By

Jennifer Morton,

Shelli-Jo Pelletier

and

Skye Galbraith

* * *

~~~ Yazumon’s P.O.V. ~~~

* * *

Emily was tired and thirsty, and her partner’s complaining wasn’t doing anything to brighten her mood. “I don’t believe we haven’t come across so much as a crumb to eat or a drop of water!” the three-tailed fox Digimon grumbled. “And there’s dust in my fur. You know how long it takes to brush dust out of your fur?” She looked Emily up and down. “Oh, I guess not. Heh heh.”

Emily sighed. “Let’s just hope we find someone soon. I’m starting to get worried. How far could they have gone? We all fell off the same ship!”

“Well then let’s hope we find our friends first and not Piramon and his cronies,” Huntermon pointed out sensibly.

Emily glared down at her partner. “You’re not very helpful, you know.”

“I’d be more helpful if I wasn’t dying of thirst!” Huntermon shot back.

The black-haired girl groaned. “I know what you mean. This isn’t exactly a desert, but it sure isn’t a day at the beach!” She looked around as she spoke. There was barely any vegetation as far as the eye could see, and that was mostly little pockets of dry grass and some low bushes and a cactus or two. Most of it was dry dust and dirt. Thankfully the sun wasn’t too strong, or they would be more than simply uncomfortable.

As Emily scanned the area she saw a small black dot in the distance. Pointing it out to her Digimon, she asked if Huntermon could make it out. The Rookie’s green eyes squinted in that direction. “It might be some sort of town,” Huntermon said, a little doubtfully.

“Well, we won’t find out standing here!” Emily announced, happier already. Surely this would turn out to be good luck for them. “Come on!”

With their slightly raised spirits they reached their destination in no time. And the closer they got, the more excited Emily became. Finally she could no longer hold it in. She squealed out loud in delight. “I don’t believe it! It’s a real old fashion western town! Right out of a wild west movie!” she exclaimed. Emily loved anything that had to do with the American “old west.”

“Huh?” Huntermon was confused, but her partner didn’t answer her. Emily ran into the dusty main road and looked around eagerly. A few tumbleweeds rolled across the wide dirt road. Many of the wooden buildings standing shoulder to shoulder had posts out front to tie horses too, and watering troughs nearby. She could just picture old cowboys in hats and boots walking along the roads, spurs clinking with each step. This was fantastic!

Huntermon finally caught up with her Digi-Destined, panting a little in the heat. “Emily, will you please explain to me what a ‘western town’ and ‘wild west movie’ is?” she complained. “I can’t understand you at all.”

“Well . . . this is a western town, see.” Emily gestured around. “And a wild west movie . . . has towns like this in them!” she finished triumphantly.

Huntermon was no less confused, but before she could say anything Emily was off again, running toward one of the buildings. It had no door, just a piece of wood cut in half in the doorway. Weird, Huntermon thought as she followed with a resigned sigh.

Emily poked her head into the saloon, wondering if she would see any cowboys, or even a real outlaw! Well, probably they would be Digimon cowboys and outlaws. Oh well. Better than nothing!

At the bar there was a star-shaped Digimon cowboy serving drinks to two Gazimon. A group of Digimon were clustered around a table on the opposite side of the room. Emily recognized Kokatorimon, Pumpkinmon, and Gotsumon. The forth was another cowboy Digimon with a big gun barrel sticking out of his chest. They all held cards in their hands, and all had intense looks on their faces. She decided to steer clear of them.

Huntermon entered the saloon and looked around, eyes lighting up as she saw a Starmon serving drinks. “Look, Em,” she said happily. “We can get food and drinks here!”

Emily’s stomach rumbled, reminding her how long they had been walking, searching for their friends. Together the girl and fox Digimon took a seat at a table as far away from the card players as possible and waited to see if someone would come take their order.

“What can I get you?” a voice said from behind them. Together Emily and Huntermon turned to their waitress . . . and gasped.

“Cheekomon?!” Emily exclaimed in surprise. The little cat-girl Digimon was dressed in a red saloon girl dress, balancing a tray of drinks in one hand, and the Digi-Destined couldn’t help but giggle at how cute she looked. Cheekomon didn’t look amused. She opened her mouth to make a reply but the lights suddenly dimmed. Cheekomon turned to the far corner of the room, and Emily and Hunteron followed her gaze.

A spotlight had fallen on a stage Emily hadn’t even noticed when she first entered. Now the star-shaped Digimon took the stage. “Good day mons and womons,” he announced in a slow southern drawl. “Starmon here to welcome you to my humble saloon. And here’s today’s entertainment! Enjoy the show!” He stepped off the stage amidst the enthusiastic clapping of the saloon’s patrons (though Cheekomon only looked forlorn, and Emily shared a concerned glance with her partner).

“Woohooo! Yeah, baby!" Kokatorimon howled and whistled, along with a few other Digimon. The giant chicken was the loudest of them all. "Come on now, baby, don’t be shy! How 'bout laying a little sugar my way, eh?" He puckered up his beak, which soon found itself in a lock hold between Erica's first.

"How 'bout you shut the heck up before I rip that beak right off your face?" she glared, pushing him away. She could see Starmon silently scolding her from back stage, and she knew she wasn’t supposed to talk back to the customers. As the music began to play, the blonde heaved a heavy sigh and took her cue. . . .

When the song was finished there was a roar of applause throughout the saloon. Roses and coins were thrown on stage as Erica bowed. When she looked up from her second bow, she spotted Emily and Huntermon and immediately rushed offstage to greet them. "Oh my God! I'm so happy to see you guys!" she cried.

"I'll say! We've been looking all over for you guys!" Huntermon panted excitedly, wagging all three of her tails.

"Hey, now," a voice crept up from behind them, "I'm not paying you two waitresses to chit chat. Now get back to work!" Starmon warned.

"Well," Cheekomon sighed. "We should be getting back now." And with that the cheetah picked up her trey and continued with her work.

Emily stopped Erica for a moment, after Starmon had moved on to help some customers at the bar. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you guys end up in this mess?" she asked.

"Well..."

**Flash back**

"Erica, we've been walking around this desert for hours, and I'm getting pretty hungry," Cheekomon complained as she tripped over tiny lumps of sand.

"Well, gee, Cheeko. Do ya think I'm not hungry?! What do I look like, a friggin' camel?!"

Cheekomon looked at her partner sadly. "Sorry."

"No, Cheeko, I'm sorry. This heat is just making me really cranky, and I honestly don't know how much further I can go without-" Erica cut herself off mid-sentence when she saw it: the answer to her prayers. She smiled up at the sky and thanked God before running ahead. "Cheekomon, look! It's a town!"

The Rookie’s eyes glistened at the sight. "Food!" was the first and only response she could think of. The two hurried down the dirt road and spotted the saloon nearby.

~~LATER~~

Both human and Digimon ate like there was no tomorrow, not thinking of anything else. For that brief moment it was like all their problems were solved . . . except one.

"WHAT?! Eighty-seven digi-dollars!" Erica about fainted when she looked at the bill. Unfortunately she was so busy stuffing her face, she had forgotten about the money part (also the fact that in the Digiworld, money from her world was useless). "Well, I do have twenty real world dollars . . . heh," she tried.

**End flash back**

"After that, the rest is pretty self-explanatory," Erica sighed as she finished up her story.

"Wow, harsh," Huntermon replied, her ears drooping a bit.

"But how can you even begun to argue with this place? I mean, look at it!" Emily threw up her hands and twirled around. "It's amazing! I would give anything to be a part of it!" It was then she was sparked with the idea. "Hey, maybe Huntermon and I can get jobs here too! Ya know, to help you pay your debt."

"Excuse me?" Huntermon coughed, a little miffed.

“Oh, come on!” Emily looked practically ecstatic. “This will be so much fun! I can’t believe I could really get a chance to work at a cool place like this. They don’t have real places like this anymore in the real world. This could be my only chance! Besides,” the black-haired girl added, “Erica and Cheekomon are our friends. We should help them out.”

This last bit seemed to persuade Huntermon more than any of the other things. “Okay,” she sighed.

At that moment a large figure loomed over them. “Just what are you doing?” Starmon demanded, causing Erica to jump in fear. “I just got done sayin’ I don’t pay my girls to gab! Now if you don’t get back ta’ work-”

“Oh, Mr. Starmon!” Emily jumped right in front of Erica, so that Starmon was looking at her now instead. He blinked in surprise. “I’d like to offer me and Huntermon here to help at this fine establishment with our friends Erica and Cheekomon!” she announced. “We’ll work hard to make sure your customers stick around!”

Starmon was speechless. He looked at Erica over Emily’s shoulder, then down at Huntermon, then back at Emily. They could see the wheels of his mind turning. Finally the star-shaped Digimon shrugged. “Well, I never was one to turn down help. Yer hired!”

“Yay!” Emily jumped around and hugged Erica. “This’ll be great!”

“If you say so,” the blonde replied dubiously.

* * *

That night Erica and Cheekomon brought their two friends to their little home, a tiny shack behind the saloon. Starmon had “graciously” given them their own place to sleep. “It’s not much,” Erica warned before pushing open the door.

Emily and Huntermon peered inside. Indeed, it wasn’t. The shack was just big enough for all four of them to lie down on the floor, which was covered in straw hay. There was no furniture. “Wow, this is. . . .” Huntermon searched for words.

“Neat!” Emily exclaimed, stepping in. “This is so authentic! We should leave the door open tonight. It’ll be like sleeping out under the stars, just like real cowboys do. This is such a great place!” She just couldn’t stop grinning.

Cheekomon leaned over to Huntermon. “Is your Digi-Destined okay?” she asked lowly.

“I’m beginning to think she hit her head and I didn’t notice,” the fox Digimon replied.

* * *

The next day Emily and Huntermon began their duties, both made to wear red saloon girl dresses like Erica and Cheekomon. Emily joined Cheekomon waiting on tables, while Huntermon carried rags and scrubbed tables and floors. The saloon looked better than it had in years, though of course Starmon never would have said that out loud.

For the first whole day Em had the time of her life. She ran around with energy, always smiling at the customers and bravely ignoring the ones like the Kokatorimon who thought she was just eye candy. Starmon yelled at her the least of all of them, which was good for the crabby saloon owner.

However, on the second day she began to realize this wasn’t all the fun it was cracked up to be. A lot of the customers were rude to all of them, and Starmon treated them like they were his devoted servants. He never asked their opinion and never gave them a chance to catch their breaths. If she was tired from running from table to table all day and had a spare minute, she couldn’t even sit down or Starmon would yell at her to get back to work. Erica and Cheekomon never said “I told you so,” but their expressions said it for them. Emily didn’t dare complain. After all, hadn’t she been so excited to live out her dream? She would feel ridiculous if she said anything against it now. Besides, she was doing this for Erica and Cheekomon too. She made a commitment and she couldn’t just abandon them now.

The one hope she clutched was that, with her and Huntermon’s help, their friends would soon be free of debt and could go. Then the four of them could go find the rest of their friends together. Unfortunately, Emily was wracking up her own debt at the saloon. As she lost her enthusiasm for the job, she started making mistakes. Sometimes she would say the wrong order, and sometimes she spilled trays of food. Every time she made a mistake Starmon would gleefully announce she had to stay working at the saloon longer. She wasn’t his favorite anymore, that was for sure.

* * *

Emily sat out back and took a bite out of her peanut butter sandwich. At least she got to have a half-hour lunch break. She took a sip of soda, thinking of how horribly she missed her tea.

"Emily?" Huntermon wandered outside to check up on her Digidestined.

Emily looked down and sighed. "What have I gotten us onto?"

"As usual, you jumped into a situation without thinking it through," Huntermon replied. "You wanted to help your friends, and I understand that but-"

Emily cut Huntermon off. "Actually, it wasn't just that. You’re right, I let myself get caught up in a moment without even considering the consequences. I was too busy thinking of fulfilling my own selfish dream. I wasn't really helping anyone but myself." Emily paused and covered her face, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. "This commitment thing is all just a big joke if you ask me."

"Hey, Emily, I know something that'll cheer you up. There's some shops just down the street, and we still have twenty minutes of break time left. What do you say? My treat." The fox Digimon grinned, trying to cheer up her partner.

"Huntermon, you’re the best!" Emily hugged her Digimon and the two snuck off to do some shopping.

Twenty minutes turned into thirty minutes and thirty minutes to an hour. It had been at least an hour and a half before Emily realized the time. When she asked a passerby Digimon what time it was, she gasped at his response. With two big shopping bags in each hand, she and Huntermon hurried back to the saloon, only to find a very miffed Starmon out front waiting for them.

"Mr. Starmon, before you say anything, I am so very very sorry!"

"YOU’RE FIRED!" The Digimon jumped at them wildly.

Emily wasn't too shocked, since she had seen this coming. Full of rage and without it a second thought, she stomped forward with one fist in Starmon's face. "Fine! I was gonna quit that dumb job anyway!" And with that she turned away.

"But Em! What about Erica and Cheekomon?" Huntermon pleaded.

Emily stopped in her tracks and looked back sadly, reminding herself that by walking away from this mess, it would hurt Erica and Cheekomon's chances of ever getting out of this Godforsaken place. Not to mention their chances of getting the full Digidestined team back together. Unfortunately, there was no way she could face her again. "I'm sorry, you guys," she silently apologized. "Come on, Huntermon, we have to go."

Erica ran out of the saloon, followed by Cheekomon. "Emily!" she cried. "Where are you going?"

"Your friends don't work here anymore!" Starmon turned.

Erica watched as Emily and Huntermon continued down the dusty street. She felt a horrible pain in her stomach. Cheekomon was also very bothered by this, but what bothered her even more was the saddened expression on her human's face. The sudden loss of hope. As Starmon went back inside, Cheekomon placed a paw on Erica's hand, which was hanging limply beside her thigh. "Don't worry, Erica. They'll be back."

Erica shook her head; despite her Digimon's words she burst into tears and ran back inside the saloon, tripping over her long dress on way. "Arrg! I hate this dress!" she screamed in frustration.

* * *

That night, Emily and Huntermon camped out in the desert, not too far from town. With the leftover tips she and Huntermon had made they had just enough to stock up on a few on-the-road snacks. Emily wondered about getting the outfits she had bought exchanged to put the money to better use. Like buying food.

She turned over and looked at her sleeping Digimon, petting the brown patch of hair on Huntermon's head. Watching her sleep, she thought back on something that happened earlier in their adventure, an image that continued to haunt her dreams.

**Flash back**

Another of Alex's screams tore at her ears, filling them with pain even as she tried to throw the gravity of the situation from her torn thoughts. "It's my fault, I've killed us all… everyone…"

Huntermon was panicked, and quailed, "Don't give up Emily, it's not over yet, we can still…"

The black-haired girl stopped her with a shout, wailing, "YES IT IS! It's all over! This adventure is over and it's all BECAUSE OF ME!!" Alex's screams were the background to her own frenzy.

**End flash back**

She cringed at the awful memory. "To think, if I had given up then I would have definitely killed us all." She paused. "Well, I'm not gonna let that happen!" She stood up and stared down the hill at the little town below. "I'll get this team back together if it's the last thing I do!" She glared at the saloon. "Or my screen name isn't Cowgirl Em!"

* * *

Emily awoke early the next morning. She found a cactus nearby, wide enough to allow her privacy as she slipped into one of the outfits she had bought the day before.

Huntermon opened her eyes to the jingling of spurs. As she propped up her head, she saw Emily step out in front of her. Instead of her usual overalls and green sneakers, the girl wore brown leather boots going up to just under her knees, dark blue jeans, and a brown jacket with fringe on the shoulders. On her waist was a black leather belt with a gold buckle, which Emily had carved "Cowgirl Em" into, all toped off with an authentic brown cowboy hat.

"Huntermon," she began, in her best-attempted cowboy accent, "Let's kick us, some Starmon butt!"

Huntermon knew what this meant, and she couldn't be prouder of her Digidestined. "I knew you had it in ya, Em!"

And with that the two started down the hill.

* * *

"Emily!" Cheekomon cried out in surprise, when she saw Emily burst through the swinging saloon doors.

Erica joined Cheekomon in greeting their friends. "Emily, you came back!" Erica hugged her close.

"Don't worry, lil’ lady." Emily adjusted her cowboy hat, once more showing off her clever mock accent. Then, with her normal British tone, she said, "I promised I'd get you guys out of this, and that's just what I'm gonna do."

"But how?" Cheekomon questioned. "I doubt Starmon is going to hire you back."

"I have a little something else in mind."

Just then, Starmon approached the four girls and laughed. "If you came here to ask for your job back, lil’ lady, you can forget it!"

"Yeah? Well then it’s a good thing I ain’t!" Emily stepped forward and pulled out two small guns! "Starmon, I challenge you to a showdown!"

Everyone in the saloon, including Erica and Cheekomon, backed away with a gasp.

"Relax, they’re only water guns," Emily laughed.

Everyone sighed and went back to their usual business.

"Didn't your mama ever tell ya that violence doesn't solve nothin'?" Starmon lectured. He may have been an unfriendly Digimon, but one thing he wouldn't tolerate in his saloon was violence. "I have a better idea. How 'bout we play a friendly game of Digi Poker."

"That all depends on your definition of 'friendly'," Emily glared suspiciously.

"Hey now, I'm a reasonable Digimon, so here's the deal." He paused and cleared his throat. "If you win, I'll let your friends off the hook. But if I win, the four of you are stuck here until you've finished paying off your dept." He held out his hand. "How 'bout it, partner?"

Emily looked at Erica and Cheekomon, who looked back at her with desperate eyes. She then looked at Huntermon, who could tell what Emily is thinking. "I'm sure it's no different from the poker you play in your world," she assured her. Emily had taught Huntermon about poker once back before everyone had been separated.

Emily turned back to Starmon and shook his hand. "You got yourself a bet!"

Emily was shown to a table where a stack of cards and chips lay in a neat pile in the middle. Sitting across from her was Starmon, and his partner Deputymon. Starmon reached out, about to grab the deck, when Emily stopped him. "I'll deal." She shot him a mistrusting glare.

Starmon held his hands up. “Whatever you want, missy.” He shot Deputymon a sly look, as if to say, “Like taking candy from a baby Digimon.”

His expression changed when Emily started to shuffle. Her hands flew like a blur, and the cards seemed to magically jump around each other. With a swift flick of her wrist each of them had five cards. Emily snapped hers up and studied them, a slightly proud expression on her face. Now the look Starmon and Deputymon were sharing said, “Uh oh. . . .”

The game went quickly some times, and agonizingly slow others. Huntermon, Erica, and Cheekomon hung over Emily’s shoulder, but after the black-haired girl cautioned them about throwing the game with their expressions, they all kept strict poker faces. Starmon and Deputymon were true poker players. Nothing in their faces or postures betrayed what Starmon had in his hand.

The first couple rounds, Starmon won every hand. The Digi-Destined team couldn’t help but get more and more depressed. Then, as Emily got the hang of things, she started winning rounds. First she beat his pair with her own three of a kind. Then she had a straight, and all Starmon could pull of was another pair. They hung even for a while, both winning about the same number of hands, neither gaining the upper hand. After an hour and a half of intense playing without a single moment to rest.

Finally Starmon threw down his hand in disgust. “This is getting us nowhere, and I have a saloon to run! I say we throw the whole pot in the middle. One last hand! Winner take all!”

Emily, who was more than ready to end this tournament (although she was a little nervous betting everything on one hand), nodded her agreement. They had Erica, who knew nothing about poker, shuffle and deal for fairness. Silently Emily poured over her hand. She picked out three to put back, but then paused before she could finish the move and thought carefully. On the other side of the table Starmon calmly put back two and drew two new cards.

Suddenly a cheerful voice broke Emily’s intense concentration. “You can do it, Yugi! Believe in the heart of the cards!”

Emily looked over at Erica with a completely confused expression. Erica winked and shot her a thumbs up. That was when she remembered once telling Erica about how much she loved watching the Yu-Gi-Oh television show and playing the card game. She realized Erica was trying to give her confidence. “I guess that makes you Téa,” she chuckled. “Thanks for cheering me on. Don’t worry, my deck can’t be beat!” She laughed as she threw down two cards and took two more.

Starmon gave Deputymon a confused look, then shrugged. “Whatever that was about. Okay, now, let’s call. Whatdaya got?”

“You first!” Emily insisted.

The saloon-owner sighed. “Fine. Read ‘em and weep.” He spread his cards on the table face-up. Deputymon smirked. There were two aces and three jacks.

“Uh, is that bad?” Cheekomon asked hopefully.

Huntermon’s ears drooped. “That’s a full house. There’s not much that can beat it.”

“Nope,” Emily agreed, her voice neutral. “Not much at all . . . except THIS!” She slapped her cards on the table and laughed out loud.

Starmon and Deputymon dropped their jaws, as the Digidestined and their Digimon started cheering. There on the table was a four, a five, a six, a seven, and an eight, all of the suit of hearts. “T-that’s a straight flush!” gasped Starmon. “The highest hand in digi poker! How did you-how could you-you must have . . . oh, well. A deal's a deal." Starmon sighed, then turned to Erica and Cheekomon. "You’re free to go!"

The two girls leapt at Emily, hugging her like crazy. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, we owe ya one!"

"Er, don't mention it." Emily blushed.

The Digidestined went to the back real quick, so Erica and Cheekomon could change out of their saloon dresses. "Geez, I never thought I'd get out of that thing!" Erica laughed, brushing back her long hair.

"Tell me about it!" Cheekomon chimed in. "By the way, nice outfit, Emily!"

Emily looked down at her cowgirl clothes. "Oh yeah, thanks." She regretted having to take it back, but with that money they could buy enough food to last them a month. So she changed back into her normal clothes and folded the outfit neatly, putting it back in its shopping bag, along with the other outfits she bought.

After double-checking to make sure they had everything, the quartet finally headed out the front door. As they stepped outside, Emily looked down at the gravel beneath her feet. "Listen, I'm really sorry I didn't stand by my commitment before. I promise, though, no matter what happens I'll stick by you guys through thick and thin!"

"Ditto!" Erica replied with a warm smile. It was good to know she had a friend with such a beautiful soul. Before, she never felt like she belonged in the group, except when she talked to Alex. It was a wonderful thing to feel acceptance from others as well. Now that she thought about it, it wasn’t like she was ever unaccepted to begin with!

Just then, their chests illuminated with gold and pink light. They lifted the tags out from under their shirts, watching them closely as their Crests appeared in front of their very eyes. "Wow! Are these what I think they are?" Erica exclaimed with wide blue eyes.

Emily stared blankly at the pink Crest appearing in her tag. "Our Crests!" The Crests of Beauty and Commitment had found their rightful guardians. At that moment, Emily was feeling extra lucky. "Huntermon, digivolve!"

"You got it, Em!" The fox Digimon nodded. "Huntermon digivolve to . . . Agurimon!"

Emily, Erica and Cheekomon hopped onto the Champion’s back. Agurimon reared up like a horse, while Emily waved the cowboy hat over her head. "Yeeeeehaaaaw!" she called out.

As the grand fox Champion galloped off into the desert sun, a gust of wind blew the cowboy hat out of her hand and across the sand.