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]

24. Reunions

Digital Shuffle
By famirad

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon Tamers, this fanfic is for fun.
Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay; ended up getting on a stuck point. Anyway, transition chapter, mostly Ryo/Jenrya with brief appearances by Zudomon, Garurumon and Black Growlmon. Next chapter should be primarily Takato/Black Guilmon/Black Growlmon.

Reviews are very much appreciated, but they don't determine how long I take on chapters.

Bold for the Juggernaut's communication
"Dialogue" is similar to telepathy

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Digital Shuffle
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(Reunions)

It was going to be a beautiful evening.

Afternoon deepened. The haze hanging over the city darkened from gold to burnt red as the sun began to set. Thick columns of smoke – thousands of feet in height by now - dotted Tokyo for miles around and the sun continued to sink out of view, oblivious to the burning metropolis below. These fires had to be one of the most beautiful things the two Digimon had seen since they had arrived in the Real World. They were like little stars, the smaller one said. That, or campfires. Remember those? They were indeed pretty, the second (the larger of the pair) agreed. But he didn't think they looked like stars or campfires. They didn't look like anything but what they were.

There wasn't anything poetic about it.

"No imagination!" Garurumon sniffed. "Look what isolation's done to you."

Zudomon tried to glance up at his companion. With the Wolf perched comfortably on his head, he couldn't see the other Digimon from here. He could certainly feel Garurumon, however; the other Digimon flopped down from a sitting position and curled up just above his massive brow. Even though Zudomon remained almost completely submerged in Odaiba's harbor, the Ultimate easily kept his head – and his passenger – above the lapping waters of the bay.

"Isolation is what I would've preferred, actually," Zudomon replied mildly.

Garurumon's voice floated down from above. "We've been honored, friend. Not only have we been healed of evil, but we've been given a chance to redeem ourselves."

"I know."

"Now we can repay those who've helped us! That must amount to something to be thankful for."

"…I know."

"Once we finish with the Real World, things will go back to how they used to. We'll retire with full honors once every wrong is righted and order is restored…"

Garurumon suddenly paused, thinking. When he spoke up again, he sounded very pleased with himself:

"Let's exchange promises, Zudomon. See this Council business through to the end. And I will find you a new home to live in this World, one better than your old domain. I will make this worth both our trouble; it will be like the old times, I can promise you."

Despite being unable to see Garurumon, Zudomon rolled his large eyes up toward his friend again, as trying to decide if he really meant it. "…That sounds very nice – I think I could like that. It's a promise," he said more enthusiastically than before, for the first time almost smiling. "But that promise is still too one-sided."

"Is that so?"

"If I'm to have a (supposedly) better domain than my old one, you have to visit."

"I have visited in the past."

"More than once a season."

Garurumon's voice, a mix between defensive and sheepish, floated down. "Perhaps. Very well. I'll visit you more often in your new domain."

"We will see," Zudomon was all would say.

Another comfortable silence as Garurumon's twin tails wagged slowly.

Zudomon watched one of the newer smoke columns emerging from the city around them. It twisted slowly, black sides bulging out at a snail's pace and curling into the sky. Garurumon gave a hum of content; for now he was happy to simply watch the sky and the fires with the other Digimon. For a hours, he had ranted and cursed the humans and every other thing that bothered him in this World while Zudomon listened sympathetically. Eventually the Wolf ran out of things to spit at. It seemed to lift a weight off his shoulders. After that, they exchanged news, the usual rumors and gossip, continued month-old debates as if they had been separated for only a few minutes.

The most heated topic was, of course, Greymon's deletion.

The Shield hadn't known about that. He could imagine Garurumon – from his perch – shaking his wolfish head as he said that Greymon just lost control one day, vanishing after the journey South to seek advice from the Holy Beast of Fire, Zhuqiaomon. Apparently he'd come to the Real World without permission, which was why the Council-governed Digimon here hadn't come to his aid when he needed it most. Surely they had known just who Greymon was! Zudomon protested. How could they stand by and do nothing? It was indeed a sad, unfortunate turn in events, Garurumon replied. But if Greymon hadn't been well enough to handle just one of these humans and their slaves…

Maybe it was for the better.

"But he was a good friend," Zudomon argued. "Whether he wasn't cleansed enough or not –"

"He's gone," Garurumon cut him off, irate. "And once again, we can thank humans for it."

That pretty much killed the conversation right there and then.

Humans were always a sensitive subject around Garurumon. Out of the remaining Chosen group, he'd always been the first to rally behind any anti-human causes, with Birdramon not far behind. None of them cared for this World Council – they had seen such attempts to unify the Digital World fail before - but Garurumon was willing to humor them to get what he wanted. The Wolf could be surprisingly persuasive and whenever he spoke publicly, the younger Digimon would gather around him, hanging onto his every word. They gasped in horror when he described atrocities the humans were capable of, cried in sympathy when he told of his enslavement and sighed in relief when he praised the Purge and his rehabilitation.

Zudomon never much liked talking about humans himself. He didn't care for them either, but he didn't see how massacring a bunch of the little ants was going to change anything.

That always made his wolfish companion stutter, stumbling over his words. The Wolf would get irritated, and remind him hotly that humans were terrible little monsters. Garurumon didn't even have to say it anymore. His angry gaze said it for him: Look what yours did to you. Look how you limp on land, how you flounder, how horribly twisted that leg is! Remember? Your human refused to go down so easily, refused to let you be cleansed. He made you fight his battles, made you a cripple rather than let you go. Zudomon hated being reminded of That Time. Bad, hellish memories all around that should be forgotten. It was true that he was destined to remain with a bad limp for as long as he lived, but the cause was in the past. Better left there.

Garurumon didn't seem to share the same thoughts. He constantly dwelled in the past, wallowed in anger and hurt. Zudomon was almost positive he enjoyed working himself up into a healthy rage.

But differences aside, Zudomon still respected the other Digimon. So long as they avoided talking about humans – the core matter being what should be done with them – he found Garurumon to be surprisingly pleasant company, more so now than before the Purge. Before then, they hadn't really gotten to know each other: humans demanded a lot of one's attention, after all. So while Zudomon hadn't been overjoyed to find he had been officially declared "the Shield" (some ridiculous title the Council came up with), he was pleased to see his friend after such a long absence. It's been what? A year? More?

Quite a while, it seemed.

The smoke pillar Zudomon was watching by now had spiraled up toward the black cloud forming over the city and started to drift west. Night approached. The sun finally set when Zudomon finally said aloud what had been on his mind for the last couple of days:

"So…you said you ran into more humans when you arrived?"

Garurumon cracked open an eye at this. "I did. Foul beasts with more slaves," he answered sourly. "The slaves couldn't be reasoned with."

"You tried?"

"Of course. But they were too far gone to listen."

"How…how many were there?"

"More then three, could be more. All I know is I don't like it."

Zudomon hesitated. From what he already knew, it sounded like these were the same ones who barged in when he released the barrier. He didn't dare voice his growing morbid curiosity regarding these humans, especially not to Garurumon: his friend could, and probably would, report him to the Council, if only for his own good. They could easily drag him back for another round of cleansing if it looked like he was going to be a subversive influence. Still, he had to wonder how – when – these new human children had popped up. Who were these new Digimon? Why were they risking themselves? The Purges hadn't been too far back in the past for them to have already forgotten…

The Ultimate heaved a sigh. None of this was his business and Garurumon was right when he said that there were more important things to think of, to plan for. To wait for.

Besides, he had better things to be worrying about right now: it wasn't every day that he had guests to entertain.

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Ryo was getting tired and he didn't bother to mask the yawn this time around. The exhaustion was contagious and Jenrya stifled his own urge to yawn, biting it back and rubbing vigorously at his eyes. They had been searching for Terriermon for at least several hours before their luck ran out and Jenrya made the mistake of stepping into the open, right in front of a furious Suma. The portly woman descended on them before he could beat any kind of retreat, taking them both by the arms and leading them back toward the forming "camp", all the while scolding them and giving a good dressing down.

"Where've you two been?" Suma demanded as she tried to figure out which of the two boys to fix her glare on. Ryo seemed unresponsive and Jenrya himself didn't even look like he was paying attention to her, constantly looking over his shoulder. The woman made a frustrated sound, "Look, I know I'm not your moms but until someone shows up, it's my responsibility to look after you kids! And I can't do that if you're running off! What were you two even doing out there?"

Ryo covered for the two of them. "We were…uh, looking around. Exploring and stuff."

Jenrya shot an exasperated glance at the other boy. It was a weak excuse, and he didn't believe for a second it fooled Suma. Her expression was sour.

"I'm sure you were," Suma said dryly. "So what's the real story?"

Jenrya thought fast. "Um…well, I was really worried about my dad, so I thought we could try looking for him," the Tamer said. "You guys seemed busy so I thought…"

Suma's expression softened a little.

"We're still looking, Jenrya. Believe me, Yasuo might be on the uptight side and mad at what Ryo here did, but that doesn't mean he can't be asked for help. And if you didn't want to deal with him, you could've just pulled me aside and we could've just gone looking together. It's not smart, you two boys running around by yourselves right now. We're just neighbors, but us neighbors gotta look out after each other, y'know?"

"Sorry," Jenrya mumbled.

Suma stared at him for a few seconds, and then looked forward, finally dropping the subject. "Well, here we are."

Jenrya glanced around in dismay. In the few hours they were wandering out of view of the apartment, Yasuo had transformed it into some kind of base camp. Tents – some store bought, others makeshift – dotted the damp ground, encircling what looked like a giant heap of blankets, sheets, comforters and towels. Someone had dragged some kind of large trash can from somewhere and it looked like whoever they were, they were trying to start a fire in it, with little success. Flashlights and portable lamps were placed, seemingly at random, around the little encampment as people hurried back and forth, only hazy shadows in the deepening evening. He managed to identify Yasuo's voice shouting orders, but aside from that, none of the adults running around sounded familiar.

Suma led them toward the blanket mountain, clapping a hand on Jenrya's uninjured shoulder.

"Don't worry. If we don't find them by tonight, we'll definitely find them in the morning. Yasuo's supposed to get everyone into some kind of meeting so we can get some names down. We'll figure it out."

Jenrya nodded numbly. He watched as Suma began rummaging through the blankets, selecting those here and there, tossing others back into the heap after they apparently failed her appraisal. Ryo quickly joined her after he realized what she was doing.

"Wish I could say we got futons and mattresses, but whatever they salvaged, they gave to the people who got hurt," Suma explained, kneeling down and handing Jenrya a plaid sheet. "Here. Hope you don't mind sleeping on the ground for a night."

"I'd worry more about the cold than the ground," Ryo remarked. "The ground won't kill you."

Suma glanced sharply at the other boy – he had been sullen, quiet for the most part. Whenever he did actually speak, she kept getting the impression that he was either angry at her or amused at the whole fiasco with the earthquakes, and for a second, she had to wonder what a nice kid like Jenrya had to do with someone like his "friend." Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Well, it's not comfortable is all I'm saying," Suma replied. "I wouldn't worry about the cold, not with all the blankets and clothing we've got."

Ryo only shrugged and went back to work looking through the pile.

Suma turned to her other charge; she finally seemed to notice just how tired Jenrya was, the boy drooping in exhaustion and starting to wilt. She promptly ordered him to go lie down in the blue tent – no, not that one, the other one – and take a nap or something. Get some rest. Don't worry about the meeting, she said. If they found anything, she'd wake him up. Jenrya couldn't find it in him to argue or even sneak off again as he turned and shuffled off toward the blue tent with the plaid sheet in tow.

How can any of this be happening?

Jenrya couldn't come up with an answer as he located the "tent" – little more than a series of tarps and sheets stretched taut over part of the ruined fire escape – and sat down heavily. Plastic crinkled under him. Looked like they were using trash bags to line the ground, still damp from snow that so far had mostly melted away. Trying to make any kind of bed proved to be harder than he thought, especially since he could only use one hand, and he quickly gave up after a few useless efforts. Lying down was worse; his breath caught as the bad shoulder got jostled, but he managed to drape the plaid sheet over him, bunching the rest behind his head in a pillow that did little to soften the ground below.

Despite his growing exhaustion, he could only stare up at the ceiling of the tent, unable to sleep.

Stuff like this just didn't happen.

First Takato, then the whole thing with Guilmon. That disaster with Takato's parents. Now this: he was alone, without family, without Terriermon, with only a strange boy he didn't even know that much about for company. Even if he could ignore all of that, his mind now struggled to wrap itself around the growing realization that he wasn't sleeping on a bed, that he more than likely wouldn't for a long while. He was probably homeless – the unspoken "safety" of his family's apartment was gone. No more walls between him and the outside city where Takato was still missing, where those things were out there, waiting for who knew what.

As if things hadn't been bleak enough before.

Jenrya didn't even know where to start. His head ached and he wasn't even sure if it was due to getting knocked about or just stress…either way, it felt like his brain wanted to implode. It was hard enough trying to come to terms with the fact that he was homeless, let alone still expected to deal with the whole situation with the Digimon – and how could he do that without Terriermon anyway?

The half-Chinese boy tried to will himself to sleep. All these doubts were just popping up because he was tired. Bad as all this was, there were larger problems out there. Jenrya knew that. So did Ruki and the others. He had to get it together and Do Something. Gotta be stronger than this, he thought

But he hadn't felt this helpless before in his life. Ever.

Jenrya wanted to have a good, private cry off in the corner, where no one would notice, but even that sounded like it'd be too much effort at the moment. And besides, what good would crying do right now? Sure, it might make him feel better (well, a little), but that was about all it was good for. And so was even thinking about all of this in the first place. Suma was right, he should get some rest. A part of him hoped that maybe when he woke up, everything would be somehow fixed. Or that maybe he could dream up some kind of miracle idea and get them out of this mess.

Stupid? Definitely.

Still, better to have silly hopes than nothing at all.

By now fatigue caught up, creeping up through Jenrya's body, and he found himself drifting off into an uneasy sleep. There were no dreams. Only a void, a sensation of shifting, tossing and turning in discomfort on plastic, heartbeats that seemed too fast, too loud, drumming in his chest.

Several hours must have passed; Jenrya thought he was just starting to doze off when he imagined he heard voices outside the tent. He didn't have time to properly wake up when there were suddenly arms around him, sweeping him up in a huge bear hug. He was pressed close to someone's chest. He was so surprised that he completely forgot about the pain blossoming from his injuries:

"Jenrya! I was so worried…!"

Jenrya looked about wildly, trying to figure out who in the world was attacking him. "Wh…who-I?" he managed to stammer intelligently. It took him a long, groggy second before he realized whose face he was now blinking owlishly at, "…Dad?"

Janyuu didn't even try to hide the tears glimmering in his eyes. He nodded.

"Yeah. I…just…" Janyuu started and trailed off. Unable to come up with any words at a loss, he just hugged his son again, almost as tightly as before. Suma kept her distance off in the back. She exchanged smiles with Yasuo as the two adults left to give the two some privacy.

Janyuu finally released Jenrya, sitting back on his heels and looking his son over. The older man frowned, noticing for the first time the injuries, and, reaching out, he gently tilted the Tamer's chin left and right, taking in the bruises, the various scratches, and the forming black eye. The blue-haired boy winced at the inspection. The frown deepened even further and Jenrya was alarmed to see his father brush angrily at forming tears as he finally settled back, facing his son in the meager light.

"I should've made sure you were behind us," he said, eyebrows drawn together. "Should've gone back and made sure."

Jenrya looked down at his hands. "I'm okay, Dad. Really."

"You don't look okay. I…I should've made sure," Janyuu repeated, gritting his teeth. "It looks like you got hit by a car!"

"It could've been worse," the Tamer replied. He wasn't sure he even believed it much himself. "They said that the black eye thing'll go away in a few days and they did washed out the cuts. They said they'll try to do something about my arm –"

Janyuu cut him off. " – Wait, what about your arm?"

"I - um…" Jenrya stuttered, realizing he'd said too much. He avoided his father's eyes, "I guess it got messed up in the...accident."

"How so?" Janyuu's voice took on a strange, tight tone.

"My shoulder feels really weird. I can't lift it and it…um…it kinda hurts. They don't think it's broken," Jenrya said quickly.

Janyuu had a positively deadly look on his face. "We've got to get you to a hospital, you can't be running around like this," he said, starting to get up, expression determined. "I can't believe they didn't do anything!"

"Wait, Dad, I –"

"No, it's not right that they just –"

"Dad!"

Janyuu stopped and stared at Jenrya, startled at the vehemence in his son's voice.

"They did try to help. No one here knows what's wrong with it," Jenrya paused. He swallowed. "I-I can't leave even if they did. Not without Terriermon."

"He's not with you?"

"We…we got separated after the earthquake," Jenrya found his words tumbling together as he rushed on. "Ryo said I'd know if something happened to Terriermon but we haven't found him yet even though we were looking everywhere with my D-Arc and I'm really worried he's hurt or something and I don't know what I'd do if he was because last time was when I –"

"Jenrya."

"What?"

"Slow down. Take a deep breath. I'm not going anywhere."

Jenrya took a deep breath. Let it out. Tried to find his center and hold onto it. For some reason, he remembered his sensei and for the briefest of seconds, he wondered whatever happened to the old martial arts teacher. Trying to locate the calm spot turned out to be harder than usual. It took several more deep breaths before he managed to quell the beginnings of panic, and conquer it enough so that he wouldn't start rambling again. The bonfire crackled and spat outside. Janyuu waited patiently throughout all of this; he only spoke up when it was clear that Jenrya had calmed himself down.

"I'm not an expert on how the whole human and Digimon relationship works, but I'd think if you two are that close, then Ryo's right. Terriermon's probably fine, he's probably just held up somewhere. I'm sure we can find him."

"I really hope so, Dad."

"I know. And I promise you I'll do what I can. But in the meantime, we have to focus on what we're going to do right now," Janyuu scowled. "They weren't letting us go back into the apartment, so I think we're going to have to sleep outside for a bit. I don't think you and your sister should be outside in this kind of weather, but…"

"Where's Shuichon?" Jenrya asked.

"She's with Ms. Ootori and Ryo; she's fine, don't worry," Janyuu pushed up his glasses. "We'll stick with these people until we can get into contact with the Ms. Makino and the Matsudas. Make sure everyone's okay, try to find some kind of doctor to do something about your arm – I still can't believe they didn't -" Janyuu caught his son's look. "Sorry. It's just…complicated."

Jenrya wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry or both at that. It seemed so ridiculous to even sit here and talk like this, as if they were sitting around the kitchen table over breakfast, and he couldn't even think of anything comforting to say. There wasn't really much to be said anyway, at least nothing that hadn't already been touched on. Janyuu fished about for something to break the silence, failed, and sighed as the two of them glanced outside the tent.

The bonfire twisted and snapped up into the cool air, spitting sparks into the night. Jenrya slept through most of Yasuo's meeting so his father quickly summarized it as best he could: they were going to organize into groups based on apartment complexes and age. Because of the fires off in the distance, everyone seemed to agree that they had to move. To where exactly hadn't been decided yet, since some argued that they had to find a hospital, others insisted they go seek out personal friends in other wards. All Janyuu knew was that he was in the former camp, more so now than ever. Besides, the nearest ER was close to the Matsudas; they should check up on them if they were going that way. Jenrya kept nodding numbly as he took in all of this, his brain ready to shut down again as he wearily leaned against his father's broad shoulder.

When Janyuu happened to glance over at his son again, he found Jenrya fast asleep against him, breathing softly. The older man fell silent and stared at nothing in particular, trying not to think of what tomorrow might bring.

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Jenrya woke to the sound of shouting.

He opened blurry eyes, wondering why his back hurt. It felt like rocks were digging into it, and, groping about blindly, he found that there were rocks digging into it. The sheets and the plastic under didn't help and try as he might, he couldn't seem to slip back into the same comfortable nothingness of sleep. Feeling the worse for wear, the Tamer sat up slowly and tried to hold back the urge to sniffle through a stuffed nose. On top of everything else that was happening, he wouldn't be surprised if he caught a cold just to make things fun. The timing would be just perfect.

Where's Dad? Jenrya looked around. He wasn't alone; Ryo must/ve crawled in some time during the night at Janyuu's prompting. Now the other boy lay curled up in the corner of the cramped tent, using his own set of sheets as pillows, bundled up in several jackets and sweatshirts, and sleeping far more soundly than Jenrya had. But his dad was nowhere in sight and on top of that, the shouting outside was only growing louder and more insistent. The Tamer ignored the other boy for the moment, half-crawling as best he could so he could look outside and see what all the commotion was about.

Others in the little cluster of tents were doing the same. More and more sleepy heads peered out to stare as people ran past, heading toward the forming mob crowding around something and clearly excited. Behind Jenrya, Ryo stirred, rolling over onto his back.

"Mm…what time is it?" he mumbled.

"I don't know."

"What's all that noise?"

"I don't know."

A pause and then another sleepy mumble. "…We still screwed?"

"I think so," Jenrya said softly.

"Oh."

Jenrya turned around. Ryo had one dark eye fixed on him, face scrunched up in a grimace at he rubbed away sleep with his good hand and sat up. He was still working out the kinks from sleeping on the ground when Janyuu suddenly materialized from the mob forming, leading Shuichon toward them by her hand and jogging.

"Dad, what's going on?" Jenrya asked. "What's happening?"

Janyuu's voice was excited. "Apparently someone from next door's a registered nurse; she just volunteered to help us," he answered.

"So what's going on right now?"

"Everyone's jumping her," Janyuu followed his son's stare at the mob.

"…If we want a turn, we'd have to wait," Ryo said. "From what it looks like from here, everyone else is doing our share of pushing and shoving."

Janyuu frowned, but he had to admit his son's friend did have a point. Ever since the tall nurse stepped forward and announced herself, flanked by Yasuo and Suma, she found herself fighting off desperately grabbing hands and begging pleas from all sides, shouting repeatedly that she could only look at everyone one at a time. No one listened. The surging crowds became more insistent by the minute as people started shoving at one another. Yasuo roared at those assembled, yelling something about order and to stop pushing, otherwise the nurse couldn't see anyone.

Jenrya quailed at the sight of the chaos: he couldn't imagine trying to fight his way through that without getting trampled. From what glimpses he managed to catch of Suma, the woman looked frustrated enough to start throwing punches left and right. On top of that, hunger started to gnaw at him and he tried to remember when the last time he ate – really ate - was. The most he remembered having yesterday was a bottle of lukewarm water and a few tasteless, soggy crackers. That didn't count for much. I wonder if Terriermon's had something to eat at least, he wondered. He hoped so…

" - Our turn probably won't be for a while," Ryo was saying. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry. Gonna go see if there's anything to eat around here."

Jenrya wearily snapped to attention. "I'll go with you."

Ryo gave him a pointed look. "Why don't you stay here with your dad?"

Shuichon chimed up. "I'm hungry too!"

"You just ate," Janyuu winced. "Remember? You had the apple and that juice box."

"But that wasn't breakfast, Daddy!" Shuichon pouted. "I'm still hungry."

Ryo's mouth quirked in what could be almost mistaken for a smile. "She could come with me, Mr. Lee," he said. "I'll keep an eye on her."

Janyuu met the brunette's look, and, seeing something there that Jenrya must have missed, he slowly nodded his approval. Ryo prepared to go, giving Shuichon some of his blankets to keep her warm. She wrapped the striped blanket around her like a cape, giggling.

"We'll be right back," Ryo said.

Before Jenrya could get in a word of protest, Ryo had already wormed his way out of the tent and disappeared past the growing throng still crowding around the nurse, Shuichon trotting obediently after him. Jenrya sighed. Why did he just leave without me? Ryo knew what he was thinking. Food wasn't the only thing the brunette had left to go search for; both of them knew that. Jenrya's father seemed to be following the same train of thought:

"He went to go look for Terriermon, didn't he?" Janyuu asked.

"I should be searching with him."

"You're hurt."

"So is he," Jenrya frowned. "Terriermon might be hurt too for all I know."

Janyuu gave his son a careful, comforting squeeze on the uninjured shoulder. "I think you would know if he was, Jenrya. Remember what I was saying last night?" Jenrya nodded slowly. "Good. Remember, take it slow. One thing at a time. We'll get through this. You push yourself too much sometimes."

"No, I don't," Jenrya said.

His father only raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Okay, fine, so maybe I do…a little. I still think I have a right to be worried, Dad."

"Never said you didn't."

Jenrya shook his head. "It's…it's really hard. There's so much we have to do, yet I look around us and…" he trailed off.

"That's where you sometimes have to sit down and trust others to help you," said his father, offering a tentative smile. "I'm not saying you should trust everyone to help you, but at least extend that trust to your close friends."

"Ryo's not my friend," Jenrya said automatically.

Janyuu blinked. "He's not?"

"No."

"Really?"

"No"

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

Janyuu folded his arms across his chest, quiet for a moment, watching his son closely. "He could be, you know."

"What?"

"Just give him a chance."

Baffled at this sudden change in topics, Jenrya stuttered for a bit before he found his voice again. "I-he…it's...I have…" he frowned, looking away. "It's…it's not that simple. He's hard to get along with, Dad; he's secretive, he's tactless, and he's rude at times. You can't just go up and make friends with someone like that."

"Yet he just essentially volunteered to look for Terriermon," Janyuu said casually. "And from what I heard, he ended up hurting himself to protect you a week ago. Broke a few fingers, sounds like."

Jenrya frowned. His Dad, as always, told it how it was, even if sometimes he resorted to the occasional guilt trip. It was true that while Ryo could act like a jerk sometimes – most of the times, Jenrya thought – there was also just as many times that he had been…well, "tolerable" was putting it a bit stiffly, but it was true.

"I'm not trying to force you to be friends but," said Janyuu quietly, "it's times like these you have to find out just how far you can trust someone. A friend can come in all shapes and colors. Ryo seems to trust you, from what I've seen. You two seem inseparable, after all."

"Trust me? I've tried talking with him," Jenrya said impatiently. He remembered Ryo's scar, how the other boy had refused to talk about it, had brushed him off like the total stranger he must seem like. "It's like talking to a stubborn wall."

Janyuu fought off a grin. "And it's not like that with you sometimes?"

"Dad…" Jenrya sighed in exasperation. "It's not the same. He'll talk to me about Digimon, about certain things like this Council or whatever. He says a lot without saying anything at all…if that makes any sense."

"Sounds like you don't trust him to eventually tell you."

"He won't," Jenrya muttered.

"He will," Janyuu said quietly. "If you let him. I know you expect people to be open almost immediately, but not everyone is like that. Sometimes you have to give them space – and…well, I suppose wait it out. Wait without expecting. I'm sure he'll come around when he's good and ready."

"I guess," Jenrya said, staring down at his hands.

Ryo – to him – was one of many new, baffling things finding their way into his life. His dad was being a bit optimistic thinking they could close "friends", but Jenrya supposed he did have a point about having to wait. Jenrya was dying to know where Ryo had gotten those scars, for instance, but pressuring the other boy would get him nowhere. Jenrya had no idea why he was so concerned with finding out the "truth" about Ryo – where he got those old wounds probably had little relevance to their situation right now – and try as he might, he couldn't explain it away. It suddenly seemed important to know more about this boy, and not just things that had to do with Digimon…

Conversations with his father always got him thinking and this one was no exception. Jenrya had a lot to mull over before Ryo returned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ryo couldn't breathe.

Sitting with Jenrya had been stifling, worry and doubt tangible in the very air of the other boy's presence. Whatever Ryo might think about the other boy and his sheltered life didn't change the fact he didn't like seeing Jenrya going through the same withdrawal, the same pain he remembered all too well. Maybe his situation could've been prevented. Maybe not. At the very least, he could stay up night after night and try to rationalize it, seek out reason after reason. But this? Totally different. It wasn't the same at all, and for one of the few times in Ryo's recent life, he could say with utter conviction that it just wasn't right.

The least he could do was try to fix that.

Maybe he couldn't fight like a Tamer these days. At least he could help Jenrya this way.

Finding food wouldn't be hard, Ryo decided, weaving in and out through the collection of tents. One just had to keep his eyes open. Even Jenrya should be able scrounge up something, despite that messed up arm of his. A sardonic snort. First his broken fingers and now the Tamer's injury. Perfect, Ryo thought sarcastically. Now we match.

The new day mirrored Ryo's dour mindset. Ash continued to rain down, blanketing the damp ground and street in a thin carpet that kicked up in small clouds as people hurried around. The fires still burned and he wondered how long they had before one forced this sad, shabby little cluster of survivors to abandon this place. Probably not long. Ryo found himself back at the base of the crippled apartment building they had – just barely – escaped from the other day, Shuichon skipping over rubble behind him. He didn't remember much of the actual details. Just the fire escape screeching free as he did his best to protect Jenrya and then the interesting sensation of being hurled into the air like a rag doll, accompanied with the painful sensation of hitting the ground.

Even more fun was the fact that Ryo wasn't out cold for as long as he would've liked.

The boy came to his senses minutes later only to find he'd a nice chunk of something stuck in his head. Now he was bleeding all over the place. Getting up on shaky legs and trying to approach the nearest adult to ask if he was finally dead proved to be a total disaster. Catching sight of Ryo, the woman paled, dropped several shades past white, looked like she was about to scream or be sick (she chose the latter) and promptly ran away. At that point, Ryo threw mental hands in the air and sat down until someone got gutsy enough to pull the something out of his head for him without running off.

He never did find out exactly what was lodged in there.

Terriermon must be around here, Ryo scanned the area, black eyes narrowed. Yesterday had been pure chaos and he knew the odds of finding the small Digimon at the time weren't good. They weren't much better now, but he knew that Terriermon was alive. The behavior of Jenrya's D-Arc proof enough. The only issue was actually finding him; looking back on the wild goose chase the other day, it looked like the Rookie was on the move. That was why the search failed and they got caught: Terriermon's signal kept going all over the place.

This wasn't going to be easy.

Shuichon joined him, startling him by grabbing his hand. Ryo looked down.

"When's breakfast?" the little girl asked.

He paused. He forgot about that, too caught up in his own thoughts. "Soon," Ryo replied. He'd have to get her fed so she wouldn't start pouting again. Besides, he promised to keep an eye on her and that counted keeping her quiet and happy, he guessed.

"How soon?" Shuichon pressed insistently. "I'm really, really, really hungry…"

Ryo hesitated, at an utter loss. How were you supposed to handle little kids getting all antsy?

"Really soon," he said.

Wrong answer. Shuichon just continued to stare at him with the same expectant expression as before.

Seeing this, the boy gave a heavy sigh. Might as well get it over with.

"…Let's go find something for you to eat."

Shuichon cheered at this and began tugging Ryo around the building. He followed reluctantly, keeping his eyes peeled for Terriermon. Oh, and babysitting Jenrya's kid sister.

Ryo wasn't good at this kind of thing. He never claimed to be. There wasn't much he could remember actually being good at. Adequate, sure. Adequate he could do and do well. He supposed he was alright at foraging, scrounging, keeping warm and just basic survival in general, but after that, anything more intensive, and he found himself suddenly at a loss. Ryo's tracking abilities were decent, he admitted, but they weren't very useful out here.

The two wandered seemingly at random. Ryo had no idea where Shuichon was leading him; half of the time she would suddenly sidetrack, getting on her knees and poking about in the mud for shiny bits of glass and plastic. Her blanket-cape kept coming loose, and dragged behind her. Watching the little girl pocket yet another grimy bottle cap after a careful inspection, he had to roll his eyes. Kids. Ryo never remembered collecting useless junk back when he was a kid.

Technically, you still are a kid, he thought dryly. At least by Real World standards.

Great. Now he succeeded in making himself feel old.

"Okay, ready!" said Shuichon, oblivious to her guardian's impatience. She grabbed at Ryo's closest hand.

"Wait, not that - ow!"

Trying to bite down on the pain welling up from his injured fingers, Ryo carefully maneuvered Shuichon to his other hand. Despite the visit to the emergency room the other night, he was almost certain his fingers weren't setting the way the way they were supposed to. The boost he gave to Jenrya during the Garurumon thing probably didn't help and the squeeze from Jenrya's sister right now forced Ryo to close his eyes and count to three. A muscle in his jaw twitched as he bit down on the pain.

"Sorry," Shuichon apologized sheepishly. "Forgot."

"It's….it's okay," Ryo said between gritted teeth. He reminded himself that he'd volunteered to babysit Jenrya's sister. "Look, why don't we just find you some breakfast first? Then you can look for your shiny stuff afterward."

Shuichon frowned. "But we are looking for breakfast, Ryo," she said. "We're looking for breakfast and jewels at the same time."

"Glass and bottle caps aren't jewels."

"Are too!"

Ryo caught himself before he started arguing with a seven year-old. "Okay, okay. They're jewels. Let's…um…let's try a different game right now though," he said. He thought fast. "You like pretty things, right? Princess and ponies and all that?"

Shuichon nodded.

"Okay…uh, pretend we're on a quest for your kingdom. Jenrya and Mr. Lee are your…your royal court. They're waiting for you to bring back food – candy – for them," he said, cheeks burning red. Ryo felt incredibly stupid saying all this, but he couldn't have her holding him up like this with her constant junk collecting. "You're the only one who has the magic powers to find candy to bring back. They're very hungry, so the faster you find and eat breakfast, the faster you can bring back the…uh…the magic candy back to them."

Ryo swore right then and there to never babysit again.

There were very few points in his life where he wanted to dig himself a hole to hide in, but this was one of those times. He hadn't felt this embarrassed in years.

Shuichon ate it all up.

"I'm a good princess," she said, giggling. "I know where the magic candy is!"

And with that, she led the way. Feeling ridiculously relieved that Jenrya hadn't been here to see him make an idiot of himself, Ryo followed her. At least now Shuichon wasn't stopping every few feet to go looking for pretty "jewels". She started some kind of story to go along with all this, but she was rambling more to herself than to him. She was so enthralled with her game of Make-Believe that he had to grab her by the sleeve before she tripped on her own blanket-cape. Sighing in resignation, he managed to get her cape tied around her shoulder and off the ground.

They rounded the corner, following a tilting fence. He didn't recognize any of the faces milling around, but that was to be expected. He wouldn't know anyone around here. Someone had set up a kind of storage in what looked to be the remains of a large shed, lines of waiting people snaking away form it. Shuichon pointed at the line.

"There it is, Ryo," she said.

"This shouldn't take too long –"

"I don't wanna stand in line."

Ryo stared at the little girl in exasperation as he took a place at the back of the growing line. "I can't have you running off. Your dad expects me to keep an eye on you and I can't go looking for you."

"But it's boring in line!" Shuichon pouted.

"Yeah, but…" Ryo trailed off, watching Shuichon warily. He had no idea if she was the type to start throwing temper tantrums and he kinda didn't want to find out, either. "Look. You can go play only if you don't wander too far. Promise me you won't go where I can't see you."

"Promise!"

Shuichon ran off, giggling. Ryo shook his head, and decided he should try to concentrate on the matters of food. Not only getting the two of them fed, but there was also the issue of Jenrya, his dad and that Reika woman. He had no idea how to carry it all back, not unless it meant relying on Shuichon, who wasn't exactly...reliable. Maybe he should've just gone by himself and looked for Terriermon alone. Then at least he wouldn't be getting constantly side-tracked. He glanced over in Shuichon's direction every now and then – the girl kept moving further and further back with her game of Make Believe in the rubble, but she was still in sight.

At least the line wasn't too bad, he decided, which was surprising considering how long it was getting. He glanced behind him. The line wound around the leaning fence and into the street now, people rubbing their hands together for warmth and chatting. Someone found a cigarette somewhere and shared it with her line-neighbor. Ryo faced forward, shifting his weight carefully from one foot to the other.

He was almost nearing the front when he felt a quiet tug on his sleeve. He looked down.

"Um…Ryo?"

Ryo frowned; he didn't need to be a parent to know what that tone of voice meant. Something was wrong.

"What's up?"

"I found something," Shuichon said in a whisper. "You gotta come see!"

"Shuichon, if it's another rock, I can't. I'm almost at the front of the line."

The little girl shook her head. "It's important!" she exclaimed. "You gotta come see now!"

Ryo glanced at the front of the line – there were only a dozen more people before it was his turn and he didn't even want to try to find the end of it. But people were already turning and staring at them and he knew he had no idea how to handle it if Shuichon decided to turn on the waterworks right here and now.

"…Okay, okay," he said. "Show me this important thing. Just make it quick."

Shuichon took off without him, running as fast as her little legs would take her. Ryo followed her over the rubble, damn sure he'd told her to play in view – where they were going now couldn't be seen from the line – and wondering just how many side trips they'd take today. But he forgot all that as he caught up to Shuichon; the little girl was on her hands and knees, pointing at something across the path and near some bushes. He joined her, turning to look where she was pointing.

A little boy sat nestled in some blankets, playing with something. He couldn't have been over Shuichon's age, his hair a hazel mess sticking out in every direction imaginable. Ryo didn't see anything special about him and he started to say so when the boy suddenly turned, bringing into view the thing he was playing with.

Terriermon!

Ryo had to stop himself from charging out and just snatching the Rookie from the little boy. If he did that, the kid would probably start screaming and crying, and sic the adults on him, and they would get nowhere. Nothing would be achieved. Forgetting about his lost place in line, he tried to figure out how he was going to get the Digimon back. He winced inwardly when he locked eyes with the trapped bunny-Digimon; Terriermon had an expression of pure annoyance, although he actually brightened at seeing Ryo.

My hero! Terriermon mouthed. Save me!

"We gotta get Terriermon away from that kid," Ryo said quietly. He glanced at the little girl beside him. "Don't suppose you have any ideas?"

"Ask if he'll share?"

Ryo looked forward. He scowled. "And if he says no?"

"Give him some of my magic candy?"

The brunette closed his eyes, exasperated. There was no point in getting frustrated over the goofy logic of a little kid. After all, it made perfect sense to her. They peered through the gap for several seconds before either of them spoke up again.

Shuichon didn't seem very worried. "Can I go play with him now?"

"What?" Ryo stared at her, astonished.

"Can I go play with him?"

"Why?"

"To get Terriermon back, silly," Shuichon replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're old, you don't know how."

Ryo felt his cheeks burning. Old? Him? Even by Digital World standards, he wasn't that old! He told himself it was stupid to get defensive, but even so, he couldn't help feeling a little hurt at this.

"Fine. Just get him back," Ryo hissed.

Shuichon nodded and scrambled away from their hiding place. Although she was out of ear shot, he could see that her introduction went well; the little boy looked happy to have another playmate, even if it was a strange girl. After a few minutes of talking with the boy, Shuichon came back.

"Well?"

"Takuya said he'll let me play with him. We're going to play King and Queen!"

"What about Terriermon?"

"He's the Princess," Shuichon giggled

Before Ryo could say anything, she hurried back. Ryo shook his head. He felt useless just sitting here in the shadows and letting a little kid do what he should be doing. Then again, Shuichon might be able to do what he couldn't. She could most relate to other kids better than he ever could, he supposed, unable to keep the old bitterness from rising.

It was frustrating, the more he thought about it. Not just this sitting around and doing nothing. The whole thing, this whole feeling that he wasn't like the others, wasn't normal. He hated it and a part of him envied others who didn't realize how lucky they were to have what he didn't. He knew this part of him was useless, wasn't productive, but he couldn't help it. The part of Ryo that actually still cared what happened to him wanted something impossible.

It wanted something he could never have.

Ryo rolled his eyes. He officially had too much time on his hands if he was feeling sorry for himself all over again. He knew what was going to happen to him sooner or later. There was no stopping it. The only thing that was really up in the air was when and how.

He wanted to deny it, of course. He was already a bit of misfit, considering how crappy he did in social situations. But there was no avoiding it: being in the Digital World for so long might've changed him. The two story jump with Tamayo, the inexplicable way he seemed to be able to sense digital fields, and now the fact he was still alive after getting something stuck in his head was proof. Ryo had stayed too long in that barren, red wasteland with its ribbons of glowing code. Even now it somehow felt like the Digital World was claiming him as its own. Maybe it made him less than human.

Ryo didn't like it.

As far as he knew, only a few humans had ever gone to the Digital World. Only he managed to return to Real one. No one knew just what happened after prolonged exposure. For all Ryo knew, his body would slowly keep changing until there was nothing left but digital code, incompatible with the Real World, fading away as if he'd been deleted. Not a choice death and one he hadn't planned for. He didn't dare tell Jenrya or the others. At least not yet – he wasn't even sure when. Wasn't like he was sure: it was just a guess, a theory. He didn't want their concern, their pity. He definitely didn't want to die in front of them. If he was gonna die, it'd be somewhere private and out of the way.

And then again, maybe it was nothing. It could just be harmless side-effects from the Digital World.

Ryo liked to be prepared for the worst, at any rate.

This whole thing is stupid, he thought. He was easily the oldest of these "Tamers" – he still wasn't sure if he counted or not – and yet he was the most useless. It bugged him.

A lot.

More than once he toyed with the scenario of meeting his ex-partner again. Maybe he could still be tamed. Maybe Ryo could talk some sense into him. In a million years, maybe. It seemed like wishful thinking, but sometimes Ryo couldn't help himself. He guessed he could blame it on these new Digimon Tamers for injecting him with a measure of ridiculous optimism. Jenrya would probably tell him that somehow things would work out. Maybe there was a reason his partner abandoned him. Ryo wanted to believe it, but it was hard.

Okay, cut that out. He shoved all this to the back of his mind. Focus. His main problem right now was getting Terriermon back and watching Jenrya's sister.

Ryo could only hope Shuichon had better people skills than he did. Terriermon was in her hands now.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"This game's too confusing," Jenrya said.

Reika raised an eyebrow delicately. "If you can play that Digimon card game, you can definitely play this."

Jenrya thought they were two completely different things, but he focused on the cards instead. Reika had come back a few minutes ago with a deck of dog-eared playing cards, saying that it would help pass the time and would at least take their minds off their problems. She had played a few rounds of poker with Janyuu – who lost abysmally several times in a row – before offering to teach Jenrya. So far, he wasn't faring much better than his dad.

"I don't get how you grown-ups can play this game," said Jenrya after the fifth loss. "The Digimon card game is so much easier."

Reika chuckled. "You'll get the hang of it. Good thing we weren't playing for money, I think you and you father would've made me rich. Feel up for another round?"

"I'll just watch," Jenrya said.

He settled back as Janyuu took his place in front of Reika. It had been almost two hours since Ryo left and he told himself not to start getting worried or antsy. His father lost three more times and won his first game. Reika was shuffling the cards when there was a shout:

"Hey!"

The three looked up at the shout.

Ryo was walking toward them, picking his way around tents as he came into view. For a moment, he bent down, whispered something to Shuichon – still out of sight – and stepped aside to let the little girl pass. Jenrya felt whatever boredom at watching the poker games suddenly vanish as he caught sight of what was in his sister's arms. Completely forgetting everything, he bolted out of the tent, stumbling a little on the uneven footing until he reached Shuichon and a beaming, tired Terriermon.

"I hate to say it, but for once I'm glad I was in Shuichon's little princess games," Terriermon said flippantly.

Jenrya looked from Terriermon to his sister. "How…?"

"That's what I'm still wondering," Ryo said as he joined them. He had several plastic bags looped on his good wrist. "No idea how she did it, but she got him back. All I know is this little kid called Takuya might be coming by to play with her. Sounds like he gave up Terriermon because she promised to play more games with him later."

"I owe Shuichon one," Terriermon ducked his head. He had a few scratches and bruises here and there, but looked to be in better shape than his Tamer.

Jenrya met Shuichon's and Ryo's in turn. His words, when they came, were quiet. "Thank you so much. I don't know how I can ever make it up to you."

"Don't worry about it," Ryo said gruffly.

"…I'm sorry," Jenrya blurted.

Ryo blinked, clearly startled, and then ducked his head. "Sorry 'bout what I said the other day," he mumbled awkwardly.

He paused, and, catching some kind of unspoken hint, he rustled the bags of food.

"Shuichon, why don't we bring these to your dad?"

"Okay!"

Ryo gave Jenrya and Terriermon a pointed look and then walked away, leaving the two to themselves and their reunion. Jenrya held his partner as best he could in his arms, trying to find something to say. He was surprised to find he wasn't crying with relief; he felt…completed, as if he had almost lost something he took for granted. With a relieved smile on his face, he broke the comfortable silence.

"I…I'm really glad you're okay," Jenrya said at length. "I was starting to get worried."

Terriermon gave a nervous laugh, trying not to stare at his partner's black eye. "Well, the worst that happened was I got stuck with this weird little kid and – "

"Terriermon, I'm being serious here."

The Rookie hesitated, looking up at his partner, button nose twitching. Jenrya stared down at the bunny-Digimon, surprised to find his voice was more or less steady. Terriermon sighed, and for one of the rare times in their time together, he dropped the joking act.

"I was worried too, Jenrya," Terriermon said. "It felt weird…wrong when you weren't around me. I saw all these hurt people and….and…"

Jenrya was astonished to see his partner's eyes start to glisten with tears. He hadn't ever seen the Digimon cry before and a wave of anger and protectiveness washed over him as he saw the first tear trickle its way slowly down Terriermon's furred cheek. He fiercely hugged the little Digimon to his chest as Terriermon sniffled.

"I was afraid, Jenrya. I-I felt like I was alone – like in the Digital World – and I hated it. Like…sometimes it was hard not to think of what might happen if I didn't find you…if something might happen at a time when I couldn't protect you…"

The Tamer closed his eyes upon hearing this, feeling tired and drained. It had seemed like so long ago when their biggest problem was just hiding Terriermon's presence from his family. Now they were already discussing what would happen if one or the other died.

It was like a slap in the face.

"We don't need to worry about that," Jenrya said. "We're together again, and that's what matters, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"I'm not going anywhere," Jenrya said with more conviction than he felt at the moment. "There won't ever be a time where we can't protect each other."

Terriermon stared up at his partner and knew right away that he was lying out his teeth. But the Rookie only nodded, trying to cheer up, rubbing with his stubby paws at those rare tears, and gave an embarrassed, shaky laugh.

"Don't go thinking I'm a crybaby," he said. "It's a one time thing."

Jenrya smiled. "I'd never think that. And no, I won't tell anyone."

"Read my mind," Terriermon muttered, suppressing a sniff.

"Let's just focus on what's ahead," Jenrya said gently. "I'm okay and so are you. It'll…it'll work out."

"…I hope so," Terriermon said and then brightened. He was already recovering quickly, reverting back to his old optimism. "You guys got anything to eat? I'm starving!"

The half-Chinese Tamer laughed despite himself. Felt good. At least he could get his partner fed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was overcast the day they finally got organized enough to start moving.

Jenrya gathered around with the others as Yasuo clambered up onto the ruined fire-escape to make an announcement. Suma stood nearby and hollered at those still asleep to wake up, Jiro at her side looking miserable. By now the demand for the nurse had diminished, which meant that Janyuu had finally gotten a chance to ask her about his son's arm. It was dislocated, she said, and the best she could do until they got to the emergency room was put it in a sling. That was better than before, Jenrya guessed, although Shuichon had demanded that she be allowed to draw on it. Thankfully Takuya showing up to play had distracted her and his sling remained mercifully intact.

"So how's the arm?" Ryo asked, joining him and Terriermon

Jenrya glanced down at the sling – it was little more than a shredded sheet. "Okay, I guess. What about your…uh, head?"

"What, this?" Ryo flippantly pointed at the bandage wrapped around his forehead. "Haven't had a chance to check it out. Hope it's not infected or anything." He didn't sound particularly worried.

The blue-haired Tamer frowned, but anything he had to say would have to wait as Yasuo waved again at the crowd.

"Hello! Hi! May I have everyone's attention, please!" Yasuo shouted over the rumble of conversation.

"That means everyone!" Suma bellowed between cupped hands. She beckoned to the stragglers. "Everyone with this apartment complex, please come over here, thanks!"

"Thank you, Suma," Yasuo said. He turned toward the hundreds of eyes on him. "As I said at the last meeting, it probably isn't safe to stay here longer than we need to. So far we haven't had any help from the fire department or the police – it's likely that they're too busy trying to put out the fires or helping the worst hit places to deal with us. So we have two main choices: we head for a public place like a school or we try to find the nearest hospital for the injured."

"I have friends in Ueno!" someone shouted. "I want to know if they're okay!"

"Me too!"

"Yes, yes, we know," Yasuo said quickly before everyone else could start chiming in. "Of course if anyone wants to go on their own, no one's stopping them. But for the rest of us, we should probably decide which of the two choices we want to take. I'll be taking a group to the nearest school. Once there, we'll probably try to move on and find more survivors, hopefully real help. Suma and Jiro here will leading the group to the hospital or ER or whatever it is they find."

Tadako's hand shot up, waving furiously in the air as if she was in class.

Yasuo fixed her with an annoyed stare.

"What is it?"

"Um…what about the…" Tadako trailed off, tilting her chin toward one of the still forms under the sheets. "We can't just leave them lying around."

Yasuo looked uncomfortable. "We can't bring them with us."

"But…"

"I'm sorry, but we have to look at this realistically. We'll have our hands full with food and other supplies as it is – I know it doesn't feel right, but there's nothing we can do until we get some help."

This brought disgruntled, troubled murmurs from the crowd gathered. Expressions darkened, scowled deepened, several eyes watered with new tears. Many avoided looking at Tadako.

"Maybe some people can stay behind and…and look after them," Tadako said insistently. "We can't just leave them!"

"If anyone wants to stay, again, I'm not forcing them. But unless you find a place to bury them, it's not going to be pleasant here," Yasuo said. "We were lucky so far that we had so much snow to keep it from getting nasty, but since the snow's stopped…"

Tadako blanched as she realized just what he was talking about. She suddenly found nothing to say and she stared down at the ground, looking like she wanted to cry in frustration.

"He's right, though," Ryo murmured into Jenrya's ear. "We'd be better off just focusing on saving what we can than protecting the goners."

"But we could've been them," Jenrya said softly, eyes traveling to the bodies under the sheets dotting the area. It hadn't taken him long to realize just what had been under there. Even now he could feel horror and sadness worming its way through him, especially when he remembered how he'd been found after the earthquake.

"I'd think that if we were dead, none of us would be any position to care," Ryo replied. "And anyway, we aren't."

"Are you always this depressing?" Terriermon whispered. "Seriously."

Ryo rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha, you're a real comedian," he said. But he didn't press the matter. He dropped it as the crowd began to split into disorganized groups that milled around Suma and Yasuo.

It was a good hour before everyone was ready. Janyuu shouldered the duffel bag he'd taken back from Yasuo, giving it an experimental tug and making sure it wouldn't be in any danger of sliding off. It was still early in the morning, and their breaths came out in faint white puffs in the air. Jenrya couldn't help a shiver. Despite the heavy jacket draped over his shoulders, he could feel the cold seeping through. It was an improvement over yesterday – it had been freezing for some reason – but still, it'd been a long time since he felt weather like this.

Terriermon nestled in the crook of his good arm as Janyuu gathered their little group together. He did a quick head count and nodded.

"Good, we're all here," he said. "Reika, any luck contacting that friend of yours in Hypnos?"

Reika shook her head. Of the group, she and Janyuu were the only ones with working cell phones. She had tried Kei's number, hoping maybe, just maybe Kei could drive down here, but for some reason her phone was still giving her the busy signal. Yamaki's own number had rang and rang and rang without any answer…

"Guess we're still on our own," Janyuu muttered. He clapped his hands together with forced enthusiasm. "Okay, here's the plan! We're going with the hospital group. If we're going in the direction I think we are, we should be able to check up on the Matsudas. After we get them and get to the hospital, we'll try to meet up with the Makinos. Hopefully by then things will have settled down enough that we can have room to figure it out from there."

Jenrya thought it was a shaky plan, but then again, at least it was a plan. Better than nothing. It wasn't like before, he told himself. Terriermon was back with him, and while they were for the moment homeless with everyone else here, he figured that there were some improvements over the last two days.

He willed himself not to think of Takato or the D-Reaper or Hypnos or any of the other millions of questions he had for now.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

His new diet made him sleepy.

In fact, he slept more than he used to, Black Growlmon reflected, delicately licking the last bit of blood off his claws, his serpentine tongue flicking in and out. He guessed that bakery bread only went so far and maybe he just wasn't used to having an actually full stomach. It felt nice, but at the same time made him feel very heavy, very lazy and very, very sleepy. In fact, he surprised himself by dozing off for days instead of hours, his mind in such a comfortable stupor from so much heavy food that it was almost possible to forget the buzzing bees rattling in his skull.

It had been days since he'd heard Takato's voice. Black Growlmon was getting very worried now, but he decided to stick to his plan, which essentially boiled down to "don't panic" and "don't get yourself caught".

For the past couple of days – when he wasn't sleeping off the food – he had been slowly, but steadily tracking Takato's so-called "friends". It had been hard work. Rain and snow and ash tainted the air and made it difficult to pick out the old scents. Still, he was determined to carry out the plan and while he was still full from his last meal, he could always make room for more if he did happen to come upon Jenrya and Terriermon.

His vision clouded red with rage, as it always did whenever he thought about those two. He hated Ruki and Renamon too, but at least they didn't pretend to be best friends with his Tamer, not like Jenrya and his partner.

Black Growlmon looked forward to their next reunion.

The Shadow glanced around, golden eyes flicking this way and that. He had dragged what remained of the last kill into an alley and it occurred to him now that while it was dark and sheltered, it was a poor choice looking back at it. The tangy, pungent smell of trash assaulted his sensitive nose and he grimaced, baring foot-long fangs in distaste. Despite how sleepy he felt, he doubted he could bear sleeping in this filth. He hadn't sunk that low yet.

Grunting with the effort it seemed to move his body, he stepped over the remains of his dinner and pushed himself out of the alley. It was a bit of a squeeze. Black Growlmon stepped into the street, scanning the area. He guessed that he was still a mile or so off from where he thought Jenrya's place was; he had only been there a few times with Takato before the…before the changes, but he was sure he could find it. The thought caused a shiver of pleasure to run up his spine as he imagined hunting them.

Maybe he would give them a head start once he found them, just to be sporting.

Snorting, Black Growlmon started down the side road, his thick tail stiff behind him, thick white mane rippling in the small breeze. He bent low every couple of minutes, large snout almost touching the ground as he sniffed about, making soft whuffling sounds. The scent was very faint and he spent the better part of the next three hours trying to pinpoint and follow it.

He paused, head jerking up as he heard the familiar sound of a fire truck heading his way. It wasn't in sight yet, but the wailing siren was coming closer. While he would've loved to take the truck down, he was already full, so it looked like the humans lucked out this time. Even so, there was no point in broadcasting his presence when he was closing in on Jenrya and Terriermon. No knowing who they might have on their side spying for them.

Black Growlmon took off down the side street, reptilian head bent low as he rounded a corner and headed toward an abandoned garage he spotted, hearing the sirens come even closer. He shoved himself inside.

Settling down on his powerful haunches to wait in the shadows, Black Growlmon's acid-yellow eyes narrowed to gleaming slits as he intently listened to the sounds of the fire truck. He hated traveling in daylight for exactly this reason. Humans didn't have the sense to be properly nocturnal, which meant that if he wanted to eat without tearing down houses and drawing attention, he would have to ambush his prey during daylight hours. It was risky business. While he was sure he could take care of a few humans, he wasn't so sure he could do the same if they came in full strength and started trying to overwhelm him in sheer numbers.

Black Growlmon rumbled. It was depressing once he looked at the big picture. While he didn't doubt his own strength, he knew the reality was that it wasn't limitless. Maybe if Takato was with him…but the fact was, he didn't know where Takato was or what had happened to silence him. Until he heard from Takato, he would have to play it safe. Lay low. That was the smart thing to do. Smart, but infuriating all the same.

He curled up in the darkness of the surprisingly roomy garage, feeling drowsy again. The Champion had backed himself into some cardboard boxes and shuffling them around a bit, he managed to block up the front so that he wouldn't be visible from outside. Black Growlmon rested his head on his claws. He would take a quick nap, and wait for night.

Just a quick nap, he told himself, feeling his lunch settling comfortably.

Before he knew it, Black Growlmon was dozing off, one part of him as always alert. One gleaming eye remained open even as he drifted off. It continued to slowly scan the area lazily, the black slit-pupil dilated in the darkness as it swept back and forth.

Even asleep with one eye open, he started to dream. He rarely did and when he did, he rarely remembered. There was always a vague sense of home, of comfort, of love which seemed far away and distant. That much he could recall. Sometimes it seemed like fragments of images danced just out of his grasp, but whenever he woke up, starving yet again, he could remember nothing.

This evening was different. For some reason Black Growlmon dreamt of machines, of computers, of countless rows of binary code. He dreamt of Takato and Takato wasn't far away and voiceless this time. He was very much in the flesh. Just like before. They were standing together in a bakery – Takato's old bakery – and Takato wasn't cold and abrupt like before.

For the first time in a long time, Takato talked to him as a friend, not as a weapon or a tool.

Black Growlmon gave a happy grunt and shifted over in his sleep.

To be continued
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