AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm used to the dub names, but I'm trying to get used to the original Japanese, so for the first few chapters at least, I may wind up switching back and forth between the two. If I use a Japanese name, I'll stick with it until the end, but if I use a dub name I'll fix it (including going back and re-uploading) when I find/recall the Japanese name for that character/place/Digimon.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon, nor do I own any of the characters/Digimon mentioned herein other than those I make up myself. Any similarities to persons or Digimon, real or fictional, living or dead, on the part of any of my original characters/Digimon, is purely coincidental...except the similarities between Kaito and certain other goggleheads.

----------

Digimon Champions

Chapter 1

Digital Overlap

So there I was, watching the final battle with BelialVamdemon. No, it didn't really happen, and I'm not some crazy kid who believes it did. It was the end of Digimon 02, and I'd watched it every night for the past two weeks, since I'd gotten the package from my Grandpa. We still didn't know where he was at that point.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. My name is Fujiwara Kaito, and the story I'm about to tell you is going to sound crazier than anything you've probably heard before. I assure you, though, it's all true, every word.

----------

So the package I mentioned. I'd better get to that. My Grandpa, missing for the past two years, sent me a box a couple of weeks ago. Well, I don't know when he sent it, but it got to me a couple of weeks ago. The funny thing was, the letter that came with it was dated for the day after I received it.

Kaito-kun,

I hope this letter reaches you in good health.

Worry not for your old Grandpa, I'm in my glory

here, beyond the known.

Enclosed, you will find tools for the days,

even months or more, to come.

You'll know when and how to use them.

Tell your mother, my dear daughter, that

things couldn't be better for this old man.

I trust you'll carry this message,

and that you'll use the tools I

sent you wisely.

Best of fortune,

Grandpa

But there were no tools in the box. Or so I thought at the time.

There were only toys, or what I thought were toys, and the video of the final battle. I dug deeper, to see if Grandpa had hidden something else (the 'tools' he had mentioned still bugged me), and I found some kind of (what I thought was a) rip-off Digivice toy. It didn't even look like the real thing, so far as there was a real thing.

That's when it happened.

The world went mad. The sky ripped, and the ground shuddered. I was standing in the middle of what had to be the worst earthquake in the history of the world – and I'd never thought we'd been on a fault line!

Then, the really weird stuff started.

The events we now call Digital Overlap, when we learned that what we had thought of as fiction all this time, really existed. Or at least I realized it. No one else could accept the simple truth; they clung to the belief that it was all a dream.

----------

"Mom, you felt it too! I know you did!"

The next day began my journey – but not before trying to get people to admit what they'd seen.

"Kaito-kun, your imagination is too big for that little head of yours," my mother insisted. "You've been watching too much of that video your Grandpa sent you."

"MOM!" I was getting pretty annoyed by everyone trying to deny what had happened. "I'm not imagining things!"

"Oh, Kaito…."

I went back to my room then, and gathered up the stuff Grandpa had sent me, and I snuck out. I had to find someone who'd believe.

It was then that I met my partner.

About a block or two from my house, outside the park, I saw something in the bushes. As I moved in for a closer look, it moved. I was a bit scared – okay, terrified – but I got closer. Close enough to see that it was—

"A Hagurumon?" I said, more to myself than to anyone (or thing) else.

"Indeed-I-am. And-you-are-my-partner/master/ally/friend,-Kaito,-correct?"

"Uh…yeah. Master? Partner?" It sounded too good to be true! Just like the TV show! Here I was, a Chosen Child just like Taichi and Daisuke, my greatest inspirations! "You mean like—"

"Yes,-like-you-imagined-every-day-since-you-first-saw-the-Digital-World-on-television."

"How did you—"

"I-am-your-partner. Are-partners-not-supposed-to-know-everything-about-one-another?"

"Uh…yeah. Good point." I realized I couldn't keep him out in the open. If an earthquake away from fault lines threw my mother into denial, the sight of Hagurumon would probably do at least the same to most people. "Hey, uh, Hagurumon? I'm gonna need you to come with me. We need to get you out from in the open."

And that's how I became a Chosen Child. Rest assured, the story didn't end there. There's more to come, for sure. I mean, I wasn't the only one of us, after all!

End Chapter 1

----------

AUTHOR'S CHAPTER-END NOTE: So, what did you think? I welcome constructive criticism, emphasis on constructive, so that I can improve for future chapters, and any other fics (on any subject) I may write. Also, until I write more on his personality, feel free to tail Kaito on LiveJournal. My account (roleplay) as Kaito is the same as my nickname here (metalliccourage. and I roleplay him at Sages of Chaos (community. Please, if you tail Kaito to the Nexus (aka: Sages), do not spam up the board - if you want to join in, get an account and be serious about it, or at least semi-serious. Well, no need to be serious at all, but at least respect the rules of the community, which are available on the Community Info page.

See you next time!