Meghan and Keri laughed as they watched an episode of Idiots of the Galaxy!, a comical cartoon with random plots.
"Hey, girls!" Keri's dad, Mr. Hayama, called from the doorway, "I have to go to the grocery store to get more sodas. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Okay, Dad!" yelled Keri.
The door closed as a commercial break started. Meghan and Keri had been eating their pizza on the floor when the former jumped up to her feet.
"Look, Keri! I'm on Idiots of the Galaxy!" she giggled while bouncing up and down. One of her small jumps took her further than she expected and her foot landed squarely in Keri's pizza.
"Meghan! That was my pizza!"
"Sorry," Meghan said while grabbing a napkin to wipe off her foot. "This is so nasty! Never jump in someone else's pizza slice."
Keri got herself a new slice when there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" they yelled in unison, racing towards the door. They pulled it open to reveal a tall man with black hair and green eyes. He was wearing an off-white shirt with black trim and a pair of brown pants.
"Are you two Meghan and Keri?" he asked.
"I'm Keri, so she must be Meghan." Keri grinned.
He smiled back and opened a gray laptop that he had with him. "My name is Keeper. Your brother Shaun and his friend Steven are in my classroom at school."
"Whatever," Meghan shrugged.
"I had those two do this for me earlier today, so don't be afraid at what happens. Put your hands on the screen, please." He turned the laptop towards them so that they could see the forest scenery before putting their hands up trustingly.
"How cool!" said Meghan in awe as her hand slipped clear through. She moved it around inside and giggled at the fact that she couldn't feel Keri's hand beside hers. Something clasped around her wrist, so she pulled out her hand to inspect it.
It was a watch with red buttons and a rainbow colored band. She looked over at Keri's to see that it was light purple.
Then she saw her own glowing with a multi-colored light that burst at her feet into a red bird with green and blue wings. Her blue tail feathers shook and her head feathers trembled as her violet eyes turned happily to Meghan.
"Meghan!" The bird flapped her half wings to look into the girl's face.
Meghan reached out and ruffled the bird's head feathers, only half surprised at what had happened.
"My name is Parémon," she chirruped happily.
Stealing a glance at Keri's new friend, Meghan saw that it looked like a purple fox with orange stripes and green eyes. Keri suddenly looked at Keeper.
"Are these guys Digimon? My dad told me a story that happened like this is."
Keeper nodded. "You'll hear more about that from him later. I need to get going now, so I'll be seeing you four around soon enough."
"Bye, Keeper!" Keri and Meghan waved as he walked away. Shutting the door, Keri pranced with her fox friend into the kitchen.
"Want some pizza, Arcamon?"
"Sure!"
Keri put a slice on a plate and set it down by Meghan and Parémon who were back to watching the show.
"I'm ba-Whoah! What's all this!?" Keri's dad had come in through the back door and seen the two Digimon. His face was a mixture of surprise and amazement. As he put the sodas on the counter, Arcamon ran and hid behind Keri's legs.
"It's been…so long…since I've seen one…" He got down on his knees, watching Arcamon's bright green eye.
"Keri, do you remember how I used to tell you stories about Matt?" Keri nodded. "That wasn't made up. Almost two hundred years ago, he and Gabumon did roam the Digital World. Now seven generations later, you and your friends are becoming proper Digi-destined." He shook his head. "You guys are gonna have some fun…" Mr. Hayama stood up and patted Parémon's head.
"Were you a Digi-destined?" asked Meghan.
"Me? Digi-destined? No. I had a Digimon, but I never met him face-to-face. My only contact was through Keeper, Gennai's son."
"Keeper?" Keri repeated.
"Yeah."
"He was just here a minute ago!" shouted Meghan, "he gave us the Digimon and these watches then left!"
Keri's dad looked over the "watch". "That's the D-Caller. Keeper was saving those for his 'Time- Raisers'. They must be you guys."
Meghan thought back to what Keeper said. "But Shaun and Steven have them, too."
"Well, there have got to be at least three of you to make a complete team. They must be the other members."
Arcamon was more relaxed as she followed Keri to the couch. "Who was your Digimon?" she purred lightly.
"His name was Weremon- he looked like a little blue and gray coyote."
"I saw him once!" Parémon said, "He was playing with that black fire horse, Scorchamon."
"Well, at least we know that he's okay. Hey, do you guys want to watch a movie?"
Meghan called out, "I brought recorded episodes of Idiots of the Galaxy! We can watch those!"
"Coolness!" Keri put the video in as her dad began to stroke Arcamon.
***************
"Gennai? Who's Gennai?"
"And how do you know so much about Digimon?"
The two boys waited impatiently for Steven's grandpa to reply. The old man sat in a chair and beckoned for them to sit down. They sat on the floor and the Digimon nestled into their laps.
"To tell the truth, Gennai was my instructor when I was a Digi-destined. According to him, Digimon only return when new evils arrive against the Digi-destined. In your mother's age, there weren't many threats, so she never truly was a Digi-destined. Your great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was Tai Kamiya. He passed his Digi-destined rights to his son, who gave them to his daughter, who gave them to her daughter, who gave them to her son and so on until they've reached you today. Shaun, if I'm not mistaken, Davis Motomiya has passed it through to you. One of Sora's decedents married into his family, so Meghan should be a part of this, too. I'm pretty sure that she'll have a Digimon before 5:00."
"Meghan!?" Shaun looked at his watch. 4:52. "Let's go!" He leapt up and raced outside with his friends.
They ran all the way to Keri's house and banged on the door. Through the window, they could see Arcamon and Keri approaching. When she opened the door, Meghan and Parémon were coming to the front so that they could see Shaun and Steven's Digimon.
"Meghan, you've already got yours?" he asked his sister.
"One what? Oh, Parémon! Yeah, your teacher came by and dropped them off for us. Keri has Arcamon, and this's Parémon."
The girls came outside to sit on the porch with them.
"I'm Quiremon, and this's-"
"-Crisnismon! Nice to meetcha!"
"Keri's dad said that we're all Digi-destined!" said Meghan proudly.
"That's exactly what my grandpa said, except he went on about why and stuff." Steven rolled his eyes hopelessly.
Mr. Hayama popped his head out. "I'm not too old of a Digi-destined to chat with you guys, am I?"
"C'mon out, Mr. Hayama," Shaun answered.
Meghan was watching her wrist. "What does it mean when the D-Caller's screen goes black?"
"What?" The others looked at theirs. The screen was devoid of the time and had begun to spread out fingers of inky blackness.
"Battle!" explained Keri's dad simply.
"Hmm?"
"A Digimon has challenged you to battle. Your D-Callers are about to-"
What they were about to do happened. The darkness engulfed the group for a moment, and then cleared to reveal a field containing only a white dinosaur with black metallic coverings.
"What the-" Shaun started.
"Chromaticmon!" Mr. Hayama's voice growled behind him.
The kids looked to the man for guidance, but the Digimon knew what to do.
"Diamond Claws!" Quiremon hollered, shooting replicas of his claws in the shape of diamonds.
"First Born Fire!" Crisnismon jumped with the sun to his back and shot flames at his enemy.
"Rainbow Feather!" Multi-colored feathers flew from Parémon's wings and slashed at Chromaticmon.
"Thought Claw!" Arcamon closed her eyes; a set of violet claws appeared before her and attacked the opponent.
From being hit by multiple attacks, a small dust cloud had formed around Chromaticmon. It cleared to show nothing more than a scratch or two in his thick armor.
"GGRRRAAAWWRRLLL!!!" Chromaticmon rushed the rookies with his horn down. "Metal Horn!"
"Mike! Mike!" someone's voice called above the din of the battle. Mr. Hayama turned to see his long-lost Digimon bearing down on him.
"Weremon! Can you help to fight?" he asked anxiously.
"Sorry, but the D-Callers those kids have'll keep me from it. I'm powerless if they started in on the battle before I did…"
"Crisnismon!" Quiremon yelled as Chromaticmon came back to attack again. "Let's do it!"
"Right!"
The two Digimon stood side by side.
"Water!"
"Fire!"
Then, together, "Steam Stun Blast!" A mixture of fire, water, and steam hit Chromaticmon on the side and he toppled over, defeated for now.
"Yes! Way to go you guys!" whooped Steven, jumping into the air.
The Digimon all stood by their partners as the D-Callers turned white and they were once again standing on the porch.
"Guys, I'd like you to meet Weremon!" Mr. Hayama announced.
"Hey, what sup!" greeted the cheery Digimon.
Shaun looked at his D-Caller. "Wow! It's the same time as when we left! It's like time paused for us to battle or something!"
"That's cool! Oh, Meghan! That means we didn't miss the movie!"
"Let's go, then, girls!" Keri's dad trooped inside with Weremon.
"See ya tomorrow, Meghan," Shaun said as he and Steven turned back. "We'll go ahead and stay at your house until I have to go home."
"Okay, that's fine."
"Shaun?" Quiremon spoke up in a whiney voice, "I want something to eat!"
"I took a bag of cookies to Steven's."
"Dude, let's go!" the two Digimon raced ahead.
"Hey, wait for us! Hollered Steven as they chased after their Digimon.