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Digital Manifest

Keepers

Chapter: 19/ A Brewing Storm

Ryo Akiyama's thoughts were focusing on his intended meeting with the other Tamers as he made his way through Shinjuku Park, believing that to be the most likely place to find them (as had proven to be the case often enough in the past) in order to tell them in full about the Raven girl that he had met in the digital world and pitch his idea to them about trying to find her and bring her back to the real world. He wasn't at all too sure how they would be able to do so if they decided that it was in their best interests to find this Raven that he had mentioned before (and odds were they would, especially Takato since he always leapt forth to do the right thing, even when realistically it wasn't the easiest or smartest thing to pull off). Getting to the digital world after all, was not without its difficulties and normally required a portal of sorts, and if failing that some form of outside assistance, usually in the form of a Digimon Sovereign like Azulongmon, and since the portal in Guilmon's den had dissipated shortly after the return of their partners, as well as the fact that the Sovereigns were notoriously difficult to get a hold of (and generally one didn't seek them out so much as they did you) it didn't look like a trip to the digital world was going to happen any time soon.

Ryo frowned as a thought suddenly came to mind and he cursed himself for not thinking about it sooner.

I wonder why Azulongmon hasn't contacted me yet. He normally monitors my activities when he calls me to the digital world so he's got to know that I'm not there anymore. When I was last there, I noticed some unusual stuff going on, that girl and that weird Druid guy she was with notwithstanding. There were an unusual amount of digimon migrations moving back and forth across the digital world and even between the digital and real worlds like what happened during the Parasimon invasion. Digimon are moving out of their usual territories, and Azulongmon mentioned something about a disturbance on the digital world's borders, which is nothing new I guess, but if it makes a Sovereign like Azulongmon worried then it has got to be trouble.

Ryo thought about some of the recent developments that had occurred since his return to Shinjuku. The arrival of the new Tamers (if that was what they actually were), the strange digimon like Apemon and Snimon that were so completely unlike anything that he had ever seen before, and given his vast experience accumulated from his dealings in the digital world that was saying quite a lot, and of course there were the two digimon, the Nightmare Blitzmon and BlackKnightmon that he had helped defeat a few days ago…

Things are going to be getting interesting here soon, Ryo thought, and then, as though the thought were a trigger, his digivice gave a cry of alarm only to be cut off a split second later. On reflex, Ryo grabbed his digivice from his waist and brought it out to see what the deal was, but upon inspection found that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. At least, that's what his digivice was suggesting as he wasn't picking up any incoming signals.

Second time it's done that today too, thought Ryo with a frown as he quickly switched over to Cyberdramon's point of view. So far the Ultimate was perched on top of a roof a short ways off, showing no sign that anything was amiss. Briefly Ryo wondered if his digivice was short-circuiting before shaking his head and deciding against it. Digivices, no matter what their make or model was, were very difficult to damage or destroy, though that may have been because the villain hadn't appeared yet who had made the attempt to destroy them. Though there were a couple that had been in a very good position to try, at least if some of the stories that he had heard were true…

Ryo considered going down to Hypnos and having one of their technicians, probably Henry's father, take a look at it but quickly decided against it. He was used to dealing with difficulties on his own and so far the odd alarms hadn't been disrupting his D-Arc's regular functions, and Cyberdramon was about as reliable as a digivice when it came to detecting digimon anyway. Ryo surmised that there was a good chance that there was a digimon trying to enter the real world but was more or less failing to do so, probably because of some new technology or program that Hypnos had put together in order to defend against the strange new digimon that had been coming through.

Shrugging his shoulder's Ryo continued his pace through the park until he rounded a corner and halted, his azure eyes widening in surprise as he took note of the scene of devastation in front of him.

What the…?

Ryo raised his D-Arc reflexively as his eyes scanned the area around him for any immediate hostiles. A halo circle appeared above his digivice and he spoke quickly and quietly to it, calling for Cyberdramon via the communication system that was programmed into it, and he smiled as he saw Cyberdramon's view of the world shift suddenly as he took flight, aiming straight towards Shinjuku Park as a low, guttural growl emerged from the back of his throat. Ryo lowered his digivice and crept forward carefully, his eyes moving around the area, carefully noting the damage that the area had sustained from… whatever it was that had happened here. Briefly he wondered just how it was that he or Cyberdramon had missed this, especially Cyberdramon as he hated to miss out on a good fight, and a good fight was certainly what it looked like. The ground was burned in some areas, and small pockets of what he guessed was weapons fire dotted the earth alongside the stamped imprints of footprints. Ryo furrowed his eyebrows for what had to be the hundredth time that day as he bent down to take a closer look. Although he was no expert on digimon tracking, at least not in the way that his savage Ultimate level partner was, he had gained enough experience from his time in the digital world to recognize certain imprints when he came across them as digimon tended to leave rather unique footprints behind wherever it was they went. Two sets, although muddled now from the amount of fighting that had gone on here, were still discernable and easily recognizable.

Those look like Kyubimon and Gargomon tracks, thought Ryo, looking the prints over carefully, taking note of their position and then looked over at the third. He didn't recognize them. A Wild One? Ryo looked back at the Kyubimon and Gargomon tracks. The way that they were placed, in relation towards each other, and not in a way that normally suggested friendliness, especially since there were small craters of weapons fire and burn marks where those tracks were. Ryo guessed that it was possible that one of the two sets that he was familiar with already was a Wild One that resembled one of the other Tamer's digimon. In which case it was possible that the third set of tracks was one of the new Tamer's digimon…

As Ryo pondered all of this he felt a gust of wind behind him and a shadow settled down on his back. Smiling Ryo turned around, getting ready to thank Cyberdramon for his timely arrival.

Ryo paused in surprise as soon as his widening eyes met the figure that stood behind him.

Sakuyamon…? Was all Ryo had time to think before the figure took a step towards him.

Cyberdramon landed in the park with a snarl and glanced around him, testing the air with his nose before frowning beneath his facemask. Something was wrong here. Very wrong. The scents that he was picking up, the feeling that he was sensing in the air…

Cyberdramon stepped forward, and his foot bumped up against something as it came down. Looking down at the ground, Cyberdramon spied the familiar blue colored, white trimmed digivice that his partner, Ryo Akiyama had carried with him ever since they met up again in the digital world before meeting the other Tamers. Bending over, the savage Vaccine warrior dragon carefully picked up the D-Arc in his clawed hand and brought it up to his face, growling beneath his breath as he picked up Ryo's familiar scent… and something else along with it. Something familiar, but at the same time it wasn't. Similar would have been a far better word to describe it in fact. Cyberdramon growled, trying to fight down his raging instincts for battle and at the same time trying to formulate an idea of what he should do next. His first objective of course was to try and locate Ryo of course, but as he had no idea on where he was the idea that it would be better to inform the other Tamers of the situation, loathe as he was to do so as it went against almost every instinct that he had. That is, unless Ryo was missing, kidnapped or destroyed by the very entity that Ryo had called him for to combat…

Cyberdramon glanced around the area, feeling disappointment and bitterness rise in his heart like bile. The scene of battle was fairly fresh, but long over if he was any judge (and he was). The scents that he got were mixed, but recognizable. Two Tamers, Rika and one of the new ones, complete with their partners Kyubimon and Terradramon. The next scent, their opponent it seemed, had the smell of a Gargomon, albeit a strange one, but little else could he discern about it beyond what its species was. Then there was the more recent scent of Ryo and…

Cyberdramon grimaced, growling once again as he stamped forward, restraining the urge to launch an attack in the area to vent his frustrations. Raising Ryo's digivice Cyberdramon looked at it, raising a claw and pressing one of the buttons. Usually this sort of thing worked only for the Tamer that it was bonded to, but the cybernetic dragon did occasionally wonder if the digimon that the Tamer was partnered with could use it as well. It would be a strange waste if that weren't the case, though he wagered that its functions would be limited…

A halo circle suddenly appeared above the digivice, revealing the compass function, but beyond that it didn't seem to do much else except point at him. Growling yet again in annoyance Cyberdramon pressed the digivice's button again in an attempt to make it do something else, something other than point out where his location was, only to fail at doing that. With a frustrated snarl Cyberdramon pushed off the ground and took to the air, taking a few moments to sweep around the area to see if he had missed anything before changing direction and heading towards Hypnos.

Impmon climbed carefully down from the rooftop, trying to shake the dazed feeling that he had been experiencing upon his waking up on the top of the building, and at the same time trying to figure out how it was that he had arrived there in the first place. As his feet touched down on the pavement he searched the broken fragments of his memory for any clue as to what had happened in the final moments before he… passed out.

Let's review, thought Impmon as he shook his head. I was talking to my Tamers… telling dem dat I was going out for a bit to see an old friend who had recently arrived in town… I was hopping around da rooftops looking for any sign of Leomon… and den…

Impmon frowned.

Dere was a bright light, like a sun setting… and den…

Impmon paused as his frown turned into a scowl. He couldn't remember what it was that had just happened that had deposited him on the top of a building, far away from where he had started from, with no recollection at all from whether or not he had encountered Leomon in his travels.

Maybe I hit my head or somet'in, thought Impmon, but somehow he doubted that. Of course, the fact that he experienced no memory of having done so, complete with the lack of bruises and any pain in his skull helped make a point for that argument. So what was he left with?

Confusion clouding his mind, Impmon leapt into the air, hoping to find a way to clear his mind from the fog that had left him seemingly bereft of his most recent memories.

I sure am hungry, thought Impmon as he soared through the air. Maybe if I got somet'in to eat I could t'ink better… yeah, that's what I'll do…

As the sun dipped closer to the horizon the small group of three children and four digimon raced down the streets, one of them, a blonde haired boy in a blue and black colored hoody with a small reptilian creature attached to his shoulder at the lead as he followed the signal that his digivice was picking up as behind him the others blazed a trail after him, making sure not to rush headlong past him. One of them, a brown haired boy wearing a visor held up an arc shaped device, glaring at it and hitting it with the palm of his hand every so often as though in an attempt to encourage it to do the job that the blonde haired boy's digivice was doing.

"Nnnngh… C'mon already! Do something, will ya? This is getting kinda ridiculous…"

"Kazu," began a massive, rust colored robot from behind the boy. "Perhaps your mother's method of fixing appliances isn't quite the best way to go about things. Remember what she did to me? I still have some dents from her attack and I think some of my bolts are still loose…"

"Kazu scowled.

"She warned ya against standing on her flowerbed, Guardromon, but I'm starting to think that you're right anyway. I still don't get why Chris's digivice is the only one that's picking up a digimon signal while the rest of ours aren't doing didally squat."

"Wasn't that what we were going to ask Yamaki right before my digivice picked up this second signal?" Asked Chris as he slowed down a bit and looked up from his digivice. "I mean, I would certainly like the answer to that riddle myself…" Chris paused and took another look at his digivice before glowering. "Ah… nuts. I lost the signal."

Chris proceeded to mutter something under his breath about stupid piece junk before promptly imitating Kazu's earlier antic by smacking the side of his digivice, and then grumbled even more when the act did not get any new results beyond an irritated sounding beep from the gadget.

Caramon turned to look at his partner.

"I don't think it likes you."

"The feeling's mutual," grunted Chris as he stared at his digivice, trying to will it to pick up that signal again, but so far the digivice remained mute and unresponsive on that front.

"I guess that there's nothing else we can do except head down to Hypnos and let Yamaki know what's up," said Kenta, sounding a little disappointed at how things were progressing thus far. Kazu in the meantime ruffled his hands through his hair like a madman, groaning in exasperation as he did so.

"We can't just give up here," the visor-wearing boy exclaimed vehemently. "There's a digimon out there and it's our duty to stop it! If we can't track it down using Chris's wacko digivice then we'll just have to try a different approach! You get what I mean Chumley?"

Kenta blinked.

"Uh… you just sounded like you were taking your job as a Tamer seriously."

Kazu looked like he was ready to blow a gasket at that comment.

"I'm going to pretend that you didn't say that Chumley. 'Sides, you of all people should know that I take my duties seriously… I just have a different approach to it that's all."

With that said, Kazu turned to his mechanical partner behind him, and Guardromon swiftly snapped to attention, clanging his two feet together.

"Guardromon! Use your jets to give me some air coverage! I'll monitor ya through my digivice and we can see if there's anything out of the ordinary around." Kazu paused for a moment as he analyzed his statement and put it up against his partner's past experiences with taking orders. "And by out of the ordinary I mean any digimon that we don't recognize and/or causing general havoc in the vicinity. I don't wanna hear any nonsense about how digimon attacking the city is an ordinary part of life around here… "

"At your command Kazu!" Exclaimed Guardromon in an enthusiastic tone as his jet engines roared to life. Lifting off, the mechanical Champion digimon flew up into the air as Kazu held onto his visor, preventing it from being blown away by the thrust of his partner's thrusters. Once Guardromon had enough distance between them Kazu raised his D-Arc and a halo circle materialized above the screen, giving them a first person point of view of what Guardromon was seeing. Chris, Kenta, Caramon, and MarineAngemon crowded around him, looking over the boy's shoulder so that they could see what he was seeing.

"Okay, let's see… everything looks okay so far… no explosions… there's a flock of birds… Chris, you said that the signal looked like it was coming from the park right?"

"Yeah," said the blonde haired boy as Guardromon's eyes swiveled around.

"Hmmm… Okay, Guardromon," said Kazu, speaking to his digivice, once again thanking Suzie for inadvertently showing him and the other Tamers this trick when using it to find Lopmon during a game of hide and seek. "Can you check out the park area? Let's see what the situation is… WHOA! CYBERDRAMON AT TWELVE O'CLOCK!"

Sure enough there he was, the mighty Ultimate level Vaccine dragon soaring through the air. Guardromon followed his course, pinpointing it as heading towards Hypnos. The three boys blinked and looked at each other.

"Do you think…?" Began Kazu quietly.

"…That Ryo got it?" Finished Kenta.

"It would probably explain a lot," said Chris taking a look at the halo circle, placing his chin in his hand, as he looked the cyborg dragon over.

"Where's Ryo though?" Asked Kenta tentatively, causing Chris and Kazu to look at him in confusion.

"What do ya mean?" Asked Kazu. "It's not like he always has to be flying with Cyberdramon you know…"

"I guess," replied Kenta. "But… it's just that I would have thought that Ryo would be there with him if they had just finished up a battle, and seeing as how Cyberdramon is heading over to Hypnos you would think that Ryo would be there with him if he was… you know… going to report it."

The other two boys were silent for a moment.

"He does have a point," said Kazu. "As much as I hate to admit it if Ryo was in a hurry he'd be flying with Cyberdramon rather than going on foot…"

"Maybe Cyberdramon just wants to roost on a high place," put in Chris. The two Tamers didn't look like they were all that convinced by that, but for lack of anything better there was little that they could do to affirm. Besides, if things were cleared up anyway, and Cyberdramon was responsible for taking out not one but two Wild Ones then it was possible that the signal problems were simply a result of the digimon being deleted. Of course, that did not completely rule out that digimon were finding a way to avoid detection, so they might as well head down to Hypnos anyway…

"KAZU!" Shouted Guardromon suddenly through the communication link with the boy's D-Arc, causing him to nearly drop his digivice in surprise.

"Guardromon!" Exclaimed Kazu as he grabbed a firm hold on his digivice. "Do you mind toning down the noise already? You just about had us thinking that Ayaka was aiming a rocket launcher at you!"

"Sorry…"

Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Ayaka?"

"Classmate of mine. Hates my guts. Long story."

"I'll bet." Chris looked over at Kenta, and indicated Kazu with a nod of his head. "He never does anything small does he?"

Kenta laughed.

"Not that I can think of…"

Kazu groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Can we move on with this already? What's up Guardromon?"

"I think that I've spotted Ryo…"

"Huh? All right! Where?"

The three boys and two digimon leaned in; focusing their attention on the halo circle as Guardromon showed them what he had spotted.

On top of a roof stood a tall, female figure dressed in red armor, with two long ponytails of white hair tied behind her, draping downwards and coming to a point like a fox's tail. In one, red-gloved hand was a bronze staff that resembled a Buddhist vajra staff. And in the other was a face all too familiar to the children.

"RYO!"

Not even taking a moment to think about his actions, Chris leapt away from Kazu and Kenta, Caramon already springing from his shoulder as a light began to envelop him, equal in intensity to the light that was shining from Chris's digivice.

"CARAMON! DIGIVOLVE TOOO… DRACARAMON!"

A second later, a large, quadruped, reptilian digimon hit the pavement, pausing just long enough for Chris to leap onto its back before surging forward, leaping upwards into the sky to reach the nearest rooftop in order to get to its soon to be opponent as quickly as possible.

Chris turned his head as his ears caught hold of Kazu shouting something at him. Too late to turn back now, especially if Ryo was in danger…

Nuts, thought Chris forlornly. I'll bet it was important too…

"Aw man…" groaned Kazu as the reptilian digimon raced out of earshot. "This is not good. That kid really should learn to listen, or at least not react before he knows what he's getting himself into. I think that he's getting a little too used to this stuff."

Kazu turned to Kenta to see the bespectacled boy looking at him oddly.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that for a second I thought you were talking about yourself there."

"Knock it off. We've got to do something to help Ryo. Even with Guardromon moving in to back him, Chris is way over his head here. I don't think he realizes just how over his head he really is… we've got to call for backup! Kenta, send your little pink fairy after him!"

Kenta nodded and looked over at MarineAngemon, who in turn also nodded before flying off, fluttering his tiny wings as hard as he could to catch up to the errant Tamer and digimon.

Kenta turned to Kazu.

"So what do we do now?"

"Duh! We get in touch with one of the others! What'd you think?"

Looking around quickly, Kazu grinned as he spied a payphone and quickly ran over to it, picking it up and slipping in some coins before dialing the first numbers that he thought of. Kenta ran up to him.

"Who're you calling? Takato?"

"As much as I'd like to I can't take the chance on wasting this change on him being out! Besides, I want to test something first, and if my theory's correct then we'll be having backup here in no time!"

"What theory is that? Does it have anything to do with who you're calling?"

Kazu was about to answer when the line on the other end picked up.

"Tell ya in a minute," the boy said under his breath as he prepared to answer the recipient of his call.

"Rika…" Kazu began as off in the distance the sound of an explosion echoed upon the air.

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