Disclaimer: Digimon does not belong to me. All characters and items within are all based around both the television show and the card game. None of these belong to me. (though I wish they did, like probably everyone else...)

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It's very important for you all to know. This story has been majorly been redone. If you have the chance, you may want to re-read the previous chapters, because they will not be was you remember them (at least for the most part).

Sorry this was so late in coming out.

Geuna~

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A Meeting Of Tamers

By Lady Geuna

Rated: PG

Summary: There is the Dark World, Dream World, Digital World, Real World, and the Tamer World. But what if Takato of the Tamer World discovers a key that could force all the worlds into one? The balance of the very worlds will shift like no one would've ever expected.

Another Universe, but mostly canon. Takes place some time before they meet Ryou and the Devas, and before their digimon are able to digivolve to Ultimate.

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"..." speech

'....' thoughts

/.../ around a SENTENCE will mean a flashback or memory.

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Chapter Six: Understanding and learning...

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A few minutes after Ryou and the others had left, Ken and Ruki stood there in an uncomfortable (at least in Ken's opinion) silence. Then, finally, Ruki turned to Renamon, saying, "Make sure they don't hang around. I don't trust them to not the poke their noses into things." Renamon nodded, stealing one last glance at Wormmon, and disappeared.

Ken found this very interesting. "How can she disappear like that? What type of digimon is she?"

"She's Renamon," was all she said, as if that was the full and obvious answer. "You might as well find the guest room. It's down the hall. And don't go poking through any doors, my Grandmother will probably end up attacking you and your worm." Ken hide his offence to her referring to Wormmon as "worm", obeying her command. As long as he was a guest, he would be polite....

"Kindness".... What was that saying...? Oh yeah... "You're greatest strength will often be your greatest weakness".

'Wish I could've gone with Ryou...'

"You can borrow some of my pajamas," she continued without missing a beat, glancing up and down the hall quickly, as if to check if anyone was up. "I'm sure I have clean pair somewhere."

Ken blushed slightly. "Borrow your pajamas...? Won't they be a bit small...?"

Ruki eyed him up and down, then looked him in the face. "I don't think you'll have much of a problem."

He wasn't sure whether to be insulted or what, but before Ken could protest, she had already disappeared into the dark hall. Ken stood there a moment, then bent down to pick up Wormmon, who looked like he was itching to be held.

"Why did Ryou and Chibimon have to leave," Wormmon asked sadly, nuzzling Ken's still damp shirt. "Chibimon should be with Daisuke. And Ryou. It's been so long since we've seen him..."

"I know, but it was inconvenient for our new friends. You understand." He smiled, forcing himself to brighten up. "And we'll get Chibimon back to Daisuke soon enough... And Ryou back to Monodramon, okay? Now let's go find that room, shall we?" He too stepped into the darkened hall.

Ken hadn't been in a traditional Japanese house for a while, but to him it was like going through a wooden tunnel. Had it be daytime, it might've looked cheerful. In the dark the colors were dulled, making the place look sad....

Ken didn't really care for darkness...

The floorboards made no sound as to headed down the hall. He hadn't been told in which direction the room might be found, but his guess would be to the right. He passed a kitchen, and a few other sliding door rooms, but he was too nervous to open them, fearing the potential attack of a angry grandmother. The image of a old women running after him, welding a bloom over her head make him almost laugh, but he held it back.

Finally, after the hall took a left turn, to came across the absolute late door. 'Okay, this must be it...'

Taking a deep breath, be carefully slide the door open, looking inside. It was complete blackness as far as he could tell, as he felt his along the wall for a light switch. After his hand bumped into two small picture frames, he found it, clicking it on. The room was flooded with the faint white glow of a ceiling light.

The room was very simply and plain (much like Ruki's room), with a few boxes lines up against the far wall near the dresser. A rolled up futon lay in the center of the room. Wormmon settled on Ken's shoulder for a moment as he bent over and unrolled the cloth, sending up a thin cloud of dust. This room hadn't been used in a long time...

"Doesn't look very welcoming, does it?"

Wormmon jumped from Ken's shoulder and onto the floor, landing with a soft thump, crawling onto the futon. "It's not so bad, Ken-chan." He curled up on the blue fabric, his eyes shining contently.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Or course you don't think it's that bad, your ideal place to sleep is up in a tree."

Ken felt someone tap him on the shoulder, and he jumped, spinning around, but it was only Ruki holding a black flannel night set. She dumped to load into his arms before he could even open his mouth. As he silently appraised the clothes, he said, "You thought I was going to give you a nightgown or something, didn't you?"

"No," he lied quickly, but for some reason Ken knew that she wouldn't believe him. He brought the pajamas into the room and set them next to Wormmon, who had fallen asleep already. 'Poor thing's tired the battling....' He eyed the night set questionably at he picked it up. They did look like they would fit him. They looked big enough for Ryou, even. "Are these your father's?"

He knew immediately that he said something wrong, judging by the way Ruki stiffened, her eyes narrowing. "I live with my mom."

Ken didn't want to venture so far as to ask whether her father was dead or just gone, he the very idea was simply out of the question. So he tried saying something, to break the silence that had settled upon them. "Then these are... your pajamas...?"

Ruki's expression had "softened" (if you can even call it that) a little, but the look she was giving him was still very stern. "What? You expect because I'm a girl to where something pink of frilly?"

Images of Mimi flashed in his head, and once again to kept himself from laughing aloud. "Um, no..." Well, she did seem like a real tomboy, so it wasn't all that surprising. But how could one young girl be so hard and cold...? It even reached her eyes...

"Yeah right." She left the room again, but called back so quietly that Ken had to strain to hear, "Just get changed, okay?"

Ken groaned. "Yeah, Wormmon," he mutter sarcastically, "this isn't all that bad..." The he began to quickly from his still very damp clothes, at least feeling thankful that he would be wearing something warm and dry again...

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Ruki starred down the hall towards the guest room, arms crossed, leaning against the wall. The dark didn't bother her at all. She waited... Then she knew.

"Come out, Renamon."

In a yellow flash, her partner was at her side, her fur shockingly visible even in the shadow (but it was only like that when Renamon wanted to be seen, Ruki had figured...). "They're all gone," Renamon confirmed for her, her eyes set on Ruki. Ruki didn't say anything in response, still starring down the hallway. It was an easy silence... Ruki didn't like talking anyway. Then she turned and entered her room. As expected, Renamon followed and closed the door behind them. "Why did you let the boy stay, Ruki?"

Ruki tensed slightly, then gave a small smiled. 'It's odd sometimes how she can read my thoughts...'

"I don't know," she whispered, looking away from Renamon, not wanting to meet her gaze. If she did, than

Renamon would be able to look into her soul... A thing that she didn't want anyone to see... Too afraid of what it might be like... "I guess it has something to do with you."

Renamon's ears perked slightly, a sign of faint surprise, then they lowered again. "Me? What do you mean?"

"You said I should let them come here... That they might be hiding something... Ichijouji and Akiyama were very open, though..." She shrugged. "I suppose... Both of these guys are weird... Ryou is the same as ever ("And I still can't stand him..."), and this Ichijouji.... I mean, he came out of a television show. Or at least that's what Takato and Lee say. And you," she looked at Renamon now, almost suspiciously. "You keep looking at that 'worm'." A funny idea came to mind, the edges of her lips curling slightly. "You don't have a crush on that Stingmon, do you?"

Renamon seemed unfazed my the comment, but her eyes had flickered slightly. She got that look in her eye every time she met a new opponent in battle... "Of course not." She looked away toward the door. "I just sense something..." Ruki was going to comment on this, but Renamon added, "And you're acting strangely with Ryou."

Ruki's eyes widen, then her face scrunched into a scowl. She could feel her face heating. "He's... he's a jerk... But he's different I suppose. There's something very different about him..." There must be, if he was about to beat her in a card tournament... Something no one before him had ever done. Urgh, she hated the way Renamon was watching her so intently...

No, she didn't "like" Ryou, not in that way. Or at least she didn't want to... But when again... she had backed down from denying them permission to come to her home... It made Ruki feel weak... It was embarrassing... Lee and Takato would get the wrong idea.

'Weakling....'

She shivered, a sudden chill touching her spin. What was that...? Ruki remembered something like that happening when Icedevimon was around... But he was long gone....

Ruki soon realized that she'd taken to long to answer. "It's nothing like that," Ruki continued quickly, turning away. "You don't have anything to worry about, really."

Renamon was silent, Ruki could tell she was thinking, then said sighed... sadly?

Ruki looked at her partner, surprised. "Renamon...?"

"I am afraid for you, Ruki," Renamon said quietly. "I feel that things are going to happen... Bad things... Something will try to take you from me again, and I might not be strong enough to protect you." She stood, walking for the door. The shadows seemed to follow and wrap around her. "But I will try, even if I am destroyed in the process....."

Ruki was feeling confused, a pang of fear hitting her. What could possibly be so terrible that even Renamon was afraid to battle...? Would another digimon come along and try to clam her as their Tamer? What? "What is it? What's coming...?" Renamon didn't respond. "Renamon?"

"Even I don't know what it is, Ruki... But maybe these boys do."

Ichijouji and Akiyama...? What would they know? Are they hiding something after all?

"Trust them, Ruki. I believe they can be trusted..." Then she was gone, leaving Ruki to wonder what she'd meant....

She sighed, closing her eyes. "I'll trust you Renamon..."

"What?"

Ruki's eyes shot open to find Ken standing in the doorway wearing the pajamas she'd brought him. They were oversized and bunched up at the sleeves and at his feet, but that hardly mattered.

She frowned. "Is there something you need?"

Ken looked unsure for a moment, but gave her a warm, friendly smile. This was a sudden change from the quiet politeness he'd displayed a moment ago... Why the sudden change? Ruki then noticed Ken held something in his hand. A card deck bound tightly by a rubber band...

"Where'd you get that," she demanded, pointing at the object in question. It was her old digimon card deck. She hadn't used it in ages... Ruki kept a lot of her old stuff in boxes in the guest room, but Ken must've found it amongst the junk...

Ken looked down at the deck in his hand, holding it up. "I was wondering it you could tell me about this."

Ruki eyed him for a moment... He didn't look like a threat really... But he was unusually... nice (harmless, even). But not in a regular way, it was... Something...

She found herself feeling very uncomfortable at he waited for her to answer patently. "It's a card game, if you must know. A digimon card game."

Ken's smile widened. "It's so strange," he looked at the deck, reading over the front of the first card on top, "it's like I'm in a dream or something... I don't think anyone in my would has thought of a card came yet, just a video game..."

Just kick him out, make him go away, back to his room... But she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Can you show me how to play," he asked.

Ruki blinked. "What?"

"Can you show me how to play," he repeated, his smile fading a bit. "I thought it might be fun..." Ken looked suddenly embarrassed, his eyes shifting toward the floor. "You know..."

Ruki felt tired, very tired in fact. "Why don't you go to sleep or something? Where's the wor-Wormmon." She corrected herself at the last moment, which made Ken's eyes light up for some reason. 'Why am I being so nice to him...?' Takato may be haven't more of a effect on her personality than she thought...

"Wormmon's asleep," he explained. Ken stood just outside the room, and didn't look like he was going to enter unless invited. "I'm not too tired anymore..." He smiled sheepishly. "Well, considering it's probably about 7:00 a.m. in the summertime where I'm from, my circadian rhythm's a bit off..." He waved the cards at her hopefully. "I can't hurt, can it?"

Silence....

/"Trust them, Ruki..."/

'Renamon....'

Finally, she let out a long, low groan, snatching the cards from his hand. "I can't believe I'm doing this..."

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Lee smiled welcomingly as he opened the door to his room, clicking on the light switch. "Here it is. I can make a place to sleep on the floor. You can have the bed."

Ryou stepped inside, looking around. "Thanks, but I can take the floor..."

"It's only polite," Lee said simply, heading right for the bed. He began pulling it apart and removing the covers and blankets. "Are your clothes still wet?" He noted that Ryou was still trembling from being out in the cold again. He was going to die of pneumonia or something... Sure, Lee was still wet, but at least he had a few layers of protection on. Ryou only had a shirt and pants and no jacket. "You should change into something warm..." He threw the blankets to the floor, placing a very tired Terriermon down on them. He smiled. "You look exhausted, Terriermon."

In response Terriermon yawned loudly and slumped down into the brackets.

Lee chuckled at this, glancing over to Ryou. "I'll look for extra blankets and pillows. Just whatever you do, make sure you don't end up waking my sister. If she ever sees Chibimon, act like he's a stuffed animal."

Ryou nodded. "Sure." He placed his bag on the floor, cradling a sleeping Chibimon in his arms. Chibimon snored gently, his mouth wide open. But Ryou only smiled endearingly at this behavior. This reminded Lee of himself was with Terriermon at times...

"I'll be right back." Lee left the room quickly to look for futon, if he could find a clean one. Walking so he didn't make too much noise, he reached the closet and began looking around. After finding three extra blankets and a pillow, he slipped into his father's room to grab a pair of night clothes. Lee's would probably be too small for Ryou. The boy didn't seem that much older than him, but he was taller, and of a wider build. But his father's would surly fit fairly well enough for him.

Mr. Lee wouldn't be back until late. It seems that tonight was one of "those nights" where he would have to work late (Mr. Lee had left him a note on the door), probably due to the mass power outage. His father wouldn't mind having a guest over, anyway. It'd been a while since Lee had invited anyone over to stay.

After grabbing a few items from his father's dresser, Lee returned to his room to find that Ryou had set Chibimon on his bed. The digimon was fast asleep, murmuring incoherently (drooling onto the blankets... urk...). Terriermon was also fast asleep on the floor, one of his ears tucked around himself like a blanket. Ryou sat on the floor right next to the bed, frowning as he examined his laptop carefully. It looked ruined...

Lee spoke up quietly as to not startle Ryou. "Can you fix it...?"

Ryou nodded, but didn't looked up or appear "startled" in any way. "If I can get to right replacement parts for the ones that fried. The system was still running when it got wet, so..." He grimaced slightly as he turned the machine a bit sideways. Drops on water were seen falling form its edge. "I don't know how much water's in there, but I'm surprised. I thought it could handle something like that a lot better. But I have had it for a long time..." He trailed off for a moment before cursing. "I think the Mother Board's dead... I'll need a new one." The expression on his face of that of disappointment, but now necessary of loss.

Lee didn't know too much about computers (Well, at least not as much as his dad), but he did know what a Mother Board is. "Dad may have one or two from work. I'm not sure if they're the right ones, but you can ask when he gets back." He dumped the sheets and clothes down into the floor.

Ryou look up this time, smiling. "What sort of computer stuff does your father do?"

He shrugged, picking up his dad's pajamas. They were nothing more than plaid pants and a sweater, but they were warm. "He helped originally designed the digimon computer games," he explained, earning an extremely surprised look from Ryou. "Now he does a lot of programming and things like that..." Lee offered the clothes to Ryou. "Here, you really need to get out of those clothes."

Ryou took the clothes and nodded, glancing down at himself. "I'm fine, really. I mean I don't think I'll get sick." He set his dead laptop aside and stood, looking down at his own wet clothes. "Should I go to the bathroom, or...?"

Lee turned away. "You can just change, I won't look." He quickly busied himself with unbuttoning his winter jacket. He had rushed out earlier that night without bothering to change into regular clothes. Now Lee hurried to his closet to find new pajamas for himself. He quickly discarded his still damp night clothes and replaced them with new ones. It only took a second, and when he looked back, he found that Ryou was dressed as well and back to fiddling with his laptop.

Ryou's wet clothes were draped over his desk chair. Lee had been right, his dad's clothes were a little oversized for Ryou, but not by much. The neck of the sweater was a little wide, and the pants nearly covered his feet they were so long, but Ryou didn't seem to care in the slightest. Not only that, but is was as if he were trying to ignore everything. Ryou seemed determined not to look at him. Something about the way he was fiddling with his useless laptop gave Lee the impression that he was nervous. Maybe he wasn't comfortable being at Lee's house?

Tentatively, Lee sat down on the floor next to the sleeping Terriermon, a few feet away from Ryou. "I'm sorry about your machine." This didn't get him a response, however. Ryou just gave a small noise, indicating that he indeed had heard Lee, but that was it. ".... You can use my computer if you want."

This made Ryou look up, surprised. "Can I? You wouldn't mind?"

Lee smiled. "Of course. You can do whatever you want... Just don't open any random digiports..." Ryou gave him a soar look, but was silent, gazing at the floor again. Lee really wanted to know what he was thinking... "What...?

"I'm not used to this," he said quietly. "Being at someone's house.... and with someone I hardly know. With Monodramon somewhere, probably in trouble..." Ryou trailed off, but in a moment he stood, setting his laptop aside and took a seat at Lee's computer. He turned on the modem, letting it warm up. "Thanks."

There was a long silence where Lee got himself comfortable among his blankets, careful not to disturb Terriermon. He wanted to sleep, but his mind was still very awake (if that made any sense). The computer loaded, and he listened to the rapid clicking and shifting of the mouse.

Lee wanted to talk to him, wanted to know him. It wasn't everyday something like this happens... That a cartoon comes jumping into the real world.

He glanced at Terriermon and smirked.

A human character, anyway... Though, Ken was the only one really "not of this world". Ryou liked in Hokkaido... He had seemed to nice and even cheerful when Ken was there, but now Ryou was so quiet, so closed... He hadn't tried making a conversation during the whole time they'd been around each other, even though it hadn't been long. Even Takato hadn't gotten that much out of Ryou... He seemed so down after leaving Ken at Ruki's house...

Lee was beginning to see how true it was that this Akiyama Ryou was the same one from the game... Exactly. It was unreal. The knowledge of computers, the quietness... His protectiveness of Ken...

And all at once, something clicked in Lee's head. "You don't trust us, do you, Ryou?"

Silence.

Lee looked up to find that Ryou's hand had stilled over the mouse before moving again. Ryou's voice was calm and even as he spoke, "I have no reason to... Sorry."

He felt a small chill run down his spin. Lee couldn't help but be both offended and unnerved by Ryou's words. "And what about Ken...?"

"What about Ken?"

"You trust him."

"Ken..." Ryou smiled faintly. "He has my trust." He glanced at Lee with a warning look, as it daring him to consider that Ken could be untrustworthy. "And I still don't like that he was left with Ruki." His distrust and even slight dislike for Ruki was obvious even now.

"But we haven't done anything to you."

"Not yet you haven't." Lee wasn't sure how to respond to this, then Ryou continued. "I've known people--who I trusted with my life--that betrayed me and left be to a possibly horrible fate.... I thought they were my friends, but..." He stopped suddenly, and there was silence again.

Lee didn't know what to say... Then he remembered Ryou in one of the video games... The D-1 Tournament. Right after Ken was hit by the Dark Seed, and Ryou took care of him. Then Millenniumon dragged him away or something, and Ryou entered the Tournament, but it was all a set up... Gennai, Taichi, Mimi, Koushiro, all of them were in on it... He had to fight Moon=Millenniumon....

That sort of thing takes time to get over...

Lee sighed, laying back on his bed. Ryou took no notice of him, but Lee said, "Goodnight, Akiyama-san," before letting his thoughts follow him into sleep.

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After a few minutes, Ryou glanced back to see if the boy had fallen asleep yet. He smirked slightly in satisfaction to find that he was indeed fast asleep on the floor, Terriermon close to him. Chibimon was curled up on a pillow, nesting quietly.

Turning back to the screen, he starred at it for a time... Thinking...

So much had happened to Ken while he was gone... A lot of things that he didn't know about... And Ken clearly didn't remember everything that happened, otherwise he wouldn't have been so happy to see Ryou again... Ken had too many reasons to hate him...

But from Ryou understood, the answers were at his fingertips... He could just go to "search" on the computer, and type "digimon", "Ichijouji Ken", and find any sorta of information he wanted... Find out exactly what had happened after he had to leave Ken alone with the Millenniummon's Dark Seed... After the Digital World he returned to with Monodramon changed from what it had been...

Though... that's not the way he wasn't to find out... If anything, he wanted Ken to be the one to tell him everything... To explain things to him.

Shaking his head, Ryou abandoned the thought of searching for Ken's past on the internet, and instead went in search for a good online chat room... He was sure this computer had at least on or two games to help kill the times as well. Something to take his mind off of reality (as crazy as it always was) just for a little bit.

To take his mind off the bond between him and Ken... How their hearts were beating as one once more..

No, that would wait. At least until tomorrow...

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"Are you sure?" Yamaki looked between the photographs taken by operatives that night while the boy walked along the streets with the Jenrya Lee boy. "Are you positive?"

"Absolutely, sire. The boy goes by the name of Akiyama Ryou. His current residency is in Hokkaido."

Yamaki huffed. "I bit far from home, isn't he?" He threw these pictures aside, leaning back in his seat. "And the other boy? What of him?"

"We... haven't been able to get a good look at him, sir. None of us can risk nearing the residence if those creatures around about. I'm sure if he leaves the girls house we will be able to identify him."

"I'm sure..."

Silence....

"Sir...? If we are unable to positively identify him... If it turns out he doesn't 'exist'..."

Yamaki gave the man a hard look. "Then I want him obtained immediately for questioning. If he-it, is not of this world, Hypnos would very much like to know from what world he does come from..."

"But sir, that's kidnap-"

"It isn't a kidnapping if he doesn't exist in the first place. I have my orders, and you have yours. Do your job unless you want trouble."

".... Yes sir..."

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To be Continued in Chapter Seven: The Real World...

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So....? What do you think? New "look"? (heeh) REVIEW if you have the chance!

Oh, and I have one beta reader, but I don't know how often she will be able to do it for me. Would anyone be willing to be a beta for future chapters, or willing to beta the ones I've already written? It would be a great help, really. If so and you're a registered author, please send a review, or if not, please send an email. Thanks.

I'm starting college in barely a week, so I don't know how long it will take me to get another chapter out. Please be patent. And thank you to all who've reviewed!

Geuna~