Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Return of Shadows

Chapter: 12/ Picking Back Up

Riley resisted the urge to massage her temples as she sifted through the video footage of the devastating battle with Daemon Super-Ultimate. Hypnos' systems, badly damaged over the course of seventy-two hours, had finally been repaired enough to allow for ease of use. Or at least something approximating it. At any rate, Riley was taking the opportunity to go through the battle footage on her own and going through each frame, fighting it out against unexpected crashes and decreased operating speed that slowed her progress. Yet this left her feeling at ease. The increased responsibilities that Yamaki had pushed on her, on account of his apparent transfer to higher levels of government, left her feeling ill at ease. The change of pace with something that didn't demand her attention be split or a signature on documents was rather nostalgic of earlier times.

Narrowing her eyes, Riley froze a scene and leaned forward. The image showed Daemon during his battle against the Tamers who remained standing at the very end—Suzie, Justimon, and Lilithmon—right before Antylamon ascended to her dark Mega form of Cherubimon. The footage was garbled, thanks in no part to the military using their new Kamikaze Blaster to hit Daemon with a series of high-powered EMP blasts (never mind Daemon's own effect on the city itself), but fortunately Hypnos' shielding had been enough to save at least this much.

Is that a human arm? Riley hit a command on her keyboard and enhanced the image. Protruding from Daemon's body was a pale limb ending with a human hand with five fingers. Yeah… Yeah, that looks like one.

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Well, it took me long enough to get this far, she mused. But it looks like I can finally confirm that this digimon was biomerged. It's too bad that all of our external sensors were fried, so we can't really tell for certain. The Tamers had unique signatures whenever they were biomerged, but we can't cross reference here. I wonder if there are any other way…

Filing away that thought as something for either one of the Monster Makers or for Amaya Abe to look into, she moved forward with the footage. She didn't bother with the audio, as it had been completely destroyed by the battle.

The footage continued to play forward, giving out every now and then, but resolving out of static to show another explosion or a blast of fire. Finally, after a few more minutes of confused footage and explosions, the video gave out completely, dissolving into static.

Riley pressed her hand against her forehead and sighed.

I guess this is as far as we're going to get with this.

"Knock, knock."

Raising an eyebrow, Riley turned around to see Tally standing in the doorway, heavy bags under her eyes.

"Hey, you look tired," she told the other woman. Tally smiled half-heartedly.

"Over-overtime does not have its perks," Tally replied, entering the room and sitting down heavily in an empty chair. It was a sign of her exhaustion—or perhaps a sign of their friendship—that she didn't bother asking for permission to take a seat. Riley couldn't blame her.

"Sorry," was all she could say. She had been the one who had ordered everyone to stick around. It's what Yamaki would have done, she told herself.

Tally waved her off. "I'll just take it in interest out of my vacation time," she replied. "Kuroda can help me out with that." She sighed and closed her eyes briefly for a moment. "Word came back from Dolphin and Daisy about our mysterious 'Atsuo'. They can start scanning soon."

"Does that mean I can stop looking at these tapes?" Riley asked sarcastically, leaning her head into her hands.

"What does Yamaki say?"

Riley pressed her lips together. She hadn't told Tally—or anyone else for that matter—about the change of command.

"I think this is going to make me lose my mind," Riley said, subtly changing the topic. "These files are so badly damaged. The only thing that I was able to determine so far is that there seems to be a person's arm sticking out of Daemon's body at one point during the fight." Riley rewound the video to the point that she mentioned and showed it to Tally. "Which fits into what we got from Ryo and Miki. And since Atsuo was there when the fight was over…"

"Sure seems too good to be coincidence."

"Sure does." Riley leaned back in her chair. "I think we should do two things about this. Increase security around Atsuo, and increase his dosage. I want to make sure that he stays knocked out until we can be sure that he's not a threat."

"What about his parents?"

Riley groaned. Her exhaustion riddled mind had nearly forgotten about them.

"My sources have told me that they've filed a missing person's report." She sighed. "I don't know whether or not I should tell them anything when we don't even know anything."

"He's no longer biomerged, right? The Tamers killed Daemon." Tally closed her eyes again. "Or rather our trigger-happy military did after nearly killing the Tamers' partners…"

"After what happened with Noriko, Yamaki doesn't want us taking any chances." She sighed again and glanced at the video. "I suppose I could inform them that he was found at the battle sight and we're looking him over to make sure that he's all right on account of our having medical facilities dedicated to dealing with anything digital. But…I don't know." Riley brushed aside her crimson hair. "I think my brain also got fried from all this."

Tally nodded in sympathy. "Maybe, but…don't you think that the longer this gets dragged out, the worse it'll be? Holding a Japanese citizen in detention and not informing anyone…"

"I know!" Riley said sharply, and Tally flinched from the outburst. Leaning forward onto the table in front of her, Riley buried her face in her hands. "Sorry," she apologized. "I shouldn't have done that."

Tally offered her friend an understanding smile. "Yeah, but I know you're as wound up as everyone else is."

"Yamaki's being transferred and I'm being set up to take his place."

Tally blinked at this sudden admission. "Uh…huh?"

Riley ground her teeth together, already regretting telling her friend this. "I just found out about this yesterday, during cleanup operations. Apparently it's been planned for a while now."

"Uh…" Tally blinked again, and her smile became a bit of a quirky one. "Well…at least this explains why Yamaki's been keeping you out of the Control Room lately."

Despite herself, Riley barked a laugh and pushed away from the table. She felt strangely lucid all of a sudden.

I really am tired, aren't I?

"You know, if it weren't for everything that's going on, I'd order that everyone take the next two…no, three weeks off and book a flight towards Okinawa. Or wherever there's a place with a lot of beach and few people. And no computers."

"I don't think the Monster Makers would like that, seeing as how they breathe technology," giggled Tally. "But I could search for a few places like that in case you'd like to try that anyway."

"Mmm…maybe when things settle down. There's still so much to do right now. Which reminds me, I need to see if the Tamers' new cell phones have come in. I filed the paperwork and sent it out last night but…"

"It's only ten in the morning. I don't think they're going to come in yet."

Riley felt as though her spirit had just been mercilessly crushed, and her shoulders sagged. "You know," she began, "I wonder how Yamaki was able to do this job without snapping. I mean, he did once, but still…"

"Riley? When was the last time you got even a wink of sleep?"

Riley stared off into space for a moment before replying. "Forty-four hours ago I think." She closed her eyes, and a small amount of pain beat behind her skull. "Feels longer though…"

"Maybe you should take a couple hours off in one of the break rooms. Get some shuteye."

"Can't." Riley pointed to a thermos of coffee that had been sitting off to her side, just out of sight. "I've been surviving off of that since late last night. I couldn't rest if I wanted to." She smiled at her friend. "Thanks though. I'll keep it in mind when I finally start to wind down. Or the world does. Whichever happens first."

Tally looked at her worriedly. "Riley…"

"We'd better get back to work," interrupted Riley, turning off the television and grabbing her thermos. "Do you know if the situation with the government has changed or anything?"

"Uh…it looks like the city is still under military lockdown," Tally replied tentatively. "But that's because of all the damage to the city. Parliament is supposed to meet today. Yamaki is leaving to meet with them."

"Well, that's just…great." Riley stood up and adjusted her uniform. "Hopefully the Tamers are having an easier day than we are."

Riley swallowed hard, trying to keep her nerves from fraying any further than they already were.

Considering the problems that they're having with their digivices right now, we can only hope that they'll have an easy day.

Guilmon landed flat on his back with a heavy woof as gravity brought him crashing down from out of the air. In front of him, Crusadermon stood elegantly in a combat pose before relaxing.

"Again," she said, straightening out her stance.

From off to the side, Takato winced. "Um…I don't know about this…"

"You said you wanted to access the Sephirot, didn't you?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest. "Even though such a thing is not possible unless you are in the service of Yggdrasil…"

Takato rubbed the back of his head. "Well…yeah," he admitted. Crusadermon nodded.

"And yet you still wish to try and access it all the same."

Takato pressed his lips together into one thin line. "Yeah. But only because we were able to use it once when we weren't in his service. We should be able to use it again with enough practice. We still have the data…uh…" He glanced down at the recovering Guilmon as he flopped over. "…right? Boy?"

"Ooogh…" moaned Guilmon, making cracking noises as he flexed his neck.

That's not what I wanted to hear…

"Very well then," said Crusadermon, adopting another combat stance. "In that case, we will continue this 'exercise'." She wagged her armored fingers at Guilmon. "Again."

Oh man…

From off to one side, the other Tamers, Miki, Kazu, Kenta, Ayaka, Rika, Henry, and their assorted watched the situation unfold. These so-called 'practice sessions' had started shortly after Crusadermon had literally hauled Guilmon down to the park, intent on working something out on how to improve their combat effectiveness against the increasingly powerful opponents that they were encountering, particularly after the discovery that most of the Tamers' digivices, save for Kazu and Miki, weren't working properly. With necessity being the mother of invention, or in Kazu's choice of words, "desperation", the Tamers were trying whatever they could think of in the event of a bio-emergence. The current trend involved Takato and Guilmon activating the Sephirot code that they had acquired three years ago, which would provide them with a large amount of power.

There was however a problem with that idea. Crusadermon also had the code, but neither of them had been able to access it for years, and, wouldn't, if the former Royal Knight was right. As such, she was intent on subjecting Guilmon to regular beatings as part of their 'training' until they either gave up or something happened.

Knowing Takato, thought Henry as he half sorted through his deck of cards and watched the match at the same time, this could take a while.

Henry winced as Guilmon yelped in pain. If anything else, it was going to be far from easy for the pair.

"This is nuts," observed Kazu for what had to be the hundredth time. "Chumley isn't going to get any better like this. Guilmon's not strong enough to take on Crusadermon. She's a Mega!"

"Sure is fun to watch though," noted Terriermon from his spot on top of Henry's head.

"I've got to go with Kazu on this one," Rika replied. "Digimon can't train like humans and get better. After a certain point they can't get any stronger. Level is still everything in the end."

Henry grimaced. I hate to say it, but they're right. We learned that the hard way during our battles against the Devas. Henry thought back to a particular battle in the city concerning the sheep and oxen Devas. Actually, scratch that; nearly every Deva they encountered, save for one or two, had been unbeatable unless they were on the same level. No amount of modify cards had changed a thing to their advantage.

Until we digivolved to Ultimate, half the time we couldn't even call them fights, so much as they were simply slaughter. Henry ran a hand through his hair. But I guess there is some kind of logic in Crusadermon's thinking.

Whatever that logic was, it was clearly lost on Guilmon and Takato as the former again crashed to the ground, this time having been subject to a particularly impressive flip in the air that nearly split his head open. Takato winced and glanced down at the digivice at his side. Just as before, static shown on the screen whenever he tried to activate it. "Man, this would be so much easier if we could biomerge or use modify cards…"

"There's no use complaining about something that you are unable to do," said Crusadermon. "At least this training will help you be prepared for such incidents in the future. At any rate, the Sephirot can only be accessed when you want something bad enough. A hopeless battle is the best way to do so."

"You're kinda going easy on him, aren't you?" chimed in Terriermon. Beneath her helm, Crusadermon raised an eyebrow.

"Hmmm…you do have a point. Perhaps I should be even harder." Her yellow sash blades swayed to and fro like cobra heads as she contemplated the idea. "The problem is how to do so without deleting Guilmon or making him unable to fight. Decisions, decisions…"

"This is starting to take a pretty creepy direction," said Kazu, grimacing. Getting to his feet, the boy stretched. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but as fun as it is watching Chumley get his butt kicked, we all could use something to do. Takato, why don't you tag me and Guardromon in? Our digivice works right now."

Takato's eyes flickered over to Crusadermon, who pulled a dazed Guilmon off the ground. "Um…maybe that would be a good idea…"

"Do you think an enemy would allow you that kind of luxury?" scoffed Crusadermon. Kazu simply smirked and summoned a blue card. Sparks flew as he slid it through the card reader, and Guardromon's body warped and changed as lines of code enclosed around him.

"Guardromon, Matrix digivolve toooo…Andromon!"

Takato pulled back as the now lithe and shining android surged forward and slammed into Crusadermon hard, the Royal Knight barely having enough time to raise her sash blades in defense. Quite surprisingly, she was driven back, but it was only a matter of time before that would change.

After all, Kazu can't biomerge anymore, thought Takato. He glanced down at Guilmon, who had been tossed to the side following Andromon's charge. "Hey boy. Are you up for giving Kazu a hand?"

As if in response to his question, the crimson dinosaur rose to his feet and charged the two combatants, his pupils dilating.

"Got to hand it to them, they never know when to quit," said Henry with a small smile.

"This changes nothing," said Rika, folding her arms beneath her breasts. "Until all of our digivices are back on again, we're in trouble."

"We've figured that out," replied Ayaka. "But what else can we do? We're the first response to the scene."

"She's right, Rika," supplied Renamon from her place up in a tree. "However, we are in a far better position than we were three years ago."

"Two Megas, a Champion, an Ultimate, and a bunch of Rookies. None of us except for Kazu can use cards, and his partner can only go up to Ultimate. And no offense," Rika glanced over at where Miki sat meaningfully, "but we don't exactly have the best fighters here."

Miki scowled at the redheaded girl. "What? Are you saying that I'm useless?"

Rika sighed and shook her head. "Look, all I'm saying is that…"

"I can fight!" Miki snapped.

"Not very well," quipped her partner, who was resting on the ground beside her.

"Beanie!"

"Hey, can we remember that we're all supposed to be on the same side here?" asked Henry.

"But I'm not wrong though," said Rika. Miki grated her teeth together and got to her feet.

"I don't have to put up with this," she growled before storming away. "Let's go, Dracmon!"

"Ah geez…" Dracmon got up with an exasperated shake of his head and followed his partner away from the group of Tamers. As he left, he cast a look over his shoulder before falling into place behind Miki.

Ayaka turned to glare at Rika. "Nice job."

"Look," began Rika. "I was just…"

"Kahuna Waves! Puh!"

The two girls were suddenly interrupted as a wave of blue hearts fell between them, and Rika fell back a bit, startled. MarineAngemon flew between them, making a number of excited, but worried noises before finally focusing fully on Ayaka, looking at her with his large, child-like eyes. The coppery-haired girl's heart melted a little at his expression and she reached out to cup him in her hands.

"Ayaka…" began Kenta as he pushed his glasses up onto his face and stepped forward. "Um…how about we see if we can help Takato and Kazu? Maybe we can brainstorm or something on how to defeat a Mega."

Ayaka nodded. Before stepping away, she turned a glare back on Rika and held it for a moment, letting it go after she was sure that their fellow Tamer read her unhappiness with her attitude.

"Terrific," Rika muttered as the two made their way over to Takato.

"She is right though," said Henry, getting up now. "That was a little out of line."

"I know," Rika admitted. "It's just…" her hand drifted over to her digivice, its screen showing nothing more than static. "…you know."

"Yeah," nodded Henry. "We're in a tight spot, even if the military is able to help us. But my dad and the rest of Hypnos is working on a way to fix our digivices."

"They're having a hard enough time trying to fix themselves." Rika closed her eyes and groaned mentally. "Maybe I should go and apologize to Miki or something."

"You know, you could offer to teach her martial arts. It is useful against digimon that are our size."

"And aren't capable of blowing holes in mountains," chipped in Terriermon, still watching Takato and Kazu's match as it unfolded with the predictable result of Crusadermon slamming Andromon into the dirt.

"And whatever happened to momentai?" asked Henry.

"Nothing," giggled Terriermon. "We'll wing it and work things out like we always do. It hasn't stopped Rika and Takato from getting together, so I don't see how it's going to stop us now."

Rika narrowed her eyes at the little dog-bunny dangerously.

"I have an urge to hurt something now," she said carefully.

"Well, there's Takato," Terriermon said, extending an ear towards the Tamers direction. "You can't hurt me. You might need me in a fight."

Rika glowered at the rabbit dog before she looked away. "Yeah. Teaching Miki would be a good idea, but I don't think I'm the right person to do it. You have more experience, and so does Chou sensei. Not to mention that he has more patience."

"Rika…"

"How's Noriko doing?"

Henry sighed mentally, but allowed his friend to change the subject. If there was one thing he had learned over the years of friendship with the fiery-tempered girl, it was that it was sometimes best to leave her with a thought and go with the flow when she wanted it to.

"She's fine. She recovered this morning. She's a little shaky from what I saw, but she should be up and about by this afternoon. Suzie on the other hand…" Henry shook his head. "She's been pretty quiet about things." He paused. "Itsuya is going to be seeing her today to make sure she's all right."

"Hmmm…" Rika furrowed her brow, but said nothing further.

"That stupid…idiotic…annoying…"

Dracmon followed his partner with his hands folded behind his head, a mildly concerned look on his face that belied how he felt on the inside.

"You might as well let it all out," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "No one's following you."

Miki stopped in her tracks, nearly causing her diminutive partner to bump into her.

"Dracmon? Have I been a good Tamer for you?"

Dracmon hesitated before answering.

"Meh." He shrugged his shoulders. "You already know that I've never been too big on the whole 'taming' business to begin with. And I don't like that you call me 'Beanie' at every chance you get." He paused, taking in the way Miki's shoulders looked—tense and raised ever-so-slightly—before continuing. "But you treat me with respect like DinoRexmon used to back in the day." Beneath his mask, his eyes fell a little as he remembered his former superior in the X-Antibody digimon army. "That's been good enough for me most of the time. Although you could use a few more tips when it comes to fighting. Isn't that what you were talking to Ryo about in the digital world, when you asked him to teach you how to play the game? Even though you can't use cards worth beans with your digivice."

Miki scrunched her face up irritably and her hand touched her digivice. "So it's like Rika said. I'm useless except when it comes to biomerging. I haven't even digivolved you to any of your other forms. I've always just stuck with your Mega form."

"Hey, c'mon Miki. It's not like you haven't tried. Well…okay. You haven't, but Lilithmon has always been powerful enough on its own, and let's face it, the more human face is a heckuva lot better for the civvies. Do you think they'd appreciate it seeing me skating around on blades and having dozens of swords sticking out of my sleeves, like I do when I was in my Ultimate form? I hate Lilithmon's boobs, but the 'fan sites' that I've seen online…"

"Fan sites?" Miki raised an eyebrow.

"Eh." Dracmon thumbed a claw through the gap between two of his teeth. "It's nothing that I'm interested in, but maybe you might seeing as how you like our Mega form and everything. I just don't get why people are so interested in photo-shopping our Mega form so that it's naked."

Miki started forward again, her face blooming beat-red. That is the last thing I wanted to know! I'm not even going to ask what he was doing even looking for that stuff!

"Hey! Miki! Slow down!" Dracmon called, chasing after her. "I've got little legs here! C'mon!"

Miki ignored her tiny partner and continued to speed forward. As she did so, quite against her will, she found herself imagining Dracmon's Mega form just as he described it.

What would Ryo think if he saw that? her mind whispered, and all at once her body flushed. Catching the sudden second increase of red in her cheeks, Dracmon raised an eyebrow.

"You okay, Miki?"

"I'm fine!" she snapped suddenly, increasing her pace. Dracmon broke into a run to keep up with her.

"Mikiii! I said slow down already! Sheesh! What's going on in your head?"

It would be a while before Miki slowed down enough for her partner.

A/N: It has been…a really, really long time since I last updated this fic. March, if I remember correctly. Half a year. I've been feeling the itch to come back to this story, but I had to do a lot of backtracking throughout book four and this book to remember every major detail and plot that I had lined up, which took up something like six pages of notes (abridged notes too, and I had to add in the timeline as well, having lost the original notebook that I was working with). Hopefully I've got everything straightened out, and hopefully this, as well as Reset, will see some faster updates in the near future.

Until next chapter.

-Crazyeight