Episode 5: Hunger

Fixing a tight fitting tank top-like garment, Sara looks at herself in the mirror from the side. Moving from the mirror, she retrieves a black band t-shirt from her closet and returns to the mirror, looking at her man-like appearance. Smiling at her appearance, she grabs her backpack and heads out the door.

"How is Connor going to explain Digimon to them?" Ezra asks Lance.

"I have no idea," Lance starts, "I haven't talked to him since we dealt with Ganimon Saturday."

"I wonder how Ganimon is doing," Lauren ponders. "We should ask Connor when we see him today."

Lance nods his head before turning right. "I'll see you two at lunch." The three of them split off in different directions.

Walking next to large bushes, Sara looks around. "Where's Lance? He usually beats me here?" She pulls out her phone and reads the following text message from Lance: 'I had to be at school early today. I won't be able to see you until lunch.' She puts her phone away as her face distorts to disappointment.

"Leave me alone!" a voice cries out. Sara looks to the direction of the cry, on the other side of the bushes.

"Don't worry, it'll be painless," another voice threatens. Sara runs to a gap in the bushes and around the corner.

"Hey! Leave them a-!" She pauses at the sight of the odd scene: A small, white creature with long, antenna-like ears with another masked creature with green and red dichromatic eyes on its hands and mask. "What the…?"

"I don't taste good!" the white creature wails, cornered.

"I'm not picky," the masked creature laughs. "Eyes of-!"

Realizing what was happening, Sara sprints and balls her hand into a fist. "Pick on someone your own size!" SMACK! Sara hits the masked creature, causing it to topple.

It slowly gets back up. "Learn to mind your own business, girly." Sara narrows her eyes in annoyance. "I'll get you yet!" The masked creature retreats.

The white creature approaches Sara. "Thank you for saving me!"

"Don't even worry about it." Kneeling down, Sara pats the creature on the head. "What's your name?"

"Tokomon!"

"Tokomon? What an interesting name." Feeling something in her hand, Sara looks down and sees a blue and pink device. "What is…?"

Waiting for the class to leave, Lance sits at his desk. "Have a good lunch!" Mr. Crest waves to the class as they exit. As the last student leaves, Mr. Crest nods to Lance.

"V-mon!" Leaping from his desk, Lance dashes to the closet. As the closet opens, V-mon emerges.

"Lance!" The two embrace each other as Lance kneels down..

Breaking from V-mon, Lance puts his hand on V-mon's shoulder. "How is everything going in here?"

"Beats being outside," V-mon affirms. "It feels so much nicer in here."

"I'll be back later after school." Lance stands up and grabs his bag. "I still have to meet with the others right now."

V-mon nods. "I'll be here waiting."

"See you soon!" Lance pulls out his phone and sees a text from Sara. Opening it up, it reads: 'Remember that day Shelby talked about the Digimon rumor? It seems to be more than just a rumor. Come to the back of the school and I'll show you what I mean.' Lance puts his hand to his chin. "Does this mean she also…"

"What's wrong?" V-mon asks.

"I just need to check on a friend. I'll be back later!"

Sitting on a bench, Sara scrolls through her phone, skimming multiple posts on a forum talking about the Digimon rumors. "Hey Sara!" Tokomon nudges. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to see if someone else knows what's going on." Sara puts her phone down and looks to Tokomon. "But you're supposed to act like a stuffed toy to avoid suspicion."

"Heeeeeeeyyyyy Sarrrraaaa!" a voice calls. Sara looks into the direction of the voice and sees Lance.

"Lance!" Sara gets up from the bench and meets Lance halfway.

"What's with the cryptic text?"

"It's a weird story," Sara starts. "On the way here today, I found these two weird creatures fighting. I saved one of them and this one has been following me ever since." Sara points to Tokomon.

"A Digimon?" Lance perplexes.

"I knew it!" Sara exclaims. "The Digimon rumors were true! After I rescued him, suddenly I had this." She pulls out the mysterious device from earlier.

Lance's eyes widened in amazement. "A Digivice!"

"Digivice?" Sara looks at it. "But what does it do?"

"I'm not entirely sure what it does," Lance pulls out his Digivice. "But I know that it can take us to Digital Space, or the other plane of existence from the rumors. And it also lets Digimon evolve."

"Evolve?" Sara raises her eyebrow. "Like natural selection?"

"Not quite." Lance scratches the back of his head. "Connor can probably explain better. But this must mean this Digimon must be your partner!"

"You must be Sara's friend!" Tokomon comes running up to them. "I'm Tokomon!"

Lance kneels down to greet the Digimon. "It's good to meet you."

"Like I said, he hasn't stopped following since I rescued him," Sara continues. "And watch this." Sara holds out her Digivice to Lance. Lance puts his hand under it and it plops into his hand. "Stay right there." Sara walks a few feet away.

"What are you-?" Lance begins to question. The next moment, the Digivice flashes and disappears. "What?!" Sara turns and the Digivice is back in her hand.

"No matter where I leave it, if I walk too far away from it, it just appears back in my hand."

"Amazing." Lance stands up. "I guess the cat's out of the bag now." Sara tilts her head. "We were going to tell you and Shelby about Digimon today. But I guess we only need to tell Shelby now."

"Shelby probably already knows. She's the one who told us about Digimon to begin with."

Lance nods. "Oh! Since you know now!"

"Another one of Lance's friends!" V-mon greets.

Sara looks at the other Digimon in amazement. "Hello," she waves nervously.

"We're gaining more allies," Renamon states.

Herissmon approaches Tokomon. "Nice to meet you!"

"That just leaves one more friend to tell," Mr. Crest tells Lance. "The human and digital worlds are becoming closer by the minute it seems. Stay vigilant as some may take advantage of this."

Lance nods his head. Hearing the bell ring, Lance and Sara jump slightly. "I guess I'm eating lunch on the way to class," Lance sighs.

"And she just punched you?" A girl and the masked creature walk side by side with each other.

"I've never seen a human defend another Digimon like that."

"We're just going to have to show her who's boss. Right, Dracumon?" The two approach the school.

Walking through the halls, Sara makes her way back to Mr. Crest's classroom. "Finally done with classes!"

"Sara!" Turning around, Sara sees Lance.

"Lance!" She stops walking to let Lance catch up. "I wonder how Tokomon is holding up."

"Let's go find out." The two continue on their way to the classroom.

Opening the door, something leaps at Sara. "SARA! I missed you!" Barely catching Tokomon, Sara holds on tight.

"Tokomon!"

"The others came by already," Mr. Crest states.

Lance nods. "Let's get going to the park, V-mon."

"Right! We still gotta tell one more friend!"

Exiting the school, they cross the street. "Hey you!" someone yells.

Lance, Sara, and V-mon turn to the direction of the voice. A girl in a crop tank top and fishnets approaches them along with a masked Digimon. "That's the Digimon from earlier!" Sara points out.

Lance pulls out his Digivice as an image of the Digimon displays on the screen. "Dracumon?"

=Digital Analyzer=

Name: Dracumon

Level: Child

Attribute: Virus

Technique: Eyes of Nightmare

"So you're the one that sucker punched my poor Dracumon earlier," the girl accuses.

"I was about to snack on a delicious Tokomon," Dracumon smiles.

"I am not food!" Tokomon protests.

"Lance!" V-mon urges.

"Right!" Lance pushes the button on his Digivice. A Digital Wave is emitted, transporting all of them to Digital Space.

Sara's eyes narrow. "Just who are you, anyways?"

The girl flicks her hair out of the way. "It doesn't matter. I just want your Digimon."

"Come here you!" Dracumon begins to approach them.

V-mon breaks into a sprint. "V-mon Punch!"

Dracumon reveals the two eyes in its hands. "Eyes of Nightmare!" A screeching sound emanates from Dracumon's hands.

V-mon stops, reacting to the noise. Eyes glowing red, V-mon turns to Tokomon. "Must…take…Tokomon…"

"V-mon?" Concerned, Lance approaches V-mon.

"V-mon…Punch…" V-mon punches at Lance, missing.

"V-mon! What's wrong?!"

The girl laughs. "V-mon is under Dracumon's control. V-mon will bring Tokomon to Dracumon to consume both of them."

Tokomon jumps out of Sara's arms. "Tokomon!"

"That's not fair, using others like that!" Sara's Digivice begins to glow.

"So?" Dracumon laughs. "If they can't fight, it's easier for me to gain their power." Dracumon and V-mon approach Tokomon.

Sara balls up her hand. "This is all just for more power?" As Sara grits her teeth, her Digivice glows brighter. "I won't let you!"

"With Sara by me, you don't stand a chance!" Tokomon proclaims. As the two Digimon surround Tokomon, Tokomon begins to glow.

"V-mon-"

"Tokomon evolve!" Tokomon's body elongates as the top half becomes orange, feet becoming cream color, and ears turning into wings. "Patamon!"

Sara stares in awe at Tokomon's transformation. "Tokomon…evolved?"

As the surrounding Digimon draw closer, Patamon leaps and flies into the air. Patamon's body begins to puff up. "Air shot!" Patamon releases a gust of air from the mouth and sends V-mon flying backwards, landing on the ground face-up.

"V-mon!" Lance runs over to V-mon.

V-mon sits up and looks around. "What happened?"

"Crap!" As Patamon descends down, Dracumon looks over. "Eyes of-"

"Air shot!" Releasing another burst of air, Dracumon flies backwards. As Dracumon hits the ground, the two eyes pop out of Dracumon's hands.

"My Eyes of Nightmare!" Dracumon begins to run to one of the eyes.

"Dracumon." The girl stops Dracumon. The girl smirks.

"Aiden?" Dracumon looks at her.

"Let's show them a real evolution," Aiden laughs manically.

Dracumon turns to Patamon. V-mon joins Patamon. "As you wish. Dracumon evolve!" As Dracumon's body grows, it turns into a quadrupedal Digimon. The head becoming more wolf-like as bat wings cover the eyes. "Sangloupmon!" Leaping forward, Sangloupmon attempts to pounce V-mon. V-mon rolls out of the way as Sangloupmon's jaws snatch Patamon.

"AAAA!" Patamon screeches.

"Patamon!" Sara cries.

"V-mon, it's our turn!"

"Mm!" V-mon nods. "V-mon evolve! …V-dramon!" Sangloupmon turns to V-dramon. "Magnum Punch!" V-dramon punches Sangloupmon, Patamon flinging out of the jaws.

Sara hurries over to Patamon. "Patamon!" She kneels at Patamon's side. "Are you okay?"

Eyes opening, Patamon replies, "I'll be fine."

Sangloupmon gets up and jumps at V-dramon. "Sticker Blades!" Flipping forward several times, Sangloupmon hurls several blades at V-dramon.

V-dramon spins around and knocks the blades away with his tail. "V-Breath Arrow!" V-dramon whips around and fires at Sangloupmon, still airborne. The blast knocks Sangloupmon out of the air.

"So much power!" Aiden excites. "We MUST have it!"

Sangloupmon recovers and runs around V-dramon. Sangloupmon dashes into V-dramon and knocks V-dramon over.

"What do you want?!" Lance shouts at Aiden.

"Sangloupmon will become the strongest Digimon!" Aiden laughs. "We hunger for more power!"

"Sticker Blades!" With the blades firing, V-dramon rolls out of the way and on to his feet.

"V-Breath Arrow!" V-dramon fires at Sangloupmon again.

Sprinting to V-dramon, Sangloupmon evades the attack. "Drain Slash!" Sangloupmon leaps on its hind legs to strike V-dramon.

"Magnum Punch!" Turning to Sangloupmon, V-dramon's punch hits first, knocking Sangloupmon sideways.

Fallen on its side, Sangloupmon devolves back to Dracumon. "I can't…"

"Dracumon." Aiden picks Dracumon off of the ground. "That power will be mine one day. Mark my words, you'll rue the day you beat us!" Aiden turns and walks away.

"What's her problem?" Lance ponders as V-dramon devolves to V-mon.

"We should keep going!" V-mon suggests. "The others are waiting on us!" Lances nods.

"I hope that's the last we see of her," Patamon expresses. Sara nods. Lance presses the button to exit Digital Space and they continue walking

With everyone waiting on them, Lance and Sara arrive at the park. Connor looks on top of Sara's head as Patamon sits on top. "I knew it." Connor pulls out his Digivice and transports everyone to Digital Space once again.

"We're here again." Shelby takes in the environment of the Digital Space.

Dislodging from Shelby's head, Jellymon floats over to Lance and Sara. "You're finally here! We've been waiting!"

"I know we're late," Lance starts.

"Jellymon," Shelby sighs. "They're here, let's have Connor talk."

"Isn't this where we were going to tell Shelby and Sara about Digimon?" Lance asks.

"They both seem to already be familiar with us," V-mon points out.

"We were assuming this was going to be the case," Wormmon responds.

"Since it is, there's a bigger topic to talk about," Lauren continues.

"Which is?" Lance turns to Connor.

Connor inhales deeply. "The border to the Digital World."