While we wait for Sunday’s chapter, I’ve decided to revise the Seekers story to fix some of the story’s awkwardness. I will keep the story the same but will try to make it sound nicer. This isn’t my story, so please make sure you check out the original chapter. Let me know if this is something worth continuing. Make sure you start at chapter 1-1
The cloaked Digimon watches as Eiji and Loogamon make their way toward Ninth Avenue.
“I wasn’t told they’d be Mindlinked,” the Digimon says suddenly to nobody.
“I wasn’t told either. I didn’t know they were going to show up with a limit unlock,” replies the interviewer.
“I wonder if that dog…Loogamon noticed. I wonder if it noticed our Mindlink?”
“Who knows?”
“Fang and the Demon Wolf of the Castle of the Nine Wolves…Won’t mapping Ninth Avenue be too easy for them?”
“Normally, yes” the interviewer replies,”but I’ve made a few…adjustments.”
Once on the ground, Loogamon begins weaving through the streets. Eiji follows closely. A tunnel takes the pair underground until they are standing at the edge of a platform. The platform is eerily empty. Eiji looks over and sees train tracks that seem to disappear into tunnels neatly dug on either side. Eiji watches as the stones that surround the tracks start to vibrate and jump to the rhythmic echoes of an approaching train. Out of the shadows, a familiar sight surprises Eiji. The train screeches to a stop and its doors open. The Wall Slum train.
Eiji watches as the world blurs past his window. He clutches unto a strap nervously.
“So this is the Slum Circle subway…” he finally says, breaking his silence.
The interior of the train looks like those he rode in Tokyo, but the riders here were Digimon. The train is also a Digimon. There were signs and electronic displays, but the information is written in the language Eiji had never seen before.
“Is this the Digimon lanugage? What does it say?” Eiji asks, pointing at one of the signs.
“It’s against the rules to cause trouble on this subway,” Loogamon answers standoffishly.
“So…no fighting?”
“This is a public place. Just mind your manners,” Loogamon says as it curls up, taking three seats.
The train passes through a station every couple of minutes. Eiji is fidgety and restless. He doesn’t know where they are going, nor can he read the signs for clues. He finally turns to Loogamon and says, “I’ve been thinking about this Mindlink stuff. Is that how ChuuChuumon and Damemon work?”
“Don’t compare me to that….thing” Loogamon snaps, clearly offended. “It’s nothing like that. Think about what’s happening with your body right now.”
“My body?” Eiji thinks about it for a moment. Only his mind was linked to Loogamon’s Digicore. Eiji’s body leans against the wall of his loft, unconscious.
“Your body is asleep back home. It won’t wake up unless you break the Mindlink. ChuuChuumon and Damemon are both here…Do you understand Eiji?”
“yeah…sure…By the way..”
Loogamon lets out a sigh. “What?!”
“Do you mind if I pet you now?” Eiji is already reaching for Loogamon. Loogamon lies comfortably on the seats, looking like a puppy.
The wolf tenses up and flashes its teeth. “No!” it growls.
Eiji quits his attempt. “The dog I used to have didn’t let me pet it either.”
“I’m not a dog!” Loogamon replies, growing more annoyed. “I’ve had enough of your dog stories…”
A few passengers get off at the next station. Those who board the train are surprised to see a human sitting amongst the remaining Digimon.
“Hey Loogamon…the Digimon are staring…”
“There aren’t many humans walking around the Wall Slums”
“Right,” Eiji replies as he examines the rest of the train. The train is crowded with strange-looking Digimon. “These Digimon look injured like their data has been corrupted or something.”
“Most of the Digimon the live in the Wall Slums have been used by humans for whatever humans do with Digimon,” Loogamon explains bitterly.
“Used by humans?” Eiji responds as he looks at the Digimon more closely. They looked abused, damaged, sickly, and incomplete.
“These Digimon were discarded after they were no longer useful.”
“Discarded…Digimon…” Eiji repeats slowly. Digimon are used as tools by humans. All the top tech companies, military groups, and government agencies use Digimon for security. For code crackers and hackers, Digimon are the tools of the trade. Like most tools, Digimon wear out and break eventually. Eiji knew this truth well, but seeing the faces of the discarded Digimon made it heartbreaking.
“Digimon that die become Digitama,” Loogamon continues his explanation. “Those who survive end up here where they have built cities and villages on the outer wall. The abandoned Digimon thrive here, in the slums they’ve created.”
It was an admirable type of resilience.
“This slum has become a paradise for the abandoned. An escape from the cruelty of humanity or the troubles of the Digital World beyond the wall. There are even Digimon who are born and raised on these streets..” Loogamon’s explanation is cut off by the train’s loud screeching.
The subway breaches the surface. Its metal wheels splash through puddles of contaminated brackish water. The air fills with toxic putrid fumes. Mounds of trash and junk data make large messy mounds on either side of the trains. Chuumon, mutant Daimon, and other strange Digimon watch the train pass. Eiji watches as a couple of Chuumon fight over food.
“Do the Digimon here not get along?”
“The Digimon that live in the slums are poor. They don’t have enough food and have to fight to survive. This is a city riddled with conflict. If Digimon aren’t fighting each other for food, they are fighting each other for territory. The only place there is no fighting is on the train and in the center of town.”
Eiji looks out the window and searches for the center, but his view is obscured by a river that flows upwards. “What’s so special about that place?”
“That’s the gateway to the inside,” Loogamon replies, referring to a Digital World untouched by humans.
The train crosses a polluted river before returning underground. The train grows dark. Eiji watches as sparks jump against the walls before the lights turn back on. Eiji stays silent for a moment as he processes the information. “Does the gate also keep out humans?” he finally asks.
“Not just humans, Digimon too.”
“All of the Digimon here?” Eiji is saddened by the realization that none of the Digimon here could return to the Digital World.
“Digimon in the Wall Slum have been contaminated by real world data. Once a Digimon is contaminated, it can’t return to the Digital World. The gate won’t let them.”
“And who decided that?”
“It’s always been like that. The Digital World’s systems were programed long before the first Digimon drew breath. For a Digimon in the Wall Slum, bellow the wall is their long lost home.”
Eiji watches the darkness outside the window. “Hey Loogamon? Do you know what’s on the other side of the wall?”
“We’re getting off here” Loogamon gets off its seat and walks towards the exit. The train continues to move. Eiji begins to form another question but is interrupted by the intercom. “Next stop, Ninth Avenue.”
Eiji gets up and starts to follow Loogamon. He would ask another day. First, he needed to pass his test.
“What kind of place is Ninth Avenue?”
“I’ll know when I get there.”
“You seem to know a lot about this place, have you been here before?” Loogamon had spent most of his life in the Digimon Linker, and Eiji had never thought about asking it anything personal. He didn’t know Digimon had pasts.
“I don’t remember…”
“What do you mean?”
“My memory is hazy. It comes back in fragments. I remember being a kid growing up in the slums, but I don’t remember much after that….”
“Maybe you have amnesia? Maybe we have to jog your memory.” Eiji suggests. “That Chuumon seems to remember you, maybe we can ask it”
Loogamon continues to walk in front of Eiji in silence. “When I try to remember,” Loogamon says suddenly “It comes back foggy. I can’t really make sense of much of it. But since I’ve come to the Wall Slums with you, I think I am beginning to remember. I get the sense that there is something Ninth Avenue that I need to see. Something that’s important to me.”
