Episode 6: A Friend Near and Far
"So are you saying they failed?" a sinister voice echoed throughout the dungeon like room. The blue and white servant Digimon cowered in fear.
"Yes master. But we were very close." he said quickly.
"Close is not an option. I demand total perfection. I want those eggs found now!" the voice roared. The being to which the voice belonged to stepped out of the shadows and showed himself. He had the shape of a giant, red phoenix by the name of Zhuqiaomon. The blue and white Digimon shuddered at the appearance of his master, though he tried to conceal it. "You better not fail me again, Tokekimon."
"Yes master, I will do everything I can to retrieve the eggs."
"See to it that it happens." Zhuqiaomon said in a soft, deep voice. The blue and white Digimon known as Tokekimon bowed and rushed out of the room. As he did so, he bumped into two other rookie Digimon: a Patamon and a Gomamon.
"What's the word?" the Gomamon asked.
"The master wants the eggs as soon as possible." Tokekimon replied in a monotone voice.
"But don't those kids have them now?" Patamon asked.
"Yeah. I gotta find a way to get them back." Tokekimon said. His back was turned to the two other Digimon. "I'll ask Kris for ideas."
"Sounds good. Just make sure you do it fast." Gomamon commented.
"We'll try and do what we can to help." Patamon said, trying to stay positive.
"Whatever. Just stay out of my way." Tokekimon grumbled. He left the hallway as the Gomamon and Patamon turned to face one another.
"This is going too far." Gomamon said.
"I know. The master seems to be getting worse as the days go by. We have to find some way to help him recover." Patamon said. Gomamon nodded in agreement.
"I think those kids could help, especially if they knew what they were up against." Gomamon spoke. He looked towards Patamon and raised an eyebrow. "One of us should go talk to them."
Patamon sighed.
Meanwhile, the Digidestined had left the small island and beach area and were hiking once again through the desert. The two eggs were still in their possession and were currently being held by Becky.
"So how do you get Digieggs to hatch?" Becky asked Inagomon.
"Usually you just rub them, but these ones seem to be special. They probably do belong to two more Digidestined."
"But how come they didn't get pulled into this world when we did?" Finny asked from the front of the group.
"Did something happen to stop them?" Mo asked.
"Don't look at me." Inagomon replied with a shrug. "I haven't got a clue."
"But even if something did happen before to prevent them from coming it doesn't mean they can never come." Seb put in. "If the evil Digimon thought they couldn't ever come, they wouldn't bother with the eggs. They must see them as a threat or else they wouldn't want them."
"Good thinking, Seb." Bochamon complimented. Seb didn't reply.
"So we have to take care of these eggs at all costs." Becky said, shifting them around in her arms. "We can't let anyone get a hold of these until they are returned to their true partners."
"It must be lonely being without your partner." Mizumon said. "I wish we knew where to look."
"Well, we all came from earth. I'm guessing that those two Digidestined are still there." Lexi told her partner.
"What's earth?" Mizumon asked.
"Earth is where we all lived before coming here." Mo said, reminiscing about her home. Now that she thought about it, she didn't miss it as much as she would have thought. Her family was kind of hectic back home. "I lived in New York." she added quickly.
"Hey, I've been to New York." Mack commented. "I have family there."
"I've never heard of New York." Torimon said. "Is it nice?"
"It's at least cooler that this desert." Lexi said. She was once again complaining about the heat.
"Don't worry, Lexi. We'll get out of here soon." Mizumon told her.
"I hope so." Sandy added. "My feet are starting to hurt. Can you carry me, Jesse?"
Without a word, Jesse bent down and Sandy jumped on his back.
"Only for a little while." he told her.
"You care way too much about her." Dokumon said as he flew next to them.
"Hey, I'm her brother. Someone's got to look out for her."
Back in the front of the group, Tyromon stopped and sniffed the air.
"I smell water." he spoke. Kitsumon and Inagomon joined him.
"Me too." the both spoke at once.
"Is this another ocean?" Lexi said hopefully. Anything was better than this scorching desert they were in.
"I don't think so. I don't smell any salt." Kitsumon told her. "It smells more like fresh water."
"As long as there's food there I'm happy." Kusamon spoke. He leaned against Theo's leg out of fatigue.
"I hope it's close." Finny said. "It's almost dark again and we have no shelter out here."
"You mean we've been walking for the entire day again!?" Lexi complained. "I hate this stupid desert!"
"Hey, I see green!" Torimon said, pointing straight in front of them. She was hovering a few feet above them in the air.
"What is it?" Mack asked her partner.
"I can't really tell from here, but it looks like another forest."
"Another forest? What are we doing, walking in circles?" Lexi asked.
"You complain a lot." Mo commented. Lexi chose not to reply.
"We better get moving if we want to get there by nightfall." Becky said. "Who knows what's out here at night. And we have to keep the eggs safe."
"Then let's go!" Inagomon said. She took flight and led the way beside Torimon.
The forest was a lot closer than they thought and the arrived in only a few short minutes. It wasn't as dense as the other forests they had been in and the trees were a lot taller. Not too far from the edge was a small freshwater pond in a small clearing.
"I don't think we're going to get any father tonight so we might as well stop here." Finny spoke. Everyone agreed instantly and sat down on the cool ground. They were ready for a break from all the walking and heat.
"Finally!" Lexi spoke. She leaned back and fell into the grass. Mizumon followed her example. A little ways away, Jesse set Sandy up against the base of a tree. The girl had already fallen asleep. Ashimon curled up next to her partner and also closed her eyes.
A little ways away from where the Digidestined had stopped for the night, Patamon was making his way through the brush and trees.
"They should be close to here by now." he muttered to himself as he stumbled along. The forest was a lot thicker further in, through you couldn't tell from the outside of it. "I can't believe I got roped into this."
Patamon gave a few coughs and he stopped to rest his tired wings. He had been flying most of the day to try and intercept the Digidestined before Zhuqiaomon could make his move. It didn't help that he wasn't feeling well to begin with.
As Patamon was resting, he heard movement just a few feet away from him. He peered around the trunk of a large tree and saw the Digidestined getting ready to go to sleep. A few of them had gone to sleep already, meaning they must have been pretty tired.
"I'll wait a little longer." Patamon spoke softly to himself. He was still quite tired himself.
Several minutes later, everyone except Becky and Inagomon had gone to sleep. Becky was sitting up against a tree with the eggs in her lap. Inagomon was by her side, fighting to stay awake.
"How much longer are you going to stay up?" Inagomon asked. "The sun set long ago."
"I'm curious about the eggs." Becky spoke as she examined them again. She rubbed the pink patterned one gently.
"Staring at them all night isn't going to solve anything." Inagomon said with a yawn.
"I know," Becky said. "But I'm really not that tired. If you want to, you can go to sleep."
Becky didn't have to tell her twice. Inagomon was sound asleep in a matter of seconds. Becky smiled at the snoozing insect Digimon and then turned back to the eggs.
About a minute later, a soft rustling from the bushes, followed by a small cough caught her attention. She set the eggs down beside her and was about to get up and see what it was when a small Patamon stumbled out in front of her.
"Patamon?" Becky questioned. She knew the little orange and cream Digimon from the game. In fact, it was the one she had chosen to start her team with. She had always liked Patamon.
"Shh," Patamon shushed her quietly. "I need to talk to you."
"Me?" Becky asked. "What for?"
Patamon looked around and saw that everyone else was sound asleep. "Follow me." he said.
Without question, Becky nodded and got up to follow the little Digimon away from the group. As she left, she brushed by Inagomon, waking her up.
"Becky?" she asked. But Becky didn't hear her. Not wanting to lose sight of her partner, Inagomon decided to follow in secret.
Once they were a good distance away from the rest of the group, Patamon turned to face Becky.
"What did you want to talk about?" Becky asked. "And where did you come from?"
"I came to tell you that-" Patamon was cut off by a series of hacking coughs. Becky knelt down beside him and patted his back.
"Are you going to be okay?" she asked. The coughs subsided and Patamon cleared his throat.
"I'll be fine, thank you." he said. "Now, I came to tell you about the evil Digimon that have been attacking you. Awhile ago I was recruited to-" another series of coughs started. Patamon couldn't speak.
"Maybe we should talk about this when you're feeling better." Becky said. She was concerned about the little Digimon. Patamon shook his head.
"What are they up to?" Inagomon asked herself in a soft voice. She was watching from a nearby bush, trying her best to keep out of sight. She didn't know if her presence would affect what Patamon had to say. It sounded too important to risk it.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Becky asked again. The coughs, instead of getting better, had started to get worse. Patamon turned away from her and his pupils dilated. He felt like he no longer had control over his body.
"Patamon?" Becky asked.
Patamon didn't answer when he turned back around. When Becky looked at him she could tell something was wrong. His pupils were reduced to tiny slits that were barely visible and his whole body was shaking. Before Becky could say anything else, Patamon lunged.
"BOOM BUBBLE!" Patamon shouted. A huge gust of air blew straight for Becky.
"Shock Jaw!" Inagomon yelled. The electric attack intercepted the air bubble and canceled it out.
"Inagomon?" Becky asked, wondering where her Digimon had come from so suddenly.
"You should move." Inagomon said sternly as Patamon readied another attack. "Shock Jaw!" Inagomon attacked before Patamon could release his own attack. The impact knocked Patamon off his feet and into the branches of a nearby tree. Inagomon readied herself for the fight, but Patamon paused. He looked like he was in pain, as if he was fighting whatever was trying to control him. Panting and coughing, he fell from the tree and rammed right into the ground.
"Patamon!" Becky yelled out.
"Stay back." Inagomon warned. "I'm not sure what's going on here."
They watched the little Patamon as he struggled to get up. When he finally turned to face them, his eyes appeared glazed over. A few seconds later, he started to grow in size. His wings grew larger and his fur grew darker until it was almost black. The tips of his wings grew spikes and his toes became razor sharp claws. When the change finally stopped, he was larger than Inagomon.
"BOOM BUBBLE!" Patamon shouted in a deeper voice that didn't sound even remotely like his own. Inagomon jumped out of the way just in time.
"Patamon, what happened to you?" Becky asked as she watched from where she was sitting on the ground. The Patamon heard and turned to her with his teeth bared. He sucked in another huge breath and prepared to fire it at her.
"No, Becky!" Inagomon shouted. Then a bright pink light shot out of Becky's Digivice and surrounded Inagomon.
"Inagomon digivolve to . . . SUZUCHIMON!"
Where Inagomon was previously standing was a huge, black and green insect that resembled some sort of dragonfly. She had black armor all over her back and arms and huge purple jaws lined with razor sharp spikes. One her back were four, iridescent wings lined with green scales. Near the base of each of the wings was a giant, red ruby.
"You digivolved." Becky said, staring in awe at the giant Digimon that now stood before her. She could hardly believe that little Inagomon could transform herself into something so big and powerful looking.
"Bring it on!" Patamon spoke. He bared his fangs again and lunged. Without saying a word, Suzuchimon swung her giant, armor clad tail and knocked Patamon away. Patamon soared out of view. They didn't hear the sound of him making contact as he landed.
"Is he gone?" Becky asked after a few minutes of waiting.
"I think so." Suzuchimon said. "We should get out of here before he decides to come back."
"You don't think he will, do you?" Becky asked Suzuchimon. She stood up slowly and brushed herself off.
"I don't think so. But if he does, I'll protect you." Suzuchimon replied. Becky smiled as her Digivice started to glow again. Seconds later, Inagomon was back. Becky ran up to her and gave her a big hug.
"Thank you! I don't know what I would have done without you!" Becky said as she squeezed her partner. Inagomon hugged her back.
"It was no problem at all. Just promise me you won't go off again without telling me." Inagomon said.
"Deal." Becky smiled, finally letting go of her partner. "I'll never do it again."
Please R&R!!!