Rika sat hunched over on the ground, her eyes slightly glazed over. The young tamer had a blanket loosely draped over her, the thin fabric providing little warmth. Her jaw was slack, making her mouth hang slightly open. The tamer's normally neat bun was now misshapen, with strands of hair falling out of it. Rika completely ignored the raindrops running down her face, the teen almost unable to feel the cold, stinging droplets. She sat on one side of an ambulance, the lights silently flashing on the red and white truck. All around the young girl were more ambulances along with fire trucks, police cars, and dozens of American military vehicles. Uniformed men and women, either in the dark camouflage of the US military or in the sharp uniforms of the Japanese police, medical and fire services, milled around. Some carried stretchers bearing bloodied and battered human beings, some loaded people into vehicles to be evacuated, some pulled ammunition and supplies into vehicles and drove off; everyone was doing something. But Rika ignored the controlled chaos swirling around her, the young girl deep in her own world. She grimaced over and over again as scenes from the recent fight ran wild through her imagination. Again and again Rika recoiled in horror at the sight of all of those broken bodies, shredded buildings. The smells still pervaded her nostrils, those horrifying scents that denoted scorched flesh and burnt hair. Yet the thing that made her almost faint was the constant image burned into her mind of Takato as Gallantmon, roaring in absolute rage, standing amidst the human wreckage, with his hand wrapped around a digimon, squeezing it to death.
This image was sickening to Rika. She couldn't bear to think of Takato like that. It just didn't make sense to her. He was supposed to be a goggle-headed dork that wouldn't intentionally hurt anything….
She had seen him get truly angry once before. That was in the digital world, and Takato had turned Guilmon into a horrifying monster that could tear the digital plain to pieces if it so desired. The entire crew had been so shaken by that act of pure rage, but this time around it was different.
Takato and Guilmon had become something different back there, and it scared the living hell out of Rika. She thought that she would be able to control the goof. Rika had convinced herself that she was the better tamer, that Takato was not serious enough to be one of the best. But at times like this Rika's deepest fears were brought to life.
Takato was so insanely powerful that absolutely no one could control him. He could barely control himself sometimes.
Rika shuddered at the thought that yet another thing she was desperately sure of had been shattered. She was so sure that she and Renamon were the best; they had been training together since day one. But yet again Takato had shown that he was horrifyingly powerful.
"You were scared that you lost him, weren't you?" Rika slipped back into reality with a sudden jerk.
Renamon had come to sit beside her young tamer. Weariness was etched onto the digimon's composure, weariness and concern. The kitsune pulled her own blanket around her shoulders, too tired to care about what anyone else thought at the moment.
Rika opened her mouth to snap back with some smart comment, but as she looked over Renamon she felt that little sliver of malice she had left fade away. Her digimon was right. The main thing she was scared of wasn't what Takato had done or could do; it was that she was afraid he wasn't going to come back as the same Takato.
"I… uh… yeah." Rika managed to choke out a couple words.
"I see why you're attracted to him."
Rika raised an eyebrow at Renamon, who continued.
"At first I watched you reluctantly fall for that fool Ryo. I feel you like you wanted to be closer to him because of his power, that's what I would have been attracted to. As much as you called him some stupid pretty boy, it was rather interesting to watch you become smitten with him."
Rika would have protested and snarled at Renamon at this point, but instead the teenage girl instead opted to snort and pull her hair out of its ponytail. She was too mentally exhausted to argue, and the young tamer wanted to hear what her digimon had to say.
"That boy is annoyingly one dimensional though, there's no fun to be had with him. I watched you become tired of Ryo and to be honest, I'm glad you did. I was about to speak to you about how mind numbingly dull that boy was."
Rika began to feel a little bit more comfortable as she listened to Renamon talk. At the back of her mind she wondered why Renamon had chosen to suddenly sit down and start talking like this, but she honestly didn't care. She loved talking to Renamon; they were the perfect partners for obvious reasons. Rika also found it highly amusing at how domineering and blunt her digimon was, especially when it came to her views on boys.
Renamon shifted a bit and kept on talking, "To be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan of Takato when we met him. That boy was a blundering moron who couldn't figure out how to count to twenty without taking his shoes off, much less how to fight."
Rika giggled a bit at this. The fact that Renamon made a joke was a rare and hilarious occurrence.
"I had a hard time respecting Takato and following his instructions. But as the years went by it was interesting to watch him grow up. He grew into a viable male rather quickly as a matter of fact. I remember when your mom took Takato, Henry, Terriermon, Guilmon, you and I with her when she had that modeling job in Monaco was the first time that I took stock of Takato. I recall that you spent a lot of time staring at him at the beach…"
Rika bit her tongue as she felt color spread onto her face. "So what? I was probably spacing out from boredom or something…"
"Sure. Anyways, Takato started to look like a fun little boy for you… I was debating saying something to you, but you kind of beat me to the punch. It still amuses me that most of our late night talks turned to Takato before you two became an item." Renamon let out sort of a half smile at this.
"So you think Takato would be fun for me?" Rika grinned as well.
"Well you always need some sort of difficult project to keep you amused, so I figured he might be worth a shot."
Rika coughed and chuckled, her smile starting to tug at the corners of her mouth. It felt good to talk to Renamon like this…. It was a healing experience to talk about simple stuff like boys after what had happened just an hour ago.
"And what about you? Hooking up with Guilmon?"
Renamon snapped her long tail, and Rika swore that her digimon was blushing.
"We enjoy each other's company. That is all there is to it."
The young tamer gently bumped Renamon with her shoulder, and Renamon let out an officious huff.
"We'll see about that." Rika tentatively stood up and stretched, her legs shaking a bit as she did so.
"I'm going to go find Takato. You coming?"
Renamon shook her head and rose to her feet, "I'm going to go find us some food. I'll find you when I'm done."
Rika acknowledged her digimon, and the pair parted ways for the moment. The young girl slowly started to walk around the hastily set up camp, trying her best to stay out of everyone's way. Out of the corner of her eye Rika saw lines of long black bags, and turned away quickly as she felt her stomach churn. She made her way over towards several black SUV's and trucks that bore equipment used for detecting digimon on the move in the net. Yamaki was conferring with several of the operators of the equipment, the man still flicking that old lighter of his anxiously.
As the young tamer neared the Hypnos setup, Yamaki turned towards Rika.
"Hey kid. You alright?"
Rika nodded as she got closer, "Yeah…. Is Takato around?"
The blond-haired man jerked his head to his left, and Rika wordlessly walked off in that direction. She suddenly hesitated, and turned back to Yamaki.
"Are they all gone?"
Yamaki bit his lip, "Yes. The Americans just finished cleaning up. According to our equipment the wild ones tried to retreat after we arrived, but it looks like the Americans weren't having any of that. They scrambled jets and tore the hell out of everything that moved."
Rika snorted, "Of course they did. Their weapons worked on the digimon?"
The Hypnos commander nodded, "Hit anything with enough firepower and it'll disappear apparently."
Rika rolled her eyes and walked off in the direction Yamaki had indicated. She ducked around a couple Hypnos personnel and walked past the massive white trucks that she had learned to dread all those years ago. Two rows of tents emerged in front of Rika, hastily set up to guard the tables underneath them from the driving rain.
Boxes of ammunition made some of the plastic tables sag, and some of the other tables bore the weight of medical supplies. Grim soldiers clad in the thick armor and dark uniforms of the US military, shoved magazines full of glinting bullets into their gear and piled medical supplies haphazardly into their packs. Rainwater dripped off of the creases in their uniforms and armor, the droplets tinted crimson.
Rika slowly wandered into the staging point, making sure to avoid the uniformed men and women hustling about. She hunted for a friendly face, her previous anxiety slowly returning. Without meaning to the young tamer clenched her hands into nervous fists underneath her blanket, driving her nails into her palms.
"Rika! Hey, Rika!" A familiar voice drifted through the wind and rain, causing Rika to stop in her tracks.
Underneath a nearby tent stood Kazu, the young man wearing what looked to be a thick jacket imprinted with the ACU pattern used by the US military. The sleeves hung down around his hands, showing that the jacket was obviously borrowed. Guardramon loomed behind Kazu, waving at Rika.
"Miss Makino! Oh! Here! Over here!" Rika thought that this was probably the first time she had ever been relieved to see Kazu or his over-courteous tin can.
"Hey!" Shouted Rika at the top of her voice, the tamer's nervousness apparent.
She felt her cheeks burn as the hard eyes of dozens of soldiers turned towards the source of this sudden noise, and Rika strode over to Kazu with a snarl.
"Rika I didn't know that you made it down here! Did you see what happened?"
The young female tamer chose not to respond. Instead she only pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders, and cast a cold gaze in Kazu's direction.
"Oh… stupid question. Right." Kazu broke eye contact with Rika and wrung his hands, "So… uh… yeah… you okay?"
Rika sighed and leaned up against the empty table that sat underneath the tent, "I've been better. How about you?"
The young tamer across from Rika shifted from one foot to the other, rubbing the back of his neck, "We're… okay."
For some reason Rika felt a wave of concern wash over her, concern for Kazu. She frowned, hating the feeling of caring out of pure habit.
"So… did you get attacked too?" Rika posed the question tentatively, unsure of how to properly formulate herself.
Kazu nodded, "Ryo, Kenta, Henry and I got picked up by some guy from Hypnos or something, and he took us downtown to meet up with you and Takato for some reason. There was a huge explosion, and… people… people…"
"I know." Rika interrupted Kazu, not wanting to force the young man to finish his sentence.
He just nodded numbly, and Guardramon let out a low, comforting rumble.
"Did everyone… make it?"
"Yeah." Murmured Kazu, his eyes growing hazy.
"Are Takato and Guilmon around?"
Kazu perked up upon hearing Takato's name. "Yeah yeah chumly went out with Henry and Kazu to find something warm to eat or drink for everyone. He should be back in a second."
Rika watched as Kazu seemed to shore himself up emotionally with that simple answer. She knew that she too was building dozens of mental barricades to block out the images, sounds, and smells of what had happened scarcely an hour ago. Every scrap of brain power she had left was focusing on every little detail that could be used to make her forget and block out the horrifying scenes that replayed in her head over and over again. Rika knew what Kazu was feeling. The young man was so horribly broken that he was beyond repair, beyond saving. Kazu knew it, but did not want to acknowledge it. Rika did not want to either. She knew she was a completely different person now, but refused to believe the facts.
Before Rika could dive further into her own thoughts warm, pleasant smelling air wafted over her face, and she felt her now soaking blanket fall off of her shoulders. Recoiling slightly in surprise, Rika looked down to see a cup of warm, brown liquid being forced into her rigid hands. A warm blanket suddenly enveloped her, and Rika grabbed the cup and looked up from it to see a pair of soft, crimson eyes staring into hers.
"You should try this stuff; I got it from the Americans. It's hot chocolate but… richer."
Rika felt a feeling of warmth explode from where her heart was and spread throughout her entire body, and without meaning to the young tamer let out a small smile.
"Hi Takato…" Murmered Rika, trying to hide her blushing from the grinning young man in front of her.
All feelings of numbness and separation from reality were wiped away in an instant; memories of Takato's rage and inhumanity obliterated. Rika struggled to control the sudden feeling of comfort washing over her body, but her heart thumped harder and harder.
Trying to distract herself Rika took a sip of the hot chocolate Takato had brought her. To the tamers surprise the drink was superbly rich and deep, the liquid shocking her taste buds. Takato chuckled as Rika flinched, and she snarled at him in return. Rika took another sip, taking in the hot chocolate more carefully this time.
"Okay so this isn't terrible. Thanks goggle dork."
Takato crossed his arms tightly and rubbed his biceps, trying to push some amount of warmth into his body. Yet his loose smile only widened as Rika snapped at him, the edges of his mouth tugging a bit higher.
"I'm glad you're not dry heaving princess. I know that you can't tolerate anything less than sustenance suitable for royalty."
Rika coughed and spluttered, the young woman shocked by Takato's random sarcastic comment. Her boyfriend had always been the oblivious type, taking things at face value. So this crack was a rare occurrence, and inwardly Rika found it hilarious in spite of her pride.
"You calling me pampered?" Bit back Rika.
"Did I?" The Digimon Queen frowned as she watched Takato suddenly fall out of their otherwise enjoyable bout of bickering.
Rika opened her mouth to continue, but feelings of concern welled up in her as she looked over her team leader. His dark red eyes usually shined with joy and general happiness, but now they barely even flickered. Takato's boyish charm was nonexistent at the moment, and he seemed weary beyond all comparison.
All of the emotions she had kept stopped out over the years had recently started to leak out, and Rika felt her heart slowly starting to overtake the functions normally conducted by her brain. She felt those untapped emotions stored up during her childhood start to flow throughout her body, much to her chagrin. The longer she looked over Takato, the more and more she hurt.
Choosing not to speak, Rika instead decided to act. She set her cup down on the table next to her and stepped forward into Takato. The young tamer buried herself in the teens chest, gently rubbing her cheek against his soggy t-shirt. Rika felt a pair of arms slowly wrap around her, loosely at first. But the Ice Queen felt Takato pull her in closer and closer, so close that Rika could hear the slow beating of Takato's heart.
"You okay?" A whisper drifted down from Takato, the young man now holding her tightly in his arms.
"Are you?" Rika answered Takato's question with one of her own.
No verbal response came from the young man, but Rika knew the answer to her question. Takato was a master of keeping his emotions in check, but Rika knew the signs. She used to keep everything all bottled up, and she knew what to look for.
"I'm alright…" Takato released Rika as she straightened up.
"No you're not."
Takato's shoulders dropped, and he sighed. The young man refused to meet Rika's gaze, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Look… Takato…" Rika bit her lip, struggling to find the right words, "I know, I saw. I was there. I was right there with you. And what happened is… I don't even know. But we're all here, right? Henry, Kazu, Kenta, Terriermon, Guardramon, MarineAngemon, Renamon, Guilmon, we all made it."
Takato rubbed the back of his neck with both hands, finally glancing up at Rika, "I know… but we could have done something more. I can think of a thousand, a million things I could have done to save more people."
"I know… I can too. But don't think about that… please. You did a good job today Takato. You were the first person to spot any signs and you did the right thing. Think of what would have happened if you didn't take action."
Takato looked over Rika with his soft crimson eyes, and she saw a flicker of relief flash through the young man's features. "You did alright today gogglehead…"
Rika watched a small grin appear on Takato's face, and she smiled back in return. Slowly Takato reached out a wrapped his hands around Rika's. He pulled her slowly into his chest, and the Digimon Queen felt happiness flood through her as she was enveloped in a rain soaked embrace.
A gentle hand came under Rika's chin, and she felt her face being lifted up towards Takato's. She sniffled as Takato bumped his nose into hers, squinting a bit out of surprise. But her gaze was soon filled with Takato's gentle red eyes.
Rika let out a surprised murmur as she felt a pair of lips embrace hers, but her heart melted from the pressure of Takato's kiss. The young woman let her eyes slide shut as she took on Takato's kiss with everything that she had. She poured all of her fear, trepidation, worry, sadness, and horror into the lips embracing her own.
"Well I'm glad to see something is back to normal." With a gasp Rika broke her connection with Takato to look for the source of the snappy comment.
Renamon was setting down cartons, paper bags and cups on a table. Rain dripped off of her fur, the ruffle on her neck now conforming to the curves of her body. She was smiling maliciously at Rika, causing the young girl to blush. Next to her stood Guilmon; and behind Renamon stood Henry, Terriermon sitting on his head, and the rest of the crew.
The entire group was soaked to the bone and shivering, but a feeling of collective relief washed over everyone. They were all here, under a small tent in a makeshift US military staging area. They had made it through the pouring rain, violent explosions, murderous digimon, and collapsing buildings so that they could once again stand together underneath a thin tent and shiver in silence.
"We were never normal." Rika turned back to Takato embraced his lips with hers yet again, letting that feeling of relief and love rush through her again.