Digital Shuffle

by famirad

One night, Takato vanishes, leaving Guilmon behind. With something weird happening at Hypnos, maybe there's more to this than just a missing boy. Jenrya and Ruki must face conspiracies, a Digital World bent on invasion, and new allies with their own agendas. They aren't the first kids to meet Digimon...and these partnerships aren't as magical as they seem. [Tamers AU with 01, WS]

23. Aftermath

Digital Shuffle
By famirad

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own Digimon Tamers. Fic is for fun.
Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay. Anyway, the aftermath of the barrier-contact. Not very actiony. Cameo by Black Growlmon and Kincaid.

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Digital Shuffle
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(Aftermath)

Cold.

There was something cold on his arm.

A touch of moisture on the back of his hand, followed by a brief prick of ice. It dissolved. Another prick. And another, so inconsistent he was sure he wasn't dead. At least, he thought he wasn't. It wasn't like he'd any experience being dead.

Jenrya regained consciousness as he became aware of his surroundings. Knees and arms all hurt. Head pounded. Shoulder felt even worse. For some reason, the ground wasn't hard. It was soft, yielding slightly under his body as he shifted. The sounds he heard before became sharper. Sirens wailing in the distance. Someone screaming from somewhere. Crying. Voices behind him. Voices everywhere in all directions.

" - Hey! You! Over here –"

"- I-I can't move my leg- "

" – Keiko! Haru! –"

"- Help me- "

All this shouting hurt. Jenrya wanted to go back to sleep but those voices kept jarring him awake. He was aware of people rushing around him. Someone stepped right over him and whatever he lay on. Footsteps away, crunching through a thin layer of something that couldn't be the pavement by itself. Another touch of cold. Behind closed lids, Jenrya's eyes flickered as he continued to shake off the mist clouding his senses. The fogginess retreated enough that he started to remember where he was. His eyes slowly drifted open.

Jenrya watched in dazed fascination as something white drifted onto his wrist and melted.

It was snowing.

Jenrya could only stare dumbly at it. Actual snow. At this time of year. He had a feeling whatever he was sprawled over wasn't snow…and in a few minutes he was probably going to find out what it was.

Abrupt, jerking pain from his lower legs when someone tripped against him. A startled curse – like something Ryo would've said – and uneven footsteps stumbling away as Jenrya moaned. Suddenly there were people kneeling over him.

"Hey, this one's alive too!"

Hands everywhere, propping him gently, helping him sit up, checking his head for injuries, touching his face. There was so much going on Jenrya had a hard time responding to all the questions. It seemed like millions of people were asking them at the same time, in the same voice, from all sides. Nausea welled up in the Tamer. He barely managed to bite back rising bile as his vision flickered in and out. He wasn't sure if he'd passed out again or not, but when he opened his eyes again, Jenrya saw only two people kneeling at his side. The chubby woman to his left, a crude bandage on her cheek, held up two fingers.

"How many fingers am I holding up, son?" she asked.

Jenrya blinked, shakily wondering why she looked so familiar. "Two."

"Okay. Now how many?"

The lady waved four fingers slowly from left to right.

"Four," Jenrya paused as she lowered her hand. "…Don't you live across the hall from us?"

The woman looked surprised before recognition dawned on her face. She nodded, giving a rosy smile that seemed very out of place with the snow collecting on her shoulders and her hair like ash. "Yeah! You're from the Lee's, aren't you?"

The Tamer nodded carefully – nodding too fast made his head pound all over again. "I'm Jenrya."

"'Jenrya'? That's a different name," the woman watched as Jenrya struggled to recall hers. "It's 'Suma'."

Suma glanced at her companion; the man next to her was her polar opposite. While she was built thick, like a wide tank squeezed into a black t-shirt with a ponytail jutting out, he was built like a stick and balding, dressed in a business suit indicating he'd been about to leave for work before the earthquakes struck. His face was covered in small cuts and bruises visible through his thin beard, none of them large enough to be attended to like Suma's head injury. The businessman busied himself peering at Jenrya with those owlish eyes.

"It doesn't look like he's got a concussion," the man said with the professional finality of someone who had no clue what he was doing. "I'm guessing he had a nasty bump on the head."

"I think we've all had our share of nasty bumps," Suma said wryly. "Jenrya, Jiro Watari, from two floors under us. I think he's a doctor or something, said something about having a PH.D or whatever, so you'll be okay 'cause he knows his stuff."

Jiro mumbled something about his PH.D not meaning he was a real doctor, but Suma only gave him a sharp jab in the side with her elbow that cut him short.

"Ow!"

"He knows his stuff," Suma repeated firmly.

Jiro looked defensive but only gave a nod at Suma's pointed stare.

She turned back to Jenrya, clucking over him as she reached out and ran her fingers along his forehead. Her fingertips came away red with fresh blood.

"Looks like you'll get some scabs for a few days, Jenrya. But hey, nothing deep enough for stitches, so hurray," Suma said. Jenrya made a motion and she nodded. "Go ahead."

Jenrya reached up and, with gentle care, felt around his face, but couldn't help the little hiss of pain when his fingers encountered the scrapes in question. A large circular tender spot on his forehead, half-hidden by his hair. And more patches where it felt wet and warm. The Tamer was bleeding a little, but it looked like whatever had been there before was already wiped off. In fact, he could spy a bloodied rag that looked suspiciously like someone's shirt lying next to Suma's lap. For some reason, his right eye felt a bit strange. Puffy, although it was too sore to be sure.

"I don't have a mirror or anything, but you'll have a nice black eye."

Jenrya winced.

"Don't sweat it," Suma reassured him. "I had one before when I was a kid. They go away in a few days. No biggie."

Not sure if he felt reassured, Jenrya continued checking his injuries, feeling gently around the eye. It was tender there and he could definitely feel where it'd been bruised. Strange. He didn't remember hitting his face. But then again, he didn't remember actually hitting the ground either.

Suma raised an eyebrow at his lifted elbow.

"There too."

Jenrya looked. She was right. One long ugly scrape the size of a tennis ball decorated his right elbow. It stung in the air like his head and his knees. Suma made a motion to inspect his left elbow more closely, taking his arm and starting to lift it up. She flinched when Jenrya suddenly cried out as pain shot down from his shoulder in a fiery lance.

"Sorry!" Suma quickly drew back. "Does it hurt a lot?"

Jenrya could only nod, swallowing, his eyes watering.

"Sorry. We'll get some water or something to clean all that up, see if anyone here can tell what's up with your arm," Suma shrugged apologetically. She got to her feet, brushing the knees of her pajamas off. Snow came off in a fine white powder. "Can you stand up?"

"Yeah," Jenrya got his feet under him and managed to get halfway up before he teetered. His neighbor reached out and steadied him. "Thanks."

"Welcome. Any idea if your family was with you?"

"They were until we got out into the hall on our floor."

"What about after?"

Jenrya shook his head before he remembered that was a bad idea. He winced as his head thudded. "I-I don't know. I mean, my dad and my sister went on ahead before we made it to that fire escape."

"Well, we've been rounding up everyone for the past couple of hours, so maybe someone's seen them. I'll go ask. Take a seat again. Be right back!"

Suma had a quick exchange with Jiro: their eyes kept traveling uneasily over Jenrya's shoulder, to the thing he'd been lying on minutes before. Speaking to Jiro in tones too low for Jenrya to hear, they came to some agreement. Suma turned to go. Jiro stationed himself a few feet away from the Tamer, stretching his long legs out in front of him as he sat down on the piece of debris jutting out in a crescent from the ground. He planted himself squarely between the unidentifiable shape and the young boy.

By now, everything started coming back. The earthquakes, stampeding people. The terrible screeching sound of the fire escape tearing away from the wall. A weight suddenly vanishing off his shoulders as they plummeted toward the ground waiting for them. Jenrya sat bolt upright, scaring Jiro. Terriermon! He glanced about frantically, heart rising in his throat. His partner was nowhere in sight. Neither was Ryo; despite what happened last night, he would've given anything to see either of them here, even Ryo.

Sitting in the snow with Jiro, he was all too aware of how alone he was. If anything, he wanted to at least look around and see if he could find the others. Jenrya staggered to his feet again.

"Suma, wait!" he called after his neighbor. "I want to come with you!"

Suma turned as he caught up to her: she looked worried, her eyebrows drawing together. She could tell him to go back and sit down but for all she knew, he'd get up and explore on his own soon as Jiro turned his back on the kid. Probably better to humor him. That way at least an adult could keep an eye on him.

Jenrya followed Suma as they picked their way through the wreckage, gray eyes wide. The fire escape had pretty much torn completely free of the apartment building from the fall. It was still attached to the first floor, but above that, it bent over their heads in a lopsided arc, resembling the black skeleton of a beached whale. The stairs nearest the roof had completely hit the ground and was now a twisted hulk of metal people were either sitting on or leaning against.

He couldn't help but be surprised at the number of people milling about the street. Dozens sat in clusters, bandaging each other up, talking to one another or standing off to the side with blankets around their shoulders. Others lay on the ground, unmoving. The fact everyone else gave the motionless bodies a wide berth made him uneasy. Jenrya hurried after Suma, averting his eyes without knowing why. They took the long way around since Suma refused to go near the bodies, looking at them with the same aversion as she had at that snow-covered thing they found Jenrya on.

Eventually the two made it back to the apartment building's base.

"Yasuo, I found another one!" Suma announced.

One of the men inspecting the remnants of the fire escape turned. Yasuo, like Jiro, wore a business suit. His was far more rumpled, shirt half-tucked, belt ends loose and swinging. One side of his face had a five o'clock shadow, as if he'd been interrupted in the middle of shaving. One of his glasses bore the brunt of hitting something, scratches stretching along the right lens so heavily he adopted a bad habit of closing that eye in a slow winking motion like he was squinting. In any other circumstance, it would've been funny. But Yasuo moved with authority, and it was clear this man was the one unofficially in charge.

"That's great," Yasuo knelt down so that he was eye-level with Jenrya. "What's your name?"

"Jenrya Lee," Jenrya answered. He gestured vaguely up toward the building with his good arm. The other still hung loose at his side, sending up twinges of pain when they'd been walking. "We were on the top floor."

"I was wondering if you've seen his dad or his sister," Suma added.

Yasuo's and Suma's eyes on him, Jenrya quickly described both Janyuu and Shuichon, and then went on to describe Ryo and Reika. He'd have to look for Terriermon himself as soon as he could pull away from the adults.

Yasuo listened to the descriptions carefully. "There's so many people coming and going I can't keep track of them all. Maybe someone's seen them. But with the snow, we need to focus on getting everyone into some kind of shelter in case it gets worse. You said you lived on the top floor, right?"

Jenrya nodded.

"Some volunteers are checking out the building. From what I heard, the top floors sustained the most damage. But we've been getting blankets and jackets and things from the lower floors, so if you need anything, we've probably got it," Yasuo said. "How's the injuries?"

Suma pointed out the problematic shoulder as Yasuo tilted his head, one eye still winking through the scratched lens of his glasses. Jenrya politely tried to look like he wasn't staring at man during all of this, instead focusing on the other eye and trying to ignore the winking-one, distracting as it was.

"Maybe someone else knows what's wrong," Yasuo said when Suma finished. "I'm no doctor. There's the hospital a few miles away. I wouldn't suggest walking that while it's still snowing. We've been lucky the majority of it's melted away so far but if it keeps up like this, it might be a problem."

Suma glanced at Jenrya then back at Yasuo. "About that. We need to talk."

Jenrya sat down as the adults talked over his head. Suma pulled Yasuo to the side, almost entirely out of hearing range; honestly, he was worried more about his friends and family than whatever they were talking about. Jenrya bit his lip. Where was Terriermon? A part of him was so sure he'd have seen a glimpse of pale green and flapping, oversized ears by now. Dad and Shuichon probably are around here, Jenrya decided. That meant Ms. Ootori was too since they'd been together when he'd last seen them. So where were Terriermon and Ryo then? Frankly, it terrified Jenrya he'd no idea where his own partner was. The only thing keeping him from bolting away to go search was his shoulder.

It hurt. It hurt a lot. Kind of mushy on one side with a heaping dose of general pain everywhere else whenever he tried to move it. Jenrya had never broken any bones before, so he couldn't tell if it was broken or fractured or whatever. He seriously hoped not. But he found himself leaning over with his good hand, scooping up some melting snow and trying to pack it around the injured shoulder. It didn't make sense for it to snow at this time of year. Right now he wasn't complaining. At least the snow helped numb the shoulder so it didn't make him sick or his eyes start watering whenever he so much as moved.

But, looking around the street, Jenrya saw he was one of the lucky ones.

The closest crowd of people was only a few yards away to his left. Most leaned against the wall or curled in a nest of blankets salvaged from the apartment building. Many had bandages wrapped around their heads or other body parts, bloody splotches peeping through in places. Some tried to get some sleep, nestled among complete strangers for warmth underneath a carpet of mismatching comforters, sheets and towels. A teenage girl wearing little more than an oversized shirt hissed as someone else clumsily wrapped a torn sheet around her arm, as if his knowledge of splints only came from watching TV. The arm was bent at an unnatural angle, obviously broken. One of the adults with the blankets did nothing more than stare straight ahead and give a strange little rocking shudder every now and then.

Jenrya quickly looked away.

He instead looked up at the sky and found it wasn't that strange shade of blue anymore. Greasy black fumes curled in the air, the charcoal scent of fire riding the breeze as the first sprinkles of gray ash began to drift down and mingle with the snow. Something was on fire somewhere. It must be pretty far considering that they were getting the ash and smoke right now.

What'd Suma say? Jenrya tried to remember. It's been a couple of hours since the whole thing? So the fire – wherever it was – hadn't been put out. He hoped it didn't spread over here. Somehow he doubted they could put it out if it did.

But above all, he hoped his family and friends were okay.

Because, right now, sitting on a piece of rubble in the snow as strangers milled about, he was all too alone.

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Another war. More mind-games. Great. Shoving Monodramon at him didn't change the fact that Ryo Akiyama was sick of the front-lines.

Ryo blinked. Time itself jumped and jittered. For a long second he was looking at himself, watching Other Him walking with Monodramon chattering away for the both of them. All he was aware of was his fingers digging into the palms of his hands, like if he just clenched his fists hard enough, it would make everything that much more real instead of happening to someone else. He glanced at Monodramon, seeing the Digimon from a distance.

The little Rookie listened to something, nodding and replying with the attentiveness of a born caretaker. Ryo couldn't hear the words he was replying to. The words themselves were missing. So was the speaker. There should've been something there, floating above the pedestal in the center of the white chamber. At least, that's what Ryo's gut feeling told him. But now there was only a blank spot. Like something had been cut out and there'd been nothing to replace it with. Gone.

Memories like this he should've remembered. But sometimes he thought it was like they weren't his, like if they took away his own free-will and shoved him into their wars, then hey, they could take whatever else he had left too -

"Hey."

Ryo looked up. The twenty year-old woman leading the way stared back at him, looking half-afraid he might need to get sick again. With a start, he realized he'd been seeing things again…and this time there hadn't been any sudden transition like last time. It snuck up while he was following the babysitter the adults stuck him with. Now the college student was coming back, Tadako looking worried her charge would keel over on her since he stopped following.

Ryo frowned as she came up to him.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," Ryo protested.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, Tadako. Zoned out a bit… - hey, I'm fine!"

Tadako ignored his protest, bending over the boy and checking the strip of gauze wound about his forehead. Ryo rolled his eyes. This wasn't the first time he'd practically landed on his head and if he survived the first time, he was gonna survive the second time whether he understood how or not. But because of the fact he got himself a nice big hole in his head, they made sure it was impossible for him to go off on his own and look for the others. Instead Ryo had to tag along with some college student who thought it was an awesome idea to take a minor with her into an unstable building. Tadako insisted on sneaking in to see how her second-floor apartment held up.

He promised not to rat her out if she didn't rat him out. Her place first, then the Lee's apartment. It didn't stop her from making Ryo put his head between his knees the second she thought he wasn't looking so hot. Between the babying and the obviously unstable building, he wasn't exactly having the time of his life here.

No pressure, Ryo thought sarcastically. Here's hoping the building doesn't collapse.

Every now and then the floor trembled, giving off a series of quiet, groaning creaks that would always subside as soon as they started. Tadako assured him it was safe(ish). Besides, they'd be out in a few seconds anyway, she added. So it wasn't like they'd be missed enough to get in trouble. Ryo didn't really see how that had anything to do with building's stability. Tadako only shrugged.

A few emergency lights flickered faintly here and there, dotting the dim hallways enough that they could step over any rubble without tripping too often. And there was a good amount of rubble, from where sections of the roof collapsed in on itself. Despite the damages, the wide cracks riddling the walls and ceiling and the creaking, most of the top floor remained intact. Ryo followed Tadako's orange parka. Apparently the college student only lived a few doors down the hall from the Lees. Ryo didn't remember seeing her before in the short time he'd been staying with Jenrya. Remembering the faces of strangers had never been one of his strong points anyway.

That and apologies.

Ryo didn't even know why he kept backtracking to that stupid fight with Jenrya last night. Usually he would shrug and keep going without giving it a second thought. Fights happened. These days he wasn't so good with people, considering how long he'd been away from human contact before all of this. So when he did butt heads with others – which was a lot since coming back – Ryo normally shrugged it off. But this time it kept bugging him like the whole thing with Tamayo did. It hovered on the fringes. Gnawed at him. Made him wonder why he even said all that stuff.

"Okay, in and out," Tadako said. She glanced at her charge, "Don't go too far, okay?"

"Sure."

Ryo continued on his way to the end of the hall, moving slowly. Some of the damage took out the emergency lights here, leaving this section of the corridor almost entirely cast in darkness as the lights flickered sporadically behind him. Ryo felt about, checking for anything he could catch his foot on, running his good hand along the walls. Eventually some light filtered in, peeping out through what had to be the doorway toward the Lee's apartment. Ryo approached it cautiously.

The doorframe was bent in on itself, buckled so far down that he needed to hunch over and half-crawl to get through the narrow space between floor and the top of the warped doorway. Once through, he stood up and glanced around. Like the rest of the building, large cracks ran crisscrossing all over the walls and ceilings. A cool breeze sighed through the blinds covering broken windows; the ends of the blinds clacked emptily against the window frames, their surfaces rippling like ghosts. All of the cabinet doors in the kitchen hung open, the refrigerator leaning dangerously forward, held only in place by the taut cord still attached to the wall. Debris, ranging from frozen peas to leftovers, shards of glass and shattered eggs shells were everywhere.

A few wisps of snow danced about the living room before eventually settling on the TV. For some reason, it was on, buzzing with strings of static in the silence. Ryo went and turned it off without thinking. The balcony outside was missing and peering out through the remnants of the sliders, he could see what looked like it smashed all over the street below in a spray of metal and wood. The building gave a gentle groan again, reminding him that he wasn't here to sight-see.

We're probably gonna be stuck outside. With the snow they needed more than the clothing on their backs. Since he was up here, he might as well salvage as much as he could carry.

Ryo entered Jenrya's room to find it had a large hole now, a mound of snow and rubble on top of something that looked suspiciously like Jenrya's computer.. Jenrya's gonna love that. Ryo didn't waste time as he went searching for the backpack and duffel bag. They were still where Jenrya left them. Shouldering the backpack, Ryo bent next to the ruins of the desk to pick up the duffel bag.

Several objects lay a few feet away from the duffel bag, glinting in the sunlight. Reaching out, he picked one up, turning it over in his fingers this way and that after shaking off snow. One of those flash drives Jenrya was using, he realized. What were these doing here? Didn't he take them? Now that he thought about it, Ryo didn't remember if he did. After all, he and Terriermon basically dragged the other boy away before he finished fooling around with them. He thought Jenrya was painfully naïve, not stupid – there had to be a reason he was willing to risk getting whatever it was on those flash drives. Ryo picked up the rest and pocketed them. Jenrya would want these back, he bet.

After stealing some dry blankets from Janyuu's room and shouldering them, he headed back into the kitchen.

Food was the next problem.

There was probably food in the surrounding buildings, but Ryo wasn't one to put his trust in the generosity of others. People were greedy, people were selfish. They couldn't be trusted, especially not in a situation like this. You could trust strangers only so far if you wanted to survive. After that you were on your own. He hadn't lasted as long as he did in the Digital World without picking up a few hard-learned lessons he couldn't shake, even now.

Ryo bent down to look and see whatever food was left in the kitchen. Most of it was junk. With the power out, most of it would spoil within days, if not hours. He selected what would last a few days, wiping off drying egg yolk with his fingers. He did the same with the cabinets and drawers, rooting through them. Same went with the drinks. At least the Lees had some bottled water. Rooting through the cabinets, Ryo found a stash of Ace bandages and band-aids. Going back toward the front door, he paused. Oh yeah, shoes. Easy to forget the shoes.

Wish I had a second pair of hands for this, Ryo grumbled. Going grocery shopping like this was a struggle when he could only put so much weight on his bad hand. The rate things were going, it probably wouldn't heal properly. Ryo sucked in a pained breath, letting out a low hiss as the duffel bag strap caught gently on one of his broken fingers. Jarring pain. Biting down on his lip angrily and trying to will away the involuntary tears brimming on the edge of his vision, he transferred the duffel bag to his good arm. Even if he could survive landing on his head – not once, but twice – the ruined hand still got to him.

Getting his stash under the door was tricky. Somehow he squeezed through. Making his way back into the hall where Tadako and he separated, he found the college student waiting, taping her bare foot, holding a small cage under her arm. She stared, raising an eyebrow at Ryo as he approached her with his haul.

"Those yours?" she asked.

"I was staying with a…friend. We're gonna need this stuff anyway if we can't go back here."

She continued to eye him like she was debating whether or not he counted as a thief. Personally, Ryo didn't care. He'd have done the same even if he hadn't been crashing here. It wasn't like he hadn't had to help himself to abandoned supplies before and it was easy to stop feeling guilty it the more you were forced to do it.

Tadako frowned for a second longer before perking up. "Okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb and trust you on this."

"…What's that?" Ryo asked, noticing the cage in her hand for the first time.

"What? This?" Tadako held up the cage for Ryo to see. Leaning forward, he could see a small rodent the size of his palm cowering in a plastic den. The pet's beady black eyes rolled wildly, its fat furry sides fluttering in and out. "It's Chanchan."

"You came back for a gerbil?"

Tadako looked annoyed. "Hamster."

"What?"

"Chanchan's a hamster," Tadako said.

"It looks like a gerbil to me."

"Gerbils have tails."

Ryo had no idea why they were even arguing about gerbils – hamsters – right now.

"When the earthquakes started, I put him some place safe, but…" she said. "I was really worried about poor Chanchan, so I had to come get him."

Ryo didn't even want to ask how she was planning to take care of it now. It still made his mind boggle to see this girl risking not only her life – but his – for a fat little hamster that might die later because she hadn't the resources to look after it. If Ryo had been the one with the cage, well…he would've left the cage behind and not looked back.

But then again, Tadako wasn't him. What she chose to do, stupid or not, wasn't his business.

Reaching into her pocket and pulling out a raisin, Tadako slipped it in between the cage bars. Ryo watched as Chanchan summoned enough courage to waddle out from his hiding place to snap up the raisin in his tiny paws and greedily stuff it in his mouth. Cheeks bulging out on one side, he hurried back to hide. Ryo glanced up at Tadako to see she had a little relieved smile on her face.

Ryo knew he should understand it, know why she was smiling and he wasn't.

But he couldn't. Ryo couldn't get at all why she risked both their lives for a little hamster named Chanchan.

It was times like this he didn't feel human anymore.

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Vajramon wasn't pleased with her.

How was she supposed to know the Shield's barrier would be that powerful?

An irate expression on her face, Kincaid stalked away from conference room the Founder used as his sleeping quarters. Ever since Yamaki's ridiculous show of hysterics a few days earlier, Vajramon found himself confined to one floor in the building. Since then, he literally remodeled the entire floor, blowing out walls so he could move more freely…it only helped so far when the Ultimate still had to keep ducking and hunching his shoulders, too tall for rooms built to human proportions. It was easy to seal up entrances into his new home, but because he couldn't revert back to a human form, he was essentially stranded on that one floor. For now.

Because of that, Vajramon fell into one of his rare sour moods, muttering about the incompetence of Digimon they had here in the Real World, muttering that he was the only one who could still do his job correctly around here. Kincaid pretended to be deaf to his complaints. Vajramon was the one missing the finger after all. Yamaki's little freakout was on him.

Still. They were equals here. She didn't need to be chided by him of all Digimon, like she was still only a Rookie! So there was a mistake. So what? Mistakes happened. It meant the schedule would be delayed a few days, at least until they managed to get the Juggernaut functioning again so they could proceed.

The sheer amount of drama involved in managing Hypnos gave her a headache. It only convinced her further that humans were useless creatures who loved embroiling themselves in drivel and politics like a flea-ridden circus. She almost missed Yamaki: there was something to be said about having a human do all the dirty work for you.

Kincaid always prided herself on her decisiveness. But even she was starting to wonder if maybe they removed Yamaki a little…prematurely. They would've had to deal with his little drama show regardless, but Hypnos trusted him. Not her. She was too new, not "The Boss". It was bad enough the humans were starting to whisper in disgruntlement about her. Shame they hadn't manipulated Yamaki with a more delicate touch. He would've been really useful right now because he was one of those rare humans who only improved at his job when things took a turn for the worse.

But that was all in the past.

Now she stood next to Vajramon to report their progress, a flickering screen before them. Another face was on the other side, barely visible due to the connection between the Real World and Digital World being poor at best.

"I see," said the voice on the other side, female and clipped. "At any rate, the setbacks are found to be acceptable."

"How go the recruitment drives for the breach force, Pajiramon?" Vajramon asked.

The Digimon at the other end of the line swam back into a view as her connection temporarily stabilized– she looked almost like Vajramon's relative, with a ram's body instead of an ox's, an ornate crossbow over her shoulder instead of twin swords at her sides. "As well as can be expected. You will have more than enough soldiers once you open the way. The promise of a new world free of the virus becomes more attractive to Digimon each passing second."

"I'll bet," Kincaid muttered.

Pajiramon's red eyes slid over to her. "Why are you still wearing that shape, Deceiver? It's demeaning."

"Because I like to look this way for you, darling," Kincaid said with a wink and a twist of her hip. "I know how your tastes are."

The Sheep Deva tossed her head, her fur ruffled in all the right places just like Kincaid intended. Vajramon made a sound in the back of his throat that could've been mistaken for amusement, the first like it he made since being stuck in the building by Yamaki. He had his arms crossed over his powerful chest. Whatever relationship he may have had with Pajiramon, he left it in the past and was now purely professional. He spoke up now.

"We could use additional Digimon here. We've run into more 'Chosen Children' and I believe they will put up a fight like the last batch."

"Very well. Expect reinforcements when we are able," Pajiramon said. "As you know, Login Mountain was compromised for months. We lost it last week to that virus, forcing us to move our base of operations. There are now rumors that some of the Royal Knights might get involved if this continues."

Kincaid sucked in a hiss between her teeth. "The Order is a joke. It's been a joke for years. I'd like to see them pretend like they care about our world."

Pajiramon didn't argue that point. By the way she dipped her horns at Kincaid, she might even agree…even if she would word it differently herself.

"I'm concerned about activity from the Archives," Pajiramon's face vanished as she transmitted a report, the DigiCode glowing faintly and scrolling on the screen. "They delay. They resist giving the Council full access to their resources. At the moment I can't tell if it's the usual inefficiency or an ulterior motive."

"Maybe it's Her," Vajramon seemed almost reluctant to name the Head Archivist. Considering her tarnished background, Kincaid didn't blame him.

"Perhaps. Giving former traitors any second chances was not something that received a vote from me."

Ooh, that was downright snippy for Pajiramon. Kincaid almost thought she had a personality at the rate she was going! She hated to say it, but their colleague had a point. The Digimon that served humans were considered reformed by now, but still, it seemed too early to integrate them properly into society...much less putting them in positions where they could run into humans all over again. That didn't mean Kincaid thought they should be trapped in the Rookie stage, though. She, unlike Pajiramon, had voted favorably because she thought they'd been punished enough. Vajramon too. Maybe that had been the cause of the gradual distancing between them. They could both agree on what constituted overkill. Pajiramon didn't appear to understand there was such a thing.

Vajramon nodded. "Zudomon and Garurumon continue to work for our ends."

"Excellent. It was unfortunate Greymon couldn't follow their example." Pajiramon couldn't resist a last dig even as her snout tilted to the side. Her screen warbled. The Sheep Deva's voice distorted. "We will continue this another time. I look forward to the day I can fight by your sides in the Real World. Farewell."

Her connection fizzled into static. Kincaid turned to Vajramon.

"Ever so charming."

The Founder shrugged. "She is who she is." Vajramon stretched his legs with a clack of hooves, turning to read the other reports from the Digital World. "But she is right to have reservations about Garurumon and Zudomon."

"Yeah, yeah," Kincaid grunted.

The thing was, she was starting to wonder if Zudomon hadn't been entirely forthright with her when he presented the calculations for the barrier-damage. Because if she remembered correctly, he seemed extremely insistent that the damage would be "controlled", that it wouldn't be any worse than in the Digital World. He'd come off awfully tense during that last report too, asking all those questions about the human brats who intruded a few days earlier. Yet another nuisance she'd have to deal with.

Fun.

Loads and loads of pure fun.

Kincaid had unsealed the doors to the building a few hours ago after someone finally got the balls to inform her all the exits had been jammed overnight. She didn't doubt for a second that it'd been the Juggernaut's doing, especially since all the hinges and locks were stuffed with little metal filaments woven into a strong mesh, which she knew hadn't been there before. The Juggernaut did a fine job of reinforcing the building: everyone had to have heard the noise outside, but there had been little more than a single tremor to signal the actual contact made by the Shield's barrier.

It'd been interesting to see the reactions of the humans when they got a good look outside at their precious ultra-Hive. Jaws dropped, eyes went wide in such goofy expressions that Kincaid remembered in the nick of time not to laugh in their faces.

Funny, sure. Appropriate…probably not.

Fires dotted Tokyo everywhere with a string of lights in glowing red wreaths: because they were in quite literally the tallest building left standing in Shinjuku, everyone got a magnificent view of the destruction. Even better was the ring of debris surrounding Hypnos in a giant ring, mountains and mountains of snow-tipped rubble rising up in mounds left behind when some of the neighboring skyscrapers collapsed. The sky itself was now stained black above Hypnos, as if a volcano had belched forth its contents right in the middle of Shinjuku. Glancing around, she could see similar clouds – thousands of feet up, miles across already and still growing – all around Shinjuku and the surrounding sectors. The sun, struggling to cut through the thick smoke, cast everything in an amber haze.

Kincaid had to admit it was really hard not to smirk. After all, it was always enjoyable to see the humans scurrying in mindless panic.

The only problem was many of them decided to scurry in the wrong direction. Before she knew it, some employees had already stampeded to all four corners of the wind. It hadn't made it easier when one of them had approached, saying something about Hypnos helping its employees, blah blah blah, something about being in gratitude before scampering off herself. Was that a resignation? Had she even given the human permission to quit? Kincaid hadn't really bothered to listen. For a brief second, she'd been completely at a loss of what to do: her first instinct was to round up the humans and drive them back inside by force.

Too early, with the Juggernaut down. Channel your inner Vajramon, Kincaid told herself.

She'd just have to continue this charade. Setbacks or not.

Kincaid scowled as she trooped down the emergency stairs. It'd been fun at first. She'd liked her job. But she loathed Vajramon's. It wasn't fun. It was annoying and half of her was tempted to let Kaminmon, Garurumon and the small horde of Digimon already here in Tokyo go wild. Kaminmon kept pressing her to let him have his fun. Only a few hours, he begged. One hour, even! Let him hunt down a few humans. A few hours would be nothing in the grand scheme. Each time she turned him down. But, she promised, he would get a special chance after mission was finished; as a reward for waiting, he could select any humans he wanted for his own personal use.

At least Kaminmon had enough sense to know who his superiors were.

Garurumon actually made her servant look meek and submissive. The Wolf kept throwing betrayed looks and threatening growls at her, looks that said he wanted to start killing now, looks that said he wasn't going to wait much longer even if she was his better. Looks that made it clear he was too independent for his own good. She suspected Garurumon would even dare to attack her if left unchecked for too long. Maybe the rehabilitation worked too well for him. The only thing preventing the Wolf from running around on his own little rampage was the fact that she'd sent him to Odaiba.

It was high time for a reunion between ex-traitors anyway.

Zudomon would be able to keep Garurumon in line better than she could, what with them being old buddies and all. Kincaid couldn't be babysitting him if she had to deal with the humans. How he ever got to consorting with these little rats was beyond her. There were the rare times where she thought she understood why Pajiramon looked down her snout at the traitor Digimon. Digimon like Garurumon were almost untouchable these days. He was practically a hero in the Digital World because he fought against a human's contaminating influence and won.

Even the Sovereign of Fire seemed to favor him: he actually allowed Garurumon to have an audience once, which was beyond annoying when Kincaid herself had only seen the Holy Beasts a few times...from a distance. Never mind all of them together at once. The younger Digimon these days were lucky to even get a glimpse of fiery wings dipping in the horizon, a flutter of blue scales and chains above the clouds, lucky to even so much as hear the Sovereigns' comings and goings in the tallest mountains or deepest forests. Even the Council members' meetings with the Sovereigns were very limited. If what she heard was right, only one of them even bothered to respond to the Council's formal request for advice last time. Yet Garurumon - despite being a former traitor, despite being weaker - had an actual audience with a Sovereign One.

Even worse, another traitor supposedly had an audience with three(!) of the Holy Beasts. All Kincaid knew is she went in a Rookie and suddenly came out a Mega.

Insulting the Sovereign Ones played favorites like that.

But that was life. Unfair as it could be.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You're sure Ruki's okay?"

"Mom, she's fine. She said so herself."

"Well, yes, but I worry about her, you know…"

"Look, I do too. But she's a big girl."

A brief pause.

"…You're sure she's okay?"

"Yes, Mom. Perfectly sure."

Ruki wished her grandmother and Mom wouldn't talk over her head like that. I mean, if they're going to talk about me, least they could do is do it where I can't hear them, she thought irritably. Despite her insistence she needed a nap, Ruki hadn't gotten more than maybe an hour of sleep. Maybe two at best, which had been interrupted by the soft conversation over her. Ruki lay next to Renamon, content for the moment to simply listen to her family's voices above her. Alice had to be somewhere around here, although she wasn't talking. It was surprisingly quiet. With her eyes closed, it was hard to believe only hours ago the very earth itself seemed ready to tear apart and consume Tokyo.

After Rumiko called the Lees, most of the night was spent packing for the evacuation. Rumiko once again took charge with such authority even Ruki found herself staring in surprise. Her mom glanced at the house without any remorse. It was a shame they needed abandon it, she said, but they could always replace whatever didn't make it

It was well past midnight when they piled as much of the suitcases, boxes, and bags as they could out in front of the house. They crowded onto the driveway. Alice and Dobermon were already waiting outside as Ruki joined them; her grandmother and Rumiko went back inside to finish locking up, leaving Alice, Dobermon and Ruki alone. Alice looked up, cutting off her quiet conversation with her Digimon to face the other girl walking toward them.

"Guess we're done," Ruki said.

Alice glanced back to the house. "You're not going to miss leaving your home?"

Ruki shrugged. It was a house, like her school was a school. Although…now that she thought about it, that she might never see this place again, Ruki found herself seeing more and more little details about it that she never noticed before. Ruki looked away before she could actually become wistful over a house.

But because Alice got her thinking, she had to admit the memories of this house weren't bad. Ruki could truthfully say she enjoyed the quiet afternoons. Spending the evenings lying on her futon with a book, the single lamp shining from above as a solitary car every now and then rumbled past the walls had been pleasant too. Same with sitting in the garden on the weekend and taking naps. In fact, maybe Ruki was going to miss this place after all.

" – What about tomorrow?" Alice was still talking.

"What about it?"

"There's two choices," Alice said. Next to her, Dobermon sat down on his massive haunches, ears flopping slightly in the breeze as his eyes went from one human to the other. "We go back to Odaiba or we stay here."

"What do you mean?"

"We have two known hotspots," Alice gestured over her shoulder toward the twin towers in the distance, still visible over the walls. The red lights tipping their roofs continued to wink like stars. "Odaiba and here in Shinjuku. Digimon activity has always been particularly high in these places, although it was mostly Odaiba until recently. What we've seen in the past few days isn't normal behavior."

Ruki stared. "We don't know anything about what happened here. Or at Odaiba," she said. "It'd be like jumping into a game before you have an idea of the enemy's deck. It's stupid."

"Even so, we have less time than before," Alice replied softly. A pause before she elaborated: "…There's been a delay in the Rewodë project."

"What?"

Alice met Ruki's eyes. "I contacted my grandfather a few hours ago. They found a critical...bug in the D-Reaper's programming, something foreign. It wasn't there yesterday."

Ruki glanced at Dobermon. The Digimon merely returned the stare, giving his gruff version of a shrug. Like Ruki, he hadn't known of this change until recently, but he hardly seemed concerned, sharing the same expression as Alice. How was it these two could remain so calm? The safeguard everyone relied on – this D-Reaper – was the only thing they could count on in the end. The only ones who knew any of the real details about this were Alice and Dobermon and they were closed mouthed about it, only volunteering answers when asked. Even then, it was like pulling teeth.

"Fine, so how long do they think they're gonna be delayed?" Ruki wasn't happy.

"Two weeks at worst," Alice laid her hand on Dobermon's flank, looking at her companion. "I'm not sure if it would be…wise to outright attack the harbor in Odaiba or Metropolitan Building here. But it would best to assume we're going to lose over a week regardless."

Ruki crossed her arms over her chest. "So what exactly do you think we should do?" she asked dryly. "Since you're the messenger with all the connections, what's your opinion?"

Alice blinked at this. "You're asking for my thoughts?"

"Well, yeah. Who else would I be asking?"

Alice exchanged looks with Dobermon. She hadn't expected anyone to ask how she actually felt about any of this. Dobermon met his partner's eyes and dipped his snout in what could only be an encouraging nod.

"I believe we need to decide which is the greatest threat. Splitting up again won't work if we do anything other than investigations," Alice spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. "We know there's some kind of defensive perimeter near the Metropolitan Building and the Ultimate in the harbor. But we –"

Ruki suddenly interrupted her. "I'm not asking what 'we' think. I'm asking about you. Not us."

Dobermon gave a warning growl at this, not liking the tone the other girl took. Alice's eyes narrowed for a second, but the blonde simply continued on as if she hadn't been cut off.

"We – I," Alice corrected herself, "could perhaps try a less upfront method to attacking one or the other. Especially considering that I don't know how strong the defenses are around the Metropolitan Building. There is the option of testing these defenses, but there is a large chance that we – I – would be overpowered. The same applies to Odaiba. Dobermon and I could perhaps knock Zudomon out of commission for a few minutes with our Tümmler generator, but that won't buy enough time to find out how to deal with the harbor's energy fluctuation or destroy the source completely."

Ruki didn't interrupt her again. Alice went on.

"I know enough to assume that the Digital World-based 'Council' is responsible for the appearance of Zudomon. And the presence of the defenses in Shinjuku, around Hypnos's headquarters, is probably because of them as well. I wold ask those most familiar with Hypnos to look into what's been incoming/outgoing through the networks, since it looks like that's the Council's Real World communications base. The Council so far – from what I can tell from grandfather's and the others' surveillance – operates much like we do. They'd have to have reports or something similar with which they keep in contact with one another."

"I would need to find one of these reports with enough details that I can decide which is the weakest of the two hotspots. And then I would strike there. Cripple it long enough that they're distracted and put them on the defensive. Then take out the other. That would buy enough to determine which is the largest threat."

Ruki thought about this. Alice's plan sounded surprisingly like another's and she wondered briefly if they were psychic or something. Stupid, but the two had hauntingly similar ideas despite the fact they'd never exchanged words. That Otori woman, the one from Hypnos. She mentioned something about the Metropolitan Building too, didn't she? Ruki found herself toying with the idea of making an attack on that place, forgetting about Odaiba for the moment. They couldn't stand a chance in Shinjuku unless Alice and Dobermon went since they'd use that EMP generator of theirs. And then their side would probably be floored too.

By then, the others finished with their preparations. Renamon, shimmering, reappeared behind Ruki as Rumiko strode back into view, making her mom start in surprise.

"I'll never going to get used to you doing that," Rumiko said, shaken at having a giant fox appear out of nowhere.

"Apologies," Renamon's tone bordered on amused. "I'll be more careful next time not to do that."

Rumiko looked like she was unsure if she was joking or not. Ruki watched as her mom turned toward the luggage pile, her lips moving silently as she ran over a mental checklist on perfectly manicured fingers.

"Okay, so we're all set?" she asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Good…good, so here's the deal," Rumiko said. "We'll move everything into this safe place tonight. If we don't have enough food, I'll run over and see if anything's still open. The Lees should be coming in around noon tomorrow, so we should probably get some sleep as soon as we're settled," Rumiko paused. She bit her lip, thinking. "Do you think you kids will be okay if we have to leave tomorrow for a bit?"

"What for?" Ruki asked.

Rumiko didn't look too happy. "Mr. Lee and I tried calling the Matsudas earlier and they hung up on both of us. We need to go in person and straighten everything out. It might take a while if they're going to be stubborn about it."

"Oh."

"Renamon?"

The Digimon tilted her head at Rumiko. "Yes?"

"Make sure Ruki, Mom, and Alice are safe when I'm gone, okay?" Rumiko ignored the indignant snort her daughter made: they both knew Ruki could probably protect herself better than her mother could, but that was beside the point. "Well, you and Dobermon."

Renamon humored Rumiko. "I will."

"I'll do what I can," Dobermon joined in with a rumble.

Rumiko glanced toward the car sitting in the driveway – it was a medium-sized sedan, the windshield dotted with drizzle from the rainfall a few hours ago. "Not sure how we're going to do this. I didn't think we'd have so much stuff to bring."

Alice, her hand on Dobermon's flank, glanced pointedly at the mountain of supplies. "I would only take up room if I was a passenger. I'll ride over with Dobermon."

Rumiko paused. Alice had a point. The best way to get everything to the shelter was by car since carrying it by Digimon didn't look that effective: the Digimon themselves couldn't carry that much and if they could actually be ridden, wouldn't the rider's hands be full? Ruki assured her it was possible to ride Renamon and no, she'd never been thrown off. Rumiko's blue eyes went toward her daughter. Ruki shrugged.

"We'll be fine riding too."

"Okay," Seiko cut in. She couldn't keep the doubt from her voice as she continued. "You'll all be okay? Both of you?"

Renamon nodded, trying to reassure the older woman. "I've always protected her with my life."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of my own charge," Dobermon said at the same time, annoyed.

"– I wasn't saying that you couldn't –"

"– I've been taking care of her for my entire life! I don't need some stranger telling me how to protect my da -"

"Dobermon, that's enough."

The dark Digimon reluctantly backed down at Alice's quiet voice; he still looked offended, long snout twitching, ears laid back flat against his skull. Ruki's grandmother looked shell-shocked: she wasn't used to having a Digimon snarling right in her face. Even Ruki found it difficult to keep a straight face whenever that happened but then again, she'd been around Digimon way longer than her family. Rumiko watched all this with wide eyes. Now her eyes were large as saucers as they flicked quickly from Dobermon, to Alice, Ruki and her mother, lips parted slightly.

Alice whispered something to Dobermon. It sounded like some kind of gentle reprimand, though her actual words were in inaudible. The Digimon avoided everyone's eyes and stared in irritation at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Makino," Alice said to Ruki's grandmother. "Everyone is understandably on edge at the moment. Even my companion is apt to be…touchy about certain things being said. He's been my guardian for quite some time, so he's sensitive to being questioned about my care. Please understand."

Dobermon forced a mumbled apology through his fangs. It hung heavily in the air.

There was a drawn silence. Rumiko interrupted it with a forced clap of her hands, trying to be cheerful:

"Well, that's over!" Rumiko chirped. She nibbled at her lower lip, eying the car in the driveway as if it was the source of all their problems and drawing everyone's attention away from Dobermon. "Guess we'll have to do this then. We'll load up and you guys can lead Mom and me to this safe place you were talking about."

Alice looked as thankful as her doll's face would allow. The sheer level of work it took to get into the evacuation point soon took everyone's minds off the incident. After they finished, everyone was exhausted, both mentally and physically, and Rumiko suggested they should get some rest. The group huddled together on a nest of thick comforters, sheets futons and the lone mattress and drifted to sleep one by one.

Then It hit.

Ruki didn't really remember a lot of the details. She'd been asleep against Renamon when it happened. Suddenly there was a deafening roar bearing down right on top of them. Renamon was suddenly dragging her groggy Tamer to her feet, but the ground swayed under them and sent the two tumbling back onto the floor. The shelter shook violently. They could do little more than clutch at concrete as the tremors continued to grow worse and worse. Renamon kept her arms around her Tamer in a desperate embrace, her eyes squeezed shut.

Ruki remembered spotting Dobermon hunching over Alice, protecting her with his own body. The blonde had her head covered with her arms, her legs drawn up to her chest in a ball like Ruki saw during the earthquake drills.

From this position, Ruki couldn't see her mom or grandmother.

The final quake was so powerful she almost couldn't hear her own partner's voice at all, screaming right in her ear about something she couldn't make out at. The words didn't make sense. Didn't compute. For the first time in her life, Ruki froze, grinding to a screeching stop in her tracks. Ruki's mind went completely blank. The Tamer could only concentrate on holding onto Renamon, her fingers wound tightly in her partner's thick white fur. Renamon was the only thing that seemed real and solid, and she clung to the Rookie.

As suddenly as it came crashing down on them, the chaos was, without warning, gone.

Ruki didn't realize at first that Renamon was still shouting: her ears continued to ring and she stared blankly at her partner. Renamon's lips moved, blue eyes wide, but her voice was muffled, like she was trying to shout across a crowded freeway to her Tamer. Realizing that Ruki couldn't hear her, the fox-type began miming.

Was she alright? Ruki answered that she thought she was. It was weird. She could talk, could feel her voice in her throat but she couldn't hear her own words. But Renamon apparently could and the Digimon deflated with a visible sigh of relief. What about the hearing? What? Ruki asked. Renamon pointed first at her snout and then at her tufted ear, repeating the motion a second time before Ruki understood what she was asking. The Tamer hesitated. It was getting a little better, Ruki said. Probably temporary. She hoped her voice wasn't quivering. Hard to tell since the most she could hear was a murmur and the ringing in her head.

Ruki's hearing returned quickly, as did her mom's and her grandmother's.

Which basically left them back where they started: holed up in the shelter and trying to get some sleep. Rumiko, on the verge of tears and bravely biting them back, ordered everyone to take a nap or something, to not talk about what happened until they were rested and calm. But apparently Rumiko didn't follow her own rules since she and her mother were still talking in over Ruki's head. And a few hours earlier, Ruki remembered hearing Dobermon and Alice's voices in hushed whispers.

Ruki wanted to get some sleep.

But with her eyes closed like this, lying still on a blanket that did little to soften the hard concrete under her body, the Tamer was all too aware of her surroundings. The air had to have at least increased a few degrees in temperature, feeling arid now and making her skin feel itchy. Even inside, she could still smell the faintest scent of something burning.. Ruki wanted to go outside, see for herself what happened, but Rumiko put her foot down, and expressly forbid leaving until everyone got at least some sleep.

Jenrya and everyone better be okay.

Being partners with Renamon taught her the hard way that she couldn't always expect the impossible, couldn't expect perfect results time and time again. And she was realistic enough now about battles to know that even she was going to need help. A lot of help.

Besides, it wasn't like she was total strangers with the others. She almost could count Takato and Jenrya as friends, a thought that startled her the more she thought about it. So much for getting some sleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Takato's voice was gone!

Black Growlmon wanted to sob. Not only did he fail to delete Gargomon, who'd been betraying him all this time, and failed to kill those humans, now Takato was missing! The Champion couldn't hear his voice anymore. His human simply wasn't there, wasn't responding to his frantic cries. Where was Takato?

Where was his Tamer?

Hiding in that place Takato gave him as a home another life ago didn't help. Everything kept reminding him of his human. All the scenarios running through Black Growlmon's head were horrible, bloody, filled with enemies from all sides, filled with betrayal and diseases and contamination. Filled with everything Takato warned him about. Gargomon might've got to Takato while Black Growlmon was gone, might've killed his Tamer when his back was turned. So many ways he could see partner die in his mind's eye. The thought made Black Growlmon shake and tremble in fury, clouding his thoughts even further. What if it was true?

What if they got to Takato?

The very memory of their faces infuriated Black Growlmon. Gargomon he might've been willing to spare, if only because he had the faintest memories of nice afternoons with the Digimon. But the two humans! Jenrya was in charge, was the one pulling all the strings like a good little puppet master. He was the real evil here. The brown-haired one too! Why, they were all trying to replace Takato! Black Growlmon could see through their tricks, their wily, sneaky little tricks. Why else would the brown-haired boy "happen" to appear just as Takato vanished? Way too convenient to be chance.

It'd been their fault that Black Growlmon couldn't see Takato in person! Their fault he was like this! Their fault Takato was so quiet now!

Black Growlmon didn't even know where to begin to look for his human. If their enemies captured Takato, what if he couldn't get his Tamer back? That crazy thought alone, impossible as it was, made him quake in fear. But why wasn't the buzzing in his skull gone? They came with Takato's voice when he told him – no, ordered him - to digivolve.

Takato had to be alive. The buzzing was still there. They'd only go away if Takato wasn't alive, right?

But why was he silent then? He might be hurt, even if he's not dead, Black Growlmon worried, snarling to himself, nostrils flaring, amber eyes glaring at the ground. His claws tore at the dirt as they clenched and unclenched in a nervous gesture.

Even if Takato was alive, something was wrong.

Black Growlmon peered angrily from his hiding spot. Ever since the earth began groaning and bucking like it'd been stabbed, there wasn't a sign of anyone. At all. Where were all the humans? He would've at least liked to see one: surely no one would miss one human and he could really use something to tear apart right now. At least something to relieve the stress and worry for a little while.

To make it worse, Black Growlmon was starving. His empty stomach twisted and churned. When he'd been able to hear Takato's soothing voice, there hadn't been a need for food. Takato made him feel so good that he was far too giddy to bother with the nuisance of eating. It'd felt so easy to go days without, running only on the sound of his Tamer's words. A few gulps of water had been allowed. Takato's voice was enough. Pleasing Takato and protecting him was better than any kind of food. But without Takato here, the Shadow could only listen to the insistent growls of his stomach. There was nothing else to distract him anymore.

Which left Black Growlmon to wonder, still hidden in the thick foliage.

What did meat taste like?

Takato never told me to eat meat. Black Growlmon knew he must be built for it, though. Takato gave him rows and rows of beautiful knifelike fangs. Knives were best for meat. Black Growlmon remembered Takato – a long time ago – trying to explain the utensils in the bread-kitchen one night. Guilmon back then had watched with wide golden eyes as his Tamer held up a pair of chopsticks, saying they were for picking up food. Like claws for humans. But if something – like meat – was too big for the "chopsticks", then you had to cut them with a knife. Knives were like fangs. Knives were for meat and for killing, and for slicing open the meat once it was nice and dead and "edible". Takato knew that. Why else give him knives for teeth?

Black Growlmon moaned as his stomach jumped again, gurgling painfully. If he was going to hunt down Gargomon and those human vermin, he needed more energy. Only…he didn't want bread. Bread was too easy to get. No challenge in eating that. Venting his rage and frustration on it did nothing except destroy his meal. But meat now; meat looked more and more tempting each time, especially since Black Growlmon never tried the stuff.

The most important thing was the meat would have to be alive.

Okay, alive at first. Of course he'd either have to kill it or delete it eventually, depending on what he ended up with. He couldn't delete a Digimon outright, since it'd evaporate in his fangs and then what was the point in that? The Shadow wasn't entirely sure of the mechanics involved in this. This would, after all, be his first time feeding like he was built for.

Black Growlmon liked to fantasize about ripping things apart. Humans, Digimon, buildings, anything. It never really mattered. The mental images of destroying something – anything – were good ones. They made him feel a little better, made him feel a little more sane. Takato allowed him to have these luxuries. It kept him lucid enough that he could listen to his Tamer's orders and attempt to carry them out. A shudder at a recent memory. Those humans had a horrible machine with them, something that made him feel terrible. He hadn't liked that. It made his hide feel prickly and his brain like it was melting, legs turning all wobbly and boneless. The worst part was that it made him deaf, dumb and blind to Takato for a few terrifying minutes.

Takato wouldn't want me to wait forever. Black Growlmon would be expected to use his own brain, make his own decisions so that when Takato did come back, he had something to proudly show to his Tamer. The Shadow's mind raced now, his acid-yellow eyes deceptively sleepy.

Wouldn't Takato be happy if Black Growlmon got rid of his enemies for him? Gave him a nice little surprise when he came back? That, or if they had Takato, then he would have to take his Tamer back. And while he was doing so, he might as well wipe them out while he was at it. In fact, he could probably get some meat at the same time.

Black Growlmon's stomach gnawed at him again.

With the rain, the ash from the fires and the snow drifting down from the sky, his powerful sense of smell suffered. Locating the enemy would be difficult, especially on an empty stomach and rapidly running out of energy at this rate. There had to be closer sources of food here.

Black Growlmon got to his hind feet, stooping down so he could clear the canopy of the trees, and continued noisily down the hill with more purpose than before. The huge Champion emerged out onto the path. His eyes narrowed in the late morning's light, the Digimon hissing in irritation.

Partners protected and loved one another. Partners would gladly kill for one another. That was the whole point of them being together, wasn't it? He was positive there was nothing in this world closer than a Digimon and his partner.

Still hissing, Black Growlmon lumbered through the park, alert and on the lookout for anything that could count as prey. Even if Shinjuku Park was devoid of life (like now), he could surely find some meat close by. Really too bad the park wasn't as alive as it used to be. Used to be crowded. He remembered little kids playing, monitored by the larger humans, who sometimes ate on blankets or brought their dogs to go run around on the grass. They would go stupidly sniffing into the darker areas of the park. It would've been easy to catch one of those strays – the dogs or few humans who wandered too far in – without making too much noise. But now there were none at all, nothing to even chase down.

There was only the park and it was a mess. The earthquake saw to that.

Black Growlmon stepped over the crumbled remains of a jungle gym, tail stiff behind him for balance as he headed toward the street. Wailing sirens rode the wind. A pause: he knew that sound, knew what they meant, knew what was in them. Ambulance. They were close. Very close. Maybe if he moved fast, he could intercept one. The problem of breakfast would be fixed! And the meal was even served in a shiny metal box on wheels.

The Shadow burst into a run, powerful legs stretching as he headed toward the street and those sirens.

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"Jenrya! Hey!"

Jenrya looked up. Suma came charging through the snow, waving frantically even though she already had his attention.

Red in the face, Suma came to a stop, chest heaving: she'd come barreling out from around the creaking apartment building at breakneck speed, drawing stares, her wide shirt-front bouncing every which way as she sprinted. She moved with surprisingly quickness, jumping nimbly over debris and dodging the people in her path, sending them scattering like a flock of sparrows. Now she was doubled over, out of breath, and cheeks flushed in splotches of red, but looking the very picture of triumph. She flashed him a thumbs up.

"We found someone fitting your descriptions!" Suma said once she regained her breath.

Jenrya perked up at this.

"He's waiting over there," Suma pointed back the way she came. "Come on!"

And she turned on her heel and promptly charged back in the opposite direction, sending those who returned to their places scattering out of the way again. Jenrya took off after her as best he could, managing a slow jog, trying to mind the injured shoulder. Suma waited impatiently near the fire escape's shattered base and then led the way, rounding the building to the parking garage behind the apartment complex. Three people were already at its entrance. Jenrya recognized Yasuo: he was talking with a young woman. Occasionally Yasuo would glance at someone in their midst, say something angrily, but the two adults were blocking the Tamer's view of the third person.

It was only when Suma started shouting at Yasuo and the group turned that Jenrya saw who it was.

He met Ryo's eyes for a second across the closing gap. The taller boy didn't look like he got off any better than he did; Ryo had a bloodied bandage wrapped clumsily around his head and a large bruise across one battered cheek. He didn't have a chance to say anything because Yasuo was speaking again, ignoring Suma and Jenrya and turning back to the two. His voice was raised and tight:

"What the hell is this?" he stabbed an angry finger at the collection of luggage, clothing and food at Ryo's feet, glaring at the young woman next to him. "It's only been a couple of hours and we've already got people looting?"

Ryo said nothing to defend himself, face carefully blank. The woman next to him had different ideas, her almond eyes narrowed as she shouted right back into Yasuo's face.

"We're not stealing! I went back to get Chanchan –

"You snuck in! What part of 'don't enter, it's not safe' don't you people understand?"

The girl – she couldn't have been out of college – kept right on yelling, her raised voice matching Yasuo's.

"Chanchan's my pet! And Ryo said that stuff belongs to his friend!"

Yasuo scowled, his face creasing. He tried to calm himself. "Look, whatever your name is –"

"Tadako."

"Look, Tadako," Yasuo gritted his teeth, barely managing to keep his temper in check this time. The girl bristled as he glowered at both her and Ryo. "I don't care if that hamster is your pet. It's stupid not only to waltz into an unstable building, but putting a child at risk is…I…I can't even tell you how insanely dumb that is! I'm not done talking!" he suddenly snarled as Tadako opened her mouth to argue. "And how do you know he was telling the truth? How do I know you're telling the truth, for that matter?"

"Hey!"

Suma's bellow made the two turn. Ignoring the irritated stares from Yasuo and Tadako, she marched up to the group with Jenrya in tow. Ryo flicked a glance again at Jenrya, but continued to keep his silence. So far Ryo had taken everything without flinching. Or reacting at all, for that matter.

"Hate to bust in," Suma waggled an eyebrow reprovingly at the two other adults, "but having a catfight in front of the kids and all doesn't seem appropriate."

Tadako blushed. Yasuo's anger seemed to lessen by a few degrees, though his expression remained stern. Suma stepped aside, nodding her head toward Jenrya.

"Remember Jenrya?" Suma asked. Yasuo nodded. Suma's eyes flicked to Ryo. "Well, I think that's one of the people he was looking for."

Yasuo frowned, looking doubtful. He turned to Ryo. "What's his last name?"

"Lee," Ryo answered, speaking up for the first time.

Yasuo tried again. "Who was with you two earlier?"

"His dad, sister and some woman called Reika."

Suma nodded at this, confirming the boy's words. Yasuo didn't look entirely satisfied but he let it slide. "Looks like it's true then," he said grudgingly. He pointed at the stuff at Ryo's feet. "So what's all this then? You admitted none of it was yours."

Ryo shrugged. "Tadako and I were up there already. Dgured I might as well salvage stuff we could use if we ended up homeless. It'd be stupid to leave without being prepared."

"So you went in and took someone else's things without asking? You're aware that is stealing?"

Ryo only shrugged again. Yasuo had the same surprised look as the other adults.

"Did you go into any other apartments?" he asked once he got over his astonishment.

Ryo shook his head. "Nope."

"Did you take anything else?"

"No," Ryo said again. But his tone made it clear if he could've – and had the hands for it – he probably would've.

Yasuo rubbed at his lined face at this, making a sound of exasperation. Tadako shot Ryo a strange look. Jenrya wanted to sigh and copy Yasuo; sometimes Ryo could be way too blunt about stuff like this. He still couldn't decide if that was his nature or what. Awkward silence reigned.

"We're going to have to find Jenrya's family," Suma cleared her throat. "I'm stealing Ryo here for a bit."

Still silent, Ryo obediently switched from Yasuo to Suma as she herded them away. She dropped them off out of hearing range with a stern don't wander too far and turned back to confront the two other adults. Jenrya glanced with his good eye sidelong at Ryo: he had his arms crossed over his chest, black eyes looking out toward the street at one of the distant smoke pillars rising up into the air.

"What?"

Jenrya stared at him. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Ryo shrugged. "I don't care what they think."

The Tamer did sigh this time. "But they're the ones in charge."

Ryo grunted.

"What about you?" Ryo asked. He glanced pointedly at Jenrya's left side, which he was favoring. "What happened?"

"Dunno. It hurts a lot when I move it."

He listened as Jenrya described what it felt like. "It's either dislocated or broken," Ryo said. "I could try to pop it back into place if it's a dislocation, but if it's broken…"

Ryo happened to glance up as he spoke, just in time to catch the expression on Jenrya's face at his haphazard assessment. The taller boy trailed off, quickly looking away as an uncomfortable silence fell between them.

Jenrya wanted to sneak another glance at Ryo. Was he still angry at him? With Ryo it was hard to tell. He hadn't been around the boy long enough to know if he was the type to hold grudges or not. Still, now wasn't exactly the time for this sort of thing. What about Terriermon? Jenrya bit his lip. What if he was hurt? Or lost? All Jenrya wanted was to spot a flash of those floppy ears, a glimpse of green scurrying from shadow to shadow and keeping tabs on him.

Anything to tell him his partner was alive.

And there was the matter of Dad and Shuichon. From what he managed to catch from Suma, it sounded like there were several people spotted already who could fit the descriptions; the problem was getting them here so he could identify them. He was almost sure that his family was okay. At least…he hoped so.

Jenrya's main worry was his partner. You're an idiot, Jenrya told himself in disgust, an idiot who needs to stop feeling sorry for himself and actually do something. Ryo looked up as Jenrya suddenly stood up.

"Where're you going?"

"Terriermon's around here somewhere. I'm looking for him."

Ryo glanced back toward the parking structure. "That woman's gonna come back," he said. "I'm not taking her flak for you."

"I'm not asking you to."

He sighed. "Okay, okay, fine. I'm coming too."

Together they set off. Snow and ash continued to drift down from the sky. Jenrya shivered a little. Terriermon has to be a lot warmer, he mused, what with all that fur. The Rookie always made fun of Jenrya whenever it got cold, boasting that while his fur wasn't long and shaggy, at least he wasn't as fur-less as his human. Jenrya clung onto those memories, trying to shove aside the more violent ones his imagination kept trying to dredge up.

Terriermon's okay, Jenrya tried to calm down. He would…well, Jenrya would know if something happened to Terriermon. He had to. Ryo even said flat-out they were different, that they had some bond that made them special. Tamers could sense that kinda thing, right? He wasn't even sure if Ryo had any experience with having a Tamer-bond; the few times Ryo made even passing mentions to having a partner, he sounded downright bitter.

"He's probably okay."

Jenrya turned at this. "What?"

"Terriermon's probably okay," Ryo repeated.

"I hope so," Jenrya said, wondering if Ryo somehow read his mind. "I'm worried about him. A lot."

Ryo flicked a black-eyed glance at the other boy, but said nothing. His expression bordered on apprehensive sympathy. Jenrya looked down at the ground, as if to gather himself, closing his eyes for a brief second before speaking again.

"...he's never been gone this long before. We've never been separated like this."

"You know for sure he'd feel the same way?" Ryo asked quietly. "He would worry as much about this as you?"

Jenrya nodded.

"Then he's probably fine," Ryo said with conviction.

Jenrya wanted to believe the other boy. He knew Ryo wasn't the type to give false hope and Jenrya trusted him enough not to start now.

"Hope you're right," Jenrya replied. They made it back to where Jenrya had been found by Suma and Jiro; at least, it looked close enough from what he could remember. Some of the snow had been kicked into a brown-sludge after mixing with the dirt and shoes since then. "This is where they found me."

Ryo looked around, frowning. "You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's start looking."

The two boys wandered down the street and toward the next complex, trying to remain unobtrusive. Once Jenrya recognized one of the men close by - Jiro – and he and Ryo ducked into an alleyway until the adult moved on without seeing them. Once Jiro left, they continued searching. Jenrya wasn't sure what they were looking for, whether there would be some sign or they were supposed to be looking for traces of fur or paw prints in the melting sludge. He tried to keep a straight face. Easier said than done when that strange, empty helplessness was starting to set in again.

He kept sneaking peeks at Ryo over his shoulder. At one point Ryo had a partner. He had that D-Arc, after all. The thing responded to his touch, so it had to be his. How can he … go on like it's every other day without his partner? Jenrya wondered. I mean, if a few hours is like this, how can he take it so well? It boggled his mind. A few hours already seemed bad enough.

"Think we're going in circles," Ryo said finally. "Terriermon's not around here. We should start spreading out."

"Do you think he could be that far away?"

"Maybe."

They continued deeper into the maze of alleys and walls leading into the neighboring complex. Rubble from the earthquake had smashed in the wooden gate dividing the two apartments, and it should've been easy to scramble over the hunks of concrete and metal. But with Jenrya's injured shoulder, Ryo's hand and his twisted ankle, it was harder than it should've been. Ryo nearly did a number on his good ankle when he slipped on a loose brick. The only thing that saved him was the small patch of grass and snow on the other side to cushion his fall. Jenrya offered a hand to help the other boy off the ground. Looking up at the hand, Ryo hesitated, then accepted it and heaved himself back to his feet.

This apartment building had gotten off worse than theirs. Jenrya tried to think of how he could find Terriermon; he was staring aimlessly toward one of the apartments exposed to the elements when he suddenly had an idea, one so blatantly, stupidly obvious that he was startled he hadn't figured it out sooner. He fumbled with his pockets.

"What're you doing?" Ryo kept his voice low, trying not to attract any unnecessary attention from the strangers walking right in front of their little hiding place.

Jenrya didn't look at him. "My D-Arc!" he whispered back, still fishing around. Miraculously, he actually had it, even though he didn't remember grabbing the thing. It'd been sitting on his desk before this whole thing. Must've been automatic reflex. "We can use this to find Terriermon."

He couldn't stop the relieved smile from appearing when a green blip appeared on the LCD screen, rotating around the display as the D-Arc tried to get a lock on Terriermon. His fingers tightened around the silver casing. The green dot gave a healthy glow as it spun round and round and round.

It slowed, beeped, and locked into place.

Jenrya took off through the melting snow and mud toward the wreckage before Ryo could stop him: the Tamer blindly followed his D-Arc, ignoring the pain from his shoulder as he left the relative safety of the shadows. Ryo went after him. Jenrya didn't turn to see how far Ryo was behind him, not when his eyes were only on the green D-Arc.

Terriermon! I'm coming!

Off in the distance, thick black plumes of smoke towered higher and higher into the hazy sky. Ash, carried by the drying breeze, continued to drift down with the snow. In wards all over the city, people cried out in confusion and anger as ambulances and firefighters drove right past them and disappeared into the distance. There just weren't enough to go around. Everything was in short supply. Fires continued to spring up everywhere – the ones near the JR line were already starting to lick at some of the railroad tracks – and they put out one fire only to have another materialize behind their backs as soon as they finished.

Sent to its knees, Tokyo reeled.

To be continued
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