Chapter 1: Betrayed and Renewed
It has been seven years since the D-Reaper was defeated, and now a new crisis had arrived.
Monsters that were not Digimon had been appearing in the Digital World, which were proving to be more trouble than anticipated, to the point the Digimon Sovereigns brought the Digimon Tamers back to the Digital World, in order to be reunited with their Digimon and use their combined power to confront this new force.
But sadly, something happened.
Groaning as he regained consciousness, Takato slowly opened his eyes to find himself now in a dark cavern.
Turning himself around and pulling himself to his feet, the brunette noticed a small puddle of water, allowing him to check his appearance.
Through the waters, Takato could see that aside from a few scratches he looked alright, taking in his hair, which he had allowed to grow out a bit longer, while seeing his usual blue shirt and grey trousers were a little torn up, but could be fixed.
And after readjusting his goggles, Takato shook himself off and returned to his feet, be it with a fair wobble.
"Am I alive? I don't think I am dead just yet. I fell a long way, so does that mean I'm still in the labyrinth?" Takato asked himself, doing his best to try and explore his surroundings through the growing darkness. "I couldn't have gone so deep that I fell into some kind of unexplored area, but ether way, I know Guilmon fell with me, which means I have to find him."
That being said, Takato pressed his hand to the wall, keeping a his balance and keeping a steady pace as he began searching for his Digimon partner.
Making his way through the tunnels, unsure if he was making any progress, or if he was just going around in circles, the time alone allowed Takato to express his growing thoughts, the Tamer questioning himself. "How did this happen? How did it come to this? Azulongmon called us back to the Digital World... We were reunited with our Digimon, and we were told about a new threat that entered the Digital World without a chance for a proper reunion. We were told to stop them, to come through this labyrinth and then..."
Suddenly, a loud roar filled the vicinity, this causing Takato to turn and freeze up, seeing a huge white bear-like creature now towering over him, the beast staring down the Tamer with a set of menacing red eyes.
"Oh, crap!" Takato let out in a clear panic, before turning and doing all he could to retreat.
However, only able to make a few steps to his retreat, the bear monster released a series of razor sharp nails from its paws, instantly growing its nails, while managing to land a hit on Takato, one claw cutting clean through Takato's right arm, cutting it off and causing the Tamer to scream in great and understandable pain.
Clutching the remains of what was spared from the separation, bleeding profusely, Takato paled, not only horrified to lose a limb, but to see his arm lying on the ground and turned to a snack for the beast, with the bear-like creature sinking its fangs into the arm and devouring it.
"Shit! My arm! This cannot be! This is a nightmare!" Takato called in fear, his mind unable to accept or register the horrific sight before him.
However, his outburst only caused the bear monster to go back into its frenzied state and to charge at Takato once again.
"Pyro Sphere!" Another voice cut in, sending a ball of flame past Takato and blasting directly into the bear's face, this causing it to roar from the burning pain, distracting it, while allowing Takato to turn, relief filling him to see Guilmon running toward him.
"Guilmon. Am I glad to see you." Takato said, but found his shock return, seeing Guilmon had suffered a variety of injuries himself, which included cuts and scratches all along his body.
"Me too, but we must find shelter. It's the only way!" Guilmon said back, showing his devotion to his Tamer as he set his arms around Takato, holding the brunette close to him and began pulling him away, continuing to use his Pyro Sphere attack as to keep the bear monster repelled and to make their escape, blasting a hole in the wall and to head deeper within the labyrinth.
Deep within the tunnel, after making certain they were no longer in any possible harm, Takato and Guilmon stopped to rest, both collapsing in pain and exhaustion.
But looking to his partner, Guilmon was shocked to Takato's state.
"No. Takato, your arm..." The Hazard Digimon let out in alarm.
"Guilmon, I'm just glad to see you're ok..." Takato assured, not wanting Guilmon to worry too much upon him, finding his concerns falling toward his partner.
"But you seem to have taken a lot of damage..." Takato then said weakly, feeling the combination of running and blood loss now catching up to him.
With Takato and Guilmon remaining in their weakened states, both concerned more on the other than their current injuries, sudden droplets fell upon Takato's face, this causing the Tamer to direct his attention up, seeing a huge blue crystal ball-like object floating above them.
"A holy crystal!" Guilmon called, sounding relieved, which left Takato somewhat puzzled.
"It's a mystical crystal created by Digimon gods. The liquid pouring out of it produces holy water. It has the power to heal any injuries and dispel any curse." The red dino Digimon then informed, this surprising Takato, namely at how knowledgeable Guilmon exerted.
"That's good to know, but there's no way we can fight that monster. We're not much for that behemoth we fought earlier." Takato said in reply, this leaving Guilmon to look at his Tamer, concern growing within both, before the Hazard Digimon let out. "I just wish, someone would help us."
Slumping down and resting upon the other for support, Takato and Guilmon had a shared flashback of how this had transpired.
"We were all called back to the Digital World after seven long years. Myself, Henry, Rika, Jeri, Kazu, Kenta, Suzie, Alice, Ai, Mako, plus two new Tamers Jasmine and Kuja were reunited with our Digimon, before we were told about a new disaster. A new force had summoned monsters to the Digital world, not Digimon but actual monsters. These creatures were relentless and began to attack everywhere and everyone with a clear bloodlust. We were told the latest activity came from a labyrinth, so we all came down to investigate..." Takato narrated.
The Tamers entered a stone bridge set within the labyrinth, surprised at what they saw.
Rika was looking more mature than she had in the past, with her hair no longer set in its familiar ponytail style but now flowing down her back, and with some loose stands framing at the sides of her face.
Changing her wardrobe, Rika now wore a red vest-like shirt, the item showing off her developed figure and a decent amount of her cleavage, while over her shirt was a black and dark red patterned jacket.
Covering her lower region, Rika wore a pair of blue jeans, similar to the pair she used to wear, even having a handful of belts set around her waist and left leg.
And adjusting to herself to go from her casual attire to a Digimon Tamer, Rika had a pouch set to her jeans, containing her D-Power and her Digimon Cards, should she ever need them.
Alongside Rika was Henry, who too had changed over the years.
Henry's hair was now a medium length, he wore an orange jacket with a brown fur trim around the neck, alongside a grey shirt and a pair of red jeans, while beside the more technological Tamer was his younger of the Wong siblings, Suzie, who had grown up and matured over the years.
Seeing Rika as a role model, Suzie had also changed her hair, losing the small bun style she had as a child and had allowed her hair to grow down, keeping it held in a ponytail style through a light purple scrunchie, while her clothing now consisted of a pink dress, with a yellow bow accessory set around her neck, alongside a pair of blue trousers.
Though lacking a partner, Jeri remained as part of the Tamers team, showing off her own mature form, with her brown hair gotten longer and has a green bow in it, a yellow jacket covering her body, alongside a black shirt, while a pair of white trousers covered her legs.
Alongside the Digimon Tamers was Ryo, who now wore golden coloured armaments along his body over white shirt, while set in a sheath which ran through his belt was a broadsword, showing how he could fight against opponents even without Cyberdramon by his side.
Looking to Kazu and Kenta, the pair were basically the same, save their clothing was a little different to what they used to wear, leaving both looking a little more mature than they used to.
Alongside Suzie, Ai and Mako allowed themselves to be seen, both ready to give their assistance to Impmon, the Digimon Tamers or anybody who needed it, before the latest members of the Digimon Tamers were introduced.
Jasmine was a young green haired girl, being the same age as Jeri.
She wore a blue tank top and gray trousers, while her hair was set in a long flowing ponytail.
By her side was her partner, a female Biyomon, which had blue feathers and light brown talons, alongside a dark furred Gabumon, BlackGabumon, only he was partnered to Kuja, a young man about Takato's age and has red hair and was clad in a black jacket.
However, despite being a team, Kuja didn't seem too friendly, especially toward Takato.
Alongside the Tamers, the Digimon remained the same.
Being Digimon, their appearances hadn't changed that much over the seven years.
"So all we have to do is cross this bridge?" Terriermon asked, breaking the silence and commenting. "Seems simple enough."
"No, wait. It could be..." Lopmon began to call out with a concern in her voice, but found as Terriermon stepped forward, a set of pink circles appeared on the bridge, the larger of the amount reshaping into a huge behemoth which held a set of huge horns and black skin, while behind it was a faction of minions, a line of skeletal knights.
"It's a trap!" Henry called in warning, before alerting his friends. "Everyone, get back to the end of the bridge!"
"We've got to get out of here!" Biyomon let out with a growing concern, focusing herself as she gathered her green flames and prepared to attack.
"Spiral Twister!" The avian Digimon announced as she released the stream of flames at the knights.
"Diamond Storm!" Renamon followed up, gathering a series of glowing leaves and firing off the collected attack at the behemoth.
"Bada Boom!" Impmon then let out, showing off his power as he gathered flames upon his fingertips and threw them off as a single onslaught.
However, despite the attacks, the behemoth just roared with fury and charged at the Digimon and the Tamers.
"Fall back! That thing's too powerful! We must get off the bridge!" Ryo called with a growing concern as he and Rika, withdrew the staff from off her back and got ready to fight off the skeleton knights as the group made their way to the exit.
Jasmine fell over and saw the behemoth coming over to her as Rika and Takato rushed to their aid.
"Go! Guilmon and I will hold them off. Rika, get Jasmine to safety!" Takato called, just as Guilmon used his Rock Breaker attack to fend off against the monster.
"Takato, be careful!" Rika let out as she helped Jasmine back to safety, just as the behemoth roared and charged toward Takato and Guilmon.
"Hurry! Run for it, Takato! We'll use our combined magic to blast it away while you make your way over!" Henry said, this causing the other Tamers to raise their hands and all summon blue circles around them, ready to strike the monster, just as Takato and Guilmon made their way back.
'Why? Why? Why?' Takato thought as he and Guilmon remained in their hiding spot getting frustrated on what happened next.
'We should be dead now. Gone. But that's done now. We're alone and we don't want to die now! My arm hurts so much!'
'How did this happen? How did we fall?' Guilmon thought, he too confused to the situation they were now seemingly trapped in. 'Who did this to us?! We want to know why, damn it!'
"Fire!" Henry called with might as all fired off the blue energy at the Behemoth, this allowing Takato and Guilmon to rush through them, to reach their comrades.
However, Takato and Guilmon thensaw something shocking, finding two blasts of the energy fired back at them.
Shocked by this, Takato and Guilmon were then enveloped in the blasts, both taking the hits, which spread along the bridge, destroying the structure as it collapsed, alongside Takato, Guilmon and the behemoth, who fell into the dark abyss.
"TAKATO! NOOOO!" Jeri cried out as Rika, Renamon, Henry, Terriermon and the others were all left in shock at what happened.
'It dosen't make sense. Why would someone try to kill me...?' Takato questioned, finding himself in deep thought. 'But those attacks were directed at both me and Guilmon. And who was behind all this?'
Looking through the darkness, Takato then realised the attacker's face, seeing it cast in darkness and baring their grinning teeth.
'It must be them.' Guilmon thought as he and Takato opened their eyes after the flashback, adding with a continued confusion. "But for what reason?"
"It dosen't matter anymore. We might end up being dead." Takato said sadly and solemnly.
Both feeling as though this might be the end of them, Takato and Guilmon then remembered another flashback with them, alongside Rika and Renamon.
Returning to a room in the Tamer's base set within the Digital World, Takato found himself alone with Rika, while closeby were their partners, Guilmon and Renamon, the Tamer and red dino Digimon in the midst of a pair of respective conversations with Rika and Renamon.
"I am sorry about you and Ryo." Takato said, expressing a clear sincerity and honesty in his tone, which made Rika smile and say in reply. "It's fine, he and I just don't see eye to eye anymore."
"But listen, I fear something terrible might happen to us." The Nonaka added, feeling something stirring in her gut that didn't abide by her.
"And as long as we have each other..." Guilmon added happily. "Takatomon and I will protect all of us and save the Digital World."
"And we'll do the same for you. We'll protect you." Renamon said in reply.
That being said, the flashback ended, with Takato and Guilmon back to being alone, doubt growing within the duo.
"Nobody's coming to save us all the way down here." Takato said solemnly, allowing despair to overtake him and for him to then ask. "So what are we're supposed to do now? Why do we have to suffer from this terrible fate?"
Sighing, Guilmon expressed his own gloominess. "Yeah... What did we do? We don't deserve this... We were brought back together for this. And the other Tamers betrayed us. Those monsters are just to too powerful for us, and we're alone in this pit of despair..."
At this, Takato and Guilmon felt something change their souls as they felt darkened and they are becoming ruthless and cynical.
"Guilmon... I just decided what to do next. I want us to survive... save the Digital World... and go home... which means anything that comes between us and our goals are our enemies..." Takato said.
"I agree. If there's something in the way and anyone keeping us from our goals... we'll kill them. But first, we need water and food." Guilmon said as he looked at the puddle that came from the holy crystal, before both nodded and drank from the puddle to quench their thirst and heal their wounds, stopping Takato's bloodloss in the process lost arm.
"Right. I don't care if we have to eat a damn monster, we'll freaking do it!" Takato said darkly, this causing Guilmon to nod and say. "Then let's hunt us some monsters!"
Having tracked down some wolf-like monsters, Guilmon lured them to a trap where Takato had just dug a huge hole and just got out when Guilmon returned and the wolf monsters fell in.
"Yeah that's right! You're gonna be food for us now, you overgrown mutts!" Takato declared.
"Now shut up and die!" Guilmon yelled as he fired more Pyro Spheres to burn the monsters alive before a while later, rip off their furs as the two began to eat their meat.
"Urgh this is even worse than we thought, but it's better than nothing," Takato commented as he and Guilmon chewed on the remnants of meat.
Just then, they gasp and choked up a little as something happened from within their bodies.
"Something is burning us from inside! What is happening?!" Guilmon choked as both yelled and passed out as they landed in the holy water.
And when Takato came to, he felt something was different about him.
'I think I'd be screwed if it weren't for this holy water. I would have died if that monster meat haven't torn our guts apart. But now, it's strange. I feel more powerful, more lighter. I don't feel pain.' Takato thought in his mind, before asking himself. 'What was that feeling?'
Takato then silent rose to see he was now a completely different person.
His hair was longer than before, almost covering his goggles and he look like a mature muscular male adult.
'Whoa. I feel like a different person now!' Takato thought as he saw Guilmon rise to see he is now an inch taller than Renamon, and now has a muscular anthro like body, his stomach turn to a six pack, while Guilmon took the time to take in his own appearance.
"Guilmon, are you ok?" Takato asked.
"Yeah. I think I guess so." Guilmon said as he looked at his hands and then look down at his lower region and blush. Using the fur pelts from the wolves, Takato help cover Guilmon's lower region, where the red dino Digimon then added. "But I feel more stronger now. Lighter."
"I guess eating monster meat boasts our power up. And we don't have to say a spell or do our special attack without saying it. We just do it" Takato said "And I guess Digivolution is the same."
"Who'd knew chomping down monster meat would make us more stronger" Guilmon said "it's like training short cut. We should get more. We've got food and water. All we need now are weapons."
"So we'll just make some using these special rocks by ampiumplating it the right way." Takato said in reply.
After searching for magical rocks like taoi stones (blast rocks, hardness and toughness both level 8 and strong against heat and wind but weak against ice), blast rocks (a flammable rock which can explode from pressure and heat in a closed space) which can be used to make bullets and four six shot revolvers which can be made from the taoi stones, with each bullet contain explosion from each blast rocks.
They also found the strongest steel metal around in which Guilmon could also make a sharp oversized sword with sharp edges and a purple handle and rearguard.
"And with this new dash of lightning field we gained from that wolf monster we can make them fire powerful shots." Takato commented as he powered up his makeshift gun, in which a rabbit monster was coming to strike from behind which make Takato fired and hit it dead on, instantly killing it.
Another was about to strike form behind in which Guilmon leap up and slash off it head killing it.
"Now that's more like it." Guilmon said coldly.
After eating the rabbit meat which tasted revolting, they feel more stronger.
"Seem like it was worth it. Any different monster we eat we gain more power." Takato commented, his words agreed by Guilmon, who said in reply. "And we learn Quick Step which is like teleporting and aerodynamics which we can jump in air."
"You know... now that we are stronger, I say we pay someone a visit." Takato suggested, this causing Guilmon to smirk and nod, before they tracked down the very same bear monster who took Takato's arm.
"Hey there. Long time no see. You never told me how my arm tasted" Takato said with a evil gleam in his eyes.
The bear snarled and turned to face them.
"Straight down to business eh? We like that. This time you've the one gonna get eaten." Guilmon said.
That being said, the bear rose its claw and tried to strike the duo down, but found Takato and Guilmon use quick step to avoid the attacks.
"We've been saving for this one! Take a closer look!" Takato said as he use a flash grenade, which blinded the monster, allowing Guilmon to slash off its arm with his sword.
Taking the arm, both took a good bite of it gaining new powers.
"You taste terrible. Although we have to admit it was a satisfying mouthful to swallow." Guilmon said as both take some holy water to drink off the aftertaste.
"Now you're done!" Takato declared, putting his hand on the ground and announcing. "Electric Field!"
The electric spell Takato used paralyzed the monster, before Guilmon finished it off with his own revolver, killing the beast with a clean shot through the head.
With their agenda fulfilled, Takato and Guilmon turned to each other.
"Guilmon, we are no longer Tamer and Digimon. We are partners from now on. We're leaving the Tamers and we're going to get out of here, save the digital world and go back home. Anyone in our way, we'll kill them" Takato declared.
"Of course. I'll stick to your side no matter what, Takato." Guilmon said in reply. "We're no longer Tamers. We're partners."
Takato held his left hand out as Guilmon accept with his right as they held hands.
"Now let's get out of here and end this once and for all." Takato offered as he and Guilmon began to make their way for the nearest pathway, to get back to the outside world and if anyone get in the way, they will not hesitate to kill them.