Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer v2.0: In His Name is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.

The Tamer v2.0: In His Name

Chapter 15: Rooster's Come to Roost

Sora finished stitching the last bit of fabric together and took a step back to see her design with a smile, relieved to see it all coming together. Now was a good time to take a break, so she stepped out of her office to make some coffee and maybe check her emails before getting back to it. As soon as she got out into the kitchen, she heard the front door open and saw her husband come in - Yamato Ishida. Without a word, he came right up to her and gave her a long impassioned kiss, "I missed you."

"I missed you too," she said back, "Any luck?"

"Nothing. Ken's still trying to figure out the password to TK's laptop. Other than that, nothing. And there's been less luck finding Izzy," he answered. She nodded understandingly and guided him into the kitchen, "Well, I just got some coffee going. Have a seat and we can talk about it."

Sora examined her husband as he took several long gulps from his coffee, wondering if he'd ever find his brother or Izzy. Once he seemed to have collected himself, he sighed, "I just…I just wish I could understand what was going through his head before he disappeared. He became so…reclusive. He was always the introspective type but he never shied away from going out. I hope he's alright."

Sora placed her hand on his to try and calm him down, hoping she could reach her husband if she held his hand long enough. She quietly added, "We'll find him, Matt."

He smiled at her, his tired eyes sparkling like the first time they went on a date. The mood was interrupted only by a sudden knock at the door. She let herself hold his hand a little longer before she went to the door and saw Kari through the peep hole, "It's Kari!"

"Kari?" he repeated as she opened the door to let the younger woman in, "Kari! What're you doing here?"

She seemed hassled, covered in a fine layer of dust that she tried to wipe off. Weirder was the fact that she was wearing her brother's jacket again. She frantically explained, "I'm sorry, Sora. I just didn't know who else to tell! I mean, what if it's true? What if he's back? It can't be real!"

"Kari, calm down," she said, pressing a finger to her lips and adding, "Take a deep breath and calmly tell us whatever you need to tell us!"

Kari nodded, taking a few deep breaths before going on, "I think Ta...I mean The Digimon Tamer is back. I'm not one hundred percent sure yet."

Sora didn't expect to hear that and looked at Matt skeptically. His expression soured at the name and he got up out of the kitchen to ask, "What gave you this idea Kari?"

Kari started talking excitedly again, "One of my students did something weird today in school, so I followed him after classes let out. He met up with a bunch of friends and went to the park, nothing too weird about that. Until, and I'm not sure because of all the smoke, but I think I found him with a digimon. So I followed them again as they ran off and they started fighting another digimon! It's on the news now! The subway crash."

Sora vaguely remembered something about a crash in the subway but was skeptical of its connection. She guided Kari into the kitchen and poured her a cup of coffee, hoping it would settle her nerves a little. After a few drinks, Sora asked, "Kari, are you sure about this? No one's seen a digimon in a long time. Not since our partners disappeared."

Kari nodded quietly before adding, "I know it sounds crazy, but maybe it's all connected. I'm going to keep an eye on the student for now until I'm sure but the timing can't be a coincidence. Takeru disappears on the same day as our digimon, and suddenly I get a students who acts weird and is running around with what looks like digimon. So either these kids are a generation xerox of us and Tamer is back, or Tamer is one of those kids. Like I said, I'm not entirely sure. But I had to tell someone and you guys were the first ones that came to mind."

Both Matt and Sora looked at each other anxiously. Was it true? Was Tamer back? And if he was, had more kids just been recruited into whatever chaos was going on in the Digital World?

"There's one other thing," Kari added, "I don't know if you've run into him yet but some government agent guy came by my apartment today. He said he was working for the Ministry of Defense, and he tried to recruit me into working for him."

"He wasn't like those guys in France, was he?" Matt asked, reminding her of their world trip around the world. Kari nodded, "I don't know. But I know I'm not going to let him anywhere near my students and I'm not going to work for him."

Sora examined her carefully, noting a certain spark in Kari's eyes that hadn't been there in a while. Whatever Kari saw, Sora couldn't help but think they were closer to getting their partner's back than before. She got up to retrieve her D-Terminal from her office and began typing away on it. Perhaps it was time for a long overdue team meeting.

Yamaki hated getting called to meetings at the Minister of Defense's Office. Especially when the Prime Minister of Japan had to be present. Usually, that meant he was going to be reprimanded for something that someone else caused. Which made his headache all the worse when he arrived to see the Prime Minister watching the news on a computer screen. The headline everyone was talking about the accident on the subway. Another screen showed grainy footage of a snake monster rampaging through a subway station that was taken from a security camera.

The Minister of Defense looked at Yamaki with a death glare, something he was able to ignore as the Prime Minister turned to face him, "I hope you're organization has a handle on this Yamaki."

"Cover story is already in place," Yamaki answered as the news reporter answered, "The official statement from investigators is a train derailment that left several injured and caused a station collapse in Shinjuku. Witnesses reporting a giant snake are believed to be suffering from an acute case of post traumatic stress disorder, a condition affecting brain function following a suitably traumatic event. When asked about the footage, officials have stated no snake has been seen among the rubble at the station, only parts of the damaged train. A body was recovered, believed to be the driver. Thankfully, the train was empty at the time of its derailment. This leads to our current issue: are our public transportation representatives overworked and could this happen again?"

Yamaki shot a dirty smile at the Minister of Defense, making sure the Prime Minister didn't see it. The Prime Minister sighed and massaged his temple, "I heard about what happened with the Juggernaut program. How long will it take to get back online?"

"We're not sure," Yamaki admitted, "The lead programmer is still out of action following the explosion in our headquarters, the building is still far from operating at full capacity as repairs are still underway to get vital systems back online. I'm coordinating some of our agents now to track down a team of people I think can help facilitate our operations but it's slow going. Most of our intel on them is either out dated or leads to dead ends."

"This team. Can they get the job done?" the Defense Minister asked. Yamaki nodded silently, "I believe that if we can find them and convince them to join us, half can help fill in the hole left by our lead programmer for the Juggernaut Program, the other half can act as a force multiplier for our field operations. The hard part won't be finding them though, it'll be convincing them to work with us."

"Why wouldn't they?" the Prime Minster asked curiously, leaning in more intently as he added, "This is a matter of national security and there are lives at stake. Surely these people would feel the need to cooperate with us since we're trying to achieve the same goal."

"It's not that simple," Yamaki answered, readying himself for what was sure to be a long meeting.

A week passed by without another incident, which was good because it meant digimon were no longer passing through to the Real World. She had feared the worst when the subway entrance rumbled and dust shot out of the entrance. Some of the police investigated and found that the tunnel caved in.

Thankfully, everyone had gotten out safely albeit a little shaken. Kazu and Kenta cheered excitedly when they saw the others return, bombarding them with questions about what happened and what they'd missed while the fight unfolded underground. Juri noticed that Takato had become a lot quieter after the fight and a lot more reserved. When she asked him what was wrong, he brushed it off and went home.

His mood stayed the same, and even Kazu and Kenta noticed right away that his attitude had changed. But they didn't have much luck talking to him about it either. In fact, he quietly hurried home after class each day. Juri tried to catch him before he left but he was gone as soon as Miss Kamiya dismissed the class. Kenta of all people came her way afterwards and complained, "Hey, Juri! What gives with Takato? He's been bailing on us all week!"

"How would I know?" Juri asked skeptically, only to have her friend Minami join the conversation, "Why wouldn't you? You two have only been hanging out almost daily. Unless you two got into a fight? Is that why he's bummed?"

"Nah, he's been bummed since the digimon thing in the subway," Kenta said absent-mindedly. He only seemed to realize what he'd said after Kazu smacked him across the back of the head, "Ow! What was that for?"

"Idiot!" Kazu hissed at him while Minami laughed, "Digimon? Subway? Boys are so weird."

They all breathed a sigh of relief that she dismissed Kenta's slip of the tongue. Instead, Minami left that subject behind entirely, "So Juri, finally going to come hang out with us? You got to tell us everything that's been going on!"

"Uh, sure," she nodded while torn on the subject. It had been a while since she'd hung out with her own group of friends and the quiet when it came to digimon appearances was a welcome break. It wouldn't hurt to relax now and then. Besides, she had to kill the rumor that she and Takato were a thing. Or the story that she and Henry were a thing. Then again, holding on to Terriermon probably wasn't helping things.

She and all of her friends went over to Minami's house after school to hang out, lazing around in her room while drinking soda and listening to the radio. It only lasted for a minute before a hush fell over all the girls and Minami asked, "Okay, so spill Juri. Are you or are you not a thing with Takato?"

"No, we're just friends!" Juri stammered out quickly in her defense only to find Yuri pointing out, "Hey, we followed you guys after class one day. Until we lost you in the park. The same park where all the grown ups go after dark."

"You aren't doing anything weird, right?" Minami asked suspiciously, "You've gone with more than just Takato. We've seen you hanging out with Henry, Kazu, and Kenta. You're not becoming like them, are you?"

"No, of course not!" Juri answered, becoming uncomfortable with the questions. Some of them were leaning so far forward that she had to lean back to keep her distance. Of course, this loosened the items in her pocket enough for them to all slide out - mostly digimon cards that she'd been carrying to help out the team if they ever needed it. She went red in the face as soon as they were seen and Minami gasped, "Oh my gosh! Are you playing digimon with the boys?"

"Uh…kinda," Juri admitted sheepishly. The girls looked at each other anxiously, and Juri was sure they were about to exclude her from the group for it. Digimon had always been more of a boy thing than a girl thing. How was she supposed to explain this to them? Then Yuri piped up, "Well, as long as we're being honest…I kinda have some too."

She reached into her backpack and retrieved a small deck of digimon cards, "I kinda thought they were always cute but didn't say anything because I thought none of you guys were into it."

"I have a confession too," another said, producing her own set of digimon cards. Before Juri knew it, they all had a set of digimon cards out and Juri felt foolish for never having one until recently. More so because she never got interested only because no one else seemed particularly interested in them. Then Minami stated, "So we all have a deck. Pfft."

She started giggling. Giggling turned to laughter that spread like wild fire through all the friends and a game broke out between Minami and Yuri before anyone could say anything. As the game played out, Minami stated, "So Juri, are you going to cheer Takato up? I mean he may be just your boyfriend, but he's still a friend."

And they were back to the subject of Takato, which wasn't helped by the fact that Minami winked at the end. Juri frowned, "I mean…I don't know. Kazu's right, he's been down since last week."

"Why not start with the school field trip?" Minami asked, "We're all going camping and I bet you anything that something there will cheer him up."

"Yeah, maybe we can do a courage test," another of her friends suggested. Juri really hated where this line of thought was going.

Henry felt a little embarrassed waiting outside Juri's classroom for her to show up, mostly because he was sure he was causing her a little bit of grief over it. Not to mention any grief his own classmates were giving him over going to another class to talk to a girl. He tried to pay it no mind but knew one of his classmates would have some kind of smart remark for him if they ever saw this.

It didn't help that her own classmates wouldn't stop pointing and whispering as they walked in. The girls giggled and the boys were mocking him. That just made it all the harder to ignore them but it was nothing compared to having to face the Devas. He was just glad none of them had popped up since. Now if only he could crack why Takato had become so quiet since the subway tunnel. He said he was an Ancient or a Guardian or whatever, and that he was familiar with the digimon.

However, it was just as likely that he'd pulled all of that out of the books and tv show. And any fan of the digimon games knew all about that. And if he was telling the truth, how would he be able to tell? None of the Devas they'd met so far recognized him and it wasn't like he'd done much to prove he was besides that weird thing in the shed. Even Renamon wasn't convinced he was being entirely truthful and she seemed the most knowledgable on the subject of The Tamer and the Ancients.

And then he was pulled out of his thoughts by the appearance of a dog puppet in his face, "Woof, Henry. What are you doing here?"

He followed the sock puppet up the arm to Juri smiling at him, "You looked worried. What's up?"

"I wanted to ask if you'd bring Terriermon with you on the field trip," Henry began quietly, "I wanted to get him out more often but couldn't because dad found out about him. Thankfully, mom and dad have forgotten all about it so I think they'll be leaving me alone for now."

"Oh, that's good!" Juri said a bit too excitedly. Henry frowned, "He didn't cause you too much trouble, did he?"

"No…well, kinda," Juri frowned, "I brought him home once and mom found him while clearing my room. She wanted to know where I got him. I said it was a present so now they think there's a boy crushing on me and…ick."

He noticed the shiver and frowned, afraid that this was exactly the perception he was helping build. He sighed, "Well, I'll take him off your hands then."

That didn't wipe the unnerving smile off her face and Henry found himself asking, "Why do you look so happy all of a sudden?"

"I think you just gave me an idea on how to cheer Takato up," Juri winked. Henry glanced in to the class and noticed the boy hadn't arrived yet even though class was about to start, "Still out of it, huh?"

"Yeah," Juri nodded, "We were thinking of doing something for the trip but we weren't sure what. I think you just gave me an idea, though."

"Well, tell me about it after school," Henry said, noticing the bell was about to ring, "I'll see you later."

Later that afternoon, Henry listened along intently to Juri's plan while shaking his head in disbelief, "You want to smuggle Guilmon onto the school field trip. I'm not asking, I'm repeating it back to you because I want to be sure you hear how crazy that sounds."

"How hard could it be?" Juri asked, turning head towards Kazu and Kenta who simultaneously answered, "VERY!"

Kazu added, "Maybe you haven't noticed, but he's a giant dinosaur. He's not going to be easy to disguise. And it's not like we can just put him inside one of the boxes. Everyone's going to ask what we're doing with a box that big!"

"Not if we sneak him in on a bag," Juri said with a great big smile on her face. Henry massaged his forehead, "And where do we get a bag big enough to hide him? And then transport him to the school without anyone noticing? Maybe you haven't noticed but the guy is as big as one of the teachers!"

"Not if we use a tent bag," Juri said with a more than happy smile. Henry sighed and massaged the side of his head, "Okay, and how are we supposed to bring a tent bag?"

"We sneak it in with the other tents that are supposed to be coming!" Juri said enthusiastically to everyone's utter surprise, as if she'd given this quite a bit of thought for something she supposedly just came up with, "It's a camping trip, remember? We put him in a tent bag, sneak him in that way, and then we bring him here! How does that sound?"

"So how do we distract them from noticing that Guilmon is in the bag? They're going to notice the moment he makes a noise. And don't tell me he can keep quiet for that long," Kenta pointed out sheepishly. Juri scratched her head, "We'll think of something."

The day of the camping trip came surprisingly quick, and the only plan any of them could think to come up with was to drag Guilmon along the ground and stash his tent bag along side all the other tents that the teachers were setting up. Henry massaged his temple, certain that the teachers would notice there was an extra tent bag that was moving. And if they didn't notice, that would only make him wonder just how little they were seeing. Takato had said the different realities made it harder for people to notice odd things. With any luck, this would be one of those things.

But luck didn't seem to take their side since Guilmon was protesting the entire trip, "Stop dragging me! This hurts! I want my shed! It was safe there. I miss my shed!"

"You have to keep quiet, Guilmon!" Juri said to the bag, patting it gently, "If you make too much noise, you won't be able to come with us on the camping trip."

"Is this safe? Takatomon said not to leave the shed unless he said so!" Guilmon whined aloud, "And who's stroking my tail?"

Kazu grunted, "You are! You're the only one in there! It'll be cramped for a while but we'll be at the camp site soon, so don't worry."

"How far is it?" Guilmon whimpered. It turned to a loud groan when Henry replied, "It's a four hour drive."

Once they made it to school, they hurriedly threw Guilmon's bag beside the other tent bags. Once again, luck turned against them when Miss Kamiya noticed them and she asked, "What are you kids doing by the tents?"

Juri whispered at Guilmon to be quiet while Kenta quickly answered, "We wanted to see if we could help put the tents away at all, Miss Kamiya."

"Uh-huh, sure," Miss Kamiya answered with a raised eyebrow, looking at all of them carefully, "And why would you want to do that all of a sudden? Looking for extra credit or to cause a prank?"

"Is it wrong for some students to just want to help out?" Juri asked seriously. Miss Kamiya remained unconvinced and continued to stare suspiciously, and Henry quickly picked up one of the tent bags to quietly put away on the bus's storage. That did nothing to convince Miss Kamiya, who quietly muttered, "You kids just get on the bus already. We'll be doing head counts soon."

"Um…Miss Kamiya," Takato said appearing just behind her holding a camera. She spun around and sternly said, "Now I know this is a prank."

"Prank? What? No, I just wanted some help with my camera. I can't get the flash to work," Takato said holding up a camera for her. She examined it carefully, taking it from his hands and turning it over, "Takato, you're really trying to tell me you don't know how to use a camera? It's easy! You just…push this button…and…um…well…you see…"

She began turning the camera over in her hand in confusion. While she was distracted, Takato mouthed to them to do whatever they were doing. They all nodded and picked up Guilmon's bag. The little digimon grunted from inside the bag as all four of them moved the bag along the ground to get it onto the bus. It would be too dangerous to have him with the other tents where the teachers would notice right away, so they quietly snuck him onto the bus and loaded the bag onto the back row where they'd be sitting. Neither Takato nor Miss Kamiya noticed the noises Guilmon was making, as she was too busy trying to figure out the camera and Takato was too busy trying to keep her attention. Once the tent bag was safely stowed away on the bus, they gestured at Takato that everything was fine. Takato nodded just as Miss Kamiya stated, "I don't know Takato, can't you just get a digital camera like everyone else?"

"That's okay, I didn't bring any film anyway," Takato said, snatching the camera back and running for the bus. Henry passed him on the way out and he asked, "So what were you guys doing out there?"

"Nothing," Juri said quickly before he finally stepped onto his class's bus. He couldn't tell if Takato had already figured things out already or not. Then he felt Terriermon ruffle around in his back pack, "Do you think Guilmon will be okay?"

"Probably," Henry mumbled quietly so that no one would notice him talking to himself, "It all depends on if he can keep quiet for several hours."

"With how easily distracted those teachers are, I don't think that's going to be a problem," Terriermon said at just a whisper that turned I to chuckle. As they boarded their own bus, Terriermon stuck his hand out of the bag and said, "Hey look!"

"Huh?" Henry followed the finger along to see a set of dolls tied on a net at the end of the bus. All he saw at the end were a bunch of stuffed animals, until he was certain one of them was moving. A familiar white digimon sitting there with big wide eyes. He waved at them excitedly and Henry quickly took the spot beside him to make sure no one else noticed, "What are you doing here Calumon?"

"i saw all these big things show up and went inside to see what was going on. Then all you humans started getting on too! What's going on?" Calumon asked at a mile a minute. Henry looked around, relieved to see that no one noticed Calumon talking and whispered, "Keep your voice down. Do you want everyone to know you're on here?"

"It's okay! They think I'm a toy!" he said excitedly. This was going to be a long drive.

Rika walked along the street, lost in thought and trying to drown out the world with her music. Unfortunately, the music did little to calm her down as her mind raced with the haunting fact that her mom was Mimi and her dad was Izzy. How could she have missed all this? It didn't make sense! She started pouring over the books again, looking through card details, and even rewatching the show to find some detail she'd missed. It was just as well too, since no digimon had appeared in a couple of days.

What she found didn't make her feel better though - nothing she didn't already know. What was the point of all this? It frustrated her to know she was getting nowhere this way. So she decided to go to her favorite card shop to pick up some new cards and maybe see what new expansion packs were coming out. Inside, the smell of unopened booster packs and cards up on display made her giddy to think what she could.

As she began browsing the cards and wondering which expansions to get herself, she noticed a section of shelf had been allocated for books. Specifically with copies of the first volume of the book series. But something seemed different about them. As she moved closer, she noticed the cover was different and the title had a subhead:

A Digimon Adventure: The Digimon Tamer

Rika stared at the title perplexedly, grabbing a copy of the book and thumbing through it. As she did, the clerk noticed her perusing and asked, "Interested in the reprint?"

"I already have this one. It looks different though," she answered, trying to find a familiar passage or scene. The clerk laughed, "That's because it's not the one you think it is. That book there was the first one in the whole series! The forgotten volume!"

"What's wrong with it?" she asked, curious now about this forgotten book. The clerk's smile widened, "So get this: the guy who wrote the digimon books actually wrote this one first. It wasn't a best seller, though and only had a few fans. Critics said it was too dark, too serious, and wasn't very kid friendly. Some people liked it but not enough to get a sequel. So he rewrote it and called the new one Digimon Adventure. The story's about the same, but it was more kid friendly, had a few adult fans, and sold better. Anyway, since the author still hasn't released his third book, the publisher decided to do a limited reprint of this one. A collector's edition if you like."

"I'll take it," Rika nodded, producing some change and purchasing the book. Maybe this book would tell a different story. One that would finally explain everything.

By some miracle, Guilmon stayed quiet for the whole trip and when he was unloaded from the bus. Either that or he was knocked out. Thankfully, Takato seemed too distracted to even notice Guilmon in the oversized bag just a few feet away. After another head count, they broke off into groups for lunch. Kazu and Kenta went ahead with the Guilmon bag to set things up while Juri stayed behind to keep Takato busy, "Say, Takato. Feeling any better?"

"Hmm? Better?" Takato repeated sheepishly, looking bewildered. Juri nodded, "Yeah, you've been kinda off lately. Everyone's noticed: you wander off as soon as class ends and no one can find you. Kazu and Kenta were even saying that you stopped showing up at the 'usual place'. Whatever that is. So is everything okay?"

"Hm, yeah," he nodded quietly, scratching his head, "Where did those guys go, anyway?"

"Takato," she said to hold his attention just a little bit longer, "What's going on?"

"Just been thinking lately," he answered, "About everything. I've got a lot on my mind with the digimon, not knowing what's going on in the Digital World and everything else."

Juri didn't believe that. He was fine about that up until recently, when that digimon showed up in the subway. It couldn't have been that. If it was, he would've been worried about all this after he told them everything. No, it was something else, "Is that all?"

He threw up his hands, "You got me."

"So what is it?"

"Later. Where'd Kazu and Kenta get to? Seriously? They can't have gotten far with that giant bag they had," Takato massaged his temple and scanned the area around the park. She was a little disappointed that he wasn't saying but at least she knew now that there was something on his mind. But she didn't want to press it. There was no way they were done setting up by now, but she was sure they'd at least be far enough away to not be noticed. This time, it was her turn to take the lead and she gestured at him to follow, "Follow me and I'll show you."

It did feel a little weird to be in the front for once. Not that it was a bad feeling, just different. Normally, Takato was the one in the lead and she was trying to keep up with him. Now it was the reverse, and the pace was a lot more relaxed than what she was sure either of them were used to. They came upon Kazu and Kenta relaxing gingerly behind some bushes with Guilmon stretching his tail. Takato's jaw hit the ground as he called out in surprise, "GUILMON!?"

"Hi Takatomon!" Guilmon waved, holding a sandwich in one hand and a rice ball in the other. The digimon smiled, "It all looks so good and I didn't know where to start!"

"What are you doing here?" Takato asked, happy to see his partner but also a little surprised by his presence. Guilmon explained, "Juri, Kazu, and Kenta snuck me on to the bus. Then I took a nap."

"They did?" Takato looked at them bewildered, seemingly realizing something obvious in front of him. Then he started to laugh - eerily at first but contagious. For a second, Juri was certain he was broken until he said, "I mean…I can't believe I missed that."

"You've been a little spacey the last couple of days dude," Kazu folded his arms, "Juri figured that bringing him on the camping trip might make you happy."

Juri noticed the look Takato gave her. A surprised look but one that was also contented. Seeing that look made the blood rush to her face and she flushed with embarrassment. She turned away so that he wouldn't see her. But that look he had. In all the times he'd been silly in class or goofy, or even depressed, this was the first time he'd seemed genuinely happy. Not to say he wasn't always happy but this was…different. Then she remembered this wasn't the real Takato. The real Takato was lost somewhere. This person was just someone wearing his face. She mentally slapped herself for killing what should've been a good mood

They quickly settled down to eat their lunch, where they each took turns stuffing Guilmon's face with parts of their lunch. With all the different food options available, Guilmon looked and acted like he was in a candy store. He ate so loud and enthusiastically that they had to shush him several times to keep him from being too loud. But all their efforts didn't stop them from going pale with panic when the bushes started to shake - they scrambled to hide Guilmon before a teacher caught him only to be surprised when they saw Henry appear, "This is where you guys are. So…we might have a little problem."

"Problem?" Takato repeated sheepishly, looking down to see Calumon run out from behind the bush at Henry's feet. Terriermon poked his head out of Henry's bag and added, "Looks like Calumon followed us on the trip. We managed to stop him before he started asking people for food."

Henry set his bag down so Terriermon could climb out holding two boxed lunches. Henry apologized, "Hope you guys don't mind, I can't keep an eye on both of them by myself."

"Moumantai, Henry," Terriermon said with a great big smile. He opened his lunch and started helping himself while Calumon poked at the rice and meat inside, "Wow, it looks yummy! What is it?"

"Well that's a hotdog. That's a chicken nugget. Those are cherry tomatoes and…um…I don't know what that is," Henry's face turned as he tried to determine what the last item in the lunch box was. Of course, at that exact moment their digivices went off at the same. Juri noted the defeated expression on Henry and Takato's faces as they both groaned.

"Really? A digimon has to show up now?"

"Come on, I haven't even gotten a chance to eat yet!"

It didn't help that their digivices displayed the weirdest image on its screen: a golden rooster wearing what looked like a bowling ball with claws. Henry asked, "Another one with no name. Think it's a Deva?"

"No doubt. This is…um…Sin…Sin…oh, what was it?" Takato snapped his fingers as he tried to recall, "Cindermon? No, that's not it…I don't remember. I do remember he's a fan of gossip so we could probably use that to distract him. Oh, and he loves to pick a fight. Even if it's over something as simple as getting the last soda."

"You're kidding," Terriermon said disbelievingly until Takato answered, "He once whittled down a mountain with his beak because a stone fell off it and landed on his tail. It took him a couple thousand years but he did it. They must be getting desperate if they're sending him of all digimon."

"Well it sounds like we should go check it out," Henry scooped up his bag, "Digivice says it's this way. Let's go."

"You guys go on ahead," Kazu packed up his lunch, "We still gotta set up the tents."

"Huh, it's not like you to not want to see a digimon fight, Kazu," Kenta pointed out, until Kazu added, "Well someone's got to play distraction while you guys are away. The moment the explosions happen, Miss Kamiya and the other teachers are going to start doing head counts. We can buy a little time while you guys do what you have to do."

With that, they broke off into their groups. Juri looked back as Takato led them off, hoping they'd all come back okay.

Sinduramon examined his surroundings in the Real World to make sure nothing was amiss. It wasn't. It seemed so calm. So peaceful. There was no way Mahiramon and Sandiramon could've failed here. And yet contact had been lost with both of them. And the catalyst was still missing. He spread his wings and glided from tree to tree. The journey between worlds left him feeling drained and he needed more power. Electricity. That's what he needed. Electricity.

But where was he supposed to find that in this uncivilized place? He hopped along from one tree to the next in search of any kind of electricity but found nothing. Where even was he? Was the entire human world like this? Or did he just have the bad luck of ending up in the middle of nowhere? Was he just going to have to wait for a thunder storm and to get struck by lightning. It didn't help that he eventually came upon his only weakness in this place: water. A river of water flowing calmly through this endless forest. The evidence was really piling up that he was in the middle of nowhere. He grunted angrily, as if he were being taunted. This wasn't what he needed right now.

Adding to the list of things he didn't need: the unmistakable smell of digimon. Other digimon coming his way. He turned his head towards the smell and noticed two humans in the lead: one in a blue hoodie and the other in an orange vest. And with them were three comparably weak digimon: Guilmon, Terriermon, and…could it be? But how did they…why…did they have it?

He narrowed his eyes and flew their way, indifferent to the fact that they noticed him immediately. He wanted them to know. He wanted them to be afraid, "Humans!"

"Hello!" the hooded one said with a wave, "Hey Sin…Cidermon? No, that's not right. Sorry, what was your name again?"

"SINDURAMON!" he cried at the top of its lungs in anger, "WHO ARE YOU TO KNOW MY NAME!?"

The hooded one cleaned out his ear with his finger, "You don't have to shout, we're right here. Also, why do you all keep saying that? 'Who are you to know my name!' You're the Devas! Who doesn't know your name? Well, I kinda forgot. That's my bad."

Sinudramon grumbled as the boy went on, "I'm Takato, this is Henry, these are Guilmon, Terriermon and Calumon!"

"Do you know what you have?" Sinduramon asked, gesturing at Calumon. Takato looked down at the little digimon and answered, "A hyperactive six inch mouse with attention deficit disorder?"

"Attention what?" Calumon repeated, its head tilting as it tried to process what was said. Sinduramon roared in anger at the human's behavior, "You will not speak so disrespectfully!"

Neither human flinched at his bellow to his annoyance. Did they not know who he was? The other one calmly asked, "Do you mind not shouting? We're right here and we can hear you just fine."

The Takato human added, "More to the point. Why are you here? First Mihiramon and now Sandiramon. What are you guys here for? I mean, yes, I know it's because of the Catalyst but it's in the Digital World. That's the gossip anyway. You guys are looking in the wrong place."

Sinduramon was intrigued now, always loving a chance for a good chat when it presented itself, "Then you've got bad sources, human. The catalyst is here. It was sent away for safe keeping. Now it needs to be retrieved."

"Safe keeping? Safe keeping from what?" Takato asked, gesturing around wildly in confusion. Sinduramon leered at the boy. Was he fishing for information? Well he knew better than to give anything away. But he needed to tell someone other than the Devas. It didn't matter if they knew. They'd be dead soon anyway, "An old and unknowable danger, buried in the heart of the Digital World has awoken. We Devas who aren't fighting it with our Masters have come to reclaim the-"

"-the catalyst. Yeah. Look, we both know that's not how you normally talk so can we skip past that part?" the Takato human said. The disrespect was growing to Sinduramon's ever growing anger and it didn't help that the human had the audacity to add, "Look, you digimon coming over to the Real World is becoming a bit of a problem, especially when you start blowing things up. We can help if you guys want. That's what we have these for, right?"

Sinduramon couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a digivice, but unlike any he'd ever seen. No. He had to focus. They were irrelevant. Secure the catalyst. That was why he was here. Forget the electrical power. With the catalyst nearby, he would have all the power he needed. He could defeat them all, "Positron Pulse!"

An arc of electricity shot out from the prongs on his armor and struck the ground in front of them. They all jumped back and Takato tried to reason with him, "Sinduramon! We're trying to help!"

"We don't need human help!" Sinduramon roared in anger. He swooped down to them with his claws out, "Die humans!"

"Is now a bad time to mention I'm technically digital?" the Takato human asked. Sinduramon answered by firing another blast of electricity. That was when the Guilmon and Terriermon decided to attack, "Pryosphere!"

"Bunny Blast!"

Henry and Takato stayed back as their digimon rushed into the fight. Calumon was too scared to get in the middle and hid behind Henry's leg. Henry looked over at Takato, "So what's the plan here? You said Sinduramon was prone to picking fights. I thought we we're going to use that?"

"Oh...I don't have much of a plan," Takato frowned, scanning the environment haphazardly, "I was hoping to get more info out of him first since he's a gossiper. Now we're winging it. Let's see: water. It'll short circuit him. Sure. Convince him to take a bath. Okay, trees. He can fly. It'd never work. Rocks? Um...you didn't happen to bring your deck did you?"

"Of course not! There hasn't been a digimon attack in days! I wanted to relax!" Henry spat out. Takato looked at him, "What do you call this?"

"Guys! Don't fight!" Calumon pleaded. They were supposed to be friends. Friends didn't fight.

Henry eyes narrowed, "Wait, where's your deck?"

"I left it at home," Takato answered and Henry snapped back, "And you're calling me out?"

"Stop fighting!" Calumon pleaded with them, "STOP FIGHTING!"

He closed his eyes and wished all of it would stop and he felt a sharp pain in his head.

Henry looked over in shock as bright light illuminated from Calumon's head - darting towards their digimon. It was so bright he had to cover his eyes to with his hands and stepped back. Before his voice was drowned out by their digimon's cries, he heard Takato shout, "Calumon's the catalyst!?"

"Terriermon! Digivolve to! Gargomon!"

"Guilmon! Digivolve to! Growlmon!"

By the time Henry could see again, he saw both their partners had digivolve to their champion form. Sinduramon became furious at the sight of them, eyeing Calumon viciously and charging straight for the little digimon. Thankfully Growlmon got in front of him and knocked him into a tree so hard that the tree snapped in half.

Takato scooped up Calumon and held the little digimon tight, "Sinduramon! We're not here to fight. We came to help. So stop fighting or-"

"Well a fight is what you're going to get, human! How dare you use the catalyst's powers!" Sinduramon roared as he dove out from under the tree straight at Takato. Takato side stepped the flying rooster, and they all watched the Deva crash into the river where he started convulsing in agony. Sparks of electricity flew through the air and arced with the current as it carried him away with the stream. Henry looked to Takato for an explanation, "What's happening? Why is he in pain? It's just water."

"Sinduramon's basically a giant battery and he's discharging all his power," Takato explained as they both watched the digimon twitch and convulse. After a moment, Takato threw Calumon into the air and ran to the water's edge, "Wait! We have to help him!"

Henry caught Calumon before he hit the ground, and quickly grabbed Takato by the scruff of his collar before he got too close to the water. Takato wriggled against him, but Henry shouted, "Takato! If he's discharging his electricity, running into the water will only get you killed!"

That seemed to knock some sense in Takato who frowned as the digimon finally stopped convulsing and exploded into data. Takato's jaw fell open as he fell quiet again. Henry shook him, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, just...processing," he answered quietly while looking at where Sinduramon had been, "I'm not sure how I feel about this because I wanted to help him not hurt him but...well, he did it to himself. With how hot-headed he is, I'm not sure what I expected. Huh."

"Well while we're thinking about it, we have another problem," Henry thumbed over at Growlmon and Gargomon. While neither of them were looking, Gargomon began to absorb the digimon's data. Takato went on, "Right, first we have to get them back to rookie or we'll never be able to sneak them away. Then, we have to figure out how Calumon is the catalyst."

Henry looked down at the little digimon in front of him, surprised to see that something so small and friendly could be the very thing all the strong digimon had come looking for. Then he looked up at Takato, "IS the catalyst not a digimon?"

"It's supposed to be a big ball of multi dimensional energy harvested from a fire wall," Takato pointed at Calumon, "No offense Calumon."

"I don't know what you said but it sounds like you were trying to say I'm awesome!" the little digimon said gleefully.

Author's Notes: Calumon was important the entire time! What will our heroes do with the little digimon? What will Rika find in the book? And what will the others do now that they know Tamer is back? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 due out in three weeks on Friday May 31st at 8 PM CDT. I'm taking an extra week to recover during this break because I've been sick and it's slowed my writing for the last week. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section along with any thoughts you might have on the chapter. Don't forget to favorite the story to show support, and follow to keep up to date with the latest updates. And now let's look at previews for the next chapter:

"Where do you keep getting all those?" she asked sheepishly. He stuffed as many as he could into his bag, "This is Shinjuku! Where aren't I finding these? Open up your bag and make some room."

"Uh...um...yeah," Juri unzipped her bag and held it open for him to stuff some smoke bombs in there for her, "Where did you even get the idea to use fireworks?"

"A friend of mine...I think," Takato answered quietly, "I don't remember. I think we were friends. Now that I think about it, she was mad at me a lot. That's not important. I got the idea from...um...something about pointy lights. It'll come back to me. Anyway, here."

Once her bag was stuffed with as much as it could carry, he zipped it for her and declared, "Alright! Let's go catch up with the others."