Alamo Diaries 02: Pride

Several boys had gathered in the field by the Reeves' house. Two groups standing in different formations and facing each other. One boy stood in the middle of the front line with Clint behind him, ready for the next play to start. As soon as the boy standing right behind the line said "Hut", the boy in front of him tossed the a pointed ball to the quarterback. The two front lines collided into each other as they tried to push each other out of the way. A few more boys dashed forward, trying to get in a position to catch any passes the quarterback may make. Clint himself ran towards the quarterback and reached out as he practically slammed the ball into Clint's chest. Wrapping his arms around the ball, Clint rushed towards the opening his teammates had made for him. As he passed the line of scrimmage, he felt something slam into him from the side. Before he even realized it, he slammed into the ground shoulder first, and cringed as one of his opponents, a much larger boy crushed Clint between him and the ground, feeling pain shoot through his shoulder as if he landed on a rock.

"Booya!" the obese boy crowed after the hit to taunt him, Clint's opponents celebrating. Meanwhile, Clint cringed as he struggled to get up, his shoulder still stinging from the hit.

"Are you okay, Clint?" one of his teammates asked, in concern. Clint nodded in response, more disappointed that he didn't get further on the play than worried about himself.

Within the shadows of the house, Patamon watched as his partner took the hit, cringing in sympathy for Clint. The human boy was tough for his age, but the child digimon couldn't help but worry for him sometimes. Patamon was even more surprised that the boy, holding onto his aching shoulder for a few seconds, continued to play. Then, when the next play started, Clint was handed the ball again, but this time, the offensive line failed as Clint found himself dog piled by several of the opposing players. The boys started to untangle themselves and clear out of the pile. Clint laid on his back on the ground, holding onto his shoulder again. Patamon cringed even harder, and was thankful that the boys decided to stop then. The boys started to walk off in their separate ways, Clint walking towards the house, seemingly disappointed in himself.

"Will you be okay?" Patamon flew out as soon as he knew he wouldn't be seen, looking worriedly at his partner.

"I've taken a lot worse," Clint replied, not startled by the Patamon's sudden appearance. Compared to coming out of a computer that should have been turned off on Halloween night, flying out of the shadows was normal. He walked into the house, Patamon gliding in behind him.

"Worse than having a human boulder flatten you? I find that hard to believe," Patamon remarked. Clint chuckled as he heard this. "I know you're tough, but even you have to have your limits."

"Give me a day or so and I'll be fine again. This has happened before," Clint reassured him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clinton slowly opened his eyes as a dim light filled his bedroom. As he rolled over to get up, his shoulder flared mildly, still aching from the previous day, but he didn't react to it. He just crawled out of bed, careful not to wake up Patamon, who slept peacefully. He tried to be silent as he continued to get dressed, but few of the boards beneath him creaked as he stepped on them, making a louder sound than usual.

"About to do chores?" Patamon spoke up, showing that he was awake. He flapped his wings and seemed to float up. "I should come with you anyway."

"Are you still worried over my shoulder? I told you, I'll be fine," Clint told him, waving his hands in the air as if it was nothing to be concerned about.

"Even then, I just don't feel right freeloading off of your family," Patamon retorted.

"Fine," Clint said with a sigh, as he finally put the belt on around his jeans, now fully dressed in a flannel shirt. "We'll see if Dad can find something for you to do."

Patamon followed the boy out of the bedroom and into the semi-darkened living room, the only light being what came from the kitchen and the dim light coming in from the outside windows. Even from within the living room, they got a whiff of the faint aroma of coffee.

As they walked into the kitchen, Clint's father was already sitting at the table, with a cup of coffee in hand. "Good mornin'," he told the two, looking suspiciously over at Patamon. The man didn't necessarily hate the child digimon, but he still found such a sentient animal was odd. Patamon looked at the man warily, which became a habit after he stared down the barrel of the man's rifle when they first met. Clint had to rush in the way to keep the man from shooting him.

Clint opened the fridge, pulling out some milk for breakfast. "Patamon wants to help with our chores. Do you know if there's anything he can do?" Clint asked as he prepared his cereal

His father looked over at the digimon, studying it to see what it would be capable of. "I don't know. For one thing, the animals might get spooked."

"I can't be that scary," Patamon defended himself.

"It's not like that," Clint told him as he sat at the table. "The animals are just easily scared of anything they aren't familiar with. You're as strange as they come,"

"And you're one to talk," Patamon retorted, sticking his tongue out at Clint shortly after.

"Plus, it doesn't look like you can carry much weight. All you seem to be good for is flying," the man continued.

"And shooting blasts of air," Patamon added, earning odd looks from both humans. "I don't think you two would want a demonstration in here."

"Right..." Clint trailed off, not sure what to think. Then, he shook his head before resuming eating his cereal.

"I'm not sure at the moment, but we'll see what we may need you for. I can't make any promises," the older man told him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patamon watched with interest as Clint pulled out a bale of hay and set it on the ground. He reached for a handle sticking out of a leather sheath hanging from a belt loop on his jeans, pulling out a knife that was over half as long as Patamon was, and almost the width of Clint's palm. The boy slid the knife under a thin rope that held the bale together before cutting it open. "What's with that knife?" Patamon asked.

"Dad got it for me a few years ago. It's actually meant for when we go camping or something, but I tend to use it for my chores as well," Clint said, sliding it back into its sheath.

Patamon was suddenly very glad he was on Clint's side. Even if he evolved, that knife could still do some serious damage to him.

Clint got up and picked up a slab of hay that had bunched together into a square before walking to the horse stables. Patamon looked over at the remaining hay. The slab Clint picked up didn't seem very heavy, so he tried to grip onto one slab and flapped his wings harder, trying to pick it up. He lost his grip, the momentum he was flapping causing him to shoot towards the wall and stopping just short of it. "Awww...man," Patamon moaned.

"Don't worry about it," Clint said as he walked back towards the bale. "Don't strain yourself trying to hard."

"You should worry about yourself," Patamon spat back.

"If you two would quit arguing, I need your...friend's...help, real quick," Mr. Reeves spoke up. Patamon immediately turned towards the middle-aged man and glided over towards him. "You've only been here a couple of weeks and you're already bickering like your brothers."

"If I recall the legends correctly, the bond is supposed to be even closer than that," Patamon remarked.

Mr. Reeves cocked an eye brow as he handed Patamon the end of a rope. "Can you get up there and swing the rope around that wheel and bring that end back down? Just make sure it sets in that groove."

Patamon nodded as he gripped onto the rope with his stubby legs, before flying towards the wheel the man told him about. The man just watched as he tried to figure out what the bat-pig like creature told him. It was odd enough having a creature like him around, but to say he was closer to his son than even brothers? The child digimon floated down with the rope, handing it over to him. He tugged on the rope, making sure the pulley would work. "Thanks," the man told him. "Sorry we don't have much for you to do."

"I just feel bad for not being much help. I don't like the idea of freeloading off of you," Patamon remarked, watching the man pull on the rope and lifting a bucket of some kind towards the upper platforms. Suddenly, the bucket and wheel started swinging as the walls to the barn started to shake, spilling some of the bucket's contents.

"Clint! What are you doing?!" The man yelled.

"I don't know! The bull's gone nuts for some reason!" Clint yelled back from the stables.

At that, Mr. Reeves just let go of the rope and ran towards the stables. Patamon had to dodge out of the way as the bucket plummeted back to the ground, before he chased after the man. As they approached the stable Clint stood in, backing away as much as he could as the bull continued to buck around the pen, sometimes kicking the walls. The stable not only had a gate into it, but a door that led outside as well. Suddenly, the bull kicked the gate that led outside the barn. Before he fully turned around, he kicked towards Clint, who suddenly jumped back and fell into the wall shoulder first. He cringed in pain as his shoulder hit the wall and he landed on his butt. The bull suddenly charged out of the pen and into the field.

"Are you okay?" the man asked as Clint sat on the ground trying to regroup.

"I'll be fine," Clint told him, before looking around the pen. He heard a faint hiss from somewhere within the stable. As Clint tried to find the source, he instinctively reached for his knife and slowly pulled it out of its sheath. "There's what spooked him," Clint said calmly as he swung his knife down on the snake coming out of the hay, slicing its head off.

"We better stop it before the venom kills it," the older man said before looking around, and noticing something was missing. "Wait a sec, where's your friend?" Clint jumped to his feet, looking around to see Patamon was missing.

"AIR SHOT!!!" was suddenly heard from outside, before the sound of something slamming into the ground and the bull moaning. Clint rushed outside to see what had happened. The bull had suddenly stopped in front of a small impact crater in the ground, head covered in dirt. The boy's father followed and saw the scene for the first time. "Well, I'll be. Clint, go to the house and call the vet." Then, he looked up into the air and found Patamon where he came out of an open hatch in the roof. "Keep an eye on him, but don't get any closer! I'll be right back!" Patamon nodded as the man walked back into the barn to get a rope.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clint sighed as he plopped down onto his bed, relaxing after what just happened. The vet said the bull would be okay, much to everyone's relief. Patamon had indeed saved the bull's life. At the thought of his partner, he turned to look at the digimon, who was floating in the air while looking at some ribbons that hung on Clint's wall. Clint had taken part in a few junior rodeo competitions. If he didn't win, he placed pretty high.

"I really hope, you're not as crazy in the Digital World as you are in these competitions," Patamon remarked, having seen Clint practice for some of these events. Seeing Clint hanging onto a bucking horse or jumping off of a horse to tackle and finish roping a calf didn't reassure the child digimon.

"You worry too much," Clint told him. "Besides, you were so obsessed with wanting to help. What's the difference?"

"My life wasn't on the line," Patamon snapped back. "You could be killed if you try even one of these stunts in the digital world."

"Don't worry too much about me," Clint told him. "I can take care of myself."

Patamon nodded, but still wasn't convinced. Then, he shuddered as he heard a high pitched beeping noise. Clint reached into his pocket as he sat up and pulled out the device that appeared when Patamon did. It was glowing a bright white light and beeping rapidly. The human and digimon looked at each other with puzzled expressions before walking out of the bedroom.

With the sun up, the living room was well illuminated. Clint's mother sat on the sofa in the living room, holding onto a baby girl, not even a year old. She stared at the computer in there, something they managed to save up for because Clint's schooling almost required it. Now, it seemed to have turned on on its own. Clint saw this happen before only once, when Patamon first appeared.

"Don't worry, Mom. I think I know what this is," he reassured the woman. That was only seconds before Clint and Patamon seemed to glow themselves before they were literally sucked into the screen. Despite her son's reassurance, the woman was about to have a panic attack.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard stormed into his bedroom and after one step, plopped onto his bed face first. A small pang from his chest reminded him of his injury as he hit the mattress. He ignored it and continued to bury his face in his pillow.

Hagurumon peered out from where he hid from under the bed. "What's wrong, Richard?" the gear asked.

"Just my sisters," Richard sighed before flipping onto his back, becoming uncomfortable with lying on his chest. "It's so stupid. I don't know why I let these things bother me." Richard explained.

Hagurumon floated up and peeked above the bed at his partner. The boy seemed calmed now, but his sisters get to him so much that his head has probably twisted in several hundred ways. After living with Richard, Hagurumon noticed Richard always seems to let his sisters walk all over him, and they would probably do that literally when given the chance. Though, Richard told him that they've done worse. It was why Hagurumon even hid while in Richard's room. He's actually seen the girls walk in at random times, whether Richard was there or not.

"I just wanted to do some more research on the Digital World, but I couldn't even look at the files with my sisters at my back constantly. I eventually got fed up and gave up the computer," Richard told him.

Hagurumon nodded. "You're really serious about keeping this secret from your family. I mean, Gotsumon and Floramon have become part of their families already."

"You're the only one I can stand in this house anymore. If Dad ever found out about you, you're gone." Richard shifted and sat up on the side of his bed. "I'll be back. I need a drink."

Hagurumon remained motionless as Richard stood up and left the bedroom. He couldn't believe the contrast between his old family and Richard's. From what he could see, while they seem to be doing well for themselves on the outside, the family was in decline, and Richard was showing it. None of Hagurumon's family had such problems. Sure, Terriermon was a pain from time to time, but they couldn't risk having this kind of dissent.

As Richard reached the top of the staircase, he looked over to the computer room, noticing that the chair was vacant. "That's odd, the girls normally take up more time than this," Richard mumbled, not recalling whether he heard his father yell at them. Curious, he walked into the room and took a look at the monitor. The desktop was suddenly covered by a window that had a read border around a smaller window. The small window showed a map South Central Texas, with something flashing just north of the city, somewhere in the Hill Country. The Digital Gate program, Richard realized. Almost immediately, he leaned over and closed the window. If he opened the gate now, it would raise too many questions.

Trying to act calm he walked at a rather quick pace to his bedroom, and surprised Hagurumon when he reached over to grab him. "Stay quiet. We gotta go," Richard warned harshly. Hagurumon just closed his mouth as Richard hid him behind his back, in the same manner used to get him in here in the first place.

Richard kept a rapid pace as he walked through the house. "I'm going to Dwayne's. I'll be back later," Richard said once he saw his father in the living room. He didn't give his father the time to object or acknowledge, as he slipped on his shoes and rushed out the front door.

"What's going on?" Hagurumon demanded, detecting no deceit from when Richard told his father where they were going. "Why are we going to Dwayne's?"

"A Digital Gate opened somewhere in the Hill Country. We need to get Dwayne and figure out what to do," Richard said before breaking out into a full sprint, against his better judgment.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clint and Patamon glanced around where they ended up, finding themselves within an alleyway surrounded by wooden buildings. The dirt crunched beneath Clint's boots as he walked towards the alley's exit. "This whole scene has the feel of an Old West town," Clint remarked.

"Be careful," Patamon warned. "This place feels familiar." The child digimon floated behind the boy, looking around as if expecting an ambush.

Clint had to cover his eyes as he stepped out of the alley, the light too bright for him at first. As his eyes adjusted, he saw nothing before him other than the lines of wooden building surrounding the main street. Clint had to cover his face again as some wind kicked up more dirt and sent the cloud towards him. "A ghost town?"

"Unfortunately, Pail Dramon's men could be anywhere," Patamon said, trying to keep from panicking. "This place bothers me too much. We gotta get out of here."

"What's wrong with you?" Clint asked, not even looking at his partner.

"Bad memories, I guess," Patamon shrugged. "There were several towns wiped out by Pail Dramon, so it's no surprise we've found a place like this."

Clint nodded in understanding. "Sorry, Patamon, but I need to find something about what I'm supposed to do. Perhaps this place has something."

Patamon groaned, "Okay, but make it quick."

"Can't promise anything there," Clint told him before walking down the main road through the town, looking away from the blowing wind. Patamon stayed close to the boy, feeling as if the two were being watched by something. Slowly continuing towards a building labeled "Saloon", the feeling kept growing, as if they were getting closer. Clint placed a hand on the swinging door as he pushed it open, his boots echoing through the building as they hit the wooden floor.

A fist suddenly slammed Clint in the face, sending the boy flailing to the wooden porch. Patamon shot into the building and slammed into the attacker, and wrestled around with it. Clint slowly got to his feet, rubbing his face as he got up. He rushed into the bar to see Patamon rolling around on the floor with something that resembled a sphere with arms and legs, about as big as the tables they were knocking over. Eventually, the weird being pinned Patamon to the ground and reared back, ready to punch the child digimon.

When Patamon got a good look at who attacked him, his eyes grew to the size of pie plates. "Nanimon?" Patamon asked, stopping the mutant digimon from punching him.

"Patamon? You're alive?" Nanimon asked, getting off of the mammal. "I can't believe it."

"Trust me, I have something more incredible than this to tell you," Patamon said.

"As great as this reunion is," Clint started, walking through the saloon before stopping right by the two digimon. "Can someone explain to me what's going on? And why the Hell did you sucker punch me?"

Nanimon looked at the boy, and started to realize what he had just hit. "A human?" Nanimon asked before looking back at Patamon. "It couldn't be possible."

"It is," Patamon said. "This is Clint, my human partner. Clint, this is Nanimon. He helped me and my friends to escape Revolmon before we met you."

Clint extended a hand towards Nanimon, in which the mutant digimon grasped it. "Sorry, for punching you. Thought you were one of Pail Dramon's men. I've been on the run ever since I met Patamon." Then the digimon looked over to Patamon. "Are the others...?"

"They are probably with their human partners now," Patamon told him. "I haven't seen them since we got separated at that temple. The one that Nanomon used as a base."

"Good to see you got to safety," Nanimon told him. "You must've met the digimon that defeated him, then. I heard they live in that temple and protect that region."

Patamon nodded. "So why are you here? I thought you'd be..."

"Home?" Nanimon finished before lookin down. "No, I got caught. And instead of executing me, Revolmon made me watch him execute everyone else, even the children."

"Oh, no..." Patamon said, as he looked downward, mulling over what had happened. "I'm sorry. If we hadn't asked for help..."

"You wouldn't have been alive today," Nanimon interrupted. "It was my fault for getting caught."

"I don't see how it could be either of your fault," Clint spoke up. "You both did what you had to."

"I know but seeing all those innocents executed for a crime they didn't commit. You can't help but feel some regret," Nanimon added.

"You didn't commit any crime, Nanimon. This Revolmon guy is the criminal," Clint told him.

"Clint, human laws don't apply here," Patamon spoke up. "Only those with power make up the rules, and compared to Pail Dramon, we're powerless."

Nanimon's eyes narrowed as he looked towards Patamon. "That's no way for a chosen Digimon to even think! You and Clint are now our hope, Patamon. Don't you understand that now?"

Silence filled the room as Patamon looked down, wondering what Nanimon saw in him. Weeks ago, Nanimon was protecting him, now he's looking up to the child as if he was the trump card to end Pail Dramon's chaos. Looking over at Clint, he noticed the boy's eyes filled more with determination than anything. After hearing about all that happened, he wasn't discouraged, but emboldened. Patamon sighed, seeing where this whole situation was going...straight to their graves.

The silence was broken as the ground started to shake beneath the digimon. Without any notice, the wooden floor between them exploded, causing them to jump back in surprise. A spinning cone emerged from the hole in the ground and stopped as what it was attached to started to rise, Clint now recognized it as a drill. The purple and white furred mole that it was attached to crawled out, letting out a roar.

"Drimogemon!" Nanimon yelled.

"Get out of here!" Clint yelled, looking around at the inside of the now shaky building. "The building's gonna collapse!"

Nodding, Patamon and Nanimon raced towards the entrance of the building, Clint chasing after them. Drimogemon slowly walked towards them, his drill suddenly spinning as he got closer to the wall and drilling right through it. The two small digimon rushed out the door, Clint running out the moment Drimogemon's drill hit the wall, and causing the canopy to collapse. Clint had to dive for the dirt and rolled on the ground as the canopy hit the porch. Drimogemon had completely drilled through the wall at this point, allowing the building to collapse on him and around him and leving him virtually unharmed.

Clint scrambled to his feet, and turned to face Drimogemon. Out of instinct, he reached for the hunting knife knife hanging from his belt and unsheathed it.

"Clint!" Patamon said. "What are you doing? He'll rip you to shreds!"

Clint's eyes narrowed towards Drimogemon. "He'd do it whether I fought or not. I'd rather go down swinging."

Patamon would have replied, but Drimogemon let out a roar and charged towards the trio, aiming his drill towards the human. All three jumped out of the way, but the oversized mole continued to drill into the ground at a rapid speed before disappearing into the tunnel.

"Not good," Nanimon said. "Stay on guard. He can come back up at any moment."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mrs. Wright smiled as she heard the yells of celebration coming from the living room where Dwayne and Gotsumon were playing a video game. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that the so-called mob on the Riverwalk occurred. Despite the oddity of the small golem appearing with Dwayne, he became part of the family rather quickly. The only thing that worried her is Gotsumon warning them that there will be more battles like the one on the Riverwalk.

The doorbell rang suddenly. Almost immediately, she walked right up to the door, and grasped the knob and turning it. Richard stood on the front porch, clutching his chest and breathing heavily with Hagurumon floating behind him. "Richard? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but there's no time. I need to talk to Dwayne," Richard told her.

"Come on in, then," Mrs. Wright motioned the boy towards the living room.

Richard nodded before walking towards the living room, seeing the two of them in front of the television playing some sports video game.

"Hey, Rich," Dwayne greeted as the white boy walked into the room.

"Hate to break up your game, but a Digital Gate was opened in the Hill Country," Richard told him flatly.

Mrs. Wright never saw the boy turn off the video game system so fast before the moment Richard said that. "Are you sure?" Dwayne asked.

"Positive." Richard walked towards Dwayne's bedroom. Dwayne and Gotsumon rushed in right behind him as Dwayne turned the computer on. Dwayne immediately loaded up the Digital Gate program to find a lone signal in the Digital World.

"I'm going in," Dwayne told him. "Sorry, Rich, but you're still recovering from that last battle."

"Are you nuts?!" Richard asked.

"Only as much as you are," Dwayne told him before holding up his digivice towards the monitor. "I'll be back."

With one bright flash, Dwayne and Gotsumon had disappeared. Richard looked over towards Dwayne's mother. "I'm sorry, but can I use the phone? I need to call Rita."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ground rumbled from beneath Clint's feet, giving the boy only a few seconds notice before a drill appeared below him. On instinct he jumped out of the way, barely avoiding the drill. "Clint! Air Shot!" Patamon yelled as he fired a blast of air at the overgrown mole as it emerged, barely phasing it.

Nanimon almost immediately jumped towards Drimogemon and punched it, knocking it to the ground. "Clint! Now's your chance!"

Clint nodded as he rushed towards the mole. Once in range, he heaved the knife into the adult digimon's stomach. Drimogemon bellowed in pain as the boy continued to pull the knife across its body, having to use both hands just to rip the knife across its hide. Then, he quickly pulled the knife out and stabbed it into the digimon again causing it even more pain.

Now, angry at the boy, the mole rolled onto its fours, trying to regain composure and lash out at Clint, slashing at him with one of the drill claws. Clint looked up as soon as he pulled the knife out, just noticing the claws descending towards him. "Watch out!" a new voice yelled as Clint was tackled to the ground and forcing him to drop his knife, the drills barely missing them.

"Ice Strike!!" Icemon suddenly rushed out and punched the Drimogemon down.

Dwayne looked down at the boy underneath him, shaking his head. "And I thought Rich and I were crazy."

Clint reached over for his sore shoulder as Dwayne climbed off of him. "Thanks," Clint muttered.

"Gotsumon? Is that you?" Nanimon asked.

"Nanimon!" Icemon called back. "We can talk later, let's deal with this guy first."

Clint and Dwayne scrambled to their feet, trying to get a view of the battle before them. Drimogemon was trying to tunnel below again. Making Dwayne panic as it disappeared below ground.

"Don't worry," Clint told him. "He won't get too far."

Dwayne was confused about what Clint meant by that, but suddenly, the Drimogemon shot up, crying in pain, dirt having got into the gashes Clint left in it. "What just happened?"

"Just like any other animal, he wants to avoid pain. If he tries to tunnel again, he'll just hurt himself," Clint told him.

"So the clothing isn't just for show," Dwayne smirked, realizing what kind of person Clint was.

"Iceball Bomb!" Icemon fired several balls of ice that exploded and froze the adult level digimon on contact. Within seconds, Drimogemon dispersed into data as it died.

"We got 'im!" Dwayne punched the air in celebration.

"Clint!" Patamon yelled out as he flew over to his partner, who was picking up his knife and sheathing it. "I can't believe we just did it!"

Nanimon became uneasy, looking around as if something was about to attack out of no where. The battle just seemed too easy and way too convenient. Then, he saw what appeared to be a large eagle in the air, diving towards the human children. "No! Look out!"

"Blast Rings!!" a voice from above yelled out, firing energy rings down on the children. Nanimon immediately jumped into the way taking the attack.

"Nanimon!" Clint called out, as the mutant digimon suddenly dispersed into data. Clint glared up at the horned-eagle digimon that attacked them.

"Iceball Bomb!!" Icemon shouted out out of anger, firing several ice balls toward the bird, but the eagle just flew out of range of the attack, letting the balls fall and freeze the ground.

"Aquilamon!" Patamon called out. "You are DEAD!" Suddenly, light engulfed the small mammal digimon as energy flowed through it. "Patamon, evolve!!" As the light dispersed, Patamon was now in the form of a white horse with wings, wearing a red mask and a yellow horn on its head. "UNIMON!!"

Clint stared up at his partners adult form, which just snorted. "Clint, get on! We'll fight him in the air." Clint nodded as he climbed onto the winged horse's back, hanging on. With a couple flaps of his wings, Unimon was airborne and flying right towards Aquilamon.

"I'm not as pathetic as Drimogemon!" Aquilamon shouted. "Blast Rings!!"

"Holy Shot!!" Pure white energy formed in Unimon's mouth and shot towards the eagle, canceling out the Blast Rings and creating a cloud of dust in the air. Unimon suddenly shot towards the eagle. As they got within reach, Clint unsheathed his knife and tried to slash Aquilamon, but the bird flew away just as soon as he tried.

"Damn it!" Clint cursed as he watched the bird fly away. Then got an idea to get and stay within reach of Aquilamon. "Unimon! Get above him!"

"I'll try," Unimon told him, trying to gain altitude on the enemy.

"You're not getting away!" Aquilamon yelled out.

"Wind Seeker!!" Aquilamon dodged just in time for a vacuum to slice right pass him. He looked over at the Harpymon that fired the attack, which glared dangerously back.

"Now's our chance!" Clint told him, as the horse flew just above the bird, looking down at the eagle tried to find where everyone was attacking from. Clint started to have second thoughts on his plan to deal with Aquilamon, but kept reminding himself that it's no different that what he's done before, only he wasn't a few hundred feet in the air before.

"What do you plan to do?" Unimon asked.

"This," Clint said, finally getting the nerve to jump. Unimon felt some weight get taken off of his back, as Clint kicked off, falling with his arms spread, reaching for Aquilamon, aiming to land on the bird's back.

"Clint!" Unimon shouted as the boy grabbed onto the bird digimon around its neck, missing his intended target. He quickly reached around with his other arm, hanging on for dear life.

"What?!" Aquilamon tried to look down at the human, his eyes growing out of shear shock.

Harpymon's mouth nearly dropped to the ground, now not sure what to do to help. If she attacked now, there was a chance that she could hit the boy hanging into the enemy.

Clint looked up at the bird, anger filling him as he reached for his knife with his weaker hand. "Die," Clint muttered as he suddenly tried to slash down on the bird's neck in one swift motion. The bird suddenly reared it's head upward, an attempt to throw the boy off, but all he did was make the boy miss his neck... and stab him in the eye.

Aquilamon bellowed out in pain as he started squirming around, trying desperately to throw the boy off. Clint dropped his knife as he reached back around with his free arm, trying to hold onto the bird as it bucked around continually. On the ground, Dwayne had to jump back as the knife lodged itself in the ground where he once stood, before turning his attention back towards the sky. Clint's fatigue started to take its toll as his arms started slipping. He eventually slid off of Aquilamon's neck as it tossed its head around again, plummeting towards the ground below.

Without warning, Clint felt the feathers of Harpymon as she caught the boy. "Silent Symphony!!" Harpymon shouted as she opened her mouth, firing off a steady blast of air at Aquilamon. The bird had regained its composure just a few seconds before the attack hit, and without even looking where he was going, soared off, knowing it wouldn't matter where he ended up.

"Are you okay?" Rita asked as Harpymon landed on the ground, letting Clint go and fall to the ground.

"I'm fine. Thanks," Clint told him ashe landed. The three digimon reverted back to their child forms. Clint finally got a good look at the two children now with him, obviously from the city judging by the way they were dressed.

"I swear you're insane, kid," Dwayne told him, handing the boy his knife. "First fighting Drimogemon like that, then Aquilamon?"

"It was them or me," Clint shrugged. "I chose them. Aquilamon's gonna be mad next time we meet."

"He got the least he deserved," Dwayne told him, he said, looking over towards the town. While he didn't know who Nanimon was, he bowed his head, giving the digimon that sacrificed his own life for them some form of respect. Clint nodded and followed Dwayne's cue, bowing his head towards the town, as did Gotsumon and Patamon when they realized what the boys were doing.

"What's going on?" Rita asked in confusion.

"Nanimon died protecting us," Patamon explained. "He was the only one that saw the attack coming."

"Nanimon? You don't mean...?" Floramon asked.

Gotsumon looked back and nodded. "The very same one that helped us flee Revolmon."

Floramon fell down to her knees, placing the stamen that acted as her hands on them. Rita kneeled down to her partner. "It's okay," Rita told her, allowing the floral digimon wrap her arms around the girl's neck and bury her face into her shoulder.

Suddenly, the younger boy turned around, glaring towards where Aquilamon flew off. "Don't worry. I'll make Aquilamon pay...personally," Clint told them, getting everyone else's attention. It seemed like an impossible goal for the boy, but after everyone saw what the boy did, it was easy to believe he might be able to pull it off.

Patamon finally spoke up. "I'm sorry we had to meet at a time like this. Have you seen any of the others?"

"Hagurumon is with Richard in the human world still. I'd assume Tapirmon and Terriermon are with their partners, but I'm not sure," Gotsumon shrugged.

"In speaking of," Rita said, turning towards Dwayne, glaring at him as if she might finish what Aquilamon started. "You're lucky Richard called me. What were you thinking coming here alone?"

"Ummm..." was the only thing out of Dwayne's mouth to reply, earning a chuckle from Clint.

"Whipped..." Clint taunted. "Besides, if he hadn't shown up when he did, I probably wouldn't be standing." Then, he turned around. "I better get home and let my folks know I'm okay. Maybe we'll meet again someday."

"There's no 'maybe' about it. We will meet again," Dwayne told him. "You're stuck in this like the rest of us."

Clint nodded as he rushed towards the monitor he came in, Patamon floating behind him. "If Aquilamon is any proof, this is going to be a long fight," Clint muttered. He swore as rushed towards the silence of the town, he could here an angry shout of "I'll kill that kid!" in the distance.