Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or anything in Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy.

Author's Note: Here's your Christmas present, unless you don't celebrate Christmas. Whatever. It's amazing I even have it finished, since I've been busy and sick. The other day I was so sick I didn't want to do anything but lay on the sofa. But then I couldn't watch "Arthur's Wonderful Christmas" for the third time, so I made myself get up and write. Hope you like it. The Final Law of Storytelling: "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story."

Old Friends Renewed

The park was almost empty this early in the morning. As they entered it, Rika walked a few paces behind the rest of the group. She really didn't want to be surrounded by them as they constantly shot questions at Davis, trying to find out every detail of what had happened while he was gone. And she kind of enjoyed watching him too. He had pulled out of his apology spell quickly, and was now all smiles and positive energy. But that also bothered her a little. She didn't exactly want him blurting out anything about fledgling relationship. The others didn't need to know that yet. They already looked at her differently, because of her finding the rip, and her odd behavior before and during the fight. As well as her strange reaction afterwards. If anything else came out, she was afraid of how they would treat her. Maybe really girly, which she did not want.

She noticed Henry dropping back to walk next to her. He was quiet for a while before speaking up.

"So, Rika," he asked. "How did you open that rip yesterday?"

She took a small breath, glad that he'd asked that one first. It was the easiest to answer.

"Izzy showed me how to do it." She said, only half lying.

"You learn fast." He commented blandly, pulling his hands out of his pockets and cracking an index finger. "Takato said you knew about Fauvmon before he came through. Care to explain that one?"

She sighed, thinking for a second. "Not really."

Henry frowned and looked away from her. "What about..."

"Thanks for trusting me, despite all that." She spat out, cutting him off.

He stared at her for a while, surprised. "I'm sorry." He said angrily. "But you've been shrouded in mystery since Friday. The others may just accept it, but I like to cling to a little thing called reason. People don't just know things before they happen, Rika."

She glared at him, wanting to make him shut up.

Maybe you should tell him. Torey said.

She ignored him and rushed away from the boy, quickly catching up and rejoining the others. Soon he followed, but didn't press the subject further. After Rika had regained composure of her anger, she caught Davis discreetly watching her. He could tell something was wrong. She rolled her eyes and pushed forward to lead them into the trees, toward the rip. They quickly reached the clearing and the shed that hid the anomaly. Sora, Ken, and Kari were casually poking around it as they waited. Davis went over and talked to the older girl before she greeted the large pack of tamers. Rika leaned against a tree and looked over the other two. Ken looked even more thin and pale in real life, though it didn't make him look sickly or anything. Kari's hair looked longer that Rika remembered it, and she was very pretty, if a little tall for Davis.

What am I thinking? Rika asked herself, appalled by the thought.

You're establishing your territory. Torey answered, amused. You think Davis is better for you than her. It's a common thought process for young humans.

Leave it to you to make it sound normal. She replied dryly.

It is, Rika. Even if it doesn't feel that way to you.

Shut up and let me think, please.

He remained silent and she looked away from Kari, watching the group as a whole instead. After a few moments, Sora called them all over and let them all go through the rip. Rika stepped through into the digital world again. The clean smell of the air refreshed her, and she stepped out of the entrance so the rest of them could come through. Davis came out second to last, closely followed by Sora. Rika caught a glimpse of Torey streaking through and heading into the trees just on the girl's heels.

"All right, guys." Sora announced. "Primary Village is kinda far from here, and I know you want to get there fast. So, we're gonna fly."

She pulled out her digivice as an excited looking Yokomon came out of the underbrush, followed by Gatomon and Wormon. Quickly digivolving to Birdramon, the phoenix took to the sky to give the other two a chance to change into their flying forms. The humans crawled onto their backs, spacing themselves rather equally between the three digimon. Rika found herself crawling up onto Birdramon's hindquarters, reluctantly taking a seat behind Henry. Before the phoenix took off again, Torey made one gigantic leap into Rika's arms and then crawled around to her back so no one could see him. Not once did he touch the large digimon.

They set off on their destination. Up ahead, Rika could hear Sora talking to Jeri, although the girl's voices were mostly drowned out by the wind rushing by. Henry turned around and looked Rika square in the eye.

"Care to explain now?" He asked in a tone that suggested he would not take no for an answer again. "We have time."

Rika glared.

Tell him. Torey urged, clinging to her back.

"No." She said, answering both of them at once.

Henry rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll do it for you then. Throw in details when I'm way off."

She kept a blank face, not wanting to give him anything.

"All right." He began. "I think you knew about the rip ahead of time. You didn't want to tell us about it. Until Renamon made you, by letting Guilmon watch it for a while."

Applause for the second part, Einstein. She remarked silently.

"I bet Izzy found the rip before you did, and when he came through, your digivice went off, but ours didn't for some reason. You've been in contact with them for a long time. That's why you keep showing up at just the right time, and why Davis is always with you."

Conspiracy theory. That is so not me.

"And maybe you guys even staged that whole Fauvmon thing. How else could you have known about it? And how could Davis have survived those injuries?"

"You're way off." She snapped. "Why would anyone stage such an awful thing. Takato might have died if Davis hadn't come with."

"And how would you know that he would have died? None of your reasoning makes sense, Rika."

She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dragged him over to her. Their faces inches from each other, she stared him down for a moment.

"I don't want to explain this to you now." She hissed. "Don't ask anymore."

Henry's eyes widened as she released him. Maybe he had expected his stories to crack her. He turned around and scooted forward, trying to put distance between the two of them. She sighed and settled down for the rest of the trip, ignoring Torey as the lynx tried to reason with her.

They circled overhead the colorfully playful landscape. Rika's eyes slid over it, taking it in. It had a safe, friendly feeling to it, and even she couldn't find it uncomfortable. If not a bit gaudy. They wheeled in for a flawless landing, cushioned by the spongy ground. Rika leapt off and watched Torey scamper for cover before the others saw him. As the digimon returned to their base forms, Sora led the group over to the largest of the puffy buildings. Inside the door, she rang a little bell. Soon, a small Elecmon came around to them.

"Good morning." She said. "Welcome to Primary Village. I'm sorry, but my father is not here at the moment. I am still in training, but I will try to help you and answer any questions you may have."

Sora smiled. "Well, you're doing fine as far as I can see. We just need to find a certain egg."

The little creature's eyes widened. "I hadn't heard that any of your digimon had been killed. My condolences."

Jeri smiled and nodded to her. "Thank you. It's been a while now, so I'm not quite as sad anymore."

"Well, in that case, we'll have to look through the older eggs. The ones that haven't hatched. They're waiting for something special, so we save them."

Jeri smiled happily again, and the apprentice Elecmon ran off into the field of cradles. The girl took off after her as the others followed at a slight distance. After a while, they came upon another of the large puffy buildings. The digimon pulled out a key and slid it into a lock on the door. Opening it, she ushered them in the doorway. It was dark but friendly inside. Rika looked over the walls, and noticed that they were covered with shelves. Each shelf held dozens of tiny cradles, just big enough to hold a single egg.

The Elecmon touched a claw to a spot near the door, using her own electricity to charge up a little generator. A few light bulbs flickered on, lighting up the room.

"It may take you a while to find the egg you are looking for." She said. "I have chores to tend to, so I'll leave you for now. Please return to the main entrance hall before you go, so I can record which egg has been hatched."

She scampered off, heading through the field of cradles back the way they had come. Jeri tiptoed a little farther into the room and surveyed the walls.

"How will I ever find him in here?" She whispered to herself, overwhelmed.

Ken stepped up next to her and set his hand on her shoulder. "If you try really hard, you should be able to feel him calling out to you."

She looked up at him, eyes wide, and the nodded, heading deeper into the room. They watched her for a moment before Sora spoke up.

"We should wait outside, guys. Give her some space to look."

Slowly, the tamers filed out into the sunshine. Rika lingered a little longer, watching Jeri and Ken in the distance. Davis touched her arm and she glanced over at him. They both walked out together. Outside, Suzie, Kazu, and Kenta were peeking into the many cradles. The little girl was constantly giggling and laughing as she picked up the baby digimon and played with them. When she started leaving them out of their cradles, Sora went over and watched her, following and returning the little digimon to their beds as the girl moved on. Soon the four of them were off in the distance. Takato was lingering in the doorway, still watching Jeri as she looked for Leomon. Kari went over to him and set a hand on his shoulder.

"Why don't you go help her?"

The boy looked up at her. "Do you think it would be okay?"

She smiled and nodded, lightly pushing him into the doorway. He went in and boldly walked deeper into the room, toward his friend.

Still in the doorway, Kari sighed and set her back against the spongy wall outside. She slid down to a sitting position and yawned. Rika caught Davis staring at her the other girl and fought back the urge to go slap him.

"Davis, can I talk to you?" Kari asked quietly, rubbing her eyes.

He almost jumped, looking slightly disturbed by the idea. Rika bit down on her lip to control her own temper.

Say no. She whispered. Say no.

"Um, sure. I guess." He eventually stammered out.

Stupid goggle head.

Henry grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the doorway. "We'll give you guys some time by yourselves."

She let him pull her around the corner of the building, stiffly insisting that she could walk by herself. Then she stopped struggling as a film of something else covered her vision.

"No." She whispered, frightened. "Not now."

"Rika, I just want to know what's happening." He said, rather confused by her strange tone.

"Not that." She told him as the vision took a stronger hold over her. "Something else."

The last thing she saw was his frightened face as she grabbed his arm and keeled forward, into blackness.

The light looked fuzzy as she floated the room. It was slightly familiar, but she couldn't place where she had seen it before. The walls were light purple, and through the wide windows poured violet sunlight. She noticed two figures in the room, one taller and much older than the other. They seemed to be in some kind of argument, although she couldn't see faces, since their bodies were just as out of focus as the light was. Then, out of nowhere, the larger person reached out and hit the smaller one. Who recoiled and disappeared. Suddenly, the whole place faded. All she could see was a harsh and burning lavender landscape, with large black spikes towering over the desolation. Control spires.

She bolted awake, almost bashing Henry in the head with her own as she sat upright. Eyes wide open, she saw Torey staring at her from a hiding place behind one of the cradles.

"The Kaiser." She breathed.

"What?" Henry demanded, not hearing. "Rika, what just happened to you?"

She stared at him. He looked extremely worried.

Maybe you should tell him now. The lynx said.

"But I don't understand." She whispered to herself, ignoring him. "What would make him come back? What was that?"

"What are you talking about, Rika?" Henry asked, grabbing her by the shoulders.

She locked her eyes with his and held the gaze for a moment, allowing him time to calm down. "Keep your voice down."

He nodded, hypnotized by the intensity of her stare.

"What color are my eyes?"

"Um," he stammered, "Purple."

"Ever seen anyone beside me with that color eyes?" She asked.

He shook his head.

"Well, I get them from my father. He was from another world. I see the future."

He stared at her, mouth agape.

"You wanted an explanation. It's not as logical as you probably wanted, but it's the truth." She pushed herself up and stood over him. "Now, I have to go do something about this latest vision. Don't tell anyone what happened."

Rika walked back to the front of the building. Davis and Kari were still talking, and he looked up guiltily as she rounded the corner. She rolled her eyes and ignored him, going directly into the doorway and heading into the dusty stacks of shelves. She stepped forward past a few of them before she saw what she was looking for. Ken stood in one of the aisles between the stacks, Wormon clutched to his chest. He was casually looking over the little cradles, looking perfectly normal. Rika stood still and watched him for a moment, until he noticed her and glanced over.

"You need something?" He asked with a slight smile.

She shook her head and stepped forward a little. "Um, Ken, I was wondering," she looked him in the eye. "Could the Kaiser ever come back?"

He seemed a little taken aback by the question. "Well, uh, no. I wouldn't want him to."

"But, what if something really terrible happened again. What if you lost all your friends, or if someone important to you turned cruel."

He swallowed, and the digimon in his arms looked fidgeted a little. It took a while for him to answer. "I guess it could happen. But everyone's not going to die, Rika."

"What about the other one?" She asked, not letting him dodge the second question.

He bit his lip, looking really uncomfortable now. "Why are you asking me this?"

She sighed, taking a moment to consider exactly what she was trying to say. "I just wanted to tell you that if anything happened, where it seemed like no one was there for you. Well, you could always come find me. Don't let anything depress you so much that he might come back."

He stared at her for a long time, looking spooked and thankful and afraid all at once. Then he nodded, ever so slightly, his eyes softening. She took in a little breath and turned to leave.

"Rika." He called, rushing out of the aisle to stop her.

She turned and looked at him, head cocked slightly to the side in query.

He stared at her for a second, questions covering his face. "How did you...?"

His voice trailed off and then was interrupted by a happy yelp a few stacks over. Jeri had found the egg she was looking for. Reluctantly, Ken turned away from Rika and looked toward the sound. She pushed lightly past him and made her way through the aisles until she found Jeri, with Takato on her elbow, staring at the umber ovoid. Smiling at the sight, Rika came over, only to have the other girl's arms thrown around her. She stiffly accepted the hug.

"What's this for?" She whispered.

"If you hadn't found the rip, this never would have happened." Jeri pulled back and smiled at her. "Thank you, Rika."

Smiling awkwardly, she shrugged. "You're welcome."

Post Script: Well, that was fun. I especially loved little Suzie. So cute! Just a question. Did Ken seem kinda weird in this chapter? I think I'm mixing his character up with chaos from Xenosaga. I can't help it that they have the same voice actor! Arg! But anyway, I hope you liked it. Please review and all that good stuff. Thanx!!

Also, I looked it up online, and I can't find what Leomon's lower forms are. If you know, please tell me, or I'll have to make them up. I don't really want to do that.

neoKOS-MOS