---

As Kari put on her glasses to reveal the names of the others, one thought went through her head. Well, so much for my brilliant anti-death note plan. Hey, if they were in a new world, who's to say something absurd like that wasn't possible now? She had managed to mostly ignore the girl falling from the sky and the commotion afterwards, taking a position near the back of the group with Yui and Melody behind her as they followed... Isaac, apparently. As the group walked, most of the others began speaking with each other. Melody to Isaac, Sasha to Isaac, Yurie to Isaac... Okay, so mostly everyone was talking with the apparent leader, but still.

With nothing better to do, seeing as there didn't seem to be any threats around and there was a group on the lookout for any, Kari began to retreat into her own mind. She was wondering what these "partners" of theirs would be like. Would they be like the angels were, and end up being enemies? Or were they going to be actually decent? Though, she supposed it was really only the one angel that was the problem, the other mostly didn't do anything. And so when Yui, or Azuma, as she'd prefer to be called, grabbed Melody and nearly pulled her over, Kari was shaken out of her daydreaming by Melody's scream. She turned to look at the two and saw what could only be green eyes in the bushes. Still, she wanted to give whatever it was a fair shake, so she tensed slightly in preparation for a fight, but kept herself as calm as she could in the hopes of avoiding one.

Cameron happily skipped along with the others. Everyone seemed to be less grumpy now that they had something to do, and people talked amongst themselves. Some of these people really needed a little more joy in their lives. Hey, that’s probably why he was brought here.

Their travels were interrupted when Azuma noticed a pair of green eyes in the bushes. Most of the others were apprehensive, but not Cameron. Sasha decided to take the lead by talking to it, and Cameron decided to follow suit. “Hey little buddy. Don’t be shy. No one wants to hurt you.” Although, judging by the look on Isaacs face, that may not be true, but Cameron ignored that. “I bet you’re really cute back there. Maybe you could help us?

The eyes shifted back and forth between the humans before the sound of sniffing came from the bush. "You're all some of the funniest smelling Digimon I've ever met," came a voice. It was somewhat childlike, but something told Yui that its owner was anything but.

"We're not Digimon," she said. "We're humans. We were brought here by someone named Yggdrasil. And some angels." The eyes cocked to one side in an almost birdlike fashion.

"Humans aren't real. They're just stories that bored Digimon came up with to pass the time."

"Well to me Digimon sound like some kind of kid's toy, so I guess we're in the same boat." The eyes blinked, as if surprised. Then came the sound of laughter, and the creature came out of the bushes. It looked like a small dinosaur, maybe slightly over a meter tall. Its skin was black in color, with red stripes adorning it. Its body proportions reminded Yui of a puppy, of all things-- large head and limbs, a short, stumpy tail, a thick body.

The creature's lips spread into an amused smile. "Well, that's a weird thought. But maybe T.A. was right about humans being real." It examined the humans each in turn. "My name is Agumon. Or BlackAgumon X. It's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it?"

Yui nodded in agreement. "It would be nice if it was short and sweet. Like 'Kuro' or something."

"Uh." Sasha had, of course, been aware that any manner of creature could have emerged from the bushes once she and the others opted to greet it rather than run. She was the one who had been speaking about this world's potentially infinite possibility for variance from anything they knew or understood, after all.

But seeing an outright dinosaur walk out of the bushes and talk to them as if they were little more than a quaint curiosity was something she couldn't have prepared for. She scanned them over, tilting her head. Well, they were talking, and they didn't seem hostile; unlike with those so-called angels, she somehow doubted this one had the preparation time or capacity to find a way to deceive their senses. If anything, the way it- he? The way he wandered out of the thicket to greet them reminded her of an old, somewhat bashful dog.

"Guess we're not the only ones having our perception of reality turned upside-down today, huh?" She said to the creature- BlackAgumon-X?- for lack of anything better that came to her mind to say. At least that was common ground. "Like she said, we've been dropped here, and we're trying to find a way back home- or at least, to somewhere we can try and find a way home. Are you lost too? We could try and find a way back together."

It felt insane, talking to the tiny dinosaur so casually, but it didn't feel wrong. As ridiculous as it was, something told her the being was trustworthy, if perhaps only because he likely didn't have the capacity to be anything but.

He didn't have any memories of who he was. Just a single word: marauder. So he'd made it his name. For however long he'd been alive, Marauder had found himself picked up by a pack of fellow Gaossmon, just wandering and scrounging for survival however they could. At first, he'd been glad just to stay alive. But none of the others ever questioned if there was something better. Or even wanted it. So once he knew enough to survive, Marauder struck out on his own. The way he saw it, sticking around with these other Gaossmon was a sure path to nowhere fast.

His wanderings eventually led him to this forest. He hadn't quite known why, but something in his gut told him he'd find some kind of answer here. Or at the very least, a path to power. A scent caught in the air, and he followed it, creeping along the forest floor and keeping to the foilage.

The trail eventually led him to an odd scene. A strange-looking BlackAgumon conversing with...what the hell were those? Marauder listened in on the conversation as he crept forward, frowning all the while. Humans? He'd heard the stories, of course. Power in exchange for companionship. Some would call it servitude. It remained to be seen which. Still, he supposed that he may as well test this out. The BlackAgumon didn't look hostile, at the very least.

"Humans, you say? The stories say you provide a quick path to power. Give me that, and I may join you."

He expected a range of responses from acquiescence to outright denial. What he didn't expect was one of the pink ones expressing sheer exasperation as she rubbed her head with one hand.

"Oh, wow, look at that. Shit that'd be easier if the angels spent five minutes telling us how this actually worked."

Marauder frowned at the response.

"You can't? Then what are you even good for?" He snorted dismissively, to which the pink one seemed to draw ire from.

"I dunno, what good are you?" She challenged back, jabbing a finger in his direction. "You show up and demand shit from us, but don't even promise anything back. Not exactly getting the urge to hand out the juice, even if I knew how to."

Digimon and human stared each other down, matching each other's glares.

---

Isaac's eyes narrowed as he tried to get a better idea of what exactly was in those bushes as Yui and Cameron tried coaxing it out. Eventually, however, it stepped out on its own, revealing a small black dinosaur looking thing. Claiming that the group was "funny-smelling digimon". Yui and Sasha quickly cleared things up about how they were humans, but the dinosaur seemed unconvinced. It also mentioned something about a "T.A.", whatever that was. Given the strangeness of this world it could be anything from a global announcement to some sort of talking robot.

The dinosaur introduced itself as BlackAgumon X, or just Agumon, though Yui had the bright idea of calling it Kuro. "Doesn't kuro just mean 'black'? Little on the nose don't you think?" Isaac asked. Then again, with his experience in programming he knew that trying to give things names that weren't explicitly direct often led to confusion and mistakes. It wasn't really his decision in the end anyways, so he dismissed the thought.

Well, he'd now seen pint sized dinosaurs and apathetic angels, so what was next, a demon with a persecution complex? A talking dog that likes to sing? His eyes flicked towards Cameron as the thought passed through him. Maybe he shouldn't tempt fate and summon something like that through some sort of cosmic joke.

A voice from behind got his attention as another dinosaur looking creature emerged, this time though, it seemed a little more aggressively tempered than the other one, staring down Yurie. However upon closer inspection, this time is looked to just he a walking head, without any sort of torso. Just a head, feet, and tail. Isaac half grimaced at the creature as he observed it. "What the actual fuck is that? I get the other one but this is literally just a walking head." Isaac shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He needed a break.

"Look, before we get too distracted here, do either of you know the way to like, any form of civilization? We can't exactly go around granting this 'power' if we all get killed in the middle of nowhere."

"Now now, let's not be rude to someone we've just met!" Melody offered, trying to defuse the initial tension between Yurie and... and... uh... What on earth was that thing? Her HUD was sadly not very helpful; it showed BlackAgumon X's name - gosh, that really was a mouthful - but over this odd head-and-feet Digimon, it only showed "???". Did the glasses not know what this creature was either? Hmm... Or could it be that these only display the information that I myself know? That would go a ways in explaining things. Though she had to admit, having a HUD that only showed what she already knew? Just how unhelpful were the forces that brought them all to this world?

She looked down at the Agumon and the odd newcomer. Deciding that Agumon had more than enough attention at present, she instead elected to examine the stranger one arguing with Yurie. Squatting down, she tilted her head this way and that, looking the creature over. Agumon had called them "Digimon", whatever that meant. Perhaps that's what these creatures were known as? "If that's Agumon, who are you?" she asked of the other. "I've never seen anything quite like you before!" She had the urge to poke it in her curiosity, but the angry glare and the gleam of those sharp teeth suggested that poking this creature would be a poor decision indeed.

---

"Humans aren't real. They're just stories that bored Digimon came up with to pass the time."

Well, that made some sense, at least. There were plenty of stupid people who denied dinosaurs exist, well, existed, it would make sense for a dinosaur to deny that humans exist, especially if it's from another world entirely. At least this thing didn't seem hostile, and Kari was just beginning to lower her guard when another "digimon," she assumed, showed itself. A head with legs, and one that seemed more aggressive, based on what it was saying.

Really wish that I had some prep time before this... Would be nice to have a knife. Actually... She had just finished her thought and was about to speak when Isaac made a better point. Was there some sort of digimon collective, a city or something, that they could use as a starting point? Surely other digimon would have information on the world the humans found themselves in, it would just be a matter of finding some that were sympathetic to them. Which if the angels were telling the truth about needing them to save the world, should be most of them.

As she began talking, she found herself relaxing again. "That's a really good point. Surviving off the land isn't really in my skill-set. I sort of doubt it's in any of yours, either, so finding a place with food, water, and shelter should be our first priority. We might even find these 'partners' we're supposed to find there, too. Plus, if we can stock up on gear it would probably help with saving the world or going back home or anything else."

Agumon-- Kuro-- raised a paw-like hand. "Actually the village I live in is pretty close," he said. "It's not much... houses and a farm and a tavern and a town hall and a gym... but it's home." The creature glanced past the humans at the other Digimon. "That's Gaossmon. Thick head, not much brains. But he speaks the truth; I think the elders Jijimon and Babamon could probably explain it better than I could. Or T.A. But it's hard to tell what's real speculation and what's fantastic stories she dug up. Like that story of humans turning into Digimon."

"A village sounds... quaint," Yui commented. She was already getting vibes of some kind of RPG. Like the equivalent of waking up in a wagon and an NPC noting that you were finally awake. "But if... Jijimon and Babamon might know something, then that's worth checking out in order to get back home." She crouched down to reach the Digimon's eye level and gave a rare smile. "Lead on, Kuro."

The little Digimon cocked its head to the side again, as if processing the nickname. "Can do. It's not that far."

The glare-off continued. Yurie sure as shit wasn't letting this little armless freak think it had leeway to be an assclown and get away with it. What a little prick.

"I'll stop when he does." "I'll stop when she does." Both human and Digimon responded to Melody's attempt at defusal simultaneously. Of course, this only made their glares intensify at each other. Marauder was forced to give in first when the BlackAgumonX next to him made his comment, shifting his stern gaze over to the lizard.

"Other Gaossmon may be idiots. I'm not. If I was, I'd still be wasting away with them." He snapped, as Yurie took her small victory and looked at Yui and Kuro.

"Wait, you're just cool with outright being named like that?" She asked the newly-christened Kuro, tilting her head. "Seems kinda, I dunno, degrading." Her eyes slowly shifted back over to the Gaossmon.

"Don't even think about it. Not even if you Digivolved me." He said firmly. "My name is Marauder. THat won't be changing."

"Sheesh, I just called it degrading. Calm your tits." Yurie held her hands up in mock surrender, completely glossing over the part where she had absolutely no problem doing it to him specifically. "Think you're trying too hard to sound cool, but that's your prerogative."

"Tch." Marauder scoffed, turning his metaphorical nose at her before looking back to Kuro again. "You mentioned civilization. Lead the way. Perhaps the elders there would know how better to get power out of a human."

---

"Gear, huh?" Isaac spoke, looking in Kari's direction. "Yeah, I could probably do with a good whackin' stick. Maybe I'll get me a shield, too." Isaac cracked his knuckles as he explored his options. If he was going to be fighting monsters, he'd probably end up being on the front lines, given that he was so much bigger than everyone else here. He was probably going to have to be the tank. Though if they were supposed to be fighting alongside these "Digimon" things, maybe he could get some sort of horse digimon to ride around on. Being a cavalier did sound pretty cool.

Blinking a few time to bring his focus back to the group, the little black dinosaur mentioned a village nearby. Something about a town hall, and a tavern. And a gym too. "Wait, a gym? Like for working out? Or do we have to collect badges for some arbitrary reason?" Isaac asked, trying his best to ignore the angry teen and walking head bickering back and forth.

"Eh, I guess it doesn't matter. Lead the way little man. Let's go meet those elders and get our Dragonball power-up or whatever." Isaac put his hands in his jacket pockets, waiting for the group to start moving again.

The mutual not-quite-animosity between Marauder and Yurie pulled a sigh from Melody's lips, and she quietly stood to her feet to look between the two creatures. Gaossmon and Agumon... Or rather, Marauder and Kuro. She'd never heard of any such creatures in her life! And yet, here they were, talking as though it were the most natural thing in the world that they would be! Come to think of it, Melody had never known any creature to talk before! Other than a rather colorful parrot a friend of hers once showed her, though it wasn't nearly as capable of conversation as these two.

"Yes, by all means, lead us to your village!" Melody answered cheerfully. "I would very much like to meet more of you strange creatures! You're most fascinating!" After a moment's consideration, she squatted down beside Kuro and gently reached out to poke him. Soft, testing touches to his head and shoulders. Not exactly mindful of personal space, granted, but it wasn't painful. "Truly fascinating... Your scales feel as smooth as skin, yet harder than any I've ever felt before!" She giggled and withdrew when Kuro began to swat at her finger to drive her back. She stood to her feet and brushed off her skirt, then looked to the group-

"BWWAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"EEEYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" The face of a flying gremlin suddenly appeared barely an inch from her own! Her scream echoed throughout the entire area, and she stumbled back so quickly that she tripped and fell on her backside.

"AAAAAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA! Oh- Oh my- Your FACE!" The gremlin was clutching her sides, laughing hysterically. "I haven't gotten anybody that good in years!"

"Wha- Who- What on earth are you?!" Melody had never seen anything quite like it. The creature looked like she was in a purple jumpsuit, yet her skin was completely white! Little fangs flashed in her mouth as she cackled, floating in the air before her.

"Impmon, obviously!" she answered, as though it were common knowledge. "What do I look like, an Angemon? What, did I scare the sense outta your head or something? ...Actually, now that I think about it..." She turned to look at all of the gathered humans, eyebrow rising higher with every moment. "What the heck are all of you?"

The sudden interruption by a new creature- Impmon- caused Yui to raise an eyebrow. A dinosaur, a walking and talking lizard head, and now a little demon? This was all so weird, but it beat the crap out of being at work. "Anyways, the village," Kuro said, clearing his throat. "Let's get moving." Kuro began leading the group.

As they walked, the forest began to become more sparse. Kuro spoke little, and Yui was just fine with that. Soon the group came to a small river, and Kuro followed it downstream until they came to a bridge. Yui could see the village now, but was surprised by what she saw. The vast majority of the creatures moving about were little more than heads hopping around.

As the group drew closer, the Digimon of the village noticed the humans. Murmurs spread through the village, until all of the hopping heads crowded around the group. They were curious and excited, and wanted to figure out what the new visitors were. Kuro's lips tugged upwards into a smile. "Alright, calm down, calm down. Where's Jijimon and Babamon?"

---

Isaac's face was almost completely expressionless as the new digimon suddenly appeared. He looked down at it as it began heckling Melody, before seemingly becoming confused at the sight of humans. "This is going to become a trend, isn't it?" Isaac thought to himself. He sighed as he inspected the new arrival, looking over its appearance.

"So what are you supposed to be? Some sort of low-budget mascot?" He then remembered the name it had said: Impmon. It certainly didn't look like a very good imp. Where were its wings? Its pitchfork? It didn't even have a spade tail. Isaac's face contorted slightly as he sorted through his thoughts, electing to eventually dismiss the whole thing and follow this "Kuro" character instead.

As he finally arrived at the village, overlooking everything he could from the bridge. It looked like a simple enough town, but the hopping blobs with faces through him off a little. There's no way these guys built all of this, right? Most of them didn't even have hands, let alone fingers to hold something like a nail. As he walked with the group, the walking heads began to crowd around them, speaking softly amongst each other. They almost seemed like... children?

As Kuro asked for Jijimon and Babamon, Isaac suddenly had a question pop into his head. "Say, Kuro, whats with the whole 'mon' thing? Jijimon, Impmon, Agumon, Gaossmon, everyone's names end in -mon. Is that like... a popular thing to do? Or is it some obscure reference I'm not getting? Are you guys gonna start calling me Isaacmon, or Humanmon?"

Thankfully, the talking blue sperm cell with legs decided to shut up for the rest of the walk over to this village. She watched...Impmon interact with that Melody girl with a slight smirk, taking some solace in knowing it wasn't just herself that had to deal with some overgrown AI being an asshole.

They entered the village, and Yurie blinked in surprise. A bunch of...talking, hopping heads. What the fuck. She looked down towards Marauder.

"Y'know, I thought the way you looked was really unfortunate, but compared to them? Shit, you actually got a good deal."

"Ignorant cretin. We all look like that in our earliest evolutionary stages." The Gaossmon spat, though he notably didn't refute being better off than them. "For all intents and purposes, they are newborn."

"Huh." She tilted her head, barely registering the insult this time as she considered new information to devour. Whatever she was going to say next was cut off by Isaac's question. Yurie glanced back down towards Marauder again, waiting to see if he'd offer another answer. When none was forthcoming, she decided to take a stab at it.

"I was thinking about that too. If this world's actually digital, might be that mon's basically a filename extension. You know, .mon? Could just be literally that. Better question is, why's whoever running this a total weeb? For everyone besides Azuma-san, their names just translate to gramps and grandma."

---

With "Impmon's" arrival, Kari spun to face the creature but was quickly calmed by its demeanor. Anything that wanted to talk over fight was fine with her. Still, she wasn't going to be unprepared if it changed its mind. It was also kind of funny to her that her fellow human asked "what on earth," when they might not be on earth anymore, and the "imp" asked "what the heck" instead. Fitting.

Kari continued in silence as the group followed "Kuro" to the village. When she saw the small heads bouncing around, swarming the humans, she got a little uneasy. Surely these little things weren't dangerous, but they certainly looked somewhat unsettling. That's when Isaac asked the question she was just thinking. What's with the naming convention? When Yurie suggested that it might be a file type, it sounded plausible. But...

"If that's the case, I wonder what our file type is." She mused aloud. Then she turned to face Yurie directly. "So you're assuming these things haven't evolved to this point? That they're all manually created by someone?" Kari didn't think she believed that.

Before any questions could be answered, a small, rabbit-like creature pushed its way through the crowd of heads. It was a little smaller than Kuro and Marauder, but taller than Impmon. Its body was covered in ivory colored fuzz, with brown markings on its ears and paws (hands?). Yui's eyes were drawn to the horn on its head, but perhaps most oddly of all, it wore a white lab coat and a black tie. The Digimon's big black eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Agumon, are these what I think they are?" the new Digimon asked. Kuro gave a silent nod, and the rabbit-thing's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! I told you all humans are real!" The Digimon began hopping up and down excitedly. "If only Hakase was here to see this! The look on his face would be priceless!"

Kuro gave a quiet sigh as the new Digimon began flitting from one human to the other. "Well, now you've met Terriermon Assistant. She's our resident..." He trailed off, trying to think of a fitting description. "Well... Terriermon."

"Call me T.A.!" Terriermon insisted. By now the crowd of Digimon had backed up a little, giving T.A. enough room to examine the humans. She lifted Yui's foot, as if trying to study it. "I've been trying to research humans for years! But everyone always insisted they were myths!"

"Maybe," She shrugged in response to Kari's inquiry, glad that at least someone was engaging their brain to consider all this. "The angels said this world formed with our technology advancing, right? Maybe not directly manmade, but they might've all formed from tech and the internet, shit like that? God, we're so fucked if these all took inspiration from the internet."

Any further musings and/or complaints Yurie had were cut off by the arrival of...a bunny in a lab coat. Huh. At least this one was cute. Kind of like a marketable plushie, really. And it mentioned a...Hakase? Professor? Huh. Was the angel's translation bricked, or was that not autotranslating from Japanese on purpose? Then again, considering the fucking names Jijimon and Babamon, it might've been an actual name. She still wasn't over that.

"Yeah, okay, studying humans, right." Yurie sighed, dreading what exactly the little green rabbit-dog thing thought went on with humans. "Tell you what, we'll explain something you want on humans to you in exchange for you telling us about Digimon. Not exactly working with great information here." Or any at all, really. Fucking angels.

@The World

"Very nice to meet you, T.A.!" Melody offered with a bright smile! Contrary to Yurie's cautious - and far wiser - offer of giving info for info, she seemed all too happy to share whatever was asked of her, even allowing the Terriermon to take her hand and poke and prod at each of her fingers individually. "I'm Melody! And these are my new friends!" She motioned to the group as a whole, allowing everyone to introduce themselves as they saw fit.

"Fair warning, T.A.: these guys are weird," Impmon "whispered" loud enough for all the humans to hear. "I mean, you ever seen anything that looks like them before? They don't even have any fur! Or scales! Or fashion sense!"

"Wha- Hey! I do so have fashion sense!" Melody huffed in reply, turning a pout up at Impmon, who responded with a hearty laugh at the humans' expense. With a sigh, Melody turned back to Terriermon. "Anyway, yes! Feel free to ask us whatever you want to know about humans! We're happy to share, and also happy to learn more about all of you!" Certainly, she was speaking for the group here. Whether the group agreed or not... Well, that issue seemed to go quite above Melody's head. She was far too preoccupied admiring how adorable T.A. and all the other Digimon were - even the Gaossmon glaring suspiciously at the group!

---

"Huh, yeah, i suppose that makes sense with the whole file type thing. As for our file type..." Isaac shrugs. "We might not have one, seeing as we're basically aliens to these guys. We come from a whole seperate world, so it would make sense if we didn't exactly have to play by thier world's rules." Isaac looked around at the strange creatures gathered around him. They really did seem kind of like aliens, un a sense. Some more stylized than others, such as Impmon.

Then, another digimon began to make its way through the crowd towards Isaac and the group. It was some sort of... green and white rabbit thing. What made things even stranger was the fact that the thing was wearing a lab coat of all things. Where the hell did he even get it? Did he make it? And how did he do so with such tiny hands? Isaac shook his head, dismissing the thought. There were more important things to worry about at the moment.

Then Kuro introduced it as Terriermon. Or as the Terriermon asked to be called, T.A. "Terrier...mon? Like the dog breed?" Isaac leaned in closer to get a better look at the Terriermon. "Doesn't look like any dog I've ever seen." The digimon began speaking excitedly as it seemed to inspect the group. Soon Yurie spoke up, then quickly followed up by Melody and Impmon. Impmon eventually said something about the group looking strange having no scales, fur, or fashion.

"Looks like someone doesn't know what aesthetics are." Isaac chuckled. "And actually, we do have fur. Sort of." Isaac pulled down the collar of his shirt, revealing a chest full of hair. He then took off his beanie, his blonde hair now blowing in the breeze. "Dudes like me typically have a lot more, though. Ladies tend to keeo that stuff off of 'em though." Isaac said, jabbing a thumb at the swarm of females behind him. And Cameron. He then turned back to T.A.

"Like Yurie said, if you can getvus some more info on what exactly is happening ariund here, we, or at least I would be willing to help you out with your little study."