone up.
But she knew she had to try. If the Monitamons were hoping for her to get them out of trouble then she would have to do her best but... She didn't think she was up to the task. Lillymon was the only one that is calm... but she was a little scared than they are. Lunamon was just scared as they were, perhaps even more so. And not least because that feeling of being watched was, ever so slowly, getting stronger.
The moon crest white rabbit paused every so often to peer around at the shadows and listen, but she never saw anything but the noises the Monitamons made as they moved along, so she step forward, satisfied but still thoroughly creeped out. Perhaps this was just the forest having an effect on her but she couldn't know that for sure. Lillymon was staying very close to Lunamon.
Lunamon would like some answers about this forest.
Pity that there seemed to be none.
XXX
Onward they went, ducking under branches and weaving around trunks, but once again they didn't seem to be making much headway. The mountains were probably further away than they had looked, but they had no way of telling how much further.
Lunamon wished that someone else were here with them besides Lillymon. Someone like Mervamon, who feared nothing, or Knightmon, who would use his own body as a shield if necessary, or Dorulumon, who's is nonchalant attitude practically peeled him off him and reassured everyone else by him being in the vicinity. And Sorcermon who is second in command and Shoutmon's adviser who could lead them and protect everyone. But nobody was there. Nobody came. It was just them.
And therefore, Lunamon practically jumped out of her skin when one of the Monitamons suddenly let out a strangled but surprisingly high-pitched yelp. She and Lillymon had been seeing a neanearby shadow that they could have sworn had moved at the time, but when the Monitamon screamed their heads snapped around so quickly. They both hurried forward, leaping over an old log in a wall and scrambling through a thorny bush that did its very best to slow their progress before they found what was going on and both of them gasped.
The Monitamon, they could not tell which one, was suspended off the ground and hanging from one of the tree trunks by what appeared to be some sort of... well, they didn't know what it was. some fine white substance like the world's messiest net or sheet that appeared to have coated itself to the Monitamon's body and was also attached to the tree, causing the Monitamon to dangle upside down, kicking and struggling as he tried to free himself.
The other two Monitamons stared in horror at what was going on before one of them had the sense to cry, "FIRE SHOT!" and shoot a stream of tiny flaming balls from the middle of its screen. They hit the substance at the place where it was attached to the tree and burned through it, releasing a horrible odor into the air. The trapped Monitamon screamed as he plummeted downward.
Lunamon quickly turned to Lillymon and said. "Lillymon save him!"
Lillymon quickly took flight forward and stop to a halt just in time to grab Monitamon and catch him in her arms and safely fly down to the ground.
"Thanks Lillymon." He said revealing him to be Monitamon G3.
"Your welcome." Lillymon said to him as Lunamon walk up to check on them.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I don't think I was paying attention to where I was landing." He replied a bit sheepishly. "I was just bounding along and suddenly I landed in a patch of this stuff and it stuck to me."
"It stuck to... ugh, hey!" Lillymon suddenly cried in alarm as she tried to pull the Monitamon away and found that stuff was now sticking to her green arm gloves and hands as well. Instinctively she jerked it away, accidently as she brushed the stuff away, peeling it off her sleeves only for it to envelop her hands and stick to them too. She waved her hands through the air in disgust in her attempt to dislodge it, but when that didn't work she quickly rubbed her hands against the trunk of the nearest tree.
This seemed to work better and the white stuff stripped away, sticking to the tree and pulling itself from Lillymon's hands in a series of threads before Lillymon was free of the stuff. But poor Monitamon G3 was still coated in it and writhing on the floor as he attempted to shrug it off without it sticking his limbs together. Lillymon quickly bent down and began to help, peeling sticky chunks of it away and scraping it off against the tree and trying to contain her disgust at the way it felt against her hands.
The other two Monitamons had come down to watch with unease as Lillymon finally finished unraveling their brother from the stuff. "Phew." Monitamon G3 said. "I'm glad that's off. That had me worried there."
"Yeah, but... what is it?" Monitamon G1 asked.
Lillymon was about to scrape the last of it off, but before she do so she stopped and examined it, lifting it up to where she could see it better and picking at it with her fingers of her other hand. It pulled itself away from her hand as it were determined to stick there for as long as it could. It came loosen in threads that were, considering their strength, incredibly fine indeed.
Lunamon watched too as she frowned. Where had she seen something like this before?
Lillymon scraped it off against the tree and said. "I don't know what it is. But I think..." She stopped and Lunamon did too. They both felt a intense feeling of being watched had suddenly magnified. Their backs straightened as they both look around, searching the shadows once again for signs of anything else.
And this time, Lunamon was the first to see something and Lillymon later see something too. Something that was not an illusion or a trick of darkness. They definitely saw some of the shadows moving backwards slightly, pressing themselves deeper into the darkness. Both Lunamon and Lillymon had little time to look at them before they were gone but what they could see seemed to be rather... spindly. Something long and thin, like an appendage, but quickly gone before they had the time for a proper look.
But around each one they could see tiny little glints of lights, like small beady eyes staring at them from the darkness before they shifted around out from behind the trees. And as Lunamon and Lillymon both looked around, they could see several of them. Not just one or two, but possibly around ten, and all at different levels. Some of them were on the ground. A couple seemed to be coming from the branches higher above. Some of them seemed to be on the trunks themselves before they scurried around the other side, too quick for them to make out their form.
And then it hit Lunamon. In her head. There had been one time, after the defeat of Bagramon, where she had joined one of Shoutmon's Fusion Fighters patrols through a different forest in the Digital World, where they had run across something similar... no, the same... as the sticky stuff the Monitamon had fallen into, when they had encountered a large Dokugumon nest filled with...webs.
It was webs.
The Dokugumons had been relatively friendly, as were most Digimon at the time after the Bagra Army was destroyed, but something gave Lunamon and Lillymon both the impression that whatever these creatures were, as they were not Dokugumons, they were not friendly at all.
And that was when the sound began. A fainting clicking noise seemed to be coming from the shadows now, and then it got louder, and began to move again, but this time heading towards the group slowly but surely, seeing to check them out. It was still so frustratingly dark that Lunamon and Lillymon still couldn't make them out clearly, but now they did not really want to find out what they were.
The three Monitamons had noticed them by this point as well and they were currently stuffed up and shaking with fear, as if paralyzed while they stared in horror at the on coming shadows. Lunamon turned around and hissed. "Come on, we have to go!"
"What are they?" Monitamon G2 gasped.
"I don't know, but come on!" Lunamon cried.
"Come on! Now!" Lillymon gave the Monitamon G3 a light kick in the backside towards one of the few spots around them that were devoid of shifting shadows. The Monitamons got the message and yelped before hurrying off in the direction at high speed, followed by Lunamon and Lillymon. They were ducking and weaving through the ragged shrubbery forest as quickly as the shadows closed in around them.
The moment they began running, the clicking sound built up even more. Clearly, whatever they are, they were getting excited at the prospect of a hunt and they began to move faster. Lunamon turn a glance over her shoulder to see the shadows coming behind her, and something jump from one of the trees to the ground with many long legs to give pursuit.
And then she heard a voice. A hissing voice among all the clicking which froze her blood.
"Run, run, little flies. There's no way for you to escape our net."
Lunamon forced down a yell and increased her speed, leaping over logs and rocks around her as she catch up with Lillymon as fast as her legs could take her, but the shadows picked up their pace as well and kept level with them, almost as if they were toying with them. Ever so slowly, they grew closer to them and no matter how much faster Lunamon and Lillymon strained to go they kept coming and coming.
Lunamon could not recall a time where she had attempted things such as she was doing now, but she was surprising herself at the moment. She jump over a large log and fell into a skidding crouch to pass right underneath another log that had been up in its fall, Lillymon was doing well to stay next to Lunamon as they dodged around a bush and slipped through a tight squeeze between two trees that had grown very close together. In doing so, Lunamon accidentally knocked over a giant fungus of some description and almost without thinking, she grab it by the stalk and spun around to throw it at the oncoming whatever they were.
The shadows skittered back from the fungus with high-pitched hisses that sounded like squeals, but the moment it landed, they passed over it and kept on coming.
Lunamon gritted her teeth and kept running next to Lillymon. But to her horror, they lost sight of the Monitamons by this point, perhaps in their fear they had forgotten that Lunamon and Lillymon couldn't go as fast as them on foot. But then, eventually, Lunamon and Lillymon both stumbled upon a scene which brought them to a halt with wide, horrified eyes.
The light was little better than it had ever been, but they could clearly make out a large net of what were definitely webs now. They seemed to hang from just about every tree, and spread out across gaps in the forest. They wrapped around the trunks like cloaks and spread right down the ground to cover parts of the floor in a layer of the stuff. They could see the amount of webbing getting denser the further into the trees their eyes looked and they knew right then, that they had stumbled right into some kind of nest.
Which was exactly what the shadows had been aiming for, Lunamon guessed. They had been herding her and Lillymon into a trap, and they had walk right into it.
And they could see other shadows sitting among the webs, more easily discernible than the shadows behind them, but definitely the same kind of shape. Fat, bulbous bodies with large heads could be seen among the webs, and each one had many, many long legs and it took Lunamon and Lillymon a second to count that each of them had exactly eight of them.
The clicking noise grew more insistent behind them and Lunamon and Lillymon both turn back. Their hearts tried to jump up their throats when they saw the shadowy mass had gotten closer to them now, close enough for them to make out the horrible pincer-like mouthparts of the creatures around, which was snapping together eagerly and making the clicking noise.
Lunamon and Lillymon both swallowed as they stand their ground. The two of them brought their hands together. Lunamon was shaking like a leaf but she still didn't want to become a meal so she put her hands forward. She summons a purple ball like shadow in her hands. Lillymon clasped her hands together. The yellow petal-like extensions on the ends of her gloves grew and extended outwards until they enveloped her hands and then peeled back like an opening flower to reveal the barrel of a cannon within. They both held them up and pointed their attacks at the oncoming creatures.
"S-s-stop right there." Lunamon trembled, trying to keep her hands level at them. "Don't come a step closer or we'll s-s-shoot you."
"You better stay back." Lillymon said putting her arms level at them too. "We'll blast you to bits."
The shadows hesitated, but only for a second, before a hissing laugh came from one of them. "You think you two can fool us with a little trickery?" It asked. "You two have neither bows or arrows. You cannot shoot us. You are defenseless. "
"A Digimon is... never defenseless." Lunamon said with more bravery than she felt. "Y-y-y-you would do well to listen to us."
"Because we will not back down without a fight." Lillymon said with determination. "We are far from being helpless."
The shadows stepped forward and Lunamon yelped and let loose her blast of her Dark Burst attack and Lillymon also fired her Flower Cannon attack too. The two large green and purple energy blast from the hands and cannon, then exploded forwards into the midst of the shadows. They shrieked in surprise and in the second that the two energy blast were in existence they illuminated the entire scene and in that moment, Lunamon and Lillymon both wanted to be sick.
They had seen them clearly in that moment, with horrible hairy bodies and their eight long legs, fierce looking mandibles, abdomens that seemed to bob up and down slightly as they moved. And their eyes... their eyes were big. Much bigger than the glints had suggested they were. But they were black and round and though the two Digimon had not been able to pick out expression, they could definitely see the hunger in them.
Spiders. Giant Spiders. That was what they were. Not Dokugumons or Arukenimons or anything like that, but in their own way, many times worse than either of them.
The Spiders proved to be agile and quick of their eight legs, bounding backwards at the two blast of the attacks, but three of them were not quick enough and were hit head on. The two energy blast exploded and took them out instantly, vaporizing their bodies and cratering the ground in the two blast, leaving nothing but a couple of flying legs, one of which Lunamon had to duck under to avoid being hit in the face.
The Spiders screeched, surprised at what had just happened, before the same spider voice as before chuckled and said. "Ah. Perhaps we underestimated you two. I'm afraid you both just made a big mistake. Those blasts like that will have alerted our brothers and sisters for miles around. You two are right in the heart of our territory now. Can you fight us all off?"
"Of... of course." Lunamon growled, but without any real conviction or belief in her mind or voice.
"We can fight you all off." Lillymon boldly said as she was ready to fight them off along side with Lunamon.
The Spiders laughed again, and the clicking intensified once more. "It's quite clear that one of you is not experienced at this, females. Not experienced at all."
Lunamon swallowed, but she knew it was right. She has no combat experience and Lillymon is the only one who can fight and protect her. But a split second later there was a rustling in the branches above them and their heads snapped up, only to see a huge eight legged shape already falling towards them with mandibles outstretched.
Lunamon screamed as Lillymon grab her and both rolled out of the way and thanking that her wings were tucked against her back. But Lillymon wasn't quick enough to evade the spider completely and as it landed one of its legs snagged her dress and its mandibles closed around one of her boots.
Lunamon was out of Lillymon's arms and run up to the spider to free her friend. "Let her go LUNA CLAW!" Lunamon yelled as her claws turned purple as she slash at the spider's large eyes. The spider squealed in pain as it let go of Lillymon's leg.
"Are you okay?" Lunamon asked.
"I'm okay Lunamon." Lillymon was thankful as she turned to the spiders. "Be careful! More are coming!"
The spider Lunamon clawed at hissed in anger as it advanced towards them. And this time the others swarmed around it, closing in on them from different angles and more of them were beginning to descend downwards from the trees towards them, some on trunks, some by long threads of silk with their legs roping towards them.
Lunamon may not be a warrior and Lillymon is one, but Lunamon did have some experience with fighting, not much in comparison to the other members of the Fusion Fighters. And in their desperation and some of their instincts kicked in and they began to desperately fight back against the incoming horde as best as they can. Lillymon span around and kicked a spider that had gotten too close in the face, then jumped backwards as another tried to grab her in its mandibles, she flattened herself against the ground as a third lunged at her in a flying leap, narrowly passing over her and crashing into another group of spiders in a tangle of flailing legs.
Another spider was charging at Lunamon as her forehead began to glow blue. "Take this you ugly spiders! TEAR SHOT!" She shouted as her blue water ball attack hit the spider and followed by two more were blasted as they died.
Lunamon and Lillymon were desperately doing their best to keep the spiders at bay. Lunamon was using her Luna Claws to slash at the spiders that she didn't know she is capable of and Lillymon kicked another spider in the side of the head to knock it aside, lashing out with another kick to another spider in the fangs. Another reared up and splayed its legs to try and bring down on Lunamon, but Lunamon spun around and thrust her hands to shoot out her Dark Burst to hit the base of the spider's exposed abdomen that sent it rolling backwards and rolling aside as another jumped right at her, snagging at her torso with its legs as it passed and spinning back around, trying to climb her and bite at her.
Lunamon yelped, seizing is waving palps and pushing them back frantically, struggling to keep the spider off of her as it tried to enfold its other legs around her. It was larger than her and was clearly stronger, but Lillymon saw Lunamon was in trouble and she pointed her Flower Cannon at the spider. "Don't worry Lunamon, I'll save you!" She said as she let a powerful beam that hit the spider that was on Lunamon is obliterated. Lunamon moved backwards next to Lillymon as the other spiders pressed in around them, both of them shoot off more blasts with both ball and cannon to vaporize several more. They wished they could let rip with a full power blast, but at such close range the explosion was just as likely to damage them as the spiders if they did that.
More of the spiders coming from above hesitated at the two Digimon unleashed their barrage, causing the other spiders to back away from around them, before they decided to try and throw them off and dropped their silken strings, falling down towards them en masses. Lunamon and Lillymon both spun upwards just in time to see them coming and let loose a couple of blasts upwards and blow several out of the air, but Lunamon was not quick enough to stop many others crashing down around her and slamming into her with their hairy bodies.
She screamed as the weight of another spider pushed her to the ground and the other spiders around her immediately seized their chance, surging forward like a black wave to try and grip at her Lillymon saw her friend is endanger and try to reach her, but some of the spiders are blocking her way as she yelled. "Lunamon! Get out of my way you eight legged freaks!" She tried as she might as more came to take their place as Lillymon punch, kick or blast them. Lunamon struggled valiantly, as she punched one spider in the eye and kicking another spider into the air with both of her feet, but she felt their mandibles wrapping around her limbs as they raised their fangs and, to her horror, what looked to be large strings on the ends of their rounded bodies.
"Get... Off... Me!" She screamed and with a wrench that took the spiders off guard she surged back to her feet, yanking her legs free and pulling her arms free too. She was a mess now, and everywhere she looked there were more spiders around her. Lillymon managed to reach her as she stand next to her. They are completely surrounded. Trapped. No way out.
"We have you both now." Hissed a voice as the spiders tensed to spring at them.
"FIRE SHOT!" Screamed a voice from above. There were flashes of red and Lillymon looked up to see a couple of spiders shrieking as they were hit with small pellets of flame and fell to the ground around them, flailing wildly and causing the other spiders to jump backward in alarm. In blurs of motion, the three Monitamons darted down from the trees until they stood in the ring around Lunamon and Lillymon.
"Monitamon!" Cried Lunamon. "You guys came back!"
"You guys finally arrived to help us." Lillymon smiled.
"We couldn't leave you guys." Monitamon G2 cried.
The spiders hissed, confused and agitated, not sure what to make of these new arrivals. Lunamon spotted this and tell the others as she shouted. "Quick, hit them now before they attack again!"
"WATER DRAGON!" Monitamon G1 cried as a stream of water burst from his screen and appeared to attempt to take the shape of a dragon, but not quite manage it, and crash over the nearest spiders. It did not hurt them but they were unused to being attacked in their manner and water certainly didn't agree with them so they hissed and scampered backward and away.
"WIND WHEEL!" Monitamon G2 yelled and blew a small spiral of compressed air at another group which took them off guard and managed to blow them over, while others behind them retreated.
"LIGHTNING FLASH!" Monitamon G3 shouted and produced a rod from nowhere which he thrust forward and several jolts of electricity lanced from the tip and zapped into more of the spiders, to a similar result.
Lunamon and Lillymon both looked up to see several more spiders still descending towards them from above so they cried out. "FLOWER WREATH!" "DARK BURST!" As they send their attacks at them. Lillymon lashed out a long rope of flowers that seized one spider around the neck section. It shrieked in alarm and Lillymon hauled it to one side like it was on a lasso and sent it crashing into several of its fellow arachnids. Lunamon kept launching more of her dark spheres at the spiders as they get blasted to bits.
Whatever the spiders had expected, it had not been this, and they began to back away slowly and warily, keeping their eyes on the attacking creatures. The Monitamons kept pushing them with small elemental attacks, but for all their efforts the ninjas were not very powerful. All out, attacking was not their strength at all, and the spiders seemed to be more startled than phased by what they were doing.
Lunamon and Lillymon were a different story though. Lillymon reformed her Flower Cannon and Lunamon summoned a Dark Burst ball as they leveled them at the thickest group of spiders. They shrieked, knowing what was coming, and immediately they shrank back even further, ducking behind the trees and out of sight. They retreated into the shadows still further and climbed up trees.
Lunamon felt her confidence grow slightly. These might be terrifying creatures but they didn't have the durability of an enemy Digimon. They couldn't take a hit from her Dark Burst and Lillymon's Flower Cannon. Maybe everything was going to be alright after...
The thought died in her mind as her head swung around. She had no idea how many spiders had been trying to attack her but in all reality there had not been that many. Perhaps fifteen to twenty including all the ones that were falling from the trees. But the spiders were not retreating, just hiding from Lunamon and Lillymon's attacks.
And now Lunamon knew why. There were waiting for backup.
And in approximately half a minute, they would have it.
Lunamon stared in disbelief at the area with all the webs were now obscured by hundreds of thousands of scuttling legs and swollen bodies. During the fighting she hadn't noticed it, but the spider from before had not been joking when it said that she and Lillymon had drawn attention themselves. The sounds of combat and the promise of prey were drawing in hundreds of the spiders. They were thundering across the ground towards the Digimon like a flash flood. They were scrambling through the trees and across their webs like a dark wave.
Lunamon's heart was in her throat and she knew there was no way that she and Lillymon could fight all of them off. As far as she was concerned it was a miracle she had survived so far. She would have already fallen if the Monitamons hadn't rushed back. But she could throw dozens of dark balls into that oncoming army and barely make a dent in its numbers, and then the rest of them would swarm over her, Lillymon and the Monitamons. They had their prey in their sights now, and they were more determined to get it then ever.
Scuttling noises caused her to swing around and she saw the webbed area was not the only place they were coming from. They were coming from every direction, each one eager for a piece of Digimon.
She was not the only one to notice. Lillymon can see them coming from all directions and the Monitamons had frozen up again, their heads the things they were moving as they stared wildly back and forth at the looming storm of hairy limbs. They had twenty seconds, before the spiders reached them.
Lunamon made her decision in that second. She was not Shoutmon, but she had to do her best to protect the Monitamons. They were better at stealth than her and Lillymon. They could slip away unnoticed. She would not have such an easy time of it, but she and Lillymon had to try.
"Go!" She shouted to the Monitamons. "Go! Get out of here now!"
"We'll hold them off as possible and we will follow you guys!" Lillymon said to them.
"But how can you follow us with no way out?" One of them asked as both Lunamon and Lillymon turned around. Lunamon grimaced and Lillymon unfolded her wings from her back once more.
"Never mind about us!" Lunamon yelled. "We will draw them off. You three run! Go and find the others! Escape!"
"Besides." Lillymon smiled. "We will escape by air with my wings."
"But...!" One of the Monitamons was about to argue.
"Don't argue, just go!" Lunamon waited no longer before she and Lillymon both charged into the spiders as they launched their attacks at the trees, they throw a quick glance behind them to see what happened to the Monitamons. There was no sign of them, so they could only hope that they had followed Lunamon's instructions but right now they need to focus on keeping the spiders occupied and try to escape themselves.
Lunamon was aware that she and Lillymon can't hold the spiders back, but they needed to clear a path to escape by air. The spiders were after her and Lillymon already, picking up speed as they hurtled towards them from all angles, hurrying to intercept them to cut them off and snare them in their trap.
Almost immediately, spiders began to leap from the trees close to the two Digimon to attempt to catch them as they shot past them. But Lunamon and Lillymon were both nimbler Digimon that they were. Lunamon jump over the screeching spider and spun herself and used Luna Claws to cut down another spider coming at her as she killed it. Lillymon used Fairy Vine from both of her wrists to stab two spiders in their eyes to kill them as her vines went back to her wrists.
It was then that Lunamon realized, to her horror, that the bushes would be to dense for her to run through there. There was no space for her to escape around the treeline. If she wanted to get away, she was going to have to find a hole in the line large enough for her body to squeeze through. Lillymon was also trying to find away to escape by air in order for her and Lunamon to get out of the spider's nesting grounds.
And the spiders continued jumping. One jumped up at Lunamon from the lower branch with fangs bared and she almost didn't spotted it in time, but when she did she twisted on the spot until she used Luna Claws caught it in the underside and killed it as it tumbled away. Two more spiders scuttled up a branch close to Lillymon and jump at her within a second of each other, but Lillymon threw herself into the air and landed on the second spider's back, running up its body and jumping off its rear end, wings snapping out to catch her once again as she fly down towards the ground.
Several spiders above her made the mistake of trying to jump at her at the same time as she leveled close to the ground, but Lillymon zoomed ahead too quickly for them and inches from the undergrowth layer, causing them to crash into one another and land in sprawling heaps, impeding of the others that were still running after Lunamon and Lillymon on the ground.
Lunamon allowed herself, just for one second to smirk, but her quick eyes picked out the shapes of many more spiders surging towards them from dead ahead at various levels of trees. Her face hardened as she and Lillymon swung towards them, before altering their trajectory on the path and turned to the left instead. The spiders were surprised, attempted to race after them, but the two Digimon span around again, by planting their feets on the trunk of a tree and springing away from it, shooting through the gap in the spiders before they could figure out what just happened.
Lunamon and Lillymon both rounded a tree to try and throw them off the scent, and they almost collide with another spider that was hanging from its rear end with legs splayed. Lunamon shrieked and backed up immediately, but the spider latched onto her with its legs and attempted to reel her in. Lillymon rush on and used Flower Cutter as she jump in the air with a kick that sent a blade like beam that cut the spider in half as it died freeing Lunamon.
The two Digimon turn back and saw the spiders are still coming as Lillymon sent more barrage of Flower Cannon to blow them to bits. Lunamon was covering Lillymon with her Luna Claws to cut down spiders that got to close. When one of them did she knock over its legs and send it crashing into the other spiders.
But unfortunately, as one of them was flipped onto its back, Lunamon felt a sharp stab of pain on her left arm. She gritted her teeth and used the momentum of jump back next to Lillymon, Lillymon turn and see if Lunamon was alright. "Lunamon are you okay?" Lillymon asked.
Lunamon looked down on her left arm she could see that there was a small wound on her arm. The spider's stinger must have nicked her there when it flipped over. She grimaced. "I'm all right, its just a scratch." Lunamon said as the wound was not serious, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. Looking around her, the spiders were still coming in hundreds.
Lunamon and Lillymon both run on, attempting to pull out every trick in the book to keep away from the hungry spiders. They weren't sure whether to stick to the trees or try the more open spaces, so they try both, launching themselves through the branches as they ran pass a spider that had jumped at them before it squeal as the branch slammed into it.
Lillymon and Lunamon both quickly pass into a set of trees, trunks as the spiders scrambled down each one towards them. But then Lillymon spotted several more spiders dead ahead, preparing an ambush and threw out another Flower Wreath, grabbing Lunamon and using it to whip herself back around the trunk as she had pass away in a completely different direction. Lillymon put Lunamon down as they continued to run as the forest was beginning to get denser, and no matter how fast they went it seemed that the main force of the spiders swarm was always behind them.
They squeeze through a gap in a pair of trees by slipping past the treeline narrowly missed scraping the bark and Lunamon saw a spider leap at her face, its huge hungry eyes staring right into hers. Instinct seemed to set in and Lunamon stopped by dropping to the ground as the spiders sailed overhead and crashed into the trees while Lunamon got back up as she continued running next to Lillymon. She saw about a dozen of spiders were behind them, palps and front legs reaching out to try and grab them by their feet, The two Digimon grimaced as they put on all their speed that they could muster, aiming themselves straight at the trunk of another tree.
At the last second they jump straight upward so close to the trunk that Lillymon grab Lunamon again to hold on. Several of the spiders crashed into the trunk with sickening crunches, but several of them climbed over the bodies of their comrades and up the trunk after them ad if nothing had happened. But then, another spider flung itself downwards at them from above, like a hairy legged shadow seeking to totally entrap them.
"Not today!" Lillymon hissed and flipped herself over and backward. The two spiders crashed into each other and the one which had jumped carried the others towards the ground in a squealing, messy heap.
Lillymon took a moment to catch herself and put Lunamon down on the ground, a spider tried a different technique. As Lunamon and Lillymon turned themselves around to keep moving, it leapt back off a nearby branch with a line of webbing still attached to it, and swung down and under from it, much like Lillymon had done with the Flower Wreath earlier. Lunamon almost run straight into its path as it spread its legs to envelop her.
She gasped and jump up, forcing herself up and over, the big ears on her head just shooting between its two outstretched front legs and narrowly miss its groping mandibles with the stamen that poked out the top. Lunamon couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as she pulled out of that one just in time. Lillymon fly over the spider with her wings as she stayed in the air.
But Lunamon ran straight into the silken thread that the spider was swinging from and yelled as it glued itself to her foot. She was jerked backward as the silk was pulled free from the tree and she suddenly had the added weight of a giant spider dragging her straight down towards the ground. The Digimon gasped as she was yanked downward at the additional weight and redoubled herself, desperately trying to escape.
The spider did not weigh as much as she had expected but it was still heavy and continued to pull her downward. It crashed into the ground, but then it managed to latch onto the trunk of the tree and hold itself fast, jerking Lunamon to stop. She struggled valiantly, but the line was stuck fast and the spider turned its large eyes towards her, filled with malice and excitement at the prospect of claiming its prey. Then it reached up with several legs and literally began to reel the webbing in, with Lunamon attached to the other end.
Lunamon kicked and thrashed but it had no effect, and the line was too far down for her to reach without bending over, which would cause her to fall straight down. A couple of other spiders scurried down towards her and Lunamon twisted aside to avoid another that tried to claim her first by jumping from above. And the other spiders are closing the gap that she and Lillymon had both made with their stunt before. They'd all be on her in seconds.
When Lillymon saw this she brought her hands together and form the Flower Cannon again, let loose a blast that disintegrated the spider and most of the line attached to Lunamon's foot. She fly over Lunamon and said with concern. "Are you alright Lunamon?"
The snap of the thread came off from the effect of not being pulled down any more took Lunamon completely off guard and was back up from the ground. "I'm alright Lillymon." She said as she gasping for breath and clutched at her stomach. She winced as it pained at her and she looked quickly over her one shoulder and saw the spider horde was gathering around her and Lillymon. One spider landed on the branches right next to Lunamon and jumped for her. Lunamon quickly got up and ran just in time, with Lillymon close to her just away from the grasping legs above and below on either side and pressing closer and closer in all sides.
Now they were able to keep pace with Lunamon but not Lillymon, because Lunamon realized with a sickening feeling that she was slowing down. Not only was her injured arm, and Lunamon was sure she was only making her injury worse, but now she was beginning to feel slightly dizzy. Everything blurred a little bit and the cut on her arm was really beginning to sting.
It was only a small cut, but the spider must still had been able to inject some sort of paralytic venom or other substance into her through it. Not enough to stop her or knock her out but enough to slow her down.
Lillymon turn and see Lunamon was slowing down as she tried to turn back, but the spiders are blocking all over the trees to prevent her to help Lunamon. "Lunamon!" Lillymon yelled her name.
Lunamon turn to Lillymon. "You need to go on without me!" She yelled back. ,"Go and find the Monitamons and I'll try to escape the spiders!"
Lillymon nodded to understand and took off in the air and said. "We will not abandon you Lunamon! I promise!" After that she was gone leaving Lunamon all alone.
Lunamon turned to the spiders as she kept running through the trees to escape them. Yet she can't seemed to lose them as they are still on to her. She turn and brought her hands forward and fire her Dark Burst to blast the spiders they are chasing her. She quickly turned to a sharp corner to make a gap in the spider's line.
Only to find more spiders in front of her. There were more spiders. No matter where she turned, there were spiders waiting. But she could not stop now. Not even for a second or one of them would grab her. She kept running as several spiders crashed down on the branches to reach her.
She grimaced. Running wasn't going to do the job anymore. She needed to both run and fight at the same time. So she tried a tactic she never attempted before, and brought her hands as they glow purple, waiting for the spiders to make their move.
One jumped at her from above, but she spun around and knocked it aside with a slash of one of her claws, and she twisted around again to lash out behind her with the other claw to catch another squarely in the face between the eyes. She twisted again and slash out both of her claws at the same time to impale the two spiders from behind their backs, she twirled around like a ballerina, her white dress with pink ribbons with a moon pendant as she spun around like a twister as she cut down several spiders the way that they had come.
She run on, attempting to twirl her claws around her as she did so, and she was pleasantly surprised by how well she was doing with them. She spread her arms out as she turned to charge, gaining another idea about what to do with them. She managed to gain speed on the spiders and slashed with her claws. She cut her way through a path, but more spiders are descending from above the trees.
As the spiders descend they did scurrying down from the trunks of the trees towards her like the swarm they were. Every single trees within fifty yards was a writhing mass of spiders that were climbing down and over the trunks and over another in a mass of movement. Lunamon could see them more clearly now, closer to the ground they were and she definitely did not like what she saw. Every single set of eight eyes was aimed directly at her, and the mandibles clicked louder as they got closer, thinking that she is to be cornered.
But the first one came within a few feet of her, Lunamon quickly jump over the spiders and jump on a branch as she is on top of the trees as she jump on branch to branch to give the spiders the slip were they can't keep up to her.
Lunamon couldn't help but laughed in exhilaration, despite her relative dizziness and the pain in her arm. The spiders fell behind rapidly as she continued to jump on the branches of the trees and jumping aside to avoid one tree which was blocking her path.
Lunamon finally decided to add the final touch and spun around she was standing on the branch, brought her hands together to send her Dark Burst attack once more. And she was firing blindly at where she knew the spiders to be, but since there were so many of them. In rapid succession, she seed eight shots before she twisted around once mord and jump down from the tree and kept running. She didn't wait to see if they are aftering her, but she heard the explosions behind her and the sound of splintering spiders.
As she kept running as she did so and listening for the sounds of spiders behind her. She could still hear the scurrying and the clicking but they had fallen dome way back. Quite some way back actually. She had done it. She had gained a great lead on them with her tricks. They were still chasing her and she was still far slower than she would normally be but she was no longer to forced to dodge any of them as they came charging at her.
Perhaps things were really going to be alright after all.
Now she needed to focus on escaping from the forest completely. She needed to find a gap in the trees that was large enough for her body to run through, but there hadn't been a good many of those around since they had even started the walk through the forest. But she needed to find one before the spiders, with their seemingly limitless energy, caught up to her, which might be sooner than she would have liked due to the venom dulling her senses.
She searched wildly as she run on, the sound of the pursuing spiders growing slightly louder in her ears as they motored after her. She had to give them credit, they were certainly persistent. But come on, she didn't have time for that. Look for the light. It was still daytime so if she could find the light she would find a hole. And if she find a hole she could escape.
And then what? Had Lillymon and the Monitamons managed to get away at all? She hoped so, and she decided to head for the mountains as soon as she found a spot in the open and recover her arm. Hopefully she'd meet them there. If not... well hopefully she'd meet them there.
Just then a spell of dizziness from the venom inside her caused her to fall and stumble on the ground, she was slowing down as she slumped over and almost tumbled a couple of times, pausing briefly and leaning against a tree and shaking her head before she threw herself onwards, knowing the spiders would have gained some ground. But things were more blurry than they had been before, more distorted and fuzzy. Thankfully the effect was not getting any worse do the venom was not enough to paralyzed her completely but she needed to get out of here quickly as possible.
Only did the thought occur to her and she almost smacked herself in the head for not thinking of it sooner. She didn't need to find a hole in the forest, she needed to create another one herself with a couple of blasts from her dark balls.
Yes, that would be destroying nature but right now Lunamon needed to survive. Ugh, she really wasn't a leader material if she had let something so completely obvious slip her notice. It was the simplest idea in the world!
She quickly glanced over her shoulder. The spiders were gaining again, the shadows writhing and thrashing with the movements of their bodies, and Lunamon as pretty sure there were more of them than ever now.
She turned back. She screamed.
She desperately tried to back away but it was too late. She had only looked over her shoulder for a second, but in her dazed state she had not seen what was right in front of her before she turned her head and when she turned back she was too close to do anything. A few seconds after the scream left her mouth she hurtled straight into the enormous web that was stretched between the trees before her.
Instantly she was coated in the sticky stuff, her body pulling many of the threads loose from the tree that they were attached to and causing them to snap back and lash around her like great ropes. One arm was immediately immobile and pinned against her side, her face, ear and torso smeared with the webbing. She screamed as her back is stuck on the web as she struggled to move her body.
She gasped, her heart stopping for almost five seconds before trying to escape from her body it was pounding so hard. She was caught. She was trapped.
With one arm pinned to her side and the other caught in the web she couldn't bring together to send Dark Burst. Both of her legs had been snared and pulled together, covered in the sticky stuff. And she now had a clear view of the spider horde rushing towards her, triumphant clicks and screeches coming from every one of them.
Lunamon thrashed and strained and bucked, unable to move any of her limbs, but the more she pulled and writhed around in the sticky netting the more it seemed to cover her up and envelop her. But she couldn't stop. She just couldn't, not yet. She kicked and writhed harder than she'd ever had to before and eventually, she succeeded in snapping off more of the strings from the trees above and, eventually, tumbling to the ground in a heap.
But she was still totally ensnared in the web around her. None of her legs and arm are moving anymore, stuck fast amongst the goop. She desperately threw out an arm and strained to pull it free, to seize a rock or a stick, anything that she could use to defend herself.
But it was too late.
A spider fell on her, It's hair covered limbs encasing her almost as much as the webbing which was plastered to her body. Lunamon screamed and tried to kick, but her legs were stuck fast to the ground. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw the spider's gnashing mouthparts inches from her face. And then there were others, all around her, closing in around her pulling in as best they could, and Lunamon was totally and utterly helpless against them as they latched onto every single part of her body with their hook-like feet. There was so much clicking that she thought she might go deaf and she knew the chase was over. They had her.
But now they were not interested in biting her. Lunamon was surprise when they began to manipulate her body with their feet. Working together, they pulled her two big ears down, press her legs together and fold her arms behind her back. And then they began to roll her over in the dirt, one of the largest spiders standing over her and helping to roll her while it extruded more sticky webbing from its rear end.
Lunamon squealed. They were binding her, wrapping her up even further in the webbing they naturally produced and plastering her with it. More spiders joined in about half a minute, Lunamon was almost completely encased in the webs from her neck to bear toes. Her legs were pinned together by the silken threads along their entire length, they even successfully bound her toes together with it somehow. Her arms were folded behind her pressing them against her back and making her unable to do anything, each wrists and clenched fists individually wrapped and pinned to the opposite elbow. Even her two big ears.
The spiders were clever. They had worked out that Lunamon's Dark Burst only work if she could place her hands together and they weren't prepared to take that risk. And by encasing her fists she couldn't summon her Luna Claws either to cut free either.
With a sense of utter despair, Lunamon realized that she was completely and utterly helpless in the grasp of all these predatory invertebrates. She was entirely cocooned in the web, like a mummy right from her feet to her neck, leaving only her head and her two small ears left. Lunamon wanted to cry, wanted to scream. So she did. She had failed and now there was nothing that she could do. Nothing at all.
The big spider that had done most of the wrapping stood over her, legs splayed on either side of her as she lay in the dirt on her back. It lowered its head down right into her face, its gnashing mandibles a hairs breadth from her eyes, its expressionless face staring impassively into her own.
"Let go of me!" Lunamon cried through her tears in one last spark of defiance. "Let go go now!"
The spider, in reply, stepped further over until its rear end was over her Lunamon's face. Lunamon froze, wondering if it was going to sting her, but it merely squirted more webbing at her. Lunamon's mouth was suddenly covered with the stuff and she retched, violently forcing down the urge to hurl as more webbing wrapped over her lower face, sticking there forcing the webbing already stuffed in her mouth remain there. The spider used its back legs to wrap it further around the back of her head, completely silencing her in a thick gag of silk and leaving only her eyes and big ears exposed to the air.
"Let you go?" The spider clicked in an amused voice. "Oh no, my dear. That would never do. However, you're the most interesting thing we've ever snared before, I've never seen anything like you before, and never seen anything do what you did today. In fact, this occasion might be special enough for you to gain an audience with the Queen herself.
There was a crescendo of clicking all around her and all Lunamon could do was make a pathetically muffled, "Mmmppphhh!" noise through the silken warping over her mouth as she tried, and failed, to scream in despair.
XXX
As Lunamon was captured by the Spiders of Mirkwood, what happened to the others that split up.
The next chapter is with Sorcermon, Greymon, Deputymon and Beastmon are lost in the place called Ithilien.
Next time Chapter 14 The Pampered Princess.