Summary: The Demon Lords have received their 7th member--as an egg. They must contend with raising him into the Demon Lord of Gluttony.... Canon-compliant AU, Impmon-origin prequel to season 3 Tamers. (With some elements from Adventure 01 and 02.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or anything related to it.

prologue

After they had found their new friend and helped bandage him (he was able to do a lot himself too, so they hadn't needed to get their parents yet), Ai and Mako asked where he came from.

Impmon shrugged, ruffling some of the blankets wrapped around him. "The Digital World."

"Are you gonna go back there?"

"Wasn't planning to."

"What about your mommy and daddy?"

Green eyes blinked at the Twins. "What are those?"

Now Ai and Mako blinked at him. They turned to each other, before Ai took it upon herself to explain, "Well, mommy is a lady and daddy's a man, and they tell my brother and I what to do, and they take care of us, always."

"Oh, well, I don't have those, no Digimon does."

"And you're a Digimon?"

"Uh huh."

"You didn't have any family back home?" Mako sounded a little sad at the idea.

"I--" then Impmon paused, as he tried to remember the Digital World, and to his dismay he found those memories were more than fuzzy. He was gettin' like the basics: images of the scenery, deserts, snowy tundra, and emotions--of fear and anger and loss. He could recall the sensation of bruises and broken bones, and the adrenaline rush and panic during a fight--

Impmon slowly rubbed at the back of his head again, trying to feel through the thick bandages he and the Twins had managed to wrap around his head after they had stopped the bleeding somewhat.

"Are you ok?"

"Does it still hurt?"

"What? Oh, nah, I'm fine, I just can't really reme--" Then he stopped and gave another shrug…which proved too much, making him wince, and setting both Ai and Mako off, both fussing over him again.

They were nice, Impmon decided. It was weird, that instinctive fondness he had for them, but he just chalked it up to them giving him a hand.

He could recall the basics, and that's all he really needed, who cared about specifics....

&&&

As a humanoid Digimon landed, the graceful flap of her wings crackling faintly with her rage, a white-and-blue striped wolf slinked behind her. His eyes warily bore into the Demon Lord's back.

She turned around swiftly, her black-and-violet cloak whipping with the action.

"Well, Garurumon?" Her violet eyes were blazing.

The wolf Digimon bowed his head, "My Lady, there continues to be no sign of him."

He stiffened as she noticed that hand of hers move--but it remained in its sleeve, no closer to him.

His superior merely snarled, "Thank you for the update, Captain--now continue your search. Find Impmon. And when you do, I want him brought straight to me."

Not waiting for his confirmation, Lilithmon flared her wings and took to the sky once more.

Notes: And that's it for the prologue, which really needs to remain vague for now. Pretty sure this is the first time I've used italics for the 'present' time—from here on out, the fic will go into the hypothetical past, and progress until we get back to this point in the prologue. Even as Impmon is the focus (and eventual victim of that cliché, the amnesia tactic), the 6 other Digimon Demon Lords will be important as the summary indicates—and some more important than others, as will be seen next chapter, which is gonna also include some meta-turned-into-fic. Also with the Demon Lords, I'm taking a lot of liberties with their characterization, since I haven't seen much of them in the series, and apparently they haven't shown up all together at all in said series. Also as mentioned, there'll be some elements of Adventure 01 and 02 mixed into this story, though it won't go into a complete crossover with those different universes here. Enjoy, and please review. And you're welcome to ask any questions, though they may not always be answered if they end up spoilery.