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 42: Unexpected

"How's our progress coming on the Juggernaut, team?" Yamaki asked, looking up from the machine parts he was helping to put back into place.

Zhenyu poked his head up from what he was doing and shouted, "Are you seriously asking that question? We've barely started and there's a lot of work to do before we can even think to test if it's working! This isn't going to be done quickly."

"Well, make it happen. Those things want in here and it'll be a slaughter if that weapons not ready before they do," Yamaki barked back at the scientist.

As he said that, there was another loud bang outside that shook the building, rattling loose items off desks and onto the floor. One unfortunate engineer had his tool box fall of the table he'd left it and fall on his helmet.

"How long do you think those blast doors will hold?" Dolphin asked nervously. Shibumi answered with his usual informative and completely uninspiring tone, "It doesn't matter. Right now, every second counts so let's focus on our task and leave the fighting to our friends outside."

"Your friends. We have no idea who those things are!" Curly pointed out.

"Those things are our partners! And right now, they're putting their lives on the line to buy us time! And it's not just them, our kids are out there," Izumi's wife scolded from across the room.

"Not my kid," Mister Matsuda grunted angrily.

"Let it go. Anger will do us no good right now," Guardromon mumbled.

"FUCK YOU!" Mister Matsuda made a point of growling while showing the digimon his middle finger.

"Don't shout at him! He's just trying to help!" Kazu yelled back.

"Trying to help? Kazu, Takato was your friend! If anyone else in this room is going to get how we feel, it should be you!" Mrs. Matsuda added.

This was getting out of hand and the last thing the team needed was needless bickeringYamaki put two fingers in his mouth and whistled as loud as he could to get their attention, "FOCUS! EVERY SECOND ARGUING IS A SECOND WASTED. AND WE DON'T KNOW HOW MANY SECONDS WE HAVE! SO LET'S USE THEM WISELY AND GET BACK TO WORK!"

With that everyone either quietly went back to what they were doing or went off in a corner to stay out of the way. Now it was back to what he was doing - helping repair some of the mechanical parts that were broken. He just hoped the blast shields help up long enough. Every moment that passed, another dent appeared in the metal and the building would shake. He just hoped everything worked.

Imperialdramon soared through the air of the Digital World, with Davis and Ken atop his back. They pointed their digivice at every digimon they passed and shouted the same message over and over, "Stay alive. We have a plan."

The mere sight of them seemed to rally the digimon, mega level fighters who went from faltering on the retreat to pushing forward on the attack. And as they soared through the Digital World, trying to scan as many of the digimon as they could, they eventually caught the attention of a familiar sight - Azulongmon, the sovereign who'd helped them fight off BlackWarGreymon so long ago. The dragon soared alongside them asking, "Digidestined. It's so good to see you after so long."

"We wish we could say the same," Ken answered quietly.

"Yeah, but no worries! Kari's brother has a plan!" Davis added excitedly.

"Who?" Azulongmon asked.

Ken sighed, "The Digimon Tamer. I should point out right now that it's a horrible plan and I'm not entirely sure it'll work."

Azulongmon blinked at him, "And what is his plan? We're hitting this thing with everything we have and nothing is working!"

"Sorry, we don't have the time to tell you," Ken answered, pointing his digivice at another digimon digimon they flew past to scan it. Then he pointed it at Azulongmon. The sovereign writhed a bit when the light hit him and his many eyes blinked in a daze, "What was that for? Were you just trying to blind me?"

"It's part of Tamer's plan," Davis explained apologetically, "Sorry we can't tell you more! Just try to stay alive a little longer! Hold on!"

"I…okay. Hurry, digidestined. We'll fight for as long as we can," Azulongmon answered, turning away from them to rejoin the fight. As he soared through the sky, pillars of light and blasts of lightning shot from his body and struck the red ocean beneath them. His attacks appeared to hurt the creature more than any of the attacks that had been thrown at it so far. But like all the other attacks, it wasn't long before any damage was undone. The most powerful digimon either of these men knew could barely hurt this thing. They needed to get back to their work - continuing to scan as many digimon as they could.

Rika had to admit it was a different feeling to be fighting along side her parents' partners. She swiped various cards through her digivice, trying to give Taomon the upgrades she would need to keep her on even footing. But without the power to be a mega like Rosemon or HerculesKabuterimon, she was just barely hanging on.

"Digimodify! Speed Boost Activate!"

"Talisman of Light!"

"Thorn Whip!"

"Arctic Blizzard!"

The three attacks scattered the bird creatures, reducing their number for a moment until more appeared to reinforce their numbers. It really was like fighting an unending tide. Still, they were the only things keeping her parents safe inside. And she wasn't going to surrender, no matter how many of them came. She and Taomon would fight back with everything they had.

"LOOK OUT!"

She turned around to see Hououmon and MetalGarurumon soar past over her head, his engines going at the full speed as Cyberdramon ripped off more of those bird creatures from him.

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

"Starlight Explosion!"

Both fired a barrage of missiles and fireballs from their bodies at the birds, punching another hole in the swarm that was quickly filled by more reinforcements. The creatures were wholeheartedly determined to over run this building at any cost it seemed. Thankfully, Hououmon and MetalGarurumon were still able to hold their own. But then another question came to mind? Where were her mom's fashion designer friend and her husband? Sora and Matt, if she remembered correctly. They were supposed to be with their partners.

A screech overhead caught her attention as the large golden bird Hououmon landed atop the building. The two Ishidas climbed off the giant digimon, before it took off again to fight the oncoming horde of birds, joining Rosemon, Taomon, and HerculesKabuterimon in the desperate defense. Sora rjoined her first and asked, "What the hell is going on? They were going all over the city before and now they're converging here on the Metropolitan Tower!"

"One of them overheard me telling my parents the plan and now they're all coming here to stop it," Rika admitted quietly. Matt raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Huh, never figured Izzy's kid would be the one to screw things up for us. I always figured it'd be someone else…like that dopey looking kid with the hat."

"Are you putting me on Kazu's level?" Rika asked with a hand on her hips.

In return, he just raised an eyebrow at her, "Do you think I'm intimidated by a twelve year old girl?"

"Focus!" Sora said, taking a moment to survey the situation, "Matt, can you talk to your friends in the GSDF and get them here?"

"They'd probably shoot at me first if they saw me ride in on MetalGarurumon," he countered quietly with crossed arms.

Sora groaned, "Then we'll just have to keep holding them back as long as we can!"

The large golden bird screeched and went to rejoin the fight. Rika couldn't help but marvel at the sight of so many megas at once, especially knowing they were the megas of the digidestined. The heroes from the books, tv show, and card game she'd been attracted to. If the world weren't at stake, she would call this a dream come true, "How long have you guys all had Mega level digimon? I don't remember the show or the books ending with all you guys getting Mega level digimon. It was just...Matt, Tai, Davis, and Ken, right?"

"You should know by now that my brother omitted lots of stuff from those books and didn't tell the whole story. At least, not the way it happened," Yamato stated matter of factly, "Speaking of...where the hell are they? I don't see Takeru or MagnaAngemon anywhere!"

"Don't forget that Ryo and Cyberdramon were with them. Same with the doctor and Gomamon! Or Kari, Gatomon, Henry, and Rapidmon. Where the hell are they?" Rika added.

"Maybe they're still trying to get to the others," Sora said, scanning the city for some sign of them. Her husband groaned, "Or worse."

"You really are a ball of sunshine, y'know that?" Rika stated, turning to his wife, "What exactly did you see in him?"

"He acts tough but he's a softie when he thinks no one is looking," she answered teasingly. Rika felt herself gag and something try to crawl its way out of her stomach, "Gross."

BOOM!

They turned their attention back towards the city to see large swathes of the bird creatures being destroyed with beams of blue light. They all turned to look but it was impossible to tell what it was from this far away. What they were certain of was that all the bird creatures were being blown apart as quickly as they could amass. And there was something in the middle of that flock - a lone figure that was blasting the birds away.

"Who is that?" Rika asked.

"I can't tell. They're too far away," Sora said, squinting her eyes as close as she could, "Hououmon!"

"Little busy at the moment," the bird roared over the battle going on all around her. She and MetalGarurumon soared overhead, trying their best to hold the oncoming swarm back as quickly as they could.

"I'll go," Taomon announced, drawing another talisman and throwing it full force at her enemies, "It's not like I'm able to do much good here anyway. I'll scout ahead and hurry back if things look bad."

"Be careful, Taomon," Rika called out to her partner. The fox priest gave her a wave and hurried off towards whatever was now drawing the bird creatures' attention away from them.

Hida slid the doors of his dojo open slightly to see more of those bird things waiting around outside. He took care to slide the door back shut so that it wouldn't be too loud - annoyed with how things had played out. He'd meant to go out and meet up with the others at the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. Then these things showed up and people were scared. He couldn't just ignore people in need and his sense of moral obligation kicked in. Instead of hurrying, he got as many people as he could to safety in his dojo.

Things were quiet now, save for the sound of fighting outside. But this wasn't the only problem before him. How was he supposed to protect them? Yes, he was a martial arts expert with knowledge of kendo, tai chi, aikido, karate, and tae kwon do. But that wasn't going to do him any good against whatever those monsters were outside. They didn't look like any digimon he had seen before and they certainly weren't acting like any digimon that had accidentally gotten lost in another world. Those digimon tended to act out violently from confusion or alarm. But these creatures seemed content to just sit back and watch the world in complete and utter silence. They were observing…learning…gathering information…possible strategizing.

That made it all the more important for him to get to the others at Hypnos. But how could he get there when there were lives at stake right in front of him? But there was no way to do this on his own. He would need help! But how was he supposed to signal for help with alerting those things to all the people hiding inside?

"RAPID FIRE!"

A blaze of gunfire caught the attention of all the bird creatures and drew them away from the front of the dojo. He slid the door open just a crack but couldn't quite see what was going. All he could make out was that the creatures were gone now. Maybe this was their chance. He slid the door open just a little further and one of the people hiding with him gasped, "What are you doing? They're going to find us!"

"They've all left. This could be our only chance to run," he explained. He scanned the outside more carefully to be sure they were gone until he noticed something moving in the bushes. A boy rushed out and bolted for the dojo door.

Henry, his Tai Chi student. And with him was…

"Armadillomon," he forced the door open and stepped out. Was it possible? Was this real? He hoped so. He didn't care how. He'd thought about this moment so many times that he wasn't sure he could handle if it wasn't. He waved to get their attention and gestured to them to come his way, "Over here! Quick!"

"Sensei!" Henry said, running over. Armadillomon followed after him, turning his head in surprise, "Who's that, Henry? I thought we were going to Cody!"

"Armadillomon! It's me," he said to his partner, the armadillomon stopping to look at him with a furrowed brow and a firm frown, "Pretty sure my pardner ain't got a mustache."

The insult cut deep and Hida had to muse at that. It was true, he didn't have a mustache the last time he'd seen his partner. It was also ironic, that a small piece of facial hair was enough to throw off the digimon, "You've never been the serious type, Armadillomon."

"That really is your partner, Armadillomon," Henry insisted to the yellow digimon who turned his head in disbelief. Armadillomon circled him, sniffing at his feet and occasionally stopping to get a good look at him. As he did, Henry went on, "Sensei, I don't have a lot of time. There's no way Rapidmon can keep them all away forever. We need to get out of here."

"I can't go. There are people hiding in my dojo and I'm not going to leave them," Hida explained to them.

Armadillomon's frown turned and he finally looked up, "Now that sounds like the partner I remember! Good to see ya, Cody."

"It's good to see you too, Armadillomon," Hida kneeled down to take his partner's raised hand. It was good to see him again, even if it was in these circumstances. They would have to catch up some other time. Now, they had to think of a way to hold this portion of the city and protect it from those birds. Armadillomon added, "Well if you're not going, I'm not going either."

"Sensei, are you sure?" Henry said, "We have a plan and we could use your help."

"The people here could use my help," he countered matter of factly. Armadillomon cheered, "Hard headed about always wanting to help people. You're definitely my Cody."

He wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not but he went on, "We can help by protecting the people in this area. Besides, every one of those things that comes here is one that's not attacking you there."

"That is the plan, actually," Henry said with a raised eyebrow, "Distract these things until every one else is ready with their part of the plan. Which we don't know how long that could be so really it's just sitting tight...wait, are you volunteering these people for danger!?"

"What?" Hida blinked, surprised at his student's accusation.

Henry waved it off and shook his head apologetically, "Sorry, sorry. I think Terriermon has been rubbing off on me. Still, it's funny that we're on the same page."

"Just do what comes natural and things work out, right?" he mused, realizing that the plan was a little too reminiscent of all the other plans - just sit tight and hang on. Henry shook his head, "Yeah, something like that. I need to get back to the others."

"Okay, be safe," he said. Henry nodded, waving before running off to rejoin his partner. Hida sighed, looking back at his dojo. It was a relief to know the others had a plan, even if he wasn't entirely aware of it. That was one problem dealt with. Now there was another problem: how to convince the people in his dojo that Armadillomon wasn't a danger to them and their safety?

Cyberdramon soared over the city, passing teams of soldiers firing at the bird creatures and crowds of people fleeing in a panic. It took everything in him to ignore his desire to fight the the creatures and instead focus on protecting Ryo and looking for the little white Calumon. He was the key to this whole operation after all. If they didn't find him, it was all going down hill from here. It was just a question of where the little digimon was.

And Ryo was frustrated with having to look for such a small critter in all this mess. After all, the little guy was probably scared out of his mind with all the chaos going on out there and it wasn't like finding him on a normal day when people weren't shooting at them was easy. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack where the hay would hit you. It wasn't easy. And it would help, it really would, if all those soldiers would stop trying to shoot at him.

But what were they supposed to think? All they could see was a kid being carried off with a monster. It was hard to interpret that anyway that didn't include the thought of that kid in danger.

"Ryo! Ryo! Are you there?" Tamer's voice echoed from his digivice. Ryo looked at his digivice in surprise, examining it in his hands at the feature he didn't know it had, "It's a radio now?"

"What do you mean now? It's always been a radio," Tamer responded with the sardonic wit that Ryo was used to hearing him use. It was weird - the current Tamer was usually apologetic and polite. This was like talking to the Tamer when he first met him - sarcastic, a little abrasive but helpful overall. Still, Ryo wasn't in the mood for a conversation, "What do you want, Tamer? Shouldn't you be in the Digital World helping out the others?"

"Never mind them. We have a serious problem over here! Here are the coordinates! Hurry! Ruki's in trouble!" he said urgently. Ruki? She hated that name. The only reason he would use it would be to aggravate her. Or him. And it was working if that was his intention. He checked his digivice for the coordinates and tapped Cyberdramon on the head, "Come on, Cyberdramon. We need to go to-"

"-find Tamer, yeah. What's up with him anyway? What's he doing here?"

"I have no idea, but I'm going to deck him in a minute if I he doesn't have a good explanation for any of this," Ryo grunted, gesturing to the direction to his partner, "The signal leads that way to…that roof."

He could see a short figure on a rooftop not too far away, wearing what looked like a white hooded robe and waving at them with one arm reaching so high that he had to stand on his tippy-toes. Tamer. Cyberdramon set down beside him and Ryo leapt off his partner, "Tamer, what's so important? And where are the others? Ken and Davis? I thought you were with them in the Digital World?"

"Eh, more important stuff to deal with. You guys should've really gone mega by now," Tamer remarked in his usual manner of pacing as he talked, "Bio-merging or whatever it's called."

"Bio-merging? You're talking about the thing when Rika fused with Renamon or when Henry fused with his partner, right? What's that got to do with anything? Weren't we sticking to the plan?" Ryo raised an eyebrow, minding his distance from Tamer as he began circling with a familiar flair that fit his last face more than his present one.

Tamer threw it off, "Ah, they'll be fine. I figured out your problems! You guys aren't in a Digital Field!"

"Digital…what?" Ryo groaned exasperated burying his face in his hands, "Look, why did you call me here? What's going on with Rika? You said she was in danger!"

Tamer paused, looking back at him with that aggravating smile of his, "Oh, everyone's in danger! Every world everywhere's in danger somewhere. It's just a question of figuring out who you're gonna save and who's gonna win! This battle is playing out across infinite realities with infinite possible outcomes! Speaking of which!"

He raised up his digivice and a flash of light seemed to tear open a floating window in front of them, through which they could see what looked like their city. Except this version of the city was over run by the D-Reaper and the screams of the dying could be heard echoing from in the distance. And for the briefest of moments, he saw Rika. Rika running for her life from the remaining D-Reaper creatures. And as quickly as she ran past the window, the D-reaper bird things were upon her - ripping her apart as their mechanical voice droned, "Scanning!"

"No!" she screamed.

"Acquiring Information!"

"Get off me!" She cried out just as blood splashed past the screen.

"RIKA!" he cried out - half panic and half anger as he watched her body be spread apart across different sections of the roof. Tamer pressed another button on his digivice and the window to the other world vanished, "Relax, lover boy! That's another reality. Not this one. Your girlfriend's alive and well! I think. Maybe?"

"TAMER!" Ryo was on the boy, grabbing him by his stupid white robe and pulling him so close that their noses were practically touching, "THAT WAS STILL RIKA!"

"Well there's no point crying about it," Tamer swatted his hands away, "That Ruki's dead. Your Ruki…our Ruki?"

Something about that phrasing made Ryo particularly angry, but he was snapped from his anger when he heard Cyberdramon start growling angrily. He needed to maintain control, otherwise Cyberdramon would lash out and get loose upon the city. And he wasn't sure which would be worse: the D-Reaper or a rampaging Cyberdramon. Tamer shook his head, "The Ruki in this world is still alive and well. She's out…there…somewhere."

BOOM!

Ryo turned his head to see a beam of light shooting at the heart of the swarm of bird creatures. Something or someone was actually managing to pushing these things back. Tamer flicked a finger across the back of his head and added, "Don't worry, Ruki's not over there. Not yet anyway."

What was he pulling? And why was he saying it that way? She hated that name! Was he trying to piss her off when she wasn't even here? Or was he trying to piss him off to get a rise out of him? If that was the plan, it was working all too well. His fists tightened and he demanded, "Tamer! Why did you call us here? And what the hell is wrong with you!? I thought you said you were trying to be different! What the hell was different about that?"

Tamer's smile widened in a way that made him sick, "Quit interrupting and I'll tell you. Now, the reason your bio merging isn't working is because you're not in the Digital World anymore. Different rules apply! But we can fix that! We just need to expand the Digital Field! Good news: it'll get you guys to mega. Bad news: I'm going to fry any computer you get too close to so I'd suggest staying away from the Hypnos Building!"

He raised up his digivice like he was about to use it to do something, only to then snap his fingers and bathe the world around them in yet another display of light. Once it passed, Tamer's wicked smile remained, "There we go! Now you should be all good to save Ruki!"

Ryo had enough and decked Tamer as hard as he could across the face. He wasn't sure what the hell was going on but he was sure of one thing right now. Tamer was acting like an ass - so either this wasn't Tamer or Tamer was back to his old ways. Either way, he wanted to punch the guy in the face. Tamer fell flat on his face and massaged his cheek, "Ow! What the hell Joe?"

"Who the hell is Joe? My name is Ryo!" he snapped. Tamer raised an eyebrow, his look unimpressed by Ryo's punch as he pushed himself upwards, "Oopsie. Looks like I slipped. Charade is up I suppose."

Ryo was so past being in the mood for one of Tamer's games, and raised his fist to strike him again. However, Tamer caught his fist mid punch and stood himself back up, "Everyone only gets one, Joe."

"Ryo!" he repeated.

"I don't care," Tamer shook his head, scratching at his chin with his fingers so deep that it looked like he was beginning to peel the skin off. It was actually disgusting to watch, his nails going deeper and deeper into his skin as he peeled more of his face off. The sound it made when it did was sickening and Ryo took a step back in disgust. And Tamer looked up and the face he saw was…not what he expected.

He expected some bloody skull to be staring back. To be fair, it would probably be the least insane thing he'd seen Tamer do. But instead, what he saw was a completely different face staring back. Ryo was perplexed, "What? You change your face again? Tell me that's not how you do it."

"Oh wow, you really are slow," he responded, dropping the face he'd just peeled off and going over to flick him across the nose, "What does that idiot see in you lesser life forms? He goes through all that trouble to save you and all you do is be stupid. It's like you're all screaming 'Kill me! Kill me!'. Bringing water to a person who insists on dying of thirst is less trouble than this. What's the point? I'll never understand what he's thinking."

Ryo was now at least beginning to follow this a little better, "Okay, I think I get it. You're not Tamer. But then who are you and why are you wearing Guardian robes?"

"Guardian robes? Is that what he's calling it now? Digital Agents! Agents! Not Ancient! Not Precursor! Not Fore-bearer! Not Guardian! Agent!" the not-Tamer stated angrily, waving his hands in the air as he spoke. Somehow, this kid was more annoying than Tamer had ever been. And Ryo was ready to deck him again if it weren't for the fact he still had his fist in his hand. He pulled his fist out of his grip and stated, "That doesn't really answer my question."

The boy finally seemed to notice he was present and his tone shifted to boredom, "Hm? Oh, right. You're still here. Hello! Name's The Trickster. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm an Agent like Tamer. Only I'm not really invested in maintaining any kind of order. I'm just in this for the laughs and the giggles. And if I can screw with people's lives while I'm at it then all the better!"

"You're...like Tamer," Ryo repeated stupidly.

"Look! It's learned to mimic language!" Trickster mocked him, snapping his fingers in his face to get his attention. Ryo swatted his hand away and got his own hand slapped back in response, "Now pay attention because I'm not repeating! You can biomerge now! Congratulations! Go tell your friends Ruki and not-Ruki so you can all have a nice big party! Bad news! You can't go near computers without breaking them so try to avoid the hypnosis people! Or hypnotize or whatever pretentious name they're using. Other bad news! You need a strong emotional response to get the blood flowing in that regard so let's get the blood flowing and trigger some emotions!"

He took a step back and reached into his robes to produce a little scared Calumon pleading and begging to be let go, "What's happening? Where am I!? WHAT IS THIS PLACE!? HELP ME!"

Ryo tried to jump at him to get the little digimon but The Trickster side stepped him and stood along the edge of the rooftop, "Oh dear. Looks like this thing is very important to you."

"Give him back!" Ryo snapped, making the Trickster cackle.

The Trickster waved a finger at him like he were a misbehaving child and remarked, "It's just a shame what I'm about to do next."

"Help! Please let me go! I'm sorry for whatever I did! Please just let me go!" Calumon pleaded at the top of his voice. Now it was Cyberdramon's turn to lunge forward, but Ryo threw his arm out, "Cyberdramon! Don't! He's going to hurt Calumon!"

"Juri, cease your traumatic state and continue to identify objects!" the mechanical voice droned on. It was her own voice again, used by this thing to control her. Manipulate her. Force her to do what it wanted, "Identify!"

All she could think about…all she could focus on was Beelzemon killing Leomon. How it had been Tamerkato who enticed him to do it. How all this was probably her own fault for being a horrible partner. She could feel this thing trying to block these thoughts out with more images of things it was finding…but every image, every thought kept coming back to one thing: Beelzemon.

Car.

Beelzemon.

Soldier.

Beelzemon!

Gun.

BEELZEMON!

Roof.

BeElZeMoN!

Calumon.

Calumon? The sight of him calmed her for a moment - what was he doing? No, who was holding him? They were supposed to save Calumon. That was why they went to the Digital World. But who had him and why was he dangling Calumon over a roof? He needed to be saved! He needed to be protected! He was the Catalyst, the source of strength that gave digimon the power to digivolve. If anything happened to him, it was game over for everyone else. She had to save him. To protect him!

"Subject identified as Calumon. Digital Lifeform acknowledged. Power source. Acquiring target!"

"Wait...what? Uh oh," was all Juri could manage to say as she realized she might have just set this thing after Calumon.

"Hurt the Catalyst? Well now I know you're not paying attention," the Trickster remarked, feigning being insulted while he still had that stupid evil smile on his face, "This thing is the source of digivolution! Why would I hurt it? That'd be stupid. Y'think I'd just sully the memory of the Agents like that? No, don't be stupid! I'm not going to hurt him!"

"Then what are you doing?" Ryo demanded angrily, Cyberdramon roaring with his growing anger. The Trickster laughed, "Oh me? I'm doing this!"

He tossed Calumon into the air and the digimon promptly fell to the ground. From several stories up. He may not be trying to hurt him but he wasn't above throwing the digimon to his death apparently.

"NO!" Ryo cried out, leaping over the edge of the roof and reaching his hand out to the falling digimon. Then he heard his partner calling out from behind him, "RYO!"

He looked back up and could see Cyberdramon coming after him. It was a surprise to him. In all the time he'd been partnered with the digimon - it was strange to see him coming to his rescue. Normally, he had to restrain his partner from mauling someone or something. Not that it was unwelcome. It was just not what he was used to. Still, he had to save Calumon and he reached his arm out to the digimon, "Almost!"

Cyberdramon grabbed his arm, "Ryo! What are you doing!?"

"We need to save Calumon!" Ryo shouted.

"HE CAN FLY!" Cyberdramon countered. As soon as he said that, he saw the little digimon's eyes widen in surprise and his ears expand out like wings - slowing his descent so that he glided slowly downward. Ryo's mouth fell open, "You could do that the entire time!?"

"I forgot!" Calumon said innocently enough, his screams of terror turning to embarrassment as they reached the street below safely. For a moment, they stopped to catch their breath until one of the bird things appeared from nowhere and grabbed Calumon - flying away towards the D-Reaper. The little digimon started screaming again, this time for real as he tried to break free of the bird thing's hold on him. Cybderamon immediately gave chase, spreading his wings so that he could fly as fast as his body could carry him after the bird.

For his part Ryo, tried reaching for his deck to start buffing his partner but the speed they were going made the cards scatter from his hands. He tried to grab them but they were gone with the wind now - he'd just lost their one advantage. He looked ahead again after the bird thing holding Calumon. His partner was on his own now and he was just dead weight. Sure he could use the digivice, but what good was that when he wasn't a strong fighter? And these things - the birds were beginning to swarm around them to stop the pursuit. They couldn't afford to be stopped now though - not when Calumon was right there. They had to save the little digimon! They had to!

"GRAGH!"

The bird things were slamming themselves into Cyberdramon now to slow down his pursuit. And Cyberdramon was doing everything he could to protect his partner. Ryo hated that. He didn't like being useless. More than that, he never thought he'd see the day where he gave a crap about his partner's well being. He wished he could help. He just…

"Cyberdramon! Biomerge to!"

Ryo felt a strange sensation bathe him in warmth and a soft glow of light over take his vision. Then he felt a strange compulsion to cry out, "JUSTIMON!"

Without really knowing why, he also felt a strong desire to punch and beat as many of these bird things out of his way as possible - hitting as many of them back as he could, "BACK OFF! OUT OF MY WAY! CALUMON!"

"HELP ME!" the little digimon cried out at the top of his lungs. He had to try harder to get as many of these things out of his way as possible to save Calumon! He was so close. He could almost reach the digimon when a blast of light cut off his path to the bird thing holding Calumon.

"OUTTA MY WAY! THIS CITY IS MY TURF!"

He looked off to the side to see Beelzemon making his way through the streets with his shotgun in one hand and was looked like a cannon in the other. He pointed it upwards and fired a beam of light straight at more of the birds, "BEAT IT YOU RATS WITH WINGS!"

What was he doing here? You got me. Whose voice was that? It's mine! Ryo had never been more confused in his life, unsure why there was a voice echoing in his head that wasn't his own. You think about that girl with the pineapple hair a lot. Just confess already! You know she probably likes you too.

"Cyberdramon?" he asked no one in particular only to hear the voice confirm it. Unfortunately, Beelzemon heard him too and was looking up at him, "What are you supposed to be? Another one of those things? Well I got something just for you!"

"Wait! Don't shoot! It's me!" he called out to Beelzemon. Beelzemon paused, then pulled the trigger anyway. The beam of light that shout out of the cannon flew straight at him, missing him by a narrow inch. Ryo looked over his shoulder to see a bunch of the bird creatures scattering behind him. How had he missed that?

No time to focus on that. He descended to join Beelzemon, "Thanks for not shooting at me."

"Don't celebrate yet," the digimon raised the cannon so that he found himself looking down the barrel at it, "Who are you and why shouldn't I just pull the trigger?"

Great plan you had there Ryo, now we're in serious trouble. Ryo threw up his hands and tried to explain, "It's me...Ryo."

"Who?"

"We...fought in the Digital World? My partner is...was...Cyberdramon!" he explained. Beelzemon turned his head, "You're going to have to run all of that by me because I have no idea what you're talking about. And keep it quick. These things are gathering around."

Ryo gulped, realizing time was off the essence with these things gathering around quickly. And then he remembered that Calumon was in danger. But there was no rescuing him now that they were cut off from him.

Author's Notes: The D-Reaper has Calumon and continues to target Beelzemon. Meanwhile, the others are doing everything they can to get the plan ready. What will the D-Reaper do once it figures out how to use Calumon's power? Can the heroes stand a chance against it? What awaits them next? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out in three weeks on Friday, May 8th at 8 PM CDT. I know, I know. Another three week delay and I apologize for that. But the job she is busy as COVID-19 continues to be a bane upon my workplace as more people get sick and I continue to busier at work than I normally am. I apologize for this. Anyway, that's all for now so let's take a look at previous for the next chapter!

Suddenly, a blast of light blew away a hole in the thinning swarm and Beelzemon leapt through it wielding his shotgun in one and his cannon in the other, "HAHA! You see that? You schmucks got nothin' on me!"

"Beelzemon!?" Rika gasped.

"You know this clown?" Ishida asked her. She pointed at him, "That's the guy who kidnapped Calumon in the first place."

Beelzemon clicked his tongue, "Hey, I'm not here for small talk. I'm here for you and...um...the green one. What's the name?"

"Over my dead body," Rika hissed at him, wishing that Taomon was here right now.