DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or any video games, books, films, TV shows or pieces of music referenced in this story. Original characters owned by me are stated in my profile.
Chapter Sixteen: Cameron's Web
Sunday 24th October - 12:04pm
Guilmon's Den, Kirkfield Park
"Okay, I got odds of three to two on the Gogglehead! Any takers?" Terriermon called from his usual perch atop his Tamer's head.
"Terriermon…" Henry sighed and rapped his partner on the head with his knuckles. "What did I tell you about gambling?"
"You said I shouldn't gamble, but you never said anything about being a bookie! Momentai!"
"Hey, bunny boy! Don't make me get Rika down here…" Cam threatened with a mock glare at the diminutive Digimon before returning to his card game. "Your move, Takato."
The goggle-wearing Tamer grinned and played his next card with a flourish. "I digivolve my MegaSeadramon to MetalSeadramon!"
"Damn, maybe I should have taken that bet," Steph whispered to Henry with a small smile.
"Oh, great. Are you happy Terriermon? You've even managed to corrupt Steph to your nefarious ways!" the boy chuckled and flicked his head to the side, throwing the rabbit to the ground. "And I think Cam has an ace up his sleeve…"
"Do you guys mind? I'm not out yet!" Cam complained and drew a card, an evil grin spreading across his face as he realized what it was. "Oh, Takato…my MetalGreymon digivolves to WarGreymon!"
"I don't get it," the blonde girl whispered. "Takato has the type advantage, so why is Cam grinning like an idiot?"
"WarGreymon is specifically designed to kill dragon-type Digimon, or 'dramon'. Even with the type disadvantage, he'll rip MetalSeadramon to shreds."
Henry was proven correct within a minute. Takato let out an irritated groan as his MetalSeadramon was torn to shreds by a series of attacks from WarGreymon's Dramon Killers.
"How could I forget the Dramon Killers?" he moaned with a grin. "Looks like we're even, now. Up for a tie-breaker?"
A series of loud, insistent beeps rang through the small cave, cutting off the black-haired Tamer before he could answer. The noise of the three D-Arcs was deafening in the enclosed space and the humans and Digimon quickly escaped into the open air.
"My first Bio-emergence? ALRIGHT!" Cam cheered ecstatically before turning and shouting at a nearby tree. "Gaomon, fight time!"
A small, blue shape dropped from the tree, executing a landing that left him perfectly balanced on top of Guilmon's sleeping form. "Let us get moving then. And would somebody please wake up Guilmon?"
"Oh, I can do that," Terriermon grinned and wandered over to the saurian, whispering gently in his ear. "Guilmon, lunchtime…"
"FOOD!" the red dinosaur yelped and leapt to his feet, throwing Gaomon several metres through the air.
"Fight first, food later, okay boy?" his Tamer chuckled and set off through the forest at a run, the other Tamers and Digimon following close behind.
"Wait for me!" Steph called and began sprinting after them. "If you guys think you're leaving me out of this one…"
The group followed Takato's compass and reached the Bio-emergence site - a small, grassy field at the edge of the park - just over a minute later. There was one factor that confused them, however - the lack of a Digital Field. The Tamers and Digimon walked forward cautiously while Steph remained close to the treeline at the edge of the field.
"What the hell?" Cam exclaimed, looking around with a confused look. "Are you sure you followed that thing right, Takato?"
"I'm sure," he replied, shaking his D-Arc and tapping the back of the casing with his knuckles. "You guys check your compasses. Maybe mine's not working right."
"No, mine says it should be here, too," Henry said with a frown.
"Same here. We should be right…on top of it…" the black-haired Tamer mumbled and looked down at the ground. "Gaomon, could the Field have formed under-WHOA!"
The three Tamers and their partners let out a chorus of surprised yelps and screams, with Terriermon issuing a series of particularly colourful curses as the ground collapsed beneath them.
"NO!" Steph shrieked and ran forwards, only to be forced to step back as a large chunk of earth simply disappeared from in front of her. When the dust had cleared, the blonde-haired girl stepped forwards again and looked down into the gaping hole left in the centre of the field. All she managed to see was the inside of what looked like a sewer pipe before the ground suddenly shifted beneath her. She leapt back with a yelp as several large fragments of earth slipped over the mouth of the hole, plugging it.
Oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God… she thought breathlessly, her mind teetering on the brink of panic. They could be hurt, or dead, or dying or…
SNAP OUT OF IT!
Okay, okay, stay calm…don't lose your head, that's what Rika told Taka…that's it! I've got to find Rika - she'll know what to do!
Near the Nonaka Residence - 12:09pm
Renamon sighed as she settled down into her habitual meditation pose - crouched, balancing on the balls of her feet with her heels pressed together, front paws resting upturned on her knees - and closed her eyes. The kitsune's meditation was interrupted seconds later, however, by the sounds of something running through the forest nearby.
Two-legged, medium size…if I didn't know better, I'd say that was a human! she thought and phased out of existence, reappearing a dozen metres closer to the source of the noise. A trespasser…I had better keep an eye on them. Wait…is that Steph?
"Steph!" the vulpine Digimon called out and activated her Kohenkyo ability again, reappearing several metres in front of the girl. "What is the matter? You seem flustered."
"There was…a Bio-emergence…when we arrived, there…was no Digital Field…" the blonde gasped breathlessly. "Takato and the others…went to look around…ground collapsed under them…I think they're trapped. I know Rika said…not to bother her today but…it's an emergency!"
Rumiko and Seiko are still out shopping…it should be safe to take her to the house.
"Very well. We shall go get her immediately," Renamon replied.
"Give me...a second to...catch my...wah!" Steph yelped as the kitsune scooped her up in her arms and activated her Kohenkyo ability, both human and Digimon disappearing into thin air.
Nonaka Residence - 12:11pm
Renamon phased into existence in the main entrance hall of the Nonaka residence and gently set Steph down at the bottom of the massive staircase. The girl looked a little shaken by her brief interdimensional trip and had turned a vivid shade of green.
"Wait here," the kitsune ordered as she opened the small wooden door built into the staircase, stooped slightly to fit through the undersized opening and closed the door behind her.
With a pained sigh, the vulpine Digimon padded quietly down the narrow staircase and opened the second, larger door at the bottom of the stairs. She winced as the noise coming from the basement increased in volume tenfold, all but overwhelming her sensitive hearing. Renamon stepped through the door and gazed at her Tamer for a few seconds, not wanting to intrude on one of her most private moments.
The redhead was stood at the far corner of the room holding a red Gibson "Flying V" guitar. Her hands were dancing expertly across the instrument as she lost herself playing Iron Maiden's "The Trooper". The kitsune was surprised to see that Rika's hair was hanging loose around her shoulders and that, even more shockingly, she was not wearing her wristbands, leaving her scars unhidden for the first time Renamon could remember.
"Rika, we have an emergency," she called out telepathically, wincing again as the girl stopped playing abruptly and fixed her with a furious glare.
"This had better be life or death!" Rika growled as she quickly unplugged her amps and placed her guitar back in its case.
"It is," Renamon replied and quickly explained the situation telepathically while her Tamer pulled on her wristbands and restyled her hair.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" the girl sighed as she ran for the stairs, calling out to Steph when she reached the top and burst through the door. "Steph, can you take us to where it happened?"
"I can…but please don't do the teleport thing again. I nearly threw up last time."
"Oh, don't worry," Rika chuckled as she dragged the blonde-haired girl outside and drew a modify card. "I've got a much better way to travel…Digi-Modify! Digivolution activate!"
Kirkfield Park - 12:16pm
As Kyubimon skidded to a halt in the small field, Steph practically leapt off of the kitsune's back. The girl took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm her nerves before she began walking shakily towards the disturbed patch of earth that marked the former site of the hole.
"H-here it is," she stammered as Kyubimon padded forwards and examined the ground. "Well? Can you break through?"
"I can, but I won't. The earth is too unstable - to attempt to dig through could cause a cave-in and injure somebody."
"Damn it!" Rika cursed with a scowl. "There's got to be a way for us to get in there…"
"Wait, I think I have an idea!" Steph exclaimed and began running back towards the woods. "When I looked into the hole, I saw what looked like a sewer pipe or something. We might be able to get in through the old water pipe at the edge of the park."
"Great, sewers…" the redhead muttered as she ran after the blonde-haired girl.
Somewhere Underneath Kirkfield Park
Cam groaned and slowly opened his eyes as he came back to full consciousness. Where…am I? he thought as he looked around at his surroundings. There wasn't much to see thanks to the poor light, but as his eyes adjusted to the gloom, the boy found himself cursing his poor luck.
He was at the end of a long, round tunnel, the walls and floor made out of greyish-brown stone. In the middle of the floor was a wide channel that looked like it was meant to carry water or some other form of liquid, but the channel was completely dry. The Tamer tried to take a step forwards, frowning and looking around in confusion as his legs failed to move. With a growing sense of horror, he realised that he - along with Takato, Henry, Guilmon, Gaomon and Terriermon - was suspended from an oversized spider's web.
"You have got to be kidding me…" he groaned, causing the still-unconscious humans and Digimon to stir and awake.
"Five more minutes…" Guilmon mumbled, Takato and Terriermon murmuring in agreement.
"Hey, wake up you guys!" Henry called as he blinked and looked around. "We're kind of in trouble here…"
"That's not how you do it," Gaomon sighed and took a deep breath. "GUILMON! DINNER!"
"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!" the saurian roared and opened his eyes, shocking his Tamer and Terriermon awake.
"GAH! What the hell was that?" the rabbit shrieked and tried to cover his ears, only to discover that both his ears and his hands were stuck to the web. "Okay, what the hell happened?"
"The ground…it collapsed…" Henry said hesitantly, trying to fight his way through the fog shrouding his memories.
"Yes…then we were attacked…" Gaomon continued, frowning at the memory.
"I remember!" Takato shouted triumphantly. "We got rushed by a bunch of spiders! What were they called, KoDokugumon?"
"Yeah, that was it. One of them bit me and I passed out," Cam replied with a frown. "Um…anyone know where we are?"
A chorus of negative answers reached the boy's ears and he sighed dejectedly.
"Damn it…if only I could reach my D-Arc!" Takato gasped as he strained against the web holding him.
"I wouldn't bother," a cruel, feminine voice hissed from above the boy. "Most Champion Digimon would have difficulty breaking free from my web, nevermind a pathetic human."
The immobilized group turned their heads as one and let out a simultaneous gasp of horror as they laid eyes on their captor. The creature was hideous, with the basic shape of an eight foot long black tarantula. Six of its legs were black and ended with pairs of thick, red claws, while a pair of dusky blue arms protruded from below its head, tipped with three-fingered hands clad in red gloves. The upper part of its head was obscured by a many-eyed, golden helm with long, black-striped horns. Below the helm were three sharp-fanged mouthparts, the skin the same dusky blue as that on its arms. The spider's thorax was covered in long, bristly, orange fur and its abdomen was emblazoned with a white skull-and-crossbones symbol.
"Dokugumon!" Gaomon growled, not needing a D-Arc to tell him the creature's stats.
Name: Dokugumon
Level: Champion
Attribute: Virus
Special Attacks:
Poison Thread
Poison Cobweb
"The pleasure is mine. Or at least, it will be when I'm feasting on your corpses!" Dokugumon replied with a cackle and clicked her mouthparts. "Now, which one of you shall be my appetiser…?"
The tarantula's pondering was interrupted by the arrival of a much smaller yellow-striped spider, about the size of a human head. The KoDokugumon whispered in its mistress' ear then scurried quickly away. Dokugumon turned to her captives with some approximation of a grin.
"Well, well…it seems that my feast just got bigger!"
"I don't like this…" Steph whispered as she padded quietly through the tunnels behind Rika and Renamon. "Are you sure you're reading that thing right?"
"Of course I'm sure!" Rika snapped without looking up from her D-Arc. "According to this, we're about a hundred metres away from them. And stop complaining - this was your idea!"
"Don't remind me…" the blonde-haired girl muttered and shuddered. "I keep feeling like there's somebody watching me…"
"It's just your imagination, Goldilocks. Try to ignore it."
"Yeah, well it doesn't help I can't see a thing down here - it's too dark!"
"Actually, she has a point Rika - even I am beginning to struggle," Renamon whispered and glanced around. "Perhaps a Modify card would be in order?"
"Okay, how about this…Digi-Modify! Candlemon's Flame activate!"
An orange flame suddenly appeared hovering above Renamon's head, brightening considerably until the whole area was fully illuminated. The trio looked around at their surroundings and froze as they felt a sudden tide of fear flooding over them.
Apart from a six-foot wide circle around the group, every square inch of the walls, ceiling and floor were covered with KoDokugumon. The spiders hissed and gnashed their teeth as the sudden brightness assaulted their pale green eyes, returning to a state of statuesque stillness as soon as they had gotten over the shock.
"Don't…move…a muscle…" Renamon warned, sensing the growing panic from the girls behind her.
"Why did it have to be spiders?" Steph whimpered as she fought to control the rising tide of her arachnophobia.
"Why are they…just standing there?" Rika asked with a terrified shudder as she stared into the nearest KoDokugumon's eyes.
As one, the spiders let out a long, shrill scream and charged at the trio. Renamon leapt into action, unleashing a "Diamond Storm!" into the nearest cluster and disintegrating dozens of the spiders. Her efforts were quickly proven to be in vain as she was quickly overwhelmed by the tiny Digimon, several of them sinking their fangs into her flesh and flooding her body with venom. The tide of arachnids immediately turned its attention to the two humans, flooding towards them like a tidal wave. Rika screamed as a dozen KoDokugumon leapt at her, dragging her to the ground. One of the spiders quickly sank its fangs into her neck and she felt a burning pain as the venom flooded her body, dragging her down into the sweet release of unconsciousness.
Minutes Later
"Steph! Rika!" Cam called as the unconscious forms of his friends were dragged into the room by a tide of KoDokugumon. "Let them go you bastard!"
Dokugumon merely laughed at the boy's protests and webbed them to the wall alongside Renamon with a shout of "Poison Cobweb!". When the two girls were fully restrained, she dismissed her smaller servants with a hiss.
"Don't worry, boy," she cackled as she sniffed Rika's face hungrily. "They'll wake up soon enough. My little beauties' poison may be strong, but it wears off quickly. Saves me having to wait too long to play with my food."
"You're a monster!" Henry shouted, prompting another mad cackle from the tarantula.
"How observant of you!" she hissed and turned towards him before stopping as a muffled groan echoed from behind her. "Well, well…it looks like this one is a fighter!"
The massive arachnid turned and scuttled towards the softly-stirring form of Steph, placing her face mere inches away from the girl's. The blonde-haired girl groggily opened her eyes and immediately wished that she hadn't as she found herself eye-to-eye with a creature from her worst nightmares. She whimpered and recoiled as best she could, using every last ounce of willpower she had to prevent herself from screaming.
"Oh, yes…" Dokugumon chuckled and inhaled deeply. "Oh, your fear is exquisite! So rich, so strong. What's the matter, little girl? Don't you like spiders?"
Steph closed her eyes and turned her head away, unable to find the strength to think of a sarcastic reply.
"Oh, this is too much! I was planning on letting your Tamer friend wake up first, but I don't think I can wait that long to feast on you…" the monstrous Digimon hissed as she opened her jaws wide enough to swallow the girl whole.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Cam roared as the tarantula's fangs inched closer to the blonde girl's face, a white light bursting from his D-Arc as he did so.
GUARDIAN SPIRIT ACQUIRED - DIGIVOLUTION UNLOCKED
DIGIVOLUTION
"Gaomon, Digivolve to…Gaogamon"
Gaomon was encased in a pale blue Data Sphere that quickly exploded to reveal the lupine form of Gaogamon, shredding the webs holding him in the process.
"Get away from her! Spiral Blow!" Gaogamon roared, a tornado erupting from his mouth and sending the arachnid crashing into the far wall.
"Filthy beast! Looks like I'll get a workout before my meal…Poison Cobweb!" Dokugumon shrieked and launched a spray of web at the blue-furred Digimon.
Gaogamon leapt at the nearest wall and bounded off of it with a call of "Gaoga Hound!", sailing over the attack and flying towards his opponent with his jaws open wide. The tarantula screamed as the wolf's jaws slammed shut around the foremost of her three right legs, tearing it off in a spray of digital blood. Gaogamon quickly took advantage of his foe's distraction, his scarf forming into a pair of claws that slashed at her other two right legs, tearing through the tough exoskeleton and slicing them clean off. Dokugumon screamed again as she collapsed onto her right side and lay there thrashing in a pool of her own blood. The wolf growled and took a few steps back from the wounded arachnid before triumphantly calling out his third attack.
"Dash Double Claw!" he roared and ran forwards, slashing at his opponent with his red-gloved forelegs. The long claws pierced her golden helmet, crushing her skull and reducing the Digimon to data fragments that were quickly absorbed by the wounded Renamon. The kitsune's eyes flared and a blue fire gathered around her paws, burning through the webs that held her in a matter of seconds.
"Thank you," she said simply and nodded to her lupine saviour before summoning the fire again and releasing each of the humans and Digimon in turn. She saved Rika until last, wanting to give her Tamer a chance to recover from the effects of the KoDokugumon bite. "Rika, wake up."
"Wha…?" the girl mumbled as she collapsed into her partner's arms. After a quick look around at her surroundings, she shuddered and buried her face in the kitsune's shoulder. "I hate spiders…"
"Rika, you okay?" Takato asked, his voice dripping with concern.
"I'm fine, Gogglehead," she replied as she shakily found her feet. "Just a little dizzy, that's all."
"Gaogamon, you were amazing!" Cam cheered and scratched his lupine partner behind the ear. "You totally ate her alive - literally!"
"I think the taste of that spider puts your mother's cooking into perspective…" Gaogamon replied with a toothy grin.
"Uh, guys? We have a problem…" Terriermon called and winced as he peered out into the dark tunnels to see thousands of glowing green eyes staring back at him. "Looks like her kids just got home…"
"There's gotta be hundreds of them!" Henry gasped as he reached for a Digivolution card, Steph whimpering and curling up into the foetal position behind him. "This is gonna be a tough one."
"Less talking, more fighting!" Rika shouted as she drew a card and closed her eyes, the card turning a bright blue a few seconds later. "Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution activate!"
"Digi-Modify! Digivolution activate!"
"Renamon Matrix Digivolve to…Taomon!"
"Terriermon Digivolve to…Gargomon!"
"Heh, it's times like this I wish I'd drawn Growlmon a little smaller," Takato chuckled ruefully and glanced up at the low ceiling. "Digi-Modify! Power activate!"
"Hit them with ranged attacks!" Rika called as the KoDokugumon charged towards them with a shriek. "Don't let them bite you!"
"Spiral Blow!"
"Pyro Sphere!"
"Gargo Lasers!"
"Thousand Spells!"
The barrage of attacks tore into the tide of spiders, reducing dozens of them to data which was quickly absorbed by their comrades. The four tamed Digimon launched a second volley, doing little to deter the arachnids.
"Talisman Spell!" Taomon called, summoning a shield to block the tunnel. "I cannot hold this barrier for long…"
"We need a plan!" Rika growled, trying not to look at the spiders as the other three Digimon continued pouring attacks into the KoDokugumon horde.
"Wait a second…" Henry mumbled and peered at the tunnel roof. "The roof over there has got a bunch of cracks in it! A couple of attacks ought to bring it down on top of the spiders!"
"Are you crazy? We'd be trapped in here!" Steph exclaimed in horror.
"We could dig our way out eventually using Digmon's Drill tactics cards."
"We don't know how deep we are - it could take us days!" Cam protested
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Actually, I do!" Takato exclaimed with a grin as he drew a card from his holder. "Everybody close your eyes…Digi-Modify! Kokatorimon's Gaze activate!"
As Guilmon's eyes began to glow green, everybody quickly followed the boy's command. The KoDokugumon screamed as one and stopped in their tracks as their bodies were encased in a layer of stone. When all noise had died down, the Tamers and Digimon opened their eyes again and were left speechless by the awesome sight that greeted them.
"Terracotta army, eat your heart out…" Gargomon mumbled, his Tamer nodding in agreement beside him.
"Okay…so, what do we do now?" Cam asked tentatively as Taomon dropped her shield with an exhausted sigh.
"We run!" Rika shouted, trying with a surprising amount of success to hide how much the sea of spiders had unnerved her. "That thing won't hold forever - Taomon, clear us a path."
"As you wish," the vulpine magician replied, producing her paintbrush from up her sleeve and drawing a symbol in mid-air. "Talisman of Light!"
The beam of energy cut a swathe through the field of statues, reducing dozens of them to rubble and providing a clear route of escape for the trapped Tamers. They set off through the newly-cleared path at a run, shaking off the last traces of the KoDokugumon's venom as they made their bid for freedom.
"They're starting to move!" Henry warned from the rear of the group as several of the statues began to quiver slightly.
"Now can I bring the roof down?" Gargomon asked as his Tamer cleared the tunnel, the horde of arachnids chittering as they broke free of their stony prisons.
"DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT!" Steph shrieked as the spiders began scuttling towards them.
"Digi-Modify! Power activate!" Henry called as his partner aimed his arm-cannons at the roof.
"Talisman Spell!"
"Gargo Lasers!"
Taomon's hastily-erected shield trapped the KoDokugumon in the tunnel as a volley of supercharged energy bolts from Gargomon slammed into the tunnel roof, widening the fissures already present in the stonework. With an agonising cracking noise, a twenty-metre section of the tunnel roof collapsed onto the Digimon horde, crushing the vast majority of them to death and kicking up an enormous cloud of dust. Those few arachnids that survived swarmed towards Taomon's shield and were quickly picked off by a series of attacks from Guilmon and Gaogamon. As the last spider was reduced to data and absorbed, Taomon dropped the shield and let out a sigh of relief, falling to her knees and de-Digivolving to Renamon in a flash of light.
"Is it over?" Steph whimpered as the cloud of dust fell slowly back to the ground.
"It's over," Cam reassured her with a smile.
Rika breathed out a ragged sigh and slumped against the nearest wall, sliding to the ground as her adrenaline rush wore off. "I hate spiders…" she moaned and shuddered, her fear finally forcing its way through her mental barriers.
"Wait…you're scared of spiders too?" the blonde-haired girl asked with a puzzled frown. "How did you not…you know…freak out like I did?"
"Practice," the redhead replied curtly and climbed shakily to her feet.
"So…Rika has a weakness?" Gargomon chuckled with an evil grin as he de-Digivolved.
"You can shut up right now, Bunny Boy!" Steph warned with a glare. "Or are you forgetting your mortal fear of a certain winged rat?"
"Hey, pigeons are pure evil!" the rabbit protested as he leapt onto his Tamer's head. "They always travel in those big groups, and stare at you with those evil little eyes…"
"Anyway…" Takato interrupted with a chuckle. "Can we focus on getting out of here?"
"Uh, how do you plan on doing that?" Cam asked with a frown as he looked around, seeing that they were at a three-way intersection between tunnels. "We were unconscious when we were dragged here, remember?"
"I can smell Rika!" Guilmon suddenly exclaimed, wincing and cowering in fear as he earned himself a glare from the redhead. "I mean, I can follow her smell to where she came from. Not that you smell bad or anything! I like your smell!"
"What?" the girl growled and clenched her fists.
"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" the saurian shrieked and hid behind his Tamer, quivering like an oversized plate of jelly. "Help me Takatomon!"
"Rika is not going to kill you," Renamon sighed and stood up slowly. "At least, she won't if you get us out of here in one piece."
"I can do that!" the red dinosaur exclaimed excitedly and leapt into action, sprinting down the middle tunnel at high speed.
"Wait for us, boy!" Takato called, chasing after his partner as the rest of the group broke into a run behind him.
Outskirts of Kirkfield Park - 1:01pm
"Finally!" Cam groaned as the group of humans and Digimon emerged into the chilly October afternoon. "I thought we were gonna be stuck down there forever…"
"Yeah, you really shouldn't have scared Guilmon so badly, Rika," Steph sighed. "The poor guy was tripping over his own feet trying to get us out of there."
"Whatever," the redhead muttered in reply, rolling her eyes as her iPhone reconnected to its network and chimed softly in her pocket. "Great, that'll be my ninety-nine missed calls from my psycho mum…"
The Tamer was proven correct as she pulled the phone from her pocket to see a "12 MISSED CALLS" warning on the screen.
"Wow, and I thought my mum was bad!" Takato chuckled as the redhead tapped the "CALL BACK" button and pressed the high-tech gadget to her ear.
"Hey, it's me. Sorry about…Miranda?" she frowned as the Nonaka family's housekeeper picked up the phone. "Where's mum and…what are they doing at the hospital?"
Takato began to worry as a look of terror passed across the girl's face.
"An accident? Are they okay?" she asked, panic working its way into her voice. "I'm…I'm on my way."
"Rika, what's going on?" Takato asked in a concerned voice.
"I…I have to go. My mum and grandma have been in a car crash," Rika replied, her voice quivering as she slashed a Recharge and a Digivolution card.
"Are they okay?" Steph piped up with a worried frown.
"I don't know. The hospital wouldn't tell Miranda anything 'cause she's just our housekeeper," the redhead answered as she climbed onto her partner's back, the kitsune setting off at a gallop a moment later.
"Damn…" the goggle-wearing Tamer mumbled and shook his head.
"Way to ruin our victory celebrations…" Terriermon complained, earning himself a half-hearted yet furious "Terriermon…" from his Tamer.