--o--o--o--
Chapter 7
The Shining Digivolution
--o--o--o--
"Please don't hurt me," Calumon whimpered.
Kunomon didn't even bother to look down at him where he rested against her hip, bound securely and hung from a cord running around her waist. "Shut up or I'll tear your tongue out," she hissed, almost absentmindedly, as her eyes carefully scanned the horizon.
Calumon squeezed his lips together as hard as he could and shivered.
--o--o--o--
Istaqamon stood on a mesa top, using all his senses to try and detect a hint of Kunomon's whereabouts. The ceaseless wind had scoured her tracks and scent from the desert and the out-of-phase appearance of the Digital Dimension was so strange to him that he was having a hard time making sense of it.
In the real world, all matter became a soft translucent blue when viewed from slightly out of sync, leaving only the bright glows of various sorts of energy, which were obvious and eye-catching. The problem Istaqamon was having was that everything in the Digital Dimension was bright, moving energy. There was no matter at all, only complex standing waves in the Higgs Field masquerading as clumps of molecules. A seemingly solid lump of sandstone became a sparkling surface of coruscating fractal spirals when viewed from a few degrees out of line of the entropic flow.
Finding the aura of a particular digimon in all that visual noise was like trying to hear a whispered conversation while standing next to a running jet engine-- nearly impossible even if that digimon didn't have a very good reason to remain hidden. To add to Istaqamon's dilemma, it was much harder for him to phase out in his current form. He could only manage to do it for a few seconds at a time-- nowhere near long enough to systematically search the landscape. He was sure Kunomon was still nearby or he would have caught sight of her trying to flee but there were thousands of places she could have hidden herself away.
"Think!" the massive Ultimate growled to himself. "Where would she have gone?" For all her cleverness and talent for deception, he was sure that Kunomon let her instincts guide her more often than not. "She's a renamon-- she's got the same basic nature-- what would my Renamon do in her place?"
The answer came to him abruptly. He had noticed the slender spire of rock earlier. It was almost delicate-looking by comparison with the other massive outcroppings of stone and, most importantly, significantly taller.
It was the high ground.
--o--o--o--
Kunomon watched the giant armored form of Istaqamon race across the desert. He seemed to be heading for the abandoned village beyond the dry riverbed. She watched him cast about, searching for some sign of her, no doubt. But his progress was obvious-- he'd be far from her cave by nightfall and then she could slip away.
"So powerful," she whispered to herself as she watched him, remembering the ease with which he had destroyed Chatsuramon. The remembrance of the ignominious death of her former tormentor brought a smile to her face. "Soon I will be that strong-- no-- stronger!" She kept watching until he disappeared beyond the edge of a neighboring mesa and then retreated to her cave.
She sat, and lifted Calumon into her lap, examining him carefully. "How do you do it?" she asked him.
Calumon's eyes were wide with fear and he kept his mouth firmly shut.
"You can talk now," Kunomon said with a sigh. "In fact, I'll hurt you if you don't talk."
"Okay," Calumon squeaked, "I'll talk! What do you want me to talk about? If I'm good, will you let me go back to my friends? I'm sure you're a very nice person but I like them a lot and--"
"Shut up!" Kunomon snapped at him and Calumon flinched away from her. She growled in frustration. "Just answer my questions, understand?"
Calumon nodded.
"Good," Kunomon said softly, doing her best to remain calm. "Now, tell me-- how do you trigger digivolutions?"
"Huh?"
Kunomon squeezed her eyes shut and her jaw muscles jumped as she clamped her mouth down on a scream of anger. After a moment she took a deep breath and continued. "You make digimon digivolve to higher levels--"
"I do?"
Kunomon went completely still and the pupils in her violet eyes shrank to pinpoints.
"No, no," Calumon cried out in terror, "I really don't know what you're talking about! Please don't kill me!"
Kunomon glared down at the cringing little digimon. Just one squeeze and he'd burst like an over-ripe fruit. The feel of her claws sinking into his soft little body would be so satisfying. But she knew couldn't kill him without losing the key to unbelievable power-- unless Coyomon had lied to her. The thought startled her and she relaxed her grip on the sobbing Calumon. No, she'd seen it happen-- watched the mark on the little digimon's forehead blaze into life. Coyomon had been chattering away with blithe unconcern when he'd let the secret slip. If he'd been lying, he was better at deception than she was-- and Kunomon couldn't believe that.
That meant that Calumon really didn't know.
Kunomon composed herself. "I'm sorry-- I didn't mean to frighten you," she said in as kindly a tone as she could manage. "I'm just upset because I really, really need to digivolve and you are the only one who can help me do it."
"I am?" Calumon sniffled.
"Yes," she said. "You've done it before, even if you don't realize it." Kunomon tried to stroke Calumon's head but he flinched away from her touch. She clamped down on the sudden flare of rage that his reaction triggered in her and simply set him down in her lap.
"Think about what happened when Kaliskamon digivolved into Istaqamon. How did you feel when that happened?"
"Well--" Calumon said doubtfully, "my head went all funny. That happens sometimes."
"At times when your friends are digivolving?"
"Oh-- yeah," Calumon said with a nervous little laugh, "I guess so. I never noticed that before."
Kunomon resisted the urge to beat him against the cave wall while screaming, "How can you be so incredibly stupid?" and smiled at him instead.
"Do you think you could make that funny feeling happen if you tried to?" She glanced around at the cave. It was big enough to accommodate a kyuubimon. "Think hard," she said, just the hint of a growl creeping into her voice.
"I think--" Calumon began hesitantly.
"Yes?"
"I think it happens when someone needs it to happen. Like when one of my friends is in trouble. That feeling just comes from inside of me somewhere," he said, frowning with concentration.
"Inside of you?" Kunomon said and then suddenly phased out, dragging Calumon with her.
"Ooh," said Calumon wonderingly as he gazed around at the shimmering landscape, "so pretty!"
Kunomon ignored his babbling and stared hard at him, scrutinizing his aura and internal energies. At first glance he seemed to be perfectly ordinary, a typical digimon with a simple anatomy mimicking the basic structure of a biological creature, but there was something else, something strange, hidden inside of him where it was barely detectable. It revealed itself in the way it disturbed his body's energy, like a wake in a murky pond created by a fish swimming just below the surface.
"Yesss," Kunomon hissed as she puzzled out the slowly turning geometric shape inside of Calumon's head. Satisfied, she dropped back into sync.
"Oh," Calumon said in disappointment, "where did all the pretty lights go?" He looked up at Kunomon and when he saw the look in her eyes he began to tremble.
--o--o--o--
After ostentatiously heading away from his target, Istaqamon circled back to the rock spire, carefully examining the structure of the rocks at its top. He couldn't know for certain but finally decided on what he thought would be the most sheltered side to approach it from. If Kunomon saw him coming her only choice would be to flee and the chase would be on again. If she didn't-- well, that was what he was hoping for.
He leaped and climbed upward pausing occasionally to listen and sniff the air. He phased out once or twice but still couldn't make much sense of the glittering vista.
He felt an eagerness to close with his enemy that was tinged with regret. "Damnit," he cursed to himself during a pause to scent the wind, "I really hope I don't have to kill her."
--o--o--o--
"I need to digivolve," Kunomon growled at Calumon, as she held him up in front of her face, "and you're going to make it happen or--" she placed her other hand on top of the little digimon's head, estimating how much force it would be necessary to use to rip off the top of his skull. Not much, was her guess.
Calumon shivered in her grip. "I'm trying!" he whined.
Suddenly the cave went dark. Sunrise and sunset in the Digital Dimension were abrupt events, the light in the sky disappearing or appearing with startling swiftness. But night should have been hours away. Kunomon gasped and turned to find the entrance to her cave blocked by the enormous head and one shoulder of Istaqamon.
"Hi honey," he grinned at her viciously, "I'm home!"
--o--o--o--
"Do you think he's caught her by now?" Kazu asked pointlessly, as the group plodded along in the general direction that Istaqamon had gone.
After the kidnapping of Calumon, Taomon had explained to the group that Kunomon was a spy for the Sovereign that she and Coyomon had run into in the real world. She made no mention of Coyomon's earlier meeting with her, thinking herself lucky that Henry wasn't there. He was a pretty bright kid and would probably have asked some very hard questions.
Now returned to her Rookie form, Renamon said, "If he hasn't, I'm sure he will soon."
"But, jeeze," Kenta grumbled, "even if he does bring Calumon back, we still have to find Takato and Henry and then find a way out of here."
"Not the stroll in the park you were expecting, is it?" Rika snarled at him, eager for a good shouting match to relieve some of her tension.
"But everything's going to be all right, isn't it?" Jeri said hopefully.
Rika rounded on her. "Grow up! Stop acting like a baby!"
Jeri was startled by this sudden attack. "What do you mean?" she asked in a quavering voice.
"You're a tamer now, so get tough!"
"I'll try harder." Jeri said in a voice that sounded on the edge of tears.
Rika couldn't believe that she was stuck with such a useless crew. "We just don't have the luxury of being soft. You have to learn that this isn't a game, Jeri. There's serious stuff at stake here!"
"Rika," said Renamon to her tamer in as severe a voice as she had ever used with the girl, "she said she'd try harder, so let it go, would you?"
Rika was startled by her partner's sudden rebuke but realized she was taking out her own doubts about the situation on Jeri. She glanced up at Leomon who was walking silently, staring straight ahead as if the conversation hadn't happened. "Renamon's right. I'm sorry Jeri."
"Okay--" Jeri said in a quiet submissive voice.
Rika walked on, thinking she'd almost be glad to see Ryo again if he would take the other tamers off her hands.
--o--o--o--
Kunomon crouched at the back of her cave snarling at Istaqamon and holding Calumon up in one fist as if to use him as a shield.
"Let him go," Istaqamon rumbled at her and then seeing her glance sideways and misinterpreting her look, "don't try phasing out-- I'll have you in a instant if you do that."
Kunomon snatched up a sizable boulder with her free hand and shifted to one side of the cave.
"This is pointless," Istaqamon pleaded with her, "you don't like the Sovereign any more than we do. Why don't you join us? You don't have to have a tamer--" he almost smiled at the thought of Kazu or Kenta trying to control the vicious Kunomon, "--but there's strength in teamwork, too. Having friends--"
"Shut up!" Kunomon screamed at him. "You think I want to trail after your pathetic band of losers? No! I've got the secret to digivolving on my own and I'm going to become so powerful I won't need to depend on anyone! I won't ever be afraid again! I'll be the one everyone fears!"
Istaqamon looked at her for a long moment without speaking. When he finally spoke it was in a voice heavy with regret. "I'm sorry Kunomon, but I can't let you take him. You see, he's not just a tool or a weapon, he's also my friend." As he spoke, he shifted position so that he could thrust one of his huge gauntleted hands into the cave. Kunomon tensed and lifted the boulder.
"That's a pretty pathetic weapon you have there," he observed dryly as he raised the energy for a Star Scatter attack.
"Against you?" Kunomon sneered, "Of course it is. Try opening your eyes, fool!"
Istaqamon frowned and noticed for the first time that she held the rock in a way that would have been useless for a throw or even a crushing swing at Calumon. She held it high and to one side of her body, above-- an egg.
Tiny, brilliant shafts of light sparkled from within Istaqamon's closed fist. His lips wrinkled back from his fangs and his eyes blazed with crimson radiance. His voice was nearly unintelligible when he roared out, "YOU BITCH!" He opened his fist and a swirling cloud of thousands of points of light rose into the air.
Kunomon flinched from the sight. This was no ordinary brute-force attack. This was something that might be able to save the egg as it destroyed her. She screamed out a hopeless, wordless cry of frustration and fear-- and Calumon screamed with her.
The red triangle on the tiny digimon's forehead flared into life.
Kunomon's scream turned to a gasp of surprise as a digivolution vortex blazed into being around her.
And the boulder fell from her hand.