Disclaimer: As you may already know, I don't own Digimon…

DIGITAL MANIFEST

KEEPERS

Chapter 6: Some Food for Thought…

E1.

Beep! Beep!

Ker-plunk!

"So what do you think of those crazy new Tamers?"

Ryo Akiyama fished out a candy bar from the vending machine and glanced over at Kazu who was leaning casually against the wall. At present, his sidekick, Kenta, was nowhere in sight.

Ryo frowned as he unwrapped his candy bar and bit off a chunk of it. He chewed it over thoughtfully and swallowed before answering.

"Don't know what to think really. What Chris told us sounds pretty fantastic, but there are some things that have me worried, like that part with the Mammothmon. In all the time I've spent in the digital world I've never heard of such a thing." There was also something else that had him thinking, but he didn't want to say anything just yet.

"How did you get back to the real world this time anyway?" Kazu asked. It was a known fact that Ryo had the tendency to disappear into the digital world alone, doing who knows what for brief, or even extended periods of time, though no longer for quite the extent that it had been almost a year ago. Kazu's question brought to mind a memory of someone that he had met during his travels prior to his recent return to the real world. She had been the reason that he was able to get home this time around, but she didn't want him saying anything about her in return for this 'favor' as she called it, and he had agreed. Today though made him wonder if he should say something though. The digivice that she carried was exactly the same as the ones carried by their newest arrivals and he wondered if they were related in some fashion. Well, he'd say something when he thought it was right, maybe to Takato, Henry, and Rika when he caught them alone; but for now…

"Trade secret," was all that he said, grinning.

Kazu threw up his hands in exaspiration and groaned. Stuffing his hands into his pockets he attempted a glare at his idol. It didn't work.

"You know, that could be valuable information to have. At least then we won't have to depend on some crazy Arc to give us a ride when things get rowdy. With these new kids in town with their different digivices, and already some big, bad, digimon hot on their trail we may have to go back to the digital world and give their boss an old-fashioned digi-pounding."

Ryo nodded. He had already acknowledged that possibility, but there were still some things that he needed to understand properly before it came to that. It could still be nothing more than a couple of deranged digimon and a heap of bad luck, so there was no point in leaping to conclusions before they knew what they were up against. As near as he could tell there hadn't been anything from what Chris had told them that would explain why those digimon would have attacked them. He didn't think that it had anything to do with the Azuredramon though.

But he WAS sure that it had something to do with what that girl from the digital world had told him, that and the word Keepers.

Keepers? Keepers of what? Keepers of digimon?

Kazu snapped his fingers in front of Ryo's face. "Yo, Ryo. Snap out of it dude. You were off in la-la land."

"Sorry. Guess I wasn't paying attention…"

"That's a surprise."

Ryo's and Kazu's eyes snapped up to see Rika Nonaka standing in front of them. Ryo felt a smile curve on his lips as she looked at them with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Hey, Rika. What're you up to?"

"I was thinking about getting a snack from the vending machine here, but I can see that the foods already spoiled."

Ryo laughed. "Nice to see that some things haven't changed since I've been gone. You still trying to take my 'throne' Wildcat?"

Rika glared at him, but a small smile still crossed her lips. "Take it? I already own it Ryo. And don't you forget it. Maybe if you showed up at the tournaments more often…"

"Give me a break Rika," said Kazu snorting. "He's already clobbered you once…"

"Kazu…" Warned Ryo. Rika just waved him off.

"So where's your twin, Tweedle Dumb?"

Kazu blinked. "Eh? Oh, Kenta went to the little boys room I think. Why?"

"Rika shrugged. "Just wondering. It always seems like you two are conjoined at the hips or something. Anyway, I think that I'll try my luck down at Hypnos's mess hall. Maybe they'll have something edible there. See you two later." Rika left the two boys watching her backside until she turned the corner.

"She's a weird one," said Kazu scratching his head. "One minute she's ready to tear our heads off and the next she's chatting with us. She still insults us, but she's nicer about it."

"She's probably just finally warming up to us and just doesn't want to show it," said Ryo as he took another bite out of his candy bar. "She wouldn't want us to think that she's lost her edge or anything."

"Yeah," snickered Kazu. "The world would probably end if she said something nice to any of us."

Ryo couldn't help but smile at the kid. In the time that he had known Kazu, while short and sporadic at best, he had found that the guy could be fun to hang out with; well, once you got past the insanely annoying hero worship that is. Extremely loyal, dense, determined…these were just some of the things that Ryo could use to describe Kazu. Not too bad once you got to know him.

But he could still be so irritating at times…

Kazu stretched and yawned. "Well, I think I'll go check up on Kenta and make sure that he hasn't fallen in. Why don't you go hunt up Henry and Takato? Pick their brains for a bit, 'cause while I hate to admit it, Rika's right. My minds like a black hole. Anything that goes in has absolutely no hope of ever getting out again. Later, Ryo-dude." And with that, Kazu walked off.

Ryo stayed where he was for a moment, thinking things over. It wasn't often that Kazu offered advice, especially good advice, but that was just his surface mind crack wising at his friend's expense. The wiser part of him, the one that had helped make him into the Tamer that he is today, had already considered it and deciding on doing just that. Takato and Henry didn't know anymore than he did as far as he knew, but those two kids were in their company before Ryo even showed up so there was a chance that they might. Besides, their thought could still provide something useful; Henry with his calm and analytical mind often saw things that the others didn't, and Takato… Ryo grinned. Rika had once described him as an 'accident – waiting – happen' before adding that she didn't necessarily mean that as a 'bad thing'. Well, she didn't say it quite like that but he got the message. Takato had a way of pulling miracles out of thin air, often without knowing what he was doing.

Maybe I should see Takato first. I think that he went down to the cafeteria with Henry, Guilmon, Terriermon, and Renamon. Didn't Rika say she was going down there? Maybe I can ask her too. Ryo thought about that and sighed in defeat. Probably not. She usually plays her cards close anyway.

Ryo pulled out his D-Arc and checked up on Cyberdramon.


Leomon walked beside Jeri as they headed down the streets towards St. Jude's. After Yamaki had told them that Ryan was awake Chris wanted, practically demanded to go see him, to which Yamaki had consented and arranged to have an agent give him a lift. Jeri wanted to go to since they had been Leomon's comrades in the digital world, but due to Leomon's size she opted for the longer method of traveling; on foot. Besides, at least this way, she and Leomon could spend some quality time together.

Only Jeri hadn't said a word since they departed Hypnos.

Leomon sensed her discomfort but was unsure how to approach it. It couldn't be because of his death and 'rebirth' could it? She seemed so happy to see him again that she was almost afraid to let him out of her sight. It had to be something else, but what?

Leomon sighed inwardly. He wasn't going to find out by 'beating around the bush' as Chris and Ryan usually put it.

"Jeri?" He asked. "Are you okay?"

Jeri looked up at him and gave him a small, reassuring smile. The thing was, even a blind man could tell that it was fake.

"Sure I'm fine," she said trying to sound cheerful. She raised her right hand and brought her fingers together in a mock imitation of an animal head. She opened its 'mouth' to speak, but before she allowed it to utter a 'word' she stopped. Blushing, Jeri lowered her hand and laughed nervously. She had forgotten that she had left her sock puppet at home.

Since they day Leomon had become Jeri's partner he had been aware of her strange association with sock puppets. While he didn't know much about human psychology he did know that she sometimes retreated to the voice of the sock puppet whenever she felt uncomfortable about something. Not scared, or even hyped up as when she was kidnapped by Orochimon in the digital world or just being in a regular battle, but only when confronted with an uncomfortable situation.

Leomon could understand not wanting to face what you fear directly, but sooner or later the bill came due and on that day you had to pay.

Jeri cast her eyes down at the sidewalk. "Actually," she said, shame creeping into her voice. "No, not really."

Leomon looked at her.

"I know that we've talked about this before, about how you wouldn't want anyone else to be your tamer, because I believe you, but…after you were 'deleted' I…" Jeri sniffed and wiped her eyes, desperately trying to hold back a sob. "I lost faith in myself and in my destiny. I thought that I wasn't worthy of being your partner, and I…I became 'open' to other influences. Because of how I was feeling I made it possible for even worse things to happen. To the world, to my friends…"

D-Reaper, thought Leomon. Like Ryan and Chris, he had no idea as to the nature of this entity that the Tamers had labeled the 'D-Reaper', but he had a feeling that it was what Jeri was referring to. Jeri, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to protect you…

A part of him though had a feeling that he had been there for her in spirit.

"Jeri, I tell you now as I told you then; you have the heart of a lion. I saw it in you when we first met, and I know that because of you are here today, no matter what it was that happened to you. You are not one to bend or break easily, and death is never an easy thing to accept, but you are strong. Never forget that, for I have not." Leomon chuckled. "After all, I have had first hand experience with that," he said referring to the day that they first met, when the girl had chased him through the park with an uncanny ease in spite of his own attempts to lose her.

Jeri sniffed and wiped away another tear. She giggled a bit, remembering that day also, and looked up at her partner. "I know," she said. "And I believe it too. It's just sometimes hard to think that I'm worthy of it all; of you and of being a Tamer." She stopped and pulled Leomon into a much-needed hug, one that Leomon returned gratefully.

"Awww…" went a little girl as she passed nearby with her mother. "Mommy, isn't that just the sweetest thing you've evaw seen?"

"Yes, dear," said the girl's mother as she dragged her daughter hurriedly past the pair, looking every so often at the massive lion worriedly as if she expected it to start swinging that big sword of his any moment.

Jeri chuckled as she held Leomon. Say what you will, but never before had she felt so safe; so complete.

On Leomon's back, a swirl of golden energy traced its way around his shoulder blades before disappearing.

Neither of them noticed.


Well, it looks safe, thought Takato as he looked at the steaming plate of food before him. He looked over at Henry who seemed to be eating it just fine. Raising some noodles to his mouth, Takato tentatively gave his meal a try. He chewed, he swallowed.

Gulp.

Actually, it's not that bad. In fact, it's great. Certainly nothing that Guilmon would turn his nose up at, but then he probably wouldn't turn down food of any kind. Speaking of the red dinosaur, he, Terriermon, and Renamon were in the kitchen making friends with the cafeteria chef. Actually, this relationship had been carrying on for the past two months, having started out at sometime after the Parasimon invasion. They had graduated from being mere 'acquaintances' to the 'official food-testers', starting with Guilmon and Terriermon and eventually working its way down to Renamon who, after much brow beating, eventually sampled some of the chef's delicious cooking. Although she'd never admit it, Renamon considered this her life's one indulgence. Renamon remained modest though and minded her manners, if only to set an example for her two partners, even though Guilmon imitated her poorly and Terriermon mostly ignored her.

Not that the chef minded of course; he enjoyed their company and conversations (he especially prized his intellectual conversations with Renamon. Not something he would have expected from a digital life form, but then he never expected to one day meet a digital life form). He loved Guilmon and his childishness, Renamon and her quiet modesty, and Terriermon wit. And with the little dog-bunny praising his food as though it had come from down the Golden Staircase directly from God's kitchen he felt pleased to no end, even though he had to admit Terriermon did grate on his nerves every once in a while.

Seeing digimon in the kitchen did not frighten the cooking staff or the rest of the Hypnos employees. In fact, they welcomed it. The word of the mess hall was that if the digimon ever turned their noses up at the food, either the chef was having a really bad day and could turn psychotic at any moment or an evil digimon had taken his place and was trying to kill them all in an unconventional way. It got so that it became a joke to say "Chef's still with us" in response to a question as to how his cooking was on any given day.

Takato soon wolfed down his meal and sat back with a content smile on his face. Henry looked at his goggle-wearing friend and laughed lightly.

"I told you this guy was good."

"I'm sorry that I didn't take your advice sooner," said Takato heaving a sigh.

"Don't be. Terriermon worked on me for a whole month before I finally gave in. I used to think that it was just an excuse for him to give me food poisoning."

"Seriously?"

"Between you and me, I wouldn't have put it past him."

The two boys shared a hearty laugh at this, neither of them noticing Rika approaching them with a tray and a raised eyebrow.

"What're you two goof balls laughing about this time?"

Takato and Henry nearly jumped out of their chairs, a reaction that brought a smile to the girls face. It was nice to know that she could still surprise them.

"Hey, Rika," said Takato giving her a lopsided grin. "We were just making fun of Terriermon behind his back. Care for a seat?"

"Don't mind if I do," Rika said as she took a chair next to Takato and set her tray down. "So give me the scoop. Is this stuff really as good as Renamon says it is or will I die from it?"

"What's the matter Rika," asked Takato. "Don't you trust your partner anymore?"

The red haired girl fixed the boy with a glare and he cringed a little, still holding onto his lop sided grin all the while.

"Don't worry Rika," said Henry. "You'll like what this guy can make. It puts Takato's 'Guilmon bread' to shame."

"Like that would be hard to do," muttered Rika.

"HEY!"

"Lay off, Gogglehead. I was just kidding. And by the way, if you guys are joking about how good this stuff is, I'll put you both in full body casts."

"P-Perish the thought," said Henry as Rika took her first bite. Both Henry and Takato crossed their fingers.

A second later. "Not bad. Looks like you guys are off the hook." The two boys breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well," said Takato getting up. "I'm going back for seconds. I'll be back momentarily."

There followed a short silence between Henry and Rika as their friend walked off.

"So," said Henry casually. "How have things been?"

Rika frowned. "My mother went out with her 'boyfriend' again last night. What do you think?"

Henry nodded. Rika had told him and Takato about her mother's 'catch' one time after a Tamers meeting. By all accounts Rika was all but comparing the poor guy to either Ice Devimon or, even worse in her opinion, Ryo. Henry still didn't know what her deal was with Ryo besides the fact that he had wounded her pride almost three years ago in a digimon card tournament, and Takato couldn't understand why she was so irritated with her mother's choice in boyfriend's period. Of course, Takato could be a little bit dense when it came to things like that.

"Is he really that bad?"

"No," Rika sighed. "Not really. He seems nice enough," she paused as Takato sat back down with a restocked tray. He looked back and forth between his two friends but decided not to say anything. He'd pick it up soon enough but if he were to venture a guess he thought that it had something to do with her mom. This guess was confirmed a second later when Rika resumed.

"He seems nice enough," said Rika as she picked up the thread of conversation again. "It's not like Tom's bad or anything, he's nice to my grandmother, he's courteous to Renamon and doesn't freak out when she appears out of thin air, and he makes mom happy. It's just…"

"I just wish that he didn't try to be…my father." She said this last almost in a whisper. Henry and Takato looked at their trays trying hard not to feel sorry for her. She wouldn't have liked it if they did.

In the time that they had been friends with Rika, the Digimon Queen had always been just a little closed off from them (to say nothing of what she was like when they first met). They had hung out with her plenty of times at her house and they had both noticed that they never once saw her father, which led them to draw the obvious conclusion though they never once brought it up. They lived under the unspoken rule that Rika would tell them when she was ready, and until then they wouldn't cross that line that she had unknowingly drawn in the sand. She eventually did tell them not too long after the Parasimon invasion; well, actually she told Takato first when she had been feeling especially down and Henry happened to walk in on them. It was also the only time he had heard anything mentioned about Rika singing since her birthday party, and in the spirit of that he had kept it just between the three of them.

A silence fell among them that was interrupted by a crash coming from within the kitchen, followed by a number of expletives that included Terriermon's name after every second or third word. Groaning, Henry got up.

"Aaagggghhh. I'll go check it out…"

"Oh. Uh, okay," said Takato. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

Takato watched Henry's retreating back for a few seconds as he made his way towards the kitchen.

"Hey, Gogglehead."

"Hmmm? Yeah? What's up, Rika?"

Rika pointed to his still full lunch tray. "You gonna finish that?"

"Huh?" Takato raised an eyebrow.


Room 134. Here we go.

(Click)

Chris quietly opened the door and stepped in. On a bed, sitting up and looking pale was the dark-haired, dark green-eyed kid that he had traveled through the digital world with, irritably flipping through the TV channels on the television screen across from him.

"Hey Ryan, how ya doin'?"

Ryan groaned. "You know, back home daytime television may have sucked, but at least I could understand every word they said on it."

Chris took a look at the program he had been watching right before he switched channels again.

"I see English subtitles Ryan."

"Nnnnggh…don't start with me Chris. I've already got a splitting headache and I feel like vomiting on top of that…"

"Why? Did you try the hospital food?"

"Ha. Ha. I think that it started after the fight. By the way, what did happen in that battle? My memories are a little spotty on the subject for some reason."

"I'll tell you later when you're feeling more up to it. I met some people today…"

"Chris…"

Chris sighed. He wished that he had been able to take Caramon with him to help him out on this, but after Terriermon's little 'debut' as Rapidmon earlier, the doctors and nurses were reluctant to even allow the lizard to pass through the doors. Guess he would just have to tough it out on his own.

"How badly do you need to throw up right now?" He asked Ryan. Ryan's eyes narrowed.

"I don't think that I can hold anything down right now, but I'm pretty sure I can handle some 'food for thought'. Why?"

"If you feel that strongly about it, you may want to have a barf bucket handy, just in case."

Ryan eyed Chris strangely before lifting a pan that a nurse had dropped off earlier and set it on his lap. He gave Chris a meaningful look that said, "Please continue". Chris nodded and unclipped Ryan's digivice from his waist and tossed it to him.

"Here, this really oughtta jog your memory."

Ryan looked at his digivice for a minute, the gears in his mind slowly turning. Then his eyes widened as something clicked and his stomach lurched.

The sounds of someone upchucking could be heard from down the hall.


Ryo entered the messhall to find Henry exiting the kitchen and glaring at a suspiciously red-colored Terriermon, with Rika and Takato doing their best not to laugh at the sight. Ryo raised an eyebrow.

I think it's best that I don't ask.

"I said I was sorry Henry…"

"Not one word Terriermon! I can't believe that you knocked over that entire pan of sauce!"

And that's why I don't bother to ask, thought Ryo as he came closer.

"I couldn't help it, Henry. It smelled so good and he said I could try some…"

"Since when is one small taste an invitation to stick your head in?!"

Takato and Rika couldn't take it anymore and just burst out laughing, causing Ryo to almost stop in mid-stride. Rika laughing, THAT was a new thing. He grinned as he approached the Tamers and sat down across from Takato.

"Hey guys. What'd I miss?"

"Takato responded between snickers and guffaws. "Only Terriermon's adventure in 'deep sauce diving'. Fortunately you've arrived just in time to catch the second feature."

"Yeah," said Rika smirking. "The Brainiac from 20,000 Fathoms." Henry glared at Rika but couldn't help smirking himself. He had to admit, it was kind of funny.

"Sorry," Henry said. "This one's going to be a private viewing when I get home with him. Susie's going to be spending some quality time with 'Pwincess Pwetty Pants' tonight to make up for this."

Terriermon gasped and made an attempt to get away and failed. Ryo gave the dog-bunny a sympathetic look. He had heard about the torture that Henry's sister put the little digimon through, and even he had to wince from it. Just hearing about it had been painful.

"Better you than me buddy. Better you than me."

"Way to be a team player, Ryo," Terriermon moaned.

"Sorry to cut this short guys," said Henry, still holding onto the little troublemaker. "But I'd better take him home and get him cleaned up before he decides to blow up the building next."

"HEN-RY!"

"Knock it off Terriermon," said Henry sternly. "Or I'll let Susie play with you for an extra hour tonight AND film it for the others to watch!"

This started off yet another round of struggling that Henry easily won. Tucking his partner underneath his arm to quiet his bid for freedom from the horror yet to come, Henry prepared to bid his friends farewell, asking Takato to give him an update on things when he got home.

"Sure thing Henry," said Takato. "See ya later."

"Hang on Henry," said Ryo. "Before you go I wanted to ask you guys something about those other kids. Did they mention anything to you about something called 'the Aesir'?"

Henry cocked an eyebrow and Takato and Rika just looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"No, why?"

"No reason really, just something that I heard about in the digital world. Thought that it was related and you guys might be able to enlighten me. I'll just have to ask Chris or his friend Ryan the next time I see them."

Henry considered this and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know what an 'Aesir' was, but maybe he could look into it. "Hmmm…well, I'd better go. See you guys later."

"Later."

Ryo turned back to Takato and Rika who were looking at him thoughtfully. He blinked, fully knowing what it was they wanted to ask, so he prompted them.

"What?"

"Where'd you hear about this… 'Aesir'… thing? And why's it important enough for you to ask us about?" Asked Rika coolly. Ryo shrugged casually.

I think that I'll tell them, at least a little bit for now. I'll see what comes up later after I've had my 'talk' with those two kids.
"From someone I met while I was away in the digital world. Kind of reminded me of you Wildcat, only more talkative than when we met in that place of clouds and clocks."

"Hope that means they insulted you more…"

"Well," Ryo laughed. "She did call me an 'idiot' for leaping to her rescue without really knowing what the situation was…"

" 'She'? Just what is it with you and the whole 'rescuing damsels in distress' routine? It's a very annoying habit."

"Why? Jealous?"

Rika glared at him. "Only in your dreams."

Ryo chuckled. "Don't worry. I don't think that I have to rescue you anymore. After all, you have your very own white knight in shining armor here to do the job for me," he said tipping a wink at Takato. Takato, who had been drinking some Chocolate milk when he heard that, swallowed some of it down the wrong way and sent himself into an embarrassing coughing fit. Rika stopped dead short of anger at Ryo when Takato began coughing and looked at him worriedly.

"Um…you okay, Gogglehead?"

Takato looked at Rika with a flushed face and smiled goofily. He coughed once before responding.

"Uh…yeah. Sure…heh, heh, heh…um…I'll be right back. I…uh… gotta go to the bathroom." And with that Takato got up (nearly knocking over his chair in the process) and went for the exit, trying hard not to make it look like he was trying to get the heck out of Dodge.

That was weird, thought Rika. Wonder why he… HEY! Rika's eyes flashed and she looked over to Ryo to fix him with a withering glare that could put a Sovereign to shame, only to find that he had used Takato's distraction to give her the slip. Rika hmmphed, debating whether or not she should chase after the Legendary Tamer and smack him upside the head. She looked down at the tray of food that Takato had left behind. She sighed.

Well, she thought as she dug in. It would be a shame to let all this


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