01/10/2012

Digimon: Digi-World Online

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor never plan to own Digimon, the anime, the video games, the card game, etc. This is pure, fan-based, ridiculous fun meant to be shared with similar fans.

FanAuther's Note: In this Fanfic, Digimon Tamers was not shown as the third season in this universe. I do not hate Digimon Tamers, and this does not mean it didn't happen. I'll leave that as a surprise for later. I mostly chose to do this to give the characters no idea how to work the Digi-modify cards and the style the Tamers of the show used.

Chapter 1: Logging On

/New York, Times Square, 12:10 p.m.

The arcade had been open for hours now, since around 9 o'clock, and there was still a massive crowd of people trying to force their way in. Who could really blame them? Inside lay the first of many virtual realities MMORPG's and this feature the ever so popular Digimon series. Sure, many people, even in this crowd, felt that the show was little more than a rip-off of Pokémon, but for a chance to experience a virtual reality, many fanboys left their prejudices' at home. Or they didn't, seeing as they could simply Troll the entire time they were online.

On the outer rim of the huge crowd, a teenaged African-American boy and his middle-school wheel chaired brother were making their way to the mass of eager fans. The teenager had on a black shirt with Superman symbol in the middle, a metal bracelet on his left arm, black cargo shorts, and some Nikes that seemed to be styled after a certain hedgehog's footwear. He also had on him a green backpack and a black and silver gym bag and green and silvers suitcase. The boy in the wheel chair was wearing a simple sweater and a blanket over his legs. He looked up at his older brother, puppy-eyes at full power. "Colin, are you sure you still have him? Mom's gonna be mad if we have to go all the way back to get him."

The teenager, Colin, ruffled up his little brother's hair and smiled down at him, pulling out his gift Virtual Pet. "He's right here, Jack. I'm not going to come all this way and ditch the present you got me at home. It's Wawamon, right?"

The little boy pouted "Wanyamon, his name is Wanyamon. Jeez, going to the Digital World and he can't even get his partner's name right. Just don't embarrass me in front of the other players, please?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Jack looked like he another thing to say, but Colin spoke before he got the chance, "And yes, I remembered to bring the ticket and pass for a full year of playing time. I'm not that useless." He grinned a wolfish smile down at his younger sibling.

"Of course you're not. You're the best brother I could ask for." He reached over and hugged Colin's waist. "I just wish I could go with you."

They had made their way through the crowd now, what with none of the bystanders wanting to be responsible for knocking over a handicapped child. The crowd did, however, mutter amongst themselves. 'Why does the cripple get to go first?' 'We've been here for hours, lucky brat.' 'VR ain't gonna actually make your legs work, twerp.' Further gossip was for the most part discouraged by the rather savage look Colin gave to anyone he heard bad-mouthing his brother. The two finally made their way over to the hotel that lay next to the arcade, the Cyber Sheep. It was set up so that long time players could make it to their reserved seat without having to battle the crowds outside. In front of the hotel stood some rather annoyed looking security guards. Colin stepped up to one and showed his ticket and pass. The guard gave it a quick look through, and then stared at Colin. "You Colin Ursa?"

"Yes sir."

"Don't look like much like the other rabid fans."

"My brother," he nodded in Jack's direction, "is a fan, but due to your safety regulation regarding the disabled, he gave me his coupon and asked I play in his stead."

"I see. Do you have any luggage with you?" the guard made a hand motion, and two bell boys with a trolley came forward. "These guys will handle that for you and show you to an open room."

Colin gave his bags to the bell boys, then turned to his little brother and gave him another wolfish grin. "I'll call every other day, and tell you what it's like in there. I'll probably spend most of the time asking you for advice."

Jack grinned back, "You wouldn't last a day with me coaching you."

The bell boys were beginning to look impatient, so Colin turned to follow them into the hotel, but then turned around again and began to walk backwards while calling out to Jack. "Any advice you have for my first day, little bro?"

"Yes! Play with Wanyamon! Don't just feed and clean him and expect him to like you! Be nice!"

"No promises!"

/Cyber Sheep Floor 7, 12:19 p.m.

"Here is your room sir. Please enjoy your stay," the bell boys departed, leaving Colin with his bags and card key in front of his room, number 418.

He slid his card through slot on the door handle, and walked in carrying his entire luggage.

"Hello, anyone here yet?"

A husky, kind voice replied back from inside the bathroom, located to left of Colin as he entered the room. "Da, pleased to meet you roommate. Give me a second to freshen up, and I'll come formally meet you."

The door slid open to reveal a tall, brown haired Caucasian young adult of about 21, wearing a grey singlet and khaki shorts, who was wiping his hair with a towel while giving his roommate a look over.

"Need some help with your bags, friend?"

Colin smiled a little but shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. Name's Colin, what's yours?"

"Call me Dmitri. I took the bed by the window, if you don't mind."

"Both are an equal distance for the TV, so nope. I'm good. Hey, do you know if we have to pay for Wi-Fi here?"

It was Dmitri's turn to smile. "Well, yes, except in two cases. A: you go down to the lobby and use the free computers, which will have a long line any time of day and a limited time of use, so they're barely worth it. Or B: have a tech expert as a roommate who can get you access in his sleep. Luckily for you, you have option B."

"Really?" Colin raised an amused eyebrow at this. "I can see why you would want to play this game then. Tech expert, eh?"

Dmitri scratched his head in embarrassment and chuckled a bit. "Ah, it's no big deal really. And yeah, I really would love to know how the VR in this game works. That and I'm a bit of a Digimon lover myself. Watched the first two seasons back home as a kid, before coming here."

"Where you from?"

"Moscow."

"Russia? Why didn't you just Japan then? They of course have a station of their own, and they'd be a lot closer to home."

"Yeah, but they don't have a better McDonald's, and I was really interested in trying something other than a Hamburger Royal TS while playing."

"…Wha-"

Dmitri pretended to have just noticed the time and headed off toward the door. "Oh look at the time. We better get down to the lobby and register for our Five hours of initial play then. Hurry hurry." With that, he just sprinted out the door, papers in hand.

Colin just looked at the vacant doorway for a second, then shook his head in amusement and got his papers and Virtual Pet. "Okay, so the guy wanted to come to New York real bad. Not gonna discourage a visitor." He followed his new found friend out the door, being sure to take his key card with him and shutting the door.

/Cyber Sheep Main Lobby, 12:30

Attention all Hotel Residents participating in Digi-World Online! Please remember to show your registration forms and Id to the designated event personnel! They will supply you with your proper yearlong Id pass, which will be easier for you to remember and carry around!

"Could the guy be any louder? A simple sign on the wall would do," asked Colin, earning a giggle from some of the girls behind him in line. He was two people away from the registration desk. Now there was only one person. Finally, it was his turn to be registered.

"Please show your forms and Id, sir."

"Here's the application, the yearlong pass, and my student Id."

"Thank you." The receptionist simply scanned all the papers and Colin's Id through some sort of machine 'looks like a fax machine' though Colin, and handed back his student Id and a proper game pass. "Here you are. Your forms will be sent back up to your room, securely and with your privacy respected, and you can reach the arcade through those doors to your right. Enjoy your time playing Digi-World Online."

"Thanks beautiful, I be sure to do so," this got the receptionist blushed at this, and slid Colin a card along with his other items. 'And another heart enchanted by yours truly. Damn, I'm bad!'

He headed towards the aforementioned doors, and once inside was taken aback by the magnificence of what he saw. Three whole floors lined with hi-tech arcade chairs and the machines connected to them, a small café on the ground floor and, corny as it seems, a small movie lounge playing what was now season three of Digimon, Digimon Frontier. The top two floors had balconies that allowed people from the ground floor to see what's up there. Colin saw Dmitri, who was waving him up his way.

"Guess I better stick with him," he patted his pocket, making sure the Virtual Pet was indeed still there, and went up the stairs to the second floor.

"Hey, I saved you a station. Thought you'd want a run through on how to use one," said Dmitri, once Colin maneuvered his way to him.

"Thanks, I could use some help figuring this thing out."

"It's really quite interesting once you get into it. First off, do you have a Virtual Pet Digimon?"

Colin pulled out his VP, showing a snoozing Wanyamon.

"Excellent, then you can just copy me exactly." Dmitri pulled out his own, his display a floating fiery creature smiling craftily. "Insert your VP here, in this slot in your chair. Then close the top over it, securing your VP inside until you leave your chair and are done playing for the day. This is so that no one steals your Digimon while you're off in Virtual Reality."

"Makes sense. Wait, is there a password I need to input or something."

"Better than that, your pass, which you should attach to your left arm using that strap," he pointed at the pass sticking out of Colin pocket, "will also be inserted into your chair, in the little slot there on its left. Now all you need to do is sit on you chair and put on the VR helmet and headphones."

Colin proceeded to do as instructed, and upon putting on the helmet, his vision was assaulted be a flurry of passing colors and lights before a computer voice spoke to him.

Hello. Welcome to Digi-World Online! Before we send you to the Digital World for your fun adventure, there's just this one thing.

Colin, assuming he was to respond, asked "What is it?"

You're naked. You need to choose some clothing, a stylish outfit in order to proceed.

"What!" sure enough, when Colin looked down (if you consider looking at your lower regions in a formless void "down") he was naked, albeit in the anime style of censoring the naughty bits. "Okay, so give me some options, please."

Very well.

A screen popped out of nowhere, displaying different articles of clothing.

"Okay, let's see what we got here."

Sorting through the screen's option with simple hand waves and thoughts, Colin selected a lax black vest, like the ones school's with uniforms would issue, a red tie, khaki cargo shorts, and a red wooly hat. For the finishing touch, he added a pair of red and silver Nikes.

"Can I have a mirror?"

Of Course.

A reflective surface appeared before Colin, and he gave himself a look over. "It'll do for now. Anything else I should know before we continue?"

Oh yes, the most important part. Have you actually seen the Original Season of Digimon?

"A little bit, when my brother had it on, why?"

Oh, nothing really. We just like to allow players to make it to File Island the way the Original group did.

Colin raised an eyebrow at this. "How did they make it?"

The computer voice gave a sinister chuckle.

By Falling.

The lad suddenly felt gravity return to him, and began to descend rapidly.

"AAAHhhhhhhhhhhh!"

/Digi-World File Island, 1st Hour

On a lonely island, with a massive mountain jutting out of its center, a little village of Baby and In-training Digimon bounced about, waiting for their partners to come. In this buddle of bouncing heads and little creatures, there were an assortment of Tokomon, Bokamon, Yokomon, Tusnemon, and the many more too long to list. Amongst them, however, hopped about a lone, blue cat head-looking creature, with stripes and a blue M featured on its forehead. He watched as a bunch of other In-trainings were scooped up by their new arriving, falling partners. The little blue furball began to look worried. I know mine's coming, but does he have to take so long getting here?

All of a sudden, the little Digimon felt a prickly feeling run through it, and he instinctively looked towards the heavens. He was greeted with the sight of a small twinkle in the sky, which steadily grew larger and larger, until he could make out a humanoid form making its tumbling descent.

"He's here! Hey Partner, over here!" the little head began to bop up and down, trying to direct the descending boy to his position, bouncing his way out of the village. Unfortunately, he seemed to be heading exactly that way. The little Digimon's eyes widen when he realized the boy wasn't slowing down.

AAAAAAHHHHHH!

A little crater formed on the outskirts of Primary Village. The little blue head felt a little dazed, and was swinging back and forth on top of some teenager.

"Hey, little buddy. You mind getting off of me?"

This stirred the cat like Digimon back to its senses. It looked down at the boy whose chest he had just landed on, and upon recognizing him, bounced up and down with glee. "It's you, it's you, it's you! You came!"

The boy got off his back and cupped the little blue head in his hands, checking him over before it dawned on him. "Wait, you're my Wanyamon?"

Wanyamon appeared hurt by his partner's lack of recognition. "You didn't know?"

The boy saw how disappointed the little cat thing looked, and gave a reassuring smile as he sat him down and patted his head. "Hey, I just fell out of the sky. Everything's a little blurry to me right now. Sides, the V-Pet didn't do you justice; you weren't blue on screen, and not nearly as cuddly."

The little blue cat brightened up at this, and took that to be permission to nuzzle his partner, purring all the while.

The boy smiled a little as he took the little guy off of him and held him. "You're just in need of attention, aren't you? I see that hasn't changed, you always seemed hungry in the V-Pet."

As if on cue, the little Wanyamon's stomach began to grumble. Wanyamon blushed a little at this, and the teenager just chuckled, "Well, let's see if we can get you some food in the village for starters. Can't start this game with you on an empty stomach, now can we?"

Taking the little blue furball under one arm, he strode off towards the entrance of the village.

"Game, what game, partner?"

"Digi-World Online, the game we're, sorry I'm playing. Don't they let all you guys know when they programmed you?"

The little head just looked more confused. "When who programmed me? What are you talking about, partner?"

The boy let out a little sigh. Huh, the designers probably wanted to the game to feel more like the show or something, so our Digimon partners don't know their part of a game. Not that they really think, they're just talkative programs, after all. He looked over at a little boy who was playing with his little Tusnemon, who kept giving the same automated cry of 'Come on, can't you catch me'. Wonder how many programmed responses my little guy has.

"Never mind. Oh yeah, Wanyamon. One more thing"

"Yeah, partner?"

"Just call me Colin. No need to keep calling me partner."

"Kay, Colin. Where we going?"

Colin looked around the village, and spotted what looked like the tallest hut in town, with a little crib carved into the wood of the door. "How about in there? Looks important enough, and whoever's in charge will probably have info on what our first mission or whatever is?"

Wanyamon bounced out of Colin's grip and looked up at his partner, confused yet again. "Mission-or-watever, what's that? Is it fun?"

Colin scratched the back of his head, trying to think how to explain this without seeming to Meta in his explanation. "Well you see, there are people who probably need help, and strong guys like us are supposed to give it. You know, fight off mean Digimon or something. Like Etamon or Malomymon."

"That would be 'Etemon' and 'MaloMyotismon' whose names you just butchered."

The two partners turned in the direction of the new voice, and saw a girl of about Colin's age (if not a bit shorter than him), of Japanese descent walking towards them, a little blue furball of her own being cradled in her arms, only this one had a more fox like tail and a metal helmet on. The girl had on some rather short adventure shorts on, like the ones action heroines wore when out in some jungle, and some simple sandals on her feet. For a top, she had on black workout shirt, with a little silver necklace lining her neck, and some brown gloves, as well as some device strapped to her left arm, like the passes given to player in the real world. Her most distinctive features were on her face, however. Her eyes were a warm brown, seeming to shine above her little nose, and her hair was done in little pigtails, both dyed red except for the tips, revealing her natural brown hair. Behind her was a more familiar face, Dmitri, who was being followed by what looked like a floating fireball with a stitched mouth. Dmitri seemed to have garbed himself in a typical train conductor's outfit; gray overalls, blue jeans and a red shirt underneath it all.

"Uh, hi there. Dmitri, who's your friend here?" Colin was trying not to look too stunned at how cute the girl before him looked. Wanyamon was looking to and fro, from Colin to the new arrivals, and trying to understand what was going on.

"Who's Dmitri? And what's a Etemon or MaloMyotismon?" too much happening at once for the little blue cat, and he seemed to be overwhelmed with all the new people who had just started talking to him.

The girl set down her own partner, and bent down to pat Wanyamon on the head and try to explain, "Well little guy, Dmitri would be this big guy over here I guess. I didn't get his name beforehand. As for whom those other two we mentioned before are, you needn't worry your little head about them. Just know they're bad Digimon, and you shouldn't act anything like them. Okay?" she put on a sweet little smile, and Wanyamon melted upon sight of it.

"Okay lady, I won't be like Etamon or Malomymon."

"Etemon and Malo- never mind. So long as you understand," she stood back up, taking her partner back into her arms, and faced Colin. "As for who I am, name's Asami Kaneko. Pleased to meet you." She looked over Colin, and smiled seductively. "Very pleased indeed."

Colin blushed a little, the recomposed himself. "Right back at ya. Asami huh? Know where I can get one of those?" He pointed at the device on Asami's left arm.

"What, the digivices? They're over in that hut you were heading for…" she stopped, than gave Colin a look he couldn't quite identify the emotion behind it. "You really don't know what you're doing, do you?"

He got a little defensive at this. "I'm getting along well enough."

Asami raised her hands in apology "Hey I'm just call them as I see them, that's all. I'm just offering my help, if you want it."

Colin loosened up a bit, "Sorry, just I feel so out of it here. And yeah, your help would be great. So long as I'm not taking away your playing time."

She smiled at this "It's perfectly okay, I'm taking my time. I'm in no rush to face off with an Ultimate-level anytime soon."

"Thanks. Well, better go inside now. Dmitri, you comin-" Colin turned towards the hut's door, and saw that Dmitri was already at the entrance.

The tall boy turned around "Oh, you're both done greeting each other. Didn't want to interrupt, so I thought I'd go ahead and get my D-Arc now."

Colin looked just as confused as his partner was a moment ago, "D-Arc? Aren't there digivice things I there?"

"This model of digivice is called a D-Arc. They're the unused model that was supposed to be in that cancelled season: Digimon Tamers."

The name brought back a memory, "Oh yeah, my little brother had mentioned that before. He said the producers thought it was too dark for kids. He really didn't seem to like the idea of them cancelling it, though."

Dmitri nodded "Yeah, very few people were. The promos showed great promise. You know, for a cartoon show. Ah well, the Digimon they didn't end up using for the show ended up here in the game. I hear they gave them special story-based mission for players to beat. But enough on that for now-" He turned back around and walked through the door, "Let's go get our digivices."

Colin looked down at his partner, "Well, let's not keep him waiting. Come on, Wanyamon." He scooped him into his arms again and headed after his friend.

Inside the hut, it appeared to have modeled after some old tavern found in the Middle Ages, with what looked like a bar off to the left and dozens of tables scattered across the room. At the back was a door that leads to what looked like a council room. That's where Dmitri was headed for, so Colin and Wanyamon followed after him. Inside the room sat five little red rabbit looking Digimon, one of them in the middle squatting on some sort of throne.

"Welcome, Player Dmitri," said the one to the left and closest to the door.

"Welcome, Player Colin Ursa," said another one, who was to the right of the same door.

"We thank you for choosing to play Digi-World Online, and will be here to assist you for the duration of your stay on File Island. We are the Elecmon Elders of this village, known as Primary Village. Now, we will present you your D-Arcs."

This came from the Elecmon on the throne, who motioned for the two Elecmon at his side. They scurried off to a drawer at the right side of the room, and both of them came back with two little devices, as well as what look like to packets of cards. They both handed the cards and devices to Dmitri and Colin, Dmitri immediately turning over and inspecting his once it was in his grasp.

Colin was more intrigued by the card back, but said "So this is my Digivice then?"

"A D-Arc digivice, yes." This again came from the head Elecmon.

"So what are the cards for? Please don't tell me their some side-quest I'll have to complete before entering some new area."

This got a chuckle from a hidden figure, who strode into the room behind Colin and replied "No, no. They're actually a lot more useful than you think, aren't they boss?"

Colin spun around a saw it was yet another Elecmon, only this one had a rather realistic sneer on its face. He then realized that the boss he was addressing was the Elecmon Head.

"Anomaly, what are you doing in here?" replied the Head, whose face remained the same calm and friendly way it had greeting the two players.

"What, the former sixth Elecmon Elder can't come visit? Afraid I might cause the others to become more than just automated greeting cards like me?"

"If you've come to disrupt these players' experience-" the Head Elecmon started to charge up with electricity, getting on all fours and fanning its tail out, "then we shall remove you from the game. Permanently."

The rouge Elecmon chuckled again. "Don't get your feathers in a bunch. I'm here just to fulfill my Elder duties of instructing new players, one more time. If that isn't too much of a problem for your bosses."

The Head Elecmon froze, its eyes going blue and numbers could be seen scrolling down, as if something was interfering with it. It then returned to normal and replied, "Just know that we'll be keeping an eye out on you. You may proceed."

Both Colin and Dmitri looked at one another, then at the new Elecmon.

Colin spoke first, "Uh, okay. So, are we going to be clued in on what just happened here, or should we just pretend that's part of the game's story?"

The Elecmon smirked, "Maybe I'll tell, and maybe I won't. More importantly, let's get you up to speed before my old friends decide they have enough free will to choose to deep fry me impulsively."

"Okay, fine. So, the cards."

"Right, the Battle Cards. A feature that originally was going to be in the cancelled Tamers season, but as you well know never got to see the light of day. Until now. The idea is to give you, a Tamer, the ability to aid your Digimon in battle with power ups and weapons they normally would have access to. It also allows skilled Tamers to Digivolve their partners, without any of that silly crest and feelings crap from the first two seasons."

Dmitri was taken a little aback by the 'crest and feelings crap' remark, "I can see why they fired your operator, if that's how you refer to Toei's work."

Elecmon raised an eyebrow at this, "You think I have an operat- you know what? Let's just keep talking about the gameplay before I have the urge to zap you."

Moving on, he continued "Okay, Colin is it? Open up your packet and see what cards you got."

He did so, as saw that he only had five cards inside. Two of them with the images of Digimon on them, "It this it?"

He bent over so that the Elecmon could view them, and it shrugged as it replied, "Hey, you're a beginner. That's a pretty good booster pack to start off with as it is. Right Dmitri, your go now-"

Further conversation was cut short by the sound of screaming outside. The two boys gave each other look, before grabbing their little partners (or in Dmitri's case, guiding him out, as he was in no rush to grab hold of a floating fireball) and dashing outside the hut. Elecmon looked back at the Elders, a look of annoyance etched over his face, before following the two.

Upon getting out the door, they both saw what the problem was. A gang of green and red goblin looking Digimon, about 5 in total (3 green and 2 red), were harassing some new Tamers and their partners. The apparent ringleader was waving his club right at a little Yokomon.

"Look at the little baby. Waiting for a filthy human master, now are we?"

Colin gritted his teeth at this. He remembered human punks like this who would harass his brother at school, treating him like crap because he was handicapped. As if it was his fault or like he deserved to be treated like that by them. Colin has a very low tolerance for bullies of any kind. Did the developers really have to go and make bad guys as asshole-ish as these guys? He spotted a rock at his feet. Grabbing it, he flung it right at the lead goblin Digimon's head.

Smack!

"Hey, Norman Osborn rejects! Leave the little guy alone!"

The rock certainly got the Digimon's attention, and gripping the side of his head where the rock had impacted, he yelled back, "You got some stones, messing with the Goblimon crew like that! You wanna die, soft skin?"

The gang of Goblimon and yet unidentified red equivalents were all pounding their clubs into their hand in a threating manner, and started to move towards Colin and Dmitri. Colin didn't as much as flinch, just staring at the oncoming threats.

Wanyamon bounded up to the lead Goblimon, and then just seemed to smile pleasantly at it.

"Smile Fang"

Wanyamon bit onto the Goblimon's hand, causing it to wail and howl. "Whose partner do you think you're calling a soft skin, ugly?"

"Wanyamon, what are you doing? Get back here!" Colin's composure broke when he was the little guy struggling to keep latched on to the Goblimon's hand.

"Get, OFF! Gobli Strike!" With its free hand, the Goblimon struck Wanyamon with its bone club.

The little Digimon went flying back into Colin's arms, who caught him and stroked his head (well, top of his body, as all he really is is a head). "You crazy little scrapper, you. That guy is three times your size. Why'd you pick a fight with him?"

Wanyamon gave a weak smile, looking up at Colin and replying back "Why did you? That Yokomon's not yours, yet you felt like helping her out. I just chose to do the same."

"Her?"

"Yeah, Yokomons are female. Didn't you know?"

"Not that knowledgeable on Digimon, if you hadn't noticed."

The Goblimon was cupping his bitten hand, and glared in the two's direction, "I'm going to use your skin as a blanket, human!"

Stretching out both his arms in front of him, a small round ball covered in spikes materialized before him. He then struck the ball with his club, "Gobli Bomb!"

The spiked orb hurled through the air towards its victims, exploding in the air in front of them. Colin and Wanyamon were sent flying backwards, colliding with an invisible barrier.

"Aghh!" Colin slumped up against the barrier, nursing his right shoulder as a trickle of blood dripped down from where one of the bomb's spikes had imbedded in his flesh.

"Uh!" Wanyamon was struggling to position itself upright, when he noticed his partner's right arm was bleeding. "Colin, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. What did we bump into?"

The Goblimon was approaching them, a sneer on his face, "The barrier that keeps outsiders from interrupting our battle. You know, so that people don't run away, or steal other people's kills," He raised his club overhead, roaring "LIKE MINE! GOBLI STRIKE!"

The club came down like lighting, aiming for Colin's head. Instead, it connected with a leaping, blue furball.

"Wanyamon!" Colin glared at the tusked-bully, "You bastard, he's a little cub!"

The Goblimon snorted, "Punk bit me first. Sides, if you weren't hiding behind him to begin with, you might have spared him the pain, human!" he spat out the last word like it was venom. "This time I'll be sure to get you. Gobli Str-"

He never got to finish calling out his attack, because a fist had suddenly planted itself through his teeth, and he was currently sailing through the air to the other side of the enclosed 'arena'. Colin had bolted up and landed a haymaker with his uninjured arm.

"Who's hiding, Shrek?"

STATUS: GOBLIMON HEALTH DOWN BY 5 POINTS. 25 POINTS OF HEALTH REMAINING.

Colin looked around, wondering where that voice had come from. He then looked at the Digivice, the D-Arc, strapped onto his left arm, and saw the text that repeated what he had just heard. So, this thing does more than just look stylish.

"Colin! Quit dicking around and digivolve Wanyamon. He won't last much longer as an In-Training!" shouted Elecmon, who somehow Colin could hear through the barrier.

It just occurred to Colin that he hadn't heard anyone say or do anything after Wanyamon bit Goblimon. Not Dmitri or Asami, nor the Goblimon's gang. He didn't hear a thing. What is up with this invisible wall?

"Elecmon, how do I do that? Don't I need a crest or something for that?"

"Baihumon dammit, kid. Did you even LOOK at the cards?" The Goblimon was recovering quickly, and charging for Wanyamon

Colin pulled out his five cards and gave them a look over. Power Strike? No, not the one he's looking for. Hyper Speed? Maybe later. Where is the one I… He spotted the one marked 'Digivolution'.

"What about this 'Digivolution' card? What do I do with it?" The Goblimon was only a few feet away from his target.

"Swipe the card through your D-Arc's card slot! NOW!" The Goblimon towered over the still weary Wanyamon.

Colin ran the card through his D-Arc almost by instinct, not even fumbling around to find the slot. The D-Arc's computer voice chimed out the effect.

Digivolution Activate

Wanyamon started to glow with a yellowish light, stopping the Goblimon mid-swing out of shock.

Wanyamon…digivolve to…Kumamon

From where a little, furry ball of blue once lay, a cub sized bear Digimon, garbed in a blue hat and arm straps stood, grinning at the bewildered Goblimon.

"Okay Shrek, ready for round 2?"

The Goblimon could only blink at Kumamon in surprise at first, but then he bared his tusks and barked, "So you grew a little. Your still a shrimp compared to true Digimon, pet."

"Wanna bet?" Kumamon had on the most confident smirk plastered on his face. "Come on, I'll give you the first swing."

This made Goblimon laugh. "Hah, 'first swing'? I've been the only dishing out punishment all day. But if you insist…" He raised his club overhead once more, "Gobli Str-"

"Bear-cub Fist!"

For the second time that day, poor little Goblimon couldn't bring down his spiked club on a victim's head. And again, his 'victim' had decked him right in the mouth. Only this time, it was a Digimon striking him. As a result, his favorite tusks were shattered upon impact with the furry little fist. And he was sent spinning out of the barrier, which appeared to come down as soon as Kumamon struck him.

Colin stood still, watching the scene in stunned silence. The little furball he was cradling not a moment before, had just sent that marauding punk sailing. And he looked fine, considering the knocking about Goblimon had given him before. He noticed his D-Arc was 'speaking' again, and so decided to look to see what was on the screen, since he had missed most of it.

Battle Concluded. Tamer and Partner are Victorious. Kumamon set to default level, EXP raised by 10 points. Combat Zone disengaged.

So this things responsible for trapping us with that bastard. Colin gave his digivice a dirty look, but quickly got over it when he suddenly was tackled by his new furry friend.

"Hey Colin, did you see me, did you see me? I was totally kicking his ass!"

"Yeah, buddy I saw yah. You did good Wanya- sorry, its Kumamon now, right?" As his partner nodded, Colin thought to himself, He's a lot more bold and talkative now, isn't he?

They both started to notice some things now that the barrier was down. First off, the other players were all talking amongst themselves, seemingly about what the two off them had just done. Comments like 'Did that bear just say 'ass'? I thought Digimon couldn't curse,' and 'One Punch! Did you see, just One Punch!' could be heard all around. Second thing they noticed is that the Goblimon's gang was more concerned with nursing their ringleader than retaliating, and some of them even looked like they were afraid of the idea of taking on the little bear. The gang took their thrashing boss, who was cupping his mouth and trying to keep the fragments of his disassembling tusks from leaving, and ran out of the town. One of the red Goblimon, however, turned around about half way down the road leading out the village and shouted "You just marked yourself, Baloo! The 'Orgemon Brothers' do not take assaults on their brothers lightly. We'll be coming for you!" with that, he turned and rejoined his retreating gang.

"Well, I can see you're already making friends." Colin and Kumamon turned around to see that it was Dmitri, who was grinning a bit.

"Could have used your help back there, you know."

"Hey, rules state that if unless both of us declare battle with a wild Digimon, combat goes to first attacker. Besides, you've demonstrated to the rest of us," Dmitri swung his hands around, pointing out the crowd that was previously surrounding the barrier, "how battle are conducted here. Thank you, I've learned a lot from your…example."

Colin let all of this sink in, and while he was a little hurt by this, he grinned none the less. "You rat bastard, you used me like a damn guinea pig."

Asami, who was also still standing nearby, piped in, "Hey now, if you didn't go all cowboy on the buy and waited for someone to back you up, maybe you two wouldn't have been alone tackling that Digimon."

"True."

Elecmon, who was also still hanging around, impatiently tapped its feet (well, back feet) and waited for the three to finish conversing. When he seemed sure they were done going over the battle amongst themselves, he spoke up. "That. Was the. Sloppiest. First. Battle. I have ever. Seen."

This got a little frown from Colin, "Hey, it IS my first Digimon battle, what do you want? We're not some instant expert or fighting genius. I'm a high-schooler, and he's a silly old bear."

"Hey!"

"Regardless," Elecmon looked at all three Tamers before him, and then continued on, "you really need to get somewhat up to speed if you want your 'silly old bear' to survive long. Don't you know what level that Goblimon was in comparison to Wanyamon?"

"Um, no. Wasn't really that into Digimon back at home."

Elecmon's ears perked up alert, "Wha… then why- why would you even sign up for this game then?"

"My younger brother asked me to. He's more knowledgeable than I am on the franchise"

"Well why isn't he here?"

"Health. Issues. Wanna ask more personal questions, or can we drop it at 'I'm new to this'?"

Elecmon saw that he had touched a nerve, "Sorry, I shouldn't have pushed the issue. But you really do need to get up to speed on Digimon in general. Can't have you challenge freaking Piedmon on your first week and getting creamed, now can we?"

Asami spoke up at this point, "I'm a bit of a Digimon otaku, I could bring him up to speed."

This caused Colin to raise an eyebrow, "Thanks, but why'd you want to help a noob like me? Don't you want to spend your first hours online by yourself?"

"Please, I've got plenty of time for that, don't we Kapurimon?" the little helmeted Wanyamon look-a-like sleepily nodded from with Asami's rucksack, "Besides," she gave Colin a flirtatious wink, "Can't have you cute guys wandering foolishly about the island with no clue of what you're doing. You'll just end up getting these little guys hurt," she scooped up Kumamon in her arms and nuzzled him, causing the bear to blush happily. "There's no way I could let that happen."

Dmitri and Colin shared an amused look, "What you think Dmitri? Not a bad idea to have some sort of guide while we're here, right?"

Dmitri shrugged, "You want to form some sort of group? Sure, why not. But no corny team name, or DemiMeramon and I are out."

Elecmon gave a cough, and then when their attention was turned towards him he spoke. "Before you go 'off to see the Wizard' or whatever, let's finish up the tutorial we were so rudely interrupted from. As you all may have noticed, the cards you have are more than just collectible trinkets. They can be used to benefit your Digimon. When Colin used the Digivolution card, you saw that his partner digivovled. Similar things happen with your other cards. Take for example," he fished out an Agumon from out of nowhere, and handed it to Colin. "-cards with Digimon images on them. Use these in battle to gain an attack that is normally attributed to said Digimon. Colin, use the Agumon card just gave you."

Doing just that, Kumamon's mouth began to glow orange, and he started to dance about, "Hot, hot hot. Pepper Breath!" a small fireball launched up into the air, as Kumamon was about to sear any of his new friends and had turned his burning mouth skyward. He immediately dashed over to a fountain located near the Elder's hut and dunked his head in. Colin looked at his hand, were the Agumon card had been just seconds ago but had simply disappeared.

"Where did it go?"

"It's a tutorial card. Want the real deal? Find an Agumon and defeat him. Or any Digimon you want a power from Loading their data is a more effective, if not brutal way to keep a more permanent copy."

"Load their data?"

"Yeah, as in have Kumamon absorb his data stream before it flies off and reformats here, or another village that resurrects Digimon."

"Sounds like you have a problem with that. What's wrong with having our partner characters absorb enemy data? It's not like either of them are real." This came from Dmitri, and it earned him a fierce look from Elecmon.

"Yeah, the little bear over there with the cocky attitude is just a programed response unit, and I'm just a mouthy avatar to some fired programmer, RIGHT? Don't pretend to know everything, kid. Just makes people want to throttle you."

Not at all affected by Elecmon's response, Dmitri shot back with his own, "Kinda like a little red outcast acting all shocked and annoyed by a rookie's sloppy first fight, right?"

"Hey!" this time both Colin and Kumamon acted insulted. Both Dmitri and Elecmon ignored them, Elecmon smirking over Dmitri's comparison.

"Yeah, kinda."

"So Asami, where do you suggest we head for first?" this was Colin, who was eager to a move on, as his first hour was already up at this point.

"Well, why don't we just take that road out of the village and see where that takes us? Like into that nice forest over there."

Colin eyed the 'nice' forest, which had some large caterpillar like Digimon hanging from branches and a few flower like Digimon shoving each other out of the rays of sun gleaming through the trees. "Sure. Why not? Let's take the path leading to the creepy forest." You had to agree to let the cute chick lead you, didn't you? Colin, sometimes you bring these things upon yourself.

"Alright, let's go! I ready to smack some more Mons about! Come on, Colin!" Kumamon dashed on down the road, with his Tamer trailing on behind him.

"Slow down, silly old bear. Adventure isn't going anywhere. We got plenty of time."

/Digi-World Primary Path, 2nd Hour