Mutilation

Henry angrily stuffed a bag full of supplies. Battling cards, band aids, and a pocket knife, anything the boy believed he would need for the mission that lay before him. Terriermon blinked at his tamer "What's all that stuff for Henry? We going camping or something, because I think it's a bit late for that". Henry frowned "Were going to find Takato and rescue him from that sicko agent". The boy stormed out the door as Terriermon hopped after him.

"Henry I want Takato and Guilmon back just as much as you do, but we don't know the first thing about this guy" Terriermon said. The dark night provided silence for the 2 chattering heroes as they exited their apartment, heading downstairs and out into the night fallen city. Henry shook his head "I don't care; he's my best friend and I have to find him before its too late. I'll search the entire city if I have to, and I won't stop until I've found him".

Still left in the dark, cold, merciless alleyway of darkness, Rika lay crumpled in a heap of garbage next to Renamon. The girl's tears had left her jeans soaked, shivering at the disgusting sting of guilt eat away at her heart. The yellow fox Digimon slowly rose to her wobbly paws, Renamon blinked "So what do we do now Rika?". Rika sniffled "What do you mean?". The Digimon sighed "About Henry, shouldn't we help him search for Takato?".

The red haired girl winced at the name, it rang loudly and coldly in her broken, battered heart's memory. "Takato……It's all my fault, I can't believe I did that to him" Rika sobbed. Renamon growled "Rika please, stop this right now. You're not the monster who's responsible, Tallos is the one. You can't blame yourself for something you didn't have control over". But the young tamer seemed too far gone within her ocean of icy emptiness.

Rika just shrugged it off "But I treated him no better then Tallos treated me Renamon, I treated him like dirt. I always figured he'd bounce back and still be good old, happy, sweet Takato. But he didn't……not this time. Henry was right, I didn't trust in them. I was so obsessed with doing things my own way, I never even thought of how they saw me or how cold I treated them". The female fox simply stared her head at the ground, responding in silence.

"I won't lie to you Rika, every time I watched you talk to them I knew you felt like you didn't belong with them" Renamon began. The broken girl could only sit and listen to her Digimon, listen to the truth. Renamon continued "But the truth is you do belong with them, and they want you to belong. You just have to accept that. Everyone in this world makes mistakes, even the strongest tamers (smile) and Digimon can be wrong at some point.

But while we still have that power to hurt others, we also have the power to heal Rika. We can make amends to what has been done". Rika sighed "But it's too late", Renamon shouted "NO IT'S NOT. It's never too late to save your friends, friends I know you want to see again and laugh with. I too want to see you smile with them again, I want you to be happy with them again. But the only way to do that is to help Henry, to save Takato and Guilmon.

All we have to do is find where Tallos has taken him, break in, find them and rescue them. Rika……if you truly are sorry for what you've done, if you truly want to help your friends, you MUST help me first, help me help you". Again cold shimmering silence returns to the dark, dank little alleyway. For a moment it seemed Rika had given up all hope, but like I said, it was only for a moment. The Digimon blinked as she saw Rika stand up, and turn.

"Well then" Rika said with a hopeful smile and eyes clean of tears, "Let's go save our friends Renamon" Rika said. With that said and done, the girls were off to find Henry and Terriermon. The gang hoping to work together to find Takato and Guilmon, and save them from the maniacal clutches of the sadistic Tallos. Unaware their friends were secretly tucked away in a government building, where Tallos was still experimenting away on Takato.

Inside the government building……

Tallos growled "Where is it?".

The agent hummed, leering his glass covered eyes over Takato's body. The boy was completely covered in blood burning singe marks. There were burn marks on his arms, his chest, his legs, even his cheeks, Takato just sobbed and tightly bit his lip.

"I SAID TELL ME WHERE IT IS!" The agent screamed.

Another violent jab was plunged into Takato's chest, his spine jerked as he screamed a bone chilling cry of sorrow. Tears poured down the boy's chest as he shivered, trembling at the overwhelming scars of his sizzling flesh.

Takato moaned "Ugh I told you……I don't know……what you mean. I don't have any power".

Angrily Tallos persisted "LIAR (jab) don't you dare feed me that garbage!".

The electrical voltage on the device raised higher and higher, each violent charge proved more fatal then the next. But no matter how hard he searched, Tallos was still unable to find the source of Takato's power. The machines scanners couldn't pick up a trace of this mysterious power the boy had.

Tallos growled "The government didn't spend 18 million dollars to hear some piss wad brat bitch and moan. No, they spent 18 million dollars for the keys to ultimate power. Now you're going to give me that power, the power to create life, or so help me God I will tear you apart, piece by dissected piece".

The scanners flared as Tallos jammed the tazor into Takato's legs; he screamed and shouted with indescribable agony. The tamer's body spasmed randomly, kicking and stimulating his aching nerves and limbs as if they were on fire.

"Where……is……Guilmon?" Takato gasped out.

Tallos hummed "You know that's a good question".

The dark man turned from the operating table and immediately headed into another room. A weary, weakened Takato called out to Tallos as best he could.

Takato wheezed "Wait, wait……w-w-where are you going?".

Tallos smirked "To check up on your little friend".

"ROWR" Guilmon snarled as he bashed a scientist away with his tail. Soldiers gasped as the red monster snapped his jaws at their hands. Men and soldiers screamed as they ran frantically outside of the room to escape the Digimon. "Takatomon, Takatomon, LET TAKATOMON GO NOW" Guilmon roared. Deacons backed away from the armored one way mirror. Guilmon had been tightly concealed inside a reinforced observatory room.

Men and woman stayed stationed at computer scanners and cameras, trying to learn all they could about this bizarre creature. Guilmon growled "Takatomon is my friend and I want him back NOW". The lizard blasted a pyro sphere towards the mirror, Deacons gasped as the blast struck the mirror. PING! Luckily the window was enforced to withstand attacking forces, Deacons sighed "This is nuts, that thing's too wild to be controlled.

The boss must be out of his mind if he thinks" Deacons suddenly stopped, the man gulped as he realized a shadow had risen behind him. Deacons turned around and gasped to see Tallos. "Mm-m-m-m-m-mister (gulp) Tallos s-s-s-sir I" Deacons stuttered. The agent scowled "Cut the crap and stop stuttering you spineless worm, I want an update on your status, NOW". The man nodded "Well yes s-s-s-sir but you see we haven't had a lot of".

Tallos frowned "Don't you DARE say time, don't you even think of saying that. I've given you 3 hours, 3 hours to find out what makes that brainless reptile tick. Now tell me Deacons……and make sure that its GOOD news, what have you discovered about this creature?". The silver haired young man gulped and nodded, he began assembling his research forms. The scientists quickly brought up the surveillance tapes from Guilmon's cell.

Deacons began "For the past 3 hours, the creature has done nothing but bash the walls of his cell and attack anyone who comes within 3 feet of him. He keeps demanding that this Takatomon person be set free. Other then that, he's done nothing else but shown hostility towards any of our tests". The agent groaned and slapped his face "It means Mr. Matsuki you IDIOT, I don't care about that junk, I want to know if it can be controlled or not".

Deacons pointed to the floor around Guilmon's cell, hundreds of darts lay strewn about the padded room. The man sighed "Negative, at least not through chemical means. Every serum, hypnosis, and mental correction method we've tried on him has failed, it seems his bond with the boy is overpowering his mental capacity". Slowly observing the enraged Guilmon thrash about in his cell, a sickening smile slowly formed on Tallos face.

Tallos grinned evilly "Tell me Deacons, what about experiment #28?

The lone tamer Henry walked the streets of the silent fallen city, amazing how fast things had quieted down since Guilmon's capture. Terriermon quickly followed Henry having a bit of trouble keeping up with him. They both knew they had no idea where Takato was being kept, or even where to start looking. But neither Terriermon nor Henry was willing to give up now. Suddenly a voice called to the boy, Henry turned to see 2 shadowy shapes.

"Hold up guys, were coming with you" Rika shouted. Henry groaned "Well, well isn't this a surprise, just what do you think you two are doing here?". Rika frowned "I just told you we've come to help you guys free Takato". Renamon nodded towards Henry and Terriermon, both seemingly dead serious about this. Henry growled "You really expect me to buy that Rika?". Terriermon and his tamer sat there, unconvinced Rika was telling the truth.

The female tamer crossed her arms over her broken heart shirt, Rika scowled "Frankly I don't care what you buy or believe for that matter, it's the truth. And whether you accept it or not is your deal, not mine. I made a big mistake tonight and all the crying and apologizing in the world won't bring Takato back. So me and Renamon are going to do something about it, were willing to help, but even if you don't believe us Henry, were still coming".

Silence slowly settled in as the 4 figures simply stared at one another, greeting each other's icy eyes with nothing but glares. "Sigh……it's about time you came around Rika, about dam time" Henry said. Renamon blinked "That was fast". The boy tamer smirked "What Rika said was right, I know you 2 are going to help us whether we like it or not. Might as well have you as a friend then an enemy, especially since considering our REAL enemy.

I'm glad you saw the light Rika, gladder then you'll ever know" Rika smiled softly and simply replied with a soft and sincere "Thank you". With the team's spirits in high form, the gang was just about to discuss how to go about finding Takato's location. That's when Renamon noticed something. BONK! "OW" Terriermon grunted as something smacked into his head, a rock dropped to the ground. Renamon noticed a stranger suddenly retreating.

"Hey what's this?" Henry said as he noticed the rock, a piece of paper was tied to the rock. Terriermon groaned "I'll tell you what it is, it's a flying head ache OW I wonder who threw that". The young tamer slowly untied the string, and examined the contents of the paper. A small plastic card dropped out of the paper. Rika watched as Henry's eyes suddenly lit up, "Someone who wants to help" Henry said as he revealed the letter to Rika.

It was in fact a set of directions leading to the secret lab base where Takato and Guilmon are being held. The card was in fact a computerized key card, a key card capable of opening the building's front security doors. A name was also printed on the bottom of the sheet. "Gemini Tallos" Henry stated, now the tamers have the information about their mission and their enemy. With this in mind Henry, Terriermon, Rika, and Renamon set off to find Takato.

The running shadow quickly retreated into the dimly lit street lamp of the darkened city; a red haired panting woman appeared. "I delivered the information like you said boss" Riley gasped. The shadowy shape of Yamaki slowly walked into view, the man smiled "Excellent work Riley". The woman blinked curiously "If you don't mind me asking sir, how can you be sure they'll win?". Yamaki sighed as he looked into the dark sky.

Yamaki replied "Because there the only ones who can do this. This is their fight, not ours. And if Tallos really intends to go through with his plan, the fate of the planet may very well rest on the shoulders of those 3 children.

To be continued……