Recreational Disturbance

[Kitt]

Whenever the school bell rang in the late afternoon, desperate grade schoolers were quick to storm out. Why wouldn’t they? One of the few things that kids look forward to throughout the week here was hearing the final bell so they can all go home and then start the process all over again the next day. Rinse and repeat. But still, it was always a frantic race to be the first kid to get out. One would call it a race to freedom, a race to go home, or to put it simply, to go where you belong.

However some kids would want to bask in their freedom a bit longer before returning home. And who wouldn’t? Here at Goldenview, a small town a couple miles outside of Lumen City, children here had a bit more freedom compared to those that lived in the city. Most families at the Acres knew each other, so parents were fairly lax on their kids not coming home immediately, just as long as they got back home before dinner.

To bask in their time outside of the classroom, and the abnormally warm days despite it being late fall, most kids would hang out at Lake Breeze Park, a park situated at the crossroads between the Acres and Lake Bounty. Park goers would get a pleasant view of the lake due to all of the crops having been harvested. Some folks here would call this ‘a view so peaceful that they wouldn’t want to leave.’

Unfortunately, the park had been mostly vacant lately, only it being occupied by no fewer than a dozen kids at max. There has been a rumor throughout the past few days that the park was haunted, at first being spread from schoolmates and then eventually to concern parents. Sometimes visitors would often hear the faint sounds of a child crying; in other cases, one of the swings on the swing set would move on its own. This was enough for kids, teenagers, and adults alike to keep their distance, or to not stay there for longer periods, in fear that if it was haunted, they wouldn't want to upset the spirit that decided to take residency.

But the truth is…Lake Breeze Park was occupied by something, but it wasn’t a ghost.

The soft glowing light from the sky reflected off the jungle gym bars, the sun beginning to set over the horizon. Outline of the neighboring farm houses and their large equipment painted a view of a timely, comforting old town that reflected the beginning of the 21st century: warm, blissful, and pleasant.

“C’mon! Mom’s gonna get us if we don’t get back for dinner!”

“Alright, just give me a second,” a girl called out to her brother. From their uniforms, one could immediately see that they were school kids, and they were playing a game of volleyball. The girl collected their red striped volleyball from the sand, dusted the sand off her feet, put her shoes on and began to catch up with her brother.

Passing by the slides, she’d then come to a slow stop at the swing sets. One of the swings was moving on its own, swaying up and down, as if someone was on it. Rather than panic, the girl calmly made her approach to the swing. She smiled, and without a word, she placed the ball on the ground.

“Don't worry about returning it to me,” she said. “I have another one at home. You don’t seem like the kind of ghost that would scare people. See ya later.”

With those words, she ran off to follow her brother, slowly disappearing from sight as they made their way home.

Unbeknownst to them, the swing would come to a slow gradual stop. A cream furred hand with five digits materialized in a ghostly, translucent form, reaching for the ball. The hand belonged to a Spadamon wearing a dark gray cloak, with a belt wrapped around his waist, and light armor on his forehead and legs. He had long white, silky hair, coming down to his shoulders.

Picking up the ball, the cryptic Digimon would look out to where the girl had left with her brother. A sorrowful expression painted his bright yellow eyes as he looked down at the ball, then out to where she left.

“You too…” he mumbled.

[Skadi the Valaismon]

Skadi was never one to just settle down and rest upon her laurels. Sure, she had it pretty good with Rosina and Pafumon's hospitable home she could come back to and recharge as she pleased, but plenty of this strange new world still held plenty of uncharted territory for the tiny little sheep thingy to discover. And recent rumour of a strange 'cryptid' ghost supposedly haunting a playground had all but allured her, like a Mothmon to flame.

Of course, leave it to Skadi to be first to jump to that call just for the chance to come face to face with a 'live' (for lack of a better term) ghost. Yeah, sure, the reward was nice and all, would be nice to get some easy dosh to probably buy herself something cool, but the chance to come face to face with a cryptid that exclusively called this place home practically outweighed that reward alone.

Plus, it was a Code Green! The ghost's only real 'crime', from what she could tell, was practically a childish prank at best, and a petty urge to mildly annoy the land of the living at worst. Already, as she made her way through the quiet, sleepy town of Goldenview, the leaves crunching through her hooves, her hypothetical 'encounter' with the ghost had all but played out in her head; she'd find the ghost, lure out the ghost, capture the ghost, interrogate the ghost, help the ghost finish up any unfinished business they may still had, send the ghost on their merry way to the afterlife, then collect the reward! She'd be happy, the humans would be happy, and she'd have a fun story to tell her friends once they managed to bypass the barrier themselves! Win-win!

This, of course, would need to take into account that the subject in question was an actual ghost in the first place.

As she made her way closer to the park herself, she'd stop in place as she felt her ear twitch once more, feeling the sense of a Digital Signal nearby. Yet this signal felt rather... different. Not like Dio, Gio and Pafumon's all similar feeling signals. Her once quick trotting had now slowed rather considerably as she made her way closer to her target location. What was going on!?

Soon enough, once the park came into view of the tiny unit, her eyes found themselves attracted to the sight of an odd looking Spadamon playing with the ball in their hands. Initially, a wave of disappointment washed over the Valaismon; was that the 'ghost' they were talking about? She expected something more along the lines of the stories of ghosts lurking where ordinary humans roamed, not another Digimon who just so happened to slip through the barrier.

Yet, as she got closer and her steps grew slower and quieter, that initial disappointment would soon give way to a mixture of both confusion, and pity. For one, she could see the 'ghost' just fine, without any issue on her end. Spadamon weren't usually known for invisibility abilities, at least as far as she knew. Yet, this one felt rather... off. The odd, off white colours, the way lighter appearance... the heartwrenching expression on his face...

Slowly, Skadi's ears would droop down, feeling herself practically rooted to the spot, still a good distance away from the Spadamon to properly spot her. What was she were to say, or do? If she ran up to the swing, there was more than a good chance they'd write her off as a possible threat trying to 'drive them out' and fight back. And yet, she couldn't just leave them there to die, alone, hungry and lonely.

There was only one thing she could do.

A few moments later, Kitt would hear the sounds of rustling coming from the nearby bushes, and had he turned his head around, he'd spot the sight of a sausage-fingered hand waving around a freshly unwrapped milk chocolate bar, right out in the open. From inside the bush, Skadi herself would wave the candy bar indiscriminately, aiming to tempt and lure the Spadamon out from the swing and into her presence. It was genius! Foolproof!* They were bound to come down from the swing and walk right into her trap- I mean, her hiding spot.**

* Citation needed
** This claim is disputed

[Kitt]

Plopping back onto the swing, the Spadamon would gently place the red-stripped volleyball to the side as he began to kick his feet in a forward and backwards motion, gently gaining momentum. Unlike the human kids on this playground that competed to see who could swing the highest, the Spadamon didn’t bother to try and imitate that. Even if he could, he wasn’t tall enough.

He has been at this playground for a few days now, ever since he stumbled upon it after coming to the human world. He had no idea how he came here. One night he fell asleep on the long, prickly grass of the Digital World, the next day he had awoken in a strange new world that was entirely unknown to him. He was terrified… absolutely terrified. He didn’t know which way was north and which way was south. All he could do was follow the unpaved road that he woke up right beside, and after hours of walking, it eventually brought him to this park.

When he first came here, it was a bit intriguing watching the human children play, having fun without a care in the world. It was something that he wanted to experience, but there was one problem: nobody could see him. He didn’t know how or why, but he didn’t fully emerge in this world, sporting a hologram-like appearance. No matter how much he tried to get the humans’ attention, nobody could see or hear him. It was almost as if he was a ghost.

He stopped his momentum on the swing, coming to a slow, gradual stop. Picking up the ball once more, he laid it on his lap and rested his chin on it, hugging it tightly. He closed his eyes. He was all alone here. If a Digimon went missing like this, there’s no doubt that everyone dear to them would be worried sick. With him, he had no one—no mom, no dad, no brother, no sister, no friends, and no memories.

His heart grew heavy. Hehad nothing.

A few moments later, the Spadamon’s ears twitched, picking up the sounds of rustling from a nearby bush. He picked up his head, his eyes fixated on where the sound was coming from. From the bushes, he’d spot what looks to be a hand waving some kind of food. With his nose picking up the tantalizing smell of it, his eyes immediately widened. Besides eating the scraps that humans tend to leave in the garbage, this was the first time he’d seen something so delicious.

Wiping drool from the corner of his mouth, he jumped off the swing set and began to make his approach towards the food, ignoring the hand that was waving it to him.

This was a good idea, right?

[Skadi the Valaismon]

Okay, so maybe hiding behind the bushes to lure the Spadamon from the swings and into her trap to come over and maybe convince them she was not even remotely threatening towards him in the slightest was maybe not the best idea. She was practically swinging that bar around haphazardly like a baton, potentially running the risk of beaning the poor fun-sized lion across the head with it by mistake.

Besides, the fact a clearly non-human hand waving around fresh chocolate out in the open (even the average non-eagle eyed individual would be able to quickly point out the inhumanely large fingers practically wrapped around the bar almost immediately) should had been enough to raise just enough red flags to the Spadamon to even think twice about approaching this delectable, yet possibly dangerous treat in the first place.

And besides that, shouldn't the perpetrator not be able to even see Kitt in the first place. Unbeknownst to Skadi, he was a cryptid Digimon, unable to be seen by anyone except a select few humans and... pretty much every single Digimon. Skadi included. And even if neither knew that fact yet (Skadi mainly shrugging off his ghost-like appearance as a simple visual glitch), the fact that hand was now waving around a sweet treat to tempt him to get off the swing and over to the bush would have more than clued him in that someone had actually seen him,

By all accounts, this should not have worked. At all.

And yet, it did. The Spadamon's signal would only grow slightly more powerful as the sound of paws hitting the ground and plodding their way towards the bush and the chocolate bar-wielding hand. That, of course, did absolutely nothing to impede her hand waving arm still waving it around like it was going to implode in her arms at any minute.

...well, at least until she felt they got close enough for her liking. Without any prompt, warning, or even a suggestion, a louder but brief rustling would come out of the candy waving bush until Skadi herself followed suit in turn, unimpeded by all the leaves, twigs and other foliage sticking to her body, and with a beaming grin on her face, still holding that damned treat in front of her.

"Oh hi there!" She cried out, still waving the bar in front of the Spadamon's nose, "Noticed you were kinda... hungry, so I got you a little something." No explanation about how or why she was able to notice them, no sense of prompt or tact on her end, nothing. Just a devil-may-care sheep goat thingy offering chocolate for seemingly no other reason other than she felt like it. Yggdrasil forbid they ended up finding out the real reason.

[Kitt]

In any normal situation, the Spadamon would have been able to sense that there was a Digital Signal emanating from that bush and it would have immediately raised red flags. The only problem is that his overall senses were all over the place due to lack of sleep and food, so in his point of view, he thought that the fingers belonged to a large human hiding in the bush for some reason. Carefully, his plan was to quickly swipe the mysterious food and quickly retreat into his hiding spot under the slide before they noticed.

Beginning to reach his hand out as he inches closer and closer, the bush began to rustle more and more. And from what emerged from it…was a Digimon.

“Uwaaaaaah!” Their sudden appearance startled him as he fell backwards onto the grass. His ears flattened against his head; his tail puffing up to nearly twice its volume as it raised straight up, indicating that he was frightened.

“W-W-Who are you?! W-W-What do you want from me?!” he said, his voice taking on a frantic tone. He cowered away, putting his hand over his head as he began to tremble. “Please…don’t hurt me!”

After a few moments, a realization started to kick in, like the cogs gearing into place. Slowly, he lifted his head towards the Valaismon, now getting a good look at her.

“Wait…you…can see me?” he asked, still wary about the Digimon's motives.

[Skadi the Valaismon]

Okay, so maybe just emerging out of the bush without so much as a warning was probably not going to get herself to endear herself to her target Spadamon. And who could blame the 'ghost' for freaking out over her sudden out-of-nowhere appearance? As Skadi herself had learnt from her time in the Digital World, cute friendly appearances often did belie a sinister motive underneath, and if the Spadamon had jumped to conclusions on that end and assumed the same about her, who could blame him?

Thankfully for him, Skadi's fluffy appearance would not be betrayed by her equally fluffy personality. Rather, her face contorted to concern as she glanced down at the panicked Weapon Digimon cowering on the floor, "'Hurt you'?" She parroted the cowering Spadamon's words as she waved the bar around again, "I wasn't going to hurt you, I... uh... said you looked a little... hungry, and I decided to share some of my chocolate with you, and..."

'Wait…you…can see me?'

Ah yes, here came that little twitch of the ear again, as she stared at the Spadamon with genuine confusion, "Of course I can see you, silly!" Yet, her gaze focused more on the rather... particular features seemingly unique to this one Spadamon; his weird, translucent, ghostlike appearance coating his entire body, "I guess you were trying to camouflage to hide away from the humans, but I just got lucky and happened to spot you or something... maybe... eheh...."

That was the most reasonable explanation she could come up with. Of course, apart from the fact that normal Spadamon were usually not capable of any form of camouflage whatsoever, that cloak and belt would all but make this one particular Spadamon in question stand out from his peers. Of course, she knew not that Kitt was actually just a Cryptid Digimon himself, but hey, she needed to haphazard a guess...

[Kitt]

Not only did the Valaismon reveal that she wasn’t there to hurt him, but that most importantly, she could see him. Overwhelmed with emotions, his eyes glistening with tears, the Spadamon picked himself up from his cowering position and wiped his eyes. He had been by himself for the past couple of days, and with his current appearance, he didn’t think anybody would be able to see or hear him, well…until now.

But still, despite her friendly personality, he still decided to remain wary of her for the time being. He still didn't know her true motives were so it was best to remain cautious.

“I-I wasn’t trying to hide from them,” he replied. He looked at his hand, a thin blue glow outlined it as bits of data flicked with a slight hand motion. “It’s just how I appeared when I first came to this world. One night I was alseep…and the next day I woke up here.I don’t know why. I don’t know how it happened, but nobody’s able to see or hear me. You’re the first Digimon I’ve encountered here…”

“D-D you know how we can get back to the Digital World?” He questioned with a tilt of his head. “Since now I know I’m not the only one that’s came here, m-maybe there are others that know how to get back..!”

[Skadi the Valaismon]

Not that this looked to be any intentional fault of the Spadamon, but the more they spoke, the more confusion leaked out onto Skadi's face; of course she could see them perfectly fine, flickery bits of data flying everywhere notwithstanding. But why not the humans though? Their behaviour, and general disposition were more than enough to tell her that the 'ghost's' 'antics' were nothing more than the result of sheer coincidence, rather than any malicious wrongdoings on their end.

Yet, as they waved their hand around, that innocuous motion only served to inadvertently attract Skadi's attention, staring at the flickering data around their paw. Was this some sort of crazy side effect that certain unlucky border jumpers found themselves inflicted by had they failed to err on the side of caution? Was this a temporary thing? Permanent? Was there even a possible cure to fix it to begin with?

Not that seemed to bother the Spadamon too much, at least compared to their much bigger concern; getting home. How... was she going to break it to them? Like, at all? She couldn't just lie to their face right then and there! For a moment, things fell silent; no news of a border jumper making it back home ever made the rounds, at least none that anyone could verify was true to begin with.

Her awkward chuckle would quickly break that silence as she looked at the Spadamon with a sympathetic gaze, "Well... you see... I have no idea how to get you home... much less know anyone else who could get you home either... I mean, well... how do I put it..."

"I don't think any Digimon here knows how to go back home, me included." She stated in a rather blunt matter, "I mean, if I was an all-powerful Ultra-level Digimon and I had the ability to cut open portals back home, like this..." Her fingers curled up into a 'claw' formation, she'd gently swipe at the air, miming the act of 'ripping' open the sky to 'open' the 'portal' home, "Then sure, I'd get you home rather easily! But, I... honestly can't help you with that. I'm sorry."

"Buuuuuuut..." Her tone had now suddenly shifted to a more hopeful one, aiming to soften the possible blow of her previous explanation, "I could be able to help you out here. Heck, I'm more than willing to! Besides, we're in a strange new world now, and both of us need all the help, not to mention friends, we can get around here! I'd be more than happy to help you around and make yourself at home here!"

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself here!" During her little rambling towards the poor loner, somehow she nearly let slip something rather important, "Name's Skadi. Skadi the Valaismon! And you are?"

[Kitt]

The Spadamon noted from her reaction alone, the Valaismon had no idea what to make of his physical condition. It was an oddity for sure since she was fully materialized and he wasn’t. And although the physical effect didn’t hurt him in any way, his current state did affect him emotionally and mentally. To not be seen nor heard by any humans, with the only exception of being able to affect the environment around him like kicking up leaves or holding a ball, it hurts. To him, it felt like being stuck in a perpetual invisible box with no exit; sad, aloof, and lonely But now, he can safely assume that Digimon would be able to see and hear him in this state, so he could take a bit of solace from that.

To his dismay, the Valaismon revealed that she doesn’t know of a way back home, and neither do any Digimon that wandered to this world. “Oh…” His ears and eyes would cast down in sadness. With no way back to the Digital World, he was stuck here, left to wander around as an invisible figure to the humans for the rest of his days. The Valaismon tried to make him feel better by offering to lend a hand around the human world to the best of her ability, and although it was a nice gesture, he found it pointless.

What was even the point if there was no way back home? What was the point to any of this really? He’d be better off on his own. He tried to decline her offer, but for some reason, he just couldn’t bring himself to say it. Was it to avoid hurting her feelings? He didn’t know; all he did was remain silent, with the same forlorn expression on his face.

Introducing herself as Skadi, she asked for his name as well, stunning him. “My…name?” He said, turning to face her with a surprised look. “My name…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t have a-GAH!”

A sudden pain jolted through his head, making him reel a bit as he grabbed his head. A flash of hazy images began to appear in his mind, so hazy that he could barely decipher them, and the more he tried made the sensation worse. Yet despite that, he could hear a voice calling out to him, a voice that felt so gentle yet filled with concern and lament...

Kittsunami…

Kittsunami…

Kittsunami!

Quickly snapping back into reality, the Spadamon found himself looking at the ground, the jolt of pain he felt ceasing just as the hazy images disappeared. He didn’t know what to think of it, but he knew one thing: he had a name.

“...Kittsunami.” he answered to Skadi in a quiet tone, still trying to comprehend what he had experienced just now.

[Skadi the Valaismon]

Now to say these two had two completely different mindsets from one another was practically an understatement at this point; she bowed out from the Digital World to start a new life for herself without having to worry about fighting for her life every single waking moment of it, and they... well... in all honesty, Skadi lacked the heart to blame the poor kid for thinking the way they did in the first place; whatever circumstances that turned the hapless Spadamon into the hypothetical 'ghost' to begin with, be it a glitch with the barrier, an ironic punishment for a past life wrongdoing gone way overboard, or just pure dumb luck, it was clear it was hurting him internally.

And her confession/concession to the weary Weapon Digimon only served to rub more salt into the open wound. Of course, it went without saying if she could help, she would in a heartbeat. Not even the miniscule consolation of having other Digimon (or at least her) able to see them with no issue was enough to reassure them; like putting a tiny bandage over a massive gaping wound that refused to heal.

Even while Skadi still kept that hopeful, reassuring smile on her face, it was clear it was starting to waver slightly, not sure what to do or say. She wasn't exactly going to leave him here to rot, not without a fight at least.

All of a sudden, Skadi found herself stepping back and flinching in alarm at the Spadamon's sudden cry of pain and subsequent seizure attack(?). And that alone was enough for her to freeze in spot for a few good moments, only daring herself to turn her gaze back to the hapless victim. Quickly, her mind scrambled for options; get help? Heal them herself? She didn't know anyone else who could see them, and, lack of proper healing abilities aside, potential sudden intervention with her sheer lack of medical knowledge only threatened to make the situation worse.

Her eyes briefly darted around for help. Nope, only humans around here. Not another single Digimon to be seen who could step in and relieve them of that wild out-of-nowhere seizure. And no way to prove that the 'ghost' was actually just another friendly Digimon. Maybe she'd have to seek out Gio, Dio, Pafumon, anybody. Anyone would do!

'...Kittsunami.'

That alone was enough to snap her attention back to the Spadamon in question, the latter seemingly shrugging off the seizure like nothing happened. That wouldn't be enough to wipe the shock and concern off her face. Still keeping her distance a bit, lest she accidentally set off the out-of-nowhere seizure from out of the blue once more, she glanced down at him, "...hey, uh, you OK?"