Act I: Blood

Prologue

I seem to be in a forest. The massive trees cast mysterious shadows on the ground. Sometimes it appears as if those shades are creeping closer and closer to me, but that is just an illusion. The bits of the sky that are visible through the canopy look black and ominous, making the bed of fluorescent mushrooms I am lying on the only proper source of light in this forsaken place.

My limbs are paralyzed, I can't seem to move. There's no avail in standing up. What had happened to me? It must have been a fall or maybe even a fight. But what had caused it? Where am I? Who am I? I have no memories of this, am I dreaming? It is too painful to move my head, so I can't look too far behind me. There is something itching on my back. Wings? Do I have wings? I see smoldering feathers descend from above. One of them slowly falls in the palm of my hand. Though blackened, a hint of a golden hue can still be seen. I wonder if they are mine?

Fear and anger are accumulating in my heart. I seem to be all alone, injured in a dark place. I think I will die here, there is no hope left for me. Something breaks the seemingly perpetual silence. Sounds are coming from the bushes nearby. "Who's there?" No answer is given, "Show yourself or else!" I have no power left to stand toe to toe with an enemy, so I take a deep breath and try to prepare myself for certain death. Two beings slowly emerge from the shadows. They start to approach, but my sight gets blurry and I pass out.

Chapter 1: Secrets

Sam's point of view.

Saturday, the tenth of May, 20:15

The Hague, The Netherlands

Saturday, the best day of the week, the day of drinking far too much alcohol and the day of partying hard. And what am I doing? Sitting on the couch and watching some series. Yeah, it is one of these days that I'm home alone, babysitting on my sister who is sleeping upstairs. Awesome. Luckily I am not really alone on this duty though, my partner in crime is sleeping on the chair next to me. Patamon is his name, he is a Digimon, a creature from another world. I have the feeling that the mission last month didn't do him any good. He hasn't been feeling well as of late, apart from the injury on his back that is.

It happened on our fourth mission, in the region of Bayern, Germany. The objective that night was clear: find the digital anomaly and, if hostile, eliminate it. The mission should have taken a couple of hours to complete. The anomaly was discovered in a small cave. Population density in the surrounding area wasn't that big, so keeping everything a secret for the rest of the world should have been relatively easy. But, by God, I was wrong.

Patamon, Yvonne, Kudamon and I were at the location within a few hours. Just in time for the anomaly to Bio-emerge, to physically appear in the Human World. Despite me not knowing Yvonne and her partner, Kudamon, that well yet, we are still an efficient team. I mean, we've only had four missions now, not much time to socialize except for some small-talk sometimes. Anyway, every route of escape the hostile could use was covered, because having a Digimon on a rampage across the countryside was not a pretty thought. With flashlights on we slowly advanced inside the cave. Then we saw the target. It was a Devidramon, some kind of black demonic dragon.

Patamon and Kudamon evolved to their adult-forms and engaged the vile creature. Unfortunately for us the Devidramon was not alone, two of his brethren were also hiding in the back of the cave. I yelled to my partner that there were more enemies, but he didn't hear my warning so well and turned around to face me. The other two Devidramon seized this opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Angemon, Patamon's angelic adult-form, wounding his back in the process. The attack left one of our team's flanks exposed and gave the enemy the chance to flee from the cave. The chase that ensued was certainly one of the most stressful moments of my life. After a few minutes, our team finally managed to kill the three demons a mere hundred meters before a small village. The mission was kept a secret. I'm still surprised that we didn't wake anyone up. Things could have been far worse. Angemon could have easily handled the situation without my warning. It was stupid of me to distract him. I fear for my teammates, I always fear that they might get killed because of mistakes I make…

Yvonne's point of view.

Saturday, the tenth of May, 20:58

Angers, France

I'm in my room on the third floor, staring out of the window. The sun is slowly going down, coloring the clouds purple. Truly a sight to see. Madeleine, a friend of mine, gives this awesome party in her step-father's bar later this night and I am also invited. All the boys from class are coming too, even Sean! The mere thought of him makes me forget all the stupid things in my life, he is so handsome and he always texts the sweetest things. I shall speak to him tonight, no matter what. Madeleine suggested that I should wait for him to make a move, but I can't wait so long. I will do it myself. And judging by the way he always looks at me, I will succeed.

But first I have to sneak away. Mother luckily went to bed early, she has migraines again. She forbade me to go out this weekend because of the coming exams, but I stopped caring about her opinions a long time ago. I can handle it, she shouldn't interfere with my life. I mean, she never really cared about anything until things went bad between her and father. It seemed her job had been the only thing that meant something in her life until he cheated on her and her whole social world came crashing down. She finally figured out that she'd never given our family enough attention, but it was already too late. The damage had been done. My idiotic father left her and she still carried on with her career. Being one of the best lawyers of France is all fine and dandy, but family should never be sacrificed for it.

I sigh and look around in my room. My Digivice lies on my pillow. The newest model looks almost like a normal smartphone of other people. The device is born when a part of a human's and a Digimon's soul merge together, the partnership transcends the physical boundaries, still quite a mystery why. I walk towards it and pick it up.

"Kudamon, realize."

An elegant, canine-like creature comes out of the device, his white fur reflecting the little bit of light in the room tenfold. He has always been a beacon in my life, I don't know where I'd be without him.

I learned from him that decades before the first contact between Digimon and humans was made, he was a member of the 'Royal Knights'. Sleipmon, Kudamon's ultimate-form, was defeated by his greatest enemy; his own master. My soon-to-be-partner wasn't killed like the rest of the knights though, he was left to rot on the battlefield, humiliated and stripped of his powers. With his fellow brothers in arms dead, and his master following shortly after that, Kudamon lost purpose. I still remember the day I first met him. Life hasn't been the same since then, for the both of us.

"When will we be leaving?" Kudamon asks while hovering in the air around me.

"Hmm, it's nine o'clock at the moment, so in half an hour I guess?" I open up my big white closet and take a look into it "Only need to change clothes and do some makeup… Oh no."

"What's the matter, Yvonne?"

"I have nothing appropriate to wear tonight… Do you know where that blue blouse of mine is?"

Kudamon flies under my bed and starts to pull out a silver suitcase. "You're welcome", he says when the locked suitcase lays in the middle of my room, "It should be in here".

"Ah yes, of course, thank you!" I open the big thing and start emptying it. The suitcase hadn't been emptied since the last holiday weekend when I was staying at my grandpa's place. "Found it!"

While I'm simultaneously redressing and doing my makeup, I look on my clock. It's almost time to go. My heart is pumping faster by the minute, I just can't wait to see Sean, with his black hair, dark eyes and charming voice.

"I'm ready to go", I tell Kudamon, "You know what to do."

He nods and floats out of the window. My Digivice starts to glow. A beam of light suddenly erupts from it and hits Kudamon mid-air. He starts to transform, his white and slender body changes into that of a big fox, Reppamon. The mysterious-looking creature lands on all four of his legs, his Digivolution never ceases to amaze me. I climb up on the edge of the window, it's five meters down from up her, so I have to be careful. I take a deep breath and let myself fall down on his back. He then proceeds to sprint and jumps over the hedges surrounding the mansion. Off we go.

Patamon's point of view.

Saturday, the tenth of May, 21:30

The Hague, the Netherlands

I hear a voice as I'm starting to wake up.

"Hey, little guy, is everything alright?"

Where am I? Ah yes, I remember. Home. Safe and sound on the chair, nothing to worry about. Only had a strange nightmare, like I had yesterday and the day before yesterday. I open my eyes and look around the living room. Some sweet-smelling flowers Sam's mum bought today decorate the table and conceal the TV from my view. His mother loves decorations in the house. Judging from the sounds that are coming from the television some kind of action movie is on.

"Hey sleepyhead, you hear me?" The voice again.

"Huh? Oh hi Sam, sorry, just woke up."

He looks at me from the couch next to me with a concerned look in his blue eyes. "How is your back?" He asks, "Has it healed a bit yet?"

My back still hurts, not as much as it first did though. "Yes, it's fine. The pain is almost gone, thanks for asking." He seems to look more relieved. Good, Sam is always far too worried about minor things.

"You are not lying, aren't you?" He gets his Digivice out of his pocket and puts it on the table in front of him.

Oh, I guess that I was not convincing enough. "No, of course not", I say, "It's really getting better, I swear." My back actually still hurts, but he doesn't need to know. It's better for him that way.

I unfold the two wings on my head and shake them around a little, they're still stiff thanks to that long nap. I start thinking about the strange nightmares. All of them depicted the same forest, the same moment, the same fears... They started vaguely but are becoming clearer every day. I won't bother Sam with it though, he has enough to think about right now.

The missions we get can be stressful and even horrifying for the Humans, they see things they've never seen before. It's only fitting that they get some rest sometimes. When we were near Jelgava in Latvia, on our second mission, we found some dead road workers who had been dragged into the forest and were impaled on the lower branches of some fallen trees. Territorial markings. I still can't get the look on Sam's face out of my head, it was pale and filled with horror. We expected a demon or another kind of Digimon who would be fond of such carnage. Not a freaking Moosemon. Moosemon are generally kind, gentle creatures, but this one had clearly gone mad. We found his little hideout and killed him, good riddance I say. The local authorities told about a Human serial killer, but we knew better. Secrecy, such is the life of those of Section Grey.

Section Grey, one of the three departments. We fight those of my kind who would dare to threaten the Human World from out of the shadows. Those Digimon seem to think of Humans as nothing more than playthings, slaves or their next meal. It's disgusting. Humans are much more than that, they have a heart and soul just like us.

The Digivice on the table starts to glow. Sam picks it up. "Oh God, a message from Searchmon" Sam says, "It's time again." His face starts to get a bit pale, just as in Latvia. Sam is many things, but brave is not among them.

"Go get your things", I say, "Oh and don't forget the orb."

"On it." Sam stands up from the couch and hastily walks towards the stairs. "Could you please go back in the Digivice Patamon?" He asks me, "I'm afraid that sis might wake up any moment and we don't want her to… You get it."

"Of course, but where are we going?"

"To England..."

Kudamon's point of view.

Saturday, the tenth of May, 21:40

Angers, France

Silently I sprint along the main road to the town of Anger. No one sees me, no one hears me. The lights from the cars barely miss me. The roads to Angers are busy, there is always traffic to and from the city. I see the Île Saint-Aubin on my right, a nature reserve. Yvonne likes to take long evening strolls with me in the summers there. Sometimes I feel guilty that so much of her free time is devoted to me, but then I remember that she does this for a reason, that she actually enjoys hanging out with me because she can relax then.

She sits on my back, she's nervous, I can smell it. I've never seen her so in love before. That boy really means something to her. For weeks she has talked about him, how wonderful and handsome he is and how all the other girls are jealous of her. I honestly don't really care as long as he does not break her heart. Plenty of people have already done so before.

The day Yvonne and I met is still fresh in my memory. It was two years ago in a dark and filthy alley in Angers, the weather was bad and the city looked gray. I was looking for food through the garbage when I saw her. She stood there all alone in a corner, sobbing, with an unlit cigarette in her hand. The rain had ruined her makeup and her clothes were dirty. The poor thing had heard that her father was off with a younger woman and just a week before her grandma had died in a car accident. It had all been too much for her. Everything she ever loved was torn from her and everyone who should have been there, abandoned her instead.

I had been living in the Human World for years and no one ever discovered me, but something pulled me towards her, pushing me out of hiding. She was obviously dumbstruck when she saw me. I expected her to scream, but she just stood there, speechless. Our souls seemed to connect as if we already knew each other. Then a blinding flash of light illuminated the alley as a Digivice came into being in front of us.

She took me in and taught me everything about the Humans and their customs. But it wasn't for too long until a representative from Tamer Union contacted us. They found us by tracking down the background signals of the newly created Digivice. A whole new world literally opened up for her, but even though she was welcomed warmly into Tamer Union, there was still an issue. Me.

All of the organization's Digimon were surprised that one of the Knights was still alive. They were of the opinion that I should have died with the rest of my brothers. In their eyes, I am the coward who was too afraid to meet his destiny. I always ignore them, they're nothing to me. But Yvonne sees it in a different way, she can't accept it that they hate me for no good reason. She constantly defends me from mean looks and reproaches when we are at HQ. It's also one of the reasons why she doesn't like being there. Patamon doesn't seem to care, but that's understandable, he's too young to have known the War of Pride.

We are almost there. I can see the Cathedral of Saint-Maurice in the distance as we come closer to the promenades along the river Sarthe. The last sunrays of the day give the typical slate roofs of Angers a dark blue color. The promenades and boulevards are filled with people, not a good place for a Digimon to hang out.

"I think you will have to walk the rest of the road on your own," I say. "It's too crowded tonight, they might notice me."

"Yeah, you're right." She lets herself slide off my back.

"Good hunting, Yvonne." I smile at her.

She laughs and gives me a spontaneous hug. "Thank you, Kudamon." She points her Digivice to me and reverts me back into it.