36Digital Grand Order
Chapter 2: Brand New World
Disclaimer: I do not Digimon or Fate/Grand Order.
As Ritsuka slowly started to regain consciousness, several memories of what had transpired earlier flashed through his mind. From finding Mash scolding Sanzang in his room, to clicking on that glowing butterfly icon on his laptop screen, and then that was followed by his room starting to shake uncontrollably before his vision was engulfed by a bright flash of light. The last thing he remembered seeing was a literal rainbow of colors surging towards him before everything went dark.
Just as his mind came to terms with the visual onslaught, Ritsuka suddenly became aware of three things around his body. The first thing was that he was now lying on his back. Second was the fact that he was lying down on warm grass and dirt instead of the cold, polished floors he's come to know in Chaldea. And third there was something small, possibly Fou, moving around on his chest, casually stepping all over him with four little feet before stopping to stand on his chest. Ritsuka swore he could hear that Fou was sniffing him as it stepped a little closer to his face. The sniffing soon stopped as he felt a large, slimy tongue started to lick up across his cheek, the fleshy organ leaving behind a trail of sticky and surprisingly hot saliva in its wake.
"Quit it Fou, I'm getting up already..." Ritsuka thought groggily as 'Fou' kept licking him with his abnormally hot tongue...
The young man's eyes snapped open as he remembered that Fou's tongue wasn't nearly that big or even hot to begin with and soon found that he was staring into the bright eyes of a small creature standing on his chest, a big pink tongue hanging loosely out of its mouth as it stared straight back into Ritsuka's own blue orbs.
"Uh… Hello there?" Ritsuka asked as calmly as he possibly could to the little red creature on his chest, its yellow eyes staring wide eyed into his blue orbs as it pulled its tongue back into its mouth. Ritsuka then noticed that he was in the middle of what appeared to be a forest based on the number of trees that surrounded him.
In less than a minute after he spoke, the little red creature immediately jumped off of Ritsuka's chest to take on a defensive position a few feet away from the young man, allowing Ritsuka raise himself off the ground onto his elbows to get a better look at the little red animal. The creature's body was completely covered in red scales except for the black marks under each of its yellow eyes and the white scales that covered its little belly. The little reptile had four stubby little legs and a large tail sprouting from its posterior that ended in a black tip. Despite its cute appearance, the little reptile had some impressive fangs hidden within its mouth that Ritsuka would've never noticed if said creature wasn't growling at him. The most interesting feature Ritsuka noted were the wing-like appendages that were sprouting from its head, they reminded him of the dragon wings he's seen Elizabeth sprout from her back or the wings of those damn wyverns that kept on appearing everywhere. Overall, the little red reptile reminded of him of a cuter, baby version of a dragon like Tarasque, instead of something more malevolent like Fafnir or the various wyverns he's encountered since Orleans.
While Ritsuka was making observations in his head about the mysterious creature before him from where he sat on the forest floor, the miniature wingless dragon was crouching low to ground with its tail raised into the air. The little red dragon then roared loudly towards the curious human, showing off its impressive fangs in an attempt to look more menacing.
"Aww, that's adorable!" Ritsuka blurted out loud, a smile unconsciously forming on his face as the young man was completely captivated by the stubby red dragon's attempt at intimidation since its roar was more squeaky than spine tingling. It didn't help that certain servants were a lot better at the snarling game than the little guy in front of him like Lobo, Gorgon, a hungry Jaguar Man, and Jeanne Alter whenever she finds him spending time with Saber Alter after his adventure in the Shinjuku Sub-Singularity. The little red dragon just hissed squeakily in response to the young man's comment, apparently trying to keep up an intimidating face despite its apparent lack of effect on Ritsuka.
"Hmmm… You're a lot smarter than you look, right little guy?" Ritsuka stated softly despite the glare the miniature red dragon was giving him, the young man could tell just from looking into those big yellow eyes that the little guy was more scared of him than it was willing to admit if the way it was growling was any indication.
"I wonder why he was crawling on top of me earlier. He clearly wasn't trying to hurt me based on the way he was licking my face. Maybe he was just taste testing me to see if I was edible?" Ritsuka pondered to himself as he kept his eyes on the little red dragon standing several feet away in front of him, the little guy was not moving an inch from its spot despite growling and glaring at the young man.
"Maybe he's never seen a human before? I think Geronimo once mentioned that there were places with animals that lacked a natural fear towards human due to lack of contact with human beings. Maybe the same concept applies to Demonic Beasts or whatever type of dragon this little guy is…" He thought inwardly, remembering the Native American Caster's teachings on hunting and survival in the wilderness. It didn't help that the way this little dragon woke him up kept reminding him of how Fou found him during his first day at Chaldea.
"So I guess I'm in a forest now instead of Chaldea…" Ritsuka muttered to himself as he looked at the various trees and plants that were growing around the clearing he found himself in, never taking his eyes off the little red dragon for longer than necessary.
Said dragon just kept glaring at him as it took a few steps to back away from the human. Seeing that the little dragon was not moving to attack him, Ritsuka could only scratch at the back of his head in light of his current predicament.
"Well I better find out what's going on before everyone in Chaldea starts to panic." Ritsuka stated simply with a small sigh, he can already imagine some of his Servants like Kiyohime or Tamamo or even worse, Raikou, going crazy about his sudden disappearance while Da Vinci tried to reign in the chaos.
Before he could get up to do something about his situation, Ritsuka heard a much louder growl come from the little dragon but this was much more guttural in nature compared to its squeaky roar from earlier. It was then that Ritsuka noticed that the little guy was wavering on its stubby legs, barely able to keep its small body from collapsing onto the ground as it tried to hold itself up defiantly. Ritsuka just looked into the little dragon's yellow eyes and despite its earlier glare, the young man could see that the little guy was actually more scared and hungry than angry.
Ritsuka pondered over his choices for a minute before moving up into a sitting position, causing the little red dragon to refocus its attention back onto the human teen.
"Easy there little fella, I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to get something out for you. I'm pretty sure you're going to like it. Probably..." The master stated with his left hand raised in the air in a placating manner to show he didn't mean any harm as he pulled out a piece of his baguette from out of his pocket. The little red dragon kept growling as it watched Ritsuka bend down and offer the baked treat to it, smiling gently to show he didn't mean any harm.
Ritsuka watched quietly as the little dragon's eyes shifted from him to the baguette in his hands a couple of times before focusing entirely on the loaf of French bread. The little red creature sniffed the offered loaf for a minute before its eyes widened in surprise. It then suddenly snatched the bread with its jaws and started devouring the French loaf like there was no tomorrow.
"What a hungry little guy…" Ritsuka muttered, slightly awed as he watched the little dragon devour the bread at a breakneck pace that would make Artoria proud. "Well I hope that makes you feel better. Take care of yourself, little guy." Ritsuka said kindly as he waved good bye to the little red dragon and started walking away towards the edge of the forest clearing, slowly pondering if he was the only one that was transported from Chaldea by that mysterious light.
"Hey do you have any more of that delicious stuff?" A high pitched voice asked from out of nowhere, causing the young man to stop in his tracks and turn around to see who had called out to him.
"Hey! I'm down here!" The same voice called out from below, causing the male teen to look down to see the same little red dragon staring right at him with its big yellow eyes. Ritsuka could only blink in surprise as his mind processed what was happening.
"Wait... you can talk?" Ritsuka asked calmly but politely, not sure if this was a good or bad thing considering his extensive history with such beings.
"Of course I can! Why wouldn't I be able to?" The little dragon responded curiously, not understanding the reason behind the human teen's question.
"That's... a really good point actually." Ritsuka admitted while scratching the back of his head. "So you wanted something from me, uh... shoot, uh, I really don't know what to call you or what you even are. Do you have a name, little guy?" Ritsuka asked politely as he bent down to make sure he didn't tower over the little red dragon.
"My name's Gigimon! I'm a Digimon just like you!" The now named Gigimon answered cheerfully with a hop, missing the confused look on the teen's face.
"Digimon..." Ritsuka muttered to himself, before images of Arcadiamon and that Crimson Knight quickly flashed to the forefront of his mind.
Eyes widening in realization, Ritsuka turned his full attention towards Gigimon. "I'm sorry, but it is alright if you can tell me what is a Digimon exactly? I'm kind of lost here." Ritsuka asked nicely, hoping the little guy could clear things up for him.
"You don't know? Well that's easy! A Digimon is a Digital Monster, just like me!" Gigimon happily explained, causing Ritsuka to raise his eyebrow at Gigimon's peculiar choice of words.
"Digital Monsters, huh? I wonder if it's similar to the Alter Egos BB created or are these Digimon something completely different…" The young man began to ponder, curious by what the Lesser Digimon meant by his choice of words.
"So what kind of Digimon are you? I've never seen someone like you in the forest before today." The red Digimon asked curiously, his yellow eyes shining brightly as he stared at the human teen in anticipation. Ritsuka snapped out of his thoughts at the little Digimon's question and turned his full attention back to Gigimon.
"Sorry, but I'm not a Digimon like you. I'm a human." Ritsuka explained, causing the little Digimon to tilt his head at Ritsuka's explanation.
"A Humon…? I've never heard of a Digimon like that, Humon." Gigimon stated curiously, causing the young master of Chaldea to be taken aback at the little Digimon's reply, having not expected that kind of answer.
"Wait, no you got me all wrong there buddy. I'm not a Digimon. I'm a human and my name's Ritsuka Fujimaru, not Humon." Ritsuka tried to explain the misunderstanding which just caused the little Digimon to adopt a confused look on his face.
"RitsukaFujimarumon? That's a really big mouthful to say. No wonder you said were a Humon, I'd bite my tongue if I had to say that five times fast." Gigimon stated befuddled by the human teen. Ritsuka almost face faulted at Gigimon's reply and just settled for just sighing and scratching his cheek at how his attempts at explaining himself were just causing Gigimon a headache.
"No my name's not that either. You can just call me Ritsuka, ok? Does that sound alright to you Gigimon?" Ritsuka asked calmly in an understanding tone, hoping to not confuse the little Digimon anymore.
"Sure thing Ritsukamon! See, that sounds much better!" Gigimon replied happily, causing Ritsuka to just chuckle in acceptance at the little Digimon's attempt at his name.
"Close enough I guess." Ritsuka replied, content with Gigimon getting his name partially right at least. "So what did you want from me?" The teen asked towards the little Digimon.
"I wanted to know if you had any more of that delicious food you gave me earlier." Gigimon said excitedly, the Digimon's mouth was already salivating at the thought of getting to eat more bread. Ritsuka could only blink in response to Gigimon's request before pulling out his phone and as he opened it up, Gigimon could only watch with curious eyes as saliva dripped down the corners of his mouth. The phone's screen then lit up as a baguette materialized out of it into the young man's hands, the bread was just as fresh as it was when the teen received it back from Emiya in Chaldea's Cafeteria.
"Is this what you wanted, Gigimon?" Ritsuka asked calmly as he held out the baguette to the red Digimon only for Gigimon to quickly leap up and snatch the bread out of his hands. "I'll take that as a yes." Ritsuka stated plainly as he watched Gigimon devour the baguette at a breakneck pace, impressed by how the dragon-like Digimon ate at a rate comparable to any of the Artoria's when they were eating a snack.
"So before I go try to find my way home, can you tell me exactly where we are, Gigimon?" Ritsuka asked as he stood back up to his full height as Gigimon stopped eating to glance up at the young man, bread crumbs completely covering the little Digimon's mouth.
"Oh we're in the Digital World! Didn't you know that Ritsukamon?" Gigimon explained happily, almost sounding surprised that the human didn't know where he was before quickly resuming his meal. Ritsuka could only raise an eyebrow in surprise at Gigimon's nonplussed answer, acting as if Ritsuka had just asked him if the sky was blue. Ritsuka then looked up into the sky and past the tree line he could see that the sky in the Digital World was indeed blue with white clouds floating by. However, the longer he looked up the more he noticed that white nearly invisible lines etched across the sky almost looking like a circuit board he'd see inside computers.
"The Digital World? Well this is certainly new…" Ritsuka stated aloud, starting to notice a pattern going on here but decided to put that line of thought on the backburner for now as he looked around the forest grove to see where he should start walking.
"Well thanks for the talk Gigimon but I better get going. See you around little buddy. I hope you enjoyed the bread!" Ritsuka said gratefully to the little Digimon before walking away towards an opening between the trees big enough for him to casually walk through without any problems. Gigimon had just finished his meal when he heard Ritsuka's farewell and looked up to see the human walking away.
"Hey wait! Where are you going Ritsukamon?" Gigimon shouted as he chased after Ritsuka, causing the young man to stop in his tracks and turn his attention back to the little reptile Digimon. "The Misty Forest is filled with all kinds of vicious Digimon that won't hesitate to delete you and absorb your data if you're not careful!" Gigimon exclaimed loudly, baring his fangs in a snapping motion to illustrate his point.
"Well I need to figure out a way to go back to my home in Chaldea." Ritsuka explained to the little red Digimon as he stopped walking to let him catch up. "I can't exactly stand around doing nothing in a forest when I know I'm needed elsewhere. Besides, this isn't the first time I've been separated from Chaldea, so I think I'll take my chances with this forest. Besides I'm sure I'll be able to get in contact with Da Vinci soon enough." The young man explained, sounding confident about his situation while pushing back his mystic code's sleeve to reveal his wrist communicator.
"Oh what's that Ritsukamon?" Gigimon asked as he started climbing up onto Ritsuka's shoulder to get a better look at the device.
"It's a communicator I got when I first received my mystic code. It allows them to be able to track where I am in a Singularity and contact me even if I were to be suddenly rayshifted somewhere else." Ritsuka explained as Gigimon perched himself atop the young man's right shoulder, the little red Digimon just nodded his head despite not understanding most of what the young man had said.
"I see. But why hasn't this Chaldea place called or come looking for you yet? Sagittarimon would've come looking for me right away if I got lost." Gigimon asked simply, causing Ritsuka to furrow his brow in contemplation, with him agreeing with Gigimon on how strange it is that he hasn't received a single call from Chaldea. The fact his wrist communicator hasn't made a sound since he woke up didn't help, especially since Chaldea kept track of his movements and kept him in contact with the control room whenever he was traversing a singularity.
Turning on the communicator to check to see if it was working properly, Ritsuka and Gigimon watched quietly as the device turned on and projected a static filled screen in the air.
"Is it supposed to be all staticky like that, Ritsukamon?" Gigimon asked curiously with his head tilted slightly, trying to see if he could hear anything beyond the wall of crackling noise.
"No Gigimon. No it shouldn't." Ritsuka answered calmly with a hint of concern to his voice, having not expected to see pure static before turning off the device.
"Well this was certainly a bust. Now what should I do…" Ritsuka muttered to himself, unsure of what course of action he should take now that it was clear he wasn't going to be receiving any help from Chaldea for the time being.
"Maybe the reception's just bad here? Sometimes screens like that get static when there's bad reception." Gigimon offered his opinion on the matter, causing Ritsuka's eyes to widen in realization at the possibility.
"Hey you're right Gigimon! That must be why I can't get a connection through to Chaldea right now." Ritsuka stated gratefully to the little Digimon perched on his right shoulder. "Maybe if I can get to a better location the static will clear up enough for me to get a proper signal from Chaldea and establish a connection back to them so Da Vinci can figure out how to get me back!" He wondered aloud to himself before remembering he wasn't alone and turned his attention towards the little red Digimon on his right shoulder.
"Hey Gigimon, you wouldn't happen to know a way out of this forest right?" Ritsuka asked his strange new companion.
"Of course I do!" Gigimon replied with a bark as he hopped off of Ritsuka onto the ground before the human teen. "I know the Misty Forest like the black tip of my own tail. I can get us out of this forest before the sun sets in no time!" Gigimon proclaimed proudly, his tail wagging happily behind him. "But wait…" Gigimon stopped suddenly, looking down at the ground with a conflicted expression.
"Something wrong Gigimon?" Ritsuka asked as he took a few steps closer and crouched down to see what was bothering the little Digimon.
"I came to this part of the forest to find Sagittarimon. He hasn't come back for several days now and I'm starting to get worried." Gigimon explained, pacing back and forth on the grassy floor with his little legs as Ritsuka took in his words.
"So who's Sagittarimon? Is he a friend of yours?" Ritsuka asked simply, curious about his new friend's problem.
"No. He's a hermit who lives next to my home. He told me to not bother him if I'm going to live near him." Gigimon explained to the human, causing him to raise an eyebrow in confusion at the Digimon's explanation.
"So why are you looking for him then? It sounds like this guy wants to be alone rather than be with others." Ritsuka stated bluntly, waiting to hear Gigimon's answer.
"I know he doesn't sound like a nice Digimon but he's the only Digimon that I can talk to anymore. Every other Digimon either runs away or attacks me when I get close to them. He's the first Digimon I met who hasn't tried to run me off." Gigimon explained, his earlier cheer was now replaced with a more morose tone as his tail dragged across the dirt. Ritsuka could only frown at the glum look of his newest pal before reaching his arm out to pet Gigimon on his head.
"We should probably get started looking for Sagittarimon while we still have daylight out." Ritsuka declared bluntly as he stood up to stretch his legs after crouching so long to Gigimon's surprise. "I can't exactly leave you all alone in this forest after you offered to help me out with my problem. So why don't we make each other a deal." Ritsuka stated with a grin as he got on one knee in front of the surprised Digimon.
"I'll help you find your friend and you help me find my way out of this forest so I can start searching for a way back to Chaldea. What do you say Gigimon? Want to team up with me?" Ritsuka asked with a friendly grin, his right hand outstretched to the little dragon-like Digimon.
"Of course, Ritsukamon!" Gigimon replied excitedly, jumping up to high five the young man's hand with one of his little legs. "Hey, where should we start looking for Sagittarimon Ritsukamon?" Gigimon asked excitedly, his tail wagging rapidly behind him as Ritsuka stood back up, holding his chin in contemplation about his new friend's predicament.
"Well, according to a certain detective I know, the first thing we should do when searching for a missing person is to start our investigation where our suspect was last seen." Ritsuka explained, paraphrasing something he had heard Holmes say once. "Do you remember where was the last place you saw Sagittarimon, Gigimon?"
"Like the black spot on my tail! Follow me Ritsukamon!" Gigimon said with a salute before scampering off towards another opening in the clearing. Ritsuka took one look back at his wrist communicator before looking up past the tree line to the blue circuit-like sky, the sun still shining high with white cloud floating slowly across the sky.
"Looks like I'm off on a new adventure Mash. I promise I'll be back home soon…" Ritsuka muttered to himself before running after Gigimon deeper into the forest, unaware that he was being watched as a small purple and white creature revealed herself from her hiding spot in the tree branches. The unknown Digimon watched with her golden eyes as the human followed after the red In-Training Digimon deeper into the Misty forest until they were out of sight.
"C'est magnifique! An actual human! The master will be most pleased when I deliver the news to him." The Digimon muttered to herself with a wicked grin of sharp, knife like teeth as she spread her bat-like wings and took to the air from her perch before flying past the tree line of the forest. She swiftly made a beeline to the towering mountain in the distance where her master awaited her report…
To be continued…
Okay, first things first, I owe all of you a massive apology for how long this chapter took to be made and I am dreadfully sorry to have kept all of you waiting for a story that seemed like it would never be updated. For that, everyone reading this has my utmost thanks for sticking with me this long and I promise to do better for all of you.
Also since it's been so long since I spoke to my Beta-Reader for my other stories and I don't want to bother him when he has his own life to live, I'm looking for a new Beta-Reader to help me polish up this story. You know like check for spelling mistakes, grammar, if I'm using word wrong, if my attempts at any kind of accents need work, that sort of thing.
I'm also looking for someone who knows their way around Nasuverse Lore since all my knowledge comes from Fate/Grand Order and I may miss somethings that others that are more knowledgeable would be able to catch. I want to be able to share notes with someone who can keep me on track since I have this tendency to look beyond the horizon to what I want to write that I often forget to write whats happening between now and then.
Overall, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and the next one will be more action packed due to containing all the content I cut out to allow this chapter to be posted sooner.
I hope to see you all again soon! See Ya! :D