AUTHORS NOTE
Hi all. With the recent release of Digimon Survive, I had the idea of doing an original Digimon Story. I do have the Digivolutions of the main Digimon worked out and one or two small plotlines in the early stages of development so hopefully, everything will work out alright.
A loud beeping drew Leo Russell from his sleep. He groaned and turned over, reaching for his phone.
He pressed the button to turn it off and groaned. He hated his brother sometimes. He had left the alarm off but obviously, he needed to change his password again since his brother seemed to have set an alarm.
He pulled himself out of bed and got dressed. He made his way downstairs and got himself a bowl of cereal.
Whilst he was washing up his bowl, he heard movement coming from upstairs. He put the bowl on the drying rack and spun around as his brother entered the kitchen.
"Setting my alarm?" Leo asked. "Really Gordon?"
"We had plans today, remember?"
"Did we?" Leo asked.
Gordon sighed. "Yes, we did. That new library is opening today."
"Why are you dragging me there again?"
"Because I said I'd go bowling with you." Gordon folded his arms.
Leo smiled at the deal he had made. It was always something they had done. If one brother wanted the other to go somewhere, then they had to do something the other brother wanted.
Ten minutes later, Gordon was waiting outside the front door on a green garden chair that his mother used for her smoking breaks in a pair of three-quarter jeans and a plain red polo-shirt and navy-blue canvas shoes. He wore a small pendant on a piece of string that showed the four elements of water, fire, earth and air.
He looked up when the door opened and Leo stepped out wearing a grey zip-up hoodie over a bark blue vest and a pair of black jogging bottoms. He wore a simple pair of white trainers.
"Come on then. To the library." Leo said.
They got to the bus stop just as a bus pulled up to let people off. After getting on the bus and taking their seats, they were quick to overhear a girl complaining about something. Gordon tried to listen but couldn't make out what she was complaining about. But Gordon definitely noticed her dyed-blue hair contrasting her bright orange crop-top.
There wasn't much of a crowd for the library opening but it was still a decent turnout. One of the main attractions of the new library was the brand-new computer room with state-of-the-art computers.
"…so, I'd like to thank you all for coming to our grand opening of the new library. The Power Source." Announced a woman. She was the mayor. "It is my pleasure to officially declare this building open."
She used a pair of scissors and cut a white ribbon that was placed over the door. Another round of applause later and the mayor stepped aside as people began to enter the library. Gordon and Leo filed in and decided to look around separately. Leo looked at a few books whilst Gordon quickly went up to the second floor to look at the new computers.
There was an announcement over the speaker system about a one-time competition for a run through of a new demo for an open world game.
Gordon decided it would be something different if he won the chance. He went to the desk to enter the draw. It was just a simple case of using a library card to enter. As it happened, Gordon had accidently given Leo's library card so he was entered in the competition. Gordon was able to enter himself using his own card, but Leo was still entered in the competition.
Since there was only a window of thirty minutes to enter, both Leo and Gordon were still in the library when the winners of the competition were announced; Gordon and Leo Russell, Daisy Jones, John Atkinson and Lily McCracken.
Leo went to the second floor to see Gordon looking sheepish.
"Why am I a winner?" he asked.
"I accidentally used your library card to enter and they couldn't remove you." Gordon explained.
"What's this demo like anyway?" Leo asked, resigning to his prize.
"I have no idea." He replied. "It's a brand-new thing."
The other three winners arrived and Gordon took note that of the girls was the one from the bus with the blue hair and orange crop-top. She also wore a pair of medium heels and a black skirt that stopped at her kneecaps.
The other girl had black hair in a ponytail, a pair of glasses and a green jumper and a pair of smart trousers. The other boy, John wore slim jeans, a black V-neck T-Shirt under an open button up cardigan.
"Congratulations." A female staff member smiled. "The five of you are lucky enough to be the first to play the demo of the brand-new open world game called Tamer."
"And what is Tamer?" John asked.
"It's an open world game where you control a creature to fight and survive using the abilities of the creature." The staff member answered, letting them into a small room with computers. "From what I understand, you can interact with various NPC's and other players to gain items and other benefits." The five winners each sat at a computer showing the game. They clicked on the new game option. "Now, there are only five options to start with and for this demo, the five of you have to agree who gets which creature as when one gets chosen, it blocks that option for the other four. Now, the demo should last for around two hours, give or take, then it'll reset all progress. I'll be back to see if the demo has finished then."
Left alone with the others and looking at the options, Gordon and Leo quickly noticed that the option for the black sprouting seed monster had been dimmed.
"Who's pressed the seed?" one of the girls asked.
"Sorry." the other girl apologised. "I accidentally left-clicked instead of right-clicked."
"Anyone mind if I have the little thing with wings?" John asked.
"I'd like the pile of sand." Gordon added.
With those two options dimmed, that left a ball of white fluff and what looked like a pale seed like thing with a leaf for a tail.
"Which do you want?" Leo asked.
"You pick one." She answered. "I didn't think this would be the prize."
Leo picked the ball of fluff leaving the final creature for the last girl.
Next, they had to put in usernames. Since it was just a demo, they had all put their real names in. If it wasn't a demo, they would definitely put fake names in but since the progress would be reset, they didn't care that much.
The game loaded and showed them a background that could have easily resembled a nursery.
Going through the tutorial was easy enough. It was basically like how you'd take care of a baby in a standard game.
The first to finish the tutorial was John, resulting in his white blob with wings transforming into a cute little insect like creature with three pairs of wings. The name Puroromon showed underneath the creature.
John helped the girl with the blue hair, Lily to get her little black seed to transform into a larger green creature with larger leaves that had been called Tanemon. Gordon and Daisy managed to transform their creatures at the same time into a grey rock with two rocky stumps for legs with a large yellow eye called Tumblemon and a feline-like head with a webbed-looking mane and a tail called Frimon.
Gordon helped Leo turn his ball of fluff into a green ball with purple spikes with a leaf for a tail called Budmon.
"I don't think I'm going to like this game." Leo muttered.
"Give it a chance." Gordon encouraged. "Look, they're going out of the nursery." A ping sounded from the computers as each of the creatures found a small device. "I guess they haven't quite decided on a name yet."
"This is boring." Daisy sighed. "Can we at least have a fight scene?"
As if on cue, the screens flashed red and loaded another screen. This time, their monster was not shown on the screen and a different monster called a Pagumon was shown. After a brief explanation of the battle system, the game let the players try it themselves.
"Not what I had in mind." Daisy admitted.
After the first battle, the screens seemed to glitch. When the screens image definitely distorted, they all immediately backed away from the screens and stood up. They looked at each other. Lily went to the door to get some help for the computers and when she touched the door handle, the lights began to flicker.
She looked back as a wind began to blow. The only screens that flashed were the ones that the five of them had been using.
"What's going on?" John asked.
Lily tried to open the door, but it was stuck. She pulled as hard as she could, but it wouldn't move. "It's locked."
"Guys?" Gordon said, looking at his computer.
Everyone walked to the computer they were playing at to see the same thing. Their creature was the only image that didn't flicker, but it seemed that the creature was saying something.
Not knowing why, Gordon reached a hand towards his screen. With a bright flash, Gordon began to call out as he was slowly lifted into the air. The others could only watch as Gordon's body was stretched and pulled apart, seemingly pulled into the computer.
Leo looked at the girls as they screamed, suffering the same fate as Gordon. John followed soon after and Leo closed his eyes as he felt himself be pulled into the air. When he felt himself fall, he tried to call out, but found that he couldn't.
Leo was next aware of a headache. He slowly sat up and tried to open his eyes. Instead of being in the computer room, he found himself surrounded by trees. He managed to get to his feet and looked around, seeing only trees.
"Where am I?" he asked himself.
He took a few steps and stopped when he heard rustling. He rushed around to the other side of a nearby tree and peeked out, hoping to see if it was enough of a threat to run away from. The rustling stopped and Leo looked down at the source.
"What?" he asked himself quietly. Since he had only just seen this thing once before, he was understandably confused. "Budmon?"
Budmon turned its body one direction then the other, looking for something. Budmon's mouth turned down into a frown. Once Leo heard a small whimper, he held his breath and took a step out. Budmon's body tilted upwards and broke out into a wide smile. It hopped over to Leo's feet and looked up at him.
"You're here!" Budmon squeaked.
"What's happening?" Leo asked.
"You're here for me." Budmon answered, jumping in place. "Yay!"
Leo took a step back. "Where am I?"
"With me." Budmon told him.
"And where are we?" Leo tried again.
"I'm not sure."
Leo sighed. He turned back around and began walking away from Budmon. Or at least, that was the plan. He noticed Budmon was following along beside him.
When the trees began to lessen, he looked down at Budmon, still hopping by his side. "Shouldn't you be staying in the forest?"
"No." Budmon answered. "We need each other."
"No." Leo countered. "I need to get back to the computer room in the library. Now where is it?"
Budmon made a sound of confusion. "What's a computer room? What's a library?"
Leo looked down at the green creature beside him. "Seriously?"
"Hey, I only hatched about a month ago." Budmon scowled. "I'm doing the best I can."
Leo looked back up and saw a small settlement. With no better idea, he went towards the settlement to see if anyone could help him.
His hopes were dashed as he got closer. The settlement seemed to only be big enough for people around Budmon's height. Maybe a little taller. He manoeuvred around the settlement, being careful not to damage anything.
He looked inside a building and gasped. It was decorated the same as the background from the demo when the creatures were being fed before they transformed. He took a quick glance back at Budmon.
"Impossible."
"What is?"
He looked at Budmon's tail and noticed a small pouch that could easily have been missed. Leo slowly reached for the pouch and took it. He reached inside and pulled out the same small device that the demo had shown. Only this one had a strap attached to wear like a watch. His hand shook slightly as things fell into place.
"Leo?" asked a familiar voice.
Leo looked up to see his brother and the girl without blue hair. Daisy, if he remembered rightly. He took note of the two creatures at their feet. A grey rock with two rocky stumps for legs with a large yellow eye and a feline-like head with a webbed-looking mane and a tail.
Leo pointed to them but Gordon just raised a hand. "We know Leo. These guys are from the demo and we also got these from them."
Leo looked at the device on Gordon's wrist. "Yours is orange?"
Gordon looked at his wrist. "I guess it is. Is that important?"
"Mine's red." Leo told him.
"What colour is mine?" Daisy asked. When Gordon and Leo looked at her, she quickly added. "I'm colourblind. I have trouble telling what some colours are."
"Yellow." Gordon told her.
"And those things are?" Leo asked.
Gordon and Daisy looked down. "Oh yeah. This is Tumblemon and Frimon."
"And you two are just accepting this?" Leo asked.
"What can we do?" Daisy asked. "I know I'm not dreaming. So, I might as well see what's happening."
"Well, I want to go home." Leo said. "Now, where do I go?"
"But this is home." Budmon spoke up."
Leo looked down at Budmon. "I meant my home! The human world!" Leo realised what he had just said. "No, this still has to be my world. There's no other explanation."
"We were pulled into the demo." Daisy said, a little too matter-of-factly.
"What makes you say that?" Gordon asked.
Daisy looked at Gordon. "I saw you get pulled into the computer screen. Then me and Lily were pulled in."
"We weren't pulled into the computer!" Leo snapped. "That's crazy. If we were pulled into the computer, then wouldn't we be blocky? You know, from the pixels?"
"Interesting thought." Gordon agreed. "But look at tv shows. We watch them through pixels but we know that they aren't blocky."
Leo folded his arms and walked away from Gordon and Daisy. Budmon hopped after Leo whilst the rocky Tumblemon looked at Gordon. "He's not open-minded, is he?"
Frimon had jumped up and perched its head on Daisy's shoulder, using its tail to hook around her neck. "It's too dangerous for him to be wandering alone."
Gordon and Daisy manoeuvred through the settlement whilst Tumblemon simply followed on the ground. It didn't take them long to find Leo. He was resting against a statue. Gordon sat beside his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's alright Leo." Gordon said. "We'll work something out." He got no response.
Daisy could only stand there, not knowing what to do or how to help Leo. She absentmindedly reached up to scratch Frimon. She looked at the statue behind them. She had to admit, if they had been pulled inside a game, they had designed it well.
She then realised. "Where's Lily and the other one?"
Gordon looked at Daisy. "You're right." He realised. "If they were pulled in too, then they might be in trouble."
"Just not your kind of trouble." Growled a voice.
Gordon looked at Leo. "Was that you?"
Leo looked at his brother. "I thought it was you."
They both looked at Daisy and Tumblemon, but they denied the voice. Having a terrible thought, Leo turned his head and looked at the statue. A claw was raised and Leo quickly pushed Gordon out of the way as the claw swiped where the two brothers were.
Daisy gasped and took a step back. Frimon shuddered on her shoulder and hissed. Budmon hopped around and joined Tumblemon and Frimon, who jumped down.
Gordon and Leo ran to Daisy's side.
"Humans do not belong here." The moving statue growled. "Leave."
"If we could we would." Leo snapped back.
Frimon and Budmon took a breath in and blew out several pink bubbles. The bubbles burst harmlessly.
"What was that supposed to do?" Gordon asked.
"Help." Budmon answered.
The statue jumped down from the platform and lifted its head. What they could see of its eyes, seemed hollow but it was hard to tell since a metal band covered most of its eyes and wrapped its jaw, restricting its mouth movements. Its claws and feet turned blue along with its tail.
"What's happening?" Daisy asked.
As the statue took a step towards them, a small yellow thing flew right into its face, making the statue try to swat it away.
"Hurry, this way." Called a sweet sounding, but worried voice.
The three humans looked to see a green plant like creature indicating to follow it. Instantly deciding that it was safer to follow the smaller creature, Leo, Gordon and Daisy quickly followed. The small flying Digimon soon flying after them, leaving the statue to roar in frustration.
Leading them towards another small forest, the three humans hid behind a tree each whilst the plant dug a hole, leaving only its leaves sticking out. The flying creature flew into a tree and for a tense minute, everyone stayed quiet. Soon the creature flew down and said that it was clear.
"Thanks." Leo said. "What are you?"
"I'm a Digimon." It replied.
"A what?" Leo asked.
"A Digimon." It repeated. "Short for Digital Monster."
"Digital Monster?" Gordon asked.
"I told you we were pulled into the computer." Daisy said.
"We were not pulled into the computer!" Leo insisted.
Gordon had walked to the set of leaves and pulled out the creature. Until it saw Gordon's face, it was crying about being eaten. Leo had scoffed, saying that Gordon was a vegetarian.
"Put Tanemon down!" called a female voice. Gordon looked to see the girl with the orange crop-top storming towards him. She grabbed Tanemon's body and pulled it towards herself. "Did he hurt you?"
"No." Tanemon instantly answered. "I didn't know if we escaped Gargoylemon. He had just pulled me out and I thought he was Gargoylemon."
"Gargoylemon was that thing?" Daisy asked, with the small creature agreeing.
Lily turned to Gordon. "Sorry for snapping at you."
"It's okay." Gordon waved off. "You're Lily, right?"
"Yes." She answered. "And you are…?"
"I'm Gordon." He answered. "This is Leo and Daisy."
"Have you figured out where we are?" Lily asked.
Gordon looked at Leo. "We have a working theory."
Lily nodded and looked down at Tanemon. "So do John and I. but it's unbelievable."
"Where is John?" Daisy asked.
Lily led the small group through the small forest where John was laying against a tree. When he had found Lily, John had also met the flying Puroromon. The shock of seeing it had caused him to trip over a tree root and twist his ankle. After that, he had heard Gargoylemon call out and Lily, Tanemon and Puroromon had ventured out to see the danger.
"Are you feeling better?" Puroromon asked, with a slight buzz in its voice.
"Yeah." John replied, pushing himself to his feet. He took a jerky step forward and breathed a sigh of relief. "I think I can walk again."
A growl caught everyone's attention. They turned to the source and saw Gargoylemon looking at them. the humans stepped back, but the creatures jumped in front.
"What are you doing?" Leo asked.
"We're going to fight him." Budmon answered.
"He's bigger than you." Daisy pointed out.
"But we can't let that bully get you." Frimon insisted.
"He'll destroy you." Gordon added.
"We have to take that risk." Tumblemon argued back.
"But it's hopeless." John said, stumbling slightly.
"We still have to try." Puroromon buzzed.
"Why?" Lily asked.
"Because we have to protect you." Tanemon replied.
Leo stepped forward. "Who said anything like that? You don't have to do a damn thing for us!"
Budmon turned around. "We don't have to, but we want to." Budmon faced Gargoylemon again. "We're your partners."
"Partners?" Leo asked.
As if the word activated something, the supposed-watches started to beep. A symbol showed on the screen, as well as two small arrows pointing upwards at the edges of screen. All five humans looked at the creatures. They had glowing outlines that seemed to get brighter. Soon, all five of the small creatures were glowing yellow.
"What's happening?" Gordon asked.
The glowing creatures began to change. They grew taller and changed into more definitive shapes.
"Budmon Digivolve to…Mushroomon!"
"Tumblemon Digivolve to…Gotsumon!"
"Frimon Digivolve to…Liollmon!"
"Tanemon Digivolve to…Floramon!"
"Puroromon Digivolve to…FanBeemon!"
The yellow glowed faded and soon they all saw very different creatures standing in front of them.
One was a large purple headed mushroom with a pair of purple gloves and boots each held on with a small black belt. Another was a rock creature that to about Gordon's waist level. The third reminded them of a lion cub with a small head of hair. The fourth simply had a flower for a head and a green body and purple flowers for hands each with a long pistil sticking out. The final creature had resumed flying only now it had larger wings. It was now a larger bee like creature. It had two dark blue antennae and its stinger had teeth resembling a saw blade.
"They changed." Gordon stated.
They launched themselves at Gargoylemon, knocking him back. The lion cub bit at Gargoylemon's wings whilst the rock creature and mushroom punched its face. The large bee lifted the flower who pointed its flower hands towards the writhing Gargoylemon.
"Move!" it called with a more mature voice. "Rain of Pollen!"
The three smaller creatures instantly moved away as twin clouds of yellow dust fell from its hands and covered Gargoylemon. Gargolyemon stood up and faced the rock creature. The creature lowered its head and called out, "Rock Fist!" Several rocks flew out of its head and hit Gargoylemon in the stomach.
Gargoylemon swatted the bee who fell on the lion cub.
"Guys, give it up!" Daisy called. "You can't win Frimon."
"We have to try." The cub groaned. "And my name is Liollmon."
Gargoylemon roared and picked up the mushroom. Leo called out. "Put Budmon down."
"My name is Mushroomon." It replied whilst pulling an arm back. "Fungus Cruncher!"
It threw three small red-capped mushrooms which exploded upon contact with Gargoylemon. Gargoylemon let go of Mushroomon who ended up landing on Gargoylemon's feet, causing him to call out in pain.
"Come on guys." Mushroomon called. "We can finish him now!"
The five creatures lined up and noticed that Gargoylemon was now favouring one leg. The lion cub, now known as Liollmon charged forward. "Lio Claw!"
The rock creature and bee ran towards Gargoylemon.
"Gear Sting!"
"Rock Fist!"
Rocks and stingers flew at Gargoylemon, hitting him and knocking him to the floor. The flower threw more pollen at Gargoylemon while Mushroomon threw more exploding mushrooms at Gargoylemon.
Gargoylemon pushed himself to his feet, and seemed to freeze in place. Everyone watched as Gargoylemon seemed to turn to stone. Soon, a piece crumbled off. Then a part of its wing. Soon, all of Gargoylemon fell to pieces.
John took a cautious step forward when the pieces of stone suddenly glowed and pressed themselves together. It reminded Lily of pressing pieces of clay together. It definitely confused her when the pieces of stone merged into a single egg shape no bigger than half of the rock creature.
"We won." The rock creature said.
They all ran to one of the humans and cheered.
"What just happened?" John asked.
"We won." The bee answered.
"So what do we do with this?" Daisy asked, holding the egg.
Just as Lily was about to suggest something, the egg flew out of Daisy's hands and headed towards the direction of the settlement.
"That deals with that." Gordon laughed slightly, then looked down at the rock creature. "So if their names are different, what's your name?"
"I'm Gotsumon."
"And I'm Floramon." The flower spoke up.
"FanBeemon, at your service." Buzzed the bee.
"This is too weird." Lily said, with the other humans agreeing.
They made their way out of the forest and past the podium where Gargoylemon was. They reached the small village and looked around.
"Hello?" called Leo. "Anyone here?"
Gordon looked down at Gotsumon. "Do you remember anything from when you hatched? Who fed you?"
Gotsumon looked at Gordon. "Not really. We were fed for about a week, then we Digivolved, waited another two weeks and received the Digi-Watches for our partners. We waited another week and then you arrived."
"Digi-Watch?" Gordon asked, looking at the orange device on his wrist.
As he looked at it now, it displayed the time with a small triangle consistently pointing in one direction. "What's this thing pointing to?"
Gordon lowered his watch to show Gotsumon. "Oh, that's a compass." He explained. "It's constantly pointing north."
"I know how a compass works." Gordon sighed.
With no response, the group of ten left the settlement and sat down in a circle.
"So, what do we do now?" Lily asked.
"We try to get out of here." Leo answered.
"And how do we do that?" John questioned, resting back on his hands. "I highly doubt that this little village thing is the only place with houses."
"You're right." FanBeemon replied. "There's a whole world out there. Not just this island."
"Island?!" Gordon exclaimed.
"Yeah." Mushroomon confirmed. "Right now, we're on Origin Island; where all Digimon are born."
"Digimon?" Daisy asked. "What are Digimon?"
"We're Digimon." Liollmon told her.
"I thought you were Liollmon." Daisy recalled.
"I'm both. I am Liollmon, a Digimon. Just like Mushroomon is a Digimon and Gotsumon is a Digimon." Liollmon explained.
"I get it." Gordon gasped, looking at the humans. "Digimon is the species. Like we're humans but have different names."
"Are there any more towns or whatever on this island?" Lily wondered.
"No." Floramon said. "There's only the village where we hatched. Then when we reach this level, we're supposed to venture out into the world."
"Well, lets go the edge of the island and see how far away the next island, or even a nice piece of land, is." Leo suggested.
With no other plan, they all walked to the beach and easily saw the next island. But the water was too deep to walk through for the humans, let alone the Digimon.
"How are we going to get across?" Daisy asked.
"What's that?" John pointed.
Everyone looked to see several bubbles starting to burst on the waters surface. Then quite suddenly, a large sea serpent emerged from the water. it was a long blue creature with a white underbelly and a bright yellow helmet.
It growled at the group and lowered its head toward them, teeth showing.