Me: After seeing practically no Rukato in these Saturday's episodes, I found myself at the bottom of the well until, lo and behold, I got to see Star Wars on the 19th. And it was because of the relationship betwixt Anakin and Padme that convinced me to post up this chapter. I don't own Digimon.

Takato: So, which part of the movie inspired you to get the whip cracking on this? Hmm?

Me: I'd say, but I might spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet.

Rika: Who wouldn't have seen this movie the first day it came out?

Me: That would be yours truly. Now hush. The best music score that played was-I'm not the first to admit this; just ask famous Rukato/Taiora author Flamegaruru-Anakin and Padme's theme.

Takato: (sniffles) I loved it, too...

Rika: Just great. That's the last thing I need now-two lovesick fools at my beck and call!

(I eye Rika with a knowing look)

Rika: (stammers) Well...it was decent, and awe-inspiring, I'll admit that.

Me: Way to go, mini-Padme, mini-Anakin!

Takato, Rika: What?!

Me: (laughs) Like you guys didn't know-Takato relates to Anakin in similar ways; Rika relates to Padme. Basically, mini-Anakin; mini-Padme.

Rika: Now we're based off of fictional characters?

Takato: I think it sounds great!

Rika: You would.









Digimon Tamers: Tamers V.S. Dracula

Chapter VI-Battling the Darkness







"You're exactly the way I remembered you in my dreams..." -Anakin Skywalker, "Star Wars-Episode II: Attack of the Clones"

"The self is not something that one finds, it is something that one creates." -Thomas Szasz







After a timely battle concerning Takato and vampire Rika, the Tamers managed to give Dracula the slip while Takato conked Rika out and took her to a cave near the other side of the Alps. When Rika did come to, Takato had done his homework-he'd tied her up, but made sure that holy water covered the ropes binding her in place. Now, with only Guilmon, Renamon and quite a lot of vampire stuff to use-crosses, garlic, stakes, holy water, and other stuff, Takato's gotta try his hardest to bring Rika back from wherever she was sent to. Think he can do it? Hopefully!









Morning had arrived and while Takato had gotten some sleep, Rika had fumed the entire night, feeling her strength slowly, but surely, diminishing away.

"No matter what tricks you try, it won't work! You just don't get it, do you?"

Takato grinned slightly while eating some food Guilmon and Renamon had brought back from the others, who were still "waiting on pins and needles to find out what happened" as Terriermon had put it.

"Of course I do. I just don't think Dracula could've driven you out entirely. There's still gotta be some of you in there-you said so yourself, even if it was a trick at first. Remember how we first got together in the first place? It was all because we'd been stuck under a warehouse because of-"

"-our clones, I remember! I told you, no matter what you try to tell me, it won't work."

Takato groaned while staring at Rika, then turned and stormed out of the cave, missing the little smirk that came to Rika's face.







"Still not working?"

Eyeing Renamon, who, along with Guilmon, were attempting to get some rest after staying up during most of the night to watch out for Dracula, Takato nodded while slumping next to his sleeping partner.

"I thought it wouldn't be that hard to try to tap into Rika's heart, but I was wrong! During most of the night-while I was trying to make sure Rika wouldn't vamp me-I tried to remind her of how much we meant to each other, but nothing I said got through to her. Tell me the truth-is this really not worth my time? Is Rika gone for good?"

Holding his head in his hands, Takato started crying softly, only partly aware of the tears rolling down his cheeks and stop once they'd hit the palms of his hands. A moment later, Renamon forced him to look back up at her.

"From what Rika has told me about you, you haven't been one to give up on people you care about. And when it comes to your friends, you always give it 100%, no matter what the risk is, without any thought of consequence."

"Some people would call that recklessness."

"True, but it can also be seen as an act of courage, or love."







"That's it. I can't take anymore waiting! Henry, I'm going back. Catch up to me when you come to your senses."

"Terriermon, stop!" Henry was barely able to stop his partner from leaping out of the window! (A/N: It's not impossible-we've seen Lopmon do it, right?)

"Even with all of us there, we weren't that much of a match for Dracula, right?" Henry insisted calmly.

"Yeah, but-"

"You don't want to have Dracula playing dodge ball with your head, or your ears, right?"

"Of course not! Sheesh, how can this trip get any worse than it already is?!"

That's when a cell phone rang a second later in Takato and Rika's room. The others glared angrily at Terriermon while Jeri got up in order to pick up the ringing phone.

"What? It's not like I'm psychic or anything like that."

"Hello?"

"Your not Rika! Where is she?! I'll have you know my granddaughter knows some fancy karate moves, so don't you dare try anything with her."

"Jeri, who is that?" Henry asked calmly while dragging Terriermon in, away from the others.

"I think it could be Rika's grandmother. I'm not sure because she never really introduced us-"

"Ahhhh! I'll take it!" Henry protested as he grabbed the phone from his girlfriend's outstretched hand. "Hello? I don't think you would remember me, but you once mistook me for a kidnapper when you and Rika went to a play. Anyway, she and Takato went out-yeah, he got her up at 8:00 or something and they're out shopping now, so they can't answer. They'll call back later on today. Bye!"

"'Shopping?' Henry, we gotta talk about you and these lies you seem prone to tell your elders." Terriermon noted cynically a moment later.

"Very funny, Terriermon. Now hush while I try to figure out a way to relate this to Takato or you'll spend at least 3 months as 'Princess Pretty Pants,' okay?"

"HEY! That's cruel and unusual punishment!"







Despite the fact that he had been stuck inside of his own house for a time, Dracula had been able to perform a spell that made the cross vaporize by midday. The vampire grinned as he came up with a plan that would bring the leader of the Tamers back out of hiding. He knew these heroes better than he knew himself, and he knew that the foremost thing that would be on the leader's mind would be to restore his soul mate to her former glory.

"I shall perform a counter spell that will allow the flight plans they took to be revealed to me. It has never been done by historians before, but I'm not a historian, so what would it matter?"







"Here-so you can get, at least, some of your strength back."

With barely opened eyes, Rika noticed a bag of blood at her feet that had been tossed by Takato moments ago.

"Thought Renamon told you I couldn't drink anyone's blood. Didn't you want to bring me back?"

"Yeah, but according to her, this isn't regular blood. It's pig's blood. Technically, its cold and lifeless, so it shouldn't be a problem. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I just now caught a spark of hope when you said, 'didn't you want to bring me back?' That would imply that you're concerned about me, right?"

When Rika didn't respond, Takato looked down at her and was slightly amazed to find that she was hanging onto every word he was saying.

"Anyway, vampire's hearts don't beat, and I was just wondering, if your heart isn't beating, why do I hear two hearts beat in synch with mine?"

"Uh..."

"I remember practically everything that happened to us ever since the Digital World, Rika...when you broke up with me, how you found out about why we had the link in the first place, when you found the strength to Biomerge with Renamon, our battles against Daemon and the D-Reaper. But the thing I'll remember most of all is how I proposed to you when our Digimon came back from the Digital World..."







Flashback

"Rika? There's something I've got to say...Ever since we saved the Real World from Daemon and had to stop the D-Reaper from causing all kinds of havoc and chaos, I've wanted to ask you something, but I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do this until now, with everyone still looking at me...I know this isn't something that a hero would do, which kinda threw me off guard when you called me your hero earlier, but I just wanted to know...Rika Nonaka, sometime in the future, when we've grown up a little bit, will you marry me?"

End flashback







As Rika was struggling to maintain her composure, Takato had taken the ring out of his pocket and held it out for her to see, tears staining his face once again.

"That's how I know that no matter what happens between here, now and the rest of our lives, that we'll always love each other, Rika. You complete me, and I complete you. Yin and yang. Don't you see how it fits so perfectly?"

To Takato's surprise, the bit of sunlight that was streaming on the ground was suddenly beginning to turn darker. The Tamer gulped as he heard Guilmon and Renamon launch their attacks!

"PyroSphere!!"

"Diamond Storm!!"

Without even waiting, Takato pulled the cross out from the ground and ran back up to the front of the cave to see both Rookie Digimon take on Dracula amidst an eclipse!

"How'd you-?"

"-find this little place? It wasn't that difficult, really. All I did was a little counter spell to reverse the effects of your sword, a second spell to bring about an eclipse and a third one to reveal the path you took to get here. In all actuality, a real eclipse would take about years to form, if not decades, and I thought, 'why wait that long, or until nightfall, when I can manipulate all of Transylvania within a matter of hours?'"

"Well, you're not gonna 'manipulate Transylvania' while I'm still breathing! Guilmon, let's go!" At that second, Takato pulled out his Digivice and a Modify card, which instantly changed into a Blue card.

"Digimodify! Matrix Digivolution, activate!"

Matrix Digivolution!

"Guilmon Matrix Digivolve to...WARGROWLMON!!!"

"Okay, WarGrowlmon-take him out!" Takato demanded heatedly as Rika came up behind him, waiting in the shadows to see what would occur.

"You got it, Takato! Radiation Blade!!"

The powerful attack struck the Dark Prince, but he didn't even flinch. To make matters worse, not only did that attack reverberate off of Dracula, it struck WarGrowlmon with twice the firepower! In effect, Takato cried out as he felt the sheer force of that attack as well.

"Oops-I thought I'd forgotten about another spell that I'd initiated, and it looks like I have. I do hope neither of you were hurt too badly, but if you were, then all I have to say is-don't underestimate me."

"Stop!" Rika suddenly cried out, letting her anger speak out for itself.

"Rika...why?"

"What is this?!"

Knowing that she was still expected to be a vampire, Rika turned toward Takato and picked him up by the scruff of his neck. "There's undoubtedly a much easier way to kill him, and deleting his partner isn't an honorable way to do it."

"True, but whoever said honor was what vampires were known for?"

"Atomic Blaster!!" WarGrowlmon knew what he was risking by launching this attack, but there was no other choice. The massive attack was sent soaring toward Dracula, and it struck him, but nothing happened. Moments later, it bounded off of him and, as time seemed to slow down, it started hurtling toward WarGrowlmon!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" As Takato reached for his Digivice, Rika reached inside his pocket and pulled out her Digivice and Modify cards, one of which changed into a Blue card.

"Digimodify! Matrix Digivolution, activate!"

Matrix Digivolution!

"Renamon Matrix Digivolve to...TAOMON!!!"

"Talisman Spell!!"

Time was restored as the powerful attack was reflected into the air by Taomon's shield, which encompassed both Ultimate Digimon at once. Confused, Takato looked back at Rika, who still bore the fangs of a vampire, but her eyes were back to the same color of violet. Despite that good news, they'd been like that before Rika had revealed her true nature, so why would the Digivice work now?

Rika answered Takato's unasked question by stepping towards him and enveloping him in a tight embrace. "You reminded me of the one thing I'd forgotten about-how happy you made me that day our Digimon came back. No creature of the night can remember that and recall the joy they felt because their hearts don't beat. No matter what happens between here, now and the rest of our lives, I will always love you, Takato."

The second Rika leaned forward and kissed Takato with undying passion and happiness, their Digivices glowed brightly with red and blue beams shooting up into the air and striking not only the sun, which started moving away from the moon, but also the shield that protected Dracula, breaking both spells at the same time!

"No! How is that possible? There's no way you could've returned from beyond the grave!"

Pulling away, Takato, Rika and their Digimon, back in their Rookie modes, stared the vampire down, the vampire trait completely gone from Rika's body. Dracula hissed as he changed into a bat and flew away as fast as he could.

"Love can conquer anything, pale boy. You shouldn't have underestimated us!"

"Hey, Chumly! Guys, are you okay?"

"Kazu?" Takato, Rika and the others turned to see Kazu and Kenta fly in on Guardromon, Susie, Henry and Jeri ride in on Antylamon, Leomon racing as fast as possible and Ryo and Cyberdramon flying in. The team eventually reached the entrance to the cave.

"What are you guys doing here?"

The question had been directed at Henry, but Kazu interjected. "Well, your 'Vampire Queen' got a phone call from her grandmother, but Jeri answered it. That turned out to be a huge mistake, but Henry covered and said that you guys were out shopping-"

"'Shopping?'" Rika glared daggers at Henry, who laughed weakly but didn't say anything.

"-so, after that fiasco ended, we were all trying to figure out who was gonna be the ones to come up here and tell you; unfortunately, an eclipse came in out of nowhere, so we all decided we were gonna see what was going on."

"We'll tell you about it later. Now, I just want to get back to the hotel and go to bed." Takato yawned at that statement, barely noticing that Rika had placed her arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah, and dream about him and Rika going at it all night long-"

"Terriermon!"

"By the way, brainiac-what's this I hear about you telling my grandmother that Takato and I were going shopping? If anyone-other than Takato or Renamon-should know that I despise shopping, it would have to be you."

"She was only a vampire for one night, but that brings about the eternal answer-you can take the Digimon Queen out of the vampire, but you can't take the vampire out of the-"

"Who was talking to you anyway, Mr. Perfect?!"









Later on, back at the castle near the top of the Transylvanian Alps, a tiny bat screeched as it flew inside two doors, then changed back into human form, smoldering, but alive...and truly angry.

"I'll show the Tamers they don't know who they're messing with! They think they can dominate over me and destroy me with one attack? They're gravely mistaken."

The Dark Prince closed the doors and paced for a few minutes as a plan of action came to mind. "Throughout centuries, people have always said that the best way to defeat a snake is to chop off its head. Tonight, I shall remind the Tamers why I am all powerful, all fearing and all knowing..."

And you thought with Rika back on the good side, the vampire would just give up? Not! Find out what happens next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!