Sorry that it took a little longer than I'd expected to bring this chapter up, but I hope it's to your liking. I decided to go with the dark, possessive Ryo as most of you seem to like. Who wants a boring traditional style nemesis anyways? Hope you enjoy it.
Special thanks to The One who Meeps for betaing this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or Bleach.
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Chapter Three Ryo's Cruelty
Tenth Division Captain Hitsugaya Toushirou sighed as he returned to his office after a Captain's meeting. The Captain-Commander gave him orders to assemble a team and go to the Living World to help Ichigo and Rukia investigate the strange behavior and actions the Arrancar had been taking as of late. He was further irritated when he found Matsumoto asleep on the couch, ignoring her paperwork again.
Sighing, he walked over, kneeling to whisper in her ear. "Matsumoto…" he sang, an almost evil smirk on his face.
"…Taichou?" Matsumoto yawned, still half-asleep.
"I burned all of your sake." He said bluntly. This woke her up instantly.
"WHAT?!" she screamed, looking at her Captain. "You're so mean, Taichou. How could you?"
"I lied." said Hitsugaya dryly before going to his desk. "Get to work… I need to decide who is going to come with me to the Living World."
"You're mean." Matsumoto whined again before she processed what Hitsugaya had sad. "We're going to the Living World? Great! I needed to get some shopping done!" Matsumoto squealed. Hitsugaya glared.
"Don't make me change my mind about bringing you." He warned. "I'm requesting Kuchiki-taichou to allow me to bring Abarai-fukutaichou along. Do you have any suggestions about who else I should bring along?"
"Madarame and Ayasegawa are a good idea. They've been on our team before." Matsumoto said and Hitsugaya agreed.
It was late the next night and Takata was doing his homework. He'd had a late start since he'd worked in the bakery from the moment he'd gotten home. Guilmon, Impmon, and Calumon had already fallen asleep long ago.
Takato blinked when he realized he'd gotten an e-mail, from Ryo no less. Takato hadn't seen the Legendary Tamer in a long time. He wondered why Ryo chose to contact him now. He opened the message and read it.
Hey Takato,
I'm in Karakura Town for the time being and I was wondering if you'd come to the park, right now. There's something I need to talk to you about urgently. Come alone.
Signed,
Ryo
Takato frowned. Ryo wanted to meet him so late at night? Alone, nonetheless. It seemed odd but Takato trusted Ryo, so he'd go. Not wanting to alert his parents, Takato snuck out through the window. He walked off, not noticing that Ichigo had sighted him.
'Where's he going?' thought the Substitute Shinigami. He decided to follow, leaving behind his Shinigami badge.
At the same time, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra arrived in the Living World in their new gigai. They caught sight of Takato and Ulquiorra frowned.
"That was the human that the draconian creature obeyed." He said.
"Then let's follow him." Grimmjow said and they did just that.
Takato arrived in the park, eyes scanning for the Legendary Tamer. "Ryo? Are you there?"
"I'm right here, Takato." Ryo stated from somewhere in the shadows. Chills ran down Takato's back. There was something odd about Ryo's voice. He ignored the part of him that was telling him to run away while he still could. When Ryo came out of the shadows and into the moonlight, Takato gasped. Ryo looked demonic.
"What happened to you?" asked the Hazard Tamer, backing away.
"Many things." Ryo intoned. "But I don't have time to go into the details." Takato yelped as Ryo lunged for him, pinning the smaller boy to a tree with his hands held above his head and his feet dangling off the ground.
At that point, Ichigo, who had been watching silently, was about to go help Takato when he was grabbed from behind and immobilized against someone's chest, one of his assailant's arms pinning his arms and the other keeping his mouth shut.
"Shut up and stay still, Kurosaki." Growled Grimmjow. "We want to see this." Ichigo fought furiously but as he was in his human body, he couldn't do much. Grimmjow was still physically stronger than him, even in a gigai.
"Let me go!" Takato cried, trying to wriggle out of Ryo's grasp with no avail. "Why are you doing this, Ryo?"
"Simple, because I'm not Ryo. At least not the one you're familiar with." The possessed Tamer sneered. "My real partner, Millenniummon, showed me the error of my ways. Why try to save a world that's not even grateful for it? I'm far superior to those mortals… and you… the self-appointed guardian of both worlds… don't even see that you are so much more than they are."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Takato said, utterly confused.
"Do I need to spell it out for you?" Ryo smirked. His nails turned into claws and he sliced Takato's shirt open, reveling in the flash of alarm in Takato's crimson eyes. "I'll make sure you never forget this…" Takato shrieked in pain as Ryo began to carve something in his chest.
'Guilmon!' Takato called him through their link, his mind in a frenzy. Tears streamed down his face as the pain became too much for him.
"Your screams are music to my ears." Ryo said sadistically as he wiped at Takato's tears with mock tenderness, staining the leader's pale cheeks red.
Suddenly, the air got much colder and Ryo heard a voice hiss out.
"Soten ni zase… Hyourinmaru!"
Ryo whirled around, letting go of Takato, to see Hitsugaya ready to strike, Matsumoto, Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichikia flanking him on both sides. Ryo sneered.
"You need to learn to mind your own business." He snarled before he snapped his fingers. Cyberdramon swooped in, using Desolation Claw to stir up the dirt and obscure everyone's sight as he grabbed Ryo and fled.
At that point, Grimmjow decided he and Ulquiorra had seen enough.
"See you around, Kurosaki." sneered Grimmjow, tossing Ichigo into the clearing while he and Ulquiorra entered a Garganta.
Hitsugaya and Matsumoto went to check Takato, who had slumped over, suffering from the effects of the blood loss. Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika headed over to Ichigo.
"Where did you come from?" Renji queried, helping the Substitute Shinigami get back on his feet.
"I'd been following Takato over there when Grimmjow grabbed me from behind." Ichigo scowled.
"You don't look hurt." Ikkaku mused.
"That's because he didn't do anything but pin me down. This is the second time Espada have come without causing harm." Ichigo muttered as he headed over to Takato. "We should get him treated."
"I already closed the wound as best I could for now. We'll deal with it more when we get to Urahara's." Hitsugaya said as Ichigo picked up the now unconscious Tamer and they all headed off, not knowing of a feral Guilmon and pissed off Beelzemon searching the city for the lost Tamer.
Later, as Takato rested in a room, Ichigo sat at a table with Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Urahara and Yoruichi.
"So you're telling me that so far the Espada have appeared but not attacked twice. Aside from that, we now have creatures called Digimon appearing in Karakura Town coinciding with the arrival of Matsuda Takato, the leader of a group of humans called the Digimon Tamers?" Hitsugaya repeated what Ichigo told them all.
"That's the basic idea." Ichigo said with a nod.
"We've got visitors." Urahara said suddenly as Guilmon and Beelzemon burst their way into the house. Beelzemon went straight to Ichigo, grabbing him by the collar.
"Where's Takato?" he snarled.
"I think he already knows." Yumichika said, pointing to Guilmon, who had headed straight for the room Takato was in.
"What happened?" the Demon Lord asked when he saw Takato's bandaged and bloodied chest.
"I'm not exactly sure. I saw Takato leaving home and going to the park. He called for some guy named Ryo. Ryo came out but for some reason, the sight of him startled Takato. Ryo pinned Takato to the tree but when I went to help, I was pinned down by the observing Espada. Ryo spoke of he and Takato being superior to the humans and then he carved something into Takato's chest. Oddly enough, it was the same symbol that's on Guilmon's chest." Ichigo stated.
The look of stunned outrage on Beelzemon's face showed that he knew the importance of the symbol, and Ryo's role in their lives.
"Care to explain the significance?" questioned Yoruichi, crossing her arms.
"That's for Takato to explain if he wants to." Beelzemon said hotly. "So who the hell are you, anyways?"
"We'll save introductions for when your friend wakes up." Urahara stated. "How about we all enjoy a cup of tea in the meantime?"
Takato woke up a little while later, feeling the now much duller ache of his injury. Not being able to recognize his surroundings but feeling the presence of his partner, Takato staggered into the room where everyone was.
"Yare, yare. It seems like our young guest has finally awoken." Urahara said, staring at the Tamer.
"I don't mean to sound rude, but who are all of you? And where am I?" Takato asked, stumbling into a seat beside Guilmon, who repositioned himself to lie on Takato's lap.
"I'm Urahara Kisuke, owner of the candy store you're currently in. I'm an exiled Shinigami who provides services to other Shinigami." The ex-Captain introduced himself.
"I'm Hitsugaya Toushirou, the Captain of the Tenth Division." The white-haired prodigy said.
"I'm Matsumoto Rangiku, the Vice-Captain of the Tenth Division. Your partner is a real cutie. I've always had a bit of a weakness for dragons." Matsumoto chirped happily, enjoying the slight bit of red that she saw appear on her Captain's cheeks for the inference.
"The name's Abarai Renji, Vice-Captain of the Sixth Division. I'm also the childhood friend of Kuchiki Rukia." Renji stated.
"I'm Madarama Ikkaku and this is my comrade Ayasegawa Yumichika. We're the Third and Fifth seats of the Eleventh Division, respectively." The bald Shinigami said. "Think you'd let me fight one of your Digimon friends?"
"Bring it on, Baldy!" Beelezemon said challengingly, but he backed down at Takato's reprimanding glare. Yumichika held Ikkaku down.
"Now that you're awake, would you care to tell us what happened in the park?" Ichigo asked. "Who's Ryo and what did he mean when he carved Guilmon's symbol into you?" Takato's eyes dimmed slightly as he looked down.
"Ryo is one of the Tamers. The first one, in fact. They call him the Legendary Tamer for his experience. We've never known much about him but I knew he had a good heart. I don't know what happened but he's changed." Takato said.
The Shinigami couldn't help but feel that there were some similarities between Takato's beliefs about Ryo and Hinamori's beliefs about Aizen.
"What about the symbol?" Renji inquired.
"It's best to let sleeping demons lie." Takato said vaguely, clearly showing that he didn't want to talk about it. 'Why must the Digital Hazard haunt me even now?'
At that moment, the group got distracted by the arrival of Rukia, who instantly plowed her fist into Ichigo's face. "You idiot! How the hell could you forget to bring your badge with you?! How stupid can you be?" raged the irate noble. This, of course, led to a big argument between the two.
Watching them, Takato couldn't help but miss his own friends. 'I could really use your help… Jen, Ruki.' He thought sadly.
