Chapter 3: Lost in More Ways Than One

"Wander evermore,
Lost and broken,
Between this world
And the next.

The third world,
The unknown threat,
Are you really free?"

Year: July 7, 2305
Location: Digital World

Koko blinked, struggling to focus as she awoke in a strange clearing beside a broken TV. As she focused the memories came rushing back and she shivered. What have I done?
Her whole body was sore and bruised as she gazed around her and it was only then that she remembered the digi-egg in her arms. She hugged it closer; afraid it might disappear any moment, and stumbled to her feet.
Something glinted on the ground nearby and she stumbled over to investigate, unearthing a digivice, token, and tag with her foot. Carefully she bent and picked them up, putting the tag around her neck and the other two in her pocket.
The egg shifted in her arms and she glanced back at it, still uncertain, but in a moment the top cracked and a snake-like head poked out.
"Kokoromon?" she whispered quietly, dropping the shell as she hugged the little digimon "You're just like the drawings" Tears trickled out of her eyes as she gazed around at the strange place again "This is the digital world? It's so lonely"
She glanced down at the digivice then, noticing that it was gray, and opened the storage feature "You should store up energy so you can digivolve." A soft light flashed and the digimon vanished to reappear a moment later on the screen.
Koko tucked the digivice back in her pocket and stumbled off in a random direction, hoping to find someone that could help her.

Year: March 28, 2306
Location: Runaway Alley, Americanus North Pack-Neutral Border

Ryan stuck around the house long enough to make sure that Keith would survive, then he and impmon took off. He spent weeks on the street, fighting for food and stealing when he had too, before he finally stumbled across an elecmon.
He followed the digimon back to its owner and saw a little girl only a few years older than him. She flinched when he appeared, looking nervous, but calmed slightly when impmon appeared behind him.
"Hello" Ryan muttered quietly, wondering if he should be there.
"Hi" the girl replied, bending down to pick up the elecmon. It was then that he noticed she had a tan tag with the crest of vision in it.
"I'm Ryan" he added when the silence had stretched for several minutes "You're a DigiDestined?"
She blinked and nodded before murmuring "Crystal"
"Ummm...what does that crest do? Do you know any others?"
Crystal blinked again and nodded slowly "I know a few others but they're out foraging..." She glanced down at the crest before adding "It sometimes gives me dreams of the future but I'm not sure I understand it. Are you a DigiDestined?"
It was Ryan's turn to look uncertain and he scuffed his feet before pulling out the tag he had found after Koko disappeared, it held the crest of faith.
Crystal smiled, all nervousness vanishing as she grabbed his arm "You're one of us then, the others will be back soon."
"But I-Well I haven't activated it yet" he muttered, trying not to stumble as she dragged him down the alley to a makeshift neighborhood of boxes and old refrigerators.
"That's fine, you'll learn how to use it eventually" she replied, dragging him into the largest of the box houses "This is the meeting place, they'll be back soon"

Location: Dark Meadow, Digital World

Koko was near the end of her strength as she stumbled into a dark meadow. She hadn't eaten in weeks and had barely escaped from two wild stingmon.
She could feel eyes on her but she didn't bother trying to find them. She was tired of struggling and stumbling through this strange world and didn't care what new terrors waited in the shadows.
She collapsed on the soft grass of the meadow and saw two digimon come towards her but she didn't move. Her last vision was of a black renamon staring at her, and then it all went black.

Five pairs of eyes watched the young girl stumble across the meadow until she collapsed two feet from them. Three pairs disappeared then, retreating deeper into the darkness while the other two slunk out to crouch by the girl and sniff at her. As they left the shadows, their shapes become clear; one a liollmon and the other a black renamon.
"Where'd she come from?" the liollmon growled after a moment, prodding the girl irritably with one paw.
The renamon shrugged, gazing in the direction the girl had come from "There's a digiport in that direction but it's miles away."
The liollmon growled again and turned to stalk off after the others, calling over its shoulder "Well get rid of it, I don't like man cubs."
Renamon snorted, wanting to point out that he was just a cub himself, but she just turned to the task at hand.
The girl stirred as she was lifted into the fox digimon's arms, her eyes blinking open to reveal a glazed red.
Renamon couldn't hold back a whimper of pain, nearly dropping the girl but she regained her control quickly and trotted off in the direction of the digiport. This girl has a great destiny, one that is shadowed by blood and pain.