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 16: Knowing More, Understanding Less

Juri didn't see Takato or Henry return until late in the afternoon, when the sun had almost set. Right away, she noticed something was off because Henry was holding Calumon like he was a baby that needed protecting from the world despite the little digimon's protests to be let go. Still, it was a weight off her mind to see that they were okay and she raced to greet them, "Welcome back! How'd everything go?"

"Another Deva down," Henry answered quietly, lifting up Calumon while also keeping a firm hold, "And we found out Calumon is the one they're coming to our world for. But the reason why is...well, not good. They said there's something in their world so dangerous that they sent Calumon here to hide him but now they need him back so that they can actually fight back against whatever it is."

"That sounds bad," Juri replied sheepishly, looking around and noticing they were missing two digimon, "Where are Guilmon and Terriermon?"

"It's Growlmon and Gargomon, right now. We have them doing hand stands out in the forest until they shrink back down to size. They've got to tire out eventually," Takato answered quietly, finally getting annoyed with Calumon's complaints and flicking him across the forehead with his finger, "Calm down, Calumon. We aren't trying to hurt you, we just want to keep you safe. If we were going to hurt you, we would've done it already."

That comment made the little digimon's wars shrink in size and Takato quickly threw up his hands, "Sorry! I wasn't try to scare you! We're just trying to figure out what to do with you since you're here now and apparently a bunch of crazy digimon are attacking our world to get to you."

"You're not going to give me to them, are you? They've all been real mean!" Calumon finally said something that wasn't a loud protest. Takato patted the little digimon's head, "No, of course not. We'll be keeping an eye on you so you don't run off. But who are we going to-"

"My sister!" Henry answered quickly, "She's seven so she's only in the second grade and she's probably the only one who can keep up with Calumon when it comes to playing."

Takato looked at him skeptically, and even Juri was unsure just what he was thinking. Did he really plan on bringing more people in on this? And a seven year old? There was no way he was thinking this through. Takato folded his arms and asked, "We already have enough people who know about digimon. Do you seriously want to tell someone else?"

"You're the one who decided to tell your friends," Henry gestured at Juri, "No offense, Juri. But he blabbed way before I ever did. At this point, what does it matter if we let any one else in? It's not like it's much of a secret at this point. One digimon blew up the top of the Metropolitan Building, and another rampaged through the subways. If anything, it's weird that there isn't more panicking in the streets."

Takato looked at him with his mouth wide open as he tried to come up with a response before he agreed, "Alright, but can we trust her not to say anything?"

Henry groaned, "She's seven. Who's believe her? As long as Terriermon and I keep an eye on Calumon, I think he's not going anywhere."

"Do I get a say in this? Because I don't want to be locked up any more!" Calumon whimpered. Henry lattes his head, "Don't worry. You two will definitely get along. Besides, she really likes to play."

Impmon stared down at the house below him. The same house where her first landed in the Digital World. The house where he met his 'human partners'. Two bickering kids who couldn't get along if their lives depended on it. He didn't know why he kept coming back to this place. It wasn't like there was anything here for him.

Ai, the older sister, and Mako, the younger brother. He watched them playing in the backyard and realized neither one of them had seemed to notice he was gone. They were too busy fighting over who got to play with what toys. It seemed like a cruel joke in hindsight - how did he get paired up with a pair of brats like them and for what purpose? Neither of them seemed interested in digimon - either as that kids' toy line in this world or him.

How were they going to help him get stronger? As he watched the two of tug over a teddy bear, he noticed the seams start to give and it eventually ripped apart. Seeing that reminded him of why he left. It was only a matter of time until they destroyed him the way they destroyed that doll. Humans really were more trouble than they were worth. But he couldn't stop himself from thinking on the other humans and their partners - Renamon and Rika, Takato and Guilmon. Both of them got along well with their partners and were able to digivolve. So why couldn't he have that? Why did he keep coming here?

He turned his back on the kids as they started wailing over another destroyed toy and left. To hell with humans. He would get stronger on his own, without the help of humans.

That night, they were all gathered around the campfire listening to Mr. Mori telling them what were his attempts at a ghost story. When none of the students found it very scary, Mr. Mori offered each of them a chance to tell their own ghosts stories and everyone jumped at the chance to tell a better story than him. They each took turns telling their own version of ghost stories: stories of haunted houses, restless spirits, nameless monsters, and other things that each thought would be scary. Others skipped their turn to come up with ideas or because they didn't want to. Then Juri's turn came and she froze, "I think I'll pass. I'm not too good at telling stories."

So it was Takato's turn, but he hardly noticed as he stared into the fire. He only snapped out of it when Kazu elbowed him, "Hey! Takato! It's your turn."

"Huh? Oh. What were we doing?"

"Telling scary stories, duh," Kazu answered, "Pay attention. Do you have one or not?"

"Oh...I guess. It's not a good one though," Takato answered quietly, adjusting uncomfortably where he sat. Kazu rested his head on his arms, "Oh, this'll be good."

Takato stared into fire a little longer before starting, "A long time ago, there was a monster that ravaged a far away land. It was a nameless, shapeless thing without pity or remorse. All it cared for was devouring all it could find. Those who survived encounters with it, were simply eaten later on. But stories spread - spread of this beast and it attracted heroes: the brave and strong who set out to stop it. And it ate every last one of them. With every battle, it became smarter - learning the tricks of every hero so it didn't work twice. It became stronger, so that no one could challenge it. It became more cruel, as it realized nothing could stop it. Soon, armies from distant lands came together to challenge it. And the monster laughed - seeing only more food to be eaten. And it ate well."

"So what happened?" Kenta asked, drawn into the story while half of the class was already tuned out from boredom. Takato stared into the fire, "One day - a single brave hero stepped up to face it alone. The strongest, wisest, bravest hero ever known whose name could turn any foe at the sound of it. And they fought - their battle changed the land around them. And it changed the hero. For the first time, both knew fear and the monster retreated. But the hero was scarred by facing the unknowable, the unkillable. It drove him mad, and he turned on those he swore to protect. One monster was defeated and another took its place."

Takato paused for again, staring into the fire before adding, "Fearful of what the hero had become, his closest friends devised a plan. They led him out into the wilds where the monster had fled, knowing the two would find each other again. And when they did, they went into a rage and battled. As they fought, the friends tricked the two and cast them into the chasm beneath earth and buried it. Their hope was that the two would continue their battle to the death, or be crushed by the debris. But their battle raged on. Every time the ground shakes, mountains erupt in flame, the seas swell, and winds rage - it's because their battle continues on. And should one win, it will only be a matter of time before the survivor returns from the depths."

"Boring," Kazu yawned, "That story sucked Takato."

The boy sheepishly replied, "I did say it wasn't a very good one, didn't I?"

The rest of the class were mixed. Some found it scary, but most were with Kazu in how boring it was. Juri found it especially unnerving - a monster that couldn't be stopped and could one day come back. That alone was enough to be frightening. But she didn't want to say that. Eventually, Mr. Mori clapped his hands to get their attention, "Okay, I think that's enough scary stories for tonight. It'd be best if you all went to bed now kids. We've got a bright and early day in the morning!"

"Aww!" the class groaned in unison, to which Mr. Mori stated, "No complaints. We have a day full of fun activities planned for tomorrow and you guys should get some rest before we do it."

Everyone slowly got up to go to their tents but Juri noticed that Takato stared into the fire a little longer. She tapped his shoulder to get his attention, "Hey, did you space out again?"

"Huh, oh yeah," Takato looked around, "What's going on now? Where's everyone going?"

"We were all going back to our tents," she pointed out to him. He nodded absent-mindedly, still sitting where he was and staring into the fire. Sensing something was bugging him, she asked, "Are you still thinking about whatever was bothering you before?"

"Kinda."

"You never said what it was," Juri pointed out to him and he stifled a laugh, "No, I didn't."

He looked up from the fire for a moment, "It's just…I've been trying to sort out the memories in my head for a while. I figured the old me would've planned for this and left behind some clues to help me figure things out. They come and go, but it's all a jumbled mess and the headache makes it hards to concentrate. But the memories I can focus on…how do I put this? Whoever I was before...didn't like fighting. No, it's more like...he was tired of fighting. When I close my eyes and try to remember the past, a lot of the memories that are there are just...nonstop fighting. And if it wasn't fighting, it was using others. And it scares me. I don't want to be that person. I'm trying to fix everything peacefully but it feels like no one else wants to. Rika and Renamon are always the first to go in swinging punches. I can't stop Guilmon from turning violent all the time, sometimes he just runs off on his own. And I'm scared if this continues, I might be like that person again. If that makes sense."

"It really doesn't," Juri answered, remembering their conversation the other day. This wasn't the real Takato. This was just someone else that looked like him, living his life. Takato shook his head, "I guess I don't just suck at telling stories, huh?"

"I thought it was good," she admitted quietly. Takato nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Thanks for listening, Juri."

"Hey, hurry up you two!" Mr. Mori clapped his hands to get their attention. Realizing they'd both fallen behind the others, they got up and hurried back to their separate tents. Juri noted that Takato seemed a little more relaxed after talking, but burst into a small laugh when she heard Mr. Mori ask, "Boy, why can't Miss Kamiya and I be like that?"

Rika sat at her desk, flipping through the book she'd bought from the store. It was drab and repetitive, but that didn't stop her from getting all the way to the end out of a curious desire to know how it would end. She turned the last page of the book and closed it. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. This version of the story, the one that wasn't popular…was so much worse than the one she'd come to know and love. And if any of it was true, she certain that they could no longer trust Takato or The Digimon Tamer ever again. The lies, the manipulation, the exclusion of important information - all of it put the digidestined and their digimon in danger. If he would've just told them…maybe…

It at least explained why her mom was the way she was. To think that was the reason why her grandfather on her mom's side never came to the city. Why her grandmother on her mom's side was a sore subject for both of them. But there were still so many more questions that were unanswered.

And there was the other part of the story that bothered her. The rage and anger that this Tamer character carried. He kept it buried for so long than when it got out, he became more of a monster than the digimon could ever be. Takato said he was having memory problems…so what if he remembered? Or worse, what if he did remember and was simply burying it again? What would happen if he let that explode again? She tried to imagine the dopey Guilmon becoming a mindless monster and that terrified her.

She looked up from her book and called out to her partner, "Hey…Renamon?"

"Yes, Rika?" her partner's voice called out from behind her. She turned around to face her partner, "This Tamer person that you think I am…what were they like?"

"According to many digimon, a brave hero, a great warrior, and a unique thinker," she replied. Rika frowned, because that all matched up with what she'd read in the book, "Would you trust them?"

"Beg pardon?" her partner asked. Rika sighed, "If you met the Tamer, I mean…whoever the Tamer was before, would you trust them?"

Renamon stared at her intently for the longest time, maybe trying to read in to the question. After a long, painful silence Renamon answered, "No. The Tamer had a reputation as a trickster…someone who would play you against yourself without you even realizing. However, I would still choose to work with the Tamer if I'd met him - ultimately, his aims were for the greater good."

The greater good. Rika wasn't so sure about that. She was missing a grandparent because of that guy. And she dreaded to think of what else she might lose if she spent any more time around him.

A day of fun activities was a nice change of pace from battling evil digimon as it had been in the last day. Of course, Henry noted that Takato's mood had improved somewhat, of course it probably had to do with the fact that he kept sneaking off to go spend time with the digimon. And the digimon were having a blast as well in the wilderness since they could be themselves without having to worry about running into anyone they didn't know. In fact, the one time Henry snuck off to join them it was to see them making a totem pole with Guilmon on the bottom, Terriermon in the middle, and Calumon on top.

And for some reason, they were all still doing hand stands.

Everyone's mood seemed improved by the time they all went home. Calumon tried to run off as soon as they got off the bus but Terriermon pulled him back into the backpack before he could get away. As they were all dismissed home, Takato came over to him and said, "We should tell Rika and Renamon about Calumon. I'm thinking we need a team meeting at the shed later. How does that sound?"

"Right now? We just got home," Henry said, only to notice the eager looks on Kazu and Kenta's faces behind Takato. Realizing this was happening, he sighed, "Fine, but let me get Calumon to my place first. The sooner we get him to safety, the better."

"Fine by me. I'm going to go find Rika," Takato answered. Henry wished he could've shared his enthusiasm - now the hard part was going to be telling Xiaochun and hoping she wasn't going to accidentally blab about everything. As soon as he got home, Xiaochun ran up to hug him and wrapped herself around his legs, "HENRY! IT'S YOU! YOU'RE BACK! HOW WAS CAMPING! COME PLAY WITH ME!"

"Hi Xiaochun!" Henry answered, taking one last moment to decide if she could be trusted. He assured himself that even if she blabbed, everyone would think she was just having an overactive imagination. He took his little sister by the hand and guided her to her room, "Let's go play in your room."

"YAY!" she cheered, skipping along, "We're gonna play dolls and tea party!"

Henry rolled his eyes and went along with it, annoying the snickers from his older siblings. Once he locked the bedroom door behind them, he kneeled down and unzipped the bag, "Hey, Xiaochun! Before we play, I got a surprise for you. But you have to keep it secret okay?"

"A secret?" Xiaochun jumped up and down excitedly, trying to peer into the bag, "Ooh! What is it? What is it?"

Henry reached into his backpack and produced Calumon who excitedly bounced around, "Finally! That bag of yours is stuffy!"

"Oh wow! He's so cute! Is he a pet?" Xiaochun said excitedly, picking up the little digimon and giving him a great big hug, "What's his name? Does he like tea? Ooh! I know! He can have my candy!"

"His name is Calumon," Henry told his little sister. Before he had the chance to say anymore, Xiaochun picked up the little digimon and announced, "Calumon, let's go play!"

Immediately, Calumon's tone shifted and his ears perked up, "Play? What are we playing? I want to play!"

"Let's play Pretty Princess Prissy Pants!" Xiaochun said excitedly, about to run out of the room. Thankfully, Henry was able to act quickly this time and grabbed her by the shoulder before she could get too far, "Xiaochun, wait!"

"Aw, but I want to play now!" Xiaochun frowned. Henry wagged his finger at her and said, "Did you forget already? You have to keep Calumon a secret, okay?"

"A secret? Like Terriermon?" Xiaochun asked innocently enough and Henry didn't like her tone when she said that. Especially when a sly smile drew itself on her face, "Henry, did you steal Calumon from another girl? Daddy says that's not nice!"

"No, I found him. That's different," Henry tried explaining to the little girl, annoyed that everyone in his family was thinking he was some kind of weirdo who didn't know how to talk to girls. Thankfully, she quickly lost interest, instead squeezing Calumon again with another big hug and cheering, "We're going to have so much fun and we're going to play dress up and have tea parties and play dollies."

Henry looked down into his bag to see Terriermon shaking anxiously. Listening to Xiaochun must've triggered some really bad memories in the poor digimon because he was shaking furiously in the bag and looked like he wanted to leave. He patted Xiaochun's head and reminded her, "Don't forget, he's a secret."

"Okay!"

Now to add the hard part, "Here's another important thing, Xiaochun. Calumon is real. He's not a doll, he's a real live digimon and he wants to be your friend."

"I do?" Calumon asked.

"You do?" Xiaochun asked just as excitedly. Henry then added, "Remember, you have to keep him a secret, okay? No one else can see him. Not even mom and dad. Otherwise some bad people may come and take him. If you do that, you can keep him play with each other all you want."

"Play?" they said together excitedly, "Yay! Play!"

Rika and Renamon expanded their patrols to the surrounding neighborhood after what happened with the last two digimon to come through: Sandiramon the serpent and Mihiramon the flying cat. These Devas seemed ready to show up any time now. Of course, it helped that she didn't want to be around when her mom had friends over. The last thing she wanted was to be asked to dress up again or try on more fashionable clothes. But she also didn't want to be seen leaving either.

No matter how many times she thought about it, she just couldn't accept it. Her mom was Mimi. Worse, she would hear the name whenever her grandmother called her mom. And when her friends came over too. The harder she wanted to deny it, the worse it became for her.

She waited just beyond the living room, as her mom's friends came in one at a time: that fashion designer and her rockstar husband, some detective, and a couple others she couldn't quite place. She wondered if these adult friends were the grown up digidestined. No, there was no wondering. This was them as adults. Then her mom said something that caught their attention, "So...I got something from Kari to share with all of you. She wanted to tell you guys herself but couldn't because of something going on in the school. Some field trip."

"She already filled Matt and I in, and we've talked about it to death," the fashion designer asked, "You guys can fill the rest of them in."

"It's about her brother," her mom replied. Rika couldn't miss the silence that followed or the sound of a cup breaking. She heard a slap and a woman say, "Ken! Not in her house."

"It's alright, Yolei," her mom said calmly, "Anyway, she thinks her brother is back as a student in her class. She sent the emails to me and I have them on Koushiro's old computer if you're ready to take a look."

"I can't wait for this," the detective guy grumbled. They filed into dad's office, giving her the chance to slip away. She had no idea why her mom kept that room after dad left and she didn't care. But she kept thinking on what her mom said…was Takato's teacher catching onto the fact that he was claiming to be the Tamer? She made mental note to pass that along if she ran into them. She ran out the door as quickly as she could and out onto the street, "Let's go Renamon!"

"Where to, today?" her partner asked as she appeared beside her. Rika stretched and answered, "First the card shop so I can pick up a booster pack and then on patrol around the city. These digimon have been popping up more often and I want to be ready for whenever the next one shows up."

"As you wish, Rika," Renamon did her vanishing act. Rika set out, ready for another day's worth of patrols and hopeful for another fight. And all of that vanished the moment she ran into the goggle head waiting for her, "Gogglehead? What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk. Team meeting," he explained to her. Rika folded her arms, "Team meeting? What's going on?"

"I'll fill you in when we get to the park. We don't know who might hear us out in the open," he explained to her. She hesitated for a moment, recalling all the information from the book. He noticed her hesitation and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she nodded and started walking. She wasn't going to be afraid of him. Cautious, yes. But she would not be afraid.

Yamaki walked along with his hands in his pockets, following the target calmly - a blonde haired man about his age wearing a baseball cap with the brim lowered to conceal his face. It was just a shame that it made him stand out more. He raised his wrist up to his face, speaking softly into the radio hidden there, "Target is approaching checkpoint one. Move to intercept."

"Copy," a voice said back. This was it. This was Takeru Takaishi - the reclusive author and journalist who vanished. It was entirely by chance that he'd been spotted skulking around the many game shops that sold digimon cards, made all the better because they were able to get a whole team of plain clothed agents present before he could leave. Now that he was leaving, this was their chance to acquire him before he disappeared again. After all, no one would notice if a missing person was captured in broad day light. And with Izumi out of the picture, they would need all the help they could get: voluntary or not.

The field agent just ahead of Takaishi moved to intercept, keeping his nose buried in a newspaper to conceal his face until the chance was right. As the two were about to bump into each other, the agent lowered the paper and started talking. Yamaki listened in on the conversation over the radio, moving closer to block Takaishi in if tried to run, "Mister Takaishi. Could I have a moment? It won't be long…Please, if you would come with me?…Let me be clear, your cooperation isn't being requested. Just come with me…Behind you, up above, two across the street, and one down that alley. You've got nowhere to…HEY!"

The field agent fell over backwards as Takaishi pushed past him. Yamaki spoke into his radio, "Babel!Babel! Babel!"

"Copy, Babel!" each of the agents responded back into the radio. Yamaki gave chase as each of the agents moved to surround Takaishi. Luckily, they knew the area well whereas Takaishi didn't. He ran straight into a dead end alley that was blocked by a twenty-foot high chain link fence. He was trapped.

Each of the agents moved in to block the alley entrance with their guns drawn. Yamaki watched from the back as the agents all tried to talk him down. Takaishi had his hands in the air to surrender. Yamaki breathed a sigh of relief. They caught him. Now they just had to bring him in. Yamaki stepped forward with a pair of handcuffs to make the arrest when Takaishi took a step back. It was like watching something out of a ghost story. Takaishi passed through the chain link fence like it wasn't there.

Yamaki felt the handcuffs fall out of his hands in shock - that wasn't possible. Takaishi just moved through a chain link fence. Like a ghost. For a brief second, Takaishi looked like he was waving at them. No, he was mocking them. He could see the vaguest semblance of a smirk on his face as he turned tail and ran far away from here. Yamaki clicked his tongue angrily - he'd gotten away. Were they all capable of doing this? No, of course not. Otherwise, Izumi would've run a long time ago. No, this was different. Is this how Takaishi had managed to go off the radar for so long? But how? Normal people couldn't do that.

Yamaki stepped forward and touched the fence to make sure it was real. It was there - cold and physical. There was something else they were missing. Something else they didn't see.

Rika followed Takato all the way back to the park, annoyed that their patrol had been cut short unceremoniously. Along the way, they ran into Henry walking along with Terriermon poking his head out of the bag. Terriermon waved at them excitedly as they walked past and asked, "Looks like we're all here!"

"So what are we doing with this team meeting?" Rika's eyes narrowed on them. Takato thumbed into the park, "We'll talk in the usual place. Not out here. We don't know who's listening."

"What? You're being paranoid! There's no one around!" Rika pointed out. Takato pressed a finger to her lips and explained, "All the more reason to be careful. That guy might show up again and he was really interested in getting his hands on Terriermon. We don't want him knowing what we know. And then you have Renamon. She can pull her disappearing act, but how many other digimon can disappear like that? Better to be careful."

"Fine," Rika scowled, following along with them as they made their way back into the shed. Once again, the others were all inside: Juri, Kazu, and Kenta. She was less thrilled to see Kazu and Kenta, but it was nice to see Juri here. As soon as they were inside, Takato called out, "You can come inside too, Renamon. We already know you're there."

She appeared just behind her at the entrance, "What is so important you needed me here also?"

"We found out what the devas are coming for," Takato began. Rika rolled her eyes, "We know - it's that stupid catalyst they keep screaming about. So what?"

"I mean we found out what the catalyst is," Takato explained to her sheepishly, "It's Calumon, that little guy who pops up every once in a while."

Rika couldn't believe her ears. Calumon? That pipsqueak? He was the thing that the devas were coming through to find? WHY!? He wasn't strong! He was weak! And tiny! She expected some big, powerful digimon. How was Calumon the catalyst? Did that tiny digimon really have all that power and energy hidden inside of him? And if there was that much power inside of him, why put it inside of a tiny thing like Calumon? Once any one found out, it'd be game over and anyone would be able to take him.

Thankfully, she wasn't the only one with her doubts. She just wished it wasn't Kazu who was also being skeptical, "Are you sure you're not still confused? There's no way a pipsqueak like that is gonna be what all these digimon are coming over to find!"

"That's Ancient technology," Takato pointed out matter of factly, "Infinite power contained in a tiny form - something that wouldn't stand out as much. The only down side is that whoever made Calumon didn't think it would be a bad idea to have him running out into danger at the drop of a hat. But that worked out for us more than once because he was there most of the time our digimon digivolved. If he wasn't there, he was probably hiding nearby."

"Okay, so they're after Calumon. Let's just give the devas what they want so that they leave us alone," Juri suggested. Terriermon snickered, "I wouldn't do that. We don't know who we're giving him to if we do that. What if he we give him to the wrong side? The DigiWorld's going to be in a lot of trouble then!'

"Okay, how do we figure out which side is the right side to give him too?" Juri asked. Takato interrupted, "We're not giving Calumon to anyone. All that power inside of him; it's too powerful to leave in anyone's hands."

"Right, so it makes sense that only we can hold him. Are you serious? We have a chance to end this and you want to hang on to the reason they're all coming over?" Kenta asked in disbelief, pointing an accusatory finger at Takato. He shook his head and tried explaining, "No, think about it. The digimon were showing up long before Calumon did. What would change if we gave Calumon back? We might give whoever is sending all the digimon here a power boost. And we barely managed to beat the first two."

"What about Sinduramon?" Henry asked. Rika looked over at them with a raised eyebrow, "Who's Sinduramon? Did you guys fight a Deva without me?"

She noticed Henry avert his gaze while Terriermon started laughing his head off. Takato sighed, "He attacked our camping trip but…well, he kinda killed himself. See, he was basically a walking battery and he ran at us, missed, and fell into a river. You can imagine what happened next."

"If we're lucky, the rest of them will all go down that easy," Terriermon snickered. Now Kazu folded his arms in frustration, "If they all go down that easy, it's no wonder Takato ended up with a partner."

It was hard to miss the annoyed look on Takato's face, but he refrained from saying anything to add, "Whatever the case, I think the best idea is to just protect Calumon for now until we can figure out what's going on in the Digital World - which we can go to once I figure out how the new digivice works."

"Whatever, so why did I need to be here? Next time write me a note," Rika asked, annoyed with what seemed to have been another waste of her time. Time she would've preferred to spend finding more digimon to beat so that she could make Renamon stronger. The disappointed look from Takato didn't help either, "I know what you're thinking, and it's not right. Digimon are living, thinking beings. You shouldn't be so willing to kill them as quickly as they pop up."

Rika was about to respond when all three of their digivices started going off at the same time - signaling them into the distance towards a new signal. And then another. And another. Four. There were four signals appearing. Rika couldn't deny the little bit of excitement building up inside of her. Just the chance to fight four tough opponents got her heart racing.

Henry wasn't as enthusiastic, "We might not have a choice with the next one. I think the Devas aren't too happy that their friends aren't coming back if they're sending four of them now."

"Yeah, we're going to need every advantage we can get," Takato frowned, "I'm going to run home and get some smoke bombs."

Juri quickly raised her hands, "I'll come too. The more we bring, the better."

Takato smiled cheerfully, "Awesome. I hate to ask Henry, but can you bring Calumon too?"

"Yeah. Talk about bad timing. We just got back from our camping trip and now we have another Devas on the loose. Hopefully Xiaochun doesn't mind going separate ways from Calumon so soon," Henry admitted sheepishly. Takato frowned, "Then bring her too, if you have to. If this goes south, we'll need his power to help our digimon digivolve."

"You do whatever you have to. Renamon and I will head in first and get a bead on the situation," Rika declared. They all agreed on that and hurried off to their different roles.

Henry tried to get back into his family's apartment as quietly as he could, but both of his parents noticed his return as soon as he stepped past the entry way. His mom called out, "Jenrya, why are you home so late?"

He cursed his luck and made his excuses, "I was out with friends. I'm just going to grab something real quick and then go hang out with them more."

"Wait, how was the camping trip?" he heard his mom call after him as he raced back into Xiaochun's room. His little sister already had Calumon in a dress and was hosting a pretend tea party for him with all her dolls, "Hey, Xiaochun. I need to borrow Calumon real quick."

"No way! We're having tea and I'm about to give everyone cake!" she complained, pretending to pour tea from an empty plastic teapot onto a tea cup for Calumon to pretend to drink out of, "This is really good. It's so sweet and yummy, just how I like it! So what kind of cake are we having?"

Henry tried to explain to them, "I'm sorry but this is an emergency. You two can play tea later."

"If it needs Princess Calumon, then I'm coming too!" Xiaochun said excitedly, placing her tea cup down on the table and picking up Calumon. Calumon was less thrilled by this declaration, "No way. There's gonna be another big scary digimon trying to hurt people. I don't wanna go!"

"Is it that scary?" she asked innocently enough, looking up at her big brother with those big innocent eyes. He nodded, intending to keep her as far from it as possible, "That's right. Which is why I'm only bringing Calumon."

Xiaochun puffed out her cheeks in protest and raised her voice, "No fair! If Calumon gets to go, I wanna go too! I wanna go! I WANNA GO!"

Henry couldn't argue with her mostly because she was definitely getting the attention of the rest of his family now. But he didn't want to because this was his sister. He couldn't bring her into something dangerous like this. First Terriermon, and now her! Was fate messing with him? Was he just going to have to keep escalating the people he was going to have to bring into danger. On the other hand, he couldn't afford to risk his little sister telling their parents about digimon being real. He sighed, "Fine, you can come. But you have to stay beside me no matter what. Do you understand?"

"YAY!" she cheered excitedly. Henry was already sure he was going to regret this and hurried into his room to get his card deck. He just hoped things didn't turn out as badly as he suspected they were going to. He called out to the apartment, "I'm going now! Xiaochun's coming too! We won't be long! BYE!"

"Henry, wait!" he heard his dad say but there was no time to respond. They had to hurry.

Juri and Takato made their way into his family's bakery from the back entrance, hoping to sneak past his parents before they noticed he was home only to be caught by his dad as he was taking some more bread out of the oven, "Oh, Takato. You're home! You're just in time. Could you help me wrap these up real quick and-"

Juri noticed that Takato barely gave him the chance to respond, "Sorry dad! In the middle of something, talk later!"

Juri couldn't imagine ever talking to her own parents that way, and wasn't sure if she admired Takato for it or thought he needed a good smack across the back of his head for it. It didn't help that Takato's dad was giving them a look that made her uncomfortable. In that brief moment when they exchanged glances, she considered what they didn't know: the boy living with them was not their real son. They didn't know Takato was still missing. She wanted to tell them, to let them know that they should still be concerned. But...she couldn't bring herself to break that news to them. Especially not now when they had other things to attend to. Deciding not to dwell on it, she hurried after Takato up the stairs and stopped at the door to his bedroom. She had never been in a boy's room before and realized now why his dad gave them a weird look.

It was a simple room too - an elevated bed over a dresser, a desk for doing homework, and a mess of clothes everywhere. Some of it including boy's underwear. She tried to avoid looking at it as Takato unloaded everything he had in his backpack onto the floor, grabbed his cards, and retrieved what looked like a box of smoke bombs from under his bed.

"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," Takato answered quietly, "Well, 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."

Juri nodded and followed him out the door, trying to ignore his dad as he called after them, "Don't stay out too late you two. Make sure he gets home safe Takato. And you better be back before dark!"

Juri was pretty sure she knew what he meant and shook her head in disbelief. Why did everyone keep thinking what they were thinking?

Rika, Renamon, Kazu, Kenta, and Guilmon arrived at the scene of the emerging digimon. Like before, there was a thick fog hanging over the air. On cue, she put on her glasses and searched around for whatever was coming through. Any of the four who were going to appear.

"So does anyone have any plans?" Kenta whimpered from behind her, "Because I don't."

"Wait and see," Rika answered firmly, keeping an eye on the fog as it expanded out in size. Any second now, they would be coming through. She tried to follow it carefully only to hear a soft growling from beside her - Guilmon was growling at the fog. The idiot. She tuned him out in time to see two figures dart out of the fog in opposite directions. Something that looked like a centaur but on a sheep's body, and another one that looked like a centaur with a bull's body. The two digimon landed on opposite sides of the street and started encircling the area to make sure it was safe before roaring. Then two more cake through - a monkey in a fez and a bipedal horse. The horse was so large, that simply landing on the street was enough to crack the pavement. There was no doubt. These were Devas. Rika signaled for everyone to get behind cover as they watched the four digimon begin to talk. The anticipation was killing her.

She was ready to fight but knew better than to try anything when they were outnumbered. She would just have to wait for now.

Author's Notes: There are four devas on the loose! Will Rika and the others be okay? Can they win against superior numbers? What are Yamaki and the rest of Hypnos doing to combat this? Find out all this and more in two weeks on Friday, June 14th at 5 PM CDT. I want to apologize in advance for the delay in the next update. The illness took me out longer than expected and I didn't do much besides lay in bed throwing up. Such is life. Anyway, I'm going to use this extra week to get some more writing and editing done. If you guys loved it, let me know in the reviews section! I try to reply as soon as I'm able. And hey, why not follow the story to keep up with updates and favorite it to show support? I've also gone to work setting up a tumblr to better interact with everyone! Feel free to give that a look. It's under the-digimon-tamer. That's all I have for now, so let's look at some previews!

He was stopped when a well thrown smoke bomb went off in his face, temporarily blinding him and leaving him defenseless. He retreated back to rejoin the sheep and the horse who came with him and roared, "Who did that? YOU DARE BLOW SMOKE AT ME! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Rika was pretty sure she knew who and got her answer when Juri appeared beside her with a bag full of smoke bombs, "We're back. Takato said take these and use them to make a quick escape if you need them."

Rika scowled, "Escape? Who does he think we are? Renamon and I aren't going to run from this!"

Juri tried to explain something to her but she was drowned out by the dumb goggle head's voice calling out to the massive digimon, "Sorry about that, Va...Va...Vaja...What was your name again? Something with a 'V'. I want to say Vajamas."