Author's Notes: Well, hi again. Thanx to everyone who reviewed. This chapter is shorter, but the next one is long, so it compensates. I couldn't remember if Rika went to school with the rest of them all, so I wrote her in as if she did. Let's just say she switched schools if I got it wrong. Also, the school is mildly modeled after my own, cuz I couldn't remember anything but the classroom. Other than that, I'm good for now.

Hope you enjoy it. Please review. Thanx again.

Clarification

Rika glanced up at the board before scrawling some more notes on her notebook. The teacher was droning on about something that had to do with what she was scratching up there with ugly pink chalk. It was world literature, the last class of the day, and the most boring. Thankfully, there were only twenty minutes left. As the teacher stopped writing, Rika's mind drifted from the lecture to more interesting topics.

All during the day, anxious excitement had been building up in her stomach. She hadn't been hungry at lunch, so she'd gone to the library, though the main idea was to avoid Takato's insistent questions about why she was so distant today. She couldn't stop thinking about Davis and Veemon, as well as the chance to meet all the others tonight. Her mind kept trying to picture what they would look like as real people.

Invisible, Renamon popped into the back of the classroom. Rika could feel the fox staring at her back. She was supposed to be watching the rip to make sure that nothing came or went through. So what was she doing here?

The rest of the class inched along even more slowly as she impatiently waited to see what the digimon had to say. As soon as the bell rang, Rika sprang out of her seat and rushed out the door of the class, ignoring Takato and Henry's startled cries as she totally blew them off. She went to her locker, which was just down the hall and stuffed some books inside, pulling others out. Seeing the two boys approaching, she shut the locker and ducked into the girl's bathroom across the hallway. There was a pretty little redheaded girl doing her make up in the mirror, but at Rika's entrance, she grabbed her stuff and hurried out the door. Despite all that had happened, Rika had still developed a reputation for being a bully.

Once the door fluttered shut, Renamon popped into visibility in front of the empty bathroom stalls.

"Why are you here?" Rika asked. "I thought you were guarding the rip."

"I was. I let Guilmon do it."

"What?!" Anger flared up in her heart.

"The others have a right to know, Rika."

"Fine then." She pat through clenched teeth, hands balled up to control her anger.

Take it as it comes. A part of herself urged.

She sighed, calming down a little and then turned around, pushing her way through the door back into the hallway. There, she found Takato and Henry waiting for her, with Jeri poking in her locker across the hall.

"Hey Rika, are you okay? You ran out of class really fast."

"She probably really had to pee." Jeri said, cutting through the stream of kids to stand with the two boys.

Rika's fists closed again. She glared menacingly at the goggle head for a second. He stared back stupidly, like he didn't want to believe that she could still be a violent person inside. She was straining not to lash out. He and his digimon had stolen her find.

No one steals what they have a right to. Said that strange portion of herself again. It's advice had come along with the dreams.

She closed her eyes and let the anger bleed away, something she had found much more difficult before. When she opened them again Henry and Jeri were staring at her kind of strangely, as if they expected her to show some sort of violence.

"I need to show you something." She said to the three of them, but mostly to Henry, since he had recovered his normal face the fastest.

"Okay." The dark haired boy replied, the others nodding in agreement.

'It's kinda far."

"That's okay, Rika." Jeri said kindly.

She blinked, hesitating for a second. They were so accepting of her strange behavior.

They're your friends. The voice whispered.

She shook her head to clear it and turned. "Come on."

Rika led them out of the school. Takato and Jeri followed along, constantly talking of joking or asking her where they were going and what they were going to see. She didn't tell them, but she did give them small answers to their guessing. Only Henry stayed silent as the four of them walked.

"Is it a new digimon?" Takato asked.

"No."

"Is it a new Tamer?" Jeri followed.

"No."

"Is it a great new hideout?" The boy questioned.

She thought for a moment. "No."

"Then is it somewhere we can go to train?" Jeri asked.

Rika hesitated on that one too. "No. Not exactly."

"Is there any chance they'll ever guess at this rate?" Henry muttered, exasperated.

She laughed quietly. "No."

Of course, that only encouraged them, so by the time the four reached the park, he was asking questions too, though much less frequently. She led them along the sidewalk until they came to the spot where she had veered away into the trees last night. She held a finger to her lips, quieting them rather quickly, and then led them through the greenish shade to the shed.

"What is it?" Takato asked, still unable to see the rip hidden inside.

"Come see, Takatomon." Said Guilmon as the rust colored raptor poked his head around the corner.

"Jeri headed toward the collapsed shed first, followed by Henry. Takato reacted last, as if confused by his own digimon's knowledge of the secret. As they stepped around the corner and caught sight of the rip, the girl gasped while the two boys blatantly stared.

"Is that what I think it is?" Henry's awestruck voice questioned.

Rika walked over and stood behind the other three, taking a look at the rip over their shoulders. It was night on the other side, and beams of moonlight could be seen streaming down from overhead.

"Yes." She said.

It had taken a long time to explain to them everything that had happened the night before. She didn't tell them that she had dreamed the location of the rip, though. She made up an equally fantastic story about chasing phantom images through the city. They accepted it, but Rika could see Renamon rolling her eyes from where she was perched on a tree branch. At the digimon's insistence, she told them about meeting Davis in the forest and scheduling a meeting for tonight.

"We could go in now." Jeri whispered with sad excitement. "Maybe they'll be waiting for us."

"No. We should stick to the program." Henry pointed out. "And, anyway, time passes slower out here, so if they were waiting for us, they'd come through and get us."

Rika nodded her agreement. "It'll be dark in a few hours. I think we should come back here when the sun goes down and keep watch for them. Until then, we should go home and make up some stories on why we're gonna be out so late."

"Yeah." Takato muttered, drawing designs in the dirt with an index finger. "Hopefully my mom'll let me stay out."

Jeri smiled and stood up. She waited for the others to do the same and then they all walked back to the entrance of the park. Rika split off from the other three and slowly made her way to her house.

Post Script: Told you it was short. I was gonna make it longer, but I was tired of writing it, and I had no idea what I was going to have her do for the next four hours. Whatever.

To ApricotKisses, thanx for sticking with the story. And to Blue Tajiri, if you wait till next chapter, Yamato will show up. I just love that kid. Also, since no one gave me a better summary to post, my offer still stands. See you all later!!

neoKOS-MOS