There are Monsters Among Us

Phoebe has always believed that there was something else out there. Not aliens or anything like that. Just something that's just as intelligent as humans, but are not. Then, on her fifteenth birthday, her belief was realized. That morning was the same as always. Phoebe dressed in her usual purple jacket, white shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. She threw her brown hair into a loose braid. She bowed to her birth parents' pictures. She had the usual pancakes with syrup made by her current mother. She walked her usual route to school. This is where things change.

Phoebe flys back into a wall. Her face bruised from the punches by the two guys in front of her. "Now, why don't you beg for mercy and we'll let you go?" says the bigger of the two. She smiled. "Not a chance." The guy pulls back a fist and someone says, "Stop that!" Phoebe looks to see a reptile-like creature standing on two legs. She had her arms crossed and had four claws on each hand. Phoebe knew it was a she from its voice. She was a shining emerald green and had golden, slitted eyes.

"What...what is that thing?!" the smaller one said. "No idea, probably somebody in a costume. Let's get him." The pair made their way to the creature. She pulls back her head and says, "Blazing Inferno!" A huge line of fire shoots out of her mouth and sends the pair running. The creature walks over to Phoebe and offers a hand. She grabs it and the creature pulls her up. "Thank you, uh..." "Reptilamon." Phoebe smiles. "Thank you, Reptilamon. You really saved me." Reptilamon shrugs. "No big deal. I just couldn't stand by and let you get beat up."

This time Phoebe extended a hand. "My name's Phoebe Nakamura." Reptilamon gives her a toothy grin, showing all her pointy teeth. She clasps Phoebe's hand and says, "Glad to meet yeh, Phoebe." Again, Phoebe smiles and said, "Hey, wanna be friends?" Reptilamon smiles again in return. "I'd love it if you were my friend." Suddenly, a voice says "We're getting close, Yoshi! The Digimon is in that alley!" "Oh, great! It's that dang Lalamon and her human," Reptilamon groans. Phoebe grabs her hand and run into the forest. "Hey, where are we going?" Reptilamon asks. "Away from them."

Soon, they collaspe in the park, both of them are out of breath. "Thanks for helping me get away." Phoebe touchs Reptilamon's shoulder. "Of course. I could tell from the way you acted those two were trouble." "I'm glad you're my friend, Phoebe." "Yeah, me too." Just then, Reptilamon started getting all figety. "There's another Digimon near by." Phoebe tilts my head. "Digimon?" Reptilamon points at herself. "I'm a Digimon. Digimon, or Digital Monsters, are from the Digital World. We come in many different species. Mine is the reptile species. Some are unconfirmed and new generations of Digimon show up all the time. There are three well known main types or attributes; Data, Vaccine, and Virus. I'm a Vaccine. In other words, we're just like you. We're just made of data."

Phoebe nods, absorbing all of this information. Then she freezes, a memory coming back to her. A memory she had forgotten until now. Phoebe reached into her jacket pocket and pull out her father's old machine, which she remembered was called a D3. "Reptilamon, have you heard of the DigiDestined?" She nods, "Of course I have. Everyone knows about them and the Digital World where the Sovereign rule." Phoebe shows Reptilamon her father's blue D3. "I'm the daughter of a DigiDestined." "What?" she asked, sounding shocked. "My father was Daisuke, or Davis, Motomiya. He was the leader of the second generation of DigiDestined. His partner was a Digimon called Veemon. See, he used to take me to the Digital World all the time. He even showed me how to use it to open a DigiPort. When he died, he gave his D3. Guess he thought I would need it one day. I've forgotten everythin until now." "Then, why is your last name different?" "That's because the current family I'm living with, their last name is Nakamura." All of a sudden, Phoebe found herself being embraced by Reptilamon. "I'm sorry that he's gone." Phoebe holds her tight and sheds a few tears.

After a minute, Phoebe gets up, breaking the hug. "Let's go find this other Digimon." So they set off, Reptilamon leading. They find themselves on a landing and see a 15-year old boy with brownish-orange hair facing a big yellow lizard. The two were staring at each other angrily. "That yellow Digimon is an Agumon right? "Yes, that's right. Those two look like they're going to fight," Reptilamon says. Phoebe nods, her focus now on the pair. The boy yells at the Agumon, "What the heck are you, getting in the way of my fighting?" The yellow Digimon just growls. The boy continues, "I don't know who the heck you are, but nobody's allowed on MY turf! I'm the number one street fighter in Japan. Marcus Damon!"

"Number one fighter, huh?" Phoebe mutters. Agumon yells, "Shut up! You're all talk! You're really full of yourself, just like all the other humans!" "So, he talks too?" Phoebe asked. Reptilamon nods, "All Digimon can talk at some point. Those that can't are ususally very young." "Quit it with that big ugly mug!" the boy, Marcus, shouts at Agumon. "Hey, I was born this way!" the yellow Digimon shouts back.

Then, the pair hear a woman's voice say, "You! Get away from him! You can't fight him!" Phoebe and Reptilamon turn and looked near the stairs where a girl wearing a pink suit was standing. Marcus looks at the girl and yells, "Hey, we don't need someone being all sentimental! This is a man-to-man fight!" "Yeah! A man-to-man fight!" Agumon agreed. "Got it? Stay out of it!" Marcus yells. "O-ok!" he girl stuttered with shock. She clearly didn't expect someone to talk to her like that.

"Yoshi, don't lose spirit!" Phoebe and Reptilamon knew that voice, it was the voice from the alley, Lalamon. So, Phoebe now knew that the girl was Yoshi. "Oh, right," Yoshi says. Marcus looks back at the yellow Digimon. "You're pretty brave. Come on!" "Right!" the yellow Digimon shouted. Then Marcus and the Digimon run towards and each threw a punch at the other, very hard. "Whoa! I've never seen this before," Reptilamon says. The two were pushed back by the punch and crash onto the both get up, very slowly. Then Agumon said, "I wasn't ready... But you won't get me this time! I see right through your punches!" After saying that, the Digimon runs toward Marcus and was about to attack him. However, Marcus kneed the Digimon under his jaw. "See right through it, eh?" Marcus smirked. Then the Digimon kicks Marcus in the pants. The two fighters kept fighting for hours.

Finally, around sunset, the two fighters finally stop. Each were panting heavily from their fight. "Well fought..." Agumon panted. "You threw some pretty good punches there..." Marcus gasped. Then the lizard Digimon puts his hand or claw up and Marcus stares at it, smiles, and grabs it. "I'm Agumon..." he said. "I'm Marcus Damon." Agumon sits up, "Nice to meet you, Boss." "Boss?" Marcus mutters with confusion. "Yeah! You're the first person to acknowledge me, Boss. So from now on, I'm gonna be your follower!" Agumon explains. Marcus smiles then, "Follower, huh? Even though it's someone weird-looking like you, I guess that's okay." "Hold that thought!" It was Yoshi, "Lalamon Realize!" Lalamon appeared out of nowhere. "It came out of...!" Marcus shouts in shock while Agumon got up and prepared for a fight. "Right! Are you gonna come quietly?" Yoshi says to Agumon. "What the heck?" Phoebe is just as confused as the Marcus guy. Then, Agumon says to him, "They came to capture me. If they get me, they'll get rid of me!"

Phoebe gasped, "Is that...true?" Reptilamon nods. "I think so...But I'm not going let this happen! Those two are friends now and they will be seperated if I don't do anything." Reptilamon jumps off the landing and lands in front of Yoshino and Lalamon. "What the?" Marcus. "You?" Yoshi shouts. "You came here to fight me as well?" Agumon asks while growling. Reptilamon didn't look at Agumon, but answers, "No, I came here to help." She pulls her head back and says, "Blazing Inferno!" Her attack goes toward Yoshi and Lalamon. "Seed Blast!" Lalamon's attack collides with Reptilamon's, creating a smokescreen. Seeing a chance to help, Phoebe runs to where Marcus was. "Who's there?" He shouts, trying to see through the smoke. Phoebe grabs his arm and answered, "A friend! Now, follow me!" She leads him away with Reptilamon and Agumon on their tails.

It was night time and the four are in a tall museum building. After escaping from Yoshi and Lalamon, they decided to hide here until things calm down. "This turned out great!" Agumon said while looking at the view from one of the windows. "Yes, it is pretty,"Reptilamon says. "Even if we stay hidden though, they'll keep looking for us harder than before." Phoebe said, "But you two didn't do anything wrong." Reptilamon shrugs. "Maybe not to you, but to them...we're nothing but trouble."

Marcus suddenly yells, "Enough of this!" He turns to Phoebe and says, "Who are you anyway?" "The name's Phoebe Nakamura." He nods, "Marcus Damon." Reptilamon interrupts and says, "Well, now that you two introduced yourselves, you have to think of a way to get us out of this mess. "Wait a minute! This is your fault!" Marcus shouts at Reptilamon. "Marcus, please..." Phoebe says in a calm voice. "If Reptilamon hadn't been there, you and Agumon wouldn't be able to get away."

Slowly he calms down and says, "What are you guys anyway? Where did you come from?" "We're Digimon, or Digital Monsters," Agumon says. So, Reptilamon fills him in on what Digimon are. "So where do you come from?" Marcus asks. "I dunno..." Agumon says quietly. "You don't know? How can you not know?" Reptilamon says. Agumon explains, "I've always been in the Institution." "Institution?" Marcus and Phoebe say at the same time. "You mean, you've never been to the Digital World?" Reptilamon asks. Marcus asks, "Digital World?"

"No..." Agumon answers. "But, even if I was, I don't want to go back there..." Everyone is quiet thinking their own thoughts. Marcus gets up and says, "I really don't get it...but it looks like I've dragged on board, and now the ship is leaving the port. I'll help you somehow." "Same here," Phoebe said while smiling at Reptilamon. "Boss!" Agumon smiles. "Thank you, Phoebe and Boss!" He starts to walk toward them, but his stomach growls. "Boss, I'm hungry!" Agumon whines. "Hey, deal with it!" Marcus says to Agumon. Agumon just kept on whining, "I can't! Gimme something to eat!" "Hey, keep it down, someone's gonna hear you!" Marcus scolds. "My stomach's caving in..." Agumon cries and begins to open his mouth toward them.

"Um... what is he doing?" Phobe asks, feeling like something bad is going to happen. Reptilamon says, "I think he's trying to..." Agumon gets closer to us. "EAT US!" "AAAAAGGHHH!" Few minutes later, Agumon is sitting on the floor rubbing a bump on his head. He was hit by Marcus pretty hard. "What the hack were you trying to do, eat us?" Marcus scolded Agumon. "Sorry, Boss! But everything looked so tasty..." Agumon whines. Reptilamon shouts, "Hey, I'm hungry too, but you don't see me trying to eat someone or anything!"

"Now, now, guys..." Phoebe says soothingly. "We'll just have to get some food for you to eat. The problem is I don't have any money with me right now..." Marcus sighs, "No choice, then. I'll go get something. Phoebe, you wait here with them." Phoebe nods and Marcus begins to walk away. "Boss!" Agumon cries. "Got it? Stay right here with Phoebe!" Marcus says sternly to Agumon. Agumon nods, "I'll wait right here." Then, Marcus was gone. "Now, listen here Agumon. If you try to eat me or Phoebe again, I swear you're gonna wish you were back at the Institution," Reptilamon threatens. "Reptilamon!" Phoebe scolded.

An hour later, Marcus still hasn't come back. "Where's Boss? I'm getting hungry!" Agumon whines. "Will you shut up already? I'm getting sick and tired of hearing you whine," Reptilamonn says. Agumon starts to whimper and says, "But I'm hungry!" Reptilamon just growls from irritation. Phoebe shakes her head at Reptilamon and thought, Where is Marcus? The store can't be that far!. Phoebe then says, "Hey, Reptilamon, I was wondering, what's your Digital World?" Reptilamon thought for a moment. "It's a world of wonder and great places. There, everything's made of data and life. Some can fly, walk, hop, swim, and many other things. There are huge trees with different colors, a digital trail that hovers in the sky, and tons of Digimon. The Digital World is very different from here and still has many places that have yet to be seen." "Wow.." Phoebe says in awe. Then, a thought occurs to her. "But, I don't get something. If the Digital World was so great, why did you leave?" Reptilamon looks away and says, "Um...no reason..." Everyone was quiet, just looking out at the many colors of the city.

"I gotta eat something now!" Agumon whines, breaking the silence. Reptilamon suddenly gets up and growls, "That's it!" She makes her way to the stairs, "Come on, guys! We're going to get something to eat." She turns and goes down the stairs. "Great! I can't wait to eat!" Agumon says and follows Reptilamon. "Hey, wait a minute, guys!" Phoebe runs to the stairs. "You can't just walk out there! Everyone will get scared because of you two!" But, the two Digimon just kept going. Phoebe sighs. "Wait up!"

About two hours later, Phoebe and Reptilamon are still looking for something to eat. They were staying hidden so it makes finding food harder. They were also looking for Marcus and Agumon decided to go find food on his own. Phoebe notices that Agumon was taking a lot of interest in a trash can. She looks away for a second and looks back to find Agumon's head in the trash can. "Agumon! Don't eat that!" Phoebe yells and rushed toward Agumon with Reptilamon right behind her. "Why?" he asks through the trash can. "Because it's filled with really bad junk and you'll get sick from eating it," she explains.

Agumon sighs. "Okay..." He lifts his head up, the trash can still on his head. "...But right after I finish eating it!" He walks away from the pair. "Agumon! Wait! Get that trash can off your head!" "Oh, for goodness sake. Agu-" Reptilamon stops and looks toward the place we just left. "Reptilamon, what's wrong?" Phoebe asks softly. "...I sense a Digimon...a big one..." she whispers back. Just as soon as she said that, Phoebe hears a loud boom and saw flames near the building.

Then, Agumon, with the trash can still on his head, walks by and heads toward the flames. "Hey, Agumon! Wait for us!" Phoebe shouts and went after him with Reptilamon in pursuit. When we got close to the place, Phoebe hears Marcus's voice, "Stop it! Agumon! AGUMON!" "Boss!" Agumon yells through the trash can. "Marcus, over here!" Phoebe yells. He turns and a look of surprise passes across his face. "G-guys?" he stutters and pulls the trash can off of Agumon. "What were you guys doing?" "W-well...Agumon was getting really hungry and we decided to find some food for him..." Phoebe replys. "You were supposed to stay there!" Marcus shouts at her, making her flinch a bit. Reptilamon notices and said, "Hey! Don't blame her, idoit! It's your fault for taking so long!" Agumon says, "Yeah! Please don't be mad at Phoebe, Boss. I really was getting pretty hungry and I couldn't stand it." Marcus then turns back to the flames. "Then, what or who is that?"

From the flames, the four see a big figure emerge. It looked like a giant chicken. It's wings were flapped away the smoke and reavealed its full appearance. It really was like a giant chicken, just with red eyes and sharp teeth in its beak. Phoebe grabs Reptilamon's arm and starts to shake from fear. See, she has a terrible fear of fire. "Phoebe?" Marcus asks while he looks down at her. "M-Marcus...what is...that?" I stuttered, my fear coursing through me. "Yeah, Boss! What is that?" Agumon says. "That's Kokatorimon. It's a Bird Rooster-like Digimon. Data type and Champion Level. He has an impressive crest and sharp beak. Its body is large and its legs are very strong. He can turn his opponents into statues by releases beams from his eyes, called Stun Flame Shot. He also has another powerful attack, Feather Sword," Reptilamon explains. Phoebe has to admit, she's impressed by Reptilamon's knowledge. "...Whatever it is...All I know is that because of it, you two were falsely accused!" Marcus snarls.

"...Boss," Agumon says quietly. "Let's go, Agumon!" Marcus then runs toward Kokatorimon. "Right!" Agumon is right behind him. Kokatorimon begins to screech, hurting my senstive ears. I see Marcus jump on to Kokatorimon and climb up its back. While he was doing that, Agumon was attacking the Digimon his own way. "Pepper Breath!" A small fire ball shots out of his mouth and goes toward Kokatorimon, but misses.

Reptilamon and Phoebe notice that Kokatorimon's eyes were turning green. "Oh, no!" Reptilamon growls. "What is it?" I ask. She makes Phoebe sit down and says, "Wait here!" She runs off toward Agumon. "Stun Flame Shot!" Kokatorimon's eyes shoots out lasers at Agumon, but Reptilamon manages to push him out of the way. The lasers hit a tree and it turns to stone. Phoebe is shocked, that could have been anyone. "Be careful, you nitwit!" Reptilamon gets off of Agumon and starts to attack. "Blazing Inferno!" "Pepper Breath!" Their attacks didn't hit, but they kept trying.

Kokatorimon tries to step on them, but they manage to catch the foot. "Boss!" Agumon groans. "He's really stong!" Phoebe looks up and sees Marcus was on the back of Kokatorimon's neck. "That's why we're all fired up!" he shouts. Phoebe feels herself becoming angry. This thing could hurt some innocent people, she thinks. Ignoring her fear, she runs to where Reptilamon and Agumon were struggling with the foot. Phoebe gets under the foot and gives it a big push. The foot goes back and she sees that Kokatorimon almost fell.

Phoebe looks up up again and sees Marcus throwing punches into Kokatorimon's neck. "What are you doing Marcus?!" Phoebe yells at him. "I'm putting my life on the line like in any man's fight!" Marcus shouts back while still punching the Digimon's neck. That's when Kokatorimon notices Marcus on its back. Marcus just smirks and says, "We're not the ones who are gonna die! This thing's already lost!" He kept right on punching, Phoebe worrying about him. "You're amazing, Boss!" Agumon says as praise. "Amazing?! He's a nut case!" Reptilamon said. That's when Phoebe notices that Kokatorimon's tail feathers were starting to light up. She gasped. "Marcus, guys watch out! It's going to attack!" Phoebe runs to where the Digimon were standing. "Dang it!" Reptilamon says. She grabs a hold of Phoebe and covers her with her body. "Feather Sword!" Kokatorimon say. A huge beam from Kokatorimon's feathers hits the trio and pushes them back. They crash to the ground very hard and didn't move. "Guys!" Marcus yells and jumps off the Digimon and runs toward his frineds. "Agumon? Reptilamon? ...Phoebe? Get up!" He kneels next to them and tries to wake them up. brave story, ghost in shell

When Phoebe came to, she found Marcus shaking her. "I'm alright..." she said weakly. That's when she noticed Reptilamon was hurt. "Oh no! Reptilamon!" Phoebe runs over to her and holds her in her arms. Reptilamon is covered in burns and bruises. "Reptilamon? Reptilamon, please wake up." She didn't even move. Phoebe starts to cry. "No, no, no. Reptilamon, Reptilamon don't leave me!" "AGUMON!" Marcus yells. Then, it started to rain, which mixed with Phoebe's tears. She didn't move, she just held Reptilamon close to her. "Please...p-please come back...I can't lose someone else." she sobs.

"...Agumon..." Marcus says. Phoebe turns her head to see him stand up and face Kokatorimon. "You hurt my... You hurt my follower!" Kokatorimon just screechs and starts to use Feather Sword. Marcus charges at the Digimon. "Marcus, stop! You'll get killed!" He didn't appear to hear Phoebe. Please...please be careful, she thinks to herself. Phoebe sees him punch Kokatorimon in the jaw hard. She is suprised to see a few orange digital pieces appear in Marcus's fist. Suddenly she notices some white digital pieces coming from her chest.

Phoebe couldn't figure out why they were there or where they came from. "Hey! Use this." Both looked behind them and saw a old man with a fishing hat on. He threw two divices at the pair. Phoebe catches the device and sees that it is a Digivice. It was very different from Phoebe father's D3. It was regtangler and was white and dark purple. "What this?" Marcus asked as he looked at his digivice. This one was similar to Phoebe's, but it was orange and white. "Those are Digivices. You can use the DigiSouls in your fist and your soul with it," the old man explained. "If you two do that, Agumon and Reptilamon can digivolve."

"Digivolve?" Phoebe asks. Phoebe remembers her father talking about that. A Digimon digivolves in order to get stronger and it can be done in different ways. He told Phoebe about the normal way, the DigiArmor way, and the DNA way. He also told her that Digimon digivolved into a different type. There was In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega. "What's that?" Marcus asks. "Your powers can awaken both Agumon and Reptilamon," the old man replied. Phoebe stands up, nods to Marcus, and got ready. "DigiSoul...Charge!" the two shout and put their DigiSouls into the Digivices. The light from the Digivices went straight to the Digimon. The light wakes up Reptilamon and Agumon, but they were acting strange.

"Agumon digivolve to...GeoGreymon!" Agumon was now a huge orange dinosaur with a brown skull on his head with blue stripes on his body and red stripes on his skull. "Reptilamon digivolve to...Dragonmon!" Reptilamon was now a huge winged, gold dragon. Her claws were huge now and her wings were just as big. Phoebe gasps, she couldn't believe how beautiful Dragonmon was. "They transformed?" Marcus gasps. GeoGreymon and Dragonmon stand in front of Kokatorimon, preparing to fight it. The chicken Digimon attacked using his Stun Flame Shot, but this time, the two Champions were still standing. They both began to attack Kokatorimon. "Maga Flame!" GeoGreymon shoots a bunch of huge flames from his mouth. "Rolling Fire!" Dragonmon shoots a ring of fire at Kokatorimon. Both of there attacks hit and Kokatorimon screams in pain. Next thing they know it turns into an egg, a DigiEgg.

"They did it..." Phoebe gasps in awe. "Amazing! Just like my follower!" Marcus says. He looks up, expecting the two champions would be there. "Boss!" "We're down here, stupid!" Phoebe looks over and sees Reptilamon and Agumon were back in their Rookie forms. Phoebe's mouth forms the biggest grin. "Reptilamon!" she crys with relief. Phoebe runs toward Reptilamon and gives her a great big hug. "I thought I was going to lose you too," Phoebe whispers. Reptilamon returns the hug. "I'm not that easy to get rid off." "Hey, Boss! I'm hungry!" Agumon whines. Phoebe laughs and Reptilamon said, "Yeah, I'm kind of hungry too!" "What's with you two? Always hungry..." Marcus groans. Phoebe chuckles with the two Digimon.

That's when everyone realized that it was morning. Yoshi is watching the four, holding the DigiEgg. "Boss, I can't hold out much longer!" Agumon cried to Marcus. "Yeah, please give us something to eat!" Reptilamon said. "You guys got it." Marcus said. "Hey, how does a hamburger sound?" I asked. "Ohh! Is that nice, Boss?" Agumon asked Marcus. Marcus was wondering who the old man was. Phoebe notices that Marcus was in deep thought. He snaps out of it when Agumon said, "Hey, Boss!" "Yeah it's great!" he replies. "Well, let's get going! My stomach sounds like a pack of Doberamons!" Reptilamon says. They start to walk away when they hear Yoshi say, "Hey, hold on!" They turn back to her. "It may have been another Diigmon attacking the hamburger place..." Phoebe notices that she glared at Reptilamon, "...but you almost hurt two people!" Yoshi then focuses her glare on Agumon. "And you injured 13 men! That can't be overlooked!"

Phoebe decides to step in. "Hold on a second!" she exclaims. "Reptilamon was just scaring those men away because they were trying to hurt me. She saved my life!" "And that was me who injured those 13 guys!" Marcus explains. "They were punks from the next town. They wanted to know what I didn't like about them, so I showed them!" Agumon was clearly impressed. "If anyone threatens you, Boss, you'll set them straight!" Agumon said while smiling. "That's right!" Marcus agreed with him and the two started to chuckle. "This is the worst..." Yoshi groaned. She then shouts, "I'm gonna arrest you both right now!" "Ahh, run guys!" Marcus shouts. Phoebe laughs and runs with Reptilamon right beside her. "Wait up, Boss!" "Come on, Marcus! You're such a slow poke!" Phoebe yells while running right past him. "How did I ever get stuck with you, Phoebe?"