Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer v2.0: His Name is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.

Author's Notes: Happy New Year everyone. I hope you're well and excited for the next phase of the story. A quick little rune down. This story will be a little different from The Tamer and The Tamer v1.2. Let me explain, this story is going to be a soft reboot of the Tamerverse in the vein of Doctor Who's regeneration between Doctors. I'm not retconning anything - all the events from the previous story still happened and there will be a lot of continuity nods for readers of the previous stories. But much like Doctor Who, if you haven't read those stories then I have good news! You don't need to. Everything that happened previously won't really affect this story except as vague references to past events. And that's what I mean by a soft reboot. The past stuff still happened but we're not concentrating too hard on it. We're concentrating on the new characters and their struggles and adventures - similar to how each Doctor tends to ignore the life of the previous Doctor to focus on the current Doctor's adventures and travels. Now that's out of the way, let's get started with the next story in the The Tamerverse!

…

In the furthest depths of the Digital World, four of the strongest guardians of the Digital World found themselves on the retreat. They were known as the Sovereigns - the digimon who oversaw the Digital World. And they were afraid.

But they didn't know what of. They didn't even know how to describe it. It was amorphous, but it could take any shape at will. It could be harmed, but it could just as quickly replace what it lost. And it was strong - that was the simplest way to describe it. They threw their strongest attacks to try and drive it off, at the very least slow it down. Instead it swallowed their attacks, as if all they'd done was feed it. And it continued to advance upon them. As the four strongest digimon guardians were certain they wouldn't escape with their lives, an unlikely hero appeared. A digimon whose might couldn't compare to theirs but whose skill and experience spoke for itself.

"WarGreymon!" Azulongmon shouted, "What are you doing here?"

"I could feel what you guys were doing from the other side of the the Digital World," WarGreymon answered, before pointing at the thing behind them, "What is that?"

"We don't know. Quickly! We have to escape!" Azulongmon warned, urging the hero of the Digital World to flee, "It's too strong, even for you."

WarGreymon looked at Azulongmon, then back down at whatever was climbing its way out, "If you can't beat it, then we can't let it loose in the Digital World. The-there's no other option. We have to…protect the Catalyst! If that thing gets a hold of it, who knows what'll happen. I'll slow it down! Protect the catalyst and prepare the Digital World."

"Slow it down?" Azulongmon repeated, "That thing took all of our strongest attacks at the same time. And all it wanted was more!"

"Don't worry about me. GO! Get to the Bastion and send the Catalyst away!" WarGreymon shouted. It was only then that Azulongmon understood what WarGreymon intended to do. Before they could talk him out of it, WarGreymon added, "And do me a favor. When Tamer shows up again…tell him he took too long. And I'm sorry."

"We will remember your sacrifice," Azulongmon replied, retreating away with the rest of the Sovereigns. Azulongmon looked back once to see WarGreymon creating a large ball of fire. He thought he would throw it at the creature, but instead he threw it into the rock face beside them. It was only then that Azulongmon understood what was happening - WarGreymon couldn't fight it so he was going to bury it alive. But even a mega of his level couldn't survive the full weight of the Digital World crashing down atop him.

"TERRA FORCE!"

The fire and fury disappeared as the rocks crashed down around them. WarGreymon was gone. He may not have perished to that thing, but he was gone. With any hope, he would retain his memories after he reformatted. But they couldn't dwell on his sacrifice. They had to protect the Catalyst. They fled for the Bastion to fulfill WarGreymon's last request.

The Tamer v2.0: In His Name

Chapter 1: The Digimon Appear

Ten year old Ruki Makino was known as Rika to her friends. Or she would've been if she had any friends worth mentioning. Despite her pretty face and her warm upbringing by her loving mother, she had developed a cold personality that kept everyone else at arm's length. Including her own family. There were only two people in her life that she could speak to openly. The first was her grandmother, the closest thing she considered to be an actual adult in her life. Her mother was a model for a fashion company and was too caught up with her own work to actually care for Rika. She tried to involve her daughter in the modeling in some ill conceived attempt at mother-daughter bonding. That same attempt was how Ruki found out she hated modeling and somehow managed to like her mother less after that.

On the first day of the shoot, she threw off the pretty dresses and stylish clothes in favor of her jeans and shirt; running out of the studio and as far away as she could.

That act of rebellion led to her stumbling across a few kids playing a card game nearby which she instantly fell in love with. She began playing after begging her grandmother to buy her a deck of cards and a card reader. And she turned out to have quite the talent for it. It wasn't long before she started entering tournaments and playing to win. That was when she met the second person she could talk to - a curious and enthusiastic young boy whom she considered her equal in the game. A boy she came to know as Ryo Akiyama.

They first met at the finals of the tournament - where all her natural talent and skill were undone by his carefully thought out strategies and luck. Despite beating her, he still thanked her for offering him a good match and hoped to see her again. Maybe that was when she found herself developing a small crush on him. Of all the people in the world, he seemed like the only one worth her time. She wanted to be able to say more than few words to him every time they met but could only squeak out a small 'hello' and 'later' whenever she did. The most embarrassing time was during the last tournament when the two of them made it all the way to the finals and played against each other. Despite losing to him for the second time, they were both given the title the Digimon King and Queen. It was a close match, and a few times the odds turned in the other's favor. In the end, he pulled a surprise move and beat her in the last round, narrowly pulling victory from defeat. She wanted to congratulate him, but was too shy to say anything that time he either.

Then he just vanished. Disappeared. Not just from the game but from life. For a while, his face was all over the news as he'd gone missing. His parents put out missing posters and had recruited some neighbors to help look. But nothing. Rika kept hoping one day she might accidentally bump into him on her way to and from school. But he never did reappear. He was just gone.

And her love for the card game went with him. It had become too easy without him there as a challenge, and almost no one could keep up with her in a game. In one round of the previous tournament, she'd won in just five turns. But it felt empty and she went home that night planning on leaving the card game forever. She put the card reader and her deck in a shoebox and planned to forget about the whole thing.

That night, she had the most terrible dream. A nightmare filled with digital monsters roaring and howling, all chasing her as she fled for her life from them. She wanted the nightmare to end and would do anything for it. As she ran, she came across a small light that chased the monsters away. When the light faded, she saw a boy just a little bit older than her standing there with raggedy clothes. He held out his hand towards her and said, "Find me."

"What?"

"You have to find me."

She tried to get a better look at his face but could only make out the vaguest details. But his voice was so familiar. Then it hit her, "Ryo?"

Then he was gone, replaced by an image of another boy with his back to her. He didn't look back but he said only one thing, "It's coming, and you need to be ready."

She jolted awake to a darkened bed room in their traditional style home in a higher end neighborhood of Shinjuku. She looked around the dark room and saw a small light emanating from the shoebox. Her heart pounded in her chest as fear overtook her, sliding the lid off to find her card reader glowing. Then it flashed, blinding her briefly until she could see it again and saw something that she'd only ever dreamed of. It only took one glance to realize what it was, "A digivice!"

She'd only ever seen this in illustration on the covers of booster packs and deck boxes. Never in real life. Then another light appeared behind her. She grabbed the digivice and turned around to see a window in the air - a glowing light silhouetting the unmistakable outline of a Goblimon. It began, "You are…it has to be. Yes, you must be the Tamer!"

"The Tamer?" she repeated quietly, "What are you talking about?"

"The Tamer!" the Goblimon repeated, "A great warrior who can raise any digimon to unstoppable levels. You must train me! I can be your partner!"

"Warrior? I'm not a warrior! I'm ten!" Rika protested, wondering this thing got that stupid idea. The Goblimon insisted, "There's no more time! Make me your partner. Make me stronger!"

Before she had time to process what it was saying to her, another voice spoke out of the darkness, "Is that…the Tamer?"

"Yes, it has to be the Tamer!"

"Tamer! Choose me as your partner!"

"No, choose me! I'm already strong! Together, we can be stronger!"

The outlines of digimon poured through to appear by the window, and she could only make out so many. Something that resembled a Devimon, a Tyrannomon, a Palmon, a Digitamamon, a Tentomon and more. Their voices grew louder as they pleaded more. Rika covered her ears to drown out their voices. They were so loud that she was certain someone in their house would hear it. But another thought scared her more. If they could hear all the noise, why was no one coming to help her?

Why would they? The only one who truly cared was her grandmother and what could she do? At her age, there wasn't much. Rika would have to do this on her own. She uncovered her ears and shouted, "If I'm getting a partner then I'm choosing that partner for myself."

The digimon fell silent at her declaration and she finally had the chance to think clearly. If she knew what she wanted then there was no shame for her to make her conditions known, "I want a strong digimon! A partner who's already the strongest, so that when I make them stronger they become unbeatable. They have to be fast, smart, loyal, and brave, and willing to do anything I ask without question!"

The silence continued as the digimon looked between each other. Then they stepped aside as a new digimon silhouette came to the front. Rika didn't recognize this digimon as she stepped out of the lighted window and bowed before her. A yellow fox standing on two legs wearing purple gloves that ran up the length of her arm. The fox looked up, "I am Renamon. I am the digimon you're looking for, Digimon Tamer."

"Hi," she replied quietly, taken aback by seeing a real life digimon standing in front of her. She'd heard stories about how they were real. About how years ago they'd appeared in the Real World. But all she'd seen were the novels by the author, the card game and toys, and the TV show that aired for a little bit. Aside from the card game, none of it really interested her. She'd never actually seen one in real life. Part of her wanted to jump for joy but she was still too shaken by them all suddenly appearing at once to actually do anything.

Renamon rose from her bow and added, "I look forward to working with you. May we grow stronger together and become an unstoppable team."

"So…am I a digidestined?" Rika asked. Renamon turned her head, "If you wish, although the stories said Digimon Tamer never answered to the title. So what-"

"Don't call me that," Rika snapped, annoyed with hearing the name. Renamon fell quiet, then asked, "Then what do you wish me to call you?"

"Rika," she answered, "Call me Rika."

Renamon bowed, "Very well, Rika."

…

Jangliang Lee always preferred going by his nickname Henry. It came about when his classmates struggled to pronounce his name and read it as Jenrya when he was in pre school. From there, they decided to just call him Henry. Ever since, the name stuck. Even at home, his family started calling him Henry thinking that the name was cute.

What they didn't approve of was his love of the digimon computer game. Or rather, his mom didn't approve and his dad didn't want to defy her. He had to go out of his way to help him keep it secret. After all, the game had nothing to do with his studies or his Tai Chi training. And how else would Henry get to be a great doctor if he spent all day playing a silly game? And who else would know better for him than his own mother?

It was hard, but his dad was able to sneak in a dresser with a lock so that Henry could lock up his computer if he needed to hide it. Maybe that's what started the whole thing. His dad had also quietly gave him new digimon games every time one came out which he quickly installed.

And the new one came out today! It had a new feature that allowed it to read the data off cards so that it could affect the game, and he excitedly attached his card reader to his computer. After starting the game, Henry had the choice of picking his starter digimon - Terriermon, Gorillamon, Hagurumon, Kabuterimon, Palmon, and Seadramon. For him, it was a no brainer - he chose Terriermon.

Then something happened he didn't expect. The other digimon ganged up on Terriermon right at the character select screen. Terriermon was in trouble at first, running for his life as the digimon attacked. Straight out of the character select screen and out into some large open desert. It was like the game was breaking the fourth wall. Then the audio came through and it sounded so real - like he was actually watching everything through a window.

"Why'd the digimon tamer choose you?"

"He should've chosen me! I'm stronger!"

"Any one of us would've been a better pick than you!"

"Kill him!"

"Terriermon!" Henry gasped in terror, watching the little digimon flee for his life. This was one hell of a horrible first level if this was how they started the game. Henry pressed a few keys on his keyboard to take control, only to get no reaction from any of the digimon on screen. It must not have played like the last one. So he switched to his card reader and deck. If the game operated like the card game, all he would have to do is scan the right cards. After fumbling through his deck, he began, "Alright. Let's give them a taste of this! Speed boost activate! Power boost activate!"

Immediately, Terriermon took off at full speed running away from the digimon at first. Then he turned and ran straight at Gorillamon, leaping into the air and kicking him in the face so that he landed flat on his back. Then he turned on Palmon and Hagurumon. Terriermon dispatched them both with ease, knocking them aside, only to find himself surrounded by Gorillamon, Seadramon, and Kabuterimon. Thinking quickly, Henry swiped the next card in his deck, "WarGreymon's Brave Shield, Activate!"

The golden shield appeared in Terriermon's hands and he leapt away while using it to shield himself from their endless attacks. Once the attacks ended, Terriermon grabbed the edges of the shield with his ears and hurled it like a frisbee at Kabuterimon. It bounced off his head and continued straight towards Seadramon - slicing the digimon in half.

Henry reeled at the violence he'd witnessed, surprised to see such gore in a game targeted towards kids. The other digimon panicked and turned to run, and Henry cheered, "Alright, Terriermon! You got 'em!"

As the digimon retreated, Terriermon gave chase - firing his bubbles from his mouth wildly at the fleeing digimon. Terriermon laughed with glee as the digimon ran, "Don't run! Don't run! I only want to be your friend!"

"Okay Terriermon, that's enough," Henry began, realizing that he was trying to talk down a digimon in a computer game. Terriermon continued unabated anyway, pursuing the fleeing Kabuterimon and Gorillamon, "Where are you going? I thought you wanted to play!"

"Terriermon! That's enough! Stop it!" Henry pleaded with the little digimon only to see the fight go on longer, "Why are you being like this!? Is...Did I do this? Are all digimon like this!?"

Henry pondered these questions in his head as he watched Terriermon continue, using WarGreymon's shield to beat Kabuterimon, Palmon, and Hagurumon until they were flattened pulps on the ground. Then they dissipated to data. Gorillamon was the last one standing and he turned in place, "I'm not running anymore. If I'm going down, I'll take you with me! EAT THIS!"

He fired the cannon on his arm at Terriermon, but the little digimon still had an active speed and strength boost. Dodging those attacks was easy for him. The first shot went wide. The second shot struck the ground. The third shot just barely missed. Terriermon was slowing down. Henry noticed it but Terriermon didn't, "Terriermon! Run away! The speed boost is almost gone!"

His words couldn't reach Terriermon. He should've known this by now. There was nothing he could've done to stop his digimon from walking straight into the last blast from Gorillamon's cannon. He should've been dead. By some miracle, he was still alive but he was lying on the ground."

Gorillamon laughed, "That's right! I win! I am the best! Now prepare to die! Maybe then the tamer will choose me!"

"NO! TERRIERMON!" Henry leapt up off his chair in a panic, grabbing at the computer screen in vain. All he wanted was to play a game. He didn't want to see this. He didn't want this cruelty! This wasn't right. This wasn't a fun game anymore. Whatever this was, Henry wanted it to stop, "Gorillamon, don't do it. Please stop! Please!"

He was so caught up with watching the screen that he didn't notice his card reader start to glow. All he could focus on was Terriermon about to die. Gorillamon presses the cannon against the little guys'd face, but backed away when he started to glow a soft light. That was when he finally noticed his card reader glowing. Henry looked over at it and watched it warp into a new device he didn't recognize. It was white, with a green trim around the screen and green belt strap. If he didn't know any better, he would've called it a digivice.

Then his screen came to life with a brilliant light. When it faded, Terriermon lay in front of him on his desk, unconscious but still breathing. His mind tried to process everything he was seeing but it was all happening too fast for him to grasp it properly. All he could do was weep into the little digimon before him and beg for forgiveness, "I'm sorry Terriermon. I'm so sorry."

He could feel the tears streaming down his face as he picked up the small white digimon in front of him, "I didn't mean for this. I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, watch the water works," he heard Terriermon mumble softly. He opened his eyes to see Terriermon staring back down with one open eye on him. He breathed a sigh of relief, relieved to see the digimon was alive and well. Without thinking, he squeezed the digimon in his arms and promised, "I swear, I won't make you fight like that again. I won't let you get hurt."

"Ow," Terriermon protested weakly, "You really suck at keeping promises you know that. You swore you wouldn't hurt me and you're still hurting me."

Henry stifled a laugh, relieved to see the digimon was alive and well.

...

Juri Kato was normal by every measure of the word. She was ten years old, slightly taller than most girls her age, liked to wear a green dress and wore her long red hair tied off into pony tail on the side of her head. The only peculiarity with her worth mentioning was the yellow sock puppet in the shape of a dog that she kept on her at all times.

Of course, any peculiarity she had was overshadowed by her class mate Takato Matsuda. She and her friends arrived early and started talking as they settled into their seats. Then Takato's friends Kazu and Kenta came running in just as the bell rang to signal the start of class. That was when their teacher Ms. Asaji came in. Miss Asaji was a young woman, with long brown hair that ran down the length of her back which she parted and tucked behind her hair. Despite her stern attitude, Juri could tell that she genuinely cared about her students and wanted them to succeed.

Juri who was in charge of the class that day, led the class with the traditional greeting and bowing to their teacher.

Then their teacher began, "Okay class. I hope you all remembered to do your assignments for today. Pass them to the front of the class for me to collect and I'll hand out your quizzes. You have ten minutes to get as many right as you can."

There was a collective groan and Kazu complained, "Again? Come on, Ms. Asaji! That's the third time this month!"

Their teacher turned on Kazu, "If you spent half as much time studying as you did complaining, you probably wouldn't be complaining at all, Kazu."

There was a small giggle from the class until Miss Asaji settled them down and started handing out the quiz for the day. As the papers made their rounds, Juri noticed one desk was empty. And it would be about five minutes into the quiz, when the classroom was absolutely silent, that the back door into the classroom slid open.

Juri turned her head slightly and giggled as she watched the class trouble maker Takato Matsuda sneak in quietly. He was the shortest boy in class, probably only a hair taller than herself, and liked wearing his blue hoodie with brown khaki shorts. He'd barely gone two steps into the room when Ms. Asaji announced, "Don't think I don't hear you Takato. You're late."

"Well, if you think about it, I'm actually arriving at time I'm supposed to arrive and you're all just a couple of minutes earlier than I am. So, I think you should give everyone extra credit for that," Takato countered in a desperate attempt at reasoning with her. It didn't work. Miss Asaji answered with a sigh, massaging her temple while frowning, "So in your argument, I'm early too?"

"Yeah, they should give you a raise!" he added with a smile. She sighed, "What am I going to do with you? You can stand out in the hallway until next period."

"Can? I get a choice?" Takato asked, "Then can I sit instead?"

"Just get out!" Miss Asaji snapped, pointing out the door. Takato yelped and ran out of the room while the class laughed hysterically. Juri found herself smiling at his antics. Takato was weird, but he wasn't mean. And he was always good for a laugh.

She could make out Takato's silhouette through the hall window, and noticed him sitting down immediately despite being told to stand. It only took Miss Asaji a minute to notice, and she went out to go speak with him. Through the open door, it was hard to miss a word of it, "What are you doing?"

"Drawing," he answered, sounding unaware of who he was talking to.

"Cartoons?"

"No, it's a digimon," Takato answered more irritably, "Don't you know anythi…thi…this is not as bad as it sounds."

"Oh, then what does it sound like?" Miss Asaji asked. Takato stammered, "Like a student who's trying his best to appeal to a kind and forgiving teacher who is completely willing to forgive any bad behavior on account of her belief that everyone deserves a second chance?"

"You're on chance number thirty-three," Miss Asaji countered, "And we're only a few months into the year. That's at least twice a week you've been late, missed an assignment, or wandered off in the middle of class."

Takato raised up his hands defensively, "In my defense, I was trying to stop anyone from eating the curry yesterday."

"Don't do this to me today, Takato. I've got a headache. You can stay after class and write an apology letter for your behavior," Miss Asaji answered as she massaged her head, "Then you can clean up after class."

"I…okay," Takato sighed in defeat. Miss Asaji grumbled under her breath as she guided Takato back into class, "You're just like my brother. Okay class. Let's start with today's lesson."

Juri stifled a laugh, amused by Takato's antics. He didn't cause any more trouble for the rest of the day and was oddly quiet afterwards. Juri felt a little sorry for the boy, especially since he was now stuck with the home room clean up by himself.

At the end of the day, Juri collected her things and went to join her friends as they left. They got to talking about what they'd do for the rest of the day, and Juri was about to propose they go hang out in the park when she realized, "Oh oops. I forgot my recorder in class!"

"Who cares? Forget about it! Let's go do something!"

"Sorry, Ill catch up with you later!" Juri apologized as she started running back to school. Her friends continued on without her as she raced back into the class room, where the last few students were filing out for the day. As she got back into the classroom, she saw Takato banging his head on the piece of paper he had in front of him, "I hate sitting still! How do I make an apology note this long? What am I supposed to write? I'm very, very, very, very sorry? Yeah right!"

He was so caught up in grumbling that he hardly noticed her. Seeing an opportunity to cheer him up, she slipped her sock puppet onto her hand and poked it in his face, "Woof! You were bad today! Woof!"

Takato was startled and nearly fell over backwards out of his seat. Juri giggled and apologized, "Sorry, I just forgot my recorder. Bad recorder! Woof!"

"Uh huh," Takato nodded as she made her way back to her desk to retrieve it. Seeing he'd calmed down, she lowered the puppet and added, "You'd better get started on that apology note. You have a whole page to write!"

When Takato continued to stare, she became self conscious for the first time and hurried her way out. She took a few steps before sticking her sock puppet back through the door to repeat, "Woof! Hurry up if you want to get home before dark!"

She heard Takato chuckle and knew she'd helped improve his mood. When she got home that night, she found her dad playing with her half brother while her step mom was busy making dinner in the kitchen. She called out, "I'm home!"

"Welcome back!" her dad called back before her mother came out wiping her hands on her apron, "Hey, Juri. Could you do me a favor and run down to the bakery to get some bread for dinner?"

"Uh, sure," Juri answered sheepishly. Although her step mother had tried her hardest, Juri always had the hardest time interacting with her. She couldn't admit it, but deep down she missed her real mother. But she passed away years prior from a disease that she never fully recovered from. Her step mom handed her a few bills of he and said, "Get some potato bread and some doughnuts for the morning."

"Okay," Juri set her bag down and hurried back out to the local bakery just down the block. The city center was surprisingly busy for a week night, with crowds of people busily making their way home or finishing some shopping. And the inside of the bakery was no different - The Matsuda Family Bakery which was also owned and run by the parents of Takato.

The line to the front was long but moved quickly. The smell of freshly baked bread filled the air, made all the better by the smile on Takato's mom's face, "Oh hey Juri. Does your mom want the potato bread again?"

Juri nodded and smiled, "Yeah and some doughnuts for tomorrow morning."

Takato's mom laughed, and went about filling two bags with potato bread and rings for her. Then she winked and snuck a few powdered jelly doughnuts in for Juri, "This is our secret, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," Juri nodded with a smile, holding out the money her mom gave her. Just as Takato's mom was about to take it, he came running in with his bag over his shoulder, "Mom! Dad, I'm home!"

Takato came in so quickly that he almost knocked over a few of the customers. His mom scolded him, "Takato! No running in the store!"

"Sorry mom," he apologized, stopping to bow in apology. Then he paused when he noticed Juri was there. It was hard to miss the stunned look in his eyes as he stammered, "Oh, uh, hi Juri."

Juri snickered, having a good guess on why he was so panicked. She waved and whispered in his ear, "It's okay, I didn't tell them about what happened in school today. But you owe me Takato."

Then she winked and made her way out of the store. As she stepped out, she heard Takato's mom tease, "Who was that Takato? Was that your girlfriend?"

"MOM!" Takato blurted out in embarrassment. Juri giggled at the reaction and carried on back towards her home. After a small dinner, Juri spent her night practicing on her little wooden recorder and playing with her step brother before going bed.

...

Juri was in a long dark hall. She must've been no more than six, and her only company was her father sitting alone on a bench. He shook his head and explained, "I'm sorry Juri. Mommy won't be coming home with us."

"Why not daddy?" she asked. Her father looked up, "She...she's sleeping now. Don't worry about her."

"But daddy," she protested only to be scolded, "Don't Juri!"

Then the room shifted, melting together around her father until he turned into a large blob that screeched in a terrible voice. She panicked and started to run only to be told, "You can't run Juri! This is the destiny of all things!"

She had no idea what that meant and didn't want to know. All she knew was that she wanted to escape from this horrible monster. But she couldn't. And just as she was sure it would take her, someone held out their hand to help. She couldn't make out who it was but the voice was so familiar to her. There was a comfort to it that put all her worries at ease, "Did someone say destiny?"

She took that hand that meant safety, "I wouldn't worry about destiny. It's your life. Do what you want."

And promptly jolted awake in her bedroom. It was late at night now. She scanned the darkened room for anything amiss and found nothing to occupy her attention. She sighed in relief, knowing that it was all a bad dream and glad there was nothing that could seriously harm her.

…

Author's Notes: Happy New Year's guys. Hope you're enjoying it so far, and thanks for continuing to enjoy this story with me. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section - and don't forget to follow/favorite the story to keep up with all the latest updates and chapters. I'm also expanding this story a little bit by cross posting to Archive of Our Own under my username leonardo1123581321. I might expand elsewhere, I'm not sure yet. That's all for now. The next update will come out next week on Friday January 11th at 8 PM CDT. That's all for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter:

That evening, Rika went out with her new partner. Thankfully, they lived in a secluded neighborhood and it wasn't hard to get to the local park without getting noticed. Not that it would've mattered because Renamon had some uncanny ability to disappear and reappear at a moment's notice, like she was simply turning invisible.

She took a seat at a nearby bench and asked, "Renamon, why do you need me to become stronger?"

Her partner appeared beside her with arms crossed and explained, "Any digimon can be raised to greatness with a partner. And if your skill is as good as they say, then we can become unstoppable."

"But why?" Rika asked more seriously. Renamon paused as if considering the question before answering, "It is the way of the Digital World. The weak die so the strong may live. New life grows and challenges the strong. That is always how it's been."

Rika raised an eyebrow at that before pointing out, "You make it sound like the Digital World is some messed up game."