Digital Destinies

By: Aubrie1234

"Of course, sir; we'll check the area asap." Joe hung up. He and Frank were home alone on a Saturday, their father having to go to work and their mom and aunt going shopping. Frank was presumably reading a book in his room, seeing as they weren't working on any cases or jobs for A. T. A. C. Joe had been in his room, playing games, and had answered the call. He went to Frank's room, stopping in the doorway, where his brother looked up from his book at him.

"Another job from A. T. A. C.?" Frank asked, bookmarking and putting down his book.

"No, a call from Chief Collig. Said that there's a case he couldn't solve, so I told him we'd check out the site of the case."

"Where is it?"

"About a mile into the forest. It's been a while since we've done a case for Chief Collig." Frank followed Joe out as he grabbed the car keys.

"Not too long. But, it has been a few days since we've done a job or a case. What are the details of the case?"

"Not too much, really." the two brothers got into the car and Frank started it up, pulling out of the driveway and driving the car towards their destination, "There were reports of a suspicious person in the area of the houses nearest to the forest, and the police, upon getting there, chased him to about a mile into the forest, where they lost him. Chief Collig said there wasn't much else to go on, so he wanted us to see if we could find any clues they missed when they searched the area."

"What about the description of the suspect?"

"Too dark to get much, but they could tell it was a male, tall, age estimated to be in 20s, and really athletic. He was jumping over bushes and other things like hurdles on a track is what the officers chasing him said."

"Clothes?"

"A black jacket, jeans, and they managed to find footprints from sneakers, but they disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Frank glanced at Joe, who nodded.

"Yeah, just ended in the middle of the forest. No covering up, like with leaves or sweeping them away with a branch; it was like he flew away or something."

"That's strange. Did they check for secret entrances?"

"Yep. Metal detectors, heat sensors, the works; but they didn't get anything except faint heat readings from the footprints, and that wasn't any help."

"No wonder Chief Collig asked us to take on the case." They reached the edge if the forest, where Frank parked the car and they got out.

"He said that if there was anyone who could solve this case, it'd be us." Joe said.

"I'm not so sure. Barely any clues, all giving more questions than answers, and that doesn't give us much to go on. By they way, were any of the people who saw him around here give a description?"

"He kept his hood up, so they couldn't see his face, and every time he was wearing the same clothes."

"Still nothing to go on. Let's check out the footprints." Joe nodded as he followed Frank into the forest.

"Chief Collig said he had them marked off for us, so no one would disturb them and we could find them better. Do you think we might get a clue from the prints?" Frank nodded.

"Not from the prints themselves, maybe, but from around the trail. What if he threw something to the side and the officers didn't see or find it?"

"Good idea, Frank. Maybe we'll find something, and that'll lead us in the right direction."

"Hopefully."

Upon reaching the police tape, they split up; Frank took to checking the tracks again, and Joe went to check around the trail. After a while of finding nothing, Frank reached the end of the trail. Like Joe said, the footprints ended without a trace of why they did.

"Those officers were right. There's nothing to gain from this trail." Frank looked back at the way he had come, "But what about the start?" Running, he went back to the start of the trail and looked around. He soon found something; it was a piece of black cord, similar to the kind used for necklaces, and it was hooked on a bush branch quite close to the trail. It also almost completely camouflaged into the bush, but the scanners would have been able to sense it, wouldn't they?

"A clue at last, I hope." Frank took a tissue from his pocket and used it to pick up the cord, so he could preserve any fingerprints. Wrapping the tissue securely around the clue, he tucked it back into his pocket. He then prepared to look for more clues when he heard a shout from Joe.

"Frank! Get over here now!" Joe's voice was urgent, so Frank quickly ran to see what was going on. Joe was sitting on the ground, not far from where he had started, and in his lap was a huge egg, as big as an ostrich's. It was white with green and brown spots, and Joe was rubbing it gently.

"What is that? Where did you find it?" Frank asked, shocked.

"Right here." Joe said, "It was hidden under a bush ad leaves were stacked against it, so someone must have been trying to hide it, maybe even the man. He might have been trying to find it when the officers came. And how should I know what it is? All I know is that it's a very big egg. Do you mean you've never seen it, either?"

"Nothing like it. The only egg that could be close to it is an ostrich egg, and ostriches don't live around here. No other animal could have made an egg this big."

"So we're taking this home?" Joe asked, hopeful. Frank sighed.

"Yes, we are. There's no way we could just leave this alone out here, if that man hid it. Besides, I want to see what kind of egg this is, maybe it's even a new species of animal."

"Well, I was going to take it home anyway, because when I touched it, it moved!"

"It did?!"

"Yeah! But then it stopped. And, it was also a bit chilly when I touched it."

"Maybe you just accidentally moved it, then."

"No, I'm sure it moved on its own when I touched it."

"Oh, and I almost forgot." Frank pulled out the tissue and showed Joe the cord, "I found this hanging on another bush at the beginning of the trail. I think it belonged to the man."

"But what did it belong to? A necklace, a bracelet, something in his pocket?" Frank put the tissue containing the clue back in his pocket.

"I don't know, so I picked it up with the tissue. Hopefully Chief Collig and the police will be able to get a successful forensics scan on this."

"First, though, we've gotta get this thing home. We can get it warmer there and then you can drop off the clue at the Police Station." Frank nodded as he helped his brother to his feet.

"And I think we might want to keep this a secret. There's no telling who would want the egg if they found out. I don't even trust A. T. A. C. on this." Joe nodded.

"I don't either. This will be just between us." With a nod from Frank, they set off back to the car, but Joe suddenly stopped as the egg shook in his arms. After a few seconds, it stopped.

"See? I told you, the egg moved! I think it might hatch soon!"

"Then we need to get home faster! It can't just hatch out of nowhere like this!" They started to run to the car, where they got in and raced home. Joe hopped out and looked at Frank.

"You should probably take the clue to the station first."

"Good point. Take care of the egg, and I'll be back soon." Joe rushed inside as Frank took off. Sighing, Joe walked through the house to the stairs. Playback also saw the egg as the blond went by.

"Big egg, big egg!" Playback squawked.

"Yes, it's a big egg, but please don't say this to anyone, Playback."

"Don't say, don't say!" Joe got a cracker from the kitchen and fed it to the bird.

"Good boy, Playback. See you later." Joe took off up the stairs, where he set the egg down on his bed, locked the bedroom door, and sighed.

"If Playback mentions the egg to anyone besides Frank, the egg is history, not to mention us!" he muttered. Then, he went to his closet to take out some old blankets to keep the egg warm.

When Frank got home, he wasn't surprised to find his brother's bedroom door locked, but was surprised at what he found inside when Joe opened the door.

"You know, Joe, I never thought of you as the motherly type."

"Shut up." The entire room was baby animal-proofed. Pillows covered the floor, blankets covered the lower walls, and practically a ton of blankets were around the egg.

"Why so much stuff?" Frank was trying to find footing on the pillows as Joe re-locked the door.

"You can never be too careful. Anyway, what about the clue?"

"Chief Collig said that they'd get fingerprints off it soon if there were any. What about the egg?" Joe found his footing easier than Frank and got over to sit beside the egg, which was still on his bed.

"A few movements and they've been appearing more frequently, so I think it's going to hatch soon." Frank finally managed to get to the bed, where he sat on the other side of the egg and felt it. It felt very warm.

"Well, you've been keeping it warm for sure." Joe nodded, picking up one of the blankets and rubbing the egg with it.

"What do you think is inside it?" Joe asked.

"For all we know, it could be anything."

"And, since we're keeping it, can we name it once it hatches?" Frank smiled.

"Sure, why not? Do you have any ideas?"

"Yeah, but depends on what'll hatch, you know? Gender, what name suits its species-"

"I get it, I get it." Joe then got a smirk on his face, making Frank wary; he knew that smirk, "What are you thinking, Joe?"

"Well, since both of us are going to take care of the egg, you need to learn how to take care of it too." Frank sighed.

"Somehow, I knew that was coming. What do I need to do?"

"Just do what I do; rub the egg gently and slowly with the blanket in similar circles, like this." Joe demonstrated. Frank then picked up a blanket and followed his brother's example, to which they both smiled.

"There you go!" Suddenly, the egg started to shake violently, surprising them. Cracks also started to appear all over the egg.

"It's hatching!" Both boys took their blankets off the egg and watched as the cracks grew bigger. Squeaks could also be heard from inside it, like there was more than one animal. Suddenly, horns managed to poke through the shell; three brown ones and a green one on different sides of the egg. The brown ones were on Frank's side while the green one was on Joe's side. Then, with a final crack, the egg fell apart and two animals came out; at least, that's what the brothers thought they were. They were both round with a long, jagged-like tail, but had different colors and amount of horns. There was a brown one with three horns and a green one with one horn. With happy squeaks, they hopped into the brothers' laps, the brown one to Frank and the green one to Joe.

"Whoa, little guy! Take it easy!" Joe was laughing as the green one cuddled him, energized. The brown one was much calmer, settling down on Frank's lap, where the brunette pet it.

"Amazing. The two of them came out of the same egg, which is incredible enough, but they're also so different."

"And speaking of egg, it's gone." Sure enough, Joe was right; looking over, Frank saw no trace of the egg.

"This is getting weirder and weirder. But," Frank looked down at the creature in his lap, "We've got to take care of these two, not to mention work on the case and go to school now."

"Hopefully we can do all that without being found out." Joe said, starting to pet the green creature, "And do you think these guys are hungry?"

"Probably. Here, hold on to this guy for me, okay?" Frank handed the brown one to Joe, but the little creature grabbed Frank's arm with its tail and hung on. It squeaked sadly as it hung on to him and Frank sighed.

"I'm not leaving you. I'm just getting you some food, that's all. I'll be back. I just don't want anyone to see you, okay?" The brown creature looked ready to cry, and Joe had an idea.

"Hide him in your jacket." he said, "No one will see him and he can stay with you."

"Okay, but please, no crying." Frank picked up the creature and tucked in into his jacket, where it moved itself into a comfortable position and purred contently. The brothers smiled, and then the green creature jumped onto Joe's chest and tried to copy its sibling. Frank chuckled as Joe laughed, putting the little green creature in his jacket.

"Better go get that food now." Joe said, patting the creature as it purred as well.

"Yeah, and I hope Playback doesn't say anything about this." Frank left and Joe made sure the door was locked behind him.

A crossover between Hardy Boys and Digimon, probably the first! Anyway, I'm basing all of the Hardy Boys stories I post around what I've read of the Hardy Boys so far, including crossovers. Anyway, I've read the same books I said I did in Changes, and I've recently read Undercover Brothers #1 OCEAN OF OSYRIA, #9 TO DIE OR NOT TO DIE, and #18 D.A.N.G.E.R. SPELLS THE HANGMAN. Tell me if I make any mistakes, and read and review, please!