In a lifetime, there are bound to be a few days where something out of the ordinary happens. You could be minding your own business when you come across something happening, or you could be having a meal out where you might bump into an old friend or someone famous. Hell, there are days where you could end up winning the lottery.

Yet the day where you could encounter something that would forever change your life? It’s possible, but not in a way like this.

Peter had been a relatively normal human being. Friendly, outspoken, willing to help his friends. His luck was generally mixed, but it wasn’t something he let get him down. He had lived a normal life for the most of his time in this world, but a few years ago, that was changed forever. He had been looking at things on the internet one night, trying to look into creatures known as digital monsters, or Digimon for short. There had been a storm that night, and it had been interfering with his computer somehow. The next thing he knew, whilst looking for references for a certain Digimon, there was a blinding flash of light, filling the room with a multitude of colours as something made its way through from the computer.

“Ahhh… oh man…” He groaned, rubbing his eyes as the lights started to die down, everything seeming to be returning to normal. The stormy sky seemed to clear around the same time, as if by some weird sort of coincidence. Everything seemed to be normal. Well, almost everything. When he could properly see again, he noticed something standing at the corner of his eye. Something that was taller than him, and covered in fur. “Wh… what?”

“Hello there, human.” The creature said in a calm voice. Whilst the creature itself had no way to identify its gender, at least as it was, it did have a sly, female voice. “It seems that fate has brought us together tonight.”

“Fate… what are you talking about?” He blinked.

“Fate… fate has chosen you to be my tamer.” Her icy blue eyes looked towards the computer desk. Looking towards it, he saw what looked like some sort of electronic device, a deck of cards next to it. The design of it was instantly familiar to him.

“Wait a moment… a D-Arc Digivice…” He reached forward to pick it up, looking over it. It felt light, the Digivice bleeping as the screen flickered into existence, reading “TAMER IDENTIFICATION COMPLETE.”

“Whilst I do hate to be brief, I feel that it’s best that it’s kept this way. Hundreds of evil or unruly Digimon are trying to make their way into your world, and we need to enlist the help of your kind. You have been chosen among hundreds of others to help keep the balance between your world and the Digital World.” She told him. “My name is Renamon. What’s yours?”

“Peter.” He told her, picking up the deck of cards and looking through it. They looked like they had different effects, like powering up attack and defensive stats, as well as granting special moves.

“Well then, Peter, I look forward to working alongside you. For the time being, I’m going to need to take up residence. Do you have anywhere where I can rest?”

“I’ve got a spare bedroom. It needs to be tidied up a little bit, but it’ll do.”

“Thanks. Sleep well, for tomorrow you may need to face things you’d have never dreamed of.” She warned him.

From that day forwards, things had changed for him. Every few days, they had to take care of dark Digimon who had made their way through into the human world. Creatures of all shapes, sizes and powers popped up everywhere in the world, and for Peter, it was up to him to ensure that his city of residence stayed safe. The first encounter he and Renamon had was simple - they had to round up a group of Monochromon who had broken free from an electronics shop and had taken residence in the town’s park. It was a bit of a rough job to start off with, but they were able to round them up and return them back to the Digital World. Peter quickly learned that in cases like this, it’d be best to keep a laptop on him at all times in the event that there were no nearby computers so he could open up a gateway to send them back home.

Not all encounters ended in simply defeating the Digimon and returning them to their home world - there were a couple of times where they had to flat-out kill the Digimon in question. It was a jarring experience for Peter the first time he had to do it, having to snuff out a life. However, as the Digimon that came through seemed less and less repentant of their actions, he didn’t have any problems having Renamon deliver a killing blow or four.

As time went on, a strong bond formed between Peter and Renamon. At first, they were nothing more than a tamer and his Digimon, but as the months passed, a friendship started to form. They began to look out for each other more than what they would have done when they first met, cheering each other up when they felt down, or looking after one another when one of them got sick. Being a digital being, it was once in a blue moon that Renamon would fall ill, but whenever Peter did, she’d spend hours by his bedside, bringing him food and medicine, and keeping a close eye on him to make sure he didn’t take a turn for the worse. He had never forgotten one time where he had gotten so sick that he was unable to move without feeling great discomfort, and she remained by his side the whole time. It wasn’t soon after that they became more than a tamer and his digimon - they became the closest of friends.

It was a good thing that they had formed an unbreakable bond - a few months afterwards, more vile Digimon had made their way through to our world, with the intent on harming or killing the human partners who helped their Digimon. Naturally, for how well Peter had trained Renamon and how well she was capable of battling, some of these evil beasts had set their sights on him. At first, they had only been targeted by Champion level Digimon, but as more of them were defeated, the ante was upped, higher level Digimon coming through to do battle. The battles got tougher, and there were times where both Peter and Renamon had nearly been killed as a result, but they managed to put every last ounce of energy they had into their teamwork, defeating the wicked creatures.

One day, however, everything went wrong.

During some routine training, a Digimon the likes of which neither Peter or Renamon had ever seen before, emerged from his laptop. This one was known as Piedmon, a Mega level Digimon (or an Ultimate, depending on who it was you asked or what country they were from). Whilst his Kefka-like appearance made him look silly, there was nothing laughable about him or the power that he possessed. He was quick to target the human, trying to use his Trump Sword attack in a bid to skewer him, but Renamon intervened, saving her friend’s life whilst at the same time, taking some damage. A large cut had appeared in her side, blood seeping from the wound. Despite her injury, she made it clear that she wasn’t going to let any harm come to her friend. She quickly evolved to her next stage, but the gash she had sustained moments before served to cripple her, slowing her down. In the end, she knew that there was only one way she could prevent any harm from being caused to Peter. With all her strength, she tackled Piedmon, opening the computer gate as they were transported back to the Digital World.

“Renamon…” he paused, looking on at the laptop. He was expecting her to leap back through a few moments later, a little worse for wear but treatable, but nothing happened. In a heartbeat, he had lost his friend, and he felt like that it was his fault that it had happened.

A few days had passed since then, and Peter had kept an eye on his computer in the case that Renamon would be able to make her way back to him. It seemed like it wasn’t going to happen though, as he heard nothing. Not even a message from the attacker, taunting him into trying to find her. He felt really bad that this had happened, unable to get a good nights sleep since then. He knew that sitting around blaming himself for this would solve nothing, so he decided to try to look for some ways where he might be able to call her back to him. He knew that there were bound to be hundreds, if not thousands, of other tamers, so it was inevitable that one or two how-to guides would pop up on the internet. To his dismay, however, there was nothing of the kind. The closest he had found was a guide on how to call a Digimon back as a Digi-egg in the event that they had been killed, but usually if that happened, the Digivice would have beeped or something. Taking a look at it, it showed that Renamon’s health was below half, but she was still alive.

“Come on… there’s got to be some way to bring her back…” He did another search, changing a few words to see if it’d help him. It proved to be fruitless again, bringing up nothing that would be useful to him in this situation. “Argh… what am I meant to do?!” He banged his fists against the table, causing the keyboard and mouse to shake slightly. A second later, he heard the familiar sound of a message alert, a message popup appearing in the corner of the screen.

“Let’s see who this is gonna be from… maybe he’s finally had the guts to try to send me a challenge.” He clicked it, a new page loading up. Instead of finding himself being faced with Piedmon’s visage, he instead found himself staring at something infinitely more friendly.

“Calu?” the small creature chirped in an adorable tone of voice, looking at Peter through the screen.

“Heh.” Peter chuckled. “Can’t tell you how nice it is to see a friendly face right about now.” He smiled. He had met the Digimon on screen, Calumon, on a few occasions - it was his first encounter with him that allowed Renamon to digivolve. “Though I’ve gotta say this is the first time I’ve seen you through the computer. Is there anything I can help you with… well, at least try to help you with? I’m having a few problems right now.”

“These problems you’re having wouldn’t be stemming from the fact that Renamon’s gone missing, has it?” He asked, tilting his head a little.

“Y...yeah. How did you know that?”

“If she was with you, I know that she’d be with you, given you’re practically inseparable. That and I’ve discovered just where she’s gone to.”

“You have?!” Peter nearly jumped out of his seat. “Where is she? Is she ok?!”

“Calm down!” Calumon told him. Kinda ironic that the small, adorable and easily excitable Digimon would be telling a man in his late 20s to calm down. “I know where she is, and as for her being ok… well I think you’ve noticed her health on your Digivice. She’s alive, but she’s being kept in a weakened state so she can’t escape or attempt to digivolve. Piedmon’s got a close eye on her.”

“So there’s no way she can escape on her own… are there no Digimon in the area who can try to free her?”

“There are, but they’re all frightened to death about trying to confront Piedmon. The ones who were brave enough to try to take him on were either killed or turned into keychains. In all honesty, the only Digimon who would stand a chance against him are ones of a similar level.”

“Well without Renamon, I’ve got no way of trying to fight him, unless I could find someone to help me out.”

“That’s kind of why I’ve come to you. There is a way that you can go in and help her, but at the same time…” His ears shrank in size, his voice drooping. “There’d be a high price to pay.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Digital World’s different compared to the real world. Whilst there are a few similarities, there’s no way a human can actually survive in a binary environment. Any human who try to make their way into the Digital World will be transformed into a Digimon.”

“Transformed… into a Digimon?”

“Yup. A couple of humans tried to enter into the Digital World a few weeks ago to try to take care of some business that had arisen there, and they were transformed into an Exveemon and a Garudamon in the process.”

“I don’t see any harm in the whole ‘adapting to survive’ thing.” Peter said.

“The transformation… it’s a one-way process. When they returned to your world, they found themselves locked in their new Digimon forms. If you go in to save her, you’ll be forever changed.”

“I see what you mean… but at the same time…” He stood up from the chair. “I’m willing to give up everything - humanity included - if it means that I can keep Renamon safe!”

“You care for her that much, huh?” Calumon smiled a little. “I’d guess the upside to this is that once you’re changed, you’ll be closer to her more than you are now, with you both being Digimon.”

He blushed a little bit, looking at Calumon. “Just tell me what I’ve got to do.”

“Leave this part to me!” He exclaimed proudly, the marking on his forehead starting to glow, as did the computer screen, a gateway opening. “This will take you directly to where you have to go!”

“Ok!” He approached the screen, the light growing brighter as it surrounded him. “I’m ready to do this!” He reached towards the monitor, his hand passing through it.

“Allow me to give you one more bit of help!” Calumon beamed as the human went through the monitor screen, being transported to the Digital World. “Shining Digivolution!”

As he travelled between worlds, he noticed strange shapes and patterns flying past him, lights of various colours surrounding him. His clothing began to vanish in a string of ones and zeros as he felt a rush of energy flowing through his body. His skin flaked away, disappearing as blue scales formed across his limbs, the muscles bulging with strength as four black straps appeared around each arm. His hands twitched as they grew broader, the palms gaining rough pads as his fingers merged together into three enlarged digits, giant, golden claws slicing through his fingertips, gleaming in the light.

“Gh...ghhhaarr….” He groaned, looking at his giant claws, strands of data swirling around his arms as black armour appeared over his hands, rimmed with gold in the middle and armed with a pair of large, scythe-like claws.

He watched the scales covering his body, more of his skin vanishing as his chest barrelled outwards, his abs and pectorals rippling as pale white scales formed down his front, smooth looking in appearance, but just as tough as the other scales. “This… this looks familiar…” He looked at his altering form - he swore that he had seen this Digimon before, but he couldn’t recall its name off the top of his head. His legs swelled and bulked up, scaly muscle growing in to aid his new form. His feet stretched larger, heels rising upwards as his toes merged into three, giant golden talons emerging from them as a fourth emerged from his heels. Just like his arms, binary code floated around his legs, covering them in shiny black armour, plated gold around the knees. The sides of the armour appeared to conceal missiles that he could fire off at enemies. When they finished forming, he felt his spine extend outwards, a long, thick, draconic tail growing through a hole in the armour, whipping at the air around him

“Rrh...rrhuggghhhh!” He snarled, arching his back as he felt his shoulders bulge, splitting apart. With a low roar, a pair of large, crimson wings emerged, .flapping behind him as he tried to get them under control, the wingspan at least three times the size of his body. As he gained control over them, more binary code swirled around his torso, additional armour covering his back and shoulders. On top of the extra defense, a giant cannon formed on his back, capable of being able to destroy pretty much anything with a single blast.

“Rrrrrr…..” He hissed, his neck stretching longer, carrying his head from his shoulders as his hair grew longer, flowing freely behind him in a mane-like fashion. His jaws stretched forwards, nose sinking into his upper jaw as the nostrils flared. His teeth were replaced with razor-sharp fangs, tongue growing long and forked as the scales crept over his head, ears shrinking away into tiny holes. As his jaws finished growing into a powerful muzzle, a horned helmet appeared around his head. To end the transformation, his eyes moved to the sides of his head, turning a bright shade of crimson with slitted pupils. His changes complete, he had ‘digivolved’ from a human into an Imperialdramon.

As his transformation ended, the lights around him vanished, leaving him standing in what appeared to be the center of an ancient arena. It was largely empty, aside from having a large stone pillar protruding from the ground, a figure chained to it. Taking a closer look, he recognised the bound creature to be Renamon, the vixen barely conscious with various cuts and bruises on her form.

‘Renamon...’ he thought to himself. ‘Thank God you’re still ok… let’s get you out of here!’ He rushed towards the pillar, stopping in his tracks as a burst of smoke appeared.

“Well well… it seems like we’ve got another challenger…” A dark voice chuckled as Piedmon revealed himself. “And I was starting to wonder if anyone else would be foolhardy enough to take me on!”

“Let her go…” Peter spoke for the first time since his transformation began, his voice deep and monstrous.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’ll let her go if you can best me in battle…” Piedmon raised his hands. “And I honestly don’t think you’ve got what it takes! Ending Snipe!” he cackled as bolts of electricity shot from his hands, striking the giant dragon.

“Graahh!” He growled, leaping back a little bit.

“Hrm. You’re still standing, so that’s a good sign. Perhaps you will be able to entertain me for a little bit!”

“Grr...let… her go…. now…” He repeated himself, his eyes glowing. “Otherwise… I’ll hold no responsibility for my actions!”

“Hmph… you sound like a broken record. Maybe you’d be more incented to fight me if I got rid of what was holding you back…” he waved his hands, letting loose another Ending Snipe attack - this one striking Renamon. She let out a pained cry as she was electrocuted.

“GRRRAAHHHHH!!” Peter roared in anger as he charged forwards, claws bared at the monster clown.

“That seems to have riled you up nicely! Now allow me to show you just why your efforts are futile!” He giggled, pulling out a cloth from one of his pockets. It seemed that he had no real intention of trying to fight him, and was going to resort to his dirty tricks to end the battle prematurely. At least, he would have, had Peter not been smart enough to know of the Clown Trick attack, shredding the cloth before it could even be used. “No! You’ve ruined my trick!”

“DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE?!” Peter roared again as he struck the Digimon with his claws, knocking him back several feet.

“Ghh… you oversized brute…” He staggered back to his feet as the Imperialdramon charged at him again. “Toy Wonderness!” he called out, unleashing a gust of wind that slowed the dragon down enough so that he could leap out of harm’s way.

“Heh… I was hoping you’d do that!” The dragon laughed.

“What do you - “ Piedmon stopped as he noticed that the cannon on the Imperialdramon’s back pulsed with dark energy, ready to be fired off.

“Consider this a parting gift…. MEGA DEATH!” He roared as he fired off a shot of dark matter, expanding as it sped towards its target.

“No! I can’t be bested in battle against the likes of you!” Piedmon shouted defiantly. He attempted to use his Masks Square move to try to escape, but the range of the portals he could create were all within the ever expanding dark matter. Unable to dodge, he took the full brunt of the attack, letting loose an anguished scream as he was swallowed whole, the attack reducing him to nothing. The dark matter field soon shrank away afterwards, leaving not a single trace of damage behind.

“Damn… in the wrong hands, an attack like this could be dangerous…” He chuckled, looking at the cannon on his back. Remembering why he came here in the first place, he approached the pillar, striking the chains with a claw as Renamon fell, being caught in his claws.

“Ugh… what… what’s going on…” She groaned, her eyes focusing on the dragon. “Who are you… why did you come here?”

“I came here to save you… as for who I am… well, it’s me. Peter.”

“P...Peter?” She asked, confused.”You can’t be… you’re… not human.

“Trust me, Renamon, it’s me in here. I had to give up being a human to save you.”

“You… you can’t be him though… how do I know you’re not going to take me to someone worse than Piedmon, if such a Digimon exists?”

Peter didn’t know what to say to her at first, knowing she had her doubts that it was really him. Thinking for a few moments, he thought up what to say to her.

“The first encounter we had… after you came to Earth… we fought a group of Monochromon. I had the stupid idea of trying to get on the back of one and seeing if I could steer it towards a gateway, and it flung me into the park fountain.”

She paused. “You… you could have been watching that from afar.”

“What about the day we went down to the beach? It was infested with a group of friendly Gomamon. They loved to play tricks with you!”

“That… that’s true that that happened… but still…”

“Alright…” He took in a deep breath. “What about the time where I was so ill that I had little to no strenght? If I tried to do anything, I collapsed moments afterwards.” He said in a solemn tone. “I was bedridden the entire time… and during that time, you never once left my side. And during that time, when I had that fever nightmare… you held my hand the whole time. You helped me through the nightmare.”

Her eyes widened as she remembered that night. He was tossing and turning, crying out for help in his sleep. She grabbed one of his hands and never let go of it until he had calmed down.

“You… you really are him…” She smiled, running a bruised paw across his muzzle. “You really gave up your humanity to help me?”

“I’d gladly do it a million times over if it meant your safety.” He said with a soft, growling purr.

“Peter… I really don’t know what else to say…” She leaned forwards, placing a soft kiss on his muzzle. This caused them both to blush a little bit.

“Heh… I guess that’s one way of saying it.” He smiled, returning the kiss. “Now then… I think we should head to a place that’s a little more calm and inviting looking. There’s bound to be a place along the way where we can get you healed up.”

“I’d like that.” She nodded as she sat atop his head, grasping onto one of the many horns on his head as he leapt off from the ground, taking off into the sunrise.

He had to give up his humanity to save the life of his closest friend, but in the end, it was a small price to pay for what it brought, allowing them to become closer than before.