The year is 2035.

Humanity has entered somewhat of an economic golden era following the development of a highly advanced networking system known as The Cyber Core.

This new technology harnesses a strange form of energy discovered to permeate cyber space.

For years this energy was being generated through simple online activity, and now humanity could harness it.

All fears of fuel and power shortage disappeared with the rapid development of new technologies to make use of this power.

But there were many questions about where this power came from... And what the ramifications could be for using it so carelessly.

. . .

. . . Cody Rhodes . . .

"Are You Ready?"

Cody blinked as he stared at the screen of his phone that had suddenly gone off in his pocket. "What the hell kind of question is that? Ready for what, dumbass?" He demanded in response, flipping through the various open tabs to see if he could find where the noise was coming from. "Stupid thing... Hacked or got a virus, dammit."

He shook his head, about to stuff it back into his pocket when it started to ping once more. He looked at the screen, and saw it was displaying some kind of map. A strange interface like he'd never seen before, showing the area and a little blinking red light just a few blocks from here. "Oh you've got to be joking me... As if I'd ever fall for a mugging scheme that obvious." He scoffed, before he took a few more steps and stopped.

There was... Something about this, a feeling he in his stomach that gave him pause. He narrowed his eyes sharply, "Dammit... Alright fine," He grumbled in annoyance, and began following the directions it had given him. "Big bro always did say to follow your gut..."

. . .

. . . Thomas Mercer . . .

"Are You Ready?"

Thomas had been staring at the screen of his phone for a few moments after hearing the words, debating whether or not to factory reset the bugged device or hook it into his laptop to try and diagnose the virus that had somehow slipped through his extensive series of firewalls. He wasn't exactly careless when it came to hacking through government systems, so he doubted this was a trace job, but maybe a warning? Or some kind of automated response?

"I could reboot the system and scan for anomalies, but that might give whoever's doing this a backdoor into the OS..." Idly muttering to himself as the techno-babble continued. "Oh?" There was something else now, a little yellow light pinging in the center of the screen. "Some kind of message?" He asked no one, holding the phone in one hand. His knee-jerk reaction, so to speak, was to open it, but he knew better than that. He quickly disconnected it from any outside sources, no bluetooth, no internet connection, complete separation from any other devices. "Alright virus, let's see what you've got!"

With one swipe across the touchscreen, he opened the message, his screen flashed to life in his hand blinding him momentarily and sending what felt like a jolt of electricity down his arm. He flinched as he felt something land on his lap, it was small, couldn't be any larger than his hand. When the lights finally faded and he was able to see again, Thomas looked down to see what had just hit him.

"Uh..." He blinked, staring at what almost looked like a toy. It was metal, round with two big red lenses for eyes staring up at him. A tiny little wire tail hanging off the back, "Where did you come from?" He asked out loud.

It didn't speak, but the end of its wire tail started to spark with a quiet beeping sound. It would beep a few times, stop, then continue repeatedly.

"Some kind of robot toy?" Thomas surmised, watching it repeat the same pattern over and over again. "Who sent you?" He asked, looking to his nearby phone that had gone completely dark. "Maybe I should plug you in and-" Before the repeated beeping made him realize something. "Wait, beep beep stop, you're using morse code!"

He set the little toy on the bed, and quickly started tapping away at his laptop, trying to decipher what exactly this thing was saying. And in just a moment he had it, the answer giving him pause as he looked at the tiny robot, the three things it kept repeating over and over again making Thomas question everything about this creature that came from his phone screen.

"Hello."

"My name is MetalKoromon."

"Did you call me here?"

. . .

. . . Kai Sarata . . .

"Are You Ready?"

All was silent around the table as his phone went off, eyes drawn to him from mother, sister and grandfather. Before the eldest of the family, grunted his disproval. "What is the rule about phones at the table, Kai?"

The prodigal son bowed his head, "My apologies, I thought I'd left it in my bag." He rose from his chair, "I'll go put it away, please do not wait for me." He added.

"We won't, as you've chosen to sour the evening." Grandfather scoffed, "You may eat in solitude for forgetting the house rules."

Causing Kai to hesitate for a moment, before he nodded and picked up his plate. "Of course, sir." And began walking off down the hall leading towards his room. Narrowing his eyes as he looked at the screen on his phone, it was pointing him in a different direction, a map showing the layout of his own house. It was aiming for the training yard outside? "Is this some kind of trick?" He wondered, quirking an eyebrow.

Out of curiosity, he decided to follow it. Reasoning that he would rather eat under the stars than in the dark of his room, stepping outside and breathing in the fresh air. He took a seat on one of the steps and set his phone aside, but before he could take a single bite of his meal the screen flickered to life and started beeping! He flinched in reaction, nearly spilling his plate.

"Is it defective?" He wondered, picking up the device, before it started to vibrate in his hand! It was getting warmer, hotter, burning hot! "Agh!" He hissed, throwing the phone across the ground fearing it would burn his hand. A light flashed brighter from the screen, Kai instinctively shielded his eyes and waited for them to adjust to the brightness. Through the light, he could see a figure taking shape over his phone.

It only stood about four feet tall, wearing what appeared to be some kind of armor? With a helmet not unlike what was worn during his duels, and in his hand was a kendo stick clearly too big for his body. Horns jutted out from the top of his helmet, and below Kai could make out two blue skinned feet with long claws.

"What is this?!" He wondered in shock, "Some kind of monster? A spirit or a demon?"

As the light faded, the creature looked around with glowing yellow eyes being the only thing that could be made out through his helmet. It blinked a few times, before its eyes landed on Kai, "You!" It declared in a voice trying to sound intimidating despite its size. "You summoned here!" Before leveling his kendo stick at the human, "En guarde!"

Kai had so many questions, but his reflexes went into survival mode as the creature charged. Reaching behind himself to the nearby rack, he pulled a kendo stick of his own. Managing to get it between them just in time to block the creatures oncoming swing, the sharp sound of wood striking wood ringing into the night.

But despite his size, this little creature was strong! "I summoned no one," The boy argued, "My name is Kai Sarata, and I would know the name of my assailant!"

With a mighty heave, the armored creature was driven back on his heels, sliding across the dirt before retaking his fighting stance. "Kai Sarata," It repeated, "A good name for a worthy opponent!" He actually sounded like he was having fun? "My name is Kotemon, and you'd better not hold anything back!"

The crack of wood between them sounding as they crossed faux blades, both moving with skill and grace. But even as Kotemon seemed to have the edge in power over Kai, the young man's years of dedicated training began to shine through. As the minutes dragged between their duel, Kai was beginning to see the patterns in his opponents movements, they were predictable, textbook, rookie level strikes.

"You're pretty good!" Kotemon stated, jumping into the air with his kendo stick held high. "But I didn't come all this way to lose!" His weapon was beginning to glow, steaming as if burning red hot!

The attack was obvious, however, and Kai had ample time to sidestep the swing. "You're overconfident, whatever you are," Waiting for Kotemon's swing to slam into the ground, harmlessly kicking up dust. "You've underestimated your opponent!" Delivering a swift, heavy two handed swing that struck Kotemon across the chest and up to his helmet in a precision uppercut. Knocking the strange creature onto his back, "Its over."

The little creature raised his head, staring down the barrel of Kai's kendo stick, leveled at his face. "I surrender, do your worst."

To which Kai quirked an eyebrow, "Relax, I've no intention of harming you I was only defending myself." He explained, retracting his weapon and offering a hand to the strange creature. "But I think I've earned some answers, why did you come here?" This was obviously some kind of creature from another world, or a spirit maybe? He wasn't sure, but it had to come here for a reason.

Kotemon stared up at him for a moment, blinking in surprise before taking his hand allowing himself to be pulled up. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, lowering his head. "To be honest, I don't know why or how, I just felt myself being drawn to this world... Something called out to me, I had only just grown up and started my training so... I thought maybe this was supposed to be my first real opponent, but I was wrong!"

Kai quirked an eyebrow at his sudden tone change, "Wrong?"

"That's right," Kotemon nodded eagerly, "I wasn't called here to be your opponent, I was called here to be your apprentice!"

. . .

. . . Madison Morales . . .

"Are You Ready?"

Madison had been sitting on the bench for how long she wasn't sure. Ever since that last phone call, her device. She'd sat in silence with nothing but the sound of passing cars and the buzzing of a street lamp in the night to keep her company. It had started to get late, and she would need to head home soon, and face the noise.

But now her attention was fully on her device and its screen flashing to life following that question spoken through its speakers.

"Ready for... What, exactly?" She asked, staring at the device. Before slowly reaching out, her device felt cold suddenly. Contact with her fingers sent a chill down her spine, a pressure weighing on her chest. She'd never felt anything like this before, but if darkness could be described with a feeling, this was it.

The lights suddenly grew brighter, nearly blinding her as the street lamp overhead blew its bulb raining glass onto the concrete. Though she hardly noticed, as the light began to fade and a shadowy shape formed on top of her phone. It took the shape of-

"Is that..." She blinked, staring into the big purple eyes staring back at her. "A giant Guinea Pig?" Its belly was white, but the top half of its body was purple colored, and it had long ears that... Sort of looked like wings, "G-Guinea Big?"

The creature blinked, "Are you... The one that called me here?" She asked in a small voice, staring up at Madison as they held eye contact.

Madison was still processing whatever this was that was happening front of her. "Iunno." She shrugged. "My name's Madison, and you are maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen." Logic and reasoning told her she should probably be more concerned with strange creatures suddenly appearing out of thin air but... "Oh my god those big eyes and that face she is adorable!" Her inner child was screaming as she reached down and picked up the little creature with both hands.

"C-Cute!?" She exclaimed, ear-wings fluttering, "Nobody's ever called me cute before... I'm Tsukaimon!"

. . .

. . . Samantha and Darcmon . . .

Darcmon had spotted their first target quickly only a short time after taking flight, it was easy to follow the sounds of shouting coming from the backalleys in down town. And before long she was flying over what appeared to be a green skinned goblinoid digimon armed with a wooden club. She had seen this kind before, as had her partner Samantha who watched through her own eyes using the D-Tector.

"A Goblimon?" She assumed at first glance.

"No, Shamanmon." Darcmon corrected, "The hair is green, skin is a darker color, Goblimon are all warriors and not very smart, Shamanmon are generally considered smarter." Her eyebrow raising as she watched it stumble and knock over a few trashcans, before hastily picking it back up and trying to make it look like nothing happened. "Well, among their own kind at least... Huh?" Halting her descent as she noticed a young man turning the alley corner, coming face to face with the newly arrived digimon.

"Yeah, this is the place..." The blonde haired punk stated, before laying his eyes on Shamanmon. "Yo, freaky green dude, are you the one who sent this message?" He asked, waving his phone back and forth.

While Samantha realized the danger of the situation, "Darcmon get him out of there, that digimon might attack!"

"Me?" Shamanmon replied, tilting his head. "No, I came here because someone called me here!" He explained, before pointing an accusing finger, "It must have been you!"

"Use your head dumbass," Cody scoffed, "I only just got here, how could I have called you here?" He argued.

"Well... I wasn't supposed to arrive here," The goblinoid explained, scratching the back of his head. "I... Think I took a wrong turn, came out through a tv screen..."

Cody blinked, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh no," Samantha facepalmed, "I think they're both idiots."

Darcmon nodding her head, "If we wait long enough their two braincells might rub together enough to create a spark."

Causing Sam to roll her eyes, "Just get rid of that Shamanmon before it can do any damage please."

"Of course." Tucking her wings, Darcmon began a sharp dive towards the alley. Sweeping in low and landing between Cody and the newly arrived Digimon causing both to stumble back in the opposite direction. "Please stand clear, it isn't safe here."

"Yeah I'll say," Cody scoffed, "Got crazy women dropping out of the sky, what the hell is wrong with you? You trying to kill someone?" He demanded angrily.

Shamanmon adding, "Jumping off roofs, not safe at all!" Wagging his club at her.

"Silence!" Darcmon barked at them both, before aiming her staff at Shamanmon, "You need to go back home, you're not supposed to be here!"

The green digimon took a step back, "But I was called here! He called me here!" Pointing at Cody again.

"Regardless of how you came here, you're going back." She said simply, her golden scepter's tip sparking before it unleashed a bolt of electricity that lit up the alley and started racing towards Shamanmon. The rookie level stumbled back, covering his head and face before crying out in pain as it struck his body, leaving him fried and covered in burns as he collapsed to the ground. "Hmm, not destroyed in one shot, you're pretty sturdy for a rookie level..."

"Jesus lady aren't you being a little harsh on the guy?" Cody questioned, "What was that some kind of super taser?"

"Why are you still here human?" She scoffed at him, shooting him a sideways glance. "Begone, this doesn't concern you." Before she began walking towards her target, drawing her sword from its sheath.

While Shamanmon picked himself up slowly. Cringing and wincing in pain, "Ngh! P-Please... Don't want to go back..." He groaned out, struggling to stay standing, "C-Can't... Go home." He tried to step back, but his legs were weak causing him to stumble and fall on his butt. He attempted to raise the club to protect himself but Darcmon knocked it aside with a swift swing of her blade, "Ngh! N-No... Please!"

Cody clenched his fist tightly, the sight of this pitiful creature being hurt by this high and mighty angel chick? It was too much for him, "Alright that's it," He advanced upon her, letting his headstrong attitude do the thinking for him, he put a hand on Darcmon's shoulder and tried to force her to face him. "Leave the little guy alone or I'll kick your ass!" He warned, making her turn halfway around to look at him.

Her eyes narrowed sharply, "Do not test me, human."

Before Samantha spoke through their digivice, "Easy, this guy is just stupid, discourage any more interruption but don't hurt him."

She flexed her wings, generating a gust of wind between them that blew Cody back on his heels almost knocking him over as the winds whipped through the alleyway. "Wh-What the hell!?" He stammered, having believed them to just be part of some ridiculous costume.

"Do not. Interfere. Again." She warned in a deathly calm tone, before turning her attention back to the Shamanmon who had managed to limp a few feet further away. "You've wasted enough of my time, leveling her silver blade with the rookie, before she started marching towards him. "You're going home, whether you like it or not!"

"Not fair!" Shamanmon barked back at her, "Wh-Why do you get to stay here but I can't? Why do you get to decide!?"

Darcmon scoffed, "Because I am here with purpose, you are here purely by chance, your arrival is an accident, a mistake."

Those words, they struck a chord in the young man. Any and all hesitation he might have had went right out the window as his anger boiled over. This time he didn't just march, he charged for the angelic woman. Extending one arm as he ran, he snatched Shamanmon's club from the ground as he went, "If there's one thing I hate in this world more than anything else," Darcmon turned slowly as he approached, ready to blow him away again. "It's high and mighty assholes bullying those they think are beneath them!"

"Just knock him out." Samantha ordered.

Darcmon turned her blade, flat end out, and went to swing hoping to just stun Cody. But to her surprise, he ducked her strike, "Here's that ass kicking I promised!" He shouted, swinging that club as hard as he could. Cracking Darcmon across the face, making her entire hood and facemask spin temporarily blinding her as she stumbled back. While Cody ran past her to Shamanmon, "Alright lets go, come on!"

Shamanmon blinked as he looked up at him, "Y-You saved me?"

"Trying to but we're both dead if you don't move your ass!"

Darcmon was frantically trying to readjust her mask so she could see properly. Now was their only chance to run! Cody helped support the injured digimon, the two starting to work their way towards the other side of the alley to escape. But Darcmon wasn't about to let them go so easily, as she took flight and landed in front of them, her eyes filled with anger. "You will pay for that!" Her pride more injured than her physical body.

"Bring it on freakshow!" Cody barked defiantly, gripping the club and getting between Shamanmon and Darcmon.

Before either could make a move however, a light suddenly erupted from his pocket causing Darcmon to step back. Out of it, Cody's phone emerged moving on its own! The device hovered before him as the young man watched in confusion. Before it started to change shape, reforming into a D-Tector model Digivice, just like Sam's own! However, it was black with a ywhite trim on it.

"What the hell?" Cody questioned, blinking in surprise as he took the device into his hand. It fit perfect into his palm, like it was made for him.

"Samantha, are you seeing this?" Darcmon asked quietly.

"I am."

"How should we proceed?"

"Retreat for now."

On her command, Darcmon spread her wings and took flight, whipping up more winds as she disappeared into the night sky. Leaving Cody and Shamanmon behind in the now empty alleyway.

The human watched her disappear before turning to the goblin digimon, "Uh... I think this is yours?" Not really sure what to say to this strange creature as he handed back its club. "What the hell was that?"

The digimon shrugged, "Beats me, angry lady... But you have a digivice now!" He exclaimed, "You did do it! You called me here! So we can be partners!" Excitedly throwing his hands up in the air.

Cody blinked, "Partners? What?"

Unbeknownst to them, across the city a similar phenomenon was occurring, as all four of the children that had received the message now held a Digivice in their hands. Their newly acquainted digimon chosen to be their partners...