Digimon: War Game - Arc 1: Crest

The Digital World. As the name implies, it is a world made of data. Inhabited by Digital Monsters, it is a relatively unknown place, despite everything in it being based on our input.

The landscape, varied and seemingly random, is currently besieged by war.

Cherubimon, a 'Digimon' with evil intentions, has gathered an army to take control of the Digital World. In response, Seraphimon has led his own army to prevent this.
A stalemate has dragged the conflict, and thus, both leaders turned to the legends of humans. Marked Digimon have appeared on both sides, lending credence to the idea that humans could be the key to Victory.

Both sides have managed to utilise the Internet and scan millions of online users, looking for those most suited to help. A total of ten have replied and been transported to the respective leaders. And now, these chosen few will learn of their purpose...

Seraphimon was uneasy as he walked the walls of his castle. Behind him followed five marked Digimon, as well as two Angemon. He hadn't wanted to resort to brining humans into an unrelated conflict, but they needed any kind of advantage they could get to stop Cherubimon. He would have liked to give them the choice to return home, but the hastily-made technology to transport a human from a different world to here had broken down. If it weren't for the scientist's many fail-safe's, this could have been a disaster...

The armoured, angelic Digimon reached the entrance hall of the castle, the bright white decorated with many suits of armour or decorative weaponry.

The humans had fallen here, and would most likely be waking up any second now. Seraphimon glanced over his shoulder to the marked Digimon.

"It seems that these are your partners. I trust you know which is which." Seraphimon told them, and turned his attention to one of the Angemon, one which carried a silver case. Inside where devices to be utilised by the humans, dubbed 'Digivices'. Their exact functions were still unknown, but if the humans could make use of them...

Meanwhile, at the same time, within a far gloomier - yet rather well lit regardless - castle on the other end of the land, a large Digimon with burning red eyes leered at the humans brought before him.

These humans didn't look like much, and yet they supposedly held such great power?

...Well, they had best prove to be up to the challenge.

In front of Cherubimon stood five Digimon with marks upon their bodies, a sign of the power they apparently held. Power that he had best keep under his control.

"Wake them." Cherubimon ordered the marked Digimon. The sooner these humans realised their new position, the quicker he could search for those crest and make use of their supposed powers.

The first of Cherubimon's minions to move was a strange, hairy, frog-like creature, one known as Gizamon. The strange beast sniffed the air, making its way to one of of the unconscious humans, a small figure in a labcoat, before poking it tentatively.

"Wake up," Gizamon demanded in a gruff baritone. "We got work to do."

The human stirred, opened its eyes...

"GAH!"

And leapt straight up into the air before landing on the ground in a crouch, looking around nervously for a moment before straightening up, looking around.

"What... What's going on? Where am I?"

edited 5th Apr '12 9:29:46 AM by Scrounge

Another of Cherubimon's minions nodded. He was a long, dinosaur-like creature, covered in light-brown fur and wearing what looked like a set of ancient Japanese armour; it was black, and purple gems were studded in the spaces where the plates overlapped. Its helmet resembled a samurai one, with long bronze horns decorating it and a large, red, gem-like patch in between. On the patch there was a strange green mark◊.
"Yes, my liege," he said.
Leaning forward and using its hands — they were much smaller than his powerful hind legs, and sported, like them, three long, straight claws— to support its weight, it nudged one of the humans with its wide snout. "Wake up," he said.
The human stirred. She rose to a sitting position, and observed the room. She adjusted her headscarf.
"What is this place?" she asked. Her voice was quiet, and she spoke slowly. "What are you?"

One of Seraphimon's servants moved in to wake up his designated partner.

"Hey. Hey, wake up!" The Terriermon said, as he shook the slim boy with the messy brown hair.

"Ugh, what is it?" Came the sleepy response. The boy then jumped up in fright as he suddenly realized what he saw before him. "Gah, what, no who are you?"

"Momentai, buddy, my name is Terriermon, and I am your new partner."

The third of Cherubimon's minions, a two and a half foot tall black dinosaur looking creature walked over to where 'his' human was still sleeping...

Make that snoring...

Make that snoring like a truck with no muffler on it...

Black Agumon reached out and dropped his clawed hand onto the sleeping human, dressed in a black sleeveless coat. He had barely touched him when the human's hand shot out and grabbed his arm tightly. On that arm was a symbol like an upraised fist, set in dark red against his black leathery skin.

Alexei woke up, groggily at first but rapidly clearing. Someone had woken him...

Alexei turned in place, getting a good look at the black muzzle full of sharp teeth looking at him along with the yellow eyes.

“Okay...I ate way too much pizza last night. Wake me up in the morning.” Alexei promptly let go of the hand and turned around like he was going to sleep again.

Black Agumon put on an annoyed expression and raised his hand to whack the human back up. But he never connected, as he swung Alexei neatly rolled out of the way, coming up on one knee and the on his feet.

“Alright, I'm not dreaming.”

Gideon shook his head.

"No... This is messed up, but it's way too coherently messed up to be a dream."

Gizamon stared up, chuckling.

"Didn't you get our e-mail explaining the situation?"

The frog-thing smirked.

"So these're humans, huh? They sure don't look like much..."

edited 5th Apr '12 6:44:18 PM by Scrounge

"Understood." Stated another of Cherubimon's minions, a creature that appeared to be nothing more than a floating gear with a face, and a black, empty circle inscribed on it's back. Two hands reached out and shook a blonde-haired young man awake, roughly. He groaned slightly, his eyes opening as he took in the sights.

"Where am I?" He asked.

"You recall the email, correct? You accepted, and have been taken here to serve Cherubimon." Hagurumon said. Its voice was mechanical and monotone.

This was not what Gideon wanted to overhear.

"...that e-mail..."

He had thought... no, hoped... it was a game, or some kind of joke... But in case it was serious, he'd replied. He had no choice. Somehow, they'd found him. And he was afraid of what they might do if he'd said no.

...A fear that seemed to have been perfectly warranted, given the circumstances he now found himself in.

"...I thought I'd have to come here, or be brought here or something, not just be here!"

Gizamon laughed, shaking his head.

"You say that like it was easy. You're freaked out now, I probably shouldn't tell you about the Flymon incident..."

"No," Gideon said with a surprising firmness, "I don't think you should."

"As my compatriots noted, you are in the Digital World," Ryudamon told Uzma. "My name is Ryudamon, and you are to be my Tamer."
He rose, then bowed his head.
"I see," said Uzma. She rose to her feet and removed her keffiyeh (she left the headdress on), folding it in half and wrapping it around her sash. She put a hand on Ryudamon's head — the others could notice that a red string was wrapped around it.
"For you to become my... partner" —she spat the word out, saying it a little louder than her normally quiet tome— "then I am to name you. Only then you will be mine."
She paused for a moment and closed her green eyes. After a while, she opened them. "I dub thee Friedrich, the ruler of peace."
Her hand still on Ryudamon's head, she turned, and, expressionlessly, regarded her fellow Tamers.

The mousy boy in the labcoat picked up fluffy-frog beast and looked it over.

It was actually kind of cute... in a grotesque sort of way.

"Name's Gizamon," it said. "And it's stayin' that way."

The boy nodded.

"Gideon Helms. Also staying that way."

The two looked at each other, and, after a moment, nodded.

"I think we can work together," Gideon said.

"I think maybe puttin' me back down would be a nice start," Gizamon replied.

edited 5th Apr '12 7:25:36 PM by Scrounge

The boy looked down at the small creature that called itself Terriermon, and was reminded of the joke e-mail that he had received. At the time he had thought it similar to the messages that he would get from Ugandan princes who needed money to claim back their kingdom. But now, with this cute little critter standing in front of him, he realized that the E-mail was no joke.

"T-terriermon?"

"Yep," Terriermon said cheerfully as he looked up at the boy.

The shock had passed, and with it so did any trace of fear. Now, the boy only wished to introduce himself.

"Well then Terriermon, my name is Tom." With that Tom reached out his hand, which Terriermon gladly took with his small paw like hand.

"I am your chosen partner. I am called Hagurumon." Stated the machine. It stared at its master a moment. "Is this name satisfactory, or do you request to rename me?"

The blonde boy matched Hagurumon's stare.

"I believe you should have a more suitable name. You shall be called Omega." He said.

"...Understood." Replied the newly christened Omega, saluting his new partner.

Gizamon looked at Hagurumon and Kokabuterimon, scowled, and sighed.

"All right... If you gimme a nickname, it might grow on me. But it better be a good one..."

Gabumon knelt over the human male that was to be his partner, his eyes filled with trepidation as he gingerly reached out a hand and patted the human's face. Daniel's eyes fluttered and the human muttered something as he sat up and looked around, taking in the room they were in before his eyes fell on Gabumon. His eyes widened and he scooted away a few feet, staring at the Rookie. "What the...?"

Gabumon attempted to lighten the mood with a disarming grin. "Hi there! I'm Gabumon!"

"O....kaaaaay..." Daniel said slowly before looking around. "This is some sort of joke, right?"

"No, it's not." Gabumon replied. "You remember that email you got? This is the result."

"Ah," Daniel replied, nodding as he remembered. He'd thought it was just some sort of harmless junk letter, and had responded, uncharacteristically of him, without really thinking it out. "So...where am I, exactly?"

"The digital world!" Gabumon replied. "And relax, you're not the only human here."

Daniel jerked suddenly and looked around, noting the four other humans that were in the room, other digimon interacting with them as well.

What have I gotten myself into? he wondered.

Salamon gently pushed the short human in front of her.

"Come on, wake up!"

The girl groaned quietly.

"Five more minutes..."

The Digimon rolled her eyes and pushed again.

"No, now!"

The girl simply rolled over without actually waking, and Salamon sighed.

"So...what's your name?" Gabumon asked, Daniel finally having had gotten up the courage to scoot back over to him.

"Daniel," the human replied, still looking around at the other digimon in the room and the other humans that were speaking to them. "Hey...do you know why I'm here? Why we're here? All us humans?"

Kokabuterimon had been standing over his human for a little while, unsure of what to do. She seemed so small, and fragile, as all the humans seemed to him. He was fairly large and strong for his level. Were these small, unarmored creatures really the keys to victory? Her eyes fluttered open, and immediately took in her surroundings. "Where... am I?" She noticed each of the creatures, and the other children. "...this is about that war, isn't it?"

Kokabuterimon nodded. "Yes. You assented to become part of this, and so, here you are." He lent out a hand to her, but she smacked it away.

"Don't touch me! I can get up on my own!" She pushed herself up, taking note of her clothes. "Hm... I likely couldn't get away with this back home... but it feels right somehow."

The giant beetle tried to get back on topic. "Your role in this war is that of a commander. I am your partner, Kokabuterimon. I am your shield and your sword."

She scowled at that. "A shield? I don't need one. A sword, however, will do nicely. My name's Ariel Dubois. What kind of name is Kokabuterimon?"

"It is the name given to all Kokabuterimon. Individual names are rarely given or taken by Digimon."

She seemed to think for a moment. Feh... Digimon, huh...? Is that the more general term for the monsters here? "Well, I wouldn't want to be called 'girl' or 'human', so you'll need a name. If you're my sword... Durendal!"

'Durendal' took a moment to think it over, tugging at his scarf. He supposed that having a true name to himself would make it easier to distinguish himself among the rank and file. "...very well. If you have any questions, ask. It won't do to fall behind the others in competence."

Her face turned crimson. "I'll say the same of you! I don't want to be dragged down!"

edited 6th Apr '12 9:57:34 PM by Lilmisspeacock

Uzma turned to Cherubimon. "You are the sender of that e-mail." It was a statement, not a question. "You have promised power in exchange of my..." — she looked around — "ours help in a war. What is it?"
The newly-named Friedrich got up. While Uzma talked to Cherubimon, he walked closer to Durendal. A few feet away he stopped, and watched the beetle-like Digimon with unveiled interest. The Ryudamon was pretty sure that the Kokabuterimon would be the easiest one to cooperate with in order to serve their master; Gizamon was a silly, honour-less creature, Hagurumon was mechanical and unthinking, and BlackAgumon lacked finesse.
"So you are to be your Tamer's sword," he finally told Kokabuterimon.

"Can we not use the word 'tamer'" Gizamon grumbled. "It makes it sound like I'm on a leash..."

Gideon nodded. Given the circumstances, he couldn't really understand how some of the others could act like they were the absolute masters of these strange creatures they'd barely met. Strange creatures which were clearly dangerous, and potentially even more dangerous than they looked.

"...Fair enough. I don't think we're going to get much out of this partnership if we can't work together... Though I wouldn't mind a sword right now... Or a shield. Especially a shield."

"Eh," Gizamon shrugged, "I'm more of a chainsaw."

"That'll do nicely," Gideon said with a smile.

He then turned to Cherubimon.

"I'd like to know a little about this war too... The more you can tell us, the better. Especially about the enemy... What they're like, and why you're at war."

edited 7th Apr '12 7:02:45 PM by Scrounge

Durendal nodded at the first comment. "Well... to be honest, I'm more like a club... but a weapon is a weapon, regardless, and it is meant to be wielded by someone else."

Ariel took note of the individual Digimon and humans around them. Both Digimon and humans alike seemed unsure of themselves, and this partnership. This would not do. She stood up to Cherubimon as well, before he could speak. "Yes... tell us about our enemies, so that we can crush them. We came here to fight, did we not?"

Alexei was sitting now on the ground, looking at Black Agumon.

“So...we're partners in this war?” The black lizard looking digimon nodded.

“That's right. And you five humans are supposed to tip the balance of power in our favor.” Alexei nodded,

“Unless the other side for some reason got the same deal.” He looked at the rest of the group,

“So, is this really war or just posturing in the name of war? Cause it can be very different depending on what it really is.”

Daniel looked around at the various humans around them, shrugging and standing up.

If we're fighting a war...might as well get to know everyone else.