"The Roar of ExVeemon"
I had a hard time thinking up a digimon for Veemon to fight, but I finally decided on one. Please enjoy and review!
The sun was shining down on the group as they continued to walk, and then reached a forest that was filled with orange, yellow and red colored leaves.
"Wow, it's like the season changed." Sora blinked.
"How curious. It appears that the seasons here change when we continue walking." Izzy mused as he looked around.
"Oh, I always loved the autumn leaves. They're so pretty." Mimi smiled as she looked over the colorful leaves.
"Hey, do you think it'll be Halloween soon?" TK asked eagerly.
"Halloween? What's that, TK?" Patamon asked.
Veemon gave Daisuke a concerned look as she leaned against a tree, her vision fading to black for a few seconds before she shook her head.
"It's a holiday where everyone dresses up in costumes and goes to people's houses for free candy!" TK explained excitedly.
"What a strange custom." Tentomon commented.
Matt saw that Daisuke was panting in exhaustion and he walked over to check on the girl since he was at the back of the group with her.
"Hey, what's wrong?" the blonde asked.
"N-Nothing. I'm just really…hungry. I get weak when I haven't eaten in a while." She gave a weak smile.
Just then, she was finally drained of all her energy and started to fall to the ground, but Matt was quick to catch her and held her head to his chest.
"Daisuke!" Veemon cried out.
"Oh no!" Gabumon gasped as he rushed over.
Matt looked over the girl in worry, unsure of what to do as he looked over at the group as they walked off, talking.
"Hey, guys, wait! I need help!" Matt yelled.
Everyone turned around when they heard this and saw the mahogany haired girl was unconscious and they quickly ran over.
"What happened?" Tai asked.
"I don't know. She just passed out." Matt said.
"Is she sick?" Agumon asked.
"Oh dear." Biyomon frowned as Veemon whined in worry.
Joe hummed in thought as he held his chin, remembering how the girl had been acting for the past few days.
She had been stumbling as she walked, looked pale and her stomach would also rumble, demanding food.
Also, it appeared that she had trouble seeing, but would snap out of it quickly when trouble arose.
"What could be wrong with her?" Sora asked.
"Um, I know." Veemon raised his hand making everyone look at him.
"Hmm? You know?" Tentomon asked.
"Well, what's wrong with her, Veemon?" Tai asked.
"Well, you see, Daisuke has a high metabolism." The dragon explained as some of the humans and digimon looked confused.
"A high what?" Gomamon quirked an eyebrow.
"A high metabolism is a medical condition a person is born with." Izzy began explaining.
"Symptoms of this are that the person's body naturally burns calories easily and have a hard time gaining weight and muscle mass. Going a long period of time without food isn't healthy." Izzy explained.
"Before she passed out, she said she was hungry. She passed out because she hasn't eaten in a few days." Matt realized as he looked down at the girl in his arms.
"That's awful!" Mimi gasped.
"What do we do now?" Sora asked with a concerned look.
"Well, I say we should start looking for some food. Children with a high metabolism should eat three full meals a day with snacks in between, but since she's older, maybe a full meal will be fine. She should also have some snacks for the trip so this doesn't happen again." Joe spoke up.
"We can look for food." Gabumon volunteered.
"Yeah, we can find something to eat." Agumon smiled.
"There have to be berries around here somewhere. I'll go find some." Biyomon flew off.
"Wait for me!" Palmon ran after her.
The digimon then separated to look for the food while Matt picked the girl up and held her bridal style in his arms and the group moved to a large tree to rest under.
A while later, Daisuke moaned as her eyes fluttered open and she found Veemon was staring down at her with worried eyes.
"V?" she asked as she pushed herself up in a sitting position.
"Oh, Daisuke!" he jumped into her arms.
The girl held her dragon knowing that she may have startled him since this was the first time he witnessed her high metabolism giving her any trouble.
"I was really worried about you." Veemon sighed.
"Sorry, V. I didn't mean to, but it's not something I can control. Besides, all this walking and running doesn't help." Daisuke sighed as she sat him down.
"But you did a lot of running in the Digital World before. And what about soccer?" Veemon asked.
"V, why do you think I gorge myself on food when I get back home after those events?" she asked.
The dragon nodded as he exclaimed in understanding at that as the girl gave him an amusement grin.
TK walked out of the bushes with Patamon carrying some apples in his arms, but when he saw Daisuke was awake, he dropped the apples and ran over to the girl.
"Daisuke, you're awake!" he cried.
Veemon stepped back as the little boy barrelled into the girl's arms making her gasp in surprise when he hugged her.
"TK, what's wrong?" Daisuke asked when she felt the boy shaking.
"I was so scared when I heard Matt yelling and saw you passed out. You looked really bad." He cried.
Her eyes softened as she returned the hug and rubbed the boy's back to comfort him.
"Don't worry, TK, I'm fine. I'm not going down that easily. I mean, I could've passed out on the first day we went with no food, but I kept fighting." She lifted his head up.
She wiped away the tears that had leaked down his face and smiled at him as he returned it.
Patamon flew over with an apple between his paws and held it out towards the girl.
"Here, Joe said you needed to eat to get better." He said.
"Thanks, Patamon." Daisuke smiled as she accepted the apple and patted the creature's head making him grin.
Daisuke wiped the apple on her shirt to clean it and then she bit into it as the rest of the group returned with pink colored berries that they had picked.
When they saw the girl awake and eating, they all felt relieved as they rushed over to make sure she was all right.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sora asked as she kneeled beside the girl.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry if I freaked you guys out." Daisuke blushed in embarrassment.
"Why didn't you tell us you had a high metabolism in the first place?" Sora asked.
"I didn't want to make anyone worry about me. I mean, we get chased around by digimon and walk nonstop to find someone who can help us. Besides, I haven't passed out for six years. I didn't think I would still be affected by this." Daisuke explained.
"It could have also been low blood sugar. You were showing signs of that also." Joe said.
"Hey, next time you feel hungry, just tell us. Besides, we could all use a food stop once in a while too." Tai chuckled lightly making Daisuke smile.
"Right. Why don't you guys dig in? You haven't eaten in a while too." She pointed out.
"Are you sure?" Mimi asked since she didn't want to see the girl faint again.
"Really. I don't mind sharing." Daisuke assured.
"Unless it's chocolate. She won't share that at all." Veemon joked making her lightly hit him arm.
"You're one to talk!" she retorted as everyone laughed.
With that done, the group all sat down under the tree and started eating the apples and berries that were gathered, everyone thrilled to have food in their stomachs after so long.
Afterwards, they all continued on walking through the forest, Patamon and Veemon jumping in leaf piles with TK and Gomamon, the quartet laughing as they did so.
Suddenly, the group stopped when they came to two different paths in the forest.
One path continued on with the autumn season, but the second path had pine trees mixed in with oak trees and the weather seemed to grow cooler.
"Okay, so, now where do we go?" Tai asked as he looked around.
"Maybe we should take a vote." Matt suggested with his hands in his pockets.
"Hmm, this place continues to baffle me." Izzy hummed.
"Well, Agumon, which path do you think we should go down?" Tai turned to the dinosaur.
"I'm not sure. I've never been around here before." Agumon said.
"Neither have I." Gabumon said.
Daisuke gasped when a pile of leaves were thrown at her making her turn around to see that it was TK who had thrown them.
He giggled as she gave him a mock glare and chased after him, the little boy almost tripping from laughing.
The girl then caught up to him and scooped him up in her arms, tickling him on the stomach making him laugh harder as Veemon walked over with Patamon sitting on his head, both digimon laughing.
"Hey, stop fooling around! We don't need anyone getting lost!" Matt called back.
TK whined in disappointment as Daisuke set him down on his feet and held his hand as she walked him back over to the group.
"Aw, but Matt, we were just playing." The blonde said.
"You can play later." Matt placed his hands on his waist.
Daisuke rolled her eyes at the way the older blonde was acting.
"Come on, Matt. TK's not gonna be a kid for long. Let him have some fun. Besides, we never know when we'll be attacked again." She said.
"That's my point! We could be attacked at any moment and if he ran off away from the group, he could've gotten hurt." Matt glared at the girl.
"Please don't fight. Now is not the time." Gabumon said making the two teenagers look at him.
Shrugging or sighing, they walked with TK and their digimon back over to the group to see them looking down the paths.
"So, which way do we go?" Sora asked.
"Let's got his way." Tai pointed down the left path which had the autumn leaves.
"Why this way, Tai?" Izzy asked.
"I don't know, but it's better than no direction, right?" Tai chuckled as he walked down the path as Izzy groaned.
Everyone then followed the goggle head down the path, looking around curiously as they walked.
"It feels like we've been walking forever!" Mimi complained after a short while.
"Calm down, Mimi. It's only been twenty minutes." Izzy told her.
The ground then seemed to shake a bit making Biyomon perk her head up as she looked around curiously.
"What's wrong, Biyomon?" Sora asked.
"I'm not sure. I thought I heard something." The pink bird reported.
"I don't hear anything." Joe said.
A loud roar was then heard making everyone gasp as they saw a turtle like digimon with spikes on his beige body running towards them from up ahead.
"What is that thing?!" TK asked.
"It's Tortomon! They can really get cranky when someone disturbs their nap. And those spikes aren't just for show. His Spinning Attack is dangerous." Tentomon explained.
"Run!" Tai yelled.
Everyone quickly turned around and started running back down the path, yelling as Tortomon chased after them, his eyes glowing red.
Mimi tripped over a tree root, falling to the ground making Palmon gasp as she stopped to help her partner.
"Mimi, are you all right?" Palmon asked.
"I'm fine." Mimi sighed as her partner grabbed her hand.
Tortomon then roared making the girls turn to see he was right behind them making them yell in fear.
A blue streak was then seen, ramming into Tortomon's face making him stumble back.
Veemon flipped over to where the two females were, stumbling a bit.
"I think I used too much head and not enough butt." He groaned as he held his head in pain.
Daisuke ran over and grabbed Mimi's hand, pulling the girl to her feet.
"Come on, we need to go!" she said urgently.
"Hurry up you guys!" Tai called.
"He's coming back!" Matt yelled.
The quartet quickly started running as Tortomon went into his shell and started spinning around, creating a gust of wind that swept Palmon and Veemon up into it.
The two Rookies yelled as they were then thrown back into a tree.
"Oh no!" TK gasped.
"Digimon attack!" Agumon called.
The remaining Rookies ran over to Tortomon, Agumo beginning the fight with Pepper Breath while Gabumon followed up by using his Blue Blaster.
Their attacks hit Tortomon, but it only angered him as his spikes then glowed and he shot them at the Rookies making them cry out and run away.
Biyomon used Spiral Twister while Tentomon used Super Shocker to try and redirect the attacks away from the humans.
"This isn't working." Izzy said.
"You need to digivolve now!" Tai called.
Palmon and Veemon were seen running over to the group, but Tortomon saw them and struck his paw out, going to hit Palmon, but Veemon pushed her out of the way and was hit instead.
"Veemon!" Daisuke cried out as she ran over.
"Daisuke, get back here!" Sora called.
The girl ignored her as she ran over to her dragon and kneeled down beside him, picking him up in her arms.
"Vee, are you okay?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah, I'm peachy. This brings back memories though, right?" he chuckled weakly.
Daisuke gave a light chuckle at her partner, then tensed up when she saw Tortomon approaching them, his eyes red and she held Veemon to her chest as she glared at the Champion.
Glancing him over, her chocolate eyes landed on his stomach to see that he had a black gear lodged in his chest making her gasp.
"He has a black gear!" she said.
Standing back on his hind legs, Tortomon then leaned forward to crush the girl and dragon, but Daisuke rolled under him, quickly getting to her feet and running away.
Seeing her trying to escape, Tortomon whipped his tail, hitting the girl making her drop Veemon and roll to the side.
"Daisuke!" Veemon called as he saw Tortomon turn his attention to the girl.
"Oh no!" TK gasped as he clung to Matt's arm.
Daisuke pushed herself up, then gasped as she saw Tortomon lift his paw at her, about to hit her with it.
Seeing this, Veemon stood up as anger filled him.
"Oh no. No one hurts my friend!" he snarled.
Just then, Daisuke's digivice beeped and glowed blue making everyone gasp as Veemon was covered in the same light, Tortomon looking over as he growled.
"Veemon digivolve too…EXVEEMON!"
The light faded away to reveal the nine foot tall, strong muscles dragon with large white wings, a silver X on his chest and a blade where his horn used to be.
"Veemon digivolved." Sora gasped.
"Who is that?" Izzy asked.
"Um…" Tentomon mumbled.
"Well?" Izzy asked.
"I'm not sure. Veemon are legendary digimon. I didn't even know they existed until I saw him." Tentomon confessed.
Everyone then turned their attention to the large dragon as he ran at Tortomon, threw his fist back and punched the turtle in the face, knocking him to the side.
"ExVeemon." Daisuke said.
"Get out of here, Daisuke. I got this." ExVeemon smiled at her.
Smiling back, the girl nodded as she stood up.
"Right." she said and then ran off to where the others were watching.
ExVeemon saw Tortomon charge at him and the dragon stood his ground as the turtle rammed into him, ExVeemon grabbing onto the spikes near Tortomon's shoulders and lifted him a bit before he then flipped the turtle over into the trees.
Growling, Tortomon stood up and charged ExVeemon as the dragon stood his ground, lifting his arms up to block the attack from the turtle.
Smirking, ExVeemon then punched Tortomon under the chin, sending him skidding back.
"He's like a hard bodied machine." Izzy blinked.
"Based on my expertise, I'd say that ExVeemon was built for fighting. He has leg strength and arm strength that give him power in his fighting." Tentomon said.
ExVeemon and Tortomon ran at each other, their hands and paws slamming together, the dragon gripping the paws as their snarled at each other, trying to push the other back.
"So he's made to be a power house fighter?" Tai asked as ExVeemon seemed to be bending his knees, getting ready to lift the turtle once more.
"We'll soon find out." Agumon said drawing their attention back to the fight.
Roaring, the dragon lifted Tortomon off his feet and then ExVeemon started spinning around in a circle, going faster until he had enough momentum to throw the turtle over into the forest.
Tortomon cried out as he rammed into the trees, skidding across the earth, his underbelly being shown to the others and they saw the black gear.
Flapping his wings, ExVeemon took to the air and curled his body up as his chest seemed to glow with an orange light.
Expanding his body in a star shape, ExVeemon released his Vee Laser, the orange light taking the shape of a V as it hit the gear, shattering it.
"It was another gear." Tai said.
"Yay, ExVeemon beat him!" TK cheered as Patamon laughed.
Defeated, Tortomon growled in confusion as he looked around with his clear blue eyes while ExVeemon turned to the group as he began to shrink and returned to Veemon.
"Whoo! I forgot how exhausting that is." He chuckled.
Daisuke ran over to him and scooped her partner up in her arms, kissing his head making him giggle and blush at the usual affection he got from the girl after he won a fight.
(Later on…)
"Tortomon, why did you attack us?" Agumon asked the turtle.
"I'm not sure. I was just snoozing under a pile of leaves when I felt this horrible anger." Tortomon explained as he stood in front of them.
"It must have been the gear." Matt theorized.
The black gears always seemed to be the reason why they were attacked by a digimon lately.
"Don't worry about it. Sorry I had to fight you though. I hope we can still be friends." Veemon smiled as he held his hand up.
Tortomon nodded as he lifted his paw and shook hands with the dragon before he then turned and walked off.
"He can be a nice guy when he isn't cranky." Patamon chirped.
"So, what do we do now?" Joe asked.
"I guess we should go the other way." Tai shrugged.
Everyone then walked back down the path to return to the crossroads and take the next turn into the forest filled with pine trees and a colder air.
Veemon was grinning happily at being able to digivolve again, but was confused as to how he would reach his Ultimate form without Wormmon.
Could he really digivolve again without his DNA partner and if he could, then what would his next form be?
To be continued…