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Please note: This story is about some of the Digimon of the Internet Digi-Destined, the Digimon fans I’ve met online who have become my friends and have allowed me to use their Digimon in a story. I ask you not to use Cunomon or Lexxy, or any of these other Digimon or humans, without their creators’ permission. Here are the e-mails to contact each:

Diratimon: CoolestMew@aol.com

Foximon: (can't be contacted online)

Foxmon: foxmon_and_sammie@prodigy.net

Jaymon: khunter86@hotmail.com

Teddymon: pink_pony_14@yahoo.com

Tigermon: jburnet@mcps.k12.va.us

Yazumon: trascia@hotmail.com

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Cunomon yawned and stretched lazily, feeling the warm sun on his back. It was nice to relax. To not have to worry about an evil Digimon baring down on them, to not be afraid that if they didn’t do something right now both worlds would be lost forever. To not be arguing with Lexxy every five minutes. . . .

"Now!"

The dragon Digimon shrieked as two people pounced on him from behind. He thrashed, twisted, and finally slipped out of their grip . . . only to fall into the river that he had been lying by!

As Cunomon came up sputtering, laughter echoed from the bank. He glared with gleaming yellow eyes as the culprits—a red and yellow bird and a purple and golden winged fox—whistled innocently and strolled away. Under a tree nearby two other dragon Digimon were the laughers, chortling so hard they had to lean against each other to remain standing.

"Very funny!" snapped Cunomon, shaking himself and stepping gingerly out of the slow-moving river. "I hate water!"

"We weren’t the ones who pushed you in," Jaymon pointed out sweetly, a broad smile on her beak. She winked at Cunomon as she finished, "You did that yourself."

He growled, gave himself another shake, and stalked away. "Just leave me alone!" he retorted over his shoulder.

Foxmon appeared in front of him, giggling. "Oh, we were just trying to give you a hug, Cuno." She batted her eyes at him and leaned in closer.

Cunomon’s own eyes opened wide in alarm, and he backed away from the purple fox Digimon. Too late he remembered Jaymon was right behind him, and walked right into her waiting wings. "Ack, no!" he wailed as she gave him a peck on the cheek. "Yuck!" He squirmed away. Now Foxmon and Jaymon were laughing too, as well as Foximon, watching from the riverbank. Tigermon, the last of the group of eight, was sitting beside her, chuckling quietly over Cunomon’s sudden bath.

A small white bear cub stood up and waved a paw. "Hey, leave poor Cunomon alone," she said. "It’s not nice to pick on him all the time."

"I think it’s great for his ego!" called Diratimon from under the tree, amidst his chuckles. "Soon we’ll have his head down to a reasonable size!"

Yazumon, the third dragon, tried to talk but couldn’t find the breath.

Cunomon whimpered and took refuge behind Teddymon, the only one who ever defended him from his many crushes. "If it weren’t for you," he whispered to the bear cub, "I’d think I had some sort of curse that made me irresistible to girls."

"I heard that," the brown and cream fox spoke up, giving him a disgusted look. "Watch what you say. I’ll stick to Gomamon, thank you very much." Just mentioning the water-loving Digimon’s name made Foximon get a strange, dreamy look in her eyes.

Cunomon shuddered. "See? That’s what love does to you," he announced. Foximon made a face at him.

Unable to reach Cunomon without going through Teddymon, Jaymon and Foxmon decided to ambush him some other time and settled down to talk about who’s human was the worst to get out of bed in the morning.

Lexxy’s Digimon relaxed once he discovered no one was going to try to kiss him again. Allowing himself to lay down, he and Teddy leaned back and stared at the sky. Soft puffy clouds ambled by, but otherwise the sky was sterling blue. The sun’s rays bathed the Digiworld in warmth, but a delightful breeze kept the heat from becoming uncomfortable. It was a wonderful day. So wonderful, in fact, that the gang of new Digi-Destined had decided to take a break in their search for the original Digi-Destined kids. A helpful Koromon village had pointed them in this direction, but they had yet to find anyone. Foximon was taking it especially hard.

"So," Teddymon began conversationally, startling Cunomon out of his musings. He jumped, and the bear cub apologized. "This is certainly . . . relaxing," she continued. "I kinda miss Deanna though."

"Don’t worry, Teddy," Cunomon assured her. "The humans aren’t that far away. They’re just taking a break too, like us."

"I know," she sighed. "But why should they need a break from us? We’re their Digimon!" Her little face drooped at the thought.

Cunomon didn’t like to see her unhappy. "Well, some might not," he joked, giving her a friendly nudge. "I, for one, am not complaining!"

Teddymon grinned, her spirits restored. "Oh Cunomon," she giggled. "You know very well you and Lexxy and best friends. You just don’t like to admit it."

His face registered total disbelief. "Me and her? Friends? Yeah, right!"

Her giggling increased, and she leaned against him to give him a poke in the side. "Cunomon, you’re not fooling anyone."

"Oh. Okay, then. I guess I miss Lexxy too. She told me they were going to go do some human stuff, and that they’d be back soon. So don’t worry. Besides, this is the first break we’ve had in a long time. And I’ll bet anyone that when we find the other Digi-Destined, the Dark Masters won’t be far behind. This is probably going to be the last break we have in long time too."

"Yeah," Teddymon agreed softly.

Jaymon and Foxmons’ conversation trailed off as they watched the little blue dragon and the bear cub talking. "That’s not fair," pouted the red and yellow parrot Digimon. "We do everything we can think of to get him to like us, and she just talks to him and he opens up. And she doesn’t even like him like we do! It’s not fair at all!"

The winged fox regarded the two, thinking. "Hmm . . . maybe Teddymon’s got the right idea," she murmured thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, Foxmon?" wondered Jaymon.

"Well," she whispered, not wanting anyone else to overhear. "Maybe we’ve been coming on too strongly to poor Cuno. He certainly doesn’t seem to respond to the kind of things we’ve been doing. Maybe if we just try to be his friends, like Teddymon does, he’ll open up to us too!" The fox Digimon looked incredibly pleased with herself for stumbling upon the revelation.

Jaymon considered her friend’s words. "You know, you just might have something there," she agreed, nodding her head with a smile. "Anyway, it can’t hurt to try!"

Diratimon and Yazumon had also settled back down, now that Cunomon wasn’t making a fool of himself anymore. The two other dragon Digimon leaned against the trunk of the tree they rested under, enjoying the light breeze and shade.

"Ya know, I’ve been thinking," Yazumon said, giving a long, slow stretch and a yawn. Considering that he and Cunomon resembled each other enough to be siblings, Diratimon couldn’t help but chuckle at the way he looked almost exactly like Cunomon had right before Jaymon and Foxmon had jumped him. Yaz ignored him and continued, "I think there’s something strange about us dragon Digimon."

That got Diratimon’s attention. He sat up, using his wings as balance since he didn’t have front arms like the other two dragon Digimon. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, think about it," Yazumon answered. "For one thing, all three of us are blue dragons. Doesn’t that strike you as a bit odd?"

"Both Jaymon and Biyomon are reddish birds," countered Diratimon.

"Well, yeah, but that’s not all. What about the fact that Foximon, Foxmon, Teddymon and Jaymon all have female humans are their partners?"

Diratimon gave Yaz a look that plainly said he was nuts. "Uh . . . Yaz? So do we."

"I know that!" retorted the other dragon, snorting. "But we’re guys. They aren’t. And the other Digi-Destineds’ Digimon, Agumon and the others, all they’re humans are the same as they are. So are Jamie and Tigermon. Think about it," he repeated.

The armless dragon did. "All right, I’ll admit it. It is a bit odd," he agreed. "But where are you going with this?"

Yazumon shrugged. "I dunno. I just thought it was a bit of a coincidence, that’s all."

"Huh. Yeah. Of course, if Cunomon were here he’d just say we were copying him." Diratimon rolled his eyes.

Yazumon snickered. "Yup. That’s him."

"Honestly, that guy can be more of a pain in the tail than all the rest of them put together!" griped Diratimon. "He’s always whining or arguing with his human or doing some other wimpy thing."

"Oh, Cuno’s not so bad," Yaz replied with a grin.

"Says you."

"Don’t you two have anything more important to talk about?" Foximon stood and strolled over to them, giggling at their surprised faces. "Well, if you don’t want eavesdroppers than don’t talk so loud," she pointed out reasonably. Tigermon, not to be left out, trailed behind her.

Diratimon cast a cautious glance at the other four Digimon, but no one was paying them any attention. Which was good. Cunomon could really hold a grudge if he wanted to. But then again, so could Diratimon.

"Are either of you worried . . . about the Dark Masters?" the fox Digimon murmured quietly, her long ears hanging limp at the thought. "I mean, they are Megas. . . ."

"Don’t worry, Foximon," comforted Yazumon. There was a fire in his eyes that could only be anticipation. "We’ll take them out. That’s why we’re looking for the other Digi-Destined, after all. With all sixteen of us they won’t stand a chance!"

"Thirty-two you mean," she corrected. "Don’t forget the humans. We need them, you know. They’ll help in the fight."

Yaz shrugged. "Sure, they’ll help. But we’ll be the ones fighting."

"And we wouldn’t be able to fight at all without them," Diratimon reminded him. "Unless you want to go against four Megas as a bunch of Rookies. So just watch it."

Tigermon nodded. He added, "Without our human, we’re sunk."

Seeing he was outnumbered, Yazumon wisely decided to shut his mouth. They were right, anyway.

"HEY! There you guys are!"

"Speak of the devil," Diratimon chuckled. When Foximon and Yazumon gave him a wondering look he explained, "It’s something I heard Lina say before."

At that moment, seven human girls and one boy came into view.

"Ready to go everyone?" one, with long black hair and bright green eyes, asked the group of Digimon.

"Lexxy!" Cunomon cried, scampering over. She laughed and bent down to hug him.

"Betcha that doesn’t last more than half an hour," Diratimon whispered to Yaz.

" ‘Kay. Whoever wins has to get dinner tonight."

"Deal."

And then the other humans were calling to their own Digimon, and everyone got up to leave. Teddymon scrambled over, holding out her paws to be picked up. Deanna grinned and scooped her up to sit on her shoulder. Tania jokingly asked if Yazumon was sure it was him, or if he and Cunomon had switched places. Her Digimon gave her a good-natured slap in the leg with his tail.

"Come on, foxes!" Jennifer and Sammie called at the same time, and Foximon and Foxmon trotted up, anxious to be going.

"Ready, Diratimon?" Lina asked, gazing down at her winged Digimon.

"As I’m ever going to be," he replied.

Tigermon ambled up to the only male human in the group, taking his time. "Suppose we should get a move on, see how much distance we can make before sundown," said the tiger Digimon, looking up at his partner. Jamie nodded.

"Jaymon, hurry up!" Kristina encouraged the last of the Digimon. The red parrot caught up with a flap of her wings, and the group of fourteen set out.

"So, what did you guys do?" Lexxy asked.

"Nothin’ much," Foxmon piped up, but Cunomon cut her off.

"They threw me in the RIVER!"

"Did not!" Jaymon objected. "You fell in yourself."

"Cuno being his usual clumsy self," Yaz joked, dodging a swat from Cunomon as he passed him.

Teddymon whispered something into her human’s ear, and Deanna nodded with a giggle. But everyone was laughing by then, so she wasn’t noticed.

Cunomon laid his ears back and muttered. "Everyone always picks on me," he grumbled.

"It’s because you’re so pick-on-able," Lexxy chuckled, giving him a friendly poke with the tip of her boot. He made a face at her, which set everyone off again.

Well, the dragon Digimon thought. At least we’re not fighting, either each other or some evil Digimon. I guess I should be thankful. Keeping this in mind, he managed a small grin. At least I’m with friends, he reminded himself. It wasn’t so bad, really. And friends laughing at you were a lot better than evil Digimon pounding you into the ground. That made him laugh a bit too. It felt kinda good to laugh. Maybe he should try it more often.

"Well then, I guess I should start wearing those orange inflatable floating thingies, huh?" he grinned. The group’s laughter was cut short for a minute—Cunomon, making a joke about himself?—but as everyone saw his grin they started in again.

Cunomon was right. It did feel good.