Digimon: Overflow
Running 01.02
Awake Oceanborn
Hoshiko reeled back as the doors to the bunker opened and sunlight streamed in.
Ugh! She hated it in there! Just her luck that when the sirens go off the closest bunker is in the industrial estates. She'd spent an hour in there with a load of sweat-stained packagers and handlers, many of them teenagers which only made the smell worse.
So air, fresh air in fact, was welcome. She took a deep breath as the breeze disturbed her dark hair as she got swept up in the crowd. As they pushed to get outside, Hoshiko tripped and fell onto another youth in front of her. The young man immediately turned on her, a scowl on his face.
"Hey, pick up the pace!" she muttered to him.
The guy just huffed, scowl only deepening, before he turned back and continued on his way, cursing under his breath. Never, ever happy, the English were... Or maybe they were just happy being miserable. She'd heard that explanation more than once. Still, they acted the same whether you were apologetic or mildly aggressive, so she just ended up acting how she felt.
Didn't really matter though. Whatever the act, she got what she wanted. Pulling out a wallet from her pocket, she looked inside. 'Stewart Hammond' looked out at her, looking just as miserable as he had minute ago. Never happy. Still, she took the cash, £40 total, before dropping the wallet in the press of the crowd.
All without a hitch! Misery Guts never even felt her lift it off him!
With satisfaction in her step, she ducked out from the main crowd down a road which would lead her back into the city centre. She'd need most of her recently earned cash to maintain her abode, but she could afford takeaway tonight!
As she wove through the city, the crowd thinned out significantly, being stretched along the pavement by everyone's varied walking speeds. Eventually Hoshiko found herself alone, the only other person around being thirty metres ahead of her.
"So, what are the plans for tonight?"
Hoshiko didn't jump at the voice. She'd been aware its owner was there the entire time.
Quietly, the illusion around her neck thinned and, to her vision at least, the end of her scarf twisted into the head of a black cat, complete with tiny witch's hat.
"Domino's pizza, Salem." She reached up and scratched the tiny digimon behind the ear. "We're going to get a proper meal in us tonight." Salem purred into her palm, trusting her utterly, just as she trusted him and only him.
As they delved deeper back into the city centre, Salem faded back into the safety of his illusion. The streets filled out with people again and Hoshiko felt comfortable. Like Salem, she too faded from people's attention. Helpful, considering her line of work.
Still, food was the goal now. Feeling safe being a nobody in the ever-shifting mass of people she made good progress during the whole trip, heading for a specific Domino's that she had a fondness for. By whim though, close to her destination, she cut down an alley knowing that it would let her out right beside the parlour.
Being so close though now, she was beginning to feel the burn of going so far so fast. She slowed to catch her breath when her gaze wandered up into the sky. She wasn't expecting to see much—you rarely did in light polluted London—but even so, she was surprised when she saw a bright light hanging in the evening gloom. Her first thought was that it was a star, though the more cynical second thought told her it was a plane, bound for the eastern front of Europe. Indeed the light wasn't just twinkling, but moving too, which settled that matter.
Hoshiko sighed and ran a hand through her greasy hair. She was sick of it, viewing airplanes from alleyways and everything like it. Thank God, she was turning eighteen next month, legally making her an adult. Maybe, that would be the change she'd need to turn things around for them.
Briskly reprimanding herself for that thought, feeling very foolish remembering how she had thought just the same last year. And the year before that. Yet here she was, still clutching stolen bread, metaphorically speaking. And that wasn't even getting into the ancient hope from before she'd even hit puberty, believing everything would be alright when she got back to Japan. 'Course, that came tumbling down once she'd been told Japan had been the epicentre of the Breach.
All that time and nothing had changed, why should it change now that she had this milestone? She sighed and glanced up once more. The light was brighter now, surprising her again. Why would it...? Squinting at it, her stomach and everything in it dropped. The light was coming towards them.
She tried to tell Salem, to warn him about the encroaching light, but it was on top of them before that. Shooting past, it landed further into the alley with a loud bang. That in itself woke Salem. The cat's illusion scattered completely and he leapt from Hoshiko's neck, flinging himself bodily into an open dumper and floundering before popping his head out a moment later.
"What the hell! What was that?"
Hoshiko didn't respond immediately. Her heart was clawing its way up her throat. A couple metres, that was all that had been between her and being splattered across the alleyway. Slowly she peered back around towards the fallen object that had almost killed her. In the dimness, she could just make out a mini-crater in the asphalt that she was such hadn't been there a minute ago.
"There," she said, "Something fell from the sky, right there!" Her voice was a loud whisper, as though she was afraid of disturbing something. Though it was unlikely to disrupt something the little comet hadn't.
Jumping up onto her shoulders, Salem wrapped his body around her neck. Her fingers went to stroke his head; a soothing motion that was familiar and comforting to both. Slowly, the pair crept slowly towards the crater. Salem thought the best idea would be to get out of there, but didn't say anything as he knew his human wouldn't listen; she was always more willing to put herself in danger to sate her curiosity.
Climbing over it, she reached in and plucked something from the crater.
Her face crinkled up into a glower as she inspected it. As far as she could tell, she held a small device, one which fit in the palm of her hand. Consisting of a screen with two buttons, the only other notable thing about it was the three words, bold and capitalized, across the screen.
SEARCHING FOR DEVICE
)o0O0o(
For two hours, the student body had sat beneath the school waiting for the all clear to be given by the authorities. Meanwhile, the only thing to do was talk and not much else. Even walking was discouraged as space was at a premium in there.
Naomh still wouldn't talk to her, which just worsened the entire ordeal. Nicola said nothing during the entire containment; tempers were still flared and if she tried to apologise now, she'd just fan the flames and leave fissures in their friendship. No, she'd wait it out.
The end result of this was that it spread to all their friends, and so they were all miserable. Between the fight and the lock-in, Alex had become abrasive, Hermione had retreated into her shell and Clara, left alone with her thoughts, had whipped herself into a silent fury. The only one to escape any sort of foul mood was Alice, who had the good fortune to take a nap during all this. By the time they got out, they were all desperate to get away from each other. All that was exchanged were muttered goodbyes before they parted.
That left the sourest of tastes in Nicola's mouth. One lousy, seemingly insignificant action and she had cracked their little group apart. It was an aspect of their little group, friction between two of them spread like an infection to them all eventually and was usually only resolved when the source fight was.
Down through streets and roads Nicola wandered, frustrated, slowly winding her way back towards her house. Normally, she and Alex walked a similar route, but Alex had needed to fume violently and so opted to go home another way. She was slowly growing lonely. She needed someone to bear her heart to.
After looking around to make sure no one was about, she heaved a frustrated sigh. "Well this is a fine mess, Ir."
"I missed something," a somewhat scratchy voice at her back said, "What did you do to ruin her hairdo?"
"I... may have splashed her hair in the pool."
"What? You did that and honestly didn't think that there might be fallout?"
She sighed dishearteningly. "I know, I know. I... didn't think."
The digimon, Irving, just gave an acknowledging grunt before falling silent. They continued this way until they reached the house. There was some fumbling the key into the lock before they slipped in and shut the door behind them.
Feeling her way up the dark hall (because although the light switch was at the entrance, a journey in the darkness would happen anyway when she had to turn it out before bed) and nearly knocked over a cabinet top full of pictures as she went into the sitting room.
At last, Nicola turned on a side lamp and shuffled over to the couch, dropping Irving on his perch on the couch's headrest. Lifting a duvet she'd abandoned there that morning, she kicked off her skate shoes and undid her belt before wrapping herself up in the heavy blanket and flopping down lengthways on the couch.
Irving too relaxed, allowing himself to assume his true shape. The soft, downy 'straps' that were his long arms releasing the base of its shell to flop down, as well as his seabird-like head—which Nicola had always thought looked like a rock-hopper penguin's—extending out and snuggled down against her chest.
Turning on the TV, she shuffled through a dozen channels, shuffling through several banal reality shows before she stopped on the Lion King. Only once they had settled into the film did Irving feel the need to speak up.
"So beside the Naomh incident, what else happened? How was your first session back in the pool?"
Nicola chuckled at this, rubbing the peculiar feathered head that seemed to please him. "Grand. Everything worked out good once I worked out the kinks," she answered him, but under her fingers he tensed up.
"Are you sure? You don't sound... sound, quite like you should."
Nicola tensed as well. This was the problem with talking to her intimate friend of nearly a decade; they read each other like a book. She couldn't even begin to try and lie to him.
"Well, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, I have to admit. First day back and I'm being asked to be in a competition that's just six weeks away."
Irving cocked his head and sighed. "Well why don't you ask for a pass now if you feel you aren't up for it?" he asked her, "You admit you're overwhelmed. So..." He rubbed his head against the underside of her chin just as Timon began the lead-in to Hakuna Matata. "Can't you just say no this once? There are always other options."
Nicola sighed; Irving had a point. She never had free time anymore, always doing things because she thought she had too, growing and maintaining relationships because any neglect would let them wither. "Maybe you're right." Her fingers found the arc of his neck and she started stroking his feathers, an action which was calming for the both of them. "But I've already said yes. I can't back out now."
He wanted to say something, she could sense it. But all he said was, "Just tell if something goes wrong, won't you?"
Nicola chuckled and gave his ear another rub. "Of course I will, you silly gull."
Hugging him close, Nicola turned her attention back to the film.
(xXxXx)
She'd been almost asleep when it happened.
Just at the limbo between reality and sleep, the crash not only dragged her violently back from the drift into sleep, but having Irving falling onto her stomach in his own fright had made sure she was awake.
"Ow! Ow, ow! You're heavy, you know that?" she moaned, pushing the shelled digimon off her and tenderly rubbing her stomach.
"Well, excuse me if the loud boom gave me a fright. Uh, I can taste my heart!"
Nicola jerked upright as the full reason why she wasn't asleep came back to her. A boom, yes. Looking around, she quickly noticed and blanched at the crater in the living room floor. The wooden floor was shattered, folding into a splintered pit which couldn't be ignored. And, by God, her mum was not going to ignore that!
"Crap," she muttered, running her hand through her hair, "No no no no damnit all! Mum's going to murder me." Focused on this concern, it was only when she noticed a chill gust go through her normally warm sitting room, that she saw the hole in her patio window. "Oh God, that's actually worse."
Another gust then cut through the room, sending a shiver up her length.
"What caused it?" he asked, "Do you think it was a 'CP's cannon?"
"Well how would I know? This is new to me too."
Getting down on her hands and knees, she peered into the pit. At the bottom, the wood had caved in on itself and hid whatever was the cause of this. Reaching in, she pried back the wood and very quickly, something odd was revealed. A little handheld device, comprising of a screen and two buttons.
Prying this too out of its nest, Nicola fell back on the couch and held the device up for her and Irving to examine. Tapping the buttons didn't change anything, the same words just remained on screen.
SEARCHING FOR DEVICE
"Your turn," Nicola said, turning it over in her hand, "Any ideas?"
"Could be an old Nokia," Irving quipped, "Your father always said that between them and a brick wall, the wall would come off worse. But I'm only guessing that from the state of the floor."
Nicola had to laugh at that. "Cute. You're right though. Whatever it is, it shouldn't have survived the fight with the foundations of the house."
It was a puzzle, one which required thought. Before she could commit to the problem however, the pocket of her school skirt started to buzz. Pulling her phone out, her blood pressure spiked as when she saw her mum's caller ID.
"Oh Goddamnit!" Hurriedly, she answered it before it could ring out. "Hey mum." She tried to sound cool, despite the edge the bizarreness of the last few minute had put on her.
"Hey, Nikky. Just calling to make sure you got home alright. The school get you into the bunker today?" Her mum didn't sound concerned; it was her usual cool, usual laid-back tone, though Nicola could pick out something that sounded motherly in there. In the background, there was the usual chatter of the labs.
"Yeah, Alex is almost at her wit's end. They kept us in there for almost two hours." Say anything! Her mouth just spouted the first thing that came to mind and was grateful for it.
"Well, better safe than sorry."
Nicola chuckled. "Where I'm concerned, you mean. You'd hate to be stuck in a bunker while there's fighting going on."
"Well I'm not my daughter, am I? But anyway, you're dodging the question. D'ja get home safe? "
It should have been an easy answer, if only the strange device hadn't chosen that moment to start reacting. Bursting to life in her hand, the device went mad with light and sound, screeching at her while the flashed intricate patterns across her vision. Irving only added to the noise by hissing violently at it.
"Nikky? 'You okay?"
"Two seconds, Mum, I'll call you back."
No sooner had she hung up, however, but her phone started acting screwy too. The screen glitched heavily and it started to hiss at her too. Finally pushed over the edge, she flung both at a cushion at the other end of the couch, but that didn't help. The noise just became more invasive, filling her head until with so much she couldn't comprehend that it was agony. It was no easier for Irving, who was writhing beside her, hissing and spitting amidst a feral fit at two devices. She tried to stand up, to get away, but her socks were slick on the wooden and she immediately fell back onto the couch.
"No no no no no!" she screamed, clutching her head, "Piss off!"
Then, just as suddenly as it started, the flashing and blaring all stopped. No warning, no crescendo, just even piercing noise and then silence.
Lingering into the stillness, the two sat taking only the shallowest breaths, afraid to break the calm in case the device perceived it as an affront. Eventually, they risked a movement; rubbing Irving's shell. Even then, it took Nicola several minutes to work up a gut to speak.
"No... No, I can't deal with this tonight!"
Jumping up, she grabbed the strange device and her phone and marched over to the work desk in the corner. It was though it her father's, he was rarely around to use it anymore, so she felt quite safe just tossing the device in the back of the middle drawer and slammed shut.
It was only when it was gone that calm reinstated itself and Nicola took a full gasping, if uneven, breath. Irving waddled over and rubbed his feathered limb against her leg, a small gesture just to remind her he was there.
"What is it?" he asked again, though the curiosity was gone. They had both sensed it; whatever it was, it was loud and obnoxious and not even in the sense of how invasive it had been to them. It had called something, though whether individual or general, neither could know.
"I don't know," Nicola admitted, "I don't know. I just want to go to bed now."
She went about doing just that then. Turning out the telly and grabbing the duvet off the couch, she wrapped it around herself like a cloak before they both trudged upstairs to her room.
It was only as she was putting on her night clothes that she thought to check her phone. At first, she could only sense something was wrong, though pinpointing it was harder. It was only as she stared at it that emerged to her, where the name of her mobile service provider, Vodafone, should have been there was instead one word:
YGGDRASIL
Frustrated, she tossed it onto the bedside dresser and climbed into bed. Irving said nothing, but just climbed in under the covers and nestled at her feet.
Tomorrow... Naomh, the swimming meet, this... she'd deal with it all tomorrow...
)o0O0o(
Up in the business districts, two pairs of eyes peered through the darkness at the streets below, an unassuming military building in particular. Both were annoyed. The job of a spy was far from glamorous and somehow managed to be both dangerous and boring. Their entire job consisted of following around human tacticians and generals, trailing them and reporting back what buildings and facilities they went into back to their superiors.
And the entire time they risked being spotted by soldiers or worse, those abominations, the DMCP units: large humanoid vehicles that the humans used to fight the Ultimates and Megas. Even one could mow down Rookies like them in a heartbeat.
They didn't really know why they were doing this, though they suspected that those above them were aware what each facility did and what each person entering and leaving signified. They didn't know. They just reported what they saw.
This uneasy dullness was broken when Demidevimon shivered as the taste of power went through them, and the importance of his job just disappeared.
"What's the matter?" Dracmon asked.
Demidevimon didn't response immediately, but just stared across the city, his eyes falling on a residential area. This disturbed Dracmon; his partner was usually the talkative, voicing whatever thought that passed him.
"Hey!" Dracmon snapped.
"Don't you feel that?" Demidevimon asked, his eyes still fixed on a far away point.
Dracmon raised a brow at this. "Feel what?"
"The tingle of power," Demidevimon explained, "It sent a shiver right through me."
"Shiver?" Dracmon repeated, "That was the wind, idiot. It's freezing up here." But Demidevimon shook his head.
"No, that wasn't the cold. That was evolution energy! I once saw an ultimate evolve into a mega. Get hit by the electricity of that, you won't soon forget the feeling. That's evolution energy, right there! Lots of it!" Demidevimon's enthusiasm dialed back to confusion here. "But, and this is gonna sound weird, but... it feels loose."
"Loose?" Dracmon repeated skeptically.
"Or wild or sometin'," Demidevimon added hastily, "Thing is. That tingle, that ain't goin' away."
It was right there that Dracmon took significant notice. His friend was right, the tingle wasn't going away, which peaked his interest. A whole load of evolution energy right there for the taking? No careful eating and intense training in order to build up the reserves to evolve naturally? Yes, please. Despite his rising excitement, Dracmon forced himself to remain reserved as he turned to his friend.
"You're right..." he said, his tone level, "Alright, maybe you are onto something. But what can we do about it? We can't just ditch our assignment."
Demidevimon rolled his eyes. "It's that Major Holmes guy. He stuffs himself in the canteen afterwards, so he won't be out for at least another hour." He leaned in, nudging his partner with a wing. "C'mon. Just a look, see what's causing it."
The solid stare on Dracmon's face was held for just a moment longer before it broke into a wide grin. The expression proved contagious and it spread to Demidevimon too. The two tittered amongst themselves, giddy at the prospect.
Inexperienced, foolish, the two abandoned their post and disappeared into the night.
Author's Notes
Alright, now that I've finished this chapter, I have to say it didn't turn out as I intended. Maybe that's for the better though.
Now, I was on the fence over whether to include the late scene or not, but decided to do so in the end since it had the first natural (mini-)introduction for the oft-mentioned 'CPs or DMCPs. This might send up red-flags for mecha non-enthusiasts, but I assure you that this is just to give the humans set pieces for battles and will not be the focus of the story.
Finally, the digimon are introduced and they have names! Don't worry, they have a species names too. Salem is a Catsumon, while Irving is an Aeschymon. Now there is one thing which I want to ask. When the partner evolve later on, should the story referred to by their given name or their species name when evolved?
Thanks for reading and, remember, all critique is welcome.