Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Digital World was experiencing the longest period of peace that it has ever know, but it was only a matter of time before something happened. Having a strong connection to the Human World has proven to be quite beneficial as it has increased and helped maintain the flow of raw data to prevent it from becoming corrupted. However, there have been some Digimon that view humans as pests that should be exterminated and one such Digimon had just tried to force open a Digital Gate.

“Trying something like this close to the Village of Beginning?” A large lion-like humanoid Digimon with black and gold garments inquired. “Surely even you Demon Lords should know that is a very bad idea, Barbamon.”

“Bancholeomon!” Barbamon exclaimed as he raised his staff in defense. “What happened to mourning the loss of your human pet?”

“Protecting his home is the best way to honor his memory.” Bancholeomon claimed as he moved closer to the Demon Lord Digimon. “Though now I want to know how you became aware of an idle Digital Gate.”

Despite having once been one of the strongest demon type Digimon to ever live, Barbamon knew he couldn’t take one of the five Guardian Digimon in his current state. Not wanting to risk being deleted, the Demon Lord quickly dispersed into a cloud of dark energy and faded away.

“Why let him escape?” A low yet commanding voice asked from behind Bancholeomon.

“I could ask you the same thing.” The Beast Man Digimon noted as he turned around to face a Digimon far larger than himself. “What do you want Alphamon?”

“Ensuring this gate remains closed.” The black knight Digimon stated as he walked past Bancholeomon. “Until the next Digidestined are called upon.”

“You believe the Demon Lords pose a threat?” Bancholeomon questioned while keeping a sharp gaze on the knight.

“Not in their current state, no.” Alphamon confirmed as he surveyed the area. “But, Norn is certain that Drasil will make his move soon, and use the Demon Lords as pawns.”

Norn, Goddess of the Digital World, and once part of the old supercomputer Yggdrasil was kind and fair, but Drasil, the other half of Yggdrasil, had gone into hiding after the supercomputer was destroyed by the previous Digidestined. The thought of such a dangerous enemy returning was enough to make Bancholeomon growl.

“Good luck convincing the others of that.” The lion Digimon stated as he tapped his claws on his arm. “Even if that does happen, there is no guarantee that those new Digidestined will arrive in time to stop it.”

In that moment a soft harmonic sound filled the air. At first it sounded like the melody that manifested when a Digimon Digivolved, but it became far more grand and orchestral as it went on. This melody was heard all across the Digital World and caught the attention of every Digimon, both good and bad.

“A new era of the Digital World is set to begin.” Alphamon declared as he opened a personal Digital Gate. “The other Guardian Digimon may be more open to listening now.”

“Perhaps.” Bancholeomon partly agreed as he turned his gaze to the sky. “If you manage to find Imperialdramon, tell him to visit sometime.”

“Of course.” Alphamon nodded before he stepped through the gate. “You are not the only one who is curious as to what he has been doing recently.”

With that the black knight vanished just as quickly as he had appeared with the Digital Gate closed behind him. Bancholeomon still kept his eyes on the sky above him and began counting.

One

The sky remained unchanged

Two

The wind began to pick up speed and strength

Three

The trees shook violently as the wind howled

Four

A large Digital Gate opened high above the ground.

Five

Four points of light fell out the the gate and began spreading out across the forest.

“Welcome home kids.” Bancholeomon said proudly. “Though I suppose you aren’t children anymore.”

With that the Beast Man Digimon turned back towards the Village of Beginning as he had to prepare for a few guests who would be arriving soon.

Chapter Text

Amelia Ravenwood, known as Annie by her friends and family, gracefully strolled her way down the sidewalk, to the rhythm of her brown Mary Jane’s tapping the ground as she made her way towards a small cafe she likes to frequent. Her luxuriously long, light blonde hair lightly bounced with each step as the her pink hair clips caught the early afternoon sunlight. She softly gazed at those she passed with golden amber eyes and the occasional gentle smile. Gently snuggled inbetween her arms was a small yellow, vaugly cat-like creature that went by the name Nyaromon, and when Amelia took a closer look at those around her, she made note of the many other familiar yet alien creatures walking alongside the other people. Much like the one she is currently carrying.

These odd creatures are known as Digimon. They come from a parallel world made purely of data and have peacefully lived alongside humans for as long Amelia can remember, for the most part. While most humans and Digimon form mutual relationships, there are a very small handful of humans, often young children, that form specialized bonds with certain Digimon that enables them to undergo a powerful form of evolution called Digivolution. Though rare when these individuals, dubbed Chosen, do appear they are almost immediately taken in by the Digimon Police Department, better known as the DPD. A rather secretive yet powerful and promenent private organization that is integral to keeping the peace between the human World and the Digital one. Although this organization has done nothing strictly wrong to Annie’s knowledge, she couldn’t help but tense up slightly at the vauge thoughts of what a group with such involvment in day to day life could possibly do behind tightly closed doors. The small cat Digimon in Amelia's arms felt her start to tense up and tried to lighten the mood.

“It's alright Annie.” The small digimon said cheerfully, using the girl’s nickname with a childlike voice, while looking up at Amelia. “If they're anything like what you said, your friends will understand what's going on.”

“It's not them understanding that I'm worried about, Nyaromon.” Annie sighed while trying to let herself relax even the tiniest bit. “ I'm just afraid that they'll try to help and I don't want the DPD, or my dad, anywhere near them if they end up getting Digimon Partners themselves.”

It wasn't out of hate or fear of the DPD or her father, who just so happened to be the commanding officer of the local branch of the organization, Annie understands why the DPD does what it does and she loves her dad, but more often than not those who get involved with either often end up getting severely injured, go missing or end up worse and she was afraid something similar would happen to her friends. These fears are the same ones Annie had only a couple days ago when she first became Nyaromon's partner and by extension, a Chosen. Though having spoken her mind for the time being Annie and Nyaromon continued walking in a slightly more peaceful silence until they arrived at a small cyber cafe called The Rusted Dragon.

Stopping just outside the front door Annie took a monent to adjusted herself enough to comfortably hold Nyaromon in one arm while quickly brushing off her white blouse, long pink skirt and white stockings as though she was getting ready for a date before pushing back loose strands of hair and readjusted back to holding her Digimon Partner with both arms. Taking one last deep breath to calm her nerves and focus her thoughts the young lady pushed open the door and entered the cafe. The interior, much like the exterior, was predominantly dark stained spruce wood accents with stone walls with various plants spread throughout. Being a cyber cafe there was a significant part of the building dedicated to various computers with each station themed like the rest of the building while still being friendly to modern tech. On the side opposite the computers was a section much more resembling a normal cafe. Behind the snack filled counter was a black haired eighteen year old girl. The ends of her hair were a dark gold and held it in a long, high pony tail paired with violet eyes that were alerted by the small bell that rings when the front door to the cafe is open.

You wouldn’t expect such a nice and unique place that looked like it was stuck in the past to be so up to date with the current tech. Annie though to herself as she walked towards the counter.

“Oh! Hey Annie!” The barista girl happily exclaimed with a look of pleasant surprise as she adjusted her black apron. “Glad to see you’re okay after you ghosted us for a few days.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that, Salem.” Annie apologized as she looked down at Nyaromon. “I got caught off guard by some things.”

“ I noticed.” Salem stated as her violet eyes glanced at the cat-like Digimon before asking, “You’re a Nyaromon aren’t you?”

The small Digimon‘s expression changed from genuine curiosity to pure excitement as it exclaimed, “I am! How did you know?!”

Salem let out a light laugh. “We have a few in-training Digimon come through here on the rare occasion with their partners.” She noted while gesturing to a few comfy looking chairs at the far end of the counter. “Now why don’t your two take a load off and have a seat.”

Annie followed her advice and sat down in one of the chairs while putting Nyaromon in the one next to her. Once settled the young blonde watched Salem start preparing a small drink by grabing a large can of whipped cream. This young barista was one of three childhood friends that Annie has grown up with and often acted as the groups muscle given her more athletic build despite looking like she belongs on the front of a beauty magazine.

“Where are Alex and Duncan?” Annie inquired before noticing what Salem was wearing. “And should you really be wearing those kinds of clothes?”

The wardrobe in question was a black sports bra covered by a dark red cropped tie up top exposing her midriff, lightly worn faded mini jean shorts, and a pair of black boots with black fishnet stockings. It was hardly the type of clothes that you would think someone who took work seriously would wear, but Annie knew that Salem prided herself on her hard work and given that as far as she knew the mostly black haired girl was set to co-own the cafe with her half-brother Alex. With that in mind Annie figured that the siblings would agree on casual wear when working, but she was more afraid of the kinds of people the clothes Salem was rocking would attract.

Salem made a small, quick nod towards the wall behind her. “My brother and sir dorks a-lot are helping Uncle Rusty in the back, and as for my clothes, I'm gonna spend pretty much all day behind this counter so no one important is gonna notice.”

Annie was going to make a rebuttal about any time Salem had to turn around, but a knowing glance from the other girl stopped her from doing so. Even though the two have been friends for pretty much their entire lives Salem's almost supernatural ability to read people's emotions and body language sometimes scared Annie, though she won't deny that it is a useful ability to have.

“Don’t worry Annie, if anyone make a comment, or whistle, about my ass i’ll kick theirs. Also, one strawberry mocha with cream, on the house.” Salem proudly declared as she placed the drink she had been making in front of Annie before leaning on the counter and making her intentions known. “So, Did you fill out all of the DPD's bullshit paperwork yet?”

Salem's transition from a friendly barista to a foul mouthed gossip girl in the span of only a few minutes would feel like getting with a sack of bricks to anyone who wasn't use to it. Thankfully her generally friendly demeanor stays intact during the transition, most of the time. However, while this more blunt personality was the real Salem, Annie knew she had no interest in gossip and was more curious as to how having met Nyaromon was affecting her friends life, the inquiry about anything reguarding the DPD as just to catch any eavesdroppers. The young blonde took a sip of her drink as she did a mental checklist of everything she had done after becoming partners with the small Digimon.

“I have, as far as I'm aware.” Annie replied while trying to wrap her mind around an aspect of the registration process that still eluded her, “But my dad didn't have me registered as a Chosen despite Nyaromon hatching from a Digiegg when I touched it like other partner Digimon have.”

Partner Digimon, special Digimon who share a mysterious and still currently unknown bond with a specific human, often spend time as a inactive Digiegg, the first stage of all Digimon, until the chosen person, often a young child, comes in to close proximity of the egg. Nyaromon hatched from the Digiegg that materialized after Annie installed the Digivice Program, a digital version of a special device that connects a person to a Digimon, on her phone at her father's request.

“He most likely wishes to keep you from being exploited by other government agencies, or even others within the DPD, that intend to use Chosen as tools.” An older guys voice stated as a well dressed man with a cane, brown hair, and a full beard came from the back storage room of the Cafe.

“Fucking Christ, Uncle Rusty!” Salem exclaimed while holding her hand to her chest after nearly jumping out of her skin. “Warn a girl before you materialize from the either.”

Adrian Micheal Sundail, affectionately know as Rusty, is Salem and Alex's adoptive uncle after Salem’s father fled to the Digital World when their mother disappeared along with Alex’s father a few years ago. Though he is only really Salem’s uncle by blood he has always treated both syblings as well as Annie and Duncan as his own kids. As the current owner of The Rusted Dragon Cyber Cafe almost everyone in Huston who isn’t some self absorb CEO atleast knows of the former DPD operative, however it's no secret that he has put those day far behind him to focus on helping the next generation.

“Aside from my dad's position in the DPD, I'm not all that special.” Annie noted in between sips of her mocha. “And Nyaromon is only a in-training digimon, so she can’t do much yet.”

“It's not your talents as a person they care about, but your unique connection to Nyaromon that may allow her to do quite a bit under the right circumstances.” Rusty stated as he pointed to Salamon while joining Salem behind the counter.

“Like Digivolving?” Salamon tilted her head slightly in curiosity.

“Digivolving is only the tip of the perverbial iceberg. If i’ve learned anything over the years, its that the bond between a human and Digimon can lead to some rather, interesting abilities for both parties.” Rusty noted as he checked to see if anything needed to be restocked. “Though, there is no practical way of knowing that quite yet.”

“Sounds like wishful thinking to me. You’re basicly implying that people can get super powers from being friends with creatures from another reality.” Salem remarked as she popped a small hand full of candy in to her mouth. “Besides, aren't all Digimon potentially capable of ending the world?”

“Only if they are not properly kept in check. Though most are very fr-” Rusty was cut off when the entrance bell rang and two secret service type guys and a business lady dressed in dress that was somehow a darker black than Salem’s hair.

“Totally not a super villain with a weird domination kink.” Salem mumbled under her breath, just barely loud enough for Annie to hear.

Rusty, with a look that made it clear he knew who these people were, ended a conversation that hasn't even happened yet. “I'm not selling the shop Lilith, so unless your here to use one of the computers or get a midday snack then you'd best leave.”

Unfazed by Rusty's words the tall yet curvaceous woman still tried her hand. “Adrian dear, are you truly still going to hand over this cute little shop to inexperienced children.”

Rusty, eyes narrowed, retorted. “Inexperienced when dealing with a snake like you perhaps, but I know for a fact they'll take better care of this old place than you or your associates ever could.”

“Surely a man of your experience knows that good maintenance is nothing without good management.” Lilith sneered venomously trying to get a the old shop owner’s nerves which caused Rusty to let out a low growl.

By this point Annie had become painfully aware of the growing tension in the air and gently pick up Nyaromon out of her seat as the poor Digimon had begun cowering. But it wasn’t just the mutual hatred between two people that filled the air, something much more prominent nagged at the back of Annie’s mind as she noticed a black mist start to form around Lilith before Annie closed her eyes and shook her head causing the mist to vanish. It was evident that if the situation wasn't resolved soon something bad was going to occur, Annie just wasn't sure what. The Lilith was about to continue but Rusty put his hand up, to which Lilith complied, though not without a rather unerving sneer, and didn't say anything as he glanced over at the two eighteen year old girls.

“Salem. Annie.” his voice had become low and stern. It was clear as day now that something was wrong but neither girl could still tell what. “Go to the back, let the boys know whats going on, and don’t come out until I come get you.”

“One step a head of you.” Salem said as she dropped her apron on the counter, gestured for Annie to follow and hurried past Rusty towards the back.

Annie, with Nyaromon securely in her arms, got out of her seat headed the same direction as Salem while giving the lady and her underlings a wide berth, but could feel a cold shiver go down her spine as though a ghostly hand had just caressed her back. Once she was in the clear both girls walked into a short hallway and through a heavy door that was slightly a jar. The room on the other side of that door was a deceptively large room for a relatively small Cafe and was split into two distinct half's. One side was dedicated to a fully stocked storage area with everything needed for the food and snack aspects of the shop with a small walk in fridge for cold items. On the other side was a workshop area with various servers just as nicely organized as the food and drinks, but with the addition of a small office area with old and broken computer components scattered half hazardly on the floor with an old, white, brick of a desktop computer monitor that was currently being messed with by two guys the same age as Annie and Salem.

Guess Rusty was feeling nostalgic earlier. Annie noted to herself.

One of the young guys had dark olive skin, semi lengthy yet brushed light brown hair and wore a over sized forest green hoodie with black jeans and white tennis shoes. His emerald green eyes constantly bouncing from one point of interest to another and were by far the easiest way to tell what he was thinking. He was happily preoccupied with some exposed circuits of a smaller device before suddenly jerking his hand back in surprise.

“Bloody shite that hurt.” The guy complained in a low voice and an almost invisible Scottish accent as he shook his hand. “Damn auld computers having the temperament of sorority girls.”

“I tried to warn you, Duncan.” The other young guy stated as he peaked up from under the table the two of them were working at. “Exposed circuits are no joke.”

This other guy was much thinner than Duncan even taking his long black jacket compared to Duncan’s into account and his skin was a lightly tanned pale color as opposed to the light and tanned peach of Annie and Salem respectively. His slightly longer, messy hair was a dark golden blonde with black ends, the reverse of Salem, with a white t-shirt under his jacket, dark blue jeans, and grey hiking boots. In one hand was a couple of unplugged USB cords attached to various smaller devices dangling at his side while he held the power button on the main tower that held all of the more important parts to the old computer. Once he let go of the button a light jingle came from the monitor as it sprung to life.

“Says the canny tech wizard!” Duncan lightly exclaimed gesturing to the computer. “You’re the only person I'm aware of who can bring old teck back to life and can make a nearly functional hoverboard that actually hovers, Alex!”

“Nearly.” Alex emphasized the word as he stood up from the ground and walked around the table to start work on the main monitor while placing the bundle of USB cords on the table the two boys shared. His voice was quite light and mellow for a guy though he'd never admit that. “I know for a fact that hoverboards aren't supposed to catch on fire when you turn them on.”

“At least it doesn't nearly explode anymore.” Salem noted as she walked over to the table with Annie and Nyaromon in tow before picking up a steel baseball bat lying next to a busted laptop. “A bit archaic don’t you think?”

“Oh! Hey girls!” Duncan said excitedly, as he leaned back in the old office chair he was sitting in with his accent having completely disappeared by this point. “Yeah, Rusty said something about not letting even the smallest wire be reusable or somethin’. Speaking of the devil he need us for something else?”

“No.” Salem replied as she effortlessly hoised herself onto the table next to Duncan while laying the steel baseball bat across her lap. “But, given he wanted me to bring Annie back here with me before world war three broke out in the cafe should say a lot.”

“Must be a high ranking member of one of the big tech companies who have been trying to get permission to monetize travel between our world and the digital one.” Alex noted as he logged into the ancient computer with a few quick taps of the keyboard. “I can't think of anyone else who could make the air so tense we could feel it back here only a few minutes after Rusty was laughing like he was reuniting with an old friend.”

“It could also be that they may have gotten information claiming that this place is home to a Digital Gate.” Annie added as she walked closer to Alex to watch what he was doing with the old computer. “I over heard my dad say something about that when I was registering Salamon as my Digimon Partner.”

“That could explain the unnaturally good WiFi connection around here or Rustly could also just have a really hight internet bill, even higher than he lets on at least” Alex partially joked as he rolled an old office chair he had possibly been using earlier over for Annie and Nyaromon with a gentle smile. “It's also good to know that there is currently not an age cap to being a Chosen.”

“It was certainly a surprise.” Annie agreed as she put Nyaromon on the table before sitting down and asking the obvious question. “So what are you two doing with this old computer? You don’t normally mess with something so…functional”

“Uncle Rusty wants to start clearing out all the useless stuff that just outright doesn’t work.” Alex said as he gestured to a small pile of freshly busted computers while looking at a piece of paper and typing in a set of numbers written on it into the password box. “But, he was very adamant to try and get this particular compter to work again, which to my surprise it does.”

Salem leaned across the table to tap the computer. “Must have been among the first one he ever bought given that the only real problem with it that I can see is the decades of dust that could bury a Patamon.”

“Surprised you didn’t say anything about that much dust being able to kill somebody.” Duncan commented as he was not so secretly getting ready to poke Salem in her exposed belly.

“Because unless you directly inhale it like you do with caramel candy its harmless.” Salem retorted as she smacked Duncan’s hand down getting a small chuckle out of everyone.

As the four childhood friends settled into a comfortable silence for a moment, Annie took the opportunity to let herself relax as she has not been able to really do so for the past couple of days. She knew that an outside viewer would find it surprising that the daughter of the DPD's commander was friends with someone as vulgar and questionably dressed as Salem, or as quick witted and childlike as Duncan. Yet here she was feeling right at home with them like she always has. Yet it didn't take long for Annie's eyes to wander over to Alex who was flipping threw various files on the ancient computer after he had managed to get the password to work. His soft face, relaxed demeanor and red and blue hetero-chromatic eyes have always been a comfort to her when she needed it, most likely because Annie herself only came up to just under his shoulders. Yet Annie always felt a slight sting in her heart when she looked at the various scars on his face, all caused by digimon, and none of them healed completly. The biggest and most painful looking was the large vertical one that almost entirly encompased his right blue eye he got four years ago. This is followed by a thin and long scar on his nose he got by accident from a Tentomon, and the last one sat on his lower left jaw from a rather tempermental Impmon.Though before dissapearing for a few day she had begun to get a weired feeling in her stomach when the two were together, but she can't quite figure out what that means. Closing her eyes for what felt like only a few seconds Annie heard some quick yet furious taping coming from the keyboard causing her open her eyes to see whats got Alex in such a hurry.

“Something wrong Alex?” Annie asked. “You don’t normally type that quick unless its important.”

“A program I've never seen before just opened by itself.” Alex stated as he tried every possible way to close the new window before stepping back confused and croassing his arms. “But no matter what I do it wont close.”

Annie rolled her chair slightly closer and saw that the program in question resembled an old V-pet that came out around the same time as the computer just as Duncan and Salem came closer. All four young adults and Salamon gathered closer to the monitor trying to come up with a way to proceed aside from turning the computer off and on again. After a few minutes of no luck Alex tried just that but after about a minute of back and forth he eventually unplugged the computer and monitor only for the screen to still be functional.

“Yeah, that's not creepy.” Duncan vocalized. “Maybe just some residual power after not having been turned on for a few years?”

“As if.” Salem stated as she readied herself to smash the comupter the baseball bat she’s been holding. “We scrap it now and ask Rusty about any machine cults he’s in later.”

Alex quickly grabbed Salem’s arm and gently forced her to lower her weapon. “And what if it is a Digital Gate like Mr. Ravenwood thinks it may be? Breaking the computer may make it form faster.”

As if on cue an old message window popped onto the screen with text written in it that seemed directly targeted at Salem.

please. Save your aggression for those who deserve it

“Sounds like something a Digimon in need of a good thrashing would say.” Salem retorted while raising her bat again.

i am of the Digital World but i am no Digimon

“Then what are you?” Alex Inquired.

“Alex! Don’t get friendly with it!” Duncan protested before Alex gave him a knowing glance.

a friend. a guide

“A guide for what?” Annie chimed in.

to save both worlds

A light harmonic sound began to fill the room, drowning out the outside world as it got louder and closer. The computer screen flashed with images of various locations both known and unknown to the four young adults. They were so caught up in the moment that as the computer’s screen flashed to an aerial view of a dense forest they didn’t notice that the screen was getting bigger, and closer. Once the sea of green filled her vision Annie felt a light tug at the back of her mind before everything instantly went dark. Opening eyes she had no memory of closing Annie sat up while subconsciously rubbing out the sleep. It was here that she noticed the weight on her legs only to find a barely awake Nyaromon.

“Are you okay Nyaromon?” Annie asked while placing her hand gently on the Digimon.

Nyaromon yawned, “Yeah, but I don’t remember going to sleep.”

Now that it had been mentioned, Annie realized that she was a bit sore as though she had been asleep for atleast a few hours and it was when she took a moment to look around was when she noticed where they were. Large trees rose into the sky as various flowers and vegetation not seen anywhere on earth lightly moved in the soft breeze. The grass and dirt under Annie was soft like it had recently been maintained, yet not a spec of dirt or grass stain was anywhere to be found on her clothes. If the soreness didn’t prove otherwise Annie would have immediately thought this was a dream and she had a bad feeling about where she was. One look up to a sky populated with streams of data confirmed her suspicion, they were in the Digital World. After lifting Nyaromon off of her lap, Annie got to her feet and noticed a worn path ahead of her.

Better that wondering around aimlessly. She thought as her and Salamon cautiously followed the path while calling out for their friends hoping that if they had come through the computer with her that they were okay. There was also a better chance of getting home if they all worked together.

One thing was for certain. Today has been A Series of Odd Events.