@Spydorking @Mike Dracopyra @TopGrail @TheRealGhost

---

Hale Koa Hotel, Hawaii

Cute Introvert, Andrew Starling thought as the scene around him narrowed down to this slightly older kid's face. Scared, traumatized, and it's going to take effort to try and form a bond with him, but all in all, kind; he won't take advantage of people unless pushed into doing so.

His smile grew as he held out his hand to shake, before saying, "My name's Andrew; Andrew Starling. What's your name, and wanna go to the buffet together?"

Whether the grey-eyed older teen clasped his hand or not, Andrew went to the buffet to get some rib-eye, a slab of grilled pork, copious amounts of honey chicken, and sizzled rack of lamb, and the vegetables his parents had always reminded him to eat. They passed by a tiny, brown-haired boy with slightly spiky hair who was making an improvised banana split, and Andrew couldn't help but point out, "Hey, there's a chocolate fountain at the very end of the dessert section; would that help?"

All the while, the rain and wind outside were intensifying, and flashes of lightning, accompanied by rumbles of thunder, could be seen through the windows and heard through the walls. Storms weren’t uncommon in Hawaii, and the staff were trained for that; Andrew was confident they’d got this handled, right?

The doors to the ballroom were the type to close on their own. Still, the boy couldn’t shake an uncharacteristic and subtle feeling of claustrophobia creeping in, perhaps because the situation was so unusual to begin with, and just got more off-putting as time went on without any explanation.

Suddenly, the lights went out. While there were some startled exclamations from the others, Andrew could no longer resist the urge to get up and head towards one of the Ballroom’s several double doors. He didn’t consciously justify the reason why he felt compelled to do so, but if nothing else, maybe getting some fresh air would help relieve the tension he was feeling?

Andrew Starling, pop star, felt his heart plummet as he realized the doors were locked. As he went to check another, then another, he concluded that this could only be some sort of terrorist attack. It was the only explanation he could think of that did not rely on the supernatural or paranormal, or aliens. Soon, very soon, the doors would reopen, and they may get gunned down by some sort of rogue who wanted everyone here to die -

Then he regained his determination; he was an example of what can be achieved when one seeks to look past their flaws and think clearly. This Ballroom was not exactly a death trap, after all, and there was some time before whatever mass shooter who set this trap came for them.

Andrew looked for the small boy first, prioritizing the youngest among them, but as he walked towards Nate, lighting the way with his smartphone’s torch function, that was when it crossed the border of what was normal.

He opened his mouth to scream, but by then, he and everyone else were already being sucked into the old computer on one of the tables as it lit up, and the flash of light, a swirl of colors, and complicated strings of pictograms and binary code, were the first, not the last, of the world-shattering things he saw.

The Field of Cars, File Island

Elecmon remembered the final battle, where ClavisAngemon and the other Royal Knights of Yggdrassil had led the Angelic Host to protect the Digital World from the Seven Demon Lords. Thousands of Angemon, including him, had been destroyed, some deleted permanently, others reborn in lesser forms like he was, in a future where the enemy had won, and the last foothold of the old ways was File Island, where ClavisAngemon and one last Angemon had preserved a neutral ground.

In time, he had become the guardian of the Village of Beginnings, telling stories of the old ways to new and reborn Digimon alike. But he had always yearned for the old days, and as time passed, and ClavisAngemon threw himself into arcane studies that did not yield any fruit, neglecting his duties to the last territory that held out against the Demon Lords, and letting Angemon act as his vizier and 'face'... the seed of resentment was planted and grew.

But even then, when his old friend, Dorumon, approached him from where he had been in hiding for the past twenty years, Elecmon was wary about his plan; Yggdrassil was insane, after all.

"Insanity does not have to last forever," his old friend had said as baby Digmon played around the village, enjoying the last of their innocence, "We can bring Yggdrassil back without his... obsessions. Besides, ClavisAngemon cannot keep out the Seven Demon Lords forever, not when he is obsessed himself."

Elecmon knew both were technically true; Yggdrassil can be resurrected, or rather, reformatted, to be a sane guardian of the Digital World. So his next words were, "Will you take care of the Village if I join your plan?"

Dorumon swore by his Master; that's how Elecmon knew that he could be trusted to keep that specific promise.

...And now, he was with Dorumon, in the Field of Cars, where a glowing hole in the sky was dropping a small squad of those people called Humans; children whose physical weakness was more than made up for by the emotional energies they generated, emotional energies that fed the Digital World and gave life to data.

Before they fully fell out, ClavisAngemon had said this before closing the gates to his castle and bidding him go back to the Village:

"This world isn't just data; it is a reflection of the emotional energies of Humanity, their 'cyberspace' mixed with genuine supernatural power. Both this world and the Real World, however, are merely parts of a larger collection of Planes and Worlds; a Multiverse, if you will. Do not desire to cross over or mingle with those who seek such; do not seek to bond with a Human for a selfish cause, or forever be an outlaw marked for death."

The Field of Cars, which was called that because the grassy, sandy landscape was strewn with duplicates of Human Cars; luxury cars, sports cars, taxis, police cars, middle-class cars, electric cars, and muscle cars, almost all of which were stuck vertically out of the ground like a strange forest of four-wheeled trees. It now saw new visitors; visitors dumped in a small square clearing of long, soft grass and sand that had been cleared of loose car parts.

There, he, Dorumon, and the other Digimon that the latter brought waited for them to get their bearings. They would then approach them and seal their bond once Dorumon gave them their Digivices...



@Ryik@Aku the Samurai@TopGrail@Rune_Alchemist@Letter Bee@Duthguy@Crimson Flame@The Jest@Mike Dracopyra

Dustin

Just as Klara began eating while talking about how the food could be poisoned, after she had given him her quiet thanks, the lights cut out, and some people seemed to panic. While somewhat startling, it was just a power outage, so Dustin turned on his phone's flashlight and speared another slice of meat on his fork. As he was chewing, he noticed beyond everyone's phone lights that the old computer in the corner of the room was on. The screen was dark, either being so old that it lacked a backlight or surprisingly new, with an OLED monitor or something. There seemed to be moving text on the screen, which he couldn't make out at the angle and distance he was sitting at across the room, though it certainly caught his attention when the text seemed to slip out from the screen entirely. For once, he gave something his undivided attention without outside factors urging him to do so. Setting down the fork and pocketing his phone and earbuds, he stood up as the characters, now visible and clearly not English words or roman characters of any kind, began to take over the walls of the ballroom, darkening the room behind them. There were 1s and 0s not unlike binary, but the swirling mass of characters, many of which were unidentifiable, were not remotely possible to parse.

Soon enough, gravity itself seemed to shift, the room tilting precariously as the walls of the ballroom had been replaced by a spiral funnel of alien computer code. Though the tables and chairs didn't seem to shift with them, everyone in the room was soon falling into the computer like something out of a bad sci-fi movie.

Then, darkness. Darkness, and... are those stars?

A vivid blue sky bled through his surroundings and soon he was hitting the ground back-first as if only having tripped and fallen. Ouch.

The black void they fell through to get here quickly receded into the blue sky above, shrinking into nothingness like it had never existed in the first place.

Looking around, he found that the others seem to have made it here in one piece, and that they were now in some kind of car graveyard, with numerous cars sticking out of the ground like they were plowed into it with great force. Despite that, none of the cars seemed to be overly damaged, several looking brand new, and a few were even right-side up, looking ready to be driven.

They were in a relatively clear area, the ground made up of sand and loose patches of grass like where an undeveloped beach gives way to land. Off in the distance, a number of suspicious creatures the size of large dogs seemed to be heading their way, and while there was a good chance any given one could be fought off given their size, there were quite a lot of them, and he couldn't bring himself to act when they were so extraordinarily bizarre. Was that a pile of rocks? A small dinosaur? A straight up fairy? What the hell? In horror movies, it's easy to call the characters stupid for their inaction in the face of uncertainty, but when confronted with a fantastical sight, isn't it only natural to need time to process? To ensure their senses aren't simply deceiving them? Is it stupid not to flee from smoke and mirrors? Is it less stupid to instantly accept that they were just isekai'd through a computer ostensibly from the 90s?

Trying not to be a helpless horror movie victim, Dustin calmly got up and began walking over to the nearest vehicle that was left on four wheels. The gap between the vertical vehicles were large enough to drive through, and while he hadn't settled on a definite judgement of the situation, he was decisive enough to avoid complete analysis paralysis, even if he wasn't giving the current circumstances the urgency his actions would otherwise imply it deserved. He didn't take his eyes off of the approaching bizarre creatures either. Essentially, he was doing things by rote in order to hedge his bets while he tried to rationalize things. Acting calmly was less likely to flag him as prey to the creatures in any case, and he needed the extra time to google how to hotwire a car.

When he got to a car, however, he found that not only did it not have any keys, it didn't have a keyhole at all, or any discernible starting mechanism. The steering column was of a type that made it easy to get the plastic cover off and therefore hotwire, but once he did, there weren't any wires beneath it at all. Just the inexplicable symbols from their recent abduction glowing on whatever concrete-like material made up the steering column, in a haphazard arrangement. Frowning, he took a picture of the symbols with his phone, put the piece of plastic covering up the steering column back, pulled a lever to pop the hood, and got out of the car. The hood was unlocked but the first of the creatures were already starting to reach them. Judging by the lack of immediate mauling, he had time, so he pulled up the hood to find... a completely flat interior with more of the same symbols. He begrudgingly took another picture before slamming the hood shut and sighing, leaning back against it to see what the business with the approaching creatures was actually about. Really, just what the hell was going on?

Just after Sashia finished responding to Danny, the lights went out. Danny figured it must be the storm, so he pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight.

He noticed the maybe celebrity walking over to several of the doors, trying each of them, but failing to open them. Odd. Danny thought to himself. "Maybe I can pry them open?" Danny reached for his bag to pull out one of the metal training weapons, when he felt something pulling him. Hard. Next thing he knew he was falling and everything was black. Then there was light again.

Danny felt himself fall to the ground, and in one fell swoop, rolled backwards to land in a crouching position, pulling out a random training weapon. In this case, a metal training shortsword. Only he ended up stumbling at the end due to the shock of landing on the ground and not the floor of the ballroom. No amount of training would have prepared him for that.

Danny picked up his phone and turned off the light, then looked around and saw everyone else from the ballroom was here, and they appeared to be in a forest of cars. Danny did a double take at that, but quickly began looking around more.

"Is anyone hurt?" Danny asked the others. It wouldn't be medically ideal, but if he had to, he could sew shut any cuts anyone got if they were bad enough. But fortunately, it seemed nobody was hurt, or at least not badly like that if they were. While scanning their surroundings, Danny notice a bunch of creatures heading their way. "Are those monsters?" Danny asked out loud. It seemed so unreal.

A small fairy rushed towards them. Danny got in a defensive stance, but loosened up when he noticed the fairy seemed panicked.



Tatl Tael was waiting with the other Digimon where Dorumon told them to, when she saw him approaching. She gasped when she saw who was with him. Elecmon. The same Elecmon she once stole baby Digimon from. "What is he doing here?!" She said to herself, then quickly looked for somewhere to hide. That's when she noticed a portal open up and dump a bunch of humons, er, humans, on the ground. Well, we were going to introduce ourselves to them anyways. Tinkermon thought to herself as she panickedly rushed over hoping she could hide with them.

One of them caught her eye. He was holding a weapon, and was in a defensive position, but she noticed him relax when she got closer, so she took a chance and rushed under his jacket.

"Hey! What are you doing?" The human asked.

"Hiding, now don't talk to me." Tatl Tael brashly demanded.

"Excuse me?" The human questioned.

"Oh. Um. Sorry. Please don't talk to me." She meekly corrected herself. "Cause I'm hiding." She added.

"Fair enough." The human turned to face the other Digimon approaching, but didn't get into a defensive stance this time. He still held the weapon though, which she thought was smart. "We might as well see what they have to say." He spoke to the other humans.

Mike

Mike listened to Ty and his strange friend tell them about the situation though Mike noticed minor discrepancies in how they were explaining things, his computing mind was also working overdrive as he could see things that seemed out of place which made him walk away from Lucemon showing his power supposably.

Mike walked up to a nearby tree and ran his hand along it, noticing things that seemed unusual and out of place, he also know had notice his laptop bag had come with him with his laptop inside once he opened it. He nodded before returning to the group as he said to Ty “I think the young lady is fine physical but your method of transportation probably not done wonders for the mental health”

Mike walked up to Beatrice and kneeled beside her as he offer her one of the many fruit teas satchel he had in his laptop bag; he always had ones on hand to give him a boost of energy over some of the long nights he had stayed up to get through work. He would offer one to each member of this group including Ty, his laptop bag definitely felt bigger then it looked which was why Mike and his dad had picked it out when Mike first began his journey as a software engineer and creator.

A Black furred digimon watched Mike’s interaction with the group, with a small smirk on his face as he mutter to himself “He’s … interesting to say the least, maybe this cult isn’t as bad as I first thought, alright Lucemon, if this is my destined partner, then its a good fit”
—-----------------------------------------------

Sashia

Sashia thanked Danny and she did notice his bag finding it rather cute on him, though as she gather and ate a little bit of food before everything went dark and she saw people pulling out their phones to give a bit of light before she also notice a golden glow in the distance before suddenly the area around her changed.

Much like Mike, the moment the strange fairy girl came charging at the group and went towards Danny, Sashia immediately rolled into combat mode though when Danny relaxed so did she, She then began walking around the area to get an idea of the area before noticing something and quickly moving to defend Danny and the fairy as a golden fox charged after Tinkermon, knowing of her past as she remember seeing her and that strange boy trying to kidnap her sister, though the mothers quickly frightened the two away. Sashia and the fox seemed to stare each other down though the fox was staring down at Sashia as she was a few inches taller then Sashia. “Well, aren't you a cute one?” The fox said to Sashia in a soft feminine tone. “Well, it's not often I get to go toe to toe with a buxom female like you” Sashia said with a flirty tone. The two stare at each other for a few more minutes before they chuckle and step back, their posture more relaxed now.

“I guess Douromon wasn’t kidding when he told us about you” The fox said. “I am Renamon, Spirit guardian in training” She said with a bow. “I am Sashia Fertar, artist” Sashia said with a curtsy. “Well, I hope you and I are going to become even closer Mrs Fertar” Renamon said with a smile as she stood her full height. “Well, I see why the lad like tall ladies nowadays” Sashia said eyeing up Renamon, though she noticed something that looked slightly out of place on the digimon but pushed it aside for now.

Klara Langston
@Ryik

---

Indulging in her gift of food, Klara was content enough to simply enjoy the atmosphere. Lightning flashing outside. Peals of thunder rumbling overhead causing the floors and walls to rumble. It was honestly, quite relaxing. She didn't care much for socialization but this...well, this wasn't terrible and Dustin hadn't been super annoying either. The thought, though, was soon cut short as a thundering rumble shook the building with its angry vigor, the lights within the ballroom becoming the first casualty of whoever setup this experience.

Klara, remained unfazed. She simply blinked, the light from her laptop doing more than enough to illuminate the immediate area. Still, she couldn't waste its battery, and she certainly didn't want to attract attention to herself. More than she already had, at least. While others were panicking or shouting, she'd close the heavy computer with a solid thunk as its frame clicked shut and slid it back into its carrying bag as her gaze was soon drawn to another source of light.

An old computer, lightning up with text on its screen.

That certainly wasn't there before.

Well, might as well investigate, right?

Klara got up, her steps growing a bit faster as bits of binary code and images began swirling out from it, engulfing the balroom.

Just...what was this? It made her heart race, whatever it was! And she definitely wanted to know what it was. Gravity shifted, pulling her towards the computer as vivid, clear blue overtook the surroundings. A short lived wonder before her mind started parsing what was going on, and that perhaps, she was in a mild bit of danger-

"Geh, ow." Klara proceeded to hit the ground, landing with enough momentum to send her rolling a bit across the ground. "Pff. Huff...ew, grass...Im...fine, just ew, I am a carnivore I don't eat grass..." She'd slowly sit up, shaking her head and taking a look at her surroundings and making sure her all important hood was still up. And well, what she saw...was utterly bizzare. "Jeez...what the hell is all of this...? Is this a if we die in the video game we die in real life kinda thing?"

She'd glance about the field of cars. It was odd, to be sure. It was like someone had just taken a massive shotgun, loaded it with vehicles and started blasting at the ground. The cars themselves were a bit odd, too. She'd watch Dustin for a few moments, her gaze going across a few others here before settling on the creatures in the distance.

What Dustin hadn't seen as he was inspecting the vehicle in question, was a dark shadow zipping across the ground and scuttling behind it. It looked like...some sort of...winged bean looking creature? She couldn't really make anything of it at all, except it could definitely be called cute. Kind of like a plump little plushie as it would quietly sneak around the car, leap on top of it so it could be level with Dustins head...before it would grab the back of his head and give it a firm little tug before cackling and zipping off.

Tried too.

"Bweh-"

The creature, ended up nearly face planting into Klara.

"Hey! Whats the big idea, hoodie! Outta the way!"

"Cute." Klara didn't move, and instead merely grabbed the strange purple and white creature and held it out at arms length. The creature didn't seem entirely thrilled.

"I'm not cute I'm terrifying! A menace to society!"

"...menacingly cute to society. What are you, plumball?"

Melissa

A pair of young boys stood before her. No, a young boy and something which was wearing the appearance of one, the shining wings, the impossibly blue eyes, what else could it be but an angel?

And yet, the angel said they weren't in hell, that she wasn't dead despite what had occurred, he might have been lying, this might all be a trick so he could crush them later, and yet she didn't believe that was the case.

Maybe this wasn't all just a lie and she could truly find freedom in this strange land. Which is when the angel stated his name, Lucemon, and really could it be anything else? A perfect angel who descended to become the ruler of hell, all the protestations, all the seeming truths, could she believe any of it?

A sly, almost foxlike grin quirked at her lips, her eyes narrowed as her thoughts began to turn and flow like they hadn't in years - maybe the fresh air was useful for something no matter how virtual it may be - a child and a fallen angel attempting to guide them all to hang like puppets upon unseen strings, a world within the computer, a digital space occupied by digital monsters.

Was their a link? She would need more evidence, and yet it seemed fundamentally obvious, a world composed of digitised information, would it not be obvious that the resulting creation would be patterned off of its sources? The world around her seemed clearly influenced by the "real world" yet with clear faults and mutations, leaves too green to be natural, light flowing and falling in ways it would be impossible under regular physics, it was clearly rooted in information from reality, but that truth had blurred and been lost in the translation.

Would the same thing be true for this Lucemon? Was this all a trick he was playing, or was the information which composed his form as different from the root of his name as the pseudo grass around them was to the genuine article? He was clearly arrogant, obviously inhuman, yet for all his claims of being the rightful owner of this world, he was willing to hand over his titles should she and those around her aid him. He was overflowing with pride, and yet he willingly slighted that self importance by seeking aid even from those as worthless as her. This was either some grand deception, or maybe she was wrong and this was a genuine opportunity, she simply did not know.

For a moment she felt sick, like her head was spinning, she wanted her room, the safety and security it represented, but as her hand touched the furry surface of the bag she was still gripping tightly to her chest, a silent exhale forced that fear out of her system. She had chosen to pursue freedom, to escape the pain and sorrow of her mistakes - if this was a secret trap, if at the end of this Lucemon simply killed her, had she really lost anything? No, so she would push on, she would find this truth and maybe, just maybe become someone her sister might have been proud of.

If Lucemon was the devil, whether this Ty was a willing ally or an unknowing tool, it would be better to be under his thumb than to leave all these children around her to suffer alone. Either way, she needed more information, more context, and she wouldn't get that unless she gave in.

Her weight dropped from under her, her legs twisting to bring her to a kneel, her voice was hoarse, tired and unused, but still brimming with what could only be called kindness, "I'll do whatever you demand, I'll serve you in whatever capacity you desire Sir Lucemon, even if I'm worthless, even if I'm nothing, if you want my aid, my support, then I'll give you it all. I am Melissa Everton, and I'll be in your care from now on."

And really, at the root of it all, feeling needed, having someone claim there was some grand destiny she could serve in - maybe in this she could make up for her unforgivable failures and reach out to that shining star one more time.

Well... This escalated quickly. First came the rather intense storm that was now officially on their heads; it was less a thunderstorm and more the beginnings of a Hurricane. Then came the blackout, and in a ballroom filled with a lively bunch like this, he half-expected the lights to come back on and somebody ending up murdered.

But instead, the next thing was something beyond common logic to accurately make sense of. The PC turned on in the midst of this Blackout...Not the Laptop one of them seem to have on hand before closing, but the old retro PC sitting on the opposite side of the room from the door. He couldn't make out what was being displayed on it from where he was sitting, but that was hardly what seemed to matter as the very gravity of the room began to shift. Things then turned from ominous to insane within seconds as everyone began getting sucked in.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" Was all he could yell out as he got sucked in.

---

His landing was not a soft one, landing face first onto the ground with a thump. It wasn't the first time he had a bad fall, but it was certainly the strangest; it felt longer to the impact than it seemed to be what with his bones still intact and no wounds of note. Slowly getting up from where he landed, he took a look around only to find himself outside in what could only be described as some freaky artisan's junkyard. Cars all over the place as far as he could see, all of them in outright vertical positions seemingly clipping into the ground. He could hear the sound of people around him; probably the other guys who were thrown in with him...

Honestly, he had no idea how to feel about all this. Given that came to Hawaii out of a suspected connection to that brat's disappearance, he knew going in that a mass kidnapping was possible. But how could anyone predict being thrown into something like this in the way that they did? Was all that stuff at the ballroom some hallucination and they were transported to this place while they were unconscious? Where would this even be located if so?



As Vergil started to investigate the cars to get some kind of idea as to what's going on, a yellowish-white horn stuck out from the top of one of them. Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched. Electric energy was emitted from the horn of this little humanoid creature, as its hair pointed up in excitement and curiosity...

Unlike the others who were with Dorumon, Pulsemon snuck out of the group and hid himself among the field of cars early. Contrary to the little dragon's orders, he couldn't contain his curiosity. He had to see for himself these "humons" that were the supposed key to reaching his dreams. The one he found seemed to look particularly tough...and a bit rough at that. Something about him gave him the vibes of a mon that's been through plenty of fights before...Might make a good sparring partner for him. Not even thinking about the concept of a first impression, Pulsemon immediately jumped towards Vergil just as he - like Dustin - was opening the hood of a car that was the close enough to a normal angle to see if it could function.

On instinct, sensing someone was about to jump him, Vergil jumped out of the way and spotted Pulsemon, his eyes widened as he stared at the little monster. It went into a playful boxing stance as it looked at him with a smile, electricity discharging from the back of his hair from the excitement.

"Hey there, You look pretty strong; you up for a spar? The name's Pulsemo-" He didn't even finish his sentence before Vergil shoulder-checked the horned Digimon into the open car hood and without a missing a beat, proceeding to close it on Pulsemon's head, the horn puncturing the metal cover like butter and making a hole in it. Without a word or any sound, Vergil began opening it up and closing it back down as fast as he could, constantly slamming the car hood on Pulsemon's face. The sound of the slams could probably be heard by the other people and mons all over the field of cars, along with Pulsemon's pained grunts and attempts to speak. By the third time, the little guy's eyes were swirling in a daze.

As he was doing this, Vergil's mind was working in overdrive with questions that could all be simplified to "What the fuck is even happening right now!?" Getting theatrically kidnapped and transported to another place was one thing, but now there's a life-sized living yellow mascot toy - discharging electricity like some malfunctioning robot - getting the jump on him and treating it like some game. It's also evidently very durable considering its face was still intact and clearly still breathing in spite of the fact a human he'd do this to would probably be dead by now.

He pulled up the hood one last time and pushed it back down with all his strength, only for the hood to actually go down much easier than he expected, slamming his thumbs between the hood and the car, with him wincing at that as he stepped away, noticing the little monster seemed to have disappeared as he attempted to shake off the pain. ...No, not disappeared; it seemed to have found an opportunity during that last car hood slam, and moved away faster than Vergil could see.

"Owww... What's your problem!? Do all you Hu-mons fight dirty where you're from!?" Pulsemon asked in pain-induced anger, holding the center of his face where the nose should be with both hands, an area now a faded red from the car door smashing into it. The electricity discharging more intensely from his hair.

"Says the walking electro-plush trying to jump me when my guard was down. 'The hell even are you, anyways?"

"What the heck's a plush? ...Anyways, I already told you, I'm Pulsemon!" The little creature retorted. Vergil then only noticed a trail of light before being aware that the creature that was about a couple of feet away from him was now behind him again, pulling up his arm and looking at it.

"What the-"

"And you seem to be a little on the scrawny side. I thought all strong humons are supposed to have bulging muscles that make them look like champions. ...Oh! Maybe you're a rookie too?" Pulsemon asked, pressing at Vergil's arm to feel the muscle density before coming to that conclusion with a smile, one that - combined with his question - irritated Vergil.

"Get off me!" He yelled out, pulling his arm downward along with the Digimon holding onto it. Pulsemon let go, then front-flipped back to his feet, turning towards Vergil with a cocky smile and his hands to his waist.

"Your attitude needs work, but there's a certain spark in you. ...Alright, I've decided: effective immediately, I'm making you my rival!" He said, pointing at him with his hair point upwards as green electricity danced around them.

"...What the hell are you even talking about? Are you the one behind all this!?" Vergil asked. Needless to say, this was getting to be way out of his league. It was difficult to keep up with the emotional whiplash that seemed to be going on with this...thing. Honestly, the question was almost rhetorical; he doubt something like this would be able to pull off the stunt that led him here, let alone kidnapping the brat. But seeing as it's the only unnatural thing he's seen so far in this landscape besides the other people, he had to be sure. Of course, it didn't take long for an answer to come without Pulsemon needing to say a thing, as other creatures of different shapes and sizes started heading for the rest of the humans to mingle about.

"Behind what? You mean bringing you Hu-mons here? Nah, that's Dorumon's idea. According to him, you guys are supposed to help make my dream come true. I didn't really get it just looking at them, but with you, I at least have a guess. I'll train you up, so that you can push me to my limits, and then I'll be able to Digivolve for su-HEY, WHERE YOU GOING!?" Pulsemon answered. With his arms crossed and his eyes closed he made his statement; he didn't notice until he opened them up again that Vergil was walking away from him.

The moment Vergil heard Pulsemon say the name of the one responsible for this, that was all he needed to hear. He had no interest in what else Pulsemon had to say about... whatever he was going on about. He walked towards the others in hopes of finding this "Dorumon" thing and grilling it about the runt. Where he was? What these bizarre creatures were? He couldn't give a damn about that right now.

Getting to the bottom of the runt's disappearance is the whole reason he's in this freakshow, and come hell or high water, he was going to do it.

Danny noticed the fox creature seemed to be locked in on the fairy, and felt her tense up, pulling his jacket tighter around her. He moved slightly to move her to the far side of his body away from the fox, and kept a close grip on his training shortsword, but eased up when the fox got distracted by Sashia and started being friendly. That's when he overheard the commotion over by the cars.

Tatl Tael saw the Renamon, and was worried a fight was about to break out, when the human moved the part of his body she was hiding on further from the Renamon. Tatl Tael appreciated this. Despite her being rude at first, the human seemed invested in keeping her hidden despite just meeting. They didn't even know each others' names yet.

Danny eyed the angry teen carefully, noticing him beat up this Pulsemon. He's going to be trouble. Danny thought to himself. As the violent teen made his way to the approaching monsters, Danny wondered if he should step in and say something, but remembered the fairy in his jacket. She could be hurt if things escalated, but he couldn't let the teen hurt these creatures either.

Tatl Tael noticed the human looking worried, making glances at her and the other Digimon. She decided to speak up, and tugged the jacket. The human looked straight towards her. "Don't worry about him hurting us Digimon." She whispered.

"Digimon?" He asked, confused.

"Digital monsters. Long story short, because Dorumon will explain it anyways, we exist in the digital world, which is comprised of data from your world. Based off of what I saw of that boy, the only one who will get hurt is him if he keeps this up."

"Then shouldn't I do something about that? If he'll get hurt that is?" The human asked, worriedly.

"They won't need to actually hurt him. They can probably restrain him if need be." Tatl Tael answered. "By the way, I'm Tinkermon, but everyone calls me Tatl Tael, T-a-t-l space T-a-e-l." She added, deciding she could trust him enough to introduce herself to him.

"Well hello there Tatl. Is it okay if I just call you Tatl? Anyways, I'm Daniel Pender, but I prefer to go by Danny." Danny responded.

"You can just call me Tatl. I don't mind. And hello Danny." Tatl decided she was going to pick this human to be her partner. But decided to let Dorumon explain all that first to the humans. For now, she was just going to watch the show.

Field of Cars, File Island, Digital World

Elecmon frowned at that and looked at his friend, hoping that he, Dorumon, had a plan just for this. But his friend seemed to be worried about something that had nothing to do with what was going on just then. And judging by how Dorumon had a small burlap bag to hold the Digivices with - It was cheaper than conjuring them from thin air - Elecmon can guess just what he was worried about.

There was one more Human and a potential Digimon partner than there was a Digivice; more hints of Lucemon and his machinations. The orange Digimon, which looked like a giant mouse combined with a possum, but whose tail was a fan of feathers, frowned, his tiny fangs showing as he looked at the group of future partners.

Dorumon was too worried to pay attention; an ominous development.

So Elecmon decided to force the situation and nudge Dorumon to move closer to the group of Humans; after some vague murmuring, Dorumon walked forward once again, and Elecmon accompanied him on all fours, catching sight of his redheaded future partner as he did so. But before he could talk to him, Dorumon was already walking towards Pulsemon and Vergil, his eyes glinting as he glared at the latter.

At that time, Elecmon thought it was due to outrage at that cranky brown-haired teen having tried to abuse Pulsemon (and failing) before approaching Dorumon like he had a chip on his shoulder (which he did). Time would tell if he would ever infer the real motivations behind Dorumon's expression as the dinosaur-like, dragon-cub-esque Digimon met the brown-haired teen with an attitude halfway, then cleared his throat.

The sun shone on his fur, which was purple except for his underbelly, paws, tail tip, and snout, which were pure white. From that snout came forth human words in a language that should not have been physically possible for such a creature to speak.

"If you want answers, you can get them from me, Mr. Falcon," Dorumon's tone carried a roughness to it that was slightly testier than usual. "Long story short, this is the Digital World, which in turn is made of Humanity's data combined with some form of extra-dimensional energy; think 'The Force' from your movies. We are Digimon, sapient beings of Data and extra-dimensional energy given life, and with the help of... gadgets called Digivices, Digimon can be fed emotional energy and grow in power."

He then tossed one of the devices in question, a small, oval, rectangular object that looked like a child's toy with a screen at its center, then continued, "I had enough for all of you, but some were stolen, along with most of the partners they were... destined for. You see, this Digital World is under the tyranny of the... Demon King Lucemon and the six other Demon Lords, whose goals are to snuff out this last bastion of freedom, File Island.

"Lucemon, in pursuit of these plans, has taken some of the Digivices that I... acquired and used them to persuade, no, manipulate, several of your fellow Humans into taking his side and conquering the Digital World and putting it under their boot heels."

Dorumon then glanced at Vergil, his furry tail waving around as he threw in a barb, "Let's just say that Lucemon likes playing on people when they feel abused, neglected, shunned or hated, and now they're a villain who may probably go to fatal lengths for revenge..."

@Ryik@Aku the Samurai@TopGrail@Rune_Alchemist@Letter Bee@Duthguy@Crimson Flame@The Jest@Mike Dracopyra

"For some reason, I don't buy this, all of it seems too... Fantastical to believe"

The woman thought, unspeaking, unmoving, behind everyone looking around the place as if scanning the area around her. The child was... childish but there was an undeniable 'aura' around that supposed angel. Nevermind those 12 wings and the fact that he was floating. As much as she felt like this whole thing was a psyop, it felt too real. Still, She didn't want to commit fully to this 'child's play' as she would describe it. But didn't want to completely discredit him either.

"I'll play along for now, This feels a little too much of an acid trip for me"

She said, in a semi-joking voice, But then she noticed a little creature around the corner of her eye and then vanishing when she turned to look at it. A few moments later the same creature appeared and disappeared within a few seconds. It felt like someone or something is toying with her.

"I see you little creature, come out now and stop goofing around."

Just after Jen said this, a small reddish pink 'animal' with some blue peeked out from a tree.

"Oh! This one was the fastest to react to me! I like this Humon, and I'm Elizamon but you can call me Lizzie!"

Any doubts she had about this place were subsequently shattered when this 'animal' appeared, it looked similar to some reptiles from her world but this one spoke! The animals from her world couldn't do that!

"What on earth is this thing? Why is it calling me a Humon? Is this one of those... Digimons you told us about? And on that note, what do you mean by the others will be summoned here?"

"Hmph, questions questions questions, you humons never run out of questions" The creature said while jumping from side to side, looking very impatient.

Dustin

Dustin mostly absorbed the gist of things through osmosis as the... digimon began giving their... partners the rundown, but the purple one certainly helped clarify... well, closer to nothing than he would have liked, but- ah...!?

Something had pulled his hair, and given its briefness and lack of follow-through, he didn't judge it to be a genuine threat. It was giving him elementary school tomfoolery vibes, and he had to stop and muster the patience to deal with this in this situation in a sensible manner. When he actually turned around to look at the culprit, he found that Klara had already caught the creature... and was now making it uncomfortable with her affections, it seemed. He sent the scaly purple creature a disappointed glare like a father might after their child professes their undying love and fiscally irresponsible financial support for the Insane Clown Posse. In any case, he said nothing as he turned back to refocus on the other, fuzzier purple creature and began to fit the sparse details into place to match what he was seeing in front of his eyes.

If this is a completely digital world, then they've literally entered the matrix, though unless the... well, cutscene they just witnessed was fabricated, their entry and the fuzzy purple digimon's characterization of this place as pseudo-extradimensional implies that they are here bodily, not just mentally or even 'spiritually,' if astral projection is even a thing. Who can say when digital magic is apparently real? The symbols that are on the car and were involved in their arrival here had to be some type of magical programming language, in the sense of sufficiently advanced technology being magical, and given its usage thus far, the implication is that understanding of it would give one the power to reshape reality itself.

How terrifying. Reality was uncertain enough without literal cheat codes. He couldn't even be sure that all of this is real. The human mind is woefully fallible and is constantly lying to itself. If entering the digital world 'digitizes' them, then aren't all of them subject to that digital code? Aspirations, memories, personality, everything that makes a person who they are could be rewritten just by changing a few variables.

Dustin's brow furrowed as he thought of the ramifications and their likelihood. If the ambiguously Lucifer-themed digimon, judging by the name, was the ruler of this world, then he would likely have an understanding of the digital world's code near the peak of what was possible, and if his goal is to manipulate the humans to his side, then he should have the means to do so by force, if it is possible. The fact that they all remain here and relatively cooperative with the fuzzy purple one implies that, at minimum, there's some sort of distance limitation. They had to know something of digital programming given their only enemy is someone who apparently knows enough to bring nearly a dozen humans into the digital world. Either that or the digital world's programming is disappointingly useless.

In any case, he'd have to study it when he could. As with any kind of new, ad-hoc programming pseudo-language with no god damn documentation, the first step was going to have to be trial and error experimentation, and the only thing he possibly could do it with was the car.

That'd have to wait though, because no matter how his thoughts wander, it's hard to miss the feeling of being watched when the culprit is hiding in plain sight. And by plain sight, of course, he means the googly-eyed sphere with a giant rectangle above its head hiding behind the fuzzy purple thing.

He cocks a brow at it and the purple... porcine-wolf-looking creature. The latter catches his look and decides it's high time to shoo the sentient exclamation point towards him, and with a casual push the floating digimon seems to... stumble? In mid-air? While it's floating? And then crash land just in front of him, still leaning against the hood of the car, arms still crossed, not having moved anything other than his head to watch the trainwreck unfold.

Nonetheless, the little thing seems to make a valiant effort of picking itself up and shaking itself off. It opens its mouth and then absolutely fumbles a couple of greetings - "I am you Cardmon! Er... Partner, your- uh, How are is- I mean, am, is- are. You- uh..." until Dustin can't bear to see this go on any longer.

"So, you would be my assigned partner, then?

It nods vigorously, its spinning rectangular appendage (?) flopping about as it does so in a way that makes its spherical body wobble even after it stops nodding before returning to a neutral floating position.

"Hewwo! I'm Cardmon!" It introduced, earlier nerves seemingly gone completely.

At that, Dustin inhaled deeply, blinked a few times as if he couldn't believe his eyes, much less that this was going to be his life, before slowly enunciating the word, "H e l l o."

Cardmon tilted its head, then tilted slightly in the other direction, back and forth, floating in place, less and less, not unlike a living pendulum, as it apparently failed to counteract the momentum of returning its own head to a neutral position.

"Repeat after me. Hello."

"...Helwo?

"H e l l o."

"...Hewwwlloh? Cardmon said, clearly struggling somehow but still looking happy. He was being trained by a human already, after all.

Dustin let out a long-suffering sigh. "We'll work on it I guess." He regarded Cardmon for a moment, eyeing its unusual bodily form. The card wasn't spinning enough to keep it afloat like a helicopter, but it certainly seemed capable of flight anyway.

"So, you're Cardmon." He turned his eyes up towards the giant floating card above Cardmon. "...And that would be your card, I take it?"

"Uh-huh! Oh, and I made you a pwesent!"

Dustin twitched at the pronunciation but otherwise said nothing as Cardmon flew away, up and over the vertical vehicles until it reached one at the far edge of the clearing. Using its own card like a broom, it sweeped something off the top of the vehicle and onto its spherical head, then miraculously managed to float back without tripping on literally nothing and falling face-first onto the ground.

"Here you go! I made it mysewlf!"

Dustin had to wonder if Cardmon was putting his impromptu lesson to good use already or if it was just a coincidence. In any case, Cardmon's home-made present seemed to be... a pack of cards. Looking between Cardmon's football-length card and the standard-sized booster pack in his hands, he had to wonder how Cardmon actually made this, especially considering Cardmon didn't have hands. Or arms. Just a cardboard spatula, kinda.

Seeing him dally, Cardmon rushed him; "Go! Open it! Maybe there's somethin' good inside!"

Dustin had to wonder why Cardmon seemed to be more excited for the pack opening than he was when Cardmon was the one who made the card pack to begin with. In any case, it shouldn't hurt to open it.


Renamon, Hawkmon, Betamon, Toy Agumon, Crabmon, and Kunemon. Six cards per pack, it seems.

While the illustrations lean somewhat on the interpretive side, they at least seem well-made. Still, the cards themselves only have a name, a rank (rookie for all of them) and a pair of numbers, presumably representing offense and either health or defense. It was useful to get a sample of some of the digimon he had no other way of seeing, but in terms of game balance, he can't imagine why anyone would bother with the cards with lower stats. Perhaps the colors have something to do with it? He'd have to figure out how these cards were actually used.

"So, is this your power?" the purple fuzzy one had mentioned that they grow in power with emotional energy, implying they would be doing the fighting directly, and that could only mean these digimon - digital monsters, if he had to guess, were made to fight.

"Yup! I can make you more packs whenever! It makes me tired though, so not too many, okay?"

"Of course. And, as for these cards, what do they..." There's no subtle way to ask this, is there? "What do they do?"

Cardmon just laughed. "They're cards, silwy! You play with them! I can show you wlater, yeah?"

Thinking Cardmon's words to be non-literal, he asked for further clarification. "Could you describe the way you play with them, Cardmon?"

Cardmon tilted its head again. "I thought humons had games too?" This time Cardmon began wobbling around his center axis like a bobblehead while trying to reset to a neutral position. Maybe he was trying something new.

Still not a straight answer. "Do they have... combat applications?" Please say yes.

"Fun games raise... what was it cawlled? Mowale?"

Oh. "...Morale."

"That's it!"

Mike

Mike seemed to scoff at Lucemon's display, bringing up something that passed though his mind. “Lucemon hmm, after Lucifer the fallen angel of christian religions? So does that make you an angel, a demon or a liar?” Mike said before walking away before he heard Lucemon answer.

He sat down on a nearby stump and took his laptop out of his bag, seeing if it switched on. It switch on and went though the normal boot up process, though Mike noticed there was no wi-fi signal at all here, though he noticed a few new apps had appeared on his laptop.

Mike looked though the new apps that had appeared, a dex like system and an app he couldn’t quite describe but it kinda reminded him of a world editing tool. He open the dex noticing that one section was already filled out, and almost jumped when a voice spoke to him. “Interesting, my data is already filled out”. Mike faced the voice and saw a dark reptile creature with a horn wearing what looked like a black wolf fur draped over him.

“And who would you be?” Mike asked him. “Well, my species is BlackGabumon but you can call me Wolfy” The reptile creature told him. “Well, in that case, my name is Michael Fertar but everyone calls me Mike, its a pleasure to meet you Wolfy” Mike said as he offered his hand to Wolfy to shake, he looked confused for a moment before he took Mike hand and shook it as a bright light emerged from his hand. “So, you are my partner in this” Wolfy told Mike revealing the dark blue digivice he had in his paw he had shaken Mike hand with before handing it to Mike.

-------------------
Sashia

Sashia caught the digivice thrown at her which glowed before the digivice had a golden pink colour to it, with Sashia also noticing how light and compact it seem to be, “Interesting” Renamon said, as she seemed to be waiting intently for something.

The digivice seemed to react to Renamon before Renamon chuckled and said “Well, look at that, I guess you are my partner cutie” Sashia blushed at that before teasing her back as she said “Well, I did say I wanted a buxom beauty like yourself all to myself” Renamon blushed at that before the two girls began chuckling together, the two of them already building a strong relationship.

Sashia smiled brightly at Renamon before listening to Dorumon's explanation about things, and noticed Renamon seemed to be in deep thought now before Sashia relised she hadn't asked Renamon something. “By the way Renamon, why were you chasing the fairy girl earlier?” Sashia asked as she attached a fox charm to her digivice to make it more hers, though the charm was actually just a keychain picture of her V-tuber model.

Danny listened closely to who he assumed was the Dorumon that Tatl spoke of. He wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but when he heard the Digimon were being referred to as partners, he looked down at Tatl. "Are you going to be my partner?" Danny asked her.

"Definitely." Tatl responded.

Danny overheard the Cardmon talking to a teen boy whose name he didn't know, and giving him a present. "Hey, where's my present?" Danny joked to Tatl.

"What? Am I not good enough?" Tatl put on her best sad face to tease Danny.

"Oh, um." Danny was panicking. "You're good. Better than good in fact. I mean you're perfect. Or not perfect, not that there is anything wrong with you, but I don't really know you that well so I can't say you are perfect. I'm going to stop talking now."

Tatl let out a giggle. "Calm down Danny. I was just teasing you."

"Oh, right. Of course." Danny looked back at Tatl, when he saw a scar on her stomach. "What happened?" Danny gestured to her stomach.

"I, um." Tatl had her head held down. "I would rather not talk about it." She gripped Danny's jacket tighter.

Danny lightly pressed his arms around Tatl in a hug, hoping the size difference did not make it seem more intimate than he wanted. "That's okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Danny reassured her.

"Thank you." Tatl awkwardly hugged Danny's arms, since she knew from experience that size differences made hugs weird, and wanted to let Danny know she understood the intent.

Joel had only just started to feel a little calmer.

Andrew’s energy had been a lot, but not in a bad way. Joel wasn’t sure if he liked him yet, but he definitely noticed him, and that was a new kind of scary. He’d considered following him to the buffet. He didn’t, though. Not yet. Instead, he’d drifted toward the window, watching the rain fall.

Then the lights went out. It got quiet. He clutched his sketchbook tighter. He didn’t scream. He didn’t even gasp when the doors wouldn’t open. He watched Andrew move across the room, flashlight cutting through the dark. Joel couldn’t bring himself to move toward anyone. If he was going to panic, he wanted to do it quietly.

And then the computer on the table began to glow. Joel’s first thought was Why is that plugged in? His second was It’s not. His third thought never formed, because light exploded. And then he blacked out.

—-

Joel stirred, eyes still shut. He could tell there was grass beneath him, and sand too. He opened his eyes slowly. The sky above him wasn’t blue. It wasn’t any color, really. There were cars too. Hundreds of them, sticking straight up from the ground like they had grown that way.

Joel sat up, disoriented. His sketchbook had landed nearby. He nervously reached for it.

Where am I? What happened to the ballroom? To Andrew? To-

Then, he heard a voice. “You’re awake.”

Joel turned, startled. A small creature was standing just a few feet away. It had Cream colored fur, floppy ears, big round eyes. It vaguely looked like a puppy.

“Um …Hi?” Joel whispered. His voice cracked slightly.

The creature tilted her head. “You’re Joel, right?”

He blinked. “How do you—?”

“I’ve been waiting for you.” Her tone reminded him of the counselor at the grief therapy session he went to.

Joel gripped his sketchbook tighter. “I’m sorry… I don’t understand what’s happening. Is this… is this a dream?”

Salamon shook her head. “It’s real. You were brought here for a reason.”

“That sounds like something people say before everything goes wrong,” he said before he could stop himself.

Salamon’s expression softened. “You’re scared.”

He nodded.

“That’s okay,” she said. “You don’t have to be brave yet. You just have to stand up.”

Joel looked at her, this strange, small being who spoke like she knew him. And somehow… he didn’t feel afraid of her.

He swallowed hard and stood slowly. The sketchbook stayed in his hand. “You… know my name,” he said again, quieter this time.

“Yes,” Salamon said. “And I think… you’re going to be important.”

Joel chuckled nervously. “I think you might be the first person to say that and mean it.”

“I do mean it,” she said. “Come on. The others are nearby. We’ll face this together.”

Joel didn’t say thank you. He just nodded, and walked with her into the unknown.

Klara Langston

---

It seemed like the others were getting friendly with their own little...creatures, too. None of course as cute as the one she had in her hands right now, who was still struggling slightly but didn't seem entirely that intent on actually escaping. One boy and some creature even got into a fight? What a dumbass...fighting immediately was a good way of getting killed. One always had to observe a situation first and as far as she could tell, no one here wanted to harm them. At least immediately. There wouldn't be any reason to go through all this trouble if so.

Her gaze eventually would be drawn to another purple colored creature, though that was lighter than the one that had worked its way free and was now sitting on her head.

"Oi, you, quit spacing out."

"I wasn't. I heard you yapping."

"Well, then, be grateful the great and future demon lord Tsukaimon has chosen you to be their minion and partner in crime!"

"Sure thing, Tsuki."

"TSU-KAI-MON." The little creature would bat its arms against her forehead in protest. More than that though, she was focused on what the other one was saying. Digital world? Made of humanities data and extra dimensional energy? Something about those worlds felt familiar, but it was probably nothing. The creature went on to explain something about how this world was under some tyrannical rule and that they were expected to be the ones to save it? Hilarious. So hilarious she forgot to laugh.

Well, she could extrapolate a few things from what this creature had said. These creatures were called Digimon, and those devices, Digivices, somehow let Digimon grow stronger in power via some magic mumbo jumbo. They, were also expected to somehow stop some tyrannical digimon.

Alas, goodbye vacation.

"...I don't see how this is our problem." Klara responded to Dorumon. "Haaa...if you're asking me to be a hero you must be really scraping the bottom of the barrel. I was here to get way from responsibilities, people, and to relax. I had enough of that at home. Also," Klara narrowed here eyes slightly, though her hood obscured her visage aside from her mouth. "Who are you, and why should we trust you?"

"Good eye, minion! We shouldn't trust them-bwef" Klara reached up and put a hand over the creatures mouth.

"I don't trust you either, Tsuki."

"Mmmmf-mmmmaaa-mmmoon!"

Kai was in heaven. Or, as close to it as he would ever get. It was weird, considering he was 87.214% sure he’d never make it up there, but oh well.

Well, actually, to put it simply, he was stuffing his face.

The buffet table shrank in real time as he practically inhaled everything he could get his hands on. Everything else fell to the wayside as he put away an utterly inconceivable amount of food for someone of his size. He barely paused when the lights went out, merely tilting his head curiously and slowing slightly, very slightly.

Huh. What was this now?

It was quiet, save for the sound of him chewing. Working in the dark never stopped him before, and it wouldn’t stop him now! Someone tried the doors; they didn’t open. Odd, but whatever. That could happen for any number of reasons. Kai’s heart rate spiked nonetheless. Hopeful.

And then the computer on the table started glowing. Kai’s hand froze halfway to his mouth. It wasn’t plugged on. He stuffed the last deviled egg into his mouth and bounced over to the device. It flashed brightly and then exploded with light.

Kai cackled.
——————————
————————————————
——————————
When awareness returned, he found himself face down in the dirt instead of on a hotel floor. His first action was entirely reasonable–

He licked it.

Hmm. That didn’t taste like any dirt he’d tasted before. And he’d tasted a lot of dirt.

His second action was to survey his surroundings–

Huh. That’s a lot of cars.

The sky was odd, too, almost unnatural. Or, entirely unnatural. He wasn’t quite sure. Paying nothing else any mind, Kai approached the derelict vehicles and yanked one of their trunks open.

....

No engine, no transmission, no battery. Hmph. That was disappointing. What kind of car was this? Was it... magic? Magic cars?!

Hell yeah!

.... Wait, was that a dinosaur?! DINOSAURS?! Other weird creatures were there too, but—

Dinosaurs! Here!

Oh, there was so much he could do with that! People were going to freak out!

....

....

For the first time since he got there, Kai actually takes a full look around and sees all the other people who were there with him. They were the ones in the hotel lobby from before.

.... Hm. Smaller audience than he would have liked, but whatever! He could do something with this.... all he had to do was plot. And, plot, he did....

Woe to whoever fell in his path.

.... Hm. Did that purple one just say something? Well, it didn’t matter. Chaos was calling his nam—

“Hey, you alright in there?”

.... Huh? The... dinosaur.... was talking?

Taking.... Dinosaur....

.... This changed everything.

Kai shoved a card in the dinosaur’s face insistently. It only has a single word on it: “Kai”. No surname, of course, because who had those? Pfft. Probably some loser normies.

Of course, thinking it can read is just an assumption, but whatever was going through Kai’s mind at that moment didn’t take that into consideration. Instead, he just grinned savagely friendly.

---

Agumon was.... confused.

The other Digimon were already conversing with the humans—their partners—but the one he approached was.... odd to say the least. Very much so. He hadn’t said a word yet, but the look on his face seemed a bit strange. Smile too wide, eyes too bright, sparkling, even, and his body was trembling, but not from fear, as far as he could tell. All in all, the look on his face was.... concerning to say the least.

“Hello.... Kai? I’m Agumon. I’m supposed to be your partner.... I think.”

Agumon couldn’t really be sure. The human hadn’t gotten a digivice, so—wait, the human’s expression was weird. What was going on?

Kai’s eyes were blown wide, and the grin on his face stretched even wider, almost unnervingly. And then, for the first time in a long time, he spoke, voice quiet, barely discernible, and uncertain from extreme disuse.

“.... Fricking.... A....”

And then, he just.... stood there motionless, grin still in place.

Agumon blinked, somewhat put off, “Um, okay....”

Meanwhile, Kai’s mind was overwhelmed by excitement. Dinosaur. Teeth. Cars. Magic. Materials. People. Victims. Mayhem. People. Havoc.

He fell asleep standing. Just for a minute.

Field of Cars, File Island, Digital World

Dorumon sensed it; he was in danger of being unable to persuade the group. So he fell back on his trump card, the revelation that, "You're physically in the Digital World; your bodies have been converted into a mix of data and magical - I mean extradimensional energy. Which brings us to what reasons you have to fight: The Digital World reflects the Real World, like, for example, how the Warp from Warhammer 40k is fed by human emotions and thoughts. Only, we're friendlier; closer to Machine Spirits, the Sanguinor, and the Emperor of Man's direct servants, the Living Saints. You helped create us through your emotions and computer data, and now Lucemon and the Seven Demon Lords are taking advantage of that to eventually breach the boundary between worlds and break through to the Real World to harvest Humanity's emotional energy."

The purple-furred Digimon then began tossing the Digivices to each of the Humans, with Vergil's being thrown at his head. He then turned his white-tipped snout to Kai and said, "Sadly, Lucemon stole the Digivice intended for you, though your intended partner has not listened to him or even been approached by him. This means that we need to recover it if you are to join us - And make no mistake, we are us.” He turned to look more broadly at the group as a whole. “Unless you would all like both worlds turned into hellholes?"

---

Elecmon's eyes were wider than usual, their purple fuzzy eyebrows twitching as he looked at Dorumon. For a moment, he fully believed his best friend, but then he scented the faintest hint of... no, it cannot be. There's no way that Dorumon genuinely believed that the children with Lucemon would gladly help with the harvest of their home world.

A snarl escaped his mouth as he looked at his companion and said, "No need to overuse the stick. If you keep doing that to these kids, I may think better of our agreement to let you guard the Village of Beginnings."

He then turned to the rest of the Humans and other Digimon, saying, "All right! Here's a better explanation - Lucemon is planning to destroy the Real World, where your homes are. If we stop him, you're saving the world - two worlds - and then Dorumon can try and get you all back - Wait, Dorumon, why can’t we bring these kids back and get some trained soldiers instead?”

Dorumon glared at his friend before saying in a tone as rough as gravel, “I can only open a portal to and from both worlds once, while Lucemon can do so functionally unlimited times, and I do not know how he does that. But if he can be defeated, we can find that out. That is what I am saying, Elecmon; just accept it.”

Elecmon flinched, then his eyes lit up in anger for a moment before he turned to the kids and followed up with, “Now, how do we fight this menace? Well, it's simple: Digivices allow you to feed small, controlled amounts of emotional energy to your partners, which allows them to 'Digivolve', aka change to another form. Your job is to get stronger by forming emotional bonds with them while fighting the enemy. However, just because you're made up of data and magic does not mean you're stronger or can endure more than your normal human bodies can; what you suffer affects yourselves in the Real World once you come back."

Elecmon then promised, "And make no mistake, you will come back to your homes - I swear on it."

---

Andrew Starling caught his Digivice after it was tossed to him, then walked towards Elecmon, saying, "I think you're telling a little bit of the truth. But how should we start?"

"Well..." Elecmon looked towards the far end of the sandy Field of Cars, where the ground smoothed downward to a beach, still strewn with haphazardly arranged vehicles. "There is one more thing we forgot to tell you..."

A dome of saltwater rose from the sea, snapping and splashing everyone as what was beneath it, a long-jawed, silver-scaled, sharp-toothed fish-like creature whose fins were articulated like crude limbs with sharp claws, crawled towards them.

"Coealmon!," Dorumon said. "ClavisAngemon must have sent out the bounty earlier than we thought!"

Elecmon then followed up with, "ClavisAngemon, a former comrade of ours' and Lord of File Island, has decided that all Humans are a danger and that they are to be hunted down - Along with their Digimon Partners…"

Coelamon confirmed this in the bluntest way possible, by firing a jet of water so fast it might as well be a spear, at Dorumon’s position.

@Ryik@Aku the Samurai@TopGrail@Rune_Alchemist@Letter Bee@Duthguy@Crimson Flame@The Jest@Mike Dracopyra

Danny caught the Digivice and looked it over, and Tatl flew out of her hiding spot to also look it over. Seemed simple enough. Though Danny wasn't sure that Tatl could actually fight. "Hey Tatl, how good are you at fighting?"

"Let me guess, you don't think I can fight because I'm small?" Tatl's cheeks puffed out in anger, with the light of her wings dimming in the process.

"No, of course not. It's just back on Earth, smaller creatures are usually weaker so I'm worried you might get hurt since you're the smallest one here." Danny tried to reason. Tried being the key word there.

"Well I can handle myself just fine! In fact, I bet I could even beat a Champion level Digimon!" Just as Tatl said this Coelamon appeared from the water. Tatl facepalmed. "Me and my big mouth."

Danny looked at Coelamon, then at his shortsword, then looked back at Coelamon, and figured he would not be able to help with it, quickly stowing it in the duffle bag. "Well, let's try this out." Danny focused on the Digivice, pointing it at Tatl. Please be safe. Danny thought to himself. A single white bar appeared for a brief moment, before disappearing just as quickly as it came.

Tatl felt energy for a fraction of a moment. "Whatever you did try it again." Tatl's wings brightened.

"Okay, here goes round 2." Danny tried the same thing, but nothing happened this time. "Well I'm out of ideas."

"It's okay Danny. The Digivice thing is new to me too." Tatl placed a hand on Danny's hand. "Us Digimon might be able to handle this as a group." Tatl flew over to Elecmon and Dorumon, arming herself with her spear in the process.