Okay, first off, thanks for the reviews! Secondly I don't own that wonderful anime we all know of as Digimon! And thirdly, I apologise to anyone who thinks this chapter sucked. I tried. I really did. But there were several things in this chapter that had to be written otherwise the next one would make no sense. I think the reason I'm don't feel particularly confident about it is because Keiko doesn't appear in this one at all so I've made no attempt to explain her presence at all. That's because we learn more about her purpose in the next chapter. Nevertheless, there's no teary reunion in here either. You didn't really think it was gonna be that easy to rescue Renamon now did you? I'm sorry but I consider a chain of events to be very important is a story…otherwise the plot makes no sense. And let's face it; the worst thing that can happen to a story is when it has no plot.

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"Argh!"

Renamon felt pain exploding along her limbs. Bruised and battered, she felt her whole body slide to the floor and topple over onto its side.

"Enough!" Yamaki rapped out.

The scientists flicked a few switches and the high voltage of electrical power being pumped into the container holding Renamon dispersed.

Smiling, Yamaki strode over to the prison, watching the shaking form of data. A single blue eye forced itself open and the fox-like creature shivered. The human above her looked so cold and unfeeling, his eyes and emotions locked behind dark sunglasses. At once, hatred for him was born in her heart.

Yamaki turned away, something striking his heart before he dismissed it. The majority of the world's population would have called it pity.

"That…thing…it actually looked…intelligent…"

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The four children stared at each other intently, their eyes intent and sharpened as they lost themselves in their own ideas.

Icedevimon stood completely motionless as he was occupied in his own thoughts as well. Terriermon on the other hand was looking thoroughly bored, hopping from foot to foot impatiently.

"Geez, will you guys get a plan already? Sometime before we're fifty would be good! I'm just inching for some major butt-whopping over here!"

Icedevimon diverted his full attention onto the little rabbit, smirking as the Digimon immediately quietened down and looked uncomfortable. It would seem that he hadn't lost the ability to unnerve anybody just by looking at them; even if he had failed to retain his control over his emotions.

Henry growled as he felt his concentration slip at his Digimon's remarks. However Terriermon had a different effect on Takato altogether. Determination gripped his features and he straightened up.

"Terriermon's right! How can we just sit here when Renamon could be in danger? More action, less thinking!"

Rika gave the boy an annoyed look.

"And how do you propose we do that when we don't even know where they're taken her, goggle-head?"

Takato slumped down, his eyes as dull and cold as the gravel beneath his feet.

"Oh."

Jeri visibly shivered when she saw the expression on Takato's face. She hated it when people got upset and usually went out of her way to avoid sadness at all costs.

"Why is everybody so unhappy?" she asked her puppet making it shake its head in despair.

"Why is she here anyway? She's not even a tamer!" snapped Rika motioning to Jeri with her head.

"I'm sorry Rika…I'll go if you want me too…"

"No, don't go! I…oh, I don't know…fine! Go!" mused Rika out loud, her face twisted with confusion.

Without a word Jeri got up and began to stumble off, puppet hanging limply at her side. Watching her go was Takato, feeling something stir in his heart. He glared at Rika who lowered her gaze at his accusing look.

"What are you staring at goggle-head?"

Icedevimon sighed shaking his head at his own tamer's foolishness. It looked like he would have to step in again if only to get the warm glint of approval into those purple eyes. He glided up to Jeri's side in instant, feet inches above the ground. He cleared his throat.

"It seems I am in debt to you…Jeri…you saved my tamer almost losing your own life in the process…I want to thank you for that…"

Rika flinched as she heard her Digimon's words, remembering that she had not thanked Jeri for bearing Skullgreymon's wrath on her behalf. The glittering amethysts raised themselves slowly with guilt gleaming in their depths.

"…and I'm sure Rika feels the same way!" finished the ex-angel hoping he had bridged the gap between the two.

Jeri let her eyes wander over to Rika and saw the other girl nod her head slightly. She also noticed a trace of smile was dancing over the tamer's lips, threatening to break into a grin.

"Well…if you want me to stay…" Jeri said shyly unable to prevent an honest smile touching her lips.

"Yes please!" Rika managed.

Positively beaming Jeri slammed down to the ground beside Rika.

"Now let's get back to the task of finding Renamon!" Icedevimon murmured softly into his tamer's ear.

Rika groaned and thrust her head into her hands with a snarl.

"Snowman, remind me why we're helping these losers?"

"Because having a conscience is painful and it gets worse if it is not appeased", Icedevimon growled looking quite mournful as he did so.

Luckily for the disgruntle pair, Takato's D-Power decided that now was the appropriate moment to answer its owner's prayers. All eyes were drawn to the red flashing light and the electrical squealing coming from Takato's pocket.

"It's showing an arrow," frowned Takato as he fished the D-Power out of the grey pants, "but the signal is different to a wild one's…"

"Could it be Renamon?" asked Jeri, worried.

"Well since we don't have any other leads we might as well follow it," shrugged Rika.

"That's what I was afraid of…" sighed Henry.

"Let's go", murmured Takato in a low voice, getting up with his eyes trained on the device in his hand.

With uncertain glances at each other, the rest of the group followed him.

Terriermon looked at Icedevimon curiously remembering what Rika's nickname was for him.

"Snowman?"

"Not a word!" snarled the white demon who was obviously in a very bad mood.

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"What do you want with me?" rasped out a tired voice cracking open the silence in an instant.

Yamaki being the only one in the lab to hear it, spun round startled, effectively masking his surprise. He saw that abomination raising itself up onto shaking legs and staring at him levelly. A strange light danced in her -no, it's- eyes that inspired a flicker of fear inside him. But in was only for a moment.

"Now why I want to tell that to a mere packet of data?"

The creature drew back as though she been stung, wriggling her nose in disgust. Her hobbling legs gave another jelly-like shiver before she braced herself against the back wall of her prison to straighten up and observe Yamaki at her full height. This behaviour unnerved him as it made him feel as though he was the experiment and she was the superior being.

His hands balled up to form angry fists.

"Stop looking at me like that!"

Renamon said nothing preferring to let her calm gaze sweep over him and hopefully intimidate him. Her logical mind informed her that in order to deal with this new threat she would have to show no fear. If she acted like a snivelling coward the chances were he would lose interest in her more quickly and her demise would be a certainty. Yet at this stage anything was possible and her brain cells were taut prepared to twist any retort he might throw at her and use it to her advantage.

"You know for a human you are quite inhumane."

Yamaki flinched when the creature finally spoke. He had not been expecting her voice to sound so commanding yet soft at the same time, holding wisdom beyond any human understanding. For the first time in a long while Yamaki began to feel uncomfortable.

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"So this is the place?" questioned Takato as he stared up at the gigantic towers in awe. He shivered as his vast imagination came into play again and he pictured a large secret organisation filled with thousands of Yamakis conducting experiments too ghastly to talk about. Of course this train of thought led to visions of his Digimon being strapped down to a table and being put through various methods of torture like thumbscrews, and whatever else he could remember from his history textbook. The result of this was a horrified expression becoming glued onto his face.

Noticing this, Jeri and Henry both placed their hands on his shoulders causing Takato to snap out of his trance and see their concerned eyes. He smiled weakly in an unsuccessful attempt to reassure them.

Rika started to reach out to the three of them too but her hand was only halfway there when she blinked and stared at it as though it was a four-eyed fish. She whipped it back to her side and tried to act as though she couldn't care less. Her cheeks turned a faint pink colour when she heard Terriermon snigger which he quickly tried to suppress when Icedevimon's glare forced itself into his vision.

"It'll be alright you know Takato," Henry said gently, "we just have to work out how to get inside without getting…"

"Leave everything to Icedevimon!" interrupted Rika, "somehow I don't think that easter-bunnymon down there is cut out for this kind of work…"

"Hey! I may be small but I can do big things!" hollered Terriermon causing everybody to cover their eyes and groan at the sudden increase in volume.

"Yeah…like giving everybody on the planet a headache…"stated Henry dryly, hanging his head in resignation.

Rika frowned as she rubbed her ears in an effort to get some feeling back into them after Terriermon's outburst. She then gave a meaningful glance in Icedevimon's direction.

Icedevimon stepped in front of the main door and crossed his arms diagonally, scarlet eyes fixed firmly on the door. He concentrated for a few brief seconds and then thrust his arms outwards. At that exact moment a fierce gale of icicles and snow attacked the doors savagely, severely denting them and almost knocking them off their hinges. The wind disappeared taking the snow and ice with it leaving the doors barely standing.

"Wow…strong doors…" remarked Takato to nobody in particular.

"I'll take it from here…" muttered Henry, narrowing his eyes and striding up to the doors, looking more confident than he felt.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

"Are you just going to stare at me all day sunshine?"

Yamaki flinched at the dangerous tone in the monster's voice. He hadn't moved an inch from the first time she spoke. The past few minutes had been spent in silence. The animal ('If it could even be called that', thought Yamaki wryly) seemed to have tired of waiting.

Renamon watched the enemy curiously for a reaction. She could already feel anger bubbling under those dark shades.

"You seem to forget…"

Yamaki finally spoke, his voice also soft and deadly, as he approached the container.

"…that I hold the power of life and death over you. Though of course you don't actually live. Not in the same way we do."

Renamon flashed him a bitter smile.

"You remind me of two individuals I know…one also believed that Digimon were nothing but mere data while the other was obsessed by power. You possess both these qualities…"

"I was not aware that I was in need of a shrink…" replied the blonde man coldly.

"I wonder…" mused Renamon aloud folding her arms and directing a thoughtful look in his direction, "if you have become so obsessed in your search for control that you have lost your humanity in the process. You are so focused in your experiments that you see no need for a soul. I wonder if you still have a heart buried away somewhere. You claim Digimon are not sentient. Yet how would you know what it means to be sentient if you can no longer feel?"

A spasm of horror was present on the adult's face for a fleeting second before he turned away.

"I do feel. I have someone!" he choked out.

"Have you ever told her that you love her?" questioned the wise vixen recalling the way he had communicated with one of the female staff earlier on that day. A woman he seemed to have a connection with. Was she the someone he was talking about?

"Riley…" the male gasped confirming Renamon's suspicions.

The Digimon felt all her hate for the man evaporate as a certain gleam of comprehension was born in her eyes.

"You're just like Rika…"

Yamaki glared at her from behind the barrier of sunglasses while his fingers trembled.

"Who do you have then? If you truly are sentient, then who do you have!"

"Takato…"

Yamaki's silver lighter fell to the floor.

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The tramp-tramp of trainers meeting tiled floors in deserted corridors echoed throughout the air. Well…not quite deserted. On either side of the strange group were groaning lumps of black-suited men with a few white-coated scientists moaning alongside them. Further up the corridor shouts of 'hi-yah!' and yells of pain could be heard.

"Wow…he's like a machine!" gasped Jeri in awe, brown eyes shiny with wonder.

"And here I was thinking humans were helpless", muttered Icedevimon his expression representing that of a sulking four-year old.

"Guess I got a better human than you then!" snapped Terriermon though a glint of amusement could be detected in his tone. He quickly jumped aside as an angered demon's clawed fingertips swished downwards, missing him by mere millimetres.

"I thought Henry didn't like fighting!" groaned the Digimon Queen closing her eyes in annoyance. She growled irritably when she felt a large movement of air colliding with her and opened her eyes to see another man fly past her.

"Okay! That's the last of the guards on this floor!" came a breathless voice.

Everybody looked up to Henry running back down the passage to them. He paused, panting, before meeting their stares.

"Henry…you never told me you did martial arts", Takato said slowly.

Graphite-coloured eyes attempted to drill a hole into the floor before Henry spoke again.

"I never really use them that much…because I don't want to hurt anybody." Henry's soft voice suddenly hardened. "But these men deserved what they got. They have no respect for life and no tamer should be forcibly separated from their Digimon…not like this…"

"Well that's great and everything but we still have a job to do!" cut in Rika harshly before spinning round and striding over to the map of the building pinned onto one of the walls.

Henry sighed before hearing a soft voice invading his ears.

"Thank you…"

The boy looked up to see Takato smiling faintly at him with his eyes appearing to be very watery.

Henry shrugged before letting a casual smile flutter onto his face.

"Anytime…what else are friends for?"

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"How can you care about a human? It's not possible!" garbled Yamaki.

Renamon sighed, rubbing her temples with two clawed digits.

"I find that's it is easier not to question these things, just accept them…"

Yamiki smashed a fist into a nearby computer.

"No! It's not good enough! I can't have programs mixing with children! It's not right, it's not normal!"

Renamon backed away slowly until her back was tensely align with the smooth back of her prison. She was startled by this sudden mood swing and viewed him with a certain degree of apprehension.

"It's dangerous!"

The bushy tail bristled and swept air molecules aside in indignation.

"If you honestly think that I would ever lay a paw on Takato, or any other innocent for that matter, then you've-"

"Whoever said anything about you attacking people!" retorted Yamaki, the glare of the lights dancing on his sunglasses.

Renamon stared at him, astonished.

"It's because of Digimon like you that children charge thoughtlessly into digital fields when they form, without any regard to safety. As you've no doubt noticed, the wild ones are becoming more powerful over time, too powerful. And you can't defeat them. If they delete you what then? Who's going to prevent your tamer from becoming their target?"

The kitsune's eyes bulged at this prospect. As much as she hated to admit it, Yamaki did have a valid point. She stared at the sneering blond, speechless.

For once Renamon did not have an answer.

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Unknown to the troubled fox, the rescue party were on the eleventh floor, only a single floor below her. Rika had scanned the map and discovered that the laboratories where the 'live' experiments took place were situated on the eleventh and twelfth floor. And as the arrogant girl had pointed out Renamon would be involved in a 'live' experiment; why else would she have been taken if not serve the purpose of a guinea-pig?

"Remind me why we didn't take the elevator…" groaned Takato stumbling down the corridor, massaging his screaming limbs as he did so.

"Because Icedevimon wouldn't have fit in, he's too tall!" Rika replied promptly.

Takato stared.

"Couldn't he have done that teleporting trick?"

Rika flushed but Henry, ever the peacemaker, stepped in.

"Takato, somehow I don't think the elevator would have been able to fit us all in!"

Takato blinked before dropping his head.

"Point taken…"

Another awkward silence broke out among the group and they continued to thump out their dull footsteps against the floor.

"You would have thought that they would have guarded the place better!" Rika finally grumbled in frustration.

"Hey guys…shouldn't we checking some of these labs?" questioned Takato anxiously.

"Okay!" chirped out Jeri brightly. And before anybody could stop her she darted up to the nearest door, swung it open and walked through. Unfortunately this innocent action activated the automatic locking system and the door clamped shut behind her.

"Jeri" cried the three humans in unison all rushing to the door and fruitlessly trying to prise it open. Yet the might of fingernails, idle threats and the combated physical strength of three children were not enough to beat the highly sophisticated, computer controlled lock.

Lilac orbs flashed to Icedevimon, burning through to his core. It was a silent command to help.

"Stand back!" he announced grandly.

Hazelnut shaded eyes flared with panic as Jeri beat against the door until her knuckles were raw and blistered. Eventually she sunk to the floor, sniffing and silently hating herself.

"Stupid Jeri…I'm holding them all up…now they'll never find Renamon and it'll all be my fault!" she shouted pounding her abused fist into the floor.

She sat up.

"I should have never have come, they would have been better off without me…Now they hate me…" she finished off mournfully.

She began to take an interest in her surroundings. And then she saw it.

Jeri stared up at the cloudy figure in awe. In was veiled up in a huge glass cylinder and shrouded in bubbles. Some sort of liquid covered the form completely.

Curiously, the girl approached the container with a fair amount of trepidation and carefully pressed the palm of her hand against the cool surface. She peered at the still body, screwing up her eyes so that she could distinguish details better in the poor light.

A clawed hand moved.

Jeri froze.

It travelled towards her much smaller hand.

Jeri's other hand crawled up the wall next to her and fumbled around for a light switch.

The creature's hand hovered on the other side for a few moments before coming to rest over the human palm. Only the strange material separated the two hands from meeting.

Sweat plastered over her forehead; Jeri's hand finally located the switch and closed over it.

The paw pressed against the barrier. A small crack appeared.

The lights flashed on.

"It's Leomon…oh God…" gasped Jeri.

The beast roared, the mane framing his face waving around wildly.

Fighting down a scream, the girl skittered back into the shadows, flinging her body behind a nearby desk. Shivering violently, she brought her knees up to her face and clutched them blindingly.

"Please God…don't let him get me…make him go away…" she whimpered, flinching as she heard the sharp sounds of a cracking prison, enraged snarling and the sploosh of liquid as it burst free of it's restricting dam. It swept out and bathed the marbled floor with a shimmering movement.

Leomon shook his head to free his ears of that damned liquid and became aware of a child's hitched breathing. A terrified child's breathing. Naturally, he sought out the source of the noise.

His height easily enabled him to peer over the desk and see a small girl tucked away behind it. A young brunette who also happened to be caught in some sort of spasm.

Leomon frowned as he detected her scent. It was overflowing with kindness and fear. Such a gentle soul as the one before him could not have been responsible for his imprisonment surely? No, he decided quickly and firmly that she had no connection with the humans that had locked him away. For a start she wore none of the white clothing that his capturers sported when observing him. And he sincerely doubted that a child would be allowed in a horrific place like this without adult supervision. Besides, his nose had never let him down before.

It took him far too long to realise he was responsible for her fear as he leant towards her and saw her quaking more ferociously. He couldn't help but flinch when that quivering gaze met his fearfully and when that withdrawn face tilted itself upwards to view him properly.

"Please don't hurt me!" it squeaked.

The lion mentally kicked himself for exiting the container so dramatically and terrifying the poor girl out of her wits. But then again, how was he to know that he would not be confronted with guns and scientists but with a defenceless innocent?

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Two boys stared at the computer screen in a darkened room, their breathing harsh, ragged and excited. The picture on the LCD unit was a clip from a security camera which they were absolutely enraptured with. The colours danced over their quaking bodies.

"I don't believe it…real Digimon…and real Digimon tamers!" breathed one of them.

"Believe it…wait, wasn't that Takato? And Jeri? And that kid down there looked like Henry? Holy cow, is that the Digimon Queen?!? No freaking way man!"

"Incredible…now what?"

"What do you mean, 'now what'? We go and talk to them of course! Find out more…"

A gleam came into the shorter boy's eyes.

"Wow…"

The taller rolled his eyes.

There was a slight pause.

"Hey Kazu?"

"Yeah?"

"Next time I say I don't think it's a good idea to hack into the computer system of two creepy towers just ignore me alright?"

The other sported an impish grin before shaking his head pityingly.

"Kenta man, I've been ignoring you since the day you were born…it's taken you this long to figure it out?"

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Jeri stared incredulously at the great beast to her left. He had moved round the corners of her hiding place and had crouched down so that he was closer to her level. He was within easy paw-swiping distance of her yet he had made no move to attack her. The king of the jungle merely stared at her.

A few more frantic heartbeats passed before their hurried motion stared to cease as curiosity swept over Jeri.

"Aren't you going to eat me?" she blurted out bluntly.

Leomon gave a very cat-like smirk.

"No, not today kid."

"Oh…well, when?"

"Not until after infinity."

A few more heartbeats passed by, their fast and fearful drumming decreasing into a much slower and steadier rate.

"Oh…that's a long time…"

An awaked silence elapsed between the two. Once again it was Jeri who torn it apart.

"So how come you were the incredible Hulk a few minutes ago and now you're the perfect gentleman now?"

The larger body shifted his position so that he was more comfortable, uttering a heavy sigh as he did so.

"A true warrior would never strike down a defenceless little girl…besides you were not responsible for holding me captive…were you?"

Jeri fidgeted as she thrust under the eagle-sharp gaze of the bronze Digimon.

"No, of course not! In fact me and my friends came here to rescue Renamon…she got kidnapped by these horrible people…"

Jeri paused as her eyes traced the outline of the sword fastened to Leomon's side. She noted how his paw was subconsciously stroking the sides with a practised ease. And then she suddenly struck with an idea.

"Hey! You could help!"

Leomon almost dropped his weapon.

"What?"

"You're a warrior right? You help those who need your help right? Then you could help us! My friend Takato is very close to Renamon and he misses her a lot…and we have no idea what they're doing to her. If you're as noble as you appear to be, you'll help!"

The lion blinked. Then he smiled warmly.

"You have a good heart…"

Jeri blushed and glanced down to her trainers.

"I'm nothing special…" she whispered.

"I disagree," said Leomon firmly, stretching out, back onto his feet, "now let's get out of here!"

He paused.

"Umm…what's your name kid?" he asked sheepishly.

"Jeri!" the girl burst out eagerly, "this is so exciting!"

Leomon's face creased up into a frown as he readied himself to punch the lock into history.

"This could be dangerous…you should properly get out of the building…in fact I insist on it!"

"But Rika said I could come…"

"Then she's very irresponsible…"

"But I wanna come!" sniffed Jeri her eyes becoming suspiciously shiny.

Leomon watched warily.

Then Jeri committed one of the most horrible acts in the history of mankind…and digimonkind for that matter. A deed so evil that only the sweetest people can pull it off perfectly.

The puppy dog eyes.

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Everyone stared at the door in disbelief. Even the efforts of Terriermon and Icedevimon had been unsuccessful and the door was still standing, smirking as the light made it gleam maliciously.

"What we really need is the lock on this side so that we can smash it and then it would be easy to force the door open!" Henry stated thoughtfully, his chin resting in the palm of his hand.

"Yeah, well it isn't, so I guess we'll have to improvise!" Rika sneered, trying to hide her concern for Jeri by lashing out at anything that annoyed her.

"Maybe Jeri could find something to destroy the lock on the other side?" suggested Takato.

Henry frowned, shaking his head and dismissing Takato's hopes.

"I doubt she would be strong enough to do that. Anyway how would we communicate that idea across to her? We've been yelling to her for the past ten minutes and we haven't had a response yet."

Takato hardened his jaw, grinding his teeth together.

"I am not going to lose another friend to this creepy organisation!"

Henry cast a worried glance in the brunette's direction.

Before the conversation could become too heated or emotional, the door exploded. The two boys and Terriermon jumped back in shock while Rika shrieked. A white wing curved around her to protect her from the metal fragments as Icedevimon hurried forwards. His other wing swept round ridding the scene of dust that rose from the earthbound door.

There, a positive beam stretched across her face, was Jeri. Kneeling beside her was a heavily muscular Digimon that reeked of battle awareness.

Jeri stepped out, motioning for Leomon to come forwards.

"Hi guys! This is Leomon and he says he's gonna help us find Renamon. He was trapped by those nasty people too, so he's defiantly on our side! Isn't that great!"

For a moment silence reined supreme in the narrow corridor. Then there was a loud squeal being emitted from Rika's mouth and she ran forwards and enclosed Jeri's neck in her arms.

"Jeri! You're alright! Thank goodness!"

Icedevimon cleared his throat for the second time that day.

"Nevertheless, I'm not sure whoever we can trust this stranger…"

"No, you can, you can!" protested Jeri, pausing briefly before switching on the puppy dog eyes.

"Please?"

Leomon choked and averted his eyes straight away before he could get sucked in again.

Rika snorted and pulled back from her friend, contempt clearly written on her features.

"Yeah, like that circus trick is gonna work!"

Terriermon sniggered.

"Okay, Leomon can come with us," said Icedevimon in a voice like a zombie.

Rika's eyes widened before she turned back to Jeri.

"You have to teach me how to do that!"