The Nonaka household.

Taomon was fuming. "You should have informed my troops," He said with clenched teeth. "Or at least the police. Holding such a dangerous instrument in your house without any governmental admission? Who do you think you are, James Bond?"

"It was entrusted to me, do you understand?" Janyu Wong shot back. He was at least as angry as Rika's father. "And unlike other people I know, I always keep my word, especially when it concerns the Digital World and the Digimon!"

That last comment made Taomon nearly lose his patience. "Don't you act like you were the all-powerful maker, Janyu!" he barked. "You and your little friends may have created us, but that doesn't give you the right to treat us like your little toys! Do you know what would happen if I tell my superiors about this? The best thing that could happen to you is that you will be in remand. But if you are unlucky, you might be sentenced for treason, conspiracy and defalcation of governmental property!"

"TAOMON!" Sheperdmon growled. "We had no choice, you got that? You would have done the same if your family was threatened."

Taomon shook his head. "I can't believe you and your husband did something like that, Sheperdmon..." he grumbled. "It was your imprudence that endangered your daughter!"

"EXCUSE ME?" Janyu almost screamed. "It was your father who broke into our apartment, held my daughter hostage, threatened to kill her and blackmailed us into giving him that machine! And where have you and your little club of boy scouts been, Hiroshi? That criminal is still at large. Do you believe you can cover him, just because he's your father?"

"ENOUGH!" Taomon exploded. "How DARE you?"

"Stop it, all of you!" Rumiko yelled. "This is my house, and if you keep this up, I'm gonna call the police!"

The two men still glared at each other, but Sheperdmon sunk down on a chair and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Rumiko..." she finally whispered. "But when I imagine what would have happened if Barbamon did anything to our little girl..."

"I understand," Rumiko sighed. "And I don't blame you. I would have done the same if one of my daughters were in such a danger."

"You would have done the same?" Taomon growled. "Do you know what you're saying, Rumiko? That machine is one of the most dangerous creations of Dr. McCoy... one of YOUR colleagues, I might add!" he spat into Janyu's direction. "Do you have the slightest idea of what he could do with that thing?"

"You seem to have forgotten what it means to be a parent," Rumiko said bitterly. If you love your child, common sense isn't always an option. What would you have done? Would you have sacrificed Rika or Renamon just because your father would have become too dangerous with that thing?"

Taomon wanted to reply, but realized that he didn't have an answer for that. What was going on with him? Was he really such a bad father? All he ever wanted was to protect both the Digital World and Japan from evil creatures like his father.

Instead of answering his ex-wife's question, he looked back at Janyu and asked him: "Oh, and before I forget to ask: Exactly who gave this 'MCT' to you?"

Janyu exchanged a quick glance with his wife. They both sighed. "It was an... old acquaintance."

"Stop fooling around! Tell me the name or I'll have to arrest you!!"

"TAOMON!" Sheperdmon shouted in shock.

"FINE!" Janyu snapped. "It was Alice! Alice McCoy! Are you satisfied now?"

Taomon groaned. "On top of everything... you are in cahoots with that... that TERRORIST?"

"Hiroshi, she is a little girl!"

"This 'little girl' of yours and her friends are wanted criminals, mercenaries that offer their services to terrorists such as Yamaki! Do you want the reports of them I have in my office? Property damage, theft, and that's just the tip of the iceberg."

"She is the only daughter of my best friend..." Janyu said. His voice was very shaky. "And she has nobody left but her friends. I would never turn down a request from her!"

"That's IT! You are insane, Janyu! I should call my colleagues and tell them to arrest you right now!"

"I think that is just enough, Taomon," a deep and firm voice rumbled as the tall form of Leomon Katou entered the room.

"Your guests are here, Hiroshi," Rika's grandmother remarked as she lead the tall lion-man and a red-scaled dinosaur woman inside.

"Mie!" Sheperdmon exclaimed. "Thank god you're here..."

Compsomon went over to her friend and gave her a massive hug. "I heard about what happened to Suzie," the dino-woman whispered. "Is she all right?"

Sheperdmon nodded. "Yes, I've sent her and Lopmon to MarineAngemon while we're away. I doubt that Barbamon will return for her, but I want to know them safe."

Taomon snarled. "Leomon, you honestly don't want to defend him, do you? Do you know what that man has DONE?" He accusingly pointed at Janyu.

"Taomon, that is my husband you're talking about!" Sheperdmon growled.

"I'm wondering about your sanity as well..." Taomon grumbled.

"Whoa, whoa, stop it right there, Tao!" Mie said sternly. "Stop treating your friends like your enemies, you hear me? or else you and I will have a problem here!"

Taomon grimaced. Why did neither of his friends understand? "But Compsomon..." he protested. "The MCT... the McCoy girl..."

"Is a victim of that demonic computer program as is everyone of us," Leomon said in his calm, but firm voice. "I think all of you have forgotten what our children and the Sovereigns told us: Everything happening right now is because of the RPG Maker. And I must know, as I am one of the few persons that remember the time before he change."

"What... what do you expect me to do?" Taomon groaned. "I can't just ignore my duties as a police officer... just because of some metaphysical computer game that supposedly changed everything."

"I don't think he quite got it..." Sheperdmon sighed. "Hiroshi, why would the Sovereigns lie to us? It is true, accept it already! Still, this is our new reality now, and we have to make the best of it."

"Taomon, I have the memories of three different men in my head," Leomon spoke up. "Do you honestly think that you can treat this like any normal case of a 'bank robber' or 'rogue Digimon'?"

Taomon looked from one face to another. "I... don't know what to believe anymore..."

"Well, I guess that's my clue to step in," a cocky voice said from the door.

Taomon turned around... and paled. "Y-y... YOU!" he stuttered.

Gaomon smirked as she leaned against the doorframe. "Yes, me! Did you all miss me?"

"Alice?" Mie shouted in surprise. "Oh my god, I can't believe it's you... its been so long..."

Taomon pointed at the canine girl. "Gaomon, you are hereby under arrest!"

Leomon decided that enough was enough. He grabbed his perplexed friend by his shoulders, shoved him over to a chair and firmly pressed him down. "Sit. Shut up. Listen." he growled.

Taomon was too shocked to do anything after that.

Alice smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Katou. Now, where was I? Ah yes, my mission! Ladies, Gentlemen and..." She glanced at Taomon. "Other people as well. I am here on behalf of my father, and I believe you all pretty much know who I am talking about. And he has a new mission for you, the Champions of the Digital World."

"What mission are you talking about?" Sheperdmon frowned.

"He wants you to follow every trace of Barbamon you can find. He knows that your kids are very busy right now and that he can't always bother them, so he sent me to you. Oh, and by the way, he also asked me to help you. I was originally going back to my friends, but you know how girls like me are..." She smirked. "We just can't say no to Daddy."

"The Sovereign... expects me... to work with YOU?" Taomon stuttered.

"Yes he does, and I would welcome it if you finally learn to pronounce my name, Mr. Nonaka!" she glowered. "It's Alice! And we all could use your abilities of investigation. You don't think your little operation has a few files about Barbamon that could help us further?"

Taomon sighed. "Why do I have the feeling that everyone is conspiring against me?" he grumbled. "All right, you win! But tell me one thing: Where are our children, if not at home OR on my father's trail?"

Alice shrugged. "Oh, they're after some renegade Digimon called Millionmon or something like that... but I think they're doing fine. Little Kei is still sitting at the computer, and she's helping them."

"Kei?" Mie wondered. "But I just talked to Miss Asaji on the phone, just before we came over to you... and she said that Kei had been sitting in her room all day long."

Alice giggled. "Looks like someone played a dirty trick on her mother..."

"I don't believe this..." Mie sighed. "Does every Digimon mother have to worry for her child in this town? Rumiko, where's the phone? I'm gonna give her a call..."

----

"Ah, I see... yes, I understand, Mrs. Matsuki. No, I didn't know that. Well, I guess I'll just have to... okay, thank you, bye!"

Lillymon Asaji hung up her phone and sighed. She then glared over to the door of her daughter's bedroom.

'Kei' looked up at the Lillymon with a wide grin. "Umm... what's up, Mom?"

"You can drop the 'Mom', Eiko!" Miss Asaji frowned. "I know it's you..."

"Awww..." the ChibiBakemon pouted as she dropped her disguise and turned back to her regular self. "How did you figure it was me?"

"Some little dinosaur told me. And now I want you to tell me where my daughter went. I guess I don't have to ask what you two were thinking..."

Eiko winced. It looked like she and Kei really were in trouble now...

----

"Okay, let's get to work," Kei muttered as she looked at the screen. "The Green Syndicate Hive... there we go. I should have known it's already pre-made..."

"I'm sorry," HolyCalumon apologized. "Bio's influence prohibits me from preventing things like this."

"Well, let's just hope we can change enough things to help the others get past all the obstacles. What do we have here? Oh great, looks like Cyberdramon's troops have blocked several tunnels with layers of indestructable, hardened slime..."

HolyCalumon made a disgusted face. "Bio always had a preference to everything unpleasant and disgusting... so, what shall we do to remove the blockades?"

"Let me try removing them..." Kei murmured. "Dang, it doesn't work. Would have been too easy, right? Well, if they can't get through them... they just have to get behind them some other way."

"What do you suggest?" Holy asked.

"Well, for starters, let's add a small room next to this tunnel... and in its middle, we'll put some sort of teleporter that brings my friends to another room, one that lies behind the blocked passage."

"Good idea!" Holy smiled. "Kei, you're getting really good at this."

"Thanks, but we still don't know if it's gonna work or not. Lemme see... Aw, damn, I was hoping for some shiny tiles that could warp them in a flash of light, but all the program can offer me are slimy holes that are connected with each other by a vacuum tunnel. Oh well, it'll have to do..."

----

Stingmon frowned. "Did you have to use such a huge display of fireworks to take down that Snimon? I'm not surprised if the whole base now knows we're here."

"We took them out before they could warn anybody," Kitsunemon said. "Fast and efficiently. Don't tell me you'd want to waste more time by sneaking around. Who knows how long we might have had to wait until that guard moved out of the way? Hours? Days? We don't have that time, Stingmon!"

"If you consider that this base is most likely another dungeon, it could very well be that he'd have never moved at all..."

"You talk about weird stuff sometimes, but I'm gonna stop complaining if your plan actually works. But now come on, we have to go this way... huh?" He stopped right in front of the huge pile of hardened slime that was filling the tunnel up to the ceiling. "Since when is this here? They must have put that slime here to impede our progress."

"HI-YA!" Brawlmon kicked as hard as she could against the obstacle. She then winced and rubbed her foot. "Solid as a rock! We'll have to find another way."

"This is the only tunnel leading further into the hive, I'm afraid," Stingmon frowned.

"But... wait a minute, how can that be?" Ryo wondered. "They must be able to get out of there as well. I doubt they would have sealed themselves in there, effectively imprisoning themselves in their own base."

"You're right, there has to be another way," Kitsunemon nodded. "Stingmon, you know this hive better than us. You got an idea?"

"Now that you mention it, there is a way... but you won't like it."

"If it brings us to our goal, I'm willing to try anything," Kitsunemon stated, although Rika was a bit worried about what was in store for them.

Stingmon lead them through a few other tunnels until they reached a small, round chamber with no other exit. That is, if you don't count the slimy hole in the middle of the floor, with pulsating edges. A purple liquid was oozing out of its sides.

"Eeeww..." Ryo retched. "What IS that?"

Stingmon grimaced. "The egg transportation system. To bring their eggs from one part of the hive to another, they put them into these tubes. The slime and the soft walls make sure they don't get damaged on their way. I almost forgot that they sometimes misuse the tunnels to quickly bring soldiers from one part of the base to another. But we should be able to use it as well, to reach the inner caverns."

Kitsunemon looked into the pulsating hole and wrinkled her nose. A foul smell was coming up from down below. "Isn't there any other way?" she whined.

Stingmon shook his head. "No, this is the only way. If you want to reach their general, we have to go in there."

"Oh, all right... but if I find out that Kei is responsible for this, I'm gonna stuck her head into the next toilet bowl once we come back."

"Look at it this way, Rika," Brawlmon smirked. "Could it get any worse?"

"And here I hoped you would be wise enough not to say things like that..." Ryo grumbled as he climbed down into the hole.

The tunnel was tight, soft and wet, and the four heroes were sucked through it at an astounding speed. When they popped out of the tunnel's other end, Brawlmon and Ryo landed on their butts, while Kitsunemon rolled across the floor. Only Stingmon managed to land gracefully on his feet."

He noticed his companions' jealous stares and shrugged. "Practice, that's all."

Kitsunemon stood up and shuddered. "That was one of the most awful experiences in my life... please let's never do that again!"

"I'm sorry to bring this up, Rika, but we'll have to repeat this at least one more time. Or how else do you plan on getting out of here when all of this is finished?"

The multi-tailed vixen groaned.

Suddenly, Stingmon's antennae perked up. His whole posture became very tense, and he slowly walked up to the room's only exit.

"What's wrong, Stingmon?" Brawlmon asked.

"Be quiet..." he grumbled. "I'm sensing something..."

They followed him as he stepped out into another tunnel, but this tunnel ended pretty quickly in front of a tall door which looked like it was made from the carapace of a giant bug. Several feeler-like antennae were attached all over the floor in front of the door.

"What are those?" Ryo whispered.

"Sound wave generators..." Stingmon growled. "Step in-between those and the sound waves coming from the feelers will turn your brain into a chaotic mess of insanity. Only insect Digimon can safely pass through here. I would be able to get in with no problem, but..."

"You wouldn't be able to take on Millenniummon all by yourself..." Ryo frowned.

Stingmon shook his head. "No, and not even Antlermon, the original leader of the Green Syndicate. We have to find a way to switch all of them off."

"And how do we do that?" Kitsunemon asked.

----

Kei groaned. "Bio never gives us a break..." he sighed. "How did he come up with that kind of barrier? It's a good thing that as a spy, Stingmon has to know about this kind of stuff. But what now?"

"Well, there is a reason Bio used a new kind of barrier. He wanted to use a new kind of blockade that can't even be avoided using the tunnel system we created. And since the insect Digimon can easily get past the sound waves, there is no reason why they would have to use the egg tunnels. I suppose you'll have to come up with something else..."

"Okay, I can't just delete it, I already know that. But what if I can change it?" Kei made a few changes in the game and nodded. "There, now the feelers are connected to a guardian in a lower chamber. These feelers are actually part of the Digimon guardians, and if these Digimon are defeated, they can't produce any more sound waves."

"But I don't know of any Digimon that can create such sound waves..." HolyCalumon frowned.

Kei smirked. "Then I'll just have to create a new kind of Digimon. Sound waves, let's see... how about a giant cricket? Or even better, a cicada? And we'll call it... Cicadamon!"

HolyCalumon sweatdropped. "I really don't wanna know how a Digimon can have an imagination like you, Kei... or a human boy, for that matter."

"I'll take that as a compliment!" the Palmon girl grinned.