Hello again readers and reviewers! Thank you so much for your reviews. You guys are so awesome. You rock. Well actually, I only had ONE reviewer, so that was kind of depressing. So thank you, my one reviewer. You are my hero. The rest of you, plus my one reviewer, if you noticed any typos, any grammar mistakes, and unclear plot lines, please let me know. I want to fix them. And please continue to tell me what you think. This story is only happening because it's fun for me to do. So please, enjoy this chapter, even if it is a little long. Or a little short. I don't know who thinks what. Me, I always think things are too short. Haha. But that's just me.
Okay, let's head onto the show!
And seriously, more people should review this story, even if its flames. Because it needs to get better, and your opinion counts. Thanks! Here we go.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. It belongs to Toei Animation or something. Right? Well anyway, it doesn't belong to me. I simply love to write fanfiction about it.
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Takato stared at his empty plate, still uncomfortable. If only he could stand and stretch he'd feel better. The food wasn't much, but at least they had given him something at all. Now he just wished there was something he could do to make all of this stop. The digital world --er, digital worldS-- were in danger, and as a digidestined, he was supposed to be able to fix it, right? But he didn't even have Guilmon anymore! Well…that wasn't entirely true…but…no one knew about that yet.
Years ago Guilmon had come back to visit him. Takato had been thrilled. The two of them spent hours hanging out, before Guilmon had to return every night to the Digital world. When Takato asked him if Henry and the others got to see their partners again, the answer had been no. Only Takato got to see Guilmon again. How could he tell Henry about it? He couldn't. It would hurt too much. So he kept it a secret. And as the years passed, he saw less and less of Guilmon. But he always got to see him on the weekends. But now that he was kidnapped…. He wouldn't get to see him at all! He couldn't even call for help because Guilmon would get captured. And he couldn't do that to his friend. All he could do was hope that Guilmon would not try to come to his rescue.
Please Guilmon, don't come anywhere near me. Please!
He looked up as he heard footsteps, and watched as the Boss entered the room. "Had enough to eat?" The man asked, his face still as expressionless as it was when he had left the room. He didn't wait for an answer, but leaned over to untie Takato and drag him to his feet.
Takato stretched uncomfortably, giving the Boss a grateful look, and tried to crack his aching back. Before he could do much else, he was forced back into the cage. Instead of being handcuffed to the bars like last time, the Boss left his hands handcuffed the way they were, and slammed the door to the cage shut. Within seconds it was locked.
"Thank you," Takato called out. The Boss stared at him blankly. "I know that I'm a bother to you, because you told me so yourself. I know that I'm kidnapped, and I also know that you could pretty much do anything you wanted to me. Like…k-kill me or something." he gulped. "But you let me eat something, and let me stretch for a little bit. So thanks." He sighed and leaned against the cage. "I'm kinda scared about what's going to happen, but you don't seem as bad as all that…" his voice trailed off and he left his sentence unfinished.
The Boss stared at him like he was an idiot or something, and walked out of the room. Takato wasn't sure what he was trying to do by saying that, but he was hoping that like Yamaki, this man would simply be confused. Maybe he would realize that what he was doing was wrong and change his mind. If this really was Yamaki's twin brother, like Midias had said, then perhaps he just needed to see the truth.
"Something is happening," FlameGatomon mewed, her voice anxious. She was pacing the cage with the hair on her back raised. Her ears were laid back against her head, and her tails drooped. She looked freaked.
Other digimon in other cages started acting strange too. Takato watched with a worried expression, as one by one, they stared to growl, hiss, bark, howl, moan, cry and anything else to express their discomfort. "What is happening?" he asked. "What's going on?"
JagerLowemon's growl was terrifying, and it filled the entire room. His eyes were practically rolled back into his head, and his large claws dug deep into the floor. He was trembling all over. "The experiment," he hissed. "It's begun."
Takato gulped. "What's it doing?" he lifted his handcuffed hands and felt the collar around his neck in surprise, as it began to vibrate. He felt a sickening feeling spread from his neck into his entire body, like an adrenaline rush that made him nauseous. It was like something was slowly beginning to rip him up from the inside out. "What's happening?" he asked, in a panicked voice. The feeling was steadily growing worse. A wave of panic washed over him, and he collapsed into a ball, curled up around himself in pain. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?" he screamed. "MAKE IT STOP!"
He squeezed his eyes shut, barely able to hear what was going on around him. The sound of someone screaming had to be coming from him, he knew, but it seemed like it wasn't. It didn't feel like he was screaming, but he was sure that the person doing so was him. Unless it was the digimon…but…
His train of thought was lost to him, and he fell painfully into unconsciousness.
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Kouji watched carefully, as the stranger set his cages down and crouched behind a building to watch the digimon who were around the portal. It was clear that he was going to try to capture some of them, but how he figured he was going to do that Kouji had no idea. Didn't he know that digimon were fighters? They could easily attack him! Or maybe he did know it, and that's what the metal thing in his hand was for. Whatever was going on, all he could do was watch for now.
Lobomon crouched on his shoulder, watching silently for a minute, and then gasped. "Kouji!" he whispered. "That's Agunimon!"
Kouji squinted, trying to see better, and caught sight of a small sonic-the-hedgehog-looking creature. Almost like that anyway. It was like a fox-like creature, with a punk-like outfit. Its hair was orange, and long, and he had the sign of Agunimon on his belt. His eyes were big and green, and he had white tattoos on his arms and chest, and on his cheeks. And apparently, Kouji and Lobomon were not the only ones to see him.
The stranger stretched out the hand that held the metal object, and pressed a button on it. To Kouji's surprise, Agunimon froze, as if someone had pushed the "pause" button on a remote and "paused" him. "Stupid fox creature!" the man hissed, reaching out and grabbing Agunimon and stuffing him in a cage. "Or should I say stupid human! Yeah that's right. I know what you are. I heard your thoughts. Thought you could escape from me did you?" he muttered a few other things, and then went back into his crouched position.
"Human?" Kouji asked in a whisper to Lobomon. "What does he mean?"
Lobomon looked surprised. "I already told you all about it, but I guess you weren't listening. He must mean..."
"Mean what?"
"He must be talking about Takuya."
Kouji turned and stared at his friend with a frown. "Takuya? What are you talking about?"
Lobomon sighed in annoyance and took Kouji's D-tector from him. "I already explained this, but I'll go through it again. See this button, the one you press to spirit evolve?" Kouji nodded, so Lobomon pressed it. There was a flash of light, and the familiar feeling of Kouji's data changing into something else, and then nothing. "Look at yourself now."
Kouji did. He blinked in surprise. He looked exactly like Lobomon. And they were the same size too. The only difference was that his hair, unlike Lobomon's—which was blondish with black streaks—was black with a few blondish streaks. But besides that, they were identical. "But how does that work?" he asked. "We're….the same!"
"So are Takuya and Agunimon. It looks like Takuya got captured by this guy, and then escaped. And now he has Agunimon. But that's even worse." Lobomon sighed, and turned back to watch. "Should we stop him from capturing anyone else?"
Kouji pressed the button, turning back into his human self, and shook his head. "No. We need to find out where he's taking them. If we can find that out, we can rescue not just Agunimon, but all of the captured digimon. And Takato as well." Kouji clenched his hand in a fist. "I promised everyone I would rescue him, and I'm going to do it."
"Do you know this Takato kid who got kidnapped?"
"Well, yeah, sort of. He goes to my school." Kouji stared at the stranger as he captured another digimon, and thought about Takato. He didn't really know much about him, except that he had a different group of friends than Kouji did. But if they were both digidestined, then they had a lot in common.
"Look," Lobomon once again interrupted his thoughts. "He is leaving."
"How many did he capture?"
"Seven. And none of them even tried to attack him! Not even the ones that knew he was there!" Lobomon growled angrily. "We're too disoriented to function correctly. Becoming half-real is like losing a part of yourself. We're only half digital now."
"You don't seem to be affected…"
"That's because you are here. I would have been just as easily caught as Agunimon was if you hadn't come to find me." Lobomon climbed back onto Kouji's back and smiled grimly at him. "You're my partner. You give me strength."
Kouji raised his eyebrows. "Partner? That's different…"
Lobomon chuckled slightly. "Not really. It's the way it was meant to be. You used my spirit, and saved me from Cherubimon's corruption. Because of that, I was able to become what I was meant to be. Your partner. You give me strength Kouji." He grinned. "I'll bet you thought it was the other way around,"
"Well I did…" Kouji frowned. "That's different, but it's cool. I kinda like it." He watched the stranger walk off, and prepared to follow him at a distance. "If having a partner means we give each other strength, I'm all for it. Let's go."
"Right," Lobomon growled. He simply rode on Kouji's back, letting Kouji do the exercise. It was probably best anyway. Kouji knew where he was. Lobomon didn't have the slightest clue. But he watched the city with interest as they passed through it, following the stranger. None of the humans could see him. He knew that. It was something that the portal did to the digimon. It took away half of their data, and changed them into creatures who were invisible to the naked eye. It was like a digital shield over every single one of them. Only digidestined who had been to the digital world before could see him.
But that man…he could see the digimon. He could see the portal. Perhaps he had some device that made it possible. He was after all wearing a similar kind of shield. No one could see him either. It was strange. Had these shields that the digimon had come from the humans who started all this to begin with? Maybe it was so that no one else but themselves could take the digimon into captivity!
It was slowly beginning to make sense. In the digital world, everything had been so confusing he could hardly do anything to stop the terrible destruction of the digital worlds. And once he passed through the portals, he was so disoriented he could hardly think. What had happened? What was going on? His only hope had been Kouji. And now that Kouji was here, he could think again.
Lobomon watched Kouji
use stealth to follow the stranger. His movements were so perfect,
his focus perfect, his determination giving him strength. Lobomon
grinned. He couldn't have chosen a more perfect human to be his
partner. Kouji was everything he had been looking for. And it seemed
that he was even better now that he was older. Thank you Kouji, he
thought. Without you, I would never be any help. You saved my
life. And now you will help to save countless others from disaster. I
knew you were the right one. Thank you Kouji, for being my Tamer.
It seemed that everything was going perfectly. The stranger didn't even know he was being followed. It looked like everything was going to work out. There was hope after all!
And then, Kouji ran into someone.
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Takuya arrived at Tommy's house pretty quickly, and hurried up to the door. He had run the entire eight miles, and for some odd reason he wasn't tired at all. Hmm. Something must have happened. Perhaps turning into Flamon had done that to him. Whatever it was, it sure felt good. He knocked politely, trying to refrain from pounding on the door impatiently, and waited for someone to answer the door. That's when he looked up at the sky.
He gasped, and collapsed to the ground in horror. It looked like the sky was being ripped apart! A huge, gaping wound, drawing him closer, sucking him dry… A raging inferno of disaster slowly pulling him into it, destroying everything…. Buildings fell away until there was nothing but the sky, eating him up. He yelled and covered his face with his hands, trying to protect himself from the swirling pit of pain…
"Takuya?"
Takuya blinked and pulled his hands away from his face, and looked up into Tommy and Shinya's faces. The sun was shining, but there was no warmth in it. The gaping hole was still there. "Um…hi…" he stated, shaking visibly. He tried not to look at the wound in the sky and stood up. This must look really weird to Shinya…
"What were you doing?" Tommy asked, confused.
Takuya shivered, and pointed to the sky. Shinya glanced up, then looked back at Takuya. "What, did you see a dinosaur or something?" he teased. "There's nothing there."
Tommy threw himself to the ground, startling the two brothers momentarily. He was crying. "What's happening?" Tommy pleaded. "What's causing that…that….that terrible…" he couldn't finish his question.
"Tommy what's wrong with you?" Shinya complained. He glanced at Takuya strangely. "And you look back to normal. What happened? You looked like some kind of animal."
This got Tommy's attention. In a few seconds he was back on his feet, trying to ignore the swirling vortex in the sky the same way Takuya was trying to. "What do you mean?" Tommy asked, narrowing his eyes. He looked at Takuya suspiciously. "Some kind of animal?" he was hinting at something.
Takuya laughed and scratched his head, trying to decide what to say next. "Well…not…but…see…um….he…." he sighed. "Oh never mind. Shinya, can I have my cell phone…I mean…can I have that device back? I really need it."
Tommy's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything. He just looked jealous.
Shinya shrugged and watched the two of them suspiciously, knowing they were keeping something from him. It bothered him. They were always keeping secrets from him! "I gave it to Kouji because I couldn't find you," he replied. "And anyway, I demand to know what's going on. Tell me right now or else I'm going to tell Mom everything!"
Takuya exchanged a glance with Tommy, and then sighed. "Okay. Go ahead. Tell her whatever you want to. Not that it will make a difference." He grinned at his brother's shocked expression. "I have to go save the world, if you don't mind."
"I'm coming too," Tommy growled. There was a warning in his eyes. Sheesh, Taskuya thought, It's dangerous to cross this kid. Haha. "Or else I'll tell Shinya everything."
Takuya thought carefully about what to say, and finally nodded. "Tell him," he replied, shocking both younger boys. That wasn't what either of them had expected to hear. "I need to go somewhere on my own. Shinya should probably know what's going on so he doesn't get killed. You should probably stay here to protect the digimon. I need to get out of here before I get kidnapped again. Okay catch ya later." He dashed off, leaving a trail of sparks behind him.
Ah, how good it felt. To be digital again. He couldn't help loving it. And yet, he felt guilty. He was supposed to be human after all.
Someone crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. He rolled into the street, scraping his elbows and his head, and landed with an "oof" on the sidewalk, on the other side of the road. "What did you do that for?" he complained, opening his eyes. He blinked in surprise.
He was staring into two, large, green eyes.
"Hello?" he queried, sitting up. There in his arms was a fox-like creature, the same thing that he had turned into when Shinya had first pressed the "spirit evolve" button on his D-tector. The only difference was that this little fox creature had fiery wings and sharp, sharp, sharp, sharp teeth that stuck out of his mouth like a saber-tooth-tiger. He blinked in surprise, and grinned so wide his cheeks hurt. "Agunimon?" he asked hopefully.
The winged fox shook its head. "No," he stated, his voice lower than Agunimon's. It was almost a growl. It sounded so familiar too… "Not Agunimon. But you were close."
Takuya stared at the fox thoughtfully. If not Agunimon…then…. He gasped, suddenly remembering everything that JagerLowemon had told him. The pieces were all falling together. So that was what the wound in the sky was. It was the two digital worlds colliding, and the portal to the real world that was turning digimon half-real and separating the legendary warriors from their beast spirits.
Takuya grinned and hugged the fox tightly. "BurningGreymon," he exclaimed. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you! And man, you look ten times cooler than I do when I'm that form!"
BurningGreymon grinned, but pulled away from Takuya in annoyance. He didn't like hugs that much, but he did miss Takuya… "Course I do," he commented. "But that's beside the point. I need your help."
"Yeah, I figured. You always do."
BurningGreymon's expression betrayed that he wasn't feeling up for teasing right now. "Agunimon's been captured," he stated. "And something is happening. Can't you feel it? I don't like it, but I don't know what it is." He stared helplessly at the ground. "I am so lost here in the real world. I knew where to find your house, but you weren't there. I only know the places where you went when you came back to the real world that one time."
"When I tried to stop myself from going?" Takuya asked. "Yeah makes sense I guess." He stood up, aware of people staring at him strangely. That's right. They couldn't see BurningGreymon. "So where should we go?"
"I don't know. To save Agunimon?"
"If I go back there, I could get kidnapped again. I need to talk to the police. Oh wait…they can't see them. They're wearing digital shields like you are."
BurningGreymon sighed, and jumped down from Takuya's arms. "Here," he stated, growing to a much larger size. "Ride on my back and tell me where to go."
Takuya grinned, staring at his companion with an amazed expression. "Wow! How'd you do that? Can all the beast legendary warriors do that?"
BurningGreymon grinned in return. "Only if they are with their partners. Meaning I can only do it because I'm with you. You give me strength in the real world. If I weren't around you, I'd be helpless. I need to you Takuya, to be able function here."
Takuya got on his back, aware that he too was now protected by a digital shield. How cool… "So I'm your partner now?"
"Yes."
"What about Agunimon?"
"I suppose you are his partner too, just as he is mine."
"That's really confusing."
BurningGreymon grinned. "Not necessarily. So where are we off to?"
Takuya thought for a minute, and then decided. "To find Kouji. He has my D-tector."
BurningGreymon nodded, and leapt into the sky. Within seconds they were zooming through the city, searching. Takuya hoped it wouldn't take too long. The situation was getting worse every second! At least he had BurningGreymon now…..
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Rika stared at Kazu and Kenta, a sneer on her face. "You thought I didn't have a clue what was going on?" she snapped. They stared at her innocently. "Well guess what. I already know."
"But do you know everything we know?" Kazu persisted, he rolled his eyes at her. It didn't matter that she was the prettiest girl in all of Japan—according to most of the guys—she was still a big nuisance.
Rika crossed her arms. "Well, I'm not stupid. If you have information, spill it. No wait…" she reached out and grabbed the two boy's arms, dragging them into her house. She still lived in the same big house, with the same big garden, the only difference was that she didn't spend much time in it. She was usually out at school, or with friends, or searching for a way to get Renamon back. It was like torture all these years not being able to see her, that she could hardly take a day to rest. She couldn't ever relax, and so she didn't. She filled her days with activities, because when she was alone she would cry. Not on the outside anymore, but still on the inside. She would never stop crying, as long as Renamon was gone.
She dragged the two boys into her house, pushing these thoughts out of her head. Why did she have to think about Renamon right now? Renamon wasn't here. Renamon couldn't be here. She would have to solve this problem on her own. Never on your own, she heard Renamon's voice telling her. Not when you have friends like Takato and Henry…
She tossed the two boys on the ground outside and closed the gate to her yard. "Okay, now that we're alone, I think you can tell me."
Kazu rubbed his arm and grumbled a few things. "Gosh Rika, can't you ever be nice to us?"
Rika stared at him blankly, not replying.
"Well anyway," Kenta pushed his glasses back on his face and then cleared his throat. "We know what's going on, and it's our job to tell you and Henry and Ryo and Jeri. So can you call them and have them come here?"
Rika frowned. "What about Takato? He's more helpful than the two of you put together."
"I guess we know something you DON'T then," Kazu sneered.
Kenta slapped his arm with a frown. "Takato's been kidnapped by the enemy," he said to Rika. "And that's half of what this is about."
Rika raised her eyebrows, shocked. Takato was kidnapped? She glanced back at the swirling vortex in the sky, so painful to look at, and then tore her gaze away from it. No. She wasn't going to look at it. Every time she did she felt drawn to go into it, hoping that perhaps she could see Renamon again….. "I'll call Henry," she whispered, walking into her house. She didn't really feel like calling Ryo, but she might as well.
Oh Renamon. Will I ever see you again? Must I be so alone forever?
It didn't take long for Henry to get there. All she had to do was tell him that Takato was kidnapped, and the world was in danger once again. It worked like magic. Ah, the relief of having a friend like Henry. He was always there when you needed him. She blinked, and pushed that thought out of her head. What was she thinking? Start thinking like that about a guy, and the next thing you know, you like him! No, she didn't have time for that.
No time for guys. Not even… she sighed. No. There was no time to think about guys. There was a bigger problem at stake. And that was where her focus was required. She turned and joined the group, grateful to see that Henry had arrived. Ryo joined soon after, but Suzie did not come with Henry, and Jeri refused to come at all. She said she was too upset. Whatever.
Rika stared at everyone solemnly, then turned her gaze to Kazu and Kenta. "Okay," she stated firmly. "Tell us what is going on. I have an idea, but if you have some source of information that I don't, then spill. I'm sure you know how vital it is that we know everything."
"Yeah, yeah," Kazu rolled his eyes. "Okay so I'll start, and Kenta can fill in where I forget things. Just don't interrupt all the time."
"You interrupt me all the time."
"Well that's different."
Rika rolled here eyes and exchanged glances with Henry. Here we go again…
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Takato opened his dry, aching eyes, and wondered if they were bloodshot. They sure felt that way… He blinked and frowned, staring up at the faces that were peering down into his. Wait…he wasn't in his cage anymore? Wha….What just happened?
He was staring into the Boss's face. "Where am I?" he asked, confused. He was aware of the other ninja—not Midias—behind the Boss, a confused and annoyed look on his face. The Boss simply looked relieved. Relieved? About what?
"You're alive?" The Boss asked gruffly, seemingly trying to disguise the relief in his voice. He was worried about me? "Well no matter. That shouldn't have happened to you." He stood up and walked out of Takato's line of sight. The ninja followed, leaving him lying on…on what? And where?
Takato sat up dizzily, trying to get a good look around. He was still in the warehouse, but instead of being in his cage he was lying on the floor in the middle of the room. He was not handcuffed, or tied, or anything. But he was lying on somebody's jacket for a pillow. Did he almost….die or something? Or maybe he had simply scared them. Something must have gone wrong with their experiment. Or maybe….maybe it affected him because he too was wearing a collar. Whatever was going on, it was weird. And whatever they knew, he had no clue. But since he was out, he might as well free the other digimon…
He tried to stand, and found that he was too weak. He nearly collapsed back onto the floor. Okay, so he'd have to free them another time. His eyes threatened to close again, but he fought to keep them open. They closed anyway, and he drifted into a half-awake, half-asleep state. For a while nothing happened. But then he began to hear voices.
"You returned. Did you get seven more?"
"Yes sir. And I caught that fox again."
"Set the cages here. And put these collars on them."
There was a long pause, and Takato wasn't sure if he was missing part of the conversation.
"Are you sure it's the same fox?"
"Well….I was, but now that you mention it…"
"It doesn't matter. We have what we need now."
"What about the boy? Why is he out? Don't you know what he could do? Don't you know what he is?"
There was another pause, this time shorter.
"I know as much about him as you do, mercenary. But it is none of your concern. See that collar on his neck? That gives me control over him. The experiment didn't go as well as it would have with 30 creatures, but it still worked. And surprisingly, it worked on him too."
"But that's impossible!"
"Did I ask for your opinion? You've done what I asked, now start guarding this place like you're supposed to. I have everything under control. Understand?"
"Of course sir."
That was undeniably Midias' voice. He was sneering at the Boss hatefully, as usual. It was clear he didn't like Takato being out of the cage, nor did he like the Boss. What a weird situation. Takato had no idea who to trust and what to think about any of them. First they were evil, and then they were confusing. Why was the Boss, Yamaki's twin, so worried about him? Could it be that he knew who Takato was? Still, it didn't make sense. What was supposed to happen now?
"Takato, Takato," the Boss sighed, nearly startling Takato out of his sleep-like state. "What is it about you that makes this happen? And why is it so essential to my plan?"
He stood and walked out, leaving Takato to lie semi-unconscious on the floor. It wasn't very long until that semi-unconsciousness turned into complete unconsciousness, and Takato had absolutely no idea of all the things that happened next, nor did he have a clue how incredibly close to death he was about to come.
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So that is where I'll end. Since no one reads this anyway, you guys are missing out on one of my best stories ever. Gosh. Please just read it! And please just review! Even if you don't like it! PLEASE!
Okay whatever. I hope you're interested now. It's one of the best Tamers/Frontier Crossovers I've ever written! So anyway…until next time!
Rika195
