Alrighty, here you go, tried to balance out a little story development with a little action. I'm not sure which story will be updated next, as both Atlas and Crescendo are getting close to their ends - as it stands, either they will end at the same time, with Crescendo having a short epilogue, or Atlas's ending will take place after Crescendo's (I have two different endings thought out, one of them gives some options for further chapters, or another story.) Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself. Read and review, please!

-N

--

"Most people will never know

anything beyond what they see

with their own two eyes."

- X2

When Ryo woke up, he screamed. He tried to bolt upright, but the leather straps fastening him to the table only offered him limited oxygen for his efforts. He gasped for air frantically, trying to find out where he was. He didn't recognize where he was—it was a large greenish room, mostly empty, except for a few tables he noticed to either side. He couldn't see what was pointing towards his feet because of his restraints. His arms and legs, were of course, fastened just as painfully.

This is just my luck.

He knew that it wasn't, making his location making even less sense. He remembered he was in the cave with Jeri. They had just been talking, about nothing in particular, when a large black thing appeared, knocking him and Jeri down, and then zoomed out of the cave. The only defining feature Ryo noticed in the light was that it had been very blurry. He had no idea what was going on. As far as he knew, he wasn't even missing anything—he could even feel the weight of his wallet in his back pocket. He grit his teeth and rolled as much as the straps permitted, pushing weight on his left side, where his D-Arc should have been; he felt it there.

This isn't making a great deal of sense. Not like there's any benefit to being quiet.

"Hey!" He shouted as loud as he could. There was no answer. He wasn't particularly surprised, but could think of too few reasons to remain quiet. He continued shouting for a good several minutes before he got a response. The response came in the form of a man with a surgical mask glaring at him and shoving a needle into his neck.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ryo demanded. "Who are you, what is this place—what the hell is going on!"

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Akiyama." The man said.

Ryo wanted to shift uncomfortably, but he couldn't, he just gritted his teeth a little bit. The man was wearing a white lab-coat, and the surgical mask covered much of his face. He had a round face, short brown hair, and green eyes. He looked to be in his late 30's, early 40's.

"Who the hell are you?" Ryo asked quietly but firmly.

"Now now, manners, Ryo. Wouldn't want to put me in a bad mood, bad things might happen to your friends."

His heart sank. He wanted to hide his fear, but the thought forced his eyes open in what was easily identifiable as terror.

"Where's Rika?" Ryo asked.

"Well that's gallant." The man said with a sneer.

"Where is she!" Ryo shouted.

"She's not coming for you. None of them are. You see, you're a danger to them." He responded calmly, in a mock-comforting tone.

Danger?

"Bullshit."

"Language, Ryo." The man scolded condescendingly. "My name's Dr. Alexander Valn. Now, let me explain why you're here. You're too dangerous to be allowed out. You're infected with my work, and I'd like it back."

Infected?

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Let me out of these things." Ryo said flatly, his teeth gritted.

"No, I don't imagine you do. Yamaki never was one to share, let alone tell secrets. Allow me to break the situation down for you. My pet monster has given you a great deal of power—well, potential power." Dr. Valn began. "My monster was my greatest success, but you…you will surpass what I had only hoped for by far. I have great plans for you, my dear boy."

This guy's fucking insane.

"Now," he continued, "I'll be requesting your co-operation. Do as I say, and I'll be very merciful, I promise you that."

"Screw you."

Valn sighed. "You're not quite understanding me. If you don't do as I say, I'll let the virus fully consume you, and you will be as my other pet. You'll have no mind, no soul, and your hands will be covered in the blood of your friends." Even as he still spoke, Valn never lost the calm, however much bitterness or sarcasm was also present. "If you behave, however, I'll transfer the virus from your body to a backup I downloaded from the Digital World's archives. And you, Mr. Akiyama, will get to live. I might even let you go. Who knows, you may even be able to save your friends. But I guarantee you this, Ryo. If you do not do as I say, your friends will die. And I'll see to it that Rika dies screaming."

Ryo was certain he felt his blood boil. This guy was out of his mind. Ryo had no idea what the hell this guy was talking about—hurt his friends? It took Ryo a few moments to piece together that the monster that was trying to kill them was actually a person. Ryo didn't quite believe that he'd turn into something like that thing—he was getting better, Takato was taking care of him. But it didn't look like Ryo had much choice but to go along with Valn for now. He could always refuse to do something if he found it that bad. He'd do whatever it took to get out of here, and warn everyone about this psycho. He'd die before he let this bastard near Rika.

--

Rika was furious. Yamaki wasn't telling her anything. At all. She'd figured out it was Yamaki who Takato was working with, it was obvious after what Takato'd told her. Ryo was missing, and as far as she knew, there were two people who might know anything about where he might be. One was unconscious, and the other wasn't saying anything. When they'd arrived at Yamaki's building, the immediate concern was Takato. Yamaki provided him with the finest medical treatment available—for which Rika was grateful—and he also told the Tamers that he'd explain his role in all of this to them. He didn't.

It wasn't like she could get any support in getting the information from him. Everyone was—in all fairness—rightly worried about Takato, and nobody but Rika had any reason to believe that Yamaki might know anything about Ryo. Rika was pissed as hell at Takato when she found out he'd been lying to her, and was still just as angry; but he was still her friend, and she was concerned for his safety, as well as for Ryo's. She was spending her time pacing around as much of the building as she was permitted to. The room in which Takato was being treated—or rather, where he was resting, was in the basement first basement level; whatever investigations into his injuries had been done were conducted somewhere above the fourteenth floor. They were in the old Hypnos building, which appeared to have undergone some changes since the D-Reaper event. The main one Rika noticed, was her not being allowed to move freely through it.

Rika and the other Tamers were restricted to the fourteenth floor, and below, and wherever any of them chose to go throughout the city. Yamaki had cars outside at all times to take them wherever they chose. Most of the building was offices, little to nothing worth even seeing, let alone to use to kill time. Rika remembered the building had sixteen floors. Jeri had spent the entirety of her time in the building next to Takato. They'd been there for about six hours, and Rika was going mad. She tried to get contact with Yamaki, but it proved difficult. She called his cell phone twelve times in a period of two minutes before he turned his phone off, and her calls went directly to his voicemail. None of his subordinates would send word to him—he was avoiding her.

Screw this.

She had to get upstairs; she had to talk to Yamaki. She waited near the stairwell on the fourteenth floor for someone to open the door. It was about ten minutes of her wondering if anyone was actually going to come before she saw the perfect mark; a man in a suit to distracted with his conversation on his cell phone. She grabbed some papers off of a nearby desk, and moved out of the way as he approached, doubling back behind him. She followed him through the door with ease, and inhaled sharply, as she knew she would be seen when the man turned to follow the winding stairs.

"Hey!" he shouted at her, clicking his phone shut and stopping. "What do you think you're doing?"

Here goes.

"Look, you don't tell anyone I'm here, and I won't tell the media what you people've been doing here." She said as intimidating as she could; waving the papers she grabbed, smugly.

Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease—

She knew it worked when the man looked as angry as he did. He said nothing, and started heading up the stairs. He warned her not to follow behind him directly so he wouldn't get blamed. If she'd caught his name, she usually would have ratted him out out of spite, but she was too distracted. She waited for him to be out of sight and a safe distance away before she exhaled in relief, smirking at what appeared to have been a list of parking assignments. She headed to the top floor of the building. It was time for some answers.

--

"Okay. I said I'd help, get this shit out of me." Ryo said bitterly as he followed Valn down the corridor.

"I already did." Valn replied, in his typical bored tone. "And lucky for you, too. You didn't have much time left."

Ryo stared at the man with pure hatred, rubbing the spot in his neck where Valn had injected him with what must have been the antivirus. Ryo assumed Valn took whatever sample he needed while he was out. "Where are we going?" Ryo asked impatiently. "And what do you want my help for, anyways?"

"Later." Valn said, suddenly excited as they arrived at whichever door. "First, just look at this."

Ryo turned his attention to the door that slid open. But it was what he saw behind it that made his eyes widen, and his jaw drop.

--

"What are you doing in here?" Yamaki demanded, hanging up his phone and standing up. It had been a good while since Rika had seen him angry.

"I want the truth, now." Rika said firmly, trying to keep her anger under control.

"Rika, I told you I'd tell you everything—"

"Well you didn't!" She snapped, her mental timer hitting twelve seconds before she lost control. "I know you've got something to do with this. I think you owe us an explanation." Rika could see that she'd hit a nerve. Yamaki looked angrier than she'd ever seen him—this was definitely new territory.

"Rika, not right now!"

"Why not!" She was almost screaming now.

"Because there's something happening on Ross street that is one of the many things that the police are not equipped to deal with." He snarled, turning his attention back to his computer.

Damn it—it's back.

Rika had heard enough for now. Getting her answers from Yamaki would have to wait. People were in danger. She took flight, running down the stairs, calling Renamon over her D-Arc as she did.

"Renamon, look on Ross street. Out the front door, go left, take the third right, then keep going. Yamaki says there's a disturbance. I'm on my way, I'll meet you there."

She ran out of the building, and hopped in one of the cars Yamaki had ready for them. She told the driver where to go, and to go fast. The driver must have known to obey the tamers, and complied without question, to Rika's great gratitude. She believed that this wasn't just an excuse Yamaki was using to keep her busy. She'd beat the life out of him if it was.

She knew it wasn't an excuse when she saw people running in the opposite direction that she was going in. Whatever was happening, she was headed right towards it. She saw police cars and a crowd ahead, and told the driver to stop and to head back. She got out of the car, and Renamon dropped down beside her as the car turned and drove back as per Rika's instructions.

"Let's go." Rika said to her partner. With a nod of approval from Renamon, she ran towards the police cars. She looked towards the crowd of people, and nearly stopped when she saw a body be thrown up several feet off the ground. She pushed and shoved her way through the crowd, and soon found herself on the inner part of a wall of people, staring at what infuriated some, and stunned others. Another wall of people was looking towards them, but in the middle was a man, and at his feet were bodies. The police couldn't fire, as there were citizens in a complete circle, and Rika knew they wouldn't risk shooting at whoever it was, missing, and hitting someone behind.

Rika saw several officers charge the person. He swung an elbow swiftly into the neck of the first one, who approached from behind, sending the officer back several feet, gasping desperately for air. The second was taken down just as quickly—the man spun, landing his heel to the officer's face. As he did this, he grabbed another by the neck, squeezed, and threw him towards the crowd. The officer landed at Rika's feet, and she stared down in wonder as the man continued to take down the officers and citizens who tried to help, one by one. Rika struggled to get a look at him, and—

"Rika…" Renamon began, realizing as Rika did—

—Oh my God. Ryo—

And she knew it really was Ryo, moving faster, more precisely, and more bloodthirsty than anyone or anything she'd ever seen. Another police officer charged at Ryo from behind with what Rika recognized as a taser, and—and without looking—Ryo grabbed his arm, used it against him, and dropped the taser and the body to the ground. Two more people approached, one swinging a nightstick, the other a knife at him; Ryo dodging and weaving around them with impossible speed and focus. He jumped in a spin, kicking one in the side of the head, knocking him out instantly. Ryo landed on all fours, grabbed the next arm that was swung at him, stabbed the man in the stomach with his own knife, and threw the person so far he hit the wall of one of the buildings. People consistently charged at him, and were dispatched almost instantly. Between his assault, he would grab something from the ground—a nightstick, radio, even chairs and tables from a restaurant's outdoor section, and throw them at his enemies, subduing them before they even got close enough for punches to be exchanged.

Rika had no idea how to react to what she was seeing. She obviously wanted to help these people, but she couldn't bring herself to order Renamon to attack Ryo. Renamon must have known this, too, as she herself simply stood in amazement and watched. Rika stared at the boy she thought she knew, and could barely recognize. The body count was growing, and Rika still couldn't bring herself to move. She was trying to bring herself to accept the fact that she had just seen Ryo kill people. People.

"Ryo!" She found herself scream. But he didn't look. He didn't notice. Maybe he just didn't care—

No—

No, she had to get Ryo back. This wasn't him. It may have looked like him, but it just wasn't. Ryo couldn't take out over two dozen people, let alone kill some of them. He continued, and the crowd was thinning—some were moving towards him to try to help fight him, others were rightfully running away. Finally, the crowd cleared, leaving only him, Renamon, and her.

"Ryo?" she asked, not sure what kind of reaction to expect.

Renamon positioned herself half-in front of Rika, preparing to protect her. Ryo turned, staring at her with the blue eyes she'd cared about so much lately. He was dirty, and he was bloody, but Rika was absolutely certain that none of it was his. He stared at her for several seconds before he opened his mouth, and let out a scream louder than any person possibly could have—not a scream, but a growl. And he took off, climbing the walls of a nearby building with impossible speed. She grabbed Renamon's arm, not to follow right away.

She stood with her partner among the remnants of the battle—several beaten, bloody, and/or unconscious people who required medical attention. She obviously still couldn't believe what had just happened. A minute later, she dropped to her knees, and for the second time in twenty-four hours, she cried.

--

I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are appreciated. :D

-N