ToBlazePurple: I like the idea, gonna bank that for the eventual slice of life arc XD Things will unfortunately be a bit chaotic for awhile though because I'm bad at de-escalating lmao We'll certainly have our fun with the Digimon meeting families, eventually...
. . . Thomas and Kokuwamon . . .
It was early Monday morning, and that meant it was time to head home for Thomas. After waking up he packed his things and departed from the resort. All in all, he hadn't really done much aside from study and talk with his partner since he'd digivolved into Kokuwamon. So packing was easy, at least. Still he had some concerns about how to hide him from his parents...
Getting from the resort to the station was relatively easy. When questioned about his digimon friend, he'd simply lie that Kokuwamon was prototype mobility assistance mech. They weren't exactly uncommon, advancements in robots these days were in the news all the time. Most people took it at face value and didn't question the crippled young teen. Anyone else he simply brushed off saying he had to catch a bullet train.
Luckily the streets were empty aside from people heading to work so crowds were small. And by the time he reached the station, the sun hadn't even managed to make it beyond the horizon yet.
"Bullet train sounds fun," Kokuwamon said excitedly, walking behind Thomas and helping push his chair along. "We're gonna go fast right?"
"That's right," Thomas nodded, "The new maglev transit system was only finished a few years ago, but its made travel around the country move so much faster!" He explained, loving any and all tech talk. "It reduced travel between states drastically, which is good since I don't live here in Washington." His home further south, in northern California just on the other side of Oregon.
"Ooh I can't wait to see it!"
Thomas had to admit, he'd grown fond of Kokuwamon in a short amount of time. The robotic beetle was inquisitive, and loved technology, just like Thomas. They'd spent long hours into the night talking about both the real world and the Digital World, though his knowledge was limited because he was so young. According to Kokuwamon, he was born in some kind of factory with other robotic digimon, he'd never seen anything beyond the factory walls before being called here.
Thomas had to admit, some day he'd love to see the Digital World and what kind of technology it had to offer...
He rolled to a stop outside the station, it was currently 6:00AM, his train would arrive shortly. But for now he resigned himself to sitting and watching the sun rise over a small lake nearby.
"Hey, can I ask you something Thomas?" Kokuwamon said after a few moments of silence.
He sounded almost concerned, making Thomas quirk an eyebrow. "What's up?"
"I was just wondering... How come you're always sitting down?" He asked, tilting his head. "You never get up, and your legs look weak compared to the rest of your body."
"Uh..." Thomas wasn't even sure how to respond to that, taken completely off guard by the question. "Do they not have wheel chairs in the digital world?"
Kokuwamon shook his head, "Nope, I mean... We might have chairs with wheels on them but that chair has to be pretty comfy since you seem to spend every waking moment in it."
"Kokuwamon I'm... Crippled," He explained, hardly able to believe they had to have this discussion. "My body is broken from the waist down, I can't move my legs."
Kokuwamon instantly started to panic, "What!? That's horrible!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms up. "Wh-What do we do to fix it?! Why didn't you say anything about this before!?"
Thomas held up his hands, "Calm down, it can't be helped." He explained, shaking his head. "I took a bad fall as a kid, hurt my spine so badly they couldn't fix it, so now I'm stuck like this." He shrugged, "Really, don't worry about it, it's no big deal."
Kokuwamon looked down, his head pincers sparking briefly. "You can't walk... Or run around or... Jump up and down when you're excited?" He asked, more to himself than Thomas, "I'm sorry, I had no idea..."
Thomas waved him off, not interested in feeling sorry for himself. "Look its fine, I've learned to live with it, and the last thing I want is anyone feeling sorry for me." That was when his digivice began to go off in his pocket, he quirked an eyebrow as he pulled it out to see Samantha's name flickering on the screen.
"Uh... Hello?" He asked, hitting the button on its surface.
"Hey, just wanted to give you the heads up we had an incident yesterday." She explained quickly, "And I've got reason to believe there are Digimon that might be targeting those of us with Digivices."
"What!?" Thomas exclaimed, "But how?"
"I'm not sure, maybe the same way we can detect breaches they can track us?" Sam shrugged, "But two Digimon appeared and they were definitely come right at us for a fight, so watch your back and don't leave your Digivice or your Digimon alone okay?"
"Right yeah of course." Thomas nodded, "Anything else?"
"Yeah uh maybe don't hang around too close to open water."
Thomas blinked, looking up from his Digivice to the lake in front of him, "N... Noted."
. . .
. . . Samantha . . .
"Great, contact me if you are in danger and I'll send Darcmon your way." Sam assured, before hanging up her device. Focusing instead now on the last target she needed to make contact with. She hadn't made any moves because the guy didn't seem to ever leave his home, however she noticed today that he was heading for the airport, and now seemed like the perfect time to intercept and find out how much he knew before he potentially left the state.
Luckily she'd managed to catch him before he actually reached the no doubt crowded area. Spotting the young man stopping outside, turning to scold the small creature that was following him. A rookie level digimon if she'd ever seen one, that was for sure.
She openly approached them, coming into hearing range. "I told you not to follow me! I don't want to have to explain you to her."
"I'm just staying close so I can protect you!" Kotemon argued, "What if another digimon appeared and attacked?"
"If a digimon does come after me it'll only because you're following me around!" Well, this didn't sound good.
"Hi there," Sam announced her presence, "I couldn't help but notice that funny little creature you've got with you."
Kai turned to face her immediately, clearly nervous. "Creature? No this is just... My younger brother likes to wear costumes when we go out."
Sam shrugged, "Honestly not the worst cover story I've heard for a digimon." She chuckled, "Relax, my name is Samantha and I know he's your partner." Holding up her own Digivice, "I've been contacting everyone who gained a partner over the last few days."
Kai narrowed his eyes, "So, there are others like us?" He had assumed as much, given what happened at the beach. "So what do you want with me?"
"You saw that monster that appeared at the beach?" She questioned, "And you've no doubt gotten signals from the other Breach that happened just yesterday, right?" But didn't give him time to answer. "Bad digimon are trying to invade our world, and they've started targeting us, so I'm trying to put together a... Team of sorts."
"Invade? More of those monsters..." Kai shook his head, "Warn the government then, let the army handle it."
Earning a chuckle from Sam, "You think the Government doesn't already know about Digimon?" Before she scoffed, "Look, the best way to protect ourselves from digimon is with digimon, you've got a partner that means you've got a responsibility to fight back."
But Kai wasn't interested, "No thanks, I've got my own life to live, my own responsibilities that don't include fighting monsters..." He scoffed right back at her, starting to walk off, "I can't even get rid of the one that's following me around..."
Kotemon sunk a little bit at that, while Sam watched him walk off and into the airport before sighing heavily. "Well that could have gone better..." Looking to Kotemon, "You good, little guy?"
"... I don't know," Kotemon replied sadly, "I... I think maybe there was some kind of mistake, I wasn't supposed to come here..." Before he started to walk away as well, heading in the opposite direction of the airport.
Samantha watched him walk away as well, shaking her head. "These two are gonna have to work this one out on their own." She couldn't force them to work with her after all, or even together for that matter...
"But if things get as bad as I think they are, we're gonna need all hands on deck..."
. . .
. . . Thomas and Kokuwamon . . .
As the bullet train made it's way south, Thomas was idly clicking away at his computer in their empty train car. Kokuwamon sat beside him on the bench, casually kicking his feet as he watched the scenery roll by. All while Thomas toyed with things beyond his understanding, for now anyways. And he needed something to do as their train rolled through the wilderness of Oregon, just under an hour from their destination beyond the southern border of the state.
"Something from the other side... Targeting us," He muttered under his breath, his screen lit up with all kinds of data he barely understood. "These patterns are insane, I've never seen this language before... Is this your language?" He asked, looking to Kokuwamon and showing him the screen.
"Hmm?" He blinked, looking at the strange runes. "If it is, I've never seen it." The mechanical beetle shrugged. "What are you trying to do anyways? You've been staring at that thing the whole ride."
His fingers currently dancing across the keyboard, "I'm trying to find the source of the signal our Digivices and you Digimon emit, if I can find a way to block the signal or at least make it harder for us to be found." He didn't even want to think about what could happen if a dangerous digimon appeared in the middle of a city. "Hold on... There is something, looks like a mass of data..." He narrowed his eyes at the screen.
Kokuwamon leaned over to see the screen as well, blinking in surprise. "That's not a mass of data, that's a Digimon!" He exclaimed, "Which is... Consequently also a mass of data."
Thomas rolled his eyes, "Right, but where is it going?" He wondered, "It's moving fast, bouncing between sites rapidly... Wait," His eyes darted to the Digivice, its screen starting to blink faintly. Looking back to the screen he could see the mass had changed course. "I made a mistake!" He realized too late, yanking out the cable from his Laptop.
"What's wrong!?" Kokuwamon asked worriedly, "What did you do!?"
"I connected my Digivice into the Cyber Core network, I'm an idiot!" Thomas explained, seeing that the mass was still racing towards the access point. "I was basically broadcasting our location!"
His laptop screen started to behave erratically, windows opening and closing in rapid succession while the keyboard began to spark!
"Lookout!" Kokuwamon knocked the keyboard out of his hands, making it skid across the floor of the cabin. Before the screen cracked, "We need to get you out of here!"
But Thomas couldn't look away, as a shape began to emerge. It was large, standing taller than any man he'd seen before. Its head almost hitting the roof of the train car, it had a big mouth, black skin and two big clawed hands and standing on two legs. It turned towards the two of them, standing over Thomas' destroyed laptop.
"Hmm..." It tilted its head, looking between both Thomas and Kokuwamon. "Yes... Human... Partner..."
Thomas rolled his wheels back slowly, "Uh thanks but no thanks, see I'm already spoken for." He laughed nervously, as Kokuwamon stepped forward.
"Yeah! So go back to the other side!" The metal beetle ordered, trying to sound brave as it stared down the large dinosaur digimon.
"Partner... Small, weak..." He began to growl lowly, "Show you... That I'm BETTER!" It took one heavy, lumbering step forward.
And that was enough for Kokuwamon to decide his course of action, "Back off!" His pincers sparking, before arcs of yellow electricity fired off racing towards the larger Digimon. Slamming into his body and sending a surge of electricity through him. "Power Surge!"
"Hrrrngh!" The large digimon hissed in pain, stumbling back and banging against the far wall of the train rock making the entire thing rock.
"You aren't safe here!" Kokuwamon shouted, "Get to the next car! I'll hold him off!"
"R-Right!" Thomas knew Kokuwamon would be in serious trouble if he had to keep protecting him. "Hang on! I'll call Sam!" Quickly snapping a picture of the Digimon on his device as he wheeled his way towards the next car. Frantically putting the call out, "Sam! Sam it's Thomas, we've got a situation here!"
"What? What's wrong? Is it another sea monster digimon?" She asked worriedly. "Where are you?"
"On a train in the middle of Oregon," He replied quickly, "And no it isn't, it came through my laptop while I was trying to analyze my Digivice!" Before hitting send on the picture, "This is what we're looking at, you know anything about it?"
"That's- What? Hold on, its a BlackAgumon I think," She explained, "Its just a rookie level, in theory Kokuwamon should be okay but..."
"But?"
"But that thing is way bigger than its supposed to be!" Samantha stated, "A normal BlackAgumon would be about the same size as Kokuwamon, not eight feet tall! You should try to get out of there as fast as you can!"
"Did you miss the part about us being on a bullet train!?" Thomas barked back, starting to panic at the thought of what kind of damage this train could cause. It was moving so fast, if something went wrong- "I've gotta reach the conductor, get him to slow us down before something terrible happens!" Before he spotted an emergency alarm switch nearby, it was protected by thick glass. "There!"
Meanwhile, Kokuwamon was zapping the enormous BlackAgumon every chance he could to try and slow him down. "Somethings wrong!" He realized, jumping back clumsily as the brutish rookie lunged, slamming a claw through the metal floor of the train car, "My attacks are barely doing any damage! What's with this thing!?"
"You... Weak!" The oversized Rookie growled out, "Should be... ME!" He opened his maw wide, a swathe of flames converging within his maw to create an enormous fireball!
Kokuwamon was panicking, "If he fires that off in here-" Before his thoughts were interrupted by an alarm sounding, lights flashed inside the train and instantly the brakes were hit. The trains speed starting to rapidly decrease, the sudden shift in momentum threw Kokuwamon forward onto his face.
And made the BlackAgumon fall back on his butt! "Gah!" Yelping out as his attack fired off into the air, a great metallic shriek sounding as it ripped through the roof of the train car, blowing it sky high as the fireball climbed higher before exploding in the clouds above.
The train had gone from over a hundred miles an hour to a complete stop in a matter of seconds with the power of its enhanced maglev technology. But now it was sitting in the middle of the forest, with a giant angry firebreathing dinosaur in its cart.
Kokuwamon forgot all about his enemy for a moment, as he picked himself up and looked in the direction Thomas had run. "Hey!" Starting to run that way, "Are you oka- Agh! Thomas!?" He gasped, seeing him laid out on the floor, thrown from his chair by the trains sudden stop, his hand appeared to be bleeding as well! Kokuwamon saw the broken glass from the emergency switch and could tell easily enough what had happened. "Hang on! Let me help you..." Moving to his side to try and help him up.
Thomas winced in pain, leaning against his partner as the metal bug helped him up carefully. "Th-Thanks, any luck with tall dark and angry?"
"Nope." Kokuwamon replied, helping Thomas back into his chair. "Come on we've gotta get off this train!"
Thomas winced, pressing his bleeding knuckles into the sleeve of his jacket to staunch the bleeding. "I don't think that's gonna work, this chair isn't exactly all terrain accessible." But Kokuwamon was determined, "Then I'll push you myself!" Rolling him towards the exit at the far side of the car, while the heavy footsteps of BlackAgumon sounded behind them.
"Where are you... Running?" He growled lowly, deep green eyes narrowing sharply. "Don't you... See? I am STRONGER!" His teeth grit in anger, his body was swelling and veins pulsing strangely. "HRAAAAAGH!" Throwing his head back, the large Rookie roared in anger, its body suddenly engulfed in a red light not unlike what Thomas had seen surround MetalKoromon. As the rookie digimon's body began to warp and change!
Growing larger, too large for the train car, Thomas and Kokuwamon made it out into the grass just in time for the BlackAgumon's growing body to rip through the metal. The digital monster now towering over the train entirely, skin changed from black to a deep purple, with dark stripes on its back and sides, while its head now sported a tri horned helm!
"It digivolved!?" Thomas exclaimed, staring up in fear at the sight of this new beast.
Its eyes now shrouded in a dark fog, it turned its anger onto them, "Hrnngh! I guess... I don't need a partner... After all!" Spinning in place it swung its massive tail, ripping through the remainder of the train car, and tearing up the earth towards them.
"Watch out!" Kokuwamon got between the tail and Thomas as best he could, acting as a buffer from the impact. But even so, both human and digimon were thrown across the rough terrain. Knocking Thomas out of his chair and across the ground, Kokuwamon right beside him. The two struggling to move at all, Thomas clutching his Digivice in one hand.
Wincing in pain as he tried to think of a way out of this. "D-Damn these legs..." He cursed, rolling over onto his back, rasping for breath before punching one of his thighs. "I-If it wasn't for these useless legs-"
"Come on!" Kokuwamon was by his side again, pulling on his arm to help him up.
"My chair is totaled," Thomas argued, cringing as he was pulled up to lean on his partner. "I can't move on my own..."
"Then I'll just have to carry you!" The mechanical beetle said confidently, pulling Thomas' arm over his shoulder and started to limp away from the scene.
It had been so many years since Thomas really thought about how much the loss of his legs had mattered to him. He'd long since buried the feelings of remorse or resentment over his inability to walk or run, or play with other kids, or go on adventures by himself.
But that was all just childish.
"HRAAAAGH!" BlackGreymon's thunderous roar bellowing across the countryside as he took a massive step out of the train car, lumbering towards them and outpacing their steps with ease.
Now? He resented the loss of his legs for an entirely different reason. "I'll just slow you down," Thomas said grimly, "Go on without me, you can still make it..."
"No way!" The mechanical bug argued. "I'm not leaving you!"
"Both human... And Digimon... So weak!" BlackGreymon snarled, shadow overtaking the two of them. "Get rid of you BOTH!"
"He's right," Thomas lamented, "I'm a pathetic partner, you should have gone to a human that could at least take care of themselves." Fighting back tears as long buried feelings bubbled up beneath the surface.
Kokuwamon stumbled from his own injuries, nearly dropping Thomas but he managed to get one foot beneath himself. Fighting to stay standing, even as loose circuits on his body sparked in protest from the strain. "You're not... Pathetic, you helped me Digivolve, I think that... Together, humans and Digimon can do anything!" He had a fire in his voice, a fire Thomas didn't think he could muster any more. "Do you trust me, partner?!"
But this silly metal beetle was certainly trying his best to create a spark, "How can he be so confident?" Thomas wondered, looking at their odds, as Kokuwamon turned to face BlackGreymon. It went against all logic and reasoning that they had even a shadow of a chance to survive this fight...
But even so, Thomas grit his teeth and tightened his grip on Kokuwamon. "Yeah... Yeah I trust you!"
"Then lets take him down TOGETHER!"
Digivolution
Both Thomas and Kokuwamon were engulfed in that blinding light.
Kokuwamon's body growing as the metal plates shifted, changing shape.
"Kokuwamon Digivolve to!"
It was building up around some kind of center piece, around Thomas! Forming an almost entirely mechanical body with a glass dome on top! On his chest were three lenses, a big red one in the center and two smaller clear lenses on the sides of it. Each one flashing to life as the evolution finished.
As BlackGreymon lunged for them, jaws open wide as if he'd snap up the entire light itself between his jaws.
But he was met with two large mechanical arms stopping his attack as they emerged from the light.
"Mekanorimon!"
When Thomas opened his eyes, the blinding lights finally gone, he realized he wasn't on the ground anymore. He was sitting in some kind of chair, surrounded by blinking lights and a few screens. Before he looked up, eyes wide at the sight of BlackGreymon's mouth trying to clamp down on them, but it was being held back by Mekanorimon's arms!
"I'm... Inside of you!?" Thomas realized, spotting what appeared to be controls. Kokuwamon's final words before digivolution ringing his head, before he nodded and took hold of them. It felt so natural, like the grips were made for his hands, like he'd done this a thousand times before. "You ready partner!?"
The ground beneath them crackled as BlackGreymon slowly pushed Mekanorimon back, steam venting from the various mechanical pieces on his back. "Hrrnngh! Yeah!"
"Then lets kick his ass!" Leaning into the controls, completely ignoring the pain in his hand, Thomas guided Mekanorimon's actions! Putting more force into the push, he managed to divert BlackGreymon's charge, getting out of the way before letting the beast slam forward into the ground. Thomas spotted a set of blinking red buttons, smirking to himself, "Lets try these!"
Tapping two of them, shoulder silos opened what looked like disc drives. Before two disc shaped objects fired out, "Gyro Break!" Mekanorimon cried, the devices slamming into their foes side before exploding spectacularly.
"Haha! NICE!" Thomas cheered, grinning from ear to ear before BlackGreymon lunged from the smoke with his mouth wide open. "Uh oh-"
"MEGA FLAME!" Mekanorimon brought up both arms, but at point blank range the attack was still more than he could withstand easily. The duo were blown back across the ground, sliding on his mechanical heels. BlackGreymon followed up with a full on charge, head down and horns aimed to pierce the machine.
"Not today!" Thomas pulled down on nearby lever, a thruster ignited on Mekanorimon's back launching them into the air before he turned on the oblivious beast. "Lets finish this!"
"Diverting all power to main weapon!" Mekanorimon said, as a new panel opened in front of Thomas, with a big scary looking red button blinking in the center of it. "Whenever you're ready!"
The thrusters died from the power draw, and they landed behind BlackGreymon. The rampaging monster turning to face them, roaring in anger while the three lenses on Mekanorimon's torso began to light up. "Full power!" Thomas cried out, slamming his hand down on the button. The duo of partner and digimon crying out together.
"Tri-Beam Lasers!"
All three lenses opened fire, the two smaller clear ones unleashing twinkling beams of white light that mixed into the deep red laser firing from the central lens. Creating an immense burst of raw energy that slammed into BlackGreymon, tearing into his body before consuming his form entirely. Blasting the rampaging dinosaur digimon into nothing but bits, whatever was left dissolving into the air so it could return to the digital world.
Thomas slumped back into his seat within the cockpit, "Whew..." The rush wearing off as he wiped his brow, "That... That was intense."
While Mekanorimon gave him a thumbs up by holding one of his large hands up to the glass dome, "Haha! We did it partner!"
"Yeah... But uh," Thomas looked towards the smoldering remnants of their transportation, "What do we do about the train?"
"Uh... Pretend we were never here?"
Thomas sighed heavily, shaking his head. "Mom and Dad are gonna freak out when they hear about this..." That was when he noticed the black SUVs pulling up from along the sides of the train tracks, the sounds of choppers in the distance as well. "Those don't look like emergency vehicles."
Mekanorimon blinked, watching as men in suits began to file out of the vehicles. "Are we in trouble?"
"So it would seem."