Chapter Three: Misunderstood

"Seriously?"

"Nope."

"But Veemon said…"

"Nope."

"Are you sure you didn't…"

"Nope."

"What about Willis?"

"Who?"

"Diaboramon?"

"Never heard of him."

"The Digi-Egg of Destiny?

Terriermon stopped dead in his tracks as he fixed Agumon with a deadpan stare. "Okay, you just made that up."

"I didn't! I swear! Can you digivolve to Rapidmon?"

"Yep."

"Ha!" Agumon guffawed in triumph. "You do know about the Golden Digi-Eggs!"

Terriermon looked back at Henry who just shrugged in the semi-light of the tunnel. "Look bub, I can get to my ultimate level without the use of the Silver Easter-Egg of Power."

"Digi-Egg of Destiny!"

"Whatever…"

Tai looked helplessly at the younger Tamer. "Are you sure you guys don't know Willis? Davis and Kari came back from America talking about this kid with Terriermon as his partner and some golden Digi-Eggs…I don't know. I was at a soccer tournament."

"Figures…" Henry mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Erm…No. We've never met Willis and we've never been to America."

"Right…so where are you guys from?" Tai asked, skeptically

"We're from Tokyo…" Rika said, finding her voice. "Roundabout Shinjuku."

Tai frowned. "That's odd. Izzy mapped every digivice in the city and you two don't show up."

"Yeah…it's kind of a long story and I don't want to get into it until we can talk to everyone. How much further are you guys in the tunnel?" Henry asked.

Tai stared at him for a moment. "Not far." He finally said. "I'll go on ahead and tell my friends you're coming." Tai quickly got ahead of the Tamers, casting a glance back before rounding the corner.

Rika turned to Henry. "Psst. Who the hell is Willis?"

Henry smirked. "What's the matter, does the Digimon Queen not know her own domain?"

"Shut up!" she hissed, looking around. "I'm the Card Queen, remember? I only ever watched the show when Goggles had it on."

"Right…" Henry said with a smirk. He shot a glance at Renamon and they burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Rika demanded, eyes flashing.

"Only when Takato had it on, huh?" Terriermon giggled. "Sounds like the Queen has a royal crush on a Royal Knight."

"Why you little…I ought to…when I get a hold of you…" A beet red Rika stuttered at the little rabbit, aiming a punch at her head, to the general amusement of her friends.

Izzy breathed a sigh of relief as his laptop came back online. It had taken some doing, but he had managed to access the government satellite system and link up to the internet. He looked up to see a very perturbed Kari yelling at T.K

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE LEFT?!"

"Kari, Joe said you're not supposed to be up and…"

"TO HELL WITH WHAT JOE SAID!! WHERE'S TAI?!"

"He left to go get my brother and Sora. He's only been gone for about fifteen minutes…"

Kari threw the blanket off and pulled her digivice out. "Let's go Gatomon."

T.K grabbed her shoulders. "Kari, Tai told me to look after you!"

"Then come with! I'm not staying here while…TAI!" Kari exclaimed as her brother reappeared at the tunnel entrance. She rushed over to hug/punch him in the face for making her worry when Tai shushed her and waved everyone over.

"Tai! Are you alright? Where's Sora?" Joe asked.

"I didn't get far, but listen!" He looked behind him. 'I ran into two more Digi Destined on the way here…"

"Great! We need all the help we can get!" Ken sighed.

"Maybe. One has a Digimon I've never heard of." He turned to the Digimon. "Do you guys know of anyone named "Renamon?"

The Digimon exchanged confused looks as Izzy typed the name in. "Her name doesn't appear on my scanner."

"Right. You'll never guess who the other one is: Terriermon."

"Willis is here?" Davis said excitedly. "Alright! Now it's a party!"

"No. Terriermon is with some kid named Henry Wong. Ring any bells?" They shared a confused glance before shaking their heads. "He doesn't even know who you guys are."

"Or about the Golden Digi-Egg of Destiny!" Agumon complained. "He said I was making it up!"

"What if those kids killed Willis and brainwashed Terriermon?" Veemon said, fearfully

"What do you think is going on here?" Mimi asked.

'I don't know but as I was walking away, I heard Henry refer to Rika, that's the girl, as the "Digimon Queen."

Ken's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Another Emperor?"

"Maybe she's behind all this!" Cody said

"Maybe she just wanted to come with you so she could lead all her devil minions down here to kill us!" Davis squealed.

"We can't take any chances. We need to knock them out and question them when they wake up." Tai said.

"Tai…" Kari gulped softly.

"What?"

"This girl wouldn't happen my age, kind of a tomboy with flaming red hair, would she?"

"Yeah…"

"And the guy is kinda short with dark hair and a stern look about him,right?"

"Yeah, how did you…" Tai's voice died. He turned around slowly to see Rika and Henry leaning against the walls of the tunnel, deadpan expressions on their faces.

"Devil minions?" Rika asked with a raised brow. "Seriously?"

"I…er…well…you see…get em, Veemon!" Davis yelled, pointing a finger dramatically

"With pleasure! Vee-Headbutt!" Veemon launched himself at Renamon who merely caught his head with one outstretched paw and threw him into the wall.

"Veemon!" T.K yelled.

"Everybody, ATTACK!"

"No, wait!" Henry said, waving his hands "Stop!"

"Super Shocker!" Tentomon cried, spraying lightning at Terriermon.

"Terrier Tornado!" Terriermon spun around rapidly, launching a small green tornado that collided with Tentomon, sending him crashing into Palmon whose vines got tangled up in Gomamon. The three rolled away in a tight ball and collided with Veemon who was trying to get up.

"Okay, you asked for it! Give it to them Renamon!" Rika commanded.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon leaped over the wounded Rookies and slammed right into Renamon's chest. Renamon slid back, lowering a paw to the ground to steady herself.

"Nice moves, kitty-cat." Rika commented, drawing a card from her pouch with a smile. "But I think I can do one better."

Tai watched as Rika slid a card through her D-Arc. "Digi-Modify!"

"What's she doing, Izzy?" Joe asked as Izzy ran the specs on Renamon.

"I…I don't know. Somehow that card is rearranging Renamon's coding. She's gaining an extra attack!"

"Hey!" Gatomon said, glaring at Renamon. "What are you doing?"

Renamon chuckled darkly. "Hasn't anyone ever told you about curiosity and how it killed the cat?" Renamon raised her hand as it started to glow red. "Crimson Lightning!"

T.K laughed darkly. "Crimson Lightning? Who do you think you are, Myotismon? You can't just call out random attacks and expect them to-"

"YEOW!"

A burst of red light struck Gatomon and sent her reeling past T.K and into the clump of Rookies as they were untangling themselves. Rika smiled as the three Rookies and one Champion went down in a meowing, yelping, squealing heap….

"She used Myotisomon's attack!" Mimi gasped, aghast.

"She is one of the bad guys!" Cody cried.

"What?!" Rika exclaimed. "No, no you don't understand!"

"Rika!" Henry cried. "Why did you use the Myotismon card?"

"It was a good attack…it put her down, didn't it?"

"Myotismon was one of the bad guys in the show! They think you're on his side now!"

"WHAT PART OF "I DON"T WATCH THE SHOW" IS CONFUSING TO YOU?!" Rika moaned in despair.

"What show?" Kari asked T.K

"She's nuts. Alright, everyone, attack!" T.K cried

"No, wait!" Henry waved his hands. "Let's talk this over!"

"Diamond Storm!" Shards of crystal rained down, swatting the Rookies down with relative ease.

"Pitiful…" Renamon said with contempt. "Is there no one worthy to challenge us?"

"Try me on for size!"

Renamon turned around to catch a face full of plasma. Flipping back and landing lightly on her feet, she looked back to see a tall, powerful looking blue lizard covered in shining gold armor staring her down from across the tunnel.

Renamon stood, cracking her neck as she did. "And who might you be?"

"As if you don't know. I'm Mangamon, Golden Armor form of Veemon." Magnamon said with a flourish of energy

"SEE!" Agumon called to Terriermon. "I TOLD YOU I WASN'T MAKING IT UP!!"

"You're not the only one with tricks up your sleeve!" Davis crowed, waving his D-Terminal gleefully.

"You came out of that little runt, Veemon?" Renamon asked with a raised brow and a smirk. "Hmm…that's more like it."

"Magna Blast!" Renamon dodged the glowing bolts with ease and landed back on her feet. She dashed at Magnamon, throwing punches and kicks. Magnamon expertly parried and counterattacked, igniting the air and illuminating the cave.

"Not so cocky now, are you foxy?" Magnamon huffed, deflecting Renamon's Diamond Storm

"Foxy?" Renamon asked, ducking a Magna Kick. "Are you trying to insult me or hit on me? Either way, you're not that good"

"I…Erm…" Renamon smirked as Rika swiped another card. Feeling a sudden surge of power, she kicked the dragon's legs out and with one move pinned Mangamon against the wall.

"Shame, really…" Renamon mused, running a claw over Magnamon's armor, ripping off his helmet and exposing his throat and astonished face. "That I have to send you back to data, but c'est la vie." Renamon raised a paw to strike.

"Enough, Renamon." Rika called.

Renamon smirked, handing Magnamon his helmet back. "Lucky you." She remarked before returning to Rika's side, tail swishing.

"I think you'd better explain yourselves." Kari said, arms crossed. "You totally trashed our Digimon!"

"Hey, you brought it on, Sugar Queen! (AN Brownie Points if you can guess the Reference!)" Rika growled. "Don't want trouble? Don't start trouble…"

"And what's with the Crimson Lightning?" Joe demanded. "How did you guys use Myotismon's attacks?"

"I think we're all getting at the big question here: who are you guys, exactly? You knew about the Mephistomon and you knew how to take them down." Tai mentioned

"And Renamon isn't a Digimon found in our Digiworld." Gatomon mumbled, rubbing her head."

"AND I just got off IM with Willis. Terriermon is just fine back in Colorado." Izzy pointed out.

"Give us one good reason we should trust you!" Yolei demanded.

"Because…" Rika muttered. "We know who's behind this and we know how to stop them."

The Digidestined stared at Rika in shock. "Just…who are you guys and what are you doing here?" Tai finally asked

Rika and Henry exchanged a look.

"Get comfy." Rika said, sitting down beside the fire. "It's a long story and most of it, you won't believe…"