Digicross Tamers Episode 2
"Eevee versus Renamon!"

Calumon flew through the city, searching for something to do. The truth was, once the initial thrill of seeing this new world wore off Calumon was bored. Bored silly, as a matter of fact.

"Oh" Calumon whined. "I wish there were some other digimon here. All I've seen are those weird metal beasts that spit people out." He landed on the ledge of a low building, depressed. Then he heard a strange squeaking noise. Looking in the direction he heard the noise from, he could just make out an odd shape. "Who's there?" he asked cautiously.

The Unown, still disoriented from its dimensional transit, slowly approached Calumon. Its body rippled, and it made more of those odd squeaking noises. A youth, as Unown measured these things, the pokemon was unsure of what to make of this strange creature.

"You're not much on conversation, are you" Calumon asked. After an offended sounding noise, he said "sorry. Hey, want to play?" This time, the Unown made a more inquisitive noise, which the digimon took as an affirmative. "Yay! Let's play tag! You're it!" Tapping the Unown, Calumon took off. The Unown went in pursuit. It was bored too, after all.

==

Hitomi gathered her books up, getting ready to walk home. She didn't notice Takato Matsuda walk up to her. "Hey, Hitomi?" Hitomi looked up at the boy. AS she did she noticed that he was wearing...goggles? "Um, look, I hope I didn't upset you or anything at lunchtime."

Hitomi blinked. At lunch, she had seen Takato and two of his friends playing some sort of card game. She had received a rude shock when she saw that it was a Digimon card game, and that Takato had played an Elecmon card. "Oh, it's not your fault" she said. "I just felt a bit homesick, that's all."

"Oh? You knew someone who played the Digimon card game?"

Hitomi smiled weakly. "Something like that." Takato nodded and left, saying that he had 'something to take care of'. A few minutes later, Ms. Asaji entered the room. "Was that Takato that just left?"

"Yes. He said sorry about what happened at lunch."

The teacher smiled. "He's a good kid, but a little digimon happy. I'm sorry, I should have warned you about that card game. Listen, there's an emergency meeting about that whole fire alarm thing this afternoon, so you'll have to go home ahead of me. You have the key to my apartment?" Hitomi nodded. "Good. This shouldn't take more than half an hour, we're probably just going to put the principal and the cafeteria staff back together."

"What happened anyway?"

"Oh, someone raided the cafeteria kitchen, cleaned it out, then scared the daylights out of the principal. Probably some kids pulling a prank." The two said goodbye, and Hitomi left the school grounds.

Once outside (and clear of any spectators), Hitomi pulled out a pokeball, and opened it, releasing Eevee. "Ah, it's good to stretch my legs like-" He stopped as Hitomi clipped something around his neck. "Uh, Hitomi? What's with the leash?"

"Sorry" Hitomi said. "They have a leash law here."

"This is humiliating."

"Oh, relax you crybaby. Let's go through the park, Ms. Asaji said it's nice there."

"I bet Growlithe never had to put up with this..."

As they left, Terriermon hopped down from his perch. He had seen the two leave. "I didn't know digimon came in pocket size," he said. He hopped down and entered the school. He had to tell Henry about this. And delay going home as much as possible.

Anything beat the 'Princess Prettypants' routine.

===

"Are you going to fight or not" Rika demanded. So far, she wasn't impressed by what she saw. A boy, wearing goggles no less, and his dinosaur. How quaint. Beside her, Renamon waited silently.

"Why should we fight? We never did anything to you!"

"I said fight, not debate. Renamon, make this quick." The fox digimon nodded, and jumped towards the two.

"SKULL BASH!" Renamon sensed the newcomer a split second before it hit, twisted in midair, and dodged the surprise attack. As she landed, she saw what looked like a small...puppy? A few seconds later, a redheaded girl ran up behind the puppy. "Eevee, what happened?"

The puppy responded. "This overgrown featherduster was picking a fight with that dinosaur."

Hitomi looked at the dinosaur, and recognized the boy with it. "Takato?"

"So, you're his girlfriend come to bail him out" Rika asked sarcastically. "Fine. Renamon, walk all over them."

"Bring it on" Eevee snarled. "I'm not gonna lose to an overgrown Vulpix with delusions of grandeur."

Renamon cocked an eye. "I'm being insulted by a plush toy. How droll." Sensing Rika's impatience, Renamon jumped again, hoping to surprise Eevee with an air attack. Eevee dodged the attack, and tried to counter with a headbutt. -He's good- Renamon thought, -but why doesn't he feel like a digimon? -

A few feet away, Rika was having the same feeling. She had tried to get a reading on Eevee with her digivice, but got nothing, the same as with that dinosaur. "Is this thing busted?" She saw that Renamon was having little success against Eevee. "Renamon, snap it up! I don't have all day."

==

Ms. Asaji came out of the meeting, still a bit annoyed. Listening to the kitchen staff complain about the 'obvious security breach in the kitchen area' was bad enough, but listening to the principal gibber about a large red dinosaur running around the halls was something else.

For a moment, she wondered if it could be something that followed Hitomi. She dismissed it, sure that she would have noticed a big red lizard coming through her computer screen. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a young boy running outside the door to the teachers lounge. She got up to admonish the boy, but stopped as she saw what looked like a small dog with impossibly large ears on the boy's back, hanging on to the boy's collar and saying something about a redheaded girl...

"Hitomi" Nami breathed, leaving the lounge.

==

Renamon frowned slightly, then jumped up, away from Eevee. As she did, a field of leaf shaped arrowheads formed around her. "Diamond Storm!"

"Eevee" Hitomi called, "Use Protect, now!" The pokemon obeyed, calling up a force field that deflected the attack. The force still made Eevee grunt a bit. "Are you alright?"

Eevee moved back to Hitomi, keeping the attacking digimon in his sight. "She's tough," he said quietly. "For a rookie, she could give Garurumon a run for his money. Got to be a high level, but I can't figure why she hasn't digivolved." Eevee shook himself, and moved back towards Renamon. "Not bad" he said, "but I've seen better moves on a Sneasel."

"Sneeze this" Rika growled. "Digi-modify! Targeting activate!" Renamon glowed for a second, then fired off another Diamond Storm, which Eevee was barely able to dodge.

"Digi-Modify?" Takato looked at Renamon and her Tamer. "She can modify her digimon with cards from the game." This, a feeling that Hitomi and Eevee shared, surprised him.

"Digi-modify" Rika called again. "Angewomon's Celestial Arrow Activate!" As Hitomi and Takato watched, they saw a bow form out of Renamon's arm, using the same motions that Hitomi had seen the Angewomon of her world use.

"Eevee, LOOK OUT!"

"Celestial Arrow!" The bolt shot down, striking the ground just in front of Eevee, who tried to get clear of the attack. The explosion flung the digital pokemon towards a large tree. For a second, Hitomi feared the worst, but then saw Eevee recover, and managed to roll with the force of the impact on the tree.

Eevee ran down the tree, charging right at Renamon. "Rolling Tackle" he called, tucking into a ball and slamming into Renamon, who was knocked back by the assault. The two monsters, both injured and winded, stopped for a second, recovering. Calming down a bit, Eevee said "not bad...for an overgrown feather duster."

"Likewise, for a smart mouthed UFO catcher doll." Both monsters tensed, ready to resume fighting.

"Both of you, stop it!" Everyone there looked to see another boy enter the clearing, as well as a woman that Hitomi and Takato recognized.

"Ms. Asaji?" Takato gasped. -That's it, I'm toast- he thought.

"What's going on here" the teacher demanded. Eevee's cry of 'they started it' didn't help much.

"It's getting too crowded here" Rika said. "Come on, Renamon, we'll finish this later." Rika and Renamon left.

"Are you alright?" the boy asked Takato.

"Henry? Boy, am I glad you're here."

"Henry told me what was going on" Ms. Asaji said. Looking at Guilmon, she went on, saying "I would like to know what your role in this is, Takato."

==5 minutes later

"So you drew him, and he just...came to life."

"Well, yeah." Takato never dreamed he'd be explaining Guilmon's creation to his teacher.

"And that girl came out of nowhere, and just started attacking Guilmon." Takato nodded. Nami rubbed her forehead, sighing. "Why am I not surprised you're in the middle of this."

"It not Takatomon's fault" Guilmon said, standing up for his Tamer. Nami smiled, patting the red digimon on the head. "You're nice" Guilmon said. "She doesn't act like a Goburimon" Guilmon said.

"GUILMON! That's the gym teacher!" Takato said without thinking.

"Oh brother" Nami and Hitomi chorused, palming their faces.

As the humans talked, Terriermon walked over to Eevee, who was resting. "Hey there, saw the tail end of that fight. Nice move."

Eevee looked at the digimon. "I never expected to see a Terriermon" he said, half surprised. Digimon appearing here might mean a way home for him and Hitomi.

"Whaddaya mean 'a' Terriermon? I'm THE Terriermon, lean mean digi-fighting machine!" Eevee started chuckling as Terriermon took up a fighting pose. "By the way, I love the look. Who does your fur?"

"Huh? Oh, Hitomi, she grooms me every night."

"Whaaa? Hey, Henry" Terriermon called, "You never groom me!"

Henry looked over to Terriermon. "I could let Suzie handle it" he said, smiling darkly.

"Now that's just rude" Terriermon sniffed. Eevee shook his head. Nothing like Willis' Terriermon.

After a few more minutes, Nami stood up. "So what now, Takato? Will you take Guilmon home?"

Takato shook his head. "Mom'd freak out. There's an old shed I was planning to let him stay in for now, it's just up this path."

"Are you sure about that" Hitomi asked. "He'd be on his own a lot."

"Hey, I trust him" Takato said. "Besides, mom won't let me keep a goldfish. I don't think I can get a big red dinosaur by her."

Nami looked at Takato. "A big red dinosaur...was Guilmon the one running around the school today?"

"It was fun" Guilmon said. Takato groaned.

==

"What happened back there" Rika demanded angrily. "I can't believe that little hairball lasted against you that long."

"You think size matters" Renamon shot back.

Rika refused to take the bait. "And how come I couldn't get any information on either of those digimon?" She looked at her D-Arc, wondering if it had been damaged somehow.

"I didn't recognize either of them" Renamon said. "And there was something...wrong about that creature."

Rika stopped walking. "What do you mean, wrong? If this is some sort of excuse-"

"Digimon," Renamon said, cutting Rika off, "can sense one another. That creature did not feel like a digimon. I think it might have been something different."

"It doesn't matter. You will be the best" Rika said. "The next time you meet that little rat, you will load his data."

-And that's it?- Renamon wondered. "Of course."

==

After making sure that Guilmon was safely hidden, the children had all gone home. Hitomi and Nami were walking back to the apartment, talking. "Were those digimon from your world" the teacher asked. "If they made it here..."

"I don't think so" Eevee said. "I never heard of anyone creating a digimon just by drawing one. Or by powering one up by swiping a piece of cardboard."

Hitomi was checking her pokedex. "And there's nothing about a Guilmon here." Her shoulders slumped a little. "For a moment, I thought there might be a way home. If digimon were appearing here, then there might be a portal, something I could use."

"Ah, don't worry" Eevee said. "We'll get you home."

"Hitomi" Nami said quietly. The girl looked back, not noticing that the teacher had stopped walking for a few seconds. "Are you going to start fighting digimon? Like that girl?"

Hitomi blinked. "No...why?"

"I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all. I'm responsible for you here..."

Eevee piped up. "Hey, I can handle myself. OK, we're in a foreign dimension where nutsoid digidestined are after us, we're cut off from the rest of our team, there's no pokemon center nearby, I've gone a good week and a half without any pokenip, we don't recognize any digimon here...what could go wrong?" Hitomi started to answer, but Eevee went on. "Don't interrupt, kid. Did I or did I not help out when Vadermon nabbed Emiko? Did we or did we not come out on top when Clockmon attacked? And who handled that Virus Garurumon?"

"That was Takeru-chan and Sagittarimon!"

Eevee blinked. "Ah, I let him have that."

"You were unconscious!"

"I said I LET him! Those two needed the experience!"

Nami was trying not to laugh. "OK you two, that's enough. We're home now."

==

"She had a what?"

"I'm telling you Henry, it was a D-3, I'm sure of it!" Takato, Henry, and Terriermon were also headed home. As they walked, Takato related the details of the fight they had just witnessed.

"That's nuts" Terriermon said. "That was just on the TV. You sure that girl didn't kick you in the head?"

"No, it was clipped to her belt."

Terriermon got a sly grin. "Oh? Was her belt the only thing you were looking at?"

"Terriermon!" Henry gave his digimon a sharp rap on the head. "I don't know where he gets that from. Sorry about that" he said to Takato.

"I know what I saw" Takato said stubbornly. "I hope that other girl doesn't find Guilmon."

"She's the one I'm worried about. From what I saw, she's been at this a while. Plus..."

"What is it?"

"I gotta check something" Henry said. "I'll see you tomorrow." Henry turned down a street. "Watch yourself."

"Thanks" Takato said. As he walked home, he could hear Henry chewing out Terriermon. "I wonder if I'll ever be like that with Guilmon?" He walked a few more steps, then added, "without the smart mouth." Shaking off images of a wisecracking Guilmon, Takato entered the bakery his parents owned, and started trying to explain why he was so late.

==Next Day. Saturday, if you must know. Well, I guess you must, seeing as it figures into the story (sounds of a scuffle...)

Hitomi and Eevee were walking home from the park. They had visited Guilmon and Takato, and had learned a little more about the card game from the two.

"Weird, isn't it?" Hitomi said. "Everyone we know being on cards."

"Yeah. We'll have to show Veemon that one card of him. I still say they got his nose wrong."

"And that card with Matt on it" Hitomi replied, smiling. "Uncle Davis will be crushed there's not one of him, though."

"Maybe we should see about getting royalties or..." Eevee stopped. "Something's coming. Over there!" The two looked east, and saw a large fogbank appear out of nowhere. It was shaped like a dome, and the two could just make out some kind of explosion coming from it. Without speaking, the two ran towards it.

"What do you think it is?" Hitomi asked as they reached the edge of the field. "I can't see anything through this fog."

"Try Noctowl" Eevee suggested. Hitomi nodded, and released the owl pokemon. Noctowl cawed loudly, then his eyes glowed red, the light cutting through some of the fog. "Let's go!"

Inside, the fog cleared a bit. As she closed on the center, she saw a strange object moving around. It seemed to be spinning around, looking for something.

"DIAMOND STORM!" As Eevee, Noctowl, and Hitomi watched, a hail of shots impacted on the creature, injuring it. Hitomi's eyes finally adjusted, and she recognized the digimon. "That's a Tankmon!"

"Very observant" Rika said, walking into view. "But I'm too busy for a rematch."

"Be careful" Renamon called. "The second one's here somewhere."

"DUCK!" Eevee yelled, tackling Rika. A powerful energy blast passed through the space Rika was occupying a second before, hit a tree, and destroyed it.

"Get off me" Rika snarled.

"You're welcome" Eevee shot back. The Tankmon that shot at Rika took aim at Hitomi. "Hitomi, Tankmon's a champion. I'd better digivolve!" Rika stopped complaining when she heard Eevee speak. Renamon and the Tankmon she was fighting seemed to stop too. Hitomi pulled out her D-3, which was beeping now. Rika could just make out a small figure on the screen.

-A digiegg?- she thought. -And a D-3?-

"Digiarmour energize!"

"Eevee, armour digivolve to...Templarmon, Loyal Defender!" The digimon was humanoid, covered in brown fur, and looked like something out of a cyberpunk game. His chest, forearms, and lower legs were covered with silvery armour, on his left arm was a rectangular shield, in his right hand was a short rod. On the chestpiece and shield the crest of Loyalty appeared in blue.

"He...digivolved" Renamon said, stunned. She snapped out of it, and attacked the Tankmon she was battling before. Already weakened, it fell, and Renamon quickly absorbed Tankmon's data. Then she turned to watch Templarmon and Tankmon battle. "This should be interesting" she said quietly.

Unaware of the other fight, the armoured pokemon feinted a few times at the digimon. Frustrated, Tankmon launched the first attack. "Hyper Cannon!"

Templarmon raised his shield, and blocked the shot. "My turn! Shock Bomber!" Running forward, Templarmon jumped, twisted in midair, and hit the digimon with an electric punch. Tankmon swiveled, bringing his cannon to bear. Templarmon jumped again, shouted "Thunder Baton" and hurled the rod, charged with electricity, at Tankmon. The digimon was covered in an electrical haze, and passed out. "Got him."

"Now what" Hitomi wondered. "I don't have any pokeballs with me. They're all at Ms. Asaji's place."

"What are you talking about" Rika said. "Just load his data."

"What?" Templarmon and Hitomi asked. Noctowl regarded Renamon, having seen what Renamon had done to the other Tankmon.

"Load his data. How else are you supposed to get stronger? Tell metalhead there to finish off Tankmon and load his data."

"WHAT KIND OF SICKO FREAK ARE YOU" both shouted. Rika stepped back. They had never *heard* of loading data before? How had that...rat been able to digivolve?

Noctowl shrieked a warning. Tankmon had recovered, and was charging the group. Renamon jumped, fired off a diamond storm, and finished off the digimon. Then, as everyone watched, Renamon absorbed the energy that was released with the destruction of the second Tankmon. Hitomi couldn't speak.

Rika saw the expression. -They really don't know- she though, half surprised. "Lesson's over. Next time, finish the job" she said coldly. Around them, the digital field dissipated, and Templarmon devolved back to Eevee. Rika and Renamon walked off. Hitomi was still standing there when Henry and Takato came.

==That night

"She just...blew him away" Hitomi told Nami. "She...absorbed him, said that was the only way to get stronger..." Henry had come over as well, hoping to explain what had happened.

"Well, that is the only way for digimon to increase their strength" Henry said sadly. "I don't like it any more than you, but there it is."

"That's...barbaric!" Nami said.

"It's not like we had a choice in the matter" Terriermon said. "It's just the way we are. If you think this is bad, you should see some of the guys in the Digital World." Terriermon shuddered, remembering his last fight with Gorillamon. "They're nuts!"

"Well, now what" Nami asked. "There's no way I can allow this to happen. You're all just kids, I don't want you turning into some sort of psychotic gang that blows up everything that might look like a digimon."

"No worries here" Henry said. "I think I can make sure Takato understands too. What we really need to do is figure out why the digimon are coming here. Any thoughts" he asked, looking at Eevee.

"Me?"

"Well, you're a digimon, right? What made you come here?" Henry couldn't understand why Hitomi and Ms. Asaji suddenly looked like they were trying to hide something.

"Hitomi was in trouble. What more is there?"

"Right." Henry got up, headed for the door. "Well, I'd better get home; Mom's got dinner ready. See you on Monday."

"Thank you" Hitomi and Nami said.

Outside, Henry looked at Terriermon. "Well?"

"Takato was right, it was a D-3. Guess I owe him an apology."

"That'll be the day. There's something else going on here. I need to do some checking when we get home. Can you keep Suzie out of my room for about an hour?"

"Henry! That's cruel and unusual!"

==

A few hours later, Hitomi was getting ready for bed. Nami had set up a small cot for her, off to one side in the living room. It was a bit small, but the girl had slept in worse. On the table above her cot, Hitomi had a small picture, of her and six other children, all around her age. Under the cot, Eevee was already asleep. Noctowl was resting in his pokeball.

Nami walked up, also ready for bed. "You doing alright?"

"Yeah. Today just shook me up a bit, that's all."

Nami looked at the picture. "Are those your friends?"

Hitomi nodded, taking the picture. She pointed to one boy that looked a bit like Takato. "That's my cousin, Takeru Motomiya. The boy with short purple hair is Samuel Inoue, and the two redheads are Kyoko and Ryoko Kamiya. That's Asuka Melin standing by Sam, and that's Hiroki Hida, trying to look inconspicuous."

"Are those digimon with them theirs?"

Hitomi nodded again. "Yes. The small blue one is Veemon, Takeru's partner. The green one, that's Wormmon, Sam's partner. The white cat is Kyoko's partner Gatomon, and the black cat is Sneasel, Ryoko's partner. The digimon on Asuka's head is Patamon, and the little guy at Hiroki's feet is Armadillomon. And you've already met Eevee."

"Sounds like you had an adventure" Nami said, smiling. Hitomi nodded, and told her friend the story behind the picture.

Next Episode:
Henry does some checking on Rika, while Rika learns a few unsettling things about Hitomi. Hypnos takes a more active role, and Takato and Guilmon face a desperate battle. Next on Digicross Tamers:
-'Digital Secrets.'