BD Nostalgia-Fanfic-04

By Paigenotpage

Chapter 1 A Partner’s Resolve

A

ll around him, he could see grass. Miles and miles of grass, swaying in the wind. There were a few rocks, and he thought he could see a tree or two in the distance. He was sitting against a small rock, and he felt like there was something he needed to do. Right now, though, he felt a little sleepy. He thought he could hear the faint sound of waves rolling onto sand, but he wasn’t sure. The sky was overcast, which wasn’t too strange for this time of year. As long as it didn’t rain, he would be fine.

He leaned back and let out a huge yawn. As he shut his black eyes, he felt he could drift off. However, he soon felt something on his forehead. Groggily opening his eyes, he discovered a little white butterfly perched on his forehead.

“Oh...hi!” he said to the butterfly. The butterfly flapped its wings a little, then quickly took flight and sped off. Before he knew it, the butterfly had returned with a swarm of many identical butterflies, and his eyes widened in awe. He was about to say something, but suddenly, the butterflies flew underneath him, scooped him up, and started flying around.

“Whoa!” he shouted, before chuckling nervously. “So, where are we going?”

As he expected, the butterflies said nothing, but the flight path did the talking for them. They flew high into the sky, breezing over the grass like it was no big deal, weaving in between the trees of the forest they passed through, and all the while he was enjoying the ride. Sure, the friction of the air blowing in his face stung a little, but if it

mattered right now, it didn’t matter enough for him to complain.

After what felt like forever, the butterflies finally slowed down before completely stopping at a beach. They gently set him down onto the sand, and he stared at the ocean, watching the waves roll onto the shore. He turned around to look at the butterflies, but he noticed something odd. A very faint humanoid shade was starting to form around the butterflies, who were swarming in circles. It almost reminded him of...

“Yukio?”

In that instant, it seemed as if something flashed, and before he knew it, he was no longer on the beach. Instead, he was lying on the ice-cold stones of the floor of a dark castle. While it was almost pitch-black, he could still faintly see what appeared to be a demonic, dark purple dragon, bigger than anything he had seen before. The look in the dragon’s eyes was filled with pure malice, and he almost felt its glare piercing his soul, almost willing him to just give up on everything.

But then, he heard a voice from far away...

“Dati?”

This was weird...

“Hey! Dati!”

Was this voice calling him from another world, or...

“Datirimon!”

The little green digimon finally opened his eyes drowsily. “Huh...?”

He had been sleeping in a little bed inside of a small one-room hut. Two other digimon were looking at him curiously; one of them was a little black blob with round ears and yellow eyes, while the other one looked like a red rabbit with blue stripes and nine tails.

“Yay, you woke up!” the blob cheered, hopping up and down. “Elecmon’s gonna show the movie pretty soon! Wanna come with us, Dati?”

“Okay, Botamon.”

“Woohoo, I can’t wait!” Botamon said, hopping out the door.

Elecmon ran after him. “Careful, Botamon! Don’t run into anyone!”

Datirimon, or “Dati”, as he was more commonly called, was now all alone in the hut.

As much as he would have liked to watch the movie, he found himself just sitting in the bed, feeling like his mind was swimming in confusion.

What was that dream...?

Elecmon poked his head into the hut from the nearby window. “Coming, Datirimon?”

“Huh? Oh, right, the movie!” Dati said, running out the door and meeting up with Botamon and Elecmon outside. The sun was beginning to set in the sky as Dati, Elecmon, Botamon, and several other babies walked across the colorful and whimsical landscape of Primary Village to get to a larger building, which was where Elecmon would show the movie to the babies.

As he walked, Dati couldn’t help staring at the ground. His train of thought was overloaded on fuel right now, and it was all thanks to his dream.

Those butterflies...Yukio’s butterflies...why can’t I stop thinking of him? He was my purpose; we were going to do great things together...it’s only been two months, and I can’t let go...

“You okay, Dati?” Botamon asked.

“He’d better be. I hate crybabies!”

Dati gasped and his heart started with a jolt. Botamon turned to look at the source of the voice: a little red blob with eyes, a mouth, and bat wing-shaped ears. He was sitting off to the side, out of the crowd’s way. The smirk on his face screamed “I am so much better than any of you”.

“Back off, Jyarimon,” Botamon said with a glare. “You’d be sad, too, if you lost a friend.”

Jyarimon rolled his eyes. “Whatever! At least I wouldn’t whine like a baby about it like he’s doing.”

“You’ve never lost a friend, have you?”

“Well, have you?”

“No, but-” “Ha!” Jyarimon laughed. “You haven’t lost a friend, so you can’t speak for him!”

Botamon growled. “At least I listen to him! All you do is call him names!”

Elecmon stepped in between the two babies. “Calm down, you two.”

Jyarimon scoffed. “You’re telling me to calm down when you’re the one who punished me for telling the truth?”

Botamon leaned over from behind Elecmon. “Well, you could’ve been nicer about it!”

“Boys, boys!” Elecmon said, and the digimon stared at him.

He turned to Jyarimon. “Jyarimon, this is your last chance to get your movie privileges back. Either tell Datirimon you’re sorry, or you’re staying out here.”

This only made Jyarimon burst into laughter.

“This is hilarious! He wants me to lie to someone I don’t like just so I can see a stupid movie!” he said as he rolled on the ground. “What kind of caretaker acts like that? And he said honesty was a good thing!”

At this point, Elecmon decided that there was no getting an apology out of Jyarimon.

“Come on, everyone, let’s go in.”

Elecmon and the babies all entered the building, leaving Jyarimon on the ground, howling with laughter.

“Don’t listen to Jyarimon, Dati,” Botamon said as they entered the building. “He’s a jerk. And the worst part is, he always makes up some weirdo logic for why he’s ‘right’.

The other day, he stole my toy car and told Elecmon that he took it because I wouldn’t share. I would’ve shared, if he asked me nicely!”

Dati leaned in and whispered, “I’m not surprised...”

“I know, right? No one wants to hang out with him because he only cares about himself!”

Elecmon turned on a TV. “Okay, everyone, let’s watch a movie!”

Most of the babies cheered. Dati, however, still couldn’t help but think about things.

The movie was called “Salamon’s Summer”. In it, Salamon (a puppy-like digimon) wished for every day to be summer. The wish came true, and naturally, it led to chaos.

While many funny things happened during the movie, Dati only laughed a little bit.

Even so, he continued watching.

However, about an hour into the movie, there was something that made him change his mind: Salamon walked up to the blue dog-like Gaomon and tried to talk. “Gaomon, I-” The panicked Gaomon started hyperventilating. “No! I gotta get out of here!”

Suddenly, a light began to envelop him.

“Gaomon, digivolve to...Gaogamon!”

With that, the bigger, more lupine Gaogamon started darting across the grasslands, and Salamon tried to run after him.

“Wait!” Salamon yelled. “We have to find the Wizardmon who did this, so he can fix it! Come on, Gaogamon! You can’t leave me! We have to go together! We’re partners!”

Those last words hit a very tender nerve for Dati, and before anyone knew it, he was running upstairs into a second-story room, bawling his eyes out.

Botamon gasped. “Oh, no!”

With that, he made his way upstairs after his friend.

Meanwhile, Jyarimon was sitting outside of the building, staring at the night sky.

I bet they’re having so much fun in there, he thought. Probably watching some goodytwo-shoes movie...

“Hey, Jyarimon?”

Jyarimon looked and saw a purple jellyfish-like digimon floating nearby. He was holding a plastic bag filled with various things, including chips and soda.

“Hey, Keramon,” Jyarimon said. “I see you got the stuff.”

“Yep,” Keramon replied, sitting down next to Jyarimon and giving him a bag of chips and a can of soda. “So, what are you doing out here?”

“Everyone else is in there watching a movie,” Jyarimon said, opening the bag of the chips. “I wasn’t allowed.”

“Too scary?”

Jyarimon ate a chip. “Nope. Elecmon wouldn’t let me watch it. He wanted to punish me.”

Keramon tilted his head. “Punish you?”

Jyarimon nodded. “Yeah. You see, there’s this new digimon named Datirimon. Apparently, he had a human partner, like a Digidestined or something, but the human died and now he’s on his own. Ever since Elecmon brought him here, he’s been crying about it all the time.”

“Did you yell at him or something?”

“Yeah, this morning. Told him he needed to quit whining, and his human partner was dead and he needed to deal with that. And I mean, c’mon, whining about it won’t bring him back! So yeah, some baby digimon heard me and decided to rat it out to Elecmon.

Elecmon started lecturing me like ‘blah blah blah, that wasn’t very nice’, and then before I knew it, he told me to tell Datirimon that I was sorry.”

Keramon opened a can of soda. “So what did you do?”

“Simple. I told Elecmon that I wasn’t sorry, and that if he wanted me to apologize, he basically wanted me to lie. And why is he making me do that if it’s bad to lie? So long story short, he put me in time-out and told me I couldn’t watch the movie. And frankly, I don’t care. It sounded like a dumb baby movie anyway.”

“Well, I brought some stuff that’s even more fun than some movie,” Keramon said, pulling out some cheap water guns, uninflated balloons, and other toys. “Why don’t we go into the forest? You’ve always wanted to run away to where Elecmon couldn’t find

you, so...”

“Do you even have to ask?” Jyarimon replied with a grin.

With that, the pair of delinquents quickly made their way across the landscape of Primary Village and exited into a nearby forest, where they spent time having water fights, playing games, and basically being rowdy.

Meanwhile, Dati was on the upper floor of the building, standing in a corner and wailing. Botamon hopped up the stairs and entered the room. “Dati? Are you okay?”

Dati stopped crying, but he didn’t even turn to face him. “...No.” “Look, Dati, is there anything we can do for you?” Botamon asked, almost ready to cry himself. “I don’t like it when my friends are sad...”

For a short moment, neither of them spoke. Botamon really wanted to say something, but the words just wouldn’t come out; what if they only made things worse?

Before either of them could decide what to do, Elecmon came up the stairs. “You okay, Datirimon? Sorry, I didn’t know the movie would upset you...”

The only response was more silence from all three parties. It felt like forever before Dati finally broke the silence. “...Is this how it’s supposed to be? Just me staying here?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Elecmon asked.

Dati didn’t bother to turn around as he explained.

“If Yukio’s gone, and he was my partner, am I supposed to just stay here? Will I get a new partner or something? I don’t want a new partner; Yukio and I were going to be heroes together...”

In that instant, it felt like a lightbulb in Dati’s mind switched itself on.

If Yukio got to be a hero, then why not me?

“You know what?” Elecmon asked. “This is the first time this happened, or at least one of the first times. So you can make the decision.”

“Well...I have an idea,” Dati replied.

Botamon hopped into the air. “Ooh! Tell us!”

“Okay...I said Yukio and I were going to be heroes, and I remembered that he became a hero, so...”

“Yeah?” Botamon asked. “Go on!”

“I don’t want to just stay here. The digimon in the Digital World might be having troubles with things. I know the Digidestined saved the world twice, but they can’t be called on all the time, can they? I mean, they have lives beyond this, just like you told

me, Elecmon. We need to start defending ourselves in case some other evil decides to take over the world. So, Elecmon...”

“Yeah?”

Dati turned around, walked up to him, and looked him straight in the eyes. “I want to be a hero...just like Yukio.”

“Whoa!” Elecmon replied, laughing nervously. “I got no problems with this, but...if you wanna save the world, that might be a little too dangerous. If you ask me, you gotta start small first.”

“I know. I wasn’t thinking of saving the world right now. It’s just...maybe one day I could do it. Right now, I wanna follow my dream. If I can help people when they really need it, maybe I’ll become a hero.”

“Neat!” Botamon said. “Just remember, if you ever need my help, all you have to do is ask! I’m gonna go to Mesozoic Isle when I’m strong enough. I’ve heard there’s a mechanic there, and I hope he can teach me how to be an engineer. If we meet each other there, you can ask me for anything!”

“Thanks, Botamon.”

“So now that everything’s okay, you wanna finish the movie?” Elecmon asked.

“Sure!” Botamon replied, and the three headed back downstairs.

Back with Jyarimon... “Oh, man, I had so much fun!” Jyarimon said as he and Keramon walked back to the building in the night. “It was better than any movie Elecmon would show!”

“Yeah, I’m glad you had fun,” Keramon replied as he reached into his bag. “More chips?”

The duo stopped in front of the building. “Yeah, all that fun made me hungry!”

Keramon opened the bag of chips, and Jyarimon began scarfing them down. When he finished the last chip, he began feeling a strange tingling sensation.

“You okay, Jyarimon?”

“Whoa...I think it’s probably time for me to...!”

A bright light engulfed Jyarimon, and he began morphing. Keramon watched as Jyarimon’s silhouette grew a longer body, four legs, and a tail. “Jyarimon digivolve to...Gigimon!”

The light dissipated, and Gigimon stood in front of his friend. “Did I just...?”

“Yeah, I think you digivolved.”

The two partners in crime stared at each other for a brief moment, but then Keramon broke the silence. “You know what this means, right?”

Gigimon nodded. “I’m an In-Training digimon now, so...”

He paused as the realization hit him. Slowly but surely, a smirk began creeping across his face. “I don’t have to stay here anymore! Aw, yeah!”

Just then, the door to the building opened, and Elecmon began walking out with the babies. Gigimon jumped in front of them. “Hey, lame-o’s! Guess who just digivolved?”

Botamon’s eyes widened. “Is that you, Jyarimon?”

Gigimon laughed. “You got that right! Except now, I’m Gigimon! And since I’m an In-Training digimon now, I can blow this popsicle stand and move on to someplace else, hopefully where nobody’s an idiot, a liar, or a crybaby! And the best part?”

He looked directly at Elecmon and smirked. “You’re not the boss of me now! So you can’t tell me I’m wrong or make me apologize to anyone! I’m finally free, and I couldn’t be happier! Now, if you’ll excuse me, Keramon and I are outta here. So long, suckers!”

The two delinquents darted off into the night, screaming, “Look out, world!”

Elecmon and the babies stared off into the distance, warching them until they disappeared. Afterwards, most of the babies went back to their cradles, leaving Elecmon, Botamon, and Dati standing together.

“I don’t know what his problem is,” Botamon said. “We’re not idiots, liars, or crybabies.”

“He thinks we are,” Elecmon said. “But the important thing is he’s gone and he doesn’t want to come back. I still wish he apologized, though.”

“Elecmon?”

Elecmon looked at Dati. “What’s up?”

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to start training tomorrow. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is. I think we should all go to bed right now, though. Tomorrow, I’ll show you where you can train.”

“Okay, Elecmon. Thank you!”

With that, Elecmon and Botamon left to go to bed. Dati, however, remained where he was, and stared up at the night sky.

“Just watch me, Yukio,” he whispered, “I’m going to be a hero like you. If any digimon need help, I’ll be there for them. Maybe we can even meet up with each other one day...but I’m going to do it. I’m going to start training tomorrow, and then when I digivolve, I’ll leave Primary Village and see where the road takes me. I’m going to fulfill my destiny as your digimon partner!”

With his resolve clear in his mind, Dati decided to go inside the house he was in earlier that day and get some rest. His adventures were just about to begin...

Chapter 2

D said.

If I Leave Here Tomorrow ati and Botamon dashed for the ball on the field. Before they could get to it, a white version of Botamon took it and started dribbling it towards the goal.

“Nice catch, SnowBotamon!” a puffball with floppy dog ears and a small tail

“Thanks, Paomon!” SnowBotamon replied. “Now, let’s show them why we’re the best!”

Dati and Botamon started running after the other duo.

“Look out, Reremon!” Botamon cried.

Reremon (a yellow ball with a fox tail) stared down SnowBotamon, analyzing her every move. SnowBotamon shot the ball towards the goal, but Reremon blocked it with her tail and threw it out of the goal box. Dati seized the ball and started running to the opponents’ goal.

“Wow, look at him go!” Botamon said, watching SnowBotamon and Paomon run after him. “I bet if he keeps up his training, he’ll be the fastest digimon in the world!”

“Well, the fastest runner, at any rate,” Reremon replied. “How long has he been training, anyway?”

“About a week. He really wants to go on an adventure, and I don’t blame him.”

“Interesting.”

Meanwhile, Dati focused on the goal (and the spider digimon guarding it) as he dribbled the ball down the small court.

“He’s coming for you, KoDokugumon!” Paomon cried out.

When Dati shot the ball, KoDokugumon was prepared to grab it, but Paomon beat him.

“Don’t worry, I got this!” she said as she dribbled the ball back towards the other goal.

“I’m open!” SnowBotamon said.

Paomon quickly passed the ball to SnowBotamon, but before she could take it, Botamon jumped in the way and took control of the ball.

“All right, Dati, this is all you!” he said as he passed the ball. As soon as Dati received it, he ran forward and blasted the ball into the goal.

However, right after kicking the ball, he was cloaked in a harsh light.

KoDokugumon’s jaw dropped, and now he didn’t even care about the ball rolling beside him into the goal. “What the heck?”

The other digimon just stared as Dati’s form changed.

“Datirimon digivolve to...”

He stopped glowing, and he was now standing before everyone, now resembling a bulb instead of an unripe tomato. He now had four feet, and there was a sprout growing from his head. “...Tanemon!”

SnowBotamon hopped over to him, looking very interested. “Cool, you digivolved!”

“Congratulations, Dati!” Botamon said, hopping next to him. “Can I still call you that?”

“Sure you can,” he replied. “So, uh...what should I do now?”

“Well, you said you’d start going on your adventure when you’d digivolved, so...”

Botamon began.

“I didn’t think I’d digivolve so soon,” Dati replied. “I don’t think I’m ready just yet.”

“Well, we could finish our game,” Paomon suggested.

“Yeah, but I’m an In-Training digimon now, so it’s not fair,” Dati said. “Besides, I think KoDokugumon left to do something else.”

The other digimon looked around, and sure enough, KoDokugumon wasn’t there.

“That’s strange,” Reremon said. “He usually says goodbye before he leaves. Why wouldn’t he do that this time?”

Before anyone could answer, they heard a familiar voice approaching them.

“See? He digivolved!”

The babies turned and saw KoDokugumon approaching them. This time, he had brought Elecmon with him.

“So, you digivolved?” Elecmon asked. “That’s great!”

Dati gulped. “Um, Elecmon? Can we talk?”

“Sure,” he said, and looked at the other babies. “We’ll be right back, okay, guys?”

The others said okay, and Elecmon led Dati to a bench where the two of them took a seat.

Elecmon decided to break the ice. “So, what’s wrong?”

Dati took a deep breath. “You see, during the soccer game, I digivolved to In-Training. I told myself that this would be the point where I’d leave Primary Village and go on my adventure. But, the thing is, I don’t feel like I’m ready. Maybe I’m just really scared that I’ll fail, and Yukio will be disappointed in me or something. I don’t want to disappoint anyone...”

“Hey, don’t be afraid of making mistakes,” Elecmon replied. “It happens to the best of us, you know? If you make a mistake, you can always fix it up, say you’re sorry, and move on.”

“I know, but...what if it’s a really bad mistake that can’t easily be fixed? And what if they don’t forgive me, no matter what I do?”

“If you make a really bad mistake, make it up to them in any way you can. And if they still don’t want to forgive you, maybe it’s their problem and not yours. Or they just need to calm down.”

“Hmm.” Elecmon scooted a little closer. “Here, let me tell you a story. Back when I was chosen to be the caretaker of Primary Village, I didn’t think I could do it at first.”

Dati couldn’t believe his ears. “But you’re amazing at taking care of all of those babies!”

“Well, thanks. But I didn’t know it at the time. I thought taking care of all of the babies would be the toughest job ever. But I decided to give it a try, and as it turned out, I was good at taking care of babies! The point is, you should at least give it a try. If you can become a hero, great! If not, then at least you can say you tried. And just so you know, even if you digivolve to Mega, there’s always a place for you here.”

“Thanks, Elecmon.”

“Oh, and by the way, if you’re looking for a place to start out, I recommend File City.

A lot of the digimon there are friendly enough. You could see if they have any troubles to solve.”

“Okay.”

With that, they left to see the others. Although Dati’s confidence had been renewed, he still decided to wait until the next day before traveling.

That night, he and Botamon had just finished reading a couple of picture books in the hut, and Botamon had something on his mind.

“So, you’re gonna leave tomorrow?” Botamon asked.

“Yep,” Dati replied. “I figured that if I stayed here, then I wouldn’t get anything done.

I mean, I like you and the other digimon I’ve met here, but...”

“Oh, no, I understand,” Botamon said. “I’m gonna miss you, though. But hey, maybe we’ll meet each other if you decide to go to Mesozoic Isle one day. And just think of all the cool places you’re gonna visit!”

“Yeah...by the way, thanks for standing up for me.”

“No problem! That’s what friends are for, right? And I don’t like it when my friends are upset.”

Before Dati could answer, he heard a voice coming from the doorway.

“Hey, Dati!”

He turned to see who called him, and saw Paomon, Reremon, SnowBotamon, and KoDokugumon standing in the doorway.

“Oh, hi, guys!” Dati said. “Botamon and I were just talking about stuff.”

Paomon entered the hut. “We heard you were going to leave tomorrow, so we decided to visit you.”

“Thanks for playing soccer with us,” SnowBotamon said. “I had a lot of fun playing with you, and so did the others.”

Reremon nodded. “You’re a pretty fast runner. Ever thought about joining a soccer team?”

Dati looked confused. “Not really...”

KoDokugumon skitted up to Dati and put one of his front legs around him. “Heh! Well, if you ever wanna do something like that, find us and say the word! We were thinking of maybe starting our own team when we get strong enough.”

“Thanks.”

And so the six babies kept talking about different things until it was time to go to bed.

Everyone said goodnight to each other, and Dati stayed in the hut.

Tomorrow, it’ll be time... Dati thought before falling asleep.

He stood inside the edge of a massive colosseum. The other end was just barely visible from here. Up in the stands, a crowd of all sorts of digimon clapped and cheered, their voices blending into one continuous noise. Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

“You ready, squirt?”

With that, someone ran ahead of him. He almost wanted to say it was a human...but none of the humans he’d seen had any wings. The strange figure looked towards the other end of the colosseum and started yelling out some taunts of sorts.

“You think you’re tough, do ya? Well, think again, cause now you have...to deal with!”

Huh? Was the figure saying his name just now? Why couldn’t Dati hear it? Something was not right here...

Dati walked up next to the winged humanoid and stared straight ahead; the ground began rumbling to a steady beat, as if something large was coming this way.

Suddenly, a male voice began sounding through a loudspeaker, above the sound of the crowd.

“All right, ladies and gentlemen, digimon of all stages! You want carnage? You’re gonna get it, ‘cause here come these guys’ opponents! Two of the toughest guys around, the duo of debacles and disaster...give it up for-” “Wake up, Dati!”

“Hey! What...?” Dati looked around; he was no longer in the colosseum, but back in the hut in Primary Village. Botamon was standing next to him.

“Elecmon’s getting breakfast ready,” Botamon explained. “I thought you might wanna have something to eat. Y’know, before you have to go?”

Dati blinked. “Oh...thanks for telling me. I’ll have to go see about that.”

“Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine...I just had a weird dream.”

Botamon hopped towards the door. “Why don’t you tell me about it while we go get breakfast?”

“Okay.”

So as they walked out of the hut and over to an area with picnic tables, Dati told Botamon all about the colosseum, the crowd, the winged humanoid whose name he couldn’t

hear, the rumbling ground, and the announcer.

“I mean, my dreams are usually weird, but this one almost felt realistic,” Dati said.

“Just like the one with the butterflies and the dragon.”

“Yeah...dreams are weird,” Botamon replied.

The two took a seat at a picnic table.

“So, where do you wanna go?” Botamon asked.

Dati shrugged. “I don’t know. File City, probably. Elecmon told me it’d be a good place to start, so why not?”

“And look who it is!” Botamon said.

Sure enough, Elecmon was walking up to them with a couple trays of pancakes and sausage, and two glasses of milk.

“Here you go, Botamon, and here’s one for you, Dati,” he said, handing them each a tray.

Botamon’s eyes lit up. “Yay!” With that, he began chowing down like he hadn’t eaten for days. Dati, meanwhile, took his time eating breakfast. It was going to be his last breakfast in Primary Village for a while, so he decided to savor each bite.

When they were done, Botamon went off to play. Dati, on the other hand, decided to visit Elecmon for some last-minute preparations.

“So, how do I get to File City?” he asked.

Elecmon pointed to some grasslands outside the edge of Primary Village. “See those grasslands over there? Just follow the signs on the path, and you’ll make it to File City.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you!”

Suddenly, Paomon came hopping up to Elecmon. “Elecmon! SnowBotamon and Kiimon are fighting!”

Elecmon put his paw on his face. “Not again...all right, I’m on my way.”

Elecmon and Paomon left to diffuse the fight.

Dati just stood there, his mind racing with thoughts.

Now that I know what to do, I think maybe I should go now...I’m still a little scared, but I can’t put it off forever...

Botamon hopped up to him. “Hey, Dati, I saw you talking to Elecmon. Does that mean it’s...y’know, ‘go time’? Not that I don’t like having you around, of course. I was just wondering.”

Dati faltered for a bit, but regained his composure. “...Yes. I think it’s time.”

“Oh...” Botamon said, then turned to face a lot of the babies. “Hey, guys! Dati’s leaving! If you wanna say goodbye to him, you should do it now!”

In an instant, Dati found himself surrounded by a huge crowd of babies. Some of them were saying goodbye, but others were asking him a ton of questions. They wanted to know where he was going, why he was leaving, what he was going to do, and how he was going to do it. Some babies were begging him not to go, while others were begging him to take them along.

“Everyone! Everyone, calm down!” Dati said. When the babies calmed down, he decided to explain. “I’m just going to File City for now. Maybe I’ll go somewhere else afterwards. But I want to fulfill my destiny as a digimon partner and help others. I like it here, but this is important to me, so I have to go. Goodbye for now, and thanks for helping me feel better.”

With that, he turned towards the grasslands, but a group of babies stood in front of him.

“No! Please don’t go!” a seed-like Nyokimon said.

“Can’t you take us with you?” a fish-like Pichimon asked.

The babies started asking him a lot of questions again, but a voice quickly silenced them.

“Kids, calm down!”

Some of the babies moved out of the way to allow Elecmon to pass through. He stood next to Dati and continued.

“I know you’re gonna miss him, but this journey’s really important to him, like he said. Besides, he may visit Primary Village again one day. It’s not like he’s leaving forever. You’d be sad if someone kept trying to stop you from going somewhere you really wanted to go, right? And I know some of you want to go with him, but it’s pretty dangerous out there sometimes. You’ll have to digivolve before you can leave. He’s been training really hard to be a hero, and both of us agree that he’s ready. There’s a saying I’ve heard before. It goes like this: if you love something, set it free; if it comes back, it’s meant to be. I’m gonna miss him too, but we both know this is what’s best for him. So why don’t we all say goodbye to him?”

The babies began doing so.

“Goodbye, Dati!” “Have fun!” “Good luck!” “Come visit us one day!”

Botamon came over to him. “Don’t worry. You can do this!”

“Thanks,” Dati said before turning to the crowd. “Goodbye, and thank you!”

He turned around and began walking out of Primary Village, acknowledging a few more goodbyes. Before long, he’d crossed the border into the grasslands, and he could no longer hear the babies’ voices.

Wow, I’m really on my own now... he thought. But...Elecmon said something about a sign. So where is it?

Dati continued walking, mentally noting that the grass was providing a very different feeling than the plush landscape of Primary Village. Deep down, he wondered what other types of landscapes he would explore. Looking up at the sky, he saw a very thick blanket of clouds. Before he knew it, something appeared in the distance. He squinted, trying to make out its details. As he approached, he began noticing the shape: a square on a pole.

“Is this the sign?” he thought out loud, and picked up his pace.

He got closer and closer to the strange object, and once he got close enough, he could tell that it was in fact a sign.

What does that say? File City...something.

Before he knew it, he was right at the foot of the signpost. The sign said, “File City: hard left”. So Dati turned left and continued walking. He looked at the ground below and noticed that the grass was a little bit worn down, and he could see a few traces of soil.

Hmm...were other digimon on this path?

As he continued thinking, he barely even noticed the next sign, but he stopped to look. This new sign said, “File City: soft right”. The path in that direction was getting clearer, as the grass had deteriorated more, revealing more of the dirt underneath. Dati advanced farther down the path, and he gradually began seeing buildings in the distance.

Is that the city? I think I’m almost there!

With that, he broke into a run, knowing that his journey would start very soon. His experiences of being a hero were about to begin.

As he ran, he saw a third sign, this one reading. “File City: dead ahead”.

“Gee, I hadn’t noticed,” he muttered.

He continued running along the path. Unfortunately, since he was just an In-Training digimon, his stamina left a lot to be desired. Before long, he collapsed to the ground, trying to catch his breath.

“I’m...almost...there...” he said in between bouts of panting.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh...?” Dati looked at the source of the voice, who happened to be a pink bird.

“You look really exhausted. Is something wrong?”

Dati shook his head. “I was just...running...”

The bird tilted her head. “Running from something?”

“No...just running...”

The bird was about to reply when a drop of water fell on her head.

“Huh?” she said. Looking up, she could see that a lot of raindrops were beginning to fall to the ground. “Ooh...we shouldn’t stay out here. Come with me; I have a sweets store on the edge of File City. We can stay there.”

“I was just going to File City,” Dati said, having finally regained his breath.

“See? It works out!” the bird replied. “Now, just follow me...”

With that, the bird started walking, and Dati tagged along next to her. The rain began to get more violent, but the two mostly disregarded it, since they knew they would be indoors soon enough.

“So, what brings you here to File City?” she asked.

“I want to be a hero! But first, I gotta start small...”

The bird nodded. “It makes sense for heroes to start small before moving on to bigger things. It’s just like with baking; you have to make simple treats before making a really intricate wedding cake. Or, to put it another way, you have to crawl before you can walk.”

“Yep. By the way, what-” “Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt, but we’re here,” the bird said.

Dati looked at the building that stood in front of them. It was a simple wooden building, with double doors and a sign above that read, “Wool and Wings’ Sweets and Sundries”.

The bird looked at him. “Come on, let’s go in.”

A little bell jingled as the two of them walked inside, and the rain became little more than a faded rumble when the door closed. Dati’s eyes wandered throughout the store.

The wall on the left was dedicated to a huge shelf filled with all sorts of treats, either individually packaged or boxed together. There were cupcakes, donuts, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and that was just what Dati could see in a glimpse. The shelves eventually led to a door, which Dati assumed was for the employees. On the right, he could see a magazine rack that was filled with magazines from all corners of the Digital World. In the back, to the right of the door, there was a counter that had some barstools in front, as well as a cash register.

“This is a pretty nice shop, isn’t it?” the bird asked. “My friend Sheepmon and I run this place together. She fetches the supplies, and I make them into lots of sweet treats!”

Suddenly, she realized she never told him her name. “By the way, my name is Biyomon.”

“You can call me Dati,” Dati replied. “So, wait a minute. Are you the Biyomon from-” “The Digidestined?” Biyomon shook her head. “No, I’m just a Biyomon. It’d be interesting to be part of the Digidestined, though.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Anyway, speaking of my friend Sheepmon...” Biyomon began. “...I have a bit of a problem.”

Dati looked worried. “What’s wrong?”

Biyomon picked up Dati and placed him on a barstool before sitting on an adjacent one. “You see, earlier this morning, I sent her to get some supplies. Normally, she gets back here pretty quickly, like within an hour or so. Well, it’s been two hours, and she hasn’t come back. And with all this rain, I’m starting to get really worried about her.”

“Ooh...should we go out to find her?” Dati asked.

Biyomon shrugged. “Well, part of me wants to, but the other part of me is worried about thieves breaking into the store. You may not know this, but there have been rumors of a thief going around. He makes people lose their will to fight, and by the time they snap back, he’s made off with their things and left behind a piece of paper with a broken heart on it.”

Before Dati could say anything, the bell jingled again. A black sheep with pink wool, red horns, and a missile launcher staggered inside with a piece of paper in her mouth.

Her legs buckled and she collapsed, shivering.

Biyomon’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Oh, no! Sheepmon!”

Dati hopped off of the barstool, and he and Biyomon ran up to Sheepmon. “What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

“S-s-someone s-stole the g-goods...” Sheepmon explained, shuddering like it was freezing.

“Just hold on there, Sheepmon,” Biyomon said. “I’ll go get you a towel. Dati, why don’t you ask her what happened?”

“Sure,” Dati replied. As Biyomon went off into the back room, Dati asked, “So, what happened?”

“I w-was bringing s-supplies for Biyomon, b-but someone took th-them,” Sheepmon began. “”They f-fired a weird attack at me, and s-somehow, I got extremely d-depressed. W-when I got out of it, the stuff was g-gone! I tried to find m-more, but then I realized I was out of b-bits. The thief left th-this behind...”

She pointed at the paper, which appeared to be blank. When Dati flipped it over, he saw a grey heart with red outlines and a cream-colored jagged line running down the middle of the heart.

Dati could hardly believe his eyes. “Is this...?”

Just then, Biyomon came out with a towel and put it over Sheepmon’s torso. “There you go. Did you find out what happened?”

“Um, Biyomon?” Dati began. “I think that thief you told me about got to Sheepmon.”

Biyomon sighed. “I was afraid of this...well, let me tell you something. A couple days ago, we had two special customers come in: a detective and his assistant. They were the ones who told us about the thief, in fact. Apparently, he’s called “The Heartbreaker”, and he’s a wanted mon back where he’s from. Our customers are from the same place he came from, and they’ve been chasing after him for a while now. When the weather clears up, I think you should go talk to them.”

Sheepmon, no longer shivering, nodded. “If what I’ve heard is true, we’re not the first ones he went after in File City, and I don’t think we’ll be the last...”

As the three continued talking, Dati had something on his mind.

My first day out, and I’m already getting involved in something big...might as well see where this goes...

Chapter 3 The Mystery Continues

I

t had been just an hour since Sheepmon told the others about the thief. The rain was still pouring outside, but it had become quieter. Biyomon had gone off to the back room, leaving Sheepmon and Dati to talk about things in the front room.

“And then he asked, ‘You mean cotton candy isn’t made with real cotton?’, and all I can do is think, ‘Uh-oh...’” Sheepmon said.

“So, what did you do?” Dati asked.

“We ended up keeping that batch,” Sheepmon explained. “In fact, we still have it somewhere in the back room. Too bad we can’t think of anything to do with it. I mean, you can’t eat it if it has cotton in it, but if you made it into clothes or something else like that, you wouldn’t be able to wash it because of the sugar.”

Dati shrugged. “Maybe you could stuff a pillow with it? I don’t know...”

“Like I said, we’re trying really hard to think of something,” Sheepmon replied. “I’ll tell you one thing, though: he knew how to make a caramel apple...even if it wasn’t the conventional type.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know how a caramel apple is usually an apple covered with caramel? Well, he took globs of caramel and made them into apple shapes. So if you wanted to, you could literally eat the whole apple, and you wouldn’t have to worry about seeds or cores getting in the way. The only downside is that you’d have to spend quite some time brushing your teeth afterwards!”

The two digimon laughed, and Biyomon walked out of the back room, holding a tray with three cups of cocoa.

“Anyone want some cocoa?” she asked. “I figured I might as well use the last of the cocoa mix for now. Spring is almost here, so there’s not going to be much of a market for hot cocoa. Don’t worry; it’s on me.”

“Thank you!” Dati said, taking his cup. Sheepmon nodded and took one of her own.

“So, what’s up?” Biyomon asked after taking a sip.

“I was just telling Dati about Kamemon,” Sheepmon said.

“Oh, I remember him! He had a little trouble learning the ropes of baking and candy-making, but he did have a very good heart.”

Dati looked at Biyomon. “What happened to him? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

Biyomon sipped her cocoa again. “He decided this wasn’t for him and quit. Last time I talked to him, he told me he wanted to be a DJ, and was practicing his skills. Hopefully, he’s been able to find a market for those skills.”

“Yep,” Sheepmon said. “There are lots of places he can go to: Mesozoic Isle, the Island of Balance, Server, Mainframe...if he can’t find business in one place, he can always find another place to go. I’m sure there has to be a demand for a DJ somewhere; it’s entertainment, and there’s always a demand for entertainment.”

“I’ve heard Mainframe is really dangerous, though...” Biyomon replied. “And I’ve also heard rumors of a crime boss on Mesozoic Isle. Somehow, he and his goons got to be so powerful that not even the island’s toughest fighters can stop them.”

“Just a thought. He doesn’t have to go to those places if he doesn’t want to.”

“Wait a minute!” Dati exclaimed. “There’s a crime boss on Mesozoic Isle?”

Biyomon nodded. “I was going to set up shop there, but some Chuumon started threatening me, so I ended up coming back here. That’s when Sheepmon and I decided it would be safer to sell our sweets here. But, considering there’s a thief running around, I’m not so sure. Were you planning on going there?”

“Maybe. But one of my friends said he wanted to go there because there’s an engineer there who could teach him engineering. I’m just scared for my friend, ‘cause if he got

hurt, I’d feel really bad.”

“Well, there are lots of digimon there who could protect him,” Sheepmon said. “Apparently, though, the Chuumon on the island have been stirring up some animosity between everyone. Or at least, they’re trying to. I don’t know how well they’ve managed to succeed. Hopefully, they’ve been failing.”

“Huh. Well, at any rate, I hope he’ll be okay.”

When everyone finished their cocoa, Biyomon looked out the window.

“Hey, Dati, I think the rain stopped,” she said. “Wanna go see if the detective’s still in town? Maybe you can help him find out where The Heartbreaker is.”

Dati walked up to the door. “Okay...who do I look for?”

“A Pandamon named Vladimir.”

“Vladimir?”

“Mm-hmm,” Sheepmon replied with a nod. “You see, there are a lot of Pandamon where he comes from, and so he goes by the name Vladimir to distinguish himself from the others. Even when he’s not in his homeland, he still uses that name. He told us himself when he and his partner came in.”

“Okay.”

Biyomon opened the door for Dati. “If you need anything else, just let us know.”

“Thank you!” Dati said as he walked out the door. The scent of moist earth wafted through the air as he made his way across the wet stone pathway into the plaza of File City.

“Okay, so I need to look for a Pandamon,” he said to himself. “And apparently he had an assistant. But what does this assistant look like? Is he a Pandamon, too? Does he at least look like a bear? Maybe I should’ve asked these questions before leaving...”

“Excuse me,” a male voice said. Dati turned and saw a purple and brown dog-like creature with long rabbit-like ears, green pants, an ammunition belt over his chest, and metal machine guns on his forearms.

“Huh? What’s up?” Dati asked.

The dog crouched down and asked, “Have you heard about the thief going around town?”

Dati tensed up a little. “Um, yes.”

A somewhat concerned look was on the dog’s face. “Oh, I’m sorry. I should probably introduce myself before asking these questions. My name is BlackGargomon. I’m trying to find out more information about the thief.”

“You mean The Heartbreaker?”

“Well...whatever thief’s been going around town recently. How do you know about him?”

“He stole from Sheepmon.”

“The candy store owner?”

“Yep. He left a piece of paper with a broken heart on it. Biyomon and Sheepmon told me to go into town and look for Vladimir the detective.”

BlackGargomon nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard about him. Hopefully, I’ll get to meet him, and we can compare notes. The Heartbreaker stole from me too, you know.”

“He did?”

“Uh-huh. You see, I had bought a special present for my girlfriend Taomon, but when I was bringing it home, The Heartbreaker ambushed me. Of course, I didn’t see him, but I know it was him because I suddenly started feeling totally depressed. I couldn’t help but lie down and bawl my eyes out. When I finally started to feel better, I found that my present was gone, and this was in its place.”

BlackGargomon reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, and Dati gasped at what he saw. On it was the exact same drawing that was on Sheepmon’s paper: a grey heart, a red outline, and a jagged, cream-colored line running down the middle of the heart.

“You recognize that drawing?” BlackGargomon asked.

“Sheepmon had one just like it!” Dati responded.

BlackGargomon stood up. “Hmm...so that makes at least two known targets of The Heartbreaker. I think Vladimir might know about some more. Honestly, I didn’t get involved in this whole thing until my present was stolen.”

“Excuse me,” Dati said, pointing. “Is that Vladimir right there?”

BlackGargomon turned around and saw a panda with a red scarf. The panda was being escorted by a fox wearing fancy robes.

“I think maybe it is Vladimir!” BlackGargomon said. “And there’s Taomon with him!”

With that, BlackGargomon ran up to the pair. Vladimir cringed and stuck out his paws in front of himself.

“Please watch where you’re going, sir!” he said. BlackGargomon quickly stopped in front of them.

“Hey now, I wasn’t going to run into you,” he replied.

Vladimir squinted. “It’s hard for me to tell without my glasses. Anyway, did you want something?”

“Yep! To be specific, I’ve learned some more information about The Heartbreaker.

Not only did he steal from me, but as this little digimon told me, he also stole from Wool and Wings.”

He looked at Dati and motioned to him. “By the way, what’s your name? Sorry I didn’t ask before.”

“I’m Dati.”

“Hello, Dati. My name is Vladimir,” Vladimir said. “Please forgive me, but it’s a little hard to see you right now. Without my glasses, everything looks blurry. So you say that The Heartbreaker stole from Biyomon and Sheepmon as well?”

“That’s right. Sheepmon had bought some supplies, but The Heartbreaker stole them from her before she could get them back to the shop.”

“Did he leave the paper?”

“Yes.” Vladimir sighed. “There’s no stopping The Heartbreaker once he’s let loose. He’s an incredibly greedy fellow who wants everything he sees as long as it isn’t nailed down. The residents of Ursa Town have taken several security measures to make sure he doesn’t get their stuff, but even so, he can still make them depressed, and then try to bypass those security measures. We don’t know why he acts like this, and he doesn’t seem to want to tell us. Regardless, we’ve chased him from Ursa Town all the way to File City. Unfortunately, he was able to outsmart me and steal my glasses.”

“Do you know what kind of digimon he is?” Dati asked. “I think maybe that would narrow it down a bit.”

“I only know of one digimon that can make opponents feel depressed,” Vladimir replied. “That digimon is called WaruMonzaemon. He basically looks like an evil teddy bear with the same color scheme as the broken heart drawings.”

“Hmm...” Dati said. “So why haven’t we seen him?”

“He must have improved his stealth abilities,” Vladimir explained.

They were all about to continue the discussion, but then...

“Hey! Vlad!”

The four digimon saw a smaller bear running up to them. This bear was a greyish color with various dark blue accessories, including a backwards baseball cap with the word “BEARS” printed on it. He was also wearing a backpack.

“Is that you, Hovis?” Vladimir asked.

The bear stopped in front of everyone and looked at Vladimir. “Yep, it’s me! I just thought I should tell you that I found another clue.”

Dati walked up to him. “So, your name’s Hovis?”

“Mm-hmm. Hovis the Bearmon!” Hovis replied. “I’m Vlad’s assistant. Not only do I help him find clues, but I draw sketches as well.”

Hovis took off his backpack, unzipped it, and reached inside. “And I just found something rather interesting.”

He pulled out a sketchpad and flipped through the pages until he found the picture he was looking for, and then he showed everyone what he sketched. It was the area near the sweets store. There were some hoofprints and bear tracks in the mud, and while the hoofprints led to the entrance to the store, the bear tracks appeared to be leading to another place.

“Good thing I’d brought my umbrella with me, or else I wouldn’t have been able to do any sketching in all that rain!” Hovis said.

Vladimir squinted again. “What’s on the page?”

BlackGargomon told him, and Vladimir said, “Hmm. This must be what Dati told us about. I wonder where his tracks lead.”

Taomon shrugged. “Maybe we’ll find out soon enough.”

“That’s right, sweetie,” BlackGargomon replied. “But I’m thinking that maybe we should formulate a plan before we try to take the fight to The Heartbreaker. If we all just rush in like a bunch of maniacs, he may do more than just steal from us.”

“True,” Vladimir said. “So, why don’t we all take a break for a while? Maybe tomorrow, we can try to learn more information.”

BlackGargomon nodded. “Yeah, if we get too involved in this right now, we may just keep going in circles and stressing ourselves out. What do you guys wanna do?”

“Um...” Dati began. “I don’t really know my way around here. Maybe I could go for a walk and learn where everything is?”

“You know something?” Hovis asked. “I don’t know my way around here, either.

How’s about we go around and see what’s in File City? Maybe I could even draw us a map. I’m not really the king of cartographers, but still.”

“Good idea,” BlackGargomon said. “Maybe I can show you around and tell you about all the different places.”

He looked at Vladimir and Taomon. “Wanna come with us?”

“All right.”

“Mm-hmm.”

So, for the better part of the day, BlackGargomon and Taomon took the others on a tour of File City. Hovis took notes on the different locations within. Aside from the candy store, they spent time at a video store, went to the docks (where a serpent named Seadramon was offering ferry services), visited a stadium, and even went to the out-

skirts of File City, where they could see a trailer in the distance.

“I’ve heard that’s where a rock band hangs out!” BlackGargomon said.

“A rock band, huh?” Dati replied.

“It’d be cool to hear some of their songs!” Hovis chimed in.

By the time the tour was finished, the sun was beginning to set in the sky.

“You guys wanna stay with Taomon and me at our place?” BlackGargomon asked.

“We don’t mind!”

“Okay. Thank you!” Dati said.

“I’m in!” Hovis added.

“Yes, I’d appreciate that very much,” Vladimir stated.

So, the five of them went to the house where BlackGargomon and Taomon lived, and they agreed that tomorrow, they were going to ask everyone about The Heartbreaker.

While they were eating dinner, Dati decided to tell them his story.

“And I mean, I wanted to help people, but I wasn’t expecting to get involved in a big thing so soon!” he had said.

Hovis slurped some noodles. “Well, it doesn’t mean you can’t help with little things, you know. Honestly, we don’t care if you end up helping other people while you’re helping us. And why would we? I mean, you’re helping people!”

“That’s right, Hovis,” Vladimir said. “Honestly, this must be exciting for you. I mean, this is only your first day out, and you’re getting involved in a mystery!”

“Hopefully, everything will work out,” Dati replied.

BlackGargomon sipped some water. “I’m sure it will! If you need anything, don’t forget that you have friends here.”

“Thanks, everyone.”

As Dati continued to eat his dinner, his mind was racing with thoughts of what tomorrow could bring.

Chapter 4 The Heartbreaker’s Whereabouts

T

he next day had arrived, and Vladimir, Dati, and Hovis were walking around File City. “All right, remember what we discussed,” Vladimir said. “We’re here today to learn about The Heartbreaker’s whereabouts, and maybe help anyone who can’t find their items. Any questions?”

“What do we do if we catch The Heartbreaker in the act?” Dati asked.

“It’s not likely,” Vladimir explained. “Judging by all the stories I’ve heard, The Heartbreaker only strikes when he knows he won’t be caught in the act.”

Hovis nodded. “Yeah, if I were a thief, I wouldn’t want to pull those stunts when everyone can see me.”

“But, if we did catch him...” Vladimir began, “...we would probably have to call for help. I mean, I can still fight, but I don’t want to risk hurting anyone by accident because of my blurred vision.”

“And I’m an artist, not a fighter,” Hovis added. “And no offense to you, Dati, but an In-Training versus an Ultimate? Good luck with that!”

“Yeah, that would be a little too difficult,” Dati stated. With that, the three digimon walked towards the candy store.

“If those tracks are still there, we might be able to find out where The Heartbreaker ran off to,” Hovis stated.

“That’s right,” Vladimir replied. “But we must be careful. If we end up intruding at the wrong time, we may have to fight him. So if we see him, he doesn’t see us, and he isn’t stealing from anyone, we’ll have to sneak away.”

“Good plan,” Dati said.

As they continued walking, they began hearing a voice asking, “Where is it? Where is it?” At first, they paid it no mind. But then, the noise eventually got closer and closer.

“That digimon must be having trouble,” Vladimir noted. “I think we should-” “Vlad! Look out!” Hovis cried. Vladimir gasped and crouched down, putting his paws over his head. A small silver UFO flew right above him, stopping in front of the trio so a pink alien wearing a blue flowery shirt could emerge.

“Whoa, I totally need to look where I’m going...” the alien mused as he hopped out of his UFO and Vladimir stood back upright. “Sorry, broski, I didn’t mean to almost hit you.”

“That’s all right,” Vladimir said. “Were you having trouble finding something?”

“Oh, yeah,” the alien replied. “You see, dudes, I love surfing. You might say it’s the only life for me. Know what I mean? Anyway, earlier this morning, I was heading down to the beach to catch some waves, and I don’t know what happened, but somehow, I suddenly felt, like, totally sad. And I don’t mean just bummed out; we’re talkin’ serious woe-is-me stuff here. When it fizzled out, I was all like, ‘What the heck, dude? That doesn’t happen to me! Like, ever!’ So I looked around, trying to see what happened, when I saw that my board was gone! Bummer, man! I’ve been looking for it ever since.

So yeah, any of you seen my surfboard?”

“I haven’t seen any surfboards around here,” Dati said. “Have you guys?”

“Nope,” Hovis stated, before something occurred to him, and he pulled out his notepad. “Wait a minute, you suddenly got depressed?”

“Yeah.”

“Did the thief leave a piece of paper with a broken heart on it?”

The alien nodded. “Yeah. It’s in my UFO.” “Maybe The Heartbreaker took it!”

“Who?” “He’s a thief that’s been going around town,” Vladimir explained. “In order to steal valuables, he distracts his targets by using an attack that makes them feel depressed.”

“Yeah, and you’re not the first target, either,” Hovis said. “He stole some supplies from Sheepmon, one of the sweets store’s owners. And if that’s not enough, he also stole a gift that a friend of ours wanted to give to his girlfriend!”

The alien looked shocked. “Whoa! No wonder they call him a heartbreaker! Well,

you know something? If he wants to break my heart and stop me from surfing, he’s got another thing coming! Those waves are calling out to me. They’re saying, “Hey, Vademon! Surf’s up! You know you wanna go...’ and I’m like, ‘Do you even have to ask?’

I’m gonna surf those waves. I don’t care if I have to use a rental board. Heck, even if I can only surf on a two-by-four, I’m still gonna surf! He may have taken my favorite surfboard, but that doesn’t mean he wins!”

“Well, if we find it, we’ll let you know,” Dati replied.

“Sweet! Thanks, little dude!” Vademon said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I gotta catch some gnarly waves! Cowabunga!”

With that, Vademon hopped back in his UFO and flew away.

“That was...interesting,” Vladimir said. “Hovis, did you take a note on this?”

“Sure did!” Hovis replied, showing his notepad to Dati. He had made a list of The Heartbreaker’s targets and the items he stole from each. “If we meet anyone else who had something stolen, I’ll take more notes!”

“Thank you, Hovis. Now, let’s find out more about those tracks.”

The three of them got even closer to the candy store, Hovis staring at the ground to look for the tracks.

“I hope they’re still here...” Hovis said. “I mean, I have my sketches and all, but if the prints aren’t still here, it’ll be even tougher...”

Dati looked at Hovis. “Uh, Hovis? I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

Hovis looked down and saw that the tracks were, in fact, still there.

“Hey, thanks, Dati!” he said. “Now, we just have to follow these and see which way The Heartbreaker went!”

So they began to take the general pathway the tracks were following. Dati began to get a little bit nervous, and Hovis could sense it with the way Dati was taking some deep breaths.

“Something wrong?” Hovis asked.

Dati jumped a little. “Oh, um...I’m just scared that we’ll encounter him. I don’t think we’re ready.”

“This is why we need to be really quiet,” Vladimir stated. “We’re traveling in numbers, so I doubt he’ll go after us like this. Even if we can’t efficiently fight him, he knows better than to go after a member of a group when there are others who could see him and tell the authorities. If we’re really quiet, he won’t know we’re on to him.”

“Okay.”

As they followed the prints, they began to notice that they were getting rather close to the outskirts of town.

“I’d think he’d be a little smarter than to just leave his trail here like this...” Dati said.

Hovis shrugged. “Yeah, well, it’s kind of a lose-lose situation for him. No matter what he does, someone will find him. If he leaves his tracks here, someone will follow them to his hideout, but if he tries to cover them up, someone’s bound to catch him in the act. You see, he’s not the most competent thief. I bet if he didn’t have his Heartbreak Attack, he wouldn’t be able to steal a thing. Now, if only there were a way to disable that attack...”

“I don’t know of any digimon who can do that, though...” Vladimir replied.

Before anyone else could reply, they soon heard a “Hey! Psst! Over here!” To the left, they saw BlackGargomon waving at them from underneath a nearby tree. They went over to where he was. “What’s up?” Dati asked.

“I did a little spying...” BlackGargomon began. “...and I found out a very important piece of evidence! You see those two abandoned buildings over there?”

He pointed to a pair of two-story abandoned buildings that were surrounded by a wooden fence. Hovis took off his backpack and started to open it. “What about them?”

“I saw The Heartbreaker sneaking through a hole in the fence. When he entered, he was carrying a microphone, but he didn’t have it when he left. So, this must be where he puts everything he steals!”

“Whoa! I’d better take a note on this!” Hovis said as he pulled out his notepad and flipped to a new page. Vladimir nodded. “By the way, there was someone else who had something stolen. It was a Vademon who lost his surfboard.”

“Huh...when did this happen?” BlackGargomon asked.

“A little while ago,” Dati said. “And you said he stole a microphone from someone?”

“Yep. I don’t know where it came from, though. All I know is that he had it when he was going to his hideout.”

“Is he even using anything he steals?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” BlackGargomon said. “But if he tampers with my gift for Taomon, then he’s in for it! Big time!”

A thought came to his mind. “Speaking of which, we should go see her right now and tell her about this. She’s also formulating a plan regarding The Heartbreaker, and so she needs this information.”

“Just let me finish my notes,” Hovis said as he continued to sketch a drawing of the area. After another minute, he finished his sketch. “Okay! Got it!”

Hovis put his notepad away, and they all went to see Taomon.

In Taomon’s house, she was sitting at a desk and taking notes.

“So maybe if we distract him while we retrieve the objects...” she muttered, writing

something down. “...but the question is, where is he keeping the objects? If he scattered them all over the city, or worse, sent them overseas...”

Before she could think of anything else, she heard knocking on the door. When she opened it, she saw BlackGargomon standing with Vladimir, Hovis, and Dati.

“Honey, I’m home!” BlackGargomon called out with a goofy grin on his face.

Vladimir let out a loud sigh, while Hovis groaned and said, “Seriously?”

BlackGargomon chuckled. “Sorry. I just had to.”

Taomon folded her arms. “Had to, or wanted to?”

“But that’s beside the point,” Vladimir said. “We came here because we wanted to tell you about the new evidence in the case of The Heartbreaker.”

“BlackGargomon found out where he’s hiding out!” Dati chimed in.

Taomon blinked. “Oh?” “He told us all about it,” Hovis stated. “I’ve taken some notes on it, too.”

He reached into his backpack and pulled out his notepad. After turning to the correct page, he showed it to Taomon.

“So, it’s those two abandoned buildings on the outskirts of town?” Taomon asked. “I was wondering why no one was using them...guess that’s why.”

BlackGargomon grinned. “Looks like we’re on his trail now!”

“Which brings me to my plan,” Taomon said. “What I was thinking was that we could get everyone in town together to meet here, we could compare notes, and together we could formulate a plan to stop The Heartbreaker and retrieve our items.”

“Wait a minute,” Dati said. “If everyone is meeting here, who’s watching their stuff?”

“They have plenty of options. They could bring it with them, hide it where The Heartbreaker can’t find it, ask their friends to watch over it...besides, they won’t be living here. It’s just a simple meeting every day.”

“It might work,” Vladimir said, shrugging.

“But for now, why don’t we spend the next few days distributing flyers around town?”

Taomon suggested. “The people of File City need to know exactly what’s going on.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Hovis said. “But you do have supplies, right?”

“They’re in the basement, I think,” BlackGargomon replied.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Dati watched as Hovis and BlackGargomon went down to the basement. He hoped this plan would work.

Chapter 5 Jam Session!

H

ovis walked out of the basement with a stack of flyers. “Is this gonna be good enough?”. BlackGargomon studied the stack for a bit. “Yeah, I think it’ll work.”

“What’s going on?” Dati asked as he walked into the front room.

“We’re going to distribute these flyers to the townspeople, and maybe put some up around town,” Hovis said. “And it only took us, what, three days to make all the flyers?”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” BlackGargomon said. “It would have been a lot easier if we had a copier, but we don’t know if any places in town sell any. And some other townspeople might have copiers, but we don’t want to make it seem like we’re taking advantage of them.”

“Well, we still made them, right?” Dati replied. “So now we can distribute them?”

Hovis nodded. “Sure we can. If more people know who The Heartbreaker is, we might be able to stop him more easily. They do call it ‘power in numbers’ for a reason, you know.”

BlackGargomon handed Hovis a plastic bag and a roll of clear tape. “And after you’re

done giving flyers to everyone in File City, you can put the rest up around town.”

As Hovis put the flyers in the bag, a thought occurred to Dati. “But...what about me?”

BlackGargomon paused for a moment and pondered; after all, the body shape of a Tanemon didn’t exactly lend itself well to the task at hand. Unless, maybe...

“You can get people’s attention!” he said.

Dati froze. “Can I? I mean, what if someone is mean to us or something? They might think we’re trying to sell them something or...”

“This is why we need to explain ourselves,” Hovis explained. “If we explain ourselves and they still don’t want to take a flyer, it’s their problem and not ours.”

“Okay.”

After a few more minutes of discussion, Dati and Hovis were out in File City, looking for other digimon.

“Well, at least it’s a nice day,” Hovis said.

“I agree with you,” Dati replied before catching sight of someone in the near distance.

“Hey, there’s someone!”

The “someone” in question was a mummy who was wrapped in light-blue bandages, had a pink bandana on her head, wore silver leg braces, and was carrying a sniper rifle.

She was taking loud, quick breaths.

Dati looked concerned. “But...is she okay?”

Hovis shrugged. “Let’s ask her.”

With that, the two walked up to the mummy, and Hovis said, “Excuse me.”

“Stay back! I don’t want what you’re selling!” the mummy shrieked, about ready to brandish her rifle.

Hovis tensed up. “Whoa...please...calm down. We’re not trying to sell anything. Really!”

“We just wanted you to have a flyer,” Dati said, and Hovis pulled one out of his bag.

“What kind of flyer?” the mummy asked, beginning to calm down.

As Hovis handed her the flyer, Dati explained. “There’s a thief that’s been going around town. He uses his powers to make his targets upset before stealing from them.

We’re handing out flyers to warn everyone about him.”

The mummy studied the flyer for a moment. On it were some safety tips, along with a picture of a WaruMonzaemon, and the phrase “Avoid The Heartbreaker!”

“Who’s The Heartbreaker?” she asked. “Is it this guy on the poster?”

“Sure is,” Hovis said. “By the way, did your stuff get stolen? You were in a bit of a panic when we saw you...”

“Oh, no, he didn’t steal my stuff,” the mummy replied. “I was upset because I just had to deal with an overzealous video store owner. Sorry about yelling at you; I thought you were him, or he sent you, or something.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what did he do?” Dati asked.

“You see, I came here to pick up some tailoring supplies for my cousin. He has a business on Mesozoic Isle; he makes clothes, I sell them, and my sister makes coffee.”

“Coffee?” Hovis asked.

The mummy nodded. “Coffee. Anyway, I was walking to the store that sells the tailoring supplies when I passed by the video store. I took one glance at it as I walked by, and the owner decided to rush out and drag me into his store. He wouldn’t let me leave until I rented a video, even when I explained exactly why I couldn’t spend my money on a movie. Fortunately, his assistant was much nicer, and she let me leave without renting anything. But I was a little worried that the owner was going to chase after me, so I ran as far as I could...and that’s when I met you.”

Hovis’ jaw dropped. “Dang...was he desperate to make a sale, or what?”

“And not only that, but there’s a thief going around town...” the mummy sighed. “And here I thought Mesozoic Isle was in bad condition...”

“Well, we can help you get to the tailoring store if you want,” Hovis said. “The Heartbreaker is less likely to go after us if we’re together. Right, Dati?”

“Right.”

“So, your name’s Dati?” the mummy asked.

“Mm-hmm. And I’m Hovis!” Hovis said.

“You can call me Isis,” the mummy replied. “Were you going to deliver a flyer to the tailoring store, too?”

“We’re giving them to everyone,” Dati said. “This is something everyone needs to know about.”

Isis looked in the direction of the tailoring store. “Okay...we should go.”

So the three of them continued on the path to the store, handing out flyers to passersby along the way. In due time, Isis was able to purchase the supplies she needed, and before long, she was meeting up with Seadramon to return to Mesozoic Isle.

“You’re gonna be okay, right?” Dati asked.

“I think I’ll be fine,” Isis replied. “Thanks, though.”

As Isis and Seadramon left, Dati and Hovis watched. Remembering what Isis said

about the video store owner, Dati looked up at Hovis.

“So...how are we going to give flyers to the video store owner if he’s acting like that?” he asked.

Hovis shrugged. “Maybe he won’t bother us if he knows we don’t have any money.”

“Hmm...”

“Tell you what, why don’t we deal with him later and deliver these flyers elsewhere now?”

“Okay.”

Dati and Hovis went back into town, continuing to hand out flyers. Eventually, their walk led them to the field with the trailer in the distance.

“BlackGargomon said there was a band hanging out in the trailer, and he also said that The Heartbreaker took a microphone to his hideout,” Dati said. “Could the microphone have belonged to one of the band members?”

“Well, you know, we could break into The Heartbreaker’s hideout, snag the microphone, take it back here, and ask if it belongs to them...” Hovis began. “But that’s way too risky, and we don’t even know if the microphone was stolen, or if The Heartbreaker got it with his own money. So let’s just visit the band, give them some flyers, and ask about the microphone.”

“Yeah, I was about to say...”

They began to walk through the field towards the trailer.

We’re gonna meet a band! Hovis thought. I’m so excited, but at the same time, I’m nervous. Maybe they’re grumpy if their stuff got stolen, but we can always explain ourselves. But still...a real life band! Awesome!

They walked for a little while, and Dati was thinking about the band and hoping they wouldn’t be hostile. Dati decided to tell Hovis about his concerns, so he took a deep breath and...

“Hey! You two!”

“Huh?” Dati and Hovis looked around; neither of them had said that, so who“Over here!”

They looked to their right and saw a yellow-and-white fox who was wearing purple fingerless gloves with a yin-yang symbol on them. He was on his belly in an uncomfortable-looking position.

“Whoa!” Hovis said, and he and Dati ran up to the fox. “Are you okay?”

The fox groaned. “Not really. My leg hurts...I don’t think I can even stand up...”

“We should tell someone about this!” Dati replied.

“Can you tell my bandmates?” the fox asked, weakly lifting up one of his paws and pointing in the direction of the trailer. “They’re in that trailer over there...”

“Wait a minute!” Hovis said. “You’re part of the band?”

“Mm-hmm. I play electric guitar. My name’s Renamon, by the way.”

Dati turned towards the trailer. “Okay, Renamon, we’ll go and-” “Wait!” Renamon said. “I have to give you the password.”

Dati and Hovis gave him confused looks. “Password?”

“Yes. My band and I have a password system so that when you tell them I sent you, they’ll be able to tell if you’re telling the truth.”

“Okay,” Dati said.

“Smart thinking,” Hovis added.

“Come here and listen carefully,” Renamon began. Dati and Hovis walked up to him, and he whispered a secret phrase to each of them. When he was done, he asked, “Can you remember that?”

“Yep,” they both said.

“Good. Now, please hurry and tell my bandmates! I need to get to safety...”

Dati and Hovis nodded at Renamon, then ran for the trailer at top speed.

Meanwhile, inside the trailer, a periwinkle wolf with dark blue stripes, magenta claws, blue jeans, brown kneepads, a brown and black glove on his left arm, and brass knuckles was lying on the couch. He was wearing a pair of headphones and bobbing his head to the music, completely oblivious to his surroundings right now. The music blaring into his ears was so loud, in fact, that he didn’t notice the sound of someone knocking on the trailer door. One of the other trailer occupants, a tall, brown rabbit dressed in lavender and white, looked up from his mahjong board.

“I wonder who that is...” he muttered. “Should I tell WereGarurumon, or-” “Don’t bother,” the third trailer occupant said, putting his book down. “You know how he gets when someone interrupts his music time.”

This other group member was a vampire with untamed blond hair, a red mask around his head near his eyes, a red-and-black cape with a golden bat clasp, a blue shirt with a black jacket on top, black pants with jagged cuffs, and black shoes with a skull design on them. “Just leave it to me, Antylamon.”

The vampire got up and walked to the trailer door. He opened it and saw Dati and Hovis staring up at him. “Can I help you?”

The two smaller digimon froze. “Uh...hi,” Hovis said.

“Don’t worry, I know I look scary, but I’m not going to hurt you or do anything like that,” the vampire replied. “So, did you need something?”

“Do you have a bandmate named Renamon?” Dati asked.

“Yes, why?”

“He’s been hurt!”

The vampire looked startled. “Really?”

Hovis nodded. “We found him in the field. He told us to come to you.”

“Well, that explains why I haven’t seen him for a while! But just so I know you really did talk to him...”

The vampire leaned down to their level and asked, “If Renamon wanted to talk about science, what would be the first thing he’d discuss?”

Hovis and Dati walked a little closer and whispered, “Neutron, electron, proton.”

“Whoa...” the vampire said, his eyes widening. “Antylamon! They’re telling the truth!

Renamon’s been hurt!”

Antylamon ran up to the others, a shocked expression on his face. “He has?”

“Mm-hmm. He hurt his leg!” Hovis explained.

“Oh, dear...” Antylamon whimpered.

“Tell you what, you guys go on ahead,” the vampire stated. “I’ll try to convince Wolfy over there to help us out. He hates it when his music time gets interrupted, but I’m sure this has to be more important to him.”

“Okay,” they all said.

Antylamon walked out of the trailer with Dati and Hovis, turned to them, and asked, “Where did you find him?”

Hovis pointed to the left. “This way!”

As the trio rushed in that direction, and as they got closer and closer to Renamon, they began to notice an alarming scene unfolding in front of them.

Renamon glared up at his attacker, a grey-and-cream-colored teddy bear with a red scarf and a menacing visage.

“Look, I don’t see what’s so hard about this,” the teddy bear said. “Just tell me where your recording studio is, and I’ll give back the microphone.”

“We don’t have a recording studio!” Renamon said. “Besides, how do I know you’re not lying?”

“Likely excuse! And how do you know I am lying?”

Before Renamon could answer, an angry voice rang out.

“Heartbreaker!”

The teddy bear gasped as he saw Hovis standing nearby and glaring at him, with Dati and Antylamon close by.

“Well, well, well,” the teddy bear said, walking up to the three digimon. “If it isn’t the cub and his goody-goody brigade. What’s the matter, cub? Uncle Vlad couldn’t help you this time?”

Dati gasped. “This...this is The Heartbreaker?”

“You bet,” Hovis said. “Now, listen, Heartbreaker. We’re getting really sick of your tricks. Just give back the stuff you stole and get out of here, and we can all forget that this ever happened.”

The Heartbreaker pretended to ponder for a second, getting a little closer to Hovis.

“Hmm...how about...” And then he kicked Hovis away. “No!” Hovis crashed onto the ground, moaning in pain.

“You think you’re so strong?” Antylamon asked, clenching his fists. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

The Heartbreaker smirked and folded his arms. “Ha! Whatcha gonna do, beat on me with your drumsticks?”

“No...” Antylamon began, his hands turning into axe blades. “But I will beat on you with my Bunny Blades!”

In that instant, Antylamon began spinning around. It started out slowly, but within the space of a few seconds, he had turned into a whirlwind, and was now spinning towards The Heartbreaker, who didn’t stop smirking.

“Is that all?” he asked. “You don’t even know who you’re dealing with...” He concentrated his power for a few seconds before launching it in the form of a black heartshaped bubble. “Heartbreak Attack!”

The bubble floated towards Antylamon before quickly engulfing him. Antylamon slowly stopped spinning as he and the bubble floated above the ground. The bubble popped after a short time, and he collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily for a few seconds, before bursting into tears.

The Heartbreaker laughed at the spectacle before turning towards Dati. “Now, what should I do for you...?” he asked, but just as quickly brushed it off, walking back to Renamon. “You know what, never mind. This shrimp doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of beating me!”

Dati began panicking slightly. He looked at Renamon, who was about to get interro-

gated by The Heartbreaker once more. He looked at Hovis, who was still in pain from The Heartbreaker’s kick. He looked at Antylamon, who was wailing like he’d just heard the worst kind of news. ...He looked at The Heartbreaker, who had been the cause of all this.

Dati’s glare solidified, and he became cloaked in a white light.

“Huh...?” Hovis asked. “Is he...?”

Hovis’ question was answered by Dati’s cry of, “Tanemon digivolve to...!”

Renamon gasped at the sight, while The Heartbreaker just scoffed and said, “What now?”

When the light disappeared with a bright flash, Dati revealed his new form. Now, he was a bipedal green plant creature with frond leaves for hands (and three claws on each), roots for feet, sharp teeth, black eyes, and a lavender flower on top of his head. “...Alraumon!”

“Whoa...” Renamon and Hovis said.

The Heartbreaker rolled his eyes. “Oh, so you digivolved, huh? Well, kid, I guess I will have to do something about you after all!”

As he slowly made his way towards Dati, the newly-digivolved digimon started shaking.

Think, Dati, think! he thought. He looked down at his leaf hands, and then an idea formed.

“Nemesis Ivy!” he cried, launching two vines out of his leaf hands. The vines wrapped themselves around The Heartbreaker’s leg. Dati pulled backwards, and The Heartbreaker fell down, landing on his back.

“Ugh...well, kid, you’re smarter than you look, and that did slow me down,” The Heartbreaker began, getting up as Dati retracted the vines. “But it’ll take more than that to-” “Hey, you!”

The Heartbreaker looked and saw WereGarurumon and the vampire glaring at him.

He asked, “You talkin’ to me?”

“Yeah, you,” WereGarurumon said, walking up to him. “What the heck did you do to Renamon, and why is Antylamon crying?”

“Simple. They tried to pick a fight with me, so I fought back,” The Heartbreaker said.

The vampire walked up to Renamon and asked, “Renamon, what did he do?”

“I was going for a walk a little while ago, when I saw this digimon walking away

from our trailer towards the city,” Renamon began. “At first, I didn’t think anything of it, but then I noticed that he was muttering something about how he ‘couldn’t find anything else, not even another microphone’. I remembered that WereGarurumon had been complaining about being unable to find his microphone for the past few days, and so I confronted...The Heartbreaker, as these digimon over here seem to be calling him.

Anyway, he grabbed me by the leg and slammed me down. I tried to stand up, but my leg was in too much pain...ugh, and I think he might have bent it the wrong way too.”

“So you steal my microphone, hurt Renamon, and you interrupt my music time?”

WereGarurumon asked, getting into The Heartbreaker’s face. “Who the heck do you think you are?”

The Heartbreaker just couldn’t stop smirking. “Um, hello? What part of ‘Heartbreaker’ are you not getting here? Do you expect me to skip around and throw flowers everywhere with a name like that?”

Hovis sighed. “You know, we originally called you that as an insult...”

“Yeah, and I took it and made it my own!” The Heartbreaker replied. “Maybe you should have called me something else if you don’t like that.”

“I don’t have time for this!” WereGarurumon yelled. “Just give me back my microphone and go away!”

“Make me!”

WereGarurumon growled and kneed The Heartbreaker in the gut. Since the kneepad had spikes on it, the attack was especially painful.

“Ugh!” The Heartbreaker said as he staggered backwards, but he soon regained his posture. “Why don’t you try this on for size?”

He leaped into the air, raised his gauntlet-covered paw, and shouted, “Bear Claw!”

WereGarurumon, not one to just let himself get upstaged like that, also leaped into the air, shouting, “Wolf Claw!”

The two digimon slashed each other in midair, and both fell backwards onto the ground with a thud. They soon got up, and were about to attack each other again when...

“Nightmare Claw!”

A dark energy wave hit The Heartbreaker in the chest, knocking him over for the third time in the past several minutes. Everyone looked up to see where the attack came from, and they saw the vampire floating in midair.

“No fair! I just got up!” The Heartbreaker complained. “Who even asked you to join the fight, anyway?”

“When you attack my friends, I have an excuse,” the vampire said.

As this was happening, Antylamon had finally recovered from the Heartbreak Attack.

He had heard the vampire talking, and wasn’t sure where he came from. “Uhh...PunkMyotismon, what happened?”

“Oh, we’re just fighting this digimon who calls himself The Heartbreaker,” the vampire (now known as PunkMyotismon) explained.

“Well, I knew that...” Antylamon said. “I meant to say, ‘When did you get here?’ Renamon, those other guys, and I were here first, but then I got hit by the Heartbreak Attack and I don’t remember what happened between then and now.”

“Well, Dati digivolved and started fighting The Heartbreaker,” Hovis began, motioning towards Dati, and then he motioned towards WereGarurumon and PunkMyotismon. “And then those guys arrived and started fighting The Heartbreaker.”

“And no one else is gonna fight The Heartbreaker today, ‘cause I’m getting out of here before anyone else knocks me down!” The Heartbreaker yelled, running away.

“Oh no you don’t!” WereGarurumon shouted, about ready to chase after him. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Let him go for now,” PunkMyotismon said. “I’d like to stop him now, too, but right now, we should get Renamon to safety.”

So Antylamon picked up Renamon, and the whole group went back to the trailer.

Once they returned, Antylamon set Renamon down on the couch. “Do you need anything?”

“I’m thirsty,” Renamon said.

“Nice to meet you, Thirsty,” WereGarurumon said before bursting into laughter.

PunkMyotismon sighed and shook his head. “I’ll get you something to drink.”

“Thank you.”

While PunkMyotismon was off getting a water bottle for Renamon, Dati and Hovis decided to chat with Antylamon and WereGarurumon.

“So, you guys are a band?” Hovis asked.

Antylamon nodded. “I’m the drummer, Renamon’s the guitarist-” “I’m the singer, and Vampy over there is the bassist,” WereGarurumon said. “Together, we’re called Castle in the Air!” Hovis grinned. “Cool! Have you recorded any albums yet?”

“Well, we totally would, but there’s just one problem: we can’t find a decent recording studio anywhere in this city! The places we’ve looked either have bad conditions for recording, would get us a million and one noise complaints, or both! Trust me, if we had a good place to record, we’d be churning out songs faster than you can sing a C-major scale.”

“But on the positive side, this does leave us with plenty of time to come up with album material,” Antylamon said.

“There is that,” Dati replied. “By the way, we’re part of a group investigating The Heartbreaker and trying to stop him. We were going to give out flyers to you, but since you met him face-to-face, I’m not sure if you’d still want them.”

“Oh, no, we could still use them,” Antylamon said. “In my opinion, you can’t be too careful.”

Hovis took off his backpack and unzipped it. “Here, let me get some out for you. They have safety tips on them.”

“Also, we were wondering if you could meet up with us at our hideout later on, so you can tell the other investigators about what happened today,” Dati said as Hovis went around handing out the flyers to the band members. “You could hide your stuff so The Heartbreaker doesn’t get to it, if you’re worried about that, or you can pick someone to guard the trailer.”

“We’ll think of something,” WereGarurumon said. “All I know is that I want my microphone back!”

“And once we’re done here, I’m sure you’ll get it back,” Hovis said. “Anyway, sorry to leave so soon, but Dati and I have to finish handing out these flyers.”

“If you want to know where the hideout is, just look for us in town,” Dati added.

“We’re trying to get everyone in town involved, so you could ask them too; maybe they’ll know.”

“We’ll try to remember that,” Antylamon replied.

With that, Hovis and Dati said goodbye to Castle in the Air for now, left the trailer, and went back into the city to deliver more flyers.

Chapter 6 Foolishness on Film

B

ack at the house, Vladimir was sitting at a table with BlackGargomon and Taomon. “Okay, so if we’re going to have people meet here, what should we discuss?” he asked.

“Well, we could compare notes...” Taomon began. “But somehow, that just doesn’t feel like enough to stop The Heartbreaker.”

“Hmm...maybe if we helped them understand what kind of digimon a WaruMonzaemon is, we could give them new ideas for increasing security,” BlackGargomon said.

“The Heartbreaker may not be like all WaruMonzaemon, though,” Taomon said.

“It’ll at least give them a general idea of what his species is capable of doing,” Vladimir said. “But the question is, how will we do it?”

BlackGargomon shrugged. “I’m sure there are books or videotapes or stuff like that... hey, wait a minute! There’s a video store in town! Maybe they have what we need!”

“And if they don’t?” Vladimir asked.

“I have an encyclopedia about different digimon species,” Taomon said. “If we can’t find a videotape, we could always use that.”

“Okay, I’ll go see if I could rent a good tape at the video store,” BlackGargomon said, getting up and heading for the door.

Vladimir watched him, and something came to his mind. “And if you see Dati and Hovis, could you check to see how they’re doing?”

“No problem!” And with that, BlackGargomon was out the door.

Meanwhile, Dati and Hovis were walking through town.

“Okay, I think we’ve given flyers to almost everyone in town,” Hovis said. “Ready to go to the video store?”

Dati took a deep breath, hesitating for a moment. “I think the owner might have calmed down by now, so...”

Before he could finish, they heard BlackGargomon’s voice. “Hovis! Dati!”

“We’re over here!” Hovis replied.

BlackGargomon ran up to them. “I was looking all over for you so I could...” He trailed off as he caught sight of Dati.

“What?” Hovis asked.

“Uh...” BlackGargomon began. “Is that you, Dati?”

Dati nodded. “I digivolved.”

“Cool! Anyway, I wanted to see you so I could tell you something important. You see, we decided that if the digimon in town are going to join our cause, we should give them an idea of what a WaruMonzaemon is like, so they know what they’re up against. So I decided to rent a tape at the video store. I’m just telling you this in case you came back to the house while I was out.”

“Actually, we were just about to go to the video store,” Hovis said.

“Still delivering posters?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Great, we can do both of our jobs!” BlackGargomon said. “So let’s go!”

As Hovis and BlackGargomon began walking off, Dati raised his hand. “Well, uh...”

BlackGargomon stopped and looked at Dati. “What’s wrong?”

“Someone told us that the owner is being a little...aggressive in selling his merchandise,” Dati said. “What if he gets aggressive with us?”

“He’s probably calmed down by now,” Hovis said with a shrug.

“I hope you’re right.”

The three digimon began walking to the video store.

“For the third time, broski, I don’t have any money!”

“You sure about that? Couldn’t you check your UFO or something?”

A porcupine with metallic quills and fur that was dark blue and off-white sighed as she sat behind a counter. She stared at the shelves of videotapes and rested her head in her palm.

When will he learn?

She looked to her left as Vademon emerged from behind the back shelf and made his way up to her. “Sorry to leave, girl, but no matter what I say, he thinks I’m lying!”

“Don’t worry, I believe you,” the porcupine said. “Now go before he gets even more insane.”

An orange monkey with black sunglasses and a black leather jacket peered from behind the shelf. “Aw, come on, man! We haven’t had any real customers in a while! Are you sure you don’t have any money?”

The porcupine facepalmed and stood up. “Look, Eteman, he’s told you three times that he doesn’t have any money!”

“What if he’s just saying that?”

“What if he isn’t?”

Eteman walked out from behind the shelf, revealing the rest of his attire: yellow pants, a brown belt with a Monzaemon (yellow teddy bear) plush on the side, and brown cowboy boots. He walked up to the others and rested his arm on the counter.

“Well, why would he come into the store if he wasn’t gonna buy anything? Hmm?” “Maybe he just wanted to browse,” the porcupine said.

Before the dispute could escalate even further, a bell above the front door jingled, signaling the entrance of Dati, BlackGargomon, and Hovis.

“Quick, get out of here,” the porcupine whispered to Vademon, who immediately did as he was told. Once he was out, the porcupine turned to the trio. “Welcome to our store. Did you want to rent a video?”

“Yes, we did...” BlackGargomon began, trying to remember the porcupine’s name. “...Togemugumon, was it?”

“Togemogumon, actually,” she replied. “Hey, wait a minute. Weren’t you here a few days ago?”

“Yep,” Dati said. “We were just going on a tour of the town then. And I’m the Tanemon from before. I just digivolved today.”

Togemogumon was about to respond, but then Eteman cut in. “Wait a minute! You’ve been here before? When did this happen?”

“It happened when you were out getting some fresh air, remember?” Togemogumon replied. She turned to their customers. “And just so you know, this is Eteman, my boy-

friend. He runs the video store, and I’m his second-in-command, so to speak.”

There was only one thing on the trio’s minds right now. “Ete...man?”

“Uh-huh,” Eteman said as he began to make various bodybuilder-like poses. “’Cause I’m the manliest Etemon around, of course!” Togemogumon scoffed at this. “Yeah, well, he’s the self-proclaimed manliest Etemon around, at any rate.”

Eteman stopped posing and gave Togemogumon a dismayed look. “Whaddaya mean, honey? You don’t think I’m manly?”

Togemogumon rolled her eyes. “Well, for one thing, I haven’t personally met any other Etemon, and you don’t seem to have any proof that you’re the manliest one. Maybe I’d believe you if you showed us all an award from the manliest Etemon contest or something. But then again, if being manly means harassing and making fun of potential customers, then I guess you are the manliest Etemon around.” “Wha...?” Eteman said as his jaw dropped. How was he supposed to respond to that?

Fortunately for him, Togemogumon saved him the trouble by talking to the customers. “But I’m getting off topic here. I know you three don’t want to see us duke it out, and you just came here for a video. Did you have anything specific in mind?”

“Yes, do you have any informational videos about WaruMonzaemon?” BlackGargomon asked.

“I think we do,” Togemogumon said. “Follow me.”

While the two went off to find a good video, Eteman (having recovered from his girlfriend’s sick burn) grinned at the sight. “Finally, some real customers! You two have no idea how hard business has been for the past week! It’s like, no one wants to come here anymore. You guys have any idea why?”

Hovis retrieved a flyer from his backpack, and Dati handed it to Eteman. “I think people are afraid of The Heartbreaker, this thief on the poster, and so they’re trying really hard to stay safe,” Dati said as Eteman studied the flyer. “I’m pretty sure no one wants their stuff to get stolen.”

“Huh...is that what this is all about?” Eteman asked. “I never heard of any thief!”

Suddenly, Eteman clenched his fist and glared at Hovis and Dati. “What if you’re just making him up?”

“What? What are you talking about?” Hovis asked.

“You’re spreading all sorts of lies about some thief, and that’s why we haven’t been getting any business! Everyone’s too scared to come here, and it’s all your fault!”

“What do you mean?” Dati asked. “He’s real! We just met him earlier today! I digivolved in a fight with him!”

Eteman folded his arms. “Hmph. That’s what you want me to think. You’re just trying to cause some mass hysteria with your stupid lies.”

“But they’re not lies!” Hovis said. “You know the band Castle in the Air? Why don’t you ask them about The Heartbreaker? Or how about that Vademon from earlier? Or Biyomon and Sheepmon from Wool and Wings? Or heck, just ask BlackGargomon over there! No matter who you ask, they’ll tell you all about him!”

“Oh great, now you gotta lie to everyone else,” Eteman said. “In fact, I’m willing to bet that this picture’s a lie, and that you’re The Heartbreaker!”

Hovis growled. “Why, I oughta...”

“You oughta do what?” Eteman asked, getting face-to-face with Hovis. “I’m an Ultimate! You wanna pick a fight with an Ultimate? Especially since you’re just a Rookie?

You got a lot of guts! But you better not try to start a fight with me, or else-” “Or else what, Eteman?”

Eteman saw Togemogumon standing nearby, arms folded and glaring daggers at him.

BlackGargomon was peering from behind a shelf. “Would you believe these people?”

Eteman asked, pointing at Dati and Hovis. “Going on and on about some ‘Heartbreaker’ like there’s no tomorrow! How much you wanna bet they’re lying?”

“Oh yeah? What if they’re telling the truth?” Togemogumon replied. “What if there really is a thief going around? What if you just offended two more customers?”

“Well, if this thief is supposedly at large, why haven’t we heard about him until now, huh?” Eteman asked. “I mean, you’d think he would’ve tried to go for our videos at some point, right? So why hasn’t he?”

“Maybe he doesn’t want our videos right now,” Togemogumon said. “Just because he hasn’t gone for them yet doesn’t mean he’ll never go for them.”

“You trying to scare me, girl?”

Togemogumon sighed. “At least I’m trying to think rationally and figure things out instead of jumping to conclusions!”

She turned towards Dati and Hovis. “Look, I’m really sorry you’re having to hear all of this. I realize it’s bad form for us to be arguing in plain sight, so why don’t you two and BlackGargomon pay for the rental and get out of here before things get nastier?”

“Did he find the tape he needed?” Dati asked.

“Yep,” BlackGargomon said, holding up a videotape called “The Wonders of WaruMonzaemon”. “Just got to pay, and we’ll be out of here!” With that, BlackGargomon paid for the rental. “Just remember to turn it back in by this time next week,” Togemogumon said. “If you don’t, you’ll have to pay late fees.”

“Gotcha! Thanks for the video!” BlackGargomon said.

“And thank you for doing business with us,” Togemogumon replied.

“Here’s a flyer about The Heartbreaker, by the way,” Hovis said as he handed Toge-

mogumon a flyer. Togemogumon took the flyer. “I’ll make sure to keep this in mind.”

Unlike some people... After she and Eteman exchanged goodbyes with the trio, Togemogumon waited for them to be out of sight. Once she couldn’t see them anymore, she set a “back whenever” sign on the desk.

“What are you doing?” Eteman asked.

Togemogumon walked to a door in the back. “Eteman...we need to talk.”

Eteman blinked. “What’s going on?”

Togemogumon pushed open the door to the office room and said, “I think you know what’s going on. Now get in here.”

Eteman did so, and Togemogumon closed the door. They each took a seat at the desk in front of them, and Togemogumon said, “Well, go ahead.”

“What?”

“Go ahead and explain why you’ve been acting this way for the past month.”

“I just wanted us to get some more revenue,” Eteman said.

Togemogumon glowered at Eteman. “Uh-huh. Then why don’t you explain why you’re forcing random passersby into the store and not letting them leave until they rent something? Or why you laughed at that Cyberdramon who came in last month?”

“He wanted to rent a movie about flowers! Flowers!” Eteman said, as if the very concept was incomprehensible.

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Togemogumon asked, shrugging. “He can rent a movie about flowers if he wants to. I don’t see the big problem with it.”

“But flowers are so...”

“Wimpy? Well, you know, just because someone’s interested in flowers doesn’t mean they’re a wimp. Not every tough guy has to look and act the part.”

“Yeah, well, it helps if they do!” Eteman said. “I mean, if I acted like a pretty boy, would you take me seriously when I say I’m a tough guy?”

“Well, I wouldn’t judge you until I saw you fight somebody,” Togemogumon said.

“But we’re getting off track here. The point is, you’ve been acting like a jerk for the past month! Did owning a store get to your head or something? You wouldn’t let that Mummymon girl leave, you kept bugging that Vademon, and you accused two of our customers of being liars! And this all happened today! You really think this kind of behavior is gonna keep customers coming back for more? You think they’re gonna say, ‘Hmm, that video store where the owner acts like a jerk? Hey, yeah, that place is awesome! We should go there all the time!’ I don’t know who you’re trying to impress, Eteman, but if you’re trying to impress me, it’s not working. In fact, I think the only person you’re impressing is yourself.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do?” Eteman asked.

“Take a vacation.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Take a vacation,” Togemogumon said. “It’ll do wonders for both of us. I’ll run the store and try to rebuild its damaged reputation, and you can take some time off to get back to a logical frame of mind.”

“You want me to go on vacation...without you?”

“Look, someone has to run the store,” Togemogumon said as she took Eteman’s hand.

“Don’t get me wrong, I still love you. But I don’t love how you’ve been behaving lately. I’m asking you to do this ‘cause I’m concerned. I think you’re getting a bit too worried about the store, and that’s taking a toll on your emotions.”

Eteman sighed. “Maybe you’re right. But where should I go?”

“Why don’t we research different locations?” Togemogumon replied. She went over to her computer and switched it on. Deep down, Eteman hoped that Togemogumon had the right idea.

“If it turns out we got the wrong tape, I’ll eat my hat,” BlackGargomon said as he inserted the tape into his video player.

“You don’t even have a hat,” Taomon said.

“Well, maybe he’ll buy one and then eat it,” Vladimir said.

BlackGargomon pressed play, and the five digimon took a seat in front of the TV. After sitting through several previews and commercials, they were finally able to watch the tape. Fortunately for BlackGargomon, the eating of hats would not be necessary, as this tape was definitely an informational tape about WaruMonzaemon. It only lasted a half-hour, but it provided them with important information.

Once it was over, BlackGargomon looked at the others. “So, what do you think?”

“We could use this,” Dati said. The other three digimon agreed.

“That’s good!” BlackGargomon said. “So, what should we do now?”

“Well, Dati and I finished handing out the flyers,” Hovis said. “Should we start putting them up around town?”

“Why don’t you wait until tomorrow?” Vladimir replied. “From what I’ve heard, you two have had a very eventful day today.”

“Good point.”

The five of them spent the rest of the day discussing what had been going on, and what they should do for the meeting. Dati hoped these plans would be enough to stop The Heartbreaker in his tracks.

Chapter 7 Running Scared

T

he sun was slowly rising in the sky, changing the sky’s color to an orange hue that would fade to light blue later in the morning. Rays were shining down onto the oval-shaped, rubbery track of a stadium. Several hurdles were scattered on the track, almost beckoning someone to step over them while running at top speed.

Someone was, in fact, there in the stadium.

But he wasn’t planning on using them for their intended purpose.

In fact, it was anyone’s guess as to whether or not he wanted to use them at all.

But he still wanted them.

The Heartbreaker, holding an empty garbage bag, opened the doors leading out to the track area, saw the hurdles, and smirked.

“Target sighted,” he whispered, opening up the bag. He walked out onto the track, picked up a hurdle, and placed it in the bag. One by one, each of the other hurdles joined that first one, and The Heartbreaker soon had every last hurdle in the bag. As uncomfortable as the bag felt hanging over his shoulder with all the hurdles inside, he still felt satisfied with himself. Besides, he would soon store this bag in his hideout anyway.

As he made his way back to the entrance of the stadium, a poster caught his eye. It featured two digimon; one was a dragon of some sort wearing flame-painted armor, while the other was an android.

Flamedramon vs. Andromon!

Who Wants the Victory More?

The Four-Lap Hurdle Race!

Ultimate Test of Endurance!

“Heh, not today...” The Heartbreaker said. He walked into the lobby of the stadium, made his way up to a desk, took out a piece of paper and some crayons, and drew a familiar broken heart picture on the paper.

It was such a thrill for him to be a thief. Whenever he made a new heist, he could feel the excitement build up in him. After all, he could take whatever he wanted, and he had the power to disrupt important things as well. He remembered stealing the supplies for the sweets store several days ago, thus leaving File City with an even more limited supply of candy and baked goods. Later, he stole the microphone from that rock band, thus ensuring that they wouldn’t make any adequate performances since their vocalist, on his own, couldn’t sing above the band’s amplification (unless they relied on instrumentals until they got a new microphone... and even then, most digimon at the concert would expect singing). And now, he was disrupting a whole athletic event by stealing all the hurdles. Sure, the digimon in charge could change the event to one that didn’t involve hurdles, but still, Flamedramon and Andromon had been training specifically for this event. Just the reactions when they found out that their training would have been for nothing...

At this point, The Heartbreaker, as he finished sketching his calling card, wished he was able to install hidden cameras in the stadium so he could see those reactions for himself...

“Hey.” The Heartbreaker gasped and turned around at the sudden voice. He saw Flamedramon standing near the entrance and glaring at him.

“Hello...Flamedramon, is it?” The Heartbreaker said.

“I don’t recognize you. Are you new here?”

“Uh...yeah! I haven’t been in town for very long. Just a week or so.”

“So did you get a job here or something? Why are you here so early?”

“Well, why are you here so early?”

“Training. Gonna have a big hurdle race with Andromon later. And you didn’t answer my question.”

The Heartbreaker had to think quickly. “I’m...inspecting things! ‘Cause you know, if there’s one flaw in the track, your race could fall apart!”

“Okay, so what’s in the bag?” Flamedramon asked. “The way the bag is shaped, it

looks suspiciously like you have hurdles in there...”

“Yeah! I have to check the hurdles! You know, just to make sure they won’t fall apart, and they’ll stand up straight.”

Flamedramon walked over to the door leading to the track and opened it. When he didn’t see any hurdles on the track, he closed the door and turned back to The Heartbreaker.

“Are you sure you’re an inspector?” Flamedramon asked.

“Of course I am! Why would you-?”

“Let me explain. The other day, a couple of kids came by the stadium. They were handing out posters talking about a thief called The Heartbreaker. The guy on the poster looked kinda like you...in fact, there’s no ‘kinda’. He looked exactly like you!”

“Well, how do you know it was me? What if it was a different WaruMonzaemon?”

“For one thing, I haven’t seen any other WaruMonzaemon walking around town,” Flamedramon said. “And trust me, I do a lot of wandering around town. But more importantly, think about it! We have a guy who comes in, claiming to need our hurdles for inspection, and he looks exactly like the thief mentioned on the poster...what if you’re the thief?”

The Heartbreaker put his crayons back and walked up to Flamedramon. “Hmph! Well, if you think a digimon like me would willingly steal from others...”

Suddenly, The Heartbreaker’s look of false offense changed to a devious smirk. “...

You’d be totally right! Heartbreak Attack!”

Flamedramon growled and lunged for the bag, hoping to rip it open with his claws.

But the black bubble engulfed him before he could reach the bag, and when the bubble popped, he was a sobbing mess on the stadium lobby floor.

“And that takes care of that,” The Heartbreaker said, walking out with the bag of hurdles.

Flamedramon wasn’t sure how long he had been crying. The power of The Heartbreaker’s attack had rendered him oblivious to the world around him; it might as well have been only him and his angst. But when he came to and saw Andromon looking at him, concerned, the first thing on his mind was not greeting his fellow athlete. Instead, he started frantically looking outside at the track, and then around the building. Andromon wasn’t offended (his rival was known for working in mysterious ways like this), but he was confused. Usually Flamedramon never panicked about anything, so why was he doing that now?

Finally, Flamedramon stormed back into the lobby, with his teeth gritted and his fists trembling.

“He took the hurdles,” he said, as if he couldn’t believe it. Then he trudged up to the

desk and slammed his fists on it repeatedly. “He took! The freaking! Hurdles!”

“Who’s ‘he’?” Andromon asked. “And what are you talking about?”

“Whaddaya mean, what am I talking about? What do you think I’m talking about?”

“Now, Flamedramon...” Andromon began, walking up to him. “You said someone took the hurdles. But I don’t know who did it. Was it Gururumon?”

“No...” Flamedramon said. He then told Andromon about his encounter with The Heartbreaker.

“Oh, no...” Andromon said.

“And he left this paper behind,” Flamedramon said, holding up the paper in his hand, trembling with rage. The emotions in him almost made him want to take it out on the drawing. “It makes me so mad, I could-” “Wait!” Andromon said. “I know you’re mad, but we shouldn’t destroy that paper.

Instead, we could go around town and ask if anyone knows about where The Heartbreaker went.”

Flamedramon sighed. “Yeah, I guess so...maybe see if anyone knows those kids. But how many digimon in town are even up at this hour? Usually, not even Gururumon is awake this early!”

“We need all the help we can get,” Andromon said. “And if no one else is awake, we can just wait for a little longer until more digimon are up.”

“Okay,” Flamedramon said. “I just think we should leave a note for Gururumon in case he comes here.”

“I’ll go do that,” Andromon said. He went into another room, came out with a pencil and a piece of paper, and started writing a note explaining the situation.

“And I noticed The Heartbreaker broke the lock on the door!” Flamedramon said.

“Seriously, what’s his problem?”

“I don’t know,” Andromon said as he finished the note. He left it on the desk, and he and Flamedramon left the stadium building. The sky was already light blue, but it still had a few hints of orange. The duo wandered around for a little bit, trying to find other digimon who could help them. While they did find a few digimon, none of them had seen The Heartbreaker or were part of the investigation, so they couldn’t help Flamedramon and Andromon.

“This stinks!” Flamedramon said as he and Andromon took a seat on a bench. “Why can’t we find someone to help us?”

“I’m sure they’ll wake up pretty soon,” Andromon said. “We just have to be patient.”

Flamedramon growled. “We’ve been training for this race for so long, and now some thief decides to steal the hurdles because I don’t know! Who does he think he is, any-

way? Stealing everyone’s stuff...who died and told him he could do that? Why couldn’t he just get his own hurdles instead of taking ours? It’s-” “Excuse me.”

“Whaddaya want?” Flamedramon asked the Alraumon that interrupted them, glaring at him. “Can’t you see I’m ranting here?”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry,” Alraumon said, shying away. “I just noticed that you were holding The Heartbreaker’s paper, and I thought he stole something from you.”

“Wait a minute,” Andromon said. “Aren’t you Dati from yesterday?”

“Yes.” “And you’re part of the investigation regarding The Heartbreaker?”

“Yes.” “Well, The Heartbreaker just stole our hurdles,” Andromon said. “Do you know where he went?”

“No,” Dati said. “But we are having a meeting tonight at BlackGargomon’s house, and we want anyone who knows something about The Heartbreaker to come. Do you think you could come? It’s at five.”

“We might have to talk with our boss, Gururumon, about this,” Andromon said. “But we’ll come if we can, and we’ll tell you everything we know.”

“Thank you,” Dati said. “I hope I can see you at five.”

“Likewise,” Andromon said as Dati walked away. He turned to glare at Flamedramon.

“What?” Flamedramon asked.

“Whaddaya want? Can’t you see I’m ranting here?” Andromon said, mocking Flamedramon’s tone of voice. “Nice going, Flamedramon! You almost scared off someone who could help us!”

“But I didn’t actually scare him off, now did I?” Flamedramon replied.

“There was still a risk of it!” Andromon said. “But let’s not go on about this; it’s not gonna do us any favors.”

“Yeah,” Flamedramon said. “So, what should we do now?”

“I don’t know about you, but I want to go home right now.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

So, Flamedramon and Andromon went to their respective homes, where they spent the rest of the morning.

At one o’clock, Flamedramon’s phone rang. Since Flamedramon had been in the mid-

dle of a nap at the time, he was understandably grumpy. With a groan, he picked up the phone and asked, “Who is it? Whaddaya want?”

“Flamedramon?”

Flamedramon faltered. “Gururumon?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I saw your note on the desk. So, the hurdles are gone, huh?”

“I tried to stop him, but he was too quick,” Flamedramon said. “Too quick for a runner...ha!”

“That’s all right,” Gururumon said. “At least you tried. Besides, we’ll get the hurdles back sooner or later. And if we don’t, we can just get some more!”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Flamedramon said.

“But I wanted to call you so I could tell you something important. You see, I spoke with a detective and his assistant a little while ago, and they told me that they’re going to have a meeting at five o’clock to discuss The Heartbreaker. I think it’d be a good idea for us to go, don’t you think?”

“This morning, a kid told us about the exact same thing, and we thought it’d be a good idea. We just needed to know if you’d let us go.”

“Why wouldn’t I? He stole our property, after all.”

“Well, I didn’t know if you wanted us to have the race without the hurdles, or what.”

“Oh, no, I postponed the race until we get our hurdles back, so don’t worry about that.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll see you at five, then?”

“Sure! Bye, Flamedramon!”

“Bye.” After hanging up, Flamedramon continued sitting on his bed. He would never know how Gururumon managed to stay easygoing at a time like this.

Vladimir was pacing the floor in BlackGargomon’s living room. “What time is it?”

“4:45,” Taomon said, looking at the clock. “They should be coming any time now.”

BlackGargomon was sitting on the couch with Dati and Hovis on either side. “I hope we can start the meeting soon. You have no idea how aggravating it is to have to watch yourself at all times so you don’t get stolen from! It’s gotten to the point where Taomon and I have to pay close attention to our surroundings when we go out to get groceries!

No one should have to live like that!”

“And if all goes according to plan, we won’t have to live like that,” Vladimir said.

“The sooner we stop The Heartbreaker, the sooner we can stop worrying about our

things being stolen.”

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” BlackGargomon said, hopping off the couch and going to the door. He opened it, and there was Vademon. “Hello?”

“Yeah, is this where they’re having the meeting to stop The Heartbreaker?” Vademon asked.

“Yep! Come on in!”

“Sweet!” Vademon said, going inside. “So, what are we gonna do?”

“We’re gonna talk about what The Heartbreaker did, and how we’re gonna stop him,” Hovis explained. “We also have a video that’s a documentary on WaruMonzaemon. It’s just a half-hour long.”

“Awesome! I can’t wait to get my surfboard back!”

There was another knock on the door. BlackGargomon opened it, and he saw Biyomon and Sheepmon standing there.

“Are you here for the meeting?” BlackGargomon asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Biyomon said, and Sheepmon nodded.

“Come in!” BlackGargomon said, and Biyomon and Sheepmon did so. “We won’t be starting the meeting for a little while.”

Dati looked concerned. “It’s great that you’re here...but who’s guarding the store?”

Biyomon walked up to him. “Don’t worry. We put our stock in a place where The Heartbreaker can’t get to it.”

“That’s good.”

They spent a couple more minutes discussing random things, and then someone knocked on the door yet again. BlackGargomon opened the door and saw Flamedramon and Andromon. Behind them was a periwinkle wolf with blue stripes and black claws.

“Are we the first ones here?” Flamedramon asked.

BlackGargomon shook his head. “Third.”

“Darn it!”

“Now, now...” the wolf said as they walked in. “At least third place is better than last place.”

“He has a point,” Andromon said.

“Hey, aren’t you Gururumon from the stadium?” Hovis asked.

“Mm-hmm. And I brought Flamedramon and Andromon with me, too.”

“We were supposed to be racing tonight,” Flamedramon said. “But somebody had other ideas.”

“That’s a bummer,” Hovis said. “But that’s why we’re here - so we can find a way to stop him.”

Once again, the discussion continued for a short while until there was more knocking at the door. This time, it was the members of Castle in the Air. WereGarurumon looked agitated when he saw everyone else. “If they started without us, I’m gonna-” “We didn’t!” Dati called out. The band walked inside, and BlackGargomon shut the door.

“I think that’s everybody,” he said.

Taomon glanced at the clock. “But it’s still a couple minutes before five.”

BlackGargomon shrugged. “So what do you guys wanna talk about?”

Everyone carried on with their random conversations for a couple more minutes, and before long, the clock read 5:00.

“Okay, everybody, let’s get started!” BlackGargomon said, and everyone looked at him. “Vladimir, would you like to start things off?”

Vladimir stood up and nodded. “As I’m sure all of you know by now, a WaruMonzaemon known as The Heartbreaker has been going around town and stealing everybody’s things, leaving only a piece of paper with a broken heart drawing on it. He may be new to you, but Hovis and I know him from a short while back. He was committing a very similar reign of terror in our hometown of Ursa Town. When the townspeople managed to stop him, retrieve their things, and increase security measures, he decided to leave town. Ever since, we’ve been in hot pursuit, trying to capture him and take him into custody. But even though he isn’t the smartest of thieves, he still managed to one-up me shortly after we arrived here. When Hovis and I weren’t looking, he snuck up on me and hit me with his Heartbreak Attack. I don’t remember what was going on for a few minutes after that, but when I came to, I found that my glasses were gone! My vision is incredibly blurry withouut my glasses, so as you can imagine, this has been very troublesome for me. Soon afterwards, we met BlackGargomon and Taomon, and then we met Dati later. The five of us have been working to stop The Heartbreaker since.

So, since we’re all here because The Heartbreaker affected us, why don’t we each talk about something he did?”

First, BlackGargomon told the story of how The Heartbreaker stole his present for Taomon. Then, Sheepmon explained how The Heartbreaker stole the supplies she was getting for Wool and Wings. This was followed by Vademon’s story of how The Heartbreaker stole his surfboard, and then Castle in the Air talked about their encounters with The Heartbreaker, including the one that happened yesterday. Finally, Flamedramon

and Andromon told everyone about what had just happened to them that morning.

“As you can see, The Heartbreaker is a force to be reckoned with,” BlackGargomon said. “If we’re going to stop him, we need to understand his species. Yesterday, I rented a videotape about WaruMonzaemon, and I think it would be a good idea for us to watch it.”

“We’re gonna be here all night, aren’t we?” Flamedramon asked.

“You took the words right outta my mouth,” WereGarurumon said.

“Don’t worry, guys, it’s only a half-hour,” Hovis said. “And this meeting is only gonna last for an hour, maybe a little longer.”

Soon, everyone gathered in front of the TV and started watching the video. Hovis took notes on the different aspects of a WaruMonzaemon, particularly where battling was concerned. When the tape was over, Hovis stood up.

“There’s something else you should know,” Hovis said. “We’ve found out where The Heartbreaker’s keeping the things he steals.” He flipped to the page that showed the diagram of the buildings. “It’s in the buildings on the outskirts of town - Heartbreaker’s Alley, as I call it. He goes through a hole in the fence and places the stuff in the buildings. What we need to do now is formulate a plan to go in and get our stuff back. But of course, we also need to confront The Heartbreaker himself so we can stop him once and for all. I’m thinking that we can use our next meeting to devise a plan. Who’s with me?”

Everyone cheered.

“That’s what I like to hear!” Hovis said. “With your help, we can have The Heartbreaker out of here faster than you can say ‘Rock on’!”

Chapter 8 Go Away, Heartbreaker!

A

t five o’clock the next evening, everyone returned to BlackGargomon’s house to continue discussing The Heartbreaker and how to stop him. “He’s been striking fear into our hearts for long enough,” Vladimir had said. “It’s time for us to show him what happens when you get an entire town to hate you!”

Everyone agreed, and Taomon walked up next to Vladimir. “I have a plan. Why don’t we have a stakeout early in the morning near Heartbreaker’s Alley? We could watch for The Heartbreaker, and then when he leaves, we could have a team rush in and retrieve the stolen items while the rest of us go and detain The Heartbreaker.”

“I’m down with that,” Vademon said.

“Me too,” Biyomon said. “And if you need someone to fly up and get stuff, I can help.” Everyone present agreed that the plan was a good one...everyone except for Dati, that is.

“Wait!” he said.

BlackGargomon looked at Dati. “Is something wrong, Dati?”

“Yeah.” Dati looked at everyone and asked the one question on his mind. “Does The Heartbreaker live in Heartbreaker’s Alley, or does he just keep his loot there?”

Everyone paused for a moment.

“Hmm...” Vladimir said. “That’s a very good question, Dati. I know that he kept his

loot in a separate hideout last time. But would he do it again this time, or would he live in the hideout with his loot?”

WereGarurumon stood up. “Well, if you ask me, he probably doesn’t live there. I mean, think about it. If he lived in the same place where he kept his loot, all that someone would have to do to stop him would be to watch him carry the stuff he stole. Then, not only would everyone know about where he kept his loot, but they’d also know where he lives. If he kept his stuff in a different hideout, then everyone would have to not only find out where he kept his loot, but where he’s hiding out as well.”

“So you’re saying he’d just leave his loot unguarded?” Flamedramon asked. “That’s not a very smart thing for a thief to do. Now, on the other hand, if he lived in Heartbreaker’s Alley, he’d be able to guard the loot in case anyone tried to take it back. Besides, where else would he live?”

“Ooh!” Vademon raised his hand. “What if he’s got hidden security cameras at Heartbreaker’s Alley? Then he could know when someone broke into his hideout!”

“Only one store in town sells security cameras,” BlackGargomon said.

Vladimir nodded. “And I already told the management not to sell to The Heartbreaker because he’s a wanted criminal.”

“Heh, I wonder what ToyAgumon and ClearAgumon would do to keep him out,” Hovis laughed. He pictured the scene in his head.

A smal tyrannosaurus made out of building blocks was sitting at the checkout counter of a store, waiting for customers. In walked a sinister-looking teddy bear, skulking his way to the back of the store.

“Hey, Heartbreaker?” the dinosaur asked.

“What?” the teddy bear replied.

In that instant, he froze. He really shouldn’t have responded...

“Get out,” a second dinosaur responded. He looked similar to the first one, except for looking more transparent.

The Heartbreaker thought quickly and“Hovis?”

“Eh?” Hovis stopped daydreaming and looked at Vladimir.

“What do you think? Do you think The Heartbreaker lives in Heartbreaker’s Alley?”

Vladimir asked.

Hovis shrugged. “You know, we could speculate about this all night long. If you ask me, it’d be better to actually find out the answer.”

“Well, yeah, but how are we gonna do that?” PunkMyotismon asked. “You want us to, like, break into his hideout or something?”

“If he doesn’t live in Heartbreaker’s Alley, we’ll at least be able to retrieve the stolen objects,” Sheepmon said. “But then again, he could just steal them right back from us...”

“Yeah, and if we do get the stuff back, it doesn’t mean our problems are over,” BlackGargomon said. “We have to take the fight to The Heartbreaker himself and either apprehend him or scare him off.”

“I have an idea,” Renamon said. “Early in the morning, I’ll teleport to his hideout.

He would presumably be asleep at the time, and so I’ll be able to sneak around without bothering him. My eyes can see very well in the dark, so I won’t need to turn on any lights.”

Dati gave Renamon a confused look. “You can teleport?”

Renamon nodded. “All Renamon can teleport, but some can teleport more easily than others. Since I’m not a fighter by nature, I have to concentrate very hard in order to teleport. That’s why I didn’t teleport back to the trailer the other day; my leg was in so much pain that I couldn’t concentrate.”

“Oh. Okay.”

So, they refined the plan further: at around four in the morning, Renamon would teleport into Heartbreaker’s Alley and look through the buildings to see if The Heartbreaker lived there. If he didn’t live there, they were going to split into two teams; one would retrieve the stolen goods, while the other would hide near Heartbreaker’s Alley and ambush him when he came back. But if he did live there, the plan would remain mostly the same, except the ambushing team would covertly follow him while he was out. If they caught him trying to steal from someone, they would ambush him and hopefully beat him into submission.

“I’m just wondering about one more thing,” Andromon said. “If Renamon’s going to be going around the buildings anyway, do you think he could snag some of our items?”

“That’s a risky maneuver,” Renamon said. “It would probably involve me rummaging through lots of things, and the noise could alert The Heartbreaker to my presence. I’ll only do it if he doesn’t live there.”

“Good call,” Biyomon said.

Everyone discussed the plan further until it was time to go home. Tomorrow, they were going to decide who would form the two teams.

But in the middle of the night, when Dati was sleeping...

His body met the grass before he understood what was going on. As he moved to push himself upwards so he could stand, he could feel his muscles protesting with pain. Once he stood up, a very fatigued feeling washed over him, and it felt like the

world was spinning. For a brief moment, he started thinking about how he would get out of here. But before he could think very hard about his options, a blast of some sort knocked him off of the nearby cliff. He felt himself falling very far, and out of the corner of his eye, he thought he could see two other digimon falling with him. There was something down below-was it a river?-and he was scared that he might not make it. He was a mile away from the ground whenGasp! Dati woke up, panting heavily. His stomach felt like it dropped several inches.

It took him a short bit to realize it was just a nightmare.

That was disturbing! For a while, I thought I was actually falling...why was I dreaming about that?

He let out a groan and tried to relax in bed. As his sight wandered through the room, he noticed the nearby clock. Its numbers read 4:24.

Wait...didn’t Renamon say he was going to go to Heartbreaker’s Alley? I wonder if he’s back yet...

A few minutes passed, and then Dati began hearing voices from the other room. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but the voices sounded like BlackGargomon, Vladimir, and Renamon discussing something. Eventually, it ended, and Dati was alone with his thoughts once more. But a minute afterwards, he could hear footsteps coming closer into his room, and he was wondering what was up.

“Hmm?” he grunted as the digimon passed by his bed.

“Oh, were you awake?” the digimon asked.

Dati recognized the voice. “BlackGargomon?”

“Yeah. I came here to leave this note for you. But you were already awake, huh?”

“I had a nightmare and I’ve been trying to get back to sleep.”

“Sorry if I’m bothering you. But I wanted you to know that Renamon came back from the investigation.”

“Okay, what’d he find out?”

“It turns out that Heartbreaker’s Alley is, in fact, where The Heartbreaker lives. So this evening, we’re going to have one last meeting to perfect our plan, and then the morning after that, we’re going to put our plan into action. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting really sick of having to deal with The Heartbreaker. The sooner we stop him, the better.”

“Yeah.”

BlackGargomon walked towards the door. “So why don’t you try and get a little more sleep while it’s still dark outside? You don’t want to sleep through the meeting, do you?”

“I can try to sleep. Good night.”

“Good night.”

“Okay, everyone, this is our last meeting before we take on The Heartbreaker,” Vladimir said. “Renamon, why don’t you tell us what you learned last night?”

“Gladly,” Renamon said as he walked up next to Vladimir. “As I was walking through the buildings, I saw that The Heartbreaker was sleeping in one of the rooms. So he does live in Heartbreaker’s Alley.”

WereGarurumon glared at Flamedramon. “Don’t say a word.”

“Hey, did I say anything?” Flamedramon asked.

“So now that we know where The Heartbreaker lives, it’s time to divide ourselves into teams,” BlackGargomon said. He pointed to opposite ends of the room as he spoke.

“Who wants to fight The Heartbreaker, and who wants to take back the stuff he stole?”

“I think it goes without saying that I’ll join the retrieval team,” Renamon said, walking to one side. “After all, the last time I confronted The Heartbreaker didn’t end well for me, as I’m sure you all know.”

“Yeah, I think I wanna help Renamon, too,” Dati said. “What about you, Hovis?”

Hovis followed them. “I’m with you guys.”

“Me, too.” Biyomon flew over to them.

Flamedramon got up and walked to the opposite side of the room. “Well, I have a bone to pick with The Heartbreaker. Sign me up for the fighters’ team.”

“I agree with Flamedramon,” Andromon said, following Flamedramon. “What about you, Gururumon?”

“Actually, I’d rather join the other team,” Gururumon said, walking towards the Rookies. “I’m sure I’d be able to carry a lot of things for them. And not to make them sound weak, but I think they could use some extra defense if The Heartbreaker catches them.”

Andromon nodded. “That makes sense.”

BlackGargomon noticed that the other three members of Castle in the Air were huddled together and discussing something. “Hey guys, what are you thinking?”

The three nodded, and Antylamon looked at BlackGargomon. “We all wanna join the fighters.”

“Go ahead, no one’s stopping you,” BlackGargomon said, and the three band members joined Flamedramon and Andromon. “That leaves me, Taomon, Vladimir, Sheepmon, and Vademon. What do you all wanna do?”

Taomon looked at BlackGargomon. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to join the fighters.”

“Me too.” Sheepmon said.

“Sure, go for it,” BlackGargomon said as they joined the fighters.

“Well, I don’t like to fight, so I think I’ll help the others,” Vademon said, moving over to their side. “Maybe I can help Biyomon get some stuff that’s hard to reach.”

“And just to help you guys out, I’m joining the retrievers,” BlackGargomon said.

“Just so you have more reinforcements.”

“And I shall join the fighters,” Vladimir said, walking over to their side. “He may take my glasses, but he can never take my pride away!”

BlackGargomon looked over the teams and wrote things down. “So it’s settled: the retriever team consists of me, Vademon, Gururumon, Hovis, Dati, Renamon, and Biyomon.”

“And the fighting team consists of me, Taomon, WereGarurumon, PunkMyotismon, Antylamon, Flamedramon, Andromon, and Sheepmon,” Vladimir added. “Would anybody like to change teams?”

Everyone either shook their heads or said no.

“Great, now let’s continue planning our attack,” Vladimir said.

So they continued discussing the plan, and everything started coming together. They decided that BlackGargomon and Taomon would each take a walkie-talkie so that they could relay information to each other. Taomon’s group would lie in wait near Heartbreaker’s Alley and wait for The Heartbreaker to leave. Once the coast was clear, BlackGargomon’s group would break into Heartbreaker’s Alley and search for all the things he stole. When they found all the objects, they would return them to BlackGargomon’s house. Meanwhile, Taomon’s group would secretly follow The Heartbreaker around town. If they caught him doing something illicit, they would try to beat him into submission once and for all. But if he was behaving himself, they would all confront him once he returned to Heartbreaker’s Alley. After all, he still needed to do some time for stealing everyone’s things.

“Think about it, guys,” Hovis said. “By this time tomorrow, we’ll have driven The Heartbreaker out of town!”

Vademon threw a fist into the air. “Awesome! I can’t wait to surf on my favorite board again!”

Sheepmon looked at Biyomon. “And we’ll, quite literally, be back in business.”

“So will we!” WereGarurumon said with a grin.

“And we can finally have our race, too!” Flamedramon said.

And I can finally give Taomon her present, BlackGargomon thought.

“And I’ll be able to see again,” Vladimir said.

“So, how’s about it?” Hovis said. “Tomorrow morning, we’ll all come here at five and light this candle!”

“What?” WereGarurumon’s eyes widened. “Who gets up that early?”

He felt someone tapping him on the shoulder, and saw that it was PunkMyotismon.

“I don’t like getting up that early, either,” PunkMyotismon said. “But it’s only for tomorrow. After that, we can keep sleeping in as much as we want. Besides, look at it this way: we’re gonna get your microphone back.”

“I’ll be glad when that happens!” WereGarurumon said.

“That’s the spirit!” Gururumon said.

Hovis looked at the clock. “It looks like the meeting is over now. Thanks for helping us stop The Heartbreaker, and see you all tomorrow!”

There was an excited chatter as the guests left the house.

“Well, it’s just the five of us again,” Hovis said, closing the door. “Hey, Dati, I noticed you haven’t been speaking up much in these meetings. Is something wrong?”

“Yeah,” Dati said, taking a seat on the couch. “I’ve been thinking...what if this plan doesn’t work?”

“Simple: we’ll just keep trying!” BlackGargomon said.

“Yeah, well, we promised everyone that things would be back to normal by tomorrow night,” Dati said. “I don’t want to let anyone down.”

“Remember, this is a team effort,” Vladimir said as he took a seat next to Dati. “It would be one thing if the five of us were the only ones working, but we have ten other digimon on our side, and half of them are Ultimates. What’s The Heartbreaker going to do against fifteen of us? Everyone in Ursa Town teamed up to help stop him last time, and the only reason he isn’t in custody is because he somehow managed to escape before we could take him anywhere. What I’m saying is that if everyone does their part, the plan should work.”

“Okay.” Dati hoped that he would be able to do his part, as well.

Hovis ran into Dati’s room. “Wakey-wakey, Dati!”

Dati groaned, opening his eyes. It was still dark outside. “What’s going on?”

“BlackGargomon’s making breakfast. Come on!” Hovis ripped Dati’s blanket away.

“Brrr!” Dati curled up, trying to stay warm.

Hovis snickered and grabbed one of Dati’s leaf hands. “If you’re gonna keep resisting like that, then don’t come crying to me when you get really hungry at Heartbreaker’s Alley!”

“Okay, okay...” Reluctantly, Dati got out of bed, and he and Hovis walked to the dining room. A lovely smell was wafting nearby, and it seemed to wake Dati up a bit.

“I’m making some noodle soup!” BlackGargomon said. “Have some rolls while you wait!”

“But don’t eat too many,” Taomon said as Dati and Hovis each grabbed a roll. “You don’t want to get so full that you don’t want to do anything.”

Before long, the soup was done. As everyone ate their soup, Hovis noticed that Dati was a little tentative in eating his soup.

“Something bugging you, Dati?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Dati said, taking a sip of milk. “It’s just, after we defeat The Heartbreaker, I might have to leave. I remember what Biyomon, Sheepmon, and Isis said about Mesozoic Isle being in danger, and something tells me I should go help everyone out there.

But I don’t really like to say goodbyes...”

“You know, Dati, if it makes you feel any better, Vlad and I will probably have to leave, too, when this is over,” Hovis said. “Whether it’s to attend The Heartbreaker’s trial or to continue chasing after him. We can’t stop until he’s brought to justice.”

“And the three of you are always welcome here after what you’ve done to help us,” BlackGargomon said. “Right, Taomon?”

“Mm-hmm.”

After a minute, there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” BlackGargomon said, leaving the table. He opened the door, and he saw Vademon, Sheepmon, and Biyomon standing there.

“Hey, man!” Vademon said. “Can we come in?”

“Of course!” BlackGargomon said, and the three digimon walked inside.

Biyomon’s very keen sense of smell was telling her about something, and she decided to investigate. “What’s that smell?”

“It’s noodle soup. But I only made enough for the five of us who were already here.”

BlackGargomon gave a nervous laugh. “Sorry...I should’ve made more, huh?”

“Oh, no, it’s all right,” Sheepmon said. “Before we came here, we had some muffins, donuts, and coffee at the store.”

“We may technically be eating our profits, but desperate times call for desperate measures,” Biyomon said. “Besides, we can always make some more.”

BlackGargomon nodded. “If it’s all right, I need to finish my breakfast, okay?”

“Go ahead, bro,” Vademon said. “It’s your house, isn’t it?”

As BlackGargomon left the room, he said, “We’ll enact the plan when the others get here.”

So Vademon, Biyomon, and Sheepmon talked about random things with each other as the others finished their breakfast.

“And that’s why I love watching the sunrise every morning,” Vademon said. “What about you two? Why do you get up so early?”

“It’s out of necessity,” Biyomon said. “If Sheepmon and I get to the store early enough, we can have freshly-baked goods ready by the time the store opens. And lots of digimon like to eat baked goods for breakfast.”

Someone else knocked at the door.

“I got this!” Vademon said. He opened the door, and there was Flamedramon, Andromon, Gururumon (who was wearing saddle bags), and Castle in the Air. “Come on in, dudes! We’re just hanging out right now.”

“I can’t believe the sun’s not even up yet,” WereGarurumon said as they all walked inside. “But if it’s what I gotta do to get my microphone back...”

Flamedramon walked up to WereGarurumon. “You wouldn’t last a minute in my job, then. I get up with the sunrise, eat a light breakfast, and go to work.”

“And you like it?”

“Eh, I’m an early riser. Might as well get a job that works with that.”

They continued in their respective discussions until the clock read 5:00.

“All right, everybody!” BlackGargomon said. “You ready to stop The Heartbreaker?”

“Yeah!” everyone said.

Taomon walked over to the door. “Come with me if you’re on the fighting team. If you’re not, then stay here until I radio BlackGargomon.”

The members of Taomon’s team joined her at the door, and Vladimir said, “We’re going to hide out near Heartbreaker’s Alley and wait until The Heartbreaker leaves. We’ll let you know when the coast is clear for you to break into Heartbreaker’s Alley. Just remember to stay quiet; we don’t want The Heartbreaker to catch on to us too early.”

“Got it,” Hovis and Dati said.

“We’d better get there in a hurry,” Taomon said. “We don’t want to get there only to find that he’s already left.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t want that, would you?” Hovis said. “Good luck, guys!”

“Thank you,” Vladimir said, and the fighters soon left.

“Well, what do you guys wanna do while we wait?” Biyomon asked.

Vademon hopped up. “Ooh! Is there a window where I can watch the sunrise?”

“It’s in the kitchen, above the sink,” BlackGargomon said.

“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” Vademon cheered, bouncing to the kitchen.

“Hey, BlackGargomon?” Dati said. “When we go to get the stuff, are we gonna split into two groups to cover more ground in the buildings, or are we all going together?”

“We’re all going together,” BlackGargomon said. “It’s just easier that way. We don’t have to worry about ‘Did you find this and this and that?’ between each other. Besides, seven digimon can easily go through lots of ground in one building. Easier than three or four, at least.”

“That makes sense.”

“Hopefully, everyone’s doing okay,” Renamon said.

“My racer has a first name, it’s F-L-A-M-E!” WereGarurumon quietly sang as they walked through town. “My racer has a second name, it’s A-N-D-R-O!” Flamedramon sighed. “You think you can save this for later, when we’re not sneaking through town?”

“But why?” WereGarurumon asked. “Don’t you want someone to lighten the mood a little? Stress is bad for you, you know!”

“Says the guy who freaks out whenever someone interrupts his music time,” PunkMyotismon said.

“Well, wouldn’t you get upset if someone kept bugging you while you were trying to listen to your favorite jams?”

“There’s a difference between that and trying to catch a crook, you know,” Taomon said.

WereGarurumon sighed. “Figures. You try to lighten the mood in this day and age... it’s like everyone wants to be serious all the time!”

“Hey,” Sheepmon said, pointing her hoof. “Is that Heartbreaker’s Alley over there?”

Taomon looked at the two decrepit buildings and the fence surrounding them. “If what Hovis said is true, then yes, that is Heartbreaker’s Alley!”

“Quick, let’s hide behind this building!” Antylamon said, and the eight digimon hid behind the nearby building. By peeking out from behind the building, Taomon could see Heartbreaker’s Alley across the road.

“Now, we wait,” Taomon said.

Vladimir leaned against the building and thought about things. He had had to go with-

out glasses for over a week now, and it was starting to get annoying. Sure, he could use his other senses to guide himself, but he preferred being able to see. Maybe, he thought, he should invest in contact lenses sometime; those would be much harder to steal right off his face, especially if he was crying really hard...

“He’s coming out!” Taomon whispered. Seven digimon immediately gave her their full attention. They all carefully looked around the building and saw The Heartbreaker leaving through a hole in the fence and walking down the street towards the city.

“Is everyone ready to tail him?” Vladimir asked.

“Just let me tell the other team,” Taomon said, and pulled out her walkie-talkie.

BlackGargomon heard noises coming from his walkie-talkie and quickly snatched it up. “What happened? Did you see him?”

Hovis, Renamon, and Gururumon paid close attention to BlackGargomon; Dati, meanwhile, rushed into the kitchen and dragged out Vademon. Everyone listened to BlackGargomon’s side of the conversation with Taomon. When he was done, he turned to everyone.

“Time to go to Heartbreaker’s Alley,” he said. “And Taomon says that if we see The Heartbreaker, we should hide.”

“Right!” Hovis said, and they all headed out.

“Just follow me,” BlackGargomon said. “I know a secluded path.”

As they all walked, Dati felt a little nervous. They were finally gonna strike back against The Heartbreaker...hopefully, they would be able to find everything he stole.

The team did bring a checklist, so at least they could tell what they had and hadn’t gotten.

But seriously, when I decided to be a hero, I thought I was just gonna do odd jobs for a month or two before actually stopping evil digimon. I never thought I’d do something big right away...but then again, if the Digidestined could handle something much bigger than this, then maybe I could“Hey, bro!”

Dati jumped a little and looked at Vademon. “I’m sorry?”

“We’re here,” Hovis said, pointing at the buildings.

The team made their way through a hole in the fence and looked up at the nearest building.

“Ready?” BlackGargomon asked.

“Yeah,” everyone said.

They shoved open the door to the building and ran inside.

I hope you’re having a good time at the Island of Balance. Love, Togemogumon.

She finished her email, sent it, and leaned back in her chair. Eteman had left for vacation a few days ago; while it was a little tricky for Togemogumon to have to do everything herself at first, she found that she had gotten used to it after a while. Hopefully, when Eteman returned, he’d be much less desperate to make a sale, and much less mean to the customers.

I hope he calms down...the Eteman I fell in love with was a funny guy, not a bully...I don’t know what caused him to change. Hopefully, he’s getting the rest he needs.

A jingling bell from outside the office caught her attention. Since the store wasn’t open yet, she needed to tell the customer to come back later.

But I thought I locked the door, and I’m pretty sure we have our hours on a sign out front, so who...?

She left the office and saw a huge grey teddy bear walking inside, carrying an empty bag.

“Um, hello, sir,” Togemogumon said. “What’s going on?”

“I want some videos,” the teddy bear said.

Togemogumon got on top of her desk to more easily talk to him. “I’m sorry, sir, but we’re not open yet. Can you check back in a few hours?”

The teddy bear glared at her. “Evidently you didn’t hear me.” He picked her up and held her a few inches from his face. “I. Want. Some videos.”

Togemogumon gulped loudly. “Um, okay, w-which ones do you want?”

He set her back down on the desk. “Hmm...”

She watched him as he walked over to the shelves and opened his bag before taking several tapes.

“I want that one, and that one, and that one...” he said. “I already have this one, but I want it. And all these, and this one, and I don’t like this movie, but I want it anyway...”

“Excuse me,” Togemogumon said.

“What?”

“You’re gonna pay the rental fees for all those tapes, right?”

“I don’t wanna.”

Togemogumon got off of the desk and walked towards the teddy bear. “But you have to. It’s official store policy. If you don’t, we won’t be able to get new tapes.”

“I don’t care. I want these tapes.”

“Why?” “Because I do!”

All of a sudden, something clicked with Togemogumon. “Wait a minute...” She remembered the flyer that the kids gave to her. The guy she was confronting looked suspiciously like... “Are you The Heartbreaker?”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” he said with a smirk. “If you do, I’m gonna shout Heartbreak Attack!”

He launched a black bubble towards Togemogumon, who instinctively curled up into a spiky ball. But the bubble still engulfed her and popped; she uncurled herself and started wailing on the floor.

“Like shooting fish in a barrel,” The Heartbreaker said. He picked up the sack and looked at the shelves. “What should I do after this...?”

Ding!

“I have an idea.”

The Heartbreaker gasped and looked at the door. Taomon was standing there, looking very displeased.

“Put the bag down,” Taomon said. “Put it down and walk away. Get out of our city, and don’t come back until you promise not to steal anything anymore.”

The Heartbreaker noticed that the rest of Taomon’s team was standing at the door.

“We’re getting really, really sick of your tricks,” WereGarurumon said.

“Why can’t you be an honest digimon and purchase things with your own money like the rest of us?” Sheepmon asked. “Is it really that hard?”

“Or do you just like seeing people squirm?” Flamedramon asked.

Vladimir walked through the group. “You can’t hide from the law forever, Heartbreaker. No matter how many Heartbreak Attacks you fire, no matter how many things you steal, no matter how many digimon you inconvenience. I hope you realize that you’re now an enemy of two cities. Do you want to turn the whole Digital World against you one day? Do you really think you can handle that?”

The Heartbreaker glared at the team. “Well, if no one wants to play fair with me, why should I play fair with them? You want me to leave? Make me!”

Flamedramon growled. “Fire Rocket!” He engulfed himself in flames and launched himself at The Heartbreaker.

“Lightning Blade!” Andromon jumped in and started hacking and slashing.

Taomon quickly left the video store and took out her walkie-talkie.

BlackGargomon’s team stood at the top floor of the building.

“Ugh! We’ve turned this building upside down and there’s no sign of anything!” Hovis said.

“Wanna look in the other building?” Dati asked.

BlackGargomon heard noises coming from his walkie-talkie and pulled it out. “Hello?

Yeah. What’s up? What? The Heartbreaker’s at File City Videos? Oh. Okay then. No, we haven’t found anything yet. We’re gonna look in the other building. Okay. Bye!” He put his walkie-talkie away and looked at the others. “The Heartbreaker tried to steal from the video store. But the others caught him in the act, and now they’re fighting him.”

“I hope Vlad’s okay,” Hovis said.

“I’m sure they’re all okay,” Gururumon said. “Why don’t we go to the other building now?”

“Sure!” BlackGargomon said.

The seven digimon ran downstairs until they reached the front room and left the building. They ran to the other building and barged right in.

“If the loot isn’t in here...” BlackGargomon growled.

“It has to be around here somewhere,” Hovis said. “The Heartbreaker never just throws away his loot.”

Renamon ran to the stairs. “Why don’t we go up to his bedroom and go from there? I think it’d make sense for him to keep his loot that close.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Biyomon said. Everyone climbed the stairs to the top floor of the building and entered the bedroom.

“Uh, I don’t see anything,” Vademon said.

“What about the closet? Or under the bed?” Dati asked. “Maybe the stuff’s hidden where not many people would think to look.”

“Let me look in the closet,” BlackGargomon said. He opened the door, and was greeted with a few bags of things. He peeked in one, and his eyes widened. “Hey, Gururumon?”

“Yes?” “I found your hurdles.”

“Great! Put them in here!” Gururumon reached back and pointed towards one of the saddle bags he was wearing.

BlackGargomon looked confused. “Are they even gonna fit?”

Gururumon nodded. “I got the expandable saddle bags.”

As BlackGargomon shoved the hurdles inside a bag, something in the closet caught Biyomon’s eye. She flew over and inspected three sacks which were sitting in the closet.

“Flour...sugar...brown sugar...hey! This is the stuff I sent Sheepmon to get!” she said.

“Can I put it all in one of the bags?”

“Sure you can!” Gururumon said. “I can carry lots of things!”

Meanwhile, Renamon, Hovis, and Dati were looking under the bed from different sides. Renamon reached underneath the bed and his hand hit something hard.

“I found something!” he said.

“What is it? I wanna see!” Hovis said.

Slowly, Renamon pulled out the item he had found. It turned out to be a surfboard with a pink, blue, and green pattern.

“A surfboard?” Dati asked. “Hey, Vade-” “You found my board!” Vademon cheered, coming over and taking it in his hands.

“Thanks, guys! I owe you one! I really do!”

“Wanna put it in the bag?” Gururumon asked.

“Nah, I think I’ll just carry it! Thanks, though!”

“I see more things under the bed,” Renamon said. “Dati, can you help me grab them?”

“Sure,” Dati said, firing some vines underneath the bed. “Nemesis Ivy!” “Hey, Hovis?” BlackGargomon said from in the closet.

“What?” Hovis said, walking up to him.

BlackGargomon held out a pair of red-framed glasses. “Do these look like Vladimir’s glasses to you?”

“They sure do! Give ‘em here!”

Meanwhile, Dati pulled out a couple of objects from underneath the bed. “Anything else?”

Renamon scanned the area one more time. “No, I think you got it all.”

“What did you find?” Gururumon asked.

“I found this microphone and this velvet box,” Dati said, holding out the items.

“I’ll take the microphone,” Renamon said.

“And let me see that box,” BlackGargomon said, taking it from Dati. He took a peek

inside and quickly closed it. “Still there! Good!”

“What’s still there?” Biyomon asked.

“My present for Taomon,” BlackGargomon said. “It’s a secret for now.”

“I think we got everything,” Gururumon said, walking towards the stairs. “Let’s get out of here and get these items somewhere safe.”

“Yeah,” Dati said.

As they went downstairs, BlackGargomon radioed Taomon.

The fight with The Heartbreaker had been taken outside long ago, and Togemogumon was still in the video store, currently reshelving the videos. Everyone else was out in the street, beating down The Heartbreaker, who was putting up a huge fight.

“Gatling Missile!”

“Wool Grenade!”

The Heartbreaker leaped out of the way, Sheepmon’s attack just barely nicking him.

But he had to keep running, as Andromon had fired homing missiles. And these homing missiles had a nasty surprise: they were able to fire bullets.

“Your projectiles shoot projectiles?” The Heartbreaker yelled as he ran. “You don’t fight fair!”

“Oh look, Mr. Heartbreak-Attack-Out-of-Nowhere is complaining that we’re not fair!” Flamedramon said. “It’s not so funny when the tables are turned, is it?”

Taomon paused her walkie-talkie discussion to do something important. “Thousand Spells!” Several talismans wrapped themselves around The Heartbreaker’s body, and he couldn’t move. The missiles detonated as soon as they hit, and Taomon detonated the talismans after that. With that, she returned to her walkie-talkie conversation.

“PunkMyotismon! Look out!” Antylamon pointed upwards.

PunkMyotismon looked up.

“Bear Claw!” The Heartbreaker came down on him with a swipe, and knocked him to the ground.

“Two can play at this game!” PunkMyotismon said. “Crimson Lightning!”

He projected a red energy whip from his wrist and swung it at The Heartbreaker like it was going out of style. Back and forth and back and forth...

“Gah!” The Heartbreaker knocked everyone away with several swings of his paws.

Everyone fell to the ground, panting heavily.

The Heartbreaker stood before them, also panting heavily.

Then, with a smirk, he charged up his energy...

“Heartbreak Attack!”

Instead of firing one bubble, he fired several. They engulfed all the digimon currently there, and after the bubbles popped, those digimon were all bawling their eyes out.

The Heartbreaker chuckled at the sight. Just seeing those seven digimon being all... ...wait.

Seven?

He counted them up: Taomon, Sheepmon, Castle in the Air, the runners...

“Heartbreaker.”

He turned.

He saw Vladimir standing near a building, now with his glasses on his face. Hovis and Dati were standing on either side.

“Give it up, Heartbreaker,” Vladimir said. “We’ve been chasing you for the longest time. It’s time for this to end.”

Although The Heartbreaker was physically exhausted, he still had one more trick up his sleeve.

“You’ll have to catch me first!”

He turned tail and ran towards the beach.

“After him!” Vladimir said. Hovis and Dati joined Vladimir in the chase.

Although his muscles were screaming right now, The Heartbreaker kept on running.

When he reached the beach, he frantically looked around for what he had seen before.

The thing that would give him freedom...

Then his eyes fell on that very thing: a sign reading “Syakomon’s Jetski Rentals”.

“Yes!” he cried out. He nabbed a jetski from the selection, got on it, and started it up.

“Hey! Where you going with that?” Syakomon (a pink clam) asked from behind the stand.

But The Heartbreaker didn’t answer. Laughing maniacally, he sped off in the water towards the horizon.

“You have to pay for that, you know!” Syakomon called out.

Vladimir ran up to the stand. “What happened?”

“That guy just stole one of my jetskis!” Syakomon said.

“We’re gonna need to chase after him,” Vladimir said, taking out some money. “May

I rent a jetski?”

“Sure!” Syakomon said, looking at the money. “Um...this is enough for two.”

Vladimir nodded. “To pay for the one he stole.”

Hovis looked at Dati. “Well, Dati, I think Vlad and I have to say good-bye for now.

As long as The Heartbreaker’s running loose, we have to chase him and make sure he doesn’t steal from anyone else. He still needs to do time for what he did in Ursa Town, to say nothing of what he did here!”

“Okay,” Dati said, looking at the ground.

Hovis took his leaf hand. “Hey, thanks for helping us drive him out of town, at least.

You were really helpful out there!”

“And thank you for helping everyone,” Dati said.

Vladimir got on the jet ski. “Come on, Hovis!”

“Whoop, we gotta leave now. Bye!” Hovis ran over to Vladimir, got on the jetski with him, and sped off into the distance.

“Bye...” Dati said, watching them leave. He stood there, staring at the ocean for a short while. Before long, he heard someone walking up to him.

“Dati?”

“Huh?” He turned and saw that Gururumon was walking towards him. “Oh, hello.”

“What happened to The Heartbreaker?”

“He stole a jetski and got away. Vladimir and Hovis are chasing after him. I’m not sure when they’ll come back...or if they’ll come back.”

“Oh...well, I have good news. Everyone has their things back. Not only that, but we’re thinking of having a party this evening to celebrate our victory over The Heartbreaker.”

Dati hesitated. “That sounds fun, but...”

“But...?”

“It doesn’t feel right to celebrate without Vladimir and Hovis. I mean, they led the mission, didn’t they?”

“WereGarurumon said that we can celebrate again next time they’re in town, but for now, we deserve a break before returning to our regular lives.”

“Okay.”

The party that evening was a rousing success. Biyomon and Sheepmon were so excited about getting their supplies back that they baked lots of treats for the occasion.

Castle in the Air performed lots of songs; some were their own songs, and others were covers of popular Earth songs. Flamedramon and Andromon took over the dance floor,

and proved to be just as competitive there as they usually were on the track. Taomon was wearing her new yin-yang earrings, which were BlackGargomon’s surprise present for her. Vademon was being Vademon, jumping up and down, headbanging, and doing air guitar to Castle in the Air’s music. And Dati was sitting with Togemogumon and talking with her.

“So Eteman’s on vacation?” he said.

“Yep. I sent him to the Island of Balance. He had been really crazy for the past month, and in my eyes, when he accused you and Hovis of lying to him, it was the last straw. I thought that he was stressed out from the lack of customers, so I sent him on vacation.

Hopefully, he’s doing well.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m gonna go get something to drink. Be right back.”

As Togemogumon left, Dati looked up at the sky. Tomorrow, he was going to travel to Mesozoic Isle and see who needed help there.

But for now, he was just going to enjoy the party.

Chapter 9 Open the Door, Get on the Floor

D

ati opened his eyes and let out a huge yawn. The sun had already risen by now; last night’s party had gone on for quite some time. He was sure that late in the party, the sweets that Biyomon made and the loud music of Castle in the Air were the only things keeping him awake. Fortunately, he had been able to go back to BlackGargomon’s house and go to bed before anything crazy happened.

He looked at the clock; it read 8:46.

I should probably get something to eat before I go...

He got out of bed and went to the kitchen, where he saw Taomon making a peanut butter sandwich.

“Hey, Taomon?”

“Good morning, Dati. What’s going on?”

“Would it be okay if I made a peanut butter sandwich, too?”

“Actually, I was making this one for you,” Taomon said, putting the second slice of bread on top. “I already had something to eat earlier.”

“Okay, thank you.” Dati took the sandwich and went over to the table. As he bit into the sandwich, he heard the door opening.

“I’m back!” BlackGargomon said, walking in and closing the door.

“Hello, BlackGargomon,” Taomon said. “Dati’s up now.”

“Hi, Dati! I was just returning the WaruMonzaemon video to the store now that we don’t need it.”

“That makes sense,” Dati said. “I just got up, and I decided to eat a sandwich before I go.”

“You just got up? That makes sense.” BlackGargomon took a seat next to Dati. “Man, last night’s party was so crazy! Taomon and I could’ve rocked out all night long if we wanted to! But after a while, we’d had enough, and we wanted to go to bed. Heck, I was surprised that I didn’t wake up at noon or something!”

“What’s going on with the others?”

“Well, Wool and Wings is back in business, I saw Castle in the Air practicing in the field, and I heard that Flamedramon and Andromon are having their race tonight. I didn’t see Vademon today, but knowing him, he’s probably surfing at the beach or something.”

Dati nodded. “I’m glad everything’s back to normal.”

“We all are,” Taomon said.

“Definitely!” BlackGargomon said. “It’s great to be able to take things from place to place and not have to worry about them getting stolen!”

Taomon chuckled. “What a concept.”

“And we all did it together,” Dati said. “I still wish Vladimir and Hovis could have caught him for real and celebrated with us, but I’m sure they’ll get him one day.”

“Or maybe he’ll get bored of stealing,” BlackGargomon said.

Taomon shrugged. “Whatever happens, happens. All I know is that if The Heartbreaker comes back, I’m gonna make it clear in no uncertain terms that he had better behave himself, or else I’ll make sure that he gets caught.”

BlackGargomon noticed that Dati had just swallowed the last bite of his sandwich.

“You want some milk, too? I can get some.”

“Sure.”

Once Dati got his milk, he continued discussing things as he drank it.

“I was just getting used to this place, but now I need to leave?” Dati wasn’t entirely sure what he was thinking when he decided that. “It’s for a good cause, but still...”

“Hey, don’t worry,” BlackGargomon said. “File Island is just a short distance away from Mesozoic Isle. Lots of digimon go back and forth between the two on a regular basis.”

“Yep.” Taomon took a sip of coffee. “If it’s too dangerous to sleep there, you can

always come back here for the night. We’re not going to go there ourselves, since we still need to relax after the Heartbreaker incident. Takes a lot out of you, you know?”

“It’s understandable,” Dati said. “I mean, after all that, I’m surprised that I don’t want to at least wait a day or two before leaving!”

“Hey, some digimon are more resilient than others,” BlackGargomon said. “It doesn’t mean you’re weird; it just means you care.”

“I guess you’re right,” Dati said, taking another sip of milk.

Once he finished his milk, Dati said goodbye to BlackGargomon and Taomon and took a walk down to the beach, looking for the Seadramon who would take him to Mesozoic Isle. He had been lost in thought the whole way there.

The digimon on Mesozoic Isle...can I help them very much? I mean, everyone else did most of the work when we fought The Heartbreaker...there were fourteen other digimon working with me! It was our victory, yeah, but was it my victory?

Dati’s thoughts were cut short by the sound of rushing water and someone running up to him.

“Hey, man!” Vademon said, holding his surfboard. “Going somewhere?”

Dati nodded. “Mesozoic Isle. I hope I can help them.”

“Of course you can, little dude! You helped us, remember?”

“Yeah, but I don’t feel like I really did much. I mean, I just happened to be there when a lot of the big events happened, and the others did a lot of the work...”

“Well, you know something?” Vademon asked, walking up to Dati and putting an arm around him. “Between you and me, I think you did more than I did. Like, at least you found stuff on your own. But it doesn’t bother me at all, ‘cause I still did my part on the team, even if we didn’t really need it. I don’t let little things bother me, ‘cause if I’m too hung up on that stuff, how can I enjoy life? The sun’s gonna rise again tomorrow, and then we get to try again.”

“Well, thinking like that is easier said than done,” Dati said, “but I can try to remember that.”

“Awesome! Maybe I’ll go to Mesozoic Isle one day. I wanna see what the waves are like there. But not now; I see a big wave coming up over there! Later, dude!” With that, Vademon ran off towards the ocean.

Dati watched Vademon leave, and after a short while, he walked onto the nearby pier.

“Going somewhere?” Seadramon asked.

“Yeah, can you take me to Mesozoic Isle, please?”

“Sure! Hop on!”

Dati got onto Seadramon’s back, and Seadramon called out, “Anyone else wanna go to Mesozoic Isle right now?” When he didn’t get an answer, he set off on the ocean.

“We’ll be there shortly.”

As Seadramon made his way across the ocean, Dati looked at the sky. So I’m gonna be on my own again...this isn’t the easiest thing ever, but I hope I can do it. I wonder... if I had done more, would we have caught The Heartbreaker? I know Vademon said I shouldn’t let little things get me down, but for someone like me, it’s not easy...

While he was staring at the small clouds in the sky, he caught sight of a white butterfly passing overhead. Yukio...are you proud of me? I’ve only done a little so far, but is it enough to call me a hero, or do I need to do more? I wish I could talk to you...

He sighed and looked down at the ocean. Maybe the idea of meeting Yukio again was just a pipe dream; after all, he didn’t know if the butterflies were alive, or if they had Yukio’s conscience. But even if he only saw Yukio in dreams, he wasn’t going to give up on his dream.

Because...what else is there for me to do?

Deep down, he was pondering these sorts of things. Maybe one day, he’d have to solve problems on his own...but would that day come soon, or“We’re here!”

“Huh?” Snapping out of his thoughts, Dati looked at the place before him. There was another pier with another Seadramon on the opposite side, and the pier led to a beach.

Dati couldn’t see much further than the beach, as a lush jungle was in the distance, blocking the view of whatever was further inland. A bulletin board on the beach, near the threshold of the jungle, caught his eye. He got off of Seadramon. “Thanks for the ride.”

“No problem! And if you wanna go somewhere, just talk to my brother over there!”

“Sure.” Dati walked further towards the beach.

“Well, back to File Island with me!” Seadramon said, swimming away.

As Dati walked onto the beach, the sound of creaking boards beneath his feet turned into the softer sound of shifting sands. He looked to his left, and then to his right. This shore is huge...

A loud roar in the distance nearly floored him. Whoa! Where did that come from? ...Then again, BlackGargomon said this island was full of dinosaur digimon, so...

Dati shrugged and decided to see what that bulletin board read. Maybe it would give him some insight as to what was going on here...

When he walked up to the bulletin board, the first thing that caught his eye was a flyer advertising a place called “Chez Allomon”.

Come to Chez Allomon when you’re hungry!

We have the best-tasting food around!

A sudden gust of wind made the flyer flutter upwards, and Dati noticed a different poster underneath. He grabbed the Chez Allomon flyer and lifted it up to see an advertisement for a different restaurant.

The Grey Cafe is where it’s at!

You’ll never find a place with faster service!

“Huh...these guys must be rivals,” Dati said, and he noticed some newspaper clippings nearby. One clipping looked to be the most recent one; it mentioned how a boutique and a coffee shop were both closed down due to rampant crime. Another seemed a bit more panicky and speculative, discussing a place further inland called “the garbage dump” and spinning theories about how the crime boss, Sukamon, might be harboring a dangerous weapon of some sort in that place. A third told a tale of a digimon who somehow managed to brave the utterly noxious smell of the garbage dump, only to be completely swarmed by a mob of Chuumon, and just barely escaping unharmed.

“Biyomon and Sheepmon were right,” Dati muttered. “This place really needs some help...”

“Hey, you!”

Dati jumped a little. “Huh? Who’s there?”

“Yeah, you! With the flower!”

Gulping loudly, Dati turned around to see who just called him, and what they wanted.

Chapter 10 Feel the Vibration

W

ham!

Dati fell backwards into the sand. Once he got over the shock, he looked up to see who tackled him. He saw the smiling face of an orange hamster with blue eyes, black paws, and a cream-colored underbelly. The hamster was slowly flapping his ears, which were shaped like bat wings.

“Hey, squirt! How ya doin’?” the hamster asked.

Dati was hyperventilating. “I just got here! Don’t kill me! Please!”

“Kill you...?” The hamster slowly let go of Dati and flew off to the side...and then he burst into a fit of laughter. “Why would I wanna kill you? I don’t even know you! Who do you think I am, a psycho?”

“Well, you tackled me to the ground...”

The hamster flew up and ruffled Dati’s flower. “I tackle all my friends to the ground, squirt! It’s how I say hello!”

“I’m your...friend?” Dati asked as he smoothed out his flower. He had just met this digimon, and didn’t even know his name. Wasn’t it a little too soon to call it friendship?

“Of course! As long as you’re not working with Sukamon, you’re a friend of mine!” the hamster said before suddenly flying up and sniffing Dati. “If you were working with Sukamon, I’d be able to smell it on you. But nope, you just smell like flowers. And

peanut butter. Why do you smell like peanut butter? That’s kinda random.”

Dati chuckled nervously. “It’s what I had for breakfast.”

“Cool! So, you just got here, huh?”

“Yeah...I heard there were lots of problems here.”

“Oh, there are! Heck, I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks, and it feels like I’ve been here forever! Guess that’s what happens when you go to a place filled with crime.

Know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I see where you’re coming from...” Dati wasn’t sure if he should tell this digimon about The Heartbreaker right now; after all, he didn’t want to be blamed for letting him get away.

Before he could ponder such things any further, though, he saw the digimon sitting in the sand, propped up against a tree and patting the sand next to him. Dati ran up and took a seat next to him.

“So why don’t you tell me about yourself, squirt?” the digimon asked.

“Well, my name’s Dati,” Dati began.

The digimon laughed. “Dati? That’s a weird name. Where’d it come from?”

“I used to be a Datirimon, but Botamon, my friend, thought it was a little hard to say, so he started calling me Dati instead, and the name kinda stuck.”

“I see,” the digimon said. “My name’s Patamon. I used to live on the Island of Balance. Ever been there?”

“No, but I’ve heard of it.”

“Well, the big thing you need to know is that it’s a really Zen-like place,” Patamon said. “At this time of year, the cherry blossoms are in bloom, and since the island is loaded with trees, the whole place turns really, really pink. It’s a nice place to go if you’re on vacation, or if you don’t mind peace all the time. But that’s not how I roll; I wanna go on adventures and explore lots of different places. And the Island of Balance...well, let’s just say that what goes on at the dojo tends to be the most exciting part of each day. We don’t really get any surprises unless they’re in the news.”

“The news?”

“Yep. The digimon in charge there wanna stay up-to-date on what’s going on around the Digital World. That way, they can guard against any threats that might be coming our way.” Patamon leaned closer to Dati. “Call me a psycho, but I think it’s working a little too well. And we do get some pretty cool festivals, but if you ask me, it’s not worth living there all year long just to go to some parties.”

“Interesting.”

“But enough about me,” Patamon said. “Why don’t you tell me your story?”

Dati hesitated for a brief moment, but he sighed and decided to start with something simple.

“Well...I wanna be a hero.”

“And how’s that coming along?”

Dati gulped loudly. “Well, there was this thief in File City, stealing everyone’s things.

We all tried to stop him, but he got away at the last minute.”

“Did anyone get their stuff back?”

“Oh, yeah, we were able to find the things he stole and give them back, but we just couldn’t catch him. Apparently, he’s been on the run for a long time; a detective and his assistant have been chasing after him, and I’m pretty sure they still are.”

Patamon shrugged. “Well, at least everyone got their stuff back. I hope those guys catch him, though. I mean, if you need to ask everyone in town to help you, you must be dealing with a really tough customer. So, how tough was he?”

Dati began telling Patamon about The Heartbreaker.

A black dinosaur with red markings and a white stomach threw open the doors to a tailoring shop and took off running through the jungle, laughing maniacally. He was holding a pair of red tennis shoes. Behind him, a green mummy with a brown afro was running after him.

“Hey, get back here!” the mummy yelled.

The dinosaur looked back at the mummy and smirked. “Make me!”

The mummy growled. “Snake Bandage!” He launched some green wrappings at the dinosaur, who jumped out of the way and kept running.

“Missed me, missed me, la la-la la-la la!” the dinosaur sang. The mummy chased after him and repeatedly launched more wrappings at the dinosaur, who kept jumping out of the way. “You couldn’t catch a sleeping digimon!”

“Wanna test that theory?” the mummy replied.

“Nope!”

They kept running through the jungle, each hoping to stop or lose the other. The dinosaur had a determined look on his face as he stared straight forward.

Just a little bit closer...

Once he ran past two certain trees, he suddenly shouted out, “Now!” A purple cocoon digimon hidden in a bush shot out some tendrils from one side of the path to the other, hooking them into a tree. The dinosaur looked back and waited for the mummy to trip over the tendrils...

...but the mummy saw them and jumped over.

“What?” The dinosaur’s eyes widened as he continued running.

“You thought I’d fall for that?” the mummy asked. “Well, I’m smarter than I look!

Now give me back those shoes or else-” Suddenly, his foot hit a rock, and he fell on his face.

The dinosaur turned back and laughed at him. “Ha! Not so easy, is it? Maybe next time you’ll think before denying me service!”

With that, the dinosaur ran off. The mummy groaned in pain as he lay there.

The cocoon digimon saw his opportunity and shot some tendrils up into the limb of a nearby tree. Using his tendrils, he made his way from tree to tree, following the dinosaur. He had to do it this way, because he was really slow otherwise, and they had to leave the jungle before the mummy could get them.

When the dinosaur took a turn out of the jungle towards the beach, the cocoon digimon followed. As his friend stepped out onto the sand, he swung himself with all of his might and landed next to him.

“Nice going, Chrysalimon!” the dinosaur said. “You could’ve launched more tendrils, though.”

“I was gonna do that, but then that mummy tripped and I thought, ‘Why bother?’”

Chrysalimon said.

“Yeah, but if you latched onto his leg, he’d have to choose between chasing after me and getting you off.”

“Hmm...” Chrysalimon decided to change the subject. “So, BlackGuilmon, what do you wanna do now?”

BlackGuilmon shrugged. “Well, since I got these shoes, I might as well try them on.”

He tried to put one of the shoes on, but he soon found that his feet were way too big.

No matter how he tried, he just couldn’t get even one of his feet into the shoes. “And I can’t even wear them! Wonderful! You think that garbage dump accepts donations?”

“I don’t know.” Chrysalimon’s eyes scanned the area. “Hey! I see a couple of digimon by that palm tree over there! Let’s ask them!”

“Alright!” BlackGuilmon started walking towards the tree.

“And the only reason he escaped is because he found a place that rents jetskis!” Dati said. “I mean, Syakomon, the owner, said that he had just started his business, but why’d he start when there was a thief going around town? Even if The Heartbreaker didn’t steal anything, no one would probably wanna go jetskiing at a time like this!”

Patamon shrugged. “Some digimon are weird like that. Or he was really desperate for money.”

“Maybe. So-” “Hey, guys!”

“Huh?” Dati and Patamon saw a BlackGuilmon and a Chrysalimon walking towards them.

“We need your help with something,” BlackGuilmon said. He held out the pair of red tennis shoes. “I got these shoes from that clothing store nearby, but when I tried them on, they didn’t fit. So I was thinking of donating them to that garbage dump. Do you know where the garbage dump is, and do they accept donations?”

“The garbage dump?” Dati asked. “Isn’t that where Sukamon, the crime boss, lives?”

BlackGuilmon shrugged.

“Why do you wanna support a crime boss?” Patamon asked. “And how’d you even get those shoes, anyway? Isn’t the store closed?”

“Yeah,” BlackGuilmon said. “But I decided I needed some shoes, and the guy in charge happened to be there, so I asked him if I could have them. He wouldn’t give them to me, even after I offered to pay him! All he did was say stuff about the store being closed due to rampant crime. Well, if you ask me, that’s no reason to deny service to someone! So I just took the shoes and ran. So yeah, maybe I do support that crime boss, ‘cause so far, the opposition has given me no reason to support them!”

“But I heard that Sukamon’s doing some really mean and nasty things!” Dati said.

“How do you know he won’t betray you?”

BlackGuilmon rolled his eyes. “Mean and nasty? Ugh, you’re reminding me of the guys at Primary Village! And trust me, you do not want to remind me of the guys at Primary Village.” He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands. “Especially Dati. That stupid, whiny crybaby...”

Patamon looked over at Dati, who was desperately trying to hide his nervousness.

Dati’s breathing had quickened, and he was shaking a little. Unfortunately for him, this did not go without notice from BlackGuilmon, who put the shoes down and walked up to him.

“Lemme guess, you know Dati?” he asked. “Or wait a minute...maybe you are Dati?”

When his only answer was more silence and shaking, BlackGuilmon snickered.

“Shoulda known. You know something? I’m surprised you made it this far. I would’ve thought that as soon as you left Primary Village, something would’ve scared you, and you’d be running right back to Elecmon. And besides, at least I’m actually doing something. What are you doing? Traveling around the Digital World? Trying to make friends with every digimon you see?”

“I...I’m just trying to be a hero!” Dati said.

“And have you actually done anything?”

“Well, there was this thief in File City, and I helped everyone get their stuff back!”

“Yeah, but did you actually catch the thief?”

Dati was hyperventilating. “We tried. We all did! But he got away, and-” “Hmph. Figures.” BlackGuilmon stood right in front of him. “Y’know, maybe if you had done a little more, the thief would’ve been caught. But now he’s on the run, and maybe it’s your fault! How does it feel to know that you’re possibly the reason a thief is on the loose? Well, how does it feel?”

Tears were welling up in Dati’s eyes. “I...I tried to help them...” he choked out.

BlackGuilmon smirked. “Yeah. You tried.”

“Hey! Leave him alone!” Patamon flew up into BlackGuilmon’s face. “He’s doing his best to help everyone! Besides, at least everyone got their stuff back, and the detective and his assistant are chasing after the thief! I don’t see you doing anything about crime!”

BlackGuilmon grabbed Patamon and threw him at the tree. “Stay outta this, batpig!

No one asked you!”

Patamon crashed into the tree and fell onto the sand. He groaned as he sat up. “I’m a hamster, you stupid-” “But enough about that.” BlackGuilmon turned towards the still-upset Dati. “I was wondering...are you doing this because you really wanna help everyone? Or is it just because you want something to do? I heard you whining about ‘Oh, Yukio, we were gonna be heroes together!’ and all that. Do you really wanna help people, or do you just wanna make yourself feel better?”

Dati was about to say something, but then Patamon flew up into BlackGuilmon’s face again. “No reason it can’t be both! What’s your problem, anyway? Why do you hate Dati so much?”

“I said stay outta this,” BlackGuilmon snarled, grabbing Patamon. “Am I gonna have to throw you against the tree again?”

“Oh, no, I’ll stay out of it...” Patamon began. “All you have to do is apologize to my friend and leave us alone.”

“Apologize? To that crybaby?” BlackGuilmon asked. “Who do you think you are?

Elecmon? Point is, I don’t need to apologize to anyone! In fact, Dati’s such a whiny brat that he’s the one who needs to apologize!”

Oh no, he didn’t. Patamon’s paws balled into fists, and he filled himself up with air.

Dati gasped. “Patamon! Don’t-” “Boom Bubble!”

He shot out a blast of air, hitting BlackGuilmon point-blank in the face.

“Gah!” BlackGuilmon stumbled backwards, letting go of Patamon. Once he recovered, he glared at his foes. “Oh, it’s on now!”

Patamon folded his arms. “Bring it!”

“What are you doing?” Dati asked, running up to Patamon. “Are you out of your mind? We can’t take on both of them!”

“Sure we can!” Patamon said. “Besides, you think I’m just gonna sit there and let him insult you like that?”

“But he’s got a Champion with him!”

“So? He stole from someone and made you cry!”

BlackGuilmon scoffed. “Oh, no, I didn’t make him cry. He chose to cry.”

“Because you were insulting him!” Patamon said. “Why don’t you just insult the rest of File City while you’re at it? They couldn’t stop the thief either, but you’re acting like it was all Dati’s fault!”

Dati sighed. “Patamon, please, can we just-” “You ‘can’t just’ do anything!” BlackGuilmon said. “Your friend attacked me, so I get to fight back! Pyro Grenade!”

BlackGuilmon spewed out a fireball at Patamon, who just barely flew out of the way.

“Oh yeah? Boom Bubble!” Patamon fired another air blast, but BlackGuilmon ran out of the way and charged straight towards Dati. Dati panicked a little, but then he suddenly remembered what he did to The Heartbreaker and started focusing.

“Nemesis Ivy!” Dati’s vines wrapped around BlackGuilmon’s leg, and when Dati pulled backwards, BlackGuilmon fell down onto his back.

“Okay, that does it!” BlackGuilmon said. “Chrysalimon, help me out here!”

Chrysalimon nodded. “Data Crusher!”

He launched two tendrils at Dati and Patamon, gripping the two and holding them up high. With that, he started swinging them over himself and slamming them back and forth on the ground repeatedly. When he was done, he threw both of them at the tree, and they soon fell to the sand.

Dati groaned and cradled his head. “That hurt...”

“Hey, squirt, is it just me, or is the ground spinning?” Patamon asked, staring upward.

With a devilish chuckle, BlackGuilmon slowly walked up to Dati and Patamon, Chrysalimon not far behind. “Now, it’s time for me to send you two back to Primary Village...the perfect place for two whiny brats like you!”

Dati, hyperventilating again, was about ready to start praying to the Four Gods for help... ...but then, he saw a white butterfly fluttering in the sky.

Dati and Patamon locked eyes with each other, gained determined looks, and a white light enveloped both of them.

BlackGuilmon’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious? How is this-” “Alraumon digivolve to...!”

“Patamon digivolve to...!”

Both digimon felt their bodies expanding and their powers growing; they felt more energetic than ever, as if Chrysalimon had never brutalized them.

When Dati emerged from the light, he was now a dark green blob-like digimon with two long vines for arms, sharp teeth, and five leaves on his head. “...Weedmon!”

Soon after, Patamon emerged from the light. Now, he was an angel dressed in white and red, with two white, feathery wings, a helmet on his head, and a golden staff in one hand. “...Piddomon!”

BlackGuilmon gaped at the sight before him. “But...but...”

“Ha! Not gonna be so easy now, is it?” Piddomon asked, folding his arms and cracking a cocky smirk. “Maybe next time you’ll think before messing with us!”

With a grumble, BlackGuilmon regained his usual demeanor. “Well, we can still take you on! Right, Chrysalimon?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Bring it on!” Piddomon said. “C’mon, squirt, let’s show ‘em what we can do!”

“Right!” Dati nodded his head. “Deadly Ivy!” He swung his vines hard at BlackGuilmon and Chrysalimon. BlackGuilmon was almost sent flying, while Chrysalimon was sent reeling backwards (he shot some tendrils into the sand to avoid being sent flying).

“Whoa, he’s strong...” Chrysalimon said.

BlackGuilmon nodded. “So let’s take his friend down first! Pyro Grenade!”

Piddomon took to the air, dodging the fireball. BlackGuilmon spewed more fireballs at him, all of which he effortlessly dodged.

“Well, I gotta admit, you’re slowing me down,” Piddomon said. “But look what I can

do! Fire Feather!”

He launched some burning feathers at BlackGuilmon, who could only dodge some in time. BlackGuilmon yelped as the feathers hit his scales.

Piddomon flew over to Dati and leaned close. “Hey, squirt, why don’t we see how they like getting slammed on the ground?”

Dati gulped. “Should we?”

“They tried to kill us!” Piddomon said. “Besides, do they look like they wanna run away?”

Dati sighed. “Deadly Ivy!” He grabbed BlackGuilmon and Chrysalimon with his vines, and started flinging them back and forth, slamming them onto the ground each time. After a short time, he’d had enough, and threw the two onto the sand in front of him. BlackGuilmon and Chrysalimon groaned, trying to regain their bearings.

“Looks like you guys are stronger than I thought,” BlackGuilmon said, standing up.

“But I’ve been practicing this maneuver ever since I could breathe fire!”

BlackGuilmon exhaled a cloud of pure smoke at Dati and Piddomon. Neither of them could see a thing, and even if they could, they were too busy coughing and hacking to do anything about it. Piddomon flapped his wings rapidly to clear the smoke out; by the time everything was clear, neither of them could see BlackGuilmon or Chrysalimon anywhere.

Groaning, the two of them fell backwards onto the sand, and Dati dedigivolved to Alraumon. He glanced at Piddomon.

“You’re not dedigivolving?” he asked.

Piddomon shrugged. “Guess it was just my time to become a Champion. I was a Patamon for a really long time, so...”

“Excuse me.”

Dati and Piddomon heard the voice, and glanced at the green mummy who was approaching them.

“Um, hi. Did you want something?” Dati asked.

The mummy nodded. “Did either of you see a BlackGuilmon anywhere around here?”

“Yeah, we were just fighting one,” Piddomon said, but then a realization hit him.

“Wait a minute...”

“What?” Dati asked.

“Did he steal a pair of red shoes?”

The mummy’s eye widened. “As a matter of fact, he did! We must’ve met the same guy! Do you know where the shoes are now?”

“He put them down somewhere,” Dati said, looking around. “Don’t know if he...”

He paused as his eyes came to rest on the red sneakers, sitting right where BlackGuilmon had left them, and surprisingly untouched despite all the carnage.

Piddomon laughed. “Hey, whaddaya know? Looks like he forgot to take the stuff he stole with him!”

“Cool!” The mummy walked over and picked up the shoes. “I tried to stop him earlier, but he was just too quick, and the ground was just too rocky, and so I tripped and he got away.”

“We tried to stop him, too, but he breathed smoke in our faces and escaped,” Dati said. “I don’t know where he is now.”

“Eh, I’m sure someone will get him,” the mummy said. “But enough about that. I have bigger troubles than just thieves. My cousins went to go find some more help a couple of days ago, and I haven’t heard from them since! They haven’t even sent anybody to tell me what’s going on!”

“Ooh...” Dati shuddered.

“Tell you what,” the mummy said. “If you help me find my cousins, then the three of us will do whatever we can to help you. Normally, I wouldn’t say stuff like this in these circumstances, but I can trust that neither of you are agents of Sukamon. You don’t smell the part.”

“Nope!” Piddomon laughed. “We just smell like flowers and peanut butter! And hopefully cherry soda later on.”

Dati tilted his head. “Cherry soda?”

Piddomon nodded. “My favorite drink.”

The mummy chuckled. “Right...well, I just need to put these shoes in a safe place, and then we can go out to find my cousins. All right?”

“Sure!” Dati said.

The mummy walked off to the boutique, Dati and Piddomon following close behind.

Dati couldn’t help but think about the angel who called him his friend.

He was a little aggressive when dealing with BlackGuilmon...but then again, he was sticking up for someone he barely knew...you know, maybe he’s gonna be a great friend someday. Time will tell...

Chapter 11 Mummies for Nothing

C

ustom fabric deliveries We’ve got to move these new coffee makers We’ve got to move these sewing machines...

Yeah, I like Dire Straits and “Money for Nothing”. But my favorite song of theirs is actually “Industrial Disease”.

The boutique and the coffee shop shared the same building in the jungle, with the front door to the boutique on the left and the one for the coffee shop on the right. At any other time, this building would be manned by the three family members; one would make clothes, another would keep track of the money, and the third would make and sell coffee drinks in the other building.

“But one day, a bunch of Chuumon came into our place,” the mummy explained as he walked with Dati and Piddomon. “They started stealing whatever wasn’t nailed down, and if something was nailed down, they tried to destroy it. Because of them, our sewing machine is on the fritz, and I’m not sure if our coffee maker still works. And did I mention that they stole a good portion of our clothes and all the money in the cash register?”

“They stole your money?” Piddomon couldn’t believe his ears.

“You’re darn right they did.” The mummy leaned in especially close to the duo. “Fortunately, none of them found the secret safe where we store our emergency money. If

they did, then we’d be in trouble.”

“Sounds like it,” Dati said.

Just then, the mummy saw the building he was looking for. “There it is! Come on!”

The trio ran for the building. Once they were at the boutique’s employees’ door, the mummy put his hand on a scan pad next to the door. After a few seconds, there was a chime and a green light, and the door unlocked. The three walked in, and Dati and Piddomon looked around at the storage boxes and other things that were stored here.

“Luckily, none of the Chuumon made it into this room,” the mummy said. “And even if they did, these boxes that you see are big and heavy. It’d take several Chuumon just to carry one, and I doubt they’d get far before someone caught them.”

“That’s good,” Dati said.

After the mummy put the shoes in a box, the realization hit him. “Oh, wait, I just realized I never got your names! How can I thank you properly if I don’t know who you are?”

“My name’s Dati.”

“And I’m Piddomon!”

“Nice names,” the mummy said. “I’m Groovy.”

Piddomon shrugged. “Well, yeah, I’m sure you’re a groovy guy, but what’s your name?”

“No no no, my name is Groovy.”

“Yeah. You have a groovy name. But what is it?” Piddomon asked, snickering.

“Uh, Piddomon?” Dati said. “I think he means-” The still-smirking Piddomon put his hand over Dati’s mouth, leaned in, and whispered in his ear. “I know what he means. That’s the joke, squirt!”

Dati laughed nervously.

“Don’t worry; I get that a lot,” Groovy said. “Even if it does get old sometimes, it’s still kinda funny.”

They all walked out, and Groovy secured the door tightly.

“So, what do your cousins look like?” Piddomon asked.

“Well, they’re Mummymon just like me,” Groovy said. “One of them has blue bandages, and the other has pink ones.”

“Wait a minute! Your cousin is a blue Mummymon?” Dati asked.

“Yes, why?”

“I think I might know her! When my friend Hovis and I were trying to help stop The Heartbreaker in File City, we met a blue Mummymon girl! She even talked about needing tailoring supplies! Is her name Isis?”

“Whoa...” Groovy’s jaw dropped. “You do know my cousin!”

Dati nodded. “I don’t know the other one, though.”

“Her name’s Minty,” Groovy said.

“Minty? Sorry, but I’ve never met her.”

Groovy shrugged. “It’s all right.”

Piddomon took to the skies and looked around. “So, where should we start looking?”

“That’s the thing,” Groovy said with a sigh. “I have no idea where they could be right now! They could be literally anywhere on this island, and I don’t know where to start!”

Dati thought for a moment. “If they mysteriously disappeared after leaving to get help...you don’t think maybe they’re in the garbage dump, do you?”

“It’s a distinct possibility,” Groovy replied. “But assuming they are in the garbage dump, how will we get in there and be able to find them? The stench there is horrendous, and even if it weren’t, Sukamon would still send out his Chuumon to deal with us!”

Piddomon scoffed. “Seriously? What’s one Chuumon against all of us?”

“It’s not one Chuumon, Piddomon,” Groovy said. “It’s a whole swarm of them.”

Piddomon gaped at what he just heard as Groovy continued. “And he sends all of them out at once. We’d get whittled down faster than you can say ‘necrophobia’! And that’s assuming you’ll even get to say it in the midst of their attacks.”

“I stand corrected,” Piddomon muttered under his breath.

Groovy looked at the building and sighed again. “Minty is so impulsive, and Isis is probably scared out of her wits...I hope they’re okay...”

In the center of the island, where the stench was at its most overpowering, there lay a number of buildings. While the buildings looked run-down on the outside, they looked perfectly normal on the inside. In one such building, there lay a meeting room, where several pink mice were sitting in chairs as they listened to their leader, a yellow pile of sludge with two arms and crazy eyes.

“Everybody thinks we’re weak,” the sludge said as he paced across the floor (though it was more like hovering due to his lack of legs). “Nobody ever thinks we’re a true threat. They just laugh us out of whatever establishment we go to! Even when we tried to run a respectable business, nobody trusted us, and we went bankrupt before a month even passed!”

A mouse wearing a green bandana tried to hide his rolling eyes. Well, boss, part of it’s

‘cause you mismanaged the funds! You spent more money than we had just to get some fancy doodads for yourself; no wonder we went bankrupt! Of course, he’d never say this out loud, especially to the boss’ face, but he still couldn’t believe the boss would overlook this simple fact.

“Well, now we’re getting our revenge, and we’re doing it in style!” the sludge continued. “Closing down establishments, putting other businesses in danger, turning everyone against each other...if we keep this up, we’ve got it in the bag! Mesozoic Isle will be ours!”

The mice all cheered (even the one with the bandana, albeit half-heartedly).

“And so, to help us run a more successful business, I had some of my employees bring a couple of successful business owners here!” the sludge said. He floated over to his desk and pressed the intercom button. “Bring ‘em in, will ya?”

“On it!” came the reply.

Before long, the mice heard some voices coming from behind a nearby door.

“Now girls, if you’ll just cooperate...” said a male voice.

“Why should we?” a bold female voice asked. “You captured us and won’t let us leave!”

A gentler female voice spoke up. “Minty, maybe if we hear them out-” “Look, sis, if they wanted me to hear them out, they should’ve just sent me a letter or something instead of wrecking our store and later kidnapping us! How hard is that?

Why, if I had half a mind, I’d shoot all these guys so we could bail!”

The male voice came back in. “You sure you wanna do that? There are a whole lot of us, y’know...”

The sludge facepalmed. “Hey, guys! What’s the hold-up?”

“Better get out there,” the male voice said. “When Sukamon means business, he means business.”

With a sigh and an “Oh, fine!”, the door opened.

Sukamon smirked as he watched two mummies (one in pink bandages, and the other in blue ones) walk through the door with the mouse that was talking to them. The pink mummy was grumbling something under her breath as she stomped her way into the room, and the blue mummy followed behind her with a nervous look on her face.

“So, you finally decided to show up,” Sukamon said, motioning towards a couple of empty chairs. Once the mummies took a seat in the chairs, Sukamon continued. “Everyone, these ladies are going to help us run a more successful business. Why don’t you two introduce yourselves?”

The pink mummy sighed. “I’m Minty. She’s Isis. And quite frankly, we’re not sure if

we should trust you guys. I mean, not only did you kidnap us, but I’m fairly certain you guys wrecked our store.”

Sukamon snickered, as if Minty were his daughter who had just told him that she was scared of ice cream. “Now, why would you think my employees wrecked your store?”

“Cause recently, a whole bunch of Chuumon came into our store and started destroying and stealing everything.”

“Oh, really?” Sukamon asked. “Well, are you sure those were my guys? What if they were just a bunch of random Chuumon?”

“I heard one of them saying, ‘Wait ‘til Sukamon hears about this!’”

The Chuumon in the room all froze. Sukamon, however, didn’t even care.

“Well, lots of Sukamon hang out with Chuumon, and vice versa. How do you know those were my guys, talking about me?”

Isis raised her hand. “I read this recent newspaper article talking about a Sukamon who was a crime boss.”

“And you’re going to believe everything you read in the news?” Sukamon asked.

“Don’t you know that a lot of news outlets are so desperate to get a sale that they’ll say anything, even if it’s false or exaggerated? It’s like, what if the news reported that a Mummymon was going on a rampage, without giving any more information? Nobody would know if that Mummymon was you, or Minty, or that one weird Mummymon who could turn human and drive a car! They’d all be too busy panicking, and purchasing the newspapers just to get more information! And the newspaper companies would just laugh and laugh, ‘cause the so-called rampage was actually just ‘a Mummymon yelled at someone, and they happened to see’. My point is, even if that article were true, how do you know it was me and not some other guy?”

“Um...” Isis began. However, Minty spoke up.

“I haven’t seen any other Sukamon around these parts,” she said. “So where are those alleged ‘other guys’?”

“It’s a big island. There are probably lots of Sukamon living here,” Sukamon said.

“But I’m getting off-topic. So, what do you think we should do to improve our business?”

Minty sighed and tapped her green-gloved fingers on the table. “Well, first things first, you should clean things up around here! The smell here is totally noxious, and I can’t believe I haven’t bolted already! This smell makes me wanna bathe forever!”

“My employees and I like the smell here,” Sukamon said, and some Chuumon nodded. “You two should invest in some gas masks or something if it bothers you that much.”

“Well, most digimon don’t like this smell, and it’s gonna make the goods you’re

selling smell totally rancid!” Minty said. “What are you even trying to sell, anyway?”

“Everything,” Sukamon said, and Minty and Isis looked confused. “At least, in terms of household goods. Pillows, blankets, silverware, plates, bowls...maybe throw a few toys in there...”

“And where are you getting the money for all this?” Minty asked. “Are you making these goods, or are you just selling them? And if you’re not making them, who’s supplying you? Not all digimon use money, you know; some of them are really feral, and so you have to know which digimon to ask.”

Sukamon growled. “Don’t ask so many questions! Holy sludge, girl, I didn’t ask you to cross-examine me!”

“But they’re legitimate business questions!” Minty replied. “You should be able to answer them if you’re running a business!”

Sukamon only replied with silence and a nervous “I’ve-been-found-out” look on his face.

“Well?” Minty asked.

“I...umm...I officially declare this meeting adjourned!” Sukamon said. “Everyone return to your posts, and we can try to figure something out later!”

As some of the Chuumon got out of their seats, Minty suddenly stood up. “Not so fast! You still didn’t answer my questions!”

Sukamon folded his arms. “You know, you’re a weird digimon. First you’re angry at us because we dragged you here, and now, when we’re letting you leave, you insist on staying!”

Isis took her sister’s hand. “Come on, Minty, let’s get out of here. Groovy’s probably worried sick about us.”

Minty shook her head. “No way, sis. Groovy’s a strong digimon; he can wait a little bit longer. The point is, Sukamon was so desperate for us to give him advice that he kidnapped us! We gave him advice and asked him some simple questions about his business, and he’s not cooperating! Until we find out what really makes this business tick, we’re staying here!”

“Well, I’m the boss, and I say it’s time to leave, so leave!” Sukamon said.

Minty smirked. “Well, we don’t work for you, so we’re not bound by your rules! Ha!” Sukamon returned her smirk with one of his own. “Well, as long as you’re in my building, you have to follow my rules! The rule right now is ‘you have to leave’, so do as I say!”

“Why don’t you just drag us out of the building if you’re so desperate for us to leave?” Minty asked.

“Fine, I will. But only because you asked!” Sukamon replied, taking each girl by the wrist and leading them through the building.

Isis glanced at her sister, wondering what the heck she was thinking. All she got in return was a smile and a wink.

Once the three were out of the building, standing in the rancid grounds of the garbage dump, Sukamon let go of them. “There. Now will you leave?”

“Nope!” Minty said, folding her arms and looking proud of herself. “We’re not in your building anymore, so we don’t have to follow your rules! Now answer my questions!”

Sukamon sighed. “You know, I asked nicely for you to leave. Several times, in fact.

But if you won’t leave when I ask nicely, maybe this will convince you.”

He floated over to the tallest building in the garbage dump. This building had a switch, similar to a fire alarm, on one of its walls. When Sukamon threw the switch, a loud, harsh alarm began blaring throughout the garbage dump. Isis yelped and covered her ears.

Minty just laughed. “Whatcha doing? Releasing the mice?”

Sure enough, a large mass of Chuumon began pouring out of every building in the garbage dump, almost coloring the entire ground pink. They all looked at Minty and Isis with sadistic grins, and started advancing on them.

“Bring it on!” Minty pulled out a bow, and her hand glowed slightly as it generated a dark arrow. “Necrophobia!”

She launched the arrow dead-on at part of the Chuumon crowd, scoring a direct hit on some of them. She fired more and more arrows at the mass, but they just kept coming.

“Cheese Bomb!” a lot of Chuumon cried as they threw cheese-shaped bombs at Minty and Isis. Since the sisters were two levels above the mice, it didn’t do any serious damage to either of them. It did, however, sting quite a bit.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Isis cried as the bombs hit her. “Let’s get out of here right now, Minty!”

“Gotcha!” Minty replied, taking her sister’s hand and running away with her. “I’ve had enough fun here for now!”

The sisters ran through the jungle, taking every single detour they could find to throw the Chuumon off their trail. The Chuumon were long-gone by the time Minty and Isis made it onto the beach.

“Finally! Fresh air!” Minty said, taking some deep breaths and collapsing onto the sand.

Isis gasped a little. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah...just need to catch my breath...” Minty said. “Man, that was insane! Who does Sukamon think he is, anyway? He can’t just ask for advice and then refuse to listen to us!”

“Well, at least we’re not in there anymore,” Isis said. “Now, we just need to get back to the store and let Groovy know what happened to us.”

“Yeah, but...” Minty began. “...where are we?”

“I’m sure we can find the store before the sun goes down,” Isis said. “We just have to walk around the perimeter of the island, and as soon as we see the dock, we’re there!”

“I hope this works,” Minty said.

Once they were ready, Minty got up and they started walking around the island. It was easy at first, but as time went on with no sign of the dock, they got more and more irritated.

“I’ll give Sukamon one thing - he was right when he said this was a big island,” Isis said.

“Tell me about it,” Minty said, and then an idea came to her. “Hey, I have an idea!

Why don’t we sing a song? It’ll help time go by faster!”

“Um, okay,” Isis replied, shrugging but still uncertain.

“That’s the spirit!” Minty started singing. “Ninety-nine coffee-filled mugs on the wall, ninety-nine coffee-filled mugs! Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight coffee-filled mugs on the wall!”

Isis laughed nervously as she sang along.

Meanwhile, Groovy was walking down the beach with Dati and Piddomon.

“If we look at the beach first, we can see if they’re hanging out there,” Groovy said.

“Maybe they sent out a message in a bottle, and that’s why we haven’t heard from them!”

“Yeah, what are the odds of them just hanging out on the beach?” Piddomon asked.

“I’m telling you, we should look in the forest first!”

“What if they’ve made it back by now?” Dati asked.

“Then we’ll check back once we’re done looking around the beach,” Groovy said. “If they come back, I left a note for them to stay there and wait for us.”

“I hope they’re okay,” Dati said.

Groovy nodded. “Me too.”

They kept walking for a little while, and they saw no sign of the girls.

“See, I told you we should’ve looked in the forest!” Piddomon said.

Groovy was about to say something, but then he heard a noise coming from the distance ahead. He held his hand next to his ear as he listened.

“What is it, Groovy?” Dati asked.

“Do you guys hear...singing?” Groovy asked.

Dati and Piddomon started listening carefully, and the noise became clearer.

“I do hear singing!” Dati whispered.

The words being sung soon became clear enough to understand.

“Fifty-one coffee-filled mugs on the wall, fifty-one coffee-filled mugs!”

Groovy gasped. “That’s Minty! She always sings that song on long walks! And it sounds like Isis is singing with her!”

The three started running forward. “...forty-nine coffee-filled mugs!” Minty and Isis sang, but Isis suddenly stopped singing. Minty didn’t notice at first. “Take one down, pass it around...”

Isis put her hand over Minty’s mouth. “Minty! Look!”

While Minty was at first annoyed about her song being interrupted, her attitude changed the second she saw what Isis was looking at: it was Groovy, and he was running their way, with two other digimon in tow.

“Groovy! Hey!” Minty started waving at him.

“Minty! Isis!” Groovy ran up to them.

“Groovy!” Isis gave Groovy a hug, and Minty soon joined.

“Piddomon!” Piddomon pointed at himself, then pointed at Dati. “Dati!”

“Piddomon...” Dati suppressed a laugh.

As Groovy hugged his cousins, he suddenly caught whiff of something, and he sniffed the air. “Uh, girls?”

Minty chuckled. “Sorry about that. Sukamon and his goons captured us.”

“Oh...that explains everything!” Groovy said. “Why don’t you tell me all about it while we go back to the store?”

And so, Minty and Isis told the three about everything that had happened to them while they were away.

“You wouldn’t believe how quickly Sukamon changed his tune!” Minty said. “At first, he was insisting that we stay and help them, but as soon as we asked where he

got his money and materials, he suddenly ended the meeting and told us to leave! He wouldn’t answer our questions no matter how hard we tried!”

“It’s better to say, ‘no matter how hard you tried’,” Isis said. “Seriously, Minty, what were you thinking, provoking him like that? We could’ve left without a fight, but we got swarmed by his Chuumon instead because you kept provoking him!”

“Yeah, well, at least we know that this Sukamon is the one we’re after,” Minty said.

“And since he dragged us to his garbage dump, we now know where he’s hiding out!”

“Cool!” Piddomon said. “Maybe we can bring him down one day!”

“Hopefully soon,” Groovy said. “And you and Dati can ask us for help anytime.”

“Thank you!” Dati said.

“Wait...Dati?” Isis asked, looking at him. “Do I know you from File City?”

“Yep! My friend Hovis and I were delivering the flyers. He left with Vladimir the detective, and they’re chasing The Heartbreaker.”

“Weren’t you a Tanemon, though? Or did you digivolve?”

“Yep, I digivolved.”

Isis smiled. “Neat.”

The five of them walked back to the store to make sure it was still in good condition; Dati decided that he’d had enough stress for one day and spent the rest of the day inside, hanging out with the others.

Piddomon didn’t ask me who Yukio was when BlackGuilmon brought it up... he thought. Should I tell him, or is this too much information for him to handle? I’ll figure something out...

Deep down, though, Dati knew that he’d have to tell him one day.

Chapter 12 Breakfast in the Digiworld

A

s the morning sun was rising over the waters of Mesozoic Isle, the island itself was at rest. The foamy waves gently rolled onto the sand, and for the most part, the various denizens of the island were all sleeping (or if they were awake, not doing anything particularly exciting). It would have been a completely peaceful morning... ...if not for what was going on in the garbage dump, that is.

“Ahaha! I love the smell of profit in the morning!” Sukamon turned away from the window in the meeting room and looked at the assembled array of Chuumon. “Don’t you agree?”

The Chuumon all voiced their assent.

“Right on!” Sukamon went over to a nearby cardboard box and began digging through it. “Now, remember, we’re all in this together. We may have lost some of our drones yesterday, but we can’t give up because of that. What we really need to do is get stronger as a team.”

The Chuumon watched as he pulled a wooden bat out of the box. “It’s just like baseball, you see.” He began floating around the perimeter of the table. “Each and every one of us needs to put everything we have into this if we’re gonna take over Mesozoic Isle. Understand?”

“Yeah,” his employees said.

Sukamon suddenly caught sight of something, and floated over. When the Chuumon looked to see what it was, they all got nervous looks on their faces; one of the Chuumon had fallen asleep at the meeting room table, and was audibly snoring.

“Is he gonna...?” one of the Chuumon whispered to another as they watched Sukamon get behind the sleeping Chuumon. Sukamon looked at the others with a “Seriously?” expression on his face, shook his head, and raised the bat up high.

Crack!

“Ah! What the-?” The formerly-sleeping Chuumon just about jumped out of his chair at the sound of Sukamon’s bat hitting the table, and he gasped as he caught sight of his boss.

Sukamon pointed at him as he looked at the others. “Basically, don’t be like this guy!”

The Chuumon (with the exception of the one who just woke up) all sighed in relief.

“I...I can explain, boss!” the sleepy one said.

“You don’t have to,” Sukamon said as he floated back to his usual seat in front of the window. “I’m not even really awake, either. But look at it this way: when we take over the island, we’ll be able to go to bed and wake up whenever we want. And to do that, we need to work together, especially when no one else is awake; it’s easier to cover your tracks that way. All right?”

“Sure, boss.”

“That’s the spirit!” Sukamon returned the bat to its box. “For example, today we should keep testing out our cannon and make sure it fires correctly. We don’t want a cannon exploding in our faces when we’re trying to launch someone away, do we? I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a day at the beach to me.”

A Chuumon raised his hand. “Ooh! Hey, boss! You think we can start a beach resort when we take over the island?”

“Sure we can! Whatever brings more money for our empire!”

Another Chuumon spoke up. “But, I heard they’re making a resort on Mainframe...”

“Then we’ll make ours so good that they’ll have no choice but to let us buy them out!” Sukamon took a seat at his desk. “But we’ll get to that when we get to that. We gotta take over the island first. I already have Number Two doing his routine work at the restaurants on the civilized part of the island. We’re on our way, so why don’t you all go work on the cannon?”

“Yeah!” The group of Chuumon all got out of their seats and left the room.

Sukamon leaned back in his chair and chuckled. “Oh yes, they will believe that the finest restaurants in town are all owned by a pile of sludge!” He let loose some uproarious laughter, pounding his fist on the desk.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “Hey, boss, you okay?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine!” Sukamon said, sitting upright.

“Whatever you say, boss!”

Sukamon rolled his eyes and rested his arms on his desk. How can I tell my employees “We’ll get to that when we get to that” when I can’t even follow my own advice?

Later that morning, Dati and Piddomon were walking through the jungle.

“I really hope we can defeat Sukamon,” Dati said. “Even if he’s just a Champion, he still has all those Chuumon with him. How are we gonna subdue all of them?”

Piddomon shrugged. “I dunno, squirt. I think maybe we’re just gonna have to do whatever it takes to stop them.”

Dati’s face blanched somewhat. “You...you don’t mean...”

“Killing them?” Piddomon turned to Dati. “Look, squirt, I don’t really wanna have to do it, either, but you gotta remember something: they’re digimon. They’ll just go back to Primary Village and be reborn, hopefully much nicer this time around. They’re not like humans.”

Trying to hide his discomfort at Piddomon’s last comment, Dati continued. “But... won’t they forget themselves? I mean, I’d like it better if they turned good on their own free will, not because they forgot who they used to be.”

“So would I,” Piddomon said. “But remember what Minty and Isis told us yesterday?

Those Chuumon are relentless! I’ll bet you anything that they’d resort to killing someone if they had to! And you think they’ll listen to reason when Sukamon’s brainwashing them? Trust me, I’d love it if it were that easy, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Dati looked up at a white cloud in the sky and sighed. As much as he had issues with certain digimon, such as BlackGuilmon and The Heartbreaker, deep down in his heart, he hoped that they would eventually see the error of their ways and reform on their own.

Would he truly have to take a life one day, even if the life would be reborn eventually?

I mean, if they won’t have their memories, what’s the difference between that and killing a human?

A strange growling noise suddenly interrupted Dati’s thoughts. It only took him a second before he realized that the noise was coming from his own stomach.

“You’re hungry too, squirt?” Piddomon asked. “Tell you what, why don’t we stop worrying about the future long enough to get a bite to eat, huh?”

“Sure.” Dati knew this wouldn’t stop the dilemma from hanging over his head, but he was willing to try anything.

“Cool! Now, let’s find somewhere to get some food!” Piddomon said, and he and Dati

resumed their walk.

As the duo continued walking, both of them kept their eyes open, looking for any place where they could possibly get something to eat. Even if it was just a fruit tree, they would’ve been open to getting food from there, at least until they found someplace to get an actual meal.

At one point, something intriguing caught Piddomon’s eye.

“Hey, what’s that?” he asked, flying over to investigate. Dati followed him, and soon found what Piddomon saw: a small garden filled with berry bushes, all of which were loaded with berries.

“Look at all of them...” Piddomon resisted the urge to drool.

“Yeah, and look at that sign over there,” Dati said, pointing to the aforementioned sign.

Triceramon’s Garden These berries are property of Triceramon!

DON’T EAT THEM! (Unless you’re Triceramon, or he gave you permission.)

Piddomon paused. “Oh...okay.”

With that, Piddomon walked away with Dati. There went his plans for a feast of berries...

Eventually, the two happened upon a forest clearing.

Piddomon groaned, setting a hand on his stomach. “Man, if we don’t find someplace to eat soon, I’m gonna-” “Piddomon? I don’t think we need to look anymore.”

“Eh?” Piddomon looked out at the clearing and saw two buildings. The one that immediately caught his eye was a tin-roofed building with red brick walls. Above the door was a neon sign that read, in bright orange letters, “The Grey Cafe”.

Dati looked at Piddomon. “And there’s another-” “Thank the Four Gods!” Piddomon ran up to the building and looked at the sign on the window. “Fastest service in the Digital World? I am so there!”

“Piddomon? You sure you want to eat here?” Dati asked, pointing at the other restaurant. “I mean, there’s another restaurant right there, and we haven’t checked that out.”

“Oh...” Piddomon paused for a moment, but then an idea came to him. “Tell you what, squirt, how about you go to that restaurant, and I’ll go to this one? Sound like a plan?”

Dati shrugged. “Okay.”

“Cool!” Piddomon handed him some money. “Have fun, squirt!”

As Dati walked off, Piddomon opened the doors to the cafe and walked in. The restaurant itself had large windows, letting lots of light in. With its retro decor and bright red booths and barstools, Piddomon couldn’t imagine a more “greasy spoon”-ish place if he tried.

A flower digimon ran up to him. “Hello! Welcome to the Grey Cafe! I’m Floramon, and I’ll be your server.”

Something about her seems familiar... Piddomon thought, but he decided to shrug it off for now. “Thanks!”

“Would you like a table or a booth?”

“Table. Booths make me feel claustrophobic.”

“Right this way!” Floramon led Piddomon to his table.

Dati looked up at the white building in front of him. Above the revolving door was a sign reading “Chez Allomon”.

I hope this place is good. Dati walked through the revolving door, and was greeted by a desk. A small desk bell sat on this desk, and next to it was a sign reading, “Ring for service”. Dati hit the button on top - ding! - and a voice suddenly called out.

“Oh! I’ll be right there!”

Dati watched as a blue allosaur with red stripes and feathery accessories dashed out to meet him.

The dinosaur stopped behind the desk, panting heavily. “Hello, I’m Allomon. Have you come to try my food?”

“Uh, yeah,” Dati said with a confused look on his face. Is he the only guy who works here?

“That’s good.” Allomon weakly smiled. “So, is it just you, or...?”

“Yeah, it’s-” “Hey, squirt, is there room for one more?”

“Wha-?” Dati turned around and saw Piddomon standing right behind him. “Piddomon? I thought-” “I’ll explain in a little bit,” Piddomon whispered, then looked back up at Allomon.

“You think both of us can get a table here?”

“Please?” Dati added.

Allomon chuckled. “Well, I don’t see why not. Come with me!”

He led Dati and Piddomon through the restaurant to their table, and they both got a

good look at the interior. The restaurant was decorated mainly in navy blue, contrasted by some natural wood patterns here and there. With its fancy chandeliers, cushioned chairs, dimmed lights, and ambient music, the whole place just screamed “elegance”.

As Dati looked around, he noticed that he and Piddomon weren’t the only patrons; a Chuumon with a green bandana around his neck was sitting at one table, reading some kind of book.

Eventually, Allomon stopped at a table. “Here you go. I’ll bring you your menus shortly.”

“Thanks!” Piddomon took a seat, and Dati followed.

Wow, these are some comfy chairs... Dati thought.

Once Piddomon was sure Allomon had left, he leaned in close to Dati. “You wanna know what I’m doing here?”

Dati nodded. “Did something happen to the Grey Cafe?”

“Oh no, it’s still standing.” Piddomon leaned back. “But there’s a much worse problem. You know how they promise the fastest service in the Digital World? They weren’t kidding. I mean, I got to order my food just a minute after getting seated, and I got my food just a minute after ordering it!” Piddomon held up a pointer finger. “But...”

“But what?”

Piddomon leaned in really close, and whispered three words in Dati’s ear.

“Worst. Food. Ever!”

“Are you serious?”

Piddomon scoffed. “Oh, you’d better believe I’m serious, squirt! It’s like, did the chefs there even know what the word ‘cook’ means? All my food was terrible; the macaroni was way too soggy, the peas were way too mushed, the chicken tasted like wood instead of chicken, and part of me suspected that their fresh-ground coffee contained literal ground. That stuff was barely even edible as it was!”

“Whoa, that’s awful...” A thought suddenly came to Dati. “Do you still feel okay?”

“Yeah. I only took one bite of each of them before I left. Put a small amount of money on my table, wrote a note explaining why I wouldn’t pay full price, and just left.”

Piddomon sighed. “Man, after that, I can’t believe I’m still hungry! You know, forget battling Sukamon and his goons; we can just threaten them with food from the Grey Cafe! That’ll send ‘em running!”

Dati rubbed the back of his head. “Eh...don’t you think that’s a little harsh, Piddomon?”

“What, threatening them with the Grey Cafe’s cooking?”

“No, saying that about their cooking.”

Piddomon started snickering. “Trust me, squirt, if you tasted it, you’d be totally on my side!”

Dati shrugged and decided to look around. There were a number of pictures on the walls; some depicted different locations around the Digital World, while others showed Allomon doing different things (one picture had him posing with a huge fish he caught, for example). Dati noticed one particular picture that especially seemed odd; the picture depicted Allomon and an orange tyrannosaur standing together in the clearing, in front of their respective restaurants.

Is that Greymon? I thought they were rivals...did“Hey, squirt, is it just me, or is Allomon taking a while with our menus?”

Dati jumped a little at Piddomon’s sudden question, but soon regained himself.

“You’re right; usually, they bring you the menu as soon as you’re seated, right?”

“Well, yeah, that’s usually how it works,” Piddomon said, a little confused at Dati’s doubtfulness. “Is this your first time in a restaurant or something?”

“Mm-hmm. I only left Primary Village about two weeks ago.”

“Oh, right. Usually, it takes longer than two weeks for an In-Training digimon to digivolve to Rookie, so that’s why I was a little confused.”

As Piddomon finished talking, he could hear Allomon rushing out again. He and Dati saw him running up to their table, a couple of menus in his hand.

“Sorry for the wait!” Allomon said. “I’m just making sure my other customer’s food is the best it can be!” He handed the menus to Dati and Piddomon. “Please look over these menus, and I’ll come back later to take your order!”

“Thank you!” Dati said.

“Yeah, thanks!” Piddomon said with a nod.

As Allomon left, the two looked over the menu. It was typical high-end restaurant fare, from soups and salads, to pasta and rice dishes, to steaks and fish, and everything in between. There was even a menu section specifically for specialty drinks.

“I don’t know where to start...” Piddomon could feel himself getting hungrier as he read every menu item.

“It all looks good, doesn’t it?” Dati asked, thumbing through the different pages.

The two spent a little while looking at the menu. Eventually, they both decided on what they wanted, and put their menus down, when Piddomon suddenly realized something.

“Hey, wait a minute! Wasn’t Allomon supposed to ask us what drinks we wanted? I mean, they usually do that before you order your actual meal.”

“Hmm...” Dati thought for a moment. “Maybe this restaurant’s different.”

“Yeah.” Piddomon leaned back in his seat. “But it’s still kinda weird.”

For a while after that, the two waited for Allomon to return. Piddomon in particular was impatient for this, doing all manner of crazy things while he waited: getting up and walking around the table, singing to himself, counting the number of chairs he saw in the room, playing pattycake with Dati, speculating on the origins of the pictures around the restaurant, telling Dati about some crazy dreams he had... ...at this point, Dati was praying for Allomon to come soon, if only to ease Piddomon’s mind a bit.

“Man, what is taking him so long?” Piddomon slumped down onto the table. “At this rate, it’s gonna be lunchtime before we can order, and dinnertime before we actually get to eat!”

“I’m sure he’s on the way...” Even as Dati said that, he was beginning to doubt whether or not Allomon would come through.

Piddomon let out a loud sigh. “This is just great. One restaurant has the worst food ever, and the other makes you wait a million years.” He threw his hands up in the air.

“Come to Mesozoic Isle! Our restaurants are the best in the world! You like having to wait a million years to get some halfway-decent food, or getting terrible food in no time at all? This is paradise!”

In the midst of Piddomon’s ranting, Dati could hear the faint sound of footsteps, and with the floor vibrating a bit with each step, this could only mean one thing. However, Piddomon seemed oblivious to this as he continued ranting.

“I mean, it’s one thing if the restaurant’s jam-packed with customers, or even if some of your employees can’t come to work. But he’s the only guy who works here, he has only three customers right now, and-” “Piddomon!” The sound of Dati’s voice snapped Piddomon out of his rant. “I think he’s coming right now.”

“Finally!”

As Allomon walked out into the restaurant proper, he was holding a tray with a bowl on it. The smell of the food inside began wafting through the air, and as it reached the two, they both began anticipating getting their own meals.

Now, that’s what I call a delicious smell! Piddomon thought.

Allomon walked up to the table with the Chuumon and set the bowl down in front of him. “You ordered the potstickers and rice?”

Chuumon set his book down. “Why, yes, I did!”

“Here it is; enjoy! But it is hot, though.”

“Thanks!”

As Chuumon grabbed his chopsticks, Allomon turned towards Dati and Piddomon and started walking their way. But suddenly...

“Yuck! What is this?”

All eyes instantly turned to Chuumon, who was looking very displeased.

“Is something wrong, sir?” Allomon asked.

“You bet your life something’s wrong!” Chuumon slammed his fists on the table.

“You call this food? The flavors are all off, the texture’s weird, the aftertaste is horrendous...I wouldn’t force my worst enemy to eat this stuff! You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to sell this as a decent meal!”

“I...I’m sorry, sir! I’ll make you a new dish!”

“Don’t bother!” Chuumon stood up. “Man, in all my years of going to restaurants, I’ve never been to one so delusional as this! You know...”

Chuumon’s ranting was driving Piddomon more and more over the brink every second. He was starving, and the food smelled so good...how could it possibly taste terrible? Besides, in spite of Allomon taking an eternity to do stuff, he was at least polite!

Who did Chuumon think he was, insulting someone like that for no reason?

Eventually, he just couldn’t take Chuumon’s attitude anymore, and stood up.

“Hey, if you’re not gonna eat that, can I have it?”

Chuumon stopped ranting, and glanced at Piddomon. “Excuse me?”

Piddomon grabbed his own chopsticks and walked over to Chuumon’s table. “When I was a Poyomon, Elecmon taught me not to let food go to waste. You think I’m gonna let this food go to waste just because you don’t like it?”

Chuumon rolled his eyes. “Hmph. If you can even call this sludge ‘food’.”

“Don’t listen to him, Allomon,” Dati said, noticing Allomon’s look of distress.

With his chopsticks, Piddomon grabbed one of the potstickers out of his bowl and put it in his mouth. As he bit into it, his eyes widened in amazement. The dough of the potsticker had just the right balance of doughiness and crispiness, the filling was tender and juicy, the glaze had a prominent flavor, but wasn’t overbearing, and the flavors all melded together into something that pretty much melted in his mouth.

When Piddomon swallowed the food, Dati asked, “How was it?”

“It didn’t taste bad, did it?” Allomon asked.

“Allomon...” Piddomon walked up to him, and pointed at Chuumon. “I don’t know what he’s talking about! That was one of the best potstickers I’ve ever eaten in my life!

I could eat them all night long!”

“Really?” Allomon’s face lit up in joy.

Piddomon nodded, then glared at Chuumon. “Thank you, sir. May I have another? I mean, if you don’t want it...”

For the second time, Chuumon’s fists pounded the table. “Sure! Take as many as you want! Take the whole thing, for all I care! I’m outta here!”

Chuumon grabbed his book and stormed out of the restaurant, muttering some indistinguishable things under his breath.

“Seriously, what’s his problem?” Piddomon asked.

Allomon sighed. “He’s been coming to my restaurant several times over the past few weeks. Every time, he tells me that my food is terrible, and every time, I take what he says to heart.”

“You actually listen to him? Even though he’s not only a jerk about it, but he’s lying to you?”

Allomon looked up at the ceiling. “My cooking teacher always told me, ‘The customer is always right’. I always want to see my customers happy, maybe even cheer them up with my cooking, and so when I hear that a customer is dissatisfied...it hurts.

It really does.”

“Whoa...” Dati said.

Allomon looked at the abandoned bowl of potstickers and rice. “I’ll tell you more over some food. How about that?”

Piddomon once again nodded, a ravenous look on his face. “Please do!”

Later, after Allomon divided the food between two bowls, Dati and Piddomon ate the food as they listened to him tell his story.

“You see, Greymon is actually my protege,” Allomon said. “I taught him all about cooking, and together, we made plans to open our own restaurants here. He wanted to start a diner, while I wanted to start a more upscale restaurant. For a while, business was decent for both of us. However, sometime last month, people just stopped coming to our restaurants. Our only real customer was that Chuumon you met.”

“Wait, Chuumon went to the Grey Cafe, too?” Piddomon asked.

“That’s right. Greymon told me all about a Chuumon with a green bandana coming in, ordering his food, and until he got his food, complaining that it was taking forever for the food to arrive. He told me that he and his employees started cooking things much more quickly as a result...”

He glanced at Piddomon. “But I heard what you were saying about the food there. It seems like he sacrificed the quality just to get it out faster. And I’m really sorry that my food takes a long time. It’s just, I’d do anything to please my only customer, so I keep checking things and re-checking them to make sure everything’s absolutely perfect.

And whenever he tells me that he thinks it’s terrible, it just compels me to scrutinize it

even more, you know? That’s why I’m the only one who works here; my other employees quit after business went downhill. A few stuck around, but when Chuumon started badmouthing them, they left. At least one of my former employees even left the island, since she had heard about the recent crime wave and was so scared for her life.”

He sighed. “I fear that my increasingly scrutinizing behavior might have scared them off, too...”

“Oh...now I understand,” Dati said.

Piddomon swallowed a bite of food. “That explains everything.”

“But why’s Chuumon doing all of this?” Dati asked, but then he suddenly gasped.

“You don’t think, maybe...”

“What?” Allomon asked.

“He’s part of Sukamon’s gang?”

Allomon scratched his head. “Hmm...he did smell kind of rancid when he came in. Of course, I didn’t say anything, but that would explain a lot.”

“We just had to deal with Sukamon yesterday,” Piddomon said. “Of course, we didn’t actually meet him, but he kidnapped a couple of digimon, and we helped their cousin look for them. Good thing they managed to save themselves; I heard the Chuumon who work for him can get really vicious!”

“I’ve heard that, too.” Allomon looked at the picture of him and Greymon. “But let’s not concern ourselves with Sukamon right now. Our first order of business should be to check in with Greymon, and help him with his restaurant.”

Thus, after Dati and Piddomon finished their food, they all went to the Grey Cafe.

“Ugh, I’m gagging just remembering the food here...” Piddomon said.

“That’ll change soon enough; don’t worry.” Allomon opened the doors and led Dati and Piddomon inside.

The Floramon from before ran out to greet them. “Hello! Welcome to the-” She stopped when she noticed who was there. “Allomon?”

“Yes, I would like to speak to Greymon.”

“He’s in his office right now, but he’s not busy, so you can see him.”

“Thank you!” Allomon walked off towards the office.

Dati and Piddomon started forward, but Floramon stopped them. “Are you with Allomon?”

Allomon turned back. “Yes, they are, actually!”

Floramon let them go without a word.

When they reached Greymon’s office, Allomon knocked on the door. A gruff voice from inside asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Allomon.”

The voice became much happier. “Why didn’t you say so? Come in, chief!”

Allomon opened the door, and the trio walked in. The orange tyrannosaur inside came out from behind his desk and ran up to them. “Hey, Allomon!”

“Greymon, it’s nice to see you!” Allomon gave Greymon a fist-bump.

Greymon looked at Dati and Piddomon, who were watching the whole thing. “And you brought friends, too! Did you hire them?”

“Oh, no, they only came for food, not for a job.” Allomon looked Greymon in the eye.

“But they taught me something really important.”

“What’s that?”

Allomon smiled. “To show you, I need a sample of your best menu item.”

“Sure!” Greymon walked out of the office. After a short while, he returned, holding a plate with a steak on it, along with some cutlery. “Steak is one of our best sellers!”

“Would you eat this steak yourself?” Allomon asked.

“Sure, I would! It’s tasty!” Greymon cut the steak in half, cut off a small piece, and put it in his mouth. The others watched as he chewed, and soon enough, he started visibly cringing. After he swallowed, he took a few deep breaths and his entire body shuddered. “Just...just like candy!”

“Let me taste that.” Allomon took the other set of cutlery, cut off a piece from the other half, and ate it. His reaction to the tough, rubbery steak was very similar to Greymon’s. “How long did you cook this steak, Greymon?”

“Oh, about a few minutes, give or take.”

Allomon looked shocked. “For an overcooked steak? Usually, if you cook a steak for just a few minutes, it comes out rare, not overcooked!”

Greymon laughed nervously. “I kinda used my flame breath to help out...”

Allomon facepalmed. “Well, no wonder the steak was burned! You’re not supposed to put it directly in the fire! Why’d you even start doing that, anyway?” “’Cause of that Chuumon. I tried to make him a steak the right way, but he kept being all like, ‘Hurry up! You’re taking forever! What do you think I came here for, to wait around?’ and I got so sick of it. He just kept going on and on and on!”

Allomon put a hand on his shoulder. “That’s the point I’m trying to make here. Both of us let that Chuumon start running the business for us, and we completely lost track of what makes a good restaurant. In my case, it doesn’t matter if your customers like your

food; if they have to wait a long time for it, they won’t want to come back.”

“Huh...and I guess people won’t wanna eat the food at my restaurant if it’s terrible, no matter how fast they get it,” Greymon said.

“Exactly.” Allomon glanced at Dati and Piddomon. “These two helped me realize that we shouldn’t let Chuumon distract us from our restaurants’ real issues. I thought my food was terrible, but thanks to them, I realized that my food was fine, and that it was my service that was terrible.”

“But what’s that Chuumon’s problem, anyway?”

“We’re pretty sure he works for Sukamon,” Dati said.

Greymon’s eyes widened. “Sukamon? Like the crime boss?”

“You know any other Sukamon?” Piddomon asked.

“No...” Greymon put the plate down on his desk. “Man, that guy works for a crime boss, and we wanted to bend over backwards to serve him? Talk about cringeworthy!”

“Hey, you didn’t know it at the time,” Dati said.

Allomon nodded. “Well, anyway, I think Greymon and I should develop a plan for how we’re going to deal with things until Sukamon’s stopped.”

“Thanks for helping us, by the way!” Greymon said.

“You’re welcome!” Dati said.

“And if you two come back around noon, we’ll make you an actual meal,” Allomon said.

Piddomon grinned. “Really?”

“Yep!” Greymon said. “And this time, not only will it taste good...” “...but you’ll get it in a reasonable amount of time as well!” Allomon finished.

Greymon and Allomon were digimon of their word, and sure enough, when Dati and Piddomon returned to the area around noon, they had a table and two menus set out for them. After ordering their drinks, Dati and Piddomon chatted for a bit, and soon enough, Floramon came with their drinks.

“Lemonade for you, and cherry soda for you!” she said, giving the drinks to Dati and Piddomon, respectively.

“Yes!” Piddomon took the glass of cherry soda and took a big long drink, enjoying the fruity taste of the cold, fizzy liquid cascading down his throat. When he was done, he slammed the glass down on the table. “Whoa, yeah! Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

Floramon giggled. “Let me know when you’d like a refill.”

“Yeah, thanks!”

Eventually, Greymon himself came out to see them. “You guys having fun so far?”

“Yep!” Piddomon smirked. “In fact, you might say today’s shaping up to be...delicious!”

He let out a loud burst of laughter, as Dati laughed half-heartedly.

“Okay, I’m sorry, but that was just terrible,” Greymon said with a groan.

“Maybe you’re right,” Piddomon replied.

Greymon held out a pen and a clipboard. “Anyway, what would you guys like?”

Dati and Piddomon both ordered their food. Fortunately for them, the waiting period didn’t feel like a million years, and when they finally got their food, it tasted just as good as they had hoped, and then some.

In the garbage dump’s main office, Sukamon looked at Chuumon. “So, those guys foiled your plans, huh?”

Chuumon nodded. “I fought the good fight, boss.”

“Don’t worry! You know what I always say: if one plan fails, make another one!”

Sukamon drummed his fingers on his desk. “Hmm...wanna try an auction?”

Chuumon raised an eyebrow. “An auction? What are we selling?”

“I’ve heard rumors of a treasure on this very island, and I’ll send some of my guys out to get it,” Sukamon said. “In the meantime, you think you could find a way to distract those guys?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“Great! Why don’t you tell the others about the new plan?” Sukamon showed Chuumon to the door. “As long as we work together, we’ll never fail!”

“Mm-hmm.” Chuumon stepped outside of the office, and when he was sure Sukamon was out of earshot, he muttered, “Keep telling yourself that, boss...”

Coming out soon, GI Joe

Year of The Cobra