Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Jungle Diaries - Amazon Adventure 2002 ❯ Brother's Keeper ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Ryan Griffin 
Carlos's week his shot to hell as he's forced to have his little brother follow him everywhere, and everywhere includes the Digital World
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.10.2003 | Updated On: 11.13.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.7K | Visits: 377 | Status: Completed
Carlos's week his shot to hell as he's forced to have his little brother follow him everywhere, and everywhere includes the Digital World
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.10.2003 | Updated On: 11.13.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.7K | Visits: 377 | Status: Completed
Jungle Diaries, Volume III: Brother's Keeper
By Ryan Griffin
Carlos DeCosta sat at his desk in his room, attempting to do his homework, a task made nearly impossible by the blue creature pestering him.
"Come on, Carlos, let's go out and do something FUN!" the blue dragon whined.
"I told you, V-mon, I have to do this work before we can go out and have fun," Carlos chastised his partner.
V-mon sagged, "But you've been working forever…"
Carlos looked at the clock and chuckled. He had only been doing his work for about an hour. Unfortunately, the little Digimon didn't have a clear grasp on the concept of time. To him, Carlos could have been working for over a million years.
"V-mon, I promise that we'll-" just then, Carlos heard footsteps, "Someone's coming! Hide under the desk, and don't make a sound!" Carlos shoved a protesting V-mon under the desk. V-mon quickly became silent as the door opened, revealing Carlos's father.
"Ah, Carlos, I was looking for you. Who were you talking to?" his father stepped into the room.
Carlos moved his chair to obscure V-mon from sight; "I was just reciting some of my notes, to help me memorize them for a test."
"Just what I like to hear, son. Now, I have something very important that you must know. Your mother and I are going to be taking a trip to Sao Paulo to for business reasons…"
This had happened enough times that Carlos knew what his father was going to say. It didn't help.
"… So, you are going to have to look after Pedro for the upcoming week."
Carlos wanted to bang his head on the desk. There was nothing in his mind that was worse than looking after his younger brother.
"I know this is an inconvenience to you, but you know that we expect you to be a good role model for Pedro. Are there any problems?"
Carlos couldn't contain himself, "Yes, there are problems!"
His father blinked, not expecting him to say that, "Oh, is there?"
Carlos struggled to come up with an answer that wouldn't boggle his father's mind, or send himself on a one way trip to an insane asylum, "Err, a couple of friends and I have formed a study group, and I wouldn't want Pedro to distract us," he said, hoping he had convinced his father. It was sort of true. He had decided to work on schoolwork with James and Juana when the three weren't in the Digital World.
"Oh," his father seemed to mull this over, "Well, it would be nice if you and your friends could help your little brother. He doesn't have the best grades."
"But Dad, have you considered the fact that maybe, when my friends and I are hanging out, that I wouldn't want Pedro to be hanging around. Maybe I don't want Pedro to be there when my friends and I are doing stuff."
His father looked at him, "If there's anything you're doing that you don't want your brother there for, you shouldn't be doing it. This discussion is over. I will see you over dinner."
He left.
Carlos sat in his seat, dumbfounded. V-mon came out from under the desk, coughing, "What's wrong Carlos?"
"I am going to have a VERY unpleasant week…"
"What do you mean you can't go to the Digital World this week?" James had a confused look on his face. It was just after school, and the classroom had mostly cleared out.
Carlos shook his head, "I wish I could. I really do, but I've got to watch my little brother. If I could go with you, I would."
Juana rolled her eyes, "Carlos, when we first told you about the Digimon, we weren't doing so to be friendly. We were actively recruiting you."
James nodded, "You seemed to have an open mind, enough to speak with me, anyway, and I think that's one of the main qualities in becoming a Chosen. Perhaps your brother has similar qualities, and he too would become partnered to a Digimon."
Carlos thought of how to properly phrase what he was saying, "Well, I don't think so. Pedro only cares about his comics and his video games. His attention span is about that of a flea. I don't think he'd be a very good addition to our little army."
James blinked, "What was that last word again?"
"You mean 'army'?" James nodded, as Carlos realized, "Oh, you need a translation! I think the English word is 'exército.'"
James nodded, "Ah! I forgot! Thank you very much."
Carlos shook his head, "No problem, sometimes I forget you aren't a native speaker. You seem pretty adept at the language."
James scratched the back of his head in embarrassed pride and didn't respond.
Juana interrupted, "We're getting off subject here. We need you to go with us. I haven't found a Digimental yet and we need you in case we happen to come across a puddle."
"Hey!" James looked hurt, then noticed Juana's smirk and realized she was kidding, "In all seriousness, though, we do need you. I wish I were more reliable, but I just freeze up when I come across," he gulped, "water. Besides, the nature of your armor evolution would be better in that sort of situation even without my," he paused, "hydrophobia. I don't know if that's the translation…"
Carlos nodded, "It is. I'm sorry, but my father insisted I watch him, and that means I watch him. And by watch him that means-"
"CARLOS!"
"…He's going to be on my back at every moment," Carlos palmed his forehead as a small kid entered the room. He looked exactly like Carlos, minus about two feet in height. His hair was a bit spikier, obviously he put more work into it, and his uniform was different as he was in a younger class. But it was obvious that the two were related.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Pedro looked at his brother and his friends, "Are you the friends Carlos said he didn't want me meeting?"
Carlos grumbled. His brother always told the truth, and told it unbidden.
James smiled, "I guess we must be. My name is James McConnell."
Pedro blinked, "That's not a Brazilian name? Are you an American?"
James nodded.
"My dad says that America is a huge leech that's festering on the backside of the international community," Pedro said, "I don't know what that means. Do you know?"
James actually laughed, "It's difficult to explain. But you're old man's right," he turned to Carlos, "Cute kid. What is he, five?"
Carlos glared, "Ten."
James blinked, "Really?"
Juana shook Pedro's hand, "I'm Juana Lopes, nice to meet you."
Pedro looked at her, "Are you a Native?"
Juana nodded slowly, and before Pedro could say anything more, Carlos had firmly clamped his hand over his brother's mouth
"Well, hate to wrap this up, but I really must get back home…" Carlos began to walk off, leading Pedro off and un-clamping his mouth.
"Good thing, I think the blue lizard you have in your room is getting hungry."
Carlos stopped dead, "You know about him?!"
Pedro nodded, "Yeah! I saw him when you were talking with dad before he left! He was cool! And he could talk! Where'd you get him?!"
James whispered to Juana, "Open mind."
Juana nodded, "A bit too open if you ask me."
James shrugged, "Might help him deal with it, he'd probably be better at it than we would."
Pedro looked blankly, "What are they talking about?"
Carlos paled, "Umm…"
James answered for him; "We want to see if you can get a creature like your brother's."
Pedro beamed, "Really!"
James waved his finger and hoped the gesture wasn't obscene or untranslatable, "We're not making any promises, but…"
Pedro jumped up and down, "Thank you! He's so cool! Like something out of a TV show!" He then gave some thought, "I'm sorry if I said something bad about America! I like America, they make the best cartoons!"
James bit his tongue about his personal view on cartoons, as he was just a little kid. But he'd still try and convert him away from the shiny little idiot making pacifiers; he'd just do it slowly. Before the year was out, he was going to show this kid Dr. Strangelove.
Juana was smiling. Pedro was a cute little kid, and he was very bright eyed and bushy tailed. He'd make a good recruit.
Carlos's world collapsed as he realized he was outvoted. His brother was going to join them, whether he wanted him too or not.
Carlos grumbled as he went home to change and pick up V-mon.
"What's wrong?" the baby dragon asked, disturbed that his partner was so angry.
"Didn't I tell you not to talk to anyone here?"
V-mon looked hurt, "I'm sorry, but he poked me and it hurt so I said 'Ow, don't do that!' I didn't mean to make you mad."
Carlos softened, "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at him. He knows not to be snooping around in here! But he never listens! And now he's going to jump feet first into a world that's really dangerous! And I'll have to look after him every step of the way!" he mumbled something unintelligible and likely obscene, "I just hope he doesn't get a Digivice when he goes to James's house," he sighed, "Damn it, what the hell is that little brat thinking?"
At the moment, Pedro was also thinking of his brother.
His brother had always been kind of mean to him. He didn't know why he would feel this way. He really didn't know why Carlos kept him at an arm's length. He had seen other kids and the way they acted with their older brothers, so he knew that Carlos wasn't acting like a regular big brother. So, there had to be a problem.
Now, there wasn't a problem with Pedro. Pedro knew he was normal. So the problem had to be on Carlos's end. Pedro, willing to do anything to spend time with his older brother, decided that he had to be more like Carlos to make him like him. So, Pedro began to try and be more like his brother. Of course, unbeknownst to Pedro, this behavior did nothing more than to increase Carlos's wish to have nothing to do with his little brother.
Now, of course, this was something really good. Carlos had a strange creature, and he could tell that his new friends also had some. If he got one, he'd be part of their team, and maybe, for the first time, his brother would be nice to him.
By the time that Pedro had met Plotmon and Armadimon and been filled in on the group's adventures, his eyes were as wide as saucers. Carlos noted that he was sitting still for the first time in his life.
"That… is… so… COOL! You're superheroes!"
James blinked, "Well…" He personally never thought of that.
"You are, you get to travel to other dimensions and fight evil! And you jump around through trees and dive into ponds, man that sounds like a BLAST!"
Carlos palmed his face again, his little brother once again proving an embarrassment.
James became serious, "It sounds like fun, but the truth is that it's REALLY dangerous. I could've died twice; it was only pure dumb luck that saved me."
"But you WERE saved, you're a superhero! Superheroes don't die!"
Juana laughed. The kid was naive, but enthusiastic, "You've got some guts, Pedro! I think you'll be a good addition to the team."
Pedro beamed and Carlos grimaced.
James walked over to his laptop computer, "Let's see if the Digital World agrees with us," and apparently it did, because once the computer booted up, a beam of light shot out of it and struck Pedro's hand. He gasped, then beamed brighter than ever as a device exactly like the others', only with white where the others' had colors, formed in his hand. His resulting cheer startled those in neighboring buildings.
Carlos stood in horror, "No way, no FUCKING WAY!"
His obscenities, however, weren't heard by his teammates, as they had entered the portal into the Digital World. He quickly raised his own Digivice and he and V-mon were sucked in as well.
James originally thought the group's Digital World outfits were all very outlandish. His own outfit, a combination of Indiana Jones and the Crocodile Hunter, included more pockets then could ever be deemed necessary, a shirt with a globe and the words "Fragile, Handle With Care" written in both English and Portuguese, and, of all things, a whip, which made James wonder about how obsessed he truly was with the Harrison Ford movie. Juana's outfit was entirely made of deerskin, yet resembled less of a South American Indian's clothing than what some American would dress up as thinking she was wearing a traditional Native American outfit. Her outfit also included a quiver of arrows, a blowgun, and am oddly beautiful necklace made of bird feathers. James knew Juana was as adept with the weapons as he was with his whip, as in not at all. And Carlos's clothes looked like a combination of a lifeguard and Michael J. Fox's outfit in the Back to the Future movies, with a huge puffy vest that James was sure was just for decoration, but wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be used as a flotation device. All in all, they were a pretty ridiculous looking group.
Compared to Pedro's outfit, however, they all looked completely normal.
Pedro was wearing an overstuffed flight jacket that looked like something out of World War II, complete with a scarf and a goggled flight helmet. His pants, too, were overstuffed, containing puffed out sides. His boots were exactly lifted from the Power Rangers series, and his gloves looked like a combination of Power Rangers and Spiderman. In James's opinion, as well as the rest of his group, it was a superfluous and completely useless outfit.
And Pedro couldn't have been happier with it.
"Oh my God! Look at this! And these! And this! This is great! I mean, these boots…" he kept on his babbling.
Carlos shook his head.
James walked up to him, "You know who he reminds me of?"
Carlos shook his head.
"V-mon" James thumbed over to the blue Digimon, who, along with Plotmon and Armadimon, was trying to get Pedro to calm down and as such not disturb the locals.
Carlos's mouth hung open, "You're kidding me."
"No. He's acting a lot like V-mon did when he first met you, very hyper and excited. Maybe it's no coincidence that he's your partner. The two of you are like brothers," he walked off to join Juana and the Digimon.
Carlos stood in silent shock, realizing that James was right. His brother and his partner were indeed very similar. But V-mon never annoyed him. It was like, like…
Like the only reason I don't mind V-mon is because I haven't lived with him all my life, Carlos thought, Maybe the only reason I'm not snapping at V-mon is because he's not my brother.
Carlos was unable to think about it much more, as he had to run to catch up to the group.
Meanwhile, Pedro was wandering the city, with one thing on his mind…
"I wonder if HE'S my partner," he pointed.
Armadimon shook her head, "Floramon is a female."
Pedro pouted, "Oh. I don't want a girl partner. Hmm, how about HIM?!"
Plotmon shook his head, "Nanimon's a grouch, and he's weak for an adult Digimon. Besides, your Digivice isn't reacting."
Pedro pouted, but then perked up as he found the Digimon that he was SURE had to be his partner. He was tall, and looked strong and agile. This was the PERFECT Digimon for him. He ran towards this Digimon.
Plotmon looked ahead, "Pedro, where are you…" he then saw who Pedro was running towards, "Oh NO!" He then began barreling at top speed, his friends right behind him.
Pedro tried to get the attention of the Digimon, tapping him, and then finally resorting to pulling on the creature's tail. This worked, but it turned out for the worst, as the creature's harsh glare was upon him. Pedro managed to spit out his words.
"Umm, I was wondering, are you my partner?"
The creature didn't respond, nor did Pedro let go of the creature's tail.
Finally, the partnered Digimon managed to catch up to Pedro, but were too late.
"Renamon," Plotmon started nervously, "I see you and Pedro have met…"
"Plotmon," Renamon's cold glare turned towards the puppy, "I assume this human came here of YOUR accord."
Plotmon wanted to shake the fox. It was as though he believed that Plotmon was conspiring to undermine him, "We all did, us and our humans."
"And you brought this thing here, hoping that I may have a human shackled to me as you have?!" Renamon turned to Pedro, a wild stare in his eyes and Pedro began to get nervous, "No, that shall not be done, I will kill him first!"
He was almost ready to do that, but before his claws could reach Pedro, a staff blocked them.
"Renamon, I do not think this is the way our Guard Captain should act. Leave the human alone. And you," Wizarmon turned to Pedro, "I would suggest you let go of his tail."
Pedro stupidly realized he was, indeed, gripping onto Renamon's tail, and let go of it as though it was on fire. Renamon growled low and stalked off.
"You need to be more vigilant, human," Wizarmon scolded, "If I were a few seconds slower, I would be talking to your corpse. Renamon is not a Digimon to be trifled with," his gaze then became softer, "You remind me a great deal of the human Carlos…"
"He's my brother."
"Ah, siblings. Such an occurrence is rare here, but not unheard of. I suppose it occurs more often in humans."
Pedro was about to ask what he meant, but at that moment, James, Juana, and Carlos ran up to him.
James immediately asked, "Wizarmon, what's going on?"
"Just another skirmish with Renamon," Wizarmon answered.
"RENAMON! That psychotic?! Pedro, he was part of my welcoming committee into this world, and his first words were "I say we kill him and get it over with!'"
Pedro was about to respond, when Carlos came up to him.
"Carlos, I-"
SMACK!
Pedro hit the floor, or tree branch as it were, and looked up at his older brother, who just backhanded him.
"Pedro, I have HAD it! You're always getting your nose in where it shouldn't belong! You find V-mon and practically BEG to get a Digimon of your own. By the action of God in what I can only call total insanity, he allowed you to come in here, and you immediately get into trouble. I can't always bail you out if you get your stupid ass into trouble like this! And what do you think Mom and Dad will do if they find out you were killed because of your own colossal stupidity?!"
Pedro paused, "I…I…"
"Pedro, you DON'T belong here! You need to realize that! You can't go around as your usual stupid self or you'll be killed. I need you to go home, and forget about all this!"
Pedro simply lay down, slumped.
Finally, he got up, obscuring his eyes, so that the tears welling up in them couldn't be seen. He took in a deep breath…
Then he kicked Carlos in the shins and ran off.
Carlos went down, rubbing his knee in pain. James and Juana started to take off after Pedro, but stopped when they realized Carlos was making no attempt to get up and follow them.
"Carlos, we have to get going!" Juana yelled at him, "If he goes off on his own, who knows what will-"
"Let him go."
James and Juana were shocked. Carlos stood up.
"Maybe getting lost and seriously hurt will teach him a thing or two."
Juana paled, "You cannot be serious!"
"I've never had a younger sibling, but I'm reasonably sure that this isn't in the etiquette," James seemed worried.
"I don't care. He shouldn't be here, but he never listens to me! I mean, look at Pedro! He's whiny and hyperactive and annoying! He's clingy and he turns up everywhere I go! He's like a… like a…"
"A normal ten-year-old boy who wants to spend time with his older brother?" Juana supplied.
"Yeah… Hey!"
"Look Carlos, it doesn't matter! Like it or not, Pedro is your responsibility, and you have to take care of him," James surmised.
"Why? Why do I have to look after him?!" Carlos questioned James.
"It's one of the things you need in order to open your Digimental," James summarized.
Carlos sputtered for a bit, and then realized he was defeated.
"Now, if you're done arguing, I think we need to go find your brother," Armadimon said. Plotmon and V-mon nodded.
Carlos nodded weakly, and the six of them ran off in the direction Pedro ran.
Meanwhile, Pedro's anger had disappeared. It was replaced with a much different and currently more powerful emotion: worry. He had managed to get himself quite lost among the treetops, and if he ran into a creature like Renamon, he was screwed.
He began to also worry if Carlos really meant what he said. Wait, that was stupid, of course he did. It was his fault, for believing stupidly that anything he could do would ever melt his brother's icy heart.
His worry soon turned into curiosity as he approached some kind of weird string. It looked really strong. He touched it, and to his surprise, it was quite sticky. He peeled it off with some difficulty. Looking around, he saw more of them. Finally, he looked up, and found a gigantic representation of a spider web.
Pedro stared in awe, but something clicked in his brain a little too late. Gigantic spider webs probably meant there were…
"RAAAAAR!"
GIGANTIC SPIDERS!
Quicker than should have been possible, a spider bigger than ever should have been possible crawled down to where Pedro stood. It stared him down with eight hungry eyes.
Pedro nearly soiled himself as he realized he couldn't outrun the thing. It advanced closer, and closer, until…
"Sticky Net!" Pedro found himself stuck to a similar web, then suddenly pulled from the branch into midair.
Did Spiderman just save me? Pedro thought right before he stopped swinging. He was on a branch farther away. He broke free of the netting and stood up when a small green caterpillar landed next to him.
"We have to get away from him! I can help you out! Hold onto me!" Pedro nodded, and did as the caterpillar said.
The creature shot out another netting, which caught on another branch. The two of them swung through the air in the same way as a tomato thrown towards a politician.
Pedro tried not to scream as the two of them swung through the air. He failed though, as the worm cut off the netting and the two began to plummet like an anvil in a Looney Tunes cartoon.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH…aaah!" A scream followed by a sigh as the worm released another net, caught another branch, and the two began swinging again.
"This is actually pretty fun!" Pedro exclaimed. The worm nodded, unable to talk due to the string coming out of his mouth. A few more nets later, and the two landed safely on a branch.
"Good thing I got you away from Dokugumon before he ate you. He's not a nice Digimon."
"I figured. Thanks a lot. What's your name?"
"I'm Wormmon. What's yours?"
"Pedro."
"Pedromon? That's a weird name," Wormmon looked at him funnily.
"No, I'm not a Digimon, I'm a human. So my name doesn't end in mon."
"A human? What's that?"
"Well… I come from a different world from this one. I came here because I'm a Chosen Child."
"A Chosen Child? I don't understand," Wormmon looked really confused.
"Well, there's a Digimon around here that's my partner. He and I are linked, so that I can make him stronger and fight bad guys."
"Oh, you mean you do what I do. I save Digimon from Dokugumon, so you and your partner save other Digimon."
"Right. Actually, I don't know who my partner is. Are you my partner?"
Wormmon scratched his head with one of his ten pods, "I don't know if I am. You look familiar, but I've never seen you before."
Pedro thought about it. How would he know if a Digimon was his partner or not? Wait! "I think it has something to do with this," he took out his Digivice, knelt down, and showed it to Wormmon.
Wormmon looked at it, "It's pretty," he touched it with his pod, and it exploded in white light.
Pedro remembered from the others, that was what the device did if a Digimon was his partner, "YES! You're my partner!"
Wormmon blinked, "I am? I AM!" He looked happy, and then confused, "Umm, what does this mean?"
"Well, now we're going to be superheroes!" Pedro seemed really happy, until he realized that Wormmon had no idea what he was saying, "Err, I mean that we'll get to save a lot of people, err, Digimon from bad guys!"
"How are we going to do that?"
"Well, we have to unlock a Digimental first, like my brother and his friend James did, so you can evolve into a stronger form! I need to find one and I'll unlock its trait. Digimentals work on a certain virtue, like Knowledge or Faithfulness, so I need to find one and unlock its virtue. The problem is…" Pedro sighed, "I don't know what virtue I'd unlock."
Wormmon looked at him, "Don't worry, I'm sure you're a very good person! You'll have some kind of virtue that'll make me turn into a super-powered Digimon!"
Pedro nodded, "Yeah, we'll be the best team ever, and fight bad guys! We'll be a team, Wormmon and Pedro, and all evildoers will curse our names."
Wormmon nodded, "Sounds great! I always wanted to fight evil! I just wasn't strong enough!" He made some punches at imaginary villains with his pods.
Pedro laughed. I think this is the start of a great friendship. He seems like an interesting little Digimon. And if I'm partnered to him, no one, not even Carlos can take him away from me.
Then he thought more about Carlos, Maybe I've been going about this all wrong. I try to be more like Carlos, but he just pushes me away. I guess being more like Carlos would mean I would want nothing to do with him.
Why does Carlos hate me so much… Is he a bad person? Is that why?
Well then, it looks like I'll just have to be a good person, the best person there is! I'll be such a shining beacon of virtue that it would inspire everyone around me, including Carlos. Then he may stop being such a bad person!
To Pedro's great surprise, a voice inside him laughed.
Very well, little one. You have great aspirations and a heart that is pure. I happily grant my Light upon you.
Suddenly, the sky seemed to explode in a flash, and Pedro and Wormmon had to block their eyes, and suddenly, floating before them, was a strange white sphere. Pedro took it in his hands.
"Pedro, what is this?" Wormmon gazed in wonder.
"I think it's a Digimental, but I don't know how I activated it, or what trait it is."
"This can make me stronger, right? So how do we do it?"
Pedro was about to answer, but was cut off by screams.
Wormmon tensed, "Dokugumon has someone!"
Pedro recognized the voices, "The others! They must have been looking for me!"
Wormmon blinked, "We have to hurry or Dokugumon might eat them!"
Pedro focused on the sphere, the thoughts that he was thinking before the Digimental appeared, "I want to be the best person I can possibly be. I want to be a shining example of goodness. I want to be such a good person that my brother will respect me and love me, even though he hates me now."
The sphere burst into white light, as did Wormmon.
"Wormmon, armor evolve…" The Digimental and the caterpillar merged into one and shone with a brilliance that was blinding. Feathers appeared over the light before it exploded into a long white snake, over 3 meters long, covered in pure white, red, and golden armor. From his armor appeared green feathers, most noticeable as a shock of what looked like hair from his helmet plate. And, magnificently, two huge wings unfolded from his head as though they were ears. Finally, two clear blue eyes opened from the blackness of the helmet.
"The shining serpent… Coatlmon!"
He lowered his head down to his partner and said, "Get on, we need to save your friends."
Pedro got on, and almost fell from Coatlmon's undulating flight style. Once he got used to it, however, he really liked it. It resembled a roller coaster ride.
Coatlmon was feeling very nice. This power was something he'd never felt before. Now, maybe, he could finally end the trouble Dokugumon had been causing.
"Butterflymon!" James yelled.
Butterflymon would have responded, but he was currently trying frantically to avoid the poisoned cobwebs that Dokugumon was shooting out its mouth.
Juana and Armadimon cursed that they didn't have a Digimental.
Carlos was cursing his Digimental, "Digimental UP, DAMMIT!"
V-mon was wincing, "I know it's bad, Carlos, but do you need to swear?"
"YES! DIGIMENTAL FUCKING UP!" Carlos shook his fist as his D-Terminal showed no response.
Butterflymon summoned his Sweet Thistle and began slicing up the webs as they came, finally reaching close enough.
"Sweet Pheromone!" The golden insect called as his wings began spreading out pollen, covering Dokugumon completely.
"That should…" He stopped as Dokugumon began to rage towards Butterflymon.
James held his head in his hands, "Mental note: Sweet Pheromone attacks have an opposite effect on Dokugumon," he then noticed Dokugumon's target: Carlos, who was currently making a show of himself by pounding on his non-functional D-Terminal.
Butterflymon swooped in front of him, "Sweet- AAAAAAGH!" Dokugumon shot the butterfly point blank. He rocketed straight into Dokugumon's web.
The spider looked on hungrily as he scrambled to his meal.
"BUTTERFLYMON!" James cried, unable to do anything.
Butterflymon struggled impotently against the webbing, until suddenly…
SLICE! SLICE! SLICE!
The bladed tail of a white flying serpent cut the ropes. Butterflymon was in shock until he realized that Pedro was on the serpent's back.
"Hey guys! I found my partner and my Digimental! Pretty cool, huh?"
Carlos paled, "My psychotic little brother has a powerful Digimon. I want to run for my life."
Coatlmon ducked through to reach Dokugumon, "Your terror and cannibalism ends now!"
Dokugumon didn't understand a word, but recognized the threat and roared in fury.
"Fossil Wave!" Coatlmon opened his mouth and a stream of gray wind blasted towards Dokugumon, rendering him inert. Coatlmon swooped down, and began slapping him with the flat of his tail blade. Unfortunately, Dokugumon woke up after a few smacks and lunged towards the snake, who flew away. Unfortunately, the sudden movement jostled Pedro and he fell off, plummeting towards the ground.
"Pedro, NO!" as he saw Pedro fall, all of Carlos's earlier annoyance disappeared, and his D-Terminal exploded in blue light.
"V-mon, armor evolve… devotion of the deep, Depthmon!" The merman Digimon blasted his way over to the plummeting Pedro, grabbed him, and used his bubble jets to propel himself upwards, dropping Pedro off by his brother.
Pedro stared at his brother, "You saved me?"
Carlos looked shocked, "Of course! I don't want to see you die!"
Pedro looked up. Had he succeeded?
Carlos shook his head, "Why the hell did you need to come here anyway. You should have just stayed home."
Pedro sunk. He hadn't succeeded. His brother didn't want him dead. That didn't mean he necessarily loved him, as a brother should.
"Bubble Bomb!" Depthmon fired off a pressure bomb that hit Dokugumon right in the abdomen. The spider howled in pain.
"Freeze Wave!" Coatlmon sent out a blue wave of air this time, and Dokugumon became frozen in a block of ice.
"Sargasso Drag!" red cables shot out of Depthmon's chest, and he hurled Dokugumon towards Butterflymon.
"Sweet Thistle!" Butterflymon formed the sugar stick and whacked it at Dokugumon, who sailed towards a lower branch, and shattered the ice on impact. Dokugumon, however, was relatively unharmed. He coughed up a piece of electronics, which shot upwards and into Juana's hands. Dokugumon reverted to a small green worm called Dokunemon and scampered away.
"Another one of these Circuits," James shook his head, "Our enemy must be upping the stakes.
The humans and Digimon regrouped on a single branch. Butterflymon, Depthmon, and Coatlmon shrunk back down to their Child forms, and Pedro gawked at his new D-Terminal.
"That was great! The flying! The beams you shot out! You are the coolest Digimon ever, Wormmon!" Pedro was his usual hyper self.
James clapped his hand on Pedro's shoulder, "Welcome to the team, guys. Thanks for saving Butterflymon back there."
Plotmon nodded, "I'd be dead if not for you two."
Pedro jumped for joy, throwing Wormmon in the air and catching him.
Juana giggled and James smiled. Their Digimon were glad that neither of their partners were inclined to do that, or, in the case of Armadimon, even physically capable of doing so.
Carlos was still miffed about his brother joining the team, but he wasn't quite as annoyed.
"Damn it, this assignment is so biased it's not funny! Does she do this all the time, or is this because she finally has an American to pick on?!" James lamented.
"Little of column A, little of column B," Juana said, "It's not that bad."
"'Discuss the failings of recent American presidencies and their negative impact on the international community in general and Brazil in particular'? You're saying that's not biased?!"
Carlos shrugged.
"I know Gore's presidency hasn't been too strong in foreign relations, but the country itself has an ironclad economy, poverty is shrinking, and the environment is finally starting to improve. Although Tipper's book banning is a bit disconcerting," James admitted.
Pedro thought for a second, "Yeah, she wanted to ban Harry Potter, didn't she?"
James bit his tongue again. He hated such books, and especially movies based on them, "Yeah. But at least he was able to eliminate many terrorist groups, especially during Clinton's administration! Hell, within a week of his presidency, he found members of a terrorist group living in country planning to hijack planes and fly them into national landmarks. I mean, what would have happened if Bush got elected? We might have lost the World Trade Center! We might be fighting a war in another country and mucked it up so badly that we can't leave."
Juana laughed, "That sounds a little silly."
James smiled, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I suppose I can twist it by mentioning internal struggles between different branches of government that prevented many presidents from promoting their agendas, and…"
Pedro paid no heed, doing his homework and occasionally asking for help. James insisted on checking it afterwards, which proved to be really bad since he found lots of mistakes, leading to twice as much work. Wormmon was on his shoulder, staring at the paper and trying to comprehend what it was saying.
Pedro smiled inwardly, I don't quite belong here, he thought, but I'm getting there.
Authors Notes:
As my fellow Diaries author Canis Black put it, it was about damn time. I'm a slow writer. I just hope my writing's good enough to be worth the wait.
Ugh, Coatlmon is smaller than I thought. I originally thought him to be 5-6 meters (15-18 feet) long. Turns out the size ranges from smaller than Fladramon to looking a Kuwagamon in the eye.
Some might wonder how Pedro could grab Renamon's tail without getting disemboweled. Well, Renamon's initial reaction is "is this kid fucking kidding me?" After Plotmon shows up, he goes BERSERK. He HATES Plotmon. And, as he said, he thinks this is a way for Plotmon to undermine him. So his goal isn't "Keep this kid from grabbing my tail," it's "Show Plotmon he can't fuck around with me."
As for the whole President Gore bit, it's a combination of Digimon influence, Archive's mandate, and a fair bit of wishful thinking on my part. The short of it is that after the Digimon attacks in 99, it was blamed on terrorist actions, and thus Clinton stepped up his search for terrorists by a HUGE notch (staying out of Iraq, though), bringing in leaders of many terrorist groups, such as Osama bin Laden. This gave the Gore campaign a significant edge, bringing in much more swing states, and granting him Florida.
Once again, I don't own Digimon, and the Brazilian section of the Diaries World is just being rented out to me by Archive. It's not so bad, though, because the Diaries Authors are good people. Go to http://pub62.ezboard.com/bthediariesuniverse and see for yourself. If I goofed on anything Brazilian, let me know, and any questions, comments, lame pickup lines, bomb threats, and anything else are welcomed by reviewing, posting on the message board, or emailing me directly at griffinguy24@yahoo.com
By Ryan Griffin
Carlos DeCosta sat at his desk in his room, attempting to do his homework, a task made nearly impossible by the blue creature pestering him.
"Come on, Carlos, let's go out and do something FUN!" the blue dragon whined.
"I told you, V-mon, I have to do this work before we can go out and have fun," Carlos chastised his partner.
V-mon sagged, "But you've been working forever…"
Carlos looked at the clock and chuckled. He had only been doing his work for about an hour. Unfortunately, the little Digimon didn't have a clear grasp on the concept of time. To him, Carlos could have been working for over a million years.
"V-mon, I promise that we'll-" just then, Carlos heard footsteps, "Someone's coming! Hide under the desk, and don't make a sound!" Carlos shoved a protesting V-mon under the desk. V-mon quickly became silent as the door opened, revealing Carlos's father.
"Ah, Carlos, I was looking for you. Who were you talking to?" his father stepped into the room.
Carlos moved his chair to obscure V-mon from sight; "I was just reciting some of my notes, to help me memorize them for a test."
"Just what I like to hear, son. Now, I have something very important that you must know. Your mother and I are going to be taking a trip to Sao Paulo to for business reasons…"
This had happened enough times that Carlos knew what his father was going to say. It didn't help.
"… So, you are going to have to look after Pedro for the upcoming week."
Carlos wanted to bang his head on the desk. There was nothing in his mind that was worse than looking after his younger brother.
"I know this is an inconvenience to you, but you know that we expect you to be a good role model for Pedro. Are there any problems?"
Carlos couldn't contain himself, "Yes, there are problems!"
His father blinked, not expecting him to say that, "Oh, is there?"
Carlos struggled to come up with an answer that wouldn't boggle his father's mind, or send himself on a one way trip to an insane asylum, "Err, a couple of friends and I have formed a study group, and I wouldn't want Pedro to distract us," he said, hoping he had convinced his father. It was sort of true. He had decided to work on schoolwork with James and Juana when the three weren't in the Digital World.
"Oh," his father seemed to mull this over, "Well, it would be nice if you and your friends could help your little brother. He doesn't have the best grades."
"But Dad, have you considered the fact that maybe, when my friends and I are hanging out, that I wouldn't want Pedro to be hanging around. Maybe I don't want Pedro to be there when my friends and I are doing stuff."
His father looked at him, "If there's anything you're doing that you don't want your brother there for, you shouldn't be doing it. This discussion is over. I will see you over dinner."
He left.
Carlos sat in his seat, dumbfounded. V-mon came out from under the desk, coughing, "What's wrong Carlos?"
"I am going to have a VERY unpleasant week…"
"What do you mean you can't go to the Digital World this week?" James had a confused look on his face. It was just after school, and the classroom had mostly cleared out.
Carlos shook his head, "I wish I could. I really do, but I've got to watch my little brother. If I could go with you, I would."
Juana rolled her eyes, "Carlos, when we first told you about the Digimon, we weren't doing so to be friendly. We were actively recruiting you."
James nodded, "You seemed to have an open mind, enough to speak with me, anyway, and I think that's one of the main qualities in becoming a Chosen. Perhaps your brother has similar qualities, and he too would become partnered to a Digimon."
Carlos thought of how to properly phrase what he was saying, "Well, I don't think so. Pedro only cares about his comics and his video games. His attention span is about that of a flea. I don't think he'd be a very good addition to our little army."
James blinked, "What was that last word again?"
"You mean 'army'?" James nodded, as Carlos realized, "Oh, you need a translation! I think the English word is 'exército.'"
James nodded, "Ah! I forgot! Thank you very much."
Carlos shook his head, "No problem, sometimes I forget you aren't a native speaker. You seem pretty adept at the language."
James scratched the back of his head in embarrassed pride and didn't respond.
Juana interrupted, "We're getting off subject here. We need you to go with us. I haven't found a Digimental yet and we need you in case we happen to come across a puddle."
"Hey!" James looked hurt, then noticed Juana's smirk and realized she was kidding, "In all seriousness, though, we do need you. I wish I were more reliable, but I just freeze up when I come across," he gulped, "water. Besides, the nature of your armor evolution would be better in that sort of situation even without my," he paused, "hydrophobia. I don't know if that's the translation…"
Carlos nodded, "It is. I'm sorry, but my father insisted I watch him, and that means I watch him. And by watch him that means-"
"CARLOS!"
"…He's going to be on my back at every moment," Carlos palmed his forehead as a small kid entered the room. He looked exactly like Carlos, minus about two feet in height. His hair was a bit spikier, obviously he put more work into it, and his uniform was different as he was in a younger class. But it was obvious that the two were related.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Pedro looked at his brother and his friends, "Are you the friends Carlos said he didn't want me meeting?"
Carlos grumbled. His brother always told the truth, and told it unbidden.
James smiled, "I guess we must be. My name is James McConnell."
Pedro blinked, "That's not a Brazilian name? Are you an American?"
James nodded.
"My dad says that America is a huge leech that's festering on the backside of the international community," Pedro said, "I don't know what that means. Do you know?"
James actually laughed, "It's difficult to explain. But you're old man's right," he turned to Carlos, "Cute kid. What is he, five?"
Carlos glared, "Ten."
James blinked, "Really?"
Juana shook Pedro's hand, "I'm Juana Lopes, nice to meet you."
Pedro looked at her, "Are you a Native?"
Juana nodded slowly, and before Pedro could say anything more, Carlos had firmly clamped his hand over his brother's mouth
"Well, hate to wrap this up, but I really must get back home…" Carlos began to walk off, leading Pedro off and un-clamping his mouth.
"Good thing, I think the blue lizard you have in your room is getting hungry."
Carlos stopped dead, "You know about him?!"
Pedro nodded, "Yeah! I saw him when you were talking with dad before he left! He was cool! And he could talk! Where'd you get him?!"
James whispered to Juana, "Open mind."
Juana nodded, "A bit too open if you ask me."
James shrugged, "Might help him deal with it, he'd probably be better at it than we would."
Pedro looked blankly, "What are they talking about?"
Carlos paled, "Umm…"
James answered for him; "We want to see if you can get a creature like your brother's."
Pedro beamed, "Really!"
James waved his finger and hoped the gesture wasn't obscene or untranslatable, "We're not making any promises, but…"
Pedro jumped up and down, "Thank you! He's so cool! Like something out of a TV show!" He then gave some thought, "I'm sorry if I said something bad about America! I like America, they make the best cartoons!"
James bit his tongue about his personal view on cartoons, as he was just a little kid. But he'd still try and convert him away from the shiny little idiot making pacifiers; he'd just do it slowly. Before the year was out, he was going to show this kid Dr. Strangelove.
Juana was smiling. Pedro was a cute little kid, and he was very bright eyed and bushy tailed. He'd make a good recruit.
Carlos's world collapsed as he realized he was outvoted. His brother was going to join them, whether he wanted him too or not.
Carlos grumbled as he went home to change and pick up V-mon.
"What's wrong?" the baby dragon asked, disturbed that his partner was so angry.
"Didn't I tell you not to talk to anyone here?"
V-mon looked hurt, "I'm sorry, but he poked me and it hurt so I said 'Ow, don't do that!' I didn't mean to make you mad."
Carlos softened, "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at him. He knows not to be snooping around in here! But he never listens! And now he's going to jump feet first into a world that's really dangerous! And I'll have to look after him every step of the way!" he mumbled something unintelligible and likely obscene, "I just hope he doesn't get a Digivice when he goes to James's house," he sighed, "Damn it, what the hell is that little brat thinking?"
At the moment, Pedro was also thinking of his brother.
His brother had always been kind of mean to him. He didn't know why he would feel this way. He really didn't know why Carlos kept him at an arm's length. He had seen other kids and the way they acted with their older brothers, so he knew that Carlos wasn't acting like a regular big brother. So, there had to be a problem.
Now, there wasn't a problem with Pedro. Pedro knew he was normal. So the problem had to be on Carlos's end. Pedro, willing to do anything to spend time with his older brother, decided that he had to be more like Carlos to make him like him. So, Pedro began to try and be more like his brother. Of course, unbeknownst to Pedro, this behavior did nothing more than to increase Carlos's wish to have nothing to do with his little brother.
Now, of course, this was something really good. Carlos had a strange creature, and he could tell that his new friends also had some. If he got one, he'd be part of their team, and maybe, for the first time, his brother would be nice to him.
By the time that Pedro had met Plotmon and Armadimon and been filled in on the group's adventures, his eyes were as wide as saucers. Carlos noted that he was sitting still for the first time in his life.
"That… is… so… COOL! You're superheroes!"
James blinked, "Well…" He personally never thought of that.
"You are, you get to travel to other dimensions and fight evil! And you jump around through trees and dive into ponds, man that sounds like a BLAST!"
Carlos palmed his face again, his little brother once again proving an embarrassment.
James became serious, "It sounds like fun, but the truth is that it's REALLY dangerous. I could've died twice; it was only pure dumb luck that saved me."
"But you WERE saved, you're a superhero! Superheroes don't die!"
Juana laughed. The kid was naive, but enthusiastic, "You've got some guts, Pedro! I think you'll be a good addition to the team."
Pedro beamed and Carlos grimaced.
James walked over to his laptop computer, "Let's see if the Digital World agrees with us," and apparently it did, because once the computer booted up, a beam of light shot out of it and struck Pedro's hand. He gasped, then beamed brighter than ever as a device exactly like the others', only with white where the others' had colors, formed in his hand. His resulting cheer startled those in neighboring buildings.
Carlos stood in horror, "No way, no FUCKING WAY!"
His obscenities, however, weren't heard by his teammates, as they had entered the portal into the Digital World. He quickly raised his own Digivice and he and V-mon were sucked in as well.
James originally thought the group's Digital World outfits were all very outlandish. His own outfit, a combination of Indiana Jones and the Crocodile Hunter, included more pockets then could ever be deemed necessary, a shirt with a globe and the words "Fragile, Handle With Care" written in both English and Portuguese, and, of all things, a whip, which made James wonder about how obsessed he truly was with the Harrison Ford movie. Juana's outfit was entirely made of deerskin, yet resembled less of a South American Indian's clothing than what some American would dress up as thinking she was wearing a traditional Native American outfit. Her outfit also included a quiver of arrows, a blowgun, and am oddly beautiful necklace made of bird feathers. James knew Juana was as adept with the weapons as he was with his whip, as in not at all. And Carlos's clothes looked like a combination of a lifeguard and Michael J. Fox's outfit in the Back to the Future movies, with a huge puffy vest that James was sure was just for decoration, but wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be used as a flotation device. All in all, they were a pretty ridiculous looking group.
Compared to Pedro's outfit, however, they all looked completely normal.
Pedro was wearing an overstuffed flight jacket that looked like something out of World War II, complete with a scarf and a goggled flight helmet. His pants, too, were overstuffed, containing puffed out sides. His boots were exactly lifted from the Power Rangers series, and his gloves looked like a combination of Power Rangers and Spiderman. In James's opinion, as well as the rest of his group, it was a superfluous and completely useless outfit.
And Pedro couldn't have been happier with it.
"Oh my God! Look at this! And these! And this! This is great! I mean, these boots…" he kept on his babbling.
Carlos shook his head.
James walked up to him, "You know who he reminds me of?"
Carlos shook his head.
"V-mon" James thumbed over to the blue Digimon, who, along with Plotmon and Armadimon, was trying to get Pedro to calm down and as such not disturb the locals.
Carlos's mouth hung open, "You're kidding me."
"No. He's acting a lot like V-mon did when he first met you, very hyper and excited. Maybe it's no coincidence that he's your partner. The two of you are like brothers," he walked off to join Juana and the Digimon.
Carlos stood in silent shock, realizing that James was right. His brother and his partner were indeed very similar. But V-mon never annoyed him. It was like, like…
Like the only reason I don't mind V-mon is because I haven't lived with him all my life, Carlos thought, Maybe the only reason I'm not snapping at V-mon is because he's not my brother.
Carlos was unable to think about it much more, as he had to run to catch up to the group.
Meanwhile, Pedro was wandering the city, with one thing on his mind…
"I wonder if HE'S my partner," he pointed.
Armadimon shook her head, "Floramon is a female."
Pedro pouted, "Oh. I don't want a girl partner. Hmm, how about HIM?!"
Plotmon shook his head, "Nanimon's a grouch, and he's weak for an adult Digimon. Besides, your Digivice isn't reacting."
Pedro pouted, but then perked up as he found the Digimon that he was SURE had to be his partner. He was tall, and looked strong and agile. This was the PERFECT Digimon for him. He ran towards this Digimon.
Plotmon looked ahead, "Pedro, where are you…" he then saw who Pedro was running towards, "Oh NO!" He then began barreling at top speed, his friends right behind him.
Pedro tried to get the attention of the Digimon, tapping him, and then finally resorting to pulling on the creature's tail. This worked, but it turned out for the worst, as the creature's harsh glare was upon him. Pedro managed to spit out his words.
"Umm, I was wondering, are you my partner?"
The creature didn't respond, nor did Pedro let go of the creature's tail.
Finally, the partnered Digimon managed to catch up to Pedro, but were too late.
"Renamon," Plotmon started nervously, "I see you and Pedro have met…"
"Plotmon," Renamon's cold glare turned towards the puppy, "I assume this human came here of YOUR accord."
Plotmon wanted to shake the fox. It was as though he believed that Plotmon was conspiring to undermine him, "We all did, us and our humans."
"And you brought this thing here, hoping that I may have a human shackled to me as you have?!" Renamon turned to Pedro, a wild stare in his eyes and Pedro began to get nervous, "No, that shall not be done, I will kill him first!"
He was almost ready to do that, but before his claws could reach Pedro, a staff blocked them.
"Renamon, I do not think this is the way our Guard Captain should act. Leave the human alone. And you," Wizarmon turned to Pedro, "I would suggest you let go of his tail."
Pedro stupidly realized he was, indeed, gripping onto Renamon's tail, and let go of it as though it was on fire. Renamon growled low and stalked off.
"You need to be more vigilant, human," Wizarmon scolded, "If I were a few seconds slower, I would be talking to your corpse. Renamon is not a Digimon to be trifled with," his gaze then became softer, "You remind me a great deal of the human Carlos…"
"He's my brother."
"Ah, siblings. Such an occurrence is rare here, but not unheard of. I suppose it occurs more often in humans."
Pedro was about to ask what he meant, but at that moment, James, Juana, and Carlos ran up to him.
James immediately asked, "Wizarmon, what's going on?"
"Just another skirmish with Renamon," Wizarmon answered.
"RENAMON! That psychotic?! Pedro, he was part of my welcoming committee into this world, and his first words were "I say we kill him and get it over with!'"
Pedro was about to respond, when Carlos came up to him.
"Carlos, I-"
SMACK!
Pedro hit the floor, or tree branch as it were, and looked up at his older brother, who just backhanded him.
"Pedro, I have HAD it! You're always getting your nose in where it shouldn't belong! You find V-mon and practically BEG to get a Digimon of your own. By the action of God in what I can only call total insanity, he allowed you to come in here, and you immediately get into trouble. I can't always bail you out if you get your stupid ass into trouble like this! And what do you think Mom and Dad will do if they find out you were killed because of your own colossal stupidity?!"
Pedro paused, "I…I…"
"Pedro, you DON'T belong here! You need to realize that! You can't go around as your usual stupid self or you'll be killed. I need you to go home, and forget about all this!"
Pedro simply lay down, slumped.
Finally, he got up, obscuring his eyes, so that the tears welling up in them couldn't be seen. He took in a deep breath…
Then he kicked Carlos in the shins and ran off.
Carlos went down, rubbing his knee in pain. James and Juana started to take off after Pedro, but stopped when they realized Carlos was making no attempt to get up and follow them.
"Carlos, we have to get going!" Juana yelled at him, "If he goes off on his own, who knows what will-"
"Let him go."
James and Juana were shocked. Carlos stood up.
"Maybe getting lost and seriously hurt will teach him a thing or two."
Juana paled, "You cannot be serious!"
"I've never had a younger sibling, but I'm reasonably sure that this isn't in the etiquette," James seemed worried.
"I don't care. He shouldn't be here, but he never listens to me! I mean, look at Pedro! He's whiny and hyperactive and annoying! He's clingy and he turns up everywhere I go! He's like a… like a…"
"A normal ten-year-old boy who wants to spend time with his older brother?" Juana supplied.
"Yeah… Hey!"
"Look Carlos, it doesn't matter! Like it or not, Pedro is your responsibility, and you have to take care of him," James surmised.
"Why? Why do I have to look after him?!" Carlos questioned James.
"It's one of the things you need in order to open your Digimental," James summarized.
Carlos sputtered for a bit, and then realized he was defeated.
"Now, if you're done arguing, I think we need to go find your brother," Armadimon said. Plotmon and V-mon nodded.
Carlos nodded weakly, and the six of them ran off in the direction Pedro ran.
Meanwhile, Pedro's anger had disappeared. It was replaced with a much different and currently more powerful emotion: worry. He had managed to get himself quite lost among the treetops, and if he ran into a creature like Renamon, he was screwed.
He began to also worry if Carlos really meant what he said. Wait, that was stupid, of course he did. It was his fault, for believing stupidly that anything he could do would ever melt his brother's icy heart.
His worry soon turned into curiosity as he approached some kind of weird string. It looked really strong. He touched it, and to his surprise, it was quite sticky. He peeled it off with some difficulty. Looking around, he saw more of them. Finally, he looked up, and found a gigantic representation of a spider web.
Pedro stared in awe, but something clicked in his brain a little too late. Gigantic spider webs probably meant there were…
"RAAAAAR!"
GIGANTIC SPIDERS!
Quicker than should have been possible, a spider bigger than ever should have been possible crawled down to where Pedro stood. It stared him down with eight hungry eyes.
Pedro nearly soiled himself as he realized he couldn't outrun the thing. It advanced closer, and closer, until…
"Sticky Net!" Pedro found himself stuck to a similar web, then suddenly pulled from the branch into midair.
Did Spiderman just save me? Pedro thought right before he stopped swinging. He was on a branch farther away. He broke free of the netting and stood up when a small green caterpillar landed next to him.
"We have to get away from him! I can help you out! Hold onto me!" Pedro nodded, and did as the caterpillar said.
The creature shot out another netting, which caught on another branch. The two of them swung through the air in the same way as a tomato thrown towards a politician.
Pedro tried not to scream as the two of them swung through the air. He failed though, as the worm cut off the netting and the two began to plummet like an anvil in a Looney Tunes cartoon.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH…aaah!" A scream followed by a sigh as the worm released another net, caught another branch, and the two began swinging again.
"This is actually pretty fun!" Pedro exclaimed. The worm nodded, unable to talk due to the string coming out of his mouth. A few more nets later, and the two landed safely on a branch.
"Good thing I got you away from Dokugumon before he ate you. He's not a nice Digimon."
"I figured. Thanks a lot. What's your name?"
"I'm Wormmon. What's yours?"
"Pedro."
"Pedromon? That's a weird name," Wormmon looked at him funnily.
"No, I'm not a Digimon, I'm a human. So my name doesn't end in mon."
"A human? What's that?"
"Well… I come from a different world from this one. I came here because I'm a Chosen Child."
"A Chosen Child? I don't understand," Wormmon looked really confused.
"Well, there's a Digimon around here that's my partner. He and I are linked, so that I can make him stronger and fight bad guys."
"Oh, you mean you do what I do. I save Digimon from Dokugumon, so you and your partner save other Digimon."
"Right. Actually, I don't know who my partner is. Are you my partner?"
Wormmon scratched his head with one of his ten pods, "I don't know if I am. You look familiar, but I've never seen you before."
Pedro thought about it. How would he know if a Digimon was his partner or not? Wait! "I think it has something to do with this," he took out his Digivice, knelt down, and showed it to Wormmon.
Wormmon looked at it, "It's pretty," he touched it with his pod, and it exploded in white light.
Pedro remembered from the others, that was what the device did if a Digimon was his partner, "YES! You're my partner!"
Wormmon blinked, "I am? I AM!" He looked happy, and then confused, "Umm, what does this mean?"
"Well, now we're going to be superheroes!" Pedro seemed really happy, until he realized that Wormmon had no idea what he was saying, "Err, I mean that we'll get to save a lot of people, err, Digimon from bad guys!"
"How are we going to do that?"
"Well, we have to unlock a Digimental first, like my brother and his friend James did, so you can evolve into a stronger form! I need to find one and I'll unlock its trait. Digimentals work on a certain virtue, like Knowledge or Faithfulness, so I need to find one and unlock its virtue. The problem is…" Pedro sighed, "I don't know what virtue I'd unlock."
Wormmon looked at him, "Don't worry, I'm sure you're a very good person! You'll have some kind of virtue that'll make me turn into a super-powered Digimon!"
Pedro nodded, "Yeah, we'll be the best team ever, and fight bad guys! We'll be a team, Wormmon and Pedro, and all evildoers will curse our names."
Wormmon nodded, "Sounds great! I always wanted to fight evil! I just wasn't strong enough!" He made some punches at imaginary villains with his pods.
Pedro laughed. I think this is the start of a great friendship. He seems like an interesting little Digimon. And if I'm partnered to him, no one, not even Carlos can take him away from me.
Then he thought more about Carlos, Maybe I've been going about this all wrong. I try to be more like Carlos, but he just pushes me away. I guess being more like Carlos would mean I would want nothing to do with him.
Why does Carlos hate me so much… Is he a bad person? Is that why?
Well then, it looks like I'll just have to be a good person, the best person there is! I'll be such a shining beacon of virtue that it would inspire everyone around me, including Carlos. Then he may stop being such a bad person!
To Pedro's great surprise, a voice inside him laughed.
Very well, little one. You have great aspirations and a heart that is pure. I happily grant my Light upon you.
Suddenly, the sky seemed to explode in a flash, and Pedro and Wormmon had to block their eyes, and suddenly, floating before them, was a strange white sphere. Pedro took it in his hands.
"Pedro, what is this?" Wormmon gazed in wonder.
"I think it's a Digimental, but I don't know how I activated it, or what trait it is."
"This can make me stronger, right? So how do we do it?"
Pedro was about to answer, but was cut off by screams.
Wormmon tensed, "Dokugumon has someone!"
Pedro recognized the voices, "The others! They must have been looking for me!"
Wormmon blinked, "We have to hurry or Dokugumon might eat them!"
Pedro focused on the sphere, the thoughts that he was thinking before the Digimental appeared, "I want to be the best person I can possibly be. I want to be a shining example of goodness. I want to be such a good person that my brother will respect me and love me, even though he hates me now."
The sphere burst into white light, as did Wormmon.
"Wormmon, armor evolve…" The Digimental and the caterpillar merged into one and shone with a brilliance that was blinding. Feathers appeared over the light before it exploded into a long white snake, over 3 meters long, covered in pure white, red, and golden armor. From his armor appeared green feathers, most noticeable as a shock of what looked like hair from his helmet plate. And, magnificently, two huge wings unfolded from his head as though they were ears. Finally, two clear blue eyes opened from the blackness of the helmet.
"The shining serpent… Coatlmon!"
He lowered his head down to his partner and said, "Get on, we need to save your friends."
Pedro got on, and almost fell from Coatlmon's undulating flight style. Once he got used to it, however, he really liked it. It resembled a roller coaster ride.
Coatlmon was feeling very nice. This power was something he'd never felt before. Now, maybe, he could finally end the trouble Dokugumon had been causing.
"Butterflymon!" James yelled.
Butterflymon would have responded, but he was currently trying frantically to avoid the poisoned cobwebs that Dokugumon was shooting out its mouth.
Juana and Armadimon cursed that they didn't have a Digimental.
Carlos was cursing his Digimental, "Digimental UP, DAMMIT!"
V-mon was wincing, "I know it's bad, Carlos, but do you need to swear?"
"YES! DIGIMENTAL FUCKING UP!" Carlos shook his fist as his D-Terminal showed no response.
Butterflymon summoned his Sweet Thistle and began slicing up the webs as they came, finally reaching close enough.
"Sweet Pheromone!" The golden insect called as his wings began spreading out pollen, covering Dokugumon completely.
"That should…" He stopped as Dokugumon began to rage towards Butterflymon.
James held his head in his hands, "Mental note: Sweet Pheromone attacks have an opposite effect on Dokugumon," he then noticed Dokugumon's target: Carlos, who was currently making a show of himself by pounding on his non-functional D-Terminal.
Butterflymon swooped in front of him, "Sweet- AAAAAAGH!" Dokugumon shot the butterfly point blank. He rocketed straight into Dokugumon's web.
The spider looked on hungrily as he scrambled to his meal.
"BUTTERFLYMON!" James cried, unable to do anything.
Butterflymon struggled impotently against the webbing, until suddenly…
SLICE! SLICE! SLICE!
The bladed tail of a white flying serpent cut the ropes. Butterflymon was in shock until he realized that Pedro was on the serpent's back.
"Hey guys! I found my partner and my Digimental! Pretty cool, huh?"
Carlos paled, "My psychotic little brother has a powerful Digimon. I want to run for my life."
Coatlmon ducked through to reach Dokugumon, "Your terror and cannibalism ends now!"
Dokugumon didn't understand a word, but recognized the threat and roared in fury.
"Fossil Wave!" Coatlmon opened his mouth and a stream of gray wind blasted towards Dokugumon, rendering him inert. Coatlmon swooped down, and began slapping him with the flat of his tail blade. Unfortunately, Dokugumon woke up after a few smacks and lunged towards the snake, who flew away. Unfortunately, the sudden movement jostled Pedro and he fell off, plummeting towards the ground.
"Pedro, NO!" as he saw Pedro fall, all of Carlos's earlier annoyance disappeared, and his D-Terminal exploded in blue light.
"V-mon, armor evolve… devotion of the deep, Depthmon!" The merman Digimon blasted his way over to the plummeting Pedro, grabbed him, and used his bubble jets to propel himself upwards, dropping Pedro off by his brother.
Pedro stared at his brother, "You saved me?"
Carlos looked shocked, "Of course! I don't want to see you die!"
Pedro looked up. Had he succeeded?
Carlos shook his head, "Why the hell did you need to come here anyway. You should have just stayed home."
Pedro sunk. He hadn't succeeded. His brother didn't want him dead. That didn't mean he necessarily loved him, as a brother should.
"Bubble Bomb!" Depthmon fired off a pressure bomb that hit Dokugumon right in the abdomen. The spider howled in pain.
"Freeze Wave!" Coatlmon sent out a blue wave of air this time, and Dokugumon became frozen in a block of ice.
"Sargasso Drag!" red cables shot out of Depthmon's chest, and he hurled Dokugumon towards Butterflymon.
"Sweet Thistle!" Butterflymon formed the sugar stick and whacked it at Dokugumon, who sailed towards a lower branch, and shattered the ice on impact. Dokugumon, however, was relatively unharmed. He coughed up a piece of electronics, which shot upwards and into Juana's hands. Dokugumon reverted to a small green worm called Dokunemon and scampered away.
"Another one of these Circuits," James shook his head, "Our enemy must be upping the stakes.
The humans and Digimon regrouped on a single branch. Butterflymon, Depthmon, and Coatlmon shrunk back down to their Child forms, and Pedro gawked at his new D-Terminal.
"That was great! The flying! The beams you shot out! You are the coolest Digimon ever, Wormmon!" Pedro was his usual hyper self.
James clapped his hand on Pedro's shoulder, "Welcome to the team, guys. Thanks for saving Butterflymon back there."
Plotmon nodded, "I'd be dead if not for you two."
Pedro jumped for joy, throwing Wormmon in the air and catching him.
Juana giggled and James smiled. Their Digimon were glad that neither of their partners were inclined to do that, or, in the case of Armadimon, even physically capable of doing so.
Carlos was still miffed about his brother joining the team, but he wasn't quite as annoyed.
"Damn it, this assignment is so biased it's not funny! Does she do this all the time, or is this because she finally has an American to pick on?!" James lamented.
"Little of column A, little of column B," Juana said, "It's not that bad."
"'Discuss the failings of recent American presidencies and their negative impact on the international community in general and Brazil in particular'? You're saying that's not biased?!"
Carlos shrugged.
"I know Gore's presidency hasn't been too strong in foreign relations, but the country itself has an ironclad economy, poverty is shrinking, and the environment is finally starting to improve. Although Tipper's book banning is a bit disconcerting," James admitted.
Pedro thought for a second, "Yeah, she wanted to ban Harry Potter, didn't she?"
James bit his tongue again. He hated such books, and especially movies based on them, "Yeah. But at least he was able to eliminate many terrorist groups, especially during Clinton's administration! Hell, within a week of his presidency, he found members of a terrorist group living in country planning to hijack planes and fly them into national landmarks. I mean, what would have happened if Bush got elected? We might have lost the World Trade Center! We might be fighting a war in another country and mucked it up so badly that we can't leave."
Juana laughed, "That sounds a little silly."
James smiled, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I suppose I can twist it by mentioning internal struggles between different branches of government that prevented many presidents from promoting their agendas, and…"
Pedro paid no heed, doing his homework and occasionally asking for help. James insisted on checking it afterwards, which proved to be really bad since he found lots of mistakes, leading to twice as much work. Wormmon was on his shoulder, staring at the paper and trying to comprehend what it was saying.
Pedro smiled inwardly, I don't quite belong here, he thought, but I'm getting there.
Authors Notes:
As my fellow Diaries author Canis Black put it, it was about damn time. I'm a slow writer. I just hope my writing's good enough to be worth the wait.
Ugh, Coatlmon is smaller than I thought. I originally thought him to be 5-6 meters (15-18 feet) long. Turns out the size ranges from smaller than Fladramon to looking a Kuwagamon in the eye.
Some might wonder how Pedro could grab Renamon's tail without getting disemboweled. Well, Renamon's initial reaction is "is this kid fucking kidding me?" After Plotmon shows up, he goes BERSERK. He HATES Plotmon. And, as he said, he thinks this is a way for Plotmon to undermine him. So his goal isn't "Keep this kid from grabbing my tail," it's "Show Plotmon he can't fuck around with me."
As for the whole President Gore bit, it's a combination of Digimon influence, Archive's mandate, and a fair bit of wishful thinking on my part. The short of it is that after the Digimon attacks in 99, it was blamed on terrorist actions, and thus Clinton stepped up his search for terrorists by a HUGE notch (staying out of Iraq, though), bringing in leaders of many terrorist groups, such as Osama bin Laden. This gave the Gore campaign a significant edge, bringing in much more swing states, and granting him Florida.
Once again, I don't own Digimon, and the Brazilian section of the Diaries World is just being rented out to me by Archive. It's not so bad, though, because the Diaries Authors are good people. Go to http://pub62.ezboard.com/bthediariesuniverse and see for yourself. If I goofed on anything Brazilian, let me know, and any questions, comments, lame pickup lines, bomb threats, and anything else are welcomed by reviewing, posting on the message board, or emailing me directly at griffinguy24@yahoo.com