//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Digital storm // by SeiryuofEast //------------------------------// It happens again, I was again in that desert wasteland, or at least is what I could tell, everything was too blurry and I feel too dizzy, barely I noted that the sky was too dark by the black clouds. It looks like a storm was about to occur as I hear the sound of the thunderclaps, but I also feel like is something more was happening inside of those clouds. I can't move, almost every part of my body was stunned, I could only move my head slowly as I see the blurry panorama. It was at that moment when i hear a feminine voice, it looks like it was referring to me as if was calling me, I try to look for the owner of that voice with my sight while moving my head slowly, until finally, that person appears infront of me in the form of a luminous body of a woman with a blinding light as she come closer to me, I can't see her face but I can see her long hair moving with the wind. When she was closer enough, she start talking to me, sadly I cannot understand what she was saying, but i could tell, by the tone that she has in her voice that she is worried and was trying to stay calm. Just when she stopped talking, I saw how she extends her arms to my direction as she touch with her hands my face, it was so warm, I feel like some kind of energy was flowing from her to my body. At that moment, my vision was turning black, I don't know what was happening but I hear that woman voice desperate calling me until finally, I lost consciousness. Jim's POV "Jim!" said the voice of a girl that abruptly interrupts my sleep. With that shout I wake up drowsy and I turn to the open door of my room and spot standing there a little girl of 8 years old, with blue eyes, a slightly toned white skin, long and blond hair tied in a ponytail and now wearing her school uniform, my little sister, Lizzie Summers, now crossing her arms as she look to me. "Jim wake up, we have to go to the school, mom is preparing our breakfast." said Liz as I look to my clock on the wall and saw that it was almost the 7:30am. "Yeah yeah I coming Liz." I replied to my sister as I stand off my bed. "I will wait for you downstairs." said Liz while she left my room. My name is Jim Summers, i'm 14 years old, blond short hair, blue eyes, pale skin and I'm measuring 1.65 in height. I don't have a great physique, I need to wear glasses and the fact that I like anime and videogames was enough to make me a proper nerd, not that I should care, everyone have their likes. At the present time, I was finishing my sixth grade school, and next year I would be in my first year in the institute. After getting out of bed I grab my glasses from the table a side of my bed and wearing my blue shorts with a towel in hand, I walk to the bathroom. When I used the toilet I go to the sink and look my body factions in the mirror, I try to flex to show a little muscle, if the mirror could, it would laugh on my face. When I brush my teeth and wash my face, I come back to my room and walk to the wardrobe to get my uniform, after a few minutes I was ready to go to the school, so I go downstairs to the kitchen where my mom and Liz were waiting for me. When I enter to the kitchen my mom was already serving the breakfast to my sister on the table and in my respective place in the table. My mother, Martha Summers, was a woman that was reaching to her forty years, my sister and I share our factions with her, she was married with my father, John Summers who I supposed already have leave to his work. "Good morning honey, did you sleep well?" said my mother with warming smile. "Yes more or less, until a certain dwarf came to wake me up." I replied, teasing Liz a bit. "Hey! I'm not to blame for having such a lazy brother, and I'm not that small either." Liz replied annoyed as she continues to eat her food and I let out a slight laugh in response. After this I take my place in the table as I start eating my breakfast with my little sister a side of me, when we finish, we go and take our backpacks so we could go to school and when we where in the front door, our mom was there with us to give us our respective farewell. "Well kids, I hope you do well today in school, Liz behave with your classmates and teachers ok?" said my mother lecturing Liz. "Yes mom." my sister replied. "Jim, are you carrying the umbrella? Last night's news announced that today's weather would be rainy." my mother said. "Please mom are you going to believe that?" I replied skeptical. "It is better to be forewarned than to be sorry..." my mother said as she turns behind the door and takes an umbrella which she hands it to me. "Here, be careful on the way back and take care of your sister." my mother told me. "Don't worry, I will no let that something happen to Liz." I replied to my mother Mom nods with a smile as she hugs Liz and then she come to me and give a hug too, after that my sister and I said goodbye to our mother and we left together for the institute, we only had to cross a couple of blocks to get to the front doors of the school so we almost always arrived early around 8:30 am, my sister Liz was in the 3rd grade while I was in the 6th grade and we only saw each other at lunchtime when we had to go home. As we enter, we separated, while Liz go to her classroom I went to mine, I met my friends who I greeted and together with my classmates we waited until the teacher arrived in the classroom and began to give his class of the day, while the time passed. The hours passed and my classes with my teachers ended, so I said goodbye to my friends as I was about to meet Liz at the entrance of the school building. When I was out, I could see my sister chatting with her friends, when I was approaching to her I hear a loud thunder that stopped my walk, to which when I looked up at the sky I noticed that it was getting cloudy, it seems that soon a heavy rain will fall. "I think I owe Mom an apology about the weather news." I thought as I looked at the panorama in the sky. While I was watching how the day was turning, my sister left her friends and approached to me, when we got together we left the institute towards home, we tried to speed up the pace but we got distracted when we passed a small candy shop and bought some goodies for the road. When we got out of the shop the rain shows up so I took out the umbrella and we continued our way while listening to the lightnings, Liz then began to hum the song of her favorite show calling my attention. "I can't believe you still like that show." I told her as we walked. "And what if I like it? It has good stories." Liz replied while she ate her candy. "If a pony tv show for little girls has good stories, then let me be struck by lightning if it's true." I said skeptical, teasing Liz a bit about it. My little pony friendship is magic, it is strange that a show that was for a children's audience, mainly for girls, has been so successful. In general it never draw my attention to the contrary of my sister, she once force me to watch the first episodes but it never managed to catch me, not that I hate it either since I was more of watching anime, it just wasn't my thing. "Seriously Jim, you should give it a chance." Liz says with me. "I've already done it, but you see, I'm too much for that show." I said being somewhat arrogant while smiling. "Yeah, too dumb to understand it." Liz replies making me laugh with her answer. After saying this, we began to cross the street taking advantage of the fact that there were no cars nearby, but when we were halfway to the sidewalk a strange event stopped us suddenly that made our blood run cold, a lightning bolt had fallen right infront of us stopping our steps making Liz scream in fear. "Jim!" Liz exclaims clinging to me. "Is ok, it's fine!..." I exclaimed, surprised and nervous as I took Liz between my arms, from the surprise we had I threw the umbrella to the ground "It was only a thunder that fell infront of us, a coincidence in a thousand-" I was interrupted when another bolt of lightning struck behind us. "Jim what's happening?" Liz said, scared to death shaking as she hug me tight. "I don't know but don't get away from me." I said while holding my sister tight, I don't know what was happening but I won't let something happen to Liz. The thunders began to fall around us, when we moved slowly to the opposite side from where it had fallen, almost instantly another thunder fell in our path stopping us, it was too many coincidences, it was as if a strange supernatural force tried to harm us, for the most bizarre that it sounded, it was what seemed to be. It was there that I sensed it and instinctively held my sister tightly, positioning my body on her to protect her as a few seconds passed, a strong lightning fell on us without any escape. "Li...Lizzie." I thought about her until my mind went dark losing consciousness. I don't know how much time has passed but I was finally regaining consciousness, I have no idea what happened but apparently I survived that thunder. I felt strange, my body seemed to be lying on a cold surface, I thought that I should be in a hospital room being cared for, therefore I would expect to be on a comfortable gurney, not lying on a cold and hard surface. Then I tried to open my eyes and my vision was at first a little blurry, but after a few moments my vision cleared and I found myself in front of me with a starry night sky, I had never seen a night like this with such a clear sky. It was strange , I could see much better without my glasses on, something that I noted in my vision was some trees around me and I could hear the crickets chirping. I did not take too long to take the initiative to get up and it was a that moment when I noticed that something was wrong with me, the first thing that i noted was that when I sat down, my head rose to the branches of the trees, while I was still in that position. "What the hell...Ahhh!" I yelled in surprise when I saw my arm. My arm, it was no longer of a human, now it was an arm of great proportion, with a dark purple tone of skin that go to the end of my now abnormal fingers, I observed the rest of my body and noticed that now it was totally purple and a green stripe ran from my neck to my crotch, I could also see how now I was wearing some kind of allerquin collar with same color of my skin on my neck, even when I look down to my legs to my feet now they seemed more like paws. I cannot believe what was happening to me, then I saw around me in more detail and noticed that I was now near to a 'little' river when I hear the water current. When I start walking my steps rumble a little, it seems that I am not only big but I also have a heavy body, when I got closer to the river I crouched down, so I could see my face in the water's reflection, and I saw yellow eyes, huge ears and even 3 small horns sticking out of my forehead. "Cherubimon vice...how come I-" I tried to said but I stopped suddenly when I heard my voice, it was different and it sounded with a distorted creepy tone. Why I had become the infamous fallen angel of the digital world? I remembered it when I saw the Digimon frountier series, maybe this was just a dream which makes a lot of sense with what is happening to me, now I would probably be in the hospital being treated while I was living this dream. "If it must be that, I'm just dreaming that I am evil digimon and for sure when I wake up I will find myself in a hospital room with my family there with me and-" I said to myself to calm down but I stopped when I remembered a small but very important detail "LIZ!" I exclaimed worried. The very thought of my little sister gave me adrenaline and I quickly got up and start looking around for Liz. When I calm down a bit I let out a slight laugh, there is no way that Liz can be here in my dream with me, so I decide to sit on the floor for a while and ponder the dilemma of my subconscious and what should I do now. It was at that moment that I heard a loud scream that altered my senses, the sound was heard 5 meters at the east of my position. I don't know what was happening but since this was my dream I could do whatever I wanted and that scream caught my curiosity, so I got up from the ground and began to walk upright and slowly only so that my steps were not able to hear as I was walking in the direction from which that scream came. The closer I got the closer I could hear other sounds, growls and barks, were there dogs in this forest? Upon arriving at the site I moved the branch of a tree to be able to see better from my position, my eyes then found an incredible scene, there was a pack of 8 wolves made of wood and oak surrounding in a large rock with no escape a scared Salamon? Is there another digimon besides me? Well it's my dream, the truth is I shouldn't be surprise to see another digimon like me, but this situation...Isn't it too cliché? Judging by how the Salamon looked, he has been running away from these strange wolves for a while, I can see bruises and slight injuries on his body, he seems to have made a great effort in trying to avoid his pursuers. Then a thought come to my mind: 'Well it's my dream, why I shouldn't be the hero?' as I watch the wolves, even if they are made of wood, I don't think they can rival a being 4 times bigger than a bear. Determined, I made my way through the trees with my arms in front, separating them and thus knocking down a couple of trees to the ground with a little of my strenght as if was nothing, thus attracting the attention of the presents, the pack of the wood wolves looked at me including the little Salamon who now had stopped shaking and now was looking to me surprised and inherent. The wolves instead began to growl and bark at me in a threatening way as they began to surround me forgetting about their prey for that moment, it seems that I am not so intimidating enough for them, strangely I don't felt the least bit worried, despite the fact that they were a numerical majority against me, something told me that I could finish them all as if they were nothing to me. The wolves then, when they saw that I did not retreat or was unfazed by their threats, they took the initiative and 3 wolves attacked me from my left side, I in response moved my left arm and gave them a strong scourge in that direction and hit my attackers making them fall rolling against the ground. My attackers seeing this response from me and instead of retreating due to the disadvantage of physical strength, they continued with their attack, this time, 4 of them rushed against me directly attacking from the front, I decided to counter by leaning moving my right arm while forming a fist and I ended up hitting 3 of the wolves causing them to shoot out with the force of the impact, one of them collided with a tree. However the last wolf that managed to dodge my attack, jumped on my arm using it as support and jumped against my face, but I was more agile than the wolf and I caught it with my left arm with force and then threw him against a tree with such strenght that cracks formed in the wood of that tree. But when I was watching in the direction of the wolf that I just threw, I let my guard down for a few moments and the last remaining wolf managed to jump against me before I could get up and lunged attacking and biting my face. "How dare you!" I thought angrily as I growled. I moved my right arm and with my hand I captured the wolf that was biting me and I held it tightly while struggling in a futile attempt to get free, I nevertheless saw the captured wolf in my hand to which shortly after I began to apply more force and I listened to the cry of the creature as if it were begging for its life, to which in response a grimace appeared on my face seeing how its life escaped in my grip, to which I finally crushed it in my hand destroying the creature into pieces. I don't know why but what I had done felt very good, I had never felt like this in my life. The wolves that had gotten up, when they saw this did not think twice and retreating terrified from the place, they knew that the things would not end well if they continued fighting with me, leaving me and the Salamon alone. And talking about the little thing who I had saved from those strange wolves, when I turn back to him now he was in a fetal position on the ground covering his face, trembling with fear while sobbing, it seems that I did not make a good impression as his savior. I decided then to approach and extending my arm and caught the scared Salamon in my right palm and moving him closer to my face, I could see in more detail his body which had several bruises, it seemed to have a hard time fleeing from those wolves, it was there that when we saw face to face and he was looking me with an expression dead of fear. "Do-don't hurt me!" exclaimed the Salamon through tears, seeing me while trembling. Seeing me so close, the body of the Salamon reacted almost instantly by wetting my palm, I was a bit irritated by that but I remained serene, something that at least I could know is that the Salamon was not a he, but a she, her voice was of a slightly squeaky girl, I thought that the digimons were not ruled by gender, doesn't seems to be the case here, I still haven't confirm mine, I hope that Jim Jr hasn't abandoned me, after that thought Salamon began to beg while crying. "Please…someone save me…Mom, Dad…Jim!" exclaimed the Salamon continuing her crying covering her face with her arms. "What?!" I exclaimed surprised and shocked when I heard that last word, it couldn't be true but i have to ask. "Liz, is that you?" "Eh?" Said the Salamon, turning to see me. "H-how do you know my name?" she asked still scared. "Liz is me, Jim." I replied. "Jim? Is it really you?" Liz asked doubtfully, I don't blame her, which I brought her closer to my face. "I promised to mom, remember? That I wouldn't let that something bad happen to you, I said it this morning before we went to school, remember?" I said to Liz as her eyes begin to fill with more tears. "Jim!" Liz exclaims as she approaches to my face while spreading her arms and begins to hug me, her face sprouting with mine. "I was so scared!" Liz said crying while tears of my own began to flow out from my eyes. "Is ok, I'm here now, I won't let anything bad happen to you, okay?" I said trying to calm her down. After this reunion, Liz was inconsolable for more than an hour, she did not want to leave my side or even lower her to the ground, it was as if we had returned to the time when she was younger, so I decided to leave her to rest on my head between my horns, so after a walk we returned to the river from before, I needed to wash my right hand for obvious reasons. "Sorry for get your hand dirty Jim." Liz said embarrassed. "It's okay, it's not your fault." I replied saying this to make her feel better while I was scrubbing my hand in the water. "More importantly, are you okay? Do the blows you suffered still hurt?" I said worried. "They still hurt a bit and I'm very tired" Liz replies. "I'll see what I can do for you, by the way Liz, how did you end up being chased by those things from before?" I asked curious. "Well...when that lightning struck us, I woke up looking like this on a tree top, then I tried to go down but with these strange legs it was very difficult for me and I almost fell. When I got down to the ground I tried to see where I was, it was there that those timberwolves appeared and they chase me through the forest, then you appeared and saved me…thank you Jim." Liz said smiling. "Don't worry, what are older brothers for?" I said, laughing a little as i continued. "Did you say timberwolves? Is that their names? How do you know that?" ask curious. "They appear on the show of my little pony." Liz replied, getting me a little upset. "Wait, you said my little pony? You are not telling me that we are now in the world of that little girls show right?" I said trying to joke a bit. "Oh Jim, if we're in Equestria now, can we go to meet Twilight and the other ponies? please say yes please?" Liz said excitedly while rubbing my horns. "Oh please? Really?" I thought a little irritated about it. After this I have realized many things since I woke up, first that I was no longer human but a quite powerful dark digimon, then that I was able to meet my little sister again and that she was also a digimon like me. However, I hope that this is not the world of that little girls show that Liz likes, because something quite shocking that I discovered when I saved Liz from those strange wolves is that I felt a little pain when one of those critters bit me. It is assumed that in dreams you do not feel pain so it means that all of this is that we experienced is real, I don't know what Liz is thinking at this moment, but there's something that I am sure about: I will protect my sister, and I will not let that anything or anyone hurt a single hair of her...fur, not matter what it costs me or what could happen we will return to our home with our parents safe and sound.