"There was a Digimon." Takato said. "Why wouldn't we be here?"

"I think that qualifies as rude."

"You're... hardly in a position to say that, Terriermon."

I looked up, and spotted a Heart hiding behind a pole.

Oh thank god a distraction.

"What are you looking at?" Henry asked.

"Oh, just a little spy."

"What?" Rika asked, turning to look up at the pole.

"Oh yes." I nodded. I saw the emotions flicker through the Heart -Impmon's, no doubt-, as Impmon realised he had been caught. "You can come out now."

He didn't move.

"Impmon."

"How the hell do you-" Impmon began, stepping out, before realised what he had just done. "What do you want."

It wasn't a question.

I answered anyway. "Oh, nothing in particular, I've already gotten what I wanted." A distraction to stop that conversation before it could get really bad. "And I'll have to thank you for that."

Impmon stared at me. "Toots over there was right, you are weird."

"So I have been told."

"Ugh, whatever. C'mon Renamon, we're leaving." Rika turned, heading down the street away from us.

"She's very rude." Terriermon commented. Again.

"Which is understandable, considering you nearly murdered her a couple days ago."

Terriermon didn't say anything, though he did look down, shame and regret appearing in his Heart.

"Shame it was only a 'nearly'." He... didn't just say that. "Would've been spared one of you loons if she'd bit it."

He did.

Impmon. Oh, Impmon, you fool.

I probably shouldn't be getting as angry as I am.

"Impmon? You have about three seconds to run before I get you for that comment."

"Ha! What are you going to do?" He laughed, smirking down at us.

Slowly, I looked up at him, allowing the glow of my eyes to escape my cloak.

"Three."

Impmon stopped smirking.

"Two."

He got up, darting backwards, over the rooftops.

"One."

He ducked out of sight, continuing to run away.

Good.

My eyes stopped glowing, once again shrouding the inside of my cloak in completely darkness, and I turned back towards Takato, Guilmon, Henry and Terriermon.

"So, how have you four been doing?"

"Impmon."

He yelped, startling badly, nearly sending himself flying off the street lamp he had been resting on.

He regained his balance quickly, standing up straight, turning around to face me.

There was a lingering fear in his Heart, brought out as he saw me.

"Whaddya want?" He asked.

"I just want to lay some ground rules."

"Ground rules? I ain't a pet that you can order around!"

"No, you're not. However, you will listen, or I will delete you and feed your data to a Numemon."

"... You're drivin' a hard bargain."

"Rule One." I continued, ignoring him entirely. "You will make no references to Rika's near-death, nor will you ever insinuate that she should have died. Do you accept?"

"Yeah, fine, whatever."

"Rule Two. You will not attempt to hurt anybody unless the situation absolutely demands it. I don't care what you do with the Digimon that come here, but the Humans, the Humans' partners and Calumon are off limits. You will also refrain from annoying them too greatly. Do you accept?"

"Does that include you?" He asked, sarcastically.

"No. Now, do. You. Accept?"

"Sheesh, fine!"

"I'm glad that we've come to an accord."

He frowned. "Wait... that's it?"

"Those are the only things that I particularly care about. I don't care if you play pranks, or try and fail to flirt with Renamon, or whatever it is that you do in your spare time, so long as nobody gets hurt; I'm probably not going to give a fuck. Just don't be too much of a nuisance, would you? The people of this world are not aware of the fact that Digimon are real, and I would prefer that it remained that way for as long as possible."

In other words, about as long as it takes for one of the Deva to get through the barrier.

"Not as bad as I thought... Right, one question."

"Yes?"

"Who's Calumon?"

"He is a small, mostly white Digimon. He is quite excitable, and will likely ask if you want to play with him. Either avoid him, or be nice to him."

"Or what?"

I held my hand up, flames bursting into existence.

But not my normal purple-green flames, no. These flames were pitch black, utterly devouring all light, so black and so dark that they were perfectly visible, even in the low lighting of the night.

Impmon shuddered at the very sight.

"Your data. Numemon." I reiterated. "Now do we have a deal, Impmon?"

"Fine, I'll play by your rules."

I'm going to have to keep that idea in mind, actually. Feeding IceDevimon's data to a random Numemon sounded like a remarkably cathartic idea, if none of the Tamers and their partners wanted it.

It would be a wonderful irony for that deranged serial killer.

"Good. Now, while I'd like to stay and chat, there's an interloper coming for a visit."

"Wha-"

In the distance, there was a flash of light, coupled with the sudden appearance of a Digital Field.

"Like I said, interloper." I nodded. "And a Champion, at that. A fairly strong one, too. You might want to stay away from that."

I felt Rika's and Renamon's Hearts begin to move towards the Digital Field.

"Unless you feel like getting in the middle of a battle between Renamon and Dokugumon, anyway."

And with that, I promptly disappeared.