It’s A Wonderful, Artificial Life
by Faunamon
This story takes place 14 years after the Stragglers got out of the Digital World. Lopmon had once again saved Hannah’s daughter, Dawn, from falling into a creek. For some reason, the 3-year-old thought she could swim. Besides that, Lopmon had to baby-sit Dawn all day while the rest of the family was out, open the door for the early guests to come, and hand out candy and toys for the Stragglers’ kids. Besides that, Renamon, Sami and her son Dakota had come so early they hadn’t had lunch, and Lopmon had to fix them sandwiches, no meat of course, and lay out another vegetarian sandwich for Dawn and some spaghetti with marinara sauce for Hannah. Normally Terriermon or Dawn’s Digimon twins Kokomon and Gummymon would have helped, but her brother was busy chatting up a storm on the phone with Baringamon and Kokomon and Gummymon didn’t have hands, which they needed for these jobs.
As Lopmon flopped down on her bed, she muttered into a pillow, “I wish I was never born! Whoever created me, shouldn’t have.”
Suddenly the entire room seemed to freeze, even Terriermon, and a Kazemon appeared in her room. “Oh, Lopmon!” she exclaimed. “You don’t mean that!”
“Of course I do!” Lopmon said. “When did Hannah replace that maid we had with me?”
“She didn’t. She quit, remember?” the Kazemon reminded her, and Lopmon slowly nodded. “Anyway, down to business. I came here to show you what the world would be like without you.” The bedroom slowly melted away, and a strange Digimon that looked like a winged alligator came through. He knocked a Tanemon crossing in front of him aside and hurried on. “If you didn’t exist, Lopmon, THAT would be Hannah’s partner. And look at the things that could happen if that was true.”
The scene changed to a time Lopmon remembered from 14 years ago. The nature sisters, Floramon and Faunamon, had captured Hannah. Faunamon wasn’t really evil, but Floramon’s evil bracelet had been controlling her. Hannah’s Digimon didn’t seem to care. All the while, he looked uninterested. Floramon was about to destroy her with her Flora Beam. The other Digimon and Emma and Justin were yelling frantically at the Digimon, and when he didn’t seem to care whether she was Digitized or not, Baringamon finally shot her crown into Floramon’s face. She dropped Hannah and clutched her so-called “perfect” eyes, and the Flora Beam barely grazed her side. And though she wasn’t Digitized, only a small corner of her shirt tore off, but it seemed to be showing that the beam had made a long scar up her side to the middle of her stomach. As the shirt quickly re-gathered its data, she fell to the ground. The alligator made a noise and turned away.
Lopmon began to cry for her tamer as the scene changed. “Without you,” Kazemon continued, “Hannah would have got out of that bush, but without that egg…” The tamers had stopped for a drink of water, just as Letsymon had suggested, and Chikoritamon still surfaced. He destroyed the non-caring, blissfully unaware alligator, who never managed to get out of the way, in a snap, then tore off the leg of Hannah’s pants, giving her yet another scar. Lopmon looked away and sobbed, and the scene changed once again. “Without you,” Kazemon began again, “Look what happened to Dawn.” Lopmon knew what would happen and only half-watched as the young girl was swept away in the current, still alive but thrashing for the surface. Lopmon’s tears flowed freely onto the ground and she couldn’t bear to see if Dawn remained alive somehow, landing on dryer land, or not.
Then the scene changed once again. Lopmon couldn’t place what was happening until she saw Nivina’s triplets, Anita, Kaytlyn, and Kieran. She’d convinced them not to run away from home as they’d planned. The hungry, thirsty triplets collapsed to the ground. Lopmon could feel the wild animals coming up all around. Suddenly…
…She woke up. It was all a dream. Hannah came into the room with Dawn. Gummymon was on Dawn’s shoulder, and she was stretching out Kokomon like Yolei did to Poromon. “Hey, Wopmon! I heawd you scweam!” she said, obviously concerned.
“It’s just, I had the scariest dream. I’d never been born –”
“Oh, that reminds me! It’s almost time for us to watch ‘It’s a Wonderful Life!’ Justin is waiting, and so are Sami, Nivina, and our other early guests. We just have to wait for the others to show up…”
“Hannah, Dawn, Digimon twins, you don’t understand! Without me, Hannah had an uncaring partner who let her get two scars!”
“WHAT?” Hannah yelled.
“Dawn almost drowned! And maybe she did!”
“WHAT?” Dawn yelled.
“And the Li Baba triplets were eaten by animals!”
“WHAT!” shrieked Nivina, who had just walked into the room with Sahamon, and trust me, she was WAY louder that the others.
“Believe me, it was HORRIBLE without me around!” Lopmon told her friends. “But I’ve really learned my lesson. From now on I’ll watch Dawn and the twins without complaining. Now, let’s go down and see all our old friends again.”
Putting in Christmas records and waiting for the last guests – Wimon, Noa, Stephanie, Guenomon, Emma, and Baringamon, and their families – Hannah began to pass out presents or the other guests. “Merry Christmas, Justin,” she said, handing him his first. Dawn’s was next, and then Lopmon’s, Kokomon’s, and Gummymon’s. As she passed out presents and hugs as well, welcoming back each friend, the other guests came in. Seeing that everyone was there, Justin clapped his hands and announced the hanging of the ornaments.
“Can I hang the star?” Dawn asked.
“Of course,” Justin said, picking Dawn up and letting her put the vibrant red star on top. Renamon used her diamond storm to hang the diamonds, and the other guests hung their ornaments on the tree. It was a memorial tree – every year Hannah’s friends hung their own ornaments on the tree, switching them out at her next Christmas party.
Dawn, the triplets, Dakota, Stan, Sandra, Cindy,, Derel, Bryant, and the twins, LaLane and Libby, played together happily under the tree. It was the guests’ turn to give their presents.
Lopmon gasped when she saw Emma’s present – it was a clay Kazemon doll!
“Uh, Hannah? Justin? Dawn? Emma? Cindy? I kind of have to tell you something…”
But Lopmon never got to tell them exactly what was wrong. Because when the Kazemon doll turned its head and winked at her, she rolled her eyes up and fainted.
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