Yeah, any Digimon fan can tell you about how much they love Tamers, cherish Adventure and how Tri, LEK and the 2020 reboot have problems that don't live up to it, and some will talk plenty about how Time Stranger is the latest in the renaissance of Digi video games run circles around Pokemon’s recent offerings, but only the coolest fans will talk about the core of the franchise: the Digimon Virtual Pet toys where you raise your own Digimon in beautiful tiny pixel screen glory to adventure and battle from the comfort of your pocket.

Such an experience was an adventure that some guy named Gene found himself in when his buddy Zen got him one of the Digimon VPets, specifically the Pendulum Z Virus Busters device. Knowing that his friend had a soft spot for a certain big teapot man, Zen handheld him through the process of raising his own Digimon to get to that specific evolution, making sure Gene got the bat-eared loaf of bread Patamon and then spending a few days raising him to turn into the heavenly-knuckled hot guy Angemon. All the while, on Zen’s own Deep Savers PenZ VPet, he had been raising a couple of dagyaa-loving Armadillomons, bringing one up to his personal top-pick of Marin Chimeramon (on the cusp of spotlight thanks to the Beatbreak anime) while the other was left at Ankylomon to be ready for the Jogress to come.

Finally, both of their Digimon were ready, and with a simple link-up of their VPets the most controversial Digimon of Adventure 02 was recreated as their Ankylomon and Angemon fused into a single Shakkoumon for Gene to enjoy and hopefully not let starve. With the triumph of the moment, there was only one thing to do with the new digital monster: make it fight. So as Zen queued up his Marin Chimeramon, the two tamers connected their PenZs once more and prepared for a battle…

…and that was when a glitch in the veil between our world and the Digital World struck, as they do. Out of nowhere data started surging out of the VPets and converging into the unsuspecting humans, reformatting their bodies as fur, scales and porcelain overtook their skin and clothes. Their hands became claws of crustacean and stubby natures, their legs shrunk down against a more aquatic rears and snapped stiff inside vase-like pillars, and their shocked faces were enclosed and fused into a metal-masked snout and a blank expressionless carving, respectively.

A few more tentacles and wings later, and Zen and Gene had been Digivolved into their Perfect-Level Digimon of choice. But the new Shakkoumon and Marin Chimeramon had little time to take their altered states of beings in; their VPet devices were still glitching out with the raw power of a rift between worlds, and it was sensing their now-data-infused bodies. Thus, bolts of energy reached out of the rift and latched onto them, suspending them out of gravity’s reach as it sucked them inside their toys. Not to be made into virtual pets themselves, but to be taken through the portals the devices had become - a window into the Digital World.

What awaits the pair next is anyone’s guess: an odyssey through a new dimension in an attempt to get back to their home or humanity, some grand quest where the fate of one or both worlds end up at risk, or just the comedy of the awkward situations becoming a hybrid fishman or teapot golem entail. But looking through the windows of the PenZs as the two new Digimon are spirited away, one thing’s for sure: they’re going to be a bit grumpy about it all.

~~

So as it turns out 2025 was not much of a year for my Digimon Literary Universe (DLU). I've ended up very busy elsewhere with other projects, alongside just being tired from dealing with... everything like everyone else has. Not that I haven't been doing anything with it: I've been busy with my partner-in-crime mutual in crafting more stories for the universe, having done a couple roleplays on the subject that can one day become straightforward shorts, as well as a fucking whopper-sized epic that's currently on pause but is well over a hundred pages of text in most ways you can slice it. Several stories are also in various stages of development on my end (including one that I regret wasn't done in time for the 25th anniversary of the Final Destination franchise last year; rest assured that that one will make sense when it comes out), but it's all a matter of time and drive to see what comes first.

Until then, have this little artistic treat that the two of us commissioned as a mutual holiday treat. This sequence comes from VanesaRubberArt, an artist who, as her handle hints, does have as a specific niche for most of her art, but caught our eye for also being a Digimon fan who knows her stuff with the franchise (and who I learned while comm'ing is a VPet player too, which is fun and extra fitting for this). With all that we felt she'd be a perfect fit for this idea of some poor suckers of nebulous connection to us becoming some of our favorite Digis, and fortunately she was up and open for the effort. Kudos for her for doing this, great to get more Digimon Digivolving here in one form or another.

Fun fact: Despite all the spotlighting of VPet mechanics here, I have yet to get that far with them myself. My friend has bought me one of the newer X devices, and I picked up a Pulsemon Vital Bracelet off Amazon for cheap once, but not being much of a micromanaging player I haven't felt ready to risk starving the poor pixels yet. I've gotten into the Anniversary color ones Bandai's been doing for the 25ths of Adventure and 02, and they're fun for very lite and easy gameplay with flashy visuals, but so far I'm not really a hardcore Digimon raiser myself. Haven't even touched the games beyond a download of Digimon World DS, so clearly I have a lot of ways to go even if my binging the anime is getting deep now (on the final season of Xros Wars now alongside keeping up with Beatbreak, that's going well at least).

So yeah, no timeframe on the future of the DLU, but stay tuned. Certainly doing stuff like this keeps the series on my mind, that and waiting for Digimon Con in March. That's always a fun watching experience. Get your M&Ms ready.