Raven rolled over on her bed trying to keep the sun's light from penetrating her eyelids. She didn't want to get out of bed even though she was hungry. After a few more seconds of silence she determined that she wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon so with a sigh she pulled herself out of bed.

Terriermon was still sleeping on the light green comforter on her bed so she moved quietly to the door. As she opened the door a blast of cold air hit her. That was one of the things she liked about her room, it kept all warmth inside of it.

She shut the door quickly and made her way down the hallway of the one story house. Passing by the climate control box she turned the temperature up to 73.

The small, square kitchen was empty and smelled vaguely of last nights dinner, tuna. On the counter there was a small notepad displaying something written in her mother's typical handwriting.

Hi Raven,

I'm going into town today with some friends and I'll be back late so don't wait up.

Love, Mom

P.S We need more food so could you run down to the store?

Her typical mother. Running out early in the morning and coming back way too late at night so Raven never even really saw her. Her mother could very well spend all her conscious hours at a bar somewhere in Lynn and barely make it to the station in time to catch the last train. Sometimes she wondered if her mom ever came home at all.

Raven took the two bagels she had bought last night out of their bag only to discover one was gone. Oh well, Terriermon and her would just have to share. She cut open the remaining plain bagel, buttered it, then put it in the toaster.

While the bread was toasting her mind wandered. What would her life be like today if her father hadn't died? Would she still be living the way she is now? He mind wandered back.

"Here Raven, catch this one." Her dad playfully threw the soft ball to Raven. They were playing outside in the front yard.

Giggling she ran after the ball, trying to catch it but it was just a little too fast for her. With a soft thud it hit the street and slowly rolled out to the middle.

"Hold it kido." Her dad put his hands gently on her shoulder. "Remember, if something ever goes out in the street you should get an a adult to help."

He stepped onto the curve and looked both ways before moving onto the street. They lived in a residential area so they never really had to worry about traffic. Once in the middle of the street he bent down to pick the ball up. Just as he straightened himself out and prepared to walk back Raven let out a cry.

"Daddy, watch out!"

A car turned from the road on the left of their house and came speeding down the road Raven's father was on. They had made no effort to brake, not even blow their horn. She had looked away and never actually saw the impact but she sure heard it. Later the police officers said they were going about 70 MPH when they hit him.

What happened next was a blur. Her mother had run out to see what happened then called an ambulance. A couple neighbors came out and tried to help but he was already dead. During all of this Raven had stood there in that same spot, watching.

Never before had she felt so helpless. He was there dying and she couldn't do a thing. Of course in the days following she had gotten talks and gone to see people who had all told her the same thing. It wasn't her fault. But of course it was her fault, she should've been more careful, not pestered hi to play with her, caught the ball, it was all her fault.

Pop! The sound of the toast popping out of the toaster brought Raven back to reality. She knew she couldn't allow herself to dwell on things like that.

Raven took cream cheese and strawberry jelly out of the fridge. Silently she put cream cheese on one half of the bagel, jelly on the other. Now she poured two glasses of orange juice and placed that, along with a couple of napkins on a tray.

She opened the door and brought it into her room to find Terriermon sitting on the floor in front of her deck of digimon cards. She could hear on the T.V in front of him something that sounded like: "Terriermon, Digivolve!"

"Watching Tamers eh?" she asked him as she set the tray down beside him and sat down.

"Yep this is an old one. Snakes, Trains, and Digimon." He set down the cards he was holding to have a bit of the jelly bagel. The two ate in silence watching the episode until a commercial brake.

"So," Terriermon turned to Raven. "I take it your mom's not home."

"Yep." Raven tore her eyes away from a Burger Barn add. "We're out of groceries too so I need to go into town and get some. Wanna come?

"No. I'm tired. All I want to do is lay around here."

"Okay suit yourself." The show came back on and the two fell into silence once again.

Raven looked ahead of her at the small town that was already starting to attract tourists. Manchester-by- the-Sea was your average town small town on the outskirts of Boston. It remained empty through most of the fall and winter but during the spring and summer lots of people who live in Boston take the commuter rail in to go to the beach.

Typically in the spring it wasn't that crowded, but today was abnormally warm. Raven looked at the crowds heading from the train station left, up the road to the beach. A train must've just come in.

Now she crossed the train tracks that divided the town. In front of her was one of the streets. It ran straight for a few yards then started up the small incline to the main road. Behind her the same road continued back past a few big houses and onto the public beach.

She turned left and walked along side of the tracks, heading in the direction of the train station. The grocery store was about 10 yards ahead of her, its back facing the tracks.

She entered the store picking up a small basket. Starting her journey at the produce/fruit department she picked up some lettuce, grapes, and potatoes. Next bread. She got a loaf of wheat and a loaf of white. She passed the alcohol section walking to the canned goods. Raven knew that if her mother was here she would start picking bottles of cheap beer and wine off the shelves like they were at a penny candy store.

Raven made it through the rest of her shopping okay and didn't pay that much either, only $20.56, she would have money left over to by a pact or two of Digimon cards from the local shop.

She exited the store and turned left humming Slash, not really looking where she was going. With a thud she felt herself run into another person. Looking up she saw it was Chelsea Donals and her posse.

"Yo freak, watch were you're going." The girl stepped back glaring at Raven. Her gaze traveled downward to the shopping bags Raven held in her hand. "You got food so now are you gonna go buy some of those stupid Digimon card thingys?"

Raven's resisted telling Chelsea that those Digimon thingys could kill her in an instant. "At least I have the sense to wear a jacket in the beginning of spring, I mean this is Boston after all." Raven gestured to the pink long-sleeved shirt Chelsea was wearing.

"I'd rather have fashion over a little warmth, but I guess not everybody thinks like me." She grimaced at Raven's outfit. "Later, freak." Before Raven had time to respond Chelsea walked past her and into the store her group of followers close behind. "Bitch." Raven mumbled under her breath.

Raven walked back down the road carrying the small addition of two packs of Digimon cards with her as she headed back home.

She liked living in Manchester if you were talking about the beach, or shops. It was a great small town suburb. But she wasn't as fond of the town if you were talking about her social life. It wasn't here present social life, hell she didn't really have one in this town at all. It's more about her past life here.

When she had first moved from Eastern North Carolina to here she had been enrolled in the local middle school, being in 6th grade at the time. Time went by and the teachers gradually began to notice that she was basically a step above the other 6th graders. In other words she was "Advanced." They had also noticed that she had a passion for learning about Eastern Asia, Japan to be more specific. So they must've put their heads together and came up with this idea: She should make the hour and a half commute in and out of Boston every day to attend the Aozora Academy; a private school in Boston. She really hadn't had a choice for her teachers were an insistent bunch, so for the start of 7th grade she found herself enroled and making the commute.

Things had gotten better there, she had made her first real friends since moving here: Ken and Monica. To this day they were the only ones beside her who knew about Terriermon. She didn't know what she would do if something happened to them too.

"Hey Raven, how did the shopping go?" Terriermon was sitting on the front steps. "Oh it was fine." Terriermon opened the screen door for her. "I ran into Chelsea today." She placed the shopping bags down on the wooden counter. "So I take it the bitch is doing well." "Yep her and here posse are just fine."

The two finished putting away the groceries and gradually drifted to the living room. Raven sat down on the floor, Terriermon beside her.

"Oh yeah, I got some new Digimon cards at Zack's today." Raven pulled the two packs of cards out of her hoodie's pocket. "What'd ya get?"

Raven opened the packs. "Well let's see a Digmon, Renamon, Terriermon my favorite, Speed Plug in B, Gatling Arm, here's a new one Wargreymon's Shield, the rest of them are all doubles."

"Wanna duel?" Terriermon held out a deck of cards. "Wait, where'd you get thoses?" Raven asked inspecting them more closely. "It doesn't matter where I got them, it matters whether you can duel me." Terriermon made the best serious face her could muster. "Of course I can duel you it's just whether I want to."

The two were interrupted by a beeping noise coming from Raven's belt.

"Looks we got ourselves a wild one." Raven unclipped the D-Arc from her belt, looking at its small LCD screen. "Come Terriermon destiny awaits." "Why does destiny always decide to come on the weekends?" Terriermon asked as they exited the house.

"Boss, what do we do now?" Veemon turned toward Agunmon who had just entered the room.

"Have her and her rabbit-dog fight of course."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Simple. Enter Flamedramon." Agumon's green eyes lit up suddenly.

Veemon Armor Digivolve to……… Flamedramon.

"Perfect." Agumon took Veemon's place at the monitors. "In this game only I am the true winner." His evil laugh filled the empty surveillance room.