With FlameWizardmon vanquished, and everyone safe once again, the tamers, along with their parents, digimon, and newest ally, were all treated to a glorious feast taking place in the Nonaka's backyard. Several tables of appetizers, entrees and desserts lay before them waiting to be devoured.
In the middle of dinner, Mr. Matsuki stood up, took his fork and tapped it against his glass. "Um, can I have everyone's attention please? I'd like to propose a toast: to an extraordinary and brave young man, who without our children would not be present with us tonight. Ryan Riley."
Everyone began to applaud loudly, some cheers and whistling was thrown into the mix. Ryan's cheeks turned a bright red. He then rose from his chair, prepared to speak, at which the entire party instantly fell silent. "Uh…I'm not particularly good at making speeches or anything like that, so I guess I'll just speak from the heart: I really just want to say thank you. Not just for giving me thanks but also for…making me feel like a part of the team…and your family. And to be honest, before all this happened, I didn't have a lot of friends. So I stand here before you honored, and privileged, to be able to call you all…my friends."
"You are part of our team, our family and most importantly…" Rika walked over and hugged him. "…our friend."
Impmon made his way across the table, one hand rubbing the top of his head. "Eh, I'm…sorry, for making fun of you so much. You saved Ai and Mako…the two most important humans in the world to me. Thanks…Ryan."
The purple imp extended his hand which the teen gladly shook. "You're welcome…Impmon. Oh, and I really have to thank Yamaki for having Hypnos pick up the bill on that guys motorcycle I wrecked."
"Has anyone even seen creepy dude today? How come he isn't here chowing down with us?" Kazu blurted out, stuffing his face with as much food as possible along with Kenta and Guilmon.
"I was in a very long and tedious meeting with my superiors." Yamaki appeared like a ninja in the doorway leading from the dining room to the rear of the house with a manila folder in his hand. "And I have an announcement that's going to affect every one of us for the foreseeable. Effective immediately, the Hypnos division, along with all of its facilities, is officially being terminated."
No one could believe what they were hearing. Hypnos, the secret organization, whose help had been critical in bringing the tamers back from the digital world, destroying the d-reaper and stopping Locomon while under the influence of Parasimon, was no gone.
"Are you kidding? You know Myotismon isn't going to give up on destroying us, so why would Hypnos, at a time when we need it the most, be shut down?" Ryan asked with a tone of concern in his voice.
"Because…when Hypnos was first commissioned, it was simply meant to destroy all digimon that attempted to bio emerge into our world. But that is no longer an option, due to juggernauts instability, yuggoths ineffectiveness against certain types of digital monsters and all of it being deemed inhumane. However, I made it clear to the chief and the board that we needed a new sector based solely on the monitoring and policing of all digimon activities." From inside the folder he took out several pieces of paper with a logo imprinted on it. "Therefore, as of this moment, you are all, including you as well Ryan, hereby officially recognized as agents of the new Digital Assessment and Tactical Agency…D.A.T.A for short."
On the handout that was being handed around the table was the same symbol on the blue cards used by the tamers to allow their digimon to digivolve to ultimate. "Data was the best you could come up with?" Henry looked at Terriermon, silently reminding him of his advice about tact. "What? It's not bad. I just don't think it's original. That's all."
"I like it. The picture is nice too." Calumon said in his sweet and gentle voice, making Jeri smile.
"This is awesome! We're secret agents now!" Kenta exclaimed whilst high fiving and dancing along with Kazu.
Takato, the unofficial leader of the group, stood up and said, "I think I speak for everyone when I say we won't let you down, Mr. Yamaki. And Myotismon had better watch out because the tamers are back!"
"Congratulations." Myotismon's voice came out of nowhere, causing a mild panic amongst the party. Suzie, hugging Lopmon tightly in fright, pointed up where a holographic projection of him hovered ominously overhead. "You managed to defeat FlameWizardmon and survive to fight another day. Just as I had planned…"
"Wait. Are you saying you never expected neither MasterTyrannomon nor FlameWizardmon to defeat us? That you sent them here always knowing they would fail?" Henry asked, astounded by the vampires lack of care for his own subordinates.
That familiar, twisted and sinister grin snaked its way onto the virus face. "Of course…I knew from the beginning, after the Shadow Slayers and Devimon failed, that finishing off all of you would be more difficult than I had planned. But, having learned from my past mistakes during my battles with the other digidestined, I decided to test your individual abilities instead to learn your various strengths and weaknesses."
"That's why you let us escape your fortress alive." Renamon added, referring to hers and Ryan's close encounter in the digital world the previous day. "But why not destroy Takato and the others while they were captive?"
"With my limited strength, at the present time, I would not have been able to do so. And I needed them alive because the only one I truly wanted to see destroyed was you…" Pointing and looking directly at Ryan who angrily glared back. "…for imprisoning me in that infernal orb. However, your survival also has its advantages." Myotismon hintingly referred to their conversation in his chamber. "Before long, I will bring the digital world and your world to their knees. When you're gone I shall plunge both into an eternal darkness from which light will never shine on or from again. And when I have accomplished that…I'll return to my own dimension and finish off the digidestined who sent me here to begin with."
His words left everyone utterly stunned. They all wanted to remain optimistic about defeating him and preventing what he was planning to do. Yet, the only one who could find the right words to respond was Ryan. "No, you won't! You've caused so much death and destruction already, and I'm sure you have some terrible things in store for us, but no matter who you send our way or what you try to do, we'll still defeat you when all is said and done! And this time you won't be coming back for round three! Somehow and some way, I'll see to that one personally!"
"Ha...I look forward to it, digidestined. I look forward to it…"
"Hey! We're not just digidestined! We're the Digimon Tamers!" Takato exclaimed, holding up his D-Ark. "And together, we'll finish what Tai, Davis and their friends began!"
Everyone mimicked what he was doing and held up their own digivices to the sky, as a symbol to prove that they would never back down from or surrender to the forces of evil.
Aurumon, nestled in some nearby foliage, was tapped on his head by Impmon who'd snuck up behind him. "All this food around and suddenly I have a craving for some roasted owl! Badda-Boom…!" The bird digimon went flying into the sky, leaving behind another flyer trail of smoke behind.
"Oh! Nice shot, Impmon, I think you got a birdie on that one!" Ryan exclaimed, paying homage to the game of golf. "Come on, everybody; let's not let Myotismon ruin our good time. We had a major victory today. And like I said, should he try to attack us again, which you know he will eventually, we'll be ready for him. All of us."
The entire dinner party, humans and digimon, adults and children, cheered after hearing the teens words of encouragement. Their mood became lightened again. Dinner, drink and conversation resumed as if nothing happened. Renamon, who had asked to be excused, motioned for Ryan to follow her to the front yard. He took a sip of soda, placed the cup back down and quietly snuck away.
No one seemed to notice this…except for Rika. I wonder where they're off too.
"I get the feeling you want to talk." Ryan stated, wiping his face with a napkin. "And I've got another feeling it's about what I said to you before I went to fight, right?" Uncomfortable silence followed his inquiry. "Um…I can explain…ha…"
"I'm listening." Renamon replied, arms crossed and awaiting to hear the reason why the teen had said that he loves her.
Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! What do I do? What do I do? "Well…I…uh…I thought that I was going to die…which I almost did, by the way, and you see…" It wasn't working. His thoughts were jumbled and his heart strings were crisscrossed. Indeed, he did love the vixen but knew that his original profession was forced by certain circumstances. He wasn't ready to admit the truth. "I've told you before that I care about you but never expressed my feelings about our friendship in that way and I just didn't want to never get that chance. Sorry I made you feel uncomfortable."
At first Renamon questioned his integrity, while struggling with her own emotions about things, but felt that it would be easier just to believe him and keep things the way they'd always been. "It's alright. I don't blame you for what you said." Truthfully she felt flattered but could not say it in words. "I'm just glad that you made it."
"Same here…when hot head had me by the throat I thought I was goner for sure. I just don't get why my partner saved me and then took off. What's his game?" The vixen had no answer for him. It was then that Yin appeared from around the corner. "You know, you're the like the reverse Batman. Instead of disappearing when someone turns around, you show up instead. Everybody's still eating if you want to join us. I'm sure they'd appreciate seeing you seeing as how you're the one who freed them."
"Thank you, anyway, but I only came to say goodbye. It's time for me to return home." Yin's voice sounded more at ease than ever before. "And…I'm afraid that you will not see me again."
Ryan was both shocked and dismayed hearing of his permanent departure. "I don't get you. You come and go so much, help us out and then disappear again. Why don't you stay? Myotismon's still hanging around and he's going to try to destroy us again. And if it wasn't for you Takato, Henry and the others would've died. I'd have been dead a long time ago if you hadn't saved my butt. Renamon too…we need your help."
Yin smiled and put both of his paws on Ryan's shoulders. "As long as all of you stay strong, keep the faith and fight by each other's side…there is not a force in either world strong enough that can defeat you. Here…I want to give you something to remember me by." The black furred fox took his data sabre and presented it to Ryan. "My weapon is now yours. You've earned it."
It was a gift beyond anything he'd ever received before. "But…I can't…how am I even supposed to use it?"
"It's okay. In time, you'll learn how to harness its power. Take care, my friends. It was an honor and a privilege to have known you. Farewell." Yin turned, his cloak flowing in the wind like the cape of a superhero. "Oh and Ryan…just in case you still have any lingering doubts about what kind of person you really are, I'll offer you some words I did to Renamon once when discussing my own demons…"Rarely Am I Yin". Think about that whenever you feel like you're losing yourself."
A portal opened in the stone wall. He slowly walked inside of it and faded away. The vixen bowed, out of respect, and quietly said, "Goodbye, Yin. And thank you."
"I'm going to miss that guy. But I can't believe he left me his data sabre! This thing is so cool!" Ryan exclaimed while swinging the sword around as if he were in a duel. "Alright, enough of that. Let's get back to dinner before Guilmon eats it all. I think Mr. Matsuki made peanut butter cookies and I want to try one before..." A loud belch could be heard from the backyard. "...never mind."
Unknown to them, Rika had been eavesdropping the entire time and shook her head as they walked off. He is such a liar. He loves her, loves her. I'm sure of it. But don't worry; I'll keep your secret until you're ready to admit the truth, Ryan. But if you break her heart, I'll kill you.
Inside the Nonaka's living room, Henry's father and Yamaki were speaking with one another and trying to keep their conversation to themselves. "Did you go over the video archives?"
"Yes. You can clearly see that there was another digimon there, hidden by the steam. Whether it was a Renamon or not remains a mystery." Janyu replied, holding up some still photographs that were captured from the video.
"And what about the alley way Ryan claims he followed this Renamon into? There was a security camera, right? Did you manage to get anything off it?"
Janyu took out a small handheld device that connected right to the new D.A.T.A. mainframe and accessed the footage. "There was a digimon there as well. I enhanced it as much as I possibly could but it's still too dark to tell exactly which."
"So he was telling the truth about chasing after his partner after all…"
"I'm not so sure, because while the digimon is on here…" Forwarding the clip until the end, it resets to the beginning. "…Ryan isn't. And before you ask, I checked the video over a dozen times and I'm absolutely sure that he's not on here."
Yamaki tipped his shades down so that he could have a clear view, through a nearby window, of the boy in question as he and the rest of the tamers chased after Guilmon who was carrying the backup tray of cookies that were prepared due to his voracious appetite. "Get back here, you dinky dinosaur…! Who said you could eat our cookies!?"
"It looks like things are going to get interesting around here, to say the least…very interesting."