Disclaimer: I don't own digimon (gasp, tears well up in eyes), although I wish I did. /o\

I sit here at my computer thinking to myself, "Should I be doing this? Will anyone read or even care about what I write? Most importantly though, will it change anything that the humans think about us?" While I ponder over these thoughts, I hear a loud crash in the kitchen of the apartment where I live with... well, my wife and brother. I can't help but smile as I hear muffled cursing and the sweeping of a broken dish into a dustpan. Then I start to think of how strange most people would take my relationship with the two people who matter most in my life... but back to the business at hand. I did not want to write this at first, "the past is the past" I told myself. But those two I love the most would not let me be until I finally caved in. So, here goes, for better or for worse, here is my story.

Chapter 1: It Begins...

WHAM!, that was the sound of my door as I slammed it shut. I stood there, leaning against my door with my eyes closed, I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out again, "aaahhhhh..." it was good to be back. Not that I had been gone long , just attending my day classes at the college. In fact, the apartment I was currently renting was just five blocks away from the campus itself. It was just that this was where I felt most secure and distant from all the problems and troubles of the outside world.

It wasn't that I hated my life mind you, just that I felt as if something was missing. I was nineteen, had good grades in all my classes, and I had a steady part time job as a data entry personnel. Yet, for my whole life it was as if though I was missing something, like I was not entirely complete. In fact, I used to mentally wander all the time. In school I would be told to pay better attention, and at home I was constantly reminded that I spent far too much time by myself and not with my family. I walked into my bedroom and dropped my bag onto the floor. Then I threw myself onto my bed and laid there thinking, "Is this really my life?" Just then I heard the phone ring and reached for the one on my nightstand.

"Hello?" I said. "Hey Ben, this is Joe Nasser from work, I was just calling to let you know that we are going to be remodeling the entire 2nd floor starting Monday." "Really?," I said, "then what am I going to be doing while this remodeling is going on?" "Don't worry about it Ben," said Joe, "all of the employees on the 2nd floor are getting the week off with pay. So I expect to see you the week after next, eager to get back to work, well...., so long." Then he hung up on me before I could say a word. "That's just great," I thought as I hung up the phone, "this paid vacation just happens to be during the same week as my spring break." "Now what am I gonna do for a whole week?" I did not have a girlfriend nor was I interested in one since all the women that I had ever asked out had only been interested in three things, wealth, reputation, or looks. Since I had none of these, I had given up on the social scene, and stuck to being single.

I got off of my bed and went into the living room. The computer was flashing that I had mail, but I ignored it since I never got anything but spam or junk mail. I opened up my video cabinet and looked for a movie to watch. For some odd reason the digimon tapes that I had watched all the time when I was younger seemed to stand out. "What the hell," I thought, "it's not like I have anything better to do." So I picked one at random and popped it into the VCR. I then sat down and watched the hour long tape. It was a good one but also very sad, because it contained the episode where Jeri lost her partner Leomon. After the tape was over I put it away and had the strangest feeling that I was forgetting something. "Probably nothing." I thought, and went into the kitchen to make my dinner which, when I was done, consisted of hot dogs and mac & cheese.

After I had washed the dishes I decided that I would make some popcorn and watch the rest of my digimon tapes. "What else am I gonna do this week?" I thought to myself. As I was turning the popcorn popper on I noticed my computer again. "Might as well." I thought. I walked over to my computer, sat down, and opened up my e-mail account. It was just as I had figured, so I clicked away at the messages, marking them to be deleted, and didn't find anything worthwhile, although the last was a strange one that read "Ben, open this immediately!!!" I figured it was just one of those stupid "You could be a winner!" things that I got, so I marked it too and clicked delete. I started to turn away when I saw that one of the mails had not been deleted. "Must've missed one." I thought. Then I saw it was the same weird e-mail as before, except that the words were flashing on and off. I marked it again and pressed delete. Yet it would not delete, "What?" I thought, so I tried again with the same result. "What kind of e-mail is this?" So, I double clicked on it and was immediately blinded by a burst of bright light from my computer screen. "Holy Shit!, what was that!?!" I yelled while rubbing my eyes. Something grabbed me then, and I felt myself falling, "WHOAH!" I yelled, thinking I was gonna hit the floor, but I seemed to just keep on falling, and screaming. I could not even open my eyes because of the intensity of the light. I just kept falling faster and faster until...., I'm afraid that I passed out.

I awoke to a voice calling my name, "Bennn!, come on Ben wake up!" yelled the voice. I thought that I was still dreaming and reached for my pillow to put over my ears to block out the voice. Instead of a pillow I touched something hard, smooth, and cold. I quickly sat up to look at what I had touched, and found myself in pain since I had just smashed my head into the ceiling of the small cave. "Stupid cave." I said, gripping my head in pain. Then I froze in shock, since the last time I checked, my apartment didn't have a cave in it. "What the hell is going on!!!" I yelled, "Where am I?!!!!!" "Well it's about time you woke, but if you're gonna be this loud maybe you should go back to sleep." yelled the voice from earlier. I looked around but didn't see anything except the cave walls and a exit leading to the outside. "Who are you?," I asked nervously, "and where am I?" "Come on outside," called the voice, "I have breakfast ready." "Not until I get some answers!" I yelled at it angrily. "Very well," it said, "I suppose you can just stay in there and starve instead of eating something."

I suddenly realized that I was starving, my growling stomach was a dead giveaway. "Alright," I said, "I'm coming out, but don't try any funny stuff." "Fine then." called the voice. Slowly I crawled, I couldn't walk because of how low the cave ceiling was, toward the entrance to the cave and out into the warm sunlight. I stood up squinting until I was used to the bright light. All around me were trees, endless, gigantic trees that seemed to go up and up without stopping. Behind the cave, which was a hole in a hillside, there was a large river gently flowing. Oh, and did I forget to mention that several feet away from the entrance there was a fire, and sitting by that fire was the largest porcupine that I had ever seen?! At first I thought it was a porcupine, it had its back toward me and was covered in quills. Then it spoke, "Morning Ben, care for some eggs?"

I am not ashamed to admit that I set a new record for how high I could jump. I was really freaked out, and stood there in dumb amazement. "Did.....did..did you just....talk?" I stammered. "Yea I did, how 'bout you?, did you just talk?" the giant porcupine replied sarcastically. Of course I, being my brilliant self, responded in quite a thoughtful and intelligent way, (that's sarcasm if you didn't get it), "Of course I can talk, I'm a person." "Oh really?" said the giant porcupine, while setting down beside itself a frying pan with scrambled eggs, "then what am I?, used toilet paper?" "Of course not," I said, "it's just that I....oh, I get it." Then I started laughing out loud. "What's so funny?" said the porcupine, its back still toward me. "It's just that I understand what's going on now." I said, quieting down but still chuckling. "Really?, and what do you understand?" it replied. "Well...obviously this is a dream, since I'm arguing with a porcupine, and eventually I'll wake up." I said. The giant porcupine seemed to stiffen, and then said "This is no dream Ben, it can't be, not after I've waited so long." "Waited for what?" I asked. "Why...for you of course." it replied. "You've been waiting for me?" I asked dumbfounded. "Longer than you may think," it said, and then after a pause, softly added "my brother." Then it stood up on its hind legs and turned to face me.

So there he stood, about 5'6, with a darkish yellow fur covering his body, except his chest and stomach area, which was white, plus a tail that was almost as long as him, although it did flatten out kind of like a beaver's. He had short, point, cat-like ears, and starting at a point between those ears and running down his entire backside and covering his tail were what looked like long, sharp, dark quills. I fell down trying to back away from this creature. "Wh...what are you?" I managed to whisper. The creature then smiled at me and laughed. "Come on Ben, surely you've heard of a digimon, haven't you?" "A..a digimon?, but you're not real, you can't be, there is no such thing!" I cried out, mostly from fright of this large and dangerous looking creature. "Ben, you don't remember do you?" "Remember what?" I said. The creature, err..., digimon then started coming toward me. I tried getting out of there as fast as I could but tripped over my own feet again. "Ben don't be afraid, I just want to show you something." the digimon said. By this time he was standing over me while I just laid there to scared to move. "Sh...show me what?" I stuttered. "This." he said opening his paw?, hand?, it was a mixture of both, and in it was a picture of a little boy being carried in the digimons' arms. "This is a picture of me and you Ben." said the digimon.

"How?" I asked him, still staring at the picture. "About 14 years ago I was traveling around and found a little human boy soaking wet. He was sitting on a rock next to a pond and crying. I didn't know what to do, for I had never even seen a human before. So, I went over to him and asked what was wrong." said the digimon. "Then the little boy stopped crying, looked up at me, and said "Who are you?". I told the little boy that my name was Pinmon, and asked who he was. "I'm Ben." said the little boy. I then asked why he was crying, and he told me he was lost and didn't know where he was. I asked what the last thing he remembered was and he pointed to the pond. I figured that a portal must have opened and he had fallen from his world and right into the pond." I looked up at the digimon, "Your name is Pinmon?" "That's right, do you remember any of what I'm telling you?" replied Pinmon. I thought I did, but it was like trying to remember a certain dream, knowing what it was about, but not quite able to describe it. I shook my head and said "It's kind of fuzzy, but I think I remember a pond."

I sat there looking at this digimon who called himself Pinmon. Hundreds of thoughts were running through my head. "How is this possible?, Digimon aren't real!, Is this all a dream?, Why me?, Was I really here as a kid?, Am I going crazy?!" I didn't know what was going on, but I figured that I might as well go along with it or I really would go nuts. "Pinmon?" I said. "Yea?" said Pinmon. I then asked something that had been confusing earlier, "You said that you had been waiting for me, why?" Pinmon sighed and sat down facing me. "If I had known when I first met you, then perhaps I wouldn't have had to wait so long." he said. "Known what?" I asked. "Why, that we were to be brothers in arms, a pair of the select few chosen to be DigiKnights." he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "A Di...DigiKnight?" I asked confusedly. "Sorry," said Pinmon, "I forget that you don't know, lets see, how should I put this. Okay, a DigiKnight is one who protects others; the DigiKnights can be digimon or human. Sometimes though, there is a special case in which a digimon and human join together. That is what we are Ben."

"Join together?, what is that supposed to mean?" I asked, for I suddenly had a disturbing image in my head. Pinmon seemed to think for a minute and then said "I guess you could say that we have a bond. You may have already felt it in your world as a longing of some sort. Over time this bond will deepen, allowing us to become even better partners." "Ooookayyy," I said, not knowing what to think, "so what do we do now?" Pinmon smiled and said, "Well, as long as you don't keep tripping over your own feet, I think that it's time we went and saw the head knight of this region." He then stood and offered me a helping hand?, paw?, I still don't know, so I'll just say hand. I grasped his hand, and with a good grip he yanked me up off the ground onto my own feet. I looked down at him in surprise, for I found myself being about 3 to 4 inches taller, and said "What's a head knight?" "You'll see." said Pinmon as he turned and went back toward his campfire. There he started putting things away into a large, well, it looked like a duffel bag. I followed after him and asked "Anything I can do?" He looked up at me, handed me a pot that was on the ground and said "Sure, go fill this with water from the river so we can douse the fire." I smiled and walked off toward the river I had seen when I first came out of the cave.

I arrived at the riverbank and had to admit that the view was pretty good. I bent down and dipped the pot into the water. While it filled, I noticed how clean, and clear the river was. It was as if I were looking through a window to an underwater world. The sunlight showed everything on the riverbed, rocks, plants, fish, my shadow, another shadow, what the...? I glanced beside me and saw a strange looking cat. From watching the TV show, I thought at first that it was a Gatomon, but why was it all black? It just sat there watching me, while I looked at it. I then said the first thing that popped into my head, "Thirsty?" The Gatomon blinked in surprise and replied "What did you say?" "I asked if you were thirsty." I said. "Why do you want to know?" said the Gatomon. "Well, if you were I was going to offer you a drink." I said, lifting up the overflowing pot. The Gatomon hissed and said "I don't take anything from humans." With that said it ran up a tree that grew beside the river. Then it scurried across an overhanging branch, only to lose its footing and fall with a loud splash. I stood and tried to see if it was alright. It came to the surface and started swimming to the opposite shore with an abundance of cursing. "What was that all about?" I thought to myself. Then I picked up the pot and made my way back to Pinmon.