Me: I don't own Digimon, as usual. I also don't own Linkin Park's song, "With You." After listening to it for a number of times-I've borrowed the CD "Hybrid Theory" from a friend-this song works with the upcoming chapter.
Takato: Just be happy that you've brought me back from death's door, okay?
Me: You don't know how happy I am that I did! Where's Rika?
Takato: Actually, I haven't seen her for quite a while.
Me: That isn't good news, not at all. You'd better go and look for her.
Takato: Me?! Why me?
Me: Do I have to answer that question?
Takato: (gulps) Not really.
Digimon Tamers: Takato V.S. Takato
Chapter XIII-Rika's Light Shines Through
"You go to a girls' school and you live in a house without a father, a brother, or any male cousin, and you have managed to be the most 'tomboyish' girl of all Chosen Children! No girl can make it that far-be proud of it." -Rika Nonaka
"Keep your partner away from all things edible!" -Takato Matsuki
"Your partner may be the smallest of the three, but it's good to believe that strength is not
important." -Henry Wong
There's no place like home, right? Not in this case! When Beelzemon and Megidramon ended up back in the Real World, they caused mayhem to reign supreme while the Tamers' parents and Yamaki had to watch. Jeri came up with a surefire suggestion that they should each think of something good Takato did for the team so they could make it back home safely, and it worked!
While Henry, Jeri and Ryo fought off Beelzemon, Rika had to start an intense fight with the
Tamer of Darkness, who had possessed Takato's body! Eventually, she stabbed him with the
knife Takato still had, and that's when Takato's clone evacuated his body. Takato knew he could
survive an injury as tough as this, but he had to even the score for himself, and for Rika. He
forced his spirit to exit his body and taught his clone a lesson or two before sending him into
Beelzemon's body! Now that the Tamers and their Digimon are back in the Real World, does
that mean they'll get some relaxation time in? Not likely!
Takato eyed his surroundings with a look of wonder. He'd been at Rika's house before, and enjoyed being in her backyard, but he'd never been inside her bedroom before this. It was the traditional Japanese setting-a lone bedding area and some blankets.
"About time you got here."
Gulping, Takato turned around to face Rika, who wasn't dressed like she normally was, but had just barely returned from school, and was still in her school uniform.
"H-hey, Rika. Fancy running into you here. I was just, uh..."
"Calm down-it's not like I'm gonna hurt you for sneaking in here."
"Whew! Is it just me, or does it sound like a phone's ringing in here?" Takato asked.
I woke up in a dream today to the cold of the static, and put my cold feet on the floor
Forgot all about yesterday, remembering I'm pretending to be where I'm not anymore
A little taste of hypocrisy, and I'm left in the wake of the mistake-slow to react!
Even though you're so close to me, you're still so distant, and I can't bring you back
Takato was jolted out of bed by the ringing phone, which was on top of his dresser. It had been a week since he and the other Tamers had returned home and he'd had the courage to introduce Rika to his parents, whereas Rika had reintroduced him to her grandmother and introduced him to her mother. They had taken the news of their relationship surprisingly well, since they'd just battled themselves in a pretty intense fight-truth be told, Rika had battled the Tamer of Darkness, who'd possessed his body for a time and he'd left his body to send his clone into Beelzemon's body for a time. All they'd been advised on was to take it slow and not overdo it. That was something the both of them could agreeably obey.
He reached for the phone, wincing in pain because of the wound the knife had left in his lower rib cage.
"Hello?"
"Gogglehead? Hey-we need to talk."
Takato gulped. Conversations that started off with the infamous words "we need to talk" rarely ended well, at least on TV.
"O-okay. Where?"
"The park. That is where your new home is, right?"
Takato laughed. Even though his parents knew about Guilmon, he still couldn't keep him at the house, but he could feed him as much bread as possible. Work on the "Guilmon bread" was coming along, as his father put it.
"Yeah. I'll be there in five minutes if traffic's on my side." Takato joked.
Rika had Renamon take her the entire way to the park, because she hadn't wanted to walk the entire way over there. Most people would consider this a sign of laziness, but Rika was conflicted with doubts.
"Where is he? He said he'd be here within five minutes."
"It's only been six minutes, Rika. There's no need to snap at him, unless he takes over two hours to get here." Renamon replied.
Takato had only come to Guilmon's hideaway to pick his partner up, and ended up seeing an eyeful of Jeri and Henry, kissing outside of the hideaway while his partner was sleeping!
"Hey-you've got the entire world watching you on CNN right now!" Takato exclaimed, waking Guilmon up and startling Jeri and Henry.
"Takato! Hey, um...how's Rika?" Henry stammered.
"I've got to go and meet her right now, matter-of-fact. Come on, boy. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, especially while you're in here." Takato shuddered as both Henry and Jeri blushed.
"Maybe we should keep an eye on him for a while." Jeri suggested.
"Point taken. What happened to Terriermon and Leomon?"
"Leomon and Terriermon are scouting for any Digital Fields that may open up around here." Jeri quickly explained.
"Let's go find them before anything happens."
"About time you got here!"
Takato blushed heavily as Rika eyed him with a look of relief combined with worry, irritation and doubt rolled up into one.
"Glad to see you too. What's up?"
"Okay, this isn't easy for me to say-"
"Oh, no. Not again!" Takato groaned while hugging himself tightly.
"I'm not gonna break up with you again, Takato! The last time I did that, we ended up meeting Megidramon, and the last time we faced him, you were merged with him. I've never truly opened up to anyone before this, and I'm opening up to the one person who should be hating my guts right now. Don't you?"
Takato couldn't believe what he'd heard. Technically, Rika was revealing a problem she had to him, and she thought he hated her?
"No, I don't hate you! Why would I hate you?"
"I stabbed you in the chest with this knife!" Rika yanked the knife out of her back pocket and showed it to Takato, covered with both her and his dried blood. "That's ample reason to despise someone."
"I think maybe my clone slapped you around one too many times when we came home, Rika. You were blinded by your anger-at least that's how Renamon put it once-and you wanted to help me out by getting rid of my clone. True, you stabbed me, but according to Renamon, that was my clone's plan all along. At the same time, he got out but I survived."
Rika was stunned. Even after all this, he still loved her? There was only one way to truly know. Calumon chose that time to hop in and start playing with Guilmon.
"Here's a thought-if you truly love me, you wouldn't mind if I did this then!"
Takato's head snapped back as Rika punched him in the face! Guilmon, Henry, Jeri and Calumon gasped in surprise. Takato's eyes narrowed.
"Okay-that was not only intentional, but this proverb covers what I'm gonna do next..." Takato rose his hand up and slapped Rika across her cheek!
"I don't back down easily-being around you and being with you taught me that, Rika!"
It's true!
The way I feel was promised by your face, the sound of your voice painted on my memories
Even if you're not with me, I'm with you!
Chorus: You-now I see, keeping everything inside!
With you!
You-now I see, even when I close my eyes...
I hit you, and you hit me back
We fall to the floor-the rest of the day stands still
Fine line between this and that
When things go wrong, I pretend that the past isn't real
Now I'm trapped in this memory and I'm left in the wake of the mistake-slow to react!
Even though you're close to me, you're still so distant, and I can't bring you back
Takato and Rika faced each other, blood trickling down Takato's face and a bruise appearing on Rika's cheek.
"What's wrong with you? Are you still stuck in the past or something? I want us to move forward, and we can't do that if you're still lamenting on what my clone did over a week ago!"
"I can't help it, okay?! Your clone stabbed me, and I stabbed you-an eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth. Go ahead-take this knife and stab me!" Rika demanded.
"Okay, now I really know something's bugging you. I'm not gonna hurt you after we're both recovering from this possibly traumatic event! You're always distant to me, even after all we've been through in the Digital World. Isn't there anything I can do to convince you that no matter what happens, I will still love you-whether I'm possessed or your possessed? What?"
"How 'bout this-you can die! Double Impact!!"
"Takato, look out!" Jeri screamed as Takato heard the bullets fire before Beelzemon aimed the weapons at the two Tamers. Growling deep within his throat, Takato dived forward and pushed Rika to the ground, yanking out his Digivice at the same time.
"Biomerge, activate!"
As Takato was changed into data and merged with Guilmon, he whispered, "Remember-I'm always with you, in heart, body and spirit."
Biomerge Digivolution!
"Guilmon Biomerge to...GALLANTMON!!!"
The Mega Digimon looked around for his foe, while Henry and Jeri revealed themselves from their position and raced over to Rika, Renamon and Calumon.
"Where are you? I can sense you, yet I can't see you!"
"That's 'cause I'm here!" Catching Gallantmon off guard, Beelzemon ambushed him from behind, sending him to the ground and causing him damage!
"Takato, get up!" Rika yelled out.
It's true!
The way I feel was promised by your face, the sound of your voice painted on my memories
Even if you're not with me, I'm with you!
Chorus: You-now I see, keeping everything inside
With you!
You-now I see, even when I close my eyes
With you!
You-now I see, keeping everything inside
With you!
You-now I see, even when I close my eyes...
Terriermon and Leomon raced in to see Gallantmon being mercilessly beaten by Beelzemon! It became apparent to the Tamers that Guilmon hadn't had anything to eat since the previous night, and so he wasn't at his full strength yet. Rika felt something die within her only to be replaced by conviction.
"Gogglehead's right. I've got to quit living in the past and focus on the here and now! No matter what, he'll always love me, and I'll always be by his side...good or bad! I'm gonna see tomorrow with eyes wide open, and I'm gonna see that you do too, Takato! Biomerge, activate!"
"Here we gooooo!" Calumon yelped as the triangle on his head glowed brightly at the same time as Rika was changed into data and merged with Renamon.
Biomerge Digivolution!
"Renamon Biomerge to...SAKUYAMON!!!"
NO!
No matter how far we've come, I can't wait to see tomorrow...
No matter how far we've come, I, I can't wait to see tomorrow...
Chorus: With you!
You-now I see, keeping everything inside
With you!
You-now I see, even when I close my eyes
With you!
You-now I see, keeping everything inside
With you!
You-now I see, even when I close my eyes...(final acoustics; song ends)
The Tamers all gazed in awe at the latest addition to their team of Mega Digimon. In shock, Beelzemon relinquished his hold on Gallantmon, which gave him ample time to transform his right arm into his sword.
"Lightning Joust!!"
Beelzemon grunted as he was blasted hard and sent flying. Gallantmon turned toward Sakuyamon, who started speaking in the dual voices of Rika and Renamon, "I have been conflicted, but now I have cleared my mind of those thoughts. In either case, you, Beelzemon, have been causing nothing but pain, suffering and torment towards those who have tried to help you. It is finally time for you to meet your match."
"Heh. Should've known Pineapple head couldn't beat me without help."
Grinning, Sakuyamon responded, "He could, but teamwork is something we enjoy. You, on the other hand, are alone."
"All right-bring it! YAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Beelzemon growled with anger as he flew toward Gallantmon and Sakuyamon, guns blasting toward the two Mega Digimon!
Talk about tension! Even though Rika and Renamon have Biomerged, can they help Takato and Guilmon defeat Beelzemon once and for all? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!