Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Less than Human

Chapter: 56/ Merging: Part 2

"Not bad," said Aiko as she lowered her chopsticks back down to her plate. "Not bad at all."

"I told you," said Terriermon with a grin that looked rather sloppy from the sheer amount of food that he had been stuffing himself with since they had sat down with their meals. "Didn't I tell her Henry?"

"Yeah, you did," said Henry with an embarrassed smile on his face as he rubbed the back of his head anxiously, "In between several mouthfuls. I'm surprised that you even thought to come up for air. Ever hear of a thing called restraint?"

"Is it the same thing as that 'tact' thing that you're always trying to teach me Henry? Because if it is I should probably let you know that I never remember any of that stuff anyway…except for your highly educational lessons in sarcasm."

Henry sighed.

"Which I'm starting to think that I should start weaning you off of. You know Suzie's starting to take after you."

"If so, it'll do her some good. That way, she won't be as tense as you are all the time. So why don't you Momentai and enjoy the food already?"

"Yes Henry," said Aiko with a small, teasing smile. "Momentai."

Terriermon blinked.

"You know Chinese?"

"No," smirked Aiko, "At least, not since college. I've lost most of it since then, seeing as how my occupation doesn't call for it a whole lot. But even so, I recognize a word that means 'relax' no matter what language it's spoken in, although I must admit that the context that it's used in tends to help out a lot in that regard."

Aiko took a sip from her plastic cup and set it down with a satisfied sound.

"You know Henry; I've noticed that we haven't had much in the way of time to just talk to each other. Usually when I see you we're talking about my daughter and…" Aiko's expression darkened slightly and she sighed. "Henry…do you think that she'll be all right?"

Henry hesitated before giving a nod.

"She's got Hypnos looking after her. She's in the best of hands."

"That's not quite the same as giving an answer though Henry," said Aiko. "I can believe you when you tell me that Yamaki will do everything within his power to help my daughter, and the same goes for the rest of his staff, but that doesn't tell me what you think her chances are. You're a Tamer. You know something about these things and you strike me as a very intelligent boy for your age. What is your opinion on Noriko's condition? Your honest opinion."

Now it was Henry's turn to sigh as he looked down at his food and, rather childishly for him, poked at it with his chopsticks.

"I…don't think that I can even begin to make an estimation Ms. Nakata. Physically she seems to be fine, but the way I found her, plus what you've told me and Yamaki about the sort of things that you've been noting since she's returned home…there's a lot to consider, and even less that I feel that I can tell you since I don't know what it is that's wrong with her…"

"You mean besides the fact that she looks like she's been merged with a digimon?" Asked Terriermon, his words slightly distorted by the muffin that he had crammed into his mouth.

"That's just the thing Terriermon. It looks like she's been combined with a digimon…one associated with the Hazard at any rate…"

Aiko raised an eyebrow at that but chose not to interrupt the boy at the moment. One question at a time here. One question at a time…

"…But we don't know if that's the case."

"What else could it be?" Asked Terriermon with a swallow. "I admit that she doesn't look like your regular biomerged digimon, especially since she doesn't look like she has a partner, but I'm out of ideas as to what else it could be." Terriermon tapped his chin thoughtfully with one tiny paw. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" Asked Aiko, leaning forward.

"Well, remember when we were having that conversation about what happens when digimon and humans biomerge."

"Yes. Henry mentioned something about there being a possibility that Noriko might have formed a bond with a digimon while she was in the digital world…"

"…And you also asked me what would happen if a digimon and a human biomerged and then entered the real world without building up on the resources it would take to safely combine their forms in the real world," said Henry, catching onto what Terriermon was getting at. "I forgot about that after all the excitement that's been going on lately but now that it's been brought up…it is possible…"

"And we know that the digimon's associated with the Hazard," mentioned Terriermon. "So that narrows down the number of digimon that we have to go through."

"I...don't think that I know what it is that you're talking about with this hazard talk," said Aiko, tilting her head to one side in confusion.

"To be honest," said Henry. "We're not to sure ourselves. It's basically a symbol that looks like, well, a hazard symbol. What it is we don't know exactly. The only source that even mentions it is the digimon card game and the information that it gives is vague at best. All we know for certain is that it has appeared on two digimon, Guilmon and Lucemon…excluding their evolution lines of course…"

"Three Henry."

"Eh?" Henry cocked an eyebrow at his partner.

"Three digimon Henry. Did you forget the BlackGuilmon that Takato accidently created? Come to think of it, Noriko did sort of resemble him when we saw her…"

The sound of Henry's digivice ringing in alarm broke into the conversation a second later.


Three digivices rang in alarm the second that Takato got out of the bathroom, fully clothed, and as one Kazu, Kenta, and the aforementioned Goggle-wearing Tamer all pulled out their D-Arcs and activated the analyzer programs to see what was going on, which was, predictably a digimon bio-emerging (as their digivices alarms rarely, if ever, went off over anything else). Between these three, Kazu and Kenta didn't get much beyond just a general direction of where the bio-emergence point was coming from, but Takato on the other hand…the halo circle that materialized above his D-Arc's screen, gave him a view of an all too familiar, white armored digimon face with two horns arching forwards, staring him full on in the face.

"Wha…?! Dynasmon?!"

Kazu, Kenta, and MarineAngemon all looked at Takato with raised eyebrows before going over to where Takato stood and looked over his shoulder and at the image that hovered above Takato's digivice.

"Huh? Dynasmon? You've seen this dude already?"

"Rika and I faced him when we were at Okinawa," spoke Takato quickly as he began digging through his pockets for his cards. "He tried to destroy Guilmon but I thought that we…"

"Hold on!" Exclaimed Kazu in surprise. "He tried to destroy Guilmon?!"

"Yeah, he…"

"Then what the heck are we waiting here for, Chumley? Let's hit the road already! Come on!"

Not even waiting for his two friends to give a response Kazu threw open the door to Takato's hospital room and immediately tore through the hallway, nearly knocking over a nurse in the process. He was quickly followed by Takato and Kenta who rapidly matched the boy's pace, with Takato taking a second to offer a quick apology to the nurse that his brash friend had nearly knocked over in his rush. The three Tamers and one digimon continued to rush down the hallway and towards the nearest stairwell, ignoring the elevator doors even as they pulled open with a ding, not trusting it to move quickly enough for their already hyped up nerves. As Kazu threw open the door to the stairwell and disappeared down it, the sound of Takato's mother calling from the elevator echoed through the hallway, almost bringing the remaining two Tamers screeching to a halt, but only for a second.

"Takato!"

"Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Can't talk right now! Guilmon's in trouble! I'll meet you back at the bakery! BYYYEEE!!"

"Hey!" Cried Kenta as he just barely caught the door and pursued his two friends. "Come on you guys! Wait for me!"

"Danger waits on no Tamer!" Kazu's voice could be distinctly heard echoing from down the stairwell as the thunder of feet beat their way downwards.

Takahiro and Mei Matsuki just stared at the door as it thudded to a close, its motion slow and in stark contrast to the flurry of motion that they had just been made witness too before exchanging glances.

"You know," began Takahiro after a couple seconds. "They really should have waited. The elevator would have had them down in the lobby in no time."

"TAKAHIRO!" Exclaimed Mei furiously as she fixed her husband with a fearsome glare, causing the man to almost take an unconscious step backwards.

"What?" Asked Takahiro innocently as he blinked in confusion at his wife.


Gotta move! Gotta move! Gotta move!

That thought repeated itself through Takato's mind as he and his friends raced down the stairs with the fine consistency of a jack hammer. In fact, jack hammer was probably the best way to describe the way that he felt right now because for some reason it seemed to him that the area around his head was being squeezed, as if by a giant's fist. Silently he wondered if the feeling was something residual from the injuries that he had gotten in the battle from yesterday but a quick mental check reminded him that this sensation was relatively new, and hadn't at all been apparent when he had first woken up, unless it was that the stress had somehow gotten to him or something. Or maybe it was something…deeper.

Quickly checking his digivice as he came to a landing Takato frowned as he saw just the same image as before, except with the only major difference being that Dynasmon's eyes were now closed and his body was glowing slightly. Otherwise the digimon's position, and seemingly that of Guilmon, as the digivice would only allow him to see the viewpoint of just his partner digimon, remained unchanged. A strange curiosity Takato felt and a somewhat welcome one as it meant that he still had time to get there but the distance from here to the park…

"ARRRGH!" Takato cried out in frustration as he resumed his already hard pace, ignoring the looks that Kazu, Kenta, and MarineAngemon were giving him.

"Takato! Are you…?" began Kenta worriedly.

"We've got to keep moving!" Overrode Takato as he pushed past Kazu. "Is Guardromon at the main entrance?"

"Yeah," Kazu nodded as the four friends continued to pound down the stairs before finally coming to the entrance to the main lobby. Kazu lamented in his mind that it was a good thing that Takato hadn't been placed too far away from the ground, otherwise they still would be trying to reach the first floor.

Maybe it would have been better if I had called Guardromon and had him fly on up. Probably would have been a lot faster that way. Well, kinda late now…

The three Tamers plus one digimon quickly burst into the lobby and raced towards the exit, ignoring the surprised looks that staff and orderlies were giving them as they ran, or in MarineAngemon's case flew. The sound of an elevator dinging as it opened from near the stairwell that they had emerged from caught their ears but they paid no attention to it…at least not until Mei Matsuki's voice shouting for them, or rather Takato, to stop broke through the air.

"TAKATO!"

Aw nuts…

"Mei…" began Takahiro as he emerged from the elevator with his wife and placed a hand on her shoulder. Takato looked back at his parents as they exchanged a look between themselves before looking back over to him. For a brief instant it felt as if everything was hanging by a thread to the young Tamer. His desire to obey his parents and keep them from worrying about him warred with the far greater desire to protect his partner from any and all danger (a feeling he knew that shared a great many similarities with what his parents felt whenever he went out to fight digimon). The scale tipped and just as soon as Takato was about to break away and continue on towards the park regardless of whatever his parents had to say on the matter his mother spoke in a tremulous voice.

"B-be careful out there."

"No sweat!" Said Kazu as he walked up next to Takato and swung an arm around his friends shoulder, much to Takato's surprise. "We'll have him back before lunch…well, certainly back before dinner at any rate and in one piece."

"Don't worry Mr. And Mrs. Matsuki," said Kenta as he took his own place next to Takato and copied Kazu's gesture, causing Takato to look at his two friends in awe. "He'll be fine. We'll all be fine."

Kazu…Kenta…

"I don't doubt it for a second," said Takahiro with a chuckle and a confident smile on his face. "Just make sure that you kids are all home before dark, okay? Now go get 'em. And good luck out there."

Takato gave an affirming nod of his head along with his three friends and soon enough they had resumed their earlier, rapid pace as they sped towards the looming figure of Guardromon who was presently standing guard in front of the hospital (and, unknown to the three Tamers for the moment, being ticketed for illegal parking). Takahiro and Mei just watched them go, holding onto each other for support, knowing that all that was left for them to do now was to wait and hope that the children who were the cities self-appointed guardians would make it out of their latest battle all right.


"Corona Blaster!"

Purple colored energy blasts tore through the air above the trees of Shinjuku Park as Beelzemon leveled his Death Slinger cannon on the pink colored blur that sped towards him. Laughing without a seeming care in the world the pink blur slowed just enough to materialize as a feminine shaped, armored knight with yellow ribbons arching off of its armor. Extending one of the yellow ribbons into an open hand like a blade the knight, continuing to laugh in what was decidedly a female tone slashed at each of the energy blasts as they came at her, disrupting them and breaking them apart into shards of data with an ease that was almost uncanny.

"Oh please, tell me that's not the best that you can do…"

"I haven't even begun," growled Beelzemon as he continued to fire away with his cannon while he readied his recently acquired sword in the other. Crusadermon merely dodged the next volley of energy blasts and scoffed at him.

"You know, I've heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results…"

Crusadermon suddenly became a blur again and in the next moment, Beelzemon heard a sickeningly familiar voice whispering in his ear from behind him while armored hands grasped a hold of his shoulders.

"What led you to believe that you could expect anything different when you were fighting me?"

"Wha…?"

"Fist of Athena!"

Beelzemon cried out in pain as Crusadermon landed a heavy blow at the base of his spine, sending him flying, not under his own power this time, through the air and towards the ground. Not losing a beat Crusadermon surged ahead, lashing out with her sword-like, yellow ribbon, slashing and tearing at the Demon Lords vulnerable body before Beelzemon's plummet brought him in full contact with the ground, kicking up dust and dirt into the air with his impact. Landing several feet away from Shinjuku's most recently made crater Crusadermon pretended to dust her armor off before turning around just in time to see the ex-Demon Lord haul his body off the ground, his weight almost entirely supported by his sword now.

"Tell me something Beelzemon," said Crusadermon as she placed a hand on her hip. "Why do you continue to fight? Especially for a digimon that by rights should mean nothing to you. It's of a far lower order then you or I, and I can sense the touch of the Southern lands on you. 'Survival of the fittest' is usually the name of the game from where you have come from and at one time or another it's where some of the darkest of digimon have arisen before the advent of the Dark Area and their banishment to that place."

"Why don't you tell me something first," spat Beelzemon harshly as he pulled the point of his sword off the ground and aimed it at Crusadermon. "Why do you fight?"

"Explain," said Crusadermon, her tone giving Beelzemon the impression that they might as well be holding a discussion over tea and not trying to beat the living daylights out of each other.

"I can tell a lot about other digimon," said Beelzemon slowly. "I've spent a lot of time thinking about the things that I've done and how I got to where I am today and for the most part I'm not at all pleased with the things that I did. Given the choice I'd much rather take it all back. Heck, there've been plenty of times where I've wished that Renamon didn't save me from Indramon's foot when he had me beat. It would have saved her and the rest of my friends a whole mess of trouble later, but the only thing that comforts me is that if it weren't me it would have been someone else, someone who cared even less about what they did to my friends and wouldn't have walked away in the end, or joined their side when they needed help. I look at you and I see a lot of my old self in you. You were ready to destroy and load the partner to one of my friends the last time we fought without any hesitation. They were beneath you. Yet sometimes I get the feeling that you're supposed to stand for something else, something that's supposed to be good in the digital world. I dunno if it's just me or because you sorta resemble the Mega form of the red Pineapple Head that your compadre is interrogating back there…"

Beelzemon gritted his teeth as he remembered that Guilmon was still in the clutches of the white armored digimon.

"…But I just get that feeling that what you do is not what you're supposed to be representing. So why are you fighting?"

No sound could be heard from the pink armored knight for a couple seconds until finally Crusadermon burst out laughing.

"Oh…now this is something else. Rich you could say. A Demon Lord with a conscience! A Demon Lord with a sense of Honor! Morals even! This is almost too good to be true! Still, if you must know I fight because that is what I am bid to do by my lord and master Yggdrasil. There is no room for honor or compassion in that mission, nor do I even care for such sentiments. There is only Lord Yggdrasil's will and to follow it one must remain indifferent to the sacrifices of others for the greater good, especially in this disordered world. My comrades in arms among the Royal Knights are all too often troubled by their emotions to be true servants of Yggdrasil but they are employed nonetheless and they serve their purpose. A pity for you that Gallantmon isn't here. I'm sure that given ample motivation he would sympathize with your plight. Alas…"

Before Beelzemon could even begin to question Crusadermon about her use of the name Gallantmon she was on him once again, slashing at him with her ribbon turned sword. This time, blocking deftly with the sword of Leomon, Beelzemon forced his thoughts to the back of his mind in order to focus on the here and now.


Eyes opening in the fading sunlight, as off in the distance the sound of waves beating upon the shore reverberated upon the air. Looking up a feeling of excitement flashed through the little creature's body as its gaze settled upon the wide, tearful, red colored eyes of a young boy wearing a strange, yellow object on his head. It was these objects that especially got its excitement going, as for some reason that it could not even begin to define seemed familiar to it…just as familiar as the boy who wore them…and was presently holding the little creature carefully in his hands.

"Mon!" The little, red colored, bat-winged ball as it quivered in the remains of the egg-shell that surrounded it.

"No," growled Dynasmon as he watched the recently downloaded images fly across his mind's eye. "That's not all there is to this. I can sense it in you…Guilmon, and your memories more then speak for you. You're older then what you remember. Indeed, even your comrades have mentioned this to you."

Guilmon growled from within the Royal Knight's grasp. Having been temporarily released from Dynasmon's Memory Scan he began to struggle and squirm once more.

"Let…GO!"

"Ah, ah, ah," scolded Dynasmon as he tightened his grip on the reptiles neck once more. "I'm not through with you yet. Now let's see…your Tamer, and your friends had mentioned you as being…dead prior to what you are now…yes. Reconfiguration usually runs that risk, especially when data has been fragmented over a given length of time. In the real world, digimon that are destroyed and not loaded are unable to recreate their physical form unless they have outside assistance or a high degree of control over their digital makeup in particular and data manipulation in general. The problem becomes aggravated when the digimon's digi-core itself is destroyed or rendered inert. But even so, information is rarely irretrievably lost when a digimon is destroyed in the real world, and I sense that you were not wholly reconfigured. Whatever information and memory you lack should still exist within you. I will simply have to probe deeper. Reinitializing Memory Scan…level two sub protocols activated. Imbedding seeker connection…"

"Spirit Strike!"

So engrossed was he in his task that Dynasmon didn't even react to the sound of the attack being pronounced until it slammed into his back full force. Crying out with surprise, the white armored Royal Knight staggered, dropping Guilmon to the ground, where he landed with a groan, his body still glowing from the scan. Turning, Dynasmon gave a venomous glare at the approaching Sakuyamon as she came to a landing and twirled her bronze, vajra staff about in the air, her lips set in a thin line as she returned it with equal ferocity beneath her fox mask.

"You again," the shaman priestess said darkly as her gloves took on a harsh, violet sheen to them that reflected the sun's light.

"Me. Again," said Dynasmon as he eyed the red colored dinosaur that lay beneath him. "I can see that you're doing much better since our first encounter. I hardly expected you so soon despite our last meeting. Luck of the throw perhaps?"

"What do you want?"

"Want? What I came here for in the first place. Information and the destruction of the X-Antibody digimon that would oppose my lord Yggdrasil. This digimon may not know anything about their plans for your world but I still need to know for certain, so if you would excuse me…"

Dynasmon reached down towards Guilmon, who was just now starting to crawl away only to have his armored hand struck away by a snarling, red colored, fox spirit. Sparks showered the air and Dynasmon glowered at Sakuyamon.

"You're not touching him!" The shaman grated.

"Who says that you'll even have a choice? One way or another I'll get what I need from him, and if you persist to stand in my way I can only guarantee you that one way will go violently. You could barely keep up with me when I was weakened, do you think that you can face me when I'm at the peak of my powers?"

Sakuyamon and Dynasmon stared at each other, and after a moment one of Dynasmon's eyes blurred slightly. Smirking, Sakuyamon got into a battle stance.

"Doesn't look like everything's working at its peak."

Dynasmon chuckled lightly.

"Yes. I have you to thank for that, don't I? Now, what's it going to be?"

Sakuyamon shifted her vajra staff from her left hand to her right.

"You're not going to touch Guilmon if I have anything to say about it."

"Ah. One of those 'Over your dead body' types of deals is it? Hmmph." Dynasmon raised his gauntlets and proceeded to crack his knuckles. "A pity. You have a strong spirit. I admire that. But strength or no strength, I will complete my mission and find out why the X-Digimon are so interested in this world."

"You know, somehow I'm willing to bet that this could all be solved if you'd just tell us what is going o…"

"Dragon Thrower!"

Sakuyamon grimaced as she threw up a barrier of Sakura petals, blocking the attack with ease.

The least he could do is try listening first…


"Report!" Demanded Yamaki as he stepped into the Hypnos control room, alarms blaring all around him. Above him, Riley and Tally typed furiously on their control panels as they processed the information that was being fed to them.

"Three, high level wild types have bio-emerged into the real world," responded Riley. "Our land based connections are still down so we can't get an accurate reading as to what's going on, but based on the chatter that's going back and forth with law enforcement it's safe to say that two, if not all three, have already been engaged by the Tamers. Justimon and Beelzemon have already been confirmed as to being sighted in fighting with two digimon and Sakuyamon has been seen heading towards the area of the bio-emergence zone as well."

Yamaki grimaced as he rushed over to his personal control panel, instinctively flicking a lighter that wasn't even in his hand at the moment (though given how things were going that was certain to be changed) and looked down at the information that his two operators were gathering.

This isn't good, thought Yamaki darkly as he analyzed the information. We're being attacked again and this time we're being hit when we're at our weakest. Most of the major defensive systems are down and Argus has gone missing at a time that it actually would have been beneficial for a change. So far we have only three Tamers, or at least their digimon in Beelzemon's case, confirmed as to being involved in combating with the intruders, but with them being forced to fight on two, possibly three separate fronts I have a hard time believing that this is going to be an easy job for them. These signals seem to indicate that the Wild Ones are at an extremely high level, possibly on even par, if not greater then the Tamers themselves. They'll need as much help as they can get if they expect to tackle this threat.

"Tally," began Yamaki as his fingers became as a blur across his keyboard. "See if you can connect with one of our orbital satellites. I have a package that I'd like to deliver…"

"On it…hold on!"

"What's the matter?" Exclaimed Yamaki, feeling his frustration starting to rise at this sudden delay.

Tally typed furiously on her keyboard, looking as though she were double checking something.

"I can't be sure sir, but our internal sensors…they're picking up an abnormal energy reading coming from inside of Hypnos! It looks as though it's coming from the location where Dolphin and the Nakata child are."

Yamaki's eyes narrowed dangerously as he gripped his fist tightly.

"Change of plans. But first I need you to get patch me into a satellite…and quickly!"


Henry with Terriermon attached to his usual location on his Tamer's shoulder, raced down the hallways of Hypnos, aiming towards the elevator that he and Aiko had used earlier to reach the Hypnos mess hall.

"Is it just me," began Terriermon sardonically. "Or does it seem like something dramatic like this always happens whenever we're talking to Noriko's mom?"

"Since you're the one noticing why don't you tell me?" Asked Henry a little irritably as he hit the call button for the elevator.

"Hey. Momentai Henry. I was just making an observation. I seem to recall this happening the last time we were making headway with brainstorming about that Noriko girl."

"It didn't happen the first time we met her did it?"

"The first time we had a conversation with her was the night that Noriko came back to the real world."

Henry blinked as the elevator doors opened with a ding.

"Oh. Hm. Just out of curiosity, why are you noticing that?"

"No particular reason," said Terriermon as they stepped into the elevator. "Like I said. I'm just making an observation based on the situation that just came up. So what's the plan?"

"We're heading to the roof for starters," answered Henry as he hit the elevator button and pulled out his green trimmed digivice. "If what I'm picking up here is any indication we're going to need to biomerge for this fight."

"That bad?"

"It looks that way," said Henry with a slight nod of his head as the elevator jerked and began to ascend towards the rooftop. A second later Henry sighed, frowned, and clenched his digivice in his hand.

"Hey Henry…are you okay? You seem kind of tense. Well, not that that's anything unusual with you but I mean you look more tense then usual."

"I just…I'm just getting tired of having to do this Terriermon. We go out there and we fight, but what good does it do us?"

"You mean besides keeping the city safe?"

"That's not what I mean. I…" Henry made a groaning noise similar to what Rika would make whenever she got annoyed and then, as if to complete the image of imitation, folded his arms across his chest and frowned at the elevator doors. A brief silence fell during which Henry attempted to gather his thoughts. Terriermon looked at his partner with a curios expression on his face.

This is starting to sound a little bit familiar, thought the long eared digimon as he ruffled one of his ears. I remember this kind of talk back when we were just starting out as partners. Especially after I digivolved in that parking garage and practically blew the place apart and nearly hurt Rika in the proce…hold everything!

Terriermon furrowed his brow in thought as he tapped one hand on his chin and then looked back at his partner.

"You're thinking about that time that you nearly killed Rika and Renamon to get at Lucemon aren't you?"

Henry's eyes widened in surprise.

"Ah! I…" Henry paused and quickly took a moment to calm himself. "How could you tell?"

"Hen-ry! We're partners remember? That word usually means something, like how we know each other inside and out? That's helped by the fact that we've shared each others minds and bodies before. You've been upset about that for weeks now even if you don't always show it."

"It's not the easiest thing to forget," said Henry, his eyes narrowing in contemplation. "How do you think that it makes me feel, knowing that I came that close to hurting, even killing two of my closest friends just to get at an enemy, and not only that, abuse our partnership in the process…"

Terriermon rolled his eyes and hopped up on top of his partners head.

"Henry. We've been through this before. I forgave you; Rika and Renamon forgave you…heck, between the three of us Rika was the most understanding of where you were coming from. You know how angry she was about what happened to Takato and Guilmon after the first time we fought Lucemon. We're not holding anything against you."

"I know that Terriermon, but…I'm more worried about myself; about whether or not I'll be able to keep the same kind of control that I used to be able to or if I'll become something…else. I remember what Takato used to tell me about how himself was the last thing that he ever expected to have to worry about controlling whenever it came to Guilmon and his digivolving and we all saw the result of that when Guilmon became Megidramon. I didn't control myself and I attacked a friend…"

"Technically she just stuck herself in the way to block the attack…"

"I know that Terriermon! I…" Henry took a deep, calming breath. "Look. I know what you're getting at, but right now I can't help but think about all the weaponry that we're carrying every time we biomerge and just how destructive it is. How…easy it is to pull that trigger…"

Terriermon lowered his eyes. He really didn't know what to say to that. He had felt something similar once when he had fought Sangloupmon back at Hypnos the night that Henry's father had been hurt, so he could easily understand the kind of rage that could overtake someone in the heat of the moment, but his actions hadn't come within a hairs breath of removing anyone from existence, aside from Sangloupmon that is but he had gotten away. He knew that emotion had scared him though, in much the same way that Henry was upset over his own actions from their battle with Lucemon. He had talked to Henry's teacher, Chou Sensei, about it, and he still thought about that conversation every now and then, which sadly, wasn't often due to everything that had been going on of late, but he believed that there was something of value that could be used to help his partner. It was more of a matter of how to express it though.

What was it that the teach said? "Emotions can be a source of great strength, but they can also be a source of great danger if one allows themself to become consumed by them." Right now it's like Henry's letting himself get consumed by all his worries about what he might and might not do in a fight if the right 'trigger' comes along. If he's not careful he'll start second guessing himself. So far he's done okay, but we haven't biomerged in a while. He trusts me to know when and when not to shoot but what happens when he's at the controls? Will he still be okay? Henry…

"…Terriermon…"

Terriermon blinked.

"You say something Henry?"

"Say what?"

"Uh…never mind I guess. I must be so used to you saying my name that I guess that…"

"…Ome in Terriermon…"

"Okay," said Terriermon as he raised his ears in surprise. "Now I know that I heard that! Either I'm going crazy or…"

"Terriermon, what are you talking about?"

"Shhh!" Terriermon raised one hand to his mouth to hush his Tamer as he narrowed his eyes in concentration.

"…Do you read…"

"Yamaki?"

"Terriermon, are you feeling okay? Yamaki's not here."

"I used to think that you were smart," muttered Terriermon sarcastically.

"…Boost the signal Tally…Terriermon. Do you read me?"

"It is Yamaki! He's pulling the same trick that he's done before! He's beaming a transmission into me! Yeah! I read you loud and clear head honcho! What's up?"

"He's probably going to have to lower the signal if you keep that up," said Henry sarcastically, causing Terriermon to glower at his human partner. Henry chuckled at how it their roles had reversed themselves.

"Hen-ry…" began Terriermon, but before he could continue Yamaki's voice cut into the conversation.

"Terriermon. Are you and Henry still in Hypnos right now?"

"Yup! We're currently on our way up to the roof so that we can head off to the battle. Was that what you were calling to tell us about?"

"I almost wish that it was. Unfortunately it looks as though our newest problem is closer to home."

"Uh oh…"

"What's going on?" Asked Henry.

"Yamaki's saying something about how we've got trouble…here, and at Hypnos."

"It gets better," said Yamaki's voice from over the other end of the transmission. "We've traced an abnormal energy reading to where we've placed Noriko Nakata…"

"Uh oh," Terriermon reiterated, his tone deflating almost instantly.

This really isn't starting to sound good, thought Henry.


Black mists began to dissipate as Oni stepped over the inert forms of Rob McCoy and the guard that had been with him, the digital being's black, hand-like wings flexing themselves as he made his way over towards where the resting form of Noriko Nakata lay.

That was rather easy, thought Oni. All the events that have been happening this past week have badly weakened Hypnos to the point where I have little to no trouble moving about, though whether or not I can do so undetected remains to be seen. Even if I am detected, there's very little that can be done to stop me at this point. Noriko's here, defenseless and out in the open…most convenient and not at all what I expected considering what she's capable of. Perhaps the humans don't quite realize what she can do just yet. Oh well. Not that it matters anyway. In a short amount of time I will have the Digital Hazard and hence have the means to fulfill my quest.

Oni came to a halt next to the sleeping girl and he looked her over carefully, half suspecting a trap of some kind. Not that he was particularly worried as he could easily slip out of most traps, unless that is Noriko inadvertently triggered the Digital Hazard or something along the lines of that but just looking at the way her chest rose and fell in slow, even breaths the dark, digital life form that had at one point in its existence been a digignome doubted that anything of that nature would be occurring anytime in the near future. Noriko had exhausted herself when they first met. Even with the benefit of sharing her body with two digimon it was doubtful that she would be able to call up the energy reserves to pull off something like what she had done yesterday again, especially with how it looked as though her mind was in conflict with the other two essences that she shared her existence with.

Strange, thought Oni as his vision shifted and took in the girl's data pattern. From what I'm seeing her essence is greatly entangled with one of the digimon that she's merged with…the dark reptile by the looks of it. It's not at all dissimilar to how a loaded digimon's data appears except for the fact that Noriko's data is more...assertive for some reason. Loaded digimon just become integrated into the data patterns of the loader but it appears that in this case something else is preventing Noriko from being fully assimilated. Something…ah. I see now. I see an Arc's digital profile in there, mixed with the other digimon that's been thrown into the mix. The partner half by the looks of things, and it's all mixed up with the Digital Hazard right at the center. It doesn't look that I'll be able to remove the Hazard without separating the three first…or at least separate the child from the merge. It's not unlike untangling a knot just to unravel a single thread. That's good at least. I had meant to separate the girl first. Now though the question remains, how do I do tha…?

Oni's eyes widened suddenly as the data patterns suddenly began shifting and Noriko's body twitched, eliciting a groan from the girl's lips as they did so.

What is…this? What's going on here? The patterns…their starting to disintegrate and merge together! I don't…

Noriko's eyes suddenly snapped open, revealing cold, gold colored irises that were so filled with the bitter, edged wind of anger that even Oni froze to look upon it. Crimson flames licked at Noriko's mouth as her body began to warp and transform.

"Pyro Grenade," the girl whispered in a voice that was not her own.

Shit.


11