Maxwell had only just sat up, still somehow on the piece of the temple's roof that he had been on when Devidramon attacked. He wiped his brow, dusting himself off from the sand and dust from the desert.
"You okay Impmon?" he called out for his partner, who scampered up from his own little spot on the roof and looked at him.
"I'm good, Max, are you?"
Max gingerly, and slowly rolled onto his stomach and then got up on his two feet. Nothing hurt as he stood up, realizing that he looked himself over, checking for any injuries, and when he didn't find any, he felt better about their situation.
He shook his head, as everything started to come back to him, and he realized what had happened. The group had been separated, he and Galen had been on the roof, having just gotten up there, when Devidramon had attacked and thrown them all in different directions.
He took a moment to take in his surroundings, he and Impmon were back in the forests, night had fallen on them, and it was fairly dark out. Max ran through what they needed to get done in his mind. They needed to get food, the only water he had was the bottle in his book bag that he had stuck in there, which meant that they would need to find water as well.
And then there was the further problem of actually finding the group, Max hadn't had the time to see where the others had gone, and he had no idea what direction the temple was from where they had landed.
Max took another look around, the forest, unlike the one that they had first been in when they had been transported in the trees, looked normal. Instead of crazy curves or weird colored leaves, the trees looked normal, well aside from the color of the leaves, instead of them being green, they were a crisp, stark white.
He must have been in another forest, one that had different trees. He closed his eyes in thought. What was he and Impmon going to do? He ran through his list again, find food, find water, and then find the others. His eyes shot open. How was he going to do that? He didn't have any of the necessary skills to survive for very long in the wild, and the ones he did have had been taught to him by Arthur in the few weeks they had been in this world.
An idea sprung up in his head, one that he hadn't considered "Impmon, did you see where the others went?"
Impmon held up a finger to his chin as he thought, the digimon even started tapping his foot on the ground "I didn't see where they went, no, but I can feel the others, very faintly but its there"
Hope surged through Max, maybe he wasn't as screwed as he thought he was. "Well, what direction are they?" he demanded of Impmon, impatience getting the better of him.
Impmon had to stop and he closed his eyes as he felt the others through their supposed bond. While they did so, Max fell into a bit more thought. Was Impmon and the other digimon, special digimon? They could all digivolve and fight back against their enemies, and then revert to their rookie forms. Could other digimon do that? And for that matter could other digimon sense each other? Or was that something that was left to Impmon and the others?
This world had brought so many questions, and the one time they had hoped to get answers, they get ambushed by Devidramon and split up. And to boot, they didn't even get to have answers.
"I think the closest one is that way, Max!" Impmon said as he pointed in a direction back behind them. Max turned around, only to see the forest get thicker and thicker. While he hated the idea of actually going into the forest by himself, well not by himself, he had Impmon, it seemed wrong to decide to do something without getting the opinions of the others.
"Alright" he steeled himself, and then said "Let's go find the others"
He had literally only taken five steps when a roar that shook his whole body forced him to stop. Max looked towards where the roar came from. A long, spindly like digimon swooped with wings down from the treeline and towards them.
"Wing Cutter!" it attacked, sending visible blades of wind at himself and Impmon. Instinct took over and Max dived away, but the force of the wind blades hitting the group sent him even further away than he had intended. Another guttural roar emerged from the creature. It was loud and terrifying, if Max was to be honest.
He grabbed the device and felt a surge of power from himself and as it flowed into Impmon. "Impmon digivolve too, Wizardmon!" Impmon was replaced by a purple cloak covered figure, Wizardmon flew up in the air.
"It's an Airdramon!" Wizardmon yelled to his partner as he flew further up towards the air. This must of been one of Devidramon's people, he had said that he was going on deal with him, but maybe he meant that they would be dealt with.
"Wing Cutter!" another blade of wind struck out towards Wizardmon, he banked right and simply floated out of the way.
Max felt Wizardmon considered his next move, and then came to conclusion. Holding the magical staff in both hands, Wizardmon muttered "Thunder Bomb!" a energy ball, a gold like ball surged forward from the staff, and it surged through the air, and within an instant, it smashed into the side of the Airdramon.
The blast sent the Airdramon tumbling through the air, before it caught itself, let out another roar that shook the insides of Max, and bared its teeth, and rushed forward, its wings flapping quickly. Wizardmon didn't have more than a second to get out of the way, and so Airdramon ran into him, mouth opened.
Pain welled in Max's chest and sides, and he doubled over in pain as the sounds of fighting rang out in the distance. It felt like the pain was only getting worse, and then he fell off down to his knees. He looked up from the grass that he had been staring at, and back to the battle, where he saw why he was in so much pain. Wizardmon was lodged between the Airdramon's teeth,but still alive and fighting. He had his hands on the upper jaw of the Airdramon, keeping it from cutting him in half.
Despite the pain, or maybe because of it, Max yelled out "You can do it Wizardmon!"
Wizardmon didn't respond, but he did still have a hold of his staff, and he started trying to bash it in the eye of the Airdramon. One strike, then another strike, and then finally, the third strike finally hit the eye. Airdramon opened his mouth in a scream of pain, allowing Wizardmon to get away.
The pain faded away, still there, but better, and Max stayed on the ground, but rolled over and got back to his knees, he let out a few labored breaths, trying to will the pain to go away and then got to his feet. They had flown higher in the air, not a bit higher than the tree line, so he couldn't quite make it out.
Wizardmon spread his arms and then as he said "Electro Squall!" He pushed both hands forward towards the Airdramon, who had been flying to Wizardmon.
Dark thunderclouds appeared around Airdramon who had stopped moving as it looked around, and then a bolt of lightning hit it, then another, and then more and more. The Airdramon fell from the sky and towards the ground, hitting trees and branches along the way, it landed with a massive smash that sent dirt and sod everywhere, some of it hitting Max from where he was standing, about a hundred feet away from it.
Max felt Wizardmon's satisfaction in the fight being over with, and Max felt the same, Wizardmon had done good. He took a step towards the crater, when the Airdramon shot upwards, wings beating fast and quickly as he rushed Wizardmon.
Despite the logical side of Max's mind saying Wizardmon couldn't hear him, Max still yelled out "Watch out Wizardmon!"
Wizardmon was able to get out of the way, but the force of how quickly the Airdramon was moving, threw him off of balance. As both digimon took a second to right themselves, Max got a good look at both of them, Wizardmon had some bite marks around his chest, but looked on at the Airdramon with a grim expression, while the Airdramon looked worse for wear, with cuts and burns all over its body. One of its wings seemed like it was barely hanging on, and the Airdramon breathed heavily each time its wings flapped.
The two digimon stared for another second, and then flew forwards, both flinging out attacks, Wizardmon sending forth a orange ball from an open palmed hand, while the Airdramon sent forth bolt of electricity from its opened mouth. The electricity caught Wizardmon, and pain surged through his body, which caused him to double over again.
The pain dulled after a moment, and he looked up. Wizardmon dodged several more attacks as he flew closer and closer to Airdramon. He saw a tornado emerge from Airdramon's wings, and fly at Wizardmon, who simply flew up to avoid them.
"Vision of Terror!" Wizardmon yelled, a dark colored orb came from his staff and hit Airdramon. For a moment it seemed like the attack hadn't done anything, and then Airdramon stopped moving, as it looked around the expanding dark bubble frantically.
Satisfaction swelled within Wizardmon, who held up the staff once more, a great ball of energy, the largest he had seen Wizardmon produce accumulated. Wizardmon then flung it at the Airdramon. The ball of energy subsumed the Airdramon, and Max watched and heard as the creature screamed out in pain, and then disappeared into data particles that floated there a moment and then flew up into the sky.
Wizardmon floated downwards and by the side of Max. a bright light enveloped his vision, and then Impmon took Wizardmon's place. "I did pretty good, didn't I?" he asked, a bit too cockily for Max's liking, but Impmon had just saved his life in a one on one, so Max couldn't argue with him.
He let out a chuckle despite his reservations "Yeah, you did, you think that was one Devidramons?" he replied and then asked.
Impmon brought a hand to his pointy chin, something he always did when he was thinking "That would make sense, Devidramon acted like he was going to destroy us, so he would need to know where the temple sent us"
Max agreed, and had thought the same during the battle. He looked back in the direction that they had been walking "Do you still feel the others?" he asked.
"Yep, sure do!" Impmon pointed out a pointy red gloved hand in the direction that Max had been looking. "They're that way, I think they're a bit closer"
"Good, lets go and find them"
An explosive blast of fire threw dirt up to his right, as Tyrannomon surged forward, through the brush and past the trees at the Deltamon. The large blue and white dinosaur digimon had engaged them the moment they had entered the forest, aiming it's two mouth like cannons at felt as Will clung on to his green spikes that ran up his spine. "Triplex Force!" three energy blasts came from the cannons and the toothy mouth of the Deltamon, and one hit him on the chest, but the others missed.
He heard Will grunt in pain as the attack hit him. He moves past another tree, now finally in range to attack Deltamon, and with speed that even surprises Tyrannomon, he swings around, bringing his spiky tail and hitting Deltamon's head, forcing the head to the right, and then as he swung around on his right foot and attacked again "Fire Breath!"
Tyrannomon let forth a stream of white hot fire, right onto Deltamon, whose fur caught fire, and the stream of fire burned Deltamon into the ground. The fire stopped quicker than Tyrannomon would have liked, but he had been in this form for the better part of five hours and was tired.
Deltamon straightened out and with a toothy, unfazed grin, seemingly unbothered by Tyrannomon's assault. "Triplex Force!" Tyrannomon's eyes went wide, as three energy balls hit him full force, sending him flying through the woods, crashing through trees, his hands went to the back of his neck, and grabbed Will.
He finally landed a few hundred feet away, rolling to a stop. Tyrannomon let out a breath and uncurled his hands "Are you alright?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Will looked a little disoriented, and he shakily wiped his brow. He nodded his hand as he responded "Yeah, I think so"
A roar reminded Tyrannomon of the battle, as Deltamon came from behind a tree, marching towards the two of them. He had to get up, and fight for Will, and he brought his arms up while Will climbed up on his back. He pushed up but couldn't lift up his body weight. "Come on Tyrannomon!" he heard and felt the urgency in Will's words, but he was so exhausted. "Come on, I believe in you! Get up!" Will continued yelling.
A surge of energy rushed into Tyrannomon, giving him the extra energy to get up. "I'm not sure how much longer I can do this Will" he told his partner.
Deltamon had brought up one of his cannons and fired, but Tyrannomon was already moving, maybe not has fast as before, but still just long enough to dodge the blast, it hit the ground just passed him, sending mud and grass up in the air, some of which landed on top of him.
Tyrannomon strafed Deltamon, opening his mouth and yelling "Fire Ball!" in rapid succession. Three balls of fire trailed across the air, all three hitting Deltamon. His only chance was that he needed to close the distance, and beat the Deltamon into submission. Three more energy blasts poured forth from Deltamon, all of which Tyrannomon was able to dodge, strafing and changing directions as he ran.
"Tyrannomon!" Will called from his back "Get closer, it's our only chance!"
Tyrannomon agreed and stopped his strafing and sidestepping, it was only tiring him out. He ran behind a tree and caught a deep breath. Then ran around the tree and right towards Deltamon. If Deltamon why surprised, he didn't show it, as he extended the bony skull of the digimon on his right arm "Serpent Bite!" Deltamon roared.
The attacked caught Tyrannomon in the side, and then pulled away, pulling skin and hide away from his side. Pain erupted in his side and Will screamed out in pain. Tyrannomon had to end this now. He let out a stream of fire from his breath, and then when that finished, while Deltamon was still recovering from the first attack, and trying to dislodge it's hand from Tyrannomon's side.
Tyrannomon opened his mouth as wide as he could, and then dived forward right into the neck of Deltamon. He then bit down, mustering as much strength and force into the bite as possible. The bony head returned to his side, biting and crunching into his side as well. They spent what felt like hours in the struggle, as both digimon waited for the other one to fold. He heard Will's screams and pain through their bond, and then there was a crunch, has Tyrannomon's teeth came together.
The Deltamon grip loosened and fell from his side as Tyrannomon stood up straight, and then with a flick of his head, threw the now lifeless body into a nearby tree. It's now dead body dematerialized.
Tyrannomon felt exhausted while Will pulled himself back up on the spikes on his neck. "Good job, Tyrannomon" Will breathed out in pain as they watched Detlamon turn into data.
"Will, I have to de-digivolve, I can't keep this form much longer" Tyrannomon reminded him. He felt Will's thoughts and indecision in their bond, and then resolve and determination flew through them.
"Alright, I think I saw a cave a bit to the west, just after we got here from the desert, lets get there, and then you can eat something and rest"
Miranda slid down the steep,dirt hill, slowly as she could. Hyokomon sliding down by her side. She came to a stop, and jumped to her feet, in one fluid motion as she came to the bottom of the hill. She braced herself on a tree and caught her breath. "I think we lost it" Hyokomon sniffed the air around them and said.
"Good" she breathed out. It had been a nightmare since they had been separated, one moment she was on the temple roof with Arthur, then the next, she was being flung through the air and then hit the ground in this white leaf forest. Stomps could be heard in the distance though, and she asked "Think they're coming this way?"
Hyokomon shifted his head up in the air and sniffed a bit more "No, I don't smell them coming for us, they seem to be going in the opposite direction."
Hope sprang up in her chest for the first time since they had been separated "Do you still smell the others that we were going after?"
"Yes, we're still heading in the right direction, the Allomon luckily wasn't very smart." Hyokomon said.
She started walking , hugging the hill that they had slid down, using it for cover as much as so they could take the high ground if it was necessary. The two of them had come under attack almost immediately after their section of the roof had landed, a Airdramon. Buraimon had made quick work of the Airdramon, but then Allomon had shown up just after they had come up with an actual plan.
She hoped that other person that they were heading towards was Sarah, she was just able to stay aware enough to not get lost in the emotion of potentially losing Sarah. Still though, it was hard, Sarah was her other half, her twin, and they had a connection that Miranda hoped would feel different if something happened to her.
But dwelling on possibilities wouldn't help her and Hyokomon right now, she had to stay focused on getting away from the Allomon, and finding the others. Then, and only then could she worry about what had happened to her sister.
She followed Hyokomon as they moved through the forest, occasionally hearing explosions and stomps in the distance. She hoped that whatever it was that was fighting, that they were giving Devidramon's forcers a hell of a fight. Hyokomon stopped and bulled his sword off of his back "Who's there!?" he yelled out. She crouched down and waited for a response. She couldn't hear anything, but Hykomon remained standing there.
The Allomon exploded through the trees, sending shards of bark and newly uprooted roots through the air "I've found you!" he declared through gritted, smiling teeth. He took aim at Hyokomon and attacked "Dino Burts' ' spewing out burning, high speed air that sent her off of her feet.
Hyokomon hit a tree, with her back flaring up in pain. "Hyokomon!" she cried out. Her hand went for the device, but it wasn't around her neck. Concern and alarm spread through her body as her eyes went wide. She righted herself on the ground and began feeling around the ground for it.
"Cleaving Cut!" She heard Hyokomon fighting back, and with despair in her bones, she realized that she couldn't find it. She looked up and looked around where she had been standing when the Allomon attacked.
Her eyes finally stopped on a light in the grass, where the device laid. She started crawling towards it. Hyokomon was thrown into her, just as he had gotten into reach of it, laying her back on the flat on the ground. Pain crept around her head as a headache started to form in her head. "Sorry Miranda" Hyokomon said in pain as he got himself off of her. She slowly got up and found the device.
'I need to get it,' she thought to herself as Hyokomon crawled in front of her. Allomon had taken place right above the device. "Hyokomon, try and distract it!"
Hyokomon looked over his shoulder at him and gave her a single nod. He jumped from the spot in front of her, and onto a tree branch just above where they were. He then yelled out "Come and get me, Allomon" as he started jumping from tree to tree. Allomon started stomping around, circling around the device, each stomp and step shaking the ground beneath it.
She waited for a moment, she had to go and get the device, it was their only chance to survive in this world, but she was afraid. If she got underneath Allomon, she could get crushed, but if she didn't then the device would get crushed and she would die.
She took a deep breath, and then ran as fast as her legs could take her, the Allomon didn't take notice of her, still distracted by Hyokomon. Miranda got underneath the digimon's two large legs and jumped the final bit, grabbing the chain necklace that she had stuck the device to, and then finally got a hold of it.
A light flooded over her eyes and she heard Hyokomon cry out "Hyokomon digivolve to …. Buraimon!"
Buraimon hit the ground hard, his two blades unsheathed and a fierce anger apparent on his face and through their bond. She got back to her feet and started running to get to cover as the two digimon started to fight. She got behind a tree and then turned around looking at the battle. Buraimon had struck at Allomon, the two jumping and dancing around one another. She watched as Buraimon got in several hits on Allomon, but despite it slowing him down a bit, the attacks didn't seem to slow him down.
In fact it seemed like they had just rolled off of him. A swipe of Allomon's tail caught Buraimon, which threw him into a nearby tree. "Buraimon!" Miranda called out as pain flared up in her sides and her back.
Buraimon had decided something, and jumped from where he and landed, sheathed one of the swords and grabbed her and started running. "What are you doing?" she yelled as he sat her down on his shoulder. "You're the same level, why aren't your attacks doing anything?"
Buraimon ducked under a tree "He's a Data digimon, and I'm a Vaccine, meaning that he has a type match over me!"
She stared at the bird's head "What do you mean they're a type difference? Why hasn't this come up until right now?"
Buraimon huffed as he cut through a tree "We had the others, so it never really mattered" Buraimon ran for another couple of minutes, and then slowly came to a stop. He set her down back onto the ground and said "I think we've lost him again"
He de-digivolved back into Hyokomon. "We need to find the others, with two of us, we could fight him" Miranda said.
Hyokomon nodded his chicken like head and took the lead, back tracking them "We're almost to the source of the smell." Hyokomon said.
They walked again for a bit longer, and then came up on a destroyed piece of land, where the grass had been upturned, debris of the temple scattered all around, and then a single patch, resting up against where it had ran into a tree trunk.
"That's not good" she looked around and noted that there wasn't any bodies lying around, so that was good.
Hyokomon took a few steps and sniffed around the roof "I think I smell…" he sniffed some more, and then waited for a few seconds, and then sniffed again. He started nodding his head and finally concluded "It's Elecmon"
Elecmon, meaning that this was Arthur and Elecmon, not Sarah and Hackmon. She fought back bitter disappointment. She had been so hopeful that Sarah was here, and now that she was faced with Arthur and Elecmon, it was hard.
No, she couldn't think like that, Arthur would have a plan, he always had a plan, it was one of the things that drove her crazy about the boy. It was also something that endeared her to him. Hyokomon started walking, a bit deeper into the forest, and Miranda followed. If she got with Arthur, then Buraimon and Leomon could deal with Allomon, and anything else, then they could find Sarah and the others.
"Hyokomon! Miranda!" a voice whispered from their right after a few minutes of walking "Over here" she turned and saw Elecmon, eyes wide in happiness as he looked at the two partners. "I've got us a camp over here"
Hyokomon and Miranda shared a look and then followed. The camp that Elecmon had set up was a sad one, a tiny fire sat in the middle, with Arthur staring into it as he sat on the ground. He didn't look up as Miranda got through the brush that Elecmon must have set up. "Arthur?" she asked and laid a hand on his shoulder.
He grunted and looked up from the fire. "Miranda, you're alive" relief was clear in his voice, but there wasn't any happiness or anything like that. "Have you seen any of the others?" She shook her head, and Arthur let out a sad sigh "No, I haven't" he wiped something in his eyes and Miranda sat down next to him, suddenly tired from the day's events.
She looked at him, his eyes were red, almost bloodshot, and he looked like he had been crying. Knowing Arthur, it wouldn't do any good to bring it up, but suddenly she was shaken, Arthur had been the strongest of them, had kept them in-line and on task, if he was giving up, should she?
"I haven't eaten since before the temple, and get some rest, and then try to find the others" Miranda suggested. She hoped that she could get Arthur out of this funk that he seemed to be in.
"We should get some rest, yeah, but as for finding the others, what good will it do? Whats the point in trying to find them, we're stuck here, and we're not getting back home" he said.
She stared at him, he had never talked like this before, he had always been the one to try to keep the others spirits up when they got down, or started talking about home. He must have been feeling the same thing, but had tried to keep them together and on task. She looked down at the fire. Miranda sighed. "We have to try to find them, they need our help" she pressed on him.
He didn't immediately reply and instead reached down and threw a couple of sticks into the fire, the impact of which sent some ash into the air. "I guess" he finally agreed. He wiped his eyes again. "We shouldn't have gone to the temple, either the Tokomon betrayed us, or we were just too stupid to see a trap"
"How could we have known?" she asked him "We were all in one this, everyone was, we couldn't have known" she reminded him.
He waited for a moment, and then shook his head and said "I don't want to talk about this right now" he scratched his ear
She blinked as she remembered Allomon "Have you run into any digimon? We were being chased by a Allomon, some dinosaur looking thing" she said.
"Alright, I imagine that we could deal with it if it finds us again" he said wearily.
"Hyokomon said that it's a type of digimon that he's weak against, called him a Data type"
Arthur blinked, and then said "Interesting, that's something we'll have to keep in mind" He shook his head. "Did you guys defeat this Allomon, or what?"
She shook her head "No, unfortunately, he could do more damage to Buraimon than he could do to it, so we ran" Miranda admitted, the familiar pain in her stomach where Buraimon had been hit, welled up.
"Then that changes things" he stood up, and while there still wasn't the determination and power that had been in his voice before, he sounded a bit more like himself. "We need to deal with Allomon"
"What about after?" she asked "We still need to find the others" she reminded him.
His face darkened, but then he said "We'll cross that bridge when we get there"
So an hour later, the four of them had walked back to where the temple roof that had carried Arthur and Elecmon. She had taken the lead, Arthur seemingly in no mood to lead anyone anymore. Maybe if they defeated Allomon, it would get him out of this funk.
Several large footprints laid in the ground around the roof section, Arthur stared at it, while Miranda and Hyokomon went and investigated. "It looks like Allomon's feet" he sniffed it "It smells like him too" he decided.
Then they were on the right track. Resolve filled through her, this Allomon needed to be defeated, so they could look for the others.
Hyokomon stiffened "He's coming back." Miranda went for the device, and then Buraimon was standing where Hyokomon had been. Another flash of light, and Leomon took a place beside Buraimon. Both had drawn their blades, and faced the same direction, which had led away from Arthur's camp.
"Go back with Arthur, we'll take care of this" Leomon stated. The blue and red Allomon suddenly appeared and stared at the two champions, and Miranda ran back to Arthur, who had gotten behind a couple trees back toward his camp.
The fighting began almost immediately, as all three digimon traded blows, Leomon would attack with his blade at the neck of Allomon, while Buraimon attacked the legs with his two swords, both attacks seemed to do little however. Allomon responded by breathing out one of its attacks against Leomon, who dodged it, while it kicked Buraimon into a tree. Her back felt pain, but not for long. She watched as Buraimon jumped up and jumped back into the fight.
She spared a glance from the fight to Arthur, who was watching it intently, but gone was the usual self assuredness that generally came from him. They just needed to gain back his confidence by winning this fight. She turned back to the battle, as Allomon had pushed their two Champions back their way, as the three danced around each other, blades flying and generally the three digimon fighting against each other. Despite the type difference, of whatever Hyokomon had told her, their partners seemed to be gaining the upper hand in the fight, the Allomon had taken some hits, and while his attacks hurt them, he just couldn't manage to fight both of them. Finally, Buraimon and Leomon plunged their swords into the chest of Allomon, and the fight was over.
She smiled happily at it, while she didn't like the idea of killing other digimon, this one had hunted her for the better part of twelve hours, and she was happy to see it go.
"Well that finishes that, let's get back to camp" Arthur said as the newly de-digivolved Elecmon took his place at his feet. Hyokomon took his place.
"What about the others? We have to find them" she reminded him again.
Indignant …. Anger flashed through Arthur's features "And what would you have us do? Hunt all around the world, and just hope to run into them? We have to face facts here"
Anger flooded through Miranda, she was very tired of this new Arthur "And what facts are those, that you're too weak to even bother to look for them?" she asked.
The anger on Arthur's face fell to something else, almost, sadness, Miranda thought, and then he responded "Look" he breathed out "I'm just happy to not be alone, we have to face facts that you and I could realistically be all thats left"
She shook her head "I refuse to believe that, you and I just happen to land in the same forest, Devidramon must have done something to the temple to send us here, and we owe it to the others to find them." When Arthur didn't immediately answer her, she huffed out "I'll go by myself if I have to"
That got a response from him "No, I'll go, I just want us to be careful" he finally agreed.
"Good then that-" she was cut off as something bright flew up into the air, casting light all around them. She turned and watched as a large fireball, off in the distance, sprung up over the trees. "That has to be the others!" she turned around "Lets go!" and they started running towards the fireball.
Sarah dived down into a small ditch, as BaoHuckmon and the other digimon, a Kuwagmon, fought above her head. Her feet hit water and sunk into the mud, while the sounds of the two digimon fighting ring out just above her. She looked up, and saw Kuwagmon dive down, his insect wings flapping too quickly for her to see, while BaoHuckmon took his place right above her.
"Come on!" She cheered at BaoHuckmon.
BaoHuckmon jumped up, sending out an air blast as it did. He tackled the red armor Kuwagmon out of the air and then down into the air. She felt as the four armed digimon pinch and strike at BaoHuckmon's chest.
She watched as BaoHuckmon seemed to be winning, despite the attacks if the Kuwagmon, its attacks seemed to just roll off of it, while BaoHuckmon's attacks just ripped into the insect. Sarah started to feel bad, how could they just kill this thing when it was obviously beaten. If she did that, were they any better than any of the digimon that had attacked them? She shook her head, no they wouldn't be. She opened her mouth to call BaoHuckmon off when the ground behind her exploded.
She flew up into the air, and then fell back onto the ground, she felt pain all over, but despite it, turned herself over and saw something else behind her. This one was vaguely human shaped, it's forearms were big and strong looking. Two spikes came out from the digimon's shoulders, and it also wore a three horned helmet. Other than the helmet the digimon wasn't armored, but instead was simply furred, with the fur looking especially sharp.
She crawled backwards, eyes never leaving this new arrival. Something about it bothered her, as it looked somewhere between being in pain, and it had a haunted look in it's eyes. BaoHuckmon had apparently taken notice "Sarah, get away! It's a Wendigomon! Run!"
She knew that she needed to get up, but as she stared into the eyes of Wendigomon, she felt burdened, depressed even, and everything else seemed to slowdown. Wendigomon took a single step in her direction, and she vaguely heard BaoHuckmon yelling for her to get up, and then it took another, as she laid on the the ground, eyes fixed on the Wendigomon.
She felt herself being picked and then she snapped out of whatever had just happened, as BaoHuckmon jumped out of Wendigomon's fists way, just has it came down. He jumped back into the the white leaved trees "Are you okay Sarah?" he asked breathlessly.
She shook her head, trying to figure out what had just happened to her "Yeah, I'm sorry BaoHuckmon, I'm not sure what came over me"
BaoHuckmon didn't respond, but sent reassurance through their bond and then turned around, as it now faced Kuwagmon and Wendigomon. She breathed heavily, the wear and tear of the long night suddenly getting to her, and BaoHuckmon had been digivolved for quite some time, so that probably wasn't helping things either. Then the two digimon attacked.
Kuwagmon made the first move, striking at BaoHuckmon's armored legs, with it's pinchers getting a hold of them, but not doing much damage because of the armor, BaoHuckmon let forth with an attack from his rear legs, where there were no feet, but instead two sharp, needle legs. BaoHuckmon's attacks bounced harmlessly off of Kuwagmon's carapace. The pressure increased on the armored leg that Kuwagmon had, and Sarah let out a grunt of pain.
Kuwagmon let go, and started to back up, and Sarah had only a moment to wonder why when Wendigomon made his presence known "Howling Destroyer!" it yelled out in a dark, deep, but pained voice. A long stream of energy emanated from the digimon and struck out, hitting BaoHuckmon full force, forcing it into a tree, where the attack continue unabated for another few seconds. The attack left Baohuckmon breathing heavily, steam and smoke oozed off of his body, while the two digimon advanced.
"BaoHuckmon!" she screamed out in concern, and a bit of pain, as the attack had made her near sick with pain, but she couldn't focus on herself right now. Things weren't looking good for BaoHuckmon.
Despite her scream, the two digimon now stood just infront of the tree where BaoHuckmon lay, without a word, Wendigomon raised both hands in fists in preparation to bring them down onto BoaHuckmon. Sarah couldn't watch, BaoHuckmon had become her friend.
"Ice Blast!"
"Blast Coffin!"
Two attacks came from behind Sarah, one a long stream of ice, and the other sharp snippets of wind, as they struck Wengidomon and Kuwagmon in the back. Two new digimon appeared in the places where Wendigomon and Kuwagmon had been standing over BaoHuckmon. No, not two new ones, instead ones she recognized. Seadramon and Fangmon! Galen's and Diane's partners.
The two others walked in and took a place beside her. "You guys are alive" was all she found herself saying, she had spent the last fifteen or so hours on the run and just trying to stay alive, that she hadn't allowed herself the time to stop and think about the others. "How?"
"Galen found me a few hours after we got separated, and we've been looking for the others since" Diane explained. "Who are these two?" she asked as she gestured towards the fight.
"Wendigomon and Kuwagmon, they've been chasing us" she explained.
"Two of that Devidramon's then?" Galen surmised as he watched the new battle.
The inclusion of the other two digimon seemed to make things better. Seadramon would attack, then BaoHuckmon or Fangmon would follow it up, the three digimon partners seemed to work in perfect lockstep with one another, slowly battering Kuwagmon and Wendigomon down. She watched as BaoHuckmon let loose a stream of flame and fire that engulfed Kuwagmon, and then as it dissolved into data, and then as Fangmon jumped onto Wendigomon, knocking him over and started to claw it's way into its chest. It was a gruesome way to go, but Sarah no longer had any sympathy for the digimon. It dissolved into data not soon after.
The high of the fight slowly brought her down and Hackmon appeared as he came walking back to the others, with Betamon and Gazimon in tow. "Good job guys" Diane said as the three got to them.
That reminded her "Thanks for saving us, I'm not sure how much longer we could have held out" she admitted. Now that she felt at least somewhat safe with the others, she could stop and think about what she had to do now. She had to look for Miranda, and the others of course, and then there was the looming, at least she thought it was, fight with Devidramon once they reunited with everyone else. "How did you guys find us? Was it just the sound of our fight?"
Galen shook his head "No, actually I guess the digimon can sense each other, we of course heard the fight as we got closer, but they led us your way in the first place. It's how Diane and I found each other.
"Can they feel the others as well?"
"Yes, we can,but we can't tell who it is" Gazimon explained with a shrug of his gray furred shoulders.
"That's alright, as long as we know where they are, we can find them," Sarah said. She looked form the digimon and back to the others "Whats the plan? Do we try to find them now?"
Galen and Diane shared a look "I think we all need a bit of a rest, the digimon are beat, and we need them to be ready to fight."
She didn't want to think that Miranda or any of the others were still out there by themselves, but she had to agree, she was tired, and she knew that Hackmon was equally tired. She would just have to hope that the others were okay as well.
Will re-adjusted his grip on Tyrannomon's spikes, while he balanced himself on one of the wider spikes on his back. It was uncomfortable to stand on Tyrannomon, but with how much they had been moving, it had only made sense. He and Tyrannomon hadn't had a chance to get much rest, Agumon had been able to eat something in the cave, and then had gotten about an hour of sleep, but Will hadn't. They had been attacked by several other digimon since, but Tyrannomon had made quick work of them.
Tyrannomon came to a stop in the middle of a small clearing, where he kneeled down and let Will jump off onto the ground. His eyes scanned the tree line that encircled them. He felt the tiredness emanating from Tyrannomon, they had been fighting near non-stop since they had been separated from the others. He rubbed his eyes, and wondered what he was doing, he hadn't made any attempts to find the others, who were probably dead if he was willing to be honest with himself, and had instead decided he was going to go out fighting.
"How are you holding up Tyrannomon?" he asked. He could tell his partner was tired.
The red dinosaur answered "I'm good, ready for the next fight, Will" Will could tell that Tyrannomon had infused a lot of bravado in his voice and his response, but he knew that Tyrannomon was tired.
A roar from their left had them both turning to look at the new arrival, a black dinosaur, one that Will and Tyrannomon had fought before, DarkTyrannomon. Will scrambled back up the spikes of Tyrannomon. And both Tyrannomons sneered at one another, and slowly started circling one another. Will grabbed a hold of the spike and balanced himself on the lower one.
Will started looking around, trying to see if any other digimon were around them. It would be bad if more came up behind them. He turned his attention to DarkTyrannomon and the two digimon charged forward, locking claws together as they grappled with one another. His whole body shook as the two digimon fought. "Fire Blast!" DarkTyrannomon screamed out, sending out a fireball against Tyannomon's chest. Tyrannomon backed up as he dealt with the attack.
Will shot his head out to the side where he could get a look at the battle. DarkTyrannomon looked like he was preparing for another attack, but Will thought he saw an opportunity. "Forward! Forward Tyrannomon!" he started yelling, and luckily, Tyrannomon didn't need any encouragement. His grip on the top spike was becoming painful, but he didn't dare fall off. He waited and then saw DarkTyrannomon tilt his head up, like he was readying another fireball, just like Tyrannomon did.
"Jump right! Jump Right!" he yelled, and Tyrannomon did, actually getting airborne and jumping out of the way. The fireball from the DarkTyrannomon hit behind him, sending dirt and heat into the air, heat that felt like it burned his back. But he couldn't let that make him loose focus "Now, Tyrannomon!" he yelled.
"Fire Ball!" Tyrannomon yelled, sending a ball of orange hot flame right into the side of DarkTyrannomon, which sent it flying into a tree. Tyrannomon didn't need Will's orders, and rushed forward, sending another fireball into where DarkTyrannomon had just gotten to his feet. Will spared a moment to look around, checking their surroundings, and he didn't see anything, but wait, he squinted his eyes, and where he had thought there had been some movement, he didn't see anything. So she shook his head and thought it must have been lack of sleep.
Tyrannomon was now ripping into the DarkTyrannomon, and then it was gone. Will allowed himself a moment to wipe his brow, and then felt something wet on his hands, he lowered his hand and saw an open cut, he must have cut his hand on Tyrannomon's spike. He closed it and figured it wasn't that big of a deal.
"So, you dealt with DarkTyrannomon easily enough" a dark, deep voice said. Will and Tyrannomon both turned to look. This new arrival looked like a dinosaur that was on steroids. A large, thick right arm with two red claws on it, while its T-rex-like head was covered by a brown helmet. A metal shoulder piece covering it's shoulder on the large arm. "Good, Good, I was hoping for a good fight from one of you children today"
"And who are you?" Will yelled out the question.
There was a chuckle "I am Cyclonemon, your doom" he smiled a large toothy smile.
"No, you're wrong, we're going to end you"
"Brave words…. From a human" Cyclonemon said. And then braced himself, and started running forward, and Tyrannomon ran forward, meeting in the middle.
Evelyn and Kotemon had just sat down in a small cave on the top of a hill, and she had gotten to work with with some twigs and a rock to try and get a fire started. Kotemon had taken himself and was watching the entrance, but calling this a cave was a bit of a stretch, really it was a shallow one. There was a bit of land that hung over where she sat, and the sides of the cliff formed a bit like walls.
"See anything?" she asked her partner. She didn't like the quiet, she came from a large family, and back home, she rarely got a moment of silence.
"Nope" came Kotemon's one-word response.
She sighed and went back to work on the fire, Arthur and Will had shown her how to do it, but she had never thought that she would have to actually light her own fire, and it was harder than it looked.
Aside from the sound of the rock sliding on what she thought looked like flint, there were no other sounds. She always thought she liked the silence, but since she had been separated from the others, it had become familiar, and she hated it. She and Kotemon hadn't ran into the others, nor had they ran into any hostile digimon.
She set the flint and rock down hard, angry at herself for not being able to do a simple thing like light a fire. She couldn't do anything right! Everything that she had done had been undone, the friends she had tried to make were gone, and she was never going to see her family again. She was going to die in the world.
Evelyn wiped bitter tears from her eyes, and she fought not to cry. Kotemon walked over, and through his mask, stared at her with sorrow filled eyes. "I'm sorry Kotemon" she whispered out, not trusting her own voice "I can't even light a fire"
Kotemon didn't respond, but instead threw it's arms around her and hugged her. It was the closest she had been with her partner, and she started to feel better. She sniffled a few more times and then said "Thank you Kotemon, I'm not sure what I would do without you"
Kotemon withdrew his arms "I'm not sure what I would do without you, Evelyn" he repeated her words back.
She simply nodded her head and now calmed down, thought about what they needed to do, she of course had to find the others, and then let the others figure out what they were going to do. She figured she should start by getting this fire lit, and so leaned back forward and picked up the flint and rock and started sliding them along each other again. She tried it several more minutes, until finally there was a small spark and the kindling wood caught fire, and she placed it with her twigs. Where the fire slowly spread.
There was an explosion, and the world felt like it was shaking. Kotemon shot to his feet as did Evelyn, her newly started fire forgotten as their eyes scanned the treeline. She squinted her eyes and watched the treeline, she didn't see where the explosion had come from, and she wondered for a brief second if she had imagined it.
A second explosion, out in the horizon as a part of the forest exploded into fire. "There!" Kotemon yelled as he pointed his bamboo sword at the explosion. He looked at Evelyn and waited.
Evelyn kicked herself, she had been waiting for the others to decide what to do, the others weren't here and she was. "Do you think its the some of the others?" she asked as she watched a third explosion.
He turned and studied the fighting. He started shaking his helmeted head as he answered "I'm not sure, it could be one of the others, but it could also be just a random battle, we won't know unless we go and check it out"
She wondered what the others would have done. Arthur would have waited and came up with a plan. Maxwell would have scouted it out and then decided, and Miranda and the others would have probably followed along. The only one who would have acted immediately was William, but he seemed like he had a death wish, and she worried over his actions.
She had to decide, Kotemon was waiting for her to decide what to do, and besides if it was one of them, they might need her and Kotemon's help. She nodded her head, decision made. Evelyn couldn't just let them get hurt, so she looked down at her armored partner "Lets go and find them, Kotemon!" Kotemon gave her a nod, and she felt in their bond that he approved. Bolstered by his approval, she took a step, and then another, then started running towards the fight.
The fight wasn't going well, Cyclonemon had pummeled them, and was slowly pushing the already exhausted Tyrannomon to his breaking point. Cyclonemon has punched, ripped and tore through Tyrannomon, to the point where his partner was barely standing. They had bashed trees and had been forced from the clearing and back into the thicker trees.
His grip on Tyrannomon's back was tight as he pulled his body over to look at Cyclonemon. The digimon had stopped it's attacks and was now just watching as Tyrannomon got back to his feet. "Hyper Heat!" the digimon roared, a shockwave of heat and force blowing Tyrannomon back into a tree.
Will stopped and pulled himself back in, he had nearly fallen off. "Tyrannomon, we have to push back! Throw a fireball at him" he pleaded with his partner, he could feel the pain and exhaustion as it wore his partner down, and he knew it was a tall order to ask for Tryannomon to do it.
Tyrannomon launched forward "Fire Blast!" he roared as a orange colored fire ball came out of his mouth and hit Cyclonemon. The blast knocked the large digimon back, and without needing to be told, Tyrannomon continued his attack, slashing with his claws along the body and legs of Cyclonemon.
A dark liquid poured of the digimon, and Will allowed himself a moment of victory, they were going to pull this off, and win another battle, and then that thought came to an erupt stop, as Cyclonemon's giant arm cam, and smashed into the chest of Tyrannomon, the red digimon flew up in the air, and went vertical, and no amount of holding on by Will's part, would let him, and he fell to the ground with a thud.
"Ughh" he groaned and rolled himself off of his back Cyclonemon was now approaching him, each step shaking the ground around him.
"You and your partner fought well human" Cyclonemon said as he came to a stop right above him. "But now you must realize that it is over, you did very well"
Peace, and acceptance started to come into his chest, he and Tyrannomon had fought hard, and well, and had taken out more digimon than they should have rightly been able to, and while he didn't want to die, he could accept that he had done damage to whatever or whoever it was that they were fighting. He closed his eyes as he hurt a rustling in the background. At least he would see his parents and brother again.
And then there was a bright flash of light.
Evelyn couldn't believe what she was watching, they had just arrived at the battle and she watched as Will, who looked far worse for wear than she thought possible, was staring up at a large orange digimon.
The digimon said something, and Will didn't seem to respond, but she gripped her device anyway, and then there was a bright flash of light, and Gladimon, the circular bodied champion form of Kotemon, was rushing forward, blades in both hands.
Tyrannomon had emerged from where he had been, and the state of the red dragon shook her, parts of his hide were gone, deep scratches line his body, and he looked exhausted, his shoulders were not held high and proud like they normally were, but instead sagged. The dinosaur took a second to realize what was happening, and also rushed forward.
Gladimon collided with Cyclonemon, tackling the large digimon and forcing it's whole body away from Will. Tyrannomon rushed right by his partner, leaving Evelyn to run and get him. Her legs had started moving before she had even completed the thought, and despite her bodies protestations against the running, she did so anyway.
She slid to a stop and shook him. Will 's eyes opened slowly, and he looked at her for a moment, blinked his eyes and asked "I'm not dead am I?"
It was a morbid question, but she knew why he had asked it. She shook her head "No, Gladimon and Tyrannomon are fighting with Cyclonemon, they've distracted it long enough for us to get away" She pulled him to his feet.
He took a deep breath and then slowly looked around him, as if he was reminding himself where he was, and then gave her a nod. They ran back from where she and Gladimon had come, and took a step behind a tree and watched the battle.
Between the two digimon, Cyclonemon was being overwhelmed, between the rested and not battered Gladimon, who used his agility to jump around and spin circles around the digimon, and Tyrannomon, who despite being tired, was able to keep up, even if he was moving slower than she could ever remember the digimon moving.
"Fire Breath" Tyrannomon roared as a stream of fire poured out of his mouth and onto Cyclonemon, just as Gladimon came up behind it.
"Wheel Rush '' in a spinning circle that reminded her of rotary blades on a helicopter, Gladimon spun his blades right through the Cyclone, leaving a Gladimon shaped hole in the chest of the digimon.
Suddenly just as soon as it had started, it was over, and Cyclonemon just stood there, looking at the wounds. "You did well, children, but you won't be able to defeat my master" he gutted out, and then dissolved into data.
As they watched the digimon dissolve. Will let out shaky breaths, and she noticed that he was shaking, his whole body. "Will, are you okay?" she asked as she watched him.
He didn't answer, and instead shakily brought his hand up and wiped his brow, and then he nodded his head. A bit of blood had smeared across his forehead, and while she wanted to check that out, she needed to deal with this first. "You don't look okay, sit down for a bit" the other digimon approached them, now back in rookie form. The red dinosaur, Agumon, looked exhausted, his eyes half closed and looking beat up, kind of like Will, and Kotemon looked just the same.
He shook his head "No, we need to get somewhere safer, these woods are full of bad guys"
"Okay, i've got a camp not too far away from here, but when we get there, you're going to let me look you over, and then tell me what happened to you" she ordered him. She didn't like ordering people around, but based on Will's and Agumon's looks, it hadn't been good.
They checked on their partners, and then were off back to her makeshift camp. During the walk, Will explained "After you and the others were flown up and thrown all over the place, Agumon and I made a break off towards the only section I saw moving." his voice turned dark "By the time we got to the forest, we had fought a lot, and to be honest, I assumed you and everyone else was dead" he stops talking at that and takes a long breath "Well, I didn't see a whole lot of use running, so we stayed the woods, trying to survive, but we found even more fights."
That would explain his injuries, and the overall tiredness of the two "Have you two slept or ate since we were separated?"
He shook his head and Agumon answered "I got a few hours, but Will stayed awake"
"I didn't want to, but I wasn't going to die just because some opportunistic digimon found the two of us asleep" he explained.
"I've got some of the apple things back at camp" she said, she looked down at his hands, which were red, almost like he had been burned. And then there was the apparent cuts that she would have to attend to.
"I'll be alright Evelyn" he assured her "I'm more at risk of falling asleep than anything"
"Yeah, me too, Will," Agumon chimed in.
She shook her head "Let's just focus on getting back to camp, and then we can figure everything out.
A/N: Well, here is my longest chapter I've ever written to date. I hope you enjoyed it, and to answer the question in the comment, yes this is the same continuity as Digimon Adventure 01 and 02, this just takes place before that.