DISCLAIMER: I do not own digimon or Palm Pilot. I do, however, own a crappy computer with MS Word and have a lot of free time. Let the games begin. ^.~

Timeframe: This is after the Tamers find Calumon, but they're still looking for Impmon and they have no idea the ark exists yet. Oh yeah, and Leomon is dead too, of course.

~*~

Love, Hate and Coconuts

A gritty wind roared across the digital plain. Sixteen figures huddled in the lee of a monolithic rock, its reddish-brown crags rising fifty feet over their heads.

Jeri sat huddled against the stone, staring forlornly at her puppet. "I want to go home," she whispered.

Takato laid a hand on her knee. "Soon, Jeri. Yomaki says they've thought of a way to get us back home," he played nervously with the Palm Pilot. "But first we have to find Impmon."

He frowned at Rika and Renamon as he said this. Renamon laid her ears back. "We can't just leave Impmon behind. He may be loud and annoying, but he's our friend."

Terriermon looked at her quizzically. "He is? I thought he was just loud and annoying."

"Terriermon." Henry scolded.

"Moumentai, Henry, I was just kidding." Terriermon climbed onto Henry's head. "Let's go find Impmon!"

Takato nodded. "All right, we'll find him faster if we split up. Henry, Suzy and Kenta, go that way." He pointed into the distance. "Jeri, Kazu and I will go this way," he pointed in another direction, "and Rika, you and Ryo cover that direction." He pointed again. "We'll synchronize our watches and meet back at this rock in an hour. Let's go!"

*

Rika started in shock. Had Gogglehead just stuck her with Ryo? She looked at Ryo. He was standing on the outskirts of the group with his digimon Cyberdramon, scanning the horizon. She thought he must have missed the conversation altogether until he turned around and flashed his aggravating smile at her.

"So, let's get moving, partner!" he said loudly. "Got a lot of ground to cover in an hour!"

Rika whirled around to appeal to Takato but the stupid gogglehead had already trooped off with his search party. She shut her eyes and groaned. All the effort she'd put in to stay away from him and now she was stuck with Akiyama for the next hour, all by herself. Except for Renamon, of course.

Rika pulled out a card and her digivice. "Digimodify! Digivolution, activate!" She climbed on Kyubimon's back and they loped after Ryo and Cyberdramon.

* * *

Twenty minutes later the rock was a speck behind them. Ryo called back to her, but Rika couldn't hear him.

"What did he say?" she asked Kyubimon.

"He wants to look around on foot now." Kyubimon slowed to a stop and Rika slid off. Cyberdramon landed neatly beside them.

"Can you sense Impmon anywhere?" Rika asked her vixen friend. Renamon had always felt a strange connection with Impmon and she could track him by his feelings.

"No." Kyubimon sniffed the air. "Wait. I smell…something. Not Impmon though."

Ryo perked up. "Let's go check it out." He and Cyberdramon started to leave.

"Wait!" Rika called after him. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Ryo blinked. "I'm going to check out the 'something.'"

"Not without us, you're not. Besides, what if it's dangerous? You could get yourselves killed!"

"No we won't!" Ryo replied cheerfully, still walking away.

Rika fumed. She ran up and turned him around to face her.

"Listen, Akiyama, just because you beat me in some lousy tournament doesn't mean that you can just run off by yourself and think you can win!"

Ryo looked solemn. "You're right, Rika." Then his blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "It's also because I've been here longer than you and I have more experience in battle!" With that he leaped on Cyberdramon's back and flew away.

Rika growled and chased after him on Kyubimon, cursing under her breath.

* * *

When she finally caught up to Ryo, he was leaning against a rock with his arms behind his head, while Cyberdramon paced nearby. Rika stalked up to him and was torn between yelling and knocking his block off when he met her glare with his cool, unshakable gaze.

"There was nothing here, so I thought I'd wait for you to catch up. It was nice to have a rest."

Rika made up her mind and began to tell Ryo, in no uncertain terms, exactly what she thought of him and the stunt he'd just pulled, and how much she wanted to rearrange his face, while Kyubimon and Cyberdramon watched with marked interest.

She was so intent on her yelling that she didn't notice the data stream until it picked them up.