This is dedicated to my sister on her birthday (yes, her birthday is 6/6/06...the end of the world and all that. blah, blah, blah.) I'm finally back on track with writing this story, so expect another udpate late next week. I have my last exam tomorrow and Thursday I'm leaving for Canada, not to return until next Wednesday, but then I'll have the majority of the summer free.
Anyhoo, back to Kouji and the gang, and their first day in the Digital World! I had so much fun writing this chapter, especially the end!
Disclaimer: My lords and ladies! I hath said before: I owneth not this "Digimon."
Old Demons
Chapter 7: Unrest in the Digital World
The ride was as crazy as ever. The DigiDestined hung on for dear life through the roller coaster of a Trailmon ride. Finally, they lurched to a stop, doors hissing open like nothing insane had just happened.
"You'd think they'd have made the track a little smoother," Takuya grimaced.
"Or at least taken out a few loops," Zoe added.
"Bota? Bo-bota-bo?"
A Botamon hopped over, rubbing up against Zoe's leg. She squealed and picked it up. It cooed. A swarm of Botamon and SnowBotamon descended on the five kids. Teaming up, five tackled Tommy; JP mock-wrestled several more. Takuya fought off his own assailants, pulling one out from under his hat, shaking two out of his jacket and reaching back up to his hat, laughing all the while.
Kouji brushed the Digimon off, stalking over to a nearby tree. The Digimon stared after him, but were quickly distracted. Dropping his bag, Kouji leaned against the tree trunk. Only Takuya seemed to notice, and he gently broke away from the ruckus. Kouji glared at the horizon.
"Don't tell me you chose today to turn back into a cold-hearted antisocial jerk," Takuya teased. Kouji glared at him, storming farther away. "Okay, not helping." Takuya followed the Warrior of Light. "Kouji!"
"What do you want?" Kouji snapped.
"Hey, you don't have to bite my head off! Look, I know you want to find Kouichi; we all do. But seriously, we just got here. Even if we did leave now, where would we go? I mean, we may as well enjoy ourselves while we can! I doubt we'll have much time for this kind of thing later anyway."
"I'm leaving in an hour," Kouji said abruptly. "I don't particularly care if you or anyone else is with me." He sat down, pulling out his D-Tector. Takuya quietly excused himself to where the other three were, leaving Kouji to study his digivice.
>->
In the end, it took them half an hour to get the Botamon off them and convince them to go play somewhere else.
"So where are we supposed to go?" Zoe asked.
Tommy looked around. "Where are we?"
"Near Botamon Village," Kouji said. "So unless you want to get attacked by Botamon all over, I'd suggest we don't go south. Rose Morning Star is northwest. The Forest Terminal is almost due west, and a lot closer."
"How do you know that?" Takuya asked, dumbfounded.
"The D-Tector has a map. I recognized the Forest Terminal and Rose Morning Star, and it had information on the area, including Botamon Village. It wasn't that hard."
"That wasn't on these things before," JP whined.
"Well, while we're talking about what was and wasn't on them," Kouji began, "we might want to think about defense. We don't have the Spirits."
After a silence, Takuya shrugged. "So, Forest Terminal it is."
>->
The day didn't get them very far. They stopped as it got dark, aching all over. It took several minutes for anyone to think about a fire, but eventually JP and Tommy got up to collect wood. Zoe started sorting their food while Kouji and Takuya worked on the fire.
"Ow." Takuya twirled the stick between his hands. "Ow. Ow. Ow. OW-"
"Stop complaining," Kouji told him. "It won't take as long."
"But my arms hurt. Heck, my whole body hurts!"
"You shouldn't have played with the Botamon. You probably pulled a couple muscles. Besides, you're out of shape."
"What!" With a violent twist, Takuya jerked the stick from the log. A tiny flame appeared, and Kouji leaned down to blow on it. "What do you mean out of shape? I'm on the soccer team."
Kouji smirked, still blowing on the small flame. When it was burning steadily, he shrugged, grinning evilly.
Takuya stared at him. "You're crazy, you know." Kouji rolled his eyes.
"Well," Zoe said, coming over with some food, "on the bright side, it got the fire started!"
"Whatever works," Kouji smiled.
"What works?" JP asked, coming into the clearing with Tommy. Zoe and Kouji exchanged a look. Takuya rolled his eyes. "What'd we miss?"
"Just a new method of fire-starting," Zoe replied evasively.
"Which is what," JP asked, "teamwork?"
Zoe shook her head. "Insults."
JP and Tommy glanced at each other. "We can't leave them alone for a minute!" JP cried.
They built up the fire and started eating. By this time it was fully dark. Their fire cast wild shadows across the clearing. Zoe, the first to finish eating, stretched out on her back next to the fire. She stared up at the sky as the first stars showed. Soon the first of the three moons came into sight.
"I never realized how beautiful the Digital night sky is," she whispered. The boys looked at her, confused.
"We never had time," Tommy said, looking up. The second moon was just appearing. "We were always fighting something or running from it. And at night we were too tired to care."
"Well, we're still worried, but we aren't exhausted," JP said.
"Yet." Everyone looked over at Kouji. "What? You don't seriously think we aren't gong to run into any trouble. Something's wrong. We wouldn't be here otherwise. Just wait. Before you know it, we'll be in battle."
"Well don't jinx us," Takuya teased.
"No, please do." They turned around at the voice. A sheet of a Digimon was there, soon joined by half a dozen others. Takuya's D-Tector identified them as Bakemon, viral ghost Digimon of the Champion level. "You humans are going to be so fun to deal with!"
"Yeah!" the smallest Bakemon sneered. "We're gonna deal with you!"
"Shut up!" The first Bakemon, apparently the leader, said. "Get 'em!" The seven Digimon faded into the shadows. The clearing fell silent other than the crackle of the fire. The humans tensed.
As he was the farthest from the fire, Kouji was the first to be attacked. He had shifted into a crouch when a Bakemon appeared on his left; another on his right. Kouji leaped forward, to the edge of the clearing as the two Bakemon charged. The ghosts collided, falling to the ground in a daze. Kouji grabbed a fallen branch to defend himself with. One of the Bakemon recovered enough to grab one end of the branch. Wresting it free, Kouji brought the end down on the Bakemon's head. It went down moaning. The other Bakemon suddenly tackled him from behind, slamming him into a tree.
The other four kids were in a circle around the fire. The five remaining Bakemon surrounded them. One flew at Tommy, who ducked. The Digimon sailed over him, swerving wildly in an attempt to avoid the fire. A tattered corner of its sheet-like body caught fire. Another Bakemon went to help put out the fire. The leader turned on Tommy.
"You're more trouble than you look. Dark Claw!" A hand snaked out from under the sheet, heading straight for Tommy. He dodged to the side, Zoe helping him farther out of harm's way.
"Dark Claw!" A second attack came from Zoe's other side. She quickly reversed her direction, dodging again, but her ankle gave out. Clutching her ankle, she collapsed. Tommy knelt in front of her, face lined with concern.
"Zoe! Tommy! Look out!" JP called from across the fire, where he was evading two Bakemon of his own. A slightly singed Bakemon loomed over Tommy and Zoe. Takuya glanced over, backing away from two remaining Bakemon. He grabbed a branch from the fire. Brandishing it wildly, he drove the two Digimon back, then swung it at the one threatening Tommy and Zoe. The ghost retreated hastily. Suddenly, one of the Bakemon abandoned JP to crash into Takuya's back. The burning branch flew from his grasp, extinguishing itself in the dirt.
"Whadda y'all think you're doin', picking on helpless creatures like this? Y'all outta be ashamed of yourselves! Draining Rain!"
"Ranamon! As if we didn't have enough to worry about," Kouji moaned. One Bakemon was pinning down his legs; the other was holding his hands behind his back with its Dark Claw. Ranamon's attack hit both Digimon, weakening them enough for Kouji to get them off. He crossed the clearing, makeshift weapon in hand, and helped JP finish off a third Bakemon. Nearby Takuya slithered out from under the Digimon that had tackled him. Tommy helped Zoe into a sitting position. She winced, ankle visibly swelling.
Ranamon stood at the edge of the clearing, hands on her hips. The three Bakemon who were still in fighting condition approached her in a tight cluster. They launched their Dark Claw attacks simultaneously. Ranamon smiled and jumped out of the hands' paths. The Bakemon blinked in confusion, following the green aquatic Digimon with their gaze.
"Hurricane Wave!" The sudden gust tangled the hands, sending the Bakemon backwards into the now-flaring fire, and the ghost Digimon wound up in a writhing, burning heap on the ground. "Hey, Ranamon!" Kazemon called. "Maybe you should put them out of their misery."
"Darlin', I think you're right. Draining Rain!" Fortunately for the Bakemon, Ranamon's attack put out the flames. Fortunately for everyone else, the ghost Digimon were left with close to no energy. All seven disappeared into the forest with the Bakemon equivalent of a limp.
"Molto Bueno!" Kazemon shrieked. Her smile faded, however, when she saw Zoe's injury. "Zoe!"
"Kazemon." Zoe smiled, but it quickly turned to a grimace. Kazemon fluttered over, Ranamon right behind.
"Kazemon! Ranamon! Where you get to now?"
"Gosh! Couldn't you at least use proper grammar? You're driving me crazy!"
"Me no think you sane to start. Besides, you no talk so good yourself sometimes." The speaker cried out as the other roared in fury. A third voice interrupted:
"Gah! You imbeciles try my patience. Smother thy petty squabbles until we hath found our lady comrades."
Ranamon sent Kazemon a wry look. "Men," she drawled. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she called, "Mercurymon! Yoo-hoo! Grumblemon! Agunimon! Over here!" Mercurymon entered the clearing, followed by Agunimon and Grumblemon, who were glaring at each other. Mercurymon took in the scene in a glance.
"My ladies!" he gasped. "I beseech thee, what passed in our absence?"
"A few Bakemon decided to be difficult," Ranamon said. "But don't worry your pretty little head about it. We took care of them!"
Mercurymon scanned the group of humans. "Halt!" he cried. "Where is the sixth?"
"Sixth what?" Agunimon asked, looking up for the first time. His eyes found Takuya's. "Oh. Never mind."
"Ha! You no notice anything!"
Agunimon glared at Grumblemon. "Yeah, well you didn't notice either!"
"Me no have 'special bond' with human!"
"You'll have a special bond with my fist if you keep it up!"
"Half-wits," Mercurymon muttered.
"You know, Takuya," snickered Kouji, "I'm beginning to see why you got the Spirits of Fire."
"Oh, shut up."
"If you don't mind my asking," Zoe said, "why did the Bakemon attack? I thought we returned the Digital World to peace and harmony."
"Oh, well, you did," Ranamon assured her. "But there's always gonna be Digimon who cause trouble."
"Of course lately…" Kazemon stopped herself.
"Lately what?" JP asked.
Kazemon sighed. "The world's unbalanced. There is a growing dark- a growing evil that is causing things like this to happen more and more." The group settled into an uncomfortable silence other than Grumblemon and Agunimon, who were still arguing.
"Tell me," Mercurymon said abruptly. "Where is the sixth child, the one called Kouichi? Is he not with you?"
"Isn't that why we're here?" Kouji asked.
"What're you talkin' about, sugar?" Ranamon glanced furtively at Kazemon.
"Kouichi's missing," Tommy supplied.
"Surely you jest!" Mercurymon gasped, horrified.
"It's true," Kouji confirmed. "What aren't you telling us?"
"We should take them to Lady Ophanimon," Mercurymon said. Ranamon and Kazemon nodded.
Girl Power! Yeah! My favorite pre-Duskmon/Kouichi episodes were the ones when the boys didn't have their D-Tectors. (Go Zoe!) My favorite line from the season (though it really has nothing to do with this chapter) is Takuya in the second episode – "Are all 'mature' girls this crazy?" lol I just loved that scene.
Anyway, I'm warning you now: the next chapter is the reason I rated this as T. There's not much in the way of gore, but it is fairly violent. Just so you know.
Review!
Oh, and now for my weekly-ish preview of my next story - ATTWT. Mwahaha. I have a link to a low quality pic of Taura (sorry, no last names yet :D ) by the info.
-Child of Healing
Word count: 1966