[Digimon] Hope and Love

[Daydream]

Please note, that's a working title.

I finally made myself post this story! I was reluctant because, well, I usually leave things I've written unfinished for eons. But I have a good feeling about this one. Although, if I do seem to have left it a while before a new chapter (and you like the story, of course) feel free to give me a prod, I'll find it encouraging.

The idea behind it is, it's sort of alternate universe, one more close to our own with a more realistic approach to the events that take place. So at points it is possible I could stray from canon, but hopefully I'll have a good reason for that (or I might not and you can scream and shout at me).

Anyways, enjoy! (Prologue is also posted due to the shortness of it).

---

Prologue​

Blood, sweat, grime. It covered his hands. The small yellow form ahead of him was now collapsed, prostrate on the ground.

Tears streaked down the man's face as he raised a hand to the reptilian head and slapped it hard once. Nothing. Quivering, he did it again. Nothing.

"Got. To. Run."

He heaved the body over his shoulder, shakes racking his already weakened body. He began once again to wearily pound through the dark tunnel. We're near the exit now. We have to be.

CRACK! The buttress supporting the sloping tunnel's roof was broken. High-pitched feminine laughter echoed around them.

Rubble blocked the way ahead.

Slobbering rasps of distorted canine mouths grew in volume behind them.

Enemies blocked the way behind.

The man fell. The small reptilian creature's eyes flickered back into recognition. The man cried, pulling the creature, his friend , into his chest.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I've failed you. Failed everyone," he faltered, voice cracking, "But I won't let them get to you. I can't."

Removing the device on his neck, he tied it to the being ahead of him and pressed a sequence of buttons.

"Sorry."

"EMERGENCY TRANS-WORLD TELEPORT ACTIVATED."

It's yellow eyes went wide and met the man's own.

"I love you, Cawl."

It's body shone bright blue and dissipated gradually into the air.

"Touching." A mock applause, "But who will fight us now? You were their hero, fighting bravely to vanquish the evil. A true knight in fact. The martyr bearing the hearts of many on his shoulders. Hearts that will now be scattered at our feet. Hearts that will remain forever trapped in our thrall. Know this noble hero, as you die."

Chapter 1​

"Maaaaaaaaaam," came the voice, "Where's my camera? And my iPod! I have to have my iPod!"

"Check your hand-luggage, Aston," the boy's mother replied.

Aston Hart's slim form appeared at the top of the stairs. His mother couldn't help but think that, dress that way twenty-odd years ago and you'd never be taken seriously. But times had changed, and kids today were more free and individual in the way they designed themselves. Aston himself went for a casual, yet stylish, look. His hair was a chestnut brown, straightened, his fringe swooping over his hazel-brown right eye. He wore a flamboyant pink t-shirt with dark jeans and accessorised with a pink and black "gangsta" style scarf and grey shoulder bag slung over his left shoulder and lying on his right hip.

"Uncle Jack's put your suitcase in the car and he's ready to take you to the airport," Aston hopped down the stairs and gave his mother a hug, she stifled a sob, "Enjoy Italy, son. Be careful." She kissed him softly on the forehead before sending him out to the car with his Uncle.

Aston's school had organised a two-week trip to Italy as a kind-of well done on completing your exams treat. It would also be the last time he and his friends were together as a whole group, Aston and his friends were sixteen and this meant everyone was going off to do different things now that they'd finished compulsory education. Aston himself was going to a sixth form college (separate from his school) to study for his A levels. He was saddened at the thought that only one of his friends had also taken this option, they were a close group and Aston was fiercely loyal to them all.

***​

"AASSTTOOONNN!" Screamed his chorus of female friends. The three girls surrounded him, fussing over his hair and clothes in a good-natured fashion.

Aston laughed and tried to placate the girls with hugs and kisses but they had none of it, "Laura, Maria, Carly, pull your claws in, Ash can't get past you." Aston's boyfriend wavered hesitantly at the small, high-pitched throng that surrounded his partner, "Girls." The three turned around whilst giggling and dissipated back into the crowd. Ash stepped forward; his strong arms immediately circling Aston's waist.

The two had been together almost a year now, after jointly coming out to their peers at the beginning of the school year, they'd formed a strong bond being both a couple and close friends. Despite the general negative attitude to homosexuality in the area which they lived, Aston and Ashley hadn't found it hard adapting to people knowing; hardly anyone seemed too bothered by it and they'd been free to be as they wanted.

The two boys kissed once, tenderly, before Ash spoke, "C'mon then. We've still got boarding passes to get before we get on the plane," he paused as Aston kissed him softly once more "And Mrs. Teller wants to do a headcount at least once before then," he added with a grin.

Aston laughed knowingly and the two headed off to join the rest of the group; who were now crowding around an overly perky middle-aged woman and a bored-looking young man who appeared to be in his twenties.

"Is everyone partnered up?" Mrs. Teller called shrilly, "Don't lose sight of your partner! And Try to stick with the group! That includes you Sam Herford! Now lets walk in double file and collect our boarding passes! Keep your partner close!"

"I will," Ash commented quietly, pulling the smaller Aston closely to his side and giving him a quick wink.

"Mrs Teller, I'm sure a group of sixteen year olds can manoeuvre safely through an airport," the younger man remarked, "Everyone go and get your boarding passes at be at the gate no later than half eleven."

The older woman became flustered and began ranting at how dangerous the airport could possibly be. The students laughed and commented how awesome it was to have a teacher like Mr. Hatton.

***​

Sunset gently flowed through the windows of an aging coach that rattled through the Italian countryside. Twenty-four tired English teenagers were quietly taking in the beautiful surroundings. To them it could have been worlds away. The tranquil sleepy atmosphere that had taken hold of the bus was mirrored in the surrounding area. The lazy vineyards barely even rustling in the breeze. Occasional streams trickling past without a care.

Maria Vittorio sighed. Her grandfather, and now her father, had owned a vineyard when she had lived in Italy. Seven years ago Maria's mother and father had split up. Her mother was British and had moved back home, with Maria. This hadn't been a problem at first; Maria spoke fluent Italian and English and was generally quite sociable and friendly. But she began missing Italy and the life she'd had there, with her whole family. Her brother had stayed in Italy with her father and they only saw each other every other Christmas. Maria had managed to adapt, and her friends kept her cheerful but there was that always that pang of longing simmering underneath the surface.

The Scottish blonde beside her snorted in a loud, pig-like fashion and Maria was shaken out of her thoughts with a hearty giggle. This was echoed by a few of the seats surrounding her.

The raven haired girl the seat ahead of Maria peered dozedly over, "Carly, you always do that just as someone else is about to get to sleep."

Carly grumbled and turned to face the aisle.

The girl glared evilly over her seat, "I swear, I'm going to buy corks to shove up her nostrils. There is no way I'm putting up with that for two weeks."

"We tried that on the France trip two years ago, remember Laura?" Maria laughed, " She just snorted them back out again."

Laura yawned, "I could glue them there this time."

Maria chuckled, Laura's dry humour and well-timed witty remarks were what made her so funny. Hardly a day could go by without her giving a sarcastic one-liner; sending the group reeling into fits of laughter.

She settled down into her seat, brushing a long strand of dark brown hair, out of one eye and watched the comfortably familiar landscape trundle past. Rather than dwelling on the life she missed, she concentrated on the holiday she was going to have with her friends, focusing on the good times ahead. Pushing the distressful thoughts to the back of her mind, Maria was able to feel more contented in herself and rested her eyes to join the almost magical stupor the rest of her classmates had fallen into.


***

Carly grunted as she received a forceful shove on the side.

"C'mon sleeping beauty we're here, and I'd quite like to get off the bus."

Carly stretched and yawned, "Give a lassie time to wake up, would you? Not all of us have as much energy as you do. "

The assorted teens bustled off the coach together and into the warm, Italian night air. Carly yawned profusely as she walked along, not taking in much of her surroundings. She was only vaguely aware of the buildings that passed by as they pulled and dragged suitcases towards the hotel; a flash of a pool here and there, vines lazily crawling up a trellised archway but nothing more coherent than that. And she was sure that no one else was either. It had been a long journey.

She took little notice upon entering the hotel too; ambling along at a sluggish pace, guided by her friends, to their allotted room. It was fair sized: en suite facilities; one single bed and two bunks; a built in wardrobe; a small bedside table with a cabinet for storage and a beige coloured lamp resting atop it.

Carly was quick to claim the single bed and ,after changing, lay down on it, "Comfy, I could get used to this," she muttered.

Maria and Laura were far more animated after the long period of rest and engaged excited conversation, "How much freedom do you think we'll get? Think they'll let us out in the town by ourselves? It's not that big really."

With a snort Laura retorted, "Oh yeah, and Mrs Teller will do the Macarena while ripping up room allocation lists!"

The three chuckled, before Maria replied, "Mr. Hatton might make a compromise with her."

"Maybe. I can't wait for the beach, whatever happens. We can play volleyball. And Aston can sunbathe because-"

" 'You know girls, I don't do sport,' " they chorused like a line from a play, rolling into fits of laughter.

"GIRLS!" Came a shrill shout echoing up the corridor, "LIGHTS OUT! NOW!"

"Just going Mrs. Teller," Laura called back in sarcastic, honeyed tones.

Attempting to suppress giggles the two girls changed and got into bed. Muted whispers passed between the girls , excitedly planning what they could do while they were here. Restaurants, maybe the local disco, maybe they could get something exotic done with their hair? The conversation continued until broken by a loud, pig-like snort.

"I think that's goodnight then, Maria."

---​

There you have it, so tell me what you think, constructive criticism is not only welcomed, but encouraged. And thanks for reading!

 

[KingNerd64]

Im struggling to see what this has to do with pokemon ?
but good sstory so far :]

 

[Astinus]

Wait wait. Is this a crossover? Because it just seems to say Digimon, but your sig says that this story also has to do with Pokemon. But it reads way more like a lot of Digimon fanfics I've read.

So far, from what I read (work is pulling me away so I can't do a full review), this is looking to be a good fic. I definitely liked the opening, could feel the danger in the language that you used, the pain in the hero's dialogue.

And this is a Digimon AU fic. I love those.

Just finished reading it, and I like it even more. Definitely enjoy the fact that you're taking the time to develop the characters before rushing them off to the adventure.

 

[Daydream]

Wait wait. Is this a crossover? Because it just seems to say Digimon, but your sig says that this story also has to do with Pokemon. But it reads way more like a lot of Digimon fanfics I've read.

Oh, I see how that's a little misleading. No it's not a crossover I just put that in because I was posting it in a Pokemon forum. I'll change it. o_o

Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying it I was worried that people would be put off by the slow-ish start, good to see they're not! And yeah, it's important to me that the characters are developed in the story because it means not only the reader, but I care about them a little more.

Apologies to both of above posters for my misleading signature link. I wasn't thinking that it would sound crossover-like.

 

[Daydream]

I'm allowed to double post if I'm updating right? I hope so. I didn't really mean to take so long with this. I got caught up with stuff... And then my Sims decided they wanted attention. Here it is anyway, Chapter 2.

Chapter 2​

Laura sat calmly at one of the tables in the poolside café-bar, a drink of cool orange juice resting on the table beside her and an Italian guide-book in her left hand. It was seven o'clock in the morning and the only others awake were the teachers; Mrs Teller chatted animatedly to a rather tired looking Mr Hatton about bus-routes and historic tours; and a pretty white cat stretched out underneath the shade of a nearby tree.

The pool and café-bar were situated to the back of the main building alongside a well-kept green which had some-type of palm centred in it (Laura thought it resembled a large pineapple). The main building was made in the style of an Italian villa with a light creamy-pink colour, and had spacious balconies and verandas extending from a set of double doors at each room. It was a fairly small-sized hotel, their school taking just under half the rooms available, Laura felt that gave it a more personal, welcoming atmosphere.

A far-cry from how Laura's home-life felt right now. A week before she was set to leave, her nineteen year-old brother announced he wanted to join the army. Laura herself hadn't seen a problem with it, it was actually great to see him having an aspiration other than having a high "Gamerscore" on "Xbox Live." But her father had taken exception to the idea, you might get killed! And look at you, you're hardly fit enough to carry a thimble! Never mind a gun! This left the house wracked with arguments, and tensions as tight as a bikini on a fat woman, (as Laura had quoted to friends when explaining the situation). The teen had practically ran out of the door, when it came to leaving time, with only a hastened shout of goodbye.

Laura shook herself, I'm on holiday, I can ignore that now. She moved her eyes back onto the guidebook in her hand, "P-uh-os-so avere un-ah… Coca per fav-ore?"

***​

The sun beat down onto the beach, basking everything in a bright, warm light. Games of volleyball and badminton were being played across the white sands, the occasional whooping and cheering of excited students as someone scored a point. Others dozed on beach towels catching the rays of heat on their bare skin. Mrs. Teller prowled back and forth, preaching the benefits of sun tan lotion to uninterested youths.

Ashley Yeoman and Aston Hart held hands across the table of a beachside café, lazy smiles on their faces as they watched their friends. Ash turned his attention to the boy opposite him. To him, Aston was the most beautiful person in the world. His hair neatly brushed from his forehead, wide framed black sunglasses on his face, dark black tank top and white cargo shorts, every aspect was carefully selected and made him a vision, in Ash's eyes at the very least. And that was why Ash couldn't work out why, out of all the boys out there, Aston was with him. Bare-chested, combat shorts, short and not styled dirty blonde hair; his look was just thrown together.

"Aston… What attracted you to," he motioned to himself, "this?"

"Nothing," Aston replied, "I'm attracted to what's underneath it," he leaned over and prodded the centre of Ash's chest, "This, you've got a big heart. You care about stuff so much. Like the little things. Remember last week? You practically bought me a new wardrobe because you lost the necklace I gave you after our fifth date."

The fifth date may seem a little obscure, but it had been the day the boys had decided to become a true couple. Whilst walking along the beach Ash picked up a sea shell that he thought was pretty, and Aston later made it into a necklace. The fifth date had been the bridge from friends to lovers, hence the importance of the necklace to Ash.

Ash blushed and smiled charmingly, "I don't care about stuff. I care about you. I love you."

"I love you too."

The boys leaned across the table and kissed each other tenderly, in an attempt to convey the feelings they has just voiced in that one single act.

" Il tuo amore è benedetto." A smiling waitress stood ready to take their order. "It means, your love is blessed, in Italian!" She explained a cheerful and heavily accented voice, "Now what would you like?"

***​

The volleyball thudded softly into the sand on the other side of the net.

"And that," Maria exclaimed with a wolfish grin, "is game."

The boys on the other side of the net looked thoroughly disheartened as the girls hands met in a high five. A sunbathing Carly lay quietly snoring on a towel off to the side of the game.

"Come on Snow White, the apple wasn't poisoned after all, you can get up now," Laura said with a prod of the girl's side.

Carly grunted her response and slowly blinked her eyes open, "Time for food, aye?"

Laura rolled her eyes, "Yes time for food, so get a move on!"

With surprising haste, Carly was up and on her feet and leading the two others towards the café, beach towel wrapped around her bikini clad lower-half.

The other two girls shared a glance, Maria voicing their thoughts, "She's either incredibly simple or mind-bogglingly complex."

"I'm vouching more towards the first, myself," came the reply.

Carly stopped and fixed the other two with a stare , "I'm not deaf, you know!"

The other two girls giggled, and Laura responded, "Aww come on, you know we're only teasing." She glanced ahead to the café, pointing to two figures at one of the tables, "We'd better get going before the lovebirds make a café full of tourists regurgitate their spaghetti."

All three shared a laugh this time and continued along the cracked and worn pavement that met the beach. Conversation flowed between of shared memories of Aston and Ashley becoming a couple, arranging it so they could meet, convincing each that they should go on the second date and so on until they reached the café where their conversation was interrupted by a stream of loud, angry Italian.

"What's goin' on?" Carly inquired, directing the question towards Maria.

Maria translated, " 'Filthy disgusting creature, get out of my kitchen! Repulsive reptile,…' And then he goes into a stream of old Italian curses."

"Ah-huh," Laura replied, "And there's a big vermin-lizard problem in Italy, then?"

Maria shrugged and the girls laughed, although everyone else in the café was thoroughly rattled by this point, talking loudly in a multitude of languages.

"Lunch, then?" Laura said with a flourish towards the table.

***​

"Come on… Where's your sense of Adventure?" Laura coerced the surrounding huddle.

"It's a natural cave tour. It's hardly exciting," Carly replied dryly with a yawn.

"Yeah," Maria interjected, "but a cave tour with Mr. Hatton. It's bound to be somewhat exciting. He wouldn't go otherwise!"

Ash sighed, "We'll put it to a vote then. Majority decides. Hands in for going." Four hands met in the centre of the group's little circle, "Caves it is then."

As Mr. Hatton led a group of 13 teens towards the beach he explained that the caves were a unique natural formation set into the cliff face, created by a short underground river meeting the sea. The caves had then, over the years been further eroded by the sea causing an impressive collection of caverns. In time they had attracted interested geologists and eccentrics, causing the nearby town to develop tourist services and eventually develop into a pleasant holiday getaway. Mr. Hatton was a geography teacher.

As the group neared the entrance, even Carly had to admit that they were a sight to behold, a wide cave mouth, with short stalactites hanging above like sharp reptilian teeth, river gushing out into the sea creating a monstrous roar. The teens gawped and cameras began flashing.

"Unfortunately, the caves have seen a drop in the amount of tourism they receive," the teacher explained, "Due to some structural instability." The was a loud nervous chattering at this, "But we've been given the go ahead, as there have been no recent cave-ins. Now if everyone would follow me we'll be using one of the smaller entrances to gain access to the larger caverns. Also rumoured to have been used by seventeenth century smugglers…"

***​

"Aston," Laura hissed with a jab to his side, "C'mere, look at this."

"Ouch, watch it I'm fragile y'know. What is it?" He returned.

"Over here. Big scratches. Not natural, let's have a look." She pointed into the gloom beyond, where Aston could just make out some deep gouges in a small recess in the rock. He turned back and looked at the rest of their group; they were taking photos by an amusing arrangement of two boulders and a stalagmite. He shrugged and went after her.

She was bent down examining the stone with the light of her mobile, "Hmm, something with very big claws has been in here. Does Italy have… Beach bears?"

Aston laughed quietly, "I doubt anywhere has those," he too bent down to examine the rock, "You know, the way there's little ridge around here, as the rock goes inward… Doesn't look quite natural."

He fingered the ridge gently and noticed the rock underneath it wobbled, he added more pressure and the rock moved a little more. Laura took note, and they both began to pull. With a grinding noise the rock pulled out and revealed a small opening.

Taking initiative, Laura stuck her head and shoulders through, "Can't see much, it's pretty dark. I'm gonna squeeze through, see if I can see anything with my phone."

Sighing, Aston crawled in after her, "My clothes are gonna get so dirty."

***​

A nervous Mr Hatton dialled the number for the Italian emergency services. Aston Hart and Laura Dalton hadn't returned. It had been fifteen minutes since leaving the caves. Maybe he was a little too laid back at times. Mrs Teller was going to have his head. He was going to lose his job. He'd probably never work in a school again. He was as teary as the three students anxiously watching the caves entrance for any sign of their friends.

"I should have been watching him! I should have been with him! Never leave your side, I told him! And what did I do? And what happened?" Ash wailed mournfully.

The two girls just sobbed onto each others shoulders. The thought they could have lost their friends was too much. Incomprehensible. Young people didn't die. The tears flowed freely and they audibly cried.

And then. Noise from the eastern most cave entrance, heavy panting. Aston's body appeared backwards (Why was he topless?), Laura's voice could be heard giving directions to him. The three teenagers and Mr Hatton ran towards them. They were covered in dust and dirt, but they were clearly unhurt, just a little bruised.

"Careful," Aston called, the two had fully emerged from the cave, and it became apparent they were carrying something between them, "It's lost a lot of blood."

"It," was a large, yellow reptilian creature with Aston's tank top pressed onto the back of it's head. It also had a strange, PDA like device around it's neck.

---​

There you have it, chapter two. Same as last time, constructive criticism is greatly encouraged. And I hope you enjoyed it!

 

[Astinus]

Yeah, you're fine double-posting like this. And yeah, what you had said in your signature made me think that this was a crossover, combining elements of Pokemon and Digimon.

I can't offer much with constructive criticism, except just to watch your grammar. There were a few small mistakes, like

But , her father had taken exception to the idea

You don't need the comma here, nor the space before it anyhow.

A smiling waitress stood ready too take their order,

Wrong version. You need "to". And this sentence should end with a full stop, not a comma, because it's a separate sentence.

Aston sighed, "My clothes are gonna get so dirty," And crawled in after her.

Full stop after "dirty". Or maybe reword it? Like "Aston sighed as he crawled in after her. "My clothes are gonna get so dirty."

It's mostly small things like that. Just pay a little extra attention to the proof-reading, while keeping the comma rules in mind, and that should help.

I also like how you're still setting up the characters. It makes them more real in the readers' minds before they're whisked off to something "unreal". I think that's actually my favorite part about your writing so far.

 

[Daydream]

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!

---

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.

---​

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.