A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Thor Cosmic for being the 1300th reviewer for this story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Digimon Trinity
Chapter: 170/ Episode 24: Kings and Queens. Knights and Maidens
"You."
Ryo nodded at Rika's accusatory tone. His smile, playful, acknowledged her, as if knowing he had been caught doing something he shouldn't. Narrowing her eyes, Rika wondered if, perhaps, he was doing just that.
"What are you doing here?" she pressed, deciding to test that theory. Ryo grinned that shining, perfect grin of his that simultaneously made her heart flutter and her stomach turn. Turning, he leaned his back against the glass counter, looking as though he were at home in the store.
"Thought I'd stop by," he said casually. Reaching to his side, he picked up one of the binders of cards and began flipping through it. "Check out the latest releases."
"Well, you won't find any new releases there," Rika scoffed. "That one's from last year. And aren't you a little old to be playing card games?"
She glowered at the boy. He appeared to be a couple years older than her. Fourteen? Fifteen at the oldest for sure. Yet, she knew that was not his real age. The other Digidestined knew him back when they were her age. In the case of Ken, when he had been younger. She wondered what his angle was in appearing this way.
Ryo gave a light laugh, turning a page. "In my case, I'm only as old as I feel. I think it's a little more complicated than that though. I think a part of me just 'stopped.' Froze in place during one of my battles with Milleniummon."
For an instant, Rika saw a shadow of pained remembrance pass over his eyes, disturbing the perfect waters in his blue irises.
Another page flipped and Ryo turned the binder toward Rika, tapping at one card in particular.
"This one looks pretty good," he said.
Rika distractedly flicked her eyes down at the card in question. It looked like an Alias card from the Ex-Booster set. She ran through the description quickly. Digivolves a digimon from Ultimate or Mega down to Rookie. Prevent all damage for that round.
She shrugged indifferently. "So what? Are you planning on buying it or something?"
Ryo gave an embarrassed laugh. "I don't think my money would be any good here. Just digi-dollars. Anyway, I thought it looked pretty good. Do you use it?"
"Why don't you skip the small talk and tell me what you're here for?" Rika demanded heatedly, earning a raised eyebrow from Fumihiro, who stood a bit further down the counter, going over a checklist.
"Is he bothering you, Rika?" he asked, his voice taking on a protective tone. Rika glanced at the man, considering taking him up on his offer of help, but instead shook her head.
"No, I'm fine. Just another fanboy asking for lessons."
Ryo barked a laugh at that. Fumihiro eyed the pair a moment longer before looking away.
"All right," he said uncertainly, his voice making it clear he was going to keep one ear on their conversation.
"Why are you here?" Rika asked Ryo again, lowering her voice. Ryo looked at her gravely, and all at once, all pretense fell away from his face.
"To give you a hint for the future," he said, "and a choice to change it."
Rika felt her guard go up at that. "Are you from that One Vision group or whatever?"
Ryo shook his head, seemingly not surprised that she mentioned them. "No. We don't get along all that much. They don't like how I fall outside of time and space, thanks to my partner. We make a mess of their plans."
Rika felt a touch of satisfaction at that. That was something she could approve of. "And you're here to make a mess of their plans?"
"Let's just say that I've already seen where this goes and it doesn't end as well as I'd like it to."
"What does it matter what you'd like as long as we win?" she asked. Again, a shadow fell across Ryo's face, yet he somehow kept up his casual smile.
"I remember you asking me that before," he replied, his voice heavy with unspoken emotion. "A lot of times actually." Another chuckle. "One of them, you even had black hair."
"What?" Rika tilted her head to one side, completely confused now. Black hair? What is this creep going on about?
Ryo waved her off and pushed away from the counter. "I've probably said too much and there's no point talking about a past when it no longer exists."
"You're not making any sense. What is it with you and Tai and all the rest of you weirdos still stuck in the digital world where you can't just come out and say what you're actually talking about? And don't give me something stupid like how you're afraid the Darkness might overhear us. I want a straight answer for once!"
Ryo planted his hands in his pants' pockets, his azure gaze turning away from her and up at the ceiling in thought.
"You said that before too," he said, his lips a wistful smile. "You never change."
"And you're a creep," Rika half-growled, becoming utterly frustrated with the 'teen.' "Just what is your deal? I mean really your deal? Do you like popping in and out in front of me or something?"
"The first time was an accident. But like I said, this time I really wanted to help you. It's just…" He brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. "It's really weird talking to you about this again. I think I'm probably being deliberately vague because we've gone over this so many times that I just want to do something different just to be different."
Something clicked in Rika's mind as she remembered what the Digidestined said about Ryo's partner, Milleniummon.
"Time travel… This has all happened before. Is that what you're saying?"
Ryo nodded. "Not everything happens the same way though. Like I said, one time you had black hair instead of red. Another time, Tai and his friends were all born a lot later and no one knew about the Digital World until around now. That was a particularly weird change. But no matter what changed, some things stayed the same. And now we're back on one of the old tracks. One Vision thinks they found a way to win against the Chaos, but from where I stand, they're overlooking something. Something important about you and your friendships. I don't want to see Takato destroy the digital world just to beat the Chaos. Not if you can make a better way."
Rika's mind was awhirl with questions and confusion. The Chaos? Takato destroy the digital world to defeat it? Takato?! That last felt like a punch in the gut and she felt suddenly dizzy with shock. What could possibly drive him to do such a thing? He just wasn't the sort of person who would do such a thing. Even Guilmon, despite being a Hazard digimon, was just a bread-snarfing doofus who only wanted to play tag. There was just no way he could do something that catastrophic!
Unless… Unless Ryo was lying.
"Yeah, I said too much," the boy said, nodding as if he knew what she was thinking. Rika felt her hands steel themselves into tight fists.
"Get out of here," she said. "And don't let me catch you in here again. Or anywhere. I don't care if you used to be friends with Sora or whoever, but you're nuts if you think I'm going to fall for a story as crazy as that!"
Ryo looked apologetic, but he shrugged, as if this too were a conversation he experienced numerous times in the past. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad. Well…" He scratched the back of his head. "I never mean to, but somehow I always do. You're always such a wild cat."
"Call me that again, and I'll make you eat your perfect teeth!"
With a grin, he stepped around her and made for the exit.
"Just one more thing, Princess," he said, pausing at the stairs. "The way to the digital world is close to home. You'll find it again tomorrow."
Rika barely heard the ring of the bell as the door opened and closed. She stood there, anger boiling within her.
"Rika, are you all right?" Fumihiro asked, approaching her, eyes full of concern. Rika blinked and nodded hastily.
"Yeah," she said. "Just another creep who couldn't take no for an answer. Nothing I couldn't handle though."
She took a shuddering breath to calm herself. Despite her confident words, this Ryo had planted too many bad ideas in her. She thought back again to what he said about Takato and how he would destroy the digital world to save everything else from something called the Chaos. Was it some kind of Dark Ocean creature? Something so terrible that Takato would have no choice? She found herself wondering if she should have tried pumping Ryo for more information.
He's a Digidestined, she found herself thinking. Why… Why would he lie about something like that? The others said his partner was connected to time travel, so maybe…
The thought trailed off. She wasn't certain how much she could trust the Digidestined outside of Sora. They were an all-right group, but it was clear that they – Takeru especially – all had issues, which left them some blind spots. What little they divulged about Ryo suggested however that they were unsure what to make of his situation.
And yet… He did appear concerned with helping them. That had to count for something, didn't it?
Whirling about, she hurried toward the exit. Bursting out from the door, she looked around, trying to spot some sign of Ryo and his perfect hairdo.
She found nothing but an empty street greeting her.
###
The sun dipped closer toward the horizon as Jeri and Takato made their way through the park. Kazu, Kenta and Henry had long departed, having gone their own separate ways toward home, leaving only the two of them together on the second to last leg of their journey to meet up with their partners. The atmosphere between them might as well be night and day. Jeri hummed quietly to herself, completely at ease while by her side, Takato found himself glancing sidelong at her, his movements stiff and awkward.
Should I say something? he wondered, the quiet between them feeling almost oppressive. I mean, a lot of stuff happened so there should be a lot of things to talk about. I wonder if she's worried about everything that's been happening. I mean, I know I am, but I've been at this for a while. And Jeri… This is all so new to her. Shouldn't I have something to say to help her with that?
Takato frowned down at the path in front of him, disliking the awkwardness he felt. He found of late that he tended to have this problem quite a bit when it came to girls, especially where Rika and Jeri were concerned. It caused him to become fumble-mouthed as well as footed and he never felt certain about what to say or do. With Rika, it had been getting a little easier (though not by much) but Jeri still left him ill at ease.
Especially when no one else was around.
Long association with Rika though had taught him that until he felt certain that what he had to say was important and that he wouldn't flub it, it was better to hold his peace. Yet this grown wisdom didn't sit well with his need to do something. And so, the two sides warred.
"Man, it sure has been a craaazy couple of days," he finally croaked out. He immediately regretted doing so as the temperature in his cheeks shot up a couple extra degrees. Yet, out of the corner of his eyes, Jeri nodded, her humming vanishing.
"It has been awful," she agreed. "But…I guess it could have been worse, right?"
Nodding numbly, Takato thought back to the news reports and the tallied dead. He didn't know how many he might have seen or missed in all the fighting, but he did know that had just been from he and his friends fighting the Devas and their army. He shuddered to think about how things might have been if they weren't there.
"Well, it's a good thing we had you and everyone else here, fighting to protect the city," Jeri added with an awkward smile, seeing the boy's quiet mood. When he didn't answer right away, she leaned forward, angling her gaze to get a better look at him. "Hey. Are you all right?"
"H-Huh?" Takato blinked. He realized he had gotten into one of his funks. "Oh, yeah. I was just thinking about the digital world."
"We'll be going there soon, huh?" Jeri asked, one hand coming to wrest about her wrist. Her fingers squeezed, as if missing the puppet that normally rode upon it.
"Yeah," Takato said halfheartedly before looking at her curiously. "You said going. Um… Are you sure you want to go?"
Jeri's face lit up and a wide smile beamed upon her face. "Of course, I want to. I hardly ever get the chance to travel! What do you think the digital world is like? It's completely different from our world, right?"
Takato looked skyward. His imagination paused on the sound of the park about him. A cool breeze caressed him and he heard the sound of a bird singing its goodnight to the world. He thought about the documentaries he saw when he was younger. The images were poor quality – a result of the digital world's natural electromagnetic field impacting digital equipment – but they were good enough to reveal a landscape similar to Earth, with only some differences.
"Can't get any more different than a floating island," he said. He thought about the Deva and its army rampaging through the streets. From there, his imagination blew it up to a much larger size. "But it's going to be pretty dangerous."
"Oh, I don't care about danger," Jeri smiled at him. "Not as long you and Leomon are with me." She blushed suddenly and frantically looked away. "A-And the others. Rika and Henry too, I mean."
So caught up in his concerns, Takato didn't pick up on her embarrassment. "Yeah, about that…"
"About what?" Jeri asked. Hearing the serious tone in his voice, her blush receded. When Takato didn't answer right away, she pressed him. "Come on. Tell me."
The boy pressed his lips together tightly, looking as though he were at war with himself. And indeed, he was. In many ways, though he had yet to admit it to himself, Jeri becoming a Tamer and fighting by his side felt like a dream come true. But the battles with the Devas were becoming increasingly destructive. This was no longer just a dream. It was real, and in the real world, digital or material, people got hurt. Or worse, died.
"About you coming," he said finally, sounding as though he were having to push the words out of his throat with his bare hands. Jeri's lips parted slightly. Seeing this, Takato gave her an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry, Jeri. It's just… I don't know how to say it. You're a Tamer, but things are…different now, I guess. Things have gotten just too serious."
Jeri's hand drifted to the pocket in her skirt, feeling the impression of her digivice.
"It's because I'm not used to this," she said. Not a question. A statement of fact. She wasn't like Rika, who already had loads of experience in battle, not just in slashing cards but also in digivolving. She remembered how Rika, Takato and Henry all quickly responded to the danger; moving on instinct honed into them by practice and familiarity.
"Believe me, if you were a little more used to it, I wouldn't be saying this," Takato continued, feeling like a heel for the crushed expression Jeri bore on her face. "I used to be pretty bad when I first started. Before Rika started to teach me how to be a Tamer. I almost got Guilmon killed in fights so many times because I froze up or just couldn't decide on what card to use."
The memory of the battle with Devidramon flashed through his mind. The old, familiar tension rose back up on him as he remembered slashing card after card, not even thinking about how useful they would be. He had tried to match the viral dragon with power and it hadn't worked out. He tried to match with flight and it failed completely. Speed bought Guilmon only a second before that too failed. And then his cards, getting caught on the edge of his pocket at a critical moment while his panic continued to set in…
"I just don't think the digital world is a good place for you right now," Takato finished. "Am I making any sense?"
"Yeah, you are," Jeri nodded, giving him a placating smile. She couldn't help feeling disappointed at Takato's suggestion, but at the same time she couldn't fault him for it. "Maybe it's better this way. I mean, here I am getting all excited about going there and we're supposed to be on a rescue mission. And the city will probably need someone to keep it safe. Leomon should be strong enough for that, right?"
Takato felt the tension go out of him. He half-expected her to argue, as Rika would have some months ago. He wouldn't have blamed Jeri, knowing he would have felt the exact same way if he were in her position. But experience had changed and shaped him, as it had Rika. He wondered if she would have taken his side in this.
"Yeah," he nodded in agreement, still unable to shake the feeling of being a heel for shooting down her dream. "Yeah, he should be. And I'm sure that when we get back, you two will be a lot stronger."
Jeri's wan smile became a bit more genuine at that. "There'll be a next time. Hopefully, a more peaceful next time."
They continued on in silence for a moment longer before Jeri spoke up again.
"Hey Takato? When that next time comes… Would you like to go there together?"
Takato immediately felt crimson flood his face and his eyes bulged in their sockets. With superhuman effort, he somehow managed to keep his voice from breaking as he replied, "S-Sure!"
Jeri giggled.
The rest of the trip passed quietly, and before too long the pair found themselves at Guilmon's home, Leomon standing guard at the entrance with his powerful arms folded over his massive, muscular chest. A quick word and before too long Takato found himself watching as Jeri and her partner made their way down the steps. Takato wanted to kick himself for not offering to walk her home. Jeri lived over in Shibuya after all, which wasn't a simple walk away.
She's got Leomon with her, he reminded himself, scratching the back of his head. She'll be okay.
"Takato?" came Guilmon's inquisitive voice. "Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, ah… Well, do I look okay?" Takato pointed at himself with a goofy, awkward grin. He was genuinely curious though. Guilmon, like Renamon, had a way of noticing when things weren't out of the ordinary and he knew he could sometimes fool himself into thinking he was okay when he really wasn't.
"Well, you don't smell like it," Guilmon replied. "I mean, you still smell like you, but it's kind of funny. Like a day that's rained too long and kept you from going outside and having fun."
"That's…a pretty good description," Takato admitted, scratching his chin. "But I guess I'm okay. It's more like with everything that's happened I'm still processing it, you know?"
With a sigh, he sat himself heavily on the step of the hut. "And a lot has happened in the last twenty-four hours. Or however long it's been."
"Mm," Guilmon agreed, padding up alongside his partner and plopping himself down. "I sure hope Calumon is doing all right."
Takato felt as though another hole had been blown through his sails. Calumon… Where was he now? What shape was he in? Until he found him, there was just no way to tell.
"Me too, boy. Me too."
###
The sky was dark with night now, and Henry sat at his desk, his hands busily typing away on his keyboard. On the screen was a message he planned to send to his father. For the most part, he wrote it to clarify his thoughts. Give them focus. Going on a trip to the digital world to save a friend was not an easy topic to broach to his family, especially where his father was concerned. He was certain that his dad would try to talk him out of it. Perhaps even forbid it, as he had on the fateful night that Mihiramon attacked. Though they hadn't spoken about his involvement in the latest slew of battles with the Devas, he could tell that it ate away at his father just as it did with him.
He was committed though. One way or another, despite his misgivings, he would go to the digital world. Writing the message also served a double purpose. In the event that he found himself unable to speak to or convince his father, he would have something to send him explaining his reasons.
"Henry!" came the sudden call of his father from down the hall, breaking his concentration. "Get in here, ya troublemaker. Come on! chop, chop!"
His concentration broken, Henry glanced back at his message and saved the draft. Exiting out, he got up and exited the room, finding Terriermon there at the door to greet him. The long-eared digimon urgently tugged at his ankle, looking frantically over his shoulder as if searching for a demon.
A tiny demon named Suzie, if Henry was right about the source of his alarm. His sister, he remembered, had been laughing up a storm earlier, intermixed with grunts and half-suppressed cries of pain from Terriermon as she fitted him into a diaper and bonnet.
"All right, come on up," Henry said, lifting his partner up onto his shoulder. Terriermon let out a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Henry. I owe you one."
"Right. And will I be able to cash in on that?"
"Momentai! Let's go see what your dad wants. I'm sure it has to do with saving the world, and if that gets me out of Nurse Suzie's clutches, I'm all for it."
Henry shook his head in amusement at his partner's antics. Approaching the door to his father's study, he knocked and waited.
"Come in," came the response from the other side. Henry opened the door.
"Dad, what's going on?" he asked.
"Give me your portable digi-thingy. Your Arc."
Henry's eyebrows rose at that word. Arc. "Huh? You mean my digivice?"
"Yeah. Come on. I'll arm wrestle you for it."
"Since you put it that way…" Henry ceded. Taking out his digivice, he handed it to his father. The man pressed the center button and at once the holographic circle emerged from its screen. Another tap and the screen displayed zeroes and ones.
"It's amazing how this looks so much like the prototype my friends and I designed back in college. And yet, it's so different. We just wanted to give kids a way to communicate with and control digimon on the network."
Henry gave an amused look at his partner. "Maybe mine's broken because I can't control Terriermon at all."
The long-eared digimon giggled and grinned at Henry defiantly. "It'll take more than a piece of plastic to control me."
Janyu gave a light laugh. "You know what I mean. The plan was never for digimon to show up in the Real World. Communicate with digimon. Download information or stories from the Database on the network… That was what I had envisioned."
"Because of all the havoc the pig Deva caused?" Terriermon asked. It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess why. In fact, up until the first Digidestined went to the digital world, the idea of digimon appearing in the real world only seemed to occur to one of the original designers of digimon.
"Not a fun thought, is it?" Janyu replied with a nod. "Seeing something you dreamed about becoming true… Surprises and joys like that… And the nightmares."
"Mm…" Terriermon patted his chin with a tiny hand. "Yeah, I suppose it wouldn't be very fun if your worst nightmare came to life. I mean, I'd hate to see a 200-foot-tall Nurse Suzie rampaging through the streets trying to put diapers on all the skyscrapers."
"Terriermon…" Henry sighed, rolling his eyes.
"What? Come on, Henry. Don't tell me my worst nightmare is somehow less than yours because I have to put up with it almost every day. I don't think there'd be enough Digidestined or Tamers in the world to take care of something like that!"
Janyu typed a few more commands onto his keyboard, looking back every so often to peruse through the digivice's code.
"Even if we knew for certain back then that digimon would be capable of appearing in the real world, I don't think we would have wanted to allow it because of that. But obviously, someone or something disagrees. And whatever that is, they're responsible not only for digimon showing up in the real world, but also for making the Arc a reality and their rapid evolution. My friends and I are working to stop this from happening so children don't have to take part in dangerous battles anymore. In the meantime, stay out of trouble." With a meaningful smile, he looked at Henry. "I don't want to tell Suzie something's happened to her big brother."
Well, it's like I was afraid of, Henry thought, looking clearly unhappy as Terriermon hopped down and crossed his tiny arms together. Well, might as well try and get this over with.
"I…" he began, but before he could get past that first word, the sound of Suzie's slippered feet pounding loudly on the floor interrupted him, and within moments, she popped into the study, her cheerful smile blazing like a sun. Terriermon squeaked and immediately froze up, hoping beyond hope that, as long as he didn't move, Suzie would overlook him.
"Hewwo! Dad! Mom just sliced a watermelon! Let's eat! Let's eat!" With a happy gasp, she spied Henry's partner and immediately ran on over to him.
"Aw, nuts," Terriermon groaned quietly as the girl wrapped her arms about him and squished him against her face. "Terriermon! You want some too? You do, right?"
"Y-Yeah," grunted Terriermon, gasping for air. "Sure. Just…Just not so hard, okay?"
"Tell your mother we'll be down in a minute," Janyu chuckled as the girl lifted Terriermon up and began to toddle out of the room.
"I won't, but Tewwiermon will," she sang, leaving the two alone.
With a tired sigh, Janyu stretched and got up from his seat.
"Uh… Actually, Dad," Henry began again as the man passed him back his digivice. "There's, uh, something I need to tell you."
Janyu paused at the door. Without turning to look at his son, he said quietly, but in a level voice, "Tell me once you've made up your mind." He turned and put on a smile that looked rather false to his son. "Come on. Let's have some watermelon."
With that said, Janyu exited the room, leaving Henry alone. Henry looked down unhappily.
"If I don't say it now…" he said softly.
But the opportunity was gone.
###
Jeri entered into the store area of her home as the thunk-thunk-thunk of a knife on a cutting board resounded through the room. She glanced over in the direction of her father and smiled at the heavy-set man, ignoring the concerned expression of the shorter, roundish woman in a kimono on the other side of the counter. Across from her father, a man with a glass of sake, smiled at her brightly.
"Hey there, Jeri! How are you? Studying?"
"Good evening," she smiled back politely, recognizing their regular customer, Chiko. "Just peachy, thanks."
Her father, Tadashi, lifted his heavy-browed, severe looking face and glanced at her disapprovingly.
"I told you, don't come down to the store," he said.
"Yeah, it's just a second," Jeri replied, undaunted by his dour, stern personality. "I just want some juice."
Snatching up the carton, she collected a glass from off the counter. Without a further word, she slipped back into the living section of her home and kicked off her slippers. Tadashi poked his head in through the door after her just in time to see her run up the stairs.
"Wash it afterwards!" he called after her. Jeri wordlessly disappeared into her room so as to not disturb her sleeping half-brother. There, in the dark, after a brief glance at the picture of her birth mother, she made her way quietly over toward the window, pausing only long enough to see that her sibling had taken her sock puppet again before drifting off. Without a sound, she retrieved it and slipped it back on to her wrist and stuck it out the window where the massive, muscular form of Leomon awaited.
"Ruff!" she greeted before sticking her head out with a giggle. "Hi. I brought you some juice."
She set the glass on the windowsill and took off the sock puppet. Leomon took it up gratefully.
"You are too kind," he said, giving it a sniff before downing it. Relaxing now, she moved to join him on the terrace. In spite of her jovial behavior, she was quiet and tense. Something Leomon easily noticed.
"Is something the matter?" he asked. "You've been…different since you returned with Takato."
Jeri blushed lightly, appearing suddenly self-conscious. "Is it that obvious?" she asked.
"For someone like me, yes," Leomon nodded. "Is this about the digital world?"
"Well…" Jeri took out her digivice, pondering it. "Takato… He was telling me that it might be a good idea if I didn't go. Because I'm not experienced enough."
Leomon found himself nodding reluctantly. "The digital world is dangerous," he admitted. "It has always been that way. I might not have been there for some years since my deletion here all those years ago, but I doubt that much has changed. When I first met the Digidestined, they were only just starting to get the hang of surviving on File Island. At the time, I had been forced into the service of their enemy, Devimon, who had only recently become aware of their presence. If he had known sooner and had me confront them, it is very likely they would be dead."
"Takato said something similar about when he first started," Jeri said, her expression becoming crestfallen. "I know I shouldn't feel upset about that. It's natural to not be good at something when you first start. But…" With shaking fingers, she clutched her digivice tightly. "But when I think about that, I sometimes feel like I'm not good enough."
Jeri's breath hitched in her mouth and she repressed a whimper as her heart suddenly began to beat a little harder. All the anxiety she had been holding in threatened to punch its way out of the little cage she had built around it.
"And I want to be good enough," she said under her breath. "I want to be able to protect the people I care about. Takato… He said that he trusts the city to me, but I…I don't know if I can keep anyone safe."
Seeing how tightly she held onto her digivice, Leomon lifted a massive hand, as if to comfort her, but then retracted it.
This child…
He set his hand down on his pantleg in consideration. That she would strive to meet the challenge, he had no doubt. He could see it in her eyes. But doubts such as this would gnaw away at her. Potentially even destroy her if she wasn't careful. He couldn't count the number of digimon who lost to their fear, but he often wondered how many could have been saved with the right words at the right time.
"You are such a little thing," he said softly. "But you have a lion's heart."
Jeri's head whipped up at that, surprise writ upon her face. She soon smiled; her heart buoyed by his compliment.
I will get stronger, just like Takato said. I just have to remember what Rika taught me just like he does.
"Oh, well, that's why we're perfect for each other," she said, her heartrate receding back to something a little more normal. Leomon nodded.
"Yes. After all, I'm your partner now, right Jeri?"
Jeri nodded back. "Yeah. And I'm your Tamer. But…" She looked away, as if embarrassed. "But I do have one little favor to ask."
Leomon lifted an eyebrow at her questioningly.
###
"No luck?" came Takato's voice from Rika's phone as she stood in the hallway just outside her room. "Oh that's too bad. Henry came up empty too. We'll find it sooner or later. I guess we should just keep searching."
Rika turned the Alias card she had purchased at the card shop over in her hand, pressing her lips together. Thoughts about her encounter with Ryo and the things he said came to mind, but she pushed them to the back burner.
"Brilliant advice," she said instead. "But we're running out of places to look."
She had touched base with Renamon at various points since returning home. The kitsune had crisscrossed the city at a rapid pace in search of a portal, but so far, she turned up nothing. Takato and Henry had done some brief searches as well, but as they were lacking Renamon's range and speed, there was only so far and long they could look before they were forced to return home. She wondered if any of the Digidestined had come up with anything.
If they did, we'd have heard about it, she thought dourly.
"Don't worry," came his predictable response. "I'm sure we'll find it!"
Rika felt her lips twitch upward at his unending optimism. How the boy maintained it in the face of everything the world threw at him, she didn't know.
But what happens if that Chaos finds a way to break that? she wondered. Would he end up like that Takaishi guy?
Her smile slipped at that. The very thought of Takato losing his dopy smile and naïve optimism felt somehow…wrong.
If Ryo did see the future or whatever it is, he does, did things get that bad?
"Anyway," Takato continued. "Tomorrow I'll look for it too. I'm not going to school until this is over, so I'll have more time."
"Not going to school, huh?" Rika lifted an eyebrow at that, but she guessed she shouldn't be surprised. At this point, school would only get in the way of trying to save Calumon. "Does that mean you told your parents about Guilmon?"
"Ah…" Takato's voice said evasively. "Not…yet. How about you?"
Rika blinked, not expecting to be put on the backfoot like that. She thought he'd fumble out an excuse, as he normally would.
He's changed.
"Yeah, me neither," she admitted, knowing that she didn't have much room to stand on in that regard. Shifting in place, she found herself hugging her waist with her free arm. "We're going to want to change that. Soon."
"Yeah. I'm thinking once we find a portal, I'll tell them."
"Okay." That sounded logical. With a portal, they had no excuses left to hide anything from their family. It would be sink or swim then, and after everything that's happened, they would have no other choice but to swim. "But take care of it yourself," she continued. "I'm not holding your hand for you."
Takato gave out a nervous laugh at that. "Wouldn't dream of it," he replied. Rika's lips again twitched, attempting to smile. She just…couldn't be mad at that joke. Stupid as it was, and as aggravating a reminder about the oddity of their friendship, it helped relieve some of the pressure they were under.
"Yeah, you'd better not," she returned with a dry chuckle. "Or else I'll make good on my promise to send you to dreamland for good. Catch you later."
With that, she hung up, a blush standing out luminously on her face.
Joking with Gogglehead about his stupid dream about me, she thought, lowering the phone and placing it back on the receiver. Never thought I'd see the day. But then, I never thought about a lot of things.
Swallowing, she took a shaky breath, pondering what she should do next. Again, she wondered if she should tell someone about her encounter with Ryo. Sora seemed like the best choice, but at the same time it just added a complexity to things that she wasn't sure would be a good idea to have. She considered the card again, reading over its prevent-damage effect.
If Izzy or Ken got it into their heads that Ryo's getting involved because one of us might get hurt out there, they might decide to keep us out of things completely. And who knows what might happen then? I…I don't want to take that chance.
She felt muscles in her face tighten in anxiety as she made her way to her room. She could almost hear her grandmother saying something about excess worrying leading to premature wrinkles. She tried to imagine herself with wrinkles in her upcoming teenage years and soon wished that she hadn't.
Great. Takato's really starting to influence me now, she thought with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. This caused her thoughts to again turn to Takato and how Ryo suggested that she would be able to find a way to prevent him from destroying the digital world. She still found the notion laughable, but the more she thought about it, the more she considered the Hazard sign on Guilmon's chest.
What if… What if I end up having to destroy Guilmon anyway? After all this time, will I end up having to do that after all?
Feverish anger and sadness burned her mind, making thinking difficult. If she did that, she would most certainly end up killing Takato and…
I…can't do that, she thought in quiet realization as she felt her heart suddenly rend in two. Her fists grew tight and she clenched her eyes shut at the dampness that began to dim her vision. Gogglehead… Takato. I… I can't… Couldn't do that.
"Rika."
Blinking back the tears that threatened to spill forth, she looked up to find Renamon standing in the doorway to her room.
"R-Renamon!"
"Rika, are you all right?" the vulpine digimon asked, cocking her head to one side at the girl. Rika swallowed, but didn't wipe at her eyes.
"I'm fine enough," she said throatily. "What's up?"
Renamon frowned slightly, but didn't press the issue. "Vikaralamon's effects are wearing off," she reported. We have to find the portal soon, but when we do…"
"What is it?" Rika prompted as the kitsune trailed off. Renamon appeared to visibly struggle for the right words before answering.
"I don't want you to come. The digital world wasn't made for humans. We digimon should go alone. There's no telling what… Huh!"
Renamon's surprised gasp was the first alarm Rika had before movement from out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Whirling about, she saw her grandmother emerge from the shadows of the hallway.
"G-Grandma!" she stammered out as Renamon's eyes went wide with surprise. She hadn't heard the approach of the soft-footed matriarch of the household.
"Are you intending to go to the digital world?" Seiko asked, coming to a halt. Rika's eyes widened as her mind went white. Renamon, ashamed began to retreat, only for Seiko to turn to her.
"Please, don't go," she said warmly. "Wait."
Renamon found her feet pausing in place at the woman's command. After a brief deliberation, she dropped down to one knee, like a warrior kneeling before their lord. Seiko turned toward Rika expectantly. Feeling ashamed herself now at having kept her intentions of going to the digital world secret, the young girl met her grandmother's eyes levelly.
"I can explain."
"There's no real need to," Seiko said. "You know what you have to do. What you must. That is why you became a Tamer, isn't it?"
Rika glanced over at Renamon. "It's not why I became a Tamer," she said. "But…it's why I must be a Tamer. A friend of mine has been kidnapped. I can't let that go."
Seiko turned in the direction of the koi pond and folded her hands in front of her.
"I have to get out of this old, depressing house," she quoted. "That's what I thought when I was your age, Rika. This house seemed to be haunted, even! My own grandmother certainly believed we had a spirit here, watching over us. Thousands of years ago, it was said that our family brought the worship of Inari to this country and she watches over us to this very day as thanks. I don't know how much of that is real, or if this house is haunted or if Inari exists. And if she does, I don't know if she's an ancestor to digimon. But I do know that you've always been a special girl and that something has watched over you even before Renamon came here."
"What do you mean?" Rika asked while Renamon lifted her head slightly, becoming suddenly interested.
"Perhaps nothing," Seiko said. "It's an old house after all, and at my age I thought I was seeing things. But there were times, even back when your father was still here, at times I thought I saw a fox spirit watching over you. Protecting you." She smiled at Renamon. "Perhaps she evolved into you."
Renamon lowered her eyes, not wanting to contradict Seiko. She had memories going back to well before her first meeting with Rika. She cast her gaze about the yard though, searching for some sign of this spirit Seiko claimed to have seen. She saw nothing out of the ordinary though.
If you are out there, she thought, just in case, I am sorry for the trouble I've caused.
As if in answer, a gentle, warm breeze caressed her fur.
Swallowing, Rika shifted in place and looked out over the yard.
"Yeah, Grandma. I'm going to be going away for a little while," she said. "Don't tell Mom. She won't understand."
Seiko looked at her granddaughter with an expression of sorrow. She wanted to tell her that Rumiko now knew about her activities as a Tamer, but it wasn't her place to speak such secrets. Not if there was to be a relationship of trust between both mother and daughter, no matter how distant and estranged they had become. One of them needed to change and make that first step on their own.
Still, that didn't mean she couldn't try to nudge them toward one another.
"That girl is too much of a realist, but maybe if you try explaining it to her, with time…"
"We don't…!" Rika interrupted suddenly, and fiercely, before her tone softened. "We don't…have that time anymore."
Seiko gazed down at the shaking fist Rika was making and saw that, regardless of whatever the situation was, Rika was fully convinced of the severity of her position.
"She'll be worried about you, but I'll do what I can, Rika," she promised. "I know Renamon will protect you." She smiled at the vulpine digimon kindly. "Isn't that right?"
"I will protect her with my life," Renamon said, bowing reverently. "I promise you."
Seiko nodded, accepting her words as Rika looked at her partner, stunned. "Thank you, Renamon."
Rika gazed at the pair, her surprise and anxiety growing in time with one another. Unable to look further upon the scene she turned away, shaking as tremors of dread worked their way through her. She thought about her mother, who still wasn't home yet. She thought about Renamon, and how she had treated her over the first months of their association, and how she still stood by her. She thought about her grandmother, who bore her moods with quiet patience and understanding. And of Takato, who she had heaped scorn on, became a dear friend and whose future fate remained clouded with uncertainty.
"I'm…I'm sorry," she said quietly, her voice cracking as her vision clouded with unshed tears once again.
###
Guilmon exited the flood tunnel, leaving behind its dark, scariness. For a wonder, he encountered nothing there. No strange digital fields. No bullying digimon. Nothing but the echoes of his own voice and footsteps as he searched about endlessly for the portal Takato had told him about. He didn't really understand the relationship Vikaralamon had with the creation of such things, but as far as he was concerned, he didn't need to understand. All that was necessary was for him to find it. Takato hadn't been able to stay, but he decided to press on a little longer.
Now where would I be if I were a portal to the digital world? he wondered. He tried to think of what it must be like to be a portal. A doorway much like the door to his home. Did it have a favorite place to be? Doors always seemed to favor buildings, but a portal's relationship between two different realities were complicated by things called firewalls. How walls of fire accomplished that, he didn't know, but again, he didn't need to understand the how and why. He only needed to understand the impact. In this case, that this so-called firewall prevented portals from appearing in their favorite places.
Whatever those favorite places were. Takato hadn't been too clear about that. But then, Takato admitted he didn't understand portals all that well either.
This is sure making me hungry, Guilmon thought to himself as he entered the park. But everything makes me hungry.
Drawing near to his home, he tested the air for signs of humans so as to not be seen. As he did so, he picked up an unusual scent that made his nose tingle. Drawing up in surprise, he sniffed again and began to follow it. The tingle, like an electric current, grew stronger.
"Wait a minute," he said, arriving at the stairs that led to his hut. "Could it be?"
He sniffed the air once more. Excitement suddenly washed over him and with a flurry of movement, he dashed up the stairs, eager to get searching.
"Oh I hope, I hope!"
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