Chapter 1: Tamas the Steel Worker
Tamas yawned as he woke up from his nap, pleasantly surprised to not have been woken up by his father or another of the manufactorum's workers. At first Tamas was busy readjusting his crimson long coat as he stood up, but when he blinked and looked around at his new surroundings, he began to wonder if they had instead opted to play a prank on him instead.
The ubiquitously brown stone that surrounded him, forming sloping grounds and pillars, was nothing like the dark grey metal he had fallen asleep leaning against. His father had a habit of threatening to throw Tamas out for napping after school, but Tamas never dreamed that he would carry out the threat. Tamas scanned the horizon around him, looking for the sloping spire of his hive city. He knew there were some unconverted sections of his home planet, but they were small areas and more importantly, his father would never travel so far from the city just for the sake of a prank.
Tamas shivered as he began to consider that this might not be a prank, but a God-Emperor honest exile for sloth. But surely he would never be exiled without warning. Then again, his father had given him many warnings.
"What are you looking for?" An oddly gravely yet high-pitched, childish voice said from behind Tamas.
"Telris Hive." Tamas said as he turned to voice the speaker. He recoiled as he found it to be a green reptile nearly as large as himself.
"What?" It asked, in that same strange voice, tilting its crested head as it looked at Tamas.
"Xenos!" Tamas screeched in fear, stumbling away and falling flat on his back.
"Oh, do you need help?" The reptile asked offering an overly muscular hand as big as Tamas's head with claws the size of combat knives. Tamas scrambled onto his feet and tried to run away, only to trip on another rock and fall on his face, work goggles pressing into his forehead as he hit the ground.
"Why are you running?" The reptile said in the same innocent but confused voice.
"Because you're trying to eat me." Tamas yelled in reply.
"I am? I thought I was trying to eat bread." Suddenly, the reptile paused as it got an idea. "Do you have any bread?" Tamas twisted around onto his back and glared at the reptile.
"Will you cut that out? You're not going to trick me, xenos." Tamas put special emphasis on the last word.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" The lizard asked, tilting its head and tapping a claw on its mouth in confusion.
"Because you are one. A xenos. An alien." Tamas said, struggling back onto his shaking legs and staring the lizard down.
"An alien! Where?" The lizard started looking around in fright, making Tamas slap his hand against the goggles on his forehead.
"No, you're the alien." The boy said in exasperation. Was he really going to die at the hands of this excuse for a monster? Heck, those giant eyes made it almost look cute.
"Me, an alien? Don't be silly." The lizard said waving a claw in disdain. "I'm Saldramon."
"Oh dear God-Emperor, just leave me alone." Tamas exclaimed, turning away and running his hands through his spiky brown hair.
"But I just wanted to help." Saldramon muttered pathetically. "Since you're a human…" It added quietly, not reaching Tamas's frustrated ears.
"Then go away before I die of shock at your stupidity." Tamas said.
"Okay..." Saldramon whined, and bowed its head sadly as it crept away.
OOOOO
The sky had turned dark without Tamas noticing, and he found himself walking though a pseudo-forest of thin stone pillars, moving towards the one light he could see ahead. When he reached it, any hope of civilization vanished as he found a blue humanoid and something vaguely fish-like sitting by a wood fire. The humanoid was dressed in yellow-brown clothes that reminded Tamas of human work fatigues, but they were obviously alien in their design, with the telltale double circle of the Tau imprinted onto it.
"Oh, it's a human." The Tau said as she lifted her head to face towards Tamas, who had stepped into the clearing without realizing what awaited him. "Did you get stuck here too?"
"Not more xenos." Tamas murmured hiding his face in his hands. The humanoid instantly looked downcast.
"Oh. Your imperial, aren't you?" She asked glumly.
"Of Course!" Tamas shouted.
"He's pretty rude." The fish-thing said. The tau patted it on the head, evidently trying to calm it down.
"Be nice yourself, Piramon. It's not his fault he's like that." She said. Tamas lifted his head from his hands as he realized something far more bothersome than xenos.
"Wait, where did you get the wood for that fire?" Tamas said, pointing at it.
"Oh, this has been here for a while." The tau answered.
"Even before I hatched." The fish-thing she had called Piramon added.
"And what's a fish doing here? Never mind that, you probably brought it here." Tamas said, pointing at the tau. "And why are you on my planet?"
"Planet?" Piramon butted in. "Stupid human, this is the digital plane. She's got as much reason to be here as you do." Tamas stared at it blankly, just beginning to comprehend that it was a talking fish, only structured like a seal, instead of a simple bullet of flesh.
"What?" He said blankly. The tau nodded in response.
"It's true." She said. "I woke up here after falling asleep for the day, and I assure you, this is not the planet I was on."
"Why should I listen to you?" Tamas asked. The tau's smile shrank only slightly.
"Look, I know our empires don't get along, but this is a dangerous place and its better if us kids work together." The tau held out her hand. "My name is Fio'La'Dahrt'Kais'Mesme, what's yours?" Tamas glared at her.
"No." He said, before turning around and stalking off into the forest of stone.
"Don't bother yourself, he's just an idiot." Piramon said, giving Mesme a friendly pat on the foot. Tamas continued on well after he had left the stone forest behind him, only stopping when his exhaustion proved overwhelming and he fell asleep between the two most comfortable rocks he could find.
OOOOO
"Well, look what we have here, Reavmon."
The voice woke Tamas and made him blink his eyes as he still found himself in the barren brown wasteland. Two figures were looking down on him from a small hill. One was a black canine as tall and as humanoid as the lizard had been, but with a serpentine litheness and a metal helmet that covered the top of its head. Its companion looked like a pale human boy about Tamas's age, dressed in dark grey pants and a long sleeved shirt, with a black scarf wrapped around his neck flowing like a cape quite far behind him, lifted by the gentle breezes of the stone wasteland.
"A pathetic human napping in the middle of no where." The pale-faced boy brushed back his long black hair from around his head, revealing his pointed ears. The pale-faced alien opened his lips in a predatory smile. Pure terror flooded through Tamas.
"Wra-Wra-" Tamas stuttered. Old bedtime stories came back to his mind of the terrible creatures that just barely didn't look like men and moved like wind and shadows as they preyed on unwary children.
"Is that what your mommy called us? Isn't one name bad enough from you mon-keigh?" The alien continued in his shrill and haughty voice, turning his back to Tamas. "I can't stand anymore of this. Reavmon, you say the rest." The canine glanced at the alien, before nodding and turning back to face Tamas.
"This is Lord Jalith of the Dark Eldar, the deadliest being alive, and supreme emperor of the digital plane." It said, its voice a low and wet growl. "And I am Reavmon, his loyal retainer, who he deigns to let have this kill only because… because…" Reavmon surreptitiously glanced at the eldar he had called Jalith. Jalith hissed something unintelligible and Reavmon turned his focus back to Tamas, only to find the human trying to run away.
Tamas had barely run ten yards when Reavmon rammed into him from behind and knocked him flat, goggles tearing into Tamas's forehead as he fell on his face and twisted to the side.
"Please, just make it quick." He whispered, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Quick? Ha!" Jalith laughed, coming up behind Reavmon. "Where's the fun in that?" In his desperation, Tamas found himself praying, something he had never been fond of.
Dear God-Emperor, it can't end like this. I can't just die here. What can I do? Tamas thought, his eyes scrunched tight. And against all hopes, the Emperor answered him. Strangely, His voice was high-pitched and gravelly; astoundingly similar to the green lizard Tamas had met on the first day in this accursed place.
"For the Emperor!" The voice was calling, which was strange because… Tamas eyes snapped open as he heard a very real impact just above him, and Reavmon hissing in rage and pain. Tamas turned around to see the green lizard pinning Reavmon down with its claws. Jalith had backed away, tightly clutching a dagger sheathed at his side as he stared in fear at the lizard whose bulging musculature easily overpowered the canine's thin frame.
"Saldramon?" Tamas exclaimed, uncertain of what he was seeing.
"I am the servant of humanity." Saldramon grunted out, still struggling with the violently writhing Reavmon. "I am its guardian and warrior." In that moment of distraction Reavmon found an opening, kicking out and sending Saldramon stumbling back in pain, and giving Reavmon time to flip back onto its feet and retreat to its master's side.
"Yeah! Your no match for me." Jalith shouted, his face trying to regain his bluster. "Just give up and I might go easy on you." Saldramon backed up towards Tamas.
"What do we do?" The lizard asked, risking a glance back at Tamas.
Why is it asking me? Tamas thought. What use am I here? This is his thing. Tamas looked closer, trying to understand Saldramon's position. Is he… scared? Tamas shook his head, and replaced his fear with anger at all the chaos surrounding him.
"Who do you think I am?" Tamas yelled out, making Jalith stumble back in shock. "Do you think a kid like you and his pet dog scares us? We refuse to give up, and we refuse to die!" Tamas screamed as the insanity called courage filled, thrusting his fist into the air in his forced fervor. Holy light shown above his head, and Tamas snatched the machine with his outstretched arm without even thinking. "Are you ready Saldramon?" He asked one hand pulling back and the other pointing forward.
"Ready!" Saldramon replied, bracing himself and readying for the fight.
"How dare you! Kill them, Reavmon, kill them all." Jalith screeched. The canine bent forward and charged, moving at blinding speeds as it closed in to attack.
"Saldramon, feel my spirit!" Tamas yelled.
Saldramon opened his mouth and, the moment before the canine hit, coated Reavmon in fire.
Author Note: I choose to have pride in the fact that I am the first one on This Site to write this crossover, and am much surprised that you found it. Unless you were following me from my Sonic-based works, and knew enough about either series to want to take a peek.
So Yeah, the idea behind this started up after i finished watching the dub of Tamers. I rank low on the fanboy scale for digimon and high for 40k, but Tamers was a really good anime, and I felt the need to follow up on the experience, so I came up with this.
Ideally, if my theories are correct, this will be a perfect fusion, a weaving together of each series's parts into a single, cohesive whole, with neither taking precedence.
On the other hand, I suck at finishing long stories.
