Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of the associated franchises. I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters, plot, and other story elements that I had to create.

Chapter 1

An Unusual Hero

The cold winds of December filled the air. Snow had yet to fall, but all the weather men were predicting it to hit the island of Japan at any time. In Shinjuku, the nip in the air was enough to make you put on a jacket, but not enough to make you stay inside and miss the beautiful day. Around the city, school bells were ringing. It was the last day of school, and the Christmas holiday had just begun. Around the city 1st graders to high school students were ready to for the long awaited break from the toil of their school work. At a private school in a quite part of town, the students were just starting to file out of the building. The grey uniforms required by the school made it difficult to distinguish one student from another.

As the students left, one turned the corner and began to head down the street toward the business district. She had her fiery red hair up in a spike bun. Her violet eyes looking straight forward, looking through everybody she passed. She walked through the crowded city streets like she was the only one there. That was until a few younger boys looked at her in aw, and one said, "Look, it's the digimon queen."

Rika Nonaka, the official queen of the digimon card game, shot the young kids a cold glare before she continued down the street. As she walked she could here a voice whisper out of no where, "Where are you going Rika?"

Rika sighed. The voice belonged to her digimon partner, Renamon. She was the digimon equivalent of a kitsune. She looked like a big yellow fox. She stood up right on two legs,

her leg structure the same as a normal fox's. Her arms look pretty human except that she had three fingers on each paw instead of five. Purple arm guards with the yin-yang symbol covered her arms up to her elbow, and two purple swirls were apparent on thighs. Rika was a digimon tamer, one of a small group of kids that had digimon partners. Rika looked into a dark space between two buildings where Renamon quickly appeared. Rika sighed again as she said, "I have to go to the bank for my grandmother. She wants to go Christmas shopping tomorrow, but she needs a bit more spending money."

Renamon nodded and disappeared into the shadows where she kept close watch over Rika. Renamon had been with Rika for a while now, and had seen her icy heart begin to melt, but Renamon didn't know why Rika had to push everybody away, but she had made a secret vow that she would live to hear Rika open up. Be it through a real laugh or other sign that the ice around her heart had melted, and that it would take a great tragedy to bring it back. Renamon watched as Rika continued down the street, the biggest bank in the area getting closer.

In another part of town, a 16 year old was walking down the street toward a large public school. Outside the school a group of 16 young children waited in a group beside the gate to the school grounds. One of the kids spotted the teenager coming and the group cheered all of them ready to finally get away from the school. All the kids and the teenager were from one of the city's orphanage, the 16 year old the oldest person in any of the city's orphanages. He smiled at the group as he walked up and said, "Sorry I'm late, the buses were a little slow. Now, before we head to the bus stop I need to go to the bank for Mrs. Starshine. So, if you all behave yourselves, I will make a special treat for all of you when we get back to the orphanage." The young children cheered as they all grabbed and held hands, one of them grabbed hold of the 16 year old's hand. They walked down the street, the young children's school pretty close to the bank.

In a few minutes later, Rika was walking up the steps of her grandmother's bank. It was a huge bank, with about 15 tellers working the different windows. Rika got into line and began to wait for her turn. She was looking around when she saw a tall teenage boy walk into the bank with a small procession of little kids. He looked around the bank for a second before he walked the group off to a bench and sat them all down. He talked to them for a minute before he turned back toward Rika and got behind her in line. She looked him over. He was a lot taller then Rika, standing at least 6 feet tall. His hair was a pitch black color that seemed to absorb all the light that hit it. His eyes seemed to be a light blue like Renamon's, and he had a calming feel about him.

The guy noticed Rika was looking at him. He tilted his head down and smiled as he said, "Hi there, how are you?"

Rika huffed, a little embarrassed she had been caught, and she turned back to the front. They stood in line for a about 10 minutes more before the guy turned around and scowled a bit, as if he was expecting something. He turned toward the group of young kids and walked back over. Just as he reached the kids a large group of men in full business suits and sunglass came into the bank. There were 15 guys in the group, and one woman. The woman stayed by the door as the 15 men went near each of the 15 teller windows. The woman then reached into the interior of her suit coat and pulled out a pair of guns and fired off a round into the roof of the bank. Everyone in the bank was in a panic in a second flat, but the fifteen guys that were with the gun toting woman pulled out a variety of weapons, most of them long swords. The woman cleared her throat and said, "Now, everybody on the ground unless you want to be at the other end of these guns." Everybody, even Rika, got onto the floor quickly.

The guys went behind the bank counter and began to fill some bags with some very large bills. The girl walked around the room. It wasn't ten minutes later when the police had the building surrounded. In the bank, it was deathly quite until one of the teller phones rang. One of the male bank robbers picked it up and then turned to the girl and said, "Boss, it's the police negotiator. He wants to negotiate the release of the hostages."

The lady chuckled as she reached down and grabbed Rika by the sleeve. She then grabbed the phone from her thug and put it up to her ear. She looked at Rika for a second before she said, "Hello, here is the deal. These hostages are the only things keeping you dirty cops from storming this place. So, here is the deal. Since you called once, I am going to kill one hostage. If you call again before we have left, I will kill two more. Every time you call, I will kill more people, and it will always be twice as many as the last time. Also, if you even start to come up the bank steps I will kill them all in less then a minute, and there is a group of at least a dozen small kids in a corner. Easy targets for some raid fire practice. Now, I have gotten of topic, but its time to get back to business. So, for this call I am going to kill this pretty little girl right here, with violet eyes."

Rika looked at the woman with terror as she hung the phone up and smiled at her. She lifted the gun to Rika's forehead, but before she could pull the trigger a yellow blur came out of nowhere and attacked her. During the fight a shot was fired, and what ever attacked her had gotten shot right in the shoulder. The boss stood up and felt the blood trickling down her lip. What ever it was had punched her right in the jaw. She grunted and then raised a gun to the yellow ball of fur.

Rika had been scared for her life, but now she was ten times more terrified that this crazy woman would kill Renamon. She tried to move, to do anything to stop the leader of the bank robbers from firing the shot that would kill Renamon, but she didn't have to. From the other side of the room the guy who had been with the kids stood up, and before any of the woman's thugs could stop him he darted across the room and with a swift kick he knocked the guns out of the woman's hands. He then punched her in the gut. When he pulled his hand away the woman was cringing in pain as she sank to the floor. The guns was still in the air, and before they hit the ground the teenager grabbed the guns and with an expert toss landed them on a very high ledge, out of everyone's reach. He then stood between the gang leader and Renamon as he said, "Leave her alone. She shall not die today as long as I draw breath. This is my oath, for she is a protector like me. We don't only fight for ourselves, but for the ones who can not protect themselves. For, if we should fail in the fight, they will be the ones who shall bear the consequences."

The woman glared at him angrily and then turned to her men and said, "Kill them all." The thugs began to move toward the large group of people, but the teenager was quicker to act. He ran to the nearest thug who was wielding a katana (type of sword) and with two hits the guy was out cold and the teenager had taken hold of the sword. The other thugs then turned their full attention to the teenager and charged him. The guy brought the sword up in a defensive position, but against those kind of numbers no one can stand. Soon, the teenage boy was holding tight to his shoulder where one of the thugs had cut him deep with a sword. He had dropped the sword, and now had his back up against a wall. He then saw a few of the thugs branch off to kill the strange creature that had attacked the leader first. The teenager quickly bent down and before the thugs knew it he jumped over top of all their heads and went toward the three who were going to finish off the yellow creature.

Rika had made her way over to Renamon, and was now trying to think of something to do. She then saw the group of three thugs coming at her, and instead of fleeing for her own safety she tried and put herself between the thugs and Renamon. Rika closed her eyes, fearing the worst when she heard the sound of three lumps hitting the ground. Rika opened her eyes and saw the guy standing in front of them. He was facing the thugs, who were slowly getting closer to him. He looked over his shoulder and said, "Make sure she is okay. I can handle these numskulls." Rika nodded her head and pulled out her card deck. She began to flip through the deck for her regeneration card.

As Rika looked through her deck the teenager stood in a defensive position. Their were about 9 thugs left, 7 with swords of some kind, one with a long metal chain, and one with a metal pipe. The guy stood perfectly still until the guy with the chain ran toward him. The teenager dodged the chain and knocked the guy squarely in the forehead. The thug was out cold and the teenager picked up the chain.

Now, three of the sword wielders and the guy with the pipe came at him. He used the chain to wrap the three swords together and while distracting the other three he moved over to the thug with the pipe and knocked him out. He grabbed the pipe and with three swift strikes he knocked out the three swordsmen who he had distracted with the chain. That left only four swordsmen. They all rushed toward him and the teenager began using the pipe like a sword. He blocked and dodged. He was able to knock two of the thugs out before one of them cut the pipe in two. He smiled at this, and then flung the two halves at the last two thugs, knocking them out. The guy stood up straight, having knocked out the entire group with out drawing any blood himself. He turned back to the strange creature and the girl who had put her deck away.

Rika was on the verge of tears, she had left the regeneration card back at her house, and Renamon was still lousing some blood. This was the first time Rika had seen Renamon bleed, and she didn't want to see it ever again. Rika saw the guy knelt down beside Renamon as he took out a clean white handkerchief. He took it into his teeth and ripped it in half. He then took one half and gently wrapped it around Renamon's wound.

Upon feeling the pressure of the bandage on her wound, Renamon slowly opened her eyes. Rika dried her eyes, seeing Renamon opening her eyes meant that she was going to be alright. The guy smiled at Renamon as he said, "Well, it is good to see you are alright." The guy was just putting the other half of the handkerchief back in his pocket when the sound of a gun shot rang out and the guy's face suddenly went from a soft kind look to that off being in extreme pain. Rika looked across the room and saw that the woman, the leader of the gang had pulled out another gun. She had pulled it out while the teenagers back was turned and shot him. The location of the wound would have made you think the bullet had punctured the heart, and it may have done just that. The guy suddenly slumped over, gasping for breath through the pain. Before anybody knew it Renamon had stood up and disappeared into the shadows. She reappeared behind the woman and with a swift kick to the woman's head she sent her flying across the room, out like a light.

One of the other hostages made a run for the door, and before he could open the door, Renamon disappeared into the shadows. The police rushed the building finding the gang knocked out and only one person injured. The police quickly got the teenage boy who had been shot to the local hospital, and began asking people what had happened. Rika didn't bother answering any questions, and she even refused a ride back to her house. She walked the entire way, like nothing had happened, but inside her mind was a different story. She had only been that afraid once before, and that was when Renamon was almost destroyed by that butt ugly spider digimon.

She didn't know why she cared, Renamon was just data. Well, that was what Rika told herself, but something in the back of her mind kept eating at her. Trying to tell her something, but she just kept forcing it away. When she finally got home her grandmother almost smothered her. She quickly led her inside and sat her front of the TV. They had TiVo, so Rika's grandmother quickly backed the TV broadcast up so Rika could see the entire report. Rika's grandma had been watching a game show when the news broke in, and that's where she stopped rewinding the live TV and let it play.

Rika looked at the screen as a news caster came on the screen. It was a lady with red hair in a blue business suit. She looked up at the camera and paused for a second before she said, "We are sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming, but we have breaking. The Japan First National bank on 15th street is being robbed. A few moments ago a group of 15 men and one woman, the ring leader, went into the bank. Now, here is Bakura Ling on the scene."

The screen flashed a second before an image came up of a guy in a brown over coat with blonde hair and a microphone was standing in front of the bank behind the police line. He had is hand up to his ear as he said, "Yes Trish, here at the bank tensions are high. The police negotiator is currently calling the bank robbers, hoping to negotiate the release of the hostages. Here, we can listen into the conversation."

The reporter moved over to a speaker phone as the negotiator said, "I would like to speak with the leader of the group, we would like to negotiate the release of the hostages."

The phone was quite for a second before a female voice came over the phone saying, "Hello, here is the deal. These hostages are the only things keeping you dirty cops from storming this place. So, here is the deal. Since you called once, I am going to kill one hostage. If you call again before we have left, I will kill two more. Every time you call, I will kill more people, and it will always be twice as many as the last time. Also, if you even start to come up the bank steps I will kill them all in less then a minute, and there is a group of at least a dozen small kids in a corner. Easy targets for some raid fire practice. Now, I have gotten of topic, but its time to get back to business. So, for this call I am going to kill this pretty little girl right here, with violet eyes."

Rika's grandmother paused the playback their as she said, "Rika, was that you she was about to kill?" Rika nodded and Rika's grandmother broke into happy tears as she hugged Rika, so glad she was alive. After a few minutes of this Rika's grandmother let go and started the play back up again.

The reporter was aghast as he looked toward the building, and waited. A few second later a gun shot rang out from the building, and a few seconds later a second shot rang out. After several silent minutes a third shot rang out. The police waited in silence, tensions high until one of the hostages came running out of the building. After talking with some people the reporter turned back to the camera and said, "Well Trish, I can say this may have been a mystical encounter for the hostages. All the hostages are attesting that just before the leader of the gang was going to kill the girl with violet eyes a yellow blur came out and tackled her. They tell us that it looked like a Kitsune, a mystical fox spirit. After attacking the person the second shot was fired, wounding the Kitsune in the shoulder. The leader was about to finish the job when one of the hostages, a 16 year old from the New Hope Orphanage who had come to the bank with a group of children to deposit some money into the orphanage's bank account, intervened. The person's name was Roy Foxlore. According to the accounts, he attacked the leader of the gang before she could pull the trigger on the Kitsune, and a fight ensued. The fight ended with all of the male bank robbers out cold. Roy went over to the Kitsune, and according to someone who was nearby, he bandaged the gunshot wound with a torn handkerchief. That is when the final shot was fired. The female leader of the gang took out a hidden gun and shot Roy in the back. The Kitsune like creature instantly disappeared from where she was and reappeared beside the leader. With one swift kick she knocked the leader out and sent her flying across the bank room. The Kitsune creature disappeared just before the first hostage emerged from the bank. Now, back to you Trish."

The news woman nodded in the before she turned back to the studio camera and said, "Now, according to our sources, Roy Foxlore is being treated at the West Shinjuku General Hospital. The doctors say that the bullet missed all his major organs, and that his condition is currently stable. As a thank you from the bank, the banks manager is going to pay for Roy's stay at the hospital while he recovers from the gun shot. This story shows that the legends of old may not be as dead as we thought. For, it is thanks to Roy Foxlore and a Kitsune that all the other hostages remained unharmed. This is Trish, and I now return you to your regularly scheduled program, already in process."

Rika's grandmother turned to Rika and asked, "Is it true Rika, was there a Kitsune their."

Rika sighed as she looked at the TV which was currently flashing a commercial. She stood up and said, "I am tired, I going to bed." With that Rika left the living room and went along the patio walkway to her room. She slipped in silently and closed the door. She looked around and then called Renamon. Renamon appeared a second later, the wound still bandaged with Roy's handkerchief. Rika walked over to her desk, and opened the drawer where she kept her vast collection. She only walked around with the cards she knew she would need, the rest remained in the desk until she sought to use them. She sifted through her filing system until she found her regeneration card and slashed it through her reader. She turned and saw Renamon turn her head and take off the make-shift bandage. When she pulled it away, it looked like the bullet was never there, and the bullet in question was resting gently in the blood drenched handkerchief.

Rika made sure the wound was healed before she asked Renamon to leave, and she got ready for bed. She laid down on her futon and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before she fell asleep