Author Note: A number of people have made requests to see the Tamer's reactions to the changed 'Season 02.' I originally tried to squeeze them into the story itself, but was unable to make it work in any meaningful capacity. So, I decided I'd just make another fic for it.

But then I had a thought. While, originally, I was going to use this just for showing the reactions of the people in the Tamers Universe (what with the dramatically changed 02), I eventually decided that I would use this as a place for DA Side Stories in general. This includes things about the Demon Lords, Snippets of the future, the Royal Knights, the Holy Beasts, the Adventures of the Tamers, and other stuff besides.

So here's their reaction to the first episode. It's pretty short, though, because Takato didn't really show up onscreen.

Devil's Advocate: Devil in the Details

Chapter One: The First Episode

"Kenta, get in here!" Hirokazu shouted.

"I'm coming; I'm coming; calm down already." Kenta said, his arms full of snack foods.

If someone saw them, they would have thought they were sitting down for the film of the year. In reality, they were just getting ready for the new episode of Digimon.

But to them, it was the same thing.

"Damn, I can't believe Takato's gonna miss this…" Hirokazu said, eyes glued to the screen. The credits of some other anime that was of no importance before Digimon were rolling and the episode he was waiting for would start shortly.

"He's probably watching it at his house." Kenta pointed out, reasonably. They were over at his house, because Hirokazu had insisted…for some reason. Takato had said he was busy.

Takato had been busy a lot recently.

Kenta shook himself from those thoughts when his friend started bouncing in his seat.

"It's starting!"

The opening started off pretty upbeat and cheerful, as Kenta had expected, but he was surprised when the music got steadily darker. A number of faces appeared and he didn't recognize most of them. He saw Taichi and Yamato and the rest of the Chosen, but there were several new faces which he guessed were new characters. The opening ended with a black silhouette that looked strangely familiar standing alone on a grey beach.

And then the episode itself began, hitting them right off the bat with images of Pyocomon being deleted. Some were consumed by fireballs and died screaming. Some hid and were struck down despite the walls the coward behind. But they all died.

Pyocomon Village was dying and they weren't even three minutes in. They hadn't even seen the face of the person doing the killing yet!

"Holy…" Hirokazu breathed, wide-eyed.

Kenta just gapped at the screen.

Wow.

Well, they were obviously doing something new this season.

Meramon showed up a minute later, but it was already too late to help. Pyocomon Village might as well not exist. And while it was a pleasant surprise to see Meramon again, the fact remained that he was a minor character who was going up against the villain of the show…whoever that was.

The two boys knew enough about anime to know how that was going to turn out.

Suddenly, the scene cut to a young man laughing maniacally, causing Hirokazu to wince.

"Wow; he doesn't even get an onscreen death? Harsh." He said, pityingly.

Kenta looked at his friend oddly.

"Oh, I mean…who's this guy?" He corrected himself. "The new villain? …I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but he doesn't look like much compared to most of the other villains…"

The scene cut again, showing…

The boys blinked as one.

"Is that Mimi?" Hirokazu asked.

Kenta tilted his head to the side.

"I think so. She looks pretty different, though…how long after the first season is this?"

His friend shook himself.

"Well…that doesn't matter! The important thing is that now the Chosen have arrived. It's time to kick some ass!"

XxXXxX

The boys stared at the television screen in stunned horror as Sora was blown out of the sky. In perfect unison, they looked at each other and then back at the screen.

"Wha…What the…? What the hell!" Hirokazu suddenly exploded, standing. "I mean, seriously! Its episode one and a village has been massacred, Meramon died, death became permanent, and now Sora's taking a swan dive!"

Suddenly, the ending started playing. It was full of faux-Latin chanting.

"Even the songs are creepy!" He shouted, pointing at the screen. "What is this! What happened to all that stuff about friendship and love in the first season! Now it's full of death and pain and creepy music!"

"You didn't like it?" Kenta asked curiously.

Hirokazu calmed quite suddenly, sitting back down.

"I didn't say that."

XxXXxX

"Wow." Ruki said, lying on her futon. "Digimon's certainly gotten dark this year. What do you think, Renamon? Did you enjoy the show?"

She didn't have to look behind her to know that her partner was there.

She was always there.

"…It reminds me a lot of home." Her partner said, but though Ruki was sure that there were emotions attached to that statement, she couldn't hear any of them in her voice.

"Hm…" Ruki said, lifting her head and glancing at her partner. "…You're home sounds like a rough place."

"…"

She laid her head down again.

"Well…it doesn't matter anymore. Since you're in this world now."

XxXXxX

"Jenrya, did you not like the show? I thought you'd been looking forward to the new season." Janyuu said as his son walked into his work room.

"Ah…" Jenrya said. "Yeah, but…I guess it wasn't what I expected."

He looked over his father's shoulder at the computer screen, remembering things he'd prefer to forget.

Maybe it's not that it wasn't what he expected.

Maybe it's that it was exactly what he'd come to expect.

XxXXxX

"Yo, Takato!" Hirokazu waved to his friend the next day.

"You seem excited, Hirokazu." Takato said, looking a bit tired.

His friend nodded his head eagerly.

"Did you see Digimon yesterday?"

Takato yawned but nodded his head.

"What'd you think?" Hirokazu asked. "It was pretty violent this season, huh? I mean, if the whole seasons going to be like this, the Digital World's gonna be empty by the time it's over!"

"Yeah!" Kenta agreed. "I mean, they've already lost Pyocomon Village, Meramon, and maybe Sora!"

Takato nodded again, but he wasn't as excited as his friends seemed to be.

In his defense, he'd gotten to see the whole thing in person.

Watching it on TV just didn't compare.

"What do you think of the Kaiser?" Kenta asked.

Hirokazu pulled a face.

"I still say he looks lame."

Takato smiled at that.

"What he said." Takato said in full agreement.