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 24: Rika in Wonderland

Rika and the others fell for some time. At least that was how it felt to her. With how traveling worked in the Digital World, she wouldn't be surprised if they were actually flying up instead. But there was no time to dwell on that. They were still being sent to who knows where and the others were back where they first arrived in the Digital World and they were separated from the others . She tried to keep a mental track of where they were going but it was impossible to keep it all straight without any actual sense of direction. She remembered seeing desert, trees, rivers, oceans, mountains, plains, and then she began to lose track of things.

Before she knew it, they were hurtling down into a ravine and straight into the river below. If there was any consolation with their current situation, it was that both Kazu, Andromon, and Kenta were in this ordeal with them. Then the two boys got knocked out by impact. It would buy her a few minutes of silence, until she remembered that she would need to keep their heads above water so they wouldn't drown. She struggled against the current and grabbed a hold of one of them as they floated past, trying to turn this one so he'd be face up. From the brief glimpse she could get while she wasn't trying to keep herself afloat, she could make out a green hat and spiky hair. Because of course the more annoying one would be the one she grabbed.

She tried scanning the water but couldn't find Kenta, "Renamon! We need to keep these guys from drowning!"

No answer. The silence turned to panic at the thought that Renamon may have sunk into the water too. She tried turning her head and didn't see her anywhere. Had she already sunk into the water? No, that couldn't be it. She considered dropping Kazu to go find her - no, she couldn't live with herself if he drowned. But what should she do? What could she do?

The water broke beside her as Renamon emerged from the water holding Kenta in her arms, "Rika! Rika! Are you okay?"

"Renamon, I'm fine!" she said, breathing a sigh of relief. She was alive. Good. Renamon grabbed a hold of her with her free hand, "Hold on, I'm going to get us out of here!"

"Right," Rika adjusted herself so that could hold Renamon with one arm and still keep Kazu from getting pulled into the current. Once she was properly braced, Renamon bobbed in the water to prep herself for a jump. And then they were in the air, Renamon angling herself to leap from canyon wall to canyon wall until they were out of the ravine and on solid ground. Instantly, Renamon collapsed on the ground - coughing up water and spit. Rika did the same, throwing Kazu off her so that she could get a good breath of air, "We made it."

"Yeah," Renamon gasped, her eyes growing heavy before she fainted. Rika felt a small wave of panic return, but it was overpowered by a growing fatigue and darkness. Maybe she'd rest for a minute. Yeah, a short nap. That would do it. Then she'd check on her partner. She assured herself that she would close her eyes only for a few minutes as she drifted off into darkness.

Rika jolted awake when she remembered they were in the Digital World. They had to go find the others before they ran into trouble. Or trouble found them. Renamon couldn't protect all three of them. She scrambled upright and tried to take in her surroundings only to find they were no longer out in the open of the Digital World. She was lying in a darkened bedroomed on a soft cushioned bed under nice and warm blankets. Glancing around the room, she found two other beds with figures lying under the blankets. And going by the snores, it was Kazu and Kenta. At least they were okay. But when did they get here? And where was Renamon?

She threw the covers off and climbed off the bed to find her shoes at the foot of the bed. Whoever brought them here had also taken her shoes off. Now there was confusion on top of the concern. Who did this and who saved them? She felt her way through the dark room until she found what seemed like a door knob and opened it just a crack.

On the other side was a room dimly lit by a fire in a fireplace. There were two chairs facing towards it and she could vaguely make out two figures sitting comfortably in the chairs. And there was a third figure, Renamon leaning against the fireplace with her arms folded. She seemed calm and at ease. That put her mind at ease, giving her the energy to crack the door open. Renamon turned her head to look at her, "I'm glad to see you're awake Rika."

"I'm glad to see you're okay too Renamon," Rika smiled at her partner. She was hoping the light would give her a better view of who was sitting in the chairs but it was still too dim to see properly, "What happened? How did we get here?"

"We happened!" a gravelly voice answered her, one of the figures rising from the chair. It reached into the dark and turned on a lamp that lit up the room - enabling her to better see them. They were short digimon dressed in long, flowing robes. One was a scraggly old humanoid with an overgrown beard that completely obscured his face. The other was an older woman with her hair tied into a bun at the top of her head. And both carried walking sticks - or rather a broom and a cane with a paw on the end. The older male greeted her, "It's about time you kids woke up, I thought I was going to die from the anticipation!"

"Anticipation for what?" Rika asked. Her answer came in the form of the scraggly old man bringing his stick down on her, "TAKE THIS!"

Rika moved out of the way, "What gives? Renamon! Help!"

"Just keep running Rika," Renamon answered calmly, "Or let him hit you. Either way, he'll stop from being tired or he'll stop from disappointment."

Rika looked at her partner in disbelief, her jaw falling open as she mouthed, "Are you serious?"

Renamon nodded. Rika was not in the business of letting herself get hit, so she stopped in her tracks to face the chasing old man. She grabbed the old digimon's walking stick before it struck her head and used it to smack the digimon back. The digimon stopped for a moment, seemingly shocked from being attacked.

"Hmph. I'm disappointed. Kids these days ain't got no respect," the little digimon grunted, snatching his stick back and resting it on his shoulder. He retreated back to his chair, grumbling about giving them shelter in their home only to be struck on the head by her. The irony wasn't lost on Rika who wanted to point out they attacked first. The other digimon spoke with a raspy voice, "That wasn't much of a fight. How do you expect to be entertained if you're not going to try your hardest at fighting sweetie?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Rika demanded, now as annoyed as she was confused. Renamon finally stepped away from her spot on the wall and explained, "These are Jijimon and Babamon. They're the ones who rescued us after we climbed out of the ravine. They're also...different."

The elder Babamon pointed her broom at them, "Hey! You lot are the one who're different, falling out of the sky like that and then climbing out onto our lawn! What do they teach kids these days, anyways? Besides, you ain't a digimon little girl."

Jijimon agreed, prodding her with his cane, "She's right, we know you're a human. Just look at those noodley arms and pineapple hair! You probably can't even bench one of you."

All that did was annoy Rika more, "So if you knew I was a human, why did you go trying to attack me?"

Jijimon and Babamon swapped looks, and then looked back at her, "Honestly? We were bored and wanted to see if humans could fight. So far we're not impressed. Maybe those boys can put up more of a fight whenever they wake up. Either way, I thought humans were supposed to be strong! Or are you just one of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer types?"

Rika wasn't even sure where to begin dissecting that one. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? What did a Christmas song have to do with anything? She massaged her head to soothe the headache she was having before asking, "Okay, what? Look, why did you help us?"

"It would've been rude to just leave you lying out in our lawn while you were injured," Babamon explained, finally rising off her chair to meet Rika. She was a lot smaller up close now that Rika could get a good look at her. The little old digimon probably couldn't see as well since she used her broom to pull Rika close, "You look a little thin. Don't they feed you right in the human world? You must be starving. Poor thing. Come with me into the kitchen and we'll make you some good eating. I hope you like bread and pancakes because we've got plenty of flour to use!"

Before Rika could even try to protest, Babamon started pushing her into the kitchen and threw an apron at her, "Put that on and wash your hands."

Rika looked at the apron, then at her hands. She wasn't sure when it happened, but she had lost control of the situation. Worse, she had basically turned into a baker! When had she become goggle head? She sighed and threw the apron on, pondering what the two digimon were playing at. Was this a trick? Renamon always said the law of the Digital World was that the weak died so that the strong could live. And these two could've easily taken them out while they were unconscious. Despite her misgivings, she went along with it.

It was just in time as Babamon handed her a bowl with a bag of flour in it, "Here you go! Go ahead and start mixing that with some water while I get the rest of the ingredients!"

She sighed and followed the instructions, being careful to keep an eye on Babamon in case she tried to mix poison into the mix. All the while, Babamon just hummed to herself quietly as she worked in the kitchen. After a while Babamon remarked, "If you're looking to stare me to death, then you should know that I was quite the looker back in the day and it'll take more than that to stop me."

Rika looked away in embarrassment, sheepishly adding, "I'm just trying to figure out why you helped us."

Babamon laughed, "Relax. It's like my babushka Jijimon said, it would've been rude to leave you kids out there by yourselves after you fell out of the sky and crawled out of that ravine. Besides, if we wanted to hurt you, we would've done it in your sleep. There's enough fighting in the Digital World already. It doesn't need anymore."

"Babushka?" Rika repeated quietly, unsure of what that word meant before realizing that wasn't what she should be paying attention to, "He attacked me as soon as I got out of the bedroom!"

Without even flinching, Babamon answered, "We wanted to see how strong you were! You're partner said you helped her digivolve all the way to the Ultimate level! A few whacks from a cane should've been nothing to you."

"That's really not how that works," Rika answered, only to get a rolling pin handed to her. Babamon added, "Now that you've got the dough mixed, go ahead and knead it and used the rolling pin to flatten it!"

"What kind of bread are we even making?" she asked. Babamon shushed her and returned to whatever she was doing, leaving Rika alone again to follow her instructions in utter silence. As much as Rika had questions, she was glad Babamon was not a talker - the last thing she wanted was to engage in some unwanted small talk conversation. Especially when she still wasn't sure that she could trust the elderly digimon at all. Her mind raced with every possibility - what if food in the Digital World was poisonous to humans? Or what if the food was drugged? Maybe they were already drugged while they were asleep and Babamon was just waiting for them to keel over. Or maybe they were just being lulled into a false sense of security? Or maybe she was just being paranoid.

She turned all these thoughts over in her head until she heard a crash from the living room and went to investigate. Babamon followed along just behind her to see for herself, but neither of them was expecting the spectacle they found. Kazu and Kenta were standing atop the arm chairs - using a fire poker and a broom to fend off Jijimon who was coming at them with his cane. After trading a few bouts, Jijimon leapt at them and the two boys fell backwards off their chairs. It didn't take long for everyone to scramble back to their feet and the fight to continue, all while Renamon observed from the far corner of the living. Rika sighed, "What's going on here?"

"We don't know! He attacked us!" Kenta yelped as he slammed into a wall - or rather was pushed gently into it by Jijimon's beating stick, "Why are you running away? I thought you humans were supposed to be brave and strong! Stop running away!"

"Who said anything about being brave!?" Kenta cried as he snuck out from under the bre. Not wanting to be lumped in with Kenta, Kazu quickly shouted, "I'm just retreating to a more advantageous position!"

"There's an expression for that! It's called running away!" Jijimon growled at them, continuing to chase after them in a hilarious display. Or what would've been if it wasn't painful to watch. That didn't stop her from smiling with amusement. She even noted Renamon pressing a finger to her lips, signaling to be quiet. Despite that, it was obvious the boys were starting to slow down from getting tired. Once Rika had gotten her fill of laughter in, she finally walked up to the two boys and kicked them to the ground from behind. Seeing this was enough to get Jijimon to stop chasing them, "Hmph. The girl has more spunk than you two. Maybe I was wrong. The human female is stronger."

"Hey! We're plenty strong!" Kazu protested, earning himself another kick from behind by Rika. Jijimon smirked, "Whatever you say kid. So what are a bunch of humans doing in the Digital World? You ain't the digidestined are ya? Here to save us from another world ending threat?"

"We're actually looking for a friend of ours. A small little digimon called Calumon and the digimon who kidnapped him, a monkey name Makuramon," Renamon explained to the two elderly digimon, moving to help the two hapless boys up. Both Babamon and Jijimon exchanged looks before the Babamon answered, "We haven't heard of either of those digimon before. Who are they?"

Kenta offered an explanation, "Makuramon is something called a Deva. A bunch of them have been coming to attack us in our world. He's the one who kidnapped our friend, and now we're here. As for Calumon, he's-"

"A small guy who's probably going to get himself killed," Rika interrupted, stopping Kenta from explaining what exactly they were looking for. She shot him a warning look and he understood right away that he'd almost made a serious mistake. Renamon added, "We came here with a much larger group when we were separated, hence how we came to your home. After they've rested, we will he leaving to go find the...oh, oh no."

Renamon didn't often panic and it made her uneasy to hear her partner worry , "What is it?"

"Andromon was with us," she answered calmly. Now it was Rika's turn to panic. That was right. Andromon was with them. How could she have forgotten all about him? He was probably their only chance of getting back to the others! And assuming he didn't get destroyed when they were hit by that light, that must've meant he fell into the ravine and got carried away. She swallowed a lump forming in her throat. She tried to assure herself he was fine, but he was a giant robot that had fallen in water. There was no way he was okay! If he was even still alive.

"Why are you in an apron?"

She forgot all her concerns at the sound of Kazu's voice and leered at him, only to see he was blushing, "I mean...it's kinda cute."

She gave him one more kick for good measure and returned to the kitchen to finish helping Babamon. From behind her, she could hear Kazu whining, "Why does she only hit me?"

"Because you keep opening your mouth," Renamon explained.

After they'd made lunch and had a chance to eat, Kazu let out a burp, "Oh wow, that was really good."

"Of course! She's a great cook! She hasn't killed me yet, anyway. And not for a lack of trying," Jijimon laughed, fending off Babamon's attempts to bat at him. Renamon had kept to sipping at some juice and eating handfuls of bread, "Why are you treating us with this kindness? It is unusual."

"We've been around long enough to know there's enough fighting and violence in the world. What's wrong with putting some kindness into it every once in a while?" Jijimon explained. Babamon clicked her tongue angrily, "What he means is he's a dirty coward afraid to pick a fight with stronger digimon."

"I'll fight you, you beautiful piece of data!" Jijimon growled. Babamon crosses her arms, "Please. You're so old, I'm surprised you can even get that stick of yours up!"

"Not for you, I can't," Jijimon hissed. Rika covered her ears to try and block out any more double entendres, but Kazu and Kenta started cheering them on. So much for putting a little kindness back into the Digital World. Renamon set her juice down, "If you two are so keen on being friendly, why do you keep fighting? Us and each other?"

"Well what else are we supposed to do in a sandstorm?" Babamon shrugged, "We're going to be stuck here for a while so best get comfortable."

"Sandstorm?" Kenta repeated, getting up and making his way to the door, "What sandstorm? Sure it was windy but what would make you think there was a sandstorm?"

Without thinking, he undid the latch on the door and watched it swing open by itself from a powerful gust of wind. Sand poured in with it and everyone broke out into a panic, "Way to go, dingus!"

"MY LIVING ROOM!"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"Close the door, dammit!"

Rika forced herself up and pushed her way towards the door where Kenta was helplessly trying to shut it again. Kazu and Renamon were just behind her and they were able to push it closed together, holding it shut while Kenta fumbled with the lock, "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"

"Now we gotta clean up all this sand," Babamon complained, snapping her fingers so that her broom came to life on its own. It swept up the sand into a dust tray on the side of the room, that Jijimon picked up to empty so that it could get more sand in. Again, Kenta clasped his hands together, "I'm really sorry! I didn't know!"

"Meh, it happens," Jijimon shrugged, "But until that's done, you kids are stuck here."

"Which is why we fight!" Babamon picked up a ladle and swung it at Kenta. The boy helped he was struck, "I'm sorry! Please!"

They stayed with Babamon and Jijimon for at least a whole day before the winds died down enough for them to venture out into the sand storms. Thankfully, the two digimon were more than happy to provide them with some bread and instant soup packets for their trip before they left. Thankfully, the ravine was literally right at their backyard so they didn't have to go far to find where they'd started. Much like where they first landed, all they could find was miles of sandy desert in every direction waiting for them. It was as if the Digital World was nothing but one giant desert, unlike everything they'd seen in the shows or the movies. The ravine they fell into continued off into the distance and disappeared into the horizon. Kenta moaned, "Oh man, there's no telling where Andromon is now. How are we supposed to find him?"

"Not just that, how do we get back to finding the others? We don't even know where we are!" Kazu complained, "And we lost half of our supplies when we crashed here."

Rika pointed down the stream, "We follow the river until we find him. Then we look for Takato and the others."

Kenta looked down at the river below and whined, "But who knows how far he could've gone. The current is going pretty fast. It could take days or weeks to catch up."

"Then we'd better start walking," Rika declared, taking her first steps towards the horizon, "And if you don't want to be left behind, you'd better start walking."

Renamon followed after her at a brisk pace, "Come along you two. And stay close. Without digimon partners, you two are easy prey for whatever is out here that could want to eat and/or kill you."

The boys yelped at that and hurried after them. They walked for what felt like hours under the blistering heat of the sun, stopping every so often to rest and drink some water. It was about sunset before the river led them to something other than more desert sand. And that was a rock formation that vaguely resembled satellite dishes and skyscrapers.

With it getting late, they opted to rest for the night under the stars with the rock formations as cover in case another sandstorm started up. They made a quick dinner and tried to relax. Despite being the desert, it was surprisingly cold for the Digital World and all three kids found themselves shivering through the night. As she lay there, she contemplated what her parents were doing right now and recalled that she needed to message them. She reached back into her bag for the D-Terminal and examined it in her hand. Thankfully it worked which was a good sign. There was still no reply from her parents though which was depressing. She sighed and thought to update the, typing out her message quietly: 'Resting for the night. We got separated in sand storm. Kazu and Kenta are with me and Renamon. Going to try and find the others in the morning'.

She pressed send and waited but got no reply. Maybe they were t getting the messages? Or maybe goggle head was right and time was all messed up again? Maybe the messages would reach them in days? Or maybe her mom was getting the messages in rapid succession and don't have time to answer. She set the D-Terminal back in her bag and tried to settle in. Before long, Kazu was complaining, "We're in the desert! Why does it feel like we're in the back of a freezer?"

"We all watched the show, Kazu. This kind of thing is supposed to be normal in the Digital World!" Kenta answered knowledgeably. This only annoyed Kazu more, "Okay, genius. If you're so smart, how about you figure out how to warm it back up again?"

"I would if my glasses hadn't fogged up from the cold," Kenta explained, adjusting his glasses for them to see. Unfortunately, it was dark and hard to actually see his glasses. This emboldened Kazu, "I can't see in the dark, genius."

Their constant bickering was getting on Rika's nerves, but she was too tired to actually tell them to the stop. At least until she felt something cold touch her face and she snapped, "Whichever one of you creeps touched me better own up to it now or I'll knock you both senseless."

"We're all the way over here and we can't see in the dark. How would we have touched you?" Kazu asked. That was all rendered moot when she felt something else cold touch her. And another. Kenta's voice asked, "Does anyone else feel that?"

"It's snowing," Renamon remarked. Kazu groaned, "Because of course it is. We're in the Digital World. Why wouldn't it snow in the middle of a desert!"

"Maybe that's why it got so cold all of a sudden," Kenta suggested, shuffling around in the dark until he was beside Rika. Rika wanted to smack him away but was unable to ignore how much warmer it was with him beside her. Especially now that it was snowing. It didn't last long though as more snow continued to fall on her and she quickly stood up to start moving her body. Renamon must've sensed her motion and asked, "Where are you going Rika?"

"I'm trying to keep moving to keep warm," she answered, "It's freezing."

It was definitely a bad idea to be walking around when she couldn't see so she started walking in circles just so that she wouldn't get too far from them. As she spun around, she started to get a dizzying motion sickness and had to stop - falling flat on the snow-sand mix so she could rest. But the motion sickness didn't subside, or the feeling of moving in circles. She looked up from her walk to ask, "What gives?"

"Does anyone else feel like we're spinning?" Kenta asked. Rika nodded, looking up at the stars and noticing they were spinning. Or rather she was spinning. On the ground. She sat up and tried to get her bearings in the dark, "It feels like we're on something moving!"

"I think it's a wheel!" Kazu said. No sooner did he say that but they were propelled upwards into the sky. Kenta yelped out, "What kind of wheel flies?"

"I don't think it's a wheel! It's a propellor!" Renamon shouted out as they continued skyward into a patch of clouds that wasn't there before. Just as they were sure they were going to go flying off, the spinning stopped and they were thrown onto a fluffy cold landing. Rika sat up quickly, trying to warm herself back up to see that they'd gone from miles of desert to miles of snow banks surrounded by floating gears and clocks. And one in particular was stuck making an exceptionally loud ticking noise.

"Where are we?" she asked, trying to find something that looked like the rock formations. It was nowhere in sight. How far had the spinning wheel thing thrown them? Kazu and Kenta's heads poked out of the snow, like plants bursting forth in spring. Kenta face palmed and moaned, "Did anyone get the number of that frisbee?"

"I'm going to be sick," Kazu added, before throwing up beside Kenta. Kenta tried to move his head away, "Ew! EW! Get away from me!"

"Come on, you two," Renamon strolled up to them casually and pulled them out of the snow, "This isn't the time to be lying about. We do have work to do."

She set them down and rejoined Rika, covering her ears and pressing them down, "What on earth is that horrible ticking noise!?"

"It's coming from that clock!" Kenta pointed out one clock in particular - a grandfather clock with a knife embedded between the minute hand and the hour hand so that it was stuck at 11:59. Every time the second hand tried to pass on to 12, the clock made a loud tick as if to protest the knife's presence. Annoyed, Rika marched straight for the knife and pulled it out, "What kinda idiot would do that?"

As soon as the knife was free, the clock quieted down and the clock reached midnight. She breathed a sigh of relief now that the noise was over and her headache was subsiding. She couldn't enjoy it for long though as two new voices chimed behind her in a panic. Two new digimon in a frenzy and panic. Going off memory, she recognized the floating gear with a face as Hagurumon and the one riding a giant clock as Clockmon.

Hagurumon yelped, "Oh no! We're in trouble! He's going to wake up!"

"Wake up? More like sleep now that the noise is gone," Rika corrected, "That was giving me a headache."

"But the headache is what kept us safe!" Clockmon countered, "Now he will wake up and bring a hundred years of death and destruction upon us! He'll change all the clocks, reprogram our VCRs, change the language settings on our computers, and steal everyone's left shoe!"

Rika had just about enough nonsense for one day, "Okay, I'm going to start ignoring you guys now. Let me know when you're ready to start making sense."

"But you don't understand!" Hagurumon panicked, "He's going to kill us all!"

"Who is?" Kazu asked curiously enough, signaling a low rumble to start in the distance. The snowy land began to rip itself apart and split open for a massive orange dragon with mechanical claws and wings to emerge from the earth. Clockmon pointed at the digimon, "He is! Megadramon! Destroyer of lands, breaker of our things, and bully of us!"

The two digimon turned to flee, which was just as well for Rika because it meant she wouldn't have to listen to their insanity any longer. She produced her digivice and nodded to her partner, both feeling the thrill of a real battle in the first time since they came to this world. If this guy was the threat to the Digital World, then this would be a very short trip. She raised up her digivice and swiped the first few cards she thought she would need, "Digimodify! Speed Boost Activate! Power Boost Activate! Angewomon's Bow Activate!"

Renamon took off in a flash, dashing towards Megadramon and loosing a few arrows from her bow to get his attention, "Hey! Big boy! Over here!"

The arrows hit their mark and wounded the digimon, making him turn his head. He let out a roar that sent a blast of cold wind their way before firing an array of missiles from his claws, "Dark Side Attack!"

Renamon leapt and weaved through the missiles, leaping onto one and using them as platforms to propel herself up to Megadramon, taking a clean shot at close range that hit him in the eye, "Surprise!"

Megadramon howled and took a swing at Renamon, throwing the digimon out of the air and straight into the snow beside her. Rika gasped and ran to her partner's side, calling her name in panic, "Renamon!"

"He got a lucky shot in," Renamon grunted, pushing herself back up, "But he's wounded and blind in one eye. One more good shot should do it."

"Are you sure?" Rika asked, helping her partner back up onto her feet, "You can barely stand."

Renamon steadied herself and knocked another arrow into the bow, "Yes I am fine. I just-"

"Desolation Claw!"

A beam of energy whipped through the air and struck Megadramon in the chest, knocking the flailing dragon back to the ground. Something small and fast then leapt onto him - what appeared to be a mix of a dog and a dragon with four red wings wrapped entirely in metal armor. The brutality with which this beast started beating on Megadramon made Rika turn her head in terror. Every punch made a sickening crunch, followed by a wet splash as the once powerful dragon was slowly reduced to a bloody pulp on the ground. The ferocious dragon only stopped when a beam of light whipped out from behind them and yanked the tiny monster back, "Cyberdramon! Stand down! I said stop! STOP!"

Rika followed the voice to see a spiky haired boy dressed in a mishmash of rags and metal armor topped neatly by a red scarf bellowing commands at the digimon. In his hand was a digivice just like theirs, but black and pulsing with light, "Cyberdramon! Sit! I said! SIT!"

With that last command, the boy slammed his digivice on the ground and brought Cyberdramon onto his knees. Once the digimon was restrained, he took a deep breath and asked them, "Sorry about that. Cyberdramon gets a little over excited. He can't help himself when he sees a fight. Anyway, what's going on here?"

Rika did a double take to make sure she wasn't imagining things. As many times as she looked, there was no mistaking it - it was Ryo. The boy who went missing. Her mind raced with questions as it tried to understand this. Had he been here the whole time? What had he been doing? Who was Cyberdramon? What the hell was he wearing?

Before she could try to ask, Hagurumon and Clockmon chose this specific time to come back from wherever they'd run to, "It's him! The Digimon Tamer has come to save us!"

The Digimon Tamer? That dumb name Takato had insisted they don't call him? Why was Ryo getting called that? He wasn't actually the Digimon Tamer, was he? Ryo grunted as they continued to cheer him, "Don't call me that. I hate that guy."

"But how could you hate yourself? You're the hero of the Digital World!" Clockmon cheered, "Where's WarGreymon!?"

"Okay, I'm ignoring you. What happened?" he asked Hagurumon. The floating gear spun gleefully and gestured at the clock, "They unbroke the clock that kept Megadramon in perpetual slumber! Now he awakens to destroy our world. And more importantly, my rock collection!"

"That's a lot of words just to say fixed an alarm clock," Ryo said, making his way to the clock and punching its face as hard as he could. The clock chimed for a moment before making its loud ticking noise again, prompting Hagurumon and Clockmon to cheer even louder, "Hurrah! The Digimon Tamer saved us!"

"Please stop," Ryo moaned quietly before properly taking note of the others. He took one glance at the digivice in Rika's hand and pointed, "Wait! That digivice! Are you a human like me? Are you a rescue party!?"

"Rescue party?" Rika repeated, confused and a little annoyed that he didn't even seem to recognize her. Kazu jumped between them and pointed at Ryo with his mouth so wide open it looked ready to fall off his face, "You! You're Ryo Akiyama! The Ryo Akiyama! The Digimon Card tournament champion!"

"Yeah, that's me," Ryo nodded, brushing past their recognition of his name to once again ask, "So are you the rescue party or did you get sucked here by Tamer too? Because if it's the first, how do we get out of here? And if it's the second, point me at him so I can kill him."

"Tamer? Oh you mean Takato!" Kazu answered, "He's been falling himself The Digimon Tamer for a while now. Personally, I think he took a few too many hits to the head. Anyway, forget about that. What's the Digimon King doing here? I bet you're kicking butt and taking names!"

"Actually I've been waiting for a rescue or something close to it. And it sounds like you guys aren't it. Thanks for getting my hopes up," Ryo frowned turning to go until he stopped and looked back at Rika, "I hate to be weird, but you look really familiar. Do we know each other?"

He'd forgotten her! What the hell? She should've known better than to think anything of this guy. She was about to tell him off when Kazu wrapped an arm around him, "That's Rika! She's the Digimon Queen, second only to you in the card game! You recognize her, right? You must've kicked her butt a lot in the tournament!"

The look on his face was absolutely priceless. If Kenta's camera worked, she would've taken a photo of him as he pointed at her in disbelief, "Rika? But...you're so young!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rika was annoyed now. Ryo threw up his hands defensively, "Wait, I mean...the Rika I knew should be in her thirties by now! I haven't seen her in twenty years! How...I mean...you haven't aged a day."

"Twenty years? Ryo! You've been gone since Christmas. It's only been a couple of months!" Rika corrected him, watching the look of surprise on his face twist between what must have been a torrent of emotions for him. There was also a look of longing in his eyes, like he wanted something but was unable to get it. It unnerved her and made her take a step back, "What? Take a picture! It'll last longer."

"Sorry, it's just...been such a long time for me," Ryo offered sheepishly, "I wasn't sure I'd ever see any one from our world ever again. What are you even doing here?"

"We're on a rescue mission," Kenta answered excitedly, "One of our friends got kidnapped and we're trying to find him! But there was a beam of light and we got separated from the rest of our group. So now we're just trying to find each other again."

"Well then you're in luck," Ryo gave them a thumbs up and pointed at himself, "I've picked up a thing or two since I've been stuck here for the last twenty years. There's a place nearby where we can go find your friends. It's called the Hallowed Bastion - some kinda old castle with sensors all over the Digital World. Let's go!"

Today had just taken a really strange turn and Rika was hating every minute of it. On the other hand, they'd found the last person she expected to run into. The last person she expected to find. And maybe he'd be able to help them. Worse case scenario was they'd get stuck here forever. She could think of worse company to be with.

Author's Notes: Our team has met a new member, Ryo! But will they find their way back to the others? Will they find Andromon? What are the others up to at this moment? And how much longer can Rika put up with the madness before she snaps? Find out all this and more in three weeks due on September 13th at 5 PM CDT! Let me know what you guys think in the reviews! And don't forget to follow the story to keep up with updates and favorite the story to show support! That's all for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter!

"So how does this work? Is it immediate or - CONTROL ACHIEVED! NOW WE RIDE! FIND STRONGER! KILL ALL ELSE! Yeah, I don't think so. Also, why do you sound like Rika? IMPOSSIBLE! CONTROL HAS BEEN OVERRIDDEN! SURRENDER TO MY WILL! I AM THE BEAST! With all that shouting, I don't doubt it. YOU WILL RESPECT MY WILL! Don't tell me how to live my life. It's my body and it's my choice!"

It was weird. Like hearing Takato talk to himself but one voice was screaming at the top of his lungs and the other was just Takato.

"Tamer, what's happening?" Leomon shouted at him. Takato answered, "The demon motorcycle is trying to take over my brain, I think. It's not very good at it. I HEARD THAT! That's because I said it as loud as I could. YOU WILL BREAK BEFORE ME BOY! Boy? I'm older than you, I think! Also you look really familiar, have we seen each other before? HOW DO YOU RESIST! BREAK! BREAK! BREAK! Not with that attitude, I won't. Maybe you ought to try asking nicely? It's not going to hurt. AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"