You know, if I was really as smart as all my teachers think I am, I would have planned this out beforehand and started this whole thing on December 20th, not the 18th, so I wouldn't have to jump over days like this…Oh well…

I need help...I need funny things for the Digimon to do! See, I hate to do this, but I really think that, for the story to flow right, there needs to be one more chapter of humorous filler-types before we get to the real climax. However, I've run out of ideas for such cutsie and/or funny-type things, so in other words...I need HELP. Please!

Oh, and one thing: The squirrel thing is the funniest bit in the world to me, and it's also TRUE!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or anything to do with it. I am just, quite simply, utterly and completely obsessed.

More More Happy Christmas

Chapter 3: Digimon

"You know, now that I think about it, a lot of weird stuff happened after that blackout…"

"Yeah, the grid was fried. Random power surges for a week. Everything that was plugged in went nuts."

"Didn't they blame it all of a squirrel caught in the power mane?"

"Ain't that rich? One squirrel gets fried and an entire district goes into electronic meltdown!"

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Tokyo, Japan - Odaiba District

December 21st, 1996

"All right, boys." Tomoko sighed, kissing each of the twins on the forehead lovingly. "Your Daddy's back working, so you probably shoulder bother him too much. I want you to be good, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy!" The twins chorused sweetly.

Tomoko couldn't help but noticing that both boys had strange grins on their adorable little faces, but wrote it off as giddiness left over from the American Christmas special that had been on TV this morning. "All right then. Have a good day, sweethearts. I'll be home in time for dinner."

"Bye-bye!" The twins echoed and, with a last wave, their mother was gone.

Kouichi immediately ran up to the door and locked it, as they had been instructed. He turned and smiled at Kouji, who grinned back broadly. Kouji grabbed his brother's hand excitedly and together they dashed back to their play room.

It was a nice room, and bright, with smooth white walls that were almost hidden by a huge large, colorful posters. In one corner was a huge pile of stuffed animals, mostly gifts from well-meaning grandparents, all smiling back at them with bright, stitched-on faces and shining button eyes. The only shadow to be found in the whole room was the toy closet, where the bulb had gone out long ago.

Kouji jumped forward as Kouichi pushed the door closed behind them. "Okay, you guys, you can come out now!"

"All clear!" Kouichi added in a giggle, running up beside his brother as he clutched his kitty-doll, Neko-chan.

From amid the pile of stuffed animals, two tiny shapes started to move and squirm. With almost-identical, excited shrieks, the itty-bitty black and white bear heads leapt out of the pile and bounded over to the boys happily.

The black one, whom they had affectionately dubbed 'Bobo' for the sound he made, leapt up and nuzzled into the crook of Kouichi's neck lovingly. "Bo bo bo!" He giggled.

Snow, Kouji's equally adorable white one, jumped up and landed in Kouji's outstretched hands, blinking up at him with a pleasant. "Snow snow bo!"

Kouji's smile broadened as he fell into a near-by beanbag, cuddling Snow close. "He!" He giggled as the little thing licked his cheek like an overly-excited puppy. "That tickles!"

"The probably missed us, Kouji." Kouichi smiled as Bobo cuddled close to his cheek, dropping forward to lie on a beanbag of his own. "We did have to leave 'em here all morning."

Bobo cooed in agreement, as though confirming that, after a full day of playtime the day before, being left alone for four hours in the bright playroom was just mean.

"Well, we're here now, right?" Kouji rolled over. Snow dropped off the bag and landed softly on the plush carpet. "We can do something now!"

Bobo slid off Kouichi's shoulder and onto Snow with a light thump. He rolled off with a delighted giggle and turned to face the other creature, almost 'nose' to 'nose'. The two scrunched back a moment and growled playfully, then lunged, rolling around together with various growls and snaps, laced thoroughly with a wave of giggles.

Looks like they're already having fun without us, Kouji." Kouichi laughed. He nestled Neko-chan under his chin as he watched lovingly.

Bobo suddenly stopped, blinking up at Kouichi with big, golden eyes. A grin suddenly slid over his face and he leapt up, seizing Neko-chan by the crook of his stitched neck and taking off with it.

"Hey!" Kouichi exclaimed, jumping up. "Bobo, no! Neko-chan!"

He started after his little 'pet', scrambling around the room at top speed. Kouji got up and was about to follow after when a low growl interrupted him. He looked down to find snow sitting at his feet, looking up at him with bright blue eyes. A certain white stuffed dog was clutched in his mouth by the tail, and the growl held a playful, laughing air.

Kouji grinned. "So, you wanna play, too?"

Snow growled again and took off in happy, wide bounds. Kouji took off after him as a series of giggles echoed down the hall.

( - )

"Wow!" Izumi gasped, her blue eyes wide. "Leaf-Leaf, you eat lots!"

The green creature blinked at her and bumped cutely. He sat on the kitchen table, almost completely hidden by a huge mess of dishes, empty cardboard boxes and discarded wrappers. There were a few crumbles left on the table, along with the minute specks on the corners of his mouth, but that was all.

Izumi was thoroughly impressed. "I don't think I could ever eat dis much! You're really good! Not even sick?"

Leaf-Leaf cooed and slide across the table to cuddle against her. Izumi smiled as her little playmate butted against her hand happily, blowing tiny, pink-tinted bubbles from behind the pacifier.

Suddenly, she couldn't take it anymore. "Leaf-Leaf, you are soooo cute!" She squealed, scooping the little thing into a super-cuddly hug. "I wanna be as cute as you!"

Leaf-leaf giggled and cooed, producing more bubbles that danced around the kitchen and sparkled like floating crystals in the bright afternoon sun. Izumi laughed happily, jumping down from the chair and pulling Leaf-Leaf down with her.

"Come on, Leaf-Leaf." She piped brightly, skipping down the hall to her butterfly-decorated room. "Let's go have fun, okie-dokie?"

The creature cooed again and the little girl took it as favorable ascent.

( - )

Yutaka smirked, his face glistening with sweat despite the chilling breeze and near-freezing wind chill factor that filled the windy, icy park. Though it was cloudy and overcast, there was enough sun for him to clearly see the goalie's face as he curled, arms out-stretched, waiting like a snake about to leap out at his prey.

With a muffled groan of effort, Yutaka raced forward and kicked the little black and white ball as hard as he could. It blew, straight and true, right into the upper right corner of the net. The goalie leapt for it, fingers outstretched, but missed it by several very important inches.

A teammate ran up to him, out of breath. "Nice kick, Himi!"

"Thanks." Yutaka smirked confidently, flashing a two-fingered 'V for Victory' sign.

One of the other boys ran up with a high-five, as well as other concerns. "Where's your brother? Usually the Chibi-Hi is out here trying to play with you, Yutaka."

"He's over in the sandbox." Yutaka thumbed towards the play-set that rested beneath the shade of several now-spiny trees. "Probably talking to himself again. Mom figures he's got himself an imaginary friend."

Naturally enough, neither Yutaka nor the boys' mother had any idea that Tomoki's 'imaginary' friend was anything but. The little jellyfish-like creature had quickly become Tomoki's very favorite playmate and companion. Through some sort of lower-level communication, they had been able to determine that 'Jellyfish's real name was 'Poyomon'.

It was shorted to 'Poyo' for the sake of Tomoki's limited vocabulary. Actually, he was quite capable of using the fully term just fine, but he was a rather finicky and slightly push little boy.

"Poyo, poyo!" Tomoki chanted, patting down sand around his friend's soft, watery form. "Poyo poyo poiiiiyooo!"

"Poyo!" Shouted Poyomon as he burst through the layers of sand, sending it flying everywhere. Tomoki giggled as he was covered in a light dusting from head to foot. He scooped the creature up into the front pocket of his overalls, the same way he'd ridden to the park.

"Poyo poyo zoom!" He giggled, running to the slide. Inside the pocket, Poyomon spouted out bubbles, which drifted behind the little boy like a trail. "Zoom zoom! Poyo!"

"Poyo!"

( - )

Junpei was enjoying himself, to say the least.

It wasn't often he got an audience for his tricks, and even less a truly interested one. True, perhaps he wasn't the world-class magician he claimed to be in his pre-show speeches, but he was good. For a seven year old, of course, but still good.

So it was nice, at least for him, that his cute little furry friend was now sitting in front of him in his room watching wide-eyed as her preformed with grand flourish worthy of a stage in Las Vegas.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, my latest and greatest feat!" He announced grandly, spreading his arms. "Believe it or not, I just picked this one up the other day! Amazing what some research can do, ain't it?"

The furball cooed lightly, looking up at him expectantly. Junpei rolled his sleeves back with an excited grin. "Nothing up my sleeves…and, presto!"

He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and fumbled a bit. His dramatically-smiling face fell suddenly as he searched his obviously-empty pocket. "Hey, no way!" He groaned, digging into the fabric. "I had this all set up! I know I did!"

The furball suddenly shrieked happily, leaping forward to snap at the thin string dangling from Junpei's other seemingly obviously empty pocket. With a joyful yip of his own, the creature took off, dragging behind him the string of colorful handkerchiefs that had been so artfully hidden.

"Wha? Hey!" Junpei scrambled to his feet, chasing after him. "No fair! How come you know my tricks better than me?"

( - )

Takuya greatly enjoyed being along in the house. As he lounged in front of the TV or played a game of indoor fetch with the dog, he felt quite content with the Japanese idea of raising children as independents from the very start.

Of course, today he was happy to be along in the house because a certain adorable red blob had been cooped up in his bedroom for a day and a half and had a lot of pent-up energy to work out, and was now doing so by bouncing around the house at top speed, laughing almost manically.

"Wait up! Wait up!" Takuya giggled, racing after his little pet. The red blob fired streams of bubbles as he jumped from couch to shelf to count to hat rack.

Takuya's eyes widened suddenly as the red blob jumped onto the kitchen table. His eyes widened because sitting on this table was a cake.

Not just any cake, either, but a big, soft, gooey, three-layer chocolate cake decorated with green icing and bright pink roses. It was the cake his mother had been working on all morning, making sure that every last detail was perfect for the Christmas Eve bake sale in just three days. The one she'd threatened to tan Takuya's hide like day-old leather if he so much as thought of tasting a frosted leaf.

"WATCH OUT!" He screamed in warning.

The red blob stopped, turning back, but his little body kept going on the smoothly-waxed table, until…SPLAT.

Takuya winced. "Oh no…"

The cake now had a large, roundish hold deep in the right side, which soon disappeared as the upper layer collapsed over it with a sickening squish. The little creature giggled wildly, sounding more hyper than ever inside the mess.

Takuya gulped as he climbed up on one of the kitchen chairs, staring at the cake in horror. "Oh, man…" He whispered, reaching in hesitantly to fish out his little friend with both hands. "Mom is soooo gonna kill me…"

He was so busy worrying about the cake that he didn't even notice the electric lights above him blinking and flashing as the over and microwave beeped without warning or cause…

( - )

"What the heck?" Junpei asked the air. Something very strange was going on. In every room of the apartment, lights were flashing and sparking. His alarm clock went off suddenly, flashing through completely random numbers across the green light screen.

A low whimper echoed from the ground. Junpei turned to find his little creature curling up on himself and squeaking slightly in his high-pitched voice.

"What's wrong, little guy?"

( - )

"What's wrong, Leaf-leaf?" Izumi whimpered. He little companion was curled up in her wooden baby cradle, the large leaf spread tightly over his soft head.

Izumi stroked the steam leading from leaf to body lovingly, worriedly. "Are you sick? You shouldn't have eaten so much if you'd get sick!"

Leaf-leaf whimpered again, curling up even more and whimpering again as the lights sparked and flashed.

( - )

Tomoki blinked at the music store across the street from the park, which had suddenly began blaring ear-shattering static. He blinked at the light-sign next door to it, which was spouting out gibberish in what an adult would have recognized as German. And he blinked down at the little jellyfish curled in his front pocket, cooing softly.

"…Poyo?"

( - )

Kouji stopped in his chase, looking up at the bright lights as they flashed and blinked, making the whole of their playroom look like a picture from a malfunctioning movie projection.

"Nii-san…" He whispered softly, eyes widening as he saw Snow suddenly drop Inu-chan and curl up on himself. "Something's wrong…"

Kouichi had noticed it as well, but not in time to stop his momentum. He stumbled on the carpet, even as he stretched down to snatch Bobo in mid-run. The result sent him tumbling head-over-heels, holding both the Digimon and his stuffed toy as he rolled straight into the closet.

A cry of sudden fear echoed out as the lights returned to normal.

( - )

"Oh, man." Takuya groaned, turning the faucet on with his elbow. "Mom is so gonna kill me…"

The blob of icing and cake crumbs in his hands squeaked unintelligibly. Takuya sighed. His little friend seamed to be at least twice the size he'd been before, absolutely covered in a thick layer of icing.

"Well, if we get you cleaned up, maybe we can blame it on the dog." He sighed, turning off the water and dumping the blob into the collected pool with a splash.

Moments later there was another splash, accompanied by a loud shriek. "Brrr! That's cold!"

"GAH!" Takuya screamed, falling backwards and onto the floor at the uncovering of his little friend. "Wh-What the heck?"

The blob…which had indeed grown to twice its original size…leapt up on the edge of the tub and shook itself off like a cat. Though it was still not much more than a head or a lump, the adorable little red blob had been replaced by a large, brown shape with wide blue eyes. It had two small ears on either side, long and pointed like the drawings of elves in fantasy manga. Its body was just the right shade of brown, speckled with black, and the tufts at the back of its head and tips of its ears were just the right colors of yellow, orange and red that the combined appearance was that of a piece of charred wood, pulled freshly from a bonfire and still lightly ablaze.

The creature looked down at the six-year-old with a wide, slightly fanged grin, twitching his catlike little nose. "What'sa matter, Taku-kun?" He asked, jumping down to hop after the boy, who was scrambling backwards. "What's wrong?"

Takuya stared at him, slack-jawed. "You…You're HUGE!" He shrieked suddenly. "And you're talking to me!"

"Sure I am!" The creature grinned. "I learned from you!"

"From…me?"

"Yup!" The grin broadened. "My name's Takibimon now!"

"Takubi…what?" Takuya blinked.

"Takibimon!" Sparked the creature. "Tah-kee-bee-mon! I'm a Digimon!"

Takuya stared at him a moment longer. Finally, he spoke once more: "What's a Digimon?"

( - )

"What's a Digimon?" Kouji asked, and his brother, peaking out hesitantly from beside him, echoed silently with his eyes.

"We are!" Piped the two creatures together, flashing identical grins. At this point, that was the only thing about them that was alike.

'Snow' had become something vaguely like Inu-chan's head without the body, that of a white wolf-dog. His eyes were big and blue as well, his fur trimmed with an icy-blue frost. His dog-like nose was blue as well, and there were bluish stripes running up his ears.

On the other hand, 'Bobo' had now transformed into a large, black cat's head. His eyes had become large and gold, with thin, cat-like pupils peaking over long whiskers. Yellow tabby-strips ran up his entire form, all the way to the tips of his adorably-pointed ears. A wide, fanged, cat-like smile had wreathed his face since he bounded from the dark of the closet, right on the severely startled Kouichi's heels.

"We figured that." Kouji glanced between them, then sighed as he sat down. "What we're asking is…"

"What are you?" Kouichi finished hesitantly, eyes locked on the cat-head.

The white wolf grinned broadly, bouncing with excitement. "I'm Karuimon!"

"I'm Kuroimon!" Piped the cat's head, bouncing in time with his friend.

"We're Digimon!" They exclaimed together. "It's short for Digital Monsters!"

"Digital…?" Kouichi asked, turning his head slightly in confusion.

"That's right! Digital Monsters!" Kuroimon laughed, leaping into Kouichi's arms. The boy caught him, but winced slightly as he did.

"We're from the Digital World!" Added Karuimon as he leapt into Kouji's hands.

"Digital World?" Kouji blinked. "Like a computer."

"Sortta! I think…" Karuimon blinked a bit in minor innocent confusion.

Kouichi set Kuroimon down gently on the ground without a word and went to fetch Neko-chan from its spot near the closet door. Kouji couldn't help but notice the unusual chill his brother was giving off, as though he was greatly relieved to get away from the little cat-head.

Kouji brushed it off as after-shock as best he could and turned back Karuimon. "I just got one question…"

( - )

"If you're from a computer-world, whattya doin' here?" Izumi asked. She sat on her bed, watching as the little creature that had been Leaf-Leaf…which now wanted to be called Makumon…floated back and forth across the room on gusts from the air conditioner.

"I dunno." Makumon piped, fluttering a bit to stay afloat. "I'm here for somethin', but I dunno what it is."

She landed on Izumi's bed, bouncing into the girl's lap. Izumi smiled and picked her friend up, giggling. Makumon had only a light lay of the green that had been Leaf-Leaf's primary color, and that was in her puny, parakeet-like beak. The rest of her was covered in soft layers of purple-and-blue feathers, a pair of bright, shining blue eyes poking from within. A small pair of wings protruded from the sides, keeping her aloft on drafts of air. Somehow, even the beak seamed to move when Makumon smiled, as she was now.

"Well, you can't be here just to eat." Izumi mentioned off-hand, tossing the Digimon in the air like a beach ball. "You've already done a lotta that."

Makumon giggled, floating back into Izumi's hands. The little girl smiled again. "Well, I guess we can worry 'bout that later…"

( - )

"GAAAAAH!"

Junpei scrambled back, staring wide-eyed at the creature now holding his string of handkerchiefs in its tiny mandibles. It blinked back at him with big, brown eyes, poking out from under a shiny, smooth, blue helmet, decorated with strange yellow designs. The circular, soccer-ball-sized body under the helmet was yellow, and the end result looked vaguely like a cartoonish pill bug without legs.

"What's wrong?" It squeaked, moving towards him. It didn't walk or crawl, just hopped, bouncing like a ball.

Junpei scrambled back, stuttering. "Y-You changed! You got big!" He exclaimed. "And you talk! Since when do you talk?"

"Since now!" Piped the creature, bouncing towards him again. "It's just like one of your magic tricks, Junpei! Presto! Now I'm…woah!"

"A sudden gust from the air conditioner sent him into a flip, landing on the flatter part of his rounded back. The result, like a turtle on its shell, was that he became stuck, struggling to right himself as best he could.

"Oh nooo!" He shrieked, wiggling. "I'm stuck, I'm stuck!"

Junpei hesitated, then scrambled to right him hurriedly. The little thing sighed. "Thanks!"

"No problem." Junpei breathed a sigh of relief, sitting next to him. "So…you were saying?"

"Oh yeah!" The little creature grinned broadly. "Like I said, I'm Raiumon!"

"Raiumon." Junpei thought a moment. "Huh…that's kind of a weird name…"

"It is not!" Raiumon started bouncing again, offended. "It's not weird! Is not is not is not!"

"Okay, okay!" Junpei shushed. "Just calm down, before…"

"Junpei!"

The boy and the creature both froze, listening in fear to the sudden knocking that accompanied the voice at the door. "Junpei!" Repeated his mother. "What are you doing in there?"

"Nothing, mom!" Junpei gasped hurriedly, clamping a hand over Raiumon's mouth.

"Well, I better not have heard what I thought I heard!" His mother replied. "If you've broken your bed jumping on it again, you're through!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Junpei called back, and breathed a sigh of relief as her footsteps moved away. He looked down at Raiumon. "We gotta be more careful, buddy…"

( - )

"Tomoki!" Yutaka shouted, shaking out his coat even though he was too hot and tired to put it on just yet. "It's time to go home!"

The three-year-old hurried up to his brother, clutching a big white ball with a green stripe running through the center. He stopped and smiled up at his brother. "Yutaka-nii-san!"

"Squirt." Yutaka grinned down at his baby brother, patting his head. "Did you come here with that thing?"

"Yeh-yeh!" Tomoki chanted. "Meh ball!"

"Are you sure?" Yutaka knelt down, reaching out to try and take the ball from him. "I don't think you had this with you before…"

"My ball!" Tomoki screamed, pulling the ball away. "Yutaka no-no! My ball! My!"

"Okay, okay, sheesh." Yutaka rolled his eyes and straightened. "Just come on already. Jeez, you're such a pain sometimes."

Tomoki smiled again, grabbing onto his brother's pants leg as they walked. Yutaka spoke to him occasionally, but didn't bother to look down at him.

This was a good thing. If he had looked down, he would have noticed the adorable face of a small, white teddy bear smiling up at him from the ball with bright green eyes. He would have seen that the green 'stripe' around it was actually a sort of belt, looped just under what would have been the creature's chin, had he a body to go with it. He would have, in a total sense, seen Chiemon as the Digimon lay still in Tomoki's arms.

The three-year-old looked down at his playmate and smiled happily. "Poyo poyo po!"

"Not anymore," whispered Chiemon. "Not anymore…"

TBC…

Neko means cat. Inu means dog. 'Chan' is an endearing ending to use for good friends, cute teenage girls, and small children.

Chibi-Hi is another nickname, meaning 'Small Hi' or 'Small Himi'. It also literally means 'Small Flame' but that's just a meaningless coincidence.

Japanese children are raised to be very independent from a very young age. Elementary schools encourage parents to allow children starting at age 6 to walk or ride the train to school unaccompanied, in groups of their peers, without adults. Responsible adults along the way watch out and make sure the kids get there safe, but they're basically on their own. That's why it's pretty believable for a six-year-old to be left at home by himself.