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the-digimon-tamer · 5 years

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Chapter 28 - Lakeside Rumble is out now on FanFiction.Net and ArchiveOfOurOwn! Check them out with the links or find it after the break!

Title: The Tamer v2.0 - In HIs Name

Fandom: Digimon

Rating: T

Synopsis: In the next adventure of the Digimon Tamer, the lives of Juri, Rika, and Henry change forever when digimon begin crossing over into the human world. But it’s all just a story, right? Just a book series by an author no one has seen in a long time. Why are they here and can they save their world before something worse follows the digimon?

Ken Ichijouji stared at the numerous computers lining the walls of the massive office space they were given. Although he had all this raw processing power available at his disposal, he couldn’t help but feel powerless when it came to figuring out how to get back into the Digital World. It should have been easy with their newer digivices - just point it at the screen and open a Digiport. But if it had been so simple, they would have just gone to the Digital World already and found their partners. And even if he could have gone, that wasn’t a guarantee that they could save the kids who’d just gone missing.

While these computers were a far cry from anything Ancient technology could produce, they were still generations ahead of his home computer; or anything he and his wife could build at home. And that brought to mind the laptop of their missing comrade - Takeru Takaishi, who just mysteriously vanished into thin air one day along with all their partners.

“Is there something bothering you, Ichijouji?” Yamaki asked from the side. Ken avoided making eye contact, not wanting to give away what he was thinking or appear nervous around them, “Just thinking.”

“Admiring our super computer? It’s code name is Yggdrasil,” Yamaki folded its arms, “It’s far ahead of its time, even back when it was first made. If we hadn’t allocated it for government purposes, this baby could’ve cracked the human genome or probably have found a cure for cancer.”

“Wait! That’s Yggdrasil! My baby!”the ‘Monster Maker’ called Daisy cried out, rushing towards the massive machine to hug it, “I spent every weekend I had trying to make this baby work! Look at how big its gotten! How many gigaflops can she do now?”

“Try Teraflops, pushing on Petaflops,” Yamaki answered quietly. Ken had to restrain a whistle. That was no minor accomplishment. That level of technology was pushing the boundaries of what was possible and had him wondering what kind of scope this program was working under. As he wondered how much brain power went into making such a monster of a computer, the woman named Daisy knocked on it proudly to boast, “This was the original piece of hardware we ran our simulation on - the one that would become the digimon. Designed it by having three hundred processors running in parallel and modifying the operating system to take full advantage of it! I call it Yggy for short!”

Yamaki pulled her away from the massive machine, “For security purposes, we confiscated the machine. It was too dangerous to leave out for anyone to get their hands on. But no one could’ve ever dreamed what the hardware could be capable of. It practically ran the Juggernaut program. It was almost like it was supposed to be.”

Ken had heard those words before and they still invited very angering memories from a time before now. Back when destiny was the only thing that mattered to him. Back when all he cared about was taking it into his own hands and denying whatever it had in store before he chose to live in blissful ignorance.

Destiny...

It couldn’t have been that simple. And if it was, he was going to be very mad, “Matt. Where’s your brother’s laptop?”

The man jumped at the sound of his name, “Still in my car, why?”

“We’re going to need it. I think I just figured out TK’s password.”

...

Rika followed just behind Ryo and Cyberdramon, her partner falling further behind because of Kazu and Kenta becoming more worn out as they traveled further. It bothered her that they had come along at all and she found herself pondering why Takato was okay with them coming at all. So far, they’d been nothing but a drag on the team. Then she remembered the parts from the book - how The Digimon Tamer was a master manipulator who would always ensure you accomplished your destiny. She wondered if they were here to find partners, or to become bait for whatever danger they would encounter next.

Whichever the case, she just figured she would have to protect them for now. If their destiny was to die, she would make sure to give Takato another headache. She was not here to babysit and she wasn’t here to watch anyone die. Thankfully, Ryo’s guidance had kept them alive and well. They managed to avoid any serious fights using tricks he’d learned to sneak around some digimon. But there were many that were unavoidable because of his partner. Cyberdramon would occasionally indulge his violent anger and attack the large or strong digimon, which dragged them into the fight as things escalated until they were ragged.

But after days of walking and only a few life endangering battles behind them, they eventually came across a river passing through the forest. Ryo took out his map and checked it against his digivice, “Okay. Your friend Andromon should be around here somewhere.”

“Are you sure?” Kenta looked around them carefully, “I don’t see him.”

“Well he’s here, somewhere. I marked the spot on my map,” Ryo said, quietly double checking his map and gesturing at the stream, “If I had to take a guess, the current probably moved him further down. I bet we’ll find him if we follow the river.”

Cyberdramon roared into the sky before running down the path of the stream, growling angrily at something in the distance. He only stopped when Ryo used his digivice to summon a rope of light to restrain his partner down to his knees, “DOWN! STOP CYBERDRAMON! BAD! NO FIGHTING FOR YOU!”

“What’s his deal?” Kazu asked, gesturing to the chaotic digimon as he continued trying to thrash and growl at something further ahead. Ryo yanked back on his digivice, still trying to pull Cyberdramon back and grunting out, “He probably sensed a strong digimon nearby and wants to fight! DOWN! I SAID DOWN! It could be your friend! STOP!”

After a moment, Renamon leapt onto Cyberdramon’s back and struck him across the head to silence him. She raised up another hand, “Quiet! I hear something.”

Rika closed her eyes and tried to focus on her environment but heard nothing, “I don’t hear anything. What is it?”

“It’s...Andromon,” she leapt off Cyberdramon and took off at a sprint. Her dash inspired Cyberdramon to give one good pull that resulted in Ryo falling flat on the ground and getting dragged along. They gave chase after the two running digimon, just barely able to keep them in sight until they reached their destination and found the limp form of Andromon caught against a log that was half stuck in the water. The mechanical digimon twitched and fidgeted, monotonously spouting out nonsense, “Error! Error! System Int...Damaged! Compartment Hous...Com...mised! Att…empt re…pair! Error! File Not Found! Err...or!”

“Whoa, what happened to him?” Kazu called out, “Gimme a hand!”

He grabbed the log, pulling as hard as he could to get it to shore. Even though it barely moved, he refused to give up, “It’s no good. This thing weighs a ton!”

“One side,” Renamon pushed the boy aside, “Rika?”

“On it,” Rika was already ahead of her, shuffling through her deck for the right, “DigiModify! Strength Boost, Activate!”

With one arm, Renamon pulled the log up onto the river bank - bringing Andromon to shore with it. Andromon rolled onto the dirt with a metal clang, still twitching violently with every noise and spark. Kazu ran to his side to inspect the poor ultimate until he was pulled back by Kenta, “Watch it, Kazu! He’s sparking see! You could electrocute yourself!”

“Not what I’m worried about, Kenta,” Kazu barked, inspecting the digimon carefully. Rika rolled her eyes, unsure of what he thought he was going to find. The guy obviously didn’t know anything about computers. What did he think he was going to accomplish by pretending to know anything about fixing an advanced android digimon? But even she was surprised when he thought to open up the panel inside Andromon’s arm to pull out the digivice, “What are you doing!?”

“Takato spent a lot of time trying to fix this up, right!? I bet we can use it to fix him! He’s always going on about how much better the old digivice is compared to the new one. I bet you it can do that!” Kazu turned the beaten and worn device in his hand wearily, unsure of what he was actually doing. He pressed a few buttons in an attempt to get some sort of reaction from the device but never expected it to start glowing the way it did. Through the bright light, they watched the device morph in his hand into another digivice like Rika’s or Ryo’s. She felt her mouth drop open in disbelief. There was no way Kazu was a tamer like they were. Kenta maybe - he was admittedly smart. But Kazu? The guy took the longest to figure out his teacher was Kari Kamiya! But the hits kept coming.

The same light that morphed the digivice, also drew light from Andromon until the digimon regressed to his champion form of a Guardromon. That seemed to calm Cyberdramon down some as he was no longer growling or gnashing his teeth at them. Guardomon’s eyes shot open once the transformation was finished and he looked around in a daze, “Where am I?”

“Welcome back to the land of the living, man! You were almost fried in the water. But don’t worry! We pulled you out in time,” Kazu explained, gesturing to the river behind him. Guardromon’s eyes followed the path back to the river before widening in surprise, “I see. Thank you for...what’s wrong with my voice? And why are my processes so much slower? Also, my sensors indicate a loss in mobility and speed. Visual sensors also suggest loss in height. Recalibration will be necessary to...this is so very wrong.”

“It’s because your Guardromon again!” Kazu said excitedly, holding up his new digivice gleefully, “And check this out! We’re partners! Just like Takato and Guilmon or Ryo and Cyberdramon! You and I, we’re going to be the best in the entire Digital World!”

“Keep dreaming, Kazu,” Kenta frowned, gesturing at Ryo and then to Rika, “Because those two are the Digimon King and Queen! They’re literally light years ahead of you. You’ve got a long way to go before you catch up to them.”

Rika noticed Ryo turning his head away, likely flustered at the compliment. Rika didn’t mind being referred to as the Queen of Digimon but wondered why he had to emphasize Ryo was the King. It’s not like any of that stuff actually mattered.

“I’m still way ahead of you,” Kazu stuck his tongue, only to be served a slice of humble pie when Kenta responded, “That’s really not as impressive as it sounds. I know I suck at the game.”

“If you’re both done, we really should get going,” Renamon interrupted, separating the two boys before they could continue their argument and adding, “We still have to find the rest of our friends and your continued bickering isn’t going to help anything.”

“Right! Sorry, just got a little excited,” Kazu said half-heartedly, still gazing at his digivice and his new partner excitedly, “I can’t believe it! I’m a digidestined! I got a digivice and everything!”

“Lucky you,” Kenta kicked the dirt quietly, joining Ryo as he unfurled his map, “Well, good news for us is this stream will lead us right to the lake where the others were heading. It should only be a short walk away.”

“Then let’s get started! We’re burning day light!” Rika declared, tired of following behind Ryo and taking the lead with Renamon. It also saved her the trouble of having to listen to Kazu drone on about how awesome it was to have a real digimon partner. He wasn’t wrong, it was awesome to have a partner. He just really aggravated her when he wouldn’t stop talking.

They walked for about another hour, with Kazu providing Guardromon with his version of events after they were pulled into the pillar of light. Of course it was a while before Guardromon finally noticed Ryo and Cyberdramon in front of him, “Query, Kazu. Who are these two?”

“Oh? These guys? He’s the legend in our world, the greatest digimon card game player ever! Ryo Akiyama and that’s his partner Cyberdramon!”

Guardromon turned his head, “He’s from your world? However, he wears the combat armor of a Council Guard.”

Ryo raised up his armored glove and said, “This thing? I just stole it from the castle. I needed to wear something after my clothes started falling apart. They weren’t exactly made for hanging out in another world for years.”

“I see. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ryo and Cyberdramon,” Andromon greeted the pair. Cyberdramon answered with a low guttural growl before, barely nodding his head as he started getting antsy. It wasn’t long before he started growling again but he was more restrained this time. To be safe, Ryo used his digivice to restrain the unruly creature in case he did try to run off. They went some distance ahead before finally exiting the forest to find a large crystal blue lake awaiting them.

In a place as insanely violent and horrific as the Digital World, it was nothing short of strange to see such a beautiful place. Ryo examined his map again, fumbling to hold it as he tried to keep Cyberdramon on his restraints, “If my map is right, this is it. This is the lake where your friends were heading.”

“But I don’t see them,” Kenta said, turning his head up and down the lake shore in search of any sign of the others. Rika was sure there was some kind of mistake - as beautiful as this place was, there was no sign of the others anywhere. Maybe Ryo had the wrong lake? Or the others had already come and gone? Anything was possible! It’d taken them days to get here. Maybe they were already long gone!

She sighed and took a seat, “I need a break. I’m tired of all this walking!”

“We all need a break,” Renamon joined her, “Maybe we should eat first and then decide on what to do afterwards. I notice that some of you get cranky when you haven’t eaten.”

Rika tried to ignore the look Renamon was giving her, and stifled a laugh when Kazu whole heartedly agreed. They broke out more of the bread and juice they’d been given by Babamon and settled into eat by the lake side, enjoying a rare moment of peace and serenity in the wild Digital World. And it lasted for all of about ten minutes before a light appeared from the sky. The light hovered just above them all in the lake for a few moments before rapidly descending downwards. It hit the water with a splash, glowing through the water surface until it disappeared into the darkness. Renamon stood up, staring in disbelief, “Was that Calumon? In a cage?”

“Wait, Calumon?” Kazu scrambled up first, grabbing his digivice, “Where?’

“In the light,” Renamon answered, “I swear, it had to be him.”

“He’s in the lake! We gotta go get him!” Kazu was about to jump into the water when Ryo grabbed him by his collar and pulled him back, “Hold it. We don’t know how deep that lake is or if we can get to him in time! We don’t even know if that was the digimon you’re looking for! We need to think this through!”

“Okay Ryo! I’ll follow your lead! What’s the plan?” Kazu said excitedly, clearly ready to go go along with whatever plan Ryo had. It made Rika sigh in exasperation, wishing that kid would be as level headed as he was excitable.

...

Henry awoke bright and early the next day to find Juri already sitting at the table, sipping at a cup of hot tea quietly. She appeared to have not slept a wink that night with small circles beginning to form under her reddened eyes. Henry took a seat beside her and asked, “Morning Juri. What’s wrong?”

She didn’t answer, quietly staring into her tea. He could hear shuffling from somewhere around the house and followed the noise to see Takato busy in the kitchen preparing some food. It was odd to see him working so calmly in the kitchen, then realized he didn’t know much about him beyond the fact that his parents worked in the bakery. Perhaps working in a kitchen was second nature to him? Guilmon was in there beside him, helping him prepare a great big helping of eggs and bacon in between eating them for himself.

Then he remembered. This wasn’t the real Takato. This was some ancient being with his face. Perhaps The Digimon Tamer was a really good cook?

Shibumi let out a loud snore, alarming Henry and making him realize the man was lying face down on the table with a blanket wrapped around him. He tried to crack a joke to lighten Juri’s mood, “He can sleep through anything, huh? We’d probably get attacked and no one would notice.”

Nothing. Again, she continued to stare down at the tea cup silently. He wondered if she’d fallen asleep with her eyes open and tapped her on the shoulder, snapping her out of her stupor so that she looked up at him. He smiled, “Morning. You alright? You were spacing out.”

“It’s,” she paused, her gaze shifting downward and her words failing her as she tried to think of what to say. The long silence made him uneasy, and he wondered what exactly was bothering her so much. It seemed he’d have to wait a little longer as the bedroom door slid open for the first of the digimon to come out. Gabumon, leading the way for Gomamon, Palmon, Biyomon, and Gatomon, “What smells so good?”

“Takatomon is cooking!” Guilmon said happily, coming out with two large platters: one full of fried eggs and the other with cooked slices of ham. Takato came out just behind him with a big pot of rice and another plate full of toasted bread. After placing the food on the table, they retrieved some plates and forks for the others to use. Takato passed the plates around and said, “Eat your fill guys because we’ve got a long trip of ahead of us.”

“Where are we going? And why are you making all this food for us?” Biyomon asked as she began to eat some of the eggs. Henry looked away from it, unsure if it counted as cannibalism or not for a bird to be eating eggs.

“We’ve got a long walk to make to get where we’re going. Well, not you guys. We do,” Takato answered quickly, “There’s a lot of ground to cover to the Hallowed Bastion. We need to find the others and I’ll need the computers there to do it. What’s left of them anyway.”

As he spoke, Henry noticed that Juri was staring at him quietly. Once he was done, she opened her mouth to talk but didn't make a sound. From out of nowhere, she retrieved her yellow sock puppet and slipped it over her hand. She used it to ask whatever she couldn’t, “Shouldn't we tell the others about last night?”

Takato waved her off dismissively, “What happened last night was just a reminder of a bad day. They don't need to worry about something that happened forever ago.”

Even Henry could tell that was a bold faced lie, “What happened last night?”

“Nothing,” was all Takato answered, making a show of making a plate of food for him and slamming it in front of him, “Eat up.”

Henry took the plate quietly, amused that his poor attempt at dodging the subject was a no sell to the other digimon. Even the normally calm Gabumon looked up from his meal to say, “We all know that’s just fancy words for you to avoid telling us things. You’re name’s Juri, right? If he’s not going to tell us, will you? It’s the only way were going to find out what you two are talking about.”

Juri averted her eyes, holding up the sock puppet again to quietly answer, “He’s...not the real Takato. We were hoping to find the real Takato while we were in the Digital World. And we did. Sort of. It was an old photo. It confirmed what we were worried about: the real Takato is...not around any more.”

Henry blinked at the news, suddenly losing any appetite he had. Takato - the real Takato - was dead. Was it something in the Digital World that did him in? It was possible; he was gone for a whole year. It was just a lot to take in. He was dead. Takato Matsuda was dead, and his life was being lived by another guy wearing his face.

“Knowing Tamer, that is literally the least surprising thing you could’ve told us. I was half expecting you to say the world was going to end again,” Gatomon rolled her eyes, “Or that destiny said we were all going to die.”

The digimon took that news surprisingly nonchalantly, as if they’d heard worse and weren’t too alarmed by the revelation. Takato’s reaction to this revelation was hardest to read, mostly because he didn't react. And that would've made it worse if he didn't add, “There was nothing any of us could’ve done. It was in the past.”

“But you were there, weren’t you?” Juri asked with her sock puppet. Henry held up his hand to get their attention, confused by that statement, “Hang on a minute. How was he there?”

Juri looked at Takato expectantly and he paused for a moment before retrieving a photo from his pocket, sliding it across the table for Henry to see. The photo felt old and faded but he could clearly see its contents. Upon examination, Henry saw several children dressed in armor and digimon standing beside them, all in orderly lines. But the most remarkable thing about the photo was Takato among those child soldiers, dressed in their armor and smiling at the camera. Tamer-Takato’s answer didn't help things, “That photo is over a hundred thousand years old. The real Takato isn’t around any more.”

“But I don’t get it. If this is photo is that old, how are you...he...how is the real Takato on it?” Henry asked.

...

After listening to Kazu and Kenta talk digimon non stop for several hours, Rika got up to take a walk around the edge of the lake. Renamon offered to come with but Rika insisted she’d be fine. In truth, she just wanted some time to get her head straight. She was furious, not at Kazu and Kenta for singing Ryo’s praises at his skill in the digimon card game, but at the fact that this is where he’d been for all this time. And at herself for not really knowing how to talk to him about it. He was, after all, her friend. At least, that was how she felt.

She walked until she came upon an especially rocky part of the beach, where she stopped to skip stones along the water’s edge. She probably should’ve remembered to pack her CD player and some music - something to help her calm down and get her mind off things. As she watched the stones skip across the water’s surface, she noticed Ryo breaking away from the rest of the group to join her. It wasn’t long before he was standing beside her, hands in his pockets awkwardly as he began, “Hey.”

“Hi,” she answered back sheepishly, tossing the next stone across the water’s edge and getting three skips out of it, “What did you want?”

He rubbed his neck awkwardly, “I just wanted to talk.”

She waited for him to say something but he just continued to stand there awkwardly. And she was starting to get embarrassed by it, casting another stone into the water as she stated, “Are you going to spit it out or just stand there staring?”

“Um...sorry,” he frowned, smiling sheepishly as he added, “Between the two us, I kinda forgot how to do small talk. This world does stuff to you the longer you’re stuck here. The rules are just...so different.”

She recalled the parts from the book she’d read and realized Ryo might’ve ended up like another Tamer if he had been trapped here any longer. Just like Kari Kamiya’s brother. If he even was her brother. The more she thought on it, the more it made her head hurt - he hadn’t been wrong so far but she still didn’t let herself forget that they couldn’t trust him. Ryo almost became that. Then again, she’d only been here for a few days and she was already starting to go crazy from the insanity of this place. She cast another stone into the water and remarked, “It feels like the Digital World does that. How’d you do it? Survive for so long, I mean. Most people would’ve gone crazy after twenty years of this. Why not you?”

Ryo picked up a stone and threw it hard into the lake, watching it make one splash before sinking, “I did it by reminding myself that I was going to find my way home. No matter what, I was going to get home. That one day this nightmare would be all over and I was going to see my parents, my friends...you...”

He said that just as she skipped another stone, and the surprise of that made the stone splash straight into the water. She noticed Ryo had turned his head to hide the fact that his face was now bright red. And she could feel her heart beat faster in her chest. Did he...like her? Ew! Gross. Why did he have to make it weird. He was a friend, and she missed being able to talk to him. Why did he have to make it something mushy?

Ryo rubbed the back of his neck, “Sorry...it was just...different to find someone who could keep up with me in the card game. Most people go down in the first few rounds but you kept up with me. You even had me sweating a few times during the tournament. I was convinced that if anyone was going to beat me, it would be you. I actually wanted to talk to you more but stuff got in the way.”

Oh good, he wasn’t making it weird. Because that was the last thing she needed in this world of madness: a guy she hadn’t seen in a long time confessing that he was into her. Hearing that he missed a friend put a smile of relief on her face and she cast another stone into the water, “Same. It got kinda boring after you vanished.”

She could see him smiling out of the corner of her eye and that put a smile on her face. Before she could even enjoy this moment though, she heard a sound of thunder in the distance. Her eyes moved skyward towards a bright light hurtling towards the lake until it sank beneath its surface. A falling star? A meteorite? Did the Digital World have those? Was this supposed to be common. She looked over to Ryo who was just as dumbfounded by it until another noise caught their attention. A loud roar followed by a flash of lightning as a slender green serpent appeared over the lake, ridden by a familiar monkey hopping on its head, “YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN FROM ME? EMBARRASS ME IN FRONT OF THE SOVEREIGN! COME BACK HERE YOU INSOLENT LITTLE RODENT! DON’T IGNORE ME!”

...

Henry’s mind reeled as he tried to process everything that was happening in front of him. He felt like he’d been hit with a ton of bricks all at once with this information. To make it all worse, there was a loud boom overhead followed by a bright ball of light hurrying into the kitchen. They all leapt back in surprise as the balls of light deposited a little white digimon with big ears on the table. Calumon, happily cheering as he bounced around the food, “Yay! Again! Again!”

“Oh great, more people making themselves at home in my house,” Takato complained loudly.

“Watch our for the rice!” Armadillomon managed to swipe it out to the way before Calumon could step in it.

“Calumon?” Henry sputtered out. All the noise stirred the rest of the inhabitants of the house, prompting Leomon, Terriermon, Takeru, and Shibumi to awaken. Shibumi was the only one not freaking out at the sudden intrusion, reaching out a hand to the ball of light, “It’s about time you got back. Good job. Thank you for bringing him here. But I don’t think it’s what I asked for.”

The light cooed and Shibumi laughed, “No kidding. Well that is a surprise.”

“I don’t understand! How did you get here?” Juri asked, “How did he get here?”

“Hi guys! I missed you! It was really lonely without you guys! Those other guys were super mean to me. I didn’t like them. Not one bit,” Calumon explained cheerily as Shibumi offered, “I asked the Digi-gnomes to get him for me. It appeared on my radar not too long ago - a massive power source entering the Digital World. I thought it would be good to acquire it for my research. But I didn’t expect it to be so...well, small and adorable.”

Another boom shook the foundations of the house and Takato slammed his fist on the table, “Again? What’s going now!? I swear, if it’s some more of the neighbors picking a fight.”

...

“Rika!” Renamon called out to her, appearing just behind her. She jumped at her partner’s arrival, “How long were you there? Have you been watching us this whole time?”

“Long enough to know that you two are deeply in denial about your feelings,” Renamon answered, pointing at the giant dragon digimon, “Worry about that later! There’s a dragon deva over there and we need to stop it before it does anything!”

“Y-yeah, r-right,” Rika stammered, producing her digivice and trying to come up with a plan of attack. That digimon was massive! Bigger than any they’d faced before. And it was a deva? She’d have to think her approach carefully otherwise they’d all be killed. So far, it hadn’t noticed them which gave them an advantage. Just as she came up with an idea of what to do, she heard Cyberdramon roar out ecstatically, “FINALLY! A WORTHY OPPONENT! FACE ME! FIGHT ME!”

The dragon deva turned its head in time to see Cyberdramon flying at him and slamming into him from the side with enough force to punch him back out of the air. The dragon roared back in anger and Makuramon became more furious, “DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ME YOU WRETCHED, INSIGNIFICANT, WASTE OF DIGI-”

Cyberdramon didn’t give him a chance to respond, climbing over the dragon’s form so that he could personally punch the monkey across the face. At this rate, she wouldn’t need to do anything and Cyberdramon would take care of the monster digimon for them. Ryo didn’t seem to see it that way and was instead panicking, “Oh crap! Cyberdramon needs to be calmed down.”

“Why? I think he’s doing a good job. Let those devas have a taste of their own medicine for once,” Rika answered, folding her arms and watching Cyberdramon go to town. He was now busy using Makuramon as a bat to beat the dragon digimon and throw them around wildly. Ryo wasn’t as happy about it and shouted, “You don’t understand! When he gets like this, he becomes uncontrollable. He loses himself to his own violent bloodlust! He may stop them, sure, but then he’ll turn on us! It doesn’t matter if we’re friend or foe, he’ll just want to kill everything in sight!”

“Oh, that’s bad,” Rika looked at Renamon, trying to size her partner up against Ryo’s. As it stood, she didn’t stand a chance. She could swipe her entire deck and Renamon would still get knocked around silly by that mad digimon. There was no way to win without her partner digivolving. And without Calumon or one of those mystery cards, there was no way this was going to happen. Retreat seemed like the best idea right now. That’s what she thought anyway, when she noticed a head pop out of the water.

The goggle head poking his head out of the water to examine the fight overhead, “What’s all this noise! Why are you guys fighting outside my house!?”

“Goggle-head!” Rika shouted, making the boy turn in surprise, “Oh! Rika! You’re okay! Are those guys with you? Tell them to take it elsewhere!”

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting from the boy who seemed to have nothing sensible going on about him and was just generally untrustworthy. Her mind raced with questions to ask, not the least of which was what were they doing in the lake when a boom above their heads reminded them that there was a fight they needed to be paying attention to. She scowled, “Will you shut up and help us already? Those are the Devas! They are our chance to find Calumon! For once you can talk them to death if you want!”

Takato threw up his hands, “I’m not putting anything to death! But we can talk to them and sort this out. Actually, never mind. That crazy digimon looks like it’s going to delete them in a second anyway. Who is that? He looks familiar. Do I owe him money?”

“That digimon is going to attack us next if we don’t calm him down before he destroys the Devas!” Rika practically snapped at Takato, who turned his head in surprise. Then he noticed Ryo standing beside her. And for whatever reason, that became the focus of his attention, “Sorry, was I interrupting something?”

“Takato!” Rika groaned. He nodded and threw a set of cards her way, offering what must’ve counted to him as an apology, “Right, right. Here! Take these! They’ll help!”

Rika caught it in her hand and her mouth fell open at the sight of another of those mysterious blue cards that’d found its way into her deck. She looked up at Takato in disbelief, “Is this what I think it is?”

“Yeah, it’s good for one use. Swipe it through and Renamon will go straight to her champion level! Get in there while I go get the others!” Takato said, disappearing back beneath the waves before she could get another word in. What did that even mean? Were the others just swimming around down there? Should she even be surprised at this point with how weird the Digital World was. She sighed and nodded to her partner, signaling her to run ahead into battle as she swiped the card, “Digimodify!”

“Renamon! Digivolve to! Kyubimon!”

Kyubimon stopped at the water’s edge, lighting her tails with blue flame and hurling them towards the digimon above, “FOX TAIL INFERNO!”

The large dragon digimon was so busy flailing against Cyberdramon’s rampage that he didn’t notice the attacks until they struck his skin. He howled even louder as Cyberdramon used the opening to kick his mouth closed on his tongue. The dragon hissed in anger while Makuramon grunted, “OH! DO YOU WANT TO GO TOO!? I’VE HAD IT! NO MORE GAMES! YOU DIE FIRST! THEN WHATEVER THIS IS!”

Makuramon leapt off the dragon and dove straight at Kyubimon. Or rather, straight at Rika just behind the fox digimon. Realizing the danger she was in, Kyubimon lowered herself so that Rika and Ryo could climb aboard and took off away from the monkey just in time to see it crash. It created a dust cloud so large that it cast a shadow over the lake obscured the fight between Cyberdramon and the dragon. They could vaguely make out his outline making motions through the smoke and watched two balls of energy shoot out towards them, “PRIMAL ORB!”

Rika acted quickly, swiping her go to card, “Digimodify! Speed Boost Activate!”

Kyubimon took off faster than before but the two balls of energy closed in. Just as they were about to strike, she turned to get out of their way. A clean get away. At least until the balls turned and chased after them. Makuramon cackled, “Silly human! You can’t outrun my Primal Orbs! They’ll pursue you no matter where you go! Only I can dispel them!”

“Is that a fact?” Rika asked, patting her partner, “Kyubimon! Turn and heads towards the monkey!”

“What? Why!?” Kyubimon asked. Rika pointed at the balls of light closing in and said, “These things are just going to follow us wherever, right? So let’s go return the gift.”

“I see. Hang on,” Kyubimon slowed and cornered sharply, kicking off with so much force that she and Ryo had to pull her fur tight to not get thrown off. During that sharp turn, the energy balls just narrowly missed them. But that did nothing to slow their pursuit as they continued coming after them. Makuramon cackled in delight to see them coming his way, “Oh good! Running to face your death! Come and get me then! FACE ME!”

Kyubimon continued running at the monkey who stood there with a great big smile on his face, “That’s right! Face me! Fight me!”

The smile vanished as she leapt into the air just in front of him, leaping over the monkey’s head and landing just behind him. He turned around and started jumping up and down in anger, “Are you running from me! Get back here dammit! I demand you come back, cowards! Fight me!”

He was so busy screaming that he didn’t notice his balls of energy creeping up on him until one struck his tail and sent a jolt of fiery pain through his body, “AAAAAHHH! Did you just use my own attacks against me!? ME!? I’M THE CLEVER ONE YOU ILL BEHAVED CHILDREN! NOW I’M MAD!”

“You weren’t angry before?” Ryo called back, infuriating the monkey more.

“Gargo Pellets!”

“Fist of the Beast King!”

A barrage of gun fire erupted out of the water and peppered the monkey in the side, followed by a ball of fire striking him in the face. The blast blew him into a nearby tree with enough force to break it in half, creating a thunderous crack. Gargomon and Leomon charged straight out of the water, followed by Henry and Juri. Kyubimon turned on her heels to rejoin them, “Guys!”

“Friends of yours?” Ryo asked, climbing off her partner and helping her down. Rika nodded, “Something like that. Where were you guys?”

Henry waved it off, “Long story. There’s a house under the lake. Takato said there was trouble, so we brought back up.”

“Back up?” Rika stammered, suddenly watching ten little digimon scurry out of the water behind them: Tentomon, Palmon, Gabumon, Gatomon, Biyomon, Gomamon, Wormmon, Veemon, Hawkmon, and Armadillomon. Even she knew who they were: the partners of the digidestined. And her parents’ partners were just a few feet in front of her. Tentomon and Palmon - both standing side by side and ready to help. But there was one missing. And it took a few seconds for her to know why. A soft light appeared in the water, growing in size until a large splash of water broke the surface and two new digimon emerged. An angel in white and purple regalia, and Guilmon with white wings sprouting from his back.

“They certainly know how to make an entrance,” a blonde haired man said as he emerged from the water with his hands in his pockets, “So you guys must be the rest of the team? I’m Takeru. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Takeru. TK was a few feet from her. Takato appeared just behind him, gasping for breath as he said, “Sorry about that...I’m a little out of breath. I need to exercise this body more.”

Makuramon was unimpressed, “Summon all the help you want! It won’t change a thing! We are Devas! We don’t lose to lesser life forms!”

“Haven’t heard that speech before. The Deva part is new,” TK remarked, helping Takato out of the water and gesturing at the monkey, “That him?”

“Yep,” Takato nodded, “That’s the monkey who kidnapped our friend.”

“YOU WILL ADDRESS ME AS LORD MAKURAMON!” the monkey seethed angrily, fuming as he continued jumping up and down. TK raised an eyebrow, “I don’t see a lord, just a child throwing a tantrum.”

“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?”

“Do I look like I care?” he fired back, “Look, maybe this confusion is because you don’t know who we are. I’m TK, a digidestined, and these are my friends’ partners.”

Makuramon’s anger reached a tipping point and if it were possible for anger to go full circle back to calm, then it certainly did. Makuramon raised his hat and bowed, “Its a pleasure to make your acquaintance but I’m afraid I have other duties to attend to so if you would politely stand aside while I deal with these pests.”

“Not going to happen,” TK affirmed. Makuramon bore his teeth and assumed a running stance, “So be it. Die!”

He charged at them, moving faster than he was before. It seemed calming down had made him think more clearly and act more deliberately than when he was mad. The rookie digimon all dove out of his way, leaving Gargomon to take the full force of a hit to the face and get kicked back. Acting purely on instinct, Juri and Henry started swiping cars to give their partner’s an advantage in the fight. TK minded his distance, cheering MagnaAngemon on as he joined the fight against the large dragon digimon.

For all his pride as a warrior, Leomon was unable to keep up with a digimon like Makuramon and was quickly kicked into the lake for his efforts. This left Kyubimon to engage him in a cat and mouse game where she tried to mind her distance until an opening presented itself. All the while, the little digimon complained, “I hate not being able to do anything! I wish our partners were here!”

“We don’t need to digivolve to put up a fight! Follow me! Marching Fishes!” Gomamon cried out, summoning a horde of fish to dive out of the lake and swarm Makuramon. He handily knocked the fish back into the water but it left him open for Kyubimon to attack him from behind. She tackled him straight into the water, prompting Tentomon to attack, “Super shocker!”

The electrical sparks hit the water and electrified the monkey digimon who screamed out in agony as he convulsed. But through sheer force of will, the digimon forced himself to move out of the water which prompted every digimon to combine their ranged attacks to send him back in.

“Spiral Twister!”

“Feather Boomerang!”

“Fist of the Beast King!”

“Silk Thread!”

“Blue Blaster!”

“Gargo Pellets!”

The attacks hit their mark and sent him back into the water to convulse. It was just as well as another blow from above caught their attention. In the sky above, MagnaAngemon used his sword and Cyberdramon used his claws to rend the dragon Deva to shreds - leaving his pieces to fall into the water before dissipating. There was a small pause followed by small cheers from their party as the dragon was gone.

But that peace didn’t last as Cyberdramon turned on MagnaAngemon and Guilmon. On seeing this, Ryo called out, “Don't hurt him! Lure Cyberdramon back over to me! I can try to get him under control!”

“Not sure he’s up for that idea,” Takato noted as Cyberdramon completely ignored Guilmon’s attempts to lure him down while MagnaAngemon was caught in a mid air duel. Any time the angel tried descending, Cyberdramon would claw into him and pull him back up out of his partner’s reach. And while that was happening, Makuramon was forcing himself back out of the water through sheer force of will, “I will not he made a fool of! You will bow before me and show me the respect due my station!”

“The more you talk like that, the more they’re going to hurt you,” Takato shouted at the monkey before returning his attention to the fight above. Rika watched the three digimon as they danced in their lethal aerial ballet, amazed at watching the partner of a digidestined in action. Since retreat was not an option, MagnaAngemon resorted to trying to incapacitate Cyberdramon with the blunt end of his sword while Guilmon took pot shots. Oddly, neither Takato nor TK seemed alarmed by their partner’s danger. Instead, they calmly provided commentary as Takato asked, “Think they’ve got this?”

“Nope. I was waiting on you. Figured you had a plan or something, Tamer.”

“I did. Not sure if it’ll work though. They’re really moving fast,” Takato gestured at the impossible maneuvers both sides were pulling. TK laughed, “Yeah, I suppose. Still, it’ll probably turn out alright. That’s what you used to say, right? Something like, do what comes natural and destiny will sort itself out?”

“You’re right. Here goes nothing. Guilmon, grab on to Cyberdramon!” Takato shouted, giving his partner away to an unsuspecting Cyberdramon who was sure to be on his guard now. Even though he had a sword carrying angel to his front, Cyberdramon was careful to keep an eye on MagnaAngemon. It took a minute longer for an opening to present itself but when it did, Guilmon latched onto his back and sank his teeth on to his shoulder.

“DigiModify! Digivolution Activate!” Takato cried out, swiping a blue card through his deck. In a flash, Guilmon digivolved to Growlmon while still attached to Cyberdramon. With all the extra weight, Cyberdramon lost his balance and quickly plummeted to the ground. They crashed into the shore beside them, prompting Ryo to run out and use his digivice to restrain Cyberdramon with a whip of light. Not that he needed to since the digimon was under the weight of a large Growlmon now. Takato clapped his hands in applause, “Good job. Now for Makuramon! This is your last warning! Let’s talk this out before one of does something the other will regret.”

“Oh, we're well past that now,” Makuramon hissed, still convulsing in the water, “I am a Deva!”

“And I’m a Guardian of Destiny. Get over yourself,” Takato snapped back. Makuramon became enraged and created two more balls of energy in his hand. He raised them over his head and growled, “VERMIN! I’LL KILL YOU ALL IF I HAVE TO! NOTHING WILL STOP ME NOW!”

Just as he was about to use them, MagnaAngemon appeared behind him and used his sword to stab him in the back. The monkey fizzled for a second, dropping energy balls and looking down at the sword. Rika felt her blood run cold in shock, as MagnaAngemon casually raised the monkey into the air with his sword before throwing him off with a casual throw. The monkey crashed into the water and sank beneath the waves.

Sure Makuramon had been antagonizing them, but he wasn’t evil or a danger to their world. And for a digidestined, that seemed especially cold blooded. Rika turned to TK in shock to see he was oddly calm about the whole thing. However, for all the trouble the monkey caused - everyone seemed calm about the death. Even Gomamon who’d objected to cold blooded murder in the past was curiously silent. Takato was the only one getting worked up about it, “What the hell TK?”

“It was obvious he wasn’t going to stop. Besides, you weren’t complaining a second ago with the other digimon,” TK pointed out. Takato looked into the water where the lifeless digimon began to dissipate to data, eyes filled with shame, “It does always end like this, doesn’t it? Story of my lives.”

He was so distracted, he didn’t notice Ryo marching up to him from behind with his fist raised. Bet the time he did notice, Ryo had sucker punched him in the face and knocked him to the ground, “TAKE THIS!”

“Ow! What!?” Takato cried out, massaging his cheek from the ground. He looked up at his attacker with confused eyes, “What was that for? Who are you?”

“It’s Ryo, asshole!” he growled, “Forget me? I’ve been trapped her for twenty years because of you!”

Takato’s eyes looked back and forth, as if he were trying to remember, “Ryo. Ryo. Wait, I think I remember something. RYO!? Nope, lost it.”

“Then let me help you remember!” Ryo raised his fist again and struck him across the face. Rika thought he should’ve gone for one more.

#The Tamer v2 In His Name #Chapter 28 #Digimon Tamers #Fanfiction #The Digimon Tamer

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