Chapter 1: Jenny's Got a 'Mon
"Digital Monsters! The hippest sensation in Japan since sliced br-"
"Ugh." Jen Tagatu, a fourteen-year-old girl, lay on her bed, flipping through channels on her wall-mounted television. TV was her escape from the trials of her everyday life. Programs like the news were the type she tended to avoid, as sometimes they reminded her of herself. A broken family life, an arrogant boyfriend, and untrustworthy friends were a selection of the options for her to face in her existence.
She played around with the goggles that lay strapped around her neck. They seemed oversized, but she commonly wore them on her forehead as a fashion statement. She felt she blended in at school a little too much without something out of the ordinary.
Lazily, Jen got up from her near-unconscious channel flipping and walked over to her computer. It wasn't the most up-to-date machine due to her parent's low funds, but it served its purpose. Connected to the CPU was her black cell phone, still charging from her long talks with her boyfriend.
"Ever wanted a pet of your own? Do your parents refer to you as irresponsible and too lazy to take care of a living animal?"
Jen groaned at the corny advertising of this "Digital Monster". "That damn commercial's on every channel at every second of every freakin' day…" She turned the TV off in annoyance.
Jen turned around and looked at her cell phone. The small screen on the flip phone's cover was glowing. Jen approached it and went to pick it up, but her hand was shocked in response and she jerked it back. If not for her bulky black gloves, she may have been injured.
The glowing continued, and it began flashing like a strobe light. "This is… too weird," Jen muttered. "Apparently whoever's calling me doesn't want me to pick up…" She decided to leave her phone be and she walked back over to her bed, yawning. She laid down, slowly closing her eyes to fall asleep.
- - -
"HEEEEEEEY, JEN!"
Jen's eyes burst open in startled surprise to the greeting she'd heard. She flew up from her sleeping position and she noticed something on her lap in front of her.
On her bed sheet was a small, blue monster with white around his face and stomach. He had large, red eyes and a medium length blue tail. From the top of his head jutted two fleshy appendages. He had two feet and two arms, but his arms appeared to have no hands or fingers, as they were barely each two inches long.
"What… what the hell are you? A dog?" Jen said in annoyance. "Dogs aren't allowed in these apartments, you know…"
"What's a dog, Jen?" the monster asked, bouncing in excitement. "I'm bored! Let's playyyy!"
"Dude… I don't even know you, kid, bug off…" Jen grabbed the thing by one of his ear-like appendages and placed him on the ground next to her bed. "Now go home, little doggy, before I call the pound."
"The pound? What's the pound? It sounds like it hurts, Jen!"
"How the hell do you even know my name?" Jen wondered, extremely confused.
"I'm your Digimon partner, Jen!" the monster leaped back onto Jen's bed. "DemiVeemon!"
"Digi…mon… Digital Monster?" Jen worked it out in her head based on the television commercials she'd seen. "Oh my God, you're kidding me. They got little dwarves to dress in Digital Monster costumes and advertise for them?"
"Costume? Dwarf?" DemiVeemon showed an expression of confusion, yet excitement. "Those sound yummy!"
"Uhh… yeah, they are," Jen said sarcastically. "And you know what?" She picked DemiVeemon up by the tail and walked over to her window. "You can find some tasty ones right across the street, mmkay?" Jen dropped DemiVeemon onto her room's fire escape and slammed the window closed. "Good frickin' riddance."
- - -
Her alarm buzzed.
Jen pushed the sheets off of her bed and got up. She still had her clothes on from last night's experience, and she didn't seem to care. She checked the time on her alarm clock.
7:25.
School was at 7:40, and she'd decided she had no time to get ready. She simply grabbed her backpack and headed out the door to walk to school, as usual.
But she'd forgotten her cell phone.
- - -
Arriving at Osaka High School, Jen looked around the crowd of waiting students outside. She was looking for her boyfriend. Shrugging, she decided to ask one of his friends. She spotted one of them, who wore a blue and silver sweatband on his head and a white muscle shirt.
"Err, excuse me…" she interrupted the boy, "do you know where Uyeda might be?"
"I don't think he's here today," the boy responded, with surprising kindness. "You're Jen, right? His girlfriend?"
"Yeah. Thanks anyway, though, erm…"
"Max," the boy chuckled.
"Gotcha," she winked embarrassedly. Today's gonna go by so slow…
- - -
Finally free from the clutches of another high school day, Jen walked out the front doors, but not with a smile on her face. She was disappointed that she didn't have a chance to speak with Uyeda all day.
Jen looked to her right coming out of the school and noticed something bustling in the bushes. "Squirrel."
"What's a squirrel, Jen?"
"GAH!" Jen jumped at the sight of the returning DemiVeemon. "Why are you here?"
"I'm your partner, Jen! I need to keep track of you! And for the record, those costumes and dwarves tasted nasty…"
"I'm not understanding this whole 'partner' thing…" Jen told him. "What will it take for you to leave me alone?"
"Be my friend!"
"What?"
"Yeah! I need you to be my friend and train me!"
Jen adjusted her goggles on her head. "Erm, train you in what?"
"To be a strong Digimon! What else?"
"You're confusing me, kid… just bug off." Jen began to walk faster down the sidewalk.
"I'm just gonna follow you!" DemiVeemon sang in a sing-song tone.
Jen groaned. "Alright, whatever, I'm going home to get my cell phone. Follow me if you please. Just don't touch me."
- - -
Jen exited her apartment and made her way down the stairs. Her cell phone was in her hand, and she was gazing at it strangely.
"What's wrong, Jen? Is your phell cone broken?"
"This isn't mine…" she told herself. Instead of the device being black, it appeared now to be silver with a blue trim, in a smoother shape. "My phone's black… this one's blue and it looks a lot different. I hateblue."
"I'm blue, Jen!" DemiVeemon pestered her.
"I know. I dislike you a bit, too."
DemiVeemon humphed, "But I didn't do anything! I just wanna be your partner…"
Jen began to cross the street with DemiVeemon at her side. "Y'know, I feel like a retard talking to a little blue man while I'm on a public road…"
"That's okay, Jen! I'll try not to embarrass you too much."
"Well, you ruined that already…" Jen flipped open the strange flip phone and peered at the screen. "Hey, there's nothing on here… it's all blank."
DemiVeemon stopped in his tracks.
"What's wrong, blue dude?"
DemiVeemon turned to his right and ran down the residential street. "There's a Digimon nearby!"
"Well, no crap… it's you."
"No!" DemiVeemon waved her on, hopping down the sidewalk. "This way!"
"That's back towards the school, though!"
"I know! Let's go!"
Jen sighed and flipped the phone shut, running to catch up with DemiVeemon.
- - -
"Over there!" Arriving at the high school, DemiVeemon pointed at a child sized ogre monster wielding a small wooden club. It had green skin and a rather stupid look on its face, as it seemed to be causing no trouble. There was nobody in the area, so it was rather harmless.
But something was strange about the surrounding area. It was sheathed in a brightened mist, which made it hard to see for Jen. She reluctantly pulled her goggles over her eyes.
"That's Goblimon!" DemiVeemon stated.
"Goblimon?" Jen groaned. "Great, another stupid monster."
"No, this one's a bit stronger than me… he's a Rookie level!"
"Rookie? Like, a baseball rookie or something?"
"What does that mean?" DemiVeemon asked. The Goblimon had turned his head and eyeballed the two. "Uh oh!"
"What?"
"He sees us!"
Goblimon pulled his club up and ran madly toward Jen and DemiVeemon. Jen picked DemiVeemon up from the ground and dove to the right. "MOVE!"
The pair had barely dodged Goblimon and nearly ran into a bush to the side. "That was close, Jen…" DemiVeemon sighed in relief.
"What are we going to do about this guy?"
"I'm gonna fight him, that's what!" DemiVeemon exclaimed. "Pop Attack!" DemiVeemon made a leap forward, head first, and smacked Goblimon in the stomach. Goblimon didn't seem to react to this, and instead knocked DemiVeemon to the side with his club.
"Blue guy!" Jen said in worry of DemiVeemon. She gripped her cell phone in her hand. "Don't touch him again, you little green fruit cup!" Suddenly, Jen's cell phone began glowing in her grip.
"Jen…" DemiVeemon got up from his fall. "I feel strange…"
The cell phone continued glowing, and soon enough, DemiVeemon was glowing as well!
"DemiVeemon digivolve to…"
"What in the hell…?" Jen showed surprise at the monster's changing form.
"…Veemon!" DemiVeemon had morphed into a form larger than his previous one, with a red "V" on his forehead and red markings under his eyes. He'd grown claws on both his hands and feet, and retained the tail and fleshy "ear" appendages from before, only now much larger.
"He's bigger? What happened?" Jen said, confusedly.
"All right! Jen, you made me digivolve!" Veemon exclaimed in joy.
Digital Monsters… they aren't just a virtual pet fad, are they?
"VEE HEADBUTT!" Veemon charged himself head-first at Goblimon once again, knocking him in the stomach. The attack took effect this time, knocking Goblimon back onto the pavement. The foggy light still surrounded the school's front yard.
Goblimon groaned from the attack and got back up, snarling. "De…stroy…" Goblimon's eyes glowed bright red with intensity. Veins were pulsing on his skin all over his body, and he was obviously angered.
"Uh… Jen… he's not too happy, is he?" Veemon asked, frightened.
"Not at all," Jen trembled.
Goblimon soon began to glow the same white light Veemon had when he'd digivolved. Quickly, his form changed into something of greater size and girth. Goblimon now had long horns on each side of his head, a wide-open mouth, a club made of bone in his right hand and black, tattered shorts.
"Jen?" Veemon whispered.
"Yeah?"
"RUN!"
A/N: Veemon does have red markings. Yes, they're not yellow, like a normal Veemon.