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Chapter 9: Just Another Day

Even as Takato managed to wake himself up, certain images remained in his head. A city on fire, for starters, and a loan figure standing atop a ruined skyscraper. This figure had not been the dark, corrupted knight that Takato expected it to be, but a single human being. Takato shook his head to rid the image from his mind. He didn't need reminding of who this person was.

Takato quickly realized that his actions were not going unnoticed. Both Rika and Guilmon were looking at him with obvious concern. Takato stood right up and tried to act like nothing was wrong, but this seemed to have little success.

"Takato…" Guilmon said as he stood up himself. He seemed to have just woken up himself, likely because of the way Takato had awoken.

"I'm fine, boy," Takato replied as he rolled up his futon. He tried to smile as he made his way over to the room's closet. He looked over to Rika. "It's just my guilty conscience, right?"

"Right," Rika agreed, though the tone in her voice seemed to indicate that she saw through his fake confidence. She walked over to him and pulled the futon from his hands and placed it neatly in its proper place. She likely had been awake for a little while now, and seemed like she was already ready to start the day.

"Is something wrong?" Takato couldn't figure out why he insisted on digging himself in deeper. He didn't lie to Rika often, but she could always tell when he did.

"Nothing." Her tone said otherwise. She crossed her arms and looked him in the eye. "I was just wondering what you saw."

"What for?"

"I just figured you wouldn't mind sharing. You know, since you're fine and all."

"It was just more of the same." Takato couldn't help but feel a bit defeated. The fact was that his own track record kept him from being positive that it was someone else's life he was seeing. "The only difference was that I saw me, or him, I guess."

"Did he have a goatee?"

"W-What?"

"Or a weird facemask? I can't decide which would suit Darth Goggle-head more." It took Takato a couple seconds to realize that Rika's tone had changed. She was obviously enjoying herself a little bit. "Did he monologue about his evil plans?"

"Would you st-stop? Th-This isn't funny." Takato had actually started laughing at this point.

"I bet it was along the lines of 'You'll never be able to stop my diabolical death ray'." Rika pointed her arm at him dramatically and she spoke. "I'm sure he wants to destroy all the orphanages and animal shelters."

"Okay, you've made your point." Takato took hold of her hand and gently pushed it down.

"Look," Rika said, her tone becoming serious again. "I want you to get over these nightmares, but that doesn't mean I want you to pretend they don't bother you. It's like you said in the park yesterday: I want you to know you can trust me."

"Does that mean no more double standards?" The point of that conversation had been about her opening up more and him proving that he was there for her.

Rika paused for a beat before answering. "I'm not sure, but I'm willing to give it a try."

Renamon materialized next to Guilmon, effectively ending the conversation. "Glad that's all sorted out," she remarked.

"I can see you're excited about that." Rika finally removed her hand from Takato's.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Renamon teased. "You're usually not in this good a mood in the morning. Maybe Takato should spend the night more often." Takato suddenly found breathing a bit more difficult and he reflexively looked away from Rika. The kitsune hadn't likely meant the comment as an innuendo, but that didn't keep his mind from going there.

"We could invite everyone and make it a big sleepover," Guilmon added happily. He then paused as though he were contemplating what he said. "Well, maybe not everyone. Kazu and Kenta would probably just make Rika mad, and then there'd be no point."

"Yeah, let me know when you figure out the guest list out, Dino-boy," Rika instructed sarcastically. She was likely more focused on not getting mad at the moment. "Can everyone just focus on getting ready? The sooner we find Jeri, the sooner we can go home."

"Sounds like a plan," Takato said as he moved for the door. As he made his way to bathroom, he wanted to pretend that everything would go as planned. With that said, he now had a growing concern about "diabolical death rays."


Jeri took a deep breath as she exited through the bakery's side entrance. Much like the day before, it looked like they were in for a beautiful day weather wise. She waited a couple minutes for the alternate versions of Takato and Guilmon to join her. The former had been understandably hesitant about traveling around in broad daylight, but was also set on keeping his word.

Looking over at the street from her spot in the alley, Jeri was wondering if she should have similar reservations. The city was a big place, but that didn't mean there was no chance of her being recognized. She realized she had forgotten to ask whether or not her family's restaurant was still open. She had no desire to cause any more pain for them.

Before her worries could go any further, Takato and Guilmon exited the bakery. They both took a quick glance at their surroundings and then looked at each other. Without a sound exchanged between them, Guilmon made his way further into the alley and was soon out of sight.

"Where's he going?" Jeri asked.

"Nowhere far," Takato answered. "He's actually gotten pretty good at staying out of sight. Don't worry, he'll be nearby if we need him."

Jeri wasn't sure if that made her feel better, but decided it wasn't the issue at the moment. She turned back to Takato, who was looking at her with a confused look on his face. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"I'm just surprised you're still here."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you looked like you didn't want to be here last night." Takato turned away from her and looked at the street. "You could have left just a couple minutes ago if you wanted to."

"You're right," Jeri confessed. Now it was her turn to turn away from him. "I was scared last night and wanted to go home. I still want to go home."

"So, where should we start?"

"The tears open randomly, or at least we think they do." Jeri made an effort to sound less somber and more energetic. There was no point in kicking Takato for a mistake he made. "Why not start with the park?"

"Why there?" Confusion returned to Takato's face.

"Seems like as good a place as any to me." The truth was that Jeri figured it was where they had the best chance of running into the other Tamers of this reality. Her hope was that Takato could start to move on with his life if he confronted his past. Jeri admitted this was a cliché notion, but it seemed like her best bet at the moment.

"If you say so." A warm smile came to Takato's face, one that seemed to scream that he would follow her anywhere. Jeri turned away from him yet again, now feeling a bit guilty. She was familiar with this look, but only because the Takato from her reality had the same look on his face whenever he was around Rika. Jeri couldn't help but wonder if part of the reason she was doing this was because of some kind of deep-seeded jealousy. In the end, she decided to deal with her own issues later and made her way out of the alley.


Henry missed the button to call the elevator the first time he reached for it. Yamaki had basically ordered him to return home the previous night, having told him to get some rest and they could resume work in the morning. Not that going home had really helped, as he had been mostly unable to sleep. Being worried about Terriermon, Suzie, and the rest of his friends had kept him from doing so, and now the exhaustion was catching up with him. With a deep breath, he reached out and managed to hit the button.

As he rode the elevator up, he checked his cellphone. Waiting for him was a message from Kazu, asking for an update once Hypnos had a solid lead on the others. He and Kenta had not taken the news about the others well, which had likely been a mixture of worry and disappointment that they were currently on the sidelines. Relating to both sentiments somewhat, Henry sent a quick reply saying he would do his best to keep them posted.

Exiting the elevator, Henry found himself questioning whether or not doing so would make a difference. As much as he would like to go after the others himself, there were too many variables currently impeding his progress. He was hoping to sort some of those out in the coming hours.

Henry sat himself down in his empty cubicle. Alice wasn't scheduled to arrive for another half hour, which meant he had the space to himself for the next twenty minutes. He bent down to turn the computer in front of him on, but was startled when he brought his attention upward and found someone waiting for him.

"Sorry, Yamaki asked me to come check on you," Riley said, smiling apologetically.

"It's okay," Henry replied. He wondered if Yamaki had been monitoring security at the front desk or just knew he would arrive early. "How are things going?"

"Two more tears opened last night. One opened harmlessly on a street corner for a few seconds, and the other opened in the middle of a convenience store. Trashed the place when it did and ended up staying open for a few minutes afterward."

"So energy output is directly related to how long they say open." That meant it was possible to determine which were viable options when it came to travel. They just needed a large enough one to open in a convenient enough location.

"We need you looking at the previous occurrences," Riley explained. "We still can't determine if there's any pattern to where and when the tears open, but maybe there're some early warning signs we're missing."

"How much of the staff is working on this?" Henry asked. Technically, that wasn't any of his concern, but he felt the need to ask anyway. If nothing else, it might put his mind at ease some knowing how many people were trying to help his friends.

To Riley's credit, she seemed to understand that. Her mouth formed a reassuring smile. "We're reallocating people little by little. We still have to monitor for digital activity, so we are a bit limited right now. I imagine that might change if things keep escalating, though."

Henry nodded and turned away from her for a second. There wasn't really anything more he could ask for. "I'll get right to work then."

"Stay strong, Henry." He turned his attention back to Riley, who was still trying to maintain reassurance. "We'll have this sorted out soon."

As Riley departed, Henry refocused on his computer. Before he started his assigned duties, however, he decided to check his email. He ended up being grateful that he did, as the first message in his inbox had a subject line that read "Moumantai."


Terriermon rolled off his bed and onto the floor. As he stood himself up, he found himself a little thrown off by his surroundings. The familiarity of it all made it easy to forget that he was currently residing in an alternate reality. Case in point, this reality's Henry was currently sitting in front of his computer much like Terriermon's actual partner.

Terriermon slowly made his way over to the desk, wondering if the boy had slept at all. They had spent a lot of the night trying to figure out how to get the interdimensional email system to work. They had been simultaneously hindered by Terriermon's lack of knowledge on the subject and helped by the fact Henry was able to use a lot of guesswork as his own counterpart had worked on it. They had both agreed to call it quits for the night when they ended up successfully sending an email.

Henry took notice of Terriermon just as he pulled himself onto the desk. He minimized what was on the screen, which looked to Terriermon like news articles and blurry photos. Terriermon didn't give them a second thought, as Henry likely had something more he considered more important to talk about first.

"Any luck?" Terriermon asked groggily.

"Some," Henry replied. He opened another window on the computer. "We got a reply email from… me."

"Well, it's about time." Terriermon skimmed through the email in front of him. The original message they had sent home had said that everyone was fine and looking for Jeri. The reply basically just said everyone was glad to hear that and that Hypnos was currently looking for a way of bringing them all back. Terriermon shook his head after reading the last part.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked with a raised eyebrow. "Isn't this good news?"

"Oh, it's great news," Terriermon answered as sarcastically as he could. "You know, because things worked out so well the last time Hypnos tried to solve one of our problems for us."

Henry was silent for a beat, not needing to confirm that Terriermon was referring to Juggernaut. "I guess it's just a concession that we're going to have to make."

"This coming from the guy who wouldn't even look at his dad after we defeated the D-Reaper."

"Are you mad at Hypnos or me?"

"Yes!" Terriermon felt some regret about snapping, as it was his actual partner that he was frustrated with. His actual partner, however, was not present at the moment.

Despite Terriermon's demeanor, Henry kept his attention on him. "Maybe you should start at the beginning."

"Not gonna happen." Terriermon crossed his arms and turned away. "We've already had this conversation and it didn't help."

"And let me guess; you gave him the 'Terriermon version' of what was bothering you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Terriermon returned his attention to his partner's double.

Henry pinched the bridge of his nose. "Terriermon, you talk a lot. You have no problem saying what's on your mind, but that doesn't mean you always say the right thing."

"Okay, Mr. Expert, what was the right thing to say?"

"You might have explained what was bothering you, but I doubt you explained why it was bothering you."

"Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that would of made a difference?"

Henry stayed quiet, with his face forming a frown that usually meant he had an answer that he knew someone wouldn't like. The truth was that Terriermon knew his partner well enough to know when he made up his mind. Be it at Hypnos or at his own computer desk, Henry was determined to fix things that he saw as problems. While he was sensitive to other peoples' problems more often than not, he still found it difficult to change his mind once he decided on a course of action.

"That's what I thought," Terriermon continued. "Well, at least you've never lied to me."

"Well, yeah," Henry replied, frown turning into a small smile. "You'd get a big head if I always told you what you wanted to hear. Well, you'd get an even bigger head, anyway."

"Asshole."

"Hey, moumantai."

The two of them shared a laugh before falling silent for a few seconds. Even here, speaking with a Henry that wasn't his partner, Terriermon was reminded of the unique bond they shared. He doubted his own Henry had forgotten about it, but that thought almost made him feel worse about the growing rift between them. It was like he was being deliberately cut off.

"I feel useless," Terriermon said finally. "My power comes from us working as a team. When your Takato came over to our world, I had to watch the entire fight because my partner was missing. I'm wondering if I even have a purpose without him."

"Do you know who might need to hear that?" Henry replied as he gestured to the computer.

Terriermon looked at the screen and considered sending a reply to the email. "No, we gotta get going. Takato and Rika are gonna wanna start looking for Jeri as soon as possible."

"About that…" Henry reopened the windows he had been looking at when Terriermon had first woken up. News articles and low resolution photographs all seeming to depict this reality's Takato and Guilmon. "I've been doing some digging on where we should start looking."

"Find anything useful?"

"Not particularly. These take place all over Shinjuku. He basically shows up wherever a wild digimon bio-emerges."

"Then why bring these up?" Terriermon scratched his head, a little more eager to leave this screen behind than before.

"At first, I didn't think I'd found any new information, but then I started reading between the lines."

"I don't see any…" Terriermon trailed off as he finally took notice of the theme in front of him. Each article and picture was time-stamped, and Henry had conveniently laid them out in chronological order. The timeline showed Takato and Guilmon being consistently active for the last year. "This can't be right."

"I double-checked everything," Henry assured him. "I have no idea what the two of them have been through over the last couple years, but the data doesn't lie. Guilmon's no longer being affected by Juggernaut."


A sense of déjà vu came over Takato as he sat in the Nonaka's backyard. This feeling wasn't a sentimental one, however, as it harkened back to his very first visit to Rika's home rather than the countless times he visited afterwards. Like that time, he could feel the glare of a particular redhead who obviously wanted nothing more than for him to leave.

Ruki, who was sitting removed from him and Rika, was making no attempt to hide how she felt at this particular moment. The only consolation that Takato had on the whole matter was that Rika seemed just as put off about being around her own doppelganger. She still hadn't been specific about what had been bothering her since meeting Ruki, but Takato knew that this would bubble to the service eventually.

The digimon seemed a bit more at ease. Both Renamon stood at attention, quietly awaiting the group to come to a consensus on how they would proceed. The fact that the kitsune hadn't changed much from one reality to the other wasn't really a surprise to Takato, as her priority had always been standing by her partner.

That left only Guilmon, who wandering around the yard and sniffing the grass. Takato's partner never did pay complete attention to the Tamers' meetings, but that did not necessarily mean that he was not listening. Guilmon simply knew that thinking and planning didn't play to his strengths and he should leave those duties to his friends. Still, he did often manage to surprise them by occasionally contributing to the conversation.

"So, you have no leads we can work with?" Takato asked the Renamon he was more familiar with, mostly to break the silence.

"Not at the moment," Renamon answered. "Your counterpart is still hiding himself."

"What I don't get is why he's hiding to begin with," Rika said.

"He's afraid," Guilmon stated without looking up at them. "I smelled it when we were fighting yesterday."

"Yeah, but afraid of what?" Guilmon turned to Rika as she asked the question and shrugged.

"He's afraid of people seeing what he's become," Takato explained. He couldn't guess exactly what his double was thinking, but he knew how he would react being in his shoes.

"Can't really blame him," Ruki commented. Rika looked as though she were about to protest, but Takato managed to catch her attention and shake his head. It didn't feel worth it to argue at this point.

"We might be better off trying to figure out where he will be," Renamon suggested. "Even with the differences between you two, I'm sure there are plenty of locations that you've both frequented."

"It would also be worth it to watch for bio-emergences," Ruki's Renamon added. "He's almost guaranteed to appear should one occur."

"Then let's start looking," Ruki said impatiently as she stood up. "The faster we find Jeri, the faster this all can all come to an end."

"Alright then," Takato replied.

"No way." Ruki stopped cold as Takato stood up, her glare a bit stronger now.

"What's wrong now?" Takato noticed Rika stand up as well, obviously debating whether or not to get involved.

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Ruki spoke slowly and clearly, the way Rika did when she was angry and wanted to make something quick and concise.

"Is this really the right time for this?" Takato took a step closer to her, a little angry that she was fighting with him like this. "Look, Jeri might be in trouble. I know you're mad at me, but-"

"Mad at you?" Ruki snapped. She closed the distance between them. "I don't know how well you think you know me, but let's get one thing clear: I'm well beyond being 'mad at you'."

"So you're just going to refuse to work with me?"

Were Takato arguing with Rika, this would likely be the part where she blew up at him. Ruki was showing the signs that he usually associated with this, so this is what he expected to happen. Instead, she collected herself and looked him straight in the eyes.

"I don't trust you," Ruki declared.

Takato found that he couldn't bring himself to keep arguing after the declaration. She meant what she said. Her tone and demeanor confirmed it. The words dug at him in a way he knew they shouldn't. After all, this wasn't his best friend he was talking to, but an alternate version of her that was living a different life. Still, the idea that there was any version of Rika that thought so lowly of him hurt a bit.

In the end, however, what actually kept Takato from fighting back was his finally noticing a difference between the two redheads. It was their eyes. Takato knew Rika's eyes, partially because he was more frequently finding himself getting lost in them. As he looked into Ruki's eyes, he immediately could tell something was missing.

As far as color and shape were concerned, the two sets were identical. From the day he first met Rika, however, her eyes showed a fire and drive that he had never seen in anyone else. Said fire and drive only disappeared one time he could remember: in the weeks following the defeat of IceDevimon. It was a time when Rika felt used and betrayed to an extent that she almost gave up on the one thing she loved doing most of all.

"Okay," Takato conceded, not really knowing what else to say. He simply stepped aside and allowed Ruki to pass.

"Takato…" Rika said softly as she tried to approach him. Seeing the concern on her face made him feel a bit better, but not enough to change his mind.

"It's fine. I don't want to get in the way. I'll catch up later." Rika acknowledged his promise with nod and left after her double.

Takato watched her leave, and didn't turn his head from that direction until he felt Guilmon's snout brush against his arm. Takato simply patted the top of his partner's head, as it was apparent that neither of them had anything else to say at the moment. For the second time that morning, Takato tried to assure himself that everything was going to work out.


For anyone who noticed and cares, I decided to switch the story category from "Adventure" to "Scifi." It felt more appropriate given the subject matter and how the story itself is panning out.