The Digidestined had made it a few miles from where they started and much farther away from the giant digimon that attacked them. They were mostly walking in awkward silence with Sapphire making the occasional 'Hey! Look at this!' at any object of nature not native to the real world. Bearmon hated all the quiet and perked up.
"You know, we never saw some of your digivices. I know they're all different colors. Show them Dexter." Dexter, surprised by the sudden task, fidgeted around in his pocket before pulling out a red digivice.
"Oh cool! Mine's pink! It's a shade of red, so we're kinda the same.." Kimberly said with an awkward smile as she took out her digivice
"Orange." Chester simply stated
"Mine's white." Lucas pulled his digivice out of his jacket pocket
"Well MINE is this beautiful shade of yellow." Hailey took hers out of a pocket in her skirt and showed it off, "As you can see, it almost looks like gold and is not dusty at all. In perfect condition, the universe clearly is saying I'm better than all of you!"
"Dude, it's the color of pee." Commented Gilly earning snickers from the others.
"OH SHUT IT."
"I like our digivice Hailey." Lunamon said, still in Hailey's arms like a posh, rich girl's chiwawa.
"Dude, Lopmon, how far away is the town. We've been walking for like 4 hours." Complained Sapphire
"It's about a day's walk away from where we are now actually." stated Lopmon
"WHAT." Yelled Hailey, "You can't POSSIBLY be doing this to me! My feet are delicate, I don't want them to get all rough and ruined in this terrible terrain."
"While Hailey's being whiny about it, I have to agree that's a bit of a walk away, and it's getting dark too. We should take a rest for the night." Said Kimberly
"I agree. There's a river somewhere here right? We can rest there and wash up a bit." Said Lucas.
The group went off the path a little ways to find a calm river, unlike the one they saw on the cliff. Gomamon jumped in excited to be in his water environment while the others washed their faces and hand if need be. Sapphire took off her sparkly vans and placed them by her side as she stuck her feet into the water.
"Ahhhh, how refreshing." She said. She then turned to her blue digimon partner, "Gaomon, you should try. It's not too cold, I promise!"
Gaomon looked down into the water, shrugged, then proceeded to do the same. "Ohh, your right. This is nice."
Just then, Bearmon's stomach started to growl. "Hey, I think we should go look for some food." He said
"That's a good idea too, but we need someone to stay and build a fire to keep us warm." Stated Lucas
"I'll stay." Said Sapphire
"You know how to build a fire?" Asked Richie
"Yeah, my dad was in the army and he taught me just for occasions like this!" The short girl said happily.
"Alright, we'll stay in teams besides Sapphire and Gaomon." Started Lucas, " Kimberly, Kudamon, Chester, and Salamon will look west of here. Gilly, Renamon, Chester, and Bearmon will look east. Me, Elecmon, Hailey, and Lunamon will take south. Richie, Gomamon, Emily, and Lopmon will follow Gomamon down the river to catch fish."
So with nods from everyone (with the exception of Richie, Hailey, and Chester, who just looked annoyed), they went into their respective groups and walked into the forest leaving Gaomon and Sapphire by themselves. Gaomon gathered some sticks and branches while Sapphire got some dried up leaves. She took off her glasses and, with whatever sun light was left, tried to focus it on to the pile they made. Soon enough, a nice fire was going.
"Wow, nice going!" Complimented Gaomon
"Thanks. Whew, I'm so glad that worked. I did not want to start rubbing sticks together." There was a brief period of awkward silence "...So Gaomon, how old are you? Do Digimon age?" She then had a worried look, "Can digimon die?"
"Well, we're basically programs that have come to life. We have a certain age where we cease to exist, but that age is usually in the 200s. I'm actually 70."
Sapphire looked at him in surprise, "Really? Dang, your an old man!" She jokingly said. "Can you die before that age though?"
"Well, no. But we can be temporarily destroyed."
"Temporarily?"
"Yes, if we are hurt enough, we are destroyed and our pixel programs are reverted into a digiegg to be picked up at the nearest digidaycare."
"So, are you guys born? Do you have families?"
"Yeah. I have a little brother and two parents."
"Then how did you end up with me?"
"When Malomyotismon started attacking, a prophecy was made by an all powerful digimon saying how the digidestined will save us and all that. Well, the prophecy also talked about the digivices." He pointed to Sapphire's pocket where her black device was, "That appeared to me a week ago. I said goodbye to my family and got transported here to wait for you." He smiled at the end
Sapphire gave him a smile back as she nodded and stared into the fire. "Do you want to know what earth is like?"
"I kinda already know. You see, the Digital World is basically the internet. We know all about your news, your culture, even these things you call 'memes.'"
Sapphire bursted out laughing, "Holy crap, you know memes?" She said in between giggles.
Gaomon chuckled a bit, "Yeah."
Sapphire's face then fell, "...Oh crap that means you've seen Tik Toks."
Gaomon's face fell as well. "...yeah." He then shook his head to change the subject, "What about you? What's your family like? You said your dad was in the army?"
Sapphire nodded, "He's retired now so he just spends his time looking after me and my mom while doing DIY projects around the house. He's a bit stern, but it comes out of love!"
"Cool. Do you have any siblings? Brothers, sisters?"
"No, only child. I get all the attention, both good and bad. Sometimes I wish I had a sibling to relieve some tension off of me." She sighed
"Yeah, sometimes it's nice to have a sibling for that reason, although, they can be annoying at times too."
Sapphire and Gaomon laughed at that as they continued to talk. It was an hour later when they started to get worried for the others. The sun had already set
"The hell? They should be back by now!" Sapphire contemplated
"Maybe it's taking them longer to find food in the dark." Reassured Gaomon
"Yeah, maybe."
That reasurrence went out the window as Emily ran to the two from the forest. She had a panicked look on her face and was all dirty with dust and leaves. "Guys! There's a freaking spider digimon thing that trapped the others! Lopmon is fighting it right now!"
"Spider?" Sapphire questioned
"That must be an Arukenimon! They live all over this forest! But, they're usually friendly." Stated Gaomon
"She had a dark ring. We need to go before something bad happens!" Yelled Emily.
The eighth grader lead the two through the forest to a clearing with a battle between Lopmon and a weird digimon. It had a red, spider body with purple markings on it while there was a woman's body where the head of the spider was supposed to be. The woman wore a red torn dress and had pale grey skin. Her disheveled, long hair was pale blue and had horns sticking out of it. Her smile never left her face and all her teeth were sharp. Behind her was a giant spider web that had trapped the other digidestined and digimon. Hailey was the only one with webbing covering her mouth.
"Blazing ice!" Small ice shards went towards Arukenimon but she dodged them. She then caught a weak Lopmon and threw her into the web.
"Sapphire look!" Yelled Lucas as he pointed towards Arukenimon with his foot. Sapphire looked to find the dark ring on her wrist like a bracelet.
"Now it's your turn!" She yelled at Emily. Arukenimon tried to shoot a spider stream towards Emily but Gaomon blocked it with a Wild Bark.
"Sapphire, if Emily gets hurt I'll kill you!" Yelled Richie
"Aw! You do care!" Emily commented excitedly
"-Since mom and dad will kill me!"
"Oh" her voice and face fell
"Emily, hide in the bushes over there." Commanded Sapphire. Emily did so.
"Double backhand!" yelled Gaomon. He started spinning and span closer and closer towards Arukenimon and landed some hits before Arukenimon slapped him aside.
"Spider Thread!" Arukenimon yelled. She spun multiple white threads and hit Gaomon with them. Gaomon kept dodging and throwing punches while Arukenimon tried slapping him and spinning threads.
"Times up for you furball!" Arukenimon yelled and she punched Gaomon to the ground. "Now, to defeat you once and for all-"
With that, Arukenimon was greeted with a swift roundhouse kick to the face courtesy of Sapphire. She had the most angriest face the group has ever seen, minus that one time.
"Ah frick, it's like 2016 all over again." Lamented Lucas.
Sapphire started fighting Arukenimon herself with swift punches, kicks, and other martial arts moves.
"Sapphire no!" Yelled Gaomon, "Digimon are way stronger than humans! You don't have a chance!"
"I just can't let you do this Gaomon-" Arukenimon landed a punch to Sapphire's face knocking her to the ground. Arukenimon picked her up and spun her in a cocoon leaving only her head exposed. Arukenimon then repeatedly shoved her body into the ground.
"Holy-" Said Bearmon
"Sapphire no!" Yelled Kimberly
Gaomon watched on. "I… I can't just lay here." He slowly got up, "I got to help her!" He ran as quickly as he can, "SAPPHIRE!"
Just then, Sapphire's digivice started shining with a bright, black light. So did Gaomon.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's happening." Asked Hailey
"He's-he's digivolving!" Yelled Kudamon
"Gaomon digivolve too…" The group saw the blue dog's form shift to a large, four legged wolf, his scarf ends morphed into two long claws. The fur around his neck became all white and fluffy, almost like a lion's mane."...Gaogamon!"
"Well, my hope of surviving just went up." Commented Chester
"You think some fancy new form can stop me!" Arukenimon yelled as she held up an unconscious Sapphire.
Gaogamon growled before shouting, "Gaoga Hound!" He dashed up towards the spider digimon at high speeds and bit the arm holding Sapphire. While he did that, his scarf scratched and clawed at Arukenimon's body and face. While in pain, Arukenimon dropped Sapphire and one of Gaogamon's scarf claws caught her. Gaogamon let go of Arukenimon's arm and gently placed Sapphire's body next to Emily in the bush. He then turned his attention towards the red spider. He leapt at her, and distracted her with his scarf. While she payed attention to those, he lunged his large fangs at the ring on her arm. He bit down and broke it, causing Arukenimon to fall on the floor.
"Oh cool, carnage." Commented Gilly
"Heck yes Gaomon!" Started Kimberly, "Or, Gaogamon? What's your name?"
"Whatever it is, that was great!" Yelled Emily. Gaogamon cut the others out of the web before cutting Sapphire out of hers.
"Sapphire wake up!" Yelled Renamon
"Come on girl, you can't do this now!" Said Elecmon
"Yeah, it's only the third chapter!" Yelled Gomamon
"What?" Asked everyone
"I mean, it's been one day!"
Gaogamon then reverted back to Gaomon.
"Oh boo, you don't stay like that?" Asked Hailey, Gaomon shook his head no
The group then heard coughing behind them. They turned and saw Arukenimon get up.
Chester and Bearmon were about to react but Lopmon stopped them. "Guys, she doesn't have the dark ring, and Arukenimon are usually friendly."
The spider got up, well tried to. She looked up at the teens and digimon around her, "Oh, will any of you fine digimon help me please." It was nice, her voice sounded like an old grandma now. Renamon and Dexter ran up to help her stand up. The spider then looked at the young human female on the ground, "Oh poor deary! We should take her to my house, it's not far from here. What happened?"
Chester and Lucas lifted Sapphire up from the ground. "Thank you for your hospitality." Said Lucas. "And, we'll tell you the story on the way there." Lunamon said awkwardly.
The group started to make their way towards Arukenimon's house, while Gaomon looked on at his digimon partner.
"I have a great partner." he thought to himself