Pumpkin Dress Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Digimon parody: Tier 1/patreon reward

Chapter 2  https://www.patreon.com/posts/pumpkin-dress-2-36938636 

Chapter 3

After the battle with Kuwagamon things were able to calm down a bit, everyone got introduced to each other and their digimon partners. Kari and Salamon, Takeru and Patamon, Ken and Wormmon, Joe and Gommamon, Matt and Gabumon, Willis and Terriermon, Izzy and Tentomon, Tai and Candlemon, and Sora and Biyomon.  

Tai was still a bit nervous being in a dress in front of so many people. “Tai are you okay?” Kari asked. 

“I...” he looked around and saw Sora glaring at him. “I don’t know.”  

“Do you want a change of clothes?” Kari did have a spare set of clothes on her, pants and a shirt. Tai was hesitant.  

“You shouldn’t have to change, you look great as you are!” Candlemon said. His words felt odly familiar.  

“I think you look really pretty!” Takeru said with a big smile on his face. He nudged his brother Yamato who patted Tai’s back.  

“Yeah you look good, do whatever makes you feel comfortable, I’ll support you.”  

“Tai-sempai I had no idea you had such interests, but it suits you well!” Ken told him giving him a thumbs up.  

“Yeah man, you are looking good!” Willis tells him.  

“It might not be my place to say, but I think you look nice.” Joe said fiddling with his shirt, his glasses fogged up from the heat on his cheeks.  

“I don’t see the need to change if you don’t want to.” Izzy said. Kari smiled, she always hoped that if her brother just had a chance to show who he was he’d be accepted, and here he was...or so she thought.  

The more the boys talked the more Sora became more annoyed, she crossed her arms looking pissed. “If it’s okay with everyone...then I’d like to wear this.” he said and Candlemon cheered.  

“Doesn’t bother us!” Willis said. “Right guys?”  

“Right!” Tai teared up a little.  

“What is wrong with you guys!” Sora snapped. “He’s a boy and he’s wearing a dress!”  

Tai flinched at her words, as hard as it was to build up one’s confidence it was easy to knock it down and make it crumble. “It’s not normal, it’s not manly, it’s not natural!”  

“Now hold on!” Willis stepped up. “I might be new, but I’ve played with Tai on the soccer team for awhile now, he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. He’s a great guy, wearing a dress doesn’t change that.”  

“What is your deal Sora, why does it bother you so much if Tai wears a dress?”  

“Because it’s not right...Tai won’t become a proper man this way...” Sora looked half crazed. “You know I’m right Tai...you know what your mother would say if she were here...” Tai started to shake. The digimon felt the tension in the air and the growing discomfort and anger of their partners. The digimon having no clothes didn’t understand the issue around them so stood by their respective partner for support. Candlemon was furious.  

“Let me at her, let me at her!” Tai hugged the little guy to him.  

Kari had enough. Slap!  

“My brother is perfect just the way he is!” she snapped. “I’ve known him longer than you, I know my brother well, and though I don’t understand why, I feel in my heart what mom says is wrong. There is nothing wrong with my brother!”  

“Kari...there is something wrong with you, there is something wrong with all of you!!” Sora huffed and stomped off, Biyomon following her.  

Tai set aside his feelings for Sora for a moment. “Sora wait, no one should be going off on their own. We don’t know where we are, we need to stick together.” the girl did pause.

“I have my partner, I don’t need any of you. If I stick around I’ll catch your sickness.” she walked off into the woods with her partner.

“Let her go Tai, she needs to figure stuff out for herself.” Yamato tells him. It was hard to believe Tai cared about someone so cruel, but it was a bright spot on his character that even though she did him wrong, that he didn’t wish her harm. Tai’s words also had the boys face the reality they were currently in, with Kuwagamon gone and the danger low for now, they were able to reflect on their situation.

Their partners explained they were in the Digital World, but what that was, stood as a mystery. They were the first humans the digimon had ever seen, and while there were other digital monsters in this world, not all of them were as mean or vicious as Kuwagamon. In terms of supplies they were frightening short on, Only half the gang had bags and stuff with them. Tai found his compass and mini telescope in the bushes where he landed?...teleported?...appeared?  Candlemon had found them and stashed them away for safety.  

Yamato had his harmonica and a pocket knife. Both Ken and Izzy had a cellphone and a laptop, but neither of their devices seemed to be working. Willis had a backpack and had some health bars and energy bars, along with a water bottle, a towel, lotion, and a couple of magazines. In Takeru’s backpack he had some emergency snacks as he called them including chips, chocolate bars, and a mixed bag of gummy creatures. He had a magnifying glass, a book on plants and bugs, sun tan lotion, a bar of soap, a wash clothe, and some band-aids; the later items packed by his mother.  Joe had the camp’s medical and supplies bag, there was disinfectant spray, various ointments, medical tape, bandages, tweezers, scissors, thermometer, mild pain killers, sterile gloves, and a bottle of distilled water for cleaning wounds. The rations consisted of some baggies, canned food, jerky, crackers, peanut butter packs, vitamin gummies, dried fruit, cheese spread, water bottles and some vitamin powder. Kari had her whistle, a camera, in her bag a change of clothes, a sleeping bag, a lighter, a make up compact, a sewing kit, and a canteen.   

“We have supplies, but its risky as we don’t know where we are, how long we’ll be here, or how we are gonna get home.” Tai said.  

“There’s food for us, but when we split it with our partners it’ll run out faster.” Yamato points out.  

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Gabumon said.  

“That’s right, we’ve been training in this area for ages, we can forage for food.” Wormmon points out. 

“Really, what kind of food?” The digimon lead the way as this area was like their backyard. Tentomon showed them some trees that had fruits among the branches. “Apples excellent!” Tentomon helped them collect apples.  

“Here, here!” Terriermon showed them some trees that was growing oranges.  

“These trees are so strange, what kind of fruit is this?” Joe asked, the fruit growing on this tree was red and spiky.  

“Oh oh, these Tamato Fruits are so good!” Candlemon said, he picked one and ate it. “Mmm!”  

“Oh nice,” Joe picked one, but before he could eat it…

“Wait Joe stop!” Gommamon tripped him up, the fruit dropped and fell into the digimon’s mouth. His face went red. “HOT!” he breathed fire before jumping into the nearby lake.

“Candlemon, must be immune to spicy foods.” Tai picked some anyway, they’d be a good treat for him.  The humans decided not to pick any strange fruit carelessly. Tentomon, Patamon, and Terriermon were good at picking the fruit from the tall trees. They put the fruit in the bags, Tai helped Willis move some stuff and pulled out his magazines so they wouldn’t get damaged.

“Oh my!” Tai blushed, these weren’t normal magazines.  

Willis blushed. “I uhh just read them for the articles...ugh that’s so lame...please don’t think less of me!” he bowed his head.  

“So...you like guys...this way...” the magazine was full of pin ups, sex scenes, and tips about gay sex. 

“I do, do you think less of me?” Tai shook his head.  

“Not at all, I’m just surprised, in more ways than one.” Tai scratched the back of his head. “I’ve heard about this stuff but never seen it. I was always told I had to find a nice girl, but I’ve never been interested in a girl like this.” Tai was just starting a sex ed course before he got sent to camp, he didn’t know all the ins and outs yet but he wasn’t completely in the dark.  

“You might like guys...is that a problem? Things seem kinda rough for you already.”  

“Yeah...” he gave Willis back his magazines.  

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Tai shook his head no.  

“Not right now, things are crazy enough as is, but um...could I borrow your magazines some time, for research.” Willis smiled.  

“Sure thing, when we get home I can show you my secret stash, I only snagged a few of my favorites for this trip.” Willis showed Tai a secret pocket in his bag and hid the magazines in there. “Be my guest.”  

“Come on guys we gotta keep moving!” Joe called to them.  

“Talk to me any time, I know I’m the new guy, but I’ve gone through this stuff, I had some friends back home that didn’t like that I was gay, but not everyone was so closed minded. Things were rough but I hung in there, if you need a shoulder to lean on I’m here.” Tai hugged him.

“Thanks Willis!”   

“Hey, I haven’t known you long but I think you are pretty...” he blushed. “Great...pretty great...yeah...” he chuckled and raced off. Tai followed.  

Wormmon took them to a weird mushroom garden, some were fenced off with wire and warnings. “These mushrooms are good to eat.” They checked Takeru’s book to make sure, but there were some really weird mushrooms abound.  

“Laughing Mushrooms? A mushroom that when eaten will always bring laughter?” Izzy read.  

“Those are my favorite!” Gomamon said, he was back now.  

“Crying Mushrooms? A mushroom that will always bring tears, sometimes you need to cry.”  

“These mushrooms here grant us digimon temporary powers, but we can’t take more than one so its best to choose wisely.” Salamon said, showing the group stranger mushrooms. Hot, Frost, Gale, Power, and Speed.  

“I also picked these from the lake.” Gomamon said. Sea Mushrooms, when eaten grants the eater the ability to breathe underwater for a time. The gang bagged up an assortment of the special mushrooms for their digimon partners. There was also patches of Truth Mushrooms, one bite and the person cannot lie. Tai felt they didn’t need that stuff but Kari picked a few just in case.   

The digimon tried to purge any poisonous mushrooms should they pop up, so their area was poison free. There were some no edible mushrooms the kids did pick up, Glow Mushrooms, not edible but they glow in the dark so they planned to use them for light when it got dark. The gang did stumble upon some giant mushrooms, and took a break for a moment of fun as the mushrooms were like big trampolines, they sat their stuff down for a bit and had some fun on the giant shrooms.  

-x-     

“Over here!” Gabumon showed them some berry bushes. It was weird there were signs near the bushes saying which bushes had edible berries and which ones didn’t. One bush had a warning about some not so friendly berries.  

“Is it okay to pick these?” Yamato asked.  

“Oh yes, just mind the signs.” Gabumon said. He got some baggies and began picking berries. While no one was looking Biyomon slipped in and switched some of the signs. Bacchus Berries weren’t necessarily poisonous, they could be picked and used to make wine, diluted to make various beverages, but should never be eaten raw as they are far more potent. The skin of the berries also worked as an aphrodisiac.  

Yamato would have known not to touch these berries, but after what Biyomon did picked some and added them to the mix of good berries. With their supplies stocked the group made camp under the giant mushrooms as the sun began to set.  

-x-

“Nice work Biyomon.”  

“Are you sure about this Sora?”  

“Of course I am, I’m gonna show Tai that those guys are all sick. Once he knows the truth I’ll be waiting to pick up the pieces.” She sighed. “I’m such a good friend.” Poor Biyomon had no idea her partner was twisted in the head.  

To be continued