Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
What's Left of You
Chapter: 13
Yamaki stood in the darkened control room of Hypnos, the light of the monitors reflecting off his sunglasses as Riley busily typed away on a control panel before him.
"There," the crimson-haired woman said, hitting a final button and turning up toward her superior. "See that? A germination energy pattern, and not one I've ever seen before. At first, I thought it was just a glitch, but after I ran a diagnostic on our systems, there's no mistaking it now." Her eyebrows came together into a hard expression, clearly not enjoying being the bearer of this news. "Something is forming in the dimensional warp between the real and digital worlds."
"Have you pinpointed its location?" Yamaki asked, continuing to take in the data before him. He narrowed his eyes. Something about it was…familiar.
"Not yet, sir," Talley's voice came up as her chair swiveled about above them. "We have tracers searching now, but the energy pattern is causing severe distortions in the warp. It will be some time before we can localize its source." She pressed her lips together before continuing. "If this is anything like Guilmon's creation, it's likely that it will manifest before we can even locate it."
Guilmon… Yamaki turned away from the screen, thinking hard. Was that why it looked familiar to him? Since the D-Reaper's defeat, Yamaki interviewed each of the children and crossed referenced the timing of their becoming Tamers with the files of every Wild One that ever breached into the real world. Guilmon's was unique, even to Terriermon's, who had emerged from a computer game, and no wonder, as the crimson reptile had been created entirely from Takato's imagination, a detailed series of drawings, and a digivice. That had set off considerable alarms at Hypnos, and he remembered it well.
Funny… If I had let Riley stop Guilmon from breaching then, we might not be here now.
He quickly brushed off such thoughts however. That past didn't matter so much as the potential data. Leaning forward, he fired up a separate computer screen and quickly input some commands, recalling the data from the day of Guilmon's 'birth' and overlaying it with what Riley had found.
"Sir…" Riley gasped, quickly grasping what he was looking for. The patterns, though different in some places, strongly overlapped in others.
"Could this be…?" he began before returning his hands to the control panel. "Riley. Cross reference this with any data we have on Guilmon and other severe incidents involving the digital world. I want to make sure that we're on the right path here."
"Yes sir!" Riley nodded, quickly returning to her work. Taking out his cellphone, Yamaki immediately began flipping through the address book for the Matsuki residence. Although he had his doubts about the severity of what this data might entail, he wanted to make sure as to what Takato's condition was and to know his whereabouts should anything more come up.
###
There. No interruptions, Rika thought, watching the screen on her cell go black as she shut it off. She felt a touch bad about doing so. A shirking of duties in case her mother or grandmother tried to contact her, or Yamaki, or even Takato's parents, but she didn't want for there to be any distractions while she and Takato were out and about. Just the two of them, for however long that lasted.
Besides, if a digimon shows up, we won't need Yamaki to let us know there's a problem, she mused, pocketing her phone and turning toward Takato, as he finished pinning the sleeve of his jacket up.
"All right," he nodded. "I'm all set. So, where are we headed?"
"Why don't you choose this time?" Rika asked, allowing a small smirk to cross her features. Takato blinked at that.
"Huh? But didn't I already do that last week?"
Rika paused before shrugging.
"This week can be special," she chuckled. "If it bothers you too much, you can make it up for me next time by attending a Noh play with me. That all right?"
This had been something of a thing between them for the last two years where, whenever the two of them decided to hang out together, they would alternate between what the other wanted to do, even if that something involved a lot of nothing. Middle school tore into the time that they had, often preventing them from simply hanging out and relaxing, with the only time they got to see each other being at the bakery. Not that Rika had a problem with her workload – she enjoyed challenges after all – but the loss of simply being able to see friends bothered Takato a great deal, and left him with the impression that they were all drifting apart. Rika remembered a nightmare he recounted to her once following Jeri's move about how he had been pulled ten years into the future and all his friends were adults, but had rarely seen each other in all that time. Fairly 'Takato-ish' to be sure, and rather typical of him, given his penchant for strange dreams, but she took his distress to heart, having felt similar worries needling away at her as well. She didn't want to lose her closest friends if she could help it.
It occurred to her now how much she looked forward to these little outings, and how close she came to never experiencing them with Takato again. The thought sobered her, and it clearly showed on her face, as Takato drew up to her suddenly and placed a hand on her shoulder, his expression one of determination.
"Rika… Don't worry about it. We can do whatever you want today or anything you have in mind. That's what we agreed upon, right?" He grinned. "We can go watch every Noh play in the world if that's what you want. Or, you know, all the motorcross." For a wonder, a playful glint appeared in his eyes and he gave a laugh. "Or maybe we can watch a Noh play about Motorcross."
"Knock it off," Rika found herself guffawing almost against her will before she gave his chin a playful jab. "Those two shouldn't even mix at all. Jeez. You and your stupid dreams…"
She shook her head, amazed, and not for the first time, about how Takato's dreams sometimes reflected reality. He dreamt about her before they even met, and his 'time travel' dream told him about her steadily growing interest in motorcross, again without her or anyone even letting him know or slipping so much as a hint. It was almost as though he were psychic or something.
Scary thought where Gogglehead is concerned, she thought, opening the side door to the bakery and stepping outside where Guilmon and Renamon were waiting patiently.
"Okay, I may have been joking about that, but I am serious about you picking the place," Takato insisted. Almost immediately, Terriermon's words about his lack of relaxing came to mind, and he ruthlessly shoved them away. Rika… He wanted her to be happy. As long as she was happy and not worrying about him, then he could be as well.
Rika pressed her lips together, clearly not happy with his words – words that too readily reminded her of when he asked her how she was doing while he lay dying – but presently unwilling to confront him on the matter. Takato was Takato after all, and he often put others before himself, a habit that Rika found herself annoyed by almost as often as she found it to be one of his best and most appreciated qualities.
"All right, fine," she said, closing her eyes briefly and taking out an evolution card. "This one's going to be a bit of a trip, but…for old times sake. Renamon?"
"As you wish," the vulpine digimon bowed, and with a quick slash of her card, the kitsune's shape altered and changed, dropping to a quadruped form and sprouting nine tails behind her. A ribbon formed about her neck, as Renamon completed her digivolution.
"Renamon! Digivolve too…Kyubimon!"
"Come on," Rika said, swinging up onto Kyubimon's back. "Let's go for a ride."
"Ahhh…" Takato glanced down at his stump briefly, half-wondering how it was going to work out while missing an arm to hold on with, particularly his good arm. Seeing his hesitation, Rika and Guilmon both looked at him quizzically.
"Takato?" Guilmon prodded, blinking his large, golden eyes at him. The teen shook himself and undid his pinned-up sleeve.
"Sorry," he said. "It's just…Well… Hang on. I've got an idea."
"Huh?" Rika raised an eyebrow before quickly understanding. With some effort – and a bit of help from Rika and Guilmon – Takato climbed aboard Kyubimon's back and after settling himself, looked over at his partner.
"Okay. Now, once Guilmon gets on, I'll tie my jacket around him and…"
"Let me."
"Huh?"
Rather than answer, Rika snatched his jacket out of his hands and swung it around him. Drawing the sleeves up about her waist, she adjusted her seating and quickly looped it through her belt before tying them together. It wasn't a pretty job, not by a longshot, but it was a satisfactory one, and with Kyubimon as their ride and guardian, she doubted they would have any trouble even without the makeshift 'seatbelt.'
"You're up next, Guilmon," Rika said, slashing a strength modify card through her digivice next, ignoring Takato's surprised gaze.
"Okay," the dinosaur said, climbing aboard. Rika felt Kyubimon shift at the added weight of Takato's partner, but otherwise offered no complaint, as the effects of the strength modification coursed its way through her system.
"All set?" Rika asked, leaning forward as she took hold of Kyubimon's ribbons. She waited until she felt Takato lean against her back, wrapping his remaining arm about her waist. She could feel the heat of his skin through the fabric of her shirt and she swallowed, suddenly feeling a touch of self-consciousness about their situation.
Blushing… He's blushing against me.
It wasn't anything new, as he often blushed whenever holding onto her during a 'Kyubimon romp' through the neighborhood, but recent thoughts and feelings gave her reason to consider it in a new light.
I would have been here doing this, promise or no promise. But… I…I feel like…
She squeezed her eyes shut, letting the thought just hang there, not wanting to pursue it. Yet, try as she might, she found herself thinking of that spot next to her on her morning jogs. The spot that had been empty that morning.
"Rika?" Kyubimon asked, wondering why she hadn't signaled for her to move, causing the girl to break out of her reverie. Rika let out a low, shuddering breath.
"Let's go," she said simply, and just like that, they were in the air.
###
They found an alleyway next to a familiar arcade center and Kyubimon dropped down into it in short order, reverting to her Rookie form after her three riders climbed off.
"There we go," Renamon said, forming her human disguise over herself. "Now, what's next?"
Takato glanced over his shoulder at the arcade center across from them, before cocking an eyebrow at Rika. It was a bit of an odd choice. He visited it more often with Kazu and Kenta than he did with Rika, mainly on the grounds that she found very little of the games there interesting or even challenging. So why…?
Oh… Takato frowned slightly at the girl, seeing what she had done. Seeing that light of realization flickering in his gaze, Rika smirked and patted his shoulder.
"Don't give me that look," she said, her hand quickly coming to rest on his empty sleeve and drawing it up for him to pin. "This whole thing was supposed to be for you, remember? You're not prioritizing me over you this time."
"Rika…" Takato began as he took out the pin and pushed it through the cloth. "I just…wanted you to be happy and have fun. That… You know that means a lot to me."
Rika gave his sleeve a tug to test the pin, and satisfied that it would stay in place she gave his shoulder another pat.
"And you mean a lot to me too," she returned, her violet gaze turning up to meet his eyes. "Are you really going to argue with me about this?"
"I…" Takato hesitated and frowned. "No," he admitted after a moment before a small smirk tugged at his lips. "But this was a pretty dirty trick."
Looping an arm around his neck, Rika pulled him close. "All's fair in love and war, Gogglehead."
Takato couldn't help but laugh at that. "So, this is war, then? Man, now I'm worried what love must be like."
Rika was silent for a moment, her eyes searching his before she gave him a soft squeeze with her arm.
"You already know what war with me is like, remember?" she said softly. "Trust me. This is love. It might be tough love, but it's love."
A ferocious blush bloomed across her face as she said those words, but she didn't take them back. And to Takato's eyes, she meant every word. His face relaxed and his smile softened.
That's one of the things that's so awesome about her, he thought. She always means what she says. You always know where you stand with her and if she says she has your back, she has your back. No ifs, ands or buts about it.
"You're going to make someone really happy someday, you know that?" he said, giving her a light chuckle. The blush on Rika's face darkened at that, and she shifted in obvious discomfort, her own heart suddenly picking up a rapid, uncomfortable pace in her chest.
"Shut…Shut up so I can focus on making you happy right now, okay?" she stammered out. "Stupid Gogglehead… Why do you have to say dumb things like that? You're not getting rid of me that easily."
Of course he'd say something like that, she thought, feeling a ring of disappointment. Why would he say anything different? Why…do I feel like I wanted something different?
She chased the feeling, a part of her knowing why it was there and where it came from, yet all the same she hated it. It felt far, far too much like she was doing something wrong.
Jeri… She bit her lower lip, thinking of the brunette girl who should be here instead of her. She tightened her grip around Takato, feeling her mood darkening a little.
Maybe this is a bad idea… Seriously, what is wrong with me?
"Um… All this is really touching," began Guilmon, raising a claw, "but what about me? That arcade center doesn't allow digimon in there because they're afraid I might mess up all of their games, so I can't go with you. I can't disguise myself like Renamon can either."
Takato scratched the back of his head, feeling bad about his partner being left out. "Maybe we should just go somewhere else…"
"I'll be sure to keep Guilmon company," Renamon said, placing a gentle hand atop the reptile's head and patting it. "Takato? Rika? Why don't you two enjoy yourselves? We'll remain nearby in case you need us."
Takato's face scrunched up, clearly disliking the thought of leaving his partner behind, as it seemed he too often did when needing to navigate the human world, but approaching him, Guilmon gave Takato a playful nudge with his claws, pushing him lightly in the direction of the arcade center.
"Takatooo…" he laughed. "Jeri says that it's not nice to make girls wait, and you're making Rika wait!"
"Which makes it a doubly bad idea," Renamon chuckled, earning her a dark glare from the fire-haired teen in question.
"And just what is that supposed to mean?"
Renamon's azure eyes glinted in amusement as she took hold of Guilmon and then vanished into thin air, leaving the two to stare at the spot they just vacated with a mixture of bafflement and annoyance.
"Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to her looking like you when she does things like that," Takato chuckled with a shake of his head. "Uh, so, do you still want to…"
Grabbing hold of him by his hand, Rika stormed off in the direction of the arcade center, fuming and muttering a string of agitation under her breath the whole while.
###
Yamaki lowered his phone, frowning in frustration. His call to the Matsuki household had come too late; Rika and Takato had just left together, and for whatever reason, he found himself unable to reach Rika's cell.
Must be a bad signal, he thought, turning to Tally. On the screen, she had finally zeroed in on the anomaly, and it was, as predicted, beginning to take shape and form. It presently remained difficult to distinguish, save that it was humanoid and for what appeared to be a flowing mass behind it. His fingers twitched and he reached into his pocket to draw out his lighter. He didn't flick it open just yet, but the habit, so old and so engrained in him from long years, ached for it all the same.
"Status on the anomaly," he said, squeezing the lighter in his grasp tightly.
"Presently it's absorbing a huge amount of data from the network," Tally replied, hurriedly typing away on her computer. "But it's just…sitting there otherwise. It's definitely giving off the signature of a digimon, sir, and a high level one at that. It's digivolving at a highly accelerated rate, almost like a digimon would if it had a partner!"
Yamaki grated his teeth. While he couldn't say for sure whether or not this new entity posed a threat to the real or digital worlds, its presence didn't leave him feeling at all comfortable, especially with how closely its data appeared to resemble Guilmon's data. It was all but certain now, based on the files Riley drew up and analyzed against this digimon's current signature.
Could it be because of Armageddamon? he wondered, and at that, his lighter snapped open, his hand at long last surrendering to the call of its habit. If that's the case…
He flipped open his phone and began scrolling for Janyu's number. Henry was still in the building, or at least that had been what he heard before coming up here. He needed to get him up to speed on the matter and have at least one Tamer who could biomerge on hot standby in case this newly formed digimon posed a serious threat.
"Tally, send the word to our friends at the Eye on Digimon. Let them know that there is a potential situation developing and that we'll keep them appraised as it develops."
"Yes sir!" Tally said before an alarm went off. Hurriedly typing in some commands, Tally looked up, her eyes wide with horror beneath her visor.
"Sir! The anomaly! It's…"
And just like that, the screens surrounding them abruptly went black, only to light back up a second later, each of them, one by one, with a glowing, red, hazard sign, pulsing ominously as they climbed toward the roof in rapid succession, basking the entire control room in an eerie, crimson light.
###
"Okay!" Rika exclaimed as she began mashing the attack buttons. "Spin us around now!"
Takato yanked the joystick to the left, causing their fighting character on the screen to spin around just as ordered. Mashing another button, Rika caused their character to jump into the air and descend into a furious combo that caught their opponent unprepared. Their health bar rapidly emptied under the onslaught until, finally, they collapsed into a bloodied heap. Grinning, violet eyes alight with the exultation of victory, she swung her bright smile at Takato as the boy wiped his arm over his brow, looking more than a little bit worn out. On the other side of the game, an older teen, with long, earthy-red hair and a red, sleeveless jacket, cursed loudly and pushed back against his machine. Next to him, a blond-haired youth, watched him rage impassively.
"I can't believe I didn't see that one coming!" the red-haired teen growled, while the blond sighed. "Again!"
"Marcus, you spent all of your allowance…"
"So, what? Lend me some! I know you've got a little bit!" The olive-eyed youth flashed the two younger teens a devilish grin. "This fight isn't over yet. They're just starting to get good at working together!"
Takato gave Marcus a bit of an uncertain grin in return to his much louder one. Of all the students he went to school with, Marcus was by far the most perplexing of them all, and one who held him in rather surprising admiration despite the fact that Takato had a completely different personality. The two were as opposite as one could get. Where Takato was quiet and soft spoken, Marcus was brash and loud. Where Takato didn't like to cause trouble, Marcus went out and searched for it, often getting into fights with gangs in other cities, and sometimes even at school with any students that caused trouble – especially towards him. Takato wasn't sure if it had anything to do with when the Tamers saved his younger sister, Kristy, or the fact that they were Tamers in general and fought to protect the whole world, but they held his undying respect, and the teen often went out of his way to help them if he could.
Such as today, when he saw Rika and Takato together, and Takato himself, one arm short. The suggestion of taking him on in a fighting game came almost instantly. 'Training,' as he put it, to help him get used to his new situation.
"Ah… Except I'm…kinda missing an arm for the other buttons…" Takato had begun, only for Rika to step in before he could get too far.
"I'll be your hand," she had said, placing her own on his shoulder, her eyes flashing with determination.
It had taken some practice, and enough awkward defeats to light a fire under both Tamers, but they were finally starting to get the hang of it.
Thomas glared at Marcus before sighing in resignation. Digging into his pants pocket, he produced some yen and handed them over to his friend.
"All right!" Marcus' fist shot into the air triumphantly. "It's fighting time again!"
Rika cracked her knuckles and looked over at her friend with a grin.
"Ready for another round?" she asked. "You can take the combat buttons this time around and I'll handle the movement."
Takato thought about it for a moment, wondering if this was all right, leaning on others so heavily in something like this. He felt a certain amount of accomplishment to be sure, learning to work with Rika in a new way that complimented both of their abilities, but at the same time…
Takato didn't get very far with his thoughts before both of their digivices shrieked out in alarm.
"Sorry," Takato quickly apologized to Marcus, pausing just long enough to bow politely before darting toward the doors, Rika easily keeping abreast with him. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as they drew near to the doors, and seeing that, her smile returned, bright and full of energy.
"Let's do this together," she said, her voice full of determination. Takato returned it, though hesitantly, his own thoughts wondering if he even could.
After all, I still can't biomerge, he thought, but he nodded to Rika all the same.
"Yeah," he said. "Together."
If we can fight together that is…
They burst out onto the streets, finding a dark cloud twisting above them in the sky, lightning crackling around its edges.
"What…is that?!" Takato exclaimed, his eyes growing wide with shock, just as Renamon materialized behind both Tamers, Guilmon in her arms.
"It's a digital field," the vulpine digimon replied, shifting back to her digimon form as she set Guilmon down. "But not like any that I have seen before."
She set her eyes into thin slits, gazing up at the roiling, inky blackness that sat there menacingly in the sky, lightning continuing to crackle about its edges. Something about it set her ill at ease, but at the same time, it felt…unsettlingly familiar.
What are you? she asked mentally, feeling her fur beginning to rise as a bolt of lightning crashed down on a building below it.
Rika glanced down at Guilmon. The dinosaur's eyes were dilated, and he was growling menacingly as he trembled all over, just barely managing to keep himself from charging off ahead. It was times like this that Rika found herself almost afraid of Takato's partner. He rarely behaved like this nowadays, and if he was becoming animalistic because of this unusual digital field…
Then we have to take it seriously, she thought, hefting her digivice as her eyes narrowed.
"Get ready, Takato," she said, lifting her digivice into the air, preparing to biomerge with her partner. However, before she could even announce the words that would join the two together into their form of Sakuyamon, the black cloud coalesced and collapsed into itself, forming a single, gun-black figure, humanoid-shaped, easy to see even at this distance.
It fell on them in a single instant, and in the next instant, Rika found herself vaulting in the air, the ground suddenly uprooting beneath her feet from the force of the impact. She caught a flash of blue – a cape – and an all too familiar visor, shaped like a dragon over a metal helmet before Renamon grabbed hold of her and they somersaulted into the air, landing directly behind the towering…
…Gallantmon? came Rika's bewildered thoughts as she tried to make sense of the situation. Unreality settled heavily over her as her eyes fell on the dark figure before her, the literal spitting image of her friend's biomerged form. Tall, with large shoulder guards colored blue and black, with an azure cape billowing behind it. And emblazoned on its massive, grey-armored chest, was a black hazard sign.
And aimed directly at Takato was a black lance, with electricity crackling at its point.
"TAKATO!" Rika shouted as the lightning grew in intensity about the lance and shot forth.
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