Alice, Kazu, Kenta, their parents, and the assembled Monster Maker stared at the two arrivals. "Metal Koromon and Veemon." Alice said, glancing at her D-Arc. "They're harmless."

"Hey, who're you calling harmless?" Metal Koromon complained.

Dobermon stepped forward. "You, especially if you decide to make any trouble."

"Ahh...nice doggy?" Zero said, raising his hands. Dobermon arched an eyebrow, unamused. "There was a Data Stream, you see, and Ryo was too far away-"

"RYO?" Reilly suddenly gasped. "You saw him?"

"Yeah. Nice guy, shame his partners such a psycho. You must be his aunt Reilly. He'd be thrilled to know you're still alright." Reilly stepped back, overcome.

Talli knelt down in front of Metal Koromon. "Metal Koromon, right? I'm Talli. Umm, can we run a few tests on you?"

"AHHH!" Metal Koromon shrieked, deafening everyone. "It's some crazy X-Files stuff! They're going to eat our brains!" Metal Koromon dashed off.

"No they're not...HEY, WAIT UP!" Zero called, running after him.

Digicross Tamers episode 23

'I'm a legend? Kazu plus Zero DOES NOT equal 100'

Metal Agumon created by Metal Dragon1 (so blame him :D)

Digital World

Rika, riding on Kyuubimon's back, looked over the wide plain. "Anything?"

"Not yet." Kyuubimon said. "I don't know where she might have been dropped off. For all we know, she could be back in Tokyo."

Eevee, perched on Kyuubimon's head, frowned. "No. It's this way, I'm sure of it." His muscles tensed.

Rika fingered the pokeball in her right hand. "If you go off on your own, then we'd have to find both you and Hitomi. And you don't know your way here." Eevee glowered at Rika, but didn't reply.

In Rika's left hand was her D-arc. Where are you, Rika wondered. The digivice lit up, an arrow pointing in the direction Eevee had indicated. "One word and it's back in the ball, rodent." Rika sighed, just as Eevee opened his mouth.

"Told you." Eevee whispered after a few seconds.

Elsewhere in the digital world

Hitomi sat up, blinking. "A cave?"

"You're awake!" a boy said. "I was a little worried. Are you hurt anywhere?"

Hitomi looked at the speaker. A little older than her, she guessed, and he looked familiar somehow. "I'm fine...Eevee! Where's Eevee?"

"Eevee?"

"My partner!" Hitomi started to hyperventilate a little.

The boy put a hand on her shoulder. "It was just you when I found you. I think you were caught in a data stream. Don't worry, you'll be able to find him. Hey, relax." he added. "My name's Ryo Akiyama. I've been here for a few years." I thought he looked familiar, Hitomi thought to herself. "Umm...this was on your belt." Ryo added, handing her a pokeball.

Hitomi looked at it. She relaxed a bit, pressing the button on the front. Noctowl appeared, looking around. "Woah." Ryo breathed. "Is that Eevee?"

"No. This is Noctowl, my friend. Say hello." Noctowl hooted at Ryo.

"Pleased to meet you, Noctowl. Strange, he doesn't look like any digimon I've ever seen. Maybe an alternate evolution of Owlmon?"

"It's complicated." Hitomi replied, not feeling like explaining that Noctowl wasn't a digimon to begin with. "Umm...have you seen my D-arc and Digimon cards?"

"Oh, here." Ryo said. "I put your backpack by the bed, it looked a little uncomfortable to lie on. Um, I didn't look inside, don't worry." Ryo added, blushing a bit. "You came prepared."

"Well, we came looking for someone." Hitomi answered.

"We?" Ryo asked, intrigued.

Tokyo

"That football sure can move." Janyu sighed. "I wish that Veemon had stayed put. We could have learned a bit more about Ryo. Not to mention what's going on down there."

"We'll find him." Kotemon replied. "But do I have to ride in a baby carriage?"

"Well, it worked for Biyomon and Palmon." Janyu replied, feeling completely idiotic. It had been Dolphin's idea, first for Alice, who flatly refused to have any part of it. Janyu and Kotemon were nominated, despite their protests. "If it makes you feel any better, I feel just as silly."

"Well, that's alright then." Kotemon sighed.

"Our parents are going to KILL us!" Kenta hissed.

"Forget it!" Kazu replied. "We know this town pretty well, and we volunteered to help find those two missing digimon, right? So if we do, we'll be forgiven."

"That makes no sense whatsoever!" Kenta replied.

"So? Just tell them I hit you or something." Kazu shrugged. "Okay, if I were a digimon, where would I go?"

"Food?" Kenta suggested. "Guilmon was a bread vacuum."

"That's the spirit!" Kazu replied. "And dibs on Veemon!"

"HEY! I called him first!"

"Dude, an uber-cool digimon like Veemon just begs to be with an ultra-hip guy like me. You can have the metal football."

"But I don't even like football..."

Digital world

"My...dad...?" Ryo said quietly.

Hitomi nodded. "We know he was taken here by two of the Devas, and a digimon named Impmon."

"He's...alive...MY DAD'S ALIVE! Oh, thank you!" Ryo shouted, running over to Hitomi and kissing her on the cheek. He stepped back a second later, horrified. "Oh, god...I'm sorry, really!"

Stunned, Hitomi could only answer "It's alright, really..."

A large black digimon stormed in. He glared at Hitomi, snarling. "Cyberdramon!" Ryo barked. "Back off!" Before anything else could happen, Noctowl shot forward, cawing a challenge at Cyberdramon. Cyberdramon was about to strike the owl, when a bright blue beam of light shot past Noctowl, wrapping around Cyberdramon. "Down!" Ryo ordered. Cyberdramon backed off. "This is Hitomi," he indicated the girl, "and that's her partner. They're friends, got it?" Cyberdramon tensed. "GOT it?" he repeated. The digimon backed off, the beam dissipating and allowing Cyberdramon to leave the cave.

Ryo looked at Hitomi, face downcast. "I'm really sorry about that. Cyberdramon's hard to control. He's been like that since he digivolved two years ago. It took me about five months to get him to stop fighting ever digimon that comes by. And he's still easily set off, as you just saw."

"How...?" Hitomi tried to ask.

"I think something went wrong when he digivolved. It's like all he can think about is fighting and growing stronger. I can't leave him alone, or he'd just go nuts. And if I brought him back to the Real World..."

Hitomi nodded. "Well, maybe we can find a way to help him, then. The people at Hypnos might know how to calm him down, or make him de-evolve."

"Hypnos?" Ryo asked.

"Your father was involved with it. They've done a lot of work on digimon." Hitomi said carefully. She decided that 'yes, the government organization that kidnapped me at your dad's orders and tried to dissect Eevee' might be a bit much for Ryo. "We learned that you were here, and they were trying to find a way to get you back when your father was captured."

Ryo sat down. "You'd better tell me everything."

Real World

Kazu led Kenta down a side-road. "I think they're heading to the school!"

"Great. The one place we DON't want to go back to."

"Hey, it's for a digimon!" Kazu replied. "And no-one knows that place better than the two of us, right?" Kenta nodded slowly. "Right. And if I were a digimon, the first place I'd go is the cafeteria, right?"

"How'd you figure that out?" Kenta wondered.

"Hey, digimon are, like, food pits. It's in over half of the episodes. And look at Guilmon."

"I suppose."

After a few minutes, the two made it to the school. "See? Lock's busted open. And if I'm not mistaken, that's definitely a Veemon-shaped dent on the lock, right?"

"No justice in here, just us." Kenta murmured.

Kazu blinked, caught the reference, and high-fived Kenta. "That's the spirit! Come on!"

Veemon looked around. "Hey, you in here? Hello? Metal Koromon? Yo, football!"

"In here!" a slightly metallic voice called. Veemon looked inside. Metal Koromon was at a small white metal box, with the door open. He could hear a faint whirring coming from the box. "It's cold in here! And there's food!"

"You're hungry?"

Metal Koromon glanced at Zero. "You know, I wasn't when I got to the worked, but it's the oddest thing...hey, try this red thing!"

"That's an apple. Hey, where's all this fog coming from?"

"Must be from the box." Metal Koromon replied. "You got a name?"

"Zero. Ryo called me Zero for some reason."

"Umm...are you seeing all this ground fog?" Kenta asked, worried.

"Hey, they must be near!" Kazu replied. "This must be one of those digital fields Takato told us about!"

"But...that Veemon and Metal Koromon already emerged, so they shouldn't be creating one, right?"

Kazu glanced out a nearby window. "Ahh...no, but THAT MINOTARUMON MIGHT!" he half-shrieked, pointing.

Digital World

"So aunt Reilly's alright too...Any more good news, and I might have to marry you." Hitomi blushed, getting a laugh out of Ryo. "Sorry. I haven't seen another human in about two years. I'm a bit used to saying what comes to mind. So who else is here, aside from you? Are they also tamers?"

"Yes. Takato and his partner Guilmon, Jeri and Gabumon-"

Ryo blinked. "Hey, I saw a Gabumon not too long ago."

"I think it was him. Anyway, there was also Henry and Terriermon, and Rika and Renamon."

"Rika? About your height, red hair, really good at the card game?" Hitomi nodded. "Wow. I met her once at a Digimon Card tournament, just before I came here."

"Were you..." Hitomi trailed off, blushing again.

Ryo grinned. "Sorry, you're not off the hook yet." Another, deeper blush. Noctowl arched one of his large eyebrows. "Rika was...is, I guess...kind of hard to forget." Hitomi nodded in agreement. "So, the Devas captured my dad?"

"The ones that are left." Hitomi answered

"Left? Wait...there have been fewer sightings of the Devas. No, they went to Earth?"

"Yes. But we managed to defeat them."

Ryo sat back, stunned. "You guys really are good. Well, then. Why don't you rest up? We've got as long trip tomorrow."

Hitomi glanced out the cave mouth. "Tomorrow? But it's still the middle of the day."

"Really? Just give it a minute." The two humans looked out. A second later, the light vanished, as if someone had flipped a switch. "Quick nightfall. It's better if we travel by day. Oh, before you ask, you don't have to worry about eating. You don't get hungry down here. Come to think of it, you can't drown either."

"Really?" Hitomi asked, wide eyed.

"Stick with me, and I'll show you a whole new world." Noctowl hopped over and tapped pointedly on Hitomi's pokegear.

Real World.

"Okay, there's two digimon with our names on them in here, and a Minotarumon out there." Kazu whispered, glancing out the window again.

"Fine, you go see if he wants to be your partner." Kenta replied.

"I...HEY!" Kazu gave Kenta a bonk on the head, then started crawling. "We'll be OK as long as he doesn't come here. He's only interested in fighting other digimon."

"Kazu. There are. Two digimon. IN HERE WITH US!"

Kazu stopped, looked at Kenta, and groaned. "Aw nuts." he said as the building shook. "Come on!"

"Hey, he's after our food!" Metal Koromon growled, racing out, having caught sight of Minotarumon.

"Hey, WAIT UP!" Zero yelled, running after him. "I'm too old for this..."

Kotemon sat up. "Digimon!" he growled. "Big one, I think."

Janyu glanced in the direction Kotemon indicated. "The school's that way! We'd better hurry." He started running, deciding to ditch the buggy. "I think secrecy's out now!"

Minotarumon snarled, looking at his opponents. "I come here looking for a battle, and I get...two CHILDREN? A Veemon and a Metal Koromon? Should I fight you or change your diapers?"

"Yeah, well...Nose rings went out last year!" Zero replied.

"Yeah!" Metal Koromon added, sending a small shower of sparks out.

"Is that supposed to do something?" Minotarumon taunted. "Dark Side Quake!" he roared, punching with his weapon-arm. The two smaller digimon dodged. "Demon Arm!"

"Now what?" Metal Koromon yelled, rolling to a stop after the last assault.

"You're asking me?" Zero demanded. "YOU'RE the one who challenged him!"

"Hey, it was for food!"

Zero shook his head. "Well, if it's a fight he wants...V-Headbutt!" Zero shot forward, and managed to make a nice dent on Minotarumon's weapon-arm, but that was about it.

"Worm!" Minotarumon roared, raising his foot up, intent on squashing Zero flat.

"Hey, pick on someone your own size!" Kazu shouted, hurling a rock at Minotarumon, ignoring Kenta's 'yeah, like a semi-truck!'. "Over here, quickly!"

Zero and Metal Koromon started to run, but were sent flying into the two humans by Minotariumon's earthquake attack.

Kazu was knocked over and dazed by one of the digimon. Sitting up, he saw that it was the Veemon he had spotted earlier. "Umm...hi, I'm Zero the Veemon." Zero hazarded.

"Z...Zero...Veemon?" Kazu gasped. Cackling, he passed out.

"Oh, COME ON!" Kenta yelled at the prone Kazu. "Hey, can you...?"

"Sure! And you don't have to ask twice!" Metal Koromon said proudly. "Charge!"

"No, wait!" Kenta said, starting to run after the silvery digimon. He got two steps, then stopped as a white orb of light appeared in front of him. Reaching forward, it solidified, becoming a D-Arc. "Oh wow! Does this mean that...My partner is Metal Koromon?"

"Don't look at me." Zero replied, poking Kazu. "He have an on switch?"

"Sometimes I wonder." Kenta growled, bending over. "Come on, I know I have...YES!" Kenta said as he dug out a small battered belt-pouch. Since learning that digimon were real, both he and Kazu had always carried a deck of Digimon Cards with them, 'just in case'. "Okay, no, no, not this one...alright!"

Getting up, he saw Metal Koromon get flung away by Minotarumon's Demon Arm attack. "Here goes...Digi-Modify! Digivolution, Activate!"

"Whu...whaaa...WAHOOO!" Metal Koromon yelled. "Metal Koromon, digivolve to...Metal Agumon!" Kenta stepped back as Metal Koromon turned into...well, a silvery Agumon. Kenta's D-Arc bleeped, displaying an image.

"Metal Agumon. Vaccine Type, Rookie digimon, special attacks...Lightning Spike..."

"Okay!" Metal Agumon said. The small digimon jumped up, spat out a small ball of electricity, and sent it flying at Minotarumon. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Come on, ugly! Is that your nose or a door knocker? Hey, can I do anything else?"

He's nuts, Kenta thought. "Umm...Static Bite?" he hazarded, glancing at the D-Arc.

"Okay! STATIC BITE!" Metal Agumon jumped again, landing near Minotarumon and sinking his teeth into the larger digimon's leg. Minotarumon looked down, unimpressed.

"We're close!" Kotemon said.

"Alright. And no-one's around so...Digi-modify! Digivolution activate!" This time, Janyu made a point of not imitating his son's card slashing style.

"Uhh..." Kazu got up...."Where...?"

"Oh, you're up." Zero said. "I think we should go help them, right?"

"Huh?"

"You know, the Minotarumon?"

Kazu blinked again. "Huh?"

"Attacking the school?"

"...huh?"

"Kenta's a tamer now." Zero sighed.

"WHAT?" Kazu yelled, getting up. "How'd he get a partner...uhh...a silver Agumon? Hey, does this mean that...?" Kazu glanced at Zero, and started checking his pockets. "Come on, where is it?"

"What?" Zero asked.

"My digivice." Kazu answered. "One must have appeared. Hey, do you-" Kazu asked, reaching down to see if Zero had one. As he bent over, a small orb of light appeared, a D-Arc in the center.

"Ahh...ahhh...A-HAHAHA! YES!" Kazu shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Zero's my PARTNER!" Unnoticed, Minotarumon started stomping towards him, Metal Agumon still clamped on his leg.

"STOP CHEERING AND DIGIVOLVE HIM, THEN!" Kenta shouted.

"Huh?" Kazu glanced at Kenta, saw Minotarumon, and nearly panicked. Wait, he realized. I've got a Veemon. Named Zero. And I'm easily TWICE as cool as Taichi Yagami from V-Tamer. I can take this creep. "Digi-Modify! Digivolution activate!"

"Veemon, digivolve to...Veedramon!"

Kazu took one look at Veedramon, cackled, and passed out. "Could you be any MORE useless?" Kenta groaned.

Veedramon glanced at Kazu, still puzzled. "No problem, I think that-"

No one ever knew what Veedramon thought, as Minotarumon was neatly bisected by Dinohumon's Magnum Blade. A few seconds later, Janyu came running in. "Kazu? Kenta! What..." Janyu saw Metal Agumon and Veedramon standing there, and both children with D-Arcs.

"Umm...hi?" Veedramon said, waving.

Digital World

Rika leaned against the charred husk of a tree. The darkness had come so quickly, that they were forced to stop. Eevee slept fitfully, still worried about his partner.

Rika glanced out over the plain, unable to see very far. "We will find her." Renamon said.

"Of course we will." Rika answered, glancing at Eevee. "I'm surprised he stopped. I'd have thought he'd have run until he dropped. Or I stuffed him back in the ball."

"He is concerned about Hitomi. As are you." Rika looked away. "You should rest now. I will wake you when it is your turn to watch."

In a corner of the cave, Cyberdramon rested fitfully, while Noctowl slept by Hitomi.

"Two years without human contact, and now this. I'll find you, dad. And we can both get out of here." Ryo glanced at Hitomi, sound asleep.

"...Hiroki..." Hitomi murmured.

Ryo sighed. "Ah, nuts." he grumbled, then went to sleep.

Next Episode

Captured by Chatsuramon and Impmon, Yamaki is taken to the True Sovereign, and learns why the Devas have started attacking the Real World. Next time, on Digicross Tamers:

'The Dreaming Prisoner'