Digimon, short for "Digital Monsters" is a Japanese media franchise encompassing virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on Digimon creatures, which are monsters living in a "Digital World", a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks. In many incarnations, Digimon are raised by humans called "Digidestined" or "Tamers", and they team up to defeat evil Digimon and human villains who are trying to destroy the fabric of the Digital world.