Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Legacy ❯ Apocalypse: Chapter 1 ( Chapter 14 )

December 22, 2015

Apocalypse

Chapter 1

Takato's mouth was wide open as he stared at the image on the television screen. He was still in the train station, waiting for the next monorail to take him back home, when he decided to find a television to watch the news. What he saw caused his spine to turn to ice: an aerial view of Tokyo, with giant red bubbles floating to the sky. The goggle-wearing Tamer took a few deep breaths to keep himself from passing out. "The D-Reaper! It's...it's here!"

In the seat next to him, Guilmon's eyes were wide open in complete shock. "But h..how did it get here?"

Takato shook his head. "I don't know. We must have brought it here, and not even known! This is our fault, Guilmon, it has to be!"

The red dinosaur turned to his partner. "What are we going to do, Takato?"

Takato took a deep breath, and then jumped to his feet. "We've got to get back to Tokyo, now!"

Back in East Matsumoto, Calamon cheerfully ran across the floor, laughing as he was being chased by Jeri's younger brother. Masahiko giggled as he ran after the small digimon, trying desperately to catch him. Eventually he moved close enough to try and jump for it. Unfortunately, he slipped and slammed into the hard wooden floor. He slowly sat up and started crying.

Calamon quickly ran back over to him as Mrs. Katou knelt beside him. "Are you okay?"

He sniffled. "I..I.."

The small white digimon's ears retracted into his head. "He fell down."

The trio suddenly became aware that Jeri was standing over them, dressed in a simple white dress and green sweater. She stared down at her younger brother and her step-mother. "Jeri!" Mrs. Katou gasped,"Are you looking for the bathroom?" She pointed down the hall,"It's down there."

Jeri ignored her as she walked over to Masahiko. She leaned over him and stared into his eyes. "Fall down, fall down, falldown, falldownfalldownfalldown!" she started repeating quickly.

The young boy started crying again. "Mom, Jeri's scary!"

"Jeri," Mrs. Katou said,"I..I think you're hurting him. Maybe you should let him go, okay? Please?"

Jeri did as she was told, then stared at her step-mother, giving her an evil grin.

Down below, Calamon stared up at her. "Jeri, what's wrong with you?"

Back in Tokyo, Yamaki and Wong stood atop the roof of the Hypnos building, staring out at the red bubbles emerging from the heart of the city. The red balls were appearing from everywhere, yet no one was able to discover a source for the chaos. As a safety precaution, the mayor had ordered the streets closed and the army had set up along the streets. It still would not do any good; the military had no idea what they were up against. Neither did Hypnos for that matter.

"What can this possibly be, Jonyu?" Yamaki asked.

"I had no idea, I've never seen anything like this before," the other man sighed,"It's like the city is a pot of boiling water. We've got to figure what this is."

"It's the D-Reaper."

The two men twirled around and saw Ryo and Miki walking towards them. "What do you mean it's the D-Reaper?" Yamaki asked.

"Just like we said, Dad," Miki answered.

"We saw the D-Reaper in the Digital World," Ryo continued,"I don't know if it is intentional or not, but those bubbles appeared when the D-Reaper did."

"D-Reaper's somewhere in the city?" Wong asked, "How...how did it get here?"

Ryo and Miki looked at each other nervously. "What?" Yamaki asked.

The Digital Hunter Orion sighed. "Miki and I think we might have brought it back with us somehow."

"How?" Wong gasped,"How could that have happened?"

Both Digital Hunters shook their heads. "We have no idea."

Yamaki sighed as he turned to face the city. "D-Reaper, huh? Well, it's not getting this city without a fight."

Back in East Matsumoto, Masahiko was playing with his toy trucks. His mother walked over to him. "Masahiko, have you seen Jeri?"

He just pointed to a dark hall. "She's in there?"

Mrs. Katou stared at him. "The laundry room?"

He nodded.

She walked to the hall's entrance. "Jeri? Jeri, are you down there?"

There was no response.

Mrs. Katou tried to sound authoritative, but it came out sounding nervous and un-easy. "Jeri, if this is a game, I'm...I'm going to be very upset with you."

There was still no answer. She flicked the switch, turning the light on. However, the room was completely empty. "Jeri, where are you?"

'Jeri', or rather, the being pretending to be Jeri, was not in East Matsumoto, she was not even in Japan. She was half a world away, watching a battle between two opposing armies in a region covered with sand.

She stood on a rocky ridge, watching the war occurring below her. It was a bloodbath, hundreds of men and women were being killed "These humans are stubborn creatures. They would rather kill one another then reach an agreement in an argument. More data is needed."

Back in Tokyo, families everywhere was glued to their television, watching the news reports of the red bubbles that were floating to the sky. Their lives could be in danger at any second, and they were going to be prepared if they had to flee their homes. One of these families was Rika's.

Rika was seated, leaning on her knees as she was intensively watching the news footage. Renamon was standing right behind her. "The D-Reaper has followed us here."

"I know," the red-headed girl said,"But how? How did it break through the barrier? If someone as powerful as the Sovereigns couldn't break through how could the D-Reaper?"

"I'm afraid that we must have brought it back with us," the fox woman sighed.

Rika took a deep breath. "What do we do about it?"

Renamon shivered slightly. "Right now, I don't think there's anything that we can do. We just have to wait and see. I know it's hard, but we have to wait."

Rika just nodded. There was a silence for a few minutes before Rika cleared her throat. "Renamon?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think the others are going to be there?"

The fox just nodded. "Yes."

"Do you think they'll ever forgive us?"

"I don't know."

Rika looked to the ground. "That's what I thought."

In the kitchen behind them, Rumiko and Rika's grandmother were spying on the Tamer and digimon. "At least she's safe," Rika's grandmother said.

The supermodel shook her head. "No, something's wrong, I can feel it. Something happened to her, and she's not ready to talk about it."

Rika's grandmother smiled. "Why, Rumiko, I don't think I've ever heard you say something like that."

Her daughter turned and smiled at her. "Well, Mom, I guess it was just time to listen to my heart."

The older woman placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Maybe it's time you did what it told you."

Rumiko smiled slightly, then took a deep breath and walked into the living room. "Rika?"

"Yeah, Mom?" she asked, turning to face her.

"Is..is there anything the matter? You seem so…different since you came back. Did anything happen?"

Rika hesitated for a long time, and then turned to her partner. "Renamon?"

"You need to do what your heart tells you to," the fox said. "I'll give you two some time alone." She vanished.

"Where did she go?" Rumiko asked,"She didn't have to leave!"

"It's okay, Mom," Rika said,"She'll be back."

"Oh, so, is there anything you want to tell me?"

Rika took a few deep breaths, then said, "Mom, suppose there was a person who was different, and this person found another group of people just like him/her, but this person did something bad, really bad to that group. Would you forgive that person, or would you hate him/her for the rest of your life, even though that person was really sorry for what happened?"

Rumiko took a few seconds to take all of it. She wanted to scream at her daughter, demanding to know what she had done, but held her tongue back. "Well, first I'd want to know if anyone was hurt because of this."

Rika shook her head,"No one's dead, if that's what you mean, but some people were really hurt, emotionally, I mean."

Rumiko nodded. "Okay, well, if there was only emotional damage done, then I'd have to say,..I don't know. I guess I would forgive that person because I really don't know what happened, but if that person wants forgiveness, I think she…she/he, should seek it from the people that were hurt."

Rika nodded. "That's what I thought you would say."

"Sorry I wasn't much help."

Rika smiled at her. "Actually, thanks for being here for me."

Rumiko hugged her daughter, "I always will be."

In the center of the city, the Hypnos's armored van was parked along a street corner. Inside, the Monster Makers were busily using their equipment to examine the rouge program that was infecting their city.

"Hey, Daisy!" Babel shouted,"Do you have that energy analysis yet?"

"Coming right up," the blond woman answered, as she wheeled her chair through the small van. She handed him a set a disks,"It's on here."

"Thanks." He shoved it into the floppy drive,"Let's see what this thing can do."

As they continued working, Taily turned around from where she was in the driver's seat. "You guys should hurry. I don't know how much longer the military is going to let us stay out here."

"I thought Hypnos was part of the army?" Curly asked.

Taily sighed. "There's some bad blood between us. It's a long story. By the way, where's Mr. Wong?"

"He's back at Hypnos," Babel said,"He wanted to meet with Dolphin's grandaughter."

Alice and Lopmon were staring up in awe at the dome-shaped ceiling of Hypnos's command room. "This is amazing!"

Yamaki chuckled slightly behind her. "That's what everyone says."

The small digimon trailed behind the blond girl. "I never knew that humans could do something like this."

Alice glanced up where she saw Riley on her elevated chair, then back to the Hypnos commander. "Where's Dr.Wong?"

"He'll be here in a minute. He's on the telephone."

A few floors down, Wong was indeed on the telephone, talking to his son. "Henry?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Listen, I know that you're probably very tempted to go out and play the hero, but I want you to stay inside and let us handle this."

"Dad, I..."

"Henry, this is very important to me. Please."

"A..all right Dad. I..I'll stay here."

Wong breathed a deep sigh of relief. "That's such a load off my mind. Tell your mother I'll be home as soon as I can. See you later. Bye."

'Jeri' was now in a city filled with ancient buildings, which were being destroyed under a squadron of tanks. "More war and destruction," Jeri said,"Even under the guise of good intentions, humans will force their own beliefs on others. They will attack because of what they believe to be correct and good."

Kasumi and Snow Agumon were standing next to the window in her father's hospital room, staring out at the city below them. The red bubbles were quickly growing in intensity. Tai's daughter turned to her partner. "It's getting worse."

The white dinosaur nodded. "Yeah, we've got to do something."

Kasumi nodded. "Yeah, come on."

The two girls turned around and were about to run out of the hospital room, but found that Nami was standing in the doorway. They stared at each other for a few minutes before the older woman took a deep breath. "So, you're leaving?"

Kasumi nodded slowly. "Yeah." She turned to where her father was lying on the bed, still asleep. "I'm his daughter. I just feel that..since he can't be there, I have to. I don't know, it's like...like..well, I really don't know what it's like. But I do know that I have to be there."

She looked up to the older woman, to find that she was crying slightly. "I'm not your mother, I can't stop you, but..please come back."

Kasumi nodded and hugged her. "Dad's been alone for such a long time; I hope you don't leave, now that you know about all of this."

Nami smiled slightly, despite the fact that she was crying. "If I was going to leave, I wouldn't be here right now."

Kasumi bowed. "I'll be back, don't worry."

Nami sniffiled as the teenager ran down the hospital hallway. "Good luck."

"She left, didn't she?"

The older woman spun around and was shocked to find that Tai was sitting up in his bed, fully awake. "Tai, you're awake!"

He nodded. "Yeah." He turned to look out the window,"So, the D-Reaper's here." He sighed,"Kasumi will do fine, so will the others."

Nami was shocked. "You're not going to help them?"

Tai smiled. "Of course I am, but I think we need help. Can you tell the front desk I'm leaving?"

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Yamaki and I need to have a chat."

At the Wongs' apartment, Henry was in his living room, about to ask his mother the hardest thing he ever had to ask. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked.

Henry hesitated for a second, and then sighed. "I don't know how to start, so I'm just going to come right out and say it. The others are going to be out there. I know that Takato's there, and I'm pretty sure that Kasumi and Kazu will be out there and.."

"..and you want to go out there, too."

Henry nodded slightly. "Yes."

"And since you promised your father you wouldn't, you want me to say its okay."

Henry nodded. "Yes."

His mother looked in his eyes and started crying. "You don't have to, you know. You don't have to go out there and risk your life."

"But Mom, Terriermon and I can help, and if people get killed because I didn't act, I don't know how I would be able to take it." He hesitated for a few minutes before speaking again. "I feel that Terriermon and I were brought together for a reason, and I think this is it. We are here to stop this thing. Mom, I need to."

"Then go," she sniffled, crying into her hands.

Henry wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything. He jumped up and ran over to the door. He heard his mother started sobbing louder. He stopped short and turned around. "I'll be back, Mom, don't worry."

She was crying so loudly she did not hear him leave.

"Jeri' was now hidden inside of a building filled with representatives from all nations of the world. They were arguing over various issues. "Even when these humans discuss in peaceful negotiations, they still loathe and hate one another. Humanity is selfish, violent, and self-destructive. The only possible course of action, total annilation. All humans must die."

Takato had finally made it back to Tokyo. He and Guilmon had to dodge their way though clusters of soldiers before finally making it to the center of the city, where the bubbles of chaos were starting to grow in intensity. The Tamer and his partner were now pressed firmly up against a building, slowly peering around the corner to examine the bubbles hovering over the city. "Where are they coming from?" he asked,"They're just..there!"

"Hey, what are you doing here?!"

Takato instantly froze, thinking the army had caught up to him. He slowly turned around, but saw Henry and Terriermon smiling at him.

"You jerk!" Takato shouted,"You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Henry smiled slightly."How long have you been here?"

"I just got back," Takato panted,"Are you here alone?"

The black-haired teenager moved aside so Takato could see two younger children, a boy and a girl, with a devilish creature at their feet. "Ai and Mako!" he smiled,"What are you two doing here?"

"We're here to help, what'da ya' think?" Impmon asked.

"Well, they are kinda young, but I don't want to start sounding like the adults."

The group turned around and saw Kasumi, Kazu, their digimon, and Miki standing in front of them. "Kasumi!" Takato gasped,"How's Mr. Kamiya?"

The teenage girl sighed slightly. "When I left, he was still unconscious. I hope he'll be all right."

"I'm sure he will," Heny said.

The group was silent for a few minutes before Kazu spoke up. "So, what do we do now?"

Takato mentioned to the ally he was just looking down a second ago. "Those Chaos bubbles are starting to appear faster. We've got to figure out where they're coming from, or where the D-Reaper really is and.."

"Takato!" Ai shouted, pointing at the bubbles,"Look!"

The goggle-wearing Tamer spun around and joined the others in a gasp as the bubbles started to hover towards them. The Chaos quickly picked up speed as the bubbles twisted and changed into red humanoid figures. "I think it knows we're here!" Mako gasped.

Takato grabbed his D-Arc. "Digivolve!"

MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION

"Guilmon matrix digivolve to Wargrowlmon!"

"Terriermon matrix digivovle to Rapidmon!"

"Impmon digivolve to Beelzemon!"

"Snow Agumon digivolve to Veedramon!"

Miki's body shifted and changed to Artemis, the Digital Hunter.

The transformed red bubbles slammed into the digimon with such force that it caused both sides to fly backwards and into the ground. The creatures were in the air before the digimon, but the forces of earth were able to make up for the delay. The fist battle between Earth and the D-Reaper had begun.

Wargrowlmon slashed his claw across one of the creatures, creating a massive claw mark along its red skin. To the dinosaur's horror, the scratched instantly healed.

"Oh no!" Takato gasped.

"This is going to be harder then we thought," Wargrowlmon muttered. He began to rapidly slash the red creatures, but again, every injury instantly healed.

The Ultimate digimon hovered in the air as he stared at the monstrosity in front of him. "If I can't tear you apart, I'll just have to blow you to bits! Radiation Blade Attack!"

His energy beam engulfed the strange creature and annihilated it. Wargrowlmon breathed a sigh of relief. "So that's how you kill these guys."

"Good job!" Takato shouted,"That's one down!"

The cyborg dinosaur sighed as he looked to where the other digimon were busy fighting the creatures. "Only about a dozen to go."

Unbeknownst to them, the creature posing as Jeri was resting on a building high above them, watching the battle intently. "These Tamers see themselves as the protectors of humanity. Even their digimon battle feverously to save this city. This does not make sense, digimon are alien to this world, yet they fight to save it. It does not make sense. Digimon must be annihilated as well."

She examined the locations of the different transformed bubbles in the city.. "A network connection is needed between the D-Reaper's agents and the D-Reaper's kernel of intelligence." She started to glance around the city until she focused on the skyscraper of the Hypnos building. "Acknowledged."

She jumped off of the roof and landed gracefully on the street. She walked a few blocks before rounding a corner and coming face-to-face with a street full of soldiers. Each military fighter was confused for a second as they stared at Jeri walking towards him.

"Hey!" one of the soldiers shouted to her,"Hey, kid! This street is off limits!"

She ignored them and continued to walk forward.

"Stop now!" the soldier shouted,"Stop!" He joined the other soldiers as they reached for their rifles.

"This is your last chance!"

Jeri stopped and stared at them. Her eyes glowed for a second, than an invisible explosion of energy sent the soldiers flying through nearby buildings. She continued down the street.

The doors to the Hypnos command room slid open and Tai, Agumon and Gatomon stepped inside. "Kamiya?" Yamaki gasped,"Aren't you suppose to be in the hospital?"

Tai slowly walked inside the room. "I was, but I took an early leave, heh."

Wong ran over and helped him over to a chair. "Are you sure that was wise?"

Tai panted. "Have you been outside lately? The D-Reaper's here! I can't be resting at a time like this."

Wong was going to protest again but Agumon and Gatomon cut him off. "He didn't listen to us and we're his partners."

The Monster Maker just nodded. "Ah, yes."

Tai looked past Wong and Yamaki and smiled when he saw Alice and Lopmon standing behind them. "Hi, Alice. I see Lopmon's with you."

The small chocolate digimon bowed. "Yes, sir. I wanted to see this place."

Tai was going to answer, but alarms started to blast through the dome shaped ceiling. "What's going on?" he asked.

Yamaki mentioned to the ceiling, "Show him, Riley."

"Yes, sir." She pressed a few buttons and an image appeared on the screen, of a street a block away from the Hypnos building. A street that had a figure walking down the street.

"Jeri?!" Tai gasped, jumping to his feet. He ignored the pain from his injury and ran over to get a closer look. "What's Jeri doing there?"

"That's not Jeri," Yamaki said,"Not unless she has psychic powers."

"Psychic Powers?" he gasped.

"You were her teacher," the Hypnos commander said,"Did she ever exhibit any type of telekinesis?"

"What do you mean?!"

Yamaki sighed. "She sent an entire army squad flying into the air to get them out of her way."

Tai was in complete shock. "She..she never..."

"Sirs!" Riley shouted,"She preparing to engage the military stationed in front of this building."

"She's comming here?!" Tai shouted.

"Yes, but we don't know why."

Tai's eyes were wide open as he watched the image on the monitor.

Outside, Jeri continued to walk towards Hypnos, ignoring the large military force in front of her. Tanks lined the entrance to the building and in front of them were dozens of soldiers, their rifles pointed directly at her. The senior officer shouted at her through a bull horn. "Stop! I repeat! Halt and drop to your feet."

Jeri ignored them and kept walking.

"Drop to the ground, now!"

She kept walking.

The commander sighed. "All right, let her have it! Fire!"

The soldiers started to fire their weapons at the being pretending to be a teenage girl. Despite the fact that nearly a dozen sets of bullets were being projected at her, she kept walking forward.

The soldiers noticed this and began to fire faster. It was still no use. They all stopped to stare at the creature that continued to march forward, not even her clothes showed any sign of having a dozen rifles fired at them.

The commander kept a clam head as he turned to a few soldiers with larger guns. "Maybe the tear gas will work. Fire!"

They began to fire rounds of tear gas at her, but they exploded a few inches in front of her, like she was encased in an invisible shield. The soldiers stared in complete awe as she continued her march until she was a few feet in front of the building and the blockade. She stopped and stood firmly in place as she stared at the military force.

The commander turned to the row of tanks. "Fire!"

Each tank fired a large missile at her. She simply held up her palm and the missiles stopped directly in front of her. She turned her palm around, with caused the missiles to point back at the military blockade. She raised her hand and threw it down, which sent one of the missiles soaring into the tank in the center. The metal vehicle exploded with such force that it not only sent the soldiers flying, but the row of tanks flipping over like a stack of dominos.

She raised her arm again and let it drop, sending the rest of the missiles through the glass doors of the Hypnos building and into the lobby. They impacted a few seconds later, sending an incredible amount of fire and smoke shooting out of the doorway. Jeri stood firmly still as she was engulfed by the inferno.

Near the very top was the command room and despite the fact of being that far up, they still felt the entire building shake. "Report!" Yamaki ordered.

"Sir!" Riley shouted,"The intruder has made it past the military blockade and has entered the building."

"What?" Yamaki gasped,"Where is she now?"

Riley pressed a few buttons,"She's moving to the third floor."

"The Hypnos core!" the commander gasped,"Riley, start download, immediately!"

"What's going on?" Wong asked.

"If she infects the core program, everything here is finished," he said. He ran over to small microphone on the desk in the corner. "This is Commander Yamaki. Escape this building at once! Repeat, get out now!"

"You're leaving?" Tai gasped, but Yamaki held up his hand as he continued to speak into the microphone.

"Orion, don't let her get any closer!" He put the microphone back down, and then looked up to Riley. "How much longer?"

"A few minutes.....now! It's finished." She lowered her chair and jumped down, placing the cds into her pocket.

"How did you do that so fast?" Wong gasped.

"Latest military technology," Yamaki simply said,"Faster then anything you've ever seen before. Come on, we've got to get out of here."

On the third floor, the Jeri creature walked through the empty hallway towards a large metal door. Ryo and Monodramon suddenly jumped in front of it, a large gun in his hands. "Stop where you are!"

She ignored him and continued to march forward.

The Digital Hunter held up his large gun,"Alright, you asked for it. This is an electro-magnetic gun. It'll fry any digital system."

She still continued forward.

He pointed the gun right at her. "Take this!" He fired a small ball of white electricity at her. She stumbled backwards, the expression of pain obvious on her face.

"Hey, it worked," he smiled slightly. He was not able to get another shot it, however, as Jeri shot her palm forward, causing Ryo and his digimon to slam into the metal door. She quickened her pace to get over to the Digital Hunter and his partner before they were on their feet. The door slid open and she stepped inside, the door closing behind her.

"Damn!" Ryo got to his feet.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Monodromon asked.

Ryo picked him up and started running back down the hall."We're leaving."

Inside the room, Jeri stared up at the giant mass of machinery. "Hypnos core system," she smiled. She took a few steps forward and placed her hand on the machine.

Yamaki and the others suddenly became aware that the hall they were in started to shake. "What's going on?"

"Get in the room!"

They twirled around and saw Ryo and Monodramon charging towards them as a stream of red matter quickly covered the walls behind him. He forcefully pushed the group through the door and into the janitor's closet, slamming the door seconds before the red mass covered the hallway.

Back at the battlefield, the Tamers and their digimon partners were successful in defeating their opponents. They were about to head towards the center of the city, when they suddenly became aware of a loud rumbling noise. They were able to identify the source as the Hypnos building, but when they turned to examine it, their eyes all shot open. To most of them, it was like watching a popcorn kernel pop as a gigantic red mass exploded from the third floor of the building and devoured everything except for the top two towers. This mass of red continued to grow until it has also managed to assimilate about a block of buildings and roads in all directions from its center.

"What the heck is that thing?" Kazu gasped.

Artemis quickly tapped her earpiece. "Hypnos command, this is Artemis, respond. I repeat, come in, Hypnos command." She sighed,"There's no answer."

"What happened there?" Kasumi gasped.

"It's like the entire place is covered in some kind of..of rising dough!" Wargrowlmon gasped. The other digimon turned to him, and he coughed slightly. "Takato took me to see his bakery, all right?"

"Look at its color!" Henry gasped,"Could that be the D-Reaper's real form?"

"Should we check it out?" Ai asked.

"I think we've got a bigger problem," Beelzemon gasped, "Something's coming this way!"

Everyone gasped as dozen of small, bird shaped creatures shot towards them from the red mass, each one connected to the, as Wargrowlmon put it, 'rising dough' with a long red cord. They stopped a few feet in front of the forces of Earth and stared at them.

"Um, what are they doing?" Rapidmon asked.

"Maybe a staring contest of some sort?" Guardromon suggested.

"Why don't we just get out of here?" Veedramon asked, "This is starting to creep me out."

"I agree with her," Takato said, "Let's just leave."

The group started to slowly back away when another creature appeared from the red mass. Like the previous bird shape, this one was connected by way of a long red cord, but this looked nothing like a bird. It had resembled a small human with sickles for hands and razor blades in the shape of pendulums for feet, while its body was covered by a multicolored sheet. Its face was flat and an odd yellow and orange combination.

"I think we're in more trouble," Veedramon sighed.

Pendulum Feet shot towards them with its razor appendages spinning towards them. Wargrowlmon was first, screaming in pain as the creature's hands and feet tore across his body.

"Hang on buddy!" Rapidmon called, flying towards him, "I'm coming to the rescue! Tri-Beam!" Pendulum Feet dodged Rapidmon's energy attack, but that was not was caused the Ultimate digimon to gasp out in awe. It was when the creature moved its arms and legs into an exact copy of Rapidmon's pose and fired a beam of green energy, which Rapidmon barely dodged.

"That was my attack!" Rapidmon gasped, "It used my attack!"

"What is this thing?" Beelzemon asked.

Rika had been quiet most of the day since returning home from the Digital World. Her ankle had healed, surprisingly, probably from merging with Renamon. It really did not do her any good, however, as she did not have anywhere to go with it. The only people, besides her family, that were ready to accept her probably hated her right now. She knew Renamon was there, but the fox had only done what she did because Rika needed her. The Digimon Queen was not a well loved ruler.

She was lazily flicking through the television when she came to a special bulletin on the news. The anchorman mentioned something about a developing news story near the center of Tokyo when the image changed to footage of the Tamer digimon battling against Pendulum Feet. "These digimon are currently engaging the enemy, but they do not seem to be able to handle it on their own."

Rika did not hear the rest of what he had to say as she was too concerned when the bird-shaped creatures wrapped themselves around each of the digimon and Artemis, binding them tightly. "Renamon, they need our help!"

The fox digimon appeared beside her, "Yes, we've got to leave now if we want to make a difference."

The duo turned to leave, but found Rumiko standing there. "So, you're leaving?"

Rika looked to the ground,"Yeah, I've..I've got to. My…my friends are in trouble."

The supermodel looked to the ground sadly. "I..I just want you to know that..I love you."

"I love you too, Mom."

She reached over and hugged her. "And even though I really don't say it, I'm proud of you Rika. You make your own choices, just like your mother did." She broke out of the embrace and stared at her, "Go and get that red bubble thing or whatever it is. But, just remember that your mother will be waiting for you to come back."

She looked past her daughter at the fox woman. "Renamon, is it?"

"Yes."

"Look after her."

"Always."

"Don't worry Mom," Rika said, running to the door,"We'll beat that thing! See ya' later."

Rumiko placed her hand over her face to hide her tears.

Outside, Rika and Renamon charged along the sidewalk towards the center of town. "Renamon?" the red head asked.

"Yes, Rika?"

"We're crazy aren't we? I mean, we don't even know how to bio-merge again, and now we think we can beat this thing? I've got to be nuts! We're just a rookie and a human! How can we stand up against something like that! If only we had more power…."

Time seemed to slow down as Rika looked down to watch her feet. She saw her sneaker lifting into the air, and catching a brief glance of Renamon's paw before place that foot down so her other leg could come up. She watched slowly as that foot touched down, covered not in a sneaker, but a heeled boot. She spied her other leg and found that it had changed as well.

She blinked a few times before finding herself in an area of white light. "Renamon, have we bio-merged?"

"Yes Rika," the fox woman responded, a surge of excitement in her voice.

"Then let's save our friends!"

Sakuyamon laughed as she shot into the sky, zooming towards the battlefield.

The digimon were being squeezed by the red cords of the bird-shaped creatures while Pendulum Feet hovered over them, obviously trying to decide who to attack next.

"Hang in there, Wargrowlmon!" Takato shouted to him.

"I don't really have a choice!"

"Beelzemon!" Ai and Mako shouted, "Can't you break free?"

The mega shook his head. "Som..somethin's wrong. It's..drainin' my strength!"

"Rapidmon!" Henry called,"Don't give in, you'll be able to get out!"

"Henry!" his digimon responded,"Do you see how it's got me? I think this could be the end!"

"Don't count on it! Sakuyamon is here to save you!"

"Sakuyamon?!" Takato gasped as the mega appeared in the sky. She used her staff to knock Pendulum Feet out of her before she stopped in front of the tangled Rapidmon.

"What are you doing here?"the Ultimate asked,"Attacking us when we're helpless? That would be just like you."

"I'm here to help, I swear," she said, "I don't expect you to believe what I'm saying, so I'll show you." She lifted her staff and created a cluster of glowing leaves, which whipped across the bird-shaped creatures, destroying them and freeing the others. The digimon were weak from being in contact with those creatures, as they regressed back to the rookie forms. Even Artemis had to change back to her true form of Miki.

"What were those things?" Sakuyamon asked, from the sky.

"We don't know," Kasumi said,"But they flew right towards us. It was like they were searching for us."

Sakuyamon turned around when she heard a group of the birds flying towards her. "Well, Searchers, prepare to meet your end!" She swung her staff into the group of bird-creatures, which vaporized when a glowing beam of energy emerged from the staff.

"Sakuyamon!" Kazu called,"Watch out for Pendulum Feet!"

"Who?" she gasped, turning around. She was barely able to swing her staff up in time to block the scythes of the deadly creature. She looked down to its feet and smiled. "Ah, now I get it. Well, Pendulum Feet, prepare for your end!"

She flung it into the air and pointed her staff at the cord connecting it to massive red blob. "Spirit Strike!" Her staff formed two beams of energy that ripped through the cord; the backlash of energy annihilating the deadly Pendulum Feet.

She landed on the ground in front of the other Tamers. "You really came to save us," Takato gasped.

"That's right," she said,"and also, to apologize. Takato, I'm sorry for what I did." She turned to Kasumi, "And for what I did to your father."

The group was going to respond, when they heard the familiar whirl of helicopters over them. "We should get out of here," Takato shouted over the roar, "I don't think the army's going to congratulate us!"

"But where can we go?" Kasumi asked.

"The school!" Kazu suggested,"No one will think to look for us there. Besides, I heard it was evacuated. I don't think they're going to let anyone in a building next to that!" He pointed towards the red bubble.

"We don't have time to argue," Henry said,"Let's go."

They started running, but saw that Sakuyamon was heading the other way. "Aren't you coming with us?" Ai asked.

"I think that for now, we need some time apart," the mega smiled,"I'll see you around though." She ran into a dark alley and vanished.

"What about us, Takato?" Kasumi asked,"What are we going to do?"

The goggle-wearing Tamer glanced over to the large red bubble that was slowly growing. "I don't know."

To be continued….