I don't own digimon.

Story 48

Space Oddity

Guilmon wasn't sure how he ended up in the vacuum of space. He was just waiting in line for the amazing bread in all of the digital world. Run by the kindest Babamon the hazard digimon had ever met, this was the only place where he could get stuff like teacakes or breakfast muffins that actually tasted like they came straight from the United Kingdom. A far cry from other bakeries' shallow attempts at those things. Those recipes didn't seem that hard, but they always managed to mess it up. One of the most annoying things in his life and there was little Guilmon could do in the way of actually solving that problem. He had made attempts at baking, but all those had ended in complete and utter failure. What exactly was the missing ingredient of this equation?

"No use in getting down in a situation like this." Guilmon thought as he gazed about his surroundings. Even within the endless blackness of this environment, the stars twinkled about and what he could only assume to be satellites continued their orbit. Knowing his luck, someone probably had their telescope right on his bad side. Never did get his good side. Didn't stop him from waving. If he was lucky, maybe that was all it would take in order to get someone's attention. Not that they could do anything. He had no clue where he was in comparison to the earth's orbit and that of other planets. It could be weeks, even months before he even managed to find something to take him back to Earth. Most rockets probably didn't have space for him, so he would need to hitch a ride without someone knowing. But Guilmon pushed that thought away. Turning his attention ahead, he began swinging his arm forward. It was just like swimming at night. Except the body of water wasn't actually water and the sky remained the same color the entire time. Kind of depressing as places went. Bartley would occasionally tell him that humans would one day be living on other planets and interstellar travel would be normal. From the look of things, that future was still a long way off. That, or those space colonies were too far out for the hazard digimon to see. Whatever it was, Guilmon continued space swimming. Occasionally taking a moment to gaze at the stars, he couldn't make out any constellations. Perhaps if he had some in the way of a telescope then maybe those could be made out. On the other hand, there was a chance that he could touch a star. Or at least, what remained of a star. Yeah, that actually sounded cool. Figuratively and literally in his case, regardless of the odds not being in his favor in the slightest. Just one more thing to keep in mind as he swam along the cosmos. For such a vast place space supposedly was, one would think that there would be something there that wasn't rock, space debris or a satellite. You would be sadly mistaken. It was actually kind of disappointing in Guilmon's mind. Maybe Bartley would be kind enough to let him borrow some of his books. If he was still into that kind of thing. It was entirely possible that his partner would be an entirely different person by the time that he got down to Earth. Heck, it was likely that he wouldn't land anywhere close to the UK and would need to find a way to get back there in a timely manner. He could figure that out when his feet could actually touch solid ground. For now, his focus returned to swimming. Repetitive yet therapeutic, it did make Guilmon want something exciting to occur. Just to break up the monotony of this seemingly endless black void he was trapped in. Didn't need to be big, just enough to give him something else to look at for just a couple mome-

Guilmon's thought was promptly cut off by way of a large pink blip passing right behind him. Shaped like a rocket, a bow had been placed around the middle section. Before Guilmon could get a chance to open his mouth or make a gesture to get the rocket's attention, the rocket disappeared through a portal. He honestly couldn't believe his eyes. This had to be a hallucination brought forth by way of a lack of oxygen. Yet, the sound of something 'opening' echoed across his ears. That couldn't be possible. There was no sound in space. For something to even make a sound, there would need to be an atmosphere with some kind of gas. Didn't have to be oxygen, but that was preferred. It was a start and that was all that mat-

Guilmon found his thoughts cut off once more, energy surging across his body unlike anything he had felt before. Odd. He hadn't been able to digivolve before this point. Was the direct result of nearly being hit by the rocket? Or was there something else at play here? Racking his mind for the answer, Guilmon found himself unable to really come up with anything concrete. Not that he would need too at this moment, a cocoon of red light forming around his body bringing a swift end to that here. Tempted as he was to open his mouth up, the hazard digimon decided against it. Wasn't worth the energy or the oxygen to speak it. Even as he felt his body be forced upright and take on a humanoid shape. Now what would Bartley think about him? Quite an explanation would need to be given here. If he could even think of one right about now. Which was ignoring the ruby red robes forming on his body. Locks of fiery red hair flowed down, just touching what 'Guilmon' could only assume to be his butt. If not that, he wasn't sure what part of the body it could be. In this dang light, just about everything looked the same to him. What he would give for a mirror to just appear and make it crystal clear what was happening to him.

As if his mind was read, part of the cocoon became reflective. Staring in, he was met with a mix between a guilmon and a magical boy. Kind of like Sailor Mars from that one show. The name of which escaped him at this moment. Not that it had any rockets, but instead a moon city or something. Guilmon's memory was spotty when it came to stuff like that. That, and televisions were few and far between in the digital world. Not that it stopped digimon from marketing 'magic boxes' all the damn time.

Pushing that thought away, 'Guilmon' tried his best to come up with a new name for himself. It had to be something simple, but instantly recognizable in the grand scheme of things. Quite a challenge he had there.

"Scorcerermon." the hazard mage digimon announced and cracked a smile, the cocoon disappearing right after. Looking about the black void, thoughts of increased travel came to Scorcerermon's mind. Perhaps he had gained some kind of way to traverse space at an even faster rate than when he was swimming. Maybe even a way to speak while in this oxygenless environment. The former sounded doable. The latter, not so much.

"Flight." he thought and a broom appeared under his legs. Relatively plain as cleaning tools went, Scorcerermon wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth at times like this. No, he pushed his feet back and felt the broom shoot off. Holding on for dear life, everything felt like a blur of colors and shapes. Just how far out in space had he been? Farther than any human? Maybe, but that wouldn't explain why he had been dumped out here of all places. While there had been satellites in the area, they were likely to either be deactivated or the signal took a metric crudton of time to just get back to earth. A far cry from the speed that this broom was traveling at. Probably a space speed record had been broken. No, that was still held by a rocket or similar vehicle. Maybe even the one that appeared and disappeared, giving him the necessary energy to get back to earth. Or at least to a place where he could contact someone on Earth. Like the ISS. That was still orbiting around the planet. If it wasn't, he would just need to make the descent down on the broom. Speaking of which, it would be kind of nice to actually see his surroundings. "Slow."

The broom slowed down, giving Scorcerermon a chance to look around the area. Blackness at all sides, he could just make out planetary rings. Of what planet they were from, he wasn't sure. Definitely a step up from everything he had seen so far. Wasn't saying much in the grand scheme of things. But the hazard mage digimon accepted the treat to the eyes and turned ahead. Still a long way to go, but he was making good time just getting there. That had to amount to something in the grand scheme of things. But Scorcerermon pushed that thought to the back of his head and got his broomstick going once more. Part of him did want a camera. No one was likely to believe him here, but pictures would go a long way to proving that this was all reality and not some oxygen-deprived dream. Though, he had heard once that some people found being deprived of oxygen as 'sexy'. Why they thought that choking from a lack of oxygen was somehow sexy was beyond him. That just sounded like an easy way to die a slow and horrible death with a complete stranger. Especially out in an environment like this. All alone with only your thoughts and perhaps a spacesuit to keep you company, one's mind could be easily whittled down and reduced to dust. A fate that he hoped would not come to him. Especially not before actually getting back to Bartley. There were so many different things that he wanted to know. Had his boy finally grown big and tall? Was he able to follow his dreams, even in the face of Ordinemon and Eosmon? But most of all, had it all been worth it? That last question would be the deciding factor. All the other questions were more to catch up with his human and get a better grasp on everything that might have occurred while he was away. That, and to figure out what year it might be. That was always important to do after long space travel trips. Why no one did it in those science fiction novels was beyond him. Perhaps their high-tech devices did all that work for them and they didn't need to worry about that. If that was the case, then maybe at least show the reader that was the case and not leave such a basic detail out.

"Now I want something like that." Scorcerermon thought as he sighed within his mind. He had been pretty good at holding his breath up to this point. Wouldn't want to ruin it as he just caught a glimpse of a large gas giant. Wait. If he was just passing a gas giant after passing a planet with rings, that meant he was likely in his own solar system. By that same logic, that meant he had just Mars and the Moon before reaching Earth. By some arcane miracle, he had managed to get back. Proud as Scorcerermon was of that accomplishment, he still needed to come up with an explanation for whatever the heck that rocket was. Some kind of alien civilization? Time travelers? Beings from a parallel dimension. He honestly wasn't sure nor thought any of those answers worked here. Which made it all the harder to decide on how exactly he should go about explaining this to Bartley and whoever might be listening to them. Did he glorify what had occurred? No, he was an awful liar. Bartley would absolutely see right through it and force him to tell the truth. Even if the truth was far stranger than anything that he could even come up with in the first place. Perhaps if he gave some kind of space fact, then it would be all the more believable. Like the fact that he was able to hold his breath for however long this journey was taking him to complete in the fact. No, that was less of a fact and more of a personal accomplishment. Unless he phrased it in such a way that sounded less like he was boasting and more like he was communicating possible applications for digimon in a vacuum environment. Of which there was only one use - space travel. Just fling a digimon out into space without one of those fancy-smancy powered 'digi-ports'. Let them travel for a bit, warp over and repeat the process until you reach the planet. Once there, set up the permanent spot where the digi-port is to be, give it some power and you're good to go. Most definitely more complicated than that, but it worked as a proof of concept. The only problem was the speed at which the digimon traveled. While he had just gotten access to magic and could circumvent the problem entirely, most digimon would need some kind of mobility aid in order to actually make the distance traveled at least manageable in a short period of time. On top of that, it would need to be small and safe enough that a human-digimon pair could move back to Earth once the mission was done. Perhaps by the time he reached his destination, engine technology would have progressed enough to make such a dream possible. Scorcerermon pushed that thought away as he watched a large white ball of rock come into view.

"Almost there." the hazard mage digimon thought as he took a moment to stare at the Moon. While he couldn't make out anything in the way of the various artifacts left behind by their neighbors from across the pond, he had a feeling they were all there. At least, Scorcerermon hoped that it was all there. How else would future generations know that people actually landed on the moon and that it wasn't a hoax in the slightest? Not that he wanted to hear a single murmur of that. The world had enough problems without adding that to the list. Not that it stopped some digimon from attempting to push his buttons. Yes, you could very easily go to the moon in the Digital World. But without a corresponding Digi-Port on the rocky planet, there was little one could do. Especially without the technology to access said digi-ports to the fullest. If there weren't better engines, perhaps full digi-port access technology had been finally cracked. A digimon could dream, couldn't they?

Ignoring those thoughts for now, Scorcerermon turned to the Earth. Shifting his broomstick slightly, he could just make out the atmosphere. Or at least, what he thought was the atmosphere. The hazard mage digimon hoped that it was. He would feel like a massive idiot if it somehow wasn't. Didn't stop him from speeding up slightly and looking about for the International Space Station. That was still around here, right? It hadn't by any chance gone the way of the dodo bird. Not that he actually knew what a dodo bird was or why it was going away.

"Here goes nothing." he thought as an outline of flames formed around him and his broom. If he was lucky, none of the flames would come close to touching it. He would be screwed otherwise and no one wanted that to happen. Especially when the goal was just within reach that he could tas- No, he probably needed to wait until there was blue skies that could be stared up at. Then and only then could Scorcerermon actually taste anything. Focusing his gaze downward, the only thing he could make out was blue. Whether that was the sea or the sky the hazard mage digimon wasn't sure, but he had a feeling that he was about to find out. Holding onto his broom with all his might, Scorcerermon could hear a sonic boom echo out. Had that been the result of him finally entering the atmosphere of the planet? Most likely. Why else would he be able to hear such a loud sound in the first place? Wait. If he was able to hear that, that must mean… "I'm here! Bartley! Come and find me!"

Waiting a moment to see if his words reached anyone, the hazard mage digimon was met with silence. Not that he was actually expecting anything to occur. If something, then he would have immediately been concerned. Jetpacks were still not a thing (as far as he knew). If someone were to shout something back, then it would mean that this wasn't Earth at all. Though, they wouldn't be able to have a conversation in the first place. Rendered that whole point moot now that Scorcerermon thought it over. Pushing that thought as well to the backburner, he carefully looked over the edge. Water below, it was just a matter of slowing himself down so that he didn't die. Bartley wouldn't want that at all. No, he would want his partner to come home in a single piece. Yes, he was very much expecting Guilmon to come back to him. Scorcerermon tried his hardest to imagine Bartley's face once he saw him. But the hazard mage found himself coming up empty beyond some variant of surprise. Maybe he would have some breakfast muffins and teacakes to munch down on. That sounded quite nice right about now. But Scorcerermon was more than willing to wait on that. Especially considering the distance that he had traveled. What were another tens, if not hundreds of kilometers? Made little a difference at this poi-

Pain wracked across Scorcerermon's body before he could finish that thought. Reverting back to Guilmon, leave it to now of all times for his plan to fall right apart. If he wasn't falling this fast, he would have let out a bunch of words that Bartley would frown upon him knowing. Considering that he was likely nowhere close to him, it probably would've been okay for him to shout all of them out at once. He would've even had the added bonus of most of them not being audible to anyone. But he let the thought perish as the water below got frighteningly close. But at the same time, one could just make out a boat. Was that coming to get him? Had to be. Why else would such a vessel be so far in-

Guilmon found his thoughts cut off once again. This time, the result of his body hitting the water and creating a massive splash. Dropping a couple of feet, it was little issue to swim back up to the water's surface. Looking for the boat, he eventually found it and swam over. Waiting a moment for them to throw a ladder over, the hazard digimon looked up to the crew. Mostly nerds, one in particular stuck out to him. A tall man, he was dressed in slacks and shorts. A pair of sneakers covered his feet, a set of socks just peeking out. Blonde hair done up what was supposed to be a professional style, the sea air was not doing it any favors. Yet, a pair of aquamarine eyes met Guilmon's gaze.

"There you are! You made me quite worried." the man announced as Guilmon ran over. Doing his best to not knock him over, a hug followed.

"Sorry about that, Bartley." Guilmon announced and was met with a hug back. Tears rolling down his face, he carefully wiped them away. Once they got back to solid ground, he would them everything that happened.