Into the DigiMatrix

“W-where am I?” asked Shelly as she floated in what appeared to be a white void. The red headed thief could not tell up from down, left from right, or front from back. She could easily move around via something akin to swimming as she moved around in an attempt to find something, anything in this endless void. Shelly continued to swim for what felt like hours until a being suddenly appeared before her.

“State your purpose,” the strange creature said to Shelly. She looked over the thing that stood before her. It was on some sort of pole that extended out from somewhere yet nowhere, and seemed like the rest of its body was just like a scarecrow on a pole. There seemed to be a plate on both sides of the pole that could be argued to be a body, while two sleeve like appendages were attached to where the two plates meet and were held together by shoulder like joints. What appeared to be strange wings, or perhaps, guns were mounted on its shoulders. At the very top of where the panels connected and where the pole seemed to actually hold up, was something that looked like a robotic face.

“I…” Shelly could feel her nerves get to her. Her palms were sweaty, her mouth dry, her breaths short, but she had a mission. A mission of utmost importance. Her sister was the most important person to her, the person that would always bail her out and, despite the harsh talking to’s she’d get from it, her sister never stopped loving her or ever punished her unfairly. She had to save her, and if that meant she had to convince Yggdrasil to do it, then she’d do it no matter the cost. Suddenly a dear memory flashed before Shelly’s eyes.

“Sis! Can’t we play now?!” asked an eight-year old Shelly. Her thirteen-year old sister, Sasha, smiled at her little sister and gave her head a pat before she answered.

“Don’t worry, Shelly, we’ll play it again. I just gotta find a new targ...playmate!” Sasha said as she quickly corrected herself. The teen scanned the crowd of people as they moved along Times Square. No more than twenty feet away did Sasha see the perfect target. A middle-aged middle management forty-something businessman who was too absorbed in his phone to do business to notice the people around him.

With a target chosen, Sasha closed her eyes and concentrated on the man. She felt a strange feeling wash over her as she could slowly see various pieces of information about the man. While she could not make out all the information, she could see his name, occupation, and how much money he had on him. It was that last part that she was most interested in. Let’s see, $300 in cash and $5,000 in credit cards? Me and Shelly are gonna live well today! Sasha thought to herself as she came out of her little trance.

“Ok, Shelly. See that man right there?” she asked her little sister as she pointed to the man. “He has a hidden present. You remember how to get it, right?” asked Sasha.

“Uh...yeah! I just keep thinking ‘I’m invisible’ as I go to the man and try to get his hidden present?” asked Shelly, who looked to her big sister for confirmation. Sasha gave her a big smile and another pat on her head.

“That’s exactly it!” she said enthusiastically. Sasha saw her sister respond to her excitement and how it made her excited to do her part. “Just remember, if he looks at you, you gotta stay still else he might see you and then you lose the game. You don’t want to lose, right?” asked Sasha, who already knew the answer.

“No way! I wanna win!” she said loudly.

“Good! Then go get that secret present!” ordered Sasha. Shelly gave her a quick nod before she shimmered and disappeared from her sister’s vision. Now all Sasha could do was wait.

Shelly slowly made her way to the man her big sister had pointed out. Shelly wanted to make her sister proud so she would do her best. I’m invisible. I’m invisible. I’m invisible. Shelly repeated it to herself. As long as she did that, she would be invisible. At least, that is what Sasha told her. Shelly believed her because why would her sister lie to her?

Shelly reached her target and got as close as she could to the businessman. She would then slowly and precisely reach into the man’s pocket and slowly move his wallet from his pocket into her palm. The man raised his head at one point, which **** Shelly to stop mid pickpocket in an attempt to not get caught. The man looked around, saw nothing, and so went back to his phone. Shelly let out a sigh of relief before she continued to grab the wallet. With it firmly in her hands, she rushed back to her sister.

“Sis! Sis! I did it!” announced Shelly as she returned to visibility with the wallet in hand.

“Good job, Shelly!” Sasha told her as she grabbed the wallet and gave her sister a kiss on the cheek. “Now, how about we get some new clothes and some good food?” asked Sasha.

“Yes! Please, yes!” Sasha said in agreement to that plan. Shelly scooped her sister up on her shoulders and began to head down the street to go splurge with the money they just stole together.

“Your request will be granted,” was all the robotic thing that stood before her said. Shelly stared at it dumbfounded for a second before she could manage an answer.

“Wait...what was that?!” was all she could say.

“This unit has accessed your mind and memories and has extrapolated your purpose. Your purpose aligns with Yggdrasil. As such, your power will be modified to work within the Digital World,” explained the strange creature.

“I...uh...ok. Right. This is a digital world and you are supposed to be the master computer or something, right? Makes sense you could access any and all data here,” deduced Shelly.

“Partially correct,” it responded.

“Wait, what part was wrong?” asked Shelly.

“This unit is an avatar for Yggdrasil's will to interact with any possible data input. All data this unit collects is transmitted to Yggdrasil,” it responded.

“So you aren’t Yggdrasil, but you are connected to it?” asked Shelly.

“That assessment is correct,” it confirmed.

“Does this unit have a name?” asked Shelly as she chuckled at her own reference.

“This unit’s type is known as 7D6,” replied 7D6.

“I see. Well, thanks for the assist 7D6. So I can use my magic now?” she asked.

“Incorrect. You have been given the ability to bond with and raise a digimon. It has been determined that this Digitama will provide a digimon that will be of use to you,” 7D6 told Shelly. She watched as a glowing light appeared before her. It slowly condensed down into an egg-shaped light form. The light quickly solidified into a green Digitama with yellow spots all around it.

“So, I’ll be like John?” she asked. 7D6 paused for a moment as it seemed to be interfaced with something, most likely Yggdrasil proper.

“You will only have one digimon as opposed to his two. There may be more limitations on yours compared to his,” replied the avatar.

“Ok. Well as long as it helps me get my sister, I don’t really care all that much,” she remarked.

“This will allow you to fulfill that mission objective,” confirmed 7D6.

“Sweet. So, uh, how do I get out of here?” asked Shelly as she looked around to the blankness of the area she was in.

“Removing the human from the Kernel now,” 7D6 said. Before Shelly could even say anything, she suddenly felt a **** grab her from behind and drag her to what she could only assume was Hell.

“OH MY GOD!” yelled Shelly as she shot upwards from her position on the ground. She quickly looked around and saw everyone around her as they observed her. “Uh...what the fuck are you all doing?” she asked.

“She said a bad word!” said Mimi.

“She won’t get any nom-noms!” a very sad Yatina said.

“That is very true, girls. So that’s why we don’t say bad words, right?” Gali asked the derps, one of each held her hands.

“Yes!” they said in unison.

“Where...where is it?” asked Shelly as she slowly sat up.

“Where is what?” asked John.

“My egg thingy. That you had. The Ygg whatever gave me one and magic to connect to a digimon,” Shelly said as she slowly recovered from her out of body experience.

“Uh..you mean this?” asked Mimi as her sneks unraveled to show the digiegg that was granted to Shelly by Yggdrasil.

“Yes, that!” she said as she reached for it.

“But...I want another friend…” Mimi said in a sad tone.

“Sweetie, you will when the egg hatches. But the egg won’t hatch unless Shelly has it. You want the egg hatch like John’s did and you and Yatina get to play with the Plotmon now too, right?” Gali asked Mimi, who nodded as she set the digiegg down next to Shelly.

“Thanks, Mimi,” Shelly said as she took the digiegg. “So, uh, how do I hatch this?” she asked John.

“Well, where’s your digivice?” asked John.

“My what now?” responded Shelly.

“Uh. Now that I think about it, do I have one?” thought John as he asked himself that question. He reached into his pocket and only found his phone. He unlocked it and saw a new app on it called “Digiapp” which he clicked on. He then saw a complete read-out on his two digimon, complete with their current status, their power in the form of stats, and what moves they know. “Huh..neat,” he said.

“I don’t see anything new on my phone…” Shelly said as she copied John and checked her phone.

“I...um..maybe...have it…” Yatina said as she held up a small device in her hands. “I found it near the egg that Mimi took. It was shiny so I wanted to take it and add it to my pile,” Yatina told the group.

“Pile of what?” asked John, whose curiosity had now peaked.

“My pile of stuff!” Yatina said proudly as she threw her hands up in excitement.

“I feel like we’re gonna have to address that in the future. Would probably explain why various things have been missing around the castle,” deduced John as a lot of dots started to connect. “But would you please give that back to Shelly, Yatina?” asked John.

“Okie dokie!” Yatina said as she handed the digivice back to Shelly.

“Thanks, Yatina. You’re a good girl,” She said as she gave the dragongirl a pat on the head. “So I wonder if I can just…” Shelly said out loud as she brought her phone and digivice close together. A blinding flash followed as the two got close as the phone absorbed the digivice and gave Shelly the same app that John had.