Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ LoveLESS ❯ Line in the Dirt ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

?LoveLESS.? - chapter 4 – Line in the Dirt

“Attention all passengers!” LoveLESS woke with a start. Groaning and stretching she sat herself up as the Kettle trailmon continued. “We'll be nearing Line in the Dirt in ten minutes.” She attempted in vain to straighten her hair. Neo still sat on the floor facing her, his legs crossed and arms resting on his knees.

“You have a nice nap?” he asked.

LoveLESS gave up on attempting to straighten her hair and quickly put it into a sideways braid instead. “I slept like the dead,” she replied as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “You have a nice sit?”


“Fascinating sit,” replied the digimon sarcastically. “I was thinking that going away from The Hub was the smart thing to do. This track leading out has only one rail, while many of the others have several for back and forth transporting.”

LoveLESS sat on the edge of the bed and reached down to rub her blackened feet. “Why, you think people will be after you?”

“Someone locked me away, so I'm sure someone will be looking for me. Plus with all the squads around I'd like to be somewhere with a lesser population. Oh by the way,” Neo pulled out a small shiny blue card from his pocket. “Made us a bank account while you were sleeping. The digital world doesn't have paper money, everything runs on credits from bank cards. Payed our travel fees too.”

“Ha nice,” LoveLESS replied taking hold of the card to examine it then handing it back to Neo. She could not wait to make something physical from nothing from data, starting with some shoes. “I guess getting away from the squads is good for avoiding anyone messing with our fun too huh? I heard the squads are not all that organized though, like kind of hodged podged all over the place. I guess I don't know much about them actually.”

The screech of the brakes and the lurch of the car let them know they were nearing the station. The two looked out the window. The Dirt Basin had reminded LoveLESS of a spaghetti western but this town looked like it had been lift from a John Wayne movie. As the trailmon started to enter the town it passed several small buildings made of dull looking wooden boards. Classic western-style raised wooden sidewalks lined the buildings and several buildings had over hanging roofs held up by wooden poles. With one final jolt the train came to a stop.

“Now arriving at Line in the Dirt Station!” Cried the nasally voice from the over head speakers. The two got to their feet and left the compartment the way they had entered, through the back. The station was nothing more than a platform with a handful of humans and digimon waiting to board the Kettle trailmon. LoveLESS cleared the gap between the car and the platform and watched the other travelers exit. Two digimon with their human partners and one digimon alone. The departing passengers and waiting passengers gave Neo a wide berth and quick glances.

“Virus digimon aren't around this part of the map much I guess. Things are very segregated in the digital world, that's why I'm getting so many looks,” Neo explained and added, “I looked up some  some information while you were asleep. There's not much here really; a saloon, a hotel, a few stores and then some locals houses. We should get a room in the hotel, plan out the next course of action.”

“Agreed, I have a lot of stuff to look up now that I've rested up. I know some things that are going on in this world but not nearly enough. Also, I want some shoes.” Her last statement had a hint of a whine in it as she stared at her bare feet. The town was indeed small, it seemed it was just something that sprang up out of the needs of travelers on the rails. Without travelers it would probably never been settled. More Starmon populated the town but unlike the one who LoveLESS uppercut with her tablet they had a silver and gold sheen to their star shaped body. Other common residents were several large walking cactuses in different shapes with boxing gloves and digimon with a pistols for bodies and cowboy hats on their heads. The breeze from the Dirt Basin carried dirt and sand all through out the town and LoveLESS suspected there wasn't one corner you wouldn't find sand in. The largest building in town was the two story tall hotel which the two found easily. A large wooden billboard across the front of the building above the swinging saloon door read “The Dirt Nap Inn.”

The two entered through the swing door and approached the desk. Behind, with it's head on the desk, lay a sleeping digimon. It was small golden colored digimon resembling an armadillo. And indeed a small framed plaque read “Hello, I'm Armadillomon! Please ring for service!” A thin trail of drool dripped from his snoring mouth and puddled on the registration book. The two exchanged looks and LoveLESS grinned before sliding the service bell close to the sleeping digimon's head and banging on the bells repeatedly.

The sleeping digimon was so startled he jumped up and slid out of his stool to the floor. Still dazed the little digimon scrambled back on to his stool. “Sorry little lady I guess I dozed off,” he said as his tired eyes came into focus on LoveLESS. His eyes grew wide when he saw the large virus digimon standing behind her. “S-so a r-room then?” He stammered out.

LoveLESS folded her arms on the desk and leaned against it. “That would be fabulous. I don't know how many days but it doesn't look like you're all that cramped around here. By the way he's not going to eat out your soul or anything so relax.” Picking a spot not covered with his drool she scrawled her and Neo's name on the registration book while the golden colored digimon fumbled with room keys.

Armadillomon picked up a set of keys with the tag B2 on them and set them into Neo's outstretched hand. “My name's Armadillomon, please l-let me know if you need anything. Your room is up the stairs a-and on the left.”

LoveLess just gave him a smile before turning to run up the stairs, eager to get started on some shoes. Neo gave the digimon a soft word of thanks before following LoveLESS's lead. The warbling voice of Armadillomon drifted up to them from the first floor, “Welcome to The Dirt Nap!”


The floor boards creaked and groaned as they made their way to their room. “Do you think it was wise to sign your hacker pen name?” Neo asked. “You do like to sign your work and now that you're in the digital world it's more likely that the authorities would try and track you since I'm sure you're going to be doing some more signed work.”  LoveLESS gave him a look and took the keys from Neo.

“But that's half the fun, the running away.” She smiled. “Getting their attention then getting out from under their nose shows just how much better I am than them.” She unlocked their door with a small bit of difficulty. The room was small with a large digimon sized bed against one wall, a large picture window over looking the small dirt main street, and a dresser opposite the bed. A small sink sat next to the dresser; the hotel must have a shared bathroom. LoveLESS jumped on the bed and folded her legs underneath her while Neo walked over to the window to slid it open then sat down with his back propped up against the backboard of the bed to watch while LoveLESS puzzled her program out and doze lightly. Even sitting up against the backboard his feet nearly hung over the edge of the bed. Apparently this larger sized bed still wasn't large enough for Neo.

Excitedly she set her tablet on her knees, slid on her visor, and got to work fixing up a program for making items. Making an article of clothing should be a simple feat, not something complicated like the tablet Neo had crafted. The hacker flew through her program and produced the coding she thought would create a sheet of cotton cloth.  Before her eyes coding began to appear in the air in front of  her in a rectangular shape. Quickly the coding disappeared and the cloth began to appear. To her dismay it fell apart into threads in her hands. It would seem that more then using a hacker's skill, she would have to use a computer animators skills. She would have to program everything about the item she wanted to make right down to the thickness, texture, and stiffness; then use her hacking abilities to place the item into the digital space.

She frowned at the failure but felt more determined to get the coding right. Curious, she got up and snatched a white worn hand down from the towel rack on the sink and flopped back down on her stomach on the bed. She set the towel in front of her and crossed her ankles in the air.  Her jump on the bed roused Neo from his semi-nap. He uncrossed his feet and stretched out his wings.

“Just take a nap,” LoveLESS said. She had turned onto her side, and slipped her visor onto her forehead so she could look back at him.

“I can't, or I'll get my sleep all turned around. Here in the digital world it's still five hours till night down.”

LoveLESS arched an eyebrow. “Night down? You mean sunset?”

Neo shook his head and fixed his six eyes on her. “The digital world doesn't have a sunset. It goes from day to night and back again. You'll see soon.”

LoveLESS rolled back on to her stomach and flipped the visor back into place. “Okay suit yourself.” She got to work on the cloth wash towel in front of her. If she could hack into it's coding she could build on it instead of having to start from scratch. The coding looked extensive but it was simplistic and LoveLESS soon was able to dye the cloth green, make it stiff like wood, and fluff out the fibers. She reverted the coding back to it's original state then went about expanding it's dimensions making it as large as a beach towel. Smiling to herself she reached out and touched the cloth, testing it's durability. It all held together. She was ready to try and create her cotton cloth again. The coding appeared before her eyes in the shape of a small rectangle before dissipating and revealing a small cotton square. LoveLESS slid her visor up and reached out to pluck the cloth from the air. It held together and was the perfect texture. Each little thread was in place and it was flexible and light; just like she had coded.

Happy that she had gotten the hang of creating objects; LoveLESS then minimized her programs and opened up her web browser. Time to pick out what she wanted to wear. Since she needed shoes she figured she might as well just pick out a whole new outfit. Besides she wanted to test out her new skills. She typed in one of her favorite sites and began to pick out an outfit. She picked out a mustard yellow fitted dress that went to the knees with capped sleeves and flared out at the waist. A ribbon went around the waist tied into a bow in the front. It had a folded over collar and three buttons in the front. Despite her small stature that caused many girls to put on high heels; LoveLESS hated any kind of heel and for shoes she found a pair of light blue flats with shiny silver capped toes. To go under her dress she decided to pick out a pair of black leggings. She had grown tired of hauling her tablet around under her arm so she found a light brown leather bag with a large strap she could wear over the shoulder as well as a small handle so she could carry it like a brief case. It had two pockets on the outside and she thought she could put a large one on the inside to put the tablet. Since she was getting a new set of everything she also found some panties and bra she could base coding on.

She slid her visor back into position and began to weave her coding. With several trials and errors she produced a mirror image of the ginger dress tailored perfectly for her. She reached out and grasp the dress in her hands. As soon as she touched it the dress gave way to gravity and flopped over in her hands. It felt perfect, all the seams and buttons alined and she felt the same rush of adrenaline she got from hacking accounts start to flood her blood stream. Each piece she made was easier and quicker then the one before it and soon her spoils surrounded her on the bedspread. She felt a tug on her ankle and looked back to see Neo pointing to the window.

She looked out and saw the night down starting. A straight light formed across the sky. On once side was the bright blue sky, the other the dark inky night. With the descent of the night line the air instantly began to cool and soon the whole world was covered in night.

“At every place in the world it's night now,” Neo explained. “Unlike the real world, the digital world doesn't have time zones or anything like that since our world doesn't rotate around a sun. Oh by the way, you should wash your dirty feet before you put them into your nice new shoes.”

LoveLESS had rolled onto her side again to look back at the digimon to give him a 'duh' look. Her serious face was negated by the rumble of her stomach. Neo had to chuckle at the girl and he climbed to his feet. “Go ahead and get all changed, I'm going to go get some food.”

LoveLESS raised an eyebrow at him. “You sure that's a good idea? You saw the way the clerk looked at you. Fell out of his chair and stuttered like I don't even know what.”

Neo shrugged and walked to the door, “Not going to change stereotypes by staying to myself. I don't know what they'll have here, anything you want or definitely don't want?”

“I don't eat meat, besides that I'm too hungry to care,” LoveLESS replied as she stretched out her legs and arms. “It's been so busy today, I forgot I haven't eaten since before you kidnapped me from the real world.

Neo opened the door and looked back at the girl on the bed. “You're never going to let that go are you? Even though if I had the time and asked you politely you would have come willingly.” The hacker balanced her chin on her hands and gave him a wide smile. Neo shook his head and with the mumbling of “cheeky girl...” he closed the door on her.









A/N- The next chapter is a little bit of a break from LoveLESS and Neo. I'm going to introduce some new main characters; squad members. I'm not really sure how long it'll be, it might run long because I'm going to explain a lot of the political and social aspect of the digital world as well as the map layout. FYI; the outfit she's wearing is based on real clothes you can find on ModCloth.com. Her Dress is the Soda Fountain dress in ginger, her backpack is the Welcome Backback, and her shoes are Juniper Flats. I hope you enjoyed reading! Thanks for the reviews, leave me some comments.

Digimon in the chapter: aramdillomon, togamon, deputymon, starmon.