Chapter II: Contact
Her closed eyes twisted as small beams of light started annoying her. The discomfort outweighed her need to sleep.
Laurie was used to having strange dreams or even some restless nights, but she wasn't so keen on waking up feeling all-out discomfort.
Her spine felt like it was cramped. Every single muscle on her body felt stiff. It was like the teen had slept on a bed made of pointy rocks.
She opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was what looked like orange rocks all around. The teen seemed to have awakened in some sort of cave.
The ceiling reminded her of orange marmalade. It didn't look nearly hard enough to be just rocks, the coloration was too… specific. She couldn't explain, but it did not look… natural.
The girl couldn't really move all that well, having to muster a lot of strength to just get up from her previous position.
Her surroundings were even more surreal. The marmalade skies went all the way down, the formation of strange rocks being present all around her. Though what captured her attention was strange… flowers growing on the rocky floor.
They each seemed to be made out of colorful plastic. Though the white glow they emited made her think they were lamps at first glance, yet clearly they were growing out of the floor like real plants… the floor that was composed of pure orange rock…
The logic (or lack thereof) in this layout made it look like she was in a surrealist painting. It gave her a headache, since she instinctively tried to make sense of where she was, to no avail.
Another thing that caught her eye were the many… items scattered around. They reminded her of the little boy she took care off, Timmy Doyle. But unlike little Doyle's toys, these items resembled more improvised versions.
For example, she saw what seemed to be a sticker-man, made out of (painted?) blue wood. Though this figure seemed to look like a dinosaur with little wings on the back.
Another 'toy' that caught her eye was what seemed to be a huge collection of colorful gems… tied together by what looked like a rope, forming what looked like a rainbow ball. The lights that were coming out of the plastic flowers reflected on it, creating an effect similar to a disco ball, further making the room she was in seem even more bright, despite no 'natural' source of light.
That must have been what woke her up.
Laurie reached her hand to touch the toy, if only to push it aside. It was then she noticed her 'hand' was no hand at all.
In fact, she thought it was more like… A wing of sorts. And it was pink. With three sharp crimson claws acting as 'fingers'.
A shiver ran down her spine, but before she could freak out about her new wings, she just noticed something red where her nose was supposed to be.
She touched her claws on it. She was relieved to know that she could still feel things up relatively well with her new claws apparently. The bad part was just what she felt.
It was hard, tough and even a bit sharp. Crimson like her new claws.
A beak. Her beak.
Laurie couldn't help but shiver. Her two arm-like wings close to her face, so she could examine the claws that became her hands.
There were three. She opened and closed them. Half expecting them to not match the movement she was trying to make, if only to support her hopes that this was a dream.
But yet, every single gesture she made, every single motion, everything… Matched perfectly. And yet, a part of her refused to believe what laid before her eyes.
Even stranger, on her arm there was some sort of… Device on her left wing. Laurie believed it to be a watch at first, but it was far too big. And most importantly, it didn't show time. At least not apparently.
The item was mostly white. Not like normal white either… the purest white she has seen. It had markings all around, crimson like blood… It seemed like two halves of a bloody sun were forming, separated by the screen in the middle. It seemed to be turned off. Great.
She tried to fiddle with it, looking for any way to remove it, but she found none. It was stuck on her, as if the metal was bound to her… Feathers. Gosh it felt so weird to describe it like that! Strangely enough, the lower part of the device seemed to have a triangular-pattern as a marking, differently from the sun on the upper part.
In any case, the human-turned-bird tried to claw that thing, then slam it on the floor like one would with an insect, she even instinctively tried to peck it with her tough beak. Only to 'bruise' her new member with the impact.
A small tear formed from the sudden sharp pain she felt after trying to attack it, her claws caressing the injury…
Once more, the reminder this was all real made her panic.
"This is insane…"
She immediately got up, looking around frantically, suddenly feeling like the room she was in was closing in around her. The air was heavy, her shoulders felt like they had a mountain on top of them.
Quickly, she started to search around the scattered toys. Tossing most of them aside with her crimson… talons?
"C'mon… C'mon… There!" She mentally cheered, when finally she found what she sought.
It seemed to be shaped like a heart, made of… steel? Laurie couldn't tell, but what she wanted anyway was what was in the middle.
A mirror. Though it seemed to be shattered, as if someone threw it on the floor or something. Various cracks made it a bit hard to tell what it was reflecting. But it was enough.
Laurie slowly moved it closer and closer to her face, noticing just how pink her overall body was. Her talons seemed surprisingly deft in handling objects, though it was obvious how harder it was than with her fingers.
Her 'hand', if she could even still call that, was shaking. Millions of questions and possibilities passing through her head like multiple voices chatting in an overcrowded room. It felt like she was carrying a boulder, when in fact, it was still just a tiny mirror.
Mustering all her will, she finally lifted it to her face.
And despite the cracks in the reflection, what she saw further caused her to panic in confusion.
Instead of her normal face, she saw an avian one staring in shock back at her.
Much like she had seen already, the avian seemed to have a mostly pink colored frame. She could see the white around her large blue irises, but the overall shape of her eyes was different. On her neck, a fluffy feather mane, as well as a blue striped pink crest that curled backward on top of her head, matching the blue stripes on two of her head feathers and on her… Tail feathers?
She slowly turned around, confirming what she saw in the mirror. Three pink tail feathers with the same blue stripes as her crest were present right behind her.
Her new red, tough beak didn't even allow her to make expressions.
Laurie decided it was a good time to panic.
The former human dropped the damaged mirror, further shattering it on the hard floor.
She took three steps back, wings touching her ears. Just to realise, she did not have ears anymore. That realization further increased her panic.
She felt multiple emotions. Confusion! Wasn't she supposed to come to this world like in the stories? In which a normal human is transported to save a new strange world with friends they made along the way and such!... While keeping their human form.
Tip. Tap. Tip. Tap.
Fear! What had turned her into this? Had that pumpkin-headed monster actually lied to her? Would she ever be herself again? The girls in her school would never shut up if they saw her like this! Oh gosh, her mom would freak out so much!
Tip tap. Tip tap.
Anger! Whatever turned her into this would PAY! That crazy zombie-dragon-machine freak! Did he have any part in this? Was it the 'pumpmon' or whatever his name to blame? Maybe this is all just a huge prank, or just a very lucid dream! There has to be some sort of explanation!
Tip tap tip tap tip tap.
The girl was clutching against the sides of her new avian head, trying to quell her boiling emotions. But in doing so, she failed to notice the footsteps that were quickly approaching.
Until it was too late.
Laurie felt her heart miss a beat.
By the door, a silhouette stood. It was biped, but was leaning forward slightly. It seemed… Draconic, much like…
A shiver ran down her spine.
Much like... the 'Dorugamon' or whatever that had attacked her back in the human world.
Laurie took a step back, her two wings lifted up in a defensive position. She slowly started to back off, as the creature slowly started to approach. Her shiny blue eyes never broke contact with the silhouette.
She stepped on the mirror, thankfully not cutting herself with the broken glass.
One more step she took, but much to her dismay, she felt the rocky wall on her back.
She looked behind her, confirming she had no way of escaping.
When she looked back at the creature, it was already halfway through the room, she closed her eyes, refusing to look at it.
Tip Tap. Tip tap. Tip tap.
Her entire body was shivering, the memories of what happened before still fresh on her mind. There was no pumpkin spirit of halloween to save her this time, that much was clear.
Tip tap. Tip tap.
She slowly got down to a sitting position, still refusing to stare at it.
It was close, very close.
She opened one of her blue eyes. Seeing a mirror shard on the floor. It was a big one.
She could see the shadow of the dragon looming over her.
Laurie did not have time to think, she grabbed the shard with her wings in a quick motion and immediately swung it towards the dragon.
Though her heart sank when she saw the creature just… Holding her hand, right where her 'wrist' would be. Her member was shaking, in a desperate struggle to overpower the dragon's clawed… paw? Hand?
Now that she was face to face with it, she saw it looked… almost nothing like the machine-zombie-monster-thing from before. It was more like a red dinosaur, really. Somehow it seemed very… youthful, despite the reptilian appearance.
It was mostly red, with some strange triangle markings all around its scaly body. Its belly was white, and in it there's a larger version of the triangle-like symbol that's present all over its body.
Despite her efforts to attack it with the shard, it seemed to be holding her wing-hand with little to no difficulty.
Her beak opened in shock and horror. She did not know what to think. But it mattered not, the dragon was the first to act.
It took the shard of glass off her wing, then surprised her by… just letting go of her.
It then turned around and placed it on the mirror that was on the floor with surprising precision. It then started to… collect the other small pieces of the broken mirror? With those wicked claws no less!
"... I don't like looking at it either." Its voice was masculine, but young and… surprisingly high-pitched, for something that looked so scary.
"H-Huh…?"
"The reflection stone!" He said, surprisingly cheerful for some reason whilst collecting the small shards, "It copies your appearance! I don't really like looking at it."
"Reflection…?" The she-bird cocked her head to the side, "you mean… the mirror?"
"Hmm? 'me'... 'rurr'?" He turned to look at her, his yellow eyes shining with curiosity.
"'Mirror'... that's the… object that shows your appearance…" Due to the silliness of having to explain what a mirror is, or perhaps due to the creature's friendly voice, Laurie slowly began to calm herself down.
"Meerrur… Mirrur… that sounds so funny!" He smiled and giggled loudly, reminding Laurie of a child's laugh when they discovered something they liked, "I'm staring into the mirrur!~"
Laurie couldn't help but chuckle at the silly scene. She was still apprehensive of this dinosaur… but his innocence made her drop her guard.
She couldn't help but be startled when the red creature turned around with a smile in his muzzle, apparently done with what he was doing, "Ta-da!~"
Much to her surprise though, the mirror she thought was broken now seemed to be perfectly back to normal, as if it had somehow mended itself.
"There! I hate seeing messy or broken things!" The boy's tone was sincere, honest. As if he had failed to realize just how chaotic this room really was.
Yet, the girl couldn't help but frown. Her reflection once more reminds her of her situation. Transformed into a pink bird… With no clue on what's happening, nor what she's supposed to do. Her only company being a scary-looking dinosaur… lizard… dragon thing.
The dinosaur-lizard-dragon-thing's golden eyes widened in surprise, as if he had just seen a ghost, "Oh, crud! I forgot!"
Laurie is once more startled, this time when he suddenly tosses the mirror away, causing it to make a loud crashing noise, "Sorry! Um, most digimon like seeing themselves on reflection stones so I assumed that you- Sorry!"
It was almost comedic how awkward the red dragon got all of a sudden, he had his claws raised defensively on his chest, his big head lowered in apology, "I um. Could give you something else, um. Would you like a… Um…"
He seemed to be looking around for something. Anything to offer her, to fix his mistake.
"Digimon…" Laurie whispered to herself.
"Um?"
"You're… a digimon…" She once more muttered, "Like in the games…"
"Um. Yes! So are you!" He smiled, pointing at her. Clearly taking it as some sort of joke.
"NO!" Laurie couldn't help but raise her voice, though she immediately regretted it. For just that made the 'scary' dragon digimon take a step back.
"I mean… No. I am not." The bird turned away, looking down in both shame and sadness, her right wing touching her left one in an attempt to comfort herself, "I'm a human… Or, was a human…"
"Huh. But you look like a Biyomon to me! Or was it 'Piyomon'? Hmmm…" The dinosaur started pondering, before giving up and just continuing his previous train of thought, "Save for that funny thing on your wing! What is it?"
"B-Biyomon...? That's what…" The human-turned-biyomon whispered to herself, then she looked once more to her clawed wing-arms, only to have her left one grabbed by the other digimon, who eagerly gazed at the white device.
She pulled her wing away from his paw instinctively, leering at him. Once more causing shock to the boy, who genuinely looked sad at himself again, "O-Oh sorry! You didn't say anything so I thought-"
"It's fine. I just…" Her head started to hurt. A pain so intense she felt like her avian skull would burst, "J-Just…"
Her legs were shaking. Her claws threatened to pierce her own body. She was shivering like a leaf. Her aqua blue eyes were wet with tears. She started to think this wasn't real once more, none of this could be real! This wasn't possible, she would surely wake up at any moment! She had to! She had to hug her mom, she had to do her homework, she had to buy ice cream for Tina, she had to read Timmy a story before bed! She had so much to do and she wanted to do so much!
She slapped and scratched her head, as if punishing herself was going to solve anything. As if she was desperately trying to wake up from a bad dream. Her heart felt like it would explode from her chest.
Tears fell from her eyes, down her feathered cheeks. She wouldn't see her mom. She wouldn't do her homework. She wouldn't see Tina. Poor Timmy would stay up all night waiting for her to come to play with him. She was a Biyomon now, stuck in a madhouse where nothing made sense..
Unbeknownst to her, the other digimon was slowly approaching her from behind. And before she could realize what was happening, his larger scaly arms wrapped around her in a warm embrace.
At first she yelped and tried to struggle, but slowly and surely, she calmed down, and just… allowed it to happen.
Something about that felt… Familiar to Laurie.
"Um. I… don't know what happened but…" That high-pitched voice was ever so soothing. It reminded her of Timmy somwehat, the child she babysitted regularly. In fact, this dinosaur somehow sounded more naive than a lot of children she interacted with.
"But… whenever I feel like that I um…" He tries to look for the words, not really planning just… speaking whatever felt right, "I wanted someone to do this. Most of the time I had to do it to myself…"
The bird sniffed, accepting the affectionate gesture, her only sounds being of her sobs.
"I'm… aorry if it was anything I said, Biyomon. I didn't mean to… Make your eyes leak…"
"It's called 'crying'." She replied, her face buried in his chest, her crimson beak poking his chubby belly.
"Oh? I think I heard of something like that… I don't think I can do it though."
"That's impossible… everybody cries if they want, or just can't… hold back."
"Not me… What is it like to cry?"
"Wet. Pathetic. Terrible…" She sniffed louder, feeling more and more at ease thanks to the hug, "And it's embarrassing too."
"Crying sounds pretty bad, Biyomon! But why is it embarrassing? I think it's neat."
"It's not. No one likes a crybaby. They'll either pity you, or laugh at you…" Laurie bitterly declared, she usually would just keep it to herself, but she was far too overwhelmed to care, "It's why everyone hides their true feelings. You're looked down if you're honest…"
"Ah! I get it, then you're really brave!" He smiled down at her.
"Huh?" She looked up at him, her eyes still wet, but crying no longer.
"I mean, if no one cries… Then by crying you're being brave!" The childish dinosaur tries to look for the right words, stumbling as he did, "Um. If no one wants you to cry… to be honest… then you're really courageous if you do these things, right?"
"Hah… I guess…" She tried to smile, but her beak made it almost impossible.
The more she stayed in that strange hug, the more she remembered… Of that presence she felt, pulling her away from the nightmare that threatened to consume her…
That gentle hug… That comforting touch… That strange contrast of seeming like a killing machine, but being surprisingly tender…
Before she could say something, one of his claws picked a tear from her eye, holding it like it was some sort of ancient relic. Carefully taking it close to his face. He tried to sniff it, as if he could decipher what the little droplet was by doing so.
Then out of a sudden, he put it right under his eye, the tear immediately running down his face, "See, I'm crying too! So you shouldn't feel bad about it!"
She had no idea what to think of it, but Laurie couldn't detect any malice in the strange dinosaur. Just… Pure innocence. As a teenager and a babysitter, she knew what both of those looked like.
But she had to admit, the girl didn't expect that to be how he would cheer her up. His action caught her completely off-guard. It was very sweet and made her feel warm inside, but… She had to admit that it was kinda...
"...Hah… Hahah…" Without realising, the biyomon suddenly started to giggle, "Hahahah…Haha!"
The dragon-dinosaur looked at her curiously, tilting his head like a puppy would, to demonstrate confusion.
"Hahahah… Sorry… I just wasn't ready for… hahah!" Laurie was, moments ago, crying in the arms of a red dinosaur, after almost getting killed by a machine-zombie and getting saved by a pumpkin-headed ghost. She also transformed into a pink bird with a watch stuck on her wing.
And said red dinosaur was acting like a child, even though she was sure he could split her in two if he really wanted to.
She placed one of her wings on her beak, trying to shush herself to no avail. The pink avian turned her face away, yet still remained pressed on that scaly belly. She didn't want to make it seem like she was trying to offend the... digimon in front of her, but she couldn't help herself!
Yet much to her surprise, the dinosaur smirked brightly and started to mimic her sounds. To him, she sounded like she was chirping a merry tune, so he decided to copy her!
To Laurie though, he sounded like he was snoring whilst choking on a piece of meat. That, and the fact that the smile on his muzzle looked so silly and strange only made her giggle louder, which in turn encouraged the other digimon to do the same.
Before a while the two were laying on their rumps, still hugging and still loudly laughing for no reason in particular.
The gloom and absurdity of the situation meant nothing to Laurie. At least for this small moment in time, she could let all her worries aside and just… Laugh with this strange, yet friendly creature.
And so, time passed, unbeknownst to the duo. Slowly, their silly laughter died down. Silence slowly took over.
At least she wasn't crying anymore…
"Wait… I remember what I wanted to say…" She broke the silence.
"What is it, Biyomon?"
"When you hugged me… I felt a sense of déjà-vu…"
"That sounds tasty!"
She chose to ignore the comment, if only to keep her train of thought, "You saved me. I was… Falling and you saved me. Didn't you?" That was the easiest way she found to describe it.
"Hm? Oh, I just… heard you calling for help and… I couldn't just pretend I didn't!" He once more sent a goofy smile her way.
That smile was infections, so much so that she forced her crimson beak to smile. It was instinctive.
"Thank you…" The girl had yet another realization all of a sudden.
"I'm Laurie… Not 'biyomon'." The digimon seemed confused by her words, so she elaborated, "Laurie is my name. What's yours? I didn't ask before..."
"Laariue… mon?" He couldn't help but question, clearly very alien to the concept of naming.
"'Laurie'... Just Laurie." She corrected, "I'm human, remember?"
He opened his mouth in a silent 'aaaah', and nodded. Trying out many different pronunciations of her name.
"But you didn't tell me yours… What's your name?" Laurie broke the naive digimon's spelling bee by repeating the question.
He stared down at her with his wide, curious eyes.
"Name…?"
Realization soon hit the former human, "I-I mean, you gotta have something others call you by! Maybe your friends? Or your parents?"
"Hm… friends... 'presents'? Don't have either of those…" With a hint of melancholy, he stated, yet he continued with a bit more enthusiasm "but I have been called 'virus', 'monster', 'hazard' and 'guilmon'!"
Laurie twitched the sides of her beak and looked dumbfounded at the dragon, "those are… terrible names. Guilmon is definitely the best one." But even still, it sounded too much like 'guilty' for her tastes. Why did others even refer to him with such undeserving adjectives?
"I know! Why don't you name me, Laahry-mon!" He lowered his head to get closer to hers, beaming with excitement.
"Oh drat… I'm not good with naming things…"
"I like the name 'lahrie-mon'! So I'm sure you'll make a good choice!"
"It's 'Laurie'. And it wasn't I who chose my name…"
"Really? Who was it? Can they choose mine?"
"... I'll do it. Don't worry." She once more twitched the sides of her beak awkwardly, better to help him with a name than explain what parents are…
She noticed she was still on the dragon-dinosaur's arms. Quickly, she pushed herself away with a blush under her pink feathers, her fidgeting in embarrassment.
Guilmon, on the other hand, was quite sad she no longer was hugging him.
Whilst trying to look away, an idea sparked on Laurie's mind. "I know. A name should be something special and meaningful to you! Why don't you say something you like, and we go from there?"
He started to think, his claws on each side of his head, "hmmm… I like…."
"Food… Playing… Mr. lava… Mr. droplet… Mr. blue sky… And Laurie-mon!" He lifted each of his little claws with each thing he said, smiling all throughout.
"Hah. At least you got my name right." She tried not to blush again, focusing on the task at hand, "but I don't think any of these work as names."
The two stared at each other, both thinking on what to say next to help. It was then that guilmon stared around them, and found the inspiration they sought.
"Mirror!"
"What?"
"Mirror! I like 'mirror'"
"But didn't you say you hated looking at it?"
"I do!"
"Then how do you like mirrors?"
"Oh, I like the word 'mirror'!" He couldn't help but giggle a bit, "I think it's funny! I just don't like what's in the mirror!"
"Ah, you dislike the 'reflection', then!"
"Yeah! But Mr. 'Mirror' is nice!"
"I don't think the mirror needs an honorific… but sure, let's go with that." She put a claw under her beak in a thinking pose, "mirror… mirrors... Miru… Murro… Mirra… Mirrus…"
"Miro!" Guilmon interjected.
"Miro… Miro the guilmon. Miro!" Her beak formed a slight smile as she pointed at him playfully.
"I'm Miro!" Guilmon pointed at himself.
"You're Miro!" Kept pointing at him.
"I like 'Miro'!" He giggled and lifted his arms in a display of joy.
"I also like Miro!" She nodded, merrily laughing herself.
"We like Miro!~ " Guilmon sang and giggled, testing out the name in various tones and pronunciations.
Laurie couldn't help but giggle along with him, yelping a bit when his claws met hers, and he started making her dance and spin and walk with him, which she did even if stumbling on her feet.
Their mad, happy waltz was soon interrupted when the guilmon named Miro stepped on one of his toys, the shiny ball from earlier, and stumbled around, soon falling on the floor with a loud thud. Some other toys from the many piles around him, inevitably, fell on top of Miro, burying him with a multitude of other colorful, improvised toys.
Laurie let out a quick shout, falling on top of the dragon as well.
Both stared at one another. For a moment there was silence, then not soon after, they two resumed their jolly laughing.
Laurie didn't remember the last time she felt so… innocent and free. Despite all the negativity and all the weirdness happening all around her, she felt… kinda happy, around this weird dinosaur.
She was so lost in the haze of their frolicking that she didn't notice that the guilmon had stopped laughing from under his toys.
Her protective instincts returned in full force, getting up from on top Miro, Laurie immediately swiped away most of the stick figures and rocks with pain on them, revealing a very serious looking dinosaur, staring at her with his yellow, unblinking eyes.
"Miro! Are you okay? Gosh, you got hurt in the fall?"
"... You're hungry." He muttered.
"E-Excuse me?" She couldn't help but cock her head to the side. His tone was final and certain.
Then, before she could question further, her stomach growled. It was comically loud, like one you'd hear in a kid's TV show. She even jumped in surprise, her crimson claws feeling up her belly, as if to confirm it really did produce such a cartoonishly loud sound.
"I didn't even realise… how did you know?" She inquired.
Miro got up, carefully setting down his precious toys as if they'd be hurt in case he didn't.
"I don't know how to explain. I just hear things around me. Your body was asking for food long before your stomach complained about it." He tried to explain, looking at the entrance where he previously entered.
"I see… I don't wanna be a bother, but um… what do you guys eat around here?" Laurie fiddled with her wing-claws, shyly looking down.
Miro's two wing-like appendages on his head perked up, his bright yellow eyes stared at her, a smile forming in his muzzle, "you never ate before? Wow, humans are weird! I love eating! There are so many delicious things! We can go hunt some fruits, or plant some meat!"
"Um. Didn't you get those two mixed up?" She questioned, "you plant fruits and hunt for meat, right?" The thought of killing animals, now that she was (kind of) one made her shudder. She thought of all the delicious (but oh so sinful) fried chicken she enjoyed, now feeling deeply ashamed of having eaten them.
"No, no! Silly Laurie, how are you gonna plant a fruit? They keep running from you!" He corrected, his expression made it seem like Miro was already thinking of the taste of his favorite delicacies, "and meat! Why would you hunt for meat? They just grow on the ground if you bury them!"
Laurie was completely lost, this explanation sounded more like nonsense if anything. But at least (she thought that) it meant she wouldn't have to kill other digimon!
"I think it's safe to go out! I don't think the good-digimon are out now!" He turned around and started to go towards the entrance of the little cave they were in, turning to offer his clawed paws to her, "come on, Laurie!"
The pink avian just followed after him, not really knowing what to expect of what was on the outside.
"What's a 'good-digimon'? Why is it a good thing they aren't outside?" She couldn't help but question, while the duo left the small cave filled with toys. The rocky halls around them were the same marmalade color on one side, but the other one was reddish. It reminded Laurie of raspberry jam, even if these were clearly the rocky formations of a cave… weren't they?
"Oh, 'good-digimons' are the meanies that keep attacking me!" Miro declared, surprising the biyomon with a small growl, "they tried to stop me from reaching out to you!"
"They did? They don't sound so 'good'..."
"Yeah! And they keep trying to catch me all the time too! It's why I hide in my home!"
"That small, hidden cave filled with toys?"
"Yep! The rocks there add a lot of flavor to the meat!"
Laurie pondered back, remembering how uncanningly similar to marmalade it was, "you put those orange rocks.. on your food?"
"Yep! And they taste delicious!" He jumped from joy on his last word. Clearly he appreciated their… flavoring?
"There! Let's go, Laurie!" He pointed to a large opening in front of the duo, with light coming out of it, "you gotta see this!"
He seemed so excited about it, his child-like glee never ceased to catch her attention. Such innocence coming from a scary-looking creature was… something else. Just one more droplet in the downpour of strangeness.
But that was nothing compared to what she saw outside.
The pink avian and red dragon were on top of a large cliff that could easily overlook all of their surroundings. And no matter where Laurie looked, her vision was assaulted with a multitude of… everything.
For starters, the sky was mostly red, but not an oppressive, scary blood red. It was light, almost pink. Instead of clouds or stars, there were giant, colorful… blobs. She didn't know how to describe them, the closest things she could compare them to was candy. Bubblegum, to be specific. Some were like jellybeans too. Yellow, blue, green, purple... they were all the size of clouds, floating endlessly across the skies.
And that wasn't even the stranger part, inside every single of those candy-like 'clouds', there were… things. They were too distorted for her to make out anything specific. As if there was something trapped inside each of the infinite, floating gums.
Underneath them, she saw a multitude of distorted… biomes? Much like the skies, it was hard to put into words what she was looking at. It was like a multitude of different areas had been mashed together, like little Doyle did with his Play-Doh.
There was a barren wasteland to one side, with rivers of colorful lava that glowed like neon lights, the other had a desert made of dark-blue snow, with mists covering the horizon of this snowy region in particular, and one other that seemed to be entirely made of metal, with dark smog being seen in the distance like one would see in a factory area.
And in the middle of this chaos, there was a forest with every single tree conceivable, but each with their own twist. From oak-trees that were shaped like mushrooms, to an american elm tree that seemed to be made of precious stones.
The amount of strange shapes, colors and sizes, as well as the sheer nonsense of everything all her made Laurie feel lightheaded. She stumbled on her feet and almost fell off the Raspberry-Marmalade cliff they were in, being immediately grabbed by the guilmon, who worriedly started to shake her awake.
"Laurie! Laurie! Are you okay? Oh no, I didn't know you were this hungry! Don't worry! I'll get you some tasty snacks in no time!" He declared, carrying her on his shoulder.
"Miro, wait! I'm okay it's just tha- AAAAAAH"
Before the biyomon could even finish her sentence, Miro had already jumped off the cliff like it was no big deal, his face was plastered with a serious and focused look, paying no mind but to the need to get tasty snacks to his new friend.
His feet-paws created big flames around them, which he used like rollerblades to skate on the rocky fall of the mountain the cave was in. The fire covering his paws seemed to melt the rocks, turning them into some sort of jelly, as he slided down masterfully towards the floor.
Even as Laurie screamed in fear, Miro seemed undaunted in his skating. The biyomon could only tighten her hug on his neck, while he kept holding her over his shoulder with one of his arms, using the other to maintain his balance.
When they were inches from the floor, the guilmon jumped off of the cliff's orange and red surface, spinning in the air with Laurie still close to him, and landing on the grass floor upright, his feet causing a small burst of flames under the virus digimon.
"There! Now I'll take you to the meat-fields and-"
He was cut off by Laurie wiggling off of Miro, after slapping him in the back with her wing-arm, far from enough to injure him, but enough to break him off of his trance.
"Miro! What was that all about!? You saved me from a fall just so you could jump with me!?" Laurie shouted, her feathers were all messy thanks to the rough trip.
"But Laurie, weren't you supposed to be in a tummy-coma?"
"... A 'tummy-coma'?"
"Yeah, when your tummy gets so angry that it makes you sleep and not wake up again!" He said, getting his face closer so he could sniff her, "you don't smell like you're in a tummy-coma!"
Laurie took a step back and pushed him away, "I didn't faint! I tried to tell you, I was just overwhelmed with… whatever this is!" She opened her wings to dramatically point to their surroundings.
Miro stared at her silently. Before smoke started coming out of his maw, Laurie was about to question it, when her body reacted on its own, and she threw herself on the floor. From the guilmon's maw, came a blast of fire that would put a flamethrower to shame, bathing her surroundings with his bright red, scorching fire.
Laurie shook in fear at the dinosaur, suddenly realizing just how scary he could be when he wanted to.
"There! I fixed it for you!" He smiled, seeing the crass now burnt to a crisp, and little bonfires forming all around them, "now you won't get 'overrhelmed' again!"
"Miro!" Laurie said, shaking in fear as she got back up, "don't do that! You didn't solve anything, you just made it worse! Now I'm even more nervous!"
The guilmon seemed sincerely shocked, cocking his head to the side, "but you said that this" he opened his arms to mimic Laurie's earlier mannerism, "had hurt you! So I got rid of it for you!"
"That's not how… I didn't mean…" She shut her beak, trying to think of a better way to phrase it so this digimon would understand her better. And after looking at those sweet yellow eyes, and remembering the fun they had back at his cave, she knew he really didn't do it with ill-intent.
"Look, Miro. Sometimes, we can't solve our problems by 'getting rid' of things." She took a step closer to him, trying to avoid the scorched grass, "If you had offered me a hug again, or just talked to me, I would have been fine. And so would the grass."
He opened his maw, in a silent "oh!", nodding slowly. He then lowered his head in shame, "I'm sorry!"
She tried to force a smile on her tough, unmoving beak, closing her eyes and petting him on the shoulder, "well! It's okay, as long as you don't do it again! Now, you mentioned something about... meat-fields?"
That made him perk up once more, with a smile showing all of his sharp teeth, "yep! Let's go, you're gonna love it there!"
He grabbed her wing that had the strange device attached to it, and sprinted deeper to the forest, leaving all negativity behind. Laurie had to follow suit.
"... And so, with gracious might, the noble shakkoumon vanquished the horrible beast. With but a swing of his holy hand, the evil virus was no more. The digimon around him rejoiced, for with the virus deleted, they could once again-" His rolled his eyes as he read the words.
A long groan broke the silence of the room, the reader tossed the book aside without much care, "boooooooring."
"Seriously. I knew the ending as soon as the story started." The voice was jovial, high-pitched and masculine, filled with charisma and confidence without the user even meaning to.
This voice belonged to a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing beautiful white cloth. This child has eight wings on his back, two on his waist and two more on his head, all of them were the purest of white in color. Another unique thing about this child was the purple tattoos on his otherwise white skin, four golden wings in each of his hands and feet. His left hand had a bandage wrapped around it, covering most of it, showing no skin nor the rest of his tattoos.
The little angel was in a wooden, quiet room. Similar to where the priests slept in a church. It had a table to study, various holy symbols and a few holy items, such as candles, scrolls and even some beautiful paintings depicting angel digimon. Despite its simplicity, it was well kept and serene.
"Perhaps the other books will be more entertaining? Let's see…" he used his right hand to pick up another book on the pile he had on his side, "'The seven heavenly virtues'? Already read it. 'The non-believer patamon and how he digivolved into sukamon'. Wow, sucks to be him." He tossed those books to the floor like the first one, all with his right hand.
"'Piedmon and the pendulum'? Eh, not feeling like reading poetry." He kept searching, tossing many books aside, most of them about the same topics, much to the blond angel's unamusement.
"There's gotta be at least something interesting here! By yggdrasil, why all of these books SU-" He quickly cut himself off when he turned around, seeing a tall, similarly angelic digimon with books all over his body, which the boy had thrown.
"I see your studies are going well, Lucemon." Said the six-winged angemon buried inside the pile of books Lucemon didn't like.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry, mister Angemon!" The little angel floated out of his sitting position, waving his hand and summoning a small gust of wind to blow away all the books, freeing stoic angemon.
"It is all well, child." The older digimon dusted himself and his wings off as he continued, "but I am quite displeased to see your lack of interest in pursuing your education."
That made the floating lucemon lower his head in shame, his wings similarly dropping down, "Forgive me, sir… It's just that… everything is the same! I can tell what will happen by the end of each book when I read their second paragraph! I'm not saying my esteemed educator, mister Piddomon, lacks intelligence or anything of the sort… but I feel like he doesn't push me hard enough! I always ace my exams, and am always the one to answer all of his questions! I feel so… stagnated when I go to class or when I study!" Angemon vented to the adult angel, his voice filled with sincere emotion.
"Lucemon, I of all digimon know of your potential. Unlike your brothers and sisters, your data was always… different. I understand that having to slow down your pace to let others keep up might be frustrating, but that's one of the beauties of living in a society of order." Angemon explained, acting as both a mentor and a friend to the child, one of his hand's touching the prodigious boy's shoulder, "every digimon has their purpose, and are all equal as long as they serve that purpose."
"Easy for you to say that! You can always go out on missions in the mortal world! You always have something fun to do, while I'm stuck here having to wait for Salamon to understand what 'temperance' means!" Lucemon huffed, crossing his arms and looking away.
Angemon was silent, allowing the child to speak up more if he so desired, and Lucemon loved talking, "I just… I wanna do something different for once! I wanna feel like my actions have an impact. I wanna see how the mortal digimon I hear so much about really are! I wanna have an adventure, and I wanna understand the digital-world as it is, not as these books keep telling me!"
Lucemon huffed, once more looking down. Angemon sighed solemnly, his love for the little digimon clashing with his duty of following order and tradition, "A child-level is never to leave the walls of the holy city, least during a dire emergency and with the permission of at least one adult-level digimon."
Being reminded of the angelic rules only made the blond angel feel even sadder, but he was surprised when angemon continued talking, "You see, two gargomon, explorers, went missing. Their objective was to track down one of the savage digimon that inhabited one of the crossroads in the mortal world. It is quite unfortunate that I have so many important missions to do. The celestials have required me to attend to such pressing matters, that I fear I might not be able to track them down in time…"
Lucemon slowly turned around, an enormous grin plastered on his face, his baby blue eyes shimmering with excitement.
"What is on your mind, child?" The adult angel feigned ignorance.
"You know! Since they are missing and all, and no other vaccine digimon are around to help…" The little angel also got in character, acting innocent.
"Hm. Well, if you were to solve this perilous emergency, you would have to use one of the blank-colored celestial badges… a symbol of an honorary rescuer digimon."
"Wait, don't those things limit your power when you use 'em?"
"Correct. But only these blank-colored ones. And even still, they only really block excess power." The angemon points to a heavenly badge he had on his fit chest, with a beautiful golden crystal in the middle, "those of the average rankings have no such limitations. They exist mostly so a child-level doesn't hurt himself or other digimon by accident. That is especially true for you, given how you are a prodigy with a uncommon amount of data in you."
"While I believe that rule is greatly flawed, if that's the price of going down…" he joined his little hands and opened them, with a huge smile, "...I'll be more than glad to accept this trade-off!"
Angemon smiled back at the child's enthusiasm, picking a small, bronze colored heavenly badge with no crystal in the middle, stopping it inches away from Lucemon's eager hands, "One more condition…"
Lucemon cocked his head to the side, staring at the covered face of the adult angel, as he got closer and closer, ominously saying "If you see the digital-hazard those two were hunting, you are to immediately press the teleport button on your badge and return to the safety of Cloud City. If you can't, run. Do not fight it. The same is true if you encounter one of the Death-X digimon. I hear these creatures are restless recently for some reason, but the region you're going to has not shown any signs of digimons of this level of evil."
Lucemon gulped, the grin no longer present in his face, knowing exactly what Angemon was warning him about, "I-I see. Anything else, sir?"
"Virus digimon. Beware their lies and their taint. Much like the Death-X digimon, you are to avoid them too."
"Duh! Virus digimon are what caused this entire dungeon-mess in the mortal world to begin with!" Lucemon put his hands on his hips, nodding with a serious expression, "I know better than to approach such uncivilized excuses of digimon!"
Angemon smiled, touching the child's shoulder once more, "You are smart and powerful, Lucemon. Traits to be envious of. I wouldn't send you on this little quest if I wasn't certain you'd be up for it. I'll fill in the paperwork. Needless to say, but please avoid entering mystery dungeons if you can, too."
"Geez, Angemon! You said that you just had one thing to tell me, but you're just saying all the obvious stuff! I get it! I promise I'll follow all the rules!" He smirked, posing his hands together and spread open once again.
And much to his glee, this time the adult angel actually let go of the little badge, which Lucemon immediately grabbed hold of, and set on his chest, binding his data with the item.
"Return to me so I can remove the badge. I'll be waiting. Allow me to take you to the portal keeper, so he may create a passage to the mortal world, child." Lucemon beckoned, both of them flying away from the small study-room they were in.
Outside, Cloud City was as stunning as ever. It was all made of the shiniest of gold, from the buildings to the floor, with some ivory splattered here and there. Each shape was geometrical, each centimeter of the city seemed to be meticulously calculated. It wasn't all cluttered together, each part of the city was divided on beautiful clouds, buildings and housings all constructed on top of the large white clouds. The areas of the floating city were connected by enormous bridges, and some teleporting spots meant to help the ground-bound digimon. Under the city, there seemed to be an endless abyss of red sky, separating it and the 'mortal world', or 'the world bellow'. The two angels flew past some other flying vaccine digimon, with a few of the patrolling angel-digimon waving respectfully at Angemon.
Their wings took them to the direction of a castle, right by the middle of the great flying city. Made out of gold and platinum, with various engravings and holy symbols encrusted on its beautiful walls. By the great doors, words written "The holy guild" showed what it was all about, surrounding the masterfully built castle were many leisure areas, including a park, training grounds and meeting points for digimon. Lucemon sighed, the digimon from this city lacked creativity. Despite the various wondrous marvels of architecture that were present all over the sacred city, the naming of things still left a lot to be desired.
Various statues of angel and vaccine digimon were proudly on display by the entrance, with many digimon, data, free and vaccine all merrily entering the hall for various motives, from mercenaries trying to earn a living, to dutiful members, to even worried digimon willing to pay for their services.
Eventually, they reached the highest point of a large tower, on top of the holy guild. It had plenty of space for them to land. Inside it, a machine digimon was minding its business, handling various gadgets. It looked like an oversized clock with red eyes.
"Clockmon, good day." Angemon greeted as he landed, "I would like a portal to Conundrum Woods."
"Clock-y Clock-jay? Conundrum Woods, you say? The one right next to Jam Mountain?" It turned around, making a tick-tock sound as it spoke, "why would a gold-ranked rescuer go to such a low-level place, clock-y-ace?"
"The portal isn't for me." Angemon respectfully replied, pointing to the floating Lucemon by his side, "it's for him. The guild allowed him to go on an honorary rescue mission."
It was a half-truth. Since Angemon was a gold-rank, he could grant these honorary missions, but he chose simply not to all-out say that he was the one giving Lucemon permission. The child angel noticed it, and silently thanked the adult-level.
Clockmon looked at the small angel, which proudly smiled and showed it his blank badge.
"Clocky-y. Clocky-ho. Come with me, so I can teleport you where you want to go." The clock digimon tick-tocked, as Lucemon floated closer.
"Don't move, don't look behind you, and don't say anything as you teleport. It helps with the travel." Angemon took a step back, smiling at the glee he sensed on the little angel.
"Clock-y-haze, I was the one supposed to say that phrase!" The portal keeper declared in an annoyed tone, shining a powerful green light as it channeled its power. Its dials were spinning frantically as it created a passage in space-time to the destination Angemon specified.
Suddenly, a hologram appeared in front of the floating blond angel, showing the red skies, with the distorted gums floating around it, underneath it a forest with various distorted trees.
"Wow… so this is what the dungeons did with the lower world? Cursed viruses…" Lucemon whispered to himself, frowning.
Before staring at the portal for a little while, he then turned around to wave at Angemon with a huge grin on his face, "Sir, I promise I'll complete my mission! I'll come back with those two gargomon, and I'll prove myself to you, to the great celestials, to my grumpy teacher Piddomon, to that annoying Salamon that keeps telling me to shut up in class, and even to-" Before the boy could continue one of his many speeches, the portal swallowed him whole and closed.
"... Why have you done that?" Angemon questioned the clock digimon, which looked mildly annoyed, " you could have at least let him complete his speech."
"Clocky-do clock-yggish, you and I both know he would never finish." Clockmon rolled his eyes and stared fiddling with his gadgets again.
Angemon looked out of the window of the tower, staring at the outside of the city, under the clouds with a proud smile.
"Give it your all, Lucemon. I believe in you. Show them what a great digimon you really are!"