Digimon 1. First Kiss

**Disclaimer:**

**Most of the characters herein are trademarked by Bandai and/or Toei. This work is derivative of season 3 of the Digimon television series (Digimon Tamers) and is in no way meant to imply ownership or infringe on any trademark or copyright.**

**Author's Notes:**

**This first chapter contains more material than the sample in _New Beginnings._**

**FanFic seems to have made a change to its site that deletes repetitive dashes. This makes all the double dashes I've used to indicate pauses in dialogue disappear. (No, those _aren't_ weirdly-hyphenated words. _*fume*_) And since they don't allow em dashes, I will have to try to go against habit and use ellipses. So if you run across errors involving such, please let me know.**

-o-(())-o-

Firsts  
by Eqgz

Chapter 1  
First Kiss

Renamon's powerful hands clamped down on the parapet of the building's roof she was crouched on. Her claws scored deep, jagged grooves in the stone blocks and bits of pulverized granite fell onto the awning of the shop below her. Her lips were slightly parted and from between her tightly clenched fangs came a sound that was half-whine, half-growl. Renamon was _not_ happy.

Takato was kissing Rika.

Renamon's whole body was tensed, every muscle vibrating with restrained energy, ready to leap from the building's roof and across the street to the corner of the park at the slightest sign that her tamer was in distress.

Or maybe Rika was kissing Takato... it was hard to tell.

Renamon hissed in frustration. She'd followed them to the movie theater even though Rika had told her she could stay home. Well... maybe _should_ stay home was how Rika had put it. Renamon had disobeyed and followed the pair, hiding in the shadows of the theater, watching her tamer... _protecting_ her tamer was how she thought of it. Nothing unusual had happened. The two of them had gone to a Mos Burger afterward and eaten together. The brightly lit restaurant hadn't provided Renamon with any handy dark corners and so she'd watched from a dim alcove across the street. Takato and Rika had sat very close together in the booth but that was all.

And then it had happened. Instead of taking the bus back to Rika's neighborhood as they had on the way to the movie, the pair had crossed the avenue and begun walking. When Takato had taken Rika's hand, Renamon jerked in surprise and nearly slipped off the top of the streetlight she was standing on. But Rika hadn't protested. In fact, she'd smiled up at Takato in a genuinely pleased way. She had smiled a lot that evening... even laughed several times. For Rika, that was unusual behavior.

It made Renamon uncomfortable.

Then the kiss. It happened suddenly or Renamon would have done something to prevent it... maybe... no, _certainly! _Or, maybe not... or... Renamon growled in frustration. If a Metal Greymon had suddenly appeared, rampaging down the street, she would have know _exactly_ what to do. This... _this_ was different.

One moment Rika and Takato had been standing at the corner of the park, waiting for the crosswalk signal to change to green, and the next instant Takato had looked down at her and their lips had met and their arms had gone around each other and the crosswalk light had changed but they hadn't noticed and now Rika's hand was sliding inside of Takato's jacket and Renamon didn't have any idea what to _do_ about it!

When they finally broke off the kiss, both of them seemed to be a bit short of breath. They glanced around as if unsure of exactly where they were.

"Um... I..." Takato began softly, "I... _wow_."

Rika just smiled.

Renamon gave a sigh of relief. It was over.

Then Rika put her hand on the back of Takato's head and pulled him down to her again. He didn't resist. They ignored the traffic, the smirks of the people passing by... they ignored everything but each other.

One of the parapet stones cracked in half under Renamon's hand. She almost called out to her tamer using the special telepathic bond they shared, but managed to hold herself back. Other than a cry of outrage, what could she _say?_

When the two broke off their second kiss, both of them were definitely breathing hard. Rika leaned her head against Takato's chest and said something too quietly for Renamon to hear. Takato just nodded in reply. They stood for a while longer with their arms around each other and then began to walk in the direction of Rika's house. Rika's arm was around Takato's waist beneath his jacket and Takato's arm was around Rika's shoulders.

Renamon's arms were crossed over her chest and the rest of her body's pose eloquently expressed her displeasure. Her long tail thrashed angrily as she glared at the pair. She silently leaped from roof to roof, following them closely. She was so focused on the tamers that she failed to notice the two boys sitting on one of the rooftops, sharing a beer. She landed only a few meters away from them.

"Whoa!" yelled one of the boys in surprise, slopping beer on himself.

"Hey!" the other, less drunk one said, "Dude! It's Renamon!"

"Huh?"

"The digimon! You know... the one who... damn, where'd she go?"

Renamon was furious with herself for being so careless as to be seen. She was much more cautious the rest of the way home. It seemed to take them forever... Takato and Rika stopped every block or so for another kiss... but they reached Rika's house ten minutes before the curfew imposed by Rika's mother. Another bit of unusual behavior on her tamer's part.

Takato was invited in for tea and they sat at the table with Rika's mother and grandmother talking about the movie, dinner and other, inconsequential stuff, while Rika's mother tried, rather clumsily, to pry more information out of the two teenagers about their date. Considering that her strong-minded daughter had once run off to an entirely different _dimension_ without telling her, it wasn't surprising that she failed.

Renamon crouched on the roof of the house, listening in and waiting. Finally, Takato left for home and Rika insisted to her mother that she was suddenly very sleepy and needed to go to bed. When she had changed into her pajamas, Rika knelt on her futon and called out in a whisper, "Renamon?"

Renamon appeared from the shadows so quickly that Rika gave a small gasp of surprise before grabbing her in a tight hug. It was Renamon's turn to be surprised. She returned the hug gently, taking care to keep her claws from snagging in Rika's clothing.

"Oh Renamon!" Rika said, her voice slightly muffled by her partner's thick neck ruff, "We kissed! Coming home from the movie, we kissed and it was _wonderful!_"

Renamon stopped herself from sighing and simply said, "I know. I was watching."

Rika pushed away from her partner and looked up at her. Renamon's cool gaze was just as enigmatic as usual but her lack of apparent emotion was something Rika had long ago become used to. Rika's puzzled expression soon gave way to a grin. "You old worry-wart! You were there to protect me, weren't you?"

"Of course, Rika."

Rika slapped her playfully on the arm. "Well, Takato's not somebody I need protecting from!" She leaned back against Renamon's soft fur again. "He's not somebody I _want_ protecting from."

"I was worried. I've heard stories about boys who..."

"Oh come on, Renamon! This is Takato we're talking about! He's probably the nicest boy on the planet." She couldn't help smiling again as she recalled their walk home. "He sure is one of the _cutest_. And since he's taken up kung-fu with Henry's sensei, he's really gotten fit. His chest and shoulders are..." Rika trailed off, snuggled deeper into Renamon's ruff and made a hum deep in her throat that Renamon supposed was an indicator of satisfaction.

"He's always so nice to me," Rika continued in a quieter voice, "even when I'm being really bitchy. He makes my laugh... even when I'm _trying_ to be angry. And when we kissed... it was so _nice!_ It's the first time I've ever really kissed a boy and he's _so_ good at it..." She broke off suddenly and sat upright. "Do you think he's done it before? With some other girl?"

"Perhaps," Renamon said neutrally, "but I've never seen him behave like he did tonight with you, if that is the common after-effect. He may be naturally talented."

"Naturally talented..." Rika repeated in a dreamy voice as she leaned back against her partner.

"Come to that, I've never seen _you_ behave like this, either. It's almost like you're a different person. It's... _disturbing_."

"Oh you grumpy-pants!" Rika snorted at her, "I'm just happy! That isn't so unusual, is it?"

"You just said, 'grumpy-pants'. From _you_, that is positively _bizarre_."

Rika suddenly ran her fingers lightly up Renamon's ribs like she was playing a fast piece on a piano. "Cheer up! You sour old fox!"

Renamon blinked and said soberly, "I'll try, Rika"

Rika sighed. "I wish you were ticklish. I'd like to see you smile when I'm happy."

Renamon did her best, peeling her lips away from her sharp canine teeth in attempt at a grin. The effect was ghastly. Rika stared at her for a second and then burst into a fit of laughter. "Okay, okay! Stop it! I'll promise never to try to tickle you again if you just put away your pointies!" Renamon relaxed her grimacing face.

"_I'm_ happy, so try to be happy for me, okay?" Rika told her partner earnestly. Renamon nodded and it seemed to Rika as if she _did_ look a bit happier.

When Rika was asleep, Renamon leaped to the house's rooftop, assuming her habitual watchfulness. She mulled over the night's events for a few hours before coming to a decision. "I think," she said to herself, "that I need to _understand_ what Rika is thinking and feeling. Perhaps I should pay Takato a little visit."

-o-(())-o-

Takato was a bit surprised to find Renamon at his bedroom window early the next morning. Guilmon yawned and rubbed sleep from his eyes as his Tamer opened the window and let the tall, golden-furred digimon into the room.

"Good morning, Renamon," Takato said politely, "what brings you here so early?"

"I need your help," she replied, staring at Takato with an intensity that made him a bit nervous.

"Rika's not in trouble, is she?" the boy gasped out in alarm.

"No..." Renamon shook her head, "...at least, not the kind of trouble you mean."

"So...?"

"She's behaving oddly... for several weeks now... and since she went out with you last night, it's gotten much worse."

"I'm not sure what you mean. What sort of..."

Renamon had never been very patient with any human but her tamer and the thought of trying to explain her worries and half-formed theories to Takato made her sigh in exasperation. She reached out, grabbed him around the waist, pulled him against her, and kissed him firmly on the mouth.

She couldn't understand what Rika enjoyed so much about it. Takato made ridiculous _Mmf-hmnf!_ noises and shoved ineffectually at her shoulders. She had to cock one leg to the side and plant her paw firmly on Guilmon's chest in order to hold him off. He was trying to pull her off his tamer while shouting, "What are you doing to Takato? _Stop it!_" while she was trying to force her tongue between Takato's firmly clenched teeth.

Finally she gave up and stepped back. Takato caught his breath while plucking bits of fur from his lips."What the hell was _that_ about?"

"Kissing," Renamon said dispassionately, "It had a strange effect on Rika and I wanted to know if..."

Takato's face lit up with sudden understanding. "Oh! Oh man... Renamon, it's not about the kissing... I... well, I like Rika a lot and I guess she likes me, too. The kissing is just..."

"_I _like Rika, too," Renamon insisted, "but I don't walk around like a stunned sheep after... hmn... maybe I should kiss _her?_"

The stunned sheep expression that Renamon had mentioned briefly flitted across Takato's face. "Ah... no, that not how it works. You see..."

"You could kiss _me_," Guilmon put in shyly, "I wouldn't mind."

Both Renamon and Takato turned to look at the little red dragon in surprise.

_Oh god, _Takato thought with a groan, _It's going to be one of _those _days. _"Look... this may be hard to understand but..."

Renamon scowled and interrupted him. "I'm not stupid, Takato! And even if I'm just 'data', I can still feel emotions. I thought we had settled that nonsense long ago."

Takato paused and desperately searched for a way to explain things to Renamon that she wouldn't take as an insult. "I... I know that. You love Rika, right? You'd die for her, wouldn't you?"

"Of course!" Renamon's tone was still harsh but her posture relaxed a little.

"Well... _me too!_" Takato blurted out.

Renamon blinked in surprise and after a long pause asked, "Do you mean you love her or that you'd..."

"Both... I _think_... I... I... aw, _geeze!_" Takato ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "She's... I just can't get her out of my head! I always thought that she and Ryo would... would... and, now we... we... and she's the most wonderful girl I've ever known! When I think of her my chest gets tight inside and I... I..." he trailed off, hands waving vaguely through the air in a futile effort to convey the feelings that he couldn't put into words.

"Oh," said Renamon dryly, "that makes it all perfectly clear. Thank you."

"Sometimes," Guilmon said suddenly, "_I_ feel funny inside when I think of..."

"Renamon, I'm _trying_ to explain," Takato went on, ignoring his partner, "but I don't know if I can put it into words. It's just how I _feel_. Mom says there's a lot of hormones involved and that I need to be in control of my... my..." Takato faltered again and finished lamely, "…well... I guess there's a lot of _biology_ involved."

"If your mother understands all this, then maybe I should ask _her_."

Takato's eyes widened in horror. "_NO!_ No, _really!_ You don't want to do that!"

Renamon's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why not? And why are you blushing like that?" Her long ears swiveled forward. "Your heart's pounding..." her nose twitched slightly as she took in a sniff of air, "...and you're starting to sweat. I've known you to be calmer when facing a mega-level enemy, Takato!" She shook her head in puzzlement and frustration. "I don't like this at all!"

"Damnit, Renamon!" Takato shouted, surprising himself just as much as the vulpine digimon, "I love Rika! There's nothing wrong with that! People fall in love all the time and it's natural and good... most of the time... and I would never hurt her or do anything she didn't want me to..."

"That's good, "Renamon said in an icy-cold voice, "because I like and respect you, Takato, and I'd hate to have to slice you up like _sashimi_."

_That_ brought Takato's sudden outburst to a screeching halt. Guilmon stepped between the two of them and glared at Renamon, the ghost of a growl rumbling in his throat.

Renamon looked back and forth between tamer and partner and sighed. "I'm sorry. That was very rude of me. You see how badly this whole situation has affected me?"

Takato nodded and patted Guilmon on the back to quiet him. "It's okay. I know you're just worried about Rika. All I can do is just promise you again that I'll never knowingly do anything to hurt her."

Renamon nodded, accepting this, and then said, "But if your mother..."

"No, _please_ Renamon! I'm not trying to hide anything from you but it's... it's _embarrassing_. She gave me 'The Talk' when I was fifteen and then again when I started dating Rika., but..." Takato's face suddenly brightened with a happy thought. "Hey! I'm sure Rika's mother discussed... uhm... _relationships_ with her sometime. You should go and ask _her!_"

"Ah! Thank you, Takato. That's a good idea. Please excuse me for intruding on you." There was a sudden blur of gold and Renamon was gone.

Takato gave a great exhale of relief and his pulse rate dropped sharply as he plopped down on his bed. If he had known what Renamon's discussion with Rika's mother was going to be like, he might have had a heart attack, instead. "Damn! After all these years it still surprises me how downright _scary_ Renamon can be sometimes!"

Guilmon gazed out the window in a distracted fashion and said quietly and wistfully, "Yeah..."


	2. First Mistake

Chapter 2  
First Mistake

"Ms. Nonaka, may I speak with you?"

"Oh! Renamon, you startled me!"

Renamon had often been told that her habit of suddenly appearing out of nowhere surprised people and made them jumpy, so she had made a particular effort to make a great deal of noise as she walked down the hallway to the living room where Rika's mother was leafing through fashion magazines. Evidently, she hadn't been noisy enough.

"Please excuse me. If you are busy, I can come back later."

"No, no! It's all right. We hardly ever get a chance to talk," Rika's mother said, setting aside the magazine. "Please sit down." The truth was they never had much to talk _about_. Rumiko Nonaka's life centered nearly exclusively around two things; fashion and personal beauty. The first wouldn't have interested Renamon even if she _had_ worn clothing and the second she achieved simply by being herself. Renamon's life consisted mainly of battling destructive digimon... something that Rumiko _aggressively_ avoided thinking about. The only part of their lives they had in common was Rika.

Renamon lowered herself to the tatami mat across the low table from Rumiko and curled her long tail neatly over her paws. "Thank you, Ms. Nonaka. Please forgive me if what I am about to ask you is embarrassing in any way."

"Oh? No, please... I'm intrigued." In fact, Renamon's polite preface had instantly increased Rumiko's interest in the conversation by an order of magnitude. Following close on the heels of fashion and beauty, _gossip_ was one of Rumiko's delights.

"It's about Rika... and Takato..." Renamon began hesitantly.

Rumiko's eyes widened and she leaned over the table. "Really? They're getting very close, aren't they? What do you know? Rika won't tell me a thing!"

"Uh... " Renamon was a bit taken aback by Rumiko's sudden avid interest but continued on, "...it's just that after their date last night, Rika was acting so strangely it worried me. At first I thought it was the kissing but..."

"Kissing?" Rumiko interrupted. "There was kissing? Oh, _why_ won't Rika talk to me about these things? You have to tell me_ everything! _Oh wait..." Rumiko stood and briefly left the room. When she returned she was carrying a large sake flask and two cups, which she placed on the table. "Gossip goes better with sake, don't you agree?" she said as she sat down again.

Renamon blinked a few times rapidly. She had never partaken of either one and wasn't sure she wanted to. But she felt an overwhelming sense of duty to protect her tamer, if even from herself, and if she could face fearsome physical combat for Rika's sake, she could easily endure this.

Probably.

Rumiko poured for them both and insisted that Renamon finish her cup before they began. Renamon didn't like or dislike the taste of the drink but the alcohol made her nose tingle... not unpleasantly. Rumiko immediately refilled her cup.

"Now, tell me," she urged, "when did they kiss? Did they watch the movie at all, or...?"

"It was on the way home," Renamon told her. "It surprised me... I think it surprised _them_. They repeated it several times on the way back here."

"I _knew_ it!" Rumiko said smugly. "They kept looking at each other and grinning when they thought I wasn't looking!"

"Does kissing normally affect people that way?" Renamon asked. "I kissed Takato this morning but..."

"What?" Rumiko's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait... does Rika know about this?"

"Um... no," Renamon said slowly, unsure of the reason for Rumiko's sudden expression of shock. "Why?"

"Oh dear," Rumiko said in a quiet, serious voice, "and you two are such _good_ friends. I'd hate to see a man come between you two. I know Takato has become a very handsome young boy but, believe me, no man is worth ruining a friendship over!"

Renamon stared at her wide-eyed. She was completely confused but managed to grasp that somehow her actions had endangered her relationship with her tamer. "What... I don't understand... what would ruin..."

"Oh you poor girl!" Rumiko cooed sympathetically, as she refilled Renamon's cup once again, "I know it's hard for women to control our passions but..."

"I'm not a woman," Renamon replied reflexively after draining her cup.

"Oh yes, I know... you've said it often enough... no _biology_, is it?" Rumiko grinned and poured more sake, "but it doesn't matter. So you're... uhm... _electrical_... so what? You're still a woman and have feelings that..."

"But I'm _not_," Renamon said, staring at her sake cup, "I'm a digimon... I... wait, I think we have gotten off track..."

"Oh please! You say that but I've seen your Magna form..."

"Mega," Renamon corrected her without thinking.

"…and that physique doesn't leave any doubt about it!" Rumiko steamrolled on. "Oh, you're way too... _curvy_ to be a model like me, but there are so many men that prefer a zaftig figure." Rumiko drained her own cup and gestured down at her own body. "I think _sophisticated_ men prefer a lean and elegant shape like mine or Rika's but really..." she refilled both their cups and leaned over to stared pointedly at Renamon's lower body, "…there are women who would commit mass murder to have the hips and butt you have right now!" She cocked her head to one side thoughtfully, "Your thighs are a bit thick, though... maybe if you started some aerobics..."

Renamon's head was spinning and the sake was only partly responsible. Rumiko continued chattering as she scooted around the table and prodded at Renamon's thigh with a her fingers. "Oh, poo! That's all solid muscle! You're not going to loose _that_ by exercising. Well, maybe Takato likes the athletic type... not that I'm _encouraging_ you to steal Rika's boyfriend, you understand... but he's the son of a _baker!_ Yes, he's good-looking and polite but I can't help thinking that Rika could do so much better. Oh my! You really _do_ have a _lot_ of muscle under that fur, don't you?"

"I... I'm proud that I'm so strong... so that I can fight well for Rika..." Renamon started to say, puzzled that her tongue seemed to be thick and difficult to move.

"Oh, don't worry, the gym-girl look is very fashionable right now and I'm sure that Takato loves it!" Rumiko said, patting one of Renamon's huge hands as if she were consoling her. "Now, maybe if we can get Rika interested in another, more suitable boy, she wouldn't mind if you stole Takato away..."

"No, wait! Please... you're mish... _mis_understanding me!" Renamon broke in desperately. "That's not what I came to ask..." What _had_ she wanted to ask? She shook her head briefly, which only made matters worse, and then recalled the phrase Takato had used. "Yes.. the... _The Talk_ is what he said... he said his mother gave him _The Talk_ and that was what..."

"Oh..." Rumiko said with great solemnity, "...things have gone that far already? Then Rika doesn't have a chance. I hope you're taking precautions... I mean, I don't know if you could get... well, you're both so _different_ from each other... but there are diseases to consider too, not that a nice boy like Takato would... but you never know for _sure_."

Renamon was so confused she couldn't even begin to think of a question that might even begin to clarify things. She just shook her head in puzzlement. Rumiko got up and took her purse from a side table. "I'm sure I have... yes, here they are!" She crossed back to Renamon and put something in her hand. "Here. Make sure he wears one and don't take no for an answer!"

Renamon held up her hand and stared uncomprehendingly at the little line of foil packets that dangled from between her fingers.

-o-(())-o-

It was late afternoon and Rika was feeding the big, lazy koi in the garden's pond and thinking of Takato when Renamon stumbled out of the house.

"Renamon?" Rika asked, frowning, "are you all right?" The only time she had ever seen her partner move without her usual fluid grace had been when she was completely exhausted or badly injured.

"I'm fine... fine," Renamon replied. "I just want you to know I have no intereshh... _interest_... in Takato at all. None."

Rika stared at her. "Oh... that's good... I guess?"

"Yes. I don't even like the way he kisses." Renamon assured the girl.

"He... you... _what?"_

"No... don't like it... puny little human. _Guilmon_ wanted to kiss me but I didn't let him. Had to hold him off when I was in Takato's bedroom this morning..."

Rika's gaped at her in shock. "Bedroom? Renamon, what the hell is... are you _drunk?_"

Renamon was still talking, mumbling to herself, "Maybe I should have let him... he's a good guy... _really_ strong... huh? What do you mean 'drunk?'" Rika's outraged question had just penetrated her consciousness. "Your mother and I had a little bit of sha... sake, that's all. We _gossiped_."

"Oh god."

"She shaid men aren't worth all the fuss... we girls need to schtick together!"

"Renamon, will you please tell me exactly what went on with you and Takato." It wasn't a request. Rika's face was grim.

"We... I..." Renamon's face twisted into a grimace and she suddenly put one hand over her stomach, "I... don't feel very well."

Rika's eyes widened in dismay. "Not in the koi pond! _Not in the_ _koi pond!_"

-o-(())-o-

After Rika had gotten Renamon cleaned up and settled onto a spare futon in her bedroom, she left the house and walked a few blocks to the park where she was fairly confident of not being overheard. Then she fished her cell phone out of the pocket of her jeans and dialed Takato's number.

"Matsuki Bakery," he answered in a polite formal voice.

"It's me." Rika said.

"Rika!" Takato's voice changed to a bright, happy tone, "I'm just closing up now. Are we still on for tonight?"

"That depends," Rika told him, her voice just a s cold as his was warm, "on what you think you were doing with Renamon in your _bedroom_ this morning."

There was a brief silence followed by some sputtered incoherent words. Rika held her phone away from her ear and sighed. She let Takato run on for some time before her expression softened and she relented.

"Okay, okay... she was acting all weirded out last night too, and today... you're not going to believe this... well... let's talk about it over dinner, okay?"

"Oh... yeah! Let's do that!" The relief in Takato's voice made Rika smile.

-o-(())-o-

"Drunk? She was actually _drunk?_" Takato asked in disbelief as they scanned the menus in the quiet little corner restaurant. He had decided to change the location of their date from the bright, noisy pizza parlor to a place that was more intimate and, unfortunately for his budget, expensive.

Rika nodded. "Barfed all over a flower bed in the garden."

"I can't believe it," Takato said, shaking his head. "She's always so cool and collected... _elegant_ even. The thought of Renamon being... why are you looking at me like that?"

"'Elegant', huh?" Rika glared. "Are you _sure_ there's nothing going on with you two? Maybe you'd rather be dating _her_?"

Years of experience with Rika's hair-trigger temper came to Takato's rescue. Humor always seemed to work best in situations where it needed to be defused. "Are you kidding? I was spitting out fur for an _hour_ after she kissed me! Yuck!"

It did the trick. Rika chuckled despite herself. "I blame my mother, actually. I have no idea _why_ she poured all that sake down poor Renamon and I only got a very garbled version of what they talked about. But it sure didn't help matters any."

"It'll be okay," Takato said and placed a reassuring hand over one of Rika's.

"Damnit, Takato," She smiled sweetly up at him and laced her fingers between his. "From anybody else I'd think that was patronizing. From you, it makes me feel... I dunno... _safe_, I guess. How the hell do you _do_ that?"

"It's because I mean it," he told her seriously, "I'll do everything I can to make _sure_ it's okay."

"Well... we saved the whole world... _several_ times," Rika gave his fingers a squeeze. "I think we can handle this... together."

Takato nodded. "There's one good thing about Renamon's little visit this morning."

"What's that?"

"She made me realize something... made me say it out loud, actually."

"Okay... don't keep me in suspense."

"I love you Rika. I have for a long time now." Takato blushed furiously and looked down at the tablecloth. "And I... I know this is going to sound really sappy but... I... well... Renamon isn't the only one who would die for you."

Rika was silent for a long time. Takato finally got the courage to look up and he saw to see her eyes gleaming wetly in the candlelight. "Rika? Are you...?"

"Are you going to kiss me or am I going to have to slug you?" she said gruffly.

He didn't get slugged.

-o-(())-o-

Renamon woke and pushed herself up to a sitting position. She grimaced at the memory of her behavior that afternoon and felt the surge of an emotion she had hardly any experience with; shame. She swore to herself that she would never touch any sort of alcohol again. She looked around the bedroom. It was late and Rika's futon was unoccupied. She still felt unfocused and dull-witted but she also couldn't help feeling concerned for Rika. She should be home and in bed.

Renamon carefully let her senses open to the world. She felt out with that psychic sense that connected her and her tamer. If Rika was in any trouble... Renamon hissed in surprise and her eye flew open wide at the sensation she received from Rika. She only just barely managed to keep her own startled emotions from flowing back to the girl.

Only a few minutes later she was in the park, zeroing in on the dark corner where Rika and Takato were sharing a bench... and each other.

Rika thought it was sweet how careful and respectful Takato was was being. They both had their hands inside each other's clothing but whereas Rika was letting her hands wander wherever she pleased, Takato wouldn't touch her anywhere until she had explicitly given him permission by guiding his hands herself. At that moment, one of his hands rested on her ribs just below her breasts and she could _feel_ how badly he wanted to touch her there. She broke off their kiss, leaned back a bit so she could look him in the face, and covered his hand with one of her own. She paused and made him suffer... just a bit. Did he really expect her to pull his hand away now? She grinned wickedly and slid his hand upward. The expression on his face was something she'd remember for the rest of her life. And his touch on her felt very nice indeed.

"Oh, Rika," Takato breathed, "You're so beautiful! You feel so..."

_"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" _Screamed Renamon from directly behind the bench.

Both Takato and Rika yelled in surprise and fell away from each other. Takato's shirt tore and buttons scattered across the pavement as he slipped off the bench and landed hard on his butt.

"_Rika!_ Don't you know he could be _diseased!" _Renamon fumbled the string of condoms out of the top of one of her arm guards and held them out to a still dazed and unbelieving Rika. "Here. Make sure he wears one and don't take no for an answer!" she repeated Rumiko's advice exactly, still having no clue as to what it meant.

"Holy shit!" Takato cursed from his position on the ground. He very rarely swore but the surprise, embarrassment, and fear of the growing expression of fury on Rika's face certainly made for several good excuses for profanity.

Rika's face was flaming red but her voice crackled with ice as she hissed at Renamon in rage, "How... how _dare_ you! Get away from me. Get away from _us! _I don't care where you go but _stay away _from us! Do you _hear_ me, you _stupid_..." But Renamon was already gone.


	3. First Things First

**Author's Note:**

**I assume most of you know this, but just in case...**

**"Taiko" is Japanese for "drum" and is also a style of drumming that is characterized by very energetic (and loud) beats.**

**You'll need to know that... trust me.**

-o-(())-o-

Chapter 3  
First Things First

Rika stomped up and down the polished floorboards in front of her bedroom, the booming echoes of her feet rumbling through the house. She was furious. Furious with Renamon, furious with herself, and, just to round things off, furious with Takato.

The reason for her anger with Renamon was obvious and her anger with herself was mainly for loosing her temper with her partner... even considering the circumstances. Renamon had only been concerned for her, after all. But Takato? Even after Renamon's sudden appearance and exit, Rika had still felt... well, she had _really_ liked the way Takato had been touching her and she had thought that maybe they could continue where they'd left off before they had been interrupted.

Takato was too upset. He blushed and stuttered and looked over his shoulder a lot. And when Rika had demanded to know (nearly shouted it into his face, actually) if he wanted to kiss her again, he said, "_Yes!_ Of _course_ I do... but..."

It was the "but" that did it. Rika literally saw red at the edges of her vision. She shoved Takato away and yelled, "Then come back when you don't have any doubts, _Goggle-head!"_ She hadn't called him that in ages.

It was very late by the time Rika had gotten home and she was tired but she knew she wouldn't be able to get to sleep for hours, so she paced up and down, up and down, up and down...

"Rika dear," came a soft feminine voice from the hallway, "when is the Taiko concert going to be over?"

Rika looked up. Her grandmother was standing in the hallway, sleepy-looking and with a frightful case of bed-head.

"Oh grandmother, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to wake you!"

"Well, now that I'm up, I'm going to make myself some tea. Why don't you join me? It might help you to get to sleep."

"No... thank you but..."

"It may help to talk about whatever it is that's bothering you," Seiko continued. "Is it trouble with your young man?"

"Yes. Well... no, not exactly."

"Dear, you may not believe this, but I was young once, and I think I did rather well in the 'handling men' department. I might be able to help."

"How are you at paranoid digimon?"

"Oh," Seiko said in surprise. "I... I think _you're _the expert in _that_ department. But just talking about it may help you to settle your thoughts."

"Well..."

"What else do you have to do? I think the neighbors might call the police if there's any more drumming tonight."

Rika sighed and then smiled at her grandmother, "All right. If the police showed up at the door right now, I'd probably get arrested for decking one of them."

-o-(())-o-

Renamon paced up and down along the top of the billboard, her tail lashing so furiously that it made hissing sounds as it swept through the air. She had been watching the Rika and Takato for quite a while before she had interrupted them. She didn't like what she had seen and liked the unfamiliar emotions that had swept through her even less.

Then Takato had touched Rika on the _breast_. Renamon growled at the memory. Touching _her_ Rika in such an intimate place! Yes, she _had_ seen Rika move his hand with her own but... Renamon growled in frustration... she still didn't like it. Could she chase Takato away entirely? Would Rika forgive her if she did? And _why_ was she so upset about the whole thing? Her talk with Rumiko had only made her confusion worse. If only she had someone to talk to that could...

"Heya, Fox-face! Long-time, no see!"

Renamon jumped in surprise and whirled toward the voice, fangs bared and claws ready to strike.

"Whoa, whoa! Take it easy, toots!" Impmon grinned, holding up his hands in mock surrender, "Why so jumpy?"

"Takato! And _Rika!_ And... and... _Aaaaahhhhhhhh!"_ Renamon let her frustration vent in a howl that made pedestrians on the street far below squint upward in puzzlement.

"Yeah... well, _dats_ clear as mud." Impmon put his fists on his hips. "Wanna take another swing at enlightenin' me?"

"They're in _love_," Renamon snarled, disdain dripping from the word.

"No kiddin'? Well, dats nice, I guess. What's da problem?"

"Rika's never behaved like this before! And I'm not sure I like it... no, I'm sure I _don't_ like it!"

"Jeeze, Fox-face! Dere's nuthin' wrong with love! Well... okay, I suppose it depends on how ya _do_ it. But if Rika's happy..."

"But she was happy _before!_ Why does she need Takato now?"

"_Heh.._. every dame likes a smooth-talking guy to get her engine revin', ya know what I mean?"

Renamon stared at him in bewilderment for a moment before hissing, "No! I _don't_ know! The touching and kissing... I just don't understand _why_..."

Impmon's perpetual smirk gradually changed into a fully evil grin as several thoughts occurred to him at once. "Ah... you mean you never did any of that stuff yerself?"

Renamon waived a dismissive hand. "Oh, I tried kissing Takato but he just struggled to get away. I don't see the appeal."

"Well..." Impmon said slyly, "dats because he's a human and yer a digimon. You need to try it with a digimon. Somebody smooth and experienced, like..." Impmon put a hand on one hip and cocked his head, gazing under his half-closed eyelids in what he thought might be a suave manner.

"Like who?"

Impmon sputtered a bit but caught himself before he yelled at her. "Well, like _me_, of course! I've got plenty experience! Heck, there's lotsa digi-gals that would... *ahem*" He caught himself and coughed behind one fist before his fantasy ran out of control.

"Really? Is it... is it _nice?_"

"Sure is, toots! Wanna give it a whirl?" he assume his faux-suave pose again.

Renamon took a sharp breath and lifted her head in determination. She'd do it for Rika. She walked over to Impmon and looked down at him from her much greater height. "Uhm... maybe you should stand on something?"

"Naw." Impmon said, craning his neck up to look at her. "Jest sit yerself down here on the roof. Good, good. Now let me..."

"What?" Renamon recoiled as Impmon tried to climb up into her lap. "What are you doing?"

"Hey, what good's a kiss without a little snuggle to go with it?" Impmon wheedled. "Who's da experienced one here anyway? Ya wanna do this right... _right?_"

"I suppose..." Renamon replied as Impmon settled into her lap and slipped one of his arms as far around her waist as it would go.

"Dat's my cute little Fox-face," Impmon smirked and crooked a finger at her with his free hand, "Now come give daddy some sugar!"

-o-(())-o-

"So, you'll apologize to Renamon when you see her again? First thing... no hesitations?" Seiko asked her granddaughter.

"Yes," Rika nodded, "but _she'd_ better..."

"Ah-ah! This isn't a trade! You'll apologize to her without expecting any apology in return, right? She's been a very good friend to you!"

_Better than you know! _Rika thought. But she wasn't about to tell her grandmother about the many times Renamon had saved her life. "Yes. First thing."

"Good! Now about your young man..."

"Oh, it's alright, grandmother! I was just mad at him because he wouldn't... wouldn't do what I wanted tonight. We're fine really."

Seiko raised an eyebrow at Rika. "Wouldn't 'do what you wanted?' No, don't tell me, it doesn't matter. I will say this, however," and she leaned forward and lowered her voice as if imparting some great secret. "Men are like dogs: The best ones are the ones that are _well-trained_."

"Grandmother!" Rika said, trying to sound shocked but smiling despite herself.

Seko smiled at her quietly for a while and then took a deep breath, having made a decision. "Rika, you know that I love you and I want you to be happy, right?"

Rika's smile faded into a puzzled frown. "Yes, grandmother."

"Good," Seiko nodded, "so you know that, even though what I'm going to say to you next is probably going to embarrass you terribly, I say it because I believe it will make you happier... make your relationship with Takato more wonderful than it is already."

Wariness and curiosity went to war in Rika's brain. "Go ahead..."

"Takato is a _very_ attractive young man and you two will probably be having sex soon."

It took all of Rika's iron will not to gasp or start at Seiko's unexpected words. If her grandmother expected her to be shocked or embarrassed, she'd do her best not to show it. "Grandmother, I know all about that... condoms and..."

"Yes, yes," Seiko interrupted her, "you're a very bright girl and I'm sure you know the _mechanics_ of it all but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about something that you'll remember all of your life. What kind of memory do you want it to be?"

"I... I don't understand."

"You study karate. You still play the digimon card game, even though you're a real tamer. Besides any natural talent you may have, what makes you so good at those things?"

Rika still didn't understand what her grandmother was getting at but the answer to her question was easy. "Well... knowledge... and practice. Lot's and_ lots_ of practice... oh! You mean..." and Rika could feel her face flush despite her efforts to retain her icy composure. "...we... we won't... won't be any good at it?"

Seiko shook her head. "Yes, sex will get better and better for you as time goes on, but that doesn't mean your first time will be _bad_... if you're prepared for it. I can help you by giving you... _advice_."

Rika felt as if her cheeks would start to _glow_ at any moment but she forced herself to look her grandmother in the eyes and to keep her voice steady. "Okay... but shouldn't there be things that Takato needs to know, too?"

Seiko gave a snort of derision. "Like _dogs_, remember? I'm sure he's been told all the things he should _not_ do... but if you want to make him into an enjoyable lover, you're going to have to train him yourself!" Seiko paused to observe the impact of her words. "Close your mouth, dear. And brace yourself... what I'm going to say next is going to be even _more_ embarrassing."

-o-(())-o-

Terriermon's ears perked up. He scampered out the open patio door and hopped up onto the railing of the balcony of the Wong's apartment. He could sense the energies of a digimon fight nearby. He glanced back through the glass door to where Henry sat on the sofa with Suzie and Lopmon, watching an anime show. The alarms on the tamers' digivices hadn't gone off and that meant that their hadn't been any bio-emergence. This was a fight between locals.

Minor squabble, probably.

Nothing to do with him.

"Damnit!" Terriermon cursed. His curiosity just wouldn't let him leave it alone. He took one glance back at the interior of the apartment to make sure everyone was thoroughly engrossed in the TV show and then launched himself out into the night.

He spread his ears out and flattened them to provide as much lift surface as possible. He was able to glide to within a block of the fight and ran as fast as his stubbly little legs could carry him the rest of the way.

But it was too late. The fight was over.

"Damnit," Terriermon cursed again. "Now I'll never know what was going on here!"

There was a muffled sound from the gutter that was half-moan, half-gurgle. Terriermon turned to stare at what he first thought was a shredded garbage bag and then slowly realized was a very battered but still-living Impmon.

"Holy cow!" Terriermon said in amazement as he helped Impmon up onto the side walk. "What the heck happened to you? Should I get Henry?"

"Naw..." Impmon mumbled, "'m okay... just... just need to..." he flopped face-down onto the pavement and Terriermon rolled him over.

"Who did this to you? Do we need to..." Terriermon asked, confused as to why Impmon didn't seem to be upset at nearly being beaten to death.

"Renamon... it was Renamon," Impmon said.

"_Renamon?_ Why would she...?'"

"Oh, it took ol' Fox-face a while to... *cough* ...to catch on," Impmon continued rambling, "So I got me some sweet-time, alright!"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"But den she... she got all suspicious... I told her to give it more time... I guess I shouldn't a asked for the tongue..." Impmon coughed again and then he blinked and finally focused on Terriermon's face for the first time. "Yeh, ol' Foxy clobbered me good! But..." and here the ragged little digimon's voice took on a tone of immense conviction, "...it was _totally_ worth it!"

-o-(())-o-

**Author's Notes:**

**To everyone who reviewed but have no FanFic account to send messages to: Thank you!**

**To Zero Vector:**

**Some very good points in your review!**

**As far as I know the issue of replacing digimon was never addressed in Tamers. The only time we ever see a digimon being created is when the digignomes made Guilmon... a unique case. There was no reincarnation ever mentioned. In fact, one of the devas (or maybe it was the Sovereign ****Zhuqiaomon ****) bitterly accused the tamers of "wasting" Vajramon's data by not downloading it. **

**There's obviously love and affection between digimon... and, in at least one case, **_**marriage**_**... but I don't think the Monster Makers indiscriminately included data from the Internet when they created the Digital Dimension or digimon would do nothing but have sex all day! We do see digieggs but only on a computer screen... no clue as to how they are created, though spontaneous generation is certainly possible... even **_**probable,**_** given how most videogame enemies are usually "spawned." **

**One of the rules I set for myself in this story was to follow Tamers canon **_**exactly**_**. That said, the writers left some very big holes in the way digimon and the Digital Dimension operate. I don't want to give anything away so I'll just say that I **_**have**_** come up with a way for digimon to enjoy physically romantic relationships that is perfectly consistent with the setup of the Tamer's universe. (And different from the method in my Coyomon stories.) **


	4. First Inkling

**Author's Notes:**

**Sorry for the long wait for the update and the short chapter. Work and life have stolen most of the time I had to write. **

-o-(())-o-

Chapter 4  
First Inkling

Takato was distracted all the next morning as he worked in his family's bakery. He was upset that he and Rika had parted on angry words... from Rika at least... and that Renamon had interrupted what had otherwise been a perfect evening. And then, of course, his thoughts turned to kissing Rika and how her body had felt under his hands... how her firm breast had just filled his palm and the way her breathing had changed and her eyes had...

"_Takato!_"

"Huh? What?" Takato jumped and nearly dropped the tray of dinner rolls he had been putting in a cooling rack.

His mother stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, scowling at him. "I've called you twice already! I need you to..." her eyes drifted downward. "Oh really, Takato! If you want to take a few rolls for Guilmon, just do it! You don't have to try and smuggle them out under your apron!"

"But I..." Takato suddenly realized _exactly_ what it was his mother had mistaken for smuggled bread. "Oh yeah! Right, right!" he frantically grabbed a couple of rolls off the tray as he turned away from her. "I'll go give these to Guilmon _right now!_" And he darted past her, nearly running in a half crouch while holding the rolls over his crotch.

"What..." his mother watched him go in puzzlement, then remembered the errand she had intended to send him on. When he didn't return immediately, she climbed the stairs to the apartment and looked in at his bedroom. Guilmon was sitting on the floor happily munching on the rolls but Takato wasn't in the room.

She walked back down the hall and tapped on the closed bathroom door. "When you're done, I need you to..."

There was a loud thump from inside the bathroom and Takato gasped in an oddly strained voice, "_What? W_hat is it?"

_Why is Takato so jumpy today?_ she wondered. "I need you to make a delivery."

"Sure, sure," he said in the same tense voice, "just... gimme a minute!"

"Alright. Make sure to wash your hands when you're finished."

There was another startled bump from inside the bathroom. "_Mom!_"

She descended the stairs shaking her head.

-o-(())-o-

When Takato got back from the delivery he found a sticky note on the shelf edge just above the mixing counter in his mother's handwriting: _Rika called._ His mother was at the front counter with a customer but he didn't want to take the chance that she'd overhear the conversation, so he went back to the apartment to make the call.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rika's grandmother told him, "you just missed her, but she left you a message."

"Ah... what's the message?" Takato asked, not sure if Rika was still mad at him or not.

"Let me just get my glasses," Seiko said, and then Takato heard the sound of the phone being put down. He waited in an agony of uncertainty for what seemed like ages. Was Rika angry enough to break up with him? He knew she was perfectly capable of blaming him for missing her call, too, even though it wasn't his fault. Finally, the old woman picked up the phone again. "Let me see... she says, 'Make it up to me with a nice dinner. I'll meet you at Nanbantei at eight.'"

Takato gulped. He knew the restaurant even though he had never been there before. It was famous, supposedly excellent, and very, _very_ expensive. "Ah... Nanbantei? Are you sure?"

"Yes dear," Seiko assured him.

"Ah... okay... thank you." Takato hung up the phone and stood in stunned silence for a while. He was so happy that Rika had evidently forgiven him and wanted to see him that evening but... He went back to the bakery and poked his head around the door that lead to the front of the shop. "Uhm... mom? Could I borrow some money... _please?_"

-o-(())-o-

Rika had gone out looking for Renamon. Her partner hadn't shown up in the morning and by afternoon Rika had gotten a bit concerned. She didn't want to leave things hanging with Takato either, so she'd called to make up but he'd been out on a delivery. She gave a note to her grandmother to relay when he called back because she didn't want to be bothered while looking for Renamon. She took her cell phone but turned it off.

She walked through the neighborhood, visiting all of her partner's favorite places. She calmed her mind and just formed a mental picture of Renamon without actively trying to call her. She didn't think it would be right to _summon_ her partner in order to apologize.

She sat on a bench in the park for a while and many memories of Renamon floated up in her mind. All the exciting fights they'd shared, of course, but also the quiet and fun times they had shared. _She really is the best friend I have in the world_, Rika thought. _How could I have yelled at her that way?_

Renamon's arm slid around her shoulders and the fox digimon leaned her head against Rika's. Rika reached out and took her other hand, not at all surprised by her partner's sudden appearance. "I'm so sorry, Renamon... I never should have..."

"No, Rika," Renamon squeezed her hand lightly, "I see now that I embarrassed you on top of intruding. I was wrong to do either."

Rika turned and looked into the fox's big blue eyes. "That doesn't give me the right to yell at you like I did."

"It's all right, really..."

"Shut up, you dumb fox," Rika smiled sweetly and pressed her nose to Renamon's, "I'm trying to apologize!"

"As you wish," Renamon smiled back, her normal slight twitch of her lips, showing no teeth at all.

"And don't worry about Takato and I," Rika continued, "I... I love him... I think... but it's different from... well..." Rika ducked her head and her cheeks flushed a bit. She was never comfortable revealing her deepest emotions, "I love you, too... and I'm never going to _not_ love you, no matter what happens or who _else_ I love, okay?"

"Okay," Renamon said solemnly, "And you know I love you, too?"

"Rika rolled her eyes, "You'd never do dumb stuff like the stunt with the condoms if you didn't!"

"I really _am_ sorry about..."

"Forget it, already! Let's go get some _inarizushi_." Rika knew how much Renamon loved it.

Renamon nodded happily, turned, and crouched slightly, intending to leap for the treetops and follow Rika in her usual manner, high above the street. Rika caught her hand. "No. Walk along with me. It's only a few blocks and I don't care if we attract attention. Just this once, okay? I feel like showing you off to people!"

Renamon nodded again, not really understanding but feeling strangely pleased, nonetheless. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure!" Rika was feeling happy and relieved. Her mood was about as good as it could be.

"What is it about kissing that you like so much? I found it was like... like... having a big sea-anemone stuck to my face!"

"What?" Rika half-chuckled at Renamon's bizarre simile. "I thought when you kissed Takato, he avoided..."

"Oh, no, not Takato," Renamon clarified, "I meant when I kissed Impmon..."

"You kissed _Impmon?_"

"Well..." Renamon said slowly, "yes. I wanted to know what it was like. He told me... well, _he_ did most of the kissing actually. It wasn't very nice. A lot of drool got on my ruff and when I wanted him to stop, he kept on..."

Rika had a hand over her mouth, trying, rather unsuccessfully to stifle her laughter. "At what point did you punch him?"

Renamon blinked at her. "How did you know I punched him?"

Rika laughed outright at that. "Oh, I can just see it! That little guy always goes _way_ too far! He can never take a hint. The best way to get him to back off is to pop him one."

"Yes," Renamon nodded, "It took a Power Paw, actually. Well... maybe it wasn't _absolutely_ necessary but I was a little bit angry by then."

Rika had to lean against the side of a building to support herself, she laughed so hard. Renamon just stood and looked at her in puzzlement.

When she got herself under control, Rika took Renamon's arm and continued on toward the sushi restaurant, ignoring the stares of the other pedestrians. "It's not about the kissing... well, okay it is a _bit_. I know what you mean about sea-anemones, though. I've only kissed a couple of guys other than Takato and one was like that... and the other guy had hard sandpaper for lips. I guess I'm lucky Takato's a good kisser but even if he wasn't... it would be okay because it's all about... making contact with _him_."

Renamon stared at her, listening intently, but made no comment.

Rika slid her arm further around Renamon's and snuggled against her as they walked. "Isn't it nice to just _touch_ someone you love?"

Renamon blinked in surprise and tightened her own grip just a little. "Yes... yes it is."

"So there!" Rika grinned, "and I'm warning you in advance, after dinner tonight, I'm planning on doing a _lot_ of 'touching' with Takato. No interruptions, please!"

"Of course not." Renamon said quietly. "I was just worried," she continued, referring back to the night before. "Your mother told me about diseases and..."

"My mother," Rika said dryly. "And Impmon. You _really_ need to get better sources of information. _Grandmother _could..." she trailed off and blushed a bit.

"Yes?"

"Well... let's just say that grandmother gave me a lot of very good, very _detailed_ information." Rika's blush deepened. "It... it probably wouldn't be of much use to _you_ though. Ah... look," Rika cleared her throat and tried to change the course of the conversation, "isn't there some digimon you feel special about? Affectionate... or something?"

Reanmon thought for a while. "Well... I do feel _protective_ of many... even Impmon. I hate it when anyone but me knocks him around."

Rika looked at her partner from the corner of her eye. "Renamon, was that a _joke?_"

"Maybe." Renamon replied with an absolutely straight face.

Rika shook her head and grinned. "Okay, what about ones that are fun to be around? Or feel _comfortable_ or something special?"

"Terriermon can be fun... for a while... in small doses," Renamon tilted her head slightly to one side. "Comfortable? I don't think..." her head straightened and tilted up abruptly.

Rika poked her with a finger. "Yes? You just thought of someone right now, didn't you? Who is it?"

"Umm..."

"Oh, come on! Who is it?"

"No, it's not like that," Renamon shook her head. "It's just admiration for a strong digimon... a good fighter. You know I respect ones who are worthy opponents."

Rika narrowed her eyes. "Okay then... a Lynxmon or Were Garouroumon... think about them... good fighters, _strong_..." she paused to let the idea sink in and then said, "Now think about the other one you just did a minute ago... same feeling?" She watched in smug satisfaction as Renamon's eyes darted nervously back and forth. "_Ha!_ It's _not_ is it? There _is_ a digimon you like! Somebody special! Who is it? Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Rika poked her finger repeatedly into Renamon's side.

"It doesn't matter," Renamon said, pushing Rika's hand away and smoothing down her fur. "We're not like people. I don't... we don't have... there are things we don't have to _deal_ with."

"Like tampons and bras? Oh don't look so shocked! I'm going to torture you any way I can until you tell me who your secret crush is! Look, it doesn't matter if you're 'biological' or not, you can still feel love! You said you loved me, didn't you?"

"That's different!"

"No it's not! Come on... are you embarrassed about it? I can understand that. For a long time I was pretty embarrassed to admit I liked Takato so much... old doofy Gogglehead... except I kept finding excuses to call him and hang out with him. I mean, he's so innocent, so _nice_. But at the same time he's such a strong tamer! In a fight, he and..." Rika's eyes widened in sudden realization. "It's _Guilmon_, isn't it? He's nice _and_ strong... just like Takato that way. I'm right, aren't I?"

Renamon hunched her shoulders and tucked her chin down until her muzzle almost disappeared into her ruff.

"All right," Rika said, trying very hard to keep a note of triumph out of her voice, "I won't bug you about it any more... just remember, you're more like people than you think."

Renamon muttered something into her ruff that Rika didn't quite catch but it might have been, "Guilmon?"


	5. First Bite of the Apple

**Author's Notes:**

**Sorry for the _looong_ wait for this chapter. [insert lame excuse here] I hope the longer chapter makes up for the delay.**

-o-(())-o-

Chapter 5  
First Bite of the Apple

Renamon perched in the shadow of a large neon sign, high up on the building opposite the Nanbantei restaurant. She'd promised Rika not to interrupt the date but she hadn't said anything about not _observing_ it. At that moment, she couldn't see the pair but felt content to wait. Watching them eat didn't seem very interesting anyway. It was what came afterward that intrigued her and, she admitted to herself, caused her more than a little apprehension.

While she waited, she thought about her own feelings toward other digimon. Ever since first encountering the D-Reaper, she'd felt fiercely protective of smaller and weaker digimon. And _people_, for that matter. As for digimon that were stronger than her... well, there weren't that many, really... particularly when she was biomerged with Rika, But, aside from the complexity thrown in by the different evolutionary levels and modes she could take on, there were some... Cyberdramon, of course, and with Ryo's skill as a tamer...

Renamon's fists clenched as she remembered the last time she'd seen that duo fight... the speed, the power... yes, she had to admit to herself that they would be extremely difficult for her to defeat. And then she caught herself automatically running through various counters to the common attacks and strategies they used. No, when she thought of Cyberdramon, she saw a challenge, a level of strength ans skill to aspire to and perhaps surpass... but nothing more.

But Guilmon...

Renamon grumbled deep in her throat. It didn't make sense. Yes, he was a strong fighter, even unaided by his tamer, but... Renamon shook her head and grinned, thinking of the camping trip they'd all taken together, the Wongs and Takato... even Calumon had tagged along... the goofy game of tag the other digimon had dragged her into in the woods. That was odd... she could recall all the times they'd fought together, of course, but the memories that naturally sprang to mind were of the times they'd just _been_ together. Could Rika be right? And if she was, what did it mean? After all, she and Guilmon were...

Renamon's head snapped up at the feel of the sudden tingle of trans-dimensional energy that washed over her. She leaped up the building's side and flung herself onto the roof, staring in the direction she'd felt the pulse come from. In the distance, over the South tower of Tokyo City Hall, she saw the unmistakable mist of a digital field. Something was bio-emerging right over the HYPNOS headquarters.

She hissed in frustration. Takato and Rika had left their digivices at home, having arraigned for Henry and Susie Wong to "cover" for them that evening. They would be completely unaware of what was happening. Ordinarily it wouldn't be much of a problem; even Susie and Lopmon by themselves could handle an average Wild One, but this field was a big one and its location _couldn't_ be mere coincidence.

Renamon leaped, soaring across the gap to the next skyscraper. She kicked off its side, gaining altitude and speed, heading for the incursion. She knew she could get there quicker than the Wongs and though she'd promised not to interrupt her tamer's date, that didn't mean she couldn't lead a hand by herself.

Besides... punching the living code out of some hostile digimon would relax her.

She bounced up the stair-step buildings beside the towers and kicked off the last one with all her strength. There was a time when she would have had to climb that last bit instead of covering it in a single, powerful leap. Even in her Rookie form, she was constantly getting stronger and stronger.

_Maybe someday,_ Renamon thought as she reached the apex of her leap and began to descend into the mist, _I'll change Cyberdramon's perpetual sneer into an expression of surprise. And speaking of surprise..._

That close to the field, she could feel the energy of the digimon inside. There was more than one. Five or more of them, from what she could sense before she dropped into the obscuring mist.

There was surprise to go around for _everyone_ that night. The half-dozen Gotsumon working to pull a strange object through the still-open digital gate had expected resistance... but not the nearly instant arrival of a lone digimon... and certainly not _Renamon_. Their master had assured them that both the golden fox and the crimson dragon would be unable to oppose them on that night.

They were so busy with their task that only one of them saw her before she hit the roof. Renamon saw him notice her and, in the split second she had to react, twisted around with one fluid movement and kicked his head off his shoulders with a paw blazing with blue ghost fire.

His death-burst of data particles had only just begun to blossom as Renamon landed in a crouch and grabbed both legs of the next Gotsumon in one paw. She swung him like a club at the one next to him and they both broke into gravel before further fragmenting into swirling data.

Renamon did something then that she had rarely done since the day she had made her first digivolution to Ultimate level: She devoured the data of her defeated foes. She was fighting alone and without Rika's help and even though she was facing only a few Rookies, she wasn't about to get careless or pass up an opportunity for an advantage. She drew in the swirling data bits and shuddered at the feeling of strength that flooded into her. Her fur crackled and her eyes blazed at her three remaining enemies.

The rock digimon were slow but Renamon's pause to recharge her energy gave them the chance to react. They dropped the strange object they had been carrying and spread out to surround her and then all three remaining Gotsumon fired their Rock Fist attacks at her simultaneously. It was a remarkable display of teamwork and would have been very effective against an earthbound opponent but Renamon simply flashed upward in an effortless leap over the spray of rocks.

A Diamond Storm attack would have been useless against her opponents' stony bodies, so she went with speed and brute force, spinning as she descended and using her long tail as a whip to fragment two more of the Gotsumon.

The remaining Gostsumon desperately threw everything he had into a Hardest Punch attack at Renmon as she came toward him with a slow and deliberate pace, wisps of his comrades' data still swirling around her body. She didn't even bother to block it. Stuffed with the strength of the five fallen foes, she took the full attack without much more reaction than a sneer of derision. She pounced and pinned the Gotsumon to the roof, kneeling on his arms and legs.

"What is that?" Renamon gestured with her muzzle at the multi-faceted, translucent object that the Gotsumon had brought with them from the Digital Dimension.

"You weren't supposed to be here!" the Gotsumon wailed.

Renamon blinked but otherwise didn't outwardly react to that surprising statement. It meant that this wasn't some random bio-emergence, but part of a plan. Renamon didn't like it when her enemies had _plans_. She leaned down, putting her head close to the Gotsumon's face and smiled. Not a nice, friendly smile but one that made her muzzle wrinkle up into tight ridges and exposed the full length of her sharp teeth. "Don't you just hate it when someone messes up your nasty little plot? I _am_ here and I want to know what that thing is. Tell me and I'll let you live."

The Gotsumon's eyes darted back and forth between Renamon and the softly glowing object. "No! I can't tell you! He'll kill me for betraying him!"

"_I'll_ kill you if you don't," Renamon pointed out in a soft, reasonable voice, "and _'he'_ isn't here right now. Do the smart thing and live a little longer. And while you're at it, tell me who 'he' is."

"Oh... I... okay, I guess," the Gotsumon nodded toward the object, "That's a digitite crystal container full of digignomes. We were supposed to hide it here and then draw Terriermon and Lopmon away when they came to challenge us."

"You _knew_ who was on duty tonight?" Renamon didn't like that bit of information at all.

"We were just doing what we were ordered to! I don't even know what it going to be used for! He only told us..."

The Gotsumon's panicked confession was interrupted by the arrival of Rapidmon, carrying Henry Wong in his arms.

"Just a Gotsumon?" Rapidmon asked as he landed on the rooftop beside Renamon. "It registered bigger on Henry's digivice."

"There were six of them," Renamon replied, "and this thing... there are supposedly digignomes inside."

Herny checked the info display of his digivice. "Yeah... they show up as a tight cluster of blue pips. So... what's going on here?"

"This Gotsumon was just telling me all about the plan he's involved with and," Renamon leaned back down and the hint of a warning snarl crept into her voice, "the _name_ of the one who sent him."

"Devitamamon! Devitamamon!" the terrified rock digimon blurted out. "Oh, he's gonna delete me for sure!"

"You mean when you go back and tell him you ratted him out?" Rapidmon asked with a smirk in his voice. "Maybe you ought to stay here where it's safe."

Renamon Stood up, releasing the Gotsumon and gestured to the rapidly shrinking digital gate. "Your choice."

The Gotsumon darted through the gate just before it completely dissolved.

"Huh," Rapidmon snorted, "I was sure he was going to stay. Oh well... rocks for brains... what can you expect?"

"Okay," Henry interrupted, "Now that this Devitamamon knows we're on to him, we're going to have to be extra cautious. One little set-back isn't going to make him give up whatever schemes he's hatching. We need to get all the tamers together for a meeting."

"Not tonight," Renamon said, "Rika and Takato are on a date."

"I know that, but this is important," Henry said taking out his cell phone and pressing the speed dial number for Takato.

"It won't work," Renamon told him, "their phones are off... they even left their digivices at home."

Henry heard the first few seconds of the recorded message from Takato's voice mail and snapped his phone shut. "Renamon, I know that the date is important to them but this situation is serious! We have a duty as tamers that takes precedence over our personal lives. We don't know what Devitamamon is up to or how soon he will strike again. We need to start preparing _now!_"

Rapidmon stooped and picked up the glowing digitite crystal while Renamon frowned in thought. _Rika and Takato must have left the restaurant some time ago,_ Renamon reasoned, _so perhaps if Henry called the house... _she grimaced, _No, I won't take the easy way out. If Rika is going to be angry with anyone for ruining her date, I'll be the one to take the brunt of her temper... I'm used to it, after all. _

"All right, Henry," she told him, "Let me just see if I can contact her first..." Renamon closed her eyes and opened herself to the psychic bond she shared with her tamer, intending to give Rika a bit of warning that her evening was about to take an unpleasant turn... and gasped in shock.

"Renamon?" Henry stared at her in surprise, "are you all right?"

Renamon's eyes had snapped wide open and she had fallen to her knees with a gasp. Her hands hovered over her body and her fingers flexed open and then closed as if she were grasping at something invisible over her belly.

"Renamon?" Henry asked with growing concern.

The fox digimon shuddered and her eyes squeezed shut again, as her breath came in sharp little gasps. "Ohhh... "she moaned in a deep, throaty whisper.

Rapidmon bent over her and said to her urgently, "Renamon, what is it? Is something hurting you? Is it an attack?" He turned to his tamer for help and was surprised to see a deep blush spreading across Henry's face.

"Uh... maybe... you should break off contact?" Henry suggested quietly, turning his head slightly away... but not enough to completely loose sight of Renamon's writhing body. "Uh... Renamon?" he said a bit louder.

But Renamon's mind was elsewhere.

-o-(())-o-

Rika stepped out of the taxi and as she caught sight of Takato waiting in front of the restaurant doors she felt a swell of warmth and lightness in her chest and an unconscious smile brightened her face. She just stood there for a moment watching him. He was well-dressed and had a small bouquet of flowers in one hand. He was shifting his balance balance and fidgeting with the paper wrapper of the bouquet nervously. _If it makes me so happy just to _see_ him,_ Rika thought, i_t really must be love._

"Takato," she called out and stood watching the parade of expressions that crossed his face with smug satisfaction.

First came that boyish smile as he turned toward her voice, then the blank look as he had a moment's difficulty in locating her... no doubt he had been unconsciously expecting her to appear in her typical casual attire. Then came the open-mouthed stare of surprise as he realized that the elegant young woman in front of him was, in fact, Rika _Tomboy_ Nonaka in a slinky black dress.

He stared.

Then he closed his mouth and looked up at her face.

Then he looked down at her form-hugging dress again.

Then...

"Yes," Rika grinned like a cat at him, "it's really me. Don't you like it?"

"I... no, I _like_ it! I... really... " Takato fought with his tongue for a moment and then said, with considerably more control, "You are absolutely beautiful, Rika. I think you must be the most beautiful woman in the world."

The tone of earnestness and awe in his voice changed Rika's cool self control into a shaky mood of self-consciousness. She suddenly noticed that all the other men on the sidewalk were staring at her, too. But beneath it was something else... some warm feeling she couldn't quite identify but knew that she'd remember for the rest of her life.

She took refuge in her comfortably familiar facade of calm superiority and lead Takato into the restaurant. "You're not so bad-looking yourself, Takato. I didn't know you even _owned_ a necktie!"

The meal went well. They laughed and talked with easy companionship, their long friendship preventing the usual awkward moments of a first serious date. Occasionally Rika would catch Takato looking at her... _looking_ at her... and she loved it. It surprised her a bit. The thought of other men looking at her like that made her squirm uncomfortably... she had always been nearly as introverted as her mother was extroverted, preferring complete anonymity to the attention of strangers. But Takato was different... she _liked_ his attention.

And she was slightly embarrassed to discover how _much_ she liked it.

When Takato suggested dessert, Rika declined. "I have some of that mochi you like at home. Why don't we have tea and dessert at my place?"

When the bill came, Rika quickly placed her credit card on the tray while Takato was still reaching for his wallet.

"Wait," he protested, "I should pay for..."

"Don't be silly," Rika said with a casual air, "I picked the restaurant, so _I'm_ the one to pay. Welcome to the twenty-first century, my chivalrous olde gentleman!" And she impulsively leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

They left the restaurant, Rika towing the slightly dazed Takato after her to flag down a taxi. She sat pressed up against him on the ride home, not bothering to make small talk. That was one of the things she liked so much about him: He knew when quite companionship was enough.

During the ride home Rika wanted to kiss Takato so badly she felt a bit light-headed, but she was too conscious of the driver's presence to let herself give in to her impulse. But the moment the cab drove off, she turned to Takato, grabbed the lapels of his jacket, and pulled his mouth down to meet hers.

"Let's go inside before we scandalize the neighbors." Rika breathed when they finally broke off the kiss. She smiled at the look of disappointment on Takto's face... it was only a few moments of cruelty, really, before he learned that Rika's mother was on a photo shoot in Bejing and her grandmother was spending the weekend with friends from her mahjong club.

All thoughts of tea and dessert were forgotten by both of them. They went to Rika's bedroom and left the doors open to the garden as they indulged in a much longer, much more passionate kiss. Takto's hands glided over the silk of Rika's dress and she pressed herself into his touch, letting her own hands rise up to stroke the muscles of his chest and shoulders that had begun to develop so nicely in the past year.

Rika kept her self-control only by a supreme effort of will. She had planned out exactly how she wanted the evening to unfold and she wasn't going to let mere passion dictate her actions. Not even when it was urgent, nearly _painful_ passion.

She sank down to the cushions on the tatami mats and pulled Takato down after her by his tie. She pushed his jacket back off his shoulders and pulled his shirt tail out of his waistband and began unbuttoning it. Takato's stunned surprise didn't slow him down at all. He shucked off his jacket and pulled his tie loose, following her lead. After his shirt was off he reached out for Rika but she prevented him with a raised hand. He stopped. He was so entranced that he probably would have rolled over and barked if she had ordered him to.

Rika rose to her knees and stared Takato straight in the eyes as one hand lifted behind her back to find the zipper of her dress. She pulled it down slowly, half teasingly, half in hesitancy... even though she knew she wanted this... even though it was _Takato_ in front of her... it still took all of her nerve to let the shimmering silk of the dress slide down her body and puddle around her knees.

And Takato?

Takato was in Heaven. He'd always thought Rika was beautiful but Rika in a dress, an expensive, perfectly fitted dress, it was _unbelievable_ what a difference it made... he could hardly take his eyes off her. And then he hadn't said anything stupid at dinner or dropped food on himself or annoyed Rika in some other way. And then Rika had paid for dinner and he wouldn't have to work extra hours for a month to pay his mother back after all! And then Rika had snuggled up against him in the taxi. And then they had shared a long, deep kiss on her doorstep. And_ then..._

She knelt before him, naked except for a pair of violet silk panties that exactly matched the color of her eyes. As good as she had looked in the dress, she looked even better without it. Her small, firm breasts were a perfect match for the rest of her athletic figure and they rode high on her chest without any need of a bra. Her waist fell inward to a taut belly where subtle lines of light and shadow, cast by the room's subdued lighting, hinted at the muscle tone beneath her satin-soft skin and the flair of her hips was just enough to refute any attempt at describing her figure as "boyish".

With heroic effort, Takato lifted his eyes to Rika's face. She stared back at him with a cool, unreadable expression but he couldn't help notice that her eyes gleamed and her pupils had become huge. "You... you're... oh my god, Rika...you _are_ the most beautiful woman in the world!"

She didn't say anything. She just leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her breasts against his chest, and kissed him. They kissed and stroked each other for a long time, growing more and more excited until they had to break away to catch their breath.

Rika was just as aware of Takato's urgent need as she was of her own but she had sworn to herself that she would stick with her plan for the evening no matter what. Her grandmother's advice had proven excellent so far... but it was so _hard_ not to tear away the last remaining bits of their clothes and do what her body was yearning to do...

"No," Rika hissed quietly, although she hadn't meant to speak aloud.

Takato's face fell and his hands, still caressing Rika's silky skin, faltered. Rika grabbed one of his wrists and kept his hand pressed against her body. She put her lips to his ear and couldn't resist nipping lightly at it's lobe before whispering, "I want you to do something for me, Takato. Will you? Will you do just what I say?"

"Yes!" came his immediate answer. It was a reflex but he _meant_ it. His brain still had some control over the instincts of his young, healthy body. _Some._

"Lie back," Rika said as she snuggled into the crook of Takato's arm. As they settled onto the cushions, she guided his hand down over her taut belly and onto the damp silk of her panties. She was glad the light in the room was dim because she was sure that she was blushing furiously.

Not that Takato was looking at her _face_. He gave a quiet gasp as he touched her soft flesh through the silk. "Oh, Rika..."

"There," she guided his fingers with her own, and showed him just how mush pressure she wanted. "Like that... yes...aaa..." she broke off for a moment, nearly unable to breathe as sensation swept through her and the muscles of her lower body tightened. In a few moments he was stroking her in a perfect rhythm and Rika's hand fell away from his and she lost herself in the wonderful feeling of his touch.

She'd done it herself many times, of course, but it had never felt so good before. She turned her head into his chest and kissed and nipped at him to smother the small, moaning gasps that rose from her throat. He shifted slightly and began to nibble at her neck and shoulders and that only increased her pleasure... and passion.

"Faster," she breathed, and Takato obliged. In seconds she lost the ability _and_ desire to hide her moans. She rocked her hips against his hand and shifted it a bit with her own. "There... there..." she gasped, pressing her fingers harder against his. "Oh... oh... _OH!_"

She hadn't expected it to feel so good. It was so wonderful that she let all her inhibitions fall away... the tight, defensive control she always maintained, even in her most relaxed moments, simply vanished and she gave herself over to the joys of her body and Takato's touch. For a long, glorious moment, Rika mindlessly rode the waves of pleasure and then her head dropped against Takato's chest and she put her hand over his again, stilling it but keeping it pressed against the wet silk of her panties as she caught her breath.

"Oh... that was _good_... you made me feel... feel _so _good, Takato." she half-gasped. Then she lifted herself off him while at the same time, pressing him down... rolling him onto his back. "I've done that for myself, you know," she whispered trailing her hand down from his chest and over his belly,"So many times... while I was thinking of _you_." Her hand slid over the waistband of his pants and came to rest on the hard length that strained against the fabric.

Rika squeezed him lightly and he groaned, his belly going hard and his hips rising slightly. Rika grinned. "Show me what you do... when you think of _me._" His blush was obvious, even in the low light. Rika's wicked grin widened... and then suddenly vanished in an open-mouthed expression of surprise.

"_What?_ Oh, no... _NO!_" she jerked her hand away from Takato.

Takato sat up with a confused and worried expression. "What? _What?_ Rika, did I do something wrong? I..."

Rika leaped to her feet, screaming in fury. Even as distressed as he was, Takato couldn't help noticing how magnificent she looked, even in the grip of her rage... or maybe _because_ of it.

"It's _Renamon!_" Rika shouted, her breasts giving a delightful, tight bounce as she slammed her foot against the floor, "I'm going to _KILL_ her!"


	6. First Line of Defense

Chapter 6  
First Line of Defense

Renamon sat cross-legged in a corner of the room, head bowed and eyes downcast. Everyone else sat around the low table in the Nonaka's living room but only Terriermon seemed to be his normal self. Henry tried to be calm and casual, but he often hesitated and coughed to cover his embarrassment when he happened to glance at the glowering Rika or the plainly unhappy Takato. They had been talking over the situation for some time without coming up with anything useful. The glowing crystal sat in the doorway where Terriermon had placed it before devolving from his Ultimate form.

"So..." Henry began to sum up, when everyone had fallen silent for some minutes, "...the only info we have on Devitamamon is from Rika's card here," he tapped the game card that Rika had fished out of her collection, "and we won't really know what he's capable of until we get a reading from one of our digivices."

"_'Jammed with all the evil of the Digital World'_ isn't enough to worry about?" Rika sneered, quoting the rather unsettling description on the card.

"Ugly customer," Terriermon put in, "Why would anybody _need_ that many eyes, anyway?"

Henry went on without comment. "We know he likes to work through minions, and that these digignomes were part of his plan. And, given the location, we can safely assume he was intending to strike at HYPNOS. But that's about it," he sighed, "No idea what the digignomes were _for_."

There was another long period of silence. Henry sighed again and stood up. "Well... I'll write up a report for Yamaki and email it to him before I go to bed tonight. Maybe he'll have some ideas. In the meantime we need to be on a hair-trigger alert. If an evil Mega might come bursting out of the Digital Dimension at any time, we need to act instantly, so..." he coughed again, pointedly not looking at Rika or Takato, "…phones and digivices to hand at all times."

"Is the _B-team_ going to pull some weight here?" Rika asked sharply.

"If you mean Susie, Kenta, and Kazu," Henry said, this time looking at Rika and frowning his disapproval of her attitude, "_yes._ They can help squash any minions that show up but, obviously, they won't be able to handle a Mega like Devitamamon. We haven't heard from Ryo for over a year, so he's probably still in the Digital World somewhere... we can't count on him. And even with the cooperation of Beelzemon's tamers, we can't really depend on him to show up when he's needed... so... it's down to_ us._"

"What about _that?_" Rika asked, gesturing to the digitite crystal container.

"I was hoping you could keep it here," Henry admitted. "I _could_ call HYPNOS to come and get it... I'm sure they'll want to analyze it, anyway... but since Devitamamon _wanted_ it at HYPNOS, I don't know if that would be such a good idea."

"So... lucky me gets stuck with the potential time-bomb?"

"Fine!" Henry shouted, "_I'll _take the damn thing home! I'll cram it behind the couch and hope nobody trips over it!"

Henry hardly ever lost his temper and it shocked Rika into a bit more sensible attitude. "No, no, you're right, Henry... sorry. There's room for it here and it's just a box full of digignomes... hardly dangerous."

Henry nodded. "Thanks Rika. Look, it's late, I should go. Can I give you a ride Takato?"

Takato looked uncertainly from Henry to Rika. Rika ignored Henry and Terriermon, got up and walked over to Takato, and kissed him on the cheek. "Go home and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." And then she added in a whisper, "I'll have the house to myself for two more days."

Terriermon, with his huge ears, had heard that last bit quite clearly, of course. But, for once, the little digimon displayed a surprising amount of wisdom and didn't say a word.

-o-(())-o-

When the others had gone, Rika went and sat down in front of Renamon. Her partner hadn't said anything during the meeting after recounting her fight with the Gatsumon for everyone.

She looked up as Rika knelt down. "I'm sorry I..."

"It's all right Renamon," Rika said tiredly, "I was pretty mad and frustrated earlier but I understand the situation you were in. You did the right thing under the circumstances... no matter how much it messed up my evening."

"I did?" Renamon relief was obvious.

"Yeah... " Rika gave a little chuckle. "Your timing could have been better but at least you didn't 'tune in' half a minute earlier! You would have gotten a..." Anyone else wouldn't have noticed the subtle change in Renamon's expression but Rika knew her partner down to her very electrons. "Oh my god! You _did! _You... you were... when_ I _was..." Rika put one hand over her mouth in shock as her cheeks began to flame. She felt like she was about to laugh or cry... and she didn't know which.

"I didn't mean to," Renamon ducked her head in embarrassment, "and I _would_ have stopped but... I... I've never felt anything like that before. It was... _wonderful._"

Rika lowered her hand from her mouth and placed it over one of Renamon's hands. "It _was_, wasn't it?"

Renamon looked up at her tamer, almost shyly, "Is it always like that?"

Rika _did_ laugh then. "How should _I_ know? That's the first and only time anyone else has touched me down there! All I can say it that it's better than when _I _do it... um... you know... _alone_." Rika's voice faded a bit at the last.

Renamon frowned in thought. "Why should that be? He can't be as practiced at it as you..."

"_Renamon!_"

Renamon tilted her head, not understanding Rika's outburst. "Is it just because it's _different?_ Or does love have something to do with it?"

Rika was about to automatically object again but just the _word_ 'love' had sent thoughts of Takato through her head. She remembered the feel of his skin beneath her hands, the way he smelled, and his _touch._ "Ah... love, yeah... it has to be love... I just..." she shook her head in amazement at the strength of feelings that welled up in her. "Yeah... _love_."

Renamon watched in fascination as Rika's eyes went out of focus, her tense posture relaxed, and a dreamy smile began to form on her lips. "It's like some kind of _virus_, perhaps," the digimon mused.

_That_ snapped Rika out of her pleasant revelry. She slapped her partner on the arm. "Oh, _you!_ It's not like that at all! If you would just..." she stopped abruptly and her grin returned but this time in a variety that Renamon knew for a calculating one.

"What?"

"Nothing," Rika said with a false innocence that completely failed to deceive her partner. "Ah... the digignomes. Move them into my bedroom, would you? And throw a blanket over them, I don't want the light to keep me awake."

Renamon knew better that to press her tamer in such a situation. She sighed and went to move the glowing crystal.

When Renamon had left with her burden, Rika picked up her phone and tapped out a quick text message to Takato: **When you come over tomorrow, bring Guilmon with you. **

-o-(())-o-

Rika slept with her digivice and card set on the floor right beside her futon. Renamon, who usually cat-napped on the roof when she wasn't prowling the area around the house, curled up on the other side of Rika, between her and the digitite crystal. Rika slipped off to sleep fairly quickly but Renamon remained awake. The digignomes hummed softly, a low, pleasant tone that was far too quiet for humans to notice but which Renamon's superior sense of hearing picked up easily in the quiet house. That wasn't the reason for her wakefulness, though. It was her racing thoughts that refused to allow her to sleep.

But the humming of the tiny trapped creatures gave Renamon something to distract herself with and she went to the crystal and lifted the blanket that covered it a bit, trying to peer into its translucent depths. She could make out a bit of movement but couldn't see any features of individual digignomes. _They must be tightly packed into an almost solid mass_, she thought. She drew a claw over the surface of the crystal searching for any irregularities but it slid smoothly across the digitite. Renamon puzzled over how the digignomes had gotten into the crystal and how they were supposed to get out. The force required to shatter it would do great harm to the little creatures, if not kill them outright.

Digignomes created things in the Digital World... or altered them... or enhanced them. Maybe they were meant to be used to increase Devitamamon's power somehow when he came through to the real world? Renamon shook her head. The little things seemed to have an agenda of their own... or perhaps they some how expressed the will of the Digital World itself, but they certainly didn't just blindly obey any orders they were given. Renamon let the blanket fall back and shook her head again. She was just chasing suppositions in circles.

As soon as she no longer distracted herself with the digignomes, Renamon's thoughts turned back to the evening's events. _One_ event in particular. She understood now how love could be so distracting for humans. And _that_ hadn't even been actual sex, if she understood things correctly. _But Rika had begun acting strangely even before her first kiss with Takato, _Renamon thought, _so if I have feelings for..._ She shook her head and only just stopped herself from growling out loud. _Nonsense! And even if I _did_, there is no point in it. We couldn't _do_ anything about it... except kiss, perhaps. _Renamon's tail swept back and forth in agitation as she mulled over the situation, brushing against the blanket-covered crystal at the middle of each arch and letting a little glow flash out across the tatami mats. Renamon thought about kissing Guilmon and her tail slowed. _It _could_ be nice, I suppose. If I could get him to be serious about it... and we could figure out _how_ to do it. People are made for kissing... flat faces, big lips... we... _she brought up a hand to touch her long, pointed muzzle, _...maybe if we just touched our tongues together? And that day in Takato's room. he offered to, didn't he? _She thought for a moment about what that would be like and her tail stilled and she felt a faint warmth in her cheeks. _It might be nice..._

Renamon shook herself lightly. _All this idiocy is getting me nowhere! I need to be rested in case Rika needs me... but I _wish_ I could understand... _She suppressed the thought with a slight shake of her upper body, folded herself into a lotus position, slowed her breathing, and stilled her mind by sheer force of will, until she slipped into sleep with her eyes still half open and the tip of her tail just touching the digitite crystal below the edge of the blanket.

-o-(())-o-

Rika awoke the next morning to Renamon gently nudging her shoulder. "Hmn? What is it?"

"Mr. Yamaki is at the door," Renamon sat back on her heels. "He came in an armored van and there are armed men with him."

Rika rolled out of bed and began dressing. "That's a lot of fuss for a bunch of digignomes. Yamaki always over-reacts."

Rika finished dressing and let the director of HYPNOS and his men into the house. "I can have Renamon load it into the van for you so your guys don't have to put down their _guns_." Rika said as they walked to her bedroom, letting her voice give a hint of the irritation she felt at having strangers carry weapons into her home.

"I want to take a look at it first," Yamaki said, oblivious to Rika's mood. "I've brought some instruments with me that can measure..." his voice trailed off as he entered Rika's bedroom and saw Renamon standing with a blanket in her hand next to the obviously _empty_ digitite crystal.

"I thought you said..."

"It was full of glowing digignomes last night!" Rika said, equally surprised. "Renamon did you sense anything during the night?"

"No, I slept lightly and would have known if anything had even approached the house. But just now, as you went to the door, I noticed that the noise the digignomes made was absent, so I uncovered the crystal." She knelt next to the crystal and examined it closely. "It is unbroken."

There were several minutes of useless speculation and then Yamaki had his men take away the empty crystal. It turned out that their assault weapons could be slung over their backs while they carried the thing between them.

"I hate it when stuff like that happens," Rika said, watching the heavy black vehicle drive away. "I wish that Devitamamon would just hurry up and attack so we could kick his butt. All this mysterious junk just exasperates me."

-o-(())-o-

At exactly ten o'clock Takato showed up with Guilmon in tow. He had actually gotten to the neighborhood about fifteen minutes early but didn't want to seem too eager, so he had waited in the alley nearby until the arraigned time. Renamon had noticed Guilmon's presence nearby but for some reason, unknown even to herself, hadn't mentioned it to Rika.

"I brought some fresh rolls, if you haven't eaten yet," Takato said, offering a paper bag to Rika.

"Renamon and I already had miso and rice," Rika told him. "I want something else from you." Before he could ask, Rika put her arms around him and kissed him firmly on the mouth, ignoring the presence of both digimon.

Takato kissed her back, letting the bag dangle loosely from one hand. When they broke off, Takato waved the bag vaguely at Guilmon, "Here, boy... help yourself."

Guilmon had been fascinated by the young couple's embrace but the offer of fresh bread completely distracted him and he snatched the bag as his tamer pulled Rika into another kiss. He had gulped down one roll in two bites and was starting on another when something else caught his attention. Renamon was looking at him. It was a strange, intense look. "Uh... do you want some bread?" he asked, holding out the bag. He couldn't think of another reason why Renamon would be paying him so much attention. She usually ignored him altogether.

Renamon seemed to hesitate for a second and then reached out and delicately took a roll from the bag. "Thank you," she said quietly and broke off a small piece and nibbled at it, still looking at Guilmon.

Guilmon gazed back at her, still devouring the bread but more slowly. _Her eyes are so pretty,_ he thought,_ I wish..._

"Hey you guys!" Rika said sharply. Both digimon started a bit at her unexpected voice and turned toward her. "Here's the plan: Since the Big Bad seems focused on HYPNOS for some reason, we've decided you two need to guard the place."

Takato shot her a puzzled glance. "We did?" he muttered with a puzzled frown.

"Yes," Rika said, waving a silencing gesture at him with one hand, "we _did_. Get to the top of the south tower where you'll be hidden from view and keep watch. Takato and I will stay here and... plan stuff. We've got our digivices to alert us to any bioemergences and Renamon can call me if necessary." Rika leaned toward Renamon and said, with strong emphasis, "But only if it's absolutely, _unavoidably_ necessary. Got it?"

Guilmon's brows were knitted in puzzlement but _Renamon_ got it. "I understand completely, Rika," she said solemnly.

"Good," Rika smiled and leaned over and whispered to her partner as she poked a finger into her thick ruff, "and no _peeking_, understand?"

Renamon nodded, the ghost of a grin flitting across her face for an instant.

After the digimon had left for City Hall, Rika led Takato back to her bedroom and slid the doors shut.

"Rika..." Takato began, but she stopped him with a kiss and he forgot what he had been going to say. It had taken her an enormous effort of will to overcome her natural reticence the night before and if they began to talk about what had happened, she doubted she could do it again. And she _wanted_ to do it again. They kissed and caressed each other until she wanted to do it very badly.

"Men are more insecure than they seem," her grandmother had told her, "particularly about their... _ahem_... 'manly anatomy.' So whatever you do..."

Rika slid her hand down over Takato's pants and felt _exactly_ how very badly he wanted her. She squeezed gently and he groaned and tightened his arms around her. Rika had no experience in the area but he certainly didn't feel like he had _anything_ to be insecure about. She lifted her hand to Takato's belt and hesitated. "Can I...?"

"Yeah," Takato gasped, "Yeah... I... _yes!_"

She undid his belt and zipper and slid her hand down his length, inside his shorts. He made urgent, inarticulate noises through his teeth as she caressed him. It felt strange to her but also exciting. "Lie down," she told him, "and take those off."

She didn't look at his face as she retrieved the little bottle she had prepared the night before. She could feel her face flushing and her hands shaking ever so slightly. She didn't want to loose her nerve now, of all times. She looked down again when he was naked and was a bit surprised that she found him to be... beautiful. She gave a soft sigh of delight and touched him again. He surged in her hand and moaned and she felt a sudden urge to throw herself at him.. just give in to unrestrained instinct and abandon her plans... but Rika's self-control was legendary. She lifted her hand and poured oil from the little bottle into it, still avoiding Takato's eyes.

When she slid her oiled hand down over him, he gave a loud gasp and his hips surged upwards. She began to stroke him, slowly and rhythmically. and the feel of him, the sounds he made, the way his body moved were amazingly sexy. Rika's own desire made her feel dizzy for a moment but concentrated on what she was doing. She didn't need to know it it felt good to Takato, that much was obvious, but the only way to know for sure what he wanted...

"Talk to each other," her grandmother had told her, "tell him what you like... make him tell _you_. Yes, it's hard to do... embarrassing... but it's the best way..."

"Faster?" Rika asked, still not looking at Takato's face. He made an incoherent sound and she was forced to look up. His eyes were squeezed shut but he was nodding jerkily. She increased her pace and he moaned again, almost as if her were in pain. "Not too hard?" she asked.

"N-no," he managed to gasp out, "it feels... so... _good!_"

His breathing soon became ragged and she squeezed him tighter and stroked him faster and he began to gasp, "Oh! Rika! _Oh!_ I... _AAAaaaa!_"

-o-(())-o-

"AAAaaah!" Guilmon yelled as Renamon bounded up the side of the skyscraper with him tucked under one arm. She dropped him when they reached the roof and combed her claws through her fur, settling it back into place from where the wind of her rapid ascent had ruffled it.

Guilmon shook himself and said, "That was scary! I could have climbed up by myself! "

"Too slow," Renamon said as she surveyed the rooftop.

Guilmon frowned. Renamon was behaving oddly. First the unusual attention at Rika's and now this rough treatment? The way she had grabbed him... Guilmon blinked. The trip up the side of the skyscraper had been so sudden and swift that he hadn't had time to think about it while it was happening but as he thought back to the way Renamon's arm around him felt... how closely he had been pressed against her body. All thought of further protest died and he shuffled his feet slightly on the rough surface of the roof. "Um... okay..."

Renamon walked away from him and stood at the parapet, looking out over the city toward Mt. Fuji. But Guilmon caught the brief, surreptitious glance she had flicked back at him. Something was bothering her. He walked over to her and laid the claws of one hand gently on her forearm. She flinched ever so slightly and Guilmon was prepared for her to shake him off or even bat his hand away, but she did neither. She just looked down at him.

"Is something wrong, Renamon?" he asked, eyes wide in an earnest desire to be helpful to his friend.

She just looked at him.

For what seemed like a very long time.


	7. If at First You Don't Succeed

Chapter 7  
If at First You Don't Succeed...

Rika folded the little _tenugi_ towel and set it aside. She didn't look down at Takato's face because her grandmother had told her that young men were often embarrassed afterward and hated to feel that their partner wanted or needed some comment or praise. So she simply lay down next to him, put one hand on his chest, and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck with a quiet, happy sigh.

Takato's breathing had slowed but there was still a fine sheen of sweat on his skin. It was a clean, warm smell that mixed with the other lingering musky sent and Rika found to her surprise that she liked it quite a lot. His arm moved across her shoulder and he lightly caressed her hair with a delicate touch. "I love you," he whispered.

Rika bit his shoulder just hard enough to make him gasp in surprise and turn his head to look at her. She took his face between her hands and kissed him forcefully for a long, long time.

-o-(())-o-

Guilmon had matured quite a bit from his nearly child-like origins in his six years of life but he still had a direct and innocent personality. He took joy in simple pleasures and never thought deeply about much but what was of immediate importance at the moment. And at _that_ moment, his friend Renamon was uncomfortable, unhappy, and even disturbed.

"I... I'm not smart like you are," he began hesitantly, "but maybe I can help you if you tell me what to do..."

Renamon sighed and placed her hand over Guilmon's where it rested on her arm. Her black talons clicked lightly against his long white claws. "You're kind and brave and strong and I'm glad you're my friend," she told him quietly.

Guilmon smiled at her words. Praise from Renamon was a rare and wonderful thing. It made him feel absurdly happy. But not as happy as her next words.

She left her hand on top of his while looking away over the skyline of Tokyo. "That morning in Takato's room you offered to kiss me... would you still like to?" She turned and stared deeply into his golden eyes. "Because I think_ I_ would like to kiss _you_."

-o-(())-o-

If pressed, Riley would have admitted that she was one of the most skillful operators of the HYPNOS digital scanning system. Anyone else at HYPNOS would have admitted, though some of them grudgingly, that she was the best by a long shot. Because of the emergency situation, she had been in the lead seat of the operating boom for nearly twenty hours with only a few quick breaks to eat and relieve herself. So far, it had been time wasted.

The surface of the display dome showed only normal near-Earth digimon activity. No impending bio-emergences, no gatherings of unusual numbers in the "highest" level of the Digital Dimension, no hint of any danger.

She tapped the com button on the edge of her console and spoke into her headset, "Yamaki?"

There was a brief pause and then Yamaki's voice answered, "What is it? Do you have a contact?"

"No, nothing unusual... quieter than average, if anything. I just need to get a bit of sleep. Can you send a relief operator?"

"Alright. I'm almost finished down here. I'll come up and bring Sato with me." Yamaki said, sounding almost as tired, "There's a cot in my office, will that do?"

"I suppose. Can I get a... hang on a second." Riley tapped a few keys and a section of the display zoomed in. "That's odd. Yamaki, there's something happening."

"What is it? How big?" Yamaki's voice came in sharp bursts and there were banging sounds in the background. He was running... flinging doors open as he raced for the stairs to the observation level. "ETA for bio-emergence?"

"Uh... it's not emerging," Riley said, adjusting a few controls, "it's already here! Weird energy signature... but definitely digimon in origin and nearby."

Red lights around the periphery of the room began flashing in time to an insistent alarm buzz. Yamaki must have hit the emergency key on his PDA. "How close?" His voice came again, along with the sharp slap of his shoes on the concrete stairs.

"Working on it... triangulating... uh oh!"

"What? _What?_" Yamaki yelled as he burst through the stairwell door and into the observation dome.

Riley shoved back her visor and looked down at him, her eyes wide. "It's _here!_ On the roof!"

-o-(())-o-

It had been awkward at first. They couldn't kiss like humans, of course, so Renamon began by gently nuzzling the side of Guilmon's muzzle. He froze up at first, terrified of doing something wrong, but slowly the soft touch of Renamon's lips encouraged him and he tried to respond.

Guilmon nuzzled her in return, pressed his snout into the long, soft fur of her cheeks, and drew in her wonderful scent. "You... you smell... _really good_," he murmured and then cringed a bit. Even though he didn't have any clear idea how he could have phrased the compliment differently, he thought he should have put it better... more poetically... somehow.

But Renamon didn't seem to object. In any case, she knelt down to put their heads closer to level and kept nibbling lightly at his lips while her arms circled around his shoulders. Her soft, thick ruff pressed against his chest as she pulled him against her and, as he gave a sigh of happiness, her tongue flicked out and glided along his open lips and against the edge of his tongue.

Their breath mingled as their tongues glided along each other's and Guilmon put his arms around her, being careful of his long claws and returned her embrace. He half-expected her to object but she only shifted to make their relative positions more comfortable.

Suddenly, Renamon broke off the kiss, though she kept her arms wrapped around Guilmon, and looked down at his face, her eyes wide. "That was... that was..."

"Really good?" Guilmon suggested.

"Yes," Renamon agreed in complete surprise.

"I... I liked it, too," Guilmon said keeping his gaze locked with hers. "You feel so... _nice_. And kissing you makes me feel... I... I... don't know how to say it right... but I like it a lot!" He swallowed and took a deep breath, summoning his courage. "Can we do it some more?"

The pupils of Renamon's eyes pulsed, widening a noticeable amount. Their second kiss was less hesitant than the first, lips, tongues, and teeth finding their way with increasing confidence and ardor. Guilmon unconsciously slid his hands downward, his paw pads stroking the long muscles of Renamon's back until they came to rest just above her tail. She made a sound of satisfaction deep in her throat and arched against him, her own hands traveling across his powerful body as they trailed wisps of blue ghost-fire.

Guilmon wasn't thinking about anything except how good it felt to be touching and caressing her, how really, really, _really_ good it felt... until his skin started violently tingling. He opened his eyes to see Renamon glowing... not the localized glow of her Power Paw attack, but a rippling sheet of blue energy that covered her completely.

Renamon was unaware of what was happening to her but felt Guilmon jerk in surprise and broke off the kiss just as the large doors of the roof-access housing burst open and a dozen or more men of the heavily-armed HYPNOS Emergency Response Team rushed out onto the roof.

Guilmon gasped and shrank away from Renamon, uncertain whether he should be embarrassed by the situation or not. Renamon gasped... and then snarled in anger. She stood up abruptly, causing Guilmon to stagger back from her and roared at the confused men, who had just begun to lower their weapons after having recognized the pair, "What are you fools _doing_ here?" The glow wreathing her body brightened and she took two steps toward the team and lowered into an aggressive crouch. "How _dare_ you..." Her right hand opened into a half-clenched position and an actinic ball of sizzling blue energy formed between her fingers. The team members raised their weapons again.

"Let me through!" came a voice from behind the armed men and Yamaki shouldered his way between them with one hand while tucking his cell phone away with the other, to confront the furious digimon. "Renamon, what in the hell are you doing?"

The ball of energy sputtered and disappeared. Renamon looked down at herself and began to shake. "I... I... don't..." She suddenly collapsed, as if drained of energy. Her knees hit the roof and she fell forward, catching herself on one hand, panting.

The armed men began to move toward her along with Yamaki, only to be confronted by an angry Guilmon suddenly blocking their path. "Stay away from her! Don't you try to hurt her or I'll..."

"Everyone! _Stand down!_" yelled Yamaki. And then to Guilmon, "We're not going to hurt her! Something's wrong and we need to examine her."

By that time, Renamon had caught her breath and the glow had vanished completely. "No," she protested weakly, "I'm alright now. It's okay..."

"It's _not_ alright! You lit up the dome's scanners like Akihabara at New Years!" Yamaki protested, "That glow was definitely not normal and we are going to have to examine you."

Renamon's strength had returned and she regained her feet. "You don't understand. I think it was just a side effect of... of..." she glanced at Guilmon, who had relaxed his aggressive posture and begun a nervous shuffling of his feet. "…of something _private_."

Yamaki blinked at her and then snorted. "Private? You've got to be joking. I've sent for your tamers and when they get here, they'll _order_ you down to the lab, so why don't you save yourselves some trouble and..."

"You called _Rika?_" Renamon groaned and preformed a classic face-palm. "She's going to _kill_ me."

-o-(())-o-

Rika certainly felt like killing _someone_. Everything had been going so well until both her and Takato's cell phones had simultaneously screeched out the emergency ring-tone that meant a priority call from HYPNOS. When they answered the phones they got a recorded voice ordering them to report to the headquarters in Tokyo City Hall, ASAP... with no further explanation.

Rika stomped her foot and bit back a curse. She hated how Yamaki treated them as if they were in the military and under his command. Yes, they were nearly the only people on the planet who could handle a Mega-level digimon incursion and they certainly felt a responsibility to defend everyone from attack... but that didn't give Yamaki the right to order them around so casually.

"He snaps his fingers and we come running!" She grumbled as she dragged a t-shirt over her head and reached for her jeans, "I'm getting _really_ tired of that." She expected Takato to reply in his usual level-headed manner... something about how the system worked fairly well and they all had their parts to play and blah, blah, blah... but he surprised her.

"It _better_ be a really nasty one," he growled as he pulled on his pants, "because, one way or another, I'm going to stomp the crap out of _someone!_"

Rika turned away from him and bit her lip to keep from chuckling. Poor Takato! He had fully recovered from the first encounter and Rika had been about to... She glanced back at him and saw the difficulty he was having in getting his pants zipped and coughed loudly to hide her chuckle. When the were both dressed and heading for the door, she punched him lightly on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you... _after_ I help you out with the stomping."

-o-(())-o-

Renamon and Guilmon met their tamers at the parking garage entrance to the South Tower elevators. Renamon had avoided further confrontation with Yamaki and his men by the simple tactic of grabbing Guilmon by one arm and leaping off of the roof. She wanted to have a private word with Rika before Yamaki started in.

"No bio-emergence?" Rika asked incredulously, "No bad guys at all?"

"No, Rika," Renamon told her in a subdued voice, "It was me. Something odd happened to me and the HYPNOS sensors picked it up. Yamaki overreacted."

"Odd? Like how?" Takato asked, still scowling ferociously. "What caused it?"

"Uh..." Renamon glanced at Guilmon and then at her tamer. There was no telepathic communication but Rika understood immediately.

Rika's eyebrows shot up in surprise and she flicked a glance at Guilmon. It was a silent question: Really? You guys kissed?

Renamon nodded ever so slightly.

Rika cocked her head a few degrees. Another silent question: How was it?

Renamon's lips twitched upward and her eyes sparkled.

Rika grinned outright.

Takato was aware that something was going on and looked at Guilmon. Since the little dragon digimon was already bright red, even the most ferocious blush wouldn't have shown up on his face but Takato knew his partner well enough to recognize other signs of acute embarrassment.

"_What_ have you guys been up to?" Takato asked in frustration.

Renamon turned turned her icy-cool gaze on him and asked in a calm, smooth voice, "What have _you_ guys been up to?"

"_Huh?_" Takato gaped at her. "That's none of your... you don't... _wait_... you mean... you guys were... were... _NO WAY!_" He turned again to Guilmon who was twisting his claws together while staring fixedly at the concrete between his feet. "_Boy?_"

"Uh... ah... I... I... she..." Guilmon raised his head, looked at Renamon and then at Takato and blurted out, "I _like_ her! I like her so much! She's so beautiful and strong and soft and we kissed and it was... was _really_ good... no... no... it was better than that, it was..." he turned his gaze back to the gently smiling Renamon and finished in a breathy and worshipful voice, "...it was _wonderful!_"

Rika hid her mouth behind her hand, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter, both at Guilmon's utter and obvious enthusiasm and at Takato's complete, comical expression of shock and surprise.

Any further revelations were cut short by the sharp _bing_ of the bell announcing the elevator's arrival. Yamaki stormed out but had only just opened his mouth when Takato angrily cut him off. "You sent the emergency code and called us here for a... a stupid _glitch? _" He waved a hand in the direction of Renamon.

"We've got an evil Mega plotting against us! Any anomalous events are a matter of concern!" Yamaki fired back.

"'Anomalous'...? Are you _serious? _So anything the smallest bit weird and you're going to haul us down here 'just in case?'" Takato's voice rose in real fury.

"If I could manage it I'd have at least one of you here permanently until the crisis has passed." Yamaki said coolly.

"We've got _lives_ you know!"

"You have a _duty_ to..."

"Don't you tell me about my 'duty'! How many times have I... have _all_ of us risked our lives for you and everyone else? The next time you jerk on our electronic leashes..." here Takato slapped his cell phone holster for emphasis, "…it had better be for a _real_ emergency!"

"Uh..." Rika frowned worriedly, "Takato, calm down. It's..."

"Fine! Fine! Let's go!" Takato threw his hands in the air, turned his back on Yamaki, and stalked away.

Rika shot Yamaki an apologetic look and then followed after him, Renamon and Guilmon skulking along in her wake.

_Well, _thought Yamaki, watching the group go in stunned silence, _Takato blowing up and Rika being the reasonable one... _that's_ new. What the hell is going on with them?_

Neither Yamaki nor any of his close friends had teenage children.

-o-(())-o-

"When you said you were going to stomp someone," Rika said wryly, "I thought you meant _physically_."

"Um... yeah." Takato grimaced. After a few blocks he had regained his composure. "I guess I'll have to apologize the next time I see him... unless he calls us in for a _hangnail_ or something. I mean, _really!_ Just because Guilmon and Renamon were... were..." He stopped walking and turned to the digimon pair. "You guys were actually... um... making out?" He looked at Renamon as he asked the question.

Renamon blinked and drew herself up a bit, as if he had implied something just by asking. "Guilmon has many admirable qualities! How I choose to express my admiration is _my_ business!" Takato blinked and shifted his gaze to Guilmon.

"Uh..." Guilmon fidgeted nervously, "...she's really pretty," he mumbled.

Takato's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment and then he turned to Rika. "When you sent them off to HYPNOS together..."

"I think we're drawing a crowd," Rika interrupted him. And, indeed, there were several groups of people gathering to get a closer look at the famous digimon and their tamers. Takato changed mental gears and for a minute or so they all smiled and graciously posed for pictures in the way the Public Relations department had drilled into them. Then they made their excuses and hurried away.

Catching a taxi was a bit of a problem but Takato finally managed to flag down one of the van-types that had room for them all and they sped toward Rika's house.

"Look," Rika said when they were all settled comfortably in the vehicle. She turned and addressed the digimon, "I have some plans for tonight. Takato and I are going to have dinner together and then spend the rest of the evening at the house. As much as I hate to agree with The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf, the situation _is_ uncertain and possibly dangerous, so I want you guys to stay close... but not _too_ close... in case we need you. Guilmon's old hide-out at the park, maybe?"

Guilmon turned to Renamon to gauge her reaction, but all she said was, "That seems like a sound plan of action." Her voice was level and unemotional but Guilmon thought he had caught a _look_ between digimon and tamer, so he eagerly nodded in agreement.


	8. There's a First Time for Everything

**Author's Note:**

**I've used a few Japanese words in the chapter that most of you will probably be familiar with. But just in case:**

**_Inarizushi _– (also "Inari sushi") spiced rice in a fried tofu pocket, said to be a favorite food of kitsune.**

**_Kimono_ – a robe worn by both men and women. Not a dress... really.**

**_Obi _– a traditional cloth belt.**

**_Itadakimasu_ – traditional phrase said before beginning a meal.**

Chapter 8

There's a First Time for Everything

"So what exactly happened up there?" Rika asked Renamon as soon as the two of them were alone. She had sent Takato and Guilmon off on a few errands to get them out of the way for an hour or so.

"An energy surge hit me while I was kissing Guilmon. I didn't even notice it at first, so I..."

"Wait! Go back to the part about kissing. What was it like?"

Renamon blinked and switched mental gears. "It was very nice. He was hesitant at first and I thought he might be clumsy about it but..." her words trailed off and her eyes seemed to loose focus for a moment.

"Well?" Rika poked her partner in the ribs with a forefinger.

"Oh... uhm... he was _good_... not over-eager and grabby like Impmon... though he _did_ stroke my back..." Renamon's sapphire blue eyes drifted away from Rika's face again and began to glow softly.

Rika was startled by the change in her partner's eyes but was also struck with an idea immediately thereafter. "How did it feel?" she coaxed, watching Renamon carefully.

"It was amazing," Renamon admitted. "He's very strong but he used just enough pressure to make it feel... just right..." Little flickers of blue ghost fire began to dance in her ruff and the long feathers of fur that crowned her shoulders.

"Okay, okay! Earth to Renamon!" Rika grabbed one of Renamon's enormous paws and held it up where the fox digimon could see the blue glow beginning to form around it.

"Uh!" Renamon started and blinked in surprise. The flames died out nearly instantly.

"You didn't notice that was happening just now?" Rika demanded. "The glow, the hum?"

"No, I..." Renamon frowned in thought. "Or... now that I think about it, _yes_. But I was thinking about Guilmon and it didn't seem to matter... Oh,_ by the Four Sovereigns!_" Renamon's eyes went wide in shock and horror. "I'm... I'm acting just like _you_ are! I'm _infected!_ _Love is rotting my brain!_"

"Calm down!" Rika grabbed the lower edges of Renamon's arm guards and shook her a bit. "Okay, you're distracted! But you just had your first real kiss... with someone you... well, yeah, _love_. It _must_ be love because nobody goes that squirrelly over _like!" _Renamon's eyes still showed a good deal of incipient terror and her chest heaved with her rapid breathing, but she calmed down a bit as Rika continued to speak. "It's normal to be like this, honest! Well, it is for people, so I don't see why digimon should be any different. Well, except for the glowing thing... but who knows? Maybe that's normal for digimon."

Renamon shook her head. "Guilmon didn't glow, and I'm sure he was enjoying it as much as I was."

"Okay, so maybe it's just _female_ digimon."

Renamon sighed. "I'm _not_ female... no more than Guilmon is male. We're..."

"Yeah, yeah," Rika rolled her eyes. "Digital, not biological... blah, blah, blah... been there, heard that, still don't buy it. Don't forget, I've been inside your head every time we've biomerged. Believe me, you're a _girl!_"

Renamon actually huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I find that demeaning, if you want to know the truth. And I don't appreciate you..." Renamon's scowl suddenly lightened. "Wait... you said 'hum', didn't you? And there _was_ a hum..." her jaw dropped open in surprise at the realization, "...just like the one the _digignomes_ made!"

It was Rika's turn to be concerned. "You mean they... they vanished because they... "she almost used the word 'infected' but stopped herself in time, "...went into _you?_"

Renamon nodded slowly. "I was examining the crystal... and then I went to sleep..."

"What were you thinking? Did you say anything out loud? Those little guys... well... _grant wishes_ isn't exactly right, but..."

Rika had never seen Renamon's eyes become as huge as they did then. Her voice, when it came, was a hoarse whisper. "Oh, _Sovereigns_... I... I was wishing I could understand about human love..." her gaze slowly tracked over to Rika.

"And the little glowbugs granted your wish, "Rika whispered back, "in a pretty _direct_ manner, I'm guessing."

"What... what do you mean?"

"Don't panic! We don't know anything for sure!"

"But you have an idea! What is it? _Tell me!_"

"Calm down, _please!_ It isn't that bad... I think." Rika placed her hands on either side of Renamon's face and said, in a soft, reassuring voice, "Breathe with me. Slowly. In. Out. In. Out. That's it. Good girl."

_"'Girl?"_

"It's all right! It's all right! Sorry... bad choice of words... or... " Rika winced, "...maybe not."

"Please tell me, Rika! I'm _afraid!_"

_That_ hit Rika like a bucket of cold water. She had _never_ before heard her partner admit to fear. "Okay... what I think is... well, you can't really be _told_ about love. You have to experience it for yourself. And you were specifically thinking about _human_ love, so... " Rika grimaced, "...I think the digignomes arraigned it so that when you become aroused, you... uh... _acquire_ a gender. Like humans. A real, _biological_ gender."

It made perfect sense. Thinking back, Renamon could remember the first subtle stirrings in certain areas of her body. She nodded once, calmly and then threw back her head and howled, "BUT I DON'T _WANT_ TO BE A _GIRL!"_

-o-(())-o-

Whereas Rika had to coax her partner to open up to her about the incident on the rooftop, Takato couldn't shut his up.

"Her eyes are so pretty and nice and her fur is nice, too! It felt so nice to hold her and even when she started to glow, _that_ was nice but it surprised me. I wish I hadn't jumped like that, but I guess we can do it again in the park tonight, right? She'll want to, won't she?" Guilmon went on, without waiting for an answer, "Yeah, I'm sure she will! And it will be so... so..."

"Nice?" Takato guessed.

"_Really_ nice!" Guilmon nodded violently. "Hey, you're going to pick up wine, so maybe I should bring bread... for _her? _Can we buy some bread, too?"

"We live over a _bakery_, Guilmon," Takato said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I think she prefers _inarizushi_."

"Oh, good! Can we get some of that?"

Takato was about to make a curt reply but one look at the innocent, earnest expression on his friend's face, made his irritation drain away. "Sure, boy. You... you're just as smitten as I am, aren't you?"

"Uh... 'smitten?' I don't..."

"You love her."

"Uh... yeah, I guess so. I mean..." Guilmon took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders, "_yes_, I love her." His serious expression immediately dissolved into a wide, happy grin. "Hey! It felt really _nice_ to say that! I love her, I love her, _I love her!_" Guilmon danced in circles on the sidewalk in front of his tamer waving his hands in the air and attracting even more attention that usual.

Takato groaned and shook his head.

-o-(())-o-

"Off you go!" Rika cried cheerfully, almost shoving the two digimon out the door of the house.

"But, Rika," Renamon pleaded with a lingering look of panic still in her eyes.

"Go! Have a good time. Everything will work out just fine!" Rika's forced smile began to look more than a little feral, "And don't come back until I ping you with my digivice. Really. Don't... you... _dare_." And she slid the door shut with a sharp bang.

Takato was grinning as Rika looked up at him. "What?" she asked.

"Those two... who would have thought it? I mean, kissing... yeah... but what about..." Takato made a vague gesture with one hand, "…the rest of it? How _do_ digimon in love..."

"That's just what Renamon was asking!" Rika snorted, interrupting him. "They can figure it out for themselves, because, tonight at least, we're on our own. No HYPNOS, no digimon taming, no diabolical monsters from another dimension... just _us_, okay?"

"I have no problem with that, at all!" Takato grinned at her.

"Good!" Rika's slow smile made Takato's heart hammer. "So... kiss me and then go take a shower."

He did.

Rika had refused to tell him anything about what she planned for the evening but Takato was happy enough to 'go with the flow.' That was one of the best things about Rika; she could be _trusted_. She didn't drag him into stupid or boring situations. Dangerous ones, maybe, but that was all part of being a tamer. He finished his shower and emerged to find his clothes gone. There was a very expensive-looking man's _kimono_ hanging by the door with a note on it: **Wear this and come to the dining room.**

Takato toweled himself dry and struggled into the _kimono_. He'd only worn a formal one once before in his life and had some trouble remembering how to tie the _obi_, but eventually he got it right and emerged into the hallway. He walked to the dining room and paused at the door. He could tell it was dimly lit inside. He could make out flickering candle flames through the paper of the door. He paused for a minute, just savoring the anticipation, and then slid the door aside and went in.

A feast was spread out on the low table, at least a dozen dishes of wonderful food, presented in the most elegant way imaginable. Takato didn't notice any of it because, across the table sat Rika, in a _kimono_ of shimmering green silk. Her hair was down but held back from her face by two jeweled clasps that let two long streams of her fiery hair spill down both shoulders. Her eyes gleamed in the candlelight as she watched him enter the room.

Takato half-sat, half-collapsed on the cushion across from her, staring outright. "How do you _do_ it?"

Rika's smile made his heart skip a beat. "Do what?"

Takato shook his head in wonder. "You're the biggest tomboy I've ever known, but when you're dressed up you make even your mom look like a bag-lady!"

Rika's grin acquired an edge. "You know me... I'm _competitive_. When I do something, I'm go all-out to do it better than anyone else."

"Mission accomplished!" Takato grinned back at her. And then, noticing the food for the first time, "Holy Cow! This is _incredible!_ Did you...?"

"Cook?" She laughed. "No, I didn't want to start off a romantic evening by _poisoning_ you! The caterers dropped it all off while you were in the shower."

"Wow," Takato breathed, drinking in the sight of her again, "I don't know what to say..."

Rika felt utterly justified in being quite smug. "How about _itadakimasu?_"

-o-(())-o-

"Aren't we going to the park?" Guilmon asked Reanmon as they headed out from Rika's house... in the wrong direction.

"Change of plans," Renamon told him curtly.

"Oh... okay." He kept pace with her, glancing up at her occasionally with a worshipful look on his face.

_He's so easy-going,_ Renamon thought as they walked along together. _He's so easy to be with. And he's... attractive... strong... _She watched the thick, powerful muscles in his thighs roll and snap with each stride until she began to feel a faint warning tingle and forced herself to look away. _What was it Kazu once called me? "Uptight?"_ She snorted and Guilmon looked up at her curiously. _As if Kazu knows anything! But... _everyone_ likes Guilmon. They all respect me, I know, but... how many people actually _like_ me? There are times when he's so... goofy... but he's still fierce in battle... I... _Renamon shook her head and made a disgusted noise. _There's no point in trying to figure out why I love him... I need to figure out what to _do_ about it!_

"Is something wrong?" Guilmon asked. "Are you hungry? I brought some _inarizushi_ for you!" He held up a little cloth-wrapped bag he had been holding in one paw.

The simple kindness made Renamon's breath catch in her throat. She stopped walking and took the package. "Thank you, Guilmon." She looked around, "Let's share it on top of that building over there. I'll lift you up."

Guilmon ate his food in a series of single bites. He tried to be polite and match his usual frantic pace to Renamon's more delicate manners and, at least, he managed to eat only one piece for every piece she ate. His all disappeared in one gulp, while hers were nibbled away quietly and gracefully.

"Now what?" he asked, with thinly disguised hope, when they had finished eating.

Renamon reached out and patted the back of his hand, reassuringly. "I'd like to go to the park and... and do some more kissing," Renamon was glad that her fur hid a blush just as well as Guilmon's bright red skin, "but there are some things I need to find out first."

"Oh... okay. What things?"

"There's a... complication... I'll tell you about it later. But right now I need to find out a few things about digimon who... who are in love."

"Like us?" Guilmon blurted out the question and then, realizing what he had said, ducked his head in embarrassment. "Uh... I mean..."

"Yes, Guilmon," Renamon smiled and lightly stroked the side of his head, "like us." The sight of his face lighting up with joy made her ridiculously happy. "Wait here for a bit. I'll be back soon."

It was only a few minute before Renamon returned. "I've found a good place but it's on the seventh floor. Is it all right if I carry you?"

"Sure," Guilmon replied dreamily, thinking of Renamon's arms around him.

They reached their destination all too soon for Guilmon. He looked around the strange bedroom where Renamon had pushed him in through the open window. "Should we be in here?"

"Window's open, no one home. It's perfect."

"Okay..." It wasn't quite what Guilmon had been worried about. "But... how are we going to find out stuff here?"

"The same way the humans do," Renamon told him, and flipped the power switch of the desktop computer that was sitting under a desk along one wall.

"Do you know how to work it?" Guilmon asked, amazed. Digimon, for being computer-generated creatures, usually had little or no affinity for the machines themselves.

"I think so," Renamon replied, "I've been watching Rika's grandmother. She says that anything anybody wants to know is on the Internet. Now let's see... Firefox... how appropriate! And... and... no, that doesn't look right... maybe... ah, yes! Google! Now I type in the things I want to know about here..." Renamon's claws were even less facile at typing that they were at using the mouse but she eventually managed to type in two keywords: DIGIMON and SEX.

"Hmn... maybe I'd better enter my own name... there may be species-specific information. R-E-N-A-M-O-N. There! Now... ENTER and... and... and... "

It took Renamon a moment to fully comprehend what she was seeing, then people heard her scream of horror and outrage from nearly a kilometer away.

-o-(())-o-

Over dinner, Rika and Takato reminisced about the past few years, enjoying a new perspective on the events through the transforming lens of their new-found love. Even simple things took on a deeper meaning in hindsight. The rosy glow was helped by the wine that Takato had picked out, though both were very careful not to drink too much.

They fell into a comfortable silence at last, both simply gazing at the other in quite affection a long while.

"I think I must be the luckiest guy in the world," Takato said at last.

Rika's smile turned mischievous. She rose and held out her hand to him and the blush on her cheeks might not have been wholly attributable to the wine. "Maybe you are," she said in a low voice as he took her hand and stood. "Come with me."

She led him to her bedroom where candles and incense were burning and her futon had been spread with silk sheets. They knelt down and kissed with ever increasing fervor until Rika reached behind him and undid his _obi_, letting his _kimono_ fall open. He began to tug at her _obi_ but she stopped him and pushed him back onto the futon, pushing away the flaps of his _kimono_ and lowering her mouth to the skin of his chest.

She kissed his chest and belly and her hair ran over his skin like silk and he gasped and slowly writhed under her attentions. He hands slid down his flanks and over his thighs and found him hard and straining under her touch.

"Oh, Rika," he gasped, "I... I..."

"I know," she breathed, "I want it, too."

There was the hiss of silk sliding against silk as she undid her _obi_ and guided his hands to her breasts. He stroked her body, hands tracing every beautiful curve and plain until he cupped them over her taut butt and squeezed, eliciting a groan of pleasure from her. He tugged her upward but she resisted for a moment, turning to pick something up from the bedside. A condom.

He held out his hand.

"No," she said, returning one hand to his hard shaft and making him shudder, "I'll do it."

She carefully rolled it on and and then held him in her hand for a moment before sliding one thigh over his body. She guided him into her and stopped, belly tightening into tight definition as the sensation gripped her like a vice. She realized that her gasp had been echoed by his and forced herself to relax, pushing downward again.

He groaned again and she stopped, the tightness in her body making her breath come quickly. She forced herself to open her eyes and look down at him. "Takato," she breathed. He stared at her as if hypnotized. "I love you," she said and pushed down. Not hard, not abruptly, but just enough. The pressure built for a moment and then broke and she slid down on him and cried out, in brief pain, in joy, in wonder, and in love.

As children they had traveled through strange and alien dimensions, but that night, as adults, they explored a whole new world together.


	9. First Impression

**Author's Notes:**

**Sorry it's taken me so _looong_ to get this chapter out but... _life_, ya know?**

**Yes, I know the plural of kimono ought to be kimono but it sounded awkward to me,, so I went with the English plural "s".**

Chapter 9  
First Impression

"Renamon? _Renamon?_" Guilmon called out, searching the skyline. He had tracked her through the city for hours.

A fall of seven stories wasn't much of a danger to most digimon, and certainly not to one as tough as Guilmon, but it still _hurt._ Renamon had fled the room in a single, fluid leap, rebounding off the building opposite and racing away in a blur of speed. Guilmon knew his exit would be less of a controlled jump and more like a flailing plummet, so he hesitated before following her. He glanced back at the disturbing images on the computer screen, growled, destroyed the monitor with a single backhanded slash of his claws, then jumped. He did a good deal of damage to the sidewalk even though he managed to land on his feet.

Since climbing buildings was a long, laborious process for Guilmon, he kept to the streets. It was difficult tracking Renamon by smell when he had to interpret every whiff of scent he caught to determine where it might have come from by wind direction, strength and quality, but it was something he was very good at. A swirl of wind brought him a hint of her scent along with ozone and humidity mixed with just a slight bit of mold. He searched the upwind roof line until he saw a large air conditioning unit behind a neon sign. Judging by the strength of the various smells, Renamon had been up there less than ten minutes ago. He was catching up.

Following more of Renamon's scent, Guilmon entered the park at the base of the Tokyo Tower and suddenly knew where she would be. He craned his neck up and squinted... and there she was, high on the Eastern side of the tower, perched on a red girder and looking out toward the sea.

"Renamon!" he called up to her.

She heard him; he saw her ears twitch. But she didn't respond or look down. He called again but she continued to ignore him. He sighed and thought hard. _What should I do? If she doesn't want me around... but, no, I _have_ to tell her... and I can't just shout out something like that... _He growled in frustration and shook his head. There was just no other way. He walked to the base of the tower, swallowed hard, and began to climb.

-o-(())-o-

Rika woke a little before dawn and propped herself up on one elbow, looking down at the still-sleeping Takato. The bed was a tangle of silk... sheets and _kimono_ all mixed together and covering bits of the both of them only by accident. She straightened the covers a bit and was surprised to feel little twinges of pain here and there... mostly _there_. Well, it _had_ been a long and active night. Rika sighed in happiness and stretched out beside Takato again. The soreness was worth it. Rika had been so satisfied with the way the night had unfolded. Takato had been so compliant, letting her set the pace for their first time, letting her be selfish... and then, the second time... Rika hadn't dreamed that Takato was capable of being so instant... so forceful... so _dominant_. It still amazed her how much she had enjoyed giving in to him, letting him _take_ her. And there was another thing... something totally unexpected and a wonderful discovery: Takato didn't snore.

Rika had almost drifted off to sleep again when someone tapped at the door. Her eyes snapped open and then she relaxed again. She opened her mind, expecting to feel contact with her partner... wondering if Renamon's night had been as perfect as her own.

Nothing.

Rika frowned and sat up. Who else would be at her door at this hour? Had her mother or grandmother returned early? "Yes?" she asked in a near whisper, "Who is it?"

"It's me," came the reply.

It was pure, unconscious confidence that made him reply with two simple words, not giving his name because he assumed that Rika would recognize his voice... even at a whisper, through a door... even though she hadn't heard it in over a year.

And, of course, Ryo was right. Rika instantly knew who was at her bedroom door.

-o-(())-o-

The wind whipped around Guilmon as he struggled up the steel girders of the tower. Why had Takato drawn him with long, rigid claws instead of hands that could get a decent grip, he wondered... and not for the first time. Of course, his tamer had been designing a powerful fighting machine, not a ninja squirrel... or a creature equipped for romance in any way.

_Maybe that's why she is ignoring me, _Guilmon thought, _ I can't really do anything but fight... and eat. _ He sighed, and fought off the urge to give up for the tenth time. _I'll just tell her what I feel... be honest, like Takato said. But why is telling the truth so hard?_

He looked up. Only one more level to go. At least Renamon wasn't running away from him. If she had chosen to, there was no way he'd be able to keep up with her.

Finally, Guilmon hauled himself up onto the cross girder where Renamon stood, arms crossed over her chest, tail streaming in the wind. He thought about trying to walk across the narrow surface of the steel beam but wisely decided not to trust his balance in the strong, gusting wind. He looked down. It was a _lot_ further to the ground than seven stories. He crawled along the beam, gripping the steel as well as he could, until he was a couple of feet from Renamon. She kept looking out to sea but Guilmon noticed the slight shift in her stance that changed her balance point. She was ready to flee... or fight... he didn't know which.

"Those pictures were yucky," he said immediately, not wanting to lose the chance to get his feelings out, "not like the nice ones Takato makes. Takato said never to hurt anybody... any _humans... _but I want to hurt the people who made those pictures of you. They aren't nice people..." he trailed off for a moment. Renamon had turned her head and was staring down at him, coldly... or so it seemed to him. "And... uh... if you want me to... I'll... I'll _punish_ them for... for..." Guilmon snarled in frustration, "… I don't know the right words! But you're beautiful and good and nobody should ever make fun of you or make nasty pictures of you and it makes me _angry!"_ He slammed the girder with one hand, scraping three long strips of paint off the steel before losing his balance.

Before Guilmon could even begin windmilling his arms in a frantic and futile attempt to keep from tumbling off of the girder, Renamon's tail flicked around and pushed him back upright.

"Ah... ah..." Guilmon gasped, his eyes wide, "...thank you. That would have hurt... a _lot!_"

Renamon's expression didn't soften but her voice wasn't harsh as she said, "I like high places. You're going to have to get used to that if we're going to be together."

Guilmon nodded and dared to lift a single claw away from his death-grip on the girder to point upward. "Want to go up to the top?"

Renamon smiled. "Not tonight. Maybe to watch the full moon rise next week."

Guilmon swallowed. "That would be... nice."

Renamon's smile widened. "Liar."

"It'll be nice if I'm with _you_."

Renamon bent down and wrapped her arms around him, lifting him off his feet. He stiffened with sudden fear, but she had no trouble keeping her balance while holding him in her arms. "Let's go down, okay?"

Guilmon nodded enthusiastically.

They talked as they headed back toward the park and Renamon told him about what the digignomes had done to her. "I'm nervous about it. I don't _want_ to change... but I thought if it meant we could... well... do more than just kiss, it would be okay."

"But I don't have any digignomes," Guilmon protested, "I'll still be just me and I won't be able to... to... I don't even _know_!"

Renamon nodded, "As if _I_ have any clear idea!" she sighed. "And after seeing those pictures... well, I'm fairly sure that sex isn't like _that_ but it's made me wary... sort of... _Gaaahh!_" she threw her hands into the air in an expression of her confusion and disgust. "I love you Guilmon... and I want to _express_ that love. Physically. It's like a _need_ inside me... like hunger or the urge to fight a strong opponent. But I don't want to be compelled to do something I wouldn't ordinarily do... or that I'd feel ashamed of afterward. _But..._ I... I don't want to wait until I can get rid of the digignomes or... deactivate them or whatever." She gently bumped her hip against him. "I want to be with you _now."_

_"Really?"_

"Really."

"Uh... me too. I mean..." Guilmon stopped walking and looked her square in the eyes. "I want to be with you. I want to kiss you and touch you and I don't care about anything else. Even if you change and I don't! I love you and I'll do anything I can to make you feel good. Anything you want!"

Renamon felt the familiar tingle as she listened to his words and she decided that, this time, she would let the digignomes do their work. "Okay then. Let's hurry."

-o-(())-o-

"_Go away!_" Rika hissed as loud as she dared.

"I know it's early," came Ryo's reply, "but I've got to talk with you!"

"I...I'm _busy_." Rika hissed in desperation and then mentally smacked herself in the forehead as soon as the words left her mouth.

"Busy? The sun's just coming up! Rika, this is important!"

"...'mportant?" Takato's sleepy voice mumbled softly. He sat up and rubbed sleep from his eyes. "Wha's..." he caught sight of the profile of Rika's naked torso and his sluggish thoughts derailed. He stopped trying to talk and just grinned.

The tapping repeated, louder and more insistent. "Rika! I'm giving you ten seconds to throw on a robe or something and then I'm coming in!"

_That_ Takato heard clearly and the resulting burst of adrenaline woke him up completely. He and Rika exchanged a look of horror and then began frantically trying to separate the kimonos from the sheets.

The bedroom door slid open and revealed Ryo Akiyama, the "Legendary Tamer". He took three steps into the room and then his eyes adjusted to the dim light and he stopped dead. "Oh... uh... hi, guys," he grinned. "You should have said something Rika. Do you guys need a minute?"

"If you don't _mind_," Rika said through gritted teeth as she pulled the front of her kimono closed.

"Sure thing," still smiling infuriatingly, Ryo stepped back and slid the door shut. "It really _is_ an emergency," he said through the door. Rika swore she could _hear_ him still smiling. "There's something big happening in the Digital Dimension. I caught hints of it in the last couple of months and then I tracked down a couple of henchmen of this Mega called..."

"Devitamamon, we know," Rika snarled as she opened the door and let Ryo back into the room. She was a bit mollified by the look of astonishment on his face. _At least that damned, smug smile is gone,_ she thought.

"How did you find out?" Ryo regained his composure and sat down.

"Renamon caught some Gotsumon trying to plant a... a _device_ on the roof above HYPNOS. She... uhm... _persuaded_ one to tell her about his boss."

Ryo chuckled. "So you guys are already way ahead of the game! That's great! I was afraid I'd have a hard time convincing Yamaki to turn security on its head to ferret out a mole on the inside."

Takato and Rika exchanged puzzled glances. "Uh...," Takato finally asked, "...could you give that to us again, only in plain Japanese this time?"

It was Ryo's turn to look puzzled. "The infiltrator. You said 'device', right? You meant the patterned digitite crystal powered by digignomes... right?"

"Uh, yeah... but we didn't know exactly what it was _for_." Takato admitted.

"Well," Ryo said, with a slightly more concerned look on his face, "I'm not sure if Devitamamon himself was going to use it or it was going to be one of his trusted lieutenants, but the crystal was designed to transform a digimon into a human so that they could work their way into HYPNOS. I never figured out the rest of the plan but it seems obvious that infiltration, espionage, and even sabotage was the whole point of the thing."

Rika frowned in deep thought.

"Well, that's okay then," Takato said happily, "we got rid of the crystal. Well, _HYPNOS_ has the crystal now but the digignomes are all gone."

"We still have to be wary," Ryo said seriously. "Types like Devitamamon don't curl up and die after a little setback. I'm sure he'll try something else soon. Worse, he now knows that we're on to him! I just hope that he's not one of those rare power-mad digimon who can actually form a contingency plan or two. I think we need to take the fight to him... cut this off at the root. If he gets a toehold in the real world, there's no telling how much damage he'll do. Besides," Ryo gave Takato a friendly punch on the shoulder, "Don't you miss the Digital Dimension? Freedom, adventure, and a little bit of danger to spice up your life?"

Actually, Takato felt that his life had just gotten the perfect amount of "spice" in it, and that an uncomfortable and possibly extended trip to a hostile dimension wouldn't be any sort of improvement.

"Um..." Rika put in, "You said 'patterned' crystal, right? What did you mean by that?"

"It's something that one of the wizardly digimon types has come up with recently. Digignomes aren't exactly cooperative, right? You get a bunch together and they might do nothing... or they might do something you need or something they _think_ you need, but it's not often they'll do the exact thing you _want_."

"Right," Takato nodded. "So...?"

"So, some bright digimon figured out how to _force_ them to cooperate. I don't know exactly how it's done but digignomes are gathered up and put into a hollow crystal... that's the hardest part... takes ages to get enough, I hear... and then a pattern is impressed somehow on the crystal itself. When the digignomes come out, they're forced to act according to the pattern. In this case..."

"Oh god, oh god!" Rika gasped out, interrupting. "It wasn't what I thought it was! It wasn't _just_ gender!"

"What?" Ryo turned to her, a puzzled frown on his face.

"No time to explain!" Rika shouted, scrabbling in the dim light for her digivice. "I need to stop her!"

Ryo turned to Takato for an explanation. Takato shrugged helplessly.

The room brightened when the holographic tracking disk sprang to life above the surface of Rika's digivice. "Okay, okay, two blips... that one's really faint... that one's nearby... uhm... rookie, virus, high power... gotta be Guilmon... but where's Renamon? Okay... have to do this the direct way I guess..." Rika sat back and took a deep breath, calming herself. She opened her senses and called out telepathically to her partner.

Nothing.

The two boys gave her a moment and then Takato interrupted her. "Rika! What's this about? Maybe we can help. Is it about Renamon and Guilmon? I thought they were... well... on a date."

Ryo lifted an eyebrow at that and Takato mumbled at him, "Long story..."

Ryo's other eyebrow lifted. "Okaaay..."

"Takato!" Rika interrupted, "where's your digivice? Can you call Guilmon? Maybe he knows..."

"What's this about. Rika?" Takato asked as he disentangled his digivice from a knot of silk sheets.

"I didn't tell you... my mind was on other things, I guess, but I figured out where the digignomes went. Renamon was all worried about our... uh..." she flicked an embarrassed glance at Ryo, "… our _relationship_, so she was really wishing she could understand things from a human perspective and the night the digignomes disappeared she was there..."

"Wait wait," Ryo stopped Rika's somewhat frantic stream of words, "if the digignomes activated in Renamon's presence she would have become human right then. Maybe you're wrong about..."

"She's based on kitsune," Rika shot back, "Highly resistant to magic, according to all the folklore. Renamon felt herself begin to change when she was with Guilmon and got... uh... _excited_... but she was able to suppress it. If she _lets_ it happen..."

"Got it!" Takato cried as he lifted his digivice and triggered the tracking disk. "Hey! Guilmon's right here... just outside the house!" He got up to open the door and go outside but the door slid aside before he got to it. He gasped in surprise and took a startled step backwards.

In the doorway, lit by the soft golden glow of the rising sun, was a tall, very well-built woman. A long, thick mass of platinum blond hair fell around her in disarray, nearly brushing the floor. Her face was a mask of fearful desperation and it didn't seem as if her distress was because she was completely naked.

The woman threw her hands out to her sides, her fingers spread and cried out, "Rika! It's horrible! _Look_ at me!"

_Everyone_ looked at her. But Ryo and Takato both had a hard time associating the word "horrible" with the stunning sight in front of them.


	10. First Challenge

**Author's Note:**

**No, I didn't die. Life continues to happen at the expense of fiction. Updates when I can... like _now!_**

Chapter 10  
First Challenge

Everyone had forgotten about Guilmon.

He stood unhappily in the garden, watching the boys stare at Renamon... and Rika glower at the boys... and Renamon hover on the edge of panic.

Everything had been going so _well_. He and Renamon had been kissing and stroking each other and then she had begun to rub herself against him in a most amazing way... and then she had _changed. _Suddenly, instead of the strong, silky-furred vixen he knew so well, he was embracing a smooth, pale, and, in some places, slightly _squishy_ human woman.

Now, most digimon aren't all that concerned about outward bodily appearance, since they and others of their kind are apt to drastically change their looks almost instantly by digivolving. In fact, Renamon's new body closely resembled her Mega form, Sakuyamon. Except with a lot less clothes. _None_, in fact. And a lot more... Guilmon frowned, groping for the right word. He'd heard it in conjunction with wavy hand gestures made in the air. He shook his head in frustration. The word didn't matter... whatever it was, Renamon had a _lot_ of it. So, even though the change had been quite a shock to him, he was willing to go on with what they had been doing. Unfortunately Renamon _wasn't._

She shoved his arms away, looking down at herself in horror, and then ran from the park. From the half-coherent things she had screamed as she fled, it seemed that she wasn't so upset with how she looked... it was the fact that she had become a "pitiful, weak human,"... as she had put it.

Even as a weak human, Renamon was faster than Guilmon was at a flat run but he determinedly chugged along in her wake, assuming she was headed to Rika's house. He only once passed anyone else on the pre-dawn streets: A slightly drunk, very startled businessman standing motionless next to a dropped briefcase and scattered papers and staring down the avenue in the direction Renamon had gone.

He had arrived in the Nonaka's garden just in time to witness the break-up of the awkward tableau in the doorway to Rika's bedroom.

"Rika! _Do_ something!" Renamon wailed. "I don't want to be stuck like this! I tried to run, but this awful body could barely creep along! And these ridiculous things..." she hefted her considerable breasts in both hands, "…kept flopping around and throwing me off-balance and..."

If there had been any truth to the old cliché about sudden sexual arousal, both Ryo and Takato would have badly needed handkerchiefs at that moment. But Rika didn't need anything as obvious as a pair of bloody noses to let her know exactly what the boys were thinking. Their expressions made that _perfectly_ clear. And if they had had eyes for anything but Renamon's statuesque new physique, Rika's angry expression and flushed face would have instantly cooled their ardor.

As it was, their first clue they had that their behavior wasn't exactly pleasing to Rika was when she shouldered her way past them and grabbed Renamon's arm, growling, "Go! Down the hall to my mother's room! _Go!_"

Ryo and Takto both took a couple of steps so they could observer the hypnotic sway of Renamon's bare bottom as she and Rika made their way down the hallway and into Rumiko's Room. "Wow," Ryo said softly after the pair had disappeared. Takato said nothing but gave a slight stunned nod.

The boys looked at each other and then Ryo turned his eyes to the bedroom, his gaze sweeping over the tangle of sheets and general disarray and then back to Takato's face. Takato couldn't help blushing. One of the things both of them had in common was that they were nice guys. But they were still _guys_. Talking about relationships just wasn't something they were accustomed to doing. The first few glances and slight gestures conveyed more than enough information.

_So... you and Rika, huh?_

_Yeah. She's awesome._

_Kinda surprises me. I thought you and..._ "Jerry?" That last, Ryo said out loud, there being no handy way to shrug out a particular person's name.

Takato thought about the awkwardness between Jerri and him after all the gang's digimon had returned from the Digital dimension. All but Leomon, of course. That was the seed of the problem. Jerri couldn't help being reminded of her loss with all of them around. She could feel more comfortable with... Takato inwardly cringed as he thought the word... _normal_ kids. He had tried to nurture their relationship because he really felt something for Jerri, but it just hadn't worked out. They had drifted apart.

Takato summed it all up and an eloquent gesture with one hand, meaning; _stuff happens._

Ryo nodded thoughtfully... and frowned just a bit. From when he had first met her at the Digimon Grand Prix, he had always been attracted to Rika... to her strength of character and determination, (not to mention her gorgeous eyes) but they had been _kids..._ and as Cyberdramon's feral nature had made it necessary to keep his partner away from people for the most part, he hadn't been around much... and lately, not at all. He, being a bit older than the others, had certainly been feeling the growing _pressures_ of being a young adult for some time but the wilderness and dangers of the Digital Dimension hadn't left him much time to dwell on them.

But now he was back in the real world where things were slow-paced and, for the most part, safe... and he had time to think... and Rika had... _grown._ When he'd left last time, she was still gawky and coltish even though undeniably attractive. But _now_...

Takato began to frown. Ryo's silence communicated things just as well as his sparse gestures, and the way he stared down the empty hallway told Takato somehow that his thoughts weren't on _Renamon's_ dramatic new figure.

"Where's your partner?" Takato asked even though he was fairly certain Ryo had left him somewhere where he wouldn't be tempted to go on a rampage.

"Back in the Digital World," Ryo told him, "keeping an eye on Devitamamon's henchmen."

"Is it safe to leave him alone for..."

Ryo assumed that Takato had figured out what his half-formed thoughts had been and was just trying to distract him. He wasn't much in the mood. "Hadn't you better get dressed?" he asked, gesturing to Takato's rumpled _kimono._

"Uh... sure." Takato glanced around for his clothes and Ryo slid the bedroom door shut from the outside.

As Ryo turned around, he caught sight of the fretting Guilmon in the garden. He walked to the edge of the porch and sat down, calling to the little red dragon. "Hey, Guilmon! Girlfriend trouble?"

"Uh... oh... hi, Ryo. Yeah, I guess. But she's not my girlfriend... well maybe she is _now_." Guilmon muttered uncertainly, "Because she's a _girl_ now and she _wasn't_ before... but 'digimonfriend' doesn't sound right, and anyway..."

Ryo cut him off. He wasn't all that interested in the complications of Guimon's love-life. Another romance was occupying most of his thoughts. "So what about Takto and Rika? How long have they been... in love?" He'd hesitated to say the word out loud but this was _Guilmon_ he was talking to. Simply _implying_ things wouldn't get him very far. Maybe this was just a... fling or something. Maybe he still had a chance with her.

Guilmon immediately opened his mouth to answer and then found himself in the unusual position of thinking before he spoke. He knew how long he had admired and been attracted to Renamon before getting the courage to tell her and thought back over all the times Takato had gone out with Rika before they had kissed. A lot of times they weren't really even dates... just hanging out... sometimes in a group with the other tamers... but Takato had always been happy-looking when he'd come back from those times spent with Rika.

"Guilmon?" Ryo prompted him after a long silence.

"Oh! Uh... I... I... think it's been a long time, now." he said quietly.

Ryo scowled a bit. Yes, he'd gaped at Renamon's naked new body... but he was male and human, after all. He couldn't _help_ himself. But Rika... he'd gotten a pretty good look at her when he'd opened the bedroom door and she was... _stunning_. Ryo really _was_ literally stunned. He sat on the edge of the porch, his thoughts whirling in a futile circle mainly consisting of, _How did I not notice? How did I let her get away? Maybe Guilmon's wrong. Maybe..._

Takato came out of the bedroom, dressed in his street clothes again, and went to his partner, ignoring Ryo. He'd had some time to think while he was dressing and the fact that Ryo hadn't taken his important news to HYPNOS or one of the other tamers first, but had come directly to Rika's house, reinforced his earlier suspicions about Ryo's thoughts. Ryo was older than he was. More experienced in so many ways. And even... yes, Takato had to admit it to himself, _better-looking_ than he was. Takato was a nice guy all the way to his core but that didn't make him immune from jealousy. He ignored Ryo and spoke to his partner.

"Are you okay, Guilmon?"

"No, Takato," he sighed, "Renamon is unhappy and that makes me sad. I'd do anything to make her happy but I don't know _what_ to do."

"_I_ do," came Rika's voice from down the hallway. She had changed into her street clothes also and Renamon followed her in probably the only garment in the house that would fit her; one of Rika's mother's kimonos.

Well... _almost_ fit her.

Models are thin. Mostly _painfully_ so, and Rika's mother was no exception. The kimono strained across Renamon's hips and gaped above the obi, revealing a truly heroic cleavage.

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't stare at my breasts," Renamon said woodenly.

The line obviously sounded like Rika had coached her. Digimon weren't normally body-conscious. Ryo suddenly figured out why Rika's face was still dark with anger.

"Of course not!" he said hurriedly, flashing his charming grin, "I'm sorry about before... you just surprised me."

"Oh?" Rika said, skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure!" Ryo turned his smile on her. "No offense to Renamon, but athletic figures are much more my type, anyway." He stopped short of saying,_ Figures like yours, Rika. _ Like most lucky people with a high degree of charm and charisma, he knew _exactly_ where the fine line between flattery and flirting lay. He wouldn't give Takato any obvious reason to complain.

Takato just sputtered a bit.

"So you said you had an idea about fixing Renamon's problem?" Ryo continued smoothly.

"Yes," Rika said, her expression softening a bit. "Digignomes did this to her, so they're the obvious solution. We're going to the Digital Dimension to find some digignomes to change her back. And..." Rika put her hands on her hips and raised her chin defiantly, "…while we're over there, we might just find this Devitamamon and kick his butt up around his ears!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Ryo said as he laced his fingers and loudly cracked his knuckles. "When do we go?"

"Uh..." Takato put in, "… wait a minute! Shouldn't we call HYPNOS and coordinate with the other..."

"Check in with the bureaucrats?" Ryo scoffed. "How likely is it that Yamaki is going to let you run off and leave Tokyo defenseless because of a little something like this?" He gestured at Renamon. "No offense." He added in her direction.

Renamon just glared.

Takato began to speak again but Ryo cut him off. "In fact, Yamaki would be right. No sense in you or the other tamers deserting your posts. I'm sure Cyberdramon and I can handle anything by ourselves."

The thought of Ryo and Rika alone together in the Digital Dimension drove all logic and caution from Takato's head. Ryo was a good guy... a _nice_ guy. But where Rika was concerned, Takato didn't trust him any further than he could throw a Megaseadramon. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to push buttons. "There's no way I'm letting Rika go into danger without me. I'm texting my dad a note. He can forward it to Yamaki." He hit send and closed the phone with a snap. "I'm ready to go right now if you want. "

Ryo smiled at him as if it was the best news he'd heard in a year. "That's the spirit! Now, it is! I know a great little Digital Portal behind a Chinese restaurant just a mile from here." Ryo still had slight hopes of calling Takato's bluff.

Rika was looking back and forth between the two in puzzlement. "Why are you guys acting so weird? We have to wait long enough for the stores to open. Renamon can't go to the Digital Dimension in a silk kimono! We'll go get some clothes and gear at a camping store. I'd like to be better prepared than the first time we went. And even if we don't _need_ to eat over there, it would still be nice to be able to have some hot food or tea once in a while."

Ryo nodded. "Sounds good. And that'll give Takato some time to change his mind if he wants."

"I _won't_" Takato told him shortly.

Rika took the boys into the living room to make a list of supplies they'd need, deliberately leaving Renamon and Guilmon alone together.

Renamon went to sit down on the porch, wobbling a bit and supporting herself with a hand against the side of the house.

"Are you alright?" Guilmon asked.

Renamon waved his concern aside. "I'm fine... it's just that my balance is so messed up by not having a tail. What an awful body!"

"Takato and Ryo didn't think so," Guilmon said guilelessly, "I think they liked it a lot. They couldn't stop looking at you."

"I don't care what _they_ think," Renamon replied and then hesitated, turning her face away from Guilmon. "I... I'd just hate to think that _you_ didn't like how I..."

Guilmon reached out and took her hands gently in his large, curving claws. "It doesn't matter to me at all. I only care about what makes you happy. And anyway, I think you're... _different_... but still very beautiful this way. You're a lot like Sakuyamon, only bigger in some places."

Renamon grinned ruefully. "A _lot_ bigger. I doesn't help with the balance problem, either!" Her grin faded away. "That's not why I'm so upset, though. It's... it's..." She hung her head again.

Guilmon squeezed her hands encouragingly, "Yes?"

"I'm so _weak!_" She kept her face lowered and continued in a nearly inaudible voice. "All my life I've been strong and I've always worked as hard as I can to become even stronger. But now..." She sighed.

"Don't worry! We'll find some digignomes right away and make them change you back! I'll do everything to make sure you get your body back, I promise!"

"Thank you Guilmon," Renamon said softly and pulled him into a tight hug. "You are so sweet."

Guilmon didn't say anything. His head was pressed against the upper swell of her bare breasts, and try as he might, he just couldn't regret them as much a she did.


	11. It's Not the First Time This Has Happene

**Author's Notes:**

**Work continues to own me. I'll be out of the hemisphere for a few weeks after Thanksgiving, so my connectivity may be slim to none. At least I got this chapter out beforehand!**

**I introduce Saeko Ito by putting her given name first as is done in Western countries, even though in Japan her family name would come first. Saeko is pronounced "sigh-ko". **

**And the bit about "drunken frogs" in relation to the Gekomon? Yeah, the English dub of the series has them making _milkshakes..._ but what they're actually doing is brewing _saki_. Yep, they tried to get Orochimon blind drunk so that he would pass out. Makes more sense than making him sleepy from drinking too many milkshakes, doesn't it? But in America, you can't even admit the _existence_ of alcohol in a "kid's" show.**

Chapter 11  
It's Not the First Time This Has Happened

The camping gear was fairly easy to get but clothes for Renamon took quite a while. She finally settled on over-sized men's clothes, cinched in tight at the waist and with the sleeves of the shirt rolled up. The clothes were baggy everywhere but across her hips and chest and were decidedly frumpy-looking but Renamon only cared about comfort and the ability to move freely.

Because of that, it took visits to several stores before Renamon found a suitable bra that she approved of. Two clerks told her outright that they'd never find an off-the-rack size to fit her and that they would have to have one custom-fitted but Rika vetoed waiting around for the week or more that a special order would take.

Renamon finally settled on two of the largest sports bras she could find. Two, one over the other, because she insisted that she wanted to keep her breasts as immobile as possible. She stood in front of the mirror in the changing room and bounced up and down on her toes experimentally. "I suppose this will have to do," she sighed. "They're tight but at least now I have a chance of keeping my balance if I have to move quickly."

They packed all their gear and headed for the Digital Gate that Ryo knew about. At first, Takato wanted to use the one that was in the tunnel behind Guilmon's old hideout but Ryo's calmly explained that the one behind the Chinese restaurant would put them at ground level in the Iron Desert instead of a few kilometers in the air above it. There wasn't much Takato could say to that. Falling all that virtual distance hadn't done him and the others any permanent harm when they'd first done it years ago... but it had _hurt _ and nobody really wanted to repeat the experience.

There was brief period of disorientation as they passed through the gate Then the cloud of glowing digits that surrounded them at first resolved themselves into the familiar, bleak landscape of the uppermost level of the Digital Dimension. Red desert stretched away in every direction, dotted here and there by the fantastic shapes of twisted spires of sandstone.

"Okay," Rika said, turning to Ryo, "Where now?"

Takato felt another surge of jealousy. He told himself that it was stupid. _Of course_ Rika would turn to Ryo for advice. He knew the Digital World better than any other human alive. But it still made him unhappy to see Rika depending on Ryo... instead of him.

"Well, if it's digignomes we're after, I'd suggest the Sacred Woods. There are more of them there than anywhere else I know of. That's two levels down and... hmn... _that_ direction." And Ryo strode off without another word, confident that the rest would follow. And so they did. Ryo occasionally checked his digivice, scanning the area around them as they walked and the other two tamers fell into the habit also. They only detected a few digimon and those were at quite a distance.

They paused once for a rest and some water and Ryo stood impatiently, gazing out over the sand in the direction they had been traveling. "Night is coming soon," he said. "We should cover as much ground as possible."

"We're just taking a short break," Takato grumbled. "What's wrong with that?"

"Waste of time," Ryo replied without taking his eyes off the horizon. "You don't really need to rest or drink water. Those are just old habits from your non-digital bodies. Just _believe_ you're rested and not thirsty and you'll be fine."

Takato didn't reply but stood up and capped his water bottle with a little bit more force than was strictly necessary. "Fine. Let's go."

An hour or so later, night fell, the sky abruptly snapping from light to dark in sections rolling from one horizon to the other. "I'd forgotten about that," Rika said, staring up at the glowing representation of the Earth that hung in the black sky among the shifting data beams. "Its too bad the Digital World doesn't have sunsets."

"Oh, there's a couple of places where it's sunset _all_ the time," Ryo told her as he dropped his pack and began to unfasten his bedroll. "I'll show them to you sometime, if you like."

Takato ground his teeth together at the remark but otherwise ignored it. By then, he had given up on trying to counter Ryo's easy superiority. He assumed he'd just end up looking surly or petty. He decided that the best plan would be to find the digignomes and get back home as fast as possible, giving Ryo less time to charm Rika.

They all settled down, Rika and Renamon laying out their sleeping bags a short distance from the boys'. Ryo checked his digivice again and announced, "We should meet up with Cyberdramon early tomorrow. There's a long staircase cut into a cliff not far from here that leads down to the next level and he should be near the bottom."

Rika looked up in sudden interest. "That's where Devitamamon is?"

"That level, yes, but a ways off in the region of the Great Granite Spires." Ryo nodded. "Don't worry, we won't be likely to run into him or his henchmen on the route we're taking."

"Oh, I'm not _worried_," Rika shot back. "In fact, I looking forward to it. That guy is going to get a severe butt-kicking for everything he's put poor Renamon through!"

Ryo chuckled. "That's my wildcat! But don't you think we should get your partner back into shape first? She may want to get in a couple licks of her own."

"Oh, I most certainly _do!_" Renamon said, in as much of a growl as her human voice could manage.

Takato took the first watch. The way he was seething over Ryo's "_my_ wildcat" remark, he wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon, anyway.

-o-(())-o-

It was nearly an hour later when Takato heard a soft sound from behind him. He turned warily to see Renamon approaching him. She grimaced a bit as he looked at her. "If I was in my old body, you never would have heard me," she said softly.

"You'll have it back soon," he automatically reassured her. "Is everything alright?"

"I... I can't sleep," she replied avoiding his gaze. "I thought I'd take a... a bit of a walk."

Takato blinked in surprise. He could sympathize with her insomnia but... "Uh... I don't think that would be a good idea. You might not be safe alone."

"Yes," Renamon agreed with suspicious speed. "That's why I... I thought I'd come over here and... and take Guilmon with me..." She flicked a glance at Takato and then down at his sleeping partner, "...for protection."

Oh... _kay_." Takato said slowly. "But..."

Renamon didn't wait for him to finish but bent down and placed a hand on Guilmon's shoulder, shaking him gently. Takato stood back and let her wake his partner and explain to him what she wanted. Guilmon only hesitated for an instant, looking up at his tamer for permission and, at Takato's curt nod, he happily followed Renamon out into the night.

They didn't go quite far enough.

Takato couldn't quite make out their quiet conversation but as their voices became louder and less restrained, he couldn't help overhearing. He thought about putting his hands over his ears to give them some privacy but he couldn't do that and still be alert against any danger that might arise, so he had no real choice but to listen. And suffer.

"That feels good, Guilmon. Touch me there again!"

"Like this?"

"Ohh... yes! Ah! _Ow! _Be more gentle... I'm sensitive..."

"Sorry! Uh... like this?"

"Mmmmm... yes... like that. And maybe... maybe..."

"Yes, Renamon?"

"You could use your tongue? Here..."

"Oh. Okay. Like... mmm?"

"Oh! _Oh! _Yes! Like that! Just like _that!_"

Takato gritted his teeth and tried humming softly to drown out the noises echoing from the surrounding rocks. He hitched at his pants trying to get them to feel less tight and then his gaze fell on Rika's sleeping form, the curve of her hip softly lit by the low-burning campfire. She shifted slightly in her sleep and all he could think about for several seconds was how that sweet curve would feel under his hands and how much he'd like to make her cry out the way Renamon was doing at the moment.

_What did I ever do to deserve this kind of torture? _he groaned to himself.

A while later, Renamon and Guilmon returned to the fire and curled up together on Renamon's sleeping bag. Takato studiously ignored them. The distorted representation of Earth slowly turned overhead and the data beams swept erratically across the desert for a couple of hours more before Takato thought he'd be able to sleep and woke Ryo with a nudge on the foot.

Ryo woke looking alert and refreshed. Takato tried not to hate him for it.

"My watch?" Ryo asked as he rose and then squinted at the glowing planet above them. "Hey, it's been _ hours! _ Why didn't you wake me sooner?"

"Couldn't sleep," Takato said tersely.

"Look, I don't want to be critical," Ryo said, sounding sincere, "but we may be here for a while and there's no point in you letting yourself get exhausted right from the start. Until you get the knack of _believing_ you're rested, you should try to..."

"Alright, alright!" Takato snapped, a bit louder than he had intended, "I don't need to be nagged! I've done this before!"

"You've _done_ it," Ryo replied with infuriating calm, "but I've _lived _ it. You should learn when to take advice from someone more experienced or you could get into big trouble."

"The only trouble I've got right now is _you!_" Takato yelled, finally losing his self-control. "Can we just concentrate on the mission and not..."

"What?" Rika muttered, her voice thick with sleep as she sat up. "What's all the shouting about?"

Ryo crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "I wish I knew. Takato's upset about something and I think he's behaving a bit..."

"Now, _wait a minute!_" Takato shouted.

The argument might have spiraled out of control, given the chance, but the Digital Dimension was a reactive environment. Human emotions had a very direct impact on the surroundings and, in this case, the desert sands churned into an insubstantial froth that couldn't support the weight of a pebble, let alone something the size of a human body. The tamers and their digimon nearly instantly dropped down into the sand and vanished from sight.

-o-(())-o-

Yamaki paced furiously back and forth in front of his desk at HYPNOS, unconsciously flipping the cover of his lighter open and closed, a habit he thought he had broken himself of long ago. His Chief of R&D, Saeko Ito, stood by the door, wisely silent.

"How could they be so stupid?" Yamaki growled. "For all we know Renamon's transformation could be part of Devitamamon's plan! One of our strongest digimon put out of action completely... that's just too convenient!"

Saeko didn't comment. She knew her boss well, and knew when he was inviting comment and when he was just venting. He was venting. He continued to vent and pace and flip the cover of his lighter for a while and then suddenly spun to face her. "What's the status of the DRP? Is it operational yet?" he demanded.

Saeko spoke calmly, staring at a spot an inch or so above Yamaki's head. "The Deep Resolution Probe has completed the first round of tests and we've recovered images from the Digital Dimension's interface layer with its sensors but we haven't done a full translation test yet."

"In other words," Yamaki summarized, "you don't know if it can survive fully entering and operating in the Digital Dimension or not."

"No, sir."

"Well, I need _some_ way to track down those irresponsible children and drag them back here," he said, snapping the lighter's cover shut for a final time, "so let's find out right now."

-o-(())-o-

Guilmon didn't swim very well. He thrashed around, sputtering and swallowing a good deal of water before Ryo and Takato maneuvered themselves on either side of him and helped support him while they all swam for the shore.

The group eventually dragged themselves out of the lake they had landed in and looked around. They were on a rocky beach bordered by a thick forest. Across the lake, distant tall mountains could be seen, but otherwise there seemed to be no notable landmarks.

"So," Rika said in an icy voice, her temper being frayed to the breaking point by her rude and early awakening, followed by a long, terrifying plummet into unpleasantly cold water, "where do you think we are _now_, Ryo?"

"Orochimon's Lake," he answered confidently. "The village of the Gekomon should be over that way."

"Great," Rika snarled. "So now we've got drunken frogs to deal with!"

"Oh, they're not that bad," Ryo said smiling, "and at least we're a lot closer to our goal."

Takato grinned. Ryo didn't know Rika well enough to keep silent when she was on the edge of loosing her temper. He was certain the easy-going cheerfulness was going to backfire. The thing that really set her off though was that Ryo seemed to be perfectly dry while the rest of the group was sodden and cold.

"Why aren't you wet?" Rika demanded.

"You should know this by now, Rika," Ryo replied. "You just have to imagine how you feel when you're dry, tell yourself you _are_ dry, and _believe_ it! C'mon, give it a try."

Rika goggled at him for a few seconds as her face flushed a deep crimson and then exploded. "Don't you patronize _me_, you arrogant _jerk!_" She spun on her heel and marched away toward the edge of the forest only to find that the tangle of trees and undergrowth were too thick for her to get through. "Renamon!" she snapped without thinking, stepping back and holding herself so that her partner could easily pick her up and leap over the treetops.

"I..." came Renamon's miserable voice, "...I _can't_ Rika."

Takato could only imagine how furious Rika was at that moment. To be lectured by Ryo and then embarrass herself by momentarily forgetting that her partner was no longer able to preform superhuman feats of strength and speed, must have been nearly unendurable. He knew far better than to try to comfort her in any way. To do so in front of the cause of her anger would only humiliate her more. Instead, he flipped up his digivice and swiped a blue card through its slot, triggering Guilmon's digivolution to Growlmon.

"Alright, boy," Takato said calmly, after the transformation was complete, and pointed, "make us a road."

Growlmon put his head down and bulldozed a swath through the woods, smashing through the foliage so effectively, that they all had an easy path to walk along. Rika followed close behind him, just behind the powerful lashing of his tail that swept the debris from the path, and Renamon kept close behind her tamer. Takato and Ryo walked a fair distance behind, Takato just slightly smiling and Ryo most definitely frowning. They traded a few glances, indulging, again, in that male non-verbal communication.

A shrug from Ryo: _What did I do?_

A shake of the head from Takato: _If you don't know, _I'm_ not going to tell you._

A frown: _Jerk!_

An outright grin: _Sucks to be you!_

For the rest of the way to the Gekomon village, everyone was silent.

_And_ non-communicative.


	12. First Release

**Author's Notes:**

**I'm back! I survived 12 hour days, six-day weeks, and an extra week stuck in the Back of Beyond. (My definition of anyplace that has a slower than 4KB/sec internet connection.) I finally get a shower where the water doesn't come out brown and _you_ finally get a new chapter. Everybody wins!**

Chapter 12  
First Release

Rika was fairly sure of two things:The first was that what she was doing at the moment was stupid and dangerous. The second was that she didn't give a damn. She _had_ to get away from Takato and Ryo and Renamon and Guilmon and the Geckomon before she went crazy and tried to punch someone's face in.

When she just couldn't stand any more of the boys sniping at each other, Renamon and Guilmon mooning over each other, and the hideous noise the Geckomon called music, she had casually stood and walked out of the guest hall, through the village surrounding the sake brewery and down toward the lake shore. She did so a little unsteadily because she, along with the rest of the group except Renamon, had been partaking of the town's principle product. As bad as they were at making music, the Geckomon were good at making sake.

Rika came to the edge of the lake and stood looking out over the dark water, taking deep breaths of the cool night air. A human alone, at night, in a world full of monsters... her hand tightened around the flask of sake she had unconsciously carried with her. _ Just let some stupid digimon try something, _ Rika thought, _I'd love to have an excuse to kick someone's head off! _

As her temper waned she admitted to herself that part of her anger and frustration was with herself. She loved Takato. She was certain of that. But that didn't mean she _wasn't _ attracted to Ryo. She had been from the first time she had met him, she realized, even before the years had made him more handsome. It was his confidence that really got to her, that easy assurance that there wasn't any situation he couldn't handle. The fact that his confidence always seemed to be very well founded made it even worse. But she _loved _Takato.

Didn't she?

Rika drained the remaining sake in the flask in one go and drew back her arm to fling it out into the lake. That was when she recognized the spot she was standing on. She lowered her hand and the flask dropped with a soft thunk into the sand where she had watched Jerry and Leomon finish off Orochimon, so many years ago.

Jerry had been so happy and Rika had been proud of her... going from a timid little girl, hiding behind a hand puppet to a confident and capable tamer. But Jerry's happiness hadn't lasted long.

"Just what I needed to improve my mood," Rika muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She couldn't help but think of how Takato had treated Jerry back then, how much he had gone through to save her, how much he had obviously wanted to be with her afterward. If Guilmon and the other digimon hadn't come back from the Digital Dimension, would Takato and Jerry have...?

Rika's stomach tightened in knots but that, oddly enough, reassured her. _Okay, _she told herself silently, _if I'm jealous of someone he broke up with long ago, I guess I must _really_ be in love with him. _She stood looking out over the lake for a while longer and then came to a decision. _ Well, maybe I should go back and _show _him just how _much_ I love him... I'm sure there's someplace we could get some privacy in the Gekomon village... then maybe he won't be so defensive around Ryo. _

Rika smiled, her dark mood lifting, and turned to walk back up the trail to the village. That's when the digimon attacked her.

-o-(())-o-

"Look," Ryo was saying, back in the comfort of the guest hall, "I'm not dissing Guilmon. He's a strong digimon and you're a good tamer. I'm just saying that it would be safer if we had Cyberdramon with us, that's all."

"So, we go all the way back to where you left him when we're almost to the Sacred Woods?" Takato frowned at him. "That doesn't make any sense! Let's just get on with it! We go in, find the digignomes, and get Renamon fixed up."

"What doesn't make sense," Ryo retorted, "is to needlessly expose ourselves to danger with only one digimon for protection."

"What about the danger we'll be facing all the way back to find Cyberdramon?" Takato shook his head. "We should finish the mission! With Renamon back to normal there's nothing in the Digital Dimension that could stand up to her and Guilmon except a Sovereign, right Rika?"

"Rika, I'm only thinking of..." Ryo said, intending to make his own appeal, and stopped. "Hey... where'd she go?"

"Where'd they _all_ go?" Takato asked.

Sure enough, aside from a few Gekomon, Ryo and Takato were the only ones in the hall.

-o-(())-o-

Guilmon and Renamon had slipped out of the hall together right after Rika had left. They quickly found a private spot a little way from the village gate and grabbed each other so quickly and ferociously that anyone watching might have though they were attacking each other.

Well, in a way, they _were._

"Damn these clothes!" Renamon hissed while alternately kissing Guilmon's muzzle and struggling with her shirt buttons. "I don't see how humans put up with this stuff!"

Guilmon's paws slipped down over her rump and squeezed. "You feel good... even through clothes."

Renamon finally got her shirt off and Guilmon nuzzed his way down her neck and between the swell of her breasts.

"Oh..." she moaned softly, and then, "Damn! Let me get these stupid bras off! I want to feel your tongue on my..."

She was interrupted by a loud scream from the direction of the lake. Both she and Guilmon froze for a fraction of a second and then Renamon recognized the voice. "Rika!" Renamon gasped, and then sprinted for the shore.

She hurtled down the dark path and, even though she was cursing her lack of speed the whole way, arrived on the beach only a few seconds later. Rika and a Divermon were crouching and circling each other warily. The Divermon was limping badly and keeping his spear between himself and his opponent. One side of Rika's face was covered in blood and she was holding her head slanted to one side to try and keep the blood from running into her other eye.

Renamon didn't even slow down. She turned her sprint into a flying kick, both of her feet slamming into the Divermon and doubling him over. They landed in a heap together, rolling down the slight slant of the beach in a tangle. As they stopped rolling Renamon threw a punch but the Divermon caught her fist and, with his superior digimon strength, easily threw her off.

"Stupid, weak humans!" the Divermon bellowed. "Why do you even _try_ to resist..."

His rant was rudely and rather brutally interrupted. Rika had grabbed the spear he had dropped when Renamon had piled into him and rammed it straight into his open mouth. He made a strangled high-pitched scream and clawed at the spear even as Rika put her full weight behind it. They struggled for a few seconds and then the Divermon managed to tear the spear out of Rika's grasp. But he hadn't even managed to pull it out of his mouth before Renamon slammed a heavy rock down on the back of his skull.

Only moments later, Guilmon skidded to a stop on the beach, goggling at the sight of Rika and Renamon alternately stabbing and bashing the prone and weakly struggling Divermon. He didn't have a chance to lend a hand before the digimon had burst into bits of data.

Renamon dropped her rock and grabbed Rika by her shoulders, looking into her face with concern. "Are you all right? You're bleeding..."

"Yeah, yeah," Rika reassured her, "it's just a shallow cut. Head wound, you know... looks worse than it is. Thanks for the assist by the way. How did you know I was in trouble?"

"Guilmon and I went out to... umn..." Even in the dim light Rika could see her blush. "Anyway... we heard you scream."

"Oh," Rika said, suddenly embarrassed herself, "It... it wasn't that I was _frightened_ or anything... I was just surprised. He jumped right out of the water at me."

"Oh... of course," Renamon agreed, "but it's a good thing you were... surprised. You... might have had a tougher time defeating it without my help."

They both just stared at each other in silence for a moment and then burst out laughing. Guilmon just stared.

-o-(())-o-

"Hey, where have you guys been?" Takato called out as Rika, Renamon, and Guilmon returned to the hall. "We want to... oh _hell_, Rika, you're _bleeding!_ What happened?"

Rika told them what had happened as Takato cleaned the blood from her face.

That was incredibly stupid Rika!" Ryo said sternly, "You should have known better than to..."

"Yeah, yeah," Rika said, waving a dismissive hand, "I'm stupid and bloody... but I just kicked a digimon to sparks... with a little help from poor, weak Renamon..." Rika winked and grinned at her partner, "...have _you_ ever done that?

Ryo was shocked into silence. Takato looked at Guilmon who nodded, "I didn't even get a chance to help!" he confirmed.

"You got lucky!" Ryo insisted, "You've _got_ to be more careful. When you've had more experience, you'll realize that..."

Takato raised one hand, sheltered from Ryo's view by his shoulder, and and mimed a flapping mouth. Rika stifled a laugh.

Takato wiped the last of the blood from Rika's forehead and blinked in surprise. "Hey... there's no cut."

Rika's expression was perfectly smug. "No, I 'thought' it better while we walked back. I guess Ryo's right about _some_ things." She turned and smiled sweetly at him.

Ryo threw up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I give up. We'll head out for the Sacred Woods in the morning. The less time we spend here, the less time you'll have for trying to get yourselves killed."

"_Late_ morning," Rika said, standing and taking Takato by the hand. Without another word, she practically dragged him out of the hall.

Guilmon grinned and slipped his arm around Renamon's waist. The feel of his touch on her bare skin made her smile in pleasure at first. Then she realized something, "Hey! Where did I leave my shirt?"

-o-(())-o-

Rika led Takato to a lonely corner of the village behind the brewery where bundles of rise straw made a sheltering wall. "This looks like a nice, private spot," she said.

"Are you sure you're..." Takato began. Rika interrupted him by grabbing either side of his face and pulling his head down to where she could plant a fierce, insistent kiss on his lips. "Wow," he gasped when she finally released him.

That was the last coherent thing either one of them said for a long while. Rika surprised not only Takato but herself as well. She thought she had come to a rational, well-reasoned conclusion in deciding to make love with him that night. But there was little to no rationality in her actions. She _needed_ him... the touch of his lips and hands... the warm, sweet scent of his body... it was like she had been dying of thirst and Takato was a big, cool glass of water.

They urgently kissed and caressed each other as they got out of their clothes as quickly as possible. Rika spread hers on top of the scattered rice straw and then pulled Takato down on top of her. It was only at the last possible moment that she realized something. "Wait!" she moaned. "The condoms... they're in my backpack!"

Takato turned and clawed at his jacket, nearly ripping the side pocket as he yanked out a string of foil packets and Rika silently blessed him with huge relief. The made love in an artless, forceful struggle, both climaxing quickly and intensely. Afterward they lay entangled, gripping each other in the desperate embrace of a drowning man clinging to a lifesaver.

"Rika," Takato said in a breathy whisper, "I didn't mean to be so... so greedy, I guess. Did you... was it okay for you?"

Rika took a few more seconds to get her breath and then answered, "Yes... yes... I... it felt wonderful." And she was a bit surprised at _how_ wonderful it had felt... how much she had enjoyed Takato... _needing_ her that badly. She traced the long muscles of his back with her hands as she considered it. She'd thought of all the things she'd like to do with him, all the things she _might_ like if she tried, and there were a few things that she had been sure she _wouldn't_ like. But things were turning out to be different that she had imagined.

She had always needed to be in control of everything in her life. She didn't trust other people enough to depend on them. She was smart and strong and competent and always looked down on most other people for not being as able as she was. _Arrogant_, Renamon had said once... but she had been speaking about herself then... or had she? Rika couldn't quite remember. She loved Takato but she had still tried to be the one in control of their relationship and her Grandmother's advice had seemed to fit her way of thinking perfectly.

Rika raised her hands, kneading the muscles of his shoulders and arms. Yes, she was in superb shape, athletic and physically strong, but he was bigger than she was, stronger and heavier... and... and she liked it. She _liked_ it when her was forceful with her, she realized with quite a bit of surprise. She didn't mind giving in to him at all... not to _him. _ She felt him growing hard again and his hands slipped down her back and stroked and squeezed her butt lovingly. The obvious desire in his touch made up her mind for her.

She kissed him deeply before pulling away slightly and turning in his arms. She arched her back and pressed her rump against his shaft. "Would you like to do it this way?" she asked, glad that her face was turned away from him; she could _feel_ her cheeks burning.

"Really?" Takato breathed hesitantly, even though his hands and body had already told Rika what the answer was. "Yes... oh, _yes_, I _would_," he said when he realized she was serious.

Takato quickly took out another condom while Rika rose to her hands and knees. Her crouched over her and guided himself into her with shaking hands as she trembled in anticipation. It was a surrender for her... a position of pure submission that she'd never dreamed she would allow, let alone _enjoy._ But she did... she enjoyed it more that anything they'd yet done together. Every sensation, Takato's weight on her, his strong arms around her, his hips firmly striking her ass at every thrust, and his hard length stroking her over and over... it all made her senses reel.

Takato drank in the feel of Rika's body beneath him. That beautiful, firm butt of hers that he very nearly worshiped, and all the lean, sleek muscles beneath her silky skin, moving in time to the rhythm of his strokes. But what made him even happier than just the pure physical sensations was the realization that this was a remarkable expression of Rika's trust in him. He wanted to tell her how much he appreciated it, how happy it made him feel, how absolutely incredible she felt, and how much he loved her. But he couldn't speak. He could only gasp out wordless moans of pleasure. So he did the

next best thing: He bit her on the neck.

Rika felt his teeth squeeze down on her in a gentle but firm pressure, tightening on the flesh at the crook of her neck... and she came. She came long and hard and cried out in shuddering, ragged gasps at the unexpected intensity of her orgasm. Her sudden wild thrashing pushed Takato over the edge and he added his primal yell of pleasure to hers, heedless of who might hear.

_Everyone_ heard. The village wasn't that big. The Geckomon merely shrugged at another inexplicable human behavior. Ryo scowled ferociously and a very strange feeling flooded through him. It wasn't anger or jealousy, he'd felt those occasionally before. No, it was something entirely new. Ryo Akiaya, the Legendary Tamer... wasn't used to _losing_.

-o-(())-o-

Guilmon and Renamon not only heard, they saw everything from the little thicket of bamboo where they sat, hidden from sight.

Considering what had happened to Rika earlier, Renamon had insisted that she and Guilmon watch over her and Takato. Guilmon thought that they might not _want_ to be observed and Renamon agreed. "That's why we're not going to let them know we're doing it," she said.

It was a good thing no digimon with evil intentions tried to sneak up on the romantic couple. Renamon and Guilmon started out with the best of intentions, dutifully scanning the surrounding area while trying to ignore Rika and Takato themselves, but soon their curiosity overcame them and their attention became completely focused on their tamers.

By the time the tamers had finished their first, quick bout of sex, Renamon found that she was breathing heavily and feeling a very definite desire for Guilmon to touch her... everywhere. She glanced over at him and found that he was also undeniably excited. She slid over next to him and put her arms around him. They kissed and petted each other while still keeping an eye on their tamers, who quickly recovered and began a new and more intriguing type of lovemaking.

Renamon had straddled one of Guilmon's thighs and was rocking her hips back and forth as she rubbed her breasts against his chest. Guilmon's hands slid down over Renamon's rump and squeezed the same way his tamer had done to Rika. "Oh, _Renamon,_" he whispered, still watching the humans, and a note of definite frustration was in his voice,"I want to do _that_ with you! I really, really _want_ to..."

Renamon was also still watching the tamers even though her own passion was being somewhat satisfied, and she hissed back to him, "I wish you could Guilmon... I would love to be beneath you like that... I... wish you... could!"

Guilmon bared his fangs in a pure agony of unsatisfied need and growled out, "I want to so _bad_! I want to... I need to... I _wish..._"

Digimon respond to their tamers emotions. Digital and biological, they are connected on a deep, inexplicable level that even all of HYPNOS's advanced equipment was unable to explain. In times of great peril, pure emotions had triggered digivolutions when all the acquired data imaginable had been unable to do it. Fear, love, anger... all had an effect.

As Rika and Takato came together, the burst of pure, sexual ecstasy melded with with their partners desires and the little bamboo grove erupted in a whirling vortex of iridescent light.


	13. First Betrayal

Chapter 13  
First Betrayal

"Ito-san," the technician asked respectfully, "are you sure you wish to risk yourself on this mission? Perhaps another..."

"Thank you for volunteering, " Saeko replied, knowing full well that was not what the man had in mind. She enjoyed his ill-concealed look of dismay for a moment before continuing, "but I know this device better than anyone at HYPNOS. I have the best chance of success."

The tech bowed as he exhaled in relief. "As you say, Ito-san."

Saeko turned her attention to the control panel in the cockpit of the Deep Resolution Probe. Coordinates were being fed to her from the observation dome three floors above her lab. She looked over her shoulder and checked the empty cargo bay of the probe. The folding benches and seatbelts were all stowed away neatly. The whole machine was a bit smaller than a typical minivan and quite a bit similar in looks. This was no coincidence as the Toyota Corporation had provided the body and frame of the vehicle. Some wit in the lab had seen fit to stick their chrome "T" logo on the rear hatch.

She turned back to the controls and flipped the radio's transmit switch. "This is Ito. I'm ready to launch. Are you certain about these coordinates?"

It was Riley's voice that came back through the headphones. "As sure as we can be. There's been all sorts of unusual activity in the DD but those numbers are the last place we picked up an energy signature that matched Guilmon's."

"It will have to do," Saeko replied and turned the main arming switch. "Translation in ten seconds. Clear the area."

It wasn't anything dramatic. Just a slight hum and a shimmering light and Saeko and the probe were suddenly gone.

-o-(())-o-

Rika and Takato realized at just about the same time that the flickering light and sound coming from what was left of the bamboo grove was something they ought to pay attention to. Both of them wanted to just lie in each other's arms enjoying the molten after-glow of their amazing bout of sex, but anything unusual in the Digital Dimension could be deadly dangerous: They quickly pulled on a minimal amount of clothing, grabbed their digivices, and went to investigate.

Renamon and Guilmon didn't hear them coming... didn't notice them at all, in fact. It might have taken a tank battalion to get their attention, as wrapped up in each other as they were. Rika and Takato stood staring for a long time. The both figured out pretty quickly that the extravagantly muscled young man that was panting and straining above Renamon had to be a transformed Guilmon. The fact that Renamon was moaning his name over and over again was a pretty good clue.

Takato and Rika seemed to be perfectly in sync that night. They also realized at exact same time that they probably oughtn't to be standing there watching their transformed partners engage in frantic, nearly mindless sex. They looked up at each other, blushed, looked away from each other, and began to back away from the spectacle in front of them.

They both kept watching for a bit longer, though. Longer than was really polite.

-o-(())-o-

"Saeko, do you copy?" Riley's distorted voice came out of the cockpit's speaker. Swirling, slightly sparkling mist whipped around the vehicle as it descended through clouds of probability toward the Digital Dimension's simulated surface.

"Say again." Saeko replied, even though she had understood the question despite the quality of the sound. Riley repeated herself and Saeko keyed the transmit button again. As she did so, she jiggled the frequency knob on the radio, purposely breaking up her own signal. "What was that? I can barely hear you. Please repeat..." and she twisted the knob until it stopped, effectively cutting off all communication with HYPNOS. Then she quickly flipped a hidden switch under the control panel, that she had installed only the night before, designed to cut out her location transponder entirely. To the operators in the HYPNOS control room it would look like she had suddenly vanished.

Saeko quickly punched in new coordinates and the probe swung around, heading for the part of the Digital Dimension that _she_ wanted to visit. In a short while impressively tall spires of granite appeared through the digital fog and she brought the craft in for a perfect landing.

She climbed out of the cockpit and looked around. Aside from some gently swaying stalks of grass, nothing moved. She put her fingers to her lips and whistled piercingly, silently blessing the American exchange student who had taught her the trick of doing it. Such a useful ability was worth the shocked disapproval her parents had shown when she first tried out her new skill on a family outing.

It worked very well. Withing moments a large skeletal digimon swooped down from one of the spires and threatened her with a sharp lance. "Hah! A _human!_" it cried, examining her vehicle and, more carefully, her clothing and belt. "And no digimon... no _digivice_... you're not even a tamer! You will suffer and die on the lance point of Skullsatamon!" And it swung the spear tip toward Saeko.

She didn't seem overly concerned. "Your name is Skullsatamon? _Really?_"

The digimon hesitated and it's bony fingers moved nervously on the shaft of its weapon. "Uh... yes, really. Why? Is there something wrong with my name?"

Saeko put her hands on her hips and pretended to consider the question. "Too _subtle_, maybe? Have you thought about changing it to... oh, say, Darkevilskullsatamon... _XL_?

"Hmn...I _like_ that!"

"You _would." _Saeko mumbled disgustedly to herself.

"What was that?" Skullsatamon frowned at her only just beginning to suspect that perhaps the tiny creature before him was actually mocking him.

"I said," Saeko smiled sweetly at him, "Take me to the hidden fortress or I'll have your master tear your arms and legs and wings off."

Skullsatamon hesitated.

"_Now_," Saeko said in a low, dangerous tone.

If she had shouted, the digimon would have disbelieved her and probably speared her without another thought. But there was no bluff or bluster in her voice, only a ruthless certainty and utter lack of compassion.

"Y-yes," Skullsatamon replied meekly. And then, after a moment's thought, "_M'lady_."

-o-(())-o-

"So what do you think happened?" Takato asked when he and Rika had retreated to their space behind the wall of straw bundles. He was looking at his digivice which was, like Rika's, now unable to display his partner's location.

"I don't know _how_ it happened," Rika said, shaking her head, "but it's obvious that it's the same thing that happened to Renamon... no digignomes this time, so it's digivolution or mutation or whatever. Maybe we should call it Cartoon Superhero Mode. Jeeze, did you see the _size_ of him?" Rika realized, too late, that her comment could be mistaken to be about a different portion of Guilmon's new anatomy than his overall physique, as she had intended. "Uh... I mean how _tall_ he was... his muscles and stuff..." She trailed off to an embarrassed silence.

"Hey... it's okay," Takato said in an instinctive reflex to ease her discomfort. "After all, I stared at Renamon's boobs after she changed."

Rika _was_ comforted. She _enjoyed_ her old habit of turning uncertainty or embarrassment into anger. "Yes, and you got a pretty good reminder what they look like tonight, didn't you? Mine aren't much by comparison, are they?" she growled through clenched teeth.

"_What?_" Takato blurted out, completely confused by the sudden turn the conversation had taken. "No, that's not... I mean... _damnit, _Rika! Look... I can't say it like Ryo does... I'm not a smooth talker... but I think you have the most beautiful breasts in the world! And everything else, too! I wouldn't trade an ounce of you for a dozen Renamon in _any_ mode... or anyone else for that matter."

Rika realized that her old habit was entirely the wrong approach with Takato... not that she had minded the compliment. "Sorry... sorry... I didn't mean to snap at you. Come here." She stretched out her arms and he curved himself around her. "And just so you know... Guilmon's new body is... well, I think it's kind of _scary._ I like yours much better."

Takato kissed her. He kissed her again and again. She arched herself in his arms and he kissed her throat as he slid her t-shirt up and then he kissed and stroked her breasts in a way that made her utterly believe his earlier claim.

_He may not be much of a talker, _Rika thought, _but the way he uses his mouth and hands is pure poetry!_

-o-(())-o-

"It's good to finally meet you in person," Saeko said, craning her neck to gaze up at the huge bulk of Devitamamon in the gloom of his granite fortress.

"For me also," the monstrous digimon replied, his eerie voice echoing hollowly in the cavernous space. His body was hidden by a thick gray egg shell, his limbs and jagged maw protruding from broken holes in its surface. He had no discernible head but didn't seem to need one: His upper jaw was nearly completely covered with glaring, red-rimed eyes. His relatively small wings flapped jerkily as he settled closer to the ground. They seemed far too little to allow him to fly, but that was based on real-world experience. Such things didn't matter much in a dimension where completely wingless creatures could hover in the air... as long as they were engaged in taunting each other.

"I must admit that I nearly turned over your first communication to the higher-ups in HYPNOS when I realized what it was and finished decoding it," Saeko continued, fighting dual urges to laugh and/or grimace at the gigantic digimon's appearance, "but it was phrased so well... and your offer was very appealing. I never thought digimon were capable of subtlety or sophistication."

Dievitamamon snorted, which made several of his eyes roll wildly in their sockets. "They're _not_.They are all fools and morons. _I_ am an exception. And with my strength and abilities, I am very exceptional, indeed."

Saeko nodded in agreement. "You could easily rule a huge portion of the Digital Dimension, if not all of it. So why would you want to..."

"Have you _seen_ this place?" Devitamamon roared, interrupting her, "As you so keenly observed, it's full of moronic creatures who's only desire is to beat each other into dust! The land itself changes and moves without any warning or reason! I want to live in a world that runs in a logical and predictable way!"

Saeko was about to reply but the huge creature's rant had only begun to gather momentum. "Can you even conceive," Devitamamon continued, his voice growing harsher and shriller, "how utterly _boring_ it is for me to lurk here in this wretched hole in the ground surrounded by incompetent, vicious _nincompoops?_ I want to enjoy all the wonders of the Real World! I want to go to movies and eat ice cream and drive a fast car and read books and go skiing and all the other wonderful things that you humans can do without even thinking about! All you need to be powerful in your world is money! Any weak, stupid fool can be a king if he's rich! That... _THAT_ is the world I want to live in!"

"And so you shall," Saeko said quietly, intentionally quoting Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.

Devitamamon caught himself and took a deep breath. "But now that the digignomes have been wasted..."

"You've said yourself how impressed you were with my intellect as we exchanged messages under the noses of the HYPNOS monitors. Do you think someone who could impress _you_ wouldn't have a backup plan? You'll still get to be fabulously rich... _and _human. You'll just have to give me access to your Datamon earlier than we had agreed."

The majority of Devitamamon's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What's to stop you from betraying me?"

Saeko laughed. Such a delightful, musical sound had never been heard in the dank cavern before. "If you're going to live in the human world, you're going to have to learn some human traits... like trust."

"Trusting digimon are _dead_ digimon," he snarled.

"But you don't _want_ to be a digimon any longer, do you?" Saeko replied calmly. "Don't worry, I'll explain my plan in detail... all to your satisfaction. And someday," she could barely keep herself from snickering, "you'll be a _real _ boy."

-o-(())-o-

Ryo had quite some trouble getting to sleep and, even his with great experience in controlling his own health in the Digital world, he couldn't quite make himself feel rested and refreshed by the next morning. The news of what had happened the previous night completely wrecked his concentration.

"Guilmon? _Guilmon? _You've got to be kidding me! Our only digimon... our only _protection_... gone! What the hell were you _thinking?_" He shouted, running his hands through the tangle of his usually perfect hair.

"Look, it just _happened_, okay?" Takato grumbled, a bit offended at Ryo's tone but not really wanting to start a full-out fight. "We need to accept it and make our plans accordingly."

Guilmon stood with Renamon against the rear wall of the hall, head down, twisting his hands together in an agony of embarrassment... which looked a decidedly odd thing for a nearly seven foot tall, nearly 300 pound man to be doing.

"What plans?" Ryo fumed. "Wander around until a little Lopmon or Nyaromon kicks all our asses? Don't you understand? We're defenseless!"

"It's not that bad," Takato said, forcing himself to speak in a calm, reassuring voice, "The Sacred Woods aren't far from here and there aren't many hostile digimon living there, right? We can probably get Renamon and Guilmon back to normal quickly and..."

"I'm not really in that much of a hurry anymore," Renamon quickly put in. Her long, platinum hair was still disheveled and still had a few small bamboo leaves stuck in it. "We could... rest here for a few more days."

Guilmon looked up at Takato and nodded his agreement. "Maybe a week?" he asked, hopefully.

Ryo buried his face in his hands. "We're _doomed_," he muttered to himself.

-o-(())-o-

Saeko watched the numbers displayed on the front panel of the Datamon change so rapidly that all but the highest digits were just a red blur. She felt light-headed at the thought of what she had done. With so many billions of dollars, yen, marks, pounds, rubles (and shells-on-a-string for all she knew) flowing electronically from account to account every minute of the day, it wasn't all that hard to siphon off a couple million a second and remain unnoticed. Not if you could bypass all the electronic safeguards by going "beneath" them all. Raw data from all the Earth's computers made up the Digital Dimension. Change the digital world in the right way and you could change all that secure data... and _money. _ That had been Saeko's theory.

And she had been proved spectacularly right.

"Is it working?" Devitamamon asked, peering down at the linked group of his Datamon servants.

"Oh yes," Saeko practically purred. "Would you like to buy a private island in the Caribbean? By now I think we could afford _Cuba_."

"Ah," the monstrous digimon sighed, "but many governments are still richer... more powerful, correct? They could take our wealth away from us."

Saeko waved a dismissive hand. "That's not how it works. We just bribe... excuse me... _give campaign contributions_ to the people who run the governments and they'll leave us alone... or more likely, work in our favor."

They were silent for a while, watching the rapidly increasing sums flicker in the dim light of the cavern, and then Saeko spoke again.

"But you're right... there are always some who are more frightened or hostile than they are greedy. We _should _have some sort of insurance." She tapped the rightmost Datamon sharply to get its attention. "Change your operating parameters. Do a search for ultra-secure data, protocols, and passwords," she told it with a self-satisfied grin. "Search terms: 'ICBM', 'nuclear', and 'launch codes.'"


	14. First Misgivings

**Author's Notes:**

**Damn! Has it been nearly a month since I've updated? My bad. **

Chapter 14  
First Misgivings

"_MWAHAHAHAHahahahahahahahahaha..._." Devitamamon's maniacal laughter echoed throughout the dark caverns of his hidden fortress.

"Uhm... yes... well, now, can we..." Saeko tried to interrupt.

"_...h_ahahaHahaHAHAha_haha_ha_..."_

Saeko sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. She'd just have to wait it out. _Again._

-o-(())-o-

"Who's winning?" one of the Geckomon sitting on the low wall asked his companions.

The three of them were sipping sake from flasks slung across their shoulders and watching Renamon and Guilmon as they struggled together in a secluded corner of the village. The ex-digimon had slipped away from their tamers just after the noon meal while Takato and Ryo were trying to hash out some sort of plan of action.

"What she doing?" Another of the Gekomon asked. "Is that some sort of special attack?"

"Must be," the third replied, "look at the expression on his face! That's got to be _agony_, right?"

"I don't know," the first one said doubtfully, "this isn't like any fight _I've_ ever seen."

"Yeah..." the little frog digimon didn't have much in the way of a neck, but he managed a passable nod, anyway, "...how is rubbing herself against him like that supposed to hurt him? And why is he doing _that_ with his hands? You'd think that... _whoa! _What's _that?"_

The three of them just couldn't figure it out. There was no clear winner. Neither of the "combatants" fragmented but _both_ of them collapsed as if in exhaustion.

"Humans are _weird_," the least-drunk of the Gekomon finally concluded. His companions nodded in agreement.

-o-(())-o-

"...hahaHAhaHaha_ha_hAhahahaHahaha_hahaha_haha..."

-o-(())-o-

"I guess that this is the best plan we're going to come up with," Takato sighed, "but I still don't like the idea of you going off on your own, Ryo. We're safer together."

"Maybe," Ryo said, "'Safer' like somebody with two pennies is 'richer' that someone with one penny. But on an absolute scale..."

"Okay, okay," Takato put up a hand to stop Ryo from going on with the thought. They'd gone down that road too many times already, "just be careful, will you?"

"I'm used to being on my own here," Ryo said. "Once I get within digivice range of Cyberdramon, I'll be fine. It's you guys that are going to be in real danger."

"Not for long," Takato reassured him, "the Sacred Woods aren't far."

"Yeah, but then you still have to find the digignomes and somehow convince them to do what you want them to. Who knows how long that's going to take? And all the while you're going to be vulnerable."

Takato shrugged. "We've spent most of the day going over this and we haven't come up with anything better. It's not a bad plan... we'll just have to accept the risks."

"Enough talking about it!" Rika interrupted. "We'll head out first thing in the morning but in the meantime..." she held out her hand for Takato's. He took it and she turned back to Ryo. "See you at _dinner_," she said in a very pointed manner and led Takato out of the hall.

-o-(())-o-

"...hahahaHaha_ha_hAhahaHaha... _hahaha_haha... hahaha... haha... haaa... aaahhh."

Saeko's head jerked up at the sudden silence. She had nodded off into a light doze. She looked up to see most of Devitamamon's eyes peering down at her as if in expectation of something. _What were we talking about before he went off on the evil laughter fit? _ she asked herself. _ Oh, yes!_ "Ah... right... your transformation. Should be no problem. The Deep Resolution Probe has a very sophisticated set of scanners and I should be able to locate and scoop up digignomes very quickly. Just give me the digitite crystal..."

Devitamamon's eyes narrowed (except for the one near the base of his snout that always seemed to be looking in a different direction from the others) and he frowned at her. "How do I know you will not simply steal it and leave?"

"Well, first off," Saeko rolled her eyes in exasperation, "it's only good for turning digimon into humans... why would I _want_ to steal it? And I still need you to bring your Datamon through to the real world... I'd be a fool to run out on you now."

Devitamamon ground his fangs together in thought. "True... but I will send one of my minions with you to the Sacred Woods anyway... just as insurance." He turned and bellowed into the darkness, "Skullsatamon!"

A few moments later the grim-looking digimon swooped out of the blackness and bowed before Devitamamon. "M'lord," he intoned, "if you do not mind, I would like to be called 'Darkevilskullsatamon-XL' from now on." He had obviously been thinking about it for some while.

Devitamamon glanced at Saeko. She shrugged apologetically, "Sorry... my fault"

Devitamamon lowered his massive head and shook it slowly, "_Minions,"_ he muttered in disgust.

-o-(())-o-

Takato had caught one of the Gekomon that had been spying on Rika and him and held him up off the ground by the brass tuba-like instrument that coiled around his body. "Look, I know you're our hosts and we're very grateful for your hospitality but it... it is our... uh... _custom_ to do this alone and unobserved, okay?"

The little frog digimon nodded. "Yes, I understand. But we will be very quiet and not interrupt, I promise!"

"We want to be _alone!_" Takato growled through gritted teeth and he squeezed the brass horn so hard that it crumpled in his fist.

The Gekomon goggled. "Oh... oh, yes... sorry, sorry! We will leave you to yourselves!" The group of them quickly dispersed, leaving Takato and Rika by themselves in the little storehouse.

Rika slipped an arm around Takato's waist and placed a hand on his forearm. "That was impressive," she said, giving his arm a squeeze, "I didn't know kung fu built up muscles like that!"

Takato laughed. "If it did, I'd be the Incredible Hulk! No, the reason I've got strong arms isn't martial arts, it's bread."

"_Bread_?" Rika asked in puzzlement.

"Yeah," Takato grinned, "I spend a couple of hours or more a day kneading bread. It actually takes a fair amount of strength." He made a fist and bent his hand back, making the muscles of his forearm rise in hard ridges under Rika's hand.

"Mmmm... _nice,"_ Rika murmured appreciatively.

The simple sign of approval from her made Takato ridiculously happy. He instantly vowed to himself that he'd increase the level of his workouts as soon as he got back home. If Rika liked him really buff, he'd gladly oblige her even if it meant many grueling hours a week sweating in the gym. In fact, he had a hard time imagining anything he _wouldn't _do for her.

They began slowly, undressing each other, enjoying the sight of each other and then the feel of their hands touching... and their lips touching... and their skin touching. Their movements became quicker and more passionate and Rika began to kneel down, tugging on Takato's hand as a signal that he should lay down with her.

But Takato had other ideas. He pulled her back to her feet and kissed her deeply. Then he put his hands under her arms and lifted her off her feet. She weighed more than he expected. Her body was long and lean and supple but she was also very fit and toned from her own exercise of choice: Karate. And muscle is _heavy. _ He held her up for a moment, showing off his strength for as long as he dared, and then lowered her slowly, letting her belly slide down over his chest and lower. Rika gasped at his touch and wrapped her legs around his waist. He lowered her as slowly as her could manage, breathing heavily from the effort and Rika's breathing quickened also... even though she wasn't exerting herself at all.

They both gave groans of pleasure as Rika slid all the way down, wrapping her arms around Takato's chest and laying her head on his shoulder. She gasped sharply as her belly muscles tightened in spasms and moaned softly into his ear, "Oh god, Takato! That was so _sexy!_"

-o-(())-o-

"Oh god, Renamon! That was so... uh... _nice!"_

Coincidentally, on the other side of the Gekomon village, Rika and Takato's partners were (again) engaged in a very similar activity. Only it was Renamon who was showing off for Guilmon.

"If I had my... old body back..." she said between gasps for air, "I would... show you something... _really_ amazing." Renamon had never cared to indulge in bragging; she was just making a simple statement of fact. She squeezed his waist and lifted his hips again in one smooth, powerful movement and Guilmon roared out a wordless yell of joy as he came.

If Renamon had a major flaw, it was pride. Her own orgasm had hardly stopped making her body shake and clench when she was already planning the next thing she'd do to Guilmon to make him loose control of himself.

-o-(())-o-

Everyone but Ryo was late for dinner.

He started without them.

-o-(())-o-

"I'm really more worried about Ryo than I am about us," Takato told Rika as they pushed through the thick undergrowth at the edge of a clearing in the Sacred Woods.

Rika grinned. "You're amazing, you know that?"

"Huh?" Takato glanced back at her, "What do you mean?"

"You're all concerned about the guy who, just a couple of days ago, was trying to weasel me away from you! Oh, you think I didn't notice? I thought it might come down to a slug-fest at one point!"

Takato stopped and turned completely around to stare at her in amazement. "You... he... I... Why didn't you _say_ something?"

Rika put her hands on her hips and her smile widened. "Well... it was kind of _fun_, actually. Not that there was ever any doubt about the outcome. I was over Ryo _years_ ago!" She leaned forward and kissed him to reinforce her words.

"Ow!" Guilmon blurted from behind them, interrupting the moment. He was rubbing at a long scratch on one arm. A sharp end of a broken branch had scraped a shallow groove in his exposed skin. Back at the Gekomon village, they had improvised some clothing for him but it was barely more than a loincloth; his upper body and lower legs were bare.

"Don't worry," Takato called back to him, "we'll get your bullet-proof skin back pretty soon!"

Guilmon nodded but said nothing. He didn't know if he wanted his old body back. Well, he _did_... but not if if meant giving up the sort of pleasure he'd discovered with Renamon.

"Okay," Rika said, peering out across the clearing, "I think the river is that way. When Renamon and I spent the night near it the first time we were here, we had _clouds_ of digignomes swarming around us."

Takato nodded. "And at night they'll be easy to spot."

While the tamers went over their strategy, Renamon came up behind Guilmon and laid a hand on his injured arm. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah... it's just a scratch. But it's weird... I got hurt so easily... I don't like it. But..." he lowered his head.

Renamon lifted his chin with one hand and looked him in the eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I love you," he said simply, "and I don't want to loose you... I mean..."

She placed a finger on his lips, silencing him. "I know. I love you and I want the same thing. The same, impossible, thing," she said sadly. "I don't know what to do, either... but I'll talk to Rika about it... there may be some way..."

"Get down!" Takato hissed urgently at them. They all ducked down into the bushes without questioning him and a moment later they heard a sound from the sky that was very unusual in the Digital Dimension: an engine.

-o-(())-o-

"Alright, Darkevilskull... _sheesh_... can I just call you 'mon' for short?" Saeko grimaced, "No, that makes me sound like a Jamaican. Let's see... dark, evil, skull... I'll call you 'Des!'"

Darkevilskullsatamon-XL ground his fangs together in annoyance but held his peace. Devitamamon had explained in horrifying detail what would happen if he disobeyed the human. He flew along side the strange vehicle that the woman was piloting, watching for any sign that she might betray his lord and master. He didn't have the foggiest notion what such a sign might be but he was convinced that he'd recognize it if it should appear.

"Okay, Des, we're nearly there... only one more zone boundary to cross. I'm going to crank the sensors up to full power as soon as we're over, so stay behind me and you won't mess up my readings. That'll also put you into a good position to nab any digignomes that I miss."

"As you say, m'lady," Darkevilskullsatamon-XL muttered truculently. He was rather hoping that the annoying human who dared to order him around as if he were a puny Rookie would do something he could consider betrayal, then he could dispatch her with Devitamamon's blessings. In fact... the evil digimon's face brightened with a sudden realization: He could just _say_ she had tried to betray his master! _Best to wait until the crystal if full of digignomes, though_, he told himself. _After that, I'll strike!_

Saeko fought with the DRP's controls as it bucked in the turbulence between zones. The craft didn't find connections between the separate areas of the Digital Dimension, it _made_ its own holes... which took a considerable amount of power and didn't make for a very smooth ride. But it _was_ the quickest way to travel any significant distance in that strange electronic land. Darkevilskullsatamon-XL followed in the craft's wake and they emerged into the clear blue sky over the Sacred Woods.

-o-(())-o-

"That's not a digimon!" Rika hissed quietly at Takato. "It's got a Toyota symbol on the back! Maybe it's a craft from Earth. Does HYPNOS have anything like that?"

"I don't know," Takato answered, "but _that_ is a digimon... and it doesn't look like one of the nice ones." He pointed at the ragged flapping shape that followed the strange craft.

Rika pulled her digivice from her belt and clicked on the info disk. "Skullsatamon," she read, "yup... just about as vile as they come. But its not chasing that thing, is it? I don't like it."

"Yeah..." Takato said thoughtfully, "…I don't think we should show ourselves until we know more about what's going on." Rika nodded in silent agreement.

They watched from cover as the craft banked sharply and began a course that paralleled the course of the river. It dropped lower until it was nearly skimming the treetops and then beams of energy shot from ports in its undercarriage and began sweeping over the forest.

"What the heck is it _doing?_" Takato wondered aloud.

He had his answer almost immediately as clusters of chittering, faintly glowing creatures were sucked up through the beams and into a hatch that opened beneath the craft.

"Hey," Rika cried in outrage, "they're stealing _our_ digignomes!"


	15. Safety First

**Author's Note:**

**A bit of a short chapter here but I thought the last bit was the perfect spot for me to break off. I'm sure you'll agree. ;)**

Chapter 15  
Safety First

Saeko turned in the pilot's seat and looked back over her shoulder at the digitite crystal. It was nearly full. "One more pass," she called out to Darkevilskullsatamon-XL, "and we should have enough."

The evil digimon grinned in pleasure. Soon he would have his revenge on the irritating human woman and be able to bring the full crystal back to his master. He hoped he would be rewarded for both acts but killing the human would be its own reward.

-o-(())-o-

Rika frowned as the craft and the pursuing digimon passed close over head. "I don't like it," she whispered to Takato, even though the noise of the craft's engine would have surely kept the pilot from hearing her even if she had spoken in a normal tone of voice, "that digimon isn't just following... he looks like he's raising energy for an attack."

Takato nodded in agreement. "I think you're right. We had better get ready to try our emergency plan. I'm pretty sure there's a human piloting that thing and we can just stand by and watch them get killed."

"Right," Rika said decisively and reached out and plucked Takato's digivice from his belt.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Takato gasped, "I meant _me!_ You can't..."

"Oh yes I _can_," Rika corrected him. "Face it, Takato; you're a terrible liar. You wouldn't be able to pull this off, even against a really _dumb_ digimon."

"But..."

But it was suddenly too late for argument. The mysterious craft slowed and began to turn away from the river and the digimon pounced.

-o-(())-o-

Darkevilskullsatamon-XL slammed into the roof over the Deep Resolution Probe's cargo area sending the craft slewing sideways and downward.

Saeko let out a surprized scream and twisted around, trying to see what had happened. What she saw were the tips of Darkevilskullsatamon-XL's claws poking through the sheet metal of the ceiling. _You bastard! _ She thought, savagely, _I thought you might try something like this! _She flipped up the red cover over a switch on the DRP's control panel and jabbed the button with a stiff forefinger. The energy that allowed the probe to break through zone boundaries crackled though its outer shell and Darkevilskullsatamon-XL screamed in agony and let go of the craft.

Saeko turned her attention back to her course just in time to see the upper branches of a tree rushing toward the windshield. She frantically twisted the controls but there was no time to avoid a collision. The DRP slammed into the tree and spun out of control, hitting a second tree before crashing into the ground and plowing a furrow in the earth with it's nose.

Saeko slammed against the restraining harness hard enough to snap her head forward and make her teeth clack together forcefully but the webbing did its job and prevented her from being thrown into the jagged pieces of glass that were all that remained of the DRP's windshield.

The instrument display flickered and went out and the craft's engines spun down with a dying heterodyne whine.

Saeko let out a very unladylike curse and flipped the main power switch back and forth. Without the engines to power the DRP's Zone Penetrator, she'd be helpless against Darkevilskullsatamon-XL. _Well... _she told herself, ..._almost helpless. _ She gave up on restarting the engine and reached for the little box that was clamped underneath her seat.

That's when Darkevilskullsatamon-XL landed beside the craft and tore the driver's side door off its hinges.

"Now I..." he began in a snarling voice.

"Over _here_, ugly," came a sweet, feminine voice from behind him, "_I'm _ the one who gets to kick your butt."

"What?" he roared and spun around, furious at being interrupted in hi moment of victory. "Who?..." He scanned the forest rapidly but was unable to immediately see any threat. Or anything at _all_ for that matter.

"Down _here!_ Jeeze, why are all the evil ones so incredibly stupid?" Rika shook her head in mock sadness, "Not _everyone_ is an overgrown brute!"

Darkevilskullsatamon-XL lowered his gaze and goggled in surprise at the human girl who stood in front of him and well below his normal line-of-sight. For nearly a minute he stood frozen in utter shock and disbelief and then he began to laugh. "_You?_ You pitiful, weak human... _you_ are going to fight _me?_ Hah ha ha! I've never heard anything so ridiculous! I will crush..."

"No, not me _personally_, you moron!" Rika said, her voice dripping with disdain. She ostentatiously held up her digivice and thumbed the holographic info disk to life. "It's my _partner_ who'll do the actual butt-kicking."

Darkevilskullsatamon-XL once more began to frantically scan the surrounding forest. "A _tamer? _Who is your partner? I am _strong!_ I will be able to..."

"Defeat an Ultimate with an experienced tamer?" Rika asked pleasantly. "Well... just _maybe_... that's why I always have a backup." And she pulled Takato's digivce from behind her back and powered _it_ up. "But you might have a _little_ bit of trouble with _two _Ultimates... don't you think?" And she gave him her sweetest meat-eating smile.

Darkevilskullsatamon-XL panicked. He really didn't have the brain-power to do much else. Desperate to salvage something from this sudden, unexpected disaster, he turned and smashed one claw through the rear hatch of the DRP, grabbed up the digitite crystal, and sprang into the air, flapping away with all his energy channeled into pure speed. He only looked back once he had covered several leagues of forest and felt a cold wave of relief wash over him when he could see no pursuit.

-o-(())-o-

Saeko surreptitiously slipped the item she'd taken out of the little box into her jacket pocket as Rika watched the frantically flapping Darkevilskullsatamon-XL disappear into the distance. "Nonaka-san?" she asked, more to catch the girl's attention than anything else. Everyone at HYPNOS knew her by sight.

"Just a minute," Rika replied, not taking her eyes off the departing digimon until he was lost to sight. "Well," she said, finally, her voice betraying just the hint of a nervous shudder, "that worked better than I thought it would." She watched Saeko as she climbed out of the wreckage of the Deep Resolution Probe. "You're from HYPNOS, right? I'm sorry but I don't recognize you."

"I'm Saeko Ito. I work in the lab... so we've never had a chance to formally meet. Thank you for rescuing me."

"My pleasure, Ito-san."

At that moment Takato, Renamon and Guilmon came trotting up. Takato threw his arms around Rika and gave her a tight hug. "I never want to go through that again! Watching you bluff that monster was torture! Knowing that any second he might..."

"Wait a minute... Matsuki-san, right?" Saeko interrupted, "You mean you _ don't _ have digimon partners with you?" She knew the tamers had a reputation for incredible bravery but to face down a Ultimate Undead digimon with nothing but a bluff? _Incredible, _she thought.

Takato looked up at her without releasing Rika, "No ma'am. Renamon's still human and Guilmon..." he shrugged and hooked a thumb to where Renamon and Guilmon were waiting a polite distance away, "…the same thing happened to him."

"You mean you've lost your partner, too, Matsuki-san? I think that... uh... guh..." Saeko's brain had completely blindsided her. As brains went, it was a very good one. It held a doctorate in high-energy physics and one in nano-chemical engineering as well as being able to appreciate music and literature. But the problem was that it was a _female_ brain, and it had just gotten a really good look at Guilmon's new human body. And, in some matters, brains have a mind of their own.

Brains usually go about their business without interfering with everyday life, making hearts beat and lungs breathe and all the little biological housekeeping chores that would be a pain to do manually. That's what they are really good at; necessary biological chores. But for a brain, particularly a middle-aged, female brain, one of the _most_ necessary chores is making _more_ brains. And when a brain perceives a potential partner that would not only enable it to make more brains, but (using the doubtful method akin to judging a book by its cover) obviously _superior_ brains, it sort of cuts off most of the thought processes it thinks aren't really needed to get on with the important business of hot, sweaty sex.

Saeko's intricate calculations about how deceive the tamers and to get out of the situation without exposing her betrayal of HYPNOS completely disintegrated. She watched Guilmon stroll up to his tamer, his sleek, powerful muscles surging under his skin in a symphony of grace and strength. "Guh... _Guilmon?_"

Guilmon looked up and he and smiled. "Hello! Who are you?"

Saeko's knees shook and she had to put out a hand to steady herself against the DRP's hood. Her heart hammered in her chest at Guilmon's dazzlingly handsome face and brilliant smile. She stammered out an introduction and tried to get control of her rebellious brain that was, all the while, screaming _To hell with all this nonsense! Tear that loincloth off of him and pull him down on top of you!_

"Are you all right, Ito-san?" Takato asked in concern, "You look a bit..."

"I'm fine," she reassured him, "The... the crash just shook me up a bit."

Takato glanced at Rika, seeking a sign of what she might think was the best course of action and found her inexplicably grinning.

"Uh..." Saeko shook her head in an attempt to clear it... which didn't work at all. Then she took several deep breaths while turning her gaze away from Guilmon's incredible physique and fixing it on a treetop, which worked a bit better. "We should get away from here as quickly as possible," she finally managed to get out.

"Why?" Rika asked. "We need to gather digignomes so that we can return Renamon... and Guilmon... to normal."

"Yes," Saeko agreed, "I understand. In fact..." she resumed the desperate calculations that Guilmon's presence had derailed, "...that's what _I _was doing here. At HYPNOS, we cracked the digitite crystal encoding and we were planing on gathering digignomes to power one to return Renamon to normal. Then we found out you had run off to the Digital Dimension." It was partly true. The researchers at HYPNOS _had_ discovered how to encode crystals of digitite with the code to control the transformative power of digignomes. They had even created a portable device to "burn" the encoding into the strange material.

"That's great!" Rika said. "Even more reason to stay here and load up on digignomes!"

Saeko shook her head and continued with the more fanciful part of her story. "We can't! I had to make... uh... _arraignments_ with some very powerful digimon in order to get safe passage and directions here. As you saw, they were evidently only using me to collect the digignomes for their own purposes. When they find out their henchman didn't get rid of me, they'll be back with reinforcements to finish the job."

Takato frowned in thought. "But... now that they have the crystal, why should they care what happens to you?"

Saeko knew that Darkevilskullsatamon-XL would bear a lie of betrayal to Devitamamon and that the evil overlord digimon's cardboard-villain personality would force him to spare no effort to destroy her as soon as possible but she couldn't admit any of that to the tamers. "It's... it's... uh... _complicated. _Just believe me, we need to get out of here!"

Takato thought for a moment more and then asked, "These digimon you made arrangements with... were they at the Great Granite Spires a couple of levels above here?" Saeko's shocked expression was all the answer Takato needed. "I see. That's Devitamomon's territory... the digimon who started all this mess in the first place. I think there's something you're not telling us, Ito-san."

A brain that's good at science and engineering isn't necessarily good at improvising convincing lies on the spur of the moment. It's much more likely to come up with a plan of action to extricate itself from a predicament in a much more direct manner. Saeko whipped out the gun-like object from her jacket and pointed it at Takato. "Back off!" she cried, even though it was she, herself, who was actually backing away. "I don't have to justify myself to you... you _children!_"

Guilmon may have been purely human but he still had the ingrained instincts of a digimon to protect his tamer. He leaped between Takato and Saeko, shielding his friend from the threat of the unknown weapon. The sudden movement startled Saeko and her convulsive reaction caused her grip on the gun to tighten, depressing the firing stud.

"No!" Takato and Rika yelled together as brilliant streaks of energy crackled out of the gun's muzzle and struck Guilmon full in the chest.


	16. First to Return

Chapter 16  
First to Return

Renamon's kick drove into Saeko's stomach an instant after she fired and the woman doubled over with a _whoof_ of expelled breath and slammed against the side of the Deep Resolution Probe. The gun flew from her hand, clattered against the side of the vehicle, and spun off into the bushes. Saeko fell forward and just barely managed to get her arm up between her head and Renamon's follow-up round-house kick. The force of the blow still knocked Saeko unconscious but the arm block probably saved her from a broken skull.

Renamon spun around before Saeko had even finished falling and went to Guilmon. He lay in Takato's lap where he had fallen, his chest a red, ragged mess of torn flesh and blood. His face had gone paper-white and the pupils of his eyes were huge... as if they were desperately trying to take in more light and failing.

He looked up at Renamon and tried to speak but his last breath sighed out of him and he couldn't seem to find the strength to draw another. He tried to reach out to her but his hand only twitched where it lay limp on the ground.

"No!" Renamon screamed, throwing herself down on the ground at his side, "No, no ,no, Guilmon, _NO!_"

Guilmon slowly closed his eyes and the ends of the ragged strips of flesh torn from his chest began to dissolve into tiny, glowing particles.

Takato was crying out as well... horror, disbelief, and grief all tearing at him like a physical assault as he helplessly watched his friend die.

-o-(())-o-

Devitamamon frowned as he hefted the full digitite crystal in one enormous claw. He was sure Darkevilskullsatamon-XL was lying but he didn't know exactly which parts of the story were true and which were false.

He sighed. He'd love to just kill the stupid, lying minion but if he gave in to that impulse, he'd soon have no followers left at all. "All right," he finally said, tired of watching Darkevilskullsatamon-XL shuffle nervously in front of him, "I suppose I should gather a few dozen warriors and go deal with these interfering humans myself. If I have been betrayed... by _anyone_... my revenge will be swift and horrible."

"Of course, my lord," Darkevilskullsatamon-XL said, bowing low and resisting the urge to wipe sweat from his forehead.

Neither he nor his master thought it odd that naked bone could produce sweat. They were inhabitants of the Digital Dimension, after all. In that place, emotion trumped logic every time. And fear was a very powerful emotion, indeed.

-o-(())-o-

Speaking of emotions...

Love is funny.

Not "_ha-ha_" funny. In fact, as wonderful as love is, it causes quite a _lot_ of unhappiness and grief. Which is weird... or _funny_, if you like. Takato loved Guilmon and Renamon loved Guilmon, each in their own way. But their love caused them nearly unbearable pain. That's what love costs, sometimes.

Fortunately for all of them, in the Digital Dimension, belief and love are not the intangible, helpless forces that they are in the Real World. Drawn by the violent outburst of human feeling, the digignomes came. Scores of them swarmed around the distraught group and strange energies began to flicker and surge between them. An actinic blue glow enveloped all of them before they had any chance to react. After what seemed to be quite a long time of chaotic motion and light, the glow dissipated and Guilmon, once again in the form of a little red dragon digimon, blinked and sat up. "Uh..." he said uncertainly, "...wasn't I dead?"

For an answer, both Renamon and Takato enfolded him in a tight hug. Rika joined in the embrace after a moment and none of them said much of anything but incoherent half-words of relief and happiness.

Rika broke off first. "We can celebrate later," she said, affecting a calm, efficient manner even though her eyes were a bit red and wet, "Whatever baddies Ito has been working with might be showing up soon."

"Right," Takato said, prying himself away from his partner, "We should assess things quickly and then move to a more sheltered location. How is Ito..." Always polite, he had to force himself not to automatically add the _"-san" _to her name. But he wasn't going to do the slightest honor to someone who had tried to kill his best friend.

Rika walked past the prone woman and picked up the strange gun. "I don't really care. Do you?"

Takato sighed and bent down to feel for a pulse. He couldn't quite bring himself to wish Saeko Ito dead. After determining that she was still alive, he peeled back her eyelids to reveal two dilated but even pupils. "She will probably come around in a minute or two." He poked gently at the swelling of her left forearm. "Her arm may be broken. Not bad... probably just a greenstick fracture."

He looked up to see Rika slipping the gun into the loosened leather straps that circled the left thigh of her jeans. "I always wondered if those were just decorative or not."

Rika grinned at him. "They can come in handy for all _sorts_ of things."

Takato blinked in surprise. What was that wicked smile of hers about? Was she implying something? Quite a number of things her straps could be used for, besides an improvised holster, flitted though his head and he coughed in embarrassment and lowered his gaze.

Rika chuckled but didn't say anything.

Saeko began to twitch and jerk as she began to come back to consciousness. Takato and Rika had seen that sort of thing too many times to be concerned that she might be having some sort of seizure. It was just the full blood-flow and oxygen returning to her brain that caused the involuntary movements. For teenagers, they had had a ridiculous amount of experience in real, deadly combat situations.

"Guilmon," Takato called to his partner, who was still in a deep embrace with Renamon, "could you watch her while I search the vehicle?"

Guilmon sighed and pulled his snout from between Renamon's monumental breasts. "Okay..."

Renamon forced herself not to glare at Takato. He was right: They were still in a dangerous position with unknown threats around them. "I'll keep an eye on the perimeter," she volunteered.

Saeko sat up and then turned to one side and vomited. Pain shot through her head and stomach and she had a hard time focusing her eyes. She sat upright again and found herself staring into the faces of Guilmon and Rika. "You're not a nice lady," the digimon told her quietly.

"Can you walk?" Rika asked, not making any effort to help her stand.

Saeko managed to get to her feet after three tries and stood there, wobbling a bit and grimacing at all the various pains that wracked her body. She only remembered the first kick... her brain had been too scrambled to put the second one into her memory. _How can that make me hurt in so _many_ places? _she wondered pointlessly, cradling her swollen arm.

"Nothing much in here but a satchel of food and water," Takato called from the cab of the DRP. "We should get going."

They headed away from the wreck and deeper into the forest, reasoning that the canopy would provide the best cover from larger, flying digimon. "I don't suppose you'd like to tell us the truth about what's going on?" Rika asked Saeko as they worked their way through the thickening copses of trees. "Or at least tell us what sort of enemies are going to be coming after us?"

Saeko had actually been giving the matter some thought. The money, codes and computer controls had already been set up as well as several false identities. If she could get back to Earth and slip away, she'd be wealthy and protected. Even if they knew what she'd done, there would be no way for them to undo it. The only other worry was what Devitamamon would do... and she had already set up an unpleasant little surprise for _him_. She shrugged. She could leave out one or two critical details. "I don't see why not," she said, to everyone's surprise.

"If you lie to us," Renamon hissed at her, "I'll work you over again and this time I'll put some _effort_ into it." And to emphasize her threat she bared her fangs at Saeko. Well... she _tried_. Flat human teeth weren't nearly as impressive as a mouth full of sharp carnivore's fangs. But Saeko understood the intent behind the expression anyway.

So she told them.

"Money?" Rika asked in disbelief when Saeko had finished, "All this was just about _money?_"

"It's easy to sneer at money when you have so much of it, you spoiled, rich _brat!_" Saeko snapped back at her.

Renamon spun around at the insult to her tamer and her hands tightened into fists but Rika waved her down. She was about to reply when Takato interrupted.

"All her family's _money_ didn't help her tame an amazing digimon and face down the D-Reaper or **Mephistomon** or the Parisimon or any of the other countless deadly threats to our world that she defeated!"

Rika's anger turned to amusement at Takato's heated defense. "Well... I _did_ have _some_ help against the bad guys." she laughed.

"And _I_ don't have much money," Takato went on, "but I still think what you've done is dishonorable and despicable!"

Saeko gave him a flat, blank stare. "I really don't care what you think. You're still a child and you haven't yet learned that the only thing that matters in the world is power and money."

Takato shook his head. "What matters in the world... _both_ worlds... is what you _do_ not what you _have_. Money, the kind of money you're talking about, will only buy you false, envious "friends" and useless luxuries. Water from a solid gold faucet only tastes better if your mind is sick!"

Saeko sneered and swore to herself that every faucet in the house she was planning on building on her private island would be made of purest gold. "You go right on thinking that... _boy_."

"Ito-san," Rika broke in in a soft, sweet voice that made the hairs on the back of Takato's neck lift up. "I don't care what you say to _me_ but if you insult Takato again, I'll have Renamon bury the pieces when I'm finished with you. _Understand?_ Now..." she continued in her calm, reasonable, and utterly chilling voice, "...what sort of digimon can we expect will come after us?

Saeko didn't know Rika well but something told her the girl wasn't to be taken lightly, even on her own. "Devitamamon may well come himself. He doesn't trust his underlings... with good reason, I might add... and he will want to find out for himself what exactly happened here."

"Which might give us a bit of an edge," Takato observed, "He'll be confident of his power and will want to talk first before attacking."

"You can't seriously be thinking of fighting him with only _one_ digimon?" Saeko gasped. _The boy really _is_ delusional,_ she thought.

"I'd rather avoid him, particularly if he's bringing some or all of his army with him," Takato replied, "but I've got to plan for as many situations as possible. What can you tell me about his lieutenants and regular troops?"

They continued walking as Saeko truthfully related all she knew about Devitamamon and his minions until night abruptly fell.

"All right," Takato said, "no fire... obviously. We'll stand individual watches until daybreak and... do we have something to tie up Saeko with?"

Saeko made an indignant noise but everyone ignored her. Rika unholstered the gun and slipped off the leather straps and held them up. "Handy, remember?"

Saeko yelped with pain when Takato tried to tied her hands behind her. "Oh yeah, your arm... sorry. Maybe..." He was about to give her Ryo's standard advice about dealing with physical problems in the Digital Dimension when a thought struck him.

"Wait just a second!" He walked off into the woods and returned a moment later with a clod of damp earth and a bit of orange shelf-fungus. "I _thought_ there'd be some of this magic healing mushroom nearby!" he said cheerfully. Rika and the rest gave Takato a puzzled looks but, fortunately, Saeko's attention was focused on what he held in his hands.

"Hold out your arm," he told Saeko. When she did so, he smeared a bit of dirt over the swelling, placed the fungus on top of it, and then held it down with both of his forefingers. "This will make it as good as new. Digi-healing: _Activate!_" He intoned.

Saeko gasped as the fungus disappeared in a sparkle of light. She twisted her arm and flexed her fist. "It doesn't hurt any more," she said wonderingly.

Takato was just as surprised as the rest of them. It had been an experiment. He hadn't really expected it to work at _all_, let alone so _well_. But his instinct had been sound. It was a lot easier to get someone to believe by tricking them rather than just telling them to _do_ it. _In your face, know-it-all Ryo!_ he thought, grinning.

"Before we settle in and start the watches..." Renamon asked hesitantly, "...would it be alright if Guilmon and I... talked privately? We won't go far."

Takato's grin vanished. Guilmon was alive and himself again but Takato suddenly realized that the change had cost him a new-found pleasure with the one he loved. "Sure, Renamon. Take all the time you need..." He had been about to dismiss Guilmon with his habitual "boy" but after hearing the word used so disdainfully by Saeko, he swore he'd never call Guilmon by that word again.

-o-(())-o-

Renamon and Guilmon walked together for a while in silence and then sat down under a great cedar tree and held each other. "I'm so glad you're alive," Renamon whispered to him.

"Me too," Guilmon replied nearly as quietly. Then, after a thoughtful pause, "But I'm not a man any more... and that means, we can't... _I_ can't..."

"Oh, Guilmon," Renamon sighed, "I don't care about that. Well... perhaps I _do_ a bit, but I love you no matter _what_ you look like on the outside and if we can't give each other pleasure like we used to, then we will find _other_ ways."

"I suppose..." Guimon said doubtfully.

"Honestly... do you love me any less because I don't have a tail and I'm slow and weak and I've got these ridiculous _things_ hanging from my chest?"

"No! No... I love you no matter what! I just..." he gave up and shrugged helplessly, unable to find the words for what he was feeling. He also thought it would be unwise to mention that he actually _liked_ her "things" quite a lot.

Renamon kissed him and her hands stroked his chest and belly. "I'm a very clever kitsune... I think I'll be able to find ways to make you feel good. _Lots_ of ways." She kissed him again and her hands caressed and massaged his muscles in they way she knew he liked. He kissed her back and gave himself up to her touch. It was easier than thinking.

Renamon pulled him close and pressed her body against his... and froze. Between his belly and her thigh there was something... unexpected.

The emotions that had guided the digignomes as they had reconstructed Guilmon had come from his tamer, who held a mental image of his close friend and partner. It was something that had happened many times between tamer and digimon. But that time something was different. Half the guidance had come from another sort of emotions... those of an equal... a _lover_. A lover who reveled in the wonderful, _physical_ connection between the two of them. And so the new, reborn Guilmon was perfectly able (and rather well-equipped, incidentally) to renew that physical connection.

But neither of them gave the slightest damn about whys and wherefores of the matter. After the initial surprise, Renamon showed her delight by stroking him to his full size and then using her mouth on him until he moaned and the thick muscles of his thighs shuddered uncontrollably. She stopped then, holding him back. "No lover, not yet... I want you _in_ me... I _need_ you..."

There were a few moments of awkward positioning, since Guilmon's saurian body and Renamon's human one were not the best of matches, but their mutual desire spurred them on and they soon found that the easiest way was with Renamon beneath him. The rest was short and intense but immensely satisfying to both of them.

Afterwards, as they lay together, Guilmon peered down at himself in curiosity. "It's gone! Where did it go?" The was a definite note of worry in his voice.

Renamon sat up and leaned over to look... and noticed how easily Guilmon's attention was diverted. "You really _do_ like these silly bags of fat, don't you?" she grinned.

"I... uh... yeah, sort of... I mean... they nice and soft and..."

"Well, then..." she leaned further over brushed her breasts against his chest and then drug them down over his belly and between his legs. She moved back and forth, her heavy breasts rubbing his inner thighs and crotch, her erect nipples teasing his flesh. "Ah! _There_ it is again," she smirked as she shifted so that Guilmon's emerging shaft would nestle into her cleavage. "Just like magic."

"M-m-magic..." Guilmon gasped with a shuddering breath.

That time lasted _much_ longer. Renamon made sure of it.


	17. First Attack Wave Go!

**Author's Notes:**

**Sorry about the late update! I was abroad on business and, for some weird reason, couldn't edit the story from Africa! **

**Usually I try to keep the Real World out of my comments but the situation in Japan is still just too horrific to ignore. Please, **_**please, **_** help out in any way you can. Even if it's only five bucks to the International Red Cross; that's a hot meal for some poor victim who has nothing else left in the world. **_**Anything**_** is better than nothing. Google will get you tons of links to charities who are helping out and need support! Go do it: Be one of the good guys... be a **_**hero! **_

**Okay, enough preaching... switching from the Real World to the Digital...**

Chapter 17  
First Assault Wave: Go!

Renamon and Guilmon had gone off to _talk_. Considering the perilous situation they were in, they had only gone just far enough so that they wouldn't be overheard by the rest of the group. Of course, what they _actually_ ended up doing was louder than a normal conversation.

_Considerably_ louder.

Sophisticated adults might have been able to pretend that the noises were just odd fauna of the digital woods but Takato and Rika were much more honest about their emotions. They both knew instantly what was going on and exchanged embarrassed glances, first with each other and then with the captive Saeko, as they blushed a deep red.

Saeko was both surprised and disgusted. As a man Guilmon had been entirely desirable but as a monster... Saeko grimaced in distaste. Then she noticed how acutely embarrassed the tamers were and her thoughts turned to revenge. _Petty_ revenge, it's true... but Guilmon's simple observation about her character had been fairly accurate. She was definitely _not_ a nice lady.

"Are they _always_ that noisy when they're having sex?" Saeko asked in as casual a voice as she could manage. She got no reply but a couple of appalled gasps... just the sort of thing she was hoping for, really. "And _what_, exactly, _are_ they doing now that Guilmon doesn't have a reproductive organ? I suppose he could be using his tongue on her but I'd think that _his_ voice would be a lot more... _muffled_, if you know what I mean. Maybe he's using that big, thick tail of his to..."

"_Please!_" Takato shouted as he leaped to his feet. "Ito-san, you're being incredibly rude!"

Even in the darkness of the woods, Saeko could see the flaming blush that had crept nearly to his hairline. She smiled with evil glee at the boy's discomfort and asked with badly faked innocence, "What? All HYPNOS personnel are charged with learning as much about digimon as possible. This," she nodded in the direction of the unseen but obviously emphatic lovemaking, "is really breaking new ground. Perhaps I'll write a paper on it! I'm sure I could get it widely published."

Takato was about to answer when Rika slugged him on the shoulder. He spun in surprise and gaped at her, "What was _that_ for?"

"I _told _you we should have left her for dead!" the furious redhead growled.

-o-(())-o-

"Pockets!" Devitamamon hissed angrily.

"M-m'lord?" a nervous little Gotsumon attendant asked, wary of his master's unstable temper but unable to figure out what, exactly, the cause of his current irritation was.

"_POCKETS, you fool!_"Devitamamon roared at the quivering little servant. "Oh, the humans have so _many_ wonderful things! How am I supposed to carry _this_ with me into battle without _pockets?_" He waved the digitite crystal violently about, breaking off several stalactites from the roof of the cavern.

"I-I will g-gladly carry it _for_ you, my lord!" the Gotsumon volunteered hoping to quell the evil Mega's fury. As soon as the words had left his lips he knew he had made a horrible mistake.

Devitamamon went utterly and instantly still. Then his huge snout lowered until his jaws were level with the cowering minion and all his eyes narrowed in cold fury and blazed with a hellish red light. "Oh, yessss... you'd _love_ that, wouldn't you? You'd play the obedient servant until my back was turned and then you'd steal my crystal away and flee to the Real World! _You_ would have pockets and _I_ would be left with _none!_ Is _that_ your plan? Oh no! I've lost one crystal already and I will _not_ lose another! Do you think you can betray me and get away with it? _DO_ YOU_?"_

The poor Gotsumon was too frightened to speak. He could only frantically shake his head with his eyes squeezed shut in order to block out the terrifying sight of his master in an insane rage. A rage directed at _him!_

_I should have listened to my neighbors back home! _ he thought despairingly, _But, no, I had to fall for all those stupid promises! "Join the Devitamamon Army and conquer the world!" And worst of all... _He opened one eye just a slit... just enough to catch the sight of Devitamamon's enormous claw rushing down at him, ..._I don't even know what I'm dying for! What the heck is a "pocket?"_

-o-(())-o-

"No! Stop!" Takato cried, trying to interposed himself between Saeko and Rika and wondering if Rika was mad enough to fight him to get to the sneering woman. "You can't just kill her!"

"I bet I _can!"_ Rika snarled at him and hefted the short chunk of tree branch that she was holding like a _jo_ staff, "I bet I can do it with one shot, too! I won't have Renamon humiliated by this..."

A sudden brainstorm struck Takato. If the trick had worked once... "The Herb of Forgetfulness!" he blurted out.

Rika blinked, her rage derailed momentarily by the seeming non-sequitur. "Huh? What? What is _that?_ Something from Harry Potter?"

"No, no! It's one of the digital herbs that Ryo taught me about, like the healing mushroom! We can wipe out her memory! She won't be able to remember this at all!"

Rika lowered the stick. "Really?" She frowned a moment in thought. "How much of her memory will go? Yamaki is going to want to question her."

Saeko suddenly quit grinning. _If they make me forget my account numbers and codes..._ A cold chill went up her spine. Her impulsive revenge had suddenly backfired on her.

"No," Takato assured Rika, "It's easy to use: One leaf; one day of memory gone! We'll only use one." _Boy, I'm really getting to be a good liar, _he thought, _ but I don't think that's much to be proud of... particularly when I'm also lying to the woman I love!_

Saeko furiously thought. Only one day would still put her before the Datamon had given her the information. "Wait, wait!" she called out, "Are you two _really_ that feeble-minded?"

Rika raised her stick again turned a cold and unloving gaze on Saeko. "Killing her is looking better every second. Or maybe we can shove a couple of bushes of the stuff down her and she can wake up wondering how she suddenly got so old, flabby and ugly."

Saeko exerted a supreme effort of will and kept her blazing hatred for the girl from showing in her expression. _But just you wait, you miserable, scrawny brat... when I'm free, I'll put a ten million dollar bounty on your head! Let's see your perverted digimon save you from a sniper's bullet! _Out loud, she calmly said, "Oh, please! How am I going to be able to publish _anything?_ Yamaki will have me locked in an underground cell until... until..." Saeko groped for a moment and then an urge for one last dig hit her. She couldn't resist. "Until _you're_ old, flabby and ugly... three or four years at least."

It took a second or so for what she'd said to sink in and then Takato said to Rika, "I've changed my mind. Let's just kill her."

-o-(())-o-

"FLY, MY PRETTIES!" Devitamamon shouted to his troops. It was a good command. Saeko had suggested it to him as a traditional way to unleash flying minions. He thought he had heard the ghost of a chuckle from her just afterward but she was odd... even for a human and there was no telling what went through her pulpy, analog brain.

"Yes!" he cried, throwing his immense bulk into the air, "Yes! Death to all traitors! MwahahhAhhaHhaa...(and endlessly _et cetera_)"

His seemingly inexhaustible, maniacal laughter actually served a purpose on the flight toward the Sacred Woods. The rest of the flight of monsters could easily know their location and keep their places in formation by judging the strength and direction of their master's mad merriment.

It was still annoying as hell, though.

-o-(())-o-

Renamon and Guilmon returned in time to save their tamers from having to make a tough moral decision under trying circumstances. And they were both so obviously, _deliriously_ happy that it lightened everyone's mood. Even Saeko's. _She_ no longer felt that being clubbed to death or being brain-wiped were likely possibilities. It's amazing how much better that made her feel. But she still intended to have them all killed once she got away... just to be safe.

Guilmon completely broke the tension completely by happily announcing, in a sleepy, dreamy voice, "Takato! I've got a penis!"

Everyone just stared and floundered for the proper response to this rather unexpected announcement.

"It's true," Renamon said solemnly, "It's very nice."

Takato couldn't help himself. He glanced down between Guilmon's legs.

"Oh, you can't see it now," Guilmon smiled at him, "It's up inside me. But if Renamon..."

"No, no!" Takato blurted, waving one hand frantically at Guilmon, while covering his eyes with his other forearm, "I don't _want_ to see it! I'm sure it's nice! I glad you enjoy it... uh... I mean... I... oh _ghod! Too much information!"_

"Well... " Saeko began, but stopped abruptly as Rika hefted the chunk of wood and slapped it against her open palm in a warning gesture. _These kids are no fun at all! I'm _glad_ I'm going to kill them! _she pouted, silently.

Guilmon neither knew nor cared what all the commotion was about. He was happy and satisfied and he only needed one thing at that particular moment. "I'ma go to sleep now... 'kay?" he mumbled and immediately collapsed like a felled tree and began to snore contentedly.

Rika dropped her stick and gave Renamon a friendly punch on the shoulder. "You knocked him out, partner! Good for you!"

Renamon combed a leaf out of her hair with her fingers and said nothing but the corners of her mouth twitched up just the slightest bit.

"Oh gods," moaned Takato quietly, "is the whole Digital Dimension trying to embarrass me to death?" He felt that if his face got any hotter, his hair would catch fire.

"Poor sweetie," Rika said in a patronizing tone that Takato stood for only because he could hear the genuine warmth behind it. She was only gently teasing him. "You sit here and keep an eye on the Wicked Witch of the West, okay? Renamon and I are going to go have a little girl talk." And she linked arms with her partner and walked off a short distance.

"Whew!" Takato sighed and slumped to the ground with a tree trunk at his back. "What a bizarre day!"

"Tell me about it!" Saeko snorted, "_I _started out rich and free and..."

Takato grabbed a handful of leaves up off the forest floor and jumped to his feet.

Saeko's eyes went wide with fear as he approached her. "No, no! I'm sorry! I don't _want_ to forget!"

Takato chuckled, "Oh, these ones aren't magical... I just figure that if I stuff enough of them in your mouth, you wont be able to _talk_ any more!"

-o-(())-o-

That night, almost _everyone_ was having a problem with hearing things they would rather not have, it seemed.

"Oh, by the blazing red data streams, will you please _SHUT UP!"_ a Ice Devimon suddenly screamed at Devitamamon, swerving out of formation. He had been flying wing position to the evil Mega and had endured hours of the insane noise before he snapped.

Devitamamon's laughter stuttered to an abrupt stop. A hush fell over the flight and they all slowed to a halt, hovering.

"_What_ did you say to me?" asked Devitamamon. "Why, you rebellious scum! I'll destro..."

"Yeah, yeah, I _know_," the Ice Devimon sneered back at him, "you'll _destroy_ me! Ooh, I'm _so_ scared!Don't you ever sing any _other_ song?"

Devitamamon hesitated. Lot's of digimon covered in fear before him, some outright fled, some made one last, futile act of defiance before he killed them, but he was completely inexperienced with sarcasm. His eyes ripple-blinked in confusion. "I... I wasn't singing... was I?"

Ice Devimon buried his face in his hands and gave a great sob of disbelief. "Oh Sacred Sovereigns, I can't take this any more! This _thing_ is our leader? We're _doomed!_"

Devitamamon still had no idea exactly what the oddly-behaving digimon was trying to say but it was clearly an insult to himself, so he decided to kill him just to be on the safe side.

"I will..." he began.

"Oh no you _won't!_" yelled the increasingly jittery Ice Devimon, "you see, I've found the perfect escape plan! Yes, you're faster and stronger than me... I know that! So what's to prevent you from killing me?" A slight bubbling laugh escaped the digimon... one that was clearly involuntary.

"What?" Devitamamon asked, now clearly the calm and reasonable half of the conversation.

"This!" cried Ice Devimon, lifting his long claws which cracked with the cold energy of his Frozen Claw attack.

"You can't hurt me with that," Devitamamon said, frowning, "it won't help you at all."

"Wrong! Wrong, wrong, _wrong!_" Ice Devimon's voice had climbed into a high, mad sing-song, "It won't hurt _you_ but it will hurt _me! _You can't destroy me because I'll destroy myself first!" Ice Devimon flipped his hand around and shoved the points of his claws up under his own chin. "Hah, ha, ha! Can't kill me! Too late, too late!" And he triggered the energy of his own special attack at point-blank range.

Nobody moved to absorb the glowing energy bits that were all that were left of Ice Devimon. Everyone had _thought_ that Devitamamon's laughter was driving then mad but to witness a victim who actually _had_ lost his sanity... it was a bit embarrassing. Several digimon coughed and fidgeted but the shocked silence stretched uncomfortably.

"Perhaps..." one of the smaller digimon ventured, "...perhaps we should continue on, m'lord?" He acted as if the whole incident hadn't happened at all.

"Yes..." Devitamamon said slowly, _just pretend it didn't happen... good idea_, "Yes... onward! Onward to victory!" His voice grew stronger and more confident as he waved his army forward.

But he didn't laugh.

-o-(())-o-

Cyberdramon was bored. He'd been watching Devitamamon's minions come and go, doing minion-y stuff for nearly a week. He'd started to disobey Ryo's orders about remaining unnoticed a few days before, grabbing a minion here and there and pulverizing them. Not much of a challenge for him but it was better than nothing. He was seriously considering attacking one of the higher-ups to break the monotony. Ryo would understand... probably.

Then came the day, shortly before nightfall, when all the minions started rushing around like mad. All the Ultimates began to gather in the air above the Granite Spires, along with nearly every one of Devitamamon's followers who could fly.

Cyberdramon knew he couldn't take them all on... though he _wanted_ to. He also knew that Ryo would want to know what was going on. But he didn't know where Ryo _was_! Finally, just after nightfall, he watched the flying horde wing their way off into the distance. It took all his willpower not to follow them. He growled in frustration.

And worst of all... now there wasn't anyone around to kill.


	18. Who Goes First?

**Author's Note:**

**I'm sorry for taking so long to update! Stuff happens, y'know. Hope it's worth the wait.**

Chapter 18  
Who Goes First?

Despite being irritated by every word that came out of her mouth, Takato ended up talking to Saeko for quite a while. It was that or keep on desperately trying to _not_ listen in on Rika and Renamon's conversation. After the third time he overheard the word "penis" from the pair, he knew he had to do something, _anything_ to distract himself.

"So this weapon you had," he asked Saeko in a too-loud, too-eager voice. "How much damage would it do to an upper-level digimon? How many times can it be fired? We may need it if things go wrong and I'd like to..."

"Wait, wait," Saeko said, trying to hold up a hand to stem Takato's flood of words and only jerking her arm against the restraining leather straps. "Uff... damn. Listen, it's not even a weapon, really."

"What? I would have killed Guilmon if..."

Saeko sighed theatrically and rolled her eyes, "So would getting hit by a train but a train isn't a weapon... at least, it's not intended as one."

Takato gritted his teeth at her smug, condescending tone and almost turned away from her but at that moment he caught Rika's voice raised in amazement, saying, "You did _what? _Maybe I should try that..."

"If it's not a weapon, what _is_ it?" Takato demanded in a rush, shifting so that his back was toward Rika and her partner.

"It's... hmn... no, I don't think I'll give that away," Saeko grinned in the fashion that Takato found particularly annoying. "Unless... you want to trade me something for the information."

"Like what? We're not going to let you go, if that's what you're thinking."

"Don't be an idiot; where would I go?" She indicated the dark forest surrounding them with a jerk of her chin. "I'd just like to be able to sleep without loosing circulation in my hands." Takato hesitated and Saeko went on, "Look, I'd be helpless against any digimon if I ran away and even if I tried attacking any one of you, the others would beat me to a pulp. What possible threat could I be to you? Please... take off the straps."

Takato was silent for a while and Saeko assumed he was thinking over the deal. But when he spoke he surprised and dismayed her. "It's the tool for encoding crystals, isn't it?"

Saeko sputtered and tried to deny it but her initial reaction told Takato his conclusion was correct. "It would need to produce a lot of power to etch something as hard as digitite crystal and those weird patterns it sliced into Guilmon's chest... yeah, that would explain it!"

"But you don't know how to operate it!" Saeko cried desperately as Takato stood up and began to move away from her, "I can show you how to..."

"No thanks," Takato grinned at her, "I probably can figure it out for myself. And if I need it as a weapon... a point-and-click interface is pretty simple. Even an 'idiot' like me could manage it." He turned and called out to his lover, "Hey Rika! Sorry to interrupt but can I take a look at that gun?"

He found that the grip flipped open to reveal a little cell phone-style keyboard and happily fiddled around with the device until it was time for him to stand watch while Rika and Renamon slept.

-o-(())-o-

Cyberdramon jerked awake at the welcome sound of Ryo's voice calling out to him. He leaped into the air and scanned the area until he saw the figure of his tamer scrambling up the long scree slope below him, then swooped down to slam into the loose shale in front of the young man. His long claws flexed and he shifted on his feet uncertainly. He felt... _happy_ to see Ryo again but was completely unaccustomed to showing any emotion other than rage. A smile from him would look the same as a snarl. Any of the words of welcome that sprang to mind seemed foolish and unnecessary to him, so he settled for a single, terse word, "Ryo."

Ryo gave him a curt nod in return. "We need to get to the Sacred Woods as quickly as possible."

"Ah," Cyberdramon said in a rough but clearly satisfied voice, "we go to fight Devitamamon and his army? _Good!_"

"What?" Ryo frowned. "No, that's where Rika and Takato are. We need to go help them."

"Devitamamon took his army there," Cyberdramon replied calmly. "They will need a _lot_ of help."

Ryo gaped for a single, horrified second and then swung himself up onto Cyberdramon's back and kicked his heels into the digimon's side as if her were a horse. "What are you waiting for? Let's _GO!"_

-o-(())-o-

Takato had an even more pleasant awakening than Cyberdramon. It was the sweet scent of her skin and hair that first intruded into his sleepy consciousness, then the touch of Rika's soft, warm lips on his. Her kiss became more insistent as he awoke and the feel of her breasts against his chest made him become fully alert nearly instantly. He returned her kiss passionately until the idea of who might be watching them intruded into his thoughts. He broke off the kiss with a silent curse at his over-active imagination.

Rika didn't seem to mind. "'Morning, sleepy-head," she purred at him, her red hair loose and falling around her face in gleaming coppery strands. "I've been awake for hours... and thinking about you." She stretched herself on top of him in a slow, sensual movement that made his heartbeat kick into high gear. "Ah... I... is...?"

"Guilmon is guarding Saeko. He took her down to the stream to wash up," Rika began unbuttoning Takao's shirt.

"And Renamon?"

"Renamon is making sure Guilmon doesn't bring Saeko back to camp for at least an hour." Rika gave him a throughly evil smile and lowered her head and kissed the hollow of his throat and then began to work her way down his chest. Takato relaxed with a happy sigh and ran his hands through Rika's silky hair as she reached for his belt buckle.

In the nature of such things, the alarms on both their digivices went off at the worst possible moment. Rika jerked in surprise and Takato cried out in pain.

Rika sat up and gasped in horror. "Oh, Takato! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Are you okay? The alarms startled me! I didn't mean to bite..."

"No, no," Takato gasped, wincing. "It's okay... I... ow... whew..." He carefully drew up his shorts to cover himself and then, gingerly, his pants. "I'll be okay. We need to..."

Renamon skidded into the clearing. "Rika! Is that...?"

"Yes," Rika replied. She had scooped up her digivice and activated the info disk, keeping her face down in an effort to hide her embarrassment. "There are... oh my god... there are _hundreds_ of them!" She glanced sidelong at Takato, still mortified by the accident and saw that his face no longer held any hint of pain. Instead, a look of grim determination darkened his features.

Takato glanced down at the info disk and said through clenched teeth, "Devitamamon, Mega... no, I don't _care_ about his stats and attacks because he's not going to _have_ any when I get done with him!" He turned to shout at Guilmon, who was just arriving in the clearing. The rage in his voice was both awesome and frightening, "Guilmon! We're going to make that evil monster scream like a little girl with a rat in her panties! _Biomerge! NOW!_"

Several things happened at once. Renamon gave Rika an anguished look that conveyed her frustration at not being able to be of use in the looming fight. Rika shook her head, "Just stay safe!"

"What about you?" Renamon pleaded, "You can't do anything, either!"

Rika shrugged. "I've got this," she hefted Saeko's gun. "It may..."

Saeko sprinted past them in the direction of the advancing army with her hands still bound behind her. "Help! Help! Lord Devitamamon! I've been captured by your enemies! Beware! They have a Mega..."

Darkevilskullsatamon-XL had kept in the van of the army keeping a sharp lookout for Saeko and he saw her almost immediately. They last thing he wanted was for Saeko to be able to tell her side of things to Devitamamon. He swooped down on the woman, screaming, "The traitor is here! She is in league with the tamers! Fear not, my lord! I will destroy her for you!"

Rika cursed, an unusual thing for her. Though she was tough-minded and practical, she never liked to appear crude. Behind her, trees were snapping and falling under the suddenly appearing bulk and weight of Takato and Guilmon's biomerged form but she had to assume that they would be focused on the major threat of Devitamamon and wouldn't be likely to notice Saeko Ito's peril.

"Why?" Rika screamed as she sprinted forward toward Saeko, who was frantically backpedaling as she saw the skeletal digimon hurtling toward her, "Why am I doing this for that nasty _bitch?"_

Saeko fell backwards as Darkevilskullsatamon-XL crashed to the earth in front of her and raised one razor-clawed hand to rip the life out of her. She flinched away and shut her eyes in terror and so missed the moment when Rika saved her life.

Takato had told her that the gun would probably only be effective at close range, so she waited until the last possible instant to fire and aimed for Darkevilskullsatamon-XL's arm, rather than his body as a whole. Energy blazed out from the gun and ripped into Darkevilskullsatamon-XL's arm, peeling away chunks of bone and dessicated flesh which dissolved into bright bits of data. Darkevilskullsatamon-XL screamed and yanked his arm back but Rika shifted her aim, keeping the beam concentrated on his slowly fragmenting arm. It finally fell apart, leaving a ragged stump just below the digimon's right shoulder, and then the gun gave a sharp _pop_ and quit firing, even though Rika's finger was still squeezing the trigger.

Darkevilskullsatamon-XL howled in pain and clutched at what was left of his mutilated arm. Rika tried clicking the trigger of the gun several more times to no avail as she backed away from the thrashing monster and watched Saeko struggle to her feet and run for the cover of the trees, all the while automatically covering her retreat with the now-useless weapon. Suddenly, Renamon was beside her, a tree branch in her hands, held as if it were a sword.

"Run!" Renamon hissed at Rika.

"And leave you here to face that thing with only a _stick?_ No way!" Rika shot back.

"You're my tamer! It's my duty to pro..."

"You're my _friend! _I'm not leaving you!"

"DIE!" Screamed the enraged Darkevilskullsatamon-XL and slashed them both with a powerful sweep of his remaining hand.

-o-(())-o-

Takao's vision swam and he felt the familiar weightlessness as the biomerge process began. He felt the surging energy coalesce, shaping itself into Guilmon's Mega-level form and he shuddered as new sensations of the huge, powerful body flooded through him. The whirling energy vortex hadn't yet dissipated when he opened two huge golden eyes and looked out just in time to see Rika and Renamon hurled savagely to the ground in a spray of bright red blood.

His wordless cry of anguish was so violent that it halted the advance of Devitamamon's army. Darkevilskullsatamon-XL jumped back in shock, blood dripping from his talons, and began to back away in fear.

He was right to do so but it was far too late to save his life.

Emotions have a physical effect in the Digital Dimension. _All_ emotions. And what swept through Takato at that moment was pure, vicious hatred. He changed. The slowing digivolution vortex spun up again, tearing apart his nearly complete Mega form and rebuilding it. The trees and ground nearby shredded and disintegrated, feeding their data into the new, titanic creature at the center of the energy storm. With a brilliant flash the shell dispersed and revealed an immense, writhing creature that made even Devitamamon shake with fear. It was Guilmon's _other_ Mega form. The evil, unstable one that had once very nearly destroyed the entire Digital Dimension: Megidramon.

-o-(())-o-

Ryo's digivice shrieked out a warning and he grabbed it, flipping on the info disk while squinting into the wind of Cyberdramon's swift flight. There was a message on the disk that Ryo had never seen before:

**WARNING: DATA CORRUPTION**

**POSSIBLE GENERAL STRUCTURE COLLAPSE**

It took him a few moments to puzzle out the meaning. "Structure collapse" was the technical term for what happened to a digimon who had been damaged too much to survive and broke into disassociated bits of data. "Deleted" was the common word most digimon used... but they both meant _death_. And "general"? That most likely meant... _everything_... the whole Digital Dimension. Ryo's face went pale. _How far is the nearest gate to the real world? _he thought frantically. And then, _No... no, maybe I can stop it, whatever it is. _He swallowed his fear and examined the disk. Whatever was causing the deadly corruption... he was headed straight for it.

-o-(())-o-

Rika regained consciousness just in time to see Megidaramon's barbed tail whip out and break Darkevilskullsatamon-XL into pieces with a single blow. The glittering data fragments weren't absorbed my Megidramon and they didn't drift away as was normal, instead they dimmed and turned black and fell like heavy ash.

Several thoughts swirled through Rika's mind at the same time but the one that came into sharp focus first was, _Renamon. Where's Renamon?_ She tried to get up and failed. She was in pain... a _lot_ of pain... but it seemed distant and unimportant, somehow. Her clothes were wet and sticky. She pushed herself up again, furious at the weakness of her shaking arms. _ I have to see if Renamon is all right! _She turned her head, trying to clear her vision by blinking and squinting. There was something ragged and red to her right. Rika squinted again. The awkward tangle of broken limbs _couldn't _be her partner. No, even as a human, she was beautiful and graceful, not broken and... "Oh, god... Renamon!" Rika exerted every bit of the pitiful strength she had left to drag herself to her partner's still form.

After witnessing the casual way in which Megidramon disposed of one of their toughest fighters, fully a third of Devitamamon's army turned and fled. Or _tried_ to.

Megidramon's rage was uncontrollable. He wasn't about to let any of the digimon leave the woods alive. He unleashed his Megiddo Flame attack which burned away all the digimon who had turned to run. It also burned away the sky itself. Where the frantically flapping digimon had been an instant before was a jagged black hole in the world.

-o-(())-o-

Ryo's digivice gave out a piercing howl... louder than he thought the device was capable of. He thumbed it on again and saw that the whole display was a pulsing red with the following warning filling the disk:

**EXTREME DANGER!**

**MASSIVE STRUCTURAL DAMAGE**

**GENERAL COLLAPSE PROBABLE**

His heart hammered in his chest and the only reason why drops of sweat _didn't _run down his face was that the wind evaporated them before they cold fully form. Looking up, he could see flashes of energy on the far horizon. He could have escaped. He knew a gate to the real world that was in a little temple on the edge of the Sacred Woods not far from where he was. But he went on.

Because that's what heroes do.

-o-(())-o-

"Renamon? Renamon? Can you hear me?" Rika gasped out as she tried to lift her partner's head. Renamon gave a faint moan in answer and her eyes flickered open but they didn't seem to focus on anything. Rika couldn't lie to herself, it was obvious that Renamon was too badly hurt to survive for long. _And, _ she thought grimly as she looked down at the jagged piece of bone that protruded from one of her thighs, _I'm not doing so great myself._

Rika jerked her head up, aware that she must have passed out for a moment. The noise of the battle raging overhead was incredible but it hadn't quite drowned out her digivice's alarm. She fumbled with it for long, frustrating seconds until she was able to trigger it and read the same ominous message that Ryo had seen. _That's not good,_ she thought and giggled. _Hysteria? Well, maybe I should just sleep for a bit. _She lowered her head onto the tree trunk nest to her and was nearly unconscious again before she realized what she was resting her head on. It was some of the orange fungus that Takato had used to heal Saeko's arm. It was important. Rika knew that. But she couldn't remember _why_.

Overhead, Devitamamon unleashed his second full-power attack against Megidramon and watched in horror as the special's energy dissipated, not even making the huge dragon pause or fall back. Nearly half of his once magnificent army was falling as ashes and Medgidramon didn't seem to have taken any damage at all. Worse, the rips across the sky had swallowed any digimon that had come near to them and even bits of the landscape that hadn't even been hit were disintegrating into ash. Things were definitely not going according to plan.

-o-(())-o-

Renamon stirred slightly and tried to speak but all she got out was a whisper of sound, "Guil..."

It was enough to shock Rika into full consciousness again, though. _Poor Renamon_, she thought, _she was so happy... and now she will never... wait..._ Rika clawed at one of the pieces of fungus and it came away in her hand. "Re... Renamon," she gasped, "This is... is some of the healing mushroom, remember? Look at me!"

Renamon slowly turned her head and looked up at her tamer through clouded eyes. "Healing...?"

"Yes! It will... fix you up..." Rika looked over her partner's battered body for some place she could press the mushroom that wouldn't hurt her and then gave up and placed it against her cheek. She struggled to draw in enough breath to repeat the phrase Takato had used, and she prayed that Renamon was more gullible than her, because Rika had figured out Takato had lied about the mushroom. _I don't believe it, so it won't work for me, _she thought in despair, _I'm not going to make it... but maybe Renamon can. Oh please, let it work!_

"Digi-healing, activate!"


End file.

Digimon, Humor, Romance