Pyromon
"Hi, This is Sora. We had been wondering through this forest after we had left Gennai's home, and had found no trace of the remaining five digimon, when my crest began to glow. While Izzy was telling us one of his theories, Tai spotted something that we had hoped we would never see again, a black gear. Meanwhile at Rexmons castle, he paid Biyomon and the others a visit. Before he left, he drained Biyomons strength, and she reverted back to Yokomon. Through my crest, I felt the pain that Biyomon was in, and that is when we met Spikemon, who was one of Pyromons friends, and as we would soon find out, being controlled by the black gear that we had seen. He began to attack, and when he charged at me, I found myself suddenly in a tree, thanks to Purrmon, who turned out to be my new digimon. Pyromon and Purrmon both digivolved into Dragimon and Tigramon, and were able to destroy the black gear, and return Spikemon to his old self. He then left to join up with Leomon, while we explained to Purrmon, what had happened, and she agreed to join our group. I just hope that Biyomon is ok."
The night air of the Digiworld was cooler than usual. But that was because of the Ice Caves. Leomon stood at the entrance to the caves, which served as the temporary headquarters for his strike force. The previous day, Leomon had gone to Gennai's home, and was able to contact Vile Island, so that the good digimon there could also help the digi-destined defeat Rexmon, and rescue the digimon that he had trapped in his castle. Leomon heard a footfall behind him, and turned around to see Spikemon had come out of the cave.
When Spikemon had joined up with the group almost a week ago, he had brought news that the digi-destined known as Sora had found her new partner, Purrmon, and that they were now searching for the third new digimon, that would help the kids recover their friends. But he had also brought along some bad news, namely the fact that Rexmon had been able to reproduce Devimons black gears. "What are you staring at Leomon?" Spikemon asked.
"Just looking at the stars." Leomon responded, "Unimon, the oldest of digimon, once told me that the stars often hold many answers. If you just open your heart to their words, all you need to do is ask."
"Unimon sounds like he is very wise." Spikemon said.
"He is my friend, he is." Leomon responded, as Spikemon stepped up next to him, and stared up to the sky.
What he saw, was not any star, or anything else that he could recognize. He looked closer, and saw what it was, a black gear. He then saw another one, and then another one, and more still, twenty in all he figured. He looked at Leomon, who had obviously saw the gears to. Spikemon looked back up to the sky, "This looks bad."
"Yes it does. I just hope that the digi-destined are ok." Leomon said out loud.
Rexmon watched with great pleasure, as his plan came to life. He watched from his balcony, as black gear after black gear was launched from his castle, and knew that it would be only a matter of time before those annoying kids came across his new army, and were destroyed forever. Just then Demidevimon floated down from above. "Master, Ogermon has contacted you."
Rexmon waved his hand, and Demidevimon moved out of his way, and two Gazimon came into the throne room, carrying a large mirror. They stopped in front of Rexmon, who had taken a seat in his throne, and he looked deep into the mirror. His reflection was then replaced by Ogermons image. "Report" Rexmon told the other digimon.
Ogermon cleared his throat, "Several black gears have done their job on good digimon in the area that I am in. So far, ten new recruits have joined in the search for Leomon, and his group, but to no luck."
"And what of the digi-destined?" Rexmon asked.
"I have gotten a report," Ogermon began, "that has some hope in it. They are headed for Gekomon Swamp, where at least one if not two black gears have landed."
"Excellent." Rexmon said, "continue the search for Leomon and his group." Ogermon nodded, and then his image faded away. Rexmon then gestured for the Gazimon to take the mirror away.
When they had left, Demidevimon flew to the throne, and landed in front of it. "Is there anything that I can do master?" The small digimon asked.
"Yes," Rexmon responded, "you can leave me alone, so that I can plan my next move."
Demidevimon flew out of the room, and the door closed behind him.
Everyone sat around a small fire, eagerly awaiting Matt to finish the soup that he was cooking, and trying to figure out what his or her next move should be. "We don't have very much of a choice, when it comes to ways to go," Gatomon said, "About a mile or so ahead, is a swamp. It is to big to go around, so we don't have much of a choice, but to go through it."
"Are you crazy?" Mimi asked, "Do you expect me to go through a smelly stinky swamp? Not to mention that I can't swim."
"We know that Mimi," Sora said, "but all that we need is to build some sort of raft, and we can get across with no trouble."
Matt looked up at his friends, and then looked around, "Well, at least we have plenty of material to use for the raft."
"I bet if Gomamon was here," Joe began, "he would call on a bunch of fish to carry us to the other side of the swamp with no trouble." Joe then lowered his head, and closed his eyes.
Kari walked up to him, and placed her arm around his neck. "We all miss them Joe." Kari told him in a reassuring voice, "But we have to hope that we will find the other four digimon, so that we can rescue them."
Joe looked up, and suddenly Kari gasped, and they both looked down at Joe's crest, which was glowing. "That's odd, it wasn't doing that a minute ago."
"That's because I just came into the area." A voice said behind them.
Everyone tuned around, and looked at a small digimon, that looked like a small alligator. "Who's that?" Tai asked Pyromon.
"That is Leathermon" Pyromon said, "He is a rookie water digimon, with great speed and agility, both in the water, and on land."
Leathermon walked up to the group, and looked at them. "So you are the digi-destined. I can't say that I am very impressed, but anything is better than nothing."
"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Matt asked.
Leathermon looked all around, "Don't get me wrong, I am glad that you are hear, but I was expecting a little more than a group of children, with only four digimon traveling with them." Leathermon paused for a moment, "Not exactly the group that I heard defeated Myotismon, and Etemon, but I guess that you will have to do."
"For what?" Izzy asked.
"A few digimon in this swamp have started to act really weird." Leathermon began, "it is almost as if something has changed them completely around."
"What do you mean completely around?" Purrmon asked.
"Well," Leathermon began, "they are all normally peaceful digimon, and they are now attacking others that they come across. They also have some sort of gear type thing sticking out of them."
"A black gear!" Tai, Sora, Izzy, and Matt all said in unison.
"Yeah, I guess that you could call them that." Leathermon said.
"Then Lets get going." Tai said, and then looked around at his friends.
"It's to dangerous now." Leathermon said, "It would be best to wait till morning, and then go."
Gomamon watched the door to the cell that they were in, as his fish friends continued to try and pick the lock on the chains he was attached to. Palmon at the same time was using her Poison Ivy vines to try and pick her own lock. Finally, Gomamon heard what he was hoping to hear, a click on his chains. He then jumped down to the floor, and ran over to were the key to the other chains were hanging, and grabbed them. Gomamon quickly ran back to his friends, and unlocked their chains, all except for Palmon, who had picked hers just after he had.
Agumon opened the door, and looked out into the passageway, he then turned back to the others. "It looks like it is clear. Palmon and Gomamon, help Tsunomon and Yokomon. Tentomon take the point, and I will bring up the rear." Agumon then paused, "With any luck, we will make it out of the castle, before Rexmon finds out that we are gone, and we can then join up with Leomon and our friends." The other four digimon nodded in approval, and Tentomon led the way out of the cell.
Tentomon flew for a few minutes, before he spotted a way out. "Hey, there is a vent shaft of some sort here. I believe that it will lead us outside." And all six digimon climbed into the shaft, and began their trek to find the outside of the castle.
Everyone was asleep, except for Leathermon, who had volunteered to stand watch, and Sora, who could not even fall asleep. Finally, she stood up, and went over to a rock that was nearby, and sat down on it, staring into the starry sky. She then closed her eyes, and thought back. Her thoughts were interrupted though, by a noise that that came from behind her. She turned around, and saw that it was Tai.
Tai rubbed his eyes, and stepped up to her. "Can't sleep?" He asked, just before he let out a huge yawn.
"No," Sora responded, "I can't get what happened the other day out of my head."
"You mean just before we found Purrmon?" Tai said as he took up a seat next to Sora.
Sora nodded, "Ever since then, I have been remembering when the things that have happened to us since we arrived in the Digi World."
"Memories about things that we have gone through with our digimon I bet."
"Exactly." Sora said, "Like the time when we first arrived here, and met up with our digimon for the first time, as well as Kuwagamon, and how we found out about their ability to digivolve into bigger digimon."
"And then," Tai added in, "how we found out that they could get even bigger."
"Yeah, and then when we learned about Devimon, and his black gears, and how they could turn good digimon into bad ones." Sora put in.
"Yeah, we sure have been though a lot since we first arrived." Tai then looked over at Sora, and found that she had her face in her hands, and she was starting to cry. He placed his arm around her, and gently pulled her to him, resting her head against his shoulder, and it was in that position that both of them fell asleep in.
"I hope that Sora is ok." Yokomon said.
"Matt too." Tsunomon added.
"We can't give up hope that we will find a way out of here, and then find our friends." Agumon told them. They had all stopped for a moment, so that they could try to regain at least some of their strength so that they could move on. Tentomon, who had gone ahead to scout out where they could go, was now coming back. "What did you find Tentomon?" Agumon asked.
"We still have a ways to go before we reach the outside." Tentomon reported.
Agumon considered this for a moment, "Ok, we will stay here for another ten minutes, then get moving again, just in case Rexmon has found out that we are gone." All of the others agreed with Agumon.
It was morning, and the digi-destined and their digimon, were all eating some berries that Gatomon and Purrmon had gathered. After they had eaten, the group started out for the Gekomon Swamp. As they approached the swamp, they could all hear horns going off. "Now why does that sound familiar?" Mimi wondered out loud.
"Those are Gekomon." Leathermon said, as he led them to the edge of the water. "This swamp is full of them. They are a main attraction for other digimon to travel through it."
"Gekomon," Mimi said, "now where have I heard that name before?"
Joe walked up to her, and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Those where the digimon that served you hand and foot at Lord Shogungekomon's castle."
"Oh, that's right." Mimi said.
Ignoring the conversation all together, Izzy looked over the vastness of the swamp, and then turned to Leathermon, "So, how do we get across the swamp?"
Leathermon just looked at Izzy, and let out a small chuckle. Confused, Izzy was about to ask him why he was laughing, when Leathermon walked over to some bushes, and pulled them out of the way. Everyone walked over to the bushes, and looked at what he had uncovered, and found a well taken care of boat. Leathermon looked at the digi-destined, and their digimon, "Did you think that you are the only ones that ever needed to get across the swamp." And everyone started to laugh.
"Ok," Tai began, "Pyromon, Purrmon, and Patamon will be our scouts, and warn us to any evil digimon, or black gear controlled digimon, while the rest of us ride on the boat through the swamp." Everyone nodded, and led by Pyromon, Purrmon and Patamon took to the air, while the rest of the group, except for Leathermon, climbed into the boat, and cast off.
Standing at the bow of the boat, Tai was looking though his monocular, trying to spot anything that would give them a clue as to where Leathermon was taking them. Izzy and Matt walked up to him. "Tai," Matt began, "Izzy and I have been talking, and we think that you should consider choosing a second in command."
Tai looked at his friends, "Why?"
"Because," Izzy started, "when you left the Digi World that first time, our group fell apart without your leadership."
"Izzy is right," Matt proclaimed, "we need to have that stability at all times, whether you are here or not."
Sora, who had heard the entire discussion, walked up to them, "They do have a point Tai."
Tai thought about what they all had said, "You are right, I think that it is time that I did that." Tai resumed looking through his monocular, as he continued to speak to the others, "Tell you what, I will choose somebody now, as a temporary second on command, and then at the end of our quest, I will pick somebody to take the position full time."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Matt said.
"So who is it going to be?" Sora asked.
Tai appeared to think for a moment, and then turned back to his friends, "For now, there is only one of you that constantly keeps me on my feet, and that is you Matt." Tai then reached out with his hand, and Matt took it firmly in his.
Just then, Pyromon and Purrmon flew back to the boat, panting as if out of breath. He landed in front of Tai; "We spotted one, just ahead."
Leathermon jumped into the boat, slashing water all over Mimi as he did so, "Hey, now I am all wet."
"You sure are." Joe commented under his voice.
Paying no attention to Mimi or Joe, Leathermon walked over to Pyromon, "Who did you see?"
"One of the black gear controlled digimon." Pyromon told him.
Leathermon then jumped back into the water, and swam behind the boat, and started to push it at a great speed, until everyone could see the battle that Purrmon and Patamon were engaged in, with a large fish type digimon that reminded them of a dolphin.
"Boom Bubble" Patamon yelled, and then released his attack at the other digimon.
Tai turned to Izzy, who already had his computer out, and was looking up the digimon. "Here he is," Izzy proclaimed, and everyone gathered around him, "that is Snoutmon, he is a fully evolved digimon, that uses an attack called Water Blaster."
Everyone then turned back to the battle, and saw that Snoutmon had knocked Purrmon back hard. "Purrmon!" Sora yelled. Purrmon then began to glow.
"Purrmon digivolve to ..Tigramon."
Tigramon recovered from the attack, and lunged back at the other digimon. "Blue Flame" Tigramon yelled out, as she released her attack, which struck home, but did not phase Snoutmon one bit.
"Tai," Matt began, "we won't defeat him unless Pyromon and Patamon digivolve."
Tai looked at Matt, as if to say 'no kidding', and then turned to Pyromon and Patamon, "Quick, both of you digivolve, and try to knock out that gear." Both digimon nodded.
"Pyromon digivolve to ..Dragimon."
"Patamon digivolve to ..Angemon."
Both champions flew into battle, and Joe then noticed that Leathermon was also going right at Snoutmon. Leathermon then snuck up behind Snoutmon, while the other's had him occupied, "Tail Whip" Leathermon yelled, as his tail extended out, and rapped around Snoutmons legs, tripping the larger digimon. But Snoutmon recovered quickly, "Water Blaster" Snoutmon shouted, as he let loose a powerful stream of water at the other digimon. Leathermon was then sent flying back into the boat, where Joe caught him, knocking them both into the water.
Dragimon took this chance, and attacked, "Lava Flame" Dragimon yelled, spitting out a huge fireball at Snoutmon.
"Hand of Fate" Angemon followed.
"Blue Flame" Tigramon finished.
All three attacks hit home, but none of them were able to destroy the black gear.
"Star Attack." And suddenly, several ninja style throwing stars came flying out from behind Snoutmon, striking Dragimon and glazing across one of Angemons wings. The group looked over, and saw a large digimon dressed in black, and carrying a sword on his back step out of the wooded area that was behind Snoutmon.
"Izzy, who is that?" Tai asked.
"Just a nano." Izzy said, as he pulled his computer out, and switched it on. Izzy activated the analyzer, and brought up the file for this digimon. "Here he is," Izzy finally said, and the others gathered around him, "his name is Ninjimon. He is a champion digimon, who uses his sword and the art of surprise to defeat his adversaries."
Leathermon helped Joe back into the boat, and went off to aid the other digimon in the battle. Tai then saw a white streak pass buy, and new that Gatomon had also joined the battle. Gatomon went in fast and hard on Snoutmon. "Lightning Claw" Gatomon shouted, as one of her claws began to glow, and she tried to bring it down on the black gear that was sticking out of Snoutmon, only to get knocked back just before she reached it. Leathermon on the other hand, had snuck up behind Snoutmon, "Tail Whip" he shouted, as he swung his tail around, and it stretched out, wrapping around Snoutmons legs, and causing him to loose his balance. The larger digimon fell down, leaving the gear stuck in its back open for attack. TK shouted, "Angemon, now!" Angemon saw his chance, but before he could fire on the other digimon, he felt something sharp hit him on his back. Angemon looked back, and saw that Ninjimon had also seen an opportunity, and had struck. "Angemon!" TK Shouted, as he saw his friend fall out of the sky, and into the swamp water. TK ran to the side of the boat that he landed at, and arrived just in time to see Angemon revert back to Patamon, and then sink under the water. "Patamon, NO!" TK shouted, as he tried to jump in after his friend. Matt quickly grabbed his little brother, and held him back. "No TK, it is to dangerous."
"But I have to save him Matt." TK said, as tear began to form in his eyes. "I'll get him." Tai said, and before anyone could object, he jumped into the water. Meanwhile, the battle was not going good, as Snoutmon unleashed his water blast, and nailed Dragimon. Joe watched, as Leathermon along with Gatomon tried to take on Ninjimon, with the same difficulty as Tigramon and Dragimon was having. Suddenly, Dragimon began to glow. Then out of nowhere, a fireball appeared, covering him from head to toe with an intense flame, so bright that everyone that saw it had to shield his or her eyes. "What is happening?" Joe asked. "He's digivolving." Izzy said.
"Dragimon digivolve to ..UltraDragimon."
The flames cleared away, and where Dragimon was a few minutes ago, UltraDragimon now flew. "I wonder how he was able to digivolve?" Joe wondered out loud. He soon got his answer though, when he heard Sora scream out Tai's name.
Joe ran over to where the others were standing, staring at the water. "What happened?"
Kari looked up, "Patamon fell into the water, and Tai jumped in after him, and neither one of them has come up yet."
Joe began to stare at the water, and then noticed that Matt was taking his shoes off. "What are you doing?" Joe asked.
"What does it look like Joe," Matt said, "I'm going in after him."
Joe looked back at the battle, just in time to see UltraDragimon attack Snoutmon, "Mega Fire". The attack hit its mark, and the black gear was destroyed. Snoutmon then fell to his knees, as UltraDragimon reverted back to his 'in training' form, and fell to the water, being caught just in time be Gatomon, who landed in the boat.
Joe then made a decision that he knew that he would more than likely regret later. He took off running, jumped over the side of the boat into the water. As he began to swim down, he could hear Matts protests at his action, but it was too late to turn back now. Joe was so intent on finding Tai and Patamon that he did not notice the glow that his Crest of Reliability was giving off, or that his digi-vice had activated.
On the surface, Matt looked down at the water, as he thought about what Joe just did. He then heard a gasp, and turned around, to see that Gatomon and the smaller digimon, that was once and will be again Pyromon, were watching the battle between Tigramon, Leathermon, and Ninjimon. He then noticed that Leathermon was now glowing, in the same way that all other digimon do as they are about to digivolve.
"Leathermon digivolve to ..Alimon."
Alimon stood up, and looked at Ninjimon. "Laser Disks" Alimon shouted, as several glowing disks formed in his hands. He then threw them at Ninjimon, who dodged each of them, but those moves only moved him into place for Tigramon. "Blue Flame" She shouted, and let loose her intense fire attack which struck Ninjimon. After only a few seconds of this, a black gear emerged from Ninjimons body, and flew up and shattered. Ninjimon then fell over, and passed out, and Alimon quickly jumped into the water.
Joe was only looking for a few moments, when he found Tai and Patamon. They had gotten tangled up in some kind of underwater vine. Joe swam up, and tried desperately to loosen the vines, but with no luck. He also realized that he could not hold his breath for much longer. It was then that Joe saw something swimming at them, at a great speed, just before he passed out.
Alimon grabbed Tai and Patamon, snapping the vines as he did so, and then grabbed Joe, swimming back to the surface as fast as he could. When he broke the water, next to the boat, Matt, Izzy, Sora, Mimi, and Kari were all waiting there to bring their friends on board. After Joe, Tai, and Patamon were all in the boat, Alimon reverted back to Leathermon, and climbed into the boat himself.
"So they defeated two more black gears?" Rexmon said to Ogermon, who was giving his report via the mirror.
"Yes master," Ogermon began, "Those rotten kids not only destroyed the gears, but they also found another one of those new digimon that they are looking for."
Demidevimon floated into the throne room, and landed on top of the mirror. "Continue the search for Leomon and his group. I will expect a report in the morning." And before Ogermon could respond, his image disappeared, and the Gazimon took it away. Rexmon looked up at the small digimon, "And what have you to report?"
Demidevimon swallowed hard, "Well master, the digimon have escaped." Demidevimon prepared himself for the blow that would come, but never came. Instead, he heard Rexmon laughing. "Master, I don't really see what is so funny."
"Just a little thing that I cooked up." Rexmon told the small digimon, and then continued to laugh.
"How much further?" Palmon asked for the hundredth time.
"We are close" Tentomon told her, and as he turned a corner, he saw what they were looking for, "It's here." The digimon exclaimed with excitement.
"Good," Gomamon said, "I was starting to get tired again.
Agumon walked up to the grate that Tentomon had found earlier, and kicked it open. He then turned back to the others. "Ok, we have to hurry up, and get to Leomon right away." He tuned to Palmon, and nodded.
Palmon jumped down to the ground with Agumon, and sent her Poison Ivy vine up to help Yokomon and Tsunomon down. Once they were down, Tentomon and Gomamon jumped down to the ground. Agumon then tuned back to the rest of the group, "Ok, let's move." The others started to groan, "I know that you are hungry, and so am I. But what is more important, eating, or trying to get away from the castle so that we don't have to worry about being caught." Agumon got no response from that, "Good. Then we will take the same positions that we did while we crawled through that shaft." Tentomon took the lead, while Palmon and Gomamon helped Yokomon and Tsunomon, and he brought up the rear. 'Well Tai' Agumon thought as he was walking, 'we will soon be together again my friend.'
Tai opened his eyes, and stared right into a small digimon that looked like a head with scales all over it. Suddenly he remembered the first time that he had met Koromon. "Who are you?" Tai asked.
"I'm Scalmon, but you remember me better as Pyromon."
Scalmon told Tai that he had reached his ultimate level, when he had jumped into the water to save Patamon. Tai sat up, and noticed that the others were all sitting around a fire nearby. He stood up, and walked over to them. When he got there, he found everyone, including Patamon, sitting around the fire with Snoutmon and Ninjimon. It was then that Tai got filled in on the entire story, of how Leathermon turned out to be Joe's new digimon partner, and how he had digivolved into Alimon and saved the day, not to mention his, Joe's, and Patamon's lives.
Ninjimon then stood up, "You digi-destined have proven that you have both honor and just in your hearts. In payment for what you have done for me, I will go and join your friend Leomon, and help in the battle against Rexmon." And before anyone could say anything, Ninjimon was gone.
Snoutmon then turned to Leathermon, "What about you Leathermon. Are you going to be leaving as well?"
"Why would I leave?" The smaller digimon asked.
"Because it would appear that you are one of the chosen six, that will journey with the digi-destined and help them to defeat Rexmon, and save their friends." Snoutmon answered.
"We need you Leathermon." Joe said, the others followed in with encouragement of their own.
"But what about the swamp?" Leathermon asked, "I have sworn to protect it."
"I will handle that." Snoutmon said. "It is the least that I can do to repay these kids for what they have done for me."
Leathermon appeared to think about it for a moment, "Ok, I will join the digi-destined then, and fulfill my own destiny." With that, everyone began to cheer.
"I am so tired of those blasted kids." Rexmon said.
Demidevimon flew into the throne room, "Master, there are some digimon here to see you."
"I am not in the mood right now, tell then to come back another time."
"You will see us now." A voice said from behind Demidevimon. The small digimon was knocked out of the way, and a group of ten digimon filed into the room. "We want another shot at those kids, and figure that to come and work for you is the best way." Rexmon looked at the group, and smiled.
The sun had just come up, and already, the eight kids and their digimon were ready to move out. They said their good-byes to Snoutmon, and a group of Gekomon that had formed to see them off, and headed north, which was the way that Leathermon had suggested that they go.
"Tell us again why we are headed north?" Izzy asked.
Leathermon looked at the genius, and shrugged his shoulders. "I have heard about a power full digimon to the north. It is possible that he could be another one of the six."
"Then let's go" Tai began, "And find this digimon, and the other three."
(Joe) "Finding Leathermon has put us one step closer to being able to go home, and for good this time. But we still have three more digimon to find. I hope that we find them soon, because I think that my allergies are flaring up again. But no matter what, I know that we will not only get home, but also save our friends, and defeat Rexmon once and for all."
To Be Continued in Chapter 4: Noblemon's Quest
