Digimon Rewrite/Recap

Episode One: Miraculous
‘Be careful,’

‘I will.’

‘And stick with Yuka,’

‘I will.’

‘And don’t die, honey,’

‘I will.’

‘What?’

‘I mean won’t. Come on, Mum, chill,’ said the tall brunette as he stood impatiently beside the door waiting to leave. His mother, a fairly short blonde woman, was freaking out as she normally did.

‘I’m worried about you, Flynn. Sorry, but I’m a mother.’ She hugged the boy tightly to her chest, placing him at such an angle so that he could stare at the shrine dedicated to his dead father; the photo of his smiling face with arched eyebrows; the same one Flynn imagined him having now.

He was never one for flashy, tear-jerking goodbyes. He fell off of a ladder at work and broke his neck. His last words were “Tell that damn kid that yes, he can have my study as a room and that he and my wife... I like them.” Flynn sniffed at the thought, watching as a passing gust of wind blew rustling tree branches in the way of the sun, showing more of the good-looking man.

‘I’m okay, Mum. Really,’ Flynn pushed his mother back with his long-fingered hands.

‘And you’ll take your swimming goggles?’ she asked anxiously.

‘My swimming...? Damn, I forgot!’ Flynn started to panic as his mother lifted the turquoise garments and goggle-slapped them onto his head.

‘You’d forget your pretty little head if it wasn’t screwed on. Keep them up there on your forehead, okay, Flynn? If you do one thing for me while you’re at camp, keep them on,’ she kissed his nose (making him recoil) and started to cry. They’d been Flynn’s fathers, and she was extremely sentimental over them. She was sentimental over Flynn, too. ‘No climbing up ladders, too, you hear?’

‘I won’t,’ Flynn promised, hugging his tiny mother. ‘Mum. Stop Worrying, do you hear?’

‘I won’t,’ his mother replied, handing the boy his red rucksack. ‘But I won’t cramp your style, Flynn. I’ll just call tonight and every other day, okay?’

‘You worry too much,’ Flynn sighed, but he nodded, smiling at his mother’s loving (and by extension extremely annoying) freaking out. ‘I’m just gone a week. Can you handle that? Get all your secret boyfriends in while I’m gone, will you?’

‘What?’ His mother smiled at the joke. She’d practically gone nun since her husband’s death. ‘I love you, Flynn. Please watch out for yourself. Don’t upset or fall out with Yuka, don’t get into fights, don’t...’

‘Mum! Come on, I’ll be late,’ Flynn pointed out, feeling himself blush.

‘Okay then. Oh, Flynn, I’m going to miss you so, so much!’ she sniffed as she steered Flynn towards the door and laughed as he opened it. ‘Remember, Flynn, keep the goggles on!’ she called as he bounded down the path.

‘I will, I will!’ Flynn’s reply was distant as he dashed away. ‘Don’t worry, Mum!’

Flynn slowed to a calm walk when he escaped his home street. He’d told his mother that he was due a half an hour before he actually was because of the way she acted whenever he went to stay somewhere. He’d expected her to be really bad this time, and proved himself right. He smiled serenely at the distant thought of being on camp with his childhood best friend Yuka, four other kids and only one adult; Yuka’s sweet older sister. It would be like heaven. Then his mind wandered onto Yuka. They’d been inseparable when they were children in primary school, but they’d moved on to different high schools and hadn’t spoken in a year or so. It seemed a little strange that Yuka would now be calling Flynn to go on a camping trip to the forest with her. Sighing to himself, he turned the corner toward the park and saw, if he squinted, a group of small shapes and a tall, slightly flustered, brunette girl. Yuki, Yuka’s sister.

He smiled as he dashed haphazardly across the road; cart wheeling into the park and trying slow him for a dramatic entrance. He didn’t realise everyone would be there already; five youngish teenagers and the eighteen-year-old guide, standing and sitting in a little clump. Yuki seemed to be getting annoyed, but when she lifted her head, her brown eyes lit up.

‘Little Flynn!’ she cried, causing most of the teens to turn in interest and Yuka herself to catapult herself off of the back of the bench towards him.

‘Long time no see!’ Yuka yelled, skidding to a halt beside Flynn and looking up to Flynn’s own brown eyes. ‘When did you get taller than me?’ she asked in annoyance, standing on her toes to try to get taller. Flynn laughed at this mild banter.

‘We’ve been waiting for you,’ Yuki said, giving the boy a gentle hug.

‘But I wasn’t supposed to be here for...’ Flynn glanced at his watch. ‘Ten minutes.’

‘Everyone was early,’ Yuka laughed. ‘Really early, but at least you surprised me! I thought you’d be late like you were every day at school!

‘Not fair,’ Flynn growled, but he was looking over in interest at all of the strange teenagers. ‘How about introducing me to your friends?’

‘Well, I know three,’ Yuka said. ‘The other one I don’t know is my friend’s friend and he seems nice.’ She led Flynn, with Yuki right behind, to in front of the bench. Three of the people were sitting down and the fourth was leaning against the bench carelessly. ‘Everyone, this is Flynn Yamada. He’s really nice and my all-time best friend!’ she squeezed Flynn’s arm lovingly. ‘But Flynn, this is Miku,’ she pointed to a pretty girl with light brown hair and eerie green eyes who stood up, revealing her sweet yellow dress from beneath her black jacket.

‘Nice to meet you. I’m Miku Matsuda,’ she shook Flynn’s hand before sitting down, allowing her silky bangs to fall over her face.

‘And this is Kaze,’ she said, twirling round in an incredibly annoying fashion. The boy she’d gestured to had mostly black hair, with a single blonde streak. He had dark brown eyes and alarmingly pale skin, and when he stood Flynn could see that he was also quite slender. ‘What she said. I’m Kaze Taniguchi. Pleasure,’ he nodded his head before sitting back and ignoring Miku’s chatter to him. Flynn gave him a sideways glance but Yuka cut in with her incredibly loud voice.

‘This is my middle school best friend! Her name is Melissa!’ she pointed to a tall red-headed girl who stood up as well, nodding her long head of hair and not saying a single word before sitting back down. Her dress was red plaid and modestly long compared to Miku’s, a short jacket wrapped tightly around her chest. She seemed quite shy. ‘And this, Flynn, is Tala.’ Tala was the boy who was standing up. He looked utterly un-Japanese and had thin blue eyes, short and slightly (showily so) messy blonde hair and was slender. Not as slender as Kaze, but not as rectangularly built as the thin but still slightly chunky Flynn. He glared at him naturally, because of the way Yuka looked at him.

‘Talon, “Tala” Arisato,’ was all he said, with no other recognition. Flynn made a mental note not to like him as he glanced around Yuka’s new group of friends again. They were all as equally strange as each other.

‘Come on, kids,’ Yuki said, sensing the discomfort. ‘We better get moving or we’ll be driving well into the night.’ She shepparded the teens through the park to her car. Flynn had to hold his breath to stop his amazement showing; this car was a very awesome, admittedly large car, whereas her last one had been snot green and tiny.

‘New car?’ he said weakly.

‘Oh, yeah,’ Yuki said as she opened the doors to the car. ‘A kickass gift from our aunt. Apparently she’s rich!’

‘I didn’t get a car,’ Yuka muttered as she watched her four friends get into the back. ‘Go on, then, Flynn. I’m in the front because it’s my sister’s car.’

Oh joy. He thought. This is gonna be fun.

Flynn sat miserably next to the window, craning away from Tala. He was glaring and growling, watching people walk past the car.

‘Kya, this is some traffic jam, hmm?’ asked Yuka brightly. Miku launched upon a long-winded story, Kaze nodded in polite agreement and Melissa, Tala and Flynn didn’t reply at all. Flynn was annoyed at having to sit beside his self-proclaimed rival in a hot car for hours on end, Tala seemed to just be a jerk, and Yuka was clearly having the most fun in front, with Miku coming just shy of her in second, chatting her head off. With Kaze’s eyes which hid all and Melissa’s shy disposition, it was hard to tell how they were feeling.

‘...So we ended up walking the rest of the way,’ Miku finished.

‘I see. Well we can’t walk,’ Yuki said irritably. ‘It’s too far away. Plus I’m not leaving the car,’ She glanced back at her more annoyed passengers, frowning. ‘Hey, Flynn, Tala, Melissa, are you guys okay? Not carsick, I hope?’

‘No, I’m fine,’ Melissa said softly.

‘Don’t worry about me,’ Tala said icily. Flynn just shook his head, balancing his chin on the edge of his window.

‘Hey, look. We’re moving,’ Yuki put her head out of the window, smiling. ‘Let’s stop at a restaurant for a while, shall we?’ Yuki pulled the car into a restaurant on the side of the road and parked in the car-park. ‘Here y’are, kids. Get some air, run around; I’ll get you some snacks. No time to stop for a proper meal, or else we’ll be driving all night long.’

‘Okay, Yuki, I’ll keep these kids in check,’ teased Yuka gently. ‘Alright, what do you want to do, guys?’ she turned to look around the group of teenagers, who were leaning against Yuki’s car, mostly looking bored. ‘Come on, help me!’ Yuka cried, sniffing. She had obviously decided that she was responsible for the other thirteen-year-olds, because her sister was in charge, but she was a childish girl at best.

‘There’s a forest over there,’ Kaze said quietly. His dark eyes flashed with a kind of excitement that unnerved Flynn.

So Kaze’s a tree hugger? He thought. But he decided that he should at least help Kaze out, seeing as he was trying to help his best friend. ‘Yeah, forests are cool. Come on, let’s go exploring,’ he linked hands with Yuka and smiled at Kaze, trying to be friendly. Kaze simply nodded, glancing to the thicket of trees.

‘Okay! You guys coming, Tala, Miku, Melissa?’ Yuka reached out and held Tala’s arm. She smiled softly at him, while he glared at her, shaking his arm free.

‘Yeah,’ He said, marching off towards the forest. Miku and Melissa nodded too, following after him. Flynn frowned after him, glad to be having a moment with Yuka, but he felt a tug.

‘You can’t go on your own! Come on, Kaze, let’s go after them!’ Yuka linked hands with Kaze and tugged Flynn toward the forest, calling frantically after Miku, Melissa and Tala. ‘Don’t call,’ Flynn sighed. ‘Chase them!’ he pulled Yuka and by extension Kaze up toward Tala and the girls. They’d already walked deep into the forest and vanished from view.

‘It appears to be bigger than we thought,’ Kaze said softly, glancing around. ‘You think?’ Flynn hissed as they walked into the extremely vast area. ‘Where could they have vanished to so fast? I mean, they we walking slowly, for crying out loud!’ he was seething, his teeth gritted.

‘Hey...’ Kaze said slowly. He tugged gently on Yuka’s arm. ‘What’s... that?’

Flynn turned and followed Kaze’s gaze, baiting his breath. The clearing just ahead of a clump of trees was glowing ominously. It was hidden, just out of view of the three teen’s eyes. Flynn swallowed. He’d already decided he wasn’t fond of Miku and Melissa and that he positively hated Tala, but this was so strange. He didn’t actually want them all dead, or even hurt. He took a deep breath, swallowing hard.

‘I... I don’t know,’ he whispered, taking a few steps forwards. ‘What... could it be?’ Kaze and Yuka didn’t answer, but followed after Flynn, cautiously. He made his way around the trees, expecting three dead bodies and a giant, glowing monster, but all he could see was a massive portal-type hole in the grass, emanating a kind of wind, blowing the grass around it.

‘What in the...?’ he sucked his breath and took a step forward. ‘Wha-?’ the overpowering suck of the portal knocked him over balance and deep into the large, digital-like hole.

‘Flynn!’ Yuka screamed as she was pulled down after him.

‘Yuka! Flynn!’ Kaze, who hadn’t been holding Yuka’s hand when Flynn had fallen, jumped in after them, linking hands with them both.

‘You idiot! You could’ve called Yuki!’ Flynn said, horrified.

‘But what if this thing shut?’ Kaze said calmly, before his pupils suddenly shrunk, resembling dots. ‘Watch out!’ he screamed before Flynn’s vision went black.

Episode Two: Different
Flynn’s head was throbbing. He didn’t know why. His memory was still hazy. Wait.

Flynn’s mind began to recall the events of the last twenty-four hours; from his mother’s freaking out to meeting Yuka’s friends to the portal-thing. Of course the portal-thing wasn’t real. Things like that don’t happen in real life. Flynn used to believe in things like magic and fairies, but he’d given up on stuff like that a long time ago. A portal that glowed in the middle of a forest couldn’t possibly exist.

So why am I afraid to open my eyes? Flynn questioned himself. Afraid to wake up and see that impossible things are possible... he opened his eyes slowly, biting his lip. What he saw proved his fears true. He was lying in what could only be called a mechanical room, on a soft bed made of leaves. It was extremely futuristic and prehistoric at the same time; there was no bed or pillows, but the room was entirely mechanical and well-built, with strange text written on stranger paper.

‘So they’re not illiterate...’ Flynn said to himself softly.

‘Flynn? Are you talking to yourself?’ called a smooth, gentle voice. It wasn’t female, so Flynn could only guess that it was Kaze.

‘Kind of,’ Flynn called back. ‘Kaze, is that you?’ as the words left his lips, the handsome, pale boy marched into the room.

‘No, I’m an alien,’ he said gently. ‘You hit your head pretty hard on that little metal thing.’

‘I did? Maybe that’s why it’s throbbing so hard.’ Flynn reached up and rubbed his tawny hair, swallowing. ‘Have I been out long?’

‘Just a day or so,’ Kaze said, sitting down on Flynn’s leaf bed. He had a bandage wrapped haphazardly around his upper left arm and many plasters around said arm as well. He smiled at Flynn’s raised eyebrows sadly, reaching his right hand across to rub his injuries. ‘Yuka got pretty scared after you got knocked out cold... so I tried to overcome the thing that you hit your head on.’

‘You idiot,’ Flynn said, though he felt himself becoming fond of Mr. Exposition. ‘But I would ‘a done the same thing. It was brave, Kaze.’

‘Mm, yeah,’ Kaze said with a slight nod. ‘It stuck its metal claw into my shoulder and I nearly pulled its arm off at its shoulder... and Yuka started to cry and talked to it. And apparently, it’s a good guy.’

‘I see,’ Flynn said. ‘What’s this thing called, then?’

‘His name is Machinamon,’ Kaze said, stroking his bandages again. ‘He’s a creature called a “Digimon” which appears to be a portmanteau of “Digital” and “Monster...” and they’re just that. There’s an astounding variety of them, actually...’

‘Wait, wait,’ Flynn said slowly. ‘Portmanteau... Isn’t that like a word that’s the same backwards and forwards? I thought... like Race-Car?’

‘That’s a Palindrome. A portmanteau is two words put together to form a new word. Like... Liger is an admittedly bad portmanteau of “Lion” and “Tiger.”’ His voice was gentle as always, but the way he explained things, s-l-o-w-l-y, was actually quite patronising.

‘I know,’ Flynn sat irritably. ‘The names are just a little confusing s’all.’

‘Yeah,’ Kaze agreed quietly, averting his vision from Flynn’s face. ‘The ‘Digimon’ will be in to see you soon, okay? Just... try to get some rest.’ He nodded his head, but as he walked away Flynn noticed something bounce out from under his neat hair-helmet; an earring. No an extremely sissy one, but a weird one at best; a pair of startlingly white die. Flynn opened his mouth to question Kaze, to get anything out of him that he could tell Yuka about, so that she’d think “''Ugh! Not friends with that guy anymore, that is for sure''!” but the words wouldn’t leave his mouth when he opened it, and Kaze was gone.

‘Damn,’ Flynn growled, rising to his feet. Still attached to those feet were his old pair of red converse sneakers; apparently no-one had bothered to remove them when he fell unconscious. He bent down to inspect the old, worn garments, staring at the dirty whitish-grey the toes had become, the way they were still too big for him, even after about a year and a half’s wear. They were a gift from his mother with his dad’s inheritance. But they weren’t actually from his dad. Flynn only had one garment that actually did belong to his dad; the light-blue swimming goggles.

‘The goggles,’ he cried to himself, reaching up a hand to see if they were still there. Yup, he thought, sighing with relief as he pulled them from his head. His fingers ran around the plastic casing to the lenses, a faded, light sea blue, and then pulled at the old black rubber that kept them on during swimming sessions. That, too, was faded, to a dark, murky grey. He smiled at it, fondly rubbing the ice-gold lenses. They were delicate, because for some reason the lenses were actually glass.

‘Ah, you are awake, like the strange boy said,’ a grainy, mechanical voice said sharply, making Flynn jump and toss his goggles over his head. He let out a sudden gasp, turning quickly to watch them land in a heap on the soft leaf-bed. He reached over to them and goggle-slapped them back on, glaring beadily at the creature standing in the great iron doorway.

It had a mechanical helmet on what could be concluded as its head, shaped like a pointy-curved teardrop that was creased in the middle with a sharp line. Beneath this was a humanoid-type chin, with a frowning mouth that had a tooth jutting out the bottom-left side, which had black skin and a jet black body down to the waist. It wore a silver belt and had silver jogging bottoms at the bottom of which were a pair of gunmetal-grey boots. Instead of toes at the bottom of these, however, there were three extremely pointed claws. It wore silver shoulder-pads, had bear arms and gloves in a similar fashion to its boots. At the back of its belt hung a long tail and it came up to about Flynn’s chest at the top of its helmet. Despite this, it was very foreboding.

‘Yeah...’ Flynn finally answered, reaching up to his hair and feeling that he’d slept it messy and frizzy so that it likely looked like it had been styled into three awful-looking spikes.

‘You worried your friends. The one wearing pink particularly, but she’s getting close to Sidhemon, so she’s not come to see you yet, has she?’ the “Digimon” as Kaze had said, was more talking to itself than Flynn, frowning in seeming annoyance when he mentioned Sidhemon.

‘So are Yuka and this Sidhemon becoming friends a problem?’ Flynn asked carefully, testing the metaphorical water to see how far he could push.

‘Yes,’ it said flatly.

‘Why, though?’ Flynn asked and then he paused, glancing at the annoyed look on its face. ‘And do you... guys... have genders and stuff?’

The Digimon’s sigh was even more condescending than Kaze’s rant. ‘Of course we do,’ it grumbled. ‘My name is Machinamon; I’m a male digimon forager.’ It- he- looked nothing like a forager; on the contrary, he looked more like a cybernetic warrior of sorts.

‘Forager?’ Flynn asked doubtfully.

‘Yes. Is that a problem?’ Machinamon asked sharply.

‘No, no, not at all,’ Flynn replied quickly, feeling cowardice creep up his spine. He’d always seen himself as quite a brave person, but that was all for show. If you were a coward at school you were meat, not a human being.

He bit his lip as he watched the strange thing glare at him. ‘So... where am I? Can you explain this place to me at all?’

‘Well...’ Machinamon said anxiously. ‘You shouldn’t be staying long, but... I guess that you’d just be a problem if you didn’t know so... You’re in the Digital World. It’s not a place of fiction; it’s perfectly real; it’s just made of data.’

‘Made of Data? You mean you’re made of data?’ Flynn asked. This felt like a prank.

‘Yes,’ Machinamon sighed shortly. ‘So are you. So is everything here, but that doesn’t stop us breathing, living. We think, therefore we are.’ It seemed a little strange that a creature from another world, a supposed digital one, would use a famous quote from Earth, but Flynn let that slide, instead listening to Machinamon continue; ‘The Digital World used to be a barren place, the stories say, until the Digimon God, Yggdrassil, created the first few digimon. Some stories say that these creatures had a form on another plain, the human one, but this is just folklore. It’s...’

‘An Old Wives’ Tale?’ suggested Flynn. The digimon gave him a sceptical glare and he sighed, gritting his teeth to stop the inevitable snark escaping his lips. ‘It’s a term on earth. It means a story, sometimes to scare kids into being good, sometimes it’s just something crazy someone said and it caught on.’

‘I see,’ Machinamon nodded. ‘Yes, like that. Another tale says that evolution from there just went further and further, leading to the creation of a special village where eggs were created and hatched and the growth of the natural landscape of our world, but that a peacemaker from your home came and fought for peace in our world, and after a lengthy war, won. It goes on to say that Digimon coincided happily with humans, but something rewrote reality, erasing that being, that “timeline” from our world.

‘Of course, that’s incredibly fanciful,’ Machinamon added primly, ‘Humans and Digimon should just stay apart from one another. However, the true tale of our lives goes along the lines that the Digital World was in pure, unbridled chaos, a permanent war; everyone against everyone. But six of the digimon, now known as the Six Holy Chiefs, decided to try to stop the chaos. Since they were all Mega- the highest level of evolution- the matter was resolved in the end, and the Six Chiefs created the Six Holy Citadels, the capital of which I, and you for a short while, reside in now. It is called Sanctus Lumen, and it is thriving with life.’ He took a long breather, his steady gold eyes focussed on Flynn.

‘Chiefs? War? Only Six cities? This place is bizarre,’ Flynn scoffed. ‘And why shouldn’t Humans and Digital-mons live together? If you guys smell bad, we won’t mind.’

‘No...’ Machinamon said, his deep, grinding voice slightly pained, ‘Humans that happen through digital gates are usually murdered upon sight. Our cities don’t take kindly to humans, because our chiefs knew you were trouble. They wrote our law, and we follow them and Yggdrassil, no matter what.’

‘So... you’re Xenophobic? That’s sad,’ Flynn hissed through his teeth. ‘What if there was a new species of you things born? Would you attack it with an axe screaming ''Die! Die! Die!'' Because it’s different? Is that how you work?’

‘Don’t mock us, human boy,’ Machinamon growled, his eyes cutting into Flynn with razor-sharp accuracy.

‘Wait... Why didn’t you kill Yuka, Kaze and I?’ Flynn questioned suddenly, his brown eyes ablaze with fury.

‘I was going to,’ Machinamon admitted, his eyes cast down. ‘I’d never encountered humans before, but the Digital Gate opened right above my head and you all dropped down on top of me. You knocked your fragile head against my helmet and fell- floppy like a fish- down and the female started crying... but it was the one with the strange topping that got my attention. He was in despair, terrified, and while his first action was to strike out at me, he did so impressively. I, of course, fought him back with my claws, but once I’d subdued him I agreed to let you recover here.’

‘Are you in trouble?’ Flynn asked flatly. He looked up and his eyes met Machinamon’s. And suddenly, it was like there was nothing else. There was a magical, terrifying but totally amazing feeling bubbling inside both Flynn and Machinamon, something they couldn’t explain, even if they tried. Something was happening, something Machinamon didn’t like, but neither said a word. They were locked in an unblinking link, unable to turn away.

Chink! Flynn’s gaze was finally and suddenly averted down to his pocket, as he reached into his below-the-knee length shorts’ back pocket and pulled out his phone.

It was a slim, rectangular device, not at all like the very expensive ones, but he was rather dismayed to see it glowing in the same otherworldly fashion as the portal, or “Digital Gate.” The red light was almost as hypnotising as the locked gaze Flynn has shared with Machinamon, but Flynn knew better than to gawp. He threw the device onto the bed and averted his eyes, scanning a metallic corner of the room.

‘Oh no,’ said Machinamon’s gravelly voice. ‘No, no, no, this can’t be. I can’t be... No, no, no! I can’t have...!’ he was rambling as the light wavered and faded away. Flynn, ignoring the creature’s fear-filled rant with malice, picked up what had used to be his phone.

Used, Flynn cried inside his head. His phone was still a slim, rectangular thing, but was now red with a bright red clip attached. The screen was now a murky crimson; changed from the simple background he'd had. He tapped it a few times with his finger impatiently, until it came up with a strange little screen. It had an odd, dynamic picture of Machinamon and had a small paragraph beneath it;

''Machinamon: Data Rookie Level. A fierce, humanoid Metal Empire Digimon, believed to have a permanent path of destruction in its wake. It uses the fierce Claw Blow to impale enemies with its sharp claws or uses Sonic Gears to grind an enemy’s ears, sometimes knocking them flat unconscious.''

‘What does that mean?’ Flynn asked aloud, but when he looked up, he saw Machinamon’s horror-filled face and became unnerved. ‘What?’ he snapped.

‘That’s a Digivice...’ Machinamon struggled. ‘You’re my partner.’

Episode Three: Horrifying
Blinking his eyes slowly, Flynn failed to see the link between “partner” and “Weird Phone Thing.” Of course, this wasn’t because he knew what either one actually meant; it just seemed a random and illogical conclusion. The word partner symbolised working together, and he’d said himself that humans weren’t welcome.

Well, okay then, Flynn thought desperately. He didn’t want to think about the consequences of the possibility that being partnered to a digimon allowed some kind of loophole. That wasn’t what Flynn wanted. Flynn wanted to gather everyone up and go home already.

‘Partner?’ he choked out at last, tugging at the bandana wrapped tightly around his neck. It was sky blue in colour, complimenting the deeper turquoise of the boy’s goggles.

‘Yes,’ Machinamon said, his voice simply mechanical, as if totally indifferent, but his golden pupils were tiny with obvious horror. But he swallowed- which resulted in a painful grinding sound, and finally shed some light on what the heck “partner” even meant. ‘Partner... it means when a human and a digimon are linked. Emotionally, spiritually and often physically in some way or another. I’ve heard stories, but...’

‘You’d be in big trouble because you were illegally hiding humans?’ Flynn asked, trying to hide his crippling fear of being left in the Digital World forever.

‘No...’ Machinamon murmured before nodding his head. ‘But ultimately, yes. The thing is, being partnered means...’

‘Loopholes.’ Flynn finished. He was getting better at finishing sentences, but like it mattered. The horrible truth was that because some weird voodoo stuff happened, Flynn was stuck in this strange land of nightmares forever, with a strange creature of nightmares. He glanced over at Machinamon, who he’d been too childish to look in the eyes, and saw the same utter terror splayed on his face, even though all he could see were his thin, yellowish eyes and his thin mouth with slight overbite. But the signs were there; the eyes, shrunken and filled with the bright light of fear, the mouth, hanging slightly open, single fang sticking up into empty space.

‘Yes. Loopholes,’ Machinamon agreed at last, shaking his head subconsciously. ‘You see, there was this silly idea we got, a few of us rookies, as in-trainings, that if we had partners, we could evolve all the way to Mega, like out heroes. But we didn’t mean it. The idea was silly, laughable even. But it didn’t stop me from reading The Ancient Tome.’ Machinamon finished his sentence in a foreboding tone, and Flynn had enough common sense left to know that this tome must be a Holy Book of some kind. ‘It had all sorts of junk in it, fanciful things, like the tale of the reset digital world, but it also had scrawled in a demented way on one of the last few pages; The humans aren’t enemies: Digivolution equals human over and over. So a crazy new law was passed. Humans partnered to Digimon could stay, as long as they protected Sanctus Lumen with their partner. Our leaders didn’t think we’d actually get partners. They teach us that humans are vile, horrible creatures. But... you look astoundingly similar to Angemon. With Metal Greymon’s hair.’

‘Forget that,’ Flynn snapped coldly. ‘What do you mean “protect?”’

‘I don’t know,’ Machinamon shrugged his silver-plated shoulders. ‘Nothing attacks this place. Unless they can sense partnered humans, it’s stupid.’

‘Yeah, I agree...’ Flynn said, though his throat was so dry he could barely speak. Defending a massive Citadel filled with digital monsters? That sounded dangerous. And also terrifying. He took a deep breath, shaking as he released it, before asking; ‘What now?’



Sidhemon flapped her lilac wings contemplatively. She understood what Yuka’s phone changing meant, but she hadn’t explained. She’d just flipped back her fluffy powder pink ears and mewed unhappily, causing Yuka to instinctively forget all about her phone. She’d kept hold of it when the pink light had been activated; her eyes seemingly glowing pink as well as she stared into the hypnotic light.

It hurt Sidhemon, now, to look at it, abandoned beside Yuka’s bed. Its Rose screen was flashing angrily, telling its sleeping owner that it had a message. Sidhemon knew all too well what that message would be. It would likely be about her, the infamous Digimon Analyser, as they’d been dubbed. But those were all stories. Reality was entirely different to that. And yet...

Sidhemon fluttered her butterfly-like wings in irritation, her pointed feline ears flattening against her head as she sprung from the little block beside the soft, leafy bed and padded on her pawed feet out of the room. She folded her arms when she happened next to the Digivice, or at least so-thought Digivice. She picked it up with interest, her deep plum claws posing an outstanding contrast to the gentle pink of the device. It was slightly lighter than Sidhemon’s own fur, though the device she was trying desperately not to drop was hard and had a shocking, outrageous hot pink clip attached. Sidhemon sighed, biting her furry lip with a fang.

‘I’ve got to tell Machinamon,’ she concluded, fluttering her wings and taking to a light hover, (the extent of her flight capabilities), through the tranquil, carved-earth streets of Sanctus Lumen. Her soft feet padded down outside the block of metallic buildings where Machinamon had been headed. Her green eyes scanned the area, looking for a sign of her metal-clad friend.

‘Machinamon?’ she called apprehensively, clenching her white teeth and shifting her eyes defensively around the area. ‘Machinamon?’ she repeated. Louder this time, so that her voice could be heard in some of the other buildings. As her eyes darted around, she caught a figure coming to the door and flexed her paws.

But it wasn’t Machinamon, or a significant threat. It was a tall human boy, wearing their odd draping in dark colours, with dark, bluish eyes. He was frowning at her, his brow furrowed.

‘You’re one of Yuka’s friends,’ Sidhemon stated, though she was unsure. He nodded unsurely, biting his pale lip as he watched the small digimon move toward him. ‘You shouldn’t come to the door like that. If you get caught, you’ll be murdered. You know that, right?’

‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘I tried reading a book but your text is really strange.’

‘Yeah,’ Sidhemon said, her eyes turning to slits. What did he mean by strange? ‘Well... Just be careful. I’m Sidhemon, I’m... Yuka’s Sidhemon.’

‘Thanks. I’m Kaze Taniguchi, by the way,’ nodded the dark-haired boy. Sidhemon blinked her eyes, processing the name. Yuka had told her why humans had two names, but it seemed absurd, especially seeing as some humans had overly long names. Sidhemon smiled and nodded, and the boy gave another nod before retreating into his room. Weird... thought the fluffy creature, shaking her head and clicking her deadly claws against one another.

‘Slowly,’ said a familiar voice from up ahead, slow, gentle and deep. Sidhemon turned to look at the room next door. A shiny metal helmet was sticking out of the giant doorway. ‘Eh! Sidhemon! Um, hi!’ he grinned, his triangular fang sticking out above his unconvincing smile.

‘You look like you’ve seen one of the Royal Knights,’ Sidhemon said, taking another look over her friend’s face. ‘Listen... Yuka’s contact device... it became this. Is it what I think it is?’ she held up the pretty pink thing and frowned.

‘You...? That girl,’ Machinamon concluded quickly, stepping out fully into the astounding light. Sidhemon shrugged, though she glared at him furiously. ‘Don’t look at me like that. I’ve managed to do it, too,’ he reassured. ‘With that odd person. I don’t remember him telling me his name...’

‘Flynn Yamada!’ a voice called. It sounded fairly sarcastic.

‘Two names?’ Machinamon questioned, turning to the voice. He frowned, supposedly getting a shrug of the shoulders as a reply, but then shook his head. ‘Never mind. What should we do?’ he asked, as a voice boomed overhead.

‘Where are you? Don’t make me have to destroy this place, partner digimon!’ Machinamon sucked his breath in horror as he glanced up. High above both digimon, casting a dark shadow over Sanctus Lumen; a strangely large Snimon; a green-armoured, insectoid digimon. Machinamon’s heart stopped. As he watched the creature glared down on the city, swallowing. How could it know about the newly-found partners? He knew that the Digimon Defence Force; made up of rookies and champions; couldn’t possibly stand up to that massive abomination.

‘Flynn? Flynn...’ Machinamon said quietly.

‘Oh, hell. Don’t tell me,’ Flynn replied, marching to the doorway and looking up. ‘That thing’s big. How are we going to defeat it?’

‘I... I don’t know. But we have to do something!’ Machinamon cried. ‘This is my home. There are little baby digimon here!’

‘Not my problem,’ Flynn shrugged. ‘Deal with it.’

Machinamon’s eyes flashed with disdain. ‘Fine.’ He said, sticking his claws into the nearest building and pulling himself up. Sidhemon’s eyes were shining with fear, but she clutched the so-called Digivice, not wanting to get Yuka involved. Machinamon stood up on top of one of the buildings, his eyes bright in the sky. ‘Right here!’

‘You?’ the Snimon hissed. ‘Where’s your partner, then?’

‘Does it matter? We don’t see eye-to-eye, but I’m here to defeat you anyway!’ Machinamon yelled; his teeth clenched in undying fear.

‘Yes, actually. I want to kill your partner, but if you won’t bring him to me I will kill you instead, to lure him out.’ Snimon growled.

‘Do your worst,’ Machinamon hissed. Snimon laughed, throwing one of his bladed arms toward Machinamon, who stopped the strike with his own metallic claws, causing a deep incision in his arm, out of which data slowly escaped. Seething, Machinamon sprang up from the building, green eyes popping as he pulled his uninjured arm back. ‘Claw Blow!’ his claws crashed against one of Snimon’s blades, while he used the other to slice another deep cut in Machinamon, this time a large diagonal one across his chest, that left a trail of shining data as he smashed into the ground beside the hiding Flynn and Sidhemon. He was breathing heavily, the light in his eyes dulling slightly.

‘Machinamon!’ Sidhemon reached out a clawed paw, stroking his chest.

‘Everyone’s going to die. I can’t do it, I can’t beat him,’ Machinamon said. Flynn watched this, horrified. He knew that Machinamon was dying. It was clear. But it was too crazy; too terrifying; to go up against that thing himself. It had bladed arms.

‘Now give me your partner!’ He roared. ‘Or I’ll destroy this place and everyone in it!’

‘No... I...’ Machinamon struggled up. ‘I...’ suddenly he fell back again, succumbing to his injuries at last.

‘You want me?’ Flynn yelled suddenly, climbing the building using the holes in the side of the building. ‘Here I am. Don’t hurt anyone else!’

‘Ah! A human,’ Snimon smiled. ‘I’ll kill you now!’ he stuck out his arm, ready to impale Flynn as he flew down.

‘Kya!’ Flynn held out his Digivice in sudden fear, shutting his eyes and turning away. ''I’m going to die... he thought. I’ll see you soon, Dad...''

‘What are you doing?!’ the Snimon shouted suddenly. Flynn turned his eyes wide as the shining glow from the Digivice reignited. The light encased Flynn, stretching down to Machinamon’s body. He turned back to Snimon, eyes shining. He didn’t actually know what was going on.

‘Is this that power?’ Machinamon murmured as he felt the light envelop him. It sparkled around his body before exploding into a massive ball of light. ‘Machinamon digivolve to... Machdramon!’ Flynn turned again to see Machinamon gone, replaced with a more reptilian version of Machinamon. ‘For what you’ve done... You cannot be forgiven!’