Rika Nonaka had seen a great deal of strange, alien and inexplicable events in her eighteen years of life.
However, what was waiting for her and the other Tamers and their respective Digimon partners, in a room on the thirty-sixth floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, was something that she would never have seen coming.
Leaning against the right wall was her, Henry and Takato, at age sixteen, much to her shock. That 'her' had a world-weary, regretful expression on her face, as if she was perpetually on the verge of tears, that 'Henry' had a deeply sullen, annoyed look on his face, as if he was perpetually prepared to snap at any given moment, and that 'Takato' seemed altogether indifferent to the people around him. Their partners, Renamon, Guilmon and Terriermon, were beside them, sharing their respectiveexpressions.
As she distinctly remembered them not being anything like that two years ago, , she ruled out them being their past selves, leaving clones, alternate timelines and parallel universe-counterparts. If they were, she'll remember this event from two separate perspectives.
The twelve-year old set of them leaning against another wall, with past 'her' keeping to herself, matched her memories of those days better, though they seemed subtly different, happier then she remembered, conclusively ruling out them being their past selves. Likewise, they had their partners with them as well.
Strangely, Yamaki was nowhere to be found. A quick look at the other Tamers and Digimon of her own time comfirmed that they were as in-the-dark about the situation as she was. Even more strangely, Suzie was smiling.
"This is so cool!" She declared excitedly. Before Henry or Ryo could shout at her to stop, lest she accidentally caused a time-paradox, she charged at the twelve-year old Tamers, pulling them into a group hug.
"Thanks," The alternate Takato nervously said, wondering why a total stranger was hugging him. "But... Who are you?"
"And would you mind letting go?" The alternate Rika calmly and sharply asked. "How do you two keep getting me into these messes? I've told you repeatedly that I don't need you, so just leave me alone." She angrily told Henry and Takato, while Suzie giggled softly. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," Suzie off-handedly responded, before her face lit up, having an idea. "Rika, this is you from before Renamon reached her Champion form, right?" She asked, unnerving the twelve-year old with her knowledge of her partner's inability to Digivolve, though she supposed that it was reassuring to know that it was simply a momentary hurdle to overcome.
"Suzie, we really shouldn't tell them about the future," Her brother sternly told her. "We have no idea what could happen if they found out the wrong thing."
"Momentai, Henry," Suzie, Lopmon and Terriermon told him in unison, before she continued, sounding more serious. "Besides, it's fine for vague stuff like this."
Henry couldn't really think of a decent counter-argument to her claim that them learning 'vague stuff' was fine, nor did he entirely understand her definition of 'vague stuff', which he supposed was arguably the point...
"Still, the less they find out, the better," Takato of the present spoke.
"Takato, you don't really think that any of these guys are you, in any sense?" Rika smirked. Takato wasn't sure how to respond, as he had actually thought so, as it'd been the most reasonable explanation; they were too similar and too natural-looking to be some kind of cosplayer.
"The Ruki of this world is right," The reticent Takato sharply told his older and younger counterparts. "You two aren't me, nor am I you, in any sense."
"Ruki?" Suzie said, confused. "Her name is Rika Nonaka."
"In this world," Their Henry gruffly interjected. "In our world, she's Ruki Makino."
"Really?" Suzie asked.
The Henry of Ruki's universe shot Suzie a bitter look. "Yeah."
"What's wrong?" She asked, concerned.
"... It's... nothing, Shiuchon," He lied, puzzling Suzie, who responded that her name was Suzie, not Shiuchon, confusing him in turn. "But, aren't the Jenrya Lee and Shiuchon Lee of this universe asian?"
"Jenrya?" Henry and the other Tamers exclaimed, before noting the similarities between that name and Henry's. "We are asian, we all are," Henry replied. "But my name is still Henry."
"Why do you and Shiuchon have american names in this universe?" Henry's double, who apparently was called Jenrya, asked, somewhat bemused.
Henry and Suzie shrugged. "Don't know; never really wondered."
"So, we can't ask you guys anything about the future?" The Takato of the youngest set inquired. Surprisingly, it was his sixteen-year old counterpart, who so far had remained quiet, that replied.
"You can," He spoke, mildly exasperated, in an attitude that reminded the twelve-year old of Rika. "We aren't your definite future selves, only possible ones, so you learning anything unfortunately wouldn't wipe away our sordid lives." He bitterly spoke, perplexing everyone, earning disapproving looks from Ruki and Takato, as he'd said too much.
"Sordid lives?" Jeri asked?
"You're SUZIE?!" Her now younger brother exclaimed, shocked beyond belief at seeing his younger sister now older than him, and having her own Partner, much to his consternation, as he had wanted to keep her out of that...
Jenrya, Ruki and Takato shared a saddened look, as they knew that if these versions of them was anything like themselves, they wouldn't let the matter drop. "No way around this now..." Jenrya sighed, and gave a bitter chuckle. "I'm guessing from the presences of Shiuchon Lee, Juri Katou, Hirokazu Shioda and Kenta Kitagawa that your initial foray into the Digital World to retrieve Culumon, went considerably better than ours..."
The Tamers of the present shared a strong sensation of discomfort, when the memories of that journey washed across their minds. "I wouldn't say it went well-" Takato got out, before his counterpart cut him off.
"That's not what Jenrya is asking," The sixteen-year old angrily drawled, glaring at them. "Everyone is still alive here, which is all that matters."
"What do you mean?" Ryo asked, causing the three sixteen-year olds to stare at him disbelievingly.
"Are you an idiot?" Ruki wearily asked, before mentally bracing herself to recount the tale, beginning a minute later. "In our timeline, the search for Culumon didn't go as well as it did in this one. Endless fighting, with other Digimon and eachother... It was almost a relief, when Beelzebumon came... And killed Hirokazu, Kenta and Juri..."
No-one, eighteen-year old or twelve-year old Tamers, were sure how to respond to something like that, beyond shocking gaping and hollow apologies. Regardless, she continued her story.
"After Juri's death, Leomon was pissed. He fought with such brutality... He even sacrificed his own life, to slay Beelzebumon... After that... We continued searching... Several months passed, to no avail. The three of us drifted aimlessly, loading random Digimon as we deleted, without even a care for why. Then, one day, we arrived at Zhuqiaomon's domain... And he returned us to the human world, without as much as a word, or a hint as to where Culumon was..."
She paused, to catch her breath, and to keep the raging tempest of emotion that recalling the events stirred in her, in check. "Returning to the human world... Turned out to be the worst part of it; back home, by having Digimon partners, we ostracized ourselves, and made our families pariahs. There was nothing left for us in the human world, so we returned to the Digital World. And that's where we've been for over three years, unless we've lost track of time..." She finished her story.
However, while everyone else was horrified by the tale, the twelve year old Rika seemed indifferent to it all, much to Ruki's shock and ire. "Seriously?" She asked, incredulously. "That was your solution? Running away from your problems? Yes, it was horrible, I'm not denying that, and I'm sorry you had to deal with all that, but instead of facing up to it, you left your families behind. Not only that, but from that sobstory, it sounds like it's been years since you left, and you're still hung up on it? You three are pathetic."
"HOW DARE YOU?!" Ruki screamed indignantly, charging at her younger counterpart. The twelve-year old barely reacted, before she felt herself get lifted off the ground, by the trembling hand wrapped around her throat. Blinded by pain and anger, she didn't feel Renamon's soft paw on her wrist, anymore than she cared about the sickening noise it made when the present-day Renamon pressed it.
"I don't care why you felt a need to do that," Renamon quietly and acutely spoke, while the red-head clutched her wrist firmly, in a futile attempt to tune out the pain. "But under no circumstance will you harm anyone."
Jenrya knew that his version of Takato wouldn't stand for anyone harming or endangering his friends, and that only held infinitely more true, when it was Ruki that was affected. Though he doubted the brunet would try and fight Renamon on his own, he couldn't rule out the possibility of him acting entirely on the instincts Takato had gained over the years.
Surprisingly, he simply placed a hand on her shoulder, and after Ruki shot him a spiteful glare, they left the room. "What was that about?" Ryo and the younger trio exclaimed, while Suzie smirked lasciviously, knowing exactly what they were leaving to do.
"Wait..." The younger Rika whispered, as realization dawned on her. "ARE ME AND GOGGLE-HEAD TOGETHER?!" She screamed, her cheeks soft red.
"Am I the only one who realizes how incredibly bizarre this is?" Jeri sighed with exasperation, wondering why none of the three Henrys, Rikas and Takato seemed to consider the oddity of meeting more than a single alternate version of themselves particularly noteworthy. "If little-Rika think that's weird, she's got another thing coming..."
Suzie shook her head. Unusual events were everyday-business for the Tamers, she knew, but moments like this still served to make history. Or quite possibly break history, literally, she noted, with mild bemusement.
Well, that's that. Hopefully I managed to keep it consistent, with three separate versions of the same character in the same room.
Don't expect a reapperance from the alternate Rika/Takato/Henry \ Ruki/Jenrya/Takato.
...
'How does this relate to the OT3 exactly?' is probably a question I should've asked myself before making this.