FELLOWSHIP

Main author: Guile Mustang

Co-authors: Legendary Biologist, DarkHorse26

You can check my profile for more information about the story, which is still incomplete. This is inspired by the anime Digimon Tamers, so it is much like the anime, although not completely the same with the anime.

Note: ooo is a line break. Italic is for indicating thoughts and dreams.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Chrono Cross and Digimon Tamers.

ooo

CHAPTER 1: Dream a Little Dream

The sun was a shining disk of white on the blue sky. It sprayed down rays that slanted through the gigantic fossils atop a mossy valley.

Pip was standing in front of the fossils. For him, this sight was fascinating as he had never gone outside his cage since he was born.

"This is all so beautiful!" Pip said, jumping repeatedly in excitement. "I want to see more of this scenery!"

Like a kangaroo, he skipped to his left side, where he could see wisps of fog down the cliff face. Shocked, he squeaked and then skipped to his right side.

"Scary…" he muttered; his heart throbbing quickly.

Suddenly, he heard noise of howling wind coming from his front. Looking ahead towards the source of the noise, he saw a silhouette of a horned dinosaur's head. He tiptoed towards the shadow slowly. He was curious, but also afraid. Who knew that it was really a ferocious beast?

However, his curiosity trumped his fear. He continued tiptoeing, and then started walking slowly, slowly…until he decided to skip ahead quickly.

"Wow!"

It was merely a skull of a horned dragon with its toothless maw wide open. Its horns and eye sockets were somewhat cracked. Inside its mouth, there was a swirling portal of white light.

"What's that?" Pip asked.

He skipped towards the gate of light. As he got closer, goose bumps spread across his body as cool wind blew from the portal.

"Creepy... But is this dangerous?"

Pip stepped ahead. Looking at the portal, he felt like there was a magnetic force pulling him into it. He skipped back, trying to resist against the pull.

Unfortunately, he failed. The force easily sent him skimming through the air before entering the portal. The sight of the mossy valley turned into the sight of a pitch black area with fluorescent green tiles and pillars.

"What's this?" Pip asked silently as he turned his head left and right, looking at the green glow coming from the objects around him.

Suddenly, the green radiance disappeared, and it was now replaced by the sight of a crowded sidewalk. People were walking back and forth there with either briefcases or bags in their hands.

Looking down, Pip saw that the floor was entirely grey, unlike what he usually saw.

"Strange… The floor isn't mossy or craggy. It's just full of smooth grey squares," Pip said, placing his right paw on the backside of his head.

Suddenly, a leg came down and was about to stomp Pip. He jumped aside and put a paw on his chest, letting out a sigh of relief afterwards.

"I'm so small here! Luckily I'm not squashed!" Pip said. He then turned and walked towards a boutique behind him.

Standing still in front of the boutique's door, he asked in his mind, Why aren't the people here carrying big stuffs like axes or swords? There's no fighting here?

ooo

Today was Thursday.

Inside the canteen of Shinjuku Elementary, there were only five hanging lamps in the enormous canteen, but thanks to the large number of windows, the sunlight was enough to illuminate the entire area. A few huge air conditioners were attached on the wall, blowing cool air to the entire cafeteria. Thirty rectangular tables were lined neatly in the canteen, just like marching soldiers.

Sitting at one of the tables were two boys. In front of them, there were two boxes beside two plastic boards. One of them is red, while another one is yellow. On one side of the red board, there was a picture of a yellow dragon. Beside the picture, there was a set of colorful chips arranged neatly in eight rows. The first few rows were moderately long, while the last few lines were rather short. On one side of the yellow board, there was a picture of a little cave girl. Beside the picture, there was a set of colorful chips. They were placed neatly, just like the ones on the red plank, but the first few rows were very long and colorful, while the last few were very short.

Ari Yamamoto loved red innate characters from Chrono Cross. Aside from him having Draggy in his red board, he was also wearing red t-shirt, though not with red breeches. Instead, he was wearing a pair of black trousers.

Picking up a red chip from the red plank, Ari said, "Draggy uses Volcano on Leah!"

Ari was battling against Akira Hayabusa, a fan of yellow innate. Despite him wearing all black, Akira had Leah in his yellow plank. Unlike Ari, he had a habit of using support elements, particularly attack-boosting ones.

"Leah still has 260 HP left. Now, Leah uses Strengthen!" Akira exclaimed, taking out a red chip from the yellow board.

"Leah's stamina recovery is slow, so why are you using buffs, Akira?" Ari questioned, scratching his head.

"Well, you can't always win without buffs, Ari. You see, I have almost all kind of buffs in Leah's grid," Akira answered, smiling.

Suddenly, the bass noise of a horn shook the eardrums of the Ari and Akira, who immediately covered their ears with their hands. It almost blew off their ears.

"It's been three days since the bell was broken. I'd rather hear the fire alarm than this loud horn. Stingy school society…" Ari complained, standing up.

After picking up the colorful chips quickly, Akira put them and the board into a small box. "Let's go! I don't wanna be late to class. Miss Satoko will get mad." Soon, he stood up and ran off with the box, leaving a trail of smoke behind.

"Wait for me!" Ari shouted as Akira had gone quite far from the spot he was standing now.

No answer. Ari, who trembled upon knowing that he would be late for sure, picked up his board without removing the chips first. However, his hands were so shaky that he dropped the plank to the ground and even the box. The colorful chips were now scattered throughout the ground.

Ari sighed. "What a mess!"

He crouched, but when he was about to pick up the chips, he saw a glimmering rainbow chip amidst the mess.

What's that? I've never seen that element chip before… Is it the Chrono Cross, just like in the original game? Ari wondered.

He picked up the rainbow chip, which radiated rainbow light as he brought it closer to his face. It is known to be an element that can bring miracles, so...I'll try inserting it into my board. Who knows that I can get a stronger Draggy? Or better, maybe Draggy will really come alive once I insert this element?

Ari picked up his red board and inserted the chip into one of the slots. All of a sudden, the plank shone brightly, forcing Ari to squint. However, he insisted to see what was happening due to his curiosity. Although his eyes were partially shut, he could see the red board shrinking into the size of a remote control. The slot where Draggy was had gone; it was replaced with a blank monitor instead. Below the screen, two small rectangles rose with left and right arrow keys printed on them. Beside them, the grid merged into one and spawned a long slim slot. At the lower part of the device, a thin plug emerged.

What's this strange gadget? Where has the Chrono Cross element gone?

The light from the gadget abated slowly, until what was left was only the strange item. Picking up the 'remote control', Ari brought it close to his right ear and shook the device. It did not produce any sound to his ear. With his brows drawing together, Ari brought the gadget to the front of his sight.

Draggy… Where has the character slot gone? Maybe Draggy's data had been stored inside this device? Ari asked in his mind.

He pressed the right arrow key and the words 'No Data' appeared on the screen.

Where had everything gone?

Ari tried hard not to be tearful. This was like a nightmare for him. The board and the chips set were a birthday prize from his parents a few months ago, when he reached twelve. Although the set was not something expensive due to choosing Draggy as a partner character, the meaning behind it was valuable. His parents chose Draggy because they knew that Ari adored this character in the game, and he had been drawing some fan arts for the little yellow dragon in his spare time.

But I must leave this problem for now… If I were late, something bad would happen!

Ari picked up all the scattered chips and the device before putting them into a box.

ooo

There was nobody in the school hallway, except Ari, who was running hastily. He was lucky that all he had to carry was just a box as he had left his schoolbag inside the classroom since the morning class. However, he just could not eliminate the negative thoughts in his mind.

"Late again? Well, after class, write 'I will not be late again' on the whiteboard until there's no space left!"

His teacher's words were still clear and echoing in his head. That punishment was really tiring, and it only made him sleepy even faster. Besides, the main cause of his tardiness was oversleeping, and being tired would only make him worse.

I hope that Miss Satoko is late…

He ran fast, but his eyes were focused to the wooden planks hung beside the door of a classroom.

6A, 6B… There it is! 6C!

He kept his feet beating the stone floor in steady speed. He had to reach the class as fast as possible. However, he gradually lost his will to continue running as he got closer to his classroom. He decided to walk all the way to the door after successfully peeking through the windows of his class. A woman was standing in front of a scribbled whiteboard, speaking with her right hand pointing at the ceiling.

I'm late, and now it isn't because of oversleeping… How can I explain this to Miss Satoko?Ari gulped whilst walking towards the wooden door of the classroom.

He raised his right hand hesitantly. He could just play truant now, but it came with a price. If he were caught, this might result in him being forbidden from joining the coming finals.

Ugh, it would be more horrible if my parents found out that I had a problem at school and had to join the follow-up test. Ari knocked the door gently.

The door opened, and the teacher, Miss Satoko, walked out and glared at Ari with her hands on her hips.

"I was late to this class for five minutes, and then you appear five minutes later after I arrived? Oversleeping again?" Satoko asked.

Ari bowed. "I'm sorry, Miss Satoko! I was at the canteen and no, I didn't sleep!"

"Looks like you can't be cured of this bad habit only by writing on the whiteboard. You're not only late for the morning classes now. As a punishment, you must stay outside until my class is over, understand?" Satoko said fiercely, glaring at Ari.

"Y-yes, Miss!" Ari stammered as beads of sweat trickled down his temple.

"Fine, and don't play truant unless you want to be in a bigger trouble," Satoko said aloud as she turned around and walked into the class.

When the door was shut, Ari slumped to the ground. What a bad day… First I lost everything in my battle board set, and then I was late and had to stay outside as a punishment.

Sitting on the floor and resting his back against the wall, he opened the lid of the box and picked up the gadget that appeared earlier. I've lost everything…

He then examined the device closer. What's this plug…? This looks like a plug for a USB drive.

He rethought the moment he found the words 'No Data' on the monitor. USB drive… Data… Is it possible to insert some data into this device? If so, then I can have Draggy back!

He put the device back into the box and covered it with the lid. He placed the case beside him and then pulled a scratchpad, a pencil, a small pack of color pencils, and an eraser from the pockets on his breeches. I was lucky that I always brought these stuffs with me. Now, if I'm correct, I can just have a brand new Draggy. He needs some modifications…

Ari began drawing on his scratchpad.

First thing first, Draggy needs to be bigger… Maybe it'll be good if he's about as tall as me… Well, I think if he is standing on two feet just like humans, it'll be cool! Weight? Ah, of course at least as heavy as he is in the game! Two hundred pounds or something like that!

Forty minutes later, Ari had completed the sketch of the modified Draggy. The winged dragon was standing on two legs, which had three jagged claws protruding from each of the feet. Instead of small arms like in the game, the dragon now had a pair of arms with three sharp claws jutting from each of the hands. His body remained the same with the original: yellow body with blue stripes. Also, the wing-like extensions on his head were still there.

Once I'm home, I'll scan and save this picture into the gadget… Eh, but maybe the gadget doesn't retain his statistics, so I'll just write it down as well. Ari turned the page of his scratchpad and began writing. Well, this Draggy will be stronger than the original, but not too overpowering. Maybe it needs more physical strength and defense… No, I think it will just need more magic-

Creak.

A yell of a woman followed the sound. "What are you doing? Why don't you at least ask for permission to get your textbook and read it while waiting until the class is over?"

Ari gasped, dropping his scratchpad and stationery in a moment of shock. After picking up the things he dropped, he stood up and turned to Satoko, who was standing by the door. "B-b-but I d-didn't know…"

"I don't think that telling you to wait outside is a fitting punishment for you, so do one thing for me: write an essay about attitude. You must submit it on Saturday, understand?" Satoko said.

"Y-yes, miss," Ari answered.

"Stay here for ten minutes again. Now you can at least plan what you'll be writing for the essay," Satoko said calmly before turning around and walking into the classroom.

As the door was shut, Ari sat on the floor and began writing on his scratchpad. However, he was far more interested in completing his modification of Draggy than doing his essay. Fine, Draggy now has less speed and skill, but more physical power and defense… The magic defense is a bit stronger than the original. Now, into the tech!

Ari turned the page of his scratchpad and sat still, rubbing his pencil against his chin. Cough Drop? Well, this is the original name, but it sounds strange…like a medicine. Fireball? Too generic. Fire Breath? Yet another generic name.

In his mind, he imagined the anthropomorphic Draggy he drew jumping into the air. Raising his head and opening his mouth, the dragon inhaled the air around him. He then lowered his head a bit and released an arrow of flame, which was shaped like a dragon.

"Dragon Flame! That's a good name!" Ari said, but he immediately covered his mouth with his scratchpad. He was afraid that his teacher would suddenly come out again, but fortunately, she did not.

A few minutes later, Ari heard a loud noise of a horn. That noise again… But it's time to go home! He kept the scratchpad and stationery inside the pocket on his trousers. After picking up the box where he kept the gadget and element chips, he got up. At the same time too, the students were pouring out of the classroom like water.

Soon, Satoko walked out of the classroom and said to Ari, "Don't forget the essay!" She then walked away.

"Yes, miss!" Ari grinned.

As he entered the classroom, a short girl was standing still. She was in a yellow dress and her shoulder-length black hair was tied in a ponytail.

"Yukari? Why haven't you left the room like the others?" Ari asked.

"Because I have something to tell you," Yukari replied, walking closer to him. As she was about to walk past Ari, she whispered, "I know what you've been doing during the punishment. You're drawing a dragon, right? I can see you easily because I'm sitting right beside the window."

Ari gasped. He thought that nobody would know about what he doing, but it appeared that Yukari knew too much.

"Promise me that you won't be telling anybody about this!" Ari said.

"It's a promise! Anyway, you must do well in your essay and stop imagining things unless you wanna be in a trouble. Bye!" Yukari then walked out of the classroom.

She's right. Sometimes I just fantasize too much… Ari said to himself, before walking to where his schoolbag was.

ooo

Today was not quite a good day for Toshio Yamamoto. For the entire day, he sat still at the checkout counter, hoping for more customers. However, the customers today were very few, and it was possible to count them with all the fingers in both of Toshio's hands. Sitting still, he wondered if he could get more money. Perhaps being a businessman would be good, but no, he was only fitting to be a shopkeeper. Toshio was just a man who graduated from Shinjuku High, and he never had the interest to study more. Besides, it was not easy to get a job at Shinjuku.

Toshio's wife, Michiko Yamamoto, once studied economy. She worked as a businesswoman at Shinjuku, but not anymore as the company she worked for had gone into liquidation many years ago. However, she was content as a housewife. What would be better than being able to live rather fully with light work such as helping Toshio? Besides, she had a child named Ari... Yes, just one son five years after marrying Toshio.

Suddenly, the glass door was open. Toshio stood up, thinking that it was a customer. However, it was Ari who walked in.

"Welcome home, Ari!" Toshio said.

Michiko then followed. "Welcome back! How's school?"

"Dad, Mom, I have some works to do," Ari answered rapidly.

"Homework? Well, you're going to be in secondary soon, right? School will always be busy, but you can do it!" Michiko said.

"I know, but I'm going to do my homework now!" Ari said as he stormed towards the staircase.

"Uh, what's with all that energy? This is the first time I hear that Ari really wants to finish his homework quickly…" Toshio said, his head tilting to the side.

"Maybe he wants to be a top student in the class? Who knows?" Michiko replied calmly, her right palm facing the ceiling.

ooo

Ari pushed a set of small switches on the wall beside the wooden door.

Click.

The Teflon-coated lamps on the ceiling flickered for a moment, but they were then permanently on, emitting white radiance that brightened the room. Ari then threw his schoolbag away to his bed and immediately took out the scratchpad from the pocket in his trousers.

I'm curious!

Ari walked towards the fiberglass desk and chair at the northeastern corner of the room, where there were a computer set and a scanner. He placed the scratchpad on the table, and then pushed the buttons on the CPU and scanner, activating all the electronic devices.

Knowing that it took a few minutes for the computer to function well, Ari walked towards his bed and opened the zipper on his schoolbag. He took out the box where he kept the gadget and all his element chips.

Picking up the red 'remote control' from the box, Ari smiled. On one side, he thought that this gadget would enable him to have Draggy as his virtual pet. On the other hand, he was wondering if this device would bring Draggy to life, which he had been dreaming of. Of course, getting a friend, or perhaps a pet to play with, would be fun for someone who was the only child in the family.

When Ari walked back to the desk, the monitor was on. Apparently, the CPU itself contained plenty of data. Even the main screen was almost full of folders and other applications, but Ari had never thought of removing them. He was too lazy to remove the useless data, but aside from that reason, he also believed that sometimes they could be useful again one day.

After plugging the gadget into the CPU, Ari opened the lid of his scanner and placed the scratchpad in it, before closing the lid. He then grabbed the mouse. Looking at the monitor, he moved the mouse slowly, resulting in the pointer moving towards the scanner application on the screen.

At last! Ari clicked the 'Scan' button on the pop-up window. After that, there was a noise that sounded like iron scraping against each other. As he waited for the scanner to finish its job, he imagined himself throwing a wooden stick away and let Draggy run to catch it. If this Draggy were real then… But it's okay if he's just a virtual pet.

Thirty seconds later, the noise stopped. Ari then opened the lid of the scanner, turned the page of the scratchpad, and put it down. I could just type the statistic into the Notepad program, but… Ah, I'm just trying to be quick!

After closing the lid of the scanner, Ari clicked the 'Scan' button and waited again. After another thirty seconds, the scanning was complete.

Yes! Now it's the time!

Smiling, Ari clicked the 'Save' button on the screen and saved the scanned image into the gadget. As he watched the image of some papers flying from a folder to another folder on the pop-up window on the screen, he wondered about what would happen next. Would he receive Draggy as a virtual pet? Or would Draggy really come alive, just like what he had been dreaming of?

The pop-up window disappeared, and another pop-up appeared with a red circle and a white cross on its left side.

"Not enough space? How come?" Ari wondered out loud.

Quickly, Ari clicked 'My Computer' and clicked the 'Removable Disk', before clicking on the 'Properties' on the pop-up window that appeared. His mouth was ajar when he saw what was on the screen. The gadget was unable to hold the files with over a megabyte size.

"No… Why could the gadget only hold 512 kilobytes?" At the same time, Ari felt that his dream was all gone.

He reclined against the back rest of the chair with a wilting posture. First, he lost his board set. Second, he was late to class and had to write an essay. Third, his gadget could not fit in all the images he tried to save. Today had been a bad hair day for Ari.

It's all useless…

He stared blankly at the ceiling. In his mind, he wondered how happy he would be if he had a little dragon in his house. After all, he only wished to have someone who would accompany him, just like a brother, sister, or to a lesser extent, a pet.

Suddenly, Ari let out a heave. It's something childish to think about! I'll just take a nap and forget about everything!

Soon, he closed his eyes and fell asleep...and dreamed.

ooo

Black clouds filled the sky as rumbling sounds were audible. Suddenly, blindingly white jags streaked across the dark sky, bringing with them a loud bang. At the same time, inside Yamamoto shop house, Ari snapped open his eyes in a moment of shock. Yawning, Ari got up and walked towards the window.

"It's going to rain…" he said silently, looking through the window.

With an expressionless look on his face, he looked down. The rubbish on the street of Shinjuku Residential Area, especially papers and plastic bags, were flying around as the wind blew. Ari did not see anybody walking on the pavement.

"Hmph, nothing interesting. I'll just go back to sleep or perhaps do my-" Before Ari could complete his sentence, mist engulfed the window. "What the heck?"

Curious, Ari flung the window open and stretched his neck to see what was happening. Apparently, it was just an averagely thin layer of fog; Ari was able to see what was on the street. To his surprise, there was a girl standing. She was an averagely tall girl in grey t-shirt and jeans. Her black hair was short; about shoulder-length.

"What is a girl doing at this moment?" Ari wondered out loud.

He kept looking at the girl, who was still standing. Even after a minute, she had not budged even a bit.

Feeling weary on his neck, Ari decided to back off. For him, there was nothing interesting about the girl and the mist.

As he was about to close the window, he suddenly heard a girl's voice saying: "So, it's Mama Dingo… Hmph, you're nothing but some data that will strengthen Guile."

Mama Dingo…? Guile…? Those names were familiar. No, they were extremely familiar. Mama Dingo was a monster from Chrono Cross, while Guile was a character from the game.

"They're in the real world? I have to see them!" Ari said, smiling widely as he stretched his neck again.

Looking down, Ari saw the girl taking out a dark blue device from the pocket on her jeans. The device was about the size of a remote control, with a monitor, arrow keys, and a long slim slot.

Eyes widened, Ari said, "That looks like mine except the color!"

"Guile! Finish her off!" the girl commanded fiercely.

As those words left the girl's lips, a silhouette of a long-haired man leapt from the mist. Charging at lightning speed, it rammed and knocked Mama Dingo away. The shadow stopped, revealing a masked man whose long lavender braid was fluttering by the breeze.

ooo