Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

Chapter 10: After the Nightmare

Slowly Jeri awoke to find herself in her room. She quickly recognized the ceiling. Her head was pounding and she felt a little sick to her stomach. Slowly Jeri attempted to sit up. Calumon was asleep on the foot of her bed, lying on his back. Rika was sitting in the chair across the room wearing black jeans and a purple t-shirt with a lavender heart on the front. She was reading a magazine of some sort, though Jeri could not tell what kind. Renamon meanwhile was leaning against the wall next to the chair with her arms crossed. The fox Digimon's eyes were closed, which Jeri assumed meant she was asleep. Rika glanced up from her magazine and noticed that Jeri was awake.

"Oh hey. Welcome back." Rika greeted as she closed her reading material. Renamon opened her eyes. "You had all of us worried, you've been out for a week."

"Is that really you Rika?" Jeri asked a bit weakly, recalling that Rika had been missing before.

"Yep. And before you ask where I've been, it's a long story." Rika replied. "I'll tell you about it later. How're you feeling?"

"Kinda sick, but okay otherwise I guess." Jeri answered.

"Do you… remember anything about what happened?" Rika asked hesitantly.

"Not really." Jeri said as she tried to recall what occurred while she was taken over by Myotismon. "I think I can remember pieces, but… it's all a blur. Like some kind of wild dream."

"You shouldn't dwell on it too much." Renamon spoke.

"Renamon's right." Rika agreed. "What matters is that Myotismon's dead now and everything's back to the way it was."

"I do remember Takato fighting to try and save me." Jeri said after thinking about it just a bit more. "Though I don't know why he bothered. Especially now that you're back."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rika asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I saw you and him at Suzie's birthday party last month." Jeri revealed. "You were all over each other."

"Whoa! Back up!" Rika said as she shot up from the chair. "First of all, I'm in no way interested in Takato. He's an okay guy and all that, but not my type. Besides, Ryo and I are a thing now. Second of all, you don't know what happened that night. I had to get out of the room because Kazu and Kenta were driving me nuts. After a while Takato walks out, trips on a crack on the sidewalk, and then the next thing I know he's on top of me."

"So… it was all an accident?" Jeri asked looking very surprised.

"Rika is speaking the truth." Renamon confirmed. "I saw the whole thing with my own eyes. Guilmon saw it happen as well."

"Oh god! Rika I'm so sorry I ever…" Jeri said on the verge of tears.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Rika assured her as she went over to her side. "Of course I'm surprised that you thought that there was even something between me and Takato."

"Well… the truth is that sometimes I just feel so inferior when I'm around you." Jeri admitted. "You're so much stronger than I am Rika."

"Hey, you're pretty strong yourself. During that last battle you held back ViralMyotismon so Takato could finish him off." Rika pointed out. "Have more faith in yourself Jeri. You're strong in your own way."

"Maybe you're right." Jeri said as she vaguely remembered the final battle with the vampire Digimon. "The worst part of this though is that I've been mad at Takato for nothing."

"Don't sweat it. I'm sure he's gotten over it." Rika assured her. "He did fight hard to save you after all."

"Where is Takato?" Jeri asked.

"Oh, well he told me that he had a lot of stuff he had to do today, which is why Renamon and I are over here looking after you." Rika explained. "But don't worry, I'm sure he'll be by soon." Suddenly there came a knock on the door from the outer room of the apartment. "I hope you're up for some more company. There are some people I'd like you to meet."

"Yeah, okay." Jeri agreed.

The following morning of the next day, Jeri felt well enough to travel out to the living room. Calumon was with her on the couch as they watched T.V. The set was showing a news broadcast talking about how far the city had recovered after ViralMyotismon's attack and the strange rash of vampirism that the media had dubbed the Crimson Plague. Jeri was only half listening to the broadcast though. Her mind was still trying to absorb what she had learned the previous day.

After Jeri and Rika had had their little talk, the rest of the Tamers except for Takato had shown up. And they did not show up alone. Parker was with them of course, but so were Tai and the others who had traveled with from the other Earth. It was during that visit that Jeri learned of Ryo's true origins and just what he and Rika were doing while they were gone. Jeri also learned about some of what had happened while she was possessed, though a few details were understandably left out.

Like most of those Myotismon infected, Henry, Suzie, Mako, and Ai could not remember what happened just before or while they were infected. It was the same case with their Digimon. Though Jeri did notice that Suzie was giving her some odd looks every now and then during the visit. Especially when she commented on her new pink hairstyle, which Jeri thought was cute. The biggest news to Jeri though was that Calumon had apparently become her new Digimon partner, made evident by the strange new D-Arc that wound up with her after the battle.

Jeri's was stirred from her thoughts by a knock at the door. She got up thinking it was her father and stepmother again; who had visited her after her fellow Tamers and the Digidestined had left. Jeri had assumed that they had come back again to check on her, but the two who turned out to be on the other side of the door were Takato and Guilmon. Takato was wearing a tan jacket, blue polo shirt, and grey jeans.

"Hey." Takato greeted with a somewhat nervous smile.

"Hi there." Jeri greeted back.

"Mind if we come in?" Takato asked.

"Oh, of course." Jeri said as she stepped aside to allow them entry. Guilmon and Calumon quickly went to another room to give their partners space.

"Sorry I didn't drop by yesterday. I had some stuff to do for my parents that I couldn't get out of." Takato explained. "So how are you?"

"Better." Jeri replied. "…Takato, I'm sorry I thought there was something going on between you and Rika."

"Oh, that. Hey don't worry about it." Takato told her. "It was all a misunderstanding."

"But I should've trusted you more." Jeri went on. "Aren't you mad at me at all?"

"Well, I guess I was a little in the beginning." Takato admitted. "But then this stuff with Myotismon came up and I realized how much I didn't want to lose you. Plus I guess I gave myself a little time to cool off. Look Jeri, you don't have to compare yourself to Rika or anyone else. I love you for who you are."

"Takato…" Jeri said with a tearful smile, and with that they kissed.

"…You know there's another reason why I dropped by." Takato said after they broke apart.

"Oh? What's that?" Jeri inquired.

"Tai and his friends are about to leave for their own world." Takato explained. "They're on the roof of this building right now getting ready to go. The rest of the gang's already up there to see them off and we thought you might like to join us."

"Sure." Jeri agreed.

After rounding up Guilmon and Calumon they headed up to the roof. Jeri was still wearing her light-green bathrobe and pink slippers. Veemon and Wormmon had already formed into Imperialdramon and the Digidestined were waiting next to him.

"Ah, I see you're well enough to say goodbye." Arthur said to Jeri as she and Takato approached them. "A pity we did not have more time to get to know each other more, Ms. Jeri."

"Same here." Jeri agreed.

"Are you sure you guys can't stay longer?" Takato asked.

"We would, but our friends back home are probably worried about us by now." Tai replied. "I'm sure Matt and Ken are going to catch hell when we get back."

"It was nice meeting you guys." Henry spoke. "To bad there's not an easier way for you guys to come back."

"Indeed." Arthur agreed. "Well, perhaps we did not receive the best welcome when we arrived here. But we did enjoy are stay."

"Can we just get going already?" Gwen said rather impatiently.

"Yes, fine." Arthur said with a hint of irritation in his voice. "Farewell to you all. Perhaps we will find a way to meet again one day."

"Thanks again for your help." Takato said to the group as they boarded the dragon.

In moments the dragon lifted up into the air as the Digidestined waved. Slowly Imperialdramon began to move away from the building. And as he moved away a small-unnoticed grey object bounced onto the dragon's left rear claw. Then in seconds Imperialdramon zoomed away at top speed.

On a beach at night, Yolei Inoue and Sora Takenouchi waited with their Digimon, Hawkmon and Biyomon. They had been coming to that beach every night since Tai and the others had left. Yolei checked her watch for what was the twelfth time that night.

"Where the hell are they?" Yolei asked loudly as she tapped her foot.

"Relax Yolei. I'm sure they'll be back soon." Sora calmly assured her.

"But they've been gone for almost two weeks now!" Yolei pointed out. "What if something's happened to them?"

"It probably just took them awhile to get to Rika and Ryo's world." Sora theorized.

As if on cue, a strange vortex opened up over the ocean and Imperialdramon flew out. As the dragon landed on the beach while the vortex closed behind them, the same small grey object from before bounced off of Imperialdramon's claw and hopped away. Upon landing, the dragon split back into Veemon and Wormmon as Sora and Yolei ran towards them.

"Where the hell have you been?" Sora demanded to know, her previous calm vanishing like smoke.

"Do you have any idea how worried we've been?" Yolei added.

"Hey honey." Ken greeted. "Sorry we were gone so long."

"You look terrible!" Yolei said to him. "I knew I should done like Gwen did and gone with."

"What took you so long to get back?" Sora asked Matt.

"It took us a little longer to get to Rika and Ryo's world than we thought." Matt explained. "And when we got there Ken needed to rest for a little while."

"Then there was this thing with Myotismon." Davis added.

"MYOTISMON?" Sora and Yolei exclaimed together.

"You better tell us everything that happened!" Yolei told them.

"Good going Davis." Tai said sarcastically.

"Well this has certainly been a touching reunion," Arthur interrupted, "but Gwen and I should be going now. Tai, Matt, please send Kari and T.K. my warmest regards the next time you see them."

"Sure thing Arthur. See ya around." Tai replied. And with that, Arthur and Gwen walked off with Dorumon and PawnChessmon.

Meanwhile towards the other end of the beach, the small grey thing that had stowed away on Imperialdramon was hoping towards the city. It was a round creature with long floppy ears at the top that also served as arms. Its eyes were red and crescent-shaped.

"Reduced to a Pagumon!" the thing spat in a high-pitched voice. "Of all the indignities! Well, I suppose it does not matter. One way or another I will regain my former glory and take revenge on both the Tamers and the Digidestined. And then I will become the ruler of both worlds!"

THE END?

Author's Note: Well, there you have. This story probably isn't my best work, but I enjoyed doing it. As many of you have probably guessed though, I'm not done with Digimon yet. Obviously there's still the Team Excalibur story. But I also have a series of sequels lined up too, the first of which I've already started piecing together. And you can probably guess who the villain is going to be. In closing, thank you for reading and keep you eyes peeled for the next stories.

Please review and let me know what you think.