Guilmon and Takato went running towards the strange hole in the sky,
Renamon following behind them.
"Woah, it looks the sky is on fire!" Takato gaped, pausing to look up in wonder.
"Doesn't look like any digital field I've ever seen," Renamon told him, "but let's go!"
They continued running, heading right towards the mysterious building with its two towers. The strange man from the past couple of days was standing there, holding some type of computer device. He turned around as they approached.
"Well, look who's come to marvel at my brilliance," he gloated.
"Hurry!" Takato said to Guilmon, who had started to lag behind.
"I am!"
"Come on, we're almost there!"
"About time!"
"This doesn't look good," Takato said, as an unrecognizable digimon flew into the sky towards the hole.
The man chuckled evilly.
"What the hell's going on?" Renamon asked, watching more digimon go soaring past.
"What's happening? Guilmon, they're all leaving," Takato gasped.
"Takato." Guilmon began, as he felt his body started to be sucked towards the vortex. The man chuckled again.
"Hey, are you all right?" Takato asked, worried about his friend.
"You've got to keep it together," Renamon encouraged the digimon.
"You don't look so good, buddy," Takato said.
"Thanks a lot!' Guilmon protested. "Actually, I am feeling weird."
Guilmon's body once again stretched and phased towards the sky.
"This is bad!" Guilmon said, as more and more digimon entered the sky, heading for the portal.
"It's like some huge digimon vacuum cleaner!" Takato gaped. "What-what is happening?"
Takato and Renamon watched in horror as the digimon approaching the vortex phased once and then broke into data, which then disappeared into the hole.
"Why is this happening?" Takato wondered.
"I have a feeling he had something to do with it," Renamon growled, staring at the man.
"We had no other choice. Let's just say we're controlling an infestation. All vermin must go," the man told them, calmly and coldly.
"But you can't just destroy all the digimon! Guilmon's my best friend!" Takato protested.
"Oh really?" the man asked, walking towards Guilmon and Renamon.
"You should watch out for this little creature, lady," he told Renamon. "It's a foul beast, and it's dangerous."
"Not as foul as you are, and not nearly as dangerous as I can be," Renamon growled, sneering at the man. Guilmon added in a snarl.
"A foolish woman and a naïve little boy. This thing isn't capable of friendship," the man said, referring to Guilmon. "It's nothing more than a dangerous artificial life form"
The man started to walk away, and Takato called after him.
"Wait a minute! That's not true! Digimon are." Takato said, struggling to find the right words. "Digimon are. well they're cool, that's all, and this one happens to be my best friend! Lots of them are friendly!"
Guilmon started sniffing the air intently. He went into battle mode, pupils becoming small black dots.
"Takato. It's coming!" he said.
"About damn time!" Renamon yelled.
A blue streak came out from the hole in the sky. A bizarre light-blue field, cris-crossed by waving lines, streaked the sky itself. A digital field slowly descended from the whole, and began to envelop the building.
"Humans created us, but now we are free," a voice in the sky said, different from the one that Renamon had heard when she became human. "The time has come to claim our place in the real world! You have but one purpose, to serve the digimon!"
"No! You're wrong! Who. are you!?" the man shouted into the sky.
The voice responded, "I am only a representative of those who are to be your masters!"
"I can't let you do this! I will never be a servant to any of you data scum!" the man raged.
"It's because of you that all this happened! I should thank you. You have opened the portal to the real world for all of us!"
"If our worlds overlap, we could all be destroyed!" Takato cried, as the digital field touched the ground, covering the entire building in its fog. "We have to find a way to plug up that hole!"
"After! After the digimon has come through! It has enough power to destroy Ice Devimon! I'm sure of it! This is the chance I've been waiting for!" With that, Renamon ran off into the field, and Takato followed.
******
Henry was jogging in the direction of the hole, Terriermon in tow, when the man passed by them.
"You." the man said.
"Yeah, me," Henry said. "What do you want?"
In answer to the question, the man turned and grabbed Henry's collar, roughly lifting him in the air. Henry struggled to breathe.
"It's your fault!" the man growled.
"Huh? Leave him alone!" Terriermon told him, getting angry at his partner's treatment.
The man released Henry's collar none too gently.
"You're not worth it," he said, walking away.
Henry continued towards the digital field, where he knew Rika and Ice Devimon would be. This could very well be the chance that Renamon needed, the powerful digimon who could defeat Ice Devimon.
******
Takato, Guilmon, and Renamon all stared up towards the top of the building where the digimon had appeared. As they watched, a large shape flew overhead, using its wings to propel itself up to the top.
"Ice Devimon!" Takato said, moving his goggles back to the top of his head.
"That's the way up," Guilmon said, and Takato nodded in agreement.
"Don't go up yet!" Henry told Takato, running up to them.
"Right," Takato said, "We have to let Ice Devimon lose first."
"Is Rika here?" Henry asked.
"Of course I'm here," Rika said from a short distance away. She was still wearing her long trench coat. "Two stupid wannabe-Tamers, two pathetically weak digimon, and a delusional woman. I don't know why you even bothered to show up. Ice Devimon has got this one completely under control."
"That's what you think," Renamon said, arms folded across her chest.
"Shut up, you freak," Rika hissed, pulling out her digivice. She started watching the roof through Ice Devimon's eyes.
Ice Devimon scanned the roof, looking for his new opponent. He licked his lips in anticipation of absorbing this one's data. It just had to show up. He looked around the roof, claws at the ready.
"Come on, you piece of." Rika said, watching the display intently. "There you are."
On the display, a large head appeared, resembling that of a great tiger, except for the three horns on its head. As its entire body came into sight, they all saw that it had round shields seemingly hovering a few inches away from its thighs, each with a large spike in the center. On its back were two tiger-striped wings.
It growled as it charged at Ice Devimon, mouth open wide to bite into the fallen angel. Ice Devimon twisted his body away, and the tiger digimon's mouth bit empty air. The tiger recovered and rammed a shoulder into Ice Devimon's side, sending him sprawling.
"Get up," Rika sneered. "Get up now!"
The tiger digimon pressed its advantage, jumping onto Ice Devimon's chest and going for the neck with its jaws. Ice Devimon struggled from side to side, avoiding the snaps of the tiger's jaws.
Rika growled, pulling out a card and her digivice. "Digimodify, Speed Activate."
Ice Devimon quickly rolled out from under the tiger, slamming a claw into its side. The digimon stumbled to one side and roared in anger. It spun around, tail transforming into nun chucks.
"Samurai Tiger Tail!" it growled, smashing its now solid tail into Ice Devimon's legs, tripping the ice demon. The next shot from the tail crashed into Ice Devimon's head.
"Come on, damn you! You can beat that thing, I know you can! Show that tiger your power!"
"I pity you, you know that?" Renamon said.
"What?" Rika howled, turning angrily towards Renamon.
Back on the roof, Ice Devimon struggled to his feet under the relentless blows from the tiger's tail. He jumped into the air, flapping his wings forward.
"Avalanche!" Ice Devimon screamed, releasing ice spikes towards the tiger digimon. It jumped forward, and the spikes thudded harmlessly into the roof. Another blow from the tiger's tail sent Ice Devimon crashing to the ground.
"I pity you," Renamon said. "You think that brute force is the key to true strength. It is only the path to darkness."
"Power is the only way to gain strength!" Rika exclaimed.
"That's not true," Henry disagreed. "True strength comes from the heart, not the muscles."
Ice Devimon struggled to get back up. He fired an ice beam from his eyes, with a shout of "Tundra Freeze!" The beam washed over the tiger, and ice crystals started to form on its fur. It charged at Ice Devimon despite the freezing cold, lifting its tail above its head.
"Armored Tiger Tail!" it roared, transforming the tip into a massive metal spike, which the tiger thrust towards Ice Devimon's torso.
"Have you forgotten where real strength comes from? Have you forgotten about friendship, compassion? Love?" Renamon asked.
"I believed in love once," Rika said, scowling, "but then it stabbed me in the back. It deserted me."
"I never left you," Renamon said, moving towards Rika. "You have to understand that. It's me, Renamon."
"NO!" Rika screamed. "Renamon abandoned me! I loved her, and she just left!"
Ice Devimon broke off his attack, and caught the tiger digimon's tail in both claws as it sped towards his chest. Grabbing on tight, Ice Devimon began to turn in place, lifting the tiger into the air. Ice Devimon continued to speed up, sending the tiger through the air in a large circle. The icy digimon then released his hold, and the tiger went flying.
"I would never do that to you Rika," Renamon said. "Because I. I love you too!"
Ice Devimon drew back his claw, ready to send it at the tiger. 'Frozen!" he started, abruptly falling to one knee. He dropped kneeling to the roof, and looked down to see a gaping hole in his chest. The tiger's attack had connected.
Rika's eyes began to soften again. "Renamon." she said faintly.
"Yes," Renamon said softly. "I've been here all along."
Ice Devimon could do nothing as he watched data evaporate from his wound. He let out a strangled cry as his body began to break up. His cry turned into a scream as his body exploded into the data that had formed it.
"Damn you Rika! NOOOO!" were his last words before he vanished completely.
Sensing Ice Devimon's defeat, Guilmon and the others dashed towards the building. They still had to deal with the tiger, and they didn't want to bother Rika and Renamon.
"Renamon." Rika said again, feeling the link to Ice Devimon sever and shift. Rika's knees buckled, and she started to collapse, but Renamon rushed forward and caught Rika in her arms.
"I love you, Rika," Renamon said, smiling tenderly down at her Tamer, her beloved.
"And I love you, Renamon, but I don't know how you could ever forgive me for what I did to you, what I said," Rika said back, sobbing. "I thought you were gone for good."
Rika buried her face in Renamon's chest, her tears matting the fur. Renamon reached up and stroked Rika's hair with a three-fingered hand. She lifted Rika's head and wiped a tear from her eye with a claw.
"Of course I forgive you. And, Rika," Renamon said softly, "I will never leave you, I promise."
Rika smiled affectionately, and Renamon hugged her, bringing her in close. Rika laid her head on Renamon's shoulder, and they held each other in an intimate embrace. As Gargomon shot up towards the top of the building, Renamon looked into Rika's eyes, and knew that everything was right with the world once more.
"Woah, it looks the sky is on fire!" Takato gaped, pausing to look up in wonder.
"Doesn't look like any digital field I've ever seen," Renamon told him, "but let's go!"
They continued running, heading right towards the mysterious building with its two towers. The strange man from the past couple of days was standing there, holding some type of computer device. He turned around as they approached.
"Well, look who's come to marvel at my brilliance," he gloated.
"Hurry!" Takato said to Guilmon, who had started to lag behind.
"I am!"
"Come on, we're almost there!"
"About time!"
"This doesn't look good," Takato said, as an unrecognizable digimon flew into the sky towards the hole.
The man chuckled evilly.
"What the hell's going on?" Renamon asked, watching more digimon go soaring past.
"What's happening? Guilmon, they're all leaving," Takato gasped.
"Takato." Guilmon began, as he felt his body started to be sucked towards the vortex. The man chuckled again.
"Hey, are you all right?" Takato asked, worried about his friend.
"You've got to keep it together," Renamon encouraged the digimon.
"You don't look so good, buddy," Takato said.
"Thanks a lot!' Guilmon protested. "Actually, I am feeling weird."
Guilmon's body once again stretched and phased towards the sky.
"This is bad!" Guilmon said, as more and more digimon entered the sky, heading for the portal.
"It's like some huge digimon vacuum cleaner!" Takato gaped. "What-what is happening?"
Takato and Renamon watched in horror as the digimon approaching the vortex phased once and then broke into data, which then disappeared into the hole.
"Why is this happening?" Takato wondered.
"I have a feeling he had something to do with it," Renamon growled, staring at the man.
"We had no other choice. Let's just say we're controlling an infestation. All vermin must go," the man told them, calmly and coldly.
"But you can't just destroy all the digimon! Guilmon's my best friend!" Takato protested.
"Oh really?" the man asked, walking towards Guilmon and Renamon.
"You should watch out for this little creature, lady," he told Renamon. "It's a foul beast, and it's dangerous."
"Not as foul as you are, and not nearly as dangerous as I can be," Renamon growled, sneering at the man. Guilmon added in a snarl.
"A foolish woman and a naïve little boy. This thing isn't capable of friendship," the man said, referring to Guilmon. "It's nothing more than a dangerous artificial life form"
The man started to walk away, and Takato called after him.
"Wait a minute! That's not true! Digimon are." Takato said, struggling to find the right words. "Digimon are. well they're cool, that's all, and this one happens to be my best friend! Lots of them are friendly!"
Guilmon started sniffing the air intently. He went into battle mode, pupils becoming small black dots.
"Takato. It's coming!" he said.
"About damn time!" Renamon yelled.
A blue streak came out from the hole in the sky. A bizarre light-blue field, cris-crossed by waving lines, streaked the sky itself. A digital field slowly descended from the whole, and began to envelop the building.
"Humans created us, but now we are free," a voice in the sky said, different from the one that Renamon had heard when she became human. "The time has come to claim our place in the real world! You have but one purpose, to serve the digimon!"
"No! You're wrong! Who. are you!?" the man shouted into the sky.
The voice responded, "I am only a representative of those who are to be your masters!"
"I can't let you do this! I will never be a servant to any of you data scum!" the man raged.
"It's because of you that all this happened! I should thank you. You have opened the portal to the real world for all of us!"
"If our worlds overlap, we could all be destroyed!" Takato cried, as the digital field touched the ground, covering the entire building in its fog. "We have to find a way to plug up that hole!"
"After! After the digimon has come through! It has enough power to destroy Ice Devimon! I'm sure of it! This is the chance I've been waiting for!" With that, Renamon ran off into the field, and Takato followed.
******
Henry was jogging in the direction of the hole, Terriermon in tow, when the man passed by them.
"You." the man said.
"Yeah, me," Henry said. "What do you want?"
In answer to the question, the man turned and grabbed Henry's collar, roughly lifting him in the air. Henry struggled to breathe.
"It's your fault!" the man growled.
"Huh? Leave him alone!" Terriermon told him, getting angry at his partner's treatment.
The man released Henry's collar none too gently.
"You're not worth it," he said, walking away.
Henry continued towards the digital field, where he knew Rika and Ice Devimon would be. This could very well be the chance that Renamon needed, the powerful digimon who could defeat Ice Devimon.
******
Takato, Guilmon, and Renamon all stared up towards the top of the building where the digimon had appeared. As they watched, a large shape flew overhead, using its wings to propel itself up to the top.
"Ice Devimon!" Takato said, moving his goggles back to the top of his head.
"That's the way up," Guilmon said, and Takato nodded in agreement.
"Don't go up yet!" Henry told Takato, running up to them.
"Right," Takato said, "We have to let Ice Devimon lose first."
"Is Rika here?" Henry asked.
"Of course I'm here," Rika said from a short distance away. She was still wearing her long trench coat. "Two stupid wannabe-Tamers, two pathetically weak digimon, and a delusional woman. I don't know why you even bothered to show up. Ice Devimon has got this one completely under control."
"That's what you think," Renamon said, arms folded across her chest.
"Shut up, you freak," Rika hissed, pulling out her digivice. She started watching the roof through Ice Devimon's eyes.
Ice Devimon scanned the roof, looking for his new opponent. He licked his lips in anticipation of absorbing this one's data. It just had to show up. He looked around the roof, claws at the ready.
"Come on, you piece of." Rika said, watching the display intently. "There you are."
On the display, a large head appeared, resembling that of a great tiger, except for the three horns on its head. As its entire body came into sight, they all saw that it had round shields seemingly hovering a few inches away from its thighs, each with a large spike in the center. On its back were two tiger-striped wings.
It growled as it charged at Ice Devimon, mouth open wide to bite into the fallen angel. Ice Devimon twisted his body away, and the tiger digimon's mouth bit empty air. The tiger recovered and rammed a shoulder into Ice Devimon's side, sending him sprawling.
"Get up," Rika sneered. "Get up now!"
The tiger digimon pressed its advantage, jumping onto Ice Devimon's chest and going for the neck with its jaws. Ice Devimon struggled from side to side, avoiding the snaps of the tiger's jaws.
Rika growled, pulling out a card and her digivice. "Digimodify, Speed Activate."
Ice Devimon quickly rolled out from under the tiger, slamming a claw into its side. The digimon stumbled to one side and roared in anger. It spun around, tail transforming into nun chucks.
"Samurai Tiger Tail!" it growled, smashing its now solid tail into Ice Devimon's legs, tripping the ice demon. The next shot from the tail crashed into Ice Devimon's head.
"Come on, damn you! You can beat that thing, I know you can! Show that tiger your power!"
"I pity you, you know that?" Renamon said.
"What?" Rika howled, turning angrily towards Renamon.
Back on the roof, Ice Devimon struggled to his feet under the relentless blows from the tiger's tail. He jumped into the air, flapping his wings forward.
"Avalanche!" Ice Devimon screamed, releasing ice spikes towards the tiger digimon. It jumped forward, and the spikes thudded harmlessly into the roof. Another blow from the tiger's tail sent Ice Devimon crashing to the ground.
"I pity you," Renamon said. "You think that brute force is the key to true strength. It is only the path to darkness."
"Power is the only way to gain strength!" Rika exclaimed.
"That's not true," Henry disagreed. "True strength comes from the heart, not the muscles."
Ice Devimon struggled to get back up. He fired an ice beam from his eyes, with a shout of "Tundra Freeze!" The beam washed over the tiger, and ice crystals started to form on its fur. It charged at Ice Devimon despite the freezing cold, lifting its tail above its head.
"Armored Tiger Tail!" it roared, transforming the tip into a massive metal spike, which the tiger thrust towards Ice Devimon's torso.
"Have you forgotten where real strength comes from? Have you forgotten about friendship, compassion? Love?" Renamon asked.
"I believed in love once," Rika said, scowling, "but then it stabbed me in the back. It deserted me."
"I never left you," Renamon said, moving towards Rika. "You have to understand that. It's me, Renamon."
"NO!" Rika screamed. "Renamon abandoned me! I loved her, and she just left!"
Ice Devimon broke off his attack, and caught the tiger digimon's tail in both claws as it sped towards his chest. Grabbing on tight, Ice Devimon began to turn in place, lifting the tiger into the air. Ice Devimon continued to speed up, sending the tiger through the air in a large circle. The icy digimon then released his hold, and the tiger went flying.
"I would never do that to you Rika," Renamon said. "Because I. I love you too!"
Ice Devimon drew back his claw, ready to send it at the tiger. 'Frozen!" he started, abruptly falling to one knee. He dropped kneeling to the roof, and looked down to see a gaping hole in his chest. The tiger's attack had connected.
Rika's eyes began to soften again. "Renamon." she said faintly.
"Yes," Renamon said softly. "I've been here all along."
Ice Devimon could do nothing as he watched data evaporate from his wound. He let out a strangled cry as his body began to break up. His cry turned into a scream as his body exploded into the data that had formed it.
"Damn you Rika! NOOOO!" were his last words before he vanished completely.
Sensing Ice Devimon's defeat, Guilmon and the others dashed towards the building. They still had to deal with the tiger, and they didn't want to bother Rika and Renamon.
"Renamon." Rika said again, feeling the link to Ice Devimon sever and shift. Rika's knees buckled, and she started to collapse, but Renamon rushed forward and caught Rika in her arms.
"I love you, Rika," Renamon said, smiling tenderly down at her Tamer, her beloved.
"And I love you, Renamon, but I don't know how you could ever forgive me for what I did to you, what I said," Rika said back, sobbing. "I thought you were gone for good."
Rika buried her face in Renamon's chest, her tears matting the fur. Renamon reached up and stroked Rika's hair with a three-fingered hand. She lifted Rika's head and wiped a tear from her eye with a claw.
"Of course I forgive you. And, Rika," Renamon said softly, "I will never leave you, I promise."
Rika smiled affectionately, and Renamon hugged her, bringing her in close. Rika laid her head on Renamon's shoulder, and they held each other in an intimate embrace. As Gargomon shot up towards the top of the building, Renamon looked into Rika's eyes, and knew that everything was right with the world once more.
