by Barbara Fett
In the Digital World, in one of those Digimon villages . . .
"Hey there! What'cha doing?"
"Planting seeds."
"Can I help?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Yes! Go away!"
"Aww..." The Clippitmon who had volunteered to help slunk away. Angry and alone, he went for a walk outside the village.
Clippitmon had lived in the village his whole life. Unlike the others, he had an annoying habit of trying too hard to get involved in everything everyone did. Because of this, no one liked him. His help had just been turned down for the fourth time in as many days. Moving through the forest, he was thoroughly miserable. Why do I have to be so different? As far as I know, I'm doing the right thing . . . how can they all hate it so much?
Suddenly, Clippitmon came upon a boxy thing with a screen. On the ground next to it was a small, flat thing that also had a screen.
"What is this?" Clippitmon picked up the small, flat thing and examined it. It did nothing. He turned it over, and the two screens faced each other and reacted. An overwhelming light came out of the larger screen. It engulfed Clippitmon and pulled him into the boxy thing. He spun around helplessly for a moment, then was thrown out of another boxy thing in a place very different from anything he had ever seen.
This box was raised several feet above a soft, gray floor. Lying on the floor, Clippitmon could see a chair and an astonished, sandy-haired human with glasses.
"Where am I?" said Clippitmon.
"You can talk!" said the human.
"Of course. I'm Clippitmon, who are you?"
"Nathan Davohn. What are you?"
"I'm a Digimon. It means Digital Monster."
"A monster . . . Where did you come from?"
"The Digital World. I found this thing here, and something that looked like that." He indicated the computer monitor. "When I held this thing up to it, it took me here."
"I must have dozed off."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I'm dreaming, and you're not real."
"Of course I'm real! You can see me, right?"
"Yeah . . ." Nathan slowly reached out and touched Clippitmon. "Okay, I guess you're real. So you just came here by accident?"
"Yes, and exactly where is here?"
"This is the programming department of Microsoft. It's a really big company that makes software and other things for computers. Look at my computer - most of it was made by us."
"So you helped make that thing?"
"Yes, and my job is to make newer and better versions of it. I was just working on the help system for our new application package, Microsoft Office, when you showed up."
"Oooh, there's a help system?"
"Yes! It's used to find answers and solve problems."
"Can I be in it?"
"In the help system? Do you really want to?"
"Oh, yes! I always want to help other Digimon, but they almost never let me. They think I'm too pushy and I try too hard." Clippitmon looked very sad as he said this.
"I'll let you help," said Nathan. "I can give you a job."
"A job? For me? Yay! What do I do?"
"Well, you can be the help icon. An image of you will appear on the screen, and if anyone ever needs help with the programs, they can ask you."
"Great! Can I start now?"
"No, the program's still being written, we're not ready for graphics yet. It'll be a long time before you can start. Can you go back to where you came from?"
"Yes . . . it must work from this end, too."
"Okay. Will you come back later?"
"Yes." Clippitmon held the device up to the monitor. The light came again, and he disappeared.
"Bye," said Nathan.
*******
"Hi Nathan! I'm back!" Clippitmon had reappeared at Nathan's desk.
"Clippitmon!" said Nathan. "Um, hi. You've only been gone an hour!"
"What? It was several months in the Digital World!"
"It was? Time is different in there?"
"It is. I guess the program's not ready for me yet, is it?"
"No, it isn't, and if you stay in the Digital World you'll be an old Digimon by the time it is ready. You might as well stay here, in the office."
"Thanks!"
"On one condition: No one but me sees you until you're in the program."
"Okay."
*******
For mre than a month after that, Clippitmon lived in Nathan's office and did small tasks for him. Nathan brought him food from home.
"Nathan," Clippitmon said one day, "I've been like this for a long time. I want to Digivolve."
"What does that mean?"
"Digivolving is changing into a stronger form. I don't know how it works, though."
"Maybe if I held up your Digivice, it'll do something . . ." Nathan pointed the Digivice at Clippitmon. It lit up like the computer screen had!
(insert stock footage here)
"Clippitmon digivolve to . . . Dotmon!"
"Wow!" said Nathan. "That gives me an idea. Do you have more forms?"
"Yes, do you want to see them?"
"Yes!" He held up the Digivice again.
"Dotmon digivolve to . . . Effunomon!"
"Effunomon digivolve to . . . Geniusmon!"
"I don't think I can keep this up . . ." Geniusmon flickered and returned to his Clippitmon form. "See, Digivolving takes a lot of energy. I just used up all mine."
"That's all right. Rest now, and tomorrow, I'll bring my camera and take pictures of all your forms. This means we can have lots of different images for the Office Assistant!"
"Is that what you're going to call me?"
"Yes."
"Cool, I have a job title!"
*******
Much later . . .
"Clippitmon! I have wonderful news!" Nathan called as he came into the office.
"What is it?" said Clippitmon.
"They approved our designs for the Office Assistant! You've got the job!"
"YES!!! I'm going to have a job! Yes!"
"Wait. There are going to be millions of copies of this program, so there will have to be millions of separate Office Assistants . . ."
"I have an idea. Let me get into your computer. Then you can make as many copies of me as you need."
"Okay, but don't do it right now. We'll do it over the next few days."
*******
Microsoft Office was released with Clippitmon as the Office Assistant, who was always on screen unless the user hid him. The user could ask him questions or tell him to Digivolve, but nobody except Nathan knew that the Office Assistant was really a Digimon. Clippitmon's Mega form was Puzzlemon; Nathan added three more icons just for fun.
Nathan and the original Clippitmon remained friends for a long time after Clippitmon got a job. When the Digital World was made known to everyone in the real world, Clippitmon was found to be a sort of reverse Digidestined - a Digimon with a purpose to serve in the real world. That was why he had his own Digivice. Clippitmon was finally happy because he was famous and had no shortage of opportunities to help out.
*-The End-*
A/N and Disclaimers: Silly story... it's also my first Digimon story,
and it's an entry for Cynthia's Digimon Contest. The requirements
were:
Deadline: January 1, 2002
Romances Allowed: None
Notes: Write a story about a Digimon, but one who *isn't* a partner
to a Digidestined. It can be one of their enemies or just some random Digimon.
Your decision.
So here it is. I got the names from Office. To see all
the forms of the Office Assistant, right-click on it and select "Choose
Office Assistant." I went by this list and got this evolutionary
line: IT=Clippitmon (Clippit), R=Dotmon (The Dot), C=Effunomon (F1), U=Geniusmon
(The Genius), M=Puzzlemon (Office Logo).
The Office Assistant belongs to Microsoft. Digimon belongs to
Saban, Fox, Toei Animation, et al. No money is being made off this;
I write because it's fun. :-)