Greeting a New Pal (Solo)

[Detlev Ignatz]

How frustrating.

After the events of the previous night, Detlev made the very intelligent choice of leaving the forest the way he came.  The markings he left were enough for him to find his way back, and he was lucky not to be accosted by anyone else along the way.  Without the need to constantly make new markings, his exit took significantly less time than going in.  By the time he could see the Savannah through the trees, it was just past 2 o'clock.

But an unease was permeating through his mind.  He held the thought back until he got this far, but it found itself in the forefront of his mind: he was going back to where he started, without any plan for where to go next.  The forest was too dangerous for him to go back through on his own, and he had no idea how far the Savannah went on for.  Who knew how long it take to cross the entire distance, or if he could do it without running into another aggressive digimon?  And when was he going to meet his own Digimon?  Everyone was telling him he was supposed to have found a companion by now, but he was still all alo-

*crack*

The sound of a branch being crushed underfoot abruptly ended that train of thought and stole the boy's attention.  He turned around, quickly spotting the broken branch, but not what had broken it.  He looked to the sides, trying to eye the culprit, but all he could see were fallen leaves and trees.  Carefully, he took a few steps back, once again keeping watch for anything out of the ordinary.

"{Human!}"

Detlev froze up.  A chill run up his spine; the voice came from behind him.  He could hear its footsteps get closer and closer as the air around him got colder and colder.  And then the footsteps stopped right behind him.

"{Human.  I've been looking everywhere for you.  And now I've finally found you!}"

Every instinct was telling the child to run, to get away.  Even if he didn't know what was behind him, he could only assume it wasn't good.  Good people (or digimon) don't just ambush you like this and tell you they were hunting you down.  But he just stood there, paralyzed with fear.  

"{Ho?  Don't you want to turn around and say hello?}"

No matter how badly he wanted to, he just couldn't run away.  His legs shook, but they wouldn't budge.  New thoughts seeped into his head: was he going to get attacked?  Would he get eaten?  Was he going to die?  Sweat dribbled down his back as his heart beat with such strength that at any moment, it could break through his ribcage and escape his chest.

With what little strength he could, he slowly turned to face the speaker.

[Detlev Ignatz]

Nothing.

Detlev had turned around towards the voice, but he saw nothing.  No person, no digimon, just the same view as before.  He glanced to the sides.  Nothing to the left, nothing to the right.  Tears began to well up in his eyes.  Whatever was behind him must have been toying with him, and he knew that at some point, it was going to attack him.  He could still hear it breathing, as if it was still in front of him.  Was it some kind of invisible digimon?

If it was anything like those wolf digimon from the night before, he was doomed.  Silently, he prayed that Obasi or the white-haired guy had stealthily been following him and were ready to come out, but no such fortune came his way.

Detlev felt something tightly grasp his wrist.  It was cold like snow, and elicited a yelp from the child as he slowly, nervously lowered his gaze.  His terror diminished when he spotted the source: a perfectly-visible and comically-large four-fingered hand as pale as snow.  He followed it down the similarly-pale arm towards its origin, realizing that the breathing sound he was hearing was becoming louder and louder.  The digimon that had grabbed him was very small, almost half as tall as he was - no wonder he hadn't seen it!  

Looking at its face, there was a wide grin that exposed two of its upper teeth.  Where its eyes would have been, there were two large black holes.  And there were tears coming out of them.  The rest of Detlev's fear shifted into confusion - why would a digimon hunting him down be crying like this, and with a smile?

Abruptly, the small snowman pulled down on the boy's wrist, using it as leverage to pull itself up as it jumped at the child.  The force of this left Detlev stumbling into a nearby tree as it wrapped its arms around the boy's neck.  It was a tight hold, but Detlev could still breathe.  "{I've been looking for you ever since I hatched!}" it exclaimed, "{I'm sorry I took so long to find you,} hee ho!"

The rapid shifting from disappointment to terror to confusion had left Detlev in a daze, and he was still collecting his mind as the snowman rubbed its frigid face against his own.  He didn't know how to respond - he barely even understood what was happening.

Soon, it relented its show of affection, now face-to-face with the child.  "{What's wrong?}" the digimon asked.

"{Don't you recognize your own partner?  It's me, Frostmon!}"

[Detlev Ignatz]

What?

Detlev gradually recollected his mind, enough that he could just manage to process the digimon's words.  This little snowman, the one that had snuck up on him at the edge of a forest and made him feel like it was going to kill him, the one that just pushed him him into a tree, was the digimon he had been looking for the entire time?  He wasn't sure if he was overwhelmed with joy or disappointment at the moment, or if this was some strange dream that he was going to wake up from any second now.

"Hee-{Hey,}" the digimon comforted, wiping away the tears the boy forgot he built up with a frigid hand, "{are those tears of joy you're shedding?  Then you must be as happy to meet me as I am to meet you!}"  He grabbed Detlev by one up his arms, pulling back and adding "{Here-}ho, {let me help you back up.  I didn't mean to knock you over!}"

The boy stood up with the digimon's assistance, seizing a moment to brush off any dirt that caught onto his clothing.  "{You...}" the boy started, taking one more look-over the small digimon.  He would have expected a creature that was taller, or something that looked more like the digimon partners he'd seen before.  "{You're really my partner?}"

"{Of course!}" the snowman exclaimed, pointing towards the sky triumphantly.  "{I'm sorry it took me so long to find you!}" he said as he pointed towards the boy.  "{Ever since I hatched, I've been searching} hee {and} ho {for you!  I think I've been looking for over a week!  The thought of you wandering alone for so long made me feel so horrible that I could never rest, barely even sleep!}"

A moment of silence passed as the boy stared at the digimon, in pity.  "{But this is only my second day here,}" the boy interjected, finally cracking a small smiling as he held down a laugh.

"{...Oh.}"  The Frostmon's expression flattened, and his arm drooped down, though it remained pointed at the human.  "{No matter!  What's important now is that we're together!  Our bond is that of...well...the bond that a human and digimon partner have.}"  The Digimon's hand moved back towards its owner as he began again.  "Ho, {but I get ahead of myself.  You're probably wondering who I am!  I'm a-}"

"{Frostmon,}" the boy interrupted. "{You said you're a Frostmon already.}"

"{Really?}" the Frostmon hesitated, leading to yet another awkward silence before he continued.  "Ho, {I gotta be more careful with my intoductions.}"  The digimon gazed at the boy's face, secretly pleased that the boy was unable to hold back a chuckle.  "{Well, that's} hokay.  {I already know your name's Detlev.  Is it ok if I call you something shorter, like Detty or Detz?}"

"{Only if I get to call you something short too!}" the child exclaimed, his confusion, fear and anxiety no longer existent.

The request earned the boy a glare from the small digimon.  "{...When you say short,}" he started, the jovial tone in his voice suppressed, "{you're just talking about my name, right?}"

"{What else could I have meant?}" the child replied, with somewhat feigned ignorance.  While he didn't intend to make a short joke, he could see why the digimon would see his wording as such.  He made a quick mental note to be careful around that subject.  "{If you're gonna call me something short like 'Detz', then I should be able to shorten your name too.  How would 'Frosty' work?}"

"{Sounds good to me,} hee-ho!" the Frostmon responded, his joyous tone restored.  "{So now that we got introductions out of the way, what do you want to do now?}"

Detlev had to think about his response for a moment.  "{Well, I had planned on looking for you, but now that that's out of the way...I was just gonna keep exploring this world.  Do you know where we can find some kind of city?}"  Was there even a city in this world?

"{Of course I do}, hee-ho!  {I was born in this world, so I know where to go!}"  The small digimon once again grabbed Detlev by the wrist, although his grip was much lighter this time around. "{I'll bring you to the city!  There's a bunch of digimon and hee-umans there.}"

Detlev couldn't have nodded quicker.  A whole city in this world?  Even more humans?  How could he say no to that?  And he even had a partner who could guide him there!  This day was painting up to be a good one.

"{Alright!  Lead the way, Frosty!}"

-Thread End-