Man weird stuff happened to me recently… Must express myself through WORDS! I also need to go back and edit stuff. I think I accidentally said that Emily had a big sister somewhere, but I have no space to add her sister anywhere, nor will it make sense to have a sister for Emily's character development, which I have shown very little of. I need to go back and fix that. Whatever the case, this is gonna be a pretty short chapter, and maybe not filled with as much action, but it's gonna have some relevance with the plot later. Anyway…

Chapter 7: Skinned Knees

Emily opened her eyes to a thick fog bank, the mist rolling around and through her, chilling her to her bones. Instinctively she scrambled to her feet, her wrist raised up to her face. She froze as soon as she saw her Digivice was missing. She hesitated for a moment as she looked around warily. The occasional patches of grass on the rough gravelly floor was sea-green, and the outline of trees in the background weren't very encouraging. Not when all that was left of them were bony skeletal finger-like branches. The chilling night air stung her skin, and the thin nightgown and fuzzy socks did nothing to help her. Wherever she was didn't look like where she went to sleep the night prior. The tell-tale signs of digimon were heavy in the mist; regular fog couldn't explain where she was now.

"Mom?" Emily cried out. "Yoshi? Sam, Jay? Anyone?" Silence answered her, more heavy than before after the echo of her own voice. She resisted the urge to curl into a tight ball and cry herself back to sleep. Think Emily, think, she thought to herself. I'm in the middle of nowhere and its absolutely freezing. I'm wearing nothing but some immodest PJs and I don't have my Digivice, not that it would help much without Yoshi around. Think! What's the first thing I should do? The fog doesn't look like it's going to clear anytime soon, and if a digimon caused it they might still be nearby. I need to find shelter first… Emily took a few tentative steps, pebbles embedding themselves in her sky-blue socks. Following nothing but her gut instinct, she walked for a while, time, distance and location impossible to tell under the thick fog, not that she could even see more than a few inches into the fog without her glasses. There was nowhere else to go and everything looked the same all around, but what unnerved her the most was the lack of all sound. Her own heartbeat and her footsteps were her only companions, all other sounds absorbed into the saturated fog bank.

She was alone. She was completely and utterly alone, for a fact this time. She clutched her wrist tightly, trying to stop it from shivering.

"I've gotta find shelter… I've gotta find my way back home… I've gotta find… Somebody…" A dark pit of unease began to grow within her, threatening to swallow her from within. She wiped at her eyes only to draw a hand slicked with teas back. She brushed them away quickly. "This is stupid… Why am I crying anyway? I'm not someone who cries all the time anyway, why should I cry when nobody's here? And why am I talking to myself? Maybe just to chase away the silence…" Emily froze. Did she imagine that? There was no way she imagined that. The silence was getting to her, but not like that. She could probably hear a butterfly's wings beating at that moment, she wouldn't miss something like that. Something like… Footsteps…

Her spirits soared before nosediving rapidly again. What if it was a digimon's feet? And what if it wasn't a friendly digimon either? What if it was large and hungry and was hungry? With all the noise she must have been making she probably seemed like a lively and very appetising snack. Everyone at school always told her that her freckles were adorable (and possibly the only thing adorable about her…) this visitor might think the same, that their just cute enough to eat up, literally.

She listened carefully for the steps. Nothing. Okay, that wasn't a good sign. She carried on, paying extra-careful attention to her surroundings. Even through the wall of fog, the steady tapping of a foot followed her. She stopped again, the footsteps stopping with her. She set off at a jog, the faint but still audible footsteps following close behind increased their tempo. Emily stopped and wheeled around. The footsteps didn't stop this time, but instead their owner came into view.

A massive hulking green monster leaped out at her, an enormous bone club in its hand swinging down to squish her to a bloody mess on the ground. Emily screamed in fear, tripping on a rock behind her as she collapsed onto her rump. The lucky break saved her within a few inches of her life as the club crashed into the ground, a tiny crater forming where it landed. Emily scrambled backwards in fear, the image of what would have been her own body forming in her mind. The green monster looked up, slobber coming off of its enormous tusk-like fangs. The creature was at least thrice her size and garbed only in a brown loincloth. Its white hair sat wildly on its head, twigs and rocks caught in it. Its biceps alone looked thicker than Emily's torso, and were as muscular if not more so than even the most ripped bodybuilders. The creature's dishpan sized blue eyes stared into hers with hunger.

"You're not a digimon are you?" the creature said. Emily shook her head rapidly, her hair flying around her face like flashes of black lightning. "You must be a human. I heard that humans taste good. Very good. I like good food. Good food is fun to hunt, and to eat. Don't you think so?" Emily didn't know whether to nod or shake her head, so did an awkward combination of both. "Glad you think so! So you won't mind if I eat you will you? I have to train and get stronger and eat more digimon, so that I can become an Etemon! And maybe then they won't make fun of me!" Emily gulped visibly. So maybe shaking her head was the better option. The monster charged at her, swinging its club wildly in the air. She scrambled to her feet and ran, ignoring the whoosh of the club as it passed just behind her head. The stones underfoot dug into her feet painfully, and the pain only multiplied when she slipped, collapsing onto the ground hard. The wind left her lungs and her skinned knees stung like tiny knives drawing blood. She turned onto her back just to see the monster looming over her, and it didn't look like he was going to waste any time asking for last words. Before Emily could even shut her eyes, the club swung down. She shut her eyes, too terrified to do anything else.

Nothing.

She opened one eye again slowly. A tall figure stood over her like a shield, holding up the club with visible effort.

"Hey, that's not very nice, harming a lady like that!" the figure said. The voice was male and much more child-like than she had expected. He shoved the club away as the monster continued to stare at him.

"Huh? Who are you?" the monster asked, holding up his club dangerously. The figure was tall thin and lanky, typical of a teenager albeit an old one, and his dark skin was lined with cuts. The black jacket with green sleeves that he wore looked burnt and torn at the hems and the black jeans he wore didn't look any better. The red baseball cap on his head looked grimy and looked like the only way to clean it now was with fire.

"Seriously? Even after the stuff that happened last year nobody even knows my name? Great, Ikki totally stole all the credit…" He had a slight accent Emily noticed. Emily couldn't really tell what kind of accent and it was barely noticeable, but it was there.

"That doesn't answer my question! Who…" Whatever he was going to say was lost as the teenager stepped forward rapidly, planting a fist firmly in his face. The monster's whole face caved in as it collapsed to the ground, twitching a few times before he finally lay still. Emily blinked in shock, unable to understand what she had just seen. The monster lay dead still on the ground, knocked out… From one punch… The teenager clutched his fist in pain, hopping around like a five year old wanting to use the bathroom.

"Youch! That hurt like crazy! How does that Daimon idiot do that so many times? Urgh that smarts!" Emily slowly got up as he rubbed his fist, caressing it like it was his child.

"Umm… What did you just do?" Emily asked shyly. The teenager turned to face her with an annoyed facial expression.

"You could at least say thanks you know!" he said. Emily retreated within herself even more, instinctively hugging herself. Here was a strange and very dangerous person, and she wasn't taking any chances, no matter how thick skulled he seemed to be.

"Sorry… Thanks…" His mouth spread into an enormous silly grin.

"No problem! That Ogremon looked really dangerous though, I was probably gonna knock his teeth out whether you passed by or not." The monster, or Ogremon, began to stir, shaking his head in confusion. The teenager's facial expression instantly warped, becoming hard and steely. "Oh no you don't…" He raised his leg into the air and brought it crashing onto Ogremon's head, knocking him out again with his heel. His expression softened again, so fast if Emily had blinked she would have missed the whole thing. "If I let you hit me with that big stick of yours I'm minced meat! I'm only human after all! I'm still not sure that Marcus is..."

"Umm… what did…"

"Oh that!" he said, gesturing at the collapsed Ogremon's growing bump on his head. "I hit him with a Digi-Soul punch!"

"A Digi-Soul punch?"

"Yeah! You see, you take all of your Digital Natural Ability, or DNA. I'd stick with calling it Digi-Soul to avoid confusing it with actual DNA… I've got a Xros Code DNA signature so it's a bit different but I basically use that stuff and punch someone with it, see?" He held up his fist so she could see it. Two odd yellow streams of data flew around the fist in a looping X pattern. "With this I could make my digimon Super Digivolve! Awesome isn't it? Now if only I could actually find my digimon…" Emily had a million questions to ask him, but now after calming down a bit, focused on her priorities.

"Umm, where exactly are we anyway?"

"Hmm, let me think… I think we're still on the Folder Continent, somewhere in World 6, not sure…"

"Wait, what? Folder Continent? Wait, what planet are we on?"

"Umm… I'm not sure what it's called actually, though even the residents stick with calling it the Digital World…"

"The Digital World?! What? But? When did I get here? And where's Yoshi? Isn't this his home? And, and, where's your partner? And…" The teen grabbed Emily's shoulders firmly.

"Whoa! Take it easy there! Breathe any faster and your lungs might just blow up! Chill, calm down… Iwe, just shut up!" Emily stayed quiet. "Good. Don't wanna pop a membrane or something… So you don't even know how you got to this place? I'm guessing from what you said that Yoshi is your partner digimon. You must be a Tamer then. I don't know when you arrived or how you arrived, and my partner is MIA right now so sorry you can't meet him. Now let's try to get you back to your home then alright?" The teenager stuck out his hand. "In the meantime, let's get along!" Emily stared back at the hand and after a moment, shook it.

"Yeah, I guess. My name's Emily."

"Cool. My name's… Well, my full name isn't too important. Just call me DC."

"No fair! I told you my real name!"

"Well I told you my real initials and that's good enough! Not even my teachers call me by my full name so deal with it." Emily folded her arms in frustration as he turned away, ending the discussion.

"Wait!" DC looked back at her. "Are you a Tamer to, or a Hunter like Sam? And what're you doing out here on your own without a partner digimon?" DC grinned again, the smile looking wide enough for his skull to pop out of his face.

"Naw, I'm not a Tamer, or a Hunter. I'm a General, big difference."

"A General? Like a military general?"

"No, a General's like a super-strong Hunter that has a whole army, though admittedly I don't have my army anymore… I don't even have a collection…"

"What? Just stronger? What's the difference? Is there a difference?" DC's brows furrowed in annoyance.

"Basi, their just stronger alright? Allow it! Man you can ask a lot of questions! My partner digimon is missing, and I'm looking for him. I've been fighting wild digimon on my own for a while now. Well, mainly just running away from them, but fighting if they're idiots like this Ogremon." Emily nodded her head.

"Oh, and one more question…"

"Hold that thought, you look a little pale…"

"I know, I stay indoors a bit too much of course I'm pale, but that's not it. Your accent though, it sounds a bit odd..."

"Oi, oi, you're really pale, you look sick!"

"Are you from Africa or something? I have a friend who sounds a bit like you…"

"No seriously, you're going transparent!" Emily stopped what she was saying and looked down at her hand, and through it to. She gasped in surprise. Her whole body was going invisible slowly, fading away from her own sight. Her vision began to blur and double up before her. Were her actual eyes going invisible now? Emily collapsed to one knee, intense pressure building up on her chest. She took deep laboured gasps for air, not enough of it entering her lungs. DC ran over to her quickly, catching her just before she could fall. He said something vaguely, the words coming seconds after his mouth moved, slurred and distant as if from a dream or as if she was underwater. Her eyes rolled up to the back of her head, DC still screaming her name from beyond her own hearing, then the world went black.

. . .

Emily awoke with a start, her breathing heavy and rapid, cold sweat drenching her sheets. It was as if a bucket of ice cold water had been poured all over her. She fumbled around on her bed stand for her glasses, clutched them, nearly knocked them to the floor, and placed them on her face. She blinked a few times as she adjusted to the light, imagining her eyes to be three times their size in the round spectacles. She grabbed her Digivice next and slapped it to her wrist, tying up the straps quickly. She was back in her bedroom and it was early in the morning, the first rays of the sun just barely beginning to shine through.

How did I get here? Emily thought to herself. Was it all just a dream? Before she could get an answer, loud knocking jerked her back to her senses.

"Emily? Are you alright?" her mother said.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she replied, her voice showing off the blatant lie.

"Are you sure? Because you were making a lot of noise. Where you sleepwalking again?"

"No mom, I just had a bad dream, that's all." It wasn't entirely a lie. Maybe she did have a bad dream, but that was much too real for a dream right?"

"Well, okay, just go back to sleep, get some rest. You said you wanted to go somewhere with your friends. What where their names again… Alexis? And the other one…"

"Lexi and Allison."

"Yeah, them. Breakfast won't be ready for another hour, rest up." Most mothers would be trying to get their kids to do anything but sleep in on a Saturday morning, but for a mom's standards Emily's mom was pretty young, maybe she just understood what it felt like to have all the energy in the world and still not want to get up?

"No thanks, I think I'm gonna go over to Sam's house."

"Okay then, have fun!" The soft thud of her mom's footsteps faded out into the distance. Silence again. Friendly silence this time, filled with background noises. The murmuring voices of the TV downstairs, the drone of a power drill from the neighbours, birds tweeting just outside her window, a car passing by… Still, silence was something Emily had had enough of. She jumped out of bed, carrying her bed sheets with her to the bathroom below. Best get them out of the way before her mom started making jokes about her wetting the bed. Before she opened the door she punched in a few buttons on her Digivice to Yoshi. Have stories to tell you, TTYL. She mentally kicked herself for using text slang and still claiming to be a writer but she didn't feel like weaving a whole paragraph out of one message. She banged her knee against the door and winced in pain from her skinned knee. She froze. Slowly, she reached down to touch the wound.

"My knees… Their still…"