Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A Story for Suzie

Chapter: 14

"She's gone," Sakuyamon said in Rika's voice, floating in midair above the playground, scanning her surroundings. Try as she might, she couldn't detect her duplicate even with the enhanced senses that Renamon's Mega form bestowed upon her. "Either she's very good at hiding or she's gone back to wherever she came from."

"Whatever they are, they seem to have the ability to avoid detection," she heard Renamon say from the darkness surrounding her data sphere. "I feel that it's safe to say that your double is still in Shinjuku, but without a more thorough search we're going to have a hard time finding her or any others like her."

"So…back to Hypnos I guess," Rika said, agreeing with her partner. With that, Sakuyamon floated down to where the others were and immediately went over to where Takato sat and placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?" she asked, this time in the dual voices of the Tamer and digimon that composed her form. Takato turned toward her and she grimaced. The tremors from earlier were gone, but the boy looked pale and badly drained.

"Well…I don't think I need to go back to the hospital again," he replied with a strained, humorous smile. From within her data sphere, Rika laughed with a relieved tone, but she still fixed him with a glare.

"This isn't the time to be joking about that sort of thing," she scolded. "Do you need help?"

"Nah." Takato shook his head and, wobbling slightly, got back to his feet. Sakuyamon kept a firm hand on his shoulder in case he did fall, but seeing that he remained steady once he was fully standing, she let go and stood back. Relaxing her hold on her Mega form, Sakuyamon glowed and parted, reforming into Rika and Renamon. The girl's hand returned to Takato's shoulder though, and she gave it a soft, comforting squeeze before letting go upon seeing Calumon approaching them, ears spread wide to help him float.

"Are you guys going to go to Hypnos?" he asked. "Impmon wants me to go get the others."

Rika exchanged a glance with Takato, and the boy nodded.

"We might as well. We're probably going to get called there anyway."

"Okay!" Calumon saluted—or saluted as best he could given how short his arms were—before immediately darting away. "We'll see you there!"

"He's a weird one," Rika observed with amusement.

"Yeah, but he's not bad," Takato laughed lightly.

"So what the heck was that all about?" Impmon said, hands on his hips as he approached the pair with Ai, Mako behind him. "That copy have the hots for you or something?" Grinning devilishly, Impmon gave Takato an amused look. "I mean, aside from what happened at the end there, she sure seemed to take a real shine to you."

"She probably has a shine for the copy of Takato that's sitting in Hypnos right now," Rika replied just as Takato was quickly shaking his head no in response, hoping no one would notice the blush on his face.

"Huh?" both Impmon and Takato asked in unison, looking over at the red-haired girl as she lifted her hair and began to tie it back up into its traditional ponytail. For some reason it always came undone whenever she and Renamon biomerged.

"There was an attack at Rika's school by an…unknown creature," answered Renamon. "You," Renamon pointed at Takato for emphasis, "arrived before further damage could be done."

"Handled it pretty well too, I might add," Rika added grudgingly.

"But I wasn't…" Takato halted, remembering what Rika said earlier. "Oh…"

"Since your brains were scrambled, I'll let that near Goggleheaded moment go." Rika gave him a small smile as she put the finishing touches on her ponytail and dropped her arms. "Are you sure you're okay to travel?"

"Relax already, toots," Impmon said, his arms behind his head. "You're starting to sound like a mother hen or somethin'. I dunno about you, but I'm pretty sure your boyfriend can handle himself." Impmon flashed the pair a devilish grin for added emphasis, basking in the sudden redness that bloomed to life on both Rika's face and deepened on Takato's.

"Wha…Wha…?!"

"Boyfriend?! What are you…?"

"What?" Impmon interrupted casually. "I got my brains scrambled too by that D-Reaper knockoff. Aren't you going to let my Impmon moment go too? I mean, I was literally seein' double earlier. Kind of hard to tell you apart."

Rika folded her arms across her chest and glared at the diminutive digimon, obviously not believing his excuse for a minute. Scratching the back of his head, Takato coughed politely, opting to quickly change the subject.

"U-Um… Anyway, about scrambled brains… I…I think there was something more to what the other Rika did to me when she…ah…" Takato's face grew even redder as Rika, Renamon, and Impmon all turned toward him, but he pushed through, forcing the words out in one mad tumble. "I think I saw the world she's from!"

That got everyone's attention. Now on ground that Takato felt more comfortable with, he began to explain what he saw.

"I saw a city," he began, looking down at his hands thoughtfully for a moment, "and it looked like something out of a storybook…"

###

The walls to the city were massive, leaving Takato to marvel at them. But they were so much more than that. They had an ornate beauty to them with curving lines that stretched around the gates like vines and snaked off in all directions. They were completely unlike anything he was familiar with. Hypnos didn't build beautiful things, but then the organization lacked the luxury to craft them. Touching his sword was a faint reminder of that. Everything Hypnos made for the war against the Reaper was at its most basic: that is to say, functional. There were to be none of the trappings of ornamentation. The shield? An ancient device from another time and another empire, one that he stumbled upon during a retreat following a battle gone bad. And his red cloak…

He resisted the urge to tug at its edges as they approached the gate. He distracted himself by returning his attention back to the mission at hand and focused on the passersby. Many were chatting happily, focused on their day-to-day musings of nothings and somethings.

They…don't look like a people who are under siege. Takato furrowed his brow as he eyed them quizzically. It was most puzzling. In his homelands violence always followed in the wake of the Reaper wherever it went. One couldn't even trust its own dead to be peaceful. Or, for that matter, the dead of allies and loved ones.

Takato found himself clenching his sword hilt with a vice-like grip. Releasing it he shook his hand, relaxing the muscles.

Can't hold it too tight, he thought, remembering the lessons of his sword instructor. He wondered how the beast of a man was doing. He hoped at least well.

Nearing the gate, one of the guards turned toward them and hefted his spear, looking them over carefully. His gaze brushed over Rika but stayed on Takato.

"Welcome back Milady," the guard greeted, returning his attention to the red-haired girl. Takato felt his eyebrows raise a little at that.

Milady? He knew that she was a shaman, but the tone of respect in his voice indicated something far more.

"Motomiya," the girl greeted with a curt nod. "I have returned from my journey. I need to see…the Queen as soon as possible. I have news she needs to hear."

"Of course," the guard replied with a respectful bow of his head. "I'm sure your mother will be glad to hear that you have returned."

Takato's eyes widened almost to the size of saucers. "Queen?!" he choked, his head snapping over in her direction. She gave him a hard look and he immediately shut his mouth. His mind however continued where he left off. Her mother is the queen of this country?! That makes her… Oh gods… And I struck her hand!

Takato found himself looking up at the heavens, waiting for a lightning bolt to be cast from the clouds and strike him dead for his affront. A Knight of Hypnos was to ever be careful about their actions as they were sworn to protect those around them, but those favored by the divine? The gods would not look kindly on what he did even if it was to protect her. They were certain to make him pay for his actions.

So caught up was he in his thoughts that he missed Rika trying to get his attention.

"Fool," she growled, finally having had enough. She grabbed him by the hem of his cloak and promptly started to drag him forward, much to his squawking surprise. "Come along."

"Uh…" began Motomiya uncertainly. "This…person is with you?"

"Of course he is!" Rika snapped, brushing past him. "You saw him arrive with me, didn't you? Now let us through, and don't bother his horse!"

Motomiya looked to his right to see a shiny, red-scaled animal that looked something like a horse with unnerving golden eyes. Guilmon glanced back and forth between the guard and the pair as they passed the gate and then ducked his head down, snorting. To Motomiya it almost appeared that the horse was both shrugging and chortling at the scene. Motomiya gave the stranger a subtle salute with his spear.

I don't know where she found you, but may the gods have pity on your soul, he couldn't help but think with some measure of sympathy.

Once the Princess of the Kingdom of Makino caught something, it was very rare that she ever let it go.

###

Gold and silver scrawled the image of a castle on the blank sheet of paper. In front of it were a mess of black stick figures, two of which had a touch of red—one for hair and the other for the flowing cape behind it. The red crayon fell on the pad as Suzie swayed in bed, her vision swimming a little. She looked over at Lopmon, who was currently curled up on the edge of the bed, resting, having nodded off along with Suzie some time ago. The girl woke up just recently with an overpowering urge to go back and draw the story that continued to weigh heavily on her mind. Weigh so much it was almost as though it incorporated the fever that even now racked her body, leaving her dizzy. She knew she should be resting but the urge became overpowering, so much so that it became like a need, much like breathing. She had to get it out of her head before it burned her up.

Taking hold of the glass of water by her nightstand she took a long, deep drink. Once satisfied she withdrew the glass with a satisfied gasp.

"That hit the spot!" she chirped cheerfully. Yes, she could already feel the fever dying back now; only a little but that made all the difference. Replacing the glass on her nightstand, her bladder made itself known about a need of its own, one that demanded complete and total attention that, under no certain circumstances would not be ignored. Not if one didn't want trouble.

"I've got to go to the bathroom," she mumbled to herself. Pushing back the blankets, she touched her feet down on the floor and, after making sure she wouldn't fall or anything, she headed toward the bedroom door and pulled it open. Disappearing down the hallway, she failed to notice the beeping of her pink-trimmed digivice from its spot near her pillow. The screen glowed brightly for a moment before returning to darkness.

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