Episode 1.04: Stadium Love, Part One

"Looks like it doesn't work," Joshua said, setting his phone down on the floor next to him. A few days had passed since Todd and BlackAgumon had destroyed Pipismon at Minnehaha Falls, and now Joshua and Penguinmon were sitting in the boy's living room. It was a weekday, so Joshua's mom was working and the pair of them had the house to themselves. With the blinds pulled down and the few curtains the house had drawn, Joshua and Penguinmon felt that there was no risk of anyone discovering the Digital Monster who had taken up residence in South Minneapolis. Since Todd's harsh rebuke at the falls, Joshua had become preoccupied with his Digivice. He sprang for it eagerly every time that the white and blue phone buzzed, only to suffer disappointment after disappointment as each alarm turned out to be a perfectly mundane notification caused by a text message from James, Joules, or his mother rather than signaling the appearance of another Digimon to encounter.

While Joshua waited impatiently for a chance to run into Todd again, he had decided to dedicate his Wednesday morning to trying to figure out how exactly the Digivice he couldn't put down worked. While Penguinmon continued to explore the variety of movies and shows which Netflix offered, Joshua sat on the couch next to him and toyed with the different applications that had mysteriously appeared on his phone. After some trial and error, Joshua had learned how to adjust the settings of the radar and had also tested the limits of the Digimon scanner. His latest experiment had taught him that, while his Digivice could provide information on a Digimon after scanning physical trading cards, it did not work on pictures of the cards or a raw image of the Digimon by itself on a computer screen, whether fan-made or original.

"Can I have that back?" Penguinmon asked, and then chirped in delight when Joshua passed his laptop back to Penguinmon and resumed the episode of Family Ties which the plump Digimon had been watching before Joshua had started his experiments.

As he tuned out the old television series which Penguinmon was studying intensely, Joshua stared at his blue and white phone as he brainstormed ideas for his next round of explorations. He opened up the next unknown application which had been added to his phone during its transformation and was confused to see that it was a simple messaging service. A small rectangular tab at the top of the screen read "Join Chat?" and Joshua tapped it with his thumb. Nothing on his screen changed except that there was now a message written on a dark green bubble which read, "Is there anyone out there?"

Joshua inhaled sharply. The message on his screen did not seem like something that Todd would have written, as the other boy had made himself clear that he did not want to deal with anyone else, Digimon or no Digimon. But that meant there were more kids with Digivices out there. More tamers. "Hey, Penguinmon," Joshua said to the Digimon sitting next to him.

"What?"

Even though Joshua was almost bouncing up and down on the couch in his excitement, Penguinmon seemed unaware of it. That was enough to make Joshua chew his lip in thought before he decided on saying just, "Never mind." Penguinmon shifted his attention back to his show without missing a beat while Joshua returned to his Digivice. Fingers trembling with excitement, he typed out a short answer, "Yes", and sent it to whatever other tamer was out there waiting to meet him.

In an unassuming office complex in downtown Minneapolis, Ken was smiling. He had just been notified by his aide that the impressive staff and resources which the department had at its disposal had picked up another Unknown emerging just days after the last one. Ken been putting in more and more hours at the office, much to the chagrin of his wife and his body's need for sleep. In the face of his excitement, however, these concerns seemed less important than the excitement he felt. The number of manifestations had not only been picking up over the last few weeks, but now they were occurring closer and closer together. Something big was coming, Ken was sure of it, and he was determined not to miss anything that could further his mission.

"Director," his aide, a sharply dressed woman whose face seemed to default to a scowl, was speaking to Ken now, "how should we proceed?"

"Send a drone to observe and place a team on alert," replied Ken coolly as he set down the reports he had been pouring over. "If the opportunity presents itself, we'll have them move in and engage the Unknown."

"Yes, sir," the assistant replied before seeing herself out of the office.

Ken watched her go and then turned his attention back to the work scattered about his desk. Try as he might, he simply could not regain his focus on the neatly typed up memos put together by his staff. Instead, Ken opened up his laptop and summoned the feed of the drone which he had just ordered out. The unmanned aerial vehicle was being prepped before takeoff, but even knowing how long that would take couldn't make Ken tear his gaze away from the screen nor dim the smile which he wore.

The next time that Joshua's Digivice lit up, it was not because his mother had sent him another text message "just checking in", but instead it was to display an alert that a new Digimon had appeared. Joshua excitedly pulled up the radar application and noted that the green dot which designated the new Digimon's location looked to be a little nearer to his house than Minnehaha Falls, where the Pipismon had appeared, but was still closer to the heart of the city. Joshua shook Penguinmon to snapped the Digimon out of his Friends-induced trance and grinned at him.

"What?" Penguinmon snapped.

Joshua's excitement was not deterred in the slightest. He shoved his phone into Penguinmon's face and exclaimed, "Look, there's a new Digimon! We have to go check it out!" He grabbed Penguinmon's wing and started pulling him off of the couch and to the door.

"Do we have to?" protested Penguinmon. "Can't we just let those two from a few days ago handle this?"

Joshua let go of the Digimon at that. "You're right! Todd might show up too, and that's one more reason why we have to go!"

"Why?"

"In the Digimon series," Joshua explained earnestly, "whenever a bunch of kids get Digivices and Digimon, they all team up and become friends who fight evil and save the world together."

Penguinmon looked up at the bright-eyed teenager. "Do you really think BlackAgumon and Todd are going to team up with you?"

"We have to give it a shot," Joshua argued. "The two of us got chosen for some reason and we should be trying to work together and figuring out why that is."

Penguinmon still looked skeptical, but he finally relented and said, "Okay, but let's try not to pick any fights." Penguinmon held up his wing for Joshua to grab.

With a grin, Joshua grasped the Digimon, shook Penguinmon's wing vigorously, and said, "Deal!" Soon, Penguinmon found himself inside of Joshua's backpack again as the teenager biked the pair of them north, deeper into Minneapolis.

Their trip proceeded similarly to their last one, save for there being less traffic on the street and the sidewalks due to it being a weekday during working hours. As before, Joshua and Penguinmon held their conversations only when the bike was in motion, and there were frequent stops so Joshua could check their bearings on his Digivice's radar. During one of these routine checks, however, Joshua had to wipe his glasses clean in order to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. In addition to the blue arrow just below the center of the screen that Joshua had been taking for granted as representing him, there were now two other arrows. Both of them were closer to the blinking green dot standing in for the new Digimon than his was. One was black and the other was slate gray in color, and both of them blinked regularly as they drew closer and closer to the dot at the center of the triangle formed by the three arrows.

Joshua's breath hitched and then a smile spread across his face. It looked like both Todd and whoever had sent that message were headed to the same spot as him. This would be the start of their team, he thought to himself. As he remounted his bicycle and set off again, Joshua told Penguinmon, "Looks like we're not the only ones investigating this Digimon."

"Oh, good," Penguinmon replied from the backpack in which he was secured.

Joshua didn't even hear the dull tone in Penguinmon's voice. After all, he had more than enough enthusiasm for the both of them. The journey continued and after a few more minutes of biking, Joshua saw the telltale fog which had heralded his previous encounters with both DemiDevimon and the Pipismon. The thick white mist surrounded the area in front of Joshua, hanging in the air with a strange heaviness and, as soon as Joshua wheeled his trusty bicycle past its threshold, he felt the energy in the air. Penguinmon felt it too, shuddering from inside of Joshua's backpack. Joshua freed the short Digimon and helped him to the ground before asking eagerly, "Are you ready for this?"

Penguinmon didn't answer Joshua's question, but he followed the boy when Joshua stepped into the fog. Inside of the mist there was a skate park, which had appeared to have deteriorated since the heyday of the sport. Different ramps were emblazoned with graffiti that Joshua couldn't even begin to decipher, especially since the bright paint overlapped past signatures over and over again. In the center of the still-impressive half-pipe that served as the focus of the park was a large pink-furred rabbit about the size of a modest all-terrain vehicle and covered in darker pink armor including a helm. It turned toward Joshua and Penguinmon as they stepped deeper into the fog and tensed up, rising up on its hind legs and sniffing at the air as its floppy ears perked up slightly.

There were two other figures standing on the concrete as well. One was a boy who looked to be about Joshua's age, albeit shorter and with a pair of piercing blue eyes under a crown of greasy black hair. When he caught Joshua's own brown eyes, hints of a grin danced upon the other boy's face. With two quick, jerking motions, he tilted his head toward a rusty bike rack behind one end of the half-pipe.

After had led Penguinmon to the bike rack, they were joined by the other boy and a shorter figure, only slightly taller than Penguinmon, but much thinner as well. If the other teenager was trying to resist cracking a smile, the Digimon standing next to him had decided to embrace the impulse. The Digimon had a black head with two eyes over its wide grin, one green and the other red, that looked to be sown on rather than real until they blinked. Beneath a dark blue torso, the Digimon wore black pants and a pair of boots, each of which was topped by a set of sharp red claws that matched those at the end of its hands. Its most striking feature, however, was the presence of a single blinking green-irised eye at the center of each of the Digimon's palms, one of which became visible as it waved to Joshua and Penguinmon.

"Uh, hi, I'm Joshua," the unnerved teenager offered. After the other boy motioned for him to lower his voice, Joshua gestured towards the Digimon at his side and whispered, "And this is Penguinmon. Are you a tamer too?"

"Yeah," the other boy said in his own hushed voice as he absent-mindedly fingered the small silver cross which hung off of his neck, "I'm Paul and this little freak is Dracmon."

"Nice to meetcha," Dracmon whispered brightly. He offered his hand to Penguinmon and snickered when the heavier Digimon only gave him a wary look instead of a handshake.

"Wait!" Joshua said, forgetting to keep his voice lowered. "I recognize you! You were the runner-up for the state championships on Friday!"

Paul's grin faltered and his face darkened at that. "Yeah, you've got the right guy." Dracmon had stopped laughing as well.

Taken aback by the sudden change in Paul's expression, Joshua only managed to say, "I thought your deck was really cool." Paul did not seem to hear the compliment, and Joshua shot Penguinmon a worried look that the Digimon responded to with only an impotent shrug.

Fortunately, Paul changed the subject on his own, turning his sharp blue eyes toward the structure behind them and saying, "We should split up and try to corner it. If you two go around that way, we'll go this way. Don't attack until I give the signal."

Joshua opened his mouth to ask any of the dozen or so questions that he had, but before any of them could be voiced, Paul and Dracmon had already ducked around the half-pipe and crept out of sight. Joshua shot Penguinmon a resigned look before whispering, "Okay, let's go."

"Wait," Penguinmon said urgently. "Why are we attacking this Digimon? It doesn't seem like it's hurting anyone or doing anything bad."

Joshua stopped in his tracks as he struggled to think of how to respond to Penguinmon. Finally, Joshua offered, "I don't know this Digimon's story, but Paul is a tamer so shouldn't we trust that he knows what's going on?"

"You're a tamer too," Penguinmon pointed out, "and you don't know what's going on."

Before Joshua could think of a counterargument, Dracmon's grinning black head peered around the corner and said, with a touch of irritation behind his good humor, "Hey, losers, what's keeping ya? Boss is getting impatient." Dracmon then disappeared back to his post, leaving Joshua and Penguinmon alone again.

"Please do this for me," Joshua pleaded. "All of us were chosen to be tamers and partners for some reason and we have to try and stick together."

Penguinmon sighed heavily. "Okay, I'll go along with this, for now, but after we do this, you should talk to those two about everything."

"Deal," Joshua said with a grin. "Now let's get in position, like Paul said." Joshua and Penguinmon snuck around the half-pipe and found themselves looking at Paul and Dracmon across its paint-splattered surface. Between them, the larger pink Digimon sat on its haunches, sniffing at the air and twitching its ears. Seeing that Dracmon and Paul were currently engaged in a wordless conversation, Joshua pulled out his phone and carefully pointed it at the unknown Digimon as he opened the scanner application. After a few seconds, the Digivice's screen lit up with a picture of the target and some text which gave the Digimon's name as Rabbitmon and described some of its abilities and other traits. All of this information gave Joshua pause and he was about to say something to Penguinmon when he looked up from his Digivice and saw Paul chopping a hand into his palm and mouthing, "Go! Go! Go!"

Joshua could see the other boy's eyes glittering with anticipation, but before Paul or Dracmon could make their move a ball of orange and yellow flames struck the Rabbitmon's side as a throaty shout of "Pepper Breath!" rang out across the skate park. Everyone, human and Digimon alike, turned towards the source of the attack. While Penguinmon, Dracmon, and Joshua were merely startled, Paul's face was twisted in rage.

As it found itself under attack, Rabbitmon had let out a piercing scream of pain and now that it was aware of the humans and Digimon surrounding it, the pink Digimon made its escape. Rabbitmon's fearful eyes darted to one side before it made a powerful leap in that direction. The large Digimon soared over Joshua and Penguinmon's heads and showed the gawking pair the scorched section of its armor where it had been struck.

"What are you doing?" Paul shouted, his black bangs hanging heavily over his manic blue eyes. "Attack it before it gets away!"

Penguinmon opened his mouth and started to produce a pale blue glow from inside of his beak when Joshua placed a hand on the Digimon's shoulder. "Let it go," said Joshua softly.

Paul looked furious, but before he could say anything to Joshua, another young man and Digimon emerged from the thick white fog and Paul turned his ire on them instead. "You! You screwed this up!" Paul shouted with all of the hatred that could be saturated into that single word.

"It looks like you weren't able to cripple it," Todd said BlackAgumon as the pair marched steadily at his side. Only after they finished emerging from the mist, did Todd acknowledge that he and BlackAgumon weren't alone with a small frown.

"Todd!" Joshua cried hopefully.

"Connally," Paul said as though the name of the other boy was a curse.

Todd ignored Joshua and instead fixed his stern eyes on Paul. "Russell," he said coolly to the shorter boy. "You have a Digimon. I guess second place is good enough for becoming a tamer." Todd wore only the faintest hint of a smile, but Paul saw it all the same.

"Screw you, you net-decking bastard!" Paul spat. "That Rabbitmon was mine! I had everything planned out and ready and you ruined it!"

"Funny," Todd said dryly, "I thought last Friday would've taught you not to trust your plans." Satisfied, Todd returned his attention to BlackAgumon, asking, "Have you picked up the Rabbitmon's scent?"

The reptilian Digimon nodded sharply.

"Good, then let's start tracking it down so we can finish the job." Todd and BlackAgumon were about to walk away from the half-pipe when Paul ran up to Todd and seized the other boy's forearm, just below the sleeve of his black t-shirt.

"Not so fast, Connally," Paul said, a thin smile that verged more on the side of a grimace on his face. "You're trying to take my prize away again, but I won't let you. Not this time."

"Let go," Todd said quietly, without facing the other boy.

"Say 'please', you uptight prick," Todd sang, followed by a hollow laugh that turned into a cry of pain when Todd spun around on his heel and punched Todd in the face.

The blow caused Paul to release his grip on Todd, but even as he was stumbling backwards, Paul's hand which was not clutching his bleeding nose darted into the back pocket of his low-hanging jeans. "You won't do that again," Paul said as he unsheathed his switchblade with a snap that seemed to echo in the tense silence of the fog.

Instead of being intimidated by Paul's escalation, Todd merely finished turning around to face the other boy and struck a fighting pose. "Try me."

"You think you're going to stop me with your Kung fu grip?" Paul mocked, gesturing recklessly with his knife.

"Taekwondo, actually," Todd replied coolly.

"I've got to stop this," Joshua said to himself from the sidelines.

"Why?" asked Penguinmon.

Joshua ignored the Digimon's question and took a step toward the other teenagers. "Guys!" he called out loudly. "You shouldn't be doing this! We're all tamers here!"

Both boys looked at Joshua with annoyance, but after a few seconds, Paul closed his switchblade and Todd's fists lowered to his sides. "He's right," said Paul, "we shouldn't be fighting. That's what our Digimon are for."

"What? That's not what I meant!" Joshua cried, but no one was listening to him.

"BlackAgumon! Open fire!" Todd barked and his order was instantly obeyed. BlackAgumon launched three fireballs, one after another with military precision.

"Dracmon!" Paul yelled with a snap of his fingers, and the grinning blue and black Digimon was in motion. Dracmon ducked, dodged, and seemed to dance through BlackAgumon's fiery missiles and the lingering fires which they left where they had struck the steep wooden ramp of the half-pipe on his way to cover, and Paul was only a few steps behind Dracmon in ducking behind the side half-pipe.

BlackAgumon's green eyes followed Paul's progress as the dark-haired boy ran, and the Digimon was opening his mouth to ready an attack when Todd's hand came down swiftly on his muscular shoulder. "No," Todd said sternly. "Digimon only. Never humans."

Without giving any sign of being disappointed at this rebuke, BlackAgumon closed his mouth and watched Paul follow Dracmon out of sight. Then, the Digimon turned his attention to Todd and rasped, "What now?"

Todd's eyes narrowed. "We find them and we finish this once and for all." With that, Todd and BlackAgumon proceeded carefully but steadily along the path which Dracmon and Paul had taken.

Once the others were out of earshot, Joshua turned to Penguinmon and saw that his initial disinterest Todd and Paul's conflict had morphed into fear now that the Digimon were fighting rather than the humans. "We have to stop this," Joshua insisted, "come on!"

"I wish I was watching television," Penguinmon whimpered, but he dutifully followed Joshua, his flippers slapping on the concrete out of time with Joshua's footsteps. When Joshua decided to go up the half-pipe rather than around it or over it, Penguinmon had to struggle to lift his bulky form over the edge of the half-pipe's flat and, after that, he could only make it halfway up the side of the ramp before gravity pulled him back down the half-pipe's slick transition.

By standing atop one of the half-pipe's table, Josh could see both Todd and BlackAgumon silently advancing around the perimeter of the half-pipe and Paul and Dracmon lying in waiting for the other tamer and Digimon. But as valuable as the information may have been, it did not look as though it would help Joshua stop the others for fighting, so Joshua decided to get closer to Paul and Dracmon by leaping off of the top of the half-pipe

Joshua fell faster than he had expected and he landed on the concrete blow more painfully than he had hope would be the case. Still, he only suffered some scrapes and had gotten Paul and Dracmon's attention just as he had wanted. although not debilitatingly so. "Joshua?" Paul asked. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to stop you guys from fighting!" Joshua groaned as he picked himself up from the ground. Paul and Dracmon were incredulous, and their confusion only heightened when Joshua wheezed, "You sent out a message trying to meet other tamers, right? Well, here we are! We have to try and work together!"

Paul only blinked at Joshua and said, "What are you talking about? I didn't send any message."

"What?" was the only word that Joshua had time to produce before Todd and BlackAgumon rounded the corner of the half-pipe.

"End of the line, Russell," Todd said coldly. BlackAgumon stepped in front of his tamer to strike a threatening pose that highlighted his sharp claws.

Both Paul and Dracmon yelled identical curses as they spun around. Dracmon stepped quickly in front of Paul and raised his own claws at BlackAgumon. As Todd and Paul glared at each other, the two Digimon growled at each other across the short expanse of unforgiving gray concrete which lay between them.

Joshua limped into the middle of the tension. He glanced helplessly to one side and then the other, refusing to move even as Todd and Paul both shouted at him to get out of the way. "No!" Joshua shouted. "I'm telling you this is a mistake! We're supposed to be a team!"

"Screw that!" Paul snarled. "Just go around him, Dracmon!"

"BlackAgumon! Open fire!"