Takumi and Ereki!
Another battle won.
A young boy stood proudly in a city park. He wore a yellow zip-up sweater and a dog tag that read "D-1." The backwards cap on his head covered most of his blond hair, but some of it spiked out from underneath. His baggy pant legs sagged just above his ankles, and on the feet below those were red sneakers. Possibly the strangest part of his appearance was the bulky device adorned on his right wrist. It was circular, like a watch, but much more advanced in design.
"How did you like that, Takumi-senpai?!" a red mammalian creature asked rhetorically. The monster stood on his hind legs next to the boy, also bearing a smirk on his face. His pointed ears perked almost electrically, and his white furred underbelly showed. The fanning nine tails he had expanded like that of a peacock's.
"I like it very much, Ereki!" the energetic Takumi responded. He gazed at another whimpering child, this one a girl. She wore her brown hair in pigtails and a pretty blue dress. Her feet were bare, and she had a wristwatch just like Takumi's. Next to her was an injured creature of comparable size to Ereki. A pink and blue feathered bird with a metallic ring around its left ankle, it lay battered and bruised on the grass near the girl's feet. "Face it, Ayaka, your Piyopi's Magical Fire is no match for Ereki's Sparkling Thunder!"
Ayaka burst into tears. "You promised you'd go easy on my Digimon, you meanie!" she cried. She fiddled with a button on her watch, which sent a laser beam at the injured Piyopi. Her body dematerialized into data, and it scanned seamlessly into the device. Ayaka took off running, blubbering the whole way.
A crowd of middle schoolers had formed around Takumi and Ereki. "Anybody else want a piece of this?" Takumi exclaimed haughtily. The kids, all with disinterested expressions, backed off slowly. "What?! Never seen a champion Digimon fighter before, have they?"
"Takumi-senpai…" Ereki's ears lowered. "You're not a champion fighter yet."
"Well, no… but my father was! And that's why I am too!"
Ereki's face clearly expressed his subtle annoyance. He dropped to four legs and said, "Maybe we should get back home, senpai."
"Are you kidding?" Takumi burst. "We're just getting started! It's only fifteen hundred hours!"
"But the way you flaunt your D-1 tag, Takumi-senpai… it instills fear in the opponent, but the tag isn't even yours…"
Takumi disregarded his words. He adjusted the cap on his head and nodded down to his Digimon partner. "If we keep winning fights like this, you'll evolve in no time!"
"Not so fast!" a voice called out. Takumi and Ereki had almost started off. They turned around and saw a new opponent, about the age of Takumi. This one held his head down, the brim of a ten-gallon hat hiding his face. He dressed in cowboy clothing, with a tan leather vest over a red and white striped shirt. His blue jeans were torn and tattered, and he wore black sandals on his feet. A red base Digivice adorned his left wrist.
"Who are you?" Takumi demanded, turning back around.
"I'm Hikaru Nakamura. You might know my younger sister… Ayaka. And I don't appreciate what you did to her and Piyopi."
"What are you going to do about it?" Takumi forced.
"I'll show you," Hikaru stated firmly. He pointed his fist to the ground in front of him. Pressing a button on his Digivice emitted a beam of light and in front of their very eyes, Hikaru's Digimon partner materialized. "Igamon, Realize!"
The creature was up to Hikaru's thigh in height. He was a spherically shaped Digimon with a red ninja mask over his face. He had metal shoulder pads and a sheathed sword on his back. "Igamon's an Adult level, boy. You think your petty Elecmon can take that?"
"Pfft, that guy doesn't stand a chance!" Takumi smiled.
Ereki held back a sigh and said, "Indeed, senpai!" Rising to his hind legs, his tail feathers fanned out. His eyes squinted and glared at Igamon.
"Iku ze! Ereki!" Takumi commanded.
Ereki charged at the enemy. Igamon drew his sword from his sheath defiantly, pointing it in the enemy's direction. "Iga Ryuu Iadou Jutsu!" Igamon cried. Wielding his blade, he zipped by Ereki faster than anybody could perceive. He'd apparently stricken Ereki with a direct hit. As Igamon came to a stop, Ereki fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
"Your Child is weak, Tamer," Hikaru laughed, tipping the brim of his hat mockingly. "Igamon's superior speed is too much for you."
"Ereki! Get up!" Takumi begged.
"Face it, boy. You're not fit for the high ranks. My Igamon is barely at its full power level. A normal Child is almost equal in level with him!"
"My father's a champion!" Takumi bragged. "Masakazu Sugiyama! And I'm Takumi Sugiyama! I follow in his footsteps!"
The air remained quiet, then Hikaru laughed. "Masakazu Sugiyama?! The one who cheated at the D-1 Tournament with a MetalGreymon?!"
"You're mistaken!" Takumi retorted. "My father would never cheat in a Digimon battle."
"Your father was a fool," Hikaru added. "My older brother was at that tournament when he was only nine years old. He watched a judge force your dad to forfeit."
"Then how do you explain this dog tag?" Takumi smirked, holding the D-1 tag on his neck up with his thumb.
"Everybody who takes part in the D-1 battles receives one of those when they sign up, you idiot." He turned to his partner. "Finish him off, Igamon!"
Igamon nodded. "Iga Ryuu Kage Bunshin!" he shouted. He stomped his right foot, and split into several copies of himself. They formed a circle around the now recovered Ereki.
"Don't let him get to you, Ereki!" Takumi yelled.
Ereki groaned before dashing in the direction of one of the Igamon clones. "Tai Atari!" he cried. At full momentum he thrust himself at one Igamon, but the figure proved intangible. Ereki phased through the clone's body and plumped to the ground.
"Don't give up! Try another one!" Takumi commanded.
Ereki attempted the attack several more times on different Igamon, but to no avail. He found himself in the center of the circle once again. Engraves had formed in the grass where he'd ran.
"I'm… too tired, Takumi-senpai…" Ereki panted.
"Final attack!" Hikaru called out.
"Iga Ryuu Shuriken Nage!" Igamon stated. Each of the ten Shadow Clones held a shuriken in his hand, and one by one they were flung at Ereki. He dodged about half of them, but the five that struck him caused him great pain. He fell face first into the grass, defeated.
"Your Elecmon can't go any further, boy," Hikaru grinned fiendishly. "I guess that teaches you to mess with my sister."
Takumi lowered his head, his left fist trembling. He muttered, "Ereki, scan!" and a laser pointer from his right wrist aimed at Ereki. The data of his Digimon was sucked into the Digivice instantly. A beep notified him that the transfer was complete.
"Your father was a loser, and so are you," Hikaru cackled. He snapped at Igamon, who followed him out of the park obediently.
Takumi shamefully glared at his Digivice. That was the first battle he'd lost with Ereki. It was a landslide victory, as well, but Hikaru had also played with his emotions. Was his dad really a Digimon hacker? It's never been possible to enter official organized battles with hacked monsters… of course, this also meant that his father had been lying to him all those years. Would he really do that?
No. His dad had more heart than that. He raised his head and smiled. "I will be a champion!" he called out to Hikaru. He was fading into the distance, but Takumi had felt his point had still gotten across.
There were more important matters at the moment, though. He had to get a Bandage Chip for his injured Ereki. He quickly started in the opposite direction of Hikaru, toward the Digital Monster Chip Shop.
- - -
"Sorry, kid, you need one-hundred fifty yen for a Bandage Chip…" the shopkeeper mumbled drearily, leaning on the counter.
"B-but… my Elecmon might die!" Takumi begged. "He was injured in a fight!"
"Not my problem, kid," the shopkeeper replied unenthusiastically. "Maybe you could trade something for one with somebody else?"
Takumi groaned and trudged out of the shop, disappointed.
- - -
Takumi opened the door to his room half-heartedly. His mother had offered him dinner on his way through the living room, but he'd declined. He slumped onto his bed and undid the strap on his wrist-worn Digivice.
"Oh well… I guess when Ereki dies, I'll just raise him from a Digitama again…" he sighed. He stared at the ceiling and tossed the device up in the air habitually. Then, a thought sparked his mind. "Dad's old chip collection!" he exclaimed.
Hopping up from his lying position, he burst out his bedroom door. As he dashed into his parent's room, his mother noted something about his grades. But he didn't care.
Takumi slid to the side of his parents' king size bed and ducked down to look at its underside. He remembered what the box looked like; it was an old shoebox with a MetalGreymon sticker on the side. Conveniently enough, the container was just in front of his face. He pulled it out and opened the lid, and his eyes widened.
He'd seen this dozens of times before, but he was always amazed at the bulk of chips his father owned. Chips that you could find in stores around the world. Chips that had a small, red light on them to note that they'd been used up. Chips that you could only win in championship tournaments.
Takumi rummaged through the collection. He was disappointed to see that all of the Bandage Chips, HP Chips, and Power Up Chips had all been used to their highest extent. In actuality, all of the chips in the box were useless.
But one stood out. It still had a green light instead of the obsolete red glow in its upper right corner. Like all of the chips, it was no larger than an inch in height or width. It was the perfect size for the slot on the side of the Digivice 01, which was how they were activated. Most required your Digimon to be inside the Digivice to work.
Takumi held the unique chip in his palm. It lay flat, the decorated side facing him. The insignia printed on the sticker was a red regular triangle with sixty-degree angles. It seemed balanced on one of its corners. Three smaller black triangles were placed parallel to each of the three sides of the larger polygon.
"This is the only one that still works," Takumi thought aloud. "But I don't know what it does…" Regardless, Takumi stuffed it in his sweater pocket. He headed back into his room, put on his Digivice, and ran back out the door and down the apartment building steps.
- - -
Wandering through the city of Inuyama, Japan, Takumi inserted the mysterious chip into his Digivice. It stalled for a moment, but then it made a positive beeping noise. A small LCD image of Ereki appeared on the screen, and it made a rather stiff, yet happy, expression.
Well, if he's happy, it probably worked.
"And don't come back, idiot!" a sudden cackling voice declared. A young boy was sent flying out of an alleyway in between two buildings. He had a red T-shirt on and thick, round glasses. He wore knee-length jean shorts and black sneakers, and a red bandana over his brown hair.
The boy lay on the ground, cringing. The blue Digivice 01 on his left wrist was beeping steadily.
Another child walked out of the alley. This one was a girl, maybe a little older than Takumi. Her black hair was done up in a ponytail. She adorned herself with a black leather jacket and tight black pants and a black Digivice on her left wrist to seal the deal.
A monster also stood next to her. It resembled a white cat with yellow striped gloves on its front paws. It currently stood on its hind legs, its ears perked and its white, purple striped tail swaying left to right. A golden ring with strange markings hung at the tip of the tail, just under its purple fray.
"Your plan worked perfectly, master, as always," the cat Digimon responded.
"Now, Teiru," the girl smirked, "take his Digivice so we can get out of here."
"Yes, Miyu," Teiru the Tailmon nodded. She approached the tremulous boy who lay defenseless on the ground, reaching her paw out to take his Digivice.
"Stop!" Takumi exploded. "What good does stealing somebody's Digivice do for you?"
Miyu grunted. "Stay out of this, boy, before we do the same to you."
"You want to try it?" Takumi readied his Digivice. I sure hope that chip helped.
"Well, show me your Digimon, then!"
"Will do!" Takumi said proudly. He pointed his Digivice 01 near the ground. "Ereki, realize!"
A beam of light shone from the device and a figure slowly materialized in front of him. But it wasn't the Ereki he was expecting. The monster that stood before him was a round, purple sphere with two legs and two arms. A golden lightning bolt stuck out from his forehead. Electric charges ran through his body at a steady pace.
Miyu scoffed, "A Thunderballmon? That's it?!"
"N-no… he's supposed to be Elecmon!" Takumi explained. "He wasn't supposed to evolve-"
"Elecmon don't evolve into Thunderballmon, idiot!" Miyu declared. "If you were really a tamer, you'd get that!"
"I evolved, senpai!" Ereki the Thunderballmon exclaimed. "I evolved!"
"Get out there and show that girl who the better Adult is, then!" Takumi stated, thrusting his left index finger forward.
"Right, senpai!" Ereki punched his knuckles together. Electricity crackled on impact, and Thunderballmon zipped forward. He pulled his right fist back and threw a punch at Tailmon. The blow hit Teiru right on the cheek, but Ereki wasn't finished. He launched two more socks to his enemy's face before she hit the pavement.
"He's… quick!" Miyu gasped. "Tailmon! Use Neko Punch!"
She did, but Ereki was too fast, even for a cat Digimon, and dodged it. He leaped and jumped off a nearby wall, then ended up behind Teiru. "Thunderball!" he declared. A charged ball of energy flew from his right hand and hit Teiru in the back. She fell forward to the ground once again.
"Wow!" the boy with the glasses exclaimed, recovered from his fall.
Teiru tried to lift herself up, but her strength wouldn't allow it. Ereki returned to Takumi's side. "We won, Takumi-senpai!" he blurted.
I don't believe it… he took out Tailmon with only a few blows! A newly evolved Adult shouldn't be able to do that…
Takumi ran through his Digivice's status menu, and came across something strange. His screen read, "525 DP." He paused for a moment, then affirmed, "Ereki, your strength is higher than an average Perfect's!"
"Aww, you're just saying that to flatter me, senpai," Ereki chortled. "I mean, I know I beat a Tailmon, but that doesn't mean I'm a Perfect."
Takumi looked up from his Digivice, expecting to see Miyu and Tailmon still standing before him. But the only one there was the young boy with the bandana and glasses, smiling at the pair. "I wish I was as cool as you," he said timidly. "My name's Goro. That girl bullied me and my Agumon, and you saved us."
Takumi didn't respond immediately. "If you're looking for a hero, that's not me. I'm nothing but a bully myself. You best just move along." He waved Goro away before he turned around and started off. But Ereki stayed.
"You'll have to excuse my senpai…" Ereki bowed apologetically. "He's a bit… confused today."