Chapter 2: A Brave new World

Ow my back, I felt like I had just gotten laid out by a linebacker! After a few minutes of mulling I managed to sit up,however, with one opening of the eyes I realized there was more wrong here than a sore back. I was in a forest, surrounded on all sides by luscious green trees, I could hear chirping birds in the distance creating a familiar ambiance that normally would have put my mind at ease, however, my issues weren't with what I heard, but what I saw.

There was a sort of… falseness… to the vegetation surrounding me. Something about the grass seemed... fake. I decided to take a closer look to see if I could confirm this or not. I couldn't quite place it though, but something about the grass seemed artificial, unnatural, like I was one a movie set or something. I reached out to touch it, and it's touch felt just as fake, smooth like plastic, but it smelt real, as if someone had sprayed it with a grass scent to add to the illusion. It was also short, as if someone had been mowing it, who mows the grass in a forest?

I stood on my feet, this odd, fake forest had a sort of unnerving creepiness to it I couldn't quite explain, it was a similar sensation to the uncanny valley, something that looks close enough to realistic, but was still clearly fake. I tried to shake this feeling as I began to walk forward, unsure where I was or what was even happening. I thought back to what had happened prior, me coming home from work and inserting that disc, it was insane to think that the disc and this fake forest could be connected, but something in my gut told me they were.

A bit of walking later and the eerily fake forest gave way to some kind of wasteland, the little tufts of vegetation that remained were brown and dead, it resembled that of a battlefield, whatever life had been here before was killed unceremoniously by... something. "What the hell?" I couldn't help but blurt out loud, the strong feeling of "I shouldn't be here" began to wash over me.

I began to leave but I heard something, a voice, it was too far to make out what was said, but the thought of finding someone else here who could shed some light on what was going on was like a breath of fresh air! I looked to see someone running towards me, clearly a female given her figure, I could tell from here she had fire red head, she wore a black t-shirt with a white skull on it, a white, long sleeve undershirt, black biker gloves, and tight white jeans.

When she finally got within arms reach she embraced me in a hug, as if she hadn't seen another human being in ages. "Thank GOD I found someone else here!" She said with a clear Irish accent, now that she was… erm.. so close, I could see she had bright, emerald eyes, and freckles under her eyes. She then let me go, seeing how… uncomfortable I was given her face "Sorry 'bout that, I just… I thought I was alone here is all." She said nervously.

I took a minute to respond, this having been the first person I had come into contact with since arriving in this strange place. "I… I just woke up here… you have any clue what's going on? Something about his place just… it seems… off." I said, my bashfulness kept me from forming words correctly, but thankfully I was at least able to squeeze out an important question.

The woman sighed, "Not even slightly, I just woke up here too, not a clue where I was or anything." She said, well that was no help at all, but it was so similar to my situation it caused for a bit of concern. However the mood shifted when the girl then extended a hand towards me, "Kate, Kate Peterson." She said, introducing herself.

I took Kate's hand, "Jason, Jason Allen." I introduced myself. I then heard something in the distance, it sounded like a vehicle almost, a soft rumbling that was growing louder by the second, Kate's face quickly drained of color, "The f**k is that thing?!" She said pointing behind me. I turned to see something very strange and terrifying barreling towards us.

It was a tank, but with a twist, it had some kind of reptilian monster's torso attached where it's gun barrel should have been, said reptilian body adorned with an almost comical amount of weapons and armor. It's "hands" where but metal claws, it's face hidden behind a metal helmet of some kind save for it's two red eyes. I suddenly felt Kate drag me behind a nearby rock as this metal monstrosity passed us by, it having apparently not seen me gawking at it like a dead fish.

Me and Kate just sat behind the rock, staring at that… thing… in terrified wonder. It seemed to be looking for something, turning a few rocks over with it's metal claws and frantically searching underneath for... something. Then, to both of our surprise, it spoke. "Dammit! I thought I heard voices over here!" It grunted in a raspy, gravely voice that resembled that of a stereotypical war general. Me and Kate dared not say a word, desperately not wanting whatever this thing was to find us.

However, to our horror, it turned it's head in our direction, it's face grew a wicked smirk upon seeing us, "AHA! Found you!" It said before turning it's tank lower half towards us. Me and Kate wasted no time in turning to run. "RUN ALL YA WANT! YOU CAN'T OUTRUN ME!" The creature bellowed in our direction.

Me and Kate kept up the pace as much as we could, "The hell is that thing?!" Screamed Kate as we rounded a corner.

I tried my best to keep up, but let's just say I wasn't exactly the most physically impressive guy out there. "What the hell makes you think I know?!" I cried back, suddenly a missile landed in our path, a small explosion knocking us both on our asses.

The tank monster drew in closer, a clear, manic grin on it's face. "The Digimon King is gonna to be very pleased when I bring him what's left of you two!" He said as he aimed one of his many guns in our direction.

Kate wasted no time in getting up, pulling me up with her, "MOVE!" she yelled before another rocket hit the dirt where we had once sat. Well this is turning out to be quite a splendid day isn't it? Being chased and hunted by a horrifying tank monstrosity that for some reason really wanted us dead!

The tank monster just growled, "So… is that it huh? Well… I guess it's time to bring out the BIG GUNS!" It said before shouting "SILVER CANNON!" Suddenly a rather large missile was rushing to make our acquaintance, worse yet it looked like it had a nuclear warhead on the end!

I was in full on panic mode now! Even if that thing missed us, there was no way in hell we'd survive the blast radius! What the hell is thing's PROBLEM?! Who the hell brings a goddamn nuke to a foot chase?! Kate yanked me behind a rock formation, allowing the nuclear warhead to zip right by us, well at least it wasn't heat seeking. We heard it hit a far off cliff side with a loud boom. "That thing just shot a f**king nuke at us!" I screamed.

Kate just shook her head, "It still missed." She pointed out. Yeah I can tell Kate, because I haven't been disintegrated yet! "But still, we need to shake this thing before it kills us." She added.

She was right, we couldn't keep running from this thing forever, it was going to get us with one of those missiles eventually, and since it was clearly not above using nukes against us, I didn't wanna risk spending more time being chased by it than I had to. I looked around in desperation, and found a rock formation that made a small pathway, I had an idea. "Follow me." I said before rushing towards it, Kate followed closely behind. I could hear the tank monster following us, to be honest he was quite loud.

Me and Kate made it through the small gap, I backed up before seeing the tank monster slow to a stop. "Oh you think you're cleaver huh human? You forget I still have GUNS!" He said aiming one of the Gatling guns on his back at us. "BLAST GATLING!!"

Me and Kate took cover as the monster fired a ludicrous amount of bullets at us. The rocks around us began to be torn to shreds filling the air with sand and dust. But the the rocks we hid behind held together for some strange reason, deflecting every bullet that hit it's surface, as if these rocks were made specifically to protect us from these bullets. The shooting eventually stopped, and was followed by a disapproving roar from the tank monster. "FINE! You got away this time humans! But I'll be back! And next time, you won't be so lucky!" He said before he drove off to god knows where.

I breathed a sigh of relief, thank god it was over! "You okay over there?" I asked Kate, she gave me a nod and we both came out from our hiding spots, both amazed and relieved we had somehow managed to get out of that situation unscathed.

Kate looked around, "Good god! Look at all the damage that fella did here." She commented, the rock formations were in tatters, cracked and ruined by enough bullets to make Rambo blush. I didn't even want to try to imagine what would have became of us if we hadn't managed to find cover, I'd imagine we'd both just be red stains on the floor. Me and Kate climbed through the other rock archway and found ourselves on a hill overlooking the valley. But in the distance, we both saw something… ominous.

There was an encampment of some kind that much was obvious, but upon further inspection, it was clearly military, as it was surrounded by walls covered in barbwire, tiny figures I couldn't quite make out patrolled it's perimeters as others stood guard, it was clearly a place I would rather not venture into, but Kate had other plans. "Come on! there might be someone there who can help us!" She said, yeah that's a theory, or more likely, there will be more tank demons there! But she left me no time at all to object as she was already halfway there, god she's going to get me killed isn't she? I decided against my better judgment to follow her.

It didn't take long for us to reach it, and good lord, was it not what I expected, the place was crawling with weird looking creatures, some where in chains and mining for what I assumed to be materials. Each guarded by what appeared to be small dinosaurs in army gear, they each held an M-16 assault rifle in their claws, their skin was blue digital camo, they had bizarrely cute big yellow eyes, in stark contrast to their not so cute armor and weaponry. I then noticed the dino soldiers had a vacant look on their faces, almost like they were in a trance. It was unnerving to say the least, another feeling similar to the uncanny valley.

Me and Kate hid behind a mine cart, "I'm starting to think this was a bad idea..." she said, oh REALLY?! Ya think?! "We should get out of here before one of those dino things sees us, 'cause I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be shot." Kate added, glad we were on the same page. So we now had to figure out how to get out of here without attracting attention, we could have just headed back from where we came, but we had no clue if that tank monster would be there waiting for us or if one of the patrols we had somehow managed to dodge would make their rounds and spot us. So out of options, we decided we'd have to Solid Snake this thing and sneak through the compound.

Me and Kate silently moved through the camp, using mine carts and piles of ore to hide from sight. All the while I couldn't help but notice the creatures mining, they looked miserable to put it lightly, they were all dirty and groggy, some even in tears over their predicament. I couldn't help but feel bad for them, I'm sure none of them asked for this, but what could we do? We were just a comic geek and an Irish girl, and their captors had guns. All I could do was just keep moving forward and try to keep my head.

This wasn't helped when suddenly one of the creatures, a bird, passed right out, unable to keep up it's work load, two dino soldiers were on him in seconds, forcing him to his feet. "I… I'm sorry! I'm just so tired… I… I." The bird fumbled, clearly terrified as to what his captors would do to him for almost passing out on the job. It took all my self control not to cry out of make any sort of noise at the horrible images that began to flood my mind.

The dino soldier quickly drilled him with the butt of his rifle with a loud and sickening crack. "No excuses! Back to work!" He barked. The bird creature coughed and sputtered before slowly rising to his feet, staggering slightly from the hard blow to the back of his skull, before grabbing his pick axe and resuming his work as if nothing had happened.

I just shook my head, and kept moving, trying not to let what was happening around me get to me and failing miserably. It seemed everywhere we went we found more misery and suffering. Why the hell were we here anyway? Not in this camp but in this… world. It was clear by now me and Kate weren't in our own world anymore given the plethora of strange creatures we found ourselves surrounded by. It wasn't like either of us were equipped to handle… well… anything here really.

I found myself even more fearful of what might happen if even one of these gun totting dinosaurs found us, if they'd kill us or force us to join the other creatures in mining for… whatever it is they were mining for. Neither option seemed particularly appealing, my anxiety going into overdrive as horrible images of what could happen to us began to play uncontrollably in my mind, it took all my concentration to stop these horrific images from flooding my mind so I could stay focused on the task at hand.

Suddenly me and Kate found ourselves in the center of the camp, being mindful not to let ourselves be seen by anyone there. There was a large gathering of the dino soldiers, upon further inspection I saw they had another dino soldier clutched in their grasp like a prisoner. "Ma'am please! I… I just-" It began, a clear tinge of fear in his voice, I moved in for a better look, and found they were gathered around another figure.

It was human, that much was clear, female, she wore a black trench coat and big red and black goggles over her eyes. She didn't look much older than either me nor Kate. Behind her stood a six foot wolf like creature, he had jet black fur with white underbelly, paws, and muzzle. He wore two yellow gauntlets on his arms with black straps at the top. He just stood there, silent and motionless like a statue.

The woman snarled, "I don't care about your excuses! You let three slaves go! That's three workers worth of digiziod ore you let walk out! The King is very clear about how we deal with failures!" She barked. She then turned to the wolf creature, "Okamon, show him what happens to failures here." She ordered the creature, giving it a name.

Okamon said nothing, just moving towards the captured dino, the other two let him go and backed away. Before the poor thing could even think to run the wolf grabbed him by the arm. "NO! PLEASE! DON'T!" He begged, squirming and writhing, trying in desperation to break free as the wolf lifted him off his feet. It was then I noticed this one was showing much more emotion than the others, he didn't share the vacant stare the others did.

But before I could ponder this further, the wolf, in one swift motion, ripped his arm right off! Wires sparked and crackled as the wolf threw him violently to the ground, the dino screaming in horrible agony as the others just sat and stared blankly, not even so much as flinching as one of their own was maimed right in front of them. "You have no one to blame but yourself." The wolf said in a dark, gravely monotone before tossing his now severed arm in our direction, allowing us to see the sparking limb up close, before returning to his master's side.

The woman just stared blankly at the screaming creature without a hind of remorse in her face. "Take this as an example for those of you who defy the Digimon King! You Commandramon are to obey, or else he is what you will become." She said pointing to the fallen creature. "Dismissed." She then said, and obediently, the other creatures turned and left.

I just sat there with a million questions running through my head, who was that woman, how did she get command of these creatures? Oh god what would happen if she found us! But worse still, that creature was still screaming! He clutched the socket his arm used to be in and writhing on the floor.

Kate tugged on my arm, "Jason we need to keep moving, I don't want to be in this place any longer than I have to." She said to me, I agreed, and went to leave, but another howl of pain stopped me in my tracks, "WAIT!"

I turned to see the dino had spotted us, he looked at us, "H...help me… help me please!" He whimpered, I looked down to see his severed arm laying in front of me.

Kate tugged my arm, "Forget it! You saw what those things were doing! Besides we don't have time!" She told me, she had a point, these things were enslaving these creatures, did it really deserve my sympathy? But yet, I couldn't bring myself to just leave him, he looked so helpless, so afraid… what kind of monster would I be if I just left him to suffer like that? Even if he did help enslave those other creatures, no one deserves that kind of cruelty. So I picked the arm up off the ground. "The hell are you doing?!" Kate objected from behind me.

I said nothing, walking over to the injured creature, I had some tech know-how, but I doubted I could repair robotic dino soldiers. But I tried anyway, popping the arm back into it's socket, I suddenly felt a warmth in my pocket, confused I reached inside it and felt something small and plastic inside, I got it out to see some kind of device or something, it was white with red grips and buttons, a small LCD screen sat within a red ring, and a red strap came from the top of the device. The device came to life with one beep and shot a light at the robot dino, mending it's ripped and damaged wires, and repairing all the damage the wolf had done to it.

The dino moved his arm around, as if testing it to see if it worked again, he then looked to me, "Thank you." He said with a surprisingly warm smile, but it quickly faded, "But why though? Why would you help me? You don't even know me." He asked, he seemed genuinely confused, like he expected me to just leave him.

I cracked a small smile, "Cause you needed it, it wouldn't have been right to leave you like that." I answered. My mother had always said I was too kind for my own good, and one could argue the better option would have been to just leave, but I didn't have it in me to be cruel or cold like that.

The dino then stood up, and offered his claw for a handshake, "Commandramon, model C-3A." He introduced himself, the same term she had used to address the other dino soldiers, I guess they didn't have names of their own.

I took his hand, "Jason, Jason Allen." I introduced myself, shaking his hand. At least I knew what to call him now.

Kate cautiously approached, a bit weary of Commandramon. "So… dare I ask why that woman did that to you?" Kate asked, keeping a short distance between her and Commandramon.

Commandramon paused for a moment, "Three slaves escaped while I was on duty, The queen doesn't appreciate failures." He said, so she's their queen? Wow, ego much? I then remembered the message the computer had given me before I woke up here, how someone from our side had enslaved the digital world. Was if referring to her?

Kate shook her head, "Why is she enslaving these creatures? And why the hell would YOU help her?!" Kate said rather suddenly and with a strong accusatory tone.

Commandramon flinched a little at her outburst before responding, "I… I don't know… I… I never… I never questioned it until now… they were just… orders." He responded. He seemed genuinely lost and confused, how the hell it too that long to realize forcibly enslaving people was wrong I had no clue.

Kate crossed her arms, "You never questioned it?! HOW?! Look around you! How could you ever think any of this was right?!" She yelled, she was going to get us caught with this little outburst!

I had to stop this before we ended up dead! "KATE! Could you cool it down just a touch? Or do you want to get us all shot and killed?" I said, Kate went to argue back but realized I was right and sighed. I then turned towards Commandramon, "We need to get out of here, you know a way out?" I asked him, I doubted he was willing to help the Digimon Queen anymore given his rather unsubtle firing she just gave him.

Commandramon thought it over a moment before coming up with his response. "I might, but you two are going to need to remain hidden, the Digimon Queen doesn't take kindly to visitors." He said, he then got up and walked towards a stray mine cart, removing it's tarp, "In here, I'll wheel you two out without her or the others knowing you're inside." He said, it wasn't a bad plan all things considered, I doubted any of the Commandramon would question him wheeling a cart through the camp.

However, Kate was hesitant, "And how do we know we can trust you?" She said, I just rolled my eyes, considering they just tried to rip his arm off I don't think he's willing to work with her anymore! But I kept it to myself and just got into the cart. Kate relented and followed me inside, Commandramon putting the tarp back over us and began to push it along.

We were both in complete blackness, it was unsettling really, add the fact that the cart wasn't very big, meaning me and Kate were rather… close… to each other made it even more uncomfortable. "OW! Careful! That's my leg!" She said, I moved around to get myself off her. This was going to be a loooong trip wasn't it?

A/N- It looks like our heroes just made a new friend and are on their way to escaping this slave camp! But will they make it out alive? Or will the Digimon Queen catch them? Stay tuned!

Okay, I'm going to have to address the elephant in the room, or rather… the wolf in the room.

Okamon: Really? You went with that joke… wow.

Dude shut up I'm talking to the audience here! I have to explain this to them so I don't get torn to shreds in the comments!

Okamon: I'm Foowd's unoriginal Renamon OC he created during his awkward early days as a writer on DeviantArt, there I explained it! Can I leave now?

Well I wouldn't have put it so… bluntly… but yes, that is basically the tl;dr version of it. Okamon is probably my longest surviving OC Digimon, and my only one. I suck at making up Digimon ok! Shut up and leave me alone!

Okamon: Well while he's having a mental breakdown, I'll let you know he has pictures of me on his DeviantArt if you really want to see, I'd link but, Fanfiction doesn't like links so oh well, he still goes by Foowd on DeviantArt so it won't be that hard to find. You going to be okay?

I just wanna be LOOOVED! WAAAAAAHHH!

Okamon: Yeah he'll be fine folks, don't worry.

Update 10/13/17: I really need to proofread my stories, I did some rewriting in order to make the prose read better and flow more naturally.

Update 11/9/17: Fixing some embarrassing typos I somehow missed during my last update, I'm great!