Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digimon Fairy Tale Theater - Armadimon in Boots ❯ Chapter 1

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Armadimon in Boots

By Time Lady

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Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Based on the fairy tale "The Master
Cat, or Puss in Boots" by Charles Perrault.

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Author's note: Iori is about 18 in this story. All others that appear
are relative in age. Armadimon is the correct Japanese name for
Armadillomon.

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Once upon a time, there lived a widowed miller. This miller had three
sons who helped him in his mill. While not wealthy, the miller still
managed a comfortable living. One day, the miller fell ill. He called
his sons to his bedside. "My sons, I do not have much longer in this
world. I have but three possessions in this world. My eldest, the mill
is yours. Work wisely. My next son, to you I give my Unimon. He is a
hard worker and will most certainly do his job. Iori, my youngest, to
you I leave my Armadimon. He. . ." The miller said no more. His heart
ceased to beat.

The three brothers grieved for their father and buried him next to
their mother. When they returned to the mill, the two eldest began to
discuss how they could join their inheritance together to make a
profit. When Iori approached them, they laughed and jeered at him.
"What can your Armadimon do in a mill?" scoffed the eldest.

"Yes," added the middle brother. "I don't know why father kept him
around. He didn't even manage to keep the vermin out of the grain."

Sighing, Iori went out to the barn. Armadimon was dozing on a bale of
hay. The young man sat on the floor dejectedly. "What am I to do?" he
sighed. Armadimon cracked one eye open a bit. "My brothers can work
together with their mill and their Unimon. Maybe once I've eaten your
meat, I can do something with the skin.

Alarmed, Armadimon sat up abruptly. "Now just hold on here! Your pa
didn't leave me in your care just to make a meal outta me!"

"What else can I do?" returned Iori. "My brothers seem to wish nothing
to do with me."

"Now look, you just leave everything to me, hear? If you'll just do
two tiny little things for me, I'll be able to do heaps for you. Just
get me a pair of boots to protect my hind legs from the forest brush
and a sack with a drawstring, and leave everything else to me."

Iori was a bit skeptical, but there had to be some reason his father
left him Armadimon. So Iori did as Armadimon requested, spending his
last few coins on the boots and sack. "These boots are just perfect,"
said Armadimon as he pulled them on his hind legs. Then he picked up
the sack. "Now don't you worry none. I'm going to make sure you're set
for life once I'm done."

Armadimon went to a place in the woods where all sorts of game
animals, the kinds humans liked to hunt and eat, could easily be
found. He put some carrots and lettuce leaves into his sack, then hid
in a nearby bush. He did not have long to wait. A pair of young
rabbits boldly hopped forward. Armadimon found himself holding his
breath as he watched the rabbits hop into the sack. When he heard them
eating the carrots, he quickly pulled the drawstring closed. "Gotcha!"
he thought. "Step one now over. Time to move on to step two."

Pulling the sack over his shoulder, Armadimon made his way to a
magnificent castle. He knew King Jyou, the ruler of this castle, was
quite fond of wild game. Boldly Armadimon approached the two guards.
"I bring a present to his majesty from my lord, the Marquis of
Digitas!" announced Armadimon in as fine a tone as he could manage.

A page conducted to the king. Armadimon bowed with a flourish, then
presented the sack to King Jyou. "Your majesty, my lord, the Marquis
of Digitas, wishes to make you a gift of this fine pair of rabbits
caught on his lands."

King Jyou studied this rather strange and extraordinary Armadimon
standing before him. "Tell your master I thank him for his kind gift."
The rabbits were dispatched to the royal kitchen and the sack returned
to Armadimon with a few pieces of gold.

Armadimon was satisfied with the way his plan was progressing, though
it would take a lot of footwork. In the long run, if everything went
the way he expected, he would probably never have to work again. He
returned to Iori with some loaves of bread, sausages, and fresh fruit.

"Where did you get this?" asked Iori, his eyes wide.

"Just a little something I earned. Now eat up."

The next day, Armadimon repeated his actions. This time he caught
several fine partridges, which he brought to the king. Again the king
thanked Armadimon and rewarded him with a few gold coins. Armadimon
then used the coins to bring food to a grateful Iori.

After a few months of bringing gifts of game in the name of the
Marquis of Digitas to King Jyou, welcome news reached Armadimon's
ears. King Jyou would be traveling in a carriage with his daughter,
the lovely Princess Rosa, passing by a nearby lake. On a few occasions
Armadimon had seen the princess. Her long, glossy ebony hair was
braided with strands of pearls and gold. The princess' eyes were a
deep onyx color. Not only was she beautiful, but she was the only
child of King Jyou. And she was an important part of the next phase of
his plan.

"Now listen here Iori," said Armadimon as they stood beside the lake.
"You're just going to have to follow along with me on this. Play
along, don't question, and I'll have you set for life."

"But what do I have to do?" asked Iori incredulously.

"Just get undressed and act like you're taking a bath."

"How will that help me?"

"Leave everything to me. Stay right here near the edge, and just play
along."

Sighing, Iori took off his tattered clothes and jumped into the lake.
"What are you doing?" he asked as Armadimon took Iori's clothes and
ran off with them. "Armadimon!"

"Just get washing. The bath will do you good," returned Armadimon.

Iori sighed again and began to scrub himself down. About ten minutes
later, they saw a fine carriage approaching. "Help! Thieves! Somebody
help!" shouted Armadimon as he ran into the road.

"Stop the carriage," called King Jyou. He looked out the window of the
carriage and saw Armadimon looking most distraught. "Friend Armadimon,
what troubles you?"

"Thieves your highness. My lord, the Marquis of Digitas, came down to
the lake to swim. Thieves came and stole my lord's Unimon, as well as
his fine clothes. I called for help, but none came." Armadimon wrung
his front paws to add to the effect.

King Jyou looked towards the lake and saw a rather shocked appearing
young man in the water. He called for his servants to take one of the
extra suits the king traveled with for emergencies and to dress the
young noble. Then the king closed the curtains of the carriage to
offer the young man some privacy from the princess' curious eyes as he
dressed.

Once Iori was dressed, it was as though a total change came over him.
No longer the ragged miller's son. Now he truly appeared to be a
noble. The green satin jacket set off the color of his eyes. King Jyou
invited Iori to ride with them on their outing. An idea to which
Princess Rosa was quite amenable. Iori shyly glanced at the princess.
She was even more lovely than he had heard.

Armadimon repressed a shout of exultation as he saw his plans coming
to fruition. "My lord," he said to Iori. "By your leave I will go on
ahead."

"Uhh. . . yes. . . please." Iori's face burned as he felt Princess
Rosa's eyes upon him.

---

Armadimon ran on ahead of the carriage. To be able to move faster, he
digivolved to Ankylomon. He was pleasantly surprised to find his boots
changed size to fit his digivolved body. Then he came across a meadow
where Snimon were using their scythes to cut down the stalks of grain.
"Who does this here farm belong to?" he asked.

"To Lord Ogremon," replied one.

"If anyone should ask you who this belongs to, you better reply to the
Marquis of Digitas, unless you want to feel my tail hammer!"

The Snimon, who had been under Lord Ogremon's oppression for many
years, agreed out of fear of Ankylomon. The large Digimon reached a
field where Veggiemon were picking corn. The same situation was
repeated. Then Ankylomon journeyed on to a stately castle. He
de-volved back to Armadimon, hoping his cunning would be able to
out-match the reported magic of Lord Ogremon.

As he passed over the drawbridge, Armadimon realized this castle was
filled with more riches than that of King Jyou. Armadimon, in his
planning, found out all he could about Lord Ogremon and the lands.
Lord Ogremon had conquered all of the surrounding areas and held it in
a grip of fear. He also knew this Ogremon wasn't your typical Ogremon.
This one could change into different kinds of animals.

Armadimon approached a rather nervous looking page. "Pardon me, but I
was passing through these lands and felt I had to pay my homage to
your lord and master."

Lord Ogremon, who was rather vain, agreed to meet Armadimon. He
greeted him as civilly as an Ogremon could and invited Armadimon to
sit down. "Word of your special talents has reached far and wide,"
said Armadimon in a syrupy sweet tone. "I've heard you could turn into
any of those other creatures, like lions, or elephants, or giraffes."

"You betcha," returned Lord Ogremon. "Want a demonstration?" With no
further warning, Lord Ogremon turned into a fierce, roaring lion.

Armadimon had to admit he was shaking in his boots as he hid under his
chair. Only when he saw Lord Ogremon was himself did he come out from
under the chair. "Now that's really something. But if you can turn
into such big creatures, it must be near impossible to turn into
little things, like mice and rats."

"Piece of cake," returned Lord Ogremon, who promptly turned into a
mouse.

Watching carefully, Armadimon saw Lord Ogremon turning into a little
mouse. At the same instance, Armadimon digivolved into Ankylomon,
stepped on the mouse with his great boots, and squashed it to death.

---

King Jyou's carriage drove past the magnificent field where the Snimon
were working. Rather impressed by the size of the fields, he popped
his head out of the carriage and asked "To whom does this magnificent
field belong?"

"To the Marquis of Digitas," responded several of the Snimon.

The king turned to Iori, whose face was becoming somewhat red. Between
the obvious lie told by the Snimon and the attention paid to him by
Princess Rosa, he was becoming very uncomfortable. "Very fine lands,
if I say so myself."

"Yes, your highness." That wasn't a lie. . . the lands were fine. Iori
wondered who the lands really belonged to.

A little ways further, they came upon the cornfields. Again King Jyou
asked to whom the fields belonged. Again the Veggiemon replied "The
Marquis of Digitas."

Finally they arrived at a great castle. King Jyou was impressed with
the size and grandeur and ordered his coachman to enter the gates.
Iori's stomach was a churning mass as they entered the courtyard.
Armadimon stood there, in front of around a hundred servants. They all
bowed.

"Welcome to the castle of the Marquis of Digitas," said Armadimon as
he helped King Jyou from the carriage. Armadimon winked at Iori.

"My lord Marquis, I am impressed," said Jyou. Armadimon helped
Princess Rosa down, then assisted Iori out of the carriage.

"I have taken the liberties of ordering a feast prepared," said
Armadimon in as formal a tone as he could manage.

"Thank you Armadimon," said Iori, who was still stunned at the turn of
events.

"If you'll permit, my lord, I'll have servants show the king and the
princess to a place where they might refresh themselves before
dinner."

"Yes, please." Armadimon motioned to the servants. Two stepped forward
to escort the nobles to a place to rest.

Once King Jyou and Princess Rosa were out of earshot, Iori turned to
Armadimon. "What is going on here? What's going to happen when the
real owner of the castle shows up?"

"The castle and the surrounding lands have been freed from the rather
nasty Lord Ogremon by yours truly on behalf of my master, the Marquis
of Digitas. So, as the conquering hero, you now own this here castle
and all that surrounds it. The staff is rather relieved, particularly
since I told them what a nice master you were. Apparently that Lord
Ogremon was a real meanie. I said if you left everything to me, I'd
see you were set for life. Now stop standing here and start giving
your property the once over."

Later that evening, there was a grand feast held in the castle's
ballroom. King Jyou and his daughter were impressed with the grandeur.
Princess Rosa was also impressed with Iori. Now that he knew the
castle and lands were his, he felt more at ease with the situation.
Graciously he invited the king and princess to spend several days at
the castle.

Over the next few days, Iori spent most of his time in the company of
Princess Rosa. They discovered they had much in common. And as the
days became weeks, the two youngsters fell in love.

King Jyou, after seeing the magnificent castle and lands belonging to
the Marquis of Digitas and after watching the princess and the Marquis
together, decided they would make a perfect match. Princess Rosa and
Iori agreed as well. They were married shortly afterwards.

As a reward for his services, Armadimon was made a lord. He spent his
days exactly as he planned he would once all of this started - dozing
on soft cushions with servants to wait upon him.

And they all lived happily, ever after.

The End

Author's notes: I didn't think I'd start another fairy tale so soon,
but the idea hit and wouldn't let go. I've wanted to do a fairy tale
with Iori as one of the main characters, but this is the first one
that actually seemed to work. Yes, Gatomon in Boots would make more
sense, but I didn't feel like it ;p.

No, the ending isn't rushed. I added more than the original story did.
In the original, they get there, the king checks out the pad, the
princess and the marquis get married then and there. At least I gave
them a few weeks to get to know each other.

Yes, the rest of the stories are in the works. I'm also toying with
the idea of doing "The Little Mermaid" - the real version, not the
Disney version. I can't decide on my cast yet. As I've said before, I
cast each part like I'm casting a role in a play. I want the character
who fits the role the best before I'll write it.