It had taken nearly five hours to clean up the mess the battle between Devimon and Veedramon had made, and almost every cent Max had been saving to quiet the little children who had been playing in the rain across the street. If his parents hadn't happened to be out of town at the time, Max would have been caught for sure.
So Max slowly made his way towards school, eyes drooping and completely unaware of his surroundings. It took nearly half the walk for him to realize the excess weight in his backpack. He slid it off his back, and peered inside. There he saw DemiVeemon, looking quite content sitting next to the remaining scraps of Max's lunch.
"Hey, I told you to stay at home!" Max shouted before quickly snapping his head up to look for anyone who might here him. He lowered his voice, "And why did you have to eat my lunch for? You wolfed down eight waffles and half a carton of orange juice at breakfast!"
"But I was still hungry!" DemiVeemon protested, "And I have to stay with you, ‘cuz some more evil digimon might attack."
This made Max feel sick. The encounter with Devimon had been bad enough, and his sides still ached despite the tylenol he had taken. His hand instinctively clutched his right side for a second. Max shook his head and hefted the backpack up again, "Okay, I guess you can stick around. But you gotta be quiet, and absolutely no moving, blowing bubbles or digivolving. Okay?" DemiVeemon cheerfully nodded, and Max shut the bag and continued his trek towards Maple Newton high-school.
And from there, Max's day didn't exactly get any better. In math class he received a D+ on a test he was sure he had aced. In Spanish class his teacher became furious when her lunch ‘mysteriously' disappeared, and the whole class had to spend their lunch in detention because no one would fess up. But Max knew the culprit immediately, and the contented belch that came from his backpack on his way to Physics was only a reinforcing clue.
But at last, Max reached his Computer Programing class, the last period of the day. Max had to strain himself to keep his eyes from shutting. Half dazed, he noticed an angry look on Mr. Izumi, his teacher's face at one point, and realized he had fallen asleep. He braced himself as the class ended when Mr. Izumi asked if he could see Max after class.
At first it was exactly what Max had predicted. Mr. Izumi expressed his concern that Max might not be getting enough sleep, and that perhaps he should get his homework done earlier. Max sternly agreed, and explained that there was a big project due in a few days for his History class (which wasn't exactly a lie, however Max still hadn't even started it.)
But as Max turned to leave, what he had been fearing all day came to pass. DemiVeemon quite vocally yelled "Ouch!" from inside Max's backpack. Max stopped dead in his tracks on his way to the door, and slowly turned back his head to see the perplexed look on Mr. Izumi's face. Max wanted to dart out the door and never come back, but he knew it was far too late for that
Mr. Izumi stood up, "Mr. Summers, do you mind if I take a look in your book bag?" Max tried to fake a smile and assured Mr. Izumi that he would find nothing, but it would be perfectly fine if he truly wanted to take a look.
Max clenched his teeth as Mr. Izumi pulled out the motionless little creature. Good job Max thought, Play dead, don't move, he'll think your a toy. Max acted embarrassed, "It's my little cousin's. He left it over my house last night and I was taking it to him before school but I got sidetracked and..."
"Your little cousin?" Mr. Izumi asked. Max nodded a little too quickly, and Mr. Izumi responded, "Last night when your parents were out of town and you were busy working on your English report?" Max considered this for a moment, but in the end just nodded again. Mr. Izumi had caught him without even trying, "But it wasn't an English essay at all, you said you were working on a history report."
Max wanted to slap himself. How could he have been fooled by such a simple trick? But then another question arose in his mind, just what was Mr. Izumi getting at? But all thoughts drained right out of his head when Mr. Izumi began to poke DemiVeemon's stomach.
It only took a few seconds for DemiVeemon to crack, and he burst out laughing, begging Mr. Izumi to stop. Mr. Izumi set him on the floor, "Just as I suspected. Young man, do you have any idea what you have in your possession?"
Max searched for a response but only came up with, "A Tickle-Me DemiVeemon?"
Mr. Izumi laughed, then replied, "No Max, but I think you know what this is, and so do I. May I ask just how you came across this digimon?"
Max's tired eyes shot wide open. How in the world did Mr. Izumi, his computer teacher of all people, know about digimon? Could he have witnessed the battle the other day? Max didn't think so, but for a second he could almost picture Mr. Izumi standing there as Veedramon battled, but not against Devimon. But then what? He shook the image away and turned to Mr. Izumi, "He came out of my computer last night, I think." He wasn't even aware that he had decided to tell Mr. Izumi everything until he was already talking. He explained the light, and the battle, and even some of the clean-up afterwards where DemiVeemon talked about the Digital World.
When he was all finished, Mr. Izumi seemed to be considering Max's words. He finally spoke, "Tell me, did you happen to receive something like..." he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, purple, rectangular object nearly identical to the one Max had gotten at the same time as DemiVeemon, "...this?"
Max stared at it, and pulled out his own ‘digivice', and he compared them. It was indeed exactly the same, except in color, and one other thing. On the top of each was a symbol that max had failed to notice before. On the top of his own was a sun-like symbol, with a spiral in the middle, and eight little sunbeams surrounding it. On the top on Mr. Izumi's, however, was a strangle set of two bullseye-like circles of varying size, with a line in the center that somewhat made them resemble a pair of glasses.
Mr. Izumi spoke, "It appears that things might not be quite right in the Digital World. Though I must admit I am surprised to find you have a digivice, especially with the crest of courage on it. I thought that since my digivice had transformed..." From there Mr. Izumi, or Izzy as he explained was his nickname, told Max all about the digidestined, and their battles against the evil digimon. Max was especially surprised by how long it had taken for them to defeat Devimon, and how much more powerful that Devimon had been. In the end, Max was very shocked indeed.
But that wasn't the biggest shock, not by far. The biggest shock was when Mr. Izumi opened the door to his office, and the strange red insect-like digimon, similar in some ways to a lady bug, emerged from inside. "Max, DemiVeemon," Mr. Izumi announced, "Meet my good friend, Tentomon."
Tentomon smiled (or at least Max was sure he would have if he had a visible mouth), "Hello, pleased to make your acquaintance."
Max smiled and shook the limb that most resembled a hand. He then said, "Well, that explains that buzzing sound I've been hearing for the past ten minutes."
Mr. Izumi's face grew worried, "Buzzing sound? But...Tentomon doesn't make a buzzing sound when he flies..."
And that was when they appeared. Bursting through the windows, there were at least twenty of them. They looked to max like dragonflies, but a great deal larger and uglier. They were a sickly yellow color, and had big, green insect eyes. They flew all around the room, and in seconds Max realized they were the bug's main target, as he felt the slimy arms slashing at his back. Max grabbed DemiVeemon and darted out of the room, followed by Mr. Izumi and Tentomon.
The hallway was empty, and silent except for their panting, and the sound of the bugs buzzing behind the closed door. Mr. Izumi caught his breath and spoke, "I've never seen them before, but I've seen them on my computer. Those are Yanmamon, mindless insectoid digimon that usually follow the orders of a larger digimon. They are quite dangerous, especially their Air-Razor attack, which is a blade of wind that they make with their wings.
"Air-Razor!" one of the Yanmamon yelled at that very moment, and the door to the classroom shattered behind Mr. Izumi, knocking him forward and making him fall on his face. Tentomon hovered above him as the Yanmamon swarmed out through the doorway, some jammed in the traffic of bodies.
"Super Shocker!" Tentomon yelled and blasted one of the Yanmamon with a bolt of electricity. The Yanmamon fell to the ground, but there were still plenty of others. Veemon swung his fists at random Yanmamon, making contact very few times. He called out, "V-Headbutt!" and flew through the jumble, knocking some out of his way. He landed next to Max and batted away attacking Yanmamon.
"This isn't working, there's too many!" Mr. Izumi yelled as he covered his face and tried to see through the mass of wings and legs, "There must be some other strategy we can utilize!"
Tentomon flew into the air, "I was waiting for you to say that!" And with that, Mr. Izumi's digivice began to emit a bright purple light, which drove the Yanmamon back through the classroom, and out the shattered windows.
"I'm not going to let them off that easy!" Max yelled, darting through the classroom, hopping over the oozing carcasses of several Yanmamon, crushed under the weight of their own swarm. The others followed him out the remnants of the wall and outside, where the Yanmamon had regrouped.
"Alright, Tentomon," Mr. Izumi said as he grasped the radiant digivice, "It's been a while, but let's give it a shot!" A flash of light...
And out of the brilliant light stepped Kabuterimon, a giant blue beetle with a gray armor-like head, from which a large horn stemmed. On its back were large bug wings which began to quickly move, lifting Kabuterimon into the air and towards the Yanmamon swarm.
"Hey, Veemon!" Max shouted, and he thrust his digivice in Veemon's direction, "Get out there and give it your all!" Veemon nodded, and with a flash of light...
Veedramon ran at top speed towards the shadow of the swarm, and looked up at Kabuterimon, "Let's show these freaks what we're made of!"
Kabuterimon nodded, "Yes, let's see if they can handle this!" Kabuterimon crossed all his arms together and a pulse of electricity emitted from them. In seconds a giant ball of electricity had formed, and Kabuterimon thrust his arms out yelling, "Electro Shocker!" The ball took flight towards the center of the Yanmamon, and left only charred remains of the ones it passed through. When it reached the center, it exploded in a flash of lightning that disintegrated most of the Yanmamon, and sent the others fleeing for their lives.
"Where do you think your going?!" Veedramon guffawed, "Your not getting away from me! V-Nova Blast!" Not one, but a barrage of several beams fired from Veedramon's mouth is succession, each hitting and vaporizing a Yanmamon. When the smoke of the explosions cleared, only Kabuterimon and Veedramon were left standing, with small bits of wing and puss scattered over the grass. And slowly the bits a pieces disintegrated into smaller and smaller particles, which seemed to disappear into a non-existent wind.
Max and Mr. Izumi ran towards their victorious digimon, shouting with joy and congratulations, as the two heroes reverted back to their rookie forms. But not all the voices to be heard then were joyous. Some eye-witnesses of the scene reported hearing an undescribable, moanish-roar as a giant insect-like beast with giant scissor-like appendages flew off into the orangish sky of sunset.