Posting this at 12:13 am seems like a good idea.
I didn't mean to take so long with this. There were some awkward parts I got frustrated with, and then that annoying "real-life" thing got in the way and stopped me from sorting them. But it's here now, and for those of you who've enjoyed the story so far, here it is, Chapter Three!
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Chapter 3
Mrs. Teller emerged from the building to the assembled group of students, sat around one of the outside tables at the back of the hotel.
Aston and Laura looked at her enquiringly, “How is -”
“Fine, I’ve cleaned and treated the wound, and stitched it up with some of the emergency supplies. It- a he I believe, will be fine. But will have to rest a while,” Mrs Teller had been the choice to go to, being a biology teacher and having previously worked in a zoo. She now stopped and gave the teens a hard look, “Now explain to me exactly why you left the group in the first place?”
Laura answered, “It was my fault, Mrs Teller, I saw something and asked Aston to take a look with me. It turned out to be the cavern we found that creature in. And well… We noticed it was bleeding and unconscious. We think it may have been hurt trying to steal from a local café. We didn‘t want to chance dragging it through the smaller opening. So we had to take an alternate route. Outwards.”
“Mhm. As much as I admire the compassion you’ve shown. The fact remains the two of you wandered away from the group. This could have prohibited any future trips here by the school. Worse you could have got lost. Even worse, you could have been seriously injured. As punishment, you will both remain here tomorrow, under the supervision of Mr Hatton, whilst the rest of the group visit the nearby water park with me. Am I clear?”
The two nodded and hung their heads.
Maria spoke up, “I think, if it’s okay, we’d like to stay too,” Mrs Teller began to protest, “Not because we wish to be without friends on the trip, but because today was very distressing and we all need some rest.” Ash and Carly nodded their agreement. It was a lie though, of course, they wanted to hear every detail of what had happened.
“Very well. Off to bed with all of you, now!”
“So what do you think he is?” Carly queried.
The five were in the girls’ room sat on the beds, the lizard-creature sleeping fitfully on a pile of pillows on the floor. It had awoken only once, where it feebly munched on half a burger before retreating back into sleep.
“Maybe he’s some previously undiscovered throwback to the dinosaurs. Like crocodiles and alligators,” Maria ventured, “Until someone discovered him and took him to a nearby zoo which he managed to escape from. And he‘s been living off what he can forage from the town. Which isn‘t a lot by the looks of it. He‘s really thin.”
“What about this?” Aston pulled out the device he had found the creature holding. It was shaped like a raindrop, with the point rounded. There was a small semi-circular screen at the wider end and four circular buttons at the narrow end, arranged in a square. There was a rubber grip placed along the device’s edge, stretching from the bottom of the screen to the last buttons, that was fierce orange in colouring.
“Yeah, where would he have got it from?” Ash added.
“Maybe a tourist dropped it?” Laura offered, “Aston’s laptop has Wi-Fi, why don’t you look up what it is?”
Maria and Aston worked at the laptop, idly searching for any clues on what the strange little device did. Clues that were being rather elusive.
The other three studied the reptilian form that was destroying their pillows. It was definitely bipedal, the limbs at the upper half it’s body were short and the clawed “hand” was quite flat. It’s legs appeared stronger, with large feet to support a rather disproportionably large head.
“It looks like a cartoon,” Laura commented, “The huge head, the way those claws round like cones to the sharp point. It’s funny.”
Carly smiled and leant to touch it’s snout, “Aw. I think ’e’s quite cute.”
Laura raised her eyebrows, “I think you’re weird.”
Carly began to retort, “Do you-”
“ASTON! What’ve you done? What’s it doing?” Maria cried.
The other three immediately jumped to their feet. A bright light was shining from the device that Aston still held, the laptop’s screen was flashing and rapidly changing colours.
“
TRANSPORT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED. DIGITAL-GATE OPENING.”
The lizard creature was suddenly wide awake and pushing itself up, attempting to push past the legs of the chattering teens.
“
TRANSPORT SEQUENCE COMPLETE. DIGITAL-GATE OPEN.”
And the noise stopped. The surrounding blackness was enveloping. But there was a feeling a moving at a great speed. And then it wasn’t black. There were streams of white. Yellow. Blue. Red. Every colour. All spiraling together. Forming a sphere in the distance. A sphere that had glimpses of different landscapes; a mountain, forests, jungles, a great castle; all flickering at high speed. The rushing speed increased until… Collision with the sphere. And a feeling of exploding and imploding all at once.
***
As her awareness returned Carly groaned, loudly. The blackness was receding, but her head hurt. She blinked hard several times. She was in a forest, the vegetation looked exotic and tropical, but the tree growth wasn’t dense enough for it to be called jungle. She was resting, rather precariously, on the lowest boughs of a tree, as if she had fallen from above.
I could probably jump dow-
“
Stamen Rope!” Came a loud cry from below, and Carly was suddenly aware of long, yellowish vines encircling her legs and waist, pulling her downwards. The boughs of the trees snapped and Carly came crashing to the forest floor with a loud thud, “Oops, you were a little heavier than I expected. Sorry!”
Carly looked in the direction of the noise. Before her stood a strange looking flower. Three stems branched off a main bulbous one, two splayed strangely at the ground and the other stuck out behind. Then from the bulbous centre-stem two strangely shaped light blue-purple flowers with long, yellow stamen, reached out. Then another flower, reddish-pink this time, and then an odd green lump covered by an oversized red petal and… Eyes. The plant had eyes. Although. It wasn’t a plant, Carly realised. It was a thing. A monster. The two oddly splaying stems, were legs and feet. The stem sticking out behind was a tail. The light blue-purple flowers were hands… Of a sort. And the strange lump with the red flower was it’s head.
The creature regarded her with a quizzical look, “Um. I’m Floramon. Chimudjimon saw the lights in the sky. And sent a group of us to search… Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Are what… You?” Carly mumbled.
Floramon fixed Carly with a harder stare. “You have to be one of them. A hu-mon. You even have a digivice around your neck.”
Carly was confused. This “Floramon” was making her head hurt even more. But sure enough there was a strange device hanging by a string around her neck. Carly took it in her hand and looked. It was the same as the device Aston had found with the creature! Except… The rubber grips were light green in colour.
Carly looked again at herself. Her clothing had changed. No longer was she wearing the summery dress Aston had picked up for her in H&M, it made her figure look absolutely gorgeous apparently, she was now wearing cut-off jeans and a white vest top.
Floramon interestedly watched the creature as it studied itself in an incredulous manner. It didn’t seem much like the brave hero hu-mons, the ones they had seen drawings of in Chimudjimon’s books. It looked to Floramon to be very disoriented and uncoordinated. She watched it pick at it’s clothing for several seconds more before announcing, “You know. There are Digimon waiting for your arrival. I’m supposed to lead you to town.” Floramon smiled and beckoned welcomingly.
The hu-mon listened to this. And then seemed to be thinking. “Okay… I’ll come with you. But. What’s a digimon, exactly?”
***
“
This one’s trapped in the vines!” The voice was an excited cry.
“
I think this one’s waking up!” Came the eager response.
Maria awoke to a large, buzzing creature that was studying her closely, and promptly screamed in it’s face.
“My name’s FanBeemon,” The creature introduced itself, “Chimudji-”
The fact the creature could talk had rather shocked Maria, and because her brain was still feeling muddled she started babbling loudly and incoherently. After recovering somewhat, Maria noticed that it did resemble a large bee.
It had six legs, a fuzzy body and insectoid wings, as well as a large stinger. The stinger however, was serrated on the underside and appeared to be metallic; two of it’s legs were smaller and resembled odd hands; the middle of it’s abdomen had a spike at either side; it’s head appeared to be encased in a metal shell and two large indigo-hued antenna protruded above two large green eyes.
Due to the fact she was hanging upside down from mesh of vines and that there was a feline creature that seemed to be attempting to swipe at her, with wickedly sharp claws, Laura also regained her consciousness with, an uncharacteristic for her, yet piercing, scream. The creature jumped and made a deft swipe at some of the vines, causing Laura to crash to the ground noisily.
The creature that had seemingly saved her, and what Laura had assumed was a lion cub, had some rather unusual qualities about it. It’s fur was golden in colour, and had a sheen resembling the metal; the small tuft of fur atop it’s head was a startling orange in colour and around it’s neck was a golden ring inscribed with odd characters and it had a pendant featuring an emerald-coloured stone.
Laura had intended on saying placatory words, assuming it was going to eat her, but the words came out an odd mumble as if her voice and brain weren’t quite connected. It had given her a quizzical look with it’s intelligent, sparkling blue eyes.
With the two girls being unable to focus their thoughts totally rationally, their minds still fogged in an odd haze, they had numbly agreed to follow the two beings, who had explained that someone called “Chimudjimon” had seen the “signs,” and had asked all spare “digimon” to go out and search for the humans (although, they‘d pronounced it “hu-mons,”) and return with them to the town.
Liollmon and FanBeemon lead the two strange hu-mons through the forest, occasionally turning back to study them.
FanBeemon slowed and hovered closer to Liollmon’s head, dropping her voice “They’re not exactly… What I expected. I was imagining great warrior heroes. Like the ones Chimudjimon showed us.”
“I think they’re confused. They did come from a different world, at least, that’s what Chimudjimon said. Maybe travelling here does that to hu-mons,” Liollmon replied.
“Let’s hope that’s the case,” FanBeemon said, with a furtive look backwards.
The oversized-bee-creature and the lion-cub-type-creature kept shooting quick looks in their direction. Maria and Laura were rather unsure of what to make of the whole situation.
Maria kept her voice quiet, “I think they’re talking about us. The bee-thing seemed disappointed. I wonder if they‘re expecting something of us? And is this
town full of more of them? So many questions. And my head still hurts.”
“I think I’m still getting over the part where they talk,” Laura remarked.
“You know,” Maria began, “the more my head clears the more stupid this idea seems. I mean maybe we should just-”
“We’re nearly there!” Maria jumped as she turned to find FanBeemon hovering about a foot away from her face. “See the trees starting to thin out?” It made a gesture in the direction they’d been walking, “Town’s just on the edge of the forest. Word should have spread by now! They‘ll probably throw a party in your honour!”
Maria was confused, “A party? For us? Why would you-”
She was interrupted my a familiar voice shouting, “Mariaaaaaaaa! Lauraaaaaaaaa!”
A different voice called after her, “You’re going the wrong way! Town is in the other direction!”
All four turned their heads to the right. Maria and Laura saw their friend Carly running towards them and being followed by an odd, moving plant. Liollmon and FanBeemon saw a fair-haired hu-mon running away from their friend, Floramon.
The girls all hugged happily and excitedly chattered at one another. The three creatures studied them curiously.
Floramon caught her breath and asked the other two in a hushed tone, “Do you think there’s anything… Different about these hu-mons?”
FanBeemon nodded, “They’re definitely not what I expected.”
Liollmon was still regarding the three girls with interest.
“Do you two have any idea what’s goin’ on?” Carly asked when they’d all calmed some, “The weird wee monsters, the strange device-thingies. Even our clothes.”
Maria and Laura were yet to acknowledge the last two, but did at Carly’s mentioning. Laura noticed she was now adorned in a red vest top, trimmed in white and some denim shorts, with a pair of red and white hi-topped trainers. She also had a device strung around her neck that matched the one Aston was presumably still in poession of.
Maria realised that she was now wearing a lilac T-shirt, a knee-length pair of white shorts and a pair of white trainers decorated with two purple stripes on the outward facing sides. She also noticed the device hanging around her neck, that matched the other three she had now seen, only it had purple grips.
“We really should get going now,” FanBeemon announced, hovering a little closer, “It’s been so long… Don’t want to keep anyone waiting.” The three creatures all had their gaze upon the three girls, welcoming looks upon their faces.
The three girls looked at each other, before Maria, being the voice of rationality, suggested this, “Considering we don’t have many other options, I think we should follow them to their town. We can explain that we’re not whoever they’ve been waiting for and they’ll hopefully point us in the direction.”
“Or we could take our chances in the forest.” Laura replied, “’cause I’m sure that all the monsters are nice and helpful.” The girls chuckled. Laura turned and faced their odd assortment of guides with slight smile, “Lead the way.”
***
“All hail the new heroes!” Came the raucous cry.
A large crowd echoed the phrase, “All hail the new heroes!”
As the trees reached their end and the group were free of the forest, they were greeted with the oddest sight they thought they’d ever see. Creatures, monsters of all shapes and sizes, resembling all sorts of things had greeted them with shouts and cheers. There were more that resembled plants, some resembling animals, others resembling inanimate objects and some that seemed to have no resemblance to anything at all. The girls were stunned. The situation was overwhelming. And they felt it wasn’t right for them to receive someone else’s applause.
The cacophony died down and the crowds parted a ways, as a lone figure stepped through, “Welcome! Digi-destined! My name is Chimudjimon! We have many plans to discuss!” A slight round of cheers at this point, “And you digimon, there are preparations to be made! Make yourselves busy.” A slight murmur of dissapointment, at not being able to see their new heroes for longer, ran through the crowds. But the creatures gradually parted and set off in different directions.
The figure stepped that had through the crowd moved towards the group and the girls were able to get a good look at it. It was rather rotund, and resembled a snow man, although it was brown. It’s hands resembled mittens, being fingerless and it’s feet had no toes. It had a small black nose and cheerful looking black eyes. Atop it’s head was a blue wizard-like hat, and draped across it’s shoulders was bright yellow cape. In one hand it carried a burnished wooden staff that had a totem of some kind of great bird carved at it’s top.
It gave them a warm look, and spread it’s arms in a hospitable manner, “Welcome, to my humble Disc Town!” It lowered it’s arms and stepped forward so it was only a couple of feet away, “I’m sure your guides have you confused by now?” The three digimon that had remained beside the girls looked rather bashful, and Chimudjimon chuckled, “Not to worry, not to worry. I shall make all clear to our guests. If you would like to follow me?” Chimudjimon half turned to walk away but them seemed to have a thought, “There are only three..” he muttered quietly, then faced the girls fully “Were there more with you?”
The girls, who had still been rather stunned, seemed to snap out of their stupor at this and exclaimed together, “Aston! Ash!”
“Our friends. We found a -” Maria was interrupted by a ear-splitting, monstrous screech.
Their friends along with two more creatures burst from the trees, panting raggedly. Behind them, trees were snapping like twigs. And with another piercing screech a large red insectoid creature with snapping pincers burst from the forest behind them. The two creatures with them, one was the one from the cave, the other was bird-like, had collapsed to the ground and Ash and Aston desperately tried to haul them up.
The insectoid creature loomed over them clashing it’s pincers together menacingly before it erupted with a horrendously gleeful cry.
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Great thanks to Digimon wiki for when I was looking up certain things.
Liollmon.
FanBeemon.
Floramon.
Chimudjimon(Basically Chief-MudFrigimon Except the "G" changed to a "J" in my head)- An original Digimon creation of mine, basically MudFrigimon with the hat and cape and without the "buttons".
Hope you enjoyed, as ever critique is encouraged and thanks for reading.