Chapter Six: Rage and Love/Lust

(LONG CHAPTER AHEAD!!)

Mimi stuck a mirror around the wall, swiveling it up and down to check the streets for any sign of life. Once she was sure the coast was clear she nodded at the Digimon at her side. Gargomon commando rolled out into the street, crouching low and sweeping the street with his arm cannons. His sharp, keen eyes gave the abandoned street a once over before nodding to the group behind him.

"All clear."

He was followed by Henry and an evolved Kyubiimon, flicking her long, flaming tails lazily as Rika rode between her shoulders. Greymon squeezed out of the alleyway with Tai standing on his nose hanging on to his horn. Lilymon fluttered out of the alleyway followed by Mimi and Izzy riding on MegaKabuterimon's back. Joe and Cody were riding Ankylomon while Zudamon lumbered behind them. Davis (to Renamon's displeasure) chose Rapidmon alongside Yolei, Ken and Wormmon with Halsemon. TK and Kari were astride Pegasusmon and Nefertimon on top of the roofs, providing aerial cover if need be. Ryo and Cyberdramon covered their rear, walking backwards to cover their tracks. They moved slowly, eyes darting after every shadow. Once or twice, Gargomon would drop and fire a stream of bullets down an alleyway or at a window or (in one case) at a very unlucky chipmunk, accomplishing nothing except for scaring the hell out of everyone.

"A little louder, Bunny Boy!" Rika yelled sarcastically, holding her ears. "I don't think Lucemon heard it that time!"

"Remind me again why we don't all just go Mega?" Tai called down to Rika. "No one would dare to attack us if we flaunted WarGreymon."

"No one except the Demon Lords, you mean." Rika responded. "If we go Mega too quickly, they'll notice and all come screaming after us. Besides, we want to wait to see if we can hook up with your friend, Matt, before we tip our hand and let them know who's coming."

"What is this stuff, anyway?", Joe asked Henry who chose to walk in the middle of he pack, away from his trigger happy partner. "I take it that it isn't fog…"

"It's biological matter." Henry responded. "That's why it's so warm; it's body temperature. This mist cloud is made up of all kinds of stuff that allows us to exist in the human world. Proteins, carbohydrates, fats, blood cells; notice how it has a faint, metallic taste? That's from all the blood in the air."

"So we're breathing a cloud of blood?!" Yolei said horrified. "Where did it all come from?"

Rika looked back at her. "Digimon can pull some of it from decomposing organic materials, like roadkill and dead foliage."

"But judging by a mist this thick," Henry said, looking around. "I'd say that the Mephistomon were sent first to collect some matter donations from the good people of Odaiba so the Demon Lords could come through."

Everybody looked around in horror as they realized that they could be breathing in friends, neighbors or even family members.

"Can't we do anything?" Mimi asked, gripping the back of Izzy's jacket a little tighter. "Do we have to just let this mist hang here?"

"Nothing we can do." Rika said softly. "Until we defeat the Mephistomon."

"Speaking of which, where are the little buggers?" Davis asked, looking around. " One minute they were all over Tai like ugly on an Ogremon and then they just vanished! Talk about hit and run…"

"Well there are a couple reasons that could be," Ryo responded. "Either they're scared of us (which is wildly unlikely) they know they can't win in a fight with all of us (which wouldn't matter cause they're the cockiest punks in the Digiworld), they're watching us, or…"

"Or?" Izzy asked

"Or they know where we are and sent a Demon Lord after us." Ryo said gravely, looking around. "But I wouldn't worry about that; we'd know if they were here by now."

"Really?" Tai looked back. Ever since Ryo had dropped the Sora bombshell, he had been itching for a crack at a Demon Lord. "Which one? Do you think it might be Lilithmon? Maybe we should digivolve; WarGreymon stands the best chance against her…"

"Jeez Louise, Gogglebrain, try not to sound so excited." Rika muttered, dryly. "Demon Lords are a bad thing, remember?"

"Oh…yeah…I just thought…" Tai mumbled, awkwardly

"They wouldn't send Lilithmon." Henry said. "She's powerful, but she's not really a doer."

"She grabbed Sora alright." Davis said.

"Yeah, but she let Leviamon wear us down a bit before making her move." Ryo said. "And it wouldn't be Barbamon, either. He's more of a mastermind. No, if someone was going after us it would be someone like Belphamon or Daemon."

"But Belphamon sits on his fuzzy butt all day and sleeps." Rika mentioned. "So that only leaves Daemon because he gets his sick jollies thrashing other Digimon."

"Sounds like someone I used to know…" Henry said with a smile, looking at Rika who just blushed and looked away

"We dealt with Daemon before, right Tai?" Mimi said.

"Don't remind me…" Tai mumbled, remembering what had to be one of the worst Christmases in his entire life. Watching the girl of your dreams going with someone else and having to zip around the world trying to stop the Daemon Corps doesn't exactly scream Merry Christmas.

"You dealt with a watered down Daemon." Ryo coolly dismissed. "He was only at a fifth of his power in his Fallen Angel form. We're talking about a big, hairy, snarling killing machine, here."

"Oh…hey!" T.K exclaimed. "How'd you know that?"

Rika and Henry shot a death glare at Ryo who sheepishly pretended not to hear T.K's question.

Suddenly Kyubiimon stopped beside Gargomon. Up ahead, the mist was so dense they could barely see their own hands in front of their faces. An impassible wall of dark fog blocked their path.

Tai looked up. "Kari, Nefertimon, can you see anything?"

Kari squinted through the darkness. "Nothing!"

'The mist…" Kyubiimon muttered darkly. "It burns…"

All of a sudden, the mist started to condense, swirling around and around until it formed a tight ball of swirling darkness, sucking in the mist like a black hole. Suddenly, Rika's D-Arc went off, wildly flashing lights. Glancing down at the screen, her eyes widened in fear. She turned around in her perch on Kyubiimon, leaping off and running back. "Get ready! Ultimates up front! Champions you'll support. I want Lilymon, MegaKabuterimon, Halsemon, Nefertimon and Pegasusmon in the skies, right now!" Rika barked like an army chief, donning a pair of purple tinted sunglasses and pulling a hand of cards out, shuffling through her pack until she found the ones she was looking for. Around her, the Tamers were doing the same thing. "Ken and Davis need to DNA Digivolve ASAP, Ankylomon and Zudamon need to set up a base down the street where we can run our gambits and sleights." Rika stared at them as they froze like deer in the headlights. "Well don't just stand there looking like Etamon at a spelling bee, MOVE IT!!"

"Why?" T.K called, looking down. "What's happening?"

"IT'S DAEMON!!" Henry cried as all of a sudden the mist exploded.

"Hello?"

…

"Can you hear me?"

"Hellooooo?"

"Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead!"

"Takato, she's not waking up!"

"Please?"

Sora groaned as consciousness hit her like a speeding bus. She felt fuzzy, disoriented and weak; not to mention the throbbing pain in her head. She reluctantly opened her eyes to come face to face with a yellow eyed, red skinned monster.

"Hi!" the Demon from Hell said, cheerfully.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" Sora lashed out, striking the devil in the nose. The demon fell back, clutching its face and howling with rage…or pain?

Upon further inspection, she saw that the "Demon" was actually a small red dinosaur with strange black tattoos on his back and a white underbelly. He sat back, yellow eyes brimming with tears of pain as he rubbed his snout. "Takato, she hit me!" he whined childishly, looking over in the corner where his partner was sitting. Takato laughed, kneeling down next to the beast and rubbing his nose.

"Well you're not exactly the first thing everyone expects to see when they wake up Guilmon." Takato turned back to Sora. "Are you alright? Sorry he scared you; he just has a tendency to fuss over people when they're sleeping."

Sora shook her head, trying to shake the fuzzy feeling in her mind. She groggily looked around the room they were trapped in. A few dead monitors lined the wall and piles of video tapes and recording equipment littered the floor.

"Where are we?" Sora felt around blindly. "Where's Biyomon?"

Takato frowned slightly, indicating his jacket which had been converted into a bed for a sleeping Yokomon.

"I didn't want to wake her; she passed out as soon as you did." Takato mumbled softly.

Sora gently stroked her sleeping Digimon's forehead and then looked back at Takato with teary eyes. "Thank you." She turned to Guilmon. "Both of you."

"You're welcome but next time you say thank you don't hit me in the nose first!"

Sora gave a watery chuckle. "You're a cutie, you know that?" she said, gently rubbing Guilmon's head. He smiled, purring in delight. "You remind me a lot of Agumon…" she said sadly.

Takato's head shot up. "You know a Tamer with an Agumon?" he asked excitedly.

Sora cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah…"

"Oh, man that's cool! I've never even seen an Agumon, well except on the show and even then it was cool because Agumon was totally the inspiration for Guilmon, well him and Flamedramon and Meramon, but still that is so awesome with the Greymon and the MetalGreymon, unless he digivolves into RizeGreymon, does he?"

"Erm…I…" Sora blinked a few times in response

"But that still doesn't mater cause they're both SOOO COOL!! Aww, man Kazu and Kenta aren't going to believe this…" Takato looked up to see Sora staring at him like he had just turned purple.

"Umm…so I never got your name!" Takato said, trying to get away from his open display of geekiness.

"Oh, yeah, I'm Sora. Sora Takenouchi."

Takato suddenly froze and stared at her for the longest time, occasionally glancing at Yokomon and then back at her. "You're Sora…"

"Yes…" Sora said.

"Sora Takenouchi?"

"Yeah…"

"…Sora."

"Yeah!"

"From Odaiba?"

"YES!"

"With a Biyomon?"

"DUH!"

"Who knows a guy…with an Agumon as a partner?"

"Where are you going with this?" Sora asked annoyed

"Um…can I see you Digivice?"

She wordlessly passed it over, rolling her eyes. He looked at the digivice, then at a card he produced from his pocket, then back at the digivice then at Sora then at Yokomon then at the card then at the digivice then at Yokomon and then at Sora.

"You're…Sora." He said in an awed tone.

"Look is that a problem?" Sora asked, frowning and putting her hands on her hips.

"Ooh! There it is!" Takato said, jumping gleefully. "The frowny face! I remember that one! Classic! But if you're here that must mean…" he stared vacantly ahead for a moment then burst out grinning. "I'm here too…then we're here…"

"Wow, you're smart." She said, sarcastically.

"But that means that Tamer with an Agumon is…" he touched his goggles subconsciously and then let out a wild cheer. "Oh, Kazu is definitely not going to believe this…"

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way but you are the weirdest little kid I have ever met!" Sora sighed, throwing her arms up in disgust.

Takato raised a hand and covered his mouth. "Ooh! I should probably keep my mouth shut about this…"

"About what?" Sora demanded. "And how do you know who I am?"

"Uhh…I don't?" he said hopefully.

Sora just sighed. "Whatever…" she said, sitting down beside Yokomon. Suddenly a thought struck her. "Hey!" she cried looking at Guilmon. "You're the Rookie version of that big metal Digimon that polished off Leviamon, right?"

"You mean WarGrowlmon?" Guilmon asked, thoughtfully tapping his chin.

"Yeah! So why don't you get all big and bad and break us out of here?" Sora looked at Takato hopefully.

Takato sighed. "I wish I could. They took my D-Arc when they threw us in here."

Sora looked down at her Digivice sadly. "Then…why didn't they take mine?"

"Because our organization has no use for junk like that…"

Sora whipped around to see Lilithmon perched atop a broken TV camera, examining her Nazar Nail lazily. She looked up as if she just noticed them and flourished her claw in mock salute.

"How…how long have you been here?" Takato asked. Guilmon was now growling in low, dangerous tones.

"Long enough, fanboy." She giggled softly as Takato turned beet red. "My Evil God, you must feel like a Trekkie on board the Enterprise right now…"

"What did you mean, "junk like this?" Sora asked, flourishing her broken digivice.

"Well a digivice that doesn't work is hardly worth taking from you." Lilithmon rolled her eyes. "We figured it had sentimental value so we let you keep it."

"So it is broken…what if it starts working again?" Sora asked, feeling braver. "Then you guys are screwed!"

Lilithmon threw her head back and the room echoed with her high, girlish laughter. "Hee hee…get it working again…ha ha…as if you could fix it…HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" she wiped a tear away from her eye as her laughter subsided. "Whew! That was a good one."

"What's so funny?" Sora asked, feeling fear creep into her stomach. "Why are you laughing at me?"

Lilithmon looked at Sora with patronizing eyes. "Sweetie, it's not the digivice that's broken; it's you."

Sora's eyes widened in confusion. "What do you mean? Why am I broken?"

Lilithmon rolled her eyes again. Before Sora could blink, Lilithmon was right in front of her, Nazar Nail hovering inches above her heart. "Your Crest has gone dead." She said, lightly running the claw over her chest, smirking at Sora's revolted reaction.

"My…crest. I gave that up to free Azulongmon."

Sora screamed as Lilithmon grabbed her hair and slammed her face into the wall. Her claw was at her throat, slowly squeezing the air out of her.

"SORA!" Takato cried, scrambling up and rushing at Lilithmon. She reached her other hand out and caught the boy and brought him up beside Sora. Then she leaned in close to them. "Never…speak…that…name…again…" she hissed, with each word tightening her grip on their throats. Just as Sora was about to pass out, she was thrown on the ground beside Takato, coughing and gasping for breath.

"And for your information you stupid, stupid little girl, your crest has, and always will be a part of you, til death do you part!" Sora flinched at that last statement. Lilithmon raised an eyebrow. "What? What was that about?"

"Nothing…" Sora lied, looking down.

Lilithmon looked at her for a moment before flashing an evil grin. "Oh…you didn't." Sora said nothing as Lilithmon cackled, clapping her hand against her claw. "Oh my Evil God…you thought he was going to ask you to marry him, didn't you?" Sora shook her head as a few rebellious tears escaped her shut eyes. "Mrs. Sora Ishida…that's a good one…" Lilithmon mocked. "What, you thought you could tame the rolling stone? You thought he'd give up the fame, fortune and available groupie tail to be your precious hubby?"

"Please…stop…" Sora sobbed.

"Let me guess…spring wedding…"

"Stop it…"

"Pink and gold bridesmaid's dresses…"

"Stop…"

"Small ceremony behind Primary Village? That sound about right?"

"SHUT UP!!" Sora screamed covering her ears.

"Oh honey!" Lilithmon called in an eerily perfect rendition of Matt's voice. "I'm home!" She fluttered her eyelashes, spinning her skirts around. "Oh, hi snookums!" she was Sora now. "How was your day?"

"Well we laid down the studio bass tracks and they're sounding just swell!" Matt said

"Oh that's just wonderful pookie-bear!" Sora sang sweetly while Sora sobbed behind her.

"Leave her alone, Lilithmon…" Takato growled.

"How're the kids doing?" Matt was back as Lilithmon slid across the floor in a rolling chair and stopped right in front of Sora.

"Just peachy!" Mrs. Ishida said in her sing song Sora voice "I Looooooooooooooove you, honey bear!"

"And I love you…NOT!" Matt said before Lilithmon burst out giggling. Then the strangest thing happened. As Sora cried her heart out on the floor, a dark mist began collecting around her. Lilithmon waved a claw through the mist, breathing it in, reveling in the taste of it. She reached out a claw to touch the girl's forehead…

"I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE!" Takato was on his feet, fists clenched, eyes brimming with anger.

"Hark! The Gogglehead speaks! Pay heed!" Lilithmon glided over, knocking Takato to the ground and hovering an inch above his face. "Who are you to give advice on love, Goggle Boy?" she fished a sock out of nowhere and stuck it on her hand in a crude puppet. Her eyes got big and fake tears welled up in the. "Oh…Takato…" she sobbed. Takato's throat closed up at the sound of the voice. "How…how could you? You did that to Guilmon…I can't even look at you anymore!" Lilithmon gave a few fake sobs as tears slid soundlessly from Takato's eyes. She grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. "If she couldn't even look at you long enough to speak to you," Lilithmon's eyes turned purple and her voice changed again. "What makes you think I would?"

She pulled Takato and Sora on either side of her. "When are you humans going to learn…Love," she hissed in Sora's ear. "Is the worst joke in the world. It only gets in the way what we all really want" The Lady of Lust squeezed both of their backsides playfully, feeling them squirm in disgust before strolling away, humming to herself.

Takato pulled himself up, wiping his eyes as Sora's sobs had subsided to sniffles and involuntary gasps. "She's right…" Sora whispered.

"NO!" Takato grabbed her by the shoulders and met her tearstained eyes with his. "Don't you listen to a word she says. She's a liar and a fiend. She's a loveless beast from the darkest corner of Hell and mother of everything evil. Don't you listen to her!"

"But…"Sora's eyes were beset by another wave of tears. "I-I did want a spring wedding…with the bridesmaid dresses behind Primary village and everything…" she broke down again. "I r-really thought h-he was going to ask me to…to spend the rest of his life with him…he said he had good news but…it was just to say it was part of his stupid band…" Sora sighed, sniffling and hiccupping. "All I got was a letter…"

Takato looked at her, confused. "Matt broke up with you?"

Sora looked up again. "How…did you know his name was Matt?"

"Err…Lilithmon mentioned it in her little tirade there." Takato said nervously.

"Well…yeah." Sora sighed. "It was always the band first…two birthdays, three anniversaries and one lousy Christmas…it's always been the band first…" Sora sniffled. "No one's coming for us, are they?"

"Don't think like that!" Takato said softly. "There's got to be someone out there who cares about you!"

"Like who?" Sora asked.

"Well…" Takato chose his words carefully. "What about your friend with the Agumon?"

"Tai?" Sora seemed to consider this for a second before smiling at Takato. "You know, when you pulled me up from that chasm, it reminded me of a time when Tai got me out of a pretty bad spot…"

"The Prisoner in the Pyramid…" Takato mumbled.

"What's that?"

"See? He's come through for you in the past! I'm sure he's on his way right now!"

"Now that I think about it…" Sora said thoughtfully. "Tai's always been there for me. I mean…nah."

"What?"

"It's stupid…" Sora said, shaking her head

"Tell me." Takato said easily, stroking Guilmon's sleeping head.

"Well…" Sora sighed. "There was this one time when we were kids, maybe six or seven at the time…Tai invited me over to play soccer with him and his friends. And I was so excited…but when I got there, they wouldn't let me play because I was a girl; never mind the fact I could have hammered them into the ground. And…I'll never forget this…Tai walks up and says "If you won't let her play, I quit!" and they were falling all over themselves because Tai was their ringer and everything so they start apologizing and begging us to play but by that time Tai just took my hand and we went off to play a little one on one." Sora smiled, wiping her eyes. "You know what, Takato? I think you're right. Our friends won't let us rot here!"

"Atta girl!" Takato said. "I bet they're cruising up here as we speak!" He smiled. "There's no need to panic…"

"PANIC!! EVERYONE START PANICKING!!"

A gust of fire sailed past Tai's head as he got his first look at a Demon Lord. Daemon was larger than he remembered (that much was clear). He stood taller than a three story building, snarling fangs dripping saliva, massive, hairy purple arms conjured up another fireball.

"CHAOS FLARE!" The demon bellowed, shooting another arc of fire over Greymon's head, destroying a building as he did. A piece of rubble tumbled down and came hurtling towards, Nefertimon.

"KARI!!" T.K cried.

"DIGI-MODIFY!" Henry cried, swiping a card. "WARGREYMON'S BRAVE SHIELD ACTIVATE!!"

Gargomon dove in front of Kari, golden shield materializing and catching the rock as it shattered. Gargomon looked back. "All right?"

"Peachy." Nefertimon replied dryly. "Rosetta Stone!" the attack collided with Daemon who howled in rage.

"RAAAGH!!" Daemon said

"Not much for the conversation, is he?" Davis remarked.

"Nah, he prefers to kill first and not bother asking questions later." Ryo responded. "Wormmon, digiolve!"

"You got it! Wormmon digivolve to…"

"Wait!" Ryo held up a hand and stopped his digivolution. "Digi-Modify! Armor Duplication Activate! Digi-Egg of Courage!"

"Wha?" Davis asked as his D-Terminal began to glow. Without warning, a Digi-Egg of Courage spat itself out and skidded to a stop in front of Ken.

"Use it!" Ryo cried, already using another Power card.

"But…that's not my crest…" Ken said.

"It doesn't matter!" Ryo called. "We need Shadramon!"

Ken and Wormmon shared a confused look. "Ryo's never steered us wrong before…" Wormmon said. "Let's do it!"

Ken held the foreign Digi-Egg up and everyone who wasn't actively engaging Daemon watched to see what happened. "DIGIARMOR ENERGIZE!"

At first, nothing happened and for one horrible moment, Ryo thought he might have been wrong. But then Wormmon started to glow and that beam of light grew and shifted.

"Wormmon digivolve to…" The light burst and a large, red moth man hovered in his place. His exoskeleton was decorated with flames and his arms were capped with claws much like Flamedramon. He flexed his new arms and legs experimentally before jumping into the air. "Shadramon!"

"Unbelievable!" Izzy cried. "He used Davis' Digi-Egg!"

"Shadramon…" Ken breathed in awe

Shadramon looked down at Ken. "I'll take it from here." He said, soaring off. Daemon chuckled.

"LITTLE…BUG…CAN NOT STOP DAEMON!!" Daemon roared.

"Well, would you look at that!" Shadramon crowed. "It talks!"

"Maybe it can sing and dance, too." Halsemon remarked.

"RRRRRAAAAAGH!!"

Shadramon twitched an antenna. "Ragh? That's it?" he crossed his limbs and shook his head. "Sad, my friend."

"ME…SQUASH…BUG!!" Daemon blindly swiped a claw which simply tore through the building Shadramon stood on.

"Psychic Wave!" Shadramon flapped his wings rapidly and a pulsing, hypnotic wave hit Daemon in the eyes.

"GAARRRGH!!" Daemon screamed. "WHERE BUG GO??"

"Right here!" Shadramon said, flitting in front of his face

"Gargh!" Daemon swiped blindly

"Oops, missed."

"Rargh!"

"Missed again!"

"Geaow!!"

"Are you naturally this bad at fighting or do you take lessons?"

"ME KILL BUG!!"

"Shadramon! What are you doing?" Rika cried. "You're making him…" she trailed off as she caught sight of the power plant Shadramon was being forced back into. "SHADRAMON!!" Rika screamed. "Keep taunting him!"

Shardamon looked back and nodded in realization. "So, Daemon, are you normally this hideous or did you doll yourself up just for little old me?" Daemon bellowed in rage, spewing fire as he did.

"You're perpetuating a stereotype, you know that?" Shadramon sighed, dancing towards the power generators. "Horns? Wings? Breath of fire? That's exactly what they expect you'll do. You're a discredit to demons everywhere!"

"BUG WILL SHUT UP!!" Daemon howled, crawling forward, feeling the ground and trying to find Shadramon who had taken his position above the generator.

"Getting warmer…warmer…warmer…Hot! Red hot!"

Daemon grinned. "FOUND YOU." He raised a claw back and with all his strength drove his claw forward as Shadramon darted sideways.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHH!" Demon howled in agony as ten million volts suddenly coursed through his body. He screamed in anguish, trying to pry his hand out of the twisted metal power source but the metal had dug into his hand and he was stuck.

All over the city, lights went out as Daemon breathed his last and disappeared into a cloud of data.

Ryo quickly slid a blank card in the D-Tainor as the data coursed through the air and consolidated in the device. There was the usual burst of light and Daemon's twisted visage was permanently fixed, staring helplessly up with frozen limbs, petrified wings and ink eyes, flashing with anger.

"So what did Lilithmon say to you?"

Takato looked away from Sora, staring blankly at the wall. She reached out and put a hand on his arm. "It's okay, Takato." She reassured him. "You don't have to-"

"There was this girl." Takato said suddenly. "And for the longest time I had this thing for her…but then…" he took a deep, shuddering breath. "There was this Digimon in the Digiworld and…he destroyed her partner so I…tried to get Guilmon to digivolve to mega…" he looked sadly at the sleeping Digimon. "It went wrong. And after that, Jeri, that was the girl…she looked at me like I was some kind of…monster." Takato said softly. "I really liked her and she couldn't even look at me."

Sora squeezed his hand. "Her loss." She said softly.

"Then…well…never mind."

"What?"

"It's stupid…"

"Tell me." She said firmly.

Takato took a deep breath. "Well another friend of mine…her name's Rika…she kinda helped me get my mind off Jeri. I mean Rika is like totally the opposite of Jeri, too…so it was really surprising to me when…well I…you see…"

"You started to have feeling for Rika." Sora surmised.

"Yeah…but it doesn't matter." Takato said, looking down. "I'm just her friend and that's all I'll ever be. Just a "stupid Gogglehead. I guess I should be happy with that…"

"Takato…"

He turned to Sora. "Sometimes just being friends is worse than not speaking to each other at all. To be this close," he indicated with his thumb and forefinger. "And not touch. It's awful; like Tantalus."

"Huh?" Sora asked.

"I just remember this Greek myth about this guys named Tantalus. He offended the gods so he was put in a pool of water that he couldn't drink and under a tree full of delicious fruit he could never eat. It's worse than being put in a room with no food or water because no matter how hard you try to forget the fruit is there you can't help reaching for it."

Sora smiled. "You're a sweet kid, Takato." He blushed. "Rika would be an idiot not to see that…"

"Who are you to tell him that?"

Sora looked up again to see Lilithmon again accompanied by an old looking man in wizard's garb with a staff. He stroked his beard thoughtfully as he looked the two over.

"Hello, Pot?" Lilithmon mimed a phone "This is Kettle calling. You're black."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

Lilithmon rolled her eyes for the thousandth time that day. "As if you don't know "Cookie Girl"

Sora shook her head. "You are one crazy bitch, you know that?"

"Well sticks and stones…" She trailed off before turning to her partner. 'Which one, Barbamon?"

Barbamon stroked his chin thoughtfully. "The girl."

"Right, then, love." Lilithmon said, moving towards them. "You're coming with me!"

"No!" Takato cried but it was too late. Lilithmon slammed Takato into the wall as Barbamon dragged Sora and Yokomon out, kicking and screaming Guilmon charged Lilithmon but the Demon Lady merely chained him to the floor with a flick of the wrist.

"Bring her back!" Takato screamed. "Let her go!"

"Why?" Lilithmon pouted. "Are you lonely already? But I brought another friend for you to play with…"

She threw Takato down and the Goggleheaded Tamer found himself staring at pair of feet. Eyes traveling up, he found himself staring at a strong, shapely pair of legs, crossed at the knee and attached to a firm butt that was seated on a bed that had somehow appeared out of nowhere. His eyes glided up over her creamy pink skin (he blushed scarlet as he realized the girl was clad in only a purple bra and matching panties), ruby red lips until meeting her lavender eyes. She ran her hands through her tousled, crimson locks as she smiled seductively, leaning back on the bed

"R-Rika?" he gasped as he felt her arms pull him up to her level and softly kiss his neck.

"Hello, Goggleboy." She smiled against his skin.

"What's going on here?" he asked as she continued to kiss his skin. "H-h-how d-d-did you get here? W-w-what are you doing?" He wanted to get up and tear after Sora and Barbamon but…his head felt fuzzy and a strange heat made him feel very…contented.

"What do you think?" Rika whispered, flipping him onto his back and pulling his shirt off over his head. "Is there a problem with that?"

Yes, there's a problem with that!! Takato's rational mind was screaming. Since when was Rika so…touchy feely?

WHO CARES!! Takato's irrational mind chipped in. It's RIKA in bikini on a bed! Let's not look this gift horse in the mouth!

But Lilithmon is a Succubus!

A wha?

You know; a demon of Lust! She's tricking you into lounging around with this…thing while she kills the real Rika! And what about Sora?

Dude, neither the real Rika nor the real Sora is half naked and biting my ear right now.

ARGH!! You're so one-dimensional!! Lilithmon's playing on our fantasies to corrupt us! She's trying to turn you evil!

If this is Hell then sign me up!

"Is there a problem, Goggles?" "Rika" repeated, running a hand through his hair.

What Takato wanted to say was this.

"YES!! YES THERE IS A PROBLEM!! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?! WHEN DID YOU START GETTING ALL…AFFECTIONATE?! GET OFF ME!! I NEED TO SAVE MY FRIENDS!!"

What he actually said was something like this.

"Nargh…" Takato said, dreamily.

"I'll give you some privacy. Have fun, you two!" Lilithmon started walking away. "Oh, Rika?"

"Rika" stopped kissing Takato's stomach and turned around. "Yes,mistress?"

"I need his essence when you're done with him. He may not have a crest like the others, but he does have a strong spirit. Strong…but still only human."

"Wha's that about the essence thing?" Takato mumbled.

"Rika leaned down and pressed her lips against his, holding it for a few seconds before drawing back. "Nothing, Gogglemon." She whispered

"Oh…m'kay."

Lilithmon locked the door, chuckling to herself. "Have fun, Takato…while you still can…"

"Devimon!"

"Please…IceDevimon."

"Etamon! Regular and Metal!"

"Try dealing with evil Digimon popping up every time you take a walk."

"Myotismon! He was fierce!"

"Ever heard of the Devas? Twelve ultimate Digimon hell bent on destroying the human race. Top that!"

"Digimon Emperor! No offense, Ken…"

"Yamaki and Hypnos. Tried to destroy every Digimon in our world!"

"Dark Masters! You wouldn't have lasted three seconds against Piedmon!"

"We pissed off a Digimon Sovereign!!"

TK took a step back. "Really?"

Henry nodded. "AND an evil program that deleted everything in sight!"

"Wow…"

Rika rolled her eyes as T.K and Henry's discussion of who had to face tougher villains had turned into an all out word brawl as the team walked on in relative silence. She and Tai headed the pack while the others followed at their own pace. She turned to him to see him staring across the bay at the Fuji building. "How many Demon Lords left?" he asked.

"Four." Rika stated.

Tai took a deep breath. "Are they all as bad as Daemon?"

Rika shook her head. "No, Tai. Daemon was nothing. The other four are worse. They're much, much worse."

AN: WHEW! Long, violent, angsty and kinda naughty towards the end. If there's any confusion, Rika (the real one) is with Tai and the others. Sora's with Barbamon and Takato's in heaven :) BUT FOR HOW LONG?! Next time; Matt returns, Tai yells at him, Barbamon messes with Sora's head, Takato begins to suspect something and the Demon of Sloth awakens…