29) Reunion
Lilithmon roared through the desert night at a reckless speed. Her motorcycle was a street bike, not a dirt bike. That meant one patch of loose sand, something that suddenly appeared within the reach of the headlights, and a wipe out was a certainty, especially at the speed she was going.
She didn't care: "I have a new body bursting with a strength I have never felt before, and new powers that exceed anything Renamon – or even Icedevimon – ever had, but how will I really know unless I put it to the test...", she thought to herself
"SOMEONE CHALLENGE ME!", she called into the night.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing", Koichi said, as he surveyed the broken sticks and tattered cloth that had been Renamon's hang glider.
"I still prefer smooth landings", Kazu said, as he picked himself off the ground, shook the sand out of his hair.
"Where do you suppose this is?", Kenta asked.
"Looks like we're back in the desert region", Renamon replied.
"I know it does, but is it the same one?", Koichi asked. "Back in the Material World, there are lots of deserts".
"Not 100% sure", Renamon explained, "but I'm pretty sure. I would suggest finding the place where we originally entered the Digital World, and hope that the others have the same idea. I don't know what else to suggest".
"How do we find it?", Kenta asked. "That looked like a pretty big desert".
"I thought I spotted something familiar before we crashed", Renamon said. "If we head in that direction", Renamon pointed, "then hopefully we'll start seeing familiar landmarks. That should help narrow it down".
"Could we get that lucky?", Koichi asked, "that the Valley of Gales wasn't that far off, even with the randomness of those data streams?"
"Anything is possible, and there's one way to find out".
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"This is pointless", Jen was complaining after they had left the Chuchidarumon village. None of the Chuchiduramon had seen Calumon, and the village chieftain had made sure everyone had seen Takato's drawing, after all they did to rid them of the curse of the Iron Beast.
"How do you mean?", Takato asked.
"We have no idea where we're going, and for all we know, we could be walking in circles. We're not gonna find Calumon or Koichi this way".
"How about that place where we took the pictures?", Terriermon suggested.
"Where we planted that flag?", Jen asked.
"Yeah".
"I don't know about you, but that sounds reasonable", Juri added.
"If they come back, it would be a logical choice", Impmon added.
"But how would they know?", Jen asked. "Even if they found the desert, it's so big... no guarantee they'd even know where it was, or how to get back there".
"True enough, but it's something to go on, isn't it?", Terriermon pointed out.
"It wouldn't make any difference", Guilmon added. "If they return to some random place, our chances of finding them are just as good by back tracking as they are wandering at random. Besides, it's the one location we all know about".
"Makes sense to me", Takato agreed. "If we don't find them back there, we can always try elsewhere later on".
"We'd be no worse off", Jen agreed.
"Moumentai! If it's our destiny to find them, then find them we will".
They agreed: back track.
"Are we ever gonna find a partner?", Kenta was saying to Kazu. They were bringing up the rear.
"Don't give up hope", Leomon said, "sooner or later, you will find your partners".
"Really? You think so Leomon?", Kazu said. "I guess I'll take Angemon for my partner", Kazu said to Kenta.
"No way would Angemon ever agree to partner with you", Kenta disagreed. "Numemon would be more your style", he said.
Kazu got Kenta into a head lock: "What was that! You went too far this time!", he threatened.
"OK, OK... I'm... sorry", Kenta said.
"Boys", Juri said with a chuckle.
"Leomon... do you really think they'll find a partner?", Juri asked.
"Those two dipshits?", he replied, "I just said that to shut them up", he explained.
Juri was surprised to hear Leomon say that, and giggled nervously. She glanced back to where Kazu and Kenta were still wrestling.
"I hope they find partners", she said.
That night, they made camp in a deep wind carved cave above the sand. Jenyra and Terriermon were standing watch, and it would be Guilmon's and Takato's turn, but Takato wasn't asleep. Another sleepless night, as sleep wasn't really necessary here in the Digital World, more a force of habit.
"I brought along a bunch of crap that I really don't need", he thought to himself. He was using the time to go through his back pack, to see what he could leave behind to lighten the load. At the very bottom, he found a patch made of duct tape.
"What's this?", he asked himself, as he was sure he didn't put it there. Peeling off the tape revealed a clear plastic bag with something in it and as folded paper.
Dear Takato:
I don't know if you'll see this letter..."
"From Mother?", he asked himself
...but I regretted letting you go without saying goodbye. So I wrote this letter instead. The day you were born - I remember it perfectly - you were a big baby, and it was tough, bringing you into the world. But now you've grown so much, and I didn't realize it. As they say "time flies", and it sure does. I'm putting an amulet and this letter in your backpack. If you believe in it, I know it will protect you. A bit late, I know, but take care, and come back safe
"Mom", he said.
"Takato, what's wrong?", Juri asked.
"It's nothing"
"You can't sleep too?"
"Kinda... I'm OK"
"You crying?", she asked, concerned.
"Why... would I?"
She didn't believe him, as she got up and went to see for herself.
"Is that an amulet?", she asked
"I found it... in my back pack", he explained.
"From your mother?"
He nodded.
"She must really care about you... right?"
"But I'm OK", he insisted. "I know we'll make it back safe. We just have to hurry up and find Calumon".
She smiled in agreement.
"Juri, I'm glad you got to be a Tamer and could be here with us".
"I just hope I live up to your expectations".
"I wouldn't worry about that, I'm sure you will... Anyway, time to relieve Jen and Terriermon... Guilmon, wake up", he nudged the crimson dino.
"Huh? Breakfast time?"
"No, Guilmon, our watch".
"Jen", Takato announced, "we'll take it from here. You go and get some sleep".
"I could use a few winks", Terriermon said, as Jen held him by the ears.
"Looks like you had a few already, Terriermon", Jen told him, "been sleeping on watch again, haven'tcha?"
"Moumentai", he said with a big yawn.
Fortunately, it was another night that passed uneventfully. Nothing more than the occasional rustling of digimon stirring in the night, but none came close enough to be seen.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Who're you, culu?", Calumon asked this new digimon he met while wandering the desert. "Do you have a name, culu?"
Doggiemon pointed his left index finger at him, while making the "Shame" gesture at him, firing off a string of pellets.
"Stop that, culu?! That hurts, culu?!"
Doggiemon simply laughed, then put his nose to the ground and began sniffing.
"What are you looking for, culu?"
"Cat!", he said.
"I'm not a cat, culu?"
"Cat!", Doggiemon insisted. He chased Calumon across the desert. A gekomon and an otamamon looked on, wondering what this was all about.
Doggiemon ran off, and Calumon wondered if this strange new sound might have anything to do with it. A cloud of dust was fast approaching.
Lilithmon braked hard.
"I'm looking for my friends, culu?", Calumon explained. "Takato, Guilmon, Jen - have you seen them, culu?"
Lilithmon glared back, saying nothing. She recognized the little cream puff alright, the little cream puff who'd embarrassed her in front of her mother back in the Material World.
"Can you give me a ride, culu?"
"Humph!", she snorted, as she gunned the engine and popped the clutch, deliberately throwing up a cloud of sand in his face as she roared off. Fighting that one wasn't worth the effort.
"What a bitch, culu?!", he said to himself. "There are all different kinds of digimon, culu?", he wondered to himself.
That left another problem: "Lonely, again, culu?", he said to himself. "Culululu?"
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Koichi, Renamon, Kazu and Kenta were assembled at the flag. They were pleased to see that it was still there, and that Takato had thought to make it, regardless of how silly the others thought it was before. It made a convenient landmark, but that wasn't going to do them any good, now that the winds had come up, and dust storms were making visibility difficult.
"Right Renamon", Koichi suddenly announced.
"Will you two stop with the telepathy already", Kazu complained.
"Yeah, we'd like to know what's going on too, yannow", Kenta added.
"We're gonna check out the immediate area, just in case Takato and the others are nearby, but out of sight through all this dust", Koichi explained.
"I would like you two to wait here, in case they come by", Renamon asked.
After they had disappeared from sight: "Every time they...", Kazu explained by forming a circle with his left thumb and forefinger, while pushing and pulling his right index finger through the center, "...their connection gets a little bit stronger".
"I noticed that too", Kenta agreed. "You don't suppose Takato and Guilmon..."
"He designed and materialized Guilmon", Kazu reminded, "that's different".
Koichi and Renamon were surveying the ruins they'd discovered. It was a field filled with monoliths, all either cubes or parallelepipeds, all carved to a precision that precluded natural formations. All were resting on their faces, except for one monolith that looked as though it was balanced on an edge. That wasn't the only unique thing about it: it had a doorway, though no door, that led into a hollow interior.
"Hey!", Renamon heard it first. "Hey!"
"Was that...?", Koichi began to ask.
"Kazu", Renamon replied.
"Hey!"
"And Kenta"
"I thought they were supposed to stay..."
"They were", Renamon agreed.
The two figures came into view, through the blowing dust storm.
"There they are!", Kazu announced.
"Glad we caught up with them", Kenta agreed.
"Didn't I tell you to wait until we returned?", Renamon reprimanded.
"After you left, we got nervous", Kenta explained.
"Now what?", Koichi asked.
The sand storm was growing worse.
"Now that they're here, we hole up in there, and wait it out", Renamon pointed to the on-edge cube. "No sense going back now, where there is no shelter. Just hope we didn't miss Takato and the others".
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Hold up, culu?!", Calumon called out. "That looks like fun, culu?" He just saw a dust packet roll past. He thought it might be a possible playmate, and curled himself into a ball, and began rolling after it.
Three Woodmon looked on from a hill top.
"What's that digimon?", one asked.
"No idea the other replied... Hell's he think he's doing?"
"Poor little bastard", the third added. "Desert madness", he explained. "Probably been out here all alone too long. That does things to your head"
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Doesn't look like anyone's been here", Jen observed, as they returned to the flagstaff. The worst of the storm had passed, and they were pleased to see that Kazu and Kenta had done a good enough job in anchoring it that it was still standing despite the heavy winds. Takato's banner was a bit threadbare and tattered after the storm.
"What do we do now?", Juri asked, "wait or move on?"
"Hold on!", Guilmon announced. He sniffed the ground.
"Find something?", Takato asked.
"I smell Renamon...", he continued sniffing, "Kenta, Kazu and Koichi too"
"Are you sure? Wouldn't that be from before?", Jen asked.
"Definitely not", Guilmon said, "these are fresh scent trails. I'm sure of it. They were here, and no too long ago".
"Can you track them? Find out where they went?"
"This way"
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the "ruins". By this time, the winds had died down, the air clearing.
"HEY! ANYONE HERE?!", Juri called out.
Koichi and the others appeared from the on-edge monolith: "Are we ever glad to see you!", he called out.
"Feelings mutual", Takato replied.
Both parties explained what they'd been doing while separated. The Valley of Gales and meeting Jijimon and Babamon, getting out with Renamon's hang glider. The good fortune to have been able to spot a familiar landmark that put them in the right direction.
The story of the Chuchidarumon, the Iron Beast, and the appearance of a new rider who, unlike Guilmon and Choromon, wasn't possessed by its mysterious power.
Disappointment all around that no one had seen any signs of Calumon. So far as the main mission was concerned, they were no better off now than they were the day they started.
Koichi went deeper into the carved out cube: "What do you suppose this is?", he asked.
The interior walls and ceiling were decorated with carvings of more four-sided figures. Some alone, some connected by their faces, all of varying sizes. There was not a smooth surface to be seen.
"That's the hell of it", Impmon explained. "No one really knows, other than it was definitely built before digimon. How long, no one knows that either. You find ruins like these scattered all over the Digital World. As for what happened to their builders, no one knows that either".
"Odd that the interior isn't filled with sand", Koichi observed. "It should be full of wind blown sand by now".
"Could someone be maintaining it?", Jen asked, "come by to clean the interior?"
"Definitely not", Impmon explained. "Many digimon avoid ruins like these because they think they're haunted. Rumour has it that digimon go in and are never seen again".
"Then why are we..."
"Fairy tales and nonsense", Impmon said, "I don't believe a word of it".
At the very back, they saw a cubical box, the open side facing them. In distinct contrast to the rest of the structure, the sides were completely smooth, with the appearance of having been made from fired clay. It looked to weigh a couple of tons, at least, and yet looked to have been carved or molded as a single piece, as there was not the slightest trace of a seam to be seen.
That wasn't the oddest thing about it: it seemed to be suspended several centimeters off the floor.
"No sign Calumon was here?", Takato asked Guilmon.
"I'm afraid not. His scent isn't here".
"Any sign of other digimon?"
"None"
"What do we do now?", Takato asked as he leaned against the side of the open "box".
"Keep looking?", Juri said.
Takato nearly lost his balance.
"This feels weird", Terriermon announced. He'd jumped inside, and the whole box moved in response to his slightest movement. It must have been very precisely balanced in order to do that. Either that, or the thing really was hovering off the floor.
"Hey, that looks like fun", Juri climbed in and began to bounce the box.
"Terriermon! Juri! You shouldn't fuck with things we don't understand!", Jen reprimanded.
"Moumentai. Don't be such a stick in the mud", Terriermon told him.
"What if...", Koichi regarded the floating box. "This is a transport? It does look like a vehicle of some sort, doesn't it? Why call attention to this one monolith, as it's the only one that's on-edge? What if Impmon's tales of disappearing digimon developed from that?"
"What are you thinking?"
"Maybe we should try it, get on board, and we concentrate on finding Calumon? If it's still functional?"
"And if it isn't, it could send you straight to /dev/null", Impmon objected.
"Then who's maintaining the interior?", Koichi objected. "Does someone come by every day to sweep out the sand? After that last storm, the inside should have been half filled, yet there isn't so much as a single grain on the floor".
The issue was settled, as they watched, horrified, as the clay "box" twisted and closed in on itself: "What's happening!", Juri screamed. It disappeared down a "tunnel" that should have been the rear wall of the monolith.
"Terriermon!", Jen called out.
"Juri!", Leomon called out. "I never should have... I should have stayed with her!"
"Shit!", Takato called out, "we get four back and lose two! Now we need to go looking for Juri and Terriermon? At this rate, we're never gonna find Calumon!"
"Let's just wait and see", Koichi told them.
Two minutes later, the "box" was back, opened to reveal Terriermon and Juri, inside, safe, but both shook up a bit.
"Get out of there this instant!", Jen commanded.
"Moumentai!"
"Don't you 'moumentai' me... not this time..."
"Hold on, let him explain, Koichi said.
"I remembered what Koichi said", Terriermon said, "and we concentrated on coming back as soon as we'd left".
"It does take you where you want to go", Juri confirmed.
"Alright, then", Takato said. "Let's go get Calumon!"
"I'm still not sure...", Jen complained. "What if Impmon's right, and it doesn't work?"
"Moumentai", Terreirmon disagreed. "It brought us back, didn't it?"
"We didn't go to /dev/null", Juri agreed. "So far, we haven't found any better possibilities, have we?", she said as she climbed back in.
"I don't have any brighter ideas", Impmon said.
"OK, everyone in, and make room", Koichi agreed.
It was very cramped, with big guys like Guilmon and Leomon, especially.
"Everyone concentrate", Juri announced.
Once again, the box folded in on itself, and there was a feeling of acceleration. It was unnerving, being that the interior was totally dark. Takato flicked on his Maglite. Still, they had no way to determine where they were going, or how long the journey would take, as there were no instruments or anything else resembling a navigation console.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Culu, culu, culu: Calumon has a dazzling smile all the time
C'mon feelin' real good
Let's go run outside...
Calumon was singing this song he was making up on the spur of the moment. Having a new "playmate", even if he didn't know what dust packets were, did his spirits a world of good. He hadn't felt this happy since leaving the Material World.
He was joined by four of those white "owls" he'd seen at the Frontier. His spirits improved with these additional playmates.
"Culu! Let's sing it together, culu?!", he announced to the "owls"
When I get worried about things from yesterday
Somehow I get lonely suddenly
Although the planter's little flowers
Are blooming in such a way
On the other side of the sea and the sky
Surely something is waiting...
He felt so good that he didn't even know that the red triangle was glowing very bright. Something interrupted his song, as he looked back at something glowing with a bright white light that looked like a hemispherical dome.
"Shiny, culu?!", he said as he looked at the phenomenon he didn't understand, and had no idea he'd created.
The three Woodmon, though, certainly did notice as they looked into this light: they all evolved into Cherrymon. Calumon released the Light of Evolution and didn't even know what he'd done.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
The clay box seemed to be slowing down. At first, they didn't know if it wasn't just their imagination, but after a few seconds, it was obvious: they were arriving at whatever destination this transport had for them. The clay box stopped, and unfolded itself. They saw they were still in the desert. Momentary disappointment as they climbed out...
"There! That little bastard!", Juri announced, she pointed towards a large dragon that was flying past with Makuramon riding on its back. She would never forget Makuramon, given her introduction to him back in the Material World.
"Then it really did work?", Takato asked.
"Would seem so", Leomon agreed.
"If he's here, then Calumon can't be far away", Renamon added. "Now, all we have to do is locate him".
"The Light of Evolution", Makuramon explained to his companion, the dragon Deva Majiramon. "The one who holds the key to evolution must be over there. We will beat that f'kin Catsuramon to the prize, turn it over to our God to be richly rewarded".
The Deva were all in cut-throat competition with each other for favours. Once they knew that the one who held the Light was running loose in the Digital World, they were all after it. Makuramon knew that they would take all the credit despite his having been the one who did all the reconnaissance in the Material World, and identified it as being the dim-witted, lazy, and apparently good-for-nothing digimon: Calumon. He was the one who brought it to the Digital World.
All that hard work would be for nothing if he didn't recover Calumon first. The digimon God liked it that way: it kept his servants serving with all due diligence.
Makuramon noticed something that could definitely ruin his prospects: "What are those Outworlders doing here!", he called out in rage. He would never forget the Outworlders who had tried to interfere with his plan to take Calumon back. He especially wouldn't forget that Leomon who nearly succeeded in delaying him long enough to prevent his escape, as the Frontier was stabilizing fast.
"Majiramon, drop me off", he indicated the closest mesa, "and get them! One fool can turn the history of a thousand years into dust!"
They watched as the long, skinny dragon disappeared into swirling black clouds of his own making.
"Run!", Koichi commanded. He wasn't willing to stick around to see what was coming back. Red laser-like bursts struck all around, right where they'd been standing.
"Kazu! Kenta! Impmon! Get yourselves away from here!"
Kazu led Kenta, Juri, and Impmon off some distance away from where the others were preparing to fight off this dragon.
"Super Evolution Plug-in S!"
Guilmon Evolve! ...
... GROWLMON!
Terriermon Evolve! ...
... GALGOMON!
Renamon Evolve! ...
... KYUUBIMON!
"Fist of the Beast King!"
"Plasma Blade!"
"Dum-dum Upper!"
"Foxfire Dragon!"
They attacked nearly at the same time.
"Dammit! We didn't do any damage!", Growlmon called out, and, indeed, they saw that they had not even slowed Majiramon down.
Makuramon laughed from his vantage point on top of the mesa. This shouldn't take too long.
Majiramon released a huge stream of bluish fire, incinerating everything in its path, coming close to incinerating the newly evolved Cherrymon who were just watching, and had nothing to do with it. ...
Impmon clicked the fingers of his right hand, producing a blue sphere, and the fingers of the opposite hand to produce a red sphere. These he combined into a single, white sphere.
"Pillar of Fire!", as he threw it in Majiramon's path.
"That ought'a slow him down!" Impmon threw it between where Majiramon was attacking the innocent bystander Cherrymon, and where Growlmon and the others stood.
It also drew Majiramon's attention.
"This is so not good!", Kazu said.
"Shit!", Impmon called out in frustration. "If only I could evolve!".
"If only I had a partner...", Kazu was stopped in mid sentence as a small ball of white light appeared before him. It landed in his hands, bursting apart to reveal the digivice.
"I guess we can...", he dug into a pocket for the cards he habitually carried. ...
"Dammit! We could use a Blue Card right about now!", Takato called out. "Why can't these damn things just stick around?" They watched in horror as the dragon was starting his attack run on the defenseless members of their party. ...
At first, Kazu thought he'd pulled out that bogus Blue Card he'd drawn. A second look confirmed that he had the real deal.
"Matrix Evolution: digimodify!"
Impmon Matrix Evolve! ...
... DEINONDRAMON!
Deinondramon took off, trying his wings for the first time...
"Who's that!", Jen called out.
"Now we have to deal with two of them?!", Galgomon called out.
Takaro ran an Ident:
Deinondramon
Ultimate animal digimon
Virus
His attacks are Raptor Slash and
Electromagnetic Disruptor
"Raptor Slash!", Deinondramon attacked, two thin bows of violet struck Majiramon, blowing him out of the sky. They all had their answer as to whose side Deinondramon was on, but no idea as to where he'd come from or why.
Before the Deva could take off again for another attack run, Deinondramon grabbed his tail. As the dragon whipped around, intent on striking, Deinondramon grabbed Majiramon by the throat with the needle sharp teeth, rolled onto his back, and sliced the dragon's abdomen open. Majiramon burst into data. The fight over, Deinondramon stood before the other members of his group.
"Guys!", it was Kazu, running towards them. "I digivolved Impmon!", he announced, as he waved his new digivice.
"So, you found your partner?", Kyuubimon asked.
"I guess so", Deinondramon said, "just lettin' out my velociraptor side". Impmon, being an anthro hybrid animal digimon, had a habit of doing that: attributing his quick temper and various misbehaviors, such as smashing in the roofs of those cars, stealing ice cream from a little girl, and attacking her father, or flinging fireballs at Janyu, on his velociraptor half, and the thoughtful moments to his lapine better half.
Deinondramon looked somewhat like a larger, scaly, version of Dorugamon. Though without the white, as he was a uniform purple that matched Impmon's purple fur, same mammalian, emerald green eyes. The neck was longer than Dorugamon's, the head thinner with longer jaws filled with sharp teeth. The tail accounted for almost half of the total length, over twelve feet, thick at the base, tapering to an arrowhead like tip made of silver, with a red cloth tied around it: Impmon's bandanna. The clawed wings covered with purple feathers. The middle toes of the hind feet sporting a large, sickle-shaped claw that could be used as is, or to launch off an energy attack.
"I'm pleased to see my advice wasn't wasted on you after all", Kyuubimon told him.
"Welcome to the club", Takato said, "And your timing couldn't've been better".
"I knew you would do it!", Juri congratulated and gave Kazu a hug.
"The only one left out...", Kenta thought to himself.
"I'm sure you'll find your partner soon", Juri told Kenta, as if she knew what he was thinking.
"Funny how that works out", Kazu said, "I came looking for a partner, and he was here all along".
"I'd almost given up hope", Deinondramon said, "of finding a copacetic Tamer". He devolved back to Impmon.
"Where'd that damn monkey go?", he asked.
"Got the hell out of here when he saw that dragon get whacked", Koichi told him.
They looked all around for Calumon, but came up with nothing.
"I was certain he'd be here!", Takato said. "We all saw it: that strange glow, and Majiramon and Makuramon were homing in on it... You don't suppose he... got him again?"
"He could have, if he sent Majiramon as a diversion", Jen speculated.
"That would make sense, except for one thing", Juri added. "I saw him on that mesa, watching".
"I saw him too, like he was just standing there, watching the show", Kenta confirmed. "He didn't look to be in any hurry to find him".
"That makes no sense", Impmon said. "Even if he was certain Majiramon would win, it would be a good time to get him. Why would he waste the time and a good diversion? Win or lose, Majiramon would accomplish the same thing: delay us, buy him time to capture Calumon and put as much distance between himself and us".
"Unless, he was already gone?", Renamon added.
"But how? Where?"
"That chasm", Koichi said, "did he fall down there? If Makuramon had seen him fall... then he'd know there was nothing to look for here?"
"That's about where I lost his scent", Guilmon confirmed.
"So what do we do now?", Juri asked.
"Go back to the flag, see if he shows up... I don't know what else to do. He obviously isn't anywhere around here. If he was, he'd have no reason to hide from us".
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Lilithmon stopped and got off the Iron Beast. She's spotted what looked like a bluish-gray termite hill. As she approached: "Rookie level digimon aren't much of a test, but you'll have to do. Ehh, Kurisarimon?", she asked.
The "termite hill" broke apart into a swarm of the small, blue-gray Kurisarimon. It wasn't very often that any digimon willingly came that close.
"Phantom Pain!", she tried out an attack for the first time. As it swept through the swarm, dozens of kurisarimon burst into data That still left quite a few, but she laughed with sadistic glee.
"Phantom Pain!", she attacked again. She was enjoying this, torturing them to death. Every time they tried to move in for an attack, they got wiped out. They tried getting behind, to blind-side Lilithmon, but that was an act of pure desperation on their part, and it didn't work. ...
Something disturbed Calumon's sleep where he'd decided to hole up. As he was chasing and playing with the "owls", he didn't notice the chasm until it was too late. He tried to stop, lost his footing, and fell in. He did not know that this was a stroke of good luck that saved him from capture.
He'd dropped into a temperate forest somewhere, and wandered around until he found a nice patch of soft, mossy ground under the shade of the trees. It looked like a nice place, comfy and concealed. ...
Suddenly, Lilithmon watched as the remaining Kurisarimon came together...
"What? How do you evolve to Infermon?!", she asked.
Her answer was an energy burst that nearly took her off her feet.
"You are so gonna pay for that!", as she ran at Infermon, leaped and did a back flip over the larger, but slower, digimon.
"Nazar Nail!", she struck it in the back. Infermon instantly began decaying until it was torn apart.
Lilithmon laughed as she absorbed its data: "This is my power! This is my strength!"
The victory celebration was prematurely interrupted.
"Catsuramon..."
"We have kept our end of the deal, now it's time you kept yours..."
"Yeah, I know that"
"If it's killing you want, you shall have it, but after you have located those corrupt digimon. Now stop screwing off, and treat your God given mission with the seriousness it deserves!".