Okay, this time, I'm not doing a story based on the anime... nope! This time, it's on a manga I read called 'Digimon Next'. So, yah, basic knowledge of the manga IS required (at least later on), but if you want, I can post a link to the English version of the manga in the next chapter. ^-^

Btw, before I forget, I'll be using the Japanese names for Digimon in this fic. Naturally, this'll be placed in Japan, instead of America. And, just so you know, not everything will be just from the manga, as even they had the Digimon show. Anyways, on with the story! :D

Digimon Next, Heroes Anew!

Chapter 1:

Tsurugi-San's Not the Only One! Emiko's Journey Begins!

"Wizarmon! Let's do it!"

"Sorcerymon, don't you lose to that Wizarmon!"

"Battle… GO!"

Bizeep! …Crystal Cloud!

-Countered-

Bazzz…. Thunder Cloud!

-Direct hit!-

-Digimon Battle Over! Victor: Wizarmon!-

"Gah! B-but…?"

"Haha, great job, Wizarmon!" I cheered, removing my device from the whimpering boy's in front of me. I smirked, than rolled my eyes at him as I pressed the buttons required to give Wizarmon a treat. Overdramatic, wasn't he?

"Come on Harou," One of his friends sighed, shaking his head. "It's just a game. No need to get worked up over it, or a girl." I frowned at that, but chose to remain silent. Boys, they'll just never learn.

"It's not just a game!" He cried, looking up from his own device. "They're real and you know it!" The younger, childlike boy desperately looked at each of his friends, than at me; turning and clutching at the bright blue baseball cap that barely covered his brash, blonde hair as he tore down the nearest path.

"Wait!" "Harou-San, don't go!" "Ugh, not again!" His assorted friends groaned, sprinting after him; each making sure to shoot me dirty looks as they passed. I ignored them.

I turned around in time to see Katori, my best friend, grin and give me a thumbs-up. "Nice one Emiko! You sure showed him!"

I just shrugged, crossing my arms and turning away, looking at her from the corner of my eye with a small smirk. "He had it coming," was my reply.

She giggled, lowering her arm, "Naturally." Eyes shining, she beamed at me expectantly. "Hey, Em-Chan, wanna come over to my place? I was hoping we could finally have that sleepover we've been talking about. Oki-Chan's waiting~!" Tori gushed, fawning over her partner—a Nyokimon. She's literally just got it and never stops talking about the thing. This normally wouldn't really bother me, but that kind of thing can get a bit annoying if it's impossible to talk about anything else when she's around. But, hey, I'll put up with it for a little while longer. I mean, she is my friend after all.

I sighed. "Sorry Tori, I can't. Mom wanted me to watch Asami later on… 'Liz-San chickened out again." I harrumphed, referring to my little sister, Asami's, irresponsible, American baby sitter.

Her poise deflated, "Oh…" but in almost no time, she was standing straight again with that ever present smile. "I mean, oh, alright! Okay, so I'll see you tomorrow?"

"'Course Tori-Chan," I nodded, allowing a small smile to appear. "Same place as always?"

She grinned, turning away a little, "You know it! Now hurry up or you'll be late!" She teased, racing off across the park.

I smirked as she quickly jogged out of sight, shaking my head. "Tori, you'll never change."

I turned as well, clutching my backpack with one hand, Wizarmon's device in the other as I headed home, the sunlight streaming from between the branches and leaves of the trees above causing both my eyes and the screen of my device to sparkle with life, glancing off my rare, rare, barely noticeable smile. Tori's one of the few people who can still make me do that. Smile, I mean.

My name is Emiko Sasaki and I'm 12 years old. My partner in the popular game 'Digimon' is a Wizarmon. He digivolved, or evolved, from the unusual digimon Impmon, but I don't mind. He's still my partner and friend, regardless of what form he takes.

I s'pose you want to know what I look like, right? Eh, well, I guess I can tell you. You'll probably figure it out later on anyways.

Well, I have pale skin and long, dark, raven colored hair with bangs that just barely brush my eyelashes. I also have blue eyes, only, they could almost be considered violet. Yah, yah, I know what you're thinking. It's not the first time someone's made fun of me over my unusual hair and eye color.

Anyways, right now I'm wearing my school uniform which is this lame, itchy, dark blue short-skirt and white short-sleeved shirt with a tie. At least, that's the outfit for girls. The boy one is basically the same, only no cutesy tie and instead of a skirt, they wear dismal blue jeans; what the boys from before, including Harou-San, were wearing. It comes with knee-high socks and black slip-ons along with a plain black headband for girls. If I could, I would've ditched the whole dang outfit by now, but my mom makes me wear it. Okay, that's not entirely true. She just asks me to and I don't want to disappoint her, not with the state she's in… I've got to take care of the family now, especially with dad gone. But that's enough about me. You want to read the story, don't you? So I'll just skip ahead…

"Finally!" I sighed in relief, collapsing onto my bed with a plop. I relaxed for a moment, than glanced over at my bedside, digital clock.

"…4:20, huh?" I smirked, "That gives me about an hour to check up on Wizarmon." I nodded to myself, sitting up in bed. I was of course referring to going onto the 'Net'. My parents got me the PC game for my birthday, and let me tell you, best gift ever! I was so happy when I got it, and rightly so too. Ever since Tsurugi-San, Yuu-Kun, Ami-Chan, and Shou-San returned from the Digital World the dream of Digimons being truly alive is now a reality.

It's still impossible for most people to be allowed to go to the real Digital World—the parallel world where digimon live—but the Net's the next best thing. With Shou-San's, a mystery helper, and a digimon called Piccolomon's help, the creators of the Net have been able to construct a sort of bridge between the human and digital worlds… And the new and improved Net is just that. So, anyone can meet up with not only their own, real (not just computer animated) digimon, but other Tamers and Partners all around the world. I was actually lucky enough to meet Tsurugi-San himself when I first went on. Sadly, such as back with Harou-San and his friends, not everyone believes digimon are real. In fact, for a while, I didn't either… But Tsurugi-San set me straight, though, I have to admit I'll still be a bit skeptical until I see the real Digital World with my own eyes.

I took off my Digimon Mini and looked to the small, colored digitalization of my partner. "Wizarmon, you ready to fight?"

"Zio!"

I grinned a little, "'Course you are. Just a sec, Wizarmon…" I made my way over to the computer and picked up the small, unimpressive box that was my link to the Digital World.

It was a crude machine, what with just being a grey box with a few cords, buttons, and a single slot to insert the Digimon Mini into, which I did. The only inclination of it being more than it seemed was the blaringly familiar symbol for Digimon Adventure, the first season of Digimon. There have been only four seasons so far, and the first is still the most popular among fans.

I slipped on the comfortable Display Helmet and impatiently waited for the game to start.

Katori gazed at her device in equal parts of wonder and awe; having arrived at her house around the same time as her friend Emiko. She giggled as it beeped, signifying Oki-Chan was hungry, and the girl pressed the necessary buttons to feed it with a cheery smile. 'Just a little longer until it should digivolve,' she thought to herself. 'But it's so cute now! Do I really want it to? Hm…'

"Humph!" She pouted, not wanting to think about that now. Instead she decided to play with her partner some more when a soft beep suddenly sounded from her desktop.

Tori-Chan, you've got mail~

She looked over and beamed as a melodic, mechanical voice announced that from her computer. After reading it, she learned the message was from Emiko, inviting her to play on the Net for about an hour.

Tori was at first disappointed with the time she had to spend with her best friend being so short, but then she blinked, shaking her head and plastering a smile on her lips. "…Ah well," she chirped. "It's better than nothing!" With that, she, eager to join, quickly signed on, her wealthy parents having gotten her the game as well.

The boy named Harou grimaced, gripping his Digimon Mini in one hand and his train ticket in the other. He was waiting for the train so he could go to the nearest city and get onto the Net. This was the only real way he could do it, because the lines for the one in his town were always to long for him to be able to get on before the store closed; his parents didn't have enough money to buy him the home version.

He had wanted to go onto the Net for the longest time, but was too nervous to do so… until he lost to Emiko-San. That loss steeled his resolve—he was going to prove digimon were real one way or another, and the Net seemed to be his best option.

'Digimon are real… they just have to be!' The youthful lad kept telling himself, determined despite his fear.

He quickly checked the sign above him and noticed it read '4:50' for when his train should arrive. Next, he checked his old, beaten up watch and swallowed.

'2 more minutes…' Harou nervously gritted his teeth, but stayed put. This time, he wouldn't chicken out.

He took a deep breath and looked down at his Digimon Mini, loosening his grip slightly, managing a smile. "Don't worry Sorcerymon, almost there." He was speaking to himself as much as the Digimon. His eyes lit up as the device produced a slight noise and he childishly giggled, responding. "Alright let's…" The rumble of an approaching train stopped him with his mouth hanging open. The ground beneath him started to shake and he forced his mouth to close, grip once more tightening on the device in his hand.

He looked up with a gulp just as the nose of the train whistled past, already slowing down until it came to a complete and total stop, the door arriving directly in front of young Harou. His eyes widened along with the doors as a crowd of people emerged from the hole of the beast before him, bustling past, quite eager to get home after the work day.

He swallowed again, a little pale as he shakily raised his foot, stepping inside. He made it—past the first and possibly hardest obstacle—letting out a sigh of relief… when he suddenly heard an uncomfortable cough from behind him. He stiffened as a hand was placed on his shoulder and a gruff, yet kind voice inquired, "Where are your parents, kid?"

"I-I-I…." He mumbled, even paler than before as he stared at the nearest wall, not wanting to look at the person behind him.

The man sighed, "Well, do you have a ticket?"

"…Y…Yes…" Harou managed to whisper, hand shaking fiercely as he raised it to hand the man his ticket.

The man faltered, than nodded, feeling bad for the obviously terrified and befuddled boy as he took the ticket, "I'll, uh, take this to the conductor I suppose… Would you like me to show you to a seat?" He softly asked; going to stand in front of the boy, though Harou looked down so he could only see the man's polished black shoes.

"…"

The man sighed again, taking the liberty to guide him to an empty seat anyways. "…Is this your first time on a train, by any chance? By yourself?"

"…" He only nodded as the man's hand gently pushed him into the seat, his legs too stiff to do so by themselves.

The man sighed once more, shaking his head. "If you need anything, my name is Taichi." He hesitated as the boy didn't respond, and frowned, turning to go when he was stopped by a small voice.

"Ha-Harou…" Taichi blinked, turning back towards the boy behind him, Harou, as he slowly looked up. "M…My name is… Harou, T-Taichi-Sama…"

The man's deep brown gaze held the boy's quiet blue for a few seconds, before his nod broke their visual contact. "Alright, well, maybe I'll see you!" The older man tried to joke, smiling brightly at the slightly surprised boy as he jogged off down the aisle of the train. Taichi paused, turned, and stopped next to the main door to keep it open so as to let two people around the same age as him walk in—a man and a woman holding hands.

"Taichi," they greeted, nodding their thanks. He nodded back with that ever present smile.

Harou was snapped back to reality as the train started moving, where he turned and blanched, gripping the seat so tightly his knuckles turned white. Taichi immediately noticed and excused himself, looking back at the boy.

The other man he had let in chuckled faintly, "Ever the hero, eh, Taichi?" The woman swatted his arm playfully, but was smiling as well.

Taichi shook his head, smirking back at the two. He stuck a hand in his pocket, the other supporting his neck as he made his way over to Harou, making sure not to startle the boy. He sat down silently, staring ahead as his two friends took their seats, making sure to put some distance between themselves, Taichi, and Harou.

After a few minutes of further silence, the boy's condition not improving, Taichi decided to speak up. "Bumpy ride, isn't it?"

Harou blinked, looking apprehensively up at the elder fellow, "…Huh?"

"Bumpy ride." He repeated, turning to look at the boy who stiffly nodded, once again finding great interest in his shoes. Taichi sighed, "You know, you can talk to me, right? It's not like I'm some creepy stranger… err… forget I said that." He coughed, recovering with, "Is something wrong?"

"…" Silence again and Taichi leaned back, suppressing a groan. After another minute, Harou spoke, "I… I'm afraid of trains…"

Taichi blinked, "…You are?"

Nearby, his friend smacked his hand to his forehead.

Harou slowly nodded, fiddling with his Digimon Mini. Taichi took notice and smiled, "So… you're a digimon fan, I see."

Harou blinked, looking up again, "H...how did you…?"

Taichi grinned, "Hey, just 'cause I'm an adult doesn't mean I don't know what a good game is! I've loved digimon since I was a kid!"

Harou blinked twice, surprised, "…?"

Taichi shook his head, leaning back, "Eh, it's a long story. You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyways."

After a moment of staring, Harou finally smiled. "…Try me, Taichi-Sama."

10 figures crouched in darkness, sitting around an ovular, or round, table. Nothing happened for a long stretch of time as they all just stared at each other or off into the distance. Then, "…It is time."

As one, the 10 beings stood, some gracefully turning to go, others jumping up and hovering in place for a millisecond before dashing off, while others simply disappeared in the blink of an eye. By the time most had dispersed, only two remained.

The smaller, more radiant one of the two bowed, turning to address the other. "Sir, shall I send for the Destined?"

The speaker from before just shook his head. "No brother. Wait. I shall speak with our queen first. In the meantime, watch the humans, do not interfere. No further orders given."

The smaller one bowed again, disappearing in a flash of light.

The original speaker, a tall humanoid of mainly blue, orange, and white paused himself, allowing a slight chuckle to escape his lips, "Ever the dramatic one, eh brother?" He shook his armored head, laughing quietly to himself. If there was one thing the humanoid's brother was good at, it was relieving stress.

He then turned slightly, so as to face the pearly white doors behind him, respectfully bowing and murmuring something under his breath. When he looked back up, a creak was heard and the door swung open, a hooded figure revealed behind it, guarded closely by an angelic creature.

"I must speak with you, Master." He spoke in his deep, gravelly voice, head bowed respectfully.

A soft, feminine laugh came from the figure as a hand went up to her hood, slowly revealing a familiar face. "Please, Omegamon-Sama, call me Norun."

Oh, and btw? Just so there are no racist comments… I'M American. x)

So, what'd you guys think? Good, bad, terrible ending, to short, I need to update... Just R & R! I wanna know what you guys have to say! So... 'til next time guys! ^^

Peace! c: