Digimon Story

Chapter 11

With Y/N holding on tightly, Guaruromon runs through the forest, weaving in and out of trees, jumping over risen roots. The wind rushes past you, struggling to keep your eyes open, trying harder to hold yourself against Guaruromon, trying to let the wind go over you instead of knocking you off. Guaruromon comes to a sliding stop in a clearing. You wipe away the dust from your eyes and face, a small dust cloud appearing as you start rubbing your hair clean. You can feel Guaruromon go rigid under you. "What wrong Guaruromon?"

Your question goes unanswered. You look down at him before looking ahead of you. Y/N looks shocked at what he sees, a two story brick house. The house itself was nothing amazing, a blue door with a small window at the top, the four visible windows having a matching blue framework, and smoke coming out of the chimney. In front of the house was a wooden fence surrounding the entire house. The garden is well maintained, flowers either side of the gravel path, a small pond to the right off to the right, half sheltered by a tree, with a pink blossom like flowers

"Where in the hell did that come from?"

Guaruromon sniffs around, his snout wrinkling before turning to face you. "It smells off, even the forest smelt off."

"What do you mean?" A puzzled look coming over your face

"It smells off, I'm not sure how to describe it other than the food that has gone bad,"

You both look back to the house, you feel your eyes unfocus, and for a couple of seconds, you could have sworn you saw the house in a different way. The wooden fence was missing panels while other areas of the fence were lying down submerged by the overgrown grass. the clean water in the pond, now green and swamp like, the tree above it lifeless the branches like contorted talons. The flowers that once led up either side of the pathway wilted. The house itself is in disrepair, door damaged, windows smashed in, where the chimney once was caved in on the house. green moss and vines covering the house. Y/N eye's focus and the house returns back to normal. "What the hell?" You turn to face Guaruromon, "please tell me you just saw that?"

Guaruromon looks back at you and tilts his head, "See what, Y/N?"

"The house changed. It looked destroyed."

A bright light engulfs Guaruromon, a second later Gabumon stands where he once was, placing a hand on his stomach as it rumbles loudly, "maybe you're still in shock from what happened in the forest." He gestures to the house, "it may have appeared out of thin air, but it hasn't changed in front of us."

Y/N looks back at Gabumon while pointing at the house. "That house changed," you say in a less confident tone, "was Gabumon, right? Was it always like that, and your run-in with Phantomon was still affecting you?

"If it's not changed, then where did it come from? We've been all around this area and have never seen it."

Gabumon shrugs. "I don't know. We've both seen so much in the digital word. Sometimes, things just appear."

"Normally someone makes them appear", you counter, before looking back a the way you both had come, rubbing your chin before a small smirk appears on your face "wellllllll we could go back to the cave, get the others and then investigate, but that would mean going back through the forest and deal with all that again or we have a look ourselves."

Gabumon shakes his head, "It would be safer with the others, but if it's safe, it would make a nice place to make camp."

You both walk towards the house, you can hear Gabumon still sniffing as he walks, you reach for the gate as you touch it, and you feel something furry on the gate. recoiling you feel a dampness on your hand. Gabumon's eyes go wide, "Y/N! what's wrong?"

looking confused. "The gate felt furry, mosslike even."

Gabumon looks at the wooden gate and then back to you. "There's no moss on the gate."

You look at him. "No.... really?" You say sarcastically

Gabumon rolls his eyes in response. Y/N pushes his hip against the gate using that to open it. The metal hinge squeaks as it swings open. The gravel crunches under both your feet as you walk towards the door. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Gabumon sniffing one of the flowers with a confused look. "Do they smell off as well?" You ask, turning on the spot

Gabumon nods his head, "they do. There's something strange about this place."

You turn back towards the house, you both get to the front door, as you reach for the door handle, the metal handle cold to the touch, you push it down and a small click can be heard and you push the door open. Standing in the doorway, you both look down the hallway, dark wooden floor and walls a cream colour, small pictures hanging on the left side and stair case on the right. Y/N steps into the house, and Gabumon follows you in, the floor boards creaking as you enter. You're about halfway down the hallway. A foul smell fills your nose. "What is that smell, it's like mould or something?"

Gabumon sniffs, "Maybe that's what I've been smelling. It's an off smell."

You nod back at him, "something is definitely off here. Let's be cautious."

Walking through the door at the end of the hallway, you both enter the kitchen. It's got a small island work surface in the middle of the room, work surfaces in a U shape around the room, with your back to the island you stand in front of the sink, looking out the window into the back garden. It's also well maintained, almost a double of the front garden. You see a pond, a tree next to it, and a small flower bed. Staring out into it, you feel your eyes unfocus again, the swamp like pond, dead flowers, and tree. You grip onto the counter, still unable to believe what you are seeing. You'd never experienced anything like this before. Why were you seeing flashes of the house and surrounding area being different?

Y/N turns away from the window to look at Gabumon. He's opening the low cupboard on the island, revealing them to be empty. Gabumon reaches for his nose with his hands covering it as he backs away from the cupboard walking into your legs

"What's wrong, Gabumon?" You just finish talking when a foul smell fills your nose, quickly grabbing your nose to block it, you cough as you both walk back towards the door and to fresh air.

Once back in the hall way, kitchen door closed, and the smell still lingered. " What was in there, Gabumon? I thought it was empty?"

"It was empty, I can't explain where thay smell came from."

You both look confused at one another. In the silence, you both hear a small wimper. You quickly raise a finger to your mouth, signalling to Gabumon to be quiet. He nods in response, and you both listen out again. You both hear another wimper this time, with some sniffling and crying, It sounded like a little kid. Gabumon starts slowly and quietly walks towards the cupboard under the stairs, gently pressing his ear against it listening. Looking back at you, he nods his head. The sound is coming from in there.

Y/N in a soft voice "hey are you okay in there? We're not going to hurt you or anything." Pausing you wait for a reply or a response, but the crying continues
" it's just Gabumon and me, I'm Y/N."

Again, there is no response

You reach for the small round handle to pull the door open

"I'm going to open the door, okay? I just want to make sure you're not hurt. "

Gripping the handle, you pull it open. Looking into what you thought was a cupboard was actually stairs into what looked like a basement. The wooden steps down looking old and worn. You both hear the crying echoing up from the basement

Looking to Gabumon, "that explains why they didn't reply." Looking back at the stairs, you crouch down slightly, trying to peer as far as you can." There's a light somewhere down there. What do you say, Gabumon? We've come this far."

Gabumon leans slightly to peer past you. "I'll follow your lead.