Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digimon Tamers: The Next Level ❯ Episode 6: Old Times, New Threats ( Chapter 6 )

A gasp rose from everyone present as Jeri brought her hand across Takato's face. The young man recoiled from the force, the physical pain not nearly as bad as the emotional. Jeri rubbed her hand, stinging from the full hand slap she had just performed on Takato.

"Damn!" Kazu gaped. "I bet they heard that one a mile from here!"

"What the hell was that for?" Takato asked, rubbing the new bright red spot on his cheek.

"God, I can't believe I wasted an entire year of my life worrying about you!" Jeri cried out, turning her back on Takato. "You could at least have the common courtesy not to look like you've spent the last three years at a resort!"

"Would it make you feel any better if I told you life has been sheer hell for me?" Takato answered. "That the only thing keeping me going was the thought of going home some day? Of seeing you again?"

"When you left," Jeri told Takato angrily, "I was sure that I'd never see you again. It… it was Leomon all over again."

"Jeri, I…" Takato began hesitantly, but Jeri cut him off.

"Don't even bother, Takato. Just… don't bother. You walked out of my life once, and now it's my turn."

With that, Jeri turned her back on Takato and stalked quickly out of the room. Takato seemed frozen in time for a few seconds before dashing after the girl.

"Jeri, wait!" he called, running out. Back in the room, the silence was almost deafening until Kazu broke it.

"Well," he said, "that was certainly awkward."

"Boy, I'll say," Rika responded, shaking her head. She wouldn't have expected Jeri to do something like that in the past. But, then again, Jeri had never had it easy. First her mother had died when she was a child, and then Leomon was killed seven years ago. Then D-Reaper had manipulated and fed off of her negative energy, which had only made everything worse. She had eventually been able to move on after being freed from D-Reaper by Takato, and she had even forgiven Leomon's killer, Beelzemon, but emotional scars like that stayed long after

"Well," Takato said once he had re-entered the room. He had managed to keep himself calm and composed, as if it didn't really matter. "Isn't anyone else going to say hello?"

"Screw hello!" Kazu said, rising to greet his friend from long ago. Another typical manly half hug, Rika noted with a silent chuckle. "How about how the hell are you even here?" This was followed by a loud groan as Kenta gave Takato a rather less-than-manly hug.

"It's been forever!" Kenta exclaimed as Kazu put his hand over his eyes and shook his head.

"Now that's embarrassing," Suzie snickered. "Maybe now we know why he hasn't had a date in forever."

"For your information, little missy," Kenta rallied once he had moved away from Takato, "I happen to have a date ton-" He cut himself off quickly but it was too late.

"I thought you said you were studying?" Kazu asked slyly. Kenta blushed briefly and began to splutter.

"You dog!" Takato laughed. "Who's your date? Anyone I know?"

"Et tu?" Kenta groaned. "Well, if you must know, I have another-"

"Another?"

"Yes, another date with, well, you remember Alice, don't you?" Kenta said, turning his gaze down to the floor in embarrassment.

"Alice?" Rika gaped. "The Alice? That girl dressed in black from seven years ago?" If so, she was the one who showed up seven years ago with Dobermon during the fight with D-Reaper. Dobermon had enabled the Tamers, including Ryo, to biomerge in the Real World.

"The very same," Kenta answered. "Wouldn't you know it, she's in one of my classes this year. We got to talking, and the subject of Digimon came up somehow."

"She still dress the same way?" Rika asked.

"Black as darkest midnight," Kenta answered, giving his voice a husky sound. His voice normal again, he continued. "Apparently, that's a big thing over in America. That's where she's originally from, you know. They call it 'gothic'."

"And you're into that too?" Kazu asked, to which Kenta nodded. "I don't suppose you told her that your Digimon was a little, pink, ocean fairy whose attack involved spitting blue hearts?"

"Hey," Kenta shot back, "whose Digimon was a natural Mega and whose never went past Champion?"

"Low blow!" Kazu raged. "I'll have you know…"

As the two continued to argue back and forth, the others broke out laughing, Takato especially. Kazu and Kenta still had their usual dynamic, even after all the years. It was Henry who slowed down and stopped laughing first. He rather pointedly cleared his throat, which brought the mood down considerably. Takato's laughter subsided and he nodded at Henry.

"As good as this feels," Takato said loudly to be heard over the continuing argument. Once everybody had settled down, and were back in their seats, he continued. "I'm sure you're all probably wondering how and why I'm here."

"Well, yeah," Kenta said. "Last I heard, you were stuck in the Digital World for good."

"Well, that was the intent," Takato answered. "I was almost certain that I would never get to see any of this ever again.

"After all of the Digimon and I were securely in the Digital World, a barrier was put in place, the intent of its programming was to prevent any future contact. This barrier was an extra powerful firewall, or what they called an 'icewall'. Fortunately for us, this icewall was programmed by Shibumi."

"How is that fortunate?"

"Because," Henry answered, taking up the story, "the icewall that Shibumi programmed wasn't perfect. Rather, it had a flaw in it, intentionally put into the code by Shibumi himself, a back door if you will.

"While this didn't allow the standard method of travel, portals between the two worlds were unavailable, it did allow the possibility. During the past few years, we've been working on expanding that possibility. Standing before you is the end result."

"Standing before you, and on my wrist," Takato said, holding up his right arm. Strapped around it was a D-Band, red to match his old Digivice. "This little baby is what made it possible for me to come back. I call it the D-Band."

"A remarkable piece of equipment, I'm sure," a new voice from the entrance of the room said. "And one that no doubt warrants further study."

Everybody turned to see a figure silhouetted in the doorway, clad in a dark black business suit and sunglasses.

"Yamaki!" Henry exclaimed with a surprised grimace. "Damn! If you're here, then that means Hypnos knows-"

"Hypnos," Yamaki replied, "knows little more than what I tell them." He removed his sunglasses and tucked them into the breast pocket of his shirt. "And I don't like to tell them very much."

At Henry's sigh of relief, Rika asked, "What am I missing?"

"Ever since the separation," Yamaki answered, "Hypnos has been carefully monitoring the seal, watching for any anomalies and keeping an ear out for information. Luckily, I was able to squelch any reports of the strange fog in the park earlier today, no doubt your friend Mr. Matsuki reappearing, but I'm afraid the same wasn't possible with the incident last night."

"What incident last night?" Kazu asked. "Does this have anything to do with the military test gone awry?"

"Military test," Yamaki laughed briefly. "A pathetic cover story at best. Here, meet your 'military test'." Yamaki pulled a small slip of cardboard from his pocket and sent it spiraling to Kazu. He grabbed it out of the air and looked at it: it was an old Tyrannomon card.

"You're kidding me!" Kazu exclaimed, handing the card over to Kenta. He had a similar reaction, shock and disbelief.

"I'm afraid not. Last night, for the first time in three years, Digimon walked the streets of Shinjuku."

"But if all that damage was caused by a Digimon, what happened to it?"

"I believe Miss Nonaka can answer that one for you better than I can," Yamaki replied with a nod towards Rika. With a smile, she unclipped her digivice from her belt and held it up.

"We did," she grinned. A second later, Renamon phased into the room beside her, arm around Rika's shoulder. The girl pressed closer into her lover's side happily, wrapping an arm around Renamon's waist.

"Oh my God!" Kenta gasped, looking over at Kazu. "Does this mean…"

"We're gonna get to see our partners again!" Kazu cheered, dancing for joy with Kenta. Suzie looked over at her older brother.

"We are going to, right? Even me?" she asked, a pleading look on her face. Henry, unsure, looked over to Renamon. Only she knew if the old partners had been rounded up yet.

"We… will see them again, right?" Kenta asked.

"It wasn't easy," Renamon said, a smile starting to appear on her face. "But we managed to round up nearly all of the old partners, all of yours included."

"Guardromon!" "Marine Angemon!" "Lopmon!" Each Tamer present cheered at the thought of seeing their partner again after four years.

Rika, Henry and Takato breathed sighs of relief as the others cheered and celebrated. Now it was only a matter of time until the next batch of D-Bands were completed. Then, the grand reunion would be possible.

"The only ones that we haven't been able to find yet are Cyberdramon and Impmon," Renamon reported. "We've still got people looking though."

"'We've got people'?" Kazu asked, as a cell phone started ringing. Yamaki pulled one out of his pocket and answered it. "You sound like you've got some large army behind."

"Not an army," Takato answered with a smile. "Only a city."

"Shit!" Everybody turned to stare at Yamaki who was holding his phone at arm's length. "Hate to cut this short, we need to get the hell out of here, and we have to get out of here NOW."

The squeal of air brakes from the street reinforced Yamaki's order. Rika peeked out the window to see a large black truck pulled up in front of the house. "It's a Hypnos truck! What's going on, Yamaki?"

"Apparently the reports from today weren't squelched enough," Yamaki grumbled. "That, coupled with the incident last night, was enough for Hypnos to decide to look up some… old acquaintances. Right now, a similar truck is pulling up in front of each of your houses."

Three loud knocks sounded from the front of the house. "I'll repeat!" Yamaki said louder. "We have to get out of here, now. Is there a back door?"

"Uhh, yes, of course," Rika said. She pointed off into the house. "This way."

Yamaki took charge, herding everybody towards the back door. The pounding on the door continued, getting steadily louder. At first everybody was hesitant to move, confused.

"Would someone please explain what's going on?" Kazu asked, heading for the back door. "I didn't exactly expect to be running from any shadowy government agencies today!"

"I'll explain on the way," Yamaki told them. "I'd rather not be seen right here right now."

The pounding reached an all time high. "Open up!" a gruff voice on the other side said. "Don't make us break down the door!"

Once everybody was safely out the back, Rika turned to Yamaki who was running along with the group. "What about my grandma?"

"She have a cell phone?" Rika nodded, and Yamaki tossed her his phone. "Call her with mine."

"What about Jeri?" Takato asked, eyes wide. "If something happens to her…" His eyes narrowed angrily and a low growl started in his throat. Rika looked at him strangely, one eyebrow raised.

"Don't worry, Hypnos isn't a group of barbarians, they're not going to hurt anybody," Yamaki reassured him. "They'll just ask some questions, and when she doesn't have the answers they want, they'll leave."

"What are they looking for?" Henry asked. Looking around, he realized that they were headed for the park. It had always been a meeting place in the past.

"History, it seems, repeats itself," Yamaki chuckled. "They're looking for Shibumi."