Hikari Yagami held Tailmon close to her chest in an attempt to silence her thundering heart, though, also to cradle her injured partner. She glanced down at the digital cat creature, sections of white fur singed and burnt, slashes across digital flesh.

Hikari turned from her partner to where Koshiro sat in front of the computer on the table; the only thing in the brick room. "Almost ready," he said.

The room shook and bits of debris fell from the ceiling. She stared at Koshiro and he smiled. "We'll be fine."

Hikari turned as Taichi raced through the doorway. "Oniichan!"

"Yamato and Sora are coming," he said, running to Koshiro, "What's the status?"

Koshiro entered commands on the keyboard. The Digital Gate appeared on the screen. "I'm ready for another one."

Taichi turned to Hikari. "All right, you're up."

She shook her head but her brother flashed his trademark grin. "No worries. We're right behind you."

Another tremor rocked the building. Taichi pushed Hikari and Tailmon towards the computer monitor. She wanted to object again but did not have time as the Digital Gate flashed to life, pulling human and digimon inside.

The Legacy of Courage

Chapter 1

Doubt-Takato Matsuda

The green creature watched as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, vanquishing the yellow and red of the afternoon into the darkness of the night, or rather, what should have been the darkness. The blazing lights of the city still kept the night sky at bay. He always heard so many stories about Earth from the others in the Digital World, but he had no idea it was so bright. He missed the shadows, the night, the silence.

He stayed crouched in his space in the alley until the lights started flickering out. The humans were finally going to sleep, time to move. The Shamamon climbed to his feet and stretched, letting his bones click back into place before sliding out of the alley. There had to be discarded food somewhere; humans were such wasteful creatures.

He darted back into the alley, just missing the laser blast that exploded on the sidewalk. A human dropped from the sky, one dressed in a red jumpsuit with white stripes along the side. "Shamamon, huh?" the human asked, "Haven't seen one of you in a while."

The digimon pulled his wooden club from the holster on his back. A Digital Hunter! He charged, a loud roar escaping from his throat. The Hunter ran to meet him, slamming his fist into Shamamon's head. It flew off his shoulders, hitting the alley wall before it, along with the rest of the body, vanished in a burst of data.

The human rubbed his knuckles. "Too easy. Damn it, I need a challenge."

"Nimrod, you've to be careful what you wish for."

He smirked as another Hunter appeared, this one in a blue and white uniform. "Spying on me, Hinkon?"

"Just making sure you don't get into trouble," the other Hunter replied, "Time to head back to base."

Nimrod grinned even wider. "Quitting time? Hell yeah!"

The Ogremon sneered in triumph as his club bashed into Greymon's head, causing the dinosaur to stumble backward. Takato grunted, almost feeling the pain from his digimon partner. They had been focused on attacking, on using the dinosaur's horns to jab the ogre's torso, but that left his head wide open for a counterattack.

Takato studied the Ogremon. He…or maybe she; did digimon really have genders? The Orgremon twisted his lips into a smile as he swung the club again, knocking it deeper into Greymon's head. Takato hissed and pulled out his cards; there had to be something he could use!

Ogremon laughed and raced at them, his weapon ready for a finishing blow…

.

.

.

.

"Mr. Matsuda!"

Takato's eyes snapped open and he sat upright, blinking as he took in his surroundings. His fellow classmates stared at him from their desks, while his teacher glared down at him. His cheeks were hot. "Oh, um, I…"

Miss Asaji sighed and crossed her arms. "It's very embarrassing for a junior high student to not only fall asleep in class but also mumble out loud, don't you think?"

Takato had to look away from her gaze. She looked over her students. "Who has cleanup duty today?"

A boy with short brown hair raised his hand. Miss Asaji nodded. "You've got the day off." She knocked Takato on the head with her rolled-up book. "And if you fall asleep in class again, you'll be doing cleanup for the rest of the week, understand?"

He nodded and Miss Asaji marched back to the front of the room. He spied Hirokazu and Kenta snickering at him and he glared. Then he caught sight of Juri lowering her arm. Why did she raise her hand? Wait, did she have cleaning duty too?

He smiled to himself. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"What were you even dreaming about?" Juri asked as they got the cleaning supplies from the closet, "The whole class heard you talking in your sleep."

Takato opened his mouth but choked on his embarrassment. "I…"

"Digimon!" Hirokazu laughed from the doorway, "He's obsessed with it."

"You're the one that got me into it!" he countered.

"Oh, that card game," Juri giggled, "Boys and their toys."

Her dismissive wave was like a knife through his heart. "It's not just a card game! It's a video game series and…and you can enter tournaments and win a lot of money."

She handed him the broom. "And you can get a lot of money when you graduate from school, but that only happens if you pay attention in class."

"Yeah, I…" He turned away to start sweeping, "…I was up late last night."

"Oh, really?" she asked, "Trouble sleeping? That's happened to you before, right?"

"Well, I was just online really late."

Hirokazu groaned. "Of all the days for you to be up late watching hentai."

"No!" he shouted, "That's not what…"

Juri studied him with a raised eyebrow but then giggled with a roll of her eyes. "Boys…" she muttered, turning to start sweeping.

Hirokazu continued, "We were supposed to be at the arcade in an hour."

Takato threw the dustpan at his head. "Then help us out!"

With a groan and a roll of his eyes, he knelt down to allow Takato to sweep the day's dust into the pan.

They were able to make short work of the job. After Juri bowed her good night, the two boys ran out the school doors. Takato threw his book bag into Hirokazu's back. "Owe! What was that for?"

"What do you think?" he snapped, "Telling Juri I watch hentai!?"

"You do, right? And what's the big deal? Girls watch hentai too, even though they won't admit it."

Takato narrowed his eyes. "How would you know? When's the last time you spoke to a girl for more than five minutes who wasn't your mother?"

He smirked with self-satisfaction as Hirokazu turned away with a growl.

Kenta met them at the doors of the arcade. "There you two are."

Takato studied the interior through the large glass doors. "It doesn't look too busy." He smiled, "Great."

"How are we doing on time?" Hirokazu asked.

Kenta checked his watch and adjusted his glasses. "We've still got time, but not much."

They marched inside and took position at a group of claw machines in the corner. They had only time for one game when Kenta's watch beeped. All three turned to the door and Takato found he was holding his breath. He released it when the doors slid open and a girl entered; dark blue jeans and matching denim jacket, her orange hair pulled into a pineapple styled pony-tail. "It's really her," he whispered, "Ruki Makino."

She walked to a fighting game and dropped into the seat. "I told you!" Kenta hissed, "She's been coming here every day at this time for a week."

Hirokazu sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, fine, but why would she move to Shinjuku? She won the D-1 Prix tournament the last two years and was in the finals the three years before that. Plus, her mother's loaded. She should be living it up as some idol somewhere."

"Eh, I'm not sure about that," Kenta said, "I doubt many idols have that kind of expression on their faces."

Takato studied Ruki's stone cold face; her expression alone could put a sumo wrestler in tears. "Do you guys remember that story from last week? That the old couple thought they saw two creatures fighting in the park?"

Kenta wrinkled his nose. "You mean the two that sounded like they saw a Meramon fighting a Renemon?"

Takato nodded, so fast he was almost dizzy. "Yeah!" He turned back to watch Ruki slam her fingers on the console's buttons. "And she shows up at the same time. What if she really is a real Tamer?"

Hirokazu rolled his eyes. "Seriously? You really believe that crap?"

"Come on! You've heard all the stories from the Digimon tournaments."

He snorted. "What? That there were real digimon a hundred years ago-"

"Closer to seventy," Kenta cut it.

"Seventy years ago," Hirokazu continued, "and that kids our age fought alongside them in some kind of partnership?"

Takato opened his mouth but Hirokazu continued, "Or are you talking about the rumor that somehow that partnership came back and any kid can tame a digimon? Or do you mean that Ruki Makino's one of these Tamers? I'm telling ya' man, that kid at the tournament was just trying to psych you out. He was probably paid off by Makino to spread those rumors."

Takato was about to protest but Hirokazu cut him off again. "All right, if it's all true, then how come it's only just stories that you hear at Digimon tournaments?"

"I can talk now?" Takato snapped, "It's all rumors because the government covered it up…"

Hirokazu rubbed his eyes. "Oh, right, that secret government agency that hunted all those digimon." He groaned, "Look, I think you're taking this digimon otaku thing a little too far."

"How about all those other stories?" Kenta countered, "There've been reports like that for years and years."

"Thank you," Takato said. He turned to Hirokazu. "You can believe what you want, but digimon were real at one point." He frowned, "And so are those Hunters that hunt them."

"Hey, I'm home!" Takato shouted to his parents while they worked in the bakery section before heading upstairs to his room. He threw his bag onto his desk before dropping into his chair. After what happened in his class today, he did not want to tempt Miss Asaji's anger by skipping his homework, but Ruki still filled his mind. Were the rumors true? Was she a real Tamer? She was the D-1 Prix champion, so she knew digimon. Was that how she got a partner? Was she connected to the original Tamers, who some of the digimon players called Chosen?

He shook his head clear. He needed to start on his schoolwork, but his eyes drifted to the small notebook tucked away at the corner of his desk. He flipped it open to the half-colored drawing of a dinosaur creature. "Guilmon," he whispered.

He imagined himself running through the city streets with Guilmon at his side, destroying evil digimon as the Chosen did long ago. He grinned as he added in a few stripes with his black pencil. "The next time there's a 'Create a card contest', I'll enter you and you'll be a real card."

He filled in the rest of Guilmon's body with his red marker before shoving the notebook aside and grabbing his school books.

"You slept better last night, huh?" Juri said with a smile, "You didn't fall asleep in class today."

Takato tried to untie his tongue as he pulled his street shoes from his locker, "Uh, um, n-no. I mean, yeah, I slept better."

She continued to smile at him and he felt his heart rattle against his chest. Did girls know they had this effect on boys? "Are you going to play digimon in the park again?"

How did she know that? "Yeah. I'm heading to duel Hirokau and Kenta right now."

She giggled, "I looked some stuff up online last night. I guess the game is pretty fun after all."

He brightened. "Really? Do you want to, um, join us?"

She frowned. "I have cheerleading practice. Sorry, maybe next time." She waved as she ran to join a group of girls as they passed. Takato finished changing into his shoes and headed out the door.

As he walked into the park, he reached into his pocket again; he had been doing that all day. He pulled out the notebook and studied the design of his Guilmon. Would Hirokazu and Kenta just laugh at him for designing his own digimon? Hirokazu would find something to tease him about; Kenta might like it though.

He shifted his backpack around and pulled out his card deck, as well as a pair of blue goggles. He snapped it over his head before flipping through his stack of card. With the expansion pack he bought the other day, his deck was now unstoppable. He imagined the look on Hirokazu's face when Takato would throw down his last card, declaring victory. Finally, Takato would be the one gloating and laughing…

He heaved as he knocked into someone and fell onto his rear, dropping his notebook and scattering his cards. "S-sorry!" Takato gasped, rubbing his head, "I didn't mean to…"

The old man stared down at him, thick white beard reaching for his chest, brown eyes peering. A chill ran down Takato's spine and he reached for his scattered cards while meeting the old man's eyes. "I j-just wasn't watching where I was going and…"

"Goggles?" the man asked in a gruff voice.

"Y-yeah," Takato said. He didn't know he could sweat and shiver at the same time, "T-they're just a good luck charm. I-I always wear them when I play the Digimon game and…and I don't know why I'm telling you this. I just wish you'd stop staring at me and…"

The man crouched beside Takato and studied him. "Good luck charm?" He chuckled, "Let's hope so."

He snatched the pile of Digimon cards and raced deeper into the park.

Takato blinked, his mind trying to process what happened. He…he stole Takato's deck…!

"Hey! Come back here!" He grabbed his small notebook and ran after.

The old man was faster than he looked but Takato was able to at least keep him in his sight until he rounded a corner and vanished into a thick line of trees. Takato heaved as he twisted his head around but all he saw were trees. No one came to this part of the park; the old man looked like he was homeless; did he sleep around here?

A creak filled the air and Takato yelped. He spun around and small stone building with a rusted gate that swung in the breeze. A scene from a horror movie, made worse that one of his cards was in the doorway. He swallowed, filled his lungs, and peered inside.

His cards rested in a pile on the floor, next to a weird device about the size of his hand. He checked for the old man but he had vanished. Takato knelt down and leaned closer. The device beeped and Takato yelped. He jumped back and once again dropped his cards and notebook. The cards scattered but the notebook landed on top of the device. It started beeping and flashing, with the monitor erupting in a column of light. Takato's mouth dropped open as the notebook vanished like it was on fire.

Before he could even start to figure out what was happening, the screen exploded in light again, twisting and solidifying into a familiar red dinosaur creature. "G-guilmon?" he gasped.

The dinosaur turned to him. Takato tried to will his legs to move but his body was frozen. All save his mouth, "I…My name is Takato and I made you…I think…"

Guilmon cocked his head to the side and studied him. "Takatomon?"

He shook his head. "No! I mean, I'm not a digimon. Just Takato."

Guilmon sniffed the air again. Takato imagined himself on a plate with the dinosaur holding a set of chopsticks. He must not have looked too appetizing because Guilmon turned and ran out the door.

Reality crashed into Takato's shoulders. "Wait!" he shouted. He gathered up his cards again and followed the digimon out the door. He ran back in a second later and reached for the device; if it somehow gave life to Guilmon, maybe it could control him. When he touched it, a sensation like static shock jumped up his fingers and a word came to his mind: 'D-Arc.'

He shook the sensation from his head. He dropped the device, the D-Arc into his pocket and ran after Guilmon.

The man clicked his lighter as he watched the floors flash by in the elevator. The cigarettes were in his pocket but he pushed aside the temptation. The lighter was enough for now.

He stepped through the opening doors. "Report, Reika! What's going on?"

Hovering in the dome above him were two women in floating chairs. "Commander Yamaki!" answered the one with long hair, fingers dancing across her virtual console, "Two Wild Ones emerged near the park but one of them vanished right away."

Yamaki snorted, "Probably another damn partner digimon. Weapons under the control of children. What about the other one?"

"Still tracking, sir," said the woman with short hair.

"Keep monitoring, Megumi," Yamaki ordered, "Reika, who's nearest?"

She entered commands into her console again. "Nimrod."

"Send him over there."

"Sir!" they both shouted.

Yamaki flicked his lighter again before dropping it into his pocket. He took his position at his mobile desk near the far wall. Another young woman with brown hair pulled into a professional style bowed. "Good evening sir." She handed him a file, "The reports for today."

Yamaki sighed and dropped them onto his desk. "I'll get to them later, Yuko. Make some coffee."

His secretary bowed again. "It's already prepared. I had a feeling it was going to be another long night."

Takato followed Guilmon until the dinosaur stopped in a grove of trees. "Guilmon!" he panted.

The digimon's pupils dilated and he snarled. "What's wrong?" Takato gasped.

"Enemy!" he hissed.

Takato twirled his head, scanning the treetops. "Where?"

A growl answered him from behind. "A sensory digimon. You've picked a decent partner, human, but knowing where I am is only part of the battle."

Takato and Guilmon twirled around as an ogre creature leaped from the trees, landing on the ground with a thud.

"Goburimon!" Takato gasped.

"Listen up, human," the Digimon said, lightly tapping his large club in his hand, "Hand over all your food and you can go on your way."

Takato blinked. "F-food? You don't want money?"

Goburimon snorted. "What do ya' expect me to do with money? Walk into a shop and spend it?" He slammed his club into the ground, "I'm starving! So, hand it over!"

Guilmon snarled and ran, slashing Goburimon's face with his claws. The goblin countered with a quick headbutt.

"No, Guilmon!" he cried, "Don't…" His voice trailed off as Guilmon tore at Goburimon's chest with his claws before using his tail to whip the goblin into a tree. Guilmon was winning. His Digimon was winning!

Despite his racing heart, a smile twitched at the edges of Takato's mouth. The rumors were true! Digimon were real! Just like the stories he heard at the card tournaments! Just like the Chosen…

He blinked and pulled the strange device, the D-Arc, from his pocket. Was this a digivice?

Goburimon knocked Guilmon back before forming a large ball of energy in his palm. "Take this! Goburi Bomb!"

Takato held his breath, certain that his partner was going to die only an hour after he was born. Guilmon leaped into the air, Goburimon's fireball passing beneath him. Guilmon breathed in before spitting out a fireball of his own. "Air Fireball!"

Goburimon tried to use his club as a shield but was not fast enough. Guilmon's fireball struck the imp's chest, incinerating his body in a burst of flame.

Takato watched Goburimon's data scatter into the air. "Y-you did it!"

Guilmon blinked. "Did what?"

"Beat him!" the boy exclaimed, "You saved me!"

"Of course I saved you," the dinosaur said, "You're my partner."

"What did you say?" he asked, "I'm your partner?"

The digimon nodded.

"Says who?"

Guilmon scratched his head. "I don't know." He shrugged, "I just am."

Takato grinned. A partner. He had a digimon partner. He was a real Tamer!

A shadow suddenly appeared overhead, pulling Goburimon's data into itself as he dropped to the ground. Takato yelped and darted behind Guilmon.

"Do you recognize them?" a female voice asked.

The shadow stepped into the light; a Renamon. "No, I don't."

A teenage girl appeared from behind the fox woman. Takato's mouth dropped open. "Ruki Makino?"

"You know me?" she asked.

"O-of course!" he gasped, "You're the Digimon card champion! I was at the arcade earlier!"

Ruki studied him with cold blue eyes. "I don't know you," she said, "We were hunting Goburimon. Why didn't you load his data?"

"Why didn't I do what?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "A newbie, huh? When you defeat a digimon, your partner can take their data, making themselves stronger." She smirked, "As Renamon is about to do to your partner."

"What?" Takato gasped as Renamon stepped forward. He turned to Guilmon and back again. "Why? What did we do to you?"

"Nothing," Ruki shrugged.

Takato waited for more but when he did not get it, he said, "But we're not bad!" He pointed at Guilmon, "He's not a bad Digimon!"

Renamon studied the dinosaur, who was busy investigating a butterfly on a nearby flower. "He is a Virus."

Takato blinked. "W-what?" He stared at his partner. "How did you…" He shook his head. "I-it doesn't matter! He's not a bad Digimon!"

Ruki snorted. "What does that have to do with anything? Virus or Vaccine, Digimon are just tools made of data. If you want to get stronger, you fight other Tamers and load their digimon's data." She smirked, "You wanna be a Tamer? That's what you're gonna have to do."

Takato blinked and stared at his feet. "Tamers just fight?," he whispered, "That's all we're here to do?"

Renamon hissed. "Ruki, Hunters!"

"Shit," the orange-haired girl grumbled, "Well, you've got a reprieve for now." She darted back into the shadows while Renamon vanished.

Takato's mind raced. Hunters! If Digimon and Tamers were real, then, of course, the Hunters were too. He needed to hide Guilmon, but where? The digimon…his digimon, was as big as a small car.

He pushed Guilmon into the trees. "We need to hide. Move!"

They made it to the grove of trees just as a man dropped into the clearing. He wore a red and white uniform with a short-sleeved top, revealing a metal shell encasing his right arm. His head was covered by a red and white helmet and he had two swords trapped to his back.

He looked around the clearing and grumbled. "Sending me on a wild-goose chase." He spoke into a square-shaped device that he pulled from his pocket. "Yeah, this is Nimrod. Nothing's here. The Wild One's gone….digimon partner? Yeah, yeah, all right."

Nimrod studied the tree line. "Yo! Anyone in there? Come on out or else I'm gonna be pissed."

Takato had to keep Guilmon's jaw closed to keep him from answering.

The Hunter scanned the area before turning in the other direction. Takato heaved with relief. Then Nimrod twirled on his heels and fired a blast from a laser on his arm. The human and Digimon darted back, narrowly missing the attack.

Despite himself, Takato shrieked and released Guilmon. His partner charged out of the bushes and tackled Nimrod. The Hunter brushed off his surprise and grabbed Guilmon by the throat, pinning him to the ground. He looked back in Takato's direction. "Listen up, kid! You'd better get out here before I get pissed."

Takato held his breath, his mind racing.

Nimrod pressed his hand harder against Guilmon's throat. "Damn, I thought you'd at least have some compassion for your pet here."

Takato looked down at Guilmon struggling to escape from Nimrod's grip. If Ruki was right, then Guilmon was nothing more than a tool for Tamers. He did not need to care for a tool, he could just get another one. Guilmon was just a collection of data that…

No! There had to be more to it than that. Guilmon called him his partner…his partner…

Takato pushed his way out of the bushes. "I'm here, okay? I'm right here."

Nimrod smirked. "Made the right choice, kid. I'll be taking you in." He turned to Guilmon, "After I delete him!"

"No!" Takato cried. He whipped his head around until he snatched a large stone, flinging it at Nimrod's head. The Hunter caught it with his free hand, never taking his eyes off of Guilmon. He frowned as he turned to Takato. "Did you really think that would work? I'm a Digital Hunter and…"

With his attention distracted, Guilmon was able to push the Hunter off of him and slash with his claws. Nimrod cried out and knocked him back.

"Use that fireball!" Takato shouted.

His partner obeyed, spewing out of a ball of flame into Nimrod's face. The Hunter screamed and swung wildly. "Guilmon, let's go!" Takato shouted.

The dinosaur turned from the Hunter back to his partner. "But…"

"Now!" Takato shouted.

Guilmon trotted to Takato's side and they both vanished into the trees again. They ran until Takato guessed they were far enough into the thicker, forested part of the park. He fell onto his back and heaved. "Oh man! I didn't think we were gonna get out of that!"

Guilmon blinked. "Get out of what?"

Takato shook his head. "Nothing, never mind."

His partner sniffed again. "Hey, Takatomon, I'm hungry."

The boy laughed. "Yeah, okay." He ran a hand through his hair. "Let me think how I'm gonna get you home."

That was what Takato should have been thinking of, but his thoughts wandered. Ruki was wrong, there was more to being a Tamer than fighting. She had to be wrong…right?

He thought back to the strange building in the forested area of the park. What was that place? Why had no one noticed it before? Who was that old man? Why was that digivice just lying inside of there? Was it the old man's? What else was hidden there?

Had Takato studied the strange building further, he would have seen the thin line on the wall, revealing the hidden door which led down to a basement. Inside that basement lay an old desktop computer attached to an unknown power supply. The monitor displayed the familiar Digital Gate with an image of a human girl and a Digimon. The teenage girl had short brown hair, and a white, puppy-like digimon lying on her chest. Though both were asleep, the girl stirred slightly and mumbled.

"Brother…"

Just the Beginning…

Did you enjoy it? Any criticisms or suggestions?

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter and please don't forget to review.

Author's note: Happy New Year's! I'm pleased to announce that I have a book scheduled to be published. If you're a fan of my fics here, please consider checking out my website at bccharlesDOTcom and signing up for updates.