Prologue: The Beginning

The sun was shining down on Odaiba High School early one morning.

Couldn't really wish for a more perfect day, Matt Ishida thought to himself as he parked his Ford truck in the school parking lot.

"Hi, Matt!" Came a friendly voice as Matt hopped down from his truck. Matt looked up to see his best friend, Tai Kamiya, Grinning at him.

"'Morning," Matt replied in his usual way. He was honestly exhausted. His band had been practicing until late in the night.

"Did you study for the math test?" Tai asked.

"Not much," Matt responded, mentally kicking himself for not applying himself harder the night before.

"Do you expect to pass Algebra 2 this year?"

"Do you expect to get on my nerves this morning?" Matt snarled in reply.

"Chill, Matt," Tai said, backing away slightly. "What's up?"

Matt sighed, "I dunno, I think I'm just tired."

"Maybe you and your band shouldn't be practicing till all hours of the night," Tai suggested.

Matt shrugged as the bell rang and Matt and Tai walked to class together. As they passed the administration office, they saw a girl sitting at the desk talking to the secretary. The girl seemed to just be totally bored. She was dressed in all black, a studded belt around her skirt, and though the secretary obviously couldn't see it, she had an iPod earphone hidden in her hair and in her ear.

"Who's she?" Matt asked Tai.

"Never saw her before," Tai said. "She must be new. New crush, Yamato?"

"Hardly," Matt rolled his deep cobalt eyes and walked the rest of the way to the algebra classroom. As the second bell rang, the teacher handed out a test, and Matt began, though his concentration wasn't so much on the test, but on his bed back in the apartment he lived in with his dad. Halfway through the class, the principal walked into the classroom, followed by the girl Matt and Tai had seen in the office, but they both saw the iPod earphone was now gone.

"Students," The Principal said. "You have a new addition to your class. This is Artemis Milano. She just moved here from Tokyo. I expect her to be treated as you treat everyone else."

The principal left, and Matt saw Artemis's cheeks turn pink slightly.

"Welcome," The Algebra teacher, Mrs. Leung greeted her. "You picked an interesting day to join us; the rest of the class has a test."

"Lucky me," Artemis said boredly. Her voice was low, and she looked like she would much rather be anywhere but the classroom.

"You can take a seat next to Yamato and Taichi," Mrs. Leung indicated an empty seat between Matt and Tai.

"Thanks," Artemis responded and tightened her grip on the black messenger bag she was carrying. She sat down next to Matt. Matt went back to his test, and Mrs. Leung walked over to talk to Artemis.

"Is this your first time to Odaiba?" Mrs. Leung asked.

"Yeah," Artemis replied, still sounding bored. "I lived in Tokyo for awhile, and before that Highton View Terrace, and Originally, I was born in the US."

"Interesting," Mrs. Leung said. "Well, stay after class and I'll give you the textbook that you need for this class.

Artemis nodded in reply and Mrs. Leung walked away.

Highton View Terrace, eh? Matt thought. I wonder if she lived there during the Digimon attack eight years ago...

After class, Artemis got the book from Mrs. Leung, and Matt decided to go talk to her.

"Hi," Matt said. "I'm Matt Ishida."

"Artemis Milano," Artemis responded coldly.

"You're new around here, huh?"

"Yep," Artemis replied. "Not really a place I want to be though."

"Why is that?" Matt asked.

"I moved around alot since I was a kid, "Artemis explained. "Not really my best memories."

Just then, something beeped from Artemis's waist. Artemis shifted to the side and her eyes widened.

"I've got to go," Artemis said and walked off.

Artemis hadn't realized it, but when Matt had heard the beeping, his own eyes widened. The beeping had been the sound of a Digivice. He thought it had been his.

Wait a second, Matt thought urgently. Does she have a Digivice?

More to Come!