Chapter 2: Burn, Baby, Burn

Jen and Veemon stood staring at the menacing green monster before them. His gaping mouth was a clear expression of his viciousness, lathered with saliva and fangs bare.

"Why aren't we running…?" Veemon asked Jen.

"Because you're not…"

"Well then, maybe we should count to three…"

"That sounds cool. Okay… one… two… th-"

"FIRE!" Seemingly out of nowhere, a barrage of bullets were fired at the green Digimon. The force knocked him back and he fell to the ground. Then, he seemed to evaporate. Small particles of light rose from his body and then compressed into a small red sphere only to fall to the ground.

"He's… gone?" Veemon scratched his head.

Jen and Veemon turned around to notice three identical reptile Digimon. They each held a rifle in their hands and had splotchy camouflaged skin and military armor.

The three Digimon lowered their weapons and saluted the pair. The light fog that was enveloping the area had disappeared. In reaction, the three dinosaurs ran off without notice, but not without one of them snatching the red ball.

"So Digimon… are real?" Jen asked rhetorically. "It's not just a kid thing, huh?"

"We're definitely real," Veemon smiled. "Am I not proof enough?"

"Well, before I though you were just some crazy kid who'd dressed up too early for Halloween."

"I don't know what Halloween is, Jen, but I'm not dressed up for anything."

"Well, how did you transform like that?" Jen asked.

"You helped me, Jen. You helped me digivolve! You have to be my partner now!"

What am I getting myself into…?

- - -

"Do you know who those three guys were that saved us?" Jen asked Veemon as they sat under a tree in the park by Osaka High School. "I mean, they wouldn't save us for nothing, would they?"

"I've never seen them before in my life," Veemon told her, shrugging. "They looked really cool fighting that Digimon like that, though!"

Jen sighed. "I still can't believe this virtual pet thing is a reality…" She took a look at the kids playing at the playground, staring at them. "And maybe we shouldn't be in public."

"Don't worry, Jen, I'm good with kids!" Veemon ran over to the playground to introduce himself. Jen prepared to get up and stop him, but the kids seemed to like Veemon. After all, he was about their size.

Does he even know what a kid is?

"Hey, Jen!" a voice greeted her. She turned around to see Max with another little girl.

"Oh, hey, Max," she smiled. "Any word on Uyeda?"

"He's usually online now," Max said, "even when he's sick. But he wasn't."

"Yeah, Max booted me off to check, too!" the little girl next to Max said jokingly. She had blonde hair, in pigtails, and a purple headband to boot. She wore a dark pink dress and light pink shorts, as well as orange and white shoes. "I'm Alexis, by the way. Regrettably, I'm Max's sister."

Jen chuckled. "Yeah, with a brother like Max, I'd regret it too!" she winked back at him.

Max laughed and dug in his pocket for something. He pulled out a silver cell phone with a red trim, very similar to Jen's.

Jen eyeballed the phone and pulled out her own. They were almost exactly the same, except a different trim color. "Your phone changed, too?"

"Not my phone… this was my media player. But apparently it's not anymore. Definitely wacko."

The two compared the devices they held in their hands. "They're practically identical!" Jen noted.

Max looked over at the playground and noticed Veemon sliding down the slide. "Hey, what the heck is that?" he pointed.

"Oh, that's… uh… my little brother," Jen lied. "He likes that costume, alright."

"I see," Max replied. The yellow backpack he held on his back suddenly jumped away. "Whoa, my backpack!"

The sack opened itself up, and out appeared a small fireball creature with pitch black eyes. It floated away from the bag and hovered around the kids.

"Max, why did you keep me in that thing for so long?" the fiery monster asked.

"Uh, I have no idea who you are!" Max said, smiling suspiciously.

"Max, what is that thing?" Jen wondered. "It's creepy looking!"

"I'm DemiMeramon!" the creature replied. "I'm a Digimon."

"Wha- another one?!" Jen exclaimed.

"You have one too, Jen?" Max asked in surprise.

"Yeah!" She pointed over at Veemon, still playing with the children. "Sorry, I lied when I called him my little brother… but he's as annoying as one!"

"Wait, Digimon?" Alexis asked. "I have a Digimon thing!" She pulled out a small, red, cube shaped device with a small LCD screen in the center with a black border. It had a keychain attached, and above the screen read "Digital Monster". "I bought it at the toy store for one thousand yen."

"So that's the virtual pet thing I've been seeing in the commercials," Jen said. "Digimon are real, then?"

"DemiMeramon appeared on my bed last night," Max recalled, "after my mp3 player turned into this phone."

DemiMeramon smiled. "Max is my partner!"

"Veemon was telling me the same thing…" Jen sighed. "Maybe we are stuck with these guys."

"Eh, DemiMeramon's not too bad to have around," Max chuckled. "He makes roasting marshmallows a bit easier!"

"I've never roasted anything of the such," DemiMeramon noted. "It sounds cool, though!"

Veemon strode over to the group in a hurry. Around a dozen kids followed, not unlike raving fans of a popular celebrity. He said, "Hey, look, another Digimon!"

"You two have met?" Jen wondered.

"No, but I can tell he's a Digimon by instinct."

"I'm DemiMeramon, pleased to meet you!" the fiery Digimon replied.

Veemon extended a hand for a shake, but jerked it back in realization that he might get burned.

"Don't worry, my fire only hurts when I choose it to. Otherwise, Max's backpack would be fried!"

The small crowd of children surrounding Veemon seemed a bit too excited. "Veemon, we want your autograph!" they exclaimed in broken unison.

"Dude, I don't know what my autograph is," Veemon said, "but I'm not giving you it!"

The kids retaliated by trampling Veemon in excitement.

- - -

"They were carrying rifles?" DemiMeramon asked Jen as they, Max, Alexis and Veemon walked down the sidewalk toward Max's apartment building. "I've never seen that before in the Digital World…"

"Yeah," Jen replied to him. She looked up at the bright afternoon sky. "They shot down the green guy and everything. And then he turned into a little red ball, so they took it and ran off."

"It was crazy!" Veemon spastically noted, as expected.

Alexis fiddled around with the buttons on her red V-Pet. "I wish my Salamon was real…"

"You're too young to have a real Digimon," Max boasted, in a way. "Maybe when you're older."

"I doubt that!" Alexis proposed incredulously. "I could have a real Digimon if I wanted!"

Max rolled his eyes and looked to his right. Something was odd about a certain spot in the middle of the street. "Jen, does that spot by that Toyota look a little foggy to you?"

Jen turned her head. She noted that the rest of the street was completely clear, but the fog in the middle of it stuck out like a sore thumb. "I think I know what that means… follow me." Jen started into the foggy area, pulling her goggles over her eyes. The other shrugged and followed her.

Upon entering the fog, Max and Alexis had to shield their eyes, for strangely it was very luminous inside. Veemon and DemiMeramon, though, seemed to have no botheration. What did riddle them, though, was the odd-looking man on top of the red Toyota truck. He appeared about four foot tall with sunglasses and no torso. Strangely, he seemed to simply be a balding ball with a small mustache, beard, and bushy armpits.

Jen's cell phone began to beep incessantly. Annoyed, Jen retrieved it and flipped it open. Suddenly, a holographic display emerged from the screen. When she pointed at the strange bald Digimon, his picture appeared on the display, as well as statistics.

"Nanimon," Jen comprehended. "He's a Champion level Virus Digimon… and I honestly have no idea what that means!"

"Gimme!" Veemon snatched the phone from Jen and read it off himself. "His special attack is Power Drive!"

"Like I can't read for myself," Jen apprehended her phone from Veemon and closed it. "So does this guy mean business?"

"Actually, he's about as strong as a Rookie level," Alexis surprisingly stated. "My Agumon always digivolved to him when I treated him badly."

"Sounds like you know what you're talking about," Jen smirked. "Alright, Veemon, go get him!"

Veemon dipped his head in agreement and charged at Nanimon, who was still atop the car. "Vee Punch!" Veemon called. He swirled his arm around in dizzying circles, finally coming to Nanimon, fully charged, and punched him in the sunglasses.

Nanimon fell off the car. His glasses were apparently unharmed from the blow. He pulled red gloved fist back and thrust it at Veemon. "Exploding Punch!" a manly voice shouted. Veemon was sent flying backwards at the truck Nanimon had just leaped off of, and crashed into the left side door.

"Veemon!" Max cried, still shielding his eyes from the brightness. "DemiMeramon, help him!" Max took a moment to release his makeshift hand "visor" and pull out his red cell phone. It was illuminating brightly from every side.

"I think I will, Max!" DemiMeramon declared with courage. He began glowing as well. His shape shifted dramatically in the brightness. "DemiMeramon digivolve to… Candlemon!"

Max's eyes widened at the sight of his new Digimon. "He went from a fireball… to a fireball with a candle body…"

Candlemon resembled just that. A wax candle with a golden candle holder under him, he hovered in the air about a foot from the ground. The wick on his head held a flame that paralleled DemiMeramon.

"Flame Bomber!" Candlemon released a fireball from his wick that struck Nanimon to the ground.

Veemon took full advantage of this. Leaping into the air above Nanimon, he shouted, "Vee Head Butt!" as he charged at the grounded Digimon head first. Upon impact, Nanimon quickly degenerated into data and formed into a red orb, much like the green Digimon from earlier. After his defeat, the kids took notice that the bright fog around him had disappeared.

"We made a good team!" Candlemon exclaimed, and gave Veemon a complementary high five.

Jen chuckled, "If it wasn't for your hard head, we'd be done for!"

Max strode over to where Nanimon once stood and picked up the crimson ball. "Any idea what this is?"

Jen approached Max and examined it as well. Jen's idea of helping was grabbing the item from Max. "Goblimon turned into this after he was destroyed, too. Maybe it's what happens when Digimon die."

Alexis looked over, now no longer covering her eyes from the light, and noticed somebody standing nearby. He stood around five foot four inches, and had shaggy brown hair and large glasses. He wore a white pocketed shirt and blue jeans. "Hey, who are you?" Alexis asked, but the kid did not respond. Instead, he took off running down the sidewalk in his own silence.

Max looked around, receiving an obvious mental note of the traffic they were holding up. "Uh… maybe we should get out of the street, guys."

A/N: Sorry for not calling Ogremon (The "Green Monster/Digimon) by name. Yes, Goblimon did digivolve to Ogremon in Chapter 1.