Disclaimer: I own nothing but my twisted plot, everything else belongs to other people who never should have ended Digimon the way they did. Anyway don't sue cause you wouldn't get anything out of it cause I'm not getting paid to do this! Also is dedicated to Artsygirl for giving me the idea about a T.K./Rika misunderstanding and to Sam, here's a bit of Ryo/Rika and I intend to have more in later chaps so don't die on me.

A Question of Morals and Misunderstandings

"Well I have to say that there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that I will ever forgive Ryo for getting himself kidnapped." Rika said firmly under her breath, her calf muscles killing her though she refused to comment on it. There was no way in hell she was giving Yolie the satisfaction. "We better kind Ken soon or I swear to god I'm going to do something drastic."

"Well it could be worse." Alice said diplomatically thinking that punishing Ryo would be the last thing on her friend's mind when they found him. She was pretty sure Rika was really worried about him and that she was acting the part of the Ice Queen to hide it. "We could be stuck here with Kazu and Kenta, or worse we could be bio-merged with them."

"Okay that's too satanic to even comprehend." Rika said with a mock shiver, the very idea more horrifying then facing her mother's fashion sense. "How's it going, Renamon, can you still sense another presence?" Rika added, trusting her digimon's senses completely. If Renamon said that there was something out there stalking them then she wouldn't even question it.

"I can still sense it but it fades in and out." Renamon said with a look of frustration, getting more pissed off by the second as she waited for her chance to face the phantom. "It's like whatever it is wants to taunt me with its presence."

"Maybe the heats getting to you." Mickey chimed in from Tai's shoulders, enjoying the view quite a bit. This was so cool; it was like the digital adventures his brother had told him about. He couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. Maybe Rika would punch Davis again so he could see her do it.

"I doubt it, Mickey. Now if it would quit being a coward and shot its self I'd prove it." Renamon said louder then was necessary, hoping that the coward remark would make the creature come out into the open instead of playing with her head. This was proving to be more annoying then she'd ever thought possible and she wanted it to end now. "If you want I can digi-volve and give you a break, Tai." Renamon added as she noticed that Mickey's weight was beginning to slow Tai down.

"I'm fine, Renamon. Thanks for asking though. So Rika, Alice, how did you meet up with your digimon?" Tai asked with a wink as he continued to trudge along, unwilling to admit that Mickey appeared to have gained a couple hundred pounds in the last hour.

"Renamon appeared in my room one night and Alice met her digimon in her backyard." Rika said referring to Dobermon, Alice's former digimon. He actually hadn't really been Alice's but everyone acted as though he had been. Alice had even tried to recreate Dobermon but had realized the futility of it and had quit trying. Looking over at Alice quickly Rika was glad to see that Alice looked the same with no sign of strain at the mention of her former digimon.

"Bet he scared the hell out of you." Tai said with a laugh as he motioned to Cyberdramon who was slightly ahead of them, acting as a scout for possible trouble. "My mom would have had a heart attack if my digimon looked like him."

"Well mom's are like that when it comes to him." Rika said with a grin, thinking of her own mother's reaction to Cyberdramon. She hoped her mother was okay, she couldn't recall her mother ever fainting before and Rika had gotten herself into plenty of situations that would make a mom feel light headed. "So how did you guys get your digimon?"

"I met mine when I was accidentally sent to the Digital World during summer camp." Tai said with a smile of remembrance. There were seven of teleported together, including T.K. over there and his older brother Matt. And Kari met hers in the Real World a little while after T.K. and I got our digimon.

"And we got our digimon the same way as T.K. and the rest." Yolie said with a shrug, motioning to the others. "The other people in the Real World got their digimon after we defeated the bad guys."

"Somehow I get the feeling that this is really going to back fire on everyone." Alice said thinking of their own situation back home with the dimensions of the Real and Digital World. So much damage had been done to their time by the Devas and the D-Reaper, what was there to stop a repeat from happening here? "Basically anyone can have a digimon here and the Real World wasn't made to handle that, plus what's to stop the digimon from being used inappropriately or being forced to do things like that bully had taught his digimon to act like a monster. Digimon aren't created bad, something makes them bad. Don't the people around here realize what kind of damage digimon are capable of doing if put in the right circumstances? Even one of him used in the wrong way could result in a lot of destruction and even death." Alice said motioning to Cyberdramon.

"Maybe you're digimon would do that kind of damage but ours wouldn't." Yolie said with a dark look, her dislike of the girls growing by the minute. "Not all the people with digimon are monsters."

"But she does have a good point, Yolie." Cody spoke up wearily, knowing that he was going to get blasted for this. "I'm glad that Armadillomon can stay in the Real World with me but I can see Alice's point too. Think how much damage to the Digital World has been done over the years by digimon and humans, what's to stop that from happening in the Real World. Its like a sword, Yolie, it can be as easily used to protect as it can to kill."

"Yeah but-well that may be true but I'm not about to try and find a way to keep digimon from entering the Real World." Yolie said stubbornly. "You two wouldn't want to only be able to see your digimon in the Digital World now would you?"

Rika smirked at the irony of Yolie's words; that was exactly what they lived with. The digimon could come to their world for small periods but it was impossible for them to be around on a daily basis, much as Rika often wished it were different. "Sure it would suck, but at least in the Digital World I wouldn't have to worry about something happening to her. Renamon's my partner, her well being is more important to me then what suits me."

"Same goes, Rika." Renamon said with a smile. "Same goes."

^* * *^

"So you think that the digimon that killed Frewmon was a Renamon?" Izzy asked as they stopped to fill their canteens at the river. In was actually more of a stream at the moment but according to Ken it widened out ahead of them.

"It's possible that it was a Renamon, they're no pushovers and love to battle if given the chance. Plus they're really good about disappearing into shadows and remaining undetected." Ryo said thoughtfully as he pushed water into his canteen with his spare hand while the over held the canteen steady. "But the attack's wrong, I've never seen Rika's Renamon use an attack called Lightning Storm Attack and most digimon have two attacks and those are native to the species. It's possible that whatever we saw if similar to Renamon, a subspecies or cousin in design."

"That makes sense, I just wish we knew what it was, who's side its on." Ken said with a sigh as he screwed the lid on his canteen on tight. "In that case it was on our side but something tells me it had its reasons for interfering which had nothing to do with us. Whatever kind of digimon it is it's a dangerous one."

"It didn't hesitate to kill Frewmon at all." Izzy said thoughtfully, his mind still on what they'd witnessed a few hours ago. "But then again who knows what would have happened. In a lot of way digimon are like animals and people in that they do what they need to do to survive. None us here would kill for the pleasure of it but personally I'm willing to acknowledge that I would be capable of killing someone if put in the right situation, I think everyone is. We can't really judge the digimon for what it did as it didn't appear to be doing it for any other reason then to rid this area of something bent on destroying its home and neighbours."

"Izzy's right, in the case of the D-Reaper and the Devas we didn't have a choice, they had to be destroyed to preserve the greater good." Ryo chimed in, realizing that this was an important topic to discuss, they were here to fight after all and he needed to know what they were willing to do. "I don't enjoy deleting digimon but I've done it and if I have to will do it again, what about you guys? What happen today could happen again, we need to decide how we're going to handle that."

"I may not be able to pass this level but I'll do whatever it takes to protect the digimon of this world from this psycho." Impmon said passionately, thinking of all the things he'd done the first time he'd digi-volved to his next level. He'd deleted a lot of innocent digimon and nearly destroyed Jeri; he wasn't going to let that happen to anyone else

"I'm with Impmon, its our duty to do what's necessary to protect the Digital World from Aracnamon and whatever else there is out there that wants to destroy everything we've built here." Wormon said quietly but firmly.

"Then we will, Wormon." Ken said with a nod as picked up his digimon. "Izzy, Tentomon?"

"We're in too, right, Izzy?" Tentomon said as flew near Izzy's shoulder, waiting for his partner to agree or disagree with him.

"Right, I'm in too. Now let's head out and show Aracnamon exactly what we're made of, guys." Izzy said with a thumbs up sign. "Let's move out."

^***^

Sitting off to the side Rika looked at the pictures in her wallet and sighed, she was even missing Kazu-kinda. It wasn't like she'd never been away from home before but there was something about knowing that there was a slight chance that she might never get back that worried her. She knew in her heart that they'd find some way back home but there was just this nagging little voice in the back of her head that whispered that she might not. And Ryo Rika thought with a sigh as she tapped the picture of him she had of him in her wallet. For all she knew he could be hurt or lost or god only knows what else and there was nothing she could do about it. Funny how he'd wormed his way into her heart when she wasn't looking. After the D-Reaper and everything that had happened Rika had become casual friends with Ryo eventually but they hadn't started dating until a few months ago. How had he become so important to her in such a small time? Staring into the flames of the fire in front of her Rika wondered if Ryo had a warm fire in front of him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" T.K. asked as he sat down beside her, tired of watching Davis fan all over Kari. Maybe he was never going to become her boyfriend but there was only so much he could tolerate before he wanted to kick Davis's ass. He'd noticed that Rika was all by herself while Alice and Cyberdramon were gone with Yolie and Tai to gather more firewood for the fires. He wasn't sure where Renamon was either but he couldn't see her and had decided that at least around Rika he could get some peace and quiet conversation if conversation at all. Rika wasn't much of a talker.

"There not worth that much." Rika said with a smirk as she closed the wallet. "Got tired of watching the kid make a fool of himself?" She added as she nodded her head in the direction of the other group where the remaining ones sat near there fire. By unspoken agreement they had sent up camp near each other but far enough way to make the segregation known.

"Can I see?" T.K. asked as he motioned to the wallet, curious about her. He was really comfortable around her for some reason and he had a feeling it had to do with her similarities to his older brother. Matt and Rika had a lot in common, T.K. figured it was a shame that Matt wasn't here, the two would get along really well.

"Sure." Rika said as she held out the wallet, not seeing the harm in it. She liked T.K., which was surprising since it usually took a while before she warmed up to anyone. He didn't chatter all the time and acted older then he was, tougher then first impressions gave.

"So is this your family?" T.K. asked as he pointed to the first picture which showed Rika with two other women, obviously related to her.

"Yup, that's my mom and my grandmother. My dad split when I was little so it was just the three of us." Rika said as she pointed out who was who. "What about you, do you have a small family or a big one?"

"Well that depends on how you look at it." T.K. said with a grin as he pulled out his own wallet, opening it up to show her a rare picture of his whole family together that had been taken last year during Christmas. "My parents split up when I was a kid too so my brother Matt and I ended up separating with him going to live with our dad and I stayed with my mom. Anyway after we ended up in the Digital World together Matt and I got much closer and after we wouldn't let our parents keep us apart as much. Now we see each other all the time and mom and dad get along pretty good. That's Sora in the picture too, she's my brother's girlfriend and that's her digimon, Biyomon and Matt's digimon, Gabumon." T.K. added as he pointed to everyone in turn.

"Nice." Rika said with a smile as she looked at the obviously happy family. "Good looks run in your family. Too bad he isn't here, if he's anything like you he'd come in handy."

"You'd really get along with Matt, you remind me him a lot." T.K. said with a smile as he put his wallet away and turned back to her pictures. "Are these you're friends?" He asked as he pointed to the next page, which showed several kids, most around his age.

"Yup, though how they ended up being my friends is still pretty much a mystery to me." Rika said with a rueful look. "That's out fearless leader sadly enough, Takato and another goggle wearing weirdo but a loveable one. The girl beside him is his girlfriend Jeri, a lot like Kari only I think Jeri would have killed Davis by now. Those two morons are the bans of my existence Kazu and Kenta, less Kenta because he's really not that bad, he just chose a lousy role model in Kazu. Of course you know Alice and the guy beside her is Henry, one of the few I'm happy to admit I'm friends with. The girl on his right is his younger sister, Suzi, a cheerleader with brains. Beside her are the twins Ali and Mako, they're the youngest in our group. The guy beside be is my boyfriend."

"Looks like a nice guy." T.K. said with a smile as he handed the wallet back to her. "So do they have digimon too?"

"Yup, they all do." Rika said with a smile as she replaced the wallet in her pocket. "So is Davis always annoying or did I just meet him on an off year."

"Teenage hormones." T.K. said with a smirk as he looked over to where his friends were, busily talking about one thing or another while Davis tried to cozy up to Kari. A usual sight to see T.K. thought sourly though he didn't comment on it. "He's had a thing for Kari since he met her and no matter what happens he keeps at it. You gotta feel sorry for the guy.""

"You like her, as more then a friend don't you?" Rika said with a smile as she nodded in Kari's direction. "And I won't say anything, I'm not the type."

"I think I just might." T.K. said with a sigh as he looked in Kari's direction for a moment then turned back to Rika who looked at him with understanding. "Kari and I have been friends for forever it seems, I'm her best friend and I'd rather have that then nothing. People are always telling her we'd make a great couple but she always brushes it off or thinks it's hilarious. If I asked her and she said no-well you can imagine what that'll do to our friendship, even if neither of us wants that to happen."

"That would be a tough situation to be in. I didn't make it easy for Ryo either. If you think I'm bad now it was nothing compared to what I use to be like. I hated Ryo because he had beaten me at something and to me losing was unacceptable so I treated him badly and did a lot of stupid things. He tried to be my friend but I wouldn't let him and it was only when we'd gotten into really deep trouble that I looked beyond my anger to see him for what he was and not what I'd made him to be. After that we were friends and eventually after we'd been friends for a couple of years he asked me out. He must have asked me close to fifty times before I said yes because I figured he was just kidding, that he wouldn't want to go out with someone like me. Turns out he did and I'll be forever grateful that he didn't give up on me, most people would have." Rika said with a smile though it wasn't really a happy one.

"Well he's a lucky guy if you asked me. Say, would you like to hear about the time Davis "accidentally" walked into the girls locker room while the girls soccer team was getting changed?" T.K. said with a smirk, wanting her to smile.

"I would love to hear about it. After I'll tell you about the time that I made two guys faint dead away without even having to lay a hand on either of them." Rika said with a mischievous look in her eye.

"Well Kari plays soccer of course so……"

"Well don't those two look really cozy." Yolie said in disbelief as she arrived back at the campsite to find T.K. over with the redhead, appearing to be having a fabulous time. How could he!

"What are you talking about, Yolie?" Davis asked as he dragged his eyes away from Kari long enough to shoot Yolie a puzzled look. He was pretty sure that Yolie hadn't meant him and Kari so who could she mean?

"T.K. and Rika, I can't believe he's over there kissing up to her when he should be over here with us. We're his friends after all and she's probably just playing up to him so that when they turn on us he'll be on her side again." Yolie said in disgust and as if on cue T.K. burst into laughter and all the digidestined turned to see T.K. nearly doubled over with laughter with Rika joining him seconds later, the two practically leaning on each other for support. "See what I mean, next thing you know they'll be kissing and holding hands."

"T.K. and Rika?" Kari said in a small voice, looking over at T.K. who was talking animatedly to Rika and felt her heart sink slightly at the fact that T.K. obviously loved the beautiful Rika. Rika was everything Kari thought she wasn't and Kari could feel her heart bruising at the obvious show that T.K. would rather hang out with Rika then with her.

"Well that just goes to prove how nuts he is if he wants to cuddle up with that psycho." Davis said with a smirk as he slugged a shoulder over Kari's shoulder. "I mean sure she isn't hard on the eyes but I'd rather be eaten alive then have her for a girlfriend."

"I doubt I'd be wrong in saying a lot of girls would say the same about the idea of dating you, kid." Alice said as she walked past them with wood in her hands. Smiling at the way Davis had gone pale and shaky Alice nearly whistled as she walked over to their side of the clearing and catching Rika in the middle of describing one of her person favourite Kazu stories sat down as well as Rika described it in full detail. Unaware to anyone a digimon sat nearby, enjoying the stories as well as he wondered if the Ryo this girl called her boyfriend was the same Ryo he'd met earlier that day.

^***^

Well that's it for now, more action and fighting to come in the next chapters plus the Tamers are going to find out where Rika and Alice are and what's to prevent one of them from deciding to visit them along with some Tamer digimon? Plus more from the mysterious digimon as he continues to observe the humans and annoy Renamon. Who is he and what's going to happen when Renamon finally gets a hold of him? LOL. Thanx for reading and please review.