Chapter 4: There Are More Humans Here?!
The next day you settled for just poking Agumon with a small stick. You'd gotten your spirit, so you weren't too mad. And you had gotten more sleep, so you were in a forgiving mood.
You parted ways then and you walked for about an hour before you realized that you had no clue where you were going.
"Dang it," you grumbled. "All that fuss and I'm still lost!"
But you kept going since you had no better ideas. Eventually you found a town in the forest, and from the top of the hill you studied it cautiously. It looked all right, but the forest suddenly changed to desert only a little farther on. In old westerns, border towns were always dangerous.
You snuck closer and skulked around the town limits, sticking to the thick brush and the shadows. The place was busy but it looked serene. At least, there weren't any gangs or gray dogs lurking about.
As you made your third loop, you suddenly heard a voice. It echoed a little and you froze.
"Find me," it said. "I'm here."
You looked around but couldn't tell where the voice had come from. You couldn't even tell if you had really heard it. It could've been in your head…
Then your D-Tector went crazy and you guessed that there was another spirit nearby.
'It must be in the town,' you thought. You sighed - crowds were so stressful.
"Oh well." You stepped out of the shadows and into the sun. Surprisingly though, you didn't attract much attention as you wandered around. Most of the strange monsters you saw just ignored you. The ones who did notice you were usually trying to sell you something.
Your D-Tector gave you no more hints however, and you soon got hungry. But you had a sneaking suspicion that anyplace around here that had food would probably cost money - which you didn't have.
You kept circling, getting hungrier and hungrier. From inside a building, a gray dog saw you. It quickly hurried out the back.
"Boss'll wanna know about this," it chuckled.
By this point you were dangerously hungry. Then a Digimon approached you. Luckily, it came towards you from the front - if it'd snuck up on you, you might've attacked it before you could think.
"Human-san! Human-san!" it yelled as it ran towards you. It was a little red and purple lizard with tail feathers.
You took it in stride. After all, last night you'd had dinner with a dinosaur and got attacked by dogs that walked on two legs. A lizard with feathers wasn't so weird as all that.
"Human-san, I am Elecmon," it said when it got close. "Come with me. Your friend is this way."
"My friend?" you blurted with surprise.
Elecmon galloped a few paces back the way it had come. "The other human," it answered. "The one we found. This way."
'Other human?' you thought. 'Junpei?'
You briefly forgot your stomach and followed Elecmon. It led you back towards the edge of town and up to a little house.
Inside, at a table, a guy was having lunch (the lucky devil!). It wasn't Junpei though. This guy was thinner and shorter with longer black hair. He had on a long-sleeved dark gray shirt, with a short-sleeved green jacket over it, and dark blue jeans. He looked up when you and Elecmon came in, and you saw he had very handsome dark eyes.
He looked surprised to see you, about as surprised as you were to see him.
Elecmon bounced right up to him. "See? We've found another of your friends already!" it said proudly.
The guy obviously didn't know what to say to that, so you stepped in. "Thank you very much, Elecmon," you said quickly. "And if it's not too much trouble, might I have a meal too before we go? We have others to find, but I'm so hungry."
With perfect timing, your stomach complained. Elecmon laughed. "Of course," it said and hopped into another room.
You and the guy both sighed with relief. "That was awkward," you said.
"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm Kimura Kouichi. Nice to meet you."
You moved closer. "I'm Ally," you replied. "Nice to meet you too." You sat down and though about which of your million questions to ask first.
He beat you to it. "Were you called here too?"
"Yeah," you said. "I got a text, took a train, and climbed about a billion stairs. You?"
He smiled. "I didn't have to take any stairs."
You stuck your tongue out at him. "Lucky."
Elecmon came back then with a plate of food, and you began to devour it after thanking it. You noticed Kouichi watching you in amazement. When you were hungry, you ate at lightning speed.
You actually finished before he did and leaned back with a happy sigh. "Better."
Elecmon also looked stunned. "You're still hungry?!"
You smiled reassuringly at it. "Yes, but since we'll be walking, I don't want to stuff myself."
Elecmon looked relieved as it took the plates away. Small wonder since you'd eaten two meals' worth - you'd missed breakfast.
"I guess we should go," you said as you and Kouichi stood. "Thank you for everything - especially the food."
"It was no trouble," Elecmon said. "If I find any more humans, I'll send them towards Forest Terminal."
"Thank you," Kouichi said.
"Bye!" you called.
You headed out of town again. "Where should we go now?" you asked Kouichi. "I just came from Forest Terminal and nobody else was there, except the angels."
"I'm not sure," he admitted.
"Wrong way," said the strange voice in your head. "I'm in the town."
You stopped short and whirled around, but there was nobody there. But that was impossible - the voice had been as close to you as Kouichi. There had to be something there.
"What's wrong?" Kouichi asked you.
"I heard something," you said. You knew it wasn't smart to tell your friends that you were hearing voices in your head. "Wait here; I'm gonna check it out."
You ran off down the path before he could say anything. "All right you stupid voice," you grumbled when you were far enough away from Kouichi. "Who are you, where are you, and why are you talking to me?"
"I'm a spirit," it replied. "I need you to find me."
"And since when can I hear spirits?!" you yelled. It didn't respond. "Beans!" you growled.
Suddenly you tripped on something and landed flat on your face. "Ow!" you shouted. "What the hell?!"
It was - a bundle of wires. In a forest. Why didn't that surprise you?
"Follow the wires," the spirit said.
"Double beans," you sighed. You got up and followed them back towards town. They led to a small building that reminded you of a power station. Or a jail. There was no door, but there was a little window.
"Don't say it," you told the voice in your head. "I'm going."
You wriggled through the window and fell on your head inside. You just laid there for a minute, wishing that 'yes' had led to anything else but this.
"So, are you just gonna lie there all day?"
Your eyes snapped open. The spirit hovered in the middle of the room, casting bright light into the corners. It looked like a jumble of blue shapes with a spike in the front. And standing over you was a ghostly blue and yellow beetle.
You stared at it. It stared back. Its eyes were green.
"I hit my head harder than I thought!" you mumbled. "Now I'm hearing voices and seeing giant bugs!"
"Watch who you call a bug," the beetle snapped. "I'm Beetlemon, the Spirit of Thunder."
A bit of electricity jumped across its armor. "I believe you," you said. "So, now what?"
Beetlemon put his hand over his face. "Why'd Dramon pick a dumb human?" he groaned.
Your D-Tector flashed and a ghostly Dramon appeared next to you. "She's not dumb!" your spirit barked. "She can see you."
Dramon shoved Beetlemon to his right a few feet. "See?" she said, pointing at you.
You were watching them do whatever it was they were doing. Beetlemon's eyes widened with a gasp and he looked at his spirit which was hovering on the other side of the room. He looked back at you and you were still staring at him.
He waved one of his arms over his head. You glanced at it and then went back to watching his eyes.
"You can see me?" he asked in shock.
"That's what I just said, you idiot," Dramon sighed. "She can see souls. That's why I picked her."
"So, now what?" you repeated.
Beetlemon was still moving around to make sure you really were looking at him. Dramon rolled her eyes. "Baka," she said of him. "What you do," she directed at you, "is aim your D-Tector at the spirit. It'll be stored inside it. Then you'd better get back to Kouichi before something mean shows up. He's defenseless without his spirit."
"Is Beetlemon his spirit?" you asked as you grabbed your D-Tector.
"No, Loweemon is," Dramon answered.
"I'm Junpei's spirit," Beetlemon added.
"Junpei?!" you cried. "Like Shibayama Junpei? He's loud, does magic, and can eat his weight in chocolate?!"
"That's the one," Beetlemon said happily. "You know him?"
"Yeah!" you said. "He's my best friend. Is he in this world?"
"If he answered the call," Dramon said.
'I bet that's where he went while I got my call,' you thought as you climbed out the window. You hoped you'd see him soon.
