Our story begins within one of the many places of Massachusetts. Boston. Particularly in the sunny countryside where the farms were. It was a lovely day as the birds sang happily as there was not a cloud in the sky.
Next to a big red farm was a house. The sounds of something sizzling were heard from the outside as the scent of something divine flew its way outside. There, a middle-aged woman hummed happily as she cooked food on a stove in the kitchen.
Sitting in the next room was a man about the same age as her reading the newspaper to see what was going on in the world. Suddenly, the two of them heard what sounded like rushing footsteps heading down the stairs.
The man gave a small smirk. "Here he comes…"
It was then someone had practically sprinted down the stairs. He was a young man in his late teens with a wide grin and green eyes that sparkled with excitement. He wore a red checkered long-sleeved shirt, a jet-black bandana, blue jeans and brown boots. The most noticeable thing was a pair of goggles that rested on top of his head.
"Morning, folks!" The young man yelled happily.
"Morning, Jasper." The woman said from the kitchen.
"An early bird as always, aren't we, Jasper?" The man said without looking up from his newspaper.
"Hey, pops, I am a country boy! I live for the sunrise!" The young man grinned before taking a seat so he could sit down.
"Heh. That's my boy." The father chuckled.
"So what are we having for breakfast?" Jasper said immediately grabbing his knife and fork.
"Oh, nothing special. Just some good old sausages and eggs!" The mother called out.
"Sweet! Food, food, food!" Jasper chanted banging his fists on the table.
"All right, all right, I heard you the first time." The mother said walking into the dining room with some plates with food on them. "Okay, breakfast t…"
She then froze before looking at the table to see her husband and son. She paused before looking exasperated.
"Jasper, where is your sister?" The mother said flatly.
The teenager's grin vanished as he waved it off. "Probably still sleeping."
The mother narrowed her eyes. "Jasper, you know that we should eat together like a family."
"Hey, tell HER that!" Jasper pointed out. "If you are that upset with not letting her breakfast go to waste, I will have it."
"If you don't go upstairs and get your sister, I will waste YOUR breakfast." The mother threatened.
Jasper's eyes bugged out at this. "What!?"
The mother merely glared at her to confirm that she wasn't joking around. Jasper looked in horror before turning towards his father who still had his head in the newspaper.
"Dad!" Jasper whined in an attempt to get support.
"Listen to your mother, son." The father said. "You know as well as I know that she dominates the kitchen."
Jasper was about to counter that before quickly realizing that he was beat and admitted defeat with a sigh.
"All right, all right, I'll go get her." Jasper whined.
The mother immediately perked up. "That's a good boy! I knew you would listen to reason!"
"Reason? You are practically blackmailing me into it!" Jasper muttered.
The mother narrowed her eyes. "What was that?"
Jasper jumped with a wince. "Um, I mean I am into it!"
With that, he ran off towards the stairs practically rushing up them. The father looked to see his son running up. He then gave a small smirk.
"And that is why I fell in love with you." The father chuckled.
Meanwhile, Jasper slumped down the hallway looking annoyed that he couldn't eat his breakfast immediately.
"That stupid sister of mine." Jasper muttered. "Why do we have to wait until SHE wakes up?"
He then walked in front of a door. He let out a deep sigh before knocking his fist around it a few times.
"Yo, sis, wake up! It is time for breakfast!" Jasper called out. All he got was silence. He rolled his eyes. "Come on! Our meals are going to get cold!"
Again, nothing but silence. Jasper growled before putting his hand on the doorknob and turning it letting himself in. He then stomped inside to see a messy room with the curtains drawn in preventing any sunlight inside. He was quick to notice a figure lying underneath the covers.
Jasper's eyebrow twitched before heading over to the window. "Honestly, asleep on such a beautiful day…"
With that, he grabbed the curtains and pulled them apart filling the entire room with sunlight. This immediately made the figure underneath the covers groan in pain.
"Oh no… Don't tell me it's morning already?" She complained with the covers muffling her voice.
"Yes, it is! Now get up! It is time to eat!" Jasper ordered.
"Ugh… Why do we have to eat breakfast so early?" She whined.
Jasper's eyes widened. "Early? It is only eight o'clock!"
The figure underneath the covers immediately threw them off revealing that she was quite tall and in her mid-teens with the same eyes as her brother. Her brown hair was completely ruffled by bed head as she looked at Jasper in disbelief.
"ONLY eight o'clock! Most of my friends aren't even up until ten!" The girl complained.
"That is because they don't work on a farm." Jasper said wagging his finger. "As a farm kid, it is natural to get up so early."
"That is stereotyping, Jasper…" The girl scolded before lying back down on her side. "A NEGATIVE stereotype I may add."
"How the hell is waking up early a negative stereotype?" The brother snapped before rushing over to the girl grabbing her. "And what do you think you are doing!? Like hell I am going to let MY food go to waste because of YOU!"
"H-Hey!" The girl said struggling to break free. "L-Let go!"
"Yeah right! If I let you get your way, you go sleep until one!" Jasper said literally dragging his sister out of bed.
"What is wrong with you!?"
"What is wrong with me is that I am hungry!"
"I should have known this was about food!"
"So I am a glutton, sue me!"
"I will if you pull off my arm!"
"Ha! Like you have the time to do so!"
The mother looked up upstairs hearing the sounds of a struggle and her children fighting. "Um, do you think we should go up there?"
"Probably but that would involve getting involved." The father said without looking up.
/-/-/-/-/-/
Eventually Jasper managed to drag his sister all the way out of her room. Realizing that she was defeated, she sighed before accepting Jasper's request and going to breakfast without a fight. Soon, all four family members eat their breakfast.
As they ate, the mother looked at her daughter in discomfort as she was dressed in only her pyjamas and had a large case of bed head.
"Ruby, it would be grand if all of us could eat breakfast without looking at your bed state." The mother frowned.
"Heh. You are asking for a miracle there, Ma." Jasper said with food in his mouth.
"Don't speak with your mouth full, son." The father said.
"Sorry, ma, I just don't like getting up early." Ruby apologized before putting a piece of sausage in her mouth.
"So I noticed." The mother muttered. She then brightened up. "So after you finish your morning chores, are you kids going to be doing today?"
Jasper immediately grinned as he looked up. "Oh yeah! Paul, Joe and I are going to spend the day in the city!"
"Oh really? What are you going to do?" The mother asked.
"Oh, I don't know. Playing some video games at the arcade, listening to music, skateboarding at the skate park. The sky's the limit until sundown!" Jasper smirked.
The father chuckled. "Just don't tucker yourself out too much, champ. We still need your arm tonight."
"Of course, pops." Jasper said holding his arm. "I can't go into our bowling night not at full energy."
"Ruby, what about you?" The mother asked getting her daughter's attention.
"Huh? I don't know. Just lay around the barn a bit." The girl shrugged.
"Shocker." Jasper said rolling his eyes. Ruby hardly looked fazed by this.
"Again? Ruby, there is life outside of this barnyard you know." The mother said.
"I know. I just prefer to stay inside." Ruby shrugged before continuing her breakfast.
"Why? There is literally an entire world right in front of you and you want to blow it off by watching the clouds go up?" Jasper challenged.
"Meh. Not my style." Ruby said.
"Such a casual girl. I am not sure where you get it from." The father said.
"Ma says she gets it from YOUR side." Jasper pointed out.
"Hey…" The father muttered as the mother smirked at him.
/-/-/-/-/-/
Later, that day, Jasper and Ruby were doing their chores that they had been assigned to for the time. Their parents were both doing their chores inside of the house leading the teenagers to doing work outside of the house.
Ruby had long bathed and dressed for outdoors. She now had on a light pink long sleeved shirt over red overalls along with brown boots and a blue bandana tied around her neck. She also had on a pair of glasses and had her hair tied into two pigtails.
One of those chores had the two creating small bales of hay and stacking them into a pile. The sounds of various barn animals filled the air as the two worked underneath the bright sun. Jasper seemed to be quite a few feet ahead of his older sister.
"Come on, sis! You are falling behind!" Jasper called out behind him.
"Ugh, I am coming, I am coming! How the hell are you not tired from all of this heat?" Ruby whined.
Jasper stopped in his tracks. "Because I am a farm kid and you should be too!"
"Again, that is negative stereotyping." Ruby muttered.
Jasper rolled his eyes. "Just come on. These are literally the last two anyway."
Ruby scoffed before walking after Jasper. "Okay… I am coming."
Jasper then walked over to a large pile of hay bales and placed it on the top before waiting for Ruby to finally make her way over and placed it right next to it.
"Ugh, glad THAT is over with." Ruby said sighing in relief before collapsing on the hay bale she just put down.
Jasper just rolled his eyes at this. "Okay, "negative stereotyping" aside, how are you NOT used to it by now? It is basically what we do every day."
Ruby merely shook her head. "Too tiring. Doing it a million times doesn't make it any less harder."
Jasper shook his head. "Well, whatever. The sooner we finish our chores, the sooner you could go back to not having a life and I could go back to having a grand one."
Ruby paused before standing up straight. "Well… Seeing that you put it THAT way, we might as well get the rest of the chores over with."
With that, she walked off with Jasper staring at her with a stunned look on his face. He stood in his place for a moment before growling and rushing after his sister with an annoyed look on his face.
"That was supposed to be an insult, Ruby!" Jasper roared in anger.
The younger sibling looked back while still walking. "Oh, if that is the case, then you suck at insulting people."
"How the hell are you so happy about not having a life?" Jasper said with a twitching eyebrow as the two walked over to a fenced area where there were a lot of chickens walking around inside of it.
Ruby shrugged before kneeling down to pick up a basket of chicken feed before entering the chicken fence. "I don't know. I guess by "having a life", that means having a job, hobbies and lots of friends."
Jasper stared in disbelief as he followed Ruby inside closing the door behind him to prevent any chickens from escaping.
"Oh, I am sorry. But if that is your definition of having a life then why did you not get offended?" Jasper challenged.
Ruby merely sighed before throwing some chicken feed on the ground causing most of the chickens to scamper over to her feet eating the food that had been thrown down.
"Well, first off, having a job meaning all waking up early every day and literally work all day until you come home when the sun is setting." Ruby said.
She then made her way over to a part of the area to throw down some more chicken feed where the birds that didn't immediately went after the first helping reacted this time rushing straight over.
"Second off, having hobbies also requires a lot of effort and/or dedication." Ruby explained.
She then looked up at her brother.
"Finally, the people in the school are always going after the latest new trend. If I make friends with any of them, they will most likely drag me into the endless cycle on what is hip or something like that." Ruby said.
Jasper stared in disbelief as to what his sister had said. "I don't believe you. You are that lazy that you are isolating yourself from other people just so you don't have to memorize any new trends?"
"I wouldn't say that. Whenever somebody talks to me, almost always appears in their conversation." Ruby said before mimicking someone's voice. "Oh, do you have a favourite battle monster? Oh, which shop do you currently shop at? It always ends with me saying no and stopping the conversation right there awkwardly."
"But Ruby, you can't just be stuck in the past forever." Jasper warned.
"Why not? It is far too late for me to get into the flow now. Besides, we already got a modern computer in our house." The bespectacled girl reminded.
"A modern compu…" Jasper sputtered before shouting out loud startling several chickens. "That was an outdated model that my friend gave me because he had gotten the latest version of it!"
"There, right there!" Ruby pointed out. "If I get attached to one trend, a next one would just replace it in two months, three tops. It is not worth getting into."
"Yeah but…" Jasper started.
"In any case, this at least reminded me why I loved the country so much." Ruby said walking past her brother. "I could just stay out of the rush there."
With that, she walked towards the entrance of the chicken fence opening it and letting herself out leaving Jasper alone with the chicken eating around oblivious to his solemn face.
He then sighed before holding his head. "That sister of mine."
/-/-/-/-/-/
Meanwhile, in another location, a lone figure stood up straight with a determined look on their face. They then made their way forward with their expression never leaving their face. They slowly made their way towards a larger figure but despite the obvious size difference, the smaller figure continued to advance.
Soon, they stopped themselves right in front of the giant. The small figure paused with a glare before raising its hand up towards the imposing person. This went on for a full five seconds with tension building up with each passing second.
Suddenly, a bright light had been emitted. The small figure's eyes widened when they noticed this.
"My time… It has finally come…"
/-/-/-/-/-/
The rest of the day was pretty simple for Ruby. After finally finishing all of her chores, she had spent most of the day resting in a wide grassy field watching the clouds slowly drift up. It was just the way she wanted it.
Before long, the sun had set down for the day and it was time to come inside for dinner time. After finishing her evening meal for the day, she had gone from lying in a grassy field to lying on top of the couch.
She watched as her family who were now wearing matching shirts each carrying a large heavy-looking black bag in their hand.
"Now, Ruby, are you sure you don't want to come?" The mother asked. "It is far too late to join as an alternate but you could still spectate."
"No, that is okay." The teenaged girl said lying on the couch.
"Aw, come on. It will be fun. There will be…" The mother started.
"Ma, don't even try." Jasper said rolling his eyes. "She is beyond help."
The mother immediately glared at her son. "Jasper!"
"It is all right. I don't even care what he thinks of me." Ruby muttered looking to the side.
The mother paused. "Well if you say so. Just call us if anything comes."
"K." Ruby said.
"Well, shall we be off?" The father explained. "Our match doesn't start soon but I want to meet up with a few friends before that."
"Sure, why not?" Jasper grinned. "Let's go do it."
With that, all three of them had made their way over to the front door. Jasper opened the door allowing his parents to walk out. When they were outside, Jasper cast Ruby a glare. However, his sister didn't seem to notice it as she was too busy trying to get comfortable. Jasper just rolled his eyes before exiting the house closing the door behind him.
Ruby merely lay on her sofa as she saw the shadows of her family walked past the window on their way to the car. A couple of minutes later, she heard the voice of a vehicle starting up and driving away. She smiled before closing her eyes.
"Peace at last." Ruby sighed.
With no parents or brother, she was free to lie on the couch and do whatever she wanted. Which naturally led to doing nothing at all.
However, life had other plans for her.
Behind her standing on top of a desk was the computer she and Jasper was talking about earlier. Because nobody was currently using it, it was off.
Yet the screen suddenly turned on by itself in a glowing flash making a loud noise. Ruby snapped out of her chilled daze when she heard this. Sitting up straight, she looked around until she saw that the computer was on.
"What the hell?" Ruby asked wondering how the device was switched on by itself. She obviously never touched it and if one of her family did it then why was the computer just starting up now?
It was then she saw something that made her pupils shrank in pure fear. Some kind of comet had zoomed out of the computer resulting in a bright flash. Ruby yelped before ducking down in front of the couch and covered her head in a vain attempt to protect herself in case it exploded on the spot.
Ruby winced as she waited for the explosion to come. However after lying down in fear for a few seconds, she opened her eyes realizing that nothing was happening. Slowly gathering her courage, she crept to the couch before peeking her eyes from the top of it to see what was happening.
It was then her eyes widened in shock and horror. In the middle of the floor was some kind of giant candle on a stick. However what caught her attention was that it was creepy red eyes and had some kind of zigzag for a mouth. Even the lit flame on its wick seemed to have a mind of its own as it had eyes and a mouth. The candle itself was looking around as if scanning the area it was in.
Ruby looked in awe not believing what she was seeing. Some kind of living candle was in the middle of her house. She wondered what she should do in a sudden experience like this. Should she try to get some kind of makeshift weapon and fight the creature off or should she actually tried to talk to the thing?
Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to think as the candle quickly noticed her peeking from behind the couch. The candle then narrowed its eyes seeing her.
"You." It said pointing its finger at Ruby. The farm girl yelped before falling backwards onto her rear in shock at the fact that the candle was capable of speech. Said candle hopped on its stick onto the highest point of the couch before landing in front of Ruby. The poor girl scooted her way backwards until she found herself up against the wall with the candle following after her with a stern look on its face.
The candle continued to glare at Ruby as the teenager started to break out in a sweat. It was then it started to make its move.
"Shake my hand." It said.
Ruby paused in her place when the candle said this. The latter then held out its hand in the form of a handshake. Ruby blinked twice wondering how was going on. Was the creature trying to be nice to her? If so, why do so with a stern glare? Ruby shifted her eyes from the candle's face to its hand several times pondering what to do.
Soon, she had finally made up her mind slowly reaching out her hand and moving it towards the candle's hand. Everything felt like it was going in slow-motion as Ruby's hand nearly touching the candle's hand.
The moment she had done so, something incredible happened. In the middle of Ruby and the candle's handshake, something started to glow a bright white light startling both of them. Out of fright, Ruby yelped retreating her hand back.
However, the light had seemed to be stuck to her hand. Ruby stared in shock as the glow continued to shine until it slowly died down. When it did so, it changed form into some kind of object that rested in her hand. She slowly inspected it to see that it was some kind of wristwatch with a dark grey strap and a case that was as red as a burning fire.
The candle watched just as stunned at Ruby at what had just happened. Its lip started to quiver still processing what had happened. Suddenly, its zigzag mouth then created some kind of weird grin.
"YES!"
Ruby jumped when she had heard the sudden shout. She then saw the candle hopping around in circles just like a little kid at Christmas time.
"I got one! I got one! I had finally got one!" The candle cheered. "I had finally got my very own partner! Finally!"
Ruby blinked twice at the candle's spectacle. In the short span of two minutes, so many questions had appeared with little answers. Who or what was this candle? Why did it come out of her family's computer? Where did this strange watch come from? And what was all this about a partner?
Soon, the candle stopped bouncing around to look at Ruby. "Well, I guess that makes us a duo."
Ruby blinked twice. "A duo?"
"Yep, we are partners!" The candle grinned.
Ruby paused not knowing how to react. "Um, I am sorry but I don't think I know I was supposed to be partnered with… weird talking candles."
"Oh right! I got so excited and that I completely forget." The candle said putting its fist to its mouth and coughed. "I am Candlemon and I am a Digimon."
Ruby blinked twice. "A… A Digimon?"
"Yep! It is short for Digital Monster." Candlemon grinned.
"Digital… You mean like those Battle Monsters I kept hearing about?" Ruby asked.
"Well, considering I don't know what a Battle Monster is, I can't say." Candlemon said sheepishly. "I can't really say because I am just like I said. A monster living in a digital world."
"A digital world?" Ruby questioned. "Is THAT why you came out of my computer?"
"That's right!" Candlemon nodded. "I came into the human world to find you."
Ruby pointed to herself with a raised eyebrow. "Me?"
Candlemon happily nodded. It then looked to the side looking unsure.
"Hoo boy. Where do I begin?" It said before looking back at Ruby. "You see, one of the many features of Digimon is the ability to digivolve."
"Digivolve?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, there are six stages, Baby, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate and Mega." Candlemon explained. "I am at Rookie level. Now there are two types of Digimon. One that could digivolve all the way to Mega on their own and one that could only digivolve to Rookie form."
Ruby blinked twice having a little trouble trying to keep up. "So… Seeing that you are in your Rookie form, I take it that you are the latter?"
Candlemon scowled before looking to the side. "Yeah, which is why I need you, Ruby."
"Huh?" Ruby asked.
"With you and that Digivice, you hold the key to my digivolution." Candlemon said looking back at Ruby with a determined glare.
"Digivice?" Ruby asked before holding out her watch. "You mean this?"
"Yeah, don't ask how but that is how Digimon with human partners digivolve back home." Candlemon explained.
Ruby paused for a moment. "Um, I have to ask. All of this seems to favour you. What about me?"
Candlemon grinned when it heard this. "I am glad you asked."
With that, it hopped over to Ruby and wrapped its hand around her should while dramatically holding out its other hand.
"Just think about it. A whole new world. Completely full of places that you had never seen before. Meeting new people from not just all over this world but the digital world as well. Seeing all types of new Digimon and their digivolutions! It is an adventure, Ruby! Come with me and we could explore the world together!"
Ruby paused for a moment. "So it is like one of those… MMOs I kept hearing about?"
"Yes and no. Based on the large amount of humans coming into this world, this IS just like an MMO or whatever it's called." Candlemon smirked. "But here is the thing. They all say that no MMO could ever top the experience they had in the Digital World! So what do you say?"
Ruby sat in her place still trying to piece together what was currently happening. Even though she still had a lot of questions that needed to be asked, she believed she had gotten all of the information she needed.
"No."
Candlemon's smirk immediately vanished by Ruby's short yet firm reply. "W-What?"
"It is just like I said." Ruby said simply. "I refuse."
"W-What?" Candlemon asked not believing its non-existent ears. "But why?"
"It sounds like too much work." Ruby said. "I don't want to go."
Candlemon's jaw dropped when it had heard this. "But… But… There are so many places and people to go see."
"Meh. That's all right. I am perfectly happy with the location and people I currently know now." Ruby explained.
Candlemon shook its head hoping that this was some kind of nightmare. It came all this way from the Digital World just for this?
"But… I can't digivolve without you." It said with its voice turned into a pathetic plea.
"Couldn't you find another partner?" Ruby asked casually.
"Another…" Candlemon started before getting annoyed. "No! That Digivice is proof that we are partners, for better or for worse!"
"Then I am sorry. I can't help you. You may never digivolve." Ruby sighed.
Candlemon stood in its place looking hurt by Ruby's lazy and unwilling attitude. However, it then started to growl curling its strange hands into fists with the flame on its wick burning brighter than before. It was not going down without a fight.
"I can't believe you! You are literally going to crush MY dream just so YOU could sit on your comfy little seat!" Candlemon snapped pointing an accusing finger.
Ruby shook her head. "Please don't go there. I am sorry that I can't help you digivolve but really you make it sound like I am entitled to do so. I literally just met you in less than five minutes ago."
"Because the blessing of Omnimon said that it is destiny!" Candlemon retorted.
Ruby blinked twice. "Omnimon?"
"Never mind! I came here all this way just go I could digivolve to the next level!" Candlemon snapped.
Ruby paused for a moment. She then gave a small smile.
"Candlemon, was it? Thank you." She said.
The Digimon seemed taken back by this. "Um, for what?"
"For destroying all of my sympathy for you." Ruby said with a smirk. "Now it makes rejecting you a lot more easier."
Candlemon's eyes widened at this. "W-What?"
"You just flat out admitted that you are only here to digivolve or whatever you Digimon do, right?" Ruby asked. "That means you don't give a crap about me as long as you get your way. You call me out about ruining your dream but in reality that is mostly what you care about."
Candlemon's jaw dropped not believing that Ruby had spoken so bluntly to her like that. It then growled gritted its jigsaw mouth together making a weird grinding noise.
"How dare you!? Do you know how long I had been waiting for a chance like this?" Candlemon snapped.
"I noticed that you are doing nothing to claim that what I am saying was wrong." Ruby countered.
Candlemon growled. "You are going to make me melt!"
"Then go outside because I am not spending my night cleaning up weird monster candle wax off of the floor." Ruby shot back.
Candlemon shook in its place looking like it was about to attack Ruby in a blind rage over what she had said to it.
Suddenly, it hanged its head looking at the ground in defeat.
"All right. You win." Candlemon sighed.
Ruby was taken back by this. "W-What?"
"You got me. I only wanted you to go to the Digital World just so I could digivolve." Candlemon said sadly. "I-I'm sorry. I wasn't really thinking about your own feelings."
Ruby paused before letting out a deep sigh. "And I am sorry that I can't help you. It is just… Not my kind of thing."
"I guess…" Candlemon said returning the sigh. "Can I at least go home?"
This confused Ruby. "Um, what is stopping you?"
"Your Digivice is the only way to transport back and forth between the human world and the Digital World." Candlemon explained. "Without it, I am pretty much stuck here forever."
Ruby paused before getting up. "All right. I will send you back. How do I open the portal?"
"Well, you just have to point your Digivice in front of the computer screen which I just came out of and all I have to do is hop back in to go back home." Candlemon instructed.
"Okay, got it." Ruby said walking over to the computer. Candlemon slowly followed after her. Ruby pointed her Digivice in front of the computer. Just like the Digimon said, the computer screen started to glow a bright white just like it did earlier when Candlemon first arrived.
"Well, this is my stop." Candlemon sighed.
"Yeah…" Ruby said before looking at Candlemon with a sympathetic look on her face. "Listen, no hard feelings, right?"
"No, it's all right." The Digimon sighed. "I should have thought about your own feelings before going here. I shouldn't force you to go through emotional blackmail."
Ruby nodded her head happy that her words had gotten through Candlemon's head.
"So that is why…"
Ruby raised an eyebrow when she saw a smirk come across Candlemon's face.
"…I am doing so with brute force!"
With that, it pounced at Ruby latching onto her chest. The brunette yelped before falling backwards towards the glowing computer screen. This resulted in the light to shine even brighter engulfing the two of them. In the span of a second, both of them vanished into the light as it faded leaving the house by itself. It was as if neither of them were ever there.
/-/-/-/-/-/
"AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!"
Ruby screamed as she found herself falling into straight into a white abyss. She frantically waved her hands in a desperate attempt to slow down her descent. Thin, black blurs zoomed past her as she was about to fall to her eventual death.
"Oh, calm down!"
Ruby turned her head and actually stopped screaming to see Candlemon casually crossing its arms with a smug smirk on its face.
"We have just been transported to the Digital World." Candlemon explained calmly.
Ruby immediately got angry remembering what happened. "You! You tackled me here!"
Candlemon rolled its eyes. "Well, duh! You pretty much made yourself clear that you wouldn't come here willingly so I had no choice but to tackle you here!"
"I can't believe you!" Ruby said furiously. "You really do don't give a crap about me!"
"Well, you felt the same way about so we are even!" Candlemon smirked. "Oh, before I forget!"
With that, it charged towards Ruby once again. The farm girl yelped before holding her hands in front of her face in an attempt to protect herself. However, this was what Candlemon wanted as it grabbed Ruby's Digivice out of her grasp.
"H-Hey!" Ruby exclaimed.
"No Digivice, no return ticket home!" Candlemon smirked floating off ahead. "See ya!"
"Hey!" Ruby snapped.
It was then she remembered where she was as she noticed that they were heading towards a bright light. Before she could even scream, they were both engulfed in it.
/-/-/-/-/-/
Ruby screamed as she found herself being thrown onto her stomach so hard that her glasses fell in front of her. She groaned before looking up with her vision a bit dazed. After shaking her head, she took her glasses before putting it back on her face wondering what just happened.
Looking around, she found herself inside of a long, large corridor of some sort. She also noticed that there was something huge behind her. Turning around, she saw a big round that gate looked like the ones in those sci-fi movies Jasper sometimes watched. She didn't even to think hard to realize that was the way home.
It was then her eyes widened in realization before turning around to see Candlemon standing to the side while throwing the Digivice to itself all while smugly smirking.
"Welcome, partner!" Candlemon said striking a nerve on Ruby.
"I am NOT your partner!" Ruby roared getting up to her feet and running after Candlemon. The Digimon laughed before turning around and hopping off towards the end of the corridor with the human giving chase. Ruby just wanted her Digivice back go she could go back home so she couldn't afford to lose the Digimon.
However when she had finally reached the end of the corridor and exited it. She skidded to a halt with her eyes bugging out when she saw where she was. She was now in the middle of a large city that was being inhabited with a lot of people.
But that wasn't what caught her attention. What DID was the fact that most of the people were not humans at all. In fact, some were actually bizarre-looking creatures like reptiles, bugs and plants. She even saw a few humanoids but she could tell that they were far from actually being human.
At the bottom of the stairs leading up to the corridor was a large line of small creatures staring at her looking like they were all waiting for something as they were inside of a rope barrier. Ruby stared in disbelief. Sure, she knew that Candlemon may have been telling the truth but still this was overwhelming.
"So… This is the Digital World…" Ruby muttered.
However, she shook her head remembering why she was here. Looking around, she scanned around for Candlemon hoping to get her Digivice. Soon, she spotted it standing inside of the line. Narrowing her eyes, she darted over to it.
"All right, buddy, joke's over! Give back my Digivice!" Ruby demanded.
It was then Candlemon stared up at her with confused eyes. It was then Ruby's eyes widened as she was struck with a strange sensation overcoming her and telling her something.
This candle wasn't the same one who pushed her into the Digital World.
"Um, sorry…" Ruby apologized. "You… You looked similar to a certain someone…"
The candle merely shrugged. "Eh, it's all right. We are used to it by now."
A few other Digimon in the line nodded their heads confirming the candle's response. Ruby looked around in shock. Some of the creatures in the line looked the same right down to every last detail. The farm girl wondering what was going on.
"Yoo-hoo!"
Ruby was immediately taken out of her train of thought when she turned around. She then saw Candlemon standing a good distance away tauntingly waving the Digivice in its hand. Ruby growled before running off after the Digimon who laughed before hopping off.
"Get back here!" Ruby said angrily.
"Make me!" Candlemon taunted.
Everyone watched as the mismatched duo ran off with blinking eyes on their faces. Two Digimon in particular who looked rather large merely stared on.
"Well, those two should have some… Interesting times." One of them said.
"And here I thought that other pair won the award for the Freaky Duo of the Day." The other one muttered.
As much as Ruby was stunned this was walking down the same streets as literal monsters, she was too busy on getting her Digivice back away from Candlemon was her main priority because it was literally the only key she had to do take her back to her home. She couldn't afford to get distracted for a second or else Candlemon may get away.
Meanwhile, the Digimon continued to hop ahead of Ruby so it could keep her Digivice away from her for as long as possible. However, The Digimon knew that it couldn't just do this forever. It had to find a way to convince Ruby to stay here and adventure with it or else it would never be able to digivolve. But how? It had to think of something.
It was so wrapped up in its train of thought that it didn't notice a Digimon holding out its foot. It wasn't until Candlemon tripped over it that it saw it. It yelped as it fell straight on its face with the Digivice flying up. The Digimon that had tripped the candle quickly grabbed it out of the air.
Ruby slowly stopped herself when she saw what had happened while Candlemon groaned holding itself on its hands before immediately growling at the person who tripped her. Said guilty party was a short yellow dinosaur with green eyes and a cocky smirk on its face.
"Resorting to thievery, Candlemon?" The dinosaur said flatly. "I never knew you would get so desperate."
The candle snarled. "Butt out, Agumon! That digivice belongs to MY partner!"
"Oh, if that is the case, then why is this young lady chasing after you?" The dinosaur challenged.
Ruby narrowed her eyes. "No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!" Candlemon retorted pointing to the digivice in Agumon's hand. "Didn't that appear when you shook my hand?"
"Yeah but I had NEVER agreed to be your partner!" Ruby snapped. "You literally pushed me here!"
Agumon's eyes bugged out at this. "What?"
"Y-Yeah, but you refused to come here. I HAD to do so." Candlemon insisted.
"Oh gee, I feel so much better." Ruby said rolling her eyes.
Agumon glared at the candle. "I don't believe you, Candlemon. Forcing this poor lady here is one thing but doing so with the world in its current state."
Candlemon visibly winced as Ruby looked at Agumon with a confused look on her face.
"What current state?" Ruby asked not liking where this was going.
Agumon looked up at Ruby with a sympathetic look on its face. "Miss, do you wish to stay here any longer?"
"What? No!" Ruby answered.
Agumon nodded its head before throwing the Digivice at Ruby. Candlemon watched in horror as Ruby despite being taken back, quickly caught it.
"Then, that is not your problem. In fact, your problem should be going back to the portal and back home as soon as possible." Agumon warned.
Ruby paused with blinking eyes looking at Agumon for a moment wondering what it meant by the current state of the world. Shen then smiled and nodded.
"Agumon, was it?" She asked. Agumon nodded his head. "Thank you, you rule."
Her face immediately grimaced when she glared over at Candlemon.
"Candlemon, you suck."
"What!?" The candle roared with its anger flaring up as Agumon chuckled at its expense.
"You heard me! If going on an adventure means I have to be stuck with a jerk like you, then I never want to have an adventure! Not here, not back home, not EVER!" Ruby snapped.
Candlemon looked absolutely thunderstruck by her harsh words. Ruby saw this and had nothing but empathy for it as she looked around the area she was in for a moment.
"Um, sorry, Agumon but could you direct me back to the portal?" Ruby asked. "This annoying chase got me lost."
"Sure, Miss. I will be happy to oblige." The dinosaur smiled walking off. "Come on."
Ruby nodded her head before walking off not even giving Candlemon a second glance. However, the candle Digimon was not giving up without a fight before she hopped over to Ruby and latched onto her leg from the behind.
"H-Hey!" Ruby exclaimed.
"P-P-Please stay!" Candlemon begged. "I am desperate!"
"Oh really?" Agumon said with an exasperated glare. "I couldn't tell."
"Shut up!" Candlemon roared before looking up at Ruby. "Look, I am sorry, okay? I just want to digivolve!"
"Well, tough cookies! No means no!" Ruby said walking off while comically dragging Candlemon with her. "There was no way I was going to change my mind before you pushed me here, why do you think I would change my mind now!"
"But… But… Omnimon said that we are partners…" Candlemon begged.
"Well, whoever Omnimon is, he is wrong." Ruby spat.
"Aw, come on! You are not even seeing MY side of the story!" Candlemon whined.
"Why not? You didn't bother to see MY side." Ruby pointed out.
Agumon walked on looking back as Ruby followed it while Candlemon was clinging to her leg in desperately trying to get Ruby to reconsider but the brunette was having none of that. Agumon shook its head in hopelessness before looking on ahead.
It didn't take them that long to return back to where the portal was. Ruby quickly saw that it was inside some kind of temple which seemed out-of-place in a large city.
However, they quickly noticed that there were a bunch of people gathering around the area for some reason. It was then Ruby's eyes widened when she finally noticed the two large Digimon who had been there the entire time.
The first one looked like he was completely covered in a suit of white knight's armour along with a red cape while wielding a joust and a giant shield. The second one looked like some kind of biker completely clad in black leather along with a strange helmet that shown a third eye.
"That's strange." Agumon noted. "What is going on?"
Ruby looked down at Agumon in confusion. "Why? What's wrong?"
"The area near the portal shouldn't be this crowded. At all." The dinosaur pointed out.
"Everyone, please, calm down!" The knight begged.
"Calm down! How could we all calm down?" A young man exclaimed.
"Yeah, what is going on?" A young woman agreed. A few others joined in.
"People, people, please, I don't know how it happened but I am afraid that there is no other way to say this." The knight frowned behind its helmet.
The next words that came out of its mouth made Ruby's pupils shrink down to the size of peas.
"The portal connecting the human world and the Digital World is broken."