Digimon Frontier: A Hidden Passage

Chapter 2: Lobomon Warrior of Light

(A/N: This is how Hideko will look for the rest of the fanfic. Yeah, she doesn't get her glasses back.)

A stream of light swirled and spiraled around before merging with the ground. The light grew and within seconds, it faded into browns, greens and various other colors. What just happened? Hideko thought to herself. "Hey," said an unfamiliar voice, "look at the pretty little light!"

"You idiot!" Shouted another strange voice. "That pretty little light is the fractal code."

"Fractal... code?" Hideko wondered to herself, approaching the source of those voices. Gathering courage she didn't know she had, she rose her voice enough to get the attention of the speaker.

"Excuse me?" She spoke up. "What exactly is going on here?"

Everyone went quiet as she approached, squinting her eyes at the shapes in front of her. Through her poor vision, Hideko could make out at least four other humans, along with two more of those strange creatures. Takuya, that little boy he left with her, and two others.

"Another human?" A high-pitched voice asked. It seemed to be coming from a yellow and orange blob. A smaller white blob examined the newcomer, checking to see if she was a threat.

"I can't really say for certain," it said. "She looks human, but there is something off."

The red-head knew what it was talking about; call it intuition. Her hands shot up to her ears, hoping against all hope that no one saw them. One hundred, Hideko thought to herself, a slight blush creeping its way across her cheeks. Why was she still doing the counting thing? Not every coping mechanism for anxiety will work wonders for every person. Variations will exist here and there. If anything, counting backwards from a hundred by threes only made her heartrate go through the roof.

"Are you ok?" One of the kids asked her. The voice sounded feminine, so Hideko assumed there was at least one girl in this group. Thank goodness I'm not the only one, she thought.

"You're that girl I saw on the train," Takuya stated, immediately recognizing her face. "You were wearing glasses earlier. What happened?"

"Long story," the red head muttered, looking down at her feet.

"Why are you covering your ears?" The smaller child piped up and it took a moment for recognition to hit the red-head. It belonged to that crying boy from earlier - the one who kept screaming about how he wanted to go home. 

Hideko let out a heavy sigh. "Promise me that you won't laugh if I show you," she requested, her voice barely audible. From what she could see, the kid nodded his head. Alright, her thoughts chimed, I'll trust him. Slowly, she lowered her hands, revealing what was once hidden. The blush on her face darkened a bit, spreading to her pointed ear tips as her pulse started to race again. Her gaze fell to the ground.

"Well, say something," Hideko stated, not really sure what to expect. A sharp pain on one of her ears caught her almost completely off guard. When she looked up, she saw someone pinching her through her foggy vision - someone with a pair of goggles. "Ow!" She vocalized loudly. "Why did you do that?!"

"Those are real?" Takuya said in surprise.

"Of course they're real! You think I'd scream 'Ow' if they weren't real?" The kid backed off at outburst, not seeming to expect it.

"So cool," said the younger kid, eyes sparkling. "I'm Tommy! What's your name?"

The red-head picked at her checked sleeves, gazing around her at nothing in particular. Cool? No one had ever thought her ears were cool before - at least no one recently. However, this kid seemed like he was being sincere. Might as well take another chance. "Hi-Hideko," she mumbled.