Reboot

Chapter 2 - Wake

Location: Shinjuku

Time: 12:52

Tyler spent the rest of the morning pouring through information about Digimon and Renamon specifically, learning as much as he could about the creature laid in his bed. It was midday by the time he felt he had learnt all he could, scrolling through various sources about background, abilities and behaviour patterns. He knew though that not all of it would necessarily be useful or related to her, but it was a starting point to prepare him.

He rotated in his chair to face his bed, his eyes studying the female form in his bed - still in the same position he placed her in. His nature made him reach out and gently place his palm on her forehead, letting out a soft sigh.

"What do I need to do to make you better? How can I wake you up, how can I help you?" Tyler released a small ironic chuckle, more so at himself. "I don't even know your name or where you're from."

Underneath his palm Tyler suddenly felt a warmth, increasing in heat but not to the point of burning. He made to move his hand away but found he couldn't, plus he could feel something between his palm and her fur. Something solid, cool and oddly familiar. Yet despite the odd sensation and the heat he didn't feel worried, something about the object that seemed to grow under his hand convinced him to stay still.

Sure enough the temperature returned to normal and Tyler found he could move his arm again. The first thing he did was turn his hand palm upwards, displaying a white egg shaped devices with a few buttons and a neck strap. A pink circle sat on the front with a small screen was set in the middle. He brought it closer to him and turned the device over in his hands a few times to examine it closer. The only other feature he could see was a thin slot that looked like a card reader.

It only took a moment for him to realise it was a digivice, a small handset for someone who was linked to a digimon. Tyler looked back at the Renamon in his bed again. He was linked to her, even if she wasn't awake.

He'd read about the franchise's Digidestined, the kids who were chosen by their digimon to be their human partners, but he didn't know if having such a device made him one too. For one the device he held looked different to the ones he saw in his research - there were certainly no card readers on those ones, plus the general layout of the buttons wasn't the same. The more Tyler held and looked at the digivice in his palm the more he began to believe that the cover up stories had some merit. And that alone made him nervous. If someone was somehow trying to cover up something as big as digimon then it could spell a whole lot of trouble for him and potentially his mother.

Was he a Digidestined now? Did he have some part to play in saving this Digital World he learnt about only minutes ago? He had so many questions but only one seemed like it could be answered - that being if the card reader was indeed a card reader, what cards did it take?

He remembered a store not too far from his home that stocked some digimon trading cards, which could be used with a matching reader to determine outcomes from battles with them, or a collection tracker for those who weren't interested in fighting with them. Perhaps his device also used those cards, after all he hadn't seen any other cards in the franchise.

Tyler cast another glance at the Renamon in his bed as he rose. She wasn't going anywhere, he felt he had time to make a trip out before she woke - if she woke at all. However it seemed pointless for him to be linked to her if she would never awaken. He pocketed the digivice and headed out, closing the door behind him just in case his mother returned early. Grabbing his keys he left the house and locked up before beginning the trip to the store.

Along the way Tyler allowed his thoughts to wander, contemplating where his life might be going. Did he have to go to the digital world and fight to save it? Or was there a threat closer to home than that? Was his mother in danger from his partnership with the Renamon? Tyler couldn't answer any of those questions but each one made him worry, gnawing at him from the inside.

His trip to the store was uneventful as he pushed his way inside through the door. His eyes scanned around until he found the trading cards, heading straight for them. It only took a few seconds to locate the Digimon ones amongst all the other trading card franchises but Tyler was still stumped. There were so many cards available in what were labelled as starter packs or boosters. He didn't know if they'd even work with his digivice. With that in mind he found a small booster with five cards inside, with an equally small price tag. If he was going to test them starting small wouldn't be a bad way to do so.

He picked up the booster and went to pay for it, feeling a little childish about it. However he received no disapproving looks from anyone who saw him with the pack, as if it was a natural thing for him to be buying. He still left quickly though just in case, and because he really wanted to test them.

In fact he was so impatient to try the cards that once he was outside the store he turned off down the small alley to the side of it and opened the booster. Inside was his five random cards: a Hyper Chip, a Speed Upgrade card, an Agumon card, a Recovery card, and ironically a Renamon card. The last one made him chuckle to himself, of course his luck would give him a Renamon card as one of his first. It confirmed though that the one in his bed wasn't a standard Renamon, the card showing the typical yellow and white fur patterns with the markings and purple gauntlets. It also showed the abilities for it, labelled as Power Paw and Diamond Storm. He could see Power Paw was the more common move with Diamond Storm being a more demanding move with energy cost, just as well he got the Recharge card too.

Seeing he had time he selected a card at random, just happening to be the Speed Upgrade card, and swiped it through the reader slot. The digivice emitted a blue electric glow from the slot and the sound of scanning until the card was out the other end, and the screen flickered to display the symbol that matched the card. However written over the whole screen was a red error message stating: Error: Digimon Not Found.

Tyler didn't know if that meant he was out of range of the Renamon or if she wasn't linked to him after all. But it proved that the digivice was compatible with the cards. With that in mind he returned to the store and proceeded to buy more packs to expand his selection.

Tyler patted his pocket with all his cards opened and sorted as best he could with the knowledge he possessed. He had to admit he spent more than he planned to, he could see why such trading cards were addictive. He was on the way home with his haul from the store and hopefully better armed to be a Digidestined. However he was partially interrupted from his thoughts by a brown haired teen rushing past, carrying what Tyler believed to be another digivice. But before he could act on the encounter the male was gone, and too far ahead to call out for. Besides he wasn't even sure it was a digivice, he only got a glance.

Tyler pushed it from his mind but safeguarded the encounter for later, if it was indeed a digivice he felt he would see him again at some point. Digidestined were always brought together from what he had seen in his research. More importantly for him at that moment was that he was almost home, and what was inside his room.

He returned to his room after kicking off his shoes and pushed open his door. Upon entering Tyler was met by an icy blue stare from his guest, his awake and standing guest.

She stood at roughly seven foot tall with her digitigrade leg shape, front facing the door. She had previously been studying her surroundings as she was in an unknown place, but when she heard someone approach she had turned to the door.

Tyler didn't know what to do at that moment, her posture and expression led him to think she could either attack him or talk to him - there was no clear sign which she was most likely to do. He decided to stay in the doorway to appear non threatening, and when several moments had passed with neither moving or talking he made the first move.

"You're awake. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever wake."

She just looked at him, changing her pose and expression to one of confusion and nervousness, seeming to size him up. A blink was his only reply, the Renamon seemingly reluctant to speak in front of him.

Tyler sighed softly inside and walked into his room properly, setting down his stuff on his desk. However he made sure to keep the digivice hidden for now, just in case.

"How are you feeling? You seemed in a rough way when I found you outside."

She glanced out of the window as if to see where she last remembered being, a flicker of recognition on her muzzle. "I…" Her voice was soft and timid, yet carried wisdom. "Why did you help me?"

Her question took Tyler by surprise. In all his time he had never been asked why he was how he was, why he lended aid to anyone he saw who might need it. As a result it took him a few seconds to form his response. "I don't know really. It's just something I've always done." She looked at him with a quizzical expression, tilting her head to one side. "I'm not able to just stand idle when I see my help can be used, I assist anyone when I feel I can make even the smallest difference to their lives. I guess you could say it's who I am." He shrugged at the end of his answer, not really able to explain himself any better.

For her part the Renamon just nodded in understanding. She glanced outside again, a paw rubbing her neck subconsciously. "I'm grateful for your assistance…"

"Tyler." He could sense her reaching for his name which he hadn't given her yet.

"Tyler, thank you." She looked back to him again with her head tilted to one side. "I assume you also removed the collar from my neck?"

Tyler nodded as he leant back on his desk. "I know shock and control collars when I see them. I don't like them no matter what reason anyone might give for using them, so I took it off and dropped it in the drain."

She nodded with a slightly surprised face but smiled her gratitude. "Good, that means they can't track me either." His reaction was all she needed to know he was curious. "You obviously have questions Tyler but I really don't want to go into it right now, but I was held by bad people who did bad things. You freed me from them and you have my eternal thanks." She smiled at him but caught a glimpse of the digivice behind him. "Is that what I think it is?"

Tyler slowly pulled the white device out into view and nodded. "If you think this is a digivice then you are correct, don't ask me how or why I got it though - I still don't fully understand it all."

"So this means I'm your partner then?" Tyler looked at her equally as confused as she sounded. "A digivice only appears when a link is formed between a digimon and a Tamer, so this means we are linked in a partnership."

He cocked his head much like she did to him. "A Tamer? So not a Digidestined then?"

The Renamon blinked at him and tilted her head again, mimicking his reaction. "What's a Digidestined?"

"It was the name given to chosen humans when they got their digimon partner, at least that's what I could tell when I researched digimon after I found you." Tyler idly toyed with the device in his hand as he spoke, not happy with his lack of prior knowledge on digimon.

Renamon just let out a small quiet scoff. "Digidestined sounds stupid, Tamer is a far better and easier title - don't you think so?" He simply nodded at her with an amused grin, she certainly had character to her. "So if we're going to be partnered together I guess I should properly introduce myself. I'm Sypher, a Renamon species digimon."

Tyler offered his hand to her in a formal handshake greeting, one she took after a moment of consideration. "Tyler, a… human species… human?"

Sypher released a soft laugh, the sound almost musical to his ears. "You have a sense of humour too, I like that. Life can be so serious sometimes and it's a shame when everyone forgets they don't always need to be."

An agreeing nod came from him as he waved a hand in the air. "Little jokes now and again can remind you that things aren't as bad as you think they are sometimes." Tyler set his digivice down on the desk and returned her gaze to her. "So Sypher, since we're partnered together I suppose we should arrange how we're going live and such. I'm pretty sure my mother would freak out if she saw you sadly, come to think of it most people probably would. I should figure out a way to hide you."

"No need," Sypher responded. "I can phase to appear invisible, and when I phase I can also teleport short distances."

He blinked with wide eyes at the information. "There was nothing about that in the research I did. That sounds really handy though. I'm guessing as it's phasing you'd be able to pass through things as well?" Sypher nodded at him. "So if it came to it you could easily escape if you needed to hide." Tyler suddenly slapped his palm to his forehead with a sigh. "God I'm so sorry, here I am making these grand plans and I've not even asked you if you're okay with this whole partnership thing!"

Sypher widened her eyes at his remark. "Are you kidding? I'd be honoured to be partnered with you! It's a common dream amongst digimon to be partnered with a tamer. Plus the digivice won't appear unless both human and digimon agree to such a link."

Tyler was taken aback by her sudden enthusiasm and took a second to compose himself. "Well you were unconscious when it happened so how do I know if you consented at the time?"

Sypher just smiled at him and tapped the side of her head. "When the device appeared I felt you with me, I understood who you were enough for me to give my consent even if you didn't know it. The link told me enough about what sort of person you would be as a tamer and that was enough for me."

"So you were reading my mind then?" Tyler watched as she formed a soft blush and made to protest, but he let out a chuckle and shook his head. "I'm only messing with you. But seriously it's nice to know you're happy with this, makes me feel a little better about this unknown direction my life has turned in."

"As I said Tyler, I'd be honoured to be your digimon partner and to have you as my tamer. As for everything else that comes our way we can deal with it as it happens, I'll be by your side so we can learn and grow together." Sypher extended her paw to him again, mimicking his earlier gesture.

Tyler smiled and shook her paw a second time. "I'd be just as honoured to walk this path with you too Sypher, wherever it may lead us."