Rachel was trying to figure out digivolving so she could make Bumblemon digivolved. She didn't realize her icy heart was the problem. She thought digimon were just data and couldn't feel anything. At the same time, she was kidnapped by Frozenmon. He wanted Rachel to become his partner, but it helped her realize how she's been acting. The others tried to save her, but they ended up frozen. Bumblemon tried, but was outmatched. When Rachel realized Bumblemon was more than she thought, she activated the DNA charge for him to digivolve and sent Frozenmon packing.

Digimon

Look to the past, as we head for the future

To reclaim the digital world

With faith in ourselves

And trusting each other

We live by the lessons we learned

As we work towards one solution

Through digivolution

I am the one, I am the one

Digimon

Forever united as one

Digimon

Together the battles are won

Digimon

Through us let your spirit evolve

If we're all for one world, there's one for us all

If we're all for one world, there's one for us all

Digimon

"Wake up!" Ninmon called out as she jumped around on Julie's bed. Julie woke up and saw Ninmon was wide awake. "Time to get up."

"When did you become my alarm clock?" Julie said as she was getting out of bed.

"I've got to do something to keep myself occupied." Ninmon said. Julie got herself dressed and went down for breakfast with her mother and Sarah.

"Morning, honey." June said.

"Morning." Julie said as she sat down and started eating with Ninmon.

"Oh boy! My favorite!" Ninmon said as she was enjoying her breakfast.

"You're funny, Ninmon. You eat so much, but you stay so small." Sarah said.

"Sarah, that isn't nice." June said.

"It's okay." Ninmon said. "I need to eat a lot. I need the energy and I need to be ready to jump into action. You never know when a digimon needs to be called into action."

"Ninmon, I told you a hundred times that you're not going to do any fighting." Julie said for she hasn't gotten over her fear of Ninmon getting hurt. "Let Tyrone and the others handle all of that. There's no reason for us to get involved."

"Why let the boys have all the fun?" Ninmon complained.

"If you want fun, just go play with Dragmon in the park while I'm at school and remember to stay out of people's sights." Julie said. "That shouldn't be so hard for a ninja to hide." Ninmon was a little bummed she gets to be left out of the action, but she doesn't want to go behind Julie's back. When Julie finished breakfast, she gathered her stuff together and was on her way to school.

"Julie!" Julie turned around and saw Tyrone heading her way.

"Hey, Tyrone." Julie said as he caught up with her and the two of them started walking together. "How's Dragmon after what happened with Frozenmon?"

"Fine. I'm just glad he's not sneezing fireballs." Tyrone said. "It's really Rachel and Bumblemon I'm concerned about. That seemed to have really gotten to them. So Sean's going to pay her a visit after school and talk to her."

"Hopefully it means she won't fight us anymore." Julie said.

"I'm sure we won't have to worry. I think she's actually a nice person. She just didn't understand digimon." Tyrone said. "Maybe we all can work together like a team."

"Are you including me?" Julie said and Tyrone just remembered her resistance to fighting.

"Sorry. I almost forgot that you don't want Ninmon to fight." Tyrone said. "Well, I'm sure there are other ways you could help."

"Tyrone, I don't think I've ever met someone like you." Julie said and Tyrone wasn't really taking that as a bad thing.

….

Yukon

Yukon and his workers were at work. They're trying to keep digimon from coming into our world. Yukon may have found a way to prevent them from coming anymore.

"How's the program coming?" Yukon said.

"Pretty well." Lesly said. "It's almost done. Another attachment here and there and it will be ready."

"Good. Setting up a firewall-like program will be a help." Yukon said. "Since the world these pests are coming from is a digital one, there must be a link between it and our world and that link has to be through cyberspace. If we can set up our own digital program to keep them out, it will minimize their numbers here."

"It's ready for launch." Lesly said. "Just in time as well. It looks like another one is on the way. I guess this is the perfect time to test it."

"Indeed it is. Launch the firewall." Yukon said. Lesly activated the program. In the cyber realm, a large wall appeared just as something was coming through it. Another digimon was trying to make its way to the real world, but when it came to the wall, the wall held and repelled the digimon, stopping him from making it to the real world.

"It worked!" Lesly said. "The digital creature was repelled and the firewall was able to hold."

"Excellent." Yukon said as he was satisfied with the results. "That will keep them from coming to our world. Now to figure out how to deal with the ones that are already here."

The School

"Check it out." Kaz said as he showed off his little digimon video game. "My little digimon has gotten even stronger."

"Wow. Those stats do look pretty good." Kenny said as he was impressed by it. Louie and Tyrone had a look, but given what they've been through, they weren't that impressed.

"Pretty cool, I guess." Louie said.

"Yeah. Not bad." Tyrone said.

"Say what?!" Kaz said. "What are you talking about? My own little digimon in this game is awesome. You guys are probably just upset that I'm just going to keep beating you."

"Kaz, you've lost yourself a few times." Louie said. "Besides, you seem a little scared to challenge anyone else. So you're not really going to get any better."

"Yeah. You're not that impressive." Tyrone said. "Now put that away before Miss Ayachi sees it and takes it."

"Just admit it, Tyrone. You're just scared of losing again." Kaz said. "It's not my fault you're so terrible at this." Tyrone was getting annoyed with all of Kaz's bragging and finally snapped.

"Well, I got more important things to do. It's all different with real digimon." Tyrone said without even thinking. Kaz and Kenny were perplexed about it, but Louie stepped in and covered for him.

"Tyrone, you're such a kidder. You already pulled that prank on me." Louie said and had them turn away from those two. "What are you doing? You know we have to keep the digimon thing a secret."

"I know. I'm just getting sick of Kaz claiming to be great with digimon when he doesn't even have a partner." Tyrone said.

"I know it's annoying, but just deal with it." Louie said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kenny said.

"Yeah. Fill us in." Kaz said.

"You can talk after class. I'll also take that." Miss Ayachi said as she took Kaz's game. "You can talk about this silliness of yours after class during your own time." Class was starting up again and they all got to work. As they were all learning, Tyrone looked over in Julie's direction and was wondering about her.

'Speaking of digimon, I hope Julie is doing okay. We might need her help against digimon, but how are we going to get her to join in.' Tyrone thought. 'I hope that when the time calls for it, Julie will step up.'

Rachel

Rachel was doing some work of her own. She had a new light on digimon and were trying to figure all of this out. Now that she wants to change her ways, she's trying to figure out how to go at it. She heard the door open and saw her butler come in.

"Excuse me, ma'am. There's a young man here who wishes to speak with you." Her butler said.

"Let him in. Let's see what he wants." Rachel said. Her butler moved out of the way and let Sean in. "You? You're that friend of Tyrone's."

"I don't think I ever gave you my name. It's Sean. I wanted to see how things were with you after last time." Sean said. Rachel knew what he was talking about and could see he wanted it to be private.

"Leave us. I can handle this." Rachel said and her butler did what he was told. "If you mean what happened with Frozenmon, I'm fine."

"I figured, but it seems like you had a real insight as to what you're getting into." Sean said. "You said you learned that digimon are more than just data. Bumblemon is more than that to you now. So where are you going to go from here?"

"It's a little weird." Rachel said. "I always thought they were just data, but Bumblemon risked himself for me and I could actually see he was in pain. I didn't think digimon could feel much of anything. He risked himself for me when I didn't asked him to. That whole thing with Frozenmon opened my eyes. Still, nothing changes."

"Huh?" Sean questioned.

"I'm still going to take on every digimon that I can." Rachel said. "However, I won't attack you or your friends anymore. You seem to understand this whole partner thing. Maybe I can actually learn from you guys."

"I'm sure the others would be happy to help you understand it." Sean said. "Well, you and Julie might be at odds with each other."

"Julie? You mean the blonde one with the ninja digimon?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah. She doesn't want Ninmon to fight because she's afraid of Ninmon getting hurt." Sean said. Rachel thought about that and didn't really agree to that.

"Maybe I can change her mind." Rachel said.

Julie

When school ended, Julie was on her way home with Ninmon on her shoulders. Julie was just going on like everything was normal, but Ninmon was having some complaints.

"Julie, this is boring. Let's go out and have some action." Ninmon said.

"We'll be home soon. You can keep yourself entertained with Sarah." Julie said.

"Hello." Julie and Ninmon looked ahead and they were surprised to see Rachel was standing across from her.

"Rachel?" Julie questioned.

"I was hoping we could talk." Rachel said. Julie and Ninmon weren't expecting that. "I understand that you don't want to fight because you're afraid of your partner getting hurt."

"Yeah. Maybe. So?" Julie asked.

"How long do you think you can keep running from that?" Rachel said, but Julie didn't really understand. "You can't keep running. The only way to be rid of your fears is to face it. If you keep running, you're just going to be constantly haunted by it."

"Are you saying you want me to take part in all this fighting?" Julie said. "Why does that matter to you? Don't tell me you're still going on about how digimon are just meant for fighting."

"I'm simply telling you how this works." Rachel said. "There are digimon that are going to come and are going to cause problems. What if Ninmon needs to digivolve to Kunoichmon? What if Kunoichmon is needed?"

"Look, I just don't see the point of all this fighting." Julie said. "Why would I willingly put Ninmon in danger like that?"

"Julie, I don't like to disagree with you, but I'm disagreeing." Ninmon said. "We digimon do fight. It's what we do. It can just be the same as Tyrone and the others. We can fight to help people from the bad digimon."

"Tyrone and the others can handle things fine." Julie said. Julie is just unsure if she can really do this.

….

Yukon's Lab

"Yukon, I've detected another one." Lesly said as another digimon was on its way. "These readings… It's the same one as last time."

"It will just be repelled back again." Yukon said as he was confident the firewall was going to block it out again. The digimon from before was coming, but the results were different. It was able to smash through the firewall.

"The program has just been destroyed!" Lesly said.

"What?!" Yukon said. He thought he had it, but now it was just destroyed.

"The firewall is a failure. It's going to emerge." Lesly said.

Rachel and Julie

"Milady, there's another one coming!" Bumblemon said from Rachel's digivice. They saw a pillar of energy shoot close and they saw a digimon was going to emerge.

"Trouble!" Ninmon said as she was going to do something.

"No." Julie said as she stopped Ninmon from going. "Ninmon, I keep telling you that I don't want you to fight."

"Are you sure about that?" Rachel said. "This might be one that Kuonichmon is needed. You better go take a look at this one." Julie didn't want to fight, but she figured she better see how the others are doing.

Tyrone and Louie

Tyrone and Louie detected another digimon emerging and went into action. They found where the digimon was emerging and when they reached the place, they saw purple digimon in pants and armor was the one that came right out.

"Looks like we got another one." Louie said.

"Any idea who this one is?" Tyrone said.

Digimon Analyzer (Louie's voice): That's Strikedramon. He's a champion level digimon. He can ignite his whole body in flames and use it for his Strike Fang attack.

"Are you ready?" Tyrone said as he held out his digivice.

"I am." Dragmon said.

"So am I." Louie said as he brought out his D-tector.

"Dragon digivolve to…..Roarmon!"

"Execute! Spirit Evolution!" Louie said as he changed forms. "Naramon!"

Roarmon and Naramon went at Strikedramon. Strikedramon growled as he was ready for action. Roaromon tried to crush him with his claw, but Strikedramon jumped through and slammed his knee under Roarmon's chin. Naramon jumped at Strikedramon and tried to kick him, but Strikedramon blocked the attack and struck him down with his claw.

"This one looks like a tough one." Naramon said.

"You can take him, guys." Tyrone said.

"I got him." Roarmon said.

"Dragon Flame!" Roarmon breathed out some flames, but Strikedramon was doing backflips and avoided the flames.

"This one is light on his feet. He's so agile that we can't seem to get a hit in." Tyrone said.

"I'll get him." Naramon said.

"Forest Fury!" Naramon unleashed his attack, but Strikedramon jumped to the side and was able to avoid the attack. Strikedramon ignited his body in flames and charged at them.

"Strike Fang!" Strikedramon slammed against Naramon and knocked him down. He also charged at Roarmon and slammed against him as well. Both of them were having trouble against this one. The girls arrived and saw what was going on.

"I'm ready, Milady. Just say the word." Bumblemon said as he was ready for action.

"No. I think this one requires Kunoichmon." Rachel said.

"What?" Julie said. "You can't be serious. I'm not letting Ninmon out there to fight. Why can't you do it?"

"Strikedramon's too agile for them. Kunoichmon might be able to do something about it." Rachel said. Julie didn't know if she could really bring herself to do this.

"Stop!" Tyrone called. Both of them noticed Strikedramon heading up a building. Strikedramon slammed against a billboard. Strikedramon was going on a rampage and was making the billboard unstable. It was going to fall and there some people below.

"He's going to cause that to fall!" Julie said.

"Naramon and Roarmon can't attack without that thing coming down." Rachel said. "Kunoichmon might be able to, but only if you'll allow it." Julie wasn't so sure if she could until she saw the billboard was about to fall.

"We've got to stop him!" Julie said.

"About time!" Ninmon said as it was now her turn to shine. Julie had just the card to help her.

"Digi-Modify! Digivolution activate!" Julie said as she swiped the card.

"Digivolution!"

"Ninmon digivolve to…..Kunoichmon!" Ninmon digivolved to Kunoichmon and went up the building. She was able to reach Strikedramon and kicked him off the sign before it could fall.

"Care to play with me, big boy?" Kunoichmon said. Strikedramon growled at her and attacked. Strikedramon and Kunoichmon ran across the rooftops and continued to clash against each other like ninjas.

"Kunoichmon, finish this quickly!" Julie said. She needed to help and reached for a card. "This should help. Digi-modify! Speed activate!" Kunoichmon gained an increase in speed. Strikedramon jumped at her and tried to attack, but she suddenly disappeared with her great speed.

"Here I come!" Kunoichmon said as she came from below and attacked Strikedramon with him falling out the air. "Bye, bye, handsome."

"Ninja Daggers!" Kunoichmon formed the daggers and tossed them at Strikedramon. Strikedramon got hit by the attack and was turned to data from it.

"She did it!" Julie said.

"No. You and she did it." Rachel said.

"Julie! Rachel! Perfect timing! I can't believe you actually fought, Julie!" Tyrone said.

"Me either." Julie said as she was impressed with what she did.

"Guys, we better get out of here before the police showed up." Naramon said. All of them agreed and got out of there. The digimon changed back to normal and it seemed like everyone is in the clear.

"You really stepped up, Julie." Ninmon said. "You helped out those people. You stopped Strikedramon."

"She's right. You were awesome." Dragmon said.

"That's what I was trying to tell you." Rachel said. "Sometimes you have to fight. You can't be afraid of something you can't avoid or what must be done."

"I guess you're right." Julie said. "I've been so afraid that Ninmon might get hurt because of me, but I guess I just needed a reason to fight like the rest of you. I just hope I'm ready for what comes." Her friends think she is. It's only a matter of time.

To Be Continued….

It looks like Julie doesn't have to be afraid anymore. She's finally found the courage to fight. That's good because I got the feeling there'll be more trouble coming their way on the next Digimon Digital Monsters.