World Wrestling Digidestined 2014 chapter 1
A/N: If you have any questions regarding any of my fics, specify if you want them answered via corneroffandom chronicles, a video series I plan on doing monthly for such things. Thanks!
He feels warm sun on his skin, wind rushing through his hair. Hears the soft sound of birds twittering nearby, a lapping brook beyond that. It all seems so peaceful, but yet... so wrong. His fingers twitch, expecting concrete or maybe carpeting, but instead dirt burrows under his fingernails and he cringes as a small rock embeds itself in his cuticle. None of this makes sense. His last memory was walking through the halls of the latest hotel when... Aha. He thinks he knows what's going on finally, determined now not to move and give them the satisfaction. Only his two teammates could possibly pull something like this off and he wonders why exactly it took him so long to realize. He keeps his eyes closed even as he opens his mouth. "Hey, Roman, Dean! I'm not sure what kind of prank you two are pulling, but-"
"SHHH!" a sharp voice to his left breaks into Seth Rollins' words and this does make him sit up in a hurry, eyes wide open as he prepares to defend himself against whatever it is. "You don't want the bad ones to hear you."
He looks around for the owner of the voice, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Bad ones? Where are you? Who are you?"
The voice sounds exasperated and amused all at once when it speaks again. "I'm right in front of you, silly. Look down." Seth follows the command despite not knowing why, his eyes trailing around the grass and... seeing absolutely nothing. Until, that is, he spots a pair of eyes blinking up at him and he scrambles back, disbelieving what he's seeing.
"Ok, ok, so I've hit my head," he mutters to himself. "It's fine, concussions, I've had those before..." He continues to ponder the ramifications of a concussion on The Shield's success now, so soon after Wrestlemania, but he knows that Roman and Dean will be able to keep things moving until he's cleared to compete again. "So I'll wake up and this'll just have been some bizarre ass dream, no big deal." He moves to stand up but the creature still staring beadily at him follows, Seth watching it warily until he's safely on his feet once more. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm coming with you! That's what partners do!" it chatters, bright red eyes locked on him as he finally manages to determine where it ends and the grass it's standing in begins as both are the same shade of green. It's small, with dark blue stripes crisscrossing its body, and he almost feels ridiculous at being so startled by such a thing, but when he had been sitting down, it had seemed much more threatening somehow. "My name's Betamon! And you're Seth!"
"Oh yeah, ok, definitely a nightmare." He turns sharply and starts to walk away, disturbed by just how... real everything looks, feels, smells, sounds. More so than any dream he's ever had in his life. The grass rustles behind him and he can only imagine the strange creature still chasing after him but he purposely ignores it, thinking perhaps if he walks long enough, something will happen and he'll be snapped back to reality, like in most nightmares. Or, best case scenario, Dean or Roman will notice he's trapped in his own subconscious and wake him up themselves.
But the longer he walks, the more doubtful he becomes of this. The leaves brushing against his skin whenever he ventures too close to trees feels real, the dew from the grass that slaps the inch of skin not covered by his pants or shoes tickles like it would in reality, and he grows tired of walking after fifteen minutes, just like in the real world. So he stops and turns around, unsurprised to find the creature from before still following him, slowing to a stop a few feet away and peering up at him with that same steadfast gaze from its oddly colored eyes. "What is this place?"
"It's the Digital World!" Betamon beams proudly as he explains, inching closer to the human. "Or, as some call it, the Digiworld! Welcome!"
Seth hesitates and grimaces, pinching his nose. It could still just be a dream, he once more tries to convince himself despite everything in him saying nope, it's far from a dream. "Why am I here?"
"Because you're my partner," Betamon says simply, as if announcing that the sky is blue, grass is green, and all of those other cliches that Seth generally can't stand but doesn't have the brainpower to think beyond right now. "It's our job to help protect the Digiworld!"
"What?!" he demands, cringing back when the small green creature scurries forward, looking like he's about to climb up Seth's leg like some overly excited puppy. "Us? Protect this place? All alone?" His dark eyes trail around the large expanse of land, shaking his head as he digs his fingers into his hair, tugging at the rare strands of blond that show up among the non-bleached ones.
"Of course not!" Betamon exclaims, shaking his head in disbelief at Seth. "There are many others, where do you think we're going?"
Seth stares down at him, bewildered. "Me, I was hoping to go back to earth..."
"Sorry, not yet. It's not far now, you nearly found the place all on your own," he chatters happily, running on ahead and leaving Seth to follow, a blank look on his face as he wonders for the millionth time exactly what the hell is going on. "Come on, Seth!"
He walks a little faster, mouth suddenly growing dry as he feels a number of eyes on him- hundreds of them at least, adding to his trepidation of what exactly he's been thrown into the middle of. If he didn't know better, he'd still think it was some sort of overly detailed rib from Dean or Roman but no... They wouldn't have let it go on this long, ruining it with their laughter long before now. This only makes him feel worse as he walks through lines of more trees, Betamon seeming more confident in where he's going than Seth in anything he's seen since waking up twenty minutes earlier. Finally they reach a clearing and Seth breathes a little easier, that feeling of being stared at from either side disappearing as suddenly as it'd begun.
They're still standing there, Betamon looking around with a bizarre happiness about him, when Seth hears voices from all around. And, oddly enough, some sound familiar, his brows furrowing as grass parts and leaves rustle, footsteps approaching them. Betamon looks unconcerned even as Seth again turns in a circle, wondering how he could defend himself against all of them alone. He sharply misses Dean and Roman's dependable presence by his side, though he's not sure what they could do against more creatures like Betamon if the need arises, but still he'd rather fall with them by his side than fight alone.
But the faces that appear, once he registers them, are familiar ones, if not ones he'd exactly like to see at any time, most enemies of The Shield at one point or another in the year and a half they've dominated the WWE. Nonetheless, he says very little as they approach, looking as wary as he feels. Each are accompanied with creatures of their own of various sizes and types, Seth finding himself analyzing theirs against Betamon as if it's some sort of strange competition, which most everything is in wrestling so why not this... whatever this may be, as well?
He glances around at the group of them standing around awkwardly in this clearing, counting heads quickly, and he wonders what exactly is going on that ten wrestlers would be called to this strange world and given little creatures to stalk them all around. The Miz is across from him, staring blankly down at a stoic looking purple dragon type creature with small wings on either arm that looks like they couldn't support Betamon, much less his bulkier body. Seth looks over at a cooing sound, finding Alicia Fox playing with a strange plant looking thing, rubbing the petals coming from a flower growing on its head between her fingers gently. Ricardo Rodriguez is standing a bit away from the rest, kneeling down next to a small blue beast with a yellow V between his eyes, a curious look on his face as they talk lowly. Likewise, Heath Slater too is talking with his, a strange brown rabbit with three horns and massive ears, who has made itself comfortable on top of his head, its ears drooping down to rest on Heath's shoulders. AJ Lee doesn't seem as thrilled with hers, however, a deep frown on her face as she stares into the icy blue eyes of the golden furred bipedal fox who is slightly taller than her.
He smirks as he glances over, now, to find Zack Ryder watching on in awe as a cream colored thing resembling a hampster flaps the wings on each side of its head, fluttering at eye level with him, grinning largely. Not far away, Dolph Ziggler is leaning near a purple creature with yellow eyes, the two of them looking mischevious as they get to know each other. Alberto Del Rio is another that looks unimpressed, the beast at his feet indeterminable from this distance, Seth only able to really get a good look at the blue and white fur covering his body, leaving only his face and a bit of his midsection slightly visible, his large claws enough to give anyone pause. But Wade Barrett's takes the cake, Seth only just able to catch a glimpse of the thing as it peers out shyly from behind Wade's legs, wide eyes gaping around at all of the humans and their companions scattered around. It appears to have four ears, and something like... hair? ... poking out of its head, above a small moon shape. Upon closer glance, it's obvious the thing has no visible feet, its body ending oddly in a cloud like formation. Wade looks exasperated as, every time he moves away from the small thing, it scrambles to resume hiding behind his legs, the Brit rolling his eyes as he rubs a hand down his face.
None of them have a lot of time to react to or absorb the situation they find themselves in, however, as a voice breaks into all of their thoughts. "Hello!" All of the humans jump, turning in a hurry to face this new presence, but the creatures by their sides seem undisturbed, as if they recognize this situation, and some even say hello back while Seth examines the person standing before them. He seems young yet impressive at the same time, thick brown hair ruffling in the wind as he stares at them, a wizened look in his dark eyes. "I am pleased to finally meet you."
Seth takes the initiative, months of being in The Shield having taught him if he wants something, he needs to step forward and speak up or risk never having it at all. "Who are you? And where are we? What's going on?"
The man examines him with a growing smile before he chuckles warmly, outstretching his arms. "This is the Digital World, Seth," he says simply, barely blinking an eye when the man flinches at again being called by his first name by someone he'd never met before. "My name is Luke, you can think of me as your guide while you adjust to this world. What is going on... well, that would take quite some time to explain. Time, I'm afraid, we have very little of right now. The short of it is we need your help." He looks solemn suddenly as he stares down at the eager looking beasts scattered around the humans. "The creatures who have found you and led you to this place are, as they may have told you, Digital monsters, or Digimon as they prefer to be referred as. As you may have guessed from the names, this world, these creatures, they have been comprised of data from what the other world calls the internet. Most data is sound, peaceful, but others have been corrupted by time or evil. What humans would call viruses have slowly infested our world, making parts of it unsound or vulnerable to further attack."
He sighs and paces a bit before turning back to the humans. "We have done what we can, reformatted the world, reset what we could, but it does very little. The viruses keep coming, finding ways to disrupt what had once been a peaceful existence, creating new, evil Digimon faster than we can prepare for."
"What do you expect us to do then?" Miz speaks up, clearly not fully sold on what's going on around them.
"If you agree to become the new Digidestined, or, as they're sometimes called, Chosen Ones, the Digimon you see beside you will become your partners and together you will work to spread peace through out the Digiworld," Luke explains. "With your help, your partners can become stronger, Digivolve into forms better suited to defending vulnerable areas." All of them peer down at the Digimon next to them, lost in thought as they try to decide on what to do from here. "It's your choice, we will accept whatever you decide... but if you choose to help, there's no going back. It's a responsibility you have to be dedicated to seeing through."
Seth stares down into Betamon's eyes, drawn by something that he can't describe, listening as others- Heath, Ricardo, Alicia, Zack, even Dolph- agree easily to this new world. Another world that needs someone to fight injustice and evil? "I'm in," he finds himself saying, swallowing as Betamon's face lights up. Miz is next, despite his continued reluctance, never one to back away from a challenge. This leads to the group of them all turning to look at AJ, Del Rio and Barrett, waiting for their verdicts.
"I suppose if you want something done right..." Barrett sneers, crossing his arms over his chest as the small Digimon flutters from behind one of his legs to the other. "Fine, then, get on with it."
AJ says nothing until the fox speaks up coolly from next to her. "I suppose if you're scared," she taunts, staring at AJ.
"Please!" the freshly former divas champion snaps, reacting exactly the way her potential partner had foreseen. "Fine, I'll help out as well."
This leaves Alberto, the Mexican aristocrat unimpressed by anything he'd seen thus far, his dark eyes traveling from person to person in disgust. The Digimon next to him remains silent, patient as Del Rio weighs the situation he finds himself in, surrounded by people he either never liked or had massive fall-outs with recently. It's only when he looks at Ricardo, who seems unsurprised by his lack of response, that his pride takes a hit, not wanting to be seen as less than his former ring announcer, who had agreed readily to whatever madness this is. "Fine," he snarls, turning his gaze to Luke.
"Perfect," Luke says, gazing at the ten new Digidestined before him. "You will need..." He claps his hands and there's a brilliant flash of light that leaves all of them gasping and blocking their eyes to protect their vision, something warm and durable fitting in the palm of their hands. "Digivices. They are the first thing you will need to help your Digimon become stronger and Digivolve. Follow me, please." As he walks off, the humans reluctantly draw their gazes away from the ridged items in their hands with small screens that resemble phones, except for the weird words and images sprawled along their rough surfaces. He leads them to a cliff, where a tall woman who looks like an angel of war stands, her head tilting towards them though they can't see her eyes, turquoise armor covering half of her face and most of her body, multiple wings coming from various parts of her body. They all gape at her in awe, most of their focus on the staff with a spear on the end that's taller than its wielder. "Ophanimon."
"Luke," she says calmly, standing at attention as they approach. "These are the new chosen?"
"Yes, they are," he responds. "Introductions will have to be done another time, however. There is an issue arising in the Virus sector."
"Understood." Ophanimon steps away from the cliff, revealing a larger screen that is surrounded by a ridged plastic much like what their digivices are made of.
"These portals will take you to different parts of the Digiworld," he tells the confused looking people as they look from the portal to the Digivices. "You need to hold your Digivices out to it, say Digiport open, and it'll take you where you need to go. Give it a try."
None of them seem that inclined to move but finally Seth steps forward, staring down at the dark blue Digivice in his palm for a moment before holding it up to the portal. "Digiport open," he calls out, the gasp that follows swallowed away in a sea of swirling data as he feels himself being sucked into the glowing screen, a rainbow of colors all that he sees for long, tense seconds until he hits the ground hard, grunting when he's kicked in the side and even stepped on at one point by the others falling through to the other side same as he had. Gingerly making it to his feet, he glances around to find the other nine still struggling to their feet, peering around.
They're in a mountainous region, some looking suspiciously like active volcanoes, a fact that leaves most of them even more reluctant to step ahead. "Did he say we're in the virus sector?" Heath says a minute later, the doubt in his voice about as thick as his southern accent.
"I believe so, yes," Barrett says grimly. They all exchange glances before Seth steps forward, looking for the issue that Luke had mentioned to Ophanimon, though it's hard to see anything past the tall ridges. "Do you smell that?" the Brit asks after a moment, Seth pausing as, yes, he begins to smell the acrid stench of smoke as well. He partially scrambles up the nearest mountain until he can have something of a vantage point, looking around until he locates the source- a small wood not that far away, lit in billowing flames as more and more trees succumb. He swallows, staring at the scene before him, when he realizes. The flames are being caused by orange dinosaur-like Digimon, a group of them running around, shooting off fireballs from their mouths with vicious precision.
Seeing the reason for their being brought here, he slides back down the mountain to join the others. "I've found it, come on," he urges them, racing around the mountain towards the spreading fire. The group of them quickly see the problem and follow him, their Digimon eager to help where they can as well.
"Guilmon," Miz's partner snarls, his eyes flashing as he clicks his claws together. Seth can't even keep track of how many of the evil looking Digimon are causing all of this mayhem around the base of the trees, but he knows that they have to do something- there may be other Digimon living in that copse of trees, not to mention how bad things could get if the flames spread out of control. Unfortunately, the heat keeps them back, unable to approach and attempt to stop the rampaging Guilmon, Seth biting his lips as he tries to think of a way through, to do something.
They're all shocked when there's a soft call from near Wade, the white creature that somehow is his partner finally showing itself from behind him and hovering by his shoulder. "Tear Shoot!" she cries out, voice clear as a gleaming orb forms on the tip of the growth forming out of her forehead, Seth suddenly suspecting that it's some sort of antennae as the force grows in size, stabilizing into a waterball that she sends out towards the flames, it exploding like a wet bomb, diminishing the flames some.
Wade looks impressed but before he can say anything to the creature, a few of the Guilmon approach, clearly taking offense to their handiwork getting tarnished.
"They're bullies," Betamon says confidentially, standing between the nearest Digimon and Seth. "Truly stand up to them and they will run in the opposite direction, I have no doubt. Electric Shock!" A blast of electricity strikes a couple of the Guilmon and they stagger, snarling and scrambling before, as he had predicted, they turn and run off, leaving their fellows to fight on their own.
AJ's fox partner, still ignoring her, leaps forward and crosses her arms over her chest before throwing them out in front of her forcefully. "Diamond storm!" she calls out, sharp shards raining down from her forearms and exploding at the feet of more of the Guilmon, pelting some of them with dirt and rocks.
"Bada boom!" The purple Digimon rushes away from Dolph, hand held high as he snaps his fingers, dark flames forming at his fingertips before he throws it at the remaining Guilmon, the rookies scrambling from this attack as well, the last of their confidence failing with the retreat of the others.
"One more, Lunamon," Wade calls out, Seth turning to find that his partner is forming more energy into a water ball, spinning towards the flame to shoot it off into the trees. As soon as it explodes, soaking the last of the fire, it diminishes, leaving behind smoking, blackened trees. It's far from a pretty sight, but still, it's much better than how it all would've ended up should they not have arrived when they did.
Seth sighs, trying to wrap his head around all of this. It still feels like a dream but, with each passing minute, he finds himself wanting to believe it more and more. Just as he had with that first glance about half an hour earlier, he senses an easy connection with Betamon, like perhaps they could be friends... as he had had with both Roman and Dean. He frowns, glancing around at the nine other people surrounding him. I wonder why they weren't selected to be apart of this...
Once they're relatively certain the Guilmon will avoid this area for awhile, eyes of various colors and shapes now peering out through the deadened wood telling them that it's time to go before they're seen as trespassers, they return through the portal to Luke and he congratulates them on a successful first mission. "I am aware of how busy you all are, so you may return to Earth right now. When I have need of you again, I will summon you through your Digivices." He smiles at them before his eyes rest on the group of Digimon, grimacing. "Ah, of course, my apologies, I almost forgot. When you are on earth, of course, you won't be able to keep your Digimon partners out with you in the open, humans would become suspicious. They can, however, remain inside of your Digivices safely until you return here."
He directs them on how to accomplish this, watching as the group of them hold the devices out to their partners. Seth stares at Betamon, taking a breath. "Hold, activated," he calls, watching as a gleam similar to the Digiport's takes over, Betamon turning into data and streaming into the screen of his Digivice, it immediately growing dark as soon as Betamon is safely inside. With this, it's time for them to go home and Ophanimon again sees them off, this time through a different portal that's only visible when the angel Digimon taps her staff against the cliff four times, a small portion of the rock falling apart to reveal a larger, more powerful portal than the one that had taken them to the virus zone earlier.
They quickly take their leave of each other once they're back on earth, barely a word spoken between any of them, and Seth lets himself into the hotel room quietly, the weight of his Digivice, holding his new partner safely within its confines, a vague comfort to him as he sits down on the bed and scrapes his fingers through his hair, looking over at Dean and Roman as they sleep on, undisturbed by his sudden reappearance. He smiles and lays down, relieved for a moment of quiet after the last couple of hours. He's still not sure if it was reality, but he supposes come morning he'll know, depending on if the Digivice is still pressing against his hip or not.
"Where were you?" Dean's sleep-heavy voice breaks into his thoughts, Seth smiling slightly as he rolls over to face the other man. He knows without looking that Roman, across the room on the second bed, is listening intently, merely pretending to be asleep.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told ya," he says, smiling to himself. "Good night, boys."
"Night," Roman grumbles, rolling over to go back to sleep now that he knows Seth's ok.
"Night," Dean echoes vaguely, already mostly asleep.