Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer v1.3 - The Other Tamer is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.

The Tamer v1.3 - The Other Tamer

Chapter 8 - Mauled

"KARI!"

"RAARGH!"

"AARRGGGH!"

It all happened so fast. Kari was on the pavement before she knew it.

She remembered a flash of white as Gatomon hissed at her and leapt out of Izzy's laptop. Davis shouting out her name, and then a hard shove. Then a blood curdling scream. But none of that mattered. Gatomon became lost to the virus. Was Gatomon even still in there? How had Kari not noticed her own partner becoming overtaken by the infection? She was Gatomon's best friend! She should've known before any one else. Now, it seemed it was too late to do anything.

"GET OFF ME!"

Kari snapped back to her senses and looked over to Davis who lay on the ground as Gatomon viciously sank her teeth into his arm, drawing blood. Her eyes were completely blank - oblivious to the harm she was doing to Davis as he tried to pry her off. But that only prompted Gatomon to slash at him with her claws, ripping his clothes and drawing more blood. Eventually, they were able to take Gatomon off but only after she'd cut a deep wound into Davis' arm.

"Wha-at's g-g-g-oing on?" Joe said over as it buzzed with static. "G-g-guys! Seri-i-i-iously! Talk t-t-to me! What's hap-p-pen-ning?"

"Ken! Grab her legs!" Matt said, holding the struggling cat at arm's length by her arms. Gatomon snarled and swiped at anyone who dared to look at her but especially Ken once the boy was close enough. Gatomon was completely feral now, biting and hissing saliva onto anyone who got too close.

"Gatomon! Stop!" Patamon pleaded from within the computer, but it fell on deaf ears as Gatomon continued to snarl.

"Put her in here!" Mimi said, dumping the contents of her purse out onto the ground and spreading it open. Matt and Ken subjected themselves to more bites and scratches as they threw Gatomon into the bag, and Mimi zipped it shut in front of them. Then Izzy pointed his laptop at her so she could throw Gatomon back into her virtual room.

"RRAAARGH!" Gatomon snarled as she tried to claw her way out of the purse, parts of her paw ripping through the fabric as she weighed and fought back

"Is that going to hold her? She can't just jump out again, right?" Sora asked nervously, noting that Izzy was already typing away into the laptop. She squeaked as Gatomon's claw ripped another hole into Mimi's purse, this one just big enough for Gatomon to poke her head through and hiss. At the sound, the other digimon retreated away inside of the safety room's - scared of becoming infected like Gatomon and becoming just as mad.

"In theory? Yes. In practice…well, that's a different story. I'm sandboxing Gatomon's room now to keep her from spreading her infection to the others," Izzy said as he finished typing on the keyboard. "Okay. That should patch it. Whether or not it'll work is another question."

"Izzy!" Sora said in frustration.

"I can't exactly offer a better solution right now! This is literally something none of us have ever dealt with before!" Izzy explained to a Sora who didn't seem to want to listen. "Besides, we should be worried about…DAVIS!"

All eyes turned on Davis who was huddled over in pain, holding his arm tight over the wound as he tried to stop the bleeding. He looked up, still wincing in pain, "Hey…uh…Joe…what do I do?"

"I'm calling an ambulance," Cody said quickly, pulling out his phone and dialing the emergency number.

"What's going on?" Joe asked over the phone, his voice clearing up now that Gatomon was safely inside of Izzy's computer.

"Davis's arm is bleeding!" Kari said, finally finding her voice and running to Davis's side. "What do we do?"

"Shit…ugh…how bad?" Joe asked, clearly trying to maintain his composure.

"Bad!" Kari said, eyes wide with shock as Davis continued to bleed no matter how hard he squeezed down on his injury to staunch the flow. She could practically see the color draining from Davis' face as he became paler.

"You'll need to make a tourniquet or something to reduce the blood loss! Tie something around his arm…like a rope or a jacket! You have to make it as tight as possible! And do it above the wound!" Joe said quickly, trying to not sound panicked. Ken was the quickest to act, undoing his belt and wrapping it around Davis' upper arm and pulling tight. Davis winced and yelped in pain.

"Watch it!" Davis said, pulling back despite how tight Ken made his belt.

"Grow up, you big baby! You and I have done worse to each other on the field," Ken fired back jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. A small smile appeared on Davis' face as he held back a laugh.

"I guess this is payback for all those times I tripped you on the field, huh?" Davis fired back.

"So you were doing it on purpose," Ken fired back.

"I've already got an ambulance on the way. I'm going to run up to get their attention," Cody said, pointing at his phone. He hurried out from under the bridge to run up to the road and get the ambulance's attention.

"Okay, that's good. Davis! Lie down until they arrive and keeps your legs elevated to keep blood flowing to your head," Joe said.

"Yeah, that sounds great. I need a lie down," Davis said, his eyes drooping as he slumped against Kari.

"Oh, that's not good. Keep him talking," Joe said. "We need to keep Davis awake."

"But I'm tired," Davis said quietly. "Can't I take like a…quick power nap ?"

"Yeah, Davis. Otherwise I'm going to count this as a win for me. That'd put me in the lead," Ken said to Davis.

"No way, man. We're tied," Davis said. "I'm not doing a staying awake contest with you when I just got mauled!"

"Why are we doing this?" Kari asked, leaving Davis and Ken to continue bantering with each other.

"Staying awake helps keep your blood pressure up. Which we need since it sounds like Davis lost a lot of it," Joe answered quietly. "So keep him talking."

Kari looked back at Davis, who was laughing weakly as he and Ken traded jabs with each other. Davis' became heavier on Kari's shoulder as his eyes drooped closed. He was falling asleep and they needed to keep him awake.

"Why'd you do it?" Kari asked him. Davis turned his head towards her, eyes still drooping as they tried to focus on her.

"Do what?" he said groggily.

"Why'd you jump in front of me?" Kari asked him.

"Because I love you," Davis answered softly, putting a small smile on his face. Kari face flushed and her head began to spin at Davis answered. It didn't help that he added. "What other reason do I need?"

"Even after what we just talked about? After everything I just said?" Kari asked him.

"Even if you don't remember it. Even if it meant none of this was real. It was real to me. That's why," he said, his voice growing quieter as his began to close.

"Davis? Davis!" Kari said, shaking him to wake him. But he wasn't stirring. Kari shook him more violently, scared that he might actually have passed out. Or worse, bled out and died right beside her in. She raised her voice in a panic as she shouted, "Davis! Wake up!"

"Huh?" Davis's eyes shot open, darting around him as he tried to find something to focus on. "Who's shouting?"

"Oh thank goodness!" Kari said, wrapping her arms around him and relieved that at least he was okay. Davis winced in pain and pulled back, not that Kari was planning to let him go.

"Not so hard. That hurts," Davis whimpered, trying to push Kari away. But Kari didn't want to let him go. "Ow! Ow!"

"Sorry," Kari said, finally pulling away from Davis. She cast her eyes down at his arm. Davis was now completely soaked in blood and the excess was dripping off him onto the ground. Her heart sank as she tried to wring some of it off his clothes, but it barely dripped out and only managed to make herself a bloody mess.

"Ambulance is here!" Cody shouted from atop the bridge. Davis tried to stand but barely got off the ground before he fell back into Kari's shoulder. Kari slid Davis' arm over her shoulders and struggled to bring him to a stand. Ken did the same with Davis' other arm, and they hobbled out from the under the bridge to a pair of medics hurrying to meet them with a stretcher.

Behind her, she could vaguely make out Sora whispering, "Leomon! Get out of here before things go crazy."

That was for the best. People would definitely be looking now that an ambulance was around and someone was definitely going to call the police the moment they saw Leomon. Or worse, more people from the Data Processing Bureau.

"Set him down on the stretcher," the first medic said as they lowered the legs to the ground. Kari and Ken both gently lay him on the stretcher, both thoroughly stained in the blood still dripping from Davis's arm. "I'll start taking vitals."

"What exactly happened?" the second medic asked Kari. Kari froze as she tried to think of an answer - but seeing Davis like this still left her stumped and she couldn't bare to see him like this. He didn't deserve this. He shouldn't have been the one who was laying on the stretcher like this.

"A stray cat attacked him," Ken answered quickly. Kari shot a glance at Ken - while he wasn't wrong or lying, the phrasing only added to the guilt Kari felt about the whole situation.

"Must've been a hell of a cat to do this to him. Is the cat nearby?" the medic asked.

"It ran off after we got it off him," Ken explained. If the medic suspected him of lying, he didn't say anything.

The medic frowned and started speaking into a radio on his shoulder. "Dispatch, this is ambulance 0896. We've got an incoming animal attack: serious injury to the left arm with a lot of blood loss and possible rabies. Over."

A woman's voice answered, "Copy. Will notify Tokyo D Tower to expect arrival-"

Davis's arm brushed against Kari and she squeaked in surprise, glancing down at him to see the weak but still cheery smile on his goofy face. Even when he was gravely injured, he still managed to put on a brave face for her. And she returned the smile with one of her own, although she was sure he could see the frown trying to force its way to the front of her smile.

"Hey…you gotta admit I was pretty cool, huh?" Davis said weakly as his voice finally gave in and his eyes closed. The medics finished strapping him into the stretcher and wheeled him back to the ambulance.

"Where is he going?" Kari asked the medic, following them along towards the ambulance

"We're heading to Tokyo D Tower Hospital," the medic said, sliding Davis into the ambulance and securing his stretcher in place. The last thing she saw of Davis before they closed the door was one of medics sliding a respirator over his face.

It didn't take them long to get to the hospital, but they waited for hours in the waiting room until the doctors would let them in. Davis's family arrived shortly after them, wanting to know what happened to their son. And Kari didn't want to leave that to the others to explain.

"It was Gatomon. She did it," Kari told them weakly. "That virus that's been infecting all the digimon turned her feral and she went to attack me. But Davis jumped in the way and took the hit for me instead. She tore up his arm trying to get to me."

She could see the conflict on his parents faces , the apparent anger as they considered that she was at fault. The sadness that their son could die and it was all her fault. Kari wouldn't want to talk to herself either if she was Davis' parents.

"He never could stop worrying about you. Stupid idiot," Jun sighed, hanging her head.

"Jun!" her mom protested.

"I'm not wrong. He's been through more dangerous stuff and hasn't died yet. At this point, I think he's just too stubborn to die!" Jun pointed out jokingly. "Or he's too stupid. I think the one smart thing he did was date Kari."

"Jun! Your brother could've died!" their dad scolded her.

"I KNOW!" she snapped back at her parents, her voice cracking for a second. "Excuse me for trying to lighten the mood."

Jun folded her arms together as if to hold herself and stepped away, "Dammit. I miss Taichi."

Tempers finally cooled as the family finally hugged - Kari wasn't sure how much Jun had told them about Taichi, but it seemed they at least knew that he wasn't around any more.

It wasn't much longer after that when one of the doctors finally came out to meet them. The doctor only wanted immediate family inside to see Davis, but it was through his parents' urging that the doctor also allowed Kari in to see him. As they pointed out, Kari was his girlfriend. And once again Kari was silent - did she even deserve to be called that after what she said to Davis?

She told him she had no memory of ever getting together with Davis. No memory of their relationship. That they'd never started dating. But it was all so real to Davis. So real that even if he was hurt by it, he willingly jumped in harm's way to protect her. Would he even want to see her after all that?

No, he'd definitely want to see her. And she had to see him. To apologize for what she'd said. To thank him for jumping in the way and protecting her. She owed him at least that much. They made their way upstairs to an inpatient ward before stopping in front of his room where a nurse finished hanging a medicine bag.

"He's alert and awake now, but he'll be groggy from the pain medication. We also gave him some rabies shots in case the stray wasn't vaccinated so we'll have to monitor him for a while so that he doesn't develop any symptoms. We'll leave you guys alone now," the doctor said as he closed the door behind them. Davis waved from the bed, although he was still clearly out of it and barely able to get his head off the bed.

"How are you feeling, son?" his mother asked, reaching his bed first.

"Like crap," Davis said. "They gave me a ton of shots. Did you tell them it was a feral cat?"

"Ken said it actually," Kari answered.

"It sounds like he wasn't wrong," his dad added, gesturing to a pile of bloodied clothes wrapped in a biohazard bag. "Are those your clothes? They look like they came off of a murder victim!"

Kari's heart sank at the thought that Davis almost did become one with how Gatomon mauled him. What if she'd used one of her attacks on him? Her Lightning Paw or her Cat's Eye Hypnotism? Davis would have a lot more to worry about than being mauled by Gatomon - like a hole through his chest or getting arrested for attacking the others while under Gatomon's control.

"Dad, it's fine!" Davis said with a strained voice, trying to force himself to sit up in the bed only to hurt himself and fall backwards.

"Don't force yourself up, sweetie," his mom said.

"Mom! Please, not in front of Kari," Davis said meekly.

"She's called you worse," Jun snuck a mischievous smile towards Kari. "Isn't that right…Davie?"

"Yeah, she did," Davis's frown didn't break and Kari felt a little embarrassed by what happened. Did she call him Davie? Was that her nickname for him? She had no memory of that but Jun was very confident about. And none of Davis's family were there when Kari dropped her bombshell about how she remembered the last couple of weeks. But she didn't want to drop that on them now of all times.

"I'm glad you're safe," Kari finally said to him.

Davis replied with a thumbs up and smiled at her. "How are you?"

She looked down at Davis's heavily bandaged arm and then at the IV bags hanging over his bed - one transfusing a clear fluid and the other giving him a steady dose of blood. "Relieved - I was scared. Please don't do anything like that again."

"No," Davis shot her down quickly. "Sorry, but I can and will do it again. And I'll do it as many times as I have to, Kari."

Kari wanted to cry but did her best to maintain her composure. Davis was still willing to get in harms way for her even now. She had no idea what she did to earn his affection, but she knew she didn't deserve it.

"Like hell you will ! How about you pull her out of the way instead of just jumping in the way?" his dad finally wiped the smile from his face.

"Oh come on, dad! I was trying to be cool," Davis griped at having his moment ruined. "Can you at least give me that?"

"Not while you're in this hospital bed," his mom pointed out. Davis would've tried to protest but his arm spasmed and he threw his other arm over it, recoiling back onto the bed in pain. His mom started fussing over him and Davis argued against being treated like a small child. But seeing Davis injured like this made him seem small and helpless. Which said a lot since he was always just a few inches taller and more athletically built.

And he was still willing to jump in harm's way because of her. And she couldn't bare the idea that he would get himself hurt again because of her.

And then there was Gatomon. She was now completely lost to the infection. But the question there was if there was a way to save her and bring her back. And she'd wanted Gatomon to not be in the quarantine. What would've happened if Gatomon was at home with her parents. Or if she was out wandering the city like she tended to do when the cat was bored. And what about the other digimon? How much time did they have until things got worse for them?

After Kari went upstairs with Davis's family, she and Matt left with Izzy, Meiko, and Mimi to go back to the bridge to check on Leomon and the other digimon to make sure that Izzy's adjusted computer program was working to contain the now crazed Gatomon.

They hurried back under the bridge where they found Leomon sitting patiently at the water's edge, skipping stones across the surface until it hit the other side. After the last one struck a pole on the opposite river bank, he noticed their arrival and waved.

"Digidestined! It's good to see you. How is Davis?" he asked calmly.

"They said he's fine but they won't let anyone but family see him yet. We came back to check on the digimon and make sure that they're okay after everything that happened," Matt said, keeping his distance from Leomon. "Speaking of, how are you? You've been around a lot of infected digimon. Any rage issues we should be aware of? Feeling violent?"

"I feel fine right now. A little stiff because of being hunched over like this under the bridge. I don't think they designed this with anyone my size in mind," Leomon said gruffly, adjusting and moving his limbs to try and stretch them out after being stuck under the bridge for so long. "And how about you? I hope you're not shaken about what happened with Davis and Gatomon."

"It is unnerving, I'll say that. Gatomon cared about Kari the most and she just lunged at her. And it's hard not to think about the fact that any of our digimon could be next," Sora said, turning her head towards Mimi. Mimi, who'd been adamant about wanting to be by Palmon's side until the end.

"This is all because of me, isn't it? We never should've come here - Meicoomon and I," Meiko said sheepishly.

"We don't know that for sure. In fact there's a lot that we don't know because Tamer isn't around. For all we know this was supposed to happen," Sora said, trying to be assuring. "And if that's the case, then that means that things will work themselves out in the end."

"That's not always a good thing," Matt said bitterly. "Like with Patamon and Wormmon. And Ken's brother."

"You're such a downer, you know that?" Mimi said to him.

"I think we've all learned by now that we can't trust him. Or did you forget-" Matt stopped as he realized what he was about to say. But it was already too late because everyone else but Leomon and Meiko knew where he was going with it. A long pause followed between them as Matt hung his head in shame while Mimi flared daggers into his back.

"Finish what you were going to say," Mimi finally said angrily.

Matt hesitated for a moment, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to make the words come out. Eventually, Sora had to step in and say, "Guys, we shouldn't be fighting."

"We're not fighting. I want him to finish what he's going to say," Mimi said again, with a surprisingly calm anger that Sora had ever heard out of her mom. The kind of anger that made grown men cower in fear.

"-I was going to say or did you forget about your mother," Matt said sheepishly, his voice breaking halfway through as his tone reached a high pitch that he could only dream of using while he sang.

At which point he was promptly smacked by Mimi in a fit of anger. "I didn't forget. I can never forget what Myotismon did to my mom. But you don't get to hold that over me because unlike you, I don't let a few bad things stop me from trying to see the best in people. I don't like Tamer, sure. But I still know he's trying. Or he was trying until this virus made him go nuts!"

Matt backed down, quietly rubbing his cheek and trying to avoid antagonizing Mimi any further. Thankfully Izzy was ready to try and change the subject to take their attention on to the reason they'd all come back here anyway.

"We can check on our partners as soon as I'm logged in," Izzy said, opening his laptop up and typing away at the keyboard. Before he pressed 'Enter' he stopped to look at Leomon. "Would you mind keeping your sword ready, Leomon? If this goes south…well, you're our only protection."

"I understand," Leomon drew his sword and held it at the ready. Izzy hit enter and his screen came to life as it connected to the computers at his company. The windows popped open to show each of the rooms that their digimon were supposed to be quarantined in. As soon as it lit up, Palmon hurried to the screen.

"Guys! Im glad you're here because some guy who looks like the Digimon Emperor showed up and took Gatomon," Palmon said in a panic. All eyes turned towards Gatomon's window to see an empty room and the shredded remains of Mimi's purse lying in the center.

"My purse!" Mimi gasped.

"Hang on! The Digimon Emperor? But Ken was at the hospital with the others. He was waiting to see Davis!" Izzy pointed out in surprise.

"We know. This guy wasn't Ken but he sure liked to dress like him," Wormmon said. "The phony took Gatomon, said something about correcting the mistake, and then he just left."

"Do you think it was Tamer?" Matt asked.

"Not unless Tamer dyed his hair blue and ditched Agumon," Gabumon said. "But that's not all. There was something off about this look alike. I couldn't tell you what it was…something about his smell."

"His smell? You guys are in completely isolated environments! You shouldn't be able to smell anything from each other," Izzy said, his voice shaking nervously.

"I dunno how else to put it. The air just…smelled funny when he showed up," Gabumon said.

"C-crap," Izzy said, opening up another window on his laptop that began loading seemingly endless lines of code. "I'm going to double check my code. It shouldn't be possible for any code to carry between sandboxed programs."

"What's wrong, Izzy?" Tentomon asked. "I thought you said we'd be safe inside of this computer program."

"You should be. So how did Gabumon smell that Digimon Emperor look alike if he was in Gatomon's room?" Izzy asked rhetorically as he looked through every line of code. "Yeah, nothing's wrong. There's supposed to be no communication between your environments. And…oh…oh crap."

"I know that look. Can you explain it in a way that doesn't confuse us," Gomamon asked preemptively.

Izzy took his time to answer the question before he finally said, "I created this environment to be isolated from each other so if one of you got sick, you'd be able to avoid infecting the others. But I forgot one weakness - every time I opened up the program to communicate with you guys, it was like opening a window. The door is open, but that doesn't mean anything if the window is open. I need to go to work! The office computers are probably-"

Before he could finish, the screen of the computer flickered for a second so that the image displayed something different. Sora examined the screen anxiously, looking for anything out of place but the image was so distorted that she couldn't get a good look.

Not that Matt would let her because he pulled her back to prevent her from getting too close. Leomon held up his sword in front of him, ready to move in the moment a fight broke out. As the image began to clear, they could hear snarling coming from the screen and Izzy was quick to set the laptop down - one of the few times Izzy wasn't careful with his electronics. Then he used his foot to spin it around to face away from them.

"Look out!" Biyomon shouted. The growl turned into a loud shriek as the screen flashed a bright white light - then Meicoomon leapt out of the screen baring her fangs and hissing at them.

"Meimei!" Meiko gasped out. Meicoomon turned towards Meiko, snarling and hissing at her - then leapt at Meiko. Thankfully, Leomon was quick to act this time and batter her away with his sword. Meicoomon was sent flying into the river. She hissed and flailed wildly, panicked by the flowing water and desperately trying to reach the opposite bank.

"Meimei! Why did you do that?" Meiko shrieked at Leomon.

"There was killing intent behind her snarl. My options were strike her back or knock her away. As a rookie, she wouldn't be able to survive my lightest blow. So I did the next best thing and knocked her away," Leomon answered, watching Meicoomon carefully as she continued to make her way to the bank.

"But she'll drown!" Meiko shouted.

"I don't think she will," Matt frowned, pointing at the cat as she made her way onto land. "Crap, we gotta catch her before she gets away!"

"On it!" Sora said, spinning on her heels and running up to the bridge and get across the other side.

"I'll try to catch her!" Leomon joined the pursuit by leaping across the river and landing in front of the cat. The car snarled and hissed at him as he landed in front of her. The two squared off with each other, although Leomon remained firmly in his position to keep Meicoomon boxed in.

"Don't hurt her!" Meiko shouted at Leomon.

"I didn't plan-" Leomon began to stay, but he was interrupted by a sudden spasm of pain that coursed through his entire body. He dropped his sword on to the ground and put his arms around his chest as he fell to his knees in pain.

"Leomon! Get up!" Matt called out to the lion digimon. But whatever was happening to Leomon, he was left ill and defenseless against Meicoomon. The small cat leapt onto him and started scratching away at the lion digimon - but whatever pain Meicoomon could inflict was nothing compared to whatever pain Leomon was currently going through.

"GET OFF ME YOU STUPID CAT!" Leomon finally snapped at Meicoomon, throwing her off of him and into the bridge's support beams. The impact was so hard that it briefly shook the bridge and Sora had to grab the railing to keep from falling over. She steadied herself and looked down towards Leomon and Meicoomon to see that they were both on each other again.

Although with Leomon's longer reach and greater strength, there wasn't much Meicoomon could do to him. Well, except for flail around like a child throwing a tantrum. And Leomon didn't seem to be holding back anymore as he swung Meicoomon around like a rag doll, smacking her into the ground and beating her against the bridge's support pillar. Meiko could only watch in horror and scream at Leomon to show mercy.

"Leomon! Stop!" Sora shouted at him. "This isn't you!"

"NEVER! NOT UNTIL SHE YIELDS!" Leomon roared back defiantly.

"You'll kill her!" Meiko shrieked as Leomon continued to smack Meicoomon around. The outright viciousness was unlike Leomon's normally honorable fighting style. The heating was so savage that Meicoomon had gone limp. Yet the beating continued on viciously.

It had to be the infection from the Ternary Virus. What else could it have been? But Leomon had t shown any signs of infection before. So why now? Had he just been that good at hiding it? Or was it something else?

"LEOMON! STOP IT!" Sora shouted at the lion digimon. But then a blast of light shot through Leomon's chest and burst outside his gut. He sank down to his knees and dropped Meicoomon to the ground. Leomon put a hand over the hole in his chest just as a figure in blue robes and goggles stepped out from behind Leomon. The figure dressed like Ken's Digimon Emperor, even down to the ridiculous hairstyle, but he didn't carry himself with the same vengeance that Ken did. Instead, this look alike carried himself with a proud arrogance not seen anywhere else. He raised up a digivice and fired another blast of light through Leomon's head.

Leomon burst into a cloud of data that gathered into the figure's digivice in another flash of light. Then the figure turned towards Meicoomon, examining her carefully before scooping her off the ground.

"Meimei!" Meiko shouted, calling for her unconscious partner. The blue clad figure looked up at the sound of Meiko's voice and simply smiled at her from the opposite bank. He pushed a finger to his lips, as if he were trying to shush her. Then he opened a gate with his digivice and stepped through, disappearing before Sora could catch up to him.

"No! Meimei! Meimei! Come back!" Meiko shouted for her partner.

Kari went out to rejoin the others in the lobby, quietly wishing she could've stayed to see Davis. However, the nurses were adamant that Davis needed to rest so she and his entirely family were kicked out. As they progressed out towards the others, Kari heard a voice calling from behind her. She spun around to face the hospital doors but saw no one there. But she swore she saw someone calling her name. Did she imagine it?

"Hikari."

Kari jumped and spun around to see herself. Another Kari standing in front of her with a blank, vacant expression. She jumped on seeing herself and looked to the others for help. But was stunned to see everyone frozen in place. The whole world stopped moving - leaving her alone with the blank faced doppelgänger.

Author's Notes: What did Kari just walk herself into? Who is this strange doppelgänger and what could they want with her? And what about the stranger who abducted Meicoomon? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v1.3 - The Other Tamer due out in six weeks on July 28th at 8 PM CDT. If you loved it, let me know with a comment or review! And don't forget to follow the story to stay up to date with the latest chapters and to follow to show support! That's all for now! Until then this is leonardo1123581321 signing out!