The Sting of the Hunt (Spirit Hunt)

The sound of birds chirping can be heard off in the distance. The sunlight manages to poke through the dense shrubbery of the jungle. Many Digimon lurk out here, but not only Digimon. A certain Tamer and his foul mouthed friend have made the jungle their home. High up in the treetops lurks a man wearing a tattered grey cloak sporting a beard growing ever longer. Dante takes a drag from his cigarette and exhales as the ashes smolder into thin air. He gazes off into the distance as the breeze flows by.

This area was their home now. Having grown tired of saving the city time after time, Dante decided to relocate to get away from it all. It was safer out here than it was in the city sometimes, and Dante didn't have to be around people. Dante was comfortable leaving the fate of the city to rest in the hands of a fresh crop of Tamers and Spirit Users, let the newbies rise up. The hardest part about living in the jungle is having to listen to Wormmon all the time.

"How much longer are we going to live in this stupid jungle?! There's no video games, no smoothie bar, no internet, no cheeseburgers..." "No traffic, no homework, no bills, no BS. I like it out here, it's peaceful." "Whatever. I miss the hustle and bustle of city life. Go down to the dive bar and play in a band, maybe moonlight as a mixologist." "You never did any of that. You are confusing reality with video games again." "There's a difference?"

Suddenly, Dante hears someone walking down below. He slowly takes a look down, careful to make as little noise as possible. Wormmon hears it too, and his antennae rise up. "Someone is down there. Could it be a wild Digimon?" "I don't know, little buddy. We should take a closer look." Wormmon shoots silk thread down from the ledge, creating a spider web below. After putting out his cigarette, Dante grasps Wormmon in his arms and leaps down. They bounce off the spider web and tumble into the bushes.

Dante rubs his side and groans in pain. "Nice landing, Dante, haha!" "Shush, they could be close by." "Nobody shushes the Worm King, tiny hooman." Dante pokes his head through the branches. He can't see anyone, but he hears footsteps growing louder. Whoever it was, they must be getting closer. "I have an idea. I'll set a trap." Wormmon shoots a silk thread across the path at ankle level, hoping the nearly invisible thread will catch them off guard and trip them. "Do you really think this will work?" "It's better than your idea to jump out of a tree."

Dante and Wormmon waited impatiently for the unsuspecting stranger to walk into the trap. However, the thread wasn't high enough. Hachi walked over the thread through good timing. Wormmon goes from excited to disappointed and his antennae drop.

"Well that didn't work." "It looked like a human. What's a human doing alone out in the jungle?" "Maybe he has food. Feck this, I'm hungry!"

Wormmon waddles out of the bushes and stands in the middle of the path. He barks out to the stranger. "Heyo! You got any food, playa?"

Dante remains hidden in the bushes in case things get hostile. Dante hasn't even seen a human since he came to the jungle a couple months back. In that short time, Dante had become very territorial with this patch of the jungle. Though maybe this stranger had good reason for being here, and provided an opportunity for some action. Wormmon sure could use the energy burn. Day 2 of being out here, Dante was ready to punt the Worm King into a lake for being so annoying. While Dante took to the isolation, Wormmon is suffering from severe video game withdrawal.

"When are we going to leave this stupid jungle? I wanna go back to playing Death Simulator 3000 for 14 hours a day! There's so many ways to die in that game. Fire, drowning, electrocution, shark attack, but right now I'm dying of hunger!"

Wormmon's eyes light up as Hachi tosses him some melon bread. "Oh? A bread melon? Thank you, stranger!" Wormmon starts chomping down on the bread. "Oh, mon, that's good. I've been eating so many stupid berries lately. Ooh, hello, carbs. You taste delicious. Chomp chomp!"

Dante pokes his head out from cover and sees Wormy feasting. This person didn't seem hostile. It was probably safe to come out. Dante emerges from the bushes and walks up towards Hachi and Wormmon. He was a little rusty, but Dante struggles to get out a greeting. "Hello there. What brings you out here to the jungle?" "Oh, hey Dante. This is my manservant." "I'm his Digimon Tamer. Yes, my name is Dante, and this is my foul mouth compadre." "Come on, Dante. Now that's no introduction! Not one fit for all mighty worm royalty, and sexy worm royalty at that." "Oh great, here he goes."

"Ahem, ladies and gentlemon, weighing in at six and a half double bacon cheeseburgers, he is the reigning, and defending, undisputed chicken wing champion of the WORRRRRRRRRRRRLD, the Worm King, Wormmonnnnn! Wormmon, Wormmon, Wormmon, Wormmon, Worm Mon!" *Clap clap*

Dante rolls his eyes and facepalms hard. One good thing about total isolation is that he doesn't have to babysit Wormmon around other people. Dante knew that Wormy is on edge as of late. "Okay, little buddy. Why don't you turn it down a couple dozen notches?" The Worm King raises the bread high and dances around. "Oh great bread melon god, we salute you!" "Don't eat too fast, Wormy, or you will get sick. Hey, if your stomach rumbles, does that mean it's a rumble in the jungle?" "Boo! That joke is lame, Dante. You've told me that joke twenty times already. Jeez, eighteen months out in this dumb jungle with Dante making dumb jokes all day."

"It hasn't been that long." "Well how the hell can I keep track of the time? There's nowhere to go, no babes to pick up. All I do is lay around eating berries. Delicious, purple berries." "Wait, you haven't been eating the grimace berries again, have you? Those make you hyper!" The desire to punt Wormmon into a lake continues to reach uncharted levels.

The young man was kind enough to give Wormmon some melon bread. Dante did notice that Hachi seemed to have the same expression throughout their brief conversation. His eyes were blank and he flashed a smile. Wormmon's introduction was met with a warm reception from Hachi. The young man returns with a polite introduction to Dante and Wormmon.

"Oh, you doesn't have to call me Wormmon. You can call me Wormy, and you can call me Worm King, and you can call me the Kingah of the stingah, or you could call me-" "Rap up the bit, Johnson." "...but you doesn't have to call me Wormmon." How Wormmon learned that old shtick is beyond Dante.

Something did catch Wormmon's attention. "Hachi, Zaan? I've heard that name before somewhere." "Oh really?" "Ya, I saw it written on a sign somewhere. Was that at the liquor store, or that place in the mall that Dante is afraid to go in? The one with all the pink bags." "Uhh, I think you are mistaken." "Whatever. Maybe it was a mall kiosk."

While Dante and Wormmon are bickering, Hachi decides that their squabble doesn't concern him, and he heads off. Dante is surprised to see him go already. "Why are you so shocked?" "Oh, nothing. It's just that usually when we meet someone, we go on a wild adventure with them. You probably drove him off with that big mouth of yours!" "Or maybe all your nagging got on his nerves, like my nerves every damn day, Mr. Bossy Pants! It sounds like you miss going on adventures. What happened to laying around the treehouse all day, talking about how much the world sucks and how cool you are?"

Wormmon starts hopping along after Hachi. "Hey, wait up! Where ya going?" Dante is miffed at his partner. "Wormmon, what are you doing?" "I wanna go with Hachi. It beats listening to you be emo all day." "N'yeh! Wormmon, come back here!" Dante starts following after Wormmon, who is following Hachi. Where they are going, Dante doesn't know. He couldn't just let Wormmon wander off. "Hey, Z-man! You wouldn't happen to have any melon soda, playa?"

It was true, Wormmon did have too many nicknames, and self appointed at that. Wormmon seemed to recognize the name 'Zaan'. Hachi goes on to explain that his father owns Z-Inc. With Wormmon deciding to follow Hachi, the young man didn't mind as long as they didn't get in the way. Unfortunately for Wormy, Hachi didn't have any soda, only water.

"Water? No thanks. Who wants water anyways? Can you imagine if water was really scarce?" "That sounds dreadful. What are the odds of that happening? I'm just surprised your vocabulary is growing." "Well, maybe if it was out in the desert or something. Thirsty Digimon killing each other over beverages." "That's a little farfetched, don't you think?" "Could you imagine if their was a TP shortage?"

The trio reaches a fork in the path. "Which way should we go, playas?" "I say we take the path less traveled by. Poe." "Come on, even I know it was Frost!" While they are deciding, Hachi overhears rustling in the bushes. Hachi quietly takes out his D-Tector and Spirit Evolves to Dokunemon. Wormmon is shocked to see another green bugapillar. "Is this for real? He's totally copying my style! I'm a confirmed fashionista."

Hachi activates a cloaking ability, disappearing before their eyes and heading into the bushes. "Whoah, maybe I did have some bad berries. I'm totally tripping, Dante!" As Hachi gets closer, he overhears a pair of Digimon conspiring. A Monmon and a Vegiemon are preparing to launch an ambush.

"Alright, so I'll jump out and get their attention." "Ya, Monmon. And then I'll trip them up with my vines when they are distracted. Heh hee heh hee!" While their plan of attack is decent, the fact that they are being overheard takes away the element of surprise.

Hachi provided some good nutrition tips to Wormmon. The Spirit User threw some shade at Wormy, judging him on his high grease diet, but Wormmon didn't catch on that eating pizza and burgers is a negative. "Oh sure, I like Japanese food. Nachos are Japanese right? And sushi, oh my goddess!" Maybe they should resume this topic over a large meal, Dante thinks, as he starts getting hungry.

As the duo in the bushes plan their attack, the stealthy Dokunemon sneaks up behind the vegetable and stings him. Vegiemon lets out a yelp, quick to rub his back with his long vine arms. "What's the matter, Vegie?" "Something just stung me!" "I didn't see anyone!" Vegiemon thrashes his arms about, swinging them in all directions trying to smack whoever stung him. Monmon ducks down to avoid the large vines.

"Settle down, I think they hear us. Okay, I'm going to ambush them now." Monmon takes a few deep breaths quickly as he pumps up his chest and springs out of the bushes. "Hey look, Dante. Hachi turned into a monkey mon. Do you have any banana melons?" Monmon glares at Wormmon. "I know all about you guys. Stay away from our village!"

Monmon leaps forward and swing his large slingshot down. He smacks Wormmon right on the head. "Yow!!! What's the big idea, fleabag?! Feel my wrath!" Wormmon springs up and grabs onto Monmon's head. Wormy squirms around, biting the monkey on his forehead. Monmon flails around trying to pull Wormmon off his face. "Get off me, bug brain!" Monmon whacks Wormmon with his slingshot a couple times. On the third swing, Wormmon lets go and jumps up, and Monmon hits himself in the face. On the way down, Wormmon smacks Monmon in the face with his tail, sending him staggering back.

Wormmon lands on the ground and strikes a pose standing on his hind legs. "Ya-hah, haha ha! I got a blackbelt in face hugging!" "Is that an Aliens reference?" Monmon is getting angrier. He starts hopping up and down, pounding his chest. "You fight like such a jerk!" "Oh, I'm a jerk? You attacked me, butt breath!" "Can't we talk this out peacefully?" "Shut up, Dante! I swear, it's like you are the only person on the planet that thinks that."

Vegiemon continues to strike in random directions in an attempt to hit Dokunemon. They didn't see who it was, but it was clear that Vegie and Mon were the ones who in fact got ambushed. The shrubbery nearby continues to be sliced apart by the vines, eliminating most of the cover nearby. Hachi may have struck first, but Vegiemon is the stronger out of the two would be ambushers. It wasn't entirely clear why they were attacking. The only thing that stood out is that Monmon mentioned something about their village. Maybe Wormmon and associates could get more information after beating the villagers up.

Japanese style nachos? Wormmon had to try these. "It's been a few years since I returned to Japan. Wormmon seems to prefer dishes from all over the world." It wasn't long after Dante and Wormmon met Hachi that a pair of rapscallions picked a fight with them. Vegiemon's thorny vines posed quite a threat. The Spirit User summons a swarm of glowing stingers aimed at Vegiemon. The stingers hit the Champions body and vines, leaving a few marks.

Wormmon starts flexing and pumping his legs in the air. "Let's fight! Come on, Hachi. We will kick their butts from one end of the jungle and back again." "Uh, I don't think we should be fighting right now." Monmon gets up in Wormmon's face. Monmon shoves Wormmon back. Wormmon launches a sticky net towards Monmon, but Monmon dodges to the side. The sticky net flies towards Hachi. If the Spirit User gets caught in the net, it would give Vegiemon a chance to strike.
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Actions: Wormmon inadvertently launches a Sticky Net towards Hachi.

Sticky Net: Shoots a silk web at the target to slow them down. Target can not attack for 2 posts. 3 post cooldown. Does not work against Champion or higher.