"WHOOO!" screams rang out over the loud, thumping music as Tavaras held a shot glass up to his friends. Tilting his head back, he downed the shot of vodka. Earlier in the afternoon he would have winced and chased it, but after over half a dozen or so he had become numb to the sensation.
"RAHHH" he yelled as he slammed the glass back down on the bar, to the loud cheers of his buddies. Laughing, he prepped to go again when he froze, feeling a cold wetness over his slick, gelled back black hair that trickled down his black sleeveless shirt. Turning around he found himself face to face with the ever preppy suit-wearing Pravo and his shit-eating grin.
"What the fuck bro, you're late." Tavaras shoved his best friend back as the shock of the ice water over his near sun-burned skin wore off. Pravo, still grinning, walked back up to Tavaras and enveloped him in a big bear hug.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAV" he managed to scream over the recently released "Waiting for Tonight" by the absolute bombshell Jennifer Lopez. Letting go he turned to the group of 7 and held his arms up in mocking surrender. "My bad, my bad. Tell you what, next round's on me." That got a round of loud "Fuck yeah's" from the group of friends, and Tavaras drooped his arm around the smaller, well dressed man.
"Well in that case better make it a double!" he exclaimed with his own shit-eating grin, to another round of cheers.
As Pravo got the shots from the outdoor bar, Tavaras fingered his necklace, a silver pendant with two overlapping circles coming together almost like an eclipse. The last shot should have been his last, but what the hell. It was his 19th birthday after all, and Pravo was buying!
Taking the glass, they clinked it together, and Tavaras threw his head back.
Only this time, as he felt the burn of vodka running down his throat, he fell with it. Confusion set in as he saw the setting sun behind him, and then a blinding white light. The last thing Tavaras remembered before passing out was his head hitting something soft.
—
"You don't get to call me that, Edward.'' Tavaras heard a girl yelling as he groaned and opened his eyes, his stomach queasy. He found himself staring at a bright blue sky with what looked like a blackish-purple gash through it, and rubbed his eyes in shock. He sat up slowly, careful to make sure the contents of his stomach didn't come up with him. Weird he thought, this feels like sand. As he put his hands on the ground to prop himself to his feet, Tavaras's eyes widened. It was sand.
Slowly looking around to where he heard that voice, he saw a young girl with weathered blond hair crossing her arms close to her body. She wore a brown jacket as weathered as her hair over a baggy, tan T-shirt. Scanning around, his eyes briefly set on a tall, blond man wearing a toque and a white T-shirt. He held his arms in front of him pleadingly, but for some reason looked like he wanted to run in the other direction.
Tavaras's eyes then darted back to what he had gazed over between the two: a large, purple cocoon hovering above the sand. Six tendrils of knives swinging out from its sides, and a singular red horn making the menacing presence even more so.
Chrysalimon [https://wikimon.net/images/c/c5/Chrysalimon.jpg]
He stumbled to his feet and pointed at the monster. "W-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?" He yelled. All eyes turned towards him and he stepped back, tripping over something at his feet and landing right on his ass. "Ouch" he managed to let out before taking a look at what he tripped over. His eyes widened and he scrambled backwards on his hands as he saw a small dinosaur looking thing with purple fur curled down beneath his legs. It's bushy tail lay under its body, and its head was adorned with a red gemstone.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
DORUmon [https://wikimon.net/images/thumb/1/17/Dorumon.jpg/480px-Dorumon.jpg]
"Calm down" Tavaras heard a monotonous voice from his right. Whipping his head around he saw a young man with messy brown hair wearing a striped shirt and cargo shorts. Next to him stood a blue demon-looking thing with large fists and a yellow V-shaped symbol on its forehead.
Veemon [https://wikimon.net/images/thumb/2/23/Vmon.jpg/480px-Vmon.jpg]
Stumbling back to his feet, he stepped backwards multiple paces. "Ha! Very funny Pravo!" He yelled to the sky. "Get me drunk and dump me in the desert - " He stopped mid sentence as he looked around. Immediately was a desert, sure, but just a few dozen feet away in all directions lay trees. A forest thicker than any he had ever seen, even in movies, and each tree looked about as tall as any skyscraper.
As he looked around dumbfounded, Tavaras heard a giggle. Just behind the boy with the striped shirt he saw a young girl with short, black hair, who happened to be wearing what looked like a hospital gown. On her head sat a large bird with bright pink feathers edged with a deep blue.
Biyomon [https://wikimon.net/images/d/d8/Piyomon.jpg]
"I told you guys he'd have a funny reaction," the girl laughed.
Tavaras got a knot in his stomach. Other than the blond man, everyone else looked younger than him. He took a deep breath. Not enough. He took another two before he could talk. "What. The. F-Hell. Is. Going. On. HERE?" He shouted the last word in frustration. He walked up to... did the blond chick call him Edward? Edward took a step backwards, and Tavaras could see fear and confusion in his eyes. He glanced behind him and forced himself to not step back further.
Tavaras looked at what Edward glanced at and saw something that made him stop in his own tracks. A giant green bug with numerous pinkish-red, were those legs?
Wormmon [https://wikimon.net/images/0/02/Wormmon2.jpg]
"I think we're in the afterlife." The black hair girl said nonchalantly, hands folded behind her head.
"We've been over this Senna" The striped shirt boy said, rolling his eyes. "The Digimon here call this the Digital World." Senna stuck her tongue out.
"Let me have my dreams, Deon," she pouted.
"Digimon? Digital World?" Tavaras repeated slowly. "What are you talking about? And how are three white people and an Asian chick speaking my language so fluently?"
"English?" Edward asked, confused.
"What? No. Not Engl- Why is my mouth moving in English?" Tavaras felt weird; he hadn't spoken English since he took that class back in school.
"Ohh, is that why talking feels weird?" Senna mused as she touched her lips. "And here I thought the three of you were just weebs speaking and arguing in Japanese." She giggled at that.
"Ahem" a nasally voice rang out, and Tavaras turned to see it come from the green bug. "WE are Digimon. Digital lifeforms that reside in the Digital World. I am Wormmon." Wormmon, seeing the blank look on Tavaras's face, continued. "Long story short, you're in a different world. Each of you humans have been partnered with one of us Digimon."
"What?" Tavaras asked. The purple dinosaur he first tripped over got up and walked to his side.
"We don't know anything either. My name is Dorumon, and I'm your partner, Tavaras."
"Right! I'm Veemon," the blue demon said.
"I'm Biyomon!" The pink bird chippered as she flapped her wings.
"And we're all speaking English because it's the universal language of convenience. The world itself is translating it for you in your head." Wormmon added.
Tavaras stood there, trying to soak all this in. Yesterday he was having a good time celebrating his 19th birthday, and now he'd been, what? Spirited away to some fantasy world with four other people he didn't know? Monsters? GIANT TREES? He gazed around again - Deon didn't seem to care, and Senna seemed happy to be here. As his eyes fell on Edward, a voice broke him out of his thoughts.
"Right, now that the drunkard is up, can we go find a way home already." The blond girl said impatiently.
"Imogen, let him get his bearings first." Edward said, clearly keeping distance from Wormmon and the cocoon thing. Imogen glared at Edward, gritting her teeth.
Tavaras suddenly fell back to the ground. "How are you all so chill with..." he gestured around wildly "THIS?"
"Oh, we've had, like, almost a full day now to get used to it." Edward laughed nervously. Senna burst out laughing.
"You should have seen Edward when he first saw Wormmon. He ran around screaming like a little girl." Edward blushed, and even Imogen managed a small giggle.
The banter seemed to calm Tavaras down, at least enough to suddenly remember he was parched. He took a breath. If he was going to be stuck here, he needed to have a good head on his shoulders for any chance to get home.
"Right. So, uhhh, Wormmon, you seem to know things. Where do we go? I need water. Badly."