Chapter 3: The Skater and the Tattoo Artist

London, Ontario, Canada- Late Afternoon

Another day, another time for my dad to get pissed at me for failing another test, which lead to another speech about how I never take things seriously enough and all that crap. Whatever, I decided to go out and skate around town to clear my head a little.

My name is Ethan Jacobs, local skate rat and straight C student, this was hardly the first time me and dad argued, if it wasn't my grades, it was my attitude, or me skating in non-skating zones. Our life had always been screwy since he and mom divorced. He ended up with me and mom got my sister. But I didn't want to focus on my messed up life right now, I wanted to escape…

Sometimes I wished I could just leave this damn town and get away from everyone. Just go somewhere and… escape. It's not that I hated my dad or even disliked him, it's just… a lot to deal with you know? But, right now, my only escape was skateboarding, I just kept riding through the streets, hitting a few fliptricks here and there. However suddenly someone got right in front of me causing me to collide with him and hit the floor.

"AGH! Dude! Watch where you're going!" I blurted out, the man in front of me looked like a hobo, his hair was a mess, and that Red Sox cap looked like it had seen better days. He just stared blankly at me from under those shades with tired, worn eyes before turning around and walking away, dropping something on the sidewalk. "Creep," I said before taking a look at what he had dropped.

It was a CD in a jewel case. "Digidestined" written on it in black sharpie. The hell was a "Digidestined" anyway? Whatever, I grabbed my board and went to leave but, I took another look at that CD, curiosity overcame me and I snatched it, must have been worth something if he was just carrying it around like that right?

So after that I decided to head back home, mostly because I was so curious as to what could have been on that disc. Maybe it was some kind of heist plan? Or a super virus he was experimenting on? Maybe it was a new PC game he was working on? Well whatever it was, I was going to find out. I rode up to my house, and picked my board off the ground. Hopefully dad wasn't still mad at me, I really didn't feel like fighting with him right now. I walked up to the door and opened it with a small click.

I saw my dad focused on his TV, thankfully he didn't seem to notice me come in as he just sat silently, watching some movie I didn't recognize. Taking this as a blessing I silently entered my room, shutting the door behind me. My room was still the mess it's always been, a mirror in the corner of the room let me get a good look at myself, my black hair was a mess of bangs hanging off to one side of my sweat covered forehead, it's medium length had the ends running down the back of my neck. I had a black Vans sweatshirt on, blue jeans, and black skater shoes.

I fished the disc out of my pocket and grabbed my Laptop, flopping onto the bed. With one simple button press the disc trey opened and I gingerly placed the disc in the trey before returning it to it's place inside the laptop.

A few whirs and clicks later an icon appeared on screen. "Click Me" read the icon, I knew alarms should have been blaring in my head. But I really couldn't bring myself not to click the icon. With a click the screen went black, "Sh**! Dude really?!" I blurted out, thinking this disc had just bricked my laptop. But then… text began to form like someone was typing.

"Connection established/

/ Welcome Ethan Jacobs to the DIGITAL WORLD

/ Please enter "Yes" or "No" if you wish to know more."

Okay, it knew my name… that's freaky… but also kinda cool! But what the hell was the "Digital World"? Curious, I typed "Yes" in the command prompt. More text appeared…

"/ Thank you, Digidestined of Canada, you are but one of a chosen few that will save the Digital World from those who enslave it."

There's that word again, "Digidestined", this has to be some kind of video game or something. I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointing, I had really thought for a second there I had found something supernatural or weird. I went to just turn it off, but then… the text continued.

"/ You feel trapped in your world, don't you Ethan? You're a free spirit held down by the pressures of school and society, we've been watching you for a long time Ethan, and we can tell you wish for an escape. I believe we can help one another..."

Okay maybe I called this not being supernatural a little prematurely. How did it know any of this? And it was watching me? Hi that's not creepy at all! I was beginning to get a little freaked I won't lie… the text went on.

"/ The Digimon need your help Ethan, we too are held down by those who wish to keep us under their control. We can offer you the escape you desire, we only ask that in exchange, you help us escape our own tyranny. Do you accept?

/ Type "Yes" or "No" to proceed..."

I didn't even know what to think anymore, what the hell is this thing?! I wanted to just eject the disc and destroy it! This was freaky sh** here! But yet… That escape… I looked towards the door to my room, I was trapped in my life right now, between my dad, the divorce, school, everything just piled on top of me. I wanted at least just one fleeting moment of freedom… a chance to leave the stress of life behind. How the hell could I say no? All I had to do was what? Knock over a few suits? Break a cage or two? I couldn't type "yes" fast enough.

"/ Thank you Ethan, we hope you find what you seek..."

Meanwhile…

Pins and Needles Tattoos- Norfolk England, UK- Noon

Another rainy, gloomy day, so another day in England really, "OW! Careful man! You're hurting me!" My current client, a young college girl who wanted a cute little flower on her shoulder. She'd been doing nothing but bloody complaining the second I began working on it.

"Tattoos hurt, just relax and try not to move so much ok?" I said, trying not to go off on her, if it wasn't whiny girls it was idiot dude bros who wanted Chinese characters despite not knowing a lick of Chinese, sometimes I let my cheeky side through and wrote something like "Picnic Table" on them for a laugh. Not like they'd ever know right? But I lived for this, marking people with my art, living canvasses for me to paint upon, people all to happy to allow my masterpieces mark their skin. It was worth dealing with the occasional idiot for.

"Hey Ross! How close are you to being done with her art?" One of my co-workers asked, Martin, a good kid, he had talent with a tattoo needle that was for sure, one of the few people in this world that didn't annoy me really...

I put a few finishing touches on the tattoo before responding, "Just needs coloring." I told him. "Why do you ask?" I added, curious as to why he'd interrupt me like this, it wasn't like him.

Martin pointed behind him, "Someone's here to see you, some creepy bloke in a coat, he says it's important." Martin explained "I can finish her up for you if you want?" He offered. With a groan I handed him the needle, who the hell would want to come see me? I didn't have much in the way of friends really, it had always been just me and the people I worked with…

I came to the front to see the man in question, he looked like a tramp with his scraggly beard and worn cap, his face was filthy, even his beard had a disgusting quality to it. Two sunglasses hid his eyes. "Who the hell are you anyway?! I was in the middle of doing art when you bloody came in here! So you'd better tell me what you want before I throw you out!" I couldn't help but yell at the tramp, but he didn't show any signs of being startled or even slightly annoyed.

He just stood there, still as a statue, calm and almost withdrawn, like he wasn't even all there… He then reached into his pocket and handed me some kind of disc. "Take it…" he told me in an American accent. Not wanting to risk being assaulted by a tramp I took the disc, satisfied, he left without a word.

I took a closer look at the disc, a CD-R with "Digidestined" written on it with marker. I saw Martin come to the front, having finished with the client, "So… who was it anyway?" He asked me.

I shook my head, "Some freak, I've never even seen the guy before." I told him, I then showed him the disc, "And he gave me this, who knows what for." I added. Martin snatched it from my hands and examined it for a moment.

He then handed it back to me, "Beats me man, it was probably just some loon. I'd just throw that disc away if I were you, lord knows what's on it." He warned me.

After work I took a long walk to my flat, it was your typical dingy building, but it was cheap and on a budget like mine it needed to be. With one turn of a key I entered the flat I had called home since I was eighteen. The home had a silence to it, a silence I usually welcomed being a loner by nature, sometimes it did get to me, how alone I was… but alone is how I thrived… other people usually just… complicate things.

I decided to take a moment to dry myself off in the bathroom, getting a good look at myself in the mirror, my hair was a dark brown, long ponytail that clung to me from the rain, my arms were covered in tattoos I had collected over the years, the ones on my chest and back were covered by a black sleeveless t-shirt. Two ice blue eyes stared back at me in the mirror.

I then removed the disc from my pocket, it's case glistening slightly in the light of the bathroom. I probably should listen to Martin and just bin the thing, but a part of me was curious as to what it was and why the tramp wanted me to have it so badly. I took the disc to the living room and sat at my laptop, I opened the trey and put it in. A few moments of loading and suddenly an icon appeared asking me to click it. I played along before the screen went black and soon text began to appear.

"Connection established/

/ Welcome Ross Beck to the DIGITAL WORLD

/ Please enter "Yes" or "No" if you wish to know more."

It knew my name? It probably just got it off files from my computer, I swear if that freak just came to my shop to give me his stupid PC game I'm going to hunt him down and kick his ass! I typed "Yes" to see if I could confirm this or not.

"/ Thank you, Digidestined of England, you are but one of a chosen few that will save the Digital World from those who enslave it."

Yup this was just a bloody computer game! Unbelievable! I don't know exactly what else I expected, a virus perhaps? I went to eject the disc, but nothing happened, I kept pressing the eject button but the trey just wouldn't come. "Dammit! Bloody thing is stuck isn't it?" I groaned. However, then I noticed there was text on the screen, text that wasn't there before.

"/ ERROR! Cannot remove disc!

/You can't lock yourself away forever Ross.

The f*** was this thing on about?! I just stood there staring at it in a mix of anger and disbelief. "Locking myself away"? The hell did it mean by that?! But the text wasn't done yet...

"/ We know you Ross, we know you've hidden yourself from others, alone is how you thrive right? But deep down… you long for companionship don't you? Alone is never how anyone should go through life Mr. Beck."

This was beginning to creep me out now, how the hell did this disc know any of this? This tramp's given me a haunted disc!

"/ We offer you a chance to break free Ross, to escape and finally connect with someone. All we ask for in return is you help us break free, we are enslaved Ross, help us… and by doing so help yourself…

/ Type "Yes" or "No" to proceed..."

I couldn't even begin to describe what was going though my head right now, a whirlwind of emotions spun around in a furious storm, but when it settled, I couldn't deny that… whatever it was that I spoke with was right… I had closed myself off for so long… so afraid of being betrayed again… it all just collapsed in on me right then and there… all the loneliness that had collected and festered just burst open like a balloon. I buried my face in the palms of my hands before deciding to type my response.

"/ Thank You Ross, we hope you find what you seek..."

Meanwhile…

Unknown Place- Unknown Time

Ow… god I felt like I just had the nastiest wipe out of all time, my back was killing me, I opened my eyes to see I was in a desert or something. But something seemed, off about it… I couldn't quite place it but there was something that didn't quite feel right. Before I could even process any of it though, I felt someone grab me by the arm rather violently. "HEY! I GOT ONE!" A voice said, I heard more footsteps as more figures began to surround me.

I looked over to my right to be met with quite the sight! What I saw was some kind of lizard or dinosaur in military gear, the others where also dino soldiers, just what in the hell is going on here? Did I interrupt a convention or something? Another one of the soldiers grabbed me by the other arm, keeping me in place. "DUDE! Let me go! What the hell is you're problem?! HELP!" I cried.

Suddenly another figure approached, he was a lot taller than his compatriots, like by several centimeters! About the size of a full grown adult man if I were to hazard a guess. He wore forest green armor from head to toe, his face covered by metal face armor and a pair of thick goggles, one lens being small and red, the other much larger and bright blue. He had a combat knife in one of his hands which he twirled around with surprising ease. His body language told me he was quite calm, almost arrogant. I felt his eyes watching me from under that helmet of his. "Well well well, what have we here?" He said as he drew in.

One of the dino soldiers spoke up, "We found him on the ground over there Commander Sealsdramon!" He said, giving the new figure a name, Sealsdramon just sort of studied me for a moment, almost sort of sizing me up, despite not having any visible eyes, I could still feel them staring at me, scanning up and down my body.

He then quickly brought his knife up to my neck, "The Queen will have a lot to discuss with you human..." He threatened me. I was trying my best not to panic, but I was in over my head right now, I had no clue who or what these things were, or why they were so quick to threaten me like this, but I knew when I was in trouble, and boy… was I ever in trouble. He then removed the knife and placed it in it's sheath. "Take him to the mining camp! I'll notify the Queen we've captured an interloper!" He ordered before turning to leave.

The dino soldiers then began to force me to walk, one even pressing the barrel of his rifle against my back to make sure I didn't try to run. So much for my escape right? I think I was better off back home, at least dad wouldn't threaten to shoot me…

Meanwhile…

F**k… I felt like I had just gotten over a massive hangover… the hell even happened? I opened my eyes to find myself in some kind of grass hut. "The hell?" I questioned as I sat up. I got a better look at my surroundings, I was in some kind of makeshift straw bed, the hut was rather small, I doubted anyone could live very comfortably in such a small place… it made my flat look like a mansion by comparison.

Suddenly I heard the flapping of wings before the leaves at the front of the hut opened, and in walked something I really didn't expect. He was some kind of large bird, about the size of a six year old child, his head was white and large, with red markings on his face that almost looked like war paint. His head had a leather belt strapped around it like a headband, with a large red and yellow feather placed at the very back. His eyes were huge, and blue. His lower body was red with yellow feet that ended in three white claws each. His wings had three black tips almost like claws.

The creature wore a kind expression, a smile across his beak, he seemed to be holding a trey in his hands, or wings rather, on it a bowl of some kind with steam pouring out signaling that whatever was inside was rather hot. He placed it gently by my side, "Good to see you're finally awake, I was beginning to think I brought you here for nothing." He said, speaking in a posh accent, I couldn't find it in myself to respond, too shocked at what I was seeing before me, a talking bird creature. Said bird creature handed me the bowl, "Here, a little something to help perk you up a little." He said.

Not wanting to seem rude I took it, I think I could use a little drink just to help me process all this madness. I took a large gulp, it was tea, I was never much of a tea drinker really, but quite frankly, I could do with just about anything right now. "Thank you." I said finally, placing the bowl in front of me.

The bird nodded, sitting down in front of me, "So… if you don't mind me asking." The bird began, "What is a human like you doing in the Digital World?" He asked, never losing his kind expression, he didn't seem worried or angry at all, he asked it more like how one would ask someone how the weather was.

I didn't really have much of an answer for him, I myself had no clue where I even was, much less how I got here. "I… I don't know… I don't know where I even am anymore!" I said, still trying in vain to process this maddening situation I somehow now found myself in.

The bird nodded, "I see, I guess I should have known better than to think you would, you must be very confused right now, in your position I would be too." He said, putting his feathers against my forehead, like a fussy mom checking my temperature. "For what it's worth, you don't seem that much worse for ware." He said.

I took another look around me, I felt like I was going insane! I was in a grass hut talking to a bird for god sake! Most people would have been sent to the loony bin for even imagining such a thing, let alone experiencing it. I looked back to the creature, "What is going on here? Where the hell am I? What are you?" I asked point blank, not really caring if I offended him or not, I wanted answers before I went mad! That is, if I hadn't already.

The bird blinked, "Oh! How rude of me, I am Hawkmon, a Digimon," He introduced himself. At least he had a name now, a rather bizarre one though, I had no clue what a Digimon was either, but I had a feeling I'd find out soon enough…

I took another sip of tea before responding, my hands shaking slightly from the mountainous amounts of stress I was experiencing right now. "Ross, Ross Beck." I introduced myself. I felt I needed to ask the more important question here, "How did I get here? In this hut I mean? Did… you bring me here?" I asked.

Hawkmon let a small giggle escape his beak before replying, "Yes, I was out looking for berries when I stumbled upon you, the Data Forest isn't the safest place to take a nap, so I brought you here! It wasn't easy though, you are quite heavy I must say," He explained, that figures, he just happened to find me passed out in the forest and dragged me back here for god knows what reason. And I wasn't going to try to take the comment of me being heavy in offense. "And to answer an earlier question, you're in the Data Forest village, a part of the Wind Guardians territories." He explained.

He threw out these terms like I was supposed to know what they were, like he was forgetting he was talking to an outsider, "Wind… Guardians?" I asked, hoping he'd understand I didn't know what that meant.

Hawkmon sort of stared before realizing why I asked, "Oh right! You're not from the Digital World, you wouldn't know, let's see… how to explain this..." He began to puzzle, inquisitively rubbing his feathers against his chin. "Well… we Digimon are separated into different groups or families, mine is The Wind Guardians, each group has it's own territory in the Digital World it governs… or used to in some cases," He explained, growing slightly sadder during the last bit.

Curious, I couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean by, "used to"?" I asked, I didn't know if I was getting into a subject I really shouldn't have, worried I might offend him or worse open up an old wound he might have.

Hawkmon sighed, "Some territories have fallen to the Digimon King, no one really knows who or what he is, but he just sort of appeared suddenly and began conquering different regions of the Digital World, some groups even joined him willingly, others weren't given a choice. He now commands are giant army of powerful Digimon, any who dared defy him wound up either enslaved, or dead," He explained.

Something about Hawkmon's body language told me he was quite afraid of this Digimon King. He sort of shrunk inward when describing him, I would have asked him why, but I doubted it was something he wanted to discuss. "Sounds like a real bastard." I commented.

Hawkmon just sort of stared for a moment before responding, "He's why you're here right? You're here to help us stop him right?" He asked me suddenly, how the hell do I respond to that? I didn't know anything at all about any of this!

I just shook my head, "I really don't know." I said simply, even if I did, I doubted I could do much, I was just a tattoo artist from Norfolk! Not exactly the world saving type if you catch my drift.

But Hawkmon seemed to think differently, "Well why else would you be here? Humans aren't exactly common here, and legend has it when a human is summoned to the Digital World, it's because they're here to save it from something." He said, his tone quite hopeful.

I decided not to say anything, I could tell he was trying to cling to any hope he could and didn't have it in me to dash it.

BOOM!

Well that didn't sound good! Hawkmon said nothing and just rushed out of the hut, against my better judgment I followed him out to see that what I assumed used to be another hut was now a smoldering crater with a burning bit of bamboo sticking out the ground. I turned my head to see an army of creatures heading right for us. "Don't tell me..." I began.

Hawkmon gulped, "The Digimon King's army." He informed me, well ain't that a kick in the teeth? The other creatures that lived in the village began to pour out of their huts, and froze in place when they saw who was approaching.

When they got closer, I saw that the "army" was a collection of bizarre and creepy looking creatures, lead by what looked like a maroon goblin of some kind. He wore a yellow tiger print lion cloth with a matching wrist band on one of his hideously deformed arms. He held a giant bone with spikes sticking out of it, his face was hideous, permanently stuck in a manic grin, scraggly white hair poured out the back of his deformed head. The creature marveled at his handy work, "Ah… it's sure is a great day for some destruction, isn't it?" He commented.

He then looked in my direction, "And what have we here? A human!" He said, laughing, "The King's gonna love it when I bring him your head pretty boy!" He added. I just stood there, I still had no clue what was going on, but I now had this… thing's attention, and I think it was quite clear what his intentions where…

A/N- Oh NO! It seems Ross and Ethan have both found themselves in trouble with the Digimon King! Will they make it out? Or will they both find themselves the Digimon King's latest victims? Stay tuned!

11/3/17: Fixing up the prose, and a few typos, hopefully making the story flow better.