Location: Toy Town
Dimension: Digimon Adventure
The darkness of the night, mixed with the deep clouds moving overhead, made the town they were in barely visible. Based on what they could see, the five of them saw that the village was mostly intact. Many of the buildings were still standing tall, save for a few that had broken windows or that had roofs that were caved in. The darkness of night mixed with the toys all over the ground, broken and completely lifeless, made the environment just that much more eerie than it already was.
“Well, now what do we do?” asked Sailor Moon.
“I’m not sure,” said Sonic, panning his head to study the environment some more.
Before anyone else could say anything, the sound of a muffled yawn came from behind them. All of them looked to see that Twilight had let out a yawn, trying her best to cover it up with her hoof. When she finished, she saw that the others were staring at her. When she did, the lavender mare smiled nervously at them, her cheeks feeling slightly warm from embarrassment.
“Looks like we know what we should do,” said Sonic, offering a smile, “We should try and get some sleep.”
“So not a good idea,” said Kim, “We don’t know what’s out there waiting for us. Also, we don’t know when the ship will open the energy again. If it leaves without us, then we’re stuck here...wherever here is!”
Sonic tapped his chin with a finger, thinking about it for a moment. Then, he snapped his fingers and said, “One of us will keep watch.”
Kim raised an eyebrow at the hedgehog, as if to say “what are you, crazy?”
Sonic saw the gesture and rolled his eyes. Then, he said, “Very well, I’ll keep watch. The rest of you should try and get some rest while you can.”
“What about you?” asked Twilight as she trotted over to him, “How are you going to go all this time without any sleep?”
“I’ll be fine,” said the hedgehog, “I’ve gone days-on-end without sleep. One night isn’t going to kill me. Besides, that energy will open soon and we’ll be out of here before you know it. I’ll get plenty of rest when this is all over.”
“Very well,” said Kim, putting her hands on her hips, “Where should we bunk down for the night?”
They looked around at the abandoned town, trying to find somewhere they could rest for a while. Although many of the buildings were still intact, they were very skeptical about going inside of them; who knew what was hiding inside of them, waiting to spring out and attack them like the creatures in Heatherfield. Still, they needed to find somewhere they could lie down for a while.
“Looks like we don’t have much of a choice,” said Sonic as he looked at one of the buildings that was closest to him, “We should try and rest inside one of these buildings.”
“You know that’s not a good idea, right?” asked Kim in an annoyed tone.
“I’m very much aware of that,” he said in a flat tone, “But, like I said, we don’t have much of a choice. It’s either in one of these buildings or out here where we’ll be more exposed.”
Kim was about to make a rebuttal, but when she realized that he was right, she let out a sigh and made her way to one of the buildings, the others following close behind. When she got there, she saw that one of the doors was already broken off, leaving only the doorframe still standing. She poked her head inside as she looked around, making sure there was nothing in there.
The inside of the building was just as dark as it was outside of it. Only dark silhouettes were visible, making out what looked like a couch in the middle of the room. There were other things, like a table and a cabinet of some kind, but what she was more concerned about was the fact that there was no lights on in the room; anything could be lurking in the shadows waiting for them.
“I’ve got this,” said Twilight from behind her.
She made her way past the human to the middle of the room, trying her best not to step on anything along the way. Then, using what energy she had, she allowed her horn to glow with its maroon aura, creating a makeshift light for them to see. Aside from a little rubble on the ground, the room seemed to be pretty safe; at least no creatures were hiding in the room.
When they saw that the room was empty, the five of them entered the room and made their way to the center.
“Well, it looks pretty safe,” said Kim, “I guess we should try and get some rest here for now.”
Sonic nodded at them and made his way to the doorframe, leaning against it and facing the outside. The others huddled together in the center of the room, getting into any comfortable positions they could to get some rest. As they all got ready to get whatever sleep they could, Sailor Moon couldn’t help but look at the blue hedgehog, who stood in the doorway with his arms crossed and his back facing them. A part of her felt guilty that the rest of them were attempting to get sleep while he stayed awake and kept watch. However, she tried not to let it bother her too much and agreed with herself to attempt to get some sleep.
Sometime had passed, maybe about ten minutes, more or less, when the sound of low snoring could be heard; it was quite a surprise to see that Mew and Twilight had fallen asleep so easily, given their circumstances and all. Then again, the fact that they, out of all of them, had used up most of the energy they had to protect everyone made it perfectly logical and reasonable.
As Kim began nodding off, looking as if she was trying to fight her fatigue, Sailor Moon was still wide awake. Not only was she feeling guilty about Sonic being awake for all of them, but she was just too scared to fall asleep. So, deciding against her better instinct, she quietly got up and made her way to Sonic, making sure not to make any noise and disrupt the others.
As the school-girl approached, Sonic’s left ear twitched, causing him to turn his head to face her. When he saw that it was her, he turned his whole body to face her, his face expressing concern.
“You alright?” he asked softly.
“I’m fine, I guess,” Sailor Moon said, leaning against the other side of the doorframe.
“You should try and get some sleep,” Sonic suggested.
“I can’t. I’m too worried about all of this to sleep.” She gestured to the darkened town they were in.
Sonic nodded and said, “I know the feeling. Still, you should try and close your eyes for a while. Any form of sleep will help.”
The blonde girl sighed and said, “I really wish I could, but...I...I just can’t.”
Sonic shrugged his shoulders, deciding that arguing with her wasn’t getting them anywhere. He then focused his attention to the outside, panning his eyes back and forth for any signs of movement. However, his focus was interrupted when Sailor Moon asked him something.
“Sonic,” she said softly, “What do you think is happening?”
He looked at her and said, “I really wish I knew. None of this is making any sense.”
Thinking back to what Sonic had said earlier, and for lack of anything else better to say, Sailor Moon asked, “Do you really think that the five of us were chosen for something?”
The blue hedgehog tapped his chin with his finger and said, “It’s a theory. I mean, we all have something in common. We all have the responsibilities as heroes. Something tells me that it’s not just a coincidence.”
He looked out at the town again, sighed and said, “I think something big is happening, but the question is ‘what’ and ‘why’.”
A small breeze blew by, making a small, audible whistle in the air. When it hit them, they could feel that it was slightly chilly, causing them both to shiver a little. Sonic looked at Sailor Moon, who had her arms wrapped around herself to keep herself warm.
Offering a small smile, he asked, “Don’t you ever get cold dressed like that?”
The human turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised in bewilderment at his question.
He pointed to her bare legs and her short skirt and said, “Why don’t you where something besides...that...like leggings or something?”
She was about to make some sort of snide remark at him when the two of them were interrupted by the sound of a clank in the distance. It wasn’t the same metallic sound as before, but something different; it sounded as if one of the toys were picked up and dropped. Both of them on edge, they directed their attention down the road of the town, looking for the source of the noise. However, given the fact that it was dark, they couldn’t see where or what it was.
“Did you hear that?” she asked, looking down the road.
“Yes,” he said in a hushed tone. Then, he began making his way down the road, his head on a swivel.
“Where are you going?” she asked, trying to keep her voice down.
“I’m going to see what it is,” he explained.
“What about the others? Shouldn’t we wake them?”
“No. We’ll draw more attention if we all go. It’s best if I just went. You should stay down and keep an eye out.”
With that, he began making his way down the road again. However, he only took a few steps before he felt a hand grab his unscathed arm. He turned his head to see that Sailor Moon had stopped him in his tracks.
“I’m coming with you,” she said, trying to sound confident.
“No,” he argued, “It’d be best if...”
“Trust me,” she interrupted, “It’s better if I went with you; safety in numbers and all that.”
Nodding, Sonic signaled down the road with his thumb. Then, the two of them began making their way down the road, trying to remain hidden by sticking as close to the buildings as they possibly could. They had the advantage, since the sky was thick with a layer of clouds and because it was night, but they decided not to take any chances.
Several minutes went by when they reached a break in the road. They saw that it branched into two directions: left and straight. When they reached the crossroad, they looked at each other, unsure of which way to go. However, when they heard the clank again coming from their left, they nodded at each other and began heading left, avoiding the toys that were strewn across the ground.
As they continued down the road, their eyes on a swivel, they saw that the road was heading towards what looked like the main square of the town. It broke off into four directions and the tall building that stood out among the rest of them was in the center. To avoid any unwanted attention, they remained as close to the other buildings as possible, staying hidden in the shadows.
As they reached the main square, they stopped and listened for the sound again, hoping they’d find whatever it was that was making it. They ducked down in front of a building, keeping their eyes and ears open. Aside from the whistle of the breeze that blew by, they didn’t hear anything. They remained where they were for what felt like ten minutes, even though it was probably less than that, keeping an eye and ear out for the noise again. However, they heard nothing except the wind as well as the suppressed breathing from each other.
“Do you see anything?” Sailor Moon asked in a voice that was lower than the wind.
Sonic only shook his head in response. Then, he pointed to the road they came in on, gesturing that they should go back and regroup with the others. The blonde human nodded as the two of them stood up and began making their way to the ship. All the while, they kept quiet and hidden, hoping that they wouldn’t run into anything they didn’t want to.
“Do you think it’s those hopper-things again?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” he replied, taking each step he took carefully.
Soon, the two of them were back at the first crossroad they came across. Turning to their right, they continued to make their way towards the ship, keeping their breaths shallow and quiet.
“Should we inform the others?” asked Sailor Moon.
“I’m not sure,” Sonic said, “We’re not in any real danger. No need to cause a panic unless we’re absolutely sure we’re in trouble. As far as we know, one of the toys could have dropped from one of the buildings.”
When they saw the ship up ahead, both of their hearts began to ease down. If they kept hidden, they were confident that whatever was out there wasn’t going to attack them, if anything was out there.
“Okay, when we get back to the building, you go inside and stay hidden,” explained Sonic, “I’ll keep an eye out for anything that might try and...”
He didn’t even get to finish his sentence when the two of them saw something that froze them in their tracks. They’d like to say it was their minds playing tricks on them, causing them to see things that weren’t really there, but the sight of something crawling on the top of the ship proved them wrong.
A silhouette of a creature was all they saw on the top of the ship. The moment they saw it, the ducked down in the shadows, watching it slowly and quietly crawl on the top of the ship. Both their hearts began racing as the creature appeared to crawl off the ship and on the ground, looking at the side where the gaping hole was. Because of the darkness of the night, they couldn’t see exactly what it was or what it was doing.
Based on the silhouettes, they thought they could make out a tail of some kind, poking at the hole on the ship. If they didn’t know any better, they could have sworn that it was repairing it, fixing whatever damage could be fixed.
Sailor Moon had to hold her hands to her mouth, trying her best not to break down into tears, as the creature continued prodding the side of the ship with its apparent tail. Then, they watched as the silhouette quietly made its way to the front of it, using its tail to poke into the broken window of the ship.
Then, exactly what Sailor Moon tried so hard to avoid finally happened. As much as she tried to stifle her crying, he couldn’t help but let out a quick and audible breath, sniffling as she did so. When she did, the creature looked as if it turned to face them, hearing their presence. Its tail moved away from the ship and faced where they were. When it did, it appeared to open its tail at them, turning into what looked like a mini-satellite. Then, a blue beam shot out of it, much like the ship did when they first encountered it, scanning its surroundings. Eventually, the blue beam hit the two of them, staying on them for several seconds. Sonic and Sailor Moon didn’t move a muscle as the beam scanned them up and down.
Then, the beam disappeared and the creature appeared to be heading towards them, very soft and quiet clanks coming from underneath it. As quickly and quietly as they could, the two of them got up and began backing away, hoping they could avoid the creature coming at them. They tried putting as much distance as they could between them and the thing that slowly approached them, the noise coming from it making it much more terrifying than before.
All of a sudden, the clouds overhead must have broken for a moment, letting the light of the moon shine down on the town. It illuminated everything, not only exposing the two of them, but showing them exactly what they were looking at.
As the moon lit up the town, both of them gasped in horror at the sight of the creature, as it looked directly at them and continued approached them.