Chapter 2
As instantly as the feeling of lashing pulling had grabbed Wolf, it was gone, and replaced with an even more direly urgent sensation. Wolf couldn't possibly explain how, but he found himself suddenly falling from a thousand feet up in the air. Even if there had been something he could do for himself beyond putting himself into a more crash friendly position, he didn't have the time to do it in, as the ground rushed up at him in less than six-seconds.
"Oh, shit!" Wolf groaned a split-second before impacting.
He collided with the ground, the earth building and cratering behind his body as he dug into it. Despite every ounce of intelligence and common sense Wolf possessed telling him that in the best case scenario he should be at least horribly mangled, he was able to lift himself up into a sitting position almost immediately after he'd come to a stop.
"I'm alive?" He asked out loud to no one, so surprised he was with the situation.
"I don't feel injured." He thought to himself. "Nothing hurts."
Testing this strange development further, Wolf pushed his hands against the ground and stood up, as normally as any other time.
"Okay, so no broken bones." He then stretched everything he could. "Muscles seem to be working alright. Can't rule out internal damage, but going by the rest of this weirdness, I'd actually be more surprised if there were any damage than if there weren't."
It was only then that Wolf looked down at himself and received another surprise. The clothes he was wearing had somehow completely changed from what they had been. The Converse tennis shoes he'd been wearing previously had been replaced by a pair of supportive looking hiking boots. In the place of his prematurely aged bluejeans were some high quality black ones that looked like they'd be long wearing. Instead of the plain, cheap polo shirt he'd been wearing he had on a plain color, navy-blue, cotton t-shirt. Over the t-shirt was a soft, dark brown, leather, bomber's jacket. The most surprising alteration to his outfit, however, was something he realized was on his head. Pulling it off, he saw that they were a pair of goggles with red lenses.
"This is so freaking weird." Wolf muttered to himself as he put the goggles back on his head.
Looking around himself, he then saw that things were weirder than he'd thought. The urban area of New York he'd been in less than two minutes earlier was completely gone. Surrounding him was one of the thickest forests he'd ever seen. Wolf noted that despite the setting sun, the temperature was still several degrees warmer than it had been in Hell's Kitchen.
"Okay, I fell out of the sky, I'm not injured, my clothes are different, and I'm in a forest. Either I'm becoming delusional, or I fell through some kind of interdimensional portal." He commented to himself. "Assuming for the moment that I haven't gone crazy, I got to figure out where I am and what the hell's happened to me."
What he needed to do was find higher ground so that he could possibly figure out his location. Spotting a nearby tree that jutted up higher than the others, Wolf walked over to it and began to climb. He almost slipped and fell several times, but managed to keep his footing and go to the top. Emerging through the tree canopy, he looked around at his surroundings. He couldn't tell much from what he saw, except that he was definitely in a large wood, and, away from the multitude of aromas on the forest floor, he knew that he was on an island by the smell of saltwater in the air. Wolf then turned around and looked behind him and saw that there was a clearing at the top of a steeply rising hill less than a mile away. The hill was so tall, it was almost like a minuscule mountain.
"That'll do for my higher ground." He thought.
Wolf climbed back down and set off south towards the hill. As he walked he took in the woods around him more closely.
"What is with these plants? Some of them I recognize, but some of these plants, they're just impossible."
He stopped and looked at one in particular that seemed to be growing ice-cycles one one side and pillows on the other. He saw a flower that appeared to have sharpened, metal blades for petals.
"What the hell is this place?"
Fifteen minutes later, Wolf had reached the top of the hill and looked out at the island he found himself on. There were still real mountains and a few other natural formations blocking his view, but for the most part, he had an unobstructed, panoramic view. What he saw confused him even further. He was definitely on an island, he could see the ocean off in the distance, but between it and the forest he was in, was another wooded area that looked more like a tropical jungle with some kind of huge, rocky canyon attached to it on its side.
To the north of him was the largest, and the only mountain he'd ever seen in his life. Trying to peer around the mountain as best he could, Wolf got the impression that he could see a frozen, snowy area far off behind the mountain. To the northwest he thought he could see a huge factory complex on the coast. To his direct west was a huge, open, savanna region. Finally, to his south, Wolf saw that there was a huge, presumably fresh-water lake in the middle of the forest he was currently in.
Wolf thought to himself, "Okay, seriously, where the hell am I?! I may not know everything about geography, but I do know that all of these disparaging environments literally cannot exist in the same place together."
Just then, he felt a strong gust of wind from absolutely nowhere brush against his back. Despite wind being so commonplace it almost didn't register in his mind, it had felt odd somehow, and Wolf started to turn to see whatever he might see. Before he could turn around all the way, the churning air intensified incredibly, forcing Wolf to raise his arms to try to keep dust out of his eyes. The gale grew so strong that, a second later, it took him clean off of his feet and sent him tumbling back down the hill. Rolling down the hill, Wolf shielded his head and was quickly able to shift his position so that he was sliding down feet first, slowing himself to a stop.
He turned himself over onto his stomach and looked up to see what it was that had knocked him over. What he saw was a giant white horse with a large span of black wings flapping every now and then and a red, metal mask on its face. Wolf stared up at the creature, dumbfounded for the first time in years by what he was looking at.
"I... I don't believe it. That can only be a digimon. This must be the Digital World!" He thought. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH HA HA HA!" Wolf screamed in sheer, unmitigated, unencumbered joy.
He turned over onto his back, held his hands over his eyes and rolled back and forth as he roared with exaltation. He didn't know if any other digimon were watching him just then, or what they would think of the spectacle he was making of himself, and he didn't care. All he knew was that his ultimate dream, the one thing he thought he'd never be able to have had miraculously fallen into his lap.
"Or more accurately, I fell into it." Wolf thought with amusement as his antics began to calm down. "I can't believe it. I'm here. I'm really here. And considering that everything I've ever read says there are very few humans able to enter the Digital World, and they don't often actually come here, I must be the only one on this island! I'm all alone!"
He then sat up and looked around himself at the island again, but this time with a new calm and optimism for things to come. That changed a second later as he heard angry shouts coming from down below himself. Looking down the hill, Wolf saw a huge, reddish orange digimon with a spiked, bone club. It looked like a monster out of an old fairy tale. It was chasing a much smaller digimon that looked like a semi-large, dark gray, kind of horned lizard. Wolf could see clearly that the smaller digimon was in danger.
Wolf wasted no time in responding. He got to his feet and began to run down towards them. As he ran, his mind flashed back to the articles written by the Izzy kid and determined that with its size, the larger digimon was probably a champion level.
He saw that its mouth seemed to always be hanging wide open. Nearing the bottom of the hill, Wolf leaned down, scooped up a large rock without breaking stride and threw it with all his strength. The rock flew straight and landed right in the digimon's mouth, discombobulating it. At the same time, Wolf jumped into the air and Superman-punched the digimon right in the head. It staggered back as it spit the rock out of its mouth. Wolf stood guarding the smaller digimon.
"A human?!" The large digimon said with surprise. "It doesn't matter. Get out of my way so I can have at that whelp who insulted me!"
"Hey, you were the one who came and tried to take our food from me and my friends. You deserved that fireball I gave you!" The smaller digimon yelled.
"Little guy, what's going on? Who is this jerk?" Wolf asked.
"He's Fugamon, a virus type digimon. His Heavy Swing and Evil Hurricane attacks are nothing to joke about."
"Last chance, human! Leave now or be pummeled along with the whelp!" Fugamon shouted.
"Well, what are you waiting for, ugly?" Wolf asked with a smile.
Fugamon snarled and charged at the two.
"Heavy Swing!" He roared as he slung his bone club at them.
Wolf and the little digimon both dodged out of the way.
"Frothy Spit!" The little digimon yelled and shot out a stream of foam from it's mouth.
The attack hit Fugamon in the face, but barely phased him.
"Bone strike!" Fugamon shouted and swung at the little digimon again.
Wolf dove, grabbed the little guy, and rolled out of the way with him. The virus type digimon ran at them at full speed.
"We need to get out of the way!" The little digimon said.
"Just a second." Wolf said.
Fugamon continued to come at them. At the last second, Wolf and the little digimon dove away and Fugamon collided hard into the tree behind them. Fugamon backed away from the tree, groaning slightly in pain.
"Stinking human!" He growled. Fugamon turned and pointed his club at them. "Evil Hurricane!"
A small funnel of wind burst forth from the tip of the club right at them. Wolf and the little digimon split apart from each other as they dove away from the attack. The mini hurricane struck a tree twenty feet further on and cut right through it, making it fall down with a huge thud. Wolf looked as it hit the ground.
"That gives me an idea." Wolf thought. He looked over at the little digimon and said, "Hey, little guy, follow me."
"Okay." The digimon said.
He and Wolf got up and ran away from Fugamon as fast as they could.
"Hey! Get back here you cowards!" Fugamon screamed as he chased after them.
The evil digimon shot several more Evil Hurricane attacks as he ran. Wolf and his digimon friend dodged and evaded the typhoons and the accompanying wood shrapnel and debris. Wolf turned his head and looked at the little digimon by his side as they ran.
"Boomerang Pummel!" Fugamon yelled as he threw his club.
It spun end over end until it hit Wolf square in the back and knocked him face forward onto the ground. Fugamon's club then returned to its owner, fulfilling the "boomerang" part of its attack name. Wolf turned over onto his back just as Fugamon was coming at him, about to throw down his club down at Wolf again.
"Bubbles!" The little digimon said and released a smokescreen of pink bubbles erupted from his mouth.
It enveloped Fugamon and obstructed his vision enough so that Wolf was able to roll out of danger. He and his friend reconvened thirty feet away from Fugamon.
"Okay little guy, you know the plan." Wolf said.
The little digimon nodded and ran off. Fugamon then freed himself from the bubbles and looked at what he thought to be a lone opponent.
"Well, this just became a whole lot easier." Fugamon said to himself.
He charged at Wolf. Wolf dodged a swing from the club and put a hard punch into Fugamon's weapon arm. He then dodged another swing and planted a further three quick punches into the same spot. It hurt his hands, but he needed to keep Fugamon busy. Fugamon then punched at Wolf with his other hand. Wolf ducked under it and then kicked up at the fist, making it veer off into Fugamon's open mouth. One of his hard knuckles hit against one of his exposed fangs, making it break off.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Fugamon howled.
At the same time, the little digimon was doing his part of Wolf's hastily improvised plan. He was running around between several of the nearby trees.
"Acid Blood!" He said.
A stream of corrosive blood shot out of his eyes and onto the trunk of the tree. He repeated the process with several more trees.
Back at the fight, Wolf got a digi-kick full on into the stomach. It sent him flying for about fifteen feet and made him groan in pain as he landed. Wolf got up quickly as Fugamon ran at him. Wolf was forced to dodge more punches, swings, and kicks, dancing about, buying time for the plan. As he moved, he noticed a particularly large rock sticking out of the ground and saw a way to add onto his plan. Wolf kicked Fugamon in the chest as hard as he could, getting him the tiniest bit off balance and then followed it up with a spinning sweep-kick, getting the digimon's feet out from under him and making him crash face first into the rock. Fugamon stood up again quickly, but he was less steady, swaying on his feet a little.
"Stinking human! That's it! I've had it!" Fugamon howled before rushing Wolf again.
Wolf instantly turned and ran. The much taller Fugamon was soon on him and punched him in the back of the head. Wolf fell to the ground.
"Alright, human. Now's your time."
Wolf rolled over onto his back and looked smugly up at the digimon.
"Yes, it is. Time to spring my trap. Right, little guy?!"
The little digimon then sprang from nowhere at Fugamon.
"Spiked Tail Whack!" He shouted as he hit Fugamon across the face with his tail.
He and Wolf then ran away from Fugamon as fast as they could. The sound of creaking wood then made Fugamon look around himself. The acid blood from the little digimon had eaten through enough of the trunks of the trees to compromise them structurally. All seven of the affected trees fell forwards onto Fugamon before he could get out of the way, hitting him one after the other.
"Ohhhhh... Oh." Fugamon groaned as he tried to stand, but then passed out.
"Ha! We did it!" Wolf shouted enthusiastically. "Nice job, little buddy!"
"You too, Wolf."
The little digimon's words made him uncharacteristically pause for a second to process that.
"You know me?" He asked.
"Yep. I've been waiting for you for a long time. I thought you'd never get here. I'm Chararomon, and I'm your partner."
"I've got a digimon partner? Cool! But, doesn't that mean I'm a DigiDestined?"
"Yep. That's what it means. You can't have a partner without being DigiDestined, and vice-versa." Chararomon said.
At that moment, a hole in the ground opened up between them and a small orb of light ascended out of it. It rose up until it was eye level with Wolf. It hung there in midair for a second until it shot downward and attached itself to Wolf's left wrist. Looking down at it, he saw that it appeared to be a digital wristwatch kind of device with a large screen, and a glass window within the metal housing, just behind the screen, closer to his elbow than his hand.
"What the?" Wolf muttered.
"That's your Digivice." Chararomon said.
"Oh, yeah. I've read about these. It sort of connects us and makes it so that you can digivolve, right?"
"That's what I hear from other digimon. Not sure how it works, though."
Wolf then knelt down in front of his partner. "Well, Chararomon, however it works, it makes us partners, and I couldn't be happier to know you."
"Me too."
Chararomon held out one of his front feet. Wolf chuckled at the little digimon knowing the human custom and shook hands with him, to a fashion.
"Come on. The sun's going down and we need to find some food and a place to sleep tonight. Tell me, what's the weather like here?" Wolf asked.
"Doesn't change much, expect between the different parts of the island. It's usually pretty warm and dry here in the forest."
"Alright. We'll get some firewood and then head over to that lake I spotted before. Should be able to get some fish out of it." Wolf said.
"I'm with you." Chararomon said.
The two friends then walked off to fulfill their goal, each with a smile on their faces and an optimistic feeling in their hearts.