Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Digimon Trinity

Chapter: 25/ The Search: Part 3

"I'm so booored…" Calumon moaned, floating around the room of Ken's office while below DemiVeemon watched him anxiously.

Hurry up and get back with the food, you guys, he thought. Davis, Ken and Wormmon were currently out getting food for the diminutive creampuff, having located nothing in the office that would even remotely sate his appetite.

"How about we play a game?" DemiVeemon asked, hoping that would at least distract him.

"There's nothing to do in here though," Calumon said, lighting on a table. "There's nothing here but paper and some weird screen thing."

Screen thing…? Oh. The computer.

"Sorry. This place isn't exactly meant for fun," DemiVeemon replied. "It's a place for work, so we can't have that kind of stuff around here."

"Ohhh… You guys are way too serious!" Calumon groaned, flopping down on the table and rolling over, scattering some of the pages and causing a pile of them to slump over and fall to the floor. DemiVeemon jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding being crushed beneath their weight. "How can you go somewhere that's not fun? I'm so bored I'd even play chess! Are you sure there aren't any games here?"

"We could play hide and go seek," DemiVeemon suggested. "Or tag. What do you say?"

Calumon's eyes lit up, sparkling as he peeked over the table. "Yes!" he exclaimed, bouncing down toward him. "Hide and seek! Hide and seek!"

"Okay," DemiVeemon nodded, glad to have at least some kind of progress in distracting the digimon being made. "Do you want to hide or…"

"I do, I do!" Calumon crowed, jumping up into the air. "No one can beat me at hiding! You'll never find me!"

"Okay," DemiVeemon said, shrugging his tiny shoulders and covering his eyes with the tiny stumps that made up his arms. "I'll count to ten then while you find a place to hide. One…"

Calumon looked around the room curiously. There unfortunately weren't that many places that looked like a good hiding spot. There were bookshelves and potted plants, and of course there were tables and chairs alongside the computers, but they were too obvious and easy to spot. Everything was out in the open or too tight against the wall to be able to hide behind without causing a lot of noise.

"Three…"

"Where can I hide?" Calumon asked himself, starting to become a bit frantic. There were the desk drawers, but that again had the same issue as anything up against the wall. It would make too much noise and be easy to locate. The windows were no good either since there were no drapes over them. They…

The windows open! Calumon exclaimed mentally, quickly flying over to it and squeezing through the crack. Popping out on the other end as DemiVeemon reached eight he smirked and flew up to the roof, setting himself down. "He'll never find me up here," he said, completely pleased with himself as inside the blue digimon reached ten and announced, "Ready or not, here I come!"

###

The sun began to bid its goodbye to the city of Shinjuku, causing the sky to burn with a golden glow as it dipped ever slowly closer to the horizon. Takato closed the gate to Guilmon's home, its rusty hinges creaking.

"Ohhh…" Guilmon pouted. "The whole day is gone and we didn't even get to play…"

"I'm sorry boy," Takato apologized, resting a hand on one of the iron bars. "We had a lot of things just drop in on us, didn't we?"

"Uh-huh," Guilmon nodded, his ears drooping. "We didn't even find a partner for Calumon, and we searched all day!" Guilmon laid himself down, placing his chin on the broken ground. "There's no fun without a partner… It's boring when you're not here, Takatomon."

Takato felt his heart break a little at his partner's helplessness against his many long hours of loneliness. "Sorry Guilmon," he apologized again. "I guess… I don't know." He dipped his head a bit, searching for something to say – some great wisdom to impart on his partner, but presently there was none to be had from the great well. The gods it seemed were more interested in withholding that inspiration than giving it. "Maybe we'll find something tomorrow. Or maybe Mr. Motomiya and Mr. Ichijouji found someone already. We'll find out. It's just going to take time."

"I hate it when things take time," Guilmon replied, the tip of his tail giving a particularly forceful twitch on the ground. He and Takato watched each other for a moment before Guilmon sighed. "You'd better go home, Takatomon. Your mom will digivolve into Angrymon if you're late again."

"Huh?" Takato blinked before abruptly laughing at his partner's words. "All right, boy. I'll see you tomorrow."

With one final wave, Takato dashed down the stairs leading back to the park path and disappeared from Guilmon's sight. The dragon-digimon's golden eyes stared at the spot the boy had vacated before turning up at the golden horizon. His ears twitched, as if sensing something before he wrapped his tail around himself. Closing his eyes, he drifted off to the empty void that was sleep.

Sleep would make the new tomorrow come sooner, and then he could see Takato again.

###

So this is where you were hiding, Renamon thought from the tree that currently hid her from Guilmon's questing eyes. She was sure that he had briefly sensed her, but she was long accustomed to shielding her presence when she didn't want to be detected. Guilmon's senses were good, but the fact remained that he was still only a novice at using them.

She had been wondering where he went off to the last time she visited the Matsuki Bakery and finding him no longer there. Not that she was particularly concerned given how often he was by his partner's side whenever the human boy didn't have to be in school or at home, but knowledge was always half the battle, and observing Guilmon's habits went a long way toward providing crucial information. The more she knew, the better.

She didn't expect too much from this outing, given that he now slipped into sleep – apparently searching for a partner for some digimon had tired him out – but there wasn't much to do while Sora and Biyomon were staying at Rika's home. Biyomon especially, due to her senses being sharper than the average human and being a partner to one of the original Digidestined.

I would do well to not underestimate her, she thought, as the golden glow of the sky began to turn a deep red, and then settled toward a dark purple. Shadows grew long before finally swallowing the landscape, leaving only night stretching as far as the eye could see with only the city lights breaking through like candles. Her ears angling, she listened to Guilmon's breathing. Determining that he had now gone completely to sleep, she phased out of the tree and materialized in front of the gate.

The vulpine digimon ran a claw along the gate bars, testing their strength. Nothing that would stop a determined digimon. Certainly not anything that could keep her out or Guilmon in.

Curious, she thought, gazing into the interior. The bunker would be pitch black to a human, but she saw it as clear as day. Broken concrete; torn up dirt. No doubt Guilmon was the culprit. Of course, having not seen him do the job it was difficult to say, but as he remained the only digimon she had seen in the area, there was little reason to doubt otherwise.

Clearly he's capable of causing great damage even at the Rookie level, Renamon mused, folding her arms over her chest. He could leave this prison and never look back. Yet he chooses to stay here and let these bars be his limits until his partner says otherwise.

She narrowed her eyes. Strange behavior for a Virus digimon, and even stranger for one that bore the mark of the Digital Hazard.

Curious, she thought, focusing on his sleeping form. His chest rose up and down rhythmically. He remained completely unaware of her presence. Easy to destroy. Easy prey.

She pulled her paws into tight fists, tensing up. Below, Guilmon mumbled something… "Takatomon digivolve…" she heard him say before he adjusted his snout, burying it deeper beneath the makeshift blanket that was his tail. He gave a deep huff before returning to his slumber.

Renamon's fists relaxed. She found herself feeling conflicted now, although why she couldn't quite explain. Here she stood with her prey right before her. She should destroy him and take his data. Grow stronger. That was her purpose after all.

She thought of the two humans and their partners, and she thought about Rika, who they stood in opposition to.

No, she thought, shaking her head to herself. When I load you, it should be with Rika by my side. We are to share each other's strength. This…would be no victory for our partnership over yours. It would only be for me and that…is not why I joined my cause with hers.

Her eyes shone in the shadows as she faded from view.

Until we meet again, Guilmon…

###

"Man, Ken," began Davis as Ken picked out some packaged meats and dropped them into his shopping cart, "you've seriously been putting off buying groceries for the past two weeks? I would have thought you'd get something as soon as the cupboards were empty."

"I've been snared by this case, what can I say?" Ken replied, picking up some more meat and looking over the expiration date. "It's been driving me nuts, so I've been spending more time at the office trying to work things out."

"He's even taken to sleeping there some nights," Wormmon added. Davis raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… Yolei's fine with that, right?"

"She hasn't said, not that she's not dealing with the same problems. Her job is getting busier too," Ken said, putting the meat back and pushing the cart down the aisle. "Government work is like that, but at least her salary is light years better than mine. Otherwise we'd starve for other reasons." Ken sighed. "Maybe I should have followed her into working for the Japanese government. Or at least have a job where the hours are more manageable. It's hard to have time for her with our current schedules." He barked a harsh laugh, suddenly looking exhausted. "You know she wants to have a family, but with our current careers…" He sighed heavily. "I don't feel like I'm doing right by her sometimes."

"I'd like to say things'll work out like I used to," Davis nodded in understanding, "but I think we both know that things aren't what they used to be."

"Thanks for the dose of realism, Davis," Ken said sarcastically, causing Davis to raise an eyebrow again.

"What? Did you need me to say that things'll work out?"

"I…no." Ken turned down an aisle and began to peruse through the vegetables. "No, I don't want to be lied to, but…it's not easy worrying sometimes."

Davis nodded once more. He could understand that. Ever since Tai disappeared he felt like he hadn't been doing his job as a Digidestined. Oh sure, he had become rich and helped out his friends financially, but was that enough? Money didn't find Tai and make all the old war wounds better. Izzy was trying. Izzy was the only one equipped to really do the job.

Only now he's off in space, he thought. He wondered what he was doing now. It occurred to him that he hadn't checked his messages lately – or the news for that matter. Man… When was the last time I even talked to Catherine?

"How are you and Catherine doing?" Ken asked, as if reading his mind. Davis gave him a spooked look before shrugging.

"We talk most of the time," he replied. "I can't always visit her though since, you know, she lives in France. She sometimes talks about visiting Japan, but so far…nothing."

"Maybe she's waiting for you to ask her to visit," Ken suggested. Davis frowned.

"I guess…"

"You don't sound like you're that into her."

"I…" Davis' frown deepened. "I guess…I'm just not sure how I feel. You know me, dude. Except for that one girl in middle school…"

"Rumiko, right?" Ken asked. "She's a famous model you know."

"Yeah, I kinda picked up on that since she's one of Sora's friends," Davis said, giving a light laugh. "Anyway, except for her, I haven't really been with anyone else. I'm just not cool like you are, Ken."

"We're not going to have a repeat of that time you tried dressing up as the Digimon Emperor, are we?" Ken asked worriedly. Davis shook his head, laughing.

"Nah, I learned my lesson. Be myself. I'm cool with that." His laugh turned into a rueful chuckle. "I guess I just had my own dose of realism."

Ken nodded, remembering back on those times when Davis seemed to be almost desperate for a girlfriend. Trying to be the Digimon Emperor had been his first attempt, and disastrous, and then there had been the oddity in America when he, Mimi and Willis were trapped in an alternate digital reality by a digimon searching for a partner and wound up being attracted to Davis due to his then-recent rejection by Kari.

"I'll say it then if you won't," Ken smiled. "Things'll work out."

"Jeez Ken…" laughed Davis. "When did you become the optimist?"

"Started with you when you helped bring me back from the darkness," Ken replied, still smiling. "I owe you one."

Wormmon sniffed and ran a claw over one eye to wipe away a tear. "It's times like this that I wish I had a digi-mommy."

###

"We're back," Ken called as he, Davis and Wormmon entered the office. "How are thiii…?"

His next sentence died a quiet death as he saw the mess that was once his work space, and what a mess it was. Papers were scattered everywhere. Desk Drawers were open and rutted through. Books that had been alphabetized on the shelf were lying all over the floor, and buried beneath them was DemiVeemon, eyes dazed while he groaned.

"DemiVeemon!" Davis shouted, running over to his partner and throwing the books off of him. "Who did this? What happened? Did that ice digimon show up looking for Calumon? Was it that Renamon?"

"Easy there," Ken said, approaching with worry, but also taking a look around to inspect the office. "There doesn't appear to be any signs of a struggle…"

"No sign of struggle? Ken, are you looking at the same room I am? This place…"

"…is a mess, yes, I know."

"It's going to take all day to clean this up," Wormmon said, bemoaning his fate. "I just dusted this morning, too."

"We'll get it done together buddy," Ken said, patting his partner. "But listen Davis, there wasn't a fight here. No ice damage, so we can rule out the IceDevimon. Besides, if it were him DemiVeemon wouldn't be here." He frowned. "If it were the Renamon, I imagine that there'd be less of a mess, or if there was more damage to the surroundings. This place looks like…someone was searching for something."

"Calumon…" moaned DemiVeemon as Davis picked him up and cradled him in his arms. "I'm sorry… I…I tried…"

"It's okay, DemiVeemon. Just tell us what happened. Who did this?"

The blue digimon swallowed and nodded. "It was…me."

There followed a moment of confusion as all three blinked in surprise.

"Uh…what?"

"Hide and seek…" DemiVeemon continued. "We were playing hide and seek because he was bored and…I went to count to ten and…then went looking for him." He shuddered. "I just started looking through the books when they all fell on top of me."

As one, they all breathed a sigh of relief. At least we know there wasn't some mob or government agency deciding to look in on us, Ken thought before remembering something. "Wait, where is Calumon?"

"Hey, Calumon!" Davis called, standing up. "We're here! We brought food!"

No answer came to them. Davis swore.

"It's okay," Ken said, going over to his computer. "We'll just scan for him and…" He blinked as he hit the on button, only for it to not do its job. He hit it again. "Uh… What's going on?"

"Ken?"

"It's not turning on…"

"I…tried to use it to find Calumon," DemiVeemon admitted. "I…may have pressed a lot of buttons without knowing what they did."

"You're kidding me…" Ken said, feeling as though a great, dark hole had just opened up beneath him. Heck, he wished one would right now. Nothing was worse than this now.

"Hey, we still have our D-3's," Davis said, pulling his out. "It's no big deal." He glanced at the screen as he pressed the button in the center. "Or maybe it is…"

"Nothing?" Ken asked, checking his. "Oh… That's…not good," he continued, seeing his screen return him nothing.

"Ohhh mannn…" Davis groaned. "Okay, it's no big deal. All we have to do is find him again and…"

"He could be anywhere right now, Davis!" Ken cut in. "He's clearly beyond our range now." He scowled. "I hate to do this, but we're going to have to contact one of the kids with the new digivices. Theirs are more advanced than ours. They may be able to find where they are."

"I've got Takato's house number," Davis grinned, fishing out his cell phone. "Let's hope he's there now," he said as he began flipping through his address book.

###

Calumon woke up with an abrupt start as down below he heard a bunch of noise. He was confused at first, still caught up in the grips of the Sandman, but he quickly recovered.

Oh yeah… DemiVeemon's still looking for me. He giggled and stretched. I knew it! I'm the best player of hide and seek ever!

The door to the office burst open and out ran Ken, Davis, Wormmon and DemiVeemon.

"Takato said he'll meet us in the park. Let's go!"

"Wait… Where in the park? Davis…!"

Oh… Is the game over? Calumon wondered, tapping an arm on his chin while his ears receded into his head, becoming depressed. He watched as the four disappeared into the darkness. I guess it is…

Heaving a sigh, Calumon spread his ear-wings out and proceeded to fly off. I guess I'll find someone else to play with…

He smiled, already forgetting about his new friends. He already knew where he was going to go. Surely that place would make people show up, but he needed to set up the ultimate game first.

###

Sora turned over a card, revealing a Garudamon. "Bam," she grinned triumphantly. "It looks like I finally managed to get you this time."

"I don't think so," Rika smirked, turning over her own card, a Control Spire. "It looks like you're the one who's been beat again."

"You are just too good at this," Sora laughed, gathering her cards together. "It's no wonder you won this year's tournament."

"My title isn't all talk. I earned it," Rika said with more than a little pride in her voice.

"Digimon Queen…" Sora's eyes became distant for a moment. "Kind of reminds me of someone I know…"

"I'm not ruling any digimon," Rika said, remembering the history. Sora waved her off with a laugh.

"I wasn't saying you were. It just reminds me of him." She tilted her head to one side. "How do you feel though, being a champion of the card game? Having all those adoring fans."

Rika's hands curled slightly before finally shrugging nonchalantly. "Bored actually," she replied, gathering up her cards and shuffling them together. She never cared for her so-called fans. Only the game mattered, but with her endless string of victories even that became hollow after a while. "There's no one there that's a challenge."

"Sorry to hear that."

Rika shrugged. "It's no big deal. It's not the only thing I occupy my time with. Besides, I've found something better."

"Oh?" Sora raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Rika chewed over her lower lip, realizing that she had inadvertently said too much. So she shrugged again. "It's nothing really…"

"Oh?" Sora grinned. "That doesn't sound like nothing. Am I right to guess that there's a boy in all this?"

Rika gave her a dark look that said it all. Seriously? Sora laughed.

"Sorry," she apologized, waving a hand in front of her as if to protect herself from Rika's glare. "I guess things have changed from when I was a kid. Usually when a girl your age said something like that but didn't want to talk about it, it meant that they were in a relationship. You are at the age for that kind of thing you know."

Rika harrumphed, her dark look only lessening a smidge. "Like I said, it's no big deal."

"All right, keep your secrets," Sora conceded. "So what non-secrets do you want to talk about? The night is young."

"Nothing that I care to talk about."

"Rika… You're making it very hard to talk to you." Sora gave a light laugh. "But then, you always were a little 'chatter box'. I remember when you were just a little thing and getting you to talk about your day was like pulling teeth. Except when you sang, the most you would say was 'I ate' or 'I played a game' and that would be it."

Rika blushed at her childhood. "I don't always have to talk you know," she grumbled.

"No, but it's nice to catch up sometimes." Sora placed her deck down. "I've noticed that you have a pretty interesting play style. You're aggressive a lot of the time, but sometimes you like to pull back and let someone make the first attack so they fall right into a trap."

"It's a by-the-book tactic," Rika shrugged. "There's no challenge in pulling that off. Anybody can do it. Or they would if they weren't so stupid."

"Well, at least you're modest," Sora smiled as they both drew new hands. Before the first card could be laid down, the woman's eyes widened. "Oh… I need a timeout first… I'll be right back."

"Uh… Okay."

Getting up from her seat, she winced as she felt her muscles protest due to having been sitting down for so long. She knuckled her back as she eased them back into their assorted jobs of keeping her upright. "I've got to take a break and take care of some lady business. Do you need anything?"

"I can get it if I need it," Rika replied, not meeting the woman's gaze as she looked over her cards. Sora's expression softened a little before nodding. With nothing more to be said, the woman left the room and headed toward the bathroom, her bladder making mild grumblings in the form of the need to pee.

Could be worse, she chuckled quietly to herself, passing through the dining room.

"It's about time," Rumiko said from the table, a wine glass in her hand, a rosy tint to her cheeks. "You were with her for a while."

"I was just catching up with her," Sora replied. "Sorry. I didn't mean to abandon you or anything."

"No need to say you're sorry," Rumiko replied, taking a sip from her wine glass. "If anything, you've made me a bit jealous."

Sora raised an eyebrow as Rumiko filled up the wine glass she had before visiting with the girl and passed it over to her. Against her better judgment in regards to the pressing call of her bladder she accepted it.

"Uh… Sorry?"

"I told you that you don't need to be sorry," Rumiko laughed. "But if you want to make it up to me, you have got to tell me how you do it!"

"Did what?"

"Rika! Honestly, I am at my wit's end with her. I try to talk to her and connect with her, but she never wants to have anything to do with me." Rumiko's face fell as she looked down into her wine glass. "I don't even know if she even has friends and here you go getting her to say that she has a boyfriend…"

"She…didn't say that actually," Sora laughed uncomfortably. Rumiko apparently had been listening in and, being a bit tipsy, misinterpreted their conversation. "All she said was that she was doing something she found better than playing the digimon card game."

"It's about time actually…" Rumiko muttered, taking another sip from her glass. Sora frowned slightly, but didn't comment. "She really needed to move on. She has her future to think about."

"Maybe," Sora replied carefully. She didn't completely agree with her, but at the same time, she wasn't wrong.

"Anyway, how did you do it? What you did with her in there…I've been wishing for and she just hasn't let me in." She dug at the tabletop's surface, a depressed look on her face. "I'm a failure as a mother aren't I?"

"Rumiko, I'm not sure I can really give you any advice on that since I'm not a mother, but…all I did was show a little interest in what she did and what her day is like. She opened up on her own. Well…at least a little anyway."

"Still more than what I've been able to do."

You could do more if you weren't just sitting here drinking, Sora thought before berating herself for thinking that way. The whole reason Rumiko was here talking to her right now was because she didn't know how to approach her daughter. "Maybe you should try hanging out sometime. Find something that you can both do together."

"Something we can both do together…" Rumiko said under her breath, still tracing her finger in a circle on the table.

Before either of them could continue, Sora heard an alarm sound off – like a clock beeping – and suddenly Rika was bolting out of her room and toward the gate.

"Heading out!" she called. "Game time!"

"Heading out?" Rumiko asked, flabbergasted. "But it's night! Rika! Come back!"

The girl didn't listen, and within short order the gate opened and closed with a heavy slam, leaving the two adults alone together. Rumiko slumped forward, giving a small cry.

"There she goes again…back to her game…"

Reaching out, Sora placed a comforting hand over the woman's wrist, massaging it gently. "She'll be okay," she said, before remembering Biyomon was with Seiko in the living room. Her expression hardened a little.

"I'll be right back."

Withdrawing her hand, she headed toward the living room, once more disregarding her bladder's pleas for relief. Once Biyomon was on her way, then she would answer the call, but until then…

Oh Rika… Please stay safe…

8