DIGIMON HEROES
Episode 2 – Hangin' in the Digiworld
REAL WORLD
RIMOUSKI, CANADA
6:32 PM
Ross yawned. "C'mon guys, we've been following this dot for hours. Can we go back now?"
"You're the one that casually suggested we follow it in the first place, Ross," JJ shot back.
"What is this 'dot' anyways?" Alicia asked suddenly, her head swinging back from where she was walking up ahead with Sarah.
"Maybe it's some-"
"Just shut up, Ross," JJ interrupted.
"But-"
"Just shut up."
After an hour more of walking, the little red dot bleeping on their devices abruptly moved to the center of the display.
"I guess we're here," Alicia commented, looking around her.
"That would be the assumption, yes," Willem retorted, peering up at the sky. The group had followed the marker into a grove of sparse trees, and a chilly fog had been slowly creeping in. As Willem stared at the firmament ((AN: Like my big word?)) the mist suddenly flooded into the woods and obscured their view.
"Whoa, that's fast fog," Willem heard from beside him. The haze had grown almost thick enough to walk on, and he could barely see past his outstretched hands. Suddenly, a small breeze picked up and wafted the fog away, revealing an object that hadn't been there before.
"What the hell? A lamppost?" Ross exclaimed, coming into view in front of Willem.
Sarah cocked her head. "Wow, you're right again Ross. It's becoming a habit."
"Okay, seriously, I'm right sometimes. Just..."
"Not very often."
"Yeah."
"Not very often at all."
"Hey, shut up."
JJ raised up a hand. "Guys, be quiet. Let's figure out why the lamppost is here," he said.
"Could this be the object we've been tracking?" Willem speculated.
"It could," JJ said dubiously, "but a lamppost?"
Alicia turned away and walked a few steps into the forest, her mind deep in thought.
"You can actually hear the gears turning inside her head," said a grinning Willem. She shot him a glare dripping with malice, but didn't say anything. Ross groaned, ran up to the lamppost, and kicked it hard at the base. With a rousing clatter, the light inside it began to flicker and change hue, as the pole itself seemed to spin around at high speeds. A high-pitched whining noise began to emanate from the lamppost, soon joined by a similar noise emitted from the devices each of them clenched in their fist.
"I think you made it angry, Ross," Sarah yelled nervously over the din from the lamppost. Willem decided not to comment on that absurd explanation. There was probably some good, wholesome, perfectly reasonable...
Willem was interrupted from his musings, mainly because he was in the process of being whisked into an interdimensional portal like a leaf in the wind.
"Uhh, wtf?"
"Please don't say that, Ross, it grates on my ears."
The group had landed on a rocky plateau surrounded by massive, sharp peaks. The sky was an overcast gray, and the gravel beneath them dug into their skin.
"Well, that was fun," Willem said sarcastically. They all appeared bumped and bruised from the hectic trip to – wherever they were – and were still tired from walking through the woods.
"Where are we?" JJ asked.
"I'm hungry," Ross complained
"Does this look like any country you've been to, Sarah?" JJ asked, resting on his elbows.
"Nope."
"I'm still hungry."
"We could even be on the other side of the world," Willem thought aloud, scratching his chin, "eastern Asia, maybe."
"Seriously, I'm still really hungry."
JJ contemplated their situation. "Well, we should probably look for a place to sleep. We can discuss this in the morning." The rest nodded their agreement.
"Then maybe I can get something to eat," said Ross, rubbing his stomach.
None of them got much sleep that night (would you?), so their tempers were frayed when they finally sat down to mull over their scenario.
"Well, it's obvious we're not at Rimouski anymore," spoke Ross, resting his head on his folded arms.
"Gee, thanks," Willem snapped. He picked up a pebble and hurled it off the edge of the plateau.
"Make you feel any better?" asked a smirking Sarah.
"A bit, yeah," he grumbled.
"So, down to business," JJ started, "where are we?"
An unintelligible mumble came from a nearby shrubbery. He turned and stared at the unoffending bush incredulously, and watched in wonder as a fully living candle popped out from behind it.
The candle smiled up at the gaping JJ, until it finally repeated what it mumbled earlier.
"Digiworld!"
"Um, come again?"
"Digiworld!" the thing repeated, bouncing circles around the stunned boy, "Digiworld, digiworld!"
"Um, guys?" But JJ's friends had their own problems to deal with. Ross had what looked like a little blue devil tugging at his goggles and giggling, while Sarah's hands were full with a goblin with a red mohawk. Alicia was being playfully assaulted by a dark gray bird, and Willem was pestered by a small living beach ball. So, JJ turned his attention back toward the candle bouncing around him and repeating that odd word.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but, what are you?" JJ inquired, curiosity getting the better of him.
The little candle stopped, and looked up at him. Suddenly, it jumped up into JJ's lap and happily squeaked, "Candlemon!"
"Candlemon, eh?" the boy said, squinting at the little object. The candle nodded, and proceeded to explain to the confused boy the concept of the digiworld and the digimon that inhabit it, and then contentedly fell asleep.
JJ blinked.
"Talkative guy, huh?" Sarah said, leaning over his shoulder. The others had come and sat beside JJ and the 'digimon' while he was listening attentively.
"Glad you heard it; I wouldn't want to repeat that," he said wryly.
"Mm-hm!" A funny-sounding voice spoke up from behind him. JJ turned, and saw the goblin talking to Sarah. "I'm Goblimon!"
"Goblimon," she repeated, "cool name!"
The goblin emitted an odd laugh.
"And who're you?" Ross demanded, pointing at the little blue devil.
"Veemon," it said, smiling.
He examined the digimon. "Huh, you don't look like a V."
Alicia didn't look at her digimon, but hummed to herself, scratching at the dirt. The gray bird stared at her for a moment, then blurted out, "I am Falcomon."
"That's nice. I'm Alicia."
Willem was studying his little beach ball. "And you are?" he began.
"Bevermon!" it said, looking up at the blond-haired boy. Willem nodded in reply. The group sat silently for a while, absently looking out away from the plateau. Finally, Ross said,
"I'm bored. Let's go somewhere."
