It was too light in this room, his eyes couldn't adjust. The metal bars of the cage was too tight, he couldn't move. Where was the female and the big male? They should have been here and they weren't. Something was wrong but he didn't know what, they should have been here. Where did they go? Did they think he was troublesome and thus a problem to the pack? He was awfully confused. How could those men catch him, wasn't he fast enough? It hurt too much to think about just one of those many questions. All he could do was give a thin whimper, he was afraid. He needed his pack.
Glancing around the room once his eyes adjusted, the male saw that it seemed to be rather plainly furnished with only a chair sitting lonely in the corner. Every part of the room, except for the cage he was in, was painted stark white, including a metal door. The light in the room might have been dimmer if it wasn't for that white paint.
Through the great shining light, two entered the stark holding area. He growled at them. "Let... go... go... need... pack..."
The human prey, tall and dark with his yellow hair hanging around his covered eyes frowned at him. "No, you damned savage," he snarled. "You don't even know your damn name."
The male blinked at the prey. Name? He had a name? That was news. Maybe he did. What it was, he didn't know nor did he care. Only the female, the leader, should have a name. That's why she was the leader. What was that name? The male must have forget it again, he must not be worthy enough to remember something like that.
The other prey, the metallic Digimon smiled warmly at the male. His paws with the great metal claws gestured at the other prey to be quiet. The Digimon moved closer, his face with glowing red eyes moving close to the face of the male. His pale face was drawn into a wry smile. "Enough, Yamaki. Is this true, Tomoki? Does that name hold any meaning for you at all?" asked the Digimon curiously.
Tomoki? It did seem familiar... Though it might have been something the prey made up, some of them were very tricky. That's why the female limped off with an injured nose, it was because of clever prey. The male snarled venomously at the prey. He would not be surprised by this Digimon. "No... no... go... go... let... go... kill... hunt... eat... eat... kill..."
The prey called Yamaki took out a lighter and started flicking it angrily. "Let you go and let you kill more innocent people? I don't care if you are just a brat under all that fur, you aren't going to 'hunt' anyone anymore!" The prey spat out these words with such intensity it made the male shrink back. This prey sounded like the leader of a pack and the male respected that.
The Digimon rose up and straightened his back. "Enough," he said to Yamaki. "Enough. We aren't going to get any more out of this one tonight. Where did you say that your group found him?"
The Yamaki prey glared at the male and turned his back to him. The male took it as his chance and jumped at the cage walls, growling and roaring. The male would bite the Yamaki prey's throat, tear it out, rip it and eat it... Then the female and the big male would realize he was a good hunter, valuable to the pack... They would... what was the word again, love? That was it... They'd love him for killing such big prey.
Yamaki turned around quickly, his face contorted in a fierce snarl. "Try that again, damn savage, and you die. I guarantee you that," he snapped. "I dare you!"
The male shrunk back again, whimpering for forgiveness. Perhaps this Yamaki wasn't prey. He was fierce like the female in his pack, like them. Just like them...
-
"Uh, hi Mimi. Can I talk with you for a few minutes?"
Mimi smiled graciously at the girl she was talking to. "Sorry, I'll be right back, don't worry," she promised and turned around to talk to the nervous looking blond boy sitting behind her. "Yes, Micheal?"
Micheal gave a small grin to the girl sitting in front of Mimi who gave a little 'humph' of disgruntlement and turned around to face the front of the classroom. The teacher, who was typing hard at the computer at his desk barely noticed this. "Sorry, 'bout that, Mimi," Micheal said and Mimi gave him an encouraging gesture of her hand.
"No problem," she said airily. "What is it?"
Leaning close to his friend's ear, Micheal whispered, "You know that place you and I know? Do you mind meeting me there after school? I, mean, if you aren't too busy or something. My friend there told me yesterday there was something screwy happening in that area."
"Really? Well, I was thinking about shopping... Oh well. I'll meet you there," she said and tapped the girl she was talking to earlier on the shoulder who turned around. "Sorry, Katie, I can't go shopping with you after school. How about Saturday?"
The girl sighed but nodded. At least she was going to save a few dollars today, then.
-
The mountain stretched high into the sky, almost touching it. The athletic Micheal was scaling the path in quick and easy steps and his Digimon partner, Betamon was riding easily in the backpack slung across his back. Mimi and her friend, Palmon, were lacking farther down the path. Micheal had simply set up a pace that the girls couldn't keep up with.
"Micheal," Mimi called up to him. "Slow down!"
Micheal turned back and jogged to his friend's side. "Heh, sorry Mimi," he apologized. "It's just that I want to get to that place Betamon told me about soon. Isn't that right?"
Betamon popped his head out and nodded to Micheal. "Yep, that's right," Betamon agreed. "Things have been a little strange around here lately, even by the lake I live in."
"I can agree to that," Palmon said. "They're right. Something just isn't right now-a-days."
"Really?" asked Mimi curiously, she now was interested. Sitting down on a rock near the side of the mountain path, Mimi made herself comfortable. Micheal followed suit and Palmon resigned to sit by her friend. "What type of things?"
"All sorts of things, Mimi," Micheal sighed. "We've tried to ask some of the local Digimon questions but they refuse to answer. Then there are the rumors about... creatures. Some sort of monster that isn't either human or Digimon. I think I saw one myself... Hey, where are you going?"
Mimi had quietly taken an empty plastic bottle of the backpack that Micheal had set down beside her. She now was walking down a side path, a determined look on her face. "I think I saw some sort of river earlier! I'm going to fill this up!" she called back. "Palmon, stay here with Micheal! I'll be right back!"
-
Junpei stretched under the shade of the scraggly mountain tree lazily. It was getting to dusk and soon he would be able to hunt. Izumi would be close, now, scouting ahead. They were going to have to steal Tomoki back, HiAndromon had betrayed them. That was Izumi now, coming down the path. Moving his big body straighter, Junpei felt in his bones that it wasn't his friend returning. Could it be? Yes, prey. Perhaps Izumi wouldn't mind a little more food before getting to HiAndromon's mountain fortress.
Now, where was a good place to hide those tiresome clothes?
-
The path was worn smooth and Mimi had no trouble moving down to the slow moving river. Smiling triumphantly, she took the cap off the bottle and dipped into the water. Low growling made her stop, turning around Mimi saw what seemed to be a large dog lying low on the mountain ridge just above the path she had been walking on.
It leaped easily off it's perch and right onto her. Mimi didn't even have time to scream, the jaws of the creature had already killed her.
-
"Oh, hi there!"
Micheal looked up from the conversation he was having with Betamon and Palmon surprised. The newcomer, a lithe looking blonde dressed in purple clothes, sat down on the same rock Mimi had been sitting on only fifteen minutes earlier. "Didn't see you when I was going up the mountain a few minutes ago."
"We didn't see you, either," Micheal replied, blushing slightly. "You going up the mountain, too?"
The girl gave him a glare. "Well, of course I am!" she said rolling her eyes. "What else would I be doing up here, picking daisies?"
Micheal blushed even redder. He gave her a sheepish shrug. "There are wild Digimon around here," Betamon interrupted. "Don't you have a Digimon?"
The girl shrugged. "No, don't need one," she replied. "I was just doing a bit of hiking with a friend of mine. See, a friend of ours got lost last night when we were camping out near here."
"Really?" Micheal asked trying to catch the girl's eyes. She nodded.
"Speaking of which," the girl said. "He should be waiting for me now. I better be going."
With that said, the girl got up from the rock, stretched and headed towards the path Mimi had gone down. "Hey," Micheal said, getting up. "How long does it take to get to that river down that path?"
The girl looked back. "About ten minutes, why?"
Micheal gave a careless shrug as he picked up his backpack. "A friend of mine went that way," he said. "Do you think we could go that way? It would be safer."
"Why not?" the girl replied, shrugging.