Light grey clouds hung over the forest, hiding the sun and all trace of color from the sky above. A gentle breeze rustled the bare branches of the forest's trees, setting them in motion against their colorless backdrop, and brushed over the brown grass covering the forest floor. Not a single bird chirped, nor did any woodland creature race along the ground. All in all, it could've been any forest in the middle of winter, were it not for the warmth of the air. Nothing moved but the branches and the grass.
Over a clearing in the forest, white light condensed into an orb that flew above the treetops and dispersed into the sky above, leaving behind the four human forms on the ground. No sound acknowledged the disappearance of the light - the humans all laid face-down on the ground, splayed out. 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: 'PARTNER NOT FOUND'. For several minutes, that was how the scene stayed - only the rustling of the branches and the movement of the wind made any noise. Only the branches and the humans' chests moved.
"Hurry, this way! I think it came from over here!"
The small pink form zoomed through the trees, navigating between their trunks with a dexterity hardly reflected by their small, awkward form. Its gentle voice - the one that dared to disrupt the forest's silence - held a distinctly masculine edge that felt at odds with the soft pink color of its body and the red heart emblazoned on its torso. Lagging behind was another pink being - this one, however, had a much harsher hue, with the deeper pink confined to the fur that grew everywhere but its hands, feet, and face. Furthermore, it lacked a visible torso - it was simply a rounded ball of fur in comparison to the first speaker.
"Yeah, yeah - hang on a sec, bro! Yeesh..." The second being spoke, its voice feminine despite the harsh tone of its words and the spear that cut the air as it passed by. Alas, though, the words were in vain - the first being kept moving, his small feathered wings beating only once in a while to keep him aloft as he raced forward. He knew she hadn't seen it, but she trusted him, and he had to keep flying before he lost track of where it had been. Where the light had appeared.
Where, he was sure, something had arrived when it wasn't supposed to.
The end of his torso whipped about in the wind created by his movement, fluttering back and forth like the antennae on his head, as his green eyes kept scanning for a hint of what he had seen. They were close now, he was sure- and much closer than he expected, as she abruptly came to a halt at the edge of the forest clearing. His eyes grew wide, staring at the four figures that laid face-down. Even if they were still some distance away, even if he had never seen one personally... well, he had seen many digimon before. He didn't think these were digimon.
"Ack!" Before he could think further on the topic, he hit the ground as his sister roughly crashed into him, and both tumbled out past the tree line. His sister shook her head - body, really, and focused her black eyes on her brother as she glowered.
"Why the heck did you stop like that! MarineAngemon, you better-"
MarineAngemon pointed, as best as he could without any fingers, at the four forms. He didn't speak a word. His sister looked up, and her pale furless skin managed to lighten a few more shades. She flew up immediately, her long stitched wings buzzing with the speed they beat at, and she hooked her brother on the end of her spear by the Holy Ring around his neck before flying back behind the tree line. Once safely hidden, she unhooked her brother and took a second to confirm he hadn't been hurt by the fall or spear before dropping her voice to a whisper.
"MarineAngemon, are those... humans?"
"I... yes, Piximon." MarineAngemon nodded, with far more confidence than he felt. "They're humans." Piximon looked out at the four.
"What the heck are humans doing here?"
"I don't know. I don't think they're awake though..."
"Are they even alive?"
"...I'm not sure." MarineAngemon chewed on his lower lip, and Piximon's glower returned.
"Oh. Oh no, bro, don't you-"
"I'm going to check on them, sister." Before Piximon could catch MarineAngemon on her spear again, he flew out into the clearing. The humans, he had to admit, were much bigger than expected. He was maybe half a meter long, from the top of his head to the tip of his tail, and Piximon was about twenty-five centimeters at most. The humans easily beat that. Then again, so did many digimon. Piximon never seemed to be bothered by it. Just, MarineAngemon didn't really know what to expect. Clockmon had her stories and, as for their other friend...
MarineAngemon wasn't sure what would happen if their other friend found these humans.
He floated down to the closest one. It was hard, turning over the human - they also weighed so much, and MarineAngemon didn't exactly have fingers anymore - but then Piximon flew over and joined her brother, and it became a much simpler task. MarineAngemon looked over the human. He wasn't entirely sure what to look for, but the exterior didn't seem damaged, and they still seemed to breathe. Perhaps they were fine after all.
The other three produced similar results - besides being unconscious, MarineAngemon couldn't find anything wrong with them. Maybe the light was related to all this? This seemed to be about where the light should've been. How did Clockmon's stories go again? Maybe Piximon remembered.
"Sister, about what... what I, uh....." He had turned as he began to speak, and trailed off into an awkward silence as he noted the metallic devices she held - three in the crook of her right arm, nearly obscuring her face entirely, and one in her left hand, turning it over. "What are those?"
"Dunno. Found them next to everyone Maybe digivices? Clockmon mentioned humans have those." She shrugged and then tossed the one she was looking at to MarineAngemon. He caught it more out of reflex than conscious thought, still staring at her. "Not sure they work, but check out the back." MarineAngemon hesitated before turning the device over in his limbs. Etched into the back was a pattern of dots and lines, connected. A constellation. His eyes widened as he realized he recognized it.
"...but... why? And why are they here?" He glanced at the four humans. One for each...
"No idea, bro, but you know what? I bet he'd like them." She pulled one of the three 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...
Fish of Oblivion,
Chronic,
Nallore,
SporkoBug,
Slim Shady,
Ersa93,
Lexisheeps,
Tyler Night,
Lildear18,
Forsythe
