DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon, but I do own the plot, and DRAGOON.

Digimon Continuity

Quest for the Digimon

Chapter 20

Rika's Return... and Ryo's Realisation

:. Digital Plane - Desert Plane

03:34 PM JST

"Tusk Crasher!!"

"NO!" Strikedramon was heard exclaiming. Ryo spun around, watching in animated horror as the two energised blade-like tusks were thrown their way. Panic gripped Ryo's mind as he tried to pull himself from the thoughts of ENIAC and grip himself in the situation. By the time he did however, the attack was already too close. There was no way he could save Takato and Henry, not even himself...

The attack hit hard... on Growlmon as the already weak Champion took the full blow of the Ultimate's attack to protect his Tamer, Ryo and Henry. "Gargomon!" Henry shouted to his partner, holding a card in his hand to quickly take advantage of Growlmon's maneuver. "Digi-Modify! Reload Plug-In Q! Activate!"

Gargomon cheered as his ammunition was replenished. "Right on! Here's my thanks... Gargo Laser!!" With that, Gargomon's arm turrets began to spit bullets at Mammothmon and his passengers. However, the passengers; a Ninjamon and two Knightmon; had already leapt clear of the death trap and the two Knightmon began their charge toward Gargomon, using their ridiculously enormous blades to defect bullets from themselves and Mammothmon. Ninjamon headed straight for Strikedramon, as did Mammothmon.

Ryo could see why. Two Ultimates were enough to take on two Champions who had been already worn out by the previous battle between them and Assaultmon. The other two would make better progress with attacking the still battle ready Strikedramon. I have to admit, whoever who taught these guys how to think is good. Ryo thought as he accessed the situation. The next move was obviously to aid Strikedramon as best he could... but only if he could get out of Knightmon's attack alive.

"Berserk Sword!" Both Knightmon shouted in unison. Both giant blades came to bear on Growlmon and Gargomon, with only the latter having the agility to dodge while the former took the attack in his extended dragon blades. The impact of the giant swords hitting Growlmon's blades and the ground released a powerful shockwave that unbalance Ryo. Still, he managed to stead himself, but quickly jumped aside as Growlmon's weak form came crashing down where he once stood. It seemed that Growlmon had avoided to fall where his Tamer was, but at the same time forgot that Ryo was there.

The two Champions were losing. Gargomon's shots simply pinged off Knightmon's dense armour. Growlmon barely had the strength to keep up with the other Knightmon's attempts to hit his head off, and even less to stand, much less attack back. Ryo heard the two Digimons' respective Tamers try to encourage their Digimon, but they were worn out. And encouragement isn't going to do much in this situation. I wish that Rika were still here. Almost as if his mental plea had been heard, a familiar voice was heard.

"Need a hand, guys?"

Ryo's eyes widened in surprise. RIKA! He did not expect her to come to her senses so soon... not that he wasn't grateful for it. "Rika!! You made it!" The other two Tamers said with the same amount of gratitude Ryo felt.

Kyuubimon was still far off, but he could see Rika waving, albeit she did not have Kazu, Kenta and MarineAngemon aboard. Ryo didn't bother to wonder if they were safe. Rika; this Rika; would have made sure of that. Kyuubimon leapt into the air, while Rika stayed as close as possible to her partner's body, to streamline them and allow for greater speed... and something else as well. "Fox Tail Inferno!" Kyuubimon's nine tails lit up in a blue fire not unlike Strikedramon's own. It was only an instant where the attack stayed at the tips of the tail, before the tails began to shot fireballs like a machine gun.

The attacks were poorly aimed but effective. Ryo understood that aiming nine tails was not an easy feat. But he saw that most of the little faced attacks hit the Knightmon, who quickly brought up their blades to cover themselves from the attack. This was, however, their downfall, for they left Gargomon and Growlmon in a perfect position for attack.

"Take this! Bunny Pummel!"

"Dragon Slash!" Both attacks hit the unguarded parts of Knightmon hard, making them lose their defensive positions and be assaulted by Kyuubimon's Fox Tail Inferno. Rika soon came near on Kyuubimon, and jumped off.

"Of course I made it..." She said in her usual confidence. But he saw her glance his way and give him a silent message. Ryo smiled. She had thanked him. "... I wouldn't miss it for the world." Then Rika looked directly at him... and scowled. Ryo raised a questioning eyebrow at the sudden change of attitude. "What are you doing here, Akiyama?! Can't you see your Digimon getting slaughtered down there?!" She pointed at the purple dragon and his two foes. "And to think you would be setting the example seeing how you scolded me about not being caring," she finished.

Ryo shook his head while Takato and Henry looked on confused. Some things never change after all... Then he grinned foolishly at her, and for a brief moment he was just like how he once was so long ago, like Takato: simple, absent-minded and naive. Glad to have you back, Rika.

Still, he stepped up to her first, taking out the D-Terminal and deck he was supposed to have given her earlier, and enjoying her look of surprise when he did. "Here, you are going to need these, especially this..." He held up the deck. "... as I remember that you forgot to bring your own cards."

Rika blushed at her mistake, but accepted the two without another word. An explosion and a tremor soon captured Ryo's attention.

Strikedramon breathed a sigh of relief when Growlmon took the attack. However, it was cut short as he had let his guard down, allowing for Assaultmon to sweep his legs from under him. Strikedramon silently cursed himself for being so careless. But he had to admit. The metalic centaur was digging his own grave by doing what he did. Then Strikedramon realised that Assaultmon's 'attack' on him had been another distraction. The distraction gave Assaultmon's allies enough time to approach them, not giving enough time for Strikedramon to finish Assaultmon off.

Still, he was smart to do that. I am impressed. Strikedramon mentally admitted at Assaultmon's surprising stratagy. Strikedramon quickly pulled anymore praise or curses for the Ultimate from his head, focusing on the task of having the fend off two other Digimon. Strikedramon sank himself into the calmness of his mind, allowing logic and calculation to take over.

"Tusk Crasher!!" Mammothmon shouted as his tusks released two energised blades of energy at Strikedramon. To him, it was moving slow... extremely slow. He even had time to cock his head to one side before he jumped into the air, clearing both attacks at once... right into the attack of the Ninjamon.

"Iga-Style Sword!" The blade descended upon him, but Strikedramon quickly lit his claws and brought them to bear to halt the attack. Sparks flew as sword fought flaming claws. But the weapon did not break, leading Strikedramon to conclude that it was Chrome Digizoid metal that was thick enough to stand the fire in his claws. But can he stand fire? Strikedramon wondered briefly before his entire being burst into cold blue flames that matched Kyuubimon's in colour.

"Strike Fang!" Strikedramon pushed against Ninjamon, overcoming the smaller Digimon's resistance. Ninjamon intelligently broke the stand-off and twisted away from his line of attack, or he would have otherwise been cornered and put out of the battle. Ninjamon however, did not stop there. The Digimon quickly attacked Strikedramon's exposed back with yet another attack.

"Iga-Style Shuriken!" Ninjamon exclaimed as he flung several shurikens at him. Strikedramon quickly turned around to face the attack, hitting the boomerang-like stars away... only to have them explode in his face... literally. One explosion followed the other, making use of Strikedramon's surprise to their advantage. The purple dragon flew to the ground, his armour charred black from the explosive shurikens. I didn't see that coming. Strikedramon mentally groaned. This was not to be expected. Note: remind self to read up on all Digimon, their abilities and attacks.

Hand on his armoured head, Strikedramon got wobbly to his feet. His vision stirred, before it focused on a charging Mammothmon heading head on toward him. I never thought I'd say this, but... Oh crap. Mammothmon's tusks were put forward like spears, not doubt with the same intention of going in from one side of him and out. Strikedramon cleared his mind such that the fog of pain there disappeared, and focused entirely on Mammothmon.

The velocity at which Mammothmon was charging at him was instantly calculated, and he didn't like the numbers. Nonetheless, Strikedramon came up with a strategy to use that speed against Mammothmon. Grinning, he lit his entire being, and waited. Once Mammothmon's tusks were within arm's reach, Strikedramon threw himself on them, but made sure to allow the two sharp tusks to slide under his arms as he grabbed onto them. Then he directed the two tusks toward the ground, causing Mammothmon to jerk in surprise as he lost his footing on his hind legs. Strikedramon allowed the tusks to root into the ground, and allow Mammothmon's own speed to do the work of sending him over his head and onto his back.

Strikedramon slid under the front legs of Mammothmon, preventing the giant elephant-like Digimon from crushing him flat. "Iga-Style Shuriken!" Ninjamon attacked while he was still getting up, but Strikedramon anticipated that. Not so tough when surprise is out of the equation, huh? Strikedramon mentally taunted as he allowed himself to fall back onto the ground to dodge Ninjamon's attack and avoid another explosive outcome. The shurikens passed harmlessly over him, though he could have sworn one came close enough to touch his chest. Part of him worried that his flame would ignite the shurikens. Though they did not harm him... they did awful damage to the underside of Mammothmon, who unfortunately still hadn't rolled over to his side yet.

"No! Mammothmon!" Ninjamon exclaimed as his own attack back fired on his ally. Ninjamon then turned to Strikedramon. "You will pay for that!" Strikedramon shook his head.

"No. You will!" The dragon man exclaimed as he leapt forward, still ablaze. "Strike Fang!"

Ninjamon grind his teeth as he tried to leap away, but Strikedramon was far too close. As the purple dragon prepared to counter anything that Ninjamon was to throw at him, Strikedramon was completely taken by surprise by Ninjamon's next move. "Tree Leaf Dance!" Strikedramon expected Ninjamon to begining flinging sharp leaves with some kind of special property at him, but the latter promptly disappeared into leaves, while Strikedramon passed through them, lighting them into little fires. The dragon Champion quickly glanced around, looking for his opponent when he was abruptly hit from behind by a little tornado.

As his face met the sand, another thought passed through Strikedramon's mind. I definitely need to check up on the Digimon attacks next time. Ninjamon quickly moved in for the kill, but Strikedramon was saved when Ninjamon was distracted by a 'swooshing' sound. A whining screech soon followed as air was displaced by the speed of a familiar incoming object. DRAGOON! On cue, distinct parts of the Zero-Arms came into view, showering Ninjamon with single pinpoint lasers in lieu of fully automated spray fire, hitting the mutant Digimon each time a shot was fired.

DRAGOON then swept down and scooped Ninjamon from the ground with his front 'claws', just like how an eagle would do to a prey. Strikedramon saw DRAGOON's head look downward at his 'prey', and opened his mouth wide. Strikedramon had a sense of dejavu remembering blurry images of Grani from Cyberdramon's memories as energy charged in three points between the two jaws, linking together. "Yuggoth... Blaster!" The beam at point blank range impacted brutally on Ninjamon, as the pure power of the energy beam sent Ninjamon rocketting toward the ground and landing harshly. The purple dragon swore he felt enough tremors to believe that the hole Ninjamon's crash made was big... and enough to believe that Ninjamon was deleted.

"Strikedramon!" Ryo Akiyama rushed to his partner's side as fast as he could given his current injuries, helping the said Digimon up to his feet, albeit with a little difficulty. The purple dragon did not object. However, Mammothmon had somehow or rather managed to get to his feet.

"You will pay for that. Tusk Crasher!!" Mammothmon exclaimed as he let loose another attack. Strikedramon quickly pulled Ryo away, strafing right to dodge the attack. DRAGOON flew in to cover them, bringing its weapons to bear on Mammothmon. Strikedramon calculated that DRAGOON was losing power due to the usage of the Yuggoth Blaster, and likely could not do so again without risk of shutting himself completely down.

"Come on, Strikedramon," Ryo told him in confidence as the latter got to his feet. "Let's bring this to the next level." Ryo then held out his D-Power, and shouted the magic words. "BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!"

...

...

Nothing happened. Ryo looked astounded at his D-Power, then to Strikedramon, eyes conveying a single message: We're in trouble.

:. Real World - Japan, Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Towers
Main Control Room

03:36 PM JST

"Come on people, we can't do anything now. All you can do is go back home and get some rest. I will notify you at the first instance there is anything." Yamaki told the crowd of parents, siblings and friend of the Tamers. The Nonakas had gone back a while ago, with the older woman saying that she believed in Rika's ability.

It was obvious that they were wary, but a few were persistant in staying. "No, I will wait right here." Mrs Matsuki said, and so did Mrs Wong, who wanted to be allowed to stay to accompany her husband. Yamaki knew however that any exceptions would cause the others to want to stay as well.

"No. All of you are tired. If you want, give Riley your numbers and when we get contact with them we will put you through. That shouldn't be too hard... once we get enough users on the Internet to use their processing data to scan the Digital World." Yamaki said. They would usually use Hypnos' mainframe to do so, but due to the current budget, they would have to make exceptions and use as little electricity as possible; the servers sapped a lot of it to scan the Digital World; so that the money would be put to better use upgrading equipment... or saved to continue further research such that travel to the Digital World could be made safer.

Reluctantly, the parents began to leave, not before they left their phone numbers behind. Yamaki would make sure to honor that promise, though he had little doubt that they would make it out just like they did the first time. Yamaki believed that the parents knew this as well, but it was most likely that they simply wanted to reassure themselves.

Upon seeing Jeri Katou leave however, Yamaki couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for the girl, seeing how she no longer had a Digimon partner to return to, and how all her Tamer friends were in the Digital World trying to find theirs. The blonde man strolled over to the table where he found two young kids waiting for him, and noticed two adults waiting at the door. He returned his attention to the children, remembering them to be Tamers as well. "You want me to help you do something?"

The female of the two nodded. Then she withdrew from a little bag a D-Power Digivice. "Can you give this to Impmon?" She asked.

Yamaki shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I wish you were here sooner, because now the Tamers have gone."

"Oh..." The little girl looked downcast. "... then can I leave it here?"

Yamaki nodded, though he didn't know why the girl would want to do that. "Sure you can."

"Thank you, Mr. Can you give it to Impmon for me if he comes back while I and my brother are away?" The girl asked softly. Yamaki nodded his response, and the adults standing at the door ushered the children out of the room, leaving only him and Riley in the empty meeting room.

Yamaki watched them as they went, while Riley checked the names and numbers, putting them together into a list for easy use. "So, I think you are not so bad with kids after all," Riley commented.

Yamaki suppressed a smile, and put his irritated tone back into his voice. "What are you doing here talking to me about kids, Riley? Get back to work!"

Riley shook her head as Yamaki heard something about being unable to take a joke. He sighed as he followed her out.

"Rika." Kyuubimon warned. The said girl quickly returned her attention to the battle, after accepting from Ryo a deck and a D-Terminal before the latter rushed to his Digimon, though she did not have time to explore the contents of either. The two Knightmon were just getting up, holding their enormous blades with one hand and taking out a sheathed sword from another.

"Gargomon, can you go on?" Henry asked his partner in concern.

"What about you, Growlmon?" Takato asked as well.

"I'll be fine, Henry. I can kick tin can all day." Rika saw Kyuubimon roll her eyes at the bunny's response.

"I'm okay, Takato."

Both Tamers nodded, taking out a card each to help their respective Digimon. Rika quickly took out the deck, expecting a few of the worst cards she should ever see in Ryo's spare deck. Much to her surprise, the deck contained many useful cards, some of which she never even knew existed, all fitting her style perfectly well. It was as though someone hired someone with her skill and personality to make this deck. Rika pushed aside any more thoughts on the deck when the Knightmon made to attack, preparing herself with a card.

"Berserk Sword!" The Knightmon charged for them, Kyuubimon agilely leapt out of range, while Gargomon and Growlmon countered instead.

"Dragon Slash!"

"Bunny Pummel!"

The two Berserk Swords met the Champions' respective attacks, but the Knightmon had another trick up their sleeves. "Armour Knife!" The next attack was easily anticipated, and easily fend off by the two Champions. However, the Knightmon, as one, brought their Berserk Swords out of the lock between the attacks, and slammed the flat end hard on both Growlmon's and Gargomon's sides, hitting them into each other.

"Growlmon!"

"Gargomon!" Takato and Henry said together in horror.

Kyuubimon quickly jumped over her two allies, attacking. "Fox Flame Dragon!" She shouted her attack, curling herself into a ball while blue fire mounded itself into a dragon, charging at the two Knightmon. The armoured knight Digimon withdrew their blades and crossed them to allow for a more fortified defense. Her attack bounced off the two intercrossed weapons, while Kyuubimon made to rebound on the weapons to attack again from a better angle.

The Knightmon didn't give her the chance, for when she was close enough, they opened their swords to reveal an Armour Knife attack waiting like spikes at the bottom of a pit. Kyuubimon was too near the knifes and her momentum was bring her to it as sure as gravity would. Fortunately, she was hit away from her doom by a purple blur. Huh?

An unfamiliar humanoid Digimon landed beside Kyuubimon after saving her from likely deletion. She began to wonder who the Digimon was before Ryo came over, panic in his eyes. Then she remembered from the card game that it was Strikedramon, Monodramon's and Cyberdramon's more likely Champion form... and remembering it from Ryo's deck so long ago during the competition, before he surprised her well-prepared deck with something else.

But Rika quickly shook herself from the thoughts before it lead to the unpleasant memory of her father's death that she recounted to Renamon still fresh in her mind. Ryo quickly voiced his worry. "Guys! We can't Biomerge!"

Rika raised an eyebrow. "You mean you don't know?" Henry asked before she could, then the blue-haired boy turned to Takato. "Takato! Please don't tell me you forgot to tell him?!" Henry pleaded.

Takato began to scratch his head. "Um... then I won't tell you."

"Hey, guys... sorry about interrupting but... what are we going to do about that?!" Impmon said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere along with Lopmon, both who Rika assumed were told to go into hiding after Growlmon fell by Takato and Henry, as both were passengers of the red dinosaur as well. She followed his shaking finger to Mammothmon charging toward them directly behind Ryo.

"Akiyama! Weren't you supposed to take care of that?!" She asked irritated, though the irritation masked her increasing fear of what Ryo would say next.

"No, we can't. It's too much for even Strikedramon, and DRAGOON is running low on power." He gestured to Strikedramon's charred armour and DRAGOON's unsteady flight pattern. "We have to run!"

"Run?" Impmon asked in disbelief.

"Ryo is right, Rika." Kyuubimon supported whist holding off the three other Ultimates. "We have no choice. It is too much for us, and look at Growlmon and Gargomon."

All of them looked at her, as they seemed only to need her approval. She knew in her heart that all the others had already agreed to Ryo's answer, and were only waiting for her decision. There was no doubt that they would discard running away to stay with her should she choose to stay and fight, even Ryo himself. "Alright. Let's get out of here."

"Then it is unanimous guys." Henry said, looking to all while they nodded their heads in approval. Impmon did so reluctantly, but agreed too. "DRAGOON, do you think you have enough power to get us out of here?" He asked, panic in his voice while their Digimon began to fall one by one.

"Yes, but barely." DRAGOON replied.

"We mustn't forget the two moron twins as well." Rika reminded.

"Right, we can cut across where you left them." Henry said.

"Then let's get on!" Takato exclaimed after Growlmon fell to his feet and dedigivolved. Takato quickly helped his partner up. "NOW!"

All rushed to the small door on DRAGOON's side just behind his arm, which he would eventually secure when he took flight by streamlining his body and locking his arm over it. Ryo and Strikedramon were the last to board, with Ryo using a Digimon card on Strikedramon that resulted in the latter letting loose an explosive attack that kept the three Ultimates at bay long enough for the two to reach the door and in.

DRAGOON took flight, while her partner, now an extremely weak Renamon, pointed a shaking arm toward the direction where they should go, while Henry did what he did to tell DRAGOON, which to her surprise was talk to the open D-Terminal. They soon blasted off, leaving the three slow Ultimates behind. Rika sighed in relief, hoping to be able to go home and out of this mess soon. She still had a lot to make up for, not to mention how her mother and grandmother were going to feel about her departure. I hate to be so guilty conscious.

Farther away, during the course of the battle, Kazu and Kenta stood behind a fallen MarineAngemon. A TigerVespamon, though severely injured, had arose from the sand and still managed to damage MarineAngemon enough to bring the latter down. The bug warrior looked at them evilly. "We shall eliminate the threat of humans from the Digital Plane by luring them into a convenient trap!" He pointed a finger to them. "And you will do extremely well as bait."

Kazu, though extremely afraid at the lack of the presence of his partner by his side and their current situation, could not help but let a thought run through his mind. Digital Plane? Is he talking about the Digital World?

I think I kinda rushed through the last bit of DRAGOON taking off, but I think I make up for it by finally correcting the Tamers long time error of mixing up the Digital Plane (Tamer's Digital World, the one with all the planes like the Desert Plane, Sovereign Plane...) and the actual Digital World (Server, File Island, Folder...).

Now, I want to thank the following for reviewing:

Winter-Skye-Phoenix
Lunar Mika Black
A Flying Tomato

Next, I would like to inform those who still don't know: Aftermath of 02 is out. I would also have you note that I have Mystery of Cyberdramon released as well. I will put up my updating cycle on my profile page, and continue to update it with which fic I am currently updating.

Lastly, review what you think of this chapter.