A Crimson Power

Cole and I had, once again, gotten lost. This wasn't at all surprising, of course, seeing as how often we'd done that lately. It had been 4 or 5 days since we'd seen DemiDevimon, and we were glad to be rid of him. But he was the least of our worries. We were near a mountain spring when it happened. We were all hungry, and looking for food.

Commandramon and Cole had just returned with an armful of fruits and roots when there was a roar that shook the entire area, and a large tyrannosaur came into view. I looked nervously at Commandramon.

"He doesn't look too friendly."

"He shouldn't, that's MetalTyrannomon!"

"Can't you, like… talk to him? Dino to dino?"

"Somehow, I don't think he'd listen…" Cole said, slightly distraught.

I nodded my agreement. "Well, Leormon's not back yet… it's up to you guys!"

Cole turned to Commandramon. "Go for it!"

"Commandramon, digivolve to…" There was a dramatic pause, and then Commandramon fell over. "I can't do it, Cole. I haven't eaten in so long…"

I groaned. "Eat up. We'll try to hold him off with our digivices… Maybe it'll work." I held up my digivice, running towards the digimon as Commandramon started gulping down food. As the screen started to glow, MetalTyrannomon reared back its head in agony, but stood its ground. Soon, Cole's digivice began to glow, but Cole hadn't joined me…

"Commandramon, digivolve to… Sealsdramon!!!"

Sealsdramon began leaping up into the trees so he could fight. Meanwhile, Leormon arrived dragging more food. I turned to Leormon. "Eat up, buddy, we need you." He nodded and started eating.

There was a sharp cry of "Death Behind!!!" and MetalTyrannomon cried out in pain, swinging around to swat at what had hit him.

I ran over to Leormon and kneeled beside him. "Think you can digivolve?"

He nodded. "I think so."

"Then let's do it." I pointed my digivice towards him, and the screen glowed again. So did Leormon.

"Leormon, digivolve to… Liamon!!!"

Liamon ran towards MetalTyrannomon. "Thunder of Kings!!!" The electric attack seemed to have little effect, though.

MetalTyrannomon seemed annoyed, though, because he pointed a hand at each digimon. "Giga Destroyer!!!" Liamon was hit by a large missile, and dedigivolved. "Nuclear Laser!!!" Sealsdramon was sent flying back into the clearing we were in, badly hurt. He looked up at Cole.

"I'm… sorry… I couldn't beat him… Cole…"

Cole kneeled down beside him, smiling sadly. "It's alright… I forgive you…"

At that moment, Cole's crest glowed silver, and Sealsdramon glowed. "Sealsdramon, digivolve to… Tankdramon."

The huge tank now filled the clearing. "You come in here and attack us? Well, I'll show you something… Striper Cannon!"

There was a large nuclear explosion, and the area was suddenly nothing but scorched earth where trees had been. MetalTyrannomon was turning into white squares of data and floating away.

With a sigh of relief, the dragon-like head protruding from the tank bowed to Cole, and then Tankdramon glowed and shrunk, and Missimon began zooming around the area. I ran over to Leormon. "You alright?"

He nodded. "I'm fine… But I'm hungry again…"

I laughed. "Come on, we'll eat some more. He only destroyed the immediate area, we can still find food, I'm sure."

As we were sitting down to eat, a vampire-looking digimon appeared flying above us. "You may be clever little kids, and you may have taken out MetalTyrannomon, but you're no match for me!!! Crimson Lightning!!!"

I pushed Cole out of the way of the red, whip-like lightning bolt, then turned to Leormon. "Leormon, digivolve to… Liamon!!!" Liamon leapt into the air, electricity charged in his mane. "Thunder of Kings!!!"

The digimon only laughed. "Your pathetic attacks are no match for me!!! Give me those crests! Now!!!"

"Never!!!" I cried. "Now, Liamon!!!" My crest glowed white.

Liamon nodded. "Liamon, digivolve to… LoaderLeomon!!!"

"I see you know how to use your crests… no matter! You will never defeat me!" The digimon was a little arrogant, I thought.

"Boring Storm!!!"

This time, the digimon we faced seemed fazed. "I'll be back…"

LoaderLeomon waited until the digimon was gone before he dedigivolved, turning back into Frimon.

I groaned. "Great, now we're defenseless."

Cole winced. "You shouldn't have said that… now I'm thinking about it, too."

"We should finish eating, and then get moving."

"But we've been on our feet all day, Andrew."

"And that digimon knows where we are!"

"Good point."

"His ability to fly gives him an advantage right now. I think we should get somewhere where he can't use it."

"That mountain has a cave in the side."

"Great… now we have to climb…"

We'd finished eating, and had been climbing for some time. Finally, thanks to Missimon carrying Frimon for me, we made it to the cave entrance. Inside was a small pad. I goggled wide-eyed as a holographic projection of that bald old man, Gennai, appeared again.

"Ah, I see you made it to the cave. Good, good…"

"Mind telling us what's going on here?" Cole asked impatiently.

"Cole, shut up and calm down." That was me, obviously.

Cole sighed, and Gennai continued. "Myotismon is trying to collect the crests. But more importantly, he wants to go to the Real World and catch the Eighth Digidestined child."

"The Real World? Our World?"

"Yes. It is very important to stop him. Wait until Frimon can digivolve again, and then ride to Myotismon's castle. You have to stop him!!!"

"Where is it?"

"To the north."

"What about Commandramon?" Cole seemed worried. "He can't ride on Liamon's back with us."

"Don't let him digivolve to Commandramon. As Missimon, he can fly along with you."

I nodded. "Good idea. So that flying vampire thing… was Myotismon?"

"Yes. Sorry, but I have to go… this thing is expensive and I'm out of quarters." The image faded away.

Cole looked at me with a look that said, "What the…?" and I returned his look with a look of my own saying, "I don't even want to know…" He got the message, as he always did, and we both laughed. Unspoken communication was one of the cool things about being best friends.

While the digimon seemed confused, Cole and I started talking. "Myotismon, huh?" he said.

"Yeah… sounds like we're in a bad situation…"