Chapter 2
The group of humans and their Digimon partners wandered further north, pushing on for what felt like days. They had all made it further north than they did when they sat behind a computer screen controlling their partners. The land they found themselves in was a rocky barren wasteland, nothing inhabited this land except for a few patches of grass. With no passing of daytime to night it was hard to tell what time it was, but everyone knew it was time to stop and take a break.
Brooke sat on a nearby rock, "I can't keep going guys, I need to stop for a little while."
Elecmon collapsed next to his partner, laying against Brooke's legs. "I'm pretty pooped too."
"Fine then." Sarah snapped, "You two can catch up with the rest of us later."
Mushroomon tugged on Sarah's pant leg, "Come on boss, we're all pretty tired. If we keep going we'll all probably die."
Sarah rolled her eyes, "You're all just going to slow me down, but fine. We'll rest for a minute."
Everyone sat down next to their Digimon partner and took the time to absorb their surroundings.
Brooke was wearing a pair of denim dungarees that she had cut at the knees under which she wore a lilac shirt. She pulled her handheld game from the pocket on her chest and tried to turn it on. "That's weird, I can't play it..."
"That's because you're inside the Digital World. That's your Digivice." Elecmon said looking up at the device.
Cale was wearing a dark gray hooded sweatshirt over a black shirt, and wore a pair of denim cargo jeans. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out his own Digivice. "Digivice huh? What does it do?"
Lopmon jumped up on Cale's shoulder and poked at the Digivice with her ear, "It connects us together and helps us grow."
Dominic was laying on the ground, his hands under his head. He was wearing a green tank top and a pair of very baggy denim shorts. "So, these Digivices," He said as he pulled his from his own pocket, "They're pretty important?"
Goblimon hit his club on the ground. "Very important! Keep safe! Do not lose!"
Elizabeth was wearing a pink and red striped shirt and a pair of denim capris. She unclipped her Digivice from her belt and looked at the screen. "So how to we make you grow with these?"
Fanbeemon hovered around Elizabeth, "If we fight enough, we'll get stronger."
Malachai was wearing a pair of denim carpenter jeans, and a caramel shirt under a black vest. He took off his backpack, rummaged inside, and pulled out his Digivice. "That's pretty cool."
Candlemon hopped over to Malachai. "I'm glad you think so!"
Rebecca was wearing a pair of black leggings under a sleeveless green dress. She reached into her purse to pull out a pair of sunglasses and her Digivice fell out. "Oops!" She said as she put the glasses on.
Dorumon caught the Digivice, "Be careful Rebecca, if anything happens to this bad things could happen."
Tobias refused to sit down, not wanting to get his tan slacks dirty. He brushed some dirt off his gray sweater vest which was over a blue dress shirt. "I'm sure if I had the right tools I could hack into this and find all the secrets." He said as he clipped his Digivice to his belt.
Hagurumon floated down and poked the Digivice with his gear hand, "Don't hack it, you might break it!"
Sarah was wearing a gray long sleeve shirt under a dark pink shirt, with a pair of dark blue denim jeans. She pulled her Digivice from her pocket, "So then with this, just Mushroomon and I could become the strongest?"
Mushroomon laughed. "Keh heh heh! Don't be silly boss, you have a long way to go to be the strongest!"
"Malachai," Elizabeth began, "What do you have in your bag?"
"Hm?" Malachai opened his backpack and dumped it in front of him. "Crumpled papers, unfinished homework, a few folders, some pens, seven dollars, and a blank notebook." He stuffed the contents back inside his bag.
"Can we use any of that?" Cale asked as he patted Lopmon's head.
"Hey, if you need any of it then by all means take it." Malachai said patting his bag.
As the group sat around talking, a cloud of dust rose on the horizon. It seemed to get larger as time went by.
"Yo, what's that?" Dominic asked as he sat up, pointing to the cloud of dust.
"Nothing good! Nothing good! Nothing good!" Goblimon said as he ran around in circles.
"I suggest we run!" Tobias said pointing to a cave formation up ahead.
"I agree!" Sarah said as she began running ahead of the group.
Everybody ran towards the caves, hoping to reach safety before that cloud of dust got to them. Sarah was the first to the cave, followed by Brooke, then Elecmon with Fanbeemon close behind. Elizabeth came next, with Hagurumon behind her, then Lopmon, and Goblimon. Cale and Dominic ran into the cave next, followed by Malachai, who was followed by Dorumon and Mushroomon. Rebecca and Tobias were the last to run into the cave.
"Wait!" Malachai said as he glanced around the cave. "Where's Candlemon?"
Elizabeth looked out of the cave, the cloud of dust was right on top of them, but she could make out Candlemon about forty feet away. "He's still out there!"
Malachai ran towards the cave exit, but Elizabeth stopped him. "You're not going out there! It's too dangerous!"
"I'm not leaving Candlemon behind, he's my partner!" Malachai said as he pulled his arm free.
Elizabeth took the goggles from around her neck and gave them to Malachai, "I'm gonna need these back."
"Thanks Liz." Malachai said as he put the goggles on. They looked a little goofy on him, but they'd keep his eyes safe from the sand and dirt.
He ran out into the storm, the sand and dust stinging his arms with every passing second. He pressed on through the wind, slowly but surely making his way towards Candlemon. "Candlemon! Can you hear me?" He shouted as he walked, with no response. As he continued, he tripped on something and fell. When he sat up he saw what he had tripped on, it was Candlemon! "Candlemon!" He said as he reached for his Digimon, but there was something different. Candlemon's flame wasn't lit, and he was cold as ice. "No. No no no. I just met you buddy, you can't be dead."
The storm was picking up, there was no way he could make his way back to the cave. He grabbed Candlemon and made his way to a group of large rocks. He wedged himself in between the rocks and took off his vest. He curled up as small as he could to cover Candlemon and his own face to wait out the storm.
Malachai could hear Elizabeth and Cale calling for him, but just barely. It did comfort him to know the others were all right, he didn't want to imagine being on his own when he had no clue what to do. It felt like hours had passed before the storm finally died down. Malachai felt something on his back and shot up, "Who's there!?"
"Calm down, I just wanted to make sure you were okay." It was Cale and Lopmon.
"I'm okay, but Candlemon isn't." Malachai said as he put his vest back on and sat Candlemon on the ground.
Lopmon giggled, "He's okay, he's just asleep."
"How do you know?" Cale asked.
Lopmon poked Candlemon. "Well, would you be able to sleep if your head was on fire? The fire on a Candlemon goes out when they fall asleep, or pass out. If he was dead he wouldn't be here anymore."
Malachai breathed a sigh of relief, "Well that's good."
Almost on cue, the flame on Candlemon's head ignited and his eyes opened. "What did I miss?"
Malachai took Elizabeth's goggles off and stuffed them in his vest pocket, "You passed out during a sandstorm and I rushed out to make sure you were safe."
Candlemon sighed, "Sorry, I'm not very fast. I don't do much running."
Malachai shook his head, "Don't worry about it buddy."
Cale tapped Malachai on the shoulder, "Should we worry about that?"
Malachai looked up to see what Cale was pointing at. There was a group of strange looking Digimon walking towards them.
The others in the cave saw it too, and they made their way down to Malachai.
"What do we do?" Rebecca asked with a whine to her voice.
"We fight!" Dorumon said with a growl.
Malachai gave the goggles back to Elizabeth, and she put them back around her neck.
"So if we're going to fight," Dominic said. "We should get ready!"
"Fight! Smash! Win!" Goblimon said with a roar.
Tobias looked at the wormlike Digimon heading their way. "Hagurumon, what kind of Digimon are these?"
Hagurumon floated around Tobias. "Well, these look like Kunemon, but they're odd."
"How so?" Tobias asked
Mushroomon cracked his knuckles, "Keh heh heh. Kunemon are normally yellow, but these ones are black and it looks like they're disintegrating or deteriorating."
"Is it a virus?" Brooke asked, taking a step back.
Fanbeemon buzzed. "It could be, but there's nothing to fear. The only way to get rid of a virus is to defeat it."
"Virus or not, there's something wrong with those Kunemon and we need to stop them." Lopmon said as she took a fighting stance.
As the Kunemon got closer, the Digimon moved in between their human partners and the Kunemon.
"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon shouted as she fired shards of ice at the Kunemon, slowing them down.
"Gear Stinger!" Fanbeemon unleashed an onslaught of barbed stingers on the Kunemon.
"Bonfire!" Candlemon shot a ball of fire from his mouth that created a small explosion in the center of the Kunemon.
"Super Thunder Strike!" Elecmon shouted as he let multiple lightning bolts shoot from his tails and strike the Kunemon.
"Gobli Bomb!" Goblimon said as he threw a small bomb at the Kunemon that created a small explosion.
"Metal Cannon!" Dorumon yelled as he fired a ball of iron from his mouth and hit some of the Kunemon.
"Fungus Cruncher!" Mushroomon unleashed a torrent of explosive mushrooms raining down on the Kunemon.
"Cog Crusher!" Hagurumon yelled as it fired several gears into the Kunemon.
The group of Kunemon stopped in their tracks, and their bodies disintegrated into a cloud of black smoke. The smoke began to take shape and harden into a new form.
"Is, is that normal?" Elizabeth asked as she took a step back.
"Not normally!" Fanbeemon shouted with a buzz.
The smoke cleared to reveal a new Digimon, another black colored Digimon with bits of it appearing to disintegrate and reform with every step.
"Oh no! That's a JewelBeemon!" Candlemon shouted.
"No good! No good! Bad time!" Goblimon shouted as he smashed his club on the ground.
"Spike... Buster..." The BlackJewelBeemon said with a gasp as it leapt into the air and sent a rain of spikes down on the Digimon below. The spikes exploded on contact, sending the Digimon and the humans flying. "Spike... Buster..." BlackJewelBeemon groaned again as it sent another barrage of spikes down on the targets below.
Everyone was thrown back, the Digimon taking most of the attack.
"Our Digimon!" Brooke cried out.
The Digimon were lying motionless around them, a few grunts and groans to signify their pain.
"What do we do?" Malachai asked.
"What can we do. It's over." Cale said as he slumped against a rock.
"We can believe in our Digimon!" Elizabeth shouted, clutching her Digivice tightly.
"Oh yeah, they said it will help make them stronger!" Rebecca said as she pulled her Digivice out of her purse.
The others fished their Digivices out of their respective pockets and held them tightly. Nobody knew what to do, and nobody expected what was coming next. The screens on their Digivices all lit up, and the light from the Digivices washed over the unconscious Digimon. Not only did their Digimon begin moving again, but they began changing.
"Hagurumon Digivolve to Guardromon!" Hagurumon said as his gear-like body got larger and changed shape.
"Elecmon Digivolve to Leomon!" Elecmon said as his form changed to that of a bipedal lion.
"Lopmon Digivolve to Turuiemon!" Lopmon said as she began glowing and growing.
"Goblimon Digivolve to Ogremon!" Goblimon roared as his body grew larger.
"Fanbeemon Digivolve to Waspmon!" Fanbeemon buzzed as his body became larger and more mechanical.
"Candlemon Digivolve to Wizardmon!" Candlemon shouted as his body took on the shape of a tall humanoid figure.
"Dorumon Digivolve to Dorugamon!" Dorumon yelled as his body seemed to grow larger.
"Mushroomon Digivolve to Woodmon!" Mushroomon yelled as his body glowed and grew larger.
When the light faded away the Digimon were staring at the black JewelBeemon, with every intention of showing it that they were ready to protect their partners.
"Go crush that weird Digimon!" Sarah shouted as she pumped her fist in the air.
"You got it boss!" Woodmon shouted as the eight champion Digimon charged at the black JewelBeemon.