I Can Haz Digivolve? Not-So-LOLCatz!
"Josh, we don't need all these supplies. The Champions in Deep Marsh are weak," Maria whined, waiting outside the digital general store impatiently.
"The fact that they're Champions makes up for the fact that they're fairly weak for Champions," Josh was bartering with the shopkeeper, an Otamamon, trying to get a better deal for the few healing items the shop had, "No, 1000 bits is way too much for 10 health roots!"
Otamamon
Level: Rookie
Type: Amphibian
Attribute: Virus
Attacks: Lullaby Bubble, Kid Claw, Wrapping Bubble, Slamming Attack
The amphibian Digimon glared at him. "Well, that's what I'm selling them for, no less!"
Josh returned the withering glare. "Fine, then. I'll take my business elsewhere," the Kotemon stormed out of the small shop, "The nerve! The going rate for health roots is only 50 bits everywhere else!"
"Well," Sean looked around, "This isn't 'everywhere else.' It's kind of like how inns are in a lot of Final-Fantasy-esque games; the cost is different in each town."
"He's got a point, Jo-" Maria gasped, pointing to the window of a very small shop, "That's a Goddess Statue!" Maria rushed into the shop, leaving the two boys standing in the middle of the street.
"A Goddess Statue? Where have I heard of that before?" Sean asked no one in particular.
~~~~~Inside the shop~~~~~
"Please? Will you sell it for just a little lower? Please?" Maria begged the shop keep of the small shop, a Ranamon.
Ranamon
Level: Hybrid
Type: Fairy
Attribute: Variable
Attacks: Drainin' Rain, Dark Vapor, Whippin' Waves
"Sorry," Ranamon shrugged, "No can do hun. Tha' item is rare; I can't just be givin' it away for cheap like that."
"Oh, come on! Just a little cheaper? I'll do anything," the Salamon pleaded, "Anything."
The Ranamon put a finger to her chin. "Well…there is this one thing y'all can do for me. But it won't be easy."
At this point, Josh and Sean have entered the shop and are watching the conversation in amusement. "What does she have to do?" Josh asked, raising an eyebrow. Josh had an inkling of what she wanted, if it existed in the game: The Beast Spirit of Water.
"I'll do it! It doesn't matter what it is, I'll do it," Maria's eyes were wide. She needed that Goddess Statue, "Just tell me what you want me to do."
Ranamon sighed. "I hate sendin' lil' ol' Rookies to do something like this…I need an item from the Upload Highlands called Ancient Tusk. It's a remnant from a SkullMammothmon that used to roam the Highlands until it was deleted by…something."
SkullMammothmon
Level: Mega
Type: Ghost
Attribute: Vaccine
Attacks: Spiral Bone Crusher
Sean paled. Something deleted a SkullMammothmon? "What, exactly, killed the SkullMammothmon?"
"Nobody knows," Ranamon shrugged, "But whatevuh it was left the area shortly aftuh that. Megas disappeared from the areas leadin' to the Black Tomb after SkullMammothmon was deleted, so that particuluh threat is no longer there. Howevuh, there is an Apemon that is very protective of the tusk and uses it as a weapon."
Apemon
Level: Champion
Type: Animal
Attribute: Vaccine
Attacks: Metallic Fur, Mega Bone Stick
"A Champion? That's it?" Josh raised an eyebrow. There was more to this than what Ranamon was saying.
"Tha' Apemon is the leaduh of a large group of Gazimon, so no, tha's not it," Ranamon frowned.
Gazimon
Level: Rookie
Type: Mammal
Attribute: Virus
Attacks: Electric Stun Blast
Sean winced. "How large of a group? 10, 20, what?"
Ranamon sighed. "Tha's it, my conscience is gettin' the best of me. Y'all aren't goin', an' that's final."
Josh raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that we can just go there and get it now that you've told us that an Apemon with a large group of Gazimon has it."
"But I didn't tell you where in the Upload Highlands tha' Apemon is. An' Upload Highlands is a large area," Ranamon just glared at the small group, obviously displeased with them, "Now, is there anything else y'all wanna buy?"
Maria sighed. "No thanks. Well then, bye." She left the shop, dragging her paws, Sean and Josh right behind her.
Ranamon just sighed, shaking her head. "Poo-uh kids. They have no idea what they would be getting' int-uh…"
~~~~~Just outside the shop~~~~~~
Even though the Salamon looked dejected inside of the shop, she was standing 'tall' the moment she walked out. "I've decided! We're going to Upload Highlands!"
"You do realize that this probably won't be a good idea, right," Josh asked, looking down at his girlfriend, "I mean, whenever there's a quest that seems fairly easy, it turns out to be abysmally hard. This is probably one of them."
"I don't care! I need that Goddess Statue," Maria exclaimed, "Now, which way is Upload Highlands?"
"Yup, this will be interesting," Sean sighed, looking at his mini-map, "It's quite a few miles to the North, so it'll be a heck of a trip. Still wanna go?"
"YES!" Maria glared at the Dracomon. "I need that item for my digivolution into Gatomon!"
Sean slapped his head with a claw. "Of course! That's where I heard of it! Well, since it's obvious that you won't change your mind, shall we go? I think we have enough items for a large battle and the experience we'll get from killing all those Gazimon will be awesome."
Josh sighed. "We might as well get going now. We can discuss the details when we get there."
~~~~~Upload Highlands~~~~~
The little group had wandered the Highlands for upwards of an hour just looking for the Apemon and the large group of Gazimon. "Well, this sure isn't a waste of time," the Dracomon grumbled, sarcasm dripping like venom from his voice. He looked around, as if the Apemon would be in plain sight, waiting to be attacked. "We should've just bought the freakin' statue; it would've been a lot easier!"
Maria groaned. "Where's Seth? He should be helping us look for that stupid Apemon."
"The last time I talked to him, he was in the middle of his digivolution quest. Apparently, he was in the middle killing Bug Digimon in Terrestrial Forest for a drop," Josh sighed, slinging his bokken over his shoulder, "Sean's right, though; let's just go. At this rate we'll never find that Apemon," Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw several grey shapes and a single, large, light-orange shape dash towards them from across the other side of the plains, "Oh, this isn't going to be pleasant. Here they come!"
"What!?" Sean jumped just in time to dodge the Ancient Tusk swung at him by the Apemon. Unfortunately, for Apemon, the tusk scraped against Sean's Reverse Scale, "That was a mistake! G Shurunen!" The barrage of fiery bolts pelted not Apemon, but a group of 3 Gazimon, deleting them instantly.
"Sledge Crash!"
"Hot Head!"
The two attacks slammed into Apemon, knocking him off balance, but definitely not beating him. "You little brats! You wanna play rough? Let's play rough! Metallic Fur!" He slammed into the Rookies, who had stepped right next to each other to focus their attacks on the Champion.
"Electric Stun Blast!" The Gazimon fired off their attack as Apemon leapt back from the three fallen Rookies. "Don't mess with boss!"
Sean growled as he stood up, glaring at the overgrown rabbits. His group was easily outnumbered 3:1. While his G Shurunen did a lot of damage and took up a fairly large area, not leaving his enemies with much space to dodge, it sapped about a tenth of his health each time he used it. Maybe the experience they would gain just wasn't worth it…
"Maybe you stupid little punks didn't get the memo. This is MY turf. If anyone wants to as much as breathe on it, they gotta deal with me," The Apemon walked towards them, raising the tusk to strike them again, "Too bad you won't be able to tell anyone else. Mega Bo-"
Just as he swung down with the Ancient Tusk, he was sent flying by a red blur. "Geez, for a Champion, you sure are weak." Before him stood a Guilmon, watching him with a raised eyebrow.
Guilmon
Level: Rookie
Type: Dinosaur
Attribute: Virus
Attacks: Pyro Sphere, Rock Breaker
"You little punks! I'll kill you all," Apemon stood up, clenching the Ancient Tusk tightly, "You hear me!? I'll kill you all!!!" Apemon rushed forward, intent on crushing the red dinosaur's digital bones. When Guilmon jumped out of the way, the Champion kept on going, heading straight of the Gazimon, trampling some of them.
Sean saw the Apemon's health; there was barely any left. However, his own health wasn't looking too good, either. He had to stop this soon, despite what the newcomer's intentions might be. "…Screw it," he scratched his Reverse Scale, "G Shurunen!" The fireballs tore through the Champion, deleting him as he raged.
The remaining Gazimon, seeing as how their leader was just destroyed, did the only sane thing there was left to do; they ran.
The Guilmon walked over and helped Sean up after his attack left him on the ground as Josh slowly helped up Maria. "You guys okay? I heard some fighting and decided to get a seat to watch. When I saw him knock you down, I decided it was time to step in."
"Thanks," Josh nodded, "You got here just in time. What's your name?" He sighed as Maria rushed over to the fallen tusk, trying to pick it up, "Just loot it, Maria."
The Guilmon chuckled. "The name's Will. And you are?"
"I'm Josh, that's Sean," The Dracomon waved as he tried to tell Maria what Josh had already said, "And that's Maria, as you've probably heard."
"Let me guess, Goddess Statue?" Will asked, glancing back to the Salamon, still trying to actually pick up the tusk, an impossible task for a Digimon with no opposable thumbs. "I saw it in a window back at the town in Deep Marsh. I asked the Ranamon there what I had to do to get it, but she said that she wouldn't let me do it. I walked off when she turned back to checking her merchandise, mumbling about an Apemon. There was no way I would've even tried it alone."
Sean raised an eyebrow as he walked over to the pair, giving up on trying to help Maria. "Good 'guess' you have there. How long ago did you go to Ranamon?" A person had gone to the area a quest was in and knew what the item they were looking for was without listening to the quest giver? Something was up.
Will sighed. "Too obvious?" After Sean nodded, the Virus continued. "Sorry, I'm a friend of Seth. He told me to check up on you since Josh told him what quest you guys were on and to help you if you needed it."
Maria sighed, finally having looted the Ancient Tusk. "Ironic that he says 'Ye of little faith' so much, then sends someone to check up on how we're doing. Well, time to go back to Deep Marsh." Maria was beaming at the idea of being the first Champion in the group.
Sean twitched. "Yeah, let's go. I'm going to be on follow and have a talk with Seth." The Dorumon knew how well Sean played and should've had more faith in him.
~~~~Deep Marsh: Ranamon's Shop~~~~
"Y'all WHAT!?" Ranamon shouted, staring wide-eyed at the four Rookies, "I told y'all not to go! Y'all coulda been killed! Why, oh why, do Rookies nevuh listen these days?" Ranamon sighed, shaking her head, "Well, y'all still got tha Tusk, so I guess I have to give y'all the Statue." She handed over the statue to Maria, who squealed with glee.
"Thanks! You have no idea how much this means to me!" Without warning, Maria began to glow, her form changing. "Salamon Digivolve to… Gatomon!"
Gatomon
Level: Champion
Type: Exalted Beast
Attribute: Vaccine
Attacks: Cat's Eye Hypnotism, Lightning Paw
"Finally!" Maria leapt up, but not after noticing something that hadn't changed…"Wait, I'm still short!"
Well, it appears that I'm finally done with another chapter. Thanks for everyone who has reviewed this story so far. This is easily the longest chapter I've written for this story, just topping 2500 words. Anyways, again, please read and review.
Ja ne!