Wow, this chapter ended up being way bigger than I meant so I'm cutting it in two. The other one will probably be up later.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 25: Welcome to the Digital World! (Part 1)
Shortly after Haseo had ended his conversation with the Boss he walked back out and explained the situation to the Kurosaki family.
"I understand if you do not wish to come. It will be very dangerous and you have your own lives to think about. It would be best if Ryu-nisan and I returned on our own and completed our mission." Haseo finished his explanation.
"Why would we not want to go with?" Celena asked. "If we can help the Boss to beat the Demon Lords in some way, than Lunamon and I are game."
"Right! Arcadimon might be a little weird but I owe it to you and the Boss for bringing us together. We're ready to go too."
Their father sighed but smiled. "It sounds like it won't really matter what your mother and I say. Not that it would matter, because I agree. You kids are the only ones that can do something against the Demon Lords. So I say go for it, and help out your friends." His two children nodded and went upstairs with their partners to pack. Haseo watched them go with a shocked expression.
Finally, he smiled and said quietly "We humans are not what I expected."
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The next day everyone arrived at Celena's house. Haseo had called everyone and told them about his next mission. Although the answers themselves were different, they all agreed to go. They talked it over with their parents and explained the situation and after a lot of persuading, they were given permission to go.
"So how much longer until the Boss gets here?" Rai asked impatiently.
"I do not know. All he said was he would meet us after school." Haseo answered. They all waited a few more minutes until there was a knock at the door. Everyone jumped up and went to the door. Celena opened it and looked out at the Boss who raised an eyebrow when he saw everyone pilled up in front of the door.
"Wow, I didn't expect so many of you to say yes." The Boss said in quiet surprise. "Well I suppose we should go then. We don't have a lot of time."
"How are we getting there?" Masurao asked.
"An excellent question! With a not as excellent answer." The Boss replied. He snapped his fingers and a dark portal opened. "That's it. Walk through and you'll be in front of my humble home."
Everyone seemed a little hesitant until Haseo and Dorumon both walked forward and went into the portal. Everyone slowly followed through until everyone was through. The Boss turned and gave a smile and a wave to Celena's parents before walking through the portal himself.
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When everyone walked through the portal, their jaws dropped. The sheer size of mansion and courtyard was unbelievable. A tall iron gate surrounded the whole area, the poles a deep black color and each bar ended in a sharp spike. The interior courtyard was enormous, filled with gardens of flowers that were all sorts of shades of blues, purples, and blacks that gave the courtyard a peaceful night sky like quality. Above them was a star-filled night sky with a small pink moon looking down at them.
Leading from the gate was a gray brick pathway to stairs that led up to the large house. In front of the house stood a large silver fountain. The front three figures were a large ten-winged armored angel in the front. To his left was a similar angel, however this one was a beautiful girl. To the center angel's right was a large peaceful looking beast that had a peaceful smile on his face. The figures stood behind them but it was impossible to see what they looked like from the angle everyone was standing.
The mansion itself was three stories and very wide. It was black on the outside and in each of the windows was the soft glow of a light that seemed to light up the whole mansion. The result was beautiful to look at. The roof was black tile that slanted downward. Every so often a chimney could be seen poking out of the roof, made of the same stone as the pathway.
"Wow." Jasper said.
"This is where you two live?" Kaya asked.
"Yes." Haseo answered with a smile at his friend's shocked faces.
"Not bad, huh guys?" the Boss asked once he walked through the portal and it closed back up. "It's my very own humble home. Regardless of it's large appearance on the outside it can be stretched and altered on the inside to fit my every need. There are more than enough rooms and if we run out I can make some more."
"What do you mean you can make more? There's only that much space in the mansion." Jasper said in confusion.
"That's true, which is exactly why it's false." The Boss replied, his happy smile growing wider. "In a series of events, some unfortunate and some not, I was given the power to be able to alter the very fabric of reality. So just because the mansion is only this big on the outside, doesn't mean it's only that big on the inside."
Jasper opened his mouth to counter but closed it again. He stopped and thought about it for a few seconds and everyone watched him. Finally he said, "My brain hurts."
"Relax kid, the Boss has that effect on a lot of people." Dorumon replied. "It's better to just accept that the Boss breaks the laws of physics on a daily basis."
"Damn right I do." The Boss said proudly. He took out a key from his pocket and opened the front gate. The opened up easily without a squeak or creek to be heard like some of them expected. He then closed his hands and when he opened them a black cane stretched out from them, the cane ending in a red gem. He strolled into the courtyard, the others following behind him. The walked up to and past the large fountain, some of the kids and their partners taking time to admire it. They walked up the stairs and the Boss unlocked the front door. He grabbed the golden handles and swung the door open and cried "I'm home!"
"Hey the Boss is back!" a white ghost like digimon said as he floated by. It's creepy teeth upturned into a grin. "Hey Boss!"
"Hello Bakemon." The Boss greeted with a wave as the ghost literally floated through a wall. The group, besides Haseo and Dorumon, stared at the large room. It had several comfortable looking red sofas and chairs all arranged in front of a large fireplace. On oth sides of the far wall were two staircases that led up to the second floor. Several monstrous and demonic looking digimon walked or floated through the room going about there business, only stopping to bid welcome to the Boss, Haseo, and Dorumon.
"Hey Boss." A large skeletal dragon said with a wave. "Hey Ouji-sama and Ryu-ouji."
"Hello SkullGreymon." The Boss replied.
"Hey." Dorumon replied.
"Hello." Haseo said with a polite wave. Several more digimon walked through with similar greetings, each one looking evil in at least some way.
"Are we in the right place?" Strabimon asked.
"Of course. What would make you ask otherwise?" the Boss asked, although his smile told them he already knew Strabimon's answer.
"Well all of the digimon here seem well, evil." Hawkmon answered.
"And that is where you are wrong." The Boss said. In a flash he was standing behind the group and pointing to the digimon. "Look around you. The digimon here seem to be monstrous and evil, yet everyone is cheerful and nice."
The group looked around and many of the digimon walking through or sitting down did in fact have happy smiles on their faces. Some would even wave to them after greeting the Boss, Haseo and Dorumon. "I guess, their not bad." Hanekuro said quietly.
"Exactly!" the Boss cried as he quickly walked around them and to the center of the room. "Just because a digimon might appear to be evil or bad, does not make them so. You should never judge others by their appearance, whether they are human or digimon. The digimon that live here and in my partners' homes are dark digimon that have been shunned because of their appearance. Just because a digimon looks evil doesn't mean they are. Look around you. Do any of these digimon have any evil intentions? No! They are all kind and warm-hearted souls that just need a place to stay and some friends to keep them company."
"Excuse me Boss." A digimon behind him said. It was a digimon in gray robes with it's head shrouded by a red hood. It carried a golden scythe which had a chain attached to it. Around it's neck was a golden chain necklace that had a red eye-like gem for it single ornament.
"Yes Phatomon?" the Boss inquired.
"Something has come up and we need your help. It's about Argomon. " Phantomon answered.
"I see." He said before turning back to the group. "Well I apologize everyone but it seems my dutiful workers are in need of some assistance. I would have loved to give you the grand tour myself, but alas I cannot. Haseo, Dorumon, could you please?"
"Of course." Haseo answered. The Boss gave everyone a wave before following Phantomon out of the room. Haseo turned to the group and was suddenly met with a barrage of questions.
"Why didn't you tell us you lived somewhere like this place?" Sakura asked.
"How come you don't have nightmares with all of these monsters around?" Adam wondered.
"How does the Boss alter reality? What's the trick to it?" Jasper asked.
"How come those digimon called you Ouji-sama?" Rai wondered.
"Were are our rooms? Are they big ones?" Loaño asked.
"QUIET!" Celena yelled. Everyone stopped and looked at her and so did the digimon that had been walking through the room. "Not you guys. You just go haunt a graveyard or whatever you need to do. I was talking to them." The digimon shrugged before walking away. "Give them some room you guys. I'm sure they'll explain everything when they have a chance to."
"Thank you Celena." Haseo said with a thankful smile. "In order, I did not believe it mattered. I have lived with digimon like these around me my whole life so they are not scary to me. I am not entirely sure of how the Boss is capable of using his powers or the extent of them. I will explain that later. You may see your rooms after Ryu-nisan and I show you the mansion."
"Well then lead the way." Kidd said. Haseo nodded before walking through one of the doors to the side. They walked through a large hallway and into another room.
"This is one of the three libraries." Haseo began. "This particular one has many books on human and digimon history. If you need to know something, this is the library to look in."
The group looked around the large room. It was filled with rows and rows of books on bookshelves. Each one was ordered by timeline and probably had very detailed reports of everything due to the fact that at least three books took up one small point in time. The group walked through the room and out into another hallway. They walked through several intersections and hallways until finally arriving at another large room.
This one was filled with canvases, instruments, paints, and paintings. Several digimon were painting or playing their instruments. "This is the art room!" Dorumon yelled above the noise. "It's usually pretty noisy because this is were mostly everyone comes to practice their instruments. Of course there are also a lot of painters here too!" Everyone quickly walked through the room and Haseo closed the door behind them. At once the noise was cut off.
"The room is sound proof so it doesn't disturb everyone else!" Dorumon yelled.
"Ryu-nisan."
"What!? Oh, sorry." Dorumon apologized embarrassedly. The group continued walking down the hallways and were greeted by several digimon. However, they weren't expecting one f the digimon to tackle Haseo to the ground.
"Haseo!" the digimon cried. It was the same size as the other digimon, excluding Kidd, and was wearing kendo armor. It's face was entirely covered up by it's mask except for two glowing yellow eyes. At it's side was a wooden kendo sword and it had a blue reptilian tail and feet. "I missed you two so much!" he cried before jumping off of Haseoa nd tackling Dorumon to the ground.
"Oh." Kaya said. "So that's how digimon glomp people."
"Get off of me Kotemon!" Dorumon yelled. The samurai like digimon got off of his friend and stood back a bit and looked at the group.
"Wow Haseo, are these your new friends?" he wondered.
"Yes they are." Haseo answered as he stood up. "Everyone, I would like you to meet Kotemon. He is a good friend of mine and has been for quite some time. He normally trains under Lord Gaiomon and is his apprentice."
"He looks so cute in that armor." Sakura said as she bent over a bit and put a hand on his head. Kotemon blushed so brightly it could be seen on his hidden face and he stammered to say something.
"If he's with Gaiomon then what is he doing here?" Mushroomon asked.
"I come here a lot to see Haseo and Dorumon. It's easy because I'm allowed to use the, uh I mean, I just am." Kotemon corrected himself.
"On with the tour then. Kotemon, you are more than welcome to accompany us." Haseo invited.
"Okay!" Kotemon chirped. "Let's show them the greenhouse next!"
"I suppose that would work. We are rather close." Haseo said. He led the group down several more halls and through a few more rooms. Finally they got to a door that led into a large greenhouse. Around them were several potted flowers of all sorts of colors. The roof was so large that even small trees were able to fit in, and several of the trees held fruit that were both familiar and otherworldly.
"This, as Kotemon stated previously, is the green house. It holds almost every kind of plant or flower in both the human and digital world. As you can see, many plant and insectoid digimon enjoy this room and stay here all the time." Haseo explained. Everyone walked through and looked at the tables holding the potted flowers. All sorts of colors and fragrances filled the room, and the green house magnified the moonlight to act as strong as sunlight.
"Hey Haseo, get your ass over here!" a buzzing voice commanded. Haseo and Dorumon both walked over to a flying digimon. It looked like a large bee only not nearly as disgusting as that might sound. He had light green eyes and the tips of his claws were a light red. He was floating in the air with the aid of two powerful wings. His abdomen was striped black and white and ended in a red stinger.
"Everyone, this is FanBeemon. He's another of our friends, kind of." Dorumon introduced.
"I was wondering when you guys would get back. Man, you really made me wait. I thought you said the mission would be quick!" the large bee complained.
"It was only a little more than a week." Haseo pointed out.
"Yeah, but during that week I only had the other three to be with. It ain't as fun around here without Dorumon to help with the pranks." FanBeemon replied.
"Hey." Kotemon said sadly. "You make it sound like you don't like me."
"I'm not just making it sound that way." FanBeemon said meanly.
"What a jerk." Rai commented.
"You wanna make something of it punk? I could fly circles around you!" FanBeemon threatened as he flew up into Rai's face.
"I'd be glad to fight you! Then I could rip those wings off myself!" Rai threatened.
"Oh wow, I'm scared! I could sting you 10 times before you even knew what hit you!" FanBeemon threatened.
"Yeah, you're so weak I wouldn't even know you did anything! But if you fight me, I promise you'll feel every punch!" The two glared at each other and everyone around them got ready to jump in incase they actually did fight.
"You're alright." FanBeemon said after a long silence. "You're not so bad."
"Yeah, and you're not the big assed bee I thought you were either." Rai answered.
"Can someone please explain how that just happened." Celena asked.
"It's a guy thing." Hanekuro answered.
"No, because I did not understand it either." Haseo said.
"I guess it's an intelligence thing." Jasper said.
"Yuppers, it must be." Lockheed agreed.
"Well enough bringing each other down. Let's keep going." Dorumon said.