1 Chapter 1 - Return to the Digital World

It was a dark, dark place. Jeri was scared and she was running for dear life. Large pink hands stretched out and reached for her. Jeri looked back and immediately regretted it. The arms were getting much, much closer. Closer than she would have liked. "No! Leave me alone!" She wailed. She felt like she was getting slower and slower. Each footstep seeming heavier each time. Large golden eyes appeared then.

"You will never excape, never!" Jeri screamed as the hands enveloped her. She struggled to get free and was being pulled in by the arms and closer to the body of the D-Reaper. She continued to struggle.

"Help! Leomon!" She shouted as her back started to touch the creature's body. It felt soft and squishy, she hated that feeling. At this point, almost her whole body was in the D-Reaper's body. "No!"

She jolted awake, sweat coming down her forehead. She quickly looked around her room, breathing a quiet sigh of relief when she saw no enemy nearby. "Just another nightmare..." She hadn't had a nightmare like that in months, but this time it felt so real, too real even. The nightmares of the D-Reaper usually ended with her being sucked into its body, but this time it felt, different. As if it really happened.

"But that's impossible, I'm right here..." Maybe she should tell Takato and the other tamers about this? That was the best thing to do, she knew, but she didn't want to bother them. Digimon were still bio-emerging, even after all this time, no one knew why. Yamaki didn't even have an explanation for it, nor his crew. With all that going on, she couldn't burden them, especially if she couldn't fight alongside them, not without a digimon partner. "Leomon..." Even at 16 she couldn't forget Leomon, no one expected her to, but she feels that she's annoying Takato with her saddness. So she stopped moping about Leomon and acted happily around everyone, even if it was fake.

She shook her head as she looked out her window. It was still dark outside and noticed it was only 3am. It was a Saturday so she was off highschool for the next two days, so she wasn't bothered too much by waking up. She let out a deep sigh as she stood up from her bed and went down into the kitchen to get a glass of water. She and her dad had a great relationship ever since she was freed from the D-Reaper and finally accepted her step-mother as a real mom. In a way, she could thank the D-reaper for giving her the courage to stand up to her depression and make her accept the people around her, although she's far from being completely cured. She had also stopped using the puppet and gave it to her step brother who was gratefully playing with it and looking after it.

Speaking of which, the silly puppet was laying on the floor next to the counter. She smiled gently as she picked the thing up and brought it with her up the stairs. "He needs to learn where toys go and not to throw them away on the floor." She mumbled as she set the puppet on her desk top. She's still interested in pupetry, but it was mainly a hobby when she was younger, now she's interested in graphic design. Maing websites and designing them for various things she's interested in. She sat down on her chair, turning the monitor on and waiting for it to load. She spun around a few times before her eyes reached her comatose, static digivice. She frowned when the screen turned a light yellow.

"What the?" She picked it up, not really expecting anything to happen. "Hm, maybe it's nothing..."

xxXxx

The early morning air was gentle, ruffling a few tree branches about. A certain red bandana also followed the winds movements as the owner of that bandana was sitting down on a street lamp high above the ground. The small digimon let out a tired yawn as he watched over the city. He was located near Jeri's house, watching over her. Even after 4 years he still feels immense guilt of killing her partner, even if she forgave him. Impmon had no idea how or why she could, after all this time it still eats away at him. So the least he could do was watch over her in case danger may arise.

"Such strange creatures, humans are..." He still can't understand them, how some can forgive easily and how some can hold grudges for the rest of their lives. Digimon weren't that much different, now that he thought about it. In the end, no kind of creature can be considered normal. Now he was getting out of topic. How a mind can wander when waiting boredly for something to happen when nothing usually does. His eyes widened when he felt something amiss, and what do you know, it was coming from Jeri's house.

He jumped to his feet, then began jumping from streetlamp to streetlamp towards the young girl's house. When he got to the window and peered in, all he saw was Jeri staring at her digivice, her mouth moving as if she was speaking to someone. "Whose she talkin to?" He wondered as his eyes scanned the room. "No one's around, unless cream puff is pretendin' to be a stuffed animal."

"Hey Impmon, what are you doing here?" Calumon asked happily as he landed beside him. Impmon began to sweat at the realization.

"Hey to you too Cream Puff, but if yer out here, then who is Jeri talkin to?" Calumon tilted his head in confusion.

"She always talks to herself when she thinks she's alone. Don't you?" Impmon shrugged as he turned his head back towards Jeri.

"I guess I do sometimes, but there's this feeling telling me somethin's up. Just look at her digivice." Calumon did as he asked and frowned at what he saw. His ears shrunk back.

"There's a creepy-eepy voice coming from there. I don't like it." Impmon began to get nervous as he tried to open the window.

"Well if that the case, I can't just sit back and watch as somethin' may happen to her." Calumon's ears shot back out and he jumped merrily. Impmon smirked at him then he proceeded to pull the window open.

"Yeah yeah, pull it Impmon! Come on, you can do it!" Impmon struggled to get it open but grinned as he was able to before a light started to come shoot out of the digivice. "Jeri!" Calumon yelled as he jumped down from the window sill and onto the ground. Jeri turned around, a little surprised at seeing the two of them.

"Calumon? And Impmon...too...?" She was about to say more but the light got even brighter. "Help...me..." Before the light could completely engulf her, Impmon and Calumon jumped into her arms. If she's going somewhere, then they would go with her. A second later and the light disappeared, not a living person left in her room.

xxXxx

Jeri's eyes slowly opened. She expected to be in her bed, all snuggled up under her covers, waking up to the sound of the birds outside her window. So when she saw buildings around her, not to mention multiple digimon, to say she was confused was an understatement. She sat up, a little embarrassed when some digimon were staring at her. "Where am I? How did I end up here?" Then it hit her. "Wait, is this the digital world?" She picked up her digivice. "So it wasn't a dream. That dark sinister voice really did talk to me..."

"Hey kid! Get outta the way!" Yelled a voice from in front of her. She shrieked and ran out of the way when two digimon pushed a wooden cart just past the spot she was previously sitting at. The cart stopped and the two mischevious digimon growled at her. They looked like children in a halloween costume. "Did ya wanna get run over? Who are you anyway?" Jeri gave out a pout.

"Well excuse me, you could have went around me, and it's rude to ask someone of their name before you give your own out." The two digimon looked at eachother then back to her.

"Fine, we're the Dracmon brothers."

"And I'm Jeri Katou, now would you please tell us where we are? Is this the digital world?" The Dracmon tilted their heads in confusion.

"Off course we are, human."

"Where else would we be?" Jeri let out a sigh.

"I see, I thought so. And what do you call this place, then?"

"This is Lush Village since you so kindly asked."

"And would you mind telling us why you're here? Alone no less." Jeri frowned.

"I don't know, a voice called to me through my digivice. Oh, but I wasn't the only that got transported here. My friends Impmon and Calumon are here too. Have you seen them?" They both tilted their heads once again.

"Can't say I've ever heard of those digimon before."

"Nope, neither have I brother. Sorry kid." Jeri shook her head.

"Mm-mm, it's alright. I'll just have to look for them." She waved to them before going on her own. "Thank you for helping me." When the girl left, the two Dracmon shrugged as they began to push the cart once again.

"Such a strange human."

"Come to think of it, she's the first human we've ever met."

"Yeah, you are completely right brother. But we should get this food to tha boss. You know how short-tempered she is." The other brother shivered in response.

"Yep! We should definitely hurry."

xxXxx

Jeri took in the view around her. She understood why this was called Lush Village. Nothing but grass and nature, and off course a few buildings and digimon here and there. Although the place was beyond beautiful, she still couldn't appreciate the place until her friends were located, but she was also very hungry, not to mention thirsty. "I hope they can forgive me, but I have to eat something, but where...?" She stopped her train of thought when a sensational smell overcame her nose and she just had to follow it. "Maybe they're also hungry?" With that thought in mind she followed the smell.

She frowned when she couldn't see either Impmon or Calumon in the restaurant she found, but slipped in anyway. That's when she realized she was still in her pajamas. "How stupid I am! I don't even have any money." Her stomach grumbled at that moment. She blushed in embarrassment when a few digimon looked her way.

"Child, are you a customer?" Asked a friendly female Burgermon. Jeri hesitated but walked towards her, not wanting to be impolite.

"U-um, yes, but I just realized I have no money." The burgermon nodded her head.

"That's alright, sweetie, eat now then you can work for us to pay off the meal." Jeri's expression brightened then nodded in agreement.

"Alright, thank you...um?"

"Oh, I'm Burgermon, I run this restaurant with my husband, also called Burgermon. Just sit down and look at the menu, we'll also try to sort you out with new clothes." Jeri nodded once again and sat down. Not surprisingly, the whole menu were burgers, good thing she likes them. She decided on a plain cheeseburger and sat the menu down, looking out the window.

"I hope you two are okay."

xxXxx

"How much longer Impmon? We've been walking for over 10 minutes you know!?" Impmon grew a stretchmark. Calumon has been complaining non-stop and he was getting sick of it.

"I heard rumors that Jeri was in Lush Village, and I hear there's a scary digimon that rules tha' place, the quicker we get there the better, I say!"

"I get that, okay? Why can't you just digivolve into Beelzemon, then you can fly us there?" Impmon sweatdropped.

"I-I guess I could, couldn't I?" They both turned around when they heard a ruffling in the bushes. "Who's there?" Asked Impmon while he pulled Calumon behind him. A boy with jet black hair tied back in low pony-tail stood out.

"An Impmon, huh? Pretty rare." Impmon frowned as the boy pointed his digivice towards them. A screen lit up and the boy looked down. "Impmon, as I thought, rookie level. Main attacks are Bada boom and Infernal funnel. And what about you?" He then pointed the device towards Calumon. He frowned when nothing appeared. "Strange, I can't get any info on you."

"Hey brother! Wait up!" Cried a female with dark skin and jet black hair, she wore a yellow top with a red skirt and red boots that go almost to her knees. She had a red hat and had emerald eyes. Her brother had a much lighter skin tone, wearing a dark blue headband, he had brown eyes and he mostly wore blue black clothing. He looked to be a bit smaller than his sister. She bent down, putting her hands on her knees, out of breath. "You know I'm older than you right? The least you could do is slow down." The boy frowned up at her, folding his arms.

"Not my problem, have you see-"

"Aw! How cute!" The girl squealed as she went towards Calumon and gave him a bone crushing hug. Calumon couldn't breathe and begged for Impmon to help him. Impmon chuckled slightly when he finally stood forward. This caught the girl's attention and then went straight to Impmon. "You are also adorable! I wanna take you home!" Impmon also found it hard to breathe.

"Okay, ya can let go of me now!"

"Seriously Mana? You're supposed to be the oldest? You're gonna kill the thing." Mana finally let go, with much relunctance. She turned towards her brother, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"You're right!" Impmon growled as he rubbed his backside.

"Who are you two anyway?"

"Oh, how rude of us. My name is Mana Shimizu, and this is my younger brother Katsu Shimizu. We're Tamers, we're currently on a mission to get the human Jeri Katou and bring her with us to Lord Seraphimon." Impmon's eyes widened.

"Jeri?" He mumbled. "Who is this Jeri Katou you speak of? Why are you after her?" He asked instead. There was no way he was going to let them know that they knew her. Katsu gave him a distrusting look but Mana shrugged.

"I don't know, something about the D-Reaper from 4 years ago, I think. We heard she had reddish hair, that's about it. Hehehe, not much to go on, I know." Impmon shook his head in response.

"It's enough. We'll be sure ta let you know if we've seen her." He glared at Calumon behind him, hoping to stop anything the smaller digimon may say. Calumon thankfully got the hint and kept it shut.

"Oh thank you for your co-operation, well, we're off to Lush Village, we hear she may be there. Bye!" With that, Mana pulled her younger brother with her then they were out of sight.

"Ookayy..." Said both Impmon and Calumon. Impmon sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "Geeze, what have we gotten ourselves into this time?" Calumon looked up at him.

"Shouldn't we get going?" Impmon nodded. He was then surrounded by a bright light, in place of the light when it faded was a tall, hulking figure with wings. Calumon cheered as he flew onto Beelzemon's shoulder. Beelzemon then took off into the air, towards Lush Village.

'Hang on Jeri, we'll be with you soon.'

xxXxx

"Jeri, we have a new customer over here." Said Burgermon from the front counter. Jeri nodded as she happily took the new customer to their table and took down their orders. The two Burgermon smiled at eachother at how hard their new employee was working. "We're sure impressed at how quickly you've been working here, and it hasn't even been an hour yet."

"Oh, well my family back in the human world owns a restaurant, so I help out alot."

"I see." Said the male Burgermon. "Once you've paid off your debt, what will you be doing?" Jeri frowned in response. What was she going to do?

"Well, I need to find my friends, Impmon and Calumon, after that, I guess find a way home. Maybe even find out who that voice that called to me was about." She set the piece of paper who had their latest customer's order on the counter. The male Burgermon took it and went in the back before saying,

"I hope you find them then, they couldn't have gotten too far." He then proceeded going towards the back of the restaurant.

"Thank you, I know I'll find them." The bell over the front doorway chimed, indicating that they had a new customer. She swiftly turned around to greet the new guest. "Welcome to restaurant Burger-" She stopped mid-sentance when she finally laid eyes upon the digimon who walked into the building. His shadow went over her, not surprising since he was twice the size of her, at least. He wore a black coat around his shoulders, a huge scar had formed on his stomach. His hair was white and he had pearl blue eyes. She didn't need her digivice or cards to tell her who this was. "B-Bancholeo...mon." Said digimon looked down at her curiously.

"How is it that you know my name, young one?" She blushed slightly at his reply. He reminded her so much of Leomon, it didn't help that Leomon was in his name.

"Oh, uh, who doesn't, right?"

"Yes, you have saved our village countless times, Bancholeomon." The female Burgermon said. Bancholeomon shook his head.

"No, it's the least I could do for saving me. When I was Leormon, and was seriously hurt, it was this village that took me in and I was able to digivolve to mega and protect it back. As I said, it was the least I could do." Jeri looked up at him with admiration.

'He's just like Leomon, noble and couragous.' She thought sadly as she shook away the bad memories. "Would you like me to show you to your table?" Bancholeomon looked down at her once again.

"Yes, that would be nice, but tell me young one, how did you end up in the digital world?" Jeri took out her digivice and held it up to him.

"It was through this, a strange voice called out to me, and the next thing I knew me and my two friends, at least I think, ended up here." Bancholeomon nodded as he bent down to her eye level.

"I see, so that must mean you are a Tamer. Was your partner one of the two that also came with you?" He immediately saw the sad look she emitted. "I apologise if I said something I shouldn't have."

"Oh, no, it's not you. And no, my partner died 4 years ago. My two friends are digimon called Impmon and Calumon, you haven't seen them have you?" Bancholeomon frowned.

"How unfortuneate, and I haven't seen your two friends, I regret to say. But I will keep an eye out." He said as he stood up and started for the entrance to the restaurant.

"What about your food Bancholeomon?" Burgermon asked. The lion digimon shook his head as he turned his head towards her.

"I've decided to look for the young one's friends. What's your name, by the way?" He pointed his question towards Jeri. She blinked then let out a small smile.

"It's Jeri, Jeri Katou. Thank you so much for helping me!" She said as she bowed in thanks. The mega let out a small smile of his own.

"Jeri, yes, a fine name. I'll be going now." With that he walked out of the restaurant and began his search for Impmon and Calumon. Jeri stared at the spot where she last saw him.

"Is he always like that?" Burgermon let out a chuckle.

"Yes, ever since he first came here, actually." She replied as she went towards the counter that had the prepared food for the customers. "No one knows where he came from, he just showed up out of the blue one day. Folks around here think it's due to the change the digital world had since the D-Reaper was destroyed. He doesnt remember his past, which is why I think he's so grateful."

"You said something about how the digital world changed, what do you mean?"

"Well, I guess you could say the digital world has been reborn. Even digimon who lost their lives are starting to be reborn again. Oh how powerful the digimon sovereigns can be, but even they can't bring digimon who had their data absorbed back." A tear had ran down Jeri's face, she had hope that there could be a way to bring Leomon back, but it was only a silly dream. "Oh my, what happened, why are you crying?" That was when she realized she let a tear out. She rubbed it away.

"Oh it's nothing! Nothing at all!" Burgermon frowned in response.

"Okay, dear, if you say so." She then handed the plate full of food to Jeri. The girl smiled as she took it and went towards the customer who ordered it.

xxXxx

Bancholeomon scouted the village, asking around for Jeri's friends. He sighed as no one had given him a favourable answer. "They most likely got transported to another area. How unfortuneate." He was about to leave and go back to the restaurant when someone called out his name. "Hm?"

"Excuse me, Bancholeomon, sir." He rolled his eyes as he turned towards the two approaching humans.

"Just call me Bancholeomon." Mana blinked as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"O-off course, forgive me."

"It's alright, what is it that you wanted, young one?" The girl smiled then held a determined look.

"We were just wondering if you've seen another human girl? She has mid-length brown-red hair...that's really all we know at the moment, but she can't be hard to miss!" Bancholeomon frowned.

'Jeri? What do these two want with her? Is she in trouble? I can tell by just looking at her that she's not a trouble-maker.'

"I'm afraid I haven't seen her. I've already been through this area and I can assure you she's not here." Mana nodded as she took out her digivice.

"That's a shame. Thank you for the trouble anyway." He nodded as he started to walk away. When Bancholeomon was far away enough Katsu began to speak.

"He's lying, he knows where she is." Mana shook her head.

"No way! Bancholeomon is a noble digimon, he wouldn't betray the digital world!"

"I'm afraid he's right, Mana." Said a male's voice coming from her digivice. Mana turned her head downwards, looking at her digivice.

"How are you so sure?"

"I just know, and besides, I hear our target has an innocent face. He was probably fooled by her and so believes she's good. He doesn't know the situation, afterall. No one but us does."

"Hn, and those two digimon from earlier were lying about knowing her, but they didn't know where she was either, I'm sure of it." Katsu continued.

"And so, they would have been of no use to us." The voice finished. Mana let out a sigh as she looked up to the sky.

"You'd think you two were partners with how you two always finish eachother's sentences..." She shrugged as she put away her digivice. "Okay,we'll follow him then, we haven't got anything else to do anyway."

xxXxx

"Do you really think she'll be satisfied with this?" Dracmon pondered as the two continued wheeling their cart. His brother began to sweat.

"I dunno! But we can't help it! These were all the apples that were left!" The other brother retorted. "It'll have to do for now. Maybe there will be more tomorrow."

"Apples don' grow that quickly, moron!"

"Hey, I'm not a moron! You are!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yes-ah!"

"Um, excuse me..." Calumon said from above them, but the two Dracmon failed to notice him.

"I'm the oldest! And I say I'm not a moron!"

"Yer jus' the oldest by 3 seconds! Tha doesn't really count!"

"Uh, hey..." Calumon tried again, but he was ignored yet again.

"Mother loved me more!"

"No way, she loved me more!"

"Would you answer me already!?" Calumon yelled. Both the Dracmon stopped their arguement and slowly turned their heads upwards. His ears spread out in happiness. "Finally, finally, yeah!"

"What ya want, runt?"

"Yeah, couldn't ya see we were in the middle of a conversation?" Calumon tilted his head in confusion.

'Conversation? It looked more like an arguement to me.' He shook his head. 'No, I have to find Jeri! That comes first!'

"Um, have you seen Jeri anywhere?" The Dracmon frowned.

"What is a Jeri?"

"Is it a kind of apple?" Calumon shook his head.

"No, she's Jeri! She's not food!"

"Oh, a digimon?"

"No no no, she's a human! Have you seen her? She's really pretty and has big brown eyes." The Dracmon thought for a moment.

"A human, huh?"

"Wait, we've seen a human, but what was her name ag-" He was caught off as a shadow appeared over them. The Dracmon began to sweat as they both turned around. "Ah, Ladydevimon. What are you doing here? We were about to-"

"Silence!" She growled as she eyed Calumon. "I felt a disturbance in the area. And now I see a strange digimon I've never seen before. Could it perhaps, be you?" Calumon's ears shrank as he began to tremble.

"U-um, I'm not strange. I'm Calumon..." LadyDevimon flew a little closer towards him.

"Calumon, I have heard that name before." She then grabbed the small digimon. "Tell me, why are you here?" Calumon tried geting out of her tight grip, but he just wouldn't budge. "There's no use in trying to escape, so answer my question."

"Uh, I was just passing through. Nothing special about me, nuh-uh!" The devil digimon narrowed her eyes.

"But didn't you say you were looking for a human?" One of the Dracmon asked. This caught LadyDevimon's attention.

"Oh really? A human you say? Sounds interesting, is she in this area?" Calumon shook his head.

"No! I'm not looking for anyone, honest!"

"I don't like liars, and you'll soon learn of the punishments to said liars. Now, tell me where this human friend of yours is." Calumon shook his head.

"No!" LadyDevimon tightened her grip which made Calumon almost choke.

"Little Digimon, I do not want to further harm you, so you will lead me to this human."

'Oh no, oh no, oh no, I can't show her because I don't know where she is! And I don't wanna tell her!' There was nothing he could do as LadyDevimon began to fly off towards Lush Village. The Dracmon brothers began to follow.

"You shouldn't have told her brother."

"Well, it's not our problem what happens to the girl."

"I guess, but don't you feel even a little bad?"

"Yeah, I admit I do, but as I said, it's not our business."

xxXxx

"Darn, where did that creampuff get to?" Beelzemon sighed. Calumon was with him one second, then gone the next. He was high in the air, looking down at the ground looking for him. "That lil body of his couldn't have taken him too far." He then spotted a village not far away. "Hm, if he's anywhere it'll be there." He then flew towards the village, and hit the ground with little to no noise. He noticed that it was a peaceful village, something that he was not used to in the digital world. "Looks like the Sovereigns did a good job on keepin' the peace after what happened." He mentally flinched when he thought back to what happened four years prior. 'No, don't think about it. She's forgiven you, hasn't she?' Deep down he knew that Jeri hadn't completely recovered from everything. "Tha's why I've gotta find her."

"I haven't seen you around before." Bancholeomon said to Beelzemon's side. "And you're not the first new face I've seen today either." Beelzemon's eyes widened in shock when he saw who it was.

"Leomon...?" Bancholeomon frowned.

"No, I'm Bancholeomon, but I was a Leomon at one time. Who are you? It's rare to see a mega around these parts." Beelzemon mentally shook his head.

'Get a grip! They're not the same! What's wrong with me?' He turned towards the lion digimon. "I'm Beelzemon and I'm looking for a few friends of mine. A human and someone named Calumon."

"I see, does this human happened to be named Jeri?" Beelzemon smiled.

"Yes, that's her. You know where she is?"

"Hm, yes, but she says she looking for someone named Impmon, not Beelzemon. Although you both mentioned Calumon, so I assume that you are also Impmon?" Beelzmon nodded as his form changed into his rookie form.

"Yeah that's me. So, can you show me to her?" Bancholeomon smirked as he began to lead the way.

"Off course, I did promise her that I would help her." A huge smile was seen on the imp creature's face.

"Thanks bud! I owe ya one!"

"He's made contact with that Impmon." Mana whispered to her brother not far away. Katsu nodded. The two faced eachother, both taking out their digivices in the process. "Blackgatomon, should we continue following them?"

"Yes, we'll be able to find the human if we do so." Mana nodded.

"Right. Let's go Katsu." The boy nodded as he followed his sister.

"Wait guys!" Said a female voice from Katsu's digivice. He held it out one again. "There's an evil force coming this way! We've got to be quick!"

"Right, thanks Gatomon." He put the device away one again. "Let's go."

xxXxx

Jeri sat down in a seat at the bak of the restaurant. It had gotten very busy within an hour and she was wrecked. Although it was hard work, it took her mind off of everything. 'I hope Impmon and Calumon are alright. I can't start to find a way home until I've found them, and I can't let Bancholeomon do all the work. I need to help too.' But the Burgermon were giving her home for the time being, she still wanted to repay them, somehow. 'I'll go out looking for them during my breaks.' With that thought in mind, she got up and told the Burgermon her plan.

"Sounds like a fair plan. You can take 30 minutes off. It is rush hour right now so we can't afford to give you more time, I'm afraid." The male Burgermon said.

"That's fine. That's all the time I need." She smiled as she waved goodbye as she headed outside. She frowned when she looked around. It was much busier now than when she first got there. She smiled as she saw a few in-training digimon playing together. "It's wonderful to see the digimon look happy after what happened..." She shook her head as she walked around. If she had stayed a little longer she would have ran into Bancholeomon who had come from a forest path, along with Impmon.

"Well, here it is. Restaurant Burgermon. She was hired by the couple who runs this place."

"Thanks, really. I owe you a lot."

"No thanks needed. I'm just doing what is right."Impmon nodded. He ran into the restaurant, excited to see Jeri.

"Hey Jeri! Ya here?!" He yelled, he didn't care for all the eyes that were pointed towards him. A female Burgermon walked up to him.

"Jeri's not here at the moment. She's currently on her break. Went out looking for her two friends." She looked up at her new customer. "Oh Bancholeomon. How is your search going?"

"Hm, this young digimon here is one of her friends. I still have to find Calumon I'm afraid."

"Oh I see. Well, Jeri should be back within 30 minutes. You can wait for her here if you wish." She then walked away to serve more of her customers. Impmon frowned.

"At least Jeri has been taken good care of. I was worried she had gotten hurt, or somethin' even worse." He looked around the restaurant in curiosity. "Hm, should I wait here for her or..."

"It might be a good idea, there are plenty of digimon who still dislike humans, and so would hurt her. I'll look for your friend Calumon in the meantime." Bancholeomon was about to go outside the door as Impmon stopped him.

"Why are ya helpin' us? I appreciate it an all off course,but..."

"It's simple, us digimon must help eachother out, no, not just digimon, any species who may need it, including humans." With that, he was off. Impmon couldn't figure the guy out, digimon like that were rare.

"Well, I should do the same, Jeri may need my help, and I owe her that much at least..." He quickly shook his head as he bolted through the door. It was a quiet, peaceful village and it made him somewhat uneasy. "Wait, didn't the guy jus' say that digimon around ere' would harm humans? But it's so peaceful..." Not that he cared, he just needed to find Jeri, and fast. "Jeri!"

"So, you knew the human afterall." Katsu said as he stood in front of him. "You're not a bad liar, but to be fair, I suspected you lied." Impmon growled as he pushed past.

"Whatever, I ain't gonna help you or your sis! Leave me be." Katsu growled.

"Such rudeness-"

"Katsu, just let it go. You were rude too, you know? He must have had a good reason to lie." She pushed up her glasses once again and turned her head towards Impmon. "Please lead us to Jeri. We really need her." Impmon narrowed his eyes.

"Oh yeah? Why? Do ya wanna arrest her or somethin'? Cause if so I won't lead her to you!"

"Heh, I bet you don't know where she is."

"No, I don't!" Mana's expression turned serious.

"Why are you so hellbent on stopping us? The D-Reaper lives on inside her! We're trying to save the world, can't you see?" Impmon growled.

"The D-Reaper was defeated 4 years ago, and you have no idea what she has been through."

"Tch, you say it was defeated, but it is still very much alive. The tamers merely just pushed it back. It will return, starting from the girl..."

"Impmon?" All heads turned towards Jeri as she walked towards them. Impmon let out a smile as he ran towards her.

"Jeri! I'm glad you're safe!" Jeri smiled in return as she picked the small creature up and gave him a tight hug.

"Me too! I'm also glad you're safe."

"Well, we found her." Mana said as she held out her digivice. "Come out Blackgatomon!" A black cat formed right in front of her. It proceeded to lick it's paw. "We've found the girl, digivolve and take her." The feline let out a grin as he stood on his two hind legs.

"You too Gatomon." Katsu did the same thing, but this time a white cat formed. "Digivolve!"

"Right!" The two tamers held out a card. They both swiped the cards against their digivice.

"Digi-modify! Digivolution activate!" A bright light engulfed their partners.

"Blackgatomon digivolve to...ShadowWeregarurumon!"

"Gatomon digivolve to... Angewomon!"

"I-Impmon...w-what's going on?" Jeri asked as she looked up at the two ultamates. Impmon smirked.

"Don't worry about it! Just stay behind me, alright?" Jeri nodded as she sat him down on the ground. Impmon let out a deep sigh as a bright light surrounded him once again and Beelzemon took place. "Alrigh', now this is a fight. I jus' hope you're as strong as yer lettin' on!" He spread out his wings as his right arm turned into a gun. "Not only have I promised that Jeri will get back home but I also have my partners to go back ta! So neither of you will stop me!"

To be continued...