Me: Okay, people-we've all been bored out of our minds ever since Fanfiction.net has gone kaplooey, but all we need to do is bear it and hope that the problem has been permanently fixed! I don't own Digimon, by the way.
Rika: So, what's this I hear about a new villain?
Takato: Take my advice-if you want to live, don't tell her!
Me: (rolls eyes) Oh. Well, uh...I've decided to merge one of your greatest foes with another of your greatest foes. In this chapter, Takato will get to meet him!
Rika: (narrows eyes) And just what do you mean by that?
Me: If I told you what happens now, they would know-
Rika: Like they don't already know!? JUST TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS TO TAKATO!!
Me: Let me think...no! (runs off)
Rika: GET BACK HERE! I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU!! (races off)
Takato: (sighs) I told him not to tell her, but does he listen to me? Noooooooo...The Goggle boys hardly ever get the respect they deserve.
Terriermon: Well, if you would just have admitted your feelings to Rika in the first place, none of this would be happening.
Takato: Who invited you here?!
Terriermon: Momentai! At least I'm not Ryo, right?
Takato: (groans) Point taken.
Digimon Tamers: A Rukato Wedding
Chapter II-Meet The Ice-Reaper
"No...! I...I already have a partner..." -Rika Nonaka, "The Icemon Cometh"
"Nothing's gonna tear us apart...nothing!" -Takato Matsuki, "The D-Reaper's Disguise"
On the eve of the wedding, both Takato and Rika were forced into attending their own
bachelor/bachelorette parties! Neither one wanted to enjoy this "traditional" moment unless it
was with each other, so they ditched in different ways-Takato had Guilmon bash his head on
Henry's dad's door, whereas Rika simply left through the bathroom window. As if that wasn't
horrifying enough, when the bride and groom met up at the park, they were ambushed by Skull
Gallantmon and Lady Sakuyamon! Only by Biomerging to Gallantmon and Sakuyamon-and
then, into Gallantmon: Crimson Mode-were they able to defeat Skull Gallantmon. Man, Lady
Sakuyamon wasn't happy about that, but to make matters worse, they'd been sent by the Ice-Reaper, a deadly combination of IceDevimon and the D-Reaper! Can things get any worse than
they are now?
Takato panted heavily as he and Guilmon ran as fast as they could from the horrendous villain that had just Bio-emerged out of nowhere!
"Takato, I can't run anymore!"
"Come on, Guilmon-if we hurry, we might be able to find Rika, Henry or any of the others...wherever they're at." Takato responded as he pulled out his Digivice and a Modify card.
"There you are! I must admit, you gave me quite a chase, but now, I'm afraid time's run out...for both of you." Takato and Guilmon gasped as they both turned to face what Takato considered one of the deadliest Digimon ever!
"I don't think so! If it's a fight you want, you'll get it!" Takato narrowed his eyes as he quickly swiped his card through his Digivice.
"Digimodify! Hyper Wing, activate!"
Roaring loudly, Guilmon felt a number of wings appear on his back and within seconds, the Rookie Digimon took to the skies.
"PyroSphere!!"
Laughing loudly, the Digimon used his right hand-which sported a golden ring!-and deflected the attack!
"Truly powerful, but that wasn't powerful enough! Prepare to taste cold steel, weakling! Icicle Scythe!!"
WHAM!! Moaning loudly, Guilmon felt his wings disappear only seconds before he burst into bits of data that was absorbed by the evil Digimon!
"GUILMON!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Takato wailed sadly, dropping to his knees in defeat. The Digimon revealed himself, and the former Tamer recoiled in shock and surprise.
"But...but how?" Takato stammered quietly.
"That is my little secret. And now that I've gained my revenge on him, it's time for me to do the same with you before I go to find my Tamer. Ha!! ICICLE SCYTHE!!!"
As the attack started hurtling toward Takato, all he could do was scream helplessly in agony and torment...
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
"NO!!! TAKATO!!!!"
Gasping loudly, Rika forced herself out of her terrifying nightmare, sweat permeating her brow as well as making her nightgown cling to her body. Saddened and frightened by this dream, Rika first checked her chest to see if there was any blood spewing out-there wasn't, obviously. Then, she started breathing in and out, in and out to see if she could calm herself down.
"What I wouldn't give to have Takato rubbing my shoulders for a change!" Rika thought to herself as, out of the corner of her eye, Renamon appeared, a calm look on her face, but if Rika were to turn and stare at her face-to-face, she would notice the alarmed glance in Renamon's eyes.
"Rika, what's wrong? It's only 3:30 in the morning, and you're not supposed to be up for at least another few hours."
Still breathing in and out, Rika considered telling her partner she was fine, but from the way she looked, it would be apparent to Renamon that she was lying, so she decided to tell the truth. "I just had a dream that became a nightmare within seconds! I thought Takato was supposed to be the one to have these 'prophetic' dreams, not me!" (A/N: Remember-since Takato changed what would've happened in "The Lost Tamer," so far, he's been the only one to have those dreams.)
"What happened, Rika?" Renamon's voice came out the same way it normally did, but Rika could sense the cautioning tone she used during circumstances like this.
"Takato and Guilmon ran into a Digimon, and before they could even launch an attack, he deleted Guilmon on the spot, practically! And, just before I woke up, he revealed himself and...he looked almost exactly like IceDevimon! Then, he started to attack Takato and...that's when I woke up."
Rika pounded her pillow in a fit of anger before wiping away some tears that had started to trickle down her face. "I hate traditions! Why can't I see Takato now? Why can't he be here with me? We wouldn't do anything-he's too...too...he's just too Goggleheaded to try anything that would hurt me. And, if I did get hurt, not only would he feel it, but he would blame himself."
The Rookie Digimon was deep in thought after Rika had bluntly made those statements and an idea, albeit brief, came to her.
"People say a bride and groom can't see each other before the wedding, right?"
With a confused look on her face, Rika nodded. "Yeah, but what's that got to do with anything?"
A tiny grin appeared on Renamon's face as she replied, "There's nothing that would go against
tradition if the bride were to have her partner check on the groom for her."
"Digimodify! Hyper Speed, activate!"
Grinning, Rika held on tightly as Kyubimon started speeding up, just like when they'd battled against Santiramon in the subway. After considering Renamon's idea, Rika had to admit that it wasn't a bad idea-not to say that any of Renamon's ideas were bad. Practically all of them had gotten the Tamers out of trouble, in one way or another. So, she'd quickly changed, quietly left her house, had Renamon Digivolve to Kyubimon and they'd started off towards Takato's parents' bakery, where Takato, Guilmon and Calumon-yes, that little In-Training Digimon who is a part of the wedding-were staying.
"It shouldn't take that long for us to reach Takato's parents' house, Kyubimon. Don't worry-we'll be in and out before anyone can say a word."
Unbeknownst to Rika, or to Kyubimon, a Digimon had appeared in the Real World, but it wasn't
Lady Sakuyamon...not this time...
"You ready, Renamon? Go for it!"
Once they'd arrived at their intended destination-which had taken them about five to ten minutes to do so-Kyubimon had deDigivolved to her Rookie level and, on Rika's suggestion, leaped up to the balcony overlooking Takato's old bedroom.
"He's inside, Rika, and he's just fine."
Rika smiled happily as she imagined Takato's face, a face of content and apprehension for the upcoming day. At that instant, a pair of hands shimmered into view behind Rika and were awfully close to grabbing her!
"Who's there?!" Rika demanded impatiently while turning around because of the extremity of the cold air that had just surrounded her like a blanket! Naturally, there wasn't anything there.
As for the groom and his cohorts, Guilmon had sensed the Digimon's presence and had woken up, his eyes already viral. Calumon, however, was still asleep. Groaning quietly, Takato woke up.
"What is it, Guilmon?"
"There's a Digimon outside, Takato...and it's not a very friendly one."
Almost instantly, Takato bolted out of bed as Guilmon went to open up the screen door that led out to the balcony. There wasn't anything within plain sight.
"But, Takato, there was something here! I'm sure of it."
After stepping outside himself, Takato shivered briefly. It didn't have to do with the air, because it wasn't supposed to be that cold out in the first place.
"Maybe you're right, Guilmon, but when the Digimon heard you, they probably left. Gee, I wonder if I should tell Rika and Henry about this."
Yawning loudly, Guilmon went back inside and mumbled, "Tomorrow, Takatomon. I'm still sleepy."
"And who wanted to go out and fight at 3:45 in the morning? I'm sure it wasn't me."
"Did you sense it too, Taomon?" Rika asked as she and Taomon, safe inside of her Talisman Spell attack, flew back towards her house.
"I did, but not as well as Guilmon did. I was barely lucky to get back down to where you were before he would've caught me. Was that the Digimon you had a dream about?"
Seconds after Guilmon and Takato had gone back to sleep, Rika used a Blue card and had Renamon Matrix Digivolve into Taomon. Once that was done, the Ultimate Digimon used her Talisman Spell attack and had instantly protected herself and Rika from any intruders.
"I think so, but in my dream, the Digimon had some kind of ring on his finger-"
"Did it look gold in color?" Rika was amazed to hear the severity in Taomon's voice at that statement. "Uh, yeah, and it also had markings on it too, but..."
Taomon immediately came to a stop, both Tamer and Digimon landing gracefully inside the backyard of Rika's house before she deDigivolved back into Renamon.
"If a Digimon has truly found that ring...the whole world could be in jeopardy."
"What ring? Renamon, what are you talking about-? Hey!"
Rika stood there in shock as Renamon grabbed Rika's deck of Modify cards and flipped through them all until she found the one she was looking for.
"Was this the ring that you saw, Rika?"
Confused even more, Rika plucked the card from Renamon's outstretched paw and looked at it. It clearly stated: "Power Option-Powerblast" at the top. The middle of the card had a picture of a ring that looked either golden or bronze and had strange markings engraved in it. At the bottom, more words were there-"Effects: Add 100 points to your Digimon Power."
"And, there's a reason why you look so spooked, Renamon? It's just my Spiritual Ring card."
Renamon's eyes narrowed at Rika as she glared at the card in her Tamer's hand before explaining. "Before I became your partner, Rika-possibly even before Guilmon and Terriermon became Takato and Henry's partners-the Digimon Sovereigns-at the time, it was Ebonwumon-had feared that the D-Reaper would find the power to breach the portals separating all of our worlds and take over-first the Digital World, and then the Real World. To prevent any of that from happening, Ebonwumon used almost all of his power to create a golden ring that could give any Digimon who wore it the powers of a Mega Digimon."
"And, if a Mega Digimon put the ring on...?" Rika asked, entranced by Renamon's story.
"If you mean Ebonwumon, he never got the chance to test it. Shortly after it was created, a Digimon stole it in hopes of gaining true power amongst the others. Thanks to Guilmon deleting him when you were captured by him, that didn't happen. I've heard rumors that if a Mega Digimon should put this ring on, they would gain too much power and would almost instantly be deleted."
Rika could only guess that the Digimon Renamon was talking about was IceDevimon, since he had been the only Digimon who'd captured her in hopes of becoming her partner.
"I'll talk to Gogglehead and the others about this tomorrow. Thanks, Renamon."
As the two of them headed inside, the Ice-Reaper shimmered into view, the Spiritual Ring on his right hand, glowing a dangerous color of gold.
"Not only did I steal it, my future Tamer, but I intend to use it to carry out my ingenious plan at
the same time!"
9:00 in the morning. Takato was a nervous wreck as he paced back and forth while inside of the church! True, not many people were here yet, but his parents had to help Rika's mother and Henry's parents out with some last minute preparations and so, he could chat with Henry and Rika-provided that Rika stay out of his line of sight for the time being.
"Wow. And I thought I was the only one to have 'prophetic dreams.'" Takato quipped while shaking next to Henry, Terriermon, Guilmon and Calumon.
"Calm down, Takato." Henry advised as he gently grabbed his best friend by the shoulders. "Things will go smoothly. Not a single thing can go wrong!"
"Why'd you have to say that, Henry?" Terriermon groaned from his position on top of his Tamer's head. "Now, something's sure to happen, and things'll go wrong, trust me!"
"Terriermon! This is Takato and Rika's wedding day, and they don't need any temperamental attitude from you today."
"Okay, okay, Henry. Momentai!"
After a moment of awkward silence from the two betrothed, Rika asked, "So...what do you think it means, Takato?"
"Honestly, Rika? I have no idea, but if IceDevimon really did have the ring, then why didn't he use it against us when we first had to fight him?"
That thought out question actually confused the Tamers and their Digimon for a brief time, enough for Janyu to enter in on the guys.
"Takato, you know that if Rika's on the other side of that door, you can't see her until she's walking down that aisle."
"Not even to talk to her?" Takato whined sadly as he, Henry and the three Digimon walked outside.
"I'm sorry, Takato, but that's out of the question. You're a pretty strong young man, and you and Henry have survived worse things than this in your lifetimes."
Both Takato and Henry nodded before they turned to head back inside, Janyu stopping Takato on his way back in.
"I wanted to wait until my son wasn't here to give this to you, Takato. I know you already have a ring hand-carved to give to Rika today, but I couldn't help overhearing the conversation the three of you had concerning your fiancee's dream, and it triggered something. Back when I was almost around your age-you do know that my friends and I created the Digimon in the first place, right?"
"Yeah-Henry told me all about it. The Monster Makers, as Yamaki called you. You also created Grani for us, too."
"Okay. Well, after we had to trash the project, Shibumi had shown us a silver ring he'd created himself and he'd infused it with some of the data we'd used to create the Digimon. That silver ring could help you against this latest threat that could be threatening the world."
Takato plucked the ring from Janyu's hand as he stared at it from all sides-it resembled the golden ring in every way, with the markings on it and everything!
"Wow! This looks really cool, sir! But, what am I supposed to do with it?"
"If you and the Digimon are ever in a tight jam, just think about the ring, and it should appear on your hand. Shibumi never told us what would happen if a Mega Digimon like Gallantmon or MegaGargomon used the ring, so I'd advise you not to use it unless you absolutely have to."
"Okay. Thanks, Mr. Wong."
After Takato had run back inside the chapel to find Guilmon, Janyu slumped to his knees, struggling to hide his tears.
"Takato, for my son's sake, I hope you never have to use that ring-ever!"
"Guilmon! Guilmon, where are you?"
"Takatomon!" Guilmon suddenly tackled the groom in his tracks, sending the both of them over to the ground.
"Guilmon! Now isn't the time to play-besides, I'm wearing my tuxedo, so, I can't play now. Check this out!"
"Ooh...pretty ring, Takatomon. Are you gonna give that to Rika?"
The Tamer grinned at that statement. "'Course not, boy! This is a special ring, much like the one Rika just told us about. Besides, Henry's got the other ring-"
Before Takato could finish his statement, Guilmon's eyes dilated as his viral side took over.
"Takato...we've got trouble on the horizon."
"Huh?" Amazed, Takato turned to see who he thought looked like IceDevimon, but instead of the red symbol that had been on his chest during their previous encounter, he saw a darker crimson symbol in place of that! Shocked, Takato yanked out his Digivice, which was clipped onto his pants, and scanned him, not even noticing the golden ring on his hand.
"Come on! Why isn't this thing sending out any data? I hope it's not broken again...there we go! The Ice-Reaper: A Virus-type Digimon. Naturally! His attacks are Icicle Scythe, Crimson Tornado and Tundra Blast."
"But...but, how? Guilmon absorbed your data!"
Flashback
"PyroSphere!!" Guilmon powered up his strongest attack before aiming it at the one Digimon who'd dared to capture Rika for his own demented purposes.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The Fallen Angel Digimon roared as he broke up before turning into data and being absorbed by Guilmon a second later...
End flashback
"Yes, that much is true. But, all Digimon have tendrils of themselves remaining, even after death. So, I remained in limbo for quite some time until I was offered a chance to redeem myself, if I served the D-Reaper! Naturally, I took the job, seeing as how I would eventually have to go up against my Tamer in battle."
Takato gritted his teeth as he took a chance and stepped forward. "Can't you get it through that hard head of yours that Rika already has a partner?! And after today, she'll have someone who cares about her, who loves her for being herself, and who doesn't want a thing to change! That someone is me!"
Yawning monotonely, the Ice-Reaper waited until Takato was done before continuing, unaware that Calumon was watching the entire thing. "So, after I was beaten in battle, I remained in limbo once more until I was able to cross over to the D-Reaper's realm. I found his remaining tendrils and not only took over his consciousness, but his very digital makeup, what made him him! And now, that I have told you the synopsis of how I came to return, you and your partner may die at your leisure, for one reason only: No one takes my Tamer from me without a fight! CRIMSON TORNADO!!!"
Takato and Guilmon braced themselves as a powerful beam of red light appeared before hurtling toward the two of them as a tornado of immense power!
Uh-oh! Is this really it for Takato and Guilmon, or is there a miracle just around the corner? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
