Chapter 21

Takato followed Guilmon far into the city. They had entered an unfamiliar portion of the city not too long ago and a slight bit of fear had risen inside him. Takato had never been to this part of the city and he had been told not to go there unless it was an emergency. Since saving the city from a digimon was an emergency he was forced to wander into a more violent part of the city. What he didn't understand, however, was why a digimon had materialized in that part. Usually they went where there was a lot of people like right in the center or in the park. But this one seemed to be far away from civilization. He wasn't complaining about that but the fact in itself was enough to get him thinking about what was going on.

The tamer and his digimon partner turned around a bend and rushed into an ally. Guilmon looked back over his shoulder. "I can smell it. It's close by… And it's big."

Through his pants Takato was able to say: "Odd place for one to appear eh boy?"

Guilmon nodded and then continued.

The two of them rounded another corner and stopped dead in their tracks. Takato fell backwards onto his bum and Guilmon growled deep in his throat.

It was a large digimon. A dragon with amazing, glittering armor that shone brightly in what sun came through past the buildings that surrounded them.

A thundering crash split Takato's amazement at the digimon. It had driven its tail into a near by building and then did it again. It wasn't until he had done it a third time that Takato realized that he was holding something. Or, rather, someone.

Beelzemon was wrapped in the beast's tail and was being driven into the buildings. He looked pretty beat up so far and his arms were bound tight t his side so he was not able to reach for his Berenjena pistols.

Takato called up to him. "Beelzemon!"

After he was pulled out of yet another wall he looked down at them. "A little help would be appreciated here!" Then the dragon drove him into another wall.

Takato looked at the holographic vision on his D-Arc. It was an OwRyumon, a terribly strong mega with great swords that could chop through anything that he wished them to. The beast threw Beelzemon this time and he flew into a window. The beast starred down at Takato and Guilmon.

Rika and Henry came up behind them with Renamon and Terriermon.

"What'd we miss?"

"That…" Takato pointed to the digimon.

Rika stepped back a little. "He's big…"

"Ya…"

"Let's stop starring and get on with it." Henry took a card from inside his pocket and held his D-arc close. "Digimodify!" He slashed the card through as he said it. "Biomerge activate!"

"Terriermon Biomerge to… MegaGargomon!"

"Biomerge activate!"

"Renamon Biomerge to… Sakuyamon!"

"Biomerge activate!"

"Guilmon Biomerge to… Gallantmon!"

The three megas stood there brilliantly.

---

Beelzemon clambered out of the wall in the room that he was in. He was in Kaori's room or at least the one that she had been in when he had listened in on her conversation. He could hear the battle going on outside. If all of them were in their mega forms then they would not require his assistance for some time. Beelzemon decided to use what portions of time that he had to examine the room. He didn't know why on Earth he wanted to but he knew that it was important somehow. He just didn't know to whom it was important.

Beelzemon stood up and glanced around the room. It seemed familiar.

There was one bed and a pile of clothes put in the corner. A dresser was beside him and on it was an empty picture frame. Three pictures hung on the wall opposite to the bed. One was the picture of two people walking and it looked to have been taken without them knowing. The man in the picture had great black hair that stayed on his head proudly as though he was of great importance. He was wearing a gray suit and had, in his left hand, a briefcase. The woman had short, blonde hair and a large chest underneath her glittering, bronze coat. She had a pair of jeans on and a bag of bread in her right hand. The two were walking out of the Matsuki bakery when the picture had been taken.

The second picture was of a teenager. For a moment Beelzemon though that it was Kaori. But this teenager was a boy. He had on a black hoodie and a pair of plain jeans. His brown hair was nearly completely covered by his black cap. The boy had long arms and legs and a small torso. He looked almost exactly like Kaori. It was her twin brother, Kiromu. Beelzemon knew that instantly. Kiromu had his hands in his pockets and his shoulders were hunched outwards slightly as though he was trying to repel the rest of the world. The adolescent was walking out of a school hen the picture had been taken and slight darkness enveloped the left hand corner but not enough to cover his frustrated facial features.

The final picture was that of a young girl on a slide. Kiromu was in the shot as well. The girl looked as though she was just about to slide down. She had a pair of jeans on just like her brother but she also had on a pink top with her bright, blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She looked to be about 10 years old give or take a few years. She had brilliant blue eyes and a white and pink device hung from around her neck. Beelzemon thought. At first he figured that it was one of the tamers when they had first gotten their D-arcs but that didn't seem likely seeing as they had all gotten them about a year ago. Not three. Then it hit him. This must have been Kaori's sister, Tatsuki. Kaori had told him that her sister was a tamer. The fact that there was a digimon off to the side in the shot confirmed his suspicions. It was a Gatomon, the cat-like digimon with white fur and large ears.

It was Kaori's family.

She had taken pictures of her family and had hung them up on her walls.

Did that mean that she never saw them?

Or did they merely never see her?

It seemed possible to him. Kaori didn't seem like the kind of person that would like to walk around with others. She seemed antisocial unless she was talking to him. She didn't like Karen and he knew that for sure. Plus, when he had first met her, she had been breaking up with her boyfriend. Takato said that she always seemed to have one but… She didn't seem to like them all that much if he thought about it.

Beelzemon looked at the closest behind him. It looked to be a plain, brown door… Save for the cuts, gashes, scratches and whatnot that were strewn across the surface. There was a knife close to the top of the left side door.

The demon lord digimon walked over to the door and examined the scratches. They were from human fingernails and, when he looked down, there were roughly cut hair lying across the floor. Kaori's hair always looked roughly cut and so, he assumed, she had down it herself with the knife that she had stuck in the door. Beelzemon looked at the knife. There was no blood on it and so he was glad for that. He pulled on the knife and it came out of the door. There was a bright red light that came from within the closet. Curious, he opened both of the doors and allowed the light to shine out onto him and the floor as well as the rest of the room.

It was a red room.

There was a camera sitting on a small shelf on the wall and a wire held up pictures with clothes pegs. Beelzemon took the first picture and pulled it off. It was a picture of the tamers. Rika and Ryo were sitting on a bench. Renamon was in a tree. Monodramon was next to Ryo, who was ruffling through his deck of modification cards. Kenta and Kazu were by a pond with their cards playing a game. Their digimon were close by them. Takato had a pair of swim trunks on and was slashing Henry and Jeri. Terriermon was just jumping off of Henry's head and Guilmon was beside Takato, helping to splash them. He saw himself, in his rookie form, sitting on the cobblestone edge of the pond kicking the water lightly. Ai and Mako were sitting beside him on either side.

Beelzemon remembered that day.

It had happened not a week after the digimon had returned to the real world.

Had Kaori been around that long?

Beelzemon took hold of the camera. There were some pictures left inside of it that had yet to be developed. He wasn't too sure how to do it but he thought that he knew enough to get them right.

He closed the doors.

---

"Damn…"

Beelzemon had been able to develop the picture enough to see them and he was just waiting for them to become completely visible. The only problem was he had made a mistake with each one and a shadow had appeared over the person in the picture.

He sighed and waited as the last one finished.

The he hung them up and looked at his work.

Each picture was one of him.

There was one of him walking out of where he worked out and there was one of him in his rookie form walking with his twin tamers. He saw one of himself on a lamppost starring at the sky in his rookie form and another one where he was fighting. There was one of himself and Fiendmon and one from… He didn't remember that one. It was one of him fighting a huge beast. VenomMyotismon.

He took that picture. There was another one beside it from the same battle. He took down each picture from that battle. As he flipped through he found something odd. The shadow that he had accidentally placed on the photos was only on him. And there was a digimon that he did not know there as well. It looked like Gallantmon but he knew that it wasn't. It had a pale blue face and a tail as well. It sort of looked like he and Gallantmon had merged together somehow but he could think of a reason why that would happen. Thinking that would be likely was just plain stupid.

He turned his head and spotted on more picture.

It was one of he and Karen. She was clinging to his arm with longing and he was standing straight up looking a little bit disgruntled. Beelzemon frowned. Why does Kaori have pictures like these?

"Beelzemon!"

"Help!"

He hurried out of the closet, red room, dropping the pictures as he went. Beelzemon leapt out of the window and onto the metal platform.

The tamers were all back in their normal digimon and human forms. Henry was standing while everyone else was by his or her digimon. Suzie had arrived and she was clutching Lopmon tightly. Ryo, Kenta and Kazu, as well as their digimon had all come by now as well. They were all looking as beat up as Takato, Rika and Henry. Suzie looked fine save for her terrified face.

There was one other girl there as well. She had blond hair pulled back by a black headband and she was wearing a covering of black fabric over her shoulders. Underneath that she wore a gray top and a pair of jeans with a black and gold belt. Se had huge boots on that came up to her knees. A D-arc was in her left hand and a Gatomon stood beside her. The girl couldn't have been older than 10. Her Gatomon had a pair of black, armored gloves on and she had a long length of metal wound around her right arm. She looked completely ready to fight even at such a young age. Beelzemon was impressed.

It hit him.

He knew who she was.

It was Tatsuki, the girl from the picture in Kaori's room.

Kaori's younger sister.

"Terriermon!" Henry ran forth, limping as he went. "Terriermon, NO! You can't leave me!"

Suzie began to cry as she hugged her digimon close to her. She became afraid to let her go now.

Beelzemon looked up at OwRyumon.

Terriermon was in his grasp and, slowly, losing strength.

---

Brooke: Uh oh, Terriermon…

Impmon: Serves him right for what happened in the Digi Court story.

Brooke: That was story and in the story it was your dream!

Impmon: Oh… Right… Heh, Heh… Ok then. Poor Terriermon. Happy?

Brooke: Sure…