Alright! Let's get this show on the road! I don't own Digimon, etc. Thanks for the OC submissions, though they'll likely appear next chapter as now I'm just introducing the main characters and the like. Hope you enjoy!

This is the Real Deal presents:

This is Spirit: Ghosts of the Past!

Chapter 1: Partner

The school bell rang sharply, the sound echoing through the school hall. Emily raised her head up at the clock, surprised that school was already over. She was in no mood to stay in class either, but she hadn't finished getting down the notes on the board. She scribbled furiously in her notebook as everyone left the classroom frantically, gathering their stuff and leaving, all the while chatting animatedly to each other. Heavy footsteps echoed towards her.

"Emily, class is dismissed. You can go now."

"I'm nearly done Mr. Izzit," Emily said as she scribbled the last of the notes on the board down.

"You know, if you stayed awake in class you'd be able to get more written down..."

"I know, I'm sorry! I'll try not to fall asleep next time!" It's not like anybody can help it, Emily thought to herself. She was probably the only person who paid attention during his lessons, and even then it was a struggle. She packed up all her books and left the classroom, not making eye contact with the teacher, or anyone for that matter. She slipped into the crowd as she walked through the hall, not looking at anyone in the eyes. She didn't really need to try very hard not to get noticed, she didn't really attract a lot of attention in the first place. Someone's shoulder smashed into her, nearly knocking her over. Her square rimmed glasses fell, clattering on the floor. She crouched to pick them back up again quietly, not even asking for a deserved apology. They probably hadn't even noticed she was there. Emily lowered her head once she stood back up, focusing her eyes on the floor ahead of her. Her whole body seemingly shrunk within itself, as if trying to become invisible. She adjusted her square glasses which sat askew on her nose. Silently, she slipped out of the crowd and out of the school, letting out a deep breath of relief. She'd had enough school for one week, and with Saturday just around the corner she could finally stop to catch her breath. Of course, her weekend was probably going to be wasted anyway, but at least she could relax.

Emily unhitched her bike from its rack and turned to leave. The trip back home was just as uneventful as ever, the small town flying past her without incident. Emily thought to herself about what she would do when she got home.

Probably nothing, she thought to herself. I'll just waste my afternoon watching some really old anime or something, maybe some videogames. If I'm lucky, I might actually be able to update some of my fan fiction stories... The air around her began clouding up with a thick mist, but Emily's mind was too preoccupied on other things to even notice. Rock music was playing itself in Emily's head as she thought of new ways to construct her scenes through words. There were times when she wished she could just show her mind to people, or at least draw and animate her work so it could be seen.

"Hey Em! Em! Wait up!" someone called out behind her. Emily looked behind her. A boy with a mess of orange hair and a pair of goggles ran up to her. He wore a red shirt with an orange sun emblazoned on it. He wore blue denim shorts and his red rimmed goggles sat naturally on his forehead as if they were made for him and him alone. He was sprinting hard, heavily keeping up with her bike. Emily had long since stopped questioning where he got his energy from, so it was no surprise to her when she saw him running full steam ahead, and then finally right next to her, while she was still riding on her bike.

"Sam, calm down about. What's wrong?" she asked. She stopped her bike so that he could catch his breath for a moment.

"Nothings... Wrong... At... All," he huffed. "I was just trying to stop you from being such a loner, as usual!"

"Hey, I am not a loner!" Emily retorted angrily. "So I'm not exactly sociable, at least I'm not hiding behind you every time someone comes to talk to me!"

"Whatever you say, but I still have my mission and I'm not about to give up on it," Sam said with a smile. "And you said you needed help trying to get through your writer's block phase didn't you? Do you have your laptop with you?" Emily patted her school bag affirmatively. "Good. Let's go to Benny's Ice Cream place and brainstorm ideas there. You always think better when you're eating something with chocolate in it." Emily looked back in the direction she was going. Her house was just there, it would be a waste of energy to have to go all the way in the opposite direction. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine then, but I'm not cycling there, we'll take a bus. Not everyone's as energetic as you are!"

The pair arrived at the small restaurant, customers coming in droves during the Friday afternoon. They walked up to the counter, spare change jingling in Emily's pockets, each clang of metal serving as a reminder that this one meal would cost her all the money she had left on her. They made their orders, Sam going for a vanilla while Emily ordered a triple scooped extra large chocolate with a wafer. She could feel the calories building up just from grabbing the cone, but her super high metabolism wouldn't allow her to get fat, a fact she was eternally grateful for considering how much chocolate she ate. The clerk punched in a few numbers into the cash register. He frowned, pushing a few more buttons rapidly. Emily saw a small blue spark of electricity flash on the cash register.

"Is something wrong?" she asked him.

"It's just cash register, its acting strange," he said in frustration. "Sorry about this, this is new and everything. Don't worry too much about it; you come here all the time anyway so as long as I've got the money you shouldn't need to wait for a receipt. I never was good with gadgets, the state of my phone is proof of that..." As if on cue, the light bulb burst, the explosion startling the two of them as bits of glass fell from the ceiling. The remaining lights all flashed rapidly, customers backing away worriedly. As if things weren't bad enough already, a scream was heard behind the door leading to the kitchen, followed by the sound of a fire extinguisher. The teenager behind the till grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall to his left and sprinted into the kitchen himself, trying to put out the fire that had randomly started on the cooker. Emily backed away nervously. Without even thinking about it, Sam grabbed her hand and led her out of the story at a fast pace.

"I guess this isn't the best time for ice cream is it?" Sam said. The two of them ran onto the car park hurriedly. Emily looked over her shoulder at the store behind her. Large arcs of electricity were now winding their way around the building. And it wasn't the store either. A wave of sound barraged her ears as every single car alarm on the complex went off, the discord of bells, screeches and whistles almost too much to stand. Electricity sparked around these vehicles as well, and all along the street lights to.

"Sam, what's going on?" Emily yelled, her voice drowned out by the background noise. It was pointless asking. Even if he did hear, he wouldn't know a thing. They ran until the sound of the alarms was in the background. They stopped in the middle of the nearby park, trees surrounding them and soft grass beneath their feet. They stopped momentarily to catch their breath. "What the heck was that? Some kinda weird power surge?"

"I dunno, but it looked pretty cool didn't it? I mean, we were just chilling there when suddenly BOOM! A bulb blows up, then something else sparks up crazily, then- My ice cream!"

"Huh? What do you..." Emily looked towards her left hand. All that was in it was an empty cone. In their haste, they'd completely forgotten about it. "Aw come on!"

"And that was the last of my pocket money... Hey Em, do you think that..." Emily blocked out what he was saying for a while, focusing on her surroundings. The mist was coming back, and this time she was paying attention to it.

"Sam, we have bigger problems than our empty stomachs right now..."

"Heh? Like what?"

"Does that answer your question?" Emily said, pointing in front of her. Sam followed her gaze. His eyebrows shot up in alarm. A large shadow was on the ground in front of them, but there was nothing there to cast it. Even more disturbing, it looked like it was growing larger with each passing second. They both slowly took steps away from it as, believe it or not, it began rising off of the ground, a pair of black clothed arms becoming visible from it. The shadow grew taller and taller until it towered over them, nine feet of darkness stood before them. Colour started showing on the creature now. It looked almost human, if it weren't for the stretched figure and disproportionately long arms. The right arm had red claws and a pair of black horns poked out of his head. He was covered by a black bodysuit, and his face was hidden by a black mask. A red bat-like mark was emblazoned on his chest and left boot, and a skull design was also on his left shoulder and right knee. The man's red eyes looked around him for a bit before stopping on the two of them. Emily felt her heart freeze over in fear as she looked at its eyes.

"Hmm... Your heart... I like the colour of your heart..." the man said, if he truly was a man. He looked far more like some kind of demon than a human, and coming out of shadows certainly wasn't something that humans were said to be able to do in her Biology classes. She could barely move, frozen to the spot in fear. Sam stared back with disbelief, then with anger.

"What do you want with us?" Sam asked, instantly assuming the creature wanted his skills. It looked at Sam much more distastefully.

"Your heart though... It's far too bright for me... but that strength might be what I've been looking for all this time. Human! Become my tamer! I am Devimon, a name you had better remember well. Make me have the power to digivolve, give me your strength so that I can become the most powerful digimon in existence!"

"Digimon?" Sam asked.

"Oh yes, you must be of the younger generation. You can't remember anything of the D-Reaper incident can you?"

"D-Reaper? No not really. Do you mean the stuff that happened ten years ago?" Emily offered. "There's loads of theories on that, but almost no records of the event. Was that done by 'Digimon'?" Devimon stared at her thoughtfully. Perhaps this human world never had a D-Reaper in the first place? It didn't seem likely that all information about it would disappear at once…

"It matters not. I need you to become my tamer, so that together we may rule the world!" Emily looked at Sam, fear plain in her eyes. He didn't seem to notice, too engrossed in the situation.

"What makes you think I'd help you? You look like you'd rather eat me than let me rule with you. Not to mention that you just plain look creepy!"

"Sam, what're you doing?!" Emily yelled. "Do you see that thing? That's the kind of stuff you see in an anime, you don't wanna fight him!"

"Please, he's just a big bully, what's the worst that can happen?" The man roared in anger, a huge pair of black bat wings sprouting from his back. He charged at the pair enraged, his claws outstretched towards their throats. Emily shut her eyes, not willing to see her own demise just yet. The sound of glass shattering broke over their heads.

A green layer of what looked like a gigantic holographic computer chip opened up in the sky above them. A red flash shone as if a lightning bolt, and in the next moment the monster was down, flames licking his body. The red flash bounced a few times before stopping next to Emily. The flames surrounding it died down. Emily's eyes widened in shock.

"What the hell are you two?!" she screamed. The creature in front of her turned around, a pair of yellow eyes glowing behind his mask. At first glance it looked like a small child in fencing gear, with an odd fencing helmet with horn accessories and sleeves far too long for it so that his arms were covered. He also wore standard armour for the rest of his upper body. However, everything below the waist was far from human. Strong looking reptilian blue scaled legs supported the monster, and a tail with spiked ridges on it was visible as well. The claws on its feet didn't look particularly sharp but Emily didn't want to take any chances. A large pair of yellow eyes were visible behind the mask but that was it. The rest of his face was completely hidden. Something told Emily that those horn accessories weren't actually accessories after all... It held a bamboo kendo stick in its hands, the grip seeming hard with the sleeves in the way.

The digimon if that's what it was looked at Emily, its expression unreadable. The large demon roared in anger at the new arrival.

"You followed me all the way here? What's wrong with you?" Devimon growled. "Get out of my way, these humans are my ticket to power! I would've thought that somebody with a heart that yearns for power like yours would understand... But no matter! I'll obliterate you, and if that boy refuses to accept my demands I'll obliterate the girl to!"

"As if I'd ever let you do that!" Sam yelled. Both he and the fencer charged towards Devimon. Devimon held out his hand in front of himself, a stream of bats shooting out of them. The bats all attacked the pair of them, Sam futilely trying to swat them away while the fencer struck at them with his sword. Emily looked around her for an escape. They were still surrounded by the fog. If they ran now, there was no way that monster would be able to track them down.

"Sam, we've got to get out of here, now!" she yelled. "You can leave this guy to the fencer!"

"I know, but there's no way that thing can hold off this guy for more than a few seconds," Sam whispered. "I'll help out the fencer while you escape and get help. Clear?"

"No! You'll both be killed!"

"Please, I'm a ninja! There's no way I'd lose!"

"Are you done conspiring now?" Devimon asked. "Now to kill you all with my fearsome Death Hand attack!" Devimon held both of his hands up, a ball of suspicious looking dark energy forming in them. Intense pressure weighed down on Emily's shoulders just by looking at it, and the stench of rotting flesh hung heavy in the air. The fencer's eyes widened in surprise as it formed before he gripped his kendo stick angrily. The sphere of energy in Devimon's hands blasted out, heat building up rapidly as the fencer took the full force of the blow. An explosion boomed, shockwaves rippling through the air. Sam and Emily covered their eyes, dust blowing into them. Emily opened them again slowly, bracing herself for what she'd see. Her eyes widened in horror. The fencer was lying on the ground, smoke coming off of his charred and blackened body. One of his horns had a large crack going through it. Emily winced herself, the pain the fencer was in evident. Sam managed to escape most of the blast, and was running back to Emily while the smoke was still clearing.

"Alright! Now's our chance, let's get outta here!" he yelled, his courage from earlier immediately gone now that they'd escaped immediate danger. Emily didn't need to be told twice, taking a few steps to leave. She glanced back over her shoulder. Devimon was laughing maniacally, another blast charging between his hands while the fencer struggled to stand up after such an impact. Emily knew which way she needed to go, as far away from the fight as possible. But something inside her just wouldn't let her budge. Her feet remained firmly rooted to the ground. Something inside her was just telling her...

"Sam, I can't turn my back on that guy!" she yelled. Sam's jaw dropped as he pointed weakly at Devimon. "Not him, the smaller guy on the floor! He looks hurt, and if we don't help him now he might even die!"

"What does it matter to us? It's a monster! I've had my fun and I've seen that both of them are way too strong for a human to get themselves involved in. Leave this to the professionals!"

"If we wait any longer then he won't survive. He might not have been trying to, but that little guy saved our lives! I'll at least pay him back for the favour!"

"Wait! Emily!" Sam reached out to grab her, but she was already gone. Emily mentally kicked herself in the shin for being so stupid. This wasn't like her. This was uncharacteristic. What kind of person risked their life for a monster, and to make matters worse, one they'd never seen before? But there was no denying it now. She was running, the pounding of her feet on gravel, her black hair shaking with each step, the gasping of her lungs with each breath was proof of that. Devimon laughed, letting out a stream of dark energy from his hands. Emily leaped towards the fencer, her arms outstretched in front of her. A flash of light covered the park, blinding Emily completely. She landed on the ground with a thud, the astonished monster clutched tightly in her arms, her body used as a shield. Emily's glasses clattered on the floor away from her, the lenses shattered.

"Aw man, that pair was expensive to!" Emily whined. The fencer looked at her in surprise as the dust cleared, then behind at where he was standing at first. A large black smouldering crater was in that exact spot. Neither of them needed to think very hard about what would've happened if they'd stayed there a second longer.

"You... saved me," the fencer said under his breath, barely audible.

"Huh? Uh... yeah, I guess I did," Emily said, looking at the crater with a distant look. What in the world was I thinking? Was I trying to die? "Uh, hey! We should probably get up round about now... My name's Emily if it's not too late to introduce myself."

"I'm Kotemon," he replied, again barely speaking above a whisper. "I'm sorry about all this trouble I'm causing you, so I want you to leave before you get hurt." Kotemon stood back up, clutching his sword tightly. "Devimon and I have a grudge match to finish..."

"But you'll never be able to win with those injuries!" Emily yelled. Devimon flew back down towards Kotemon, razor sharp claws outstretched. Kotemon leaped up towards him with his bamboo sword. They clashed, Kotemon getting sent right back down to the ground, his body flickering like a ghost, or more like computer data when Emily thought about it. "Kotemon!" Kotemon stood back up, coughing heavily.

"Ha! You can never defeat me with such pitiful power!" Devimon said. "Give up now you mongrel! Third-rate Digimon scum like you have no right to walk the face of the digital world, this world, or the next world!" Emily ran over to Kotemon, pulling out a first aid kit from her bag. Kotemon held up his hand, stopping her.

"No... This is my fight... I can't involve you humans now... This is a matter of pride...Get back, Emily!"

"You weakling!" Devimon taunted. "You coward! You pathetic excuse for Data! Why can't you just die already? You don't deserve to even touch my feet!" Emily clenched her fists tightly, rage boiling deep inside her. Her fists shook from how tightly she clutched them, blood dripping down her fingers as her nails pierced her palm.

"You're wrong..." Emily said quietly, her anger like the calm before a storm. Devimon hesitated, feeling the all too familiar presence of dark power beneath her voice. Even Sam froze for a moment.

"Emily... Are you alright?"

"You're wrong," Emily repeated. "Kotemon is not weak. He's not a coward either. He has more right to walk on this world than you do!" Her rage exploded, a vein pulsing angrily on her temples. "I don't know why you hate him so much, but he's been fighting honourably this whole time with everything he has! All you've done is say snide remarks and try and tempt Sam to join you! You're the cowardly one here, floating up in the sky where nobody can harm you like you're some kind of king!"

"Compared to that insect, I might as well be a god!" Devimon laughed.

"Then if it's like that... We'll end your day's right here and now!" Emily screamed. Light shone from the pair on the ground, blinding white light enveloping the whole park before dying down, focusing on Emily's wrist. The light died down, revealing a large looking wristwatch on Emily's arm. It was black and bulky looking, with a sky blue ring around the square digital face in the middle. The ring contained odd looking characters and symbols. Three blue buttons were on one side of the watch face with three more on the other side. A small curved extension came out of the watch towards Emily's body. Kotemon's eyes widened in surprise as he saw it form, while Devimon openly yelled "What?!" in confusion.

"Emily... Do you know what that is?" Kotemon said quietly.

"Speak up! I can barely hear you!"

"Do you know what... never mind that, that thing on your arm is a Digivice!" Kotemon said with a bit more volume. "That kind of item indicates that whoever has it is a tamer with a digimon partner." Emily looked at her new Digivice, an image of Kotemon appearing on it.

Kotemon

Level: Rookie

Type: Reptile

Family: Nature Spirits, Dragon's Roar

Attacks: Fire Men, Thunder Kote

A training samurai digimon...

Emily didn't bother reading or listening to the rest of the information. She already knew what to do.

"So I'm guessing this is one of those things like Bakugan or Dinosaur King where I'm the tactician and you're the fighter right?" Kotemon nodded his head. "Alright then! Let's do this!" Kotemon began glowing with energy, Emily's Digivice scanning him with a red laser light, repairing all of his damage. "Kotemon, you're a swordsman aren't you?" Kotemon nodded his head, his eyes narrowed in determination, fire almost visible burning around them. "Then here's a hint from my lessons on the sword. The best time to attack another swordsman (or clawsman...) is right before they attack!" Devimon began charging up the Dark Hand again, this time the blast becoming bigger than his whole body.

"I will not tolerate a tamer who isn't partnered with me! I'll annihilate you both!" Emily's Digivice began glowing with power, a bright aura surrounding them both.

"Now is the time! Roast this evil being with your fighting spirit Kotemon!" Emily screamed, her previous reserved nature completely evaporated from determination. Even Sam was stunned, barely recognizing her for who she used to be. Kotemon leaped into the air, his sword covered by massive blue and red flames.

"Death Ha..." Kotemon slashed his sword through the blast just before it could be fired, a mass of dark energy filling the area.

"Too slow too slow too slow too slow!" Emily and Kotemon yelled together. Kotemon turned around in mid-air, his sword filling with even more power. Devimon gasped in surprise, seeing the rookie Digimon behind him. It had a completely different energy signature than before.

Is this even the same Digimon as before? So this is the power a tamer and Digimon have, and this is before it's even developed and hardened. This is before they've even become friends...

"Fire Men!" Kotemon yelled, swinging his sword down on Devimon's head. Devimon's unearthly screams filled the park as he disintegrated into tiny particles, yellow light flittering into the air. The fog bank lifted, and it sounded like all of the car alarms in the background had turned off. Kotemon landed on the floor, slashing his kendo stick through the air with a flourish. Sam ran towards them energetically.

"Whoa! What was that?!" Sam yelled, a glint in his eyes. "It's like you weren't even the same person! You were filled with confidence and energy and... You, got, angry! I've never seen you get mad in my life! You were totally awesome! Especially that last line... 'Roast this evil being with your fighting spirit!' Legendary!"

"Hey, I wasn't that cool, it was all Kotemon. I just told him when to attack and healed his injuries."

"Yeah, Kotemon was epic as well! Did you see yourself?" he said, talking to him now. "Where did you learn to fight like that? Or was it natural fighting strength? Your sword... Your sword is awesome you know! How does it not burn up like that? Well, it's decided! I'm gonna get myself a Digivice to! And a digimon partner! I'll become a superstar and conquer the world! I'll become..." Emily and Kotemon both turned to face each other while Sam kept ranting.

"I've got a lot of questions for you, you know that right?" Kotemon shrugged his shoulders, eyeing Sam oddly as he jumped around enthusiastically. "I'm guessing that now that I've got this thing on my arm we're stuck together aren't we?" Kotemon nodded his head. "Well, I guess it'll be fun. Let's get to know each other then. Hopefully we can be friends, right?" Emily extended her hand. Kotemon looked at it for a few seconds, his expression as unreadable as ever.

"Right," he replied softly, grasping her hand. "Let's do that... Partner..."