Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

This is my first fic, so please go easy on someone as inexperienced as myself. This basically centers on Takato, though everyone comes into play and the viewpoint is juggled mercilessly. You can influence what I write in your reviews, though I'm not going to make it inappropriate or anything. This happens when Calumon was yoinked from the real world to the Digital World, and the Tamers happily set off to heroically rescue him.

*.* = thought

The Digital World.

Takato had dreamed of coming here as long as he could remember. He had had it all planned out- he would go to a world found only in the imagination, find his very own Digimon, and together they would have mind-blowing adventures.

Of course, with the accidental creation of Guilmon and the meeting of Henry, Terriormon, Rika, and Renamon, he had learned that everything shown on TV is not always true and that the Digital World was not the fantastic, newer Earth he had envisioned. It was kind of a disappointment to him, but the excitement of new friends, adventures, and the excuse to talk with Jeri about Leomon was all worthwhile.

But this was now. And he was crouched in a rough, ready-to-collapse tunnel, on the brink of throwing himself into a huge, sifting mass of pure data. Guilmon had tromped into it with no fear at all but an easy trust that as he was doing the right thing all would turn out well. He smiled to himself- the simplest of his friends often proved himself the best.

"Hurry up, Goggle Head! Sometime today would be nice!"

Ah, Rika. Always the patient one.

"I'm hurrying, okay?" he called. He now felt ready to risk his life to save two worlds and a cheerful, innocent friend. He didn't know what would happen- but he would stand by with his Digimon. Taking a final breath, he leapt into the portal that would lead him into the Digital World.

Pain. He felt his brain scrambling, lost the feeling in his limbs.

*Maybe this wasn't such a good i-*

* * * * * *

"Takato? Takato, wake up!"

A large red blob swam into his vision.

*What?*

"Takato! Something terrible's happened!"

*Guilmon.*

*Terrible?*

"What?" he yelped, sitting up and experiencing an unpleasant wave of nausea that prohibited his moving further. "W- what happened?"

*Maybe someone's died*, he thought, beginning to hyperventilate. *Or maybe we're lost. No- what i-*

"The bread's gone."

"Guilmon!" Takato scolded from where he lay, feeling angry because he had been worried over nothing. "That's not terrible."

"But now we'll be hungry," Guilmon protested, not understanding his Tamer's anger.

"Everyone all right?" he heard Henry shout.

Takato couldn't see him, and was having trouble moving his head. In an effort to find out what was going on he asked, "Hey, Guilmon- where are we?"

"A hole."

"Say what now?"

"A hole," Guilmon repeated. "Here, come and see."

Takato suddenly became aware of a million aches and pains in places he hadn't known he'd had as Guilmon, with one shoulder-wrenching movement, pulled him upright and out onto the surface.

"Oh, sorry, Takato," Guilmon apologized when he saw agony twist his Tamer's face, claws clasped together in a gesture of repentance.

There was a sound of footsteps. It was Henry.

"You okay, Takato?" he asked.

"Um, yeah," Takato mumbled. "Yeah, I'm fine." To draw attention away from himself, he asked, "Where is everyone else?"

"Somewhere around here," Henry answered, waving his arm to encompass a field of craters where vague forms lay prone. Concerned, Takato turned to look and found himself face-to-face with Jeri and Leomon.

"Is there anything wrong, Takato?" Jeri asked. "Your face is all red. Oh! Do you have a fever?"

Thus agitated, Jeri flitted to and fro, feeling his forehead, making him sit back down, and finally giving him a little kiss to make him feel better. Henry and Terriormon writhed with silent laughter, while Guilmon looked confused. Leomon commented that Takato only seemed to get redder.

When Jeri finally withdrew Takato was petrified with embarrassed happiness- basically, he felt like a dork- and Henry, ever the good friend, gathered everyone's attention away.

"So what's with the wasteland?" he asked, gesturing around at the barren landscape.

His Digimon puffed up, offended. "This happens to be my home! Earth isn't exactly a barrel of laughs, either. It's dirty and stinky and not at all what it looked like-"

"When did you ever get to look at it?" Henry demanded, trying to make a point.

"Don't you humans ever look up?" Terriormon grumbled, pointing an ear at the sky.

"Whoa," was the general outcry.

The sky was Earth. Not Earth as the Tamers knew it, but a giant main screen, shooting out beams of data to gather information from the ground on which they stood.

"I guess those beams are generated by all the world's computers," Henry whispered, his inner computer programmer taking over and leaving the argument forgotten. "They must be sent to gather all the data from this world to our world."

Terriermon wandered off, mumbling about certain stupid people with their certain stupid ideas.

"W-what d'you think would happen if we got caught in one of those?" Takato asked, trying to sound merely curious and not at all as though he thought that he'd be vaporized.

"I supposed we'd be sent to wherever the computer that requested the info was." Henry mused. "Bu-"

"Hey!"

It was Rika, followed closely by Renamon. The fox like Digimon clutched a boy in either claw, whom everyone recognized as Kazu and Kenta.

"There you are," said Rika imperiously. "These idiots were snoozing."

The usual exasperated looks were shot at the boys as Renamon set them down. Kenta blushed and looked at his feet, while Kazu glared. Takato supposed his friends felt like they had something to prove, for they were they only ones who did not have a Digimon. He was a little fuzzy on why they had been allowed to come, but since he liked them well enough he didn't particularly mind.

When everyone was gathered together, Henry began to lay a plan of action.

"Okay, here's what we do," said he. "We've got to send out a scout to look over the area. Any volunteers?"

Renamon shot a look at her Tamer before she stepped forward. "I will."

Henry barely had time to say "Great" before she was a mere blur across the horizon.

"Well, while Renamon's doing her thing, we need to know what we're going to find around here. So, what's it like here?"

Leomon stepped forward. "The Digital world is very different from the world you are from. Things tend to happen very suddenly- we are of data, hence everything is accurate, and hence there are no hesitations. However, there is danger, hence we must be well protected. I am the only ready Champion, hence."

"If he says 'hence' one more time I'm going to bite him," Terriormon told Henry.

But for this there was no need, for midway in his explanation Leomon trailed off, looking at Jeri with dark concerned eyes.

"What?" she questioned.

"The goal of every Digimon is to become strong enough to bio-emerge.," he started hesitantly. "To gain strength, a Digimon must fight others and absorb their data. I will be very surprised if we Digimon are not attacked for our data- and for you, of course."

"For us?" Kenta asked stupidly. "Why?"

"Don't you know?" Leomon asked, despite the fact the answer was written on every face- that is, except Rika's.

"Make me stronger," she murmured to herself.

"What was that?" Takato asked.

Rika seemed a little reluctant to respond. "When I first got Renamon, I- I chose her, I guess. There were so many Digimon who wanted a Tamer, and they all seemed to think that humans could make them stronger."

"They do," Leomon acknowledged. "A human partner makes a Digimon stronger because they can digivolve without absorbing large masses of data. And it also benefits the human, because having a Digimon is like having a sort of bodyguard. Usually the Tamer and Digimon become friends."

Of course a sentimental moment was generated by this remark, and a minute was spent in appreciative glances. Then it was over, and yet another brilliant speculation was added to the conversation.

"Well, at least we Tamers are tied in," Takato said, looking at a happy Guilmon.

"No," Terriormon yawned, covering his mouth with an ear. This conversation was getting really boring for him, it seemed. "If something interferes with the bond between the two, another Digimon can invade the Digivice and become the Digimon of the Tamer."

Takato's breath stopped in his throat. Lose Guilmon? His best friend, his very own Digimon? He could barely imagine life without the rambunctious little dinosaur. And for him to be replaced.

"How?" he asked, worried.

"Oh, lots of Digimon have the power to posses other Digimon," Terriormon stated, like he was saying the sky was indeed blue. "And if there are mixed emotions between the two. You know, like when Icedevimon tried to take Rika."

"What?" Kenta asked.

"Oh, yeah, you three weren't here. We-"

"Never mind," Henry said hurriedly, catching the look upon Rika's face. "The point is, we've all got to be careful. Hey, Renamon!"

Renamon had returned, stating that there was a Gatomon catching some sun, a herd of Koromon, and a Demidevimon fluttering around, but no real danger. More accurately, "Nothing that we can't take care of."

Suddenly, Takato was noticing things like that.

The Red Tamer sighed; he was itching to ask if she had seen Calumon but knew she would have said so if she had. He was really worried about the little guy.

"What do we do now?" Guilmon asked.

"Renamon, you said there were some Digimon near us," Rika began.

"Yes, but I meant relatively. They're about a mile or two away, and by the time we got there, they might have moved."

"Well, go back there and see. Make them stay. We need to know if they've seen Calumon."

"Or any Digimon that, you know, will kill us," Terriormon added.

* * * * * *

Renamon swished her golden tail in agitation. They had been walking for hours, without a glimpse of any other living creature. The Digimon she had seen before had apparently vanished into thin air.

Rika hadn't appeared to notice that she was keeping close to her. The fox- like creature was all too aware that Tamers in the Digiworld were like Digimon in the real world- everyone wanted one, and would do anything to get one.

She briefly imagined life without her Tamer. True, there were powerful, Untamed Digimon, like the Devas, and even runaways, like Impmon, but pure power lust was fast becoming a thing of the past for her. Rika was her partner, her- what did the humans say? - her best friend. No one would take her away.

But there was no one here.

"No one here," she murmured.

"What was that?" Rika asked.

"Nothing."

* * * * * *

You must have guessed by the poor plot build-up that someone was there, that in fact they were hiding in the shadow of the sudden onslaught of a digital night.

The newly created Devimon stretched his tattered wings, relishing the change. How fortunate that he'd come across that heard of Koromon- their data had been the boost needed for Digivolution. He just wished that Gatomon hadn't gotten in the way. He could have gotten the entire bunch had not the feline stepped in. He would have demolished her and absorbed her data as well had it not been for her evolution into Angewoman. Added to the fact that she was an Ultimate to his Champion, vaccine types were always strongest against virus, and this made for a fool's attack.

A low rumbling drew his attention. He flew, covered by the sudden darkness, and glimpsed the power source he had only dreamed about.

Humans.

Six humans, six sources of digivolving power were settling down in front of his very nose. Instantly he decided he had to have one. Two he deemed useless- they had no Digivice, and he was not the one to create the bond that would generate one. That red Digimon seemed most careless of his Tamer, but the boy was too soft for his liking. Same with that girl- and her Leomon would put up too harsh a fight. The Renamon was very powerful, and her Tamer- he could sense that another Devimon, or another Fallen Angel type at least, had tried to usurp the bond and failed, thus ending in deletion. The boy with his weak Terriormon seemed the best bet.

He would wait till they slept.

Then attack.