Hazard of Hatred Chapter 13: Bad Omens, a digimon fanfic

Hello? H-Hello? Well, if you're hearing this, then chances are you've made a very great choice what to read!

I mean - Well, guess who? SorrowfulReincarnation is back, tell a friend and fellow reader!

And what is this, here we are, a few days later than I wanted it to, but hey, this was almost a monthly update! Not that I plan to try that again, we all know how that went last time.

Now, let's just skip the general stuff, there's nothing I really wish to say up here, other than that I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

On a side-note: Chapter 13. Unlucky number. Bad omens. Irony?

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or its characters.

Hazard of Hatred

ARC 3 - Homecoming

Chapter 3: Bad Omens

Unknown place

This was not right.

This was not a thing that should have ever happened.

How ever had I ended up like this? How did I get here? How had I ended up standing in my own doorway, mere inches away from secure death, when I had gone to bed only a few minutes – or was it hours? - ago? Was this but a mere dream?

It had to be. It could only be a dream. A nightmare. There was no other way I could explain the situation otherwise. The world, frozen in time around me. My mother standing behind me, face distorted in a voiceless scream. My grandmother, pale, standing in the doorway to the living room. Me, standing in the open doorway, facing the street in front of our house – with a weapon mere inches away from stabbing my throat.

It's a lance. Dull in color. Silver, faded into gray. A black ring surrounding the end, just by the hand that is holding the dark lance.

A knight stands before me, his color no longer that of purity and justice. Taint has befallen this knight, has turned his armor into a dull gray, formerly crimson parts having turned red. The amber eyes beyond his helmet were more like those of a reptile than ever before, blind anger having turned amber into crimson, white stains and vein spread through it.

It is Gallantmon.

I easily recognize him, despite the year that I have not seen him – save for that one night when I saw him through the rift. Still the same height, the same build, the same stance – but the anger is something I have never seen from him. The taint.

This was not Gallantmon.

Not anymore.

The knight that has me at its mercy, pushing its lance toward my throat, has strayed from the path of justice. Was no longer Takato inside. Was pursuing another goal – a goal that, for whatever reason, seemed to include my death.

What has happened to him in the one year we've not seen each other? What could he have experienced to have changed so much?

Why would he try to kill me?

The world around me begins to move, albeit slow, like in slow-motion, and I cannot move at any greater speed. Cannot avoid the lance aimed to kill. I can see the anger in the knight's eyes change into something akin to mad glee as the distance between the lance and my throat decreases at speed beyond my control, beyond the speed I can move at within this.

I can see Renamon phase in behind him, panic in her eyes, but though she is the one that moves the fastest in this slow world, even she would not be in time. I cannot move out of the way. Cannot throw my body out of the way even though I try. Cannot change the path of the lance.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see it. Blue, a dark blue, stronger than ever before. On the back of my hand.

The Digital Hazard glows on the back of my hand.

But even it cannot do a thing against Gallantmon, the very personification of its powers. It is at the whim of the knight, the knight tainted by whatever has happened to him. Has to bow to him.

The lance touches my throat.

The world around me erupts into white, like paper burning away. Everything vanishes. Mom, Renamon and Grandma are absorbed into the void. The house disappears. The lance against my throat is gone within the blink of an eye, and the dark Gallantmon vanishes as well.

It is only me, in the void of white nothingness. I can feel energy ripple through it. Can feel the void around me altering, changing. My body acts against my whim, pulls it arms and legs in, changes into a fetal position, hovering in the white endlessness. And I do know whose whim the void is bending to. Who controls this world around me, who changes and alters it as it wishes.

It is the blue Digital Hazard on the back of my hand, the Hazard of Sacrifices. It is the only thing that has stayed, has not vanished when the world changes. It still glows brightly on the back of my hand, and almost like I'm in a trance, I stare down at it, the only color in this bleak world.

The only thing that matters as nothing is left to me, as it all is taken from me. Once more.

Color stains the world around me. The blue of the sky, the gray of the buildings, the green of the park in the distance, and the black of the streets below.

I'm flying. High above the intersection in front of Hypnos, I fly within a ball of blue energy, a bubble of light that surrounds me and protects me from all harm. A different, but oh so similar scene is in front of my very eyes.

Although I am flying high above Shinjuku, higher than the roof of Hypnos, I am once more in a situation that was so very reminiscent of the one I had seen just a few seconds before. Only this time is it perfectly still, not even moving in slow-motion.

I am at Gallantmon's mercy. He's charging at me with his lance extended, aimed at my very head.

This time, his colors are the ones I know him for – the crimson of Dino-boy. The amber eyes. The white of Gogglehead and Guilmon's pure and innocent souls.

But I cannot enjoy the sight. Something very unexplainable fills my chest, a warmth that is not positive in itself.

The warmth of the raging flame of hatred. Of anger.

I hate Gallantmon. As I fly there in that bubble and look him into his eyes, ignoring the people and the Digimon on the street below us, staring at us in panic and worry, I can only feel unexplainable rage towards Gallantmon and all he stands for.

Cannot help but see a tainted soul beyond the white of the armor. And not for the scene I have experienced seconds before, the scene where he stands in dark at my door, trying to kill me.

This rage is not mine, and yet it is. It invades me from the outside, but has long been inside me before. Why do I hate Gallantmon so much at that moment? Why can I not help but feel betrayed by him? Angry at anything he stands for? At Guilmon? Takato?

What have they done to me that I cannot help but hate them? Loathe their very beings?

And why am I in a ball of energy, one that reminds me of a biomerge? I cannot feel the senses of the new biomerged body invade my own, cannot see through the eyes of the Digimon I am in, cannot feel or hear anything it hears. In Sakuyamon, I can feel those very things. Can hear Renamon's thoughts and motivations. None of that in that moment. Am I even inside a Digimon, biomerged into it? I can see no body around me, though I seem to look through my own eyes instead of those of the Digimon I should be in. It is as if I am just in a bubble, floating high above the city.

There is worry in Gallantmon's eyes. Worry for me? Or worry at what I have become? Is his worry there for the same reason that I feel anger?

The world changes again. Fades to white once more.

For the fragment of a second, I see a tainted blue flash before my eyes, faded from once powerful color. The color of Youkomon, the tainted version of Kyuubimon that Renamon had turned into when she had been exposed to the H-Zero.

The white world turns black. Then into that faded blue.

And erupts into colors one second later.

Shinjuku, Rika's bedroom

My body jerks violently, thrown forward, then coming to a stop.

It takes me a few moments to realize that the hand on my forehead is my own. That I have just woken up from the dream of being at Gallantmon's mercy. That it had been nothing but a nightmare. That my body is covered in a layer of sweat, the reason that my clothes stick to my body.

I'm sitting upright on my futon. It is dark within my room, and a glance to the slight ajar door and the garden beyond shows me that the full moon is still high in the sky. It was not even close to dawn yet, and yet I was awake. Sat there. Stared.

A strange warmth is flowing through my body, but it is not one of compassion. Not aiming to soothe me. It isn't Renamon.

The only source of light in the darkness is the back of my hand, the Digital Hazard of Sacrifice glowing brighter than I had ever seen it glow before. Never before had I seen it being this active – and that without the itchy feeling that usually came with it.

Strong enough to illuminate my room lightly, tinting it in a faint blue, the Digital Hazard mocks me in all its glory. It doesn't take a genius like Henry to tell me that it had something to do with the strange dream – or rather, nightmare – I had just experienced.

But why it would try to tell me that Gallantmon was a threat was an entirely new mystery.

My throat is dry. Hurts. Have I screamed in my sleep? Why hadn't Renamon come to check up on me? She usually did when I was moving just a bit more than usual, knowing that it meant I had a nightmare. In other cases, I would've found it creepy that someone was watching me in my sleep, but in this instance, I was rather glad.

It was relaxing to know that there was someone to watch over you.

But Renamon wasn't there this time.

I shook my head, tried to get a clear thought, but the nightmare was still fresh on my mind, craving for attention. For me to analyze it and find the hidden motivation of the Hazard of Sacrifice within it.

A soft breeze entered the room through the ajar door. Hit my sweat-covered skin. A cold shudder went down my body. The dream could wait.

I craved a shower and a glass of water first. And some more sleep. Sure, we had the next day off from school for whatever reason – I hadn't listened that much, had been too occupied thinking about the weird behavior of the Digital Hazard the day before – but I had promised Reika to come over and help her with decorating her room and unpacking the last few things in the morning.

Slipping out of my futon and climbing to my feet, I noticed a silhouette against the moonlight. A shadow. Renamon, standing atop a roof. So she was there, and alright.

I shuddered again as another breeze hit me.

I really needed that shower.

Needed it so bad that I missed the blue light on Renamon's forehead the moment that she turned to me. The Digital Hazard had given her back the control of her body.

The Digital Hazard of Sacrifice had prevented Renamon from interfering with the nightmare.

"Glad you could make it!"

I rolled my eyes at the bundle of energy that Reika was, despite how early in the morning it was. Cold and slightly foggy, with morning dew rolling down the leaf of a plant being the first thing that I saw upon leaving my room.

That girl was just full of contradictions, wasn't she? Only a few days ago, Reika had told me that she was a late riser, groggy and grumpy if she woke up earlier than 10 AM – kinda like Gogglehead, which meant it was another thing they were alike in – and here she was, three hours earlier, full of energy and vigor.

"It wasn't that hard, you know?" I responded with sarcasm dripping from my voice, stepping inside her house the moment that she made some space and allowed me to, "I live next door."

"Oh, wow, really? I didn't notice that until now." she shot back with just the same amount of sarcasm, "I was referring to how early it is."

"I'm an early bird." I replied, taking in the sight of the hallway we were in – long, with a wooden floor, a door to my left leading to the living room, and a flight of stairs leading upstairs, hallway continuing past the stairs – and resisted the urge to yawn. It wasn't entirely a lie, I actually was an early bird, even though I did enjoy to sleep in a bit on weekends, but after the events of last night and the late night shower, I wasn't exactly at my best.

"Lucky you. Took me breakfast and a long and cold shower to get me like I am now. And the thought that I have duty in the bakery later this morning sure wasn't what helped me." chuckled Reika as she closed the door behind me, gesturing to her still wet hair, before she continued with a wink, "Ten minutes earlier and you could've joined me in the shower."

I shuddered. There it was again, she was flirting with me! This time, there was no mistake, no doubt! No doubt but if she did it with the purpose of wooing me, or in mere playfulness, an attempt at getting under my skin. No matter what it was, she did achieve one thing. She did get under my skin.

But that left me with another question, a question that I had never bothered to think about until then. Now that I could be certain that she was flirting with me ever so often, this question became apparent to me for the first time. A question that hadn't necessarily to do as much with her as it has with me.

The question of my own preferences. The question about who I am and what I want. I had never bothered to think about love or attachment, had never bothered to look for the 'right one' out there, my 'knight in shining armor'.

Could that 'knight' be a female, after all? Could it be that the reason that no boy other than Takato, and to some extent Henry, had ever become close to me, was that I just had no interest in them? Was it not just a trust issue, after all?

A question I could not answer. A question that had no answer. Not then, and not in the at that moment near future. I had yet to feel the emotion known as 'love', the kind of love you felt for 'the right one', and until that moment, I wouldn't know.

All I could say at that moment, though, was that I had been distant to females – I had never really liked any of the girls at that snobby school – as well as males in the same way. Takato, Henry, and the other Tamers had been exceptions among humans until then, exceptions to my rule to keep to myself, to do things by myself.

"I guess you had breakfast yourself already?" inquired my host, raising an eyebrow at me, and pulling me back into reality that way. Her curious glance made me shudder, though I managed to hide that shudder by taking off my jacket and throwing it over my shoulder.

"I did." I replied, the nodded towards the stairs, knowing that Reika's room was upstairs, and decided to make a playful jab right back at her in hope that her earlier comment of joining her in the shower had been nothing but a mere playful joke, "We can start right away. Lead the way, lovergirl."

She rose her eyebrow a bit higher, but it was accompanied by a playful smirk. She was obviously enjoying my sarcasm – was that even sarcasm? - to the fullest, but didn't seem to have any intention to say anything herself in return. Instead, she turned to the stairs and gestured me to follow.

I followed without another word, up the wooden stairs. Along the wall decorated with pictures of Reika and her mother. Reika, about thirteen years old, standing with her mother in front of a car. Two of them in front of a bakery, then inside in another one, with Reika about thirteen years old. The girl, looking a lot like she did today, with her mother on what appeared to be a walk through a forest.

I smiled at the pictures. Smiled at that which I never had, but desperately had wanted back then. That I now no longer longed for, with me having grown older, coming to accept the absence of my father, and that my mother was never really there when I was younger.

My smile fell when I noticed it. I stopped in my steps in the middle of the flight of stairs, frowned at the pictures along the wall. Frowned at the ones further up the stairs, then at the ones further down. Something had initially seemed wrong with them, but it took me the words 'absence' and 'young' to notice it.

It was weird. Was probably nothing. Just an unfortunate coincidence. Sure, her father was absent in all these pictures, but she had mentioned that he died in a fire. That they had nothing left of him. That she barely even remembered him, because she had been so young back then.

But while that struck me as odd – even though I had grown up without a father as well – it wasn't what really felt weird about these pictures.

All of these pictures were recent. None of them could be older than a year. Reika always seemed the same age in them. Didn't seem to have aged in between any of these. A change of clothes, but barely one of her hair, barely a change in her features.

I turned around and looked down into the corridor below, let my gaze travel along its walls, where more pictures hung. It probably had been a coincidence that these pictures on the stairs were all of more recent times, or so I reasoned.

Reasoned, until I saw that the pictures below were the same.

As in – the same. In a different order and with different frames, but definitely the same pictures. The same picture with Reika and her mother in front of their bakery. Another picture that hung on the wall by the stairs as well, showing Reika in front of her former school – looked kinda familiar, as I noted – with other kids playing in the background.

This left me to frown. The same pictures, hanging but a mere story away from each other, merely in a different order, and in different frames? None of them older than a year at most? None of them showing anything more than Reika and her mother?

I know she had said that a fire in her childhood had robbed them of most of their belongings, knew that there would hardly exist a picture from before it – but that, according to Reika herself, had been so long ago that she couldn't even remember her father, who died in that fire.

Shouldn't there exist at least a few pictures from after that time? Why were there only recent pictures?

"Something wrong?" inquired my host from the top of the stairs, frowning down at me in confusion, as I had stopped in the middle of the stairs and had yet to move again. I quickly turned towards her and shook my head, assured her it was just fine, even though the questions were still floating around in my head.

Sprinting up the stairs to catch up with her, I let the other girl lead the way to her room, choosing to ignore the weird pictures. Sure, it was never a wise idea to just play something off just like that, but it really had seemed just like a coincidence then, a mere choice of Reika's mother, Kaede, had made. A choice not to dwell too long in the past. Who was I to know, or judge?

Reika eventually made a sharp turn at the end of the corridor and, with her usual endless amount of energy, opened the door to her room – and it was dark inside. Pitch-black, with only very little light falling in through the now open door and the small gaps in the blinds. The computer was turned on, but the screen was dark, turned off.

Even the owner of the room seemed to be surprised. Her eyes had gone wide and her mouth had fallen open, as if she was genuinely shocked about it.

Before I knew it, she stepped into the darkness and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head on her way to the window.

"Ah, I kinda forgot to open the blinds, sorry. I left my room kinda in a rush this morning, I overslept a bit, and was in a hurry. Let me fix it real quick." she opened the blinds, let light into the room, then opened the window, "There we go."

With light now falling into the room, it was easy to spot the boxes scattered across the room, containing that which she had yet to unpack. It wasn't hard to see that she had been too lazy to do so until now, with how the boxes had seemed to be moved around the room a lot, always out of the way.

"You lazy bum." I commented the moment I saw the mess that her room was, gently shoving one of the boxes to the side with my foot, and then continued in a sharp, though somewhat playful tone, "You didn't do anything until now, did you? Admit it! You're so lazy you didn't do anything yourself and asked me to help you so you don't have to do all of on your own!"

She shrugged, a smirk on her lips that pretty much screamed I was right, and turned to a stack of boxes to pick the one at the top up. I watched in a mix of irritation and amusement as she threw the box carelessly onto her bed – a simple one with dark-blue sheets, depicting 8-Bit Digimon like Agumon, Gabumon and Biyomon – and opened it up. I frowned. It was empty.

"Your box of care, huh?" I snorted, picking up a box myself, though it was heavy enough to be filled to the brim with stuff, "Always empty."

Reika blew me a raspberry, but I ignored it with a soft chuckle. I placed the box on her desk, in between the mouse and the keyboard, and opened it. Greeted by loads of junk – a lava lamp, several stacks of video games and a mess of cables that seemed to belong to a controller set – I knew that Reika was not one for order. And that she liked video games. A lot.

The more you know.

Picking up a stack of those, I casually looked through them, taking in the titles and different genres. Lots of different genres. I did play the one or other video game in my free time, but nowhere as much as Henry or Takato did – or Reika, as it seemed. Henry and Takato had invited me over occasionally when they met up to spend a Saturday afternoon with video games, and even though it was fun – probably some of the best days of my life, hanging out with my two best friends, just having fun and joking around, proving that I was good at video games by kicking their asses even though they had played a lot more than I had – I sadly couldn't agree all the time.

With Takato gone for over a year by then, these days had become rare. Henry would occasionally invite me over and we'd spend a Saturday afternoon like we used to when Takato was still around, but it wasn't the same. Still fun, and proving that Henry and I had developed a bond akin to friendship as well, but it was like we were missing something.

Our dorky Player 3.

"You know, you'd probably go great along with Henry and Takato." I mused, flipping one of the games over to read the back of the case, "They're into these games, too."

I heard how Reika stopped rummaging through the second box she had picked up, and saw her glance over to me from the corner of my eyes. She must have seen the video games in my hands, as she let out a chuckle that told me that she had understood what I was talking about, but didn't say any other thing.

"Probably even more with Takato." I continued, slowly losing myself in the fond memory that Takato enjoyed the game I was holding in my hands at that very moment as well, "The others were right, you and Takato, you're kinda alike."

"Oh really? What a coincidence."

I stopped, pulled out of my thoughts by the weird tone in her voice. It had sounded a lot like sarcasm, but wasn't quite sarcasm. Slowly turning my head around to frown at her, almost expecting her to stare at me and explain what she had meant by that, I only found that she had dived head-first back into the large box she had been busy with before, searching for something within the depths of it.

What was up with the reply? Come to think of it, what was up with a lot of things she said? It were moments like these that made me wonder if I hadn't just misheard some of the things she had whispered or coughed – like that day when we stood by the bridge and she had muttered something about something happening 'already', or that time at school, where she had coughed and it had sounded like she was saying something about someone coming closer.

Come to think of it – didn't that weird creep appear a moment later? Most likely a coincidence, as there could have been no way she could've known that he'd be appearing. And there was no way that the guy could have anything to do with the Hazard of Sacrifice going out of control.

Or could he?

Shuddering, not wanting to think about these things more than necessary – the Digital Hazard isn't exactly something I'm comfortable thinking or talking about, as there was no way I could even try to understand how it worked – I turned back to the box I had picked, and picked up some more games.

"Where do you want these?" I called out, holding up the video games in my right hand. Reika's head emerged from the box again – she lost her balance immediately, and almost fell into the box, though she caught herself rather quickly – and she frowned at me. Finally, with the nod of her head, she showed me to put them into the empty shelf by the television, before diving back into the big box.

Whatever was she searching for, anyways?

With the first stack of video games in the shelf, I returned to the desk to take another handful of video games, as well as the lava lamp. Leaving the lamp on the desk by the edge of it – there was barely any space available on the desk, with the keyboard and mouse taking up quite a bit of it, and the box robbing the desk of most of its last space – I proceeded to pick up more games with my now empty hand.

And spotted the lava lamp slowly tilting as it fell over the edge.

Reacting quickly, I moved my empty hand – formerly on the way to the box to pick up games – into the other direction in an attempt to catch the lamp. My body slammed into the desk and made it shake, the lamp by then already falling – But I caught it. And the floor caught me when I finally landed on it on my back, having turned during my fall.

It hurt quite a bit, but nothing too worse. It hadn't even disturbed Reika, she just lazily glanced over the edge of the box, spotted me on the ground with her lamp and a stack of video games in my hands, then her head vanished back into the box, her mad giggling echoing out of the cardboard.

Growling to myself and leaving the lamp on the ground next to the desk – it wouldn't be able to fall from there – I rose to my feet, making my way over to the shelf to deposit the games I had in my hand in it.

"And you call me clumsy." snorted Reika from within the box, leaving me to roll my eyes at her and flip her off behind her back. She wouldn't see it, no harm done.

Still irritated, I returned to the box to retrieve the video games I had first intended to pick up before my clumsy move - but stopped when I stood in front of the box.

When I had slammed into the desk and had caused it to shake, the mouse had moved, which in return had made the monitor turn back on. Or rather, it had been on all along, merely hidden behind a black screensaver.

I was greeted by a black desktop, an orange sign in the middle that didn't look any familiar to me. It looked like some kind of star with only three 'arms' – so, like a Shuriken with three blades, but missing the hole in the middle. Two windows were opened up on the screen, one black, the other white.

The white screen, contrasting heavily with the black desktop and the black window, was but a mere text document. Something akin to a short list. 'Eliminated:', it read at the top, with two names following in the lines below. Names that made me raise an eyebrow.

Crusadermon and Dynasmon. Two Digimon known to be among the group called 'the Royal Knights'. What was this about? Was Reika playing some Digimon video game and had beaten those two? Or maybe she was trying to get a hand on a full set of Digimon cards, all of the Royal Knights, and already had those two?

I glanced at the other window, the black one. It looked like a chatroom – and, if the single icon on the desktop called 'Quadrantroom EXE' was any indication, it probably really was one – though the only chat history was between users who called themselves Alphamon, talking about guidance of someone, Omnimon, agreeing with it, Craniamon, warning the others of the consequences of whatever they were intending to do, and finally Crusadermon, telling them not to interfere and influence whoever it was they were discussing to guide about.

Highlighted in white in the upper right corner of the black window were the names "Alphamon", "Omnimon", "Craniamon" and "Crusadermon(Me)".

Reika was logged in under the name "Crusadermon"?

My gaze drifted back to the other window, reading 'Eliminated: Crusadermon, Dynasmon'. Was there any connection between those two things?

"Ah!"

Hearing Reika gasp behind me, I turned my head to see what had surprised her. Turned out it was me standing in front of her computer, which was turned on.

"The screen turned on when I hit the desk." I explained, seeing her shocked expression. What was she shocked about? There was nothing to hide, was there? Just a chatroom that didn't show anything interesting, and a boring list.

"I see." she chuckled, though visibly nervous, and approached me. Leaning past me – not even in any flirtatious way like she usually would – she grabbed the mouse and proceeded to turn the computer off.

"My fault, I probably shouldn't have left it on to begin with. No reason for it to be on when you're here and I won't use it, right? Wasting energy." she continued, falling into a small rant, "Hey, you want to drink anything? I go and grab us something. I'll be back in a moment!"

Not waiting for any response, she charged past me, holding her left hand with her right, and vanished out of the door. Seconds later, I could hear her charging down the stairs.

I frowned at the door she had left through, raising an eyebrow in confusion. What had made her so nervous? So weird? Was it really just me seeing her computer, or was there another reason? Had she found something embarrassing in the box she had been searching in? Or was it that she hadn't found what she had been looking for, and was now in a panic that she may have lost it? Was she asking her mother now if she had seen it? Was her mother even home to begin with?

Dismissing it as just another one of Reika's weird mood swings, I decided that I might as well continue, and turned back to the box, picked up the remaining video games and a controller – taking the others along due to the mess of cables – and put those into the shelf as well.

A soft breeze hit me as I stood there, made me shudder and realize that the window was still open. It was a cold morning outside, and that despite it being the end of April. The end of April. My birthday was coming up soon. May 9th, only little more than a week away.

I felt a wave of melancholy wash over me, my birthday a grim reminder of what I had gained, and what I had lost.

In little more than a week, he'd be really gone for an entire year.

And the signs that he was still out there had picked up.

My hand curled around Megidramon's fang, which I still wore as a necklace.

In another part of Shinjuku...

Takato's PoV

"This is borin'." huffed the Demon Lord of Gluttony for what had to be umpteenth time in the two hours that we were patrolling through the city, walking through the crowds, always keeping an eye on the screens in the stores we passed, searching for any sign of Archenemies activity. His sign, indicating the infected state of a screen.

In mutual agreement with the Demon Lords and the Sovereigns, the DigiDestined, me and the Demon Lords had separated into smaller groups that had spread through the city, each patrolling a certain area. That way, not only did we cover a lot of ground and had practically every corner of the city observed, but also could react quicker in case that a Digimon with a black datachip, an 'Infected', would appear anywhere in the city or its surroundings.

It wasn't really any different from back then when I first became aware of the existence of actual Digimon, only with more people to cover larger ground, and with the Demon Lords helping out. And it just happened to be a certain Demon Lord I was familiar with that I was partnered with. A very bored and irritated Demon Lord, without his motorcycle, and without any desire to continue our patrol.

"And I'm hungry." chimed Gigimon in from his place in my hood, his hot breath tickling the back of my neck. I felt him moving back deeper into the hood, hiding there, and let out a sigh. Two strong Digimon to accompany me, and both are complaining. Oh joy.

"Then let's talk." I offered, sending a smile to the taller being that walked aside me, towering over most adults, "That should make it less boring, right?"

"Talk?" repeated Beelzemon with a frown, but seemed to consider the idea, "Y'know, I'm usually not exactly one for talk, and more for actions, but what the hell, let's talk a bit. At least it gives us somethin' to do, right? So, whadda'ya wanna talk about, Goggles?"

I rose an eyebrow at the nickname. We hadn't really seen each other a lot lately, with how he was working with the Demon Lords to find any traces of Archenemy within the Digital World, and the first thing he does upon seeing me is calling me by those nicknames again?

"How about what the Demon Lords have been up to? Any progress concerning Archenemy's whereabouts?" I inquired. It had been a while since I had last spoken to any Demon Lord in person, and even then, it had been limited to short exchanges about the general state of their search. No direct answers, just 'Doing not so well'. Even more so, my last exchange with Lucemon had been through a screen, about five sentences long, and only had had the purpose of telling him that we'd move on to the Southern Quadrant, as agreed with the Sovereigns, and him telling me that the Demon Lords would follow only a day later.

And there we were, only a week later, all of us in the Southern Quadrant.

"Not exactly much." replied Beelzemon and crossed his arms behind his head, lazily strolling through the crowd that parted to make way for the taller being, "We only started setting up our stuff here. Daemon and Lilithmon set up our base in an abandoned warehouse by the harbor, Barbamon picked up some electronics and that stuff, and Lucemon opened our own gate to the Digital World with that, so that Leviamon could come through, and Belphemon could follow in case that we need him."

"Wait, Leviamon is in this world?" I repeated in surprise. A Digimon as large as Leviamon was in this world, and no one noticed it? No one even saw it? That meant that Leviamon was hiding, but where did you hide such a big Digimon? It was hard to find a hiding spot for Growlmon, who I still don't know where to hide should we ever be forced to, and he wasn't anywhere as big as Leviamon! Heck, Leviamon was probably even bigger than Megidramon!

"He is." retorted Beelzemon, apparently not seeing the reason for my confusion, "Leviamon is currently residin' in the depths of the water of the harbor. We opened the gate for him two nights ago when it was dark, and he vanish'd right into the water. He's now waitin' for Archenemy to make its move. Until then, he'll watch."

A beast residing in the depths just outside the harbor, awake and watching. Watching us humans, and everything that happened on the surface above it. I shuddered. That sounded a lot like those horror movies that Rika had always been so fond of.

"Meh, anyways..." continued Beelzemon, apparently having not taken note of my discomfort, "Lucemon's sure now tha' Archenemy isn't in the Eastern Quadrant anymore, and somewhere in this one. Most likely not in the human world, as he doesn't take organic hosts, and a Digimon wouldn't blend in with this world and be noticed. Not sure if he simply doesn't want to, or if he simply can't take an organic host, but what do we care? He's most likely in some Digimon in the Southern Quadrant's Digital World, and that's why we'll pick up the search again tomorrow."

"I see." I replied, feeling how I almost got lost in thought about what I had just learned, but caught myself and concentrated on the topic at hand, "And what have you been up to? Have you been back home to Ai and Mako?"

"Me?" he repeated, sending a glance into my direction, apparently surprised by the question, "Well, whadda'ya know, I actually helped the other Demon Lords with the stuff they were up ta. Ya know, drive Lilithmon's cute ass through the city, run errands for old ass Barbamon, that kinda stuff."

Beelzemon rolled his neck all of sudden, a deep growling snicker echoing from within the depths of his throat as he did that and experimentally moved his claws. If he had appeared tense before, this was no longer the case, leading me back to one question I had wondered about since quite a while: Digimon felt pain and exhaustion, but did their bodies work like a human body aside that? Did they possess something akin to muscles, digital muscles, that could tense up? Did it work like that, or were they different from humans in that point?

"And yeah, I've been back to Ai and Mako. Been so for quite a while, actually." Beelzemon sent me another glance, all of his three eyes focusing on me, "Though I'm not sure if the other Tamers know I'm back as well. I mean, I didn't exactly try ta hide myself with all that 'driving-Lilithmon-around' stuff and I didn't tell Ai and Mako to keep quiet about me being back, either. Me being back doesn't reveal anything about the situation to the Tamers, about you, the Sovereigns, the Four Dragons and the Demon Lords. Not much point in hiding myself, right?"

He turned his head to me completely, losing what little amusement he had before. Seriousness took its place, a seriousness that was unlike the one he had shown back during the D-Reaper incident, the one driven by anger. This was a seriousness beyond that.

"And b'sides, if Archenemy is in this Quadrant, he already knows we're here. That ya're here. He'll have kept his tabs on you, no doubt."

"Without a doubt." I agreed in a grim tone, turning to look straight ahead. With the same grim expression, Beelzemon nodded. It was true, no matter what we would've done, no matter if we would've tried to keep secret and hide our presence, or if we would've openly announced it – Archenemy would have known.

And so, the only reason why we were still hiding our presence was to not involve the Tamers. They'd eventually get dragged into it, we weren't as stupid as to deny that. Archenemy would make sure of that, and even if he didn't, fights against him, or 'it' as the Demon Lords preferred, would sooner or later get the attention of the Tamers.

But until then, as long as there was a chance to not involve them into this, I'd rather prefer to keep them out of it and simply keep an eye on them. To see if Archenemy was trying to attack those close to me. The Demon Lords had assigned quite a few of their followers to watch the individual Tamers, and with the Matsuki Bakery just down the road of our hideout, at least a few of the DigiDestined and their Digimon, or me and Guilmon, would keep an eye on my family. At least a few of the DigiDestined would always stay in the hideout. It was Mimi's turn that day, along with Yolei, Hawkmon and Palmon. And Tai and Davis, along with their respective partners, were on patrol through the neighborhood.

They were save, in other words, especially with Archenemy having yet to make his move.

"What about'cha, Goggles?" began Beelzemon all of a sudden, turning my attention back to him, "You didn't go home yet, we know that, but have you gone back into the arms of your redhead yet?"

"What do you...?" I muttered and rose an eyebrow at him, frowning as I tried to understand what he was referring to, only to cringe and blush as I understood, "Okay, stop it already. That joke is getting old. Just because Rika is a girl and I'm a boy doesn't mean that our relationship is one of love! Ever heard of friendship?"

"Not sure." teased Beelzemon, tapping his chin with one claw in an overly dramatic fashion, ignoring my irritation, "Isn't that the crest of the guy who punched the carrier of the crest of courage?"

"Really funny." I huffed, not even really aware that one of my hands had moved to the thin chain around my neck that carried my crest, hidden beneath my white shirt. Lucemon had advised me to not stick to my old style for as long as I didn't want to be recognized, and so, I had picked something that was... well, less 'me'.

Inspired by the change of clothes that I got whenever I entered the Digital World since entering the Eastern Quadrant, I went for a darker color scheme. Picked a white shirt and an open black jacket over it instead of a blue hoodie, went for a dark jeans instead of my gray cargo pants. Chose dark sneakers instead of my old ones. And with Hazaado being able to change the color of my hair to black by becoming more active within me, I was unlikely to be recognized. I couldn't even recognize myself in the mirror. Looked older. Less innocent.

When I saw myself in the mirror, I came to realize something. Every time I saw myself in it, I knew it. That I hated what I had become in the four months – one year in this quadrant – of absence, how much I had changed from who I had been. But that would be over soon. I wouldn't have to keep pretending to be someone I'm not for much longer. Just a little more. Just until the Tamers wouldn't be in danger anymore by getting involved.

I hated what I had become, but loved what I had gained. A deeper bond to Guilmon. New friends. New traits. Without a doubt, I had grown on this hardship, had become more mature. But this hardship wasn't over yet.

And yet, I could only hope that, as it ended, I would still be able to return to who I was before. That I could be the old Takato again, that I could come back and just take the place I had left empty with my disappearance from this quadrant. To return to right where I had been when I left, with my friends and my family still at my side...

"It is, isn't it?" sniggered Beelzemon in response to my reaction, "I think it's quite funny."

"Well, I don't. It's already bad enough with Tai and Agumon teasing me about that, and that Mimi believes it." I told him, sending a glare into his direction, "It's like I'd imply that you and Lilithmon have such a relationship, a relationship not quite unlike love, just because you're both Demon Lords, you care for her, and that you help her getting everywhere! Sure, Digimon don't have a gender despite some looking male or female, but you have relationships like these, and Digimon have male or female voices, and show traits and behavior akin to that of the respective genders, and..."

Beelzemon's smirk just kept growing throughout my rant, and though my initial thought was that he enjoyed my reaction to his insinuation, I quickly realized the real meaning behind it. So slumping my shoulders and staring at him in disbelief, I noted something that made me feel like an idiot for not noticing.

"You and Lilithmon have that type of relationship."

"Doy."

Outside the DigiDestined's hideout

Third Person PoV

Concealing a yawn, Tai closed his eyes and enjoyed the rays of sunlight on his body, not paying any attention to where he was going. Aside from the fact that Davis had taken the lead and he was simply following, DemiVeemon and Koromon in their respective bags, he simply had to walk straight ahead, following the flow of the crowd along the busy street.

It was still early in the morning, and yet the streets were filled to the brim with people moving back and forth, leaving the two DigiDestined to follow along and keep an eye out on anything out of the ordinary, like fog despite the warmth. While it had been quite cold only a few hours before, that had changed as the hours passed, a cold breeze making place for the warm rays of the sun as it approached the hours closer to midday.

Would they've been home and had a day off, a slow day like this one was, he would've probably been basking in the sunlight of the early afternoon, just lazying around with Agumon, Tai was quite sure of that. But they weren't at home, and they didn't have a day off. Archenemy was out there somewhere. There was no time to be lazy.

"No matter how much this reminds me of Odaiba, I just can't get used to it." began Davis all of sudden, turning the older DigiDestined's attention back to reality, "I mean, look at all this! The people! They know of Digimon, and yet don't freak out! And look at the streets! The shops! Heck, we've been past five shops selling Digimon cards in the past two hours!"

"Relax." chuckled Tai, picking up his pace to keep up with the leader of the second generation of DigiDestined, "Sure, I think it is amazing that people can coexist with Digimon without freaking out, but that's not the point. My point is, if Takato could adapt to Odaiba after this, we can do it the other way around. Besides, I like it here. And you just said it yourself, it's not too different from home, just a little bit more... Fast-paced."

"And big. Is Odaiba this big? Look at all those big buildings, Tai! Do we have those at home? I mean, other than the radio station?"

"We have, now stop freaking out."

Davis frowned at the calmer male, who only found amusement at the situation and Davis' reactions to everything they came across. Whenever they came across something new – or not new in some cases – Davis reacted like an excited child. Careful at first, and then overly curious. The shop they had come across that sold Digimon merchandise, Davis had went inside. And getting him out of there had been quite a feat.

"How can you be so calm? How can you not freak out?" inquired Davis in return and rose an eyebrow in curiosity, "Tai, our adventures have been a TV show here! Only a little... tweaked. A little different. And Takato still refuses to let me watch the final episode of the season I'm in for some reason!"

"He probably has a good reason." chuckled Tai – Takato had warned him as well, and he had looked quite serious when saying it – and put a reassuring hand on Davis' shoulder, hoping to calm him down at least a bit that way, "Trust me, I'm excited and freaked out as well on the inside, but I try to keep it at bay. We have to. I know this whole situation is quite overwhelming, and I think the same and feel the same, but we're expected to keep focused on the task at hand. We can't let Takato down. He didn't let us down either, despite knowing who we were. The entire situation had been reversed for him, and yet he managed to keep his emotions and own desires under control as well."

Davis began to think about these words, Tai could tell that just by looking at him. The leader of the second generation turned his head and glanced over to the other side of the street, gaining a far-away look in his eyes.

And nodded after a moment.

"I guess you're right. Sorry that I let my emotions get the better of me again."

"It happened to the greatest of us, believe me." smiled Tai reassuringly, nodding to the younger boy, "And while I don't mean me with that, I certainly was no exception. Still happens to me today, but not as often. I've grown on that, learned from my past mistakes when to let it happen, and when to keep it under control. And so have you, Davis, and so will it happen to you again in the future. Even Takato has experienced the situation before. And even now, he is still struggling with the emotions, even after the excessive training of Hazaado during the last four months. He may have a lot of control of the Digital Hazard now, but his control is not perfect, and probably will never completely be. Because Takato is a human and has emotions. Emotions other than hatred."

Tai let go of Davis shoulder and stretched his limbs up into the air, once more enjoying the warm rays of sunlight on his back. Davis watched him for a moment, but then averted his gaze again, once more looking over to the other side of the street.

"To be honest, I think it shouldn't be any other way. Only Hazaado is meant to have perfect control of his own powers. And it's probably for the better that way."

"I guess." agreed Davis eventually, before pointing across the street, "Let's get some breakfast, we didn't have any yet. Mimi, Yolei, Palmon and Hawkmon will probably be thankful as well."

Tai rose an eyebrow at his successor, but then followed Davis' gesture to see where Davis was pointing. Spotting the bakery on the other side of the street, Tai couldn't help but grin to himself, much like Davis was at that moment.

The sign above the entrance of the bakery read 'Matsuki'.

It was time to see if Takato had been right when he promised that the stuff they sold at the bakery was quite good.

Little did the two know as they crossed the street, with their Digimon still hidden in their bags, that somewhere else in Shinjuku, another DigiDestined had pretty much the same idea.

Having been on patrol as well for the better part of the morning without breakfast – Takato had left early in the morning to meet with the Demon Lords, and someone had turned off the alarm, meaning they all had overslept and been late to their patrol duty - Joe and Gomamon had just decided to get breakfast themselves.

Leaving Cody and Armadillomon to keep an eye on the house of the Nonaka family – the duty these two had been assigned to while Joe and Gomamon patrolled the neighborhood – with the promise of bringing them some breakfast as well, Joe had grabbed his partner and had went out on the search to find some place to get breakfast for the four of them.

"I think we walked past a bakery earlier." commented Gomamon as he peaked out of his partner's bag, before suddenly pointing down a street they were walking past, "In there!"

Joe stopped and frowned at the street in question. It looked pretty much like any other street they had walked through that morning, and pretty much every other street in the outer parts of Shinjuku – which certainly didn't help when they had gotten lost earlier that morning – so he wasn't quite sure if Gomamon was right.

Still deciding to try his luck, he followed his partner's directions.

"It's just two streets from the Nonaka house. How curious."

"Prodigious, you mean!" laughed Gomamon, making his best attempt at impersonating Izzy, "But really, what is curious about this?"

"Well, I remember Takato saying that there aren't many bakeries around here." replied Joe, turning his head to glance at Gomamon, "He brought some stuff from their own bakery with him whenever he visited the Nonakas because of that."

"Well, maybe another bakery opened here, and that's all! You seem to forget that one year passed here while Takato was gone. For him and us, it was four months, but for those here, it was a year."

"I know, Gomamon. I still think it's interesting."

"And I don't think it is." Gomamon blew him a raspberry (or at least something that resembled it), before suddenly pointing past him, "There it is! See, I told you!"

Joe rolled his eyes at Gomamon, but turned to the bakery in question nonetheless. Sure enough, it was indeed a bakery, and if one could trust the sign outside, it had opened only recently, the sign announcing the 'grand opening' of the bakery.

Joe frowned at the sight before him. It wasn't hard to identify that it was a bakery, with all the pictures of bread on the windows, and the smell of freshly baked bread. The thing that confused him, though, was the lack of a name. No large sign announcing the name of the bakery above the doors, no name visible through the windows.

Just the counter, and the young female sitting behind it, reading what appeared to be a manga. Other than her, the bakery seemed empty, which, given that this was a little further from the center of Shinjuku, didn't surprise him all that much.

"What are we waiting for? I'm hungry!"

Letting out a groan and sending his partner a disapproving glance, Joe walked into the bakery nonetheless. The small jingle as the doors opened led to the brunette girl behind the counter – she couldn't be older than Takato – to look up and smile at him.

"Good morning." she offered, the messy brunette hair - some crimson strands in it – gently moving as she stood up and put the manga aside, "Welcome to the Sôtai bakery."

Joe gave a curt nod and a silent greeting, walked up to the counter and smiled nervously. She smiled back, albeit more honest, and continued to do so as Joe bought bread for him, Cody and the two Digimon. Her smile remained even as he thanked her, said his goodbye and left, her amber eyes never turning away from him until he was out of view.

Her smile turned malicious as soon as he was out of the door.

Reika sank back into the chair and picked up the manga, a sinister smirk playing with her lips.

She knew it for sure now - They were here.

Rika's PoV

Just like that, our free day had come to an end. With Reika in tow, who I had met up with that morning outside our houses, I left the subway station near the park, rolled my shoulders. I yawned, shuddered as a cold wave of sleepiness passed through me. Another bad night, although it wasn't exactly nightmares that had kept me awake.

It had been the Digital Hazard on my hand, the Hazard of Sacrifice. It had been acting weird ever since I had seen that creep at school, acting up at the most random times, sometimes without even as much as appearing. Warmth spread through my hand sometimes. Other times it became itchy. Last night, the Hazard of Sacrifice had activated in the middle of the night, glowing a bright blue and heating up, preventing me from falling asleep again.

And the worst thing: He didn't even tell me why. Never gave me a clue as to what it was that woke him. Never showed me what he was warning me of – if it was a warning that was – or what made it become more active.

It couldn't be only anger. I hadn't even felt any anger half of the time. Something else was messing with its powers, causing them to go out of control in some way. The weirdest time had been just the day before, when, while I was helping Reika unpacking her stuff before her shift towards midday, our hands had touched. Her left hand had come into contact with my right for just the briefest of seconds, but it was enough for the Digital Hazard to go bonkers on me, forcing me to retreat to the bathroom until it stopped.

Was it touch that made it go out of control? It weren't quick movements of my hand, and it wasn't me knocking it into something. Touching Renamon with my hand had caused nothing. So was it the touch of another human that made the Hazard of Sacrifice behave like that?

A vibration in the pocket of my jacket made me perk up, pulling me out of my thoughts. Pulling out my cellphone and frowning at the message I had just received from Henry, I ignored the confused glance that Reika sent me.

With a sigh, I lowered my cellphone. Put it back into my pocket.

"The others will be late. Henry just told me to head directly for school, we'll meet them there." I informed Reika. She nodded in return, slowly, almost as if she was surprised and getting lost in thought. I didn't blame her, I had been doing the same moments earlier. That aside, I was glad that I got some silence, at last.

Or, so I thought, until Reika suddenly grabbed me and pushed me into a smaller street. I nearly fell over my own feet, so sudden was her action, and sent her a glare as soon as I regained my balance, a glare that was meant to ask what the hell that had been about.

"I think this way is faster!" she exclaimed, though there was none of the confidence or self-pleased smiles that I knew her for, "I, uh, also wanted to see a bit more of Shinjuku! Didn't get to do that yet. We, uh... We should do that a lot more! Ya know, you showing me around Shinjuku."

My glare turned into a confused frown and I rose an eyebrow at her. Was it just me or did she seem nervous? Not only was she speaking a lot faster and hesitant than usual, she also had shifted her weight in a weird way and had shoved her left hand deep into her pocket, sending a glance over her left shoulder into the street we should have taken to school.

Well, she was right, if we used the smaller streets, the way to school was shorter.

"I'd appreciate it." she added suddenly, voice sultry as she turned back to me with one of those flirty smiles, "Of course, I'd return the favor and show you around. Whatever you like. I'm good at expressing my gratitude, trust me."

I ignored the wriggle of her eyebrows, dismissing it with a roll of my eyes and a groan. That girl and her flirty attitude. While it caught me off guard often enough, it didn't happen all the time. Also, I was getting used to it.

"Yeah, I pass this time. Maybe another time." I snorted and started my journey to school again, leaving Reika to follow me. She waited a few seconds before she fell into a sprint and caught up to me, making sure that she was in my field of vision before she continued.

"Hey, you didn't deny it."

"Keep that up and I will." I growled, glaring into her direction. That was on the outside, though. On the inside, there was something else, an entirely different emotion than anger or irritation – even though it usually came with irritation.

Confusion. She was right, I hadn't denied her, hadn't shot her down this time. Hadn't even ignored the obvious advance on me. Why hadn't I? Every other time, I had just ignored it or played along, considering it a joke, or at least turning into one, but this time...

This time, while showing irritation, I had not done any of that. What did this mean? Wasn't I honest with myself? Was I considering this? A relationship, with a girl? With Reika?

Why can she wake these weird emotions within me?

From out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted how she turned her head again, nervously scanning the street behind us for something. For whatever it was that made her so nervous. She was nervous. Almost paranoid even. Every few steps, she'd cringe and glance over her shoulder.

And it was irritating.

When she suddenly made a sharp turn and entered yet another smaller street, I stole a glance into the direction we were coming from, scanning it myself for anything out of the ordinary. Just as I had suspected, though, there was nothing. Nothing that shouldn't be there, at least. Also, if something or someone would've been there, following us, wouldn't Renamon have noticed it or him?

For a second, the creep I had seen two days prior at the school returned to my mind, and how I had spaced out for the duration of seeing him. During these ten minutes that Renamon hadn't been able to reach me through our telepathic link, I had seen that creep, and the Digital Hazard had gone out of control – but only I had experienced and seen that. Renamon hadn't been there.

So had he even been there? Had I even really experienced that, or was it just a hallucination? Just in my mind? I had never hallucinated before, not that I knew of it at least, and my sanity wasn't degrading for as far as I knew.

Was it something caused by the Hazard of Sacrifice? It had been more active than ever before during that short time of seeing him. Was it really a hallucination then, a hallucinated caused by the Digital Hazard, something he had meant to show me?

But why would he show me that creep?

Nothing made sense. No matter what perspective or approach I used for what I had experienced, it made no sense. Didn't explain anything. Left me with theories. Just theories. The same about that weird dream from two days before, too.

Reika glanced over her shoulder again, eyes scanning the street behind us. And that was finally enough, irritated me more than it perhaps should have, probably because it also made me nervous. Whatever it was that changed Reika, it meant something grave was going on. She didn't look like someone who easily changed in the face of something.

"Okay, what's up with those weird glances behind us today? What are you looking for? Why are you so nervous?" I growled through clenched teeth, giving Reika a short glare before turning back into the direction we were walking, the school now visible at the end of the road.

Reika cringed when I spoke up, probably not having expected me to address or even notice it. But I did. It was actually quite hard not to notice how she turned, how she was nervous and careful. Something was up, and whatever it was, it was going on my nerves.

"Me? Those? Oh, I..." she trailed off, nervously scratched the back of her head in a very Gogglehead-like way, "I guess I shouldn't have watched that horror movie last night. Probably was a bad idea to turn the TV on to begin with. Now I'm all paranoid and all, haha!"

I groaned at the nervous laugh and turned back to the school. What a Gogglehead-like thing to do, watching a horror movie and being paranoid the whole day after that. Really, she and Takato would go along just great. Time that he comes back and the two of them meet.

With that in mind, I entered the school grounds through the main gate, not even paying any notice to our new biology teacher, Uri Laxus, as I passed her. I completely ignored the glance she was giving me. She was fond of me, said I was a good student, and very ambitious.

I think she's a weird woman. Something about her always struck me as odd, though I could never say for sure what it was.

Third Person PoV

Being lost in her thoughts, Rika kept walking, not even noticing as Reika slowed down as she approached the gate. The brunette with the crimson strands in her hair kept her gaze glued to Rika as the redhead entered the school, unaware of Reika not being right behind her anymore.

Finally, Reika came to a stop in the middle of the gate. Right next to Uri Laxus.

"What do you want?" growled Reika, all her pleasantness gone. Irritation had found its way on her face, and it was a glare that was cast into the direction of Uri Laxus. The woman had been waiting for her.

"Are you seriously asking that, Reika?" snorted Uri in return, narrowing her eyes in a foreboding way, though a sinister smile was on her lips. Seeing these lips, covered in a lavender lipstick, curl up into a sinister smile, Reika shuddered.

"I wouldn't ask if I knew, Lilithmon." snarled the brunette, turning her gaze back to the school, scanning it for any signs of Rika. Rika couldn't know.

"Is that the case?" chuckled the taller female, sick amusement sparkling in her eyes that made her look like Lilithmon despite her human disguise, "Well, lil' ol' me has simply been wondering why you're avoiding him. You haven't been exactly holding back when it came to confrontations with Takato, and now you're avoiding him, using your powers? Powers you usually use to clash with him?"

"He can't know I am here. If Matsuki sees me as I am right now, in the shape of Reika Sôtai, he will know that I am no human. I have to keep up this guise for as long as possible. I need a way to safely slip away should I ever get into trouble again like last time." hissed Reika in return, nowhere as amused as the Demon Lord.

"You mean to run with your tail between your legs, find a spot to hide and lick your wounds for the next few months again?" mocked Lilithmon, placing a hand on the girl's right shoulder, lunacy in her eyes, "Takato got you good last time. But it was your own fault for coming out of hiding just then. You should've stayed in hiding longer."

"And what? Risk him getting out of my control? Let all the time I spent manipulating him go to waste?" Reika glared at Lilithmon, suddenly lashed out with inhuman speed by pulling her left hand out of her pocket and curling it around Lilithmon's wrist, "After I went through all the trouble of sending him to the Eastern Quadrant with a datastream created by my power in order to separate him from his friends? After I found a way into his life and got him to trust me?"

"Oh yes, what a scheming and cunning individual you are." Lilithmon's laugh was dry, mocking Reika, "Really, I think you should just approach him now. He's on patrol with Beelzemon and doesn't expect you to show up. You should be able to take Beelzemon out easy enough, and then you have Takato right where you want him to be."

"And then what? In case you forgot it, I'm weakened right now. You wouldn't know, but being forced out of the other body isn't as simple as leaving a room through an open door. I was part of it when I was pushed out. Ripped out. It cost me a lot of energy to even keep my true form up after that!"

"Your anger is getting the better of you." snarled Lilithmon, but not in anger. Seeing the pain flash across the Demon Lord's face, Reika let her gaze trail down Lilithmon's arm to the point where it rested on her shoulder, and her hand was clenched around the wrist of the Demon Lord.

Seeing that her power was active, Reika quickly pulled her left hand back and shoved it back into her pocket, allowing the Demon Lord to pull her own hand back and relax, the source of her pain gone with Reika letting go of her hand.

In disbelief, both females stared at the wrist of the Demon Lord. Data expanded to the sides, the shape of the wrist itself unclear and blurry.

Reika's touch alone had turned Lilithmon's wrist unstable.

"I need to get my powers under control in this body." hissed Reika and quickly turned away, balling her hidden hand into a fist inside her pocket, "They've grown too much lately and are now not quite as under control as I want them to be while I am weak and cannot contain them. I have to concentrate on it all the time or they act up on their own."

"So I've noticed." growled Lilithmon and rubbed her wrist, which was by then slowly regaining it's shape, "You probably better not approach Takato as you are. Leave it to me, I will lead him away from you for a while. I'm good when it comes to misleading people."

"Of course." was Reika's simple answer, before the younger female set into motion, "I trust you with this, Lilithmon. Don't mess it up. I'll leave Takato to you."

A sinister smirk passed her lips after all as she spotted the redhead appearing in the doorway of the school, scanning the grounds for her.

"And I'll take care of Rika. But before that... Say, Lilithmon, what do you think about nightly strolls through the park? Or a tour through the city by night, perhaps?"

Behind her, Lilithmon merely let out a small chuckle.

Shinjuku Park

Takato's PoV

"Great. Just another pointless day." groaned Beelzemon and sunk down on the stairs that led up to Guilmon's shed, his head sinking down into his hands, "And here I thought yesterday was boring. Way to prove me wrong."

"Well, you pretty much asked for it." I chucked and walked past him, ascending a few of the stone steps. Above us, the blue of the sky had long since turned into the orange of twilight, and had faded into the dark of nightfall. I didn't know how late it really was, and didn't bother to pull out my cellphone and look, but figured it had to be after 9PM already. The streets were already starting to become more and more empty, less and less people wandering around. This being Shinjuku, it still meant a lot of people, but that was beside the point.

"Guess I did." snorted the Demon Lord and lifted his gaze to glance over his shoulder at me, "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Neither of us do, Beelzemon." I sighed and returned to his side, but didn't bother to sit down, knowing that our patrol was about to end, "It's not like we want him to show up again, but it's equally bad, if not even worse, if he doesn't show up. That means he is scheming something. That he can recover. He probably even has a new host. Another innocent Digimon."

"I know." he replied, "Still, what the hell is up with that damn virus? He was so confident all the time, and now he's just refusin' to show us his ugly face? What the hell is Archenemy doin'?"

"I wish I knew." I muttered, eyes resting on the shed at the top of the stairs, "But I can say one thing for sure: It's nothing good. He's done enough bad things so far. Has deceived, manipulated and possessed. Has killed, defeated and eliminated. We won't let that happen anymore. The next time he shows his face, we will know. And we will defeat him."

The Demon Lord smirked at that. Nodding to himself, he pushed himself off the ground and gestured me to follow up the stairs, something I did without any question, knowing what would await me up there, at Guilmon's shed.

"Right." he agreed, leading me up the stairs, though his gaze rested on me, a confused and somewhat worried expression on his face, "There's somethin' I've been wonderin' about, though, Goggles."

"Which would be?" I inquired, found myself surprised. As Beelzemon said about himself, he wasn't a man – or Digimon – of many words or thoughts, letting his actions speak for him. He was anything but unintelligent and had proved that on many occasions, his different perspective on things and his different approaches giving him insight on things that we perceived another way. So for him to be worried about something – me, if my first guess was right – it had to be big.

"Do ya regret that you let him get away last time? Ya know, that he escaped ya those four months ago?"

I froze up, caught off guard by the question. Even more so as I realized that the answer to the question was surprisingly simple. I didn't even have to waste any time thinking about it. I started walking up the stairs again.

"Not really. Sure, it would've been great if we had managed to defeat him once and for all just then, but I wasn't strong enough back then. Even now, after all the training, I barely have enough power to keep up with him." I replied, stopping in front of the shed and watching as Beelzemon rounded it, vanishing behind the small building, "That aside, even if he did get away, it was a victory for us nonetheless. We did beat him once, which proves he is anything but invincible, and we manage to free Diaboromon from his control. I would call that a small victory."

"Guess ya're right." I heard Beelzemon call from behind the corner – quickly followed by a familiar mechanical roar, and a gentle purring of an engine. A ray of light erupted from behind the shed, quickly followed by its source coming into view, rolling around the corner. A single headlight was pointing at me as Beelzemon approached me on Behemoth.

"Come on." he exclaimed so that I could hear him over the engine, the mechanical beast stopping next to me, "I'll give ya a lift to the next subway station, as promised. Fear I can't bring ya to ya hideout, since I have to be at the warehouse in a moment and it's at the other end of the city, but that should be fine, right?"

With a single nod, suppressing the thoughts of the last ride on Behemoth with Beelzemon, I climbed onto the motorcycle just behind him and held onto his waist. He let out a chuckle before he accelerated, the motorcycle moving down the stairs in the most uncomfortable way imaginable, though it didn't seem to faze Beelzemon himself.

We hit the bottom of the stairs after a small jump, and Beelzemon used the brake to let the motorcycle slide around the corner, following the path out of the park. From there on, the ride turned more comfortable, with Beelzemon sticking to the paths, and after we had actually left the park, the streets.

Sure, he did ignore practically every traffic law and drove in between cars, sometimes even on the wrong side of the street, but he didn't drive like a maniac otherwise. Not unnecessarily fast, no crazy stunts, and no jumping over huge canyons.

Well, we didn't even have the latter in Shinjuku.

It was probably five minutes into the ride that I first noticed that it had begun to rain, and that rather hard. A short glance into the dark sky above showed me that dark clouds had gathered in the sky above, blocking my view at the starry nightsky that I had seen in the park.

The streets had become one large reflecting surface, headlights and streetlights visible upon it like on a pond. I heard Beelzemon growl something about the streets getting slippery, but I didn't really care at all, I merely held onto him and ignored the weight of my bag on my back, Gigimon within it.

The Demon Lord began to slow down even further, started to avoid overtaking cars if unnecessary. After I had fallen off his motorcycle last time, he probably had begun to realize that I was only human, and not able to hold onto the motorcycle throughout every one of his stunts, like he could.

"We're almost at the station!" I heard him call over his shoulder eventually, his voice raised so I could hear it over the sound of the motorcycle and the rain, "Which is probably for the better, can't have ya get sick and all!"

I meant to agree, raised my own voice to shout back my own thoughts. I didn't get to.

Interrupted by my D-Power suddenly acting up, screaming like it had never done before, I frowned down to my belt, where it hung. The screen was flashing a bright white, the Digital Hazard on it flashing even faster in a powerful crimson.

I knew something was wrong when Gigimon began to growl within my bag.

Beelzemon knew it as well, I felt him tense up long before the reason for both my D-Power and Gigimon acting up showed its face. And show, it did.

It was when lightning struck through the sky, shortly illuminating Shinjuku, that I saw it peeking out from behind a skyscraper just two intersections down. A large pale-blue muzzle, upper jaw covered in a mask of metal, two brightly glowing, unsettling yellow eyes within it.

Beelzemon saw it, too. A deep growl escaped his throat and I felt him tense up even further. He leaned a bit forward, closer to the motorcycle, pulling me further down with him.

"Ya better hold on now, Takato. It's about to get rough."

Lightning struck through the sky again as Beelzemon began to accelerate, this time aiming to get everything out of Behemoth that it had to offer. The huge Digimon had spotted us coming closer. It threw its head back and let out an inhuman roar that shattered the windows closest to it, and even though it made me want to put my hands over my ears, I know I couldn't. Held onto Beelzemon.

The Demon Lord started to avoid cars again, no longer caring about the ground by wet and slippery from the rain. Lights rushed by as we passed cars faster and faster, ignoring streetlights and signs.

No second too late, we rushed past the intersection that the gigantic Digimon was at, its metallic claw missing us by mere inches as it suddenly came smashing down. The concrete around us bent, cars were pushed out of the way, and the Digimon merely let out another inhuman shriek, this time right before it pulled its claw back and set itself into motion. A short glance over my shoulder, the cold wind rushing across my face, wet from the rain, and I spotted the huge dragon right behind us, having begun the hunt.

And I spotted the black datachip attached to its head, right in between its eyes.

"It's an Infected!" I roared as I turned back to Beelzemon, the rain once more hitting my face. Lighting struck through the sky above, followed by the roar of thunder. Beelzemon growled and, to my shock, suddenly pulled the brake.

The motorcycle screeched as it was suddenly ripped around, forced into a slide around the next corner. It took me every bit of my power to hold onto Beelzemon and not be flung off the motorcycle, but I knew he had to do that. I knew it as the dragon rushed past the corner, having missed the chance to follow us, with his jaws wide open in a bite. He had tried to swallow us. Or at least maim us with his teeth.

"What Digimon is that?!" I heard Beelzemon snarl, the Demon Lord still focused on the street, "And where is the black datachip on it?"

"Gigadramon, an Ultimate!" I replied, glaring over my shoulder in an attempt to spot the Digimon, "And the chip is right in between his eyes on his forehead!"

People screamed, the sound of a car being smashed, followed by it flying past the intersection in front of us, and I knew where Gigadramon had vanished off to.

"Shit!" cursed the Demon Lord in front of me, "Hold on, Takato!"

I did as told, quickly turned the right way around and held onto his waist again with all my might, this time as Gigadramon suddenly appeared on the intersection before us, his huge body but a dark silhouette against the night sky until lightning flashed.

Reacting quickly, Beelzemon yanked the wheel around and sent the motorcycle into a horizontal slide towards the beast, sparks flying everywhere as the motorcycle sled across the wet street, Chrome Digizoid grinding against concrete. Gigadramon roared and opened his metal claws to point them at us, followed by the sound of rockets being fired from them.

Accelerating again all of sudden, Beelzemon brought Behemoth off the street. The motorcycle protested with a growl as it bounced over the edge of the sidewalk and into the nearest alley, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of rockets hitting the concrete and blowing it up.

The alley was small and narrow, barely giving the motorcycle enough space to drive through, clearly not made with it in mind. Nonetheless, it was our only option, even though it limited us in sight of our enemy.

"He'll be at the other end as soon as we'll emerge. He's a hunter, and we're his prey." snarled Beelzemon, eyes on the ground in front of us, the alley only illuminated by the headlight of the motorcycle, "I trust ya to get him away from us somehow. We can't drive to either hideout now or Archenemy will know where it is!"

"Probably the intention his appearance had to begin with." I growled myself, glared at the end of the alley straight ahead, "This can't be a coincidence."

"Exactly my thoughts!" screamed the Demon Lord over the sound of the pouring rain and the engine's roars echoing off the narrow alley's walls. Without a warning, Gigadramon's face appeared at the end of the alley, blocking us off, but Beelzemon had waited exactly for that, as the motorcycle picked up even more speed.

"Here goes!"

Suddenly pulling the front wheel up, Beelzemon let his motorcycle slam into the muzzle of the Ultimate in a wheelie. Gigadramon screamed in pain as the wheels sled along his scales, Behemoth driving up the muzzle and up the head. The black datachip grew closer and I concentrated on using the Digital Hazard, summoning forth anger within me.

The sign appeared on my hand in all its crimson glory, shining brightly against the rain and the darkness of the sky above. But it was for naught, as Gigadramon suddenly swung his head to the side and pushed Behemoth off that way. Focusing on holding onto Beelzemon again, I managed not to be thrown off the motorcycle as we hit the ground and the whole game began anew, us fleeing as the Ultimate followed us.

"It's no use, I'll have to use Guilmon." I growled to the Demon Lord, knowing that, if he were to stop, we'd be in a lot of trouble. For as long as we drove through the streets, Gigadramon was occupied. The moment we'd stop, he'd be free to attack us, our lack of movement making us easy targets.

"Right. But ya should probably avoid makin' it too obvious that it's him, unless ya want to let everybody know you're back." reasoned Beelzemon, eyes on the road ahead. We were now driving along one of the longest straight roads in Shinjuku. Good.

The Demon Lord slowed down a bit, allowing me to let go off his waist without falling off right away. It was dangerous and I was in panic, but I managed to get my bag off my back and onto my lap. I could hear Gigimon growl inside, more than ready to digivolve and fight.

But everything should be different.

"Takato!"

Hearing Beelzemon scream just when my bag was open, I glanced up and past him to find that rockets had just flown over our head and were about to impact with the street in front of us. I didn't have enough time to react properly.

Beelzemon hit the brakes and swung Behemoth around, forcing me to hold onto him as quick as I could. The force of the motorcycle swinging around pulled on me. Beelzemon accelerated again, rushed down another street. And in shock, I could only watch as my bag slipped out of my hands.

It hit the sidewalk and rolled across it, growing smaller and smaller as we drove further and further away from it with no chance of turning back around to get it.

"I lost Guilmon!" I screamed as I turned back to the Demon Lord, but he had already noticed. But I saw it in his eyes: We couldn't go back, not just like that. Gigadramon was still hot on our heels, flying just above the street, slamming cars and streetlights aside that were in his way, his wide body barely fitting through the streets in between the buildings.

We had to drive in a circle to get the bag.

A bridge came into view, and from my past journeys through the city, I knew that there was a street right below it. Beelzemon knew, too, and exploiting the fact that it was still raining, the thunderstorm far from being over, he hit the brakes again and yanked the motorcycle around anew, sled onto the bridge, and then accelerated again, sending us right over the edge of the bridge.

For a moment, we were in free fall, and it took me every ounce of strength to hold onto Beelzemon. The Demon Lord of Gluttony cursed and snarled as we hit the street, cursed the day that Archenemy had come to exist, and I could relate just well.

Gigadramon followed us again, hunted us. His body slammed into the side of the bridge as he followed us over the edge and part of the railing broke off and fell, but we couldn't care about that right then. We only cared about getting away and somehow defeating the beast.

"I'd offer you to use my guns to rid us of that thing, but they're too heavy for you!" bellowed Beelzemon, right before pulling the motorcycle around and entering yet another alley in an attempt to win time, "And I have to focus on where we're driving, unless you want to die an early death! Why again are you humans so fragile?"

"Just drive!"

Beelzemon complied without hesitation and turned the motorcycle yet again around a corner as we left the alley. True to my assumption, Gigadramon had already found us again and came sweeping in from above, ignoring it as his body was struck by lightning attracted by the metal on his body.

He slammed his right claw into the ground behind the motorcycle, concrete bending out of the way and leaving back a crater. I was in panic by then, and wished for nothing but for it to be over, this crazy chase already going on too long for my taste.

The Digital Hazard was still glowing brightly on my hand, and as much as I wanted to use its offensive capabilities, most of them were heavily based on fire. Useless in rain. And that was only taking into account that the exhaustion of using them without Hazaado preparing my body for them – which he had to outside the Digital World – wouldn't kill me first.

Gigadramon suddenly caught up on us, one of his claws missing the rear of the motorcycle by mere inches. The power of the attack nearly ripped me off the motorcycle, sending it into a dangerous sway, but Beelzemon managed to get it back under control.

I sent a glare over my shoulder, only to find that Gigadramon had already raised his other claw, ready to strike us with it, and I knew he would hit this time. As fast as we were, he had managed to catch up somehow, and we wouldn't get away. Not without a miracle.

A miracle like Wargrowlmon suddenly appearing from the side, tackling into Gigadramon and pinning it to the side of a skyscraper. Windows shattered as the taller Ultimate impacted with the front – completely made of windows – of the building, sending shards raining down onto the wet sidewalk below.

The Hazard on Wargrowlmon's body was flashing rapidly in bright crimson, a sign that told me that Hazaado, who had kept surprisingly quiet during the last few days, had sent Wargrowlmon to help me. Well, I had pretty much allowed him to, with the Digital Hazard being active and visible for everyone to see on my hand.

But there was no one around to see it with how late it was, and the few people who had been around had fled in panic when Gigadramon had appeared. There was no way this whole thing had stayed unnoticed, though, and I knew that sooner or later, Hypnos would trace the events down to the Digital Hazard, and with that me.

Should be more than enough time.

I watched as Wargrowlmon pushed off the other giant, only to set his boosters to full power and slam into him again, one claw impaling Gigadramon through the sternum. Gigadramon screeched in pain and tried to free himself, but Wargrowlmon used his other claw to grab him by the neck and hold him in place.

And then, in a fashion that reminded me all too much of Megidramon, let out an inhuman scream right into the taller Digimon's face. Saliva dripped from his muzzle, clearly distinguishable from the rain, hit the street below. Didn't burn through it like acid, like Megidramon's saliva did.

Unlike when I last saw Megidramon do that during the Megidramon Incident, I felt no fear or disgust at it. Rather than that, I felt a sick excitement spread through me at how feral Wargrowlmon behaved. I know it was wrong – but it was also right.

This was my partner, Guilmon. I could still recognize him, despite how he behaved. But this was also Hazaado's partner, Megidramon, I could recognize him in there. This was my creation, Guilmon, but it was also Hazaado's creation, Megidramon.

Feeling this sick excitement spread through me, a part of me was pushed into the back of my mind, and another part awoke. The more careful and shy part left, made space for the part of my personality that was more like Hazaado. Open and ready to be more active, even aggressive or offensive if I had to be. Ready to take risks at all time.

My hands let go of Beelzemon's waist and I scooted back on the motorcycle, let the Digital Hazard's power flow through my body and used it to keep myself on it as I turned around. A rush of adrenaline flew through my veins as I placed my feet against the chassis and used it to get up into a crouched position on the back of the motorcycle.

Focusing on the fight between Wargrowlmon and Gigadramon, my partner having slammed the taller dragon into the concrete and keeping him pinned there, I calmed my breath and concentrated on the powers of the Digital Hazard like Hazaado had taught me countless times over the last few months. Over three months of preparation since the defeat of Archenemy in the Eastern Quadrant of nothing but training with the Digital Hazard in my free time.

All for a moment like this.

The Digital Hazard on my hand began to spin at increasing speed, crimson lines spreading up my wrist and my arm beneath my jacket and shirt, extending to the center of my chest. I felt how my body began to heat up, saw the red light peeking through my white shirt, knew what had just awoken in the center of my chest.

Crimson chains lashed out all of sudden, spread from the center of my chest and my back, rattled as they laid around the chassis of the motorcycle I was on, effectively chaining me to my position.

Everything was set up now.

"Beelzemon!" I shouted over my shoulder, and the Demon Lord understood my plan. He hit the brakes and swung the motorcycle around, the chains rattling and groaning as the centrifugal force pulled on my body, being the only thing that kept me on the motorcycle.

We had changed direction, drove back towards the fight of the two giants, where Wargrowlmon was pinning Gigadramon to the ground and kept slashing into him with the blade of his free arm. Beelzemon accelerated, Behemoth screamed and groaned as the engine grew hot beneath us. I concentrated, had but one shot at this. Rain poured against my skin, droplets running down my neck and under my shirt, evaporating as they came in contact with the heat of the source of the red light on my chest. I narrowed my eyes.

Timing was everything.

The movement of my right hand gave a silent command to Wargrowlmon. Acting accordingly, he pulled the other Ultimate up by its throat, only then pushed it off him. Gigadramon hit the concrete and sled over it, by then already weakened enough to not immediately get up. My partner let out another inhuman roar, the boosters on his mechanic back lighting up with all power they had.

We were coming at Gigadramon from two sides. Wargrowlmon was acting at exactly the speed I needed to, it was only me and Beelzemon who could still mess this up, but the Demon Lord knew what to do, knew what to look for. And it came in shape of Wargrowlmon jumping up high into the air, and coming down on Gigadramon with his blades.

The gigantic dragon cringed as the blades impaled his chest. Claws, head and tail tensed up and rose off the ground as the dragon let out its final scream before going unstable. And Behemoth shot up into the air, using the bent concrete as a ramp.

Crimson chains rattled as they uncurled from the motorcycle and all but one retreated back from where they had come from, into my chest. We were high above the unstable Dragon Digimon's head, once more in free fall, once more in midair. And from there, the black datachip was an easy target.

The final crimson chain flew through the air and impaled the black datachip, broke through it without a problem.

I was in free fall after that. Gravity kicked in and Behemoth vanished from beneath me, leaving me to fall towards the ground. But I didn't feel any fear. Was not afraid that it was going to hurt, despite the fact that I was going to fall two or three meters.

Just like I had expected, Wargrowlmon caught me. And from within the metallic claw, I watched as a gigantic Digital Hazard appeared above the ground, and Gigadramon burst apart and turned into a Digi-Egg. It remained hovering above the ground, not too far from the Digital Hazard sign, glowing a soothing light. The Digimon had been cleansed of the corruption, the very instrument of it, the black datachip, hanging broken from the crimson chain I held within my hand.

The Digi-Egg vanished to return to the Primary Village as it should.

Wargrowlmon set me down onto the concrete – or what had remained of it – and the faint purring of the motorcycle's engine grew louder again, telling me that Beelzemon had pulled around and was driving towards me again.

Turning to the large Digital Hazard sign, I rose the chain, and with that the black datachip, higher. Offered it to Hazaado to take and destroy once and for all. And true enough, the black datachip burst apart into black data, which the large Digital Hazard absorbed, only to then vanish, along with the final chain on my body.

The Digital Hazard on my hand began to calm down as well, no longer being fed with anger and hatred now that it was no longer necessary. The red glow on my chest dissipated, the lines retreated back into the sign on the back of my right hand. The Digital Hazard fell asleep again.

Wordlessly, too exhausted, I climbed back onto Behemoth the moment that Beelzemon came to a stop next to me. My bag was gone, but I didn't care, picked up Gigimon like it was a plushie, and put him onto my lap. He held onto my pants as Beelzemon accelerated, this time driving only at a moderate speed. I guess even he had enough of high-speed chases throughout Shinjuku after that.

I cast a single glance over my shoulder as we drove off, took in the large amount of damage the fight had caused. The street was in a state of ruin, and so was the front of the skyscraper aside it. Concrete and glass lay in heaps where once a peaceful but crowded street had been.

In the end, Hazaado and Archenemy could only cause destruction wherever they went, and as I had become an extension to Hazaado and his might, I could only cause destruction myself. I balled a fist, cursed in the heat of the moment.

The cool rain on my skin did little to cool down the blaze of anger within me. Too much to gain, and too much to lose. Every day that went on without us finding Archenemy and putting a stop to him and his schemes a risk for me and everyone around me, human and Digimon alike.

We had won that fight, as problematic as it had been. We had defeated Gigadramon and freed it of its corruption, and thus prevented Archenemy from finding out where our hideouts were located. But in the process, part of Shinjuku now lay in ruins.

It didn't feel much like a victory to me.

The depressive thought that I had messed up, that I was responsible for the destruction – no one had come to harm, thankfully – and the situation we were in, continued to linger within me even as we reached a subway station and I climbed off the motorcycle. A short goodbye to Beelzemon, who gave me a reassuring nod and the comment that we had done our best, and a short time of waiting with Gigimon in my arms, acting like a plushie, was all that lay in between me and the subway journey back to the hideout near the bakery I had grown up in.

I was still down when the doors to the train opened and I stepped in.

And I blamed that depressive thought for me being too distracted to notice it until it was already too late. The doors closed behind me, and I remained close to it, holding onto a pole, as it was the spot with the most space.

The wagon was full with people, leaving no empty seats, merely space to stand. A few businessmen, dressed in their suits of different shades of blue and black, stood in the wagon, heading home after their late shifts, or heading to their night shifts. A few girls sat on my side of the wagon by the window, chatting about something only they could see on the screen of a pink cellphone that the black-haired girl in the middle held. A woman sat aside them, reading a book, the man aside her, probably her husband, reading the newspaper.

And that was when I spotted her, sitting across the woman with the book, staring straight ahead through the window behind the woman. Her red hair was in the same ponytail I had gotten used to, one leg laid across the other, milky-white fingers idly playing with the hem of her black shirt.

My throat felt dry all of sudden and I couldn't swallow. My muscles tensed up, but all warmth was drained from my body, leaving me to shudder on the inside, as my body wouldn't react. Gigimon shifted in my arms, fidgeted nervously, had noticed her too.

Thousand questions darted through my mind all at once, questions as to why she was here, why she was here now, and whatever higher entity wanted me to suffer and all of my plans to fail.

She rose her gaze, must have felt my stare, as she immediately found me, lavender eyes finding my red ones. Delicate red eyebrows rose in surprise, glee, and what might as well have been anger.

The train shook gently as it began to move. The doors were locked.

I was locked into the train with Rika Nonaka.

And that's about it for this update! Sheesh, became a bit longer than I first expected it too, but that might have to do with a small change I made from my original notes. Nothing grave.

Now, I guess this chapter has a lot of that which the title implies, right? And I pride myself in saying that most of the twists in this were probably unexpected for you, but if you go back and read the other chapters, at least some of them were hinted at. Lilithmon and Reika is all I'm saying.

But yeah, what was up with that, I wonder? And what about the very beginning of this chapter, the two weird dream sequences Rika had? About Takato finally showing some of the powers of the Digital Hazard that he has gained? And that's just a bit of the stuff that's in this chapter. There's a lot more, some of it even hidden among the lines. In a sense.

What I mean with that? Well, that's for me to know and for you to find out.

Also, sorry about the cliffhanger at the end. Now, I know that these are never the greatest, but I decided to cut it off at that point as to not put too much information into this chapter. Also, reasons. Any theories so far on what these twists mean? On the ending, perhaps? Don't hesitate to share them! I love me some theories!

Now, this shall be the end of the chapter. All that's left for me to say is that you won't be dwelling on this cliffhanger for too long, as the next update is set for the middle of April, right after the next installment to my League of Legends "Bad Day" Series. That's right, another joke is in the making, and we're going full out this time!

But, until we see each other again in the next chapter, this train has no brakes.

Just SorrowfulReincarnation, which means one hell of a ride, of that you can be assured.

Well, so long~