Chapter 1: Wake Up!

"Wake up! Hey, wake up!"

The boy slowly opened his eyes. He was wearing a white-and-blue shirt with matching blue gloves and shoes. He had short brown hair, which was partially covered by a blue scarf and goggles.

"Huh? What? Where am I?" he asked.

A voice came from somewhere near him. "Why, you're in the Digital World!"

The boy raised his head and viewed his surroundings. The owner of the voice, a strange four-footed creature with red-and-blue fur and nine pointy fan-like tails, grabbed his immediate attention and took him by surprise.

"Whoa! Who are you? And what the heck are you supposed to be? Some sort of odd-looking new breed of wild dog?"

"Dog? I'm no dog. My name's Zamber, and I'm an Elecmon."

"And what in the world is an Elecmon?" asked the boy.

"A Digimon, of course! What else is there in this world?" Zamber answered. "And what's your name?"

"Me? Well, my name is Akira," the boy said as he got up. "And again, where am I?"

"I told you. This is the Digital World."

"And what is that supposed to mean? What's a 'digital world'?"

"It's this world. My world. You came here from another world, yours I guess."

"Hmm... that doesn't explain much," Akira thought out loud. "So I'm not on Earth, huh? Wonder how I got here. Did you bring me here by any chance?"

Zamber smiled. "Nope, I didn't. Though I have been waiting for you for quite a while now."

"You what?" Akira's eyes became wide. "You were waiting for me? What does that mean? Did you know I was gonna come here?"

"Somewhat, yes."

"How did you know?"

"I dunno, I just do."

That seemed to irritate him. "Well, looks like I'm not going to be able to get a lot of answers from you. I guess I just have to explore this place more for now, then." Akira looked around. "Hey, I just realized that we're in the middle of a jungle."

"Wow, you're quick to notice," Zamber teased sarcastically.

"Oh be quiet. I'm just disoriented, that's all." He brushed off the comment and started walking down a path. "Now, where's the exit of this forest...?"

"Wait, Akira. You can't go in that direction! That's where..." Zamber had started to yell when suddenly, a loud buzzing noise came from the sky.

Akira looked up to find the source of the noise, and what he saw made his hair stand: a giant, red stag beetle of some sort with huge scissors on the front of its head was flying right towards him!

"...the bugs of the forest are," Zamber completed his sentence.

Akira closed his eyes and was raising his hands to protect him from being rammed to death when suddenly, he heard a weird crackle hit something. He opened his eyes and saw Zamber standing in front of him, tails raised and looking angry.

"Don't you hurt my human partner, Kuwagamon. Go back to where you came from! Super Thunder Strike!" As he said that, sparks of lightning shot out from his tails and hit the big bug. The bug made a loud screeching noise, then seemingly flew off.

"Whoa..." was all Akira could manage.

Zamber turned to face him. "He he. Now what do you say to that? That was a Digimon of the Kuwagamon species, and it..."

"Look out!"

The big red bug, Kuwagamon, came flying back and was about to strike Zamber from behind, but luckily Akira dived forward and tackled Zamber just in the nick of time; Kuwagamon's scissor-like blades nearly cut them to pieces. It made an aerial maneuver and turned back, ready to strike once more.

Zamber quickly got up. "Haven't had enough, have you? Well, take this! Super Thunder Strike!" More bolts of lightning, this time a little bigger, shot out from Zamber's tails and hit Kuwagamon directly in the face and also its wings. It screeched again, then flew above Akira and Zamber before it crash-landed in the forest behind them.

Akira also stood up. "Come on, let's get out of here. Run there!" He pointed to the other direction and started sprinting.

"Finally. Good idea." Zamber followed him, and so they ran together.

After a while, they stopped. "Hhh... hhh... I think we lost it... hhh..." Akira was out of breath.

"Yeah. We covered a long distance," Zamber agreed.

"So explain to me again what that thing was."

Zamber sighed. "Like I said, that was a Kuwagamon. Just like me, Kuwagamon's a Digimon. Digimon are the things that inhabit this world, the Digital World. You're from the world of humans, and now you're not in that world anymore. For some reason you came here, where I found you unconscious. That's basically it up to the point when you woke up. Any more questions?"

Akira folded his arms and was quiet for a while before speaking again. "I see. And you don't know why I'm here, do you?"

Zamber shook his head. "I'm sorry. All I know is that you were coming, and that I was to be your Digimon partner. That's it. I don't even remember why I know that. Whatever happens, you're my human partner now and I must protect you from any threats here."

Akira was quiet again. "Thanks. You know, for what you did back there. I appreciate it."

Zamber smiled. "No problem. I'm gonna be saving your life a whole bunch of times from now on, anyway."

Akira chuckled. "Well then, if we're really supposed to be partners, I guess we better get to know each other better, then. Might as well start exploring this world and see if we can find out how I got here."

"Sure! I'll help you with that," Zamber said cheerfully.

And so the duo walked off, ready to embark on a journey of their lives, not knowing what destiny has in store for them.