--o--o--o--

Chapter 18

Like Robin Hood

--o--o--o--

Kyuubimon cleared the ridge with her daughter close behind her and slowed as she approached the digimon that had once been Istaqamon. She narrowed her eyes against the glare of light that shown from the glowing surface of the hovering head. That seemed to be all there was of him, just a silvery coyote's head with no body attached.

But that wasn't the strangest thing about the scene. The desert immediately surrounding rippled as if seen through a heat haze. It was no optical illusion, the actual substance of the desert was rippling-- not just sand but rock as well. Looking closer, Kyuubimon could see that bits of data were being cast off from the ground and even the air like wounded digimon on the edge of fragmenting often did.

She stopped just beyond the edge of the disturbance surrounding the head and called out, "Coyomon?"

The head turned toward her and she realized that it wasn't even solid. She could see though the eyes to the landscape beyond. It was a hollow mask. The mouth slowly opened and she could see desert through that opening, too.

A voice laden with pain and effort came from the empty mouth. "Re-na-mon? Ahh--"

That last had been a cry of agony or desperation, Kyuubimon couldn't tell for certain which one, but even as distorted as it was, she knew it for the voice of her mate.

The mask shuddered and rapidly flickered through several different forms. First, a taijitu swirled on its forehead, dragging and distorting the rest of the mask's shape as it turned. Then a horn sprouted from when the yin-yang symbol had been and shrank back almost immediately as the edges of the mask flared out in a ragged edge, suggestive of a lion's mane. Finally, a slit-pupiled eye opened and blinked once from the center of the forehead before vanishing.

As the mask had gone through its bizarre sequence of shapeshifting, part of the desert beneath it had dissolved and now a ragged hole edged with dully glowing nurbs was left. Kyuubimon saw that the moving nurbs were trying to re-weave themselves but were being forced back, widening the hole, by whatever strange energy was streaming from the mask.

"Help him!" cried Kayamon in a distraught voice. "I don't know what to do!"

"No," came the agonized voice from the mask." Get-- away-- I--"

Kyuubimon approached it, leaning into the violent radiance. She winced in pain and forced herself forward. The mask shuddered and the third eye formed once again. Kyuubimon gave a gasp of shock as strength drained out of her and her Champion body shrank away leaving her in her Renamon form.

"Rrrr-- run-- aaahh--" the mask moaned. "Don't--"

"Shut up, you stupid coyote!" Renamon growled, "I'm not-- not leaving you like this." She reached out, her hands distorting and casting off bits of red data as she leaned over the ragged hole into nothingness, and grabbed desperately at the edges of the mask.

--o--o--o--

Rika had woken the rest of the team except for Jeri, Calumon and Susie. She explained what she knew of the situation to them when they had assembled outside the cave.

"I don't understand," Kazu said as he looked down at Impmon's unconscious body. "Istaqamon fought him, or what?"

"I don't know for sure but--" Rika began.

"Well, what do you know?" Kazu interrupted impatiently.

Rika's fists flicked with a hint of blue fire and Kazu flinched back, stepping slightly behind the bulk of Guardromon. "Hey, I'm just asking--"

Takato stepped between the two of them and spoke to the group. "Look, it's almost day and we've got to decide what we're going to do. We need to take Calumon back to the real world but--"

"I'm not leaving them." Rika snapped.

Takato turned to her and gave her a stern look. Surprisingly, Rika sighed, crossed her arms across her chest and let him continue.

"As I was saying," Takato continued, "I don't want to split up the group again. We can all go and see what's happened to Rika's partners. They can't have gone all that far. Then we can go on South to the gate, together."

"Um-- Takato?"

"Yes, Kenta?"

"What about Impmon? What do we do with him?"

Takato looked down at the battered little digimon. "I don't know what Istaqamon did to him but he looks pretty harmless now. I don't think we need to worry about him."

"No, I meant--" Kenta trailed off.

Takato knew his shy friend pretty well. If Kenta had been so forward, there was something bothering him. "Go on."

"I just thought-- are we going to leave him here? He's not very strong and some bigger digimon will probably--" he stopped talking again and made a vague gesture that everyone understood, nonetheless.

"So what?" Kazu snorted. "He did his best to kill all of us. Who cares what happens to him?"

"I don't believe it," Rika laughed, "I actually agree with Kazu about something!"

"I dunno," Henry said, thoughtfully, "It doesn't seem right to just leave him. Why did Kayamon bring him here, Rika?"

Rika was just about to speak when a musical voice came suddenly from behind her and Takato, making them both jump in surprise. "Father told me to."

"Jeeze!" Takato grumbled at Kayamon. "You're not going to be sneaking up on us all the time like Renamon used to do, are you?"

Kayamon cocked her head curiously at him. "Couldn't you hear me coming? I wasn't trying to be especially quiet."

"Never mind that!" Rika snapped. "Where are Kyuubimon and Istaqamon?"

Kayamon gave her a look similar to the one she had given Takato. "Are all humans mostly deaf and blind? Can't you feel them?"

"No, I can't! Now, will you please tell me--" Rika suddenly stopped. The whole team had gone quiet and she realized that she could feel something. Something like the electricity in the air before a thunderstorm. The digimon in the group were staring wide-eyed out into the night and the children followed their gaze, seeing a shifting light illuminating the twisted forms of desert rock as it moved closer to the camp. Then there was a collective intake of breath as the team saw the figure that stepped around the shoulder of stone at the head of the valley.

--o--o--o--

"Another digivolution," Yasuramon growled as she flew. "That will rouse the enemy even further, won't it?"

"Yes," Azulongmon rumbled, "but this one felt-- different, somehow."

"The humans were to take Calumon back to their world, not use him here! Istaqamon will have some explaining to do."

--o--o--o--

The team all stared silently at the brilliant figure striding toward them, except for Henry who read from the info disk of his digivice.

"Renamon, Spirit Mode. Mega. Holy cow--"

"Huh?" Kazu said, not taking his eyes off the gleaming figure that lit the landscape around it. "That's an attack? 'Holy Cow'?"

Even the patient Henry almost snapped at Kazu then. "No it's not! There aren't any attacks listed." He glanced down at his digivice again. "No data type either."

Kayamon was circling the figure, frisking around it like a puppy and having her next to it made it clear that, even though it looked like Renamon wearing a silver mask, it was nearly twice as tall as she had been.

"I knew mother would know what to do! She's not only strong and beautiful, she's really, really, really smart, too!" Kayamon's voice was a happy singsong-- almost a chant, "It was so scary, but she wasn't afraid! She didn't even mind when the desert started falling apart and father grew a horn and a scary eyeball and--"

Takato leaned over to Rika and whispered out of the corner of his mouth to her. "What the heck is she talking about?" Rika merely shrugged.

The Mega stopped a short distance away from the group and put a hand on Kayamon's head, stopping her flow of happy chatter. Rika stepped forward. "Renamon? Is Istaqamon okay?"

The beautiful silvery mask turned to look down on the girl, somehow radiating warmth and goodwill despite its smooth, expressionless surface. "We are Renamon and Istaqamon," it said in voice of quiet power that was a blend of both Rika's partners. "We are Leomon, Rapidmon, and--" the masked head turned to gaze at the little purple digimon who lay at Kenta's feet, "Beelzemon, too. All are part of us."

Kazu snorted. "This is nuttier than squirrel poop!"

"What do you mean, you're Rapidmon?" Terriermon said, coming forward to stare up at the glowing Mega. "I'm Rapidmon! Or, I am sometimes, anyway."

"Of course," Renamon said, kneeling and holding out a hand to the little digimon, "but Beelzemon took that sprit from you during the fight. We took it from him-- and now we return it to you." A rush of greenish energy flowed from the Mega's palm and whirled around Terriermon, sinking into his body.

"Whoah!" Terriermon cried as he rapidly blinked his little black eyes. "That's great! I don't feel like microwaved sushi anymore!"

"You told me you were feeling fine." Henry said to him in a suspicious tone of voice.

"Um-- not exactly 'fine'-- I just didn't want you to worry, Henry." Terriermon admitted sheepishly.

"What's going on?" came a voice from behind the group. Jeri had awoken and emerged from the cave. She was staring up at the glowing Mega. "Is that Renamon?"

"Sort of," Takato told her, "Are you feeling okay?"

Jeri didn't reply. She was looking up at Renamon, who was reaching out to her. Takato moved aside.

"Jeri," Renamon said tenderly, "you have bravely suffered so much. If we could return Leomon to you, we would-- but it is not possible."

Jeri bit her lip and tears welled up in her eyes at the mention of her partner.

Renamon bent over her. "We see that he gave something of himself to you in his final moments. You do have a lion's heart-- and now we will give you what remains of him. He loved you, Jeri. We know this beyond doubt." A golden radiance flowed from the kneeling figure and surrounded the girl.

"Leomon," Jeri whispered softly as the glow fell inward and vanished into her body.

Renamon looked up and spoke to the group. "We have all the power that was given to Beelzemon by Zhuqiaomon and we will use it to ensure that every one of you returns safely home--"

Renamon suddenly broke off and turned, staring intently toward the North. The group automatically followed her gaze and saw the approaching Sovereigns-- the long coiling form of Azulongmon and bright golden spark of Yasuramon. Even though they were far in the distance, they grew rapidly and their size and power were obvious to everyone.

The magnificent Mega stood and strode to the fore of the group, head held high, ready to defend the team from this new possible menace and said in a voice in which Coyomon's tones clearly predominated, "Oh crap-- now what?"