"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" I screamed as I kicked the door open with sheer hesitation. I ran into my room, and saw my computer off… Maybe she didn't download the attachment. Maybe I was just overreacting, so I looked around my room. There was no egg, no eggshell, and no signs of any trouble. I threw my body right onto my bed and I looked up towards the light fixture in my room. Ever since I got out of the asylum I've been lost in so many new thoughts. It had been days since I thought of murdering Doctor Johnston... That is like a record for me. I turned over and my mattress made a strange sound. I turned again and the sound appeared once more. It was the sound of… Cracking!!!

I fell off my bed and looked under it, and there I saw the egg hatching, my eyes opened wide. Something started coming out… No… Not again! And in a flash of a second, it was staring me in the eye. Something was not right… I whispered, "You aren't Koromon. Who are you?"

It was small, white, and really cute, it looked completely harmless. But then it opened its mouth to reveal razor sharp teeth, it replied "I am Tokomon! Nice to meet you Kyle!"

I put one hand in my pocket, it was almost like a nervous reaction. I felt a strange paper, so I pulled it out. It had Takeshi's cell phone number, he must have snuck it in my pocket when I wasn't looking. I looked back, and asked, "Why and how do you know my name Tokomon?"

It looked back up at me and asked, "Why did you call me Koromon before?"

I raised an eyebrow and responded "Touché little buddy…"

I sat down on my bed and it jumped right next to me, I felt its head… It was warm and Tokomon didn't bite. I said, "I suppose you want to live with me, right?"

Tokomon smiled and nodded. So I got up and started pacing back and fourth. For the calm composure I was keeping the reality of the situation is that I was scared out of my mind. I started to talk… "There are a few rules I need to set, first… NO FIRE BREATH! Second, no one can know you are alive unless I give an okay. So no talking to anyone unless I say so! To everyone else, you are a doll!"

Tokomon looked at me as if he had no reservations, it was like he understood. He understood what I have been through, and what breaking these rules actually meant to me. There was something reassuring about Tokomon, I didn't know what though. I flipped open my cell phone and called Takeshi.

So that's how my stepmother downloaded a monster into my life. Not really sure how to spin that one… I talked to Takeshi and we agreed to keep this a secret, the prospect of real monsters can attract some bad attention. Especially given my history… I hung up the phone after ten minutes talking to Takeshi. I stared back at Tokomon, my eyes were somewhat cold, but I was unable to help it. Every time I look at him I remember Agumon's fire breath… Watching the home burn and in the smoke seeing the hallucination solitary confinement and anti-psychotic meds will bring you. I didn't hate the little guy, but it was just too difficult to accept him. I think Tokomon picked up on my attitude, he solemnly looked down at the bed sheets.

"So… You eat?" I asked him.

He looked back up at me and replied, "No, it is too much trouble!"

I laughed and said, "It's no problem, I mean you are here to protect me from something… Right?"

Tokomon was astounded. He asked, "How did you know that?"

I just walked towards the door and said, "Today has been a crazy day… You like scrambled eggs?"

Tokomon with an upset look stared knives at me and said, "I just came out of an egg! Would you cook me?"

I laughed, a lot actually, and I replied, "I don't know, you look like you are made of tofu… You might be tasty!"

We joked for a while and I made him dinner. We talked about other Digimon, the Digital World, this world, and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. I carried him into my bed and stood on the terrace leading out towards the night sky. The wind hit my face like a cold slap of reality. I turned back and whispered, "If that's Tokomon, then where is Koromon?"

The Next Day

I stepped into the gym of my school, it was pretty much a free-play thing they had going on. Choose your sport, I saw the kid from the arcade playing basketball. It was the same scene as the arcade actually. He was playing a whole line of kids and simply dominating and he was still dressed as stylish as yesterday. He was playing the same kid he beat up the previous day, that kid who tried to turn down with me… He actually elbowed the dominant kid in the face, suddenly in the flash of a second he kicked that prick in the head and the ball went flying. "NOT THE FACE YOU PIECE OF BITCH TRASH!" He screamed with fury the likes I have never seen in my life.

I caught the ball while the prick ran away. I approached him as he rubbed the side of his face. "I never had the chance to thank you for yesterday…" I said.

"That kid was a tumbling, tumbling dick weed anyway!" He said and he gave on of the cockiest smirks ever. He continued, "Game to 12? If you win or even halfway impress me I will buy you lunch today!"

I laughed and said, "How about if I win you tell me your name, if I lose you get to take a swing at me?"

He shrugged and said, "Well if you want me to hit you, let's start!"

We played for the full 45 minutes, the game ended 12-10. I lost but I could see how worn out he was. He threw a water bottle at me and we both finished off the bottles without even a break. "You are impressive kiddo!" He said.

He extended his hand, and said "Patrick Pierce…"

I shook his hand and told him my name. We both were on spaghetti legs. I fell over on my ass and looked up as the sweat was caught in my eye. Patrick laughed and said, "Junior… Can't man up?"

I then heard a loud thud, he was down on his back right next to me and said "Don't you judge me… huff huff I just felt bad for you! huff huff"

I smiled and tried pushing myself up, but my body burned too badly. I lied down to recuperate for a few more minutes. I could hear Patrick breathing heavily, he then turned to me and asked, "Do you like to fight?"

I coughed and said "Yeah…" It was the only word I could squeeze out of my vocal chord. I lied back letting the fatigue wash away. Patrick was already up and started dragging towards the looker room and I followed. He turned to me and said, "We have to spar some time… The stamina you had in that game was amazing, I can only imagine you would be an admirable sparring partner."

I shrugged as we both went to our lockers. We were on opposite sides of the room, we both got changed as quickly as possible. As I left I saw him putting on some facial cream in the mirror. He really seemed to care about his looks. Well one more character in my life won't hurt. But my legs sure did… I slowly made my way out. While walking through the hall I heard a guitar and a familiar girl's voice. She was singing, I think it was Aimi…

I walked towards a room as the words started getting louder and louder: "…You're no good, you're no goo-ood… Can't you tell that, it's well underst-"

She stopped and looked up at me staring in the doorway, I was more lost looking at her than I could care to describe. She looked me straight in the eyes with an almost dear in the headlights look and said, "Hey window cleaner!"

"I thought we established that was a lie…" I said half mockingly. I continued, "So what are you singing? It sounded really nice…"

She tilted her head and asked, "Ya think? I find it kind of depressing… It's a song by an American singer who killed himself in 2003..."

She looked out the window, as the sun reflected in her eyes I almost fell into a trance. I wasn't sure what to say, I think I hit a nerve, so I just did what I always do in these situations… I stared down at my watch and screamed, "CRAP!!! CLASS!"

Then I ran away… As fast and cowardly as I possible could… That was until I crashed into someone, I rubbed my head and pleaded, "Oh man I'm so sorry!!!"

I looked up, and it was Takeshi I smashed into… He said, "You knocked my goggles off man!" I apologized profusely as his hands scrambled around on the floor in search of his goggles he just decided to ask me the strangest question ever, he simply blurted out, "Can Digimon die?"

I stared off into the distance and pondered it for a few minutes, and all I could simply think of saying was "Why do you ask?"

Takeshi replied, "Well if they are data, then they can be restored if ever deleted, right? But who says that death and deletion are just two forms of the same principle… Do they know of death? Furthermore does it exist in their world? I mean you have known about these Digimon longer than I have."

I bit my thumb and whispered, "I can't be too sure… Do we die?"

Takeshi scratched his head and nervously said, "I know it's a little existentialistic, but Tsunamon is so small, it looks like he can only protect me from pre-schoolers… I just worry is he tries to protect me from something ominous, he will die."

Suddenly a voice came from Takeshi's backpack, it sounded muffled and incomprehensible. I think I knew what was in there, but I really hope it wasn't. Takeshi looked as if he was having an anxiety attack as he slowly reached for his bag. I think he knew too. He unzipped the bag, took a look in, and his face became pale. He almost screamed, but his throat stopped him. I slapped my forehead and whispered "Tsunamon! Please tell me you didn't!"

Tsunamon popped out of the bag, and Takeshi and I pushed him right the hell back in as quickly as possible. I screamed "What is HE doing here!?"

Takeshi shrugged and said, "Let's just go to the gym, it probably is empty! We need a plan to sneak out of here and bring Tsunamon home!"

We ran to the gym as quickly as possible, and when we got there, we got our first glance at what we needed to be protected from. It stood in the middle of the basketball court. It looked like some gun Digimon, it stared right at us. I turned to Takeshi, and asked, "Is he a friend?"

Suddenly it shot at us for no reason. Takeshi and I jumped to avoid the bullets. Tsunamon then popped out of Takeshi's bag and shouted "GET BACK!" as he went in for the attack. The gun Digimon swiped Tsunamon away, but he came back for more and more…

I started to see something odd. When Tsuanmon was hit in the face, Takeshi grabbed his face and grinded his teeth… It was like they felt each other's pain, so if Tokomon fights, it will just cause me pain? I quickly snapped out of my pitiful trance. I was frozen with fear… You know it was odd, I left Tokomon at home, but now more than ever, I wish he was here…