The Digimon King and The King of Gondor
Chapter 14 The Pampered Princess
This is the part where Sorcermon and his group are lost in a place called Ithilien. But they were being watch.
XXX
Time were many things that Sorcermon and Greymon both prided on. Greymon's strength, both in terms of physical muscle and in terms of power, was the main one. Several of the other things he was proud of were his calm attitude and level head, his ability to adapt quickly to certain situations and certainly the friends that he had made during his time as a warrior of team Blue Flare. But Sorcermon's strength, is with both intelligence and leadership. He was the King's adviser and 2nd in command to look out for the others.
Greymon still remembered the time where he and Christopher had met for the first time. It had been a fairly different circumstance from meeting of Mikey and Shoutmon. For one thing, Christopher had already been in the Digital World, having been brought there by Bagramon himself to act as a General for the Bagra Army. Christopher had been wondering lost in the Mesozoic Zone, known for its wide variety of Dinosaur and similarly related Digimon.
The general attitude of the creatures of the Mesozoic Zone was that the strongest were the ones that survived. That was the law of the jungle, so they had never seen any reason why it should be different. This had been part of the reason why they had been part of the reason why they had been caught flat-footed when the Bagra Army had invaded. Each of the groups of Digimon had always let solitary existences, never relying on any but their own kind, and Greymon had been considered one of the strongest of that Zone. Few of the other Digimon would have dared to bother him on his worst day.
But the Bagra Army had been different. They had worked together, albeit with some antagonism on occasion, and had stormed across the Zone in an attempt to find its Code Crown, slaying anything that stood in their path.
Greymon had encountered them and taken several of them out, but had been slightly injured in the process. Not much, but enough to give him a slight limp. And that had been when he met Christopher.
The blond-haired kid had been under attack himself at the time. The Gaossmons who later become part of the Blue Flare Army had mistaken him as a enemy and were surrounding him on all sides, trying to get at him. It wouldn't have been much of a contest under most circumstances, the sheer number of Gaossmons would have overwhelmed Christopher instantly if they had really gone for it.
But the Gaossmons had been intrigued by Christopher and slightly wary, unsure of what he was supposed to be. Not to mention Christopher had gotten hold of a bunch and was swinging it like a mace, keeping the Gaossmons at bay.
There had been no fear in Christopher's eyes. Only anger. And perhaps it had been that lack of fear which had drawn Greymon to Christopher when he had spotted what was going on. Even when confronted with the massive dinosaur, Christopher had been with very little to fear, yelling at Greymon that he was strong and he would not back down from a bunch of overgrown lizards.
Greymon had been further intrigued, and any thought of taking this human for a meal was banished from his mind. The desire in both of them to become stronger quickly become apparent as they conversed, and before long Greymon decided that he actually liked this little guy, which had been a bizarre concept in itself at the time, he'd never really liked anybody before that. He'd never needed to.
Then there had been explosions which had distracted both of their attentions. Greymon had snarled, remembering the presence of the Bagra Army and had stomped off, limping a little, to find out what was going on, Christopher following on behind him. And that had also been the first time that Greymon had met MailBirdramon, for it was he that the Bagra Army were attacking. He had made his home atop a large plateau which was being bombarded by Pteramons while a phalanx of Tankmons were firing up at him with their cannons. Greymon had seen MailBirdramon before, but had never talked to him. But right now that had not mattered. These creatures were interlopers in their Zone, and Greymon had joined the battle himself.
Neither he nor MailBirdramon had coordinated their attack with one another. They had just unleashed everything they had at the enemy, working separately and getting results, but certainly not watching one another's backs. Their attacks had been purely selfish, and they were both paying attention at the large number of creatures that they were decimating in the process.
Then Christopher had taken charge. Pn seeing how powerful both Greymon and MailBirdramon were, and desiring to become stronger himself, he had remembered what the voice that had given him his Fusion Loader had told him about the Digifuse. And in his first moment as a General, the process had begun, and suddenly Greymon and MailBirdramon found their bodies being merged with another to form the incredibly powerful MetalGreymon.
Working together had been a brand new concept for both of them. It had never even occurred to them to watch one another's backs. But as they shared their mind and body in their new combined form, they suddenly felt the strength of the other flowing through them and they realized, for the first time, the value of a team mate.
MetalGreymon, with his classic Giga Destroyer, had decimated the Bagra Army that day, traveling with Christopher to take out the leader, an Allomon which had obtained the Code Crown. Naturally they took it back from him and, after a visit from the mysterious Nene, they too had learned the purpose of the Code Crowns and, after little thought, Christopher had decided on his quest to find them all.
And Greymon and MailBirdramon, both feeling a certain kinship with Christopher and now with each other, had already agreed to go with him, as had the Gaossmons, who had watched the whole thing. That had been how team Blue Flare had formed, and they had set about tearing their own way through the Digital World until their eventual goal and mindsets had been altered by Mikey and Shoutmon of the Fusion Fighters.
They had recruited other members of their army along the way. Deckerdramon had, of course, come from the Forest Zone. Cyberdramon had been a renegade from the Dragon Zone who had refused to bow to the Bagra Army even though they had already taken his Zone. And the two Bombmons had been residents of the Factory Zone they had been sabotaging various parts of the factory and seriously annoying the Bagra Army members who ran the place.
But through all that, Greymon had only ever really worked with people of similar mind to himself. People who were straightforward and sensible, who spoke little and focused solely on the battle in hand. And then, when teaming up with the Fusion Fighters, while their views on certain issues had been different, they too had been relatively easy to stay alongside. They were not demanding, they were not annoying. They were fighters, warriors and all. At least the ones that usually stayed out of the Fusion Loaders.
Beastmon, the cat Princess, had not been one of those Digimon. She had spent the majority of her time in the Fusion Loader. Greymon had encountered her the first time in the Lake Zone where she lived, as had Christopher and MailBirdramon. Even then they had all found her bizarre, frustrating and a little unnerving. None of them had experience at dealing with people like this, Beastmon had fawned over Christopher, spent most of her time falling asleep when they were trying to talk to her and generally being unhelpful and just plain strange.
That had been a circumstance that they could not just blast their way through, and they hadn't the foggiest idea how to cope with it. In the end, they hadn't. Mikey had. And they moved on.
After that, Greymon had nothing to do with Beastmon. He hadn't even known she had joined the Fusion Fighters until she appeared in the Sword Zone with the rest of Mikey's team to help free Shoutmon X5B from one of Tactimon's attacks. And the only other times Greymon had seen her being used after that was to Digifuse with Ballistamon to either free several of them, including Greymon himself, from Olegmon's mind control chant, and also in the final battle against the Bagra Army since Shoutmon had been dead at that point.
Even during the seven years after that, Greymon had never really associated with the red-headed cat Princess. He'd had a few conversations with her when she'd been awake and he'd been in some of his more talkative moods, and of course he had been generally friendly, but for the most part they had little to do with one another.
As for Sorcermon, he was a White Wizard Digimon who traveled in the Digital World to learn its history alongside with his brother Wizardmon and his friend Gatomon. The three of them are from a small village in the Sand Zone.
When they heard the Bagra Army attack the other Zones, they were willing to protect their home from their invasion. Then they heard that Bagramon has been defeated, they traveled all the way to see Shoutmon. On the road they were ambushed by some remnants of the Bagra Army attack them on the path in Lake Zone. They tried to fight them off, until Shoutmon and the rest of the Fusion Fighters came to help them.
After they defeated the Bagra Army, Shoutmon asked them what are they doing here. Sorcermon explained to Shoutmon that he, his brother and Gatomon want to join in his army to bring peace in the Digital World. And Sorcermon asked Shoutmon to be his adviser and second in command of the army.
Sorcermon is a great leader, a strategist and skilled in magic. He cared for everyone to look after and he studies the history of the world. Sometimes Shoutmon goes to visit Zones or to fight off evil Digimon he always put Sorcermon in charge to protect his castle when he is away. Sometimes he often gives advice to the members of the Fusion Fighters for guidance and encouragement.
Sorcermon also had a close relationship with Taomon. Taomon is a yellow fox in a white robes and she is another one of the strategists in the army.
She and Sorcermon usually play a game of chess to see who is the better strategist in the army. Sorcermon had always best her in strategy, but Taomon sometimes made a few wins against Sorcermon. That is when those two got along will and Sorcermon began to have feelings for Taomon. He had yet to tell her to be his mate. But he knows Taomon is somewhere in this world and she can take care of herself. And now he is in the strange world with his companions.
This meant one thing to both Sorcermon and Greymon did not have time to wait, but to go forward to find the others. But Greymon does not have the patience as Sorcermon knows him will. He can only hope his King, his brother, his soon to be mate, and the others are alright.
XXX
Greymon was already beginning to regret his offer to allow Beastmon to ride on his shoulders. Beastmon might have been intending to do something like keep watch up there, but there was very little that she could see that Greymon couldn't himself. And, more importantly, she kept falling asleep, and that was getting very annoying because everytime she did, Greymon had to slow his pace down and try and make sure that she stayed balanced up there and didn't fall off, which was extremely difficult to do when she attempted to curl into a ball and catnap.
Several times, one of her long-clawed paws slipped over the side of Greymon's horned head and came to rest over one of his eyes, effectively obscuring his vision out of one side of his head. He growled in frustration whenever this happened, and at one point, she somehow managed to cover both of his eyes with one front paw and back paw and he had to stop completely before he walked into something and both Sorcermon and Deputymon had to wake her up, which was, apparently, not an easy thing to do.
Greymon was quite grateful for Sorcermon and Deputymon's company at the time like this. While he would have preferred someone with more of his speed, both the White Wizard and treasure hunter were good traveling companions. With Sorcermon's leadership they would be lost without him or Shoutmon, even he was the King's adviser and second in command. They talked quietly to one another as they moved along, scanning the skies for any sign of aerial Digimon and forcing their way through the dense scrub land around them. Greymon had to maneuver around slightly to avoid crashing the small, spindly trees that dotted the place, but he made no complaints.
XXX
They stopped overnight once the sun began to set. The mountains were still easily in view behind them and they had not gotten quite as far as Greymon had been hoping since he had been burdened with his mostly sleeping passenger, but he could only hope that things would get better in the morning. As they spent the night around a small campfire which Sorcermon and Deputymon had both set up, Beastmon had seemed almost cute. She had barely noticed the transition from traveling to camping, having awoken just long enough to climb off Greymon and curl up on the ground before snoozing again.
"How does she do it?" Greymon muttered to Sorcermon and Deputymon quietly as he stared at the Princess curled onto a ball. "How can she possibly sleep so much and so easily?"
"I was wondering the same thing too?" Sorcermon said as he stared at Beastmon. "I my have been the King's adviser and yet I know little about Beastmon."
"It's her metabolism, I suppose." Deputymon shrugged, twirling one of his guns mindedly. "She doesn't consciously go to sleep all the time, she just nods off. You know, Wisemon once told me that some of the books from the Human World which he keeps replicating in the castle library is called Sleeping Beauty. Apparently it's about some Princess or other who falls under a spell and sleeps for a hundred years until she's woken up by a handsome Prince or some other rubbish."
"How does that even work?" Greymon frowned. "How did the Prince know how to wake her up from the spell? Was he a Wizard?"
Sorcermon looked at Greymon oddly. "Are you talking about my brother being a Prince?" He questioned.
"No, I'm not referring to your brother, I meant to say that the Prince apparently kissed her and the spell lifted." Deputymon shrugged. "I dunno. I never read the story. It's never been my thing."
"He kissed a sleeping stranger?" Greymon raised a brow and Sorcermon was looking at Deputymon oddly.
"Yeah, I know." Deputymon chuckled. "Quite strange, isn't it?"
"No kidding." Greymon snorted and Sorcermon grunted as they said the same time.
"Anyway, my point is Beastmon's about the closest thing to being a real life version of that Princess that I've ever seen." The gunslinger Digimon pointed out, holstering the pistol deftly. "It's almost like it was written for her. Sometimes I'm a bit envious. She doesn't seem to have a care in the world."
"Yes, but that's it!" Greymon growled. "That is my point. It's damn annoying. She just doesn't seem to grasp the seriousness of this situation. What does she expect to happen? We've been transported to who knows where, where any kind of dangerous or powerful Digimon or any creature could be lurking and she just naps! Doesn't she have any priorities at all? Does she just think that everything will sort itself out and everything will be fine? Does she just expect us to protect her?"
"You seem to have issues with her." Sorcermon said.
"Your saying you won't?" Deputymon frowned.
"Yes, just a little and of course I will." Greymon huffed. "What I mean is, does she just expect us to look after her for her and not attempt to pitch in and look after herself?"
"She's a Princess." Deputymon shrugged. "She's used to the good life, I suppose. From what I'm seen of her, she's always had servants and soldiers to do things for her. I don't think she even knows how to handle doing things on her own. Didn't stop her from completely devouring that Chuchumon though. I don't think I've ever seen anything scarier than her face when she saw that giant mouse. Still, the point is, yes. She's always had other people looking out for her. She expects it. It's natural for her. And she's definitely not a fighter."
Greymon sighed. "Reminded me again why she joined the Fusion Fighters at all? Knightmon I understand but why her?"
"I was wondering too is to why she is in the army?" Sorcermon asked.
Deputymon somehow managed to snort, despite the fact he had no visible nose or mouth. "I believe it had something to do with her having a crush on Mikey. She wanted to go because he was going. Shoutmon told me she was all over him when they won at the Lake Zone."
Sorcermon and Greymon both stared at Deputymon for several seconds. "Are you serious?" They asked slowly.
"She, an adult Digimon Princess, had a crush on a human child probably about half her age?" Greymon said in disbelief.
"That is odd for a human and Digimon as couples?" Sorcermon said in shock. "But I never met the General."
Deputymon chuckled. "Messed up right?"
"No kidding." Greymon signed. "At least nothing came of it though. Didn't that human girl had also followed Mikey around also have a crush on him?"
"Angie? Yeah, she did, though she'd probably deny it. She got so mad whenever Beastmon tried to cuddle up to him. Perfectly understandable really. At least Mervamon did something sensible and went for a guy who things could actually workout with. I think Beastmon had gotten over her crush by the end of the war, but she still hung around out of loyalty to Mikey and the rest of us by that point. And she's still around even now so... that has to count for something, right?"
"You my have a point." Sorcermon said, looking at Beastmon who is still asleep.
"I suppose." Greymon sighed, looking down at the Digimon who was completely unaware that they were talking about her, or even talking at all. "But I still think that she could try and stay awake a bit more. She'd be more likely to survive if we found ourselves in a fight if she was awake to begin with."
"That's true." Deputymon nodded. "Maybe we should try and make her walk tomorrow."
"Good luck with that." Greymon chuckled. "Speaking of tomorrow, any ideas where we should go from here."
"Well, I don't know about you guys but I am getting hungry." Deputymon murmured. "Thirsty too. I know that we need to track down the others but I think our first priority tomorrow will be finding food and water of some description. For you two that probably means that you guys might need to go hunting. I haven't seen any convenient Digibits Trees since we got here."
"No, neither have I." Greymon shook his head as they turned to Sorcermon for advice.
"I know we need to search for the others and get some food and water for supplies." Sorcermon stated. "We also need to find some kind of civilization with people to tell us where we are."
"Your right Sorcermon, but what about her?" Greymon turned towards Beastmon. "We'll be lucky to find any giant saucers of milk lying around or any convenient Cuhchumon."
Deputymon shuddered. "Beastmon can probably hunt herself if the need arises, but I'll see if I can't find something for her as well. There might be a few morsels around here she can stomach. But I think we need to find water first. There's bound to be a stream around here somewhere, and if there is then we should hopefully run into it eventually."
Sorcermon and Greymon both nodded. Little was said between them after that, and the dinosaur stood guard over the campsite while Deputymon and Sorcermon both dozed and Beastmon continued to sleep on, oblivious to everything around her.
XXX
When morning came along once again, Deputymon quietly shook Beastmon awake once more. The Princess stretched lazily, her two tails flickering and her claws splayed as she smacked her lips. "I'm getting thirsty." She murmured as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her paw. "Can somebody get me a drink of water?"
"Your Highness, we don't have water." Deputymon pointed out. "We didn't have any on us when we were transported and we haven't yet found any in this strange new place."
"And besides." Sorcermon spoke out. "We need to keep moving and try and find some water if we want a drink."
"Oh. Okay." Beastmon sat up, yawning politely into her paw and looking ready to fall asleep again on the spot. "Well, I'm thirsty do let's get going shall we? Greymon, can I climb up on your back again please?"
"Can't you walk, Princess?" Greymon grumbled. "You'd be more likely to stay awake if you stayed on your feet, wouldn't you?"
Beastmon pouted. "I can't help it if I fall asleep all the time. It doesn't matter if I'm walking or sitting, I always just go to sleep. Please let me ride again. Your head is so comfy."
Greymon threw a sharp glance at Deputymon to stop him from snickering and Sorcermon just slap himself in the face, Greymon sighed and said. "Fine. We're wasting time here."
"Thank you." Beastmon purred and climbed aboard once again in a momentary display of cheerfulness which counteracted her usual appearance. "Mush!" She giggled slightly as she patted on Greymon's horns.
"Mush?" Greymon growled indignantly, setting off regardless. "What am I, a camel?"
"You don't say mush to Camels." Deputymon called up, setting off beside them.
"And it is weird to call Greymon a stead." Sorcermon said as he is in front of them.
"Whatever." Greymon grumbled.
"Aw, someone's a little grumpy today." Beastmon grinned as she is sitting on top of Greymon's head.
"And getting grumpier." Greymon muttered under his breath. He felt quite demeaned at the moment, after all, he was not a pack animal, yet he seemed to be being used as one. Still, he didn't voice anything else as they continued through the scrub. A few bird-like noises issued from the bushes around them, but they paid them no mind.
They probably would have thought, if they had notice that the noises were coming from carefully concealed humans in long green cloaks, peering out at the strange procession with masked faces and keen eyes. There were more of them than there had been from the start, at least five of them now. But they made no move against the four Digimon. They just watched and waited. For now.
XXX
To her credit, Beastmon managed to stay awake longer than she had managed to yesterday this time. She seemed to be enjoying the ride and was even sitting upright on Greymon's head, each of her twin tails wrapped around Greymon's side horns to help her anchored in place.
But that did stop her from yawning about every ten seconds and sound was beginning to annoy Greymon immensely, it was never the same length twice. He found himself holding his breath and counting how many seconds each yawn lasted and he had to physically stop his eye from twitching.
Why in the Digital World did he have to get lumped in with her?
This feeling increased tenfold when Beastmon started making demands. They weren't terribly difficult to carry out, but Greymon had never had to carted to anybody's needs in this way before and it irritated him considerably.
"Greymon, could you slow down a little? I think I'm getting a little motion sickness."
"Greymon, can you go over there please. I think there's a piece of nice looking fruit on that tree."
"Greymon, could we go a bit faster now? My mouth is getting really dry."
"Ohh, a butterfly! Greymon, stop. Let me see if I can catch that butterfly!"
"Greymon, can we stop for a bit. I'd like to take a nap."
Greymon growled a little bit when she said this last one. "Princess, I am going to keep going." He stated a little sharply. "We have more important things to do right now than sleep. We need to find the others, get some food and some water and work out where we are. Sleep can wait."
"No, it can't." Beastmon frowned. "I've always gone to sleep when I want to go to sleep, and I want to go to sleep now. There's a nice shady spot over there that looks nice. Stop and let me get off, will you?"
Greymon was utterly flabbergasted at her complete lack of priorities and her stubborn streak but before he could protest, Beastmon had actually rolled over to the large tree. Which she had been pointing out before.
"We can't stop now." Greymon snarled slightly. "We don't know if this place is safe."
"I'll be safe as long as you and Sorcermon protect me." Beastmon smiled. Greymon had to stop his jaw from dropping and Sorcermon was looking at her with disappointment. Beastmon seemed to be completely unaware of how arrogant she was being. It wasn't as if she was deliberately being snooty like a lot of Princes and Princesses might have been, some of them tended to go out of their own way to be like that. Beastmon wasn't like that. She was friendly and loving and caring, like a good Princess should be. But she just seemed to expect everyone to just stop whatever they were doing and cater to her with no questions asked. It seemed like that was just the way the world worked for her. She just expected things to go her way, as they always had been in the past.
Beastmon curled up in the shade and let out her longest yawn yet, it lasted ten seconds. Then she smiled sleeping at Sorcermon, Greymon and Deputymon, they still hadn't moved from their current position.
"What?" She asked.
This time Sorcermon picked his opinion and said. "Princess Beastmon, I believe Greymon is right. We should move on."
"And we will when I've had my catnap." Beastmon smiled pleasantly.
"Yes but..." Deputymon waved his arms in a random fashion. "We're just wasting time here. It's like Greymon and Sorcermon both said, we need to find what need to survive and..."
"Okay then." She interrupted. "Here's what you can do, if you like. Deputymon, you can go and look around for some food and water for all of us, while Sorcermon and Greymon, you two can stay here and stand guard for me, right?"
"Split up?" Greymon asked. "That's not such a good idea. It might be difficult to find each other again later if we do that. And there is better chance of protection if we stay in numbers."
"Besides." Sorcermon said as he added. "Going out alone is a bad idea, when we are in the middle of a forest and we could be expecting trouble."
This time Beastmon didn't even seem to hear the protests and she curled up and said. "Off you go. Nighty-night."
And within seconds, she was snoozing.
The Wizard, dinosaur and gunslinger all stared at the catwoman for several blank seconds.
"Wow." Deputymon muttered eventually. "I see what you were getting at. She really doesn't seem to grasp that we're in an urgent situation at all, does she?"
"What does she expect to happen?" Greymon snarled. "Does she just expect everything to work out in the end of this own accord? This is utterly ridiculous. We might have been able to go double the distance we've traveled at this point if she was taking this more seriously. And she just expects us to look after her."
"Even so we must not let our guard down." Sorcermon calmly said. "But we are in a new world we don't know about. so we must stay alert!"
"Yes and maybe that's why she doesn't think this is so urgent." Deputymon shrugged. "Maybe she expects everyone else to be searching for her just like how we are searching for them right now."
"And they will be." Greymon agreed. "But it's a lot more complicated than that. Who knows how far away they are?"
"She doesn't." Deputymon shrugged. "I guess she's never had to think much about this sort of thing before."
"Well she has to." Greymon growled. "I'm going to wake her up and get us moving again."
"Your right Greymon." Sorcermon agreed. "We can't afford to waste time and we need to find the others and find King Shoutmon."
"Whoa, wait you guys!" Deputymon quickly stepped in front of the angry dinosaur and the second in command. "Let's just go with this for now. She's obviously going to keep falling asleep like this in the future, which means she's obviously more of a hindrance than a help. Maybe if I go out and look for water on my own then I can cover more ground. Besides, I know what I'm doing. You two just stay here and keep an eye on her and I'll be back soon, okay?"
Greymon snorted. "Fine." He muttered. "But try and be quick."
"Alright." Sorcermon signed. "Try to stay on guard and avoid trouble."
Deputymon flicked his hat. "I'm always quick and I will stay on guard." He said as he turned and quickly ran off in the direction that they had been going. Sorcermon and Greymon both watched him go for several moments until the gunslinger Digimon had vanished into the forest.
Greymon then rumbled slightly to himself and Sorcermon grunted himself as they both turned to Beastmon, snoozing away without a care in the world. She looked so peaceful, a small smile on her face as she dreamed of whatever it was that cat Princess dreamt about. And in away, it was that peaceful look on her face which irritates Greymon the most. Sorcermon don't seemed bothered, just disappointed at the Princess. Beastmon should be worried. She should be fretting over her own safety and the the safety of others and whether they would be able to survive and if they could get back to the castle or what might be lurking in the undergrowth waiting to jump out of them. She would be worried.
But she wasn't. She was completely relaxed. No priorities at all.
Greymon grimaced and he turned back to Sorcermon and said. "It seems that you and me are to look after Beastmon, Sorcermon." He muttered to the Wizard. "I can't understand why she can't help us if we are under attack and to fight alongside us?"
Sorcermon look up to Greymon's face then back to Beastmon that she is still sleeping. "I am not sure why Greymon?" He answered. "But Beastmon never did fight in a battlefield on her own and she had lived in all of her life in royalty, not knowing a real battle and never trained herself in a fight."
"Can you at least try and trained her?" Greymon asked.
"I could try, but I will only trained her if she asked me to teach her how to fight." Sorcermon answered. "But for now we have to wait for Deputymon to return to us."
Greymon nodded as the two Digimon turned to face the surroundings, watching out for anything that might pose a threat to the snoozing Princess. They'd never had to deal with this sort of thing when Greymon was with team Blue Flare and Sorcermon being the King's adviser. Even Mikey hadn't put up with this. Beastmon had been able to snooze as she pleased inside the Fusion Loader while the rest of them got on with tasks. But right now, they did not, unfortunately, have a Fusion Loader. So Beastmon was going to have to stay on the outside and the others were going to have to try and deal with this.
Greymon wondered how long it would take before he went insane. As for Sorcermon he will have to lead them to find all the other Digimon, but they still not sure what is waiting for them out there in this forest.
XXX
Deputymon moved off into the scrub lands, brushing the shrubbery aside with his arms and moving his enormous chest revolver carefully around the forest as he is not to snag the barrel on anything. He was beginning to feel the effects of thirst quite strongly and knew that while he could survive without it awhile longer yet, he would need to find something sooner or later.
If only it would rain. That would make things easier. He could collect the stuff in his hat if the worst came to the worst. And it had to rain at places like this sometimes, didn't it? Otherwise there wouldn't be all these trees all over the place. But, there wasn't anything in the sky above, although there did seem to be some dark, foreboding storm clouds in the east over the peaks of the dark mountains.
But there was definitely something... about them. Something unsettling. It disturbed him.
He pressed on regardless, wondering as he did so if he had made the right choice to leave Sorcermon, Greymon and Beastmon alone together. Beastmon might be oblivious to how much her lack of seriousness and general demanding attitude was grating on Greymon's nerves, but Deputymon could see it quite clearly. The dinosaur was not experienced at this kind of thing. Most of the problems he had to deal with involved attacking something. For Sorcermon, he is a Wizard Digimon with great leadership and will to look after the others and he is a very patient Digimon.
Deputymon himself was a lot more patient like the Wizard Digimon. That came with his field. You had to be very patient when you were a treasure hunter. Sometimes it might take you months or even up to a year, to find a particularly treasure that you were looking for. The whole point of treasure was that it wax supposed to be concealed well after all. And Deputymon had a lot of experience at the hardships and struggles of beginning a treasure hunter. It had been his whole life before the Fusion Fighters.
But even he had to admit that Beastmon was quite taxing, even if she didn't intend to be or know that she was. Greymon did have a couple of valid points about her, Sorcermon doesn't seem to know Beastmon will when he joined, but Beastmon genuinely didn't know any better. She had never experienced anything but being a Princess, even while a member of the Fusion Fighters. And getting lost in the woods was no place for a spoiled Princess like herself. Shoutmon waz different as a King, he knew what he was doing and so does Sorcermon who is the King's adviser. Beastmon didn't. She'd never lived enough of the rough lifestyle.
But Deputymon put that out of his mind for now. He had to focus on finding food and water. Water was the most important. Everything else could wait until afterwards, but water was something that they couldn't do without. All of them needed to quench their thirst, even if they were made out of data.
Fortunately, while water might not be a treasure in the traditional sense of the world, Deputymon knew what to look for when it come to finding water. He had needed to himself in the past, but of course he had always gone to the strange new place by choice back then, as opposed to this time where he had been dumped here.
Once he found a slope, he began to head downhill. Water was far more likely to be at the bottom of any dips in the ground considering it would always flow downwards, so that was his best bet. Every now and then he would stop and listen instantly to the wind, something which had been impossible to do when he had been walking next to the heavy footfalls of Greymon. He was listening out for the sound of trickling water, which could actually travel quite far under the right circumstances.
When he heard nothing, he moved on once again. Every now and then he would alternate between checking the vegetation and monitoring the ground in front of him for something which he could not yet see. He muttered quietly to himself, resolving to stay away from the others for no longer than couple of hours, and if nothing turned up after half an hour away from them in the direction he was going, he would attempt another way.
After a time, when he had still not found what he was looking for, he froze. He had thought, just for a moment, that he had heard some kind of snapping noise in the distance. Faint, but nonetheless unmistakably there. His hands instinctively flew to his sides and drew out his pistols out from thin air, priming his central gun internally at the same time as he hunkered down slightly and began to scan the horizon.
He couldn't see too far in any direction, except up, where he could see the sky and distant mountain peaks, but other than that mostly of all that he could see was trees. And most of what he could hear was silence. Quite a lot of silence actually, but there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. The birds were still singing, infact, he could hear some calls not to far away from him, and the insects were still chirping.
Still, it couldn't hurt to be careful and he went on, proceeding with caution.
Eventually, after he had changed trajectory to head off around ninety degrees from the direction which he had been going in, he finally discovered something interesting. The land was surprisingly empty of creatures, he hadn't seen a single Digimon since he got here, but he did eventually find some tracks that looked like they had come from hooves. Small hooves, like those of a Centarumon except not as big. This was usually a good sign and he knew it. Where there were locals, there would be more likely be water.
He still couldn't say for sure if there was water nearby, but he began to follow the hoof tracks, hoping that they would lead him to something worthwhile. Now that he had found what he was looking for on the ground, he began to stop and check the trees a little more. He carefully examined the leaves every now and then, checking their shapes and colors.
And it certainly seemed like he was getting warmer. He knew that trees which were closer to water were naturally going to be more lush, both from increased from rainwater and from a greater density of water soaked into the ground. And it seemed that whatever footprints he had been following had been taking him closer to a prospective goal.
Continuing to check the trees every now and then, he also paused to listen every time he stopped. And... there! was it? Yes, that sounded like the trickling of a stream. He dashed off in the direction of the noise for about a hundred yards or so and then stopped to listen again. Louder this time. Definitely the sound of water. He had found it!
He pressed on, practically leaping over rocks and springing around bushes, his central gun making things a bit awkward but otherwise moving fast. And then finally, he found it.
It was quite a small stream, running between two rocky banks through the trees. It was so narrow that it might make drinking from it a little bit awkward, especially for somebody like Greymon who would have to bend over and literally plant his nose into the water. But that wasn't a problem. All he had to do was follow its course and he was pretty sure that it would widen out. But, just to be sure, he began to hurry along in the direction of the trickling, keeping pace with the water itself as he ran.
He still hadn't really seen anything that could be used as food, but he put that out of his mind for now. Water was more important.
But what Deputymon eventually found surprised him. While the stream did broaden out quite a bit, what he found that he went over a bit, he eventually found that it went over a clifftop and tumbled down several dozen meters towards the base, where a large oval shaped filled with the clear water, churning round and round beneath the falling waters, only flowing out of the pool through a narrow rocky gap and out to form a river beyond it.
"Well." Deputymon nodded, sounding please with himself. "Found the water, I guess that means that I can check one thing off the list of things that the Princess needs doing. Hmm, I should probably find a way of getting down the cliff though. Jumping off certainly isn't going to do anybody any favors.
And then the gunslinger Digimon picked a direction and head off, but it didn't take long before something caught his attention and he stopped. It was another footprint, this one is larger and more distinct than the tracks which he had been following before. Large and with a pointed end, it was definitely a footprint of some kind of boot.
Meaning that there was some kind of intelligent life nearby after all.
And it looks fresh too.
XXX
Not far from the site where Deputymon was currently searching for a way down the cliff, Captain Faramir, Prince of Ithilien and brother of Boromir, grimly pulled another arrow out of the body of one of the many dead Orcs in front of him. Things were getting worse by the day and he knew it. Looking up, he could see more of his men, the green-clad Rangers, rifling amongst the corpses and salvaged what ammunition they could reuse. Every arrow was becoming precious these days, and so every arrow possible was retaken from every battlefield.
The Orc patrol had been relatively small in comparison to some of the others. Perhaps it had been an attempt at a stealth approach to try and get past the Rangers themselves. Faramir, as the leader of the Ithilien Rangers, was very proud of his men. Next to the forces of Mordor their numbers were meager, but they were exceptionally good at what they did, and if the circumstances were right, they were more than capable of taking of patrols several times the number of their own forces.
The Mordor Orcs feared them greatly, and they were right to. The Rangers were a force to be reckoned with out in the woods and scrub lands where they were utilized. Each of them was descended from the people who had lived in Ithilien before it had been taken by the forces of Mordor many years ago, and they knew the terrain like they knew their own weapons.
They were masters of stealth, and experts at guerrilla warfare, camouflaging cloaks and light feet allowing them to go unheard and unseen by anybody who walked through their woods. They had learned how to use berries and other woodland substances to mask their scent, which was particular benefit against the Orcs. Nobody ever saw them coming and when they attack, nobody could ever tell where the attacks were coming from. They were like hidden death, their arrows flying and downing convoys of the enemy before they even knew there was a threat.
They were able to take out small armies by catching them off guard with only a few hundred of their own, or even less, in this manner.
Faramir himself was the single best Ranger in all of the land. As the youngest son of the Steward of Gondor, he had decided to invest more in the practice of being a Ranger than a full blown warrior as his brother had been, hoping that the two of them could combine their various strengths to keep Gondor safe from both angles. Now, Boromir was gone off to Rivendell on his quest to discover the meaning behind the dreams that he and Faramir had several months prior, and Faramir was finding himself more and more put into Boromir's positions. He would be the first to admit that he was far less suited to that kind of thing than out here in the woods where he knew exactly what he was doing.
He wrinkled his nose at the foul smell of Orcs before him as he plucked out two more arrows and restored them to his quiver. This bunch might have been rather small, but any patrol of Orcs into his lands could not be tolerated, and unfortunately for this lot they had all paid the price for it, while the Rangers had lost nobody.
It had been good mission, and, like with every arrow, every Ranger was going to be needed nowadays.
Because Faramir was noticing more and more that the numbers of Mordor forces in his lands were growing, despite their best efforts.
And it wasn't just Orcs that he was referring to either. While the scout patrols were most often Orcs, there were increasing reports of convoys of Men from foreign lands marching through in the direction of the Black Gates of Mordor. Faramir had no doubt that they had ill intentions, or at least the ones in command did. Killing other Men pained Faramir, he had no way of knowing which of them were truly evil, and which of them were following out of blind loyalty to their leaders or even fear of the consequences if they disobeyed.
And yet, it seemed that they had little choice now. The most common forces now heading through Ithilien belonged to the Haradrim and Khandish. Men of Harad are from the enormous countries of Near Harad and Far Harad to the south. Also known as Southrons for that very reason, the Men of Khand are from the south too and are neighbouring allies next to Harad, and sometimes they called them Variags. Both the Haradrim and Khandish had a very long uneasy past with Gondor as it was, they did many attempts in the past to invade and spread their own territories.
But Faramir could not remember a time where they had come in such numbers. Everyday another convoy seemed to head north, the Haradrim had brought something with them far more terrifying than any force of Men, their Mumakils. Dealing with Mumakils was very different than dealing with an army. The enormous creatures towered far taller than any other creature that Faramir had ever seen. A Man would be lucky to be very much taller than its ankle, and their enormous trunks and giant sweeping tusks made their formidable strength alone, and adding enormous frame, tough skin and tendency to go on a rampage, they were often seen as almost indestructible.
And to top it off, the Haradrim had not only somehow found a way to tame the giant creatures, after a fashion, they also constructed massive war towers which each Mumakils carried on its back, allowing dozens of archers to rain arrows down on anything that was beyond the reach of the Mumakil itself. They also have horses as cavalry for the riders.
As for the Men of Khand they are like samurai warriors with a flag of the sun on their backs and they are known as the greatest cavalry in the the world that could rival against Rohan's cavalry. They also have battle chariots for them to run over their enemies.
Faramir had been going to greater and greater lengths recently to try and put a stop to the Mumakils. Arrows alone did little to them, so he had been attempting to organize attempts to build pitfalls for them. It was a lot of effort for the nimble and lean Rangers, as the holes did require a degree of architectural construction, to ensure that they were both large enough to allow a Mumakil to fall in completely, and covered enough to both hide the pitfall from view and ensure that whatever was covering it was strong enough to allow humans to walk across it, for that any Haradrim fell into the trap first, those steering the Mumakil would become wise to it and the trap's function would have been lost.
Pressure was building on Faramir day in and day out now. He hoped that Boromir would return soon. Indeed, there had been reports that the well known Horn of Gondor had been heard up to the North. He hoped that Boromir was okay, but of course he currently had no way of knowing.
He put it from his mind. Stressing about these things was not going to do him any good. He focused on the matter at hand. He had already received orders from his father that he was to pull out of Ithilien and help to reinforce Osgiliath. Faramir had reluctantly agreed, though he had been against the idea from the start. The Rangers were not half as useful in a city as they were out in the wild. No matter how skilled they were, their numbers were far too small to help deal with full frontal assaults.
Nevertheless, Faramir had a job to do, and he would carry it out to the best of his ability in his brother's stead. Hopefully, the situation in Osgiliath wouldn't last long, and he would be able to return to the wild where he was actually of use.
Shouldering his bow once again, Faramir turned when he heard the voice of Mablung, one of his trusted Rangers, hailing him from a distance. Mablung had not taken part in this particular raid, staying behind to coordinate the scouting teams, but now Faramir could see him hurrying towards them, a look that Faramir could not quite discern on his face. Faramir's second in command name Madril is in Osgiliath with a less then a few hundred Rangers to protect the ruin city alongside with a Gondorian Warrior name Benethor Captain of the Citadel Guard.
"Mablung." Faramir nodded, as he approached with a couple of other Rangers flaking him. "What is it? Has there been any word from my father?"
"None." Mablung said. "Our orders still stand, but I'm afraid, Captain Faramir, that we may have to delay slightly before carrying them out. Some of our scouts have been given some disturbing reports, and I felt it is best to inform you immediately.
"What reports?" Faramir frowned. "Yet another enemy convoy?"
"We... are not quite sure." Mablung confessed with a grimace. "The reports are... most strange. They do not speak of an army, but rather a few odd creatures that have not been seen before. Something new, and not far from our current position. The descriptions are... odd at best, but the main one consists of some creature which looks like a dragon, but isn't."
Faramir frowned, but felt worry building inside him nonetheless. There had not been a dragon in Gondor since long before his time, but even something that looked like a dragon was more than likely to be dangerous. "Any other description than that?"
Mablung nodded to one of the Rangers he had brought with him, and that Ranger stepped forward. "I saw it myself, Captain Faramir. It did not look a little bit like a dragon but there were many things different about it. It wasn't as big, for one, though it was still about four times taller than an average Man. It didn't have any wings either and it walk on two legs rather than four. It's arms were quite small but its head and teeth were very large, sir. It was dark blue with orange stripes on its back and tail and... well... it had three horns. Two of them stuck out to the sides and one out of the top of its nose, but the one on its nose was metal, like a blade of some kind. And it had another smaller blade on the end of its tail. It was like nothing I've ever seen before, and it looked formidable."
Faramir's frown remained in place, but he was secretly worried. He couldn't let that worry show, but at the rather detailed description he couldn't help but believe his Ranger was telling the truth. Had Sauron come up with some brand new terror to plague them? It would not be the first time he had done so if that was the case.
"Movements?" Faramir asked. "How long ago was it spotted?"
"Last evening, Captain." The Ranger replied. "It was on the long distance patrol to Emyn Arnen and we had spread out when one of our numbers first spotted it. We monitored its progress for a while before we determined that it was definitely heading north west."
"Into Gondor." Faramir observed with a grimace.
"Yes, sir." The Ranger nodded. "My guess is that if it keeps going the way its heading, it might end up at Cair Andros. But... that's not the whole news, Captain. It's not alone. It appears to have three companions."
"There are four of these large lizard creatures?" Faramir asked in alarm.
"No, Captain." The Ranger replied. "Just one. The other three it travels with are much smaller and not lizard-like at all. They too are things I've never seen before. One of them appears to be... well... it might sound a little silly, Captain."
"Go on." Faramir urged.
"It was like a cat." The Ranger went on hesitantly. "But again, not a cat. It was the shape and size of a woman, but with definitely had cat-like features like long claws, large ears, thin fur and a tail. Except that it also had another tail as well. And it was actually riding on the dragon creature like a steed. The third creature... I can't even begin to describe it properly. It was like a very short man... or a Dwarf perhaps. But it was wearing a big hat so we couldn't see its face and... well... it was like it had some giant metal pole sticking out of its front. It looked ridiculous. And the last creature looks like a short man too and it was wearing like some kind of Wizard."
Faramir looked shocked. "A Wizard? Which one and what color was he wearing?" Faramir asked the Ranger.
"Well, he was dress in white and was also wearing a pointed hat. He was wearing a white cloak and was wearing a mask to cover his face and he is armed with a staff." The Ranger said.
Faramir was wondering if the Wizard in white is Saruman, he had heard that the White Wizard in Isengard betrayed them to join the Dark Lord Sauron. But the Wizard in white was to short to be Saruman. Who ever it is could be another of Sauron's servants. Faramir couldn't help but give the Ranger an odd look for a few moments, before the Ranger looked embarrassed and said. "It's true sir. That is what they all look like."
"I see." Faramir nodded. "Anything else to report?"
"Not really, sir." The Ranger shook his head. "We called in several other Ranger units to keep an eye on them while we report back."
"Our last report stated that they were still heading in the same direction." Mablung agreed. "And all the reports confirm the same appearance. I do not believe this is some trick sire. I believe it to be genuine."
"Then we must decide what to do about it immediately." Faramir declared. "How far is it from here now?"
"Not far." Mablung replied gravely. "Apparently the big creature, the White Wizard, and the cat woman have stopped while the... pole-Dwarf... has set out on its own. We cannot get close enough to hear what they are saying, but reports indicate that all four of them are worthy of speech. They are perhaps a mile or two out from the Forbidden Pool as we speak."
"Then we must intercept them." Faramir said immediately, signaling to his Rangers to fall in and stepping past Mablung and the other Rangers to head in the direction to the Pool, taking charge of the situation as the others fell in step behind him. "I do not know what their purpose is, but if that large creature is indeed a dragon, or perhaps a distance relative of the dragon race, then it's most likely that its intentions are not friendly. Dragons have long been a race of Darkness and while the few remaining Dragons of Middle Earth might be limited to only unknown regions, I cannot risk this one becoming a threat."
"So, we are to attempt to attack it?" Mablung asked. "If it is as tough as a regular Dragon I fear that our arrows may do little to it. Perhaps we would dig a trap for it?"
"There is not the time." Faramir grimaced. "And we do not yet know it is even a threat. We have no idea what we're up against, and I don't like it. You say that one of the four creatures has gone off on its own?"
"Yes." Mablung nodded. "Approximately twenty minutes ago according to our sources."
"Then we must make it a priority to find and capture that single creature." Faramir ordered. "If we can interrogate it, we may learn more about this situation."
"But what of the Dragon?" Mablung asked, deciding to just call it a dragon rather than a dragon creature or dragon thing.
"How strong would you estimate it is?" Faramir asked.
"Strong, sire." The other Ranger nodded. "You can see its muscles quite clearly, and if it is anything like the dragons of old then it may possess flame breathing ability. Our cover will be useless against it if it just burns away and us with it."
"Establish a series of relays." Faramir commanded. "A line of Rangers from the creature to the Forbidden Pool. I want to know its movements at all times. We may be able to use that to set up an ambush for it passes through an ideal location. But if you say that this... cat woman... is its rider then perhaps she is the key to controlling it. Perhaps we will not need to take down the creature itself. And if battle is joined then we can pick our places carefully and, if nothing else, drive it away from the Forbidden Pool and away from Gondorian settlements."
"Very well, sire." Mablung nodded. "I shall spread the word..."
"Captain!" Cried a voice from up ahead, as another Ranger hurried from the entrance ahead. "We've been watching the Dwarf with the metal pole and it has discovered the Forbidden Pool. It is there now, attempting to discover a way down the cliff and make it to the water."
Faramir cursed. "Then perhaps it knows of our base."
"I don't know sire." The Ranger replied. "It may just be after the water. It isn't really trying to be stealthy, though it is wary of its surroundings. We withdrew all of our forces inside the caves behind the waterfall except for those keeping an eye on it. I do not believe it is aware that it is being followed."
"Is it armed?" Faramir asked.
"Unknown, sire." The Ranger signed. "If it does have weapons then we have not seen them. It certainly has no bow or blade, but we have occasionally witnessed it holding two small blunted metal objects which resemble smaller versions of the pole sticking out its front. They don't look very effective hand to hand combat weapons but we cannot discern anything else they might be for."
"Then this could be a stroke of good fortune." Faramir replied. "Have archers stationed around all of the ledges around the Forbidden Pool, but keep them hidden until I give the word. Everyone else." He turned to the rest of the group behind him. "Spread out. keep each other in sight, but stay low. We must head towards the Pool from all possible angles. Steel yourselves and await my signal, but have an arrow ready. We want to take it alive, but if it resists then try to injure rather than kill it. I have some questions I would ask of it."
The Rangers nodded wordlessly, pulling up their masks and green hoods so the only visible parts of their faces were their eyes and swiftly disappearing into the woods to efficiently carry out their tasks. Faramir nodded to Mablung and a couple of other Rangers, indicating that they should stay close as he drew his sword rather than his bow and moved swiftly and near silently through the undergrowth in the direction of the Pool, while the one who had delivered the news hurried back faster to give the word to the Rangers inside.
One of the biggest problems of being a stealth fighter was communication, which meant that once the orders were given it was difficult to coordinate anything beyond simple signals. But Faramir trusted his platoon to carry out their tasks effectively on their own. That was what made them the best.
But right now they had a meeting to attend.
XXX
Deputymon hopped off the last remnants of the hill that he had found, turning to glance back up at it judgmentally. It was still relatively steep, and Greymon might have a bit of trouble navigating his large body down below, but it would probably carry on being steep for a while in either direction.
In any case at least he could now drink his own thirst. And when he did, he would be able to head back. He'd have retraced his steps, since he didn't know the exact location where Greymon, Sorcermon and Beastmon were from here, but that was fine. He'd let plenty of trail for him to follow his own way.
Pleased with his success, Deputymon headed off to the pool he had found before. It didn't take him long to reach it. He could hear more of those strange bird calls around this area, but that wasn't surprising. Birds needed to drink too after all.
Upon reaching the water, he hunched over a rock that made up part of the bank and reached down scooping up a handful of water and passing it underneath his neckerchief to his small and unusually hidden mouth. It was cool and refreshing, much like the waters of the lake around the castle back home, and Deputymon could already feel himself being slightly re-energized.
The waterfall crashing over the top of the rise provided a constant backdrop of gushing water and crashing noise and Deputymon, ever watchful, looked up every now and then to make sure that there was nobody around to try and threaten him when his guard was down. When he saw nothing, he went back to drinking again.
Unfortunately, Deputymon's judgment wasn't quite as accurate as he had thought it to be. Eyes were watching him now from all around, peering through the smallest of gaps in the forest from over slight rises and the owners of those eyes were almost completely out of sight, and what parts of them were visible were camouflaged by their attire. Slowly, stealthy, placing each foot with the utmost care, the Rangers of Ithilien inched their way closer to the intruder, arrows and bow strings tight.
The waterfall of their pool was aiding them now. The noise is making it meant that they could move a bit more freely than normal, but they still were careful not to snap twigs or make any other noise. They weren't taking chances. None of them ever did if they could help it.
It was at this point, while Deputymon was drinking, that Faramir arrived and took up position behind a tree, which Mablung behind another trunk. Carefully twisted around to peer through the gap in the plant life and stare at Deputymon.
He had admit he was more than a little shocked. A Dwarf with a pole sticking out of him didn't really describe this guy. The pole looked like it was part of his very body. His boots, his hat, his scarf... everything about him seemed strange and foreign, and years of experience had long since taught Faramir to be wary of what didn't look familiar. And this was anything but familiar.
Still, now was the chance they had been waiting for, when it was otherwise occupied. He signaled with a swift, decisive hand gesture to Mablung, who nodded and passed on the message. Slowly, the Rangers emerged from cover and out into the open, while Deputymon, oblivious, continued to drink. But it was at this point that instinct told him something was up. He didn't hear anything new but the moment his consciousness kick in as he was up and whirled around, pulling his pistols into existence from his waist and raising them with a snap of his arms, safety off and weapons primed, ready to shoot at the bat of an eyelid.
What he saw took him off guard and he almost stumbled backwards into the pool. There were at least thirty fully grown adult humans standing around him, cutting off his escape and with arrows pointed at him. He silently cursed himself. How had he not noticed them? How had they managed to get so close to him and in such numbers?
He grimly took their camouflage. Clearly they were good. They could probably give the elite Monitamons a run for their money.
Damn. He thought to himself. Now what?
"I assume that there is a reason for your trespassing on this land?" A voice called out over the noise of the waterfall. Deputymon's eyes were taken straight to Faramir as he emerged from his ranks, a white tree design plastered on the front of his jerkin, bow across his shoulder and a sword in his hand. Deputymon was under no illusion that this was the leader of the group.
Faramir stared at the Digimon, not allowing himself to become enthralled at his sheer weirdness. He kept his face steady and said. "Although, in case it's unclear, if you attempt to fight us, my men are more than capable of insuring that you do not live to see your next sunrise." He nodded upwards towards the cliffs. Deputymon blinked and turned slightly to look out of the corner of his eye, balking when he saw that there were at least another thirty archers stationed at various hidden entrances in the cliff-face or on the top of the cliff itself, also with arrows pointed directly at him.
"You are surrounded." Faramir stated needlessly. "Your escape routes have been cut off. I would suggest you lower your weapons, if those are indeed weapons, and do not attempt to resist us." He lift his sword and pointed it at the gunslinger. "You are on our land after all. Now, surrender. Or..."
He dropped his sword.
A split second later, ten arrows thudded into the ground right next to Deputymon's boots. Deputymon scowled, but he knew that he was was a strong Digimon in his own way, although there were many far stronger than himself. And if he needed to, he was pretty sure that he would be able to take out ten to fifteen of those archers with rapid shots of his three guns before the others even had time to act, but that wasn't going to do him any good against such numbers from all angles. They would cut him down before he got within two feet.
Deputymon also felt a slight of anger at himself for this. He had faced down an army of SkullScorpiomon and taken on a group of MetalTyrannomon, all much larger than himself, so why was it always the humans that managed to trap him like this? First Ewan with his surprise attack and now this.
But still, Deputymon knew when to pick his fights and now was not that time. Besides, these guys were probably not evil. He would need to be sure before he tried anything. And so, he dropped his two pistols to the ground and raised his hands. Of course, he could not drop the gun that was on his chest, but perhaps he could use that to his advantage later on.
"Wise move." Faramir nodded. He then signaled with a nod of his head and several Rangers moved in from either side of Deputymon. Obviously they were wary of being in front of him, and by coming from the sides, that meant he couldn't gun them all down at once. Clever. They knew what they were doing, even if they didn't know what he was.
One of the Rangers collected the pistols and stashed them in the cloak, while the others seized his arms and pinned them, forcing Deputymon to his knees. Deputymon resisted the urge to growl, but managed to say. "Hoi! Show some courtesy would you? I am surrendering here."
The Rangers eyes momentarily flashed with surprise, but quickly masked it and forced him down further, until the barrel of his chest gun was pointing into the ground. Deputymon could aim it up again no problem, he was stronger than he looked, but he didn't want to give them the wrong impression if they were the good guys.
Faramir then stepped closer and said. "I am Faramir, son of Denethor and Prince of Ithilien. Since you are in Ithilien yourself, that means that you are under my jurisdiction. Now tell me, who are you? And where do you come from? And for that matter, what are you? You are neither Dwarf or Orc, that I can see."
Deputymon looked up from under the brim of his hat and met Faramir's human eyes with his own oval yellow eyes. "You're good." He admitted. "There's not many people who could all sneak up on me like that at the same time."
"That is not an answer to any of my questions." Faramir pointed out.
"No, mighty Prince, I suppose it isn't." Deputymon chuckled. "Well, anyway, since you asked me so nicely and all, I'm Deputymon. I am a Digimon and I am from a place called the Digital World."
XXX
Sorcermon was sitting on a big rock waiting for Deputymon to return. While Greymon snorted through his nostrils for what felt like the fiftieth time. He knew that it wasn't fair to Beastmon, but for some reason even the sound of her breathing was beginning to annoy him. Maybe it was because it was a reminder of the fact that she wasn't taking things seriously and was just napping.
There was part of him that knew full well that getting irritated at her was not going to help in any way whatsoever.
But it was being drowned out by the rest of him, which was mentally complaining that he to look after someone so... nappy.
Both Sorcermon and Greymon were also wondering what had happened to Deputymon. He had been gone for about an hour and half at this point, and while he had said that he probably wouldn't be gone much for more than two hours, Greymon had thought that he would be quicker than that. Had he got lost? Had he been injured by something? Sorcermon and Greymon had both thought that splitting up was a bad idea and now they could see why. They had no way of knowing what had happened.
On the plus side, they had not heard any gunshots, which meant that it was likely Deputymon had not been attacked by something.
Be that as it may, all they could do for the moment was to just stay here and listen to the sound of Beastmon's breathing.
Which lead Greymon back to being annoyed.
Why couldn't Knightmon have fallen with them here? Or the Pawnchessmons? Or somebody who actually knew what to do with a simple minded airhead Princess? Anybody but him would be better qualified for this. Except perhaps Cyberdramon. Heck, even MailBirdramon would have been more suited to keep an eye on her. He had the patience of a tree, which is to say, unending. Plus he could fly and carry her easily even if she wanted to fall asleep on him.
But none of them were here and both he and Sorcermon were. So now, he just had to stay here and cope with it. Not easy for him at least. Sorcermon my handle Beastmon, because he is patient and a leader that Greymon had to follow.
Behind them, they heard Beastmon yawn and stretch, and they turned their heads to see her flexing her claws using one of her tails to rub her eyes. "Morning again, Sorcermon, Greymon." She smiled. "How are you?"
Greymon grunted non committal and turned back and and Sorcermon said with a nod to her. "Is nice to see you wake up, Princess Beastmon."
"How long was I asleep?" Beastmon asked, leaning against the tree.
"About one and a half hours." Sorcermon replied, judging by the position of the sun.
"That was a good nap." Beastmon smiled. "Considering I was lying on bare earth. Where's Deputymon?"
"He's not back yet." Greymon rumbled lowly, without looking at her. "We haven't heard anything from him since you nodded off."
"Really?" Beastmon pouted. "What's taking him so long? I'm getting thirsty here. And hungry too. It feels like it's so long since we had that feast already, and I didn't get to eat much there because I kept dozing off."
"Perhaps he is having difficulty. Greymon responded, feeling his tail sweeping about slightly, which was never a good sign. It meant his temper was rising.
"He's supposed to be a treasure hunter." Beastmon complained slightly. "Isn't he supposed to be good at this sort of thing? Finding things, I mean?"
"This is a different land." Greymon growled. "His skills might not be so useful here."
"He could be lost as we all know it." Sorcermon said.
"Maybe." Beastmon yawned again. "Well then, maybe I should go back to sleep for a bit."
Greymon's eye twitched. "You should try and stay awake more. What if there was an attack?"
"Besides, we must stay on guard for anything." Sorcermon said as he put his hand on the tip of his hat. "Greymon is right we can't rest here and we need to find Deputymon and the others."
"Then I've got my two big, strong guardians to look after me." Beastmon said. "You two can protect me from anything that comes to get me."
Greymon's eyes narrowed. For some reason, this was the final straw. Beastmon's careless assumption that he would do everything for her, despite being slightly justified since they were supposed to be teammates, as well as the fact that she had asked Deputymon to go off to find stuff for her thus leading them to this situation in the first time, drove Greymon over the edge.
Releasing a roar that shook the trees, Greymon whirled around and pulverized a boulder with a stomp of his foot as he swung his head and bear his teeth in Beastmon's direction. The Princess and Wizard were both completely taken off guard by this, Beastmon squealed and backed up against the trunk, Greymon's red eyes glaring into her ambamber eyes. Sorcermon was staring in shock to never seen Greymon this angry before.
"Oh, will we?" Greymon snarled at her. "You expect me to look after you, do you? You expect Deputymon to just run off and do your bidding, do you? You think that you can just fall asleep and everything will turn out alright because we'll look after you, do you?"
"Greymon." Beastmon was suddenly whimpering. "What... What are you...?"
"I've got some information for you, Princess." Greymon used the word rudely. "You might be royalty, and you might have had everything you've ever needed or wanted handed to you on a platter in the past, but I'm not one of your staff. We are supposed to be a team. The Fusion Fighters United Army, working together to achieve victory. But you don't do that, do you? You just lie back and expect everything to go your way, while you can just lounge around and put no effort into anything. I can barely remember a time where you were useful during the fight against the Bagra Army. You might be pompous and arrogant, but you're definitely a complete airhead!"
Beastmon eyes widened and she pressed her back further against the tree. Sorcermon was shock and sternly said. "Greymon!" Greymon wasn't done yet.
"Are you completely incapable of doing anything for yourself? Or, for that matter, doing something for other people? And you know what the worst of it is? It's that you don't even realize that you're doing it. You are one of the most selfish people I ever know, expecting everybody to go about your orders on a whim, and yet you don't even know you're being selfish. You greet everybody with smiles, but you've got do many airs and graces that it's a wonder you don't float away. can't you just take a look at this situation? We're lost in a strange place with no way of knowing where the others are and no knowledge of what's out there. We've all got to work together to get out of this. Not just me, Sorcermon and Deputymon doing things for you. You too Princess."
"Greymon that is enough!" Sorcermon shouted at Greymon. "She get the ideal of our situation and I can understand your frustration, but we can't fight among ourselves!" Sorcermon know Greymon's frustration and as for Beastmon she need to defend herself if she can't relay on everyone to protect her in the battle on her own.
Beastmon had never seen Greymon go on a rampage like this before and she could feel her eyes beginning to water as tears welled up within them. Nobody had ever shouted at her like this, Greymon's words were really hitting her hard. He was landing verbal blow on her mind, so much so that she wanted to just curl up into a ball and cry.
Greymon snorted and nodded to Sorcermon and back to Beastmon as he reared back up again. In a gentler tone, for him, he said. "Now, since we are teammates, Sorcermon and I are going to look out for like you expect me to. But you should consider playing your own part in this sometime soon." And he turned around and deliberately stared in the other direction.
Now that he'd finished shouting, Greymon felt a little guilty, which was another new sensation for him. There had been very little in his past that he'd had to feel guilty for. But this time he had made Beastmon cry, and there was some part of him which was satisfied with that, which prompted the rest of him to feel guilty. But those words, however unkind, had needed to be said. Beastmon needed to get some sense into her head and fast.
He could hear her whimpering now, but he did nothing to apologize. He'd let her mull over what he said before he did that.
Sorcermon went over to Beastmon to comfort her and said. "I know Greymon is frustrated at you and you need to learn how to find the strength and the will to defend yourself. I can train you so you could be able to help to fight alongside us."
Beastmon was indeed mulling. She had turned around to place her arm against the trunk and then press her face into it so she could quietly sob against it. Was that really what Greymon thought of her? She'd always assumed that they got on well, even if they weren't particularly close. And ever since this situation began, she'd thought that things had been going well, if a little slowly. Now she found out that she had been doing nothing but getting on Greymon's nerves.
That hurt her. Deeply.
Because now she was questioning what everybody else in the Fusion Fighters United Army thought about her. What did King Shoutmon and his close friends think of her? What did the other members of team Blue Flare think of her? What did Knightmon and the other members of her Royal Guard think of her? Did they think along similar lines? Did they think that she was just a spoiled Princess who always got her way?
And was she?
Was she really that pampered and selfish? Greymon was right, she hadn't really realized what she was doing, but now that she said it she could see quite clearly that he was right. She had been doing, ordering them around like servants, even if she had been doing it in a friendly manner. But Sorcermon did offer her to trained her to be able to defend herself and be able to fight alongside with her friends.
The silence stretched awkwardly on as they waited for Deputymon's return. And Beastmon had never felt more miserable in her life.
Eventually, Sorcermon broke the silence and said. "Deputymon has gone too long you guys. We need to go and look for him if he is alright."
Greymon nodded to the White Wizard Digimon and he turned to the Princess. "Your right Sorcermon he never took too long. Okay Princess, you and Sorcermon can both climb on aboard and I'll attempt to follow his scent."
Beastmon mumbled an incorrect reply as she pulled herself away from the tree. Still sobbing quietly to herself, far less nimbly than before, until she was sitting astride his shoulders, trying to stop herself from crying and falling asleep was one of the last things on her mind right now. Sorcermon climb on and sitting behind Beastmon as he hold on to her shoulders.
Wordlessly, the three of them made their way off in the direction that Deputymon had taken.
XXX
Deputymon gets captured by the Rangers of Ithilien and Sorcermon, Greymon and Beastmon are now looking for Deputymon.
I also added Benethor's name who is one of the characters in the Third Age and Mablung is one of Faramir's top Rangers. Last is Madril who is Faramir's second in command that is at Osgiliath with less than a few hundred Rangers in defense with Benethor. And there was a faction from Khand, the army that did appear in the book but not in the movie.
Next Chapter is with Frodo and Sam in Emyn Muil to try and reach into Mordor. They were being followed by Gollum and the three red Monitamons that are Digimon are following them too.
Next time Chapter 15 Taming of Gollum