Catfight

It was another day on the run from Persiamon. Cole was ranting about how we should be standing and fighting. Now that we had both crests, we could beat her, was his argument.

"We can win, now, Andrew!!! We have both crests! She's no match for us anymore!!!"

"Cool off, Cole. We're nothing to her until we know how to use the crests."

"The same way we use the digivices. It happens automatically."

"NO, COLE!!!! IT DOESN'T!!!" I turned to face him, yelling at the top of my lungs. "DON'T YOU GET IT? THEY DIGIVOLVE TO HELP US, WHEN WE'RE IN TROUBLE. THEY CAN'T JUST DO IT ON THEIR OWN!!!! WE CAN'T MAKE THEM DIGIVOLVE BY FORCE OF WILL!!!"

Cole looked horrified. I'd never yelled in front of him before. "You… don't know… how they work… then?"

I shook my head. "No," I lied. I had a vague idea, but I wasn't ready to tell Cole. I didn't want to face Persiamon. I didn't feel like it. It was… it was too much. I didn't want to think about it. Besides, I wasn't sure if I was right, and based on what I knew, I didn't know how to get them to do it. It was only a shot in the dark. I sighed. "Until we know how to use them, we can't keep fighting. Got it?"

Cole shut his mouth and nodded. "Got it."

He was older than me, but he knew when the facts were stacked against him. And he knew that that was about 90% of the time.

I sighed and looked down at my crest. Crest of truth? That's a trait that defines me? Yeah, right. I'm sitting here lying to my best friend to avoid having to fight a cat creature in some weird, other world. If truth was a trait that defined me, I would've told him, flat out, what I thought and suspected. But I didn't. Because I'm not ready to face Persiamon… not yet.

We were coming up to a lake. As we neared the water's edge, I grinned. Light glistened off the surface of the lake, and the water was clean and clear. I bent over and took a quick sniff of the air over the water. There was a fresh scent there. "Smells good. Looks good."

Cole and I had been camping before, so we had learned to check and see if the water was good before drinking it. I cupped my hands together and took a drink of the water, as did Cole. It was crisp, clean, cool, mountain spring water. After the first taste, we nodded at each other. It was definitely safe to drink. We drank heavily from the lake, finally feeling better, and sat down on the shore, kicked off our shoes and socks, and soaked our feet in the water.

"Oh, this feels good…" Cole said dreamily.

"You don't have to tell me twice."

After we'd had a nice bath, we started to move on. After a little ways, there was a buzzing sound, and we turned to look behind us. Several bee-like creatures were coming towards us, and our digivices beeped at the same time. But we didn't pull them out. Leormon started talking. "Flymon!!! That's one mean bug. We really don't want to be on the other end of that stinger."

Cole growled in frustration, and I could almost hear him whimper, although he probably didn't. He swore. "What have I always said about camping?"

"That it would be perfect if you didn't have to worry about the bugs," I replied. I sighed. He'd made that statement too many times when we were younger.

Cole looked at me. "So, got any bug spray?"

I looked at him with a cold glare. "Spare me the sarcasm, would you?"

Cole sighed. He liked to have fun. I didn't like to deal with it, though, and he knew it. Cole turned to Commandramon. "Let's squash these guys like the bugs they are!" Commandramon nodded, tossing his M16 aside.

"Commandramon, digivolve to… Sealsdramon!!!" Sealsdramon started to fight the Flymon, and Leormon looked at me. I was about to nod at him when the digivice in my pocket beeped again. I pulled it out. The screen was glowing.

"Cole… I think it's time to get out of here. Forget your bug aggression, let's get going!"

Cole looked confused. "What? Why?"

I looked at him. "I just have a really bad feeling. These are probably Per-"

Persiamon came into sight just around a tree. "Oh, there you are. Finally, after all this time, I have you."

I glared at her. "Speak of the devil and she shall appear."

Persiamon made a noise akin to purring. "Ouch… that's a little harsh, don't you think?"

I shook my head. "No, not really. Now, if you'd kindly excuse me, I'd like to kick your ass."

"Such harsh words coming from such a young boy… I would hate to see-"

I cut her off. "Leormon? Let's go."

Leormon was about to digivolve when she spoke again. "Oh, you needn't bother with that. It won't do you any good. Helter Skelter!" She did a funny little dance, and suddenly Sealsdramon dedigivolved. My eyes widened.

"If you could do that, how come this is the first time you've done it?"

"Because I've been toying with you. I could never have collected the tags and crests myself, you see."

I just looked at her. "Well, they're about to defeat you."

Cole looked over at me. "I thought you said they don't just work on command."

I shook my head. "They don't. But I have a confession to make. I do know how they work, or at least I think I do. They each embody a particular trait, and when you display that trait, they work."

Cole looked at me. "Would you quit with the smart stuff? So you lied. I'll get over it."

The crest that I wore around my neck glowed white. I looked at Leormon. "I don't care what she can do. Let's get her!!!"

Leormon grinned. "Leormon, digivolve to… Liamon!!!" The crest glowed brighter, and the digivice shook in my hand, turning a glowing white as well. "Liamon, digivolve to… LoaderLeomon!!!" LoaderLeomon was like a robotic lion, with a spiked ball for a tail and a drill for a mane. He leapt on Persiamon as she started her dance again. "Boring Storm!!!" His mane turned, generating electricity, and he pinned her to the ground as it charged, then let it off at her. They watched as she started to dissolve into white squares.

Cole blinked. "Wow. That's what I call a catfight."