Billy and Mandy's Digital Chronicles Chapter 3

It took roughly thirty minutes for them to reach the base of Login Mountain, thanks to Gazimon, they got their seemingly much faster than they would've previously. Mandy easily assumed that Gazimon either had excellent tracking skills or is native to this area and knows his way around very well, or both.

They all stood before the base of the mountain, Gazimon led them to an area that had an open path in between two cliffs, the road was narrow, but looked to have been much smoother, so it looked like one could get to the top by foot without climbing, but it wasn't something she could judge properly, the mountain looked colossal and she could only see what is a fraction of said mountain.

Mandy looked at the road, then looked up to see the top of the mountain, there was no sign of Mindy or Aquilamon, but regardless, she hoped she could make it to see Mindy being killed by this humongous bird.

"Will this lead us to the top?" asked Pud'n.

"Of course, it's the fastest way to get there on foot, we will need to do some climbing however." Gazimon then turned back to the others. "You sure you wanna go through?"

"Yes, I do." Said Pud'n.

"Let's hurry this up, the longer we wait here, the less time we have before the show starts." said Mandy.

Gazimon looked over to BlackGatomon briefly, who stood at the back of the group with her usual smug face. Gazimon sighed quietly. "Come on." And he began to lead the way through the mountain path. Mandy and Pud'n followed, with BlackGatomon following behind them, with the quietest snicker.

A few minutes passed and they continued to follow Gazimon, who not only kept the lead, but kept his nose close to the ground to check for any suspicious smells, and his eyes peeled for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. It didn't take long for the path to get more and more rough, and more climbing was necessary, thankfully climbing wasn't much, it was mostly getting up over four feet of rocks and stone to climb higher, but Mandy knew this was only the beginning.

She looked back to BlackGatomon who looked like she was barely trying, given she was very cat-like, this wasn't surprising. She looked ahead to see Pud'n struggle with climbing at some points, but Gazimon did hang his claw out to help him up, though Gazimon's expression made it clear he hated the idea of helping his partner.

Eventually, they reached another flat portion, with a series of long log bridges, they looked stable enough, though Gazimon walked gently across them on all fours, the others followed suit, though BlackGatomon seemed to show less concern, and even jumped some gaps, ignoring the bridges altogether.

The wind soon grew stronger the higher they got, it was also a result of the placement of the cliffs causing the wind to be funnelled, similar to how the wind can get stronger in cities, being funnelled by the buildings. This didn't affect Mandy too much, though she did have to squint her eyes occasionally due to the wind blowing in her face, BlackGatomon kept her smug face as she closed her eyes and let the wind blow at her face, looking like she was enjoying it very much. Gazimon seemed unaffected, whereas Pud'n struggled the most, though he remained vigilant in moving.

"Wait!" said Gazimon, the others stopped. He then proceeded to sniff around, after a few seconds, he looked ahead. "I think I smell another human."

He began to rush ahead, with the others quickly following. After making a turn, the four discover what Gazimon smelled, it was another bag, but it wasn't a hip bag like Mindy's it was a school backpack.

Mandy's eyes widened; she knew exactly who's it was. "Billy!?"

They looked at her. "Billy?" asked Gazimon.

Mandy walked up to the backpack and picked it up, she opened it up, and it still had the cans of soda he stored. There was also a portable console, a couple candy bars, and his cell phone. She tutted, if Billy had kept his with him, it meant she could've called him, though she felt more frustrated, remembering she left her phone at the camp. Regardless however, this has to mean that Billy must be close by or has been here.

"I have an idea." She takes Billy's phone and opens up the list of contacts and sees Irwin and Junior's names listed. She pressed Junior's name to ring him and places it to her ear. But to her frustration, it didn't even ring, it just gave a long tone that usually plays when the call is disconnected. She checked the phone's battery and signal, they were fine, so she tries to ring Junior again. But the same result.

"Anything?" asked Pud'n.

"No." She huffs and decides to try phoning Irwin, but just before she could make the call, she hesitates, in addition to hating Irwin, she recalled he was stabbed, and unless Irwin got a Digimon partner to aid him, he's probably dead, in addition, if the phone couldn't get in contact with Junior, it was a safe assumption that Irwin wouldn't work either.

So, Mandy placed Billy's phone into her hip bag and zips up the backpack. She then looks at Gazimon. "While we head to the top, I need you to keep track of the same scent you got from this backpack, if Billy's backpack is here, then he must be nearby."

Gazimon looks to Pud'n who nods, he then gives a faint huff before sniffing the backpack to get a read of it. "Alright, if you wanna get to the mountain top, let's get a move on." The others nod, and continue to follow Gazimon, Mandy then placed the backpack on her back, it would come in handy for sure.

A good few minutes pass and the gang continue to follow Gazimon, the roads got a bit smoother and there were even a few wooden bridges, but they were soon followed by more rough terrain that needed climbing, Mandy and Pud'n struggled naturally, but they persevered, though Mandy began to have doubts that she would witness Mindy's death given how long they were taking, but now that she knew Billy had to be on this mountain, it kept her motivation to continue. It became less witnessing Mindy's death and more finding Billy.

Soon as they made it to another flat surface, Mandy looked up to see they were getting close to the top, looked about twenty minutes left, estimated. Though she was starting to feel a bit tired from all this scaling, she hated that she didn't have a bottle of water with her. But she knew complaining would do nothing, so she kept quiet, she did notice that Pud'n seemed worse off than her.

Mandy quickly noticed BlackGatomon lying on a large rock with a relaxed look to her, looking like she was still full of energy. Gazimon looked the same, though he stopped walking to look back at them, noticing Pud'n lagging behind the most.

Gazimon sighed. "You're seriously tired already!?"

Pud'n stopped and was trying to catch his breath. "I'm… sorry… but I'll keep moving." It was obvious he was too tired to move on but didn't want to stop either.

"Dumb, weak human." Gazimon muttered under his breath, he then spoke up properly. "Fine, we'll take a break."

"But-"

"If we continue in your state, you'll be dead weight! Now rest!"

Pud'n nodded as he suddenly just flopped onto his back trying to catch his breath. "S-Sorry…"

Mandy sighed as she sat onto a rock to get her breath too. BlackGatomon then jumped onto the same rock and curled herself up on Mandy's lap, disgusted, she immediately picks her up and drops her by her feet. "Not a chance, I hate cats." BlackGatomon simply shrugs as she just curls up next to her feet.

Gazimon jumps onto a large rock and starts to look around. Keeping patrol by the looks of it. "Fifteen minutes." Gazimon said before he resumed his watch.

As they rested, Mandy turned her head to look at the top of the mountain again, this time she could see Aquilamon flying in a circle over the top of the mountain before it suddenly took off to the south.

"Hey!" Mandy pointed to Aquilamon as the others look at her, then to him. "That giant birds leaving."

Gazimon looks to see. "Hmm… must be off to get more food…"

Mandy then looks back to the mountaintop. "Is it possible we can just scale up from where we are?"

"It's possible for BlackGatomon and I to scale it from here but dragging you two along would cause too many problems."

Mandy nods, then looks over to BlackGatomon. "Alright Cat, you scale that mountain and let us know if you see Mindy's remains."

BlackGatomon just shrugs and yawns. "I thought you said you didn't need my help." She said with a smug look to her.

"I don't… but do it anyway! Besides, you're annoying me."

"Fine, just don't die while I'm gone." BlackGatomon then proceeded to jump from rock to rock and was steadily going up the mountain without them.

Mandy sighed a little before lying back on the rock trying to get some rest, meanwhile, Gazimon continued to look around for any potential threats. As Mandy leaned back further, she felt the backpack she was wearing, which made her remember the contents. She took the backpack off and dug into it, taking out one of the candy bars and chucked it onto Pud'n's chest, he jumped a bit but noticed the food and began to eat it. Mandy then took one of the apples out of her hip bag and began to eat it too. She soon noticed Gazimon turning to them, so she dug into her hip bag and took out another apple and chucked it to Gazimon, who quickly caught it in his mouth and began eating it.

"Thanks." Gazimon said with a full mouth. Mandy nods.

About ten minutes have passed and it's been very quiet, no noise besides the wind, it was almost relaxing. Mandy and Pud'n felt more refreshed and reenergised, and with five minutes left, at least what Mandy assumed, her internal clock was pretty accurate however. She looked over to Gazimon who continued to keep alert, his ears twisting in different directions to listen out for anything, while his head turned in several directions slowly to look out for anything, especially up, given the biggest threat can fly.

Mandy then looks back up to where BlackGatomon headed towards, still no sign of her. But the moment she thought about it, she could see a black dot coming down from the mountain. Her head tilted slightly seeing this dot, given how it was pouncing down confidently, it made sense that it would be BlackGatomon. Mandy turned to get Gazimon's attention, but before she could speak, Gazimon's head turned as quick as a flash to the right with his ears pointed down, and the fur on his back rose slightly.

Gazimon then immediately turned to them running. "Quick, hide." He said as loud as he could while whispering.

Mandy, quick to react, immediately ran for one of the taller rocks and hid behind it, but Pud'n was slower to react, thankfully Gazimon quickly grabbed him and dragged him behind another tall rock, though it took a lot longer since Pud'n was still recovering from his fatigue.

As they hid, they could hear the sounds of footsteps heading towards them. Mandy kept her breathing slow, and she kept her mind calm as she listened carefully. Judging by the sounds, whatever it was, had two legs, evident by the number of steps, the volume implied it was large, estimated about seven to eight feet, but the steps also had a strange clack to them, this gave her the impression that it may have clawed toes, presumably made of metal, so perhaps armoured, finally it gave her the impression that whatever was coming this way, may be bird-like.

Mandy wondered if it could be Aquilamon, but deduced it couldn't be, not only did Aquilamon fly off earlier, but she could also tell that Aquilamon was much larger than what was approaching them. She turned her eye to the side to see Pud'n and Gazimon, Gazimon looked concerned but tried to remain calm, Pud'n kept his hands over his mouth and was shivering from fear.

Mandy soon had an idea, she took out Billy's cell phone and turned on the video recording device and gently crept her hand over, trying to record the creature without poking her head out. She could still hear the thing stomping around, she had no idea what it was doing, but after twenty seconds of recording, she pulls the phone back and watches the recording.

The footage was shaky, but she could see the creature just fine. It was an eight-foot raptor-like creature, sporting wings with armour on the tops of them, as well as on the back of the neck and face. It's upper body was covered in orange feathers while it's lower half was green feathers; it's legs were bird shaped and metallic to boot. In the footage, it appeared to be scouring the area, pecking at the ground, and scratching it too.

Mandy's seen much scarier monsters before, even fought ones that looked stronger, but she knew this was a brand-new world, and no Grim by her side, so it was for the best she played more defensively.

Behind the other tall rock, Pud'n and Gazimon tried to be as quiet as they could. Pud'n soon tucked into a ball, putting his arms over his head, to try and stay as small and still as possible. Gazimon looked at Pud'n, despite his innocence and cowardice, he was doing the right thing in this scenario, staying still and out of sight.

Gazimon knew what that creature was, it was Diatrymon. He huffed quietly in frustration, he could take it on if he had his pack with him, but on his own, it would be suicide, he looked back to the top of the mountain to see BlackGatomon is returning from the top, he wasn't sure how capable she would be in a fight, but two on one would fare somewhat better, even if Diatrymon is a major force to be reckon with. Ultimately, the best option is to wait for Diatrymon to leave on its own and then escape before it sees them. He only hoped that BlackGatomon wouldn't blow their cover.

Against his better judgement, Gazimon knew if he poked his head out, he'd run the risk of being spotted, and he knew Diatrymon would attack on sight, but he decided to pull his ears down as low as they can, so they don't stick out, and peek over to the side to see.

Luckily, Diatrymon had it's back to them, but to Gazimon's shock, he realised that Diatrymon was examining the crumbs of their apples and Pud'n's candy bar, worse, the crumbs of Pud'n's candy bar made a trail towards the rocks they were hiding at. And the second Gazimon noticed the trail, Diatrymon looked to have noticed it too. Gazimon immediately hid back behind the rock before Diatrymon noticed him.

Gazimon kept quiet, but he suddenly heard the familiar sounds metal footsteps running fast, right toward their direction. "QUICK! MOVE!" he shouted as he grabbed Pud'n and jumped away from the rock, the second he did, Diatrymon had smashed into it with its head smashing the rock to pieces. Mandy immediately jumped from her cover, knowing she's been discovered too.

Diatrymon quickly turned towards Pud'n and Gazimon angrily, with Gazimon immediately grabbing a rock, jumping far to the left of Pud'n and throwing it at Diatrymon's face, smashing off its metal mask. It immediately turned to Gazimon who looked prepared for a fight, but there was also a tell he was nervous.

Diatrymon glared at Gazimon and charged at him, Mandy and Pud'n became surprised at the speed Diatrymon ran at, but Gazimon reacted in time to dodge out of the way. Then Gazimon took a deep breath and unleashed a lightning-like beam from his mouth striking Diatrymon, causing it to stumble back but looked barely fazed. Which Gazimon growled in frustration.

Suddenly, a smaller rock flew over the surprised Gazimon hitting Diatrymon, he looked behind him to see Pud'n with a bunch of rocks in one arm and using the other to throw them. "Get away from my friend!"

"PUD'N! NO!" Gazimon shouted as Diatrymon changed targets to Pud'n and began to charge, Gazimon immediately dashed towards Pud'n just as Diatrymon was just beginning to run, Gazimon just barely got to Pud'n before Diatrymon did and tackled him out of the way, with Diatrymon just barely clipping Gazimon's tail. Diatrymon smashed his head into the cliff wall making a decent sized indention.

Mandy took a step back feeling reluctant, she was tempted to throw a punch into Diatrymon's head to prove who's stronger, but seeing the speed it could run at, on top of the damage it did to the wall with just it's head, and barely had any form of injury or mark on it, Mandy could easily tell that there was no way she could do any damage to its head, and it's speed guaranteed that it would get the first shot in.

Diatrymon turned to Mandy, readying to charge, but before it could take one step, a black blur jumped onto it's back startling it. Diatrymon looked behind it to see BlackGatomon clinging onto it's back with a smug look. Diatrymon then began to spin and jump around, flapping its wings trying to get BlackGatomon off her, but she clung on easily, in fact, Mandy noticed that BlackGatomon seemed to be enjoying herself.

Pud'n and Gazimon noticed this, then Gazimon turned to Pud'n. "Get further up that mountain and hide somewhere! NOW!" Without responding, Pud'n agreed and ran up. Gazimon then proceeded to shovel his claws into the ground and began to dig down fast.

As Diatrymon was struggling to get BlackGatomon off it's back, Mandy took this opportunity to make a hasty retreat, following where Pud'n ran off to, also taking notice that the ground elevated slightly where Gazimon was digging, as he was completely underground.

The moment Mandy had her back to BlackGatomon, she took notice of this and immediately jumped off towards one of the very large rocks that came from the debris, this rock was the size of Diatrymon's head and a few inches shorter than BlackGatomon, but she easily lifted it and threw it directly at Diatrymon's head, causing it to smash and Diatrymon stumbled back in pain, having several dents in its metal mask.

But as it stumbled back, the ground collapsed revealing a large pit and it fell in, hitting its head hard and falling unconscious. Gazimon dug out of the ground panting, as he climbed out and looked down at the hole, with BlackGatomon looking down smugly. Diatrymon wasn't moving at all, it was completely unconscious.

"Never had to dig that fast…" said Gazimon catching his breath. "But at least it worked." He then turned to BlackGatomon. "Guess I owe you for distracting it." Having no idea, the damage BlackGatomon did initially.

BlackGatomon shrugged. "Just trying to look after my partner too."

Gazimon smirked. "Thought she told you to stay out of her way."

"I technically wasn't in her way."

"I guess." Gazimon then looked back to the higher part of the mountain where Mandy and Pud'n and growled silently. "If it wasn't for my idiot partner, we wouldn't have gotten caught, not to mention he got too reckless!"

BlackGatomon placed her paw on Gazimon's shoulder, he looked at her tilting her head with that smug look. "Cut him some slack, it's clear he's not used to this habitat. Besides, he wanted to help you, just as you were helping him."

Gazimon smacks BlackGatomon's paw away. "If he wanted to help me, he'd stay out of the way and not get himself killed."

"Regardless, he seems to consider you a friend more than you do. Remember that." BlackGatomon then got on all fours and walked away towards Mandy and Pud'n. Gazimon huffed as he did the same thing.

As the two got up to where Mandy and Pud'n, Mandy was leaning against a wall while Pud'n kept behind a rock looking nervous. Once they noticed the Digimon, they both approached them.

"Took care of 'im?" asked Mandy.

Gazimon nodded, then looked over to Pud'n angrily. "As for you, I-"

Gazimon was interrupted by Pud'n suddenly hugging him, taking him by surprise. "I-I'm sorry! I wanted to help you! I'm glad you're alright!" Pud'n looked to have been holding back tears. Gazimon looked surprised, and his ears gently fell down to his face, he began have a melancholy look to his eyes too. But he quickly shook it off and gently pushed Pud'n off.

"J-Just leave the fighting to me, ok? Digimon should only fight Digimon."

"O-Ok." Pud'n soon noticed Gazimon's tail having a nick in it. "Oh! Your tail! Are you ok?"

Gazimon looked to his tail and saw the small damage, he simply smirked. "Yeah, that thing barely got me. Guess it wasn't fast enough."

Mandy looked at the two, then back to BlackGatomon. "Is Mindy still alive?"

BlackGatomon nods. "Yeah, she and Aruraumon are still kicking. Aquilamon's hatchlings are keeping them prisoner."

"Prisoner?"

"Yeah. They're accusing them of stealing Aquilamon's eggs. In fact, Aquilamon left because he found where the last one is."

"What? But Mindy couldn't have stolen any." Said Pud'n.

"Agreed. It's impossible." Said Gazimon.

"Do you think they'll kill Mindy after that bird gets the last egg back." Asked Mandy

"Maybe. But we oughta make it to the top before then." BlackGatomon then looks over to the mountaintop. "We might not have much time."

Mandy nods. "C'mon, I wanna see the show, besides, Billy might be on this mountain." She then began to walk further, with Gazimon taking the lead, the others started following.

"I did do a thorough search at the top and I didn't see any other human." BlackGatomon shrugged shortly after. "But it doesn't mean no one else is on this mountain.

Mandy looks back at her, then straight forward. "Let's go."

The four continued their trek up Login Mountain, thankfully there were no other threats like Diatrymon, there were other creatures, but they kept to themselves, and they were hardly visible. Gazimon continued to lead the gang, keeping his ears up and nose close to the ground, though occasionally, he did turn his head to look over to Pud'n, likely to make sure he's ok.

Climbing got a bit more treacherous, but thankfully Gazimon led them to the safest paths and helped Pud'n with some parts he couldn't climb, Mandy was on her own since BlackGatomon didn't help, but she didn't need it either, she climbed up just fine. Despite everything, still no sign of Billy.

About thirty minutes had passed. And they finally made it to the top, the wind blew strongly, but it wasn't enough to push them off, but it was very cold, Mandy couldn't help but cling her arms with her hands trying to keep herself warm, cursing herself for not bringing a jacket in advance, she shivered but tried her best to tough it out. Pud'n was fine thanks to his jumper, and BlackGatomon and Gazimon were fine thanks to their fur.

As they reached the top, they were introduced to a large stone wall, Gazimon led them to it giving a hand gesture to keep quiet and move silently. They did so, with BlackGatomon in the back, jumping to rock to rock until she was out of sight, not that they noticed. They soon peered around said wall to see the scene.

There they saw Mindy and Aruraumon, both alive and well, but were both inside a large wooden birdcage hanging on top of a stone arch, surrounding, and glaring at them were a massive flock of Poromon, like what Mindy witnessed before, alongside small, red humanoid bald eagles with three digits on their wings and wore a belt on their foreheads with a feather sticking out at the back. Finally, there were several large eggs in a nest behind the birds glaring at Mindy and Aruraumon, the eggs looked exactly the same as the one Mindy found earlier. The smaller birds were squawking and shouting at Mindy and Aruraumon angrily.

"What are they?" Pud'n whispered.

"Poromon and Hawkmon." Gazimon whispered in response. "Aquilamon's hatchlings."

"So, they think Mindy stole the eggs?"

"If what BlackGatomon said was true. They seem to think so at least. No idea why though."

Mandy was about to speak, but soon she was cut off upon seeing what looked to be a B52 with a beak fly in at great speed, it was Aquilamon, and in its talons are three more eggs which he gently places in the nest with the others. He then directed himself to Mindy and Aruraumon.

"So, thieves! Have you decided to confess to your sins!?" he spoke in a loud booming voice which drowned out the sound of the wind.

"I'm telling you! We never stole your eggs!" Mindy screamed. "We just found that one!"

"It's true! Mindy had only arrived in the Digital World today!" Aruraumon responded, more calmly but she was clearly distressed.

"LIARS!" Aquilamon shouted even louder, everyone held their ears with how loud it was. "There could be no other thief than you!"

Mandy continued to shiver, but she enjoyed seeing Mindy looking terrified, growing more eager to wait for. Though she looked at Pud'n who whispered to Gazimon.

"How do we get Mindy out of there?"

"I don't know. If you thought that Diatrymon was a massive threat, it's nothing compared to the King of Login Mountain. And it doesn't look like he's into negotiating."

"So, we just enjoy the show." Said Mandy who felt calmer, but still rubbed her arms as much as she could, the cold was getting to her, but she didn't want to miss this, she just hoped it was soon.

"I grow tired of your ceaseless lies! Your punishment will begin!" Aquilamon stretched his wings out getting ready to fly.

But before anyone could do anything, BlackGatomon was secretly on the top of the wall and right next to a large rock that was slightly bigger than her, she let out a hissing snicker before grabbing the rock and pushing off the edge. It fell and shattered making a loud booming sound, getting everyone's attention. The split second before everyone looked to the source, including the hatchlings, BlackGatomon quickly jumped down to behind Mandy without her noticing.

As Aquilamon looked to the shattered rock, it wasn't far from where Gazimon, Pud'n and Mandy's heads were visible, and Aquilamon saw them as clear as day. His eyes grew fierce. "INTRUDERS!?"

Mindy and Aruraumon noticed them too. "Mandy!? Pud'n!?" Mindy exclaimed loudly.

Aquilamon turned to Mindy and Aruraumon, then back to the three he could see. "So, you have accomplices!"

"SHIT!" Mandy exclaimed as Aquilamon suddenly took flight and flew around the mountain to see them properly, and then charged forward with the horns on his head.

"MOVE!" Gazimon shouted as the four ran to the left, just barely getting hit by Aquilamon's talons, Aquilamon would've hit the rocky side, but he flew upwards avoiding it altogether.

Mandy looked to see Aquilamon flying high up and immediately began to divebomb towards them. At that speed, they would have time to get out of the way, but barely. Mandy began to run again, but little did she realise that BlackGatomon ran in the opposite direction and began to scale more of the mountain.

As Aquilamon was about to divebomb Mandy with his horns, he was suddenly struck to the side of the head. BlackGatomon jumped like a flash striking his head with her paw while holding a ball made of leaves, and the force was shockingly high as Aquilamon was sent hurdling to the left, and upon impact, the ball of leaves exploded into a yellow mist that enveloped Aquilamon's face, but he was able to regain his composure and land on his feet before crashing into the ground.

Mandy turned behind her upon feeling the crash, and felt confused to see Aquilamon just standing there, glaring down at BlackGatomon, who sat in front of him with her tail swishing side to side. "What the hell?" she muttered.

Aquilamon held his wings up high readying to take flight again, but BlackGatomon spoke up.

"Pretty stupid of you to think we're thieves."

Aquilamon flinched a bit, but then he stomped his foot down angrily and folded his wings back, he then gently lowered his head to glare at BlackGatomon.

"And WHY would you think that!?"

BlackGatomon licked her paw before rubbing her ear, then spoke up. "Simple… those eggs are exceptionally large, and you have about twenty of them, do you really think six small folks like us could've climbed up, grabbed all twenty of them and came back down?"

Aquilamon's eyes widened for a split second before regaining his composure, he then turned to his nest with the eggs, along with the Hawkmon and Poromon who looked over to him. Then he turned to Mindy and Aruraumon, then he turned back to BlackGatomon.

"The Aruraumon has the ability to stretch her vines, she could grab multiple at once."

BlackGatomon shrugs. "Fair, but when did the eggs disappear?"

"Five hours ago. And I had disappeared for merely an hour."

Mandy, Pud'n and Gazimon walked closer to them realising he was willing to negotiate. "What's going on? Why is he negotiating now?" Gazimon mumbled.

BlackGatomon shrugs again. "Fair… but if we had arrived at the top the moment you left, then stole the eggs, it would've taken us ninety minutes to reach the bottom and get into the forest, and with excellent eyesight like yours, you would've seen us as we were leaving the mountain, assuming you came back and immediately started searching. But you didn't…"

Aquilamon tilts his head. "And how would you wager you'd take that amount of time?"

"The girl and her Aruraumon." BlackGatomon then points to the bird cage. "You had her for ninety minutes, did you not? We left to the mountaintop the moment we noticed you grabbing her."

Aquilamon turns to the birdcage, seeing the distressed Mindy and Aruraumon. Then he turned back to BlackGatomon. "But that doesn't disprove that you stole my eggs, you could've slowed down, or sped up from either expedition. And finally, the girl was seen carrying one of my eggs."

BlackGatomon spoke up again. "You make a point, but lemme put it this way, if we are truly the egg thieves, why are all of the eggs intact? If we stole them five hours ago, we would've eaten them by now, but every one of them is just fine, right?"

Aquilamon was silent, then he turned to the nest, then back to BlackGatomon. "Perhaps, but food is not the only reason to steal eggs. You could sell them for profit, you could raise them yourself and teach them for evil."

"True… but there is no place for us to travel to sell them, without you seeing us, nothing but open land pasts the forests, and look at the humans, they're children, and they just arrived here less than three hours ago, they don't even know what Digimon are, how could they raise them for their own, especially when they have us."

Aquilamon grew silent for longer, but then he nods. "Though you have been rude, you do make a valid argument."

He then proceeded to walk up to Mindy and Aruraumon, the two held each other in fear, but noticed that Aquilamon grabbed the birdcage they're in from the top handle and carried it off the rock, he walked back up to the others and shook the cage slightly, causing the bottom to open up and Mindy and Aruraumon dropped down landing on the ground ungracefully.

Mandy tutted silently, feeling extremely ripped off by this. "So, she gets to go free." She mumbled.

Aquilamon spoke up. "However, I remain unconvinced that you are the egg thieves… At the same time, all of my eggs returned unharmed… So, I will allow you to leave my mountain, provided you never return here."

"Y-Yeah! Yeah! We won't!" Mindy then ran to the others with Aruraumon following behind.

Mandy sighed in frustration, but she suddenly remembered about Billy's backpack, then turned to Aquilamon. "Wait. Before we go, did you see a human boy before us? Has an egg-shaped head, a red cap, and has a big pink balloon for a nose." Mandy had doubts about all of this, but to her surprise, Aquilamon nods.

"Yes, I have met a boy like that. He crossed this mountain yesterday. Though we did not interact, he left for the north on his own?"

'Yesterday? But we arrived today.' Mandy thought. 'Crap, he must've arrived way before us somehow.'

"On his own?" BlackGatomon asked, this time she lost her usual smug look with an actual confused look. "Did this boy not have any Digimon with him?"

"No, he was on his own. If he did have a Digimon, I did not see it."

Gazimon crossed his arms. "That can't be good for him, no human has ever survived in the Digital World without a Digimon partner."

"In that case, we better go look for him." Said Pud'n.

Mandy looks over to Pud'n and nods, then turned to Aquilamon. "Can you carry us down to the mountain? The less time we take, the better."

Aquilamon tilted his head, looking reluctant, but he soon nods. "Very well. But remember that you are not to return to Login Mountain." He then turned around and lowered himself, to let them climb onto his back. "Get on."

BlackGatomon jumps on without hesitation, Mandy soon climbs on after, Pud'n gets on but is reluctant, Gazimon the same but he got on quicker. Mindy almost refused until Aruraumon held her hand and comforted her to get on. Then Aquilamon took off with incredible speed, Mindy screamed and clung on, with Mandy using one hand to cling on, and the other to hold her ear.

Less than a minute later, Aquilamon landed on the base of the mountain and lowered his back to let the kids climb down, then without even a goodbye or parting words, Aquilamon flew back to the top of the mountain, with the gust from his wings blowing them all to the ground.

Mandy stood back up and patted the dust and dirt off her, she then adjusts the backpack on her back and starts walking north. "Come on, I'm not wasting any more time." With BlackGatomon following behind in a safe distance.

Pud'n turned to Mindy. "A-Are you ok?"

Mindy nods, but then she scoffs. "You couldn't have arrived sooner."

"Just be thankful we even came up here to save your ungrateful ass!" growled Gazimon, making Mindy flinch.

Aruraumon then placed her hand on Mindy's shoulder. "Please don't be rude. We owe them for saving us." She said in a comforting tone.

Mindy just huffs. "Let's just get away from that damn bird." She then proceeded to walk north too, with Aruraumon following.

Pud'n turns to Gazimon. "Um, Gazimon?"

"What?"

"I… I'm sorry we made you go up there for us… and… I'm really grateful for what you did."

Gazimon was silent, but soon he quietly huffs. "You're welcome. But let's get moving."

"Yeah." The two start to walk with the others.

Several hours had passed and they travelled along the dusty road, until the sun started to set. Collecting sticks for a campfire, having some of their rations, they went to sleep for the night. Mandy, Mindy and Pud'n were sleeping on the grass, Mindy and Pud'n looked fine, but Mandy was shivering slightly from the cold.

BlackGatomon, Aruraumon and Gazimon were still awake, and were keeping watch for the moment before they went to sleep.

Aruraumon sighed. "Talk about a first day on the job. I could barely protect myself, let alone Mindy."

Gazimon responded. "That's the thing about a Pack, sometimes you get ambushed and need help from others, we may not have your back all the time, but it's not like we won't try."

"I see…"

BlackGatomon snickers. "Well, it would've gone a lot worse if it wasn't for me."

Gazimon nods. "Yeah, but I don't get how you were able to quell Aquilamon like that."

"Well, I had some of Aruraumon's pollen."

"What!?"

Aruraumon nods. "Yeah, while we were in the cage, BlackGatomon snuck up to us, and asked me for my leaves and pollen."

"Aruraumon's calming pollen would've come in handy, so I had some prepared when Mandy told me to go check on Mindy." Said BlackGatomon.

"D-Did Mindy know?" asked Gazimon.

"No, she was too distracted trying to insult and shout at the Hawkmon and Poromon. And they were too distracted to notice me either." Said BlackGatomon.

"She did also say to keep it a secret from Mindy." Said Aruraumon. "Just in case she blabbed."

Gazimon was silent, but soon smirked. "Crafty bunch you two."

BlackGatomon soon noticed Mandy shivering as she tried to sleep, so she walked up to Mandy, and curled herself up onto her stomach and went to sleep, Mandy soon stopped shivering as BlackGatomon's body heat kept her warm.

Gazimon huffed slightly before turning to Aruraumon. "You know, it was BlackGatomon who tricked Mandy into going up to help you."

"Really?"

Gazimon nodded. "Seems she's pretty damn good at manipulating people. Dunno what her deal is though."

"Well… it's probably for the best we keep quiet about this. And we should turn in for the night too."

"Agreed." Gazimon curled up and closed his eyes. "Who knows what we'll face tomorrow, be ready for anything."

"Yes, I will." Aruraumon then lied onto her back to sleep too.

End of Chapter

Some of you were probably expecting a bigger fight and even a Digivolution, but I kinda wanted to subvert expectations, especially since if it's not obvious, BlackGatomon is a Champion Level so she probably would've taken down Diatrymon and Aquilamon or at least held her own better. So, I kinda wanted more thinking than fighting, so to speak. Especially since BlackGatomon is more crafty than direct.

Either way, hope you have a good Christmas, and if you wanna suggest any Digimon or story ideas for me to try, feel free to.

I'm still looking for potential ideas for Digimon partners for Billy, Irwin, Sperg and Junior, I have some but I'm keeping them open until I finally introduce them in the story.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed this.