Digimon Zero Two X

An epic continuation of "Digimon Zero Two" by OneLonelyPickle

Everything we know is about to be tested...

Two worlds at the breaking point...

Evil Digimon from lands unknown descend upon our freedom...

New friends and old friends...

We come together in our darkest days...

Alone we are doomed...

Together, united in a pact of justice, we stand a chance...

Last Edit (August 20th, 2011): Removed the prologue, which was long and probably a turn off for some of the younger or more impatient readers. The information previously presented in it will be spread out throughout certain chapters, told by characters such as Gennai and Tailmon.

Also removed the part at the end featuring the first baddies. It felt a little cliched, so again, it will be moved to a later part, when the reader has become familiar with the current story.

Last but not least, the use of Japanese honorifics has been removed. As I stated in chapter 7, it was probably turning a lot of the English fans off, confusing them, or a mixture of both.

Author's Note: In case I forgot to mention anywhere in the story, this is a slightly alternate universe where only certain Chosen People get Digimon, not everyone. We all know this was a stupid ending to the best Digimon series, anyway.

Chapter 1 - Christmas Eve Eve

Yagami Residence

Yagami Hikari, a pretty twelve year old girl, was slowly wrapping her Christmas tree, situated in the living room in front of the glass door to the balcony, in tinsel. She had a deep affection for this time of year; the white, fluffy snow falls, the many red and green lights that lit up the city at night, the way people would greet you with a "Merry Christmas", regardless if you knew them or not. But her favourite part was Christmas morning, when she, her two parents, and her older brother Taichi would get up at precisely 6:15 AM to open the gifts which "Santa Claus" had left for them while they were asleep.

Hikari was humming "Jingle Bells" and now placing ornaments on the tree, not noticing her small, feline Digimon partner Tailmon watching her on the couch.

"Hikari, what are you doing to that tree?"

Hikari, surprised by the sudden voice, dropped the ornament she was holding and it rolled under the tree. She got down on all fours and retrieved it.

"I'm putting Christmas ornaments on it, you know, to make it all...well... Christmassy in here!"

Tailmon pricked her head to the left and quizzically looked at her female companion; not too tall, above average height. She had short brown hair and wore a pink sweater, tight black jeans, and red socks with little Christmas trees on them.

"You buy trees just to put weird silver stuff and strange balls on them?"

Hikari replied as she placed another ornament on the tree, close to the top this time.

"Yep, just for Christmas. Then we take off all the tinsel, ornaments, candy canes and the star and place them away for next year, along with the tree."

Tailmon yawned as she curled up into a napping position.

"Just put all that junk up around the house instead."

"But if we did that where would Santa put all the presents"

Hikari giggled as she said this. Tailmon cringed as she remembered this "Santa Claus" figure. Last Christmas Eve, as she was returning to her bed after getting a drink of water from the kitchen, "Santa" had stepped on her tail and made it sore for days. She closed her eyes.

"He can keep his 'presents'. I don't know about you, but the idea of accepting random objects from a fat, bearded stranger who hops down your chimney seems a bit strange."

Hikari laughed whole heartedly at Tailmon's comment and began to pull a medium sized, white sphere out of the box at her feet. There was a flat side to it and

a picture rested inside. It was of her, Tailmon, and all the other Chosen Children and their Digimon partners. She smiled as she remembered those times. Tailmon had hopped off the couch and strode over to the box. peeking her little nose and eyes into it. Under a few miscellaneous ornaments of varying colors and shapes was a beautiful star.

It was a pale white, adorned with a stripe pattern. It had five points and was about the size of Tailmon's head. She picked it up and stared at it for a while. Hikari glanced down once more to see her Digimon friend entranced by the star, which incited a grin.

"That's the star. You put that at the very top of the tree, and when you plug the cord in and turn everything on, it lights up."

Tailmon could barely take her eyes off it and droned a response.

"It's so pretty..."

"It'll look even better when we light it up. Here, I'll help you put it on!"

Hikari knely over and grabbed Tailmon. She picked her up and placed her high above her head, balancing her the perfect distance away from the top of the tree. Tailmon carefully leaned forward and placed the star on the topmost branch. Placing Tailmon back unto the floor, she proceded to the back of the tree.

"Hikari, the star hasn't made light yet..."

She was cut off when Hikari plugged the two cords together and all of a sudden the tree and the star on top burst into light, striking her dumb. She beamed as much as the tree itself. Hikari returned from behind the tree and picked up Tailmon. She walked over to the couch and placed Tailmon on a cushion, then sat down beside her. They both stared at the tree, Tailmon going "woooooow". For the longest time they just sat there, until finally Tailmon had dozed off and Hikari, seeing this, picked her up and brought her to their bed. Hikari herself was tired, so she hopped into bed as well. Cuddling up with her soft, white Digimon kitty, she fell asleep.

Takaishi Residence

A dirty blonde haired boy was on his knees on the floor of his room beside his bed, taking Christmas presents from a pile to his right and covering them ever so carefully with the red and green wrapping paper. This boy was Takaishi Takeru, age twelve. Takeru lived in an apartment building with his mother, Takaishi Natsuko, in the middle of Odaiba, Japan.

"It's a good thing Mom stocked up on all these rolls of wrapping paper; with all these gifts to wrap I'm going to need two or three more."

His Digimon partner Patamon, who was on the other side of the bed, was also working on wrapping the few gifts he had acquired for some of his Digimon pals; a jet black, downy scarf for Hawkmon, a small yellow blanket with purple stripes on it for Armadimon, a pink nail filer with a fish pattern on it for Tailmon, an exceptionally awesome dark green tuque for V-Mon with a golden chevron on it (Patamon didn't think V-Mon could tell the difference between that and the letter V) and of course, for Wormmon, he bought an artist's kit, complete with art and coloring pencils, special artistic papers and rulers of different sizes and occupations.

Poor Patamon had never wrapped up a present before, and therefore, he was having his fair share of troubles. He called out to Takeru.

"Umm...Takeru...a little help?"

Takeru put down the roll of tape in his left hand and peered over at Patamon. The little brown and white flying Digimon was all tied up with tape and had pieces of stray blue wrapping paper stuck to his wings. Takeru let out a hearty laugh and got up. He walked over to his little friend and carefully pulled the clear plastic tape off.

"You know Patamon, usually the object of wrapping Christmas presents is to put the tape on the gifts, not all over yourself!"

He laughed again and Patamon sheepishly smiled. After they finished wrapping their gifts, putting away all the unused materials and throwing out all the garbage, Takeru and Patamon jumped onto the bed and closed their eyes. The bed was about one and a quarter the length of Takeru, with a blue and white cover on top and tan sheets underneath. They both were thinking about the party tomorrow; the Christmas Eve one that all the Chosen Children were planning since last week. Patamon was looking forward to the gratefulness his friends would show when he handed them their gifts, and Takeru was looking forward to a great time with all twelve Chosen Children.

"Patamon..."

Takeru's partner turned around on his side to look at his friend, who was giving him an awkward stare. He attempted to say something, than stopped himself. Patamon gave him his signature smile; only a truly evil being could help but be won over.

"What is it Takeru? You can tell me anything!"

Takeru had a timid look on his face, trying to force himself to express his feelings.

"Do you think Hikari likes me?"

Patamon chortled slightly before giving him another reassuring glance.

"Of course! Why wouldn't you think so; you've been friends for years! Did something happen between you two?"

Takeru, realizing Patamon didn't really know what he was talking about, returned an understanding smile.

"She just sees me as a friend of course... why should she think otherwise? I'm nothing special; I'm not brave like Daisuke and Taichi, or smart like Koushiro and Ken... I'm just the average Joe."

He placed his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling for awhile.Before long the two tired friends fell asleep bathed in moonlight, courtesy of the bedroom window, dreaming of soon to see friends and would-be lovers.

Motomiya Residence

"No don't go through that door! The evil Doctor Pitt has a trap set up!"

Motomiya Daisuke (another twelve year old) and his blue Digimon partner V-Mon were sitting on the couch, wide eyed, watching their favourite night-time television show, "The Quizzical Adventures of Blue and Black". The show's two main characters, Bradley Blue and Murphy Black, were detectives who solved crimes in their big American city. From time to time, their enemy Emanuel "Doctor" Pitt would attempt to incapacitate them indefinitely, using an array of predictable, cliché traps. Daisuke and V-Mon, however, with their limited perception, would always be surprised when walked into a fissure filled with snakes or when 's pen, which he had discarded accidently, exploded.

In tonight's episode, , trying to find a stolen gold trophy belonging to a big wig philanthropist, wandered into an abandoned mansion thought to be inhabited by the object's thieves. In reality, the whole place was a big trap set up by Doctor Pitt and was headed to the master bedroom, the door of which had a bucket of acid precariously on top of it, ready to fall on whoever entered. Daisuke and V-Mon tensed and frantically yelled at the television for him to turn around.

The two friends cheered as pulled his associate back as the bucket fell; not an easy task considering was slightly overweight and short, and was tall and slim. Doctor Pitt cursed them as they ran away outside and got into their car, now knowing the true location of the trophy; the philanthropist's own house! Daisuke and V-Mon gasped and leaned forward as they learned the cold hard secret: the middle aged, rich philanthropist Richard Every Jackson the Fifth, was actually Doctor Pitt's evil henchman, Bowler, and that the whole case was a setup! With their attention fully devoted to the television show, it disappointed them greatly when the commercial cut in.

"Man, I hate when they do that just when it get's to the good parts!"

Daisuke got up and started to walk to the kitchen.

"Hey V-Mon, I'm going to make a snack you want something?"

V-Mon turned back to look at his partner and beamed.

"ICECREAM!...please!"

Daisuke smiled and waved at him.

"Coming right up!"

Coming back with the ice cream for himself and his Digimon, Daisuke took a seat just as the show came back on. The show dragged on for another predictable, unoriginal fifteen minutes (of course to the two pals it was the smartest thing they'd ever seen) until finally the two detectives had found the real trophy and put Pitt and Bowler behind bars once more. Daisuke and V-Mon cheered and sang along to the ending credits and then turned off the T.V.

After putting the bowls and spoons into the sink, Daisuke turned around to V-Mon. He began to speak in a mock American accent.

", I do believe the evil Doctor Pitt is upstairs as we speak, planning his next dastardly scheme."

V-Mon, catching his drift, also replied in an American accent.

"Yes , I agree completely. Let's go get him and bring him to the ol' stony lonesome!"

Sneaking upstairs one foot at a time, Daisuke and V-Mon slowly opened the door to "the evil Doctor Pitt's laboratory" and looked inside. Canisters of unnamed chemicals littered the floor and the villain himself was lying in bed, appearing to be asleep. Daisuke pulled a tiny bottle of Super Glue out from his pocket; he had grabbed the substance when he was downstairs preparing the ice cream; and glanced at V-Mon. His partner nodded in understanding.

Daisuke tiptoed over all the clothes and random junk on the ground and stopped beside the mastermind's bed. Pulling the top off of the bottle he then lifted up his pillow and applied a nice amount of it on the bottom, and then some more on the top, which then got into his hair.

"How putrid the villain looks up close! Almost like a scary, teenage girl!"

Snickering all the way, the two detectives retreated back to their office and prepared for another day of adventures before sleep took hold some time later.

Inoue Residence

BEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP!

The oven Inoue Miyako (thirteen year old) was standing in front off let out three loud screeches as the light inside of it shut off. The product inside; her first batch of cupcakes; were all cooked and smelled delicious. The smell wafted all over the apartment, to the rooms of her three siblings; two sisters and one brother, all older than her; and her two parents. Miyako lives in the same apartment building as Takaishi Takeru and Hida Iori, who she frequently visits.

"Bingo! Bingo! Bingo!"

She cheered as she put on a pair of brown oven mitts and carefully opening the door to take out the cupcakes. Balancing the tray with one hand, she pulled a hot plate out of a drawer, threw it on the counter, and placed the cupcakes on top of it to cool for a few minutes. To her left, desperately trying to stir the red and green cream correctly, was her Digimon partner Hawkmon. He firmly grasped the wooden spoon as best as a red and white avian Digimon could, but alas he was having a hard time really giving it to that mixture. Miyako turned to her partner, a stern look on her face.

"Miyako, as much as I want to help you, I really can't do much with these three fingers... if you can call them that..."

He held his wing up to the light and quizzically looked at his digits. Her expression changed to one of benevolence and she took the spoon and bowl from Hawkmon.

"I'm sorry Hawkmon, I guess I should have realized you couldn't do it."

Hawkmon was a little hurt; sure he was having a hard time but he was sure he could have done it eventually if she had given him the chance.

"Miyako, I think If you give me some more time I can...

"Nonsense Hawkmon, you don't even have thumbs!"

"But..!"

"Listen Hawkmon it's fine, I understand. Just go sit down and watch that history show or something."

There was no use trying to fight against stubborn Miyako. Hawkmon sulked noticeably a bit and shuffled over to the living room. Flopping down on the couch, he saw that the History channel was on. There was a program on about the Second World War. In the past few weeks, Hawkmon had become extremely interested in human history; wars, weapons, people. He watched as a large tank drove by, accompanied by a group of armed soldiers. The men with guns were leading a bunch of unarmed people through a city.

"Hmmm...Those must be the prisoners of war..."

He thought about it for a second. Hawkmon hated the idea; losing one's freedom. He vowed never to sit idly by and watch someone have to go through such hardship.

Miyako, now finished with the icing, was starting to place the second batch of cupcakes into the oven. As they began to cook, she went down the hall and into the bathroom to wash up for the night. It wouldn't be a long night; soon after she found herself fast asleep in her bed, dreaming about cooking and food and her friends. Hawkmon stayed up later to watch more television until he too found sleep's unavoidable touch and wandered off to bed.

Hida Residence

Incense was filling the room as Hida Iori, a short, ten year old, and his Digimon partner Armadimon were kneeling and praying in front of a small Shinto shrine (kamidana), with offerings of rice and water. Iori's grandfather, Hida Chikara, knelt between them both. On this particular night, he donned the traditional robes and hat of a Shinto priest. Chikara was a very spiritual man, and he passed this trait onto his grandchild. Armadimon, on the other hand, was very down to earth and easygoing. He hated having to act so serious and pray; what he really wanted to do was play on the computer.

Ever since he was introduced to the strange, grey box a few days ago by Iori, he was entranced by it's beautiful sights and sounds. A smile emerged on his face as he imagined playing it; lying on a soft pillow, playfully tapping on the keyboard to zap space ships with a laser or clash swords with a samurai warrior. It was the greatest thing a little yellow and purple armadillo Digimon like him could ask for.

Iori opened one eye and peered over at Armadimon, who was grinning and drooling a little. He smiled as he realized his friend must have been daydreaming about something good.

"He must be thinking about the party tomorrow. I can't say that I'm not myself pretty excited, it'll be good to get out for a bit to have some fun with my friends. And Miyako's cupcakes..."

It was Iori's turn to daydream expressly. He always loved Miyako's food; ever since she began to cook a few months ago she was excellent at it. Chikara, slightly opening both eyes to behold the figures on his sides, raised the folded up paper fan in his hand and wacked Iori and Armadimon on the top of the head. They both recomposed themselves into a praying position, briefly opening the corners of their eyes and grin at one another.

After a few more minutes of absolute silence, Chikara stood up quietly and walked away. He only turned around for a second to address the two remaining worshippers.

"It is fine you two; you may finish up your prayers. I understand if there are more important things to be doing."

Iori turned slowly to face his grandfather, keeping his eyes at his feet.

"Grandpa..."

He began to explain but Chikara smiled and waved him to silence.

"It's fine, Iori. I understand it's almost Christmas and you are both excited. Go, enjoy the rest of the night."

Iori returned the expression and turned to Armadimon. They both nodded in agreement and finished up their prayers, and returned to Iori's room. It wasn't too big; a simple bed just big enough for Iori sat in the corner, it's black and grey sheets contrast to the bright yellow room. In another corner was a small desk with a grey computer, and on the other side was a square double panel window that invited the lights of the city into the room. His mahogany dresser was beside the bed against the wall; a few pictures sat on top of it.

Iori walked over to glance at the pictures as Armadimon hopped onto the computer chair and began to click away. There was one of him taken last year in his old purple turtle neck and beige pants, and another of him with his mother and grandfather. Than the last one, with a silver frame, was a picture of all his friends and their Digimon taken only a few months prior. He smiled as he remembered all the good times in the Digital World.

"It's great that we finally brought peace and order to the Digital World, but I'm sure going to miss all those adventures we had..."

"Iori?"

Armadimon interrupted his thoughts with a question. He turned to face his little hard shelled Digimon partner, who was eyeing him with a look of puzzlement on his face.

"Oh, sorry Armadimon..."

Armadimon returned his comment with a reassuring smile only he could give.

"No problem, I was just wondering why you were standing there, not moving or anything. It looked weird."

"I was just remembering old times... before we saved the Digital World."

Armadimon still retained his jubilant expression.

"Yeah those were good days, but life is full of good times... like tomorrow for instance!"

Armadimon spun himself around in the computer chair, and Iori watched him as he fell off, his head spinning. They both shared a cheerful laugh. Regaining himself, Iori hopped on the bed and put the picture back on the dresser.

"You're right Armadimon. I guess I should be looking forward to the future and not looking back at the past. Still..."

Another expression entered Iori's face; one of sadness.

"It feels like we're drifting apart slowly. Sure we go to the same school, but without any enemies to fight we have no reason to be meeting up everyday; we're all just too busy."

Armadimon looking concerningly at his partner. It was true; he hadn't seen his Digimon pals in quite a while. But he ventured back to happier notions. He plodded over to the foot of the bed and jumped up onto it, sneaking up to Iori and playfully tackling him.

"But you'll always be stuck with me, Iori! And I wont ever drift away from you!"

They both partitioned a meaningful glance. Before falling asleep sometime later, Iori's mind wandered back to the same thought.

"It's too bad we have so much work to do these days... it feels like the only way we'd ever get back to the old times is if another evil Digimon attacked..."

Iori dreaded the thought of having to fight BelialVamdemon again; they had almost been defeated the first time, if it wasn't for Daisuke's bravery. He decided to just drop the whole thing and let destiny take it's course.

Ichijouji Residence

Ichijouji Ken (twelve years); child prodigy, star soccer player, renowned charmer; was completely stuck on his over-the-holidays report. He took a foreboding glance at the paper that was situated to his left:

Over the course of your holiday break, you will write a thousand word report about a specific holiday tradition you and your family perform for Christmas. You will need to clearly state what this tradition is, describing when, who, what, where, why, and give an example of how this tradition would transpire. This particular tradition must be confined to your own family and not one that is commonly performed by most families at Christmas, such as gift opening or shopping. Your report, which will be presented on the first Monday after break, will be worth a fair chunk of the year's final mark. Do not procrastinate and get the work done.

Not only did Ken have no idea what sort of tradition he would use as a focal point, or how to even describe such an event, but he also had a hard time deciphering the paper itself; he never was very good at reading the teacher's rough kanji (Japanese letters). He was literally and metaphorically scratching his head. He turned around to his Digimon partner, Wormmon, who was on his bed peacefully humming as he drew on a piece of paper. This was also a concern to Ken. Although Wormmon was his best friend and he wouldn't change him for any other Digimon, he didn't like how emasculate he was acting lately.

These days, it wasn't very uncommon to see Wormmon humming to himself and drawing, or watching woman's television programs, or even reading magazines about clothes and cooking which he found in Mrs. Ichijouji's room. Worst of all, he never did any physical, sporty things. The other Digimon were starting to be exposed to all sorts of sports and activities at school, which had just started to accept Digimon on their sports teams. Veemon and Armadimon both played goaltender for the Junior Boys' soccer team, Patamon and Tailmon played duel's badminton, and of course Hawkmon was an amazing ultimate Frisbee player.

"Hey Wormmon, what'cha drawing?"

His partner, previously focussed solely on his art, looked up with a start and showed Ken his drawing. It was a small bee landing on a blue flower. Although it was a great drawing, Ken had a look of discontent on his face.

"Kind of girly to be drawing a flower..."

Wormmon blushed bashfully.

"I'm sorry Ken... I just like pretty things..."

Ken was starting to lighten up a bit and grinned.

"So do girls."

Wormmon was one part insulted and another part angry. Ken laughed a bit.

"Well at least I don't have to write a one thousand word report! I can sit here all night and draw, while you're stuck on their typing up some boring homework!"

The truth of his words hit Ken like a ton of bricks and he returned to his computer in complete dismay. He sighed irritably.

"Ken?"

In a few minutes Mrs. Ichijouji entered the room holding a small plate. Ken and Wormmon looked up to see some fresh strawberries and yogurt dip. Wormmon loved strawberries, and almost hyperventilated at seeing so many. Ken took the plate from his mother. She smiled as only a mother could.

"I just thought you'd like a little snack to refresh yourself as you worked. You know, it's never good to force these things so if you can't think of anything to

write, just try again tomorrow! Feelings take along time to come to terms with."

Ken was a little surprised she understood him so much (mothers eh?), and then he gave her a grateful smile.

"Thanks mom."

She turned to Wormmon. A sense of wonderment appeared on her face until she realized he was drawing. Wormmon noticed her curiosity and flipped the drawing around to show her.

"It's a bee on a flower...it's not very good but..."

He began to explain himself but it was not required. She resumed her approving smile and walked over to pat his head. He reticently blushed.

"I think it's very, very beautiful Wormmon. You know, if you don't mind, I'd like to hang it out in the hall."

Wormmon looked up at her perplexingly and responded excitedly.

"Really?"

She retained her loving smile.

"Sure! I've never had real art in the house before."

allowed him to add some finishing touches before gathering the art piece.

"Ken, can you put the plate in the sink when you two are finished?"

As she walked towards the door he responded with a "Mhmm". She left the room, shutting the door behind her. Ken got up from his computer and brought the plate over to Wormmon. He sat down next to the little green insect Digimon and watched him quietly eat the strawberries, occasionally dipping them into the yogurt. Ken also took one and dipped it, slowly bringing it towards his mouth. Wormmon began to speak in between bites.

"So...what are you...going to do...for your project...Ken?"

To this, Ken had no answer. He stumbled on his words before finally letting out a response.

"I really don't know. Any ideas?"

"How about when you spend time with your friends? After all, isn't that what the party is about tomorrow?"

This was an idea Ken had not thought of; it was true, all the Chosen Children were meeting up tomorrow at Hikari and Taichi's apartment for a big Christmas Eve party.

"I guess that could work...but how can I make that into a thousand word essay?"

Ken closed his eyes and sighed. Eventually he met eyes with Wormmon and his Digimon partner beamed.

"You can do anything you want Ken... you're the smartest guy I know, I know you'll think of something!"

Ken returned the expression. Somehow, he knew everything would work out. When they had finally finished the small snack, Ken brought the plate out to the kitchen and put it into the sink. Returning to the bedroom, he saw Wormmon asleep on the foot of the bottom bunk. He smiled.

"Guess it's bedtime... I am a little tired... and there's a big day ahead."

He picked up the little worm and placed him onto the top bunk under the covers, and climbed in after him. He was fast asleep moments later. Indeed, Ichijouji Ken was correct. Tomorrow was to be a big day, though not for the reasons he predicted.