Lost?, ~Open to Whoever~

[Alex]

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Alex asked for what had to have been the tenth time that day. He and Lunamon had been walking all day—well, he had been walking; Lunamon had decided that Alex’s shoulder made a comfortable perch after the first hour—but despite that they were really no closer to anything. As she always did when Alex asked that question, the rabbit Digimon simply nodded.

“Yes, Alexander,” she repeated, “this is the right way. Just keep walking and we’ll find the city. Or at least we’ll be out of the forest.” That last part was new.

“For one, I already asked you not to call me that, and for two, that only means that you have no idea where we’re going.” Lunamon’s ears wilted slightly, but before she could make another comment, the human continued. “I’m going to pick where we go for now, okay?” Surprisingly, Alex’s companion nodded, as if he had to ask permission from her! Still, she was much better than anything he had dealt with back home.

“That way,” the boy said, pointing in a random direction and moving that way. There was no official trail, but the undergrowth was much sparser than it was elsewhere; people had definitely walked upon it recently. “I have a good feeling about that way.”

[Takashi]

Takashi walked aimlessly through the oversized forest he had called home for the past few days. Nothing - absolutely nothing - could have prepared him for his sudden transfer from his home to this other world. Sure, he had wanted to talk to more of the creatures from the computer, but he had never expected there to be an entire world of them. Moreover, he had never expected to actually be pulled into that world. Now he was scrambling around the forest, trying his hardest to find the city he had thoughtlessly left days before, while a certain dog-like creature dozed on his shoulders peacefully.

"Terriermon, I know you're not so lazy that you're just gonna keep riding on my shoulders until we find the Digital City again," Takashi grunted, shifting his shoulders in an attempt to make things uncomfortable for the Digimon. "There's no way that I'm going to let you ride on my shoulders for the rest of the way."

"Mhmm..." The Digimon's reply hardly seemed like any reply a person who was listening would give, prompting Takashi's eyebrows to furrow in annoyance.

"You know, I might just have to push you off my shoulders in a minu- Hey!" The blue haired boy abruptly stopped on the rough path he had once been walking, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "There's someone else here..."

As if signaled by a bell, Terriermon's large ears perked up, and he climbed on top of Takashi's head in order to get a look. "You're right, Takashi! There is someone else there!"

"Shh!!!"

Takashi clapped his hand over Terriermon's mouth to keep him from shouting anymore, but he doubted the act helped much. If the person walking just a bit ahead of them hadn't heard them by now, then he'd have to thank God later on.

[Alex]

Though Alex refused to admit it, the path he had chosen was little better than his companion’s. Oh, sure, the underbrush was thin to begin with, but whatever trail it signaled died out after a mere hundred paces, turning to thick piles of thorns and nettles. Lunamon demanded he go through it—“You’re the leader now,” she had said dryly, “accept the consequences of your actions!”—but he was hardly stupid enough to do that.

Retracing his steps, the boy was content to silence until Lunamon suddenly stood on his shoulders, her ears twitching off towards the distance. She was very much like a rabbit in both appearance and attitude, Alex had learned; her ears told her mood as reliably as her face. Perked up meant that she was either interested in something, nervous, or straining to hear. Perhaps all three.

“Don’t panic,” she said soothingly, as if the boy were some animal that would dart wildly at a sudden noise, “but we aren’t alone in here.” Alex was about to ask her to clarify before he realized that the Digimon was patting his head; he would have to have a firm talking to with her about roles if they were to remain a team. “At least two; someone yelling like that in the first place wouldn’t have the sense to shut up suddenly.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” she muttered, slapping Alex in the back of the head, “go introduce yourself. And make noise; we don’t want them to think we’re trying to take them by surprise.” The human opened his mouth to argue before he realized that his partner made a great deal of sense. Perhaps she expected to be obeyed because she was in the right so often. Yes, that seemed to be a good reason.

“Um, yeah,” Alex said loudly, walking slowly towards the direction Lunamon pointed in, “are you people, er…are you Digimon any less lost than we are?” That seemed like it appeased the rabbit-like figure on his shoulder; she nodded approvingly at his words, pushing him on. “Please don’t eat me,” he added, hopefully too low for the new people—or whatever they were—to have heard. Most of the creatures he had seen seemed to have wanted to.

[Takashi]

Takashi's raised an eyebrow at the curious behavior the two strangers displayed. True, earlier he had feared that the strangers would turn out to be violent Digimon ready to kill him and Terriermon without a second's hesitation, but now he was sure that the two were of no threat to him. Why should he be afraid of them, anyway? He almost couldn't help but laugh at the fact that the boy's Digimon seemed to be taming the tamer instead of the tamer taming the Digimon.

"Takashi! Don't be rude!" Terriermon slapped Takashi lightly on the back of the head, taking the boy away from his thoughts. "Shouldn't we warn them about how we'll devour their entire beings if they don't escape from us right away?!"

Takashi rolled his eyes at Terriermon's attempt at trying to be funny, something he was sure the two strangers didn't appreciate in a dangerous place like this. "Don't try to freak them out, Terriermon," his attention suddenly darted to the two strangers, "Sorry about that. Sometimes Terriermon can be a bit of a pest."

"Hey!"

"Well you can!" Takashi retorted, grabbing Terriermon's ears softly and placing the Digimon on the ground beside him. Terriermon snubbed his nose at Takashi because of the act, though the boy ignored him. "Really, I'm sorry that he can act this way..." Takashi bowed humbly to the two strangers as an act of apology. "I hate to say it, but the two of us have been lost in this forest for a few days now. I was kind of hoping that you would know the way out..."

[Alex]

Alex hesitated a bit when he heard that the pair he was approaching would devour Lunamon and himself whole, but at the human’s dismissal—well, that and Lunamon’s reproachful sniff—he carried on. Alex arched an interested brow when he saw the second human remove his Digimon—another rabbit-like creature, this one green—from his shoulder, but a firm look from his own told him that a similar movement of his own wouldn’t be in his best interest.

Alex listened to the pair’s tale with vested interest, Lunamon with cool indifference; she knew where they were going, or so she thought. With the story over, Alex imitated the bow he received, taking the chance to ‘accidentally’ knock his Digimon off her perch. She gave a little yelp, but beyond that, it seemed that she had managed to land just fine. Alex grinned a bit as he straightened himself and received an odd look from the girl, the closest thing to a pout she had made since their meeting. Her ears were raised in indignation now; when she got back on his shoulder, there were going to be tough times for him.

“I wish that I did,” Alex replied to the stranger’s hopes, “but I don’t. She says she does, though,” he added, gesturing to Lunamon, who now looked that she was standing on the ground of her own free will. “I was sort of hoping for the same thing, actually. Maybe we should—”

“Oh, yes, Alexander, go reveal our entire position to someone whose trustworthiness is questionable at best!” the white, rabbit-like Digimon yelled at Alex’s side, arms crossed and ears still angrily perked. “If these people are evil, you just tossed away a potential advantage! You really should…”

The Digimon’s tirade continued, but Alex only sighed. He raised his hands out to the stranger apologetically, shaking his head slightly.

“She gets like this sometimes,” Alex explained, voice raised over Lunamon’s continued ranting. “Ignoring her usually works. I’m Alex,” he ended with, extending his hand to his fellow human in greeting. Quite the first impression he was making…

[Takashi]

Takashi stared at the hand for a few seconds, before realizing just what it was the other boy - Alex - wanted him to do with it. He quickly took the other boy's hand in his own, shook it lightly, and then just as quickly released it. Unlike bowing when one first met someone, the custom of shaking another's hand wasn't very common in Japan. Still, since Alex had made the effort to bow after he had, it would've been rude not to shake Alex's hand.

"That's all right," the light-blue haired boy replied, referring to Lunamon's behavior, "Terriermon can be the same way sometimes. Maybe even a little ruder, too."

"Hey!" Terriermon once again yelled out angrily at his tamer, only this time while he jumped back on Takashi's head. "And who was the one who attacked all those Baby Digimon in the Digital City? Hmm?"

"That wasn't my fault!" Takashi suddenly became defensive. "I had just been sucked into a strange world, and then random creatures started jumping on me! What else would I have done? It's not like I knew Digimon were real, unlike you knowing humans are real."

The Terrier-like Digimon wagged one of his small black claws at his partner. "Excuses, excuses. You used to play the Digimon game when you were little, so you should've at least known that they were Baby Digimon."

Takashi rolled his eyes and ignored Terriermon - once he thought he had proven a point, there was no arguing with him. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever... Oh!" Takashi returned his attention back to Alex. "How rude of me! I completely forgot to introduce myself! I'm Takashi...and he's Terriermon, and we were both trying to find out way back to the Digital City..."

"And since we don't know how to get there and you don't know how to get there, he was hoping you would join up with us," Terriermon interrupted, though accurately saying what Takashi had been about to say. "Since it's better to travel in bigger numbers."

[Alex]

Alex nodded as Takashi and his partner, Terriermon, gave their little explanation of their situation. At least they were trying to go back to the city, unlike Lunamon and himself, who were just trying to find their way there in the first place. The small, rabbit-like Digimon—the white one, Alex noted, since Terriermon was a rabbit as well, apparently—was still off on her tirade, but Alex stopped her as he bent down and patted her on the head.

“I’d like to join you,” Alex said honestly, looking up at his fellow human, “but if she doesn’t want to, I don’t think I could live with her yelling all the way.” Lunamon looked scandalized, which caused Alex to laugh at the sight of it; she usually kept a much tighter rein on her emotions than this. “So, what do you say?”

“Well, Alexander, I say that you’re not going to survive for five minutes if I don’t help you out, so I suppose I’m obligated to come with you.” She had managed to admit that he was right without outright saying it; would wonders never cease? “Now let me back up on your shoulder and let’s be off.”

“Fine,” Alex allowed, picking up the female Digimon onto his shoulders. “So, you two ready to be off?” he asked, turning his sight towards Takashi and Terriermon. “I’m a bit hungry, and I’m sure there’s food in the city…”

[Takashi]

"Yeah, Terriermon and I are ready, aren't we, Terriermon?" Takashi averted attention away from the other human long enough to get a quick glance at the Digimon perched on his head.

"Ready as ever," Terriermon replied, though with a little chagrin. He then added in a whisper: "I don't know if I'll be able to stand being around her for the rest of our journey, though."

Takashi laughed halfheartedly, hoping to God that Lunamon hadn't heard what Terriermon had said. Who knows what she might have done if she did hear him? After all, she was already reluctant enough to join with him and Terriermon. "The food I had in Digital City before we got lost in this forest was actually pretty good." There - he hoped that changing the subject to food would be enough to keep any confrontations between the two Digimon.

A rustle in the shrubbery around them stopped further conversation. Normally, rustling wouldn't have been much to worry about, but the fact that Terriermon's large ears perked up at the sound worried Takashi.

"There's a Digimon coming," Terriermon stated a moment later, "smells like poultry, too."

"Poultry?" Takashi questioned.

His answer had no need to be answered before a white chicken, about the size of an adult human, rushed onto the trail. The bird peered at the two children and Digimon will red, menacing eyes, and then opened its beaked mouth. "CATRA! Give me all your things, now! Hurry! GIVE, GIVE, GIVE!!!"

"A Cockatrimon," Terriermon informed nonchalantly. "He's an Adult level Digimon, with an attack capable of turning his foes into stone. We might want to be a little careful..."

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Notes:

Cockatrimon = Kokatorimon
Adult = Champion

[Alex]

Alex was taken aback by the sudden presence of this…what had Takashi called it? A Cockatrimon? He had received a few such threats, but they were all from small things, creatures that fled as soon as they saw that he had a Digimon of his own with him. But this one…The name of the creature gave away the information his human companion’s Digimon said aloud, that the Adult level creature could turn its foes to stone. Not a pleasant fate.

“Heh, I don’t have anything I could give it anyway,” Alex noted nonchalantly as he took Lunamon off his shoulder. “What do you think? Do we fight or flee?” His own Digimon seemed to be upset that her counsel wasn’t taken immediately, and so as not to upset her further, Alex knelt down to eye level with her, keeping his eyes more on the Cockatrimon. “Yours, of course,” he lied, “is the only advice I’d ever think of taking.” It seemed to satisfy her.

“It depends on if these two are fighting with us, of course,” she replied calmly, looking up at Takashi and Terriermon. “I’d rather not flee if we’re being honest, but I have no fool notions of ‘honor’ to keep me in a fight I’d lose. I’m usually more of a commander than a grunt, anyway…”

“And you two?” Alex asked, turning to his other, friendlier companions. “Fight or flee?”

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Notes:

Yes, Cockatrimon makes much more sense as a name.

[Takashi]

Surprisingly, Terriermon needed no urging from his tamer to take part in the fight against Cockatrimon. "If we flee, then we'll probably just get turned to stone my his Petrify attack, so I'm gonna fight! A little fighting never hurt anyone, anyway! ...Well...maybe not the one who wins at least."

"That's the spirit, Terriermon!" Takashi cheered, beyond astonished that the usually lazy Digimon had willingly agreed to take part in a battle. "The two of you, with our support, can easily take on this oversized white chicken!" The boy turned his attention to the female rabbit-like Digimon. "Well, there's your answer. Terriermon and I are in. If that's good enough for you, then let's go!"

Meanwhile, an irritated Cockatrimon scratched impatiently at the heavily grassed ground with his clawed feet. It was easy to see that the Digimon had tired of listening to their babble, and was ready for the fight to begin. "KATRA! Feather Cutter!!!" The feathers on his arms stretching out a bit larger and sharpening like a knife, Cockatrimon rushed at the four others at full speed.

"Here he comes!"

[Alex]

To be honest, Alex was very scared of the rampaging chicken lunging towards him, but what mattered was that he didn’t let his fear rule him. Oh no. The boy very bravely dove into a nearby bush, quite surprised to see Lunamon already there, calmly assessing the situation.

“Shouldn’t you be doing something?” he asked the petite Digimon with quick, hushed words. Lunamon merely gave him a smile before that thing on her head—she called it her antenna, once—started to glow with an eerie blue light. “Ah, you are doing something,” Alex said with a nod. Cockatrimon was over somewhere else, hopefully not mauling Takashi and Terriermon, but more importantly he left his back open to attack from the pair’s hiding spot.

“Tear Shoot!” Lunamon yelled once her antenna was glowing powerfully, Cockatrimon turning around suddenly. Alex was very surprised when, instead of some all-powerful beam of destructive energy, Lunamon merely shot out a ball of water, maybe the size of Alex’s head. What surprised the human even more was that the graceful little water ball apparently had some great effect on its target. Cockatrimon looked like he was injured a bit, at least.

And then he charged.

“Retreat!” Alex yelled, his voice kept low for his partner’s ears only. Picking up his rabbit-like Digimon, Alex leapt into the next closest bush, hoping that the massive bird he was fighting was too stupid to have noticed. “You’re not a very good strategist,” he told Lunamon dryly, looking over the top of his cover cautiously.

“Of course I am, Alexander!” she retorted simply, her antenna glowing blue once more. “Just you wait and see!”

[Takashi]

Takashi found himself backing up against a tree as Cockatrimon closed in on him. Terriermon had proved himself to be less than useful, and, instead of acting in courage liked Takashi had hoped he would, had ran off in the bushes like a scared little dog. Now here he was: a tamer with a Digimon who wouldn't even protect his partner. How messed up was that? The Cockatrimon held out its sharpened wings menacingly at Takashi, inching closer and closer to his neck. The boy could feel the embrace of death, and then...

"Tear Shoot!"

Immediately following the cry was a small water ball that seemingly had no punch to it. Upon impact, however, and Takashi was thanking God that the attack was enough to avert Cockatrimon's attention away from him and to the attacker. What was even more beneficial to the boy was that the chicken-like Digimon was now rushing at Lunamon and Alex. His life had been saved, no thanks to Terriermon.

"Takashi are you OK?" Terriermon's familiar head suddenly poked out of a patch of bushes, much to the annoyance of his tamer. "I thought for sure that you'd be a goner."

"And I would've been if not for Lunamon!" Takashi hissed. "What in the world were you doing?! Can't you see that I was almost made into chicken feed!?"

"Calm down, calm down," the voice of concern that the dog Digimon had shown before had now completely disappeared. "I wasn't just hiding in the bushes... I was fully prepared to attack that oversized chicken at any moment. My plan was to get him in the back where he's more vulnerable. Too bad Lunamon attacked him before I did, though."

By now, the color in Takashi's face had changed entirely from its normal color to red with anger. He raised his index finger threateningly at his partner but stopped abruptly when the familiar sound of Cockatrimon's annoying screech rang in his ears. Now that Alex and Lunamon had gone into hiding, Cockatrimon was once again charging at Takashi and Terriermon in a full frontal attack.

"You better not-"

"Blazing Fire!!!"

Instead of going into hiding, Terriermon stayed right where he was and sent a series of green energy blasts from his mouth. Takashi sighed in relief - he was glad Terriermon was being reliable now, even though he was unreliable most of the time.

[Draik Tempest]

Walking into the forest with a bandage covering his arm because of his fight with Evilmon, Draik looked around. Ryoumon walked behind him, still in his Child form, holding his spear at ready in case they ran into something nasty. Taking out his D-mote, Draik turned on the compass function he'd figured out about back in the real world, and started walking due East, hoping to just run into something, or someone who would be helpful to him.

Ryou suddenly grabbed his pantsleg though, and pointed a little north with his spear. Kneeling down on the ground, Draik asked, "What do you hear, Ryou?"

"I hear the sounds of battle, not even a mile north of us. Humans, from the sound of it." Ryou looked Draik in the eyes, "Want to go help, or should we continue on?"

Looking in the direction that Ryou pointed, he thought about the choices. If I help them, then we could get some help in finding a town or something. But they might be tamers like what Vilemon was talking about, who would want them to join their side. Draik hated decisions like this.

In the end, he started sneaking through the bushes, motioning for Ryou to go above him in the trees. Nodding, Ryou jumped into a tree and began traveling in the tree branches. He reached the area where the fighting was happening ahead of Draik and immediately jumped in, his spear charged with energy as he shouted, "Comet Strike!" The point of the spear pointing straight at Cockatricemon.

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Note:
You guys looked like you might need some help. Hope you don't mind me dropping in

[Takashi]

Takashi and Terriermon watched in disbelief as each of Terriermon's small green blasts of energy burst on Cockatrimon's body, proving utterly ineffective. Now the two were left defenseless to the chicken Digimon's mad rush. The two thought about moving out the way, but he was much too close to them for the two to effectively move without being attacked anyway. He was mere feet away from them...

"Comet Strike!"

Like a blessing from above, a random Digimon with a spear appeared out of nowhere, attacking Cockatrimon and saving their lives.

"What is that?!" Takashi searched his pockets for his D-Mote, but his shaking hands were unable to properly grasp the device.

"Who cares?" Terriermon hopped on Takashi's head. "All that matters now is that we're safe! Hurry! Let's get out of here as quickly as possible!"

Takashi shook his head roughly, forcing the Digimon off his head. "Terriermon! We can't just do that! We have to help him!"

Though not visibly, Terriermon rolled his eyes. "Fine - we'll help whatever Digimon that is."

"All right," Takashi said with a satisfied smile, "when I give the word...attack."

[Draik Tempest]

Draik had snuck behind both Takashi and Terriermon during their pause as Ryou stabbed at the bird's chest with his spear. Speaking up from behind them, he stayed hidden in the bushes. "Don't help out. He can take care of himself. Let's get out of here while that thing is busy." He had his D-mote out already and started walking East again, hoping that bird didn't notice him.