Another Episode for your enjoyment. Please R&R!
Episode 4: Torimon on Patrol
"Did we lose him yet?" Finny called back to the group. Everyone was running away like mad from the Blackagumon that had begun to chase them without warning. His attack was so sudden they hadn't had much time to think.
"I don't see him anymore." Jesse called from the back of the group. He and Dokumon were bringing up the rear.
"Oh wait," Dokumon yelled as the group started to slow their pace. "I see him right there!"
"Where?!" everyone shouted at once. The Digimon got ready to fight, but stopped when they saw Dokumon trying to hold in laughter.
"Just kidding. Man, you guys are so gullible." he snickered. The rest of the Digimon frowned.
"Knock it off, Dokumon." Torimon snapped. Dokumon shrugged.
"So does that mean he really is gone?" Sandy asked. She was hugging Ashimon for protection. Ashimon's face was turning blue from lack of oxygen.
"Looks like it." Finny assured them. "Is everyone here?" he turned to the group to look about and make sure they didn't lose anyone.
"I think so." Mack said.
"Wait a minute. Mo's not here!" Tyromon spoke up. "You don't think she got lost and Blackagumon continued chasing her, do you? That would be really bad."
"Even if that did happen, Kitsumon would make sure she was safe." Inagomon assured them. "She's a natural born fighter so Mo should have nothing to worry about."
"I'm still worried." Becky said. She only semi believed what Inagomon had said. From what she had seen, a lot could happen in the Digital World. There was no telling where Mo was or what condition she was in. "I say we go look for her."
"We can look all we want, but we aren't going to find her tonight. The sun went down awhile ago in case you haven't noticed." Seb pointed out. Becky nodded in agreement.
"He's right," Finny said. "Mo and Kitsumon have probably already settled down for the night. We can look for them in the morning."
"Good plan, Finny!" Tyromon said while patting him rather roughly on the back. "In the meantime, where are we going to stay? There's no way I'm staying out here with all these evil Digimon."
"I agree. We have to find someplace safer." Mack said.
"Then we better get looking before it starts to get really dark." Seb said. And with that, the group continued on, looking for possible shelter for the night.
As the rest of the group started searching for shelter, Mo and Myobumon were running through the forest, searching for them.
"Can you see alright? It's getting awfully dark out." Mo said. She was a bit worried about crashing into something seeing as she couldn't see past Myobumon's neck.
"Nonsense." Myobumon assured her. "As Myobumon I have a superior sense of smell and excellent night vision. I won't crash into anything if that's what you're worried about."
"Of course I wasn't worried about that." Mo said with a hint of sarcasm. Myobumon grinned upon hearing this.
"We should be getting close to some sort of civilization." Myobumon said. She suddenly halted, causing Mo to almost be thrown over her head. "I smell something."
"Our friends?" Mo asked.
"No, more like Digimon. A whole bunch of them." she replied. "Coming from that direction." she pointed to their left.
"As long as they don't want to kill us." Mo said. Myobumon grinned again.
"No, I don't think they're bad." she said back. "We should go check it out."
"Whatever you say." Mo said, patting Myobumon's furry neck. "Just don't lead us into trouble."
"You don't have to worry about a thing." she assured Mo before taking off at a high speed sprint again. Mo was nearly thrown off for about the third time that night.
After only a few minutes of running, Myobumon stopped again.
"Why'd we stop?" Mo asked, clutching her stomach. All this lurching around at high speed was making her nauseous.
"There's a village down there." she spoke in a low voice.
"Inhabited by friendly Digimon I hope." Mo muttered.
"There's only one way to find out." Myobumon said. She quickly walked through the remaining trees and made her way to the front gate, which was pretty small. It was about as tall as Mo, which wasn't very tall at all seeing as Mo was short for her age.
"The villagers must be pretty small." Mo commented.
"You could say that." Myobumon spoke. As she did, a whole group of small In-training Digimon came out of the mud huts that made up the tiny village. Mo instantly recognized them as they were common Digimon in her game back home.
"A village of Tsunomon?" Mo asked as the group of horned Digimon halted in front of her.
"Looks that way." Myobumon said.
"Are you one of the legendary Digidestined who have finally come to save us?" the lead Tsunomon spoke suddenly. Mo stared at it before nodding.
"I think so. I don't know what I'm saving you from yet."
"If you are one from the legend," another Tsunomon spoke. "Then you must try and help us at once!"
Before Mo could answer back, she found herself being pushed along by dozens of little, furry bodies.
"They're a lot stronger than they look." she said as she was pushed to the front of a dimly lit building in the center of the village. The Tsunomon stopped and looked back at her.
"Recently several of our villagers have fallen extremely ill. You must try and help them before it's too late." one of the Tsunomon explained.
"You want me to help them? I don't know how to care for sick Digimon." Mo said quickly. The Tsunomon all looked up at her with pleading eyes.
"At least try." Myobumon said. She was about to continue when something made her stop. She lifted her nose to the air and breathed in the night scents.
"What is it?" Mo asked.
"Our friends are here." she spoke. Then, suddenly, a bright, purple light surrounded Myobumon and she de-digivolved back into Kitsumon. "Guess I finally ran out of energy." she said. Mo smiled and waved to the group who had just stopped at the front gait.
"Over here you guys!" Mo called to them. They instantly came running over.
"How did you get here?" Finny asked.
"What happened to you?" Becky asked.
"Where's Blackagumon?" Mack asked.
"Chill out guys." Mo said to stop the constant flow of questions. "I'm fine. Kitsumon was able to digivolve and protect me. We just got here a few minutes ago."
"That's a relief." Finny said. "And Kitsumon digivolved too! I'm sorry I missed it."
"You should be." Kitsumon said sarcastically.
"Excuse me, Digidestined," one of the Tsunomon piped up. "But we really need your help."
"Oh, right." Mo said. She and Kitsumon walked through the door after the little Digimon out of curiosity.
"What's going on?" Kusamon asked Kitsumon.
"It seems several of the Tsunomon have fallen ill. They want Mo to do something to help them."
"Can she?" Kusamon asked.
"Personally, I don't think she has a clue." Kitsumon said with a half smile. Kusamon looked at her strangely.
The entered a well lit room in which the walls were crudely painted white. (This was saying something since Tsunomons didn't have arms to paint with) Across both walls were small tables covered in white blankets. On most of the tables were Tsunomon. They all looked like they had recently come down with the flu or some other awful virus. Their faces were red and sweaty and they were having trouble breathing.
"How long have they been like this?" Finny asked as he looked around the room.
"For a few weeks now." one of the Tsunomon explained. "We've tried everything to help them but nothing works. You're our last hope."
"But we don't know if we can be any help at all." Seb commented. Bochamon elbowed him on the knee to keep him from getting the Tsunomon's feelings down.
"Don't say that. We have to at least try." Bochamon said.
"He's right. We have to stay positive for them." Theo said. "Even if we can't help them."
"I do know one thing." Mo said. "I can't do anything tonight. I'm way too tired." she gave a big yawn.
"Mo's right. We've been on our feet all day." Mack said. "And the Digimon look exhausted.
"We understand." the Tsunomon said. "We will have rooms prepared for you immediately. But will you please try tomorrow? We're counting on you."
"We'll do our best." Finny said.
"Thank you. Please follow us." the Tsunomon spoke before leading them out of the sick room. They followed him to another fairly large building that was just a bit smaller that the one they were previously in. Inside of it, the entire group could almost fit comfortably in it… almost.
"I'm afraid this is the biggest room we have available right now." Tsunomon apologized. "I hope it's big enough."
"It'll be fine. Theo said before anyone could comment otherwise. "It's perfect." the Tsunomon smiled and left.
"When he said they'd prepared rooms for us, I didn't realize he meant only one room. We can't sleep like this, there's barely enough room to stand!" Jesse said, trying to find space to sit down.
"It's gonna have to do." Lexi said. "He said it was all they had."
"Besides." Mizumon added to what her partner had said. "I would much rather be indoors than outside right now."
"Good point, but do you think this place is much better? The door is a blanket for crying out loud. "Jesse said, raising his voice slightly. "If a Digimon in search of our blood wanted to get in, it would have no problem."
"Well I'm sorry." Lexi said back, also raising her voice.
"Cut it out, guys." Becky said, trying to break up the fight before it happened. "This is the best we have so let's just try and get some sleep."
"I can't sleep now after what he said." Lexi said with a frown. Mizumon looked up at her and wrapped her tail around Lexi's hand for comfort. "There's no way any of us can sleep knowing that some rouge Digimon's gonna attack us in the middle of the night and gut us!"
"They won't gut us. "Finny said with a strained smile. He didn't fully believe himself.
"I still can't sleep." Lexi complained.
"Well then, why don't we have someone stay on guard during the night. " Finny suggested. "Any volunteers?"
No one said a word.
"Fine, then we'll decide another way." Finny said. Several members of the group rolled their eyes.
"I've got something." Lexi said. She pulled several straws out of her bag. "We'll draw straws. There are two short straws here and whoever gets the first one takes the first shift. The second one gets the second shift."
"Sounds good to me." Finny said.
"Why on earth do you have straws in you bag?" Mack asked.
"I have to settle arguments with my sister somehow." Lexi shot back. She gathered the straws without another word and everyone picked on in silence.
"Aww, I got the short one." Mack moaned as she pulled out the tiny straw from Lexi's grasp.
"Who got the second one?" Mo asked after all the straws were gone.
"I did." Jesse said reluctantly.
"Serves you right." Lexi said with a small laugh. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
"Whatever." Jesse mumbled. Dokumon landed on his shoulder.
"Don't worry. We'll get back at her tomorrow. I'm sure she rigged that somehow." Dokumon whispered in his ear.
"How do you suppose she did that?" Jesse asked. Dokumon didn't answer.
After the group had finally settled down and went to sleep, Mack and Torimon made their way outside to keep watch. There was a small fire pit in the center of the village to give light and Mack decided to go over that way. Besides, it was getting cooler as the night progressed.
"I can't believe I got stuck doing this." Mack grumbled as she took a seat in front of the tiny fire. She tossed a couple of stray sticks in and watched in spark.
"It could be worse." Torimon said.
"How so?" Mack asked.
"Well..." Torimon paused and jumped onto Mack's shoulders. "Everyone could be dead and we could be the only survivors!"
"You don't have to get that much worse." Mack said. She poked at the fire again.
"You were the one who asked." Torimon explained. She jumped off of Mack's back and took a seat beside her. "I'm tired." she spoke softly.
"Yeah, me too." Mack said. "We'll be able to go to sleep in about an hour or so."
"I can't wait that long." Torimon said. She leaned her head on Mack's arm and half closed her eyes.
"Well, you're gonna have to." Mack smiled.
About 15 minutes passed and nothing had happened. There wasn't anything to be heard except the wind that blew past every few minutes. Both Mack and Torimon were fighting to stay awake. All of the sudden, Torimon perked up. She stood up and looked behind them.
"What's up, Torimon?" Mack asked sleepily. She rubbed her eyes.
"I hear something." Torimon said. Mack looked back and noticed a faint glow coming from the building where all the sick Tsunomon were housed. "Do you see that?"
Mack nodded and stood up too. Slowly, she and Torimon made their way over to the doorway and peered inside. As they did, the glow died down and the whole room went dark.
"What's going on?" Mack asked. They heard several crashes and shuffling come from the now dark room. A low growl sounded and footsteps started coming closer to them.
"Whatever it is, it doesn't sound good." Torimon said as another growl sounded. It was getting louder. Mack and Torimon took a few steps back.
"Are those..." Mack paused as the growling Digimon came into view. "Gabumon?"
"I think so." Torimon confirmed. "But there's something different about them."
Torimon was right. The Gabumon were larger than normal and their coats had lost their usual shine and looked course. The pattern on their stomach was more jagged and they had gained several new pointed claws and teeth. Finally, their tails were lined with jagged spikes and tipped with a razor sharp point.
"The Tsunomon must have Digivolved." Mack said as they continued to back up. They ran into a wall of another small building and stopped. "Do all Gabumon look like that around here?"
"I don't think so." Torimon told her. She moved closer to Mack, ready to protect her if she needed to. "Mack, I don't think I can take them all on like this."
"Do you want me to get the others?" Mack asked.
"There's no time for that!" Torimon said. As she finished speaking, the mutated Gabumon all lunged at her at the same time. Their teeth were barred and their jaws were glowing and eerie, blue color.
"Mack, get down!" Torimon yelled. She pushed Mack out of the way just as the Gabumon attacks were released. Most of them collided with the wall, but some managed to sink their glowing teeth into Torimon.
"TORIMON!" Mack yelled. Whatever sleepiness she had felt previously had left her now. The only thing on her mind was her friend's safety.
Mack got up and was ready to run to help Torimon, but before she could, her Digivice started glowing a bright blue. The blue light shot out of it and went straight at Torimon. It completely covered the bird Digimon in seconds.
"Torimon digivolve to . . . PENNAMON!"
When the light cleared away, Mack saw that in Torimon's place was a magnificent Griffin Digimon. Her front half was covered in red-brown feathers and her forearms ended in sharp, blue talons. Her back end was that of a pure white lion with blue feet and a blue tipped tail. Two brown wings that sprouted from her back completed the look.
"Wow." was all Mack could say.
"Don't worry, Mack. I'll take care of this." Pennamon spoke in a booming voice. The Gabumon started advancing again but Pennamon flew up before they could reach her.
"Try this one! MYSTIC WING!" She shouted. Pennamon's wings glowed with a bright light as hundreds of shining particles fell from them and rained down on the Gabumon. However, the attack had quite a wide range and it hit several of the houses too. All at once, several hit building collapsed as hundreds of Tsunomon fled from them. Mack cringed as she looked at the destruction around her.
"Uh-oh." Pennamon said as she landed next to her partner.
"What's going on?" Finny asked as he and the rest of the group filed out of the house they were sleeping in. The house they were staying in had been hit too.
"No time to explain. We've got to get out of here!" Mack said. She and Pennamon took the lead and ran into the nearby forest and crouched behind a bush. The others followed her example.
"What did you-" Finny started.
"SHH" Mack shushed harshly. They waiting in silence as the destruction ended and the village grew quiet. Not a single Gabumon or Tsunomon was left. Mack rose from her hiding spot and Pennamon de-digivolved back into Torimon.
"I'm sorry, Mack." Torimon apologized.
"It wasn't your fault. The village was under attack. You had to do something."
"Yeah but-" Torimon was cut off.
"No buts. It wasn't your fault."
"I say we check the village to see if anyone is left. Finny spoke up. The others didn't say anything and followed his lead. Mack brought up the rear with Torimon, trying to avoid questions. They didn't find any of the Tsunomon left.
After the search, Torimon and Mack went to the outskirts of the village to see if they could find anything else.
"This is my fault." Mack said to herself. Torimon listened, but didn't say anything. "It's always me. I messed up again. Why do I have to be such a screw up."
"Don't worry, Mack." Torimon reassured her as she pulled her into a big hug. "It will work out better next time. You'll see. And I bet all the Tsunomon made it out safely."
"I hope you're right." Mack said, hugging her Digimon back.