Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digimon Tamers: The Silver Lining ❯ "Beasts" ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Digimon Tamers is the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, and Toei Animation. The original characters contained within this story, on the other hand, are mine.

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Digimon Tamers

The Silver Lining

Chapter 04- "Beasts"

By Infinity Blade

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Jenrya leaned up against the wall of the Lee household's computer room, staring across it at his father, who was seated at his desk. Janyuu, a middle aged man with glasses whose hair was beginning to dull in color, had his hands clasped together, staring out a nearby window. From the reflection that Jenrya could see on the glass, the man was quite visibly shaken.

"How is she…?"

Jenrya's gray eyes turned down to look at the floor. "As well as could be expected, I guess… I didn't want to wake the others, so I just let her into my room. Terriermon's with her… but I figured that you would be here awake still."

The blue-haired boy balled his hand into a fist and hit the wall with it. "I'm sorry, Dad… if only I had-"

"From what you've told me, there was nothing you could do to stop that thing from taking Shuichon," Janyuu sighed. Though he was upset this had happened, he had shown no anger so far. "No more than you could stop your other friends from being taken… you can't blame yourself for something you had no control over. Just be glad that you were able to get them back…"

"I… I guess," Jenrya muttered, and looked back up as his father turned around in his chair.

"Jenrya," Janyuu began, "what all do you know about this thing? This… Muertemon?"

Jenrya could only shrug a little. "Not very much… I know that he's powerful. Though not more powerful than Taomon… or maybe she just caught him off guard… I don't know. He also serves someone named 'Asmodeusmon'. I've never heard of a digimon called that, however… of course, I've also never heard of a 'Muertemon'." He paused for a second. "He got blinded in one eye during the battle, which is what helped us win. That's what gave Taomon the opportunity to hit him with her attack… and it's what saved Katou-san's life…"

"…how did he go blind in that eye?"

Jenrya pushed himself off the wall and scratched his head. "Well, in the past, Takato-kun, Ruki, and I have met this government guy who seems to have some sort of interest in the digimon. For some reason, Muertemon also captured him. But he had a gun, and shot Muertemon in the eye when he was about to kill Katou-san and Leomon."

"…what is his name, out of curiosity?"

"Yamaki."

Janyuu's face suddenly seemed to lose color.

"…Dad?"

Janyuu blinked a couple of times. "Oh… I see…"

Jenrya gave him a slightly odd look, and then continued. "Of course, since he is blind in one eye, that might give us an advantage next time we face him… Taomon's attack usually kills instantly, but I'm pretty sure we haven't heard the last of this guy, for some reason…"

"Jenrya, I don't want you looking for a fight with this thing. You take on more than you should as it is."

The boy looked away from him. He knew his father was well aware of their encounters with the Devas… "Well, if we don't, there's not much else that will… except for Yamaki's organization."

Jenrya could hear his father mutter something beneath his breath about that, but couldn't make it out. "What was that?"

"Nothing, son, nothing," Janyuu mumbled, rising up out of his chair. "I'm going to go check on Shuichon…"

"I wouldn't do that," a small voice piped up, and they saw Terriermon shuffling in through the doorway. "She just got to sleep."

"…oh," Janyuu replied in a disappointed tone, and slumped back down to the chair, turning to face his test. He let out a long breath and propped up his head with his hands. "Jenrya… you're certain this Muertemon will come after you again?"

Jenrya nodded slowly. "And… and Shuichon. He wants everyone he captured dead…" His voice quivered at the end of that sentence as that thought was processed through his mind.

"Shuichon can't protect herself like you can…" Janyuu said, his voice now trembling as the full realization of the danger seemed to hit him. "Not even I can protect myself as well as you can, much less her… Please, Jenrya. Terriermon. Keep watch over her, and don't let her out of your sight more than you have to… I know it's a lot to ask-"

"Nah, it isn't," Terriermon grinned, hopping up to Jenrya's shoulders. "We're used to dealing with maniacs by now. We'll get him next time, won't we Jen?"

Jenrya nodded again. "Right. Don't worry, Dad. We won't let anything happen to her. You have our word."

***

Juri stepped quietly out of her family's house into the small alley behind it. After getting home, she had explained her absence to her father by saying she was over at a friend's house and forgot to call. Though not pleased, he had bought it. She hated having to lie to him… but she really couldn't do much more than that right now.

"Leomon?" she said quietly into the darkness.

"I'm right here."

She turned quickly and clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from yelping. "H- hi," she stammered as she removed her hand. "You're still here…"

"Of course I am," he replied. She could make out a slight smile on his face from the limited moonlight that was cast on the path.

"But," she murmured, holding up her Digivice to look at it, "you didn't want to be my partner before… so why-"

"Well, look where that got me," Leomon said grimly. "I owe you my life, Juri. You tried to protect me even when you didn't have the power to do so, and your power healed me. The only way I can think of to repay you is to make sure that you are protected. Besides that… for too long, I have had no purpose besides doing battle and to become stronger… maybe, with you, I can have a greater purpose than just that."

Juri was glad that it was dark right then, as she knew she was likely blushing right now. "Th- thanks," she smiled, but that soon vanished as she recalled something. "When… Muertemon captured me, he said that you fought and killed constantly just to become stronger…"

Leomon bowed his head. "Though he may be a creature of darkness, he is right on that account. But that is the law of the Digital World. You must fight and load your opponent's data, or die yourself. There is rarely any in-between. It is something that all digimon must do."

"I see…"

Leomon looked back up. "But I could never say it was something I am proud of."

Juri started to smile again. "…um, Leomon… are you hungry or anything? I figured I should ask before I go to bed…"

Leomon blinked and put a large hand to his stomach. "Well, now that you mention it… yes."

She grinned. "Okay, stay right there, and I'll be right back."

As she quietly shuffled off into the house, Juri's smile didn't leave her face. She was suddenly feeling much better than she had been in days…

***

Guilmon usually didn't think much. He just didn't generally have to. He was a creature that relied on instinct. His instinct told him when to eat and when he needed to sleep. It told him that he could trust people like the Tamers and their friends, and that he could have fun playing with them. The moment any of his friends were in danger, however, his battle instinct took him over and he charged to defend them.

Trying to think about what his chances were against a foe would only put him at a disadvantage. He couldn't be bothered to think about something like that. He had confidence he would always win, somehow.

He had Takato with him, after all.

Now, however, as the red reptile sat at the doorway of his hut, munching on a loaf of bread and staring up at the stars, he found his mind drifting. He actually couldn't help but start to think in light of everything that had happened over the past few days.

On their way back from the battle, Takato had remained quiet. He made sure to pick up the school books that were left at Guilmon's house, and said a quick goodnight to his partner.

Something was very wrong… Guilmon's instincts told him this much. Something just wasn't right with Takato… he just wasn't fully himself. When they were fighting Muertemon, and Takato's rage had erupted, Guilmon had felt it. His anger, his pain… the overriding bloodlust that took him over as his raw power surged out.

Yet, despite the fact that Guilmon had at times felt this sort of rage by himself, the way it happened in that fight actually scared him. There was something just not right about it. But Guilmon just couldn't figure out what.

The digimon sighed and set his half-eaten loaf of bread down. "I wish I was smart like Takato or Renamon or Terriermon…"

There was also Muertemon. That creature disturbed Guilmon down to his very core. The Devas were a cause for worry, and it was something all of them worried about constantly. Yet he never felt the kind of cruel, sadistic darkness coming off of them like he did Muertemon.

Guilmon closed his eyes and laid back. He was now starting to realize just why his instincts told him not to think much…

***

Ruki stared aimlessly up into the air as lay in her room. She just couldn't sleep… too much was on her mind.

Renamon knew Muertemon. They had some kind of history, but… Renamon wouldn't tell her anything. The fox had given her the silent treatment for most of the night, and Ruki couldn't help but be bothered by it. She had never known Renamon not to talk to her when Ruki wanted her. She just couldn't fathom what could be wrong with her…

To make matters worse, Ruki couldn't help but get a horrible feeling that they weren't done with Muertemon. Or even if he was dead, he was merely a servant for something else…

This was far from over, and for once, Ruki was starting to worry about the battles to come…

***

Atop a building stood a boy staring down at a construction site. He wore overalls and a cap, but his face was most certainly… different. It was flat and abnormally round, and normally a bored, blank stare was present on that face.

Now, however, the expression was one of furious rage.

*The Sealed Demon's power,* he thought, *I sense it… it was here in this area… but that's just not possible!*

But there was no denying what he felt.

*I must contact my master,* he thought with dread, *there is no other course I can take. My remaining brothers must know as well… there is certainly no room for petty squabbles with something of this magnitude…*

Lowering his head, he stared at his clenched fists. There was something else he had to do as well. But he would have to work fast now. Very fast

***

"What's wrong with me?" Takato whispered to himself, staring out his bedroom window from his bed. Culumon was curled up in the corner of his room, sleeping silently. The little digimon had been afraid to stay by himself after the ordeal they had gone through, so Takato had brought him home.

But this question was one that had run through his mind quite frequently over the past couple days. Ever since that dream with MetalTyrannomon… How it had come true…

*I… just don't get it,* he thought, *it's not like I'm some kind of psychic or anything…*

Yet it played out in real life over a day after he had dreamt it.

*Only it was different because I knew what was going to happen… despite not even being conscious, I knew whenit was happening… That allowed Guilmon to save them… This is just so surreal. I've never been able to do something like this before…*

He paused in his thoughts.

He thought back…

*The dream… with Ruki, Renamon, and the Lynxmon…I could feel it. The rain. I could feel the rain, the wind… just as I felt everything in the dream with MetalTyrannomon… But did that other dream ever really happen?*

Takato sighed. He knew there was only one way to find that out…

The downside to that was, it might make Ruki think he was crazy.

***

Yamaki woke with a start, jolting upright from where he was sleeping and panting heavily. Within a matter of moments, however, he was regretting this. With a small groan, he reached down to where he had been shot… only to now find it bandaged.

"Well, I see you're up."

Yamaki's eyes snapped to the doorway and found a woman with long red hair leaning against it. "Reika…"

She looked at him for an extended period of time before she walked into the room. "Your wound isn't anything serious… it looks like it didn't even go through you… just enough to make you hurt like hell."

Yamaki didn't say anything and instead looked away from her, throwing his legs over the side of the bed. He tried to stand up, but regretted this a second later too as he started to fall over, clutching his wound again. Reika caught him in time, bringing him back to the bed.

"Mind you, I didn't say that you're well enough to go running off yet."

He looked down at his bandages. "You…"

"I was in medical school before I got involved in this whole… mess, remember."

Yamaki continued his attempt to avoid eye contact. "I shouldn't be here…" It was he, of course, that had come there, but he was now beginning to regret it as his mind was clearing…

"Well, it's better than you laying dead in the streets…"

Yamaki should his head vigorously. "No. No, I shouldn't have came… if Sano's men find me here… or Muertemon…"

"Mitsuo," she said softly, and he finally allowed himself to look at her again. Her expression was one of confusion and concern. "Tell me what happened. Please."

Yamaki nodded slowly and took a deep breath before delving into his story. She sat and listened quietly, only nodding at various intervals. Once he began, Yamaki recited every little detail he could recall, not wanting to leave anything out. He knew very well that most people would think what he said was crazy… Yet if there was one person in the world he thought would believe him, it was her.

He also knew that if he couldn't get her to believe him, he had no chance of getting others to do the same.

As he finished, the room became quiet. Nothing could be heard, besides people outside going about their early-morning commute to work.

"I… I see," she murmured, and he gave her a worried expression.

She did believe him, didn't she?

Obviously noticing the look on his face, she reached out and put a hand to his cheek. "Don't worry… I believe you."

As she spoke those words, Yamaki suddenly felt like a great weight had been lifted off of him and he lay back onto her bed.

"'Classified information', my ass," she muttered, looking down at him. "I could… tell there was something that wasn't right about Sano when he came to take your position…"

She paused as a look of great anger crossed his face. "That bastard," he growled, "he just wants me done away with so that he can do whatever he wants with Hypnos. But how could he do this without alerting those in higher positions? Surely they can't be involved in this…"

Yamaki thought to himself, eyes narrowing. "If we could just find someway to obtain the autopsy reports on Higashi and his men. Sano had to pay someone off when it came to that. There's no way that I can rip a human being apart like that in such a clean manner."

"Shouldn't that area have had a camera?" Reika asked.

Yamaki nodded. "It should have… but Sano probably had his bases covered there too. Much as I hate to admit it, he's too smart to have something like that slip him up…"

Letting out a long sigh, he sat back up slowly so the pain of his wound wouldn't hit him too hard. "I have to go."

She clamped her hand firmly onto his shoulder. "No, you don't."

"But if Sano or-"

Reika suddenly leaned forward, pressing her lips to his and cutting off any other sound that may have come out of his mouth. Yamaki froze briefly, but then accepted the kiss and wrapped his arms around her.

After a few seconds, she pulled away from his mouth. "You can't do this by yourself," she whispered. "Don't think I'm going to let you do it by yourself, either."

Yamaki couldn't find any other response to give other than to nod. There was nothing more he could do other than accept her decision. He just had to now figure out his next move…

***

As Ruki strolled beneath the shade of the park's trees, she couldn't help but think how much she loved summer time. With the warmth of the sun's rays shining down upon the city, at times she didn't mind just getting out to take a walk. She found the warmth relaxing, and found it easy to just get lost in her thoughts as she walked about.

*Certainly better than the cold,* she couldn't help but think to herself. *Especially after things that have happened recently.*

It wasn't that she was afraid of the cold, of course. Ruki feared very little, and there were few that could argue with her on that. She just didn't like the cold. Never had. She hated having to bundle up in thick coats just to go outside, having to work her through snow to get anywhere. It was just wet, messy, and… well, cold. She couldn't fathom why so many people loved it.

Besides, she found it much easier to identify with fire than ice.

Unfortunately, losing herself in her thoughts wasn't really something she wanted to do, since the main thought cropping up in her mind was one that was annoying her greatly. Stopping in her tracks suddenly, she spoke aloud. "Renamon."

In an instant, the tall, fox digimon appeared beside her Tamer. "Yes, Ruki?"

"I know we're supposed to be heading to meet Takato and the others," Ruki said, "but I want to get something out of the way first, because one of them could bring it up."

Though this was true, Ruki also knew that wasn't the reason she was about to bring it up. She could tell Renamon knew too.

"Why are you avoiding my questions about Muertemon?"

Renamon replied immediately. "You are my best friend Ruki. So under normal circumstances, I would tell you. However… at the moment, I will not. The knowledge I know of Muertemon's past is not important in defeating him. I will share with the others the weaknesses I know he possesses, but that is all. The rest is my business, not theirs."

"…so are you saying it's not my business, either?" Ruki asked slowly, not turning her head to look at the fox.

Renamon replied immediately. "I did not say that. I trust you above all others, and as I said, you are my best friend. That is why you are my Tamer. However… if there are things that you cannot trust to tell me, as I know there are, then for now I shall refrain from going into detail about that creature's past with me. That is only fair, is it not?"

Ruki looked at her. "What are you…"

"That night after Takato and Guilmon were put out of commission," she said simply, and that was enough. What Renamon meant came to Ruki suddenly, and she bowed her head.

"Renamon, I-"

"Not now," Renamon said, placing her paw on Ruki's shoulder. "We must meet the others, remember."

Ruki sighed. "Right…"

So, Ruki began to move again, her partner blinking out of sight. Soon, she reached the stairs leading up to Guilmon's hut and found everyone there already. Two things, in particular, stuck out from the norm; one was the fact that Shuichon was there, sitting between her brother and Terriermon, drawing something in the dirt with a stick. The other thing was the fact that Kenta was sitting rather far away from the rest, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Hirokazu was already talking when she arrived.

"-so I had to tell my parents that I was cornered by these thugs from the nearest High School, and they beat me up," Hirokazu said. "Unfortunately, now Mom's insisting on escorting me to school every morning… it was hard to get her to let me come over here today."

Ruki coughed softly and everyone glanced in her direction, now noticing she had arrived.

"CULU!" Culumon greeted, hopping up and down happily on Takato's head.

Takato immediately sprang to his feet and took Culumon off of his skull. "Hey Culumon, why don't you go help Shuichon…"

The green-eyed digimon looked at him oddly, but then shrugged and floated over to the young girl. "Hey Ruki, can I talk to you for a second?" Takato asked as he approached, but before she could respond he took her arm and started to lead her down the stairs.

Ruki gave a confused look to Juri, who just shrugged as she disappeared from her sight. Once Ruki and Takato had reached the bottom of the stairs, she broke away from him. "May I ask what that was about?" she questioned in an irritated tone.

"Um, well," he murmured, running a hand nervously through his brown hair, "you see-"

"Spit it out."

"Well, do you, uh, ever remember me mentioning a dream I had with you in it, once?"

Ruki shrugged half-heartedly. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, uh, a couple nights before you met me… did you and Renamon fight a digimon in a Digital Field?"

"Probably."

Takato looked somewhat flustered. "Right. Of course. You were the only one doing that then, so-"

"Will you get to the point, already?"

"Was it raining were you wearing a trench coat did you face a Lynxmon and did you use a High Speed Plug-In B card?" he said very quickly, several of his words running together.

Ruki's slightly annoyed expression suddenly went blank. "…yes. I… I think so."

Takato let out a long sigh. "I saw that… all of that… in my dream. Before I met you. Before I even met Guilmon or realized that digimon were real."

She planted her hands on her hips. "You're pulling my leg, right?"

"No!" Takato protested. "No. I'm not… I know it's hard to believe, but… well, you know how I said that Lee-kun told me about MetalTyrannomon? He didn't… I saw that in my dreams too. Before it happened. Only Guilmon was able to save you guys… if he hadn't come in when he did, you and Lee-kun would have died. Then Galgomon and Kyuubimon would begin to slowly delete before MetalTyrannomon finished the job. That vision, that dream was… somehow or another related to why I was out for so long. I can't explain it… not at all… but… I guess I just wanted to check with you to see if the other thing I had seen was real…"

Ruki couldn't find anything to say. She just looked at him, standing there looking so incredibly nervous… "Takato-"

"Hey!" Hirokazu's voice cried out. "Are we gonna have to wait all day for you two?!"

Takato suddenly spun around towards the steps. "Um, right…"

With that, he went dashing up the stairs.

"Well," Ruki muttered, "that was… interesting."

"Indeed… indeed it was," Renamon's voice echoed around her.

"I didn't even remembered I had even used that particular card until he mentioned it," the redhead said. "But he's right…"

Just shaking her head, she wandered back up the stairs. As she reached the top again, she could see Shuichon was now holding Terriermon and no longer drawing, with Culumon sitting on her head. Terriermon's black eyes darted in all directions, as if looking for a way to release himself from her grasp.

"So," Hirokazu said, grinning, "what were you two talking about down there?"

Takato looked at him with a confused expression.

Ruki, on the other hand, got the visor-wearing boy's message quite clear. Her hand thrust out, grabbing him by his black shirt, and he found himself being lifted off the ground. "Hirokazu," she said plainly, "I do believe you have the wrong idea. And you're injured enough as it is… understand?"

With that, she released him, and he stumbled back into a tree. "Geez!" he exclaimed. "Don't you know the meaning of a joke?"

"Say something funny and we'll see," she stated, turning around to look at the others. Takato still didn't seem to quite grasp what Hirokazu had been talking about, but Juri was giggling.

*That's certainly for the best,* Ruki thought.

"Anyway," Jenrya said, coughing into his hand, "lets get to the point of why we're here… As we all know, we now have two separate enemies targeting us."

"Most of us," Kenta mumbled barely loud enough to hear.

Jenrya blinked and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, we all know about the Devas, of course, and the odds of them slowing down anytime soon are slim." He reached down and picked up a stick off the ground, waving everyone over. As he pointed down, they saw that what Shuichon and Culumon had been working on were little drawings of various animals. "I don't know why I didn't realize it before, but I found something else the Devas correspond to looking through some books last night before bed."

He lowered the stick to the ground. "The Chinese Zodiac. So far, we have faced the tiger, Mihiramon, the snake, Santiramon, the rooster, Shinduramon, the ox, Vajiramon, the sheep, Pajiramon, the horse, Indaramon, and the rat, Kunbiramon. So that leaves the pig, the monkey, the rabbit, the dog, and the dragon."

"Dr-dragon?!" Hirokazu and Kenta stammered in unison.

Jenrya pointed the stick at them. "Well, you won't have to fight them, y'know."

"Heh, heh. Of course," Hirokazu chuckled nervously.

"Right…" Kenta sighed.

Shuichon looked at the pictures, then up at the others. "So did I do good?"

Ruki smiled slightly and squatted down in front of her. "You did very good."

Shuichon smiled and released Terriermon, clapping her hands together. This gave the little bunny-dog the chance to scramble unnoticed behind his Tamer's legs. "Thanks! I like the bunny the best…"

Ruki raised an eyebrow. *Somehow, I doubt you'll like it if you run into it, kid.* She then glanced at Terriermon, who mouthed a silent "thank you" to her.

"Leomon," Jenrya said, glancing over at Juri's towering partner, "I know Renamon's never seen the Devas in the Digital World, but have you?"

Leomon shook his head. "Sadly, I cannot say that I have. I had heard of them, however. They are said to be the loyal servants of the Southern Holy Beast, one of the Digital World's four guardians. I don't quite understand, however, why servants of a Holy Beast would be targeting you…"

"Holy Beast? Southern?" Hirokazu said, rubbing his chin. "Oh! You mean-"

"Zhuqiaomon," Ruki interjected.

"HEY!" Hirokazu exclaimed, but she paid him no mind.

"Zhuqiaomon is the guardian of the south, Qinglongmon the east, Xuanwumon the north, and Baihumon the west," Ruki continued.

"My, you humans know an awful lot about our world," Leomon said.

Ruki grinned. "With the fact all of the information is plastered on their cards, it's not hard."

"So, we're fighting gods of the Digital World," Hirokazu groaned. "Great…"

"We're fighting them," Ruki reminded him.

"Of course, then there's our other problem," Jenrya said, "Muertemon and who he works for. This 'Lord Asmodeusmon.'" Below him, Culumon visibly shivered. "We don't know who they are. We don't know where they came from. All we know is that they want many of us dead. But we have an advantage… we know that Muertemon can be beaten. Taomon nearly did that… our disadvantage, however, is the same as our advantage. The Blue Cards. We need to figure out a reliable and consistent way of summoning them, or else we won't stand a chance."

Hirokazu crossed his arms, looking somewhat perturbed.

"…what?" Jenrya asked.

"You don't need them," Hirokazu said, "remember? Takato and MegaloGrowmon took Indaramon down just fine with my little paper cut-out!"

"Yes, but we've never been able to do stuff like that before or since," Jenrya said. "Don't you think that, after seeing that, I've tried to concentrate like Takato did in battle to evolve Galgomon?"

"You're just not concentrating hard enough," Hirokazu stated matter-of-factly.

"Listen-" Jenrya began, but stopped immediately as Renamon suddenly appeared out of thin air, pointing herself at a bush with her arms crossed.

"Come out," she commanded, "now."

Stepping out from the bush was a familiar looking, flat-faced boy…

"You again," Juri gasped.

"Oh, this is all we need," Takato growled. "Who are you, anyway?! What do you want?"

The boy eyed all of them, and then his attention focused on Shuichon and Culumon. He smiled. This immediately prompted the others to close in around them.

"I think Takato asked you a question," Leomon snarled, his hand moving for his sword.

The boy's smile widened. He then opened his mouth wide and released an ear-piercing scream. "MA!!!" It was so loud, it was almost as if something had hit all of them. Even Renamon stumbled back a bit.

Cackling madly, the boy then turned and ran.

"He's not going to get away from me this time!" Renamon cried, leaping up through the trees to pursue him.

"Renamon, wait!" Ruki shouted. As soon as she started to run, however, she stopped, seeing Takato slumped over on the ground, clutching his head.

"Takato!" Guilmon exclaimed, kneeling down next to his partner. "Takato, what's wrong?!"

"Takato-kun?" Juri questioned cautiously.

"No…" he whimpered, his whole body shaking. "No… no… NO!"

"Takato-kun…" Jenrya said, reaching out for him.

"NO!" Takato roared, thrusting a hand out blindly and striking Jenrya in the chest with surprising force. The boy was sent reeling back and hit the ground hard.

"Jen-niichan!" Shuichon shouted.

Takato seemed to suddenly break out of his trance and freeze. His eyes went over to Jenrya, sprawled out on the ground, and he started to push himself up. "I… I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay," Jenrya grunted, pushing himself up. "But what happened…? Did Muertemon contact you again?"

"N-no," Takato said. Leomon reached down and pulled the boy to his feet.

"Then what?" the lion-man questioned him.

"Th-they're coming," Takato said. "The Devas…"

"Dude, I think we've already realized this," Hirokazu said.

Takato shook his head. "No. I mean all of them."

As those words left his mouth, Terriermon's ears suddenly shot up, while both Guilmon and Leomon's bodies tensed. "Oh, great," Jenrya grumbled.

"Digital Field," Terriermon said simply.

***

Renamon landed on a seemingly sturdy tree limb and looked down to see the boy coming to a stop near the park's water fountain.

*Definitely not getting away now…*

Suddenly, the tree limb snapped from beneath her and she grabbed the side of the tree, digging her nails into it to stay up. A dark chuckle echoed from the boy and his head turned around. He didn't do it like a normal person, it turned completely around, something which would be impossible for a human without their neck snapping like a twig. He glanced up to look at her before chuckling again. Letting out a growl, Renamon pushed off of the tree and crossed her hands in front of her.

"FOX LEAF ARROWHEAD!" The multiple glowing leaves appeared before her until she slashed her arms forward, sending them down at the boy.

He merely laughed yet again and did a back flip to avoid them, his head twisting back around to normal once he landed. Renamon hit the ground before dashing at the boy, fist flying. However, much to Renamon's surprise, the boy merely raised his hand up and caught her paw with ease. The fox Digimon's eyes widened in shock before the boy's smile grew wider.

"Idiot," he said simply in a deep voice that definitely shouldn't belong to a child.

Before Renamon could reply, he pushed forward and sent her flying back into the tree, putting a rather large crack in it as she struck. The boy just looked at her silently before running off. Renamon groaned as she picked herself up, noticing as she did so the boy had already disappeared.

"What in the world…"

"RENAMON!" The fox lifted herself up and looked to see Ruki and the others approaching. "C'mon! A Digital Field's materialized!"

Renamon frowned. *I was so caught up in chasing that thing that I didn't even notice… And that thing then got the better of me… I'm getting rusty.*

***

Near the hospital, the cap-wearing boy appeared on a building's roof. He immediately scowled. He could see the hospital building engulfed completely in a Digital Field. The humans were panicking. And within that field, he could sense something…

*A fragment of the Sealed Demon's power.*

However, as he looked around him, the entire city seemed to shake violently all of a sudden, and he grinned as four separate Digital Fields appeared all around.

*Yes, this will be taken care of very quickly…*

-End Chapter 04

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Revision Notes: This installment makes up… oh, I'd say maybe 1/3 of the original Chapter 3. It was one of my first rather large chapters, and I was quite proud of it by the time it was done. Of course, things have changed, as have my writing skills. The general intent of several things here are the same, with various little additions, not to mention the addition of a couple new plot points. Surprisingly, however, ONE scene did make the transition from the original to here, and that would be the second-to-last scene with Renamon. It's always been one of my favorites, for some reason, so I kept most of it intact.

End Notes: Thanks go out to Megaraptor for looking this story over for me, and for all the help he's provided me with for this series.

Next: Chapter 05- "Raging Flames"