Billy was playing tag with his friends and their pokemon. Mostly regional rodents, but the occasional regional bird as well. He'd be classed as a Youngster type trainer - He was the right age for it and had the trademark Youngster fashion sense of liking shorts, but there was one thing that meant he wasn't classed as such. His mother thought he was too young to have any Pokémon, and the Narrator seemed happy enough to go along with this. Sure, he'd had some misadventures - some due to the Narrator's bizarre sense of humour, some due to being 8, some due to being in a world where sometimes your birthday cake turns out to be a Pokémon just after you blow out the candles. That one got... Messy...
It was Billy's turn to be it, and as the Narrator was narrating him leaping through the air in an attempt to tag Chrissy's Pidgey, something odd happened. A shimmering, two dimensional, portal appeared in front of him, entirely unnarrated by the Narrator - not something Billy thought was even possible until he found himself flying through it - and closed as he went through it. "BILLY disappeared!" the Narrator narrated to the rest of the kids and their assortment of Pokémon.
Figuring out how to explain to a bunch of 8-year-olds that something happened beyond its control had not been on the Narrator's very long todo list, but it was fielding the million questions being fired at it at once like a champion politician, they didn't even seem to suspect that it wasn't in control of the situation.
Lois, having just turned 10, was on the way to meet Professor Mahogany. Her parents were traditionalists and had wanted her to grow up to be a Protagonist type trainer, so had waited until she was 10 before letting her get a Pokémon. They'd also insisted she get one from a certified professor named after a tree that only existed in fantasy stories like all reputable professors were. They just wanted her to be safe, and Protagonist grade plot armour seemed the best way to do it. But Lois was far too chatty for the Protagonist trainer type. She had a good relationship with the Narrator, even sometimes laughing at its jokes, so the Narrator was happy to chat with her on her way to see the professor and begin her journey. It narrated things it knew she liked onto the path no matter if they had been there before she showed up or not, and pointedly didn't narrate the Spinarak that she walked past, meaning neither girl nor Pokémon knew of each other's existence.
In the ground, beneath Lois's feet, a shimmering portal appeared, and she fell through it before it closed, leaving no trace of her behind. The Narrator didn't even have anyone to Narrate that Lois had disappeared to, and was a bit annoyed by this. Especially since it had just set up a really good pun. Like with Billy's portal, which had happened at the exact same time, the Narrator didn't know where Lois disappeared to. This put a spanner in its plans to use her as a player in an official battle once she had a Pokémon, just to see if the rapport the two of them had going on would work in that context. The poor Spinarak, the only other creature on the path, would have no idea what it had done to deserve the torments about to be inflicted on it - Simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time was sometimes enough to have a very bad day.
Thomas had just beaten Gym Leader Cole and acquired his Ore badge, and was practically skipping to the Pokémon centre to get his Pokémon healed. The Narrator hadn't even punned in his favour for his victory that time, unlike his first badge win, making his second badge win feel all the sweeter. He knew he'd never really know how much of his win was skill vs narrator bias, but when he didn't have a pun that he hadn't actually worked to set up going his way, he could at least pretend it was down to skill. The other people in Quartz Town that he had been narrated into the perception of, and they of him, looked on in amusement as the 10-year-old boy happily and enthusiastically made his way to the Pokémon centre, muttering to either himself or the Narrator - Who could really tell? - About having won, before giving his third celebratory leap into the air in the past 100 yards.
A shimmering portal appeared above his head as he did so, and Thomas disappeared into it before it closed behind him. Six Pokéballs, three of which were occupied, fell to the ground in his stead. The Narrator narrated this, except for the Portal, which like the other two, it didn't perceive. Those in the crowd who were aware Thomas existed thought Thomas had probably either annoyed the Narrator or else unwittingly set up a pun that lead to him being moved somewhere, although him losing his Pokéballs in the process was... Certainly unusual. Even by Sandy Version standards.
That was three kids who had had something happen to them simultaneously outside of the Narrator's influence. The Narrator did not like things happening outside of its influence. What was even more of an issue for the Narrator is that it didn't know where the kids had disappeared to, nor how they disappeared. Of course, since the Narrator was nearly everywhere at once, the Narrator not having a clue where any of Billy, Lois, or Thomas had gotten was unnerving to the near omnipresent punmeister. Or rather, the Narrator was currently bricking it. Not that the Narrator would ever Narrate this fact. Not everything needs to be known by anyone. The Narrator was just going to have to hope this was a one-off... Well, three-off... Occurrence.
Billy landed in a heap in the undergrowth of a dense forest. He looked around, and waited to be told where he was, or at least something that would make some sort of sense of what just happened. The familiar big booming red text of the Narrator was not to be heard and/or seen. The fact he was clearly feeling the emotion of confusion but hadn't hit himself only increased the small boy's disorientation. "I stand up?" Billy tentatively asked, but there was no response, and his body didn't change positions like it usually did when he gave himself commands. For the first time in his life, Billy felt truly alone.
Billy heard a crashing through the trees - He wasn't exactly sure what these weird and wonderful trees were, aside from them not being the palm trees he was familiar with - And a 1-foot tall anthropomorphic opossum ran out from the trees at him. "So I finally get to meet you, Billy? Huh, I expected you to be taller, you Runt."
Billy blinked. While not as populous in Sandy as humans, he wasn't unused to interacting with anthros, but they weren't usually so short, and usually wore clothing. In fact, if it weren't so clearly alive its features would look like a plushie of an opossum. The fact the opossum knew his name was also not that surprising, Billy was used to being told the name of everyone he met by a loud bit of red text - That was always a two-way relationship, you were told the name of whoever you were interacting with, they were told your name, so that imbalance was also weird to Billy. There was one other thing that Billy was processing in his head. This opossum had just done what can only be described as appearing in front of him without the Narrator narrating that the opossum had appeared.
Billy's brain was catching up to the situation. He was suddenly in a forest surrounded by trees that weren't palm trees. The familiar presence of the Narrator was no longer present. Things were happening without being narrated. A very short, very loud, opossum had run over and not quite introduced himself but close enough. Billy did what any reasonable 8-year-old would do under such overwhelming circumstances.
Billy screamed.
Lois had not been expecting a hole to swallow her up, so found herself sitting on the ground after falling through it. Her constant companion, the Narrator, was seemingly no longer with her, and it sounded like it was setting up a really nice pun too. She didn't know where all these trees had come from, either, but she recognized a couple of these not palm trees from her fantasy books, although she couldn't quite put a name to them right now. She wasn't entirely sure how one was meant to move without a Narrator to dictate what was happening, but she cautiously tried to put her feet underneath her, and adjust her position to something resembling standing, pushing herself off the ground with her hands in the process. And while the process felt weird without the Narrator narrating things along, it wasn't that dissimilar. She just needed to remember what positions her body moved into when the Narrator narrated similar things and replicate those memories. "So I can still move?" She said, forgetting the Narrator wasn't around. "...Oh." Being alone was an entirely unfamiliar sensation to her.
An almost electronic buzzing sound came barrelling towards her, seemingly saying "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii." Lois turned to face the oncoming sound, and saw a black and yellow fuzzy ball with wings, about the size of a tennis ball just before it slammed right into her chest. It floated up, level with her face, almost uncomfortably close, letting her have a good view of its proportionally large insectoid, eyes, and still with the electronic buzzing to the voice, "I'm Bumon you must be Lois. I'm very happy to meet you after all this time."
"...Hi?" was all Lois could say in response. She wasn't particularly a fan of bug types, so having what was clearly a bug type so close to her face wasn't exactly her idea of a good time. At the same time, she didn't know where she was, so she didn't want to act hostile without due cause.
Suddenly, Lois and Bumon heard a scream from what sounded like it might be nearby. "We probably should check that out?" Lois tentatively asked, hoping Bumon would get the hint and put some distance between the two of them, at least.
"Agreed," Bumon buzzed, before flying off towards the noise, and started to take some hesitating steps after it, gradually speeding them up into a run. Another entirely new physical movement to figure out without the Narrator to narrate it happening for her.
Thomas landed with as much grace as a ten-year-old kid who had been expecting to land on pavement and actually landed on uneven dirt can be expected to land. Which is to say, he maintained his footing, but there was zero dignity involved. "OK, what's the big idea?" he asked the air around him, expecting a response. "...Wait you didn't narrate me disappearing, what's going on?" He paused, but there was no response. "Hello?"
A soccer ball with eyes and a mouth rolled up to him from the undergrowth. "Hi! You must be Thomas. The pleasure is all mine."
"Err... Hi? You seem to have me at a disadvantage. What's..." Thomas paused, unused to asking this question. "...What's your name?" he enquired, unsure if he was doing it right.
"Oh. Sorry. I'm Ballmon. It's nice to finally meet my best friend!" Ballmon grinned, widely, its teeth were unnervingly sharp and numerous, especially considering how much of the soccerball sized creature the mouth took up.
"That's... A bit forward for someone I've only just met, isn't it?" Thomas joked, barely covering his nerves at what a large quantity of sharp teeth the creature that was already declaring itself his best friend. "Besides, I have--" The boy reached to his waist to grab a Pokéball that was no longer there. "Huh? What happened to my Pokémon?!" He asked, as his hands grasped around a small, electronic, device he didn't recognize.
Ballmon looked a little puzzled. "What's a Pokémon? Is it like a Digimon?" And before Thomas could reply, a scream filled the air.
"Crud, that sounds like Billy. We need to go." Thomas yelled behind him, as instincts he didn't even know he had flooded his body and he moved, fast, towards the scream without any gods narrating it happening.
The opossum leapt onto Billy's face, covering his mouth with his body, "Quiet down, would you? Are you trying to attract predators?" He asked in a hushed yell, trying to quiet the terrified boy, still partially laid on the ground, and seemingly partially succeeding.
The duo heard footsteps traipsing through the undergrowth from either side of them as both Thomas and Lois crashed through the jungle, Thomas followed by Ballmon, while Lois was preceded by Bumon. "Get off my brother!" Thomas shouted towards the opossum, whose eyes grew wide.
"What is it with youse two and making loud noises?" He responded in the same hushed yell as he'd used towards Billy, now directed at Thomas while climbing off of the younger boy. "Hopefully no one big and hungry heard that racket, eh Runt?"
Billy looked at the opossum, having had a moment to catch his thoughts beyond panic, barely noticing that he'd apparently been given a nickname by the opossum. "I... Don't think I ever caught your name?"
"Oh. Sorry. I'm Oppomon."
"My mum says I'm too young to have a Pokémon?" Billy hesitatingly asked.
"Good thing I'm not a Pokémon, then, isn't it, whatever one of those are when they're at home." Oppomon grinned. "You feeling better, Runt?"
"Yeah." Billy nodded, "A bit confused still, but... Yeah..." Both Lois and Thomas winced as Billy said he was confused, holding their breaths without noticing, but after a few seconds, they breathed out again as Billy failed to hit himself as they come to associate with that emotion over their lives.
Lois looked around. "I... Think it's just us three, then? Well, six since we all seem to have met one of these whatever these things are. Where even are we? I've seen some of these trees in fantasy books, but... Trees that aren't palm trees exist? And where's the Narrator?"
The other two kids looked at the ground, nervously. They'd both been thinking it, it was one of the things that had contributed to Billy's scream after all - As had the trees, for that matter. Thoughts about how anything was able to happen without the presence of a god to announce it filled their young brains, this was counter to everything they'd experienced over their short lives - The Narrator announced everything, everything the Narrator announced happened. But... Here they were, no Narrator, and things were clearly happening.
A loud roar distracted the three children from their thoughts, as Oppomon muttered under his breath. "Crud. I was worried this would happen after all that screaming and yelling." He cracked his very small fingers. "Runt. Get up, get behind me, and get ready to run." Billy nodded, and slowly clambered to his feet, unsure of the movements without the help of a god stating that it happened, but managing to pull something that worked together from half-conscious muscle memory. Bumon and Ballmon joined Oppomon in a defensive line between the three kids and the direction of the roar.
A giant, bluish-purple insect with six limbs four wings, a huge black horn, and far too many teeth, its head about the size of each of the three kids, started flying towards the group. "Now!" - The three Digimon fired fairly week, mostly consisting of pink and purple bubbles at the insect. The three kids let instincts they weren't aware of take over. Their bodies moved on autopilot. Billy, especially, was shocked. He hadn't really moved since arriving wherever it was they now were. The giant insect shook its head, not really impacted by the three attacks, but distracted enough that it crashed into a tree - Which, to the surprise of the kids, didn't decide to attack the giant insect back. The three friendly Digimon took off after the kids in their own ways. Bumon flying, Oppomon running, and Ballmon rolling. The giant insect shook off the collision with the tree and took off after the retreating group.
Whether because of his younger age or very slightly less experience at running without the Narrator's booming voice to aid him, Billy tripped. Thomas heard him go down, turned to the noise, and went back to help him up as Oppomon reached him, also helping the boy up. Lois started approaching, the giant insect was rapidly gaining on the group, and Bumon and Ballmon turned to face the giant insect. A growling voice emerged from the giant's large mouth. "Lunchtime."
The small electronic device Thomas had where his Pokéballs used to be started to glow a bright, white, light, as did similar devices Billy and Lois didn't know they had in their pockets. Beams of light fired from the children's hips and pockets and fired at their respective Digimon, all of which began to grow, to change, or as the children recognized - To evolve.
Oppomon grew to about chest height on the older kids - about the size of Billy - a red, tattered, cartoon devil onesie forming around him, declaring himself to now be called Impossomon as he did so.
Bumon grew six legs and mandibles as she grew to about the size of a Yorkshire terrier, making her even more strongly resemble a very large bee as they did so. She declared herself to now be called Buzzermon.
Ballmon grew two legs and two arms from its spherical form, and additional soccerballs grew out of those where hands and feet should be. Ballermon he declared himself to now be called.
The newly evolved Digimon attacked the oncoming giant insect - Much more powerfully than prior. "Buzzshot!" hummed Buzzermon, still maintaining the electronic hum of her old voice, as stripes of electrical energy flew out of her wings.
"Hell's Blossom!" Impossomon called, clicking his fingers, a small ball of fire appeared floating above his hand, now wearing oversized, purple, gloves, and with a flick of his wrist, it dispersed into hundreds of embers, each about the size of a cherry blossom petal.
"Hail Strike!" Ballermon yelled as a giant ball of ice materialized in front of his foot, and he expertly kicked it towards the giant insect, aimed precisely to pick up the storm of petals and electrical charge of the other two attacks as it went. The ball crashed into the giant insect's mouth, causing it to sputter and cough. Any of these three would be no match for it alone, but together... Well, they weren't exactly outmatching it, but there would be easier prey elsewhere in this forest. The blue bug turned and retreated.
The children looked to their new friends in relief at the threat moving elsewhere, and then to the electronic devices, they found themselves with. "What are these things?" Lois asked, examining it carefully.
"Beats me, but I'm not sure we'd be alive without them," Thomas said, looking at his younger brother. "You ok?"
"Yeah. I'll be fine. Just a bit... Overwhelmed."
"I know a good spot for setting up camp for the night while you three get your heads together," Impossomon stated.
"And then what?" Thomas looked to the Digimon.
"Not a clue. Forge a life here? Explore to try and figure out how to get the three of youse home? Whatever the three of youse want to do will be fine by me, and I'm guessing Ballermon and Buzzermon too. I don't know why we were waiting for youse but we were, and whatever those electronic devices are jumpstarted our Digivolution in a way I sure as heck have never seen before, that just proves we're connected."
The three kids looked quietly between each other, then between the three Digimon, before nodding at the suggestion, and setting out to Impossomon's camping spot.