Summary: Daemon, the lord of wrath, plans to turn Matt and Tai into bitter enemies and cripple the Digidestined even more. To do that, Daemon uses Sora as a pawn to make Matt and Tai fight each other. Will Daemon's plan succeed, or will Sora be able to stop the man she loves and one of her closest friends from killing each other?

Setting: One week after the events of Dark Tamer.

Guest Stars

Rika Nonaka and Renamon

Ryo Akiyama and Cyberdramon

Author's Note: If you haven't read Demon Crisis Book 2: Dark Tamer, you might want to go ahead and do that. Otherwise Rika and Ryo presence in this story might be a little confusing, though I will try to do a bit of a recap in the story. Anyway, this is only the prologue. I don't have the actual first chapter done yet, but since I had the prologue finished already I thought I'd go ahead and start the story. I'll try to have the actual first chapter done soon. In the meantime enjoy this bit.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

BOOK III-WRATH

Prologue

On a cloudy afternoon, Ken Ichijouji and his girlfriend Yolei Inoue were on their way to meet their friend and fellow Digidestined, Tai Kamiya. With the two were Yolei's Digimon partner, the eagle-like Hawkmon, and Ken's partner, the green caterpillar-like Digimon Wormmon, who was riding on Ken's shoulder. On their way to meet Tai the four ran into their friend and fellow Digidestined Izzy izumi and his Digimon, the beetle-like Tentomon. With Izzy and Tentomon were Rika Nonaka and her Digimon, a yellow humanoid fox with fingerless purple gloves named Renamon, and Ryo Akiyama and his Digimon, a humanoid dragon in black armor and four red wings named Cyberdramon. Rika and Ryo were two of Ken's more unique friends, they were from a parallel version of Earth, or at least Rika was. Ryo was originally from the same universe as the Digidestined, but chose to go Rika's after fighting a war through time and space with the evil Digimon, Millenniummon.

As the group walked through the city to the café where they were to meet with Tai, they noticed that people were staring at them. This was mostly due to Renamon and Cyberberdramon. Digimon were not as uncommon a sight in the human world as they were many years ago. Ever since the fall of MaloMyotismon, Digimon were being seen more and more among humans. Of course those Digimon were usually small and cute like Wormmon and Hawkmon. Renamon and Cyberdramon were human sized, and looked very intimidating. Many of the people the group passed walked away from them as fast as they could, and it didn't help that Renamon and Cyberdramon were walking up towards the front. As they neared the corner of a building, a man in a shabby coat wielding a knife jumped in front of them.

"Give me all your money or I'll…" the knife-wielding man began to threaten, but stopped when he saw Renamon and Cyberdramon.

Cyberdramon bared his fangs and growled while Renamon simply glared at him with her feral ice-blue eyes. The would-be robber went as white as a sheet, dropped his knife, and ran screaming back around the corner where he had first ambushed the group, allowing them to continue forward. As the group passed the corner, the robber was telling a nearby police officer of the "monsters" he had encountered.

"Where did you see these 'monsters'?" the officer asked with a tone of skepticism.

"Like a second ago when I was trying to take these people's money!" the robber frantically answered, realizing a second too late that he had said too much.

"Yeah, I think you better come down with me to the station." The officer said as he handcuffed the robber.

Meanwhile the three Digidestined and two Tamers continued on their path to the café.

"You know I actually do feel a little safer walking around the city with Renamon and Cyberdramon." Yolei admitted.

"I know that I feel a lot safer walking around campus late at night knowing that Renamon is nearby." Rika said to Yolei.

"Not that you couldn't defend yourself Rika." Renamon observed.

"True." Rika admitted. "I know that I can beat up any guy who tries anything with me pretty easily."

"Don't you feel safe with me Yolei?" Hawkmon suddenly asked sounding hurt.

"Well of course I do." Yolei reassured the bird Digimon. "It's just that Renamon and Cyberdramon can scare people off easier because they're a little scarier looking. Oh, no offence you two."

"None taken." Renamon replied. "I actually consider that to be a compliment. Being able to frighten off enemies is a valuable ability to have in the Digital World where I come from."

"Say, I know that Cody isn't with us because he had some errands to do today, but why isn't Davis here?" Ryo asked, changing the subject of the conversation.

"Because Tai can't be in the same room with Davis without wanting to kill him." Ken answered.

"Wow, what did Davis do?" Rika asked sounding surprised.

"He cheated on Kari three times." Yolei answered with a hint of anger in her voice.

"I still think that's kinda weird." Rika replied. "Back when I watched that T.V. show in my world that's somehow based on your lives, I always thought that Kari would end up with T.K. I mean they seemed like such a good couple."

"We all thought so too." Ken agreed. "We were all surprised when Kari started going out with Davis. Especially since it seemed like T.K. and Kari both really liked each other. But I guess they both didn't want to take the chance that it might ruin their friendship if their relationship didn't work out. It's really sad because now that Kari's gone, T.K. will never get the chance to tell Kari how he really feels. And now he's out there wandering the world as a broken man."

"…You know there's something that's bugging me." Rika said after a brief pause, as the subject of T.K. and Kari was not easy for the Digidestined to talk about. "Didn't you guys ever try searching that Dark Ocean place for Kari? I mean in the T.V. show there were some really weird Digimon that were after her. Maybe they came after her again."

"That possibility did occur to us Ms. Nonaka, and we conducted a search of The Dark Ocean many times and found nothing." Izzy answered bluntly. "As painful as it is to accept, it seems very unlikely that Kari is at The Dark Ocean. And right now we cannot afford to explore the very remote possibility that she might be. Our main concern right now is dealing with what remains of the Seven Lords."

With that, the conversation came to a halt. Ryo however began to stroke his chin a little as he realized that there might be another possibility of what might have happened to Kari. At last the group arrived at the café. A hush fell over the people inside when they saw the group enter with Renamon and Cyberdramon. Sitting at a table in a corner was Tai, and with him with the small yellow T-rex-like creature that was his Digimon Agumon. Tai blinked quite a few times when he saw Ryo.

"Uh, Izzy, is that guy with you really…?" Tai asked with a shocked expression.

"Yes Tai, that really is Ryo Akiyama." Izzy answered. "The explosion of Millenniummon's castle actually hurled Ryo to the very distant past of the Digital World. Shortly after that he fought a war with Millenniummon throughout time and space and at the end he decided to reside in a parallel universe where our lives are nothing more than a children's anime series."

"Okay…" Tai said with a dumbfounded look. "Who's the girl?"

"That is Ms. Rika Nonaka." Izzy answered. "She is from the parallel universe that Ryo decided to reside. She came here to rescue Ryo after he was abducted by Barbamon, a member of the Seven Lords."

"I see…" Tai replied, still with a look of confusion on his face. "Um, who're the Seven Lords again?"

"What the hell is the matter with you Tai?" Yolei asked loosing her cool. "Izzy told you about who they are days ago! One of them turned out to be that bimbo Lily! You remember her, right? She was that blond that Davis was really into? She tried to turn Davis into her sex slave and use him to kill us!"

"Daemon is also a member of this group." Ken added. "Aren't you concerned by the fact that Daemon is not only back, but has at least five other friends that are probably as powerful as he is?"

"Look, I'm sorry but my head hasn't been in this!" Tai said with a very noticeable amount of anger in his voice. "I've been having to deal with a lot of other stuff lately! Can't you guys deal with this on your own?"

"We could really use your help on this Tai." Izzy replied seriously. "The enemy we now face is very powerful and we need all the help we can get to fight it."

"I don't have the time to become involved in this!" Tai insisted.

"Maybe you should make the time." Ryo said seriously. "Because for all you know the Seven Lords might be responsible for Kari's disappearance."

Ryo's suggestion shocked the whole group, especially Tai.

"If you're trying to be funny you're not doing a good job." Tai said with a furious expression.

"Look, all I'm saying is that it might not be a coincidence that the Seven Lords showed up not long after Kari vanished." Ryo explained. "For all we know they might have taken Kari prisoner. They could be holding her someplace in The Dark Ocean or the Digital World. And if they are holding her prisoner, then it's all the more reason for you to get involved and fight them."

At that point Tai shot up from his chair, knocking the table to the floor and startling everyone.

"Look, I don't care what kind of weird dimension you've been living in for the past few years!" Tai shouted, causing everyone in the café to look in the group's direction. "You have no right to just waltz in here and tell me that I haven't done everything I could to find Kari! I turned over every rock in the Digital World and every other place looking for her and she's nowhere! So don't you dare accuse me of not trying everything I could, or else I'll make you wish that you did die when that castle blew up!"

With that, Tai stormed out of the café, pushing his way past Ken, Izzy, and a few other people that were just in the way. Agumon apologized to the group before hurrying off to catch up with Tai.

"That jerk." Rika said angrily. "He had no right to talk to Ryo like that!"

"I shouldn't have brought it up." Ryo said looking ashamed. "That idea just occurred to me a few minutes ago when I thought about how long ago Kari vanished."

"It was a good theory." Rika reassured him as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"You're right Ms. Nonaka, it really was." Izzy agreed, surprising the rest of the group. "The idea of Kari's disappearance being connected to the Seven Lords was something that never occurred to me. But then I didn't think it was practical to focus any more on what might of happened to Kari. Her disappearance has hurt us all, and I felt that dwelling on it would only interfere with other things. Still, that possibility is something that we might have overlooked, just as we overlooked the possibility that Daemon was a member of the Seven Lords, or that he was even still a threat. Wishful thinking may have caused us to assume that he was no more. I think we need to take a second look at everything to figure out what is really going on."

"Wait, so are you saying that Kari might still be alive?" Yolei asked with hope in her voice.

"All I'm saying is that it's possible." Izzy replied. "It is also possible that the Seven Lords simply may have killed Kari, but we need to look at all possibilities again."

"You think we could do that somewhere else?" Wormmon asked suddenly. "I think we've made the people here uncomfortable."

Meanwhile outside the café, Tai was walking to his car, which he had to park a fair distance away because there was no space available in front. Agumon was following close behind.

"…I shouldn't have blown up like that." Tai said as he suddenly paused. "That's what you're thinking, right Agumon?"

"Well, Ryo wasn't saying that you didn't try your hardest to find Kari." Agumon replied. "We all know that you did. All he was saying was that there might be one place you didn't think of."

"Yeah…" Tai replied as he resumed walking. "I guess I should apologize later. He comes back from the dead and I chew him out."

"The last couple of months have been hard on you Tai." Agumon responded. "First you lost Kari, and then later Sora leaves you for Matt. No one blames you for being angry at everything."

"Yeah…" Tai replied still looking ashamed. "Let's go home, it's been a long day."

With that, Tai and Agumon got into Tai's car and drove off, unaware that they were being watched. The one watching them was a humanoid figure shrouded in red robes. A red hood that revealed only his blue demonic eyes, though a pair of large horns stuck out from the sides covered his head. On his back was a pair of large bat-like wings. The creature was none other than Daemon, and he was very pleased by what he had just seen.

'How fortunate that the child of courage is filled with such wrath.' Daemon thought to himself. 'This will make my plans all the more easier.'

With that, Daemon laughed evilly to himself before vanishing in a burst of flames.

Author's Note: I wanted to inject a little comedy into this story before I got into the drama. That's why I did the bit with Renamon and Cyberdramon scaring off the robber. Again, I'm sorry that the first chapter isn't done yet. I'll try to have it up very soon.

For now, please review and let me know what you think.