Digimon: Overflow
Running 01.1
Awake Oceanborn
The water was another world for her. Swallowing her up, she could pretend she was something else. A whale, or a mermaid. Something so graceful, she could never hope to attain it on land. Even as she swam the length of the pool, she allowed her mind to wander while everything else went to autopilot. Arms cut through the water, legs kicked her forward, her lungs regulated her breathing; all worked in conjunction to give her a moment of pure escapism.
That moment ended when she touched the end of the pool and lifted herself out onto its lip. The real world hit her instantly. The noise of the other Sixth Form pupils echoed off the walls. Some as the lounged and chatted at the edge of the pool, while others drifted aimlessly on the casual half of the pool. Not that the swimming team's half, for all its organisation in being split into lanes, was any quieter. They were as loud, kicking up a violent froth in their wake. But what hit her the most however was the ache in her muscles, much worse than usual.
Pushing her goggles up onto her forehead, she looked up at her coach—a sinewy woman in tank-top and yoga pants—scowling at her stopwatch.
"Still not your best time, but getting there. You just need to put a bit more effort in, Nicola."
Nicola flopped back on the floor, arms akimbo while she left her legs to bob in the water.
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Can we leave it for the day? Everything hurts."
Coach just frowned at her. "That's what you get for missing a month of training. Look, the Swimming Meet is in just six weeks, so you not only need to match your best, but beat it too!"
While speaking, she knelt down and pushing her fingers underneath Nicola's shoulder, she pushed the teenager into a sitting position, before giving her a gentle shove into the water again.
Nicola sighed, but pulled her goggles back down over her eyes anyway. "Alright. Sorry, I shouldn't be moaning."
"I can understand why though. Any sort of break or fracture will soften you to some degree. Just be thankful that you broke your arm and not your neck." At that moment, she looked away and obviously saw something she disliked. "Abigail! Form!"
As the coach walked away to correct another girl, Nicola glanced over at her friends. They were all seated on the steps leading into the pool, enjoying the water.
She could spare a minute to go over to talk to them. She'd do those laps, but only after a little break.
Diving under the dividers, she propelled herself towards the steps. When she came up, she found Alice already looking at her. Honestly, the girl creped her out sometimes; her resting face looked too much like a doll! That is, until she opened her mouth.
"Well lookie you graced us with her presence." A shy grin spread across her face as she spoke and any creepiness vanished with it. And it brought the full weight of the other four's attention down on the athlete. Alex, ever the clown, hummed the Jaws theme, which earned her a sharp poke when Nicola swam up to her.
"So, how's your first day back, hun?" Naomh asked, sitting at the top step with her hair styled and desperate not to get it wet. She was playing quite the paradox though, trying to avoid the teachers' attentions while attracting all the guys in that man-eater's swimsuit.
Pulling herself up onto one of the lower steps, Nicola pulled off her swimming cap and freed honey blonde tresses all down her shoulders. "Achey. And it'll only get worse by this evening."
"D-Don't worry. You'll get better." Hermione shrank after she spoke, so Nicola gave her a reassuring smile. Hermione was a bit of a shrinking violet and needed encouragement. Otherwise she'd only talk to Alice and Alex about video games.
"Yeah, wish I could ease into it more. Six week of intensive training for a competition is not what I would have liked."
Clara, a broad shouldered, amazonian girl, chuckled. "Has our little iron woman finally gone soft?" She poked at a relatively fatty piece of flesh on Nicola's arm.
Nicola glared at her, before her mouth broke into a sly grin. "Maybe. But that can be turned around."
That was the conversation closer, nothing more could be said. So she just stood up and hurled herself back into the pool, trying to make the splash reach as far as Naomh's hair.
~xXxXx~
Towel wrapped around her body, fumbled about the tiny locker for her school uniform. She always hated pulling on that itchy jumper on again right after swimming, but neither did she want a detention from Mr. Cameron, the vice principal.
"If you take issue with the uniform, go to America," he'd always say, "Here in good, old England, we instil a bit of discipline in our youth."
Expectantly, the few American pupils in the school were never pleased with this remark.
Still, however she felt about it, she pulled on the maroon jumper and the plait skirt on over her underclothes.
Most importantly of all, she grabbed her schoolbag. Often made fun of for it, it looked like a green, plastic turtle-shell with two fabric straps. She was willing for them for think she was a bit crazy in that regard. It was more important to her than they ever guess.
Besides, a little strangeness was allowed in these trying times.
~xXxXx~
"Naomh still not speaking to you?"
Alex only commented on it because Naomh had walked past them. Nicola shut her locker and pocketed the key.
"Yep. I want to apologise, but she needs to be cooler before I try that. Otherwise, she might try to tear my head off." She sighed. She'd crossed a line and she knew it; you didn't mess with Naomh's hair.
Alex shook her head morosely. "Yeah she really lost her temper. Though how she can spend £40 on a hairdo, I'll never understand."
Nicola had to give the other girl a sideways glare. "Come on. You easily drop that much on those anime Blu-Rays." Alex tries to feign innocence and the was a moment of laughter and levity before the situation settled back onto them again. "Anyway, it's more than just the hair. Something's stressing her out."
It was that remark which triggered something Alex's brain. "Oh yeah! Isn't her sister deploying as a 'CP pilot soon?"
Nicola stopped dead. "Wait, what? Has it really been three months? Christ, she must have got it done for her send off." No wonder, Naomh had exploded. She adored her sister. Oh God, she felt so guilty now. Suddenly, she wanted to run off and find Naomh.
All thoughts were lost however when the obnoxious noise of the siren went off. The two were unfortunately right beside one when it happened and Alex was not happy.
"No, no, no, it's almost four, don't do this now!"
Nicola's ears rang with the sound and she pull up her hood in an effort to soften the din. Moments later however, they cut out and the speakers buzzed to life with the Principal's voice.
"Attention, attention. We have reports of a Class 2 within city-limits and within the school's lockdown radius. So I ask that all the students held towards the gym. Teachers, you know the procedure."
Then with the loud clunk of the antiquated tannoy system, the message ended.
Alex groaned, running her hand through her chestnut hair. "Great, won't be getting home 'til six tonight. Seriously, for as long as they keep us in there, you'd think the fighting would pass over the school. Take out a classroom or two. Preferably Miss Fletcher's."
Nicola smiled at the thought, but shook her head. "I think they just relocate the class then."
"Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?"
This general conversation continued all the way to the gym. There wasn't any hurry. The teacher kept everyone moving but only barely. It was all seen before and they couldn't keep worrying all the time; the novelty had worn off. One hundred times they'd gone down to the bunker and the fighting had come nowhere near the school. Why should it be different the hundred and first?
As they wandered into the gym and mixed into the crowd that had gathered ahead of them, the teachers were pulling open the bunker doors. Nicola always thought they were reminiscent of American storm cellars. Well, it was kind of a storm, though not a natural one...
Nicola sighed. It didn't really concern her all that much. What concerned her know was making things up to Naomh.
~xXxXx~
In the London streets, he crouched beside a low concrete wall and waited for the order to come. The streets were silent now that everyone had taken shelter either in the Tube or one of the many bunkers that peppered the metropolis. His comrades were scattered around them, among them his commanding officer.
As they waited, he checked over his equipment one more time just to make sure nothing was loose, even checking his rifle's magazine despite knowing from the weight it was full.
The signal came, a hand waving them further into the empty streets followed by two sharp clicks. In a moment, they were all moving forward, everyone on edge as they crept through the streets which they knew the enemy were hiding in.
Beside him, he heard the girl beside him stumble over something before she found her balance and pressed on. She was nineteen, he seemed to remember. Eager to hold a gun, to be able to defend humanity. Much like him at the start, though he was tired now. Funny, he was only twenty-one and he felt old. He still had a job to do, so no matter how tired and old he felt, he wasn't going to be able to rest yet.
A single click, their CO, and they all stopped. In the distance, they all heard the sound of clashing, gunshot and inhuman roars. Two more clicks and they were on the move again.
After a long silence and much distance, their CO's voice came through their earpieces. "Coming up on LKL now. Prepare to engage."
Those words proved to echo ironically the next moment, when they all heard a low, menacing growl. Turning, the monster just seemed to materialise out of the broken shop window and stepped onto the street. Its size was morale-shattering, towering above them and almost touching the canopy. Its basic shape was that of a tyrannosaur with a jaw large enough to swallow any of them, kit and all, and was coloured a violent red. But it was far worse than that, for under that shape, behind those eyes lay an intellect which matched his own.
For a moment they all stood there, human and monster alike, the silence holding them in stasis.
"Tyranomon!"
The cry of one of their own broke the spell. The next moment was madness. Guns were levelled, orders shouted, the Tyranomon's lips peeled back revealing jagged rows of teeth.
"Humans!" Its growl rumbled through them all, the sheer volume shaking their teeth.
He opened fire along with the rest of his squad and began strafing towards cover. Ducking behind an overturned car, he mounted his gun on the bonnet and continued to pepper the dinosaur digimon with bullets. The newbies were starting to freak when they realised they were having a negligible effect. One of them tried to charge, firing all the way, only to be whipped aside by Tyranomon's tail.
The Tyranomon growled and inhaled deeply. His gut dropped, having seen fire-type digimon before and knowing what was coming.
"Fire Breath!" he roared, a warning to those around him.
"Blaze Blast!" the Tyranomon screamed. The soldiers ducked behind cover just as the area was washed in flames. An unlucky soul didn't notice the signs in time took the full brunt of the attack, going down screaming. Idiot! He was trained for that! When the firestorm cleared, the rest of the troops took up firing positions again, resuming their assault.
He refrained from joining in for a moment though, disconcerted; what were the designated derezzers doing? They had the perfect opportunity to finish it there.
A thump rattled his bones, breaking his train of thought. Looking around, he saw that the Tyranomon was a step closer than it had been, practically looming over him now, and was in the middle of another. He blanched however, when he realised that this stride was headed straight for him.
Bodily, he hurled himself to the side just as the foot came down on his hiding spot. Metal screeched and glass rolled off his back from the unlucky car that had sheltered him.
The Tyranomon was amidst their front line now, the thrum of gunfire now sounding desperate. There was a gleam of victory in its eyes as it made for another intake of breath.
This time, things went as planned. As the creature inhaled, a loud boom cut the air. No crack of gunpowder, just the sonic boom of the derezz round travelling into the digimon's throat. And another and another!
The result was spectacular. The derezzing ripped through the digimon's head, a contagion which spread instantaneously, the affected areas becoming blocky and unstable! The Tyranomon stumbled, tried to keep itself up before its knees gave out and it toppled onto its belly.
Still on the ground, his entire body loosened. Rolling onto his back, he breathed a sigh of relief. The railgunners had done it! All around him, his comrades were in good humour. The newbs were ecstatic, patting each other on the back, and even the veteran looked relieved, with some of them giving thumbs up to the three railgunners. Then, somehow, his gaze came around to the body of the Tyranomon and his entire chest plummeted.
Its eye was wide, staring. As his eyes settled upon it, it seemed to dilate. It was still very much alive.
He didn't get a chance to warm them, didn't get a chance to finish the job. It had already burst with a blinding white light at this stage, catching the attention of the others anyway. Amidst the brilliance, the Tyranomon's injuries were stripped away and it seemed to change shape right before them, growing, darkening, generally becoming more haggard if only to make it more intimidating. When the light did subside, an entirely new creature stood in its place.
As they watched the beast rose up, he noticed one of his squad mates slump and seem to break in the face of this adversity. He, however, held it together, clutching his gun and pushing himself to his feet as the indentifying cry went out.
"MasterTyranomon! Call backup now! We need those 'CPs!"
Author's Notes:
Alright, so I'm going for an original setting and it'll be more Tamers than Adventure, but hopefully you guys will be interested in that.
Some terminology for those unfamiliar.
Sixth Form: the two year period at the end of British secondary education in which students prepare for their A level exams.
The Tube: known formally as the London Underground, it is the metro system which serves Greater London.
Niamh: pronounced 'Neev'. It's an Irish name, hence the spelling.
Not happy with this chapter myself, but if I don't post it now I'll just end up sitting on it forever. Maybe I'll touch it up later. Anyway, any criticism is welcome. And if you spot any grammar mistakes or missing words (I'm awful for leaving words out) then feel free to let me know.
Going to try and average chapters out at around this length and multiple chapters will form an episode, which is what the 01.01 is about. Want to try and update to a schedule, as I've been awful at it in the past. Still, here's hoping!
Thanks for reading.
