Chapter 11: The Fangs of Gaogamon

Ow… my body felt like I had just gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson, everything ached, especially my back. Why the hell did I do that back there? I spend all day whining about how I don't wanna die, and then I stupidly split the party, you never split the party! I managed to finally force my eyes open to see I was laying down on a futon, so I wasn't dead at least, I wanted to get up, but my body made it's case very forcibly that it didn't want to move let alone stand up.

I let out a small cry of pain and a frustrated groan as I returned to laying down on the futon, I then heard footsteps coming closer, I managed to turn my head to see Gaomon sitting down next to me, "Ethan, are you alright? Can you move?" He asked me, his voice was hushed slightly, like he was afraid of something.

"I'm… I'm okay… but… moving is… not exactly in the cards right now." I said, trying to lighten the mood a bit, it didn't work. Gaomon still had a glum look, I only remembered now he had promised me I wouldn't find myself knocking on death's door again, and failed to actually keep that promise.

It was clear on his face just how guilty he felt, "Ethan… I'm so sorry I let this happen, I should have listened to you and gone to get the others with you." He said, yup called that one.

I couldn't believe this, I make a bonehead move, and Gaomon blames himself for it! "Dude… I'm the one who… went off on his own like an idiot… don't blame yourself." I said.

Gaomon however felt differently, "It's still my job to keep you safe." He pointed out, "But… at least you're okay now…" He added, it wasn't much, but I considered it a victory, at least I got him to see the silver linings.

I decided to use this opportunity to change the subject. "Where are the others?" I asked him, I had noticed we were alone in here, and I needed to get Gaomon's mind off my injuries.

The dog Digimon took a moment to answer, sadly moving his eyes along my battered body, "They went to take care of the Ninjamon, they managed to scare them off and are now helping Buraimon check to see if anything was taken." He explained.

Later...

Gaomon refused to leave my side after that, even when the others managed to return he still wouldn't budge no matter what. Occasionally, Commandrmaon would come over and "scan" me, god it was so weird having a cyborg dino soldier hanging around, it seemed he had some kind of medical training considering he was the one who apparently dressed my wound, and worked on counteracting the paralysis poison. How and why he had that kind of stuff on him when he was a glorified security guard before joining us I'd never know, but I wasn't exactly complaining since this little factoid was the only reason I was able to move my limbs again.

All the while Commandramon was filling Gaomon and me in on what they had learned when scouting the area after chasing off the Ninjamon, It seemed that the Ninjamon had made off with someone, another Hyokomon had sadly gotten himself kidnapped. Good to know we had managed to do f**k all to actually help these people, and I got myself paralyzed for nothing.

It seemed we'd be staying another night here, Kate and Jason completely unwilling to abandon the village, and Gaomon vehemently against moving me until he was 100% sure I was okay.

God I hated being injured, I'd been banged up before, being a skater it was a common thing, but those were just scrapes and maybe a broken leg or two, I got poisoned! By a comically large ninja star! And god, I felt it too, that wound was about a centimeter or two from my right shoulder blade, meaning moving that arm was met with excruciating pain.

And of course, every time I stupidly hurt myself, Gaomon was all over me like a fussy mother, I know he was worried about me, but it wasn't like I was dying or anything! God, and I thought my Digital World experience was miserable before…

Meanwhile…

We all met in another building with Buraimon, I didn't like leaving Ethan alone, but he at least had Gaomon watching him, and it wasn't like the Ninjamon were going to wait for him to recover, so we had to plan our next move now.

Buraimon shook his head, "I never expected the Ninjamon to get the jump on one of you like that, maybe it's best you and your friends leave now before something worse happens?" He said.

I shook my head, "We can't just abandon you guys now, besides, Gaomon refuses to move Ethan until he's recovered, so we couldn't even if we wanted to." I explained to him, this whole thing was so dumb, you'd think we'd be able to handle this no problem, but we already had one of our own put out of commission by what basically amounted to a band of bandits.

Buraimon seemed reluctant, but understood our reasoning, "Even so, the Ninjamon know one of you is injured now, and I know them too well to think they'll leave him to recover… I'm sending two Hyokomon to guard the house he's in, it's not much, but it's the best we've got and we need all three of you to take on the invading Ninjamon." He explained. I don't know how I felt about this plan, sending the very Digimon the Ninjamon kidnapped on a regular basis to guard our injured friend seemed kinda stupid really, but it was the best he could do, and it was better than just leaving him to the mercy of the Ninjamon.

"They caught us off guard last time," Commandramon said, "We need to prepare ourselves better this time, and not give them as many chances to catch us alone." He added, thank you captain obvious, but even still, I got what he meant, Ethan got hit because he broke off from Gaomon, we couldn't make mistakes like that, the Ninjamon weren't stupid, they knew advantages when they saw them.

Buraimon seemed to agree, "From now on, no human is separated from their Digimon, the last thing we need is for another one of you to go down," He said, I looked to Commandramon, yeah I could tell from the look on his face he was going to live up to that, I just hoped he didn't try to follow me when I needed to take a leak or something…

Later…

Commandramon always seemed to go all in when he had a "mission", ever since we left Buraimon's house he'd been shadowing me, refusing to let me out of his sight even once. I mean, he usually followed me anyway, but this was a whole new level, he was keeping his eyes locked onto me at all times now, I couldn't lie, it was kind of getting creepy now. "Commandramon, you do know that you don't have to babysit me right?" I asked him.

Commandramon shook his head, "My orders are to keep an eye on you sir, I don't want to risk the enemy ambushing you," He said, yeah I should have figured I'd get an answer like that. If there's one thing I've learned about Commandramon during the short time I've known him, is that there's no reasoning with him when it comes to orders, he refuses to break them, even when he really should. I guess that was just how he was programmed, but I won't lie, having his large golden eyes fixated on me at all times was a bit much.

I must have trudged through every corner of this village, and I've found absolutely no signs of Ninjamon, not even so much as a discarded ninja star. Between this and Commandramon going into over protective mode, I wasn't exactly having a good time right now.

I turned to see Kate peer out from behind one of the houses, "Hey Jason, you find anything?" She asked.

I shook my head, "Nothing, although it's kind of hard when you have a certain cyborg dino watching you like a hawk," I said, shooting a look at Commandramon, who naturally had zero reaction.

Kate rolled her eyes, "You think you have it bad?" She said before walking out from behind the house, revealing Psychemon was literally hugging her leg like a toddler, forcing Kate to literally drag him with her, I did my best not to burst out laughing at the sight. "I've been dragging him around the village all day! And he weighs a lot more than you'd think!" She added in a frustrated huff.

It seemed to me Gaomon wasn't the only Digimon shaken from what happened to Ethan, I imagine most if not all of our partners where mortified at the prospect of one of us getting hurt or worse. I guess I should be thankful Commandramon wasn't the type to physically attach himself to me like Psychemon here.

Kate began to try in vain to pry the pelt wearing lizard off of her, "Psychemon! Seriously! You're hurting my leg! Let go!" She stained, but every effort to pry the Digimon off her leg only made him grip tighter.

Psychemon shook his head, "NO! I don't want you to get hurt!" He said, gripping even tighter to her leg, earning a frustrated groan from his partner.

I shook my head, "Come on, we should head back to the house and check in on Ethan," I said, maybe a little time would make the Digimon a little less… clingy. Besides, I wanted to see if Ethan had made any progress on his recovery.

Later…

Just as Buraimon had said, two Digimon stood guard in front of our little house, this had been the first time I'd ever seen a Hyokomon, they are both yellow little chickens with small, black, beady eyes, their bodies where slightly covered in what appeared to be egg shells, katana strapped to their backs by teal ribbons, they both had red "hair" tied in some kind of pony tail, with matching, comically large eyebrows, not exactly the most intimidating guards I won't lie.

The let us through, allowing us to see that Ross was already there, Hawkmon naturally glued to his side, thankfully not literally, although given how Psychemon was acting, I wouldn't have been surprised. Ross took one look at Kate's predicament and of course laughed his ass off.

Kate stomped her one free foot on the ground, "It's not that funny!" she protested, more embarrassed than mad really, but this only made Ross laugh even harder, causing Kate to blush slightly in embarrassment.

Ross managed to calm down his laugh enough to speak, "Sorry there, it's just… oh god… I didn't know he was that shaken by what happened! Hehe..." He laughed.

I needed to change the subject, if anything to save Kate the embarrassment, "So… any progress with Ethan?" I asked him.

The laughter completely died at that point as the subject changed to a far more serious one. "He's got use of his arms now, but his little blue nanny won't let him leave the futon." He explained, I took a look to see Ethan was sitting up holding his back which must have hurt like hell given how bad that wound was. "You know, neither of them had eaten anything all day," He added, none of us really had since the breakfast we had at the Inn yesterday, but it wasn't like we had anything to eat, and I doubted the village could spare any food given how often they were robbed by the Ninjamon.

Commandramon opened one of the pouches he had on his tactical armor, we all just sat there confused as to what the cyborg soldier was doing, however when he removed it's contents the reason became clear, "I think this should be enough for them for now." He said, he held in his claws what appeared to be two candy bars, just how much stuff did he have on him anyway?

Ross gave Commandramon an indignant look, "You had food on you the whole time?! And you never once thought to mention this?" He said.

Commandramon turned to Ross, "You never asked," He pointed out, Ross gave an annoyed grumble as Commandramon went to offer the two bars to Ethan and Gaomon. I guess it was good to know Commandramon had supplies on him, considering we lost the ones we had gotten from the rebels in the hotel fire.

Ross let out a loud sigh, "I guess we should make another patrol around the village, never know when those Ninjamon are going to strike next." He said, me and Kate had just came back from our patrol, but we already checked in on Ethan, so I guess another patrol wasn't out of the question.

So Ross and Kate left the house, Commandramon rushed back to my side before I left, as much as his constant gazing annoyed me, I didn't want to be caught alone out there either… So out I went, I hoped against all hope we would end this soon, I didn't like having enemies like this hovering over us, at least the Digimon King didn't have paralysis darts… at least, as far as I knew…

Later...

I don't know how, but I managed to does off after Commandramon handed me and Gaomon what he called "Emergency Rations." It was like the driest candy bar ever, with the faintest hint of chocolate flavor, masked almost entirely by it's chalky texture. I had only managed to stomach one bite of it before I took my cat nap.

It seemed to be close to night, as the room was significantly darker now, I could see Gaomon had passed out next to me, I guess the little guy hadn't slept a wink the night before. Not that I could blame him, seeing me in the condition I was in had seemed to have done a number on him, I doubted he could have slept that night even if he tried.

So basically, I was alone now, for the first time since… well since coming to the Digital World actually, my stomach growled a little, clearly not satisfied with the single bite of that bar I had earlier. I groaned as I knew I'd have to bite into that horrible bar again, ugh. Be strong Ethan, it's the only food you have dude, probably the only food you'd have for a while. So I took it from it's spot and hesitantly took another bite, god that chalky texture was so bad… how the hell Commandramon stomached this crap I'd never know.

I suddenly stopped at the sounds of soft feet landing just outside the house, I felt my heart begin to quicken it's pace, as I wasn't sure if this was one of my friends, or a Ninjamon come to say hello. I tried to get up to at least distance myself from it, but my back wound wouldn't allow it, another sharp pain preventing me from moving from my spot.

Suddenly a pair of arms tore through the wall and caught me in a sleeper hold! I tried to scream to wake up my partner, but whoever had me covered my mouth to prevent me from doing so, however that wasn't the only reason, as I noticed he had a cloth in his hands… oh god it was chloroform wasn't it? Yup… I felt myself losing consciousness…. God not again…

I managed to wake myself up, I can't believe I feel asleep! As soon as my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I heard the sounds of… something being dragged! I quickly turned to see Ethan being dragged off by figures shrouded in darkness! NO! Not this time! I sprang to my feet, "LET HIM GO!" I yelled as I closed in, however before I could reach my tamer another figure appeared in front of me, hitting me with a hard knee to the gut, knocking the wind out of me.

I collapsed to the ground, stomach aching from the blow I had just took, I watched helplessly as Ethan was dragged away… no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't will myself to get up and save him! Don't worry Ethan… I'll find you… I promise…

Later…

"Hey! HEY! Are you okay?"

My eyes blinked open as I heard about a dozen voices surrounding me, when they opened I saw I was in some kind of cage, surrounded by what had to be a dozen samurai chickens, god that's a sight I never thought I'd see…

I looked around, we were clearly in a camp of some kind, there were other cages holding yet more samurai chickens, the only light a small campfire, being monitored by about three Ninjamon. "What happened? Where am I?" I asked no one in particular.

The chickens began to move in closer, "The Ninjamon camp, they just threw you in a few moments ago." One explained, oh come on! I survive getting injured only to get kidnapped! God I suck!

One of the Ninjamon walked over to us, "You be quiet in there! Our buyer will be here in a few minutes, and I'm sure he's going to be real interested in what I've gotten today." He said with a sinister smirk.

Buyer? He… he was going to sell me? I never thought in a million years I'd ever have a price tag attached to me, but then again this stupid world had made me experience a lot of things I never thought I would…

I tried my best not to panic, the others would find me? Right? God we never should have agreed to interfere with this, now I was going to be auctioned of to god knows who, knowing my luck it was going to be some rich asshole looking to display me in his exotic zoo! Roll up! Roll up! Come and see the amazing idiot Canuck who got himself kidnapped by ninjas!

I cursed, banging my head against the wooden bars of the cage, hopeless, defeated, I can't believe this is how it ends, sold as a pet to a rich Digimon! Or worse, a slave! All because I screwed up and got myself injured! I had to be the worst Digidestined ever! Well, at least I wouldn't die… as far as I knew.

However, one of the Hyokomon put a wing on my shoulder, "Don't lose hope! We can get out of this!" He said, oh yeah, I'm sure we can! I'm sure a bunch of tiny chickens and an idiot teenager can totally escape this cage and beat the four badass ninjas!

However, more joined in, "Yeah! We can't give up! Master Buraimon always said you're never defeated until you give up!" Another said, a nice sentiment sure, but how the hell are we going to escape? I, for whatever reason, decided to try shaking the cage.

It had a lot of give to it, slightly shaking when I moved it, it then occurred to me these cages where meant to hold tiny birds, not nearly full grown human beings, I guess the Ninjamon weren't nearly as smart as I gave them credit for. I decided to try leaning as much weight against the cage door as I could, the door began to creak slightly but didn't give. "Oh come on! Give!" I grunted.

Suddenly the Hyokomon all piled around me, pushing against either my back (ow) or the door itself, the combined weight of me and the Hyokomon managed to make the door snap off it's hinges, freeing us, and that kids, is why you don't make your cages out of flimsy wood. The Ninjamon noticed immediately however, "HEY! YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!" He barked at us, drawing his sword.

I had to think fast, or else I wasn't going to make it. The Hyokomon had all rushed to free their friends, if I could keep the Ninjamon busy for a few seconds, the hoards of Hyokomon could probably overwhelm them! Sounded like as good a plan as any! "Hey! Ninja boy! I guess you guys suck at much at making cages as you do at killing dudes!" I taunted, yeah he was pissed. He began to rush at me with his sword held high, his buddies following suit, not even trying to stop the Hyokomon.

One quick roll managed to get me out of the way of their sword swipe, causing them all to topple over each other like dominoes. "Nice swing dude! You trying to kill me or each other? I can't tell!" I taunted them, they all scrambled to get to their feet, very angry I was basically embarrassing them.

One knocked his buddies aside, "He's mine!" He growled, storming over to me, before I could even react he hit me with a hard jumping roundhouse, knocking me to the ground, "You're not worth selling! I think we're just going to cut your head off and send it to the King as a peace offering!" He snarled, before grabbing his sword to do just that. He raised it high, ready to cut my head off.

"ROLLING UPPER!"

Suddenly the Ninjamon was knocked into the air by a blue blur! He was sent crashing into a tent, which collapsed under his weight. Suddenly a new figure landed in front of me, it didn't take me long to see it was none other than Gaomon, I should have figured he'd be the first to come after me!

Gaomon offered a gloved hand to me, "You okay?" He asked me, with a nod I grabbed his hand and he helped me to my feet.

The two other Ninjamon were quick on the attack, Gaomon only managing to push me out of the way in time to avoid getting caught in the middle. As I hit the ground the Ninjamon just started wailing on him! It was hard to watch if I were to be honest, even the other one that he punched into a tend joined in.

Gaomon was trying his best to fight back but the onslaught was just too much as they just kept beating on him. It wasn't long before he was beaten and broken, collapsing to the floor. I had to do something! They were all champions! And he was just a rookie! They had both the level and number advantage! I noticed one of the Ninjamon's swords was still in the ground from when Gaomon sucker punched him.

Without a second thought I snatched it, I didn't know what I was gonna do, but I wasn't going to sit there and watch them do this to my friend! I rushed the group, and managed to stab one in the back, he cried out in surprise and pain as the sword pierced him, but he quickly knocked me back with a swift kick to the gut. "Why you little, that hurt!" He said angrily.

Just as I was beginning to think about how screwed I was, something in my pocket was going nuts! I reached in to see my Digivice, spazzing out, my hand had a blue digital glow of some kind. I instinctively knew what to do, "Digispirit… CHARGE!" I said as I brought my hand down on it.

The Ninjamon all turned to see Gaomon engulfed in a bright blue glow, his body began to shift and change, "Gaomon Digivovle too..." He said, his final form began to take hold. "GAOGAMON!!" He cried as the light burst like a bubble, revealing his new form.

He was a quadruped now, and about the size of a truck! His face was much more dog like and more defined, he still had his red boxing gloves, but they had three long black claws popping out of them, two red scarf things jutted out of his back that almost resembled hands.

The Ninjamon seemed intimidated, but quickly went on the attack, but Gaogamon was on top of them, standing on his hind legs, "DOUBLE DASH CLAW!" He bellowed before swiping his paws in an "X" pattern, getting them all with his claws. They all tumbled backwards, deep claw marks on all their faces. Gaogamon smirked, "I bet you're all regretting kidnapping my friend now, aren't you?" He taunted them.

One of the Ninjamon got to his feet, "I don't care how much you Digivolve! You and your tamer are going to die!" He said before taking out a ninja star. "NINJA KNIFE THROWING!" He shouted before throwing the comically large ninja star.

Gaogamon nimbly dodged the projectile, before dashing at the ninja, mouth wide open "GAOGA-HOUND!" He shouted before clamping his gigantic jaws around the now quite helpless Ninjamon, he kept thrashing his head about, not unlike a dog would to his chew toy, soon it was just too much for the Ninjamon as he broke apart into data, dead.

Gaogamon turned his attention to the other two, "Next?" He challenged them, the two Ninjamon looked at each other, before decided to try to attack him in unison. Both throwing their own ninja star only for Gaogamon to flip out of the way, and as he landed inhaled, "SPIRAL BLOW!", suddenly a small tornado came careening out of his mouth, hitting the two ninja head on, sending them for quite the ride, until they were both unceremoniously tossed into a lake, defeated.

The Hyokomon all cheered as they gathered around their new hero. Gaogamon looked to me, "I don't think those Ninjamon will be a problem anymore." He said, yeah I'll bet, even if those two bozos did survive, they sure as hell weren't going to mess with Gaogamon again! He then approached me, bringing his rather large head down to my level, "You saved my life you know, thank you." He said.

I went to rub the back of my head, but my old friend mister back wound rejected that idea rather quickly, "We should get you and the Hyokomon back to the village." He said, I couldn't disagree, with the day, or rather night, won, there wasn't much point in staying. Gaogamon lowered himself so I could get on his back, I did so, my wound made climbing him quite painful, but it beat walking all the way back to the village.

Once I was safely on, Gaogamon began to walk back to the village, surrounded by little Hyokomon, "Hey Gaogamon… you don't mind if I pass out on your back do you? I'm beat..." I said, god I was exausted, after all the insanity I'd experienced today, I was fighting to stay awake.

Gaogamon let out a little chuckle, "Go right ahead," He said, man what an insane day, as I laid there, drifting off, I began to rethink my feelings on this world, yeah it was a deathtrap, but Gaogamon was pretty cool, and it was nice to be the hero for once… it was a place where I could be something more than just some kid from London, Ontario… A Digidestined…

And I don't know about you? But I could get used to that…

A/N: And with that, another Digidestined unlocks his ability to Digivolve his partner to Champion. What new adventures will our heroes get into next? Well you'll just have to wait and see, try not to get kidnapped by ninjas in the meantime Ok? Ok.