Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

The Hybrid Tamer

-Chapter 21-

-Last Time-

"Well if you must know, I may have left a few… friends to take care of her if she tried anything stupid, like attempting to escape," Kyuubi said with a wicked grin. "Here, why don't we see for ourselves how she's doing?"

Before Naruto or Renamon could question what he meant by that, the biju-turned-humanish stomped his foot, causing a pulse of red electrical energy to flash below him as the jumbotron flickered to life.

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!]

""Rika!""

-And Now, Five minutes earlier-

"What the hell?" Rika muttered with a confused look as she stared at the autopsy table, or more specifically the thing that laid on it. Dropping one of the scalpels in her grasp, her now empty hand slowly reached forward and grasped the thing before lifting it up to reveal the item was… a hatchet.

It was brand new, like everything in the room, with a solid steel head and a handle made of orange and black polymer plastic. A soft rubber was wrapped around grip and the logo of an unknown company printed on the side while the blade was covered by a simple orange blade guard that fell off as she looked the tool over.

"Is he mocking me?" Rika muttered with grit teeth while moving her hand around to show all sides of the mini axe. It was the only conclusion she could think of for why this hatchet was here, to mock her on how useless he said she was by giving her a blatant handout to help her. "Why that cocky little-"

*Rattle*

"EEP!" Jumping in surprise with a shriek from the sound right behind her, the redhead whirled around with wide eyes as she held the hatchet and her scalpel in a threatening manner, her gaze darting all over the room in search of the cause of the noise.

However, upon finding nothing, she scowled angrily while letting her arms drop back to her sides. "Okay you prick! I've had it with your little game! Get out here and face me or I swear I'm gonna-"

*Rattle*

Once again that sound cut Rika off as she spoke, only this time the redhead was able to see exactly what caused it. With a clattering creak, the door of the nearest body freezer shook before slowly cracking open, the hiss of cold air softly ringing out as small bits of steam oozed down the side of the opening.

…

…

"…Graaaaaa…"

"Oh no," Rika muttered, a look of pure terror forming on her rapidly paling face as that dull groaning reached her ears while a putrid smell tickled her nostrils. "No… no way… no, that isn't possible, no, no."

"Graaaghaaa…" As the girl continued to ramble out denials, the groaning echoed even louder while a hand slowly poked out. It was human, though the skin was a deathly pale green color and the middle finger was missing, appearing to have been torn off if the bleeding gap where it should have been was any indication.

As the limb flailed around uselessly, the door continued to creak open as the groaning got louder and louder until part of a severely emaciated face of a man came into view, parts of which had been torn or rotted off, including one of his eyes.

"No… No. No. No! No! NO!" The moment she saw this, Rika completely flipped and with one final shout charged the freezer door and smashed it shut with her shoulder, severing the mutilated hand from its body and causing it to fall to the floor with a squelch.

Of course she paid that part absolutely no mind as she quickly slammed the lock into place as well before just as swiftly stepping away from the now violently shaking door.

'Zombies!? Real freaking zombies! How?!' Rika demanded mentally as she stared at the freezer in disbelief and fear. 'It has to be some kind of digimon right? Some weird freaky one I haven't heard of yet?'

The redhead might have believed that normally… however once her gaze drifted back over to the severed hand still lying on the floor by the locker, her idea went right out the nonexistent window.

"Rattle* *Rattle* "Graaaah." "Gaaaaaaghle…" "Huuuuuh."

Well, that and all the other lockers starting to crack open as a multitude of groans filled the air took priority. Her whole body trembling in terror, Rika instinctually stepped back even further as the decaying forms of several more zombies came into view, each and every single one of them staring hungrily at her while they slowly wiggled their way towards freedom.

Once one of them managed to do so and fell to the floor with a squishy thump, the ex-Tamer finally snapped out of her shocked daze and upon seeing the shambling corpse gradually get back on its feet immediately started booking it towards the doorway.

'Oh god! Oh god! Oh god! I need to get out of here!' All prior bravado fled from her body as she shoved the surgical tray from earlier aside, not even flinching when a scalpel sliced the side of her palm in the process. Wrenching the door all the way open, she zipped through it and slammed it shut behind her before lodging her scalpel into the handle to jam it up. 'I need to get out of-'

"Graaaaaaah!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

-Present-

[-AAAAAAAAAAAH!]

""Rika!"" Naruto and Renamon shouted in shock as they saw the redheaded girl on the jumbotron as a zombie pinned her against the door and almost managed to take a bite out of her neck before she managed to shove Its head away.

"I must admit, you ningen are just too good at making creative ways to torment yourselves, it took me soooo long just to choose what to do," Kyuubi said with a wide mocking grin while pretending to rub his chin thoughtfully as the blonde duo glared at him. "But as you can see, she's juuuust fine, for the time being at least. No guarantees it'll stay that way for long though."

"You bastard!" Naruto yelled, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists in anger while Renamon glared at the transformed Biju with her hands aflame. "Let her go Kyuubi!"

Smirking down at the two, Kyuubi tilted his head to the side while raising a hand and making a 'come hither' motion. "Make me."

Neither blonde needed any other prompting and in the blink of an eye both were right in front of the redhead, launching punches straight at his face. Kyuubi wouldn't make it that easy for them though as he just as swiftly deflected his former host's attack to the side and respond with a leg sweep that sent him fall flat before catching Renamon's wrist.

Using this hold to his advantage, the transformed biju pulled the foxy digimon close and slam his forehead into her lower jaw, causing her head to snap upwards and leaving her completely defenseless to a gut punch that knocked her on her ass.

"Heh, is this really the best you have to gi-gah!" Kyuubi started to taunt as he turned his attention back to Naruto only to cut off by a fist colliding with his whiskered cheek and a flaming foot struck his gut from the hybrid and fox digimon respectively.

"I'm just getting started!" Naruto shouted while grabbing Kyuubi's neck and pulling him close before punching him again. "Now tell me-"

*Poof*

Naruto blinked in shock as the humanish Biju was engulfed in a cloud of smoke and once it dispersed revealed a plain wooden log now held in the blonde's grasp.

"Still the same old foolish ningen as ever," Kyuubi asked from several yards behind his former host with a cocky smirk… before another Kyuubi stepped out from behind him… and another… and another. "Did you really think this form of mine was merely aesthetic?"

In mere moments Naruto and a recovering Renamon found themselves surrounded by at least a hundred redheads as they came streaming out of the nearby buildings, transforming from random bits of junk in the area, or simply appearing in familiar puffs.

"So… would this be the frying pan or the fire?" Renamon asked dully with just a tinge of nervousness audible as she got into a ready stance.

"Both," Was Naruto dry reply, making a familiar cross sign with his hands while looking around at all the transformed biju. 'Kuso, I hope you aren't all talk after all Rika, because this is definitely gonna take a while.'

-Meanwhile-

"Graaaah!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Rika screamed at the top of her lungs as she just barely managed to hold back the rotting corpse attempting to take a bite out of her with one hand while wildly hacking at whatever she could reach with the hatchet in her other.

Given that her opponent was already deceased though, he didn't exactly care much about the metal blade biting into Its decaying flesh. And as it turns out, breaking through a skull of a cannibalistic corpse while keeping it from eating you was harder than the movies showed as most of her attempts ended up only barely cracking into the bone if not outright bouncing off uselessly.

"Graaaah! "Graaaghle!" *Bang* "Greeeeeh!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEAAH!" *Crack*

However, fear and adrenaline were powerful motivators that should not be underestimated. Such as in this case as with a squeal of terror when she felt the door shake behind her from the trapped zombies, Rika swung her weapon with all her might and split through the damaged skull.

The instant this happened, the walking corpse went completely still until Rika instinctually wrenched her hatchet free with a sickening squelch and shoved it away, causing it to fall over backwards. Watching it fall, the redhead only had just enough time to see a small cloud of data float out of the wound and disperse before flinching as the door behind her shook even more.

'That was too close, way too close,' She thought, backing away from the shaking door as she held her now blood covered hatchet close to her chest with trembling hands, ignoring the acrid smell the viscous red liquid gave off. Thankfully though, the slab of wood held and after a few moments the banging and groaning died away.

Despite this, Rika remained tense and alert, her eyes locked on the doorway with a suspicious glare for a solid minute before finally letting her gaze travel to the last door left to try. Said door had been partially opened, with a thin trail of coagulated blood across the floor leading from it to the once again dead corpse.

Knowing what that meant but not really having any other choice, Rika reluctantly made her way over and cautiously peeked through the open doorway…

…Before immediately dropping her jaw in shock the instant she saw the much longer hallway with many different branching halls and doorways along with a dozen or so different zombies idly shambling along in random directions.

"Oooooooh-"

-XxXxX-

"Kuso!" Renamon swore angrily as she took a punch to the shoulder from a Kyuubi clone before she bisected it and two others with a slash of her claws. She then leapt into the air just in time to avoid a quartet of dropkicks that cratered the ground she once stood, crossing her arms as a glow formed around her chest before flinging them wide open and unleashing a horde of glowing razor leafs. "Diamond storm!"

As they were shredded into pieces, the foxy digimon took the brief respite to take in the utter chaos that was unfolding around her.

Hundreds of Narutos and Kyuubis were duking it out all over the place, fists, kunai, and jutsu flying all over as the two opposing clone armies tore into each-other with the ferocity of wild animals. Explosions shook and shattered the ground, battle cries rang out only to be cut off moments later, rubble and debris were flying everywhere, and visibility was rapidly dwindling to nothing as all the smoke from the sheer amount of clones being summoned and dispelled clogged the air.

Renamon was helping where she could, thinning the numbers while she tried to locate either the original Naruto, who'd she'd lost track of in the chaos, or the original Kyuubi so she could wring Rika's location out of him.

However, despite taking out at least a hundred clones at this point, the foxy digimon could tell she'd barely made a dent in the conflict. Not only that, but the combination of taking several direct hits and repeated use of her high tier attacks was rapidly dwindling down her stamina.

"Renamon! There you are!" Renamon was snapped from her thoughts as a suddenly Naruto appeared beside her and grabbed her shoulder. "Come on! I got a plan!"

Not given any to respond, the fox digimon could only blink before both of them were engulfed by smoke and reappeared on top of a building directly above the ongoing fight. Stumbling slightly from the unexpected landing, she shook her head to clear the slight vertigo she felt and turned her attention back to the blonde beside her. "You look like crap."

That was an understatement, the whiskered teen was literally covered in various half healed, though thankfully minor, scratches, bruises, and burns.

"So do you," Naruto retorted with a bland expression before quickly turning serious again. "Something isn't right, Kyuubi is just toying around with us for some reason. We need to stop playing his game."

"And how exactly do you intend for us to do that?" Renamon asked seriously, remembering that the whiskered blonde said about having a plan.

Sighing in response to her question, Naruto hesitated for only a second before holding his dominant hand out towards the fox digimon with his now lightly glowing digivice facing her. "By giving you what you wanted."

Briefly confused, Renamon's eyes widened upon realizing exactly what Naruto was suggesting before a small smirk crossed her lips. "About time." She said while immediately intertwining her hand with his, causing the device to glow even brighter while a visible pulse of energy surged through both blondes.

[Compatible digimon partner detected. Establishing digital link.]

"Oh yeah, now that's what I'm talking about," Renamon muttered, shivering with an excited grin as she felt pure power far greater than any she'd gotten from Rika flow through her, reenergizing her and healing her body almost instantly. Clenching and unclenching her fists several times, the foxy digimon couldn't help but chuckle eagerly as the surge settled down within her. "Talk about a rush, I feel like I could take on an Ultimate right now."

"Well let's hope that's true," Naruto said while staring down at the ground, snapping Renamon out of her revelry as she did the same to see Kyuubi all by himself staring right back at them with that same mocking grin.

"Because this is far from over."

-End Chapter-

AN: Sorry for the late update everyone, I had a lot of trouble writing recently thanks to some rather annoying issues that cropped up out of the blue. I do hope you still enjoy this chapter though and please review.