Hi! It's me again! Yay! I'm back with another chapter! I'm sure you noticed that the tamers have been put into a nightmare inducing sleep, making them live their worst…er…nightmares… Anyway, since it would take one whole chapter to describe each Tamers fears, I'm only gonna show you a few; I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Except Kazu, his greatest fear is Rika Ok, I don't have much else to say except thanks to all the people who are still reading this after that really long wait…ehehe… Thanks for the reviews guys! You rock!

Ok, on with the show! PS – The Digimon are all having the same nightmare…or at least, similar since they each have their own partner. PPS – the girl who plays Rika's voice (Mellisa Fahn) also plays Gaz from Invader Zim…Gaz and Gir are cool

Chapter 22

The absence of fear

Ryo sat up weakly and rubbed his aching head. He looked around and, to his utter confusion, found him self it total darkness.

"What the…Where am I?" Getting to his feet, he found that, where ever he was, it was cold…very cold.

"Oh-kay…something tells me I'm not in Digi-Kansas anymore." He looked around for some sign of the others, of Rika, but found only darkness. And then, as if some one far away had flipped a switch, a tiny light blinked into life. Ryo watched curiously as more little lights followed until he realized he was looking at a city or, more precisely, Tokyo city. Deciding that he much preferred the lights of the city to the darkness around him Ryo hurriedly made his way towards Tokyo. He walked for what felt like ages until he finally reached the outskirts of town. He walked deeper into the city, feeling a massive sense of relief wash over him when he saw the first few pedestrians. The city was bustling with life and Ryo smiled.

"Just like before we left," he said to himself. "I wonder where the others are." He walked deep into the city until he reached Shinjuku and the park in its centre. Surely the Tamers would be waiting for him at Guilmon's old hideout. That was, after all, where they always met if they got separated in battle. He stepped into the park and froze when a high, terrified scream rang through the night air. His blood ran cold at the sound and he felt shiver after shiver run down his spine when the scream was followed by terrified cries for help and more screaming. Ryo ran desperately through the park, following the screams and cries. It was chaos. The entire city seemed to be crying for help.

And then he saw it.

As Ryo burst out of the park his eyes widened in shock at the sight of Cyberdramon, his partner and friend, wildly attacking anything that moved. The Digimon had gone insane and was tearing down every part of the city he could reach and if he couldn't reach it, he would simply blow it up with his Desolation Claw attack.

Feeling his heart hammering in his chest Ryo stepped forward and took out his dark blue D-Ark.

"Cyberdramon!" He yelled. The Digimon turned to its master and snarled furiously.

"Cyberdramon! Stop this at once!" Ryo called angrily. Cyberdramon simply roared and turned away from Ryo, tearing his claws through the side of a building that was ready to collapse. Ryo sighed sadly and shook his head.

"Fine," he muttered, pressing down the little button on the side of his D-Ark. A long, blue whip of pure light dropped out of his D-Ark and he flung it forward, catching Cyberdramon around the wrist like he had done so long ago in the Digital World. He pulled it back sharply, pulling Cyberdramon's arm with it. The Ultimate roared angrily and turned its head to see who was stopping it.

"Stop it, Cyberdramon! You're going to hurt someone!" Ryo snapped, although he could clearly see that Cyberdramon had done more than just hurt people. Many people were lying in bloody masses in the streets and Ryo knew they were dead. The thought made him sick to his stomach but he held himself firm.

"I must destroy the enemy!" Cyberdramon growled.

"What enemy? There are no enemies here!" Cyberdramon laughed maniacally and wrenched his arm free of the whip that had been restraining him.

"Everything is the enemy!" Cyberdramon turned and leapt into the air, aiming his hands down and firing his Desolation Claw at a group of buildings, obliterating them instantly.

"Cyberdramon, no!" Ryo cried desperately. Ryo ran forward and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of a very familiar head of red hair leaning over a lifeless body. His eyes widened in horror at the sight of Rika leaning desperately over Jeri's body, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to wake the long dead girl.

"Please, Jeri! Wake up! We can't stay here!" Rika cried urgently.

"Desolation Claw!" Ryo looked up, away from Rika, to see Cyberdramon's attack hit the building Rika was kneeling beside. A large chunk of the wall broke free and fell to the ground, straight for Rika.

"Oh, God, no! Rika! Move!" Ryo called as he ran to her. She looked up at him with red, tearful eyes and when she saw him waving his arms frantically for her to move she looked up and her eyes widened before she screamed. Her scream was cut off abruptly as the wall fell down on her, silencing her forever.

"No!" Ryo cried, dropping to his knees in front off the large pile of ruble, underneath which lay Rika, her body shattered and unmoving. Tears ran freely down his cheeks as Ryo knelt there, listening to Cyberdramon's continued destruction, unable to do anything to stop him. He had failed. He failed his partner. He had failed his friends. He had failed her. And now, because he wasn't strong enough, she was dead.

Rika was dead…

He dropped his head and let out a long, heart wrenching cry, his voice carrying far into the cold night.

Ryo…

Looking up, Ryo felt every inch of his being burning with untold sorrow and rage. With a furious cry he rammed his fists into the rubble and started throwing it aside. He wouldn't let her body lie there to be ruined!

Ryo…wake up…

He tore at the gravel, his hands bleeding and his skin broke. He wouldn't desert her!

Ryo…wake up…it's me, Jeri.

No! Jeri was dead! He'd seen it with his own eyes!

Ryo, you have to wake up! Whatever you're seeing! It isn't real!

How could it not be real? He had seen it! He could see Rika's bloody hand, having finally moved enough rubble to reveal her. Or at least…what was left of her.

It's a dream, Ryo! Snap out of it!

A…dream? It wasn't real? Ryo reached out and his fingers touched the ice cold skin of Rika's hand. It felt so real…was it possible he was dreaming? There was a loud crash behind him and when he looked back he saw Cyberdramon tearing down another building, throwing whole chunks of wall at screaming people. But Cyberdramon wouldn't do that... He was violent sure, but he never attacked anything that wouldn't put up a fight...

Ryo, please wake up…Rika needs you!

Rika…she needed him. But where was she? He tried desperately to clear his mind, which seemed suddenly very clouded. And then he remembered. The forest, the fog…everything. Rika was alive!

"Wake up!" Ryo's eyes snapped open and he looked up to see a very relieved Jeri leaning over him.

"It's about time!" She said, smiling at him happily. He sat up and Jeri moved back a little to give him room.

"What happened," he asked, rubbing his head and getting to his feet. Jeri stood too and shook her head.

"I'm not sure. Something about this forest…The fog put us all to sleep…its making us…"

"Live out our worst nightmares," Ryo finished. He shivered when he remembered what he had been made to see. He looked around and spotted Cyberdramon gently, or at least gentling for him, shaking Henry by the shoulder until the boy woke up.

"Where's Rika?" He asked, looking back at Jeri. Her face fell and she looked over to where Renamon and Rika where still lying, fast asleep and unmoving.

"We can't get either of them to wake up…" She said sadly. Ryo walked over and knelt down beside Rika. He reached out to touch her frigid skin. It made him shudder to feel how cold she was.

Just like in the dream… He thought. He turned to look at Renamon. Jeri had rushed off to wake Suzy and he was alone in the middle of the clearing with Rika and Renamon. A sudden movement to his left made him turn to see Renamon shivering and twitching. Gulping back the lump that had formed in his throat at the coldness of Rika's skin, Ryo moved away from her and towards Renamon. He reached out and tentatively touched her shoulder. But the instant his fingers came into contact with her fur he felt a wave of cold wash over him and his vision went black. The other tamers were all to busy trying to wake those few that were still living in Nightmare World so no one noticed as Ryo collapsed in between Rika and Renamon and re-entered the deep sleep.

But this time he was going to live someone else's nightmare…Renamon's.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Renamon wanted to die. She wanted to kill herself and die. She had nothing to live for after all. She had done the unthinkable… she had failed her partner… she had failed Rika… She stared sadly at the spot that Rika had stood on not moments before. The images of what had happened mere minutes ago were replaying in her minds eye, over and over again.

Rika had stood there, D-Arc in her hand as she, Renamon, fought IceDevimon. She had been unable to digivolve and thus was fighting IceDevimon in her rookie form, sorely outmatched and losing badly. Hurt, weak and slow, she had failed to see the attack IceDevimon had launched at Rika. It had frozen her solid and her data had shattered instantly. Horrified at the sudden death of her tamer, Renamon had done nothing to stop IceDevimon as he flew away, laughing evilly at having accomplished his goal.

Renamon wanted to die…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ryo opened his eyes to find himself on DigiPhirma. He knew better than to believe he was on the real DigiPhirma; he would not be fooled by the same trick twice. He figured he had been thrown into Renamon's nightmare when he had touched her. How he didn't know, but it had happened anyway. He looked around and sure enough he spotted Renamon standing a little way away from him. She was completely still except for her tail and ears blowing slightly in the wind. He walked a little closer and was shocked to see tears running down her furry cheeks.

"Renamon…?" He stepped closer and when she didn't reply he walked right up to her, stopping in front of her. "Renamon, what happened?" She looked up at him and the sorrow in her eyes was enough to make him want to leave this place and never come back. But he knew that if he didn't help her realize that what ever had happened wasn't real then neither of them would ever leave this nightmare.

"Ryo…?" Her voice was tentative and confused, as if she thought he might not be real. "She's gone…I failed…" Ryo gulped back the lump in his throat, knowing immediately who she was talking about and remembering his own vision of Rika's death.

"She's not gone, Renamon. I thought so too, but none of this is real." Renamon shook her head and looked away from him, her eyes fixing on the spot where she had seen Rika disappear.

"I saw her, Ryo…her data broke. I couldn't stop him and now she's dead…" The tears streaming from her eyes grew steadily into quiet sobs and Ryo stood there and watched her cry in utter shock. He had never thought Renamon as the type to cry over anything.

She loves Rika more than I thought…Ryo thought sadly. They all love us far more than we ever realized.

"Renamon…you have to snap out of it…Rika is alive. I saw her die too, but in my dream she died in the real world. This isn't real…" He said as gently as he could. She looked back to him and there seemed to be some small hope in her eyes.

"She's…alive?" Ryo nodded and Renamon looked around her again, as if confused.

"But I saw her die…right there." She pointed to the spot she had witnessed Rika's death and a shiver ran through her as the images played before her eyes again.

"It wasn't real. She's alive, but she needs your help. She's dreaming too and we need your help to wake her." Renamon looked down at him and Ryo smiled when he saw realization dawn on her face.

"The forest, we were in a forest… Rika's alive!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ryo sat up just as Renamon awoke beside him. She darted to her feet and looked down at Rika. She looked back at Ryo and smiled at him.

"Thank you, Ryo." He simply nodded and turned to see the others coming over.

"How did you wake her up?" Jeri asked.

"You okay?" Henry added, looking at the two if them concernedly.

"Yeah, we're fine," Ryo said. "And to answer you, Jeri, I got into her dream." The Tamers all stared at him in confusion and he shrugged.

"I dunno, I just touched her and the next thing I new I was in her dream. It worked when I touched Renamon's fur so I guess it'll work with Rika too."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Takato asked, stepping up to Rika. He knelt down and touched his finger to her arm and shut his eyes. There was a moment of silence before Kazu crossed his arms curiously.

"Nothings happening," he said.

Way to point out the obvious, Dufus," Alice snapped. Ryo looked to Renamon and she frowned.

"Perhaps Ryo was able to join my dream because my design was based on a Kitsune and part of that means I can connect my mind to others," she said. The Tamers looked at her in confusion and Henry frowned.

"But wait a minute…I thought you said you weren't psychic and that Rika was making the connection. Vahimermon even said she had a little psychic power." The Tamers gave a general murmur of ascent and looked back at Renamon.

"That," she said simply, "is only half true. According to research some of the workers in Hypnos have been doing, all humans have latent psychic abilities; you just don't know how to use them. My connection with Rika comes with the design of my Data. Rika did a little research through Hypnos' database and spoke to Janyu about his designs. It was not uncommon for the Monster Makers to use mythology in their design." The Tamers, some of which were looking on with eyes glazed with boredom (three guesses who and the first two don't count), seemed to understand so she continued. "I think that if I tried to connect to Rika and some of you at the same time we might be able to join her in her dream."

"Some?" Ai piped up suddenly. Renamon looked down at the little girl and nodded.

"I will not e able to connect to all of you. At most, three humans and their partners," she replied, already knowing who those humans would be.

"Well, shall we?" Ryo said, stepping forward with Cyberdramon behind him.

"Right behind you," Henry replied, Terriermon on his shoulder.

"Alright," Takato said, Guilmon at his side. "We're ready."

Renamon nodded at them, sat crossed legged on the forest floor beside Rika and reached out to them with her mind, already connected to her partner. They were silent for a moment before all seven of them collapsed and were thrown back into a world of dreams.

But this was no ordinary dream. This dream was dangerous and one false step could mean never escaping.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Hi, well that's it for now  I'll try and get the rest out soon but I'm having difficulty with my writing… sorry it was so short… well, cheers for now.