Episode 1: Ladybugmon Is Born!

In a world that has, for some time, remained separate from the world of humans, a world of Digital Monsters of all kinds of different shapes and sizes roam about. An anonymous new evil has risen in the Digital World, one so powerful that not even all the Digidestined from Earth can stop it! Jijimon along with the other elders of the Digital World have decided to open portals in various ways, trying to summon Digidestined from every corner of the universe in order to stop this evil.

Piedmont, SC…

It was a cool September morning in Piedmont, South Carolina. A 12 year old boy with dark brown hair snoozed away soundly as the sun outside began to rise. The boy tossed over in his sleep, a bubble of snot inflating and deflating in his nose as he breathed. Today was the first day of school after a long summer break. The boy had a clock next to his bed that resembled a small orange dinosaur with green eyes and sharp white claws. The clock struck 6:00. "Beep! Beep! Good morning!" it said followed by an instrumental of "Digimon Are The Champions" by Paul Gordon. The brown haired boy stretched in his bed. He yawned. "Just five more minutes, please." He said softly before turning over and placing his hand on the button on top of the dinosaur clock's head. "Agumon clock waking me up First day of school. Now, every morning I'm going to do the same old thing; School, homework, bath, bed, and then go to get up to do it all over again. Well, that's not entirely true. I can have some fun if I finish my homework on time." The boy said as he turned around to place his feet on the floor. The boy was wearing blue and yellow pajamas. The boy then heard his mother calling from the next room; "EVANDER! YOU'D BETTER GET OUT OF BED MISTER! DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!" she yelled, southern twang filling her voice. Evander sighed. "A new boring school year. Same nagging mom." He complained. Evander went into the bathroom to freshen up. One he had done so, he went downstairs to have breakfast with his mother, father, and younger sister Lilly. They were having scrambled eggs and toast. Robert Glovion is Evander's Dad, Darlean Glovion is Evander's Mother. Darlean looked over to her son and said, "So, first day of 7th grade, huh? How exciting?" She said. Evander was now fully dressed, wearing a backwards blue baseball cap with a set of goggles over top of them, a blue shirt with small yellow stripes, blue jeans, and black and red tennis shoes. Evander didn't look enthused. "What's so exciting about another year of school? Boring math, boring science, boring history, boring everything." Evander said. He was clearly in a foul mood. Though after he said "boring everything", he realized there was one thing about school, he didn't find boring; an orange haired girl named Jessica Amber. Evander had met Jessica when they were both five. She was a bit of a tomboy. That's one of the things he liked about her. They both loved playing sports outdoors and playing video games indoors. She was his best friend. Seeing her every day on the bus was always a nice way to start things off. Darlean scowled. "That's not the kind of attitude to have! Go out there and face the 7th grade with gusto! Give it your all! Get straight As! And…" Darlean paused before leaning forward with a serious look on her face. "Don't get into any schoolyard brawls. You nearly got expelled from your last school because of that." Evander took a bite of scrambled eggs, chewed it up, then swallowed it. With an annoyed look on his face, he said, "Those guys had it coming. They told Jessica she'd never get a boyfriend because she's too much like a boy herself. Stupid idiots." Evander said. "That's no excuse to beat people up!" Darlean fussed.

"If they didn't want to get beat up, maybe they shouldn't run their darn mouths. Or they should at least learn how to fight!" Evander rebutted, standing up and putting his hands on the table. Darlean stood up and put her hands on the table as well. "Those goggles must be cutting off the circulation to your brain! If you go around getting into fights like this your whole life, you'll not only end up getting expelled, but you'll end up getting arrested!" She fussed. Robert sighed. Evander and his mom were always getting into fights. He took a sip of coffee and put the cup down. He looked at it. It was 7:30. "It's 7:30, son. You ought to leave before you're late for school." Robert said. Evander turned around and walked away in a huff. "And don't get into any fights! I mean it, mister!" Darlean shouted as Evander exited the kitchen.

Evander walked down his driveway. The schoolbus was already parked out front waiting for him. The doors of the bus opened, and Evander walked inside. Evander walked down the aisle in between the two rows of bus seats, looking around. He smiled when he saw who he was looking for; Jessica Amber, or "Jessie" as he often called her. Jessica had her hand over a spot in the bus. She was saving a spot for him. Evander sat down beside her. The bus then took off and was in transit for the school. "Hey, Jessie. How are you?" Evander asked. Jessica was wearing a white shirt with a dark blue print of a clam shell in the middle of it. The sleeves of this shirt were a dark blue color. Jessica was also wearing dark blue denim pants and aquamarine colored tennis shoes. Jessica smiled. "I'm doing fine. How are you?" She asked cheerfully. "Had an argument with my stupid mother. She told me to stop getting into fights." Evander replied, still sounding annoyed. Jessica frowned and put her hand on his shoulder. "Well, she's right, you know. One of these days, that temper of yours is going to get you into big trouble. I don't want to see you get hurt, Evander. I lo-I care about you." Jessica said. Evander sighed. "Well…I'll try." He said.

It was quiet for a moment. Then Jessica asked, "So, what are you doing after school?" Evander put his hand on his lip and thought for a second. Then he chuckled and said, "Well, going back to bed is a start." Evander said. "Then what?" She asked. "Well, after my nap I'm going to play Digimon World 3. Unless my annoying mom makes me do my homework." Evander said. Jessica giggled. "Ok."

The bus came to a stop at Powdersville Middle School. During class, Evander sat next to the window, looking out. The teacher, a slender blonde woman in her mid-twenties, said "Now class, turn to page 360." Evander did what she said, turning the page of his math textbook to page 360. "Aww man, I hate math. Out of all the subjects in school, this is one I'm the worst at." Evander thought to himself. He didn't know it, but Jessica was eyeing him from the back of the class with a smile on her face.

After the day was over, it was time for the Powdersville Middle School kids to go home. On the schoolbus ride back, Evander was drawing in his notebook. He had made an amateurish looking drawing of what looked like a Ladybug. The Ladybug had two black humanlike hands, a red beetle shell with black polka dots, two black antennae that ended in two red spheres, and a beige colored face. He also sported a cute little bowtie. Jessica was sitting next to him on the ride home just like she was on the ride there. "What are you drawing, Evander?" Jessica asked. "This is Ladybugmon. He's a Rookie level insectoid Digimon. His special attacks are Super Sonic and Beedee Punch!" Evander enthusiastically explained. "Wow! A fan made Digimon! Is it a boy or a girl?" Jessica asked. "What does that matter?" Evander asked. "Well, its gender might affect its digivolution line." Jessica said. Evander was quiet, then he said, "It's a boy." Jessica smirked at him. "Really? LADYbugmon is a guy?" She teased. Evander sweat dropped and furrowed one of his eyebrows. "Yeah, what of it? Tentomon is a ladybug and he's a guy. That's why Jeff Nimoy voices him." Evander replied. "Oh yeah, that's right. Well, if there's already a ladybug Digimon, why are you designing one?" Jessica asked. "There can be more than one ladybug Digimon. I mean, Tyrannomon and Greymon are both based on the T-Rex." Evander said.

One of the boys on the other aisle snickered. "What a couple of nerds. Talking about Diiigimoon!" He said. Evander scowled, stood up, and extended his fist. "What was that, punk!?" He asked in an angered tone. Jessica grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back down to his seat. "Evander, ignore him." She said. "Yeah, listen to your girlfriend." He said in a condescending tone. Evander blushed and looked even angrier. "She's not my girlfriend! A boy and a girl can like each other without being boyfriend and girlfriend! You'd know that if you weren't such an idiot!" Evander barked while pointing out him.

"Idiot!? Why you!" The boy said as he stood up preparing to fight. The bus driver was watching everything happen in his rear view mirror. "Everything ok back there?" He said in a tone that indicated that he knew it wasn't, a tone which suggested the two children probably shouldn't throw the hands they were about to throw. Evander turned around and scoffed. "Everything's fine, Mr. Benson." He said before sitting back down.

Everyone got off the bus and went back into their own homes. Then, later, after Evander had done his homework, he decided to go to Jessica's house to pay her a visit. He was walking to her house. It wasn't a long walk. She lived across the street from him. Evander was thinking about what that boy said earlier. "That punk is lucky the bus driver was there. If no grown ups were around, I would have given him two black eyes and a swollen lip. Saying Jessica's my girlfriend is preposterous. I mean, do I think she's cute? Yes. Do I feel happy just seeing her face every day? Also yes. Do I spend as much time with her as I'm able? Yes. But…she's just a friend. My best friend. Nothing more." Evander said. Evander then stopped and looked down at his shoes. "Hold the phone! Do I actually LIKE like her?" Then he looked up, a worried expression on his face. "Oh no. I can't have that. That'll only ruin our friendship." Evander said. Then he realized he was getting close to her house and he should probably stop expressing his thoughts out loud. Thunder clouds were forming overhead. Evander figured he ought to go inside to see his friend - his best friend who happened to be a girl - before he got wet.

Evander took out a D-Power toy and his picture of Ladybugmon. Evander smiled and thought. "Wouldn't it be cool if my fan made Digimon became a real Digimon like what happened to Takato in the first episode of Digimon Tamers?" He said. Then he swiped his drawing through the toy. "Ladybugmon, my partner. Digi-Modify." He said. The moment he swiped the card, red colored lightning struck the digivice toy as the drawing was being scanned through it. Panicked, Evander dropped the toy and fell on his butt. With widened eyes, and an arm up to shield himself from the bright light, Evander exclaimed, "Holy smokes!!!" The red lightning faded. Evander looked so confused. He crawled over to his D-Power toy and saw that neither it nor his drawing were damaged. "Red lightning that doesn't fry what it strikes? How weird." He said aloud. Jessica and her parents all ran out to the front lawn, having heard the loud thundercrack from inside. Jessica's mother, Maria Amber, ran over to Evander and knelt down, placing her hands on his shoulders with a worried look on her face. "Evander! Are you ok? Are you hurt?" She asked. "I'm fine, Mrs. Amber." Evander replied. Jessica put her hand on her chest and took a sigh of relief. "I'm glad." Jessica's father, Phillip, said, "You should get inside. These storm clouds look really nasty."

Evander picked up his digivice "toy" and took it inside the house. Evander and Jessica sat on the floor with their legs crossed. Jessica's room was adorned with posters of mermaids, sharks, fish, and other aquatic life. Evander had just told Jessica what happened. "Red lightning? I never heard of such a thing. The whole time I've been here on this planet, all lightning has been a white, bluish white, or yellow color." Jessica said. Evander tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Your time on this planet?" He said. Jessica smiled nervously and waved her hand. "You know. The whole time I've been alive. All 11 years." Jessica said. Evander chuckled. "The way you phrased it made it sound like you were an alien or something." He said. Jessica chuckled nervously. "Yeah." Jessica and Evander's attention was then turned to her computer. It was acting really strangely. Light was shining forth from it. A light shot forth from it. An item landed in Jessica's hand. It was a Blue D-Power. The two children looked astonished, naturally. "A….digivice?!" Jessica exclaimed. Evander pulled his digivice toy out of his pocket. "Yeah, and it's a-Hey!" Evander noticed that his digivice toy was now bigger, and it was orange! "Wha–? It's bigger and it changed color?" Then, suddenly, the computer on Jessica's desk began sucking them in like a huge vaccum. "What's….what's going on!?" Jessica exclaimed. "I don't know, but whoever's doing this is going get a few teeth knocked out!" Evander exclaimed. The two children were then sucked into the computer screen!

---------------------

Felinicus…Andromeda Galaxy….

A teenage girl slowly peeks out from behind the bushes, seeing its prey. The girl had short red hair, a green shirt which bore her midriff, a light blue skirt, and white, knee high boots. This girl looked mostly human except for two features; cat ears on her head, and a cat tail coming forth out of her tail bone just above the buttox. This girl is what was known on her planet as a Demi-Felincius. She stalks up slowly toward her prey, making sure not to give away her location. When she is within a few yards of her target, she pounces. "Found ya!"

"Aw man, you got me again, Flora," chuckles the teenage black panther Felinicus that was Flora's best friend. "Hey, you're easy to sneak up on, Erica. You blend in terribly with the tree bark." This girl was way more animalistic than Flora. Her feline features were more prominent. She had a face that looked like a lion, and black fur covered her entire body. Her privates were covered by a loin cloth that she had fashioned from an animal that she herself had killed with her own claws.

"Well, there's an exception at night," Erica says as she leans against the tree she was hiding behind. "Alright. It's my turn now. I'll only give you 50 this time!"

Flora smiles as Erica turns around and starts to count. Flora turns and takes off into the dense forest that covered the planet. It was another peaceful day on Felinia, and everything was fine and the same. Today was an exception, however. As Flora jumps from one tree to another, she suddenly spots something glowing on the ground. She quickly clings to the tree she was in and climbs down. She walks back to the place where the glow came from and spots a raised section of the moss-covered ground in a circular pattern with a blue vortex in the center spinning like a pinwheel.

Curiosity grabs hold of Flora as she starts to move toward the portal. Suddenly, the vortex glows a solid white as a small device flies out of the portal and into a patch of moss near Flora. She makes a grab for it as the portal returns to its normal coloring and inspects it. It looked like some sort of mechanical doo-hickey, but it didn't concern her much. She sits on the edge of the raised ground, looking at the device in confusion.

"Floraaaaaa! Where are you?"

The sudden call makes Flora jump, causing her to fall backwards into the portal. She is levitated into the air as bursts of blue light start to surround her.

Erica looks up and sees a strange show of blue light. She darts toward where she saw the light coming from, but arrives at the spot to find nothing. Both Flora and the portal were gone.

-------------

Earth…

A boy with tall red hair, a black jacket, and a white shirt and blue jeans took a deep breath and sighed. This boy is named Mario Soleman. It was Monday afternoon, and he always took a relaxing hour-off in the park before going home to rest up for school the next day. He gets up from the bench he was sitting on and starts to stroll down the path. He smiles, knowing in about fifteen minutes, his last few moments of complete freedom for the day would be over.

As he starts to pass the tree grove, he noticed something seeming to glow out of the trees. Not knowing what it was, he decides to leave the path and explore the forest for the source of the glow. It didn't take him long to find it, but when he saw it, he stopped for a moment to stare at it in wonder. Right before him was a circular patch of ground raised about two feet off the ground. In the center of it in a slight indent, a blue vortex spun, completing the picture that made this a portal.

"What is this?" Mario says, a bit curious. As he takes a step closer, the portal changes into a solid white color. Mario takes a step back as a small device pops out of the portal and lands softly in a pile of leaves nearby. The portal returns to its swirling blue state as Mario walks over and digs the device out. It looked like a handheld game, but it appeared to be much more than that. "Weird," Mario says as he takes a step toward the portal, wanting to see if it was in any way dangerous before notifying the authorities. At that moment, Mario steps on an acorn and slips on it, falling head first onto the portal. In a blast of blue light, Mario starts to spin around in midair above the portal as the rays of light close in on him. In a blink of an eye, Mario is gone. The portal shakes a bit and slowly sinks into the ground, the blue vortex shimmering into non-existence.

……

A rather old teenager sat on a bench in a park. The teenager had a long brown cloak covering him.

He slightly shook his head as he sighed and looked up to the sky.

Regan could easily remember that day...especially since that park was the one in which everything began.

He had changed much...in some ways ever since he had been in the Digital World...

He had made some incredible encounters...and some changed him permanently.

"Brooding about nostalgia again Regan?" a voice said, as a strange draconic-looking creature peeked it's head out of the nearest tree branch.

"...I guess we could say so..." Regan said as he looked at the creature.

Although most people would have thought the draconic creature as a monster, to Regan, it was one of his most dearest friends ever. His digimon partner Lizomon.

Who also was a former Ancient Guardian.

"Heheh...I'm sure you misses your girlfriend, aren't you?" Lizomon said with a grin.

Regan's cheeks flushed red. "S-Shut up!"

Lizomon laughed. "Come on Regan. We all know it's so obvious. After all, I'm sure she misses you too."

"I guess so..." Regan said, calming himself a bit.

In some ways, he knew that his partner was right. Some nights when Regan would stare at the star-filled sky, he knew in his heart that she did the same...

Truly, they shared a unique bond...

Regan's thoughts were interrupted by a beeping coming from the strange watch he had at his wrist.

In truth, it was his digivice. He still used it as a watch...as well as keeping it in cases of emergency.

Regan looked at it as his partner dropped down from the tree. "What's wrong?" Lizomon asked.

"It's a transmission..." Regan said. He then pressed a button on the X-D3 and the beeping stopped, as a small holographic image appeared, showing the speaker.

Although he looked small, Regan knew that the speaker was much taller, even more than him for the man was around seven feet in height. A long gray cloak covered the man as he also wore gray robes beneath. The image also showed the cowled man's three parallel scars on his right cheek.

Regan recognized the man as soon as he saw him.

Krasus...better known to some, Regan included,...as Korialstrasz

"Krasus?" Regan asked. He knew well that the dragon man preferred to be called by his human name when in that form.

"Regan...I apologize that we couldn't meet in better circumstances..." the small holographic man said.

"Everytime we met you, it was always about some crisis." Regan said. "Now, what's happening...again..."

"There are some peculiar things happening in the Digital World again. I recently arrived from Azeroth, my homeworld.

And most surprising was that I discovered that new links to new worlds had appeared on the Digital World."

"New worlds?" Lizomon asked. "What does it mean?"

"It means that new digidestined are being called again...some of them probably not human."

"I ain't exactly human...if you remember Krasus..." Regan said with a little growl.

"I know it too well." the cloaked figure returned, gazing straight toward Regan.

"So, I guess I should return there so that I can check on what's happening?" Regan asked.

"Indeed, it would be appropriate."

"And also...no...I don't think it might-"

"Regan, I know exactly what you wanted to ask me. I will contact her as well...whenever you want it or not."

Regan blushed again. It was so easy for the cowled figure to guess what humans may do or think.

"Fine...call her...her help will surely be of great use...

Besides...I miss her..." Regan said, a bit saddened. "This ain't exactly fun, knowing that we don't live on the same continent."

"Hey Regan, let's also remember the case about some other friends not even living in our reality, but in another one." Lizomon said.

"By the way, I thought you would have been interested to know that Brian is on his way back in the Digital World."

"What?!? Ho-...better not ask...Anyway, that's some great news! ...Thanks Krasus..." Regan said, a bit uneasily.

"You do not need to constantly hold those old grudges, Regan. Farewell for now. I expect that we might meet again soon...in the Digital World..." Krasus said before his image faded away.

Regan lowered his digivice, then raised up, looking at his partner.

"Well, ready to go Lizo?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Lizomon answered.

Then both quickly ran toward Regan's home.

The Digital World......

Evander and Jessica screamed as a portal opened up in the sky of another world and they both fell down onto a pile of leaves below. Evander fell on top of Jessica's back. Jessica let out a high pitched yelp as Evander landed on top of her. "Evander, please got off of me." Jessica said. Evander stood up, rubbing his lower back. "That hurt. Glad I had you to break….my…fa…" Evander said as he took a few steps forward and then turned his head to see a small looking yet familiar creature. This was a small ladybuglike creature about 2 feet tall. He threw his two black arms up into the air and had a huge smile on his face. "Hiyah, Evander! It's me! Ladybugmon!" He said. Evander looked really confused. He blinked a couple of times and furrowed his eyebrows. "Ladybug…mon? No. No. No. That's impossible. Digimon is just a card game and TV show. Besides, I made you up. You can't be here." Evander said. He was unusually calm, but he figured he was probably dreaming anyway. Ladybugmon scowled and put his hands on his hips. "Hey! What a rude thing to say! I AM real and I CAN be here because I AM here!" Ladybugmon said, sounding a bit defensive.

Jessica stood up and looked over to see the little ladbug guy. "Ladybugmon? You're real?" Jessica said, not quite believing what she was seeing. Ladybugmon smiled and nodded. "Dats white!" He replied cheerfully. Evander turned to the orange haired girl and asked "Can you pinch me? I just want to make sure." He said. "Only if you pinch me back." Jessica replied. They both pulled on each other's cheeks until they made red spots on each other. "Well, I guess you're real." Evander and Jessica said in unison.

"I'm your partner Digimon, Evander. And you and I are going to save The Digital World together." Ladybugmon said. Jessica looked around. "Partner Digimon huh? Well, where's mine? I must be Digidestined too if I came here with Evander." Jessica said. "Over here!" came a voice. Jessica turned to see a small, golden yellow quadroped catlike creature who looked like a lion cub. "My name's Leormon."

Flora was watching Mario walking around looking dazed from up in a tree just on the outskirts of the city, in an area where on entered the forest. "I wonder where the heck I am? Jeeze and Quackers, this place looks like the Digital World from the Digimon World 1 game." Mario said. Flora blushed. "This guy's kind of cute." She said softly. Mario then tripped over an untied shoe which he didn't know was untied. Flora sweat dropped with a deadpan facial expression. Her right cat ear twitched a little. "He also could be a total idiot." Flora then turned around and lept from tree to tree until she came upon Evander, Jessica, and Ladybugmon. As a Demi-Felinicus, she could leap from tree to tree with ease. She sighed. This day was getting stranger by the second. She climbed down the tree and hid behind the croner and thought about the boy from earlier. For some reason, she couldn't get this boy out of her mind.

Mario came upon two creatures, one of them looked like a black ball with yellow colored eyes. The other also looked like a red ball with a face and two red, finlike ears. "Hiyah! I'm Botamon!" said the little black ball. "And I'm Jyarimon!" Mario fell on his butt, screaming. "Talking soccer balls!" He exclaimed. "We're not soccer balls. We're Digimon, Digital Monsters. And you're our assigned Digidestined partner. Everything will be made clear if you come to FIBN building." Gigimon explained.

Flora had gone back to spying on Mario. "FIBN building, huh?" She muttered softly. She went back into the city, looked at the FIBN HQ building and started to walk toward it, wondering if the boy needed any help.

Mario runs out of the alley and sighs. He couldn't find the way to the building. He had searched most of these streets and alleys, but still there was nothing. His Digimon still on his shoulders, he runs down another alley, trying to get to the HQ.

Evander and Jessica also made their way into the city. "Are there other kids like us here?" Evnader asked. "I think so, but I don't really know. Oh, by the way, this is File City." Ladybugmon explained. "Look!" Jessie said and pointed.

SnowBotamon and Yuramon hop into view, stopping for a second before spotting Flora round a corner. They sigh and pursue, noticing that she was going toward the FIBN HQ.

Evander and Jessica were walking through File City. "Evander I think we should go to that news station pwace." Ladybugmon said. Evander looked at him and said. "Wait....will we learn what we need to do there?" Evander asked. "Yes, but first, there's an army of Pagumon causing lots of havoc. There's hundreds and hundreds of them! Lillymon's been reporting the damage they've been causing on FIBN. All the news Digimon and hold up inside!" Leormon explained. So, the goggle headed boy, the orange haired girl, and their two new Digimon friends went to FIBN HQ.

Mario stops for a bit and pants. "Guys..." he says to his Digimon. "I can't find out how to get there."

"What are you talking about?" Jyarimon asks. "We're here!"

Mario stops panting and looks up. In front of him was a large building with the letters 'FIBN HQ' on each side of the building. A large satellite dish was at the top. Mario sweat drops. "Oh." He then looks down and notices a small gray creature bouncing along the side of the building.

His Digivice beeps a bit before saying, "Pagumon. In-Training Level."

He looks at it. "This is the army of Pagumon?" He walks over to the Pagumon, which notices him and hops away some. "Heh. How could they be afraid of such yellow-belly cowards?"

"Cowards?" the Pagumon yells. Mario hears something and slowly turns. He finds himself surrounded by about a hundred other Pagumon.

"Ah gee..." Mario mutters.

Flora watches the kid from the shadows of a nearby building. "That's what he gets for angering someone."

"Shouldn't you try and help?" SnowBotamon asks.

Flora shrugs. "He got himself into this mess. He's gonna get himself out of it."

"And if his life is threatened?" Yuramon asks.

"I'll step in if it gets too hairy," Flora says before looking back at Mario.

"Ladybugmon, I wonder if there are other kids here." Evander asked again. He then heard a loud pitched voice shout! "Hey look! A kid!" Evander looked around rapidly trying to find out what kid he was talking about only to find out that he was the one being referred to. Evander turned and saw a white and green bunny rabbit Digimon running in his direction. The bunnylike creature had been running quite some distance. He was trying to catch his breath. "Terriermon, you're late!" Ladybugmon said. "I know. I wanted to meet our partner when he first got here….but I had to go poo." Terriermon said. Evander's digivice beeped. He took out the orange D-power to see a message that said "Partner found". Evander looked surprised. "Wait, so does this mean I have two Digimon partners?" He said aloud. "That's right! I'm Terriermon! Please be a good tamer to me and always recycle." Terriermon replied. "This is all happening really fast." Jessica said.

BATTLE NOW!

Mario steps back a bit before asking his Digimon, "Tell me there's a way I can take them on."

"Well," Botamon says, "There is a way, but we might have to wait a bit before we can attempt it."

"Attempt what?" Mario asks while taking another step away from the Pagumon, who were starting to advance.

"Digivolution," Jyarimon says. "When we build up enough energy, we change and become stronger."

"Sometimes cuter," Botamon adds.

Mario sighs. "How long?"

Jyarimon thinks. "Give or take a minute or two. Friendship also helps in this case."

Mario takes another step backwards and soon tries to calm down. He thinks of his Digimon, who were, at this moment, his only friends in this world. For now, all three of them were soulmates, and if they could help each other in this world, then friendship was essential. He then gathers his bravery and smiles. Together, they were going to build their friendship, and together, they would beat these Pagumon.

Suddenly, his Digivice glows as one word glows on it.

DIGIVOLUTION

Botamon and Jyarimon hop off Mario's shoulder as they start to glow.

"Botamon digivolve to...Koromon!"

"Jyarimon digivolve to...Gigimon!"

Two different Digimon land in front of Mario, obviously ready to fight for him.

The Pagumon chuckle a little at the attempted defense that was trying to threaten them. They continue to approach Mario and his Digimon.

Flora watches the digivolution from the shadows and turns toward her Digimon. "Why can't you two do that?"

"Same thing. We need to build up energy," Yuramon says.

"However, we have enough now," SnowBotamon says. "Do you want us to?"

"Sure," Flora says, keeping her eyes on Mario's Digimon.

"Alright," SnowBotamon says. She and Yuramon start to glow.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Yuramon digivolve to...Tanemon!"

"SnowBotamon digivolve to...Nyaromon!"

The two Digimon walk up to Flora.

Flora looks at them and shrugs. "Cute. Perhaps you'll be able to chase me faster now."

"That's not really funny," Tanemon says. "These legs are barely stumps!"

Mario was suddenly surprised by a new voice. "Hi, wanna take these guys on together? We'll do the intros later." It was Evander Glovion. Evander smiled at Mario with one hand adjusting his goggles. Jessica pumped her fist and shouted "let's go!"

Ladybugmon began to flap his wings and sonic blades of compressed air flew towards the Pagumon. "Supersonic!" Ladybugmon shouted. Ladybugmon continued the attack several more times. "Supersonic! Supersonic! Supersonic! Supersonic!"

Mario notices Evan and Jessica to his side, but his attention is soon drawn back to the battle as Ladybugmon's attacks sent about two dozen Pagumon flying. The Pagumon hit the building and slid down and into a trash can.

Gigimon and Koromon stand in front of Mario, poised to strike. When a group of Pagumon drew too close, they attacked!

"Hot Bite!" Gigimon yells as he bites a few Pagumon, causing them to scream and hop away with burns.

"Blow Bubble!" Koromon releases a stream of bubbles, which knocks a few Pagumon backwards.

"How about now?" Tanemon asks.

"Not yet," Flora says, still watching the fight. "They're holding their own."

Nyaromon sighs. "I wish we could help."

Flora sighs. "Look, if things start to get out of hand, we'll step in. On my planet, the young were not helped when they were hunting and trying to survive. We were only tended for in our first few days and then we would be left to live on our own."

Nyaromon and Tanemon say nothing.

"Leo claw!" Leormon attacked, swinging his sharp claw at one of the Pagumon. "Beedee Punch!" Ladybugmon shouted as he rapidly punched a Pagumon. Evander grinned and pumped his fist. "That's the way!" He exclaimed.

Terriermon's mouth started fuming with green fire. He opened his mouth and fire a large green fireball out of his mouth while shouting, "Bunny Blast!"

Evander squinted in frustration. "There's just too many of them!" Evander exclaimed. Evander then had an idea. Evander reached into his pocket. "oh!" Evander said. He saw a digimon booster pack that he got the day before. He opened it, and hoped he found some good, useful cards. He would slice these cards through his Digivice and the cards would give temporarily give his Digimon new and useful abilities. He finally found a good one. "Ah, this should help." It was a card with a large grayish black hammer in the center. Evander swiped the card through his orange D-Power and shouted "Digi-Modify! Big Bang Hammer Activate!"

Ladybugmon suddenly found himself holding a big metal hammer like the one on the card. It appeared in his arms as though out of nowhere. Ladybugmon flew foward, and shouted "Big Bang hammer!" while swinging said hammer. "Awsome!" Evander exclaimed, pumping his fist with a big smile on his face. A good number of the Pagumon are hit, knocking them against a wall and knocking them out.

Meanwhile, Dracomon and Regan were flying over the city.

"Seems there are some things that have changed around here." Regan said.

"Yup. Anyway, we should find these other Digidestineds. Any other signals on your X-D3?" Dracomon said.

Regan looked at his digivice and nodded. "Three Digidestined. Close to each other. More to the north."

Dracomon sniffed the air. "And there's a big number of digimons in that area. Something's happening Regan. We should check it out."

"That's why we are here Draco." Regan replied.

Dracomon continued to fly toward where Mario, Evander and Flora were. Evander took out a card that had 6 white wings on it. He scanned it. "Digi-Modify! Hyper Wing activate!" Terriermon suddenly grew 6 large white wings on his back. Terriermon flew around. Then he span around and created a small vortex of wind which he then sent towards the Pagumon. "Terrier Tonado!" Terriermon cried out as he spun.

Another wave of Pagumon are knocked away from the attacks.

Guilmon and Agumon, who had digivolved from Koromon and Gigimon moments earlier, stepped between the last group of Pagumon and Mario and attack. "Pepper Breath!" Agumon cried out, shooting a ball of fire out of his mouth. "Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon cried out, firing a sphere of fire from his mouth. The final few Pagumon fly up and into a trash can.

Mario watches this and sighs. It was over. He then looks at his Digimon and sees that they were approaching him. Oh great, he thought, they're going to kill me now.

But they didn't. "Mario?" Guilmon asks. "Are you okay?"

Mario stops for a second and then says, "Fine, fine."

Dracomon landed on the top of a high building, enabling him to watch the victory of Mario and Evander.

"Well...seems these are some new kids." Dracomon said.

"You're right." Regan said, his cloak flowing to the wind. "I wonder if they do come from the same world as us."

BATTLE OVER!

Flora watches the celebrating children and sighs. Looks like they were becoming friends already. She sighs again and turns away from the fight and starts to walk away.

"Eh?" Gatomon mutters. "You leaving?"

Flora only nods. Gatomon and Palmon look at each other, shrug, and follow her.

"Hi," Mario says, just now brought back to reality. "I'm Mario."

"I'm Guilmon!"

"Agumon!"

Before Mario could continue, he notices some movement from a nearby alley. He furrows his brow a bit and starts to walk toward the alley. "Stay here. I'll be right back." He walks to the alley entrance and peeks down it. He was a bit shocked to see the same girl from earlier walking away. How long had she been there? He furrows his brow again and starts to tiptoe down the alley. He hides behind a trash can and watches her move away with two different Digimon than earlier. He continues to follow slowly, trying not to get their attention.

"We got company," Flora mutters under her breath as Mario hid behind the first trash can.

Gatomon nods. "Palmon, we can hear someone behind us. Don't look back. Whoever this is, he could be dangerous."

Palmon nods a little and continues to walk with the others.

Mario watches the group disappear out the other end of the alley and turn left. He jumps from trash can to trash can and soon reaches the alley exit. He peeks around the corner to see the two Digimon disappear around another corner. He exits the alley and starts to follow, but he stops as he feels a set of claws poke at the back of his neck.

Flora quickly devised a plan after they exited the alley. She would hide behind the right side of the alley exit while Gatomon and Palmon would walk around the opposite corner to keep his attention in that one spot. The plan worked, and it allowed Flora to sneak up on her stalker's blind side. She laid the claws on her right hand along the back of his neck.

Caught. How could he have not noticed the trap? He only saw the Digimon round the corner, not the girl. He sighs as he watches the Digimon round the corner and walk up to circle him.

"Why are you following us?" the girl asks.

He still felt her claws on his neck, so he wasn't going to try anything stupid, but why not pump info if he could? "To ask you this: 'Why were you watching us fight?'"

The girl pauses for a moment, but she doesn't lower her claws. "Look, I just happened to stumble upon the fight. I didn't want to interfere, so I just watched. Is that a crime?"

"But you could have helped," Mario says.

"I lead my own path, human," the girl says. He feels her claws leave his neck. "Don't mess with me again." He hears her walk away and he watches as the Digimon walk past him. He turns to see her round a corner. The Digimon follow as well, leaving only Mario at the alley entrance.

Mario stands there for a few seconds before nodding. He wanted to know more about this girl, and what confused him was that she referred to him as 'human'. What did that mean? Surely the cat ears, tail, and claws were fake, weren't they? Mario nods again and slowly and more quietly tiptoes to the corner. He was going to be more careful this time. He turns the corner to peek-and finds himself staring in the girl's face. "Gah!" Mario yells as he falls backwards from the sudden surprise.

"Why do you find such great interest in me, human?" she asks, her Digimon at her heels.

"I, uh," Mario studders, "that is, I...you said something about me as a human. Does that mean you're not?"

"What? You thought this was fake?" the girl says as her left ear twitched. She walks up alongside Mario and waves her tail, which was obviously moving of some kind of will, in his face before it whacks him lightly. "These are the real thing, kid. I'm known as a Demi-Felinicus, a human-cat hybrid. I may look human, but I am like a cat in many ways, even if some of them you can't see."

Mario nods as if he understood, but he was still very confused. The only thing he really understood was that this girl wasn't human.

She stares at him for a bit before walking away. "I'm dead serious this time. Follow me, and I swear you will lose your life." The Digimon follow her.

Mario sits there on the ground. That girl wasn't human. All those times he thought he imagined the twitching ears and the slow moving tail were not just hallucinations. He sits there for another second and sighs. He wasn't going to follow this girl. He found out plenty, perhaps too much. He gets up and starts to walk back down the alley toward FIBN HQ.

Flora watches from the corner. "Looks like he finally used his brain."

Gatomon sighs. "I think you may have been a bit hard on the kid."

"Are you kidding?" Flora asks, turning to her Digimon. "He was stalking us!"

"He was curious," Palmon says.

"Same general idea," Flora mumbles as she watches the boy turn into the alley. For a split second, a look of sympathy crossed her face, but it soon disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "Come on. We're leaving." She turns and continues to walk through the streets.

"Hey Draco, let's meet up with them." Regan said as he looked at Mario returning to Evander and the other digimons.

"Okay Regan." Dracomon said, then he jumped down from the building he was standing on.

As Mario arrived back to his digimons and Evander, Dracomon touched the ground near them, Regan on his back.

"Hello kids." Regan said as he stepped down from Dracomon and the digimon de-digivolved to Lizomon.