“Have Patience”

By

Kristofer McGee

* * *

~~~ Alex's P.O.V. ~~~

That Lordessmon gets craftier every day! This time she tried shape shifting into our good buddy Jenn, when she and Foximon went to get sodas from the stores at Secondary Village! Thankfully Foximon came back early and realized this Jenn must be a fake, since the real Jenn was back at the village. Lordessmon attacked and then Huntermon obtained her Ultimate form, MidnightAgurimon! But Lordessmon copied her too; we were confused when the two of them started to fight. Thankfully the real MidnightAgurimon got the jump on her and Lordessmon retreated! Not before our base was completely ruined in the fight, though. . . .

* * *

Night was drawing close, the navy blue sky dotted with white pinpoints. Aside from the gentle breeze from the east, there was no sound as the Digidestiend continued to build their base.

A snore came from Nerimon as he turned over. Jaymon let out a deep sigh as she slept. Jennifer smiled to herself as Foximon stretched her paws, obviously deep in a warm dream.

“My arms hurt,” whined Skye as she passed a brick to Erica, who passed it along the line.

“Keep it down, Skye,” Lexxy hushed the blue-haired girl. “If Lordessmon attacks, they need to be well rested.”

Jennifer adjusted her goggles and hoped very much that Lordessmon wouldn’t attack soon. But as she picked up another heavy brick from the floor, she began to regret her decision, as her fellow teammates grew restless and impatient. Skye’s frequent whining coupled with some other members of the team slacking off work meant more work for her and this was irritating the redhead to the point of distraction.

Samee took the brick from Jennifer and sloped mud onto it, trying to finish up the wall that was busted in. She only had a few more to go; however, it seemed like there were millions. "When I get my hands on that Lordessmon. . . ." she grumbled.

”Not if I get there first,” Alex said darkly in reply to Samee’s comment.

”You’ll have to fight me to get at her,” Erica told the boy, who felt his cheeks redden as he turned away.

The others were equally as angry, each muttering and cursing silently to themselves.

“Snack time!” cried Lexxy, as she brought out a tray of munchies and caffeine. Thanking Lexxy, the group were happy that the munchies and caffeine would keep them alert.

* * *

The sun was coming up, an orange light illuminating the sky, casting pale black shadows as it rose over the trees. The Digidestiend were nearly done with their work – the pile of bricks gone and the smell of drying mud and paint lingering in the fresh morning air.

“Now we just have to wait for the mud and paint to dry,” said Jennifer, asserting her authority over the weary group. Their alertness had slowly sapped away from them as the coffee’s effects had wore off and now they sat down, forcing their eyes open.

”Once the paint is dry, we can move in the furniture we got from the female Cunomon’s home,” Jenn said.

“You mean the tables and chairs?” asked Dani.

“Are you sure there’s enough room for us all?” asked a wide-eyed Skye in panicky voice.

“Quiet!” said Jennifer firmly, and silence took hold of the group. She was cranky from the lack of sleep, but then again, so were all of them. “Also, we need to move in the pillows, blankets, food, and the other stuff we need as soon as the paint’s dry.”

“Will there be enough space, though?” Skye persisted, but Jennifer held up a hand to silence her.

“This place is certainly big enough,” Alex answered for the redhead, and Jennifer smiled gratefully.

“What about a bathroom?” asked a curious Lina.

“Erm. . . .”

Jennifer’s eyes met with Lexxy – who was the brains of this outfit. Sure enough, the raven-haired girl had included this in her calculations and smiled proudly. “There wasn’t enough room to build one and besides, our plumbing skills leave a lot to be desired,” she said with a knowing smile. “However, if the urge arises, we can always refresh ourselves at the cottage – which is only a few moments away.”

The group were seemingly content with this answer and Jennifer was proud of her leadership skills. “There’s nothing more we can do, so let’s get some rest,” she announced, to the happiness of everyone.

Without question, the group laid down with their Digimon for a much needed rest.

”Hold up!” Kristina said. “Someone’s got to stay on watch duty.” The group exchanged furtive glances, most pretending to be asleep.

”I’ll do it,” Jennifer volunteered. “I’m used to the lack of sleep. Get some rest, Kris.”

The other girl smiled at her and lay down with Jaymon. Jennifer smiled, glad to have this responsibility, as she felt guilty for making the group work non-stop and denying Skye her twice hourly bathroom breaks (which she suspected were just excuses to not work as much as the others).

The others slowly descended into rest without much conversation, too exhausted to talk. As sleep engulfed them in a void of pleasant dreams, their aching muscles relaxed once more.

Jennifer went outside and sat down in one of the chairs, propping her feet on a table and leaning back on the chair. She grabbed a bag of potato chips and began to eat.

“What I wouldn’t give for a mini TV right now,” she said to herself, trying to keep her eyes open.

The sunlight danced off her goggles in a splendid prismatic burst of colour as the sun rose from behind the mountains and the red-haired girl kept a vigilant watch over her sleeping comrades.

* * *

Deep in the leafy green forest where the sun had not penetrated the thick green leaves, dark shadows danced and the trees whispered of evil among themselves.

Lordessmon sat in a clearing in the forest, plotting her next move. In her pale, sharp hands she held her crystal ball. She removed her cupped palms from under the crystal ball and it hovered inches above her removed palm. The ball exchanged its shiny surface for an image of the Digidestiend as they slept.

“Marajamon and Duodramon were right,” she whispered to herself. “These chosen children are giving me more trouble then what I anticipated.” Her eyes were full of a cold malice. “Nevertheless, my powers are far greater then their own Crests and Digimon combined.

“My best minions have failed. These digital fools don’t know what they’re getting themselves into,” she said darkly. “If only I could wipe them out in one swoop. . . .”

Her eyes flashed – she knew exactly what to do now. Gathering herself, trying to contain the cruel glee she felt, she decided to just take advantage of the Digidestiend while they were dozing and exhausted. Finish them off, quick and clean – once and for all.

* * *

The flame-haired girl’s hand was limp; Jennifer was still leaning back in the chair, fast asleep. Lordessmon noticed this as she spied on the group from behind a tree. Her body was robed with shadows, hiding her perfectly from the Digidestiend, should they wake up.

Sunemon was awakened by Lordessmon's familiar scent. It was unmistakably her. She immediately sat upward, awakening her Digidestiend.

"Samee, wake up." She nudged her partner, gently shaking the sleeping girl.

Samee turned over, brushing her Digimon away in a sleepy grumble. "Just five more minutes. . . ."

The Digimon butted her head into Samee's side, and the girl shot up, angry and annoyed. "Geez, Sunemon! What is your problem?!"

Sunemon, hurt by the outburst, pointed to the trees. “Samee . . . Lordessmon is close by.”

Samee immediately got over her anger and decided that she and Sunemon would wake the other Digidestiend. As she shook the Digidestined awake and Sunemon stirred their Digimon partner, both were greeted by a grumble of “five more minutes” and some sleepy ignorance of their pleas to wake up.

Lexxy was first to awaken to Samee’s plea and sat up, stretching her arms. Cunomon yawned loudly, to which Lexxy responded, “Shut your mouth or you’ll catch flies.”

Ashamed, the blue dragon stood up, fully awake. "Where's Jennifer? Isn't she supposed to be standing watch?" asked Lexxy, as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

Foximon walked to where Jennifer was and shook her head in disappointment at her sleeping partner. The redhead’s mouth was wide open and her eyes closed, a soft whistling came from her followed by a loud snore.

"Jennifer!" Foximon smacked Jennifer's face with her paw. "Wake up!" Jennifer woke up immediately, falling backwards in the chair in shock.

"Enjoy your nap?" Foximon glared.

"Sorry, I must have dozed off. . . ." Jennifer smiled, apologetically.

“Well, while you were sleeping, Sunemon has caught a whiff of that pungent Lordessmon, and she’s close by,” Foximon summarised for her partner.

”Okay everyone – get in the base. We’ll be safe in there,” Jennifer ordered as the group obeyed except for the dark-haired Samee.

“I’m not going, Jennifer. I want to finish Lordessmon off! I’m not putting my vengeance on hold so everyone can be safe!” she said angrily.

”Samee, I’m right behind you!” snarled an angry Sunemon.

”It would be wiser to wait things out,” Magimon said as her blue-haired partner entered the base. “No sense barging out there without a suitable course of action - unless you plan to die out there.” A dark look clouded the feline’s eyes. “Just be patient, Samee.”

Samee bit her lip. She didn’t agree with the white cat but she decided to hold her tongue. After how hard she worked to feel accepted into the group, and be rid of her reputation as the Digimon Queen, the last thing she wanted was to undo all of that by starting a fight. She obediently followed the redhead’s orders and entered the base, Sunemon at her side.

Sunemon, full of sympathy for her partner, smiled hopefully at her and decided to comfort her Digidestiend. "Yah know what they say?”

“What do they say?” asked Samee curiously.

“Good things come to those who are patient," Sunemon said and Samee chuckled.

“You’re crazy, y’know?” she said as she petted her Digimon and they vanished into the base.

* * *

“Where are they?!”

A cluster of twittering bird-Digimon fled the tree as Lordessmon slammed her fist against the rough bark. “Those darn Digidestiend must have become aware of my presence.”

Malice and cunning filled her eyes. She chuckled to herself. “Never mind. I’ll destroy them in the end.”

* * *

“What we need,” said Jennifer, “is a plan.”

All eyes fell on Lexxy, who had produced her laptop already and positioned it on a table so everyone could see.

“What do we know about Lordessmon?” she asked, as the Digimon Analyser loaded up on-screen, but there were several blank spaces.

The Digidestiend now turned to Skye, who was the creator of the malevolent one.

“Well, let’s see,” pondered the blue haired girl. “She can shape-shift.”

Lexxy nodded, adding this information to the analyser.

“Her attack style is very unique too; she’s very crafty and organised with her attacks,” Skye continued, the information flowing out of her like a river of solace for the Digidestined. “She always used the classic conclusion of brains over brawn.”

“Then we’ll have to outsmart her,” said Emily.

Silence reigned while they gathered their wit and thought. Finally, Kristina came up with a suggestion.

“I’ve got it!” cried Kristina. “We let Lordessmon think she defeated us!”

“And when her guard’s down, we can finish her off!” Tania chipped in.

“That’s excellent, guys!” Jennifer chimed happily.

“It’s almost too perfect,” squealed Dani.

Lexxy nodded and directed their eyes to her computer screen. “We have to make our illusions look real. First, we will have to chase her away from the base, so it won’t be destroyed this time.” The map changed. “And then the plan begins.”

* * *

“Why did we choose to be the diversion?” inquired Sunemon for the tenth time.

“Because,” Samee said quietly, “we’re trying to become Samee again, and not her.”

There was no need to say whom Samee was referring to, as both girls instantly knew what she was talking about.

Sunemon and Samee stood outside the base yelling Lordessmon's name. “Lordessmon! Get out here, you big stink bag!” cried Sunemon.

"Hey! Lordessmon! Why don't you come out and fight!" Samee taunted.

Lordessmon leaped out from her hiding place in the forest, enraged. Fury seemed to radiate off her and the smell of burning steel seemed to fill their nostrils.

“Sunemon?” Samee asked, her hand clutching her digivice.

“You got it!” Sunemon said.

"Sunemon digivolve to . . . KiSunemon!

“Hold on, girl.” KiSunemon said as she lifted Samee over her shoulder and flew off, as Lordessmon chased them.

“Is the coast clear?” asked Skye.

“Yes,” Lexxy said, peeking out of their base. “Let’s go.”

The Digidestined and their Digimon (minus Samee and Sunemon) left the base and pulled out their digivices.

"Foximon digivolve to . . . Glorymon!"

"Cunomon digivolve to . . . Sartomon!"

“Pandamon digivolve to . . . Kombatmon!"

"Diratimon digivolve to . . . Dracomon!"

"Yazumon digivolve to . . . Djarumon!"

"Cheekomon digivolve to . . . Cheetormon!"

"Jaymon digivolve to . . . Skylamon!"

"Huntermon digivolve to . . . Agurimon!"

"Nerimon digivolve to . . . Nedikismon!"

“Let’s go,” whispered Magimon quietly, and they followed Lordessmon in silence.

* * *

"Alright KiSunemon, time for phase two!" Samee said.

KiSuenemon nodded and took a dive downward into the clearing below. Air rushed up at Samee, who closed her eyes so the wind wouldn’t sting her eyes. As suspected, the malicious Lordessmon swooped down after them like a giant bat. Samee and KiSunemon allowed Lordessmon to corner them, as planned early.

“Fiery Claw!” KiSunemon cried.

Samee felt proud of her Digimon. KiSunemon was pretending to fight, luring Lordessmon into a false sense of security. Attacks shot across the sky like fireworks and KiSunemon’s skills in acting were unveiled. She crumpled and hit the floor with a thud.

“Surrender, you foolish girl and I’ll consider sparing your life.”

“You’re too kind,” Samee retorted as KiSunemon had reappeared beside Lordessmon and threw another attack at the evil Digimon.

Lordessmon reacted and sent KiSunemon flying into a large rock. Sunemon lay against the boulder, seemingly weakened. She crawled up against the boulder.

Samee took this as her cue to distract Lordessmon away from Sunemon and lunged at the evil Digimon, only to get knocked to the ground next to Sunemon.

“Your pathetic attempts will only result in injury,” Lordessmon said.

So far everything was going as planned. Samee, hiding a gleeful smile, quickly threw some dirt on her face before Lordessmon could notice, and held onto Sunemon. They both remained laying on the ground, begging for mercy. "Oh Sunemon, it's all over for us!" said Samee, who was turning out to be quite the actress.

“You were so much better as the Digimon Queen,” said Lordessmon. “Goodbye—”

Suddenly, there was a roar and Lordessmon narrowly dodged a fireball. “Who did that?”

The rest of the group emerged from the trees surrounding Lordessmon. Nedikismon’s jaw was issuing great plumes of smoke.

Lordessmon sneered. “You thought a little trickery would fool me? I command the very forces of nature itself!” she shrieked hysterically as she commanded the trees surrounding them to fall on the Digidestined and their Digimon.

"NO!" Samee cried.

Lordessmon burst out into evil laughter. "Finally, I shall have my revenge!" She then turned her attention back to Samee, who was holding onto Sunemon tightly. With each painstakingly slow step she grew closer and closer to her target. Lordessmon began to close in on them when suddenly she was caught off guard.

“Star Shooter!”

As she hit the ground, she looked up and saw Sartomon flying above her head, as well as the other Digimon and Digidestined. They surrounded her from all sides.

"But I destroyed you. . . ." she said in disbelief.

Lexxy pointed to her open laptop. "No, what you destroyed was a holographic simulation." She pressed a button and the hologram of the Digimon and Digidestined reappeared in front of Lordessmon. It seemed so real!

"Courtesy of our anonymous pen pal." Lexxy winked at the other Digidestined.

“Sunemon,” Samee said and her Digimon nodded. She had faked her weakness; she was still quite strong enough to digivolve.

"Sunemon digivolve to . . . KiSunemon!"

KiSunemon and Samee rejoined the others, and the group was complete; The Digidestined.

Lordessmon was enraged at this point. The familiar smell of hot, molten steel returned, her body visibly shaking with anger. Starting to feel insecure, she began throwing random attacks at them.

”Take this! And this! And this!” she screamed, each assault more powerful than the last. The Digidestined were able to evade her attacks easily, considering that they had spent so much time discussing and studying their information on Lordessmon and her attack styles.

Lordessmon refused to fail no matter how weak she got. Her energy was diminishing but she fought on, even though the Digidestined dodged her attacks each time.

“KiSunemon, this is taking longer then it should have,” Samee said to her Digimon, suddenly getting a wild idea. She knew Lordessmon could tire out the group by making them dodge forever. “You need to digivolve to your Ultimate form.”

"But that wasn’t part of the plan." KiSunemon reminded.

"Screw the plan, I want to win this thing!" Samee got up and lunged at Lordessmon from behind, summoning the magic sword she used as the Digimon Queen. As Samee, she had never dared use it, fearing the evil power in it. Now she was beyond caring. The fight would end today!

"Samee, don't!" KiSunemon cried.

The other Digidestined saw this as well and hollered at Samee to stop.

“No! Samee don’t!” cried Dani.

“Don’t be stupid!” yelled Alex.

“Samee, stop!” Lina yelled.

Their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Lordessmon turned before Samee could make impact and shot her away with a powerful bolt of electricity. The girl hit against a tree trunk and lay winded.

"You must have a death wish. . . ." the evil Digimon sneered. “Farewell, Samee,” Lordessmon said as she prepared to attack again.

“SAMEE!” roared KiSunemon, and a burst of light shot out of the girl’s digivice. The whole area was plunged into light and from the light came a voice.

“KiSunemon digivolve to. . . .” The beautiful fox-like Digimon’s body was cocooned with light as her form shifted. Her upper body was beautiful, her skin dusky and her long black hair spiralling down. Her lower half was covered in beautiful fur, and resembled a fox’s body. This human/fox hybrid reminded Samee of a centaur, only a fox instead of a horse. The light faded away and there stood Sunemon’s Ultimate stage. “ChiKitsunemon!”

“This cannot be!” shrieked Lordessmon, sensing the power coming from the Ultimate Digimon.

“Mirror!” screamed ChiKitsunemon, shooting an attack at Lordessmon, and a battle commenced between the two forces of power.

While the two Digimon fought, the Digidestined ran to Samee's aid.

“Samee, are you hurt?” Jennifer inquired curiously.

“Other the a few bruises, I’m okay,” Samee insisted.

"Foolish Digimon, you should know by now that one Ultimate could never defeat me!" Lordessmon, barely winded, was able to gloat in the middle of her battle.

"You underestimate me, Lordessmon." ChiKitsunemon smiles. "Besides, I'm not the one who will destroy you."

Lordessmon’s brow furrowed in a look of curiosity at the Digimon when, suddenly, ChiKitsunemon simply disappeared.

Time to face your Destiny, Lordessmon, whispered a familiar voice inside her head.

Lordessmon suddenly began throwing out-of-control attacks. "No! What's happening?!" she screamed, as she lost total control of herself.

ChiKitsunemon was using her Destiny attack, which allowed her to completely possess her enemy.

Lordessmon continued to shoot attacks in random directions, her energy falling rapidly as the other Digimon took cover to wait out the barrage. ChiKitsunemon forced Lordessmon to fly to the large boulders where Sunemon had previously fallen. She then shot her attacks right at the large stones, where they bounced off and struck back at the evil Digimon, along with shards of the damaged rock. Lordessmon screamed in pain as the energy attacks and pieces of rocks hit her body. She was soon rendered exhausted and injured. ChiKitsunemon reappeared and dedigivolved all the way back to Kitmon, Sunemon’s In-Training form.

“Now everyone, defeat Lordessmon!” Kitmon screamed at the other Digimon.

“Digivolve to Ultimate!” Jenn ordered the group.

No one disagreed, their Crests and their digivices lighting up.

“Glorymon digivolve to . . . PolarGlorymon”

“Sartomon digivolve to . . . DracoSartomon!”

"Kombatmon digivolve to . . . MetalKombatmon!"

"Dracomon digivolve to . . . MegaDracomon!"

“Djarumon digivolve to . . . PunkDjarumon”

"Cheetormon digivolve to . . . WereCheetormon!"

"Skylamon digivolve to . . . Saromon!"

“Agurimon digivolve to . . . MidnightAgurimon”

“Nedikismon digivolve to . . . Altormon!”

“Attack!” the Digidestined cried in union.

“Northern Lights!”

“Blade of the Dragon!”

"Heart of Sword!"

“Thor's Bolt!”

”Sonic Riff!”

”Speed Cyclone!”

”Feather Sword!”

“Shock Wave!”

”Burning Punch!”

In a single burst of effort, the attacks combined and slammed into Lordessmon. She screamed in agony as she was deleted, unable to stop the horrific process. Her body disintegrated as the nine Digimon dedigivolved into their In-Training stages, all their Ultimate energy poured into their attacks.

Kitmon bounced into Samee’s lap. "Thank goodness you’re not hurt," she said, nuzzling her Samee's cheek.

“Let’s go back to the base for a little celebration lunch and some well-deserved rest and relaxation,” Jenn suggested, which was met by an almighty cheer of agreement.

Before they could leave, a strange beeping began to ring.

“Huh?” Lexxy looked at her digivice.

“It’s our digivices!” Samee gasped.

“We’re going home!” Skye squealed optimistically, her mind seizing on one scenario that might explain why the digivices would be reacting that way.

”It’s too good to be true!” Dani said, hugging Bamboomon.

”Whatever it is,” said Jennifer. “We’re about to find out.”