Digimon: Dimension Distorted [IC/PG-16/Accepting]

[Blake 312]

Some of the others seemed to be bickering as Mackenzie and Wormmon continued looking around the area. Nothing of note seemed to pop out to them, at first, but the sounds to the side seemed to bother Wormmon a little. Gently patting the bug's head, Mackenzie was about to point out something to the Digimon... when flames erupted. Startled at first, Mackenzie hopped back, only to find her new partner staring at it, before a humanoid popped out, proclaiming their presence.

 "AGUNIMON!!" 

"Aaaaaah, another one!" Wormmon beamed, wriggling in place, "Another spirit of the legendary warriors! Maybe we have a chance after all..."

That sounded like Conner to Mackenzie, though not as much as Mercurymon sounded like Theo. The caterpillar seemed quite chuffed with the turn of events, but Mackenzie couldn't help but wonder what that thing she had seen was. Turning away from the awe-struck bug to discover what that glow was, the red-headed girl walked up to the altar, alongside Touch. Not desiring to engage him, she reached into the light and picked up the second of the devices, surprised to find such a familiar object on the altar. That was, until it began to morph.

Mackenzie dropped the object and stepped back, startled for the second time in a long time, as it began to take on a different form. The metallic ring around the screen shone with a deep scarlet, while the strap at the top transformed further, becoming a forest green lanyard, with the strange device hanging from the hook that had previously been on the other end of the strap. With her heart pounding, Mackenzie was at a loss. It seemed even more surreal than these creatures, these Digimon. She nearly jumped out of her skin as Wormmon poked her leg, though she maintained her composure this time.

"Hey... Is that one of those...?" Before Mackenzie could respond, Wormmon scurried up to it and squealed, nodding... As best a tubby little worm could. "It is! Ah, it's one of the devices! Now we really can be partners!"

Mackenzie eyed Touch and Frimon, electing not to speak, but Wormmon's words moved around in her mind. 'Those devices'? What did that mean, leaning down to warily pick up the device, not entirely sure it wouldn't kill her despite Wormmon and Touch being okay, she inspected it. It looked to be... a strange watch, of some sort? Maybe? No, that couldn't be right, turning it had revealed a card reader. Just what was this thing...?

[yui 573]

"I'm trying to tie this vine to this rock."

Oh?

"Then when that... Machinedramon... comes in here, we can push this off and ram it with these, which will hopefully at the very least slow it down, maybe even knock it over."

"Kind of barbaric, isn't it?" Kokoro asked, with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged. "Well, better than sitting around twiddling our thumbs or harping on others for trying to do something."

"There's hardly even a 'something' you humans can do to that thing, though!" Hackmon interjected, before his toes were met with the heel end of Kokoro's shoe. That kept him quiet and more focused on his foot than on Connor's efforts to at least try something against the hulking enemy out there.

And then, it happened. Connor repeated  the words Kokoro had brought to him, and in a burst of flame, he transformed. He was something different now. Something called Agunimon. As Connor hopped down from the platform he'd been on, Kokoro started picking up where he'd left off on tying this vine. She had to admit, she was impressed that he'd gotten as far as he did with this despite only having one arm. Even so, as she watched him from behind, only a single syllable could escape her lips.

"...tch."

She should have taken that armor after all. Definitely. Seeing Connor in that state because he took something Kokoro didn't wasn't sitting well with her. She turned her attention away from him and to this stupid rock. And that's when a light caught the corner of her eye, from the back of the room. The altar back there was... glowing? There had to be something special back there. She could see three items on it that weren't there before, and also that Tatewaki and Mackenzie had already claimed one each. She'd be damned if she missed not one, but two chances to get something out of this mess. Hurrying the finishing touches on her knot-tying job, Kokoro jumped off the platform once she was done and made a beeline for the altar in the back. She grabbed the last device off the thing, watching in amazement as it changed shape in her hand to something like what Tatewaki and Mackenzie had, but distinctly different.

Judging by what Mackenzie's worm had said, this meant she and Hackmon could be proper partners now? As the little hooded creature shambled on over, seemingly still recovering from Kokoro stepping on his toes a bit, he commented "With that, we can be a proper team, human and digimon. That said, I'd like a partner who isn't as rough."

"Sorry, but I'm what you've got. I'll make it up to you later." Now then... what do these actually do? How do they work?

[The Warden 33]

"Theodore! Get its attention, and get it mad! Try to have it fire the cannons on its back! If we can do that, we can get out of here!"

"Yes sir I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I" Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw began, his head tilting to the left before glitching back to facing forward. "I-I-I-I think something is-"

Whatever else he had to say, it was cut off by a giant metal claw smashing him head on, his metal body sliding across the ground and smashing into the opposite wall, his face mirror cracking. The Mercurymon form shuddered, flicking between it and the human self rapidly before coming too as the Digimon. Groaning and grasping at an arm, Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw found that even when your body is made of metal, it still is very much capable of hurting. "M-Mr Henderson!" he called, the facade dropping as flecks of data shed from his form. "I don't think this form is going to last long! Get it to aim those cannons at me! I'll use what little power I have left to turn them back on it with my shields!" he announced, trying to keep his balance.

[Mr. Hyde 204]

"I'm trying to tie this vine to this rock. Then when that... Machinedramon... comes in here, we can push this off and ram it with these, which will hopefully at the very least slow it down, maybe even knock it over."

"Are you off your rocker?!"  Todd exclaimed, throwing his hand to the side.  "Fighting that thing is suicide!  We're all gonna die here!"  His fist rattled against his leg, shaking with fear.  Pix looked at it with a strange look.  

"Are you scared, Todd?"  She asked.  "You'll just come back as an egg!  It'll be okay!" 

Todd's head swung over to meet her gaze.  

"That's not how humans work, you idiot!  We die.  There's no starting over for us!"  He looked back to the entrance, waiting for the monster to burst into the auditorium to kill them all.  "We're definitely screwed..."  He had reserved himself to his fate, when a voice wailed through the space.  

 "AGUNIMON!!" 

Todd looked up, to see that another one of the students had transformed into some strange armored being.  Pix gripped Todd's pants, and shook them with excitement. 

"That's the Legendary Warrior of Fire!  Agunimon!  He'll definitely save us!"  Todd was too distracted by the sight, and stood there staring angrily.  He was pitiful.  A strange glow broke him out of his sulking, making him turn to face what was making it.  Three strange devices, finding themselves in the hands of students that weren't him, shined brightly.  They were obviously important, and he hadn't been able to grab one for himself.  "Those are digivice!"  Pix said, shaking his pant leg again.  "They signify a bond between a digimon and their partner!"  Todd looked to the digivice, and back to Pix.  If only he had been a little quicker on the draw.  Maybe their...bond...wasn't strong enough yet.  Todd groaned, and picked up Pix in his arms, holding her against his chest.  She struggled to get out of his grip.  "HEY!  What do you think you're doing!  You're acting weird all of a sudden!"  

"Shut it."  Todd grunted, pounding Pix on the head with a closed fist.  "I'm trying to strengthen our bond."  Pix rubbed her head, visibly on the cusp of tears.  

"F-f-fine."  She gave in, and let her ears flop over Todd's arms.

"We'll let the others handle this...and if we make it out of here...we'll get a digivice too."  

[reparoni 161]

"Wait did you just say..." Palmon started, before Todd interupted. The plant digimon put her hand on her chin, thinking about something.

Dominic, meanwhile, roll his eyes. "Honestly I'd rather that thing kill us than hear any of you talk for one more second..." He said, before noticing Kokoro appeared. Great, another idiot. Palmon didn't seem to notice her as she turned towards the cacti, a slight frown forming on her face. Before he knew it, however, Conner had disappeared. In his place was a flaming man in red armor. Dominic could only assume that this man had snuck in and killed the boy while they were bickering - the other alternative was...

"It can't be that bad...," Dominic couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Now we have a fighting chance!"

"Wait wait wait..." Dominic said, stepping back a bit. "How... what... why..." He shook his head, noticing that a bunch of people were piling into the room. Great. Palmon, however, was applauding.

"Wooow!" She said, walking up to Connor. "That's... incredible! I never thought I'd see Agunimon again..." She said, before turning towards the others with their digivices. He grin became mischievous. "Now THIS is exciting!" She turned back to the cacti. "Sorry lads, but this is where I leave. Whatever these pendejos are doing, ya girl's goin' on an adventure!" She laughed, although there was a bit of a somber feeling to it.

Dominic was still trying to process everything that was going on, convinced that this was all a bad fever dream. He found himself slumped on the wall, clutching his head. "Why... why me?" He muttered.

[Chaos Sonic 442]

"Chris. There's something you need to realize, I'm not planning on sacrificing myself for you kids. Machinedramon isn't fast. If you all can get into the auditorium, there is a door in the backstage that leads outside. So if you all get going, Theo and I can distract him long enough to fire off another Infinity Cannon, which we can easily dodge, and he'll get frozen from the sheer energy drain. Then we can catch up and get out of here. Now please. Get going."

Chris refrained on arguing with Mr. Henderson at this point, only nodding with a heavy sigh. "Alright...fine." he said, moving past Henderson who was already moving past him at the same time. "Quill, let's get going."

"R-Right..." the Herissmon simply nodded, adjusting his blue scarf and immediately following after Chris, as both of them ended up going up ahead to meet with the others.

When they arrived, they saw another individual with fire skyrocket towards where Theo and Mr. Henderson were. Chris made an assumption there that this was probably one of those "Spirits" that Quill had talked about before. But if that was the case...who was within that form? A mystery for him for another time, but now something else caught his eye. A few of the students now had strange devices in their hands now. And this discovery, it made Quill very excited.

"Oh wow! They got Digivices!"

"...Digi what?"

Quill looked at his new friend, nodding firmly. "Digivices! Basically, they let a human and Digimon become partners. And with those things, well...sky is the limit!" he said, looking at the pedestal, only to see that there wasn't any more. "...oh...I...I guess there was only three."

Chris sighed, shaking his head some as he knelt down to rub Quill's head slightly. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure there'll be more..." he said with a smile. ...that might've actually been useful right now...

[Saikazo 241]

Mr. Henderson gritted his teeth as he stared down the Machinedramon, listening for Theo's response. "Yes sir I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I" That... that didn't sound good at all. What the hell was going on? "I-I-I-I think something is-" Mr. Henderson turned in time to see Theo get absolutely smashed head on by a giant claw. That wasn't good, not good at all. Not only that, but the boy was... flickering in and out of his form.

"Just when you think you've seen everything...,"

"M-Mr Henderson!" Theo called out. "I don't think this form is going to last long! Get it to aim those cannons at me! I'll use what little power I have left to turn them back on it with my shields!" he announced, trying to keep his balance. Mr. Henderson nodded and rushed forward, shield in hand.

"Time to try this out!"

"Try what out?" Ludomon managed to ask before Mr. Henderson threw the screaming shield at the Machinedramon's head, the digimon smacking the metal monster right in-between its eyes. The shield then bounced back at Mr. Henderson who caught it and rushed to stand in front of Theodore.

"Come on, you overgrown pile of scraps! Your mother was a Linux and your father was a TI-82!" Mr. Henderson called out. The Machinedramon, instead of answering, roared in rage, energy gathering in the cannons as they turned to aim at Mr. Henderson. The teacher stood his ground, waiting as the glow of the energy the cannons were producing grew brighter and brighter. Once Mr. Henderson was sure Machinedramon wouldn't change its course, he did a backflip, sailing over Theo's head and landing behind him. "Alright kid, let's hope this works," He said, shield at the ready, just in case.

With another roar, the Machinedramon fired, the destructive beams surging their way towards Theo...

---

The digivices the chosen held had morphed into their new forms, feeling weightless in the hands of those that wielded them. The screens lit up, and a message flashed across the said screens.

New wielder verified. Scanning for available Digimon...

...

...

Digimon found, now scanning.

A beam of light shot out, scanning Frimon, Wormmon, and Hackmon. When the light faded away, a small pixelated picture appeared on each of the their screens, each resembling the partner digimon in question. By them were stats and numbers, and most noticeably, a small empty bar on the bottom of the screen. 

Calibration complete.

Digivice now online.

While the digivices were calibrating, Conner flex his arms, the feeling of an arm back on his right side a welcoming one. Still, they still had that Machinedramon coming... what could they do about that...? He looked at the platform opposite from the one he set up the trap, and the gears began turning in his head. He walked over to Chris, musing to himself.

"Hey, come with me a second," Conner said as he grabbed Chris by the scuff of his shirt and easily lifted him up. It was like his classmate weighed nothing to him. Was this what being a superhero felt like? He rushed over to the other platforms, scooping up another line of vine. With a single leap, he made it on top of the third platform, completely bypassing the two stepping platforms. "Damn, this is amazing!" Conner said as he placed Chris down. "Alright Chris, so, I'm gonna set this up," Conner began to explain as he lifted the stone platform, tying the vine to it. "And when that monster enters, push this... stone log off and hit him. Get it. got it? Good," With that, he leapt away, landing in the center of the room, his hands igniting with flames. "Alright... let's do our best then...," He muttered to himself.

---

OOC

Spoiler

Don't feel like you gotta rush to post if you don't know what to do. After Broken posts, I will do another post to bridge the gap and hope it'll help people. We're near the end of this prologue, just hang in there!

 

[The Warden 33]

"TI-82?"  Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw thought as he strained to keep himself together.

The connection between him and the Spirit was definitely failing, and god only knew how long he had before... why were there two Machinedramon? Heavens above if this form could sweat it would be as he tried his hardest to maintain his focus. He HAD to keep it together for everyone else, so that he could give them the best chance he had. He had to stand his ground, and face off with the monster as it charged its energy. Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw's shields trembled as he raised them up, waiting for the intercept. "Alright kid, let's hope this works" came the voice behind.

The thespian nodded as the charging reached its climax, and it was all unleashed on him. And though his form flickered, he faced the blasts head on. His heels dug in upon impact, the Irony no Tate absorbing all of the energy while threatening to push him back. Seconds crept by, and the Mercurymon form shuddered as it held on for as long as it could until the end. And then, a tentative aim was taken. "D-DARK REFLECTION!"

Both shields shattered as balls of energy erupted from them, a shower of glass and steel falling to the floor as one energy ball impacted Machinedramon's right arm at the shoulder, taking it clean off and leaving sparking wires hanging from the shoulder. The other ball struck the Infinity Cannons, violently exploding them into a shower of shrapnel and smoke, no doubt angering the monster. Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw gasped as he fell to one knee, data shedding off of him like a winter coat. Raising a shaking hand, he looked to the roof with hazy vision "And... scene" he uttered, collapsing face forward.

A cocoon of data consumed him, turning him back to his frail human self who was very much knocked out cold.

[Saikazo 241]

Mr. Henderson watched in awe as Theo did what he considered impossible... he took a Machinedramon's attack head on and came out... mostly unhurt. Which was more than what could have been said for the mechanical giant in front of them. It roared out in pain as its right arm flew across the room, landing by the entrance, and its prized cannons having been destroyed by the force of its own attack. However, losing its cannons didn't rid itself of its downside, and the monster was frozen on the spot.

The teacher scooped up his unconscious  student and rushed towards the auditorium. This was such a weird situation for the teacher. He wasn't sure why Theo transformed, or even why this was all happening, but they'd live long enough to find out, he'd make sure of that. However, the first sign that something was wrong was the fact there was now a twisting hallway. This wasn't good, not at all....

Mr, Henderson eventually made it into the altar room, looking at everyone prepping for battle or hiding in the back. He looked around, sighing to himself. "No way out, huh?" He muttered. He moved to the back, laying Theo on the ground, leaning him against the altar. "Mind watching him for me?" He called out to Dominic. "Make sure he doesn't wake up and do something stupid like the rest of us," With a sigh, Mr. Henderson wielded Ludomon once more, walking to the front of the room. "Alright everyone. Theo managed to heavily damage Machinedramon. We have a small percent chance of beating him now... just don't be too stupid," He looked at the three with digivices. "Especially you three. Having Digivices don't make you invincible, you know?"

"Don't worry hoomin!" Zubamon piped up, standing in front of Dominic. "If you need to, you can wield my sword form to help protect your friend!"

At that moment, Machinedramon crashed into the room, its eyes a bright glowing red as it stared at the room occupants. It let out one giant roar, one filled with absolute rage and hatred, the force of the room shaking the entire room. "I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!!" its mechanical voice somehow still carrying all the raw emotion the machine current had. Conner gritted his teeth and simply fired off two fireballs right at Machinedramon's face.

"Alright guys, now we make our stand!!" Conner yelled out.

---

Outside

The roar of the rampaging machine could be heard even within the town outside, and only one person stood unflinching at its mighty roar, a figure whose form was covered by a tattered grey cloak. "That's where Zubamon went... seems like he bit off more than he could chew...," With that, the figure rushed to the school, the glint of a golden sword being seen beneath the cloak...

[ZetaRESP 5]

Frimon was surprised when he was scanned... mostly because he had no idea of what happened. "Wow... Touchmon, what happened?" Touch was not able to respond before Conner got his plan in motion and Mr. Henderson got in, with Theo in his arms. "What happened there? What's going on?"

When Mr. Henderson told him about the digivice thing, he nodded and went to the side of the door, pulling Frimon with him. "Okay, everyone, try to avoid being on its sights for too long! Don't let it try to hit all of us at once!" He pulled a couple of rocks to hurl at the monster once it had entered the room. He was surprised to see the damage it sustained.

Frimon was ready to hit it head on, but Touch was holding him. "Come on, let me at him! I can do it!" At that, Touch simply held him above his head with all his power in one hand, and then a stone with the other.

"I load, you shoot. This is our double tech." Frimon nodded a bit confused as Touch simply tossed the stone up barely above Frimon's height. "Now!"

Frimon saw the stone and simply acted by instinct. "Tail Whip!" He whipped the stone, sending it at full speed at the face of the giant machine digimon. As he did, Touch was ready to quickly move out of the way.

[Chaos Sonic 442]

Still a little down about the given situation of these "Digivices" being held by Touch, Mackenzie, and Kokoro, Chris was busy trying to figure out what he and Quill could do at this point...only to be grabbed and leaping off.

"Hey, come with me a second,"

"W-Whoa! W-What the...Connor?" Chris exclaimed, being carried off by who he assumed was Connor. At this point it would make sense, since this was similar to that suit of armor from that cave...so it would be safe to assume. Regardless, he groaned once being put down on the ground. "...o-o-okay...next time...can we get a bit of a warning next time?"

"Alright Chris, so, I'm gonna set this up. And when that monster enters, push this... stone log off and hit him. Get it. got it? Good."

Chris looked at Connor and then at the contraption and then back at Connor, before he leaped away. "Well then, that actually seems like it'll be a good idea. Good thinking Chulainn." he nodded, before looking down at Quill, who was huffing a bit as he apparently ran after both Connor and Chris. "Alright Quill. The moment Machinedramon comes in, we're pushing this off here."

"...d-do you think that'll work?"

"Honestly, I don't know. But I'm willing to give it a try." Chris nodded, preparing for the exact moment to use this little trap. He didn't have to wait long though...

"I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!!"

Chris cracked his knuckles slightly and looked at Quill, both of them nodded and they immediately pushed the stone log off, preparing to set the trap into motion. Here goes nothing. Hope this was built to stop this thing long enough, Chulainn...if so, then we might be able to all get the hell out of dodge! he thought, waiting with bated breath.

[Blake 312]

New wielder verified. Scanning for available Digimon...

Digimon found, now scanning.

Calibration complete.

Digivice now online.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe it...!" Wormmon squealed, losing herself a bit, "I'm actually partnered with a human...! Ah, I never dreamed of it...!"

Mackenzie stared at the device in her hands, silent as the video game-esque sprite appeared on screen. First a weird game, now a strange device with odd color choices, and now that meant they were partners? How... strange. She watched as the caterpillar continued freaking out, looking back to the screen and the information it presented.

"You can... make string?"

"Eh, ah... yeah. It's not much, but it's sticky and can hold stuff..." Wormy wiggled and clicked her claws together, "It's not much help with something like this, though..."

Mackenzie put her hand to her mouth, letting her mind drift to making a plan. However, it seemed that her planning was to be cut short, as the giant mechanical dragon busted in once again. As Wormmon's freakout began anew, Mackenzie scooped her up, dashing towards the creature in spite of the warning.

"Th-that's the wrong waaaaay!" Wormmon whined, Mackenzie shaking her head in response.

"It lost an arm and its cannons, so... We just need to immobilize it, right? Then... if we gunk up its joints or trip it, what can it do?"

Wormmon's eyes seemed to light up with realization, nodding quickly, "Th-that's a great idea! But it's so big, how can we get them all...?"

"... We don't need to." Mackenzie let out a slight smirk, adrenaline pumping in full, "Let's just try something I saw in a movie once."

Counting on the others distracting Machinedramon, Mackenzie and Wormmon ran around its legs, making a net out of string. As Wormmon began to pant, Mackenzie put her down, running behind the mega, tripstring about its feet. Mustering every last ounce of her strength and adrenaline, she closed her eyes, placing her hounds around her mouth, and let out a scream.

"Hey, chicken walker! Over here!"

[yui 573]

Calibration complete.

Digivice now online.

Eh? Time to question it wasn't really a luxury Kokoro was afforded. Just after her digivice went online - whatever that was supposed to mean - everyone that had been outside busted into the room. And yes, that did mean everyone. Including that giant metal dragon, though he seemed to have taken some injuries. But so did Dreifus, based on Mr. Henderson leaving him at the altar and asking the three students assembled here to keep an eye on him.

"Alright everyone. Theo managed to heavily damage Machinedramon. We have a small percent chance of beating him now... just don't be too stupid. Especially you three. Having Digivices don't make you invincible, you know?"

That was another matter. Chris had the log trap under control, so there was no need to worry about that. Tatewaki and Mackenzie fighting back, too. She had to admit, Kokoro thought they would try to go hide somewhere. There would be time to ask about these digivices later. Right now, she had to worry about that giant metal dragon. An idea was coming together. Yes, like that. And with its size... perfect!

Kokoro sat down on the floor, next to Dreifus, keeping an eye on the enemy ahead.

"Um... are you gonna fight?"

"I will. Maybe. If this goes right for my idea to kick off properly. Only an idiot would rush in without a plan, and mine happens to involve waiting a bit. Plus, one of us needs to watch Dreifus."

[Saikazo 241]

The mission parameters were simple. Find the Spirits and destroy them. There wasn't even a Champion among this ragtag group of pathetic meatbags, and yet the most powerful digimon in the digital war was being overwhelmed by these little pests! This couldn't stand... this wouldn't stand! If only he knew how right he was.

"Okay, everyone, try to avoid being on its sights for too long! Don't let it try to hit all of us at once!" The rock that Frimon and Touch launched bounced off the mighty digimon, drawing its attention. It turned its head, opening its mouth to roar... only to be struck in the face by the trap Chris had launched. The sound of rock pounding on metal was heard, and the sound of glass breaking sounded through the room. Although the trap didn't knock over the monster like Conner had hoped, it seemed to have broken its right eye, effectively blinding that eye. 

Despite this blindness, however, the machine did notice that Mackenzie was running around its legs, although it wasn't sure what the human was planning to do. However, before it could even think to go to attack her, Agunimon zipped to its face, the human Digimon hybrid's fists ignited with fire as he assaulted the machine's face with a flurry of punches. While they weren't doing too much damage individually,  they were very distracting to the beast.

"Hey, chicken walker! Over here!" A human insulted Machinedramon. How arrogant of her! The machine was so caught up in thoughts of vengeance that at first, it didn't realize that the second it took a step forward, the trip string did its job, causing the monster to fall to the floor.

"Alright, time for a final touch!" Agunimon landed on the left side of the Machinedramon and reached out, his mind racing as a finishing move formulated in his brain. A long, thin strip of flame appeared in his hand, which he grasped, much like a spear. "Gáe Lasair!" Agunimon called out as he threw the fire spear, the weapon flying through the air and penetrating through the machine's other eye. Machinedramon let out a giant roar of pain, struggling to get back up, now completely blinded.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW MYSELF TO FAIL IN MY MISSION!" Machinedramon roared, both his rage and his physical blindness causing him to miss the fact that a white blur suddenly flew over it from the hallway, landing on the altar at high speeds. "I WILL DESTROY YOU AL---!" Its mechanical, rage filled rant was cut short by the digimon suddenly splitting into two, the creature having been cleanly cut down the center. The remains fell to the sides, leaving a gap inbetween them, and within that gap was another one of those strange blank devices...

Mr. Henderson let out a sigh, all the adrenaline leaving his body. It took almost all he had to not fall to his knees in relief. They managed to survive a Machinedramon... although there was one important detail left hanging. The teacher turned to the altar, looking to the white cloaked figure standing there.

"So, what do we call the guy that helped us out?" The teacher asked.

"Master!" Zubamon called out excitedly, rushing over to the figure. Ludomon turned back into his normal self, sitting on Mr. Henderson's shoulder.

"Oh my god, Zubamon really is being trained by the Knight of the Wind...," He muttered to himself. Said knight let out a soft chuckle as he watched the small sword digimon walk up to him.

"You did a good job," The knight's voice was kind was he reached out, patting Zubamon with a golden wolf head instead of a hand. Mr. Henderson noticed that detail right away and took a step back.

"Wait... are you a Royal Knight?" Mr. Henderson asked, caution in his voice as he clenched his fists, a few bad memories returning to him. The figured shook his head.

"No, I am a similar digimon to one of their members, but I am not a Royal Knight," It took off its cloak, revealing its form to the group. "I am Omnimon Alter-S, but you may just refer to me as Omnimon, or the Knight of the Wind. It seems to be a popular nickname for me," the digimon explained. Mr. Henderson nodded before continuing.

"Alright then, Omnimon. You wouldn't happen to know a way back to the Real World, would you?" Mr. Henderson asked. "I'm not sure how my students and I were pulled to the Digital World, but here we are, and I'd like them to get back before they're dragged into some sort of Digidestined nonsense," There was a quiet pause before Omnimon spoke again.

"You're mistaken. You're not in the Digital World," He said slowly, trying to break the news gently to the group.

"W-wait... Digital World, Real World? What are you talking about?" Agunimon piped up, walked up to stand next to Mr. Henderson. The teacher turned to the digimon and held up a hand to slow down the questions.

"I'll explain in a bit. This... this needs sorted out first," The teacher turned back to the Knight of the Wind. "What do you mean, we're not in the Digital World? This isn't the same school we were in, and there are Digimon. So exactly how isn't this the Digital World?"

"... It happened about a week ago," Omnimon explained. "No one knows how, but... the Real World and the Digital World have merged together, fusing into one plane of existence,"

"I-I'm sorry, what?" The teacher was obviously stunned.

"What does that mean?!" Agunimon asked.

"In the simplest terms, two parallel universes have fused together. That's why there are digimon here now and why our school turned into a temple out of Indiana Jones," Mr. Henderson explained.

"Wait, so our families were outside the school dealing with these... monsters?!" Agunimon's voice raised, panic in his voice, before pausing. "Um... n-no offense to anyone in this room that isn't human...,"

"I don't believe so...," Omnimon stated. "Zubamon and I have been looking around this town for any signs of life... the town outside... it's a complete ghost town. There's no signs of any struggle, but... there's no signs that anyone lived here, outside of the houses," Before anyone can panic, the Omnimon held up his dinosaur hand. "That does not mean your families are not safe. It might be likely that a Royal Knight or one of the Olympos XII found them, and directed them towards the safe haven,"

"Safe haven? What safe haven?" Agunimon pressed. Omni sighed, holding out his wolf hand. In its mouth was a small device, one that began to project a hologram of a map of the United States.

"You see, the entire world has become dangerous for both humans and Digimon. As such, the Royal Knights and Olympos XII have set up a safe area for everyone. However... it's all the way over here," The digimon pointed to the state of California. "You'll have to make it across the country if you want to get to safety," 

"Great, just great... we have to get to California from Pennsylvania on foot," Mr. Henderson muttered. He turned to the group of kids. "Well, if you all have questions... now the time to ask, I suppose,"

"I... I think I need a moment...," Agunimon muttered as he broke away from the group, walking to the entrance and leaning against the wall. It seemed he was a bit overwhelmed with all this information. And to make matters worse...

"I'm sorry child, but here is the unpleasant part. At the very least, it will not be as bad as what happened to your friend since you were not in this form for as long," Suddenly, flecks of data began to shed from the Agunimon's body, causing the Digimon to fall to his knees. It felt like his skin was on fire as the form was ripped away from him, causing Conner to grit his teeth, trying his best not to cry out in pain. As the cocoon of data surrounded him, however, tears were flowing from his face, and a cry of pain escaped his lips. When the cocoon faded, he was back into his human form, and he fell over, curling up a little as he tried and failed to block out the pain he was feeling. It was like his blood was on fire!

---

OOC

Spoiler

So, now Omnimon has appeared and gave some answers. Feel free to react to the news and ask any questions your characters may have. If you want answers to those questions for your post, feel free to DM me.

 

[ZetaRESP 5]

Touch saw this spectacle working and was amazed the result was such. Frimon was happy however. "Yay, we defeated a mega-level Digimon! Yay!" He was leaping around, when he saw Touch walking to Mr. Henderson and Omnimon, a hand in his pocket. "Uh... Touchmon-san?"

"Sensei, I think we have something to discuss..." He revealed to the teacher his own device, pulling it out from his pocket. "Three of us already have devices that came in a similar fashion." Frimon came right behind him and leaped into his shoulder. "We may need more lore exposition before going into the next stage." Frimon added...

"And while you're at it, you can tell use everything we need to know so we can keep going." ... which technically was the same Touch said. His partner's way of speaking is really confusing him.

[Mr. Hyde 204]

It was almost over in an instant, as Todd watched the battle in front of him.  He squeezed Pix tightly, as he seemed to be rather anxious at the fact that his classmates had won.  However, he couldn't help but feel a little bit frustrated at how useless he seemed.  He just grit his teeth behind his quivering lips, bearing the humiliation.  Another rather large digimon had also appeared, this one seeming benevolent.  So this was the Master that Zubamon was talking about.  While the digimon looked rather impressive, he couldn't help but think the guy looked like an oversized action figure.  

"Omnimon huh?"  Todd looked down at Pix, whose mouth was completely agate.  "Is he a big deal?"

"Not just Omnimon!  Omnimon Alter-S!"  She shouted.  "He's a really big deal!  Like, the biggest!  When I grow up, I wanna fight him one on one to prove how strong I am!"

Even though Todd wanted to say that the big lug wasn't a big deal, the aura the creature oozed seemed to make him not able to. 

"Yeah whatever.  So we gotta go all the way to California?"  He asked.  "If you ask me, we should try to find a way to get things back to normal...not try and hide away like rats in a cage!"  He barked towards the group.  Now was time for him to save face, instead of cowering away like he had in the fight.  He threw a fist in the air.  "Pix and I are going to totally find a way to fix everything, by ourselves!"  

[Chaos Sonic 442]

The plan went smoothly. Connor's little trap definitely helped stop the Machinedramon as well as a combination effort by the rest of the group. But at the same time, this strange hooded individual showed up and dealt the final blow. As the whole thing went down, both Chris and Quill looked at each other gave one another a high-five. "Awesome job there Quill!" Chris smirked, seeing the Herissmon smile a bit from the praise.

"You too, Chris! Looks like trusting your friend's trap was the best course of action!"

With a firm nod, Chris made his way down from the platforms with Quill following right behind him as both made their way to meet back up with the others...coming in just at the right time for the hooded figure to speak.

"I am Omnimon Alter-S, but you may just refer to me as Omnimon, or the Knight of the Wind. It seems to be a popular nickname for me,"

Omnimon Alter-S? Huh...sounds like a complicated name to me...then again, must mean that there's a different version of him if that's the case. Chris thought, not noticing Quill walking away from him for a moment. These "Digimon" are pretty interesting just with knowing something like that...

At the same time, this Omnimon or "Knight of the Wind", began to do some sort of exposition and explaining what was going on. This wasn't something called the Digital World, as Mr. Henderson first thought, but rather...it was the real world everyone knew and loved, fusing and merging with the Digital World. So the "Great Merger" was a pretty good way to describe the whole situation. Nevertheless, he then began to drop a few pronouns, "Royal Knights" and the "Olympus XIII", but it ended up meaning that the safe haven was in a location in the U.S. Unfortunately, they were in Pennsylvania and the haven was California. This made Chris sigh greatly, his hand running through his hair.

"Well...haven't exactly been on a road trip since our last game..." Chris began, shaking his head. "Buuuut all the way to California? That's crazy..." Soon he'd look down after feeling a tug at his pants leg. There he saw Quill, with a small device in his hand. "Quill...where'd you get this?"

"Over there!" Quill explained, pointing to where Machinedramon's remains were, namely within the gap. "I think this is another one of those devices that becomes a Digivice! Here!"

"Well, guess we'll test this out." Chris smiled, before reaching down and grabbing a hold of the device in his hand. Almost on cue, the device began to morph and change shape and style. Now in his hand where the bulky looking brick of a device was, was now a small slimmer device, color coated with a silver base and it's buttons and outline was a yellowish gold. "Wow...that's pretty awesome."

New wielder verified. Scanning for available Digimon...

...

...

Digimon found, now scanning.

The device quickly showed these words on the screen, before a light shot out and began to scan Quill. And within moments, a small pixelated image of Quill appeared on the screen of the device, along with some stats about him.

Calibration complete.

Digivice now online.

"Hehe, now that's pretty cool." Chris mused, tossing the device in the air to catch it again, putting it in his pocket. "Guess it's official now, Quill. You and me are partners, as you would call it."

"Awesome!! We're partners...hey...uh...is your friend okay?" Quill at first being excited about this, only to point the direction of Connor who seemed to be having a rough time.

Chris looked over and began to make his way towards the young man. "Chulainn, hey...are you alright?"

[yui 573]

Well, the metal dragon had been downed. But all of this was... Kokoro was having trouble taking it all in at once. There were so many names being thrown around. Omnimon Alter-S. The Digital World. A ton of information she didn't really understand. And what was a Digidestined supposed to be? And everyone's families had been evacuated... to California? What about other countries? Where were families in Japan being sent? Kyushu? The more she tried to figure this out, the less sense it all made. Not that anything that had happened recently exactly made sense.

"Yeah whatever. So we gotta go all the way to California? If you ask me, we should try to find a way to get things back to normal...not try and hide away like rats in a cage!"

"He's right!" Kokoro agreed. "We have to get all the way across a place as big as America after whatever happened, just to hide and wait for everything to blow over? We might as well try to fix what we can along the way instead of just saying, 'oh well I guess I'd better run away now.' I don't really understand a lot of what's going on, but I think I get enough to know this isn't something that'll pass while we're holed up somewhere." So it was best to do something with that in mind. Kokoro's eyes went back and forth between Mr. Henderson and Omnimon. "No matter what we do, you've got a lot to tell us. Sensei and Alter both."

[Blake 312]

Falling onto her butt, Mackenzie let out a relieved sigh when it was over. She didn't know who this Omnimon was, but her plan had bought them enough time for him to save the day... And, from what she could see, Wormmon was shocked senseless. Gathering herself and dusting off her clothing, she walked over and scooped up the tiny insect, holding it close and whispering to it.

"Good job..."

The worm let out what sounded like a giggle and pressed close to her new partner's chest, nodding. There was no need for words. Mackenzie wasn't much the type for them, and Wormmon had gone through so much in the day that she was at a loss for words.

-----

With explanations out of the way, Wormmon cocked her head, still in Mackenzie's arms.

"U-Um... Why are you here then?" She barely muttered, before looking down, "N-nevermind..."

Mackenzie rubbed the small bug's head, as if to console her, though she did not speak up. She wanted to hear the answer as much as her partner.

[Saikazo 241]

"Sensei, I think we have something to discuss..." Touch revealed to the teacher his own device, pulling it out from his pocket. "Three of us already have devices that came in a similar fashion." Frimon came right behind him and leaped into his shoulder. "We may need more lore exposition before going into the next stage."

"Oh... oh god dammit," The teacher pinched the space in between his eyes as he began muttering under his breath, before finally saying. "Right... right... I'll explain just... give me a second. This is a lot of info for me to take in as well, you know?" Before he could continue however, the other students began to speak up.

"Yeah whatever. So we gotta go all the way to California? If you ask me, we should try to find a way to get things back to normal...not try and hide away like rats in a cage!" Todd exclaimed, to which the teacher shook his head.

"Yeah, I guess being in a giant cage for a week would make anyone not want to go hiding," Zubamon commented. "So is that why you were hiding in the back? To gather your courage for this massive undertaking ahead?" The digimon asked innocently, stars in his eyes.

"He's right!" Kokoro agreed. "We have to get all the way across a place as big as America after whatever happened, just to hide and wait for everything to blow over? We might as well try to fix what we can along the way instead of just saying, 'oh well I guess I'd better run away now.' I don't really understand a lot of what's going on, but I think I get enough to know this isn't something that'll pass while we're holed up somewhere." So it was best to do something with that in mind. Kokoro's eyes went back and forth between Mr. Henderson and Omnimon. "No matter what we do, you've got a lot to tell us. Sensei and Alter both."

"Give me a second... it's a lot to think about and organize," Mr. Henderson muttered.

"U-Um... Why are you here then?" Wormmon barely muttered, before looking down, "N-nevermind..." Omnimon looked over to the small digimon, getting on one knee and reaching out with his giant wolf hand, gently patting Wormmon on the head.

"Do not worry about it," He said softly before standing back up. "I'm here because we were searching for any human survivors or stray digimon so we can lead them to safety," He folded his arms. "However, all we could find so far was all of you,"

"Here, let's just head outside, I'll explain on the way," Mr. Henderson finally said, scooping up Theo and walking off. As he walked off, he looked over to Chris and Conner, just to see what they were doing.

"Chulainn, hey...are you alright?"

"My body f-feels like it's on f-fire, my arm is gone again... a-and everyone's gone. I-I'm dandy Chris," Conner muttered as he slowly stood up. Slowly, he made his way back to the group, follwoing their teacher as he headed outside.

"So... big, simple exposition dump," Mr. Henderson muttered to himself as he quietly walked down the hall. "So, the Digital World is an alternate dimension, right? In it, all lifeforms are digital, and some of the most common ones are Digimon," He rubbed his chin. "Usually, when the Digital World is in danger, it'll grab random kids and force them to become heroes for the Digital World. This time however... this time it's different. It seems the two separate dimensions have fused into one, and no one knows how," He motioned to the device Touch held. "So that, that's a Digivice. Think of it as a link to your digimon. It makes them your partner, and you can do some... interesting things with it, like force enough power into them that they temporally age up into a more powerful form," He rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't ask me how you're supposed to do that, it's different from person to person," He tapped his chin. "I think that's all you need for now. Right now, we need to see what outside looks like,"

 

---

 

The most noticeable thing that everyone could see as they stepped outside was that everyone's houses had been moved. Every house in the small town had been arranged into rows, surrounding a train station that most definitely wasn't in the town before. The second thing they could see was that far, far in the distance, there was some sort of large white tower reaching into the sky, going so high up they couldn't see the top. However, it was so far away they couldn't see the base of the tower either.

"Hey, Omnimon... what's that tower?" Conner asked, pointing to it. Omnimon looked up at the tower, sighing.

"We don't know. We just know it's somewhere in Colorado... and yes, it's so big we can see it from any where in the... 'United States'," Omnimon supplied. Conner blinked and looked back to the tower. What the hell?

"Alright kids... find your houses, and get essentials. We'll meet at the train station in half an hour," Mr. Henderson said as he walked down the school stairs, looking for his home. 

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Saikazo

[The Warden 33]

~~Verdant Knowleadge~~

Such whimsy we weave when it is thyself you deceive. Oh what knowledge we crave when we allow in the depraved. Something something something Dark Side etc.

This was an interesting dream, proposing of course it is a dream. Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw wasn't too sure of himself. It also made him wonder if he was quite possibly dead, having perhaps used up all his life damaging that mechanical dinosaur. He hoped not, for he had so much more hamming to do, which is why he did hope this was a dream and not death. Because being alone in a large, obscenely dark library was not something he figured his afterlife would be like.

Literally, Theodore Oswald Dreifus found a halo of light around him, and then utter darkness. How he knew it was a library was predicated on the number of books around him. That is the typical first clue that you are in a library and not like... a bait shop. They're not known for their books. In any case, as he waltzed the floor, the light moved with him; his eternal spotlight. And reaching out, he took one book and flipped open to a random page, upon which was random runes that he just intrinsically seemed to know. It was a list of cake recipes. Unusual for a library.

Tossing it aside, Theodore Oswald Dreifus found himself another book, and casually flipped through pages until he came across something... interesting.

In spite of never having seen these before, he just... knew what they were. They were the Ten Spirits, or at least their symbols, anyways. Fire, Light, Ice, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Water, Wood, Steel, and Darkness. All ten, divided into pairs. Twenty spirits. He had one, and Conner had another. Two, or twenty. One tenth of the total. They were necessary... but why?

Theodore Oswald Dreifus furrowed his brow. Why were they necessary.

BEGONE!

A giant eye flashed before him; completely circular, metallic, with a red iris and Vantablack black pupil.

----------------

Theodore Oswald Dreifus Shaw woke up, and he hurt... a lot. He ached all over, and he was pretty sure that his bones may have been replaced by jelly. Would explain why instead of getting up he was staring down at his groin. "Ahh, hello?" he croaked. "Did... did we win?"

[Chaos Sonic 442]

"My body f-feels like it's on f-fire, my arm is gone again... a-and everyone's gone. I-I'm dandy Chris,"

"Well, at leas your sense of humor isn't too damaged." Chris smirked some, trying to at least make light of the situation. Yes, he knew that Connor ended up channeling some sort of Spirit of Fire and the like, so naturally there would've been some sort of physical resistance. Almost like body fighting off a virus...a very fiery virus, he would add. Regardless, Chris and Quill followed after Connor, making sure to keep him from falling.

Cause, hey...that's what friends and teammates do, right?

"So... big, simple exposition dump. So, the Digital World is an alternate dimension, right? In it, all lifeforms are digital, and some of the most common ones are Digimon. Usually, when the Digital World is in danger, it'll grab random kids and force them to become heroes for the Digital World. This time however... this time it's different. It seems the two separate dimensions have fused into one, and no one knows how. So that, that's a Digivice. Think of it as a link to your Digimon. It makes them your partner, and you can do some... interesting things with it, like force enough power into them that they temporally age up into a more powerful form. Don't ask me how you're supposed to do that, it's different from person to person. I think that's all you need for now. Right now, we need to see what outside looks like."

Mr. Henderson is pretty knowledgeable in this...wonder how he knows all this... Chris thought, listening intently into this little "dump of exposition" as his teacher explained it. Regardless, Chris was content in trusting Henderson as well as Omni-Alter...or Oalter, he planned to start referring to him as. However, something did strike him as odd: It's different from person to person. This had Chris puzzled at something, did that mean there was multiple methods to essentially "level up" their partners, though at the same time he thought that, he cursed himself to almost referring to this as something Touch would've.

Regardless, he'd ask his question a bit later...as everyone was already heading out.

---

"Hey, Omnimon... what's that tower?"
"We don't know. We just know it's somewhere in Colorado... and yes, it's so big we can see it from any where in the... 'United States',"
"Alright kids... find your houses, and get essentials. We'll meet at the train station in half an hour,"

As much as the tower in Colorado was impressive, Chris was more or less intrigued at the fact that the town and the houses within the town ended up getting rearranged and in somewhat of an orderly fashion. It was almost baffling, but he figured that's what happened when the "The Great Merger" happened.

"So we're going to just go to your den, Chris?" Quill asked, tugging on the pants leg of Chris' jeans.

"Yeah...hopefully everything's still in order there." Chris nodded, before glancing over at Henderson. "But first..." he said, making his way towards the teacher. "Mr. Henderson, you said that the whole Digimon partner power thing is different from person to person. Does this mean there are multiple methods to do that?"

[ZetaRESP 5]

Touch looked back and forth at the explanation given and then looked at the teacher and Omnimon stating stuff, including the data on the Digimon and the Digivice. He smirked, pocketing the device. "I'm in, then." He petted Frimon and the small digital being simply hopped in place on Touch's shoulders.

"YAY! PARTNER! I WILL BE STRONGER NOW! YAY!" Touch caught the bouncing Frimon in his arms and seemed like ready for the next adventure. "I can't wait to see how can we get better!"

"Yes, indeed." Touch held the little mon as they went outside. He was surprised by what was happening outside.

"Alright kids... find your houses, and get essentials. We'll meet at the train station in half an hour,"

"Understood. Mission Start!" Touch runs towards his house... well, actually, he's only a guest in the house, with him being an exchange student and all that.

[Blake 312]

"Do not worry about it," Omnimon patted Wormmon softly before standing back up. "I'm here because we were searching for any human survivors or stray digimon so we can lead them to safety," He folded his arms. "However, all we could find so far was all of you."

"I-I see," Wormmon muttered, blushing a little bit. Mackenzie resisted the urge to give a little smile by how chuffed the digimon seemed, hugging it tighter. As they went along, Henderson explained all about the Digital World and Digivices, to the best of his ability.

"So... I can help you... Grow bigger?"

"Um, kinda," Wormmon shuffled around in Mackenzie's arms, "Like your teacher said, it's temporary... And there are different ways of going about it. Who knows what you need? Especially when I'm so small..."

"... It will be okay," Mackenzie held the worm tight, pecking her on the head, "We'll figure out whatever it is."

---

"We don't know. We just know it's somewhere in Colorado... and yes, it's so big we can see it from any where in the... 'United States'." 

"Psst, Mackenzie," Wormmon whispered, "What's a Colorado? Or a United States?"

"Well... The United States is the country we're in," the girl spoke softly to her partner, so no one else could hear, "It's over 2500 miles wide, and that's just one ocean to the next... And Colorado is one of said states, almost all the way to the other side of the country."

"A-and we can see it from here? That's insane!"

Nodding, Mackenzie looked at the giant structure. It made her feel uneasy. Something that massive just didn't feel right.

"Alright kids... find your houses, and get essentials. We'll meet at the train station in half an hour," Mr. Henderson said as he walked down the school stairs, looking for his home. 

"... I don't have anything," Mackenzie spoke quietly, face unmoving, "So I'll just wait here. Omnimon said no other humans were around, so it'd be a waste of time..."

She trailed off a bit as she cradled Wormmon. The Digimon could tell something was wrong, but bit her tongue. Clearly it wasn't the time to press the issue.

[yui 573]

"So... big, simple exposition dump. So, the Digital World is an alternate dimension, right? In it, all lifeforms are digital, and some of the most common ones are Digimon. Usually, when the Digital World is in danger, it'll grab random kids and force them to become heroes for the Digital World. This time however... this time it's different. It seems the two separate dimensions have fused into one, and no one knows how. So that, that's a Digivice. Think of it as a link to your digimon. It makes them your partner, and you can do some... interesting things with it, like force enough power into them that they temporally age up into a more powerful form. Don't ask me how you're supposed to do that, it's different from person to person. I think that's all you need for now. Right now, we need to see what outside looks like."

Mhm, mhm... I don't get it at all. Kokoro would have time to think about that later though. Right now, there was another problem. The city outside had changed too. The houses were lined up impressively neatly, with a train station she knew wasn't there before in the center of it all. Mr. Henderson had given everyone instructions to find their houses, pack some essentials, and meet up at the station in half an hour. "Okay. My host family lived near here, so I'm going on ahead." Even if the arrangement was different, Kokoro couldn't imagine the placement of the houses themselves would be that different.

And indeed, finding the house wasn't hard at all. It wasn't exactly where Kokoro remembered it relative to other houses, but that was the least of her surprises today. "You're sure nobody's hiding out in there?" Hackmon asked.

"If they are, they're in for a pounding." Without much more fanfare, Kokoro gently opened the door to where she'd been living before all this crazy shit started happening, leaving her shoes by the door. Just as she'd feared, it looked like nobody had been here in a while. It was practically exactly the way she remembered it before leaving for school that fateful morning. The only sign of anything being any different was some dust. All the food, clothes, everything. Which of course meant there would be plenty of things to pack with. Like the suitcases Kokoro had packed when she made the trip here in the first place.

She grabbed her suitcases, and started around the house to start packing. But the silence in here unnerved her some. Quite a bit. Without the old people banter of her host family or their annoying dog, or their grandson running around the place, things felt too quiet. She reached into her pocket, as if to grab something... and pulled her digivice out. A distinctly disappointed look crossed her face; she was clearly expecting something else.

"Drop something?"

"No... I threw out my cell phone after our worlds merged. It wouldn't do anything and I had kind of accepted that this would probably be the rest of my life. It's too quiet in here, and I don't like it, so I wanted to put some music on."

"But that's a good thing, isn't it? The quiet."

"You'd really think so," Kokoro sighed, stuffing as many changes of clothes as she could into the largest of her three suitcases. "My host family isn't a quiet one. A lot of American families aren't, actually, but even by that standard, they're pretty loud people. A married couple in their 90s - Mr. and Mrs. Hart - their grandson Billy who wasn't in school yet, and a fluffy white dog named Flour. But it was refreshing, in its own way." Zipping the first suitcase shut, Kokoro took another look around the room. "I could just stay here, you know. Not meet up with everyone at the train station, and live here? There's still food around the house, and if everyone really disappeared this perfectly, I'm sure the supermarkets and convenience stores are still plenty full of food."

"Sounds like a good plan. Let's do i--"

"Of course I'm not doing that!!" Kokoro's pace quickened as she more aggressively packed some bathroom products into the second suitcase. Toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, and those sorts of products. Just because this was an apocalypse scenario was no excuse to not take care of her hygiene! "Why the hell would I!?"

"Er..."

"I'm worried sick about everyone else! Out of those three people, one of them is too young to take care of himself at all, and the other two are too old to defend themselves if something happens! And not just them, either. I've got an actual family too! My mother and father... well, I'll never call them perfect. But like hell I can just roll over and say, 'oh, but I should worry about myself first' when I don't understand what's going on in this world and can't get in contact with them."

As Kokoro dragged the suitcase into the kitchen, filling it the rest of the way with water bottles, Hackmon asked "But why? If you're okay, isn't that what should matter most from a survival standpoint?"

"They're my family. You've got one too, right?"

"N... Not really. Some Digimon are the type to live in packs and some aren't. Not really sure what type my kind are, though. I'm an odd case."

"To make it short, they're the people you spend your whole life with growing up." Kokoro opened up the refrigerator. Everything inside had gotten to about room temperature, thanks to electricity not working in this house. Some stuff was missing too. Surely some of the remaining food could still be eaten despite not being refrigerated lately. Not this, not that... grapes, perhaps! And jelly was still perfectly edible at room temperature, too! Tossing the bag of grapes onto the table behind her and setting down the jelly jar next to them, she continued as she made for the cabinets, "And because of that, you'll do anything for them. Usually. Digimon don't get nut allergies, do they?"

"No."

"Great." A jar of peanut butter, a couple loaves of bread, both added to the pile of food Kokoro was assembling. The bread felt like it was starting to go stale though. Looking around at the fruits of the house... the bananas were well and truly past saving, and it seemed like a particularly inconsiderate digimon had only eaten half of one before leaving. The apples didn't look particularly appetizing either. It was safe to assume none of that would still be edible. As Kokoro was about to wrap up her food collecting in here, her eye passed over a bowl of cookies. She recognized those. She could even remember the conversation about them.

---

One Week Ago, 7AM...

"Ooh! Are those cookies, Mr. Hart?" Kokoro had gotten pretty used to that smell in the time since coming to America. One thing she learned about Mr. Hart really fast was that he absolutely loved baking. And not only that, but he was very good at it! She almost didn't want to go back to Japan for her birthday just so she could get a home-baked cake from him for her birthday. Flour - a white dog whose fluff was matched only by his heart - seemed pretty excited too!

"No no, Flour, these aren't for dogs. Got some chocolate inside 'em." The dog seemed upset to hear that.

"They smell delicious~!" Kokoro eyed over the batch, mouth watering just at the prospect of what they probably tasted like. "Can I have one on my way to school?"

"Only one," Mr. Hart said, handing Kokoro a single cookie. "You've met Martha from down the street, right? Her nephew's at her house, and we wanted him to make friends with Billy. So I'm letting these cool for a play date between the two."

"Thanks!" Kokoro took a bite, and immediately descended into baking-induced bliss. The soft texture, the sugary flavor with just a little bit of something she couldn't quite put a finger on. And - just as he'd warned Flour - there was some chocolate in there, too! Looking at the cookies, she couldn't imagine two toddlers would eat all of them in the time between now and her getting back from school. Kokoro would absolutely be looking forward to more of these this afternoon! "Well, I'm heading off for school. Good luck with the play date!"

"Be good at school, Kokoro."

---

She didn't count them individually of course, but looking at the bowl, this was about how many cookies there were cooling on the tray before she left for school that day, right? A sinking feeling set into her stomach. As if just looking at these was wrong in its own right. Was this what survivor's guilt was? No no no, this isn't the time to think like that. I don't actually know if anyone is dead. They probably just got evacuated. One of those digimon mentioned something like that happening, right? Yes. That must be it. In any case, Kokoro certainly wasn't going to just leave these alone. Kokoro searched around for a ziplock bag to store them in, but ended up needing two. She also pulled out a singular cookie to eat for herself, right now.

As expected of a cookie that had been left out for a week, it was very stale. Like a hard candy of some sort. But the flavor hadn't gone anywhere. She wouldn't be throwing these out that easily. She packed the cookies - along with the other food items she'd found - in the third and final suitcase. With all her things packed, Kokoro was about ready to go... before stopping. There was... something else she wanted to check around for.

It wasn't a room she usually visited, but Kokoro - leaving the suitcases near the door so she could grab them and go - peeked into Mr. and Mrs. Hart's room. Surely, in the closet, there was... yes! A duffel bag, in a horrible floral pattern that was incredibly tacky. Must have been Mrs. Hart's. Hopefully she wouldn't mind Kokoro borrowing it. The girl returned to her room. There were some personal effects she wanted to bring with her. Bright little figurines, several volumes of books, and other related merchandise, were all put into the bag as tightly and delicately as she could manage. Some of these were rare collector items, and she doubted she'd be able to replace them if something broke! The blu-rays... at first, she was going to leave them, but that impossible scenario of "what if I can play these on the train?" wouldn't stop bothering her until she crammed them in on top of everything else.

How did that song go again? Tsuyoku tsuyoku, kagayeita kieta... how did I forget the rest of the lyrics? I'm sure it'll come back to me. Let's get going.

"Hackmon," she called out. "Come on. We're heading to the train station."

"Already? I was really getting into checking out the odds and ends around this house though."

"If I catch you rummaging through my missing parents' belongings, you're gonna miss when I was holding a knife up to you in the school kitchen." With that, Kokoro put her shoes back on, opened the door, and grabbed the suitcases. Not being told to have a nice day at school or out with her friends stung a bit more than she wanted to admit. "...see you later, Mr. and Mrs. Hart."

"Hey, why are your eyes--"

"Stop looking at me. Now."