Past Awakening

Farrell was walking down a lonely backstreet, but his mind was elsewhere. He was avoiding the main roads. This was due in part because he did not want to have to worry about cars while he was thinking. However, that wasn't his only reason. His other reason was the dark form that trotted along behind him. That form was his Digimon partner, Kagemon, who was following him closely. Despite having a body shape similar to a cat's, Kagemon was much too big to pass as one. Until Farrell could come up with a better way of transporting his Digimon, he would simply stick with his current options. He didn't want to display Kagemon publicly, not when members of the public thought that Digimon were a menace that had been forced out of their world.

Despite these concerns, it wasn't the public's reaction to Kagemon that Farrell was most worried about. His mother and sister had seen Kagemon in his Pafumon and Kyaromon forms and they had accepted him in both, though Farrell's mother had been very reluctant to do so. Now, however, Farrell wasn't at all sure how they would react. His sister probably wouldn't care, but his mother…she was one of those who feared Digimon. Farrell couldn't really blame her considering how Digimon had caused so much damage three years ago, but it had created a rift between the two of them. Pafumon and Kyaromon had been relatively harmless. Kagemon, on the other hand, was significantly larger than either of them and was much more powerful.

For his part, Kagemon respected Farrell's silence. Their conversations were built more around situations rather than random thoughts. Neither spoke unless they had something important to say and even then, sometimes they kept silent. Kagemon's own silence oftentimes stemmed from his fear of rejection. He figured that if he revealed to Farrell what he had done in the past, Farrell would be disgusted and abandon him, just like everyone else. Despite their strong friendship, Kagemon was not certain what his friend would think of him and he cared too much for Farrell to lose him because of his past.

And so they walked. Neither saying a word, despite the importance of their thoughts.

"I can't believe this." Quiri muttered under his breath, holding a blue and white parasol between him and the sun; a plastic bag and a white purse on the other. He had already drowned out his partner's excited chants of meat buns, meat buns~ coming out from his wireless earpiece as he made his way back home.

In normal circumstances he wouldn't mind this stroll, even enjoy the guys who might be looking down at his short jeans and white thigh-highs thinking he was a girl or feel the sun against his crisp white blouse. In normal circumstances, he would've chosen a better day and time to go out as well; today felt unbearably hot to Quiri even with the parasol [perhaps it was just his stamina failing him] and the fact that he was out solely because of his digital partner made things worse.

"Hey Curry, Curr-"

"It's Quiri, not curry."

"...Quiuiuiuicurry!" The cross-dresser sighed at his partner's short tongue and brain. " I can't wait for my meat buns!!!! Can I have them now~?"

"No, people will see you. We're nearly there so hold on."

"BLARG I want my meat buns!!!" He paused, hearing that tone in her voice; that wasn't a good sign. He frantically looked about, then power walked to the nearest people-less street as his memory reminded of the dreadful event that had occurred when he had ignored that tone of voice in the past.

"Alright alright, just give me a few seconds to find a hiding place before you pop out, I don't want to lose another purse from you bouncing out of it or make another commotio-"

"TennineeightsevenfourtwomeatsixbunsONE BLOOMERANG!" There was a burst of data flowing from Quiri's phone almost instantly after his partner's shout; luckily he had whipped it out in time to save his prized purse, which he claimed after a heated online auction that went for weeks. The data the spewed out from his phone formed into shape and took only a matter of a second to materialize into the furry Digimon. Bloomon, or Colada, was just as Quiri remembered; indigo masked face; 'clothing' that looked like a certain country's school sports uniform; limbs which were blackened; and two white round hands... wait.

"...Your welcome." Quiri said as he realized the 'white round hands' were actually meat buns. He carelessly dropped the now-tattered plastic bag after Colada's sneak attack; no one really cared about the backstreets and it wasn't his style to carry around such grotesque thing.

"Sometimes I can't believe my Digimon partner is such a pig," He said without caring to lower his voice; Colada was too busy eating, and besides she was too 'absent-minded' to get that it was an insult. He naturally assumed no one was around at the backstreet without even looking about to boot.

"Mmmm," Colada mmed as she ate.

"...And such a messy eater despite your cute appearance." He commented as he watched.

"Hey, what's that?"

Kagemon's voice cut through the silence and brought Farrell out of his troubled thoughts. Farrell looked ahead, rightly assuming that was the direction Kagemon was looking. Not too far away from Farrell and Kagemon was a girl. She looked younger than Farrell, though not by much. Close by her was a creature that was munching on food. A very unusual creature. In fact, it looked very much like a Digimon.

"Weird," Farrell muttered, coming to a stop. "Is that what I think it is?"

"I'm pretty sure that it is," Kagemon replied, stepping up to Farrell's side. "Yes, it looks like a Digimon. It's odd that the boy is not running from it. Perhaps they are friends, in a similar situation to us."

Farrell gave a start when Kagemon said boy. He peered at the 'girl', trying to determine whether or not she/he/it was actually a boy or not.

"Are you…certain that's a guy?" Farrell asked. "She…or he…definitely looks like a girl. Or maybe not so much…it's hard to tell."

Kagemon looked over at Farrell and Farrell had the distinct impression that the Digimon was smiling at him.

"I am quite certain that person is a male of your species," Kagemon told him. "It is more difficult to tell his gender, considering his age, but there are certain smells that go with each of the sexes. Despite the difference in your ages, I can say with conviction that there are more similarities between your natural scent and that boy's, than there are between that boy and a girl. Even your sister smells very different from him and she is probably about the same age as him."

Farrell stared at the boy again. Then he shrugged. It hardly mattered whether the boy was male or female. Whichever he was, Digimon are uncommon enough that they might as well say hi.

"Come on," Farrell said. Kagemon obediently walked with him over to the boy. Farrell raised his hand in greeting as they approached. "Hello!" he called.

At first Quiri thought he was hearing things when there were voices; it only took a glance to realize he hadn't noticed people creeping up on them. He lowered his parasol between himself and the strangers as soon as he was aware of them to cover his face as he made sure he looked okay; blouse? check. Jeans? check. Thigh-highs? check and check. Worrying about how to explain about Colada came next, not that it took long to decide what to do; try talking with them and if they seem like they'll report to the police or something, make Colada knock them out.

Quiri bobbed up the parasol back behind him in no time to study who he was dealing with. The guy was taller than himself with rather simplistic clothing, but it wasn't an eyesore; perhaps because of the striking facial features but the simple clothing fitted him quite well. Quiri's gaze stayed on him for a time as he approached, then glanced down at the one following behind.

It didn't take long for him to recognize it was a Digimon rather than a pet [it's not like pets these days had... those shadow-like features]; a tamer then, just like him. He guessed that might make things work out without much hassle. And maybe they had information of a possible gateway... just maybe.

"Greetings," Quiri spoke back with a slight courtsey when they were in chatting range. "Fine day today, perfect to stay indoors."

Colada on the other hand was oblivious of the strangers. Licking her hands clean of the buns with a smile, she crouched down and picked up the tattered plastic bag her partner had dropped earlier in hopes to find more meat buns, then looking about for possible food.

Farrell stopped a few feet away from Quiri and Colada. He glanced at Quiri first and then looked over at the Digimon next to him. He had never seen any Digimon in person other than Kagemon and a Goblimon so this was an experience almost on par with the time he first met Kagemon.

"My name is Farrell," the young man told Quiri. "And this is my friend, Kagemon. Are you…" Farrell's voice drifted off. Perhaps straight out asking this guy wouldn't be the best approach, especially considering Farrell didn't know the technical terminology for what he was about to ask. "I mean, do you have one of these?" Farrell reached into his pocket and pulled out his D-Link Digivice.

The device was half black and half blue, with the coloration split vertically down the middle. He wasn't sure what the two colors were supposed to indicate or what any of the buttons on the Digivice did. All he knew was that, when he was in danger, the Digivice had appeared in his hands and Kagemon appeared in the place of his previous form, Kyaromon. Plus, if he remembered correctly, those children in the past had had items similar to this one.

Quiri only needed to study the device Farrell had pulled out for half a second to realize what it was. As one of the few who was seriously into all the Digimon and the Digital World since they started appearing, he had went through every single clues and rumours that involved Digimons and the Digidestined.

"Call me Quiri and the Digimon over there Colada. That's a Digivice, right? Or at least a variation of one. Sure I have one, albeit slightly different." With that, Quiri clicked through the phone in his hand a bit, then held it up for the guy to see the App labelled 'D-Hack'. The icon above the label was an image of a device that looked exactly like Farrell's Digivice except for the fact that the colours were violet and beige, and the split began from the top right corner and down to the bottom left of the phone a few lengths away from the corner.

"So yeah, I'm a Digidestined just like you. I'm unsure why the App is labelled as 'D-Hack' instead of 'Digivice' though... Maybe it's a model name or something." He trailed off the last sentence as it was an afterthought, but picked up his voice again as he asked questions this time.

"Say, I don't suppose you've seen a gateway or a, mm, tamerless Digimon around recently? Any small detail will do~"

"Or a meat bun!" Colada piped in with a cheery shout after failing to find anything else to eat, and decided to listen to the conversation.

"Feel free to ignore Colada, she doesn't mind." Quiri added while making a tapping gesture on his head to signal 'brainless' or 'stupid'.

"I don't? Huh, I thought I did. Well if you say so~"

"I did see one tamerless Digimon," Farrell replied. "In a forest just outside of town."

"It was a Goblimon," Kagemon interjected. "A particularly nasty breed. Most have been banished to the Dark Area." He looked over at Farrell and shrugged, a strange sight considering he was a quadruped. "My apologies. I forgot myself. You don't know much about the Digital World. The Dark Area is a kind of prison. Or it used to be. Now it is run by the same Digimon who were imprisoned within it.* Despite this, dark Digimon are still sent down there from time to time."

Farrell nodded understandingly. It was true. He didn't know a great deal about the Digital World. Kagemon rarely talked about it and Farrell didn't press him for details. Since he didn't know what else to say, Farrell took a second look at Quiri's Digivice. He was a little bit surprised to see that it was an App, but then, he didn't know much about what Digivices were in the first place. The name did sound familiar, though. He could remember hearing it once or twice on the news, back when the so-called 'Digidestined' fought to protect the human world.

"Perhaps you are right about the model name," Farrell commented, looking down at his own Digivice. "Our…Digivices are definitely different." Farrell looked back up at Quiri and asked, "How did you get your Digivice? Mine simply appeared."

He decided not to tell Quiri about the feeling that had come with his Digivice. When it appeared, he had felt strange, as if his Digivice had always been there and only appeared because he needed it. A part of him wondered if maybe the Digidestined in the past had had Digivices as well. That would explain the news reports he had heard talking about them. And it might also explain how the Digidestined were able to stand up to the invading Digimon. If they too had had Digimon allies and had been able to use their Digivices to help their Digimon reach the next level, the way he had with Kagemon…maybe…it might mean…

Farrell didn't want to think about the implications. If he was right, then both he and the boy in front of him might very well be among the first in new generation of Digidestined. Kind of like replacements, though that thought was the scariest of all considering that no one really knew what had happened to the previous Digidestined.

*A quick note OOC: Everything Kagemon talked about in this post that has to do with the Dark Area comes from the plot. I actually got to work on the plot recently and got a good chunk of it finished. It's about ready to be posted.

It wasn't everyday that Quiri was able to hear about the Digital World in detail, and so he was very intrigued by Kagemon's explanations even if it was only a tiny one. He didn't miss the sudden glint in Colada's eyes at the mention of Goblimon too; she was easy to read and he knew all she really cared for was eating an fighting. In this case, the latter.

"Same here, it just appeared on my phone," Quiri replied as he pushed the thought about Colada to the back of his head, then chuckled with his hand covering his mouth at a flashback in his head as he continued. "I tried to delete it a few times thinking it was a virus actually; thankfully it never went away. I've had no trouble using it so far, as if it was made just for me."

Quiri paused to take a small breath and to phrase his next questions in his mind without seeming too nosy, about Farrell's Digivice's model and if Kagemon knew a way into the Digital World [seeing as he was well-knowledged about certain aspects unlike he had expected at first] when Colada butted in.

"Query, I'm boredddddd, Get me that Goblimon you guys were talking about so I can punt itttt!" She exclaimed with her tail spastically swaying about. Quiri gave an absent nod after losing his train of thought, then spoke again.

"Fine fine, let's go look about in the forest for some so behave.

It was nice chatting with you Farrell, but sounds like it's time for me to go if you don't mind. I'll give you my phone number so you can call or text me whenever something's up, how about that?"

"Too late," Farrell told Colada. He absentmindedly slipped his free hand into one of his pockets, leaving only his thumb exposed, hanging over the rim of his pocket. "Kagemon destroyed the Goblimon when it attacked me."

Kagemon felt pride welling up in his chest at the words. It had been a long time since he had been able to help anyone with his strength. Trying to retain an air of modesty, he raised one paw, and began to lick it clean, as if he wasn't really paying attention to the conversation.

"It was…nothing," Kagemon said. "I merely had to protect my friend and so I-"

"He hit it when it wasn't looking," Farrell continued, as if Kagemon hadn't spoken.

The fur on the nape of Kagemon's neck rose in irritation, but he refrained from commenting. Instead, he settled for a dignified silence.

"Sure, I'll take it," Farrell said, now turning to Quiri. He pulled out his cell phone. "And here, you can have my number as well. Try not to call unless it's an emergency. I don't use this phone for casual purposes."

Meanwhile, several blocks away from where Farrell and Quiri stood, a Digital Gateway was beginning to open. Three metallic claws reached through the Gateway as a large, fiery Digimon stumbled through. It was a Flarerizamon and it did not look happy. Truth be told, it wasn't totally in its right mind. One moment, it had been walking across a wasteland strewn with volcanoes. The next, it stepped into a space where the barriers between the human and Digital Worlds had been broken. Its data had been broken apart and rearranged on the other side of the barriers, but it was no longer the same Digimon.

Flarerizamon caught sight of a group of teenagers who were on their way to a party. About that same moment, the teens spotted Flarerizamon. For a moment, neither human nor Digimon made a move. Then, without warning, Flarerizamon threw back his head, roared, and charged towards the teens. They scattered, many of them screaming, as they tried to escape from the flaming monster.

Flarerizamon

Spoiler:

For the second time Quiri chuckled, this time at how Kagemon was cut off. He wasn't familiar with the shadowy Digimon's way of expressing mood but no doubt that silence that came after was one of annoyance or embarrassment or something. Colada on the other hand was blinking with a dumbfounded look which turned into an obvious look of disappointment with her ears and tails drooping and the ends of her lips falling heavily down.

The cross dresser merely smiled at Farrell's comments about calling him; he wasn't planning to call either, but more so in hopes that if Farrell was to see a Digimon or a gateway once more, he'll tell him.

There was a sudden buzz of emergency notification on Quiri's phone as soon as they finished transferring numbers, and as if on queue a loud roar filled the air.

"Rawr~!!" Colada roared back [albeit hers was puny and not very frightening at all], fully recovered from her disappointment in a split second. The was a glint of excitement in her eyes, her ears perked up and tail swaying to and fro. Without a second glance she sped out of the backstreet they were in towards the source of the roar.

To Quiri, his phone notification came first. The D-Hack App was responding to something vaguely in the way Colada ran towards, and that could only meant one thing.

"Oh my, today's my lucky day. If you'll excuse me, I've got a gateway to inspect~" He said with a genuine smile, and after straightening up his parasol, putting his phone back in the purse and a slight wave of good bye, walked out the backstreet also.
------

Colada didn't care if there were other people about; her sole target was the flaming Digimon she spotted in the distance. She ran at a frightening pace, sometimes running in all fours like a beast, sometimes hanging from poles or trees on the way. Other times slipping from the said pole or tree and nearly falling on top of passer-bys or crashing on top of innocent cars, making giant dents on the hood or roofs. The noise she made from falling and shouting and such would've been more than enough to alert the flaming Digimon, but she wasn't able to think about that.

@Farrell: You going to be the sole controller of Flareriza or can I write parts where I'd interact with it?

@Quiri: I originally figured that I would control Flarerizamon, so that you would be provided with more of a challenge. However, in the future, there are going to be fights where I would like to control both my character and the enemy I am fighting against, even if doing so means I know the outcome from the start. So, if you want, go ahead and take control over Flarerizamon when you battle him. He's not hard to control. He's completely insane. Can't talk or anything. He just attacks stuff.

"Goodbye then," Farrell muttered, watching Quiri walk away. He silently hoped that the younger boy would be okay. Although the Goblimon had been fairly simple to defeat, that roar did not sound like it had come from a small creature. Something big had come through the gateway and considering the size of the Digimon that Farrell had seen on TV three years ago, he could only imagine how big this one was.

"A brave child, to be sure, but is that really the way to find a path into the Digital World?"

Farrell snapped out of his thoughts and whirled around. He suddenly realized that Kagemon had already been facing in this direction. The black Digimon's long ears were laid back against his skull, his body low to the ground in an attack position, and his eyes narrowed to slits. A low rumbling sound could be heard, emitted from deep within his throat.

Farrell looked away from his partner and stared into the shadows before him, in the direction of the voice. There, almost invisible in the gloom, was a man, swathed in a dark, hooded cloak. At least, he was shaped like a man. The shadows made it difficult to truly make out his appearance.

"Who are you?" Farrell asked quickly. Kagemon's aggressive posture was making him slightly nervous.

"I am an explorer, after a fashion," the man replied. "Sometimes I'm also a scientist. Other times I'm an inventor. Whatever I take a fancy to, I suppose. Now I have a question for you. What is it that you want?" Farrell merely raised his eyebrow, questioningly. The man chuckled. "Perhaps I am being too vague. I suppose I should have asked, do you wish to enter the Digital World?"

[I'd say its time for me to join]

A young boy walks quietly through the street unphased by the Panic and Commotion. He seems alone, but he also seems to be talking to someone.

By the time Quiri arrived, Colada was unsurprisingly in the midst of battle. Pulling out his phone from his purse, he pointed it at the flaming Digimon as if taking a photo on the phone's camera. The D-Hack App responded and showed him a smaller icon of the Digimon and its information on the screen.

"This one's called Flareriza huh? One stage higher than Colada, too... Surprize! won't be much help since it'd break free easily, and Blootack would most likely scald her. Looks like there's not much choice but Digivolve to deal with it, but doing that somewhere this open... though knowing her, she won't stop until it's down." He mumbled to himself, looking about once the Digimon analyzing is done. Everyone around was in panic and was quickly disappearing to safety... well, everyone but a black haired guy in the distance. He seemed to be preoccupied, thankfully, and wasn't paying much attention to him, but who knows when he'll notice and draw attention if Colada Digivolved and became huge as well. He turned back to Colada when his eyes widened and he approached the clashing Digimons.

"...! Colada, Blooming Back!"
------

Things weren't going too well with Colada. She felt no fear at the scorching body of Flarerizamon at first, plus it was busy being insane to notice the puny humanoid Digimon like herself. Her kick connected to the flaming Digimon easily; that moment she felt as if her leg was on fire. Well then again, it was actually on fire.

"Aarhrghshishkebabblemeatbrunch!!!" she shouted incoherently as she clutched her thigh and rolled about until the flames died down. When she came too, she felt a rush of sensation inside her; she was burning with passion, her desire to fight stronger than ever; there was a tough opponent in front of her, no way was she gonna back away now.

The element of surprise was gone now as Flareriza had turned her way. It gave another loud roar to which Colada had to block with her arms around her face and feet planted tightly due to the distance, and before she could recover she was flung into the air by a nasty claw attack from Flareriza. Once more she fell while shouting incoherently at the fiery claw damage, but managed to land on her feet this time. Burns and bruise filled her body, but her eyes were still shining brightly as she lunged at the massive Digimon once more.

"Blootack!!!" She declared, going for a punch at Flareriza's leg which she could reach with ease followed by kicks and more punches. She felt her hands and fist growing hot after each contact, but her attacks were swifter than before; they were burnt yes but weren't catching on fire. That was when she heard Quiri's desperate shout, and reacted instantly according to his command.

"Blooming Back!" She declared as the place she was standing on only moments before erupted in flames. Colada reappeared a step away from the flaming pillar into the embrace of Quiri. He held her despite the fact his outfit was being ruined with creases and burn marks, feeling the trembles and seeing how she was cringing just to stand.

"You idiot, there's no way you can punch a flame." Quiri spat.

"Lemme go, this is my fight," Colada replied with much difficulty, still glaring at Flareriza who had momentarily lost sight of Colada and was wondering about.

"You can't even stand with that feet of yours. Colada, Bloomerang."

"Bloomerang!... wait. You tricked me Curry!!" Quiri placed his wireless earpiece in time to hear his partner complaining after she was successfully stored into his phone.

"It's Quiri. Now stay there for a bit to recover, we're not running away. I promise I'll let you fight as much as you want soon so stay in there for a bit, ok?" He coaxed her, and while he could hear the distaste in her bad mouthed replies, she stayed put. Nodding in satisfaction, He made sure the flaming Digimon wasn't looking this way and hid behind obstacles. Now was the time to search for a gateway.

At first Farrell was speechless. Go into the Digital World? Where Kagemon was from? On that thought, he glanced down at his partner. Kagemon's black eyes were glittering with barely suppressed interest. It looked like he, at least, really wanted to know how to get there.

"What part of the Digital World are you talking about?" Kagemon said, trying to sound casual.

The man grinned, showing a mouth full of unsettlingly sharp, pearl white teeth. "What part of the Digiworld would you like to enter?"

This time Kagemon could hide not his utter shock and joy. He might actually be able to reenter the Digital surface area! No more running from Mega level Digimon in the Dark Area! No more cutting shady deals just to survive! No more pressure to make up for the wrong he had committed! He could stop fighting and live a normal…well, almost normal, life on the surface. Digimon would stop trusting him again until he Digivolved into Unarimon, but he had been through it all before. He knew how best to hide and wait for that time to come.

Farrell felt the tiniest of smiles touch his lips as he watched his partner's face light up in a happy expression. He allowed his partner a few moments of joyous silence before turning to the man and asking, "So you can get us in. I won't ask how yet. First, what's the catch?"

"Catch?" the man questioned. "Whatever do you mean?"

"How are you supposed to benefit from this?" Farrell asked. "I can't believe that you would just happen to show up and give us this chance unless you had a reason."

Kagemon snapped out of his revelry and listened closely. He hadn't thought about it, but Farrell was right. This was strange situation.

"I see," the man said. "So you're the thinker of your team."

"No," Farrell argued. "Just this time."

The man stared at them strangely. Then his smile returned, albeit he didn't show his teeth this time.

"Very interesting," he muttered. "You two make a good pair." He stepped forward into the light, his hood still hiding most of his face. "Alright. Listen closely: This is what I want…"

The Mysterious Boy Emerged from in-between the two cars. He takes one Glimpse at the rampaging Flarerizamon. "Ace" the Boy Muttered. A beast-like dragon Digimon Burst from the roof of a nearby building. It Shouted its attack "Dash Metal!!!". The Metal Ball Smash's against Flareizamon's Face Knocking it into a Store's window. The Shattered and Burned Glass Litters the Floor. The Last of the Panicking Citizens flee the area, leaving just the Boy, his digimon, and the Flareizamon to Duke it out.