Hey there. I'm back with a new chapter. I think I might start writing this every 1-2 weeks now. Then again, maybe not. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out…

Digimon Tamers: Outbreak

Episode 4: The Digital Gate (Part 1)

It had been 2 days since the sky turned blood red as a Digital Gate appeared. People had been panicking, and it took a televised message from Hypnos to calm everyone down. They assured them that the gate was not big enough to let any dangerous 'Wild Ones' out, and that if any threats appeared, Hypnos would take care if it. Henry turned off the television in disgust. "Yeah… Sure they'll 'take care' of it… murderers…" Today was Sunday, and he did not have school. He was still dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of boxers, his usual night wear in the warmer months.

"Hey!" his father shouted. "I was watching that!" Janyuu grabbed the remote and switched the television set back on. He watched intently as Haburi spoke of how killing Digimon at this point was a necessary evil, as there was no cure to the deadly virus that has broken out. "He's got a point, you know…" He said to his son simply, not looking from the TV.

"But still!" Henry screamed angrily, slamming his fist on the table. "You and the others have been working on that vaccine for ages and he knows it!"

"With next to no results…" Janyuu muttered, his arms crossed. He glared at his son for his outburst. "And don't slam the table! Stop acting like a child and listen to reason!" He sighed, reaching up and rubbing his temples. "Look, as much as I hate to say this… The others and I have decided that we have to give up on trying to find a cure…"

Henry's eyes widened in shock. "What! Why!" The boy couldn't believe what his father was telling him. Give up on the vaccine? But that would mean letting Hypnos run around and kill innocent Digimon. Even worse, there was the risk that not even Hypnos can keep everything under control, and eventually floods of infected Digimon would enter the real world and infect humans as well. So far, infected humans were rare. Henry had never seen one in person, but he had heard that it was not a very pretty sight.

Janyuu could tell his son was devastated by the news. "The virus… seems to be rapidly mutating…" He and the other Monster Makers were completely stumped on how the virus worked. Every time they thought that they had made a breakthrough in the vaccine research, it would suddenly mutate drastically. It seemed completely hopeless to go on with research if this continued. "There is nothing we can do… I'm sorry, son…"

The youngest Wong male sighed sadly. "Well, you did your best, dad… It's just… damn it, how did things get so bad?" He slammed his head on the table, groaning. He lifted his head around slowly, looking around. "Hey, where are mom and Suzie?"

Janyuu rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment. "Your mother went shopping and your sister is still asleep, I believe…" At that moment, the doorbell rang. And, as if on cue, Suzie dashed down the stairs.

Running over to the door, dressed in a pink nightgown with her hair down and straight, she absentmindedly opened it. The girl smiled as she saw who was standing there. "Hi there, Rika!"

Henry screamed, stumbling out of his seat to get upstairs before Rika saw him. "I can't let her see me in my underwear!"

"Too late…" the former 'Monster Maker' muttered, pointing at the red headed girl.

The girl was wearing a white t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, a blue jean jacket, jeans with the right leg torn off to the knee, black fingerless gloves, and a new pair of black steel toed boots. Her shirt seemed a little small for her, however, hugging her upper body in all the right places and even showing off a little bit of her cute belly button when she was in the right angle. She also wore a black belt that had a silver buckle and a backwards 'R' on it. After getting over the embarrassment of seeing a boy in his underwear, she smirked. "I guess I can consider this payback for when you saw my panties…"

The blue haired boy sweat dropped as his father gave him a stern look. "N-no! It wasn't like that! Some jerk pushed her down and her skirt flipped up and I saw them by accident honest!" He gasped for breath as he finished. He shook his head and looked to his friend with a fiery personality. "So, anyway… What brings you here, Rika?"

The girl stared at him, looked around awkwardly. "Well you see… My mother is forcing me to go out and do more 'feminine' things… She gave me an ass-load of money to spend and told me to go shopping…"

Henry tilted his head in confusion. "Um, so?" He finally got a good look at her. He hadn't seen her in normal clothes for a while. (Well, as normal as Rika can be, that is…) Her style certainly was… unique, to put it lightly. He noticed that she seemed to be going for a slightly more… feminine punk style than her last. This was most evident in the showing of more leg, and her erm, tight top.

Suzie grinned evilly, noticing an awkwardness between the two. "Finally notice that Rika is a girl, Henwy?" She teased, using her old lisped name for him.

"Suuuziiiiee…." the flustered boy warned, clenching his fist. Here he was, in his underwear in front of a girl, and finally noticing how much Rika has matured physically over the years, and his sister's teasing was not helping matters.

Rika shook her head, smiling a bit. "Anyway, my point is… I hate shopping… Someone coming with me would really make the experience a lot more bearable… So… please?" Rika pleaded, her expression softening as she tilted her head a bit. She wasn't one for being all prissy and pouty and flirtatious like most other girls at her school, but she certainly knew how to use her female charms to get what she wanted when it counted.

It worked like a charm. Henry sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Well… okay… I could use something to help cheer me up this morning anyway…" He looked down and blushed heavily. "Just… let me get dressed, okay?" Henry raised an eyebrow as his sister stared at him. "What? What are you looking at me like that?"

His childish sister clenched her fists. "I wanna go, too!"

"What? No!" he shouted. "Suzie, it's too dangerous… I won't let you!"

The girl fell to the ground and cried out in a temper tantrum. "I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go!" She screamed, pounding her fists on the ground.

Janyuu looked away from the TV, getting annoyed. "Just let her go, son…"

Henry groaned, smacking his forehead. "Fine…" He began, defeated. "You can go… But don't stray too far from us when we get there…"

Rika giggled. "Looks like she's got you all wrapped around her finger…"

The boy blushed, sighing. "Yeah, she's just too much…" He shook his head, staring at her. "W-wait a second?… Did you just giggle?"

And so, the trio arrived at the mall. Suzie was dressed in her usual outfit. Henry was wearing a green t-shirt, red vest, red pants, and green sneakers. He looked around the building with interest. "Wow, I haven't been here in a while… A lot of things have changed…"

"Yeah, I forgot…" a stuck up sounding voice said. "You don't have much of a social life, do you?" they turned around to see a boy around Henry and Rika's age. He was wearing a white button up shirt, black pants and shoes. His hair was black and slicked back. His eyes were emerald green and he had a small stubble of hair on his chin. "Hello there, Wong…" he said with a smidge of disgust in his voice. He walked past him and smiled at Nonaka. "Rika dear, how are you?" He attempted to kiss her hand, but she quickly yanked it away abhorrence.

"What the hell are you doing here, Haru?" Rika asked, giving him a look of annoyance.

Haru gave her a hurt look. "Why are you being so hostile, Rika-chan?"

She growled, resisting the urge to send her fist full force into his face. "Because I hate your guts!"

Haru shook his head. "So rough…" He grinned. "But that only attracts me too you more…" He smiled at Suzie, patting her on the head. "You must be Wong's little sister…" He leaned down and whispered to her. "I hate to say this, but your brother is a complete geek…"

Suzie plugged up her nose. "You stink! You're hair gel reeks and your cologne smells like old fruit…"

A group of people that had formed burst out laughing at Suzie's observation. Haru looked around, completely humiliated, turning red. He looked at Suzie and sneered in anger, raising his hand. "Why you little bitch! I'll" Just as he was about to smack the girl, Henry grabbed his arm and twisted it.

Suzie stared at her brother proudly as he defended her. "You lay one hand on her…" Wong said threateningly, a look of extreme anger on his face. "If you even breath on her the wrong way…" Henry twisted Haru's arm a little more to make his point. "…I will kill you…" After a few more seconds he let go, smiling. "Understand?"

Haru whimpered in fear, running off. "Y-yes! I understand completely! Crystal clear! Gyaaah!" The boy ran out of the mall, people cheering.

"Nice…" Rika complimented the Chinese-Japanese boy. "Couldn't have done it better myself…" She smiled a bit. "Although, I might have given him a swift kick in the ass if I were you…"

"No one messes with my baby sister…" Henry said, patting his younger sibling on the head.

Suzie smiled, laughing. "Thanks, bro… Who was that jerk, anyway?" she asked, staring off at the spot he ran off in.

"Haru Aoi…" Rika said plainly. "His mother is a friend of my mother… She's a model just like her. They introduced me and Haru to each other when we were kids and he's been infatuated with me ever since." She groaned, running a hand through her hair. "And the fact that we now go to the same school makes things even worse…"

"Ouch…" Suzie winced. "Sorry…" She let her eyes wander around before she spotted Takeshi walking amongst the crowd. Her eyes widened as she felt her heart beat increase. 'He's here!' She thought happily. 'I just knew he would be here!' She tugged on her brother's sleeve. "Henry? Can I go off on my own somewhere? There's someone I want to meet up with."

"Huh?" He looked down and nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah, sure… Just be careful!"

"Yay! Thanks, big brother!" the youngest Wong child ran off and went to try and find Takeshi again.

Rika scanned the area to see who her friend's little sister was running to. She raised an eyebrow as she found out who it was. "Hey, isn't that the leader of the Hypno's Tamers?"

"What!" Henry screamed, looking over to where Rika was looking. "It is! What the hell! That's the boy she was talking about the other day! No way!" Just as he was going to run over and stop this one-sided relationship, Rika grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Ack!"

"Let them go…" the red head muttered, dragging him off. "Suzie's a big girl now…" She smiled at him. "Besides, I have a job for you…"

Takeshi winced as the familiar voice of a certain girl ran through his head all of a sudden. "No please… Don't let it be her…" He began to increase his walking speed, hoping to somehow get away from her. It didn't work.

"Takeshi!" Suzie shouted, grabbing him from behind in a hug. "What a surprise to see you here!" She gasped as she caught a glimpse of something pink around his wrist. "My bracelet! You wore it after all! So you do wanna be my friend! I thought that you hated me or something and"

The crimson eyed boy gasped as she grabbed him. His cheeks turned an interesting shade of pink. This was the first time that he had been in such close contact with a girl. "Y-yeah, sure, whatever… Could you please let go of me?"

The hyper girl giggled, unwrapping herself from around him and smiling brightly. "So, what are you doing here?"

Takeshi scratched the back of his head. "It's my mom's birthday next week… I was here to buy her a gift…"

Suzie squealed. "That's so nice of you! Most boys these days don't do that anymore…"

He frowned, nodding in agreement. "You're right… It's kind of sad, really…" He thought for a moment, then smiled at her. "Hey, you wanna help me pick something?"

Henry groaned as he struggled to keep the huge amount of bags he had to carry in his hands. "Rika, for someone who hates shopping, you sure bought a lot of things…" He was currently walking toward the elevator, following the girl.

She stopped where she was and turned around to face him. "Because if I don't spend all this money, my mother will make me go spend the rest eventually… I'd rather get this all over with today!" She turned back around and started walking again. "Now quit complaining and come on! You can rest when we get on the elevator…"

As the elevator made it's stop on the next floor and the doors opened, Henry's eyes widened. The elevator was built right in front of the Woman's Lingerie section. "Bawhaaa!" He screamed, blushing heavily.

Rika rolled her eyes as she got out of the elevator.. "Grow up, Henry…" They both walked around for a bit until she found a dressing room. "Now I'm going to try on a few things… I need you to wait out here for me."

"Aww, do I have to?" he asked, looking around. "I'm not comfortable here…"

The violet eyed girl growled. "Look, just be a man and wait for me, okay?" She picked up a few bags and walked into the dressing room.

"So your father is dead?" Suzie asked, gasping. "How horrible!"

"Yeah… When I was 7 years old." Takeshi said grimly. The pair were in the food court, eating burgers. "No one knows how he died, in fact they never found his body…" He sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair. "My mom has a new boyfriend, but…" He turned away from her. "I just…"

She put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't want anyone to replace him…" She tilted her head. "But if they didn't find his body, how do you know he's dead?"

"People just don't up and disappear, Suzie…" the boy said, a tinge of anger in his voice. "He loved both of us! He would never just leave us like that!"

The girl looked to him sadly. "I'm sorry, Takeshi… I didn't mean to imply"

"Aw, just forget it…" he muttered, sitting up. "You can eat the rest if you want… I'm not hungry." He suddenly spotted something in the corner of his eye. He looked up through the glass roof. A Wild One. The radar on his D-Power went off. 'Damn, it's infected…' Another Wild One flew by. "Damn it!"

"What is it, Takeshi?" Suzie asked.

He looked to her, a stern expression on his face. "Two infected Wild Ones…"

Henry hummed a little tune, waiting for Rika to get out of the dressing room. He looked at his watch and frowned. "Geez, how long is she going to be in there?" At that moment, the roof caved in. Henry dove to the floor and covered himself up. As the dust cleared, Henry could clearly see two Digimon in the air, fighting each other and sending attacks at each other. It must have been one of their stray attacks that blasted the roof to bits. He couldn't see them clearly from this far away, but they were dangerous none the less. A sense of dread fell over him. What if Rika was hurt? He ran into the woman's dressing room and kicked in the first door he saw. "Rika, are you okay!"

The half naked, and angry, female Tamer glared at Henry. "Get out… Now." She was dressed in a blue pair of panties and a matching bra.

Henry stared at her. "But Rika, didn't you"

"Yes, I heard the crash…" she said, annoyance in her voice. "But can I at least get dressed?" She asked, covering herself up with a shirt and blushing.

Henry's face turned beet red as he realized the current situation. A small trickle of blood rolled down his nose. "S-sorry!" He clumsily closed the door and turned around. "What a day this is…"

Meanwhile, in the Digital World, a lone human figure stared up at the scarlet sky with his salmon colored eyes. He was dressed in a long blue trench coat, a black tank top, tan khaki's, and green boots. Another interesting feature was the pair of yellow goggles on resting on top of his amber hair. His Digimon partner, a red dragon/dinosaur, stood next to him. Other features of this digimon included a white stomach, black claws, yellow eyes, and the radioactive symbol placed in different spots on his body. They both watched as a small cluster of Digimon rose into the sky and entered the gate into the real world. Takato Matsuki was very worried. "Looks like there's trouble back home, Guilmon…" He said grimly.

To Be Continued…