Author's Note:

Hello, this is DJsapien just wondering if there are any characterization or continuity concerns that I should know about? I honestly haven't seen the show in a long time, although I am constantly jogging my memory with in-depth reviews and summaries.

If anyone would like to contribute any constructive criticism, please do so. This story is different from what I normally do and I would hate to write myself into a corner (I've tried to prevent this by writing multiple chapters ahead of time and by constantly proofreading them, but there is only so much I can do alone). In other words…..

Please, feel free to review!

….

Chapter 4

Takato ran down the hallways of the hospital. It was now 12:35 and he was much later than he had intended. Outside of Jeri's room, however, were police officers and Jeri's father and stepmother.

"No." the teen whispered.

…..

Rika brushed her hair in front of her mirror and frowned. She had never noticed before that she still had a photo of Ryo left, tucked in the corner of her mirror. She sighed as she picked it off of the frame and mused about its depiction of them at a mall. She folded the photograph and put it in a stationary box. She still needed to become acclimated at being single again but she was not too bothered by the breakup. They had a good run and she felt like they were growing apart anyway.

BRZZZZZZT!BRZZZZZZZT!

Rika's phone vibrated on her bed. She walked over to the device and answered.

"Takato? Are you okay? Just calm down; what are you trying to say?"

Takato was running out of Jeri's hospital, bumping into people in the process.

"Jeri's missing, Rika! No one can find her anywhere and….she's just not well, okay!"

"I thought she was getting better?"

"Well apparently not! I told Henry and he said that it's really important for us to meet him at his home. He didn't say why, but meet me there, okay?"

Takato abruptly hung up, leaving a worried Rika to quickly grab her purse and leave the house.

…

Panting, Takato and Rika met in front of the door to Henry's apartment. They knocked on the door and Henry opened it while gesturing that they needed to be quiet. The trio walked into Henry's living room to find their digimon, resting underneath blankets.

Takato and Rika ecstatically hugged their digimon. It had been so long since they had last seen each other. The reunion was interrupted by a now teenaged Suzie entering the room and hugging Terriermon closely. But then, her smile faded as she realized that Lopmon was not among them.

"I'm sorry Suzie," apologized Terriermon soberly, "She was killed in battle."

The older teens attempted to comfort Suzie. They were not about to have another case like Jeri's.

"I'm fine, guys." Suzie sobbed., "Just please leave me be."

Despite Henry's pleas, Suzie left to mourn Lopmon in her bedroom. In the hallway, she managed to dodge Janyu, who had outstretched his arms to comfort her. Hurt by her rejection, Janyu entered the room.

"So guys. Apart from…what happened to Lopmon, what else happened in the digital world?"

Impmon took a step forward towards Janyu. His eyes lit up as he remembered what happened to them.

"You humans ain't gonna believe what we found out."

….

After a little more than a day of travel, the digimon finally came upon an ominous looking gate. The gate and its high walls wrapped encased a city of old-looking buildings.

"What are we going to do, now?" asked Calumon.

"We probably should ask first. I don't know if anyone is nearby," said Renamon.

Terriermon and Guilmon perked their ears.

"I hear humans!" Said the two in unison.

Terriermon inflated his ears and flew up to a crenellation of the wall. He finally sighted the humans and sat still to overhear their conversation.

Inside a watchtower at the top of the gate, two humans and their digimon rested in the shade.

"Today's a pretty slow day, huh Noah?" asked a small black boy of eight with his back leaning against the wall. His Patamon snored lightly as the small creature attempted to rest in the heat.

"Yeah, Izzy. It's beginning to look like it." The older boy confirmed. He was about sixteen with dark hair and a lanky figure. His Veemon began to cough once it drank the last of their water in a canteen.

"Noah." Craoked the blue dragon, "it's too hot, we need something to drink."

"Alright Veemon. Izzy, Veemon and I are going to get some water. Do you and Patamon want some soda?"

The young boy's eyes grew wide with puzzlement.

"But Noah. Anything other than water is strictly on rations. They rarely hand them over just like that."

The sixteen year old smiled.

"You've been a really patient guard this week. Not only are you the youngest guard, but you obeyed all orders and prevented intruders from coming into the colony. Your brother would be proud of you, and I think that he would be more than happy for me to get you something special."

"Wow, thanks Noah."

Once the older boy and his digimon exited the watchtower, the green floppy-eared digimon crept onto the ledge of the window.

"Hello."

Izzy and his Patamon immediately jumped to attention.

"You are an intruder! Leave the wall, now!"

"Woah." Terriermon raised his paws defensively, "I don't want any trouble. I'm traveling with other digimon and we are trying to find our tamers here. Could you please just open the gates and let us in?"

Izzy looked out of the window to find the group of digimon waiting below. Still wary of the visitor, Izzy answered as calmly, but still as defensively as he could.

"Even if your story is true, we still couldn't let you in because it isn't safe. What we could do is give everyone in the colony a warning about you guys so that anyone with missing partners would claim to know you, but that could take a long time."

"Are you tellin' us to wait, you little brat?" screamed Impmon furiously, "Why the hell can't you just let us in?"

Not taking kindly to being yelled at, Izzy screamed back at Impmon in a matching tone, much to Calumon and Terriermon's amusement.

"Because, you short…purple…bad-attitude-having…thing! We are in a time of crisis! Thanatos and his guys have attacked us too many times. It's even worse now that he keeps sending Leomon to get us!"

The group looked in shock.

"Did he…did he just say Leomon?" asked Renamon in confusion.

"Naw, you must be hearing things, babe," said Impmon confidently, "You and I both know that Leomon's dead. He probably said 'Biyomon'. 'Biyomon' attacked them."

"Does that even make sense?" asked the fox digimon crossly. In all of her years, she had never heard of small, pink, bird digimon being serious threats.

"It doesn't really make sense for it to be Leomon, either." chimed in Guilmon confusedly.

"Did anyone ask you, Dino-wha—?" before Impmon could finish, dark pools began engulfing the digimon, knee-high.

"What is this?" asked Terriermon, "I…I feel so weird."

As soon as Terriermon said this, his body began pulsating as if his data were about to dissipate. A resonant laughter became louder once all of the bodies of the digimon pulsated. Outside of the pools was Leomon, the lion digimon they used to know from years ago.

"Leomon?" shouted Guilmon in confusion, "Why are you still alive? And why are you doing this to us?"

The lion digimon simply indulged himself in a hearty laugh as he took more steps towards the frightened Calumon and Terriermon. He picked up the two digimon in each of his arms and chuckled.

"Well, wouldn't you guys like to know. Fair enough. I have been selected, if you will by the great Thanatos. You see, Thanatos loaned me some of his powers in exchange for me becoming his loyal servant."

Leomon dropped the two digimon and left the pool of darkness that engulfed them. Instead, the muscular creature stepped towards the gates of the colony where the young boy was desperately calling out to nearby gaurds for backup.

"Don't worry, child." cooed Leomon in a mocking tone, "You do not have to worry about me invading this time. I'm just going to let this dark vortex absorb these creatures' data while I retrieve my long lost tamer. Hopefully I reach her in time and persuade her to join Thanatos before she becomes yet another pitiful human trapped in this place. Unlike you pathetic twerps, I want to give my Jeri a choice…something the Digiworld's current god will not allow for you fools."

And with that, Leomon opened another vortex with his strong claws and jumped into it, leaving the remaining digimon in shock.

Renamon twitched her muscles and attempted to call out to her friends but all that she could manage was a soft whimper. The vortex had now sucked them waist down into the abyss. Renamon knew that once her body was completely enveloped by the vortex, then her data would completely dissolve and she would be no more. Tired, she lolled her head to her side lifelessly.

"I can't" she thought, "It's all over for us...goodbye Rika. I hope that you continue to grow up without us."

Hours later, all of the digimon's bodies were consumed by the darkness except for the tips of their snouts. Terriermon's mind had drifted away to happier times with Henry and Suzie until he felt a tight tugging on his ear. Before long, he began hearing Henry's voice.

"No!" thought Terriermon, "I need to stop pretending. We are doomed. I'm just….I'm just never going to see Henry again."

"Terriermon! It's you!" but that sounded louder than before. Could it really be him? Before long, the lop eared monster began directing his ear in the direction of the sound and with the last breath of his muzzle centimeters above the pool of darkness, he shouted to the other digimon.

"Grab onto me, guys! I'm getting us out of here!"

…..

"If you hadn't made that program," started Terriermon, "Then we wouldn't have been removed from that vortex. We would've all been goners!"

The lop-eared digimon grabbed onto Henry's face in a stronger embrace.

"And now I'm never letting you go, Henry!"

The rest of the tamers were still puzzled by the story. Rika trembled once she pieced together the strange tale.

"But, Leomon…..he was resurrected by Thanatos. And that's why Jeri is missing? What are we going to do, now?"

Takato sat listlessly on Henry's couch as Impmon and the other digimon recounted their story. Even Guilmon's soft lick could not snap him out of his daze.

"It makes sense," whispered Takato softly, "She was going to stay in that hospital longer, and now she finds a way out…with Leomon. She's not going to want to come back. This is what she wants and she won't want us to save her….but…..its not safe there…..we have to at least try."

Takato finally snapped out of his hazy state and began dialing numbers on his cell phone.

"What are you doing?" asked Rika

"Calling my parents to meet me here so that I can say goodbye. The digimon came here through that program, and Guilmon and I are going out that way. I wouldn't blame you guys if you didn't want to come with me to rescue her, but Guilmon and I are doing this."

"Oh no you don't" snapped Henry, "My biggest regret is that we didn't get Jeri the help she needed soon enough. I am definitely coming to save her."

The boys turned around to find Rika already dialing her phone and telling her mom to meet them at Henry's.

"Now wait just one minute!" interrupted Mr. Wong, "We almost lost you guys the last time. And with all those kids still trapped in the Tamer Colony, what if you guys get trapped too?"

"With all due respect Dad," said Henry affirmatively, "it's not really up to you. We've been chosen to be Tamers before. Jeri was our responsibility then and she still is now."

Janyu's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Well, I guess your parents and I will have to duke it out with you guys when they arrive here. In the meantime, I think I need to tell you guys something else about Thanatos."

Renamon's hackles bristled in surprise.

"You have also heard of it, Mr. Wong?"

Janyu adjusted his glasses and smiled once the familiar sense of nostalgia wafted into his brain.

"Why, yes. I know quite a bit about Thanatos because along with creating you digimon, my colleagues conceived it during our time at Palo Alto University."