Prologue

The lagomorphic digimon raised his right, three-fingered hand to shield the glare from his eyes. Not too long ago, this barren wasteland had been lush with meadows and streams. It had been the home of the jagamon: plant-like digimon. Now, there was not a jagamon in sight, nor any other digimon, so far as Impmon could see. Something had gone horribly wrong in the Digital World. Not only was it reverting to the condition in which the first digimon had discovered it in the Ancient Times, but no digimon had digivolved for months. Official sources were being less than candid with the public in addressing these matters.

They were not getting anywhere near the whole story from the four Digimon Sovereign: Zhuqiaomon, Azulongmon, Ebonwumon, and Baihumon. Impmon did not trust the government, though everyone with whom he shared his doubts always reassured him that the Digimon Sovereign, as the most advanced and most highly evolved of digimon, could be trusted. Had they not brought peace, freedom, and prosperity to the Digital World for years now? If they were keeping information back, there had to be a good reason.

Impmon had grown increasingly frustrated with having his legitimate doubts answered with admonitions of "Who do you think you are? Questioniong the wisdom of the Holy Beasts?" Friends, colleagues, family: he'd heard it from all sides. It had lead to his separation from the Violet Zone Air Defense Corps. He knew his history, of the disastrous consequences of placing blind faith in feckless autocrats. It has happened before, and looked to be happening all over again.

That was reason enough for Impmon to make his decision to get out while the getting was good. Therefore, he had decided to leave the Digital World. It was sad he couldn't persuade more to come with him. They would hopefully learn their lesson in time to escape whatever disaster loomed over the Digital World.

There was another world where he might make a life for himself. A world, not of ones and zeros, but of atoms and molecules. All digimon knew of that world that lay beyond the Connections. They had been there before. Once again, the reports came over the Material World media of sightings of strange creatures which looked a helluavalot like digimon.

The Frontier was breaking down for some unknown reason; the two worlds, one of matter and the other of data, were intersecting once again. This is what Impmon had been searching for: a weak spot along the Frontier. He had heard the rumours: digimon entered this desert and never came back. Reason enough to believe that the weak spots were now appearing here. The places where this occurred seemed to change at random. There was no guarantee that Impmon wasn't wasting his time here, as he had already done at other locations. No guarantee that the phenomenon had not already moved on. If it had, he would try again elsewhere.

He almost didn't see it: a slight shimmering on the horizon. He headed in that direction, this could be it, and several days worth of searching was about to pay off. It was indeed the weak spot he'd been looking for. He pulled a calculator from the bag slung over his shoulder, and ran the calculations. If he did not time it right, he could materialize far out to sea, or possibly miss the material world entirely: materializing in open space. So far as he knew, other digimon had suffered just such a fate. He set his watch; all he could do now was to wait.

Impmon's watch chimed softly. Five minutes to go, and he checked one last time to see if his calculations were in order. Thirty seconds. Ten seconds, and he dropped to the ground, digging the claws of his right foot into the soft sand. Five seconds, he tensed his muscles. Now! He leaped, propelling himself forward into the void. He seemed to be floating in a white nothingness. No matter how he strained his eyes, he could see no detail, nothing to give any sense of distance. He felt strange all over, as the nature of his substance altered form. Then there seemed to be something, he couldn't be sure. Then the detail sharpened enough for him to know it wasn't just his imagination. Vague shapes appeared. These seemed to gradually sharpen in detail. The whiteness began to fade, and he found himself standing by the parking lot of a small store.

He looked up at the sky, it was an unnatural pale blue, dominated, not by the Material World Sphere, but a bright yellow sun. He sniffed the air; unfamiliar scents reached his sensitive nose. He could hear cars passing along a road, birds chirping in the surrounding trees. This had to be it: the Material World. He'd made it! He glanced at his watch, the face was blank. He pulled out the calculator. It, too, was no longer functional. Oh well... He stepped onto the asphalt of the parking lot. Fortunately, the digital field had gone unnoticed, but he didn't want to stick around to find out. He would introduce himself in his own way, and in his own good time. He wondered if he'd first meet some of the other digimon who'd preceded him.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!", he cursed as he hopped on one foot while holding the other. He'd just received his first lesson in the ways of the Material World. He sat down and examined his foot. He picked out a small, sharp pebble still stuck to the bottom of his right foot. It hadn't broken the skin, but hurt a lot more than it should have, given its size.

After receiving requests, I'm reworking this story to include the chapters leading up to the beginning. If you've seen Tamers, you can skip ahead, if you like. I did make some changes to preserve the story's continuity.