Twelve children: Taichi Yagami, Yamato Ishida, Sora Takenouchi, Koushiro Izumi, Mimi Tachikawa, Jyou Kido, Takeru Takaishi, Hikari Kamiya, Daisuke Motomiya, Miyako Inoue, Iori Hida, and Ken Ichijouji.
Twelve children, selected by a mysterious force -- fate, maybe? -- to protect the Digital World from evil.
Call them... the "DigiDestined".
And they are about to undergo the shock of their lives.
They're about to get some new recruits.
Four adults: Margo Green, Bill Smithback, Vincent D'Agosta, and Ryan Pendergast.
Four adults, selected by a mysterious force -- fate, maybe? -- to, multiple times, protect people from variations of a horrific creature called Mbwun.
Call them... well, call them nothing. They are not yet part of an official team, you see.
And they are about to undergo the shock of their lives.
Guess who the new recruits are?
1987: In a horrible disaster, all members of the Whittlesy expedition are killed in some way or another. Whittlesy himself is forced to eat a plant called lilicae mbwunensis, and transforms into a horrible creature called Mbwun -- He Who Walks On All Fours.
1988: The Mbwun kills for the first time; a man is found dead at a shipping yard in Belém, Brazil. Later, a small freighter, for New Orleans, runs aground. All the crew were found not only dead, but brutally slaughtered.
1992: Margo, Smithback, D'Agosta, and Pendergast -- with the aid of Gregory Kawakita and Dr. Frock -- find the Mbwun in the New York Natural History Museum. After many twists and turns, not to mention a lot of panic, Margo and Pendergast manage to kill the beast.
1994: Margo, Smithback, D'Agosta, and Pendergast must once more team up to kill the Wrinklers -- horrible mutants, resulting from the consumption of lilicae mbwunensis -- and a now-insane Dr. Frock, before gallons of infected water is dumped from the resivoire into the ocean. Ultimately, they suceed.
1995: Seven children -- Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koushiro, Mimi, Jyou, and Takeru -- are transported from summer camp to the DigiWorld. They meet their Digimon partners, find out that they are the legendary (at least among the Digimon) DigiDestined, and battle many evils. Just when they defeat Devimon, they find out that there are four Dark Masters for them to defeat.
1996: The DigiDestined discover that the quote-unquote "Eighth Child" is Taichi's little sister, Hikari! Unfortunately, so does the incredibly powerful Piedmon. Needless to say, another battle ensues.
1997: After a long, terrible battle with Apokalymon -- which the DigiDestined just barely won -- the DigiDestined are informed that they must say goodbye to their Digimon friends; they have to go back to the real world. Also, their Digimon are now unable to Digivolve to their Ultimate forms. It seems that the evil is really gone -- for good??
2000: Of course the evil's not gone for good! There's now a whole new DigiDestined team -- consisting of Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, and eventually Ken -- and a new type of Digivolving -- Armor Digivolving! Ken, as the Digimon Emperor, wreaks havok upon the DigiWorld. After a while, he realizes he was wrong and repents, joining the DigiDestined and helping them fight Arukenimon and Mummymon -- and, later, Oikawa and VenomMyotismon. After another battle, which -- again -- they just barely win, it seems the DigiWorld's safe... for now...
2001: Present day. And guess what? Evil is back -- in spades! It will take everything the sixteen DigiDestined've got to defeat these guys -- but if anyone can do it, they can!
And so it begins...
Surprisingly enough, with a trip to the beach and the opening of an exhibition.