(A/N: Ok, so, last chapter, due to a misunderstanding, we had the Pokemon and Digimon fighting. But lets not forget that the DigiDestined planned to come through the portal only a few minutes after their Digimon. Once they do, they'll be able to Digivolve. Will Ash and his friends get in even bigger trouble, or will they resolve the misunderstanding? Lets find out.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 6: Making Friends Out Of Enemies

"These guys are tough," said Brock. "They can fight on equal ground with Ash's Pokemon."

"We may need to send out ours to help," Misty suggested.

"Wait," said Ash, watching the battle between Pikachu and Veemon. He held up an empty PokeBall, taking aim. "Lets give this a try. PokeBall, go!"

He threw the red and white ball. It flew through the air, hitting Veemon in the face. "Ow! What was that?"

Ash's shoulders sank. "It didn't work. Guess they're really not Pokemon."

"Or they're owned by someone already," Brock pointed out. "Devimon?"

"Maybe."

As the battle continued, there was another flash as the portal appeared once more. The four humans looked at it in despair. Were more enemies appearing? It had only been two minutes; they'd barely had time to fight the first wave.

Veemon glanced over his shoulder at the portal. "Heads up, guys, looks like the others are coming."

"This could be bad," said Brock.

Misty took out one of her her PokeBalls. "Guess we'll have to fight after all. Go, Corsola!"

A different flash of light spilled out instead, this one flying from her bag. "Psy!"

Misty fell over. "Psyduck, you're not helping things! Return!"

But as Psyduck was drawn back into its PokeBall, the first figure within the portal stepped out of the light. The Trainers were shocked by what they saw. Rather than more Digimon, it was humans that appeared. Children too, only a couple of years older than Ash and Misty. They looked different though, like they belonged to a different ethnicity, which Professor Stevens assumed only made sense since they were from another dimension, but he was still surprised to see humans appear.

TK's eyes widened as he surveyed the battle scene. "What's going on here?"

"TK!" Patamon cried, and flew over to him.

The rest of the Digimon hurried over to their own partners as well, moving in front of them protectively.

"Veemon, what happened?" Davis asked.

"We ran into some trouble," the dragon Digimon told him.

"You're the ones who came looking for trouble!" Ash shouted at them.

"Pika, Pika!"

"Who are they?" Misty whispered to Brock.

"I'm not sure," he whispered back. "From the looks of it, I'd say they're the Digimon's Trainers."

Cody stared at the Trainers and their Pokemon. They had all gathered in front of him, even the blue crocodile-like one that had been bound by Wormmon's Sticky Net had managed to get free. "Well, we knew we might face some opposition."

"Alright," Davis cried, "everyone attack!"

Standing in formation each Digimon released an attack. Ash called for his Pokemon to counter, and they all released an attack of their own. The lab shook as their attacks met in the middle of the room, erupting into a series of small explosions. Tears continued to stream down the professor's cheeks as his lab was destroyed further. "My lab…"

As the attacks died down, Yolei stared at the Pokemon. "I've never seen anything like them before. Are they Digimon?"

"Whatever they are," said Davis, "they're certainly ungrateful, considering we came all this way to save them."

Ash blinked. "Save us? Hold up. What do you mean 'save us'?"

"We came here to stop someone from our world," TK replied.

Patamon fluttered beside him. "Yeah, a real nasty guy called Devimon."

"Devimon?" Misty repeated. "You mean you're not on his side?"

TK looked insulted. "No way! We would never side with that monster."

Kari touched his arm to calm him, then looked back at the others. "Devimon is an old enemy of ours that managed to escape to this world. We came here to stop him."

The next thing she knew, Brock was in front of her, grasping her hand. "I should have known that a creature as gorgeous as you couldn't possibly be evil!"

Davis' mouth dropped open in shock while the others simply looked bewildered. Kari didn't seem like she knew how to respond, but was saved as Misty grabbed Brock's ear and pulled him away. "We've already made a bad first impression, don't make it worse."

"What was that about?" Ken wondered out loud.

Yolei cut her eyes. "And why did he go to her instead of me?"

Professor Stevens cautiously approached. "Have you… really come to help us?"

"Of course," Hawkmon replied. "Why did you think otherwise?"

"Well…" the professor muttered, looking uneasy, "first Devimon came through the doorway and attacked, declaring how he was going to take over the world. Then you guys come through the same portal, and your little blue friend there said 'we've a job to do before the others come. If anyone stands in our way, we'll fight our way through. Now come on, lets get them'. So…"

Everyone turned to look at Veemon with hooded eyes. The dragon Digimon looked embarrassed as he bashfully rubbed the back of his head at his poor choice of words. "Well, when you put it that way… I guess it can be taken out of contents."

"Veemon!" the others complained.

"What? I was talking about Devimon. Lets get Devimon, that's what I meant. You guys knew what I was talking about, right?"

"Well, yes, we did," said Hawkmon. "But how would you feel if a bunch of strange creatures came out of a portal and cried 'lets get 'em'? Especially if the last person who came out of that portal was Devimon."

A sigh of relief escaped Brock. "Well, it sounds as if this whole thing was just one big misunderstanding."

"Looks like it," Yolei agreed.

"Thank goodness," said Armadillomon. "I was afraid we were going to have to fight Devimon and everyone else we ran into in this world."

"That won't be a problem," Ash told him. "Most of the people and Pokemon in this world are really nice. Right, Pikachu?"

"Pikachu!" The electric mouse Pokemon approached Veemon and held out his hand in a gesture of peace. "Pika, Pikachu, Pi, Pikachu, Pika."

The dragon Digimon looked at his hand for a moment before smiling and shaking it. "Yeah, we're all good. Sorry for the misunderstanding. You're pretty strong, pal."

"Pika, Pika, Pikachu."

Veemon laughed, and bashfully rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, that's nothing. You should see me when I Digivolve."

Pikachu cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Pikachu?"

Veemon looked surprised by this. "What? You mean you guys don't Digivolve. That's weird; I thought you were the Digimon of this world. Do you just call it something else?"

The humans looked on in amazement as the two communicated with each other. Davis bent down to their level, looking lost. "Hey, Veemon, you can understand what he's saying?"

The dragon Digimon looked back at him. "Sure. You mean you can't?"

"We don't even understand them," said Brock. "Pokemon can only say their name. Well, really, they're named after what they say. Only a few species can speak human language."

"Well, we can understand them just fine," Wormmon told them.

Professor Stevens was tapping his chin curiously. "Fascinating. It seems similar to how Pokemon can understand each other. Perhaps these Digimon really are the Pokemon of the world they come from."

Ash felt it was safe to return all his Pokemon to their PokeBalls. Veemon recognized the red and white balls from being hit by one earlier and pointed at them. "Hey, that's the thing you threw at me. What is that? And where'd all your friends go?"

Ash blinked. "Hmm? Wait, you mean you guys don't use PokeBalls for your Digimon? Or DigiBalls, I guess you would call them."

"PokeBalls? DigiBalls?" TK repeated. He held up his Digivice. "Do you mean these? We call them Digivices."

Misty gave the device a curious look. "So you capture Digimon in those?"

Kari's eyes widened in surprise. "Capture? No, we use these to help our Digimon Digivolve."

"Digivolve?" Ash repeated. "Is that like Pokemon evolution for Digimon?"

Yolei punched the air. "I think it's time for a game of questions and answers!"

Professor Stevens was practically salivating as he grabbed a pen and notepad. This had been more along the lines of what he had been hoping for when he began his project. "I couldn't agree with you more! Lets begin!"

As the 'game' went, questions and answers were shot back and forth as the two groups learned about each other and the world they came from. Unbeknownst to them, they were not the only ones learning. Up in the air ducts, Team Rocket looked on with growling excitement as they listened in on the conversation.

Jessie looked at James, her eyes shining eagerly. "This is too good of an opportunity."

Her companion looked at her, equally as excited. "This will put us at the top of Team Rocket."

They looked down at the Digimon greedily. "If we bring those Digimon back to the boss…"

"We'll have brought him a prize unlike any other."

"Just imagine, Team Rocket, masters of the interdimensional beings."

"Pokemon don't get much rarer than that." He blinked as he considered the situation. "But these Digimon aren't actually Pokemon. We saw that the PokeBalls don't work on them. How would we capture them, let alone control them?"

Jessie chuckled. "Why, the same way Team Rocket catches and controls all the Pokemon they steal." She glanced at Meowth, who had remained silent the whole time. "Hey, Meowth, don't you have anything to say about this?"

But the cat Pokemon was barely paying attention. His eyes were large red hearts and a deep blush was present on his cheeks. "She's beautiful…"

"Hmm?" James muttered. "Who?" He looked at the Digimn and saw that Meowth's gaze was locked on Gatomon. "You mean that cat Digimon?"

Meowth sighed deeply. "I t'ink I'm in love…"

Jessie groaned. "Oh, great, Meowth's been love struck."

"Meowth," James snapped impatiently, "what about Meowsie?"

"Who's Meowsie?" the cat Pokemon asked dreamily.

Jessie's fist came down on his head. "Snap out of it; we've got some Digimon to capture."

"Yeah," James agreed, "lets get digital."

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Hours ticked by as the two groups continued to exchange questions and answers. They learned that as similar as Pokemon and Digimon were, they were equally as different. They also learned a lot about each other and the adventures they had been on, eventually leading them to where they now were.

"Wow," said Ash, "you guys have been through a lot."

"Yeah, so have you," TK replied. "I guess, in a way, you guys are the Chosen Children of your world."

"Actually, that was just Ash," said Misty, referring to when he saved the world from the wrath of the Legendary Birds' rampage.

Ash gave her a surprised look. "That wasn't just me. You saved me from drowning, Melody played Lugia's song, Lugia and Team Rocket got me to and from the islands, and, of course, I couldn't have done it without my Pokemon."

Davis smiled. "I think it's cool that you can have a whole bunch of Pokemon. Aside from our friend Willis, who has two Digimon, we only get one."

Veemon cut his eyes at him. "What's wrong with one?"

Davis looked startled and began waving his arms. "No, no, that's not what I meant! It's just, the more the merrier, you know. It's nice to have lots of friends."

Cody chuckled. "I think Davis just put his foot in his mouth."

Ken, however, was not smiling. Ever since he learned of how humans would catch Pokemon, he had been frowning with disapproval. Wormmon took note of this and gave him a questioning look. "What's wrong, Ken?"

A low grumble escaped him. "Nothing. It's just…" he sighed, "I don't approve of this whole capturing Pokemon. It feels too much like enslavement."

The other DigiDestined frowned, recognizing where this was coming from. It reminded him too much as his time as the Digimon Emperor, where he would enslave Digimon with his Dark Rings and Dark Spirals.

Brock raised his hand slightly. "Um, I think you're getting the wrong impression. Catching Pokemon isn't enslavement; it's more like a contract that's entered. All Pokemon seek to become stronger, and that's best achieved when under guidance of a Trainer. When a person captures a Pokemon, they're proving their worth to that Pokemon by showing that they'll be a good Trainer to them. In fact, many wild Pokemon have shown to be jealous of Pokemon owned by Trainers because they know that having a Trainer brings out their greatest potential."

Davis looked back at his fellow DigiDestined. "See, Ken. There's nothing to worry about. It's not like using the Dark Rings and such."

"I guess…" the former Digimon Emperor replied. "But what about Pokemon that truly don't want a Trainer, but have still gotten caught?"

Misty shrugged. "Then they simply don't obey their Trainers until the Trainer either release them or finds another way to prove their worth." She glanced at Ash. "In fact, that happened to Ash before. Remember Primeape? And then there was Charizard."

Ash sweat-dropped. "Did you have to bring that up?"

"Why?" Armadillomon asked curiously. "What happened?"

A resigned sigh escaped the boy. "At first Primeape didn't want to listen to me at all, but it later came around. And Charizard obeyed me back when it was a Charmander, but after it evolved into Charmeleon, and then Charizard, it didn't obey me again until much later."

Yolei cocked her head to the side. "Why not?"

Brock crossed his arms. "I've actually been thinking a lot about that, and I think I have a theory."

Ash glanced at him, legitimately curious. "A theory?"

He nodded. "I said before that when a Trainer catches a Pokemon, it proves they're worth to them, but as a Pokemon gets stronger, it will start to wonder if it has surpassed their Trainer, and they are no longer worthy of them."

Misty's eyes widened in understanding. "I get it. So Charizard didn't think Ash was worthy of it anymore since he wasn't actually winning any badges."

Ash jumped angrily to his feet, looking outraged. "What do you mean? I won all my badges, but Charizard still didn't listen to me.

Misty gave him a regretful yet somewhat amused look. "I hate to break it to you, Ash, but you only rightfully earned a few of your badges the first time around."

"What do you mean?"

She began counting them down. "Well, you never actually finished your battle with Brock, Erika, or me, and I wasn't even an actual Gym leader. Brock, Erika, and my sisters basically just gave you your badges. Sabrina only couldn't give commands to Kadabra anymore because Haunter was making her laugh so much, not because you defeated her; it was basically a victory by default. Your battle with Koga was interrupted, which probably affected the outcome of the battle, even though you won. Team Rocket wasn't the actual Gym leader for your last badge; even if they were using the Gym's Pokemon, they didn't have the experience of a Gym Leader, not mention the rules were sketchy at best.

"So, really, the only badges you legitimately and rightfully earned were against Lieutenant Surge and Blaine, and even your battle with Blaine took place outside his Gym. Even if you do count the badges you won from Koga and Team Rocket, that's still only four of the eight. It's no wonder you lost Charizard's loyalty."

Imaginary arrows had pierced Ash's chest with each example she provided, and her final statement caused the entire ceiling to come down on him, figuratively of course.

"Pika, Pikachu," Pikachu told him sympathetically.

Cupping his hand over his mouth, Brock whispered to Misty. "That may have been a little harsh."

"Well, I didn't say that he couldn't have won fairly," she whispered back, "just that he didn't."

Recovering quickly, Ash jumped to his feet. "Well that was then, and this is now. Just you wait, I'm going to win the Johto League and become a Pokemon Master!"

"Pika!"

Up until now, Professor Stevens had been furiously scribbling down notes, practically foaming at the mouth. Having zero interest in Ash's Pokemon journey, he rounded on the DigiDestined. "This is so incredible. I can't believe how much I'm learning. But, if I may make a request, could one of you Digivolve for me? Please."

The DigiDestined blinked in surprise and exchanged looks with their partner Digimon. "I guess so," said TK.

"Yeah, we don't have a problem with it," Yolei agreed.

Veemon jumped off Davis' lap. "I'll do it. I'll even show you how we DeDigivolve. Check it out."

He began glowing, and then started to shrink and change shape. Professor Stevens and the Trainers looked on in amazement. It was like watching Pokemon evolution in reverse. And when the light faded, a smaller, cuter version of Veemon stood in the dragon Digimon's place.

"DemiVeemon!" he cried.

If she hadn't been holding Togepi, Misty would have hugged him. "Cutie!"

Professor Stevens was once again scribbling down notes. "Amazing. You really can evolve in reverse. I mean, devolve. Er, Digidevolve."

Kari chuckled. "DeDigivolve," she corrected.

"Yes, that!"

DemiVeemon smirked. "If you thought that was cool, take a look at this." Golden light engulfed him. "DemiVeemon Digivolve to… Veemon!"

More scribbling as Professor Stevens attempted to record everything he saw. "Amazing! Truly amazing! And you say there are six stages you go through?"

TK nodded. "Yes, after they hatch from their eggs, or the Digitama stage as it's sometimes called, they go through the stages Baby, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega."

"And some Megas can Digivolve to even stronger Megas," Ken added. "And in a few very rare cases, they can reach an even higher level called the Ultra level."

Professor Stevens was hanging onto and writing down every word. "Fascinating. And the power difference between each level is exponential."

Gatomon looked at Pikachu. "But you Pokemon, when you evolve, you can't go back, can you?"

The electric mouse Pokemon shook his head. "Pikachu."

"Sounds like it's the way a caterpillar becomes a butterfly," Kari noted. "Or the way a tadpole becomes a frog. Essentially, they're just growing up."

"More or less," Brock agreed. "Though some Pokemon choose not to evolve. Like Ash's Pikachu."

Professor Stevens was still obsessing over Digivolution. "And there's different types of Digivolution, you said? Armor Digivolution, and DNA Digivolution?"

TK nodded. "Those are the ones we've seen, though there are probably more."

"Fascinating. It sounds like this Armor Digivolution is similar to the use of an Evolution Stone, or another Evolutionary Item. And DNA Digivolution is similar to the way Slowpoke and Shellder evolve together into Slowbro or Slowking." He seemed to be struggling, and failing, to contain his excitement. "This is so amazing! I can't wait to learn everything there is to know about Digimon!" His eyes landed on the DigiDestined. "Can I… see one of your Digivices?"

His request surprised them. But while most of them hesitated, Davis happily handed his over, "Sure, knock yourself out."

With trembling hands, the professor took the device, holding it as if it were a precious item. "Fascinating. Do you… mind if I try something?"

This time, even Davis hesitated. "Um, sure… I guess…"

Beaming, Professor Stevens nearly tripped over his own feet in his attempt to get to the computer. Taking up a cable, he held his breath as he brought it to the Digivice. "It connects!"

He began typing furiously. The others looked on in confusion, wondering what he was doing. And after several seconds, the professor crossed his fingers and pressed a button. The screen changed, and a DOWNLOAD bar appeared, the percentage steadily beginning to rise.

His face lit up. "It's working… IT'S WORKING!"

Feeling out of the loop, Ash sweat-dropped. "Um, what's working?"

Smiling broadly, the professor looked back at them. "The Digimon Analyzers on your Digivice, it's downloading. Soon I'll have everything there is to know on Digimon on my laptop." He stared off into space dreamily. "I could get lost in this information for years."

Everyone sweat-dropped.

"Sounds like this guy and Izzy would get along very well," said Kari.

The professor jumped up. "Which reminds me! I have something for your brainy friend for when you go back." He began rummaging through his drawers until he found what he was looking for. "Ah ha! Here it is." He handed it to the DigiDestined. "Consider this a token of friendship."

TK reached out and took it. "Um, thanks… What is it?"

"It's called a PokeDex. Only this one is a world-class PokeDex. It contains all the information known on every Pokemon species in the world rather than specific regions."

This information surprised even Ash. "What does that mean?"

Smiling, the professor adjusted his glasses. "PokeDexes are expensive, so Trainers are given ones that generally contain information on the species of Pokemon that are native to the region they're in."

Misty took over. "That's why your PokeDex was upgraded back when Togepi hatched, because you were almost beyond the Kanto region."

Ash considered this. "I guess that makes sense. So when Bill said that there were 150 Pokemon, that was only for the Kanto region."

"Pretty much. And they've begun migrating to different regions."

Professor Stevens laughed arrogantly. "There are hundreds and hundreds of Pokemon species in the world. And now, I share all the information we have on them with you, my Digital friends, just as you've so gratefully shared the information you have on Digimon with me."

The DigiDestined continued to look uncomfortable at the professor's eccentric burst of joy.

"R-Right…" Yolei replied. "I'm sure Izzy will find this to be most informative."

"As will I with your data on Digimon. Ah! The download is complete!" Detaching the Digivice from the computer, he handed it back to Davis and immediately began going through his new files. "Incredible… Fascinating… Unbelievable…"

Kari chuckled. "I think we just gave him his reason for living."

The professor nodded in agreement. "Yes, most definitely. But before I can truly appreciate this, I need to look up… Ah, here we go!"

The others gathered around and saw that he had brought up Devimon's profile. The sight of him sent a chill down the Trainers' spines; the professor's sketch had not done then fallen angel Digimon justice.

"Whoa, that's Devimon?" Ash exclaimed.

"He sure looks nasty," said Misty.

Brock nodded in agreement. "Yeah, no kidding."

The professor's eyes scanned over Devimon's basic data. "Lets see… So Devimon is a Champion level Digimon. His attacks include Touch of Evil, Hell Contract, Evil Wing, Demon's Ray, Deadly Nail, Death Claw, Laser Wing, and Death Hand. He generally Digivolves from DemiDevimon, and typically Digivolves to NeoDevimon. Scary."

Ash looked at the DigiDestined uncertainly. "Are you sure you can take this guy? He looks like really bad news."

Davis gave him a thumbs up. "Hey, no worries. Our team is a lot stronger than this guy. We can reach the Ultimate and Mega level."

"Yeah!" Veemon cried, punching the air. "He won't know what hit him."

Ash looked back at the Digimon on the monitor. He really hoped his new friends were right.

(A/N: Well, it looks like our heroes are getting along. And, of course, the moment Brock found out that they weren't enemies, he got all girl crazy again. And before anyone starts saying that Brock is too old to be going after someone like Kari, Brock is 15 in the anime and Kari was 13 at the beginning of Season 2, so she should be at least 14 by the end of the Season, and even older now, so it shouldn't be too weird. Anyway, it looks like this new alliance is ready to work together to take out Devimon. But Team Rocket is scheming something. Yes, we know that they're out of their league this time, but that won't stop them from causing trouble. Lets see where things go from here.)