DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon, but I do own the plot, and DRAGOON.

Digimon Continuity

Quest for the Digimon

Chapter 21

Decisions and the D-Power

:. Digital Plane - Desert Plane
DRAGOON

03:50 PM JST

"I don't see them anywhere."

"Those moron twins. Once I get my hands on them..."

"Will you please stop making threats and just look?" Ryo asked Rika in exasperation.

"What do you think, Akiyama?" She asked the boy, eyes narrowing. When he didn't answer, she gave hers. "No of course!" Ryo shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, as messing it up further. His back hurt slightly as he overexerted himself, but he ignored it the best he could, remembering the days in ENIAC's world where he never seemed to have time to recover from his old injuries before new ones came.

"Do you think something might have happened to Kazu and Kenta?" Takato asked worriedly.

Henry shook his head. "No way, Kenta had MarineAngemon with him. He should have been able to take care of himself..." Henry hesitated, before frowning. "... for a while anyway, long enough for us to have stumbled upon them and found them by now," he added worriedly, trying to reassure himself as much as the others.

"Oh, I'm sure they could have taken care of themselves," Rika said sarcastically, though Ryo thought that her voice contained a slight tremor as well. "It's just that they decided to wonder off and probably found another Jijimon and Babamon to bunk with." Ryo knew that she didn't mean what she said, it was just her way of voicing out worry for them. Weird, but at least he knew she was also worried.

"You know that they aren't so irresponsible!" Takato defended, though Ryo would say that he wouldn't quite agree. "Are you sure you got the direction right? Maybe you pointed us the wrong way!"

"Are you saying that Renamon got it wrong?" Rika asked, the tone of her voice indicating as though Takato had called into question Renamon's fighting abilities.

"Calm down, Rika. I am sure that Takato didn't mean that," Ryo said.

"I don't care what Gogglehead meant, Akiyama," She spat with her usual venom, as though the good little reunion just now didn't happen. "And I certainly don't care what you are sure of." Ryo rolled his eyes. Note to self: Try and get Rika to like me better and be less sarcastic when expressing herself. He thought a moment, then shook his head and amended. Re note to self: Don't even try to make Rika less sarcastic... until fully recovered. Ryo allowed himself a faint smile, but Rika, of course, misunderstood it. "If you are enjoying me scolding you, Akiyama, you seriously need to visit the mental institute."

If I didn't hate her before, I do now. Ryo thought, decided to change the subject. "So, we can't find Kazu and Kenta, now what do we do?"

Henry put his hand under his chin, striking a thinking pose. "Well, the obvious thing to do is to find out who is the Digimon trying to kill us," he said after a while.

"Digimons," Terriermon added from the top of Henry's head.

"Digimons," Henry agreed.

"What about us not being able to Biomerge?" Takato asked. Henry looked to Takato with a frown.

"Well, we can't do anything about that. I think maybe only the Sovereigns know the answer."

"I'm sure that is the answer," Rika said, still sarcastic. "Maybe we should present ourselves on a silver platter so that we don't lose pride when we get our butts handed to us by Zhuqiaomon again!"

Ryo looked at Rika with a raised eyebrow. "You know that that makes no sense, right?" The comment was mainly directed at Rika, so it lead to her rolling her eyes. Ryo slightly heard Terriermon saying that they kicked his butt.

"It's called sarcasm, Akiyama, read a book."

"I've read more books than you have fought Digimon battles," Ryo countered smoothly, allowing the argument to calm his adrenaline pumped heart from the battles. What could he say? Arguments helped do that a whole lot. Maybe Rika is right and I am not sane.

"Really? I thought you couldn't read to save your life. It's a wonder you ever got past the card game manual." Apparently, having something that was an everyday thing to all seemed to calm everyone down too, seeing the smiling faces of the others.

"I love you too, Rika," Ryo grinned sadistically. This was growing far too interesting to stop... though he knew someone would get hurt if he didn't do so soon.

Rika's eyebrows met in a V shape. "Akiyama..." She said with barely suppressed anger. "... I dare you to say that again." She narrowed her eyes as the tension within the interior of DRAGOON began to build up.

Ryo seemed completely unaffected by this... well, he actually was unaffected. "What? That I hate you? Yeah, I'm sure you share the same sentiments." He let his face form into a smile that was sure to annoy Rika. Renamon had to, even in her state, be the one to restrain Rika from pouncing on him. Strikedramon seemed uneasy, standing by Ryo, but appeared to be ready should Rika ever go out of control. Ryo suddenly felt a pang of fear and a dampening of his confidence. He was still unsure about Strikedramon, unsure about whether he would not attack Rika should she ever break free of Renamon. Ryo quickly swallowed and apologised. "Sorry Rika, I didn't really mean to get you worked up like that."

Rika stopped suddenly, looking at him with an awed, disbelieving look. "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?" She glanced to Renamon. "Did Akiyama just say sorry?" When the kitsune nodded, she turned pale, obviously supressing laughter as though the world had just turned upside down... or that Terriermon had just been hit in the head for a comment. Still, he would never live that down.

"Come on guys, can we get back on what we were talking about?" Takato asked nervously.

"Yeah sure," Rika scoffed, but she was calming down. "So tell me, what's the great plan to get our butts kicked? I'm all ears." Ryo, however, had to force himself away from the thoughts about Strikedramon's loyalty.

Ryo shook his head, but gestured for Henry to go on with his good hand absent-mindedly. "Well, since it is clear that the only Digimon we actually know that would help us is the Sovereign... Azulongmon specifically," Henry said, straining the name of the blue dragon mainly for Rika's benefit. "I'm sure that he'll help us find out who's trying to kill us all. After all, he did save us from Zhuqiaomon."

Unlike Rika, Henry's voice indicated that he truly believed what he had said. Ryo was mentally shrugging at the coincidental appearance of the only Holy Beast he ever truly knew. There seemed to be a lot of coincidences between the Chosen's Digital World and this one, not to mention that practically all the Holy Beasts manifested as Sovereigns here.

He wondered faintly if this Azulongmon would look exactly alike to the Azulongmon he knew during the D-1 Tournament, but shook his head. All the Digimon seemed exactly identical, except for perhaps the slight difference in personality here and there. The diffences between the Digimon was almost non-existant. The difference in the adventures of the humans were. Oh well. Ryo thought, deciding to stop his chain of thought before it strayed too much to unpleasant memories.

"Well, then I guess we go and find Azulongmon then?" Guilmon asked.

"One problem fellow mons and humans," Terriermon said with unusual courtesy. The latter grinned less than pleasantly, leading Ryo to believe that perhaps he didn't want to hear what the dog-bunny had to say next. "You can't really go around chasing a cloud, we don't even know where to begin!"

Takato began the nervous habit of scratching the back of his head... again. "Um... yeah, that is a problem."

Henry buried his face in his hands, clear that he had not expected this. Not surprising seeing how little time he had to think all of this up in the first place, Ryo had to give the guy credit nonetheless. "Now what do we do?" Henry asked the room full of Digimon and humans.

Terriermon instantly came up with the most insane and brilliant idea ever. "Well, we could always find good old Zhuqs." Ryo's jaw dropped. If he had heard right, and his memories were in the right order, Terriermon was almost deleted by Zhuqiaomon and the other Tamers had a hard time with the Sovereign. Suggesting to find the phoenix should have been the last thing on Terriermon's mind.

Apparently not.

"How did you work that one out?" Renamon asked curiously.

"Well, it is obvious, isn't it?" The green bunny asked, looking around. All shook their heads. "Geez, am I the only smart one around here?"

"Stop boasting and explain!" Impmon said irritated.

"Of course. We go there because... who is Zhuqs to the Digital World?" He spread his ears open wide.

"I think I'm speaking for us all when I say I'm not catching what you're getting at, Terriermon," Henry said to the Digimon perched on his head.

"Come on guys! Try!" The happy bunny answered.

"Umm... our worst nightmare?" Guilmon asked.

"Just get to the point, Terriermon!" Renamon said in exasperation.

"Okay, you don't have to yell," the bunny winced. "Alright, well, since good old Zhuqs-" Ryo thought Henry whisper to Terriermon not to say that. "-is a Sovereign, so he is sure to know where Azulongmon is!"

Ryo would have palmed his forehead... were it not for the fact that he was severely injured and that doing so would hurt, a lot. Henry, however, did, causing Terriermon to slip slightly. Rika rolled her eyes again. Still, Ryo cursed himself for not seeing it sooner.

"You know, you actually made sense," Impmon said in simliar awe to when Rika heard Ryo apologising. "I don't believe it." Banging his head on the wall sure looked like what Impmon's expression said he planned to do, though Ryo was glad the former never carried it out.

"I'm shocked," Rika said simply.

"So... the decision is made?" Takato asked.

Henry nodded. "All in favour?" The others, including Ryo, raised their hands.

"But what if Zhuqiaomon doesn't want to help us?" Takato asked.

"I think that maybe I can convince him," Lopmon said from the ground, causing all to look at her.

"No offence, but the last time you did, we had to kick his butt," Terriermon grinned.

"Well, never know until we find out, right?" Henry asked.

Ryo nodded. "I guess we have to tell DRAGOON..."

"No need," DRAGOON's voice came. "I already know."

Ryo sighed. "Good then, I think maybe we should take this time to relax a while. Who knows when we need to fight again?" I hope this works.

:. Digital Plane - Unknown Location

03:55 PM JST

"Umm... Kazu?"

"Yeah what?"

"I don't like this."

"Me neither, but better zip it before your big mouth gets us into more trouble."

"Umm... they can't hear us, and I didn't get us in trouble."

"I can't hear myself think and you will!"

"Sorry."

Kazu looked around, taking in his surroundings once again, feeling slightly guilty about doing what he did. He and Kenta had been knocked out quite a while ago, he could still feel the bump on his head when the bug warrior asked them to turn around and hit something hard on their head. Kazu believed it to be the hilt of the blade he carried to take down MarineAngemon, and was just glad the Digimon did not use the other end.

MarineAngemon... Guardromon... He was worried about their Digimon though. The bug warrior who had captured them had thrown them into a dungeon... or at least he thought it was one, seeing how there were no windows. But the room was painted in bright colours, all the way to the ceiling, with a comfortable bed and a... cushion on the ground. The bed was half their height, clearly made for a Digimon much smaller than them. He couldn't even begin to describe to cushion, as it was simply not made for a human. Oh well, at least it makes a nice pillow to use when I am lying down on the ground.

He was lying on the ground mainly because he had given the bed to Kenta. Why? Well, it was half his height. His legs stuck out... a lot. Kenta had even resorted to sitting down on it like a chair. At least it was side by side to the wall.

Kazu looked at the blank ceiling, letting his comfortable position with the cool rock ground on his back lead him to calm, and worries. He worried about what was going on. He wanted to try and escape, but found no way to. Besides, they provided good food, even if it initially looked gross, it was nice. He was also worried about where MarineAngemon was, the one who would likely be a great help when escaping. He discarded one escaoe possibility after the other, but deep down he knew the worry for Guardromon was greater. Why had his partner not been with the other Digimon? There had to be a good reason.

Maybe he got lost and couldn't find them. Kazu thought. Not impossible. Guardromon had a hard time getting his sense of direction right while they were in the Real World. He did not want to consider the other possiblity that Guardromon was captured... or worst, dead. Kazu looked at his D-Power, which was emitting only blackness on its screen. It was strange really. The moment the Digimon left them, all their D-Powers turned into Jeri's, emitting only static sounds and a blank screen. They did not know why, but after a while, the D-Power's screen simply went blank.

Jeri's did too. For a horrifying few days, they were worried that their Digimon had actually been deleted when they left. It was the fact that Hypnos revealed that readings of the Digital World showed a few particular Digital signatures present. Their Digimon signatures. In short, Hypnos detected their Digimon, alive. It relieved them all, but the mystery of why their D-Powers did what they did was never solved. It was truly strange. The functions of the D-Power still worked, like time and all, even the map. But the map wouldn't show where their Digimon was anymore. Takato had tried it, but the map never worked to show him Guilmon's location like it did in the past. The Digi-Modify function was all but inaccessible.

However, Jeri's stayed blank, permanently dead, all functions cut off forever. It was just simply a piece of advanced computer junk now. Kazu had the sense never to say that, but it was true. He checked his D-Power every now and then since, making sure his D-Power still worked so that it was proof that his Digimon was still kicking. His idol, Ryo Akiyama, convinced them to keep their hopes up about meeting their Digimon again. I never actually thought there would be a day when I simply thought Ryo as a normal person...

It was true. Ryo kept hope, but there was still the haunted look about him that spoke volumes about the same loss that they felt, not to mention his reaction when the D-Powers began to go static. Kazu soon dragged his mind back to the present, checking his D-Power for the time, and also if Guardromon was still alive. It was really, really confusing. Kenta's D-Power's full functions came back online the moment the latter reunited with MarineAngemon.

He allowed his hands to hug the back of his head, putting his D-Power aside and relaxing. The door opened and a tray of food was put down by a Digimon he had no interest in identifying. This would have been a great time to make the run for it, but he had tried it before... and it hurt. Kazu made sure however to check the routine of the times they gave the food. It was pretty accurate. It would help... sometime soon.

But it was time for lunch... or dinner? "Kenta. Snack time."

...

...

"Kenta?" Kazu turned his head to find his friend asleep. The latter shook his head, before deciding to get up and eat a bit. His stomach was grumbling. And I also need my strength when the time is right.

Right, on a side note, those who don't know Ryo's history (the D-1 Tournament) should perhaps search a little. Otherwise, you may not be able to follow what is going on with Ryo's train of thought every now and then. I had made myself a note to mention this before, but always forgot. :D Recommend the DigimonWikia for those who know about it. That's a good place to go for info on Ryo.

But back to business. I believe that this is an interesting twist. Them going to visit our favourite phoenix ever. I think I have placed a nice little scene with Kazu reflecting... Still, thanks to Winter-Skye-Phoenix and Matt Lans for reviewing.

On another sidenote, Mystery of Cyberdramon will, I believe, provide insight on what is going on with Ryo's partner and also the identity of the Saviour. Now, review what you think of this chapter!