It had been the end of another busy day for Zeno. it was sunset, the sky was clear, not too cold considering it was Winter. He was on his way back home from college and making his way towards the bus stop. The buses had been on strike for a few days, and only one or two of them were running every so often, so he'd be waiting a while for one. As he neared it, he had noticed a shop that he had never seen before. It was a comic and collectors shop from the looks of it, with a banner above the door reading "Grand opening weekend - 20% off all items!". It certainly sounded like a good offer to Peter, and he had no idea how long he would be waiting for a bus. Thankfully the shop had the bus stop in full view, so he'd be able to see out to see if it was coming along, so he went inside to have a look around.
The instant he stepped in, he knew he had stepped into one weird shop. Perhaps this was the reason why everything was 20% off. The stuff that was inside that shop looked pretty normal to him, the usual stuff you find in that kind of shop, but the whole place was rather dark, only a few lamps around the place, all objects casting weird shadows all around the walls, and the dark colors of the walls reminded him of some weird horror show.
The only person in the store, a relatively young man sitting behind the cash register, was nowhere near as creepy...but he was all dressed in black, and he didn't seem to be interested in the new customer at all. He was just reading a newspaper, minding his own business.
"Weird..." He said to himself as he looked around. For a store that had just opened, there were very few people looking around. Perhaps some people were off put by the cashier, but some seemed to take no notice.
"Let's see what they've got..." He said as he looked around at the animé related items. There were various toys and figures from various shows and games, but apart from one or two items, they didn't really appeal to him. He was just about ready to give up and go when he spotted something in the corner of his eye.
He reached for the article, which for some reason was partially hidden behind a pile of magazines, as if someone was afraid to even put it on full view for some reason. He gently pushed the pile to the side, and carefully pulled it towards him.
"What have we got here..." He said as he pulled the item into view, smiling at his find.
In his hands, he was holding a Digimon-themed virtual pet, or more specific, a D-Ark Digivice. It resembled the device that the human characters used in Tamers, but was designed as a sort of virtual pet toy. It was an odd shape, with a large square screen in the middle, and a small set of buttons. There was a belt clip on the back of it, as well as another clip attached to a small piece of fabric. These things usually sell for quite a bit on on-line shops, so perhaps he might be able to get it for a bargain price here. He walked up to the cashier, placing it on the desk.
"1 Pound" the man said, without even looking up.
Zeno almost felt like leaping backwards when he heard the price. He was expecting it to be at the very least £20. But a single pound was even better! He quickly got a pound coin out of his wallet and placed it down on the desk as he took the item. "Thank you!" He said and left with it in hand, checking to see if it worked or if the batteries needed changing.
The screen turned on without a problem, and a pixelated little creature showed up on the screen. It was hard to see, due to the very simplistic sprite, and the the fact that it was getting really dark outside. He took a closer look at it, and was finally able to make it out to be a fox-like creature with a large tail: A Renamon. The device had a few creatures to choose from, but as Renamon was always a favourite of his, he quickly selected it without a second thought.
His bus arrived shortly after. He quickly locked the device on his belt, and got on the bus right as the doors were closing. He took a seat. There was nobody else on the bus with him, which was odd...but he couldn't complain too much, more air for him to breath.
"Oh well, at least I'll have a peaceful journey for once this week" He chuckled as he watched everything go by as the bus drove along.
It didn't take long for him to finally get back home. It was pretty much night outside, and it was now rather cold. He shivered and ran to the front door of his house, quickly putting the key in, unlocking the door, and stepping inside. He sighed in relief at the warmness of the place, closing the door behind him and taking a deep breath.
"Home sweet home..." He sighed as he took off his coat and hung it up, walking over to the radiator and warming himself over it. "That feels nice..." He said as he was quickly warmed.
The device suddenly made a weird beeping sound. He picked it up to take a look, and he noticed there was another creature on screen: an enemy encounter probably.
"Hrm, looks like a battle. Well OK, I'm game" He said as he pressed a button. There were no instructions with the toy, so he was playing blind right now, and he hoped that he had pressed the right button.
He saw what looked like an attack animation, then a health bar of some kind going down, another attack animation, another health bar going down...and this repeated itself a few times, until the monster was apparently defeated, and Renamon was cheering and jumping up and down all happy.
"Hehe, looks like the first victory is ours." he smirked as it went back to the normal game display. "I guess I should make myself some food" he said as he put the device back on his belt and headed to the kitchen.
He decided to fry some eggs along with a little bit of bacon. He knew that it wasn't exactly a dinner, but he just wanted something so eat, so he said whatever. The device beeped a few more times while he was cooking, Renamon having to face a few more monsters of increasing strength. She defeated them all, Peter just mashing one button and winning no problem.
For some reason he couldn't help but smile every time she cheered after a battle. He tried to imagine what a battle like that would be like through Renamon eyes...sure, all he saw was pixels dancing on the screen, but with a little bit of imagination and he could see the tall powerful fox creature defending herself against fireballs and delivering some pain to her enemies, all with the grace that even angels would envy.
"Wonder how many more enemies this thing is going to throw at me." He chuckled as another random encounter popped up, Renamon making short work of the enemy once again.
But ironically enough, the moment he finished cooking his dinner, and he brought it to the table, ready to eat it...another random encounter popped up, but this time the enemy was rather big, since the screen had to scroll up to show it all.
"Holy cow, now that IS a challenge..." He said to himself as he examined it. By now with the amount of battles he had gone through, the Renamon should have been able to evolve to its next level, but it was still in its Rookie form. "I guess I'm going to have to be careful with this one!" He said as he started the battle.
The battle went pretty much the same as the others...although it went on for a longer time, and at the end, when the enemy's health bar was empty, Renamon's was like...2%. The victory screen didn't show her cheering, but panting all exhausted.
"Damn, that really took it out of her..." He said as he looked over it, seeing if there was any way to heal her within the menus. If she was to go through another battle right now, she would not make it out in one piece.
He did see the healing option...but he also saw another option that he didn't quite get, which was: "Exit Device".
"I wonder what that's meant to be for..." He said, sounding a little confused. "But first things first." He highlighted the healing option and selected it.
A little animation showed a cross going over Renamon, and her health bar got replenished. She cheered and danced on the screen in happiness.
"There we go, good as new!" He grinned as the little digital pet danced gleefully. There was something about it that just made him smile. He knew it was just a digital image on a toy, but for some reason he couldn't help but like that little thing on the screen.
He went back to the menu and checked the "Exit Device" option again. He assumed that it was the option to turn it off...but the thing already had an on/off switch, so he really didn't know what that was about.
"I guess there is only one way to find out what this does..." He said and selected the option, pressing the button.
The screen suddenly went white, and it suddenly got brighter than it used to be. He couldn't believe that such a tiny device that run on such low energy batteries could shine such light. He then noticed that...lights was coming out in rays from the crack the device had as well, as if there was a freaking small sun inside it.
"Gaaah, what the hell?" He exclaimed as he shielded his eyes from the intense light.
But then the unimaginable happened...the device suddenly shattered in his hand, and hundreds of little letters and numbers started flying out of the intense light the device had inside. They all started flying in circles around it, more and more coming out of it and gathering in groups. At first he saw nothing but a random bunch of flying characters...but he eventually started making out something...a humanoid shaping.
"N..no way..." He stammered, still finding it hard to focus on anything after almost being blinded, but the shape was familiar indeed.
