"Takato! Hurry up or you're going to be late!"
"Just a sec, Mom!" Takato shouted from his room.
He just wanted to save a few more changes he made with his RPG Reality game, a character based on Jeri. Thinking of her deceased Digimon partner Leomon, he came up with a leonine Hybrid form for the cheerful girl.
For a while, he thought if this would be sensible, regarding the fact just how much Jeri had suffered from Leomon's death. But then again, it was just a game, right? And even if Jeri would see this character sheet, he supposed she would just think it would look cute.
"Cubmon..." he murmured. "Attacks: Leo Scratch, Fierce Pounce and Propeller Toss..."
"Takato, did you hear what I said? Get going!"
"Geez, Mom," the goggle-wearing boy groaned. "Gimme a break! It's not that late. It's only..."
His gaze fell upon his clock and he gasped as he realized just HOW late he was.
"Gaaah," he screamed, while quickly saving the changes and ending the program. "Guilmon, why didn't you tell me how late I am?"
"Because your Mom already told you, and I thought that would be enough..."
"Man, Guilmon... Moms ALWAYS tell their kids to hurry up, if they're late or not. But to think that she was actually RIGHT this time..."
He quickly snatched his bag and hurried out of the house. "Guilmon, I'll see you later! Bye, Mom!"
His mother watched him from the bakery as he ran out of the house. "Seriously..." she said while shaking her head. "It's always the same with that boy... he can't be on time one day."
----
A handsome man in a business suit walked over the parking lot next to the supermarket. He reached his car and carefully put the bags with his groceries on top of the car's roof.
While he was searching for his keys, a gloved hand came out of the branches of the tree standing nearby, and sneakily slipped into one of the paper bags. It quickly snatched something out of it and retreated back into the treetop.
The handsome man looked up. "Strange, I could have sworn I heard something..."
Looking down from the treetop, Impmon giggled devilishly and jumped from branch to branch, until he landed on the other side of the wall between the parking lot and the street.
He landed right between two little kids. While the boy was watching him in awe, the little girl looked like she felt guilty about something.
"See, kids?" Impmon grinned. "If you're not as strong as the big guys, you have to be quicker than them... and sharper."
Mako was impressed. "That was cool, Impmon! Can I try it next time?"
Impmon giggled. "Sorry, kiddo, but not until you can climb trees as good as I can."
The boy seemed disappointed. "Awww, bummer..."
"I don't know, Impmon..." Ai said in a quiet voice. "Is this right? I mean, that man paid for his food, right?"
"Don't be such a killjoy, Ai," Impmon told her. "Remember one thing, girl: It's a harsh world out there, and only who strikes first strikes best."
"Um, if you say so..." She still didn't look convinced.
"Let's see, what do we have here?" Impmon chuckled while opening the plastic bag. "Bingo! Kids, would you look at that? Cookies, fresh from the market!"
"Wow!" Mako shouted. "And even Chocolate Chip Cookies! I like those the best!"
The boy quickly took some out of the bag, while Impmon held one in his sister's direction. "Here, Ai! Have one!"
"Uh, thanks..." She reluctantly accepted the offered cookie.
"Hey, what are you doing?" a well-known voice suddenly shouted.
"Uh-oh..." Impmon said and gulped. "Busted..."
Jeri angrily strode up to the little devil Digimon. "Just what do you think you're doing, Impmon? Teaching those little kids how to steal. That's awful!"
"Well, aren't you little Miss Perfect..." Impmon grumbled. "You just want to spoil our fun."
"Well, I do know what is right and what is wrong." She turned around to the two children. "Now, Ai and Mako, listen to the sock puppet!" And she raised the little sock puppet she always carried around with her. In a squeaky voice, she spoke: "Stealing is bad! Good kids only get things if they ask nicely or pay with money they got from their parents. Understood?"
"Y-yes, understood," Ai said. Mako just nodded.
"Good!" Jeri smiled. "And about those cookies... I think I'll just confiscate them." And she snatched the bag out of Impmon's grasp.
"H-hey!" the little Digimon yelled. "Go get your own!"
"You think those are for me? Nope, I'm just giving them back to the man you stole them from."
"Oh yeah? I just think you want to have the whole package for yourself."
"You wish! See you later, Impmon!" And she ran around the corner.
"Hey! Come back here!" And the angry Digimon leapt after her.
Mako looked at Ai. "Um, should we go home now?"
----
Of course the man Impmon had stolen the cookies from had already left. Jeri just wanted to teach the little devil a lesson.
"Give those back!" he shouted while running after her.
"Try and catch me!" she giggled and blew him a raspberry.
That made Impmon furious. "You little... BADDA-BOOM!"
Jeri gasped as Impmon threw two of his little fireballs over her head. They hit some branches of a tree ahead of her and made them fall down to the ground.
"GAH!" she yelped. "Hey, are you crazy? Those could have hit me!"
"Then just give back my cookies!"
"You sneaky little..." Jeri was getting angry herself. She knew that Impmon wasn't as bad as he had been after turning into Beelzemon for the first time, but he still could be a little troublemaker at times.
A troublemaker that had to be taught a lesson.
Normally, this would be when Takato or Rika would show up to help her, but as she was the only person around at the time, she would have to take care of this problem by herself.
Strangely, she felt like she could take him on. She wasn't even afraid of his attacks.
Within her backpack, her old D-Power, which she still carried around with her (even after Leomon's death) began gleaming in an orange light, and that light spread until it covered her whole body.
"Hey, what the...?" Impmon gasped.
Jeri had never felt this confident before.
"JERI HYBRID DIGIVOLVE TO... CUBMON!"
And after the Digivolution, Jeri had changed into a humanoid lion-Digimon that looked like a mix of a female, child-like Leomon and her usual features. Her clothes had changed into an orange bodysuit complete with rubbery knee guards and armguards.
"Still wanna have those cookies?" Cubmon grinned. "Come and get them!"
"What the... how did you do this?" Impmon asked in shock.
"I suppose you're too much of a chicken to get them, right?" She chuckled. "Digi-Chicken, bawk bawk bawk!"
Hearing such words made Impmon furious again. "I'll show you who has the last laugh... Badda-Boom!"
Jeri reacted swiftly and jumped right over the fiery projectiles.
"Leo Scratch!"
"YEOUCH!" Impmon cried in pain as the hybrid girl's sharp claws scratched over his face. "Damn, that HURTS!"
"And just so you don't forget it..." She grabbed his right arm and began spinning him around.
"Stealing... is... bad! PROPELLER TOSS!"
"YAAAAAAAAH!" Impmon shouted as Jeri hurled him through the air, until he turned into a twinkling spot in the sky.
Jeri grinned and flexed her knuckles. "There, how did that feel?" She looked down at herself. "I don't know how this happened, but..." She smiled. "I like it!"
----
Rika was on her way to school.
She still couldn't understand the weird transformation that she underwent. Luckily, she had been able to turn back into her normal form, but somehow she could guess that the transformation into Kitsumon had become a natural ability.
Right after school, she would contact the others to tell them about her encounter with Minotarumon and the weird stranger who had fought alongside her.
"Keep your eyes and ears open, Renamon," she whispered. "We don't know if that Ceratomon can be trusted... and whether he will ambush us or not."
Renamon stayed out of sight and didn't respond, but Rika knew her partner understood her.
She was so much in thought that she didn't notice the girl she almost bumped into.
"Oh, excuse me..." she said and wanted to go on.
"Hey, Rika-chan! Wait! It's me!"
Rika turned around and looked at the black-haired girl that smiled back at her. "Um... do I know you?"
The girl giggled. "Silly! As if you wouldn't recognize your best friend. So, had a good night's sleep?"
Rika still didn't recognize the girl, although something about her seemed familiar. "Uh... actually, not too good of a sleep..."
"Oh..." the girl seemed to understand. "Is it because..." She came closer and whispered the final part of her sentence into Rika's ear. "You fought any Digimon?"
Rika frowned. How much did that girl know about her, anyway? Well, it was true that after the D-Reaper incident, many people knew about her involvement with Digimon, but somehow she assumed this girl knew more than the majority of the city's inhabitants.
"Listen, um... I have a test to attend. Can we speak later?"
The girl giggled. "Oh, you're really out of it today, Rika! I have the same test, remember? Or did you think lil ol' Harmony would skip class today?"
This girl was in her class? Rika wondered. Well, at least she now knew she was called Harmony.
"Right... okay, then I suppose we should hurry up."
"Yup," Harmony nodded. "Let's go!"
As the strange girl ran next to her, Rika somehow got a weird feeling of... uninvolvement. As if something was going on she should know about, but didn't know.
She would have to ask her other classmates about Harmony at an appropriate time.
When they reached the classroom, Harmony sighed. "Boy, am I glad that I made it to class on time today..." Again, she lowered her voice to a whisper. "You know, I had to stay up late to make sure Suzie was getting to bed, because Mom and Dad weren't home. Imagine, I've told her to leave Terriermon alone, and she agreed... just to keep on playing 'baby' with poor Lopmon..."
Rika froze. Suzie? Terriermon? Lopmon?
"Are you... Henry's sister?"
Harmony giggled. "Oh, Rika, what is it with you today? You know the only brother I have is Rinchei. Really, you should go to bed early more often. Now, I hope you're awake enough for that test."
And while they were sitting down at their desks (Harmony right next to her 'best friend'), Rika honestly wondered if she was suffering from a serious case of amnesia.
----
In-between lessons, Jeri ran up to Takato's desk.
"Hey Takato," she greeted him. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, go ahead..."
"Thanks. Well, you know that I haven't been as good with Digimon like you and Rika, so I wondered if you could tell me something: When a Digimon evolves, it changes into a stronger form, right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"And it becomes stronger, learns new abilities and stuff..."
"That's right... but you knew all that, do you?"
"Yeah, sure, but... I just wondered... when you and Guilmon biomerge to form Gallantmon, you're becoming a Digimon, right?"
"Well, I guess you could say that."
"So that means humans can turn into Digimon, become stronger and get new attacks, huh?"
The goggle-wearing boy scratched his head. "Um, that's one way to see it, I suppose..."
She seemed to be excited for some reason. "And... when you turn into Gallantmon... what's it like?"
"Well, at first, it's a massive rush with all that power flowing through me... and the feeling how Guilmon and I become one is awesome. I mean, Gallantmon is a Mega Digimon, you know? One of the strongest. After biomerging, I always get the feeling like I'd be able to do anything. A Digimon is more powerful than a human, and a Mega Digimon is much, much more powerful than a Rookie, see?"
Jeri nodded with gleaming eyes. "Yeah, I understand. Thank you, Takato! You really helped me out!"
And while she happily skipped back to her desk, Takato could only wonder.
"Well, perhaps she just wants to start playing cards again... Would be great if she did. Maybe I can challenge her to a game..."
But not today, he decided. He wanted to concentrate on his new game first. Luckily, he'd have a free period, and sometimes the teacher would allow him to go to the computer lab.
Okay, now he had some great characters, created a small scene and even a mysterious NPC... Now what he really needed was a good main plot and some villains...
"Takato!" his teacher called him. "Are you dreaming? The lesson has started!"
"Um... sorry, ma'am," he muttered and changed his focus on today's lesson's subject.
----
Takato peered into the computer lab. Luckily, the room was empty. Should allow him to work on his game uninterrupted.
He pulled out the CD of his game and logged himself into his own version of the game at home. That was one of the game's really useful features: Availability over the Internet.
"Okay..." he murmured after opening the corresponding menus. "I know I'll need a main villain... someone who plans to use Digimon for his own goals..."
Hey, it has been used before, but as long as it works...
He then figured he should include the transformative abilities of his main characters into the story. "Let's see... the Digimon Hybrids are former Tamers that learn that they are half Digimon... because one of their parents is a Digimon, while the other one's a human... Yes, that's it!"
Then he realized something: "Hmmm... means I have to determine which type of Digimon their parents are..."
Okay, now he had to take care of the parents... which meant he had to design some more NPCs.
To save some time, he used the original parents of Rika and Henry as templates. Okay, he knew nothing of Rika's father... so it was no problem turning him into a Digimon.
He decided to make him a male Taomon, the evolved form of Renamon, the only Digimon with a vulpine evolution line he knew. Of course he wouldn't be able to evolve into Sakuyamon (a female), but he would take care of that problem later...
He changed Taomon's costume to a slightly more male version and turned its colors from white to blue.
Afterwards, Harmony aka Dachsmon's parents...
This time, he decided to design another new Digimon, one called Sheperdmon. As a canine Digi-Hybrid, it was only logical to make one of her parents a dog-like Digimon as well. But, it would still be a humanoid one. This time, he decided to use Harmony's mother.
And finally, Cubmon...
Well...
Somehow when thinking of a parent for a leonine Jeri, he couldn't help but think about her deceased Digimon partner, Leomon. And because this picture of a parental Leomon guarding over his younger, inexperienced Hybrid daughter wouldn't vanish out of his mind, he chose to make Cubmon's father a Leomon.
He nodded. Yes, that would be sufficient for now. He still wanted to make some villains, but that had to wait... he had to hurry to his final period.
----
In the Kato household, Jeri's father looked up from his work. He always took some of his work back home, so he was always a little inattentive, but he could have sworn he had heard a voice.
There... there was it again...
"Please..." The strong, male voice seemed to come from deep within his soul. "I need your help... we need to protect Jeri..."
He dropped his pen. "Jeri?" he gasped. "What's wrong with my child? Is she in trouble? You're a... Digimon, aren't you?"
In his past, Tadashi Kato had made many mistakes regarding the upbringing of his daughter... and look at how she ended up within D-Reaper.
He wasn't going to make that mistake again. "Please, whoever you are... I'll do anything! Just make sure that my little girl is fine!"
The voice didn't respond, but suddenly, Tadashi felt strangely warm and comfortable...
Shizue Kato opened the door leading to the dojo. "Honey?" she asked. "Are you all right?"
Tadashi Leomon Kato ended his kata, turned around to face his wife and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I just felt restless today, so I... had to let off some steam."
Shizue smiled at her husband. "You always push yourself too much with your exercises... Why don't you stop for a while and have some tea?"
Jeri's father nodded while sitting down on the ground. "Yes, I guess I'll do that."
But still, while sipping at his tea, the Champion Digimon couldn't help but worry about his daughter.
'Jeri...' he thought. 'Very soon, your digital heritage will come forth...'