CHAPTER ONE

The Digital World

Blake let out a sigh of content. The grass was so soft, the breeze was so cool, the environment so relaxing. Living in a big city was a tiring thing, and this country getaway a few miles from the city was the perfect location for his relaxing summer camp.

Blake had originally decided to read a book, and had climbed a tree. Sitting on a branch, he tried to make himself comfortable enough to focus on his book, but to no avail. So Blake got back down, returned the book to his cabin, and succumbed to slumbering in the sweet grass of the field.

Blake was very tall for his thirteen years of age, already an inch away from being six feet tall. He had short brown hair, short enough to lack any particular style. He wore a white shirt underneath his baggy sky-blue button-up collared shirt. Whenever he wore this shirt, he preferred to leave it unbuttoned to expose his shirt underneath. He enjoyed when the shirt caught the breeze and billowed behind him. His khaki cargo shorts added to his casual clothing, which complimented his carefree attitude. He wore running shoes and a thin silver necklace. His blue eyes were cool and gentle.

Blake closed his eyes, enjoying the utter relaxation of his green environment. He was at church camp with his best friends in the world. He could hear light chatter coming from the mess hall, but many people had decided to relax, as he had. This was the third day of camp and everyone was a bit fatigued. They had come on Monday and would be making the short trip home on Friday, but today was Wednesday.

Blake's mind was left free to wander, and it did. His thoughts eventually and inevitably turned to the strange happenings going on in the world. Tokyo had been washed in a sea of stuff like chocolate sauce, Florida was getting snowstorms, and his home city had record amounts of rain, beating the two other top years combined in just the past month. Flooding was terrible. All of these things were baffling and unseasonable, not to mention other things in other places of the world. Strange weather for June.

"Wierd," Blake muttered to himself.

"What is?" came a girl's voice.

Blake shifted, looking at the source of the question. It was Becca, one of his best friends. She was pretty tall, though not near as tall as he, and had shining blonde hair cut shoulder-length. She was wearing a light blue t-shirt with a dark blue heart in the middle, and jeans, and tennis shoes.

Becca had a companion: Meggy. She had brown hair, a bit shorter than Becca's, and she was wearing a pink tank top and jeans and a pair of tennis shoes. Becca was thirteen, and Meggy was twelve.

"What's so wierd?" Meggy repeated Becca's question.

"I was just thinking," Blake said groggily, not feeling like talking about it.

"Whatever," Meggy replied.

Blake stood up, wiping grass off his butt. Then he shuddered as something icy cold touched the back of his neck. He reached back to feel what it was and touched cold wetness. "What the-?"

"Look at that!" Becca cried, her finger following something that was apparently coming down to them. Blake and Meggy followed her direction and saw, to their disbelief, a snowflake.

The snowflake drifted slowly, lazily, getting smaller and smaller in the hot summer sun. It was disappearing, but what was left of it fell as if it belonged to summer and there was nothing strange about it being here.

"Snow," Meggy whispered in awe.

"Hey guys!" the three heard someone call. They looked to see who it was and saw four boys running towards them. Casey was at the lead, with his brother Rainey close behind, and Adam and Cameron following those two.

Casey was tall, between Becca and Blake's height. He had short dark brown hair and tanned skin. He was very atheletic. He wore a green sleeveless shirt and navy blue atheletic shorts. He was fourteen and a grade above everyone else, going into eigth grade.

His brother, Rainey, had light brown hair that came straight down to stop just above Rainey's eyebrows. Rainey was shorter and younger than everyone else, being twelve years old and a grade behind, going into sixth grade. He wore a bright red shirt and red atheletic shorts with a blue stripe going down both sides.

Adam was affectionately named Mouse by Blake. He was very short and had short brown hair pushed up in the front. He was only twelve, but was going into the seventh grade like most of the others. He wore a yellow t-shirt with a blue t-shirt underneath that stuck out at the bottom and at the ends of the sleeves. He wore khaki shorts.

Cameron was a brain. He had glasses and short brown hair. He was very skinny and wore a whitish-blue colored button up shirt with the sleeves pushed to his elbows. He too donned khaki shorts. He was twelve, but was going into eigth grade. In eigth grade, he was going to be given special treatment, going to the high school every day for math.

"What's up?" Rainey asked as the four of them ran up to Blake, Becca, and Meggy.

"We just saw snow," Blake admitted, feeling his face burn from embarassment. It wasn't belivable.

Just as Blake expected, Adam said, "Yeah right!"

"Shut up, Mouse!" Blake replied. "It's the truth."

"I believe him," Cameron said in an awed tone. They all started and this and looked at him. He was gazing intently at the sky beyond them. They turned and saw a skyful of snowflakes coming to meet them.

"Whoa!" Casey cried. "No way!"

They cried out as a chill wind swept through their midst like a cold knife. Then snow was falling heavily around them. They wrapped their arms around themselves, shivering and huddling together. It took only a minute to cover the ground with a thick layer of snow and still it fell. This was no longer either a peaceful or warm day at summer camp.

"What's going on?" Becca screamed over the gale. The wind howled past, trying to snatch her words away.

"I don't know!" Blake yelled.

"This is impossible!" Cameron cried out. "This can't be happening! It's summer!"

There was a loud searing sound as light flooded the area. They all screamed, their eyes stinging from the sudden light. Temporarily blinded, they wrenched their eyes shut till their eyes quit aching. They then looked in the direction the light seemed to have come from.

Ther was a swirling vortex of light in the sky. "Those colors resemble the Aurora Borealis!" Cameron pointed out. And it was true. Their beautiful, shimmering, uncertain colors mystified the children. Then the seven branches of light that made up the vortex broke apart from each other and screamed towards the children.

The kids let out a yell as the comet-like whatevers rocketed towards them, one crashing into the snow at each child's feet. From the small holes that had been formed by the falling objects, light suddenly emanated brightly.

Seven balls of light slowly rose from the holes. They continued a slow path upward, each child snatching them from the air. Adam nearly snatched his too late, hopping slightly to reach it. The floating balls of light stopped glowing as soon as each child picked it out of the air.

The kids looked at the odd things in their hands. They were small white devices with a square screen in the middle of a circle.

"What is this?" Adam asked.

No one had the chance to answer, because a sudden roar swept away any possible reply. They screamed as they saw a wave of water completely and absolutely block out the horizon. It swooped down upon them, but their fear rooted them to the spot.

The wave washed them off of their feet, but they kept yelling. Suddenly, the ground was washed away, and all that could be seen was water. Water, everywhere!

Then they were falling. Falling between two walls of water shooting past on either side. Water with no beginning and no end, and they were simply falling, screaming, helpless, into darkness.

Soon, the water wall rushing past began to take shape. Individual water comets shot past the careening, falling children. The water comets morphed into numbers - ones and zeros. Soon, the ones and zeros changed into ovals streaming colored tails, and they began to squiggle up and down. The children rushed past all these, and when all that was left was darkness, it suddenly and unexpectedly rushed past as well.

The darkness quickly unravelled itself, shooting past and away from the kids. They were still falling, but now they beheld a small island, covered in lush vegetation, with gorgeous white beaches lining the edges of the beautiful ocean, which stretched to the horizon. The island had a mountain in the center.

The children were falling freely through the air, falling towards the forested island. They gasped in awe at first sight of the island, but had resumed their screams of fear when the realization sunk in that they were descending ever faster, falling to a mysterious island in the middle of nowhere, with no one and nothing that could catch them.

The trees rushed to meet them, as their screams pained their own throats and the wind ripped away their screams. They had been separated in the freefall, hitting different parts of the forest.

And then, branches and leaves were rushing past, slapping Blake in the face and arms and legs. And then the ground, appeared, rushing up to meet him, his screams futile, his eyes shut, praying for a miracle to save his life.

-

"Blake? Blake?"

He could hear a voice, a strange voice, small and high pitched, calling him from the void. In the darkness, Blake searched for the voice's owner. Who was calling him? How did they know his name?

"Blake?"

He remembered the grass. He remembered the snow. He remembered the water. He remembered falling through oddities never dreamed of. He remembered an island. And the ground rushing up to meet him head-on. He remembered.

"Blake?"

Was he dead? All he could see was darkness. But slowly, as if his consciousness had clicked on a few minutes before his vision, he saw light. Very faint light.

"Blake?"

Of course! His eyes were closed! So all Blake had to do was open his eyes. Open. Open!

And then, he could feel his eyelids raise. His eyes were open. But all he could see was gray.

Slowly, ever so slowly, green appeared, and then brown in the center of his vision.

He was in a forest, with thick, lush vegetation and trees all around. He could feel dirt underneath him. And there was a small creature sitting on his chest.

"Blake! You're awake!" the creature cried happily, its beady black eyes shining. It was a tiny brown ball with two eyes and a mouth and three horns on its head, on in front and two behind on either side. It also had a long tail stretching far behind it.

"What are you?" Blake cried in fear.

"Don't be scared, Blake!" the creature said happily.

"How do you know my name?" Blake asked.

"I'm destined to be with you," it said. "How could I not know your name!"

"Destined? Just who are you?" Blake sat up, and the creature bounced off, sitting on the ground by his left knee.

"My name's Conomon. I'm your Digimon! I've been waiting for you!"

"Waiting for me?" Blake got to his feet. "You look pretty harmless. I guess you aren't too dangerous. So, where are we?"

"We're in the Digital World."

"The Digital World? What's that?"

"It's just what it's called: a digital world."

"Okay," Blake said, running possibilities through his mind. "Six of my friends are here I think. We need to find them."

"Okay."

"Where could they be?" Blake began walking, with Conomon bouncing along behind him.

They walked through endless brush, past many trees, until they came upon a clearing and noticed two familiar faces.

Becca was standing there with a small round creature in her arms. It was white, with two round ears and shining black eyes. Adam was there too, with a creature who had blue eyes and two back swept antennae. It was shaped like an upside down teardrop, bouncing on the tip. It had two short stubs as arms and three tiny, not particularly dangerous looking horns on its back.

"Hey you guys!" Blake called as he and Conomon pushed through the brush and into the clearing.

"Hey!" Becca smiled. "Look Adam, he's got one too!"

"Bet we all do," Adam said. He pointed to the creature beside him. "This little guy is Pitmon."

"Introduce yourself," Becca said to the cute creature in her arms.

"My name is YukimiBotamon," it said in a high-pitched voice.

"My little guy is named Conomon," Blake said, smiling. "Conomon, this is Becca and Adam. Adam's nickname is Mouse."

"We were just about to go and look for everyone else," Adam explained.

"Then let's all go together," Blake said.

The three children walked off into the brush on the opposite side of the clearing from where Blake had entered. They walked a ways and found a dirt path.

"I wonder who made this path," Blake said.

"Do you know, Pitmon?" Adam asked his companion.

"No," Pitmon said, sorry that he couldn't help.

"Well, I guess we should just be thankful that it's here," Becca suggested.

"Good idea," came Cameron's voice. He and Meggy came out of the brush on the opposite side of the forest. They too had creatures with them.

"Hey!" Blake said happily.

"Looks like my theory was right," Cameron said. "They have them too. I'd bet Rainey and Casey will when we find them."

"Sure," Meggy said. "My little friend's name is Kapurimon." She motioned to a small creature behind her, who bounced out to where Becca, Adam, and Blake could see her. She had big, green eyes, a cat-like mouth and a black, wet nose. The upper half of its round body had a metal helmet on with eyeholes. The helmet had two horns sticking out of it. Kapurimon also had a long striped tail, colered with its gray fur and purple stripes.

Cameron motioned to his Digimon, an orange and red creature with deep blue eyes that was floating near Cameron's head. It looked like a hovering fire creature. "I am DemiMeramon," it introduced itself in a raspy voice.

"He scared me at first, untill I figured out he was here to help me," Cameron admitted.

A second after Cameron had said this, they heard someone yelling. They listened for a minute.

"That's Casey calling for Rainey!" Blake said. He ran down the path in the direction of Casey's voice, the creatures and his friends following him.

The pathway and trees opened up after only a minute of running onto a beautiful meadow with lush green grass and small yellow flowers. They saw Casey walking along the middle of the meadow with his hands up around his mouth to project his voice.

"Rainey!"

Casey turned and noticed the five children running towards him. "Hey!" he yelled, and they yelled greetings back to him. Blake noticed that there was a small white creature bouncing along behind Casey. When they finally got together, Casey introduced them to his monster.

"This is Zerimon," he said. The creature had sparkling black eyes, a large horn on its head, and a tail like Conomon's

"Casey!" The children heard Rainey yelling back and looked to see him running down a different path towards them. They all ran to greet him.

"Hey," he said when they'd come together. "Let me introduce you to my Digimon, Kokomon." He pointed to his creature. It had black eyes with three horns on its head like Conomon. It had ears, two that drooped down the sides of its head and curved outward slightly. It also had a lower body, but it was just a jelly-like mass that seemed to loosely conform to the surface it was sitting on.

The children all reintroduced their creatures to Rainey.

"You called your friend a Digimon," Casey observed. "Why?"

"I remember when I first came to and met Conomon, he mentioned Digimon," Blake said, thinking back.

"That's right," Conomon said, bouncing up and down. "I told you I'm your Digiomon."

"What does Digimon mean?" Meggy asked.

All seven creatures jumped in the middle of the circle of children and said in unison, "We're Digimon: Digital Monsters!"

"Digimon? Digital Monsters?" Adam said. "What does that mean?"

"I guess it means just what it says," Cameron said. "They're digital monsters. Digimon."

"We've been waiting for you!" YukimiBotamon squeaked.

"Waiting for us?" Becca asked.

Blake nodded. "Conomon said the same thing to me when I -"

Blake was cut off by an explosion coming from somewhere nearby. They saw smoke disappearing from a hole in one of the nearby treetops. An enormous red insect was flying towards them.

"That's Flybeemon!" Kapurimon shoted. "It's an insectoid-type Digimon with thick armor protecting it from attacks and cannons on its arms that shoot highly-explosive rounds!"

Flybeemon was red with a few gray stripes. It was flying with wings like a dragonfly's, and sure enough, it was covered in armor and had two cumbersome-looking cannons in place of claws.

"Look out!" Cameron yelled. "He's gonna fire!"

A ball of light hurtled towards the kids. They yelled out and scrambled in different directions, all holding their Digimon safely cradled in their arms. The shot hit right in the middle of where they'd been standing and caused a huge explosion.

"Run!" Blake yelled at everyone. "This way!" He turned and ran down the path Rainey had come from. Everyone followed him, and Flybeemon rocketed over their heads and off above the trees.

"We have to make as much distance as we can," Blake gasped. "Maybe Flybeemon will lose us!"

"I doubt that!" Cameron yelled. "And even if he does, he'll just fly up and spot us from the air!"

"What else can we do?" Becca cried vainly.

"We can turn and fight!" Conomon yelled. At that moment, they heard the buzz of Flybeemon's wings, coming up behind them very quickly.

"Look out!" DemiMeramon screamed, they all dodged to the right and the treeline to their left burst, showering splinters and stinging the children.

"That was close!" Rainey gasped.

"Keep going," Kokomon urged him and the others.

"We're gonna fight!" Zerimon cried, leaping from Casey's arms.

"Yeah!" the other Digimon cried, leaping from their owner's arms and towards Flybeemon.

"Bubble Blast!" they cried, one after the other. Each shot a shower of pink bubbles hurtling towards Flybeemon. They popped on Flybeemon's helmet, making him wince. His flight path wavered and he once more flew out of sight above the treetops.

"We scared him off!" Becca said happily.

"Don't celebrate yet," Adam said, pointing out the buzz of Flybeemon that could still be heard somewhere not too far off.

"Just keep going!" Casey gasped.

A few moments later they ran out into the open, crying out at the sudden absence of tree cover and the feel of rock under their shoes. They ran forward to a drop off.

They were on a cliff edge, staring down at a raging river.

"Oh no," Blake breathed.

They turned at the buzzing, an omen announcing Flybeemon's coming.

"We have no other choice," Casey said. "We have to fight. No matter what!"

Flybeemon appeared over the trees and landed, separating the kids and their Digimon from the forest. Separating them from protection.

"This is it!" Adam cried in vain.

"We'll protect you!" Zerimon called, jumping in between Flybeemon and the kids. The other Digimon did the same.

Flybeemon raised his cannon, preparing to attack. "Bubble Blast!" Conomon yelled, firing pink bubbles, the other Digimon following his lead.

Flybeemon winced, his gun wavering, as he was pummeled by pink bubbles. Then he corrected his aim.

"It's not enough!" Becca wailed.

"What are we going to do?" Meggy asked quietly.

"We're not going to give up!" YukimiBotamon tried to comfort Becca.

"We'll win!" Zerimon yelled.

"You're not strong enough," Blake slumped.

"Yes we are!" Conomon cried.

Suddenly, there was darkness. The light seemed to have gone away. They all looked to the sky, including Flybeemon. Circles of light appeared, and they came down from left to right, forming translucent light columns that covered the Digimon. In a matter of seconds, all seven little Digimon were inside their own personal light column.

Flybeemon's eyes widened, and it involuntarily took a step back.

"What's happening?" Blake asked in an awed voice. Then his head snapped around to look at the Digivice he'd strapped to his right side on the belt loop of his shorts. Everyone else had theirs clipped to them like him. They had drawn attention because they were beeping and their square screens were flashing rapidly. Then a burst of light emitted from each Digivice.

"Wha-?" Blake cried, then the Digivice's light intensified. He looked at his Digimon, sitting in the glowing light, now glowing himself, then something incredible happened.

"Conomon, Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . Gizamon!"

"Zerimon, Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . Prairiemon!"

"Kapurimon, Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . Rabbitmon!"

"DemiMeramon, Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . DemiDevimon!"

"YukimiBotamon, Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . Otamamon."

"Pitmon, Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . Kunemon!"

"Kokomon, Digivolve to . . ."

" . . . Lopmon!"

Before their eyes, their Digimon had changed, or Digivolved.

"They're bigger!" Blake cried in awe.

"What happened?" Casey wondered.

Conomon had become Gizamon, an orange furred, yellow skinned, four legged creature. It had intense blue eyes, a wide mouth, and four stubbly legs with three webbed, black claws on each foot. Gizamon also had four spikes of different sizes sticking out of its back, going from largest to smallest. Conomon's high-pitched voice had become deeper and slightly raspy.

Zerimon had become Prairiemon, a prairie dog monster with huge metal claws on its hands. The claws were long and thin and sharp, and there were three on each hand. It had long ears sweeping down its back and almost touching the ground, and it had a short tail and sparkling black eyes. Its voice had become higher pitched.

Kapurimon had become Rabbitmon, a white rabbit with pink armor on. It had big green eyes and long ears that swept back and curved downward. Its voice had gotten higher-pitched.

DemiMeramon had become DemiDevimon, a small round bat with a black mask that had a skull on it in between and slightly above its two yellow eyes. It had bat wings and taloned feet. Its voice had lost its raspiness and become slightly higher-pitched.

YukimiBotamon had become Otamamon, a small blue tadpole with tiny back legs and clawed front legs. It had big eyes and a tail with webbing at the end. Its voice had gone from super high-pitched to pretty high-pitched.

Pitmon had become Kunemon, a yellow caterpillar with two streaming yellow antennae, a big blue beak and a huge blue stinger. Its voice was almost the same.

Kokomon had become Lopmon, a small, brown, rabbit-like creature standing on two legs. It had small brown eyes and three horns on its head, two small ones in front and a big one in the back. It had two long ears that could touch the ground, with pink tips. It had short arms and legs tipped with pink with black fingers and toes. It had basically the same voice.

"Gizamon?" Blake asked tenatively. "What happened to you?"

"We Digivolved," Gizamon explained, never letting his eyes leave Flybeemon. "Now we're a level stronger. We'll beat Flybeemon this time!"

"Go!" Blake yelled triumphantly.

"Attack!" Gizamon commanded.

"Stun Bubble!" Otamamon let loose a burst of blue bubbles that stung Flybeemon, making him step back.

"Electro Thread!" Kunemon opened his beak and a streak of electricity leaped from his beak and shocked Flybeemon.

"Giza Destroyer!" Gizamon opened his mouth. There was an orange light that rapidly flashed, then a fireball exploded towards Flybeemon, creating a blast that sent him stumbling back a few steps.

"Rabbit Bomber!" Rabbitmon unleashed her own firball, hitting Flybeemon on a shoulder and knocking it off balance.

"Demi Dart!" DemiDevimon shot an arrowhead of dark stuff that stung Flybeemon.

"Thunder Claw!" Prairiemon's claws glowed electric blue and he sent electricity waves that pushed Flybeemon back against a tree.

"Blazing Fire!" Lopmon sent a small fireball towards Flybeemon that exploded unexpectedly in a deep orange flame that burned on Flybeemon's armor for a few seconds.

But Flybeemon was still there. It raised its gun, pointing it at the kids, preparing to fire.

"No!" Rainey said.

"How could he?" Cameron cried.

"All together!" Gizamon called. "Giza Destroyer!"

"Stun Bubble!"

"Electro Thread!"

"Blazing Fire!"

"Rabbit Bomber!"

"Demi Dart!"

"Thunder Claw!"

All seven attacks lanced towards Flybeemon, hitting their target. The kids watched anxiously as the smoke cleared, their Digimon panting.

They saw Flybeemon. He survived! But he was on his knees, panting, in obvious pain. Then his wings buzzed and he shot off into the sky, leaving a cloud of dust behind him and disappearing from sight in only a few seconds.

"You did it!" Blake yelled. The Digimon rushed back to the kids leaping into their arms. The kids thanked their Digimon, and the Digimon celebrated with the kids.

"That's it!" Blake said, smiling. Gizamon was beaming in his arms. "This place might be wierd and dangerous, but now our Digimon will protect us!"

"There's nothing to be scared of," Cameron nodded, DemiDevimon perched on his shoulder. "It's okay now."

Becca sighed contentedly. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all."