"No," Hank answered coldly. The group continued walking out of the destroyed city, hoping to avoid any more attacks.
"...Are we out yet?" Bobby asked playfully.
Lisa looked over at the older boy for a second, before turning her head to look at Hank, who apparently either didn't get that Bobby was joking, or didn't care. Lisa feared that it was the latter.
"No," Hank practically snarled, clenching his fists as he walked.
Bobby looked around the city for a bit, a large mischievious smile on his face. "Hey Hank! Are we out yet!"
Jessica winced as she saw Hank run over to Bobby and heard him punch the other boy in the face.
.o0o.
Infantry Diaries Chapter 2: Explanations
.o0o.
Jessica looked over at Hank. "Did you really have to do that?" the girl asked, frowning.
"We don't need anyone taking this situation lightly," Hank replied. "We're in another dimension with only one lead, in a city full of robot things that want to kill us."
"So we should keep the noise and obvious movements to a minimum," Kokuwamon said, before turning to look at Piyomon, who was flying up in the air with a scowl on his face, green fire beginning to materialize in front of him. Kokuwamon glared at the bird digimon, who noticed and turned away, grumbling to himself.
Elecmon shook her head, sighing.
Jessica noticed Elecmon's reaction. "Not every guy acts like that," the girl paused, looking at Hank suspiciously as she did so. "Just a lot of them."
Bobby rubbed his cheek, making a mental note to himself to stand behind Piyomon before bothering Hank again.
.o0o.
A young Asian-looking man who looked to be in his late teen's sighed, and looked around the temple that he was currently situated in. He had short brown hair, and wore a long white robe. This was Benjamin. He started pacing around the temple's basement room. The 'temple's' interior actually seemed more like an ancient military base, if only because there were no obvious signs of worship anywhere around him. All there was a stone room with six pieces of stone in the center of the room for use as chairs.
Well, there actually was at least one sign of worship in the temple. Benjamin turned towards the south wall, where an picture of the Digi-Destined's Digivice was engraved into it.
'They should have been here by now,' Benjamin thought. 'What's keeping Kokuwamon and the other digimon from bringing their partners here?' Benjamin's eyes widened and his pacing increased in speed as a thought occurred to him. After a few seconds of this, Benjamin stopped pacing and sat down on one of the stone 'chairs' and sighed, trying to calm himself down.
.o0o.
Lisa panted before she sat down on a large piece of rubble. "I can't walk anymore guys," the girl said in between panting. The group had been walking nonstop for the last four hours.
Rick, Jessica, and Bobby stopped. Hank kept walking until he realized everyone had stopped moving. He turned around. "We have to keep moving."
Rick glared at the other boy. "Lisa said she needs a break."
Hank stared at Rick. "So when the drones come around we can all die because she couldn't walk," he said in an icy tone. "Come on. The sooner we get out of the city, the sooner we get home. She can take her break then."
Bobby looked over at other boy. "Who made you the leader?" he asked with anger in his voice, getting ready to punch Hank if he felt it was needed.
Hank turned his attention to Bobby. "The same guy who made me the only one of this group with common sense!" Hank then sighed. "Look. If Lisa needs a break that badly why don't you carry her then?"
Jessica was about to say something, but Lisa beat her too it.
"I'll be fine," Lisa said, standing up again as she started walking. She made it four steps before falling flat on her face.
Alraumon looked at her partner and extended her vines, which wrapped around the young girl's body and brought her to her feet.
Lisa sighed. "Thanks Alraumon." The young girl then took a few more steps, but started to fall again.
Bobby rushed over to her and caught her in his arms before her brother could even move. The young girl blushed as she realized that her head was on the boy's chest. "Thanks..." She said, pulling herself away from the boy and standing still.
Hank sighed in expiration. "Fine, we can take a quick break," He turned to Kokuwamon. "Can you look around to see if anything is coming after us?" The machine digimon nodded, before he took off into the air. Hank then turned to Piyomon and Pico Devimon. "I want you two to do some surveillance as well."
"There you go again!" Rick shouted, turning towards Hank. "Like Bobby said before, who made you a dictator?"
"I'm giving your sister the break she said she needs. Just because I don't want us to be killed because of it you yell at me!" Hank shouted, both of his fists now clenched.
Elecmon looked over at this exchange and growled at the two boys.
Lisa looked over at Rick. "Please leave Hank alone," The young girl whined.
Rick turned his attention over towards his sister. "He just thinks he can take command of us like we're mindless machines!" he exclaimed. "I bet he's actually happy about being in this world, and thinks that nothing can happen to us."
Bobby raised his hand. "No. That's me," he said in a dead serious tone. Everyone looked at him oddly.
Jessica sighed. "You mean you're happy we're in this strange world with things trying to kill us?"
Hank just shook his head. "Forget about it for now. He wants to throw himself into danger then let him."
A look of annoyance came across Bobby's face. "I was joking!"
Hank ignored him and then turned towards Lisa. "Do you think that you'll be ready to walk again soon?" Seeing the girl nod, he commented, "Good. I don't want to stay still longer than necessary."
"There you go again!" Bobby shouted. "What makes you think that..." Both Jessica and Lisa glared at Bobby, which caused the boy to stop with his protests.
Hank turned towards Elecmon. "How far are we from this Benjamin guy?"
Elecmon looked around. "We're at the outskirts of the city. Benjamin is guarding the portal at the RAM Temple, which is around a fifteen minute walk from here."
Jessica turned towards her partner. "That short?" she asked. Elecmon nodded.
The three flying digimon landed on the ground by the rest of the group. "We didn't find any death machines around here," Pico Devimon reported, taking a moment to look over at Kokuwamon, who ignored it.
Hank nodded. "Are you ready to go?" Hank asked Lisa. Lisa got off of her resting place and took a few steps, managing to stay standing.
"I'm good," Lisa said after a few seconds.
"Alright then," Hank said. "Let's get going," Bobby and Rick ran ahead of the group, doing the best that they could to separate themselves from the boy who had seemingly taken the job of leader. Piyomon and Pico Devimon flew at top speed in an attempt to keep up with them.
Hank started walking, but Jessica grabbed his arm. Hank turned towards her, confused. "Why did you grab my arm?"
Jessica let go of Hank's arm. "Why are you so hard on the others?"
Hank shook his head. "My father is a Major-General," he replied as if it answered everything, before he began following the rest of the group.
The group continued walking in the city's ruins for a bit, before a lush forest seemed to spring up from nowhere. Bobby blinked. "Talk about segregation," the boy muttered, shaking his head.
Lisa giggled quietly. She turned towards Alraumon. "What's Benjamin like anyway?"
Alraumon's face took on a look of concentration. "Well, he looks similar to Hank, only bigger."
Lisa arched an eyebrow in interest. "Go on."
"Well, he's hard to describe. He's serious when he there's danger or something important, but when he doesn't need to be..." the plant digimon trailed off, glancing over at Bobby. "He's also smart and seems to know more about what's going on than we do most of the time.
.o0o.
Benjamin was pacing around the room again, sweat pouring down his face. "Where are they?"
.o0o.
"Do you think that he'll be able to get us back home?" Lisa asked.
Alraumon frowned. "I think so."
Lisa looked over towards Hank, who had a look of determination on his face. "Well, I'm sure that Hank will be glad to hear that."
Bobby blinked as a stone building came into view. He turned towards the other members of the group. "I think we're getting closer!" the boy shouted, before running off ahead, although Piyomon actually managed to pull ahead of him.
Once Bobby got closer to the building, he realized that it was a temple of some sort. It was similar in look to some of the ancient temples in Indiana Jones, except that the temple seemed to be recently used, and the stone looked like it was flawless. The boy actually stopped to take in the temple, while the other members of the group caught up to him.
Jessica looked over at the temple, clearly impressed. "Who built this place?" the girl asked, turning towards Elecmon.
The small digimon seemed to shrug. "I have no idea," Elecmon answered. "It's been here for a long time."
Rick and Lisa were silent as they took in the sight. They have seen pictures of temples like this before, but usually the temples were worn by age and falling apart. Yet this temple looked as if it were finished the previous day. Not only that, but Elecmon said that it had been here for a long time.
'Shouldn't this temple be falling apart?' the older of the McCross siblings thought in confusion.
"Is Benjamin here?" Hank asked, unaffected by the sight of the temple.
"Yes he is," Kokuwamon replied. "This is where he usually stays."
Hank nodded and began walking up the temple steps. "Then I think it's time that we got some answers."
Bobby and Rick glared at Hank, but they and the other members of the group followed him anyway.
"I'm glad that we finally made it back here," Piyomon remarked. "I mean, when Benjamin told us you'd appear in the city, we were worried."
"So Benjamin knew we were going to be here?" Bobby asked.
The pink bird nodded, which seemed odd in mid flight.
Hank frowned. "Could Benjamin have brought us to the city in the first place?" he asked, his voice wavering out of 'soldier mode' for a second.
"No," Kokuwamon answered almost immediately. "I know Benjamin. If Benjamin had brought you into the Digital World, he would have brought you here."
The group entered the temple and noticed that the first passageway had very little lighting. In fact, the only light was coming from candles that were lining the walls of the passageway. Rick then looked and noticed something. There were two passageways, one of which continued going straight, but the other was sloped downward.
"Follow us!" Pico Devimon exclaimed, before heading down the sloped passageway.
Bobby shook his head." Is Benjamin a mole or something?" he muttered.
Hank would have glared at Bobby if he had trusted himself not to trip during the time that he would have been distracted.
Lisa noticed that the more they went down the path, the darker that it got. She didn't know why, but she suddenly found herself smiling contently.
After a few moments of travel the group made it to a stone room, the same room that Benjamin happened to be pacing around in.
"Where are they?" Benjamin cried in worry. He was pacing in a direction that made him unable to see that the group had managed to arrive.
Hank cleared his throat.
Benjamin suddenly stopped pacing, before he turned around to face the group of children and digimon. The young man's eyes widened. "You made it here!" he exclaimed, before sighing and moving towards the circle of stone blocks in the center of the room. "Come over here and sit down," Benjamin said while gesturing to the stone circle, sitting down on one of them. "The name's Benjamin, but I'm assuming you all knew that already."
The five children looked to each other, before Bobby shrugged and walked over to the circle and sat down, Piyomon following behind him.
The remaining members of the group looked over at each other briefly, before they walked over to the circle and sat on one of the stone blocks. The five children then introduced themselves to the young man, eager to find out more about why they were there.
"Now I'm sure you all have questions... " Benjamin began.
"What is the Digital World?" Hank asked quickly. Bobby rolled his eyes.
Benjamin chuckled. "You don't waste anytime, do you Hank?" he asked fondly. "Alright, I'll answer that. The Digital World is a dimension parallel to your own. It exists due to the connections between computers on your world."
Jessica looked skeptical. "Are you saying that we're in the Internet?" the girl asked.
The other children all wanted to know that as well, and made that desire audible.
Benjamin laughed. "Of course not. The Digital World is effected by the state of the Internet, but the Digital World itself is a separate dimension."
Rick looked at Benjamin. "So, why are we here?" the boy asked.
There was silence for a moment, as if Benjamin's answer would be something earth shattering. Finally, the older man spoke. "You five are the Digi-Destined. The five digimon here are your digimon partners."
The five humans had no idea what Benjamin was talking about. The digimon on the other hand...
"We're what?" Piyomon shouted in disbelief.
Elecmon moved closer to Jessica, a glazed look in her eyes.
Pico Devimon gasped and looked over at Rick.
Alraumon looked shocked.
Kokuwamon had a blank look on his face, although if he wasn't a machine digimon, he might have yawned in boredom. Instead he merely turned to the other digimon. "What exactly are you four surprised about?"
Elecmon turned and glared at Kokuwamon. "You knew?"
Kokuwamon stared at Elecmon blankly. "It was not that hard to figure out."
"Okay wait!" Bobby said, holding up his hands. "Let's assume for a moment that the five of us don't know what you're talking about."
Alraumon looked over at Bobby. "You mean you know what being a Digi-Destined means?"
Bobby groaned and shook his head.
Lisa turned to the plant digimon. "I think he was making a point that we have no idea what's going on."
Alraumon blushed.
"So...we're the 'Digi-Destined'?" Jessica questioned. "What exactly does that mean?"
"It means that you ten have to protect both Earth and the Digital World," Benjamin answered. "Well, at the most simplistic level anyway."
"But why us? Wouldn't some people who are older or a couple of soldiers be a better choice?" Jessica asked.
Bobby turned to Jessica. "Don't we already have one?" the boy said, gesturing over to Hank.
Everyone ignored him.
"It's hard to figure out exactly why you five were chosen," Benjamin answered.
"But what exactly can we do to protect the world?" Hank asked.
"You can lend your energy to your partner to help them evolve into a stronger form. Also you can let your digimon kill an opponent, although they can't intentionally kill without your consent," Benjamin answered.
Hank took out the odd device that he had, unaffected with that news, unlike the other four children, who had looks of disbelief on their faces. "What is this thing? We all have one of these things."
"That is a Digivice," Benjamin answered. "The digivices make it easier to evolve your digimon."
"Which already happened with me," Kokuwamon added. "I evolved to Guardromon to battle against one of Nanomon's Mecha Norimon. I also ended up killing him."
"Alright, so who exactly is Nanomon, and what is he planning?" Rick asked, changing the subject quickly.
"Nanomon is a perfect level digimon who's taken over this area of the Digital World," Benjamin answered. "Most of his forces consist of reprogrammed machine digimon, although he has been able to reprogram other Child and Adult level digimon as well."
A look of confusion appeared on Jessica's face.
Benjamin noticed the girl's confusion. "Digimon have different evolutionary levels that they can become. After the baby levels comes the Child level. After the Child level there are the Adult, Perfect, and finally the Ultimate level. Your digimon happen to be Child level digimon, although when Kokuwamon evolved he became an Adult level digimon."
"Alright, but what is Nanomon planning?" Hank asked.
Benjamin scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Well... I don't know what Nanomon has planned. All I know is that it has something to do with Fort Sill on Earth."
Hank clenched his fist and stood up. "Then we have to get back home!"
"And I'll be sending you all there shortly," Benjamin reassured. "If there's anything else any of you need to know, you need to tell me now. My influence on Earth is limited."
"What's the meaning of life?" Bobby asked.
Hank turned around and glared at the other boy.
Bobby shrugged. "Just curious."
"Do any of you have any relevant questions?" Benjamin asked.
Each member of the group shook their heads.
"Alright then. If you would please get off of the chairs, I need the room to open a portal."
Each human and digimon backed away from the circle of stones. Benjamin placed his hand into his robes and pulled out a device that looked like a T.V. remote with one button. Benjamin pressed the button and then returned the device to his robes. At first, nothing happened, but then lightning seemed to shoot down from the ceiling and strike the center of the circle, which rippled into a swirling vortex.
"Alright," Benjamin began, "this portal will take you to Earth, somewhere between Fort Sill and Lawton. Best of luck."
"Thanks for the help," Hank said, before he and Kokuwamon walked through the portal. After they said their goodbyes, they followed the other boy and digimon. The portal stayed in existence for a moment, before it closed.
Benjamin sighed. 'Not using the actual stable portal should keep Nanomon ignorant of its location."
.o0o.
Meanwhile in some bleak room made of metal, two digimon were sitting near a bunch of monitors. These digimon were both shaped like gears, one gray and the other copper. These digimon were named Hagurumon and Solarmon respectively.
Hagurumon noticed something on the screen. "Master Nanomon, there's been a large energy build up at the RAM temple's portal. A gateway to Earth may have been opened."
In the back of the room near another bunch of monitors was a large, although not luxurious, chair. Upon it sat a small digimon who looked like a robotic head with arms coming out of its sides and four legs coming out of its bottom. He also looked like he had a computer's harddrive for a brain. "And how did you come to that brilliant conclusion?" the small digimon, Nanomon, asked in an annoyed tone. There were only a few entities that could open portals to Earth, and Nanomon only knew of one entity besides himself who had any chance at opening a portal. Even so, there were very few reasons why Benjamin would need to open a portal in the first place.
"Probably because one of the Mecha Norimon sentries died a while ago," Solarmon commented under his breath.
"What was that!" The machine digimon sitting in the large chair shouted.
"Well, if it was a Digi-Destined that killed Mecha Norimon...," Solarmon trailed off in a frightened tone.
Nanomon leaned back into his chair. This was a day that he had been expecting for a while. 'So the Digi-Destined have been chosen. Time to put my work to the test.'
.o0o.
Author's Notes:
Major General is the name of the Two-Star General rank in the military.