(A/N: Alright, things seem to be going good. Devimon is on the run, and our heroes can now have some downtime to heal and get to know each other a bit better. Lets see how that goes.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 11: Communication

The red light over the door blinked off, and the door opened. Chancey waddled out, pushing a stretcher, upon which Pikachu and several PokeBalls rested. Ash got up from the waiting area and hurried over to them.

"Pikachu, how are you feeling, buddy?"

"Pika, Pi!" the electric mouse Pokemon replied with a wave.

The door opened again, and the pink haired nurse stepped out. "Pikachu is doing just fine. In fact, all your Pokemon are." She glanced over her shoulder, still smiling. "And so are your Digimon."

The Digimon were all in their Rookie forms again, with the exception of Gatomon. Charizard was right behind them, looking much better as well, his wing wrapped in bandages. Veemon raised his hand in greeting to the humans as they were wheeled forward. "Hey, great service here. Joe should take some lessons if he wants to be a doctor."

"TK!" Patamon cried, flying over to the blonde boy.

TK caught the mammal Digimon and gave him a smile. "I guess you're feeling better."

Patamon nodded. "Yeah, they took real good care of us."

Kari picked up Gatomon and lowered her head to the nurse in gratitude. "Thanks for everything, Nurse Joy. It was nice to have a place to bring our Digimon to recover."

The nurse smiled back at her. "Oh, it was my pleasure. It was very interesting working with your Digimon, though it really wasn't any different from working with Pokemon."

Officer Jenny walked over to them. "It's actually us who should be thanking you kids. Without your help, Devimon would have torn this town apart." Her eyes became a little sad. "I'm sorry for suspecting you earlier. It's clear that you're not allies of Devimon."

Davis beamed. "Hey, don't worry about it. You were acting in your town's best interest. We get it."

"Yeah, we're just sorry we let Devimon get away," Veemon growled. "But we'll get him next time for sure."

Officer Jenny nodded in appreciation. "After seeing what you all can do, I'm no longer worried. Just try not to let him do that touch of darkness again."

"Touch of Evil," Armadillomon corrected. "And don't worry, we won't let our judgment get clouded again."

Yolei flashed the Trainers a smile. "But if it hadn't been for the Pokemon, we would all have been in real trouble."

"And it's a good thing Charizartd showed up when it did," Wormmon added.

Smiling, Ash patted the flame Pokemon's side. "Yeah, you did a great job standing up to Devimon, Charizard. I'm proud if you."

Smirking, Charizard placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. Davis just stared at him, dumbfounded. "Seriously, how is that not a dragon? Everything about it screams dragon."

Professor Stevens pushed his way through the group as he made his way over to Nurse Joy, pencil and notebook in hand. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dragons, whatever. Now, Nurse Joy, tell me, what was it like to treat the Digimon?"

Nurse Joy looked taken aback. "What was it like? Um, well, no different from treating Pokemon, I guess."

"Fascinating. Even though they're made of data, they're biology is no different from flesh and bone organisms."

"Um… What?"

Officer Jenny reached out and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him away from the nurse. "Alright, alright, enough of that. You're not entirely off the hook yet. These children and Digimon may not be with Devimon, but there's still the matter of you bringing more people here from another dimension."

He glanced at her over his shoulder. "But I already told you, I didn't bring them here. They got here on their own… more or less."

The others all sweat-dropped as Professor Stevens argued his case. The only standout was Brock, who was staring at the two women with a dreamy look on his face. "Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny are so great. Their beauty never fails to draw me in."

Misty sighed. "Uch, this again."

Kari chuckled, having realized what type of person Brock was when it came to women. "So, what are you going to do when you have to pick one?"

The dreamy look on Brock's face suddenly became one of horror at the prospect. "Pick one? Pick one!? How could I possibly choose? They're both my ideal women! It's impossible to pick one over the other!"

Kari looked surprised at his reaction. "Um, I was just joking."

"And wouldn't Nurse Joy be the logical choice if you want to be a Pokemon Breeder?" Davis asked.

Brock rounded on him. "Love is not about labels or job titles! Love is so much more!"

Ash chuckled. "That's for sure. He almost left everything behind to stay with Professor Ivy."

Brock suddenly cried out in despair and retreated to the corner, curling up in a fetal position as he wallowed in his depression. "Don't say that name around me."

Misty gave him a bored look. "Really? Still?"

Something clicked in Ash's head, and he turned to the DigiDestined. "Hey, since breeding was brought up, since Digimon are reborn as eggs, does that mean that they don't actually reproduce?"

TK shook his head. "No, at least not the way humans and Pokemon do. There are some very rare instances where when large masses of data gather together that it can create a brand new Digimon. But other than that, no, they don't breed."

Kari felt a shiver run through her as she recalled how her time in the Dark Ocean when those mutated Divermon wanted her to be their queen and mother of a new race. "But it may be possible for them to breed with other life forms."

Hawkmon shook a finger. "Technically, Digimon don't really have genders. Despite the appearances some of us have, we're not actually divided into male or female, although we do identify as one or the other. And that identity may change when we Digivolve. Some of our forms are gender specific though, like Angemon and Angewomon."

Professor Stevens pulled away from Officer Jenny and dropped down to Hawkmon's side. "Really? Do go on! This is most informative! It reminds me of Ditto."

The hawk Digimon blinked. "Um, that's it. Digimon technically aren't divided into genders. Though we do take on mates."

Veemon smirked and placed an arm around Gatomon. "Yes, yes we do."

She raised an eyebrow at his arm. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He sweat-dropped and removed his arm. "Uh, nothing, just agreeing with him."

"Fascinating," the professor remarked. "Truly fascinating."

Cody glanced at the Trainers curiously. "Speaking of which, I was curious about something. We established that Digimon don't actually have genders, but Pokemon do, so why do you always refer to them as 'it' instead of him or her?"

The Trainers looked surprised by the question. They exchanged looks with each other before shrugging. "I'm not really sure," Misty replied. "I guess we just don't differentiate between the genders for them."

Gatomon cleared her throat. "Excuse me, I don't mean change the subject, but we still have to find Devimon. He's not just going to give up."

TK scowled. "She's right. He'll come back with a new plan to cause trouble. We need to find a way to get him back to the Digital World."

Ken suddenly realized something. "Guys, before we do anything else, we should make sure we can even open a DigiPort."

Yolei realized he was right. "Oh, yeah, we better check that, otherwise we won't even be able to get back ourselves, let alone send Devimon back." She turned to Nurse Joy. "Do you have a computer we could use?"

Professor Stevens' face lit up. "I do! I do! I have a laptop back at my lab! Please use it! Please!"

It seemed he was quite unable to contain his excitement. If the others were perfectly honest, his obsession kind of creeped them out a bit.

"Well," said Cody, "I guess one computer is just as good as another."

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

The journey back to the lab was filled with more questions from Professor Stevens. The DigiDestined provided answers and managed to get in a few questions of their own, but for the most part, the game of question and answers was mostly one-sided.

"Fascinating," the professor kept saying. "Truly fascinating. So the nature of Digimon seems to come down to three Associations. Human type, Beast type, and the very rare Fusion type. The Human type are generally weaker but smarter, while the Beast are generally stronger, but less intelligent."

Veemon sweat-dropped. "Not the choice of words I would have used, but, generally, yes."

The professor just kept nodding. "And Digimon have six different Attributes. Virus, Data, Vaccine, Variable, Free, and Unknown."

TK nodded. "Yeah. The first three are the most common and tend to compliment each other in a Rock, Paper, Scissor fashion. Vaccine types are usually highly moral and dominant over Virus types. Virus types are usually greedy and cruel and dominant over Data types. Data types are somewhere in between and are dominant over Vaccine types. Variable types are at a tie between all the Attributes, and Unknown types are dominant over all the Attributes. Free types are hard to label because they're all over the place."

Professor Stevens nodded as he continued going over his notes. "Amazing. How very informative." He turned a few pages. "These elements I find most interesting. Digimon tend to be one of the ten different kinds. Fire, Water, Thunder, Wind, Ice, Earth, Metal, Wood, Darkness, and Light. The Darkness and Light types are the strongest of the ten."

"Pokemon are broken down into similar types as well," Brock told the DigiDestined. "There's Normal, Electric, Fire, Water, Grass, Psychic, Dark, Fighting, and Steel."

Professor Stevens pointed his pencil at him. "Actually, researchers are considering breaking them down even further to include Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Dragon, Ice, Fairy, and the still unidentified type that is represented by three question marks."

"That's… quite a few," Yolei commented. "And they also have a Rock, Paper, Scissor theme?"

The professor looked over his notes. "For the most part." He turned a few pages. "So, after Digimon Attributes, Digimon are broken into Families, then Type, then Species, then Subspecies. The strongest Types are angels, demons, knights, gods, fallen angels, and, occasionally, dragons."

"Typically," Wormmon agreed.

"So what is Devimon?" Misty asked. "A demon?"

"Close enough," Patamon replied. "He's a fallen angel. Just a step above a demon; those are the worst."

Ash sighed. "It's sad that there are such evil Digimon. After all, there are no evil Pokemon. Dangerous, violent, aggressive, or hostile, yes, but not evil."

"Yes, yes, terribly tragic," Professor Stevens said dismissively. "So sad there's so much evil in the world. Now, tell me, who would you say is the strongest Digimon?"

A light scowl crossed Ken's face. "I can answer that. ZeedMillenniummon, no question. My friend Ryou had to face off against him. He's so incredibly powerful that the entire multiverse was in danger of destruction simply because he existed."

Brock felt a chill run down his spine. "That's… incredibly unsettling."

Veemon gave the Trainers a curious look. "So who's the strongest Pokemon?"

"Oh, that's an easy one," Ash replied. "It's Mewt…" He trailed off as he remembered that he wasn't supposed to mention Mewtwo's existence. "It's mmm-most likely a Legendary Pokemon."

Pikachu sighed, his ears drooping. "Pikachu…"

Cody glanced at the electric mouse Pokemon, then at Togepi. "Hey, just wondering, but why don't Pikachu and Togepi stay in their PokeBalls?"

Misty snuggled the spike ball Pokemon. "Because Togepi wants to stay with its mommy. Right, Togepi?"

"Toge, Toge!"

Yolei raised an eyebrow. "Er, mommy?"

"Togepi imprint on the first living thing they see and think it's their mother," Brock explained. "That happened to be Misty."

Kari chuckled. "Just like a baby duck."

Patamon looked at Pikachu. "So what about Pikachu?"

Ash smiled at the electric mouse Pokemon on his shoulder. "Because it just prefers to be outside."

Ken was scowling slightly. "Can't blame it," he grumbled, still against the capture of Pokemon. "Who would choose to be confined to a small cramped space like a PokeBall?"

"Hardly," Professor Stevens replied, looking over his notes once more. "A PokeBall simulates the ideal environment for the Pokemon inside. Very few Pokemon are dissatisfied with the inside of a PokeBall." He came to a page in his notes. "Can we go over this DNA Digivolution compatibility?"

TK sighed. The professor's never-ending list of questions was beginning to feel more like an interrogation. "Izzy could probably answer your questions better than we could. Maybe, if we manage to open the DigiPort, we can make contact with our world, and you can talk to him."

Professor Stevens suddenly looked as if Christmas had come early. "Then what are we waiting for? Lets go!"

He took off for the lab, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. The others blinked, once again surprised by the professor's eccentric behavior.

"Is he always like this?" Cody asked.

"No idea," Brock replied.

"We just met him today," Misty added, "but I'm thinking yes."

Once they got back to the lab, they had barely walked through the door before Professor Stevens came speeding over to them with his laptop. It was already powered on, and he all but shoved it in their faces. "Do it! Open the gate!"

Yolei sweat-dropped. "Someone's certainly seems excited."

"I've been waiting for this for years!"

Kari chuckled. "Well, you've certainly been patient for long enough. Ok, lets give it a shot."

The laptop was placed on the table. Professor Stevens stood nearby with a pencil and his notebook, his hand practically trembling in anticipation to begin writing. He wasn't the only anxious one though. This was meant to be the DigiDestined's way home. If this didn't work, they would be stranded in this world.

"Alright," said Davis, "here goes everything." He held his Digivice up to the screen and took a deep hopeful breath. "DigiPort open!"

They all held their breath, waiting in anticipation for something to happen. Their anxiety grew as the seconds ticked by, the DigiDestined hoping to see something familiar appear on the screen.

Then it happened. A strange image popped up, containing a small window that revealed a world very different from the one they were currently in.

"It opened!" the DigiDestined exclaimed.

Professor Stevens pushed them all aside as he stared at the computer screen with shining eyes. "Amazing! Truly amazing! So this is the Digital World!" He pressed his face up against the screen. "I wanna go there!"

Davis placed a hand on the professor's shoulder. "Sorry, pal, but only humans that hold a Digivice can go through the DigiPort."

The professor frowned, giving him a pleading look. Then his gaze shifted to the Digivice in Davis' hand, and he eyed it hungrily. Davis realized where his thought process was going and took a step back, pocketing the device. "And a Digivice only works for its chosen owner."

TK cleared his throat. "In any case, now that we know that we can go back, lets see of we can establish communication."

"We should at least be able to get in contact with Gennai," Cody pointed out.

It turned out he was right. It took some time, but eventually their mentor appeared on screen, and with him were the first generation DigiDestined's Digimon. The Digital human looked quite relieved to see them, and he visibly relaxed.

"Thank goodness you're alright," he said. "I guess this means bringing you back won't be a problem."

"The others have been worried sick," Tentomon told them, referring to the older DigiDestined. "Izzy has been working non-stop on trying to find another way to bring you back in case you couldn't use the DigiPort. Guess we can tell him he can stop."

Yolei smiled. "And you can tell the others to stop worrying too. Everything is going to be fine. We even made some new friends."

Gennai raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That's good to hear. I take it that the residents of that world are not hostile then."

"Nope," Veemon replied, shaking his head, "they're all really nice." His thoughts drifted to when they had been thrown in jail. "For the most part."

"It turns out this world is inhabited by Digimon-like creatures called Pokemon," Wormmon told them.

This piqued Gennai's interest. "Is it now? How extraordinary. I see there are also humans too."

Kari nodded. "Yeah, they're different from us, but they're definitely human. And they live side by side with the Pokemon. Just like I hope the humans of our world will be able to one day with the Digimon."

Professor Stevens couldn't take it anymore, and he pushed his way in front of the screen. "Yes, hello there. I'm one of the humans they were talking about. My name is Professor August Stevens."

Gennai and the Digimon appeared startled. "Oh, I see. Nice to meet you."

Professor Stevens shook his head. "Oh, no, sir, the pleasure is all mine, Mr. Gennai. Your friends have told us so much about you, but I still have so many questions. They said you're not human. Is that true? Are you a really a Digimon?"

It was clear from the look on Gennai's face that he had not expected to get into a conversation like this. "Actually, no, but I am a Digital life form; I simply resemble a human."

"Fascinating. Truly fascinating. I do hope we can get to know each other better. I want to know everything there is to know about the Digital World, and I'd be more than happy to tell you about mine. In fact, I provided your friends here with a gift containing all known information on Pokemon." He turned to the DigiDestined, suddenly looking hostile. "Make sure you deliver that PokeDex; it's an important gift of envoy."

The DigiDestined shrank away from him. "Yes," Ken replied, "we'll make sure he gets it."

Gennai and the Digimon looked nervous for them. Biyomon quickly decided to change the topic. "So, how's the search for Devimon going? Any leads?"

Gatomon turned back to the computer. "Yes, but unfortunately he got away. We'll track him down though, you can count on it."

Agumon smiled. "We have faith in you guys. We know you can do it."

TK looked at the Trainers. "Actually, we had some help from our new friends here."

Pushing the overly excited professor aside, the three Trainers moved in front of the screen. "Hi there. My name's Ash, and this is my partner, Pikachu, and that over there is Charizard."

"Pika!"

"Charizard."

"I'm Brock, nice to meet you."

"My name's Misty, and this here is Togepi."

"Pi!"

Palmon clasped her hands together. "So cute!"

Kari smiled at the Trainers. "If it weren't for them, we would have been in real trouble."

Patamon fluttered in front of the screen. "And Charizard here actually stood up to Devimon all on his own, and did a pretty good job at it too."

The flame Pokemon arrogantly crossed his arms. "Char."

A worried look crossed Gennai's face. "Oh my. I'm deeply sorry for all this. Devimon has been a thorn in our sides before, but we never intended for anyone else to get involved."

Professor Stevens moved in front of the screen again. "Don't be sorry. This is my fault. I gave Devimon the means to come to our world because I was messing with forces I didn't understand." He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was so focused on proving that I was right that I didn't think about the negative effects my discovery could have."

"Mmm," Gennai muttered. "Knowledge is a powerful thing, but too much can be damaging. They say ignorance is bliss for a reason. Sometimes too much knowledge can be bad. There are some things that are better left unknown. It is important to remember that, especially if you are a seeker of knowledge."

Gomamon just waved this off. "Ah, he made a mistake. It can be fixed."

Misty stared at the aquatic mammal Digimon. "Cutie!"

Ash cut his eyes at her. "I'll bet. Hey, are you a Water type?"

Gomamon nodded. "Sure am."

"It figures."

Yolei attempted to get the conversation back on track. "Anyway, could you tell the others that we're ok, and that we've got Devimon on the run."

Gabumon nodded. "Will do. And let us know if you need any help. We'll be on standby."

TK nodded. "Thanks a lot. We'll keep you posted. Later."

He reached for the power button, but Professor Stevens grabbed his wrist. "Wait! You're not going to turn it off, are you?"

TK gave him an uncertain look. "Um, yeah. We should rest up so we can be ready to go after Devimon in the morning."

"But I can still talk!" the professor protested. He gave the computer a desperate look. "Please, talk to me. I want to learn more. Couldn't you answer just a few questions?"

Behind him, the humans, Pokemon, and Digimon alike silently motioned for Gennai to turn him down, knowing that he had no idea what he was getting into. Gennai raised an eyebrow at this before giving the professor an uncertain look. "Um… sure."

(A/N: Well, things seem to be going well for our heroes. Poor Gennai has no idea what he has gotten into though when he agreed to answer Professor Stevens' questions. It seems everything else is under control though. But Devimon isn't going to stay in hiding for long. What sinister plot is he planning, and will our heroes be able to stop him when the time comes.)