I wasn’t sure what I should have expected when it came to my entrance to an entirely new world through cyberspace would be like but starting things off by being crushed by a leafy dinosaur, a desert cactus, and a lunar rabbit piled on top of me was not one of the possibilities on that list.

 

“GET. OFF. ME!”  I cried out as I rose from below the pile of creatures, sending everyone using me as cushion around the odd greenery we had found ourselves in as I began to brush my jacket with my hand while looking around my surroundings.

 

You know, I did worry a bit beforehand if we would have problems bringing everyone here without a hitch considering the supposed ‘legends’ Livis mentioned didn’t exactly tell if bringing tagalongs with your partner was going to be a problem.

 

But seeing as the rest of the crew all rose up pretty quickly from my shoving while looking somewhat as disoriented looking just fine and dandy, I think I can put that possible issue on hold for now that is if we did in fact reach the right destination, which I very much believe so considering just how…. different this place looked.

 

Livis was certainly right that the world she lived in looked very much like ours as we seemed to be stuck in some woods currently, with the trees looking like trees, the sky looking like the sky, or even the grass under me looking like any regular grass.

 

However, it all gave off this uncanny valley that something was seriously off about it all, like the grass being unnaturally green, the blue sky having a shade of blue that I have never seen before, or the trees having grown into shapes that just didn’t make sense.

 

This did not even cover the fact that the plants around us may have looked similar to the species that I often see around the wild, but all of them had something off about them that just wasn’t right for them, like wrong color, an extra petal, a different looking or colored leaf, and so on.

 

It was all things considered creeping me out a bit, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t see myself getting used to.

 

Oh? did I forget to also mention the random electrical appliances and metallic objects just lying around the place, like the tv’s, fridges and pipes just littering the place that somehow all looked and felt like they are perfectly natural part to this place in a very weird way.

 

I swear, I think I can even see a giant black electrical cord in the distance just lying around like it’s a natural part of the environment.

 

Speaking of random appliances, I think the way we came here seems to be that random monitor just stuck on the ground behind us which was showing no signs of activity right now.

 

Trying to scan the monitor with the Digidex showed no change in the dead monitor, which was certainly worrying to say the least, but I did come up with a back-up idea that hopefully works.

 

I began taking a spare laptop from my backpack and began activating it with Aurora coming to close to me to watch my experiments while the other two had begun to converse with each other about the place as I hear Merrys familiar speech bot say, “Do any of these around here work Livis, could we bring em home perhaps?”

 

"Umm, I wouldn't exactly consider myself knowledgeable on this, but perhaps? I think I saw that model there working in Chrysolite city, but they might just be replicas."

 

 I began phasing out the rest of their conversation as I started attempting set up my spare laptop to use for possibly6 returning back to our world.

 

Unfortunately, the end results were nowhere near what I desired, as after managing to successfully install the client like before, the software failed to connect to the ‘transfer system network’. An unfortunate outcome which I probably should have expected with the whole not managing to connect to the general web here with the device I was currently working with.

 

Great, guess we get to experience what Livis did for a while, stranded in an unknown world without a way to go back.

 

 At least we had a friendly local guide to help us out and we packed more than enough to survive for months on end if needed, so I wasn’t too worried as Livis did do the trip to our side before, so there should be a way for us to get back in some way or another with the ‘mythical’ scanner in my back pocket.

 

Moreso, we still may have an easy exit if the escape orb functions in this world and manages to send us back to the waystone back home, but considering we only have one, it isn’t exactly something I’m willing to test right now with the whole losing our possible get out of jail free card in the future as we ain’t getting a new one anytime soon by my estimates.

 

 I give an eye towards my leaf headed partner who frowned at the results of my experiments, but neither of us said anything as we had prepared for this possibility before coming.

 

“I do know some use the scraps of these objects as building materials to-“

 

“Roll call!” I say as I interrupt whatever Livis was answering Merry as they both focus on me albeit Merry was struggling to keep her eyes onto me as they wandered around our surroundings.

 

“First and foremost, everyone feeling fine? no pain, no bad nausea, anything you feel you should mention right now before we move on?” I asked to get an idea of the state of our team, but as all of them seemed to be more interested in the surroundings than me right now, I feel it’s safe to say no one is feeling uncomfortable enough that they need to mention it.

 

“Livis, any idea where we are right now?” I asked the only native of this place.

 

“No, While I am certain this is the Digital world, I am not exactly familiar where exactly we are though.”

 

Well, mark in being lost as well next to possibly stranded condition then.

 

Still better than being stuck between dimensions in ultra space as this place actually looks like we could forage something in it in the worst scenario.

 

Before I even manage to figure out what we should do first, Merry seems to have gotten bored of us just standing still as she begins to waddle towards the large black cord in the distance, totally ready to leave the rest of us in her single-minded curiosity despite the fact that this is apparently a dangerous world according to our resident Digimon.

 

… Still, it’s not like we have any idea where to go anyways, and starting by going to the most prominent landmark in the surroundings when lost is never a bad idea, so I just silently shrug and begin to follow the enthusiastic green cactus.

 

Aurora seems to have gotten to the same conclusion or had no objection with our actions as he very quickly follows after me while signaling our newest somewhat confused member to follow with a vine.

 

As we walked towards our destination and as a way to pass some time, I made each of us use the trigger alert system to get Livis to learn who is who with that system as soon as possible as she pointed towards who she thought the signal originated from with plenty of trial and error.

 

Merry also kept asking questions from Livis that mainly dealt with the odd devices scattered around the place, which Livis didn’t really have solid answers for as she tried her best to answer Merry’s questions anyway with her limited understanding.

 

The place seemed surprisingly calm all things considered, albeit the lack of any kind of Pokémon scattering around was somewhat eerie. I swear though that I occasionally saw some movement, but nothing has so far had shown themselves to us.

 

 As we kept getting closer to the cord, I began to realize that it seems to be considerably long, as I cannot see the point where it starts or where it ends despite it getting ever closer and easier to see for us.

 

All of us were looking around our surroundings as we experienced the curious sights as tourists to this place basically, but I also began to notice that Livis had a somewhat different focus from the rest of us as she also kept looking at the sky as if she was constantly looking for something specific.

 

My curiosity eventually got the better of myself as I asked her, “What are you looking for Livis?”

 

She ponders my question looking confused for a short bit before realizing something as she answers, “Oh, I probably should have mentioned this.”

 

“Well, we in the digital world use a currency that we call bits, which is residual data that can be found around the world and can be occasionally seen around the world in a solid form, and they can be found in either air or ground. and considering we basically have none right now, I’m hoping we stumble into one of them to at least get us some small change.”

 

“…So, what you mean is that your ‘money’ could just appear in thin air? “I ask with some amount of disbelief while dealing with my first culture shock.

 

“…. Essentially, yes, but it tends to not be much, but looking around your surroundings is always a good way to….”

 

Livis stopped as she seemed to have noticed something in the distance before exclaiming, “OH! there is actually one right there just little bit in the distance!” while pointing towards something a little bit in the distance in the air that looked like the sky had a glitch of some sort, as it flickered and distorted the air around it.

 

“… And do you need any specific tools to collect these ‘bits’?” I ask our expert considering the thing doesn’t exactly look like… anything stable to say the least.

 

“Well, not really, they are entirely safe, with the biggest problem usually being having to both find and collect them without damaging it. They can be quite fragile after all”.

 

“Fragile as in be careful in touching it or fragile as in don’t go overkill it with an attack fragile?” I asked for clarification.

 

“… The second?” The little rabbit answers with some uncertainty.

 

That answer seemed to be enough for Aurora as he overheard our conversation and began to move away from the rest of us towards the supposed bit.

 

His vines began to reach high out towards it as he attempted to grab whatever was causing the flickering in the air.

 

Apparently. he does eventually manage to find something solid enough in it to grasp as the two vines return back to him as he starts walking back towards us and eventually showing something grasped by the two vines what I could only best describe as an unstable looking cube that kept flickering around in a somewhat unstable looking manner.

 

“Oooh, it actually looks like the size of a mega, nice find.” Livis says as she assessed the shiny yellow block in Aurora’s vines.

 

“Mega? are we still talking about currency here?”  I asked her with some confusion in my voice just as merry joins us to stare at the strange cube.

 

Livis quickly answers after realizing what I meant by that question. “Ah, yes, a larger stack of bits is what we tend to call a megabit, which is worth around thousand bits.”

 

“Aurora, give it to me for a bit, let me demonstrate something.” She holds out her hand towards the leafy dinosaur who still held the block in his vines.

 

Aurora promptly hands over the ‘cube’ to Livis as she brings the cube closer to her body before pressing both her hands around it and proceeds to seemingly shatter it as the block falls apart into plentitude of miniature flickering yellow see through rectangles.

 

Noticing our odd looks caused by that act of hers, Livis begins to explain to us as she says, “Each of those small blocks is worth about one bit, and looking at the amount, my guess that its around seven hundred bits or seven kilobits, a fairly solid find all things considered as most in the wild tend to be way smaller than that, this place must really not see too much movement around to see something of that size in the open.”

 

We all looked at the little yellow blocks around the ground as they flickered while Merry decides to pick one up and stare at it a little before apparently making some decision in her head and places it inside her satchel.

 

Livis seems to have taken our silence as some kind of affirmation as she begins to surprise us as she gathers the small bits around us in a way that I would describe as ‘vacuuming’ the bits around her two arms as the small bits once more reform into a bigger rectangle in her grasp.

 

“Umm, Livis, what did you just do?” I ask still trying to puzzle out just what the heck I just saw along with the other two who also had a varying expression of wonder in their faces.

 

She genuinely seemed to look confused as she asked, “do what?”

 

“That pulling thing with the bits, what did you just do?”

 

She still looked at me confused for a short bit before something seemed to click as her eyes opened a bit wider before saying, “Ooh, that. Well, you do remember Digimon being digital monsters, right?”

 

I nod at her before she continued,” Well, I suppose it does include some minor aspects, like being able at least somewhat manipulate data or even disturb networks and electronical devices if you are particularly powerful.”

 

“What I just did what essentially gather the data around me and focus it into a form of a cube like it was before.” she says as she demonstrates my moving the block from one hand to another without actually moving her hands.

 

“So, in short, you have some ability to physically manipulate physical form of data around you, or even possibly break my laptop without touching it if you so wished to? I asked her to try get a confirmation from her if I got this all right.

 

“… Maybe? I don’t think I’m strong enough to break it, but I wouldn’t really know unless I try.”

 

I give her a slight smack onto her head as she cries out in protest saying, “OW! Why!?” while giving me a stink eye as she rubs her head with her two arms.

 

“That is for not mentioning a really important detail like that earlier when not knowing this may have caused us to face a really bad situation without knowing why.”

 

Livis didn’t seem to completely understand what I meant by that, but she seemed to have at least understood that she had messed up something by not mentioning this earlier, so she kept quiet as she looked at me, seemingly waiting for clarification.

 

I decided to give her just that as I say, “Think of it like this, what if the laptop I was carrying did in fact work as an exit point for us, but it suddenly just stops working because of a nearby Digimon. I could think of more scenarios where not knowing about that ability may have been really bad for us, and I know you are smart enough to think plenty of them as well yourself.”

 

Now that seemed to have been enough for her to figure It out as her short moment of realization shock turns into a somber expression as she bows down to us and silently says, “sorry…”

 

For us, this wouldn’t really be too much of a problem really as none of us relied on electronics for our skillset, but I could see certain teams having a really bad situation if their tools suddenly started acting erratically around Digimon.

 

“Haaah… no harm done I guess, but please tell us everything you can do so that we can at least properly train you.” I say before I continue, “Expect your next training session to focus on this, as I could see this minor trait of yours being really useful if properly controlled, so I’ll leave some homework for you to think of ways of properly using it before that.”

 

She gives a nod at my words and seemed to even get a bit uplifted as she gets stuck in her head again, probably thinking of ways of using general ability of hers that she had overlooked possibly because every Digimon can do it.

 

Despite all the derailments caused by Merry whose enthusiasm had to be curbed occasionally by Aurora, we did eventually reach the large cord around twice my size in height next to two indistinguishable boxes that were hiding from our view when we first entered this place.

 

“A vending... machine? and an outhouse?” I blurt out as I Look at the completely out of the place objects.

 

Yes, a seemingly working vending machine in the middle of a fairly thick forest that had some smaller cords connected to the large one close to it with no signs that someone ever walked by this place at all, alongside an outhouse toilet that while about my size, I would be scared to do my business in considering just how slanted it was and it didn’t look like it would be easy to move considering a large tree root of all things at the top of it was causing the slanting

 

Sure, time to start getting another case of culture shock considering Livis seems utterly unsurprised by these two objects being in the middle of nowhere pretty much.

 

Merry had already begun to check on the vending machine as she poked it about a bit before beginning to call me and asking us to get something for her.

 

“Merry, I don’t think my money is going to work on these things.”

 

Which is very much a valid conclusion, considering the points where I would expect to put coins into looked very much nothing where a coin would fit in, as they looked rectangular in shape of all things under the supposed products with the size of the rectangular hole changing from one product to another.

 

“Soo, I assume this is where those bits come in?” I asked our resident guide as I walked closer to the machine and pointed toward the small rectangular payment points.

 

“Which one do you want Merry?” Livis asked while still carrying the yellow cube as our resident cactus perks up and points towards what I could only consider to be a bright green can of soda with its fairly flashy design of that of a lightning spark with symbols under it that somewhat resembled those on the Digidex.

 

Livis proceeds to look at the rectangular hole under the soda merry points at before muttering “hmm…. I think that is about three hundred bits in size, a robbery if you ask me…” and proceeding to split the cube in her arms into two before walking towards the vending machine and floating up to reach the hole under the sola as she inserts the smaller block into the crevice under the soda.

 

While I hear the familiar sound of a soda dropping down the machine for merry to pick up, I begin to feel curious as I considered the symbols on the soda, so I ask Livis, “I actually never asked you of this before, but I probably should have, do you actually know what the symbols on the Digidex mean?”

 

“Yeah, I do, it’s written in what we call Digimoji, with the device having the words ‘Digital monster” on it.” She promptly answered as she walked back to me.

 

Ah, mark being illiterate to the list of problems for majority of the group now. Guess Unown script didn’t spread all the way out here, but I guess I cannot expect that to happen with no Unown around here and all.

 

... How old is the digital world anyways? From what Livis has been telling me, there definitely seems to be a decent amount of history behind it. That would be especially true if they have their own language widespread like this.  It very much seems so far that all of this would have required way more time than just the few decades since information networks became such a common thing in our world.

 

Perhaps it predates them by a long time, or perhaps it’s all just an illusion created by all the supposed data this place was built with as it simulated a background history for the world, certainly a conundrum that I have little to no answers currently…

 

...Drats, Uxie’s enthusiasm on history is rubbing on me again, been a while since the last archeological trip, I actually wouldn’t mind another one soon, beats plenty of the missions I do for the Swords of Justice after all, just PLEASE keep the cursed things far away from me.

 

Livis seemed to have patiently watched me thinking on my own and before I get to even ask my next question as I get out of my stupor, she says,” Also, before you even ask, the soda merry is interested in is called a Neon spark. Not something I usually try.”

 

 She quickly turns and addresses the cactus who was about to try drinking the Neon spark, “Merry, be careful not burn your tongue as that drink gives quite a literal shock to the drinker if you are not careful, and I do mean a literal one! “

 

…..

 

“… Aurora, be ready to heal pulse, I’m not wasting any of our healing supplies on this unless absolutely necessary.”

 

Another thing to add to that list that was starting to grow alarmingly fast, having to prepare for a medical situation after drinking a supposed can of coda, how wonderful.

 

That was especially true considering the mention of ‘danger’ only seemed to further increase the enthusiasm Merry had, who seemed all ready to experience the supposedly shocking experience despite the warning as she proceeds to open the can after some difficulties and chuck a small portion down the gullet.

 

… Well, I guess instead of damage, this looks more like a status condition, considering Merry seems to have gotten paralyzed while having a somewhat euphoric look while somehow managing to not drop the can around her hand despite going stiff.

 

“Scratch the previous order, this looks like Aromatherapy to me.”

 

Aurora gives a sigh right as the seven sprouts of his begin to release a visible aroma of soothing scent that travels to Merry whose body begins to relax as the stiffness from the paralysis fades away, which also unfortunately makes her drop the can of hazardous liquid as it proceeds to let of sparks around the grass like the volatile liquid it is.

 

Apparently, the experience wasn’t enough to deter Merry who proceeds to immediately ask Livis to get a different one from the vending machine, and Livis being the polite thing she is when not focused on getting stronger, almost manages to get Merry her next product before I decide to put a stop to this with a good reason and not just because I’m not ready to deal with more hazardous drinks.

 

“Livis, think we should hold on to the rest of the ‘bits’ for now if they truly are common currency here as you say, because even having a little is better than none if we ever need it for something”.

 

Merry looks somewhat disappointed but doesn’t object as she too realizes that I have a good point.

 

“Haah…. if we do get into a situation where we have more than enough to spare Merry, feel free to try some of those ‘drinks’ when we are back at home, just make sure Aurora is around…”

 

“Ctus!” says Merry as she gives a nod at my answer, seemingly satisfied with my compromise.

 

“Now then, where to next?” I ask the only member in the team with even a semblance of understanding of what might be the next move for us.

 

“Well…” She ponders for a while as she looks at the large cord. “We could perhaps follow the cord as to where it goes, as something of this size and length tends to be connected to relevant locations such as settlements or towns nearby.”

 

“Well then, guess we got two options to choose from then.” I say before I ask her, “Livis, can you fly up a bit just to see which if one way or another could actually lead us somewhere from here?”

 

She flinches a bit as if she forgot she could do that, before promptly saying “on it” and flies upwards as she begins to scan the surroundings before coming back down again to give her report.

 

“There does seem to be some structures towards the right side of us. Looks to be a small town of sorts.”  Says Livis while pointing towards a direction.

 

“Well then, guess we have our first destination then, onwards!” I call out as I begin to take the lead while the rest of the entourage begins to follow me.

 

Yeah, screw everything else odd about this place, the complete lack of Pokémon activity was the eeriest part of this entire experience of this leisure walk so far, and it just makes me realize just how used to I was having friendly life moving around in the vicinity even in the thickest of woods, which just didn’t seem to be a case here at all with just a few simple animals like birds and insects moving around every now and then that were ever so rare in our world.

 

Anyway, the leisure walk to our destination took just a bit longer with a few derailments as Merry explored the world to her hearts content as she poked the different oddities and electrical appliances just lying around and apparently ‘growing’ from the ground with some of the weirdest sights being what I would only consider was the large electrical plug stuck on the ground, a Jukebox silently playing a Pokémon rap, and a TV showing a weather report from like ten years ago telling about stormy weather for the day.

 

Oh, and Livis managed to catch another bit stack flying around, albeit this one was much smaller, like 200 bits by her estimate, apparently still high but a lot more usual find according to her.

 

I did try to scan a few of those ‘devices’ lying around in the wild to see if the Digidex would react to them, but none of them even gave a reaction whatsoever, which was certainly not a good sign to say the least.

 

This place was weeeird, but other than that just like I thought before, I could see myself getting used to this eventually. It certainly beats Galar and its spontaneous gigantification warnings of Pokémon just turning giant and rampaging around every now and then.

 Despite that danger though, it somehow became the region’s namesake, so no one actually finds it worrying enough over there to actually deal with properly. Bunch of crazies I tell you, Rescue team Hero can’t catch a break…

 

Also, scratch my previous statement about not seeing anything too substantial while walking.

 

Nothing significant hadn’t shown up for good part of the trip, until a transparent flickering red ball with eyes mixed with a rubber glove appeared from around the corner and leapt straight towards my face!

 

My reactionary muscles acted to the somewhat slow attack and slapped the red ball with eyes away before it managed to land a hit on me.

 

The ball flew a small distance away from the impact, before beginning to dissipate away, leaving a few of those bits behind.

 

For a moment I thought I may have just killed a Digimon by reflex alone, but Livis quickly notices my unease as she quickly notes, “ah, that there was one of the encounter ghosts I mentioned before, this one resembling a Punimon, a baby Digimon generally quite recently out of an egg. Encounter ghosts may look like Digimon but are basically just ferals that know nothing but to attack anything in their sights.”

 

“… And you previously said this is normal? they just randomly appear and decide to attack you on sight?”

 

“Yes?” she tilts her head again after giving that innocent answer to me as if the answer was obvious.

 

She continued to say, ”They mostly show up in areas where there are very few Digimon moving around, so we tend to group up and create communities to keep them from spawning at all as they don’t seem to appear in populated areas, Some Digimon create parties that essentially just hunt them for bits in the more dangerous areas where the amount of bits they leave behind tends to be higher.”

 

“…I see…” I silently answered back with some clear unhidden unease to the native while Merry and Aurora didn’t seem to look any less disturbed than I was about the whole existence of encounter ghosts and our first real taste of it all.

 

Seriously, even if these encounter ghosts are supposedly mostly weak, just having to constantly keep an eye out for anything hostile is seriously unsettling to deal with and seriously dangerous for anyone to move around in this place.

 

Our world just didn’t have such worries, ours was a place where I could go on a walk and not have to worry about getting hurt the moment I let my guard down.

 

Be it out in the human cities or in the wilderness you were in most cases safe, and surrounded by others who meant no harm to you.

 

There is always the small chance of meeting a prick of a Pokémon in the wild who may attack anyone they come across or a criminal intending to pickpocket you, but those are the clear exceptions in our mostly peaceful world nowadays.

 

These days there really isn’t much of a reason for a Pokémon in the wild to truly attack anyone seriously anymore with the global food problem all solved now and Pokémon centers all willing to help anyone who came to search for aid there.

 

It was considered so safe to travel in fact that it was fine for young kids around the age of ten to go out adventuring into the world, something that had become a kind of tradition, as most of the world is kind enough these days to give them a good time around the world and even protect them in worst cases from the very few who think otherwise.

 

Heck, a lot of the warnings we get about dangerous Pokémon in the wild come from other wild Pokémon which allows us enforcement organizations to check on and handle the problem before it ever becomes one. Humans and Pokémon wanted to keep that safe atmosphere, and plenty of us enforcement groups made sure that atmosphere stayed that way.

 

Yeah, most Pokémon have an innate desire to get stronger that varies in intensity which could sometimes turn into aggressive behavior, but you would have to be really oblivious as a Pokémon to not know at this point about the sheer number of trainers moving about the world daily looking for new members to their team that not only encouraged that desire to battle, but also curated it in a safe manner for them and for others. 

 

In other words, if you want to be an active battler, just go into the human territories and you are bound to find someone to challenge and bring you for more fights, and those with less of a desire to do that can just spar every now and then with their friends in the wilderness or in their small communities.

 

Sure, the world still has plenty of bad apples out there as I can certainly attest to that from my personal experience as our own case had been quite bad back in the day when we were still on the run from Team Rocket, but I can certainly understand that we were a clear exception with our situation, even if that point still stings…

 

In summary for the most part, most of the world I lived in genuinely didn’t want to hurt another unless it was absolutely necessary and most importantly to me at least, you can still try to convince them not to do the harmful act, as most people who are not mental in their heads can understand you and  have a reason for attacking you that you are maybe able to persuade them not to do it.

 

Ignore the supposed hostile culture of this place, ignore the implications of an entire world with a new living intelligent species living out here. Out of all of this, this was the part that unsettled me and my team the most. Having to realize that this world had something that would unconditionally attack you, an endless enemy that would never seemingly go away, an enemy that could never be negotiated or be convinced to stop hurting others, an enemy that you had no choice but to put down.

 

“Are you alright?”  The voice of the little rabbit snapped me out of my thoughts who definitely had sensed our collective unease as she looked both worried and confused at us at the same time, which only further increased my own unease as it further reinforced to me that to her, the fact I was feeling unease about was just considered norma to her, a detail that was considered nothing out of the ordinary, something this horrifying to me was all just a normal everyday mundane detail for her…

 

“I’m fine Livis, don’t worry too much, just dealing with some thoughts. Anyway, any advice on what we should be expecting when we do reach civilization? Should I expect any sort of reaction if we just go through the front door?” I asked our native to the place, trying to shift the attention to less unsettling topics.

 

“Umm,” She took a moment as she clearly seemed to want to ask something but decided to hold off on it as I silently gave her the message to drop the previous topic as she answered my question. “The place certainly didn’t look too mechanical, if anything, it was the exact opposite, a fairly small place with rundown buildings from the looks of it, with the exception of a fairly large… dome? on the side of it.”

 

“As for your second question… I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. There are plenty of variety when it comes to how a Digimon looks, including quite a few Digimon I know who greatly resemble humans, which Is why I believe none of you should cause too much of a reaction if we just walk in.”

 

huh… that is a good detail to know, guess we don’t need to go incognito to not cause a fuss then.

 

Sure, I have some practice having to be a diplomat and a bridge every now and then when it came to dealing with human organizations as one of the very few high rank human members in the Swords of Justice which was mostly composed of Pokémon, but I’m still glad I don’t have to start considering first contact policies right now when it comes to dealing with an entirely new species of intelligent beings as a representative of a different one.

 

I wonder, do Digimon also have that innate desire that Pokémon have to grow stronger?

 

So far, If Livis was the only source of information on that, then the answer would be yes. But I feel that is more of a personal desire for her stemming from her history rather than an any innate urge for it.

 

Heck, the fact that Digimon apparently sound like they have functional cities gives a clear signal to me that their overall mindset is clearly different from Pokémon who usually show no desire to form and improve their communities the way humans do, as the small settlements made by Pokémon sometimes tend to never change much over the years and those few Pokémon that do have that type of interest tend to just move towards human civilizations instead where that type of interest tends to be appreciated and treated better among others.

 

“Almost there, I think I can already see the town.” Said Livis while leading the rest of us, which quickly changes to Merry leading us as the one most excited about all of this.

 

Aurora seemed to have muttered something to Merry which she just seemed to have just completely ignored making Aurora let out another sigh, a common sound during this journey as he had kept a vigilant and tense eye for the whole trip being the worrywart I know he is.

 

And certainly, it didn’t take long before we reached the opening in the forestry and walked towards a hill that had a good vision of most of the town, which certainly was nothing that would be considered that big, more like a settlement if you asked me, or perhaps a very small town that looked like it was built out of scrap metal of something considering just how varied the buildings seemed with the materials they seemed to be built with.

 

 I could see some movement around the place but honestly not that much, I think I saw an open market, plenty of odd-looking buildings, something that could be considered small stadium or a dome, and a….

 

a……

 

“Livis, am I seeing this correctly, or is that building over there a Pokémon center?” I asked our expert as I pointed towards utterly out of place building in the distance.

 

Yes, a Pokémon center, a Pokémon center in the middle of a small town of Digimon, just… how?

 

It may look just a little bit off with its somewhat more rundown, scrappy look, but the colorization and the general design was close enough to the uniform appearance around most of the world that it was impossible to not consider it a center.

 

The only clear exception that told me otherwise was the symbol on the front of the building which was a pinkish purple colored mark that I could best describe as a ball that had two crescents under it with one resembling a leaf, making the symbol vaguely look like a flower bud.

 

“Ah, do you mean the Digimon center? I think I had the exact same thought you had when I saw one of your centers. curious isn’t it.” The rabbit answered me in a tone that I swear she was teasing me or something, but she genuinely didn’t seem to know the answer to that mystery either.

 

Well, considering one of the advices you always give to any new Pokémon trainers travelling around the world is to first visit the Pokémon center first when entering a new locale, I think we know our next destination.

 

As we began to go down the hill and towards making first contact with other intelligent life in this world before Merry decides to scurry off on her own from her excitement, I asked Livis, “Am I safe to assume they are basically like Pokémon centers then? free to enter and free medical service?”

 

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t consider them free, nothing expensive, but there are certainly fees for using its services.” The Lunar rabbit says to me before she further adds as she points towards the town. “By the way, do check where the large cord is going.”

 

As said to me, I observe as the cord seems to move into the town and splits off towards various points in the town as smaller cords split off the bigger one towards different buildings.

 

“So, bits not only work as your currency, but are they your somehow your power source as well?” I ask Livis if I’m right on my guess after having a short mental puzzle in my head on why she wanted me to check on this.

 

“Yeah, that pretty much the gist of it, most things around run on bits, although only the towns tend to actually have ways to use them to power large stuff. Don’t ask me how any of that is supposed to work though, we didn’t exactly have any such worries in our constantly moving community while fishing.”

 

I take a note of that piece of information as we move down the hill and begin approaching the town, we begin seeing plenty of the life this place has to offer and as expected, I recognize none of them, from dinosaurs to walking plants to slimes all in various sizes from as small as my feet to Tyranitar sized behemoths like three times my size.

 

I expected us to get checked by the two supposed sentries watching the entryway who couldn't be any different from one another both in size and physique with one looking like a blue colored iron helmed insect and the other looked like a burning blue ghost with a wizards hat, but they just silently let us pass without even giving us a glance, which is certainly either saying that this place tends to not get any trouble, but considering just how… rundown this placed looked and the somewhat unruly crowd outside, I feel the answer is probably not something so positive…

 

And as Livis said, we only got a few stares aimed at us from the others but otherwise no one seemed to be too interested in any of us, as they just moved on to whatever they were doing, albeit I did notice a few greedy eyes staring at our backpacks.

 

I really wished I could just scan some of them with the Digidex, but I felt it was not only horribly rude and also disruptive as I hadn’t figured out how to turn the vocal portion of the device off. I really didn’t want to risk insulting someone and getting us into trouble just because I felt just a little curious.

 

Honestly, the town definitely made me feel like I was entering one of those Pokémon communities deep in the wilds at first considering the sheer variety of creatures walking around, but everything was built way closer to what I would expect in a human built town with a lot more less natural feeling materials and more metallic resources used for the structures and also this focus for at least a semblance of a plan in town design rather than just buildings varying greatly in location, look and size.

 

It was hard to describe the structures around the place as some of the buildings looked more like they were built out of scraps of various things like what slums used to look like and yet they still looked pristine enough that it felt they were always meant to be like that, giving the entire small town this unique run-down feeling that somehow just seemed right for it in and odd manner.

 

The road was... fine, it was clearly just a rough terrain that had gotten plenty of steps walked on to make it smoother with plenty of variety in the footsteps on it including what seemed to be wheels, which was certainly not something I would consider seeing a Pokémon town at least.

 

It didn’t take long for us to reach the ‘Digimon’ center with the place being as small as it was as we waltzed in through the automatic doors that were way out of place in this town when the rest of the town worked with stuff that barely even looked like a door for most houses.

 

We got a few glimpses from the few inside the place who seemed to be dealing with plenty of physical injuries from the looks of it, but they went back to their own business soon enough as we kept walking into the ‘center’.

 

Well, the view of the place was way too stupidly familiar to what I would expect to see in a Pokémon center if you can ignore the posters with digimoji in them, the somewhat older looking models of computers, and the general brown coloring of the metal instead of the usual white and red being switch with something closer to purple like the color of the symbol the center had at the front.

 

 Oh, and that wasn’t the only thing familiar to me, if anything, this one basically screamed it straight my ear instead.

 

“…Nurse joy?” I couldn’t help but blurt out loud the moment I saw the familiar face at the reception who was wearing her usual nurse outfit alongside a distinctive pink hat on her head depicting the commonly seen Pokémon in centers, the pink roundball Pokémon Chansey.

 

“Yes, Nursemon Joy at your service, do you need any help?” The receptionist answered in a professional tone fitting that in the role of a nurse despite her face looking very much like she didn’t want more to deal with right now.

 

Nurse… mon?

 

Screw this, I’m scanning her just for my mental sanity.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nursemon Joy, the medical expert Digimon. She wears a headpiece modelled after a being thought to bring good health to others.

LEVEL: CHAMPION

ATTACK TECHNIQUES:

Medical Buckshot

Egg Bang

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You don’t want to see them awakened, they always carry a double barreled-shotgun, and they aren’t afraid to use it mon!

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It was official, she is in fact a Digimon.

 

…Have I solved the great mystery that is the Joys? are all joys actually just Digimon in disguise?

 

Seriously, that titan of a family that is the Joy household is whacked. Literally every girl born in that family looks like an identical twin, and that same family somehow has the monopoly when it comes to serving as a medical nurse in every Pokémon center in the world.

 

I mean, as nice as it’s to basically have a guaranteed job in your life as a nurse, but by Arceus must that also feel stifling for every girl born in that family who does not in fact want to do that.

 

… Are the Jenny’s the same? Is there also a Jenny out here somewhere?

 

Livis seems to have noticed my mental failure as I pondered the mysteries of the world as she decides to take the lead and answer the ‘joy.’ who looked curiously at the device I was holding.

 

” No, just checking in to get an idea where we are, we kind of got lost in the woods and only just got here.”

 

The nurse seemed completely unphased at our odd circumstance as she nonchalantly says while scrutinizing us, “Well, welcome to Old Shuck Town then, we don’t have much here, but home is a home, you could go check the arena, as that is almost why everyone else ever comes to visit here from outside. “

 

Whatever she got from staring at us, it must have been at least somewhat ok as she continues to say after dropping her inquisitive stare, “You seem like decent folk considering your overall outlook, so do stay clear from the gangs moving around the outskirts of the town if you wanna keep those backpacks full in the foreseeable future.”

 

Noted, the place certainly gave me a somewhat dangerous feeling like that of a lawless area, but it was good to get some confirmation on that.  It really was like Orre again huh.

 

Still, the ‘arena’ huh, it was likely the one dome we saw earlier then. Guess that explains the others currently in this place looking like they came out of a beating.

 

Still, I think I should check out the market square in this place first just to see what the local goods they have to offer, especially when outside of fish, Livis wasn’t exactly that helpful when it came to much of the finer details of the goods around here.

 

Heck, even if it’s just the fish, I could definitely think of a few biolabs that would certainly find them an exciting prospect as our own species have mostly gone extinct in the wild being incapable of competing with most of the water Pokémon in the waters.

 

Not like extinction was a real problem anymore these days as even with a single fossil of a fish or some other way to get the genetic coding of the species, we could easily resurrect the entire line from scratch if we wanted to, or at least so I have heard.

 

Seriously though, this entire building feels way too familiar despite it being supposedly in another world and I’m not just talking about the obvious ‘nurse’ here.

 

Hmm, if that is the case, maybe the computers around here were also connected to some sort of network like the ones back at our centers?

 

I gave a signal to Aurora that I was going to take a brief leave as I left him to keep an eye on the other two as Livis was doing her best acting as a translator between Merry and the joy.

 

I walked towards the rooms where the public computers tended to be available in this place until reached the private room area and locked the door behind me.

 

I pulled out the Digidex from my pocket and began to point the scanner towards the somewhat archaic but still very much working computer in the room to see if the blue device would have a reaction to it.

 

And to my biggest sigh of relief, it actually does in fact react this time and I didn’t even have to install the client or anything.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

NEW ACCESS POINT DETECTED.

ACCESS POINT HAS BEEN SAVED TO THE RECORD.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THE DIGITAL TRANSFER CLIENT?

  

YES                                                          NO

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Haaaah… now that is a big load off our back, guess I don’t have to gamble on the escape orb method then.

 

With some good news to bring to the rest of our group now, I return back to the main hall to see most of the team doing their own stuff as Livis was now trying her best to look small under the gazes around the hall as Aurora had seemingly begun ‘interrogating’ the joy through his tablet as the Joy herself very much looked tired from all of it while Merry had already seemingly gotten bored of the somewhat overly familiar place and was already looking out through a window, staring at the unique looking passerbys walk by.

 

I walk towards each of them as I give them a sign to follow me as we move to the private room I was previously in to discuss this revelation.

 

“Good news, it seems we have an exit route back home from the looks of it, so I believe it’s time for us to go home for now” I say as I signal towards computer in the room.

 

The reactions I got from the trio were a sigh of relief from Aurora, an unwilling frown from Merry, and a pondering look from Livis.

 

I quickly reprimand Merry as I say, “Merry, we should make sure our way back actually works before we do anything else.  We can talk about going right back in after we confirmed this detail.”

 

Merry still looked unwilling, but quickly relented with a sigh knowing I once again had a point, and we could just come right back after making sure it worked.

 

We all took general position like in my room before I once again scanned the computer in the place.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THE DIGITAL TRANSFER CLIENT?

 

 

YES                                                          NO

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

I pressed yes, duh.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

SCANNING SURROUNDINGS FOR PERSONNEL TO TRANSFER

PLEASE WAIT.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Light comes from the computer as it quickly scanned us like my laptop did previously before the next familiar message appeared on the Dex:

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

FOUR TARGETS CONFIRMED AND SCANNED WITHIN PROXIMITY.

 

RETURN TO YOUR ENTRY POINT?

 

YES                                                          NO

  

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

I took a note that it didn’t specify where we were going before I looked behind me to check that everyone was ready, before pressing yes once more.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

TRANSFERING:

HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON AGAIN!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You know, I could accept being crushed by a green dinosaur, a desert cactus, and a lunar rabbit once, but twice on the same day was certainly beginning to push my buttons now.

 

Worse still, we were now in my room, which meant using the previous method meant personal property damage and possibly losing my palm tree.

 

“…. get off…” I mutter under the pile of the variety of creatures I found myself living with, who promptly take their previous placements in the room as I finally get myself up from the floor.

 

Getting my composure back together, I ask the obvious question now that we had confirmed that returning home worked just fine, and it was very likely reasonable to believe it would work even in the future.

 

“So, do we go right back in, or should we take a rest now?”

 

Merry pantomimed me an instant yes to the suggestion of going back in, Aurora seemed thoughtful but didn’t seem to have an objection of just going right back in again either and Livis answered me by saying, “I’m fine with going back in as I was certainly still curious of the place.”

 

“Well, guess the group has spoken, just need a five-minute break as I get something else prepared before we go back in.” I answered which gave Merry her cheerfulness back as the two Pokémon seemed to have decided to crowd our resident Digimon with questions as I take my leave from the room.

 

I go deal with my biological business first before I move to the living room and put the spare laptop onto the table as I connect its power cord to an outdoors charger and set it up all ready as I install the client into it and leave it on as a sort of possible back-up if my personal laptop suddenly goes down by some freak accident here.

 

I do not know if this back-up will actually do anything, but considering the thing was basically useless out there anyways, I may as well set it up here and have a possible second exit point just in case it does actually work.

 

*CRAACK*

 

I hear the sound of thunder just outside as I look out the window to see it being pretty stormy out there, the type of weather we all would be cooped up in our house.

 

Guess this is one of the benefits of having access to another world from your home, considering the place currently had sunny weather going out there.

 

I returned to my room as I heard Livis answer something about ‘Ghostmon’ before they all reacted to me opening the door as all three turn to look at me.

 

I said to them while being the current center of focus, “All done, you three ready to go back?”

 

All three gave a nod as answer to me with varying degrees of enthusiasm behind it before they all moved to their positions again as I began scanning my laptop.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

WELCOME TO USING THE DIGITAL TRANSFER SYSTEM

 

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SCAN FOR NEARBY SERVERS?

 

YES                                                          NO

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

I press yes once more as the scan happens just like last time and provides me with the same two server options as I pick ‘Tojoh’ once more.

 

Once the contact was successfully made again, we once again saw the familiar blurred map, but this time there were two points available instead of one with the second marker just being a little bit away from the one first we had used previously.

 

Huh, now wasn’t that going to be useful if I was correct to assume we just now gained the ability to directly warp to the center we were just at.

 

Admittedly, that may cause some hassle if someone is actually using the device already, but it is still better than only having that singular isolated point to enter from.

 

I turn my head towards my back as I ask them,” So, apparently, we can go straight back to the center, so, what should we do next then? I’m personally voting that we go check the open market just to see what the place has to offer.”

 

Merry quickly types two her tablet’s keyboard before it says, “The arena.”

 

Aurora seems to have no opinion on this yet while Livis says “I... Am interested in the arena too, considering we no longer have to worry about getting to safety as much with the path back…” --she paused for a bit before saying-- “home… “

 

 She looked at me straight to my eyes before pleading,” I want to see just how much I’ve improved, please?”

 

Aurora was about to give his opinion which, knowing him, would have been the marketplace, but after hearing Livis and her clear desire for the arena, he seems to have decided to simply just relent his opinion.

 

…I guess our next destination is decided then, both by vote and by intent, because I ain’t stopping Livis if she wants to have some more proof that she has truly improved, which she most definitely has after multiple training sessions with us.

 

And besides, we needed to find her opponents more closer to her current level anyways, as sparring with us while each of us sandbagged was good, but she needed some experience facing opponents less capable than us in a safe environment, and this arena could perhaps fit that criteria with the added bonus of letting the rest of us get a better idea of how other Digimon fight without risking ourselves.

 

And… I’m glad that she has found herself welcome enough with us to call our place a second home to her now.

 

“Guess its going to be the arena first then.” I say to confirm to the rest of the crew.

 

I pressed yes on the screen of the Digidex right after saying that as we once more get transported to the other side, hopefully this time without me getting crushed by a green dinosaur, a desert cactus, and a lunar rabbit.