It began, as many of these tales do, with a brilliant light in the woods. As the tales go, it was a light so bright it swallowed up the nearby trees and scorched the ground. Silence accompanied it, muting the rustle of wind and the distant singing of bird digimon (or perhaps the singing of some distant village - the tales never are specific). Then the light shrank and flew off into the sky, leaving behind the bodies of several humans. Near each of their hands laid a small ball of light that seemed to burst, leaving behind a small circular device with a screen that blinked its message three times before going blank: 'CONNECTION NOT FOUND'. The wind rustled the trees again, distant song rose once more, and the world held its breath to await the awakening of the new arrivals.

"It was this way! Come on!"

Well, most of the world anyways.

The dark pink ball-shaped creature hovered, insectlike wings buzzing in her impatience. She zoomed forward with a dexterity not reflected in her small, awkward form once her partner entered her line of sight. Her partner took a deep breath, leaning against a tree trunk.

"Please - just a minute-" he gasped, soft feathered wings beating frantically. She zipped back to him, meeting him face to face - she was only a bit smaller, maybe an inch or two.

"I'm gonna lose it soon!"

"The light- or- your temper?" He took another deep breath. His breathing was smoothing out again. He hadn't seen the light, but she swore she had, and he trusted her senses.

"Both!" She gripped at the short pink fur on either side of her face. "It's that chest injury, isn't it?" He didn't answer. She growled. "That stupid egomaniac-"

"It was this way, right?" And now their positions had reversed, the light pink feather-winged creature flying past the other.

"What-? Yeah! Hey!" And now she flew after him. "Get back here!" She only caught up when he suddenly came to a halt. She crashed into him, sending them both tumbling into the scorched clearing. She sat up, rubbing at the side of her face. "Hey! What was that all ab-" And a limb without fingers pressed gently over her mouth. She looked to him, who was silently pointing as best as he could without fingers to the human forms on the clearing ground. She took in the sight, her furless face paled, and she immediately hooked her companion by the golden holy ring around his neck using her spear and dragged him back behind the treeline. He gagged at the sharp movement before his companion grabbed at his shoulders.

"Marineangemon, are those... humans?"

"I... think they may be, yes." Marineangemon nodded with far more confidence than he actually felt. He gently removed her spear from his ring, careful to avoid the linear scar that stretched above the heart symbol on his chest. She looked to the side, at the humans.

"What are they doing here?"

"I'm not certain. Someone, or something, must have summoned them." And that was a reasonable conclusion to draw, if not for the fact all the greater powers in the digital world seemed indisposed in one way or another.

"I mean, yeah. You think they're still alive?"

"Piximon!"

"What, they aren't moving!" And that was true. Marineangemon glanced over to the still humans. Piximon glowered. "Bro, don't-"

"I'm going to check on them."

"Bro!" With that, Marineangemon left the tree line before his sister could snag her spear on his ring again. He lowered himself down to the side of the nearest human - face down, hard to check for signs of life. He had to admit the humans were much bigger than he expected - he was only 30 centimeters long, and the humans easily beat that. Then again, so did most digimon. It never bothered him and seemed to never bother his sister either, who more than made up for her lack of height with a ferocity few digimon could match. Still, the tales Clockmon told never gave much in the way of scale of the humans. And what their friend said...

Well. The less said there, the better.

He gently pushed against the human's shoulder. Then he pushed much harder, with no effect. It was only when Piximon joined in that the two were able to roll over the human. Marineangemon wracked his mind for the things he had been told. Human chests pounded, audibly, if you listened very close. Marineangemon lowered his head, antennae drooping over the human, and listened.

thu-thump thu-thump

He exhaled in relief. This human at least was alive. He got up to check on the others when he noticed Piximon rise up beside a human, arms oddly full where they hadn't been before and face half-obscured. "Sis?"

"Yeah?" she asked, as if she didn't have both arms full with flat, oval-shaped objects.

"What are those?"

"These?" Piximon shifted the weight in her arms, tilting slightly as she pulled one hand free with the odd device. Marineangemon floated closer, curiosity overtaking him. "Dunno. They were next to each human. Think they might be digivices? Clockmon said humans usually come with digivices."

"You're stealing them?"

"I know, I know, but hear me out." She tossed the digivice in her freehand to Marineangemon, who managed to catch it. "Turn it over." Marineangemon managed to flip the device over and studied the patterns of lines and dots on the back. A pattern. A constellation. His eyes widened as he recognized it. "Yeah. They've got all four."

"But...they're gone. How did they get ahold of these?" He looked at the group of humans. "And who brought them here?"

"No idea, bro, but you know what? I bet he'd like them." She pulled one of the others from her arm and waved it around, showing its own unique constellation pattern on the back. "Might be nice showing up with something for once, you know?" MarineAngemon swallowed. He knew that tone, usually adding a silent 'take a hint' to the end of the suggestion.

"Well... you're not wrong..." But what to do...

May Galaxy

---

---

The youth named May Galaxy shot open her eyes, finding herself face down on the ground. She pushed herself to her feet and looked around. This was not a place she recognized, was she still dreaming? She looked at her hands. There was no blood, and no errors in her perception; she was awake, there was no doubt. At her foot was her courier bag, which she looked through quickly. All of the staples were there, but no food. She had planned to fill it when she woke up, as usual, but it seemed like she wouldn't get the chance anytime soon. Around her neck was still the small chain holding her pocket knife to her chest between her left and right clavicles. She was in her blue and red windbreaker over her white hoodie, and her usual black track-pants.

After confirming her belongings and physical state, she took a closer look at the environment around her. Behind her were a few other people, and what appeared to be two... creatures, of some kind. She looked at them with curiosity in her half-lidded eyes. Whatever was going on, this was enough to take her mind off her nightmare. She began to walk towards the creatures, hands in her pockets.

If you had told Dante that he'd died on his way home, all odds were that he'd believe you.

As the sounds of voices nearby pulled him out of sleep, the world washed over him like lukewarm water, and his body felt light and devoid of strength. He didn't feel pain, but that was little comfort; all over, he felt as if something had taken him apart like a careless child taking apart a model and then, just as thoughtlessly, reassembled him and thrown him to the side. Something had clearly happened, but it was impossible to ascertain what. His mind was blank, short-term memories floating idly beyond his reach; the past few hours existed in a blur, the last thing he recalled being Harumi telling him she'd left something precious at a friend's before she caught her cold.

As that fell into place, however, things began to come back into focus. He remembered now. It had been a crisp autumnal day with no urgent work to do, and so he'd been out. Dad had been called into work and mum was looking after Haru, so he'd volunteered to go pick up what she'd left behind; it was only a few miles up the road, after all. Something had conspired to hold him up and so he'd elected to take a shortcut back, go through the woods that offered a shorter but more uncertain path home-

Something clicked. He blinked, mustering all of his slowly-returning strength to pull himself up into a sitting position and look around. He was surrounded by trees, so perhaps he wasn't dead after all- he couldn't place himself, but it was simple enough to assume he'd passed out somehow and ended up in a part of the forest he didn't recognize. Perhaps he'd tripped and hit his head? He doubted he'd have lost his footing so easily, but without the certainty of recollection he could only assume that or an ambush by his sister's cold amidst the chilly winds of the fading day. It didn't seem massively likely, but considering the circumstances and the limits of his memory, it wasn't impossible.

Neither explanation accounted for what he saw among the trees, however. He didn't recognize the clearing, but that much made sense. Dad wasn't a particularly solemn person despite his affectations otherwise, but he had warned him that the forest- this particular forest, anyway- was ever-changing and treacherous, and it had been years since he'd been particularly deep into it. But not only was he not the only person in the alcove- even in his addled state, he could make out two girls and a handful of other prone figures- but there was something distinctly inhuman floating in plain sight a short distance from them.

One of them seemed to be little more than a ball with wings. The other looked like... a clione? It certainly looked like the sea slugs he'd seen in his mum's old nature books, but it was far too large and airbourne to boot, notwithstanding the fact that it seemed to be talking to the ball. Parsing sounds was still a struggle but there was no mistaking that the two were communicating verbally, nor the sheer volume of the ball's apparent voice.

He raised his hand to his head, feeling around to confirm that, no, he hadn't hit his head after all. No telltale lumps or jolts of pain, and no blood as he pulled his hand away. So he wasn't dead, and he probably didn't have brain damage. But in that case-

"What the hell is going on?" He coughed out, almost involuntarily, as the waking fever dream before him unfolded.

O B A D A I C H I

---

Daichi’s eyes were strained as he went over the same chapter of the textbook for the umpteenth time. While he knew in his rationale mind that he knew this material already, his emotional mind was shouting that he would forget all of these facts. The fear of not getting into the best university weighed heavily on Daichi. The amount of pressure he placed upon himself was starting to affect him physically.

Daichi’s stomach was in knots from the stress, but that was quickly replaced by an overwhelming tiredness. This study session had gone on several hours longer than Daichi had planned. Anxiety was the only thing keeping him awake, but that feeling couldn’t prevail forever.

As Daichi stared at the textbook, his vision blurred. His head then began to bob, Daichi having a hard time fighting the heaviness of his head. Before Daichi was even consciously aware of what was happening, he went headfirst into the textbook, darkness overtaking him as he entered a much needed state of sleep.

After a dreamless sleep, Daichi’s eyes fluttered open. As Daichi once again entered consciousness, he was aware that his body wasn’t in pain or tired like most times he wakes up. In fact it seemed that he had a very restful sleep.

It was as Daichi was enjoying the rested feeling in his body, did he notice he wasn’t in his room. In fact he wasn’t in any room. Instead he was laying on the ground amid dirt and grass. Jolting his upper body up, Daichi surveyed his immediate surroundings.

There were a few other people near him, also in various states of waking up. There was a girl in a blue and red windbreaker who started walking toward something. As Daichi’s gaze shifted, he saw that she was headed for two small creatures.

Daichi wasn’t sure if creatures was the right word. Maybe monsters? Either way Daichi believed that he was just having a weird dream. At least this dream was better than the one where he amounts to nothing in life and ends up homeless.

But if this was a dream, it would’ve been the most lifelike dream Daichi had ever had. Usually his dreams had a hazy feel to them, with just rough scenes and flashes of images. But Daichi’s vision was clear, with everything in focus. This could of been any forest that Daichi had walked through, save the two pink creatures.

Daichi then decided to get up, rising to his feet. This surprised Daichi as he had never been able to make a conscious decision in a dream. Of course he had heard of lucid dreaming, but for some reason Daichi’s intuition told him he wasn’t lucid dreaming.

Daichi’s musings on dreams were interrupted by someone shouting, asking what the hell is going on. Daichi opened his mouth to answer, only to realize that he had no answer. Something strange and unknown was going on, and Daichi hated that he had no relevant knowledge for the situation.

A decent ways away from Daichi another boy awakened. The red headed boy then began to shout many questions, but Daichi didn’t really take them in, figuring he would be of no use. Daichi’s anxiety began to peak.

This wasn’t helped by the sound of movement in a nearby bush. Daichi then immediately wondered what other strange things existed wherever here was. Maybe those two pink fairy looking things were food for a massive predator.

But then Daichi remembered that he should never assume anything without the facts to back it up. However, he was still at ease, so he grabbed a large stick off the forest floor. Daichi was ready to swing it to protect himself, only for a two foot tall worm thing to come out of the bushes.

Daichi didn’t end up swinging the stick, instead analyzing the creature. It seemed to be an over-sized worm. It didn’t look scary, but more cute like to Daichi.

The worm then opened its mouth and spoke, “You’re a human?”

Daichi was immediately thrown off that the creature could speak. This happening gave some more credence to the theory that this was a dream. But something nagged at the back of Daichi’s mind, making him believe that what he was seeing was the truth.

“I’m human yes,” Daichi replied, “My name’s Daichi.”

“Well Daichi,” the worm replied with the closest thing she could make like a smile on her face, “I’m DoKunemon. And you are now my servant.”

This statement threw Daichi back. A servant to a bug monster with a strange name. If he didn’t know better he would think he was in an isekai anime. The few creatures that he had spotted could’ve been out of an anime, but they seemed way too lifelike for that. It was perplexing Daichi, a feeling he hated.

Oh. The humans were waking up. That was good, Marineangemon supposed. It meant it was too late to safely return the digivices, however. One was approaching, and another one was holding a stick as if he meant to swing it. For some reason, his mouth went dry and he got ready to make a bubble shield before he swallowed down the feeling. One human had raised his voice, and two were swearing, but no hostility had been aimed at him or his sister. Why should he be feeling any fear?

He looked at Piximon, who gestured that they should go. He understood. Still, he tossed her the final digivice and drifted down a little, away from his sister. He was certain that if her arms weren't full, she would've snagged him by the collar again, or he would've heard the sound of her open palm collide with her forehead. But he was never good at leaving others to their own devices, was he?

"Erm, hello." He spoke up, his voice not quite matching his dainty appearance. He realized two digimon made it onto the scene and knew he wouldn't be able to keep the smile out of his voice - maybe the rest would show soon. These humans would not be alone in a foreign and dangerous world. It was all he could hope for. "I can't answer all your concerns, but I can at least tell you where you're at." He also had a theory on the why, but he didn't dare express it. Not if 'defeat' meant killing. He could hear Piximon mutter behind him, "Oh, give me a break..." He chose to ignore her.

"You're in the digital world now - I've been told it's a dimension parallel to yours, and dependent on yours as well for its existence. It's quite odd to think about - imagine if instead I'd said your world was dependent on ours. But I digress. I, my sister, that Frimon-" He gestured to the digimon wrapped around the human's neck. "-and that DoKunemon-" His arm swept over to the DoKunemon who had laid claim to another human. "-we're all digimon, the dominant lifeform of this world. I have no idea how you got here - humans are said to be summoned, and I don't know who could've summoned you. It may be why you were all unconscious though."

It wasn't a lot of information, he knew, but it was the barest facts he knew to be true. Well, except-

"I would think your partners are around here somewhere as well," he said to the human girl who'd approached and to the human boy who'd asked what the heck was going on. "All humans in the digital world are said to have digimon partners." Also digivices, but maybe the humans wouldn't miss theirs. "I'd suggest finding them soon. Some parts of the digital world are quite dangerous, and not all digimon are open to discussion and reasoning." He knew that from experience. He clapped the end of his tendrils together.

"Well, I think that's all I can tell you. I suppose I should wish you well, and hope you have a wonderful adventure!" Not likely, given the current state of the digital world, but hey - he said 'hope'. There was nothing wrong with hoping for the unlikely.

"Yeah, have a good time and crap, we gotta get moving." Piximon fluttered down and nudged Marineangemon with an elbow, nearly losing a digivice as she did so.

May Galaxy

---

The human girl stopped as the pink monster bearing a heart on its chest threw something to the other pink creature and began talking. Everything was fine until she noticed something rather... conspicuous.

"You're in the digital world now - I've been told it's a dimension parallel to yours, and dependent on yours as well for its existence. It's quite odd to think about - imagine if instead I'd said your world was dependent on ours. But I digress. I, my sister, that Frimon, and that DoKunemon, we're all digimon, the dominant lifeform of this world. I have no idea how you got here - humans are said to be summoned, and I don't know who could've summoned you. It may be why you were all unconscious though."

That's what the creature, er, digimon, had said, right? That and 'humans have digimon partners,' and most importantly: 'not all digimon are peaceful.'

May was shocked at how quickly the cre-... digimon, had explained something so important. But it raised too many questions.

"Hey." she began as she once against started walking towards the two pink digimon. "If this is a parallel world to ours, how do you know about humans at all? Why do you know about us but we don't know about you? What are digimon? Why does your world depend on ours? If this is the 'digital world,' are we inside a computer, or the internet?" She finally stopped a few feet in front of the two digimon. "If this is a 'digital' world, can it be altered by computers? What are those things you're holding, and most importantly..." May crouched down on one knee, her hands still in her pockets and her gaze set squarely on the digimon that had explained their situation.

"What's your name, little one?"

The other digimon nudged the one with the heart on its chest, and May asked her final question. "What's the rush?"

O B A D A I C H I

---

Daichi wondered what DoKunemon had meant by him being her servant? He didn’t feel obligate to work for anyone, always imagining himself running his own business. So why was he supposed to work for this small worm? Especially a slimy one, he thought as he noticed the semi-transparent goo trailing behind DoKunemon.

Daichi decided to back away from the creature. He then headed toward the girl in the wind breaker, figuring that she was taking charge of the situation. As he did so, one of the pink fairy creatures began to speak. In less than a minute Daichi had learned that he was in a parallel dimension, one where these creatures called Digimon were the dominant species. It was a lot to take in initially, but then Daichi remembered reading about Multiverse Theory. There were apparently an infinite amount of dimensions, where everything that could potentially happen does happen. The question was how exactly did Daichi and the other humans cross into this dimension?

The pink Digimon then mentioned that humans have to be summoned to this world, but had no clue who had summoned. More questions, thought Daichi. Who had drawn this small group here? Why them? As they all seemed to be teenagers, was this something about youth. Surely an adult with a complete skill set would be of more use to the whoever the summoner was.

It was then revealed that humans in this world are supposed to have a Digimon partner to aid them. Looking around, Daichi quickly realized that DoKunemon was supposed to be his partner. Great, he thought. This was on exasperated by the fact that some Digimon were hostile and might attack on sight. Daichi didn’t think the two-foot tall worm that was his partner would be able to do much in battle.

Then the two pink fairy Digimon began to leave, only for the girl who was taking lead stooped down in front of the one who had been explaining. Its sister looked nervous when confronted by the girl. They began to talk, but it was soft enough that Daichi couldn’t hear.

“Now do you understand? We’re a couple, a Queen and her brave Knight,” stated DoKunemon as she slid over to Daichi.

“I thought it was more of a fifty/fifty thing with being partners,” Daichi replied.

“Fifty/fifty never works. The one with the power should govern. And since I’m a Digimon and your just a human, I am the one with the power.”

Again Daichi appraised DoKunemon. While small and slow moving, she had a fierceness to her that intrigued him. That and she wasn’t that monstrous looking, at least compared to what Daichi had envisioned when the fairy Digimon had spoken of hostile Digimon. But there was one thing still bugging Daichi.

“Do you have to leave a trail of slime behind you?” Daichi asked.

“That’s a dumb question. It’s like asking a Gazimon if it needs to shed its fur,” replied DoKunemon, “At least with my slime it doesn’t smell, it doesn’t stain things, and it dissolves after a few minutes.”

“That’s good to know.”

Figuring that he should mark some of these details down, Daichi pulled out a fresh notebook out of his messenger bag. It was only as he did so did he acknowledge that whatever had summoned him here also brought his bag. It must of been the same deal for the others, Daichi noting that one of the guys had a skateboard.

Daichi then began to write everything he knew about DoKunemon on the first page. As he did so, his Digimon partner slid over to the two fairy Digimon siblings.

“So I’ve heard stories of Digimon and humans becoming partners before, so I get that,” said DoKunemon, “But isn’t there more to it? Like a wise old Digimon to mentor them? A home base? Or I’ve heard a few stories of a magical item that links the human and Digimon’s connection? Do we have any of those?”

As DoKunemon spoke she noticed the light from above glinting off something in the sister Digimon’s hand.

“You sure you’re telling us everything?” questioned DoKunemon.

That Daichi heard as he walked over to DoKunemon and the human girl. It had seemed strange that these two fairy Digimon were here before we awoke, only offering the most basic rundown of where we were, and were no trying to bolt. It was awfully suspicious to Daichi, his violet eyes narrowing at the two fairy Digimon.

Though Dante was now confident that he wasn't dead, at this point he wasn't sure how much comfort he could take from that.

"You're in the digital world now - I've been told it's a dimension parallel to yours, and dependent on yours as well for its existence."

"All humans in the digital world are said to have digimon partners. I'd suggest finding them soon. Some parts of the digital world are quite dangerous, and not all digimon are open to discussion and reasoning."

"Hold- hold on." Information flew thick and fast and his beleaguered brain struggled to process it. They were in another world? There were more beings like the clione and the flying ball?? They were supposed to 'partner' with them???

He looked around, trying to reconcile what he was hearing with the apparent reality around him. Since he'd come to, two more people had regained consciousness, leaving the total number of individuals whose appearance didn't fill him with dread and confusion at four. There was the girl in a windbreaker who'd come to before him, who seemed significantly older than the rest and seemed to carry herself with something of a harder edge. The first of the others to come to was another boy with red hair similar to his own (and a posture that was very much not), and the last of them was a boy with a slight frame who seemed about as lost as him; not in the least because of the green and purple creature that was apparently intent on making him her manservant.

Dante's gaze lingered on the strange insectoid being, still not quite believing his eyes as it- she, if the cadence of its voice was any indication- made demands of the other boy before pressing the other two unusual beings for information as the girl had. After a few moments had passed, he turned his attention to the other boy, noticing that, likewise, another strange creature had taken a fancy to him. This one also resembled a worm, albeit one with a cat's face and a reptillian frill, and while they didn't seem capable of speech as the others were, that did nothing to make them any less surreal to Dante's increasingly laboured perception of reality. Sensation returned with a vengeance as his thoughts began to race, weightless confusion threatening to give away to outright panic-

"Okay, okay." No, Dante, keep it together. It seemed that all this wasn't a dying dream or a feverish hallucination, so it was time to ask some questions. In-between fighting off the onset of existential dread, he'd overheard the girl and the insectoid creature ask them for more information- one about the nature of the world they'd purportedly been thrown into, the other about the finer details of these alleged 'partnerships- but as his mind caught up with the situation the best it could, it seemed as if there was a crucial detail being overlooked.

"Why are we here?" He started off small, but a moment later and he blurted out. "Something summoned us? What for? Why us?" He very much doubted that whatever entity or force saw fit to snatch them from across dimensions did so without an ulterior motive or some purpose in mind, let alone some innocuous 'adventure' ripped from the pages of some twee storybook. But at the same time, why them? Why snatch four random children from across worlds without even bothering to explain their purpose beforehand?

Dante felt the dread creep back up on him again, but he did his best to beat it back down as he took a deep breath. And, as he awaited a response from the strange creatures, his eyes scanned across the clearing once more and zeroed in on something else questionable.

"Where are the other 'Digimon'?" So the insectoid creature and the absurd taxonomical nightmare seemed to be the partners of the two other boys, but that left himself and the tall girl in the windbreaker unaccounted for. Though they seemed to know more than was natural for a pair of purported interlopers, the clione and the blob didn't seem to be related to the other creatures. Then where were their partners?

“Thanks so so so so much! I was so sure she was going to die! So, uh, you guys are digimon, right? What are your names?”

Piximon rolled her eyes. It figured: her brother tried to be nice and explain things, and all he got for it was more questions. Some... very accusatory questions too. She shifted the digivices in her arms, as if her small frame could hide them from view. And then an absolutely ridiculous request. What even was a Jesus? She glanced at Marineangemon to tell him not to bother when she noticed.

Her brother was crying.

He had put up with a lot and hadn’t cried through any of it. He hadn’t even cried when his heart marking scarred, giving it the permanent look of an unevenly-broken heart. Was it just too much at once? Was it the needle that broke the Unimon’s back? Piximon didn’t know and didn’t care.

“Alright, back up,” she shouted as she dove between Marineangemon and the jacketed human, trying to wave her spear (an endeavor rapidly given up when it and the digivices nearly sent her spinning). “We don’t owe any of you a single damn thing so why don’t you lay off, huh? Bro was just trying to be nice, so how about the lot of you use your brains and figure some stuff out on your own, yeah? We aren’t your babysitters, we were just passing by!” A bit of a lie, but only a bit of one. Truly, if it hadn’t been for the digivices she was jostling during her speech, the two of them would’ve been gone by now having sated her curiosity. She was going to add more when she felt Marineangemon’s arm touch her shoulder. She turned to see him wiping his face.

“Sis... sorry for worrying you. I’m okay, I just remembered something was all.” He tried to smile, which looked a little strained. Piximon grumbled and floated back to the side, trying to figure out what in Yggdrasil’s name he’d remembered. Marineangemon cleared his throat, eyes still wet.

“So, one at a time.” His look to May was shy. “We’re... I’m Marineangemon. She’s Piximon. We hatched out of the same egg, you see. She’s just looking out for me-”

“Wouldn’t have to if you looked out for yourself.”

“The rest of your questions... Most of them are kinda philosophical. It may be best to ask your partner when they arrive. But I can explain one reason we know of humans - when things get bad for us, but it needs a light touch to fix, the Sovereigns usually summon humans over. They’re the gods of this world. But that’s just not possible this time.” He looked to Dante. “You also asked why. If I really had to guess the why, it’s to bring back the Sovereigns. They... went missing.” He could feel Piximon’s eyes on his back, probably mentally cursing him for leaving out who had made them vanish. “I was being honest earlier - I really don’t know who summoned you, if it wasn’t the Sovereigns. As for your partners, I once more really don’t know. I imagine they must be around here, though. Partnered digimon in legend always make their way to the humans, sooner rather than later.” And then there was that request for help. Marineangemon traced the edge of his holy ring - wanting protection was a fair concern, just not one he could grant. Well, maybe not the way they wanted, but he could afford them a different kind of protection.

“Um, Bro?” Piximon began as Marineangemon pushed up at his holy ring. “You know we should get - Marineangemon!” She sounded absolutely scandalized as he removed the holy ring over his head and tossed it towards Damien and Friimon.

“We really can’t stay, we are serious about that. He’ll miss us if we’re gone too long. But that ring can be wielded by your partner, to tell if another digimon has ulterior motives for you. Probably won’t work on humans. It’s the best I can do.” His neck felt cold and bare without the comforting metal ring, but what more could be asked of him? Well, besides the DoKunemon, whose questions he’d purposefully saved for last. He floated a bit back from May, facing the DoKunemon. “And as for you - I don’t think there’s a base. There might be a wise mentor, but she’s actually quite young. Most of what we know about humans came from her studies. She mentioned the device linking digimon and human partners, which...” He looked at Piximon, who was mouthing ‘no’ repeatedly, before facing the humans.

“Which I think we have.

“And we’re not giving them back.”

There was a second or two before two heart-shaped bubbles popped into existence, one around Marineangemon and one around Piximon. Piximon’s bubble barely muffled her yell: “DAMMIT, MARINEANGEMON.”

“We need them more. Please try to understand,” Marineangemon finally concluded from the safety of his bubble shield.

May Galaxy

---

Hmm... That raised a few more questions, but the girl didn't think she had time to ask all of them. So she settled for one. "Can I ask why you need them, if they're here to connect a human with a digimon?" Were they implying that they had humans to go back to as well? If so, that would mean that there were some who had already been here when they woke up. Speaking to them could give a lot of insight. "Would it be best if we just went with you two?" May didn't want to pry too much, the two digimon were obviously distressed for some reason, but pragmatism won out over empathy in the end. After a moment of silently looking at the digimon, she stood back up and looked around. It seemed, based on appearances, that she might be the oldest human in the area. Hopefully the others wouldn't try to put too much responsibility on her. Sticking together would be the smartest idea, but that included the two digimon in bubbles. She hoped that they'd consider letting the humans tag along, but if they didn't, they'd just have to find a way to make things work.

O B A D A I C H I

---

Even though DoKunemon’s eyes were almost impossible to see, she glared with them at the two pink Digimon. Then out of nowhere, the one with the heart on its chest began to cry. Both Daichi and DoKunemon were immediately taken a back by this.

“Please don’t cry,” said Daichi softly, immediately feeling bad for the small Digimon.

Only to get ticked off again when the ball shaped Digimon started a tirade about how they didn’t owe the humans anything and weren’t responsible for them. Daichi found the more masculine sounding Digimon very rude, as he continued his rant. Daichi also noticed that it was bothering DoKunemon, the back of her carapace being raised in agitation.

The other Digimon then stopped crying, finally introducing himself as Marineangemon and the other ball shaped one as his sister Piximon. Daichi wondered how they could have come from the same egg, as they were clearly not the same species. The only thing they had in common was they both had wings and were pink in color. But then again, Daichi remembered he was in an alternate universe, so maybe biology worked vastly different here. With inter-dimensional travel at play, all bets were off.

Marineangemon then attempted to explain the humans predicament, causing Daichi to listen intently. Apparently humans were summoned to this world to fix problems by Digimon called the Sovereigns, the apparent gods of this world. Daichi was surprised to learn that in this world everyone knew who the gods were and that they existed. That particular question was a lot more divisive back in Daichi’s world.

Marineangemon then explained that the Sovereigns were missing and that bringing them back could be the quest given to the gathered humans, why they were sucked from their world and brought here. Again, Daichi wondered why they had picked teenagers and not capable adults. But the logic of this Digimon world was all over the place, things happening that Daichi couldn’t comprehend. This also included the fact that every human brought to this world had a specific partner Digimon who would find them. Daichi wasn’t pleased to find that the rude insect Digimon was apparently his partner.

Piximon was then shocked when Marineangemon tossed its gold ring at the red headed boy with the red hair and his cat or worm thing that was his apparent partner. Daichi could only assume that this gesture meant a lot based on the shock on his sister’s face. Marineangemon then explained that the ring would allow for a partner Digimon to know if any other Digimon they encountered had ulterior motives.

“That would be useful, as I still don’t know so much about this world,” Daichi said before turning to DoKunemon, “You would be able to use it right?”

“Probably. I’ve never used a holy item before,” replied DoKunemon.

Marineangemon the continued to speak, even as his sister was motioning for her to stop. He mentioned a young mentor who had taught them about humans. Also apparently there was some kind of device that would link a human and a Digimon. Daichi wondered what kind of advanced machine could link beings from separate dimensions. They would have to be far beyond anything he encountered on Earth.

As Daichi pondered the devices, Marineangemon blurted out that he may have said devices. At the mention of this Daichi’s gaze became fixed on the pink Digimon, while DoKunemon raised her carapace again.

“I knew it, you guys are hiding something!” exclaimed DoKunemon.

Suddenly, two heart shaped bubbles appeared encasing the two pink Digimon siblings. Marineangemon then claimed that they needed the devices more than the others. This perplexed Daichi as the Digimon had just said that the device was for linking humans and Digimon, and as far as he knew, the four assembled teenagers were the only humans here. What use could Marineangemon and Piximon have by themselves for such a device?

Then the girl voiced the same thought, wondering why the two needed the devices. She then suggested that the humans should go along with the two siblings. The red headed boy then said perhaps they should be led to the mentor Marineangemon mentioned. Daichi figured that sticking with the siblings was probably the best choice right now, as they were all new to the world, and could still perhaps coax the Digimon into giving them the devices.

DoKunemon then shimmied over to Daichi, saying softly, “If they don’t surrender the devices, I’ll sting them. They’ll have a hard time holding onto them once their bodies begin to swell.”

Daichi was surprised by how easily DoKunemon made that statement. The human had never been one for violence, so he hoped it wouldn’t come down to that. For now everything was alright, but Daichi would be keeping an eye on the two pink Digimon siblings.

"Oh jeez." Despite everything, Dante couldn't help but feel a little guilty as the clione started crying. He'd just wanted some answers, not to give the poor flying sea slug an existential crisis!

The feeling of guilt deepened as the pink blob shouted at them for their bullheadedness, and further still as the gastropod in question- MarineAngemon, was it? Well, at least the nomenclature was self-explanatory- finally started from the beginning. Seems like he and his sister- Piximon- had happened across them and decided to try and do something approximating the right thing, and as they bickered over the wisdom of that decision he was more than a little reminded of his own twin, however far from her he was in this waking fever dream of a world.

That feeling of guilt, but not the feeling of distress, fell to the wayside as he finally got some answers to his questions, however. They were summoned here by Gods? And- without so much as a beat of courtesy to let him process that complete curveball to his already-struggling perception of reality- they'd been summoned to rescue them?!

The others didn't seem to react as strongly to- or perhaps even fully realize the implication of- that bombshell, and as they asked a fresh round of questions Dante's mind raced anew as he bit down his panic and tried to think. They were in another world with alien lifeforms, and had been selected to rescue Gods. No mention of what they were expected to rescue them from; granted, MarineAngemon hadn't specified the circumstances of their disappearance, but if they'd been summoned in such a hurry it seemed unlikely that they'd just gotten lost on their way home from a night out.

No, there was something going unsaid here. The easy assumption would be that MarineAngemon and Piximon were just intelopers who just happened to be the first ones to come across the group, but Dante wasn't one to take such a straightforward answer at face value. They clearly knew a lot about the circumstances of them being here, even if he was generous enough to assume their knowledge wasn't exhaustive, and while Piximon was easy enough to read- a little pink bag of hot air- MarineAngemon's distress was unusual, now that he thought about it. He clearly wasn't scared of them, between his willingness to approach them and to stick around afterwards to talk, but yet as he'd been prodded for answers he'd almost fallen apart. He knew more than he was telling them, and whatever it was, it clearly had him worried for his life.

Dante looked up from his thoughts. The others were pressing MarineAngemon and Piximon about the devices they held, which they claimed to need more despite their apparent function of joining human and Digimon. In most circumstances, Dante would have joined them in calling the two out, but gripped as he was by his revelation, his mind scrambled to figure out why they needed them so desperately. If they were some kind of power source, and MarineAngemon was visibly disintegrating over the thought of what was responsible for spiriting away actual Gods even in these seemingly remote surroundings-

Oh. Oh no.

"Damn it, forget about the fucking digivices or whatever they're called!" Dante just about snapped. Even if they were as important as the two Digimon were making them out to be, they wouldn't be for long if they weren't prepared for whatever was waiting for them. "What took them- what took the Sovereigns? Does it know we're here? How long do we have before it finds us?"

Under Friimon’s new ring, little looked different - except the shadows eating at the edge of Marineangemon. The shadows seemed to grow hungrier as May suggested being allowed to follow the siblings. To everyone else, though, Marineangemon just seemed to wilt a bit; one could imagine the anime sweatdrop on the side of his head. Piximon abstained from beginning her tirade against DoKunemon to actually look at Marineangemon with interest. He reached up to tug at his collar only to remember, right, he’d just given it away. Piximon then spoke up.

“You know, bro, I think they have a point.” Despite her light tone, her glare was visible. “We could have them come with us. Clockmon’s probably around the Tree anyways.” Her wings buzzed, making her bubble drift closer to Marineangemon’s. “It should be safe, right?” She drew the question out. To Friimon, the shadows drew in closer around Marineangemon.

Then he blinked and the nervousness and shadows alike seemed to recede a tad. He gave a nod. “You can follow, to a point.” He turned to Piximon, who looked rather confused. “Sister, give me the digivices. I’ll deliver them - you go lead them to Clockmon, alright?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll deliver the digivices. You lead them to Clockmon. She’s bound to be around the tree, right?”

“Are you crazy!”

“You said it yourself - he’ll probably be happy to see these. So shouldn’t I be fine?” He might’ve looked innocent to the humans as he asked his question, but Piximon could see the challenge in his eyes. She grimaced.

“How dare you. Ugh, fine!” With that, both bubble shields dissolved and she handed the digivices off to Marineangemon, who very carefully flipped them so the backs were facing up, showing their constellations. “You people are gonna be following me, I guess. Save your dumbass questions-”

“Piximon!”

“-your dumb questions for Clockmon because, like I said, neither of us owe you anything and you still made my brother cry.” Marineangemon grimaced and looked down.

“It was - it was just like before, was all.” He managed to hold all the digivices in one arm as he rubbed at his eyes with the other. It seemed like the matter was settled, perhaps not to the satisfaction of everyone present, but settled regardless.

Then Dante spoke up.

“Damn it, forget about the fucking digivices or whatever they're called! What took them- what took the Sovereigns? Does it know we're here? How long do we have before it finds us?”

To Friimon, both siblings became shrouded in shadows. To everyone else, both siblings tensed and exchanged looks - Marineangemon’s desperate, Piximon’s a touch manic. Then they began speaking over each other.

“Oh, I’m certain it was that Sovereigns-damned-”
“Sister!”
“-himself Necrowisemon, but he’s not actually-”
“-listen to her, he’s not really that-”
“-gets his kicks out of torturing my brother and-”
“-a dream, and something else-”
“-decided to play Hide-n-Seek with the Sovereigns, screwing-”
“-just needs help-”
“-as if he ever does anything else-”
“-need to be destroyed. I beg you-”
“-how someone like him raised Clockmon-”
“Piximon, that’s enough!”

The two had been steadily raising their voices until Marineangemon finally snapped. He sniffled but maintained his glare, somehow made more potent by the tears gathering in his eyes once more. Piximon huffed, averting her gaze. Now she was the one to make her brother cry. Guilt sucked.

“Bro-”

Before she could calm him down, Marineangemon tightened his grip and bolted into the forest. Despite their delicate appearance, his feathery wings were surprisingly fast and he was quickly hidden among the trees.

“Crap -” She flew after him, leaving the humans behind in her rush. “Bro, I’m sorry, but he is a psychopath! Bro!”

O B A D A I C H I

---

While Daichi and DoKunemon had been focusing on the Digivices and how they could help, the red headed human had brought up a good point. If the Sovereigns were like gods, who was powerful enough to take them away? While Daichi was agnostic to deities in the human world, this alternate dimension, the Digital World, seemed to operate on an entirely different set of rules. Maybe gods were just a known fact here, but so would beings stronger than gods. Daichi thought back to school and learning about the Titans of Greek Myth.

The pink Digimon siblings then offered to let the humans and the other Digimon come with them. Apparently they were off to see someone named Clockmon. Daichi couldn’t help but imagine a being that had a giant clock for a body, before dismissing the thought as silly. Surely this world wasn’t that strange. The siblings began to whisper again, Daichi barely making out the word Digivice. It also seemed that DoKunemon had heard it as well.

“So they do have them. And they’re planning to give them to someone else,” DoKunemon whispered.

“Maybe they’re giving them to someone else more qualified,” Daichi whispered back, “After all there should be someone stronger than a human and a slug.”

“I’m a worm Digimon I would have you know.”

It was only now, after offering to take them to Clockmon, that Pixiemon acknowledged the redhead’s question about the Sovereigns. Marineangemon then began to speak, only for his sister to cut him off. This proceeded back and forth for a while, Daichi and DoKunemon only catching bits of the fast conversation. For some reason, DoKunemon shivered at the mention of the name Necrowisemon.

Daichi noticed this, asking, “Do you know this Necrowisemon?”

“Well, the thing is, I only hatched a few days ago,” explained DoKunemon, “So I’m not totally caught up on the gossip of the Digital World. But just the name Necrowisemon sounds like bad news.”

Not totally satisfied with that answer, Daichi turned back to the other Digimon, only to see tears streaming down Marineangemon’s face. Apparently the pink Digimon was very emotional. His sister Pixiemon’s face then changed to one of remorse, but the damage was already done. In a fit, Marineangemon bolted into the surrounding forest, Pixiemon quickly following behind him.

“Well that was unexpected,” said DoKunemon.

“Should we follow them?” asked Daichi, “I mean they’re the only help we’ve found in this world.”

“There’s that. And they still owe us a Digivice.”

DoKunemon then began to barrel down the path after the siblings. Daichi was surprised how fast she could move for being a worm. Not wanting to be left behind, Daichi ran after his apparent partner.

He then turned to the other humans, “Might as well follow them. For Digital Monsters, they seem pretty harmless and helpful.”

Daichi then turned back to where the sibling Digimon had disappeared to. It seemed like they were faster on their wings than he was on his feet. But he tried his best to keep up, surprised to see that DoKunemon was keeping pace. Daichi began to figure that maybe he should stop questioning the logic of this alternate universe.

May Galaxy

---

"Clockmon." The usage implied that it was a name, and it fit the theme of the names of the other creatures. Ending with "mon" seemed to be the norm. The back-and-forth of the siblings revealed more than they probably wanted. "Necrowisemon." It was a little jumbled, but it sounded like this being was the reason for their distress. And perhaps more? "Torturing my brother" and "he's not so bad" conflicted, and painted a picture of something May didn't like. And the last thing she heard, "he's a psychopath." She wanted to follow them, to make sure they would be okay, but the fact of the matter was that the two sibling seemed at odds about this person. It probably wouldn't go very well if they gave these devices to someone labelled a psychopath, but maybe they knew something the humans didn't. Well, other than apparently everything. At the end of their talking over each other, Marineangemon ran away, quickly followed by his sister. May turned to the humans to see their reactions.

“Might as well follow them. For Digital Monsters, they seem pretty harmless and helpful.”

Then the redhead's apparent partner took off after them, the human in tow. Great. The decision was made, then. She couldn't let someone run off in an unknown world by themselves. She'd just have to hope that they were headed towards this "Clockmon" that was mentioned. She turned her head back to the other humans. "You don't have to follow, but if you don't, stay here." she told them before running after the redhead and his worm. With any luck they'd either catch up to the siblings or lose them completely before meeting whoever they were going to. She made sure to pay close attention to her surroundings in case she had to find her way back for the others when they were done.