3. The First Fight

I checked the signal on my Digivise. The Digimon was close. Most likely in the park where we were.

"Well, I don't know about you guys," I said casually, "but I'm gonna' go kick this mons butt."

"Ya comen' Chris?" I asked glancing down at him.

"You bet! You'd have to knock me out to get me to not come." He answered enthusiastically.

"Here, " I said bending down, "I'll give you a lift."

As Chris climbed onto my back, I looked at the others.

"Join us in you own time guys, " I stood up and looked at Chris, "but as for me and Chris, (AN: forgive me for using catchphrases from other shows) 'We're up, over, and gone!'"

I dashed going just as fast as I could go following the signal on my Digivise.

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The trip across the park only took about five minutes at the speed I was going. I was amazed, to say the least, that my stamina was through the roof! I mean I had been running at my top speed for the whole five minutes and I didn't feel the least bit tired. I realized that it must be because I was still part human. Since Digimon are fueled by excess human energy, (and believe me, I've always had energy to spare) I was literally giving myself all the boost I needed to keep running for so long.

I was still thinking over this when the Digimon's Bio-Emergence field came into view. It looked like it always did in the show, like an isolated patch of thick fog about a hundred an fifty feet wide.

I had a sudden realization. 'Putting on the breaks' I screeched to a halt twenty feet from the edge of the fog. Unfortunately, Chris had been hanging onto my ears. The result was when I stopped suddenly, Chris didn't. He let go of one of my ears, but clinging tightly to the other one, he swung forward and ended up laying on my muzzle facing me.

"Why'd you stop?" he asked.

"Get offa' me and I'll tell you." I replied in a slightly nasally voice.

After Chris got down I said, "I just don't want to go rushing in there without knowing what it is."

"I am the new leader of the Digi-destined after all, and I don't want to be thought of as another bone headed 'Goggle Boy', " I stated pointing to my goggles.

"Fine, " said Chris throwing up his hands/paws in exasperation, "but I'm going in there now. I don't want to miss out on this."

He started walking over to the Digital field.

"Chris…" I nearly pleaded.

At the edge of the field he turned to face me and said with a sneer, "You sure don't have a lot of courage for a leader of the group."

With that he turned and entered the energy field. I sighed in exasperation, pulled down my goggles, and started after him. However, I had not gone five steps when Chris's scream of pure terror on pain rang out from the energy field. I rushed in after him saying to myself, "Darn it Chris! Why do you always rush into things with out thinking?" And why do I always follow you? I thought.

The outer wall of the energy field was only ten feet thick or so. Past that the "fog" thinned out to reveal an open space surrounded completely by it. I hardly had time to notice it, though, because something hit me in the gut, knocking me back into a tree. As my vision cleared, I saw the Digimon that had struck me.

He was tall and thin but I knew that his appearance concealed his true power. He was dressed all in black with the occasional leather patch here and there. His skin was so pail as to be almost white. He had to large and torn bat wings sticking out of his back while the upper half of his face was hidden by a black mask with two horns sticking out of the top. But all this hardly registered with me. What had grabbed me were his eyes. Those deep red, soul burning eyes.

I was filled with hatred. I knew who this Digimon was. I knew that he had tormented the original Digi-Destined mercilessly. So it was with pure wrath that I uttered his name, "Devimon."

"Ah, another of the new Digi-Freaks." He laughed maliciously, "Soon you and your friend there will meet your end."

I looked down and saw that Devimon hadn't just hit me, he'd hit me with Chris! He lay badly bruised and sore all over, I mean it hurt just to look at him and him being a good friend of mine made it hurt ten times worse. I looked at Devimon with pure hatred in my eyes. Setting Chris down gently against the tree I turned to face the monstrosity before me.

Pointing an accusing claw at him, I shouted, "I won't let you harm any more innocents, you ugly deformity of nature. You're a vile evil that needs to be destroyed."

"Then see if you can." He sneered.

With that I launched into the battle bellowing at the top of my lungs.

(AN: Whenever you see this line- [-----------------] it means that the following events I found out later from my friends. [I just wanted to keep the story in chronological order and not have to confuse everybody with flash backs of stuff from twenty minutes ago.])

[-----------------]

As Nick, Kary, Sage, Leaf, Gennai, Takato, Rika, Henry, and their Digimon ran up to the energy field they paused hearing the sounds of my fight going on. Leaf cringed as he heard me crash painfully into a tree. They could all tell that my fight was not going well.

"So how do we help them?" asked sage.

"Duh!" replied Nick, "We transform and go in after them."

"Yes," said Gennai, "but you should know that once you transform it's temporarily permanent."

"Huh? What to you mean?" asked Kary.

"There is no time to explain. I can only say that for now you won't be able to return to your human forms. So think well before using the cards."

There was a moment of silence (that is if you don't count the sounds of me getting my butt whipped).

Finally Nick stepped forward and turned to the small group. "I don't know about you guys," he said trying to sound tough, "But nobody beats up on my brother unless I'm involved."

With that he brought the card down through his Digivises slot with a shout of, "Digi-Modify! 'Tamer Transformation' activate!"

[-----------------]

I was up against the wall. Actually, to be more accurate, it was a tree. As I wiped the blood from the cut on my lip I regretted feeling so cocky going into this fight. To quote J. R. R. Tolkens' character Bilbo Baggins, "…, you were a fool; you walked right in and put your foot in it …, and now you have to pull it out and pay for it."

My train of thought was interrupted by Devimons' voice.

"To think that a leader of the Digi-Destined would be such a coward and a weakling. Ah well. I guess I better stop playing around and kill you now."

Having no energy left to run, I braced my self for the attack.

"Evil…"

"Fist of the Beastking!"

A golden blast nailed Devimon in the side. I turned to look and there, at the edge of the field, was a strange collection of Digimon.

I saw a Renamon who could have been a twin to the Renamon of season 3 except she had light brown hair on her head that hung down almost to her waist. Also, there was something about her eyes that suggested, at any other time they would be dancing with pure happiness. But right now those eyes were steely and cold. She wore a yellow jacket with purple forearms but no other cloths.

Next to her was an Agumon with purple hair and a Veemon with brown hair. They were wearing a dark orange jacket and a light blue one, respectively. And finally, at the front of the group, there stood a Leomon, the one that had saved me. However, instead of a blond mane, his fur/hair was a deep black.

I knew who he, and the others, must be right away.

"Leaf! " I shouted, "Kary! Sage, Nick!!"

"Die!!" shouted Devimon as he rushed at them.

[-----------------]

"We've got to go help them." shouted Takato, as the sounds of battle grew worse.

"No!" Gennai said firmly, "You must not."

"I don't see why not." said Henry.

"Simple, this is a test for them."

"A test?" Rika asked skeptically.

"Yes, I have to know if they are up to the tasks ahead on their adventure."

"The way you say that… " Mused Henry, "You mean we're not going to go with them?"

"No. Your path lies in a different direction, but I promise that you're two groups will meet again."

"Okay." Takato said hesitantly.

[-----------------]

I must have been in a semi-conscious state during most of the fight, hardly hearing the shouts of attacks from my friends ("Fist of the Beastking" "Diamond Storm" "Pepper Breath" &"V Headbut") and the shouts and curses from Devimon. The next thing I knew, a loud yell of pain echoed around the clearing. My head snapped up in time to see my brother, the Veemon, fall to the ground barely conscious himself.

It felt like someone had lit a fire in my heart, even though my brain had just snapped. I stood up and snarled, "Devimon." It was hardly more than a whisper, but he turned to face me as quickly as if I had shouted. "You could beet me to a pulp and I would only feel disappointed in myself," I said through clenched teeth (fangs), "but when you harm my friends and my brother, you are asking for one heck of a butt kicking."

I had felt power building up inside me all this time and now I let it loose. As a white light surrounded me, I could have sworn I head someone say something. It sounded like…

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

"Benjamon Digivolve to…" My skin started to rip off revealing the wire frame underneath. Once I was completely reduced to wire frame, the skin started to form again as severe changes started to affect me. The first change was I grew at least three times larger, in all directions. Spikes shot out from my elbows, as my arms and legs grew thicker to handle all my new muscle mass. I felt two horns sprout from my forehead and grow to nearly two feet long. Finally, my hair grew into a large messy main and then the change stopped. "Growlmon!"

I was identical to Guilmons Digivolved form except I still had on my jacket (which had grown to fit me), both my Digivise and cardholder were still strapped to my (now thicker) wrists, my hair was still its normal deep black, and I still had five fingers (although each was still toped with steel colored claws, now around a foot long).

I dropped to the ground facing Devimon with a tight-lipped sneer on my face. Not feeling so cocky now are you son of a *****, I thought.

Devimon had recovered from his initial shock and now looked ready to kill. I looked at him and said, in my now deeper voice, "Ready for round two?" I moved my hand in a beckoning gesture, as I emphasized each following word, "Bring it on."

Devimon rushed at me like he planed to tare out my neck. I'll never know if that's what he had planed, though. When his claws were only a foot away, using what I had learned in my Martial Arts class, I brought my left forearm up in front of my face forcing his arms to the left and away from it. While that happened, I shifted my weight and ducked as I side stepped right. Taking a low stance with my right leg back, I swiveled my hips, and putting all my strength behind my claws, I drove them straight through his side.

He let out a bellow and swiped but I had dodged and was already behind him and as he turned I let loose with "Pyro Blaster!" Devimon burst into a cloud of pixels but I didn't absorb them, like my Digimon side was telling me to do. Instead, I held up my right wrist, which had my Digivise still strapped to it, and shouted, "Ancient evil! No longer shall you harm the innocent! My Soaring Persistence defeats thee! DIGI-DOWNLOAD!" With that, Devimon's data swirled into a tornado entering my Digivise.

When the last of his data was absorbed into my Digivise, the Digital Field started to lift. I saw that my friends and the Tamers with Gennai were running over to me, but I was suddenly struck with a feeling of dizziness. The ground rushed up to meet me and all I knew was darkness.

Coming soon: 4. The Adventure Begins