Little Fish in a Big Digital Pond [INVITE]

It had been a long trip back from the Western deserts, but, at last, Sophie James and her partner Lantis had returned to the luxurious civilization that was Terminus City. Resisting the urge to kiss the cool ground, she and her Spadamon partner entered the city. Both of them were tired and sore after their adventures, but thankfully had dried long ago from their impromptu leap into an oasis pool to save a young man and his Dorumon from drowning.

While Sophie may have liked to stick around Terminus for some R & R in another world, she did kind of want to return home and finally get around to that meeting she was meant to have with her parents and her brothers. And whatever digimon partners they had afterward. It was a long term plan of Sophie's and Colin's to get their parents to accept the digimon in their home as guests. After all, with Luke and Bellamy's holosuits, they had already met their parents. Surely a conversation like that wouldn't be too hard, right?

Lantis meanwhile was starting to feel used to being partner to a human. Even though he hadn't really been prepared to be a partner to a human, well, he liked Sophie enough to want it to work. And so there the two were, giving deep breaths of relief as they sat on the bench at the Trailmon terminal platform, waiting for the next train to arrive.

Sophie looked up as a kid approached. Instantly she felt compelled to help him out. "Oh, you got lost?" she asked, instantly assuming a sympathetic expression. Aw this poor kid. "You got on the wrong train, eh?" she asked, standing up and looking around for anyone that might be able to help. Seeing that there was nobody, well, she supposed that she would be in charge of this situation.

"There's no need to be scared, you're safe here" Lantis assured the boy. He saw the egg he was holding seemed to be cracking. "In fact, I think this is exactly the place you're meant to be. Take a look at the egg that you're holding".

Sophie looked too, and indeed, it seemed that the boy was about to become a digidestined. At least, that's how she thought things like this happened? What with an egg appearing in a kid's hands and then it hatching. While it had been different for her, with Lantis meeting her as a rookie level already, after talking to her more experienced younger brother, it seemed this kind of thing was more usual with new arrivals to the digital world.

Sophie and Lantis watched the egg hatch with excitement. Ah, the onward march of new life was always a wonderful one. And better still, the digimon that hatched from the egg... there were two of them! Twins!

"Ooh, that's cool. A Gummymon and Kokomon" Lantis said, identifying the young digimon right away. However, something appeared to be wrong.

"...you're expecting two humans?" Sophie asked, a little bit concerned. Ah, so these twins were meant for the boy and his sister. But they appeared to have been separated. "Oh dear..." she said, a bit awkwardly now that she understood the full extent of the problem.

"Well then, I guess the right thing to do is get you back to finding your sister" Lantis said, keeping his head cool to deal with this. "So your sister's name is Kasumi, right? And what's your name? I'm Lantis the Spadamon, and this is my partner Sophie" he introduced themselves.

"Right" Sophie said, thinking that was logical. "So then. Where did you last see your sister?" Sophie asked, hoping this would be helpful to know.

"Wow, I don't think I've seen a digimon evolve that quickly before" Lantis remarked, looking at the Terriermon.

"How long did it take you to evolve, Lan?" Sophie asked her partner out of interest.

"About a week" the Spadamon shrugged. As Saburo and Terriermon celebrated this wonderful occurrence, Sophie and Lantis paid attention to Kokomon, who was talking to them.

"Oh, well..." Sophie looked hesitant about going on her way when she saw three individuals here that may need assistance. Then she realized that she probably wasn't the best person to act as a mentor, especially when she had limited experience of the world herself. Still, she was 17, almost turning 18 in fact. And somehow it didn't feel right leaving a kid like this by himself in such a dangerous place.

"If Saburo feels like he can handle himself, that's fine, we'll let him be on his way" Lantis said. He looked up at Sophie, who he correctly guessed would object. "Your little brother Colin explored the world by himself and he's got mega partners already, Soph" he said. "Let the kid learn his own lessons if he wants to go about things that way".

Sophie blinked at him with a few moments of outrage that he would suggest that she leave a child alone in the digital world, but, yet, she sighed as she realized the truth of it. Colin was reluctant to tell her that he had digimon probably for the same reason, that she could be too much of an overbearing big sister. But, still, if Saburo or even Kokomon needed guidance, she'd be happy to help out.

"Well, if you're sure you're fine with being by yourselves..." she said, hesitantly.