A/N: So yeah you might have worked out before the last chapter that this is a tamers rewrite, but this is just to confirm that. I wanted a more adult take on the series and what better way to do it than this? I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

And thank you to all who have welcomed me back, it's good to return to where everything started for me.

Reboot

Chapter 4 - Beginnings

Location: Shinjuku

Time: 21:44

Morning soon came as Takato woke for his weekend. His dreams were of him and Guilmon again, only seeming more like a reality given the change of events. They fought digimon left, right and centre. An unstoppable force like most people imagine themselves as in their dreams.

The first thing he did after getting dressed was check his digivice, to see the egg had hatched overnight.

"It hatched? But where's Guilmon?" He looked around but saw nothing with him. He returned his gaze to the device just as a compass appeared on the display, pointing away from him. He turned around a few times to check if it was actually tracking something, seeing it still point in the same direction. He looked out the window and saw the arrow pointing out over the park. He just found what he was going to do that day.

Grabbing breakfast downstairs and being composed enough to minimise suspicion, Takato left the house under the excuse of seeing Kazu and Kenta again for the day. As soon as he left the house he pulled his digivice out to read the compass. He hung it around his neck and set off through the park, following the arrow as it directed him to Guilmon - he hoped.

Along the way he mused what his digimon would be like. He assumed Guilmon would be male because he always thought of his creation as male, so he believed he would be strong, smart and fast. After all, red is a power colour, one for speed and strength.

Takato's love for digimon was deep rooted like a true fan. He played regularly to sharpen his skills, watched the main tournaments and some of the smaller ones just to see how other players do and learn from them. He had a deep admiration for the new champion, nicknamed the Digimon Queen, and had seen every one of her matches. She was ruthless and methodical, Takato had picked up on a few of her tactics already which had secured him a few victories already.

Kazu and Kenta were a little frustrated with his sudden spike in ability to beat them both, but he saw that as progression. Soon he could attend a championship himself, possibly one day challenge the Queen himself. But that was before Guilmon became real. Now he had a chance at something better, something far more real than cards.

It took him most of the morning to reach the construction area his digivice directed him to. No builders were working as it was a weekend, which was a good thing if a digimon was involved. The compass changed to display four arrows all pointing inwards, signalling to Takato that he had arrived. He looked around and saw a sizable hole dug in the ground with an unnatural eerie glow.

Making his way to the edge he saw strange blue energy rings radiating out from the centre of the depression. A throbbing, pulsing noise - like the sound of air being compressed repeatedly - was all around him. He located a set of stairs leading down into the shaft and decided to take a closer look.

As he reached the bottom the energy rings suddenly disappeared and the depression seemed to explode with a cloud of lingering mist. He covered his eyes as the fog settled around him, uncovering them to see a strange shadow before him.

The figure resembled what Takato had drawn, all the basic outlines were there. A strong red colour bled through the mist as it thinned, showing Takato exactly what, or who, it was that had arrived.

"G-Guilmon?"

A red reptilian head turned in his direction, yellow eyes boring into the teen. Bat wing ears twitched at his voice as a row of teeth briefly flashed. The torso was heavily muscular with two equally strong arms ending in a trio of claws. Two powerful legs held the creature upright, also ending in three claws with two at the front and one behind, as a long tail swayed back and forth. The entire creature was red with the exception of the greyish claws and the white areas on the front of its body. Black symbols adorned its chest, thighs, shoulders and snout, all being the same icon: a single black triangle pointing down with an upwards triangle at its corners.

The creature looked at Takato, teeth flashing again as the corners of its lips rose. Takato took this as an aggressive sign and tried to back away, only to fall on his butt.

"This is bad. I create a digimon, spend the morning looking for it and now it's going to eat me! Great!" He closed his eyes in preparation for his devouring, but it never came.

Opening his eyes again he saw the creature standing slightly over him with a curious gaze. It made no attempt to attack him, in fact it seemed to be waiting for something.

"You're not going to attack me?"

The digimon blinked. "That would be silly Takato."

Takato jumped back slightly, he hadn't expected the voice or for it to know his name. "You're female?"

She bowed her head a little. "Yes Takato, do you prefer male digimon? I can return and send a male if you want." Her voice was somewhere between a teenager and an adult, carrying wisdom in her tone yet the adolescence of a teenager at the same time. Takato placed her voice's age to be that of a eighteen or nineteen year old, possibly twenty.

He shook his head frantically. "No no, that's fine. I, uh, just expected something different that's all. So you're Guilmon huh?"

Guilmon nodded. "Yes Takato. I am who you made me. Unique, as you humans say."

"Wait, what about what you said about sending a male?"

"I was testing you. I can't tell if you passed or failed though." There was an amused tone to her voice.

He deadpanned her. "Well, forgive my saying so but you don't look very feminine."

"I can change that if you like." Without further warning Guilmon's chest swelled into a very feminine shape, with generous proportions as well as extra details.

Takato averted his eyes as quickly as possible. "That's quite fine Guilmon. You're good as you are, or were... Um, please?"

Guilmon reverted back to how she was before. "Better?"

He nodded. "Not that I'm rude or anything, but how did you just do that?"

Guilmon smiled, flashing her teeth again. "Some digimon can hide their genders like that, only displaying their true features when they want - as I can. It comes in handy in various scenarios, as well as making those like you feel uncomfortable."

"Wait, you did that on purpose?" Guilmon laughed lightly as she nodded. "That's just unfair!"

Takato then realised the situation he was in. He was a digimon tamer, with a reptilian digimon standing before him, in a world where the mere existence of such creatures would likely spark worldwide anarchy. How on earth was he going to get her home? More importantly, where could he hide her?

He gripped the side of his head. Sometimes he wished he thought things through first. He was in for one hell of a trip home.

Takato arrived at his house, under his room's window doors. The journey had been long and hard and it was dark by the time he got back with his companion. He had no idea how many times he had to hide Guilmon to avoid being seen, the last thing either of them wanted was her to spook people on her first day in the real world.

He turned to Guilmon who stood patiently beside him. "Can you climb up there Guilmon?" He pointed to the balcony where his doors were, his room being round the side of the house so no public eyes could spot the red dino digimon.

She nodded and took a step forward. "Shall I climb now Takato?"

He waved his arms to stop her. "Not yet, let me get up there and open the doors first, okay?" She nodded again. "Wait here."

He went inside, waving to his father in the kitchen as he came through. "Hey dad, how's the store?"

"Fine son, I can't stay and talk, people to serve and bread to make. You know how it is." He seemed exhausted and rushed, but Takato knew the storefront closed in a little while.

He simply nodded and waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, it's all right, I'll be upstairs then."

Takato went to his room, making sure he wasn't followed by either of his parents. Once he closed his door he went to the balcony doors and opened them, seeing Guilmon below.

He waved her on and kept his voice low just in case. "Come on up."

Guilmon nodded and began her ascent, climbing quite well for something with three fingers and two usable toes all as claws. It took her a minute but she eventually got to the balcony, heading inside as Takato closed the door behind her. She nosed around, giving the room her once over to familiarise herself with everything, before turning to Takato again.

"Nothing fancy, but it'll do. But uh, where do we each sleep?"

Takato seemed to glaze over how she was adjusting so well while he was still wrapping his head around being a Digidestined. "Uh, that's a good question, I didn't think of that." He quickly looked around and saw his answer. "There's also only one bed."

"That's all right. We can share."

Takato practically choked. "W-What? But you're female!"

Guilmon tilted her head to one side. "Is there a problem with that Takato? Are you saying I can't share with my Tamer?" She shook her reptilian head at him. "There's nothing wrong with us sharing the bed, it's plenty big enough. Don't worry, I won't get any ideas. Although..."

He swallowed nervously. "Although what?"

Guilmon laughed lightly. "Nothing, I was just screwing with you again."

Takato sighed, then picked up on something she had said. "Did you call me a Tamer?"

"I did, because that's what you are. My Tamer. What, did you think you were called something else, like say a Digidestined?" She smirked at him as if she knew his answer. "Digidestined is a silly irrelevant title Takato, Tamer is much easier and is what we digimon call our partnered humans."

He scratched his chin in thought and gave a small nod, contemplating the word. "It does seem easier to say that's for sure. Tamer it is then." He stood by the door but turned to her briefly. "Well, I have to go downstairs now. Don't wander off alright? My parents won't take too well to a red dinosaur in the house."

"Duh! That's what I planned on. Just don't forget about me Takato, I have needs too you know. Things like food, before you get embarrassed again." She rolled her eyes and added the last part as she saw Takato flinch.

"Uh huh. Well I'll go then, and bring you some food. I'll be back soon." He left his room slightly quicker than normal.

He got downstairs to see his mother enter from the bakery, looking equally tired as his father. "You alright Takato? You look a little flustered."

He did his best to wave her off and settle himself from his new friend's teasing nature. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little warm upstairs that's all."

"You left your heating on again, didn't you?" She had her hand on her hip as all mothers do when they seem annoyed with something.

Takato decided there wasn't a better excuse for his visual appearance so went with it, he couldn't think of anything else quick enough. "I guess I did. I'll check that in a sec." It was definitely better than explaining Guilmon to her.

His mother nodded before turning around, seemingly content with his answer. "We're going go be working late tonight Takato, there's some dinner for you when you want it."

He quirked a brow about working late at a bakery but dismissed it, it would give him less chances for Guilmon to be discovered. "Okay."

Seeing as it was close enough anyway he had his dinner then. Afterwards he stealthily retrieved some of the bread made earlier in the day, still safely edible, and went to his room. Guilmon was waiting for him by the balcony doors, having somehow shut the curtains.

"Here you go. It's not special but it's all I can get at the moment." He handed her some bread which was eaten very quickly.

"You're kidding right? This is amazing!" She ate the bread faster than Takato thought possible. "If that's 'nothing special' then I can't wait for the good stuff."

He shook his head in wonder before deciding he had had enough for one day. "We'll see about that, maybe one day. I'm going to sleep though, you picked a difficult spot to reach when you came across. I'm exhausted."

"I aim to please Takato." She had that smile again, the one she had used to tease him.

Takato shook his head and stripped off his shirt and pants before getting into bed. His habits made him forget about the female in the room but if she minded she didn't say anything. He laid himself in his bed, shifting over to one side and allowed Guilmon to take the other. She got in with little to no dexterity, she didn't seem completely competent with her body yet - possibly because Takato created her from scratch so she didn't have any instinctive memories passed down to her on how she worked. She would learn in time though, he was sure.

He did his best to keep a respectful distance between him and her, a gesture she didn't seem bothered about keeping. She ended up backing him against the wall and still leaning against him, mumbling something about bread being the food of all time.

Takato allowed his eyes to close for the day, contemplating how his life became very interesting.