--o--o--o--
Chapter 5
Into the Woods
--o--o--o--
They hadn't quite reached the oasis between the pyramids when night fell like a rolling power outage, whole sections of the sky going black one after the other. Rika was impatient to hunt for Calumon but after looking through the gate at the solid blackness of the forest, she agreed it would be pointless to search until daylight. She did insist on stepping through to make a scan with her digivice, though.
"Weird," she mumbled, staring at the info disk, "No blips, but there are a bunch of blue speckles. I've never seen anything like it before." She slipped her thumb off of the button and the disk vanished.
Renamon had collected a pile of dry wood and Kaliskamon had gotten a good fire going by the simple expedient of chomping down on one of the thicker pieces and pumping a little Fire Bite energy into it.
"So," Rika said to Kaliskamon, as she settled herself near the fire, "Fill me in on all this information you got out of the other renamon."
--o--o--o--
Kunomon paced up and down the length of the dark forest clearing, nervously flexing her fists. She had tried to sleep but every time she closed her eyes she saw Kaliskamon's face above hers and remembered the feel of his powerful body pressing down on hers-- his tongue washing away the pain and ruin of her mangled hand.
"Idiot," she hissed explosively.
She growled as she thought about the last touch of his tongue-- that unnecessary, gentle caress on her cheek as he had said, "I'm sorry I had to hurt you."
She shook her head as if she could shake the memory of that afternoon out of it. "Moron!"
And he had thanked her. Thanked her for the mix of lies and half-truths she had fed him. "Fool," she sneered as she unconsciously lifted her hand to touch the place on her cheek where he had kissed her.
--o--o--o--
"We need to tell Rika," Kaliskamon said to Renamon as they walked on the far side of the oasis pool from where Rika was sleeping. "As soon as we find Calumon, she'll want to join up with the others and return to the real world."
"We should have told her before now," Renamon replied, "but there never seemed to be a good time to do it-- or a pressing reason." She sighed unhappily. "We can't ask any of them to delay returning for our sake."
"I seem to remember that we've fought a heck of a lot of pretty tough bad guys for their sake," Kaliskamon said in a disgusted tone of voice. "But-- yeah-- you're right. It would be awful stupid of them to go risking themselves for the sake of one little digimon."
"That's unfair and you know it." Renamon said, flicking one of his ears with a claw tip.
"What the heck do I know about being fair?" he grumbled. "I bet Kazu and Kenta would be willing to stay if they thought they could pick up digimon partners in Primary Village. It'd be like a shopping spree for them"
Renamon shook her head. "Just because those two are greedy and foolish doesn't mean we should take advantage of them-- and I still have my doubts that Primary Village even exists. Kunomon may have lied to you."
Kaliskamon gave a shocked gasp of surprise. "A nice girl like that, tell a lie? How can you even think such a thing?" His mocking intent would have been perfectly clear even if he hadn't made his fur colors form the blinking word "sarcasm" on his flank in glowing strokes of light as he spoke.
Renamon grinned and lightly backhanded him on the shoulder. "I'm not saying the possibility shouldn't be investigated-- I just keep remembering images of it from the TV show and it certainly didn't look like a place that would be likely to exist in this dimension."
"Yeah, yeah," Kaliskamon sighed, "And you know something-- I bet that the others would stay if we asked them. They're a good bunch of kids-- hell, they're frikkin' heroes when you think about it." He stopped walking suddenly and stood silently for a long moment, thinking. "And that's why we can't tell them," he said finally.
"What?" Renamon frowned at him in puzzlement.
Kaliskamon shook his head. "It's Takato. I think Henry would be smart enough to realize they needed to get Calumon back to Earth to foil the plans of this cracked-brained Sovereign, Zhuqiaomon-- but Takato? Suffering Tesla, that kid would volunteer to stay behind!"
"Well," Renamon said slowly, "you may be right. But then what are we going to do?"
"They need to go back," Kaliskamon said, thinking out loud. "Rika shouldn't stay here and she needs a partner with her, so you need to go back with her. That leaves me."
"I don't like the idea of you being here by yourself." Renamon said.
"I don't like the idea of being parted from you, either" Kaliskamon replied, "but I can't think of a better way-- can you?"
Renamon was still and silent for a long while and then she shook her head slowly. "No, the Sovereign will surely make attempts to recapture Calumon and I need to be at Rika's side when that happens."
"Okay, then," Kaliskamon said in a casual voice, "I guess that's settled. We tell Rika so she'll know what's going to happen but we keep the secret from the rest of them, and I just stay behind when you all leave."
Renamon could hear how forced his seemingly offhanded manner was. He knew how dangerous it would be for him, alone and unable to digivolve beyond his Rookie form but he was willing to do it for the both of them-- for the sake of their child. She turned and crouched by the pool and stared into its dark surface. After a moment, she picked up a small pebble and dropped it in, making the glowing reflection of the Earth dance and waver. "This may be our last night together for a long while,' she said quietly.
"Yeah," he said sadly, sitting down behind her and resting his muzzle on her shoulder.
She turned in one supple movement and her arms went around his neck as her mouth met his and a fierce, loving kiss. He responded passionately but Renamon only continued the kiss for another moment before grabbing his cheek tufts and shoving his head back so that she could look him directly in his eyes. "Let's make it a memorable one, shall we?"
The air around her began to crackle.
--o--o--o--
"So," Rika said to Renamon in a carefully neutral voice, the next morning after her partners' plan had been explained to her, "you're staying with me and you," she turned to Coyomon, "are going to stay behind to look for this egg when we leave?"
"Yes Rika," Coyomon nodded.
Rika reached down to her belt and unclipped Coyomon's digivice and held it out to him.
"What?" he gasped. "Rika, I'm not leaving forever, it's just until I can find our egg and--"
"Sure," Rika said with cold fury, still holding out his digivice. "Whatever."
"Rika!" Renamon with hurt bewilderment in her voice.
Coyomon knelt before Rika and looked directly into her eyes. "Throw it away if you don't want it," he said, "but I'm not going to take it back-- ever. You're my tamer, Rika Nonaka, and you will be my tamer until one of us dies. I'll never have another, no matter what happens."
Rika blinked and her hand wavered a little.
"If you don't want me to stay here, then tell me so, and I'll leave with you." Coyomon continued.
"But--" Rika lowered her hand slightly, "Your egg--"
"Is very important to me, yes-- but not as important as you are. It's your decision, tamer." He stared into her eyes, unblinking.
Rika scowled as she clipped the digivice back onto her belt. "We haven't even found Calumon yet. There's plenty of time to figure out what to do. Let's get going." She shouldered her pack, turned and stomped through the gate without another word.
Rika's partners followed her from a distance, knowing better than to crowd their tamer when she was in such a mood. "Would you really give up the search for our egg if Rika told you to?" Renamon asked Coyomon in a nearly silent whisper.
He shook his head slowly and whispered back, "Lover, I really have no frikkin' idea what I'd do," he sighed. "What came out of my mouth back there-- I didn't know what I was going to say until I heard it myself. But," he paused, considering, "it felt right."
--o--o--o--
Kunomon watched them from a distance until their search pattern became clear. A flock of curious digignomes followed them, making tracking them ridiculously easy. They were working their way toward the mountains, sweeping back and forth through the woods on the near side of the river.
"Mon, mon, Calumon--" she murmured quietly to herself, "to think I once planned on handing you over to the Sovereign for whatever crumbs he'd be willing to toss to me. Poor, stupid Coyomon-- letting your secret slip out. Now I know why you are so valuable."
The digimon she was holding down with one hand renewed his struggles briefly until Kunomon's powerful fist squeezed his windpipe shut. "You have to be quiet," she told him in an almost tender voice. "I don't want them to suspect anything until I'm ready to spring my trap."
She nodded toward the flat granite slab that lay in front of the small, clear pool of water nearby. "When they find Calumon, you'll use the magic of this spring temple to flood the river-- just enough to distract them long enough to allow me to snatch the little treasure away from them, understand?" She relaxed her grip enough for the little plant digimon to speak.
"As guardian of this temple, I will never misuse its magic in such a way!"
Kunomon shifted her grip over the digimon's mouth so that his screams were muffled when she slid one of her hooked black claws into an eye and tore it from his head. "Now, is that any way to talk to your next Sovereign?" she asked him sweetly.
--o--o--o--
"Hey!" Rika said suddenly, "I've got a blip!" One of the hovering digignomes floated over to look at the flashing display and Rika shooed it impatiently away.
"Which way?" Coyomon asked.
Rika pointed. "About five or six hundred meters away," she told him.
A minute or two later, they emerged into a clearing where a very weary and bedraggled Calumon sat, huddled between the roots of a massive, gnarled tree. He looked up suddenly, gasping-- and then shouted with glee as he recognized his friends.
"RikaRikaRika!" he sang out as he leaped into her arms, "I'm so glad to see you!"
"We're glad to see you, too, Calumon," Renamon told him, stroking his head affectionately.
Coyomon settled for a cheery wave. "Heya, creampuff! How are you--" his voice trailed off and he looked around nervously. "What's that rumbling sound?"
The digignomes fled.
--o--o--o--
A single, small dipper of water from the sacred spring, poured out onto the granite slab, would have been enough to cause a huge surge of water to rise up in the forest river. The temple guardian held the full dipper above the slab for only an instant, pretending to cooperate with his tormentor, before dashing the dipper of water into her face and making a break for the woods.
Kunomon lashed out and her claws ripped into the little digimon's back, slamming him to the ground. He cried out and flailed wildly, desperately reaching out for a handhold to pull himself out of the demonic fox's grasp. What his fingers found was the edge of a big wooden bucket and his panicked flailing tipped it over onto him-- and all its contents washed over the enchanted stone slab.
--o--o--o--
"Woo Hoo!" yelled Coyomon in glee as the roaring flood geysered up out of the rock tunnel it had carried them into. He watched the desert recede below them as the powerful column of water gradually lost momentum and his exhilaration momentarily waned as he considered the long fall they were about to take. Then he remembered just exactly who he was holding in the crook of his arm. He looked over to where Rika was clinging to Renamon's shoulders and yelled, "Hey, Kyuubichan!"
"What? I'm not--" then Renamon got it. Two digivolution vortices sprung into being side by side and the sheer strength of their Champion forms made the landing quite bearable.
"Wow," Rika said, "that was almost fun." She looked over at Kaliskamon who was grinning hugely at her around a mouthful of staff. "What?"
He dropped the stick to answer her. "I was just thinking that you would make one heck of a great digimon."
"Uh-- thanks-- I think." But she smiled when she said it.
"Aren't those the three rock spires where we first landed?" Kyuubimon said, pointing at the distant horizon.
They raced off without noticing that, among the wreckage scattered across the desert by the magical flood, something was moving. Trembling, sodden, and nearly insane with rage and frustration, Kunomon dragged herself out of the muddy crater she'd blasted out of the hard ground when she hit.
--o--o--o--