It is the year 1997, and we see a young, brunette Japanese-American boy of 11 years going through a toy store with his mom. He has green eyes, complimented by a pair of golden-yellow goggles, as well as a white t-shirt with a green vest, also with a pair of shorts. This boy’s name is Makoto Daishima, and he is looking to get a new v-pet; DigiMon! Where players (or Tamers) can raise the incredible Digital Monsters, train them for battle, and pit them against other people’s DigiMon! They had become so popular, that kids all over the world are playing it. As a result of this popularity, tournaments of these v-pets are being hosted and competed in all over the globe, to find the very best among the players of DigiMon! Speaking of champions, a 12 year-old boy named Kane Rander is the U.S. National Champion in DigiMon, and his Garurumon means business! Anyways, back to the Daishimas. “I hope you saved up enough allowance for this, be-“, Mrs. Daishima started, when Makoto finished for her, “I know, kaa-san, you’re not going to buy it for me. I have heard it all before”, when he spotted the DigiMon part of the boy toys section of the store. He goes over to the v-pets, to decide which one to buy for himself. Makoto eventually chose a blue, version 1 DigiMon v-pet, as he and his mother then went to the cash register to pay for it, which he did. After they got home, he went to his bedroom, and opened the packaging for the v-pet, before pulling the tab out, turning it on for the first time, as Makoto grinned eagerly.

Two weeks afterwards, he managed to raise and train his DigiMon well, even getting it to evolve into a powerful Greymon, who is said to be the arch-rival of Garurumon. One day, Makoto went to the park to meet up with one of his best friends, the kindly and fun-loving Rix Picard, who too has a DigiMon v-pet, also having raised and trained a Tyrannomon. Rix often plays DigiMon with his friends in the park, and is known to be pretty good, having raised a MetalGreymon at one point, before it “returned to the Megalithic Mainframe”. As for Rix’s appearance, he has short blonde hair, dark blue eyes, and fair skin. He is also wearing a pair of jeans, as well as a black t-shirt that reads “DigiMon Rules!” Makoto greets him, “Hey, Rix!” as the blonde Tamer responds, “Yo, Makoto! I see you have a DigiMon, too! You wanna battle?!” The Japanese-American nods with a smile, as he brings out his v-pet device, as did Rix. The two boys connect their v-pets via the BattleConnect feature, which allows Tamers to pit their DigiMon against one another in a no-holds-barred Monster Match! In which case, it is Makoto’s Greymon against Tyrannomon, like in the TV commercial.

The two DigiMon fought one other, until Greymon has won. “Wow Makoto, you’ve certainly raised one heck of a Greymon there,” remarked Rix, and just when the brunette was about to reply, when they notice another person showing up; Rix’s 14 year-old older sister, tomboyish Chelsea Picard. Like her younger brother, she has blonde hair and dark blue eyes. “Hey Chelsea”, greets Rix, as she smiled back, “’Sup, Rix?” Makoto greets, “Hey, Chelsea, I’ve just beaten Rix and his Tyrannomon with my Greymon,” to which she replied, “Get out, my brother’s better than that,” but Rix retorts, “It’s true, sis, he did beat me”, showing the defeated state that his Tyrannomon is in. “You ain’t kiddin’ little bro, Tyrannomon really did get creamed.”, remarked Chelsea, as she then adds, “Anyways, I’ve noticed something strange happening with my v-pet lately; I’ve gotten a weird message that reads that I, along with a few other unknown Tamers, have been chosen to save the Digital World of the Megalithic Mainframe from some bad guy who’s wreaking havoc there. I shrugged it off, figuring that it might be some plot of the v-pet that they didn’t even bother to mention.”

“So, you got this message, too?” asks a new voice coolly, belonging to a young man of 12 years with jet-black hair, maroon-colored eyes, and a large, brown coat. In his hand is a v.2 DigiMon v-pet, which shows Garurumon on the screen. Rix gasps, recognizing the black-haired individual, “Hey, you’re Kane Rander, the U.S. National DigiMon Champ!” causing the others to gasp in surprise. He smirked, “That’s me alright; a Champion. Don’t give me too much credit, though; there are people out there in this world that may be better than me at DigiMon, much, much better. Anyways, don’t take that message lightly; I got another message late last night, saying that a portal to the Digital World will open, bringing me, Miss Picard, and a few others to this world. I’ve read rumors on the internet of a supercomputer that is said to contain a world within its memory banks, inhabited by real-life DigiMon,” at which Makoto replies, “You’re kidding, really?” as Kane nodded, before then continued, “No joke, man. I’ve also read some other rumors that these v-pets are secretly connected to the Megalithic Mainframe, allowing us to raise and train our own DigiMon.” It is then, that Rix noticed a glowing light on the screen of his, Chelsea’s, Kane’s, and Makoto’s v-pets. He asks, “Um, guys, you do realize that there’s a strange glow on your v-pets, right?” at which Makoto, Kane, and Chelsea quickly grabbed their v-pets, noticing the glow. “Could this be the portal?” asks Makoto to the U.S. Champion replies, “We’ll never know unless we get turned into tiny little particles of computer data, get sucked in through that LCD screen, and travel all the way into a given area of the Digital World within the memory banks of the legendary Megalithic Mainframe.” Chelsea remarks, “Wow, you’ve certainly went into detail about what may…” when she noticed herself turning into 1’s and 0’s, and Kane, Rix, and Makoto doing the same. “Well, looks like it started”, Kane sighs, as he and the other three turned into mists of 1’s and 0’s, before going into the LCD screens of their v-pets.

After what seemed to be an eternity of darkness, Makoto wakes up to find himself in front of what appears to be an oversized cardboard box, an abandoned “Item Bank”, and a restroom in a wooded area, but that’s not what surprised him; He is surrounded by strange-looking creatures. “WAAAAH!” he yells in surprise, “Where in the living heck am I?!” but realized something; he is being met with DigiMon; real, living, breathing Digital Monsters! “Sorry”, Makoto apologized, “I didn’t realize that I was surrounded by real-life Digital Monsters, particularly of the Baby and In-Training Levels, along with Agumon. Now, where in this world am I?” That’s when one of the DigiMon, a small, bright red Punimon replies, “You’re in File City on File Island, human. Right now, our world is in danger; the DigiMon in what used to be a city started losing heart and becoming feral, so we brought you, along with a few other humans here.” Makoto retorts, “So you summoned us to investigate this problem, and if it’s a bad guy causing it, stop him or her. But what can we do? We’re not DigiMon, you know!” to which a floating, jellyfish-like Poyomon replies with an adorable smile, “Don’t worry about that, each of you humans will have a DigiMon partner to assist you”, motioning to the Agumon, who says to the Japanese-American, “Speaking of partners, I get to be your partner.”

Makoto couldn’t believe his ears, as he unconsciously shook hands with Agumon, before the Lizard Digimon handed him something. The human looks at what he was given, and gasped; his v-pet device. “Wow, our v-pet devices got sucked in, too!” he gasps, to which a young Botamon replies, “Actually, this isn’t your v-pet. It’s lying around back in the real world. Although, it resembles the v-pet in appearance, it isn’t. This is the D-97 Digivice, a handheld apparatus that will allow you to provide your partner the energy to temporarily evolve into his or her Champion Level. Plus, it will also tell what time it is,” as it then explained, “Speaking of which, time works differently in the Digital World than in the real world. A day here in the Digital World is equivalent to one minute in the real world, and thirty Digital World days equal in one year. Don’t ask us on how it works, but it does work like that” as Agumon then pulls out a bright red backpack, and handing it to Makoto. He says to him, “This backpack has all the stuff we need to start our journey to rebuild File City, and to find whatever or whoever’s been causing the DigiMon to go feral. Take a look inside”, as the human then opened the zipper on the backpack, to see it loaded on the inside. The backpack practically has it all, from food to healing items and everything. “Wow, this thing has it all, Agumon!” Makoto smiled, before asking the Rookie Level, “So, when do we start our journey?” to which the orange DigiMon replies with a confident smile, “Right now!”

Chapter End

We see Makoto and Agumon traversing the wooded forest outside the city, when they noticed another Agumon coming towards them with a feral look. “Here comes trouble! This is our first battle against a wild DigiMon!” Makoto’s Agumon, who he named Burn, warns, as the Reptilian Rookie Level gets into a fighting stance, baring his sharp claws. “In this case,” Makoto starts, “Show him what you’re made of!” as Burn ran up to the opposing DigiMon and spat a fireball at him, scoring a direct hit. The opposing Agumon gets up, as he also spits a fireball at Burn, which he dodges before swiping his claws, and Agumon fires another Spitfire attack. Burn blocks the flames with his arms. "Go, Burn!" Makoto calls out. Before Burn counterattacked, the opposing Agumon started to flash. "Agumon, Digivolve to...Meramon!" The enemy Agumon, now Meramon, was now a larger, humanoid, blazing figure seemingly made of pure fire. "Be careful, Burn!" Makoto calls. The opposing Meramon blew flames at Burn. Burn is able to shield himself from the embers, but that wasn't enough. Meramon had put his grip on Burn, and started throwing him around. "No! Burn!" Makoto yelled desperately, as the D-97 started glowing, sending out a beam of energy to Burn, causing the Agumon to break out of Meramon’s grip and glow brightly as he changed shape. "Agumon, Digivolve to... Greymon!" Burn was now a larger, t-rex like DigiMon, with a horned helmet on his head, and blue stripes now covering his body. "Nova Blast!" Burn growls, as he shot a huge ball of blue flames at Meramon, which had no effect, due to the latter being made of fire. "If flames won't affect you, maybe this will!" Burn grabbed the enemy Meramon, and tossed him into a tree, HARD. That caused the Meramon to revert back into the Agumon it once was. "You did it, Burn!" Makoto praised. "I couldn't have done it without you," Burn said, also de-Digivolving back into an Agumon. The other Agumon woke up, holding his head in pain, as he asks the two partners, “Ugh…What happened? The last thing I remember was running the Item Bank back in File City, when I started getting stressed out for unknown reasons. Everything else was a blank.”

“Take it easy there. You’re free from whatever’s been making you act weird,” smiled Makoto, as Burn then added, “You can go back to the city, now.” At that statement, the Agumon smiled, “Thanks! Now I can return to my job! See you at the Item Bank in File City,” as he then left. “That’s one battle down, plenty to go,” smiled Burn, as his human partner reached into his backpack, took out a map of the entire island, and looked it over. “According to the map,” Makoto starts, “We’ve knocked some sense back into that Agumon here in the Native Forest, which is near File City. There are other areas where there could be wild DigiMon, such as the Drill Tunnel, Coela Beach, Gear Savanna, Factorial Town, Fossil Canyon, and vice-versa. If they’re hostile, we’ll take the fight to them.” It is then that a familiar voice says, “That was pretty good for your first battle, Makoto, taking on an Agumon that Digivolved into a Meramon, but we’ve only just begun,” as its owner, Kane Rander, walked into view. Beside him is a Gabumon, a Reptile DigiMon known for hiding his face under a fur coat. Makoto asks Kane, “So, found anything yet?” at which the latter replies, “Gabumon and I found a few Digi-Mushrooms lying around before we even had our first battle with a Palmon, who afterwards went to help with the new Meat Farm in File City. Don’t worry about the mushrooms, though, they’re safe for DigiMon to eat. I never bothered to have my partner Digivolve when we battled Palmon, because I prefer to battle on even terms.” Burn asks the Gabumon, “So, you gotta name?” to which the latter replies simply, “Freezehorn.” Makoto asks Kane, “Found anything else, or no?” to which the U.S. National Champ replies, “Yeah, I did. Found this old cap of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team from Japan,” at which Makoto asks, “Did it have someone’s name written on it?” to which the former replies, “Yeah, it did. It’s in Japanese, so I can’t exactly read it,” as he hands the Japanese-American Tamer the cap. Makoto looks over the article of clothing, before getting a glimpse of the name on it, which reads in Japanese katakana, “Daishima Yuuto”

Makoto paled upon recognizing the name, before having tears run down his face, muttering, “Yuuto…” to which Burn asks, “Who?” He explains sadly, “Yuuto is my twin brother *sniff* He and I were very close. He is also a fan of the Yomiuri Giants, as they are his favorite baseball team. *sniff* I remember back when our family still lived in Japan, Yuuto and I would watch them on TV. One day, when we were playing in the park, this strange light blinded us, and when it died out, Yuuto vanished…Our family called the police to try and find him, but they were of no help. He and I were both 8 years old at the time. We were quite traumatized by this disappearance of my brother, and I took it the very worst. We had to move on in life, especially when we moved to the United States due to my father getting a new job there. Sometimes, I would have nightmares of that fateful day when Yuuto…” He wasn’t able to finish his sentence, as he broke down into tears, covering his face with his hands as he sobbed. Kane comes over to him, putting his arms around his fellow Tamer in a brotherly manner, seeing as he too had a brother who disappeared. He soothes, “It’s going to be alright, man. I’m sure that Yuuto is alive, somewhere. At least we now know that he’s here somewhere in this world. I’m sure we’ll be able to find him.”

Burn smiled in agreement, “Yeah, don’t worry! I bet he’s somewhere on File Island right now, knowing that his brother is here, waiting until the right time to reveal himself!” He didn’t know how right he was. Meanwhile, in another part of the island, which is Gear Savanna, we see a young boy whose appearance is identical to Makoto’s, standing on a cliff alongside a purple, reptilian DigiMon that somewhat resembles a dragon. “So…” the youth starts, “My brother is here on this island” to which the DigiMon asks him, “How do you know, Yuuto?” to which the boy, now identified as Yuuto Daishima, replies “This prototype D-Arc allows me to track the Digivices of other Tamers, especially my brother’s D-97” holding a silvery-colored device resembling a more advanced model of the D-97. Back in the Native Forest, we see Makoto and Kane in a sparring battle between Burn and Freezehorn, to test each other’s skills as Tamers. Claw to claw, and Pepper Breath (or Spitfire) to Blue Blaster. "Blue Blaster!" Freezehorn growled as he shot a beam of ice. "Spitfire!" Burn's attack hit directly at Gabumon's, causing them to cancel each other out. "Go, Burn!" Makoto called out. "Freezehorn, Digivolve now!" Kane commanded, having his red-colored D-97 empower the Gabumon with Digivolution energy. "Gabumon, Digivolve to...Garurumon!" Freezehorn was now a large, wolf-like DigiMon with blue, tiger-like stripes. "Howling Blaster!" Garurumon shot down Agumon with a sphere of icy-blue energy. "Burn, no!" Makoto rushed over to his fallen partner, as he pulls out a bandage from the backpack and applied it to him. "Good battle, Makoto. With a little more practice, you could easily make the semi-finals in U.S. National Championships," Kane said with a smirk. "Thanks," Makoto replied as Burn got back up, "We should go look for the others."

Chapter End

We see Makoto, Kane, Burn, and Freezehorn deep in the Native Forest, as the Japanese-American Tamer calls out, “Rix, Chelsea, is anyone out here?!” Kane chides, “Hey, don’t yell too loudly; we might get into trouble with another hostile DigiMon, maybe even something as wicked as an Ultimate-level.” Nearby, a small, silhouetted figure lies in wait, hiding up in a tree, watching every move that our heroes make. He thinks, “These four fools don’t know what they’re up against!” while smirking sinisterly, drawing a katana from its scabbard. As Makoto and Kane searched for the others, the former noticed something moving in a nearby tree. "Did you see that?" Makoto asked. "See what?" Kane asks back. "The tree, it moved," Makoto said. As Kane looked at the tree, he saw a light shining in the tree. "I-I see something!" Kane replied. As he said that, a shuriken landed right by Makoto's feet. "Whoa!" Makoto called out surprised. "It's a shuriken, a ninja’s throwing star!" Kane said surprised. Another one landed by Kane. "I think this might be a good time to run," Makoto said. "Yeah, let's go!" agrees Kane. The two Tamers started to run deeper into the forest, only to crash into their DigiMon partners, Burn and Freezehorn. "What's wrong, Makoto?" Burn asks. "Is everything okay, you two?" Freezehorn also asked. Before the two could reply, three shurikens came out of nowhere, heading right towards Burn and Freezehorn. "Baby Flame!" Burn called out as he shot the metal projectiles out of the air with a fiery blast.

Then, the attacker jumped out of the tree revealing it to be Ninjamon. "Burn, what's that DigiMon? It looks like Mamemon wearing a ninja uniform." asks Makoto "That's no Mamemon, that's Ninjamon! A Champion-Level ninja DigiMon who uses sneaky attacks on his opponents with deadly efficiency!" Burn replied. "We also show no mercy," Kane said, signaling Freezehorn. "Ready, Kane?" Makoto asked, also signaling his partner. Ninjamon ran past the group. Readying his shuriken, he was ready to fight also. "Pepper Breath!" Burn shouts as he fired a burst of fire at Ninjamon. "Not so fast," Ninjamon said as he dodged the projectile. "Freezehorn, it’s your turn!" Kane said. "You got it! Blue Blaster!" Freezehorn growls as he fired an ice blast at Ninjamon. "You have no idea who you're fighting!" Ninjamon said, jumping into another tree. "He's right, Kane. We don't," Makoto said. "You better not be giving up yet!" Kane said angrily. "We never even heard of this guy, though!" Makoto replied. "Blue Blaster!" Freezehorn called out as he fired at Ninjamon, knocking him out of the tree. "Is it over?" Burn asked. "I think he's out cold." Kane replies. As he said that, Ninjamon suddenly got up, and disappeared in a small tornado. "I knew this wasn't over," Makoto said. As Makoto and the gang went back to looking for the rest, Ninjamon plots a second attack. "You fools haven't seen the last of Ninjamon!" he said to himself.

Meanwhile, in the Gear Savanna, we see Yuuto deep in thought. His DigiMon partner asks him, “So, what’s on your mind, Yuuto?” The twin brother of Makoto replies, “I was thinking about that fateful day three years ago, Monodramon, when I first appeared in the Digital World…”

[Flashback Scene: Three Years Ago…]
We see a younger-looking Yuuto regaining consciousness, and finding himself in an unusual forest. He also adjusts himself, also putting his Yomiuri Giants baseball hat on, after finding it next to him. He started to go through the forest, in order to find his way out of it, until he walked towards the sunlight ahead. As he exited the forest he found a colorful, cutesy village. It is there that he was greeted by a beautiful, goddess-like entity with long, platinum-blonde hair. Her skin is fair to the point of purity. The goddess also wears silvery winged boots that covers her forelegs, as well as a pair of shining gauntlets on her forearms. Her figure is one of considerable beauty, and though her eyes are obscured by snow-white bandages, her face is also very beautiful. She also wears a rather revealing white cloth, along with a red-jeweled necklace around her neck, along with two feathery wings protruding from the sides of her head. This female entity is Venusmon, one of a group of legendary Mega-Level DigiMon known as the “Olympus Twelve”. The eight year-old Japanese boy turned bright red at the appearance of the graceful and undoubtedly powerful Mega-Level, feeling awkward in her presence, but felt a calm, reassuring aura from her.

"Hello Yuuto, I have been expecting you," Venusmon greets in a kind, gentle voice. "Waiting, for me? You must be confused-" Yuuto replies, before being cut off. "This is no mistake, child. You are the one that I have been waiting for, and my mind's eye allows me to correctly perceive the world around myself," Venusmon retorts. "So, why were you waiting for me anyways?" he asks surprised. "You have special abilities to help this world. I'm sure you're wondering where you are. This is the Digital World. Right now, you are standing in Primary Village," Venusmon replied to the young human. "Special abilities?! How could that be?!" he gasps surprised. "You have the potential to train one of us. We are Digital Monsters, DigiMon for short. I am Venusmon, a member of a legendary group of DigiMon, the Olympus Twelve. Primary Village is where all DigiMon become reborn," Venusmon responds, handing Yuuto a large, purple egg with yellow markings. "Is this an egg?" Yuuto asked, looking over the object given to him. "This is a Digi-Egg, and it will hatch into your very own DigiMon partner if you rub it very gently," Venusmon replies with a smile. Yuuto then rubbed it for a while, as it then hatched into a blue baby DigiMon, Ketomon. "Whoa!" the Japanese human exclaims surprised, as the egg popped open. "Hello!" Ketomon said happily. "Uh, hi..." Yuuto greets back, just awestruck on how he gets a DigiMon friend. "Come on, partner, no need to feel awkward about it," smiled Ketomon, as he leaps into Yuuto's arms, nuzzling him playfully. He giggled at this, as he says to the Mega-Level, "He's perfect! Thank you, Lady Venusmon, it is most appreciated." She replies, "Oh, you’re welcome, and no need to be formal, child, but it is alright that you're being respectful. In all of seriousness, we believe that your special abilities are vital to saving the Digital World."

"What do you mean?" he asks, to which Venusmon responds, "Three years from now, a sinister evil shall appear to threaten the peace of our world, and you and Ketomon must prepare for it. However, you will not be taking on this evil alone. A few more humans from your world will also appear in the Digital World in three years time, same as the evil. One of them would be your twin brother, Makoto.” At the mention of his twin, Yuuto remarks sadly, “Oh, no…” Ketomon asks him curiously, “What’s wrong?” as his partner replies with tears running down his eyes, “Makoto and my parents must be really worried about me. It pains me so much right now, to imagine my brother crying in sadness over my disappearance.” To this statement, the Mega-Level goddess DigiMon crouches down to his eye level with a motherly smile, as she then takes him into his arms. Feeling the warmth from the gesture, he starts to softly sob into her chest, clinging to her tightly. Ketomon remarks sadly, “Poor guy. He must be very close to his brother,” as Venusmon nods with agreement, as she then coos to Yuuto, “Hush, my child, all will be well.” She then hums a gentle lullaby which soothed the young Japanese boy to a peaceful sleep, as Ketomon nuzzles him. Venusmon thinks, “It will be alright, Yuuto Daishima, you will see. You and your brother will be reunited someday…” as she then carries him away, Ketomon resting comfortably in his new partner’s arms.
[End Flashback]

“You know, I always did see Venusmon like a second mother,” remarks Yuuto, fondly remembering his moments with her, as well as when she taught him and his partner in the ways of the Digital World. His partner DigiMon, now identified as Monodramon, replies, “Yup. She had definitely taught us well, to prepare us for whatever’s been threatening the stability of the Digital World.”

Meanwhile, in another part of the Native Forest, we see Rix and Chelsea Picard with their DigiMon partners walking through the grassy path. Rix has a partner in a Betamon named Mohawk, while Chelsea’s Biyomon goes by the name of Garnet. Little did they know, is that they’re being watched by another DigiMon. His appearance is identical to Ninjamon, but wears purple instead of red. This DigiMon thinks, “I wonder if my brother, Ninjamon, was as lucky as I to be encountering humans that have DigiMon partners. Perhaps I’ll test these newcomers to see if they have what it takes to gain my respect.” "My feet hurt!" Rix complained. "Stop whining, little bro, we're almost out, I think..." Chelsea replied to her brother. While the two siblings walked on, the ninja-like DigiMon aimed a kunai at them. "Did you hear that?" Rix asked. "Hear wh-" Chelsea replied to Rix, but was cut off by the landing of a kunai near their feet. "What was that!?" Rix said with a surprised expression. Then, the ninja DigiMon hopped down from a tree, angered that he has missed. "I am Kogamon, the brother of Ninjamon, who may be slaughtering your friends in another part of this forest." The two siblings were surprised at the appearance of Kogamon, and the fact that their friends may be in danger. "Electric Shock!" Mohawk called out as he fired high-voltage bolts at Kogamon. The volts went right through Kogamon, disintegrating him into black dust. "I-it went right through him!" Chelsea said shocked. "I doubt that was him, you know how crafty ninjas are..." Rix replies, looking in a different tree. "Like my Kōga-ryū Kage Bunshin?" Kogamon starts sarcastically, “It allows me to create solid replicates of myself to my advantage, but this isn’t all that I could do,” as he reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a handful of small, spiked metal balls. Rix asks, “What are you going to do with these? Throw them at us?” to which Kogamon groans, “Stating the obvious, are we,” before proceeding to throw them at the four, forcing them to leap out of the way. “Gosh,” starts Rix, “This guy’s serious! There’s gotta be a way to beat him!” to which Mohawk replies, “Hey partner, you could have me Digivolve to Champion-Level so I can take him down! Hold all three buttons on the D-97 at once to perform the Digivolve function!” He nods, as he aims his D-97 at the Betamon, before holding down all three buttons on it as he says, “Digivolution, Activate!” Mohawk starts glowing as he changes shape. He says, “Betamon, Digivolve to…!” as he changes into a large, red dinosaur-like DigiMon with greenish-colored spines and undoubtedly sharp claws, as he then finishes in a growling voice, “…Tyrannomon!”

“Wow!” Rix says awestruck, “You look incredible!” before asking Chelsea, “What do you think?” She replies, “Wow! He’s certainly grown. Since he’s a Champion-Level, we’re on even grounds with Kogamon!” At this, the purple-clad ninja DigiMon chuckles, “Do you really think that Tyrannomon would be able to beat a crafty warrior like myself? I’m much too small for him! But, you are welcome to try and defeat me!” as he then gets into a stance, readying himself to attack, as does Mohawk. The two opposing DigiMon stared each other down, anticipating the other’s next move. Mohawk slightly twitches, as Kogamon suddenly dives at the Tyrannomon very fast, and at the last possible second, the dinosaur DigiMon unleashes a Blaze Blast attack from his mouth, not only comically frying the brother of Ninjamon, but also sending him flying hard into a tree. Rix cheers, “You did it, Mohawk! You’ve beat Kogamon!” to which the now-DeDigivolving Tyrannomon replies as he reverts back into Betamon, “No, we did it! I couldn’t have trashed this guy without your help!” Chelsea was about to reply when she notices Kogamon getting up with a pained groan. The ninja-like DigiMon says to them while slowly clapping his hands, “For defeating me in battle, you have earned my respect. I have feeling that my brother, Ninjamon, was defeated as well, and might be plotting his revenge,” as he then makes a hand sign, before disappearing in a small whirlwind of leaves, as his voice finally says, “May your journey to save our world be successful. We will meet again soon…”

Moments later, the group notices Makoto, Kane, Burn, and Freezehorn coming towards them. It is there and then, that the Tamers have reunited, ready to truly start their journey to free the DigiMon from the unknown evil.

Chapter End

Makoto looks over the map, as Rix asks him, “So, what’s our next destination?” The Japanese-American looks over the map, checking their position on it, before determining, “I think the next place to be, is the Drill Tunnel. I’m sure that there’s some feral DigiMon down there or something. We are near it after all.” The other Tamers agreed, as they then make their way through the Native Forest, before coming upon a tunnel entrance with a sign on it reading “Drill Tunnel”, also hearing faint noises like those made by a jackhammer. Kane remarks, “We’re here. Let’s see what’s down there, guys,” as everyone else nods, before going into the tunnel, where the drilling noises are a bit louder with every step taken further down. “What do you think is down there?" Makoto asked. Kane takes out a small book, and scrolled through the pages, "I’m not sure, but I have a feeling that it’s Champion-Level DigiMon like Drimogemon." As the Tamers kept on walking, it got darker, and darker. "Youch! That smarts,” Rix groaned, having tripped over a root, "Ow." Makoto asks him, “You OK, Rix?” He replies as he pulled on the root, "Maybe, we could light this root and use it as a torch." Kane inquires, “Well, how do we light it?” at which Burn groans, “Hey, you forgetting the fact that we’re your partners? Anyways, lemme light this root,” as the Rookie-Level then used his Spitfire attack to light the root. Then, Freezehorn cuts off the root, and handed it to Makoto. "Hehe..." Makoto muttered sheepishly, flashing around the root-torch. He then puts it in front of him, and what he saw was the mole-like Champion-Level DigiMon, Drimogemon. “GRAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!” the digital monster roared, as he spins the drills on his claws threateningly.

"Pepper Breath!" Burn yelled, blasting Drimogemon in the face. Makoto backed up in shock, along with Burn, Mohawk, Freezehorn and Garnet. Kane held up his Digivice, as he orders, "Digivolve now, Freezehorn!" The Rookie-Level nods, before changing from Gabumon into the form of the icy Champion-Level wolf DigiMon, Garurumon! "Howling Blaster!" Freezehorn growled, breathing ice-blue flames at the mole-like DigiMon. "GRAAAAAAAAGH!!" Drimogemon roared in pain, before the DigiMon digged down with his drills, and cracked the surface under our heroes. "Hold on!" Rix cried out, but it was too late, as Freezehorn de-digivolved back down to Gabumon. On the fall-down, Chelsea looked at Garnet, then back down to her D-97.She pulled the key-chain off the belt buckle of her jeans, and pressed down on the three buttons, making Garnet Digivolve into the phoenix-like Birdramon. "Grab on!" she called out, swooping under the under Tamers. "N-n-nice save..." Rix stammered, still in shock from Drimogemon’s attack. "Here I come!!” the aforementioned mole DigiMon bellowed, as he then starts glowing and changing in shape and size, "Drimogemon digivolve to Giromon!" When the light faded, Drimogemon has become a small, spherically-bodied Digimon that appears to be part-organic, and part-mechanical. He also boasts a pair of bull-like horns on his head, and an intimidating look on his face, consisting of two angry eyes and a mean, sharp-toothed smile. In the DigiMon’s left arm is a chainsaw that seems ready to shred anything to ribbons. "Guys! That's an Ultimate-Level DigiMon, Giromon! If you think that chainsaw’s bad enough, wait till you see the--" Kane managed to say on the way down, when the DigiMon snarls, “Spinning Mine!” throwing a red, mine-like hand grenade at Chelsea’s partner. "Urrrrgh!" Garnet moaned, as the Tamers then fell off of the Champion-Level DigiMon, landing in different parts of the tunnel.

A few moments later...

Somewhere deep under the Drill Tunnel, Makoto woke up, still clinging onto Burn. "Burn?" Makoto asks, "Where are we?" The Agumon sat up, as he then replies, "I think we're in another part of the Drill Tunnel." "Hi!" squeaked a small voice. The two looked around their surroundings to find the source of the voice. On each side sat an injured and dusty Tsubumon, Fresh-Level DigiMon resembling plant seeds. "My name's Tsubumon!" one of them smiled. "My name’s also Tsubumon!" another one squeaked. “Oh, hi Tsubumons," Makoto greets as he rose to his feet. "Will you guys help us?" they asked in unison. The Japanese-American Tamer brushed off the dirt from his clothing, before replying, "Sure." "I guess so,” adds the Agumon before asking, “What do you need from us?” "Yay!” cheers the first Tsubumon, before adding, “Now first, step off those other Tsubumon." Makoto and Burn looked under themselves, and noticed they landed on some of the Tsubumon. "Hehe, sorry little guys." Makoto said sheepishly in apology as they bounced away. "Our guardian was driven mad," one of other Tsubumon remarked. "Yah," another adds, "By a virus." At this, Makoto asks curiously, “A virus? So that’s why he attacked us.”

"He did?" another Tsubumon gasps, "We're terribly sorry about this. Could you please help us?" Makoto and Burn exchanged looks, before replying in unison, "Of course we can!" The second Tsubumon hopped into one of Makoto's vest pockets, as he replies, “That’s great!” He raises his hand into the air, as he then says, "First we find the others, then we rid Drimogemon of this virus!" before thinking, “Which makes me wonder…Could that Agumon we fought in the Native Forest, and the Palmon Kane and Freezehorn fought have been infected by this virus, too? As far as I know, computer viruses are usually created by hackers as a means to cause trouble in the computer networks of today. We now have a valuable clue!”

Part 1 End