Mystic Digimon Tamer

I: A Shinjuku Welcome - Beware the Monochromon!

Sunlight pierced through the blinds of a darkened bedroom and landed on the tanned eyelid of a twelve year old boy. Groaning, the teen pulled the pillow from under his head to cover it. Unfortunately for the boy, this light also woke up the room's other occupant. A ball of flame, no bigger than a volleyball, rose from the candle it was perched on. Blue eyes blinked open on the fireball, and a sewn mouth curled upwards into a smile.

"Yay! Daytime!" The fire exclaimed with a young boy's voice as two short arms protruded from its side. "Bro, it's daytime! Time to wake up so we can go explore our new home!"

The other occupant grumbled, "It's too early, DemiMeramon. Go back to sleep."

The fireball, DemiMeramon, frowned at the dismissal and tried once again, "Aw, but Bro~!"

"Can't hear you; I'm sleeping," the boy replied through a muffled mumble.

"Fine! I'll just go ask Kaachan!" The little ball of fire replied with a pout before zipping out of the room through the cracked open door and into the hall.

"Yeah...whatever, go ask Kaachan..." the teen lazily waved his hand before it fell to rest atop the pillow that hid his face from the world. A few minutes ticked by before the teen realized what the fireball had said. Eyes wide, he tossed the pillow from his head and scrambled out of his bed in haste to catch his partner.

"DemiMeramon! Get back in here!" he hissed, opening his door to find the In-Training Digimon floating right in the doorway with an amused smile on its face.

"BOO!" DemiMeramon exclaimed with a smile. The teen released a yell as he stumbled backwards.

CRASH

"Ugh..." the boy groaned as his blinds fell from the window onto his head due to his impact with the wall. Sunlight filled the room and the teen's features were revealed. Blonde hair covered his head in a messy mane while six thin whisker-like markings covered his cheeks. According to his mother, they were birthmarks that appeared on the face of her family's newest generation every now and then. To top it off, annoyed blue eyes met the amused ones belonging to the fireball floating in the hallway.

"DemiMeramon..." the teen warned as he stood to his full height of five foot two, his runner's build from his involvement in running sports giving him a rather intimidating appearance. The ball of fire in question merely giggled in response.

"C'mon, Bro, you're up now! Let's go explore Shinjuku!" the Digimon pleaded. The boy groaned and looked at the alarm clock on his dresser.

"Ugh, DemiMeramon it's four fifty-three in the morning! I don't have to wake up for another hour at least, can you please wait that long?" the blonde pleaded, bags visible under his eyes.

"B-But that's a whole 'nother hour!" whined DemiMeramon, "Can't we just go explore now?"

Then the In-Training Digimon did something the human would never expect: He pulled out the Pleading Puppy Pout. The boy, far too tired to even fathom looking away, shielded his eyes.

"Gah, fine! Fine! You win! Just stop pouting dammit!" DemiMeramon did as he was asked and broke into a wide, albeit stitched up grin. The Digimon then began to fly around his tamer.

"Yay! Exploring, exploring, it's never ever boring~! Exploring, exploring, it's always loads of fun~!" DemiMeramon sang out. The teen chuckled in amusement before catching his partner in one hand, miraculously not being burnt by the fireball.

"You have got to stop watching that damn dinosaur in the morning," the teen said with a grin before yawning and tossing DemiMeramon back into the air, "Alright, c'mon. Let me shower then I'll get you a bag of popcorn for breakfast."

"Mmm~! Popcorn! Popcorn! Popcorn!" Cheered the Digimon as his tamer left the bedroom and entered the bathroom across the hall.

After showering and feeding both himself and DemiMeramon, the teenage Digimon Tamer dressed in faded carpenter jeans, a brown belt with two deck cases attached to it holding his pants up; a fitted white shirt with the image of an orange flame similar to his partner on it; and navy and orange running shoes. As he was leaving, the Tamer attached a primarily black and orange digivice to his belt before grabbing a black leather jacket from the coat rack.

Just as he opened the door, a small voice stopped him in his tracks: "Naruto-Onii-chan?"

The Tamer turned around, the DemiMeramon hovering over his right shoulder followed the action, and came face to face with a red-haired girl around the age of eight. The Tamer let a soft smile cross his face as he fully faced the girl.

"Mito-chan, you should be sleeping," the Tamer, or rather, Naruto softly chided his younger sister, "You have a big day today. Kaachan wants to go shopping and you might meet some new friends at your new elementary school; you shouldn't be tired for it."

Uzumaki Mito, the younger sister of Uzumaki Naruto and sole daughter of Uzumaki Kushina, was dressed in soft pink pajamas and had long red hair like her mother. A digivice with a yellow and purple coloration hung from her neck by a black cord. The girl rubbed at her eyes sleepily with her left arm while her other arm carried a yellow ball of fur with purple stripes. If one looked closely, they could say it resembled a cat's head.

The ball of fur suddenly opened two large amber eyes and yawned, a foot long tail extending slightly behind it, before it spoke with a slight feminine voice, "Naru-nii, where ya goin'?"

"Onii-chan?" Miko asked, looking at her brother sleepily, yet still waiting for his response. Naruto sighed and scratched his cheek.

"We should've just stayed in bed," he murmured to his partner before shifting his shoulder so that the Digimon in question would go further into the air. A beeping was heard from his hip and the ball of flame was encased in a bright glow.

DIGIVOLUTION.

"DemiMeramon digivolve to...Candlemon!"

A candlestick about two feet tall appeared, the flame that lit the wick resembling a shrunken DemiMeramon while the face of said Digimon appeared on wax of the candle. Two melted arms protruded from the wax and the Rookie carefully took the cat-like ball of fuzz from the girl.

"C'mon Nyaromon," Candlemon whispered with a slightly more mature voice, "Let's get you back in bed."

"Mito-chan?" the in-training Digimon asked through a yawn.

"Bro's got her," the older Digimon confirmed as he levitated through the hall back towards the youngest Uzumaki's room.

Said girl had just been picked up by her elder brother, who shifted her so that he could carry her on his hip. Like her brother and mother before her, Mito was small for her age; a growth spurt being assured later on in life, so carrying her was no problem for the teen.

"You going out, Onii-chan?" Mito asked softly. Naruto nodded, a soft smile still on his face.

"Yep, me and Candlemon are gonna go check the area out. We'll be back before Kaachan wakes up, so let's keep it a secret, okay?"

"Hai."

No more was said as Naruto carried the girl to her room, putting her in her bed where she promptly pulled Nyaromon into a cuddle, the In-Training Digimon wrapping a tail around her left arm in reassurance that she was there. The two fell back to sleep immediately, making Naruto and Candlemon slip out of the room as quietly as possible.

As soon as Naruto softly clicked the door shut, he looked to his partner, "You're so lucky Kaachan is a heavy sleeper."

"I am?" Candlemon replied in confusion. The blonde nodded.

"Mito-chan woke up from our breakfast most likely," Naruto stated with a sigh as they left the apartment and made their way to the elevator, "I don't need to tell you how Kaachan would've reacted."

As they waited for the elevator to arrive, Naruto briefly thought about his family. Three years ago, Naruto's father, Minato, was killed in a car accident on his way home from work. The death shook his mother, Kushina, and scarred Naruto. Fortunately, Mito was far too young to properly remember that day. Naruto's relationship with his father was great, they did everything a father and son would do, but after his death, Naruto became reclusive. He didn't do much aside from eat, sleep and go to school.

However, it was when the television series Digimon and the card game that accompanied it came out that Naruto started to recover. He started to open up whenever he would play the card game, and soon it evolved from a coping mechanism to a hobby. Kushina, ecstatic to see her son come out of his shell, supported his new hobby however she could, even participating in watching the show with her children. Soon enough, Digimon became a family affair, a way to bond.

It was only three months ago that the Uzumaki family was visited by the Digimon stork and granted two eggs when their television started to go on the fritz. One was a light orange with light fire markings at the base, while the other was white with purple stripes. At the same time, Naruto's card scanner had changed into a Digivice and Mito's toy D-3 shifted into a model similar to her brother's. Shortly afterwards the eggs hatched to reveal a Mokumon and YukimiBotamon. The Uzumaki females immediately glomped the infant Digimon and Naruto merely gave them both an affectionate pat. As a week passed, the Uzumaki noticed that the baby Digimon had chosen their respective partner: Mokumon followed Naruto almost everywhere, and YukimiBotamon had practically attached itself to Mito.

"...ruto? NARUTO!" Candlemon shouted, snapping the blonde from his trip down memory lane.

"Yeah Candlemon?" the blonde asked as he looked at his floating partner. Candlemon glared at him.

"We've been standing in the elevator for five minutes, would you please press the down button?" the Candle Digimon asked as he crossed his arms and arched a nonexistent brow in amusement if his smirk was anything to go by.

Grumbling about smart-assed Digimon, Naruto pressed the button and leaned against a wall when the lift started to descend. Briefly, the blonde Digimon Tamer wondered what he and his partner would encounter on their early morning adventure. He also wondered how his mother would react to his note.

Uzumaki Kushina was known for many things: Her entrancing beauty; a ferocious love for her family; a loathing for perverts; and a healthy admiration for style.

But the most infamous thing about Uzumaki Kushina was her short fuse and malicious anger.

Especially when it came to her children; especially when they acted like she had when she was younger.

Like her eldest did that morning when he snuck out and left her a note on the fridge.

I'll kill that boy! Kushina raged internally as she crushed the note her son left her in her grasp, He knew that I wanted all of us to go as a group! "DemiMeramon wouldn't wait" my ass! He just wanted an excuse so I wouldn't "embarrass" him!

"Kaasan," Mito's voice snapped her mother from her thoughts of slaughtering-er, punishing her son.

After expertly hiding her rage in a split second, Kushina faced her daughter and the green ball of fur that was her Digimon, sweetly replying, "Yes, Mito-chan?"

"We're hungry~!" whined Nyaromon, soon followed by twin sets of muted growls. Sighing, Kushina put her plans for skinning her son and his little fireball of a Digimon on the proverbial backburner while she set out to provide for her daughter and the gluttony personified that was Nyaromon.

Naruto shivered as he and DemiMeramon (who willingly de-digivolved in order to remain inconspicuous) exited the local card shop. He stopped in to purchase a few packs for himself and his sister. Hopefully he could find her the Digiegg of Light for Nyaromon for when she digivolved to Gatomon to (hypothetically) become Nefertimon. He wasn't sure if it would work, but there was always that hope.

"Have it, have it, have four of 'em, got it, hm...ain't got that one," Naruto mused aloud as he looked at a modify card, "AncientGarurumon huh? Wonder if that's a new series? The Ancients...be a nice deck, wouldn't it?"

"Ne, if you say so, Niisan," DemiMeramon hummed before grinning when Naruto flipped the next card over, "Oh hey! There's a handsome devil!"

Chuckling Naruto held the Meramon card up to eyeball it, "Yeah...still, I prefer the cartoon's depiction over this art. Still think you're going to go along this evolution chart, DemiMeramon?"

"It's possible, but I don't look forward to my Mega form," the In-Training Digimon shivered, "Boltmon...yeesh."

"I hear that," Naruto murmured to himself as he remembered the first time he saw said form on the card in his deck. Shaking the thought from his mind, he flipped through the cards once more before grinning, "Now there's a form that you should digivolve to: Wizardmon. Talk about a hero."

"If you say so, Niisan," DemiMeramon murmured, looking at the card, "But it'd be cliché, don't you think?"

"No way," Naruto argued as they approached Shinjuku Park, "Gatomon from the TV show looked up to Wizardmon like a big brother. Wouldn't it be ironic and cool if you and Nyaromon shared the same bond, in the same forms?"

"I guess..." the Data construct admitted in defeat. They walked (or floated in DemiMeramon's case) around for a bit before coming across a bench where Naruto took a seat and opened another pack.

"Got it, got it, got it, got it, got seven, got it...damn, nothing new," the blonde muttered in dismay as he reached for his final pack when a loud pinging came from his hip. Putting the card pack back in his pocket, Naruto pulled his Digivice up. Immediately, a holographic map appeared over the small screen, easily obscuring his hand.

"Hello, what's this?" Naruto asked himself, "A biomerge? Here? Heh, things are never dull...C'mon DemiMeramon! Let's go have some fun!"

The blonde hopped to his feet and began to run. DemiMeramon hovered closely over his shoulder when they came across a thick fog.

Frowning and flicking out his orange tinted sunglasses, Naruto put them on and barged through the data field. A loud roar was heard as was a female voice. Naruto kept moving through the fog, trying to get a lead on what his D-Tector was...detecting.

"Its thick enough to cut..." Naruto grumbled to himself, "I can't see a damn thing! Did I get lost?"

"Wouldn't be the first time, Niisan!"

"Oh, you shut up!"

"Volcanic Strike!" Naruto looked up and dropped as a large fireball flew inches over his head.

"Great, a Monochromon," Naruto grumbled as he stood and recalled a previous encounter with said Digimon in his old city, "Let's get to it...Time to digivolve, DemiMeramon!"

DIGIVOLUTION

"Right, Niisan! DemiMeramon digivolve to..." The ball of fire was engulfed in light before he grew and returned to his Rookie form, "Candlemon!"

The fog cleared enough to reveal a large golden bipedal fox leaping away from the dinosaur Digimon. Nearby, Naruto noticed a girl whose fiery hair was a more orange than it was red, unlike his mother's and sister's.

"Seems like the fox is with us; Kaasan would have a field day with that...Loogie that thing, Candlemon!" Naruto instructed his Digimon while reaching in his card case for the card he wanted.

Unlike most kids, Naruto had two card decks: One for the game, and one for reality. His deck for real Digimon fights was, in a word, vandalized. He cut along the edges of his cards, varying the feel, to make it easier to find the card he wanted. His sister's battle deck would be the same way, once she finished building it.

"Lava Loogie!" Candlemon cried out as a large ball of fire shot from the flame on his head. The Monochromon was hit in the back of its hind right leg, which collapsed upon the explosive impact. The Fox Digimon and its tamer went wide-eyed as Naruto and Candlemon ran forward.

"Digi-Modify!" Naruto announced as he swiped a card, "Greymon's Nova Flame activate!"

As Monochromon got to its feet, Candlemon took a deep breath, "NOVA FLAME"

White fire as hot as the sun shot from his waxy mouth in a large beam of light. The dinosaur Digimon roared in pain as it slid back, its plating acting as armor, but still hurt from the heat.

"Resilient, isn't he?" Naruto grumbled as the Digimon scraped it foot along the ground, "Crud, he's gonna charge!"

"Diamond Storm!" Several small projectiles impacted with the Monochromon's side. Naruto looked over and eyed the other Tamer, who was glaring holes back at him.

Well, I can tell this will be a brief partnership, the blonde thought internally before looking at the hardly phased dinosaur, Thankfully, it can't target two of us at once!

Naruto swiped the card in his hand, "Digi-Modify, Speed Activate!"

"Ole! Ya missed, bonehead!" Candlemon cackled out as he evaded Monochromon's second attempt at a charge. With all of the Digimon properly distracted, Naruto made his way to his fellow tamer's side to cooperate better.

"Get out of here, this is my fight!" the female tamer barked at the blonde. She then looked at her Digimon, "Renamon! I want its' data!"

The fox, Renamon, nodded briefly before her right fist glowed and she drove it into the dinosaur Digimon's side. The Monochromon roared in anger, before swinging its head and sending the Rookie flying back towards the trees. Renamon impacted with a cry of pain, allowing Monochromon to focus solely on the living candle. Roaring out, it charged like a rhino at the Digimon.

"Yes, because it's going swimmingly for you, Hime!" Naruto snapped back before looking at his partner, "Crap! Candlemon! Dodge and then Loogie 'im again!"

"Lava Loogie!"

Candlemon's attack struck the right eye of the Monochromon as he sped out of the way. The Dinosaur roared in pain before it tumbled over itself mid-charge. The Monochromon released a groan of pain before it tried to roll over onto its feet.

The female Tamer sent a look to her slowly rising Renamon, "Get up, Renamon! Now's your chance!"

Naruto, however, had a different plan. He swept his fingers across his deck, grinning as they brushed over the proper card.

"Candlemon!" He called to his partner, "Let's send him packing! Digi-Modify, MagnaAngemon's Gate of Destiny!"

A golden band appeared around Candlemon's right wrist and a fuchsia blade extended from it. A grin crossed the Digimon's face as he slowly rotated his arm, the blade leaving a cut in the space before him, before Candlemon cried out, "Gate of Destiny!"

"WHAT?" the girl tamer cried out while the Gate opened and began to drag the downed Monochromon towards it. The Champion-level dinosaur couldn't begin to fight against the (albeit weakened) Ultimate-Level attack, and was thus swallowed whole before the Gate spun on itself and vanished.

"All right!" Naruto cried out with a pumped fist. The Digi-Modifications on Candlemon wore off, allowing the Digimon to float to his partner's side. They high-fived with a cheer, but their celebration was cut short when Naruto was forcibly turned around by the fuming redheaded girl.

"What did you just do?" the girl demanded, her hand wrapped on his jacket's collar.

"Uh, I just won, or were you watching another battle?" Naruto quipped with a grin. Candlemon scoffed.

"Oh, sure. You won all on your own. Way to go, Bro. Whoo," the sarcastic cheers made Naruto's brow twitch.

"Ok, so you did some of the work, but let's face it, you'd have been wax paste if I couldn't amp your speed," Naruto pointed out as he turned, breaking free of the girl's grip, to face his Digimon.

"Phht. He was a newbie. No real Monochromon tumbles over itself, even if attacked," Candlemon shot back, "I could've handled him just fine."

"Right, but what about-Ow!" Naruto cried out as he rubbed the spot where he was kicked in the shin, "Those shoes are steel tipped!"

"I have questions, Blondie, and only you have answers!" The girl snapped with a finger in his face, "First off, why'd you get in my way? Second, where'd that Digimon go? And finally, just who are you!?"

"First off, I wasn't in your way, I was in fact at your side," Naruto replied with a grin, "And next, I sent Monochromon back to the Digital World via loophole with a trading card. He gets to enjoy his new evolution while our world stays safe. Pretty smart, eh?"

"You numbskull! That was my data! How else am I going to get Renamon to digivolve?" the redhead asked with a growl as she glared at the boy. Naruto shrugged.

"Dunno. Me n' Candlemon are still trying to work out Digivolution ourselves. Wanna compare notes?" He asked with a kind smile.

"I don't need you or your walking earwax's help, Blondie!" the girl snapped.

"Oi, I have a name, Hime," Naruto growled back as their foreheads pushed against each other, "You're looking at the Card Shark of Digimon! District Card Champ off the South West Coast! Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Ha! I remember you, you quit during the Royale Card Championship Semi-Finals. I'm the Digimon Queen; Nonaka Rika," Rika introduced herself with a smug tone in her voice, "I'll soon be known as the best Tamer, too."

Oh yeah...The Royale...I had to quit because Mito-chan had a bad reaction to the food and went to the ER, Naruto thought to himself before he caught up on what the girl said, "Best Tamer? What out of the two of us?"

"Tch, seems like you're missing the big picture," Rika scoffed as she turned to walk away, "Next time, just stay out of my way. C'mon, Renamon."

The bipedal fox silently nodded and vanished from sight just as the girl walked away. Naruto scratched his head and looked at his partner, "What's her deal?"

"Probably got a good life, but a crappy family, or something," Candlemon said with a shrug. Naruto sighed.

"You watch too much TV," the Tamer said as he put his hand to his forehead and rubbed it, "We should probably head home. Kaasan's already mad enough, let's not dig our graves too deep."

"You need to watch more TV!" Candlemon whined as he de-Digivolved back into DemiMeramon, "Niisan, I want some popcorn!"

"Yeah, yeah...c'mon, lets get home before Kaasan-"

"UZUMAKI NARUTO! YOU GET YOUR ASS HOME THIS INSTANT YOUNG MAN!"

"Get's really mad...Oh man..."

Bonesboy15: Yeah, so, Eng is on a Digimon kick thanks to the most recent game that's come out. He wanted to revive the fic, and I have no qualms with that. Hope you all enjoy as we bring this story back to life!

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