The Inner Darkness...

Panthermon's appearance clearly stunned him, but nothing that drew attention. Indeed, among rookie Digimon, Panthermon was unique. At the request to show the Digimon in their phone to Panthermon, the screen was faced him and the cat curiously lured his head up to see the two agumons contained in the smartphone screen. He sniffed in that direction, clearly eclipsing the camera view. "Hello there," he replied casually.

As both tamers felt comfortable to relax a bit, Panthermon remained hidden behind the table, looking at the two Digimon and the tamers as they went on.

The question soon came to how they met. IT was then that Panthermon and Zachary exchanged glances. It was a difficult question to answer.

"Eh... well I wouldn't call it a secret, but ... It's a bit boastful and kind of crazy," Zachary admitted, scratching his cheek with his index finger. "I sort of... kind of..."

"He dreamed me up," Panthermon said bluntly, and then yawned in a cat-like manner showing off his sharp teeth. It was a casual as if ordering a plate of scrambled eggs. "He created me."

Zachary gulped at him spitting it out, but that was the simplest narration. That alone would probably surprise any tamer, and something Zachary didn't brag about. That would invite a whole lot of unwanted attention.

"It's not like I created him in a laboratory on a stormy night screaming, 'IT'S ALIVE-IT'S ALIIIVE!"" Zachary stated for dramatic effect.

Zachary felt a bit uneased having the proverbial cat out of the bag. It was claims like this he tried to avoid because it wasn't like he created Panthermon by intention or ego. It just happened, and oddly Panthermon was okay with his origin. Still, they had mysteries to solve determining how and why he was created. Either way, the cat was loyal and cared about his Tamer. If anything, he really was grateful his 'creator' was with him.

After a bite of his food and a sip from his water, Zachary tried to continue. "I had been drawing pictures of him for a long time and one day he just appeared. Can't say I know how or why, but it feels like we always been together. He certainly isn't
the same as most rookies," Zachary said. Taking a small bit of his sandwich, he snuck it down for Panthermon to have. Though not as 'ravenously hungry' as other rookies would be, the cat happily took the piece of food and chewed it down with ease.

Zachary saw as Kayden bickered with his twins, which was both scary and amusing. "Boy... I am sure glad I am not raising twin digimon," Zachary added lightly.

"Ditto..." Panthermon replied too, the idea of having a 'brother' Digimon being a concept he didn't get nor want.

As they talked, another person was approaching, having followed and kept hidden for a while. Neither one would know it as they continued to talk.

"So... How long have you been a Tamer? I only been one for about 2 months or so. I have recently been working with a small group of friends but beyond that, my interactions are kind of limited. " Zachary said, "As you know, we have to try and keep our Digimon a secret out in the real world. Have you met others like us? "

"Ah, well I guess that is a fair thing. Neither have I. I mean I been through some troubles in both worlds, but I had some help," Zachary said with a smile. "I am not the most experienced Tamer, but I learned some tools of the trade, like cards and upgrades. In fact, I am trying to form a group of people-- an online network to get more Tamers and Digimon together."

Zachary didn't want to bring up issues like DATS or the Demon Lords. Nothing that would scare off the kid. Just as he was about to show his cards to him... the sight of someone at the cafe entrance made Zachary stop. An aggitate look cross his face and Panthermon stopped, looking up as he sensed the agitation in his partner's mind.

Kayden wouldn't know till he looked-- but at the entrance to the ally-like cafe space, was the same large japanese punk from before. Now with a sick smirk on his face, he glared at them with wicked intent.

Zachary felt his blood boil at the sight of him, pretty much ruining the chill atmosphere. He took a deep breath and tried to reason with things here. "Okay, that's enough... LIsten, I don't even bother to remember your name and I don't even care now. You can get away with crap at school but if you think I won't call the police for harassing us, think again. " Zachary snapped, taking a defensive tone. For the time being, Panthermon stayed hidden, concealed well enough between Kayden and the table, and the shadow from the bushes behind him. He wouldn't act again unless it came to violence, as Zachary had requested. "Now leave me alone. I'm warning you--"

"Or you will what?" the bully asked venomously.

Zachary stopped and didn't even want to answer, but there was something odd about him now. A change or menace to him that went beyond a mere kid picking on someone he thought he could get away with.

"You know, I didn't realize it at first, but I figured out what happened. But you been holding out on me," he said, but soon drew something from his pocket.

Zachary thought it could have been a knife or worse-- and in a way it was, but not what he expected.

From his pocket, he pulled out a deep crimson red, D-3 Digivice, with black accents to its buttons. "Had I known you were a tamer too, I would have just cut to the quick a long time ago," he said.

Zachary's eyes widened with alarm. He was a tamer too!?

By then, Panthermon became more alarmed and agitated. The clear growl came from the cat, though not heard by the delinquent tamer.

"So where is your partner?" the bully demanded.

Zachary didn't answer, and just kept his secret stil. "I don't know what the hell you are talking about," he denied.

---

Meanwhile...

Further down Cat Street, another student was let out of school and was enjoying a detour through Cat Street. A young girl in pop-culture clothing for her size walked down the street, looking at a record store , and a stone's throw from the cafe. She appeared to be quite young, about 11 years old. To add to her pop-rock type charm for her age, she carried with her an 'odd-looking' yellow rabbit backpack with her. However, if one looked carefully, the backpack would move, actually being a peculiar Digimon with headphones, DJ-looking clothing and a sunny disposition.

"Rei-chan, Rei-chan," The rabbit would say, pointing to an album art of "Lotus Juice", a popular Japanese artist known for more positive rap-modern music. NOt a single swear word, which Musimon liked, and Rei listened to it too. "Can we get it, pweeease?"

Rei, though being a little girl was very responsible for her age and she acted with a knowing tone to her partner, while not looking at him to avoid giving away her Digimon to others. "Okay, but that means not enough money for supper tonight-- which would be my famous crab and beef with pasta," she mentioned.

Musimon went limp in her arms, realizing the dilemma as Musimon had a choice between getting an album 'legally' (shuns illegal downloading now) and having delicious food that every Digimon almost universally loves. A small sigh escaped the rabbit. "Aww... it's like Sophie's choice," the rabbit commented.

"Haha... You're so weird sometimes," Rei joked, hugging her rabbit friend.

Tension swiftly rose in the small cafe area, though still contained as there were no other patrons in the area, but outside of the street was another matter if things escalated. Kayden and Zachary looked concerned and Kayden was the one to take out his Digivice. That probably wasn't smart to give him confirmation they were indeed Digimon Tamers.

The bully grinned with a wicked smirk. "Isn't it obvious? What do all tamers do? Make their Digimon fight!" he insisted.

It was then that Panthermon felt a sensation on the back of his neck and his fur went on end. The sound of a rustle and odd growl came behind him too.

Zachary-- move now! Run! Panthermon's telepathic tone screamed in Zachary's mind. The tamer acted and jumped back from the table.

At that moment, something black and red jumped out from the bushes and slammed into the table with a sickening loud crash! Panthermon who was hidden there, swiftly escaped and growled. His cover blown, the giant jungle cat Digimon growled as they soon saw the remains of their metal table now bent and broken to pieces.

There, knelt down by it, was an odd, black reptile Digimon. It looked like a Guilmon, but its body was black as night with red markings in place of how it would normally be, red and black. Its underbelly had the same hazard crest on it, and further its ivory black claws were sharp and had smashed into the ground so hard, there was a chunk of concrete missing. It growled ferally, looking truly fearsome.

"What the hell--?!" Zachary cried, seeing the fearsome reptile Digimon attack them like that.

Panthermon snarled and was crouched low, a hunter's position to a vicious enemy. WHile the Guilmon-look-a-like was in a feral state of mind, it seemed the surprise attack also kindled some of Panthermon's feral state too, his eyes now more animalistic.

Zachary finally took out his Digivice, seeing who or what that was and it appeared on his Digivice's holographic screen. "You gotta be kidding me. BlackGuilmon. A Reptile, Virus-Type Digion. Rookie Level. It's attacks are Pyro Grenade and Rock Crusher... Jeez," Zachary commented, getting a general readout of what they faced. However, he soon turned to the bully who obviously was controlling him. " What is wrong with you?! You have your Digimon attack us in broad daylight like this?!" he shouted, furious.

"Digimon exist to fight and delete their enemies and feed on their data. That is how it always is," the thug stated, "You're just a stepping stone. If you wanna whimp out, just let him delete your pussy cat already."

Zachary was starting to get really pissed off. "OVER MY DEAD BODY!!" he shouted fiercely.

Panthermon was just as fierce as it let out a wildcat's growl and pounced! The jaguar-like Digimon was speedy and swift as it lunged, a shadow-like substance trailing from his front paws. The jaguar and the dinosaur quickly became enthralled in a clawing and rollingg action, both trying to get a hit in on one another. As they ruckused around, tables and chairs were knocked over, causing a mess everywhere.

"Shadow Claw!!" Panthermon roared, slashing at Guilmon to the face-- but was dodged by a simple shift, and the shadowy claws left slashes into the stone of the ground below them.

As the dinosaur and panther tusseled and wrestled, trying to claw at one another, Panthermon kept claws on its mussel to keep its teeth from clashing at him. It was then that Kayden used his Digivice, and out appeared the twin dinosaurs. A regular and black Agumon, both looking pretty formidable themselves.

As the bully saw them too, he kept his sadistic grin. "Well, more for us to stomp out," he said , despite his Digimon wrestling with the panther.

The two were in a deadlock, and soon the Guilmon got fed up. A growl came from him as his maw began to illuminate with a bright red light. "Panthermon, look out!!" Zachary cried.

By sheer timing, just as the Guilmon would open its maw, he used his paw to force the lizard away-- and the Pyro Grenade fired elswhere. It would fly to the edge of the narrow cafe area-- and erupt with a loud bang and explosion of fire. Whether or not that Yin and Yang could suppress it, it wouldn't stop the bang and smoke, enough to startle the people in cat street. Suppressing anything that breathed fire wouldn't be smart.

With the explosion, Panthermon too got clever and gave one final shove of his paws-- his whole body erupted in red and black fire. The Guilmon let out a cry of alarm as he pushed away, feeling the burn on his body. Panthermon got back to his feet, now a hellcat bathed in supernatural fire. He let out a fierce snarl at the Blackguilmon, now furious for his reckless fighting.

Outside, the explosion went off and people ran. Clear alarm went off in Cat Street, and near where Rei and Musimon were. They heard the bang and saw the people running, concerned by some sort of accident or worse. "What was that?" Rei asked, holding on to Musimon for the time being.

It was after a moment that Musimon's ears went up high, like antenna but with wide eyes. "Rei! It's a Digimon. Digimon are fighting here!" the little rabbit said in concern.

"What?" the little girl asked, seeing the smoke rise up. She bit her lip, knowing well enough they should run away from danger. Still, as a Tamer, she had a responcibility to see if they could help if someone was in trouble. After a moment, Rei ran towards the smoke, determine to see what was happening.

"Rei! Rei! Running towards the fire isn't a smart idea!" the Rabbit said in concern. With not alot of people there or running away unable to notice, Musimon quickly crawled up her arm to her head, sitting on her shoulders and his head on top of her's. "It's dangerous!"

"I know, but if this is a Digimon fighting, there might be other Tamer's around. If they are, then they might be in trouble. We gotta help them!" Rei argued, and ran towards the cafe.

Panthermon snarled at the violent guilmon. He and its tamer were no doubt insane to wage an all out fight in the middle of the day with potential bystanders in the way. With the cat out of the bag, once again, they had no other choice but to focus on the fight rather than trying to keep things quiet. By that time, the twin dinosaurs had secured their partner and now moved in for their own effort.

Moving like mirror images, the two dinos charged from either side, to try and strike with their claws on either side. However, the Guilmon was sharper than he looked. With glances to either side, despite the focus on the now fiery cat-- the raptor did a very unexpected move.

He jumped high and over, which could possibly result in the twin dinos crashing into each other. With his bound forward, he was now to their back, and his maw already glowed with another Pyro Grenade.

"PYRO GRENADE!!" it roared.

"Get clear!" Panthermon roared as he dashed for the street, urging the others to follow.

As they got away, the ball of fire went off and blew up the remaining 'garden' that acted as a wall from the cafe now out into the open street. With another cloud of smoke, Zachary too ran out to join his partner. Hopefully Kayden too got out as well. Least out on the street, it wasn't as narrow as the small alleyway where the cafe had been.

Once out on the street, no other people were around, scared off by the battle. Slowly, the thug with the Guilmon beside him emerged from the smoke.

"Heh, three-on-one," he said with a sneer. "It almost doesn't seem fair for you. Hope you will make this somewhat challenging."

While they were out in the street, and less restricted, the situation looked dire. Panthermon still had his flaming armor on his body as he growled at the Guilmon and his clearly deranged tamer. Zachary held his D-Power in his hand, ready to swipe a card if he needed to. They had to finish this fast before this escalated further... however, he also promised himself he wouldn't fight seriously against another tamer...

... never did he expect another tamer to attack them!

It was then that Yin whispered to Panthermon, and the cat growled with glee. "I hear you... I think I got your plan."

As Yang charged in-- Panthermon discarded his Hellcat Cloak-- and with it vanished entirely. The jungle cat had slipped into his invisible state to try and sneak around to the right place to hit.

It was at that point in time that Yang reached the Blackguilmon.

"Attack it now!" the mean tamer shouted, causing the Blackguilmon to charge up something nasty. Instead of a Pyro Grenade, something else brewed in his mouth. Black flame shot out, a "Virus Breath" attack, that was not just fire but also poisonous to computer data. If it hit, it would cause Yang a great deal of pain.

At that time, at the far end of the street, the young girl Rei appeared. With Musimon in her arms, she stopped as she saw the fighting Digimon-- but more so, the little girl recognized one of the people there. The boy with the dark hair, blue coat and goggles. "Zachary-san!" Rei called out, Musimon hopping out of her arms.

Zachary looked stunned as he turned around. At the sight of her, his heart raced with worry. He knew her, and now she was in the line of fire from the psycho tamer. "R-Rei!? What are you doing here? You gotta get out of here right now!" Zachary warned.

All the while, Panthermon crept into position. ..