Chapter one: The Encounter
The Iron Hive. The Digital World's most secured prison. It is a gigantic steel sphere, floating about 1000 kilometers above the ground. More than half of the building is made of the hexagon-shaped cells, which they named the facility after. Digimons are jailed here only for the most serious crimes, such as slaughtering other dimension's inhabitants, planning a revolution against The System, or allying with Demons. The latter wasn't a frequent case: only one prisoner was locked down for this. Number 23135. The yellow coated, fox-like humanoid was currently sleeping in her cell, curled up on her bed. She locked her mind away: it was the only way to keep her sanity among the hordes of lunatics. A lot of jailbirds were sealed up because they already lost their marbles. Some of them went crazy from the lenght of the detention. But usually, the others pulled them down into madness. Staying reasonable among 10,000 insane neighbors is a real challenge.
However, today was different: Something happened. The fox's container shook horribly, which woke her up. She heard a machine's buzzing, and felt that the cell was moving. After some minutes, it winced, then one of it's sides slowly opened. She only saw a row of dark-blue shields, blocking her from coming out. Soon, the one in the middle stepped back, to let another digimon in. It was a Commandramon, wearing a black trenchcoat, with four little pockets on it's chest, and a holster on the side. The Renamon stood up from her bed.
-What the hell do you want? -she asked nervously.
-You have to come with us. Put on these shackles. -answered the machine in a mechanical tone, then threw a pair of large, metal bracelets to her. If she tries to oppose, they will tear her into pieces, at least she thought, so even if half-heartedly, she put on the steel jewels on her arms, and they stuck to each other immediately.
-Follow me! -the guard ordered, then left the prison cell. As she stepped after him, the other Dramons closed around them in a circle. At the end of the enormous, dark coloured metal corridor, they stepped to a lift.
-She's mine from here, dismissed! -he commanded the other sentinels, who backed away from them. The two digimons stepped into the elevator, and the door instantly shut behind them.
-May I know where the heck are you taking me? -inquired the fox once again.
-Looks like fortune smiled on you today... The Judges want to have a word with you. -the droid responded, then drawn his pistol from the holster.
-They locked me up for 40 years because I took care of an orphan. Why would I want to hear them?
-'cause they are the ones who can set you free. And please, don't colour it. That was a demon, not a kid.
-Sure, a demon inhabited him against his will, but that doesn't make him one! -the fox yelled at the machine, who answered by pushing him to the wall and pointing his gun in her face.
-Looks like you don't really understand who are you talking to. You may be innocent, but now, you belong to the Iron Hive. You are our property, and we do what we want with you. So if I were you, I'd remain silent, and cheer in myself that maybe I can finally leave this madhouse!
The prisoner only responded with a hateful glance, and the guard tossed her to the door, but it opened, so she fell to the ground.
-Stand up! -the jailbird got up, and then proceeded onto the next passage. It was more stylish, than the previous, but at the same time, it was smaller. The walls were painted yellow, and the floor was made of white marble. A few potted plants were placed near the few wooden doors, which were guarded by some strange Renamons. They were coloured dark-purple, and some iron balls were embedded into their bodies, while their lifeless eyes were glowing red.
-What are those? What have you done to them? -questioned the blonde Renamon, only to get a cold barrel pushed into the back of her head.
-Shut up and act nicely, or you will end up like them. -hissed the Commandramon nervously. After some walking, they finally reached a large armor-plated door, which was guarded by at least 10 mutated foxes. As they both stepped closer, it was raised, uncovering the large room behind it. A small bridge was leading to the platform on the middle. Judging by the large space above and below them, this room must have took at least a quarter of the full building. After they finally reached the middle podium, the door was shut close behind them, and red spotlights were pointed at them.
-Put your weapon away, number 19! -ordered a massive voice from nowhere. The prison guard hid the pistol back in his coat.
-What do you want from me? -inquired the fox
-The time we were storing you for, has come.
-What the duck do you mean by "storing"?
-If someone is helping demons, we usually sentence them for death, but you are different. It seems like the monster didn't try to hurt you.
-Maybe because I didn't want to kill him either, I didn't throw rocks at him, and didn't call him a monster?
-All who give home for such horrible creatures in their bodies are horrible creatures themselves!
-They didn't choose to let them in, the demons simply broke the door! You can't blame them!
-Then why do they live on? If they are such clean spirited fellows, why don't they do a favor to us and commit suicide, stopping the demon from taking over?
-Well, I don't know, why don't YOU guys make a favor to US and go and fuck yourself?
-Show some respect towards the Judges, you fool! -shouted the guard the prisoner, then kicked into her leg.
-Number 19, stay silent! -commanded the voice.
-Get on the subject! What were you storing me for? -asked the Renamon, rather furiously.
-We are willing to set you free. But in return, we want you to do a task for us... We learned about a demon-carrier in the plane of Flesh and Blood.
-If you want me to kill him, you can send me right back into my cell.
-But the demon inside him isn't yet in power. And to prevent that, we will send you to his side. He will be your "tamer" and you will be his guardian, stopping the demon from awakening. Will you accept our offer?
The prisoner went into thinking. She would do anything to leave the Iron Hive, but this wasn't just a task. This was a mission. Which would last life-long. She would be hitched to the human world, for about 80 years. Then again, she didn't have many reasons to stay in her own dimension. Her parents disowned her for meeting with a demon, and she had no home. And no real purpose. But at the same time, she not only didn't want to obey the Judges, they must have an ulterior motive with the carrier. They just said that they still have strong hate towards those who are infected by demons. After some dead minutes, the silence was broken by the voice.
-Well?
-Anything, just get me out of here. -she accepted the offer.
-Just as planned. 19, lead her to the teleport chamber. When you arrive to the other dimension, you will get some more briefing. And don't forget: We're watching you.
Then, the sentinel led the Renamon out of the room, back to the corridor. But this time, they went through one of the wooden doors. Behind it was a round room, with a capsule in the middle. The walls couldn't be seen from the machinery that surrounded the teleporter.
-Like I said, you are damn lucky. -grunted No.19, then took a little key from his pocket, and pushed it into a hole on the massive handcuffs. They disconnected from each other, then slid down from the fox's hands.
-Step into that metal coffin in the middle. -he ordered. The Renamon did so, and as she was inside, it suddenly closed down. The guard pushed a few buttons on the nearby panel, and left the room. The machine let out a loud whizzing sound, and the little lights on the device were flashing, and suddenly, everything went black before the fox's eyes. She felt horrible pain, like she was exploded to smithereens and somehow still managed to stay alive. Then she felt her body reuniting into one. A light flashed, and she saw the beautiful night sky. But looking down, she realised she was 10 meters above the ground. Gravity pulled her down straight into a trash container. After she climbed out and got rid of the dirt stuck on her fur, a high-pitched voice sounded up in her head:
-The target is living in this country, Hungary, and in the city of Szeged, where you just landed. He lives 3 blocks away from your location, in eastern direction, in a big house, on the sixth floor. He has brown hair and brown eyes, and his blood type is A (I hope you don't have to recognize him from this). The Digvice will soon be transported to him. Aaand from now on your name is Renée. Renamon no. 32028271384 is long, hard to remember and sounds silly. Break a leg!
Renée went to the specified building, but the sixth floor was a pretty broad term. She climbed up to a window she found nice, and even the lights were on. As she peeped in, an... interesting scene welcomed her. A gentleman wearing a colourful cap with brown dreadlocks was sitting on the ground, inhaling something from his shisha. A large Jamaican flag was hanging from the wall, and his desk was a plantation with suspicious plants growing in it. The fox got herself to enter the room. She forced the window open, and she suddenly heard the silent reggae music, while the smoke flowing out was irritating her eyes. However, she was convinced that the brown haired fella must be his target, and proceeded to climb in. The boy noticed him immediately and surprisingly, he wasn't even surprised by the strange creature.
-Yo, sistah! -he greeted the Renamon, then paddled the pillow next to him, telling the fox to sit down. The Renamon was unsure because of the unexpected reaction, but sat down next to the Rasta anyway. -What brings you around these parts?
-Ummmm... I came to save you from your demons... I guess... -answered Renée nervously, while the "life artist" gave the shisa's sucker to her.
-Hell no, you are one of those Jehovah's Witnesses? No way, lil' sis, I thought you are a good man... Look, God is not sitting in the sky, nope... The Lord is growing in the ground, my sister...
-...Really? -the visitor inhaled the strange smoke from the tube and suddenly, her vision got blurry, and her muscles got relaxed.
-What is this, if not Jesus' heart, sistah? -the young man took the pipe back, and got another taste of the magic air. -And where do ya come from?
-Well... I came here from the Digital World, straight from the Iron Hive... -her anxiety started to dissolve.
-So ya'r an immigrant? Wooooah, we are closer siblings than I thought! -he patted his guest on the back.
-What is your name?
-Alfonz Reichmann... Yours?
-Renée.
-Your last name too... I told it to you.
-I don't have one.
-How? They found you in the cornfield, or at the bottom of the cereal box?
-I fitted in the cornfield better. -they both broke out in laughter. But soon, the spoilsport voice spoke in the fox's ear.
-Oh, I forgot... The tenth window from the right is his. Ta-ta~!
-Al, which window is this from the right?
-Uhhhh... Wait... Well... Eighth.
-Damn. I have to go, Al.
-Then go.
-I go. -and so Renée left through the open window. She climbed two room to the left. She peeked into the room. The young hero was sitting in front of his computer, with his back on the visitor. His short, brown hair was shown in the screen's light. Smoke was rising from his mouth's direction, maybe it was a cigar. He was playing a low-quality flashgame. Renamon jumped onto the window sill, but unfortunately, right at the same minute his "victim" turned his computer off. The digimon's silhouette was reflected on the screen. This greatly shocked the human, whose first reaction was to pick up his speakers and throw it towards the "monster". The cable of the device succesfully wrapped around Renée's neck, who lost balance and fell down. The young one ran to the window. As he reached it, a loud crash was heard, and a car-alarm started screeching into the night. He knew his actions resulted in some bad trouble, so he threw the half-burned cigar out and went to sleep...
