Chapter 1: Adventure in a New World! Sanmaru arrives.

The suitcase hit the bed with a dull thump noise, and its owner soon followed. His brown hair flew about as he dropped. He landed face first on the thick, red comforter and buried his tan face into it. There wasn't another feeling quite like this one. The feeling of loneliness, mixed with a cup of anxiousness, and swirled together with a pinch of homesickness.

When you go to a new school, things always seem like they'll be great. But then you get there, and the soul-crushing feeling of being an outsider sinks in. Everyone at the school already has friends. Whether its just a small group, a click, or even a large club or sports team. Everyone has at least one friend, except you. You weren't there growing up with everyone else. You weren't there for the younger grades. All of your friends are miles away, enjoying their own school.

But this feeling was worse. Because he just hadn't moved away. He hadn't hopped into a car or on a train and drove to a new state or province. He hadn't even got on a plane and flown to another country. He had moved to a boarding school in a different dimension! The idea was simply ludicrous. He had never set foot in the digital world, and now suddenly he was going to be living there!

It had started a few weeks ago. Summer was almost over, and he had been dreading the return of school. It wasn't that he hated school really, it was just that summer vacation was so much better! He had returned home from his friend's house just in time for dinner. To his surprise they had a guest over, and he wasn't human. He was a large orange lizard, about waist high compared to the teen. He wore a white lab coat that trailed behind him, with the sleeves folded up to reveal three white claws on his orange arms. He had a long, wide snout with a row of sharp teeth, and on his head was a black graduation cap. His eyes were a clear emerald green color.

"Sanmaru is that you?" his mother had asked, poking her head out of the living room when Sanmaru got home. He gave her a smile and a wave in greeting, but quickly moved closer when she bid him so. His mother was quite beautiful, with porcelain skin and bright blue eyes. Her black hair was cut short; just above her shoulders and at the time she was wearing a nice blue blouse and matching skirt. As always she had her glasses on, not quite thick or large enough to count as "nerd" glasses but large enough to be a defining trait. "You have a guest." She explained as he walked closer. "A teacher."

Sanmaru frowned and faltered for a moment. What on earth would a teacher want with him? School wasn't in session, obviously, so what on earth would a teacher need? If it was something really important than surely the principle himself would have come, but instead it was just a teacher. But since when did teacher's make house calls anyway? Could this have something to do with his grades? No, that was impossible. He had passed all of his classes easily. The lowest grade he got was a C in Geometry and in all fairness, it was math! He had never been very good with numbers, and a C was certainly a passing grade.

But what if something had gone wrong? Perhaps he bombed his final exam and he had to take the class over again? The very thought of that made him pale with fright. Being held back was…well bluntly put, that was something that happened to idiots! Sanmaru was no genius, but he certainly wasn't dumb enough to get held back. Right? Sanmaru was pulled out of his panic-ridden delusions as his mother snapped her fingers. She didn't look at all worried, so surely everything must be okay. He pushed the queasy feeling of apprehension aside, deciding that he would know what was going on as soon as he walked into his living room.

It was a large cozy room with a large, squishy sofa facing the large television. The large screen rested a top a black table with two shelves under it. The cable box was positioned on the middle rack, and a PS3 was under that. Pictures adorned the corners of the table, and there was a small stack of video game cases. Against the wall opposite of the doorway was a large fish tank with many different colorful fish swimming lazily around, oblivious to the butterflies flitting about Sanmaru's gut. Beside the television was the door leading into the dining room which would then lead into their large kitchen. Delightfully sweet scents would often waft out, the product of the cakes, pies, cookies, breads, and all other manor of confectionary treats baking in the oven. Positioned between the sofa and the fish tank, nestled in the corner was a large arm chair. It was leather like the sofa and sitting within it was the orange Agumon Hakase.

"Good evening Sanmaru." The orange dinosaur said, an inexplicable British accent accompanying his words. "My name is Agumon Hakase. Your mother and I were just talking about you as luck would have it."

"Y-you were?" Sanmaru stammered. This wasn't anywhere close to what he had been thinking about. Agumon was definitely not a teacher from his school. He didn't even know that digimon could be teachers, though the more Sanmaru thought about it the more sense it made. Why wouldn't a digimon be allowed to teach? From what he had seen, digimon were just as smart as humans and often times smarter. "I mean, it's nice to meet you sir." Sanmaru corrected with a polite bow.

"Likewise." The scholarly reptile answered, tipping his graduation cap.

"I've asked Agumon to stay for dinner, so would you please set an extra place at the table?" Sanmaru's mother asked politely. Sanmaru nodded and went to the kitchen where he pulled out the appropriate dishes from the cupboards. He quickly set the table while his father finished dinner.

"So if I may ask, why are you here?" Sanmaru wondered.

"I have come with a proposition Sanmaru." Agumon Hakase answered before taking a sip of his juice. Dinner was set out and the rest of Sanmaru's family was at the table. To Sanmaru's right was a smaller boy, just a few days over ten years old. He had his mother's black hair and calm blue eyes. He wore a simply black shirt and jeans, and a silver watch on his right wrist. It was a birthday present from their grandfather. He was clearly interested in Agumon Hakase, often staring at him for a few minutes before realizing how rude that was and quickly looking away. But it wasn't long before his eyes would wonder back up to the speaking dinosaur, both orbs twinkling with wonder.

On the other hand, Sanmaru had clearly taken after his father. The man was a taller, slightly more muscular and defined version of his son. They were told all the time how they looked so alike, and when looking at the pictures they were both in Sanmaru had to agree. His father wasn't too strong or chiseled, but he had a thin build that came about from working out a lot in order to balance out the cravings of his sweet tooth.

"Tell me, have any of you heard about the Digital Academy?" Agumon Hakase asked aloud. Sanmaru and Riku, his younger brother both shook their heads. His father had that look on his face, his brow furrowed thoughtfully and a distant look in his eyes that said he knew something about the Academy but couldn't quite place it.

"I've heard of it." His mother mused thoughtfully. "It's a school in the Digital World."

"Correct." Agumon chimed. "Though the explanation barely scratches the surface. The Digital Academy is a large boarding school made within the digital world in order to promote peace between humans and digimon after our…messy beginning. The idea is for an equal amount of human teens and digimon to go to the Academy. There they will partner up and forge a powerful bond of friendship. These bonds will be the framework for the future of both worlds. By learning to work together at such a young age and by making so many friends of the other species, both sides will learn how to befriend each other. Some of the students were already partners before attending, but others like your son are not."

"Hold on a moment." Sanmaru interrupted, putting is hand up. He disliked interrupting people, but he could already tell that Agumon Hakase was the type to ramble. If he didn't put his point in then, he would probably miss his chance altogether. "Why am I supposed to go then? Like you said, I don't have a partner and I only know a handful of digimon in the first place. Its not that I have a problem with digimon or anything, but picking someone like me to go to a school with such an ulterior motive doesn't seem like a very good idea."

"Quite honestly I agree." Agumon Hakase agreed, crossing his arms and nodding in agreement. The tassel on his cap shook in time with his movement. "You raise an excellent point, no doubt about it. But the fact is, I wasn't the one to pick you. It was my boss, Boss. He is the one who founded the school in the first place, and half of the student body is there on his request. When he finds someone that he believes will make an excellent student he sends a teacher like me there to scope you out. Nobody knows why he picks the students he does. Sometimes they make perfect sense, but other times I really wonder what he's thinking."

"I see." Sanmaru muttered. "Well I really appreciate you coming all the way here but I'm not interested in going. I'm content with where I am."

"But…I didn't even get to talk about all of our wonderful classes, activities, school functions, sports, areas, or anything else." Agumon Hakase protested, obviously put out by the boy's swift decision.

"He's right." His father put in. "At least hear him out Sanmaru. It all sounds pretty exciting to me." He added with a grin.

"Can I go?" Riku asked, the only thing the shy boy had said all evening. He was a naturally shy boy, but the teaching digimon's visit only compounded the problem. He had been quiet all night, opting out to only stare at the digimon in awe.

"Sorry but no." Agumon Hakase answered apologetically. "Only students 15 years of age or older may attend. You stay there for three years, coming back home to visit during the winter and summer of course. It's a shame you can't though, because the classes are truly amazing. The school has been open for six years, and almost everyone in those graduating classes has gone on to prestigious colleges. Though we've only been open for a short while, we've already made quite a name for ourselves. Attending the Digital Academy is an excellent academic opportunity. Our teachers are all geniuses form both worlds that excel at their subject of choice. Furthermore, we have a multitude of classes so there is sure to be several that appeal to you. And we have several different clubs to take a part in."

'Either this guy loves hearing himself talk or he has his heart set on getting me to attend.' Sanmaru thought as the scholarly dinosaur continued talking. 'Could the school really be that good? If it can help me get into the school I want, and if there really is that much to take part in then logically speaking there's no reason not to go. But I've never really been away from my family for so long, and I wouldn't know anybody there…' Sanmaru looked over at his mother who had a smile on her face. His gaze switched to his father, who gave him a subtle nod.

'They want me to go.' Sanmaru realized. 'They must realize what an opportunity this is for me. But can I really do it? Leave my friends and family behind?' In that moment something went off in Sanmaru. A certain chord was plucked, a key pressed, a note played. He wanted this. He wanted to go to Digital Academy. He wanted to face the challenges of a new school, and to meet knew people. He wanted to know more about the digimon, and to help others learn about it.

"I'll do it!" he chimed, cutting off Agumon Hakase.

"Fantastic!" the dinosaur cheered.

No, in hindsight it was definitely not fantastic. What was he thinking! That feeling that had suddenly gripped him had come out of nowhere. It was as if he wasn't in control of his body when he said it! Ignoring the loneliness, and the apprehension, this was the first time he had been away from his family. He missed Mom and Dad and his little brother. Tears came to his eyes as he buried his face in the sheets of the bed. He didn't even have a partner like all of the other kids. He was alone here. It wasn't just a new school, it was a new world.

Sanmaru was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the door open. He discretely wiped his tears off on his comforter and looked up. The room was pretty large for a dorm room, or at least he thought so. He had never really seen one before. There were two bunk beds, each one against a separate wall. Presumably the second bed would be for one's digimon partner, but that didn't really apply to Sanmaru. The carpet was a boring tan color, and the walls were a dull white. The sheets, comforter, and pillow cases were all red and the skeleton of the bunk bed was made out of smooth wood. There was a large desk evenly positioned between the two bunks, with a small lamp on it. The door was dark wood with a golden colored handle.

Standing in the doorway was a small boy with black hair. He looked a lot younger than Sanmaru, maybe around twelve or thirteen. He pair of glasses framed his green eyes, and he was wearing a black shirt and a simple pair of jeans. He had worn out looking black shoes, and he was trailing a black rolling suitcase behind him. Balanced on top of the suitcase was a tall, dome-like bird cage, and within it was a large blue parrot. It had grey plumage around its neck, and red tail feathers. It's talons and beak were light grey, and the eyes were pure black.

The boy smiled sweetly at Sanmaru as he wheeled his stuff over. "You must be my roommate." he guessed as he parked his bag in front of the other bunk. He looked Sanmaru over, an unidentifiable look in his eyes. It vanished and was replaced by an innocent, happy spark as he offered his hand. "My name it Masato." he greeted. "I guess we'll be roommates this year."

"I'm Sanmaru." He took the boy's smaller hand and they shook. His hand felt so frail and weak, it was amazing he had been able to pull around the suitcase and birdcage. "Do you need some help with your stuff?" he asked warmly. Maybe things were different here, and he didn't have any friends. But at the very least he could try befriending his roommate. The smaller boy nodded, so Sanmaru took the birdcage and placed it on the desk.

"Watch it!" the bird snapped angrily, spreading his wings out. Sanmaru cried out in shock, dropping the cage on the desk. The cage shook violently and very nearly tipped over, but the bird managed to balance it by leaning against one of the walls. He looked up at Sanmaru, glaring at him with his large black eyes. "You moron! Do you have any idea how expensive my cage is! If you break it, or me, you're paying for the damages!"

Sanmaru was stunned into silence by the talking bird. He had looked so normal before, but then he suddenly started yelling at him! "You…talk." Sanmaru muttered, unable to say anything else. The parrot brought a wing up to his face and let out a sigh. "Oh goodie, our roommate is a total moron."

"Stop Blue, that's rude." Masato said, running over to the parrot. He turned to Sanmaru and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry Sanmaru, I should have introduced you. This is BluePiyomon, he's my partner. His bark is worse then his bite. No matter what he says, he's yet to figure out how to unlock his cage."

Blue's mouth dropped open in horror as he turned to Masato. "You swore you wouldn't tell anyone!" he cried, spreading his wings out and stamping one of his talons in anger. "You little brat!" he roared.

Masato looked down apologetically. "I'm sorry Blue, it just slipped out! Please don't be angry at me, please! I won't tell anyone else I promise!"

"Whatever." Blue grunted, folding his wings in and letting out a huff. "So where's your partner, moron?"

Sanmaru blinked when he realized he was the moron BluePiyomon was referring to. "I don't actually have one." Sanmaru answered. For some reason saying this felt like he was admitting to some crime. He felt like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. BluPiyomon's sudden laughter certainly didn't help to alleviate these feelings, but Masato gave him a reassuring smile.

"You'll find one." he said gently. "Not all of the digimon have a human partner either. All you have to do is find one of them and partner up." He turned to the cackling bird and hit the cage just enough to shake it. BluePiyomon stopped laughing and glared at the boy angrily but said nothing.

"Thanks." Sanmaru replied, a little confused by the odd duo. He certainly didn't want a partner like BluePiyomon. He was a jerk by the looks of it, but Masato was pretty nice so rooming with him wouldn't be too bad. He helped Masato get his suitcase onto his bed and then turned to his own. There was a set of drawers positioned under the bottom beds, and there was a wardrobe in one of the corners of the room. The boys went about putting their stuff away, folding and hanging up their clothes. The Academy had uniforms, but the students were permitted to wear what they wanted on the weekends. While rooting around in his suitcase Sanmaru felt something odd. He pulled out the brown package and set it on his bed. It seemed to have been wrapped in a hurry, as it was half covered in tape and the brown paper was very wrinkled and torn a bit in places.

It took Sanmaru a few tries but he managed to tear through the outer shell of paper and tap. A small circular tin was inside. He pulled off the lid, revealing several chocolate chip cookies and a latter on top. He picked it up and read the front of it. "From Mom and Dad." it said. Sanmaru slowly opened it up and pulled the small piece of paper out.

"Sanmaru, if you're father hid this well enough then you'll be reading this in your new room at the Academy. I know things may seem scary now, what with being in a different school in a different world but you don't need to worry. You're a great kid, and we all know you'll do really well. Get good grades, meet new friends, and kick a lot of ass. Love Mom, Dad, and Riku."

Sanmaru smiled as he put the letter back in the envelope. He lifted the mattress up and tucked it under it. He sat down on his bed, looking at the perfectly arranged cookies in the tin. His father was a baker, and his chocolate chip cookies were delicious. He smiled as he bit into one, suddenly feeling his spirits soar. He wasn't as alone as he thought. His family and friends back home were all wishing him luck and thinking about him. He'd be back for the summer, so for now it'd be best to enjoy his time here.

"Hey Masato." he said, the smaller boy looking over at him. "Want a cookie?"

"Sure!" Masato chirped happily, taking the cookie and biting it. His eye slit up with delight a she ate.

"Hey!" Blue cried angrily. "Hey, I want one too!"

Sanmaru rolled his eyes and rolled a cookie through one of the bars in the cage. BluePiyomon used his wings to steady the cookie and began biting into it ravenously. "Oh yeah~! That's the stuff~!" he cried happily. "Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate~!" Sanmaru and Masato laughed as they watched the bird go to town on his cookie.

The rest of the day went pretty well. They had arrived at the school pretty late, so the boys pretty much stayed in their room for the rest of the night. Once it grew dark out, Sanmaru was amazed to see through moons in the sky, one yellow, one red, and one green. That was the moment when the full weight of his situation dawned on him. He was in a new world. He wasn't just miles away from his family, he was a whole dimension apart. And yet, he felt excited. He wasn't worried anymore, or anxious. True he still felt a little homesick, but that was to be expected. Tomorrow he would be a student at Digital Academy.

And he couldn't wait!

_

Sanmaru's fighting spirit was diminished slightly when his alarm went off. It let out a shrill buzzing noise that pierced Sanmaru's eardrums like two ice picks. He lazily struck the top of the rectangular blight upon humanity, silencing the infernal machine. "Whoever invented the alarm clock should be shot."

"I think he's already dead." Masato blearily answered as he got out of bed. He glanced at the alarm clock with a grimace before looking to BluePiyomon. The bird's feathers were a little ruffled and an infuriated look filled his eye. He let out an irritated squawk, the two humans flinching at the horrid noise.

"Then we should dig him up, shoot him anyway, and burry him again." Sanmaru grunted as he got out of bed. He stretched and let out a loud yawn before rubbing his eyes.

"I agree with the moron." BluePiyomon grumbled irritably. He lifted a wing up and began preening his feathers with his curved beak. He let out another squawk when Sanmaru hit the cage, making it rattle loudly. The pissed off bird spread out his wings and roared, "Watch you ass! If you damage this cage I'll claw out your eyes!"

"Bite me." Sanmaru snapped. He normally wasn't so prone to outbursts, but he was in no way a morning person. If it was up to him the whole world would wake up around noon and they'd all go to bed some time in the early AM. But instead he was forced to deal with bright sunlight that stung his eyes and an insufferable groggy feeling that would persist until at least after his first class. His muscles ached from stiffness and his vision was irritatingly blurring.

Sanmaru was pulled out of his angry mental ranting when he heard the ruckus going on outside his door. He opened the door and poked his sleepy head out. There he saw several other teens around his age, and several monsters all getting ready for the day. Sanmaru withdrew his head and shut the door.

"It's insane out there." he warned Masato with a yawn.

"That's why I took a shower last night. To minimize my time dealing with that." Masato answered, pointing at the door. "I tried telling you, but you said you wanted to sleep." he added apologetically.

"Whatever." Sanmaru grunted. He checked the clock and reasoned that he had about forty minutes before his first class. He opened the door and headed into the mass of moving students. He quickly realized that shuffling along would only get him pushed around. So he crossed his arms and began wading through the crowd like a football player rushing towards the goal. He managed to arrive at the bathroom intact and walked in. He grabbed one of the towels and moved to a shower stall. Even with the thick walls separating him from view he still felt a little self conscious as he showered. He quickly cleaned himself, dried off, wrapped the towel around his waist, and rushed back to his room.

There, Masato had finished getting dressed. The school uniform was like a business suit. A nice, white button up shirt, a green blazer over it, matching slacks, and nice black shoes. The red tie was optional, but Masato had apparently decided it was necessary as he had it around his neck. "Do I look good?" he asked as Sanmaru walked in.

"Yeah." Sanmaru grunted. "Very professional."

"Told ya." BluePiyomon grunted. "But no, apparently everything I say has to be sarcastic even when its not."

"Well generally it is." Masato answered as he slung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed the bird cage. "See you after class Sanmaru." he said before leaving out the door. Sanmaru began getting dressed. In the end he decided to leave the top button of his shirt undone, as it was far too tight with it locked into place. His jacket was left unbuttoned as well, and in all honesty he couldn't figure out how to tie his tie so he left that off as well. He gathered the books he would need in his bag and then left the room. He looked it behind him and pocketed his room key.

He moved down the two flights of stairs and arrived a the ground floor. He checked his watch, he had fifteen minutes left. The boy's dorm was close to the main building where he needed to be, so it wouldn't take long getting their. He poked his head into the kitchen, seeing if there was anything to eat. There were three students within, and a lot of smoke billowing up from the pan on the stove.

"Oops." the one in front of the oven muttered. He was definitely a digimon, but a very humanoid one. His skin was a reddish tan color, and he had a wild mane of orange hair. He lacked a shirt, but had two red armor pieces on his shoulders. There was a white tattoo on his chest, and he wore red pants held up by a black belt with a white belt buckle. His nails were red, and he had armored red gloves on his hands. The part that really set him part from being a human was the orange tail coming from his pants, the fur shaped almost like a fire. His ears were elf-like, with a single gold earring in each.

Behind him was a tall male student with blonde hair and green eyes. He wore the school uniform in its entirety. Beside him was a large grey rabbit with sharp black claws, a white belly and stomach, and a long tail. He stood up on his hind legs and came up to the boy's waist, not counting his large ears which reached his partner's chest. His eyes were red, and his sharp teeth were shown in his sneer.

"Just give up already." the blonde yawned, lounging in one of the dining room chairs. "If we get anymore smoke in here it might set off the sprinklers. Just get to class already."

"But I can cook! I can, I swear! Its just that these stupid ingredients urn so easily!" the digimon insisted. The rabbit let out a loud, hissing laugh. The digimon turned and glared at him angrily before taking the pan from the stove and moving to the garbage can. He used the spatula to scrape off something black and lumpy looking into the can. He ditched the pan in the sink before walking off in a huff.

"What did he try making?" Sanmaru wondered as he looked into the trash can. Whatever it was looked hard, charred, and crunchy.

The rabbit let out his hissing laugh again as the blond answered. "Scrambled eggs."

Sanmaru looked to the boy before looking back to the garbage can. He shook his head in disbelief before moving to the large refrigerator. He opened it up and took out a large, shiny red apple. That would be enough until lunch. He closed the door and moved out of the dormitory.

The school was massive, five stories high and who knows how wide. Sanmaru walked in and immediately felt out of place. It was a giant labyrinth of twisting hallways and classrooms. Sanmaru pulled out his schedule from his pocket and scanned it. His first class was in room 231. So, using one of the foldable school maps, Sanmaru found a staircase and moved to the second floor. He moved down the hallways, checking the door numbers as he went.

Sanmaru suddenly went tumbling to the ground. He landed with a thud, his map, schedule, and bag spilling out everywhere. "I'm sorry!" he cried, mentally scolding himself for his idiocy. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going at all, so of course he was going to end up running into someone.

"No, its my fault. I'm sorry." the girl he had tackled into apologized. They both gathered their things and stood up. He watched the girl as she stood up. She was a mousy girl, with large glasses and short light brown hair. She wore the female uniform, a white button up shirt, a plaid skirt, and knee high black socks and black shoes. She gave him a once over as well and smiled. "Sorry about that. I was in a rush to get to class, but I'm sure you understand since we're both late."

"What!" Sanamru cried. "I'm not late! It's still only," Sanmaru checked his watch and cursed under his breath. "8:05. Which means I'm totally late."

"Welcome to the club buddy." the girl chuckled. "I'm Alexis by the way."

"Sanmaru." he replied. "Any idea where room 231 is?"

"Right next to us." Alexis answered, nodding to the door. She opened the door and let Sanmaru in, and quickly followed behind him.

Agumon Hakase was sitting on a stool in front of a large chalkboard. He looked up as he say the pair enter the room. "Oh good, we're all hear then." he muttered as he pushed off the wall, the stool zooming towards the desk. He typed something into the computer on his desk and then looked to the tardy duo. "Well take your seats already! it's the first day, I'll pardon you this time. But only this time."

"Thank you sir." Sanmaru said with a grateful bow. He and Alexis both made their way to the middle of the classroom where they found to empty seats next to each other. They both took their notebooks and textbooks out as the professor continued.

"As I was saying, good morning class and welcome to the Digital Academy. For you new students, I am Agumon Hakase. I'm your homeroom teacher and, by extension, your first teacher of the day. I'll be teaching you all the basics. The differences between humans a digimon. The types of digimon, and the various areas. I'll be teaching you about the human world and human technology. It's a class meant to foster teamwork. Half of you already know half of the course, and vice versa. This class is meant to foster teamwork. You'll both help each other to understand the culture of the other world. Now I'll be passing out the course syllabus for you to look over. It has all of the dates you need to know."

"Wow." Sanmaru muttered. "This is so boring."

"I know, its like school back home." Alexis agreed. "Besides, I don't even have a partner to get help from."

"Welcome to the club buddy." Sanmaru echoed, a smirk on his face. "I'm sure it won't be that bad though. I mean, at worst it'll be like a history class back home. Except it will be stuff that's actually interesting to learn about. You know I heard there's a place in this world entirely made out of ice cream."

"No way." Alexis said, waving her hand.

"First we'll outline the basics of digimon." Agumon began, producing a long pointer with a blue rob on the end. "At our core, digimon are made up of data in much the same way a human is made up of individual cells. There are many parallels between a human's and a digimon's anatomy, both on a cellular level and on a macro level. However, we grow in very different ways. Humans gradually grow from an infant, to an adolescent, to an adult, to and elder, and then die. Digimon on the other hand, take on different forms during their life. We begin as Baby level digimon, and evolve to a Baby II level which would be the equivalent of a human toddler. Its in this form where our physical appearance begins to take shape, such as legs, wings, flippers, and so on."

"Past this is the Child form, which is similar to a human's adolescence. We finally have our own personal abilities, and our physical appearance has become much more defined. From here our evolution into Adulthood is determined by several factors. Our environment, our personality, our role in nature, and if we have one our human partner. The Adult form is generally larger than the Child and usually the last one a digimon reaches. We spend most of our lives in this form, with enough power to get by and make lives for ourselves. However, there exists several forms beyond that. But for now that is enough on the forms, as going past the Adult form can get rather complicated due to the many different power, ability, and appearance changes that we can go through. It is also possible for a digimon to remain in their child form throughout their life. This occurs when the digimon ahs no need to evolve further, as their current form is perfectly suited to living in their environment."

Agumon continued his lecture while Sanmaru wrote the notes down. However, he soon lost interest in the notes and began to doodle in his notebook. His thoughts remained on the digimon though, as he wondered what his partner would be like. 'What am I supposed to do?' he thought to himself. 'Just find a lone diigmon and ask him or her to be my partner. Seems a little rude though. Besides, what if he or she ends up being a jerk like BluePiyomon? I could sit back and watch for a while, but that seems a little stalkerish.'

"Sanmaru!" Agumon snapped, pointing his wand at the boy. Sanmaru's head snapped up, his face red.

"Y-yes?" he asked worriedly.

"Name the three attributes that a digimon can fall under!"

"Uuuuuuuh…"

"Incorrect." Agumon sighed. "Really now, it's the first day and you're already daydreaming? The answer is Vaccine, Data, and Virus. Some digimon are dubbed Variable because of their type varies between digimon, and in some cases a digimon is Unidentified because their type is unknown."

Sanmaru shyly went back to his notes, Alexis' chuckle ringing in his ears. The rest of class went off without a problem, and Sanmaru was sure to stay on task. When the bell rang he walked out of the room with Alexis who laughed at him again. "The first day and you've already got a teacher after you."

"Shut up." Sanmaru grumbled. "What class do you have next anyway?"

"Biology." Alexis answered, looking over her schedule. "You?"

Sanmaru dipped into his pocket and pulled out his schedule. He unfolded it carefully and read down the list of classes. His face paled as he read the words, mouthing them aloud. "I don't get it." He muttered, his brow furrowed. "What is this supposed to mean? Combat training! Do they expect me to go to war or something?"

"Oh yeah, I heard about that class." Sanmaru's new brunette friend said. "I don't think the humans do much of the combat though."

"Well what do we do then? I don't even have a partner!" Sanmaru asked, truly hoping that Alexis would have an answer for him. But she didn't, and after checking her watch she bid him farewell as she moved off for her biology class. Sanmaru was left to his own devices, the unfolded schedule still in his hands.

Sanmaru really had no idea what to expect. The idea of a "Combat Training" class worried him beyond words. What did they expect him to fight? Another digimon? If that was the case then Sanmaru would flat out refuse. The smallest of them had the power to breathe fire or freeze stuff or…blow something up by glaring at it or something! No way in hell would Sanmaru fight against a digimon. The idea was ludicrously suicidal.

So perhaps it was a self defense class? It wasn't geared towards actually fighting a digimon, but just surviving against them? It would make sense. From what he had seen the main idea of this stuff was cowering behind your partner while they fought. Except there was the minor problem in that he lacked a partner!

Even furthering his confusion was the room he was supposed to report to. Under the column labeled Room, sandwiched right between Class Name and Time, was SIM. What on earth was that supposed to mean! You'd expect combat training, even combat training against inter-dimensional monsters, to be held in the gymnasium or something similar. But no, all it said was SIM.

Sanmaru pulled out his folded up copy of the school's map and looked at it. The SIM room was actually a separate building altogether, located to the northeast of the main building and north above the girls' dorm. Sanmaru stopped walking so as to avoid another "crashing hello" scenario and checked the map for the closest exit. He folded the map up, put it back in his pocket, and made his way out of the building.

He walked out into the cool morning air and checked his watch. He still had a few minutes to get to where he needed to go, so he took his time as he walked to the building. He noticed other students walking there as well. Some looked to be his age, some looked older, and there were several digimon. Dogs, cats, insects, dragons, gremlins, goblins, one of them looked like a living candle and some of them couldn't be so easily categorized. There was what looked like a bear made out of grey rocks, and a strange cross between a flower and a lizard.

Some of them were small, like the orange colored pig-looking thing that flew around using its ears. A lot of them were waist high like Agumon Hakase, but there were a handful that were even larger. One looked like a yellow teddy bear, about as tall as a human adult. There were machines too, like a floating black gear with a gold rim. And there were a few that looked almost human. One of them even looked like a little kid, maybe around ten or eleven. He'd pass as human, if not for his ten white angel wings.

Some of the digimon were the same species, varying only by width or height. Others looked exactly alike but had wildly different colors. For instance, Sanmaru noticed another flying pig but that one was dark blue instead of orange. Most of the digimon walked or floated or flew next to a human. Some of the smaller ones were in their arms or on their shoulders or heads. Only a handful of humans and digimon were without partners. But that was slowly changing.

Sanmaru watched as a humanoid dog ran towards the SIM building. He was mostly a periwinkle color, but his stomach was off white. He had white jeans on with armor on his shins and feet. Tight black gloves covered what looked like sharp claws, and he had a black bandana tide around his neck. He was carrying about four books in his thing arms when he took a stumble. He fell to the ground with a thud, his books spilling out everywhere.

Sanmaru walked over to help him when he saw a closer girl moving towards the downed dog. She was pretty cute, with fair skin and long blonde hair. Her eyes were clear blue, and her sleeves were shorter than most of the other student's. She helped the dog to stand up, who looked extremely embarrassed. She said something Sanmaru couldn't quite hear and helped the dog pick his books up. They both walked on towards the SIM building, talking happily and Sanmaru had the odd sensation that he had just seen a partnership form.

It had been simple and innocent. Neither of them seemed to be actively trying to make it happened; destiny just sort of shoved them together as if by accident. It was just like any other friendship really. You couldn't force it to happen, it would happen on its own. Sanmaru felt oddly reassured after watching those two, suddenly feeling that it was just a matter of time before he found his own digimon partner.

"I am Averia." The stern woman said. She was tall, roughly twenty five with straight dark pink hair and green eyes. She wore a closed black jacket, golden buttons lining the front of it and a pair of tight black shorts that reached her knees. She wore black boots and had an undeniable air of authority surrounding her.

Sanmaru was inside a large room with the glass doors to the outside world behind him. The floor was marble tile, and the walls were a dull white. Erika was standing atop some sort of stage with a podium in front of her. Behind her were about eight doors painted red. All of the students that had been moving towards the SIM building were in this room. Most of the first year students were at the front, with the second year students behind them and the third ones in the back.

"I am not your friend." Erika continued. "I am not your teacher. I am not someone you confide in. I am your commander. Your leader. I will not hold your hand while you stumble forward blindly. I will not coddle you and reassure you when you fail. I will push you forward with everything I have. You'll try to stop, you'll turn your frustration to me, but I warn you now that those complaints will fall on deaf ears. You don't know your limits because you've never been pushed hard enough to reach them. That is what we'll be doing here today and for the rest of the year."

"You will all be given one of these slips of paper." She explained, holding up a rectangular piece of paper with a room number written on it. "After that, proceed through one of the doors behind me and find your matching room. Then wait there for further instructions."

Several digimon moved out form the doors, all of them holding a stack of papers. They were bizarre, even by digimon standards. Their bodies looked to be made out of black rubber, forming into vaguely humanoid shapes. They had metal gas masks for faces, with a metal tube on each cheek coiling under their arms and into a large metal pack on their backs. Its finger tips were made of metal, and twirling behind them was a long, surprisingly prehensile tail. The digimon gave Sanmaru an eerie feeling, like they weren't quite like the others. The way they moved seemed mechanical, almost automatic.

When one of the strange rubber digimon walked up to him it brought out a paper slip. "Hey." Sanmaru greeted, hoping for some kind of answer. But the strange digimon remained completely silent and as still as a stone. Sanmaru slowly took the paper, trying not to touch the bizarre creature. The digimon walked off to deliver more. Those were the kinds of digimon that freaked him out. The others were strange, but deep down they were just like him. But those, Troopmon as he would later discover was their name, were unnatural.

An ear splitting shriek filled the compound. Sanmaru looked to his right, seeing the blonde girl from earlier. One of the rubber monsters had grabbed her arm and, despite the wolf digimon's efforts, refused to let go. The metal finger tips began to dig into her skin, beads of red blood forming. Despite being made of rubber the monster's arm was like a vice, digging into the girl's arm without remorse. The other rubber digimon had stopped moving, not attacking anyone or helping the girl. They were simply frozen in place, some having fallen over when they were frozen mid-step, and others with their arms still outstretched.

The whole situation was profoundly creepy, and everything had fallen silent except for the girl's screams. Everyone seemed to regain their senses at once and rushed to help the girl, but they were blown away by a powerful wind. A red spear tore through the rubber monstrosity, a luminescent green liquid spilling out on the floor. The hand went completely limp, like normal rubber, and fell to the ground with a small splash.

Sanmaru was frozen in place, his eyes wide with terror. The massive red lance belonged to a tall knight in black armor. A massive black axe blade was seen over his left shoulder, and a swirling black cape billowed in a nonexistent wind. His chest plate was pure silver, shaped like a skull with blood red lights on the chest with a golden mantle holding the cape in place. A feeling of dread gripped Sanmaru's heart as the knight put his empty hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice echoing in his helmet slightly. The girl broke down, tears falling from her eyes as she collapsed into the knight's arm. Averia appeared by the knight's side, her eyes fixed on the green puddle. She glared at the puddle and rubber suit intensely before turning to the injured girl.

"Quiet!" she snapped. "It's a flesh wound, you'll live!"

"Hey now." The knight said soothingly. "Averia there's no need for such harsh language. I'll take the young girl here to get bandaged up. You call the headmistress and tell her what happened. It looks like the other Troopmon are all back to normal now, so its best to just get this reported and the children on their way."

Averia was silent for a moment, a blank look on her face. "Every well." She admitted, turning and pulling out an onyx black cell phone. As she talked she motioned for some of the other Troopmon to get closer. They formed a perimeter around the fallen Troopmon, keeping the other students away from the glowing, spilled mess. Averia walked off, while the tall knight looked around.

"I apologize for the inconvenience everyone but please go about what you were doing before." He said politely before taking the girl and her dog partner out of the SIM building. Sanmaru watched him go, thoroughly confused. The first time he had seen him, the knight had filled him with horror. But in reality he seemed so kind and gentle. Especially compared to Averia.

Sanmaru shook the feeling off and headed for the doors. That was all very strange but really it didn't concern him. There was no point dwelling on the past, it was time to see just what "combat training" and "SIM" meant exactly. The wide dispersal of doors helped to prevent bottlenecking, but even so it took a few minutes to get through the door. He checked his paper, D17, and began looking for the right door. The whole set up was simple, like a large grid. There were large, square rooms with metal doors. The halls intersected like the vertical and horizontal lines on a graph. Sanmaru felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of doors and rooms, and this feeling was expanded when he realized his room was actually on the second floor. The second floor was exactly like the first, the only difference being the numbers above the doors and the staircases leading up and down.

Sanmaru finally found the room he needed and walked inside. Five people were already inside, one of which was the digimon from his dorm who had failed at cooking. The other was a girl with shoulder length red hair and beautiful blue eyes. She was as tall as Sanmaru, but her heeled boots probably helped with that. Standing on her shoulders was a little pink digimon about the size of her head, not counting its odd ears. It looked sort of like a rabbit, with long round ears. It was completely pink, except for its tiny red boots and matching scarf. White ear muffs were around its neck, and its black eyes stared at him with an amused twinkle.

"Hello." The girl greeted, walking over to Sanmaru. They were in a completely metal room with smooth walls. It was all featureless except for the door behind him. She held out a hand clad in a fingerless black glove. "My name is Celena LeBlanc and this is Cutemon." She motioned to the pink rabbit who gave a little "Kyu~!" in greeting. Sanmaru wasn't usually one to faun over cute things, but it took a lot of effort to no rip Cutemon off of Celena and hug it. "We're going to be on the same team this semester so let's all do a good job okay?"

"I'm Atarashii Sanmaru." He answered, taking the girl's hand. LeBlanc sounded familiar. He wasn't sure from where but he did know it was French. The trio was interrupted by Flamon who butted himself in.

"I'm Flamon." He said, putting his hand over theirs'. "I'm a pretty powerful digimon so you guys can just sit back and relax okay? Take a nap or something while the hero gets things done."

"Excuse me?" Celena asked, staring at Flamon skeptically.

'He's pretty boastful. Good to know.' Sanmaru thought dryly to himself, but had the sinking suspicion that saying it aloud would set Flamon off. Instead he looked over to the other inhabitants of the room. The human was another girl, this one with raven black hair. It was pulled out into two massive tails on the side of her head, a frilly black bonnet between then. Silver head phones were around her neck, a wire leading into the pocket of her green blazer. She stared at him with skeptical blue eyes before looking away. She had short black boots and black gloves that ended somewhere in her sleeves.

Standing beside her was one of the more bizarre digimon Sanmaru had seen, though not to the extent of Troopmon. Its center was a large purple ball with a red mechanical eye in the center. It stood on four purple spider legs with a purple abdomen hanging down. From there a mess of tangle wires spilled out, hanging just above the ground. It moved closer to Sanmaru, its mechanical eye focusing on the boy's face. "Greeting flesh-bag, my name is Gizmon." He said, offering a few of his coils like Celena had offered her hand. Sanmaru hesitantly shook the mass of wires, feeling the icy cold metal on his skin. Gizmon moved back to his partner's side who regarded the teen with disinterest.

"This is my human compatriot, Rose." Gizmon added, motioning to the girl with a wire. "She's not as social as the rest of you organics."

"Gizmon." Rose said calmly, cutting off whatever the robot was about to add.

"Sorry Ma'am." Gizmon apologized.

"So am I allowed to ask a stupid question?" Sanmaru wondered aloud. Hopefully these girls and whatever their partners were knew something about this. Flamon didn't exactly seem like the reliable type, at least when compared to Celena. "Where exactly are we?" he wondered.

"The SIM building." Gizmon answered, the tone in his voice making it clear that he viewed Sanmaru as the team idiot.

The teen rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to let loose a sarcastic retort. "I know that but what is the SIM building? Why are we here? What exactly is combat training supposed to be?" He looked to the girls and digimon with a clueless expression. He didn't care if he sounded like an idiot; he just wanted to finally know!

Celena stepped forward, a gentle smile on her face. "You're new here aren't you? I guess we're the only ones that have been here before, huh Cutemon?"

"We're the senpais here, kyu~! How cool~!" Cutemon chirped, obviously happy to have seniority over the others. "This is a place where we learn how to fight as teams, kyu~! Ever since the first digimon and human met they've been forming partnerships. We digimon grow from the emotions of our human, which allows us to get stronger in battle, kyu~!"

The room suddenly dimmed until everything was obscured by the inky black darkness. Celena's voice echoed throughout, continuing their explanation. "This class within the Simulation Building is designed to teach us how to use our bonds. We must work as a team, not just the individual partnerships but the six of us together as a single team."

Sanmaru cried out in shock when the room lit up again. They were in a lush green forest. The sun shone down from above, through the thick canopy of green leaves. The ground was covered by a thick carpet of green grass. It was absolutely breathtaking, but Sanmaru was quickly pulled out of his reverie as a large red stinger embedded itself in the tree beside his head. He looked into the air, seeing a massive bee-like digimon fly down on them. Its wings were a hideous purple color with yellow markings like glaring eyes. Its body was sickly yellow, with several spikes on the end of its limbs that formed claws. It let out a loud shriek as it swept down on them.

Sanmaru dived down, running on adrenaline and panic. He heard a loud explosion above him, feeling the concussive wave of it hit his back. He spun around on the ground and bolted back up to his feet. Flamon had tackled the massive bee to the ground, but the horrific insect easily pushed him off and returned to the air.

"Our goal is to beat it until it runs away or stops moving." Celena explained, terrifyingly calm despite the monster movie reject buzzing above them. "Its not as dangerous as it looks, this is all a hologram. A simulation. But if any of the humans get hit, we loose automatically."

"We won't die?" Sanmaru whimpered. Celena's answer was drowned out as the tremendous wasp shot down at them. Sanmaru was frozen in fear, the monster's stinger aimed right for his chest. He felt something warm and heavy knock into him, sending him toppling to the ground. The horrible hornet missed him, but he was still close enough to feel the wind caused by its buzzing wings.

"Thank you!" Sanmaru cried, hugging Flamon gratefully. Simulation or no, this was easily the most terrifying experience in the young teen's life.

"No problem." Flamon answered, giving a thumb up. "I'm a hero you know. It's my job to save the weak." He helped Sanmaru up before turning back to Flymon. "Alright guys! Simulation or no, I refuse to loose to some honeybee with an over inflated ass. Let's go!"

"I don't recall making you the leader, organ-sack."

"Bite me!" Flamon roared, his fist bursting into flames. He leapt into the air and flipped, sending his fist crashing down on Flymon's head. Flymon let out an irritated shriek, but seemed no worse for ware. Its claw shot out and grabbed Flamon's leg, but was forced to let go as that limb was also set on fire. Flamon let out a triumphant laugh as he used the massive insect's arm as leverage to twist around. He kicked Flymon's face before bringing his fist up and punching him again.

A shrill buzzing noise filled the air as Flymon spun around, becoming a black, yellow, and purple blur. Flamon was knocked off of the spinning insect and sent hurtling to the ground. Gizmon's black wires shot out, grabbing him before he hit the ground too hard. The fire-wielding monster let out a frustrated cry, struggling against the wires. "Let me go!" he roared angrily, struggling against his bonds.

"Are you mad!' Gizmon snapped irritably. "I just saved you from a bone-snapping fall! You should be thanking me for saving your easily broken ass!"

"I didn't ask for your help!" Flamon roared back. "I'm the hero, so I'm the one that does the saving! I can't go and let some purple toaster save! My reputation would be in the toilet!"

Gizmon's, undoubtedly violent and obscene, retort was unheard as Flymon crashed down into the ground like a buzzing drill. Gizmon shrieked as his wires were torn off of Flamon by the ugly bug. Sanmaru was knocked off his feet by the sheer force of the strike, though he hadn't been close enough to even get hit by one of Flymon's wings. Flymon was now stuck in the ground halfway up to its abdomen. It let out a frustrated shriek as it began to push off the ground with its claws.

Flamon leapt above him, his four limbs on fire. He brought his hands up together and smashed them down onto Flymon's head. He roared, grabbing one of Flymon's surprisingly brittle wings and tearing it off. The display made Sanmaru's stomach turn. The comically overconfident digimon was now unleashing hell on the massive bug. A gasp of horror escaped Sanmaru's lips as a claw pinned Flamon to the ground.

"I thought you said we wouldn't get hurt!" Sanmaru cried accusingly. His mind was a blur of emotions. It was mostly fear, but the anger from adrenaline and pity for Flymon was also mixed into the raging torrent of his mind.

"I said we wouldn't die." Celena answered. "Not that we wouldn't get hurt." Sanmaru stared at her in disbelief, unable to contemplate how she was able to be so calm in the situation.

Back in the battle, Gizmon had wrapped his chords around Flaymon's two main limbs. He wrenched the bug off of Flamon, earning another glare from the ungrateful digimon. Gizmon's red eye began to glow, small balls of red energy flowing into it. "Gizmo Laser!" he declared, firing a thin red beam form the eye. The beam pierced Flymon's chest, sending the bug into a rage. It shrieked, pulling its claws back, sending Gizmon flying towards him. Using one of its lower claws, Flymon pinned Gizmon to the ground.

Sanmaru turned to Celena and Cutemon, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. "Why aren't you doing anything!" he roared. "Help them!" He didn't want this. He wasn't prepared for something like this. The horror of watching the battle, feeling the mind-numbing terror in his heart. Celena was wrong, Flymon could kill them. The only thing left to do was run, but the moment after he realized this he came to the other realization that it was too late. Flymon's front claw was aimed right for his head, ready to sink into his soft flesh. Sanmaru was rooted to the ground was fear. He couldn't move, his mind shut down, all he could do was to wait for the claw to sink into him and end it.

The claw shot forward, but slowly changed course. It didn't strike him; it flew right past his side. Sanmaru dropped to his knees, his body shaking uncontrollable. He stared at the stump that was once Flymon's arm. Flymon was shrieking again, flailing the arms it still had attached to its body.

"I was wrong." Celena's calm voice said, barely audible over the horrible shrieks of pain. "We humans who already have partners, and have for so long are used to this. We're used to watching battle form the sidelines, forming strategies and plans for our partner." Sanmaru felt her hand on his shoulder. He slowly looked up, seeing the tears falling from Celena's face. "I'm sorry. I went about this the wrong way. When I heard I was the oldest one here, I wanted to watch how you guys would react. But I can see now how stupid that was."

Celena helped Sanaru to his feet as Flymon managed to wrench himself out of the ground. "Rose, Sanmaru, listen to me." Celena spoke, her voice even and steady. "I'm sorry. Cutemon and I have been together a long time; we're used to battling like this. Which is why I should be helping the two of you." She looked to Flamon and Gizmon and smiled. "We have to work as a team. Not as individuals, or as simple partners. We're all a team here, so listen up. I'll be the leader this time."

"Alright." Flamon grumbled, his arms crossed.

"If that is what Rose wishes, then I shall follow your orders Lady Celena." Gizmon agreed, bowing slightly to the girl.

"I'll follow your lead Celena." Rose answered, a small smile on her face.

Sanmaru stared at the redhead, feeling a sense of stability in her. He knew that he could rely on her to show them through this battle. Bringing his arm up, he tried his tears on his sleeves. "I have no idea what's going on, but I can tell that you do. So lead the way Celena."

Celena smiled at everyone before stepping forward. She looked up at Flymon who had calmed down by now. It clearly had no intention of running away now. It was out for blood, and would not stop until every one of them was dead. Celena glared at the bug, her fists clenched.

"Flamon! Gizmon! Cutemon! Let's end this!"