Episode 1: Lost and Found

Part 1

The toy-like shapes of Primary Village were seen as a solitary voice hummed merrily. Baby digimon were hopping up and down in time with the tune.

"Ho ho," Jijimon exclaimed. "What fun we're having, eh? Good job, Botamon. You're getting a lot of height, there."

The small, black digimon continued to jump happily until, in midair, it began to glow.

"Botamon digivolve to… Koromon!"

"Yay!" the small digimon all cheered. "Congratulations, Koromon!"

"Yes, yes. Well done indeed," Jijimon said. "You've made a big step today, my friend. Digivolving is a very difficult process. It requires a lot of time and energy. You're lucky to do it so early. Some can't even manage what you just did. They just don't have the strength." Jijimon contemplated on that thought for a moment. "But enough of that! You have to get ready for tomorrow."

"Why, Jijimon?" asked Koromon. "Are we having company?"

"No, no," the wizened old man chuckled. "I mean that tomorrow you will make your journey to the Koromon Village. It's where you'll meet others of your kind so you can start making friends and learning how to survive in this world."

"Koromon Village? You mean there are others like me?"

"Yes, my young friend. Many more."

"Can I you see the village from here? I wanna see! I wanna see!"

Koromon started jumping again, only this time, he could jump twice as high as before. He continued to jump higher until he landed on top of the tallest tower. From his vantage point, he could see over the village entirely.

"Be careful, Koromon," Jijimon warned. "Not too high now. You'll hurt yourself."

"It's okay. I'm good at jumping now. Wait! I see something!"

"That's nonsense. The Koromon Village is on the continent of Server. It's far, far away from here. You can't possibly see it."

"No! Someone's coming!"

"Well, it's probably Gennai. He said he needed to speak with me today."

"Uh…I don't think it's Gennai," Koromon said. "Unless Gennai grew real big and mean all of the sudden."

"Koromon, get down from there. It could be dangerous."

"But I wanna see who it is."

"Koromon, get down!"

"Oh…ok." As Koromon turned to hop off of the ledge, a bright flash blanketed every corner of Primary Village. "Aah!"

Jijimon was forced to cover his eyes from the flash. Once he gazed upward again, he was met by a digiegg, which fell from the ledge where Koromon used to be. Jijimon dropped his cane, raced forward, and caught the egg just before it hit the ground. He stared down at it, tears welling up in his eyes, and carefully placed it down on the ground. The digimon then picked up his cane again and gripped it tightly, ready to protect his village from the intruder.

"Giga Cannon!" Four shining energy balls ripped through the village.

Sighting each incoming bullet, Jijimon counters with his staff. "Cat's Cane!"

Jijimon successfully deflected two of the balls, but the third grazed him and the fourth landed in the direction of the huddled baby digimon. He fell on his stomach, the breath knocked out of him, just in time to see that the children he swore to protect were gone. In the wake of the attack, digieggs fell everywhere around what was left of the village. Giant piles of what used to be the towers of colorful objects lay smoldering. Now the only survivor, Jijimon grasped his cane and struggled to his feet. Staring at the digieggs around him, tears fell from his face.

"No. No!" Jijimon raised his arms in anger and turned to find his attackers. "Who are you? How dare you attack this village? This is a place of rebirth, not of destruction. Show yourself!"

A dark silhouette appeared from behind a pile of rubble, too far away to recognize. Another silhouette, enormous in comparison to the first, is revealed directly behind him.

"No, I don't think we will," the smaller digimon said. "Besides, we have what we came for."

The figure motioned toward a large bag filled to the brim with the familiar round digieggs. Doing a double-take, Jijimon found that the village had been emptied while he was preoccupied.

"The digieggs!" Jijimon shouted. "How dare you even think of such a thing? Why, I'll…" His voice trailed off, leaving a variety of curses that he could have used.

"Uh uh uh. Such language. Don't worry. We'll take good care of them."

"Why, you! Hung-on-Death!"

Jijimon's staff emitted a dark, cloudy substance which drifted towards SkullSatamon, who simply laughed.

"I don't think so. Nail Bone!"

"Impossible!" Jijimon was shocked to see his attack dissipate, overpowered by SkullSatamon's. "I should have beaten you easily!"

"Don't insult us by underestimating our power. We were given more than you can possibly imagine by our master."

"Master? Who is this master of yours? What does he want with the digieggs?"

"He's replacing this pitiful village. It's just not homey enough for the coming generation. Soon every digimon who is reconverted will wake up as his servant."

"Why?" Jijimon pleaded. "Why would you do such a thing and how can you hope to accomplish this?"

"That's for us to know and for you to-"

"Giga Cannon!"

Another flash enclosed the village as Jijimon was engulfed in a blinding blast. He disappeared and one last digiegg fell from the sky. SkullSatamon growled with annoyance and placed the digiegg in the bag.

"What did you do that for? I was just beginning to have fun."

The large digimon finally spoke, leaving a bitter taste in the air. "The master told us not to delay. You were delaying. He also said not to give out information freely. You were disobeying. If he had gotten away, he would have told of our plan."

"You know big guy? You've really got to learn to have some fun."

The pair flew off, SkullSatamon cackling with glee. A lone, humanoid shadow appeared at the edge of what was left of Primary Village.

"No. I'm too late."

"Paul! You'd better hurry up! You'll be late for school!"

"Be right there, Mom!"

The blond sixteen-year-old quickly grabbed his backpack and rushed out of his room. A split-second later, he reappeared at the doorway. He then began digging frantically through his closet.

"Where did I put them?" Paul asked, mindlessly. "Aha! Gotcha! Can't look cool without 'em!"

"PAUL!"

Slipping on his dark sunglasses, he ran out the door once again.

"Bye mom! Love you!"

He rushed out the door to the apartment, nearly knocking over a woman in the hallway. After exiting the building, he slowed down to a brisk walk. Paul looked down at his wristwatch as he walked. Soon, a large building with the words, "Hartsfield High School" plastered across it came into view. A loud, piercing tone is heard as he stepped through the side entrance.

"Phew," sighed Paul. "That was close! At least I made it in time for the five-minute bell."

Paul walked leisurely down the main corridor, lined with hundreds of metal lockers. When at last he came up to the orange window-lined door, Paul tried the knob. It was locked. He could see his Chemistry teacher, Ms. Johnson, warming up with one of her infamous lectures. Paul knocked lightly on the outside of the door. Ms. Johnson quickly glanced at the door, excused herself, and walked over to open it. A couple of girls started to whisper to each other, stifling smiles. One of them, Paul recognized as Maria Cruz, not the most obvious cheerleader, but a well-devout one. He had no time to contemplate this, because Ms. Johnson was already staring down horn-rimmed glasses at him.

"Well, well. Look who decided to show up," Ms. Johnson mused. "Oh! And a movie star by the looks of it. Are we blinding you with chemistry, Paul?"

Paul realized at that moment what she was talking about and quickly took off his sunglasses, slipping them in his bag. Maria and her friends suddenly couldn't help themselves anymore and burst into giggles. Not missing a beat, Ms. Johnson hushed the girls.

"That's enough! Paul, the tardy bell rang five minutes ago. I'm sorry. I can't let you into class."

"But…my watch said I was on time."

"Well, we go by the school's time, so you'll have to go to detention. Maybe you can reset your watch there so this doesn't happen again."

He heavily continued down the empty hallway, leaving the classroom behind him. Once he reached the end door, he climbed the spiral staircase to the second floor. The stairs opened into the vast hall which lined the school's massive library. When he entered the library, he quickly glanced at the sign taped to the door. It read,

DETENTION: Sign-in inside. No talking! You may do homework if you wish. The library computers are off-limits.

The room was dimly lit and dotted with bookshelves and desktop computers. Paul scanned the room and saw that there were about a dozen students already sitting around various tables. At the table in front of him sat a squat balding man who merely grunted at his entrance and went back to reading his book. Paul quickly signed his name on the pad of paper and slumped down in his seat at an empty table. He glanced around and saw twins, a boy and girl, entertaining each other by making shadow puppets in the dim light. He estimated they were about sixteen as well, but their actions didn't show it. They all were interrupted by the door swinging open and being slammed shut. Maria Cruz had been sent to detention.

"Ugh! It's just not fair!" Maria huffed. "Why did she have to send me to detention just because I didn't have my stupid homework?"

At this, the squat little man jumped up and stared her down.

"Young lady! This is detention. It's meant for discipline, not for your rants against your assignments!"

She muttered a simple, "sorry" and walked to the back of the room and took the seat directly across from Paul. After ten minutes, the monitor got up from his seat and cleared his throat. The students all turned to hear him.

"I have another class to check on, so I have to leave you for a while," the man announced. "As you well know, finals are next week, so I trust you will busy yourselves by studying. You can talk quietly to each other while I'm gone. I also trust you are mature enough to keep your voices down. If you do, I might let you leave early."

He turned around, gathered his book, and strolled out the door.

"Gennai! You're okay!"

"Yes, I'm fine," the young man said. "Thank you, Sam, but I'm afraid the Primary Village is far from fine. There simply was nothing left."

"At least our allies on the island should keep things in line."

"File Island was invaded by a band of dark digimon, who claimed victory right when I left. It was taken too easily. I don't think there are any left."

Sam winced at the news, and then looked back to his friend. "We have something you definitely need to see."

The younger man led Gennai into a chamber in the interior of the castle. Electronic equipment was strewn all over the floor, so the men had to step carefully in order to avoid tripping. Finally, Sam led Gennai to a large monitoring station. He began typing, as a map of the Digital World flooded the room. Two colored dots appeared on the map followed by a red colored blob.

"Okay. Here we are," Sam pointed at the blue dot. "Primary Village is the white dot and the red zone is the Dark Region, where we think those who attacked the village went."

"How do we know that? Have you found them with the sensors?"

"We can's scan inside the Dark Region. Our sensors couldn't penetrate it. Besides, the sensor array wasn't designed to detect digimon. It just can't do it. What it can do, however, is monitor the energy signatures of this world."

Sam pressed a button as white concentric circles surrounded Primary Village and expanded over the map.

Gennai recognized the way the circles emanated from the village. "Is that…the Digital Rift?"

"Exactly. The Rift is centered directly over Primary Village. It's what captures a digimon's data when it is deleted and sends it to the village."

"We've been over this before. What does that have to do with this?"

"Everything. You see, it's gone," Sam stated. The white circles made way for brighter red ones, emitted from the Dark Region. "Or at least, it's suppressed. Seconds after the village was destroyed, we tracked some strange energy readings coming from the Dark Region. They've made another rift."

"This changes everything. If that's really where the ones who destroyed the village came from, we don't have much of a chance at all. Now all of the digimon who are deleted and reconfigured will be sent right to them. They could raise an entire army!"

"Can't we give it a boost?" Sam asked. "The original rift, I mean. If we can power the old rift at the right time, we might be able to send a few deleted digimon back to the village. That way we could at least save some of them."

"It might work, but we'd only have one shot at this. Even then, we'd only have enough power to keep it going for a few hours. I don't know how much good it would do. Plus, without any of our allies on the village, the reconfigured would be helpless."

"It's our only chance."

"Let's do it."

The detention monitor's absence left the students speechless.

"Well what do we do now?" Paul asked the others.

One of the twins looked up and answered. "Stay here, I guess. I'm Rob, by the way. Rob Sullivan. This is my sis, Nina."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Paul."

A tall, dark-haired boy in black jeans, and a brown leather jacket stood up.

"That's it. I'm outta here."

"What?" Rob exclaimed. "You can't leave. They'll suspend you!"

"I don't remember asking you what they'll do. I'm leaving. Besides, who's gonna stop me, kid? You? I don't think so."

With that, he stormed out of the library and casually continued down the hall. Many of the other students followed, keeping a look-out to see if they were being watched. Paul, Rob, Nina, Maria, and a tall basketball jock were the only people that remained in the library.

"Who's he callin' kid?" Rob asked, a bit annoyed. "He had a lot of nerve. Who does that guy think he is?"

"Josh Marshall," Maria piped in. "It's not that he doesn't like obeying rules or listening to people. He just doesn't care anymore."

"Hey, I know him," the jock said. "He played basketball at the beginning of the year. He didn't last long. Got kicked off the team the third week in. It's too bad. He was pretty good."

"Why'd he get kicked off?" Nina asked.

"Coach said he had some family issue. Couldn't handle the stress, or something like that."

"That's not it at all," Maria added. "That big apartment fire happened that same week. He was in the Volunteer Fire Department. Didn't you notice his jacket? He saved a lot of those people. The news media was raving that he was some kind of boy hero. He hates it."

Nina looked puzzled. "So, if the media called him a hero, why does he hate it?"

Maria solemnly added, "He blames himself because he couldn't save one family. He saved all the rest, but couldn't go back in for the last family because the building collapsed."

"That's so sad. How awful for him, that he took it so hard."

Maria nodded. "Mmhm. He quit the department after that. Then he just shut everyone out."

The jock stood up. "That doesn't give him the right to take it out on us."

Maria was about to object to his statement when a bright flash interrupted them. A thunderous booming sound followed and shook the building.

"A storm?" Rob asked. "The news this morning said we had no chance of rain all week! I wish we could use the computers to go online and see what's up."

"Can't we?" Nina asked. "Come on! No one's looking. I'll do it."

Nina quickly sat down at a desktop and typed in her school password. A resounding boom echoed throughout the school. The lights and computers all over the building flickered and shut down.

"Well, that's just great. I get halfway through logging in and the power goes out," Nina moaned. "It's just our luck."

"It's okay. Here." Paul reached into his bag and produced his computer for Nina. "You can use my laptop."

"You bring a laptop to school?" the jock asked. "What a nerd."

"It's what I do all my programming on. I like to make different types of programs in my free time."

"Wow. You did it. I didn't think you could. You suddenly got ten times more pathetic in five seconds."

Paul ignored the comment and plugged a cable from nearby computer into his own.

"Now if the school's internet is still online, we can…Bingo! We're online!"

The laptop instantly powers down and the screen goes blank.

"Or not. Great job, genius."

"It's not my fault! The battery was fully charged! It makes no sense!"

The room was filled once again with bright light, but this time, with a reddish tinge. Soon afterward, blue, yellow, and green streaks are seen jetting through the sky followed by thunder.

"Um, is it just me, or did it just become the Fourth of July in here?"

"This isn't like any storm I've ever seen."

"Look," the jock said. "There's no rain or wind! The clouds aren't even moving! This can't get any weirder."

The dark clouds began to swirl, followed by a gale-force wind that caused the building to sway and creak. Maria turned to him and shook her head.

"You had to say it."

"Power levels are at full capacity and still holding, Gennai. I'm bringing up Primary Village on the screen so we can monitor its progress."

The map blinked as the white dot of Primary village grew to fill the entire screen.

"Good job, Sam. Now all we can do is wait."

The screen flashed again, revealing a hole in the center of the rift. It intensified, giving them a momentary glimpse of tall skyscrapers, motorized vehicles, and people.

"What is that?"

"The rift! We might have pushed things too far. It seems that the super-charged rift is too big and powerful to be contained in our world alone. It's crossing over into another!"

"The human world! This is…"

"Yes! This fluke may have given us the edge we need! Don't shut it down!"

Gennai quickly ran out of the room and returned a moment later holding a small gray box. He pressed a few keys on his controls as six clear devices rose out from within the box.

"The digivices! But they haven't been tested! No human has ever set foot in this world either! We don't know-"

"We don't have a choice, Sam. The fate of this world depends on what we can do. We must use all our resources to protect it."

Sam paused and then nodded in agreement. They each fiddled with controls, then watch as the digivices raced through the room and out the door. A few moments later, six energy blips moved onto the screen as they passed through the hole in the rift.

"Here goes nothing."

Tremors shook the building, warping the windows inward. The wind howled around the school as Paul and the others struggled to stay on their feet. Paul used this time to stow his laptop securely in his bag before daring to look up. As he looked outside again, he gasped. Six bright pinpricks of light stood in contrast to the threatening clouds around them. The lights intensified as the pinpricks grew as big as soccer balls. Like meteorites falling, the six objects tore through the sky.

"Everyone get down!"

Reaching their target, the six blasted through the already-weakened windows throwing broken glass in every direction. Moments later, all that could be heard was wind whipping through the broken windows. As the group slowly staggered to their feet, they each looked down, haunted by a strange device laying just inches from their feet. Bending for a closer look, the students picked up their newfound devices. Once touched, they glowed eerily. Another bright flash blanketed the area once more. And then, they were gone.

"Sam! Now! Give it everything we've got! We need to keep that rift open!"

Sam fiddled with a few switches then flipped the one labeled "Emergency Power."

"Try it now."

Even more energy surged through the console as the lights around them dimmed.

"It's working!

A lone figure, shrouded in darkness sat in his chair, contemplating a map of the Digital World. A door opened behind him, casting a brilliant light into the room.

"Insolent fools! Don't you understand that I'm not to be disturbed? How dare you burst into my private chamber?"

Twenty digimon rushed into the room, surrounding the dark individual.

"Sorry for the intrusion," the leader of the group said sarcastically. "We cannot let you get away with what you did to Primary Village. We're here to stop you."

"Don't make me laugh! You will stop me? I am Phelesmon! Supreme ruler of this world. You don't have the power to challenge me! No one does!"

"We'll see about that. Ray of Victory!"

"Spike Buster!"

"Strike Claw!"

"Master Fire!"

"Tri-Horn Attack!"

"Scorpion Storm!"

"Striking Fish!"

"Ninja Flower!"

"Lightning Blade!"

"Crow Swords!"

"Halley Squall!"

"Heat Wave!"

"Homing Laser!"

"Lightning Spear!"

"Beak Buster!"

"Metal Smirk Bomb!"

"Cold Flame!"

"Grau Realm!"

"Thunder Stormer!"

"Imp Bomb!"

Each blast was either deflected or cancelled out by attacks driven from the corners of the room. The same two digimon, who attacked Primary Village appeared from those corners.

"Right," Phelesmon chortled. "Time to teach you imbeciles that no one defies Phelesmon and lives to tell about it!"

"Giga Cannon!"

"Nail bone!"

Dozens of blasts from the two foes sent the digimon flying, falling to the ground powerless.

Phelesmon finally strode toward this group of rebels. "And to finish you off- Demon Shout!"

A sonic wave emitted from Phelesmon's lips, deleting the digimon one by one, leaving their leader last. He fell to his knees, staring at the ground.

"Ugh. We may have been defeated today, but know this. There will always be those who oppose you. They will continue the fight with or without us. No one can control the powers of darkness."

"Hahaha! Ah, my little digi-dolt. You really do think in such two-dimensional terms. I don't try to control them. I am the powers of darkness. Don't worry. When you're reconfigured, I'm sure you all will make fine foot soldiers."

The leader gasped and was deleted.

"It worked!" Sam cheered. "I'm picking up a signal. The digivices are back in Primary Village."

"Thank goodness. We can only hope the humans made the safely."

"And…look! I'm reading a large group of digimon about to be reconfigured."

"How large? Just how many are there?"

"Twenty."

"Twenty? Twenty…" Gennai sat, thinking of who these nameless fallen could be. "No… UlforceVeedramon…"

"This is bad. If the Ulforce Army attacked together and failed, how can we stand a chance against Phelesmon at all?"

"We must rely on these humans. We must rely on them and hope that it is enough. What's that?"

Gennai pointed at a blue stripe that blinked onto the screen. As the region shrank and once again became the familiar map of the Digital World, the answer became clear.

"It's Phelesmon. He's compensating for our energy transfer. He's regaining control! The system's overloading! We don't have enough power to fight it!"

"We have to try. They're our only hope!"

The computer and all the lights blinked out. A low hum sounded as the lights slowly returned to normal.

"Check. How many did we get?"

"I can't tell for sure. Half at the most."

"If we're lucky, ten digimon and six humans."

"Actually five, according to the log."

"What? Five? What happened to the sixth?"

Josh groaned as he struggled to stay conscious. He slowly rose to his feet and noticed a small device resting by his arm. He picked it up to look it over. A bright flash blinded him as he was torn from consciousness once more.