A sense of tranquility lingered in the air of the Yasuda home, until it was destroyed by the front door bursting nearly off the hinges. A flurry of footsteps raced up to the second floor, leaving a trail of dust in its path. The youngest in the family, Sumaru or "Sam", clutched a video game case in his hands with white knuckles as he made a beeline for his room. His mother comforted Sam's now-crying infant sister, before yelling up and warning him to be more careful. Her remarks echoed into empty space. Sam had already slammed his door shut, now fixated on his computer.
The young teen could not pry the case out of his own hands, in awe at the mere cover: DIGIMON WORLD ONLINE. The newest virtual reality gaming sensation that had every young teen in Japan begging their parents for obscene amounts of money. The lucky, wealthy ones had joined the game network weeks ago. Having to work an afterschool job to save the money for himself, Sam was in a category all on his own. Holding the fruits of his labor, he was as proud of himself as he was excited to venture into this new digital world. He was not normally the kind of kid to have deep moments of self-reflection and, just like the brand-new seal to his game, the moment was ripped away and discarded with no regard.
He slid in the installation disk before wrestling his VR gear on. The outdated headset, chestpad, and gloves were from the pioneer era of VR but remained functional. They pinched Sam's skin and tore at his hair. He barely registered the pain of the undersized headset, instead training his eyes like lasers on the computer screen. The download progress bar inched forward, much slower than the impatient young teen had anticipated. He slumped down in his seat, twiddling his thumbs and peering around the room to pass the unbearable seconds. There was nothing new to see: a chipped, plastic MetalGarurumon figure stood atop his dresser; a Digimon movie poster featuring children near his age battling Myotismon; and a framed photo from summer camp dated almost one year ago exactly. His four best friends crowded around him in the snapshot, all with faces covered in whipped cream and pie crust. There would be no summer camp this year, but some of those very friends awaited him on DIGIMON WORLD ONLINE.
"I know Mika wants a Salamon. Jun said she already has her Floramon and she plans to keep her. I don't know if Takumo even has the game though.", he thought to himself. His friends had spent hours talking over their hopes and plans for the game. It was almost time to make them a reality.
He glanced back at the screen for an update and the hair on his arm stood on its end - 99%. He was mere seconds away from finally entering the Digital World. A final message popped up on his screen. Had Sam not been sitting, he surely would have faceplanted.
(X) DIGIMON WORLD ONLINE VERSION 1.3 INCOMPATABLE
WITH CURRENT OPERATING SYSTEM
PLEASE UPGRADE AND TRY AGAIN
His computer system had often displayed similar errors reflecting its age, but the salesman at the electronics store assured him DMO would work with his antiquated machine. Sam could feel his heart drop into his stomach. Distraught, he called a lifeline: his best friend, Tonpei.
"T, I'm gonna lose it! Oh my god! It's not working!" Sam's high energy converged with his acute frustration to form a typical teenage freak-out.
"I figured I'd get a call from 'ya, Sam." Tonpei was usually the one to keep a cooler head. This time was no different. "The same thing happened to me."
"How?! Your system is basically brand new!"
"It's a few years old, but yeah. Even Jun had a problem. We both know her stuff -err her dad's stuff- is state of the art."
Sam chose to ignore Tonpei's open disdain for Jun. Part of him agreed with the sentiment, but Sam's adrenal glands told him this was not the time for a thought-provoking discussion. This was time for action. Digital. World. Action. "Okay. Right. Whatever. But what did you do to fix it? My computer will start to smoke if I try any update."
"There should be a second disk. It must help with the update. I almost didn't see it because you have to open another part of the case. It's weird, but it's there. I think it's dark blue. Doesn't even have the Digimon logo or anything. Just a yellow dinosaur head."
Sam fumbled with the case, following Tonpei's instructions. His hand shook and his anxious fingers danced around, not able to actually grab anything. The case fell to the ground. Sam yelped at the thought of his new, most prized possession breaking in front of him.
"Come on, butterfingers. You can do it." Tonpei knew better than to indulge Sam's overreactions.
Luckily, a crash landing was just the right thing to make the second disk roll out of the case. It was as strange as Tonpei had described - blank other than the dark blue coating and yellow dinosaur head. Sam openly wondered how bad the marketers must be at Digimon. With a little bit of force, the young Yasuda boy slid the blue disk into his desktop computer before hearing the sweet words he had been dying for:
WELCOME TO THE DIGITAL WORLD
Digital numbers and symbols swirled around his head as Sumaru stood in an empty blue void, which he deduced to be the Digimon World Online main menu. He swatted away the global chats popping up before finding a familiar screen name. He reached out and grabbed Tonpei's name and almost fell to the ground as he was pulled into the unknown.
Arkham has entered the game.
Sumaru had experienced virtual reality games before, but this experience was without compare. He stood in the most lush, verdant forest he had ever seen. Despite his ancient running system, the pines, oaks, and elms were crystal clear and lifelike. He couldn't help himself from placing a hand on the bark. It was firm, sharp, and realistic. Above his head, he touched the dew on the leaves. He could feel the delicate skin of the leaf on his fingers and the wetness on his fingers. A ping sound from behind him caught his attention.
F1ref1y has entered the game.
Daydreamer00 has entered the game.
"What took you so long?" a calm, familiar giggle from Mika welcomed Sam to the group.
Sam did a double take upon seeing how realistic his friends' DigiWorld avatars were. Sam did not have the patience to customize his own. Tonpei stood a head above Sam with an extra twenty pounds of thickness. He kept his dark brown hair and green eyes, but Sam noticed the virtual reality jawline was much squarer than in real life. Somehow, Mika's avatar beamed with sunshine just as much as she did in person. Her freckles and dimples looked like a perfect match, but Sam noticed that pink strands in her light brown hair were an obvious digital embellishment. Mika's charming smile carried through to her avatar, but luckily Sam's subsequent blushing did not.
"Ah, well, you know, I like to…read the instructions, Term and Conditions. That kind of thing." Sam didn't dare admit to wasting twenty minutes of time by not understanding how to install the game. "I just like to know what I'm signing up for. You can sign your whole life away with those things."
Tonpei and Mika gave him a polite but forced laugh before changing the subject. "As soon as Jun gets here, we'll complete our set up," Mika said. "I don't want to be the only girl around."
Tonpei's groan under his breath was loud enough for Sam to hear over his headset. "She already has her Digimon. I think we've all been waiting long enough. Why is she taking so long anyway?"
"Tonpei, we've waited for you plenty of times." Sam always admired how much Mika strived to maintain group harmony. However, this time, she looked around and realized she was outnumbered by the boys. "Fine. How do we do this?"
"You just have to reach out and…grab…it…" Tonpei instructed as he himself seemed focused on another main menu delicately floating through the air. "There's a questionnaire first. Based on your results, it gives you the Digitama or digi-egg that is best suited to your personality."
That was all Sam needed to know. He tuned out his friends talking and sped through the questionnaire. How do you react to being in the spotlight? You are on a deserted island - What do you bring? What do you fear in life? How hard do you study for tests? On and on, the questions fired until Sam had answered at least thirty. Mika and Tonpei were only halfway through when Sam shouted in victory. He had not paid considerable attention to his answers, distracted by the idea of finally getting his hands on a Digimon.
THANK YOU, ARKHAM.
PLEASE WAIT WHILE WE PREPARE YOUR DIGIMON PARTNER...
...
Sam's hard work finally paid off. Sacrificing every weekend and missing countless events for the last three months had been worth it. In a blinding flash of light and shooting stars, a digital egg plopped in front of Sam. He sat down to study it more. It was mostly white with yellow, blue, and purple stripes around it. He hesitated before touching it, not wanting to crack the delicate object. As soon as his digital skin met the egg, it began to glow and change shape. His Digitama was now a baby digimon: a purple blob with a flimsy "horn" and yellow diamond on it's "forehead." Sam could not help but press a finger against the squishy skin of his new digimon. He'd never seen this exact species before and a helpful popup on his screen announced that it was called Ketomon. It lacked the ability to speak, but the boy believed the Ketomon was smiling as much as he was. He made sure to wipe his watering eyes before turning to face his friends again.
Tonpei and Mika both sat in the same amazement and glee that their friend felt. Mika bounced a little white squid-like baby Digimon in her hands. Sam recognized it as Poyomon. A small, green ball with hair stood in front of Tonpei. He tried to touch it, but it preferred to walk on its own tiny two legs. It walked over to the other humans before Mika identified it as Datirimon. Tonpei congratulated the official questionnaire on pairing him with a suitably independent Digimon. A ping caught everyone's attention.
GildedLily has entered the game.
Jun's avatar materialized not far from the group. She had evidently spent the most time working on her virtual representation out of all the others. Her blue eyes were as deep as they were in real life, but her skin was noticeably tanner than Sam could recall. The ruby hair of her avatar was also an exact match but seemed more tame than in real life. Her height also surprised the group. Normally, she was almost as tall as Tonpei, but her avatar stood no taller than Sam's.
"Jun, you look great!" Mika welcomed the final member of their quartet with a hug. The four had been inseparable over the last year, especially after they had ousted their former fifth member, Takumo.
"I hope you guys didn't have to wait too long." Jun apologized for her late arrival, but Sam sensed Tonpei's deeper frustration. He muttered to Sam that he was certain Jun just wanted to make her own grand entrance.
His attitude perked up when speaking directly to her, however. "It's okay, Princess. We've got all day." As Jun motioned to greet him with a hug, he stiffened up and his cheeks reddened.
"Oh, Tonny. I knew you'd be the most forgiving of the group." Jun had no problem matching his sarcasm. "But more importantly, here's someone I want you guys to meet."
Jun's avatar produced a small, handheld device from her back satchel. It was mostly white, with a green stripe down the front. A screen took up half of the front face, while four buttons in a circle filled the other half. Having poured over the advertising and hype materials for the game, the rest of the group easily identified it as a D-Link. Jun held down the biggest center button until the entire D-Link lit up. A beam of light left the screen and landed in front of her. Long green and purple arms stretched out of the light, forming hands with flower petals for fingers. The light scattered and a small, humanoid flower stood in front of Jun.
"That always tickles!" Floramon stretched as if waking up from a long slumber. She took a bow for formality's sake. Jun beckoned her over to meet the humans.
"You know you're just a computer program, right? I don't think you can feel things." Jun said to her partner.
"You can't tell me if I feel things or not. I just do!" came the reply. The vegetation digimon was clearly programmed to counter Jun's dry attitude.
Jun turned to the rest of the humans. "I see you have your Digimon too. Are you guys ready to get started? I've been itching to try a group scenario."
Mika did not seem so sure. "They're just babies though. It'll be a while before we can do anything with them."
Sam jumped in. "What?! No! I've been waiting long enough! Kotemon is going to be just fine." He was happy to see his friends, but his adrenaline was still running. Standing and talking could only accomplish so much. Now, with an actual Digimon in his hands, he was ready to venture off.
The group exchanged looks all around, anticipating who would make the next move. Sam caught Jun's eyes and they seemed in agreement on moving forward. Sam turned Tonpei expectantly. Tonpei tilted his head, considering the idea before seeing Jun's more stern face in the corner of his eyes. He scrunched up his face before looking at Mika. She grinned, insisting that Tonpei change his attitude. He faked a toothy smile to appease Mika before she turned to Sam. He returned the smile, adding rosy cheeks into the mix. All eight of their eyes met Floramon as she cleared here throat, clamoring for any of the attention the humans were giving each other.
"Okay. We'll go." Tonpei relented, "but what can we do with such young digimon? I've read all of the beginning scenarios and we should at least be at the In-Training stage or, better yet, Rookie."
"It's also open world, Tonpei. We don't need to abide by all of the guidelines." Jun countered. "I know a beginner-level forest that isn't far from the Village of Beginnings, which is a city with just baby Digimon. We could cause some havoc there."
Sam, Mika, and Tonpei all balked at the suggestion. Floramon even recoiled her head further into her flower petal neck at the suggestion.
"What? I'm joking." Jun recanted her suggestion. "Mostly."
"The spoiled ones can't help but play nasty." Tonpei whispered to Sam. Jun did have a rule-breaking streak in her. Rarely, though, did she have to face the repercussions. Her last name, Akiyoshi, meant that she was higher on the food chain than most local authorities.
Mika listed off every intro scenario in the book, until the group was finally able to settle on one: Otama Marsh.
"Do we really want to go somewhere so swampy?" came the expected complaints from the girls.
"You won't really get wet. Plus, Otamamon are some of the weakest rookie Digimon there are." answered Tonpei. "It's the perfect way to build up some experience."
Sam didn't take the pushback into consideration. Instead, he scrolled through the floating menu in the air before finding Scenario 00004. With a forceful punch, he executed the digital order and the group was whisked away.
SCENARIO 00004
OTAMA MARSH
The balmy air stuck to Sumaru's skin. He swore he genuinely could feel tiny bugs swarming around his head and nipping at his skin. The lush forest they stood in earlier was now a humid, musty swamp. Tall, thick mangrove trees contorted all around the area, blocking most sunshine from hitting the water. Just a few feet in front of them was brown and green still water. Under their feet was saturated mud that felt like it would give way with too much pressure. As normal as the swamped seemed, there was the sense of something different that Sam couldn't identify.
"Are those TV monitors in the trees?" Tonpei pointed above them and his observation was correct. Most of the mangrove trees had what looked like a CCTV monitor displaying a live video feed of all four of them. The Digital World was possibly creepier than Sam expected. Studying their image in the screen, Sam could see a purple ball bouncing behind him.
He looked down to see if Ketomon was still around him, but instead he found a larger purple blob that retained the golden gemstone and flimsy horn.
"You're Ketomon but bigger? Are you In-Training level now?" Sam was perplexed at how fast it had happened.
Now the little monster could talk. "That's right! Good job! My new name is Hopmon! You must know a lot about Digimon."
Sam laughed at the compliment, "I know a little. I'm Sumaru, by the way. All my friends call me Sam."
"I'll be your friend, so I can call you Sam. I'll be your best friend!"
"Hopmon, how did you digivolve without any experience?"
"I don't know, Sam. I just felt stronger around you. Baby digimon do not need a lot to grow bigger and stronger. I've been waiting for a long time to grow up."
"A long time? I just downloaded this game!"
"Game?" Koromon looked confused.
Tonpei and Mika interrupted the conversation with excited cheers of their own. Mika's Poyomon was now a large pink ball with a long flower blooming on its head, a Yokomon. Tonpei's Datirimon was now a Chapumon, still granny smith green, but now with an elongated body, wings, and a duckbill.
"They've already digivolved! Can you believe it?" Mika exclaimed, "We haven't even started the mission yet and they're already stronger. Who knows - they might be Rookies or Champions by the end of this!"
Jun had to bring the group down a bit. "I wouldn't get my hopes up that high. It took Floramon a few missions before she digivolved out of her In-Training stage."
"But there look like there are a lot of Otamamon floating out there. I bet we could rack up a ton of experience taking them down." Tonpei added.
Mika hesitated at the violence. "But we don't want to do too much damage, right? We don't know which digimon are innocent and which ones are the enemies?"
Sam and Jun both pointed out: "Mika, they're data! They're a figment of your computer! Polygons. Megabytes. That's all!" The perkier teen lowered her head to the ground and scratched Yokomon's flower.
Yggdrasil has entered the game.
"Did you guys hear that?" Tonpei asked the group. Another familiar ping sound bounced around them.
Mika asked, "Who's Yggdrasil? Shouldn't this be a closed session?"
"Tonpei, don't tell me you didn't password protect this." Jun was all too ready to fire that accusation.
Tonpei explained, "It is password protected. My only other friend on here could be…" Tonpei trailed off in thought.
"You know, actually, I think it's all right." June said nonchalantly. "The same thing happened during my first session. It must be an administrator thing."
Yggdrasil has left the game.
"See? Just administrative stuff."
Unbeknownst to the group, Floramon's collar of flowers jumped on edge. She could sense something unfamiliar, even hostile, in the air. Her suspicions were proven right when balls of mud flew in all directions. A pellet of mud slapped Tonpei in the jaw before another hit Jun in the back. Sam felt it splash up his legs.
"Where did that come from?!" Sam questioned.
"I think the real inhabitants of the swamp noticed us. They don't seem to like strangers." Tonpei answered.
"What is our mission here anyway? I didn't have time to read."
Jun once again produced her D-Link for the group to see, explaining that it could access the scenario files.
"It says here that the Otamamon and Geckomon are notorious for hoardin-AHH!" She was cut off by a concussive blow of air that hit her hands, knocking the device to the ground. In an instant, a stringy, pink tongue swung down to the D-Link and wrapped around it. Before any of the humans could react, the tongue recoiled back to its owner, a green frog standing on two legs with a trombone wrapped around its body.
"Geckomon?!" Sam cried out, bringing everyone's attention to the thief.
"Well, he is a common evolution of Otamamon. We can't be too surprised." Tonpei added in.
"That digimon just STOLE my D-Link! Floramon, get him!"
"Pollen Rain!" Floramon took a deep breath, before releasing thousands of tiny yellow fuzzy specs from her flower-hands. The pollen lingered in the air for a moment, until Floramon willed them towards Geckomon. Just as it was about to make contact, the enemy amphibian hopped into the murky water to escape with the D-Link still in its possession, but not before gargling out, "For the queen!"
"Bring that back right now!" Jun commanded but it fell on deaf ears. Her scrunched face reminded Sam that she was not accustomed to people disregarding her orders. He caught Tonpei snickering at Jun's raised pointer finger.
"Look! The monitors!" Mika saw the same Geckomon breach the water on a screen high up in the mangroves. It splashed through the swamp with little grace and its image moved from one monitor to the next. "We can follow him using the trees."
"But how? Our Digimon aren't ready for a Champion level," Tonpei worried aloud.
His Chapumon dismissed the suggestion: "Speak for yourself, Tonpei-kun. I bet I can swim faster than anyone here!" He began to bounce on his squishy green body towards the swampy waters before diving in head-first.
His fuzzy green head popped back up and twirled around. "It's not even deep! Come on in. The water feels nice!"
Hopmon and Yokomon bounced in elation towards the muck, with Sam, Tonpei, and Mika not far behind. Sam was the first to splash in with little hesitation. Tonpei and Mika removed their shoes and rolled up the legs of their pants - the type of preparation which Sam never considered. The swamp was unsettlingly warm, and the chunks of moss felt like they were actually wrapping around Sam's body. The water started at his ankles, but as he crept forward, it rose to his knees, and then just below his waist. The group still awaited two more members that were standing on dry ground.
"I think we'll take the land route…" Jun suggested.
"Yeah, I'm more of a dry-land plant. I don't do well if I get overwatered." Floramon added.
The rest of the group, sans Mika, let out a collective groan. The more diplomatic teen tried to bargain, "Jun, it feels nice, I promise. Like you said - it's just data, and polygons, and whatever!"
"Do we even know where to go? He just sped off. I don't see him on the monitors anymore?" Jun found a second point of protest.
"We just need to go straight. I can figure out the way!" Sam was perhaps more confident than he should have been. Hopmon floated peacefully by his side. Luckily the little digimon was round and buoyant.
Before they could decide on a specific path, a piercing, high pitched ring echoed through the marsh. The Digimon seemed more attuned to it, covering their ears in pain.
"What the -?" Tonpei couldn't finish his sentence as a pillar of white light burst out of the far center of the swamp in the distance ahead.
"I think that's a good place to start." Mika surmised. With that, she sped off. The group followed in tow, now with determination and purpose. Even Jun and Floramon waded into the water, but not without squealing.
The group raced through the thick, mossy water. The humans and Floramon struggled with each step to pick their feet up out of the gooey, sticky swamp floor. The In-Training Digimon, however, cheerfully floated along, enjoying the swim. Matters got worse as chunks of mud and grime began to fly through the air once again.
Sam felt a mudball hit him in the chest. "Hey! Where's that coming from?! Who's doing that?!"
The group peered around to see a dozen blue tadpoles sticking their round heads out of the water on both sides of them. They could make out devilish grins on each of their faces as the Otamamon launched a second swampy assault.
"Ouch!" Mika caught a handful of moss to the face. "That actually hurts!" The attack also hit Tonpei in the back of the head. The group quickened their pace, still being pelted by the Otamamon.
"We've got to fight back, Hopmon! What attacks do you know?"
Hopmonn hesitated for a bit. "I know how to blow bubbles! Let me at them!"
"Bubbles? I don't think we can beat them with bubbles!"
"Just pick me up and give a chance, Sam!"
Sam obliged and lifted the Hopmon up and pointed him in the direction of an Otamamon. The In-Training digimon took a deep breath before blowing a thick stream of bubbles at his opponent. Sam felt a kickback in his chest from the attack, signifying to him that his digital partner could pack a punch even in this tiny body. The bubble attack hit an Otamamon square on, knocking it on its back. Its eyes began to swirl. It was surely out of commission.
"That's impressive, Hopmon! You did it! Think you can keep it up?" Sam hoisted Hopmon even higher and turning him in patterns of 90 degrees. The bubbles blasted out, creating a bubble-blowing turret pointed right at the Otamamon.
"Pollen Rain!" Floramon joined in on the fun, raining down more yellow pollen and this time hitting her target successfully. Electricity crackled around the blue tadpoles, paralyzing them.
Chapumon produced a bubble blast of his own, while Yokomon let out a series of concussive shrieks, hitting a few of the Otamamon and knocking them back against the mangrove trees.
After dispatching their attackers, the group trekked on to finally reach solid ground again. It was a small island-like land mass amongst the water. In the middle stood the tallest and widest tree Sam had ever seen. The pillar of light that had guided them emanated from the tree's core and shot high into the sky, piercing the swamp's canopy. The group looked up in awe and wondered how they had missed such a massive landmark when they first arrived. The tree could have easily fit a modest house inside of it. Sam approached it closer and reached out to touch the bark.
The beam of light immediately stopped.
"Did you break it?!" Jun was ready with another accusation.
"I don't know." Sam could barely come up with a response, completely perplexed at what was happening.
"Guys, look! I think there's a door!" Mika instructed, having circled around the tree. "It looks like we can go inside of it."
The group looked at each other, weighing their options. Before Sam cheered, "This is the adventure I've been wanting in the Digital World. Come on, Hopmon!" He grabbed the door handle, but before he could pull it open, another concussive burst of air hit his arm.
"Owwww!"
Jun identified her attacker once again. "That's Geckomon, and he's still got my D-Link!"
The amphibian answered in a high-pitched, gargled voice, "Get away from the Queen's Quarters!"
"We're not scared of you!" Sam yelled out, only to get another concussive burst of air shot at him from the Geckomon's trombone.
The Digimon tried their attacks on him that had stifled the Otamamon earlier, but now they had little effect on the Champion level Geckomon. Still clutching the D-Link, he commanded the group again to back away. "This pretty will make Queen very happy! Geckomon get to digivolve too."
In defiance of Geckomon's order, Sam pulled on the doorknob before busting it open with his shoulder. The tree was completely hollow inside. Only a sliver of sunlight trickled in through the crack in the exterior wood, lighting up what Sam could see was a small pool of swamp water with a stone pedestal in the middle. Immediately a blue light flickered from atop the pedestal.
"Noooo!" He heard Geckomon screaming outside, but he inched closer to the blue light.
"Mika, Jun, T! You've got to get in here!" Sam called for his friends, while the Digimon tried to ward off the angry Geckomon outside.
As Tonpei entered, a yellow light lit up on the pedestal. When Mika did the same, a purple light joined the yellow and blue lights. The trio waded forward through the swampy water as the lights pulsed to the beat of their movement.
"Rain Stream!" A voice echoed inside the musty tree hollow before a cylinder of water erupted from the swamp and rained down on the three humans. It knocked them off their feet and carried them back towards the entrance. With his chest pad vibrating like crazy, Sam almost fell out of his chair at home from the game's attack.
An audible laugh of amusement came from behind the pedestal and a figure floated in front of the three shining lights. It was small in stature and humanoid, but with thick armored gloves and a swirling helmet. Sam heard the enemy call out another attack, "Aqua Needle!" Two long, whip-like streams of water formed from the swamp and ended at the figure's hands. It twisted to reveal a feminine figure, and she slammed the long water whips down on the humans. Sam knew it wasn't true, but it felt like the skin broke beneath his VR gloves as he held up his arm to shield himself from the attack.
Hopmon, Yokomon, and Chapumon bounced into the hollow after hearing their partners in pain. They did not need an introduction, sensing the digimon on the pedestal instantly.
"That's Ranamon!" Yokomon explained. "She's a rare, water sprite digimon and one of Otamamon's higher forms. She is known for being uncontrollable and fierce. Her emotions intensify then recede, just like the waves she controls."
"From the looks of it, she's the queen Geckomon keeps talking about, and she's guarding whatever those lights are." Mika observed.
"I think those are our D-Links," Tonpei surmised. "The game was supposed to give each of us one, like Jun had, when we started our mission. We never got them, and for some reason they are here with her."
"It sounds like our first real test!" Sam felt the thrill this new adventure game was providing. "Let's do it, Hopmon!"
Having more courage than muscle, Sam and Hopmon mimicked their earlier attack. Sam hoisted his partner up on his head blasting bubbles at Ranamon. Yokomon joined in with Mika holding him while he released screaming blasts. The water sprite easily sidestepped the attacks, before creating a gray cloud above them and causing forceful, painful sheets of rain to fall down. Chapumon submerged in the water to avoid the attack, not needing his human partner's support. In a surprise, Chapumon leapt out of the water in front of Ranamon and headbutted her in the stomach! She keeled over in pain, stopping the rain momentarily. More bubble streams raced at her, this time catching her in the face and doing some visible damage.
More importantly, the bubbles provided the necessary distraction. While his independent Digimon attacked Ranamon, Tonpei dipped down into the shallow water and quietly crawled around the battle scene. He raised out of the water just behind the pedestal but needed time to the bugs and moss out of his teeth.
"Got it!" He yelled after he finally grabbed the yellow light. He felt a metallic, hand-sized device that matched Jun's D-Link and he pulled it away from the pedestal. The light left the D-Link in his hand and made its way over to Chapumon, illuminating the Digimon's entire body.
Chapumon digivolve to…
The bird's body elongated once again, while his wings stretched out further and long, feather-like ears sprung out of his head. The beak grew with a more pronounced point at the end. Feathers sprung out of his squishy body, this time blue and white instead of green. The body rounded at the body, looking quite plump and wide, webbed feet jetted out at the bottom. The now-Rookie digimon cheerfully splashed around in the water before announcing himself to the world.
Penguinmon!
"Whoa! Penguinmon! This is awesome!" Tonpei let pure excitement show for the first time, before giving his partner a battle command. "Take her down, Penguinmon! Hit her with whatever you've got!"
The blue bird leapt out of the water and showed his own excitement with a "Yipeee!" "If you thought I was a good swimmer when I was Chapumon, just wait until you see me now."
Penguinmon dipped back into the water, zoomed across the swampy pool, and reemerged close to Ranamon once again. "Super Slap!" He caught her with a swing of his long, flappy wings right on her face, causing her to recoil in pain and fall back towards the entrance of the tree hollow away from the pedestal for the first time.
Mika and Sam now seized the opportunity and rushed through the thick muck to grab their own shining lights from the platform. A blue light bathed Hopmon while a purple light did the same to Yokomon.
Hopmon digivolve to…
Hopmon sprouting out a full purple body with arms, legs and miniature wings. It's head twisted, forming a reptile snout, but still retaining the horn and yellow gemstone. When the light faded, the purple dinosaur announced its new form.
Monodramon!
"Whoa, I didn't even know Monodramon was in the game! You're the best Rookie there is!" In real life, Sam held back tears seeing this realistic Digimon in front of him and, luckily for his ego, those physical responses did not manifest in the virtual reality world.
Yokomon digivolve to…
The pink bulb drastically changed forms, shifting into a quadrupedal mammal with pointy ears and nine tails. He had purple fur with bright yellow highlights, emphasized by cackling electricity.
ViElecmon!
"Look at you! You're adorable, ViElecmon!"
ViElecmon and Monodramon stood together, puffing out their chests and ready to battle Ranamon. Seeing that her enemies were growing in power, she exited through the door to join her Geckomon follower. The kids chased after her and emerged from the tree to find Floramon cornered by the Geckomon and three more Otamamon. She tried whipping them with the stamen from her hands, but she was outnumbered.
Monodramon leapt into the sky and swung his left arm in the air, before sending out an arc of dark energy. "Shadow Wing!" It hit one Otamamon and exploded on impact, sending it back into the water and out of the fight.
"Jamming Thunder!" ViElecmon raised the fur on his body, electric current crackling all over, and launched an energy ball right at another Otamamon, hitting him square in the head and making him faint.
"Penguinmon, coming right up!" The bird Digimon announced, as he started charging across the mud before dropping to his stomach. He slid faster than anyone could have run and collided square with the final Otamamon, sending the tadpole flying into the air. "I forgot to announce it like the others, but that one is a Slide Attack."
"They were too weak anyway!" gargled the Geckomon. "Tongue Whip!" It once again lashed out with its increasingly long and sharp tongue, cutting Penguinmon and ViElecmon in the process.
Thankful for the distraction, Floramon extended the vine from her hands and wrapped it around Geckomon's tongue. She pulled him closer and bashed him down face first on the ground, forcing him to drop the D-Link. Jun grabbed her device and got out of the way just as Monodramon launched another Shadow Wing that hit Geckomon on the back. The musical frog rolled on his stomach until he too landed in the water, defeated.
"All of you have disappointed your queen!"
The incensed Ranamon rose back up, standing on a flowing pillar of swamp water high above the humans' heads. She waved her arms to ready another menacing wave of grimy water.
"Hit her with everything you've got!" Sam rallied all the Digimon.
"Pollen Rain!"
"Shadow Wing!"
"Jamming Thunder!"
"Ice Prism!"
The four blasts from the Rookies raced towards their target, but the water sprite washed them away with her own Rain Stream, much to their dismay. Ranamon pulled up another pillar of water before dropping it on the Digimon and washing them away.
"Floramon, no!" Jun grabbed her Digimon and wrapped her in her arms to protect her from the viscous attack.
Monodramon, Penguinmon, and ViElecmon all slammed into the large mangrove tree in the center of the swampy island with their human partners frantically rushing to check on them after.
"Plus, I know you really don't want to get wet." Jun managed to fit in one more dry joke as she brushed off mud from her partner's flower-like helmet. The two shared a laugh just as Jun's D-Link lit up with a green light that reached out and engulfed Floramon.
Floramon digivolve to…
Floramon grew to the height of the tallest human, Tonpei. Her arms stretched out and maintained their vegetational, thorny texture, while the flowers at her hands bloomed into luscious pink cherry blossoms. Her rose helmet and collar also grew and intensified in color. She now donned a white mask with pink markings to cover her face. A long bush of red hair sprung out of her head, almost matching that of Jun. As the light dissipated, Jun saw that Floramon was now wrapped in lose-fitting, traditional clothing.
Kabukimon!
"Everyone else got to do it! I thought I might as well too," Kabukimon maintained Floramon's congeniality. She began to sway and wave her arms, as if performing a ritualistic dance. The vines from the mangroves swayed in unison with her.
"I don't care how many times you digivolve. THIS IS MY SWAMP!" Ranamon summoned another water whip. "Aqua Needle!" She threw her arm forward, to launch it at Kabukimon, but a vine stopped her arm mid-movement. She struggled to bring it forward until two more vines coiled around her elbow. Another vine whipped up, capturing both her legs, and then a final vine grabbed her other arm. In just a moment's time, Ranamon was entangled and suspended in mid-air by the mangrove vines under Kabukimon's control.
"Finish this, Kabukimon!" Jun had regained her composure and confidence at seeing her partner grow stronger.
"Wait!" Sam waved his hands to halt any attack. "I need to ask her something."
"What? We need to finish her off before she can escape," Jun argued.
Sam didn't listen to her advice and turned to face the water sprite. "How did you get our D-Links? We were supposed to have them from the start!"
Jun interrupted Sam. "She's a computer program, Sam. She can't answer questions outside of her programming like that."
Ranamon only smirked.
"It must have been a glitch." Mika suggested.
"That's right. It's a rather new game, and it's the first of its kind." Tonpei agreed with her.
"No way! Something so important would not have fallen through the cracks like that. I read all about the development of this game." Sam countered, "The creator spent so much time on this, even crafting the veins in these mangrove trees. I don't believe the D-Links just glitched to the other side of the swamp."
Ranamon still refused to answer, and Sam's questions had given her enough time to wiggle one wrist free from her binds. She raised one hand with a water whip, ready to strike again.
"Sakuya Storm!" Kabukimon produced dozens of razor-edge, pink petals and launched them. At lightning speed, the sharp attack tore through Ranamon's body. She screamed before bursting into a cloud of data particles. The bits of former Ranamon hovered above the group as Tonpei, Sam, and Mika winced.
"We didn't have to do that!" Mika cried out.
"And I needed answers!" Sam agreed with Mika to an extent.
Jun thought that she knew best. "She was about to attack! Kabukimon did the right thing by saving us. You guys keep forgetting that these are artificially intelligent bits of data. Plus, how else are we going to beat the level?"
"Jun's right, Sam." Tonpei was shocked to find himself agreeing with her. "There's no way Ranamon would have been able to answer a complex question like that. That's why she just smiled when you asked her that."
Sam rolled his eyes but gave up the argument upon feeling Monodramon tug on his shirt. He had not yet gotten to celebrate the digivolution of his partner. With a heave-ho, he picked up the heavy, chunky little dinosaur and tossed him in the air.
"You did it! You're a Monodramon!" The exhaustion from the battle washed away and Sam was once again a young teen beside himself with excitement. "I can't wait to see what you'll be next!"
The rest of the humans had similar reactions to their new partners. ViElecmon channeled even more electric current on his fur to impress Mika. She grinned at his abilities and, feeling confident, he crawled up to her shoulders and rested. Penguinmon, differing from previous forms, clung itself to Tonpei's leg with a massive hug and showed no signs of letting go. Jun looked Kabukimon over, impressed at her ability to manipulate the plants around her. The flowery humanoid's new mask could not hide the pride she felt from her partner's praise.
Sam was ready for more. "So, what scenario do we do next?"
"It's getting late. I think that may have been enough for one day." Tonpei yawned.
"Yeah, it's got to be nighttime by now at home."
"What?! No! We just are getting started!"
Mika's stomach rumbled. "I think I should log off guys. We can do this again tomorrow afternoon!"
Kabukimon shrunk down to be Floramon once again, deflated that her partner would be leaving her again. Jun agreed with Mika about needing to leave. She hugged her Digimon partner goodbye, before clicking a button on the D-Link and watching Floramon disappear in a beam of green light with a few flower petals flying around, as well.
"You three did alright. Maybe in a few weeks you will be close to my level."
A second later – and before Tonpei could respond - Jun's avatar was gone.
GildedLily has left the game.
Mika rubbed ViElecmon's forehead, noticing his eyes drooping into a nap. She pressed a button on her purple D-Link and the little violet fox was gone.
"This was fun, but maybe a little less bloodshed next time." Mika added. "These developers made the Otamamon so lifelike. I started to feel bad hurting them."
"We know, Mika." Sam joked, before watching her avatar disappear.
Daydreamer00 has left the game.
"I don't think she knows that much about Digimon." Sam remarked.
Tonpei sighed, "Me neither, but at least she's willing to tag along."
"We explained the details to her before she got the game, right?"
"We did, but Mika's just squeamish around violence, or any type of confrontation really."
"And Jun? You guys seemed to get along there at the end." Sam nudged Tonpei with his elbow. Tonpei did not return Sam's toothy grin.
"She was brave back there against Ranamon. I'll give her credit for that." Tonpei admitted before catching himself. "But that's easy to do after training for weeks and having the strongest digimon."
The bookish teen patted his Penguinmon on the head, scratching the skin beneath the feathers. The bird still hugged his leg tight and then disappeared in a beam of yellow light into Tonpei's D-Link.
Sam knelt to bid his own partner farewell for now.
"Don't go, Sam! Stay!" the little dinosaur begged him.
Tonpei could not help but chuckle. "This game has a good hook. These Digimon partners are so cute, you'll never want to leave them."
Sam agreed, before giving Monodramon a tight hug. "I'll see you very soon, buddy."
The purple dragon turned into a blue flash of light and landed in Sam's D-Link.
Sam turned to Tonpei, "It's weird, right? I've never felt this connected to a game or an object or anything."
"Neither have I, and it all came on so soon." said Tonpei.
"It feels so real. The scripting is so complex. Normally VR is so unnatural and stiff." Sam grabbed another glob of mud and trickled it on the ground.
"Well, that's what happens when your system is twenty years old."
"That's not what I meant, T!"
The two friends shared a laugh and sat together on the ground, both in awe at the deep greens, yellows, and browns of the swamp.
"Let's meet tomorrow morning. There's an Ice Village that Penguinmon will love."
After exchanging their goodbyes, both avatars disappeared, leaving the swamp as silent and serene as it was before their arrival.
Arkham has left the game.
F1ref1y has left the game.
Sam removed his VR headset and took a deep breath. The sensations in the Digital World Online seemed so real. He could feel the gross water around his feet and smell the must of the swamp. The attacks from Otamamon and Geckomon had actually hurt! Ranamon's waves made him think he was being washed away. Monodramon felt real, too, in the way he talked back to Sam. This was the best game he had ever played.
He had to shake it off and snap back into the real world of Sapporo, Japan.
He looked over to see that night had fallen and the clock in the corner of his screen read 9:30 PM. The roaring in his stomach reminded him he was two hours late for dinner. Sam scurried down the stairs towards the kitchen, seeing his mother reading on the couch.
"Where have you been, honey?" She asked. "I thought you wanted to play that new game of yours."
"Um…I've been upstairs, Mom," he answered, confused by her implications. "I played it with Tonpei."
"That's odd. I yelled your name out when dinner was ready, and it didn't seem like you were around. I didn't even hear a peep out of your room."
"It was completely immersive, Mom. Sorry. The sounds from the game must have blocked you out. I'm gonna grab food now." Sam apologized, but his mom did not look up from her book.
He walked through to the kitchen and eyed the leftovers before huffs and puffs from his mother interrupted his search. He could hear her getting upset in the living room. He turned to see her pointing to the carpet that he had just crossed.
"Sumaru Yasuda, what have I told you about tracking mud in on this carpet?!"
The young teen looked at the wet, dirty footprints behind him and suddenly became aware of his waterlogged shoes.
While Sam apologized profusely to his mother downstairs without having any legitimate explanation for his muddy shoes, he could not see his computer screen lighting up in his room. The blue screen of the Digimon World Online popped up again on his monitor.
White Rabbit has entered the game.