Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know this story, and everyone following it, will likely be rated M solely for the intense fighting and life or death situations now that Ryan and the tamers are slightly older. It also gives me more creative freedom with language, battle scenes, etc. And the picture associated with the story is an anime character, whose name I forgot, but is exactly how I imagine Ryan to look like. Anyway, without further adieu, the adventure continues...

Deep within the realm of darkness, a subsidiary area of the digital world, where the vilest of digimon resided, stood the dark citadel which had been erected on the peak of a mountain. The purple colored sky, booming with thunder and becoming alight by lightning, added to its dominating and foreboding appearance.

Devimon made his way down the musty stone corridor, torches lining the walls leading all the way to a wooden medieval style door.

The stench of death emitted from within as he opened the entrance into his master's quarters.

"Your plan has been set into motion, my master." The fallen angel digital monster kneeled down and bowed to the figure sitting on a nearby throne, shrouded in shadows. "Soon, there will be no one who will be able to stand in your way."

"Excellent. You've done well, my servant. Once the digidestined have been eliminated, this world will fall to my will. And then…I will wipe every human out of existence!"

Ryan shot up from a deep slumber in a cold sweat, the morning sun peeking through the blinds and hitting him in the eyes. He shifted away from the powerful rays, putting his back against the wall taking deep breaths while wiping his moist forehead with a shaking hand.

Something's wrong. I can't put my finger on it but I feel as if something bad is coming. What can I do? I have no way to tell if what I'm sensing is real or not. But I've never woken up like this unless it was due to an extremely realistic nightmare. Guess I'll just have to wait and pray I'm wrong about this. "Renamon…wherever you are right now, I hope that you're okay. Please be safe."

Halfway across the world, in the city of Shinjuku, Rika Nonaka was preparing to go to bed and noticed that her digimon partner was nowhere to be found. Yet, she knew there was only one place the digital vixen could be and walked down the corridor into the backyard.

Renamon was indeed there, perched atop the mound of dirt that reached high enough to view the city lights, gazing into the moonlight sky.

"Is everything alright, Renamon?" Rika asked, sincerely worried about her friend's well-being.

At first the teen's presence had gone unnoticed by the vulpine digimon, who was in deep thought for as long as she had been standing there, finally saw her tamer standing there with a look of concern. "Oh, Rika, I didn't even hear you coming."

"Okay. What's wrong?" The fact that Renamon could hear anyone or anything approaching from miles away but distracted to the point that someone could easily sneak up on her warranted an inquiry. "And don't tell me it's nothing. I've known you far too long to know that would be a lie. What's bothering you?"

"I was just thinking about someone I met long ago;an old friend whom I haven't seen for a long time. He made a promise to me that we would see each other again. I'm just wondering when that will be."

Rika came to the conclusion that she was referring to another digimon, not a human being. "It sounds like he's really special…an old boyfriend perhaps?"

In the years passed, Renamon would have been embarrassed by jokes so much that she'd have intimidated whoever made one, solely directed at her, with an icy cold stare or threatening gesture. As the times changed so did she, becoming more tolerant, kind and even a little playful herself. "No…just a friend. One of the closest I have. Just like you did, against Harpymon, he risked his life to save mine."

"I had no idea you felt like this about anybody before we met. I'd like to hear more about your friend but we really should get some sleep. We have to meet the others in Shinjuku Park at noon tomorrow, thanks to goggle head's bright idea to have a picnic. I don't understand why he still wears those at fourteen to be honest."

"I just need another minute or so." The tamer understood her partner's request, smiled and went back into the house. Ryan…you were the only one before Rika who truly cared for me, even when you hardly knew me. "I know you'll make good on your promise. It wouldn't be like you to not. Good night."

Sensei John, Ryan's karate teacher, was having the class practice their katas when he took notice of how distracted his top student seemed and quietly pulled him into the office. "Is there a reason you took me out of drills, sensei?"

"You've been coming to my school for three years, son. You worked harder than anyone I have ever known, not only achieve your black belt but to discipline yourself as well. And just now was the first time I've ever seen you so…unbalanced. What's troubling you?"

Ryan contemplated telling him the truth but felt that if his own best friend could hardly believe such a story then there was no possible way an adult would. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Well, I'm going to let you go early today. But remember, if there's anything you need help with or want to get off your chest you can come and talk to me. Understand?"

"Thank you, sensei, I appreciate your concern." Ryan replied, somewhat relieved that he could go home despite enjoying martial arts.

After changing into normal clothing, placing his uniform inside a grey rusted locker, he left the dojo and walked just across the street to the entrance of Green Meadow Park, recently completed after two years under construction.

Mid-way through, Ryan sits down on a park bench only yards away from where the dangerous pit once stood and where he was first taken to the digital world. His past adventures came flooding back to his memory like a slideshow: when he first met Renamon, being possessed by Anonymon, obtaining the Orb of Infinity with Yin and saying a heart wrenching good-bye to just the second friend he'd ever made.

"Hey! I thought you were in karate class." Zack tried to surprise him but failed to yield a reaction or receive an answer. "Whoa. You look terrible. I'm guessing you didn't get enough sleep."

"My sensei let me leave because I couldn't concentrate. And no, I got plenty of rest. I've just had this overwhelming feeling that something's not quite right. I think it might have something to do with the digital world."

Zack gave off an exasperated sigh. "Are you kidding? You're still on that kick after three years."

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that anyway?" An annoyed tone accompanied the question. "Best friends are supposed to trust each other. How can you think I'm making this all up?"

"I never said you made it up but I think you hit your head when you fell and imagined the whole thing. Besides, I always kept it a secret like you asked me to. But just think of the reputation you'd get if anyone else knew. Everyone would think you're…" He stopped in the middle of the sentence upon realizing what he was about to say without thinking.

Ryan went from annoyed to angry in a heartbeat. "Go ahead! Say it! Crazy! You know what; just…get away from me."

Zack knew he had made a mistake by insinuating aspects of his friend's mental health and stood up to leave when he noticed something odd about the area they were in. "Where are all the shadows?"

The disgruntled youth looked up at his would be sidekick. "What are you talking about?"

"Take a look. Nothing around us is casting a shadow. Neither are we." Zack explained while pointing to each spot individually.

As Ryan rose from the wooden bench he held out a hand to confirm if what Zack was claiming was true. "You're right…nothing." Just then, a similar feeling to the one he experienced after waking up overcame him entirely. Goosebumps appeared on both arms while the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. "I don't think we're alone."

The trees behind them began to vibrate violently as half a dozen red-eyed humanoid creatures, with no identifiable features, appeared out of the woods and made their presence known to the two boys. "What the heck are those things?"

"They look just like Anonymon. That evil digimon I told you about. You know the one that I imagined." All of them made their way towards the duo with claws extended and ready to battle. "I hope you remember some of those moves I taught you because we're about to be in one hell of a fight."

Ryan shoved Zack out of the way as two of the monsters rushed him. He was able to dodge their attacks, taking one of them out with a spinning side kick and the other by flipping it into through the bench which broke in half like a twig.

The less fighting experienced teen ran a short distance but wound up trapped between two of the same things. "Okay, what did he show me that one time…?" They converged at the same time on Zack who just ducked and dove out of the way letting them take each other out. "Right, it was a dodge roll! Now I remember!

With only a pair of the creatures left, Ryan reached down and grabbed a broken piece of wood from the collapsed seat to use as a weapon. "I'm getting kind of bored with you jerks." He used it to bat one's gut and the other in the head before split kicking both. "Would you mind staying down, please?"

Once all of the featureless beasts were dispatched, each turned back into data and were gone like the wind. "You were telling the truth…about the digital world and everything. Sorry, bro."

"Don't worry. You kicked ass back there. That's apology enough. But something's going on and we've got to get to the bottom of it. Meet me back at my place around eight o'clock. I'll tell my mother you're sleeping over. I just hope what I think is happening isn't. Or we're really in deep shit."

"Sir, we've got a situation here! You may want to get in here!" Tally exclaimed into her headset.

Yamaki, followed closely by the new head of the Digital Affairs Division, Janyu Wong, entered the dome shaped control room with. "What is it?"

"We just had several bio-emergences in America on the eastern seaboard. A town called Fox Hollow. But there's something odd about them." Riley pulled up a map of Ryan's home town where the data signatures were recorded from. "For some strange reason they don't match the data signatures of any and all digimon we currently have on record."

"I think it's about time to test out the A.R.C. satellite we launched last year after the Locomon incident." Janyu walked over to a nearby control panel and pressed a flashing blue button that sent a signal from the spire on top of the building into space. "Good thing it's active twenty four seven despite being unused. Now, let's see if we can get some images of exactly what we're dealing with."

Using the satellite's advanced technology Janyu is able to tap into the security footage of a camera in Green Meadow Park. Within seconds, the monitor received the video and played it back.

"Those don't look like any digimon I've ever seen before." Yamaki then watched as Ryan and Zack were attacked. "They're going after kids!"

"You mean they're getting defeated by kids. Ones who don't even have digimon partners." Riley added referring to Ryan's fighting skills.

"Janyu, save this video file to our main frame and delete it from the one in Green Meadows. It's hard enough keeping things like this under wraps here in Shinjuku but now bio-emergences are happening globally. What next."

Ryan ran straight home and up to his room, taking a seat at the computer which he quickly powered up. Anonymon can't be behind this. But it's the only thing that makes any sense. There's got to be something I can do. But with that park built they've sealed off the portal that took me to the digital world. I've got to figure out a way to get back there if necessary. Maybe there's something about those events in Japan that can help me.

Upon signing online, he saw that there was a new email in his inbox and opened it. "The Digital World has once again become host to a formidable evil. It seeks to destroy all those capable of stopping it, including you. You must warn the digimon tamers in Japan of this because I fear that they may be the next target after the failed attempt on your life. So, I'm sending this message to let you know that at 10 P.M. a portal will be opened in the same spot where your battle against the shadow slayers took place. Lives depend on you being there at that exact moment…including Renamon's!"

The frantic teen grabbed his cell phone and held down the number two button. "Zack, it's me. Forget coming over here tonight. Meet me at ten minutes to ten in the park and bring a flashlight. Things just went to a whole new level of bad."