A/N: And here comes Chapter 2 of my story.

"On your marks...get set...go!"

Dati and Botamon dashed for the ball on the field. Before they could get to it, a white version of Botamon took it and started dribbling it towards the goal.

"Nice catch, SnowBotamon!" a puffball with floppy dog ears and a small tail said.

"Thanks, Paomon!" SnowBotamon replied. "Now, let's show them why we're the best!"

Dati and Botamon started running after the other duo.

"Look out, Reremon!" Botamon cried.

Reremon (a yellow ball with a fox tail) stared down SnowBotamon, analyzing her every move. SnowBotamon shot the ball towards the goal, but Reremon blocked it with her tail and threw it out of the goal box. Dati seized the ball and started running to the opponents' goal.

"Wow, look at him go!" Botamon said, watching SnowBotamon and Paomon run after him. "I bet if he keeps up his training, he'll be the fastest digimon in the world!"

"Well, the fastest runner, at any rate," Reremon replied. "How long has he been training, anyway?"

"About a week. He really wants to go on an adventure, and I don't blame him."

"Interesting."

Meanwhile, Dati focused on the goal (and the spider digimon guarding it) as he dribbled the ball down the small court.

"He's coming for you, KoDokugumon!" Paomon cried out.

When Dati shot the ball, KoDokugumon was prepared to grab it, but Paomon beat him.

"Don't worry, I got this!" she said as she dribbled the ball back towards the other goal.

"I'm open!" SnowBotamon said.

Paomon quickly passed the ball to SnowBotamon, but before she could take it, Botamon jumped in the way and took control of the ball.

"All right, Dati, this is all you!" he said as he passed the ball. As soon as Dati received it, he ran forward and blasted the ball into the goal.

However, right after kicking the ball, he was cloaked in a harsh light.

KoDokugumon's jaw dropped, and now he didn't even care about the ball rolling beside him into the goal. "What the heck?"

The other digimon just stared as Dati's form changed.

"Datirimon digivolve to..."

He stopped glowing, and he was now standing before everyone, now resembling a bulb instead of an unripe tomato. He now had four feet, and there was a sprout growing from his head.

"...Tanemon!"

SnowBotamon hopped over to him, looking very interested. "Cool, you digivolved!"

"Congratulations, Dati!" Botamon said, hopping next to him. "Can I still call you that?"

"Sure you can," he replied. "So, uh...what should I do now?"

"Well, you said you'd start going on your adventure when you'd digivolved, so..." Botamon began.

"I didn't think I'd digivolve so soon," Dati replied. "I don't think I'm ready just yet."

"Well, we could finish our game," Paomon suggested.

"Yeah, but I'm an In-Training digimon now, so it's not fair," Dati said. "Besides, I think KoDokugumon left to do something else."

The other digimon looked around, and sure enough, KoDokugumon wasn't there.

"That's strange," Reremon said. "He usually says goodbye before he leaves. Why wouldn't he do that this time?"

Before anyone could answer, they heard a familiar voice approaching them.

"See? He digivolved!"

The babies turned and saw KoDokugumon approaching them. This time, he had brought Elecmon with him.

"So, you digivolved?" Elecmon asked. "That's great!"

Dati gulped. "Um, Elecmon? Can we talk?"

"Sure," he said, and looked at the other babies. "We'll be right back, okay, guys?"

The others said okay, and Elecmon led Dati to a bench where the two of them took a seat.

Elecmon decided to break the ice. "So, what's wrong?"

Dati took a deep breath. "You see, during the soccer game, I digivolved to In-Training. I told myself that this would be the point where I'd leave Primary Village and go on my adventure. But, the thing is, I don't feel like I'm ready. Maybe I'm just really scared that I'll fail, and Yukio will be disappointed in me or something. I don't want to disappoint anyone..."

"Hey, don't be afraid of making mistakes," Elecmon replied. "It happens to the best of us, you know? If you make a mistake, you can always fix it up, say you're sorry, and move on."

"I know, but...what if it's a really bad mistake that can't easily be fixed? And what if they don't forgive me, no matter what I do?"

"If you make a really bad mistake, make it up to them in any way you can. And if they still don't want to forgive you, maybe it's their problem and not yours. Or they just need to calm down."

"Hmm."

Elecmon scooted a little closer. "Here, let me tell you a story. Back when I was chosen to be the caretaker of Primary Village, I didn't think I could do it at first."

Dati couldn't believe his ears. "But you're amazing at taking care of all of those babies!"

"Well, thanks. But I didn't know it at the time. I thought taking care of all of the babies would be the toughest job ever. But I decided to give it a try, and as it turned out, I was good at taking care of babies! The point is, you should at least give it a try. If you can become a hero, great! If not, then at least you can say you tried. And just so you know, even if you digivolve to Mega, there's always a place for you here."

"Thanks, Elecmon."

"Oh, and by the way, if you're looking for a place to start out, I recommend File City. A lot of the digimon there are friendly enough. You could see if they have any troubles to solve."

"Okay."

With that, they left to see the others. Although Dati's confidence had been renewed, he still decided to wait until the next day before traveling.

That night, he and Botamon had just finished reading a couple of picture books in the hut, and Botamon had something on his mind.

"So, you're gonna leave tomorrow?" Botamon asked.

"Yep," Dati replied. "I figured that if I stayed here, then I wouldn't get anything done. I mean, I like you and the other digimon I've met here, but..."

"Oh, no, I understand," Botamon said. "I'm gonna miss you, though. But hey, maybe we'll meet each other if you decide to go to Mesozoic Isle one day. And just think of all the cool places you're gonna visit!"

"Yeah...by the way, thanks for standing up for me."

"No problem! That's what friends are for, right? And I don't like it when my friends are upset."

Before Dati could answer, he heard a voice coming from the doorway.

"Hey, Dati!"

He turned to see who called him, and saw Paomon, Reremon, SnowBotamon, and KoDokugumon standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hi, guys!" Dati said. "Botamon and I were just talking about stuff."

Paomon entered the hut. "We heard you were going to leave tomorrow, so we decided to visit you."

"Thanks for playing soccer with us," SnowBotamon said. "I had a lot of fun playing with you, and so did the others."

Reremon nodded. "You're a pretty fast runner. Ever thought about joining a soccer team?"

Dati looked confused. "Not really..."

KoDokugumon skitted up to Dati and put one of his front legs around him. "Heh! Well, if you ever wanna do something like that, find us and say the word! We were thinking of maybe starting our own team when we get strong enough."

"Thanks."

And so the six babies kept talking about different things until it was time to go to bed. Everyone said goodnight to each other, and Dati stayed in the hut.

Tomorrow, it'll be time... Dati thought before falling asleep.

He stood inside the edge of a massive colosseum. The other end was just barely visible from here. Up in the stands, a crowd of all sorts of digimon clapped and cheered, their voices blending into one continuous noise. Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

"You ready, squirt?"

With that, someone ran ahead of him. He almost wanted to say it was a human...but none of the humans he'd seen had any wings. The strange figure looked towards the other end of the colosseum and started yelling out some taunts of sorts.

"You think you're tough, do ya? Well, think again, cause now you have...to deal with!"

Huh? Was the figure saying his name just now? Why couldn't Dati hear it? Something was not right here...

Dati walked up next to the winged humanoid and stared straight ahead; the ground began rumbling to a steady beat, as if something large was coming this way.

Suddenly, a male voice began sounding through a loudspeaker, above the sound of the crowd.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen, digimon of all stages! You want carnage? You're gonna get it, 'cause here come these guys' opponents! Two of the toughest guys around, the duo of debacles and disaster...give it up for-"

"Wake up, Dati!"

"Hey! What...?" Dati looked around; he was no longer in the colosseum, but back in the hut in Primary Village. Botamon was standing next to him.

"Elecmon's getting breakfast ready," Botamon explained. "I thought you might wanna have something to eat. Y'know, before you have to go?"

Dati blinked. "Oh...thanks for telling me. I'll have to go see about that."

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine...I just had a weird dream."

Botamon hopped towards the door. "Why don't you tell me about it while we go get breakfast?"

"Okay."

So as they walked out of the hut and over to an area with picnic tables, Dati told Botamon all about the colosseum, the crowd, the winged humanoid whose name he couldn't hear, the rumbling ground, and the announcer.

"I mean, my dreams are usually weird, but this one almost felt realistic," Dati said. "Just like the one with the butterflies and the dragon."

"Yeah...dreams are weird," Botamon replied.

The two took a seat at a picnic table.

"So, where do you wanna go?" Botamon asked.

Dati shrugged. "I don't know. File City, probably. Elecmon told me it'd be a good place to start, so why not?"

"And look who it is!" Botamon said.

Sure enough, Elecmon was walking up to them with a couple trays of pancakes and sausage, and two glasses of milk.

"Here you go, Botamon, and here's one for you, Dati," he said, handing them each a tray.

Botamon's eyes lit up. "Yay!" With that, he began chowing down like he hadn't eaten for days. Dati, meanwhile, took his time eating breakfast. It was going to be his last breakfast in Primary Village for a while, so he decided to savor each bite.

When they were done, Botamon went off to play. Dati, on the other hand, decided to visit Elecmon for some last-minute preparations.

"So, how do I get to File City?" he asked.

Elecmon pointed to some grasslands outside the edge of Primary Village. "See those grasslands over there? Just follow the signs on the path, and you'll make it to File City."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you!"

Suddenly, Paomon came hopping up to Elecmon. "Elecmon! SnowBotamon and Kiimon are fighting!"

Elecmon put his paw on his face. "Not again...all right, I'm on my way."

Elecmon and Paomon left to diffuse the fight.

Dati just stood there, his mind racing with thoughts.

Now that I know what to do, I think maybe I should go now...I'm still a little scared, but I can't put it off forever...

Botamon hopped up to him. "Hey, Dati, I saw you talking to Elecmon. Does that mean it's...y'know, 'go time'? Not that I don't like having you around, of course. I was just wondering."

Dati faltered for a bit, but regained his composure. "...Yes. I think it's time."

"Oh..." Botamon said, then turned to face a lot of the babies. "Hey, guys! Dati's leaving! If you wanna say goodbye to him, you should do it now!"

In an instant, Dati found himself surrounded by a huge crowd of babies. Some of them were saying goodbye, but others were asking him a ton of questions. They wanted to know where he was going, why he was leaving, what he was going to do, and how he was going to do it. Some babies were begging him not to go, while others were begging him to take them along.

"Everyone! Everyone, calm down!" Dati said. When the babies calmed down, he decided to explain. "I'm just going to File City for now. Maybe I'll go somewhere else afterwards. But I want to fulfill my destiny as a digimon partner and help others. I like it here, but this is important to me, so I have to go. Goodbye for now, and thanks for helping me feel better."

With that, he turned towards the grasslands, but a group of babies stood in front of him.

"No! Please don't go!" a seed-like Nyokimon said.

"Can't you take us with you?" a fish-like Pichimon asked.

The babies started asking him a lot of questions again, but a voice quickly silenced them.

"Kids, calm down!"

Some of the babies moved out of the way to allow Elecmon to pass through. He stood next to Dati and continued.

"I know you're gonna miss him, but this journey's really important to him, like he said. Besides, he may visit Primary Village again one day. It's not like he's leaving forever. You'd be sad if someone kept trying to stop you from going somewhere you really wanted to go, right? And I know some of you want to go with him, but it's pretty dangerous out there sometimes. You'll have to digivolve before you can leave. He's been training really hard to be a hero, and both of us agree that he's ready. There's a saying I've heard before. It goes like this: if you love something, set it free; if it comes back, it's meant to be. I'm gonna miss him too, but we both know this is what's best for him. So why don't we all say goodbye to him?"

The babies began doing so.

"Goodbye, Dati!" "Have fun!" "Good luck!" "Come visit us one day!"

Botamon came over to him. "Don't worry. You can do this!"

"Thanks," Dati said before turning to the crowd. "Goodbye, and thank you!"

He turned around and began walking out of Primary Village, acknowledging a few more goodbyes. Before long, he'd crossed the border into the grasslands, and he could no longer hear the babies' voices.

Wow, I'm really on my own now... he thought. But...Elecmon said something about a sign. So where is it?

Dati continued walking, mentally noting that the grass was providing a very different feeling than the plush landscape of Primary Village. Deep down, he wondered what other types of landscapes he would explore. Looking up at the sky, he saw a very thick blanket of clouds. Before he knew it, something appeared in the distance. He squinted, trying to make out its details. As he approached, he began noticing the shape: a square on a pole.

"Is this the sign?" he thought out loud, and picked up his pace.

He got closer and closer to the strange object, and once he got close enough, he could tell that it was in fact a sign.

What does that say? File City...something.

Before he knew it, he was right at the foot of the signpost. The sign said, "File City: hard left". So Dati turned left and continued walking. He looked at the ground below and noticed that the grass was a little bit worn down, and he could see a few traces of soil.

Hmm...were other digimon on this path?

As he continued thinking, he barely even noticed the next sign, but he stopped to look. This new sign said, "File City: soft right". The path in that direction was getting clearer, as the grass had deteriorated more, revealing more of the dirt underneath. Dati advanced farther down the path, and he gradually began seeing buildings in the distance.

Is that the city? I think I'm almost there!

With that, he broke into a run, knowing that his journey would start very soon. His experiences of being a hero were about to begin.

As he ran, he saw a third sign, this one reading. "File City: dead ahead".

"Gee, I hadn't noticed," he muttered.

He continued running along the path. Unfortunately, since he was just an In-Training digimon, his stamina left a lot to be desired. Before long, he collapsed to the ground, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm...almost...there..." he said in between bouts of panting.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh...?" Dati looked at the source of the voice, who happened to be a pink bird.

"You look really exhausted. Is something wrong?"

Dati shook his head. "I was just...running..."

The bird tilted her head. "Running from something?"

"No...just running..."

The bird was about to reply when a drop of water fell on her head.

"Huh?" she said. Looking up, she could see that a lot of raindrops were beginning to fall to the ground. "Ooh...we shouldn't stay out here. Come with me; I have a sweets store on the edge of File City. We can stay there."

"I was just going to File City," Dati said, having finally regained his breath.

"See? It works out!" the bird replied. "Now, just follow me..."

With that, the bird started walking, and Dati tagged along next to her. The rain began to get more violent, but the two mostly disregarded it, since they knew they would be indoors soon enough.

"So, what brings you here to File City?" she asked.

"I want to be a hero! But first, I gotta start small..."

The bird nodded. "It makes sense for heroes to start small before moving on to bigger things. It's just like with baking; you have to make simple treats before making a really intricate wedding cake. Or, to put it another way, you have to crawl before you can walk."

"Yep. By the way, what-"

"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're here," the bird said.

Dati looked at the building that stood in front of them. It was a simple wooden building, with double doors and a sign above that read, "Wool and Wings' Sweets and Sundries".

The bird looked at him. "Come on, let's go in."

A little bell jingled as the two of them walked inside, and the rain became little more than a faded rumble when the door closed. Dati's eyes wandered throughout the store. The wall on the left was dedicated to a huge shelf filled with all sorts of treats, either individually packaged or boxed together. There were cupcakes, donuts, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and that was just what Dati could see in a glimpse. The shelves eventually led to a door, which Dati assumed was for the employees. On the right, he could see a magazine rack that was filled with magazines from all corners of the Digital World. In the back, to the right of the door, there was a counter that had some barstools in front, as well as a cash register.

"This is a pretty nice shop, isn't it?" the bird asked. "My friend Sheepmon and I run this place together. She fetches the supplies, and I make them into lots of sweet treats!"

Suddenly, she realized she never told him her name. "By the way, my name is Biyomon."

"You can call me Dati," Dati replied. "So, wait a minute. Are you the Biyomon from-"

"The Digidestined?" Biyomon shook her head. "No, I'm just a Biyomon. It'd be interesting to be part of the Digidestined, though."

"Oh, okay."

"Anyway, speaking of my friend Sheepmon..." Biyomon began. "...I have a bit of a problem."

Dati looked worried. "What's wrong?"

Biyomon picked up Dati and placed him on a barstool before sitting on an adjacent one. "You see, earlier this morning, I sent her to get some supplies. Normally, she gets back here pretty quickly, like within an hour or so. Well, it's been two hours, and she hasn't come back. And with all this rain, I'm starting to get really worried about her."

"Ooh...should we go out to find her?" Dati asked.

Biyomon shrugged. "Well, part of me wants to, but the other part of me is worried about thieves breaking into the store. You may not know this, but there have been rumors of a thief going around. He makes people lose their will to fight, and by the time they snap back, he's made off with their things and left behind a piece of paper with a broken heart on it."

Before Dati could say anything, the bell jingled again. A black sheep with pink wool, red horns, and a missile launcher staggered inside with a piece of paper in her mouth. Her legs buckled and she collapsed, shivering.

Biyomon's eyes widened and she gasped. "Oh, no! Sheepmon!"

Dati hopped off of the barstool, and he and Biyomon ran up to Sheepmon. "What's the matter? Are you okay?"

"S-s-someone s-stole the g-goods..." Sheepmon explained, shuddering like it was freezing.

"Just hold on there, Sheepmon," Biyomon said. "I'll go get you a towel. Dati, why don't you ask her what happened?"

"Sure," Dati replied. As Biyomon went off into the back room, Dati asked, "So, what happened?"

"I w-was bringing s-supplies for Biyomon, b-but someone took th-them," Sheepmon began. ""They f-fired a weird attack at me, and s-somehow, I got extremely d-depressed. W-when I got out of it, the stuff was g-gone! I tried to find m-more, but then I realized I was out of b-bits. The thief left th-this behind..."

She pointed at the paper, which appeared to be blank. When Dati flipped it over, he saw a grey heart with red outlines and a cream-colored jagged line running down the middle of the heart.

Dati could hardly believe his eyes. "Is this...?"

Just then, Biyomon came out with a towel and put it over Sheepmon's torso. "There you go. Did you find out what happened?"

"Um, Biyomon?" Dati began. "I think that thief you told me about got to Sheepmon."

Biyomon sighed. "I was afraid of this...well, let me tell you something. A couple days ago, we had two special customers come in: a detective and his assistant. They were the ones who told us about the thief, in fact. Apparently, he's called "The Heartbreaker", and he's a wanted mon back where he's from. Our customers are from the same place he came from, and they've been chasing after him for a while now. When the weather clears up, I think you should go talk to them."

Sheepmon, no longer shivering, nodded. "If what I've heard is true, we're not the first ones he went after in File City, and I don't think we'll be the last..."

As the three continued talking, Dati had something on his mind.

My first day out, and I'm already getting involved in something big...might as well see where this goes...

A/N: Whew. This chapter took me a while to write. Do you think I included a little too much in this chapter, or is it okay?