”What do you mean ‘the past few days’?”

"The past three days." The boy paused. "Like… the past three days since waking up here? Did you girls not get Omniphone Golds? That seems to be the common factor from what I’ve learned."

”We did, but… we just got here. And all at the same time, too.”Aki considered the implications. If he’d been here already, then that must mean…”Did you somehow get yours early?”

"No? Did you get yours late?"

Aki tugged at the hem of her shirt. The boy's words weren't an accusation, but she couldn't help but feel like they were. ”I mean, my uncle got it for me on launch day. Definitely not three days late.”

"That lines up with me and the two I’ve met, then. Dunno why you think you only got here now." He looked over at Clockmon. "Aren’t you a time-based digimon? Did you do something?"

“No. I haven’t done anything.” Clockmon replied.

First they get isekaid, and now there's time shenanigans to look out for? ”Well, you’ve been here longer. What is this world, and more importantly, how did we get here?”

"I’ve only been here three days. But it seems to be like… a world where technology is different. They’ve got a lot of electromagnetic tech that we didn’t have, assuming we’re all from the same world. Or that this is even a different world at all. It could be time travel, I suppose. But pretty much everyone has a ‘transer,’ the device on that guy’s wrist," He pointed at the man in the construction hat, "or something more advanced than it. Seems like there was recently a better device put on the market."

Aki took advantage of the moment to eye the now-fallen man. He didn’t seem to be moving, and was large enough that Aki couldn’t see any clear signs of breathing. ”Is he… erm… you know…” Aki shook her head, unable to swallow the thought. ”Is he okay?”

"Should be. I used a card that gives the ‘Freeze’ and ‘Confuse’ effects. We’ve got a few minutes, but he’ll wake back up with little memory of the past few minutes and totally fine.."

Aki sighed in relief. The man wasn’t dead. Now she turned and gave the 20-something her full attention.”I’m so glad. And, er, Jacob, was it? What’s with this thing about statuses? Like in a video game?”

"Don’t wear it out. But, sort of. It seems like the biggest difference between where we came from and here is the existence of Battle Chips, sort of like Megaman, and cards that work similar to them. They can affect the real world, but I’ve found that they work best in a place where there’s a lot of digital… influence, I guess? Like near a wave tower, like we are now. Or where digimon are around."

Okay, this guy had clearly figured out the most important parts of this world over the past few days. He seemed to be a pretty nice person and, well, it didn’t exactly hurt that he was kind of cute. ”So this really is like those old Megaman games, huh.” Good job, Aki. Playing it smooth. ”I don’t guess you’ve found any kind of an exit?”

"At the very least, I’ve seen viruses from them and Battle Chips work with Expanse Callers. But no, I don’t know of any way to get back. I’ve had to do a lot of experimentation with the other two guys I’ve met here to figure anything out, so I hope that telling you all this helps with the whole ‘skipped three days’ thing."

”Yeah, it helps a lot. And you’ve met others here besides us? Oh, and uh, I’m Aki by the way.”

"Like I said, I’ve met two others. But they were both by themselves, aside from their digimon. I haven’t met anyone with a Netnavi yet, but I assume there’s got to be a few if viruses exist here. The regular people have Wizards, which seem to be basically EM Netnavis.
One of them was really… angry, honestly. The other guy was cool though."

”I’ve got a navi named Ciel. She was here when we woke up in this world.”

"Oh, that’s cool. Now at least I know they’re a thing here too."

This world was bigger than it first seemed, and now that they knew other people were around, some even transported like them, their whole situation just got a lot more complicated. But forget all of that. Most importantly, they weren't alone.

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

Making a small o with her mouth, Suzi took a step back when the man with the hard hat slumped over. Her eyes examined the body and then stared wide-eyes at the young man behind him. Quickly, her mouth clamped shut. Her foot took a step backwards apprehensively, yet she remained otherwise still.

Aki-senpai began speaking to him, and Suzi felt her cheeks tingle. She wished she had been the first one to speak up, for some reason. However, she continued in silence as the two older ones conversed. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest, trying to anticipate where the conversation was going.

Finally, she brought her step forward once more and relaxed a little. The feeling in her cheeks was pink, and quickly she drew in a quick breath and clamped her lips shut again. A small exhale came from her nose. Suzi looked down at her wrist. This has to do with my omniphone?

It made sense, and for some reason, she did not want to doubt Jacob-senpai. He really looked like he knew what was going on. She felt much safer with him around, especially after what he did to… Her eyes glazed over the slumped body. She drew in another breath but this time through her nose. Her mouth drew a straight line as she looked back at Jacob-senpai.

Jacob noticed the younger girl's actions and turned to smile and wave at Suzi. He was about to say something when something changed in the air. There was a loud crack, and the air became heavy. Meramon and Clockmon both once again took on a fighting stance and moved to be on either side of the group of humans, ready to fight to protect them. Jacob's face instantly darkened, and he swiped a card through his Expanse Caller, summoning a purple digimon from the air next to him.

"What's going on?" Lily asked, clearly frightened. Wormmon moved closer to her, ready to protect her.

The purple digimon, Monodramon, spoke to Jacob, "Again? I thought we took care of this!"

"So did I!" The boy looked at the other humans and digimon. An unknown Navi, a BlackAgumon, an Agumon, and a Veemon, plus his own partner. He didn't like their chances. Even if the others could digivolve, which based on Aki's statements he doubted, he also didn't think that the other humans had any chips or cards ready to fight with. So he did what he felt was the responsible thing to do, and turned towards the two Adult Digimon. "Hey, can you two get everyone out of here!? Preferably quickly!"

Meramon turned towards the boy and replied, "I can't do much, but I'll fight to protect you all!"

It was Clockmon that came forward with a solution. "I... I can send some of them away. You said there's a discrepancy of three days, right? I can send three of you back, back three days. Any more than that, any more of you sent, and further back, and we'll have trouble."

Hideaki, the boy summoned by Lily's wish, and his two partners turned and gave a thumbs up to the other humans. "I'll stay. We can handle whatever's coming, no worries," he said with a grin. He saw the end of the fight earlier, he knew that the others wouldn't be able to fight again so quickly.

That left Aki, Suzy, Lily, and Octavia. But before the other three could respond, Lily went to Suzy's side and slipped the Wish Card into her hand. As she backed up, she spoke to Clockmon. "I-I'll stay! I have a wish, if things get too bad... So take the others back!"

Jacob, as well as the two Adult Digimon, were impressed with the young girl's courage. Meramon picked up the unconscious adult man and went to Lily's side. Clockmon was about to object, but another cracking sound rang out through the area, and it acquiesced. As the hands on its face began to spin backwards, the last thing the three other girls would see was a large shadow appearing over the horizon...

---

Daniel Davis awoke to the sound of static filling the air. In his dominant hand was a small box, and on his other wrist was a strange device. It shone pink, a wide brace going underneath it around his forearm, the brace being about two inches from front to back and about half an inch thick. On top of this brace was a rectangular machine that looked quite similar to his Omniphone, though the screen was flat and there were new additions to its hardware. These additions came in the form of what appeared to be a card scanner on the side facing away from his body and five small slots at the top of the screen, near his wrist, which had coverings which slid over them to protect them. The screen displayed the words "Expanse Caller" in text the color of the device with a small circle cycling below and a slowly filling bar at the very bottom of it.

On the underside of the brace was a symbol etched into the machine's brace. After a few moments, the screen on his arm began to change, the bar filling and new information replacing the text. This would take the form of a new, larger bar and two smaller ones below it as well as the word "Initializing" above them.

In front of Daniel's eyes came a small hologram, tinted pink with text of a darker shade, displaying the word "Welcome" and showing a slowly filling bar that matched the largest of the device on their wrist. This hologram took up roughly a fourth of his vision; it was always visible but not so obtrusive as to block anything he could see.

Next to the smaller bars were two symbols. The upper of the two showed what appeared to be a golden ring, and the lower bar showed a heart-shaped symbol in a circle.

While the lower two bars continued filling slowly, the uppermost largest bar filled rather quickly, taking only about fifteen seconds. Upon completion it would disappear only to be replaced with the words "Babel Program Initialized". Regardless of which language he spoke, Daniel would now hear all languages as his own, allowing for communication with anyone on earth.

After noticing this, Daniel took in his surroundings, only to find that behind him was a large dome of white hexagons. It was a ways in the distance, and through the top of it was the upper part of what appeared to be a cellphone or radio tower. The dome stretched a kilometer in diameter, with the tower in the center, though Daniel could only guess at its size. As he looked at it, the bars in his vision finished filling, and the hologram in his vision split to reveal a strange creature and what appeared to be a woman in pink. At the same time that these two became visible, the hexagons faded away to reveal three human girls standing near the tower...

Aki, Lily, and Octavia now found themselves back where they started when they first awoke in this world, though now they seemed to be alone and the boxes from before were nowhere to be seen. Their own holographic visions would show their partners safe and sound, though still in the last stages of recovering from the battle, for those that took part in it. There was no indication that the virus or its lesser comrades were nearby. All seemed quiet for now.

Were Daniel to look in the box in his hand, he would find 10 blank Capture Chips and 10 blank Capture Cards.

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

Looking around, Suzi observed everything before her. Her lips parted into a small o. She looked at the holographic vision of Kudamon. It was resting peacefully but obviously still recovering. Her mouth closed as she looked down at the card in her hand.

What is this?

It was a Wish Card. She examined it carefully. For a brief moment, she was reminded of a silly show her cousin liked to watch called Cardcaptor Sakura. This card was not as pretty looking, though. She turned the card over in her hand and looked at the backside. Her mouth made a small line, and carefully, she tucked the card into her pocket.

Suzi looked at Aki and Octavia and then noticed Daniel. For a moment she had only silent thoughts. She tried putting words to them but was having a little difficulty. Finally, she broke free from the silence and spoke, "What happened... and wh-where's Lily-kun?"

Dead. Or, at least, they all were. Or... well, maybe not. Now that they had help, there was a real chance they may be able to figure some way out of this world.

The oppressive atmosphere seemed to sap away the lingering anxieties that had plagued Aki's mind. The blistering heat, carried by a sickly breeze, washed over her, providing a temporary respite from the turmoil. Taking a moment to collect herself, Aki's attention was captivated by a new symbol that materialized in the corner of her HUD: a complex S design weaving into itself, lending to a 3D appearance. Curiosity piqued, she focused her gaze on the symbol, prompting a tooltip to materialize.

Syncro meter, huh...? Aki mused, her thoughts drifting like vapor trails. The displayed percentage, a mere 5%, failed to inspire much confidence.

Aki took the time to study her folder, studying its contents with a clear head for the first time. Holy Panel, Spreader, Gun Del Sol, Tornado, Air Hockey...—she scanned their names, her eyes tracing the lines and curves of each word. None of these chips were stunning, although Air Hockey could be broken by skilled players. Regret gnawed at her as her thoughts drifted toward her choices during the recent battle. If she had used Holy Panel right away, maybe Ciel wouldn't have been hurt as badly as she was. Maybe if she had just listened—a line that wasn't unfamiliar to Aki—everything would have gone according to plan. But... all considered, there would be time for reflection and debrief once they understood just a little bit more about this world.

Octavia rubs her head as she looks around. "Great." She thought. Not only there is travel between different universes, but time travel as well? She look at the two others and questions how many other rules and laws this world has that is different from her own.

Rumi tilts his head to the side when I make eye contact and I shake my head in response. and he looks towards the others. "I wonder what big bro would do in this situation. He always finds a way and even dreamed of a situation like this." Rumi looks back at her and shrugs.
With a heavy sigh she responds, 'Guess we gotta make some friends, buddy."

Danny’s heart raced as he tried to make sense of the situation. The strange device on his arm, that was nothing like his Omniphone at home. This whole situation confused him. ‘Where am I?’ Danny wondered to himself. He looked at the box in his hand and found the blank Capture Chips and Cards, but he couldn’t figure out their purpose.

All the holograms he was seeing eventually faded. Revealing a cute cream colored dog like creature, and a woman in pink. He recognized both of them immediately. It was Salamon and Roll. There were also three human girls near that distant tower, but Danny was more interested in the two figures in front of him. His eyes widened with excitement. “Hi! Um… I’m Danny! Can either of you tell me what’s going on?”

---

While Suzi wondered where her newfound friend was, Kudamon was slowly recovering from the earlier (or was it now the later?) battle. Despite there being no sign of the viruses that had attacked before, there was also no sign of Clockmon or Meramon, nor of the other humans that had been there. It seemed that Clockmon had been telling the truth about only being able to send back three of them and their partners. But if things were different this time around, would they even end up meeting again?

Aki's minor battle experience alongside Ciel.exe had unlocked a new ability, her Synchro Meter. A system she was probably familiar with as a Megaman Battle Network fan, it was likely that increasing it would prove useful, if she could manage to do so. In her daze, she didn't think to count the bootleg purple chip she had as part of her collection, nor the Capture Chips or Actualization Chip that she had in her possession as well.

Octavia, now mindful of the possibility that this world could handle time travel, was the closest to the boy in the girls' sight. Still just under five hundred meters away from him, it was her Expanse Caller that alerted her to his ownership of one.

"New Expanse Caller located." came from her own in her voice. It seemed that it had already registered Aki and Suzi's Callers, somehow. Similarly, Daniel's spoke up with the same message in his voice. Just as it did, his partners seemed to wake up fully, as if they were shrugging off dizziness. The two stuck in his vision smiled at him; they didn't know much more about the situation than he did, but they knew that he was their partner, and that together they could handle anything. Though, without having been in a battle, Roll's Synchro Meter was not yet unlocked.

While things seemed to still be peaceful, there was a cool breeze that blew through the area. If the three girls had gone back in time, where were the viruses? And why was it not as hot as when they had first arrived? From where Danny stood, he could see a few buildings in the far distance, much farther away than the apparent radio tower where the girls stood, and not visible from where they were either.

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

Flipping the card over, Suzi stared at the back for a brief moment and then turned it face-forward once again. A small sigh left her as she continued contemplating. She looked back up. The concerned line over her mouth continued its uncertainty.

The weather had made a drastic change, and it felt refreshing. It seemed like a positive, albeit causing a stir of curiosity in Suzi’s mind. Once again, she looked around. Nothing made any sense. It was like she was in some bizarre dream. However, Aki-senpai and she already determined this to not be true.

Suzi focused on Kudamon. The Digimon was still recovering from the battle they had just endured as a team. This was viable proof that what had just happened — had just happened. Her eyes studied Kudamon. If this is not a dream, then you are real. This was another positive, a much bigger positive. Her small bubble of excitement began to resurface.

Looking down at the Wish Card once more, she pushed it into the pocket of her white over-alls. This place was much more dangerous than she could have ever imagined, and never again did she want to put Kudamon in so much danger. Despite her excitement, she knew she would have to proceed with caution. She had been much too eager… before… before whenever it was that the battle had happened.

“You were here before the battle but then disappeared. Where did you go?” Suzi suddenly asked Octavia. Her head tilted as she studied the other girl with inquisitive eyes.

Aki glanced across the ragtag team, each wrestling with the reality of this situation in their own way. She cut her eyes toward the newly-formed synchro meter, which taunted her with the tantalizing but oh-so-low 5%. Ciel, tending to her injuries, shot Aki a weak smile. This world that blended the digital and the physical hadn't been kind to any of them yet, but Aki still felt a twinge of hope that something somewhere would change in their favor. It would be a nice change of pace in her life.

Aki nodded, the weight of responsibility pressing down on her. Her fingers danced across her augmented reality interface, summoning up a holographic minimap. It showed their current location within this strange realm, marked with an ominous pulsating beacon. No familiar landmarks, no recognizable terrain. It was a world of sheer uncertainty.

Aki spared a glance at her companions, each one trying to fathom the implications of their situation. Ciel's injuries, though a source of concern for Aki, hadn't dampened the navi's determination. Aki couldn't help but wonder whether she really knew what she was doing or if she just oozed confidence without trying. The others wore expressions of curiosity and cautious readiness, their senses alert to the surreal environment. If only she could make herself as prepared as everyone else seemed to be.

Octavia looks at Suzi and shrugs nonchalantly in response. "I thought it was the rapture and I was a chosen one." She looks over at Rumi and pets his head. "Turns out I didn't fulfill their requirements for entry so I was sent back. I hope that doesn't mean I can't go back when the time is right." She playfully frowns and then laughs, looking back at Suzi. "They were looking for people with certain creatures including Digimon. Seems like there are more than just Digimon who are inhabitants to this world."

She sits there for a second after, thinking of how to introduce herself to the girl, unknowingly making a bizarre in-thought expression. She then quickly walks up to Suzi and sticks her hand out towards her, creating an awkward air from the abrupt action as she introduces herself. "Octavia."

Rumi tilts his head and follows suit, clearly just mimicking his owner's action, and Izzy, who is still only visible to Octavia, shakes his head in embarrassment.

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

Rap-ture? Suzi didn’t quite understand the implication. It sounded odd and confusing, but the older girl made a joking gesture. Out of nervousness, Suzi smiled agreeably alongside her as she continued listening. It was strangely easier to follow this girl’s lead than Aki-senpai’s.

Suzi’s eyes opened wide at the mention of Digimon. She felt her gaze losing focus as she re-processed this information again. Kudamon was tucked nicely into itself. Resting. Safe.

“Octavia.”

A hand jetted out in front of Suzi. Her eyes regained focus. She took a step back from the brisk movement and blinked several times before putting out her own hand, as well. “Takada Suzuki.” A weak smile formed on her mouth. She felt less assertive, for some reason. Maybe, the excitement was finally wearing on her.

“What did you mean about more than just Digimon inhabiting this world?” She added as she shook Octavia’s hand. She glanced at the others and looked back at Octavia for discernment.

Octavia shakes Suzi's hand then steps back, thinking. "Well, that is what those angel people wanted. Said I didn't have all of the right things that would be satisfactory or something."

She looks around for a reference, but was briefly reminded that what had happened previously is no more. "Do you remember those weird creatures that had helmets? Those were not Digimon. They were something else. I feel like I've seen them somewhere before though."

Looks at Rumi whose hand is still stuck out and I shake it to satisfy his action and he nods. Lost in thought of how this creature is actually real and alive. Continues to talk to Suzi, "Either way, we are in for a pickle. Especially since it seems that there have been other human here too."

Looking at her map, Aki saw as what she assumed was the tower's marker changed from azure to crimson. Looking around didn't reveal any changes in the tower itself, nor did it indicate what the change might mean. In the girls' vision their holographic squares showed a new message. a message echoed on their Expanse Callers' screens.

-Ally?- It read, followed by each of the names of the other two girls. Aki, looking at her minimap, saw that as the word flashed, so too did two new dots on her map, one yellow and one red, which certainly looked like they were showing the location of the other girls. Apparently now that they'd fought together, the possibility of forming a connection with each other was possible.

Danny was all but dragged by his partners towards the three girls who had appeared from nowhere. When he got closer to the group, Aki's map began to show a pink dot that seemed to correspond with his location. After a few moments of awkward silence, Roll encouraged him to introduce himself and so he did, stating his name and his apparent partnership with his Navi and Digimon.

A cool breeze washed over the four humans, and all seemed quiet. The only thing that didn't seem accounted for was the blue dot on the edge of Aki's map...

Danny was dragged pursuaded by his Digimon to go talk to the other humans, but Danny wasn’t so sure. When they all got together, there was a long moment of awkward silence, before Roll made her presence known. “Well? Aren’t you gonna say something.”

Danny rubbed the back of his head nervously. He wasn’t even sure what was going on here, let alone how to talk to a bunch of strangers. “Um… hi… I’m Danny…” He uttered nervously. “That’s Roll, and Salamon.” He said gesturing to his Navi and Digimon.

Sally waved a paw. “Hi! You can call me Sally if you want!”

“Um… D-d-d do any of you know what’s happening here? I kinda just… found myself here with Roll and Sally, and you’re the only humans I’ve seen so far…”