Chapter Two: First Contact
Solara's incredulous mind rejected what her eyes soaked in. She looked around at the others, each of them a similar state of shock, as they ambled into the strange new landscape. It was flat, very flat. The field they were in seemed to stretch forever. They were headed for a small dot in the distance, a dot that resembled a structure, hopefully a house. The sky above them was an odd shade somewhere between gray and blue, the clouds seemed to race by unnaturally fast. The first drops of rain fell to greet them a few moments after their escape from the underground and the rain brought with it a familiar energy. There was not a soul in sight as they marched through the muddy field. Thompson knelt a few times examining something on the ground. Soon the others too slowed to see what he was looking at.
"What is it Thomas?" Xander asked impatiently.
"It's THOMPSON," Solara corrected, kneeling beside her friend, "what is it?"
"Boot prints by the looks of it. " Thompson responded loud enough for everyone to hear, "Heavy boots, whoever left these must been very heavy and very tall too, this is like a size twenty print."
"Like a giant," Vera said, suddenly shivering as the wind came howling through the field.
"We climbed a staircase not a beanstalk," John joked giving her a reassuring smile.
"Let's get to that house before this storm really picks up," Xander suggested.
They covered the distance with their mouths quiet but their minds in a flurry of activity. What was this place? What had left those prints? Would it be waiting for them at the farmhouse? It was a farmhouse. They reached it soon enough each breathing a sigh of relief that it was of ordinary size and clearly not the abode of whoever left those footprints in the mud. Thompson peered in through the window, each of them taking a turn at it and each finding the house empty. Xander took initiative as the rain was falling steady now; he opened the door and took the first steps inside. The others followed a bit more tentative. In their world most houses had advanced computer security systems. Here though, they found an ordinary wooden farmhouse, like something out of the nineteen hundreds. It was sparsely furnished and completely ordinary leading them to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Well, this place isn't so bad," Vera said managing a smile.
"Weird how it was raining before we left the city and it's raining here too. Maybe we aren't far from the city," Xander theorized.
"We should technically still be in the city," Solara added, dashing his attempts to rationalize their bizarre situation.
"I think we should go back," Jonathan said, "I mean, I was really curious when I got that strange feeling… but now, this is just all too strange."
"I say we at least wait for the rain to stop," Xander suggested and John nodded his approval.
"Anyone wanna play I Spy?" Anselm joked.
"Or Rock Paper Scissors," Solara chimed.
"I want to see if I can get this fire going," John announced seeing Vera shivering and his own breath being visible in the air.
Luckily there was wood piled up beside the fireplace and thanks to Xander's years as a boy scout soon enough the fire was up and running. The chill permeated the wooden walls and caused them to huddle quite close to the flames. The fire seemed oddly different but the warmth it gave off was just as inviting. Thompson sat and considered each of them one at a time, he knew most of them. Vera was in his math class. Jonathan was on the news from time to time due to his jet setting Billionaire parents. Alexander, or Xander as he liked to be called, was the star baseball player on their High School baseball team. Solara though, Solara he'd only just met. He looked at her now watching the way her hazel-orange eyes caught the light of the fire and seemed to match its intensity. Anselm was the other rogue element. He could tell that neither Solara or Anselm were very well off, both were dressed in drab clothing and far underdressed for this late into the Fall. Soon enough he found himself taking off his jacket and offering it to Solara.
"I don't need it," she said, "but thanks. I kind of like the cold, the chill, it makes me feel alive."
"How old are you?" He asked, she looked his age and yet he'd never seen her in school or anywhere else for that matter.
"Seventeen," She replied, "if you're wondering what school I go to, I don't go to one. Well the Nuns at the Orphanage they do teach us but I wouldn't call it a school."
"Orphanage," Thompson said, the word rolled heavy off his tongue.
"Yeah, it's not as bad as it sounds. It was pretty bad, on a scale of one to living Hell it was only about a six."
"Shh… did you guys hear that?" Vera asked, and everyone was suddenly silent.
The soft pitter patter of the rain against the roof and windows continued as each of them strained their ears listening to every minute sound. At first there was nothing. Then it came, a faint scratching coming from… the door. They exchanged glances using gestures and mouthing words in an attempt to resolve the situation, daring each other to investigate. Solara gave a frustrated sigh moving towards the door with dainty footfalls and slowly opening the door. She stepped back slowly going for a broom that was propped against the wall and holding it out as a weapon as the thing entered the room.
It was covered in a strange orange fur with a white belly and a long fat body. Most peculiar of all and what had everyone in the house moving away from it, was the fact it was flying. Two furry bat-like wings protruded from its upper back struggling to carry its wait into the one room house. Solara took a half swat at it backing into a corner unsure of exactly what to do. Anselm was the first to act, taking a scrap of food from his pocket he approached the strange animal holding the bit of roast beef out in front of him.
"Here you are, eat," he said throwing the bit of beef onto the table. The creature landed and approached the meat sniffing at it before its tiny tongue licked at the food. A smile, yes a smile, drew up on the animals face as it swallowed down the food and licked its lips, "What the heck are you?"
"I'm Patamon," the little winged animal replied. The fact that it spoke sent all their minds into a tizzy, "You got anymore of that stuff, I'm starved."
"It speaks… English," Xander said aloud trying to make sense of what was happening.
"Of course I speak silly," Patamon replied flying over to hover in front of Xander's quite surprised face, "All Digimon can speak."
"Digimon?" Solara echoed.
"Digital Monsters."
"Yeah… okay, if you guys need me I'll be curled into a fetal ball in the corner over here," Xander said slumping down to the floor.
"What kind of Digimon are you guys?" The strange orange talking bat creature asked "You don't look like any I've seen around here before."
"We're humans-" Thompson explained.
"Humons, never heard of a Digimon called Humon."
"We're not, what did you say, Digimon," John attempted to explain, "we're Homo sapiens, we're people and you are an animal of some sort, you shouldn't be talking."
"Homo sapiens, Humons, people, you can't even decide what you are." Patamon laughed, flying circles around John's head.
"This can't be happening, where are we?" John asked swatting at Patamon and ducking as the little guy dive-bombed him.
"Hell." Xander replied getting up off the floor.
"Would you please stop being such a wuss," Anselm said.
"How old are you kid like thirteen?" Xander asked.
"Fourteen," Anselm replied.
"Fourteen… look kid, I eat kids like you for breakfast okay, don't push me."
"You can handle me but you can't handle a cute little bat, hamster, thing."
"That is no bat, that is no hamster or rat, that is a demon spawn and we are in Hell and I am being punished for all the cheer leaders I tried to date at the same time, and the time I cheated on finals."
"Anything else you'd like to confess?" Solara asked with a roll of her eyes, "We are not in hell."
"Of course not sillies, this is the Digital World," Patamon said landing on the table.
"Digital World? Like the internet?" Xander reasoned.
"Don't know the Digital World and don't know what kind of Digimon you are. Did you all hit your heads really hard?"
"I'm beginning to think so," Vera admitted.
"Look… Patamon." Anselm said approaching the little monster, "We're not from the Digital World, we're from New York. We're from a world filled with Humans."
"Must be a crazy place if they're all half as confused as you six."
"We crawled up a staircase," Anselm further explained, "from an underground chamber. We were in another world but now we are here."
"Staircase into the Digital World eh? Sounds like stories I heard as a Tokomon."
"What kinds of stories?"
"Stories of strangers showing up in the Digital World who were very confused and very far from home. You are far from home aren't you Humon?"
"Call me Anselm."
"Why?" The furry little thing asked.
"That's my name."
"I thought you were a Humon."
"I am a human."
"Now I'm the one confused."
"Guys, the rain's stopped. We can go home!" Xander exclaimed taking the first few steps outside.
"You want to see our world?" Anselm asked getting up the bravery to pet Patamon on the head something Patamon seemed to like quite a bit.
They set out soon after, making their way through the considerable muck toward the home they'd left behind. They were so slow Patamon grew tired of waiting up and eventually just landed on Anselm's shoulder. Anselm didn't mind it one bit, he'd taken a shine to the little guy. He petted Patamon on the head hearing a strange purring like noise emanate from his body. For a bizarre mutant he was a nice little furry bat-thing. Even Xander didn't so much mind the presence of Patamon, though his mind was mostly on getting out of the nightmare he'd found himself in. They marched across the plane soon enough catching sight of the column from which they'd emerged into the Digital World.
The Digital World. It weighed on their minds as they made their way. Nothing about it felt Digital, it all felt so real, far more real than any virtual reality they'd ever experienced back home. As they neared the tunnel Patamon's wings perked up and he let out a low growl. Anselm stopped and the others did soon enough, except Xander who just kept marching through the mud.
"What is it little guy?" Anselm asked.
"I can sense some Digimon nearby… not nice ones otherwise I wouldn't be able to feel them like this. Look at those boot prints on the ground."
"We saw these on the way to the farmhouse," John said with a shrug.
"It was raining pretty hard," Thompson reminded, "these are fresh."
"What should we do?" Vera asked biting her lip in uncertainty.
"Go home!" Xander called back to her, he was nearly to the column that had given them entry. The others watched him standing still as he reached the opening and took a look around. Suddenly they saw several hulking forms lunge from the tree line some distance away. Soon Xander was starting back at breakneck speed toward the rest of the gang. They began moving backward as well as the massive mob of monsters, humanoids some eight feel tall, were in hot pursuit. As they ran the mud seemed to grab at them, while the heavy boots and long strides of the giants had them quickly gaining.
"What about the gate!?" John yelled to Xander as they ran for the farmhouse.
"Closed up! Paved over! It wouldn't budge! I didn't have time to try out any other ideas!"
"What the hell are these things?" Solara asked turning back for only a moment to get a glimpse of them.
"Tulismon!" Patamon yelled in response, "Bandits. Run!"
They ran for their lives reaching the farmhouse with very few seconds to spare and quickly barricading the door with the table, the two chairs and all of the remaining fire wood. Still it seemed hopeless, especially as the brutes reached the house bashing against the door with their shoulders. It took only three good pushes to barrel through the door and knock away the debris in front of it. The monsters revealed themselves now. They were humanoid but far from human, their bodies wrapped in black clothing concealing all but their sickly snake-like eyes. Each of them brandished a weapon of some sort and aside from the differing weapons each was identical. Only three of them fit in the farmhouse, more hulking forms surrounded the outside.
"Well well. What have we here?" One of them growled "A patamon and some very strange looking Digimon."
"Let's take em to the boss and see what he wants done with them, they might make good slaves."
"Or an even tastier meal," another Tulismon snarled.
They surrendered. What else could they do? Soon they were bound and gagged and held at the tip of a large spear. Forced to walk off toward whatever fate their captors had in store.