Let The Games Begin (MPC 43A) (Mitsuko)

"You know, I'm starting to have second thoughts about this plan."

"Second thoughts? This was your plan in the first place!"

"Yeah, but I'm starting to think that we don't really fit in."

"I wish you told me that before I worked all night on this costume . . ."

"Oh! No, no! Your costume's perfect, Elliot. I just think we got a few of the details wrong on what a human looks like."

Seeing actual humans in the flesh had convinced Elliot and Isaac that they had missed the mark a little. For starters, they all looked so smooth. Did they seriously not have that much hair? Pretty much every Digimon had fur, or feathers, or spines, or scales, or some sort of accessory adorning most of their body. These humans, on the other hand, just had mops on their heads. They were also way smaller than the bros had heard. Their mother, a lovely Megidramon named Cassandra, had warned them all the time that humans were these great, horrible creatures who would gobble them up if they had stepped out of line. The ten foot tall construct currently swaying towards this gathering of humans stuck out like a sore thumb among this gathering, some of which were almost half of its size!

Elliot stumbled towards a nearby lake, leaning so Isaac could peer into the surface and check themselves out. Yep. Compared to all of the real humans here, the brothers were literally and figuratively two Digimon standing on each other and wearing a trenchcoat. In a fit of frustration Isaac tore the potato sack that he was using as a face off. The stupid thing was itchy as heck and made it look like the duo had lost a fight with a swarm of bees due to its lumpiness. The fake mustache attached to it fluttered off like the world's saddest butterfly. It bobbed in the water's surface, looking almost betrayed by how carelessly it was thrown out.

Isaac hopped off of Elliot's head, nearly tripping over the longcoat that was slung around him and Elliot's shoulders. The Impmon dusted himself off, then helped untangle his Veemon brother from the rest of the coat. "Okay. So maybe we leaned a bit hard into the Boogeymon angle," he pointed out, looking at the coat once more. What the heck was this thing sized for? Kinkakumon? Those didn't even wear clothes, so what the heck did they need to shop at a Big and Tall for? "But can you blame us for that? Mom really made them sound like terrors."

"I worked so hard on sewing all those fake fangs in, too," Elliot lamented, watching as a few Swimmon fought over who got to take them and play vampire. "Some of these humans didn't even have teeth! Some of them needed to tie them all up in metal instead. Why? How do these humans even work?"

"Apparently, not with jagged spikes on their chins," Isaac added, pulling a magazine of human fashion out from the longcoat and looking it over. "Turns out goatees aren't named after the curled horns of Goatmon. They're just . . . more hair. Weird." Seriously, how were these humans supposed to fight again? Most of them were the size of a Cyclomon's big arm in entirety, and even a KoKabuterimon could have taken one in a one on one battle. This was what all of the fuss was about? This was what was causing a giant tournament in the middle of Terminus City?

"You know, even if we did fit in, how would we fight?" Elliot asked. It seemed like the tournament was on Elliot's mind too. "We would've probably fallen apart as soon as one of us got hit. And then we wouldn't have just gotten disqualified, but we would have also gotten our partners disqualified! It would've just been unfair for them, you know?"

"I guess I just kinda figured that we wouldn't have been in much trouble," Isaac admitted. He seriously didn't think this through, did he? "I bet the two of us alone are way tougher than any human that comes our way. Together, there'd be no way they stand a chance!"

"Isaac, I was your pants," Elliot said, somewhat exasperated. "I wouldn't have even been able to see, let alone fight. My job's would have just been making sure you didn't fall off of my shoulders. And I worked really hard on making the eyeholes in that mask good, but I just can't see how it was any good to see out of. And what happens if we fight one of those really strong humans? What if The Rock shows up?"

"Damnit, Elliot, The Rock is just a myth!" Isaac groaned, exasperated. "He's one of those bedtime stories Mom keeps cooking up for us to make sure we sleep on time. Just like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bea Arthur." His face softened a little as he realized he might've been getting too fired up. "Look. The two of us can do anything together," he said. "But I think you're right that we might've been a bit in over our heads. Maybe we should just buy a ticket like everyone else."

Of course, little did the bros know, their ticket may have been closer than it seemed. Something beneath the waves was pulsing with a soft glow, the startled Swimmon quickly darting away from it. Isaac leaned over the surface, squinting a little as the glow started to get harsher and harsher. "Okay. Okay, water definitely isn't supposed to do that," Isaac said, leaning a little bit more over the surface. "Hey, Elliot, check this out. It actually looks really nice!" He waved Elliot over, all while leaning more over the side. Soon his face was practically touching the water.

Maybe he had pressed his luck too much. A spot of current pulled just enough on the Impmon to send him tumbling into the water, sinking into the depths down below. More of a fire aligned Digimon by nature, he really had no clue how to swim. Elliot's eyes widened in panic as he saw this, stepping back a bit before taking a running start into the water. "Isaac! I'm coming!" he shouted desperately, pushing against the waters with all of his might. Right now, his only focus was Isaac, but the increasing brightness of the glow made it hard to even make out Isaac's silhouette. Elliot could only have faith that he was swimming in the right direction, even as his chest had started to hurt and his vision started to fade from white to black.

Slap. Slap. Slap. That was the next thing that Elliot felt as he found himself back on the water's edge. Two of the Swimmon from before were taking turns slapping him in the face, trying to rouse him. "Dudes! Are you crazy?" one asked, the plural prompting Elliot to turn to the right. Sure enough, Isaac had also been salvaged, flailing irritably and causing the fish near him to scatter. "I don't care what you two are gonna grow up to be, because right now you sure as heck ain't fish. If we weren't here, you two could've died!"

"I'm sorry," Elliot said, sighing as he slowly climbed to his feet. "Sometimes Isaac gets a silly idea in his head, and I really should've been quicker on the draw to help him out." That satisfied the fish, who scuttled back away into their clear, blue pond. Wait. Clear? Blue? It was glowing so bright that Elliot could've sworn it was made of quicksilver! What the heck happened down there to change that so quickly? Elliot leaned over to look at the waters once again, only to notice that Isaac was laughing.

Slowly, Isaac unclenched his fists, revealing two small orbs inside of each one. They glowed every bit as brightly as they did when they were left beneath the water. "Heh. Got 'em," Isaac said, looking the two up and down.

Elliot looked aghast. "Is that seriously what you risked your life for?" he asked, incredulous. "These marbles!?"

"That wasn't the plan at first," Isaac said. "But when I got pulled down by the lake, it was the weirdest thing. I heard some voice telling me to follow the light."

"That's dying," Elliot said, paling a little. "That's literally called dying."

"No, no, not like that," Isaac said. "It was saying it knew what I wanted. What we wanted. And it was telling me that if I took the light into my own hands, I'd be able to claim that for ourselves. And when I scooped them up and got a good look at them, it was the weirdest thing. I saw letters just like the ones in that fashion magazine. Not the ones we're used to, but those weird curvy ones.

Elliot, call me crazy. But I think these'll let us fight humans."

"No way," Elliot said at first. Then he blinked and stuck a hand out. "Aw, come on, you gotta share!"

Isaac smirked, then handed one of the orbs to his brother. As one orb changed hands and the other stayed the same, they started to sink into the duo's palms. And then, once fully receded, the glow started to overcome them both.

Both Elliot and Isaac jumped back in surprise as the glow faded. Where their brother once was, now only a human stood. At first they both sank into battle stances, as if afraid they were being ambushed or tested, but as soon as they realized what was going on they burst into shared laughter. "Look at us! We're, like, at least two feet taller," Isaac said, clearly delighted by this. Immediately he ran to the lake to check himself out, touching up his hair to make sure it was just right. "Feel kinda naked without my bandanna, though. Think we could stop by Terminus and get one?"

"I dunno about mine," Elliot said, looking down at his feet. Or, rather, his foot. While one was in the proper position, the other seemed to be trailing behind. "I think it's broken."

Isaac walked over to his younger brother, examining his new human body. "Oof, yeah, that's kind of a problem," he admitted, before giving Elliot's walking stick a gentle tap. "But hey, at least yours comes with a weapon, right?"

"Yeah. That's true," Elliot said, smiling gently. That was pretty cool, even if it was a bit of a plain one.

"What do you say? Are we gonna head down to that big tournament and test these new bodies out?" Elliot didn't think it was too great of an idea, but the hopeful smile on Isaac's face was far too much. Besides, they already put so much effort into making that a reality. What harm would one more step be?

Elliot nodded, the two brothers high fiving with their brand new human hands. They would be coming into a tournament that had been advertised for months with no plan, no training, and bodies they had just acquired five minutes ago. They didn't even know what a human could do, or for the longest time even what one looked like. And yet, they had each other. What could really go wrong, so long as that was the case?