Henry pulled out another card and closed his eyes. He concentrated, on the card, wishing for it to become a Blue Card. Sure enough, it transformed. Opening his eyes, Henry got his digivice ready and slashed the card through it.

"Digimodify! Matrix Digivolution!"

"Gargomon digivolve to…" Gargomon's body began to break up into data and reformed into the cyborg known as "Rapidmon!"

"It's our turn, Rika," Kyubimon said, preparing to digivolve.

"Uhh, right," Jeri said, pulling out another card. She closed her eyes the same as Henry did, holding the card in front of her.

"Rapid Fire!" Rapidmon launched a pair of missiles at the giant Mammothmon and they impacted his side, knocking him over. Swinging his trunk around, Mammothmon launched blast after blast of freezing air at Rapidmon, and it took all of his speed to dodge the attacks. "A little help here would be appreciated!" Rapidmon yelled to Rika.

"Well, Rika? Our friends need us," Kyubimon said, turning her head to look at Rika. What was wrong with her Tamer?

Rika sighed. She'd find a way to explain what she was about to say later. "Concentrate, Rika! Wish for a Blue Card to appear!"

Leomon, watching the two Ultimates fight, turned a wondering eye on his Tamer. How did she know how to get a Blue Card?

Jeri nodded and did as Rika had told her. Her eyes still squeezed shut, the card in her hand transformed into a Blue Card. She breathed a sigh of relief as she slashed it through her digivice.

"That's better! Kyubimon digivolve to… Taomon!"

Mammothmon turned to face this newest threat, readying another pair of Tusk Crusher missiles. He launched them at Taomon, but the mystical Ultimate was ready.

"Thousand Spells!" sent a flurry of red seal papers to intercept the missiles, causing them to explode in midair. "Talisman of Light!"

Pulling a paintbrush out of her sleeve, Taomon sketched a symbol in midair and sent it at Mammothmon. The beastly Ultimate struggled to resist the deletion, but it couldn't resist Rapidmon's "Tri-Beam!"

The triangular blast of energy struck Taomon's symbol full force, and the combined power overwhelmed Mammothmon. In seconds, his great bulk vaporized into so much random data.

"Good job Terriermon," Henry said as Rapidmon reverted to his Rookie form. He watched as Taomon reverted to Renamon. Something was odd; Rika and Jeri were behaving really strangely.

"Umm, Rika?" he asked hesitantly. "Is something wrong?"

"No, why would you say that?" Jeri asked nervously. They needed to figure this thing out and soon; people were beginning to suspect.

"You weren't your usual super-efficient self just now. Is there something bothering you?"

"I'm… not feeling myself today," Jeri managed to say. It was all she could think of at the moment.

Inwardly, Rika sighed at the horrible cliché. Not feeling herself, indeed. Outwardly, she went to check on Leomon, to make sure he was all right.

"I'm fine," Leomon rumbled, "and it seems you're better than fine. Looks like those lessons with Rika are paying off more than I thought."

"She's got a great teacher," Jeri said, blushing slightly. She meant it, too.

"The best," Rika agreed with a fond smile.

Henry looked between the two, a bemused look on his face. Something was up, that much he was sure of. "Come on Terriermon, we need to go."

"Aww, I wanted to see if they were gonna…" Terriermon started to protest, but Henry cut him off.

"Terriermon," he said firmly. "Let's go."

With a sigh, the little dog-bunny ran off after Henry, leaving the girls and their partners behind. The confused look on his face was mirrored in the faces of Leomon and Renamon. This was turning into one freaky day.

******

Leomon, embarrassed at his praise for his Tamer, left without saying much else. Renamon glanced back and forth, looking first at Rika and then at Jeri, and back again.

"If you're sure you're all right…" Renamon began.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just tired, that's all," Jeri said. She hoped the explanation was enough for Renamon.

"Okay then," Renamon said, leaping into a tree and bounding away. Rika breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Renamon leave.

"Well, that didn't go as badly as it could have," Rika said, trying to put on a comforting smile. It didn't help.

"I'm sorry, Rika," Jeri said, shaking her head. "I made you look terrible out there."

"Hey, don't worry about it!" Rika said, slipping a consoling arm around Jeri's shoulders. Jeri looked up and smiled at her teacher and friend. "Even Digimon Queens have bad days every now and then," Rika chuckled.

Jeri sniffed. "Thanks Rika." She gave Rika's hand a squeeze as Rika smiled back.

"You know what?" Rika said, "I never really thanked you for trying to save me from Raidramon's attack back there." With that, she leaned in and planted a kiss on the side of Jeri's mouth, causing both of them to redden. Rika recovered first. "And if you ever tell another living soul that I just did that, you're gonna regret it."

Jeri started to chuckle, and Rika joined her. Soon, they were both laughing out loud.

"Now come on," Rika continued, embarrassedly taking her arm back. "Let's see if we can't figure out how to get back to our own bodies."

******

Henry felt that something was wrong; he just didn't know what it was yet. He walked on in silence; Terriermon perched on his head as usual. He found Takato in the park, hanging around the slides.

"Hey Takato, you missed a very… interesting battle," Henry said.

"Yeah, Jeri and Rika were about to…" Terriermon said excitedly.

"Be quiet, Terriermon!" Henry said, quickly shushing the nosy Digimon.

"A battle. Really? Hmmm," was all Takato said. He had other things on his mind.

"Normally hearing about a battle perks you up. What's going on around here?"

"Well," Takato said slowly, "I think a girl we know likes me."

Henry chuckled. "I've been trying to tell you that for a while now." He had suspected for a while that Jeri had something of a crush on him.

"You see, that's the problem. It's not her," Takato said, nervously shuffling his feet. This wasn't easy to say.

"You're not talking about my sister now, are you?" Henry asked as one eyebrow rose. That was the only other girl it could possibly be, unless…

"No, of course not!" That would have been easier, Takato thought wryly. "I… I think Rika likes me."