WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOO! I'm back, humans! If you only follow me for my smut, sorry, but this story will disappoint you. I won't quit working on that on the side, though. So, if you want to read a real digimon story, read on!

For once in a long time I was looking forward to hanging out with Bradley again on Saturday. His finals were over and he wasn't employed, so I couldn't imagine what on earth could get in the way of seeing him this time. Ever since school started he became much more distant from me. I suspected it was because I was a high school freshman and he was a junior, but I would hope he was better than that. A phone call from him dashed my hopes, though. I wondered what his excuse would be this time.

"Brad if you're about to cancel on me again, I think I'll just go ahead and delete your number since I don't even know you anymore."

There was a hesitant pause before Brad responded with, "...come on, man, my grandma's in the hospital. I really wish I didn't have to go, believe me." The guy sounded like he meant it, but he sounded just like that every time. By this point it had been a year since we last met up, and, well... actions speak louder than words. I hung up, getting real frustrated with his antics by then. I could have really used some company.

So what do I do? I tried to arrange something with the band. "Hey, Trent, it's Dylan. You feel like grabbing Josh and seeing if he wants to meet up?"

"Hang on." I sat there for two full minutes as I waited for Trent to find his brother. The final response? "No good. He's got plans with one of his friends, Brad." As expected, hearing that name made me scowl in anger.

"Do you mean Bradley Karr?"

"Yeah, why?"

Forget scowling. Had Trent been in the room with me he would have seen me shake in raw anger. I abruptly hung up on him before throwing my phone at my wall in a fit of rage. I never liked the idea of wasting money on a case for products deliberately made delicate as a method of extortion, so my phone obviously shattered into many pieces, some possibly fixable and some clearly not. I just growled at it, though, glad to see it gone in my fit.

Ever since Brad started on the cigarettes, he's been on a path to a living hell of his own making. I guess smoking may have been his own choice, but it proved A) he was susceptible to peer pressure, and B) those peers were not good people. It didn't stop at tobacco. It went forward to weed, prostitutes, stupid stunts, even criminal acts - like using a dogsitting job as a way to get into my family's home and steal all the cash and valuables he could lay his hands on.

My father was an intimidating man when he chooses to be. He chose to sit down and scare my former friend rather than send him to prison like he deserved. His own parents were even scarier. The guy lost whatever electronics and possessions he didn't pay for, including the car, and was faced with either paying restitution or going to prison. Predictably, he chose the former.

Now, here's the plot twist: the next time he showed up at my place was with everything he stole and a black eye. A warning not to rat on the others' activities, apparently. They must have had a reason to suspect he would, which means I believe he left them behind. So that's why I forgave him even though he didn't deserve it. And since then I'd gotten the cold shoulder. I figured I was the last reminder of a chapter in his life he would have rather forgotten.

"How did you think I would feel?" I began to sing glumly to myself, plopping down on my bed, "You threw me aside again/ How did you think I would feel?" Glumness gave way to rage. "What made you hurt me again?/I'm... nothing to you, I can see!/ Just Walk away from me!/ I'm stuck here, and I can't believe/ You'd sit and watch me bleed!"

By the end of the chorus I was out of breath and shouting more than singing. But Brad had been my only friend in the past six years or so, even if he had failed at that responsibility more than once over that time. I was grief-stricken, for this was the final straw. But also not helpful, because of all that... I was alone.

I couldn't really take that. He was in walking distance, so I stomped down to his family's place and knocked on the door. It was Bradley's older brother Jay that ended up answering the door. He was no smarter than his brother, but he was a better person, and that made all the difference in the world. "Hey, Brad asked me over," I lied. Good people are easy to fool.

But Jay wasn't quite that good. "He's doing homework," Jay informed me. Now, this was a very informative response, actually. It told me Jay was up to something he didn't want his brother to know about... And that he was the dirty liar I expected him to be. Don't forget, finals were over. I was fearing a complete behavior relapse now.

"I know. We're in the same Algebra II class. He wanted my help." At least I was lying for a good cause. So that's how I gained entry into the home. I headed up the stairs to his bedroom and knocked on the closed door.

I half expected silence, but I got a response unexpectedly. "Not a good time, dad! I'm doing homework!" After that I heard a couple whispers, which I inferred to be him and at least one girl in there.

I wasn't amused. "Yeah? Well tell your homework she has four seconds to climb out the window before I open the door." Was I kind of stalking? Yes, yes I was. Did I care? Meh. I was a little generous with time, though, giving eight seconds before opening up. Wherever she was, she must have gone out the window... and closed it behind her. Oh, well. I wasn't here for her. "What is this bullshit? Do you think you can call me a friend and keep me no closer than arm's length? What the hell have you been up to?"

Bradley glanced at his computer before he answered, a telling sign. But before I could actually follow his gaze he tried to pass off walking in front of it as moving to face me and finally take me take me seriously. "Alright, man, I haven't talked to you much, but-"

"What's on the computer?"

He froze. He knew I had him. He sighed and looked everywhere except at me, then down at some necklace he was wearing with a weird symbol strung on it. I guessed it had some significance to him, though, because he was thinking hard while staring down at it. Looked like he was having a crisis of conscience again. But at least this time he chose to do the right thing, I thought, when he sighed again and finally looked up with a nod toward his computer. "Okay. I'll show you. But I need you-"

"To trust you? I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. We've already established you're lying to me, and to your family. And do you wanna explain what's so secret that you and Josh are keeping it from me?"

Bradley seemed surprised to hear me drop that name. "You know Josh?"

"I'm in a band with him! He's my drummer!" Apparently this was not good news to Brad.

"...what's he told you?"

"He hasn't told me shit! He doesn't have to! He shows up to band rehearsals and doesn't get himself into trouble." I leaned in and narrowed my eyes then. "He's not getting himself into trouble with you, is he?"

Bradley clocked me then, a solid left hook that would have flattened me if I didn't roll with it. Still, it didn't have his usual power. Brad was a strong guy who knew how to fight. He had held back. "You idiot! We're trying to protect you by not getting you involved!" That was shouted in a bit of a growl, but Brad's eyes looked more guilty than angry. "And I wasn't going to tell you trust me!"

I'm more of a pacifist, so I didn't strike back. I would have just broken my knuckles anyway. I kept silent and still, as he had my attention. He continued, "I'll show you what I'm up to, but you need to prepare yourself. I wasn't ready, and... Man, I still can't believe it." He reached out with a hand and let it rest on my shoulder in a friendly gesture while he took another sigh. Then his eyes closed, and he pushed me toward his computer. Hard! Shit, I thought that was a low move, and I was about to slam right into his monitor!

As it turns out, I did... Sort of. I'll get back to that. But what I registered hitting at the time was only the ground, which left me briefly disoriented as I rose up. But when I did get my feet back under me... Well, I was only further disoriented. For starters, carpet flooring had been suddenly replaced by green grass, and the room seemed a lot more open and naturally lit... Wait... I wasn't in a room! I was outside! In the sun! Did I fall out the window? No, it was closed, and I didn't see any glass shards around me.

Actually, I didn't see much if anything around me. Not even his house. Nobody's house. It was like I had just glitched and teleported to some wild plains area. A bit terrified, I was liked backwards and- "Ow!" -slammed my head right into something. I whipped around to see a rock in the air. But, man... listen to this. It wasn't falling! It was just, like, floating there! I waved my hand over and under it but found nothing keeping it in the air. "I wonder..." I thought briefly before jumping up in the air myself. But nope, I came right back down. I guess only rocks get to defy the laws of physics.

"Trippy, right?" Whipping back around, there was my friend Bradley. The most notable thing about him was his clothes. His Vans were jet black arched-sole sneakers. His shorts were black jeans with pockets for days. Over his black T-shirt was a dark orange open hoodie. Nothing weird, except he was wearing none of that when he pushed me. "It takes some getting used to. If you're gonna vomit, do it in private. I don't wanna see that shit."

Smack! "Bradley! That's no way to treat your friend!" Actually, that wasn't me. Someone else had smacked Brad's side scolded him. I hadn't noticed him before, but... damn. Could you blame me? Floating rocks, teleportation, magic clothes and now... this. "Apologies for his behavior. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Gabumon, Bradley's digimon!"

Oh, yeah. It was some freaky shit.

Gabumon wasn't a human. He was... hell, I dunno. A cross between a lot of things. Lizard came to mind first because his body was mostly golden scales, but most lizards I've met had slitted pupils and no horns, unlike Gabumon. He was also wearing what resembled an albino tiger pelt, kinda like an old Native American chief or something, and he was about half my height. It would have been off-putting if he wasn't speaking and holding his hand - paw - out like such a nice, polite guy.

I didn't shake it immediately. Part of it was that I was still a bit freaked out, part was the last time an innocent touch was applied I ended up where I currently was and a smaller issue was I didn't want to risk cutting myself on the pelt's really long, sharp claws. But I shook it anyway, even if I gave a funny look while doing it. "Hey... Call me Dylan."

I thought I had pissed him off. His eyes widened. He yanked his paw back (luckily not scratching me). But he wasn't angry at me. "Bradley, what did I tell you? What did Gallantmon tell you? No other humans! He doesn't have the digivice, he doesn't have the power! He wasn't chosen-"

"I know! But Gabumon, there was no hiding it anymore. Look, he doesn't have a partner, but maybe he can help!"

"Hey!" I recoiled, "I didn't sign up for... Whatever you do!"

Gabumon agreed, "Dylan's right, Bradley. You know this place is dangerous and unpredictable. Without a partner, who knows what could happen to him?"

"Uh, excuse me!" I interjected before I was phased out of the conversation. "Would someone explain to me what 'this place' is and how I got here?" That didn't help much because the initial response I got was all looks from them, all awkward silence. "Oh, please. Talking lizard dog, teleportation, secrets, floating rocks, do you think I'm not gonna be able to handle that inevitable question?"

Bradley choffed and inclined his head acknowledingly. "Eh, got a point there. Okay, here's what's going on." Finally! A straight answer! "You're in the digital world. Cyberspace has gotten so big it's basically a whole nother universe now." He gestured to Gabumon. "Gabumon is a Digimon. Digimon are the creatures that live in the digital world. We met because I was chosen by... Well, we don't really know. And I don't know why, either. But I live here more than that world now. I figure, it's a new start. The one I needed."

I think there was more he meant to say, but at that moment what I can only describe as a shimmering and rift in space occurred before another human teleported. I guess Brad had earned my forgiveness, but this one hadn't. He has yet to be honest with me. His Digimon reminded me of a robot lizard with crimson red plating. The human was decked out in boots, cargo shorts, a leather beater with a best over, and fingerless gloves on his hands - all flame-patterned.

Me, I wasn't amused. I stood there with my arms crossed and a cold stare as he entered the digital world. Josh was quick to notice my presence and attitude while I maintained silence. "Oh, hell no! Brad, what did you-"

"Skip it," I nonchalantly but firmly commanded.

"You skip it!" rebelled the new Digimon, however, before addressing Bradley. Rude. "If Gallantmon knew you brought a human who wasn't destined, he'd be furious!"

"Shoutmon, it's done. So accept it or shut up," Brad told him off.

"...the name fits," I remarked off-hand. "I'm not even going to ask how long you think you can keep up the charade, Brad, or why you, Josh, think lying to your friend is ever acceptable."

"Dylan, take a breath." Brad was smart. He knew the signs almost always. Sometimes calming me down in the early stages worked, and sometimes it didn't. But he did have to try.

"No! Here I come to find not only were my friends keeping a huge secret from me, but now I'm in a completely different universe?" I wasn't just angry. This was worse. "How the hell is anyone supposed to find us? How am I gonna get home? Maybe you don't have a life to live there anymore, but I do!" I was hysterical.

Let me explain. I'm autistic. High-functioning, which is a fancy term that means you can't always tell, but it manifests infrequently or invisibly most of the time. You might have noticed I'm an unpleasant person to be around? I don't quite get socialization, and I don't always even like it. It's still a struggle to look people in the eye. But most relevant to the moment are my reluctance to accept change, a constant source of cognitive dissonance, and unfamiliar, otherwise stressful environments and situations take a great toll on me.

"Get me back, Bradley! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I think one of the Digimon panicked, because between then and a few hours later, all I remember is a sharp pain on the back of my head and blackness.

The ironic part was when I woke up and found Josh's fist over Shoutmon's head, who was rubbing it profusely. I decided to pretend I didn't know who hit me so I wouldn't take it personally. Must have been a short time, because nobody moved me. But there was time for a new arrival on the scene. Unfortunately, before my vision cleared up, it vanished. Josh was the first to speak then, "Okay, here's the deal. The firewall is blocking our way back, so we need to wait until it opens up. Shouldn't be longer than a few hours, max, and when it happens this'll tell us."

My drummer tossed me his phone. I thought it was when I first looked at it, anyway. "That's a digivice," he explained, "Can't survive without one. I'd give you one, but there's only one in existence for every human supposed to be here."

"So this thing's my ticket back to sanity?"

"Among other things, yeah. Hell, even I dunno everything it does." I turned it in my hand and examined it. It was red, like Shoutmon, all over, and the back had a lightning bolt design on it. "You mind handing that back? It's gonna be dark soon. We should make camp."

I figured I'd better accept the situation I was stuck in, since, well, I was stuck. So without objection I tossed Josh's digivice back to him. Okay, I objected a little, but I thought it was a valid objection. "What do you mean, dark soon? Look up! The sun's high in the sky!"

My drummer just held up three fingers in reply. Then dropped one. Two. When his hand became a fist, the sun went out like a puff of smoke! What the hell? But Brad was completely nonchalant about the whole thing. "I got this," he said. Got what? Now we could barely see, the only light being his digivice screen.

Well, it turned out I learned another digivice function then. After tapping its screen a few times he produced three flashlights and five glow sticks before he began passing them all out, though only humans got flashlights. I think Gabumon knew I was confused by that. "Digimon have a sixth sense for one another. We can sense one another's presence, so if there's trouble, we'll probably be the first to know anyway." That was no crazier than anything else I learned that day, so I took it in stride as I got the glow stick between a couple empty belt loops (my clothes didn't change!).

"You don't have a tent in that device, do y- Oh, come on!" He didn't have a tent. He had two.

Josh chided, "You're sleeping on the ground. We didn't pack space for a spare. And you better not be a snorer!" and that was the only unceremonious goodnight I got before both the boys crawled into their respective tents. I was left alone there, so I sat down, one leg outstretched and the other folded in while my arm kept me supported.

"Jesus Christ... What have I gotten myself into?"

"Who's that? Friend o' yours?" Oh, I wasn't completely alone. The Digimon were on either side of me. I scoffed at Shoutmon's question.

"Nah, he's a popular guy, but he's no friend of mine." I took a sigh. "But maybe he oughta be. It seems I have poor judgement when it comes to whether things are real."

"...I have no idea what that means!" declared Shoutmon before plopping down beside me with some goofy grin on his face. Gabumon followed suit, giving me a concerned look as he did so more slowly. He's a good guy, which means he's transparent.

"You don't have to watch me. I won't run off." I think Gabumon was about to open his mouth to deny that, but Shoutmon scoffed, giving away their true intentions.

"Dylan, it's..." Gabumon seemed to be having some trouble finding the words he wanted. "Don't be angry at your friends. They wanted to protect you. And they succeeded, did they not? These past few months you've been just fine."

"I think that's a stretch."

"You've been safe. Bradley can never leave for the digital world before first taking a long look at that necklace of his. It bears the Crest of Friendship. Not the real one, obviously, but the same symbol."

"The crest of-?"

"Don't ask," Shoutmon interjected, "Unless you want a boring history lesson. Just believe it's important, okay?"

"As I was saying... I know the person he used to be. He's repented, and if you could see him now, I know you'd support him. He's spoken highly of you, you know. You're a good influence on him."

Now that took me by surprise. "You're kidding, right? He almost got me arrested when he threw a firecracker out his car window."

"I said you were a good influence on him, not the other way around. But he strives to be more like you these days. You don't take stupid risks, he says, and you aren't easily swayed by others."

I scoffed at Gabumon. "He's not wrong. But that ain't exactly an ideal life either. I'm 15 years old, and I've never even had a date. Not even a peck on the cheek. I've never really lived my life. I go to school, I go home, I watch TV, repeat. I'm bored! I'd kill for a shot at an adventure! I'm... I'm a little envious."

I thought Gabumon actually felt for me. His eyes softened a little. Shoutmon wasn't so apparently sympathetic, though. He reminded me, "Yeah, let's not forget how you are in a tense situation." I wanted to glare at him, but all I could muster was a shrug and sullen look. He had a point. "Aww, c'mon, don't do that. Now you're makin' me feel bad!"

Gabumon's glare at Shoutmon was no joke, and he knew it. "Sleep, Dylan," he half-invited, half-commanded. "We'll keep you safe. Tomorrow we get you home, and everything will work out. But please sleep?"

I didn't have much else to do, did I? So I did as I was told.