Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.

A Story for Suzie

Chapter: 10

Things did not go as planned.

Even the best laid plans never survive first contact with reality. Not that Rika had a plan when it came to Takato's clone. Still, she at least hoped to control the situation, keep her 'knight' calm so that Hypnos could work things out without any trouble. So she called Hypnos while on route and apprised them of the situation. They were waiting when they arrived which seemed to be a good start. Rika, still playing along, identified them as her 'servants' just to be safe and explained that she would tell him everything once he was settled. Then one of the agents mentioned that they would take 'Takato' into Hypnos' protective custody.

Things went a little haywire after that.

I see it but I don't believe it… Rika thought as the knight continued to struggle. In spite of (finally) being pinned, by Renamon no less and even she appeared to struggle a little to hold him, he just refused to give up. The Hypnos agents that hadn't been laid out on the ground like cheap lawn ornaments were now starting to move in, one of them removing a pair of cuffs from his suit. Renamon backed away just enough for the agents to snap them on and then retreated over to her partner as they hauled the youth up. The vulpine digimon kept a wary eye on the Takato. Even though he hadn't attempted to harm her, she still found him to be skilled opponent.

"His strength is different than what I expected," she confided to Rika.

"He's faster too," Rika added. As much as she hated to admit it, until Renamon took the Takato down, for a second it looked almost as though he were dancing with the kitsune digimon in a kind of choreography. From her vantage point, the only reason the fight was short was because Takato seemed to remember who he was fighting—a friend of Rika's—and hesitated for the briefest of moments, giving her all the time she needed to end the battle.

"Rika!" the Takato called out as he pulled against the agents that held him.

For goodness sake, two of them are having a hard time holding him and he's as scrawny as Takato! She saw the confusion and urgency in his eyes and she found herself grimacing in sympathy. This version of Takato was like a fish out of water. He had no idea what was going on and now even less of an idea where he was or how he got here. The sights and sounds around him were so different and strange.

"I'd better defuse this," Rika said, approaching the scene.

"Ms. Nonaka," began one of the agents, circling toward her. "I'm afraid for your safety you're going to have to keep your distance…"

"Stuff it," Rika cut in bluntly. "I just need a moment." She stopped in front of the boy and he stopped struggling, his crimson eyes locking with her violet ones.

"R-Rika…" he gasped, trying to catch his breath. That was comforting. It made him a bit more human. A bit more like the Takato she knew. "These guys… They're not Hypnos…"

"I told you things were…different, right? And that I would explain things later." She chose her words carefully, knowing that whatever she said now was going to haunt her later. There's too much that I don't know here…

The Takato nodded reluctantly and Rika relaxed a little. That was a good sign. He was listening.

"You trust me, right?"

The Takato nodded again.

"Then trust me now. These guys are from Hypnos… Just not the one you know. Sorry I didn't make that clear. Either way, you need to trust them. They're on our side. They won't hurt you."

Takato stared into Rika's eyes for a moment before finally relaxing. The agents warily released their hold on him and backed off a half-step, ready to jump into action at the slightest hint of aggression.

Somehow Rika had the impression that, even handcuffed, this Takato was more than capable of taking them all out.

"All right," Takato said, taking a deep, calming breath. "I'll go with you."

"If you would come this way then…" began one of the agents with a bruise swelling on his face, taking hold of him by the arm and gesturing to the building behind them. Rika watched them go for a moment, still unable to believe what she had seen. It was amazing that none of the agents had been killed during that fight. The look in his eyes when hell broke loose…

He moves a bit like Renamon, she noted as the vulpine digimon approached her.

"I spoke briefly to Henry's father before the…bio-emergance," Renamon said. "While I can't say that I understand everything he said, he did state that Hypnos had been detecting some unusual…discrepancies with their sensors."

"Kind of like what you were talking about last night, right?" Rika asked. She folded her arms across her chest. "This is really weird. Did they have any idea why copies of me and Takato are running around? Or if we can expect any of the others to show up?"

"Janyu said that he cannot be sure as there is much about the digital world that we don't know."

"Did he at least guess? He's a nerd…er, scientist, right? He's got to have one."

Renamon tilted her head to one side thoughtfully before replying. "He…suggested that it might have something to do with our visit to the digital world. If it's anything like a computer, a copy of our data may have been made, after which it mutated like digimon have and the D-Reaper did. There could very well be an entire species made up of you and your friends."

"Great," Rika grumbled. "As if one Kazu wasn't bad enough. Or Ryo for that matter. This is going to be just great, I can tell that already." Sighing, she looked down at her clothes, still damp from the sprinklers. The red cape was still draped over her. She had nearly forgotten about that. "As much as I hate to leave that goofball right now, I need to get home and get changed before anything else crazy happens." She looked over at Renamon, who nodded and took the girl into her arms. Taking one last look at the other version of Takato, they vanished into thin air.

###

Yamaki stood on the other side of the mirror-window, carefully taking in this 'second Takato'. He was presently sitting in a chair, carefully restrained so as to not hurt anyone, with a doctor and a group of technicians—of whom Janyu was among—hovering around him. The doctor was carefully drawing blood from the boy who, in spite of his apprehension, cooperated, a far cry from the fight he put up outside of Hypnos earlier. Yamaki had seen the footage and would again before this day was out.

The way he handled all those agents… he thought, flicking his lighter open with a loud click. He was broken from his thoughts as Janyu opened the door and entered the room.

"Well, he's human," the man said. Yamaki raised an eyebrow.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean he's human in all the ways that matter. Except for the fact that he is made of digital information, he appears to be as human as you or me. I'll need to go over the data to be sure, but so far he checks out."

"That doesn't explain Rika's story about his use of attacks." The battle with the agents seemed could be due to some kind of special training, but that part of this Takato's tale stretched credibility. Humans simply didn't have that ability.

"There is still a great deal about the digital world and digimon that we don't know," Janyu reminded him. "One of which is how they resemble a TV show so much. True it was based off the original AI program my friends and I developed, but the similarities pretty much end there." Janyu shrugged. "At this point I half-expect him to be like that Gennai character from the television series; a digimon, but not a digimon. So far we seem to be on the right path."

"I wasn't aware that your research also included a children's fantasy program," said Yamaki, flicking his lighter closed and then open again.

"Dolphin and Shibumi started looking into it a few months ago during their off hours. They believe that since there is a connection between digimon and how they interact with children like the Tamers there may be a relationship with the show as well. The introduction of Shibumi's code into the digital world may be connected but it's hard to say. Frankly I have a hard time following it but the ideas are interesting."

"Do they have anything concrete?"

"Nothing as yet."

Yamaki flicked his lighter closed with a metallic click. "Shibumi's code… We've seen it create consciousness before… According to reports, the Arc became conscious simply because Takato and his partner spoke to it."

Janyu nodded. "There are some ideas involving the Anthropic Principle behind Shibumi and Dolphin's thinking. If that's the case, it could mean that anything composed of digital matter exposed to Shibumi's code could generate life simply by acknowledging it or imagining it as so. The human imagination could be akin to the chemical 'spark' that caused biological life to emerge."

Yamaki frowned. "Which opens up new doors of possibilities… New dangers. The digital versions of Rika and now Takato may be the start of something new."

"Well, yes," acknowledged Janyu. "But does that mean that it is actually dangerous? Not all digimon are so and we benefit from them."

Yamaki folded his arms over his chest. "They're an unknown, which can mean a great deal of things, including danger. Are you aware that the official United States policy regarding contact with extra-terrestrial life was that if such a civilization sent a message to us that humanity should not respond?"

"I…" Janyu blinked. "No. I can't say that I was aware."

"The policy wasn't made out of paranoia, but rather a healthy caution. We need to exercise caution here. You and I both know well that once Pandora's Box is opened there is no closing it. Here the lid has been cracked. I was ignorant before when the digital world first appeared on our sensors. I don't intend to make the same mistakes this time. Not when the price for not being careful is the world." He turned to look at Janyu more fully. "I asked you once if you were willing to risk your son's life for the sake of artificial intelligence. Knowing what you do now, what would your answer be?"

The door clicked open and the doctor exited, carrying a cooler. The man nodded to them and said he was heading down to the lab for analysis of the blood sample.

"I would still think that it's such a waste," Janyu replied as soon as they were alone again. Yamaki nodded and returned his attention to the other Takato.

"I never said that it wouldn't be, Janyu."

###

A small red pellet struck the ground by the playground. It watched it roll for a moment before it buried itself into the ground. The Bird-Reaper continued on. Although a specific target to serve as its new host would be ideal, there was something to be said for the 'spray and pray' method. As long as it left fragments of itself where a potential host could stumble upon it, its survival and growth would be assured.

This city was full of virile, potential hosts that it could utilize, but if given the preference it was looking for a particular type of host—a taste. It could sense one close by now as a matter of fact—one that was eerily familiar—just as it sensed others near the school of the fire-haired girl, but the presence of that girl and her fox served as a detriment to further exploration. Not that it mattered. It had everything it needed, and plenty to choose from. Now approaching its current target, it would soon be complete.

It flew toward Shinjuku Elementary, already starting to prepare its body for the transformation. Soon, it would be complete, and then there would come a reckoning.

Although it didn't need to, it flapped its wings to urge more speed out of them to hasten its journey.

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