Konnichi wa! Here's the very first chapter of my new series. Thanks once again to those of you who took the time to send in your profiles. I received 20 in all, so it's very likely that most of the characters sent in are not here. But don't be discouraged; they were good anyway! Enough of my babbling…here it is!

NEXT GENERATION

…And So it Begins (Again)

CHAPTER ONE: THE REUNION

"Tell me how you and Mom met again, Dad," Witaki ("Lee") Kamiya instructed her dad. She was sitting in the backseat, squashed between her older brother Leon (or "Bubby" to her) and her older sister Shiori ("Holly").

Their mother laughed. "How many times do you kids have to hear this story?" she asked. "We've only told it to you about a thousand times."

"But I wanna hear it again Mom!" Lee persisted. "C'mon. It'll pass the time it'll take to get to Odaiba. Please?"

Sora sighed. "All right sweetie. Tai, why don't you tell it?"

Tai gave his wife a lopsided grin and began the story they had made up, to protect their children from the truth and to keep them from knowing about the Digital World.

"Your mother and I met at summer camp when we were eleven," he began. "I don't think you would call it love at first sight. We fought constantly, mostly in arguments because she was a girl and I couldn't necessarily hit her."

"I usually won the fights," Sora added with a smile on her face.

"Let's not get into that. Anyway, by the end of the summer, we had worked out our differences and became good friends. A few years later, when we were fifteen, I asked your mother out, and for three years we were a couple. Then at graduation, I asked her to marry me and she said yes. The rest you guys know: the three of you were born, and we moved to Nakano so your mom and I wouldn't have to go so far for work." Tai turned his attention back to the road.

"Sora, what's the road we're looking for?" he asked, peering at the signs.

She looked at the instructions Izzy had dictated to her over the phone. "Uh…Ninth Street. Why?"

Tai's face went white as a sign whizzed by.

"I think we just passed it," he said.

"Then turn the car around!" Holly called out.

"Are we there yet?" Cleo Ichijouji groaned.

"Almost," Yolei assured her.

"Mom, Cleo is poking me," Jenna, one of her other daughters, complained.

"Cleo, don't poke your sister," Ken told her, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

Cleo stuck her tongue out at Jenna and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why do we have to go to this place anyway?" she grumbled. "We could have stayed at home."

Yolei sighed. "Maybe I should have left you girls at home. All you do is fight whenever we're in the car!"

Ken grinned at her. "They're worse than Davis and TK were," he said, smiling.

"Who's that?" Jenna wanted to know. "Are they the friends of yours we're going to go visit?"

"They are," Yolei said.

"And you two had better not fight," Ken cautioned them.

"OK, Dad," the girls chorused.

Five minutes later, Cleo called out, "Mom! Jenna's squashing me!"

"Daddy! Watch where you're driving!" Kinaka Ishida yelled.

Matt swerved the car, narrowly missing a little old lady crossing the street. The lady gave him the finger and kept going.

"Why do we have to go to this stupid reunion of yours?" Kinaka pouted. "I'd rather be at home."

"I'm too afraid that you'll burn the house down, Kina," Matt teased her.

She groaned. "Aw, Dad, I hate that name! I never used to let Mom call me that and I'm not about to let you call me that!"

Her father's bright blue eyes clouded over at the mention of her mother. Sabrina Ishida had disappeared when Kinaka was seven, and had been found dead when she was eight.

"Hey, I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have brought up Mom."

"No, it's OK," Matt assured her. "If you don't want me to call you Kina I won't, OK?"

"Okay…DAD! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE DRIVING!"

"Are we going to see Uncle Matt?" Hikaru Takaishi asked, bouncing in her seat.

"And do you think he'll have a moon rock for us?" her younger brother Kiko wondered.

TK laughed. "Your Uncle Matt works on Mars," he told his children. "I'm not sure if he's allowed to take home rocks from the 'Red Planet' in case of bacteria."

"I'm not afraid of no bacteria," Kiko pouted.

Kari smiled. "You take after your Uncle Tai. You're not afraid of anything, are you sweetie?"

"Nope," came the swift reply.

"And Hikaru takes after her Uncle Matt," TK added. "She acts like him in every way." He smiled good-naturedly at his daughter. "Especially when it comes to being overprotective of her little brother!"

Hikaru stuck her tongue out at her dad.

Kari patted her large belly and smiled. "I wonder who this baby will take after," she wondered.

"I'll have a Big Mac with fries and a Pepsi," Cody Hida said to the drive-through mike. "How about you, Toshiko?"

His wife said, "A Quarter Pounder, no fries, and a Sprite."

"Chris?" Cody asked his son.

"Uh…a Big Extra, a large Coke, and a large fries," his son said.

Once they had their food, they drove away and started to eat.

"Why are you taking me to this reunion?" Chris asked through a mouthful of hamburger. "I could have stayed home. I have a truckload of homework that's due Monday."

"Chris, we'll be home by seven o'clock tonight," Cody assured his son. "Don't worry about it."

"Daddy, are we there yet?" Kim Motomiya called out.

"We'll be there as soon as I can find Ninth Street," Davis grumbled.

"Ooh! I can't wait to see my Matt again!" Jun squealed from the passenger seat. Davis had only brought her along because she'd threatened to sing to him. (Scary thought.)

"Auntie Jun, is Matt the guy who wrote a song about you?" Kim wanted to know.

"Yeah," Jun said dreamily, staring out the window.

What she didn't know was that the title of the song was "That Tokyo Skank".

Kim giggled. "Auntie Jun still has a crush on him!"

Izzy, Mimi and their children were ready to greet their guests when they arrived.

Sora and Tai showed up first, their three children in tow. "Hi, Izzy!" Tai greeted his old friend. He looked him up and down and grinned. "I see you have glasses now."

"They're just for reading," he protested.

"I told him to get contacts, but he didn't listen," Mimi sighed.

"Mimi!" Sora cried joyously, hugging her. "Oh my God, you look great!"

"You too!"

The six children just stood off to the side, not knowing what to do or say.

Matt and his daughter arrived soon after, as well as Davis, his sister, and his daughter. TK and Kari arrived with their two kids almost right after him, and Cody, his wife, and his son came after them. Joe, who had no children, arrived last. While the adults were busy conversing, the kids were stuck standing there, looking at eachother warily.

After about fifteen minutes, the adults remembered the kids.

"Oh!" Mimi cried. "Lauren, why don't you bring everyone down to the park? I'm sure you kids will have a fun time."

"All right, Mom," Lauren said cheerily. "Let's go, guys!"

"Take care of your brother, Hikaru," Kari warned her daughter, one hand on her stomach.

"I will, mama," the girl promised.

"Leon, Holly, make sure Lee doesn't get into any trouble," Tai said.

Leon groaned. "Aw Dad, she can take care of herself."

"And wear your coat today, Kinaka," Matt told her, eyeing her spaghetti top. "It's October, for cryin' out loud, not August!"

Kinaka just rolled her eyes.

"And as for you, Lauren and Tina, take care of Mike," Izzy told his girls.

"Fine," they grumbled.

"All right then. See ya later!" Mimi beamed.

The thirteen kids sat around on the playground equipment, just sort of staring at eachother. Lee, Holly and Leon knew their cousins Hikaru and Kiko, and through their parents knew their second cousin Kinaka. But they had never met the rest of the kids.

Finally, Chris spoke up. "Wow. What a fun party," he said dryly. "Are we gonna sit here all day and stare at eachother?"

Lauren laughed. "I guess we ought to begin the introductions, then."

"OK," Lee said. "I'll go first. The name's Witaki Lee Kamiya, but I much prefer Lee. And I'm eleven, yet most people think I'm thirteen or something."

"I like your shirt," Tina commented.

"Thanks!" Lee beamed. She was wearing an orange camouflage shirt with a star on it, as well as a pair of boys' cargo pants and a pair of silver-rimmed blue sunglasses that made her ruby red eyes look almost purple.

She turned to Holly and Leon and grinned. "Hey, Bubby! Holl! Why don'tcha guys introduce yourselves too?"

Her older sister smiled. "Hey, I'm Holly," she informed the others. "I'm thirteen." She tossed back her brown hair and smiled again. "Everyone says I look exactly like my Mom, but she has red hair."

"Bubby doesn't look like anyone in our family," Lee teased.

Leon grumbled. "Aw geez, Lee! Stop calling me Bubby, dammit!"

"Bubby's fifteen," Lee continued. "And he works out, like, half an hour a day. He thinks it impresses the girls."

It showed. Leon's arms, legs and chest were pretty buff. His red tank top really emphasized his powerful arms.

"I'm Jenna, Jenna Ichijouji," a girl wearing a three-quarter-length sleeved white hoodie and blue jeans announced. Her brown hair was streaked blue, purple and green on her bangs. "Nice to meet you guys. And I'm thirteen, but I bet you guys were thinking I was eleven!"

"I'm Jenna's sister Cleo," a pretty blonde girl with blue eyes told them all. "I'm fourteen." She straightened out her long blue t-shirt and grinned. "It's a pain being Jenna's sister, but at least I'm older than her!"

Jenna stuck her tongue out at her sister.

"The name's Chris Hida," the tallest boy announced. He had short brown hair, and had blue-grey eyes behind a pair of square-rimmed glasses. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and black pants. "And I'm sixteen. I also probably should be at home, doing my homework, but I had to come here instead." He pushed his glasses up his nose and grinned.

Hikaru smiled warmly at the kids, while her little brother sort of hid behind her. "I'm Hikaru Takaishi," she said. "I'm twelve. This is my little brother Kiko." She pulled Kiko out from behind her, but he was still holding on to the hem of her yellow tank top. "Kiko! Introduce yourself!" she told him, a twinkle in her baby blue eyes.

"Hi," the little boy said shyly. "My name is Kiko. And I'm eight." He dropped his head, and a tuft of blonde hair fell into his face.

"And now for us!" a blonde girl with bright green eyes spoke up. "My name's Lauren Izumi, and that's my two kid siblings, Tina and Mike. I'm thirteen, Tina's twelve, and Mike's eight too."

"I guess we don't have to introduce ourselves then," a girl with brown hair and dark eyes behind glasses commented. "You already did that for us, Lauren."

"That, unfortunately, is my sister Tina," Lauren groaned.

"Be nice," a little boy with red hair and shockingly green eyes admonished Lauren.

"And that's Mike," Lauren said.

"And then there's me!" a pretty girl with reddish brown hair and chestnut eyes said. "I'm Kim, Kim Motomiya. I'm twelve."

"Is that all of us?" Lee asked.

"No, there's still me," a girl announced. She had her brown hair in a bun with a few strands falling down, and blue eyes with a slight suggestion of a tilt, like her father. "My name's Kinaka Ishida, and I'm thirteen. Don't call me Kina or anything, 'cos I hate that. Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good." Kinaka reached for her flame necklace and twined the chain around her fingers.

Suddenly, there was a beeping noise.

"What's that?" Kiko asked, fear in his brown eyes.

"Oh, it's probably just my laptop," Lauren said casually, taking a portable orange Pineapple laptop off her back.

"You brought a laptop to the park?" Lee asked incredulously.

"Yup," Lauren said. "It was my dad's." She flipped open the lid and typed away. "There's this one program I found on here a while ago when I was looking through the hard drive files. It's called analyzer.exe, and every time I've tried to open it, it always asks for a password. Like I know what kind of password my brainiac dad used for that thing!"

"Lemme see that. I'm pretty good with computers," Cleo told her. She sat next to Lauren and peered at the screen.

What they saw next made them both jump.

A window popped up in the middle of the screen. Right in the middle was a projection of a very old man. The picture was kind of fuzzy, but the sound was clear as a bell. And so was the blood on the front of his robes.

"Oh my God!" Lauren cried. "Who's that? And what happened to him?"

"Help me…" the old man croaked. "Digi-World…can't do this alone…Sabinemon and MetalDevimon…you new Digidestined…hurry!"

"What?" all the children chorused.

"Ask…your parents…say Gennai said to ask…" he managed to say before the window disappeared.