WARNING: 1) This chapter delves into sensitive issues regarding depression, and will continue to have such issues sprinkled from this point on throughout the story. Please proceed with caution if you are easily triggered. 2) Minor horror elements ahead, beware. Nothing too severe, but enough for me to change the rating to "T" on Fanfiction.net.
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Chapter 14
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*Marie's P.O.V.*
I weave around the trees carefully, breathing heavily as I tune in and out of my empathic searches to find the other kids in the wilderness of this wacky digimon-festered world. I can't tell if I'm getting close to anyone or not- and those that I do sense are digimon that are strangers to me.
Where am I even going? I wonder, pushing myself to run around some more trees. Somehow, the Numemon have out sped me, so I don't even know where they are in relation to where I'm running. For all I know, I could be running in the complete opposite direction of where everyone else is. I should have stayed by the vending machines...!
I come across an opening in the trees and jump as I nearly run into a dangling piece of wood caught in a large spider web I almost walked straight into. I stagger momentarily and proceed to maneuver around it, senses on overdrive as I search for the digimon responsible for the web.
...There's no one else around me. This web is obviously abandoned- that or the resident digimon living in it has gone off to gather food before returning. Perhaps small organisms that suit it's tastes.
I take a moment and glance down at myself, right before looking back at the much larger web in comparison and turning to leave the vicinity post-haste. The thought of being on anybody's menu is horrifying- I never had to worry about becoming anyone's meal back at home...
You had worse things to worry about, isn't that right?
Leave it to my brain to taunt me when I'm out all by myself.
...!
My head snaps up when something sparks my senses, prompting me to speed up my walking pace to a run so I can follow the familiar signature emotion of what feels to most likely be-
I run smack into the side of one of the other kids, however since it's so sudden, I can't immediately tell who it is until I jump back and feel the gloved hand of the individual wrap tightly around my wrist to keep me from losing my balance.
"Marie!" This particular voice causes a clench of my heart as I register who it belongs to in the back of my mind.
My eyes fly up to find Tai staring at me wide eyed, only for him to then throw a glance behind himself and start running with me in tow next to him as Agumon joins me on my other side.
"Come on, we gotta run!" Agumon shouts, giving me no chance to say anything or ask what's going on. Unless... Are the Numemon still chasing them?!
Where is everyone else? Why is it just Tai? Did everyone get split up?
Either way, I run along with Tai anyways, making an effort to keep up with him and Agumon as I feel the Numemon catching up to us. For having an appearance akin to that of a slug, they sure move fast!
I let out an irked shout of horror when I spot a splatter of digi-poo hitting the ground near us.
Just like that, Tai, Agumon, and I are motivated to pick up the pace.
It isn't until we come up over a hill that a sharp pain in my head catches me off guard, following a terrible and foreboding sensation of malice originating from ahead. I put the breaks on and stop Tai from proceeding any further, prompting him to look at me in panic and confusion.
Instead of explaining anything, I grab Agumon's clawed hand and drag the two of them towards the treeline to our far left, looking back to see the Numemon halting in their advances to the loud stomps of an audibly much larger approaching digimon.
The feeling of being noticed through my "gift" makes me shiver.
As soon as Tai notices this, he joins me behind a couple of bushes with Agumon.
This isn't going to work with me here, I think to myself, making a subtle attempt to peel Tai's hand from around my wrist. I can't be here- that large digimon that's coming closer obviously has a black gear and knows I'm hiding in this spot. They don't know Tai and Agumon are here too though. I could lead the digimon away from them and-
The large digimon comes into view- long enough for us to get a good look at one leg before Tai is standing up again and shooting me a knowing look for my subtle attempt at escaping.
"Izzy told me what you tried doing to lead Andromon away in the factory. You're not doing that on my watch," Tai says, keeping my wrist prisoner and quickly leading me away with Agumon.
Darn it, why can't that boy keep his mouth shut! I think to myself, glancing back nervously and allowing my eyes to jump around to search for any potential dangers that could be lurking in the woods as we walk deeper into them.
"Don't worry, Marie, we're gonna take good care of you!" Agumon insists, emitting pleasant emotive signals to make me feel better. Although I'm highly dubious of this, considering the level of the large geared digimon's power, I stop trying to peel Tai's hand from my wrist, following the duo out of the trees into another clear field.
"Shoot..." I hear Tai mutter to himself, looking around and playing with his goggles in thought as he scans the clear hills ahead of us.
"What is it?" I dare to ask, despite already preparing myself for bad news.
"...If we stay here in the trees and just keep walking deeper for cover, we're likely going to get split from the others for real. If we're gonna meet up together again and continue in a group, we need to round this clearing and head back to the river," Tai explains without looking down at me, leaving me to share a look of concern with Agumon.
I sincerely doubt my speed for this if I could barely keep up when it was just the Numemon chasing after us. Not to mention, if we're going to be chased down by this large digimon that no doubt has a gear embedded in it, my speed is going to be chipped down with all the headaches that accompanies it.
"I- Tai, I don't think I'm going to be able to- Eeep!" I suddenly squeak when Tai turns around entirely, pulling our linked arms over his shoulder so I'm forced to wrap my arms around him. Next thing I know, he's grabbing my legs and hoisting me up piggy back- throwing me a big grin from over his shoulder.
"There. Problem solved," he responds to my half-addressed concerns, turning back to the clearing ahead as my cheeks tint an embarrassing shade of red that makes Agumon cock his head to the side curiously at me.
"Marie, why is your-?" Agumon finally opens his mouth to ask before the sound of an explosion a few feet behind us stops him short of saying anything. Tai jumps in surprise and takes off without another word, darting out into the clearing with Agumon at his heels. I cling to his shoulders tightly- but not enough to strangle him or anything. From the way he carries me, I'm able to look back and see for myself what exactly is coming after us.
My eyes widen two-fold at the sight of what appears to be a massive gold toned teddy bear with squinting red eyes directed right at Tai and I as he runs us to safety. It's massive, about the size of two elephants stacked on top of one another. One foot looks to have a diameter large enough to stomp on the three of without much hassle. Despite that Tai and Agumon are running, the digimon strolls after us with it's large strides, looking in no way concerned that we might out run it.
To be fairly honest, I don't think we're going to be able to out run it either...! Even worse, Agumon already spent most of his energy evolving earlier! We're practically served on a silver platter for this digimon!
"What digimon is that?" I ask, not really expecting any kind of answer since Agumon and Tai are clearly already exerting themselves by running.
"Monzaimon! He's the mayor of Toy Town! A real nice digimon if you ask me!" Agumon chirps, emotionally pleased to be able to give me an answer despite our situation.
I feel my expression twist in mild disbelief. It's always the nice ones that get infected, isn't it...?
"What part of being chased and blown to smithereens is 'nice' to you?!" Tai breathlessly responds incredulously, hands tightening around my legs as he forces himself to speed up.
"He's not himself, there's a black gear attached to him," I say to the two, making them share a nervous look that doesn't fail to unnerve me. Seems like they must have already guessed something like that, but my confirmation has them jittery and visibly anxious. "I can't sense any of the other digimon either."
"Great..." Tai mutters. Just when I think he's brushing off my words again, he adds, "If you do sense anyone, point us in that directio-"
My nerves spike. It feels like a bundle of spiders crawling down my spine in unison, causing a flinch to rattle my entire body. Tai cuts himself off when he feels it.
"He's gonna attack, GO LEFT!" I shout, feeling the boy veer sharply to the left and leap just as a red laser blasts into the grassy field just where we'd been moments before.
Unfortunately, one leap isn't enough to completely avoid it, and the three of us are sent flying from the force of the attack, which sends me rolling to the ground in wild soumersalts down a hill until I eventually come to a stop at the bottom. My ears ring and I struggle to catch my breath- all the air knocked out of me and leaving me gasping for a few seconds. Once I can breathe, I sit up and look around, until I make out the sight of Tai and Agumon at the top of the hill I'd rolled down from. I don't see Monzaimon, but I can sense him up there where I can see smoke wafting up from the stricken ground.
I can't hear anything either, but I can see Tai standing, opening his mouth and saying something to Agumon as the two catch their breath.
I put my fingers by my ear and snap them in succession, but still hear nothing but a flat whistling ring.
Get up, I think nonetheless, pushing myself up to my feet. It's when I do this that my hearing finally starts to reach my ears, making me squint up at the top of the hill as Agumon releases one of his baby flame attacks at who I could only guess is an approaching Monzaimon.
By their expressions seconds afterwards, this doesn't work in their favor.
I feel a spike of my nerves just as a throbbing headache makes itself known in my head, all at once bringing my hearing back to me in time to hear Agumon call out to me. I look up at the hilltop, meeting his frantic eyes as he and Tai go to run towards me. There's something akin to a blue bubble behind the two of them.
"Marie, run!" Agumon shouts down to me, given only that chance to say it before the two blue heart shaped bubbles following them completely encapsulate their bodies.
I let out a small yelp of shock that makes me smother the noise with my hands. It's a reflex to quiet myself, a stupid reflex since I don't need to make a noise for Monzaimon to know exactly where I am.
I watch as the two attempt to break free from their confines- but in mere moments, their eyes start closing and they become visibly lethargic, each slouching in the bubbles until they are far too out of it to continue trying to escape.
Oh no...! I think to myself, knowing that if I stay there I'll be the next one in a bubble like that.
Or worse, Monzaimon will just kill me on spot like all the other digimon with black gears have tried doing.
I spin around, heavy guilt fresh in my gut as I abandon Tai and Agumon to their fates with Monzaimon. There's no way I stand a chance against that digimon! I can't fight, there's nothing to fight with even if I could...!
I continue onwards through the valleys between the hills, not risking myself by climbing up any hills where Monzaimon can see me from. Maybe if I get far enough... I'll be able to-
He's attacking!
I make for a dive to the right this time, coming to a clever logic that if Monzaimon can tell that I know when he's attacking, he'll try and shoot with the assumption that I'll jump to the left like the last time.
An wave of energy from the explosion of lasers hits me from a couple paces to the left.
As I roll back onto my feet and continue running, I sigh a breath of mild relief through my exertion. He did shoot for the left! Now... That little trick isn't going to work anymore. If I'm unlucky enough, I'll jump right into one of Monzaimon's lasers and get myself killed. If I guess right, I'll be gold... Until the next possible attack.
Just keep running, I tell myself, despite my legs already slowing down from my efforts. I'm getting tired of running. I'm a tree climber, not a runner- and tree climbing isn't going to help in this situation at all.
I jog into a massive bundle of trees, nearly tripping over a large exposed root.
Which way? Which way do I go now? Keep going forward? What If I get lost? I'm never going to see Jojo again, am I? I'm all alone. Monzaimon got Tai and Agumon... What if he caught everyone else too? Who's idea was it to split up? What's Monzaimon planning to do with-
I trip, but instead of the fault being of a tree root, it's my own clumsy foot getting in the way of my other. I hit the ground, yelping as I land on my knee. It was already hurting from before- now it's throbbing even more than it had prior. I push up onto my feet, hissing in pain as my right leg from the knee down objects to the weight of my body. I crumple back down to the ground.
No, no, no...! Not this! Not right now! I think to myself, taking to a crawl and carefully dragging my leg along with me, attempting to keep off of it and bouncing along with my left knee instead. I'm likely not to get very far like this... But I try anyways because-
I stop in my tracks, pausing in thought. After a minute or two of thinking to myself, I sit back on my heels and fist my hands into my leggings.
Because of what?
What's the point... I have no chance.
Tears start to run down my cheeks as I think back to the hill- where Tai and Agumon had been caught. Could I have done something? No. It doesn't take much thought to come to that conclusion. I'm useless. I've been useless from the start. I can't do anything. I've been the main source of all our problems with these digimon from start to finish, and every aggressive digimon becomes even more aggressive when they know I'm here.
Yamato is right to hate me.
I hate myself.
I slap my hands over my face and curl up into myself, controlling my breathing again. I'm starting to fall apart and Jojo's not here to put me back together.
Jojo, what do I do? What would you want me to do?
...
Keep going.
I don't want to keep going. I want to sit here and wither away.
...I say that to myself, but make a poor attempt to pull myself together anyways through my sniffling and shaky mouth breathing, getting back on all fours and hopping on my back left knee to crawl deeper into the woods. I can't seem to feel Monzaimon behind me anymore... But what if it's just him snuffing out his emotions to sneak up on me? Waiting for me relax and settle into one place where he can finish me in one blow without worrying about me dodging an attack?
It's an incentive enough to make me crawl faster.
I don't know how long I've been crawling around the woods aimlessly, passing a sparse amount of wild digimon that don't attempt to come near as I traverse the foliage. If anything, they move in the opposite direction of where I am, avoiding me like the plague likely due to the dumpy emotions I'm giving off.
Eventually, my continued dismay drowns out my emotive senses entirely, leaving me a mess of discomfort as I crawl to who knows where.
I wish Jojo were here...
"Why are you sad?"
I halt and look up a rock to my right, wiping my eyes clear of my tears to see who it is.
Standing atop the rock with equally moist and glistening eyes is a small digimon similar to Gomamon's size. Instead of sporting flippers and a tail, however, this digimon is one visibly akin to a lop eared rabbit with brown fur and pink accents. Atop their head is a small trio of horns the size of coins, small enough that they're not about to impale anyone- but will definitely do damage with a hard enough headbutt. To be honest, the digimon looks like a chocolate bunny, standing bipedal as it cautiously slides off it's rock and comes closer. As it nears me, it gets on all fours similar to me, until it stops once we are face to face.
"...Being happy feels better, don't you know?" It inquires, wiping away at it's own tears.
Don't tell me I'm the one making it cry! I think, only feeling worse about my predicament as I sit back and take a glance down at my right knee. It's swelling up like a baseball, twice the size of my good knee and tinted a greenish-purple shade. To top it off, there's a massive scrape going down the middle. Another wound I can add to my already growing collection of injuries.
"Oh... Did you fall? That looks like it hurts a lot... If I help you, will you be happy again?" The digimon asks, looking up at my face and straightening up on it's two feet once it presumably deems me safe enough.
I shake my head at it, biting my lip to swallow down my emotions. "You shouldn't be around me. You'll get hurt too," I say, watching as it evidently takes a hesitant step back. Without another word, the digimon turns around and runs off around the rock. I can still sense it nearby, which immediately makes me release a breath of frustration, not at the digimon, but at myself. How did I not notice it coming closer?
I crawl further away from the rock, feeling only a little better after contact with another digimon- especially one not trying to kill me. As I'm passing the next bundle of bushes and tree roots requiring some careful maneuvering, I sense the rabbit digimon coming back over to me. I pause and wait in response, resting atop a thick tree root I'm having trouble crawling over without banging my bad knee.
I'm still not sensing Monzaimon anymore, which is rather strange. I could sense Andromon and he sensed me when we were on complete opposite sides of the factory earlier. How is it that I can't sense Monzaimon? Is it safe to bet he can't sense me either? Hmm... This might have to do with Andromon being a digimon of a far higher caliber than that of Monzaimon or even Meramon. Maybe... I'm safe for now.
"You should eat this. I brought it for you from home," the digimon says, holding out a bright red apple to me. It's eyes are dry now, likely because my own have stopped leaking sometime while getting lost in my thoughts again. A distraction- this is good.
I raise my hands to take it, but then pause and blush when I remember my manners. Jojo used to scold me when I'd abruptly take things outright. I'm very hungry after all that running, but I should exercise some courtesy regardless. This digimon didn't have to bring me anything, and yet...
"Are you sure?" I ask, fiddling with the tree root as the digimon steps closer for me to take it, insisting with it's emotions. Based on this response, I take the apple from the small digimon and proceed with a careful bite into the fruit's red exterior. The juicy red fruit doesn't fail to perk me up, and it isn't until after I've got only the core left that I realize the digimon is sitting down beside me, finishing an apple of its own.
Once they're done, I put it aside by the tree and carefully climb over the tree root, banging my knee only once as I situate myself to sit next to the nice little digimon.
"...Thank you," I say, making it smile up at me.
"You're welcome! I'm sorry you're still not happy though... I should have gotten you a bigger apple," the rabbit considers thoughtfully, which prompts a sudden laugh of amusement out of me despite the situation. At my response, the digimon perks up itself. "Oh! You're doing better! That's good!"
I guess it's trying that whole "winning the heart through the stomach" thing.
I do feel better now though... Boy, this little digimon came at an good time, I think, before scanning around for Monzaimon and eventually deeming it safe enough to take a moment to see if maybe my leg will do better with rest.
"I'm Marie," I introduce myself, touching my injured knee thoughtfully as I look towards its smaller form beside me with mild embarrassment. "I'm sorry I made you cry..."
"You can call me Lopmon. Its okay, you didn't mean to. It's not your fault you were sad. We all have rainy days sometimes... What is it that made you cry?" The chocolate bunny inquires curiously, carefully asking the last part with an emotive offer for me to pass the question if I don't want to answer it.
Lopmon's thoughtfulness wins my answer.
"...A digimon called Monzaimon captured two of my friends, and I don't know if he caught the rest of them because we all got split up. It's my fault... It's because I'm here that they get overly aggressive," I explain softly after a moment, feeling my hollow sadness attempt to creep up on me once more. "Maybe Tai and Agumon would have gotten away if I hadn't been there. Monzaimon only knew where we were because I was around."
Lopmon makes a face of sympathy.
"You too, huh? Monzaimon attacked my friend yesterday for wandering into toy town and playing a prank on him... He's probably at Primary Village hatching again as we speak."
My brow furrows in confusion. "Hatching 'again'...?"
Lopmon nods. "Yes. Digimon don't really ever disappear after a while, or if something happens to us, our data is recycled and we return as a digi-egg to a place called Primary Village."
Now I'm even more confused. "What do you mean by 'data'?"
The chocolate rabbit meets my gaze, playing with it's floppy ears.
"Digimon are made up of data. That's why we're called digimon. It stands for 'Digital Monster'. You may not be a digimon like me, but now that I'm looking at you, I can see you're made up of data too," Lopmon comments, much to my inherent surprise.
"...Do you know what this entire place is called? My friends and I have been lost for a while, and the digimon we travel with haven't mentioned anything like what you're telling me, so I don't think they really know yet themselves," I explain, watching Lopmon look around as if it's obvious.
"This is the Digital World," Lopmon says simply, watching as I connect all the dots in my mind.
The battery Izzy and I saw in the factory. The symbols resembling code that were flying around unbeknownst to the other kids and digimon...! I need to tell everyone that-
Tell them what? They're probably all captured by Monzaimon.
...Didn't Agumon mention that Monzaimon is the mayor of a place called Toy Town? Maybe it's safe to assume Toy Town is nearby... Which means if (and it's a big "if") Monzaimon were to take any of the digimon or kids anywhere, it would be there. Monzaimon is probably still lurking around the hills looking for me. Could I use that to my advantage and sneak into the lions den to get Agumon and Tai out?
I stand up with a sudden movement, relieved to find that the pain in my knee has greatly diminished after giving it some time to rest without the stress of my body weight. As soon as I'm on two legs, I look down at Lopmon.
"Do you think you can point me in the direction of Toy Town? I'm... Not sure if there's anything I can do, but I don't want to sit here without trying anything!" I say, despite the very real doubt in my gut telling me I'm sure there's absolutely nothing I can do to help.
Going might just be a burden for them if they're attempting an escape or are even still- I think to myself, even though I'm far past changing my mind on this one.
Lopmon momentarily wears an expression of concern, but after some silence, they point in a specific direction to my right. "If you go that way, you should reach Toy Town no problem... I can walk you halfway, but once we reach the hills, I can't go any further. Monzaimon scares me..."
I nod in understanding, but before I can follow the digimon, it glances pointedly at my knee.
"I think I have something to support your knee back in my home. That way you won't make it worse by the time you reach Toy Town to help your friends... Please wait here!" The rabbit digimon exclaims, diving back into the thicket and leaving me on my own as I wait for it to return once more.
The woods, save for the nearly silent sound of grass being trampled by Lopmon, is mostly quiet in this particular area. It's almost surprising that I hadn't noticed this earlier, but the only audible thing here is the wind. No insects buzzing, no birds chirping... And I know some small normal animals (albeit slightly different from the birds, bugs, and fish on earth) live here, because we've seen them before. It's just really odd that I'm not hearing any of that now. The silence is a bit... Eerie.
It's probably just that the digimon are hiding from Monzaimon or something, I decide after a moment.
...It's midst my waiting that I notice the presence of someone else among the trees around me.
I jerk into attention, blue eyes on high alert as I turn every which direction to catch sight of this digimon that seems to have quite literally appeared in the middle of my radar out of nowhere.
Or... No. This doesn't feel like a Digimon. In fact, it doesn't feel like an approaching gear either- I'm not having a headache or feeling bad. I mean, my head kind of hurts a little, but I think that's from all my crying and stress. It feels different when it's the cause of a nearby gear.
"Hello, child."
I jump to my feet at the sound of a voice directly behind me, prompting me to move a few feet away and spin around to see who it is. Expecting something rather awful in general, I'm a bit relieved to see that it actually looks like a digimon, for all intents and purposes, blinking two bright beady eyes at me with interest.
Wait.
It doesn't have eyes... Does it?
I give the digimon a closer look, and stare stunned as my mind fills in gaps and my eyes flick around the digimon's entire body. When my eyes focus on one spot, features appear- but they're different every time. In my peripherals, the features that are no longer in my focus disappear entirely. Eyes are only there when I look towards their assumed location. A mouth appears when I look lower beneath the eyes, but then the eyes vanish. Arms and legs... How many of each? I can't tell. Too many to count, yet none at all... I have a feeling I'm not supposed to notice that about it, so I repress my anxiety and stare back quietly without a word.
I can sense it's presence and it's emotions- what little emotion it appears to have... So it must be a digimon, right? Something about it just isn't sitting right with me though...
The silence of the woods now makes my spine tingle, especially staring at this unsettling digimon. Eventually though, I remember it's greeted me, and my politeness wins over my fear of parting my lips to answer it's fifty mouths. Nonexistent ears listen intently.
"...Hello," I respond simply, watching as it's mouth splits into a pair of grins that mirror one another, making one mouth appear as a frown. I'm not sensing any hostility from this digimon, but... I'm unsettled nonetheless. What could it possibly-
Something grazes the back of my neck, and I stupidly turn around to see who it is. To my utter shock, it's that same digimon standing behind me, even though I could have sworn I was just facing it only seconds ago in the opposite direction. My stomach twists uncomfortably for some reason.
"Who are you?" I ask, briskly turning my head to look where it once was. The moment I do, I see it's changed sides again, without a sign of movement whatsoever. The only thing leading me to believe there's no more than one is the fact that I'm only sensing it from one place at a time, blinking from one spot to another.
"An old friend," the digimon answers, despite that it doesn't have a mouth. The changes in it's already mind bending appearance is making me a bit dizzy. It speaks again. "Don't you know who I am?"
I don't hesitate to shake my head.
"You can't possibly be an old friend. I've only learned of the existence of digimon recently," I answer, taking a step back when I notice that it's coming closer- even though I can't see it taking any steps towards me. It's like it's just... Sliding closer in my direction really slowly. I don't like it. My right knee objects to this movement, but I ignore it.
"I know," it responds, watching as I make a face of confusion at it's cryptic contradicting words.
It smiles wider, as if finding my confusion amusing.
...
My eyes flick to a thick branch on the ground a foot to my left momentarily, and I inch towards it if only to have something at my side to make me comfortable.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
I stop in my tracks and wait for it to say something else. Minutes pass, and eventually I have to take another step back to keep a reasonable distance away from it. I'm a little further from the branch now, to my dismay.
"I had a high-class meal recently, and I'm still hungry. I can't promise you won't be on the menu if you decide to do something stupid. And you're not a stupid child, right?"
It stares at me without any eyes, and although I'm nervous, I manage to give it a nod anyways.
"...You don't know anything, do you? You have no idea what's going on," the digimon says as if just coming to this realization. I make no move to answer it anything, already sensing that this conversation is going in a bad direction. "You're not a stupid child, yet you can't even figure it out. Even I know you're the smartest one here. Way smarter than those other humans. Way smarter than you ought to be for your even a so-called 'genius' of your age. Did coming here dumb you down into a stupid child?"
I swallow my anxiety to answer it. "I don't know what you're talking about. And you still haven't told me who you are."
The digimon- or whatever it is- momentarily falls silent, staring at me dead in the eye. My brain scrambles to fill the gaps again, giving it the appearance of having one and a dozen eyes all at once. I step back a couple of times when I've realized I've idled and let it get too close.
"...Anyways, I'm glad you finally stepped away from your friends long enough to see me. I missed you. I can't come out when you're around them, you know? You have to be a certain distance away from them for a certain amount of time for me to come out in my full form like this, or else it hurts me. That's why I'd try to get you to notice I was around before- like when you were in the Pyokomon Village. I was hoping you'd be able to see me then, but it would hurt too much to stay and lead you away," the digimon goes into explaining with a strange casualness to it's tone. It's voice might actually be the only thing that's normal about it. It sounds like the voice of any other digimon.
Lead me away...? I think to myself, even more apprehensive now that I've caught that. I feel like I'm being threatened.
"Why would you... Want to lead me away from the other kids?" I ask, stepping back some more and nearly feeling my stomach drop when I realize I've backed right into a tree. The digimon doesn't hesitate to step even closer, sliding so quickly that I feel the hairs on the back of my neck prickle at the disturbing image.
"Oh. So I could do this."
The digimon stops moving and stares at me.
I blink.
All of a sudden, my so-called "old friend" is directly in my face, opening a mouth of dozens of very real and sharp teeth unlike those gap filled images my brain was making up when looking at it previously. The scent of something rotting hits my nose, and I would have fallen over retching if it weren't for the digimon leaning in so my head was in between the path of the two sides of it's mouth.
...Huh? I think stupidly, standing petrified where I stand as I stare up at the dark pink innards of it's mouth which lead to a dark bottomless throat. It's shadow passes over me and the digimon eventually stops leaning in, holding it's jagged teeth open around me. It pauses and through my senses, I'm able to register that it's waiting for me to react to this sudden aggressive behavior.
Actually, it's explicitly letting me know it's waiting for me to react.
My stomach twists even more, and then everything happens at once.
Before I can even scream or say anything to dissuade it from literally beheading me, something tackles me from the side and I fly to the ground, hitting my shoulder on a protruding rock from the ground.
The sudden snapping sound of the digimon's teeth closing like a bear trap makes me flinch violently and look up from the ground as I clutch at my neck from a sharp pain that isn't my own. My eyes to go wide like dinner plates and fill with water when I see what's happened in the span of seconds.
Hanging between this disturbing monster's teeth by it's neck...
Is Lopmon.
The digimon with nonexistent eyes stares at me quietly, facing one way but keeping it's gaze affixed on where I lay. Slowly, it's teeth close tighter around Lopmon, until the small rabbit digimon's body and ear ends detach and turn a bright gold color, dissipating and dissolving into bright symbols and numbers of a familiar type that I can barely be bothered to remember due to the shock value of this creature's actions. As Lopmon's small hands disappear, two items drop from it and roll towards my direction, hitting my feet gently.
A roll of carefully tied fabric and another bright red apple.
As bright red as the blood now pumping violently throughout my entire body, giving me the energy to release a piercing scream from my mouth that echoes across the quiet woodland area for no one to hear.
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A/N: The story's really going now.