Chapter 2: Roadtrip

RenPOV

"Touhakken!" He slashed down as if the chain were a sword and it cut right through the bug like a knife. As it split and burst into particles, he turned to me with a look of exhaustion on his face. "Let's go." I stared at his hand before grabbing it and allowing him to lift me to my feet. How did he learn Touhakken without training, even more so to augment it through a chain? He walked me out of the wrecked house, my mother closely following. "Thank you, Jake! I'm quite sure we wouldn't have survived-" "Please , I'm only helping." He turned to me and asked if I could walk. I nodded but as soon as I let go, my body seized up and started to fall forward. He grabbed me before I could hit the ground. Jake held me, smiling at me. "Look whose being carried now." I hid my face in my paws in embarrassment but Jake pulled them away. "Hey. It's alright. We all fall down sometimes. We just gotta get back up and keep going." I smiled at him as he let me down and supported me while he lowered me to the ground. Jake had started to examine my leg, where it had been cut open. I didn't remember getting hit by anything. I must of scraped my leg across some debris. He took something out of his pocket and laid it on the ground. Jake opened it up to reveal combat gauze, a stitch kit and a bottle of some kind of liquid. He took a piece of gauze and doused it with the liquid. "Now, I have to put this on your wound and it's gonna sting but only for a few seconds." I gave him a confused look. " I'm a battle trained warrior, a little sting-" "Alright then." He pressed it to my wound before I could finish. The pain that coursed through my leg can't be described. "Ssss Ouch! A little warning next time!" He just smirked. Jake reached for the stitch kit and grabbed a needle already threaded with stitching thread. He closed his eyes as if concentrating and the thread lit with blue flame. He stitched the wound and as soon as he had tied the end, it faded into my skin, the wound fully healed and closed up. I stared at him in amazement. "You haven't had any training! How could you be so advanced already?" He smiled at me and explained. "I don't have a processing code, so anything I learn is instantaneous. I don't need repetition." I quietly laughed. "I've not known you for a day yet and you're already surprising me." He simply smiled and lifted me to my feet and this time I was steady.

We walked to the middle of the clearing to find that the village was totaled. I heard my mother gasp behind us. Everything was gone. I went to comfort her while Jake searched for supplies among the wreckage. "It'll be alright Mom. We can rebuild the village for when the others regenerate! We-" "Honey, please just… stop. Rebuilding will take too long and just because they'll regenerate doesn't necessarily mean they'll find their way back. I want you and Jake to leave the village and find a way to the real world." "Mom we'll never make it that far! At least let me take you with me!" "Ren, my time here is done. Please. Go." She started to fade but I wouldn't have it. I lit my paws and held her, preventing her from dispersing but she broke apart anyways. When she was gone I removed my arms to find the tail ends of her robe. I hugged them, then tucked them away and went to find Jake.

JakePOV

While Renamon and Tao talked I went to find supplies for our trip. I grabbed a satchel and stopped by the training grounds. I grabbed medical supplies and some spare chains in case my old one broke. I also stopped by some shops that were left standing. The bugs apparently here to attack the tribe itself rather then their supplies. It was a barbaric tactic, though fitting for they were barbaric. I had filled the bag the rest of the way with food and blankets. I started to walk back when I passed the book stand. I stopped and picked up the only book there, a guide to the moves Renamon knew. It must have been a handbook for students. I put it in my pocket and headed back to Renamon. As I walked up to her she stood and turned to me slowly. She opened her arms to reveal the cloth of Tao's robe. I saw Tao nowhere and assumed the worst. " I'm so sorry Renamon. I should have been here to help." She shook her head and wiped her eyes. " No Jake. She knew we couldn't help. It was her time." I couldn't think of anything to say to comfort her, so I did that I did best. I hugged her and held her tightly to me. She seemed surprised but eventually hugged back. When we let go I looked straight in the eyes. " We're gonna get through this together, alright?" She smiled and nodded. I turned and open the handbook, which luckily had a map of the eastern digital world. I tapped a spot on the map and showed it to Renamon. " What's this place?" She looked at it and grinned widely. "Only the largest city in eastern Digi, Central Techon! I've always wanted to go there but I've never been outside of the general area of my town!" I smiled at her and started walking in the direction of the city. "Well we're going there first since it's the largest center of intelligence in Digi." She jumped with excitement and took off. "Well let's go!" I walked alongside her on the way. We stopped by so many locations. There was a cart we passed and I bought us some spice pops. I wolfed mine down but she just held hers and stared at it like it would grow legs and walk away if she blinked. I chuckled. "Um, Renamon, what are you doing?" She looked up. " What's wrong with this thing? I can't absorb it!" I laughed. " Renamon, it's food not data! You have to suck on it! It's like a lollipop but spicy!" She looked confused. " I…have to…eat it? That's new. And what's spicy?" I just shrugged. "Just try it." She looked at it once more before opening her mouth and placing it inside. As we walked she looked deep in thought. " This isn't all that bad. What did you mean by spicy?" I grinned. "Just wait." I watched as her expression go from thoughtful to fear. "Wha- what's in my mouth?! There's little bugs in this pop and their biting my tongue! Ah, now their crawling down my throat! Jake, help!" I just stood there and laughed as she wiped at her tongue trying to remove the "bugs".

We walked on through the desert until sunset. She started to set up camp while I started dinner. When she was done she walked over to me and sat down. I was searching through the bag, only to exit it with a sigh. "What's wrong Jake?" I sat down beside her. "Oh, I just forgot to bring any fire starters." She laughed. "Well that sucks! Guess you can't cook din-" "What's the heat limit here?" She blinked at me. "Sorry, did you just ask the heat limit?" "Yes! How hot can a space in Digi get?" She huffed. "Well, the fire types here can get over 9'000 degrees. Does that help?" I snickered. " What's so funny?" I smiled. "It's a joke in the human world. Don't worry about it." I put my hands near the wood and focused heat into my hands. They lit with the blue ghostly flame I'd become familiar with. She waved me off. "Don't bother. Fox fire doesn't burn hot enough." I laughed. "Then let's turn up the heat! Fire Palm!" The fox fire flashed brighter turning from blue to orange. I pressed my hand to the wood and it lit. As the heat dispersed from my hand, I turned to Renamon to find her hiding behind the log she'd been sitting on. She weakly laughed. "You cease to disappoint." We sat down and I started to cook. I'd brought some vegetables along with some fish. I had also snuck some spices. When it was done I brought out some plates. "I present to you veggie stir fry with smoked… whatever kind of fish that is." She stared the plate. "Is this food too? I don't want to just sit here and stare at it again." I laughed. "Yes it's food! I put some spices on the veggies and I coated the fish with cactus nectar. You didn't have honey anywhere in the village, so I collected stuff on the way." She smiled at me then looked back at the plate. "Alright then." She poked a piece of broccoli with a claw and sniffed it, then placed it in her mouth and started chewing. "This… is really good! What is this?" I laughed. " You're the first person I've met who likes veggies. That was broccoli." She had finished her stir fry and had started on her fish. "How did you make the fish so good? It's usually bland but now it's sweet!" I just laughed. We continued to eat until the sun had gone down. When we had finished, I was cleaning up when she walked up to me from behind and started hugging me. I looked at her confusedly and chuckled. "Uhh Renamon? What are you doing?" She sighed. "I don't know. When you did this to me earlier, I felt better. About everything. I'm trying to find it again." I sighed. "Is it your mother? Do you miss her?" She nodded. "I don't understand what it is. It's just sad." I turned and hugged her back. "Don't worry about it. We'll figure something out. I know I can't be a replacement for your parents but I'll stay beside you for as long as you want me to." I held her for what seemed like hours. When we parted, she sniffled and wiped her eyes. I put my hand on her shoulder. "I won't leave you behind okay? I promise." She smiled and nodded. I turned to continue washing dishes when a bright flash of light appeared above us both. As it dispersed a small device on a lanyard, no bigger than a cell phone, fell into my hands. We stared at it for a minute in surprise. I finally looked up at her. "Does this normally happen here?" She shook her head. "No, I've never even seen this thing before." I noticed it had three buttons on the front, an triangle pointing left or right with a circle in between. I pressed the circle and the screen lit up. "No data available. Please stand by while I scan your partner." We looked at each other. "Partner?" The small device split into three pieces and started to fly around Renamon. They formed a triangle above her head and moved down, with Renamon in the middle. As they scanned her, the torn fabric from Tao's robe wrapped itself around her forearms. They finished and flew back to reform into the small device it was before. "Data scan complete. Renamon. Jake. You have been paired. Here are your cards. Be careful. You only get 10 a week. Every Saturday you will receive: 4 Common Cards, 3 Rare Cards, 2 Ultra Cards and 1 Legend Card." The screen powered after a deck of shiny cards appeared in front of me, along with a belt container for them. I strapped the card container to my belt and sat down on the log. "What the hell just happened?! Partner? What does mean by that?" Renamon sat down with me and held me. "I don't know Jake. Let's figure it out in the morning, okay?" I sighed. "Alright." I went to the tent that Renamon had set up and laid down. She sat down outside the tent crisscross. I looked at her. "Aren't you coming to bed?" She shook her head. "Not yet. I need some time to think." I laid back down. "Alright, just don't stay out too late." I fell asleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night. Renamon still hadn't come in. I went outside to check if she was still there. She was there, her head resting on the fabric of the tent. I smiled and picked her up and laid her down on a cot inside the tent. I laid a blanket over her and then laid back down. I fell asleep again.

RenPOV

I woke up slowly. Damn, I fell asleep. Wait… why am I inside? I removed the blanket from on top of me and neatly folded it. I walked out to find Jake cooking again. He walked up to me with a plate with some sort of flat round bread. "What did you make this time?" He smiled. "This is more of a human dish. Dinner was more simple. This is called a 'pancake'. It's a fluffy type of bread we started making in the early 1700s." I took the plate from him and sat on the log. "Well at least it smells good." I took a piece of it and ate it. It was alright, a new taste none the less. "It could use a little flavor but it's good." He walked over with a little bowl of red sauce. " Try this. I took some more cactus nectar and made some syrup." I another piece of pancake and dipped it in the syrup, then ate it. The flavor was amazing, a tangy yet sweet flavor. I took the bowl from him and sat down to eat the rest of the pancake, which I had drizzled with the sauce. He laughed and walked toward the tent to take it down. I had finished eating when he walked back up to me with all the stuff tied up to his bag. I stifled a giggle. "We better get going. It's about noon and now that I have this little doohickey I can tell a bit better how far the city is. We should reach it by moonrise." We continued on towards the city when a Digimon burst out of the ground. I turned towards Jake and waved my arm towards him. "Run!" He remained still, staring at the beast. He pulled up the device and the screen turned on. "SkullScorpiomon. I can't get any further data. This Digimon seems to be infected with a virus." The Digimon kept fazing and glitching, oozing a metallic liquid from it's claws. "We may need to fight it, Renamon. You ready?" I grinned. " I'd love to!" I jumped high into the air and fired at it. "Diamond Storm!" The shards flew towards the bony scorpion but it turned and swat them back at me, covering them in ooze. I pulled a flip in an attempt to dodge but one shard hit me in the leg. I fell, hitting the ground with a thud. I tried to stand but the shard stung so bad I collapsed again. I couldn't move. This was it.

JakePOV

It was gonna kill her. I had to do something. I grabbed my card carrier and spun it. A card shot out into my hand and I slid it through the device. "Support! Brave Shield!" I pulled another. "Heal! Data Disc!" I finally swiped a third. "Modify! Imperialdramon's Blade!" The three cards fused and I swiped. "Card Combo! Paladin's Oath!" Renamon flashed and was standing with a shield and sword. She blocked the attack and then slashed through the creature. It exploded into data and vanished. The equipment disappeared and Renamon collapsed. I picked her up and carried her towards the city. "Please don't leave me, Renamon! You're gonna be okay!" I ran at the fastest speed I could go. We reached the city in about 10 minutes. I entered the city and rushed to the nearest hospital I could find. As I burst through the doors, a small angel like Digimon turned to me and gasped. "I need a doctor! Quick!" It flew off and returned with a tall man in a lab coat. He saw me and hurried us to an ER.

When he exited the room, I stood from the chair I'd been sitting in. "Is she gonna be okay?" He shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry sir. We were able to patch her up and remove the shard but she's been infected with a virus. She's not gonna die but she's dangerous and would have to be exiled." I couldn't believe it. After two days of knowing her and she was going to be exiled? "Can I see her?" He nodded and led me to her room. I sat down next to Renamon and she turned to me. "Hey Jake. Are you okay? Don't worry about me, they got the shard out. I'm fine." I shook my head. "No you're not. You're not fine and their gonna exile you. I don't want you to leave. I promised I'd take care of you." She smiled. "I am okay. I'm not in pain or anything. We'll find a way, remember?" She set her hand on my shoulder. I smiled. She let go of me and laid her hand on her torso. "I'll be okay. I'll… I'll…Okay…" I stopped smiling, worry stabbing my heart. "Renamon? Renamon, are you okay?" "I'm gonna…take a nap…" I shook her. "Renamon stay with me!" She seized up and started to grip the sides of the bed. "Renamon, what's happening!?" She scratched my arm and pushed me down to the floor. "Renamon, wake up!" She stood over me, an arm raised to slash but the doctor burst into the room and shot her with a dart. She collapsed to the floor. I felt her chest. Her beat was gone. I collapsed on top of her motionless body. "Please don't leave me. I…I love you." It was silent for a minute before the device I had started beeping wildly. "Crest Digivolve." Renamon's body was enveloped in a pinkish light. She and the device floated of the ground and started to glow. "Warning! Virus present! Remo-re-re-re-oo-oo SYSTEM MALFUNCTION!" The pink turned a grayish color and Renamon and the device floated down both now gray and metallic. I shook her trying to wake her up. "Renamon? Please wake up. Come back!" She sat up really fast and her arm shot to the side, nutpunching the doctor. He collapsed in pain. "Jake! There you are! I was looking for you!" She wrapped me in an arm crushing hug. "Nice to see you too! You're crushing my lungs!" She let go and we stood up. "Why are we in an ER? Did you get hurt?" I stared at her in amazement. "Don't you remember anything?" She bit her thumb. "Hmmm nope." I laughed. "Well let's go then." We left the immobilized doctor and exited the hospital. "Wow! We're in the city now? It's so much bigger than I imagined!" I shrugged. "This is basically every city ever on Earth." She looked at me. "Man, you're lucky if you have this everywhere!" I shook my head. "It's pretty but the traffic causes so much smog." I turned to her. "It's so strange. Your fur lost all it's color!" She giggled. "It's all on the inside now." We wandered around the city. We ate dinner at a noodle shop. We rented a hotel room for the night. I had started fiddling around with the small device I used earlier. I pressed the circle. "Hello! I am your Personal Evolution And Battle Augment Invoke System or you can call me PEABAIS. How may I help you?" I thought for a sec, then spoke. "PEABAIS, can you connect to the internet servers on Earth?" It wirred for a second before displaying a program showing the different types of connections being made over the internet. I homed in on an order for a high tech laptop and hacked the system so the order would come to my location. A few seconds later, the laptop fazed into the room onto the bed. I turned it on and hooked up PEABAIS. I loaded his mainframe onto the computer and then I took a look at Renamon's updated file. "Renamon. Type: Beastman. Element: Beta Vaccine. Moves: Bullet Hell, Frame Switch, Jet Punch and Launchpad." I looked through some other files and then shut the program off just as I heard her calling from the bathroom. "Jake. I need help." I sighed. Fell in the toilet, I bet. I walked into the bathroom to find her standing on the bath mat, her fur drowned with water. "I need help drying off." I just laughed. I grabbed a towel and a brush and started with her head. I dried down her ears and face. I then stopped. She turned. "Is something wrong, Jake?" I stuttered. "I-I um… you should probably do the rest. I don't want to discomfort you." She smiled. "I don't mind. At least it's you and not some stranger." I looked at the towel and continued. I started down her back, first drying her shoulder blades and then her middle. I got to the small of her back and started to softly rub the water out of her fur. I heard her grunt as if to hold back a cough. I thought nothing of it. I rubbed from bottom to top of her back to get any water from under her fur. This time, she gasped, then shivered. I held back a laugh. I wrapped the towel around the base of her tail and worked it to the end and back. I moved to her front and dried her stomach and then her legs. I got to her chest fur and began to dry. She shuffled a little, then tilted her back and sighed. I worked the water out of her chest fur, then set down the towel and picked up the brush. I quickly did her back and tail, then moved to her front and brushed her chest fur. She bit her lip and looked away. "Am I bothering you?" She shook her head and closed her eyes. "No it just tickles is all." I grinned. "Well I'll slow down then." I went back to the chest fur and proceeded with softer strokes. She gasped and then moaned quietly. I barely heard it. I continued to brush, moving outward to fluff her fur more. This time a louder moan escaped her mouth and she quickly hugged me- sort of- into her chest fur. I then did what I did best. I passed out.

Hello readers! Sorry I took so long to post this. I'm working in multiple arts including photography, writing and orchestra. It's hard enough to juggle balls. Try juggling what you can't touch! Anyway, Read, Review and Suggest. I'd like to do cameos of your OCs in the story but no one ever talks to me so yeah. I hope this one was longer but it probably isn't. Word 2016 doesn't show words per page.