I’m an idiot. I should have seen that coming when I specified Antylamon and not Andiramon. Dub versus sub, female voice actor in both but in the original Japanese Antylamon is supposed to be male. When it was dubbed into english they couldn’t tell because the lines were written to use old gender neutral pronouns so they made Antylamon female based on the voice pitch. When I said Antylamon that meant dub and so now I’m a girl.
Oddly I didn’t feel like a girl, but that could be written off as being a giant rabbit. I stood back up and winced at the pain now I really needed to find that creek or stream or whatever it was. A nice soak in cold water and the pain would clear right up. When I finally found the water it turned out to be a decent sized creek with a couple of trees on the close bank.
It was easy enough to remove my scarf but the rest of my clothing took some examining. The collar and pauldrons were actually one piece and were kept on by a latch beneath my arms. Once I slipped it over my head I was able to examine it properly. It was made from basic Chrome Digizoid, a strange and rare metal which came in several forms most notably blue, red, and gold. Blue is supposed to be the light-weight type and allows a Digimon to move at high speed. Red is even stronger than normal Chrome and gives a Digimon very high defense. Last is Gold Digizoid which is supposed to maximize offensive strength.
Knowing what they do is nice, but I just wished I knew how they did it. Anyway, the collar and pauldrons were made from standard Chrome with a Gold trim around the edge and underneath. I thought the collar and pauldrons were also attached to the Red Digizoid armor covering my chest and back. I looking down I realized that it was actually a cuirass and held up by straps on my shoulders that the pauldrons had hidden.
After undoing the straps I tested the cuirass and was delighted to find that it wasn’t made of a series of solid plates but from numerous scales connected to an elastic like material. It was easy enough to slip it off now that I knew how it worked. The pants were ended up being made of a similarly stretchy material but under close scrutiny it was possible to see a slight glint when the light hit it, so it was likely interlaced with Blue and Red at odd intervals to give it a thistle color.
I folded up my pants and set them beneath the tree, the cuirass, collar-pauldrons, and scarf lay atop it with my backpack off to the side. I smiled when I saw my feet bigger and wider than ever, I never liked shoes at home and it somehow made my feet wide. My legs and feet were covered in the same pale brown fur as my hands and arms. It lightened to tan were it covered my chest. As I ran my hands carefully through it I discovered a source of further confusion in the form of a pair of nipples.
This just kept getting better and better, somewhere Zhuqiaomon was laughing at me, the feathered human hating bastard. In Tamers Renamon had said Digimon didn’t have genders. No, no! thoughts and actions for another time and place, not here where I’m out in the open. I turned back to the creek. It was about five feet deep, ten feet wide, and crystal clear. I could see fish swimming under the surface, what I recognized as watercress was growing near both banks. With its slow flow the water was just reflective enough to get a look at myself. The fur on my face was divided into thirds, pale brown on the left and right reaching completely around my head, and white in the center including my horns. My eyes were red and just like in the show it was two shades. Right in the middle of my face was a small triangular black nose.
I stepped into the creek, which turned out to be chilly, wading slowly out to mid stream I sat down and enjoyed the cool water as it washed over my fur. Just like Running Camp, a good run in the morning and if your group is in the right place a nice soak before heading back for lunch. My stomach rumbled reminding me that I hadn’t eaten for unknown period of time. I dug up the watercress and made a small meal of it while I soaked, when I was done the water had turned muddy brown.
I moved further upstream where the water was clearer and washed the dirt out of my fur. I stepped out and sat down next to my things under the tree. I had no intention of finding out if wet fur causes chafing on my first day out. I closed my eyes content to sit and wait for my fur to dry.
“So you’re what Iron Will saw blast past him.”
I cracked open an eye and suppressed a groan. What I saw was blue grey minotaur. He had a blue mow-hawk and beard with silvery horns, matching nose ring, and black tie. I guess I had seen Iron Will when I was running. Maybe if I just stayed quiet he would leave me alone.
“Iron Will has been all over the world and has never seen a creature like you before.” or maybe not
“I’m not surprised by that.” I said, wow I even sound like her.
I could practically hear the gears turning in his head as he looked from my clothes, to me, back to the clothes, and back to me a second time. He went bright red through his fur and spun on his hoof so his back was to me.
“Iron Will apologizes, Iron Will didn’t realize he was in the presence of an undressed woman!”
“It's quite alright,” I laughed “when I ran by you I was moving so fast I only saw a splotch of color out of the corner of my eye. I’m lucky you came after me, you see I’m a bit out of the loop can you tell me what has happened recently?”
“Iron Will would be happy to...as soon as you are properly attired that is.”
I stood up and was surprised to find that in the hour or so I had been sitting my legs had gotten very stiff. I took a minute to stretch before putting my armored clothing on. Iron Will still had his back to me, reaching out I tapped him on the shoulder.
“You can turn around now. My first question how long ago did I run past you?”
“That was at 2:15 yesterday afternoon.”
Great so I slept for a day “What time is it now?”
“12:36”
“Where are we?”
“In Equestria, about two days travel East from Trottingham. Well two days for a normal person, you could probably make the trip in a few hours. Iron Will is headed to Ponyville to give one of his Assertiveness Seminars.”
My stomach rumbled “Do you have any food you can spare? I...I don’t have any money.”
“Iron Will would be happy to share some of his supplies with you.”
He clapped his hands and his goat aids appeared from the other side of the tree wearing heavily laden packs. I could see various bits of equipment sticking out of them, a pan here, a speaker there. I even saw a sleeping bag stuffed into the back of one bag, why did they even need that? They bleated back and fore at each other before the white goat reached back and undid a strap.
Iron Will reached inside and pulled out pineapple slices, a few apples, and a peach. My stomach rumbled again at the sight of some of my favorite fruits. He handed them to me and turned around to pull out some more food. By the time he turned back I had eaten both apples, all the pineapple slices and was almost finished with the peach. He blinked a few times before shrugging and munching on what looked suspiciously like a tin can. I was beginning to think he was truly a nice person when I noticed one of his goats walking over to my bag. When the goat went to bite it I picked up my bag.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked
“You told Iron Will that you had no money so Iron Will was going to take your bag as collateral.”
“No...I don’t think so. You said you would be happy to share some of your supplies with me.”
“And Iron Will is,” he smiled “for a fee of course.”
“That’s not how it works,” I placed my bag safely out of reach in the tree “you’re supposed to tell people there is a fee before you give them something.”
“Never apologize, when you can criticize.”
“Iron Will, I am not someone you want to anger. You will not take my bag from me.”
He took a fighting stance “When somepony tries to block, show them that you rock!”
He charged at me, bad move. I placed my right arm across my front and waited till just the right moment. CRACK. With a vicious backhand I sent him tumbling end over end ten, twenty, thirty feet. With a small leap I was behind him as he sat up and looked around. Let’s hope this is the right command for it.
“Bǎo Fǔ.” with a snapping sound my hands turned into giant double bladed axes, bringing one around under his neck I spoke again. “I am not a killer, please don’t make me one. I don’t know how the laws work here, but where I’m from you have to inform people if you intend to charge them a fee, before you make an offer.”
Do you think Iron Will is going to die?