Viral Menace
The Tamers were meeting up at the park as usual, Kazu and Kenta taking turns to play Ryo at the digimon card game but, despite helpful suggestions from Guardromon, Jeri and others, they lost every game.
"Awww man!" yelled Kazu as he lost for the tenth time, "There has to be someway to beat you Ryo" he pointed a finger at Ryo as he said this, then a bulb lit up over his head, "Hey Rika! You play Ryo" he called to the red head in question, who had been leaning against a tree all morning, staring at nothing.
"How about I don't and you get beaten by Ryo, not me" she called back, raising a fist in response to Kazu's puzzled expression, he got the idea.
"Hey Rika, what's up with you?" asked Takato, walking over to the girl
Rika turned her steely gaze to him, but it was softened somewhat, "Nothing Gogglehead" she told him, "I was just thinking"
"About what?" he continued, leaning against a tree beside her
"About something that happened last night," here she gave a small smile, "But surely you would know what happened, you tend to follow me around in your dreams"
Takato smiled, "yeah, usually, but last night I was following this guy, dressed all in black…" he began
"Did he have long hair and a pair of swords? Was he fighting alongside a digimon?" Rika asked, beginning to see where this was going
Takato's eyes opened wide, "yes, how'd you know?" he asked
"I fought alongside him last night" she said simply, "You know, I think I'll play some cards. Hey Kazu! I'll play you!" she yelled, getting out her deck and walking towards the visored kid.
Takato watched her go, he sighed and lent back against the tree, he always felt happier around Rika and he knew that she was sort of softer, more open around him, it was barely discernable, but there.
Alex watched all this from behind a dark doorway, it was unopened and both he and Razormon were standing in darkness, somewhere between the two gateways, looking through to where they were going to arrive.
"OK Razormon, I'm going to activate a dark barrier around them as you open the gateway, that should prevent anything like a Yamimon arriving when we don't want them to" he told his Digimon companion, unclipping the Digivice from his belt he held it in his right hand, the screen facing his palm, as he positioned the fingers of his left hand over the end of the strange device on his arm.
"Ready Razormon?" he asked, Razormon nodded, "OK, 1, 2, 3" he said, the dark doorway opening on 'three', "Crystal Chip, Activate…Dark Barrier!" he said, pulling a chip, one of those small things that the Yamimon's data had been caught in, out of the storage device on his arm, then plugging it into the port on the back of the Digivice. The chip digitised and the barrier appeared.
Alex stepped out into the park.
All the Tamers whirled around as they were surrounded by the black field of energy, the digimon took up a fighting stance and the tamers all chose cards and stood ready, tensing for an attack,
"What the hell is this!" exclaimed Kazu as he stared around at the barrier, "where's the digital field?"
Rika answered him; "These digimon don't use a field," she told all of them, filling them in on what she'd learned last night. "They emerge using these black gateways"
Alex stepped out into the park, Razormon followed and Rika relaxed, the others did to, if Rika wasn't about to fight then this guy was a friend.
"Did I interrupt something?" he said, gazing about at the cards strewn across the floor where they'd been knocked as everyone scrambled after the barrier had been raised
Rika introduced him, "everyone, this is Alex, Alex, this is everyone", Takato nodded, connecting this newcomer to what Rika had said and to his dream, he shuddered, it had not been a nice dream
Kazu spoke first, "so, what are you? A Tamer?" he asked, staring at Razormon, he had never seen a digimon like him before
Alex sat down beside a tree and shook his head, "No, where I come from we all have digimon partners," he told them 'those of us that are still alive' he thought glumly
Kazu thought for a moment, then gave up as his mind overheated, "hey Alex, I'll give you a game" he said, holding up his cards
Alex was about to tell Kazu that he didn't know how to play when a spine chilling laugh emitted from the dark barrier, Alex's eyes shot open as the barrier began to twist and warp, changing into a gigantic gateway…full to the brim with glowing red eyes.
"KUSO!" swore Alex as he realised what had happened, he sprung off the ground and drew his swords, slipping into a battle stance, "Razormon, open a gate back to the apartment, send them there" he yelled, indicating the Tamers
"But…" began Takato, before Alex cut him off, "no buts, get out of here, I'll be along shortly," he said as Razormon opened the gateway and ushered the tamers in
"Yami Blaster!" yelled over three-dozen voices as dark energy blasted towards those who remained. Razormon's concentration was disrupted and the gateway vanished, leaving Takato behind.
"Damn you, you feckin' shadows!" screamed Alex as he dove towards the Yamimon, blades flashing, data exploding everywhere. Razormon joined the fray, calling out 'Spiral Claw's to delete swaths of dark Digimon, they reached the black gate and Alex looked into it, a look of horror showing on his face as he saw what was inside, quickly Razormon began to absorb the gateway, closing it just as a scythe blade began to emerge from the darkness.
Alex was white, he had seen the being who haunted his nightmares in that gate, the one he would make pay if he ever got his hands on him, that of course being after he found a way to prevent himself getting shredded.
Razormon cleared the rest of the Yamimon and opened a gate to the apartment, Takato helping to lead the shell-shocked Alex through to his home.
As they emerged Takato was pounced on by Guilmon, happy to see him back in one piece, then a pair of hands grabbed his top, he was hauled up off the floor,
"Why didn't you come back like the rest of us? Eh Gogglehead! I was worried…" there was a slight pause as Rika's brain switched into overtime, "…that I wasn't going to be the one who pounded you into the grave!"
Takao grinned, "You were worried? That's sweet Rika" he said, then added in a whisper that only Rika could hear, "nice save there"
Rika growled, and leapt at Kazu
"Why are you attacking me?" he said as he fled
"Because you can't run as fast as Takato for as long as Takato, and I want to pound something NOW!" she yelled, catching up.
Only Henry noticed Alex smiling, a second person had heard Takato's whisper, and he could see what was going on.
He got up and walked over to his laptop, turned it on and opened a case beside it. Inside was an assortment of strange devices that Alex took out and assembled, plugging a cable into his Digivice, another into the laptop, then both into a dome shaped piece that connected to a block, four sticks locking the block on top of the dome, into the block Alex plugged the final piece, it was four concentric rings, one ring inside another, with a tab on the bottom for connection.
By this time, everyone had stopped what they were doing and were watching Alex in fascination, he opened a program on the laptop, pressed a combination of buttons on the Digivice and flicked a switch on the device that now stood on his desk.
The rings began to spin, faster and faster, spinning in different directions at once, energy crackling between them, as they became a blur they all aligned at the same moment and a disk of light blue appeared between them, a disk the size of a television screen, with something on it.
The person through the device turned round, he was pale with glasses, blue eyes and spiked up blond hair, he appeared to be wearing a blue t-shirt, "Hey Alex, what's up?"
"Hey Techno, objectives one and two achieved" replied Alex