Me: So far, I'm impressed-the prologue is quite a hit! This next chapter of "The Lost Tamer" should focus on Takato's reunion with the surviving Tamers.

Takato: Which ones survived the apocalypse, huh? Was Rika one of them?

Me: Um...

Takato: (frantic) Well?! Was she one of the survivors, huh? ANSWER ME! (starts shaking me repeatedly by the shoulders)

Me: Trust me...you'll find out soon enough...NOW LET GO!

Takato: (releases me) I'd better.







Digimon Tamers: The Lost Tamer

Chapter I-The Surviving Tamers







"We want to protect this world as much as you do!" -Guilmon

"I've got to make him understand!" -Takato Matsuki









To be blunt about this entire debacle, Takato's soul was sent flying five years into an apocalyptic future where evil reigned supreme! Takato was merged with his future half and he remembered the events that led up to his capture by IceDevimon. But now that Takato and Guilmon are free, all of Tokyo is practically under Digimon control! And now Takato and Guilmon have run into Henry, who supposedly died five years ago thanks to Daemon. Question is, is Henry truly alive, or has he crossed over? Looks like we're about to find out!







"Henry? Is-is that you?" Takato stammered in surprise, cautiously stepping forward in his old friend's direction.

"In the flesh."

Narrowing his eyes a bit, Takato studied Henry Wong. His hair had been trimmed a bit, but other than that, he still wore the orange vest he'd had years ago, the same sunglasses covering his eyes and the green Digivice at his hip.

"Where are Rika and the others?"

"They're safe, but we gotta get moving, otherwise we'll be in a lot of trouble." Henry made a motioning move backward at that statement and started running. Takato sighed under his breath as he started forward in order to keep up with Henry.

"What happened to you? Last I saw, you were literally taking a dirt nap at the school five years ago!"

Keeping his face from being seen, Henry responded, "You guys left just as I was waking up."

At that moment, Guilmon stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes dilated like they usually were whenever trouble was near.

"What's wrong, boy? Is it an evil Digimon?" Takato asked, preparing to pull out a Modify card.

"That's not Henry, Takatomon. It may look like him, but it's not him." Guilmon rasped, immediately jumping in front of his Tamer, putting himself in between Takato and Henry.

"What are you talking about? Of course it's Henry! I think you've been trapped in that warehouse for too long, Guilmon." Takato objected, his back turned away from Henry. His eyes flashing a dangerous red, Henry prepared to pull out a knife from his back pocket when someone screamed, "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Takato, Guilmon and Henry all turned to see...Jeri! She was holding Leomon's sword tightly in her right hand, her normally sweet eyes blazing with a fire Takato would see in Rika's own violet eyes-the urge to battle!

"I won't let you take away another one of my friends again! I'd rather die instead!"

Pulling out a knife that was very familiar to Takato, Henry hissed, "That can be arranged...my sweet."

At that challenge, Jeri leaped upward in the air, the sword pointed directly at Henry's chest. Just as Jeri was about to lunge forward with the sword, Henry raised the knife and deflected Jeri's blow, sending her down to the ground.

"Hey, Henry-think you could try that trick with me? Bunny Blast!!"

Confused, Takato and Guilmon watched Terriermon firing a number of what could be large pellets aimed at Henry! Growling, the young Tamer batted most of them back, but roared as he was hit by a few of them.

"Can't leave us out of it, right, Chumly?"

Smirking, Kazu and Kenta entered in with MarineAngemon at Kenta's side.

"Apparently, it seems like I was tracked down. Trust me-this isn't over yet, guys-not by a long shot." That said, Henry turned to eye Takato and dropped the knife at his feet.

"Momentie, Henry. I think it is over-Calumon?"

A second later, the tiny In-Training Digimon revealed himself on top of a tree branch, the red triangle on his head glowing brightly.

Digivolution!

"Terriermon Digivolve to...GARGOMON!!!"

"Takato, you and Guilmon should move right now. Gargo Lasers!!"

"Move, Guilmon!" Takato screamed, grabbing his partner-as well as the knife-and avoiding the hail of bullets that were heading for the two of them as well as Henry!

"Nice try, Terriermon, but I've got a surprise or two up my sleeve! Cyberdramon, attack!"

Takato's eyes widened in shock and fear as the Ultimate Digimon appeared, his eyes glowing a fiery red color like Henry's were at that time.

"Cyberdramon, you know what to do!"

"Desolation Claw!!" The powerful attack skyrocketed toward Gargomon and the other Tamers!

"MarineAngemon, block it!" Kenta demanded calmly.

"Got it! Ocean Love!!"

The two attacks collided before exploding brightly in the skies above them!

"But-but how? Why would Ryo side with Henry?" Takato stammered.

"He didn't. Ryo's dead." Jeri replied. At that statement, Takato swiveled toward Jeri, his face readable to only her.

"Dead...? Are you sure, Jeri?"

"I'm positive, Takato. He died the same day as Leomon."

"Look out, Kenta!" Kazu yelled, the two friends diving to the ground to avoid Cyberdramon's attack.

"I wasn't aiming for you brats!" the Ultimate Digimon hissed angrily.

"Then who...?"

Kazu's question was interrupted as Calumon was whacked off of his tree branch and slammed into by one swipe of Cyberdramon's fist, injuring the In-Training Digimon greatly!

"Calumon...hang on!" Takato begged, running toward Calumon's position.

"Digimodify! Avenging Knight, activate!"

Takato facefaulted in amazement-Henry had swiped that card! Instantly, two long spears appeared in Cyberdramon's hands.

"Stop right there!" the Ultimate Digimon growled while throwing the spears at Takato's body!

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh noooooooo!" Calumon screamed as the triangle on his head glowed even brighter than it had before.

Matrix Digivolution!

"Guilmon Matrix Digivolve to..."

"Gargomon Matrix Digivolve to..."

"...WARGROWLMON!!!"

"...RAPIDMON!!!"

The two Ultimate Digimon jumped in front of Takato, grabbed the two spears and threw them right back at Cyberdramon! They hit on impact, and the Ultimate Digimon roared as he was deleted, the data equally divided between WarGrowlmon and Rapidmon.

"Wow. I didn't know Digimon could share energy like that!" Takato admitted calmly, picking up Calumon in his arms and holding him tightly.

"Come on, Chumly-we'd better get going while we have a chance!" Kazu advised, breaking into a run with Kenta and MarineAngemon at his heels.

"Takato, we'll take you somewhere safe." Jeri insisted, her smile back on her face as if it had never left.

"Come on, WarGrowlmon!" Takato demanded, running alongside Jeri and noticing the two powerhouses deDigivolve into Guilmon and Terriermon before catching up to them.

Henry simply stood there, his eyes returning to their normal color and a devilish smile plastered on his face.

"Soon, my brother, you will return to me...and with our partners, the world shall be ours for the taking!"







"Guys, where are we going? And what happened to Henry?" Takato gasped out as they finally came to a stop near the remains of the school.

"We're goin' back to the Digital World, where our base is at! It's practically all we had left since our 'compadre' back there took over the Real World." Kazu replied quickly.

"Guys, I know I haven't been able to talk with you much since Guilmon and I have been trapped for five years, but I have to know-WHAT THE HECK'S GOING ON HERE?!" Takato screamed impatiently, veins bulging out of his forehead as his anger started to escalate.

"Calm down, Takato. You'll scare Calumon." Jeri insisted. Takato looked up at Jeri and nodded, forcing himself to calm down. He took a few deep breaths in and out, in and out, then visibly relaxed.

"Thanks. Now, what's been going on? The last thing I remember seeing was Henry dying at Daemon's hands, and now he's taken over the world?"

"Not the world-just this part of Japan. He controls the entire city, wants to eventually conquer the world sooner or later, wants to destroy us rather than keep us as slaves, yadda, yadda, yadda." Terriermon responded.

"Terriermon, not now!" Jeri spat out irritably.

"Hey-I'm just tellin' it like it is."

"You're leaving out the obvious parts here, pal. Chumly, here's the 411 on the whole Armageddon deal: after you were captured by IceDevimon, Henry was killed, that much is true. From what evidence we gathered up, that beam of fire Daemon sent at him? It consumed his spirit entirely and left a demon in his guise. A few months later, after we'd gotten over your capture and Henry's death as best we could, guess who ends up doing the one thing I wanted to happen all year-Henry completely annihilates the school with one gigantic fireball! Before we knew it, hordes of Digimon are killing us humans off without even flinching! Ryo and Leomon were the lucky ones-they were killed off immediately, seen as a major threat by the Tamer of Evil."

"'Tamer of Evil?'" Takato interrupted briefly.

"Yeah-obviously, Henry thought your clone had a wimpy name and decided to come up with an even better one!"

"Okay." Takato steeled himself for what he was going to ask next. "What happened to Rika?"

"Hold on there, Takato. Those of us Tamers who survived, we managed to make it back to the Digital World after Henry killed off our parents right in front of our eyes."

Takato felt a chill run through his veins like ice. "My parents?"

"They tried to protect the girls, even as they died, which meant Susie-who, along with Lopmon, were killed off by her 'big bwother,'-Jeri, who had Leomon's sword as a memento and Rika, who, against her mother's wishes, changed her name the day after you were captured and presumed dead two days later!"

"To-to what? And where is she?" Takato repeated, feeling his anger resurface.

Before Kazu could speak, Jeri interrupted him, gazing deep into Takato's brown eyes.

"She changed her last name to Matsuki and mentioned that the two of you were married, Takato. And..." Jeri paused to wipe some tears away before continuing. "...she and Renamon left us after we'd made it back to the Digital World, convinced you weren't dead. They hunted down Henry, battled briefly and never returned."

Takato held back a cry of anguish. All this had happened because of his arrogance! If he'd only been more cautious in the past, maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't have happened.

"Let's go, Takato. We've got to start making arrangements for our next battle..."

Jeri was interrupted by a tiny groan from Takato's arms. Concerned, the Tamers looked down at Calumon, who was slowly deleting before their eyes!

"Calumon, when did this happen?!" Takato exclaimed worriedly.

"Probably when Cyberdramon hit me before with his hand. I would've survived it, if I hadn't made Guilmon and Terriermon Digivolve, but you were in trouble."

Takato felt another sob come up out of his throat. Another innocent's blood-even if Calumon was only data-on his hands, all because of his impatience!

"Why, Calumon?! I could've dodged those spears. You didn't have to make them Digivolve!"

"I wanted to help one last time. You've always been so kind, and brave, and awesome, just like Rika was!"

Sniffling, Takato hugged the In-Training Digimon tightly, even as his body began to break up into even smaller pieces of data.

"I'll always be with you guys, forever and ever and ever..."

Smiling for the last time, Calumon dissolved completely in Takato's arms, the data floating toward Guilmon, who was crying himself.

"I think...Calumon wants you to absorb his data, Guilmon." Kenta croaked out.

The Rookie Digimon eyed his Tamer, who nodded in response. Preparing himself, Guilmon absorbed Calumon's data at that instant.

"Come on, guys. We'd better get going." Jeri repeated with insistence in her voice, the sword sheathed at her side. The others nodded before heading deep into the ruins of the school, another portal underneath the schoolgrounds.

"You're kidding me?! Another portal-under here, this entire time?"

"Yep. Just goes to show how ignorant we are of simple school buildings, right, guys?"

"Terriermon! Aren't you hurt at all by what just happened?" Jeri ranted heatedly. Turning away, the Rookie Digimon wiped his tears away with one of his ears before leaping up onto Takato's shoulder.

"These days, I make jokes to hide the pain, not to get a laugh."

"It's okay, Terriermon. It'll be okay." Takato consoled his friend's old partner before heading into another portal alongside the others. At that second, Takato remembered the words Rika had said to him in his dream over five years ago-"Don't underestimate him...Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, Takato...don't underestimate him, even if he was our friend..." Right then, Takato knew without a shadow of a doubt that Rika had been talking about Henry.

Oh ,no! Henry, Beelzemon, Ryo, Leomon, the Tamers' parents, possibly Rika, Renamon, Cyberdramon and Calumon are gone! Who's gonna end up next on the list of casualties? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!