Chapter 1
Ivan Maddox had walked the streets of Aspertia Town that morning, just as he did yesterday and the day before; just as he always did since he moved to this school near his home. Though, today was different to his usual carefree walk while singing some of his favorite hits. Today, he was quiet and furious. He mistakenly got suspended from school due to a fight he got into minutes ago and ordered to stay home for 3 days. The reason was a bully that was harassing his best friend. The bastard was known for demanding snacks from the weak people that wouldn't dare to break school rules, and his favorite target was his best friend. Normally, his best friend would give regardless of Ivan's protests to deny him the luxury, but when she did the contrary today, the big guy almost snapped at her and called her several dirty things that made him snap too.
He smirked as he recalled his memories. Furious, Ivan approached the guy and gave him a kick on his sacred area. "Hit the vital areas for an easy victory" he always thought. After that, he gave a punch on his head which the big guy stumble back helpless. The look he gave when he looked at Ivan was priceless. Despite him being twice Ivan's size, the coward probably didn't even know how to fight and was only left with a shameful retreat to his class. Some of his colleagues, including his best friend, applauded his courage to stand up against the boy. Sending a bully packing wasn't an everyday thing after all and it was quite an achievement. Though that didn't last long until when the principal called him.
Although the sentence was unfair to the 16 year old boy, he didn't care much about it. He had done what he had to. And that idiot will probably think twice before harassing her again.
Arriving home, the boy headed to his room and dropped him backpack on his shelf and headed to a much needed shower. Normally for any son, it was expected to hear parents banter when they received the news, though that gladly wasn't Ivan's occasion. His parents were working at Sinnoh and they would only return that weekend. They usually did that when they were periodically transferred to other Silph companies at the other regions. So, Ivan had no other choice but to do the cooking and cleaning.
Most boys around his age were by now Pokémon Trainers, something that have been denied to him since he was age 10. His parents often protested him to not follow a trainer's path since it was dangerous and involved meeting with lots of wild Pokémon. Ivan also often barked saying he was ready, but his parents resolve were final. Since then, he had to live a life of normal boys inside a regular school. Three years ago he gave up on his dream to be a trainer and build a powerful team to take the Champion challenge. Instead, he sought another within his reach.
However, on that morning of September, the young boy had no idea that fate had other intents for that one. He had no way of knowing that it was going to be a long, long time before he ever saw his house, parents, or even his world again.
The gears that controlled his destiny began to turn with a heavy lurch.
After taking his bath, Ivan headed to the kitchen to prepare his lunch. Today, he would cook one of his favorite dishes to lighten up his head from the previous events. Spaghetti, ketchup and soda were always enough to make him happy and sometimes make him sleep for one good hour.
His mind repeatedly tried to making him think about the fight, and his conversation with the principal. That was the last thing he wanted to do. All he was interested in was cooling off and forgetting it, and since he was constantly getting himself worked up every time he began to come down as his brain kept turning back to it, Ivan ended up being careless about his food as he dropped more sauce than he intended.
Shrugging it off, he placed the pan on the stove, set the gas to release and ignited the fire. It would take 15 minutes to be ready to eat, so he decided to watch TV in his living room while he waited. Switching to PokéNews channel, he came up with a report about an interesting battle at the Sinnoh League. There was a fight between a 14 year old boy and a dude around his thirties. According to the reporter, the older guy was using a Legendary Pokémon called Latios against the boy's called Pikachu. Ivan was astonished. It was hard enough to even see a Legendary and a dude from Sinnoh manages to capture one! No doubt that his other Pokémon must be strong. Focusing his attention to the TV again, the boy was down to his last Pokémon Pikachu and the dude had other four in battle readiness. It was more than evident that he was going to lose, but the look in eyes showed such determination that he kept going nevertheless.
Both Pokémon were having a hard time against each other as both shared series of attacks. The little Pikachu was the most impressive sight however. No normal Pikachu would give so much trouble to a Legendary, especially Latios. Then, its trainer came up with a bold strategy. He commanded it to jump on top of the Latios and do series of Thunderbolts. But, the attack seemed to do little against Latios and Pikachu was shaken off as a result. Reaching the ground, Latios used Luster Purge on the still descending yellow rodent. Pikachu countered with Volt Tackle and Iron Tail, taking against the force of the Luster Purge which caused a big explosion. In the end, both Pokémon fainted and since the boy's last Pokémon also fainted, the dude was crowned the winner. Not a surprise either way, but still a breathtaking short battle.
After 15 minutes passed, Ivan headed back to the kitchen to turn off the stove. The food smelled great although he had been careless this time. He grabbed a dish and filled with spaghetti. When he was about to place it on the table nearby, he stepped on something. Thanks to his reflexes, he quickly regained his balance and safely placed the dish on the table. Looking down, he spotted an object at the floor.
The object was a gray and black in. He kept waiting for his brain to place the name of the item in his mind, but it never came. The more he looked at it, the more interested he was in finding out exactly what the mystery prize was, so with a light shrug as if to ask 'what am I waiting for', Ivan kneeled and grabbed it. His fingers wrapped around it, which felt like hard plastic.
It was exotic shaped colored gray in the middle with black support at the bottom right. At the wider end there was a small screen with a golden wheel and what appeared to be the small nub of a flashlight. Near the top sat a small screen above a handful of buttons, two black and a tiny light blue one.
To Ivan, it looked like a Pokédex, but the screen far too small to see anything on. It might have also been a cellphone of some kind, but if so it wasn't like any brand he had ever seen before. And as far as he remembers, he didn't order anything like it and no one could enter inside the house since he had the keys. Perhaps he had forgotten to close the kitchen's mini window.
Well, whatever it is, it not working, he figured. None of the buttons seemed to do anything and, as far as he was able to see, there wasn't any place to put in batteries or attach a charger. Whatever it was he was holding seemed to be ultimately pointless, yet still kinda cool, and since it looked like whoever owned it before just tossed here, Ivan decided that it would be okay if he held on to it.
Stuffing the object into his empty pocket, the boy turned and started to head to the refrigerator. His mouth was already watering too much from thinking on his soda and ketchup.
Before opening it, Ivan got no further than two steps before the strangest feeling came over him. The world around him began to blur, like he was looking through a camera lens that was slowing being turned out of focus. Turning his eyes down to look at himself, Ivan saw that his own body was still as clear as ever; it was everything else that was going out of focus around him, fading into a white light that hurt his eyes a little. Squinting, the boy felt ready to cry out for help when he suddenly fell. It wasn't a 'losing your balance' kind of fall, but more like someone had opened up a trapdoor beneath his feet. The world around him had all vanished into pure a white glow leaving the boy with no firm ground to stand upon and nothing to grab on to, leaving him to fall, tumbling down into an endless, empty abyss.
At some point during the night Ivan must have kicked the sheets off his bed, because he felt a cool breeze caressing his entire body. Which was strange since he always closed the windows before sleep as Aspertia was a cold city during the night. Yet, what he found really strange was that his pillow was hard instead of the usual soft. Not wanting to awake from his slumber, he decided to shrug it off, but even that was proving to be impossible as some annoying being was poking his left arm. He waved it off and mumbled few times to go away, but it insisted.
"Wake up…" The sound came faintly to his ears, probably the owner who is poking him. It was feminine as far as he could make out. It was sweet and calming, probably from an angel.
"Wake up!" This time, the being shook him abruptly which made him roll a bit.
Ivan groaned at the aggression. Even If it was a girl, she was getting some barking back. "Hey! Who the hec-"
When he set his eyes on his tormentor, his mouth refused to say more. First, he thought it was an inconsiderate girl, but now he was questioning his own eyes if they were seeing what he was seeing. Standing next to him, a fox; or what sort of looked vaguely like a foxlike Pokémon anyway. The creature was tall, but about his height and stood upright on long, powerful looking legs. Her fur was a mostly black hue except for the white on her stomach, hands, feet, and the tips of her ears and tail. There was a long, thick mane that flowed over her chest and halfway down her back. She wore a pair of purple armbands, each having a Yin-Yang symbol inscribed on them. What struck him the most, though, where her eyes: two deeply green marbles floating in a pool of blackness. The stare they gave off was piercing and wary, but not exactly un-kind. It was probably a Dark-type.
As he looked into her face, he saw her hand move out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively, he flinched away from it like an abused animal in fear of being attacked. Instead of coming at him, the arm only reached down at towards him; not in a threading fashion, but rather to help get him to his feet.
Ivan looked at hand which had only three finger and one thumb with a wickedly sharp looking claw at the end of each. He was hesitant to take that hand for fear of what might happen once he was in its grasp, but if this foxlike Pokémon really meant to hurt him wouldn't he be dead while he was sleeping?
Seeing no other option (running wouldn't probably work since her powerful legs could definitely outrun him in matter of seconds) Ivan took the hand and was yanked to his feet. As soon as he was stable, the hand let go, but he still watched the being in front of him warily. He had never heard of any Pokémon like this one. Was he dreaming?
"Finally you came to your senses, huh? Are you okay?" She said with the calming, sweet and feminine voice he had heard before. That was when something hit Ivan like a slap. Pokémon don't talk in plain English; only say their names all over. Then how was this one talking so normally?
Not wanting to leave the being in the vacuum, which would certainly result in angering her, Ivan decided to start talking. "Yeah, yeah. Just a slight headache."
"Good. So now, answer me this." Running her eyes up and down his body, the fox made a single slow circle around the boy, as if inspecting him. "Just what kind of Digimon are you, exactly? I have never seen one of your kind around here."
Ivan opened his mouth and tried to speak, producing a short grunt that might have been the word 'I' before his tongue simply went dead in his throat. Digimon? Was it some kind of alternative name for Pokémon in this place? By the way, where was he anyway? Looking around, it seemed he was in a forest.
"What? Gatomon bite your tongue?" She chuckled, seeming to be just teasing with him. Normally, he would give an annoyed stare, but he was far more concerned as to where he was at the moment. And what the hell was a Gatomon anyway?
"Uhm… sorry, but I-I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not a Digimon, I'm human." He said after remembering how to speak again.
"A human?" the fox repeated with a raised brow. "It's been years since any human has ever been here. How did you get here anyway, kid?"
Despite he was 17, Ivan didn't mind being called a kid; he was used to it anyway due to his playful personality when he was around his friends. "My name is Ivan Roth and I'm not sure how I got here, exactly. The last thing I remember I was making my lunch at my house like I normally do and I saw this thing on the floor." Digging into his pocket Ivan pulled out the plastic device and showed it to her. "I pick it up and then the next thing I know I wake up here with you standing next to me."
The fox leaned a bit forward to get a better look at the device. She looked at it for a moment as if making absolutely sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. When she was positive beyond a shadow of a doubt, her face was surprised, but somewhat amused all the same.
"Now that's a really rare sight." She said. "Boy, do you even know what are you holding?"
"No, that's what I want to know too." He answered.
"This is a very important machine called a Digivice. These are given to a very special few who are known as DigiDestined; young boys and girls usually around your own age who are called into the Digital World-and that's where you are now-to defend it whenever a strong enough force as risen with the power to potentially alter or destroy this world. If you are here, then something terrible is about to happen, if it didn't already."
In other words to Ivan, you'd only return to your world after saving this one. What of gibberish was that? Why couldn't they solve their problems on their own?
"So, I have to sacrifice my life to save this place?" He replied completely skeptical.
The fox flinched a bit in reaction to his sudden outburst. She thought about barking back, but she couldn't. His situation was understandable after all. "Look, I know it looks insane. But, have you thought about your world in the process?"
Now, that got Ivan's attention. "What do you mean?"
"Whether you like it or not, both our worlds are connected and I have heard occasions where Digimon had previously invaded the Human World when other DigiDestined came here too. Which means, there is nothing stopping that from happening again. Ah, there is another thing that you should know.
He opened his mouth to say something, to dispute her wild claims, but one look into the fox's narrowing eyes and Ivan thought it was best to stay quiet.
"There is a law in this world now that forbids Digimon from associating with humans, whether they are DigiDestined or not. I don't know why our God thinks so lowly of humans, but not all Digimon agrees with him." There was pause as she looked at him, noticing his expression of fear. "And before you freak out on me, I'm one of those Digimons. We acknowledge that humans have been a great help in our darkest moments and I guess history is repeating itself by the looks of it."
To Ivan, this all still sounded completely insane. He didn't want to believe that he had somehow stumbled through to another world; it was too stupid to even entertain. Yet, he still could not deny that this place was far away from his home. Something was going on here that wasn't normal, that much he knew for sure. But if what she said was true, then there's little option to him but to play along.
"If I do this, are you sure I can go home?" Ivan asked, wanting to cut right to the meat of the topic. "If that thing, that digivice brought me here can it take me back?"
"Well, I heard that the previous DigiDestineds were sent home as soon as their jobs were fulfilled, so it should work the same with you." She shrugged.
With a small sigh the boy looked down at his feet, suddenly feeling too tired to hold his own head up. He had no idea just what he was going to do. He was as good as trapped here, and how he was supposed to save an entire world all by himself anyway?
"Hey, cheer up there, boy. Look at me." the fox said in a tone that seemed to be kind. Ivan raised his head as he was told to do and met her gaze. "If it means anything, I'll help you in your journey ahead."
Ivan was surprised to hear that, to say the least. Looking into her face, he could tell that she was thinking something behind that stony expression, but as to what, he had no idea.
"Why would you help me?" Ivan asked since by all accounts the woman did not seem to exactly like him.
"Well, like I said, your presence here means something terrible is about to happen. Whatever it is, if left unchecked, it could mean the end of all life in this world, including you and me. So, I have decided to help you along the way." she answered, her response seeming to be honest.
"Th-thank you. Thank you so much, for everything. I-I don't even know what your name is..."
"BlackRenamon," she said as she held out her hand to him. "and I guess we'll be partners from now on, huh?"
This scene felt very familiar to him. It was pretty much like befriending Pokémon when he heard about it on PokéNews. The only thing different was no pokéballs attached.
The boy smiled and gripped her hand. They both felt it at the same time: a small bolt of electricity that coursed through their hands. Ivan and Renamon simultaneously released their grip on each other's hands, with Ivan dropping the device from his other hand.
Whereas the thing should have fallen into the brush below as soon as it was released, it instead hung in midair. It stayed floating in place for several seconds before rising upwards where it stopped just a little above their heads. A voice then radiated from it; a mechanized male one that Ivan immediately related to the one that Pokédex held when it was describing a Pokémon. This voice, however, had a much difference message to give.
"Digital Device activated. Beginning registration and Spirit infusion. Please, remain still. Thank you."
A white beam shot out from the device's screen and when it struck his chest, he could physically feel it. The experience wasn't painful in any way, but he suddenly felt as though he weren't alone in his own skin. Then, he saw it. A faint silhouette coming from the device. The experience was so fast that he hadn't time to fully make out what it was. The beam then turned off, taking with it the paralysis.
"Spirit Holder and Tamer: Ivan Maddox confirmed." It spoke; much to the surprise of the boy it called by name.
The exact same action then repeated for BlackRenamon who looked like she the same things that Ivan did and was just as confused by it all. She bared her teeth at the device; very white and very sharp from what he could see. Then, just as it had for him, the light vanished.
"Partner: BlackRenamon confirmed. Welcome to the Digital World."
The device then floated over above Ivan's head where it waited for only a moment before falling like a rock. The last thing the boy wanted to do was touch the thing after all of that, but his quick reflexes had him catching it anyway as if fell perfectly into his hands.
When the digivice landed in his palms, he first expected to feel that shock again, except it never came. The device had gone back to the same inanimate state as before, only... it wasn't exactly the same. It held an energy now that Ivan could not quite figure. Now longer was this thing a meaningless piece of plastic, it was something more, something greater than it had been now that it had finished that strange task.
Looking up at fox, BlackRenamon, Ivan saw that she was stunned; actually stunned by what had transpired. He wanted to talk to her, ask her if she had any idea what just happened and what it meant, but he never needed to. Seconds after the event, he understood what it meant. It was just like when you befriended a Pokémon and asked it if it wanted to be a Trainer's Pokémon. But, in this case, the Trainer, or Tamer like the voice said, and the Partner are chosen to be partners. It just happens; just like an unexpected rain on a completely sunny day.
While he was busy with his thoughts, Ivan didn't notice BlackRenamon looking at him, still surprised. The silhouette she saw going towards the boy, the Digivice saying he was a Spirit Holder… She now had no doubt that power would decide the fate of her world in the future.
Well, that about it so far. I confess there were things I got from other stories as references to this setting, so their owners receive the credits. Like I said at the summary, I'm looking for a beta reader specialized in both Pokémon and Digimon stories (if interested, please show qualifications) in order to learn to set chapters in a better way (it's really difficult for me to imagine things in English since I'm still working on my vocab and fluency).
Please, send me a PM if interested. Appreciate your kindness in advance...
