Chapter 10

Marie giggled quietly as she followed along with Rika and another girl that she had introduced as Jeri in the mall. It had been three weeks since she'd found herself collapsing on top of the boy Takato had introduced as Jenrya while she was in the hospital. She blushed at the thought of the young man, but her mood worsened as she remembered what had led to that situation, and all of the pain it caused her.

Flashback

She had been doing homework in her room when a crash from the living room alerted her to trouble. She quickly hid behind the bed, just in case someone came her way. Marie knew that Lady Une could take care of herself, but weirder and weirder things had been happening since the boys had vanished in that fog. She stayed in her hiding spot, waiting for the noise to stop and for Lady Une to come make sure she was alright. Five minutes passed before she realized Une wasn't coming.

Starting to panic, she hurried out of her room. She could see from the hallway that things hadn't gone well for whoever decided to attack this place, and there was no sign of Lady Une yet. Turning the corner of the couch she tripped over some debris on the floor and fell to her knees. It was from that position that she found Lady Une with a look of horror on her face, her throat ripped out and a large puddle of blood under her body. Marie felt nausea claw at her, tears sting at her eyes. A crunching noise from the other side of the sofa made her freeze in place. It was followed by a female chuckle.

"Look what the cat dragged in; another little mouse to play with!"

Marie looked round, expecting to see a pair of human legs. Instead she came face to face with a smirking BlackGatomon. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognised the being before her, causing the digimon's smirk to widen.

"And look, the little Mouse knows what I am already. Did the goodie-two-shoes Tamer tell you? Well it looks like he's not here any more, so what are you going to do Little Mouse?"

It raised a bloodied glove covered paw, its smile widening as it slashed it down. Marie screamed as her instincts forced her legs to move her out of the way. The BlackGatomon's claws ripped through her shirt and cut four deep furrows in her skin. It laughed, stalking slowly to catch up with her prey.
Marie desperately looked around, trying to find something-anything to protect herself with, all the while wishing that Takato hadn't left her behind. Her hand brushed up against the toy d-reader, her fingers clutching at it confusedly.

'Please whatever deity is up there; help me!'

The gadget in her hand suddenly turned scorching hot, almost causing her to drop it, then cooled abruptly. The wall behind her disappeared into fog, causing BlackGatomon to freeze in its tracks, shock apparent on its face.

"A Bio-field? Why is that here?"

Marie's brain had shut down at this point, her body moving on its own. She stood and ran straight for the Bio-field, never realizing that she went right through where the house wall should have been. Next thing she knew Takato was there helping her living pillow to staunch the blood pouring out of her. She'd only managed to catch a glimpse of the other boy but his worried face hadn't left her mind since.

Flashback Ends

She quickly shook her head and turned her attention to Rika, who had been trying to grab her attention for a few minutes, a look of concern on her face.

"Marie, is something wrong? Does it hurt?"

Marie smiled slightly at the concern that was emanating from the red head.

"I'm sorry, I just had a flashback. I'm OK though."

"Do you still want to help us shop? We can call one of the boys to take you home."

"I'll be fine. I can still keep going."

"If you get tired just tell us, we'll take a break somewhere."

"I will."

Rika grabbed Marie's hand and pulled her to where Jeri was waiting for them in front of a dress shop. The three entered, Rika shivering as she did so.

"I never thought I would willingly step into one of these places. Can we hurry so I don't get the Snob Disease?"

Jeri shared a giggle with Marie, as the former Tamer went up to a stand of dresses that were pink and very girlish.

"What about this one Rika? Think Takato would like it" Rika levelled a mild glare at the girl in response.

"Ha-ha, very funny Jeri. Find something else please."

The girls went through the store looking for dresses Rika to try on. The sale's clerk brought all their choices to a change room and helped Rika put each one of them on. One dress was black with a high neck and long sleeves.

"I feel like I'm going to a ritzy funeral."

"Yeah, that's not the one. Try this one next!"

The next one made the two girls wince and shake their heads in denial. Rika shifted uncomfortably trying to cover the part of her chest that wasn't covered by cloth.

"If Takato was any kind of red blooded male he'd love that dress. Then again, so would every other guy at the prom." Rika immediately returned to the dressing room to try on the last dress that had been picked for her.

The last dress was the keeper. It was both sexy and not too revealing, the halter neck showing just enough cleavage to be attractive, the back laced to leave it open and tantalizing. The dark blue fabric clung to all the right curves, flaring into a trumpet skirt at the bottom.

"What kind of accessories do you think we should get?"

Looking down at the bottom of the skirt and the amount of fabric pooling on the floor, Jeri hummed in thought.

"Obviously she's going to need a pair of decently high heels. The dress is meant to trail a bit but not that much. I'm thinking of something silver, or are you planning on wearing Takato's bracelet with that?"

Rika shook her head in a negative response as Jeri skipped over to the jewellery towers and browsed before coming back with a set of silver delicate filigree adorned with solitaire clear stones. Rika held her breath as the necklace was put over her head, the bracelet on her wrist and the earrings dangled next to her ear. Her hair got pulled up just as she turned to look in a full length mirror. Her breath hitched slightly at what she saw. She could barely recognize her-self in that getup, the woman in front of her too far removed from her own expectations.

"Takato is going to faint Rika! And that girl you were talking about will die of embarrassment when she sees you."

The eldest red head finally let a giggle escape her as it finally dawned on her that she was the one that looked amazing and not a figment of her imagination.

(SCENE CHANGE)

Jenrya pulled Suzie along behind him, a gut feeling causing him to move a bit faster. A sudden noise down the deserted street made him draw her closer. Things were going weird ever since Takato had come home followed by those other men. The news was full of thefts and murders that didn't make much sense. The returned Tamer speculated that the digital problems that had plagued the ESUN had somehow followed them here. After seeing the damage done to the four other teens he didn't want to chance his little sister getting hurt. Another nearby noise caused him to a stop, Suzie clutched to his body. The noise maker materialized before them; gracefully landing on fur covered paws. Jenrya sucked in a gasp, refusing to show his fear in front of the creature Takato said attacked his friends.

"My, oh my, it's the Bunny Tamers; this will be fun!"

The black fur-ball that was the BlackGatomon launched her-self at the taller teen, a manic grin on her face. Jen pushed the two of them out of the way, releasing Suzie to face up against the cat better.

"I don't know what you Virals are up to but I won't let you hurt my sister!"

"What makes you think you can take me Human? Without your Digimon partners you are pathetically weak!"

Jen growled and threw a low kick at the BlackGatomon's head. The cat snickered as it avoided the attack with ease. Forcing himself to calm down, Henry turned his failed assault into a sweep kick. It worked only so far as to make the digital cat backflip away from him. Getting anxious he lunged for her throat in an attempt to immobilize her. The viral digimon merely jumped over his head and used his back as a trampoline vaulting towards to the cowering Suzie. Jenrya cursed at his stupidity, turning to catch the feline before it reached his sister. He barely missed the tip of its tail and landed, face first on the ground with a loud oomph. The Digimon pounced for the human girl only to be blocked by another white creature. The voice Jenrya heard was one he'd never been more grateful to hear

"Momentai Jen! I've got this; Terrier Tornado!"

Terriermon pushed the black cat away just far enough that he could start his attack. Deciding to cut loses short it jumped out of the way and ran for the shadow.

"You haven't seen the last of me!"

Jenrya watched it run then turned to gape at his former partner.

"Terriermon, how are you here? The gate closed seven years ago!"

"Momentai, momentai; I'll explain everything when you get the old gang together at the park. Just one question, did you miss me?"

The teen chuckled and reached down to pick the dog-bunny up from the ground. Hugging the Digimon to his chest, he whispered in the long ears.

"You have no idea how much no matter how irritating you can get. Welcome home Terriermon; welcome home."

Beta's note-FORGIVE ME! I'm sorry I took so long to get this done, I've just been busy with graduation, family holiday and full time work in recent months. Hopefully the next chapter's won't take so long to get done now.
Hope you all enjoy it and again I'm sorry for the delay in getting this done Firesinger!