Kumo: Back for another chapter. What happens now? :D
Hawk: Read on to find out.
"Richard!" The cries of Biyomon resounded repeatedly as everyone else was frozen in shock.
Keiran breathed in deeply, and said, "What the shi-?"
Georgia screamed and began to shake uncontrollably.
Ryan placed his hand on her shoulder but found it hard to be comforting when his jaw was still hanging. Stammering, he said, "What just-"
"I think we should go…" Izzy said slowly as she looked at the colossal foot and felt Biyomon's cries ring in her ears.
"Go where?" Ryan asked.
"Anywhere but here, let's go!" Julia yelled, her fight or flight mechanism kicking in.
The others looked at her in shock and then they heard someone begin to cry. Izzy looked to Birdie. "We have to go. Now." Izzy said firmly.
Tears trickled down the young boy's face. "Go?"
The black fur ball bounced into Birdie's arms. "Let's go, Birdie."
Izzy grabbed hold of Birdie's hand. "Come on," she urged. Her elf-like Digimon was sat on her shoulder, prodding her in the head. "Let's go." She started running, leaving the others behind.
Ryan called after her, "Izzy!"
"You should just go," Moonmon, the white ball Digimon, said quietly.
Ryan nodded and started running. "Wait up!"
Moonmon hopped behind him.
"What about us?" Georgia screamed, glaring in the direction the other six had run.
"Fly away!" Biyomon squarked, turning quickly and beginning to flap away.
"I wanna fight!" Aquakoromon yelled.
"No, you are not." Julia spoke firmly, grabbing the blue ball firmly in one hand and Georgia's arm with the other. "We are getting away from here, right now. Move!" She glared at Keiran before she began to jog forwards.
"Al'ight!" Keiran followed behind them quickly, not bothering to look behind him as he heard the foot rising again. "Move it!"
"Nah..." Furzmon yawned, Keiran barely hearing it. He quickly turned around, sighing as he ran back to scoop up the feline Digimon - now soundly asleep - and ran after the two women, hearing a crash where Furzmon had lain down.
"Move it Keiran!" Georgia called.
Despite the situation, Keiran grinned. "So you do like me!"
"In your dreams!"
Keiran's response was muffled as another foot crashed down where he was standing.
After several minutes of flying, Biyomon emerged from the forest to see an expanse of sand ahead of her. She landed, then turned when she heard someone running up behind her, but was relieved when it was just two of the humans - the two females who hadn't run off immediately - that crashed through the undergrowth, soon followed by the guy who'd done the same. Trying to remember the names, she found herself at a loss due to all the panic. Julie, George and Kyle, right?
"Where... are we?" Georgia asked, panting slightly.
Julia straightened up quickly, looking around. "We've gotten to a desert."
"No sh-" Aquakoromon bit Keiran's arm from his place under Julia's, causing him to yelp from the unexpected pain. Georgia couldn't help but giggle slightly at that, even as Julia scolded her partner.
"So where we goin'?" Keiran asked, rubbing his arm.
Biyomon seemed a little dazed, but managed to stammer, "We'll need to take shelter somewhere, Kyle."
"Who's Kyle?" Keiran asked.
"Okay, any ideas?" Julia asked, everyone having ignored Ky- Keiran's question.
"What're they?" Georgia asked, pointing to the strange wave of black on the horizon.
"It's a Digital Spiral Storm!" Biyomon exclaimed. "From bad to worse…"
"What is that?"
"It's bad, we'll have to find shelter. There's a cave nearby we can head to, let's go!" Biyomon, dancing from foot to foot, yelled. She looked at them all and then flew off.
"We should follow her." Julia watched the bird Digimon flutter slowly away
"Should we?" Bloxmon asked, wondering.
"Definitely." Georgia looked her nails over. "I think I might have cracked a nail…"
"Least I'll get some sleep there..." Furzmon yawned again from Keiran's arms, her eyes almost closed.
"Can one of you take her?" Keiran asked, holding out the little bundle of fur to the two of them as they quickly began to follow Biyomon.
"No. She's your partner, you carry her," Georgia replied as Bloxmon jumped into her arms.
Meanwhile, the other six were busy crashing through the forest, two of them bouncing and one perched precariously on a shoulder.
There was a crash behind them, and Birdie looked back quickly. He cried out as he suddenly found himself flying to the ground, but his shirt snagged on something and he stopped falling.
"Alright, Birdie?" Ryan asked, tugging the boy to his feet.
Birdie nodded silently, then looked ahead. Izzy had stopped, turning to look with worry in her eyes. Birdie looked down into his scarf, then gave a shy smile to Ryan. "T-Thank you." His voice was quiet, Ryan barely heard him.
"Come on." Ryan smiled lightly, glancing over his shoulder. "I don't think that thing is after us, but we should keep moving." He looked over to Izzy. "And we should find the others. Safety in numbers, right?"
Nodding, Birdie looked down at his feet. "O-okay..."
"Let's go then."
Flying up onto Izzy's shoulders, Faymon waved her arms about. "Hyah mule!"
Rolling her eyes, Izzy said, "One more word and I make you run with us."
"We're nearly out of the wood," Moonmon said as they began to move quickly forwards.
Izzy looked up at the thinning foliage. "Where are we then?"
"A desert," Blackmon replied. "But we can find the others easier there."
"Well, that's good news," Izzy said, slowing down slightly to draw level with the two boys.
"We'd better hurry. It looks like it's going to be night soon." Ryan looked up, as if to check on the sun through the trees. "The sun's getting low."
"I think I heard something," Moonmon commented, looking worried.
"What was it?" Ryan looked at his partner curiously.
"Like a yelp." Moonmon looked at his partner. "I think someone is in trouble."
"Then let's go," Izzy said, holding out her hand to Birdie. "Ready?"
The young boy nodded, looking worried but taking her hand anyway. "Y-yeah."
Suddenly, something flew down from the sky and unleashed a violent roar. Biyomon ran back to them and pointed. "Fix it!"
Julia yelled, "Do you mean run?"
Biyomon flapped furiously. "No, we need to get to the cave!"
"Then we'll have to fight!" Aquakoromon proclaimed bravely.
The huge four legged insect charged, beating its wings and swinging the huge claws that were its hands. "Twin Sickles!" The blades illuminated bright pink and then ghostly copies flew off, exploding on contact with the ground.
"Avoid those!" Julia shouted, covering her ears.
"Bubble blow!" Aquakoromon unleashed a torrent of bubbles at the Digimon's head as he flew down from above and then rolled down the back of the aggressive green Digimon.
"That's Snimon," Bloxmon said, looking at the Digimon cautiously.
"Go help!" Georgia exclaimed, tossing her partner at Snimon.
"Square!" Bloxmon transformed into a small shield and Snimon bashed him into the ground, quickly continuing to advance towards them.
"What are you waiting for?" Keiran yelled at his sleepy partner.
"Fighting's so tiring," she said, half-asleep.
"So is dying!"
"Fine…" She bounced into the air, hitting Snimon in the eye and causing him to roar in pain. "Bubble Blow!" She blew the bubbles up his nose and then bounced around to the other side of him. "Was that enough?"
"He's still going to eat us!" Keiran exclaimed, noting the beast hadn't been deterred from his meal.
Keiran's yells drew Snimon's attention and he charged. "I'll take care of it, Georgia, don't you worry!" He ran, roaring and moving his fist back.
Snimon raised his claw, bringing it down.
"Keiran!" Georgia and Julia screamed in unison.
"It's fine!" Keiran groaned as he gripped hold of the arm and pushed back against it. However, Snimon proved to be stronger and forced Keiran to the ground, the blade getting ever closer to his flesh.
"Need some help?" Ryan said, moving under the claw and pushing it up from Keiran's throat.
Beads of sweat worked their way down Keiran's face. "Of course not."
"Well it looks like-"
"Shut up." Keiran clambered out of the way and the two retreated.
"Birdie, you should stay back here," Izzy insisted.
He nodded.
"I'll fight for you," Blackmon said.
"We're fighting right, blondie?" Faymon asked, buzzing around her head.
"Yeah, we have to," Izzy said, nodding.
Faymon withdrew a plastic card from nowhere. "Packing Plastic!" A light bounced off the card and shone into Snimon's eyes, causing him to fall over mid-run.
Blackmon bit a hold of his leg. "Bear Bite!"
"Tiny Flame!" Moonmon unleashed a ball of fire.
Snimon burst up, brushing off the attacks. "Green Sickle Cut!" Moving one blade outwards he unleashed a green wave of energy, knocking all three into the ground.
"You have to keep going!" Izzy yelled.
"Go, Furzmon!" Keiran yelled, but immediately after, his partner was crushed into the ground. "What do we do?"
"My Digivice… it's shaking…" Birdie muttered.
"What was that, Birdie?" Julia asked, looking down.
"Those things Richard gave us are shaking! We're going to die!" Georgia wailed.
"Digivolution!" All six Digivices announced boldly.
"What's going on?" Georgia yelled as light began to encompass all of their bodies.
"I'm not sure…" Keiran looked at his hands and then back at Snimon. Their opponent also seemed to be a little perplexed.
The six Digimon seemed to glow slightly, then suddenly they began to fall apart, pixel by pixel. The data streamed around where they were standing, changing rapidly in colour before beginning to amass again, collecting into piles that quickly molded themselves into form.
Where the little ball of black fur had stood was now a brown bear cub. He patted the light brown stomach fur, grinning. In Faymon's place was a larger fairy, all of her features matured. The little white ball had become a small blue wolf. Lazy Furzmon had reformed into a lion cub with an excitable ball of fire burning on the tip of its tail. In the place of Bloxmon was a small nature nymph. Finally, Aquakoromon had become a bright blue otter, three long tails swishing about behind him.
"They all got bigger!" Georgia exclaimed, staggering backwards.
"There's no need to be so loud," the new Furzmon said, wagging her tail slowly from side to side.
Keiran sighed. "Some things never change."
"Let's kick butt!" the blue otter Digimon said, bouncing from foot to foot.
"Aquakoromon, be careful!" Julia called, holding onto her hat as a particularly strong gust of wind flew past.
"It's Iontramon now."
Iontramon exploded into a four legged sprint, leading the charge with the others close behind. "Cool Beam!"
The bear Digimon leapt into the path of the water. "Wild Tornado!" He spun around quickly, creating a hurricane. The water joined with it and pushed him straight through one of Snimon's legs as the green Digimon tried to raise it.
Snimon roared in pain, swinging his arms to release four pink lasers from the blades. All four crashed into the bear Digimon and launched him back to Birdie's feet.
"A- are you okay, B- Blackmon?" Birdie muttered, pulling his scarf down slightly to speak clearer as he touched his partner.
The Digimon smiled warmly. "Call me Cubmon, and I'm fine."
The counterattack hadn't stopped the other partner Digimon. The more feminine fairy flew up into the air. "Wings of Fury!" She hurtled back down like a rocket towards Snimon.
The lion Digimon bit down on a leg on the other side of Snimon. "Nibble!"
The other fairy Digimon unleashed a rapid series of blows covered in a faint yellow glow at the same leg the lion Digimon had gripped onto. "Rapid Strike!" The leg shattered as the Digimon from above flew down. She cut straight through one of the clawed arms as the wolf Digimon opened his jaw.
"Wolf Fire!" He unleashed a cyclone of blue fire, tearing a hole straight through Snimon and causing the rest of his body to turn to data. The data spiralled away into the sky and the group sighed with relief.
"Why didn't you deliver the finishing blow, Furzmon?" Keiran yelled.
"Chill, Keyman, it's Liomon by the way," the little lion Digimon said as she walked back over to him slowly, leaping onto his shoulder and curling up around his neck.
"I'm already too warm," he whined.
"I'm not." Liomon yawned and then closed her eyes.
"Nice job, Moonmon!" Ryan yelled, waving.
His partner cast him a brief glance. "It's Wolfmon."
"What should I call you now, then?" Izzy asked as her partner flew back over.
"Fabulous. Oh, and the name's Spiritmon."
"You got unugly fast, Bloxmon!" Georgia exclaimed, shocked.
"Georgia- it- it's-"
"Spit it out!" Georgia rolled her eyes.
"Faeremon."
"I don't think we should stay here long," Julia said, looking around for more attackers.
"Yeah, let's go." Ryan breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yes, to the cave!" Biyomon said, a little downheartedly.
"This is where you think we should stay?" Georgia looked at the dingy dark cave with disgust.
"It is a safe place to sleep for the night," Izzy said as she walked inside, looking around.
"You would like this place. It's dirty like your hair," Spiritmon said as she flew in.
Slowly sitting down, they all looked around meekly. It was cold, dark and uncomfortable. "Liomon, can you light these?" Keiran asked, holding up some branches.
"Sure." She lazily swished her tail across the wood in his hand, igniting it.
"Wait until I put them down!" Dropping them on the ground he blew on his hand. "Geez."
Ryan looked around at the exhausted group. "We should get some sleep."
"I agree," Izzy said, lying down near the fire.
Within minutes, most of the group was sleeping soundly. Save for Birdie and Julia.
Smiling, Julia looked over at him. "What's the matter?"
Birdie shivered, pulling his scarf up tighter. "I can't sleep."
"It's okay, I'll stay awake and keep watch, you don't have to worry," Julia promised. She sat up, and moved to the edge of the cave. "Sweet dreams, okay. No monsters."
"T-thank you." He managed to whisper as he fell asleep.
Julia breathed the cool night air in deeply as she traced her eyes over the landscape. Inside the cave, it all seemed so calm, but outside there was a small storm waging. She listened to the sound of screams and wind tearing the area outside apart, trying to keep her eyes awake was easy when something as traumatic as this was occurring.
Kumo: Finally complete, sorry for the delay!
Hawk: By the time I realised this chapter was finished, I was in another country and unable to do the tiny bit of editing needed for it to be published. Then Kumo vanished for a while.