Digimon VIRAL
Episode Five
Queen of the Seas, Neptumon!

   Fuurinmon's winds were carrying them at a steady pace, and the blue horizon was moving ever closer. The closer they moved towards it the higher it seemed to grow, and even from their distance it sparkled in the bright sunlight.

   "Wow, it looks like the ocean!" Gin happily called out, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hands.

   Nathan grinned. "Finally, we'll get a chance to cool off. Maybe there'll be food there too! I'm starving!"

   "I think we all are," Audrey agreed, glancing at the group.

   "Then let's pick up speed, Fuurinmon!" Zuru laughed, patting her Digimon on the head.

   "Alright, alright." With a sudden burst of wind, Fuurinmon shot towards the horizon, each member of the team watching it, transfixed. As they got closer and the height of the horizon just kept rising, the blue Digimon realized that there was something not quite right about what they were approaching. "Guys, this isn't the ocean, and I can't brake in time!" What they thought was the ocean loomed overhead and at the last second Fuurinmon swerved to the side, managing to slow down as she skimmed the side of the obstacle.

   "What the? It's not...water?" Lutramon leaped off of Fuurinmon, waddling over to it.

   Ospreymon flew a few feet into the air. "It's...a really, really long wall. The hell?"

   "Thing is..." Audrey started. "It looks like it's made of sapphires."

   "They're...inscribed with Digicode, too." Canismon was running his paws over the deep engravings over the side of the wall. "But it's...ancient though, I can't make sense of it..."

   "Well, so much for this being the ocean..." Gin muttered to herself. "And cooling off. And food."

   "Don't say that, you're making me even hungrier... Hey, I'm sure we'll find something soon. But what's a sapphire wall doing in the middle of a desert?" Nathan rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "And on that note, how do we get around, or over it?"

   Lutramon lifted her head to look at the high walls. "We should see what's over it first. Ospreymon, you should get flyin'."

   "Noooo way. It's way too high, and I'm way too tired to fly to that sort of height,"

   The others sighed.

   "Well then let's just go around it." Nathan suggested.

   "No way. We've been walking forever, we're tired, and we're hungry. Besides, it looks like it stretches on for eternity..." Zuru responded with a sigh.

   "Would everyone please stop mentioning food? It's making it worse!"

   Gin blinked, "Then why not go over?"

   Audrey walked over to the wall, and sat down against it. Looking up, he almost couldn't see the top of the wall, and the sides vanished almost immediately as the wall curved away from them. "Ospreymon's too tired to go over. How else would we do so?"

   "I'd climb." Gin said with a smile.

   "No way, it's way too dangerous."

   "It'd be easy. All these inscriptions would make great handholds."

   "But it's so high; the winds would knock you right off."

   "Not if Fuurinmon kept them in check. Right?"

   The feline Digimon nodded her head. "I could give you a bit of a boost at the beginning too."

   "No, no, no. Gin, what if you fall off?" Lutramon looked at her partner, worried.

   "Plus, Fuurinmon's probably exhausted from everything that's happened so far. What if she were to de-Evolve partway through, then what?" Zuru added.

   "It's way too dangerous, you can't do it." Audrey finished.

   Gin put her hands on her hips. "Do you have any better ideas?"

   Everyone went silent as each did their best to try to think of an alternate solution. Finally, Nathan spoke up:

   "I guess we really don't have any other choice. I mean, as much as I don't like the idea of sending someone way up there, it's more likely to succeed than all of us walking even more..." He nodded wisely. "Then I guess it's up to me!" And headed for the wall.

   "What!? No it's not!" Gin squawked. "Have you ever climbed anything even remotely like this?"

   "Well, there was this really high ladder one time..."

   Silence.

   "...I'm going. I'm a better climber than you, I have more experience, and I'm the most likely to get to the top." Gin argued.

   "Listen to her, Nathan. She's right." Zuru spoke up, walking over and placing her hand on his shoulder to stop him. "I think." She then added under her breath.

   "Alright then." Gin turned around to face the wall, only to find Audrey standing in her way. "Oh come off it Aud, we all know I have to do it."

   "Well, just be careful."

   "Wait, Gin, are you totally sure you want to do this?" Lutramon tugged at the bottom of her partner's shirt. "I would never forgive m'self if somethin' happened to you!"

   Gin leaned down and smiled at the Digimon. "I'll be fine. Besides, Fuurinmon'll take care of me. I hope."

   "Duh." Fuurinmon added.

   So with one decisive step Gin placed her hands against the wall, and was pushed up a few feet by the wind, where her feet found a foothold in a line of engravings. In what seemed to take a painfully long time, she began lifting her hands and grasping more symbols, pulling herself up ever so slowly.

   As she began to climb, and get further and further from the ground, she began to realize just what she had gotten herself into. This was nothing like the rock climbing she did back on earth, where there was safety equipment and she was being safely held up by ropes. There wasn't even any padding on the ground should she fall, just grainy, white salt. As she climbed higher, the winds began to get stronger, and slightly dangerous.

   She tried her best to keep herself from looking down, and whatever her teammates may have been yelling up at her was blocked off from her ears by the constantly-blowing winds. Soon the winds became too strong and she couldn't get any higher. She was frozen, terrified with the realization that she was trapped on this shining wall. Suddenly the winds shifted away from her, and she knew Fuurinmon had noticed her dilemma. With a grateful sigh she grabbed hold of the next engraving.

   From the ground below, the kids had fallen silent at the sign of her struggling.

   "I knew we shouldn't ‘a let her go up there." Lutramon whispered.

   "Hell, I don't think any of you four should've gone up there." Ospreymon contributed, watching the girl climb with his head propped up on his wing.

   Then, in the silence, they heard a strange sound.

   "That sounds like...wings?" Zuru turned her head to both sides, trying to locate the source of the sound.

   Canismon growled, pinpointing the source almost immediately. "Great...Just what we need... More trouble."

   And he was right, for flying towards them from far off in the distance was a snakelike Digimon none of them wanted to see. Its tattered red wings carried it through the sky, while it shrieked at them through its dragon like mouth, protected by an antlered skull.

   "Oh nooo, not Airdramon!" Lutramon called out, panicked.

   "This isn't good! We've got to get Gin down from there!" Nathan called out.

   Before any of them had a chance to react, the Airdramon was already above them, laughing.

   "Don't worry; I'll take care of it." Fuurinmon turned, hoping Gin could at least hold on tightly to the wall as she took care of the flying serpent. It soared down, grinning evilly at its prey. Fuurinmon's tails prepared to separate into a compass star, when her limit decided it had been stretched too far, and she reverted back into an extremely exhausted Kotamon.

   "What!? No! This is not good!" Zuru called out. She wanted to run at her partner but the Airdramon was getting close. In a huge stroke of luck it had aimed too high and swooped over the kids and Digimon, blowing salt around in the process.

   Lutramon lifted her head, and with a worried expression she looked up at her partner. "We've gotta find a way to get Gin down safely!"

   "There isn't much we can do... We just have to...hope she can hold on." Canismon lifted his paws. "Summon Stone!" Jagged rocks shot up from the ground, but his attack was rendered useless as Airdramon weaved around each one and flew upwards to avoid the rest.

   "Sorry Cane, flyers are not your forte." Ospreymon crossed his wings over his front. "Lightning Typhoon!" His small twister of electricity streaked towards Airdramon, but was easily deflected with his skull helmet. "Damnit!"

   "Alright, my turn then! Marine Crash!" Lutramon shot a beam of scalding water at the serpent, only to have it miss by a mile as it flew in a completely different direction. "...Well, that failed."

   "Guys! The Airdramon's heading straight for Gin!"

   Lutramon whipped around. "No! We've gotta save her!"

   "There's nothing we can do except try and catch her if she falls."

   The black-haired girl stared wide-eyed at the flying serpent, digging her fingers as deep as she could into the inscriptions. But, as expected, a gust of wind was easing her away from the sapphire face of the wall. In a most unfortunate turn of events, the Airdramon circled back, hitting Gin with one of its wings and took a sharp turn downwards to taunt the rest of the team.

   "No!! GIN!" Lutramon rolled out from under the flapping Digimon and nervously watched her partner as each of her fingers slipped from the inscriptions, her arms wheeling backwards, her feet slipping without so much as a crumb of debris, and her body falling backwards in what looked like slow motion.

   The otter Digimon reached up with her scrawny paws but there was nothing she could do, until Gin's Digivice began to spout forth a bright blue light. This was it!

   "Lutramon EVOLVE..."

   The little otter multiplied many times in size, becoming larger than any of the other Digimon's Champion stages. Red horns sprouted from her hat and her back fin morphed into a pair of small finned wings. Her arms elongated, as did her claws, and they too grew fin membranes in between them. Her tail grew longer, and much of her fur grew longer.

   "NEPTUMON!!"

   Her large bulk took a surprisingly short time to move under Gin, and the girl fell onto the turquoise fur along her Digimon's back, rolling down and safely onto the salt.

   "Wow, Lutra- err- Neptumon... thanks!" She shook her head to get rid of the salt, but the screech of the Airdramon caught her attention and she whipped around. "That's right, what're we going to do about him?"

   "Leave it t'me!" Neptumon flexed her claws, charging towards the opposing Digimon. She took a swipe at it but it dodged. Her tail whipped around to smack it, but she only landed a weak hit, as it was flying further away now, laughing.

   "It's almost useless, whatever we throw at it, it dodges." Audrey pointed out.

   "Tha's what you think. Sonar Undertow!" The giant otter beast opened her mouth, and what sounded like echolocation came from her throat. The sound waves reached Airdramon's ears, and try as he might, he couldn't stop his body from moving back towards the team. It was like an undertow was in the air and the currents were pulling him in.

   "No way! GOD TORNADO!" Opening his skull-covered jaws to their widest, Airdramon shot forth a fat, twisting wind that blasted the team backwards. Neptumon was left standing.

   "Yer kiddin' right? This ain't gonna be that easy for yeh!" Her sonar stopped pulling him in, and instead kept the flying Digimon in place. "Tidal Whiplash!!" She slashed her claws downwards, forming blades of water as they moved down, which shot forwards, straight at Airdramon.

   "Not so fast... Aerial Shield!" The air in front of Airdramon seemed to solidify, and the blades simply splashed against it when they hit.

   "No way... Him, too. He's got a...modified attack..." Canismon watched the battle while half-buried in salt. He hadn't bothered shaking it off after the last attack.

   "No! Neptumon!" Gin watched helplessly when the flying serpent shook itself from the invisible current, and flew straight for her partner, who was definitely not fast enough to dodge a full-on attack.

   "If I can't beat you with wind I'll beat you with force!" He opened his jaws, ready to take a huge bite out of the beast. Neptumon did her best to turn and dodge, but the Digimon was able to sink his teeth into her tail. She roared out with pain but managed to shake him off.

   "Grrrr... Yer goin' to pay fer that..."

   "Oh? How so? I can always... shield your... what's going... on!?" The flapping wings of the Airdramon were slowly slowing down their movements, and he was bobbing up and down in the air, with a very confused expression.

   Neptumon chuckled. "Sea urchin venom. The skin on my tail secretes it. You made a big mistake when you decided to get physical. TIDAL WHIPLASH!" Once again she slashed her claws, sending high-speed water blades straight forward.

   "No! Aerial SHIELD!" The air began to solidify, but with Airdramon's weakened strength, it only blurred for a moment, before failing entirely. "This can't b-!" His words were cut off when the blades smashed into him, part of them hitting with blunt force while the rest sliced straight through the flying serpent.

   His data particles exploded and vanished into the atmosphere, leaving behind a grey chip, just like the others. Neptumon stomped over and picked it up, snapping it in half with her claws.

   "Not too shabby!" Ospreymon gave his teammate a ‘thumbs' up.

   "Whoaaa! Neptumon I still can't believe how much bigger you are! And you're so strong now!" Gin hugged the large paw of her newly-evolved partner.

   Neptumon smiled. "Please, don' mention th'size... it's kinda... uncomfortable."

   "Now," Nathan grinned, "if only you were tall enough to reach over that wall!"

   "What'd I jus' say about th'size...?" The beast sighed.

   "He does kind of have a point though. She saved you, and us, and that's really great. But we're still at the same point as we were before the battle..." Zuru mused.

   Gin sat down, defeated. "That's true..."

   --------------------------------------------

   "Hey look! There they are! They've already made it to the wall!" Muzenmon rubbed her hands together in excitement.

   "Mmm, not bad. They must have used the evolution that killed Apemon to speed up their travel." Zotzmon was surprised at the Chosen Children's innovation, but didn't act like it.

   "Come on, come on! Let's follow up on Nagamon's orders. This is going to be fun!"

   "Nn."

   --------------------------------------------

   "Let's dig under it! How about it, Canismon?" Nathan grinned at his partner.

   Canismon sent him a pitying expression. "Knowing what I know about the past... when they built walls this high and this long... the foundation's bound to be just as impenetrable... In other words... no way.

   "Having a little trouble, I see~?" The team was distracted from their attempted planning by two Rookie-stage Digimon who had just flown over.

   "You know, when there's something this big in your way, there's only one way to fix the problem..."

   Muzenmon and Zotzmon smiled with their best fake smiles at the Chosen Children, who stared at them with confusion.



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