Disclaimer: Bandai and Toei Animation own Digimon Tamers and its characters. Sano Shigeru, Asmodeusmon, Muertemon, the other Soldiers of Death and certain plot concepts contained within this series, on the other hand, are mine.

Notes: This is a revised version of the original version of "Silver Lining" that I started back in 2001. I never wound up posting all 12 original chapters here on Mediaminer.org, because I had come to a decision to revise the entire story. For anyone who may have read the original version on Fanfiction.net and wants to know WHY I revised it…

Well, as the readers of the original version of this may know, I announced revisions for Chapters 1-11 at the end of my last chapter, #12. Well… things happened, and as I looked through the series I noticed more & more things that NEEDED to be changed… and more things that I wanted to change. A number of these things wound up changing certain points of the plot considerably… so I knew that, by the time I was done, things would be quite different. Thus, I made the decision to delete the original so that I could upload the new version. Big changes may not be apparent yet in this chapter, but they will soon. At the end of every chapter, I'll make notes to explain why things in that particular installment were changed. For the most part, completing these revised chapters shouldn't take as long as it does to write a whole new fic. I know exactly where the story needs to go, so even for chapters that have massive changes, all that really needs to be done is… well, type everything up. ^^; So, hopefully I'll be back to where I was before in no time… but don't hold me to that. :P I'll do my best, however.

…and for the record, for some reason my fics seem to wind up formatted worse on Mediaminer than they do on FF.net…

Time Line Note: This is after Tamers episode 21, where Juri met Leomon, ignoring everything that came afterwards.

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Digimon Tamers

The Silver Lining

Chapter 01- "Dreamer's Vision"

By: Infinity Blade

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*Cold… it's so cold… wait… how…* A boy with a head of shaggy brown hair lifted his head up and opening his eyes. There were trees all around him, and he was sprawled out on the ground… But last he had known, he had been in bed.

Matsuda Takato groaned and grabbed the nearest tree trunk, using it to lift himself up.

It felt and looked like morning… just after dawn… But a thick fog covered the area, making it difficult for him to see much. *How in the world…?* He could feel the bark of the tree against his hand, the grass beneath his bare feet… Just like… *The rain… the dream with Ruki and Renamon… I could feel the rain…*

He began to walk, slowly, just trying to figure out what on Earth was going on… But his search ended quite abruptly as a beam of energy streaked towards him. He hit the ground while it tore across the air above him, shattering any tree it came into contact with. Takato took a couple of deep breaths in and turned his eyes up to see where that had come from…

He could see a large figure… it appeared almost as a shadow, though it's shape seemed like that of a reptile… a dinosaur? And there were two other figures as well. One was a green and white furred beast man with guns for hands, and wearing a pair of blue jeans and a gun belt. Near him was a yellow & white furred, four legged fox with nine tails, each of which had fire at their ends. "Galgomon! Kyuubimon!"

No response came as they launched their attacks into the beast. Takato balled his hands into fists and looked around, *But where's… where's Ruki and Lee-kun?*

Takato's expression changed from confusion to horror though as another beam flew out from the shadowed creature, right through Galgomon. The beast man didn't even have the opportunity to scream out before his body broke apart and was loaded into his executioner. Kyuubimon growled and leapt forward, only to have her body caught by one of the creature's claws. Takato could only watch, helpless, as the thing squeezed Kyuubimon tightly… There was a snapping sound before her body went limp and fell apart much like Galgomon's.

The figure reared its head back and unleashed a mighty roar of victory…

And as he did so, the world suddenly seemed much darker…

***

Takato snapped up in his bed, his body drenched with sweat. He clutched his chest, inhaling deeply as he tried to grasp what had just occurred… It had seemed so real, and yet he was sitting in his bed…

As realization started to hit him, he bent over, eyes wide. He held the sides of his head and shook. "No, that… that couldn't have been real… Ruki… Lee-kun… Renamon… Terriermon…"

Yet, it had been just like that dream with Ruki and Renamon, when he first got his Digivice…

"NO!" Takato shouted to himself, and then winced. He hoped he hadn't woken up his parents with that…

He gulped and hugged himself, clenching his eyes tightly shut. *No… Ruki and Lee-kun are great Tamers… better than me… I just get by on luck, and Guilmon always managing to evolve at the right times. They're more skilled than that; they wouldn't let something like that happen to them.*

Takato smiled weakly and nodded. "Right… just my overactive imagination…"

As he looked across his room, however, he noticed his silver and red Digivice sitting on his desk…

"Of course," he murmured, "my imagination has a bad habit of coming to life…"

***

Every step became a chore for the sleep deprived Takato as he unenthusiastically marched through the entrance to his schoolyard. He felt like just falling out right here, taking a nice, long nap… but of course, he couldn't do anything of the sort. He would simply have to get through the next few hours… then maybe sleep for the rest of the day once he got home.

"You look like the living dead," a young boy's voice commented. Takato's eyes slowly found the speaker, a boy his age with spiky brown hair wearing a visor, Shiota Hirokazu. He was standing beneath a tree with his best friend, a green-haired boy with glasses named Kitagawa Kenta.

"I've been up since three in the morning," Takato droned, deadpan.

"Hey guys!"

Takato's face brightened and he spun around to see the blue-haired Lee Jenrya entering behind him. On his shoulder was perched a cream-colored bunny dog with green stripes.

"Lee-kun! Terriermon!" Takato exclaimed happily.

"Well, hello to you Takato," Hirokazu said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, but Takato didn't seem to notice. "How are you? Oh, me? I'm doing great...!"

"Um, hi," Terriermon said to Takato, as both he and his Tamer arched an eyebrow in unison.

"You okay Takato?" Jenrya questioned.

Takato stared for a moment, before he started rubbing the back of his head, laughing nervously. "Oh, I'm- I'm just fine!"

"-see, I was gonna give you this great card, if you were interested… what, you're not? Oh, well, then I'll just use it to kick Kenta around again-"

A bead of sweat developed on the side of Kenta's forehead. "Hirokazu, I don't think he's listening…"

Takato blinked and looked over at the other two boys. "…did you say something?"

Hirokazu bowed his head, sighing. "Nevermind."

Kenta put a hand over his mouth to keep from snickering. "C'mon guys, we need to get to class, or else Sensei will make us stand out in the hallway again…"

***

Asanuma Nami looked out at her class. She was used to certain children not taking much interest in certain things she taught… But when those children decided not to pay attention to her when she called for them, then she naturally got a little annoyed. Setting the book she was reading from down, she walked between the desks of her students until she reached Takato's. He was looking out of the classroom's window with a rather blank expression… and he had also ignored her call of his name three times. "Matsuda Takato, are you even listening to me?"

Takato snapped back to attention, and in his panic grabbed the nearest book he could, opening it, "Y-yes, Sensei, I-"

"Takato-kun, for one, we're working on math, not history," Nami said, "And two, you have it upside down." This caused a majority of the classroom to break into laughter save for a girl with brown hair wearing a green dress, Katou Juri. Hirokazu & Kenta attempted not to laugh too, but failed in that noble attempt quickly. Takato sighed and slumped down in his seat.

Takato frowned to himself. He knew it wasn't odd for him to be caught daydreaming… But he just couldn't get that dream off of his mind, even though he knew that Jenrya & Terriermon were all right…

"Sorry… I just…" He blinked and looked up to find his vision suddenly becoming very blurred, "I…"

Nami gave him a strange look. "…are you alright…?"

"Yeah, I…" Takato clutched his desk suddenly as a searing pain shot through his body, which resulted in his breathing became much heavier.

He could barely tell what was going on around him, but he thought he felt someone- likely his teacher -feeling his forehead and making a comment about sending him to the nurse. It was then, however, that he blacked out completely.

"Takato-kun!" Nami shouted as the boy fell over and she barely caught him. Hirokazu and Kenta immediately sprang out of their seats to assist their teacher, while the rest of the class watched, not knowing what to do.

As they got Takato back into his seat, Nami looked at her student fearfully. She didn't exactly love this job, but seeing him like this caused a sense of concern to rise in her… and not just for the fact she could get blamed for this.

Nami snapped her head around to look at the rest of the class. "Someone get a nurse. NOW."

Juri shot up from her seat and dashed to the door. She paused to take a quick look back at Takato, then sighed and went to do what she was told.

***

After school, Jenrya headed out of the building with his ever-present Digimon partner on his shoulders. His cheerful mood stopped abruptly, however, when he saw a sullen looking Hirokazu, Kenta, and Juri just outside the school building. The boy immediately headed over to the group to see what was wrong, "Guys? You okay?"

Juri shook her head and glanced at the blue-haired boy. "Takato-kun just collapsed in class today…"

Jenrya looked at her in surprise and Hirokazu just nodded. "A little bit after that the nurse called for an ambulance… his parents have been notified too."

"Any idea what happened?"

Kenta shook his head, "No clue. We're planning on heading over to the hospital to see if we can find anything out…"

Jenrya took a breath and thought as he took it all in, "…alright. I'll meet you guys at the hospital."

"Where are you going?" Hirokazu asked.

"To Ruki's," he replied simply, then glanced at Terriermon, "think you can tell Guilmon?"

"No problem Jen," Terriermon replied before hopping from his shoulders to the wall surrounding the school. "Where should I meet you later?"

"Don't worry, just stay with Guilmon," he stated, "I'll come by once we figure out what happened." The Digimon nodded and then leapt down the other side of the ledge.

Juri opened her mouth to say something, but then promptly closed it as Jenrya ran off and out of sight.

***

Terriermon hustled through the park as fast as his little legs could carry him, hopping up the stairs that led to the small building Guilmon stayed in, "Guilmon!" he called out, but there was no answer. Strange. The little Digimon finally reached the top of the stairs and Guilmon's house to find it rather silent.

That is until he heard Guilmon cry out in pain. Terriermon immediately leapt over the gate in front of the entrance to find Guilmon lying on the floor clutching his chest. Culumon was beside him, looking quite worried.

"Culumon, what happened to him?" Terriermon asked as he landed.

"We were… playing, culu… and he just fell over!" Culumon said frantically, "Was it something I did?"

Terriermon shook his head. "No, I don't think it was you Culumon… how long ago did he collapse?"

Culumon looked at him, "…a while ago, culu."

The other Digimon put a hand to his head and rubbed it. "Well, yeah you wouldn't know exactly when… you don't have a watch or anything…"

"A… watch?"

Terriermon sweatdropped. "Nevermind," he mumbled, walking over to Guilmon. "Uh, Guilmon…?"

The reptilian Digimon didn't reply, so Terriermon shook him slightly, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Coulda told you not to do that…"

"Then why didn't you?" Terriermon sighed before sitting down and frowning, "I hope Jen finds out what he needs to about Takato and gets back here fast…"

***

Makino Ruki walked at a relatively slow, but steady pace as she headed home after school. Just the same as she always did… There was no need to rush, no need to wear herself out getting home.

She sighed slightly and reached up to rub one of her shoulders… While she felt the pain much less than she had days before, she still felt somewhat sore from the events that had occurred in their battles with Indaramon… Throughout their second encounter with the horse Deva, Takato showed in a very obvious manner that he was feeling Growmon's pain. She always couldn't help but find it strange how that was able to happen… It had never happened to her no matter how badly Renamon or Kyuubimon had been hurt, and she had no knowledge of it happening to Jenrya either.

So, she was quite surprised when, towards the end of the battle before Takato slashed Hirokazu's 'blue card' that both she and Jenrya felt the pain of their partners at one point. It seemed nothing compared to what Takato had been through, but it was so sharp, sudden… It took the both of them completely off guard. And the pain had lingered for a few days afterwards.

*Though if that little bit stuck with me like that… I can only imagine how Takato must feel after some of our battles…*

Lost in her thoughts, Ruki almost completely passed by her house's front gate. She shook her head and opened it, and once on the other side closed it. She took a brief look around the home's yard before heading to the front door, only to stop suddenly as she heard a knocking at the gate. Blinking, she spun back around and opened it to find Jenrya standing there, looking quite out of breath, "…Jen? What-"

"Takato…" Jenrya panted before taking a couple deep breaths. "He collapsed in school… they called the hospital almost immediately, he's been there for an hour or so…"

Ruki stared at him for a moment. Takato didn't seem ill the previous day, when he had his little situation in dealing with Juri chasing after that Leomon… "Uh…" She thought for a moment before turning around. "Wait here, I need to go change my clothes."

***

Jenrya eyed at Ruki while they waited for the hospital elevator they were in to rise to the correct floor. She had been oddly quiet the whole way here. "Something wrong?" Jenrya asked cautiously.

"…no."

Jenrya crossed his arms, unconvinced by her answer. "So, what is it then?"

Ruki flashed him a look that made him want to get out of the elevator right then. The folly of getting Ruki angry in a place where he couldn't escape dawned on him and he gulped nervously.

"If you must know, I just don't like places like this, okay?" Ruki stated. "They're full of sick and dying people, and… Oh, I don't know why I even came with you. It's not like Takato's dead or anything. You said that he hadn't gotten any sleep last night. He probably just passed out or something…"

Jenrya's eyes narrowed. "Ruki," he said sternly, "I doubt they'd call an ambulance for him if all he did was fall asleep. There could be something seriously wrong with him! How can you act like that? I thought we were all friends."

Her violet eyes stayed locked on him, but her hard expression started to falter and she looked away. "Sorry," she said quickly under her breath. Then, as fast as possible, she exited the elevator doors as they opened.

Jenrya watched her as he got out as well. "Well, that's new," he muttered to himself before going to catch up with her.

The two headed through the hallways until they found Takato's room. There they also found Juri, Hirokazu, and Kenta waiting around outside the room just as a doctor came out with his parents, Takehiro and Mie.

"How is he?" Hirokazu asked anxiously.

"His heart rate and breathing have stabilized since he was picked up at the school," the doctor stated, "and I honestly can't find anything wrong with him now other than the fact he seems to be in a deep sleep." He sighed and shook his head, and then glanced at his watch. "Sorry to cut this short, but I have an appointment. I'll be back in a bit to run some more tests." Mie just nodded as he walked off.

Choosing to wait until the doctor was done, Jenrya then walked up to the Matsudas and bowed. "Hi, my name's Lee Jenrya, and this is Makino Ruki." The girl bowed as well. "We're friends of Takato's."

Takehiro nodded slightly. "Thanks for coming by, we appreciate it," he then sighed. "Listen, we're going to go down to the cafeteria, you can go in and see him if you want."

Ruki took a deep breath as she entered the room last. She tried to stay behind everyone, and discreetly attempt not to look at Takato… but this was a futile attempt. As soon as she stepped foot inside, she saw the boy lying on his bed, motionless except for his breathing. She looked at the equipment he was hooked up to and shivered involuntarily.

"Takato-kun…" Juri murmured. "What could have happened to you?"

"Think it has anything to do with how weird he was acting this morning?" Kenta asked.

Jenrya just shrugged. "Possible, I guess…"

Ruki turned her eyes away from Takato's still body and looked around the room. As she noticed his clothes thrown over a chair, she started to wander over in that direction.

"What… are you doing…?" Hirokazu said suddenly once he noticed Ruki searching through Takato's belongings.

She didn't reply until she found his Digivice and held it up.

"Hey, that's Takato's!" Kenta exclaimed.

"Really?" Ruki said sarcastically, and then looked at Jenrya. "One of us needs to hold onto this Jen. It's too important to just leave lying around… I mean, last thing we need is for someone to sneak in here and swipe it."

"Who in the world would do that?" Juri asked.

"Who knows at this point?" Ruki asked. "But it's something we can't take a risk with, in my opinion."

Jenrya shrugged. "Can't really disagree with you there… we can't just risk it laying around up here." He thought for a moment, "My house is a pretty busy place… just to be safe, why don't you take it?"

Ruki nodded and put it on her belt next to her own blue & silver device, "I think I can manage that."

***

"Y'know, this distracted my mind so much I think I did pretty bad on today's math test…" Hirokazu muttered as the group walked down a path in the park towards Guilmon's house.

"You mean worse than usual?" Kenta asked, to which Hirokazu replied by hitting his friend over the back of the head.

Ruki just sighed and rolled her eyes as they walked up the stairs to the small building. As they approached it, though, a more serious expression crossed her face when they were able to see into the place; Guilmon was lying on his side in pain while Terriermon & Culumon watched over him.

"Terriermon!" Jenrya shouted, rushing ahead of the group and opening up the building's gate.

"Don't touch him, Jen," Terriermon warned. "Last time I tried he howled like a banshee."

"Don't tell me Guilmon's out of it too…" Hirokazu groaned, hitting his forehead.

"Well, it's possible we're so connected to our Digimon that with Takato doing so badly, it somehow affected Guilmon too," Jenrya said.

"Very possible, when you consider what happens to Takato when Guilmon's hurt in battle," Renamon said as she appeared seemingly from out of nowhere. This caused Kenta, Hirokazu, and Juri to jump back in surprise.

"Do you HAVE to do that?!" Hirokazu shouted, but went ignored by the fox.

Ruki looked down at Guilmon and frowned. She then knelt down next to him and grabbed Takato's Digivice.

"…Ruki?" Jenrya asked, "What're you doing?"

Ruki pulled out a card and looked down at it. "No way of knowing if this'll work, but I might as well try." She then ran the card through, "Card Slash, Seed of Health!"

Absolutely no response came from the device. Ruki sighed and slumped down, "That figures…"

Jenrya looked at his partner. "Could you stay with him for tonight, buddy?"

Terriermon immediately smiled and nodded. "Moumantai. I shouldn't have any problem handling that."

Culumon's ears grew slightly and he pointed to himself. "Culumon will stay and help too!"

Jenrya smiled and looked down at the little Digimon. "Thanks. I'll bring some food & water for him in the morning in case he improves some…" He looked at the now-pitiful looking Guilmon, "Poor guy… we can't really do much else to help right now… I mean, we can't exactly take him to the hospital…"

"Plus, it might not be a good idea to move him now anyway," Juri noted.

Ruki nodded. "Not much we can do now but wait…"

***

Ruki's eyes snapped open as she awoke. Her immediate reaction was feeling a need to scream out, but nothing would come forth from her mouth. She felt as if her voice was just… frozen…

Letting out a long breath, she sighed and pushed herself up. Almost immediately, Renamon appeared beside her.

"What's wrong?" The fox questioned.

Ruki looked at her briefly, before lying back down. "Nothing."

"I hate to say this, but you're lying," Renamon said.

The redhead groaned. "Why is everybody doing this to me today?"

"You can tell me anything, you know."

"I said it was nothing, Renamon…"

Renamon paused momentarily as she thought. "Is it about Takato and Guilmon?"

Ruki considered what she was going to say next for a few seconds. "…I don't really want to talk about all of this right now. Okay?"

Renamon closed her eyes and nodded. "If you say so, Ruki. Just remember what I told you."

That said, the fox once more vanished from sight.

The girl rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. *Blasted nightmares… why is this trying to haunt me now?*

***

"Jen-niichan!" The singsong voice of Jenrya's little sister Shuichon brought the boy out of his slumber. Blinking his gray eyes, he propped himself up with his elbows and looked to find her coming through the doorway. "Time to wake up!"

Jenrya yawned and threw his legs over the side of the bed. After getting his bearings, he began rubbing his eyes. "Good morning, Shuichon…"

The girl looked around the room for a moment before scratching her head. "…hey, where's Terriermon?"

Jenrya put a hand over his mouth to stifle another yawn. "Oh, he's at the-" He stopped suddenly and had the urge to hit himself. "…I left him at a friend's house… It was an accident."

Shuichon pouted as she looked back to him. "Jen-niichan! How could you do that? The poor thing must be lonely by now…"

Jenrya stood up and rubbed his head. "Heh, uh… sorry…"

*Don't know about lonely, but hungry is probably another matter…* He walked over to her and began shuffling her out of the room. "I'll be out in a minute, need to get dressed." ­

*Then hit Dad up for some money… I knew I should've checked to see how much I had before offering to bring them food today… At least Dad should understand what I need it for if I tell him…*

***

Jenrya approached Guilmon's house to find Terriermon and Culumon inside fast asleep, Culumon using one of the other Digimon's ears as a cushion. Guilmon meanwhile seemed much more relaxed than he did last night, but still not completely well.

"Hey…" Jenrya whispered, kneeling down next to Terriermon and Culumon. "Wake up."

Terriermon opened his eyes wearily to see his partner. "Ah… 'Morning Jen…" He yawned. He then started to sit up and accidentally caused Culumon to roll off his ear and to the ground, waking him up. Jenrya chuckled slightly and held up a bag. "Here's some food & drinks guys. I'd like to stay longer but I have to make it to school, and-"

Culumon floated up and stuck his head into the bag, cutting the Tamer off. "Mmm… yummy!"

Jenrya blinked and pulled Culumon out of the bag. "Hey now, be sure to save some for Terriermon too, and Guilmon as well if he wakes up…"

Terriermon looked around the relatively barren place and the remains of all the food that had been eaten. "It's amazing how Culumon eats so much yet isn't as fat as a BigMamemon by now… he's just as bad as Guilmon."

"You're not much better yourself, y'know," his partner replied.

Terriermon sweatdropped. "Hey, I'm not that bad… am I?"

Jenrya let out a small laugh before standing up "I've got to get going," He replied, bypassing Terriermon's question, "I'll see you guys this afternoon."

***

Though she usually thrived for the fight and thrill of battle, even Renamon felt the need to take a break once in awhile. While Ruki's mother, Rumiko, was at work, Ruki was at school, and her grandmother, Hata Seiko, was off in town, the fox figured now would be a good time to enjoy some peace and quiet. And she rarely ever stayed around the house when Ruki wasn't there. But the Digimon had recently discovered a book in Seiko's collection that caught her interest. So whenever Renamon had the opportunity- meaning whenever the eldest of the family was gone or sleeping -she liked to take the opportunity to look through it.

Suddenly, Renamon tensed and dropped the book. She sighed and smacked her forehead lightly. "A Digital Field…"

Usually, they at least had the common courtesy to wait until Ruki was out of school. But this was a big one…

After quickly hopping into the house to put the book back on it's shelf, Renamon teleported to the top of the building. *Just when it was starting to get good, too,* she thought wistfully, and then started bounding from rooftop to rooftop.

***

Deep within the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building was a massive chamber, tinted in purple light. Within it was some of the most technologically advanced computer equipment known to man. All of it was for one purpose; to track the activity of everything digital that was connected to some type of network. Needless to say, this was one top-secret government organization that would severely enrage the public were it known to them. They could track everything from phone calls, to e-mails, to the specific time someone may have logged onto a web site and how long that someone may have been on that specific page.

But for the most part, this was not the kind of work this organization did. Hypnos did quite a bit more…

The head of it all was a blonde man named Yamaki Mitsuo. He sat in his chair, staring up and the sphere situated in the middle of the chamber. A countless number of wires was connected to it. Within that sphere was where Hypnos' two primary operators worked, and kept watch on the entire country…

The man clicked the lighter he constantly carried in his hand open and shut a couple of times. Soon it would be time for his masterpiece creation to be activated again… and then, everything would be over…

Alarms suddenly blared throughout the chamber, and Yamaki snapped to his feet, running up the stairs into the sphere.

"Sir!" One of the operators, a blonde woman named Onodera Megumi shouted just as he entered. Within the sphere was a grid spread all around it that allowed them to track everything as they sat in two separate chairs that rotated around. "There's a disturbance in West Shinjuku Park!"

"A Wild One?" Yamaki asked.

"Unknown," The other operator, the red-headed Ootori Reika stated. "But it seems like something big is building… I just can't tell what exactly, yet."

Yamaki scowled beneath his dark red sunglasses. "Keep an eye on it then. We're not going to let anything escape one of those fields again… Not after what happened when that horse broke free…"

***

Terriermon just stared as Culumon ate… and ate… and ate… "…where does all of that go…?"

Culumon glanced at him with a confused expression. "Culu…? My tummy, of course…"

Terriermon rubbed the side of his head. "But… your stomach is barely bigger than that bagel you're eating…"

The smaller Digimon just shrugged and continued munching on the baked good.

Terriermon prepared to say something else before his ears shot up in the air and Guilmon stirred slightly in his sleep. "Oh, not now…"

Culumon groaned and held his head. "It's that funny feeling again…"

Terriermon stood up and headed for the gate.

"Stay here," he stated before leaping to the top of the gate, then gliding away, using his ears to stay in the air.

Culumon frowned, looking at Guilmon, and then at where Terriermon had been. He looked back & forth for a few moments before his ears enlarged and he floated up. "I'll be right back, culu!" he shouted to the sleeping Guilmon before flying after Terriermon.

***

"I am not… amused…" Renamon grumbled as she leaned against a tree in the park.

Something suddenly fell down in front of her, but she didn't budge. It was just Terriermon hanging off a tree branch with his ears. "Hiya. You sensed it too, huh?"

Renamon slumped down against the tree, staring out in front of her. There was a large, paved clearing with a big fountain. "…yes, but there's nothing here. At all." She sighed deeply, tapping the side of her head. "I should have brought my book…"

Roughly an hour passed before they saw anything… and even then, it was only Jenrya walking out into the clearing.

"…can I ask just what you two are doing?" Jenrya questioned as they approached them under the shade of the tree.

Terriermon, who was now sitting on the branch rather than hanging off of it, pointed. "There's a Digital Field out there."

Jenrya's gray eyes turned to the clearing. "What are you-"

Terriermon's ears shot up and Renamon's fur suddenly stood straight up.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" cried the fox, tackling Jenrya to the ground as a thick fog suddenly exploded from the ground. And from that fog came flying a bright red beam of light, which promptly tore apart several trees behind them.

Jenrya pushed Renamon off of him and looked to the rear in horror. "Terriermon!"

"Yo!" a voice shouted and they both looked up to see Terriermon falling from the sky, apparently having leapt out of the way. Using his ears like parachutes, he floated down softly onto Jenrya's head while the Digital Field encompassed the entire area. As they all got to their feet, they saw their enemy…

Jenrya gulped, staring at the gigantic, cybernetic dinosaur that stood before them. He unclipped his Digivice from his pants and brought up its analyzer. "MetalTyrannomon, Perfect level, Cyborg Digimon. Attacks: Giga Destroyer II and Nuclear Laser."

Renamon clenched a fist as the beast reared its head back and roared. "Jenrya… Much as I don't want to say this right now, I cannot battle something like this without Ruki."

"Then go," Jenrya stated, keeping his eyes locked onto MetalTyrannomon. He then gulped again and looked at her, smiling nervously. "Just hurry up, okay? I don't exactly want to become this guy's next meal either."

Renamon smirked slightly and nodded, vanishing from sight.

"Alright, Terriermon," Jenrya said as his little partner leapt from atop his head. He drew out a card and held it up to his Digivice. "Lets do it! CARD SLASH! SUPER EVOLUTION PLUG-IN S!!"

"EVOLUTION_"

"Terriermon, evolve!" In the little dog Digimon's place formed a bulky, more humanoid version of him with large machine guns for hands, and wearing blue jeans & a gun belt across his chest and back. "GALGOMON!"

***

"Sir, the Wild One has realized!" Reika cried down to her superior. "And there appears to be another one there as well… I think it's one of those children's Digimon…"

Yamaki clicked his lighter once before a sadistic look crossed his face. "Heh… Reika, Megumi! Prepare the Yuggoth System for activation! We'll wipe them all out in one clean sweep!"

Reika blinked behind her visor and stared down at the blonde man. The way he sounded was almost… crazed… "S-sir…"

"Delay that order Ootori, Onodera," another voice suddenly cut in.

Everyone's gaze turned to the stairs, and they saw a man that looked at least ten years older than Yamaki leaning against the railing. His hair was short and black, but seemed to be going gray in some places. His name was Sano Shigeru, and he was one of Yamaki's superiors. However, he didn't meet with Yamaki much that Reika knew of… nor did he generally have much to do with the day-to-day operations of Hypnos.

"Wh-what?!" Yamaki stammered. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Sano's beady black eyes looked around at the read-outs of this realization. "You heard me, Mitsuo… the order is not to be carried out."

"Under whose orders?!" Yamaki shouted.

"Mitsuo, what kind of a question is that?" Sano said, eyes narrowing. "Mine."

***

Deep within Takato's mind as he slept… The boy felt like crying out to release all of his anger and frustration, but he didn't have the ability to…

Again, and again… he found himself confronted with the vision… the monster, now much clearer, beating and killing both Galgomon and Kyuubimon, repeatedly…

It wouldn't stop. Now matter how hard he TRIED, he couldn't stop it from happening…

There were some new aspects of the vision. For one, everything was much clearer… he could see that the battle was happening in the park, right in front of the water fountain. He could also see the monster… it was clearly a MetalTyrannomon, which he recognized from the card game.

Another new thing was how the air smelled…

It reeked of death. Something around here was dead, something had already died BEFORE Kyuubimon and Galgomon…

And lastly, there was Kyuubimon and Galgomon themselves. Though they were fighting valiantly, Takato noticed their bodies seemed to already be slowly deleting before MetalTyrannomon finished the job…

As the boy was forced to view this sight once more, and he sat curled up on the ground, trying to avoid seeing this again… he realized something. Just as Kyuubimon was disposed of once more, his tear-stained face jerked up.

"Ruki… and Lee-kun… they're going to fight…"

The entire world around him went completely dark as he figured out the meaning of all this.

"They're going to die…"

***

"Gatling Arm!" Galgomon cried, unleashing a flurry of bullets rapidly from his gun-hands. MetalTyrannomon merely roared and moved to cover his face from harm.

As this attack was being carried out, Jenrya moved to find some cover behind a couple of trees. The last thing he needed to do was give MetalTyrannomon another target and distract his partner. Of course, there was no way Galgomon could defeat this behemoth on his own…

Jenrya shoved his hands in his pockets and pulled out a number of cards. "What could actually do any good here…?"

"WHOA!"

Galgomon's shout caused Jenrya to look in the direction of the battle again. The beast man had jumped into the air, avoiding a swipe from the cyborg's claw.

"Damn," Jenrya cursed. "Definitely no way he can beat that thing like this…"

MetalTyrannomon snarled as Galgomon landed back on the ground. He raised his right claw and with another scream, launched a rocket out of it. Galgomon yelped, while Jenrya sent a card down his Digivice's slot.

"CARD SLASH! HIGH SPEED PLUG-IN H! HYPER SPEED!"

Galgomon moved with super speed beneath the rocket. The missile soared into the ground and exploded, but its target was well out of harm's way now.

"Lets see how you like it!!" Galgomon screamed, energy suddenly pulsating from one of his gun-hands. "DUM DUM UPPER!"

He leapt into the air, avoiding a swipe of MetalTyrannomon's claw, and slammed his energized fist into the creature's jaw. Galgomon grinned as he believed his opponent to be hurt, but he then screamed in pain as MetalTyrannomon's other claw struck him.

"GALGOMON!" Jenrya shouted as his partner was sent crashing into the ground.

"Culu?"

Jenrya screamed and nearly jumped away from his spot before he realized where the new sound had come from. Clutching his chest, he looked behind him to find Culumon. "Geez, nearly gave me a heart attack… and aren't you supposed to be with Guilmon?" As he looked back at the battle, however, he found MetalTyrannomon about to flatten his partner by stepping on him.

But before Jenrya could say another word, a new voice caused him to sigh in relief.

"FOX FLAME DRAGON!"

A blue, flaming dragon suddenly slammed into MetalTyrannomon. With one foot already off the ground, the Perfect was caught off guard, and soon found himself slamming into the ground.

"Kyuubimon! Ruki!" Jenrya shouted as he saw the nine-tailed fox and her Tamer.

Galgomon picked himself off the ground, and then chuckled slightly as he saw Ruki. "Nice skirt."

Ruki, still in her school uniform, growled angrily as her violet eyes flared. "Why you sorry, ungrateful little-!"

"People, we have a situation here!!" Jenrya shouted.

Ruki blinked and looked to see MetalTyrannomon getting back up, and looking none too pleased about being knocked off his feet like that. "Oh. Right."

***

Matsuda Mie sighed as she sat beside her son's hospital bed. She couldn't believe this was happening… she couldn't understand HOW it had happened. Takato had seemed perfectly healthy the day before. There was nothing wrong with him, though his mind did seemed to be focused on something else…

Did she fail somehow, she wondered? It was her responsibility as a mother to care for his well-being, but she hadn't noticed anything… Was there something wrong that she just didn't see? She had felt for the past few months that Takato had been keeping things from her, but she didn't think it was anything severe… She had figured he was just being a boy, and becoming somewhat embarrassed towards how overprotective she was of him. Mie really wouldn't have blamed him for that… she understood what she was like… And Takehiro often said she was silly for just how overprotective she was. But… he was her only child…

"Takato…" she sighed, looking at her son again. "What happened to you…?"

Suddenly the boy began to stir, and Mie jolted out of her seat in surprised. He seemed almost like he was struggling against… something. He was also trying so speak something, though it sounded rather incoherent to her.

"Gui… Guil… GUILMON!"

As well, his heart rate had skyrocketed, as one of the machines indicated.

Overprotective or not, Mie knew that this wasn't good… "Doctor!" she shouted, running to the door and throwing it open. "Someone get a doctor in here!"

***

With a start, Guilmon regained consciousness. He groaned as he lifted himself up… every fiber of his body hurt, but…

He heard Takato calling out to him… and he heard a battle raging outside…

The red reptile snarled, as the pupils of his yellow eyes became slits. "They're in trouble…"

***

"DEMON FIREBALL!"

"GATLING ARM!"

MetalTyrannomon growled in annoyance as the attacks pelted him. They really didn't seem to do much more other than annoying him.

Ruki, who was squatting down near Jenrya and Culumon now, sighed. "This is getting nowhere…"

Jenrya nodded, and smirked as he saw her pulling a card out at the same time as him. "Ready?"

Ruki nodded, and they held their Digivices up.

"Card Slash!"

"OFFENSE PLUG-IN A!" Jenrya screamed.

"SUPER CHARGER!" Ruki cried.

As they became empowered with the cards, both of the Adult Digimon rushed for their enemy, preparing both their Dum Dum Upper and Fox Flame Dragon attacks. However, as they started to execute them, MetalTyrannomon suddenly grabbed both out of the air with his claws. As Kyuubimon started to turn into blue flames anyway, and would have been able to escape his grip, MetalTyrannomon tossed the fox roughly into the ground.

"Kyuubimon!" Ruki exclaimed.

MetalTyrannomon just roared once more, tossing Galgomon into the fountain. His eyes then scanned the grouping of trees before him, and he aimed his right claw at them. As red energy began to build up around it, Jenrya and Ruki started to move. "He's aiming at us…!" the boy shouted.

"RUKI!"

"JEN!"

The cries of Kyuubimon and Galgomon as they attempted to get up went unheard by the beast. And just as he started to fire…

"ROCK BREAKER!"

A red streak suddenly collided with MetalTyrannomon's arm. Not expecting this to happen, his aim was thrown off, and the red beam that launched forth from his claw soared harmlessly into the air.

All eyes then looked in surprise as they saw a red, reptilian Digimon drop down to the ground, growling loudly.

"Guilmon!" Galgomon cried. "You're up! But… how…?"

Guilmon replied by slumping over, obviously having exhausted himself. Obviously enraged, MetalTyrannomon released a mighty yell and swung around, batting Guilmon away with his tail. The Child Digimon screamed in pain as he flew through a tree, and then out of sight from everyone else.

"Why you lousy…" Kyuubimon growled as she came back to her feet.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Galgomon proclaimed, leveling his guns at the dinosaur.

With that, both of the Adult Digimon rushed towards their foe, ready to take him down, no matter what.

"Ta… Takato…" Guilmon groaned. He attempted to get up, despite his pain, which had increased greatly from MetalTyrannomon's blow… but it was futile. He couldn't find the strength within himself to move…

But he couldn't just let his friends be hurt… he knew what would happen if he did nothing…

"Takato… I can't do this without you… I… I need…" Tears began to well up in his eyes. "Takato, please… TAKATO!"

Culumon's big green eyes widened and he fell back, holding his head. "Culucululu…"

Jenrya and Ruki looked away from the battle, as it wasn't quite going very well, and they had yet to be able to come up with a card that could make a difference. "Culumon?" Ruki said. "What's wrong?"

"CULU!" Culumon screamed, as a bright red light erupted from the triangle on his forehead.

"What the?!" Ruki shouted, jumping back.

"Um, Ruki…?" Jenrya blinked, pointing behind her. "Your backpack's glowing."

Ruki took off the backpack. Indeed, one area seemed to be glowing red. Shoving her hand into it, she retrieved Takato's Digivice, which was shining brightly. "But how…"

"Guilmon, evolve! GROWMON!"

Ruki and Jenrya's heads jerked in the direction of the exclamation, and they now found Guilmon's adult to be standing around where he got tossed moments ago. Much larger than his Child form, Growmon basically resembled an older Guilmon with long white hair, two horns on his head, and a blade on each of his arms. And to put it mildly, the demon dragon did not look happy.

MetalTyrannomon paused after avoiding some fireballs from Kyuubimon to stare at the newly evolved Digimon. Amazingly, the beast almost looked… nervous.

"You won't hurt them," Growmon snarled, "It won't come true…" The blades on his arms snapped out, crackling with energy. Then, with a scream of rage, Growmon rushed forward. "I WON'T LET IT!"

MetalTyrannomon unleashed multiple, small bursts of power from his right claw, but Growmon managed to avoid them all easily. Soon, the dragon neared his opponent and leapt into the air. The dinosaur attempted to block the incoming blow with his left claw, but Growmon managed to kick his arm out of the way. "PLASMA BLADE!" Growmon screamed as he slashed one of the cyborg's eyes.

While Growmon fell back down, MetalTyrannomon screamed from the pain that had been inflicted upon him. Far from done yet, Growmon looked up and opened his mouth as flames generated in it. "EXHAUST FLAME!" The powerful stream of fire collided with MetalTyrannomon's chest and sent him stumbling back.

"Kyuubimon! Galgomon!" Growmon barked as they took up positions at either side of him. "LETS GO!"

"Somebody's in a bossy mood all of a sudden," Galgomon smirked, aiming his guns.

However, as each of them prepared to attack, Growmon began to glow with the primary color of Takato's Digivice. Soon, the same happened with Galgomon and Kyuubimon… in turn, the Digivices themselves started to shine. However, as they were so focused on their battle, the Digimon didn't seem to notice.

"What in the world is happening here?" Ruki questioned, staring down at the two Digivices in her hands.

"GATLING ARM!"

"DEMON FIREBALL!"

"EXHAUST FLAME!"

As the three attacks converged on MetalTyrannomon they swirled around together creating a multicolored pulse that tore through cyborg's chest and flew out the other end. The Digimon let out a scream before his body broke down into data and floated off into the sky until it couldn't be seen.

Jenrya and Ruki just stared at the sight with their mouths hanging open. Soon, the Digital Field began to vanish, and as it did so, Growmon chose then to sit down on the ground.

"Geez," Galgomon muttered. "What the heck got into you?"

Growmon gave a happy smile, his eyes having reverted to normal now. In this state, his expression was the same inoccent one Guilmon constantly had plastered on his face. "Takato said to come, since you were about to get hurt."

"Takato?" Jenrya questioned as he walked over with Ruki. Culumon had now also chosen to attach himself to his head. "But Takato's…"

"He was hurt, but he's all better now. He helped me before he got better, though," Growmon said smiling, but then adopted a confused look. "But where IS Takato…?"

Jenrya chuckled a bit nervously. "Well…"

As Jenrya went on to try and explain what happened, Kyuubimon approached her Tamer.

"Ruki?" she questioned, noticing that her partner looked troubled. "What is it?"

Ruki frowned. "I don't fully understand what's going on here… when Culumon's triangle glowed, Guilmon evolved. And then you three put on that light show… just what was that?"

Kyuubimon shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't offer any explanation… it just… happened."

Ruki's eyes turned up to the sky. "Kyuubimon, I can't quite place why… but I suddenly have a very bad feeling…"

***

"So you have no idea what happened to him?" Mie asked the doctor as they stood in Takato's room.

"Not at all, to be honest," he stated, and then waved his hand to indicate the boy lying in his bed, wide-awake. "But he seems perfectly fine now."

"…does that mean I get to go home now?" Takato asked hopefully.

The doctor smiled and shook his head. "Afraid not. I'm going to have to keep you here for the night, at least." He looked back to Mie. "If everything's fine by tomorrow, you can come to pick him up in the morning."

Mie bowed. "Thank you very much."

The doctor nodded. "It's no problem. I'll be sure that we keep an eye on him through the night." That said, he made his way out of the room.

Mie turned her son and smiled slightly. "Takato… I… you really scared me there for awhile."

Takato rubbed the side of his head. "Sorry…"

She shook her head. "No, Takato, you didn't do anything, so there's no need to apologize. I'm just glad that you're all right."

He smiled back at her and nodded. Then, as she went to use the phone that was placed in the room, he turned to stare out the window. *Ruki… Lee-kun… Renamon… Terriermon… they're all right…*

He didn't know HOW he knew that, but something within him said that everything was okay now…

Takato let out one long breath. "Thanks, Guilmon…"

***

High above West Shinjuku, adopt a building, stood a figure. He was draped in a large, black cloak that allowed him to blend quite easily into the shadows. Held in one hand was a weapon, a large scythe.

"Does he awake?" a voice asked, echoing within the being's head.

"He does, master," said the figure, "does this mean that we can act now?"

"Yes… Just remember, take it one step at a time… I know you're anxious to get this done, but have patience…"

"Of course…" The figure replied as the voice faded. He grinned beneath the cloak and gazed out at the city. "Soon… Very soon… Heh, it should be fun to see you again… naïve little fox…"

***

Reika stood within a hallway of the building, waiting. As she looked out a window, she could see night was quickly falling… And Yamaki had been inside the office Sano had dragged him into for well over half an hour. Something was wrong, she could tell… but she just couldn't tell what.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her, and she jerked around in surprise. She then sighed in relief when she saw it was only Yamaki. Concern very quickly replaced that relief though when she saw, even with his sunglasses on, that he had a very pained expression on his face.

"…what is it?" she asked.

He looked away from her and out the window. "I've been relieved of my duty."

Reika's eyes widened. "You've been what?! How can Sano do something like that?!"

Yamaki just turned and started to walk away. She grabbed his arm to stop him, but he didn't even look at her. "Do me a favor," he said, shrugging her off. "Leave me alone."

She watched as he walked away for a few moments before speaking again. "Ya-" she stopped herself, "Mitsuo, wait!"

He didn't reply, and only kept on walking.

-End Chapter 01

-------

Revision Notes: For this chapter, I didn't really want to change too much at first except for taking out the lone Hypnos scene in the original version and adding in a couple new, different ones. Naturally, that plan went out the window as soon as I started revising little things elsewhere… which eventually wound up making me rewrite a majority of the whole fic. Oh well, I think it really turned out better this way, and everything flows better, to me. Plus, I was able to establish a couple characters better with this revision, and I think I was able to portray Takato's vision in a clearer manner than before.

Overall, though, as I said, the revisions in this chapter are minor compared to some that'll come in later ones…

Otherwise… nothing else to say, really. ^^;

Next: Chapter 02- "Muertemon: Messenger of Shadows & Death"