Keepers of the Worlds
Chapter Five: Birdramon's First Flight
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Digimon any dialogue you recognize was taken from Digimon Adventure SSN 1 ep. 4 and is even less mine than everything else.
Author's Note: Hey guys I'm back! Woohoo! Can I just say this update was really friggin' hard? Yeah. Also a good few months overdue. Thanks to everyone who took the time to review, alert and favourite! Love you guys, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far.
Special mention goes out to Whisper because, really, five reviews for the last chapter, Ravenclaw-Girl28 who took the time to PM me for an update (go check out her story Intertwined Destinies, it's well written and has an interesting plot so far), and You Know Who You Are But I Promised I Wouldn't Name Names who was helping me with the first draft of this chapter and my character concept for Senamon and who I have kept waiting for far too long (Four Months)! Thanks guys!
Now go forth and read!
Harry tried very hard to ignore the voices seeping through the fog of a good dream, the details of which he, of course, couldn't quite remember. It really wasn't fair that his nightmares would always linger and repeat when his good dreams slipped from his mind like water.
"Should we wake them or wait for them to wake up on their own?"
"Don't wake them up yet!"
"Ooh I wish I had my camera! That is just too cute!"
"Whatever Mimi."
"Hey Izzy has a camera, let's get a picture or two before they wake up!"
"It's not working, remember? None of the electronics are working."
"Oh, that's right, I'd forgotten."
Harry finally felt annoyed enough to raise his head and blink his eyes open just enough to glare at the noisemakers.
"Harry's awake! Morning Harry!" said TK cheerfully, waving.
Matt gave Harry a vaguely apologetic look and went back to munching on a red fruit occasionally tearing off pieces and subtly feeding them to the oblivious TK.
"It is far too early for this," Harry groaned to himself.
All he really wanted to do was shoo the rest of the group out of the clearing they'd camped in overnight and go back to sleep. It took a moment for him to realize why Tai was giving him such a teasing look. Sometime during the course of the morning he and Izzy had managed to wrap themselves around each other until it was hard to say where one boy ended and the other began. Izzy was still fast asleep, his face buried in Harry's stomach and his arm slung over his hip. He was even snoring softly.
The redhead was like a small furnace, so deliciously warm that Harry, who was perpetually cold, was more than willing to burrow back into his embrace and sleep for another eight hours. Instead he sat up with another put-upon groan and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, straightening his glasses.
"Izzy," Harry said shaking the redhead gently, "Hey Izzy, wake up."
Izzy mumbled something unintelligible and his hold on Harry's waist tightened as he resisted walking the road to consciousness.
Flushing brightly, Harry jabbed one bony knee with considerably less gentleness into the soft flesh of Izzy's side. Izzy jerked upright, his black eyes blinking open and stared into Harry's eyes unseeingly for a long moment, their faces barely an inch apart.
"What…Harry?"
"Rise and shine," said Harry weakly.
"Huh?"
"You guys were asleep for a really long time," TK put in cheerfully, "So we kind of ate all your fish, but there's still lots of fruit if you want breakfast."
"Fish?" Izzy rolled off of Harry and glanced around the clearing dazedly rubbing at his face, "What time is it?"
"Who knows," shrugged Tai, "By the sun we figure it's somewhere around noon."
"We're just about ready to get going," added Joe.
"We talked it over and we decided to head east," said Matt.
Sora snorted.
"You mean you and Tai argued about it and Joe had to separate you while Mimi and I made a decision."
"Like I said, we talked it over and decided to head east."
Harry smirked a bit. Senamon trotted over a blue fruit in his mouth and dropped it into Harry's lap.
"You should eat, Harry, breakfast is the most important meal of the day," the digimon informed him.
"Where did you hear that?" asked Harry, surprised to hear the familiar Earth saying dropping from the lips of a digimon.
"From Matt and Tai."
"Ah," Harry said, taking a bite of the fruit obediently.
Presumably the older boys had been forcing TK to eat a large breakfast, it wouldn't do to set a bad example even if, having just woken, Harry wasn't really all that hungry.
With a pleased flick of his tail Senamon darted away and returned with a red fruit for Izzy. The still drowsy pre-teen looked at it quizzically for a long moment before patting the fox-like digimon on the head, careful to avoid his horns.
"So why did we decide to go east?" asked Izzy taking a bite of his own breakfast.
"Well, assuming that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west here, the only thing south is that Lake and north is back the way we came and after that I picked east and Mimi picked west and we played rock, paper, scissors," Sora explained.
"Did that support Tai's decision or Matt's?" the redhead asked curiously.
"Neither," chuckled Joe, "Matt wanted to go around the lake and keep heading south while Tai was all for going west."
Harry and Izzy quickly finished their fruit, washed up a bit in the lake and found a private spot in which to relieve themselves and the group set out east through the forest.
"Do we have an idea of what we might be looking for?" asked Izzy as the heat of the noonday sun gave way to the cool shade of the forest.
"Anything that screams civilization?" suggested Tai.
"But that hasn't really been productive so far, has it?" commented Izzy, thinking, "All the evidence of human habitation, like these road signs for example, has proven to be distinctly unhelpful with regards to finding actual people."
"Maybe it's more subtle," suggested Matt with a shrug, "A road, a village."
"If there even are people on this island," Sora reminded them.
All of a sudden there was a loud buzzing whush. Sora jogged forward a bit look up at the sky through a break in the thick foliage where the forest dropped away on the one side to create a small cliff.
"Whoa, hey, look at that!" she called squinting up at the sky.
"Did you guys hear that?" asked Tai.
"It seems to be some kind of aircraft," said Matt.
"It looked like a big flying gear to me," said Sora.
"Admit it, my alien theory is becoming more plausible," said Izzy.
"Never," said Harry dryly.
"What do you think it is?" asked Mimi.
"Should we follow it?" suggested Sora, "I mean if it is an aircraft, a really weird looking one, maybe there's someone flying it?"
"I wanna get a better look," said TK craning his neck trying to see.
TK took another step forward and the root he was standing on broke with a crack. He teetered on the edge of the small plateau, arms wheeling frantically.
"Watch it!" cried Matt.
Matt and Tai both rushed forward. Tai got there first, catching TK under the arms and lifting him off his precarious perch.
"You've got to be more careful where you step TK," scolded Tai gently as he lifted the smaller boy up to eye level, "What if I hadn't been here to catch you, hey? Or what if that root had been a snake or worse?"
"Gee, I'm sorry," said TK blue eyes wide.
"Just try and be more aware of your surroundings, okay?" said Tai setting him down on more solid ground, "I need you here and safe to keep that brother of yours out of trouble."
"Oi!" Matt protested aiming a swat at the back of Tai's head that the laughing goggle headed boy dodged easily.
"Piyomon there aren't really snakes in this forest, are there?" asked TK nervously, halting the impromptu game of tag.
"No, just giant flying bugs and other unpleasant digimon," Piyomon answered reassuringly.
"Don't you worry TK, I'll take care of them," said Patamon fiercely, flying into TK's arms.
TK smiled adoringly at his digimon friend and hugged him close.
"Well, now that that's settled, let's get going," said Sora.
"Nothing is settled, and where would we go? We don't even know where we are," said Matt contrarily.
"Now don't you start up again," Tai said, "We all agreed we would keep moving and see if we could find signs of intelligent life here."
"Hey, is he saying that digimon are not intelligent? Is that what he's saying?" demanded Piyomon, all the while nuzzling her partner's hip affectionately.
"Not at all," Sora assured her, "But I think Tai is right in saying that we need to keep moving in order to find out where we are and if there are any other people here. We just have to keep moving and stick together!"
"Together sounds good!" chirped Piyomon.
Matt moved past them on the path, Gabumon at his side.
"Moving right along here folks, the next stop on our tour will be the forest of irrelevant road signs, please stick to the path provided and remember that this tour does not allow flash photography," he said in a mocking tour-guide-esque voice.
Tai, TK, Izzy and Harry all chuckled as they followed the tall blond.
"Great, we're completely lost and these guys are making jokes," Sora complained to Piyomon rolling her eyes.
"At least they have a sense of humour, unlike someone I could mention," said Gomamon pointedly, needling his human partner.
Joe either didn't understand that Gomamon was talking about him or was just unfazed because he didn't comment.
"Wait a second guys, I need to tie my shoe," said Joe crouching down.
"Joe you really need new shoes," said Mimi.
"What's wrong with my shoes?" asked Joe indignantly.
"Those old things went out of style a good hundred years ago," Mimi answered.
Joe opened his mouth to retort when Matt interrupted.
"Hey," called Matt from the front of the procession, looking through the gap in the trees, "Telephone poles!"
"Telephone poles? That's odd isn't it?" commented Sora.
"Let's follow them and see where they lead," suggested Matt.
"Why?" complained Joe, standing, "They'll only lead to trouble."
"Do telephone poles really count as being more subtle signs of human habitation then telephone booths or a trolley car or even road signs?" Izzy asked mostly to himself.
"Does it matter?" asked Tai with a shrug, "Besides that flying gear-thing they're the only sign of people we've seen so far today."
The whole group filed out of the forest and stood on the edge of a desert filled with telephone poles. The forest stretched out like a wall of green behind them on both sides and in the background to their left they could see a tall almost perfectly conical mountain.
"Hey look!" cried Izzy pointing up at the sky, "It's the alien saucer!"
"And it's headed for a close encounter!" added Matt.
Sure enough the black gear that was whirling through the air like a Frisbee crashed into the top of the mountain, a large plume of dust rising from the impact site.
"Well," said Sora as they watched the dust dissipate, "I guess we won't be following that gear thing."
"I sure hope nobody was in there," added Mimi with a pouty little frown.
"Truthfully Mimi, I doubt that flying gear was a manned aircraft, if in fact it was an aircraft at all," said Izzy, "It was far too small."
"You think?"
"I'm positive."
"Okay," said Tai with a nod, "So what about this desert? Should we follow the telephone poles?"
"Well, it's not like anybody has any better ideas," said Matt.
Harry watched the tall blond carefully. Matt had his hands in his back pockets and seemed not to care whether or not the group thought his idea of following the telephone poles was a good idea or not but there was something in the tone of his voice that made Harry think that he would probably be angry and defensive if someone suggested something else.
"We could follow the treeline around the desert," said Harry, as much to test out his theory about Matt as to make the suggestion, "It would take longer but at least it would be shady. It looks like the telephone poles are all throughout the desert so I doubt we'd lose track of them."
"That would take too long, and we can't know for sure how far into the desert they go," Matt countered a tad defensively, as predicted.
"You're not wrong," shrugged Harry, Senamon translating for his partner, "I'm just not too keen on walking through a desert during the hottest part of the day."
Harry had never actually seen a real desert before, having only just recently ventured outside of Surrey, but he had spent long summer days gardening under the blistering midday sun and he figured that if that was hot wandering around under the blistering midday sun in an actual desert would be worse.
"Well," said Tai, after a moment of staring out at the desert, apparently thinking it all over, "I think we should go for it. I mean we can't exactly cross a desert in the middle of the night with a total of one flashlight and a fire-breathing digimon so it's pretty much either we tough it out or go around."
That seemed to settle it for the group. If Tai thought that going through the desert was what should be done then that was what they would do. Somehow over the course of the past few days the charismatic boy had become something like their leader.
About five minutes after embarking on their desert hike the sight of muted gold-grey sand and telephone poles became boring and Harry took TK up on his offer of Japanese lessons. The first thing he learned was the word for sand and hot followed soon after. The others pitched in a lot as well, expanding Harry's vocabulary and correcting his pronunciation, having nothing else better to do and the task kept their minds of the heat for a short while.
Izzy wiped the sweat from his brow with a grimace.
"It's so hot I can feel the heat coming up through my socks!" TK exclaimed.
"Well, TK, maybe you should put your shoes back on," Matt suggested with a fond eye roll.
"But then I'll get sand in my shoes!" TK protested crinkling his nose at the thought.
"And just what do you think is going to happen when you go and stick your sandy socks back into your clean shoes?" Matt asked rhetorically, "Just put them back on, you're gonna burn your feet and besides no one wants to smell your sweaty feet."
Grudgingly TK got his shoes out of his backpack and quickly slid them back on his feet grimacing when, as Matt had said his socks transferred the sand to the inside of his shoes.
"This hot desert air is going to destroy my complexion," moaned Mimi not long after, "How much further is it?"
"Is that all you're worried about, seriously?" exclaimed Joe, "We'll be lucky if we even survive this hike!"
"I don't think the situation is quite that dire," Harry said dryly, "After all we do still have Mimi's canteen full of water and a whole mess load of fruit, and this island is only so big after all."
Senamon translated for his partner.
"Harry's right, we may be incredibly uncomfortable but I don't think there's any real danger," agreed Izzy, "Besides Joe, we've only been walking for a few minutes."
"It'll all be worth it if we can find some people," Tai said.
"Does anybody besides me notice that none of these telephone poles have connecting wires?" asked Sora glancing around.
"She's right," said Izzy after a moment of observation, "I wonder if these really are telephone poles, or if they're some odd alien equivalent."
"Enough with the aliens already," Harry groaned exasperatedly shaking his head.
"Hey, you remember those freaky telephone booths, and that street car from before?" asked Mimi.
"Yeah, what about them?" asked Tai.
"Well both times we ran into supposedly human technology, it acted odd and then we were attacked by large, angry digimon," Harry pointed out.
"Oh, that's right," said Mimi after Palmon had translated for the rest of the group, "I'd forgotten about that. I was just wondering if anybody else remembered how oddly they were acting because, well, just look at my watch."
Dutifully the group gathered around Mimi as she held out her wrist. When she flicked open the top to reveal the wildly spinning compass the whole group groaned.
"That's it!" cried Joe hysterically, throwing his hands up, "We're doomed! The heat has fried out brains and they're probably leaking out our ears as we speak!"
"Calm down, Joe," said Gomamon shaking his furry head at his partner, "You should conserve some of that manic energy for walking."
"You know Mimi, for someone who hates hiking you sure have a lot of compasses," Tai said bending down to get a closer look, "Of course none of them actually work."
"Oh, well, that explains why I'm always late to camp activities!" Mimi exclaimed cheerfully.
Izzy knelt down and scooped up a handful of the glittering sand.
"Look, this sand contains trace amounts of metal, that's probably what's affecting the compass," he said.
"This place just gets weirder and weirder, I don't like it one bit!" Sora exclaimed, her hands curling into fists.
"Calm down Sora, we're stuck here for now so we just have to bear with it," Tai said.
"Alright, I've taken a soil sample, analyzed the barometric pressure, and calculated the probable relative humidity," said Izzy, interrupting.
"And what did you find out?" asked Sora.
"It's really, really hot."
"I could have told you that," snorted Matt.
"It's going to be alright just keep putting one foot in front of the other," Tai said encouragingly.
"We're going to be okay, just keep moving along," said Mimi.
"My head is baking," panted Palmon, "If this goes on for too much longer I'm going to look like a wilted salad."
"Here, you wear my hat for a while," said Mimi taking off her wide-brimmed pink monstrosity and setting it on her friends head with a smile, "You need it more than I do."
"Thanks Mimi."
"You know," Mimi continued, "This beach would be a lot more popular with just a couple small things, like an ocean, a gentle breeze, snack bar, ooh and hunky lifeguards."
She giggled at the thought.
"I think the lack of those things is why they call this a desert rather than a beach," Harry deadpanned.
"Oh, Sora, I'm so hot I don't know if I can go any further," sighed Piyomon.
"I know it's hard, but you have to try and stay positive," said Sora, "Let's all pretend that it's raining."
"Oh, yay! I simply adore the rain!" cried Piyomon, perking right up at the thought and nuzzling Sora happily.
"Me too," said Matt, "But it's time for a reality check, this isn't getting any better, we haven't come across anything that looks like water or shade or people, in fact the view hasn't changed much at all in the past couple of hours. It might be time to cut our losses and head back to the forest while we still have the energy."
"I'll vote for that," agreed Joe.
"Wait, hold on just a second guys, I think I see something," said Tai taking his mini-telescope out of his pocket, "If I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing…"
"What is it Tai?" asked Izzy eagerly.
"It's not a mirage. It's really a village, with a lake!"
"That's great, real water!" exclaimed Joe happily.
"If there's a village maybe there will be people there," said Izzy.
"And shade!" added Palmon.
"Hey maybe they'll have hat's for sale, we could get you a cute green one! Or maybe something made out of straw, with a pink ribbon!" said Mimi grinning.
"A village with food and water, I'm hungry enough to eat broccoli!" said TK.
"What's broccoli?" asked Patamon tilting his head to one side with a puzzled expression.
"Come on guys, let's get out of this desert!" exclaimed Tai.
"Yeah!" chorused the group.
They picked up the pace and soon after they stopped seeing telephone poles and the sand under their feet turned into hard pack, with a tuft of grass here and there. At the bottom of that ridge, as Tai had promised, there was a village.
The problem was that the village huts weren't even really large enough to fit TK and the digimon, let alone Mimi and Joe who were both over five foot seven. The village was also inhabited by a large number of overly cheerful Pyocomon.
"Wow, from so far away everything looked so much bigger," said Tai blinking as he studied the village and its surroundings up close.
"But they're so cute and tiny!" squealed Mimi.
The village consisted of a spattering of small huts with neat straw roofs, and a large glassy lake with what looked to be the prow of a sunken ocean liner poking out of its depths. It was home to a good fifty Pyocomon who had all gathered around the visiting digimon and their human partners to welcome them enthusiastically.
"Welcome!" chanted the Pyocomon, "Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to our village! We are called Pyocomon! We are so wonderfully glad to have you all as our guests! Please be welcome!"
"Okay, question," said Piyomon authoritatively, silencing the chittering Pyocomon, "Who here knows where we can get a drink?"
"And just what do giant digimon drink?" piped up one of the Pyocomon curiously, addressing Sora.
"Me?" said Sora pointing at herself, "I'm no digimon."
"My friend Sora is what's called a human being. Yes, I know they look funny but in spite of this they are all very nice," said Piyomon.
"What's a human being?"
"If you are not digimon what are you doing here in Digiworld?"
The Pyocomon began chirping and squeaking questions at Piyomon too fast for the others to follow very easily.
"This is not good, there's no way we're going to fit in this place," groaned Joe.
"Relax Joe," said Tai flashing the taller boy an easy grin, "At least the natives here are friendly."
"They're all so adorable, if I could I'd take one home and put it on my bed with all my other stuffed animals!" said Mimi brightly.
Matt huffed, annoyed, sticking his hands in his pockets.
"There she goes again. Do you think Mimi hears the same things we hear? I'm honestly not sure anymore."
"Maybe she's an alien spy," said Izzy.
"One more mention of aliens and I'm going to beat the paranoia out of your head with a stick," Harry warned the redhead.
"TK is tired and hungry," Patamon said fluttering worriedly around his partner's head.
"He's not the only one," sighed Joe his stomach burbling emptily.
They'd passed around the last of the fruit while they were still walking through the desert and it was beginning to look like no dinner unless that lake happened to have fish in it.
"Piyomon just when did you digivolve?" asked one of the Pyocomon.
"When I met Sora, we share a special bond which is magical," answered Piyomon.
"You don't talk like us anymore either, is this how all Piyomon talk?" queried another.
"No, it's how the big ones talk, well, except for Harry. I suppose I must have picked it up from Sora. She is a wonderful and kind human being and I have already learned a lot from her."
"We still don't understand how you digivolved. What is it about being around human beings that makes it happen?"
"Sora needed me," Piyomon declared fiercely, "I had to protect her."
"She needed to protect me," Sora muttered to herself, "I guess that's why she's always following me around and keeping so close."
"That's part of it I guess," said Tai.
Sora started slightly, lost in her thoughts as she was she hadn't heard her friend approach.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Tai grinned easily, casually sweeping his hands up behind his head and dropping down to sit beside her lotus style.
"Really it's because of the bond. The two of you are tied together in ways that we probably won't ever fully understand, just like with me and Agumon and Matt and Gabumon. Doesn't it feel like you've known Piyomon forever? Like you'd do anything for her?"
Sora didn't answer right away and thought hard about what Tai was saying. Did she feel that way with Piyomon? She wasn't sure. The large pink bird-like creature had become precious to her in just a few days, it was true, but really Sora mostly felt like she didn't know what Piyomon was thinking. She tilted her head to watch Piyomon interact with the Pyocomon out of the corner of her eye.
"When she was in danger a power came flowing through me, I couldn't have fought it even if I'd wanted to. All of a sudden I just knew how I should change, and then I did change. I digivolved!"
"That is amazing!"
"How incredible!"
The Pyocomon all exclaimed.
"We're pretty lucky kids," Sora said, turning back to Tai, "You know all this time I've been so freaked out by this place that I didn't realize, just how fortunate we were to have made such wonderful friends."
"Sora!" cheeped Piyomon happily, "We've all been invited to have dinner with the Pyocos. They have offered to share their food with all of us!"
"Yay!" cheered the group.
"Let's see hands if you want lemonade!" called Joe.
"Do they even have lemons in the Digiworld?" asked TK.
"What's a lemon?" asked Gomamon.
"Guess not," sighed Joe, drooping in his disappointment.
"What do Pyocomon eat?" asked TK looking around.
Despite having eaten only a single blue fruit this morning and another red fruit on the walk through the desert Harry wasn't really feeling the effects of hunger the way the rest of the group seemed to be, he blamed that on the Dursleys and their love of the 'no meals' punishment. Izzy in particular seemed to be fantasizing about some dream meal as he stared off into space.
"Look water!" shouted TK suddenly, dashing across the village.
"Water? Where?" asked Izzy, jolted out of his musings.
Turning to face the direction TK was running Harry caught sight of the dainty little spout of water that had caught the blond boy's attention. Just the sight of it made Harry's mouth water in anticipation of ridding his tongue and throat of the dry sandpapery feeling that had come over them.
"Look everybody, a fresh water fountain!"
The group of kids and digimon followed TK over to the fountain.
"Gomamon, there will be no swimming in the fountain!" Joe said sternly.
"What do you take me for?" said Gomamon shooting Joe an offended look.
"The water for this fountain is piped in from a spring on the top of Mihurashi Mountain," explained one of the Pyocomon, "It's the best water in the world!"
"Forget the world," said Tentomon, "Mount Mihurashi water is the best in the entire galaxy!"
"Where's Mount Mihurashi?" TK asked Tentomon.
"Up there!" chorused the Pyocomon turning as one to face the conical mountain the kids had seen before.
"Hey, isn't that a volcano?" said TK squinting at the distant mountain, "Isn't that what grandma says Matt? You can tell because it's a perfect cone."
"Yeah, TK, you're right."
"Yes, it is indeed a volcano and it is active but that is okay because the heat boils away any germs," said another of the Pyocomon.
"Boiling is right," said Joe nervously, "Is the fountain meant to be doing that?"
The children and various digimon all gathered around the fountain and sure enough, just as Joe had observed, the water was boiling away into a hissing column of steam.
"No it's never done this before," said one of the Pyocomon setting the others off in a frenzy of worried chittering.
"TK get back," ordered Matt sharply taking a few cautious steps away from the fountain and dragging the smaller blond boy with him.
Izzy was examining the fountain with a furrowed brow he moved to take a step closer and Harry caught him by the sleeve.
"It's too hot," he told the redhead warningly in Japanese, making good use of TK's earlier lesson and the various complaints of the day.
"I just want to get a look at the bottom of the fountain, the mineral deposits and vigor of the bubbles should give me an approximate idea of what sort of volcanic phenomenon is causing the fountain to boil," Izzy complained shooting Harry an annoyed glance over his shoulder.
All of a sudden the ground seemed to shudder and with a soft rumble the fountain erupted into a huge cloud of steam.
"Get back!" cried Tentomon shoving Harry and Izzy further away from the fountain.
The two boys stared a bit wide-eyed, watching from their position sprawled on the ground as the fountain erupted in a thick white pillar of steam.
"Bloody hell," Harry breathed into the shocked silence.
"That was cool," said TK after another minute, sufficiently awed that his blue eyes were the size of dinner plates.
Matt's hold on his little brother tightened.
"Are you guys alright?" Tai asked cautiously moving around to their side of the fountain and watching as Tentomon and Senamon urged their stunned partners to their feet and further away from the fountain, "What happened?"
"The water evaporated!" the Pyocomon declared shocked.
"It seems that some sort of volcanic activity is affecting the water supply to the fountain and thus the fountain itself," Izzy explained sounding slightly shaky.
"Does that mean there's no more water?" asked TK.
"No," said one of the Pyocomon, "We'll be alright because the lake is always full of water."
"I'm gonna go check it out!" Tai declared dashing off.
A few of the Pyocomon broke off from the main group to follow Tai.
"Let's all go," agreed Matt.
The kids and their digimon partners followed after the two older boys and the worried Pyocomon down to the lakeshore and when they got there they could only gape.
"It's empty," said Tai shocked.
"That's impossible," Izzy said, shaking his head vigorously, "The heat radiating from underground volcanic activity couldn't have boiled away an entire lake within the space of a few minutes! It just wouldn't be hot enough!"
"Is there any other source of water for the village?" Tai asked the Pyocomon nearest to him.
"There is a deep well in the village square but we haven't used it for a very long time," the Pyocomon answered.
"Let's try that then!"
Once again they made the run from the lakeshore back to the village. Word spread quickly amongst the agitated Pyocomon that the lake was dried up and they were quick to fetch the long unused bucket and lead Tai to the well in the centre of the village.
Tai quickly checked the rope and knots to make sure they were sound, and then tossed the bucket into the well without compunction. The group gathered in the centre of the village held their breath, listening as the bucket banged against the sides of the well a few times and then came to a halt with a muffled plop.
"Mud?" asked Sora looking over to Tai.
"Could be, I'm gonna pull the bucket up," he answered with a determined face.
Tai began yanking on the rope, frowning all the while.
"It's too light," he told the group, "I think we might have lost the bucket."
"I watched you check the knots," Matt protested.
"Tai let go!" shouted Agumon head butting his partner and causing him to drop the rope.
Not a moment too soon as a crackling tongue of flame quickly crawled up and devoured the rope that had been in Tai's hands not a moment before.
"Thanks Agumon," breathed Tai.
"Something is seriously wrong here," Sora declared hugging herself around the middle.
Izzy leaned over the side of the well peering down into its depths.
"Izzy, that's dangerous!" Tentomon protested.
"It's alright, the water has already all boiled away," Izzy said waving his partner off, "Look, its glowing red and orange."
Obediently the kids and their digimon peered down into the well and sure enough, at the bottom of the black pit there was a faint fiery glow.
"What is it?" queried Mimi and TK almost in unison.
"It's an underground lava flow, a river of molten rock moving under the village," Izzy explained, "I just don't understand what could be causing such sudden violent volcanic phenomena when there's no indication that an eruption is imminent."
"How could this happen?" wailed the Pyocomon, "What are we going to do?"
"Now, everybody just stay calm, okay?" said Tai authoritatively, "We need to think this through."
"You guys!" Matt exclaimed suddenly, "You remember that big flying gear from before? Didn't it crash into that mountain?"
"You're right!" agreed Sora, "Of all the mountains it could have crashed into it just had to Mihurashi Mountain!"
"And that's the place where the water comes from," added Joe.
"That's right," agreed one of the Pyocomon, "The majority of the water comes from a lake at the top of Mount Mihurashi so something like a gear crashing into it could easily affect our water supply."
"Mmhm," nodded Izzy, "An impact like that, especially if there was damage to the internal structures of the volcano could trigger some of these phenomena. What I don't understand is how the effects managed to spread so quickly."
"Maybe we should investigate," suggested Matt.
"We can't!" the Pyocomon protested, "We don't dare go up there, the Mountain is home to a fiery digimon called Meramon. He is hideously dangerous!"
A shudder ran through the group of Pyocomon as the rest of the villagers chittered their agreement.
"Don't worry," said Tai, "I can get a good look at what's going on with my mini-telescope."
He pulled the small gadget out of his pants pocket and directed the lens up to the peak of Mount Mihurashi, occasionally fiddling with one of the dials.
"Do you see it Tai?" asked Agumon.
"Yeah, I've got a good view of it now," Tai answered, "Hey Izzy what are some danger signs I should look for?"
"Black smoke or ash clouds, particularly violent or irregular bursts of steam from side vents fires among the vegetation and any actual lava are all bad signs."
Tai nodded and peered hard through the telescope. Harry chewed anxiously on his lower lip and wished fervently that he could see what was going on at the top of that mountain. He didn't have much experience with volcanoes, living in Surrey, but he'd seen the occasional violent eruption on the telly as part of a movie or a nature show that the Dursleys happened to be watching and he wasn't eager to be anywhere near an erupting volcano.
"Whoa!" Tai exclaimed suddenly.
The group automatically turned their heads to where the older boy was looking and even they could see the glow of a huge fire at the top of the mountain.
"What is it?" demanded Joe shrilly, "Is it an eruption?"
"No," said Tai after a moment, "It doesn't look like lava...it looks like a digimon! This Meramon you said he was a fire-type digimon, right?"
"That's right!" agreed the Pyocos.
"I can see him clearly now and he's coming this way! He's hurtling down the side of the mountain! It almost looks like he's crying...he seems to be in pain, like serious pain."
"Oh no!"
The cry echoed from the mouths of dozens of frightened Pyocomon.
"Meramon's flames can burn through anything in his path!"
"If he's coming this way the village will be destroyed!"
"What are we going to do?"
"Oh no! Oh no! No! No! No!"
"Meramon never comedown off the mountain though, this is very strange behaviour for him!"
"Tai said that he looked like he was in pain," said Senamon, "Could it be that the crash hurt him in some way?"
"It looks like he's completely on fire, that's got to be pretty painful right?" said Tai looking unsure.
"Meramon is a fiery type digimon," Palmon protested, "He shouldn't feel any pain from his own flames! It's his nature!"
"It looks almost like he's crying," said Tai putting away his telescope.
"We have to decide what we're going to do and fast," said Matt grimly, "He's already hit the forest, you can see the fires from here."
"I've never seen him move so fast!" cried one of the Pyocomon.
"He's headed straight for the village, we have to evacuate!" said Joe frantically.
"Evacuate to where?" Sora demanded, "He's too fast to run from! If we stay very still he might run right past us it doesn't seem like he's going to stop."
"We can't count on that!" Matt snapped.
"What about the boat? It's metal right? He can't burn that," said Tai, "Its big enough we can all hide there."
"Whatever we're doing let's do it now, I can see him getting closer!" Harry shouted.
"Come on, start running!" Mimi ordered taking off at full tilt.
The other kids, their digimon partners and the Pyocomon followed after the older girl as once again they traced the path from the village down to the lakeshore.
The Pyocomon moved in what amounted to a panicked swarm, throwing themselves over the ledge that marked the start of the lake with little regard for their safety. Harry and the other humans had to be more careful as they slid down the side of the bluff with less care then they might have otherwise exercised.
Harry's feet hit the solid earth of the lakebed and all of a sudden it was like he was back walking in that desert the heat radiating up through the thin soles of his trainers. Next to him Izzy tripped and stumbled hissing as his bare knees made contact with the burning hot ground.
"Are you okay?" he asked hauling the redhead to his feet.
"I'm fine, let's go!" said Izzy urgently.
The boat was only about half-way across the breadth of the lake but in their panic some of the Pyocomon continued fleeing right past their shelter and had to be corralled by Senamon, Agumon and Palmon while Tentomon, Patamon, Gabumon and their partners led the Pyocomon through the interior of the ship to the upper decks. A great number of younger Pyocomon had, in their fear, latched on to the taller figures of Joe and Mimi and the two teens had to carry them inside with some help from Gomamon.
"Alright, that's good, follow Gomamon inside!" Tai called out to the swarming Pyocomon as they managed to organise themselves into what passed for a queue.
"Hey! No pushing, there's room for all of you!" Matt scolded his voice echoing from above where he and TK were directing things on the upper deck of the shipwreck.
"This way, come on! Follow the others into the ship!" Harry urged manhandling another stray Pyocomon Senamon herded his way into the rush headed for the door.
"I've got the next batch!" Joe called all but invisible under a blanket of clingy digimon-in-training.
"Spread out, away from the door, make room!" Izzy instructed.
Tentomon flew up to join Izzy on the upper decks, a squirming Pyocomon in his pincers.
"Alright, are we missing anyone?" Sora demanded.
Then she seemed to realize that Piyomon was not by her side. Glancing up at the ride where the lake had formerly met with the shore she spotted her digimon partner leading the last wave of panicked Pyocomon over the edge.
"That's it, just follow the one in front of you!" she ordered wings flared wide to keep any of the younger digimon from veering off course.
"Piyomon!" called Sora, "Get down from there while there's still time!"
"I can't leave until all my friends are safe Sora!"
Sora grit her teeth and turned away from her post opposite Tai ushering the Pyocos through the door into the boat and running back the other way towards the ridge.
"Fine, then I'm coming up there after you!"
"Sora!" Tai protested, unable to do anything as the last wave of charging bouncing Pyocomon all but overwhelmed him.
"Sora you'll never make it in time!" cried Mimi.
"Sora come back!" called Matt.
Harry took up Sora's former position opposite Tai and together they managed to get everybody aboard the ship. The two boys turned to watch anxiously as Sora crossed the lakebed with long-legged strides and Piyomon turned and did one last search for any stragglers.
"Oh no!" cried Tai suddenly.
Harry spotted what had the older boy so worried in a second. The flaming figure of Meramon appeared on the ridge and Piyomon had her back turned to him. Meramon was shaped vaguely like a muscular giant of a man he was at least eight or nine feet tall and it seemed like apart from a flat pair of blue eyes and a gaping slash of a mouth that he was made of flame.
"Watch out!" shouted Sora, "Piyomon he's right behind you!"
Piyomon to her credit didn't look the least bit frightened when she turned to face the fiery digimon.
"Leave us alone Meramon! We're not bothering you!" she cried wings flaring as though she could stand as a barrier between the gigantic flaming digimon and her friends.
Meramon swatted her off the side of the cliff with one hand and an annoyed growling cry.
Piyomon screeched as she went flying tumbling end over end through the air and unable to get her wings out to stop her fall.
"Piyo! Piyo!" cried Sora.
At the last moment Sora managed to get herself under her falling digimon catching the pink bird in her arms before they both crashed into the ground kicking up a plume of dust.
"Are they okay?" Tai demanded, "Can you see?"
"I see them Tai, they're alright!" Agumon answered.
"Piyomon is attacking Meramon on her own!" Senamon called out.
Harry and the others caught sight of the green flare and heard Piyomon's increasingly familiar shout of Spiral Twister.
"We have to go help her!" cried Tai, "He's too big to handle alone!"
It seemed that the others had been thinking along the same lines as Tai because while Matt, Joe, Mimi and TK stayed to keep the Pyocomon from hurting themselves in their panicked frenzy, Izzy and their digimon joined Tai, Harry, Agumon and Senamon in rushing forward to try and help Sora and Piyomon.
"Fireball!" snarled Meramon tossing a flaming sphere that was almost as impressive as Greymon's Nova Blast at the defiant Piyomon.
Piyomon screeched in pain.
"Oh no, she's hit!"
"Come on guys we can beat him!" shouted Tai as they came up alongside Sora who had fallen to her knees when Piyomon fell for the second time.
"What we need is teamwork!" Izzy instructed, "All together now!"
Tentomon and the others with long range attacks all used them against Meramon simultaneously while Senamon, moving in a lightning quick slithering motion, moved to Piyomon's side and helped her gain her feet.
"Look there Sora, she's alright!" Harry said shaking the girl's shoulder to grab her attention, "Senamon's with her, she's fine."
Sora brushed off his hold and staggered to her feet rushing to her digimon's side.
"Wait Sora, it's dangerous!" cried Harry.
He got about two steps after her before Izzy latched onto his arm pulling him back.
"There's nothing you can do, trust that Piyomon and Senamon will protect her," said the redhead, worry etched into his features as the other digimon formed a protective barrier between the ridge and the humans.
"Those attacks barely even touched him! What do we do? If only we knew what was causing him to cry like that!" yelled Tai frustrated.
"Well the fire's not what's affecting him and I'm guessing it's not heartburn," snapped Izzy.
Meramon roared, the agony plainly etched into his features, and began to grow in size until he was easily fifteen feet tall and even in at the base of the ridge the kids could feel the heat from his flames as fresh beads of sweat rolled down their faces and soaked into their clothes.
"Is that the best you can do?" snarled the fiery digimon as molten tears rolled down the side of his face and disappeared back into the raging inferno of his body.
With a choppy movement the huge digimon jumped off the side of the ridge.
"They're too close, they're going to be crushed!" cried Harry straining against Izzy's surprisingly strong hold.
"We're going to be crushed and burned, we have to move back!" cried Tentomon.
"There's no time!" shouted Agumon.
"SORA!" screeched Piyomon.
The soft whir of the digivices filled the air, but it was Sora's that glowed like a bright green star on her belt as white light enveloped Piyomon.
"Piyomon digivolve to—Birdramon!"
With a cawing battle cry a great flaming bird with a muzzle full of fangs rather than a beak burst forth from the white light that had surrounded Piyomon and with two strokes of her enormous wings Birdramon flung Meramon back onto the top of the ridge with a great crash.
She wheeled around with surprising speed for a bird of her size and let out another war cry that all but dared Meramon to attempt another attack on her human partner, flaming wings flared wide and long talons glinting menacingly in the late afternoon sun.
"Piyomon must have digivolved into Birdramon to save Sora!" Izzy exclaimed.
"What you're going to fight me now Birdramon?" shouted Meramon with a mocking laugh throwing fireball after fireball in quick succession.
Not having the time to dodge or not wanting the attacks to potentially endanger her friends below Birdramon took them full on and though she cried out each time one hit she didn't seem to be badly injured by them.
"Birdramon move away!" cried Sora from where Senamon was trying to usher her back to the relative safety of the group.
Within a few wing beats Birdramon rose high over Meramon, the span of her body blotting out the sun. Her wings crackled and flared with light like so many fireworks. With another cry she pulled her wings in around her body as if to shield herself and then quick as a flash unfurled them again sending five, then ten, rocketing fireballs directly at Meramon's towering frame where they all struck true.
Meramon dropped to his knees with an outraged cry, shrinking in on himself until he was once again only eight or nine feet tall and with a groan that spoke of both pure suffering and instant relief the flames of his back parted and a spinning black disk was violently expelled from his body to explode in midair.
"It was that gear!" Izzy exclaimed, "It was driving him crazy!"
"Yeah well I guess if any of us had a big black gear inside of us we'd go a little crazy too," said Tai wonderingly, "Geez, the poor guy must have been in a lot of pain."
White light engulfed Birdramon once more as the wind kicked up by her great wings faded and she de-digivolved back into the more familiar Piyomon. Sora held out her arms and caught her feathered friend in a tight embrace.
"Sora!"
"Oh Piyo! I was so worried, but I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you. Thank you so much for saving us!"
"I wasn't the least bit afraid, all I could think about was saving you because you're my partner and my very best friend and...well, you know."
"I do," Sora agreed burying her face in her digimon's feathers, "I really do."
The Pyocomon, now assured of their safety, left the boat in a swarm of pink and climbed back up the side of the ridge to check on the damage done to their village. Some of the braver ones arrayed themselves around Meramon watching his unconscious form with equal parts curiosity and wariness. By the time everybody had been brought back up the ridge and Izzy had finished examining the lake to make sure that it was indeed Meramon's flames that caused it to dry up and not some volcanic phenomenon the sun was on the verge of setting and had turned the sky from blue to soft pink and purple.
It was then that Meramon began to stir sitting up and clutching at his head, rubbing at what would have been his breastbone on a human.
"What...happened?" said the fire digimon thickly glancing around at all the Pyocomon.
"Meramon why did you attack our village and our guests?" chirped one of the Pyocomon.
"I couldn't control myself, all I could feel was the pain, like I was splintering from the inside out," answered Meramon.
"That sounds terrible!"
"How awful!"
"But Meramon if you were not in control of yourself who was controlling you?"
"That's something I think we'd all like to know," agreed Tai.
"I don't know," said Meramon slowly, trying to think about it, "The last thing I can remember clearly is being hit by that gear..."
"I think it's safe to say that whoever set that gear lose is the one who was controlling Meramon," Izzy said thoughtfully.
"Well that doesn't sound like someone we ought to go looking for," said Matt hovering protectively over TK.
"Finally someone talking sense, haven't I been saying that we shouldn't be rushing headlong into dangerous situations?" Joe exclaimed, feeling vindicated.
"Well we're all just happy that you're back to normal," said another of the Pyocomon.
"Yes," one of her fellows agreed, bouncing, "You're needed to protect Mihurashi Mountain!"
"I hope nothing like this ever happens again," said another to a chorus of chirping agreement.
Meramon rose to his feet, towering over both the group of kids and their digimon partners and the gathered Pyocomon.
"If you would all please excuse me, I think it's time I went home."
"Of course Meramon, you must be exhausted," cheeped one of the Pyocomon.
"Then I offer my sincerest apologies for the trouble I've caused, and I'll take my leave."
With a deep, respectful nod of his flaming head Meramon turned and began the sprint back up to the top of the mountain.
"Goodbye Meramon!"
"Goodbye!"
"May you always stay well."
The group of kids and digimon watched until Meramon's fiery figure faded to a mere pinprick of light against the tree line and then disappeared altogether.
"I just remembered you never did get that meal we promised you," Piyomon piped up into the ensuing silence, "You must be starving!"
As if on cue TK's stomach growled.
"My tummy's ready for some action," he groaned.
"Ugh, mine too, let's eat," Tai agreed.
"We'll feed you!" cheered the Pyocomon.
"Yes, come and eat!"
The Pyocomon all but fell over themselves rushing into their huts and bringing out stacks of neatly carved wooden bowls and filling them with scoops of large white seeds that seemed to come from a bulbous green plant that grew in a field off to one side of the village.
"What is this stuff?" Tai asked staring at the contents of his bowl with a skeptical expression.
"Never you mind and just eat it," scolded Mimi, "A gracious guest never insults his hosts' cooking!"
As if to demonstrate she popped a few seeds into her mouth and chewed them with a bright smile before thanking the Pyocomon munching nearest to her.
"I can't even tell if it is cooked," Tai complained.
"Eat as much as you like there's plenty of food for seconds!" said Piyomon happily.
"And there's probably a good reason for that," said Joe staring at his bowl as if he expected it to get up and walk away.
TK regarded his bowl curiously.
"Well it smells better than broccoli so maybe it'll taste better," he reasoned before digging in with unabashed gusto.
"Has anyone noticed we talk a lot about food?" asked Matt scooping up a handful of his own dinner and favouring it with a neutral expression before eating it.
"I think I'm gonna skip this one," Sora said, setting her bowl off to the side, "I'm not really hungry."
"Yeah," Joe agreed, "I don't like to eat on an empty stomach. Besides I don't know what this stuff is exactly but I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to it."
That earned a laugh out of everyone present.
"If we had a pot or something we could cook it like rice I'll bet," said Izzy with a wistful sigh.
Harry, who was eating with the efficiency of someone who is used to not knowing when or what his next meal might be, couldn't see what all the fuss was about. At least they had food and it was filling and edible.
"Stop being such a baby and eat it," he urged the redhead at his side, "We'll need to have energy for walking tomorrow, besides it's not bad, it tastes a bit like pumpkin seeds without the salt."
"I like fish better," said Senamon after relaying Harry's comment to Izzy.
"Given you dental structures I'm not surprised," said Izzy as hunger finally won out over distaste and he dug into his meal.
By the time the kids and their digimon finished eating their obligatory bowl of seeds the sun had fully set and the events of the day caught up to them. They helped their hosts wash up for the night and thanked them profusely for being so kind as to share their food and then collapsed on a grassy knoll on the outskirts of the village under the shade of a tall tree and fell promptly asleep.
AN: Whew! Can you say long chappie? What? You can't? I'll say it for you then, LOOOONG CHAPPPIIIEEE!
I'm still not sure how pleased I am with the outcome of this chapter, but I like it better than my first draft so I suppose that's something. Not a lot of Harry action again which is frustrating both for you all as readers and for myself as a writer but, as one reviewer pointed out, each of the digidestined kids have their time to shine and today was for Sora and Piyomon.
Suggestions for how to take this story to the next level as far as plot is concerned are most welcome especially for the next few chapters. My storyline puts the real deviations from the canon events around episode fifteen or so but I know you guys want to see more Harry and sooner so ideas and comments are definitely appreciated!
See you on the next go around!
-thegenuineimitation