I don't own Digimon. But I do own any original characters that are of my own design.

Title: Expect the Unexpected

Summary: Kimiko is the estranged daughter of Mitsuo Yamaki. For her fifteenth birthday, she acquires the Digimon: Labramon and becomes the fourth Digimon Tamer.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Lost Reunion

Takato opened his eyes and looked around at his friends. They were each spread out in the cavern, still asleep. It was the middle of the night on their third night in the Digital World and they still were nowhere near completing their mission.

"Guilmon, wake up," Takato said shaking his partner awake.

"Is it breakfast time?" Guilmon asked. "Just give me one of everything."

"No, it's still the middle of the night," Takato said with a chuckle. "It's not eating time."

Guilmon whined as he stood and followed Takato out of the cavern. "Can I have breakfast anyway?" he asked.

"No, it's our turn to keep watch," Takato said. He stopped at the ridge and turned to Henry who was finishing his shift. "Hey, Henry, why don't you get some sleep? We'll take over."

Henry smiled as he stood. "Thanks, guys, just make sure the two of you stay awake," he said. He looked down and noticed Terriermon in a ball at his feet. Asleep. He groaned and lifted the bunny into the air by its ears.

"Do I seriously have to wake up now, Henry?" Terriermon yawned.

"Dude, you're making me look bad," Henry said carrying the sleep deprived Digimon into the cavern. He settled down into Takato's empty spot as Terriermon waddled over to Labramon and lay down against her flank.

Henry smiled and looked up at Kimiko who was fast asleep. She was using her backpack as a pillow and had Labramon resting on her knees. He slipped closer to her and settled down. As if sensing his presence, Kimiko opened her eyes and shuffled closer.

"Takato take over?" Kimiko asked, keeping her voice low.

"Yeah," Henry replied. "Go back to sleep."

"Okay." Kimiko yawned and re-closed her eyes. Henry brushed a strand of blonde hair from her face, and then drifted off to sleep himself.

~*Expect the Unexpected*~

A few hours later, once the sun had risen high into the digital sky, and everyone was fully awake - Kazu and Kenta took longer to get up than they did to get to sleep - the team congregated on the ledge outside of their cavern.

"Hey, guys, I've been thinking about Rika," said Takato, catching Henry and Kimiko's attention.

"Yeah, what's up?" Henry asked.

"Well, she knows where the flag is. So instead of us aimlessly searching maybe we should go there and wait for her to come to us?" Takato suggested.

Kimiko looked thoughtful. "It does seem like a better idea than wandering around in the desert," she said, tying her backpack and sliding it onto her shoulders.

"I thought you wanted to find Calumon?" Kazu asked. "At all costs!"

"I do want to find Calumon," Kimiko said. "But we're not going to find him if we're stuck looking for each other. At least if we regroup with Rika and Renamon we'll have a higher chance of finding him."

Henry nodded in agreement. "Alright, it's settled," he said. "Let's go back to the flag."

"Original idea," piped Terriermon.

~*Expect the Unexpected*~

As they walked along the ridge way, Kazu had noticed Kenta's unusual quiet demeanor and taken it upon himself to point it out. "Dude," he said, loud enough for all to hear. "Why are you so quiet today? You've usually embarrassed yourself at least ten times by now."

"I should feel worse about Rika missing," Kenta answered. "But I just don't like her very much."

"Atta boy, Kenta, meanless guilt," Kazu said. "Hey, she is always bagging on us because we don't have our own Digimon."

"You just haven't gotten to know her yet," Jeri said, turning around from in front. "I like Rika."

"You've got Leomon, of course she'll talk to you," Kazu shrugged. "Anybody without a Digimon is slime."

"Don't give up just yet," Leomon said. "I have no doubt that your partners will appear eventually."

Kazu and Kenta grinned up at Leomon.

"Well, I'm glad someone believes it besides me," Kazu said, turning to Kenta. "I wonder what partner I'm going to end up with. Maybe Angemon? Now that would be cool."

Kenta laughed and shook his head. "Right, and I'm going to be the new Digimon Emperor," he mocked. "There's no way you're going to get Angemon. Maybe a Zukomon, if you're lucky."

"You'd be lucky to get Dorkmon, your majesty!" Kazu argued.

Jeri rolled her eyes and looked up at Leomon. "Did you really mean that?" she asked. "Do you really think those two goofballs will get Digimon partners someday?"

"No, but if I didn't say something then they'd never shut up," Leomon replied. "This will keep them busy for a while. It was just my humble attempt to bring some joy into some misguided youths."

Jeri giggled whilst Kazu and Kenta continued to argue behind her.

~*Expect the Unexpected*~

Finally they reached the place they had left the flag, but it was no longer there.

"Oh no!" Takato yelled. "The flags gone!"

"Takato, are you sure this is the place where you left it?" Jeri asked.

"Well -"

"Definitely!" Henry interrupted. "It was right next to these three rock formations."

"Then someone took the flag?" Kenta asked, confused.

Kimiko groaned. "At this rate we're never going to find Rika, Renamon, or even Calumon!" she said.

Guilmon whined and sniffed the ground. "Hey, I smell Calumon!" he announced.

"That means he was here," Takato said, hopefully.

"Yeah, and not so long ago," Guilmon nodded.

"Of course!" Kimiko said, snapping her fingers. "Calumon may have taken the flag to show other Digimon what we looked like in hopes of them recognizing us."

Takato nodded. "That sounds like Calumon," he agreed.

"Now that Calumon is a real criminal, will he be published with a public flagging?" Terriermon asked, squeezing his ears to his chest.

"Huh?" the others asked, looking to the bunny in confusion.

"What?" Terriermon asked. "I thought that was a reasonable question."

"Despite the heinous criminal allegations," said Leomon. "If Calumon was here, at least we know he escaped from the Devas."

"You're right!" Takato said. "And if he did take the flag to show other Digimon what we look like, then we're one giant step closer to finding him."

~*Expect the Unexpected*~

Standing at the window of his apartment, Yamaki sighed as a news report played on the TV behind him. It had been nearly three days since he had last seen Kimiko and her friends, and he had received no contact from them to let him know they had arrived safely in the digital world.

"Disgusting," Yamaki murmured, reaching for the remote and turning off the TV. He didn't want to hear another word of what had happened last week, he was more concerned with his daughter's lack of communication. He was aware that his relationship with Kimiko needed work, but he thought that him wanting her to keep in contact whilst she was away was a step in the right direction. Her feelings for him must have run deeper than he imagined.

"Breakfast will be ready in a minute," Riley called from the kitchen. "Would you mind clearing the table out for me, Mr. Boss Man?"

Yamaki sighed and looked out towards the Hypnos building. "It's like a bad dream," he said quietly. "I wonder if there's anything left at all?"

~*Expect the Unexpected*~

Suddenly the wind started to pick up, more rapidly than normal, and the sky blackened as if a storm had hit.

"Geeze, Kenta, what did you eat for lunch?" Kazu yelled, covering his head as the sand blew around him.

"Very funny!" Kenta yelled back, unamused.

Henry scooped up Terriermon and held him close so that he wouldn't blow away in the increasing winds, and Kimiko dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around Labramon's face to protect her from the sand, and burying her own face in Labramon's neck.

"Jeri!" Leomon called, stooping down and cradling his partner in his arms.

"We have to find some cover. Run for it!" Henry called to the others.

"How can we run for it when we can hardly see?" Takato asked.

"Guys," Kazu called, noticing a data stream rushing ever closer. "I think our ride is here."

"That thing is going to suck us up like a giant slushy!" Kenta cried.

"Oh man not again!" Kazu whined. "This whole place is starting to suck."

Reaching into her pocket, Kimiko pulled out her glasses and slid them into her face. The reflective lenses protected her eyes from the sand and gave her the advantage to look around.

"Guilmon!" Kimiko yelled, noticing him near a cave entrance. "Guys, over here!" she pointed to where Guilmon was standing and, covering Labramon has best she could, started to make her way over.

The others followed behind her.

"Phew! That was close," Henry said, once they were all safety inside the cave.

Kimiko laughed and hugged Guilmon. "You saved us!" she said.

"Yeah!" Guilmon laughed.

"There must be some kind of energy disruption in the digital world that is causing these storms," Leomon said. "It's not normal."

"Energy disruptions?" Henry repeated. "What could that be from?"

Kimiko sighed, stood and looked out at the chaotic desert. "No," she said, shaking her head. "This isn't the Digital World's doing."

"It's not?" Jeri asked. "Then what is it?"

"It's Hypnos!" Kimiko replied.

"Hypnos?" Henry and Takato cried simultaneously.

Kimiko nodded. "Is the only place I can think of that can cause this much damage," she said. "I just hope it's not my dad this time."

"Hey, what's that?" Kenta asked, noticing a light glimmering from inside Kimiko's backpack.

"Kimiko, wait, don't move," said Henry, opening the back and reaching inside. He pulled out the data com and handed it to the blonde.

"Whoa, the communicators working!" Takato said, jumping to his feet and crowding around Kimiko and Henry.

"I thought it was fried?" Henry asked.

"It's the digital disturbance," Kimiko said. "Hypnos is connected to this world in ways we can't even imagine. Whenever it's activated in our world, it causes chaos down here. This data com must have picked up on their high frequency signal, that's how it's working."

"Huh?" Kenta and Kazu asked, looking confused.

Kimiko shook her head and grabbed the stylus. "Dad, we made it! We're all fine!" she wrote.

~*Expect the Unexpected*~

Yamaki sat up straighter as his computer bleeped, alerting him to an incoming message. He switched it on, tapped in his passcode, and opened his emails just as Riley walked in from the kitchen.

"So much for quality time, did you forget about breakfast?" Riley asked, sidling up behind him carrying the breakfast tray. She intended to place it on the table, but it was still covered in Yamaki's work so she had no space.

When Yamaki didn't respond to her, Riley looked over his shoulder at the computer screen to see what had caught his attention. "An Email. Who's it from?" she asked.

Yamaki opened the email and gasped.

"Is that really from...?" Riley breathed.

"Kimiko," Yamaki said.

"They made it!" Riley said with a smile. "And they're alright. Well, that's a relief. I was beginning to worry about them."

Yamaki didn't reply again, or show any indication that he had heard. He was more concerned with the email. Why had it taken this long for Kimiko to send contact, and more importantly, he was thankful she was alive. He could now, at the very least, put her mother's mind at rest.

~*Expect the Unexpected*~

Finally the storm passed and everyone made their way out into the desert heat once more.

"It was definitely the storm," Kimiko said, staring at the data com. "This thing died the instant the storm stopped."

"So, you mean to say that we need a digital disturbance if we ever want to make contact?" Takato asked.

Kimiko shrugged. "Maybe," she said. "I'm not sure. The data com hasn't worked up until the storm. I'm convinced it's Hypnos. Every time Hypnos is activated anything with a data frequency is turned on. But it's not just that that I am worried about."

"What else is there to worry about?" Kazu asked.

"Well, whoever is in control of Hypnos is obviously trying to take over where my dad left off," Kimiko said. "They've had a successful attempt turning Hypnos back on, who's to say they won't try the Juggernaut program next? And we all know how that ended last time!"

"They wouldn't?" Henry asked.

"They can't!" Takato cried.

Kimiko shrugged. "Whoever is in control right now probably doesn't care," she said. "After what happened in West Shinjuku? The city is probably on lockdown, and it'd be a matter of national security. They're only concern right now is to protect the city and its inhabitants, and if they think Hypnos and Juggernaut can do that, they'll do anything to get it back up and running."

"Then we need to do something," said Takato.

"Like what?" Kimiko asked. "Our attempts in the real world were failures, the only reason Hypnos broke is because of the Devas. Besides, what exactly do you intend that we do down here?" she asked.

"I dunno. You're the Brainiac, can't you think of something?"

Kimiko shook her head. "The only chance we have now is that my dad," she said. "If he really as changed? Maybe he can do something to stop it."

"And if he hasn't?" Takato asked.

Kimiko cast her gaze down. She wanted to hold on to the idea that her father had changed, or at least was trying too. "I can't afford to think that he hasn't," she said, looking back up at her friends. "This is my last chance. Our last chance. If he chooses Hypnos this time, then I want nothing more to do with him."

Takato sighed and Henry hugged Kimiko tightly.

Labramon whined as she nudged Kimiko's leg with her head. She hated seeing her partner so upset, and Kimiko's father had always been a sore subject.

Sniffing the air, Labramon lifted her head as a familiar scent hit her on the wind. "I smell Calumon," she said.

"Of course you do," Takato said. "He's been here for the flag, remember?"

"No, well, yes, but no, I smell him now," Labramon said, looking around. She sniffed the air again and barked. "I smell Kyubimon too!"

Kimiko pulled away from Henry and turned expectantly to her partner. "Which direction, Labramon?" she asked.

"There!" Labramon said, dashing out of the cave in the direction the scent was coming from. She barked as, in the distance, a dust cloud was rolling in fast. The closer it got, the easier it was for the Tamers to recognise it wasn't a dust cloud, but rather Kyubimon and Rika.

"Rika's wearing our flag!" Takato laughed.

"Actually, she's wearing Calumon," Terriermon corrected as the white ball of energy popped out from behind Rika.

Kimiko laughed and run forward to meet them. She opened her arms and caught Calumon as he jumped down and landed against her chest, hugging her as tight as he could. "Calumon! You're OK!" she cried, nuzzling him. "Welcome home!"

"Kimi!" said Calumon, happy to be back.

"We were worried about you," Henry told Rika.

"Sorry about that," Rika apologised, sliding down from Kyubimon's back.

Kimiko smiled in relief and looked down at Calumon, cradling him in her arms like a baby.

"Poor, Calumon," said Guilmon, waddling over to Kimiko as she sat on a nearby rock. "He needs to play."

"Maybe later," Kimiko said, scratching Guilmon behind the ears. "Right now he needs to rest."

Jeri nodded in agreement and settled down beside Kimiko.

~*Expect the Unexpected*~

"Now that we've found him can we get back to the real world?" Rika asked. "I've had about much of this place that I can stomach."

"I bet our families are worried sick about us by now," Takato said, before realising that they had no way of actually getting home.

"Hey, what you doing, Henry?" Terriermon asked watching as his partner tried to activate the data com again.

"I'm trying to send an email to Yamaki," Henry explained. "I thought he could help us find a way out of here, but this thing isn't working."

Kimiko looked up. "I told you, it's the frequency signals that the digital storms give off," she explained. "That's things not going to work unless we can find an alternative power source."

"Hey, dudes, why don't we just ask Ryo, he knows how to get out of here?" Kazu asked.

"Yeah, he rocks," Kenta agreed.

"Please," Rika scoffed. "He doesn't know."

Kyubimon frowned. "Rika, why do you get so bent out of shape when you hear Ryo's name?" she asked.

"Urgh! I'd like to bend him out of shape," Rika muttered.

"It's kinda hard to do any of that since we can't actually find Ryo," Kimiko said. "No matter how much I wish we could."

Rika frowned. "Why would you want to find him, princess?" she asked.

"Oh! Because he's her cousin!" Kazu gushed. He still couldn't believe that Kimiko was related to the Ryo Akiyama.

"What?" Rika asked, disbelief on her face.

"That's what I said," Kenta laughed.

Just then a shadow fell over them, and the bike from the Forgotten Village landed beside them. Astride it was a Digimon that neither of the friends recognised.

"Who are you?" Leomon asked.

"This is going to be fun," the new Digimon chuckled.

"Well, at least he's got a sense of humour," Terriermon said. "But there is something oddly familiar about him."

Holding up his Digi-vice, Henry sighed as he was rewarded with nothing. "I can't get any data on him," he said. "You a Deva that was kicked out of the programme?"

"I've got my own programme," the new Digimon replied.

Kyubimon gasped and stepped forward. "Could it be?" she murmured. Her mind racing through all the times she had spent with Impmon in the real world, all the run-ins and battles he had been at. "It is! Impmon!" she cried.

"I knew it!" Terriermon said as the others gasped.

"That loser doesn't exist anymore, this is my true form. The name's Beelzemon."

"Tell me, what you promised them," Kyubimon demanded to know.

Henry held up his Digi-vice again as now, with a name to go with his appearance, he was able to get all granted information on Beelzemon. "Mega level. His double impact and darkness claw attacks are almost always lethal," he said.

"Make that always," Beelzemon said, reaching over his shoulder and pulling out on of his shotguns. He held it level to Kyubimon's face, his finger on the trigger. "It was a simple trade," he told her. "Your lives, for my life!"

Kazu and Kenta trembled as they considered Beelzemon's words.

"This trade only applies to kids with Digimon, right?" Kazu asked, hoping his life would be spared.

"I knew Impmon had issues but I never knew he could be so evil," Jeri said, standing slightly behind Leomon.

Rika shook her head and reached for her deck of cards. "I don't really care who he is," she said. "Digimodify! Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

Matrix Digivolution!

"Kyubimon digivolve to... Taomon!"

No sooner had Kyubimon digivolved, did the skies darken and the electric-magnetic field in the Digital World kick into overdrive. The tamers huddled together, along with their friends and Digimon as Taomon activated a talisman spell to protect them from Beelzemon.

"Aw nuts!" Beelzemon grumbled, shouldering his shotgun and driving away. "I'll finish this later!" he yelled as he disappeared.

"What's happening?" Kazu asked.

"It's Juggernaut!" Kimiko yelled over the raging winds. "I knew they would activate it after firing up Hypnos again!"

"Why would they activate Juggernaut after last time?" Takato asked.

"They're trying to help!" Kimiko said.

"But all they're doing is causing more trouble," Rika replied.

"What do you want me to do?" Kimiko asked. "If we were in the real world I could talk to my dad, get him to stop, but I'm not. The only thing we can do is hope that whoever is doing this comes to their senses and shuts down the program before it has a chance to escalate."

Sensing danger, Labramon spied a shape forming behind the dust clouds a short distance away. She growled, earning the attention of the rest of the group.

"It's over for you and your humans," said a dog Digimon.

"Not yet," Taomon said, still maintaing her shield.

"Caturamon," Rika said, holding up her Digivice. "Ultimate level. Exalted Beast Digimon. That thing's a Deva!"

Opening his jaws, Caturamon unleashed a sonic blast that would've put most nuclear bombs to shame. "Howl of the heavens!" he yelled, as the attack reverted off Taomon's shield, knocking the group into the air.

"Gotcha!" Leomon said, grabbing Jeri, Kazu, and Kenta out of the air.

Kimiko screamed as Caturamon rammed into her, nabbed Calumon from her arms, and knocked her directly into a data stream.

"KIMIKO!" Henry yelled.

"Talisman spell!" Taomon called, activating another talisman and managing to save everyone except Takato, Henry, Terriermon, and Labramon.

Copyrighted ©

Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx

Chapter updated Sunday, April 16, 2017 at 2:30am