Lily screamed as the burst of light emerged from the box she was holding, seeing it open up to reveal the face of Lampon. There was something incredibly unsettling about the Demon Man type digimon. The way it seemed to be mocking her, the way it came from out nowhere. Lily had no time to process this before suddenly she saw Emma and Fefnir were sucked into the box. Light shown around the Mettarus, and Lily had to close her eyes for a moment with how bright everything had suddenly become. She felt her knees trembling as she did finally look up to see the face of Lampon. The demon seemed quite pleased with itself, giving her its cryptic warning. Lily let out an anguished cry, "Wait! Where did they go?" She asked desperately, a twisted feeling inside of her stomach. Two people, two good people, had been sucked out of existence in a moment. It was all she could do to not cry.

Two wishes, two cards she could use. She took them from the air with trembling fingers, the entire world spinning underneath her. She had wanted to survive. She wanted to live and she didn't want anyone else to die either. What had been this cost exactly. Could those two be...

She pushed the question out of her mind, shaking her hair as she swallowed the terrible thought before it could be born. They had to be fine, they had to be safe. They couldn't have been...

"Lily" Wormon called out, snapping her back to reality. The little green larva type digimon was panting heavily, having been throw back towards her by the larger monster. Candlemon was breathing heavily too, its arms dropping to its sides as the rookie level digimon seemed to double over. Everyone looked more ragged, everyone had their backs to the wall.

"I don't...I could..." Lily mused to herself, looking at the wish. She could just make the monster go away. With a single utterance she could end this entire battle. But what would the cost be? Would she suck Suzuki or Wormon into this...thing? Would Lampmon come back? What was the price for these wishes. She didn't know, and that was more frightening than the monster. She had wanted to live and she was resolved now to keep on living. There had already been too high of a cost and she would make sure it wasn't in vain.

She clutched her expanse caller. Everyone had always called her a coward. They were right, but she couldn't let that stop her now. She needed more power, more from her digimon and from herself. She looked at Kudamon and the girl named Suzuki. They were scared too. Yet the girl's faith seemed to keep her partner fighting. Did she have that same power? Even if she didn't....

"I want to live...I want to live!" Lily yelled as that seemed to be signal for her partners. Wormon nodded and flung itself back at the Mettarus. There was no way they could beat it alone...but maybe together...

Wormon sensed it too. Standing with Candlemon, the pair of rookies shot their attacks at the monster's legs. "Everyone! Try hitting it together!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping someone would hear her and this plan would work. It had to.

Ciel held the beast in place with all her might as she watched the other operators attack. Aki leaned into the numbness and searched through her chip folder like a fridge at midnight, looking over and over at the same weapons, desperately trying to find a way to escape this madness.

"Try not to waste them, and thank you for freeing me, young one!"

Aki took a step back, shocked out of her trance. What was that creature? If it was like some kind of genie in a lamp, maybe it could also get this squad out of here?

As Kudamon fired another attack at the Mettaurus, Wormon and Candlemon attacked its legs, the combined assault enough to drop it to the ground. It began to slowly raise itself back up with its remaining arm when the new digimon decided to act. Agumon fired a blast of flame from its mouth, hitting the virus that had withstood Fefnir's flames with ease, and noticed that it was having little effect as well. In a rather reckless move, it and Veemon both decided to rush the virus hazard and attack. Just as the Mettaurus L got back to its feet, Agumon's Claw Uppercut connected with its jaw. The flames engulfing Agumon's hand did little harm, but the force of the attack was enough to send it two feet into the air, where Veemon jumped and slammed its skull into the virus' forehead with its Vee Headbutt. The Mettarus was sent flying backwards into the dirt a few meters away. There was a palpable sense of anticipation as the virus once more tried to get back to its feet... And failed, a crack showing in its head from where Veemon had connected its attack which spread throughout its body until it finally burst into polygons and a flood of the neon "blood" that had leaked from it previously.

As the realization of victory dawned on the survivors, they would likely notice that the ooze left behind by the virus would catch ablaze, and the polygons that were blasted around that same liquid would reform into a new shape. The fire began to reform into something new, as did the polygons. The humans' Expanse Callers would chime out: "Adult-Level Machine Digimon, Clockmon, detected. Adult-Level Flame Digimon, Meramon, detected."

As the two digimon lay face down in the dirt, everyone would notice that not only had the growing heat of the area subsided since the virus hazard's defeat, but that the sun was back in its position for early morning, rather than near the horizon as it had been a moment ago. The two digimon would slowly regain consciousness and stand up, clearly confused.

"Where... where am I?" Clockmon would ask.

"I thought I was dead!" Meramon added.

The two of them looked around at each human and digital entity in the area, before looking towards the tower. It seemed like they saw something, before turning back to the group, waiting to see what happened next.

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

With her lips pressed close together, Suzi stared at Clockmon and Meramon. They both were terrifying looking, but not as terrifying at the virus-like Digimon they had just defeated. Their confusion seemed to make them appear less frightening, though. Her mouth opened a little, as if to speak-up, but before she could say anything, Kudamon spoke up.

"Do you remember what happened before you thought you were dead?" It asked Meramon.

Suzi looked back-and-forth at the two newly appeared or rather saved Digimon and to Kudamon. She wanted to know the answer to Clockmon's question. So, before Meramon could respond Suzi interrupted the conversation, "Where are we, Kudamon?"

Kudamon quickly turned it attention away from Meramon and to its Digital Trainer. “No, Suzuki-chan. I do not know this place.” And just like that, the Digimon’s gold eyes returned to Meramon.

Looking downward and pressing the tips of her toes together, Suzi drew in a breath. She recollected her conversation with Aki-senpai. There were a lot of knew things to learn, and she kept finding herself stuck at the same question. This was like a test she had studied for but also had not studied for.

Its, okay, she told herself before examining the other humans and their oni-like friends. They were all different looking creatures. Some were more humanoid than others. She also noted that she was one of the youngest of the humans, aside from the girl with the red hair and green eyes. They were about the same height.

The first thing that Lily thought of when seeing the two larger digimon was how they were possibly expected to have another battle. Every minute since dropping into this world had been filled with danger. Around her she could still see the scars from the battle with the Mettaurus. They had won, but only through an incredible amount of combined effort. Several digimon and other apparitions had come together to win the day...or at least give them a chance to see tomorrow. Even if she herself hasn't fought in the battle, Lily felt herself drop to her knees in exhaustion. The battle had taken something out of her and she needed a second to catch her breath.

"Are you ok Lily?" Wormmom asked before he too suddenly shrunk back down to Minomon with Candlemon following suit to return to DemiMeramon. She blinked at the sudden transformation of her partners back into a weaker state. The other young girl's partner seemed to be fine. It was the first semi quiet moment that she had seen Suzi in since arriving. A thought did nag at her though; her digimon partners were tied at least in some way to her spirt and ability to persevere. Was her own will lacking in some way.

Lily forced herself to nod and give a little bow of her head to the two concerned digimon, "Thank you both for helping me. I'm glad you're both alright."

She turned now to Suzi and met her gave. A little blush found its way to her cheek as she forced herself back to her feet and brushed off her dress, "I don't think we really had a chance to meet. I'm Lily from the United States." She offered looking now at Clockmon and Meramon.

She kept some distance from them as she stood near Suzi and Kudamon. She remembered the digimon who had brought reinforcements to their aid. She could always ask him...

No. Too risky. The price was potentially far too high. Better to save it for an emergency, a true emergency. There was also the potential of asking him to send them home. Was she being selfish? There would be time for that later.

"If you both don't mind...I think we're as lost as you are. Do either of you know how to get back to Wyoming?"

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

Suzi looked at Lily with hesitancy and glanced at Kudamon. The Digimon was still laser focused on the clock looking monster and the flame-like monster. She drew in a little breath within her chest as she turned to Lily. “Why-oh-Ming,” she said slowly and overly articulately. She had meant to introduce herself first, not to miss all the formalities that had been taught to her by family and school. However, she felt exhausted from the fight, even if she had not been the one physically exerting energies.

“I-I am sorry,” the young girl corrected herself. She wanted to feel embarrassed by her manners, but there was something friendly about Lily-kun. Maybe it was their predicament or her youth. Aki-senpai was also from the United States. Both had given her their first names, respectfully. It was intimidating but also made them seem friendlier and more approachable. “My name is Takada Suzuki. I am from Toh-kee-yoh, Japan,” she said while over pronouncing the city of Tokyo for better clarification. “We have no idea where… we are, either…” Suzi’s voice lingered more quietly in the air as she came to the same conclusion as Lily.

Her brows knit upwards as if contemplating something. She thought about what Kudamon had just asked Meramon. Again, she drew in the same breath within her chest, “The last thing… I remember was it was New Year’s Eve. I… was lying in bed and clapping the lights goodnight and say-saying my prayers,” a deep ness swelled in her dark brown eyes as she retraced her memories. She could see her bedroom right in front of her as she thought about it. Her hand slipped to her wrist where her prayer beads were fashioned. Her father had told her that if she were in a bad dream, she could simply say The Prayer — 主は、イエスキリストは、神の御子、罪人わたしをあわれんでください and escape her nightmare.

She thought about Aki-senpai. Before the battle, Suzi knew she had been very forthright about this not being a dream. In fact, at one point, she had felt an elation or excitement, at having a Digimon in real life. Why would she have thought it was real life, if it was a dream? Nothing made sense. “And… before that, I had been playing with my new Omniphone. I…” She hesitated, again, realizing it was a little easier to talk to Lily-kun than Aki-senpai. She had been concerned about coming off as mature with the older girl, but with Lily-kun, a more fluid style of conversation came to her. “I had been playing with the Omniphone’s Digivice App. I actually had… or have a Kudamon on my phone.” The young girl thought about Aki-senpai wrestling with the idea of them being trapped in a video game.

No, no. That could not be the case. Everything was too real. Or maybe, in some strange and bizarre, mysterious way, Suzi secretly wanted this to be real. “What is the last thing you remember, Lily-kun?” She finally asked Lily.

Aki.

Today wasn't cold, but something about it made Aki shiver. Like any day, she expected the dry burden that built out her cycle of life to continue. She would wake up to an empty house, maybe with a signed post-it note listing groceries to pick up if she was lucky. If her parents were in a really good mood, there might even be a smiley face on it. She'd burn a slice of toast and spray it with zero-calorie I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, and she'd rush to the skating rink to start her workday.

At the rink, she'd yell at smelly junior high kids to stop climbing on the props and would empty the ticket counters in the arcade. At the end of the day, she'd pick up her paycheck from the rink manager, which would suspiciously miss a few hours pay. "These old things break down all the time. Can't be helped." He would say. Too anxious to make any more fuss about it, Aki would take the deflated check to the bank and stop by Sam's Club on her way home, using her parents' membership.

Once she got home, probably around 7 PM, her dad would ask her about work and once again if she had decided what she wanted to do. Where she wanted to go to school. How she could make her life worth something. He always thought he was trying to help, but the constant pressure only worsened her anxiety. Aki would wave his concerns away, only allowing "I'm thinking about it" to surface from the knotted tangle of anxiety and dread that threatened to further tighten as each day ticked away. She would finish dinner early, citing "I'm not feeling very good" as her excuse and crash in her room to worry about life while pretending to watch Netflix, which blared too loudly in the background. As her shows streamed from one to the other, so would her thoughts, dreading the start of the next cycle, the next customer, the next question. Whether she would find a school, or even qualify for one. If there was anything she was good at, whether she would someday bring some value to the world. If she was just leeching off of other people's work, and if everything would be better if she just weren't there to begin with. If—

A͑k̠i͒̎!

The grinding bits in the navi's voice abruptly ripped the turtled girl out of her innermost sanctuary. The world came flooding back. The viruses. The fight. The heat. This absolutely wasn't the time to space out!

C-Ciel! You're okay!

"Okay" is an overstatement, but I'm not deleted yet.

The navi forced her joints back into place with a horrible grating sound, causing Aki to wince. Ciel limped to where the teen stood and dropped a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, waiting to be scolded for once again being inattentive and useless.

Good job out there. Keep operating like that and we just might make it out of here alive.

Good... good job? After failing to protect Ciel from that beast thing? After spacing out?

I didn't do all that much... you were amazing out there.

A navi's duty is to protect their operator. For me to do that, we need to be in sync.

The program glanced between the worn out entourage.

And not just us... The lot of you, we need to stick together and come up with a plan. What do you know, and what can you do?

"I was just minding my own business when this weird helmet-wearing blob attacked me!" Meramon replied to Suzy. "The last thing I remember is getting a pickax swung at my face!"

"You too?" Clockmon asked. "I remember this strange ball of fire with yellow helmet show up, and the next thing I know I'm here."

The two digimon gave each other a look of understanding, but kept quiet as the human children conversed. Then, just as Ciel had managed to get over to Aki and was beginning to question what the others were capable of, there was a loud crash near the tower, dust rising in a plume around the sound. Meramon and Clockmon both took a battle-ready stance, a fireball burning in Meramon's hand and a gun appeared within Clockmon's, but there didn't seem to be any threat from the explosion of dirt and dust.

"Child-Level Reptile Digimon, BlackAgumon detected." The humans' Expanse Callers said, just as the smoke cleared and said digimon became visible, having apparently face-planted from high in the air, as its head was buried in the ground and its body was sticking straight up balanced on its neck. As it tried in vain to push itself up so that it could remove its head from the earth, the Expanse Callers rang out again. "Adult-Level Angel Digimon, Angemon detected."

Clockmon looked back at the humans, intrigued by their knowledge of the digimon near the tower, but Meramon's gaze turned upwards once more. From the top of the tower shone a bright white light that served as a poignant backdrop to the descent of a winged humanoid. The foreign digimon held something in its arms, though it was to bright to tell what it was. Soon the angel floated down to the earth and stood, just as the BlackAgumon freed its head from what was now a rather large hole in the ground, and it became clear that what it had brought with it was a human, held bridal-style in its arms. The digimon set the human on the ground so that she could stand; Octavia Wilmens was back.

"I apologize once more for the inconvenience, Miss Wilmens. When you were brought to our palace, it was believed that you were similar to Mister Hanson. However, it is apparent now that you do not fit in with our realm, and as such I have brought you back to where you were taken from." The Angemon spoke to the newly arrived girl, and held out what appeared to be a trading card of some kind. "As compensation, I hope you will accept this Capture Card, programmed to gift the wings of an angel to a digital being."

As soon as Octavia took the card, the Angemon would rise back into the air, ignoring the other humans, digimon, and navi, until it disappeared from sight entirely. The light that shone from the top of the tower faded alongside the angel digimon. It was just as it faded from view that Ciel began glowing a light green. The NetNavi slowly faded away with the color, only to reappear inside the holographic portion of Aki's sight, back in her Expanse Caller. At the same time, Kudamon began panting heavily. But by the time Suzy noticed, Kudamon had already been engulfed in a white light and returned to her Expanse Caller as well, now visible in the part of her sight taken up by its hologram. While the other two partner digimon did not return to Lily's Expanse Caller, they were visibly hurt from the battle and a warning appeared in her sight, scrolling across. -Digimon Health Critically Low. Recommendation: De-Actualization.-

With a heavy huff of air and angrily shoving the card into her pocket, Octavia quickly turns to Rumi, who is rubbing it’s head and staring at the hole.

You okay, buddy? They didn’t have to throw ya that hard into the ground.

Octavia walks up to Rumi, grumbling underneath her breath and with a bit of a stomp to her step on her way to him, tends to him. Rumi looking up at her with a deadpan look to his face. She smiles.

There not a single thought between those eyes, huh? Well, it was your fault that got us caught. Besides, for a bunch of “holy squares” I didn’t think that they’d have cow over me borrowing something. “Stealing” they said, phh. What a load of crap.

Izzy, a Tentomon, from the holographic image only she can see; scolds her about what they did.

I told you it was a bad idea! I’m sure they would have let you have it if you’d just ask!

What’s the fun in that? They way I see it, it was a call to a challenge! Sitting there all nice and pretty.

Rumi nods in agreement with Octavia, but abruptly jumps at the sight of the others. Octavia turns her head and twists her body slightly to somewhat face the others without actually turning around.

Whoa, what’s with the damage? Did y’all get into some sort of cat fight?

Chatting with Suzi was a much welcomed change of pace. Rather than constantly running into danger it was nice to just have a normal conversation with someone. Suzi seemed nice, even if the girl was different than her. Lily had no idea why she thought her last name was 'Chan' but she smiled and thought about it for a moment.

"Well...I was sitting in front of my computer playing a game. It had to do with digimon. Next thing I knew my omniphone got all bright and..." Lily stopped herself as her memory seemed to go blank. What had happened to her? She took a moment to look at her expanse caller that had replaced it. There was all kinds of strange code, lines of data she couldn't make heads or tails of, "Then...I just woke up here. I'm glad everyone is OK now though."

They were interrupted as Angemon descended from on high. Lily found herself struck by the majesty of his wings. The light that came from him in a glow that made her heart flutter. Her tongue hung to the roof of her mouth and she was dumbstruck.

"Ah...Lily? Digital World to Lily?" Demi-Meramon asked in a tired voice as his flame flickered weakly.

Lily ignored him and tucked some hair behind her ear, only to watch the angel man fly away. "Wait no...can I have your number?" She asked in vain as the digimon flew away without so much as a glance in her direction. Minomon huffed, muttering that he would look way cooler if he had wings.

The notice on her phone caught her attention away from the digitial hunk of angel man. De actualize? That was like the phrase she had said to call out her digimon in the first place. Worry gripped her little heart but her partners smiled and seemed to sense her concern.

"We just need to rest a bit is all. If anything happens we'll come right out to help ya!" Minomon assured her, dissipating some of her fears.

"D...de actualize." Lily said, returning her partners to a sort of 'sleep mode'..

She held the expanse caller to her chest for a moment and looked at the two remaining adult level digimon, "If the two of you wouldn't mind...is there a safe place you can take us? I think we all need to get some rest and..." her stomach growled loudly and she laughed, "I think I could use something to eat!" She admitted to the group, feeling much safer among her new friends.

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

Come to think of it, the last thing Suzi remembered was her room. She had been playing a game, too. Some memories flooded back to her, and again, she started thinking about how Aki-senpai had played with the idea that they were trapped in a horror video game. She was about to look at the ground after thanking her new friend, but a large male figure begean descending from the sky.

He looked like something from the American comics that classmate had showed her before class once. They usually had these men with over articulated strong builds. They seemed frightening in a way. She was not particularly interested in the animation style, but seeing the angelic being made those comics seem all the more intimidating.

He held a human in his arm, and before ascending into the sky, he set her down. She seemed unharmed. Suzi looked towards Kudamon, but suddenly, he was gone, back into her expanse collar. She touched it gently with a determined frown on her face. She felt uneasy, but also relieved. It was all so mysterious. And despite all, she felt a little relief that another person was part of the group. They would need all the help they could get.

She drew in a breath before speaking to Miss Wilems, “We had to battle a monster,” she began, skipping an introduction. She thought of how to describe the demon-like entity, but decided to skip to the main point, “It… turned out to be these two,” she mostioned towards Clockmon and Meramon. “It was like they were possessed or something,” her mind shuffled through different entities she had learned about from school. It made her feel a little uneasy to think this way, but she knew there had to be an answer to all of this. And, she wanted to find the truth… even if it was a horror video game. “Except, the demon was some,” she paused and remembered what the voice had said, “computer virus,” she finally said with certainty. “I am Takada Suzuki,” she made a small bow.

Octavia pulls out a mostly eaten sandwich that looks as if she hurriedly wrapped up and stored before being take back to the group, eating most of it before catching what Lily blurts out. She stares at what looks to be a couple of small bites left and looks to Rumi, who stares back at her and then she hands the last of her sandwich to Lily with a heavy sigh. "Here, now you can't say I ain't good person. It's alright, not my first choice, I've had worse." as she looks a bit disgruntled giving the last bits of her sandwich.

She turns to Takada as she explains what is going on, confused as she looks at Clockmon and Meramon.
"Huh, and y'all almost died?! Must've been tough, especially if it was a virus. I think I have heard of things like that, but I know of these peeps better. Dang, sucks for y'all. I'm Octavia by the way, no need for that awkward formal dance though, it's weird."

She turns to Rumi, who is still staring at her with a blank stare, and she sighs.
"Well, if you aren't too worried about these peeps, then we are good!"
Izzy is walking around the area, inspecting everyone despite them not seeing him and looks at me.
"Well, I would suggest that you should at least make some sort of relationship with the people here. They might be of help to you."
"Or a burden" Octavia says, to seemingly no one.
"We need to make a plan, and these people might give us time and ideas. Couldn't hurt."
"Bleh, fine."

Here, let me help you.

Ciel wore a sympathetic smile and waved at the still-shellshocked girl from the corner of her HUD.

I'm going to bring up some options for you. Go ahead and hit accept on all of the changes, okay? This interface is new to me too, so we may need to tweak it over time.

Her ginger voice navigated Aki through the labyrinthian menu of the Expanse Caller to modify a handful of arcane settings that might as well have been written in hieroglyphics. Aki could make out changes in notification layout and suppression, chip folder defaults, and... navi access control permissions? Whatever Ciel was doing, she seemed to know her way around these things.

I'm going to look for any info I can find about this world. Stick with the others, okay? I won't be going anywhere.

In a flash like the sweep of a lighthouse, the navi broke apart into large azure pixels of data, evaporating from the corner of the strange interface. Aki's newly-rearranged HUD lit up with a new icon, bearing a solid diamond in the corner of her vision, probably indicating that Ciel had returned to the depths of her PET—er, her Expanse Caller. Aki pushed the flood of new information to the side. She had much more important questions to answer; for example, why was this girl carried in by a personal angel? Maybe she really was a spy, or some kind of plant...

H-hey there.

Aki flashed a toothy smile at Octavia.

Where'd you come from? Do you have any idea what this place is?

She panned her gaze to the rest of the group.

And... where in the world should we go?

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

Aki-Senpai!

She had such a confident smile on her face.

Suzi balled her fists (by her sides) and drew in a deep breath as Aki spoke, not daring to interrupt the older girl's speech. When Aki finished asking her three questions, Suzi exhaled slowly. She had seen her mother do this when her father talked sometimes. She had always wondered why, not that now was a time to think of her mother... or her father... or her baby brother. She missed them both and wished she could wake u--no, go back home, already.

She released the tension in her fists and slowly eyed the others around her, waiting for a reply. "Is it okay if we go to the tower?" She lifted her hand and pointed towards the tower, where Miss Willems had come from (anxiously having not even waited for her to answer the first two questions). Her hand collapsed at her waist as she pondered everything, forgetting the longing she had just felt for her family. "Was that an angel?" She suddenly asked.

Her eyes misted over as she contemplated this, now forgetting that Aki-senpai and the others were around her. Her mind flipped through all the icons at Nikolai-do. He had siz wings. Maybe he was a Seraphim? Her mouth made a small frown. That's not what Seraphim look like at Church! They had more eyes and... Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the ground. She had never felt so confused in her life.

Slowly her gaze looked at Lily. That one just asked for his phone number. Seraphim did not have phone numbers. The question seemed strange, and she could not comprehend it to its fullest. She took a step back and mid-step, remembered the question asked by Aki or rather, Aki-senpai, respectfully.

What were they supposed to do now?

"An Angemon? Here?" Meramon wondered aloud. "And with a human as well. Wait. Where are we, exactly?"

"Given the presence of humans, I assume we're not in the Digital World any longer..." Clockmon replied, before turning to Lily. "I'm afraid I don't have any food, but I'd be happy to help you find some. I can't very well let a child starve."

"And I can cook anything we find!" Meramon added.

The two remained silent as Suzuki explained that they had been part of a virus to Octavia. They glanced at each other when she finished her explanation, and Meramon looked back to the top of the nearby tower, lost in thought.

Clockmon made a sound not unlike someone clearing their throat, despite not having one, and looked at each of the humans. "If we're really in the Human World, as I suspect, then there should be other humans somewhere. Perhaps they would be able to help you better than we can. Furthermore," it began, walking over to Octavia and Lily, "I'm fairly certain that trading food like that can infect humans, can it not?" The digimon waved its claw-like hand over the remains of the sandwich, which reformed into a full one as if it had never been eaten from. "Not only that, but this is digital food, I believe. I don't know if it would be sustaining for a human."

Meramon finally looked away from the tower, towards Aki and Suzuki. "Well, I think there are two options here. Either look around here and hope that there are others nearby, or try climbing that, what's it called? Sell-fone tower? If you could look around from higher up, you might find a landmark to figure out where we are, or maybe a settlement of some kind."

"Hey!" Someone shouted towards the group as they got closer. Clockmon and Meramon turned towards the sound. "What are you all doing here?" It was then that he noticed the two still actualized digimon. "Whoa. Cool Wizards. How'd you get them out of your transers?" A closer inspection of the man would show that he was wearing what appeared to be an Expanse Caller of his own, though there were notable differences that were obvious even from a distance. The man in the hardhat looked at the group. "Hey, wait a minute. You kids aren't the ones who messed with the wave tower, are you?"

Meramon and Clockmon both moved slightly, taking a somewhat more defensive stance each upon seeing the man's helmet. It wasn't the same as the viruses', but they were wary regardless.

C:\Expanse\Data\User_Data\Suzuki_Takada...

Suzi sighed in relief when she saw the man coming. An actual adult! However, she hesitated when she noticed his hard hat. She was attacked by one of those. How could he be wearing one on his head? Instead of answering his question, she stared at him.

She didn’t want to get into trouble by not answering, but she could not bring herself to converse with him. She pondered about the other children he had mentioned. She but her bottom lip closed and averted her attention away from him. Maybe, Aki-Senpai will say something… or Lily-kun.

She was happy an adult was here, but she felt unsure at the same time. She had never felt this way with an adult before. It felt uncomfortable and made her hands and wrists tingle with nervousness.

It took Lily a little bit to snap out of her brief crush on the digital angel. Her cheeks turned red when she realized that more than a few of them had given her a sideways glance. Demi-Meramon sent a face palm emoji through the expanse caller and she could almost sense that Minomon was sulking. What really worked to snap her out of it though was her stomach. Hearing from the digimon that there was food but no guarantee that it was edible made her heart sink. Looking Round gave her the impression that this place may not have a Walmart or something to shop at, but she assumed there would be something. Potentially starving to death hadn't really crossed her mind.

"Thank you Mr. Meramon, that's a very kind offer." Lily says, deciding that showing her anxiety wouldn't help anyone right now. They didn't have the luxury of doubts or stalling out here. They had to advance and that meant keeping a positive attitude up even if that felt impossible with an empty stomach, "If you can catch it I can cook it! I cook for my dad and his friends all the time!"

Seeing two adults come out of the woodwork so suddenly made her give pause. They had the same helmets as the little monsters. Or rather...not the same. Different in some key ways but clearly a red flag. Her expanse caller seemed to hum as she looked at them, as though her partners were warning her that these men were probably not all they appeared to be.

"We...we did sir." Lily admitted, taking a step closer to Suzi. There was something not quite right and she wanted to be close her new friend right now. Meramon and Clockmon were what was really setting her on edge. They seemed ready to fight. The digimon they met so far had been friends, even these two who had originally attacked them. 'Actualize' came to her thoughts and in a flash of green Wormom appears. Looking tired, but responding to some silent bond between them as he crawled between Meramon and Clockmon, his mandible clicking in what could be approximately be called a 'growl'.

Holding some of the sandwich in her hand as she turns and looks toward Aki with an unamused expression she says "I was with y'all initially, but was blipped away with some gross hand things. I think I was sent to some sort of heaven, cause there were angels and it was annoyingly bright, but that didn't last long either. I wasn't their cup of coffee I guess." She says as she shrugs with a smug grin. "Other than that, I do not know, cause all I got now is this big guy here and a half eaten sandwich that I to-was given to me."

Octavia turns to Suzi when she asks about the angel, and nods. "Eyyup! a ugly looking one at that, too many wings. Gross." She looks around at the others when Clockmon snatches the sandwich away, Rumi immediately takes a step towards the weird looking creature, but stops when Octavia snatches it back in excitement. "You can regenerate food? That is awesome!" Rumi then relaxes slightly, as he stares at Octavia with a watchful and careful manner.

Octavia then turns around towards the man and hides the sandwich immediately, tilting her head slightly in confusion. "Wave tower?"

This was it, this was her ticket. A beacon of sanity in this nightmare ocean of a world that went out of its way to kill her. Although the construction helmet gave Aki some pause, the tower and his general roughitiness made her feel like this guy was at least supposed to be here.

Hi!!

Wait, too much enthusiasm would scare him off.

I mean, hey there. Do—do you know where we are? That... thing just attacked us. We almost died.

As the now-tolerable heat beamed down on the small group, Aki finally took the opportunity to take in everyone's status. The kids seemed scared, and some of them tired, but at least they were all still alive. Even the annoying girl somehow managed to show back up after the fight. And the digital creature things would probably recover on their own over time... or at least she hoped. Things finally started to seem like they were going her way, and now she just needed to get this guy on her side.

And... wizards? None of us know magic if that's what you're asking.

If they woke up in some kind of fantasy world, Aki supposed even fantasy magic could be possible. Maybe she would even have a chance to start over, learn some kind of cool magic spells, and make something over herself. It would beat her life back home, at least.

---

Noticing Suzi's apprehension, but too oblivious to notice the tension from the digimon, the man held his hands up in an attempt to diffuse the situation before the young girl became too frightened. "Hey, actually... Looking at you kids, I don't think you'd really be able to mess with it anyway, so don't be scared, okay?"

He was confused for a moment at Lily's admission of guilt, but was about to wave it off when Wormmon appeared from thin air and went over between the two higher stage digimon. "What the-!?" he shouted in surprise before looking around and shaking his head. Clockmon and Meramon noticed Wormmon and lowered their guards to a more neutral stance as the man in the hardhat regained his composure.

"Alright, so... If you kids can make your Wizards appear like that, I could probably believe that you'd be able to hack the wave tower. But I don't think that whoever did it would just come back and wait for someone to come check on it."

He then looked at Octavia and Aki, slightly concerned at the voice that Aki had greeted him with. He noticed Octavia's confusion as he replied to Aki, "You don't know where you are? And you were attacked? What 'thing' are you talking about?" He stopped and thought for a moment. "Well, let's say that you really don't know. This is -" was all he managed before his eyes glazed over and he slouched forward slightly, no longer conscious.

"Hey there. Sorry about that, girls." a young man said from behind Meramon and Clockmon, who both turned in shock and took up a full fighting stance this time.

"Who are you!?" Meramon asked, clearly surprised.

"And how did you sneak up on us like that?" Clockmon added.

The boy held up what appeared to be a Capture Chip, or at least a Battle Chip of some kind, with an image on it. "'Invisible' Battle Chip." he said in explanation. "I came to check out the wave tower, but with it on the fritz I figured it would be better safe than sorry. Picked this one up off a virus yesterday so it worked out." The boy looked towards the other four humans. "You girls have transers, or Expanse Callers?" He looked at Wormmon directly, before continuing. "Stupid question. You have digimon, so they can't be transers. I take it then that you're new to this place too? Not very good at info collection if you don't know the local tech, though."

The boy held out his left hand to Aki, while using his right to put the 'Invisible' Chip in his pocket. His right arm had what appeared to be an Expanse Caller on it, down even to the symbol on the bottom, which was visible as he kept his hand in his pocket. "Name's Jacob. Nice to meet you all. And a 'Wizard' is like a digimon. From what I've learned the past few days, they're programs of some sort, but can't normally actualize like a digimon can." He paused a moment. "Though I guess digimon can't either, normally."