NOTE: Content exists in this chapter that is religious and may offend some people.

Chapter 24:  The Soap Opera Begins to Foam

            So…that was just the way that things were:  Rika and Renamon were still on seek patrol, and Tina and Youngdramon were orphanage supervisors.  Rika didn't particularly like that setup, but she stuck to her job.  In some ways, it was better than being cooped up in the nuclear power plant all day.

            She, Renamon, Takato, Guilmon, and Tiger were out on seek patrol again.  She sighed as they walked along.  "So…where do you think we should try, today?"

            "I dunno…but definitely someplace drier than the last time," Takato suggested.

            "Right---what hasn't been done yet?"

            "My guess would be that areas around other nuke plants might not have been tried yet.  Let's go there."

            "Isn't that a kind of a long walk?"

            "We'll survive.  C'mon."

            They kept walking, and snow slowly began to fall from the sky.  Takato looked up, and the sky completely blue:  there wasn't one cloud.  "Huh---weird!"

            "No kidding," Rika agreed.  "But, to me, it's a lot better than rain!"

            "Maybe," Takato agreed.  He pulled a blanket out of his backpack and wrapped it around himself.  "Hey---aren't you going to wear a blanket?"

            "I---I'm not that cold."

            Takato shrugged.  "Suit yourself."  But, after a short while, it was apparent that the cold did bother Rika quite a bit.  She didn't realize it, but she was hugging her elbows and shivering.  "Rika, I think you really ought to wear a blanket."

            "Shut up, Takato!  I didn't ask for your input!"

            "Sorry...I'd rather throw in my two cents than see you freeze, Rika."

            "Hmmp!" Rika grunted and put on one of the blankets that she was carrying.  She stared at Takato darkly, as if to ask, "Now are you happy?"

            "Rika, what is it with you and having anything good happen?  You won't have friends and you'd rather freeze than be seen dead wearing a blanket.  What's with you?"

            "My problems aren't your business."

            Takato decided to quit pestering Rika:  he knew he wouldn't get anywhere with her.

            As time wore on, they found a clustered group of families, living in the subways about a kilometer from another nuke plant.  Takato was just shouting that the machines wouldn't go near the nuke plants to the families when they heard a whirring sound behind their backs.

            "Aw, great!  Here we go again!" Takato moaned.  He tossed Rika a mod-card:  "I've got an extra digivolution card; use it!  …Digi-modify!  Digivolution, activate!"

            "Guilmon, digivolve to…Growlmon!"

            Rika swiped the other digivolution card through her D-Arc, too:  "Digi-modify!  Digivolution, activate!"

            "Renamon, digivolve to…Rufusmon!"  Rufusmon was a large, red fox with several tails.  She had a big, blue bow tied around her neck, and had copper-colored fur.

            "Throw me the digi-egg of friendship!" Tiger shouted.  "Tiger, module-evolve to…Thunderdog!  Jacob's Ladder!" he yelled, firing a pair of electric bolts into one of the tor-mites.

            "Pyroblaster!" Growlmon yelled, spitting fire at another tor-mite.  It took a few seconds, but the flames from his attack managed to char and disable a tor-mite.

            "Magnesium Conflagration!" Rufusmon fired a hailstorm of bullet-sized fireballs at the hole where the tor-mites were emerging.  "This just isn't working, Rika!" Rufusmon shouted.  "Thunderdog is the only one of us with enough firepower!"

            "That's about to change! Digi-modify! Upgrade, activate!"

            Rufusmon felt her firepower increase as the card went through the slot on Rika's D-Arc.  Her flames began to melt down the tor-mites, not to mention bring some well-needed warmth to the subway.

            The tor-mites didn't last long against the three fighters.  And the digivolutions were enough to convince the refugees in the subway that these were Digidestined that they were dealing with, so they had another cartload of people to bring back safely.  Growlmon and Rufusmon carried some of the weaker refugees on their backs, and they surprisingly little trouble returning to the nuke plant.

            Tiger mused on the way back, "You know, it seems like I'm the only one without a fire attack in this group."

            "You might be," Rufusmon answered.

            Tiger chuckled.  "Actually, I have a few ice attacks up my…sleeve…"  Tiger stopped talking because---for the first time---he took a good look at Rufusmon.  He had been too focused during the battle to look at her, but, now that he saw her, his face went flush:  she looked to him like the most beautiful creature on four legs.

            Rufusmon knew that look, and knew immediately that Tiger was in love with her.  She still felt the wounds from having been in a broken relationship with Hare, but she wondered if she wouldn't be able to learn to love Tiger…

******

            "Aw, great!" Davis yelled as he heard the whooping of a group of headhunters on their tail.  "Isn't there any way we can fight back?"

            "I'm still too low on energy to module-evolve," Hare yelled back.  "I don't think I could take them!"

            "Relax, guys!  There's another option:  Paildramon, mode-change to…Stealth mode!"  Immediately, Paildramon became invisible, along with the children he was carrying in his arms.  It was strange not to be able to see yourself or the person next to you, but it allowed them to see the headhunters behind them through Paildramon's chest.  The headhunters hesitated, scratched their heads, and began doing some strange sort of dance that made them slowly rotate 360°.

            "What're they doing?" Ken asked.

            "Who cares?  They aren't following us, are they?" Davis pointed out.

            "Davis, that's my mouth!  Get your hand out of there!" Hare shouted.

            "Sorry!  I couldn't see what that was; I was just trying to keep my balance!"

            It wasn't long before they made it to the nuke plant.  There were Henry and Willis at the entrance, ready to receive the new incomers.  "Whoa," Henry remarked.  "How did this happen?"

            The leader of the young children answered, "We don't know.  We just woke up in our apartment building, and none of us could remember where our parents were or of we even had any.  Then those machines came---they ate half of the littler ones, because we couldn't carry all of them, and they couldn't keep up---"  She let out something that seemed like a cross between a sigh and a sob.

            Henry's Terriermon muttered under his breath, "You know, I've always been curious about how human flesh tastes, and---!!"

            Henry stomped on his foot on Terriermon's toes to get him to stop talking.  He set his hand on  her shoulder and said, "Don't worry.  Those things won't come within half a kilometer of here.  Nothing like that is going to happen again."

            She nodded.  She picked up one of the smaller children and, along with Hare, Davis, Ken, Willis, and Henry, she began moving them to the orphanage for Joe to look at.

            As they were carrying, Willis sighed.  "Why is it that so many people are this hard off?"

            Henry shook his head.  "I don't know.  We're all fortunate; we managed to find friends so fast and get together so that we could work together and survive."

            "I see what you mean."

            Davis asked, "One question:  This is a little off subject, but how can you tell who's Terriermon is whose?"

            "It's our job," one of the two Terriermon answered.

            "I see."

            Willis sighed.  "There's this huge speech Cleaver gave us about the difference between them:

                  'Those two look the same in normal-space, but they're as different as chalk and cheese in sub-space.  This one has superficial type-four muons on the outer rim of the tertiary quadrant, while the other has type four muons on the secondary.  That allows for digi-modification and other forms of---'

…And there was all kinds of other techno-babble, too. I'm not going to torture you with all of it, but the bottom line is that digimon from our universe and from Henry's universe are way different."

A few hours later, their shifts were over. One of the Terriermon nudged the other and whispered, "The ol' switcheroo!"

"I hear you," the other answered.

"Man," Willis sighed, "What a day! I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm about ready to fall over!"

"I know the feeling," Terriermon said. "I get it every time I'm forced at gunpoint to dress like a cleaning maid."

Willis looked at the Terriermon like he was nuts. "When were you forced to dress like a cleaning maid?"

"Oh, every now and again…it's not an experience I'd like to repeat."

"…And who forces you to?"

"Evil subversive five-year-olds. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering…personally, I think that you ought to avoid the orphanage from now on."

Meanwhile, three doors down…

Henry sighed. "You know, Terriermon, these tricks that the other digimon keep getting make me feel like you and I are kind of…I dunno…left out."

"How's that?"

"Well, half the digidestined have their crests back, and we…we don't even know how to get to the ultimate level."

"I bet there's a way. Even if that becomes a problem, we'll find a way around it."

"That's not like you to be optimistic…wait a sec! All right, you switched with Willis's Terriermon, didn't you?"

"I am Willis's Terriermon!"

"Then go to Willis's room, and get my Terriermon back over here!"

Terriermon walked out of Henry's room and began walking towards Willis's, and, interestingly enough, Henry's Terriermon was walking back out the other way.

"Caught on quick, didn't he?" Henry's Terriermon asked.

"Your human's a smart one!"

"Let's see just how smart they really are." Both Terriermon did a 180° and went back to the rooms they started from.

Willis looked at Henry's Terriermon. "Nice try, Terriermon, but you can't fool us."

"No kidding," Terriermon said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "One question…when's dinner?"

"Not for another hour."

"Ah, poo! What kind of lug nut supervisor is it that doesn't get her troops food when they need it?"

"Terriermon?"

"What is it?"

"Go back to Henry's room!"

Meanwhile, in Henry's room, Davis was snoring like a semi truck engine. Terriermon held his long ears shut, and didn't say a word.

All the while, Henry was standing in front of his closet, hanging up clothes that had just come from the laundry. He looked back at Terriermon after a moment. "Go back to Willis's room," Henry spat. "And stay there, this time!"

"What gave it away?"

"My Terriermon would've complained, by now."

The two Terriermon again met in the middle. "Now, we'll really see how smart these two are!" Henry's Terriermon grinned.

"I dunno," Willis's Terriermon said. "I'm not so great at being underhanded and rude…"

"It's easy! I've been doing that for months! Okay, role play: I'm Willis. I have just said, 'Now, are you my Terriermon?' No, wait…that's not a good way to start out… how about, 'So, who came up with this idea, anyway?'"

"'You know it was Henry's Terriermon! That…uh, handsome creature!'"

"No-no! As much as I like you kissing up to me, that's too obvious! You have to make it look like you're hiding something! Let's try again… 'So, who came up with this idea, anyway?'"

"'It was Henry who came up with it.'"

"'Really?'"

"'Oh, you know Henry…he's always pulling pranks.'"

"'Is he?'"

"'Oh, come on! You know what a brat he is!'"

"Well…it's not getting to the point right away…but good enough. Let's do this!"

Willis's Terriermon went back to Willis's room, and Henry's to Henry's room. Shortly thereafter, Henry and Willis stormed out of their respective rooms, carrying their digimon with them. Without a word, they switched digimon halfway, and went back to their rooms.

I wonder how long we can keep this up, Henry's Terriermon thought to himself…

Special thanks to Golden Leomon 00 from Megchan's GIF Message Board for giving me the idea to switch these two Terriermon!