Kunikuzushi sighed as he packed up his things. Classes felt like an eternity today. It droned on longer than he'd like. For such a creative course some of the classed were surpisingly borning. Came with the teritory he supposed. Learning about the history of production and play was important.
The shorter man grabbed his purple jacket and shrugged it on as he prepared to leave. The claasroom was almost empty aside from a few stragglers taking their time like he was. He grabbed his purple cased phone last as he lazily checked his socials.
Some new posts from his sister popped up on his feed. This day's trending topics didn't intrest him at all. So he closed the app. Pusurumon popped up shortly after as he left the class. Brushing past people still in the hallway. It got rather annoying that he was shorter than a good handful of the people here. But he wasn't the only one his height!
Kuni snapped back to reality when Pusurumon made a noise of concern. "What was that?" He asked, focusing on his phone again.
"Hmm, Kuni was spacing out again!" The tiny phone creature said. Kuni felt a light blush form at those words. He got lost in his own thoughts embarrassingly often. With a tiny cough he tried to shrug it off.
"I've had a long day." Passersbiers gave him a strange glance. He glared at them silently sending the message of 'Mind your own damn business!' That prompted the Inazuman to walk faster. He reached the station in record time. Paying for his ticket he boarded. The train was busy as usual so he moved to a less occupied cart. Squeezing past several people to get to his desired location.
He didn't even apologize to those he had to push through. Finally breaking through the sea of people he planted himself on one of the empty chairs at the back of the train. There were only a few people in the cart with him. He didn't pay them any heed as he popped in his earphones to drown out the noise.
He didn't notice that the train suddenly got eerily quiet until Pusurumon popped back up and something blue caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Blinking he removed one of the earbuds. "Pusurumon why'd you…"
He was cut off when the train suddenly shook. It was pretty violent as he lost his balance. Grabbing onto one of the poles. His phone dropped with a clatter. Forcefully causing the remaining earbud to be pulled out.
"Eek! Kuni!?" Pusurumon's panic was clear. That's when Kunikuzushi noticed the entire area had transformed. Everything was tinted blue. Particles of what he could only describe as data flowed off objects often. The entire cart looked like it was half rendered as the 'mesh' of the train was exposed. Kuni paled at the sight. Ducking down he grabbed for his phone when something yellow flashed behind him with an ear shattering beep.
The purple clad human fell forward when something pushed him. Hitting the side of his head. He hissed trying to scramble back to his feet. Something laughed in the same tone.
"Kuni! Are you okay?!" Pusurumon asked. His panic grew by the second. Kuni didn't respond right away as he saw what pushed him finally… It was hard to describe. It was mainly yellow with blue accents. It looked like an uncompleted 3d model of some sort of wiry doll with gangly long arms and unusually large hands. It giggled at the scared human.
"Hey! Stop bullying my friend!" Pusurumon shouted from the phone. The uncanny creature laughed again and lashed out at the human as if to spite Pusurumon! Gangly arms shot out trying to grab at the confused human.
Kuni felt a shiver run down his spine as the large hands wrapped around his leg. In a panic he kicked out. Trying to squirm free. The kicking didn't seem to do much as it pulled the human closer. "Let…! Go!" Kuni regretted wearing shorts today… It's cold hands felt so strange against his bare skin.
The attacking Creature caught his foot in a strong grip. Making him cry out in shock as it forced his leg down. Giving up on kicking, Kuni focused on trying to pull himself away using the seat braces.
"...!" The creature's grip got stronger, pulling the human closer. Kuni could feel his muscles burning with how he was being pulled. He didn't let go of the brace, fighting against the yellow monster. It's eyes started glowing. It was about to attack!
All the while Pusurumon was watching helplessly from Kuni's phone. "hmm..! I have to help him..!" he reared up trying to escape the phone. Due to the space they were trapped in, Pusurumon was able to materialize into the human world just in time.
The small ball of spikes crashed into the creature with a forceful smack. Well with as much force as a small ball of spikes could muster. The attacker let go of Kuni in shock.
"...?!" it beeped, recoiling. Pusurumon rolled to his tiny feet as he stood before his human friend protectively. "grr! I won't let you hurt him anymore!" Pusurumon shouted. He wasn't very intimating. The creature laughed at the fluff ball.
Kuni retracted his legs quickly. Not wanting to get caught. His expression was stunned. Pusurumon was… real? His little phone buddy was real. Trying to protect him from some rouge 3d asset looking thing!
It was clear however that the smaller creature wasn't much of a match for the bigger one as once it got over the inital hit, it attacked Pusurumon. Sending it flying. Pusurumon cried out in pain.
Kunikuzushi reacted the moment he saw it happen; he barely managed to catch his buddy by blocking his path. The impact sent the two into the back of the train cart. Hitting the door. Kuni gasped in pain. He's never been thrown around like that before.
It giggled, happily clapping at the way the two were struggling. "Kuni… are you okay…?"Pusurumon asked. Kuni looked down at his buddy in surprise.
"I should be asking you the same thing! "he said before feeling around. Maybe they could run? That thought was cut short when something slammed into the door they were basically cornered against. Kuni paled again. Is this how he dies?! On a train, with his not so imaginary friend in arms to a creepy clown doll thing?!
Kuni grit his teeth. And dived for it just as the door's glass broke. It showered glass everywhere. The human rolled right into the dumb doll knocking it to the side as he came to a halt. From the door, yellow gears flooded in. There were three of them in total. What the hell did he do to deserve this?
"Run!" Pusurumon encouraged. Kuni made his way to the other door. His heart sank when the door didn't want to budge. He tried to put more force into slamming against the door to force it open. It wouldn't budge. Like some sick joke. The gears floated closer as if mocking them by going slowly.
Kuni cursed as he kicked the door. Only succeeding in hurting his foot. He cursed again, turning to face his doom. Gloved hands tightening around his phone buddy.
"We… we have to fight! Kuni let go! I need to fight!" Pusurumon urged.
"Are you nuts?! They'll just kill you!" Kuni protested.
"But they're gunna hurt you if I don't!" The Grey ball of fluff reasoned back. Kuni bit his lip. Eyebrows furrowed. The sound of mocking beeps filled his ears… before sighing.
"Are you sure… you can win?" He relented. If Pusurumon could win. They might get out alive.
"I have too! Trust in me! I believe I can as long as Kuni trusts Pusurumon!''The confident response burst from Pusurumon.
Kunikuzushi let go of Pusurumon, the fluff ball landed on his feet, in a fighting stance. The college student could hear small growls coming from Pusurumon.
"I won't fail Kuni!" He barked out. It seemed like the weird yellow creatures had enough waiting and rushed down the cart middle. Pusurumon rushed to meet them. A light started glowing from Kuni's discarded phone. Glowing under the seats.
"Pusurumon digivolve too!" light engulfed the grey ball. He grew in size. The light faded to reveal a hedgehog looking creature in Pusurumon's place!
"Herissmon!" the newly transformed Pusurumon cried out. "Take that!" Rising his Crimson claws he struck at the yellow monster leading the charge. This time the attacks were actually doing something! Kunikuzushi stared amazed at what just happened.
He didn't have time to gawk long as the other creatures realized that they had been fooling around too much. Kuni moved to a safer spot as Herismon rolled around avoiding the attacks of the floating gears. Some of the seats were being destroyed as they went along. Metal shards were sent flying. Kuni ducked under one of the chairs to avoid the shower.
"Lighting Quills!" Herissmon curled up as he coated himself in electricity, before uncurling in a burst, sending his quills out in a spray, each hitting the attackers. Sparks flew across the surface of the glitching blue floors, forcing the polygon rejects to float higher. Herissmon got ready for another attack, aiming for the air, his quills launched with as much accuracy he could muster.
The giggling creature and gears were hit dead on, the collision caused a small explosion, rocking the cart violently, forcing the gears and doll thing back. The doll burst into yellow and blue triangle particles on impact with the glass. Scattering through the air. Herissmon absorbed the particles on accident as he avoided a gear being shot his way. Rolling up, he positioned himself to retaliate.
"Needle-Point Dive!" Herissmon launched himself at the remaining enemies much like a pinball. Smashing into one. His grey and yellow quills dug into the mesh like gear. It finally burst after the two crashed onto the floor. Kuni flinched at how brutal that looked. Those spikes weren't just for show.
One left. It beeped furiously as it raised the little gears next to it in anger. Missiles of all things shot out from them. Herissmon scrambled to his feet just in time to narrowly avoid a direct hit, the explosion caused by the attack flung him in Kuni's direction. The short man didn't think to dodge as he caught his buddy, half regretting it as the impact threw him off balance with the added pain of spikes digging into his stomach.
His eyes widened in pain, skidding to a halt. "gnh… you okay there…?" Kuni asked, regaining his breath. Herissmon responded with a groan. Shifting he jumped out of his human partner's embrace.
"Hmm! Yep… though I'm getting tired… and that really hurt!" The hedgehog explained turning his attention to the last enemy, who was loading up another attack. "But I think… we're almost done..!" Herissmon reassured. He glanced back at Kuni, ears dropping slightly as he spotted blood through the ripped fabrics of Kuni's shirt.
Kuni jumped to the side when the attacks were sent their way. His ankle burned from the abuse it suffered before and landing on his stomach sent a fresh wave of pain through his body. Cursing under his breath.
Herissmon used Needle-Point Dive to avoid the missiles this time around. Slowly getting used to fighting. The smoke created from it obscured the hedgehog's approach from the living gear.
The hedgehog look-alike changed directions freely and from an unexpected angle crashed into the yellow creature as hard as he could. The battle ended when it too exploded into particles, floating in the air before being consumed by Herissmon.
The tension evaporated the moment the last threat was gone. Herissmon rushed over to Kunikuzushi, who was rolling onto his back, clutching his stomach. "I'm sorry! I got you hurt!" Herissmon cried out, nuzzling his snout underneath Kuni's arm.
Releasing a shaky breath Kuni shook his head. "Nah… you protected me…"The usual edge in his tone was gone, softer, more genuine." Good job Pusurumon. "He pulled the hedgehog closer, being mindful of his own wounds and the poking hazard that was Herissmon's quills.
" Hmm my name is Herissmon in this form, I digivolved with your help. "Herissmon explained when the purple haired human shot him a questioning look. His human looked out of sorts but understood enough to accept that.
Before he could give a response the world around the pair distorted before the digital aspects started to fade away with a blinding flash. Kunikuzushi hissed, covering his and Herissmon's eyes with curling up. Once the light died down, sounds of the train's intercom system went off.
"Final stop, Inazuma City Station. Please gather your belongings and disembark at the nearest exit." the announcement followed up by doors hissing open. The pair blinked dumbfounded.
"We… we are back…" Kuni sighed with relief once more. Slowly getting to his feet. If it wasn't for the fact he was injured, he might have thought he had hallucinated the entire ordeal. The damage done to the cart they were in from the fight didn't carry over to the real world. Kunikuzushi decided to just head home. Too tired to process fully what happened.
It felt like the start of something bigger, but he felt confident, he had Herissmon with him. Giving the hedgehog a light squeeze hug. "This is going to be hard to explain to my family…" With those words said, Kunikuzushi made his way back home.
Unaware of the true dangers that lie in wait.