Chapter 5: Tamer Hunting

They all yelled as they landed back in the hole in Guilmon's hideout. Their bodies were on top of one another as they groaned from landing. Neo crawled out of the hole, not too pleased with being squished by a bunch of humanized digimon bodies.

"Man, we gotta find an easier way of doin' this," he said.

Once everyone untangled their bodies and got out of the hideout, they pondered on what to do.

"So how are we going to do this?" Matsu asked.

"Carefully. Azulongmon said it's been one year since our so-called 'deaths' so we must take this with great care. Once we mess with their minds a bit, we can probably get through to them that it's us instead of some kids trying to play a sick joke," Leo said.

"All right then. Let's go," Guy said.

"Yeah! Let's go Tamer hunting!" Matsu said.

Kimi sighed and said, "How I put up living with you as a digimon I do not know."

"Leo, is it ok if I come with you? I've been with Jeri since you died and I'm sure she was awfully sad when I left," said Cal.

Leo nodded and said, "Of course."

Leo and Cal headed in one direction while Matsu and Kimi went in another. Yukio had an idea where Kazu and Kenta might be, so he took Angel and headed toward the park. Guy went towards the Matsuki bakery, leaving only Rachel and Neo.

"Aren't you going?" Rachel asked.

"Nah. I don't think my tamers will believe me if I try to persuade them. Besides, their parents might think I'm abducting them or something. I guess I'll wait until my digimon form is complete. Until then, I'll check up on the little guys."

"You want to come with me?"

Neo looked at her, taken aback by her offer.

"Why?"

"The human families we were staying with don't remember us now because now we remember everything. You need someplace to stay and I'm sure Rika won't mind once we tell and explain to her who we are."

Neo was unsure of this. He couldn't believe that she was being nice to her but then again…

"Oh fine. I guess it's ok."

She nodded and led the way to Rika's house. It was a good distance away but it only took about 10 minutes to get there. Rachel hesitated on knocking on the door.

'What if she doesn't believe me?' she thought.

"What are you waitin' for?" Neo asked.

Rachel took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few minutes later, Rika's grandmother came to the door.

"Yes? May I help you?" she asked.

"Ummm…yes. Is Rika home?" Rachel asked.

"Of course. Just a minute."

She left to go find Rika and soon Rika came to the door. She looked at them and she had never seen them before, so she wondered why her grandma had said there were a couple of kids that knew her at the door. She closed the door as she stepped outside and crossed her arms, waiting for an explanation. Rachel looked at her and smiled. She hasn't changed at all. She still wore the same clothes and from the way she was looking at them she had the same attitude.

"All right. Who are you and what do you want?" Rika asked.

Rachel sighed and said, "Rika, I'm not sure if you're going to believe this or not but…you know who I am."

"What?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"What I'm trying to say is…well…Renamon didn't die."

Rika's eyes suddenly went big. 'How does she know about Renamon and on top of that how did she know they died?'

"Look, I don't know who you are or what kind of trick you're trying to pull on me, but I'm not going to listen to this."

"But it is me Rika. Please just let me explain…"

"Why? So you can fill my mind with nonsense? Go away and don't come back here, got it?"

"But Rika…"

"Just go!"

Rika turned around and was about to leave when another voice sounded behind her.

"Hey! What about the time that Impmon was hurt and you went and saved him even though you could miss the trip back home?"

Rika stopped and gasped. She did remember that but how could anyone know that? She turned around and saw that the boy had stepped forward and was now talking to her.

"Rika, this isn't a joke. This is really Renamon. Just let us explain, please."

Rika looked at him and then something about him reminded her of someone. She shook it off and decided to at least get an answer from them.

"Ok. You have 30 seconds."

"When we died, Azulongmon made a wish that we were revived. Unfortunately we had to be revived as humans instead of digimon because our digimon forms had to be completed by Azulongmon. We've been humans for one year but we didn't remember that we were digimon or who you guys were until recently. Azulongmon made us remember and now we're trying to get back with our tamers," Neo said.

Rika looked at them, soaking in the information. They couldn't have made this up because no one knows about Azulongmon and the memory that the boy had said earlier.

"It's really me, Rika. Look at your digivice," Rachel said.

Even though the digimon had died, Rika still held on to her D-Arc and kept it clipped on her pants. She pulled it out and gasped when she saw that it was no longer static. Instead it had a compass indicating where Renamon was. The compass had stopped and was pointing directly at the girl. No one could fake this she knew it. Tears welled up in her eyes as she ran up to her humanized partner.

"Renamon!"

They hugged each other as tears were shed from missing each other for so long. Neo just stood there watching the scene.

"Man you guys really need to ease up on the waterworks, ya know?"

Rika smiled as she stopped hugging Renamon and wiped her eyes dry. She knew now who it was.

"You know, even though you're human you still act the same Impmon."

Neo/Impmon smiled and said, "Yeah, I know."

"Rika, the others went to their tamers too. Do you think you could call them to see if they believe them?" Rachel/Renamon asked.

Rika nodded and said, "Ok. Let's go inside and I'll make the phone calls. This is going to be a long day."

"You're not him! You're not Guilmon! He's dead and there's nothing you can say to change my mind!" Takato screamed.

"But Takato…" Guy said.

"No! Just go away!"

Takato slammed the door in the boy's face. He was upset but angry at the same time. It was a good thing his parents weren't home or they would wonder why he was yelling. He calmed himself down as the phone started to ring. He walked over to it and picked up the phone.

"Matsuki residence."

"Hey Takato. It's Rika."

Takato could hardly believe it. Rika hasn't called since Reapermon destroyed their partners and that had been one year ago. Why was she calling now?

"Hey Rika. What's up?"

"Not much. What's wrong? You sound aggravated."

"A kid came by and told me he was Guilmon. I wasn't too happy about it though."

He heard Rika sigh and say, "Takato, that was Guilmon."

"What are you talking about Rika? Guilmon's dead as well as Renamon and…"

"No Takato. I know it's hard to believe but they're alive. Azulongmon revived them as humans so he could put them back in their digimon forms once they were ready. They didn't remember us until Azulongmon made them remember. If you don't believe me, look at your digivice."

"Fine. Hold on a sec."

He gently put the phone down and ran up to his room. On his desk were his old digimon cards and his D-Arc. He picked up his D-Arc and looked at it. The compass was going nuts on it and Takato knew what this meant. He went back downstairs and saw the kid still standing there. He pointed his D-Arc at him and the D-Arc's compass stopped, indicating that was Guilmon.

"Rika, you're right. They are back."

"Glad you finally believed me, goggle head. Well, gotta go. I have to make other phone calls. See ya!"

"Ok. Bye."

He hung up the phone and opened the door back up. The boy looked at him with hope in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Guilmon. I didn't realize it was you."

"It's all right Takato. Hey, can I have some bread with peanut butter. I'm starving."

Takato smiled and knew that no matter what, no one could have the same personality as Guilmon.

Rika called the rest of the tamers to see if they believed it. All of them didn't until Rika talked some sense into them. They were all happy to see their partners again, even if they were human. Rika knew that her grandma and mom wouldn't believe it, so she said that their parents were out of town and wondered if they could stay here for a while. It was fine with Rika's grandma and Rika made sure the others knew about the idea. Neo/Impmon went out an hour before dinner was ready. He was going to check on them and also give them something. He arrived at their house and saw they were in the backyard playing. He approached the fence and called out to them. They looked at him and ran up to him, wondering what he wanted.

"Hey, you're Impmon's tamers right?"

"Yeah. How do you know about Impmon?" Mako asked.

Neo/Impmon smiled. Mako had changed a lot but not by much. He handed them a letter.

"Here. Impmon told me to give this to you. I'm going to go now, ok?"

They nodded in unison as Neo/Impmon left. He went back to Rika's house and hoped that he would be a digimon again soon.