AN:

Italics = thoughts

"Quotes" = dialogue

bold = 'The Master's' words and thoughts

underlined = reading something that is written

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or any of its characters. I do however claim ownership of any original characters introduced.

Chapter 3: The Search Begins

"Ryo? Ryo? Wake up Ryo!" A small purple creature relentlessly shakes his tamer until he wakes up. "Monodramon…." The boy says with some agitation. "Can't this wait till morning?"

"But it is morning Ryo…" Monodramon whines while continuing to shake his tamer awake. Ryo turns over and looks at the clock near his bed. "Buddy, its only 7:04. It's summer. I want to sleep a little bit!"

"But Ryo, something is wrong. I have this weird feeling…."

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact you ate five tacos last night…"

"This is different Ryo. I don't know exactly what it is, but I don't think it's good…"

Finally sitting up, Ryo tosses his covers aside. He rubs his eyes and pushes himself to his feet. "Well if you don't know what it is, what makes you think I do?" The little purple creature deflated a little. "I don't mean to be trouble Ryo. Honest." Ryo chuckles at this. "C'mon buddy. You're not trouble. You just need to be more specific then 'I have a bad feeling', you understand?" Monodramon perks up a bit, the sun's rays glinting off his shiny purple scales. "Ok Ryo. I'll try. But I really don't know what it is. I just feel weird." Ryo sweat drops before walking toward his bedroom door. "Maybe some breakfast will help," he says, gesturing for Monodramon to follow. The little dragon scampers off after his tamer.

Monodramon immediately takes his place at the table while Ryo grabs two bowls and the milk from the fridge. He pours cereal and milk into both bowls and places one in front of his partner. "Thanks Ryo!" Monodramon chirps before diving into his cereal. Ryo chuckles again before grabbing a spoon and eating his own cereal.

Suddenly, Ryo's cell phone rings. "Hello?"

"Ryo man!" a loud voice yells from the other end. "O, hey Kazu," Ryo says, rolling his eyes. "What's going on?"

"Well we think something bio-emerged last night but we weren't able to locate it. We all planned to go looking for it today and I was hoping you'd want in." Ryo's eyes raised in surprise and he answered, "Sure. Where are you all meeting up? I'll just need a little time to get there on the metro."

"Sweet! We're supposed to meet at Guilmon's hut in the park, but Kenta and I will meet you at the train station!" Ryo sweat dropped at this. "That's ok. I think I can manage. I'll just meet you at the park." He hung up before Kazu could complain. "So Monodramon, up for going out on patrol today?"

"You bet Ryo!" Monodramon says before slurping up the rest of his milk.

Kazu hangs up the phone and turns to face Kenta. "So should we head to the train station?" Kenta asks. "Nah, bro. He says he'll meet us at the park." They head down the block, Guardromon and MarineAngemon following close behind. "We should stop for some noodles. MarineAngemon and I didn't get to eat breakfast because you called us out so early," Kenta complained. "Dude, c'mon. We're tamers! We gotta take our job seriously!"

"I am taking it seriously! But there's no bad digimon around here right now and I'm hungry…"

Kazu sighed before conceding, "Alright! We'll get some noodles…"

"Piu piu!" MarineAngemon chirped happily.

They walk into a noodle shop called Daisuke's. Guardromon waits outside, being too large to enter the shop, and so Kazu promises to bring some noodles out before he, Kenta, and MarineAngemon head inside and sit down at an open table. "Welcome to Daisuke's," a young waiter says, walking up to their table. "Today's special is pork dumpling and fried noodles. What would you like?"

"We'll take three orders of the special!" Kazu shouts before Kenta can order. The waiter looks down at them and moves his gaze toward Kenta, widening his eyes upon noticing the pink digimon sitting on the table near him. "I apologize. Would you excuse me a moment?" He bows politely and walks off. "Hey, MarineAngemon doesn't want pork!" Kenta exclaims once the waiter is out of earshot. "Well then what does he want?" Kazu asks, annoyed. "Puh piu puhh!" MarineAngemon chirps. "Translation, chumly?" Kenta rolls his eyes before saying, "You know he only likes soup…"

Before Kazu can retort, the waiter returns. "I am sorry, but I am afraid I am going to have to ask you two to leave…" Kazu looks at him in confusion. "What for?" The waiter gazes back at MarineAngemon before replying, "We don't serve…whatever that thing is…here." Kazu and Kenta exchange glances. "He's not bothering anyone," Kenta interjects. "And I can pay for whatever he eats." The waiter shakes his head. "I'm sorry, but the owner wants you out."

"Yea, those things are nothing but trouble. Get it outta here!" one of the restaurant patrons shouts from the table across from them. "Yea, send it back to that digital world or whatever you call it!" another patron shouts. The waiter gestures for the door. They both shoot the waiter a sour look before getting up to leave, MarineAngemon trailing behind his tamer and chirping with sadness. "We won't be coming back here again!" Kazu shouts over his shoulder. "Yea, well good riddance to ya!" another patron shouts, spitting on the floor they walked over.

"Where are the noodles?" Guardromon asks as they exit the shop. "They kicked us out!" Kazu shouts as he throws his arms up. "The owner must be a member of one of those anti-digimon groups," Kenta adds meekly. Kazu nods. Ever since the parasimon incident, more and more people have called for the deletion or banishment of the tamer's digimon. "You would think these people would lay off since there hasn't been an incident in so long, but some people have no hobbies…" Kazu grumbles. "Yea… No hobbies…." Guardromon says, mimicking his partner. "C'mon you big lug nut. What did I tell you about getting your own lines?"

"Takato! You better not still be sleeping up there!" Upon hearing his mother's shout, Takato shoots up from his bed, hitting his head on the ceiling. "Owww! I'm up mom!" He slides off his bunk to the disheveled floor of his bedroom. "Morning already, Takatomon?" Guilmon asks, stretching and yawning. "Yea boy. We should get ready to head for the park and meet the others. They're probably all waiting for us."

"Well we shouldn't keep them waiting!" Calumon said, laughing.

"Calumon! Did you stay here all night?" Takato asked.

The little creampuff digimon nodded vigorously. "I was too tired to go all the way home." Takato sighed. "Alright, well you should probably head back soon. I'll bet Jeri is getting really worried about you." Calumon jumps up onto Takato's head and ruffles his hair. "Why don't you and Guilmon take me home? It'll be a lot more fun then flying there!"

"I gotta go on patrol today, Calumon. You know that," Takato says as he grabs his khaki pants, blue hoodie, and goggles. "Then I'll patrol with you and you take me home after!" Calumon said cheerily. Takato let out a nervous laugh before conceding. "All right. You can come with me today. But then I'm brining you right to Odaiba."

"Yay!" Calumon shouted, jumping from his head and opening his ears to glide. "Calumon zoom zoom. Zoom here, zoom there, zoom everywhere!" He darts too and fro around the room. "Do me a favor buddy and keep an eye on him while I wash up," Takato says to Guilmon. "Ok Takato. No problem," the red saurian replies while flashing a toothy grin. "And go get some breakfast buddy. I'll be down soon." Takato dashes from the room. "Kay!" Guilmon says, turning his attention back to the hyperactive Calumon. "Come on, Calumon. Let's go get some bread!" Calumon drops down onto Guilmon's head. "And some creampuffs?" he asks.

"Yea!"

"Yay! Yummy yummy snacky stuff!"

With that, the two digimon bolt down the stairs and to the kitchen.

Henry and Suzie are the first to arrive at Guilmon's hut, but Rika soon joins them. "Hey Rika. Sleep well?" Rika shoots him a glare before plopping down next to him. "I'm not in a good mood, Brainiac, so don't push me. The last thing I wanted was to spend all day patrolling with you goggleheads." Henry lets out a small chuckle. "Can't ever admit you enjoy our company, can you?" Rika aims a slight smile at him. "You know me too well."

Kazu and Kenta arrive next, grumbling about their empty stomachs. "You two are early. That's a first…" Rika states sarcastically. "Yea well we were gonna have some breakfast at Daisuke's but the owner seems to have a problem with digimon…" Henry frowned upon hearing this. "The whole anti-digimon thing is still around?" Kenta nods. "The waiter saw MarineAngemon and immediately sent us out."

"Darn that bites…" The tamers turn to see Ryo, flashing his signature grin. "O great… Mr. Perfect. Who invited you?" Rika asks, annoyance apparent in her voice. "What? No hello kiss, pumpkin?" he teases. Rika turns away and hmphs. "Ryo, man! It's good to see you!" Kazu shouts, practically leaping at him. Ryo takes a seat next to Henry. "So, anyone want to clue me in as to what is going on?"

"Well there was this digital fog last night and…"

"Shouldn't we wait for gogglehead?" Rika interrupts.

"Takato already knows about this," Henry says in Kazu's defense. "Besides, if we know him, he's going to be late as always."

"Yea, snow queen. Let me tell Ryo what happened," Kazu taunts confidently. Rika rolls her eyes but signals for him to continue explaining.

"Well that is odd," Ryo says, scratching his chin as Kazu finishes. "I can only imagine how Yamaki is taking it. First bio-emergence in almost…what, a year?" The others nod. "I don't suppose you have an idea of where to begin looking," Rika jabs. Ryo laughs at this. "Does this mean I get to be team leader now?"

"I'd vote for ya!" Kazu and Kenta say in unison. Ryo makes a placating gesture. "Being as we haven't seen anything on the news about a creature rampaging in the city, I'd guess it's still in the park."

"Unless it is too small to be noticed by most people," Henry adds. Ryo shrugs. "It also must not be very powerful if our digimon couldn't sense it," Rika adds. "Guilmon was able to smell it," Suzie interjects. "He was able to smell Calumon. He didn't smell another digimon," Rika quickly retorts. Susie deflates a little at this. "Guilmon's nose is the best," Kazu says, breaking the tension. "He probably did smell it and just lost the scent."

"Well his tamer is running very late. I don't intend to sit here all day, "Rika says, crossing her arms. Henry looks up at Terriermon, who still sitting silently on his head. "No snarky comments today, Terriermon?" Terriermon's nose wriggles as he sniffs. "Well I was just thinking maybe I could try sniffing out this digimon. I can probably smell him out if I can find a scent trail."

"Well if Takato doesn't get here soon, we may need to do just that."

After a few more minutes, Rika stands. "This is stupid. I'm going to search on my own." As she walks off, a voice calls out, "Wait! We're here. Don't start without us!" She turns to see Takato and Guilmon running up to them, bags dangling from Takato's arms and Calumon sitting on Guilmon's snout. "Eskimo kisses!" he shouts out gliding over and latching himself onto Rika's face.

"Breakfast!" Kazu and Kenta shout out in unison, practically tackling Takato for the bread in the bags. "Yea, we brought guilmon bread," Guilmon says before breaking into his signature dance. "Guilmon bread! Guilmon bread! There's a loaf shaped like my head…!" Kazu and Kenta stuff their faces as Rika pries Calumon off of her and walks back over to the group. "You're even later than usual, gogglehead. Did you forget to set your alarm clock or something?" Takato grins sheepishly and places a hand on the back of his head. "You could say that." She rolls her eyes. "Well now that we're all here, perhaps we should start looking," Suzie quickly interjects. "Yea. We should split into teams of two and sweep the park," Henry says, getting to his feet. "We can meet back here in about two hours."

"I'll go with Ryo!" Both Kazu and Kenta shout through mouths full of bread. Ryo sweat drops and gives a sheepish grin. "Henry, Can I go with Takato?" Suzie asks. "You want to patrol with me?" Takato asks, pointing at himself. Henry gives her a nod. "Sure if Takato doesn't mind. Takato places his hands up. "Of course not."

"I guess that leaves you and me Rika," Henry adds. Rika crosses her arms and turns away, letting out a hmph.

"What about me?" a scratchy annoying voice rings out. The tamers look on top of Guilmon's old hut to see Impmon staring down at them. "Don't leave me outta the party!" he says, hopping down. "Yea! Impmon can come with me and Kazu and Kenta can patrol together!" Ryo quickly suggests. "But Ryo!" they both whine in unison. "That's cold even for you, Mr. Perfect…" Ryo grins sheepishly once more. "Well come on guys. Let's get started!" Takato shouts, raising his fist in the air.

"Sir, we're detecting another Wild One," Riley says, punching commands into her keyboard. "Can we trace it?" Yamaki asks. "No sir," Tally responds. "Tracer systems are not yet operational."

"It's bio-emerging sir! I can't stop it!"

"Where?" Yamaki barks. "I can't pinpoint the location of the breach. There's too much interference."

"Get me the tamers." He growls. Riley and Tally begin typing commands into the keyboards. "The system isn't responding, sir!"

"What did you say?!" He shouted in surprise. "Shut the systems down!"

A female voice cackles, her laugh echoing through the lab. Yamaki's blood runs cold as, suddenly, a symbol begins flashing on the screen. It is four circles lined up horizontally with vertical lines coming out of their bottoms. These lines are connected by a horizontal line, from which the center two lines descend further before connecting with a fifth circle. Above all this sits a crescent moon and a small star. "Riley! Identify that symbol!"

"I cant cross reference it! The system still isn't responding!" Before Yamaki can bark another order, the power goes out, leaving the lab in darkness. "Get the technicians on this immediately. Do we know if that Wild One bio-emerged?" Riley and Tally slide down the emergency pole. "We can't be certain, but it's a safe bet," Riley states. "Find another way to contact the tamers. Whatever that thing was, it's not friendly."

A fog burst into existence near the creek. A pair of green eyes watch as a giant white bear walks out of the fog. "You're late," the green-eyed creature growls, swishing his segmented tail behind him. "My next target is at the electrical plant up here. Your job is to make sure those tamers are too busy to notice me. Think you can handle that, frosty?" The giant white bear punches a fist into his open palms. "I'll freeze em where they stand, Lieutenant."

"Excellent. But remember, the red one must not be harmed. Do whatever you wish to the other humans and their partners, but the master has plans for the red one!"

The white bear lumbers off toward the city while the green eyed one walks in the other direction.