a day like no other (partner)

[haruka]

After having only moved to Odaiba a few years ago for her father's job, Haruka was definitely having an easy time making friends. After all, with her great athleticism and the fact that she wasn't uptight about her abilities was making it easy. However, she still felt the same as before - like no one was seeing her as just a fun person to hang out with. Miles away from her home town of Kyoto, she didn't have the group of real friends she'd made back in her childhood to fall back on either. With her older brother and sister already out of the house and both of her parents working full time, Haruka's allowance had been raised in an attempt to keep her happy.

Every cent of her allowance went towards new videogames since she got through them so quickly. She had recently purchased what appeared to be a new handheld game, but the only instructions that came with it was to take it to her computer. Thoroughly confused, she just figured it would give her instructions as she played like a great deal of games nowadays. However, she was surprised when an odd image came up on her computer monitor. It looked like a video of a forest in winter, and the closer she looked, the more the new 'game' began to beep.

The next thing she knew, Haruka was sitting in the middle of the same snow storm that she had been only looking at moments ago. Her mouth had literally dropped as she took in the scenery, as well as her new wardrobe and the fact that the 'game' was still in her hand. "This has got to be the best game ever!" she exclaimed, noting the steam coming out of her mouth as her hot breath met the icy cold air. "I wonder how they made such a realistic 3D virtual reality game like this?" speaking more to herself than anyone, she was not only admiring this realm, but trying to figure it out.

"I wonder what sort of game this is then? Is it an RPG? Are there different hero classes and villages where I need to register? Maybe some monsters? Maybe at least some as pets." she continued to ponder as she walked through the snow, slowly starting to really feel the cold. Her mind was so wired for a videogame at the moment though, that she didn't even realize how her arms had unconsciously wrapped around her to try and keep her warm. She didn't notice how numb she was beginning to feel, or how her teeth were starting to chatter. She was just so intrigued with everything around her that nothing else seemed to matter.

[azzale4]

SnowAgumon sighed. She was so bored. She loved her home in Freezeland, but she really wanted to do something exciting. She was so tired of just sitting around doing the same thing every day. All she could do was play the same old games, with the same old digimon, in the same old snow.

She felt restless. Maybe she should go do something. She hefted herself off the snowy ground she had slept on. She plodded through the snow, picking a random direction. She had been all over Freexeland anyways. She wouldn't see anything new. Not even new digimon. All the digimon that lived here had adapted to the cold. Most digimon couldn't handle the temperature.

She blinked. She must be seeing things. No way could a human be out here. She looked closer. It was indeed a human. And it looked cold. She sauntered over. She hoped it was ok. She saw how cold it looked as she got closer. It looked about to freeze. "Pardon me." She called "But do you need any help?" She inched a bit closer. This human might need her help. Why did it look so familiar?

[haruka]

The further she walked, the colder she got, and the scenery didn't seem to change much. Not that she had expected anything different - this was just like any other piece of land in any other game. She would just have to figure out what she was supposed to do on her own. That had to be the point of the game, to figure out how to play on your own to make the game itself unique to the individual. Her biggest problem that she would have to fix first was the fact that she was wearing a very thin layer of clothing in a very cold environment. So either she needed to find warmer clothes, or a new environment.

Taking a short break to breathe warm air onto her cold hands, she heard a voice coming from nearby her. It sounded friendly enough, but with the white backdrop and being unfamiliar with what to expect from this place, it took her eyes a while to get focused on the digimon that had just spoken. "Yeah, I'm new so I really could use some . . . help." she said as she tried to, and finally spotted the white dinosaur. "Are you the one who just talked to me?" she asked, more curious than anything else. She had expected monsters from the game, but she wasn't expecting to find ones that would talk to her.

The more she looked at the creature, the more taken she was by it. While it looked like a baby dinosaur at first, Haruka took in the fact that it was as white as the snow that surrounded them, with the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. In fact, she found herself just staring into them and admiring the color that was similar to her own shade of blue eyes.

After flashing a cheery smile, Haruka pulled the 'game' out of her jacket pocket and tried pressing the buttons to see what it would do. "Do you know what this is?" she asked, her curiosity overruling her sense of how cold it was until a breeze blew over her. Shuddering from the cold, she changed her mind. "On second thought, do you know any place around here that's warm first?"

[azzale4]

"Yeah, I'm new so I really could use some . . . help.""Are you the one who just talked to me?"

SnowAgumon nodded happily. "I will help you! Oh yes! I can help you! I'm good at that! I'm the helper! I can help you with everything!" She gushed at the human. "I am the one who spoke to you! Yes, me! We will speak much together, ya?" she practically she was so excited.

"Do you know what this is?"

She nodded vigorously. "I know! I see it sometimes! Other humans bring it when they come." She gave a smug smile. She was happy she knew something a human did not.

"On second thought, do you know any place around here that's warm first?

She tilted her head. The human looked very cold. She motioned to it. "I know a place." She told the human a bit nervously. "Follow me, I will take you there. You can be warm and safe there. I will start a fire. You will like it" She paused, "You aren't afraid of caves are you?"

[haruka]

Haruka was happy to have found someone so helpful, even if that someone happened to be a monster of this game. From the voice, it seemed as though this creature was a female, and she seemed like a very friendly monster at that. "Y-yeah, I'm fine w-with a cave." she said as quickly as possible so as to not stutter as much from the cold. Though she had jeans and a jacket on, it just wasn't nearly enough to keep her warm for very long. She had to admit that she was at least glad to have this rather than the t-shirt and shorts she had been wearing when she had been in her room just a few minutes ago.

The teenager followed the white monster as she led the way to a nearby cave. She couldn't wait to get warm, it was just such a sudden change from the weather back in her house. As they walked, she couldn't help but wonder exactly how this game had been programmed to include the senses, because not only could she feel the cold, but she could smell the snow and the forest around her. She was just so amazed by all of it that the journey to the shelter of the cave went by fairly quickly for her.

Sitting down on a rock, she waited patiently as she could for her new friend to make a fire. Her patience, however, was quickly overwhelmed by her curiosity. "You said you knew what this is?" she asked as she pulled out the gadget for the second time. "And something about other humans? Where do they normally go? Are there any towns or villages to buy supplies or anything?" Still clearly excited by the detail of this new game, she wanted to learn as much as possible as quickly as she could. "Are you like my guide or something?" she added on, curious about whether or not the first creature she talked to was somehow bound to her.

[azzale4]

SnowAgumon led the human to the cave. The human sat down on a rock and she quickly gathered what little wood she could find. "Stand back for a sec, 'kay?"

"ICE SHOT!"




The freezing shot burned the wood and started the fire. She nodded in satisfaction. She turned to look at the human. She shifted uneasily outside the mouth of the cave. "Is it warm enough now?" She asked hesitantly.

"You said you knew what this is?"

SnowAgumon looked at the device in the little girl's hand. "Oh yes! That is a digivice. All the digidestined have it. They need it for their partners to digivolve." her tail wagged happily. "My human friends and their partners, they told me! They told me all about your world too! the human world sounds so exciting! I wish I could go some day......" She trailed off longingly.

"And something about other humans? Where do they normally go? Are there any towns or villages to buy supplies or anything?"

She cocked her head. "I see other humans all the time! Not here though, it's to cold for them. At beaches, and lakes, all over! They are good company. They bring good stories with them too." She talked on and on. "They go where ever I tell them. Its different for every human. Some need to go somewhere to learn something, others to teach. I send them where they are ready to go, and are ready to be received." She blinked. "There are no towns you can 'buy things at' in the digital world. Especially not here, in Freezeland." She gave the human an odd look.

"Are you like my guide or something?"

SnowAgumon gave her a questioning look. "Guide? What is that?" She was perplexed by this human, such as none she had met previously. Why did she feel a connection to it? Oh! She had forgotten! "Sorry! I forgot to introduce myself! I am SnowAgumon! And who are you?"

[haruka]

The cave was cold at first, though not nearly as cold as it was outside. However once the little white thing started a fire with a bunch of sticks, Haruka began to feel more and more comfortable. She was happy that each of her questions were answered quickly, she simply loved learning new information. As the creature described the device that she held in her hand, she began to wonder even more about it.

"Their partners?" she whispered under her breath as she listened to the rest of the answers to the questions she had asked already before looking back up to ask another question. "So if humans here are called digidestined, and they all have partners, use these digivices to help their partners digivolve, my being here makes me a digidestined?" she began, counting each point on her fingers as she went, "If that's true, and you want to go with a human just like the others, and I don't have a partner yet . . . HEY! That's it! Maybe you're my partner? That's what I meant when I asked about being my guide, because a guide is someone who already knows the area and can lead a newcomer around so that they don't get hurt!"

By now Haruka was so excited that the creature's sudden change to introductions made her blush with embarassment. She hadn't thought of introducing herself either. "It's a pleasure to meet you SnowAgumon, my name is Haruka, Makise Haruka." and she held out her semi-warm hand towards the creature. "So, I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly are you?"

[azzale4]

"So if humans here are called digidestined, and they all have partners, use these digivices to help their partners digivolve, my being here makes me a digidestined?"

SnowAgumon hesitated. "Well......" She paused, "not all the humans that come here are digidestined." She admitted. "Some humans that come are, fakes in a sense. They aren't real digidestined. They have fake digivices and they buy their partners" She shivered a bit. "It's hard to tell the two apart, but most of us digimon can tell them apart. Most of them aren't too bad either. They are mostly nice, just lonely."

She blinked and continued. "And then there's them. But I think that you must be a digidestined. You don't have a digimon with you yet, and you definitely aren't one of them." She nodded. She could tell for sure that this human was a digidestined. She wasn't sure why though. She usually couldn't tell the difference between a digidestined and one of them.

"If that's true, and you want to go with a human just like the others, and I don't have a partner yet . . . HEY! That's it! Maybe you're my partner? That's what I meant when I asked about being my guide, because a guide is someone who already knows the area and can lead a newcomer around so that they don't get hurt!"

She tilted her head to the side. "Maybe! I'm not sure though......" She added uncertainly. "I don't think it works quite like that. But I can certainly show you around and protect you as best I can. I won't let anything hurt you!" She puffed out her chest. She was very confident in her skills in battle.

"It's a pleasure to meet you SnowAgumon, my name is Haruka, Makise Haruka.""So, I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly are you?"

"Hmmmm Harukamon! What a wonderful name! Harukamon, Harukamon!" She chanted happily. "I'm a digimon! A digital monster. We live here, in the digital world. I'm a SnowAgumon, there are many different digimon here. We come in all shapes and sizes. And different levels too" She grinned toothily at Haruka. "I'm a rookie level digimon."

[haruka]

Haruka had to admit that this little digimon was not only interesting, but very cute - for being a little dinosaur. It was most likely the fact that she was white as snow with such beautiful blue eyes. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit when the SnowAgumon said that she didn't know about the partner stuff, but that she would still protect her. "Then it's a deal, you show me around until we find my partner digimon." she said, once again holding out her hand. That is unless my knowledge of games is right and that you are my partner. she thought to herself as she made the pact.

Now that she had warmed up significantly, she was able to sit and really look at the digivice. She loved the blues, it was the whole reason she had picked out this one when she bought it. Of all the color schemes there were, this one was the only one that had that beautiful royal blue. It also had some lighter blue and, now that she thought about it, was very similar to the SnowAgumon's own 'natural' color scheme.

"So I have a couple more questions." she began before asking, "Okay, first, do the digivices normally match the digimon partners? And second, what other levels do digimon come in other than Rookie? Like, are there any levels below that you had to go through first? And what levels can you become later if you have a digivice?" Haruka was just so enthralled with this game that she wanted to know everything she could before she really started to play this little adventure.

You really couldn't blame the girl for still thinking that this was nothing more than a videogame. After all, she had no idea what the digital world was, or digimon, or digidestined. She thought it was all just the story line for the game: the digidestined were the good guys who were paired with familiars, there were some lonely kids who bought their familiars, and then there was the group of bad guys. The plot was simple enough: find your partner, get stronger, beat the bad guys. It seemed like a typical RPG to Haruka, only that it would be difficult if there weren't any towns to buy supplies, nor any maps so she could see where she was and where she was going.

[azzale4]

"Then it's a deal, you show me around until we find my partner digimon."

SnowAgumon stared at Haruka's outstretched hand. What was she supposed to do? Oh yeah! She was supposed to shake it right? That's what her other human friends had told her. She grabbed the humans hand as carefully as she could with her own scaly, clawed hand. She shook it up and down enthusiastically, probably scratching the girl's softer, smoother hand.

"So I have a couple more questions."

SnowAgumon nodded sheepishly. "Of course, of course! Ask away!" She told Haruka, happy to be of help to her new friend. She grinned. She liked this human, a girl after her own heart. SnowAgumon always wanted to know everything and share it with others; Haruka had been constantly asking questions since the two had met. SnowAgumon liked this human a lot.

"Okay, first, do the digivices normally match the digimon partners? And second, what other levels do digimon come in other than Rookie? Like, are there any levels below that you had to go through first? And what levels can you become later if you have a digivice?"

She poked her nose and thought about Haruka's questions. "Well Harukamon, I think most digivices match their human's digimon partner, but it is hard to tell because most digimon have different colors through their individual levels." She blinked her huge blue eyes. "And also Harukamon; there are many different levels or digivolutions as we call them. every digimon progresses through the basic digivolution levels. The basic level digivolutions in order are: Fresh/Baby, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, Mega. There are also digivolutions like; Armour, Warp, and a few other harder to reach digivolutions."

She gave the long lecture without pausing. If she did she would have lost her train of thought. "For example Harukamon, I am a rookie so I have already gone through my Fresh and In-Training forms. I still have my Champion, Ultimate and Mega digivolutions to go through, along with my harder to reach form." She got up to stir the fire a bit with her claws, to keep it going.

She looked back at the human and for once she remembered what she had been talking about "My Fresh form is Punimon and my In-Training form is Tsunemon, I don't know what my higher level forms are, I haven't reached them yet. Oh, and by the way, we digimon can revert back to our lower level forms when we run out of energy." She gave a happy sniff. She was proud she had so much information to share.

[haruka]

Haruka just sat and smiled as the digimon began to explain herself and how the digivolutions, as she called them, exactly worked. By now, she had exhausted all of the questions she could think of off of the top of her head, and wasn't inspired to ask any more based on the replies she had just gotten. "So, how about we go explore?" she asked, curious to see the rest of the world. She knew it was cold out, but she was never going to get out of the cold area unless she walked straight through it. "Perhaps start heading for a warmer climate." she finished with a bit of a laugh. She was very truthful about wanting to find a warmer climate, but the way she said it was a bit joking in tone.

Rubbing her hands together one last time in front of the fire, Haruka stood up and did a few extra stretches for good measure. Stretching would not only help her get loose enough to walk in the cold, but would help warm her muscles up a bit more before embarking on the soon to come journey. Being so athletic, she knew this was the best way to prepare, and she would have done so earlier if she had known that she would be hurled into a frozen forest.

"You can call me Harumon or Rukamon for short if you like." she offered to the digimon. Haruka simply didn't like long names, but she did find the 'mon' suffix to her name rather cute. "So if you're calling me by a nickname, would you mind suggesting a nickname that I can call you?" It seemed only fair for the both of them to pick a nickname that they would be comfortable with being called. Haruka didn't want to offend her new friend by calling her something that she wouldn't like, so she left the choice up to the little white dino.

[azzale4]

"So, how about we go explore?""Perhaps start heading for a warmer climate."

SnowAgumon nodded, a bit embarrassed. She should have thought of that before! "Ok! Where should we go? Somewhere warm...... somewhere close...... THAT'S IT! Infinity Mountain! We should go there. It's a volcano that's supposed to have something evil lurking in the heart of it. Plenty of adventure, and plenty warm." Her tail wagged excitedly. It was one of the few places on File Island she hadn't been to before. She wanted to go and explore before, but her friends had been too scared to go and it wasn't a place one went on one's own.

She got up and was about to stoke the fire, when she had a revelation. Wouldn't Harukamon freeze in the cold while they were walking to the mountain? She pondered this for a moment. She couldn't think of a good idea, so she decided to ask Harukamon. "Harukamon, won't you get too cold trying to walk there though?"

"You can call me Harumon or Rukamon for short if you like.""So if you're calling me by a nickname, would you mind suggesting a nickname that I can call you?"

SnowAgumon grinned. "Ok! Harumon and Rukamon." She cooed. "Oh! And you can call me Snow or Snowy if you like. It's shorter than SnowAgumon and easier to remember." She told her friend happily. "Some of my friends call me that."

[haruka]

"Awesome! Infinity Mountain it is then!" Haruka shouted excitedly as she continued with her warm-ups. She couldn't help but notice the little tail wag, and it took every ounce of control she had not to attack the little thing in a hug. Her personality was just too cute, and as she spent more time with her new friend, the more she attached that title to the digimon as a whole.

While she continued her stretches, the little white digimon asked her if she would get cold on the journey. "That's why I'm doing 'warm-ups' before we leave." she answered smartly. "I'm getting my blood going so that there's more of it to keep me warm in the cold. I'm hoping that the journey won't take too long, but if I start getting cold again I'll let you know so we can find another place to get warm again." she finished with a cheery and confident smile.

The teenager couldn't help but giggle when she heard both options of her nicknames cooed from the SnowAgumon. When she had offered up her own nicknames, Haruka just couldn't hold it in anymore. Falling into a fit of giggles, she wrapped her arms around the white monster and gave her the warmest hug she could muster. "You are just too cute!" she exclaimed.

While she may be a tomboy, Haruka was still very much a female. Most of the videogames that she liked the best involved monsters that beat each other up and were all quite ugly so that you never really got attached to them. This one, however, was looking to be her favorite due to the cuteness of the first monster she had met.

After her laughter began to die down, she released her grip on the dinosaur and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Alright Snowy, what say we start heading to this Infinity Mountain? I'm up for an adventure." she said before standing up and heading to the mouth of the cave and grabbing a mound of snow before taking it back to put out the fire.

[azzale4]

"That's why I'm doing 'warm-ups' before we leave.""I'm getting my blood going so that there's more of it to keep me warm in the cold. I'm hoping that the journey won't take too long, but if I start getting cold again I'll let you know so we can find another place to get warm again."

SnowAgumon gazed at Harumon in awe. She was so smart! She thought of so many things that the digimon never even considered! "Oh! I see! Your so smart Harumon!" She said with admiration. She smiled back at the human. She was just getting more and more excited being around this human.

"You are just too cute!"

The hug was surprising but in no way unwanted. She returned it with all the affection she could muster. She even went so far as to lick Harumon on the cheek. It was surprising to her that she had done such a thing. She had never done so before now. All the same, she was radiating joy. "You too! You too! You too!" She whined happily. Her whole body wriggled with excitement now. She looked, for all the world, like a puppy when its master had just pet it and told it that they were going to take it out for a walk. She turned her big blue eyes on the human, begging for more attention, more love.

"Alright Snowy, what say we start heading to this Infinity Mountain? I'm up for an adventure."

"Alrighty! Lets go!" She grabbed some snow and helped Harukamon douse the fire. She then grabbed the girls hand and led her out into the frigid cold air. She barely felt the cold, but she was sure the human could. She led the girl away from the cave. Over to the frozen river. The started walking along it, following the path it cut through the endless white snow.

[haruka]

Haruka had never been as into a new videogame that she had previously known nothing about ahead of time as she was with this one. The graphics and details were so clear cut, and it even brought in the senses. She didn't even have to hook anything up for it. Honestly, she felt as though she could play this game for hours and lose track of time more easily than any of her other games. She only wondered what the rest of the game would be like, but she felt as though she had asked enough questions already. She would just have to wait and see for herself what surprises this world would hold for her.

She was surprised to find that the snow white creature was quite warm when they hugged. All she had felt before were the little girl's claws, and they were pretty scratchy and cold from the surroundings. In the midst of the hug, she felt something wet on her cheek and squealed in laughter. The SnowAgumon had just licked her! It was positively the cutest thing ever to be licked by something that could talk, and it reminded her of her friends back in Kyoto. As she thought of the friends she no longer got to see, her laughter slowly quieted as she went to douse the fire. She was ready for an adventure, but now that her friends were on her mind, it was going to take a while for her to get her spirits back to where they had been a moment ago.

Though she was still smiling and laughing as she followed Snowy to the frozen river nearby, her heart was feeling a bit heavy as she remembered that she was supposed to have joined those friends for an online campaign on their favorite MMO. She was missing a rare chance to chat and play a game with the friends that she missed so much, but at the same time she was making a new friend that was just like them.

Though she was missing her friends, she still couldn't help but snicker as Snowy began to actually walk on the river of ice. She figured that if the digimon was comfortable enough with walking on the ice that it must be frozen solid enough to support her weight. If so, it would most likely support Haruka's weight as well. "Wait for me, I'm not as familiar with walking on the ice as you are." she called out as she walked slowly. Falling on the ice was definitely something she did not want to do, especially since she didn't exactly have the right kind of clothes on for such cold weather.