Episode 4:

"Sartomon’s Star Shooter"

By

Jennifer Morton

and

Shelli-Jo Pelletier

* * *

~~~ Skye’s P.O.V. ~~~

Wow, things sure have gotten weird fast! Not to mention it’s like a major case of déjà vu. We’d been walking for a long time, when we finally saw a beach—with telephones! I was so happy I forgot all about what happened in the actual show and I tried to call home. But that was the least of our worries. Jennifer was attacked by a Shellmon and Foximon digi-volved to Glorymon to save her! Not only did Glorymon’s entrance blow us all away, her Raging Cyclone sent that Shellmon back to its digi-mommy.

* * *

It had grown dark, and the group of Digi-Destined and Digimon were looking for a safe place to make camp. They were passing through a grassy valley between tall hills, casting the gang in deep shadow. There were a few trees around, but not enough to make it a forested area.

"I don’t think I like the dark," Tania grumbled, chafing her arms to keep them warm. "And is it just me, or have we been walking for a loooong time?"

Cunomon snickered and slapped Yazumon with the end of his tail. "You’ve got a whiny partner."

"Yeah? Well at least mine’s not stupid!" the shaggy dragon retorted, batting away the tail with his red claws.

"Hey, take that back!" Cunomon growled. The two dragon Digimon jumped at each other and began to scuffle.

Tania and Lexxy shared a glance and rolled their eyes.

Kristina was rubbing her eyes and trying to hide a yawn. She was walking toward the front with Jenn. "I agree with Tania, Jenn. Can’t we stop soon?"

Jenn looked around. "I would, but we’re way out in the open here, guys. We should find someplace with more cover."

Diratimon and Jaymon, who had been flying high above as lookout, came swooping down just in time to hear Jenn’s words. "You’ll like what we’ve found, then," reported Diratimon.

"Yup, after we get out of this valley there’s some low cliffs, and there’s lots of caves. They don’t look inhabited either. It’d be the perfect place to stay the night!"

This cheered up the entire group, now knowing they had a goal not far ahead. Their chatter picked up pace again, along with their feet.

"Soon," Alex told himself, trying to drudge up the energy to keep walking. "Soon the FDD’s will be asleep in a nice warm cave with nice warm food."

"Hey, you know I was the one who thought up the whole FDD thing," Skye pointed out, crossing her arms. "No one ever cares about the creators of things like that."

"It’s true," Jenn nodded. "I remember talking to you about that. And everyone knows about Lexxy’s Lexxshiro Shrine, but not a lot know that she got the idea—with permission of course—from my Jinnato Shrine."

"And it even says it right at the top," groaned Lexxy, agreeing. "People never take the time to read all the stuff we write on our sites. It’s important! We don’t just write it for our health, for crying out loud!"

Alex grinned tiredly. "I understand you guys being upset, but could we talk about this later? I’m too tired to listen to rants."

"Yeah," Nerimon conformed, "besides, we Digimon don’t know what you’re talking about!" All the Digimon nodded.

Skye, Jenn, and Lexxy blushed.

* * *

It wasn’t long until the Digi-Destined reached their destination, and without hesitation Jenn lead the others inside the cave. The entire place was pitch black.

"Does anybody have a light?" asked Dani.

"Oops." Jenn laughed. "I guess I should have thought about that one first."

"Hey, no problem," said Nerimon. He scurried back towards the entrance.

"Neri, where are you going?" Alex cried after him.

His Digimon returned with an armful of twigs and branches. The others watched as the little red dinosaur threw them on the floor. "Okay, stand back," he warned. "FIRE BALL!" he shouted, spitting a fire ball onto the rubble. The flames burst into a small campfire.

"Yeah! Fantastic job, Neri!" Alex praised.

"Awww, It was nothin,’" Nerimon responded, blushing slightly.

Jenn wandered the area for a few seconds before making her decision. "Okay, guys. We’ll stay here for the night," she finally announced. Jenn sat down beside Foximon, who was looking around nervously. "What’s wrong, Foxi?" she questioned.

"I don’t know. Something just doesn’t feel right."

Jenn patted her Digimon lightly on the head.

"Foximon is afraid of the daaaaaaark!" Cunomon chanted playfully.

"Am NOT!" Foximon barked.

"Can we please stop this pointless chitchat and get some sleep!" yelled Tania.

* * *

At that same moment, Queen Sonomi was monitoring this image through her dark crystal. "Simple fools," She snickered evilly. "Sleep well, Digi-Destined."

* * *

"Wait! Someone’s gotta stand watch," said Lexxy.

"Oh, that’s right," Jenn realized. "Foximon and I will do it."

"Why am I not surprised?" Lexxy shook her head. She remembered the time she and Jenn were on the phone until one in the morning. "I swear that girl never sleeps."

Foximon followed her partner toward the entrance, where they would stand guard for the night. "I’m tellin’ ya, Jenn. Something doesn’t smell right."

"Tell me about it. You need a bath. You smell like dead fish," said Jenn, waving a hand over her nose.

"Look who’s talking, Shellmon bait!" Foximon laughed, playfully running ahead.

Jenn chased after her "Oh yeah?!"

The duo didn’t seem to notice a pair of eyes watching them from around the corner. The creature growled quietly as they passed by.

* * *

Lexxy felt someone shake her shoulder and stubbornly tried to remain buried in sleep, turning over and mumbling something unintelligible. Her alarm clock hadn’t woken her up, therefore it wasn’t time to go to school. Time for SLEEP!

A voice that she didn’t recognize snickered. "Wakey-wakey Lexxy! Time to keep watch for evil Digimon!"

Oh wait, now she remembered. Digi-vice real. Digiworld real. Digimon real. Riiiight. "Bu’ I jus’ fell ‘sleep," she mumbled groggily.

The voice (that she now recognized) leaned right in her ear and nudged her head. "My partner is laaaaaaazzzyyyy," Cunomon sang.

Lexxy sat up quickly, wincing. "A little louder next time," she grumbled, brushing her sleep-tossed, black hair into place, "I can still hear out of this ear. Oh, hi Jenn." She smiled sleepily, not realizing Jenn and her fox partner had been standing over her along with Cunomon.

"Ahem," said the mammal Rookie.

"Hi to you too, Foxi," Lexxy smiled.

Jenn bit her lip a little, her face sheepish. "I’m sorry to wake you, Lexxy. I wouldn’t have, but you really wanted to be fair and take your turn and—"

Lexxy waved a hand to cut her off. "It’s okay, Jenn. Really. I’m just a heavy sleeper. Heh heh. Besides, I’m eighteen. Eighteen-year-olds don’t need sleep." She grinned and winked. The way she said it made it sound to Jenn like it was something she said often.

"Yeah, but right now you’re more like eleven," the redhead pointed out.

Lexxy looked down at her body and laughed. "Oh yeah. I forgot."

Cunomon and Foximon exchanged confused looks, then shrugged. Humans, go figure.

"Are you sure? About the watch thing? Because we can stay up—"

"Yeah, yeah. You go get some sleep, Jenn. Foximon too. Cuno and I can keep watch for a few hours. Then we’ll wake up Dani and Pandamon."

Jenn still looked doubtful, so Cunomon snorted. "Look Jenn, I’ll admit I don’t know much about this human-leader-look-out-for-everyone thingy, but it’s my job to protect Lexxy, so stop worrying so much. You’re going to make yourself sick or something, and I know that won’t make Foximon happy."

"He’s right," the canine Digimon nodded.

Jenn grinned. When three such good friends were all trying to convince you to relax, it couldn’t help but make you feel good. "Okay, guess I’m just a little tired and it’s weirding me out. Come on, Foximon." The two girls waved and went to find a place to curl up in the cave.

Then Foximon stopped. She turned back and trotted up to Lexxy and Cunomon. "I just remembered something. Jenn doesn’t believe me, but I swear I’m getting the creepy-crawlies here. Keep an eye out, okay guys?"

"Uh, sure thing, Foxi." Lexxy blinked as the fox ran back to catch up with her partner.

Lexxy stretched and stood up, brushing grit from her jeans. She looked around the wide flat area and silently counted the dark forms. Yup, all eighteen were there, including Jenn and Foximon who were curling up not far away. The Digi-Destined were pretty spread out across the wide floor, so thankfully their conversation hadn’t woken anyone up.

"Come on, we should go outside," she told her little digital dragon. They stepped around the sleeping bodies and to the fire that Nerimon had made for light and warmth. After feeding it some sticks to keep it going, they stepped out into the night.

The black sky above was dotted with stars. Lexxy had always loved watching the stars. But seeing the unfamiliar constellations, the strange landscape spread below, it made her feel a little lonely. She’d see her own world again someday . . . right?

"Are you sad, Lexxy?" came Cunomon’s voice, looking up at her with worry. He hadn’t known his Digi-Destined for very long, but he felt he knew everything about her. And he could tell she suddenly wasn’t very happy.

Lexxy couldn’t help but smile. "How could I be unhappy with you, buddy?" She leaned down to give her dragon a careful hug.

"Oh, gee." Cunomon blushed.

They talked and watched for almost an hour. Despite herself, Lexxy was getting tired. She wasn’t used to sleeping for only a few hours and then getting up to stand around and do nothing but watch the night. "I could use some water as a wakeup call," she yawned.

"Water?" Cunomon’s pointed ears perked up. "There’s a stream that way." He pointed with his tail. "It’s not far; I can hear it."

"Really?"

"Yup. That’s how caves are made, of course. Water wears down the rock until a cave is formed." Cunomon puffed his chest out proudly at his extensive knowledge.

Lexxy chuckled. "Okay, you stay here and I’ll go splash some water on my face." She stood to go, but Cunomon stood up too.

"You shouldn’t go alone, Lexxy. Nocturnal Digimon are out and about, and some are hungry."

The green-eyed girl was about to retort that if the stream was so close, she’d be perfectly safe just running there and back, but her partner’s words stopped her short. "Er, okay. I won’t object to that."

The two left the cave entrance and walked along the side of the cliff, both squinting to try to see in the darkness. Soon Lexxy could hear the trickle of running water too, and then there was a white shine against the rock wall. It was the starlight reflecting off a thin stream falling down the rock face.

Lexxy cupped her hands under the water and collected it, jumping slightly as it hit her face. Cold! She turned to Cunomon to ask if he was thirsty, but suddenly she had to catch her balance as the whole cliff began to shake!

Both the Digimon’s and the human’s head snapped up to look above. Overhead a ledge was shaking and rocking. . . . No, Lexxy realized, it was a rocky creature jumping around, not the rock itself!

"Rrraaahhh!" roared the Digimon, and it leaped down at them!

"Look out, Lexxy!" Cunomon cried, pushing her away from the side of the cliffs. They scrambled for safety as the much larger creature landed right where they had been standing.

Raging green eyes shone in the starlight of the night. "And now you are separated from your friends, and defenseless," a gravely voice hissed with malice. "I will destroy you for my mistress, the Digi Queen!" The darkness was lit by sparks of fire, revealing the face of. . . .

"Monochromon!" Cunomon cried, scowling. "You won’t get us that easily!"

"Volcanic Strike!" The building fire shot from the dinosaur Digimon’s throat!

"NO!" Cunomon leaped in front of Lexxy, and she screamed. But instead of feeling fire on her skin, she felt bright light against her eyelids!

"Cunomon digi-volve to . . . Sartomon!"

By Cowgirl Em

Lexxy gasped as the dark blue dragon with wings like the night sky leaped on the rocky dinosaur. Her Champion Digimon had appeared!

"Run back to your Queen and tell her she’ll be knocked from her throne soon!" growled Sartomon, lashing out with his thick claws.

Monochromon ducked and spit out another burst of flames. "Volcanic Strike! I will never retreat!"

The fire struck Sartomon and he threw back his horned head, howling in pain.

"Sartomon!" Lexxy screamed, then slapped herself in the head. "I’m so stupid! I never should have left the others, especially here in Digiworld! You can’t get more cliché than this." Now she was terrified that her new best friend would be killed for her mistake.

Sartomon shook off the pain and flew into the air, keeping his enemy’s attention on himself so that Monochromon wouldn’t turn on his Digi-Destined. "Star Shooter!" he called strongly.

Lexxy watched with wonder as, just like she imagined in her mind, her Champion dragon reared back and spread his wings. The white pinpricks in the black wings glowed and streaked toward Monochromon, striking like hail. It was the dinosaur’s turn to scream in pain.

"Star Shooter!" Sartomon attacked again. The Monochromon tried to turn away, but there was nowhere to hide. In seconds there was nothing left of the evil Digimon but pixels in the wind.

Lexxy felt a sharp pain as she realized the Digimon was destroyed, but reminded herself that it surely would have killed them both if they hadn’t fought, and then it would have gone after her friends. She managed a delighted smile as Sartomon landed beside her. His head dipped down low and she hugged him. "Thank you for saving me," she whispered to her dragon.

"Thank you for being my partner," the Champion rumbled.

"Hey, isn’t that Sartomon?"

At the sound of Lina’s voice Lexxy turned. All the rest of the Digi-Destined and Digimon partners stood behind them, some rubbing their eyes and others yawning. Obviously the sounds of battle had woken them all and they’d hurried to their location.

Lexxy nodded. "Yup, this is old Sarto," she grinned as he devolved back to Cunomon, whose eyes drooped with exhaustion. "We had a little trouble with a Monochromon, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle! Seriously, though guys. I think we have a problem."

"And what’s that?" Emily asked.

"Well, I think this evil Digi Queen person knows we’re here. . . ."

~~~Lexxy’s P.O.V.~~~

Seeing my Champion Digimon, Sartomon, took my breath away (after the battle of course, when I had time to admire him). But in the back of my mind, I’m starting to get worried. It was hard enough to watch that Monochromon get deleted. What am I going to do if this human girl wants to fight us? How can I hurt a real person? And finally, what will happen to my friends and me if I can’t bring myself to? So many questions. . . .