Takeshi was getting ready to go to sleep. He didn't want to stay up too late tonight, because tomorrow was an important day - an event that would never repeat itself in his life. Tomorrow, he would experience his first day as a middle school student. It was a completely new chapter in his life that would change everything. On the other hand, it was a bit daunting, as he didn't do much outside of school. He had his hobbies, such as the arcade he visited with his best friend Shun, or his favorite show Kamen Yusha, which he followed regularly. And of course, the ramen shop around the corner. They really had the best ramen he had ever tasted. He had already asked the owner or his apprentice for the recipe several times, but had always been met with silence. He could understand it, but just thinking about it made his mouth water.
Just as Takeshi was about to turn off his PC, on which he had prepared everything for tomorrow, he received an email. He decided to check it quickly and paused. Had he read it wrong? As the sender, he recognized the name 'Tsubasa'. But could that be? At first he didn't quite believe it, then he opened the email and read it with excitement. Immediately, his mood improved significantly. This person wanted to meet him tomorrow. They had given the place and time and asked if that was okay for Takeshi. He immediately agreed by writing a detailed email back. Then he shut down his PC and went to sleep. He could hardly wait.
His firm resolution not to oversleep the next day dissolved into thin air when he woke up and stared at his alarm clock. He scolded himself partially and quickly got dressed. He would miss the train, which would cause him to take the bike. Since his parents often had to leave for work early, no one had woken him up early either. Quickly, he drank a sip of water in the kitchen, then took his school things and set off. When he came to a stop in front of the school building with his bike, he realized that he needed to work on his condition. He parked it in the designated spot and then joined the sixth graders streaming into the building. As usual, they gathered in the gym, where chairs had already been set up extensively. As everyone sat down, Takeshi let his gaze wander. Quickly, he hurried to a chair before it could be taken away from him.
"Phew, made it," he groaned in relief.
The boy next to him crossed his arms and sighed.
"As I can see, you're continuing your attitude from last year. We're middle school students now, more is expected of us," he pointed out to Takeshi.
The latter rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But it's our first day, don't overwhelm me right away," he begged.
The boy next to him leaned back in his chair and adjusted his glasses.
"You can only hope that we're in the same class again. After all, someone has to keep an eye on you."
Takeshi hated it when his best friend Shun played the adult, after all they were the same age. But it was true that Shun put much more effort into school and took it more seriously than he did. He didn't like it when Shun reminded him of it, but Takeshi also knew his parents, who could sometimes be quite strict.
A little later, the school principal came forward and congratulated the students on the new school year. He reminded them to take their duties seriously, but also to have fun in everyday life. After that, everyone was handed a slip of paper with their classes, and Takeshi was relieved to find that he would indeed be reunited with his friend.
The classroom itself did not look particularly special. Takeshi decided on the spot in the back left, Shun one further forward, closer to the blackboard. He let his gaze wander, but he hardly knew anyone from his old school. And of the few he recognized, he had no great connection. He would probably mostly hang out with Shun. At the same time, he thought about whether he should perhaps join a club, but then felt no great desire to do so. The Kitakubu appealed to him. Especially since he could go to his favorite ramen shop right after school. His mother came home late in the evening and therefore could not cook for him. Although she often complained that Takeshi ate too one-sidedly, on the other hand she had not yet tried any of the ramen there. The lesson began, and Takeshi listened with half an ear. Today he could afford to do so, but tomorrow the real lessons would begin. During the break, Shun walked over to him and handed him something to drink. Takeshi gladly accepted it.
"Do you want to do something today? The arcade maybe? Today that's still clear, but the next few days we have to devote ourselves to the new material," he said.
However, Takeshi had to disappoint him.
"Can't, I'm meeting someone today already," he announced.
Shun eyed him skeptically.
"Takeshi... don't tell me... a date?"
The boy turned around and raised his hands defensively.
"No, no! It's not like that. I just got an email from Tsubasa yesterday. I'm meeting him today," he explained, until he realized that Shun probably wouldn't know anything about it. So he gave his words more context.
"Oh, you probably don't know Tsubasa anymore. He moved away when you just moved here. We always played in the garden and stuff. Kamen Yusha, to be exact."
Shun furrowed his brow.
"Kamen Yusha? Wasn't that your favorite show?"
Takeshi grumbled unhappily.
"Of course! I was the red Kamen Yusha and Tsubasa was the yellow one. We always did the Yusha salute!" he said, holding two fingers in front of his right eye and two fingers over his forehead.
Shun resigned.
"Sorry, I guess I'm aging faster than other peers," Takeshi corrected himself. He ignored the jab and thought back to Tsubasa. It really felt nostalgic. The two had spent almost every day together. Tsubasa had been his best friend until he had to move away. After that, Takeshi had been sad, but Shun had built him up. He wondered if Tsubasa still followed Kamen Yusha or how Shun had developed.
"Anyway, he'll be going to our school. Today the formalities still have to be done, but tomorrow it's time. I hope he comes to our class too. Man, there's really a lot I want to tell him," Takeshi said to Shun.
Shun nodded several times. "Yes, I would be grateful if someone else took on some of the work. Especially someone who understands what you're talking about sometimes," he agreed.
Takeshi sighed and stared out the window. Maybe his school day would be more interesting after all.
When the lesson ended, he said goodbye to Shun and studied his phone. He checked the time and meeting place he had arranged with Tsubasa once again. That wasn't for another two hours, and he thought about what he could do in that time. Go back home? He didn't have any homework yet. Maybe call Shun again and suggest going to the arcade? No, knowing himself and him, they would forget the time and thus also his old buddy. As he pondered, he came to a logical conclusion.
He grabbed his bike and raced off. A little later, he arrived at his destination. His paradise. His Shangri-La. He stood in front of his beloved ramen shop and went in. To his relief, he found that there were hardly any guests besides him. So he sat down at the counter as usual and waited. The owner's apprentice came out of the back area and sighed. He approached Takeshi and greeted him.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here? If it isn't our regular customer. You really haven't had enough of our ramen, have you?" he asked.
Takeshi immediately denied it. "No, I'll never have enough of them. And I come as often as I can to one day be the millionth customer and eat ramen for free for a year."
For that he received a light tap on the head. "Keep dreaming, such events would be bad for business. Anyway, the usual?" the apprentice asked.
Actually, he shouldn't have asked, Takeshi immediately agreed, and the apprentice passed the order on to the back. This was acknowledged with a "right away". Takeshi didn't know the cook who usually prepared his ramen. His voice always sounded quite high, like a child's. But he was probably just imagining things.
"Is the owner not here today?" Takeshi asked as he waited.
The young man in front of him shook his head. "Lately he's been taking care of his family more."
Takeshi nodded. "Then maybe you can take over the store soon, Motomiya-sensei."
The latter's expression darkened. "No... I... still have a long way to go. My ramen... they're not good enough yet to justify my own store. But one day... yes... one day," the apprentice said, raising his head to the ceiling as he thought about his dream.
Then Takeshi's ramen was ready, and he enjoyed it. Once again, he was not disappointed. He paid and thanked him for the delicious meal. Then he left the store and left the ramen specialist behind.
The latter collected the bowls and took them to the back. "Take a break, we don't have any other customers at the moment," he said to his partner, who could already prepare ramen as well as he could. The latter, a rather small cook with blue fur, shook his head. "No, I'll cook ahead. You never know if a family or work colleagues will come," he was certain.
However, his partner doubted it. He doubted that much would happen today. He was to be proven wrong. A little later, he received a call from someone he hadn't heard from in a longer time. Concern now played across his face, and his partner waited for an explanation.
"Veemon, we may have to close the store early. There could be a problem," he then said.
Takeshi looked at the clock once more. He didn't want to be late under any circumstances. He didn't want to make a bad impression, after all, he and Tsubasa hadn't seen each other for almost seven years. What did he look like today? But he didn't doubt that he would recognize him immediately. The blonde hair and lively nature were still fresh in his memory. He had gone to the town hall square, right in front of the subway station, and let his gaze wander. Above his and the heads of the other passersby, a kind of drone was now buzzing. Takeshi wondered who it belonged to and what its purpose was. It seemed a bit aimless. Was it broken after all? Well, it could be all the same to him. He moved closer to the street to be clearly visible. Where was Tsubasa coming from anyway? By subway? Or was he coming by bike?
He was torn from his thoughts when he heard his own name behind him. Immediately he turned around and saw someone coming towards him. At first he thought of Tsubasa, but was disappointed. It was a blonde girl in sporty clothes.
Well, his first name was very common, why should he attach much importance to the call. He was just about to turn around again when the girl stopped in front of him.
"Sorry... sorry! Am I late? I was so looking forward to seeing you again!" she said, a little out of breath.
Takeshi furrowed his brow. "Uh... do you mean me? Could it be that you've confused me with someone else?" he asked.
But the girl just looked at him worriedly. "You... are Takeshi, aren't you?" she seemed unsure now.
The boy nodded. "Yes, but I'm waiting here for someone named Tsubasa. I don't think we know each other, do we?"
The blonde girl tilted her head slightly to the right. "Uh..., yes, that's me. Tsubasa," she explained.
Takeshi tilted his head to the left. "What? You mean you're a friend of Tsubasa's and you're coming in his place because he's busy?" he tried to make sense of it.
The girl looked increasingly confused until something occurred to her. She held one hand in front of her eye and two of the other over her forehead. "Fighter of justice! Kamen Yusha Yellow!"
Takeshi let this gesture take effect on him. Then a huge question mark appeared over his head.
At the same moment, chaos broke out. The earth shook under the feet of the two. Both lost their footing and fell on their butts. Wild cries and fleeing people everywhere.
Takeshi fought his way up and offered the girl his hand. "What? An earthquake? Now? And why weren't we warned?" he now understood nothing at all.
The girl turned her gaze in all directions. "No... only the area around us is shaking!" she reported.
This made no sense at all now. But there was hardly any time to think about it.
Right next to them, the street broke open and a large hole formed. People cried for help.
"No! Karen! Yuta! Help us!" a man cried, and Takeshi ran off.
The girl tried to hold him back, but without success.
He had reached the man and recognized the catastrophe. A woman and a child, presumably his wife and son, had sunk into an earth hole. Whether they were injured, he could not assess. The man held his hand down, but the gap seemed too deep.
So Takeshi decided to follow his instincts and slid down.
"Give me the boy," he asked, and the woman immediately complied.
He took the child and handed him up to the man. The latter grabbed him and set him down unharmed. Next, Takeshi offered the woman to climb onto his shoulders. The attempt ended somewhat awkwardly at first, then she was able to save herself on solid ground as well.
But now Takeshi was faced with the same problem as the people who had fallen in before. He could hardly get back up without help. However, he was more agile, and he hoped to get up with a targeted jump. He made an attempt, but failed. The man reached out his hand to him, but then the ground gave way again and Takeshi fell into the black nothingness.
The man recoiled in fright, and Tsubasa also became aware of what had happened now.
"Takeshi! Can you hear me?" she called down.
The next person who now joined them, she didn't recognize at first. It was a boy with glasses who looked very frightened.
"Wait! Did you just say Takeshi?"
Takeshi didn't know at that moment if he had broken anything. He felt his legs and arms, but was able to rule it out. He used the flashlight on his cell phone to find his way in the dark. It took a while before he realized where he was: in a subway shaft. Well, that made sense, because the entrance to the subway was right on the square.
He breathed a sigh of relief. That meant he wasn't stuck here, but just had to walk a few steps to the station and then he could use the stairs to get back to the surface. That is, provided they hadn't collapsed as well. But he didn't want to hope for the worst at the moment.
So he walked on and recognized heavy noises from the tunnel in front of him. Damn! Was a train coming right now? Could he really be that unlucky? But no, he froze to the spot; he was not on the tracks. So he was safe for the moment. At least that's what he thought.
He shone his light forward and couldn't believe what was coming at him. It was slower than a train, but looked just as much at first glance. It looked like a machine, but also animal-like. Finally, he had to admit that just 20 meters away from him, a huge crocodile made entirely of metal had come to a stop.
Had he fallen asleep and accidentally landed in an episode of "Kamen Yusha"? No, such creatures didn't appear there. He had seen such creatures at most once on TV when he was little. But... could that really be it? Was that thing in front of him really one of those Digimon he had heard so much about?
But no, that was not possible. These creatures lived in their own world and not in that of humans. However, the creature in front of him did not seem to know anything about it. As heavy as it was, it was clearly responsible for the collapses. But what else was it capable of? He would soon find out for himself. Something on the back of the creature moved and detached itself. It raced straight towards Takeshi.
Fortunately, he was grabbed by something small and pulled into the next shaft. With a deafening roar, he realized that the crocodile had fired projectiles at him. He had just been saved in time. He landed roughly on the ground, his rescuer on top of him.
Perplexed, he examined the latter. It was also not a human, but a creature, much smaller. It looked glassy, with white skin, as far as one could call it skin. On its head shone colorful crystals.
"What's going on? Do you want to die, human?" the creature asked.
Takeshi fought his way free and took a step back.
"No, of course not! What kind of monster was that? And who are you anyway?"
The being didn't look at him.
"I am Prismamon! So the enemy has followed me after all. Good... better me than him. But we have to neutralize him here and now. Will you stand by my side?"
Takeshi was completely lost. What with the creature in front of him... Prismamon? It was actually a Digimon. Takeshi had never expected to see one with his own eyes. And today there were even two at once. One wanted to kill him and the other... wanted him to fight with it? Was it crazy?
"What are you talking about? We have to get out of here! That thing is firing cannons, we don't stand a chance!" Takeshi tried to reason with Prismamon.
The Digimon just growled disdainfully.
"Then the rumors were probably wrong. I heard that humans were strong fighters through whom we Digimon also become stronger. But those were probably just fairy tales."
The crocodile moved only sluggishly and was only now turning into their shaft. But there was no escape anymore. Takeshi realized that they were in a dead end. But what now? Fight? No, this little thing was helpless against the metal monster. Nevertheless, it didn't let that stop it. It seemed to have a reason to fight. It stormed towards the enemy and fired a kind of lightning bolt. But seemingly without much effect. It was knocked away by a paw.
"Where... place... book...," growled the crocodile, but Prismamon only clenched its fists.
"Forget it! You won't get my friend! I protect those who are important to me!" it countered the enemy.
It launched another attack, but with the same effect. Takeshi realized that the crocodile had wanted to answer a question, otherwise it would have crushed the little thing long ago. What should he do now? Take the chance to escape while the monster was focused on Prismamon? No, he couldn't do that. And Kamen Yusha wouldn't have left anyone behind who needed help either. But Takeshi knew that he couldn't do anything either.
"If... only I were stronger...," he croaked.
Now he noticed a movement above him. Was that... the drone from before? Takeshi examined it and recognized a kind of ball that was now stopping in front of him. A hatch on the top opened and revealed a kind of monitor made of light. Incredulously, he stared at a face that appeared on it. It was a younger man with brown hair and a ponytail.
"Who... are you then?" Takeshi asked the man.
The man needed some time to understand the situation.
"Prismamon is with you, right? And he's in danger, isn't he?" the man asked.
Takeshi could do nothing but confirm it.
"My name is Gennai, I have been monitoring the transitions to your world for a while. I don't know you, but I have to ask you for a favor. Please fight together with Prismamon to defeat the enemy," the man said.
Takeshi stared at him incomprehensibly. What exactly was this guy demanding of him?
"Hello? Haven't you seen the monster with your drone? That thing is huge!" Takeshi turned to Gennai.
Gennai nodded.
"Yes, Deckerdramon is dangerous, but not invincible. With combined forces, it should be possible for both of you to defeat the enemy," Gennai said confidently.
Takeshi wanted to argue against this claim, but Gennai seemed to already be typing something, and another hatch on the drone opened. A flash of light shot out and hit Takeshi's left forearm. But he felt no pain. It felt warm, and when he looked at the spot, he stared in amazement at a device. It was whitish and triangular. For a moment it reminded him of the transformation device that Kamen Yusha always used.
"What... is that?" he stammered.
Gennai did not let him wait long for an answer.
"That's a DX-Ω. A DigiVice of the latest generation. It allows you to fight together with Prismamon. I ask you... stand by him. As a partner," Gennai said.
Takeshi examined the device and then pulled it further up one wrist. Then he stood up and walked closer to the fighting. He felt fear, but the Digimon in front of him was getting into more and more trouble. He must not remain inactive any longer. Also, he didn't know exactly how to intervene in the fighting, but the DigiVice, as the man called it, would surely help him with that.
"Prismamon! Are you ready?" he called out to the Digimon.
It jumped back, right in front of his feet.
"Have you changed your mind?" Takeshi asked.
Prismamon nodded.
"Let's show this guy that he can't just cause such damage here!" Takeshi called out.
Prismamon agreed and jumped at the enemy.
Takeshi now thought only of wanting to help the little one, and immediately he felt how the device on his arm became warmer. It began to glow, but it was not the only one. Prismamon also began to glow now.
"Prismamon digitizes to PrismKnightmon!" suddenly echoed.
The Digimon now began to transform all by itself. It was now much larger and more human-like. It wore a kind of helmet, while its left arm was a shield and its right arm had a sword over it. It looked almost like a knight to Takeshi.
Unfortunately, Deckerdramon was not impressed by the transformation. Once again, it activated its cannons and fired rockets at the now transformed Prismamon.
"Watch out!" Takeshi warned.
Fortunately unnecessarily. PrismKnightmon raised its shield and deflected the first projectile. Then it jumped up and cut the second one into pieces with its sword. Before the enemy could fire any more, it jumped up, and its shield began to glow.
"Shimmering Inferno!" it called out, and a surge of pure light left the shield and streamed towards Deckerdramon. The latter was of course so sluggish that it could not dodge and was hit directly. An explosion followed, from which even Takeshi had to protectively hold his arms in front of his face. When he lowered them, the crocodile broke into pieces, which one after the other dissolved.
The boy ran to Prismamon, which glowed again and resumed its original form.
"Is... is it defeated?" Takeshi asked, but was able to answer the question himself. The monster was defeated and had disappeared. Dust trickled from the ceiling, and Takeshi decided that it was still not safe here. He ran back and realized that the drone had apparently been hit by something. He shook it a little, but the man who had made contact via it did not respond. He decided to put it away and take it with him.
Back with Prismamon, he looked for the exit. But it was the Digimon that knew the way. Apparently, it was able to generate light with the crystals on its head. Like a flashlight, it shone forward and provided light. So it was easy to find the station and the stairs that led up. These were actually slightly collapsed, but not so much that large chunks blocked the exit. Takeshi helped Prismamon up first, then forced himself to the surface.
Fire trucks and ambulances had already arrived and were caring for the injured. Takeshi panted and wondered if he needed a doctor too. When he felt himself, however, he realized that he had not been hit. After a few seconds, he recognized two familiar faces nearby. One of them belonged to the girl who had introduced herself to him as Tsubasa. The other was Shun. Where had he suddenly come from? They waved to him and wanted to run up to him. But someone seemed to have other plans. Several black SUVs turned the corner and blocked all accesses. Several men and women in suits stepped towards Takeshi and Prismamon. One of them produced an ID and held it out to the boy.
"Sorry, but we have to ask you to come with us," it sounded more like a demand than a request.
Takeshi and Prismamon looked at each other. They realized that this day was far from over.
In the distance, on the roof of a house, another Digimon was watching the scene. It was almost entirely black and looked like a ninja from olden times. What was happening right now would certainly be of great interest to its master.