Digimon Zero Two X

An epic continuation of "Digimon Zero Two" by OneLonelyPickle

Everything we know is about to be tested...

Two worlds at the breaking point...

Evil Digimon from lands unknown descend upon our freedom...

New friends and old friends...

We come together in our darkest days...

Alone we are doomed...

Together, united in our pursuit of survival, we stand a chance...

Author's Note: This is slightly AU, as only certain chosen people get Digimon, not everyone. We all know that was a stupid way to end one of the best Digimon series, anyway.

Chapter 1 - Christmas Eve Eve

Yagami Residence

Yagami Hikari, a pretty twelve year old girl, was slowly wrapping her Christmas tree, situated in the living room in front of the glass door to the balcony, in tinsel. She had a deep affection for this time of year and all its little intricacies: the fluffy snow falls, the many red and green lights that lit up the city at night, the way people would greet you with a "Merry Christmas", regardless if you knew them or not. But her favorite part was Christmas morning, when she, her parents, and her older brother Taichi would get up at precisely 6:15 AM to open the gifts which "Santa Claus" had left for them while they were asleep. For the past four or so years, her and her brother's Digimon had joined them.

Hikari was humming "Jingle Bells" and placing ornaments on the tree, not noticing her small, feline Digimon partner Tailmon watching her on the couch.

"Hikari, what are you doing to that tree?"

Hikari, surprised by the sudden voice, dropped the ornament she was holding and it rolled under the tree. She got down on all fours and retrieved it.

"I'm putting Christmas ornaments on it-you know, to make it more, well... Christmassy in here! Plus it's a tradition."

Tailmon pricked her head to the left and quizzically looked at her female companion. Hikari was not too tall, and not too short, but just above average height and it suited her well. She had short brown hair and wore a pink sweater, tight black jeans, and red socks with little Christmas trees on them.

"It's a tradition to buy trees and put weird silver stuff and strange balls on them?"

Hikari replied as she placed another ornament on the tree, close to the top.

"Yep, just for Christmas. Then we take off all the tinsel, ornaments, candy canes and the star and place them away for next year, along with the tree."

Tailmon yawned as she curled up into a napping position.

"Just put all that junk up around the house instead."

"But if we did that where would Santa put all the presents"

Hikari giggled as she said this. Tailmon cringed as she remembered this "Santa Claus" figure. Last Christmas Eve, as she was returning to her bed after getting a drink of water from the kitchen, "Santa" had stepped on her tail and made it sore for days. She closed her eyes.

"He can keep his 'presents'. I don't know about you, but the idea of accepting random objects from a fat, bearded stranger who hops down your chimney seems a bit strange."

Hikari laughed whole heartedly at Tailmon's comment and began to pull a medium sized, white sphere out of the box at her feet. There was a flat side to it and

a picture rested inside. It was of her, Tailmon, and all the other Chosen Children and their Digimon partners. She smiled as she remembered those times. Tailmon had hopped off the couch and strode over to the box. peeking her little nose and eyes into it. Under a few miscellaneous ornaments of varying colors and shapes was a beautiful star.

It was a pale white, adorned with a stripe pattern. It had five points and was about the size of Tailmon's head. She picked it up and stared at it for a while. Hikari glanced down once more to see her Digimon friend entranced by the star, which incited a grin.

"That's the star. You put that at the very top of the tree, and when you plug the cord in and turn everything on, it lights up."

Tailmon could barely take her eyes off it and droned a response.

"It's so pretty..."

"It'll look even better when we light it up. Here, I'll help you put it on!"

Hikari knely over and grabbed Tailmon. She picked her up and placed her high above her head, balancing her the perfect distance away from the top of the tree. Tailmon carefully leaned forward and placed the star on the topmost branch. Placing Tailmon back unto the floor, she proceded to the back of the tree.

"Hikari, the star hasn't made light yet..."

She was cut off when Hikari plugged the two cords together and all of a sudden the tree and the star on top burst into light, striking her dumb. She beamed as much as the tree itself. Hikari returned from behind the tree and picked up Tailmon. She walked over to the couch and placed Tailmon on a cushion, then sat down beside her. They both stared at the tree, Tailmon going "woooooow". For the longest time they just sat there, until finally Tailmon had dozed off and Hikari, seeing this, picked her up and brought her to their bed. Hikari herself was tired, so she hopped into bed as well. Cuddling up with her soft, white Digimon kitty, she fell asleep.

Takaishi Residence

A dirty blonde haired boy was on his knees on the floor of his room beside his bed, taking Christmas presents from a pile to his right and covering them ever so carefully with the red and green wrapping paper. This boy was Takaishi Takeru, age twelve. Takeru lived in an apartment building with his mother, Takaishi Natsuko, in the middle of Odaiba, Japan.

"It's a good thing Mom stocked up on all these rolls of wrapping paper; with all these gifts to wrap I'm going to need two or three more."

His Digimon partner Patamon, who was on the other side of the bed, was also working on wrapping the few gifts he had acquired for some of his Digimon pals; a jet black, downy scarf for Hawkmon, a small yellow blanket with purple stripes on it for Armadimon, a pink nail filer with a fish pattern on it for Tailmon, an exceptionally awesome dark green tuque for V-Mon with a golden chevron on it (Patamon didn't think V-Mon could tell the difference between that and the letter V) and of course, for Wormmon, he bought an artist's kit, complete with art and coloring pencils, special artistic papers and rulers of different sizes and occupations.

Poor Patamon had never wrapped up a present before, and therefore, he was having his fair share of troubles. He called out to Takeru.

"Umm...Takeru...a little help?"

Takeru put down the roll of tape in his left hand and peered over at Patamon. The little brown and white flying Digimon was all tied up with tape and had pieces of stray blue wrapping paper stuck to his wings. Takeru let out a hearty laugh and got up. He walked over to his little friend and carefully pulled the clear plastic tape off.

"You know Patamon, usually the object of wrapping Christmas presents is to put the tape on the gifts, not all over yourself!"

He laughed again and Patamon sheepishly smiled. After they finished wrapping their gifts, putting away all the unused materials and throwing out all the garbage, Takeru and Patamon jumped onto the bed and closed their eyes. The bed was about one and a quarter the length of Takeru, with a blue and white cover on top and tan sheets underneath. They both were thinking about the party tomorrow; the Christmas Eve one that all the Chosen Children were planning since last week. Patamon was looking forward to the gratefulness his friends would show when he handed them their gifts, and Takeru was looking forward to a great time with all twelve Chosen Children.

"Patamon..."

Takeru's partner turned around on his side to look at his friend, who was giving him an awkward stare. He attempted to say something, than stopped himself. Patamon gave him his signature smile; only a truly evil being could help but be won over.

"What is it Takeru? You can tell me anything!"

Takeru had a timid look on his face, trying to force himself to express his feelings.

"Do you think Hikari likes me?"

Patamon chortled slightly before giving him another reassuring glance.

"Of course! Why wouldn't you think so; you've been friends for years! Did something happen between you two?"

Takeru, realizing Patamon didn't really know what he was talking about, returned an understanding smile.

"She just sees me as a friend of course... why should she think otherwise? I'm nothing special; I'm not brave like Daisuke and Taichi, or smart like Koushiro and Ken... I'm just the average Joe."

He placed his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling for long the two tired friends fell asleep bathed in moonlight, courtesy of the bedroom window, dreaming of soon to see friends and would-be lovers.

Motomiya Residence

"No don't go through that door! The evil Doctor Pitt has a trap set up!"

Motomiya Daisuke (another twelve year old) and his blue Digimon partner V-Mon were sitting on the couch, wide eyed, watching their favorite night-time television show, "The Quizzical Adventures of Blue and Black". The show's two main characters, Bradley Blue and Murphy Black, were detectives who solved crimes in their big American city. From time to time, their archenemy Emanuel "Doctor" Pitt would attempt to incapacitate them, using an array of predictable, cliché traps. Daisuke and V-Mon, however, with their limited perception, would always be surprised when Blue walked into a fissure filled with snakes or when Black narrowly escaped death by accidentally dropping a pen that had been rigged to explode by one of Pitt's goons.

In the episode Daisuke and V-Mon were watching, Blue, trying to find a stolen gold trophy belonging to a big wig philanthropist, wandered into an abandoned mansion thought to be inhabited by the object's thieves; in reality, the whole place was a big trap set up by Doctor Pitt. Blue was headed to the master bedroom, the door of which had a bucket of acid precariously on top of it, ready to fall on whoever entered. Daisuke and V-Mon tensed and frantically yelled at the television for him to turn around.

The two friends cheered as Black pulled his associate back just before the bucket fell; not an easy task considering Blue was the overweight and short one, and his partner the tall, slim one. Doctor Pitt cursed them as they ran away outside and got into their car, now knowing the true location of the trophy: the philanthropist's own house! Daisuke and V-Mon gasped and leaned forward as they learned the cold hard secret: the middle aged, rich philanthropist was actually Doctor Pitt's evil henchman, Bowler, in disguise, and that the whole case was a setup! With their attention fully devoted to the television show, it disappointed them greatly when the commercial cut in.

"Man, I hate when they do that just when it gets to the good parts!"

Daisuke got up and started to walk to the kitchen.

"Hey V-Mon, I'm going to make a snack, you want something?"

V-Mon turned back to look at his partner and beamed.

"ICECREAM... ahem, please!"

Daisuke smiled and waved at him.

"Coming right up buddy!"

Coming back with the ice cream for himself and his Digimon, Daisuke took a seat just as the show came back on. The show dragged on for another predictable, unoriginal fifteen minutes (of course to the two pals it was the smartest thing they'd ever seen) until finally the two detectives had found the real trophy and put Pitt and Bowler behind bars once more. Daisuke and V-Mon cheered and sang along to the ending credits and then turned off the T.V.

After putting the bowls and spoons into the sink, Daisuke turned around to V-Mon. He began to speak in a mock British accent.

"Blue, I do believe the evil Doctor Pitt is upstairs as we speak, planning his next dastardly scheme."

V-Mon, catching his drift, also replied in a similar accent.

"Yes Black, I agree completely. Let's go get him and bring him to the ol' stony lonesome!"

Sneaking upstairs one foot at a time, Daisuke and V-Mon slowly opened the door to "the evil Doctor Pitt's laboratory" and looked inside. Canisters of unnamed chemicals littered the floor, clothes was strewn about carelessly, and it smelled of every perfume under the sun. It was almost... like a teenage girl's bedroom.

The duo spotted what must have been Pitt, lying in bed, appearing to be asleep. Daisuke pulled a tiny bottle of extra-strength glue out from his pocket-he had grabbed the substance when he was downstairs preparing the ice cream-and glanced at V-Mon. His partner nodded in understanding.

Daisuke tiptoed over all the random junk on the ground and stopped beside the mastermind's bed. Pulling the top off of the bottle he then lifted up the pillow and applied a nice amount of it on the bottom, and then some more on the top.

"How putrid the villain looks up close! Truly a monstrous sight!"

Snickering all the way, the two detectives retreated to their "office" and prepared for another day of adventures before sleep took hold some time later.

Inoue Residence

BEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP!

The oven Inoue Miyako (thirteen year old) was standing in front off let out three loud screeches as the light inside of it shut off. The product inside, her first batch of cupcakes, were cooked and smelled delicious. The scent wafted all over the apartment, to the rooms of her three older siblings and her two parents. Miyako lived in the same apartment building as Takaishi Takeru and Hida Iori, who she frequently visited.

"Bingo! Bingo! Bingo!"

She cheered as she put on a pair of brown oven mitts and carefully opened the door to take out the cupcakes. Balancing the tray with one hand, she pulled a hot plate out of a drawer, threw it on the counter, and placed the cupcakes on top of it to cool for a few minutes. To her left, desperately trying to stir a red and green cream correctly, was her Digimon partner, Hawkmon. He firmly grasped the wooden spoon as best as a red and white avian Digimon could, but alas he was having a hard time really giving it to the mixture. Miyako turned to her partner, a stern look on her face.

"Sorry, Miyako, I'm trying my best with these wings of mine... they don't quite work as well as hands, as you can tell."

He held one of his avian limbs up to the light and quizzically looked at his digits. Miyako's expression changed to one of benevolence and she took the spoon and bowl from Hawkmon.

"You're right, Hawkmon, I guess I should have realized you couldn't do it."

Hawkmon looked hurt. He reached for the bowl in her hand.

"W-wait! I think If you give me some more time I can-!"

"Nonsense, Hawkmon. It's fine, I just gave you the wrong task, is all."

"But-!"

"It's fine, it's fine! It's not like I think any worse of you because you can't stir some icing. But this all needs to be done right for tomorrow. Why don't you go sit back down and watch that history show of yours. There's really nothing else you can help with..."

There was no use trying to fight against stubborn Miyako. Hawkmon shuffled over to the living room with a sigh, head hanging. Flopping down on the couch, he saw that the history channel was indeed showing one of his favorite shows. It was a program about the wars of humans. In the past few weeks, Hawkmon had become extremely interested in their history: specifically their wars, weapons, and important figures. He watched as a large tank drove by, accompanied by a group of armed soldiers. The men with guns were leading a bunch of unarmed people through a city.

Hmmm... those must be the prisoners of war...

He thought about it for a second. Hawkmon hated the idea-losing one's freedom. He vowed never to sit idly by and watch someone have to go through such hardship.

Miyako, now finished with the icing, was starting to place the second batch of cupcakes into the oven. As they began to cook, she went down the hall and into the bathroom to wash up for the night. It wouldn't be a long night-soon after she found herself fast asleep in her bed, dreaming about cooking and food and her friends. Hawkmon stayed up later to watch more television until he too found sleep's unavoidable touch and wandered off to bed.

Hida Residence

Incense filled the room as Hida Iori, a short, ten year old, and his Digimon partner Armadimon, knelt and prayed in front of a small Shinto shrine, with offerings of rice and water at the foot of the religious object. Iori's grandfather, Hida Chikara, knelt between them both. On this particular night, he donned the traditional robes and hat of a Shinto priest, the headwear long and tan and made of silk, and the matching robes long and poofy. Chikara was a very spiritual man, and he passed that trait onto his grandchild. Armadimon, on the other hand, was practically: if you can't see something, it doesn't exist. He hated having to act so serious and pray. What he really wanted to do was play on the computer.

Ever since he was introduced to the strange, grey box a few days ago by Iori, he was entranced by its beautiful sights and sounds. A smile emerged on his face as he imagined playing it, lying on a soft pillow, playfully tapping on the keyboard to zap space ships with a laser or clash swords with a samurai warrior. It was the greatest thing a little yellow and purple armadillo Digimon like him could ask for.

Iori opened one eye and peered over at Armadimon, who was grinning and drooling a little. He smiled as he realized his friend must have been daydreaming about something good.

He must be thinking about the party tomorrow. I can't say I'm not pretty excited myself, it'll be good to get out for a bit and have some fun with my friends. And Miyako's cupcakes...

It was Iori's turn to drool and grin. He loved Miyako's food ever since she began to cook a few months ago, even when everyone else was hesitant to try to usually burnt creations. Chikara, with both eyes open just enough to behold the figures on his sides, raised the folded up paper fan in his hand and wacked Iori and Armadimon on the tops of their heads, earning a yelp from each in turn. They both recomposed themselves into praying positions, briefly opening their eyes to grin at one another.

After a moment, Chikara stood up quietly and walked away. He only turned around for a second to address the two remaining worshipers.

"It is fine, you two. You may finish up your prayers if it is that important to you to be doing other things."

Iori turned slowly to face his grandfather, keeping his eyes at his feet.

"Grandpa..."

He began to explain but Chikara smiled and waved him to silence.

"No no, I mean it, Iori. I understand that, this close to Christmas, you are both excited. I was no different as a child myself. Go, enjoy the rest of the night."

Iori returned the expression and turned to Armadimon. They both nodded in agreement and finished up their prayers, and returned to Iori's room.

The room was of average size. A simple bed just big enough for Iori sat in the corner, with black and grey sheets contrasting the bright yellow wallpaint. In another corner was a small desk with a grey computer, and on the other side was a square double panel window that invited the lights of the city inside. A mahogany dresser stood beside the bed against the wall. There were a few pictures sitting on it.

Iori walked over to glance at the pictures as Armadimon hopped onto the computer chair and began to click away. There was one of him taken last year in his old purple turtle neck and beige pants, and another of him with his mother and grandfather. The last one, with a silver frame, was a picture of all his friends and their Digimon taken only a few months prior. He smiled as he remembered all the good times in the Digital World.

It's great that we finally brought peace and order to the Digital World, but I'm sure going to miss all those adventures we had...

"Iori?"

Armadimon interrupted the boy's thoughts with a question. He turned to face his little hard-shelled Digimon partner, who was eyeing him with a look of puzzlement on his face.

"Oh, sorry Armadimon..."

Armadimon replied with a reassuring smile only he could give.

"No problem, I was just wondering why you were standing there, not moving or anything. It looked weird, dagyaa!"

Iori forced a light smile.

"I was just remembering the old times, before we saved the Digital World."

Armadimon retained his jubilant expression.

"Yeah those were good days, but life is full of good times! Like tomorrow, dagyaa!"

Armadimon spun himself around in the computer chair, and Iori watched him as he fell off, his head spinning. They both shared a cheerful laugh. Regaining himself, Iori put the picture back on the dresser and hopped onto his bed.

"You're right, Armadimon. I guess I should be looking forward to the future and not looking back at the past. Still..."

Another expression entered Iori's face, one of sadness.

"Some days it feels like we're slowly drifting apart. Sure, we go to the same school, but without any enemies to fight, we have no reason to be meeting up everyday. Everyone is busy with their own pursuits."

Armadimon looked concerned for his partner. It was true, after all. He used to see his Digimon pals at least once a day before. Now it was rare to see them even once a week. But he ventured back to happier notions. He plodded over to the foot of the bed and jumped up onto it, sneaking up to Iori and playfully tackling him.

"But you'll always be stuck with me, Iori! And I wont ever drift away from you!"

They both partitioned a meaningful glance. Before falling asleep sometime later, Iori's mind wandered back to the same thought.

It's too bad we have so much work to do these days... it feels like the only way we'd ever get back to the old times is if another evil Digimon attacked.

Iori dreaded the thought of having to fight BelialVamdemon again; they had almost been defeated the first time. He decided to just drop the whole thing and worry about more pressing matters: tomorrow's delicious cupcakes.

Ichijouji Residence

Ichijouji Ken, twelve-year old child prodigy, star soccer player, renowned charmer, and all-around every parent's envy, was for once stuck on a school assignment. He shot a foreboding glance at the paper that was situated to his left:

Over the course of your holiday break, you will write a one thousand word report about a specific holiday tradition you and your family perform for Christmas. You will need to clearly state what this tradition is, describing when, who, what, where, why, and how this tradition would transpire. This particular tradition must be confined to your own family and not one that is commonly performed by most families at Christmas, such as gift opening or shopping. Your report, which will be presented on the first Monday after break, will be worth a fair chunk of the semester's final mark. Do not procrastinate and get the work done.

Ken have no idea what sort of tradition he would use. His family did pretty much the standard Christmas stuff the Japanese families did, and that wasn't much. He literally and metaphorically scratched his head. He turned around to his Digimon partner, Wormmon, who was on his bed peacefully humming as he drew on a piece of paper. This was also a concern to Ken. Although Wormmon was his best friend and he wouldn't change him for any other Digimon, he didn't like how emasculate he was acting lately.

These days, it wasn't very uncommon to see Wormmon humming to himself and drawing, or watching woman's television programs, or even reading magazines about clothes and cooking which he found in Mrs. Ichijouji's room. Worst of all, he never did any physical, sporty things. The other Digimon were starting to be exposed to all sorts of sports and activities at school, which had just started to accept Digimon on their sports teams. Veemon and Armadimon both played goaltender for the Junior Boys' soccer team, Patamon and Tailmon played duel's badminton, and of course Hawkmon was an amazing ultimate Frisbee player.

"Hey Wormmon, what'cha drawing?"

His partner, previously focussed solely on his art, looked up with a start and showed Ken his drawing. It was a small bee landing on a blue flower. Although it was a great drawing, Ken had a look of discontent on his face.

"A flower, eh?"

Wormmon blushed bashfully.

"D-do you like it, Ken?"

Ken grinned.

"Well, it's kinda girly."

Wormmon was one part insulted and another part angry. He scrunched up his face and furrowed his brow, and made an internal groan that he usually did when annoyed. It made Ken laugh quite a bit.

"W-well at least I don't have to write a one thousand word report! I can sit here all night and draw, while you're stuck on their typing up some boring homework!"

The truth of Wormmon's words hit Ken like a ton of bricks and he returned to his computer in complete dismay. He sighed irritably.

"Yep, I suuuure do."

In a few minutes Mrs. Ichijouji entered the room holding a small plate. Ken and Wormmon looked up to see some fresh strawberries and yogurt dip. Wormmon loved strawberries, and almost hyperventilated at seeing so many. Ken took the plate from his mother. She smiled.

"I just thought you'd like a little snack to refresh yourself as you worked. You know, it's never good to force these things so if you can't think of anything to write, just try again tomorrow! Feelings take a long time to come to terms with sometimes."

Ken was a little surprised she understood him so much (mothers eh?), and he gave her a grateful smile.

"Thanks mom."

She turned to Wormmon. A sense of wonderment appeared on her face until she realized he was drawing. Wormmon noticed her curiosity and flipped the drawing around to show her.

"It's a bee on a flower... it's not very good, but-"

Mrs. Ichijouji gasped. She petted Wormmon on his head, causing him to look up at her.

"It's beautiful, Wormmon! Hey, mind if I hang it out in the hall by the front door once it's finished?"

Wormmon's eyes turned into supernovas of excitement.

"R-r-really? Y-y-you like it that much? N-no way!"

She retained her loving smile.

"Sure! I've never had real art in the house before."

Wormmon quickly sketched out some finishing touches before handing over the art piece.

"Ken, can you put the plate in the sink when you two are finished?" Mrs. Ichijouji said before she left.

As she walked towards the door he responded with an, "mhm". Ken got up from his computer and brought the plate over to Wormmon. He sat down next to the little green insect Digimon and watched him quietly eat the strawberries, occasionally dipping them into the yogurt. Ken also took one and dipped it, slowly bringing it towards his mouth. Wormmon began to speak in between bites.

"So... what are you... going to do... for your project... Ken?"

To that, Ken had no answer. He stumbled on his words before finally letting out a response.

"I really don't know. Any ideas?"

"How about when you spend time with your friends? After all, isn't that what the party is about tomorrow?"

That was an idea Ken had not thought of. It was true that all the Chosen Children were meeting up tomorrow at Hikari and Taichi's apartment for a big Christmas Eve party. This was sort of like their tradition, and after all they'd been through they might as well have been a family.

"I guess that could work, but how can I make that into a one thousand word essay?"

Ken closed his eyes and sighed, laying back on his bed. Wormmon crawled unto his partner's chest.

"You can do anything you want Ken! You're the smartest guy I know, you'll think of something!"

Ken smiled.

"Thanks, Wormmon. And I'm sorry for calling your flower girly, it was actually pretty good."

Wormmon's eyes glazed over again.

"Y-yeah?"

"Yep!"

Not too long afterwards, sleep fell on top of the boys like their blankets and the night sky outside was dark and star-spangled.

Indeed, Ichijouji Ken was correct. Tomorrow was to be a big day, though not for the reasons he predicted.

Edit List: Removed the prologue, which was long and probably a turn off for some of the younger or more impatient readers. The information previously presented in it will be spread out throughout certain chapters, told by characters such as Gennai and Tailmon.

Also removed the part at the end featuring the first baddies. It felt a little cliched, so again, it will be moved to a later part, when the reader has become familiar with the current story.

The use of Japanese honorifics has been removed. As I stated in chapter 7, it was probably turning a lot of the English fans off, confusing them, or a mixture of both.

Most Recent Edit (November 23rd, 2013) - Two freaking years since the last edit I'm FINALLY giving this story a proper chapter update and, hopefully, I will continue from here at a decent pace, though that will depend heavily on reader interest. If I get a lot of feedback from follows / favorites / reviews (especially these!), I'll be inclined to update faster. Otherwise, might just depend on my mood. Enjoy regardless! Also, I changed the lyrics to the little opening poem thing up there. The last line used to have the part "united in a pact of justice..." and is now "united in our pursuit of survival..." as the former has nothing to do with the story itself.