Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep…

Beeeeeeeeeeeep.

Silence, darkness, I awaken with a startle but the silence and darkness is still there, surrounding me, advancing on all sides, threatening me with its overbearing nothingness.

Ah-, aaaaaaaah!

My arms shoot out, clawing against the darkness, fighting for my life, feeling my pulse quicken into the pace of an average dubstep song, pressing, pulling, doing everything my poor little limbs can, hoping for a reaction of any sort, some form of escape, some… something.

And then it happens.

My whole world begins to move back and forth, swaying, like being on the inside of a genie’s lamp being rubbed. I tumble back and forth, suddenly very small in the darkness, and it really just reminds me of the last time I let my dad drive me anywhere. The whole event lasts for barely five seconds before suddenly, and without any real warning…

Crack!

A splinter webs across the darkness before fully popping open and releasing me into the blindingly bright world outside. Shit, that’s bright! My eyes instantly squint close as I try to shield them from the onslaught of visual stimuli. Strangely enough, they won’t reach. Even stranger, it feels as though I haven’t got two eyes at all, but rather only one. The thought is so strange that I almost don’t notice that I’m not especially alone.

“Now, what manner of digimon are you supposed to be?”

My eye(s?) flash open and I’m awarded with beholding a building-sized porcupine glaring down at me. From so far down, I can barely even see his eyes, but I know he can see me. Though, calling it a porcupine might be a bit difficult on account of it being bright red. And it looks much more like some sort of odd monster than a porcupine.

Worst observation so far: it’s holding me in its massive, car-sized paws.

My attention trembles between its toothed face and the humongous claws mere inches from me. If I wasn’t a law-abiding, honest citizen I would probably have been too cowardly to admit that I’m shivering right now. That thing is literally big enough to eat me in one bite. No, not even one bite. I’m more like a tiny snack here.

Ah, I want to cry. Did I ever say goodbye to dad? I can’t remember anything from after the accident.

…No, I think I can remember some voices, talking about this or that, but… No, I can’t recall what they were saying. It’s all just one big mumble.

“Mind giving me your name?” the humongous porcupine asks and I tense up again. Oh, yeah, I’m about to die. I almost forgot. Now, logically, do I have better chances running or fighting?

A massive paw rises to touch the porcupine’s chest. “I’m Elecmon. Can you speak yet?”

Can I speak? Well, of course I can speak. As a Regular Human Adult(™) I can talk just fine, thank you. In fact, right now, I will talk to this strange creature and ask him what the hell is going on.

…

…Hm? Nothing’s coming out. What is-,

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“Ah, you haven’t got a mouth yet, do you? Sorry, you’ll have to say it once you evolve into your Child form. Until then, just sit tight, okay? “ And then, and I’m not making this up, he dropped me like I was hot and some crib-like thing the size of a three-tonne truck appeared as if by magic beneath me. As you might expect, I plopped down into it, but by God, I was sure I was about to die. That fucker just dropped me!

Jesus, that… That was probably the scariest experience of my life. Or maybe second-scariest. Ah, then again, with the accident, I didn’t really have time to get scared or anything. It was over before I knew it, and it didn’t hurt any. And then it was dark for a long time, and now I’m here.

…Am I in hell?

Hm.

Okay, before I descend into panic, let’s consider the facts here: am I a sinner? Not necessarily. We’ve all done a few uncool things here and there, but I’ve tried to avoid it. In comparison, I’ve done more charity work than hedonism, so I should be alright. But this place sure as heck ‘ain’t heaven. Right?

I grumble to myself, but since I apparently have no mouth, nothing comes out.

…If I don’t have a mouth, does that mean I can’t breathe? I don’t think I have a nose to breathe with, but I can smell just fine. What is this body?!

Frustrated, I pace around the crib. But my limbs are weird, too. I can’t really look down at them because I don’t think I have a neck to do so with, but I’m pretty sure I have more than four. More than eight. I can’t count them, in fact. It’s just… a multitude. Oh, and my eyes? Yeah, no, it’s one eye.

I’m a one-eyed, no-necked, many-limbed little creature. Is this supposed to be my soul?

Nope. No way. Absolutely not. I can accept a lot of weird things, but not that my body would be something so inhuman. At least give me little angel wings, damn it!

There are massive thumps passing outside my crib and I freeze in place. Thump, thump.

Timidly, I scale the side of the crib, which was way easier than I’d thought, and just over the side of the crib, I can see that porcupine moving around. Now that I’m looking around, I’m actually not the only crib here. There are many. Hundreds, in fact, all spread out about a metre from another, crowded atop a small hillside overlooking a forest. Beyond this group of cribs is what appears to be a number of, uh, stacks of building blocks? But not like, just normal building blocks a toddler might play with, no, these are absolutely massive. I’m taking sky-scraper-sized blocks, each stacked atop another. They look really easy to topple, but I’m not going to try it. You get squished under one of those and it’s pancakes for dinner, that’s for sure.

I shudder.

Turning my eyes back to Elecmon, as he called himself, I notice that he’s actually doing something at every crib. He’s carrying this big bag-like thing filled with baby bottles and moving from crib to crib, poking the nipple of the bottle into the shadow of the crib before moving to the next. What the hell is he feeding?

I can’t hear anything, so I can’t imagine that he’s got babies in those cribs. Besides, what use does a monster have for babies?

…

A horrible idea pops into my mind.

No, but he wouldn’t. Would he? A shiver runs through me. I mean, he is a porcupine monster. But he also talks like a human. But he’s a monster. But… Okay, jeez, I don’t know what any of this is! I literally just woke up from a coma, what do you expect from me? Kind of a short-lived coma, but… Still!

Oh, shoot, he’s approaching me!

I slide back down into the gullet of the crib. Thump, thump, thump. It’s like a kaiju is approaching. I grip my limbs to keep myself from trembling but there are so many limbs that I keep getting surprised.

A shadow descends on my tawny abode, the bright blue sky blotted out by Elecmon’s cheery(?) face. “Hungry?” I’m actually not. Or maybe, just a little. I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it, okay? Before I have time to come to grips with anything, a bottle is shoved in my face. I stare at it. Blink. The house-sized kaiju in front of me squeezes the bottle inches from my face and I expect a stream of milk to shoot out, but instead a flood of strange, floating pixels appear, splattering across my face before fading away, leaving me slightly fuller and a lot more disgusted.

Tastes like… rotten fish? I want to puke, but on account of my mouthlessness, I don’t think it would be a good idea.

I swallow. That was one of the most disgusting experiences of my life. Is this how frogs feel like when they have to skin-breathe sewer slog? I shiver again, but this time it’s in disgust, not fear.

“Glad you liked it,” Elecmon says with a smile before sauntering off. I want to spit out whatever he just shoved into me, but I don’t think he technically gave me anything at all. I mean, that wasn’t solid, or even liquid. It was, like… pure energy, or something. I actually feel kind of rejuvenated, ignoring the whole rotten-fish part.

If he comes around again, I don’t care how starved I am—I’m not eating it. Not that I’ll be here at all, of course.

I scale the side of the crib again. Yeah, no, I may have had a few thoughts now and then, but I am currently not interested in the act of self-murder, as passive as it might be. Sure, moving in a form I don’t even understand might not be too good, but it’s far superior to just hanging around and waiting for a literal kaiju to come coddle me.

I glance down at the ground. It looks soft and grassy.

I gulp. Well, um, I did fall pretty far when I went into the crib, and I was alright, wasn’t I? Y-, yeah, I was! I mean, this is only a two-storey drop or something, right? I’ll be sure. I’m certain. I’m… I’m pretty certain, at least…

I STARE DOWN AT THE GROUND AGAIN. A FEW OF MY LEGS DANGLE OFF THE EDGE. THEY’RE LONG AND WIRY, LOOKING LIKE PIECES OF BLACK STRING. THEY END IN A LITTLE BALL. I CAN’T MAKE HEADS OR TAILS OF HOW THEY COULD POSSIBLY WORK TO LET ME CLIMB ANYTHING ANYWHERE, BUT IF THEY CAN CLIMB, THEN THEY CAN SURELY BREAK A FALL OR TWO. CAN’T BREAK MY LEGS IF MY LEGS HAVEN’T GOT ANY BONES, RIGHT? RIGHT. MAKES SENSE TO ME.

I just… have to… jump.