I am not the owner of digimon, no matter how much I pray to be, so get over it. I would also like to say that Chapter Two is a short chapter, but it is important nonetheless.

Digimon: Twilight Chronicles

Chapter Two (The Digidestined Three)

Kai was the first to speak up as the digivice beeped continuously. "So, let's check it out."

Jamie shrugged. "Guess it couldn't hurt." The group of three began to make their way through the park with Jamie at the head of the pack, since he had the digivice. They walked for about a half an hour (the park was big) until they finally reached the source of it all. A young girl, the same one that had visited Jamie's shop, was sitting on a bench set at the edge of the walkway. In her hand was a digivice that resembled Jamie's apart from the fact that hers was pink and purple. She moved her head towards the direction of the group's footsteps and frighteningly asked, "Who's there?"

Before the three had a chance to respond, something leaped on Kai who fell to the ground in a mix of fright and surprise. When Jamie turned back, Kai was climbing to his feet. "What happened?" he inquired.

"Something jumped from the trees and knocked me to the ground!"

"What was it?"

"A...grr...digimon," growled Swiftarimon. Then he disappeared.

"Swiftari..." Jamie started, but the cat had already disappeared.

Kai raced over to Ariana in order to protect her from whatever was out there, but it appeared and knocked him to the ground again. This time, however, it did not vanish. It positioned itself between the fallen Kai and Ariana Arishima. It appeared to be some sort of feline, much like Swiftarimon, except it was white all over with pink patches of fur around its eyes, paws, and stomach. The tip of its tail was even pink. Around its neck was a sort of necklace, one that is usually worn by women of royalty on television. Because of the creature's appearance, it was assumed to be female. "Keep away from her." she growled. It bared its teeth which looked razor-sharp and its fur stood on end. It appeared that it was about to pounce, but as it did, it was tackled in mid-air by some unknown force. The female cat crashed into the ground while the unknown force landed gracefully in a nearby tree. It was Swiftarimon.

"Swiftarimon! Where were you?"

"Around. Couldn't be seen until I knew what I was up against."

The female cat crawled back to its feet and hissed at Swiftarimon.

"Now, now. Lets not be that way." Swiftarimon teased as he leaped from the tree to the ground. He zigzagged towards the pink and white digimon and slammed into it at full force. The cat cried as it once again fell backwards onto the sidewalk.

Ariana turned her head towards the commotion around her. "Tierramon!"

"Don't worry, Ariana. I'll protect you from these mean people!"

"Tierra...?" Jamie wondered.

Swiftarimon regally leaped into the air and cried, "Swiftari Stars!" The spots that covered Swiftarimon's body began to glow as red as a flaming torch and soon, they began to rise from his fur. They launched themselves at the pink and white cat with unbelievable speed, ready to impact upon the foe's weakened body.

"Swiftarimon! Stop!"

The miniature meteors vanished and Swiftarimon dropped to the walkway.

The voice had been Jamie's. Swiftarimon observed his tamer's face. His normal, cool-headed demeanor had been replaced with a look of concern. It wasn't normal.

As the flames vanished and Swiftarimon landed on the concrete, Jamie let out a sigh of relief. He had been worried that his digimon partner had not heard him. On the contrary, the cat had heard him just fine. "Don't hurt that digimon, Swiftari." he told his partner. "That is Ariana's digimon partner." Swiftarimon looked over at the female cat that stood weakly on its four legs then back at Jamie. He nodded his head as a sign that he would not bring harm to the pink and white one. Almost instantly, the female cat collapsed to the cement. Jamie, Kai, and Swiftarimon rushed over to her.

"Tierramon? Tierramon, are you there?"

Jamie turned back and saw Ariana standing up, searching the air with her hands.

"Tierramon, answer me. Are you all right?"

"Jamie," whispered Kai. "I think she's blind."

"I'll help her out." replied Jamie as he stepped over to Ariana. "This way, Ms. Arishima." he said, gently taking her by the hand. "Tierramon is over here. She got hurt pretty bad trying to protect you from us."

"Mr. Gotaki? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Call me 'Jamie' though."

"What happened to Tierramon," she asked.

"She thought we were going to hurt you and attacked us. We defended ourselves, and in the process, Tierramon was hurt. I'm sorry, Ms. Arishima. We didn't mean to."

They arrived next to Tierramon and Ariana placed her hands on her partner. "Tierramon? Tierramon, are you okay? Please, answer me. Tierramon?" she began to weep. At that moment, Ariana's digivice began to glow and the light surrounded Tierramon. After a minute or so, the light retracted back into the digivice's screen. It was a few seconds afterward that was important. Tierramon moved and then, slowly but surely, crawled to her feet. The pink cat brushed up against Ariana.

"Why are you crying?" she purred.

Ariana tilted her head upwards. Tears rolled down her cheek and, seeing this, Jamie wiped them away. "Tierramon? Is that you?" she sniffled. She tried her hardest to hold her tears back, but another one managed to escape as well. Like the first few, Jamie wiped them away.

"I'm okay, Ariana. I'm okay. There's no need to cry."

"Oh, Tierramon." she hugged her partner. Tears rolled down her cheek again, but this time, and Jamie knew it, they were tears of joy. She was glad that her digimon partner was safe. After a short silence where Ariana and Tierramon embraced, they stood up. Jamie and Kai had already risen and Swiftarimon had taken his place on the bench where Ariana originally sat. "Thank you, Mr. Gotak...I mean 'Jamie.'"

Tierramon walked over to Kai and rubbed against his leg. "I'm sorry I attacked you. I just thought that you three were going to hurt Ariana. She's the first human friend I've ever had, and I guess I was a little overprotective. Could you ever forgive me?"

Kai smiled at Tierramon and bent down. He began to pet her. "Don't worry."

"Yeah." yawned Swiftarimon. "Everybody makes mistakes."

"Hey Swiftarimon. Wake up. You can sleep at home."

"Sure, Ruin the fun." responded Swiftarimon, jumping up.

Ms. Tenrio had taken a seat on the couch and was trying to watch her favorite soap opera, but her son had been pacing back and forth in front of the television for half an hour...ever since he had come home.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

Kai glanced up as he continued pacing. "Oh, it's nothing, mom."

"You've been pacing for thirty minutes. Something's up."

"I'm just bored."

"School is out, and you're still bored?"

"Jamie's working, and I've got nothing to do. It's just...I don't know."

"What about those new cards you got yesterday?"

"My Next Level cards! I forgot about those." He jumped up. "Thanks, mom! You're the best." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and then sped to his room. The packages of digimon cards were sitting next to his computer and card scanner. He positioned himself in the chair sitting next to the desk and tore open the packets.

The first one contained five common cards, three uncommons, and a rare Dark Network card. He set those down next to his deck and ripped open the second packet. Inside was four commons, three uncommons, and two super-rares: KendoGarurumon and Agunimon. He placed the two cards in his deck and reached for the third packet. He tore this one open and extracted the other five cards. There were four commons, three uncommons, one rare Wargreymon, and another card that Kai had never seen before. Where the picture would be, there was only a white space. The stats weren't even filled in. There was no name. It was as if the artists had created the layout for the card, but had never decided which digimon to put on the card. "Strange." He added the Wargreymon card to his deck and laid the other cards next to his card scanner. He held onto the blank card, grabbed his deck, and went down to Jamie's store.

Jamie was helping a group of kids out, so Kai decided to look around the shop. He noticed the card scanners that Jamie and his mother had hooked up for public use, so Kai walked over to it and pulled out the blank card. "Shouldn't do any harm." he mumbled as he slashed the card through the scanner. He heard a small electrical bzzt and finished swiping the card. He looked at the card and there was a picture of a panther-like digimon. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming and, sure enough, he wasn't. The blank card has just turned into a digimon card. The name etched across the side of the card read Panthurmon. His attacks were Panther Claw and Roaring Quake.

"Hey." called a voice from behind him. He almost jumped out of his shoes.

"Jamie, I'm going to kill you one day for that." he stated as he turned. "How's business going along? I noticed some customers in here when I came in, so I hung around until they left. Hope you don't mind."

"Of course not, moocher. I clock out in an hour. Hang around until then. Mom is upstairs. She'll probably let you raid the refrigerator if you go up and talk with her. You look emaciated." he quipped.

"I might go later."

"Well, like I said, one hour. I'll be free all day after that."

"Okay. I'll be here."

Jamie walked off and Kai continued to scan over his new card. "I wonder." He headed for the door and bolted out. The bell jingled againto announce his departure. As it did, he thought he heard Jamie yell a quick, "See you later." He zipped down the street, back to his house, and up to his room. He stopped just long enough to give his mother a kiss on the cheek. In his room, he opened up the drawer to his desk and withdrew a rickety-looking card scanner.

The scanner was an older version of the ones found in the Gotaki Card Shop and in Jamie's room. Kai and his mother were never able to afford the newer models and every time they got enough money, they spent it on things they needed. It wasn't anyone's fault for them not having money. That's just the way it was. Kai used to hate it, but he's since learned to deal with it. Besides, if he wanted a newer model, he could always trade his into Jamie. That was one of the good things about having Jamie Gotaki as his best friend.

Kai withdrew the card from his deck holder and, after one quick glance at it, swiped it through the card scanner. Unfortunately, neither the card nor the card scanner did anything. Kai raised his hand up to his eye and wiped away a small tear. Only one. "I should've known that it wouldn't work." he smirked. "I guess you can't have everything." He placed the card back in his deck and poked his head out of the door. "Mom, could you wake me up in an hour?"

"Are you laying down?"

"Yeah. I thought I'd get a little shuteye before Jamie clocked out."

"Okay. No problem."

"And don't knock me out of bed."

"I won't." she chuckled.

Kai collapsed on his bed and fell quickly into dreamland.

The sun shined through the small clouds. It was a beautiful spring day, and Kai realized that he was flying. He felt the air against his face. The breeze felt wonderful. He opened his eyes in excitement. He watched the town below, and he felt free at last. He looked up towards the sky. It was beautiful, and so were the trees below him. He opened his mouth and laughed as the breeze carried him high above the earth. Looking up at the clouds again, it seemed as though they were opening up, in order to reveal the sun's light. But it wasn't light that beamed down from the sun. Instead, a dark beam pierced the clouds and penetrated down to the earth. The world became covered in a dark mist. Darkness. Complete darkness. But through the darkness, a single beam of light streamed through and directed itself to the floating Kai. It engulfed him and he could see nothing. Then he woke up. A dream. That's all it had been. He hadn't been flying at all. He sat up in bed and rubbed his head. He had a splitting headache.

At that point in time, Ms. Tenrio poked her head through the door. "Kai...?"

"Don't worry, mom. I'm up already."

"Oh. Umm...okay." She walked off and left the door ajar.

Kai slipped his shoes back on, took hold of his digi-battle deck, and sprinted all the way to Jamie's shop. Just outside of Jamie's shop, a bicyclist came riding by, knocking Kai to the ground. "I am not having a good few days." He cursed as he climbed to his feet. When he was upright, he was able to discern a young girl being led towards the shop by a pink and white cat. "Ariana?" he guessed.

"Mr. Tenrio?" she inquired.

"Call me 'Kai.' What are you doing here?"

"I came to buy some cards. Why'd you come?"

"Jamie's my best friend. We were going to hang out."

"Can I come?"

"Sure you can come. But first, we need to get Jamie."

Kai opened the door and the bell jingled again. He led Ariana through the door and into the card shop. Jamie was leaning back in his chair, and peered up at them as they crossed showroom floor. "Where've you been, Tenrio? And is that Ariana?"

"Waiting for you, Gotaki. And yeah, it is."

"So why did you drop by earlier?" interrogated the card keeper.

"Because I have a card I want you to check out."

"What card would that be?"

Kai opened up his deck holder and placed his hand on the cards. At once, Kai's deck began to glow. The source of the light was coming from one of the cards in his deck. He slid his fingers in and removed the desired card from its place. He held it up and it continued to glow. The card altered its appearance once more and turned into a blue card. Jamie's eyes widened, and Kai looked up at him. "J, I'm going to need to borrow a card reader." he said with a smirk.

"Be my guest." Jamie offered.

Kai shuffled past him and positioned himself in front of the card scanner. He looked over the card one last time, held it up in the air, and cried out, "Card Slash!" Then, he scanned the card through the reader. Almost immediately, the scanner transformed into a digivice with a design similar to that of Jamie and Ariana's. This digivice's color scheme was blue and green, however. Kai's disposition was that of surprise and he laughed out loud as he repeated, "I've got a digivice!" Him and Jamie traded high fives and Ariana gently smiled.

Then his digivice began to beep. They stopped celebrating and he stared down at it. "What's wrong with it, J?" He asked Jamie Gotaki as he gazed at it dumbfounded.

"I don't know." Jamie shrugged.

The digivice continued beeping.

"I wonder why it's doing that." Kai was baffled.

It beeped again, and Jamie frowned.

"It's starting to tick me off, too."

Then, Jamie's digivice began beeping, and then Ariana's. Finally, all three digivices began beeping in unison. Jamie reached his finger down and began to scan through the various options. He finally reached one option that he thought might be causing their digivices to beep. "Hey, guys. Check out the Messages section. It is the...fourth option down." Kai followed Jamie's directions and Tierramon assisted Ariana in getting to the section. In each digivices Message section, there was an email with an attachment. Jamie opened his at the same time the other two did. Ariana's digivice began to repeat what the email said. The email said simply:

Dear Chosen, welcome to your destiny. Please open the attached file.

Jamie and Kai turned to each other and nodded. They looked to Ariana and asked, "If you're not going to do it, that's okay." She smiled and replied, "I couldn't let you two have all the fun. I'm in." Tierramon and Swiftarimon agreed with the tamers. The three kids opened the email's attachment. Immediately, the three digivices began to glow and a voice that came from nowhere said, "Welcome, digidestined, to your destiny."