FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Will be uploading these one per day until I catch up with my posting schedule for another site.

After we'd had our conversation, we sat on the couch and watched television. Well, she might have been, but I wasn't. The TV just turned into pretty lights again as I lost myself to thought. To be honest, I doubt she was watching it either, but I was too lost to notice.

There were three main thoughts on my mind:

One, how did I get here? I decided not to think about this one too much, else I would lose track of reality, both this one and my "normal" one.

Two, since I was placed here, conveniently at the start of the season, I had to wonder if I was intended to interfere. Logically, I would only cause deviations from the usual plot, and therefore problems. However, if I was here, perhaps something else had changed as well. A force of good to counter a force of evil, keeping the balance? Seems just as likely as being pulled into a fictional world, so I would go with that for now.

Three, I had to wonder what was going to happen between myself and Raia. I won't lie, I'd told myself, several times, I would enjoy it if I was placed in this exact situation, one I had read variation after variation of during my phases of reading digimon fanfiction. That, and I had been about a week out of a "sort-of" breakup. Of course, anyone could see these were just reasons I gave myself to justify where I would try to guide the relationship, from friendship to something more.

Other thoughts phased in and out of my mind as I passed back and forth between these three. One that popped up more than a few times was, "How are you going to fight? You've got no cards, not training, hell, no real experience." True, these things were, but I could definitely get the first two, and the third would come with time. Lucky for me, the writers were nice enough to start the season with rookies and champions, not megas and ultimates.

Despite my depth of thought, I was still roused from it when Raia stood, trance-like, appearing to stare at a wall. I stood, walking to the nearest window and followed her line of sight through the wall.

"You sense one coming through, don't you?"

She snapped from the trance of tracking the emergence. "Uh... yes. How did you know?"

I shrugged. "Lucky guess. Here's what we are going to do." I said as I walked back to her. She nodded somewhat briskly, partly out of shaking the trance, I would guess, and partly to acknowledge me.

"Take me there. Keep our distance, I think this can be a learning experience."

She looked confused. "Take you there? This is a wild digimon we're talking about. We can't fight yet, or is getting killed suddenly a learning experience?"

I shook my head. "Yeah, phase me out with you, drag my happy ass over there, and we'll keep our distance andwatch. I know what will happen, so I can use it as a visual aid."

She groaned, taking my hand reluctantly. "I suppose I must start to trust you if you are to be my tamer." I felt my body... well, shift, I guess. I figured the phasing out worked by vibrating on a frequency incompatible with the physical world, and this feeling seemed to back that up. I wasn't lying about dragging my ass over there, though. Raia could hardly carry me, and I couldn't follow her pace to save my life.

We arrived in a dark area where the Goblimon was visible and I saw Renamon and Rika quickly approaching. I noticed it seemed they were in earshot, but I still decided to make a quick note to Raia before the battle began.

"You watch Rika. I know you can fight, it's bred into you. You watch her, I'll explain later." I would be doing the opposite, noting the standard move set of Renamon as she attacked, looking for weaknesses, strengths, anything that could help. The battle continued until Calumon inadvertently digivolved the Goblimon, with Rika waiting until just before to use a card. Now, I began to analyze the card's effect on Renamon's movements, drinking in as much detail as possible, down to the last flick of the tail. As the battle drew to a close, I nudged Raia and gestured to Renamon, as if to say "Watch."

"That's more like it, Renamon. Not even a champion level digimon can stand in our way anymore. Now, download Fugamon's data." I heard Rika say. I saw Raia's eyes become wide, witnessing what could be seen as cannibalism. "Next time, you'll win...without my help."

The pair soon left, but we remained. Raia looked disgusted and frightened all at once.

"Why..." Was all she said. I put my arm over her shoulder and sighed.

"Because, Raia, all Rika wants is a powerful tool. All Renamon wants is to be that tool. Hardly symbiotic. I don't want us to be that, to be willing to commit such acts in the name of gaining power."

She nodded, obviously still shaken from what she'd seen.

"So, what did you learn from Rika?" I asked, hopeful she didn't have to see that for no reason.

"She... she didn't care at all. She didn't guide, let alone assist her partner. Renamon may as well have been out there on her own."

I nodded. "Precisely. Not a team at all, really. Tonight, I've given you an example of what not to be: a bitch and her beast, to be blunt."

"Can we go home now?" She asked, and I nodded. We phased home, myself being uncomfortably dragged the whole way.

"We really have to figure out a better way to do that." I said, only half-joking. Raia cracked a smile, but I could still see something was off. I could tell from the look in her eyes. So, I did the first thing I always do when a girl is upset. I got close to her, looked her in the eyes, and drew her into a warm, somewhat blanketing (due to my wideness) embrace.

"What's wrong?" I asked, her leaning into me as I struggled to find the couch. She might not have been able to pick me up, but she was hardly a lightweight. I eventually found it, and lowered us onto it.

"That Renamon scared me." She said, softly. "She was monstrous. I-" She stopped suddenly.

"What?" I asked, slowly beginning to stroke her back, "You what?"

"I'm afraid of becoming that." She was beginning to choke up.

I knew how she must feel; what she'd seen was equivalent to having seen a person killed, then mutilated. While data consumption wasn't uncommon, it was still fucked up. The data could return to the digital world and reform, giving the digimon a second chance. To take that away, for only a slight boost in strength, was an ultimately selfish act. It was comparable to killing a person for the money in their wallet, you only gain slightly, but they lose greatly. And yet, sadly it was indeed a common thing in the digital world, where there seemed no restraint.

"You won't. I won't let you. Part of my job is to guide you, train you, make you stronger. Rika trying use that as an edge is wrong, but I don't think she sees that. To her, digimon are tools, and vice versa with Renamon."

She just nodded, eyes somewhat misty. Poor thing, I hadn't intended to make her feel this way, but she had to see that. That scene was stronger than a million words trying to convince her.

"Come on." I said, pulling her up as I stood. "We need to get to bed. Tomorrow, we start training, and I'll get to show you how a tamer is supposed to be." I walked her around until we found the bedroom, and I laid her on one side and I got in on the other, leaving a good margin between us. Tomorrow would be a big day, I knew. Tomorrow, I was going to reveal myself.

(Break)

At some point in the night, it seemed I rolled toward the center of the bed. This was strange, because I never move in my sleep. I cracked my eyes open and saw that Raia had as well, leaving only a few inches between us. I was torn upon looking at her face. On one hand, it was beautiful, peaceful, I wanted to stroke the side of her face. On the other hand, she looked to be sleeping so peacefully, I couldn't bear to wake her, as I thought my touch would. I lay there for about 3 or 4 minutes before deciding to get up. I tried to be careful, and somehow I slipped out of bed without waking her.

I walked out of the room to find the shower, when a thought struck me. I had no spare clothes.

"Crap." I said audibly. Well,_I thought. _Looks like I'll be wearing these clothes today. I made a mental note to add clothes to the list of things that needed to be done. I threw my clothes off and walked into the shower, somehow making it work, despite the foreign nature. I was partway through rinsing my hair when I heard the door open. I froze.

"Raia." I said, hoping to God. "Tell me that's you."

"Caleb, what are you doing?" I heard her say.

"Bathing." I said as if it were obvious, which it was. "Haven't you seen a person bathe before? I thought you'd been around a while."

Somehow, I knew she was blushing. "I never watched people in the bathroom. Sorry." I heard the door shut. Well, wonderful. One day with my digimon, and she's already traumatized from seeing me naked, which, believe me, was hardly a pleasing sight.

Disregarding that, I returned to washing myself, quickly now, so I could go fix what I had wrought. I left the shower and begrudgingly donned the same clothes from yesterday. I looked around and noticed there were no "hygienic" products, deodorant, cologne, toothpaste, things to mask the naturally disgusting smells we create. I knew I would have to go without, and so I would stink.

I emerged from the bathroom to find Raia sitting on the couch. She noticed me and blushed hard enough for me to see through her fur.

"Sorry about that." I said as I walked over to her. "Must have been pretty bad, huh?"

She looked at me, confused. "Bad?"

"Yeah. I'm not exactly in shape, ya know?" I was all too ready to poke fun at myself. I was overweight, maybe even fat, I knew that. Hundreds of hours gaming, writing, and coding had cinched that down pretty tight. I was no light weight to begin with. 6'2 and 300 pounds (1.91 m and 136 kg for metric), that was me, but I was okay with it. "Not really a sight to see, especially like that."

"I didn't hate it." She said flatly, no expression on her face. Wow, really? How does one read that?

"You didn't hate it." I said, staring her in the eyes. She nodded. "What in the hell does that mean?"

"It means I didn't hate it." She said, no smirk, no grin. Perfect poker face. I wanted to slap her.

"Right." I said, trying to put it behind me. "Do I stink?"

Again, she was confused. "Uh..."

"More than usual?" I asked, somewhat in jest. "I had to wear the same clothes and I had nothing to cover my stink other than the shower."

"You smell like you did yesterday." I could see she felt like not giving an opinion.

"Well, before the next big event, let's go get me some clothes and some deodorant."

We left the house a few minutes later and she phased us over to the closest store that stocked clothes big enough for me.

I walked in and realized something.

"I have no money." I said, wide-eyed and apparently to thin air. In reality, I was talking to Raia, who was phased out.

I felt myself phase out and I was dragged outside. We were behind one of the stores, where no one would see us.

"You have no money." She said. "How are you supposed to buy food and other things, like clothes?"

I blushed a bit, never thinking I'd have to do this. "Well, I can't really get a job, considering my situation, so we'll have to... steal." She gave me the dirtiest look.

"You want me to steal things for you?" She questioned.

"Do you see much other choice?" I shot at her. "I'm from another continent, in another goddamn dimension! We hardly have a choice, beggars can't be choosers."

She nodded, but didn't seem happy about it. "Alright. Did you at least check your wallet?" I hadn't thought to, actually, but I was used to having no money. I pulled it out and opened it; still no cash. There was however, a card. A debit card, something I didn't have.

I held the card up and eyed it, as did Raia. It had my name printed on it.

"Are there ATMs in Japan?" I asked.