A Girl from the Past

For millions of people around the world, the realm of dreams is a form of escape. Every day they would get up and complete their 9 to 5 jobs, struggling to get through the day, only to reach back home, grab a quick dinner and float away into the seas of imagination. In this place they can let all their worries roam free, not caring for what happened hours before or what might come to be; but instead live out their own fantasies, enjoying the moment while they can before repeating their monotonous cycle all over again.

Needless to say, a certain 15 year old blue-haired boy didn't have all these problems that adults have. For now, Henry Wong was one of these carefree individuals, just passing through from one adventure to the next. Having just completed a race around the world against a surprisingly fast turtle, Henry landed nimbly on an unknown beach. As he gazed out into the ocean he let out a satisfied sigh, taking in the picturesque sunrise across the skyline; a warm orange glow shined back at him, its rays making the waters in its wake sparkle.

You know, for someone who spends a lot of time indoors, I've painted quite a creative scene here, Henry thought. As he turned his attention inland his mind started to form several wooden huts along the beach, all styled in the form of some holiday home he might have seen on TV or in a travel brochure. Walking towards the nearest hut, his mind started to populate the surroundings, beginning with a spritely little creature in an adorably sized vendor's uniform. With his two purple-tipped ears flapping in the breeze, the wide-eyed Calumon was humming a cheerful tune to himself, bouncing along his merry way.

"Ice cream, ice cream, get them cold! Buy them quick before I turn old!" he shouted, skipping along as more people appeared before Henry, materialising in various beach attire. Some of the attendees were already lounging on deck chairs, while little kids ran past Henry with beach balls and Frisbees in tow, ready for a good splash in the ocean. As Henry approached the huts another familiar creature appeared, this time a large red reptile with black markings on his face, though he seemed to be wearing a court dress, and mounted on his nose was a minute pair of arm-less glasses. He looked to be bellowing to no audience in particular, and before long Henry caught some of what he was saying.

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts…"

Henry stood there with a wide grin on his face. On the one hand it sounded ridiculous that Guilmon would be saying such things, but on the other hand he was mildly impressed that this version could quote the Bard.

"I mean, he has improved his speech quite a lot, maybe we should try teaching him Shakespeare." Henry said to himself as he gave the notion some semi-serious thought.

"Henry! Over here!"

When Henry span round to look at who called him he felt his cheeks blush as two girls ran towards him in rather revealing swimsuits. One of the girls had long red hair, wearing a white two piece which very much complimented her model figure, a gift blessed by her mother. The other girl had shoulder length brown hair, with one lock tied in a green bow. She wore a green one piece which had a perfect contrast with her eyes, and managed to fit to her body like a glove and lift in all the right places, complete with several alluring cuts up and down the swimsuit. Though Henry considered them to be very close friends, he still had to admit that Rika Nonaka and Jeri Katou have grown to be very cute over the years. It probably didn't help his situation that they both seemed to be running in ridiculously slow motion, with each step making Henry uncomfortably aroused. When they finally arrived they each took one of Henry's arms, trying to coax him along to who knows what; Henry wasn't sure if he should be praising or cursing his subconscious for putting him in such an awkward yet exciting position.

"Come on, Henry," Jeri teased, as she squeezed Henry's arm tighter, pushing two very noticeable mounds into his bare skin. "We just want you to come and play..." Using two fingers she walked up his arm, and the helpless boy felt an enticing shiver flow down his spine.

"That's right," Rika crooned, stroking Henry's thigh, slowly moving towards the inside, "We just want to see if what they say is true…" the redhead leaned in closer, until she only needed to speak at a whisper to command his attention. "Tell me, Mr Wong," she uttered in a very sultry voice, her breath tickling the hairs on the back of his neck, "Are you man enough for the both of us?"

"Er, maybe this isn't the best situation for any of us," Henry tried to reason, as he struggled uselessly to leave their hold on him. "I'm sure Takato and Ryo would not be happy if we did…something-"

"Nah, we don't care, you should totally go for it!"

Henry turned his head as far as he could, as he knew that traitorous voice was none other than Ryo's. Sure enough, he and Takato were both lying on sun loungers with their thumbs up, as if giving Henry the all clear.

"Thanks guys, you've been a real help," Henry said sarcastically, before turning back to the dream versions of Rika and Jeri, "Listen girls, I really think we should all just calm down-"

Before Henry could finish Jeri pushed a finger to his lips, shutting him up while Rika giggled in such a frivolous way it would make the real version hurl.

"Ah ah ah," Jeri teased, "Time's up, lover boy."

Before he questioned what was happening Henry was being pushed to the ground by the two girls, but the feel of the sand on his back never came; instead the blue-haired tamer felt his dream shifting as the world around him started to bleed into an array of colours. This time, however, the journey was different, and instead of floating away to a new place he felt his senses were beginning to increase. As the final scene from the beach faded to black another light began to glow. Before long it was growing to fill Henry's entire vision, and soon Henry suddenly felt aware of his entire surroundings. The world around him began to rebuild into a stone structure, something akin to a medieval fort, yet built out of maroon bricks instead of dull grey. As Henry tried to take in the rapid building of this enclosure around him he noticed that the ground looked much harder than he realised, and before he could brace for impact he landed with a loud thud. Groaning out loud he stood up to better look around him; his feet felt like they were not simply treading on formless clouds, as were the norm in his dreams, but solid stone. Each of his toes could feel the bricks beneath him with surprising realism, and he could feel the hairs on his arms stand on end as a cold wind swept past.

Okay, something definitely doesn't make sense here, Henry started, looking outside the nearby window to see grasslands and mountains being built layer by layer, as if they were being downloaded into view. After the last peak of the mountain was in place, Henry turned back to look at the room he was in, and did a double take. There, in the middle of a room, was a four poster bed, and lying in it was a girl, apparently in a deep sleep.

"Sorry about this, didn't mean to come in unannounced," Henry said apologetically, though he appeared to be talking to himself rather than the girl in the bed. Seeing that he did not get a response, Henry took a cautionary step towards her. A sense of familiarity seemed to come from her, and as he approached Henry started to notice her features more prominently. Judging by her body she looked to be no older than he was, around 15 to 16 years old, with golden blond hair flowing effortlessly around her, down to the small of her back. Henry breathed a sigh of relief when he confirmed she was at least sleeping, with the rise in her chest as she took a small breath in her peaceful slumber. Henry couldn't help himself, but when he finally reached the bedside he thought she was very beautiful. After standing by her side for a few moments a chirping noise came from behind a door which Henry didn't notice before; yet instead of opening the door the creature behind the chirps just floated through it. It was an odd little creature, with long white arms and a thin white antenna, complemented with a permanent grin on its face. The creature floated over to the girl, and placing it hands above her it began to emit a soft warm glow. With the creature's appearance Henry's whereabouts became instantly known to him.

"If that is a DigiGnome, then that must mean I'm in the Digital World," Henry reasoned, staring from the DigiGnome in front of him to the girl on the bed. "Which means she must be a Tamer of sorts. But why is she lying here, and why do I get the feeling I know her…"

As Henry traced his memory back,

his mind brought up a particularly battle worn image, spawned from the day the D-Reaper attacks were happening. There Henry stood with Rika and Takato, where all hope seemed lost. At that point a Dobermon appeared, bringing with it the ability to Biomerge. And with him was a girl around his age, dressed in a goth Lolita fashion style, with her blond hair tied in two pigtails…

"Wait, could it be? Are you really-"

"HEEEENRYYYYYYYYYY! WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!"

SMACK!

Henry bolted up, the offending pillow falling off his face. Initially wide eyed, he soon turned to look and glare at the would-be assailant, who was at this moment laughing at his successful attack. A bunny with overly large green and white ears with a horn on his forehead, Terriermon rolled about on the floor, giggling merrily at Henry's expense.

"Thank you for signing up to the Terriermon Alarm Service! We do mornings, Monday to Sunday, and special rates for heavy sleepers." Terriermon continued to giggle until tears started streaming from his eyes, "Oh man, I wish I had a camera!"

"Very funny, wise guy," Henry said mockingly. As the sleep slowly left his eyes Henry too started to see the funnier side of things, "Now is there a reason why you couldn't wake me up normally?"

"Two reasons," Terriermon said, jumping onto Henry's bed and holding up two fingers, with mischief in his eyes, "First, because for once I was awake before you, and could definitely not pass up this prime opportunity! And second, because we're meeting up with the others at the park in one hour, so get your butt moving mister!"

Author's Note: Congratulations! You made it to the end of my first Chapter! Have a cupcake :P Welcome to my debut story as a fanfic writer, something which has taken a long time to finally let out. Few notes about the story: Going to be the English version of Digimon Tamers, since that is what I'm more comfortable with. Also the uploading will be sporadic, depending on how much work I have or how many ideas I need to form into words.

Fun little competition: See if you can work out where I got my inspiration for my title from. To give you a hint, the first series was in 2011. No prizes to speak of, except my bountiful gratitude ;) Leave a review with the answer, or PM me to talk about Digimon, I don't mind :P, and I'll see you next time!