Henrika: A Tale of Two Tamers
Chapter 6
It was 7:00am. Henry was still fast asleep. Since it was a Saturday, he could sleep in. His little sister Suzie, on the other hand, was already up and sneaking into her brother's room. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for.
"Dere you are, Tewwiermon!"
Terriermon froze. He knew what she was going to do to him, but he couldn't move. As far as Suzie knew, Terriermon was just a stuffed toy. He had to keep up that illusion, in spite of what was to come.
"I've been wooking all over for you! We're gonna pway 'doctor'!"
'Doctor?' thought Terriermon. 'I must've been really bad in a previous life to deserve this!'
Suzie dragged poor Terriermon out of the room by his ears. His ears were probably the most sensitive part of his body, but of course, Terriermon could not cry out in pain, lest he blow his cover. She brought Terriermon to her room and pulled out what she called her 'doctor's kit'; it looked more like a toolbox.
"I was thinking we would start by testing your 'wee-fwexes'," said Suzie, as she reached into her doctor's kit, pulling out a toy hammer. Terriermon did not like where this was going.
'This can't be happening!' Terriermon thought. 'Where's a Digital Field when you need one?'
"But first," continued Suzie, "you wook a wittle pale. You might be coming down with something! I'd better take your tempwature!"
'What is she talking about? I always look pale! It's my natural colour! It's when I don't look pale that you should worry!'
Suzie whipped out a toy thermometer. Just then, the phone rang.
'Saved by the bell.'
"I'll get it!" Suzie shoved the thermometer in Terriermon's mouth and ran to the phone. Losing balance, Terriermon fell down on his back. This caused him to accidentally swallow the thermometer.
"Oh great. Well, at least my temperature is down. I hope she doesn't decide to play 'surgery'!"
"Henwy!" yelled Suzie. "It's for you!"
Henry managed to yank himself out of bed. Still half-asleep, he shuffled into the living room, where his sister held the receiver.
"Ugh. What does Takato want at this hour?" muttered Henry.
"It's not Takato," said Suzie. "It's some angwy girl."
"Angwy girl? I mean, angry girl?" Henry's brain suddenly snapped into full gear. He took the phone from Suzie, who returned to check up on her patient.
"Hello, Rika?"
"Yeah, how'd you know it was me?"
"Call it a lucky guess. How did you get a hold of my number?"
"From Takato. I threatened to use him as a punching bag if he didn't tell me."
"Man, whoever said you can attract more flies with honey than vinegar obviously never met you Rika. So why did you call me?"
"I... I wanted to say that I'm… sorry for blowing up in your face like that the other day."
"Uhhh, I must still be half-asleep. For a minute there, I thought you were apologising."
"I am."
"…You're serious, aren't you?"
"Hey, I didn't have to do this! If you're just going to make fun."
"No, no, wait! I didn't mean... Look, you've caught me at my worst. I'm not in the best frame of mind at seven in the morning. Maybe we could discuss this at a later time. Say... in an hour?"
Rika sighed. "Alright. You can come down to my place, but I won't wait forever."
"I don't think you'd live forever anyway."
Henry hung up and decided that he'd better get washed and dressed. He was in such a hurry that he didn't notice Suzie giving Terriermon the Heimlich Maneuver.
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Meanwhile, over at Hypnos, Yamaki was just finishing briefing Riley and Tally on the mission that lay ahead of them.
"So as you can see, there's no other alternative. The fate of the entire world may very well depend on what we do within the next twenty-four hours. There's a chance that none of us will come out of this alive. So if either of you want to back out, this is your only chance to do so. No questions will be asked."
Riley didn't say a single word. She had already sacrificed most of her personal life when she signed up for this job. She was prepared to follow Yamaki's lead, wherever that may take them. Tally seemed a bit more uncertain than Riley, but she didn't bother to say anything either. They were both in.
"Then man your posts. We need to know where and when that anomaly will appear next. Every second here counts."
TO BE CONTINUED
