By Lazuli
This story is also on Furaffinity! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16462852/
Warning: This story contains foot focus and mild comic violence.
***
In the vast wasteland that was the Physical Layer, the highest level of the Digital World, a Renamon hunted. The Real World Sphere hung in the sky, in place of the sun. The light in the Digital World seemed to come from everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time. Renamon ran across the desert, not heading in any direction in particular, until she spotted her next victim, a Gazimon was wandering aimlessly across the desert. That would do.
Renamon changed the direction she was running, and started to close in on the Gazimon. It hadn't seen her yet. Perfect. The yellow, fox like Digimon ran towards the small, grey mammalian Digimon. Gazimon turned around to see Renamon running towards it, but by the time it saw her, it was too late. Renamon gave an almighty kick, and her foot connected squarely with the Gazimon's chin, knocking it high into the air. It slammed back down onto the soft sand in front of Renamon. Its head was in agony and its teeth were rattled hard from the kick, but it was still able to talk…
"Why..." gasped the Gazimon, feebly, looking up at the Renamon that stood over it.
"Nothing personal..." said Renamon, showing no emotion whatsoever in her voice. "Digimon load other Digimon to survive and grow stronger. It's survival of the fittest." Without another word, she gave another kick, her foot connecting with Gazimon's face so hard, it destabilized its data, as well as knocking loose a few teeth.
Gazimon's form flickered and corrupted, and suddenly, it was no more. Its data, now reduced to it's most basic form, floated in the air around Renamon. She shut her eyes and concentrated, causing the data to flow into her, and be added to her own. The Gazimon had become part of her. Suddenly, she heard a voice.
"Wow, that was so cool!" spoke the voice. Renamon looked around to see who had spoken. The wasteland had been completely deserted just moments before, if there had been any Digimon around she would have seen them.
"You're Renamon right? I've heard so much about Renamon, they are so cool, I never thought I'd meet one!" spoke the voice. Renamon suddenly saw where it had been coming from. A Palmon was running towards her, smiling happily.
"Ummm... Thanks..." said Renamon. She thought she might have found a new piece of prey, but there was something about this Palmon that seemed nice, trustworthy even. Maybe it was the compliments. Renamon didn't know, but she didn't feel like attacking the green, plant like Digimon.
"Wow, Renamon, that was amazing, the way you just like... Pow!" As the Palmon spoke, it made motions with its hands, obviously trying to reenact how Renamon had just finished Gazimon. "You're just such a cool Digimon, Renamon, I have to shake your hand." The Palmon extended it's wide, green hand, holding it up to the taller Digimon. Renamon reached her hand down, and took the Palmon's hand. Palmon shook Renamon's hand vigorously. "I wish I could be as strong as you Renamon, we're both Child Level, but you must be like a hundred times stronger than me! Please, permit me to examine you!"
"Examine me?" asked Renamon, somewhat taken aback. She wasn't really sure what Palmon meant, the only answer she could give was a confused "Huh?" The handshake was overstaying its welcome, Palmon wouldn't let go of the yellow Digimon's hand. The plant Digimon's fingers had started to grow into vines and were snaking their way up Renamon's arm. This alarmed Renamon, and she tried to pull her hand out of the Palmon's grasp, but the small Digimon was strong. Renamon put her foot on Palmon's head and pushed back. She wrenched her hand out of the plant like Digimon's grasp, causing her to fall backwards, landing on her back side.
"Wow, you have such powerful legs!" exclaimed Palmon, seemingly not deterred at all by being practically kicked in the face. "...and wow! Your feet have pads on them! Can I touch them?" Without even waiting for Renamon to respond, the plant like Digimon stepped forward and picked up both of Renamon's feet, one in each hand. Renamon was taken aback, and not sure how to react. She was not used to having her personal space invaded like this. As Palmon ran her soft, vine like fingers over Renamon's paw pads, she started to giggle. Not even thinking of loading the Palmon anymore, Renamon chuckled, blushing slightly, as the Palmon touched her feet.
"Wow, you've got really nice feet Renamon" said the Palmon "Being kicked by these feet would be an honour. I'm almost envious of Gazimon! If he wasn't dead... haha..." The Palmon laughed awkwardly, not sure if what it said had been in bad taste or not. Renamon shut her eyes and tried to stop herself from laughing any harder than she already was as the Palmon continued her treatment of Renamon's feet, its vines curling their way between the vixen's toes, around her ankles, and up her legs, snaking their way into every crease and wrinkle.
"Uhh... Yeah! They're the fastest in the Digital World, after all!" said Renamon, trying to humour the plant Digimon a little. "B-but please, not between the toes…" She didn't know what Palmon's deal was, but she sincerely hoped the Digimon would leave her alone soon. She was certain she would be able to take Palmon in a fight, but as weird as it was being, Renamon had come to somewhat like the Palmon, and didn't want to have to load it.
Palmon's vines squeezed Renamon's paws and ankles a little tighter, starting to move back and forth. The vines felt soft, and even though they appeared to be covered in thorns, they were not sharp at all. The soft bumps on the vines running their way between Renamon's toes was too much, it was like the Palmon was trying to tickle her. Renamon could no longer help herself, and let out a laugh. Palmon squeezed and rubbed Renamon's feet harder. Renamon had no idea what was going on, or why the Palmon was so obsessed with her feet, but she couldn't help laughing out loud.
"St-Stop it!" said Renamon, panting through her guffaws. "If you keep this up, you'll make my feet so soft I won't be able to kick anyone anymore!" The Palmon did not let off, continuing to harass Renamon's feet.
"I can't stop! You have really lovely feet, Renamon, and a really lovely laugh!" said Palmon. "It almost makes me sorry…" The ticklish sensation in Renamon's feet was too much for her to bear, she had hardly heard the Palmon's comment.
"W-Wait..." gasped Renamon as the soft rubbery thorns dug into her sensitive feet and rubbed the sides of her toes. "Sorry for what?" Palmon's eyes widened and its face fell, it had realised it had said something it shouldn't have. Well, it was now or never. Suddenly, the Palmon's soft vines had become hard, the thorns were now sharp and prickly and were digging painfully into Renamon's feet, toes and ankles. An uncharacteristic glint of fear in her eyes, the fox like Digimon tried to pull herself away, but the Palmon's grip was too strong.
"For this!" yelled the Palmon. "Now! Do it!" Renamon looked around, trying to see who Palmon had been addressing, but before she saw any Digimon, she heard a cry from behind her of a Digimon calling its attack.
"Bullet Hammer!" yelled the Puppetmon that had snuck up behind her without her even noticing, she had been far too preoccupied by the Palmon's harassment. Puppetmon's hammer, which was shaped like the barrel of a revolver slammed into her lower back in a tremendous uppercut, six bullets exploding out of it as it hit. Before Renamon knew what had even happened she had been launched high into the sky, the impact on her back had provided such a shock she hardly knew what was going on.
The hit had been so powerful, it had to have been the work of an Ultimate Level Digimon. She couldn't believe it, after so much hunting she had let herself fall for a sneak attack, and from an Ultimate no less. Renamon felt a deep sense of panic as she flew, was Puppetmon going to finish her off? Could this be it for her? She soared so high she almost collided with the Real World Sphere, before plummeting down, head first back to the desert. Renamon landed in the sand, throwing a huge cloud of dust up into the air. Once the sand settled, there was left a huge crater. Renamon was buried in the sand, head first up to her waist, with only her legs and tail sticking out above the ground.
Palmon laughed and Puppetmon smiled smugly as they observed Renamon's legs sticking out of the ground. Her limbs twitched and her toes were splayed in pain. As Renamon got over the shock of falling hundreds of feet onto the desert and started to try and struggle her way out, a third Digimon appeared. A Tanemon stepped up between the Palmon and the Puppetmon, and looked at Renamon's legs sticking out of the ground.
"Thanks a lot guy!" said the Tanemon. "That was a great hunt. Such a powerful Digimon as well." Tanemon walked forward, and slid down the side of the small crater, stopping right next to Renamon. "Can you believe we actually beat a Renamon?" Palmon slid down into the crater as well, and stood next to Tanemon.
"So, gonna load her?" asked the plant like Digimon, reaching out her hands to give Renamon's feet a rub, causing the half buried Digimon to kick her legs around in confusion. Tanemon thought for a few seconds before giving a reply.
"You know what, I don't think so. We can find more Digimon to load so I can evolve. It would be a waste to load such a majestic Digimon." said Tanemon before turning, and climbing out of the crater. "Let's keep hunting!" Tanemon headed away from the crater, followed by Puppetmon. They had gotten some distance away before realising Palmon wasn't with them
"Palmon, where are you?" yelled Tanemon back to the crater. Palmon was still in the crater with Renamon, running its hands over the vixen's feet and snaking its vines around her legs and between her toes once more, a muffled giggle could be heard from under the sand.
"Coming!" yelled Palmon back, begrudgingly taking its hands off Renamon's feet, and climbing out of the crater, leaving the hurt and humiliated Digimon half buried in the sand. Renamon's feet lightly kicked around in the air, trying to kick at the Digimon that had put her in this predicament, but of course they were already gone. Her toes splayed and wiggled around in annoyance, she wasn't sure how she could get out. She placed her feet on the ground and pushed, trying to push herself out of the sand, but it was no use, she was stuck fast. Eventually she tired herself out and stopped pushing, all she could do was wait and hope the next Digimon that happened across her was friendly. Resigned to her fate, her toes curled up in defeat.