Disclaimer: Hello, don’t sue me. I don’t own Digimon or anything remotely related to the topic except a few original characters and a certain plot idea to be implemented into this fic. As always, review or else I’ll torture you to death with really lame jokes about plastic army men.

DigitalWar:

Campaign II:

Cotramon had pulled me into a coffee shop half an hour ago. No sooner were we inside when the rain hit. Just like he said, I thought. The lightning started none too soon after that, streaking across the sky in brilliant purples and blues.

The coffee shop was crowded with people. Most of them got up to leave when we came in, but sat back down when the downpour started. Evidently, they’d rather share a coffee shop with two monsters rather than risking ruining their drinks in the rain.

Cotramon was a puzzling creature. Apparently, he had been a doctor during what he called the Great War. He also said that his name used to be Grey, for the Digimon he had originally been. That right there had been enough to confuse the crap out of me.

Currently, I voiced my distress, making it very clear that he was annoying me more than patrons of the café we were sitting in. “You’re bugging me,” I told him flatly. “You have yet to explain what most of what you’re talking about is.”

He sniffed the air. “Coffee?”

I glared at him menacingly. “Tell me what I want to know and then you can have your damn coffee.” He shook his head.

“No deal. Coffee first, then answers.” I had not been having any luck with the word coffee today. Every time I heard the word, something had happened. “Coffee?” he repeated.

“My wallet’s in the back pocket of my jeans.” He picked through the remnants of my former attire. “The black thing,” I said. “Yeah, that’s it.” Stupid paws.

He opened it and walked up to the front counter. What I find surprising is that he actually expected service. So when the clerk said to get out, he started complaining and asking for the manager of the café. The clerk was the manager. He sat back down with me, muttering under his breath at how rude humans are. “I can’t believe that. Any Digimon would have served him, despite his boorish behavior and weakness.”

“Could be worse.” He looked at me skeptically. “We cou—rrld… could be stuck out there.” A quick burst of lighting lit up the sky as I said it, as if to emphasize my point. Cotramon nodded in agreement as the thunder rolled by.

I surveyed the restaurant. A couple of students from my school were there, staring at me with apprehensive expressions on their faces. I didn’t know any of them personally, but just about everyone knew me as the student who just couldn’t make it.

Cotramon was doing the same. Although, he had a bit more of a relaxed attitude, almost as if he thought he was normal. He smiled at the students, waved at the manager as if nothing had happened.

One of the students made eye contact. I jumped, startled at his calmness. I cocked my head and he got up, smiling. Cotramon was surprised as well. He turned to me and asked if I knew him.

“Even if I did know him, he probably wouldn’t recognize me anyway,” I replied. The boy was to us now, towering over my three-foot height and Cotramon’s four and a half feet.

He stood about six feet with a thin build. He looked to me to be distinctly Eastern- European. He addressed me directly. “Coffee?” Cotramon shook his head quickly. “Alright,” he said and walked to the front counter.

I overheard him speaking with the manager. “Two lattes and a mocha frappachino,” he said softly. “And put one of the lattes in a bigcup.” The attendant shook his head and asked what he was doing. The boy responded, “Helping your business a little.”

The manager sighed and walked off to make our munchies. The European-looking boy came back to us minutes later with a tray, two cups, and a large bowl for me. “Here,” he said, setting the bowl down before me. “Can’t be easy not having hands.”

“What do you want,” I asked shortly. Somehow, I had the peculiar feeling that he was playing us. “You never said a word to me before. Now that I’m a freak you think you can put pride aside and improve your image?”

To me, he was a prep student. I hate preps. They’re egotistical, cruel and stupid. Did I mention that they’re always looking for ways to make themselves look good? Even if it means being nice to an unpopular.

“I’ve never seen you before this,” he said. His eyes glinted. He definitely wanted something. “Do you mind if I sit?”

“Yes, w…”

“Nope,” Cotramon interrupted me. I growled at him and he backed away a step. “Go ahead and sit. Nothing wrong with that.” He pulled out a chair and sat down. “What’s your name?”

“Isaac,” he answered. “Isaac Marx. You?”

“Cotramon. It used to be Grey, but that changed with the body.”

Isaac nodded. “How about you?” He looked down at me. “What’s your name?”

“Eli.” I started in on the latte, lapping it up like a dog. Stupid paws.

“What are you?”

“He’s a Digimon,” Cotramon explained. “We both are, but he’s half human too.” He patted me on the back and I growled again.

“So, Eli? That’s short for Elijah, right?” I confirmed. He made a pathetic attempt at small talk. “Ya know, Elijah was a prophet? Called down fire from…”

“I don’t care.”

Cotramon obviously did. “Finally!” he exclaimed in delight. “Finally a human who has an understanding of the Creator!” He lifted his eyes to the sky and mouthed a thank you.

I hate religious zealots. This was going to be annoying. They’re gonna start on all that biblical nonsense now. I snapped back to the present.

“You know God?” Isaac said, puzzled at Cotramon’s reference. “I wouldn’t have thought that a monster would have any knowledge about the prophets.”

“Who do you think created our world?”

I was right. Nonsense. “Let me finish my latte in peace, please!”

My temporary partner scowled at me. “I don’t say anything about your snotty attitude, so let us talk.” Isaac laughed. I continued on my drink, finishing it and waiting. Cotramon continued, “The Creator works a lot more directly in our world than yours though.”

“Nowadays at least.” Cotramon shrugged. “How direct does He work?”

Cotramon pointed to me. I rolled my eyes. “Believe it or not, sense the Creation he’s been the most direct thing anyone’s seen. Ever.”

Bull crap.

“You’re kidding?” He didn’t believe it either, thank god.

“Thank god,” what am I saying?

“There’s a war going on against a demon from the Hell Crew. He’s the one prophesized to stop him. His son.”

“He’s a demon!?” He looked at me expectantly. I shrugged. “Granted he’s sort of an ass, but he can’t be that bad! What else did that prophecy say?”

“That he would have the form of a well known war hero.” The Digimon paused for effect. “He has it, so it has to be him. I’m looking to find a human for him so he gets a fair test.”

“Test?”

“Power, speed, defense and the like. Interested?”

“What!” both of us shouted. He did not say what I think he said, did he?

“You can’t be serious,” I said. “Shouldn’t I have some say in it? It is my test after all. And I don’t like him.” I gestured at Isaac, knowing Cotramon was going to be pissed.

“If I gave you any say, you wouldn’t have me either.”

"Bloody strait! You tried to kill me!”

“How was I supposed to know? I thought it was a trick!”

We were drawing attention to ourselves with our “heated” debate. Honestly, I didn’t care. “You said yourself that I have the right form! Why didn’t you think about that for a second? Are you really that dumb?”

“Five hundred and thirty years old,” Cotramon said through clenched teeth, “and you call me dumb. Five hundred years of experience and you call me dumb! I have half a mind…”

“There’s a surprise,” I stated simply. “I would’ve guessed an eighth at most.”

Isaac whistled. “You two sure get at it, don’t you?” Ah, the voice of reason. “He burned you good, didn’t he Cotramon?” The Digimon nodded deafly. “I wouldn’t have guessed you to be five hundred years old.”

“Curse you,” I grouched. “Just when I was getting into my groove. Youhad to ruin it, didn’t you?”

He nodded proudly. “And before you exchanged blows, too. Sometimes I even impress myself.” Did I mention that preps are egotistical? “As for the earlier question,” he turned to Cotramon. “Eh, yeah. Sure I’m interested.”

His mood changed instantly from brooding to almost exultation. “Great, fantastic, isn’t it Eli?” I sighed and nodded, knowing I wouldn’t win. “Pack for a week. You can do any laundry you need to at the palace in Anshar.”

“Pack? For a week?” He hadn’t expected that, greatly to my entertainment. “Eh, what for?”

“He is to be tested by the Sovereigns in Anshar, our capital city. And he needs a Tamer for a fair test.” What was it about these two and talking about me like I wasn’t there?

“Why a week?”

“A week’s worth of cloths can be carried efficiently,” Cotramon replied. “We’ll be there for a about a month, but you wash up easily.”

Isaac slumped in his chair. “I can’t miss a month of school, my parents would kill me.”

“They’ll probably close school for a month,” I snapped. “You don’t have to go anyway. Stay home if you don’t like it.”

“If I’m going, I’m going only so I can irk him.”

I started to protest, but Cotramon cut me off. “That settles it then,” he stated joyously. “Go home and pack. We’ll meet you in two hours at the bridge thing over the railroad tracks.”

“The Viaduct,” I corrected.

“Yeah, the bridge thing.”

“That’s its name, genius.”

We started to leave, but were stopped by Isaac. “How am I supposed to explain this to my parents? You honestly think that they’re just going to let me skip a week of school for nothing?”

“Ok, we’ll come with you.”

This time, I did protest. I protested loudly. They dragged me out of the café kicking, screaming, swearing, and anything else I could do to get them to let go of me. It didn’t work. In retrospect, a good Helios Flare would have fairly gotten them to back off rather quickly. Sadly enough, this didn’t occur to me at any point during my trials with them.

Not more than ten minutes later, we were walking up the front steps to a small house near the fairgrounds. Isaac shut the door behind us. “Mom! I’m home!” A muffled call came from the living room, saying she was glad he was back but that she heard other voices. “Yeah, I brought guests,” he shouted back.

She came in a hurry, the floorboards creaking under her. A heavyset woman emerged from a side hall. She screamed at the sight of us. Isaac tried to calm her, but in the end she fainted.

Cotramon ran to fetch a cup of water and Isaac and I pulled his mother up on a couch. “Well,” Isaac said a moment later; “you sure made an impression on her.”

Stupid body. “Do you have a bathroom?” Isaac looked at me quizzically, then pointed down the hall.

“Second to the right,” he said.

I shut the door and started looking for a mirror. Spotting one attached to the medicine cabinet, I propped my front legs on the counter and stared. I looked myself over good, discovering nothing that I didn’t already expect.

I was completely covered in scales, mostly red with a few black bands on my tail. And my tail. Thick, heavy, and easily used as a weapon. Someone was thinking. I yawned, catching sight of my teeth. Fangs. Also, easily used as a weapon. If I were going to fight, I’d have everything I need to win.

I dropped back to all fours and sighed. Paws, I though miserably. Why does crap always happen to me? I tried to open my claws. Four inch-and-a-half-blades popped out of my foot. Retracting them, I did the same with my right. Stupid paws.

When I exited the bathroom, Isaac’s mother was wide-awake. She gave a disconcerted shout when she saw me, but quickly regained her composure. Cotramon laughed at the sight and Isaac introduced me.

“Hello,” she said hesitantly. “I’m Isaac’s mom, Sue. Pleasure, to—ah—meet you.” She smiled at me. I tried to be polite and smiled back. She gasped, looking afraid. “Like I said, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Elijah.”

She held out a hand. “Forgive me if I don’t shake,” I said when she retracted her hand. “And its Eli.”

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I heard on the radio that there was some kind of attack on the school today.” She turned her eyes away from us. “I take it that they had something to do with it?”

Isaac nodded. “It was just a misunderstanding,” he said. “Cotramon thought that Eli was going to kill everyone. But that’s it.” His mother gave a relieved sigh. “Nothing much else to say, except that they want me to go to their world with them,” he spoke quickly.

I groaned. Knowing what was coming, I laid down on the floor. Cotramon had the same idea and busied himself with a magazine. Sue started with the basics like “what,” and “why,” and then moved on to saying that he couldn’t go.

Isaac answered during the “basics” phase and then when she progressed to the “no” phase, he started the “but mom” stage. Not long after, Sue started with the desperate pleas for her son not to go. Isaac countered with the “I Have to Go” speech, followed shortly by the “My Friends Need Me” lecture.

She finally conceded, ending in the “Don’t Do Anything Dangerous” discourse. She looked over Cotramon who was just finishing the magazine. “Can I at least know why he has to go?”

“My interim Tamer is going to be tested on his combat skills. He needs a human for it to be a fare test.” Finally, she gave the ok for him to leave. Not that I wanted him to leave, but I had the feeling that if I failed, I would die.