Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, I would be rolling in dough. I'm not rolling in dough, so I must not own Digimon.

Me: Okay, this is going to be a slightly Davis bashing fic in the beginning, but will turn into a Davis/? Romance later on.

Firethroat (My Charizard muse): *Opens mouth to tell who it will be. *

Vurso (My Dragonite muse): *Water guns him. * Don't even think about it.

Firethroat: *Sulks. *

Vurso: Sera doesn't know yet if she'll include any other pairings in the fic, but, if she does, it will be one or more of the following: TK/Kari, Joe/Mimi, Tai/Sora, and/or Ken/Yolie.

Firethroat: Don't flame us because we all like those pairings, or I'll flamethrower you right back.

Vurso: And don't even think about flaming us because of who Sera is pairing Davis with. We didn't make you read this fic.

Me: Thanks you guys. Okay, now, on with the fic!

Vurso: Oh, and this fic is about four or five years after the defeat of MaloMyotismon. Davis , TK, Kari, etc, are all 17 in this fic.

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Davis walked into the school, happy as ever. He just knew that he would finally get Kari to notice him today, and TA would be out of the running! He had managed to really insult his older sister that morning, and he had gotten the last pancake. He was on top of the world.

He sat through his classes, fidgeting because he wanted to get out of school, so that he could start impressing Kari. When the bell finally rang, he jumped out of his seat, and jogged out of the room and down the halls to his locker. He stuffed his books in there, delighted because it was a Friday, and none of the teachers had given out homework, for once.

"I'm not saying he doesn't mean well, but you have to admit, he is kinda annoying sometimes."

Davis froze. That sounded like Kari. He wondered who she was talking about. He crept silently over to the intersection of the hallways, and listened in on the conversation going on just around the corner.

"Make that, he can be a total jerk sometimes." Davis identified that voice as Yolie's.

Another voice, which sounded like TE's, jumped in. "Come on, you two. Davis isn't that bad."

They're talking about me… Davis thought in horror. I guess they really don't like me…

"He does have a big ego, I'll admit, but he can be a nice guy sometimes." Kari again.

"Meaning, he's a big-headed egotistical jerk all the time."

Trust Yolie to put it bluntly… Davis thought sadly.

"Unfortunately, I have to admit, I sometimes wish that he wasn't around."

That was all that was needed. Davis jerked away from the wall, tears welling in his eyes.

Instinct took over, and he found himself running down the halls, and into the computer lab. He quickly turned on a computer, and waited impatiently while it warmed up. He brought up the gate to the Digital World, and unclipped the blue D-3 from his belt. He traveled with it everywhere, and now he was glad that he did.

He held up his D-3 to the screen, and choked out, "Digi-port open!" With that, he was sucked into the screen with a flash of bright light.

***

Davis landed with a jar, but he didn't care. He just took a moment to steady himself on his feet, and then took off running. He didn't look where he was going, except to make sure that he didn't run into anything. Besides, his eyesight was so blurred with tears, that it didn't really make much difference.

His foot caught on a tree root, and he tripped, his body slamming into the ground. He lay there sobbing, not caring if a Digimon came along and decided that he would make a great snack.

"What's wrong with you?" Davis ignored the voice, and just continued crying.

Something thumped his back, and the same voice said, "I was talking to you, now answer. What's wrong with you?"

Davis blinked the tears out of his eyes, and looked up. He was almost nose to nose with a Flamedramon.

"Flamedramon? How did you get here? And how did you digivolve without my D-3 and D-Terminal?"

The Flamedramon blinked. "What are you talking about? I've never seen you before in my life. What are you, anyways?"

Davis's brain registered now that the voice of this Flamedramon was female. "Oh… I thought you were someone I knew…" He tried to stand, but stumbled and almost fell.

The Flamedramon caught him. "Fair enough. So, who are you, what are you, and what are you doing here?"

Davis decided to answer the questions in order. "My name is Davis, I'm a human Digi-destined, and I'm here because I'm not welcome anywhere else."

"Well, Davis, you're in my territory, so that makes you not welcome here, either." The Flamedramon said harshly.

Davis's eyes threatened to spill over with tears again, but he managed to not cry. "That doesn't surprise me… I'm not wanted anywhere… not by my friends, not by my family, not by anybody…" With that, he straightened his back, and walked off.

He was surprised when the Flamedramon walked beside him. "Looks like we have the same story. I'm an outcast, too. Just because I'm a Flamedramon…" She said bitterly.

"I think it's cool that you're a Flamedramon." Davis told her.

"You do?" Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because my Digimon partner, Veemon, can Digivolve into a Flamedramon." He replied.

"Oh… I thought I was the only one that could…" She mused. "By the way, I might as well tell you my name."

"I didn't know that Digimon had names, besides Flamedramon or whatever." Davis said, surprised to have learned something new about Digimon.

"You'd be surprised. Most of us do, although we don't really tell others a lot."

Davis nodded. "I wonder if Veemon has a name..." He mused.

"Anyways, the name is Flame." The Flamedramon said.

"Nice name." Davis said.

"I like it, so that's all that matters to me." Flame replied.

Davis nodded, and they walked for a while in silence.

It was broken when Flame said, "This is the end of my territory."

Davis was surprised that they had gotten there so fast, but he assumed that either she had a small territory, or they had been near the edge of it. "I guess this is where we part ways."

Flame nodded. "Where are you going, anyways?"

"Anywhere that's not home." Davis said bitterly. "I'm never going back there again."

"What happened?" Flame asked.

"I heard my friends talking about me behind my back, and they said that it would be better if I wasn't around..." Davis said, not looking Flame in the eyes, so that she wouldn't see him starting to cry again. He didn't know why, but it seemed important for Flame to not see him crying.

He didn't manage to keep back the tears, and stood there, silently crying. He was about to walk on, when he felt something hugging him.

He blinked the tears out of his eyes, and found that it was Flame hugging him.

"You can stay here. You need a place to go, and I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't offer you a place to stay." She said softly.

"Thanks…" It seemed that that was the only thing he could stay. But Flame didn't need words. She saw in his eyes pure gratitude.

Davis, for the first time, truly looked Flame in the eyes. There, he saw emerald pools of green, lightly sprinkled with blue and gold. He felt he could drown in those eyes.

"Come on. It's almost dark." Flame's voice broke him out of his semi-trance.

He blinked, and said shakily, "Y-yeah…"

Flame looked slightly irritated. "My cave is on the other side of my territory. There's no way we can make it there before dark, at your pace."

Davis thought for a few seconds, and said, "Then I guess we better get walking."

Flame had a thoughtful look on her face. "I have a better idea." With that, she picked Davis up, and slung him around, so that he landed on her back. "Hold on."

Davis did as she said, grabbing her shoulders in his hands and wrapping his legs around her slim waist, so that she was carrying him piggyback style. He was still slightly stunned from what she had done.

Once Davis had a good hold, Flame jumped into the trees, and proceeded jumping from the branches of one tree to another. Davis had to admit, it was a pretty fast way to travel. They were going more than three times as fast as he could run on the ground.

At that rate, it was only ten minutes before they reached a cave in the side of a cliff. Flame dropped to the ground, and Davis carefully climbed off of her back. He followed her inside the cave.

It was easily large enough for the both of them, and there were some alcoves in the walls, which held some food, such as mushrooms. There was something like a slanted through in the stone in the back of the cave, and a small stream of water ran though it. In the middle of the cave floor was a small fire, which was almost out.

Flame put a couple of logs on the fire, and took out some mushrooms. Davis helped her to put them on two sticks, shish-kabob style. They held them over the now larger fire, and their dinner was soon done.

"This is good." Davis said between mouthfuls. He had had to restrain myself from laughing when he saw that Flame ate in much the same way as he did.

Flame nodded, her mouth full of mushroom.

It wasn't long before their dinner was all eaten, and the mushrooms had been surprisingly filling, for such a small amount.

When they were finished with their dinner, Flame produced a large amount of dried leaves, grass, and other things that Davis couldn't identify. They were some kinds of plants, anyways.

Flame put the dried… things… on the floor of the cave near the fire, but not near enough that it would catch fire. "You can sleep here." She told Davis.

"What about you?" He asked.

"I'm used to sleeping on the floor of the cave." She replied.

"You don't have to." Davis argued. "You can sleep there for the night. I can sleep anywhere."

Flame sighed. "Let's compromise. We'll both sleep there."

Davis nodded. "Okay." There was enough of the dried plants for them both to sleep there.

Flame took the side near the cave wall, and Davis took the side near the fire.

So, they both fell asleep, back to back, like old friends.

***

When Davis woke up, he yawned and stretched. He froze when he noticed that he wasn't in his room, but relaxed when he remembered the events that had taken place the day before. He turned to look at his new friend, to find that she was still asleep.

For the first time, Davis was able to get a good look at Flame. She looked a lot like Flamedramon, but different. She was thinner, and looked a lot more graceful. She had streaks of silver on her blue and white skin, with gold tipping her ears and tail. The blade on her helmet looked different than the blade on Flamedramon's helmet, and he figured that it was an alloy of silver, gold, and steel. (Firethroat: Sera thinks that Davis is smarter than he lets on, and he's older now, so she made him smart enough to figure that stuff out.) Davis assumed that she was very pretty, by Flamedramon standards.

Davis decided to repay Flame for her kindness, and got up and went outside to get some more mushrooms.

He found a large amount of non-poisonous ones, and he even managed to catch a fish for breakfast. By the time he got back, Flame was awake. She smiled at him in thanks for getting breakfast, and they started cooking the food.

Later, Flame showed him around her territory, carrying him on her back, like she had the day before. Davis's second guess was right. Flame had a large territory.

That was how Davis spent the next few days. Staying with his new friend, exploring, helping to find food, and helping to dissuade other Digimon that wanted to take Flame's territory.

The days became weeks, and the weeks turned into a month, and then two. Davis was happy, although he kinda missed his friends and family, he had a new home, and a new friend.

He knew that it couldn't last.

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Me: Okay, done with the first chapter!

Firethroat: Finally.

Vurso: In case you haven't figured it out by now, this is going to be a Davis/Flame pairing.

Firethroat: If you flame us because of that, then I'll just flame you right back.

Vurso: We didn't make you read this fic, so don't flame us just because you don't like it.

Me: If you do like it, then please tell me!

Vurso: And don't expect the next chapter unless Sera gets ten POSITIVE reviews, each from different people.

Firethroat: Review, people. And if you aren't nice to Sera, I'll send a flamethrower in the direction of your butts.

Me: *Slaps forehead. * Firethroat…

Firethroat: What? What did I say?

Vurso: Just please review.