After months of not updating the second chapter of the sequel is finally up! Sorry for the wait. With university keeping me busy I didn't have much time. Then once I got off university a month ago I needed some time to get into the writing mode. But I am now and hopefully the updates will be closer together from now on. I changed the rating to R due to sexual material in this chapter. No lemon though, I'm done with those. So after months its time for you to finally enjoy the new chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon this is just fan fiction.

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Chapter Two: Digivolution Renewed

Green, I was completely surrounded by the colour. Green grass, green trees, green hedges, green flowers, and other types of green undying plant life. The houses surrounded by the thriving plant life were pastel green houses, trimmed with a bit of yellow among the edges. The same shade of green you might find around Easter time.

Children played happily in their yards as I walked by - even they had splotches green on them, left by the grass as they carelessly played in it. I don't think I made my uncle worry about grass stains that way. Dead grass doesn't leave grass stains.

Everything was so cheerful here. Dogs' leashes' were intact. They rarely escaped their kennels. When they did they weren't much of a threat. They were more of a pleasure really. Friendly, they approached you with a wagging tail, instead of a foaming mouth. The most threat a dog could offer you here was a seemingly vicious bark as you walked by. Even then it was only a matter of you taking two steps towards them before they backed down. The blinds were never drawn on houses. People had a sort of comfort level as you walked by. Paranoia didn't exist in this neighbourhood. There was no need for it to. Not when the most fearsome burglar climbed trees and ate nuts. Litter was almost non-existent, and even when it was; it was usually a soda can, or a candy wrapper. It was much more pleasant than broken alcohol bottles and condom wrappers.

It was so cheery, happy, like out of a black and white fifties sitcom. It was almost perfect. I hated it! I hated it because I loved it so much. You always seemed to resent the things you know you can never have.

This was one of the reasons I rarely went to Alex's house this time of the day. I always went with him on the way home from school, when the dust of cars and school buses clouded the brightness. When I did I stayed until it was dark, and walked home when the night covered it up. I didn't like resenting Alex's neighbourhood, because it made me resent Alex, and that made me resent myself. It wasn't his fault that he had this kind of a life and I didn't. Feeling this sort of resentment towards him for something that he couldn't control always made me feel guilty, so I avoided it. I only traveled through his neighbourhood when it was engulfed in dirt and darkness, like mine always was. Unfortunately this time it couldn't be avoided. I had already missed the rush of buses, and kids on their way home from school, and what I needed to discuss with him couldn't wait until dark.

I clutched the pamphlet for the DC tournament tightly in my hand. I'd read over the entry requirements briefly. There were two mandatory qualifications for the tournament. One: Participants needed to be twelve or older. That wasn't a problem for me; I had covered that requirement two years ago. It was the second that worried me. Like Alex had mentioned before, participants needed to be of the adept status before they could qualify for the tournament. This of course meant I needed at least one thousand DC points, and the card that Alex had gave me had a measly twenty- five points. It was standard for a recently acquired card, but still not even close to get into the tournament. If I wanted to obtain enough points to qualify I needed to talk to Alex as soon as possible.

To my great relief I soon reached Alex's house. I didn't know how much more of this green I could take. I knocked on the door, and it was only a few moments later when a bright smiling woman appeared to greet me. Alex's mother.

"Krystal!" she said cheerily, giving a smile that almost made me sick. "Come on in, I'll find Alex for you." I gave a polite smile, and stepped into the house. The door had ornamental bells on the knob; they tinkled as the door shut. The brightness of the house wasn't much different from outside. The only difference was the colour: blue. Blue carpet, blue painted walls, all enclosing blue furniture covered with a floral light blue floral pattern. It almost made me messed the yellow peeling wallpaper, and brown-checkered couch in my apartment. The only item in the room that was not blue was a raven black armchair, where Alex's father sat, his head hidden by the newspaper.

The colours were only one aspect of the house that enthralled my senses. Not long after entry my nose was filled with the scent of freshly baked cookies - typical. As much as resentment and yearning flowed through my mind, I couldn't help but be drawn in the direction of the kitchen, where the cookies lay cooling on the counter. Next to them was a little Digimon sneakily reaching for the biggest one.

"You might want to hire an exterminator," I said motioning towards the cookie thief. "You've got a bat problem."

Her head turned towards the direction I was pointing. "Demidevimon!" she snapped. The little Digimon retreated to armrest of the black chair, and his partner's side, mumbling something about me under his breath.

Labramon - who stayed close to my side, as she always did - chuckled. She and Demidevimon didn't get along very well. Mind you Demidevimon never got along with anyone - aside from Andrew.

Alex's mother scolded her husband. "Andy, will you keep that thing under control!"

Alex's father - Andrew - chuckled. "Demidevimon don't steal cookies while there are people watching." Andrew's mother only rolled her eyes and sighed, ignoring Andrew's comment. After a decade and a half of being married to him, she must have been used to it by now. I'd known him about half that long, and I was. His personality was strange. There were times when he would make smart ass jokes like that one, then there were other times. Times when he was cold as ice. And it was impossible to tell how he would act. I asked Alex about it once. He told me that his father had a rough childhood growing up. I didn't pursue it anymore. I was always annoyed when people asked about my rough life. The last thing I wanted to do was awaken a sleeping giant.

I considered asking Cam about it, he rarely told me anything about Alex's father, or his aunt. It was one of the few things about the Digidestined's past that even I knew little about. In fact, I don't even think Alex knew anything about his aunt. I doubted that they had ever met. I could tell there was some dark history there. The one splotch on his otherwise perfect family, but I never asked him about it. There were certain things about my life Alex didn't pry into, and so I respected him in the same manner.

"Anyway," Andrew's mother said. "Alex should just be upstairs, go right ahead."

"No he's not," Andrew said, not looking up from his paper. "He left about half an hour ago for the park, to do some training for that tournament."

Alex's mother looked shocked. "What? He didn't tell me."

Andrew turned the page on his paper. "Does he really need to? He's fourteen, he's old enough to go out on his own."

"His mother should still know where her son is!"

"When I was his age I-"

Alex's mother quickly interrupted, raising her voice. "When you were his age you were a pick-" She stopped scolding as she remembered that I was still here. Her voice returned to her cheerful self, and her face brightened.

I spoke before she did. "Well, I'm going to see if I can catch Alex at the park then."

"All right sweetie," Alex's mother said with a cheerful smile. After the almost-fight it seemed a lot less cheerful than it had previously. "Have fun."

I smiled politely and gave a tiny wave on my way out, once again venturing into the green. It wasn't quite as harsh as it had been before I had entered the house. The sun hadn't set, but you could tell that it was preparing too. The sky was only slightly dimmer, and even better were the numerous clouds of dust that had been conjured up from parents' cars returning from work.

Fortunately the park was only a few blocks away. Labramon and I were there in a matter of minutes. I turned walked through the metal gate and into the park. The change here was almost as extreme as the green to blue one of the houses. The green hadn't left, but it was a different kind of green. It was artificial. The trees and grass that grew here weren't natural. The trees were planted in lines, surrounding the park like a wall, separating it from the rest of the world. I guess trees were used instead of a fence because it was a park, it was the outdoors; trees made it seem more natural. Maybe some people fell for that trick, but I didn't. Trees didn't grow that way. Trees didn't act like children lining up for teacher.

The grass wasn't any different. It was real grass all right, but it didn't look like it. It's length reached an inch up my shoe at the longest. In addition each blade of grass was the same length, as if they all agreed to grow at the same rate. Even the colour was artificial. The brightest green imaginable probably made that way with some sort of fertilizer. It was grass, but it wasn't real grass. Real grass wasn't this neat. It grew long and brushed against your heels. Real grass didn't grow in symmetry, patches of it were long, and others were short, chewed by animals. Real grass wasn't this green; it had yellow patches, brown patches, and different shades of green. Sometimes it was bright green like this, but usually the whole lawn wasn't. I never liked parks like these. If I wanted to spend time outside, in nature, I'd actually spend time in nature, not man's pathetic attempt to copy it or "improve" on it. It just didn't work. Actually, it made it worse. Made nature seem like nature was something its not.

I liked nature and all, but not like this. I liked it better when its imperfections were visible, when the brightening effects of fertilizer on grass didn't hide them. It was nice to look at, and be around, but it was artificial - not to mention painfully irritating.

I walked past through the field of grass in front of me. Within the field was what I expected to see. Balls being thrown among families, and groups of friends, dogs catching Frisbees, children wrestling for no reason. Everything you expected to see in a park. Occasionally I had to dodge the stray flying object. I'm sure I'd had gotten hit in the head several times if Labramon hadn't been there to tell me to duck. Most of the time I couldn't even identify what they were. They seemed to come out with a new toy to throw around once every week these days.

Finally, after escaping the barrage of tossing toys I reached my destination. This was the one area of the park that I didn't mind so much: The tennis and basketball courts. At least these areas didn't try to be artificial. They were pain on concrete. Something simply man made, not some Frankenstein version of nature that the rest of the park was. It was what it was, and even though it didn't look as pretty as the green part of the park, but at least it looked like what it was supposed to be: artificial.

I ignored the basketball courts. I knew Alex wouldn't be there. My destination was the tennis courts. I was in luck; Alex and Lopmon were in the first court I searched. Alex was in the court about to begin a Digital Combat match.

A chain link fence surrounded the court and the net had been removed long ago. I don't think I could remember a time when these the tennis court had actually been used for tennis. They were all purpose courts now. Sometimes skateboarders brought in ramps and skated there. Parents would take their kids their to teach them how to rides bikes, but in the last couple of years their main purpose served for Digital Combat matches. With the high fence, once used to guard spectators from stray balls, it was a perfect enclosed place for combat lists to fight and for people to watch outside the fence without a great fear of being hit by a stray energy attack. Not that a rookie attack could do a lot to you. I rarely ever watched a Combat, but occasionally, when I was bored, I would let Alex drag me here so I could watch he and Lopmon fight. I knew a fair amount how Combat worked around here. It usually didn't take Alex long to find a challenger.

Alex's opponent was a couple years older than the two of us. His Digimon partner was a rock type Digimon, known as Gotsumon. It was weak by Digimon standards, but for a rookie it was very powerful, especially considering the way his partner looked. He was punkish looking. His hair was dyed blue with green dyed green stripes running down the sides. His leather jacket had spikes on the shoulders, and cuffs. Lastly his face was filled every single piercing imaginable.

Sadly, I knew the guy. He lived in my apartment building, on the below us, and constantly shook our floor with his punk metal music. He was a stereotype if I ever met one. That was why I could tell his Gotsumon had to be powerful. This was the kind of guy that would push his Digimon to immeasurable lengths to make him stronger. Even if he came close to killing him, he didn't care. Unfortunately as immoral as that technique was, it was effective. I'd seen that Gotsumon in the courtyard, using ruble for target practice. There were very few large pieces when they were finished.

Fortunately, for Alex power didn't matter. He and Lopmon had a unique style of Digital Combat. It was a style that I found to be much more effective than relying on nothing but pure brute force.

I maneuvered my way through the small crowd that had formed outside the tennis court to get a closer look at the fight. I didn't enjoy watching Digimon fight each other: for reasons I've stated enough times already, but now that I was beginning to fighting in one of those stupid fights myself, I might as well watch, maybe learn a few tricks. I knew plenty about Digimon, but I knew very little about Digital Combat strategy, it was time to actually watch Alex fight, instead of staying behind the crowd and hearing him brag about it later. I placed my hands on the fence, and began to watch.

The punk kid arrogantly brushed his horribly coloured hair out of his face, and spoke. "Big mistake challenging me kiddy. You may be one of the toughest comabatalists here, in this little fussy park, but I'm a lot tougher than all the weaklings you fight."

"Oh that's original!" Alex said. "Like I haven't heard that one before. You know every once and awhile we get some punk over here from that crap-hole you call a neighbourhood, and they always claim to be so tough, but you're really all the same. Just a bunch of pathetic punks that use primitive combat techniques." I did my best to ignore that last comment. It stung, more than usual this time considering that it had come from my best friend. My neighbourhood was a crap-hole, but still, that didn't make those comments any less painful. My neighbourhood was a crap-hole, but still, that didn't make those comments any less painful. Like I usually did, I usually let it slide off my back. I'd learn to live with such comments. If I reacted every time somebody insulted my living conditions, I'd be making a scene almost everyday of my life.

"Primitive!" the kid yelled angrily. "I use whatever strategy works. We'll see how primitive it is when my overwhelming power pummels you into the ground."

Alex just laughed. "You just proved my point. Pure brute force, classic Neanderthal strategy."

"Enough! Once Gotsumon is done with that rabbit of yours, I'm shutting that mouth of yours, by filling it with bloody teeth." He turned briefly to his Digimon. "Gotsumon, you know what to do."

Gotsumon grinned menacingly, a look he and his partner now shared. It was creepy really. Usually Gotsumon were so gentle and friendly. Your average Gotsumon wouldn't hurt a plain. However, based on the bone-chilling look this Gotsumon was giving Lopmon, you could tell he wasn't like your average Gotsumon.

Most likely this Gotsumon's behavior was a direct result of his partner's personality, and treatment of him. A rough hand, and harsh training always resulted in this menacing behavior from a Digimon. This was exactly why the defenders of the Digital World sealed the Digiport from the Digidestined, because of punks like these. They corrupted even the friendliest of Digimon, until it was not safe to permit them access to the Digital World.

It was hard to believe that there was a time when all Digidestined were good and decent enough that such a threat did not exist. It seemed every year, more and more Digidestined were becoming corrupt like this kid. Of course there were more. In my parent's day Digidestined were a rare commodity, not to mention handpicked by the forces of the Digital world. These days not only were Digidestined a dime a dozen, but more and more were inheriting their partners through genetics, rather than divine influence. There was bound to be an increased amount of corrupt soles in unwatched masses.

How long would it be until were like the rest of the human race? How long the corrupt and evil outnumbered the few exceptional people who actually had good intentions. Sometimes I wished my parents had failed to defeat Evamon from filling the world with evil. It would have made things a lot faster.

I snapped myself out of my train of thought, as the fight finally began. With a loud scream he began his first attack. As he screamed, little bits of granite began to rise from the concrete floor of the court. Soon following them were larger pieces of granite, a stray rock or too. In a matter of moments every last stone, from the tiniest grain of sand, to rocks about the size of my big toe, was floating in the air.

I didn't know much about Digital Combat, but I knew enough about Digimon attacks to know that Gotsumon was using a power up move.

Gotsumon confirmed my suspicions as he gave one final scream, and finished up the attack. Each stone hovering around Gotsumon shot into his body, and in a matter of moments, each and every rock became assimilated into the rock Digimon's body. There may not have been a rock larger than a ping-pong ball in that had became assimilated into Gotsumon's body, but there was such a large quantity of loose rocks that the assimilation had caused the little rookie Digimon to get at least three times bigger.

Gotsumon's eyes began to glow an eerie red, as he grinned evilly at Lopmon.

"After seeing this power, I bet your partner still doesn't think our strategy is primitive anymore," Gotsumon said to Lopmon.

Quickly, Alex and Lopmon exchanged glances, and their strategy became crystal clear to me. I usually avoided Alex's matches, but there were times when, to be a good friend, attending them was unavoidable, and this strategy was standard for them. I could spot it in a second.

Lopmon snickered. "Actually it just seems to be one hundred percent power to me. I think you just proved to the both of us that it's nothing but primitive."

"That's enough!" The kid yelled. "Trash him!"

"With pleasure!" Gotsumon screamed angrily throwing his gigantic fist forward. "Rock fist."

Normally a Gotsumon's rock fist produced a rock about the size of a human fist, but this time the rock that Gotsumon hurled at Lopmon was much bigger than that. This rock was the size of a human head.

Fortunately for Lopmon he was quick, and effortlessly jumped a foot to the side, and the rock landed with a horrible crash only a few inches away from him. The gap probably could have been much wider.if Lopmon had wanted to be.

"Your aim's not bad." Lopmon said, a cocky grin on his face. ".For a primitive Digimon with nothing but rocks in his head."

"Stop saying that!" Gotsumon screamed as he threw his fist forward, launching another giant rock at Lopmon. Again, Lopmon was able to dodge with minimal effort.

"Wow, throwing rocks," Lopmon said, with the same mocking tone. "That's a creative battle tactic; why it's right up there with hitting things with clubs."

"Shut up! Shut up!" Gotsumon screamed, this time firing two rocks from his fists. Despite the fact that there was now an extra projectile being hurled at Lopmon, he seemed to dodge both of them with even more ease than he had with one.

Lopmon faked a yawn. "You know if you're just going to chuck stuff at me this fight is going to get real boring real fast. Not that I expected any less of course."

"I said shut up!" Gotsumon screamed.

The enlarged rock Digimon charged with incredible raged and Alex's Digimon, and slammed his fist into the ground, right where Lopmon was standing, or where he was standing. Lopmon had jumped out of the way at the last second, and gracefully landed on Gotsumon's head. He purposely allowed his ears to fall into Gotsumon's face, only to enrage him further.

"You little punk!" Gotsumon screamed. He grabbed desperately at the little Digimon on his head, but this wasn't the first time Lopmon had done this and it was quite easy for him to avoid Gotsumon's giant hands grabbing at him. Finally Lopmon decided that Gotsumon had become aggravated enough and jumped off his head.

"I am really going to enjoy reconfiguring your data bunny boy!" Gotsumon screamed. Lopmon glanced briefly at Alex, who gave a slight nod. They were both ready to move onto the next phase of their strategy.

Again Lopmon snickered mockingly. "Reconfigure my data? You mean, if you can ever get your hands on it?"

"I'll get my fist on it!" Gotsumon screamed angrily.

Gotsumon lunged and swung his massive fist. Again, it took minimal effort for Lopmon to dodge, but this time it took less effort than it had before. Gotsumon was attacking out of anger. It was resulting in sloppy attacks. His punches were full of power, but what good was that power if you were too distracted by anger to use them properly.

It was a classic strategy of Alex and Lopmon's. They angered their opponents in such a way that they couldn't focus. Their opponent's attacks got sloppy and easy to avoid. Lopmon was good at dodging attacks.for a while anyway. After some time of dodging them he would get tired, and he found it difficult to dodge, but if they were to suddenly get sloppy, like they were now, fatigue barely came into play. Gotsumon's fist missed, and merely crashed into the ground, causing an enormous dent in the pavement. He struck another time, but once again Lopmon dodged without difficulty. Gotsumon punched again, and again, and again, but Lopmon only continued to dodge effortlessly. Gotsumon through one last punch only to, once again, miss and create yet another hole in the court.

"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon yelled, attacking for the first time during the battle.

Lopmon's attack consisted of an icy wind being fired from his mouth. It connected with Gotsumon's fist, which he was beginning to pull from the ground. 'Beginning' was all he was able to do. Lopmon's icy attack froze it to the ground. Gotsumon was now immobile.

"Something wrong?" Lopmon asked. "You stuck?"

"I only need one fist to pound you into oblivion!" Gotsumon screamed.

The lumbering giant rock Digimon threw his free fist, in one desperate last desperate attempt to land an attack. It was pointless. If Lopmon was able to dodge him before, it was nothing to avoid him now. Gotsumon only made another enormous dent as he punched the pavement.

"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon yelled again.

Gotsumon screamed in frustration as his second fist became frozen to the ground. Now he was completely immobilized.

"Gotsumon!" Alex's opponent yelled angrily. "What are you doing you can break free of that ice! It was only produced by that puny little runt."

Lopmon smirked as Gotsumon attempted to break free of the ice.

Gotsumon screamed with incredible rage. "I-I CAN'T!"

"What do you mean you can't? It's just a little ice."

"Okay, we've teased him enough Lopmon. Finish it!"

"About time," Lopmon said. "Been waiting for this. Blazing Ice!"

Lopmon fired one final attack, which connected with Gotsumon's face freezing his head completely. Gotsumon stopped trying to break free. In fact, he had stopped moving entirely.

"And that would be it," Alex announced proudly.

"No way! Gotsumon can still fight."

Alex's opponent quickly unclipped his Digivice from his waist, and stared in horror at the screen. Alex patted his waist, where his Digivice was located. "Your seventy five DC points are now mine."

The kid's head rose from his Digivice. He did not look pleased. I could only assume that the numbers on his Digivice that indicated his total DC points now read seventy five less than they had before the battle.

"You little punk!" he yelled.

"Come on Lopmon, let's go." Alex said. "We've got enough points to qualify for the tournament now. Let's head home to rest up."

Alex turned around, walking towards the exit of the court he waved for Lopmon to follow. He immediately did.

Anger was still clear on his face. Alex's defeated opponent approached his Digimon, and knelt down next to him. I wasn't sure but for a second I thought I saw concern on his face. Even if I did I doubt he was concerned for Gotsumon. Knowing this kid he was probably just worried about how this would hurt his future in future combat.

"Don't worry about him," Alex said, opening the door to the court fence. "That ice should thaw in about ten minutes. Gotsumon should be fine."

"You're not going to get away with humiliating me like this kid! You'll pay for this."

Alex allowed the door to the court to slam shut as he stepped out. Lopmon was now riding on his shoulder.

"Uh huh, sure you will," he said in a monotone manner.

He was beginning to head home. Now I could finally talk to him. I separated from the rest of the crowd; most of which fought to be the next two to use the court, and approached Alex. He stopped after I tapped his shoulder.

"Not exactly a modest competitor are you?" I said as he turned around. He looked pleasantly surprised. "Krystal! What are you doing here? I thought you hated watching my battles."

My brain began to stutter as I attempted to think of something say something to that. I had never actually said to him I hated watching he and Lopmon fight, but I had made it somewhat obvious by my reaction whenever he invited me to watch. Thus the last remark, but still I continued to fear to actually tell him.

"I don't - I don't hate it," I said nervously. "It's just something I don't find enjoyable." I sighed. "You know my thing with Digimon."

"Yeah I'm quite aware of it. That would be why I asked why you were here." He grinned and crossed his arms. "So what's up?"

I took a deep breath as I prepared to eat my words. "I decided to take you up on that offer."

His smirk grew, and he pretended to be intrigued. "What offer is that?"

Typical Alex. That jerk. He knew exactly I was talking about, but he was always had to have his fun. Usually I humoured him and played along. It was fun in a way, but this time I was in know mood and decided to just out and say it.

"I want to enter that Digital Combat tournament that's happening next week."

His mocking grin quickly transformed into a congratulatory happy one. Even though he had figured it all out the second I opened my mouth he was still surprised. Hell, I could hardly believe I was doing this. "That's great! I've always hoped you would be become a combatalist! Now we can have something to do together."

"Hey I wouldn't say I'm going that far. I'm just entering this one tournament. I-" I froze for a moment, unsure whether or not to tell him, but whether I wanted to or not I needed help with this. Telling him was the only way. Besides he was my best friend, I could trust him with it. I just spat it out.

"I need the money."

His expression changed from happy to concerned in a split second. I wasn't surprised. Alex knew me well enough to know I wasn't a selfish person. That mixed into the fact I hated Digimon made it clear that I would never enter this tournament unless I really needed the money.

"The money? Is something wrong? I mean I know you're not exactly living in the lap of luxury, but I thought you and your uncle were managing."

He spoke very quickly, as he was the one going through financial problems and not myself. I sighed. "We were, but-"

Again I froze, but it wasn't fear of telling Alex that was holding me back this time. It was something else. I looked over my shoulder - both ways. We were awfully close to the crowd watching the Digimon fights in the tennis courts. I doubted they were paying much attention to us, but still.

My sunk head as I spoke the next words. "Can we talk about this somewhere else? It's kind of a personal matter, and - the crowd."

He nodded understandingly, and immediately turned, motioning for me to follow him. I did so. We exited the sports area of the court, and re- entered the field, until we eventually reached the wall of trees surrounding the park. Alex took a seat under one of the trees, leaning against the trunk. I did the same on a second nearby tree. That's when the uncomfortable silence began. Alex was waiting for me to begin talking. I didn't wish to. Even before this new situation reared its head I had felt enough shame, living where I did, being part of a family with such little money, and being a step away from complete poverty. Meanwhile Alex and his family lived in the lap of luxury, and no serious financial worries. I understood it was just petty jealousy. Alex didn't care about that stuff, he was my best friend, but that didn't matter, the shame was still there. Now Cam and I were in looking at an even tougher situation. It made me feel even lower. I was going to stall telling him this as long as possible.

Labramon and Lopmon stayed through the awkward silence for about five minutes. But after a nod of approval of Alex, they both retreated to the bright green field, hoping to find a group of people or Digimon that might throw a ball, Frisbee, or whatever, for them.

"So are you going to talk to me, or what?" he said, almost a little too harshly. I nodded. "Yeah - It's just hard. I don't like having to repeat this. Its hard to deal with."

"Its ok. You know you can tell me."

Now how many times had I heard that from him? He was right I could tell him. Whenever I had needed to talk to him about anything I had to deal with he always understood. He never showed a negative reaction. Sometimes he even said something to make me feel better. But even keeping that in mind, it wasn't his reaction that was the worst part. It was anticipating the reaction that I hated. It had never been negative before, but there was still something in me that always anticipated the worst.

"Are you and your uncle going through some money problems."

Again I nodded. "Yeah." I quickly shook my head, contradicting myself. "Maybe. I'm not sure." I expected, and feared, him to make some sort of joke from him. Fortunately that's not what I received. He just looked on expectantly, giving me some silent indication he wanted me to elaborate. That reaction somehow made it easier for me to go on.

"The mill is going through a wood shortage or something. its causing budget problems. So, long story short, my uncle could lose his job, and if that happens the two of us are pretty much screwed. As you know, we're barely getting along as it is, if this happens we may end up on the street." It looked like he was about to say something. I swooped in before he said what I knew he was about to say. "Cam never actually said that would happen, but I know it was just something he was trying to hide from me. That's why I need the money."

Alex leaned over slightly and took my hand in comfort.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry. I couldn't possibly understand how you must be feeling right now."

Just like I thought. His reaction was anything but negative, and as I knew deep down he didn't think any less of me. I could tell by the look on his face he didn't. Still.it didn't make me feel any better. As comforting as his sympathy was, it didn't take away the shame. In fact being pitying by someone who had as much money as him almost made it worse.

"You know you don't have to do this," he said. "With my last victory I'm at the Advanced level. I qualify for the tournament, and I'm not in it for the money. I'm just in it for fun, like I always do. If I win I'll give my winnings for you and you're uncle."

I smiled warmly. "Thanks, but I think I should enter the tournament anyway."

"Come on! Don't be like that! I know how much you can't stand Digital Combat, or anything to do with Digimon for that matter. Don't be stubborn, swallow your pride and take some charity."

I almost laughed as I shook my head. "That's not why I'm entering anyway. This is my uncle's welfare we're talking about. I'm more than willing to sacrifice my pride for that. So I'm willing to accept your charity if you win, but as good as you are, from what I've heard about this tournament there's going to be a lot of serious comabatalists in this tournament. There's no guarantee you'll earn any money. The odds would just be better if we both entered."

"Oh right," he said blushing and smiling nervously. "I guess that does make sense."

"Which brings me to another point. You see, at this point I can't even enter."

I eyed my Digivice as I spoke. Noting the mere fifty points that were displayed in the lower right hand corner.

"I only have fifty points. I'm at the Beginner level. I need to be at the Advanced level to enter the tournament, which means I'm nine hundred fifty points short of the minimum requirement. That's why I came to see you Alex. You know everything about this game. Is there anyway I could get a lot of DC points really quick."

Alex's head fell in deep thought. "Hmm, nine hundred fifty points in less than a week. I-I don't know." I hated it when he said "I don't know." It was his way of saying know, and not hurting your feelings.

"Just say it!" I yelled. "Is there any way?"

I asked as if I didn't know the answer, but I still wanted the satisfaction of hearing him spit out the words himself.

He sighed and shook his head. "No. It took me almost a year to get as far as I am, and I'm just three points over the minimum requirement. You'd have to battle a whole lot within the next victory to get to the Advanced level. Even then you'd have to win all those battles."

I let my head fall hopelessly to the back of the tree I was leaning on.

"I was afraid of this. I really wanted to be able to help my uncle."

"Now hold on, I never said there was no way you could enter the tournament."

My head shot up. "But you just said I couldn't get the points fast enough."

"You probably can't," he confirmed. "But you may not need them. However, you may not like what you'll have to do."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. He better not about to say what I thought he was. He immediately picked up on what I was implying, and quickly replied.

"No, no, no. Nothing like that."

"Then what?" I asked. I didn't think that's what he meant anyway.

"You see," he began. "The tournament is pretty commercial, and their always looking for celebrities to compete. It attracts more spectators. They have something called Celebrity Status. Those who have Celebrity Status are allowed to enter the tournament regardless of how many DC points they have."

"So I could get in because I'm the daughter of two of the most powerful Digidestined?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It wouldn't be hard to prove. You'd just need to show them your D3 and crest. Hell, even if Kris and Jenn weren't your parents, having a D3 and crest would be more than enough. They'd let you right in. The only problem is-"

"And there in, lies the problem," I interrupted. "I'd have to reveal that I was their daughter. You know being the son of an elite Digidestined yourself."

"Yeah I know," he agreed. "My father has pounded it into my brain the consequences of letting that secret out. The media would be all over us. Privacy would be pretty much non-existent."

I clutched my Digivice even tighter as frustration tore through my body. Only one way to help Cam, and it involved doing the one thing Cam had told me to never do. There wouldn't have been much of a problem if I disagreed with that rule, but it was a perfectly understandable rule, for the obvious reasons that Alex had already stated.

"Of course, you wouldn't have to reveal who your parents were. I'm sure that your D3 alone would be enough to qualify you for celebrity status."

I banged the back of my head against the tree in frustration. "No, that wouldn't work either. Having a D3 alone would attract the press, and with their nosiness it wouldn't be long before they discovered my heritage."

Alex sighed, as he too allowed his head to fall to the tree he was leaning on. An uneasy silence followed. I had to admit though, I had seen this coming. Not the tough choice of revealing myself for celebrity status of course, but I had expected the fact I may not be able to enter the tournament. I had come to see Alex hoping to find either some way to get the DC points I needed real fast, or to find some loophole into the tournament. Sure I had gotten the loophole I was looking for, but what was the point? If I wanted to reveal who I was for money, I didn't have to enter some stupid DC tournament to do it. I would become famous enough to obtain all the money I wanted, and eliminate the middleman. Of course, that was the last thing that I wanted. However, this wasn't about what I wanted, it was about my uncle, and preserving his mental health by preserving our financial stability. Was I really willing to sacrifice all that just so I could have a little privacy?

Why did I have to have to make this decision? I could either risk Cam and I living on the street. Or I could sacrifice our poor, but tolerable private life, for an intolerable, rich life in the tabloids. I was never good with decisions, let alone an enormous one like this. I wasn't even sure what kind of decision I would be making. Was I trying to decide which scenario would be the right thing? Or was I simply choosing between the lesser of two evils? I could feel my brain ready to explode. This wasn't fair! I was only fourteen I shouldn't have to make life-changing decisions like these.

"Unless." Alex began, interrupting my train of thought.

He hesitated before going on. His head was still against the tree, and he spoke hesitantly, as if he had no respect for what he was about to say.

"Unless.?" I said, coaxing him to continue. I had a feeling if I hadn't, he wouldn't have finished his suggestion.

He spoke, but in that same hesitant tone. "You could wear a mask or something. They'd know you have a D3, so you'd get into the tournament, but with your face covered no one would be able to recognize you." I quickly sat up. "Can I do that?"

He sat up too, intrigued that I was actually interested in his idea. "Yeah, I don't see why not. I know every rule the tournament has, and there's no rule against anonymous entrants. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it was encouraged. A masked competitor arouses interest, more tickets would be sold."

"I can't believe this," I said, grinning. "This could actually work!"

Alex grinned proudly. "Of course it'll work. By this time next week you won't have to worry about Cam anymore. Well, for a few months anyway, and that should be enough time for him to get a new job, if worse comes to worse, that is."

"Yeah," I said as my smile faded slightly.

I nervously began plucking grass from the ground. One would think that I would be happy after figuring out a way to enter the tournament, and help my uncle in his financial problems, and for a moment I was. For one glorious moment, I was optimistic that Cam and I might actually be okay for a while. Then, only seconds later, while Alex was speaking another thought entered my mind. It wasn't new, I had been thinking about it before, I had only forgotten about it, and my brain had just recently revived it. How cruel the memory was to give you hope like that only to start working again, and take away that hope.

"You okay?" Alex asked. "We just figured this out. I thought you'd be happy."

"I am," I half lied. "There's just one little thing I don't think we considered." His expression changed to worry almost as quickly as my hope had. "What? Is there something stopping your from entering the tournament?"

I shook my head. "No it's not that. It's not actually getting into the tournament that's the problem. It's the tournament itself that I'm worried about. I'm flattered that you assume I'd do as well as you think, but we've got to be realistic here. I've never participated in Digital Combat in my entire life."

Again his expression changed, as he grinned. "Oh is that all? Don't be so hard on yourself. You're the daughter of two of the strongest Digidestined in the world, you've got to be sporting some incredible skill."

"Y-yeah, maybe," I said.

I wanted to saw more. I was so tired of him, and others assuming I had so much potential just because my parents had done such great things. We were different people, raised in completely different environments, I was nothing like them. Labramon hadn't been in a fight in our entire lives. Whether it was a life threatening one, like the battles my parents fought, or those just for fun like the ones Alex fights now. Heritage means nothing if you don't have experience and training to back it up. I was sick and tired of all these things being expected of me just because I had famous parents.

All this frustration was begging to be released. It had been for some time, but as always I held my tongue, throwing all my emotions into one little ball at the back of my mind. Alex didn't deserve to have me explode in his face. Especially when he was completely ignorant to how it made me feel. "Listen," I said, sitting up, and tossed bits of grass of my lap that stress had caused me to place there. "I better get going home."

Alex looked disappointed. "What already? I thought you wanted to ask me questions about Digital Combat."

Again, I held my tongue. I didn't give a damn about strategies and tactics. It was bad enough that I was entering this tournament. I didn't want to have to sit around and talk about it was even worse. I would avoid it with all my power if I could.

I shook my head. "No, I really just needed to find a way to get into the tournament. I'll handle everything else on my own. Besides, it's starting to get dark. I really don't want to have to travel through my neighbourhood in the dark.

He stood up along with me. "Yeah, I understand. I better get going too. You know how my mother worries."

I only nodded and waved goodbye. I mentally thanked the orange sky for providing that excuse to leave. Without it, I'm sure Alex would have insisted I stay, and I'd had just about enough of Digimon that I could handle for one day. I didn't want to have to think about that tournament until it came. We collected our Digimon, and went our separate ways. Alex was lucky enough to remain in this bright green neighbourhood, while I was doomed to return to my own dilapidated one.

Darkness came faster than I had thought. I hadn't realized how far the sun had set when Labramon and I had left the park. By the time I had arrived a few blocks away from my home, we were surrounded by the darkness of night.

"I wish we had left a little earlier," Labramon said. "I don't like it around here when it's dark."

"Its not so bad, at least the darkness covers up all the poverty," I said repeating something I had told myself in my mind hundreds of times. "Sure it's dangerous, but that's why we've got that nose of yours right?"

"Its not just my nose," Labramon replied. "I can hear better than you too. You're lucky, you'd be scared to if you could smell and hear the things I do here at night."

I chuckled to myself. She was right. Ignorance truly is bliss. It was hard to see in my neighbourhood due to lack of streetlights - or working ones anyway, but based on how bad it was during the day, I was glad that the darkness covered up what must have been far worse during the day. If it weren't for Labramon at constantly watching my back I doubt I'd tolerate walking through these streets quite so much.

Much to my delight we finally reached the curb to our building. It was the easiest building to locate at night, due to the fact that the only working streetlight on the street was in front of it.

I shuddered as I stepped into the light of the sole functional light. I'd almost rather walking through pure darkness than this slight little glimmer of light. It so out of place in this sort of atmosphere that it was creepy, instead of a safe haven that light is supposed to be. It just didn't belong. Every day I would look out my window wondering if this light had been smashed like all the others. Yet, everyday I looked it remained still trying to cast the tiniest bit of light when all the others had been smashed. I wished someone would just break it already. It would be a lot easier than looking outside every night wondering if it had met the same fate of its companions.

Suddenly my trek through the slightly illuminated section of sidewalk was halted. I was being tugged back by my jeans. I turned to see Labramon clinching my left jean leg tightly in her jaws, tugging every so often and preventing me from going any further.

"Labramon! What are you doing? We've got to get inside. Cam we'll probably be upset that we were out so late."

She couldn't say much, not with my jeans in her mouth. So she answered with one muffled word. "Danger."

I stopped attempting to walk forward, and seeing I was no longer fighting her wishes, Labramon released her grip.

I suddenly became very alert. My eyes darted from side to side. I surveyed my surroundings as best I could, but it was pointless. The only thing I could see was the tiny area that the street lamp illuminated. Everything else was pure darkness. Whatever the danger was that Labramon was talking about, it was somewhere outside of the light, where I couldn't see it. The darkness was not a thing of comfort anymore. With that one word Labramon had changed it into something to fear instead of something that covered up the things I couldn't stand to look at.

"Where?!" I said in a panic.

Labramon's quickly lifted her nose into the air, her nose sniffing every particle of air. Two seconds later she had zeroed in on the danger. Without a seconds hesitation he jumped in front of me, and assumed an attack stance. She stared determinedly in the direction of the street light pole, growling. My gaze too locked onto the same spot that Labramon now seemed determined was the source of the danger. I saw nothing where Labramon stared and growled. All I could do was trust Labramon's nose. I had no reason not to, it had never let either of us down before.

"What is it Labramon?" I asked.

She didn't answer. She merely took another step or two forward, and the volume of her growling increased. It was then that I noticed what she was growling at. Due to the darkness, I couldn't tell what it was. All I was the slight movement of what I thought was a foot. That tiny bit of movement was all the shadowy figure needed to set Labramon off.

"Retrieve bark!"

Labramon's attack startled me at first. It wasn't often that she used it. I'm confident that I had only seen her use it once before. It was a few minutes after she had just Digivolved into Labramon. She was just testing out her newly acquired powers. Never before had I seen her use it in this manner before. Frankly it scared me. If I weren't already scared enough of whatever she had just attacked it probably would have bothered me even more.

Labramon's attack crashed into the ground right next to the shadowy figure. Far enough to avoid hurting whoever it was, but close enough to scare him into the light.

Once I saw him, it was just like when I had saw him before Alex's battle had begun. It took about two seconds for me to identify him. I saw blue dyed hair, with green stripes running down the sides. It was the same kid that Alex had just fought today. He quickly turned to face me, grinning. I didn't like the look of that grin.

Labramon stepped toward him, standing in front of me protectively. She began to growl even louder. As much as I hated the way that kid was looking me, having Labramon with me did give me piece of mind. She was ready to attack if that kid made the slightest movement towards me.

"What do you want!" I said firmly, trying to fake bravery.

His grin only grew as he stared on at me evilly. "Revenge! Your little friend has humiliated me and my gang for the last time."

Labramon took another protective step forward. However for some reason the punk kid didn't seemed threatened at all. He just kept on staring and grinning.

"You're surprise attack failed!" Labramon growled. "SO I suggest you leave, before I make a chew toy out of you."

He only looked on, continuing stare on at me with that creepy smile. "Oh, I wouldn't say it failed." I had no time to react to what happened next. I suddenly felt a powerful arm wrap forcefully around my midsection, and forced me into the tight grip against the body of my captor. Seconds later a knife was being held up against my throat.

The very moment Labramon realized what was happening she had turned around, and prepared an attack against my hidden attacker, but as he began to put a bit of pressure onto my neck with his knife, she quickly stopped in her tracks.

"I don't think I have to tell ya' what'll happen if ya' move, dog!"

"If you even think of hurting her-"

My captor quickly interrupted, speaking in raspy menacing voice. It sounded as dilapidated as the neighbourhood now surrounded in darkness. "Don't be too concerned, I'm not going to kill her. I'm a lot of things, but I'm no Necrophiliac."

God, I wished I didn't know what a Necrophiliac was. I've never been so afraid. I couldn't even allow my body to shake from fear; not with this knife pressed up so tightly against my throat. I tried my best to keep any weakness from showing, like I had when the first punk had appeared. but in such a situation it was too much. Tears streamed down my face, I wanted them to stop so badly, but my body refused. Knowing what was about to happen next, such a reaction was unavoidable.

It was just as I feared. Soon the punk that held me, while still keeping a tight grip on my body, began to move his hand upwards, and soon brought it to lie on my chest. It didn't rest there for long, soon his disgusting dirt filled hand began to roughly grope my breast.

I just wanted to scream. I always thought in this situation that I would be able to control it, stop it. I wanted to yell out, and call the guy doing it to me an asshole, slap him, and do whatever I felt necessary to stop it. I thought I could use that anger, but that's not the way it was happening right now. There was no anger flowing through me like I had always thought. The only thing I was feeling now was fear; fear that was stopping me from doing anything, but stand her paralyzed with her, and allow this to happen.

"S-s-to," was all I managed to choke out.

I closed my eyes as tight as I could. I just wanted this all to end. "Tell that to your friend necks time he makes a fool out of the two of us," he said. "He'll think twice about humiliating us after his little friend has been raped and bea - Aaaaaah!"

Almost as quickly as I had been grabbed, I was suddenly released. In my current state I was unable to stand so I tumbled to the ground. Relief quickly replaced my fear. No more hands groping me, no more knife pressing up against my throat. It made the cement I was now kneeling on seem comfortable.

Soon I felt Labramon by my side, nuzzling me lightly.

"I'm so sorry Krystal," she said. "I should have been watching your back."

I didn't say anything to reassure her that it wasn't her fault. I should have, but I was feeling to fragile to say anything at that point. It took all the strength I had just to reopen my eyes. When I did, I was presented with a much better situation. Labramon now confirming that I was safe, had turned to face down our attackers. The one who had grabbed me, had retreated to his accomplice. He was without his knife, and clutching a bloody hand. I could recognize him now that I could see his face. He was part of a group that the distraction was in. He too resided in my building. Just great.

"That little fucker bit me!" the captor cursed.

I had begun to regain my senses, and my confidence. It seemed a lot easier now that all that was unknown had revealed them, and I had Labramon protecting me. Her eyes were darting this way and that, paying careful attention to the area around me. She didn't want a repeat of what had just happened.

I stood up. I was still feeling quite shaky, but if there was one thing I knew how to do, it was fake confidence.

"When you try and rape a canine Digimon's partner they tend to do that."

"You little bitch!" The captor yelled. "I'm going to-"

"You're going to what?!" Labramon yelled. She crouched down slightly, she was about to pounce. "You'll be an idiot, try that again and start bleeding from your other hand too? You want to get to her, you have to go through me."

The distraction smiled. "You know this might work out better than we thought boss. We can get even with that kid, and get some DC points out of it too. I doubt this little girl is much of a combatalist, if one at all. We should be able to get through her Digimon without any problem."

The captor soon obtained a matching grin. "Good idea. How's Gotsumon."

The distraction's grin quickly disappeared. "Because of that punk kid, still dethawing in my apartment." I didn't know why, but the captor's grin suddenly grew wider. "Good, my Digimon could use a little snack. He's been itching for battle for a long time."

"Where is ol' red anyway."

The captor scanned the darkness surrounding us with one motion. "Oh he's hanging around here somewhere. I told him to hide in case I needed him. I'll give him the cue."

The captor reached into his pocket. It caused Labramon to step tighten up, while I stepped back. But he didn't unsheathe any sort of a weapon. It was his Digivice, on which he pushed a few buttons. For some reason my own Digivice, clipped to my waist, responded with a few beeps.

"What the-?"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" The captor asked. "Put up your point wager so you can begin this combat."

"W-what?" I stuttered, despite the fact I knew exactly what was going on. It was just one desperate attempt to try and call the whole thing off. "I - I don't want to fight you."

The captor grinned. "I don't want to fight that pathetic excuse of a Digimon either. It would make things a lot easier if you would just comply, but your Digimon isn't giving me much of a choice."

This was the last thing I needed. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to worry about this Digital Combat shit, until the tournament. Now the stakes were even higher. If Labramon were to lose then I was risking rape. This was way too much pressure, for my first fight. The tears had returned; I didn't even try to fight them this time.

"And don't even try to run," the captor said.

No sooner than the word left his mouth than I saw why running was not an option. On our right side, two menacing glowing red eyes appeared out of the darkness, glaring forebodingly at Labramon and I.

"If you even try, my Digimon will cut you down before you can take a step. So place your DC wager so I can defeat you, and we can get down to business."

He licked his lips, which caused me to shudder. The tears were two unstoppable rivers now.

"Don't worry Krystal," Labramon said. "I won't lose. You'll be fine. I'll protect you with my life."

That's exactly what I was afraid of. I'd rather let this creep have this creep's hands all over me than see my Labramon hurt.

"Place the wager Krystal," Labramon said. "I'll win!"

With my hand shaking I reached for my Digivice. I couldn't remove it from my belt, or either of my attackers would have seen it, and I couldn't allow anyone to know I had a D3; not that it mattered with what was about to happen to me anyway. Without the ability to see what I was doing, I was forced to push a few random buttons, and eventually the captor's Digivice responded with a few beeps just as mine had.

"There! Combat has now officially begun." The captor bobbed his head from the direction of the menacing red eyes, to Labramon. "Guilmon attack!"

A squeaky voiced roar could suddenly be heard as the owner of the evil looking red eyes shot out of the darkness. Labramon was, and attempted to dodge the attack, but unfortunately she wasn't fast enough. The attacking Digimon's head slammed into Labramon's side just as she was attempting to jump out of the way. It was a mighty blow that sent Labramon tumbling helplessly into the air, and crashing down hard onto the pavement.

The captor grinned at his partner's achievement. "Not bad for a Rookie Digimon eh?"

That was a Rookie? It was hard to tell by its size. It was a dinosaur-like Digimon. It was red, with strange fins where its ears should have been. By normal standards of dinosaur Digimon it was small; about the size of a human teen. However, for a Rookie, this Digimon was surprisingly large. Usually Rookie Digimon are two - three feet tall at the most. This Digimon was twice that big! It was only slighter bigger than myself, but much bigger than Labramon. What had Labramon and I gotten ourselves into?

"You got lucky," Labramon said slowly getting up.

Already this wasn't looking good. Labramon had only taken one hit and she already looked badly hurt. Yet, despite whatever injury she might have had Labramon still rose to her feet.

Labramon launched for first attack. It was a standard attack for any dog- like Digimon, or even any dog. She pounced teeth bared. Her jaws snapped shut. They had been aimed for Guilmon's throat, but Guilmon had been too quick, and jumped out of the way, and quickly launched a counter attack. Guilmon's jaws too snapped shut, but unlike Labramon, Guilmon didn't miss. A powerful set of jaws clamped right on Labramon's tail, causing Labramon to scream out in pain. She was lucky, for Guilmon's claws didn't stay there for long. With a toss of the reptile's head he tossed her aside, which sent her body rolling across the pavement.

I was about to call out to Labramon to see if she was okay, but she answered my question, by immediately jumping to her feet, and attacking once more. This attempt was no more successful than the last one. This time, Labramon attempted to bat at Guilmon's head with her paws. Guilmon merely tilted his head to the side almost effortlessly and dodged the attack, right before using his own claws to bat Labramon aside. The result was the same as last time, ending with Labramon lying on the cement.

"Labramon no more physical attacks!" I yelled. "He's too strong for that. Use an energy attack!"

Oh my God. Did I just say that? Was I actually getting into this?

"Retrieve bark!" Labramon yelled, following my instructions.

Guilmon and his partner only smiled at the little pink ball of energy heading towards Guilmon. "Pyro Sphere!"

I shook in fear watching Guilmon conjure up his own energy attack. He opened his mouth and fired an incredible red beam, which easily overpowered and destroyed Labramon's Retrieve Bark and only continued to go on until it collided with her.

"Labramon!" I screamed, watching Labramon sent flying by the powerful attack. I had never seen an attack from a Rookie Digimon do so much before. After seeing Labramon use her Retrieve Bark before, I thought maybe it would do something to Guilmon, but compared with Pyro Sphere, it might as well have not existed.

The light from Guilmon's attack had cleared, and to my great horror, Labramon lay there almost lifeless.

"Labramon!" I screamed. I'd never cried so much in my life.

"I-I-I'm fine Krystal," Labramon muttered, but the voice was faint. I doubted highly she was fine. Most of her fur had been singed from that attack, and there were wounds all over her body. If Digimon could bleed, I'm sure the ground would be stained red under her.

However, despite all these injuries, Labramon still managed to weakly pull herself to her feet.

"That's it," I said to Labramon. "I'm surrendering right now. I can't bear to see you hurt."

"No!" Labramon yelled harshly. "Do you think I can bare to see you hurt? I don't care how much pain I have to go through I'm not going to let him hurt you."

"And I'm not going to let him hurt you! I can't just stand her and watch this happen."

She grinned. "Oh that? Don't worry about me, I'm the Digimon. I'm supposed to be the one fighting. I know the risks to being a Digidestined's partner, and I'm willing to take them. It's my job to fight, and your job to give me the strength to fight. And fight I will!"

I wanted to scream for her to stop. This fight was pointless! Labramon had spirit, yes, but that wasn't enough to win this fight. All that shit about spirit, and heart being enough to win a fight was nothing but crap; crap made up to give hope to those who weren't tough enough to fight. In the real life it meant nothing! Unfortunately there was no way I could stop Labramon from attacking, and to be honest I didn't blame her. If positions were reversed, I don't think she would have been able to stop me either.

Labramon through everything she had at Guilmon, but it hadn't been enough before, and it wasn't enough now. Labramon's weapons were her mighty jaws, her paws, and her energy attacks, but Guilmon had those things too. Not only did Guilmon have all those things, but also they were more powerful than anything Labramon had. Everything that Labramon attempted, Guilmon just did better. She would try and bite, and Guilmon would bite back ever harder, and it went on like that. Everything Labramon threw at him, Guilmon would just counter with an even stronger attack. Until finally, Guilmon tired of Labramon's ineffective attempts, and with one final swing of his tail sent Labramon flying one final time. Labramon was thrown towards the lamppost, and soon collided with it with a deafening CLANG! Afterwards tumbling helplessly to the pavement below, where she lay motionless.

I didn't scream this time. This was all too much. I didn't even have the energy to do that.

"No," was the only soft word I could muster up.

The captor, Guilmon's partner shook his head. "Pathetic. This fight is over Guilmon finish it." Guilmon grinned, and opened its mouth, I could see a Pyro Sphere forming in its mouth. "Stop it!" I screamed, suddenly finding the energy to speak again. "She can't fight anymore! By the rules the combat is over, you've won."

"Its not over. Not until you're Digimon is finished."

"I said stop it!" I screamed again. "Look you can have me if you want. I'll let you fuck me voluntarily! Just don't hurt her anymore!"

Again he grinned. "Oh you can count on that, but I'm afraid I'm still going to have to kill that doggie of yours. I know Digimon like that, all that loyalty shit. She won't leave me alone until she's been deleted, whether you consent to it or not. If I'm to get what I want I'm going to have to get rid of her first."

"I won't let you!" I yelled.

Now was my cue to run onto the battlefield. Stand in the way of the energy beam. The captor wouldn't let his Digimon fire the attack if I were in the way. He couldn't get what he wanted that way, and even if he did I'd rather die at Labramon's side than lose her. But - my legs, they - they just wouldn't move. My brain was ordering my legs to move help Labramon, but they just wouldn't listen!

Too much fear! Too much pressure! It was all just too fucking much! Fear of losing Labramon, fear of being raped, fear of letting my uncle down before I even had the chance to help him, fear of absolutely everything that was going wrong all at once in my life. It was too much to handle, it had shut down my body.

This only proved how being the daughter of the leader of the Digidestined meant nothing. I'm sure my parents never froze up this way. I'm sure neither of them, when it really mattered, stood there and watch as their friends died. Not like me, I wasn't even strong enough to handle a simple battle against street punks, let alone be as strong as they were.

"K-Krystal," Labramon said weakly.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I snapped myself out of my pity, and saw Labramon rising to her feet. She was doing it very slowly, and was having a great deal of trouble but she was getting up none the less. Unfortunately though, it looked like that was all she would be able to do. Fighting was out of the question.

"I - I can still fight, but I need you. I need your strength, you're power. I'm the Digimon, I fight. You're the Digidestined, you grant me power to fight. I need you."

I closed my eyes, and shook my head violently. "I can't! I don't have any strength. I'm not like my parents! I'm just a fourteen year old girl!"

"No, you're not. You have the strength to help me win. I will win!" As she spoke she began to move, she . began to walk, slowly limping towards Guilmon, who was seconds away from firing his attack. "I will protect you!"

Suddenly I felt a vibration at my waist, which was soon accompanied by familiar beeping. It was my Digivice. It was responding to something. It was responding to Labramon. I'd heard of this from my uncle before, but could it actually be happening? Could it be happening to me?

Such an event had not happened for two decades, during my parent's time. I had one final desperate chance to save the two of us. I doubted that it would work, it was unlikely, but in such a situation I had no other choice but to do it and hope for the best.

One quick motion, and my hand grabbed my Digivice and held up, pointing it towards Labramon. "Please work, please work, please work.." I whispered right before yelled. "Digivolve!" To my great surprise, my Digivice reacted. A beam of light shot out engulfing Labramon completely.

"What the hell?" The distraction yelled.

"No way!" The captor screamed. "It can't be! It can't!"

The beam of light still surrounding my Digimon stopped pouring from my Digivice, and formed itself into a cylinder of light shooting upwards. I'd heard of this, but I had never actually seen it before: Digivolution!

"Labramon Digivolve to..........Shisamon!"

The light slowly cleared, revealing my new Champion Digimon. For a Champion Digimon, Shisamon was incredibly large, but she looked large enough to take down Guilmon. The tables had turned, Shisamon was now the one twice the size of Guilmon.

Guilmon immediately released his energy attack, but to no avail. Shisamon didn't even attempt to do anything about it. She took the full out attack in the chest, absorbing the impact without a scratch. A new look washed over Guilmon, along with his partner. For the first time they actually looked afraid. They had good reason to be, Shisamon did not look happy. She took a single thunderous step forward Guilmon with dangerous looking teeth bared, and a vicious looking scowl plastered on her face.

Guilmon exchanged looks with his partner. It seemed like Guilmon was asking his partner if it was okay to surrender.

He soon got is answer as the captor spoke: "Fine! I know enough not to battle with a Champion. Let's go NOW!"

And go they did, all three of them immediately began running. I had never felt so relieved. I did for a second anyway. Shisamon all of a sudden leaped over them, landing in front of them, and cutting off their escape route. All three were stopped in their tracks as Shisamon loomed over them.

What was she doing? It was over. They were leaving. Why didn't she just let them go?

"I am not pleased with what you tried to do to my partner!" Shisamon bellowed.

She stamped her foot causing our surroundings to shake for a moment or two. The three who had once been our attackers were frozen in fear, much like I had been only moments before. One might have thought it would have been nice to see them like that. It wasn't. In fact I found it scary. Why couldn't she just let them go.

"I-I'm sorry," the captor stuttered.

"You better be!" Shisamon bellowed. "If I ever see you even near my partner again I'll be tasting human and lizard flavored dog food! You hear me!"

Three heads nodded furiously. None of them even tried to speak. I don't think any of them could.

"Good. Now get out of my sight before I decide not to be so merciful."

They did just that. Taking a side exit they left the light of the lamppost, and disappeared into the darkness from whence they came. The danger they presented was gone, but I was still scared as Shisamon began to approach me.

I swallowed, staring up at my Digimon. She was now directly in front of me. Before today I had never seen Labramon act in such a manner; frankly it scared me. My Labramon didn't do that sort of thing. I never wanted to have to see her that way again.

"Krystal?" I heard Labramon voice said.

I snapped myself out of my thoughts once gain, to look down at Labramon. Yes Labramon! Oh thank God she was Labramon again. For the first time since the attack had begun I was happy.

Labramon smiled and leaped into my arms. I was eager to welcome her into them.

"We did it! Krystal! We beat them! I told you we would."

"I didn't doubt you for a second!" I lied. This was a happy moment. I might as well sugarcoat it and keep it that way.

"Best of all I Digivolved. We shouldn't have any trouble in the tournament now. I doubt very many of the comabatalists there can compete with a Champion!"

My smile faded.

"Yeah.." I spoke with less enthusiasm than before.

I hadn't thought of that. If I wanted that money for my uncle Labramon was going to have to Digivolve again. How else could inexperienced comabatalists like us compete with others at the Advanced level. I shuddered thinking of the way Shisamon was before. Not my Digimon, a Digimon I looked at in a different way. The same type of Digimon I despised so much. I didn't want to have to look at Labramon that way. She was my best friend, and because of that the only Digimon that I didn't look at in a negative way. I couldn't allow this to happen. I couldn't allow myself to look at Labramon the same way I did all other Digimon. I'd almost rather be with those two punks again. But I had to. Cam needed help.

The tears returned. Out of one bad situation, and thrown into another.

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So tell me what you think. Remember to read and review! Also one note before I sign off, I should mention that the Digital Combat thing is going to play little role in the actual fic. Its really just a way to get the story started. So this won't be a "Pokemony" fic, it will stay loyal to Digimon.

Stay tuned for Chapter Three: Tournament Preliminaries