Mosaic†Splinter (Digimon AU)

This is gonna be the story I dump time into when on downtime between posts in my quests, I guess. It is mostly for fun, but not the random fun of my other thread. Having said that, I have no idea where I'll be going with this tale.

Besides the basic outline of events, all I have solidified is that it features a Digimon Alternate Universe and human can actually have a significant impact on conflicts beyond the dreaded "Chosen One" conundrum. So I guess think more Savers in that Karin-chan will be readily jumping into action as opposed to scaled-up Pokémon battles where she would just stay on the side and give orders. There will be times where the story is purposely silly, such as the scene transitions. That is subject to change, though.

Please forgive me if I butcher Digimon for you, as I tend to do with my fanfics. Otherwise, thanks for reading and enjoy the story. =ʌ=

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Mosaic†Splinter

Act I // Homeland
00 // Prologue

The moon and stars illuminated the night, raining their brilliance down upon a tranquil forest below. From the ground, no signs of light matched that radiance. Even so, from the tops of scattered hills, many glowing orbs floating just above the treeline enhanced the world’s natural beauty. One hill in particular allowed one to see both levels, from the pulsing fireflies to the twinkling stars. Within that islet of soft grass and moss, a small entity gazed at the scenery painted over the horizon.

Though it resembled a child, several features stood outside the norm. On the left side of her forehead, a small, upward-curving horn parted her plum-black bangs and kept the shimmering blue eye beneath it perfectly visible. As she smiled and kicked her legs, more qualities made her inhumanity apparent. A pointy fang lightly pressed against the skin of her lips, her feet possessed an almost black colour, as though permanently stained in pitch. The nails on her hands and feet were also both uncharacteristically sharp and her fingertips and toes looked to have been dipped in crimson, bright as fresh blood. For all those factors, she still appeared human. In fact, the lavender furisode, ultramarine obi, and traditional wooden geta carried a formal quality that only an intelligent being could appreciate.

Whether or not she was human, it did not change the fact that she was happily humming a tune and enjoying the view. That would only stop when her own song was interrupted by a much louder, persistent beeping sound. The one-horned entity ceased her pasttime to investigate the source. Beside her, resting on a small pile of leaves, was a device. Originally, it was monochrome; but now as its screen lit up with static, it had taken on a vibrant ultramarine where it was once grey and lavender where it was once silver. This was her most precious possession, Douji’s treasure. Not only because it matched the colour scheme of her dress, but also because it tied her to her destined one.

Douji halted her stargazing and reached over to take the device into her hands. Even though it showed only static, she could not look away. From the day she received it to the present, Douji had devoted her life to protecting it until its rightful owner would arrive. That was her only choice. No, even if there was another option, Douji knew she would still choose to do the exact same. The feeling, one that boiled up from deep inside from the day of her birth until now, had never been stronger. Where once it was a mystery, now Douji knew its name. Anticipation.

Holding the device to her chest, Douji once again looked up to the scene she had been enjoying before. It was no less beautiful, but despite that, it now felt inferior to the mystery that was the rightful owner. Douji’s mysterious future and the one that would serve as its catalyst. The possibilities were too exciting.

※※※※※

Name: Douji
Species: Warashimon
Level: Child
Attribute: Vaccine
HP: 300, MP: 500, OFF: 20, DEF: 30, SPD: 30, INT: 40
Attacks: Shadow Purge, Amazake Breath, Misty Light
「一人ぼっちじゃない！」// “I'm not lonely!”

※※※※※

Karin laughed, but it was a loud, biting laughter. It made sense, given the terrible execution of their insult. They were a pair of boys, roughly the same age as Karin herself, if not slightly older. It was hard to tell, given that even the “short” one was half-a-head taller and the other more than a full head over Karin. The days when Karin was the tallest kid in class ended a long time ago. Taller they may be, Karin felt no fear even as they flashed grimaces of fury. The only one feeling fear was the smaller boy behind them, who was slowly crawling away.

“You think you can just laugh us off?!” The taller of the duo shouted down.

“Yes, I do,” Karin answered.

Along with the immediate answer, Karin flashed a playful smirk. As a result, the taller boy’s grimace became a full scowl. Since it was exactly what she wanted, Karin’s lips widened that much more, teeth baring like a rabid hound. In stark contrast, the shorter, pudgy bully gradually lost his bark just a little. As expected, the boy broke a sweat and took a step back. With that, he raised a hand and casually tapped his ally on the bicep.

“Hey, Dimitri, let’s just back off,” the shorter bully said, “I’m low, but not low enough to fight a girl.”

The taller boy, Dimitri, still looked furious. Even so, he straightened his posture after a moment. Then came a sigh. Dimitri, followed by his accomplice, turned away from Karin and started to walk away. Dimitri looked back to Karin one last time, hissed something unintelligible through his teeth, and picked up the pace. Karin watched them leave, but her perky grin soon switched over to rage.

“Don’t walk away from me!”

Karin’s voice reached the ruffians and convinced them to turn back, but by the time they whipped around, Karin had already closed the distance. Before he could react, Karin’s left fist buried into his face. The satisfying pain of impact shot up her fist, but the sound of Dimitri’s nose breaking was the perfect painkiller. The stockier delinquent must have been in shock, because not only did Karin have time to reel back, but Dimitri fell down before his eyes properly bulged in fear. With the other boy hitting the ground as her cue, Karin pulled back her right foot and swiftly pivoted. The anger she felt was gone by now, her smirk once again jovial as her right fist crashed into the side of that chubby, defenseless cheek. Unlike his friend, the shorter bully actually managed to not fall at first, but a quick kick to the side of his knee dropped him down to the concrete below.

Once again, Karin laughed at the boys, taking in her handiwork for a moment. At the very least, both of them were bleeding, Dimitri from both nostrils and the other from the corner of his lip. In her amused state, Karin still managed to tilt her head over to the boy these ogres had been assailing. Despite the fact that she was his saviour, the boy jumped up and made a mad dash in the opposite direction.

Coward. You could have at least said thanks, Karin thought as the nameless wimp vanished around the corner. At least this will teach him not to use the shortcut without a little training.

As bitter as she was with the retreating quail, Karin’s mood did not completely sour. The taller bully appeared to be out cold, barely conscious by the look of him. The other one was just in pain, doing his damnedest to not cry.

Tsk, pathetic. No wonder they tried to walk away. I probably would too if I was that weak.

Karin’s momentary high faded at that point. All that was left was the slight pain in her hands. With a dismissive shake of her head, Karin returned to her bag and slung it over her shoulder. With hands in her pockets, she continued her trip down the narrow street. Luckily for her, no one important saw what just happened. In fact, given the crowd that usually uses this alleyway on their way to class, no one was going to say a thing, even if they did see.

No one really cares about what’s going on unless their directly involved. I can get away with anything here.

The brisk walk soon brought her to the school entrance, still a few minutes ahead of schedule. Thanks to the pitiful resistance, no time had been lost. In her eyes, that was a disappointment. It was always better if she arrived just in time. That way, she doesn’t have to sit around in her desk until the teacher shows up. There was another problem. In addition to waiting idly, there was the droning sound of gossip everywhere. For Karin, all of it was mindless babble. Normally, she would ignore everything, but today an annoying conversation caught her attention.

“You see her? The Shepherd Dog’s here early today.”

“That’s her? I thought she’d look deformed. That’s why you’d call someone a dog, right?”

“If you look at her the right way, it does kinda look like she has dog ears.”

“Even if she’s not ugly, the fact that he constantly talks to her pisses me off.”

“Ah, you mean—”

Karin burned her throat to drown out the sounds, which made a couple of boys give her a strange look. She never thought about it before, but that must also add to the “dog” image. It probably sounded like a growl to the rumour-mongers. That made a lot more sense, given her appearance definitely lacks canine quality.

Karin Malikov was certainly taller than most of the other girls. Unlike the miscellaneous sporty girls, it was more accurate to say she was about the height of the boys. There was nothing really “fearsome” about her height, as such. Her eyes drew more attention anyway, being the pronounced amber colour that betrayed her foreign lineage. Perhaps it was her hair, then? Karin certainly had nothing like a dog’s ears, given that her hair was actually a fairly straight. The black strands were kept neat, but a couple patches above her ears poked up stubbornly no matter how much she combed. Much to her instructors’ dismay, Karin possessed some metallic blue highlights in her hair. It was only slight strips nowadays, but earlier in the year, they were much larger. Instead of getting rid of it, she just reduced how much was actually blue until people stopped complaining.

If there were qualities that hammered home her delinquency, it was her choice of fashion. There was no uniform at her school, but there was an expectation that students would wear something professional. Karin has never once cared about that unwritten rule. While most people settled for khakis, chemises, and dress shoes, she preferred to wear more casual shirts and footwear. Even though her preferences for black slacks was more bearable, it was counterbalanced by her beloved rider jacket. That particular article hosted a number of zipper pockets, but its more unique feature was a pair of straps that could be—and often were—crossed over the front of her body. These apparently served to make it difficult for wind to blast it off, but she was several years too young to have a motorcycle license.

In the end, as far as Karin could tell, most of the worst criticism she overheard was just poorly-relayed rumour with the occasional tinge of jealousy. Little did they know, Karin had absolutely no interest in people.

The Shepherd Dog, huh?

Karin internally mused over the name, drowning out the white noise. Though she had mostly lost interest in what people thought about her, the reasoning behind the name had the slightest weight on her thoughts. The “Shepherd” part of the nickname came from her apparent ability to make anyone do what she wanted. Even she had doubts about the accuracy of that claim. As the incident along the shortcut showed, most people would probably turn around and leave her alone. Rather than do anything she said, they were more likely to dismiss and ignore her. Karin had no desire to correct the misconception, erroneous as the pigeons might be. No one, especially her fellow students, could ever understand the reason for her actions—at least that was how she saw things.

<And just what is it that they don’t get?>

Karin stopped walking, standing only a few short metres past the entrance. It was a momentary lapse, not long enough for anyone to really notice by the time she got moving once again. This was not the first time she heard a voice in her head, merely the latest. She listened carefully, waiting for the voice to speak. Just like the last time, Karin gave up halfway to her classroom. Today was this month’s “class hour,” so she had a much more immediate hassle to deal with than the possibility of schizophrenia.

What a useless interruption...

 

01 // The Ad Forest

Nearly a week has passed since Douji’s treasure “woke up.” While it was a moment of excitement, it was also the beginning of trouble. A looming oppression had grown with each passing day, but new dimension had been added. Distant sounds had begun to wake Douji, making it impossible to relax unless she fled the scene. The first time, a whole day went by; after running again, the sounds returned in the middle of the night; and now, the sound came after only six hours. In short, the Pursuer was gaining momentum. Curiosity got the better of her, so instead of retreating again, she floated up into a tree and watched for a chance to see what would appear. Eventually, a pair of glowing green eyes glimmered in the shadows. Then Douji saw what body they serving. Terror immediately sent her rushing in the opposite direction.

When she thought she had outpaced it, she dared to look back. Despite being forced to see the monster again, her decision was the correct one. Had she not looked, the hideous creature’s sudden leap would have not only gone unnoticed, but she would not have been able to evade the large spinning blade. That weapon, which cleaved a tree down the middle, would have ended everything. As a cloud of splinters and sawdust was thrown about, Douji fled for her life. From that moment, Douji made sure to move in erratic patterns to avoid another such attack. In her mind, Douji could only continue to hope that the one she needed would arrive soon.

※※※※※

Name: The Pursuer
Species: N/A
Level: N/A
Attribute: N/A

※※※※※

The end of class couldn’t have come sooner. Conclusion of the first-shift classes was nearly simultaneous with Karin’s textbook being closed. With speed that could only come from practice, Karin cleared away her things and escaped from the room. As she marched out the door, she gained the slightest bit of notoriety. She liked to think that it was because she was maturing a bit faster than the other girls, but in all realism, it was probably the fact that she was already ignoring the homeroom discussion. Good riddance to that nonsense.

Once out of the classroom, Karin proceeded to power down the hallway. Even though it was rapidly filling with students, Karin never bothered to politely weave through the crowd. Anyone that did not notice her and clear out of the way received a nudge to the left or right. Despite that forcefulness, no one ever bothered to protest. Whether this was out of courtesy or a result of her reputation did not matter. What did matter was that soon, Karin would be free of her prison. A voice called out to her just as she was about to reach the exit. Despite her hurry, Karin stopped and turned to see who might have dared to interrupt her. She already knew the answer. The familiar face used Karin’s patience to catch up, smiling like a fool the whole way. Karin told herself to just look away and keep going, but she knew there was probably no real way to avoid this particular pest.

“What a miracle! You actually turned around,” the boy said, still grinning.

Karin had no response, satisfied with only the spiteful glint in her eye. As she analyzed the idiotic character, passersby casually walked around them. After a few seconds, the boy must had realized Karin was not going to run away, so he finally started speaking again.

“So, you know who I am, right?”

“You’re the student council president for the middle school block, Viktor...Graudyn, I think?”

“Oh! So you do know my name. I’m impressed as always.”

“Why? Are you stupid or something?”

“I was just wondering if you ever bothered learning my name. You’ve always ignored me before.”

Tsk, Karin lost her patience and turned around. Just as she started to walk away, Viktor called out to her yet again. He actually sounded a little more serious this time, but Karin did not care anymore. Standing around was not a fun way to pass time, either. Even so, the boy followed her out to the courtyard and out to the front gate. The whole while, he continued to apologize.

“I know you just want to hurry home, but hear me out!”

Karin actually walked faster, trying to make it to the shortcut. If she could make it that far, he would probably give up. An honour student would never be caught in a place like that and maintain a reputation. Then again, the same could be said of talking to a trouble-maker like Karin. This was not even the first time Viktor has tried to talk her down. This is the first time he had enough guts to chase her out the gates, though.

<What harm is there in listening? You have nothing better to do.>

Karin stopped and immediately turned around, waiting for Viktor to catch up again. Why did I stop? Just because a voice in my head said so? Karin was surprised with herself, but the voice had a point this time. Impatient as she was, going back home would not be too fun, either. The Internet got cut recently, so at the very least she considered using the moment to think.

“Thanks for stopping again, Karin,” Viktor said.

Karin tapped her teeth together. Not Malikov? What are you up to?

“Are you going to listen this time?”

“Sure, I’ll give you a minute.”

“Great! Well, you may have heard in homeroom this morning that they want a uniform policy put in place. I’m actually trying to have more people approve—”

“I’m already against it. I don’t like uniforms. There’s a reason I picked this school.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. The whole academy’s going to install a uniform policy anyway. What I’m going to try and push for is to make uniforms voluntary.”

“What do I have to do with this? There’s about a thousand people you could have gone too first.”

“Well, I convinced a teacher to approve a petition, but I need a certain number of students...”

Karin looked up and over Viktor, to the school’s gaudy clock tower, watching time slowly pass. An unusual glare was reflecting from its surface today, one that Karin would have missed if she had not decided to look. The directed flash almost felt like a spotlight, but Karin soon lost interest and looked back to Viktor.

“...basically, though, I thought that if I could get you to sign it, then more people would take interest. You know, since you’re so popular.”

“Popular?”

“Yeah, there’s people who wanna be more like you. I shouldn’t condone it given my position, but I can’t really deny the facts.”

Karin had a hard time believing that she was popular by any stretch. Did he not notice that people are always bad mouthing her? Well, obviously not if this is what he thinks. Deciding that this was inane preaching, Karin once again turned away.

He’s just lying to get his point across.

<Is he really?>

Go away, I don’t feel like hearing anymore trash.

“Karin, are you going to tell me your answer later?” Viktor called out again, very obviously frustrated with her most recent retreat. “Hey, Karin!”

<Is it alright to leave?>

Karin bared her teeth. Of course it is! I’m not some obedient dog! If I had the choice, I wouldn’t even go to school and end up bothered by people like him.

<Are you sure?>

The persistent voice got to Karin just as she was nearing the turn leading to the backstreets. With a long, deep breath, Karin considered what the socially acceptable answer might be. It had been a long time since she did something like that. Not for lack of trying. No, her life situation just left her with a strong sense of nihilism. Karin closed her eyes, dissecting her thoughts carefully.

I’m just being selfish again. No, not selfish. Signing that paper benefits me, so that’s the selfish option. In that case, it’s probably “that,” isn’t it?

Karin spent a second trying to resolve her conflicted thoughts, but she managed to amuse herself enough that she smiled. She never noticed it, but she still turned around and started to open her eyes again. There was no point running away, so why not humour him?

“Fine, I’ll sign your—”

When her eyes opened, something was wrong. Nobody was there. More accurately, there was nothing there that should have been. The school was gone, the people were gone, and the open sky was gone. The sunlight was was still present, but it had been reduced to small beams of dim radiance. Around her there was only a thick forest, layered in a dense carpet of mist.

How did I get here? Karin asked herself, her eyes darting around to see the surroundings.

Nothing made sense as it is, but the more she looked around, the greater her confusion. Yes, there were trees, but on occasion, she saw weird things. AC power plugs were visible on some of the larger trees. Occasionally, the outer layer of tree bark had been scraped off, revealing metal plates and fiber-optic cables. Then there were the ads. Large monitors—if one would call solid holograms “monitors”—appeared and disappeared regularly, each time reflecting some sort of product. Many were meaningless, but some seemed to be outright parodies of the real world. These ranged from pills meant to “improve your radiance” to meal sets from “WcDonalds.” None of this was helpful, as there were no real landmarks to be seen.

Then there was the silence. With the exception of a faint buzzing sound coming from projectors, there was no actual sound. Not even the comforting sound of summer bugs. It was quiet enough that something peculiar stood out. Rattling chains. Following the sound, Karin immediately began to wonder if she finally lost her mind. Attached to her wrist was a purple bracelet, oddly reminiscent of a dog collar. Starting from the collar’s buckle and leading up to an identical collar around her neck was a long silver chain. A rapidly growing sense of discomfort struck a new high point after this discovery.

Is this some kind of sick joke?

Along with her confusion, Karin was now feeling a headache coming along. It was enough that she raised her hand to her head. The girl’s sense of self started crashing down immediately. There was something strange on her head. Examining it with her fingers, Karin was able to discover what it was due to past experiences with strays in her neighbourhood. Quickly, she checked the opposite side of her head to find the same thing.

You’ve got to be kidding me...

Karin tugged lightly on the two new body parts and made sure what she felt was real. To her dismay, they were real. Not just real, but they were the primary source of her hearing. A cursory check just a short ways down the side of her head also revealed that her normal ears were gone. The resulting shout was probably justified.

“What the hell is going on?!” Karin’s voice echoed loudly in the sea of trees. It was crystal clear to her. The sound even stung her new ears. Those signs made Karin come to an impossible conclusion. Calming down, she decided to confirm her suspicions aloud as a test, “These are... Dog’s ears?”

Her voice was clean and clear, but it took the tossing of small wood chips against the surrounding trees to fully convince Karin that the new ears were real. Not only that, they were pretty sharp. Despite the protests made by her common sense, Karin accepted the anomaly as truth. And yet, there was one more thing that plagued her mind. Very slowly, Karin reached back and felt around. Karin certainly did not want to find anything, but there it was. Not only ears, but a tail had sprouted from the base of her spine. It was hard to decide what was worse, the fact that she could just think about wagging it having instant results, or the fact that her trousers had morphed to allow the tail to move freely. Feeling even more dizzy, Karin sat next to a tree. All of these discoveries were somehow exhausting. Perhaps this was a form of culture shock?

Real dog ears or not, I’m still stuck in this forest, Karin thought once her identity crisis passed.

In time the confused girl checked the contents of her bookbag, finding only textbooks, notebooks, and school supplies. None of these things were of any use in the wilderness, except as firewood. Terrible situation aside, Karin smirked and laughed at the thought of burning her books for survival. Karin’s imaginings got her musing, I wonder if anyone would believe me?

With not even a schizophrenic voice to answer her, Karin placed her bag aside and groaned in uncertainty. Getting lost in a forest while hiking was one thing, this was completely different. It was more like being knocked out and kidnapped to the middle of nowhere. As possible as the kidnapping theory was, it did not matter unless there was proof. Moreover, how would kidnappers give someone fully-functional dog ears? Technology has gotten amazing, but was it that good?

Another idea popped up. Maybe it was the government? There were rumors that said the military was trying to create super soldiers with enhanced strength and abilities. Perhaps Karin was the latest in a series of experiments to give super-sensitive hearing to random middle-schoolers. It was also possible that Karin was in some kind of advanced virtual reality chamber, soon to be tested with some kind of unique training system. Karin started to laugh hysterically at the bizarre idea.

A mechanical sound then cut threw Karin’s ears. The unexpected noise made Karin freeze in place. The eerie buzzing was coming from roughly behind her tree. It was still pretty far away, but it was moving fast. Whatever the sound may have been, it was probably not good. Rather, it sounded outright horrible. Karin slowly stood and looked around the tree, trying to spot the source. The various monitors and mist was all she could see, but there was the disturbing feeling that—whatever it might be—it was heading her direction. Karin listened closely, identifying the sound as a spinning blade. As if to confirm her theory, the noise changed suddenly from static buzzing to violent slicing. Perhaps it was cutting through trees? That at least made more sense than the “$$500,000,000 discount on Blue Fries at Lenny’s” that rudely popped up in front of her face.

Karin’s next course of action was to retreat from the creepy whir. As she turned away, a small image caught her eye. She also noticed a faint rushing noise. It was like something was flying through the air, but it was almost untraceable even in her amazing new ears. Just for a moment, she considered investigating. That idea was shut down immediately.

No way, I’m not going to get nosy! That’s how you get killed by the crazy chainsaw murderer!

Honouring her speculation, Karin spun around and dashed through the trees. Expecting to have dog-like agility, Karin disappointed herself when her speed only showed minimal difference. There might actually be zero change since adrenaline was definitely a factor.

That’s inconvenient... What’s the point of giving me excellent hearing if you leave everything else the same!

Try as she might to stay focused, Karin nearly stumbled over a protruding root. When Karin managed to stopped herself without falling down, another slicing howl made her body tremble. Growing more fearful of the presence, Karin dashed once she regained her footing. For the time being, Karin could rely on her stamina. After minutes of nonstop running, the mist began to dissipate enough for Karin to avoid jutting roots. Just as her confidence in escape felt tangible, something smashed into her back. Karin slammed into the ground face-first, followed by a small girl. At least, Karin thought it was a girl at first.

Karin lifted off the forest floor, ignoring the pain in her face and the slight tearing in her eyes so she could get a better look at the one that crashed beside her. Unlike her, the new arrival had not taken well to her fall and looked like she was about to cry. The more her vision cleared, the more Karin realized something was wrong. Clothes aside, this “girl” not only had a horn on one side of her forehead, but her hands and feet both caught Karin’s attention. Pointed nails, red fingertips, blackened feet. Along with that damned horn, it was easy for Karin to label this girl as inhuman. Even calling her a girl might be too much.

Just as Karin was about to run, a loud beeping noise started to sting her ears. The source was apparently the horned girl, but even she looked surprised as she fished something out of her foreign-looking dress. There was no time to see what she was looking for, though. The buzzing sound appeared once more, but now it was much closer. Turning to look, Karin finally had a moment to see what had been causing all of those dreadful sounds. Karin’s heart leapt into her throat upon seeing the Pursuer.

It was not human, either, a fact made obvious by more than just its appearance. While it had weak-looking arms, the creature swung them upward to expose its buzzsaw of a weapon. The high-pitch droning and slicing sounds had been coming from this perversion of nature. Making it all to clear how lethal it was, the Pursuer brought the weapon down and sliced through the tree with astonishing speed. But was it a weapon? The spinning blade was attached to some sort of metal rod, but the ends of that rod were not being held. Instead, they were impaled through the monster’s hands. Its flesh was even merged somewhat with the weapon, as if its hands were never meant to be apart, unified for the purpose of welding that buzzsaw. The act of destroying the tree alone sent Karin into a state of primal dread and untold terror, but the fiend’s glowing green eyes further stimulated Karin’s flight reflex.

The rest of the Pursuer’s appearance barely registered in Karin’s psyche. Its body, just over two metres in height, was missing skin. The muscle making up its exterior was also a distinct brown-grey colour, very much like a steak. There was nothing delectable about this complexion, sadly. Most of its appearance was definitely that of a naked humanoid, but along with its lanky, elongated arms, that thing’s head was abnormal. Rather than a head, it was more like a nub. A thick neck rose from between the shoulders, but immediately terminated at what would be normal eye-height. That neck was in fact all this thing had for a head, and it split almost completely down the middle to form a large, ugly mouth full of steel-coloured teeth. Then, above that mouth, almost at the top of its stump-head, were those shining green eyes.
Not committing any time to deeper thought, Karin grabbed the horned girl and ran. Understandably, she had no intention of looking back to see that monstrosity.

“H-hey! Could you possibly be the one?!” The horned girl asked.

Karin did not bother to answer, especially since another tree had met its fate behind her.

“Are you...a human?!”

Again, Karin tried to ignore the questions. Why is she asking me this now? Did she forget that we’re being chased by a goddamn monster?!

“It’s jumping again! D-dodge!”

The horned girl forcefully adjusted her weight and pushed Karin away, causing her bookbag to fall off in the process. A moment later, the horned girl went soaring through the air as though she were flying. As Karin fell sideways, she had just the right angle to watch the miscreation jump forward and slice through the ground where she had been moments before. The buzzsaw cut through Karin’s bookbag, sending shredded paper into the air. Amazingly—or rather, horrifyingly—the creature did not lose its footing upon landing. Still running on adrenaline, Karin kicked off the ground and dashed away at full speed.

“Are you alright?”

Karin turned to see the horned girl once again, but this time she was flying through the air. Maybe this actually was a military experiment, after all. This little girl was not normal, but she was far more pleasant than the other creature. Conspiracies aside, Karin roughly nodded her head. Given the situation, Karin did not know of any way to end the chase. From what she could tell, the monster would not give up. It was possible that Karin would be killed here, unable to do anything more than run. Not wanting to accept death, Karin’s ban on thought ended and her mind started racing wildly.

Once again the Pursuer pounced, using its inertia to hurl the blade with incredible force. Thanks to her sharpened hearing, Karin was just able to evade the blade and, in turn, the beast itself. The little girl had also been missed, but was much more shaken up. Karin carefully examined the creature for a moment before making a rash decision. Thanks to its jump, her was crouching slightly, leaving its trunk at a lower elevation. That would be her target. Closing in on the humanoid monster, Karin summoned all her strength and kicked at its ribs. The freakish form responded accordingly, but was not considerably affected. The willpower built up until now ran dry in an instant.

Well, it was worth a try, Karin thought as she lost balance, falling against a tree.

The Pursuer quickly turned to face her, raising its arms. Just as Karin was bracing her final moments, the monster suddenly split it half horizontally, starting from where her kick had landed. A moment later, it disintegrated into a million glittering particles. Karin stared dumbfounded until every tiny point of light vanished. What the hell was that? There’s no way I could have done that with just a kick...

“You did it!”

From seemingly out of nowhere, the horned girl floated into Karin’s line of sight. The big smile she had gave Karin quite a nice view of her elongated cuspids, which made Karin instinctively poke at her own canines with her tongue. Much to her discomfort, she had them, too. They weren’t as pronounced as the small girl’s were. As she checked this change, the horned girl start speaking quickly, almost retelling the entire story of what just happened before slowing down.

“What kind of power was that? A human-only ability? Or maybe you’re something completely different?!”

Karin struck the girl’s head without thinking, causing her to whine in a loud voice.

“I didn’t do anything special. My kick barely fazed that thing, so someone else must have killed it.”

“H-hau... R-really?” The horned girl looked absolutely mystified at that possibility.

Despite Karin’s declaration, the girl just smiled and started going on and on about the so-called victory.

<Virus.>

Virus? Karin thought, confused by the appearance of her ever-present schizophrenia.

For a moment, she waited for clarification, but of course, nothing came. Still, the word Virus is conspicuous. Did the idea of a virtual world or simulation sink in that fast? It must have if her delusion was already coming up with strange ideas. Eventually, the horned girl bouncing around caused enough of a distraction for Karin to give her some attention. She definitely deserved some, given that her floating was in direct opposition to gravity.

“Who are you, anyway?” Karin asked.

The question finally shut the horned girl up. She then landed on the ground, corrected her posture, and gave a deep, formal bow.

“My name is Douji! Ah, but that’s just a name! I’m actually a Warashimon!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! It’s a pun! ‘Warashi’ and ‘Douji’ are just different readings of the same kanji!”

“What the hell is kanji?”

“Uhm, it’s the writing system of Japanese...”

Karin stared at her, but had no intention of pressing the issue further.

“Anyway, Douji, my name is Karin Malikov.”

Douji nodded and started examining Karin carefully, concluding with another big smile. With that, she kicked off the earth and started to float again. Karin was tempted to ask about that, but after deciding it would not help her, she put the question aside. There was one thought on Karin’s mind that stood out, enough that she decided to ask.

“When we met, you asked if I was the ‘one.’ What did you mean by that?”

The question caused Douji to start digging in her clothes again and taking out a sleek device, colored in shades of purple similar to her clothes. The screen of the portable mechanism was glowing brightly, reminding Karin of the clock tower from earlier.

“This started beeping when it got near you earlier, so it just has to belong to you!”

The small girl handed the phone-like appliance to Karin, who apprehensively accepted it. Karin could not help but wonder what the hell it was supposed to be.

“It’s known as a Limiter, according to its menu! I guess it’s something like...a maintenance device.”

“Maintenance for what?”

“Uhm... I don’t know. A lot of things happened, but when I hatched from my egg, it was just there!”

Karin did not ask about what Douji meant by “hatched from my egg” and tried to keep a straight face. Unfortunately, nothing of value came. Despite the original question, the story ended up turning into an oral biography about how Douji travelled the forest, searched villages, and came up with her name. Having lost her patience, Karin whacked the floating girl’s head. It was as decent an off-switch as any.

“O-ouch! That really hurts, Karin-chan!”

“I don’t know what that tic was, but I don’t like it,” Karin growled, “do you know anything about this...Limiter or not? I don’t like wasting my time.”

Douji paused and started to think deeply, but before Karin could properly treat her seriously, the entity shook her head. “Nope! Absolutely nothing!”

Karin again bashed Douji on the head, this time hard enough for her to hit the ground before starting to whine. As the poor creature cried about the violence, Karin sat on a fallen log and started poking around at the buttons on the device. It took little time for the term “ν-Axis Limiter.” At the very least, Douji was right about that.

Karin next wondered about Douji and what exactly she was supposed to be. The creature that was chasing them was a “Virus” and the object in her possession was called a “Limiter,” but what is she supposed to be?

“Douji, can you tell me what you are?”

The horned girl stopped crying immediately and looked over to Karin with a broad smile.

“Well, as I said before, Douji is my name. Warashimon is my species!”

“Warashimon? That’s a mouthful... A species of what? Are you an animal?”

“No! I’m not an animal! Warashimon is a species of Digimon,” Douji beamed.

“Digimon? So that’s a broader term for things that live here?”

“Correct! And before you ask, the world we live in is called the Digital World!”

The term Digital World brought to mind a secret military experiment once again. Does that mean she was taken by the government for some kind of depraved research program? The thought bothered Karin enough to check the Limiter for information. Digital World, Digimon, Digivice...

This is going to take some time to understand, Karin took a deep breath and asked Douji to tell her everything she knew. As impatient as she was, it was unlikely Karin would have anything better to do for a while. At the very least, Douji was quite happy to converse with Karin, her polar opposite on the introvert-extrovert axis.

 

02 // Destined One

The world was surreal to a startling degree. Tree fiber-optics underneath their bark, vine-mounted monitors displaying waves of pop-ads, and the unusual way the ground itself occasionally lit up were the most common. Yet if one just stares up for a moment, there is the comfort of a normal-looking canopy. It was dense and very little light got through, but it did get through. Karin, the rowdy girl she was, found the natural light almost comforting in small doses. Around the third time a voiced ad jumped into her line of sight, Karin finally gave up on deep contemplation.

Adding to the distaste of the past hour was the constant stream of chatter from a certain horned girl—or more technically, Digimon. Thankfully, even Douji had a limit, as she eventually ran out of things to say. Sadly, there was no information on that “virus.” In Douji’s own words, the monster “suddenly crawled out of the mist with eyes set on my dismemberment.” At the very least, Douji provided more information than the voice.

Up until now, the occasional talking in Karin’s head had been privately attributed to something like schizophrenia. It had never been a concern, though. In fact, at times Karin merely thought it to be her conscience. Now? It was starting to really seem like the voice was more than that. Virtual world aside, Karin had now even begun to consider the possibility that she might have gone completely crazy. It certainly did not help that the voice never responded to inquiry. It just popped up randomly and vanished just as quickly.

It definitely always knows when I’m pissed off. That’s one point in the “conscience” theory.

Karin chased away her thoughts long enough to hear soft humming. In the time Karin had taken to think, Douji had settled atop a large tree-monitor, kicking her feet playfully in the air. The tune she was humming was somehow familiar, but at the same time it obviously had creative alterations here and there. Karin tried to think about what the song might be, but nothing really came to mind. More accurately, Karin’s curiosity lost out to mild annoyance over the unnecessary noise.

“Douji, what can you tell me about humans? You’ve told me about the Digital World, but you have a disturbingly high opinion of me.”

“Of course I do! You defeated that abomination so easily!”

“And I’m telling you it wasn’t me. My kick had no effect.”

Douji pouted, “I think you’re just being modest. You should brag when you defeat something!”

“Answer my question before I whack you again.”

“F-fine. You see, humans are a legendary species with unimaginable power at their fingertips. Though they did not create the Digital World, they are no doubt the founders of its progenitor...”

Douji continued to speak, but most of what followed was just flowering. In short, there was very little substance to her knowledge of humanity. When asked to give the source of her opinion, the answer was not helpful. Aside from someone named “Jiji,” the source of this opinion seems to be commonplace among more civil Digimon.

“So let me see if I have this right,” Karin interrupted, “the Digital World is a world somewhere in cyberspace, but humans didn’t create it directly. Instead of being made of matter, it’s composed of data instead. That’s what I got out of your mindless babble.”

“Correct! From what I hear, it should be about the same size as the Analogue World—er, Analogue World is what we call the world where humans live,” Douji said with a giggle.

Karin was not a scientist, but she felt that all of this must have some fairly interesting explanation. Assuming none of this was a delusion, it could break the foundation of physics. It was not long ago that there was a heated discussion during a class about alternate universes. Going by those rules, the Digital World might just be a separate reality defined by mass and information instead of space and time. That was all just meaningless conjecture on Karin’s part, but not enough to actually discuss it with Douji.

“It’s simple deduction, but would you say Digimon are the animals of the Digital World?” Karin asked.

“Close enough, I guess. We do have fish and plants, so I wouldn’t say we’re just animals. Er, but some Digimon really are just animals...”

“What would you say makes you different, then?”

“I’d say it’s the ability to evolve,” Karin’s new dog ears perked with interest when Douji brought up the term, “with time, Digimon will gradually grow from one level to the next. I’m currently a Child, but eventually, I’ll mature enough to become an Adult-level Digimon. When that happens, I’ll be considerably more powerful! And assuming I train hard, I might even achieve the Perfect level!”

Karin had a specific definition of evolution, one that greatly differed from Douji’s Digital Evolution. Even so, that simple description and the flowery explanation of each level. She even mixed in a brief summary of the life cycle of Digimon. Born from eggs called Digitama—this time short for Digital Tamago, “tamago” meaning “egg”—Digimon will grow through two levels as Baby Digimon before reaching the Child level. It stops being simple from that point on, apparently.

“...so while it’s generally considered that Digimon will become Adults if they aren’t killed, becoming Perfect is not guaranteed. We could even die of old age before ever reaching that point. That won’t be me, though! With a human partner, I’m sure to get that far!”

“As intuitive as your digital evolution is,” Karin started, “that leaves some issues for me.”

“Does it?”

“You mentioned that Digimon possess extreme strength as they progress. Manipulation of the elements, flight, and so forth. I don’t know why Digimon think humans are so strong, but I don’t stand a fighting chance if we come across something as mundane as a Digimon that can spew fire.”

“There you go again being modest,” Douji said dismissively.

Karin wished to herself that she was being modest, but something about this situation was physically draining. In an attempt to clear her head once again, Karin backtracked to the place where her school supplies had been the moment that buzzsaw monster cruelly destroyed them.

The bag itself had been sliced right up the middle. Of the textbooks, only the small grammar book was intact. Notebooks faced the same problem, but a small, unused notepad remained in perfect condition. Probably due to bad luck, nearly all of her school tools and supplies were ruined—rulers, protractor, and even Karin’s favourite calculator. Oddly enough, all of the pencils, erasers, and pens survived the attack. Another survivor was an old sharpener that had been in the family since her great-grandfather.

I wonder if that thing is a good luck charm or something? Karin mused to herself as she picked up the larger half of the bag and put away what could be salvaged. Damaged as it was, the bag could at least be used. She even decided to save the grammar book, useless as it was in this situation.

As she finished collecting her things, Karin remembered her ears. For a moment, she examined her doggy ears and tail. During her touches, pokes, and rubbing, Karin discovered just how ticklishly sensitive her ears were and how the act of touching her tail near the base caused it to twitch all on its own. Adding to this strange situation was the fact that her human ears were no longer present. All her hearing was now done through this completely different pair of ears. When she finally got those urges out of her system, Karin posed a new question.

“Do you know how I ended up with these ears and tail?”

“Eh?” Douji tilted her head, “don’t all humans have ears and a tail?”

“Of course not! These are dog’s ears! Human ears are more like yours. At least they’re supposed to be.”

Douji raised her small hands to her own ears, but never really groped at them like Karin did hers. After all, Douji had seen her reflection enough times to know what her ears looked like. The little Digimon smiled down at Karin.

“If those ears aren’t yours, then you must have been given a unique power when you came to the Digital World!”

Karin was not a fan of Douji’s smile, enough to contemplate throwing something at her. Simplistic as the answer might be, it is a fact that the new body parts only showed up after she arrived in this world. Not just those, but her collar, its chain, and the bracelet that went with them came out of nowhere. For just a moment, the possibility that this might be some sort of “self-image” she had of herself popped into Karin’s mind. As that explanation was not palatable, she pretended that it never existed.

No, Karin thought, this has to be something that someone else did to me. The Shepherd Dog. People have been calling me stuff like that since elementary school. Come to think of it, the ears are in the same place where my hair tends to be hard to comb down, so maybe...

Reaching into her jacket’s inner pocket, Karin pulled out the device from before. The Limiter. Devices that only worked with certain users, such as phones and laptops, were commonplace. If Douji was to be believed and that this device is programmed to respond to her, who went through the trouble to make it hers?

“Douji, why did the Limiter react to me? You mentioned something about a human partner, but what does it all mean? Why was I the one?”

“That’s a big question, Karin-chan! I don’t really know the details, but I’m sure that the owner of the Limiter is my destined one.”

“And what do you mean by Destined One?”

“The Destined One is my absolution. We’re connected on a deep level. Among all humans, you’re the one who can awaken my potential! ...or something.”

“You mean reaching the Perfect level?”

“Well, no. All Digimon can become Perfect, so it’s something deeper. On a fundamental level, I need you,” Douji smiled brightly, not realizing just how sappy what she was saying really was.

For just a moment, Karin thought about her situation. Destiny was an absurd, abstract concept. In fact, calling it a foolish idea is too kind. In reality, destiny is something that Karin would never take seriously. Yet in the Digital World, a place that no doubt runs on different rules, it could very well be a physical thing. Even if it was nothing of the sort, the term “Destined One” could have actual meaning. Douji’s evolution aside, the use for something like a Destined One felt somewhat obvious. Power.

What do I do from here? Will fulfilling the role of a Destined One send me home? If not, then what? If the opportunity to return came, would it be worth taking it? Humans are weak, but in the Digital World, there are beings as strong as that...thing. If I think of it that way, the pursuit of power makes sense.

“Douji, thanks for answering my questions.”

“You’re welcome!”

Karin returned her attention to her bag. Taking a seat against a tree, she removed her notepad and a red pen. Not wasting any time, Karin promptly filled half of the first page with blood-coloured writing. Once she was done, Karin closed the notepad and put it and the pen away.

“Douji, where do you think we should go?”

“Well, I had no particular destination in mind, but I was planning on visiting the mountain.”

“Where is that?”

“It should be to the north...but I lost track of my direction thanks to the chase.”

“Just a direction is fine,” Karin said, once again taking out the Limiter.

Douji’s face was perplexed, but as Karin readied the Limiter’s built-in compass, she realized what was going on. Turning around to see nothing by forest, Karin started leading the way toward this mysterious mountain. Karin had no obligations to fulfill, but regardless of what job she had been given, there was little to do but try and find answers. The less she thinks about her “destiny,” the better.