Blackness. An empty void, as
inimitable to life as the surface of the Sun. It is impossible for there to be
life here, and yet, in an instant, a voice is heard. “Martyn, watch out… Oh
shiiiiiiiiiii!” There is a squeal of tires and a crash.
Two forms appear in the
blackness. Both appear to be human males in their late teens. One has short,
blond, curly hair and glasses. He is wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt, an
open blue checked shirt and grey trainers. The other has slicked back black
hair and glasses. He is wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt, an open red
shirt, black trainers and, on top of it all, a three quarter length black
leather coat.
“What the… Where are we? What
happened?” The black clad form asks.
The other form was slow to
respond. “I don’t… wait, that car. It must have hit us. But at the speed it was
going it would have… killed… us. Oh crud.”
“What?! Vince, are you trying to
tell me we’re dead? But I can’t be dead. I’m only nineteen. I’ve got so much
left to live for!”
“How do you think I feel? I was
so close to my twenty-first birthday. You do of course realise this is your
fault.”
“My fault, how can it be my
fault? It was the car driver that killed us.”
“Yes, but if you had bought that
extra round we would still be in the pub now and that car would have been
no-where near us. Then again, with a skinflint like you for a brother I never
had a chance.”
A voice cut through their
bickering. “Everyone has a chance Vincent. A careless driver ended yours. But
what most people don’t have is a second chance. And that is what we are
offering the two of you.”
The young man in blue,
previously identified as Vincent, spoke. “Who are you, and what do you mean a
second chance?”
“I represent a group of
interdimensional philanthropists who are in the position to offer you the
second chance I mentioned. It will not be easy to do, but there is a way we can
save you. Or, more accurately, for you to save yourselves.”
“What would we have to do?”
asked the other boy, Martyn.
“You both have very strong
potentials for power. We would ask you to harness that potential. You will work
to increase your powers and, once you are powerful enough, return yourselves to
your previous plane of existence.”
“And what if we chose not to
accept this second chance?”
The voice sighed sadly. “Then we
will release you to continue on to wherever you were going before we called
you. And hundreds of thousands of beings will lose one of their last hopes.”
“What do you mean thousands of
beings will lose their last hope?”
“Not their last hope, but we are
running out of time to save them. You see, to build up your powers, you would
need to practice them and to use them. There is a world that is suffering and
creatures there to save. You would build your powers whilst helping to free the
world.”
“What world is this?”
“Have you ever heard of the
realm of the creatures called Digimon, the Digital World?”
“Digimon? The Digiworld? You
have just gotta be yanking my chain!” Cried Vincent incredulously.
“I see you have heard of it. I
assume from your reaction that you are at least vaguely familiar with the
cartoon series known as Digimon? It may surprise you to learn that the Digital
World is in fact a real place. The information you have in your world was
released to you with the intention that it be used to educate the populous in
case of catastrophes where Digimon escape into your world or humans were called
on to aid the Digital World. Unfortunately those idiots at Toei animation got
their hands on the information and decided to turn a dire warning to the world
into a children’s anime. Now there is no way that we can be taken seriously by
most of the population of Earth. We are thus forced to rely on those who need
help themselves to aid us in the defence of the Digital World. Which is where
the two of you come in.”
“So you want us to help the
Digiworld and in return you’ll, what? Bring us back to life?”
“No, we do not have the power to
do that. But by aiding us you will increase your own essence, allowing
yourselves to develop the powers that would allow you to travel between planes
of existence, even back to your own. To help you on your quest we will provided
Digimon partners for you and entity partners as well. We will also give you as
much information as we can to help you along.”
“So we’d be digidestined then?”
Martyn inquired. “Cool. But what are entity partners?”
“When you first arrive in the
digital world your powers would be too small to even sustain your corporeal
form. So to start off with you would be linked with a digimon who would lend
you some of their power so that you can exist normally. Your partner digimon
would be unsuitable for the task, as their power level will fluctuate too much
as they digivolve and de-digivolve. We already have two volunteers for the
task. In-training digimon, but still with all the power you will need at the
start. They would, of course, need to be protected. The loss of either would
result in the loss of their partner. We need you to make your decision now. We
beg of you to help us. We are in dire need.”
Vincent appeared to be deep in
thought for a moment before brightening. “I’m already dead, so what have I got
to lose? I’ll take a second chance over a gaping unknown any day. Who knows,
this might even be fun.”
Martyn looked at Vincent for a
while before agreeing with him. “I’ve always had a problem disagreeing with my
brother when he gets excited about something. Count me in too.”
“Very well.” There was a flash
and the two brothers found themselves standing in a room full of technical
equipment. The source of the voice, a young man who seemed not that much older
than them, was walking towards them. He wore a light brown robe with dark brown
edging. His hair was cropped close to his head except where a single thin
ponytail fell down his back. “My name is Gennai, and welcome to my lab.”
