Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Jungle Diaries - Amazon Adventure 2002 ❯ The Fourth Digimental ( Chapter 4 )

Juana wiped some sweat from her brow as she walked into her room, "Well, I've put in enough time today. As soon as the others are back, we can go to the Digital World."

Armadimon nodded.

Juana was about to comment until she heard familiar voices.

"Wow, did you see the way he went right in and took the ball, then the other guy went in and, Bam! Right in the guy's…" Pedro gushed about the game at a high speed, Wormmon riding in his messy mass of hair. Carlos and James were walking behind him, V-mon and Plotmon besides them.

"It was better than I expected, Carlos, don't get me wrong. I'm just not a person that gets passionate about sporting events," James said.

"James, James, James. Football isn't a sporting event here, it's a way of life," Carlos said, "It's the glue that binds Brazil together. It's like going to church!"

"I… er, actually haven't ever been inside a church either…" James said, nervously.

"How'd it go?" Juana asked Carlos, ignoring Pedro's hyperactive gibbering.

"Paysandu won two to zero," Carlos said succinctly.

"YES!" Juana cheered.

"How'd it go here?" James asked.

"Well enough, despite some minor setbacks" Juana replied, not noticing Armadimon droop at that statement.

James brightened, "Well, You've suffered your work, I've suffered the soccer game-"

"Football," Carlos corrected.

"Sorry, keep forgetting," James rubbed the back of his head, "Anyway, how about we see what's going on in the Digital World?"

Pedro stopped his litany about the game to cheer, "Woo hoo! Time for some villain stomping!" Wormmon, V-mon, and Plotmon cheered in agreement as their humans headed to James's room.

Juana noticed Armadimon sagging despite all the good cheer. She patted her head, making Armadimon smile a little before they too left.

With a resounding "THUD," the group of children and Digimon once again materialized in the middle of the Digimon village, tangled in a heap of bodies. By now, it had occurred enough times that the towns-Digimon were relatively calm about it, and while there was still a layer of shock with their arrival, it wasn't as thick as before.

After a bit of struggling to untangle themselves, they moved to the one place they knew they could rely on for information.

"Wizarmon?" James asked, opening the door to the wizard Digimon's hut.

"Ah, James! Come on in, all of you, have a seat!" Wizarmon called from elsewhere in the hut.

The children entered, all disconcerted that a hut about the size of a large van could reveal more space than most houses. They took seats on various sofas, and Wizarmon appeared, carrying a very small teapot.

"Sorry I couldn't greet you at the door, but my tea was finished and I didn't want to let it burn. Would you like some? There's more than enough for nine."

Juana, and the Digimon immediately answered yes. James looked oddly at the teapot and was about to ask how it could contain enough tea for nine, but simply answered yes instead. Carlos also asked for some, and then nudged Pedro into agreeing.

With a flourish of one hand, a tray with nine mugs materialized on a table in front of the children, and Wizarmon began pouring a greenish brown steamy liquid into each mug, managing to somehow fill each mug near the brim with liquid. James resigned himself to believe that whatever force made the house contain more volume than it seemed also governed Wizarmon's teapot, but he knew that once they were settled, he would be grilling the wizard for information.

Each took a sip of the tea.

Juana perked up, "This is good! Exactly like my grandmother makes!"

James smacked his lips, "It has a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but very good," and he took another sip.

Neither Armadimon nor Plotmon commented; they had lived with Wizarmon all their lives and had been drinking the tea since they were Babies.

Carlos gulped the tea down and said it was good in a way that didn't seem sincere. He looked at Pedro's face, then leaned toward him and whispered, "Don't spit it out, or I'll kill you!" Pedro gulped, and gave a thumb up towards Wizarmon.

Neither V-mon or Wormmon were paying attention, and both spat out their tea almost upon drinking it. Carlos put his head in his hands.

"Do not fret, Carlos, I am not offended if your tastes lean otherwise," the wizard consoled the boy, "But I am aware that this is not a social call. What brings you here?"

James responded, "Well, we aren't sure what we should be doing. We know that the creature who rules from the Iron Tower, whoever he is, is creating these Circuits and using them to evolve Digimon into berserk monsters. But we have no idea where to start."

Wizarmon considered this, "This is true… well, you should begin by seeking out all of the Digimentals."

"How many are there?" James asked.

"Ten, from the reports we have had from outside the continent. Of the ten, I would highly suggest you only seek out nine."

Pedro looked confused, "Why? If we have more Digimentals, we'll have more power, right?"

"It is a matter of what power you harness. The tenth Digimental I speak of is the Digimental of Darkness, the antithesis of your Digimental of Light, Pedro. Anyone who harnesses such a Digimental would most likely not be a person that would aid you in your quest."

Pedro shivered, "Well, if someone DOES find that Digimental, I hope we never meet him."

Wizarmon nodded, "As well you should. Light, Knowledge, and Faithfulness are already found. The other six, if I remember correctly, are Courage, Friendship, Love, Purity, Hope, and Kindness. I don't believe that any other current Chosen have found the Digimental of Kindness, but legends say that it does exist."

"And I suppose that you have no idea where the other six can be found?" Juana asked.

"Unfortunately no. And, if what the three of you say is true, than the Digimentals seem less to be concrete objects than forces that come when called into existence. In short, you won't find your Digimentals - your Digimentals will find you," Wizarmon said, "And they seem to find you when you are in peril. So the best course of action would be to seek out your enemies for you to find your Digimentals."

"Now I'm even more confused," Pedro said, "So the best way to find our enemies is to look for the Digimentals, and the best way to find our Digimentals is to look for our enemies? That's no help at all!"

"Pedro!" Carlos said, prepared to smack his brother.

"Actually, he has a point," James said.

"Indeed he does," Wizarmon relented, "Let me see if I can try and clear matters up," he waved his hand and the table turned into an odd map. "Hmm," he muttered as he looked at the map, "We have scoured information from our jungles, the coastal mountain ranges, and the swamplands surrounding the City of Gold, a home for machine Digimon. The southern scrub forests and grasslands are unknown to us. We have been warned that there is a great force in the area that kills any Digimon in its path, so we have not sent scouts there."

James pondered, "A great force that kills? Perhaps it is allied with the creature that plagues the jungles."

"From what we have been told, the force is benign, mostly, but we would rather not risk our people by sending them into that area. The force does not discriminate friend from foe easily. I am sure this is an exaggeration, but I would rather not take the risk."

"This still leaves the question of where we begin," Carlos said.

"Well, we have heard reports of Adult Digimon acting erratically here, here, here, and here," he pointed to places on the map, and each one lit up, "These four places are equidistant from our settlement and from each other."

Carlos smiled, "Well, that's easy enough, there's four of us, we send one to each place!"

James shook his head, "No."

Carlos looked at him, "Why not?"

"Juana's why not," James stated simply.

"What are you talking about?" Juana looked at him.

"You're the only one of us without a Digimental, if you're out there and face up against something big and powerful, you'll have no means to protect yourself. It's better if you were to go with someone else, just in case something were to happen."

Juana stared at James incredulously, "Are you SERIOUS, James?! You think I can't fend for myself? That I need one of you to protect me?"

James started to shrink, "It's not that, I just-"

Juana shook her head, "No, it IS that! You think I'm not strong enough to fend for myself! Well, James, we're going to go with Carlos's plan, and I'm certainly not going to go with one of you because you feel the need to protect me!"

There was an awkward silence, and then James nodded, "Whatever you say."

Wizarmon placed four parchments over the table map, turning each into an exact copy of the map, "These should help. Go now, and may whatever powers you believe in bless your journey."

Each took a map. Upon taking hers, Juana stormed out of the hut with Armadimon close behind. James was the last in taking his map, and walked out with his head hung low.

Plotmon scampered up to him, and attempted to change the subject, "Well, at least we haven't had a visit from our usual tormentor today."

James chuckled, "Tall, yellow, and ill-tempered. But I guess even Renamon needs a day off from being an asshole."

Plotmon chuckled back, "With Renamon, hating us isn't so much a full time job as it is a hobby."

James asked, "Why does Renamon hate you so much anyway?"

Plotmon responded, "It all goes back to when we first met…"

Several years ago -

Plotmon and Renamon were walking in a crowded section of the village. Renamon stopped to look at a sign. Plotmon accidentally bumped into Renamon's leg and was carried off by the sea of Digimon before he got a chance to apologize.

"…And he's hated me ever since then," Plotmon finished.

"Well, it's not too bad a reason. Best explanation I have as to why Juana's in such a foul mood," Carlos said, walking up behind them with V-mon at his side.

James shook his head, "I don't know why she's so defensive. I just wanted to make sure that she'd be okay."

Carlos chuckled, "Juana's a strong girl, and Armadimon is fiercely protective of her. I'm sure she'll be fine."

James sighed, "I know. But… well, I never had any friends before Juana. I never WANTED to have friends before Juana. She was the first person I met who wanted to spend time with me, the first person that I gave a chance, and the first person that I actually ended up wanting to spend time with. Forgive me if I want to protect her."

Carlos chuckled, "And I'm sure the fact that she's a girl aids to this glowing praise you gave her?"

James blushed, "Well… she IS very pretty…"

Carlos burst out laughing, "Well, I'm sure she'll come around. Good luck.""

"You too," and with that, the two humans and their Digimon parted ways.

Meanwhile, Juana walked away from the vendor's shack she was hiding behind, fuming, until she overheard James and Carlos's conversation. She walked towards her own objective, her thoughts crowding her mind.

"Juana, you should apologize to James," Armadimon said, "He's right, you know…"

"No he isn't. I appreciate his sentiment but not his actions. Even if he wants to protect me, he shouldn't feel as if I needed it," Juana surmised.

"But…Juana, you do need it…"

Juana shook her head, "No I don't. As long as I have you, and that's all the protection I need," she continued walking but stopped as soon as she realized Armadimon wasn't following her, "Armadimon?" she looked back and saw that Armadimon was crying, "Armadimon, what's the matter?!"

"I'm sorry Juana," Armadimon sobbed, "I'm sorry that I'm not a good partner. I'm sorry I can't evolve to protect you or help you out with your chores or your homework. I'm sorry I'm useless."

Juana looked shocked, "You aren't useless, Armadimon," she assured.

"I am! I can't fight Adult level Digimon like the others can, and I can't help you when you're at home. I can't carry boxes, I can't help customers, I can't shelve things, I can't help with schoolwork, I can't even get down the stairs without asking for help…"

Juana felt a proverbial light bulb click on over her head, "So THAT'S why you were causing all that ruckus back home! You were trying to help me with my work…"

Armadimon nodded, "I thought if I couldn't be a help in the Digital World, I could at least help you out in the real world…"

Juana shook her head, and then kneeled down to Armadimon's level, "Armadimon, just the fact that you WANTED to help me is more than enough. I've known some people for years and they wouldn't give me the time of day, but we've only known each other a few days and you've treated me like family. I don't know what I ever did to deserve to have a friend as selfless as you.

"Besides," Juana sighed, "if there's any reason you can't evolve, it's me. You can only evolve when we activate a Digimental. The only reason that you can't fight here is me."

Armadimon looked up with her green eyes marked with red, "Juana, you shouldn't say that! There's nothing wrong with you!"

Juana smiled, "And there's nothing wrong with YOU either. You're giving and kind and sweet, like a sister I never had. I guess I don't even want you to change. Whenever Plotmon or V-mon or Wormmon armor evolve, they stop being themselves and start being fighting machines. I'd rather you never evolve if it meant that you weren't the caring creature I know."

Armadimon sniffed, then smiled, and the two embraced in a hug. Juana could swear she heard a voice giggle and her pack suddenly felt a bit heavier.

A horrific crashing in the undergrowth beneath them, however, ruined the moment.

"Armadimon, what is that?!" Juana asked her partner, who had more accurate hearing than she did.

Her question was soon answered by three familiar voices.

"DIGIMENTAL UP!"

"It's our cue, Juana," Armadimon responded.

The beast before them was a creature born out of a five year old's nightmare after first hearing the story of Little Red Riding Hood and having the parent leave right after saying the words "All the better to eat you with!" It was a giant red canine creature, and upon close inspection, one could see its sharp claws and legs covered in black leather straps and gloves. However, close was not something you wanted to get with this creature, as its main feature was it elongated head, which was all mouth, and this mouth was all teeth. These were not teeth to be laughed at. The Crocodile Hunter would take one look at this creature and take off in the opposite direction, rather than the forward one he is usually so fond of when confronting creatures with such teeth.

Shortly before Plotmon evolved, he mentioned two things: This was a Fangmon, and he had never seen one in real life, much less fought one. This was not encouraging.

After the three Armors evolved, Fangmon pounced, aimed for the yellow butterfly with unbelievable rage.

"Sweet Pheromone!" Butterflymon sent off his perfume in Fangmon's face. The red beast huffed for a bit, woozed a little, then shook his head wildly and lunged back at the butterfly.

James looked angry, "Why did that attack only work ONCE?!"

"Sargasso Drag!" Depthmon flew past, opening his chest plate and tying the Fangmon's jaws with its cables.

"Good plan, Carlos!" James yelled, "it's jaw muscles for closing are strong, but the muscles for opening said jaws are probably weak!"

As though he understood what James said and was trying to be ironic, Fangmon opened his jaws, breaking the cables, then bit down on the cables, and flung Depthmon into a tree.

James paled, "I guess that only works for crocodiles…"

Fangmon, now with freed jaws, began his assault on Butterflymon anew. The armored insect kept spreading his opiates as he flew out of reach. Fangmon eventually began to slow down…

"Freeze Wave!" Coatlmon blasted a beam of frigid air at the red canine. But it proved too little too early. The cold air blew away the haze and knocked Fangmon back to his senses soon enough for him to leap out of the beam before he became encased in ice. Fangmon then began to run.

"Oh no, you don't!" Coatlmon dove down after the fox creature, following through the brush, worming his way through the dense foliage. And within seconds, he was centimeters away from Fangmon's tail.

And it was at that exact point that Fangmon took a hard turn left. Coatlmon, surprised, attempted to stop, but momentum was against him and he soon slammed hard into a tree trunk.

Fangmon bounded back out and ran back towards Butterflymon, and at precisely that time, Juana and Armadimon appeared.

Both combatants regarded the pair for a second.

"Leave, before you get- AAAAAGH!" Butterflymon howled in agony as Fangmon bit off a small fragment of his wing.

James ran up to the pair, "He already took down Depthmon and Coatlmon! You should get out of here!"

Juana then thought for a second, "He didn't attack me. He realized I wasn't a threat and didn't attack me…"

James sputtered, "Juana, you could get-"

"Armadimon, trip him up!" Juana said.

"Rolling Stone!" Armadimon curled into a ball and spun towards Fangmon, smacked him on one of his hind legs, causing him to spill over. The red beast growled, snapped at the armored rodent, then turned back to his fight with Butterflymon.

Juana turned to James, "When he attacked Depthmon and Coatlmon, did he attack them first, or did they attack him?"

James responded, "They attacked him. He was going after Plotmon and only dealt with the others if he was interrupted…"

Juana nodded, "I have a hunch. I think that's Renamon!"

James blinked, "Renamon?!" he then realized the beast was vulpine, resembled the maniacal fox in certain ways, and expressed the same hatred of his Digimon partner.

Carlos and Pedro ran in from the undergrowth with their beaten and stunned Child level partners.

Juana felt her pack, then turned to James, "I want you and Butterflymon to lead him through the undergrowth. Stall him, you need to be the bait."

James nodded, then stopped, "Wait, how will you stop him if I'm just the bait?"

Juana smiled, "Because I have two hunches, and I believe both are correct. The first is that that red creature is Renamon evolved."

"And the second?" James asked.

"That I just found my Digimental," She opened her pack, and sitting on top was a green egg shaped object, which appeared to be resting on a ninja star. A teardrop shaped symbol marked the front.

James looked at it, then nodded. He yelled towards Butterflymon, who flew out, wrapped his arms around James, then took off with his partner in tow and his enemy behind him.

Juana turned to Armadimon, "Digimental UP!"

"Armadimon, armor evolve…"

As Armadimon and the Digimental merged, it exploded in a flurry of leaves, which molded into an odd looking form. Juana could hear a frog croaking before the leaves were blown away.

The resulting form was a bright yellow and rather large frog creature. Its big red eyes winked at Juana. It had daggers strapped to both legs and its right leg was encased in black. On the creature's back was a red contraption, from which three green appendages sprouted. Two looked like an amalgamation of a palm tree and a helicopter propeller. The last formed a huge leaf that draped itself over the creature's face.

"… Hidden with purity, Frogmon!"

Frogmon turned towards her partner and winked, "Let's take care of that creep!"

Juana nodded, got on Frogmon's back, in between the leaf and the propellers, and the two bounded off into the forest.

Carlos and Pedro stood dumbfounded.

"Shouldn't we be, you know, helping?" Pedro asked.

"The girl has a plan. I say we leave her to it," Carlos responded.

James was learning just how little fun being chased by the unholy hybridization of a fox and a bear trap was. One of the creature's bites came dangerously close to biting his foot off.

"Whatever Juana's planning to do, I hope she does it soon!" James yelled to Butterflymon.

"Leaf Wheel Cutter!" A green propeller blade flew straight into Fangmon's flank, blasting him far into the underbrush. Frogmon and Juana jumped out from the underbrush and landed where Fangmon was. The propeller flew back and reattached to Frogmon's back.

"Impeccable timing," James said.

"So that's your Armor form, Armadimon… kinda cute actually," Butterflymon seemed to smile.

James boggled. Cute was among the last words he'd use to describe the frog Digimon. But, he guessed, Digimon had different views of each other.

Juana leaped off of Frogmon's back, "He'll be back shortly. We need to lose him! James, you and I need to get to safe ground, preferably where we can get a good vantage point!"

James nodded, "Yes ma'am!"

Juana turned to Butterflymon, "You need to act as bait. He's out for your blood. You need to be the carrot to pull this horse cart along!"

Butterflymon gave a salute in response.

Juana at last turned to her partner, "Frogmon, you need to keep up with Fangmon. You need to attack him frequently, suddenly, and swiftly! Run away as soon as you've attacked, don't let him catch you, or even see you if you can handle it. If he starts to chase after Frogmon, then you, Butterflymon, have to get his attention back on you, understood?" three heads nodded.

James turned to a tree, "I don't think Fangmon can climb, or fit into the tree-elevators. Our best bet is to go up."

Juana nodded, "All right, let's do this!" Frogmon went off into the forest, Butterflymon began to hover around for Fangmon to find, and James and Juana ran into the elevator of a nearby tree. James hit the button for the highest level, and the elevator rose.

After some moments of uncomfortable silence, James spoke, "I'm sorry I doubted you. You're doing better at this than I ever did…"

Juana turned to James, "Well… I don't appreciate that you thought I was weak… but I do appreciate that you were worried about me. And I overreacted. Sorry for that."

They remained silent again, this time with less discomfort, "I really have been going about this all wrong," James said, "I've just been relying on punching our way out and finding new Digimentals to solve our problems. I should put this thing," he tapped his head, "to better use."

Juana laughed, "Yeah, we could possibly benefit from you using those brain cells for something besides biology," both of them had a long laugh, less from the joke than that they needed to release some tension from the battle. Juana grinned, "So James… do you really think I'm pretty?" she smiled in a way reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat.

"What the… how did you… I… what I mean is… umm…" James sputtered, his face as red as a lobster, before Juana began to giggle uncontrollably. James in turn scratched the back of his head and laughed half heartedly, wishing the elevator would reach their destination. With luck it soon did, James silently thanking it for ending his embarrassment.

The tree turned out to be a worse vantage point than they had believed. The branch they were standing on was below the canopy level, but the branches below hid the forest floor rather well. The most they could do was hear their Digimon's attacks telegraphed, and occasionally, a flash of yellow and white followed by a flash of red and black, until finally they heard a yelp followed by a giant fox propelled straight up through the branches, followed quickly by a Butterflymon and Frogmon flying straight into Fangmon, in a dual slam that should've crushed his ribs. Fangmon opened his mouth, and emptied the contents of his stomach onto the forest floor, including the offending Circuit. The red fox shimmered and reverted to the yellow fox-man he used to be.

Renamon came to, and was surprised to find himself suspended in midair, and even more surprised to find himself held hundreds of meters above the ground by Plotmon's evolved form and an unfamiliar frog Digimon held aloft by odd propellers. His first reaction was the emotion he normally felt: Rage.

"How DARE you, Plotmon?!" Renamon snarled, "How DARE you kidnap me and hold me in such a manner?! When I'm through, the data of you and your partner will be so scattered that Lord Zhuqiaomon himself couldn't reform you!"

"Renamon!" All heads turned as Juana spoke harshly towards the fox, "You should be thanking us you can even say such things! Five seconds ago you were being controlled by one of the Iron Tower's circuits!"

Renamon let a look of shock cross his face, "How? I would never let such filthy contraptions enter my body!"

Juana replied, "Well it looks like that filthy contraption had a different idea. Now, perhaps you'll want to apologize before our partners decide to stop being so courteous and let you fall to your doom."

Renamon blinked, "Your… partners…?" He turned to face Frogmon, "You're Armadimon?"

Frogmon stared at him, "Last time I checked. I'm Frogmon now, though."

Renamon's eyes took on a weird look. All present could swear they saw hearts surrounding his head, "You're even MORE beautiful than you were before, as if that were even possible."

James and Juana facevaulted, and personally wondered exactly HOW Digimon's tastes went.

A vein popped in Frogmon's head, "Renamon, stop this Baihumon-damned foolishness!"

Renamon looked crushed, "But I've let my heart out to you countless times! I'm a thousand times better than this filthy cur here! Why must you tear out my heart like this when I am the only one who can love you the way you deserve to be loved?"

James blinked, "Okay, am I the only one who feels they just walked into the middle of a movie here?"

"No," chorused Juana and Butterflymon.

Frogmon sighed, took Renamon, and landed on the branch besides him, "Okay, Renamon, maybe I haven't been too clear on this. The reason I've turned you down… repeatedly, is NOT because I'm courting Plotmon…" with that, she took out her dagger from the hilt on her leg and accentuated each word with a blow to the head with the dagger's butt, "IT'S! BE! CAUSE! YOU! ARE! A! PSYCHO!" with that, she slammed his barely conscious body down on the tree branch, and devolved into Armadimon and stormed off in a huff as Juana followed. Butterflymon fluttered near James and devolved into Plotmon.

James looked tentatively at Renamon, "Uh… Are you going to be all right?"

At that, Renamon leapt towards James, but instead of attacking him like he believed he would, the fox latched onto James and began bawling his eyes out.

James looked very uncomfortable. Trying to comfort people was awkward enough - trying to comfort a tall humanoid fox that had on more than one occasion threatened your life was a whole new ball game. "Um… there there! There there." He patted the fox on the back to accentuate this. There was a snuffling sound and James's shirt got much more mucousy than he would have preferred.

"Cheer up Renamon… besides, you're a big tough guy! I'm sure lots of females would be happy to be with you!"

Renamon sobbed, "None of them can compare to Armadimon… she's so soft and delicate and gentle…"

"Renamon, I've lived with her nearly all my life, and none of those adjectives apply to Armadimon. She's beaten me since I was Nyaromon! She just beat you into near unconsciousness! Are you sure you want to be her boyfriend?"

Renamon looked a bit unsure at that, "But…"

Plotmon walked over to him, "C'mon, I'll help cheer you up."

Renamon buried his face in James's shirtfront with another sob and snuffle that nearly made James retch, "There's nothing that can fill the gap in my heart…" Renamon sniffled.

"How about my knowledge of where Wizarmon keeps his liquor and dirty pictures?"

Renamon instantly turned towards Plotmon and smiled, "Plotmon, old buddy, I think I've SERIOUSLY misjudged you…"

Armadimon was both happy and unhappy. She had beaten Fangmon and finally told Renamon off in the only language he understood. She had evolved, and that gave her a euphoria she was previously unaware of. However, there was the matter of Juana, because in the act of evolving, she had turned from the best friend into a fighting machine Juana had praised her for not being. She wondered if her partner was somehow disappointed in her for evolving and fighting. Juana had turned away from Armadimon in the elevator ride to the forest floor. Finally, she worked up the nerve.

"Juana?" Armadimon nudged her partner's leg, "Are you mad at me?"

Juana turned and had a grin on her face wider than Armadimon had seen before, "Armadimon, mad is the LAST thing I am! You were incredible! You were so fast! So strong! And you beat a Digimon the boys couldn't beat! That means you're more powerful than them! Armadimon, you're the coolest thing I've ever seen!" with that, she reached down, scooped Armadimon up, and hugged her.

Armadimon was confused, but she was glad she made her partner proud of her.

Later that night, after the humans had left and the sun had sunk below the horizon, Two creatures hovered over the shining and humming Circuit lying on the ground. The first, looking like a stag beetle made of household appliances, addressed the second, who looked like a flying collection of gears.

"Looks like those kids got another one, Hagurumon," he said.

"And we saw that butterfly Digimon fight with a weird frog Digimon. Looks like the female human earned a Digimental, Kokuwamon," Hagurumon, the gear Digimon said, shaking his head gear.

"Our boss isn't going to like this, and he doesn't exactly follow a 'Don't shoot the messenger' policy. We're gonna get deleted for telling him this," Kokuwamon looked scared.

Hagurumon sighed as he picked the Circuit up, "Well, if we desert, he'll kill us anyway. At least this way there's a chance we'll live."

Kokuwamon started walking off, "This was the worst summer job ever."

"I know! I was hoping to get some credit towards university, not work for some warlord trying to destroy Chosen Children!"

"Too bad his methods of firing someone involve actual fire."

"Well, as sorry as I am for us, I feel sorrier for those humans. Once the boss gets word of this, they're not going to last…"

The pair walked off towards the Iron Tower, where their fate, and the Chosen Children's, waited within.

Author's Notes:

Finally Juana gets a Digimental!

Damn, I write slowly. I put out chapter 3 hoping to finish this more quickly. Wouldn't you know it, though, it's been ten months.

I struggle with the Real World scenes, more than anything. Digital World scenes, I can churn out in a few days. It takes months before the Real World scenes develop.

Many thanks to fellow Diaries author Persona for giving me the name of a popular soccer football league in Belem, as well as helping me with the cultural aspects of the series. Speaking of which, if you haven't already, go read South Digimon Diaries NOW. In addition to being a high quality story about the Argentina team (and, unlike this one, is written by a native, so you KNOW that it's accurate), chapter 5 features a guest appearance by James and Juana, as will the upcoming chapter still in the works.

Anyway, corrections, questions or comments are directed to me, as usual, at griffinguy24@yahoo.com, or on the Diaries Message Board at http://pub62.ezboard.com/bthediariesuniverse. And give my fellow Diaries authors' fics a look. There's some real high-quality stuff there.