Hello, everybody! I'm back with the first chapter of the new Tamer of the Hazard!

There's not much to say about this that hasn't already been said in my messages on the first test version of Tamer of the Hazard. Just keep in mind that I'm taking it back to the beginning of the series, and I'm going to attempt to follow the episodes and put the events of the movies in as well. I'll probably have to watch them all again, but what the hell, it'll give me a feeling of nostalgia!

Anyway, enjoy the new story!

XXXX

Takato Matsuki lay curled up on his bed, whimpering in his sleep.

(Nightmare)

Leomon had just been deleted and Jeri was sobbing loudly while being comforted by Henry. Takato was enraged, as was WarGrowlmon.

"You monster!" Takato shouted and the massive cyborg-dragon digimon charged forward with a feral roar.

"You're dumber than I thought, Pineapplehead!" Beelzemon smashed WarGrowlmon in the face with his boot, sending the cyborg to the ground.

"No," Takato growled, "You can't lose, I WON'T ALLOW IT!" he screamed. "I command you to digivolve, NOW!" his D-Arc began to glow dark red.

Digivolution error detected. Hazard Evolution, activate.

WarGrowlmon was also encased in that blood red light as he got to his feet, fueled by his Tamer's rage.

"WarGrowlmon digivolve to..." the light became blindingly bright as the dragon went to the next level.

The other Tamers and their digimon stared on in awe and fear. Even Ryo was frozen to his spot as he watched the corrupted evolution occur.

WarGrowlmon's outline became more massive. His head elongated and his legs disappeared, replaced by a writhing snake-like tail. Enormous wings sprouted from his back as he neared completion. The ground began to shake and crack as the new digimon put out wave after wave of evil energy. No one knew what was happening, but they all knew one thing. The product of this metamorphosis was going to be anything but good.

A huge explosion of light blinded all who watched, and an earth-shaking roar announced the arrival of the ultimate dragon digimon. A demonic beast. Spawned from fury, fueled by rage, pain, and sorrow. Arguably, the most feared being in the entirety of the Digital World, the embodiment of the Digital Hazard, this was a creature never meant to exist. A beast locked away and guarded by a gallant knight. But now that knight was nowhere to be found, and the locks had been broken. On this day, a true monster was unleashed, and its name was...

"MEGIDRAMON!" the twenty story demonic dragon roared, the hazard symbol glowing brightly on its chest. It turned to the demon lord, who stood petrified at the sight.

"Takato...what have you done?" Henry whispered to himself.

Rika shakily pulled out her D-Arc and read the information displayed. "Megidramon. Evil Dragon Digimon. Mega level. The most powerful and evil of the four dragon lords. His power is fueled by rage and hatred, he feeds on pain and sorrow, and lives for destruction. He uses his Megiddo Flame and Hell Howling attacks to accomplish his one main goal: total annihilation." the Tamers gulped. If they hadn't been in over their heads before, they most certainly were now.

Takato began to chuckle ominously. "How does it feel to once again be so utterly outclassed, oh great demon lord?" he mocked.

Beelzemon's fear was overcome by his anger and his ego. "Shut it, human! Ya' think you're hot shit because you got that overgrown iguana to go Mega? Please. I'll hand it to ya', he's got some power. But he's also got one big, fat, obvious weakness: You." he pulled out his guns, aimed at Takato, and fired.

But, to everyone's horror, Takato didn't move an inch. Megidramon suddenly flew through the air and landed behind Takato, using his wings to shield his Tamer. The large bullets just bounced harmlessly off of the giant dragon's armored wings. The leathery curtain was retracted to reveal a grinning Takato and an even more enraged beast.

"Our turn." Takato gave his order without even facing the massive, evil being behind him. "Megidramon, show him the power of the Digital Hazard!" Megidramon gave somewhat of a nod, then took a deep breath.

"HELL HOWLING!" he roared, unleashing a visible pressure wave. The sound was unbearable. Like the world's largest jet engine, overlapped with something out of Jurassic Park. Humans and digimon alike instinctively clapped their hands over their ears as they yelped and screamed in pain. The attack slammed into Beelzemon like a bullet train at full throttle, easily lifting him off his feet and hurling him hundreds of feet away.

The demon lord felt his eardrums burst instantly, followed by bones breaking and muscles tearing as he ragdolled across the ground. When he finally came to a stop, his body was wracked with pain and he could see darkness creeping in around the edges of his vision. His brain felt like it was trying to claw its way out through his eye sockets. His sight was blurred so badly that he could only make out the most basic of shapes and colors. Somehow, some way, the demonic biker managed to get to his feet, a testament to his durability and willpower. But he was given no time to recover, as the dragon was on him in no time, moving at speeds unheard of for something its size. With an almost careless swipe of its massive clawed hand, it carved three deep trenches into the ground, just barely missing Beezlemon as he managed to stumble out of harm's way.

But he had no hope of avoiding the dragon's serpentine tail, which smashed into his right side and sent him flying once again.

Beelzemon howled in agony as he landed, clutching his now-shattered right arm. This wasn't how things were supposed to go, dammit! He was supposed to be the one dishing out the beatings, not the one taking them!

"Do you surrender?" both Megidramon and Beelzemon glared at the boy. "What?"

"I-I'll never surrender to a human and his pet!" Beelzemon shouted as best he could.

"Meh, it doesn't matter. Megidramon probably wouldn't let you go that easily anyway. As a matter of fact, neither would I." Takato laughed.

The other Tamers had officially named this side of Takato's personality "Evil Takato".

"Now would be a great time for a 'Momentai', Terriermon!" Henry said.

"Are you crazy?! I'm not talking to Takato when he's like this!" Terriermon strengthened his grip on Henry's hair to re-enforce his statement.

Renamon nodded, surprising everyone. "For once, I agree with the rabbit. Takato it too unpredictable right now. And with a digimon as powerful as Megidarmon at his control, it would be wise not to take the chance of angering him further." the mysterious vixen said. From her demeanor, no one could tell just how hard she was fighting the urge to run as far away as possible. She couldn't run, not if it meant leaving her comrades behind to potentially met their ends at the hands/claws of...whatever Guilmon and his tamer had become.

Back on the battlefield, Beelzemon was being tossed around like a toy. He got off the occasional Double Impact, but that only served to anger the dragon further. And like a gigantic, reptilian Hulk, the madder Megidramon got, the stronger he became.

"MEGIDDO FLAME!" Megidramon unleashed a torrent of white hot flames from his gaping jaws.

Beelzemon barely dodged the attack, but was not unscathed. So intense were the flames, that just being near them for only a fraction of a second had scorched his arm. His good arm. That was it, he was done for. With nothing left to lose, Beezlemon snarled and forcibly set his broken right arm arm, pumping energy into it so it could heal enough to move. In a last ditch effort, Beelzemon leveled his gun on the steadily advancing dragon and used sheer force of will to keep his injured arm steady.

"DOUBLE IMPACT!" he fired at the glowing hazard symbol on Megidramon's chest.

The dragon roared in pain and crashed to the ground. Defeated in a single blow.

"Megidramon!" Takato shouted, a little of his real personality coming to the surface.

Beelzemon smirked and jumped onto the downed dragon's chest, gun trained on the hazard symbol once again.

"So, that's your weakness, eh? Well, it's been real, pineapplehead." Beelzemon then noticed something. Something horrifying. There was absolutely no sign that his attack had did anything; not even so much as a dent in the creature's armor. "Aw shi-!"

He never finished his expletive, as the sharp spear on Megidramon's tail sprouted from his chest in a shower of crimson.

"How does it feel to be skewered? Now you know how Leomon felt, you bastard." Takato scowled, his eyes blazing with fury. "Megidramon, execute the murderer."

"Megiddo Flame!" the giant dragon launched his most powerful attack, incinerating the demon lord almost instantly.

"Stop!" Takato yelled as Megidramon was about to load the floating data. Megidramon grudgingly complied, but then Takato thought better of it. 'If I have Megidramon load the data, we may be able to separate Leomon's data and bring him back!' "to hell with it, load it." he said, the dragon immediately did as told.

Takato was suddenly struck with a searing pain in his head. He let out an almost inhuman shriek as he fell to his knees, taking no note of the huge shadow falling over him as Megidramon rushed to his side. The others tried to help, but a deep growl from the huge dragon kept them at bay.

Seconds later, Megidramon was struck with the same pain. He wailed as he fell back, clawing at his breastplate and the rapidly pulsing symbol adorning it. As the pulses increased in frequency, his data began to float away as he was slowly deleted. His breathing became ragged as he stopped struggling and laid completely still, his eyes wide, panicked and unfocused.

In his final seconds, one of the dragon's eyes darted to his tamer. His mouth opened, as if to say something, but all that came out was a soft wheeze. His final breath as the last bits of his data dispersed into the air.

"Guilmon...I'm so sorry..." Takato wept, finally returning to his old self. The pain in his head became a distant sensation, completely overwhelmed by the pain in his heart.

"What did you do...?" were the last words he heard as he lost consciousness. He never saw his D-Arc's screen turn to static, or the device itself crack like a glass sculpture before disintegrating.

With a scream, the thirteen year old boy awoke from his nightmare, panting and sweating like he had just run a marathon.

"Takato?" the worried voice of Mie Matsuki, his mother, came from the other side of the door.

"I'm fine, Mom...Really, I am." Takato assured her.

"Oh...Well, alright." even though she didn't believe her son, Mie decided not to question him. She knew that if he didn't want to take about it, he wouldn't.

Swinging his legs over the edge of his bed, Takato sighed and held his head in his hands.

"That damned dream again...That makes three times this week alone." he muttered to himself.

"Takato?" a soft, high-pitched voice floated into Takato's ears from as the door to the balcony slid open.

"Hey, Lillymon." Takato gave a small wave to the Ultimate digimon.

The plant woman flew over to the boy before gently letting herself fall onto the bed beside him.

"What's wrong?" the digimon asked.

Now, most people would freak at the sight of an actual digimon, but not Takato. They were too common for him to get worked up about nowadays, especially one that he had been seeing everyday for the past few months. Other than Lillymon, Takato had seen a redhead with a Renamon, a blue-haired kid with a Terriermon, an Impmon causing trouble in the park, and a small digimon that called himself Calumon.

Instead of freaking out, Takato developed a borderline obsession with digimon. He envied the blue-haired kid, Henry, and the redhead, who's name he had yet to get. But, from the dreams he'd been having, her name was Rika, though her last name was a mystery to him. He'd dubbed them Digimon Tamers, but he didn't know where he got the inspiration to do so.

"It was the dream again, wasn't it?" Lillymon said, scooting closer to the teen.

Takato nodded. He'd been having the same dream for a while now. All of his friends were in it, and they all had digimon of their own, except Kenta. Jeri's partner, a Leomon, was deleted by a digimon Takato knew as Beelzemon, Impmon's Mega form. Takato would then see himself go into a vengeful rage, forcing his digimon partner, which he recognized as the digimon her draw a while back, called Guilmon, to digivolve to his Mega form. But, in the same way it did in the first season of the Digimon show, things went terribly wrong. Though Takato would have begged for SkullGreymon over the monster that was created.

Megidramon. That name sounded so familiar to Takato, but he knew he'd never heard it before. As far as he knew, Guilmon was a digimon that he had created, and Megidramon was his Mega form, which meant that he had created the mindless dragon as well. He couldn't possibly have heard it before if the digimon didn't even exist!

'Maybe I'm thinking of Megadramon, or Magnadramon. Their names sound similar, and Megadramon even looks a bit like Megidramon. Yeah, that has to be it.'

Lillymon let out a sigh and hugged Takato. "You know, this may sound corny and outlandish, but the dream could be a premonition. A vision of a possible future. Maybe even a vision of your destiny."

Takato snorted. "Yeah, that makes sense. If I become friends with both Henry and a girl named "Rika", my other friends get digimon partners, we go to the Digital World, meet someone named Ryo who has a Cyberdramon, and fight a Beelzemon, then I'll pick up a Jamaican accent and make myself a Psychic Hotline. Besides, if you saw what I saw...You'd be doing everything you could to alter that 'future'."

"You never go into details about the dream. What could possibly be so bad about it?"

Takato remained silent, then looked into the taller digimon's eyes. "...Tell me, do you know of a digimon called 'Megidramon'?"

Lillymon stiffened and a look of unbridled fear crossed her features. "M-Me-Megidramon? Y-You're dreams are a-about Me-Megidramon?" she shuddered, looking like she was going to take off at any second.

Takato cocked his head to the side. "I take that as a yes. You're reaction is nearly identical to everyone else's in my dreams. I guess he really is as bad as I thought he was." he mumbled the last part.

Lillymon shook off her fear and gulped before putting on a strained smile. "D-Don't worry about it, Takato...I'm sure everything will be just fine, maybe the dreams mean nothing."

Takato saw right through her. "Then why do I keep having them? Why do they never change? And why are you so scared?" he got picked up his drawing pad from his desk. "And why do I have these?"

Lillymon took the book and flipped through it. Inside were various drawings, but a few of them were colored, and they caught her eyes. They were highly detailed drawings of Takato's ideal digimon partner, named Guilmon, his stats, and his entire evolutionary line.

"Why am I showing you these? Because...I only drew Guilmon, Growlmon, and WarGrowlmon...and I never colored any of them." he took the pad and flipped it to the last page, where the true masterpiece of the book was. It was an incredibly detailed and realistic drawing of Megidramon, without the stats, with Takato standing before him with his arms crossed. "I wish I could say I drew it...But, at the same time, I wish I could say I'd never seen it before."

Lillymon's mask of fear returned as she looked at the picture. She yelped when Megidramon's eyes seemed to shine and one turned towards her.

Takato pulled the pad back and looked at it, just in time to catch the fading glow and put the book down himself.

"Still think the dreams mean nothing?" Takato said, still looking at the drawing pad suspiciously.

Lillymon was silent for a while, then finally spoke, "You...You should get ready for school, Takato."

Takato chuckled. "Changing the subject, are we?"

Lillymon crossed her arms over his breasts. "It's six-thirty, and it's Friday. Unless you want detention on the last schoolday of the week, I suggest you get ready."

Takato rolled his eyes and smiled. "Yes, Mother." he dodged the pillow that was thrown at him, laughing before he stepped into the bathroom for his morning shower. He poked his head out before closing the door and glared at Lillymon. "And NO PEEKING!" he then slammed the door and locked it.

Lillymon snapped her fingers and snarled in annoyance. "Drat!" she hissed, irritated that her plan was foiled before it even began.

(Digital World)

Two figures stood by a viewing window to the Human World, watching their target go about his normal day, as they had for the past week. They were figuring out his routine so they would be able to carry out their mission more easily.

One of the figures rose an eyebrow as the boy entered his shower. "Oh? So well built for one so young...I like him...I like him a LOT!" this figure was obviously female, and had absolutely no qualms about oogling the boy while he thought he was in a private setting.

The other figure simply turned away with a growl. "Get a hold of yourself, woman! The Boss gave us a mission, the first one in years, and I'm not going to let you fuck it up because you can't control your desires!"

The female turned to her companion. "Oh, shut up, you! You're the last one who should talk about self-control, Mr. I-Want-To-Level-Entire-Cities-Because-It's-Fun!"

The other, much, much larger figure snorted. "That was a time when I was something I wasn't proud of. I'm a new mon, now!" it leveled a green-eyed glare at the smaller being. "But this new 'mon is still just as powerful as the old one. So, unless you want to find out how my...transformation took place, the hard way, I suggest you stop lusting over the child and get on with the mission! Any feelings you may develop for him will only make our job harder, which means it will become easier to mess it up." its green eyes glowed menacingly. "And I do NOT like to mess up. Have I made myself clear?"

The other digimon stared into the glowing emerald orbs with its own blazing red ones. "I don't know who decided you could order me around, or when this decision was made behind my back. But I'm going to tell you, right now, to back the hell off." the female narrowed her eyes.

"I decided I could order you around. When did I decide? When I became so much more powerful than you."

"You can digivolve to Mega, or so you say. But I've never once seen you do it."

"You've never seen me in a situation in which I had to digivolve. I, however, have seen, and saved, you in multiple situations where you could have used the power I have. And we've only known each other for two weeks! I think that speaks for itself, and it says: I'm stronger than you!"

"Back. Off. Unless you want to find out what I can really do."

"Hmmm, that seems familiar, where have I heard that before...Oh yes, a Myotismon decided to get all high and mighty with me and said something similar to that...right before I crushed him like the parasite he was."

The female snorted. "You think you're the only one who's annihilated a few Myotismon in their time? Please, I've deleted more of those blood-suckers than you've even seen."

They would have continued arguing had a deep, rumbling voice, with a sinister rasping undertone, bombarded there ears.

"ENOUGH!" both digimon flinched and cowered in fear.

"We're sorry, Boss!" the female squeaked.

The larger digimon stayed silent.

"Would one of you be so kind as to tell me why you're both bickering like little In-Trainings?"

"W-Well, you s-see, I-I-!" the female was cutoff by an enraged roar from the "Boss".

"I DON'T CARE WHY YOU'RE ARGUING! JUST GET YOUR SORRY ASSES TO THE HUMAN WORLD AND CARRY OUT YOUR MISSION!"

"B-But Boss, w-we h-h-have to wait f-for the portal t-to open up be-before we can l-l-leave." the larger male digimon stuttered.

"I see...Well, the portal isn't here, now is it?" the two digimon shook their heads in reply. "Then why, exactly, are you STILL HERE?! GET TO THE FUCKING PORTAL BEFORE I DELETE YOU MYSELF!"

"Yes sir!" both digimon disappeared into thin air, booking in towards the portal site.

The Boss grumbling in irritation. "Why can't any of my stronger subordinates get along? Always with the bickering and the pranks...Fucking headaches, I miss human painkillers."

(Human World)

Takato stepped out of the shower and looked around, halfway expecting Lillymon to be hovering near the ceiling, watching him. He felt someone's eyes on him, but there was no one in the room with him.

He felt anxious and the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end. Two things that only happened when he was being watched.

"I don't like this...I don't like it at all." he mumbled as he wrapped a towel around his waist and left the bathroom. After a preliminary scan for any peeping digimon, of course.

(Thirty Minutes Later)

We find Takato walking from his home, backpack hanging from his shoulder, towards the playground he met Kazu and Kenta in for their morning card matches. Decked out in his normal outfit; a black shirt with red sleeves and a biohazard symbol on the front, faded black cargo jeans, and red-on-black sneakers, Takato couldn't help but feel a bit naked without his trademark black snowboarding goggles with the red lenses. He'd lost them around his home somewhere and hadn't been able to find them for the past three days.(1)

While walking, he was also multitasking like a bastard. Checking his deck to see if he had all of the cards that went with it; thinking of strategies he could use against Kazu, since Kenta was a pushover; and trying to interpret his dreams and figure out just what the hell was going on with his drawings!

Not only were things that he didn't draw appearing in his drawing pad, but the things that he did draw were colored before he even decided on a final color scheme! Admittedly, he was going to go for the black-on-red design, but still.

"Why do I get the feeling that today's not going to be normal...at all?" he looked over his shoulder, like he was expecting something to come out of the blue and blindside him.

He finally saw the playground and smirked, it was time for him to try out something new with the cards he got the previous day.

"Hah! My HiAndromon destroys your MetalGreymon, and I win! Again!" Kazu cheered while his bespectacled friend hung his head in defeat.

"I don't know how you manage to do it, but you always get at least two of your Megas out! Last time it was MetalSeadramon and Machinedramon, this time it was HiAndromon and MetalGarurumon. You and your robots, sheesh!"

"Hey! The term is 'Cyborg', not robot!"

"Same difference." Kenta grumbled, but Kazu caught it.

"Do I have to school you on the differences between cyborgs and robots? Again?!" Kazu pulled his backpack to his side.

"You still carry that chart?" came a surprised voice from the top of the swiss cheese dome-thing.

"Of course, Chumley! You never know when some ignorant person" he looked pointedly at Kenta, "needs to learn something."

Takato smirked, then, in an impressive display of acrobatics, flipped himself into the hideout and landing in a crouch next to Kenta.

"Well, I think it's time for you to learn something." he pulled out his deck. "Even machines can be infected with a virus."

(Fifteen Minutes Later)

"And, now that they're powered up, my SkullGreymon and LadyDevimon destroy your MetalSeadramon and your MetalMamemon, and I win the game. Without the use of any Mega-level digimon, I might add." Takato grinned as Kazu stared on in shock.

"B-But...How?"

Kenta laughed. "Not only were you using Data-type digimon against Virus-types, you failed to stop him from powering up his SkullGreymon and LadyDevimon. You focused on keeping them from Digivolving, not from getting stronger. It's your fault you lost, and I love it! Can you taste the irony? He defeated you when you used the same tactic I used against you!" he fell over laughing and clutching his sides.

Kazu crossed his arms and turned away with a huff. "That ain't funny!"

"Oh? You thought it was hilarious when it happened to me!" Kenta kept laughing.

Takato shook his head and chuckled. "Come on, if we don't move it we'll be late."

Kazu waved him off. "Calm down, Takato, we've got forty-five minutes before school starts."

"Isn't that what you say almost everyday?" Takato asked, and received a nod. "And aren't we late for class almost everyday?" another nod. "Am I the only one who sees the pattern here?"

Kenta and Kazu shared a look, then both got up and bolted out of the hideout. "Move it, Chumley, or we're gonna be late again!"

Takato's right eye twitched. "Hey, that's my line!" he ran out after them, easily catching up to them, then going into "Drill Sergeant" mode and yelling at them to make them run faster.

(Thirty Minutes Later)

The class governed by Ms. Asaji was completely calm. Kids talking quietly amongst themselves, reading, doing some last minute homework, or catching up on some sleep. The teacher herself was simply reading a book, minding her own business.

Ms. Asaji glanced at the clock and sighed. Fifteen minutes until the calm was shattered by the "Dynamic Trio", as most people called them. Hirokazu "Kazu" Shioda, Kenta Kitagawa, and Takato Matsuki, the school's primary troublemakers.

Some people didn't think the name for their group was fair to Takato, however, since he was more of a moderator, keeping Kazu and, by extension, Kenta in line. The group dynamic was as follows: Kazu comes up with some kind of hair-brained scheme/prank, he convinces Kenta to join him, and Takato stands on the sidelines, watching with amusement until it was time to step in before things got out of hand. But, when he stepped in, it often made the situation worse, ending with Takato taking most of the blame, despite Kazu and Kenta's pleas that it was their fault.

But Takato appeared to be a good sport about it, and still hung out with them. This led to Takato having a reputation for being too kindhearted for his own good.

The door suddenly flew open as Takato, Kazu, and Kenta can barreling into the room.

"Yes! We're early for once in our lives!" Kazu cheered.

"Speak for yourself, man. I once got to school an hour early." Takato grumbled, picking himself up off the floor.

"Not setting your alarm clock correctly is only a valid excuse for being late, not early, Chumley."

Ms. Asaji cleared her throat loudly, drawing the attention of the three boys. "Being in class ten minutes early isn't anything to brag about...for most people. For you three, it's almost cause for a medal."

Takato gave the teacher a warm smile. "Aw, come on, Ms. Asaji, let us have this one small moment. Please?" this was his version of Puppy Dog Eyes, taught to him by his stepdad. Don't be cute, be handsome!

The woman almost lost her grip on her book when she saw the teen smile. 'Oh my God, no teenager should know how to do that! With a smile like that, I feel sorry for him when he gets to high school. He's gonna be mobbed by girls.' she blushed. "Yes, well...Alright, just take your seats and don't disrupt the class any further."

The boys walked to their seats at the back of the class, grinning all the way.

"Way to go, Chumley! She didn't even yell at use for running in the halls, disrupting the class, and destruction of school property!" Kazu whispered, looking back at the door, which would probably never close properly again.

Takato sat down and leaned back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head and allowing a rare arrogant smirk to grace his features.

"What can I say? I'm just that good." he then deadpanned and simply slouched in his seat. "That pose just didn't suit me at all."

Kazu and Kenta shook their heads. "No, it really didn't."

Takato's vision was suddenly blocked by a dog-themed sock puppet.

"Hello, Takato! Arf!" its slightly irritating, high-pitched voice assaulted Takato's ears.

"Hey, Jeri. You're getting better at that!" Takato complimented his friend with a smile.

The brown-haired girl smiled happily. "Really? Thanks, I've been practicing a lot!"

The boys sweatdropped as they watched her walk away, positively giddy about the compliment.

"I swear, she's about as sane as a scrambled egg." Kazu said, leaning back in his chair.

"Nah, she just has a few...issues, is all." Takato took his notebook and pencils out of his backpack, ready to begin the schoolday.

(End Of The Schoolday)

Takato found himself running down the hallways, Kazu and Kenta trailing behind him, towards the school exit. As soon as the bell had rung, everyone cleared the way as the "Matsuki Typhoon" made its way through the school, just like it did every Friday.

Outside of the school, a lone delivery man was scratching his head. "This is where I'm supposed to deliver the package to?" he stared at the school, then shrugged. If it was just a prank by some kid, then he couldn't be blamed for it, so he had nothing to lose. 'Besides, it'll make a good story to tell the guys.' he looked at the package. 'I'll bet this thing is full of porn, or something.' he chuckled and walked up to the double-doors.

Just as he was about press the buzzer next to the door, which would alert someone in the main office to his presence, said door swung open and the delivery man was bulldozed by one figure, then trampled by the two following it.

"What...the hell?" the man sat up, disoriented and hurting. His eyes widened when he felt the ground shake beneath him. He turned and paled when he saw a human wave of school children charging towards him, cheering and screaming about the weekend. "Holy shi-!" he curled into the fetal position as the first feet hit him, making himself as small a target as possible.

Takato, Kazu, and Kenta instantly bolted towards their playground hideout as soon as they cleared the school's property.

Upon arrival, they immediately began a three-way game. Normally this would have been confusing for anyone, but, after nearly six months of practice, they had it all figured out.

The turns were decided by the roll of a die, and the game pretty much continued like a normal one. The only difference was that each player had a choice of who he was going to target.

(Twenty Minutes Later)

In what was probably the longest battle they'd ever been in, even in the tournaments they'd participated in, a winner was finally decided.

"Yes! SkullGreymon digivolves to BlackWarGreymon, and LadyDevimon digivolves to Lilithmon!" Takato turned to Kazu. "You get a Terra Destroyer." he turned to Kenta. "You get a Nazar Nail." he raised his arms in victory. "And I get to gloat!"

Kazu threw down his cards angrily while Kenta, once again, hung his head in shame. Takato had to be some kind of monster. The way he played was just inhuman! Near the end they had even tried to double-team him, yet they could neither stop him from bringing out his Megas, or powering up his Ultimates. He outsmarted them at every turn. When they attacked him, he would activate a card that made them attack each other. When they tried to keep his digimon from reaching higher levels, or even de-volving them, he would nullify their effects. Nothing worked!

In the end, all they could do was accept defeat and try again tomorrow.

"I swear, you've got a computer in your head." Kazu muttered. Throughout the entire battle, not once did Takato hesitate or stop to think of what he was going to do. It was like he already knew what they had planned, and had thought up a counter during their turns. He was calm and collected all the while, his face not betraying his thoughts. Just a seemingly permanent smirk that would widen only when he was about to spring a trap.

"I wish, then I wouldn't suck at math so much." Takato laughed.

"You know what I wanna see? You versus the Digimon Queen, Rika Nonaka. Now that would be a battle!" Kenta sat back and his eyes glazed over, showing that his imagination had taken his mind elsewhere.

Takato's eyes widened as he heard the name. 'Nonaka...so that's her last name.' he thought, then growled at a certain memory. "I would have faced her in the semi-finals if that guy hadn't stolen my Apocalymon and Gulfmon cards before the battle! Bastard even had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to trade after he beat me with them!"

Kazu scratched his chin. "Oh yeah, that was the guy you beat up after he was annihilated by the Digimon Queen!"

Takato scoffed. "I didn't beat him up, I only hit him one time. He went down, I grabbed his deck, took my cards back, and left." Takato wasn't faulted for his violent "outburst", for a security camera mounted in the practice area, where players went through last minute strategies, had revealed that Takato wasn't the only one the boy had stolen from.

Kazu laughed, then, after gathering his cards, checked his watch and did a double-take. "Holy crap! I forgot I've gotta be home in five minutes!" he got up and ran out of the hideout while yelling, "Sorry, guys, gotta go, see ya' tomorrow!"

His shouting awoke Kenta from his daydreaming and he looked around, then at Takato. An awkward silence followed. Without Kazu, there was no inspiration to do anything.

Finally, Takato sighed. "Just go home, Kenta, I'm sure we'll think of something to do over the weekend." he stood up, brushing the dirt from his pants.

Kenta smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure Kazu will think of something to stir up some trouble. Later, man." then he walked off, whistling a tune to himself.

Takato smiled at the thought of what was going to happen tomorrow, almost fearing it. Weekends were rarely a good thing when they were spent with Kazu.

As he gathered his cards he noticed something odd, something bright blue in color.

"What the hell is this thing?" Takato pulled out the blue card and stared at it oddly. It was the same shape and size as a normal card, but it was solid blue, and the only artwork on it was the yellow, pixilated "D" with a Digital Pet-type dinosaur, of the same color, going through it.

Then, for a reason he couldn't fathom, Takato swiped the strange card through his card reader. Sparks flew from the small machine and Takato dropped it. Little bolts of electricity arced around the device before it was encased in a ball of light. The glow was so intense that Takato had to look away from it and shield his eyes, but he still saw little green and purple spots wherever he looked.

"Dammit, just my luck. I finally get a new card reader after the first one ended up in the washer, and I had to go be an idiot and mess it up!" Takato growled to himself as the glow died down.

When it was safe, he looked to check out the damage, but, instead, found a device laying on the ground that certainly wasn't his card reader.

"...The hell?" he said to himself as he picked the strange machine up. It looked like one of those Digital Pet things he'd seen some of the girls with at his school, but much more advanced. The screen was the same, maybe a bit larger, and surrounded by a red ring. Turning it over, it looked like it could still perform the function of a card reader, judging from the narrow slit in the side.

"Oh well, I'll figure it out later." he walked out of the hideout and stretched, feeling his spine pop in several places. "Right now, I've got Team Fortress on the brain!" with that, he clipped the device to a belt loop on his jeans and took off towards his home.

(Hours Upon Hours Of Gaming Later)

Takato walked into his room with the grace of a decaying zombie, his eyes bloodshot from not blinking for several minutes at a time, and his voice all but gone from screaming at people over his headset.

'Not to self: never do the Spy Check thing again...Or, at least, not for as long.' he didn't even bother to take off his clothes, he just sat the device, which he now called a D-Arc, though he didn't know why, next to his sketchpad on his nightstand, then collapsed onto his bed, snoring before his head even hit the pillow.

He never felt Lillymon give him a kiss on the cheek before walking out to the balcony and taking flight after closing the door. He never noticed the wind coming in from the slightly open window to the right of the balcony door blowing the pages of his drawing pad away, flipping it to the drawings of Guilmon. He never noticed the D-Arc's screen glowing, and the pages being ripped from the notebook and scanned through the device. He never saw the D-Arc's screen project a large modified radiation hazard symbol on his ceiling as the picture of Megidramon was scanned.

And, even though he felt an odd tingling sensation, he was in too deep a sleep to notice an identical hazard symbol branding itself onto the skin of his right bicep, becoming a tattoo.

(Digital World)

The two digimon from before appeared on a cliff overlooking a dense forest.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" the larger digimon asked.

"Hey, I followed the directions the Boss gave us to the letter. If this isn't it, we probably got lost when you decided we were moving too slowly and bounded off in the general direction of where I said to go. You know you have a horrible sense of direction!" the much smaller female growled from her position on the shoulder of her companion.

Before another argument could start, both digimon were distracted by portal opening up. It looked almost like the viewing window, but they couldn't see anything beyond the swirling mass of colors that made them feel like they had eaten some bad mushrooms.

"It's time..." the larger figure boomed, then turned his head slightly towards the one on his shoulder. "You first."

The female scoffed, then looked at the portal. "...Tell me, do you know of the human game called 'Rock-paper-scissors'?"

XXXX

Not much comedy in this chapter, and no action at all, so you'll have to forgive me for that. But, like I said, I'm going to try and follow the episodes of the season, and nothing happened in the first episode, other than Renamon fighting that Lynxmon, which will be in the next chapter.

(1): Takato will seem to have a bit of an obsession with the black and red color scheme, but it's mainly a subconscious thing, the reasons for which will be explained later.

Well, other than that, there's not much to say about the first chapter of this story. So...

Jason Out!