Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.

Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra.

C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy

Chapter 1: 'How not to land'

Nullspace, Commerce Station 42

Matt looked at the rusty looking space shuttle in front of him. The old NASA symbol was just visible…so were the scorch marks. "It's a deathtrap…" he said to the dealer next to him. "I…I can see the patches…It's be safer to walk though Nullspace," he ranted. The dealer shrugged, "Walk then…it's still gonna be 10,000 credits when you get back." Matt walked out of 'Kal'tars Discount Starships' in a foul mood. He and his sister, Chloe, had been trapped in this strange place for a fortnight now. They'd finally settled for joining some company called the C.P.S. Chloe had been sent to guard some merchant ship cargo while Matt had been hired to ferry some people to a new research station. The problem was that Matt didn't have a ship and the only cheap enough ship was the 'flying rust bucket' as he'd called it.

He walked into a bar, ordered a cola and sat, face in his hands. "Great…my first job and it's already screwed up," he said to himself. Matt drank his cola in silence as he thought of various ways to try and get out of the mess he was in. Finally the bartender announced it was closing time and Matt got up to walk out. Suddenly he walked into someone who pushed two things into his hands. "I'm sorry. Do…excuse me," said the stranger before rushing off. Matt looked at the stuff he'd been given. The first reminded him of a futuristic pager which had what was revealed to be a deck of gaming cards attached to the back. He shrugged and pocketed it and looked at the other. His hopes shot right through the roof as he unfolded a 90 off voucher for Kal'tars discount starships.

--

Kal'tar scrutinized the voucher as if daring it to be a fake. "It…seems to be in order…what did you have in mind?" said the dragon-like Timesplitter. Matt pointed out to another space shuttle-like ship. It was practically shining, was much more streamlined and looked like it could do anything. "That," said Matt, savouring the horrified expression on the face of the very guy who tried a few hours ago to swindle him. "I think with the 90 off, it's just 2000 credits," Matt said. A few minutes later, Matt was walking out with the start up card. He could already see some servitor droids beginning to prepare the ship, named 'Skyraid' to be moved to one of the hangers.

The next day…

Matt stood by his new ship as he saw his passengers arriving: three humans, an elf-like alien and a Splitter who stepped up. "I am Dr Nyvin. I take I you're our C.P.S pilot?" he asked politely. Matt nodded, "Get aboard and we'll be on our way." As the others of Dr Nyvin's team got aboard, Matt asked something that he'd been wondering. "If this is a simple ferrying…why did the contract recommend bringing weapons?" he said. Nyvin looked worried for a second then said, "Er…Pirates…there have been space pirates in the area…we don't want to be robbed do we?" and stepped past Matt.

Matt shrugged. He had several weapons stored on the storage buffer of his wrist computer in case and a few X-52 minigun rifles in the armoury. He walked in and sealed the hatch before getting into the flight seat and steering the shuttle out the station hanger and towards the glowing purple hole in space that was the wormhole. He didn't need to worry…It was just a simple passenger run…He had no idea how wrong he was.

Unclassified Dimension

The wormhole opened and the Skyraid shot out gracefully. "Flies like a dream," said Matt happily. He looked at the navicomp. "Now then…just past the moon and I'm there," he muttered as the ship gently flew over the lunar surface. He looked up as 'Balwak' research station came into view. "Wow," was all he could say. The station itself was huge…about 2 miles high and a mile from end to end. It looked like a thick tractor tire balanced on a thick pole. A cluster of antenna was positioned on the top and, as Matt flew by, he spotted something that puzzled him. The station had several dozen plasma auto-cannons. "Ok then," he muttered, "Not just peaceful research."

The Skyraid's comm crackled, "Skyraid. This is Balwak control. You are cleared to land at airlock 5 and to remain for 36 hours to refuel." Matt replied, "Got that, control. Docking now." He steered in slowly and breathed a sigh of relief as he docked neatly with the airlock.

Balwak Research Outpost (Exo-Gene inc affiliated)

Matt sat in the station canteen, surrounded by station security officers who stared suspiciously in his direction. So far, he'd found out that only his room and the canteen appeared to be non-classified, so he'd spent most of the wait there, draining the stations supply of coffee.

Finally, the stares got too much for Matt and he got up to go to the temporary quarters he'd been assigned while his ship was refuelled. When he got there, his comm was beeping away. He sat down and turned it on, saying as the caller's image shimmered into view, "I don't change jobs mid-contra…" and was interrupted by the figure, a man in a black business suit who reminded Matt heavily of the Men in Black.

"Good morning, Mr Lynch. I trust you are now on Exo-genes station," he said in a strange jerking way of speaking, like his voice was running at two different speeds. Matt sat back as the guy continued, "I represent…concerned parties who feel that the director of the station you are currently on…does not have the NSC's best…interests at heart."

Matt decided to speak, even though it was obviously a recording. "So why bother me?" he said rudely and fell off the bed in shock when the 'recording' answered, "Because you're in the right place at…the right time, Mr…Lynch." Once he was sure he was not suffering the heart attack he felt he was having, Matt asked, "So…what do you want from me? I only just started as a Mercenary…I'm only allowed to do…" and was interrupted again.

"Please be quiet before I MAKE YOU…" said the figure, the lights flickering at the last two words. Matt shut up instantly. He'd heard stories from other trainees of the 'ascended', such as how 'Slughead' Murphy had earned his nickname when he went back on a contract for an ascended. This guy could probably vaporise him with a thought if he wasn't careful…if he was lucky.

The guy paused then said, "You will infiltrate the R&D laboratory on this station tonight and download the files of their chief researcher from the central laboratory. You will not fail if you like your current species." Matt tried to back further away from the person on his comm. before saying, "And you are?" in a whimper. The guy straightened his tie and said, "Mr Black…Goodbye, Mr Lynch," before fading away. Matt sat in the gloom before muttering, "I am so screwed."

Balwak Research Outpost (Night-cycle)

Matt slipped out of his room in full kit, checking that there were no guards patrolling before heading towards the stations central lift. Twice he had to duck into shadowy corners to avoid an unexpected guard but eventually, the main lift came into view. Sadly a guard was there in front of the doors. "Great…hold on," He muttered, slipping back round the corner before spying a technician approaching, wheeling a trolley of equipment.

"Stupid cheap ass budget deal holo-computers," muttered the technician before folding up as Matt hit him over the head with his pistol butt and dragged him into a sideroom. A quick scan and his kit was swapped for the techie's uniform and Matt was wheeling the kit towards the lift.

Matt breathed a sigh of relief when the guard barely gave him a second glance but just as he was about to get on the lift… "Hey…where's the usual guy, Jay?" said the guard, getting up from his seat. Matt gulped and replied, "Er…Temporal Flu.", unable to shift his gaze from the guard's X-52 rifle. After what seemed like an eternity, the guard nodded "Ok…just be quick…ok?"

Matt breathed a sigh of relief as the door shut tight and he pressed the button for R&D lab 1. "Should be easy from here," he said to himself, not realising how wrong he'd be.

Bulwak Station R&D level

The lift opened with a cheery 'ding' and Matt peered out. At this time of night, the R&D labs were silent so Matt and put his combat gear back on. The darkened corridors put Matt in mind of Frankenstein's laboratory. He walked along, looking for the main laboratory, looking in a few of the rooms. Surprisingly, many of the labs were computer laboratories with specimen scanners in the middle.

Finally, the last lab came into view…and from the light coming from it, someone was there. Matt ducked down as he heard voices, "Ok…let's get the final data transfusion done…commencing…now!" at 'now' there was the unmistakable crackle of electricity and a scream that chilled Matt to the bone and caused him to draw his laser pistol on reflex. Another voice said, "Interesting, it seems to hurt the subject…not like the human subjects at all."

That, Matt decided, was enough. He got up and strode round the corner, firing a stun blast into the back of one of the white coated figures and tossing one of his throwing knives into the arm of the other before punching him in the face. Matt just glared at the two recumbent figures before turning to the small figure on the table. The creature resembled a blue humanoid dragon with a white belly and a small yellow 'V' on its forehead. It was out cold from whatever the two creeps had been doing, but judging from the IV feed, it had been nasty.

Matt stared at the creature more closely, making a personal mental note to shoot whoever had authorised this treatment when it suddenly snapped awake and tried to back away, despite being strapped down. "L…leave me alone…please," it gibbered, clearly terrified as Matt tried to calm it down. "Easy, easy, I'm not with these losers. What's your name, dude?" he said, gesturing to the recumbent form of the unconscious scientists before grabbing a key from one of their pockets and unlocking the restraints.

The creature answered warily, "Veemon…who are you?" as Matt fiddled with a tricky restraint. "Private Matthew Lynch. I'll be your rescuer today…ACK!" he said as he undid the final strap, only for Veemon to cry "VEE-HEADBUTT!" and butt matt in the gut, winding him before running past and out the lab door.

Matt gasped. "There's gratitude for you," he said, doubled up. The lab door suddenly opened again and Veemon backed back inside, shaking with fear. "Come back to apolo…oh," said Matt as another person walked in behind Veemon, holding a rather nasty pulse blaster.

Matt was out of sight behind the table due to the sucker punch from Veemon…which was probably why he was currently not crispy due to pulse blasts. "You shouldn't be running loose…guess those idiots didn't tie you down properly," the guy said looking briefly at the scientists. Matt almost fainted. The guy's eyes were almost pure black. "You're going straight back to your box," said the guy, aiming a kick at Veemon. Matt, snapped at this, silently getting up, grabbing a surgical implement and swinging at him, only for the guy to spin, grabbing his arm. "Nice try," he said, kicking Matt so hard, he flew across the room.

Matt got up in time to barely block a punch from the guy that almost dislocated his arm before being thrown into a pair of crashcarts. Before Matt could get up, he saw the pulse blaster pointed at his face and a voice demanding, "What are you doing here, mercenary?" Matt gulped and quickly read the guy's name tag, "Well, 'Mark', I've heard from a quite reliable someone that something bad is happening down here. Apparently, he was right."

"Who told you?" demanded Mark. "Would you believe a creepy guy called Mr. Black?" Mark raised an eyebrow, "Black, you say? There isn't anyone by that name working here…" Suddenly a little voice called out, "VEE-KNOCKOUT!" Veemon had hit Mark in the back of the knee while he was distracted with Matt. Mark nearly stumbled and Matt took the advantage to grab the pulse blaster out of his hand. Before Mark could get it back, the butt was used to deck him hard. Mark was knocked out cold by the blow and crumpled to the floor. Matt got up and said, "Just be glad I decided not to use the other end." He turned to Veemon and said, "Why did you help me?"

"Easy, you actually did something nice to me on purpose," said the little creature. "Yeah, well, I think we should leave now. Something tells me that no one else is going to do something 'nice' for us." He opened the door of the lab and six rifle barrels were practically shoved up his nose. "Drat," Matt muttered.

--

A few minutes later, Matt and Veemon were marched to the head office. The grunt 'guiding' them knocked on the door. "Send them in," said a voice that Matt knew belonged to a person he was going to dislike. The door opened and Matt and Veemon were roughly shoved in. The room was a sizeable corner office with a TV/personnel communicator and a large desk that had several computer screens on it. Sitting at the desk was a rather weedy-looking man with brown hair and wore a white lab coat. He had a pair of glasses in front of his grey eyes that occasionally slipped and had to be pushed back up.

'For a boss, he doesn't look real tough,' thought Matt. The man smiled at Matt with a grin that oozed oiliness, "Matthew Lynch, right?" When Matt nodded, he continued, "I'm Professor Kurata, the head of research of Balwak Station. I've heard some nasty reports that you've been peeking at what we do in our labs. I had you brought here so we can be sure there are no… misunderstandings." "I think I understand well enough," said Matt, "when I heard something rotten was going on around here, I thought it was illegal weapon manufacturing. Instead, what I find is the cruel and unusual torture of fellow sentient beings."

Kurata frowned for a second but his oily smile returned, "I'm afraid you're mistaken about that. You see, Digimon aren't sentient beings. They aren't true beings at all." "Digimon?" said Matt confused, "what are those?" Kurata looked slightly surprised, "You mean you don't know what they are? But I forget, you're not from this world, are you? Well, Digimon, like Veemon over there, are monsters whose bodies are composed of computer data. There are many kinds of them and all of them are equally dangerous to humans. I'm simply doing humanity a favour in getting rid of them before they get rid of us." Veemon turned to Matt and said, "Don't listen to him! He doesn't understand Digimon at all. He's just afraid of them and so he hates them. Look, he won't even let one get near him."

Veemon approached Kurata's desk, much to Kurata's annoyance. He sneezed loudly and said, "Stay back, you little monster! You're getting your dander everywhere!" "Oh come on! I have scales! I don't even have dander!" protested Veemon. Kurata glanced at Matt and said, "See? He's practically threatening me. There's nothing good about him." Matt glared back and said, "Oh, I see alright. I see there's nothing good about you, Kurata. When I get back to Central, I'm making sure my bosses and the NSC Council hear all about the twisted things you did here."

Kurata frowned and said, "I had a feeling that you were going to say something like that. I was going to persuade you to keep quiet, but I see that will have no affect. In that case, I have only one other option." He pressed a button on his desk and the door immediately opened to show the grunts outside. "Take the Digimon back to the lab for further experimentation," ordered Kurata, "and as for this neophyte, throw him out the airlock."

Matt hadn't been standing doing nothing as Kurata had ranted about the dangers of Digimon. Matt had been sticking his hand into one of his back pockets. He'd found what he was looking for when Kurata summoned the guards to give him a free economy spacewalk.

"Hey, crazy dude," he said rudely to Kurata as a grunt grabbed his arm to pull him out, "Wanna see a trick?" Kurata grinned his trademark smile and said, "Why not? Consider it a last request." Matt smirked knowingly and muttered to Veemon, "Duck." before tossing a silver beeping disk into the middle of the floor. "Watch the birdy, smegheads," he said and threw himself down as the stunner disk jumped several feet in the air before firing an expanding circle of blue energy that caused Kurata and the grunts to crumple into snoring heaps.

Matt rifled through the pocket of the nearest guard till he found the cuff keys. "I really think we've outstayed our welcome," said Matt. Veemon nodded before saying, "How long will they be like that?" pointing to the recumbent guards. It was at this point that Kurata groaned and began to pull himself up. "About that long. Time to go," said Matt, grabbing Veemon's arm and running out the door.

Several yells were heard behind them and a few blue laser bolts ricocheted off the walls as they ran. "C'mon. My ship's this way. Once the Council hears your story, they'll lock that Kurata guy up till Doomsday," said Matt. The Station's PA said, "Intruders on admin level 2…all security apprehend and terminate." More security officers ran round the corner ahead. "There they are…blast em," yelled the leader, raising his rifle.

Matt pulled his spare blaster out and fired a few returning rounds, causing one security guard to spin to the floor, clutching his arm, before he and Veemon ran into a sidedoor, emerging into a large room clustered with computers, piping, and large storage tanks. A door at the opposite end flew open and more security ran in firing, causing Matt and Veemon to duck behind some pipes. "Ok. This wasn't in the plan," said Matt, firing blindly over the pipes at the security.

A cluster of rounds suddenly hit the pipe next to him, blasting a shot of cold steam into his face and throwing him out of cover. The security gleefully took this opportunity to concentrate their fire. Matt managed to scramble behind a tank similar to the ones the security team were using. Worse his gun was lying in the open out of reach, along with the pager and a few of the cards he'd picked up on the commerce station. He managed to reach the pager which had one of the cards jammed in the card reader in the side before another hail of lasers nearly made him one handed.

"Ok, man. It's over. C'mon outta there with your little scaley buddy and nobody'll get hurt," said the security team leader, earning a 'HEY!' from Veemon. Matt yelled back, "Not yet. Just you wait till I get my gun back." One of the guards fired a few rounds at Matt's cover only to be cut off. "Hold your fire, you idiot. You wanna blow us all up?" said their leader. Matt, however, couldn't see a way out. He couldn't receive his blaster without being turned into a colander by laser fire and he truly doubted the security team were 'not going to hurt them' if they surrendered.

Matt pulled the card out the pagers reader in frustration before clicking it to his belt. "Looks like you…" he began when some yells started again. He looked at Veemon and was surprised to see that the Digimon was now holding some kind of shield. He looked at the card he'd accidentally swiped to see the same shield there and read the title. "WarGreymon shield? Dear lord, I've fallen into the twilight zone," he muttered but was impressed at how the security team's laser rounds ricocheted harmlessly off Veemon's new shield.

He took the opportunity to grab his pistol and fire a few rounds into the tanks the security team had for cover, causing one of them to explode and make the security team scatter. Matt and Veemon took this opportunity to run out one of the doors, ignoring the sign on it that said 'Reactor Heat regulator 1. No firearms permitted!'

Balwak Research Station, Dock and Escape Pod Levels

Matt and Veemon ran through the corridors of Balwak towards where Matt's ship was docked. Suddenly the floor shook as a distant explosion was heard and the corridor was doused in red emergency lighting. "I have a bad feeling," said Veemon and was proved right as the Station computer calmly announced, "Warning. Catastrophic failure in Heat regulator 1. Reactor temperature approaching critical levels. All hands, abandon station."

Matt thought back to the room where the tanks had been and realised that there might have been a good reason for the warning signs on the tanks. "Oops," he said before running ahead, "My ship's this way. C'mon." Veemon didn't follow but said, "Er…Matthew? What does your ship look like?" looking out a porthole. Matt wandered back and stared out the same porthole to see a very familiar ship floating by. "You've got to be kidding me," said Matt glumly as the name 'Skyraid' floated into view.

A second explosion shook the station more violently and the alarms took on a new urgency. "Ok then. Plan B," said Matt and the two joined the now crowded rush for the escape capsules. Finally they managed to find an open one. Matt dived in just behind Veemon. The pod's computer calmly announced, "Please fasten harnesses for launch." And then did just that before the two could react, forcing them into the cushioned walls so hard they passed out. The pod swooped away just as Balwak seemed to swell before exploding violently, surrounding the pod with glowing debris as it headed towards earth…

Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, Japan

Three young teenagers were quickly racing down the street at night. There was nobody to pay any attention to them, but if there were, they'd most likely pay attention to the three creatures accompanying the children. A red lizard/dragon creature with a hazard sign on its chest ran alongside a boy wearing goggles. A creature that looked like a cross between a white rabbit and a terrier with green markings flew besides a slightly older boy with blue-tinted hair. And a creature that resembled a humanoid fox ran with a girl who had her hair up in a ponytail. "Can you go any slower?" asked the girl, "that Digimon probably found a way to exit its digital field by now." "Sorry Rika," said the goggle-wearing boy, "me and Guilmon don't usually run to the warehouse district to fight Digimon." "You'd think we'd be used to it by now, right, Terriermon?" "Can you put a bit more energy into running instead of talking, Henry?" grumbled the fox creature. "Renamon's right," said Terriermon, "let's put the pedal to the metal."

Guilmon noticed a light up in the sky and paused. He looked up and asked, "Hey, Takato, what's that?" The rest of them looked up to see several streaks of light shooting across the sky. "It looks like a meteorite shower," said Rika. "That's weird," said Henry, "the newsman didn't say anything about a meteorite shower tonight. You think it has to do with the Digimon that's Bioemerged?" "We better get there and find out," said Takato and the rest of them started running again, not noticing one of those 'meteorites' moving very erratically and getting closer than most meteorites do.

--

Meanwhile, on board one of the 'meteors', Matt slowly stirred with a groan to see that almost every warning light on the pods simple controls were lit up and a high pitched alarm was wailing. The view screen just showed flames from the re-entry heat, which wasn't a good sign. Matt managed to get to the controls and grabbed the control stick, trying desperately to bring the pods speed to a landable one. If the pod landed now, it'd be like an asteroid strike in comparison, half the city would be flattened. Slowly, Matt began to wrestle the pod out of its kamikaze dive and it slowly began to level out over a large bay, revealing the lights of a larger city, the screens built in HUD identifying it as Tokyo.

"Not how I planned to visit Japan," said Matt, struggling to keep the pod level as it skimmed over the surface. "We might make it after all.," he muttered before a huge chunk of flaming debris shot down, missing the pod by mere inches and causing a column of spray to erupt into the night sky. The remaining debris of Balwak Station were beginning to land too and it would only take one to flatten the escape pod like a cola can under a pneumatic press. "Screw that. We're stuffed," said Matt, dodging the pod between the pieces of flaming station debris as they landed in the bay with what would have been deafening whomphs had the pod not had sound filtering. A sudden clang sounded through the pod as it suddenly lurched towards the surface. Matt barely had time to swear as the pod began skimming the surface like a skipping stone, covering at least a quarter KM per skip. The jump knocked Matt to the back of the pod again and each consecutive one bounced him and the still unconscious Veemon like peas in a tin.

The skipping stone effect probably saved the pod however, quickly decelerating the pod from its murderous speed to a more landing-friendly one. It was still fast enough though that the pod easily sliced a chunk off the dock's edge when it clipped the concrete and to set off sparks as it slid along the asphalt. Matt had enough time to mutter, "Oh crud," before the pod shot into the side of a smoke shrouded warehouse, demolishing the wall and hitting a shape in the smoke.

Warehouse district, Tokyo

Don sat behind cover, watching the Ultimate level Digimon, known as Datamon's silhouette in the field, moving around the warehouse, examining some of the computerised contents that the warehouse contained. "Ok…so our head-on attack didn't work," he said to the remaining members of the Exo-gene security force that Kurata had assigned him.

Suddenly a metallic screech was heard and a red hot escape pod shot by, leaving semi-melted asphalt in its wake, narrowly missing the group before pulverising the solid concrete wall of the warehouse. Datamon could be heard stating, "What in the soverei…?" before he was cut off by a louder clang. Don stood there staring straight ahead till one of the security guards said slowly. "Did I just see a…" Don cut him off. "No you didn't and neither did I. We're heading back to Lab 1. I've had enough for one night," he said in a slightly shaking voice. Nearly being squished by a red hot escape pod could do that to a man.

Inside the warehouse, the escape pod had ended up, nose up against the far wall, a spiderweb of cracks in the wall stood as testament to its landing. Sprays of nitrogen steam activated by the pod had rapidly cooled it down and a small hatch swung open, allowing a very shellshocked Matthew and a now very awake Veemon to crawl out onto the floor. Matt kissed the dirt muttering, "Thank you God. I'll never fly again. I won't even jump too high…bleh, cockroach."

Veemon moaned from next to him as he spat out the roach, "Am I deleted?" Matt turned and said, "Nope. You're still here." Veemon groaned again and said, "Pity…let's never do that again…ever." Matt got up shakily and helped Veemon to his feet too. "Agreed. Now let's go before the UFO nuts get here," Matt said. He turned and looked at the pod before giving it a sound kick. "Useless cut price deathtrap," he said bitterly and jumped back as the pod suddenly jerked.

"I-is there someone under there? YOW!" said Matt, jumping back. "I think we landed on someone," said Veemon as the pod was tossed aside and a strange machine that came up to Matt's chest got to its feet. "What do you think you're playing at?" it said in a slightly mechanical tone. Its gaze sent the instant message that it was not a happy robot. The 'pager' began beeping again and a hologram of the robot appeared on its screen with the name 'Datamon' and a list of other information.

Matt peered at it and back at Datamon, muttering, "Useful…wonder what other surprises this thing has?" before looking back at the angry Digimon, "Er…we're very sorry…we didn't mean to land on you." This apology didn't seem to do the trick as Datamon began to advance on the two. "You think a simple apology would do it, Human?" he said, raising his right hand at the two, fingers outstretched.

"I haven't had a chance to absorb a Rookie for ages," Datamon said, his voice taking a more sinister edge as he advanced. Matt may have only been a mercenary for a week or two but even he could spot a threat like that. He pulled out his blaster and took aim at Datamon. "Ok, buster. That's far enough," he said, clicking the laser guns charge up a notch.

Datamon didn't seem very worried that a firearm was pointed in his face, instead he seemed amused. "A laser? Is that the most advance piece of technology you have?" he said, as the ends of his fingers split apart to reveal more circuitry. "THIS is a weapon," he said before crying "DIGITAL BOMB!" Matt and Veemon ducked as a dozen or so orange projectiles that just missed them, hitting a stack of equipment which exploded.

"Ok…this isn't good," said Matt, getting up and firing a neat cluster of laser bolts into Datamon. The bolts bounced clean off with absolutely no effect. Datamon just laughed and cried "DATA CRUSHER!" Matt was shocked to see a large chunk of glass fly at him, knocking him into the air and out a window…

--

The Tamers had just reached the warehouse district in time to hear Matt's landing. "What on Earth was that?" asked Takato. "Sounded like it came from where the Digital Field is," said Rika. They quickly ran until they came upon the warehouse Matt had landed in. The sound of fighting was quite evident. "Sounds like we got here just in time," said Henry. Suddenly a window was smashed apart as a guy wearing mercenary armour and wielding what looked like a laser gun flew out and landed in front of their feet. He quickly got up and ran back inside, yelling, "I bet you can't do that again!" A few moments later, he flew out of the building through the same window. He got up again and said, "Okay, you did that again, but that's not stopping me!" After he ran back inside, Guilmon asked, "Who was that guy?" "Looks like he's been fighting with the Digimon," said Renamon, "and I saw a Digivice on his belt, so his partner must be in there too." "Doesn't look like they're winning," said Terriermon. "Then we have to go inside and help," said Takato and the six of them went into the warehouse.

They came in to see Matt and Veemon trying, and failing, to beat Datamon. Matt's laser had no affects whatsoever and Veemon's attacks didn't leave a scratch. In desperation, Matt ran back to the pod and looked inside. "It's gotta be in here somewhere… Aha! There you are," he said and he pulled out a plasma rifle. He pointed it at Datamon and yelled, "Eat plasma, chrome-dome!" He fired several blasts that managed to knock Datamon off his four feet. But other than the burn marks, it didn't seem to do much. Datamon growled and said, "I tire of toying with you like this, I will destroy you now and end this mockery of a challenge." He opened the ends of his fingers to attack but then he heard a voice yell, "If you want a challenge, try us for size."

Matt, Veemon, and Datamon turned to see Takato, Henry, and Rika swipe Digivolution Cards through their D-Arcs and call out, "Digimodify activate! Digivolution!" Guilmon in turn called out, "Guilmon digivolve to…Growlmon!" turning a large version of himself with white hair on his head. Terriermon said a similar phrase and turned a larger version of himself with guns for hands, a cartridge belt across his chest, and a pair of blue jeans called 'Gargomon' Renamon turned into a nine-tailed fox-like creature called 'Kyubimon'. Henry slashed another card and said, "Digimodify, Garbagemon Garbage shooter activate!" A bazooka made out tin cans appeared in Gargomon's 'hands' and he used it to shoot something sticky in Datamon's eyes. As Datamon tried to wipe it away, Growlman charaged over and punched him into a wall. Then Kyubimon cried out, "FOX TAIL INFERNO!" The burning tips of her tail threw fireballs at Datamon, which hit him directly. Datamon let out a weak groan and seemingly dissolved into particles. Then those particles went out the window.

The three Digimon reverted back to their previous forms. "That's strange," said Guilmon, "where'd his data go?" Then their attention turned to Matt and Veemon. "Thanks for the help," said Matt as he wiped the sweat off his face. "We'd have been goners if you hadn't shown up," said Veemon. "That was pretty dumb," said Rika, "challenging a Digimon that's Ultimate level when you're obviously new at this." "You're darn right I'm new at this," said Matt, "about half an hour ago, I never even heard of the word 'Digimon'. But then, that was before the station exploded." Henry looked at the escape pod and said, "Wait, you're telling us you came from a space station?" "It's a bit of a long story. Let's find something that's not charred to sit on and I'll tell it to you."

Meanwhile, Kurata was recuperating at his office at Lab 1, his base on Earth. He and his men had barely managed to get into the escape pods before the station exploded. His expression looked like to the innocent observer like he had just arrived from a long walk and was exhausted. But inside, he was steaming with anger. That mercenary had not only destroyed his space station, but he escaped with hard evidence against him. Fortunately, he knew that the escape pod would not likely be capable of anything after its landing and he knew that the Skyraid was floating somewhere out in space.

Suddenly, his computer beeped and Kurata turned his attention to it. It said that someone was trying to contact him. Kurata checked the identity of the caller and groaned, "Can't I get a moment's peace?" He clicked on an icon on the screen and a communication window opened up. The other 'person', if it can be called that, was a black humanoid Digimon with a demonic look. It had tattered bat-like wings and a red symbol on his chest that somewhat resembled a bat. Its head had a pair of horns and red eyes. The only skin showing on it was around his mouth, and that was a pale blue. "Devimon," said Kurata, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "what a delight." "Don't give me that talk," snarled the Fallen Angel Digimon, "You're lucky to be alive to speak with me." "I know," said Kurata, "that brat blew up Balwak really good." "I wasn't referring to that," said Devimon, "I mean I should destroy you now for you incredible stupidity."

Kurate pushed up his glasses and said, "That's a bit rash, even for you, Devimon. I admit that I had severely underestimated the damage that mercenary did, but I'm sure it's nothing we can't recover from." Devimon growled and said, "I might have expected this. Seeing how you were defeated by a fifteen-year old boy, I can't really expect any better to one who's barely seventeen." Kurata gave Devimon a glare to match his own, "If you stop berating for a minute, you'd see the opportunity of this." Devimon paused and raised his eyebrow, "Opportunity?" "Yes, you see, my men were unable to defeat Datamon while these 'Tamers' were able to do so effortlessly. After that, it was a simple matter of collecting the data. We can use these children and their Digimon to reach our goal. All we have to do is keeping sending those Digimon we're having trouble cracking and they'll crack them for us. And if those Digimon succeed in defeating them, it works out for us too. It's a win-win situation, Devimon, if we play it carefully."

Devimon rubbed his chin in thought and said, "Hmm, it's completely underhanded and is irregardless towards others in the way. What a splendid idea! That's what I like about you, Kurata, you know how to handle things to benefit only you, as well as though who are working for you. Very well, I'll leave you to this. I hope you don't do anything to disappoint me, for your sake." Then Devimon signed off and Kurata put his fingers together in a thoughtful way. "That Matt seems to have some talent," he muttered, "Let's see how long it can support him." He pulled a list of Digimon that he had in captivity and said, "It's showtime."

Looks like my character has bitten off a bit more then he can chew…least he does'nt have to deal with it alone.

Please give some feedback but be nice…this is my first try at a digimon fic.