Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: Everyone say hello to Ryoko's digimon partner! I will explain how I came up with the name of Ryoko's partner at the beginning of the next chapter. Also, two chapters from now, there will be a new POV! Please review!
Following the Footsteps of Destiny
Chapter 31: Arctic Digimon
BlackWidowmon
Server, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World
BlackWidowmon stood at the top of the cliff and gazed down into the canyon where the Digidestined had been standing less than a couple of minutes ago.
Jestermon and the others may have been laughing at me earlier, but that's going to change once I get my hands on the D-Coders.
"Listen up," she said, turning to glare at the digimon beside her. "I want you to stop those pesky humans before they can manage to get their hands on another one of their digimon partners. Do I make myself clear?"
The digimon gave her a sullen look and nodded.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Get going!" she snapped.
The digimon leaped down into the canyon, and she quickly followed after him into the cave.
Ryoko Ishida
Server, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World
Ryoko entered the cave with his friends, and he found himself gazing down at what looked like a dark tunnel. It was cold and damp in the narrow corridor, and the only light they had to show them the way forward was the faint blue glow coming from his D-Coder.
He frowned and glanced at the blue arrow that hovered above his Digivice. "I guess we go straight ahead. It's not like we have any other choice."
"Right. Everyone follow me," Embermon said, taking the lead.
Ryoko followed after the little digimon and smiled as his friends made a point of keeping close to him. None of them seemed anxious to be left alone in the dark.
"Ryoko?" Takara said softly in his ear.
He glanced curiously at her, and she smiled at him.
"Are you excited about finally getting a chance to meet your partner?" she asked.
He nodded silently and turned to gaze at the D-Coder in his hand. He was not afraid of the possibility that his digimon might not like him. Embermon, Celestimon, and Halomon had proven to him that digimon were not judgemental in the same way that humans were. The only thing he was worried about was the chance that Vampiramon and her gang of evil digimon would get to his partner before he did.
He let out a sigh and smiled softly. Ever since Dai had found Embermon, he had been excited at the prospect of meeting his own digimon partner.
I bet it feels really amazing to have a partner. Dai and my cousins always look so happy when they're around their digimon.
Everytime he saw Dai and the twins with their partners, it made him want to have his own digimon to hold and care about.
I know my digimon will love me back, and that must be the best feeling in the world.
"Ryoko?" Takara whispered, interrupting his thoughts. "I saw the way you and Dai were acting towards each other earlier. What's going on?"
He felt his face turn red and glanced quickly at Dai. The goggle headed leader was walking beside Mickey, and they were whispering softly to each other. It looked like a pretty serious conversation.
Halomon had flown over to Celestimon, who was walking with Sam and Matty. The little rookie whispered something in Celestimon's ear, and they both turned to look at Dai, who had joined Embermon at the front with Mickey.
He quickly looked away from the two digimon and froze when he realized that Dai was now staring at him. The goggle headed leader had glanced over Mickey's shoulder to look back at him, and he held his breath.
The expression on Dai's face was completely unreadable, and Ryoko had no clue what the other boy was thinking. Luckily Dai did not appear to have heard Takara's words, and he let out a sigh of relief.
"Come on, Ryoko," Takara whispered. "You know you can tell me anything."
"Later," he mumbled, feeling embarrassed. "Right now we have to focus on finding my partner."
Takara sighed and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Later always means never with you," she murmured into his shoulder.
"You know me too well!" he replied, smiling slightly and tugging gently on her chestnut ponytail.
Dai suddenly turned and gave him a very hurt look.
He stared at the goggle headed leader in surprise, but he did not even have a chance to think about what his friend's strange behaviour meant.
Matty's sudden words echoed through the tunnel, and he jumped.
"Look! The tunnel splits into two up ahead!" the younger twin called out.
They came to a stop, and Ryoko found himself standing next to Dai.
"Which way?" Dai asked, turning to look at him.
He avoided the goggle headed leader's eyes and quickly looked at his D-Coder. I wonder what he's thinking.
The floating blue arrow slowly turned towards the right-hand tunnel, and he nodded. "That way."
They were about to continue on when he heard a sudden soft whistling sound.
"Look out!" Dai suddenly gasped, grabbing him roughly by the arm.
He stumbled into his friend, and they staggered into the wall.
Something clattered to the ground, and Ryoko turned to see a small knife lying at his feet. The blade had struck the wall inches away from his left ear, and it glowed a faint blue as a result of the light coming from his D-Coder. If Dai had not grabbed him, the knife would have hit him right between the eyes.
"That's twice I've saved your life now," Dai whispered, his voice shaking. "You owe me big time!"
Ryoko stared down at the small weapon in horror and did not reply. He felt Dai's arm go around him, and he turned his face into the other boy's shoulder. He wanted to say something, but he could not seem to find any words to explain how he was feeling. Dai seemed to understand, though, because the goggle headed leader patted his back and gave him a warm smile.
"Who's there?" Celestimon shouted, and Ryoko quickly pushed Dai away, feeling stupid.
Two shapes melted out of the darkness, and he let out a sound of dismay. Why couldn't they have waited to show up until after I'd found my partner! Now his digimon was in trouble, and he had no idea what to do next.
"How many of you are there?" Dai groaned, glaring at the two digimon. "First Vampiramon, then Jestermon, and now you!"
"Who says I'm working with them?" the female digimon said innocently.
"Who else would you be working with?" Dai snorted. "You guys are so obvious. It's pretty easy to put two and two together. So how's your master doing? I bet he's really mad at you guys!"
"I'll admit that you Digidestined have managed to do a pretty good job when it comes to ruining our plans, but that's all about to change! I am BlackWidowmon. I am a mega level virus type digimon, and my special attacks are Venom Darts and Web Shackles."
BlackWidowmon had long raven hair, and the top half of her face was covered by a dark mask. They could still see her eyes though, which were a dark red, and they were currently filled with excitement. The small amount of skin they could see was white, and she had small sharp fangs. She had a human body, except for the eight large spider legs sticking out of her back, and she was dressed in a one-piece black leather outfit. The only colour she wore on her clothes was the red hourglass stitched into the bodice of her leather suit.
"Who's your little friend?" Matty asked, frowning at the digimon beside her.
"This is Gnomemon. He's an ultimate level virus type digimon, and his special attacks are Twin Knives and Earthquake Chaos. He was this close to taking out one of your human friends."
Ryoko shivered and stared at Gnomemon in horror. The virus digimon had bright yellow eyes and yellow skin. He was small and stood hunched over with a nasty grin on his face.
Ryoko did not like how things were going at all. If these two get to my digimon before I do, they're going to completely destroy him!
BlackWidowmon must have sensed what he was thinking because she smiled at him and crossed her arms. "Unlike Jestermon and Vampiramon, I plan on stopping you before you can get your hands on another one of your digimon partners! That way you little runts won't mess up our plans with another digivolution! Get them, Gnomemon!"
"No way!" Matty shouted. "You better digivolve right now, Celestimon!"
"Right! Celestimon digivolve to, Angelicmon!"
"Celestial Star!" Angelicmon shouted, shooting the golden blast at Gnomemon and sending the virus digimon flying back down the tunnel.
"Embermon, this cave is too small for you to digivolve in, but you had better help out Angelicmon anyway, okay?" Dai said, kneeling next to his digimon and stroking Embermon's ears.
"I'm on it," Embermon replied, racing down the tunnel to join Angelicmon.
"What about my partner?" Ryoko whispered, his voice trembling.
Dai turned to look at him, and he jumped as the goggle headed leader's hands came to rest on his shoulders.
"Listen to me," Dai said softly, staring directly into his eyes. "I want you, Mickey, Takara, and Sam to keep going. If you meet up with any trouble along the way, Halomon will be able to protect you. He's a tough little rookie, and I know he'll be able to handle the job. Matty and I will stay here and distract these two idiots. That way you'll have a chance to find your partner before BlackWidowmon and Gnomemon do."
"We can't just leave you here!" he gasped, staring at Dai in disbelief. "What if you guys get into trouble?"
"Ryoko's right," Takara said softly, stepping up next to Dai. "We should all stick together."
"There isn't much that the rest of you can do to help us without digimon partners," Dai said quietly.
"He has a point," Matty said softly.
"Please?" Dai asked, turning to look at him again. "We have a better chance of defeating BlackWidowmon and Gnomemon with your digimon partner here to help us."
He gazed at Dai's determined face for a moment and finally nodded. "Be careful," he whispered, his voice shaking with fear. As much as he did not want to admit it, Dai was right.
"Aren't I always?" Dai asked, smiling slightly.
He managed to smile back at his friend and quickly turned to the others. "Come on, guys. Let's go find my partner."
"Matty, don't you dare do anything dangerous!" Mickey cried, looking very upset.
"I'll be okay," Matty whispered, giving his brother a gentle push to get moving.
"Come on, Mickey," Sam said softly, putting an arm around the older twin and leading him towards the right-hand tunnel.
"Alright, Dai. Let's show these evil digimon what we're made of!" Matty said, turning to smile at the goggle headed leader.
"There's no way you're going to sneak away that easily! Venom Darts!" BlackWidowmon shouted.
"Ember Blaze!" Embermon countered.
The rookie digimon's attack burned BlackWidowmon's darts to ashes, and Ryoko took that opportunity to slip away. "Follow me, guys!"
"Oh, Dai, I'm going to kill you for this!" Takara whispered tearfully, before following after him.
He raced down the corridor with Sam, Kara, and Mickey close behind.
Halomon fluttered in the air beside him, and he kept his eyes on the blue arrow that hovered above his D-Coder. He was trying his best to ignore the sounds of battle behind him, but he was failing miserably. It was taking all of his self-control not to turn around and run back.
The tunnel split again up ahead, and Ryoko stopped.
"Now which way?" Halomon asked, peeking over his shoulder to look at his D-Coder and glancing up at the blue arrow.
"Left," Ryoko said softly, as the arrow pointed in the direction that he had indicated.
"How will Dai and Matty know which tunnel we've taken?" Takara asked, her face filling with horror.
"Mom and Dad would kill me if they knew I left Matty behind!" Mickey moaned, hiding his face against Sam's shoulder. "He's in danger! What kind of an older twin am I? And what about Dai? His parents are going to freak!"
"Everything will be okay," Halomon said softly, flying into Mickey's arms and cuddling against him.
Mickey hid his face in Halomon's ears and did not reply.
"You heard what Dai said," Ryoko murmured, giving his cousin a sympathetic smile. "We have to keep going. Don't worry, Mickey. Dai's the most determined person I know. He'll find us again. I don't know how, but I know he will. That's just the kind of person he is."
Sam smiled softly at him, and he turned towards the left-hand tunnel. "Let's keep moving."
They raced down the left corridor which opened up into a large room that had a high ceiling and damp stone walls. At the other end of the room stood a small stone pedestal, and Ryoko's heart leaped into his throat.
My partner!
There was a digimon leaning against the pedestal who looked to be asleep, but Ryoko ignored him. All he could think about was his partner.
He raced towards the pedestal, with the others right behind him, and he quickly placed his hand on it's cold stone surface. The image carved into it's surface looked like an eye.
Immediately the pedestal and his D-Coder began to glow with an icy blue light.
"How pretty!" Takara gasped from beside him.
Slowly the mist faded away, and Ryoko found himself gazing at a small rookie level digimon. The digimon was of standard rookie size and stood on two legs. His partner had deep blue eyes, pale blue fir, and resembled what looked like an arctic fox. The rookie had small pointed ears, a bushy tail, and a small nose.
Before Ryoko even had a chance to say anything, the digimon leaped over his head and raced towards the door.
"They're in trouble," his partner murmured, frowning slightly. "We have to help them."
Ryoko gaped at the digimon who was still sleeping against the pedestal and turned to gape at his partner. The little rookie digimon finally seemed to notice him and turned to stare at him with intense blue eyes.
"Hello, Ryoko," the digimon said quietly. "I am Alopemon, (A-low-pee-mon) your digimon partner."