Me: As usual, I don't own Digimon! Whew-after rewatching "The D-Reaper's Disguise" again, I feel...
Takato: Powered up?
Rika: Ready and willing to join the cause?
Henry: Invigorated?
Me: Just about all of those things-hey, what's Henry doing here?
Henry: Sorry about creeping in here uninvited-just wanted to see where Terriermon went to.
Me: Haven't seen that lop-eared rabbit of yours since he wanted asylum from Susie's rampage.
Henry: If you lived with her, you'd know why he wants to stay hidden.
Me: Trust me-I don't have to live with her to know.
Rika: So says the writer's block-induced author.
Me: (irritated) Hey!
Digimon Tamers: Tamers V.S. Dracula
Chapter I-Trip to Transylvania
"Digimon and Humans-both of them working together in harmony..." -Yamaki
After five months of utter insanity and catching up on schoolwork following the D-Reaper saga,
the Tamers finally get to go on summer vacation! Problem was that everyone was going nuts-or
would, if Leomon hadn't suggested that the team go on vacation for a while to calm their nerves
after everything that happened. After watching Takato's mom freak on the two of them, Rika
came up with a compromise-if she and Takato got to go on vacation with the others, then they
would do whatever their parents wanted them to when they got back. Surprisingly enough, they
agreed, and so did Henry's father. Now, thanks to Takato's 'brilliant idea,' the Tamers have to
go to Transylvania for a significant number of weeks! It probably would've worked out fine, if
two people hadn't awoken a dangerous-and seemingly familiar-vampire while inside a castle!
Will the Tamers be caught unaware of this new threat?
The Transylvania Alps, a few hours or so from Transylvania itself, by flight. Amidst those Alps was an old castle, and the one person who resided in that castle wasn't alive, but was one of the undead. At this time of day, it was mid-afternoon, but the being could walk out in the sunlight, as long as he didn't come into direct contact with the sun itself.
"A great power comes towards Transylvania this day, and I shall prepare myself for their
arrival..." The vampire, known only by legends as the infamous Dracula, dumped the bodies of
the two insignificant treasure hunters down into the snowy parts of the Alps and quickly
retreated inside his castle to rest, and to replenish his energy.
Takato breathed heavily, then let out a gasp of indignation as he found himself floating once again, but this time, it wasn't at the place he once called home, but in a different place entirely!
"What-what's going on?" Takato stammered as he found himself in his clothes, save for his goggles. A second later, he heard some voices and he looked down-and what he saw almost caused him to wretch:
"If you're planning on ruling over all of Transylvania, you'll have to do it over my dead body! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Takato saw himself racing forward, clutching his golden D-Power tightly in his hands, with Guilmon by his side and the triangle on Calumon's head glowing.
"Takato, wait!" Rika cried out.
"You can't take him on alone!" Henry added.
Laughing evilly, the vampire bared his fangs and flew forward, ready to feast once again!
Biomerge Digivolution!
"Biomerge, activate!" Takato screamed as he transformed into data and merged with Guilmon for the first time in five months.
"Guilmon Biomerge to...GALLANTMON!!!"
The Holy Knight Digimon roared defiantly as he flew upward, poised to take on the enemy,
regardless of what would happen to him within the next few seconds...
"Takato? Takato, wake up!"
Gasping loudly, Takato broke free from his nightmarish dream as he found himself gazing into Rika's violet eyes. Unconsciously, he felt himself blush.
"Don't tell me you ended up joining me in bed, Rika."
Blushing herself, Rika playfully whacked her boyfriend on the side of the head.
"Very funny, Gogglehead."
"What else would you have me think, since it is morning and you are next to me?"
"I just came in here to let you know that it's almost time to go, so get dressed-" Seeing what Takato was wearing at that instant, (A/N: Imagine those pajamas Takato's mother described in "The Messenger.") Rika started giggling. The blush on Takato's face turned even redder.
"What, what is it?!"
"You're kidding me? You wear...these to bed?" Rika's giggles turned into tiny bursts of laughter that irritated Takato to no end, until he figured out a surefire plan to get rid of his girlfriend.
"That's it!" Rika's laughter grew as Takato started hitting her with one of his pillows. "Get out of my room-at least until I've changed into something decent!"
"Like what-an astronaut suit?"
"Rika!"
"Come on, Chumly! The plane's not gonna wait forever for us to get onboard and sneak our Digimon!" Kazu yelled out impatiently.
"Give him a break, Kazu. His parents are doing what ours just did-giving him, Rika, Henry and the rest a fond farewell." Ryo noted calmly while trying to calm Cyberdramon down enough so he would deDigivolve into Monodramon.
"Yeah, but does his mother have to give the Digimon Queen explicit rules, and vice versa when Takato's gotta hang onto every word Rika's mother says?"
"True. They were lucky they got to say goodbye to their own parents, as well."
Takato, recovered from his experience with Rika in his bedroom-both of them agreed never to talk about it again, until their wedding day-now had to endure a significant number of minutes listening to everything Mrs. Nonaka said.
"Now, once you and Rika get on the plane, you can both sit by each other-make sure neither one of you don't go beyond kissing-be sure to find yourselves a decent rental apartment when you arrive at Transylvania and try to have a good time."
Takato nodded numbly, only able to grasp onto a few choice words, such as "don't go beyond kissing."
"Don't worry, ma'am..." Takato smiled lightly as he found himself pulled into a gentle hug by
Rika's mother and grandmother. "...I promise that no matter what it takes, I will keep Rika safe
from any harm."
"Now, remember-once you and Takato get on the plane, you can both sit by each other-make sure that the two of you don't go beyond kissing, mind you-be sure to find yourselves and your other friends a nice apartment to stay at while you're there and...keep my baby out of trouble."
Rika smiled as she wiped away some tears that had started to cascade down her face.
"Don't you worry-" Rika's smile broadened as Takato's parents pulled her into a gentle hug. "-I'll make sure that while we're there, Takato's safe and sound."
"Hey! The announcer people just called our plane!" Kazu spat out impatiently. In shock, Takato and Rika pulled away and raced forward, taking notice that the Digimon and the other Tamers were already on the way toward the gate.
"If we miss this plane, Takato-" Rika began as they started catching up to the others, "-you'll live to regret it!"
"What?! Why me?"
"You nearly cost us ten minutes by waking up late!"
"What about you? If you hadn't started laughing at me-"
"Less talking, more running!" Terriermon yelled out as Takato and Rika finally caught up with the others, barely able to head past them, Calumon leaping from Jeri's arms onto Rika's head.
"We're gonna make it, we're gonna make it, we're gonna make it..." Takato chanted to himself
as he managed to get ahead of the others and was successfully able to see the flight
attendant...until he had a daydream that came out of nowhere!
Takato couldn't believe this had happened to him again! This time, he saw Gallantmon in battle, but looking severely beaten up and injured. He could only imagine how Rika must've felt! The evil vampire revealed his face at that second, and Takato felt like screaming!
"And you thought you would be a match for me, in this form? Think again..."
As Gallantmon deDigivolved into Takato and Guilmon, the vampire bared his fangs and leaned
downward toward the Tamer's protruding neck, and...
"Aahhhh!" Takato gasped in amazement as he came to a stop, which was a completely foolish mistake, because Rika collided into him, Henry, Jeri and Susie collided into them, Kazu and Kenta collided into them, Ryo collided into them and with the exception of Calumon, the other Digimon collided into Ryo, which sent everyone down onto the ground in a mass of tangled limbs.
"Takato, have you lost your mind?" Kazu yelped out. "We were seconds from the gate and you suddenly stop and fantasize your future! You couldn't have done that on the plane?"
"I'm sure Takato had a good reason for stopping, Kazu." Jeri pointed out as the team was able to get themselves untangled within minutes.
"Hopefully, he'll be able to talk to us about it onboard." Rika added while yanking Takato forward to the flight attendant.
"Ow! Okay, Rika-let go!"
Takato pulled away from Rika's hold as he held up two tickets and said, "We need...two-first-class seats?!"
Whereas Takato's eyes widened to the size of plates, Rika stood there in shock.
"Okay-you may get on board."
"Yeah-thanks. Guys!" Takato yelled out. A second later, Guilmon and Renamon were about to head out to the plane when the same flight attendant stopped them.
"I'm afraid they'll have to go to the cargo hold-"
As his eyes dilated at that moment, Guilmon murmured, "Cargo holds and us Digimon never really mesh well together in situations like these."
"We'll find some way to blend in." Renamon added while pushing Guilmon forward.
"You see?" Takato laughed lightly as he and Rika headed after their partners, Calumon still on top of Rika's head. "They'll find a way to blend in. Thanks!"
Minutes later, the other Tamers walked up, gave the flight attendant their tickets and went to the
plane with their Digimon in tow. Minutes after that, nine people got off the plane and basically
asked for a refund of their money. Don't bother to ask why-you already know why.
"I can't believe Chumly and his Queen ended up getting first-class-and so did Henry and Jeri! How did those four-five if you add Susie-get that much money?!" Kazu was griping about that all the way to the plane.
"Relax, Kazu." Kenta mumbled. "Their parents do have quite a bit more money than us."
"No offense, guys, but if I hadn't gone AWOL with Cyberdramon a little over a year ago, I'd be up there right now with them." Ryo announced.
"Well, since Takato did almost make us miss this little flight-twice-what say the three of us get a
little bit of revenge, hmm?"
Noticing Henry, Jeri and Susie-who had Lopmon in her lap and Terriermon in the other seat-asleep, Takato was still feeling a bit nervous about the dream he'd had earlier and what had occurred in the airport.
"Okay. What is it? You've been edgy ever since this morning, and the only time you relaxed was when we had...that quarrel in your room." This time, Rika didn't try to hide the fact that her cheeks had turned a significant color, but kept her voice at a minimum so that other passengers-or any other flight attendants-wouldn't be disturbed.
"Well...I'm not sure if I should tell you about this, 'cause you once said that if I mentioned anything like that again, serious repercussions would happen-"
Grinning slightly, Rika replied, "Gogglehead, I think my exact words were, 'you mention that dream again, I'll send you off to dreamland for good.' Emphasis on 'that.' Now, what's wrong?"
Takato felt Rika's penetrating gaze locked onto his own brown, chocolate-like eyes and he found strength to speak. "It happened before you woke me up. I found myself in the air, and I looked down, and I saw us-you, myself, Henry, the Digimon and I think the others were there, too. But, we were facing something...something truly demonic, even more horrifying than Daemon. At that second, I found out that I could still Biomerge with Guilmon, even after all this time."
Appearing at Rika's side at the same time Guilmon and Calumon entered in with a tray of food that was almost gone, Renamon inquired, "Was there anything else familiar about the creature?"
"Let's see...he had black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail like Rika's but not sticking up in the air, his eyes were an evil color of red-literally, his irises were the color of red! Anyway, all of a sudden, his mouth pulled back and fangs popped out of his mouth. His red eyes got even more redder than they'd been before, and if I'm right, this guy not only matched Gallantmon's power...he turned out to be even more powerful than him."
Renamon's eyes narrowed at that second; Calumon hid on Guilmon's head and Guilmon had a confused look on his face.
"Renamon, what is it?" Rika asked gently. "What's wrong?"
Knowing what she knew already, this only made it harder for the Rookie Digimon to do what she had to do, but she did it anyway. "Nothing's wrong, Rika. It's just jet lag."
"While you're on the plane? Don't you usually get that when your off the plane?" Takato asked grimly.
"Usually. We'll be right back."
"What do you mean we-whoa!" Guilmon's protest was interrupted as Renamon pulled him-and Calumon-away by his tail toward the back of the plane, even past Coach.
"So, was that a dream of some sort, or what?" Rika asked while turning back to Takato.
"I don't know! I thought our adventures were over and done with when we beat the D-Reaper and we had to leave our Digimon in the Digital World, but with this dream and that daydream..."
Takato was struggling with his warring emotions, not wanting to show his tears openly to Rika, but at the same time, wanting her to understand what it was he was going through.
"It's going to be okay." Rika insisted sweetly, cupping Takato's chin in her hand. "Trust me-if some demonic vamp or something shows up, we'll just show him the door, got it?"
Nodding, Takato felt his cheeks heat up as he inched his way toward Rika's waiting lips, their eyes closed in anticipation as they drew closer, and closer, and closer, until...
"Hey, Chumly-here's a little present for you!"
"Let's not leave the Digimon Queen out of this!"
Takato and Rika held their screams of anger to a minimum as Kazu and Ryo bombarded them with about two or four water balloons at that instant, effectively drenching them and ruining their romantic moment.
Angered and borderlining near furiousness, Rika bolted out of her seat, but Takato, wet as he was, barely managed to hold her back.
"Takato, let me go right now! I should've done this a loooong time ago, and I'm only sorry I didn't do it when we were in the Digital World!"
"Rika, you can't! At least, not here. Didn't someone once say that 'revenge is a dish best served
cold?" Takato said, a tiny sneer appearing on his face. Slowly, but surely, Rika's anger faded
away, and a smile of her own appeared.
"Was there a reason you took us away from the food and the cream puffs?" Calumon asked as Renamon finally let go of Guilmon's tail far at the back of the plane.
"I didn't want to alarm Rika or the others about this, because I think I know precisely who Takato was describing." came the response.
"Well, then, who was it?"
Closing her eyes tightly, Renamon said calmly, "It was the legendary vampire, Dracula."
A second later, Calumon was near tears as he worriedly scrambled up on top of Guilmon's back; the Virus-type still had that confused look on his face.
"I'm going to assume you don't know who I mean, so the gist of it is this: Dracula isn't only a vampire dedicated to drinking people's blood-he knows about Digimon and the humans who help them, mainly us and the Tamers. No one knows how it happened-not even the Digimon Sovereigns know how, but Dracula knows about us. And he won't stop at anything, or anyone, until he finds what he wants."
"And what does he want, Renamon?"
"No one really knows."
"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts. We will be arriving in the country known as Transylvania within 20 minutes."
Takato yawned from his position on his seat and got up to find out that Rika had found herself a pillow-technically, his stomach. She was already laying there peacefully, a content expression on her face.
"Uh, Renamon?" Takato asked nervously, still a little on edge whenever the Rookie Digimon would appear out of nowhere. Once she did, Takato jumped slightly, but Rika didn't wake up.
"Any chance you could get Rika up without having her kill me?"
At least the Tamers have made it to Transylvania! The question is, will Takato's dreams come true once they finally come face-to-face with Dracula? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
