So... yeah! I wrote up my very first commission after being bothered often enough by that silly bun named  Meister_Li ! Still feels weird being asked to write for money. I may do so again in the future but we'll see.

Anywho, this story revolves around a Gatomon by the name of Scratch! Making her way from the Digimon world into ours and leaving a heck of a mess in the process! Which is only exacerbated by a nefarious plot gone awry that leaves her stature with the potential to be as limitless as her curiosity!

Thumbnail courtesy of  Miri

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Data Uncompression

(Commission for MeisterLi)

By: RaddaRaem



“You’re sure a visual won’t suffice?”

“Data can be reshaped and rearranged as needed. As you’re well aware,” the static tinged voice calmly replied.

Fingers pressed against his ear piece, the unnamed agent sighed. “Understood. What kind of confirmation will you accept?”

A pause, crackled with white noise, filled the airways. “It’s just data. Treat it as such.”

The masked human scrunched his lips at the mention. He hesitated to acknowledge the Gatomon as such. “I believe the Digimon is a ‘she,’ sir.”

“Copy its data and send it on over for verification,” came the curt reply.

Cheeks puffed out, the human tugged at his thick leather gloves. Those thick fingers of his shoved themselves into his pants pocket and fumbled for the contents pressed against his thigh. With some difficulty he managed to fish out a thumb drive. “Alright, alright. Upload will commence shortly,” he quietly stated.

Sauntering forward, his boots tunking softly against the carpet, the human wheeled some office chairs aside before kneeling down besides the incapacitated feline. Arcs of electricity crackled along her puffed out fur while she groaned. “Now now this’ll only hurt… a lot,” he casually stated as he pressed the thumb drive against her dainty thigh. A pained meow escaped from the Gatomon as her data derived form was copied into the now glowing memory stick.

Nameless rose to his feet with a grunt. Rolling the thrumming thumb drive around his puffy gloved palm, he meandered over to a nearby cubicle. His fingers clacked at a commandeered keyboard as the air conditioning rumbled overhead. “Believe me now? I… wait. Shit.” The human grumbled as he struggled to guide his proof into the USB port of his laptop.

“…You’re the best the agency could come up with on short notice?”

“I didn’t hear you complaining when I managed to infiltrate the office park undetected,” Nameless snapped back as he finally managed to plug in the thumb drive. “There. Here’s your proof.”

Static, angry and sustained, threatened to sever their connection. Warped voices and murmurs carried into Nameless’ ear as he nervously surveyed the office. It was becoming readily apparent that the Gatomon wasn’t the only Digimon seeking a beeline into the human world. Standing on his tiptoes, the human peered out over the labyrinth of cubicles that crowded the office. Shadows rendered the various knickknacks and niceties decorating the desks misshapen and warped. “Place was spooky enough as it was without the Digimon…” he whined.

Nameless tapped worriedly at his ear piece. Company, any kind of human company, would be very welcome right about now. He breathed easily when the white noise faded and the conversation between him and his point of contact resumed.

“Level: Champion. Attribute: Free. Model: Gatomon. It is as you say. Per our agreement, you will be compensated for the data provided.”

“Glad to hear it,” the frazzled human replied. He uneasily regarded the dual-screen monitors flickering to life on the surrounding desks. Silhouettes of Rookie level Digimon pressed up against the interior of the wavering screens. “Now then… where’s our designated drop off? I imagine you want her alive?”

Another pause, interspersed with the screech of a dial-up connection attempt, assaulted Nameless’ ears. He grunted as he fiddled with his earpiece.

“With the data provided, we can recreate a simulated instance of this Digimon at our leisure. A live capture will no longer be necessary.”

Lips pulled flat, the human crossed his arms about his chest and leaned into the side of the cubicle. “Don’t bullshit me. I know good and goddamn well how rare Digimon of the ‘Free’ attribute are. It’s not that you don’t trust me to deliver. You’re just too friggin’ stingy to foot it. Well, hey, if you’re not buying then I’m sure I can find somebody else who is.”

“…What are your demands.”

Nameless’ lips, hidden behind his mask, curled up into a crooked grin. “Quintuple the base pay, for starters.” His phone, nestled deep within his pockets, vibrated near instantaneously from the flurry of emails and bank account updates it received.

A series of clicks vibrated within Nameless’ ear. The unmistakable din of radio chatter, hailing from interested and eavesdropping parties, soon came to drown out the ambient static. Stingy bastard… to think he had the gall to purposefully disable the encryptions guarding their communication channel.

“Done. Now let’s be honest here. Do you well and truly believe that you could abscond with such a valuable Digimon without being intercepted? You said it yourself. ‘Free’ attribute Digimon are a rarity indeed.”

The human thrummed his fingers against his elbows. He was clearly being setup for… something. Even so, something was better than nothing. “You clearly don’t,” he sniped back.

Laughter, confident and self-assured, echoed from within the ear piece. “Given our trying circumstances, might I suggest a compromise? I can’t help but observe that this is as ideal an opportunity as to engage in a field test.”

Nameless uneasily rubbed at his shoulder. “I’m listening,” he stated. His eyes drifted down towards his laptop. A low and unsettling hum emanated from the machine as the thumb drive plugged into its side took on a dull grey glow.

“Typically, Gatomon are of the ‘Vaccine’ attribute.” The radio chatter died out as a series of clicks and whirrs kicked the encryptions back to life. “Rewriting the the nitty gritty code that comprises each and every Digimon is difficult enough as it is. However, there are notable exceptions.”

Puffy gloved fingers pinched against its sides, Nameless yoinked out the thumb drive. He could gather where this was going.

“Digimon of the ‘Free’ attribute are supposed to exist outside of the Vaccine, Data, and Virus triumvirate. They are a blank slate. Mutable and lending themselves to being overwritten. It’s one thing to capture and corral Digimon of the say… ‘Virus’ attribute. It’s another thing entirely to create them as you see fit.”

Standing before the splayed out feline, tail limply flitting at her side, Nameless hrmmed. “I expect you to pay me upfront.” His pocket vibrated once more.

“Now if you’d be so kind as to upload the provided executable…”

Nameless dropped to his knees once more. Ignoring the Gatomon’s growls and meows, he pressed the thumb drive into the base of her spine. Arcs of electricity spread out from the metal plug like veins and ensnared her tensed up limbs. The Digimon’s fuzzy form trembled violently.

“A-alright. Is this expected?” the human asked as he warily distanced himself from the feline.

“That remains to be seen. It is a field test after all. We learn as much from our failures as we do our successes.”

Shielding himself, Nameless stumbled back from the feline. Low and guttural grows rumbled free from her throat as her neatly combed fur grew coarse and uneven. Blinding flashes of light erupted from the Gatomon awash in electricity.

Bumbling through the static laden air, Nameless hurriedly retrieved his laptop and made any and all traces of himself scarce. He nervously peered over at the visibly swelling, and now clothed, Gatomon.

“Where the hell did those come from?” the human blurted out. Stupid as it was, Nameless couldn’t help but take notice of the snugly fitting sweater and shorts that adorned the Digimon.

“It’s merely a cosmetic change. Provided this field test pans out, I thought it appropriate that our newest asset not only acted the part but looked it too.”

Breathing heavily, the Digimon sank her fingers into the carpeted floor. Crackles of electricity coincided with spurts of growth. One moment the sleeves of her sweater were harmlessly bunching up along her shoulders. The next, her elbows and lashing tail sent squeaky office chairs crashing noisily into the walls of nearby cubicles.

“You have a dress code?” Nameless wheezed out in a panic as the swelling feline’s form came to press against the row of cubicles he was now trapped within. Nerves shot, he found himself with his back against the windowed walls peering out to the manicured lawn below. Several stories below.

“Business casual, though no one actually enforces it. It’s more a suggestion than a requirement. On to more pressing matters though, how is the target conducting itself?”

Teeth clenched, the Gatomon curled her clawed digits along the carpeted floor. Rolls of carpet fibers and even chunks of concrete collected beneath the keratin spears jutting out from her fingertips.

Nameless winced at the fact that, even when buckled over on her knees and forearms, he was only eye level with the curvature of her fur and fluff covered spine. “Oh that’s bad,” he mouthed out as the crackling lightshow faded and the visibly reenergized Gatomon rose to her clawed feet. Her purple tufted ears poked the ceiling tiles out of place as she came to hunch forward. Lips pulled flat, his eyes drifted towards the glowering red EXIT sign hovering above the shadows towards the opposite end of the office.

The Gatomon meancingly mrowed.

“Eeeeiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee!” Nameless wailed in response as he clambered over the walls of the cubicles that confined him and made a beeline for his escape route. He followed that up with terrified shrieks when a pronounced meow, accompanied by the crunch of crappy office furniture and the metallic groans of flattened filing cabinets, gave chase.

“Hmmm. I take it that it’s operational once more. Has it requested any inputs? If so, I would recommend you tell it to execute directive-” Nameless’ contact, unnamed and now unheard, rambled on into the air-conditioned office. The human’s ear piece tumbled across the crumb laden carpet as Nameless wriggled helplessly beneath a clawed hand.

A growl, accompanied by a rumbling bass that rattled Nameless’ very bones, rattled out from the Gatomon’s throat. “Now what was it that you said?” she purred. Her icy blue eyes, practically aglow, narrowed. “Oh that’s riiiiight. Now this’ll only hurt a lot…”

Nameless let out a muffled scream. Trembling, he watched on in terror as she raised her free hand overhead and extended a clawed finger that effortlessly cleaved through the ventilation shafts. He closed his eyes and whined pitifully as dust caked filters and tubing rained down upon him.

He waited. And waited. Annnnnd waited, for the end to come. It uh… it sure was taking its sweet time though.

Nameless nervously creaked an eye open to try and ascertain what was the hold up. The Gatomon’s visage, curled up into a smug grin, greeted him. At least it did until her sizable finger sailed towards him.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOF,” the human winced as the blunted digit, the claw atop it retracting at the last possible second, poked him something good.

“Poooooooooooke! Poke poke poke,” the Gatomon playfully giggled.

Nameless repeatedly oofed and groaned at every prod that pounded against his ribs.

“Don’t be dishing out pokes that you can’t take!” the feline teased as she took to a tippity tap approach. Releasing her grip, she took to poking away at Nameless with both paws as if he were an eeiiieeeeboard! She delightedly sussed out the various grunts, groans, and aughs the human could make while her white furred digits papped at him. The Digimon relented after he was all but embedded into the carpet.

“Why did I take this job?” Nameless mumbled to himself. “Oh. Right. The money.”

“Job?” The Gatomon raspberried something fierce at the mention. “Heck with that! I work work worked hard enough as it was just to get out of the Digimon world! Never would have come here if all that hard work was gonna be rewarded with more of it!” She turned her petite kitty nose up high, knocking a lighting fixture embedded into the ceiling out of place in the process.

The human achingly peeled himself out of the floor. “Please keep ranting, please keep ranting…” Nameless pleaded under his breath as he crawled towards the exit.

“Heyyyyy! Hey hey hey, I thought we were playing?” She mreowed briefly as she casually swatted at the fluorescent rods dangling before her. They responded by exploding into a crackling mass of shrapnel and glass that tingled against her padded palms. The brief of flash of light that marked their abrupt destruction illuminated the Gatomon’s subtly swelling form.

Cheeks puffed out, the feline mockingly stomped after him. “Don’t be like thaaaat! Come on, let’s be friends! Here, I’ll start. My name is… ummm… uhhh… shoooooot. L-let me get back to you on that!”

“Take your time…”

Dropping to her knees, the unnamed Gatomon scratched at a whiskered cheek while she mulled over a new name for herself. Her growth, which she paid little heed to, tapered off in the absence of an active electrical current. “Dangit! This is tougher than I thought,” she grumped aloud. The feline took stock of her immediate surroundings for any kind of inspiration. Lessee there was… well there probably used to be a lot of stuff to be inspired by before she went and smashed it all! She sighed at the ruined heap of plastic, stuffing, insulation, ventilation, and metal left in her wake. Uninspiring, the lot of it!

“Come on there has to be something,” the Gatomon pouted. Ears folded flat, she gave the place another looksee. There had to be something! Umm there was… her new friend trying to sneak off. She’d catch up to him shortly! There were the gaping wounds in the carpet and ceiling. Just some dainty little scratch marks and heyyyyyyyy. “That could work!” she excitedly mewled.

Wiggling her toosh side to side, stray sticky notes and papers swirled behind the Gatomon. “Hey new friiiiiiiiend!”

“Whyyyyyyy,” Nameless sobbed.

“Let’s give this another go!” Leaping through the air, her limbs tucked at her sides, the feline pounced upon her only and therefore best buddy. The displacement of air tugged tiles free from the ceiling and corralled a couple of office chairs to wheel after her. Once more, Nameless found himself trapped beneath her padded palms. Her noticeably bigger palms that now swallowed up his entire torso. “My name’s Scratch! What’s yours?”

Nameless swallowed hard as Scratch’s thick fingers blotted out the periphery of his vision. Shaking, all he could do was focus on her looming visage and the tiny teeth poking out from between her lips.

Scratch hrmmmed. “Gulp, huh? That’s a funny name for a human!”

“W-w-w-wait wait wait what no I-” the human formerly known as Nameless protested.

“And I like it!” she declared with a grin. “Next uhh… hmm. Gulp, what all is there to do in the human world?”

“I really don’t… hmm?”

The sudden screeching of tires piqued both Gulp and Scratch’s attention. Scratch, dragging her newfound friend along with her, scooched towards the her-sized windows stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Pressing her nose against the now smudged surface, the feline peeked out curiously at the cause of the disturbance.

A swarm of vehicles sat idling along the grass. Humans, dressed much like Gulp, poured out from them and advanced on the office building.

“Friggin’ vultures,” Gulp bitterly complained.

“Ooooooh. Are these friends of yours?” Scratch asked excitedly.

“No.”

“Pfff. Well not with that attitude, silly. Come on, let’s go fix that!”

“Noooo.”

Giggling to herself, Scratch pressed her hands against the window and clenched her fingers. Cracks splintered out from the incisions her claws effortlessly drilled into glass.

“No no no,” Gulp pleaded. Audible cracks and the suction of the window pane popping free from its rubber fitting drowned out his protests.

With a thrust of her shoulders, Scratch shoved the window aside. A torrent of air buffeted the duo as the pane of glass raucously shattered against the concrete below. The Gatomon hugged Gulp to her sweater clad chest and mrowed excitedly at the sensation of fresh air blowing against her face. “Ready, Gulp?”

He furiously shook his head side to side.

“Too bad!” With that, she jumped.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhohwait you’re a cat we’ll be fine,” Gulp screamed during their seconds long free fall as he whiplashed back and forth between mortal terror and relief.

Scratch proceeded to land with a decided lack of kitty-like grace as the concrete beneath her feet immediately cracked upon impact. Clouds of dust belched free from the splintering stone that crumbled underneath her feet. Stumbling, both she and Gulp unceremoniously tumbled forward. A handful of light posts and decorative planters were outright flattened or knocked aside by the tumbling feline before she dazedly rose to her feet. A nauseous and rattled Gulp hung limply over her forearms.

“H-hey there new friends!” Scratch weakly waved at the dumbfounded humans that stood slack jawed before her. Exchanging uneasy glances with one another, the gathering of new friends slowly raised their weapons towards her.

“Ooh whatcha playing?” the Gatomon inquired as her purple tipped tail excitedly undulated behind her. She arched her eyebrows when a multitudes of electrodes, connected to the tasers that shot them out by stringy bunches of wiring, bapped against her fuzzy thighs and chest. Scratch purred and playfully batted at the wiring as the debilitating electric currents coursing through them only served to tickle her.

Gulp eeped when he found himself rising up along her chest as his cuddly captor’s forearm thickened against him. “Not again…” he moaned as the ground drifted further and further away. Pinned firmly against Scratch’s sternum, the human clenched his eyes shut when the welling vertigo came to be too much.

“Ooh a tickle fight!” Scratch rumbled in delight as she came to lean back into the side of the building. Her errant wiggles tugged the various tasers free from the grips of her newfound friends. They watched on horrified as their plastic cased weapons noisily bounced along the grass, then asphalt, then sidewalk, before coming to dangle in the air. With every surge of electricity the digital being’s form only continued to expand upward. Her rumpled sweater dragged along the windowed and reflective sides of the office, conveniently obscuring the many cracks forming throughout them as they failed to withstand the weight pressing against them.

“My turrrrrn!” Scratch declared as the tingles finally subsided. …Once she was eye level with the roof of the building she had leapt out of mere minutes earlier. She lumbered forward, and the asphalt instantly cratered beneath her paws. Bricks threatened to rattle free from their mortar casings along the side of the office building behind her. What lamp posts she hadn’t inadvertently crushed flickered on and off in sync with her ruinous gait.

“…Run away!” her new ankle-high friends bellowed in unison. Indiscriminate screaming accompanied their flailing as they hauled themselves back to their unmarked vehicles and tore out of the parking lot.

Scratch’s eyes went wide at the sight of those boxy toys they drove, with those alluring red lights glowing along their backsides, darting along the streets before her. “Even better, a game of tag!” the Gatomon excitedly eeheeeeed. A Cheshire grin spread ever wider and wider upon her cheeks until… until… until… it abruptly flattened.

“Mmph.” She crossed her arms about her chest and snuggled Gulp something fierce. “I mean gosh that looks and sounds fun but… I’m not really feeling up to it, you know? Just too much work! Work work work,” Scratch pouted as the human was rolled side to side along her chest. Jaws parting wide, the feline failed to stifle a gaping yawn.

“Don’t leave meeeeeeeee,” Gulp mumbled helplessly into his captor as the sounds of screeching tires faded.

Smacking her lips, Scratch ambled through the dark and lonely office park with her handheld bestie cuddled close. “Sheesh, I…” she stifled another yawn. “I could really use a catnap after today.”

“Please don’t,” Gulp implored.

Scratch grumbled in response. “Now where to bed down…” she asked aloud. A trail of pawprint shaped craters revealed that, after an excessive amount of aimless wandering and casual property damage tallying up somewhere in the six-figure range, the Gatomon settled upon a lovely patch of grass! Nestled within an honest to goodness nature park tucked away inside the office kind of park.

“Night night, Gulp!” the feline purred as she curled up and smooshed her cheek into him.

“Please no! No God why,” the human whined and sobbed as he found himself pinched between fluffy forearms and a whiskered and affectionate kitty cheek. His wailing soon came to be overwhelmed by rhythmic and rumbling bass purrs that shook the trees alongside them.

The leafy canopies overhead brushed gently against the multi-story feline’s back as she drifted off to a sweet and sleepy slumber. Giggling in her sleep, Scratch dreamed fondly of that game of tag that she’d been too tired to bother dealing with. Her tail lashed out wildly as she imagined chasing after those blocky things and playfully batting at them. The practically subsonic cracks of the air, the snap of tree branches, and the crunch of metal lampposts cleaved in half all failed to rouse Scratch from her sleep.

As the Gatomon sank deeper into her slumber, her purple tipped tail gently came to flop alongside one of the many ruined lampposts that lined the sidewalk surrounding the park she slept in. Frayed wires, live and angrily crackling with energy, spilled free from its cracked shell and dangled dangerously close to the tufts of fur lining that purple tipped tail...