The sun cracked through his window, peering its golden light into the messy room. Clothes were strewn about, abandoned to the mercy of the carpet. The bed nearby had a single occupant, the red-headed youth half-covered by a sheet. His pajamas were askew on his toned body, as he'd been tossing and turning all night. As he snored, his alarm rang out, causing someone else in the room to yelp in surprise. The other person in the room was not really a person, but a dragon. The little drake stood up, panicking at the loud screeching alarm clock going off near Ken's head.
The young man lazily reached over and smacked the clock, somehow managing to push the snooze button. He rubbed his eyes, sitting up on the edge of his mattress. Dracomon, also rubbing the sleep from his much larger eyes, yawned loudly at his human companion. Both of them stared at each other, as if incapable of comprehending the sheer existence of the other. Finally, Ken broke the silence with a simple question.
"So. That wasn't some weird dream, then…"
The dragon shook his head. "Nope, I'm real." Ken reached out, poking Dracomon's horns. The little Digimon pushed back, tilting his head against the offending finger. After a moment, Ken stood upright, yawning again. With a lazy gait, he stumbled over to his dresser and began to pull out his school uniform for the day.
While he dressed, Dracomon looking out the window to preserve Ken's modesty, the smell of cooked eggs and waffles wafting up to them. Within a few moments, Ken was rushing downstairs. He motioned for Dracomon to wait in his room, to which the dragon made a pouting face at him. The young man sighed, returning to his room and kneeling before his draconic friend. "Look, buddy… I don't know what my mother would say about feeding a dragon, okay? So I'll sneak you up some food, and you can sneak out the window after we all leave for school. Alright?"
The dragon looked up at him with eager eyes, nodding his agreement to the plan. Ken dashed back downstairs, his socks slipping on the wooden floor. The teenager slid into the kitchen, finding his mother cooking, plates on the table. His sister, a cute little thing with fluffy black hair, looked up from her manga with a piece of toast in her mouth. The gothic attire she wore clashed terribly with Ken's neat school uniform, and he felt the usual twinge of annoyance at the fact that her school didn't have a uniform she was required to wear.
This frustration could wait, however, as his mother turned and slid a full plate of eggs and sausage onto his plate. She was on her cell phone, pressing it against her shoulder as she cooked. Ken couldn't make out what was being said to her, but from her focused expression, it was most likely not good. Hoping to avoid a discussion with either of them, he casually picked up the plate of food, and began walking out. Unfortunately, his sister stood up, following him.
As he reached the stairs, he turned back to her. "What do you want, Yukuri?"
She smirked at him. "I want to know why you're leaving the kitchen, and taking food up there." She gave him a smarmy look, clearly feeling in control of the situation.
"Maybe because I don't want to listen to Mom's business talk."
"Bullshit, you've dealt with it before."
"And I don't want to deal with it now, Yukuri." He turned away, heading up the stairs towards his room. To his dismay, his sister followed, munching on her piece of toast. As he arrived his door, he balanced the plate on his right hand while reaching down with his other to open the door. "Please, leave me alone, I had a late night, and I'm trying to wake up without having a headache."
She raised a brow at this, but turned away to walk back downstairs. "Yeah, well, hurry up and get over it. From the sounds of things, Mom's gonna be taking us in a bit early today." The young gothita moved down the hall, humming to herself. Ken sighed, knowing full well this also meant a late night for his only parent. As he opened the door, he quickly slipped inside, depositing the plate of food on his desk. He fell onto his bed, sighing in consternation.
Dracomon reached up to the food, pulling the sausages off and tossing them into his maw. He watched his human friend as he chewed the decadent meat, remembering what they'd had to deal with the night before. Yukuri had caught Ken and the dragon as they came home, and it was only be acting like a stuffed animal that Dracomon had preserved the secret of his existence from her. To the younger sibling's knowledge, the dragon was a gift for Ken's secret crush.
The dragon Digimon brought the plate over, hopping up onto the bed and dangling a piece of egg over Ken's mouth. "Ken. Eat somethin', you'll feel better." He smiled at the human, who had his arm over his eyes. Ken didn't respond at first, but after a few seconds, his mouth opened to accept the egg. Dracomon dropped it in, a small giggle escaping him.
Ken sat up, chewing on the food. As he swallowed, he stood before his Digimon partner. "Alright. I've got to go to school, so I need you to stay here, okay? Should be pretty quiet, TV is downstairs, just make sure you're ready to freeze up if someone comes home."
Dracomon looks up at him with puppy dog eyes. "But… what if I want to come with you?"
The young man felt a twinge of guilt, looking at those big eyes. "I… look, people aren't gonna react well to a dragon appearing in school. I'm sorry, Dracomon…"
The Digimon hung his head in defeat. "Yeah… guess most of the humans 'round there wouldn't know what to do about me…"
Ken knelt down, giving Dracomon a hug. The dragon's scales were warm to the touch, and he hugged the human back, claws gently poking Ken's back. As they released, Ken heard his mother calling up to him, informing him that she and his sister were about to leave for the day. He picked up his backpack, shouldering it, and looked down to Dracomon. "I'll be back this afternoon, buddy. I'll see you then, and we'll go do something together, okay?"
The dragon smiled in response, tail flipping back and forth. As Ken walked out, Dracomon's smile faded, replaced by an expression of melancholy. He watched out the window as the three humans gathered into their car, and drove off. Once they were down the street and out of sight, Dracomon began to wonder where they were going…
Digimon: Ignition
Chapter 2: Discovered
Across the city, another young man was awakening, but his rising was brought on by a large gear poking his head. "Hey. Dude. Get up. Dude, your mom is calling. Dude, get up." As David opened his bleary eyes, he was greeted by Hagurumon floating no less than six inches from him. He yelled out in shock, now fully awake, heart pounding in terror. His limbs flailed out, arm smashing into his dresser, legs managing to kick the gear Digimon. Hagurumon barely felt the strike, but floated up and away from the panicking boy regardless.
As David slipped out of his bed, landing with a thump on the floor, he held his now injured hand. "Hagurumon, don't scare me like that!" He rose to his feet, shaking his damaging appendage. The gear floated down to him, an apologetic look on its face. The room around them seemed to settle as David's heart slowed to a steadier beat, and the boy noticed that his desktop was still on from last night. "Were you on my computer all night?"
"Uh, yeah. You humans have got lots of really cool stuff!" Hagurumon grinned, his eyes gleaming with joy. David stepped over, clicking on some of the pages the Digimon had pulled up. Amazon was the first, and David was relieved to see that his new friend hadn't actually bought anything from the website. The second and third were video sites, pulled up to watch TV shows. He giggled at this, and left them both up for Hagurumon to continue watching later. The last site, though… it caught his attention, and he remembered the one thing he'd wanted to do last night before he passed out from the exhaustion the day had brought on.
"You googled Digimon?" David turned back to Hagurumon, his brows raising in surprise. It was something he'd wanted to do, he wasn't expecting the Digimon to do it for him.
"Yeah… didn't find much, though. Couple blogs, I think they're called?"
"Makes sense, if other people have managed to befriend Digimon. It would stand to reason that they'd want to share the experience…" He sat down, focusing on the search results. There were only three pages, two of which were hosted on a popular blogging website. He clicked on those, opening new tabs for them to check out. The third result, however, caught his interest even more. He opened this page directly, going straight to it, and was startled to see only a PDF pop up. Hagurumon floated up behind him to see what the page was, both the human and the Digimon gazing intently at this mysterious PDF…
The Digimon Project
This projecjsdklf; fofpbje qniwopiejqwjf jobifejw jqoiepijfj jojboww jqiopniq and to faciilliadifonveow jqiwoejp jeioqpgio trejninqnowq oejroi jiforejw jiio q qwpew.
Fjdkqpg jqoiwpeip oitjo o monodfno nodsigoi qiwoq xznib is to be lead by David Carter, assisted by Taiga jasump gofepw nuizvo qnowie qiopegirpeq nbuiq noai gni az qjiowqneg jgreo. Qioepgjreiq qiowep nqobifno to create a virtual reality, and iwojef qnoi bfoewn niqopvirn.
The rest of the file continued in this manner for two pages. David blinked in surprise, it looked like a scientific proposal. What could this be doing, drifting around the internet? He looked over the rest of the file, desperate for more information, but it was so badly corrupted that after a moment, the actual page crashed. He swore under his breath, and Hagurumon looked at him.
"That file had your name on it, dude… Did you do something with Digimon before?"
"No, they must be talking about my late grandfather…" David sat back, he hadn't thought about his grandfather in years. Not since his funeral ten years ago, at least. Having that name suddenly pop back up was definitely odd, but there was another name that had shown up. Taiga. No last name.
"What's your grandfather late for?"
The question was so strange that David turned in surprise to look at the gear. As he studied Hagurumon, he realized the question wasn't an odd joke, but found himself laughing anyway. "Oh, it means he's dead."
"Oh… I'm sorry, dude. Didn't mean to bring up anything."
"It's alright, no harm done." He sighed, and clicked on the first of the two blogs. That PDF was intriguing, but corrupted as it was, there was nothing else to learn from it. The first blog had a pink and white color scheme. Obviously, especially from the pictures, it belonged to a teenage girl. The pictures were of a teenager, probably 14 or 15, with what looked like a massive tadpole. Its bluish skin clashed with the rest of the blog, two beady eyes looking up at the camera in almost every shot. The mouth of this little monster was wide, with little teeth poking out here and there, pointing in random directions.
The blog identified it as an Otamamon, and David continued to scroll through it. Apparently, the young girl enjoyed taking her slimy friend around her hometown, taking selfies with it. The Otamamon definitely seemed to be enjoying it, as well. David leaned back, studying the pictures. It seemed odd to him that such a princess-esque girl would have picked up such a bizarre Digimon, but he figured there were stranger things in the world. He favorited the blog so he could check it later, and clicked onto the other one.
This blog popped up, and a wall of Japanese text appeared. David sighed, and activated his browser's translation program. Seconds later, the wall of symbols changed into a wall of English writing. He read through it, discovering that the blog belonged to a member of a Japanese street gang. This gangster had discovered what he called an Agumon, and blog detailed the two's exploits around town. There was only one picture, of the man and his gang posing with the Agumon in front. It looked like an orange dinosaur, and David had to tilt his head in confusion at their situation. These people seemed to have taken an immediate liking to the Digimon.
He leaned back, and Hagurumon turned to him. "What're you thinking, dude?"
"I'm thinking people might not take having monsters around as badly as I initially considered."
"Dunno. You took that electric worm pretty badly."
The human's brow furrowed. "True, though that one seemed to be much more feral than you, or Otamamon, or Agumon… or any others that might have appeared." He sat back up, a thought occurring to him. He opened the other blog, and began to check dates and times on each post. He smirked as his internal hypothesis was proven true. "Hagurumon, check this out. See the dates on the earliest posts?"
The gear looked at both of them, and his body nodded. "Hey, they're all from a couple weeks ago." He glanced at David. "What's it mean, dude?"
David stood up, hearing his mother calling up to him from downstairs. He looked at the clock, and his heart started racing as he realized school would be starting in half an hour. He rushed to his dresser, talking at a mile a minute as he dressed himself. "It means that a couple weeks ago seems to be the start of all of this. At least three Digimon appeared two weeks ago: Otamamon, Agumon, and you."
Hagurumon listened, thinking about his words. "Yeah, but… I don't really remember how long I've been here, Dave. I only know it's been a week for sure, since I evolved into this form."
David nodded. "Yes, but taking into account any younger, or dare I suggest baby-like forms you might have had, your memory might not be perfect from those forms." He stopped, straightening his uniform. "You never did explain that, by the way. Digimon have different forms, how does that work?"
Hagurumon opened its mouth to answer, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door. "Davy, come on! You're gonna be late!" The two looked at each other, and both sighed at the same time. David's mother knocked again, and the boy moved over to open the door. She stood there, already prepared to leave.
"Sorry, mom. Got distracted by some research." David picked up his laptop bag, and slipped past his mother to make his way downstairs. Hagurumon floated up to her, watching his human partner.
"It's alright, David, but we've got to leave if you're going to make it on time." She looked at Hagurumon, blinking at the huge float gear. "I don't think I'll ever get used to you, Ha...guru? Is that right?"
"Yeah, Haguru. You got it, dude."
She shook her head, all three of them remembering the first encounter they'd had. David had opened the door, pointed at Hagurumon, and told his mother that he'd followed David home. He then promptly asked if he could keep him, to which his mother's only response had been to scream in terror. After the two managed to calm her down, she'd relented, allowing the gear to stay overnight at least. The parental unit and digital gears looked at each other, both trying to figure the other out, but finally David's mother broke the silence. "Please watch over the house today, okay? I'm going to be out shopping for a few hours, I'd like to have a house to come back to."
"Sure thing, dude. House'll be safe on my watch." Hagurumon gave her a smile, trying to reassure his partner's parent that everything would be okay.
She nodded to him, and followed her son downstairs. The two of them walked out, the door closing with a quiet bang. Hagurumon sighed, turning back to his shows on the computer. He thought about this school thing, wondering what it was that David had to do during the day. With these thoughts, he turned to Google for assistance…
As the sun rose above the city, two cars arrived at the school at the same time. Two young men exited the vehicles at the same time, both saying farewells to their mothers. These two walked up to the school at the same time, the crowd of other children and teenagers blocking their view to each other. The hustle of the school raged around them, as everyone rushed to reach their classes on time, the front grounds of the building a mass of people. The two finally reached the front doors, and only then did they recognize each other.
"David! What's up?" Ken called out, moving through the tumultuous crowd to reach his new friend. David glanced up with surprise, seeing the boy from yesterday approaching. Studying his new pal, David could tell something was different about him. His posture was higher, somehow brighter. He couldn't put his finger on it, but Ken definitely looked different. His hair was still as blazing red as before, his uniform hadn't changed… David stepped up to him, looking up at the taller boy.
"Hi, Ken. How was your evening?" His voice was reserved, but Ken noticed a difference there. The bespectacled young man seemed much more focused than yesterday, like his mind was at ease. The two of them walked through the front door, making their way past the offices and the crowds to reach their lockers.
"Eh, it was alright. Kendo training was weird. This secret agent guy was hanging around my dojo, asking about some criminal activities."
"Secret agent? Why would a government agent be hanging around here?" David stopped in the hallway, turning to the lockers. Ken continued walking, starting to talk again before realized his companion had stopped. He halted, turned around, and stood next to David as he spoke once more.
"Not sure. Seemed like he was looking for some thieves, and wanted some details from my sensei about it."
David stashed his bag in the locker, closing and locking the metal storage container. He turned and opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see a large young man standing next to him. David quivered, shrinking back against the lockers as the blonde offender looked over to Ken.
"So who's this, Davy? New boyfriend?" He chuckled at his own joke, looking back to David with a menacing gleam in his eyes. His bright blue eyes twinkled with malice, and one arm came up to rest on the lockers, right above David's shoulder. The younger boy took in a deep breath, and started to talk, but once again he was stopped by another person talking.
"Excuse me. We were talking."
Ken stood up tall, chest puffed out as he glared at this newcomer. David glanced over, blinking at Ken suddenly standing up for him. The other boy turned to glare at Ken, as if daring the red-headed kid to do something. The two glared daggers at each other, and a small crowd began to form around them. The other kids nearby started to murmur about a fight occurring, and soon enough, the crowd was clamoring for the two to be at each other's throats.
The two didn't have the chance, as the bell suddenly rang out, signalling homeroom class was about to start. The blonde boy stepped back, huffing at Ken as he turned away and walked off. Ken merely smirked at him, and turned back to David. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Thank you, Ken."
"Who was that punk? Might give him a piece of my mind later." To illustrate his point, Ken cracked his knuckles, fire in his eyes.
"His name is Robert. He's been bullying me since middle school." David sighed, walking towards his homeroom class. Ken followed behind, both of them pushing through the bustling crowd.
"Well, he's a jerk. If you ever have any more trouble with him, let me know, alright?" Ken stopped in front of his homeroom class door, giving David a smile. The other boy turned to him, smiling back, and then both of them realized that they actually shared the same class. They laughed at the situation, and both entered to take their place in school for the day. The rest of the class was settling in, their teacher writing lessons up on the whiteboard for the day. As they sat down, David considered everything that had happened recently, and Ken thought about what Dracomon was doing at home.
Unfortunately, Dracomon wasn't at home. At this time, Dracomon was halfway between home and Ken's school.
Classes came and went. Every subject they went to was done and gone in a flash, at least according to the two's sense of time. After homeroom, they had separated, but the ever-beloved lunchtime arrived after what seemed like no time at all. The two met each other outside the cafeteria, both agreeing to not bother with the sheer mass of people all rushing and racing to reach the lunch line first. They both hung around outside the cafeteria, watching the crowd push each other further into the large lunch room.
"So, how were your classes? ...actually, what are your classes?" Ken looked over to his new friend, inquisitive gaze unimpeded by the people nudging him as they rushed past.
"Oh, I've got math, science, history, then lunch. How about you?"
"Lucky. My first subject is english."
"Ugh. I feel sorry for you, Ken."
"Tell me about it."
The two of them laughed at Ken's misfortune, and as the crowd began to die down, the two of them looked down the hallways to see if any stragglers were coming in late. David nodded to Ken, and started walking into the cafeteria. Ken looked down the hallways as well, sighing with relief as it seemed the crowd was finally done. It had only taken three minutes for the massive pile of children to all stuff themselves into the cafeteria, but it felt like much longer. He turned, and-
Ken stopped, glancing back down the hallway. There, at the bottom of the stairwell, was a little draconic form. It waved at him, big red eyes gleaming in the fluorescent light. His eyes went wide with shock, as Dracomon continued to wave at him. David came up behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Ken? You okay?"
"Uh, yeah! I'm good, just… uh…"
David looked in the direction Ken was staring, and saw the little dragon waving at them. As Dracomon realized a new human was watching him, he froze up, trying desperately to convince the new kid that he was just a stuffed animal! He wasn't a digital monster, he was a toy. David looked up at Ken with curiosity. "Huh… that's neat. Wanna go check it out?"
Without waiting for a response, David dashed off towards the dragon, eager to see exactly what this strange thing was. Ken raised a hand in protest, not wanting his pal to figure out that Dracomon wasn't stuffed at all, but his weak objection went unanswered. As David slowed and came to a stop before the frozen Dracomon, he hunkered down to examine the dragon. Dracomon stood perfectly still as Ken came up behind David, sighing. "Yeah, looks like a stuffed animal. Can we go eat now?"
"It's not a stuffed animal."
This single statement send shivers down Ken's spine. "Wha- C'mon, David. You aren't serious, are you?" His voice was incredulous, but Ken could hear in his own tone that it was also guilty. He was trying to avoid the subject of the little dragon, and he was glad David didn't notice. The other boy was too busy examining the dragon.
"I am. He's too warm to be a stuffed animal, and look at his eyes. They're too life-like." David stood up, watching the little dragon. "Heck, if I wanted to go far enough, I'd say he's a Digimon."
Ken blinked in shock, and so did Dracomon. While Ken's reaction wasn't noticed by the young genius, Dracomon's eyes suddenly moving in surprise was easily seen. David pointed it out, picking up the dragon with both arms. "See? He blinked! So, what's your name, Mr. dragon? What kind of Digimon are you?"
Ken sighed. "His name is Dracomon."
David dropped the Digimon in surprise, turning to look at his new friend in stunned silence. He tried to vocalize something, but couldn't bring himself to say anything. Ken's eyes shifted away from the two others, but after a moment of silence between them, he finally spoke once more. "His name is Dracomon, he's a Digimon I met last night. I snuck him home and fed him. He'd been living on garbage in some alleyway near my dojo."
"Wow… So you know about Digimon, too!" David looked ecstatic after hearing the explanation, and clapped his hands together. Ken looked at him, but this time it was his turn to look surprised.
"Wait, how do you know about Digimon?" The taller boy's eyes gazed down at David, but he stepped back to give him room to speak. Ken leaned back against a nearby wall, watching his pal explain how he came by this knowledge.
David took a deep breath, ready to explode into a barrage of exposition, but was interrupted for the third time that day by a loud yelp. Both boys looked over to see a large floating gear racing towards them at full speed. Hagurumon's two crimson eyes were spinning wildly inside its shell, a look of panic on its face. As it came to a stop before David, it launched into a wild rampage of questions.
"David! Dude you would not believe the crap I found online about schools in your country it's absolutely terrible dude you've got no idea do you know the stats on bullying in high school it's terrifying dude are you being bullied do you feel stressed out dude i'm here to help however i can I BROUGHT YOU A SODA." It opened its mouth wide, revealing a can of soda inside. David, Ken, and Dracomon stared at Hagurumon, stunned and quiet. Finally, the gear noticed the other boy and Digimon there.
"Oh. What's up, dudes?"
It was at this point that David exploded. "Hagurumon! I thought Mom asked you to watch the house! It's not safe out here. There's a huge group of people about twenty feet away that could walk out and see all of us here, and freak out!"
Ken looked down at Dracomon. The dragon looked up at him, looking guilty and ashamed. "I'm sorry, Ken… I was curious about school, and I was also kinda worried about you…" Ken sighed at the dragon's confession, kneeling down to pet the little Digimon. His hand was warm against the other Digimon's scales, comforting Dracomon so the little dragon wouldn't break down from the stress of the situation. Ken smiled at him, trying to raise his spirits.
"It's alright, Dracomon. We can figure out how to hide you 'til school's out, and we can walk home together. Okay?"
"Okay!"
David and Hagurumon watched the two of them talk, and the boy sighed. "Hagurumon, he's got a point. We'll have to hide you both somewhere until school is over, and everyone leaves. After that, we can figure out a way to get home."
"Sorry, dude…"
"It's fine. I was honestly expecting something like this to happen, and I've already got a plan."
All three of the others turned to David as he continued talking. "The third floor of the school is only used by the seniors for their senior projects, so we could easily hide Hagurumon and Dracomon up there in an empty classroom. It wouldn't be too difficult to keep them stowed away until after school, and Ken and I going up there wouldn't draw too much attention."
Ken nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and I know a couple rooms that aren't used by anyone, anyway. C'mon, guys! Let's do this!" He dashed up the stairs, David and the Digimon following behind. All four of them rushed up the stairway, heading towards the abandoned rooms. None of them were aware that they were being watched the entire time…
The door to the abandoned room opened, and the four piled inside. Desks sat unused within, chairs upside down on top of them. Shelves rested empty around the sides of the room, dust coating them in layers of gray fluff. The room hadn't been used in years, and as the four walked inside, a thin coat of dust was brought up by the breeze. Dracomon scuffed at the floor, kicking up more dust. Hagurumon looked around the hollow room, unaffected by the dusty interior. Both David and Ken coughed, covering their mouths with their shirts. Ken walked over to the window, opening it with a loud creak. "Well. This is cozy," he said, sarcasm dripping from his words.
"At least no one comes up here." David responded, opening another window. Ken nodded in agreement. The Digimon looked over to the window, moving over to look outside. The two Digimon gazed out over the school grounds, as the humans nodded to each other. This would work out well. No one ever came up here, so the Digimon would definitely be safe until school was over. Ken pulled off one of the chairs, setting it down and taking a seat on it. He looked up at David, grinning.
All four members of the little group jumped in fright as a small scream echoed through the room. Ken stood up, jerking around to look at the source of the scream. David immediately bolted towards the Digimon, trying to block them from sight, but naturally, the Digimon were too big to be fully blocked. The source of the scream stood in the doorframe, hands over her mouth, staring with bright violet eyes at the two Digimon. Her dye pink hair framed her thin face perfectly, her shocked expression showing off the full colors of her ensemble.
David stuttered out a series of lame excuses, trying to cover for the Digimon. Ken's mouth opened and closed, trying desperately to come up with something to explain what this girl was looking at. Instead, she offered it to them herself. "Oh my gosh! What are these things? Are you guys seniors?" She rushed over to the Digimon, looking at them, examining them closely. Seeing that their cover was blown, Ken managed to adjust to the situation.
"Uh, yeah. We're seniors. These are our senior projects, we're just doing them up here-"
"Hi, I'm Dracomon! Nice to meet you, lady!"
Ken's palm slammed into his face as Dracomon stated his name. Hagurumon simply grinned and floated up and down. David stared down at the dragon in horror, trying to think of a better excuse for the girl. His mind reeled, racing as he thought of every potential reason for the Digimon talking. The girl, however, completely accepted the fact that a dragon just spoke to her.
"Nice to meet you too, Dracomon! My name is Tina!" She smiled gleefully at the Digimon, and looked up to Hagurumon. The gear wobbled back and forth, still smiling at this new human. The two boys stepped back, realizing that this girl was taking the existence of a dragon and a floating gear pretty well. She took picked up the dragon, giving him a tight hug, both of them grinning happily.
"I'm Hagurumon! Cool to meet you, dude." Tina looked over to the the gear, still smiling. The three of them started spinning around, cheering about the insane situation they all found themselves in. Suddenly, the bell rang out, signalling the end of the lunch period. The three humans looked up in surprise, then looked at each other. As one, they realized that they were far away from where they were meant to be, and had to rush to make it to their next class. Ken's stomach growled, and all three recognized that they hadn't had lunch at all.
"Well. Guess we've got class now," Ken said. The three looked at the two Digimon, Ken and David nodding to their respective partners. The three children walked out of the room, walking away from the two wondrous beings staying in the dusty old room, back towards the normalcy of school. The Digimon smiled and waved at them as they left, the kids looking back to give them one last wave before the end of the school day.
As the final bell rang out across the school, Ken and David rushed upstairs. When they arrived at their abandoned room, they found Tina already there, talking to Hagurumon. The dusty room was significantly less so, as well. Apparently, the Digimon had taken to cleaning up the old room, and Tina gently placed a broom on the wall as the two boys entered. "Hey, boys! Like what we did with the place?"
David looked around the room, and responded to her. "How long have you been up here?"
"Uh… since the start of last period? I just couldn't stay away, I love these two! They're so cool, like something from an anime! Hagurumon is really neat, and Dracomon is so adorable!" She hopped up and down, excited and eager to talk to both of the boys. Both of them, however, were only interested in helping their Digimon head home. Ken walked over to Dracomon, placing a hand on the dragon's head.
"Tina, it's nice to meet you, but please, keep this a secret. We don't know how the rest of the world would react to these guys." Ken and Dracomon nodded to each other, and began walking towards the door. David nodded to Hagurumon, who floated over happily. The two humans and their Digimon gave Tina understanding smiles, and started to walk out. The pink-haired girl watched as they walked out, then quickly followed after.
"Hey, wait up! I wanna see more!" Tina dashed after the two of them, grabbing her backpack at the same time. She caught up with the four by the time they'd all reached the stairwell. "I wanna know more about these Digimon! Where'd they come from? Do you guys know if there are more kinds out there? Could… could I find one?"
As they walked down the stairs, Hagurumon turned around, floating backwards as he watched Tina. "Dude, if you find another Digimon, chances are good it'll try to attack you. Y'know, just something to keep in mind."
"I don't care, I wanna see one!"
At this point, the group had managed to reach the bottom of the stairs. As they hit the last step, the utter silence of the school seemed to echo around them. Everyone had already left, leaving only a few kids out on the courts behind the school. Their footsteps echoed through the empty hallways, as they all made their way towards one of the side exits. All the while, Tina stared at the Digimon, enamored with the concept of these wondrous creatures. Eventually, Hagurumon turned around to stared back at her, his spinning crimson eyes gazing into her own.
"Dude, please stop staring at me… It's kinda creepy."
"No, you're amazing!"
"I'm really not."
"Yes, you are! You're, like, a floating bunch of gears with a face! That's awesome!"
"I'm sure it's pretty common among Digimon…"
"Nope, you're super special!"
Ken skidded to a stop in front of the exit, turning to face Tina. "Look, uh… Tina? We're trying to keep these guys secret-"
"WHY?!" The yell was loud, sudden, and surprising. Tina glared at the boys, a look of indignation on her face. Both Ken and David looked at her, shocked by the outburst. The girl continued, however. "Why are you gonna keep these guys hidden?! They're amazing, and cool, and weird, and awesome! They would be really cool at conventions, and I'm sure everyone would love them!"
"Because they're dangerous, Tina!" David stepped forward, kneeling down on one leg to lift the pants on his left shin. There was a red mark on it, almost like a rope burn. "This was done to me by a wild Digimon, and it would've hurt me even more if Hagurumon hadn't stepped in to save me. Digimon are dangerous, and we need to learn more about them before we can show them off to anyone!"
Hagurumon huffed at the statement. "You say that like we're a commodity."
David turned to his gear Digimon, stuttering a reply. "Look, no, I mean, you're not… oh you know what I meant!"
The gear Digimon simply smirked, poking David with one of his gear hands. "Sure, dude. Whatever you say."
Tina continued to look annoyed by the answer, but at least seemed to accept it. "Maybe… but I still want to meet one!"
Every member of the group began to respond, but the Digimon suddenly stopped. Both of them turned towards the exit, eyes burning with energy. As David and Ken both noticed the silence from their partners, the two Digimon immediately dashed for the doors, slamming them open. Both Digimon stopped, looking upwards. Dracomon looked back at Tina. "I think you're about to have your chance."
At this statement, the three humans dashed outside to see what the Digimon were looking at. As they came to a stop, their vision moved upwards. The five of them saw what looked like swirling code in mid-air, multiple colors clashing together around a small black circle. It seemed to be pulsating, becoming an oval, then a circle again, all the while the code spun around it, flashing a prismatic array at the viewers beneath it. David gazed up at the strange circle, entranced by its appearance. The other two humans stared at it, disturbed by the odd sight. The Digimon, however, bristled intensely at the sight.
All of a sudden, the circle was shattered by a strange bird-like creature. It's pink feathers puffed out as it fell through the hole in space, landing heavily on the concrete below. It looked back up at the portal, confusion crossing its little face. It's pink feathers were trimmed with blue ones along the edges, and a large striped feather popping off of its head wobbled as it looked around. As it stood up on little talons, it turned to look at the humans and their partners.
David and Tina stared at the bird, stunned by its sudden appearance. It was a Digimon, obviously, and Tina let out an excited squeak as it looked at them. Ken, however, was more focused on the portal itself. His hand drifted to his backpack, grasping at something that wasn't there. Ken swore under his breath as he realized his swords were back in his locker. Dracomon and Hagurumon stepped forward, glaring intently at the portal… which had begun to pulsate once more.
With a burst of multicolored light, a dark bird-like being popped through. Its wings unfurled, flapping wildly as it tried to steady itself. Its body was round, like a ball covered in black and gray feathers. It glared at the pink bird with crimson eyes. "Alright, you little shit, time for you to- whoa, who are all you guys?!"
Without hesitation, without warning, Dracomon roared at the little black monster. Blue flames leapt from his maw, teeth shining in the setting sunlight. The little black monster yelped in fear, flapping itself higher, away from the more threatening dragon. It glared down, snarling at the group. Tina took the opportunity to dash forward, kneeling beside the pink bird, putting a gentle hand on its back. As she took her place next to it, Ken and Dracomon stormed forward, watching the little black Digimon angrily. David and Hagurumon continued to study the portal, hoping that no other Digimon would pierce through.
A look of fear crossed the little black monster's face, and he began to flap towards the roof of the school. "Look, you guys are a bit more than I expected… Screw this, I'm outta here!" As it flew off, Dracomon reared back, blue flames licking around his teeth. He lurched forwards, maw opening to fire off a cerulean fireball at the little monster!
"Baby Breath!"
The fireball flew at the little beast, slamming into its back! It yelled out in pain, wings flaring out to keep it from falling into the hard ground. It turned back to face the group, anger across its face as it drifted towards an open window. "OW! Screw you all! 'Specially you, dragon breath!" As it fluttered into the window, Ken turned back to the others, Dracomon following his lead.
"Guys… looks like we've got something to do tonight."