Shinjuku, Matsuki Bakery

"Mom, we're home!" called Takato as he and Kou entered the bakery through the back door.

"Hey kids," said Yoshie, peeking in while her husband handled the next customer. "How was school?"

"Good," said Kou. "We're gonna go put our bookbags down upstairs, ok?"

"That's fine," said Yoshie, "and do your homework!"

The brothers let out a combined sigh and went upstairs to do exactly what they said they were going to do. Then, they started on what they hadn't said they were going to do. Kou quickly removed all the books from his bag, and Takato immediately grabbed it and went downstairs, with his brother soon following. After making sure their mother wasn't in the kitchen, they began packing in all the old bread. When they were done, they once again checked for their mother, and when she was nowhere to be found, they began sneaking towards the door.

"Another perfect crime!" whispered Takato, grinning. Kou let out a quiet laugh and began to reach for the door handle…

"Ahem," came a voice behind them. "Just where do you two think you're going? I thought I said to do your homework."

"Busted!" thought both brothers fearfully.

"Um… we were going to the park…" said Takato slowly.

"I'm amazed by how much your homework tends to revolve around the park these days," said Yoshie, glaring at them. "Honestly boys, it'll be time for college before you know it, and you can't get a degree in lounging and bread-eating! Study once in a while!"

"We won't be out long," said Kou. "Just going to meet some friends for a while, that's all."

"Yeah, so…bye!" said Takato, suddenly opening the door and yanking Kou through before shutting it. After the two of them ran about a block, he turned to his hat-wearing brother with an annoyed look on his face. "Geez. She probably got her degree in nagging!"

"With a minor in yelling," added Kou.

"Haha, yeah, probably," said Takato. "Well, let's go on before she decides to chase us."

"Yeah, good idea."

###

Shinjuku, Wong Apartment

"Henwy, make it stop!" yelled Suzie in fear, hugging Terriermon as tightly as she could as an earthquake shook the area. Henry, meanwhile, stood at the window and watched the outside world, knowing perfectly well that the quake would be over in a moment. He wasn't worried.

"…I-Is it over?" said Suzie, loosening her grip on Terriermon a bit as the rumbling stopped.

"Yeah, it is Suzie," said Henry, turning around to face his little sister.

"Next time, Henwy, make it over sooner…" said the girl, stuffing her face behind Terriermon's head as she hugged the unlucky rabbit.

"Heh, I'll do my best Suzie," laughed Henry before the TV caught his attention with the news.

"….earthquake today, and they don't appear like they're going to stop anytime soon," the anchor lady was saying. "Seismologists are so far unable to pinpoint the epicenter of the quakes, but…"

"Did she say they couldn't find where they came from?" thought Henry. "I wonder… could a Digimon be involved?" He turned to his sister. "Suzie. I'm going out for a while, and I need to take Terriermon with me. Give him to me, please."

"No!" cried Suzie. "I need him to pwotect me when the gwound shakes again…"

"Suzie, I don't have time for this," said Henry impatiently. "Hand him over!"

"No!" yelled Suzie.

"Suzie, give him here!" said Henry forcefully, surprising even himself with his harshness. Suzie loosened her grip on Terriermon, and Henry picked him up and began walking to the door. His sister just curled up on the couch and started to cry quietly.

"I wish you weren't my bwother…" she muttered between sobs. Henry froze.

"Suzie, I…" he started, still facing the door. "Look, Suzie, I'm sorry, it's just I…"

The girl kept crying.

"…I-I gotta go…"

And with that, the blue-haired boy left his apartment and began making his way to the hideout. Terriermon didn't say a word.

###

Shinjuku, Shopping District

"Geez Henry," said Terriermon, now perched on Henry's shoulder as usual and feeling he had waited long enough to comment, "you always say I don't have any tact, but I don't know, I've never been that mean!"

Henry didn't so much as sigh in response, just kept his eyes looking straight forward as he walked.

"C'mon Henry," said Terriermon with concern in his voice, "what's wrong?"

"….what?" said Henry, annoyed.

"Well, you wouldn't act like this if everything was ok…" said Terriermon.

"I'm…" said Henry, "…I'm fine Terriermon, just…"

"Don't like yelling at your sister?" suggested Terriermon. "If you'd let me talk, I'd do it! Get revenge for the 'Princess Pretty Pants' treatment!"

"Terriermon!" scolded Henry.

"Haha, Momentai!" responded Terriermon happily. "That's the Henry I know!"

"Nnnngggh, Terriermon…"

"Henry, you really should throw that old toy away," came a voice behind the blue-haired boy. Henry turned around to find his fellow Tamer, Rika, accompanied by her grandmother, Seiko.

"Hey Rika," he said, "you know, I would, but he's necessary. Suzie would kill me if I threw him out."

Terriermon, unable to talk with Rika's grandmother present, tightened his grip around Henry's neck a bit in response.

"Well, whatever," said Rika. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm heading to the park to meet up with Takato and the others," said Henry. "Wanna come?"

"Um…" muttered Rika, glancing to her grandmother.

"Oh, it's fine Rika, I'll cover for you with your mom," said the woman before her phone rang. "Hello? Oh, hello Rumiko. No, she only wanted more jeans, you know how she is. What? Ok, I'll put her on." She held the phone out to Rika. "Your mother." Rika just looked at the phone with an annoyed expression for a moment before taking it.

"I don't like dresses!" said Rika, not even bothering with a hello.

"Oh come on honey!" came Rumiko's voice over the phone."How about some after-shopping shopping? We can get you some really nice-"

"No thanks, mother, I'm going to the park."

"The park? But Rika, honey, you can't do any shopping there…"

"Look mother, I've got plans with my friends ok? Bye!"

Rika quickly handed the phone back to her grandmother and motioned for Henry to follow her.

"Bye grandma!"

"Bye!" said Henry, quickly following. Seiko held the phone back up to her own ear again.

"It's me again, Rumiko."

"Oh, mom, what am I gonna do with her?"

"Calm down Rumiko, she's just at an age where her friends are more important than her looks, that's all."

"More important than her looks? But…but…I…I think I'm gonna faint!"

###

Shinjuku, Dino Hut

"Haha, I win again!" announced Kazu proudly as Kenta hung his head down in defeat. Takato was leaning against the bars of the Hut's gate, watching the game, while Kou sat on the ground in front of him, doing the same. Guilmon was playing in the bushes, and Dorumon was watching him.

"Man, I never win!" said Kenta.

"And I always do!" said Kazu. "And that's why I should be a Tamer! Look, I've even been practicing!"

The other three boys watched as Kazu picked up a card from his deck and took a few steps back before turning to face them.

"Digi-Modify!" said the visor wearing boy, performing all sorts of strange gestures, "Matrix Digivolution, Activate!" He ended with his arms making a V-shape in the air and standing on one leg. "So, whaddya think? Pretty cool, eh?"

"That's… one way to describe it…" said Kou.

"It continues to amaze me that you are not partnered with Jestermon," said Dorumon, walking up behind Kou. "Although, if Sir Henry's partner acts like that, I do not believe the world will be able to handle yours…"

"Oh yeah?" said Kazu. "Well, I'll have a partner one day, you'll see! And you're right, the world won't be able to handle him… he'll be too awesome!"

"Hey, that reminds me," said Kenta, looking to Takato and Kou, "why do you think you guys get chosen as Tamers but not us?"

"Hmm…" muttered Takato, looking up at the sky for a moment in thought. "I guess the Digimon can just tell, we're superior."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," said Kou, grinning.

"Hey!" said both Kazu and Kenta.

"Haha, we're kidding guys," said Kou.

"Yeah, besides, I bet there are a lot of cool Digimon like Leomon out there," said Takato, "and the more of them that show up, the better the chances are that one will pick you as a partner."

"Yeah, if they don't just leave like Leomon," said Kenta. Several days ago, Jeri had somehow gotten into her head that she was to be a Tamer, and started asking Calumon to be her partner. Soon, however, the rat Deva appeared and began attacking them both, but they were saved when the champion Digimon Leomon had appeared and driven him off. Jeri immediately became attached to him, and was certain that he was her partner. Leomon didn't quite agree, and although Jeri's calls of "It's Destiny!" were amusing at first, the poor girl was crushed when the rat Deva appeared again and she was unable to help Leomon, even with Takato's D-Arc. Henry and Gargomon saved the day by joining forces with Leomon to destroy the Deva, but to Jeri, the damage had been done. After the battle, Leomon left, and they hadn't seen him since.

"Yeah," said Kazu, sitting down again, "but it would be cool to have one even for a little while."

"Uh," muttered Takato, looking at something behind Kazu.

"What's up, Takato?" said Kazu, wondering why his friend was suddenly not paying attention.

"That," said Kou, answering for his brother and pointing behind Kazu, where Jeri stood about halfway up the stairs leading to the hut. Her head was hung down sadly, and she seemed hesitant to come any closer.

"Hey, what's wrong Jeri?" asked Takato, concerned.

"Come over already, don't be shy!" said Kazu. Jeri lifted her head and put a determined look on her face before walking over to the group of boys.

"I want to learn how to play the card game," she said, "now who's gonna teach me how to use these?" Jeri reached in her pocket and pulled out a large deck of Digimon cards.

"Whoa!" said Kenta.

"What's wrong, don't I have enough?" asked Jeri.

"Enough?" said Kazu. "You've got more than I do! What, did you go out and spend your whole allowance or something?"

"And someone else's too, wow!" said Kenta.

"I've got half that!" said Takato, staring at the deck.

"Wow, Jeri…" said Kou, also staring. Kazu took the cards from her and began looking through them.

"Whoa Jeri!" he exclaimed upon seeing a certain card. "I'll give you like three cards for this one!" Kenta then looked over to see the card, and immediately pulled out his own cards.

"No way, I'll trade five for that!" he said excitedly. Jeri narrowed her eyes.

"I don't want to trade, I want to learn to play!" she said, almost angrily.

"I'll throw in three free lessons!" said Kazu. "C'mon!"

"If you want to learn how to play," said Rika, walking up the steps with Henry, "Then learn from someone who really knows what she's doing."

"Really?" asked Jeri, excited. Rika nodded, and Jeri quickly collected her cards from Kazu and Kenta and went to sit on the steps with Rika, who started going over the basics with her.

"Aww, man, that was a good card…" said Kazu.

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Kazu," said Henry, joining the group. "How is everyone?"

"Fine," answered Kou for everyone. "You?"

"Ok," said Henry as Terriermon jumped off his shoulder and onto Dorumon's head.

"Heeeey Dorumon!" said the rabbit happily, "How are ya old buddy old pal?"

"Jestermon," said Dorumon calmly, "forgive me, but I must know… why are you on my head?"

"Just because!" said the rabbit, tapping his tiny fingers on the jewel on the dinosaur's forehead. "Hahahahaha!"

"Nnnnggggh…"

"Are you sure?" said Takato to Henry, ignoring his brother's partner's plight for now. "You seem kind of annoyed about something."

"Oh?" said Henry. "I'm just… thinking about the Devas. We still have a good bit to go."

"Oh?" said Kou. "Really? Let's see, who have we beat already…"

"Going by the Chinese horoscope thing," said Kenta, "then you've already beaten the Tiger, the Snake, the Rooster, the Sheep, the Ox, the Horse, and the Rat."

"Which means," said Henry, "we've still got to deal with a Pig, a Monkey, a Dog, a Dragon, and a Rabbit."

"We've found the rabbit…" said Dorumon, annoyed. "Shall we defeat him now?"

"I'll help," said Rika from the stairway. "Renamon."

"Of course, Rika," said the fox, suddenly appearing behind Dorumon. She lifted the rabbit from the purple rookie's head, and tossed him to the ground.

"Hey!" said Terriermon, rubbing his head.

"Thank you, Lady Renamon," said Dorumon.

"It was nothing," said Renamon. "I almost wish he would return to your head so that I could throw him again."

"Hey!" said Terriermon again. "Henry, help me out here!"

"You did it to yourself, Terriermon," said Henry. "Anyway, that means we have five Ultimates left to defeat, assuming all the Devas are Ultimates. And then of course, the Sovereign they keep talking about… I'd be willing to bet he's a Mega, and a strong one at that."

"Hmm…" said Takato, putting a hand to his chin in thought. "Hey Kou, any ideas on this?" The hat wearing boy was silent, watching Renamon and Dorumon. "Um… Kou?"

"I wonder, why did she go out of her way to send her partner to help mine?" thought the boy. "Gah, stop it Kou, she and Renamon both can't stand Terriermon. Duh. It's not like she likes you or anything. But you don't like her either, so that doesn't matter. Yeah. So why am I even thinking about this? We've got much more impor-

"KOU!" yelled Takato, shaking his brother.

"AHHH!" yelled Kou in response. "W-What!?"

"You were like… in a trance or something, Buddy," said Kazu. "You alright?"

"Uh… yeah," said Kou. "Just, um…well, it was nothing, what are we talking about again?"

"The Devas," said Rika as she and Jeri walked back over to the group. "Honestly Kou, we were all the way over there and picked up on that, are you deaf?"

"Um…" muttered Kou, unsure of what to say. "I'm just, uh…"

"Tired?" suggested Takato, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You said this morning that you didn't get much sleep last night, didn't you?"

"Uh…" said Kou, looking at his brother. He hadn't said that, but… "Eh, hahaha, yeah… sorry, must have dozed off. Anyway, I wonder when the next Deva will show up?"

"Who knows, but there's five of them left and four of you," said Kenta, "man, if all of us were Tamers too, we'd win for sure!"

"Gee Kenta, thanks for reminding me that I don't have a partner," said Kazu.

"I don't have one either," said Kenta.

"Yeah, well, still," said Kazu. "This is getting depressing, and it's kinda late. I'm heading home guys."

"Good plan," said Henry. "By the way, did you all hear about the earthquakes?"

"Um, we all kind of felt them too," said Rika. "What's your point?"

"Well, the news people said they couldn't track the source of them," said Henry. "So I thought…"

"That a Deva could be behind it?" said Takato. "That's a big Deva."

"Yeah… that could be a lot of trouble," said Kou. "And if it's causing earthquakes, it's either coming soon, or it's already here."

"Um, guys?" said Kenta. "Doesn't something seem weird here?"

"Like the way you're pointing at us all and counting?" said Kazu.

"Aside from that!" said Kenta. "And it's not weird!"

"Um, does this count?" said Calumon, who had made his way onto Jeri's head at some point unknown to the group. The strange kid that had tried to steal Kou's D-Arc the other day was standing just a little too close to Jeri, eyes locked on the small Digimon on her head.

"Yeah, that counts," said Kazu. "That kid defines weird."

Said definition of weird kept staring intently at Calumon, before turning to face the whole group. After staring at all of them for another few moments, he let out his trademark "BA-CAA," causing everyone to cover their ears before he took off running.

"Hey!" yelled Kazu, causing the kid to stop. Before anyone could say anything, he turned his head completely around. A perfect, one hundred eighty degree turn.

"Gross…" said Kenta. "My neck hurts just looking at that."

"Is he a robot or something?" said Takato.

"Oh, be nice guys," said Jeri. "I bet he just wants to be friends!"

With that, she started running after the kid, who turned his head back around and kept running. The rest of the group soon followed.

"Don't we have enough friends!?" yelled Kazu.

The chase went on for a long time, and the boy led the group back into the city before he finally went around a corner and disappeared. While most of the group looked relieved that they didn't have to run anymore, Jeri looked slightly down at the fact that their new "friend" had escaped. They didn't have much time to dwell on that, however, as Guilmon (who had followed the group into public, a not so wise move) suddenly hunched over and began growling, with a feral look in his eye.

"Takato!" growled the dino. "A Digimon!" He suddenly spun around and began running back towards the park. Dorumon (who had also followed, not wanting to be the only one left behind) immediately turned and followed him, and Terriermon jumped down from Henry's shoulder and onto Guilmon's back so he could keep up.

"Terriermon, wait up!" called Henry.

"If we wait for you," said Renamon as she phased into view on top of a car parked on the street next to the group, "we'll be too old to fight by the time we get there." She soon followed her fellow Digimon.

"Aw, man…" said Kou, "more running…"

A collective sigh was let out by the group before they all followed their Digimon back to the park, where all four were standing in one spot, looking upwards.

"Uh, guys?" said Takato. "Why are you all looking up?"

"Because it's gonna be big, doofus!" said Terriermon.

"How can you…" began Kazu, before the biggest Digital Field any of them had ever seen appeared and a gigantic boar, far larger than either WarGrowlmon or DoruGreymon had been, stepped out of it. "…tell…"

Kou quickly pulled out his D-Arc and scanned it. "Vikaralamon," said the hat-wearing Tamer, "Ultimate Level. Special Attacks are Fusion Bomb and Boar Bog. I think it's safe to say we found our pig Deva, guys…"

"Well then what are we waiting for?" said Rika, pulling out a card. "Ready, boys?"

"Ready!" said the other three.

"Digi-Modify! Digivolution, Activate!"

D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

Guilmon Digivolve to… Growlmon!

Renamon Digivolve to… Kyubimon!

Terriermon Digivolve to… Gargomon!

Dorumon Digivolve to… Dorugamon!

By the time they had finished Digivolving, the Deva had turned around and made his way into the city, demolishing everything in his path. The Digimon quickly charged after him, with Kou, Rika, and Henry in tow. Takato stuck around to say one last thing to his friends.

"Kazu, Kenta, you guys have a job too! Make sure Jeri and Calumon stay safe!" said the gogglehead.

"Count on us!" said Kazu.

"Yeah, go take em down Takato!" said Kenta.

"Thanks guys," said Takato, turning and running after the others.

"Good luck, Takato!" called Jeri as Takato ran. "I'm sorry I can't help…"

###

Shinjuku, Shopping District

"Dragon Slash!"

Growlmon was standing on top of the boar, trying to cut through his skin, but his blades were doing absolutely nothing.

"Fox Tail Inferno!"

Kyubimon kept bombarding him with fireballs, but they seemed to have no affect on the Deva at all.

"Power Metal!"

"Gargo Lasers!"

Dorugamon and Gargomon were both standing in front of the massive ultimate as he made his way down the street, firing everything they had at him, but none of it did a thing.

"Enough!" yelled Vikaralamon. "You pests!" The pig began shaking himself wildly, crushing cars and destroying the road beneath him. He threw Growlmon off his back and onto Kyubimon, then he lunged forward, knocking aside both Dorugamon and Gargomon with his tusks before continuing down the street on his path of destruction.

"No…" muttered Kou. "They… don't stand a chance!"

"Ugh, none of these stupid cards can do anything to help!" said Rika, looking through her cards. "They're all worthless!"

"I wish we had Blue Cards…" said Takato, who had caught up with the group mid-fight. "Then, maybe we'd stand a chance!"

"Unfortunately, they don't exactly grow on trees," said Rika. "And even if they did, the darn pig knocked most of them down!"

"Actually," said Henry, "wishing's not a bad idea… in the past, the Blue Cards have always appeared when we wished for them, to protect our friends. Why not try it again?"

"It's worth a shot," said Kou, pulling out a random card and closing his eyes, as the others soon did the same. "Remember, if we can't do this… everyone we care about will be in danger!"

"That's right…" thought Henry. "Suzie…she probably thinks I hate her. We have to get through this, so I can tell her I care!"

Henry's card started to shine.

"Mom is obsessed with making me shop, but," thought Rika, "even if I don't want to admit it, I know she only does it because she cares…and I was so mean… we have to win, so I can stay with her AND grandma!"

Rika's card turned a bright blue.

"Mom, Dad," thought Takato, "I know you nag me and Kou a lot, but you're only trying to do what's right. We…won't lose, we can't, because we have to come back to you! We said we would!"

Takato's card began glowing.

"My family, my friends…" thought Kou, "even though you have no idea who I really am, even though I myself don't know, you've taken me in and always treated me like a real member of the family and a true friend. Not just treated me like one…made me one. I AM Kouki Matsuki. And I'm going to protect you all!"

Kou's card was covered in azure light.

"Alright!" said Takato, opening his eyes. "Lets go guys!"

They all raised their D-Arcs and new Blue Cards, together.

"Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution, Activate!"

All four Digimon stood tall as the light covered them.

M-A-T-R-I-X

D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

Growlmon Matrix Digivolve to… WarGrowlmon!

Kyubimon Matrix Digivolve to… Taomon!

Gargomon Matrix Digivolve to… Rapidmon!

Dorugamon Matrix Digivolve to… DoruGreymon!

"Alright!" yelled Rapidmon. "Great job guys!"

"Now, we can fight," said Taomon.

"Let's take him down, guys!" said WarGrowlmon.

"Yes! Together!" said DoruGreymon.

The Tamers all looked at each other, and their partners, with a smile. They were going to win.

They had to.