Collaboration
Nervous shivers run up and down Rika's spine, the young girl rubbed her arm over and over again. Laughter echoed from the man behind her in the bushes. A smirking, smiling Tallos emerged, wavering his index claws in the air over Rika's red hair.
Tallos smiled "Bravo, bravo, bravo. That was most excellent Ms. Nonaka, much better then I expected of you.".
Rika immediately sneered "Piss off weirdo".
Tallos laughed "Now is that anyway to repay a compliment? I was simply congratulating you on your superb performance with Mr. Matsuki; I learned a great deal of information from your little chat".
"Good, then get your dam spy hunters out of my life and beat it buddy" Rika grumbled.
Tallos sighed "I'm afraid our work is not done yet Ms. Nonaka, not quite yet".
Rika blinked "Our work? GRR this is NOT my work, I was forced into this crap. I never wanted any part of this you scum bag, I never uhh……".
The girl's lips stopped as she felt the sickening suction of Tallos nose, smoothly running across her cheeks, as if smelling her flesh. Rika shivered as if her very innocence was being violated from her being.
The dark man moaned "Has anyone ever told you how (licks lips) delicious you are when your angry?".
Rika snarled "One more inch freak……just one more inch".
Tallos hissed "I wonder how it would feel to have those little legs of yours wrapped around me (grinning wickedly) so tightly".
"THAT'S IT" Rika screamed.
The fiery burning rage that boiled Rika's hard heart burst with anger unbound, and unleashed. BAM! The girl smashed her knuckles into the agent's face, Tallos groaned in pain as he felt his jaw crunch under the blow. Tallos stumbled back and rubbed his hand over his lip, blood dripped from his fingertips. A panting Rika stared heartlessly to the man's evil eyes.
Tallos gasped "You……rotten little BITCH GRR".
WHAM!
Rika's face was smacked hard by Tallos clawed hand, the girl dropped to the ground. The tamer's cheek leaked a thin line of blood. Tallos raised his claws upward in rage, enraged enough to even kill the girl at this point. A purple arm grabbed the man and hurled him with a powerful toss. Renamon stood proudly and bravely in front of her Tamer.
"Hands off creep" Renamon demanded.
BANG! BANG!
Two bullets suddenly struck at Renamon and Rika's heads, missing them by a mere hair's length. The terrified girls realized that there foreheads were glowing with small red dots. Snipers were aiming their rifles directly at the ladies skulls, awaiting their commander's orders.
Tallos frowned "You forget your place fox and you as well Ms. Nonaka. Death may not scare you my dear child, but it certainly scares your beloved pet Digimon. And I bet ha, ha oh I bet the death of your beloved Renamon would hurt you more then anything else, and let's not forget your mother and grandmother. I'd be more then happy to clue them in our little game".
Rika snapped "Bastard, just leave us alone. We never did anything to you".
Tallos replied "This world is on the verge of destruction thanks to those digital abominations, and you pitiful little children are helping them every step of the way, that is unacceptable. I will not stand by and let this world burn at the feet of your pitiful pets. If you want me out of your life then you will do as I say, and you will obey me without questioning, is that clear?".
Rika scoffed "I got the message so just skip the speech and get to the point".
"You will contact Mr. Matsuki tonight. A wild Digimon shall bio-emerge and cause chaos in the city, once you notify him he will walk right into my trap. Renamon will stand guard to make sure no one else interferes, especially Mr. Wong or the rest of his half wit friends. After tonight I will be out of your life and this bargain will be complete. Good day Ms. Nonaka" Tallos said.
The man turned his back to the girls and left them, vanishing into the darkness that consumed his soul. Renamon and Rika continued to remain still, waiting for the snipers to remove their piercing red targets from their foreheads. The two looked at each other and sighed, they had no choice.
"It was really weird Henry, I mean it was totally not like Rika at all" Takato said. The boys and their Digimon had decided to continue with their originally planned meeting at the park. However it was no longer about the mysterious man, now it was about Rika's even more mysterious behavior. Henry hummed "Your right it doesn't make any sense, why ask about Guilmon now? I mean why would she even care about that information?
Not that it's boring information, but she doesn't seem like the person who'd care to hear about it in the first place". The goggle wearing Tamer nodded in agreement, things were certainly getting confusing. "Knock, knock" a female voice said. The boys turned and once again Jeri appeared, smiling brightly with a big bag of bread in her arms. Guilmon cheered "Oh boy snack time"; Takato laughed "Guilmon I just fed you like 5 minutes ago".
The dinosaur smiled "What's your point? My tummy's always got room for more, more, MORE". Everyone laughed at Guilmon's cheerful bout of hunger pains. The dinosaur Digimon quickly scarfed his hungry jaws into Jeri's bag, the girl smiled as she approached Takato. "Hope you don't mind me giving him an extra helping Takato" Jeri said with a sweet soft smile. Takato laughed "Hey if it feeds jaws over there, then more power to you".
Guilmon lifted his red snout from the bag, a bagel rolled out of the little hut and into the park. "Wait little bread snack, come back this is lunch time not playtime" Guilmon said, "GAH Guilmon get back inside before someone sees you" Takato said. The boy quickly chased the Digimon outside into the park, Jeri and Henry giggled as they watched Takato. "Nice of you to stop by Jeri" Henry said, Jeri nodded "Thanks so how are you and Terriermon?".
The dark haired boy shrugged "Were doing all right, Terriermon was a bit tensed up after that wacko came to our door last night. I didn't bring him here because I figured the little goof could take some time out to relax". A curious Jeri blinked "Wacko? What wacko?". Henry rolled his eyes "Course how stupid of me, some nut case in a dark coat and claws came knocking on my door last night. The guy looked like something out of TV crime movie".
The girl scratched her reddish brown hair, wondering why that sounded so familiar. "Funny that sounds like just like that guy Rika was talking to" Jeri said. Fear rushed to Henry's mind as his eyes opened up wide, the horror filled image of that encounter painfully scraped across his memory again. Frantically grabbing Jeri's shoulders Henry pleaded to her, "A guy? Some guy was talking to Rika? Some crazy guy?". The boy asked nervously.
The girl squeaked a bit at being grabbed but eventually nodded at Henry's question, "What did he look like? Tell me please" Henry begged. Jeri relayed what she saw to Henry. The man was described to the tamer, Jeri recalled every noticeable feature that Henry mentioned about the man. The dark blue hair, 2 sets of glasses, dark silver trench coat, and those 2 finger claws. "Yeah, I saw him talking to Rika a minute ago" Jeri said casually.
Henry frowned "What the hell does that guy want with Rika? First he talks to me, then he asks about Takato, and now he's after Rika". A concerned look formed on Jeri's face at Henry's words, fearfully realizing Takato might be in danger. "Takato? Did you say he wanted Takato?" Jeri asked, but Henry shook his head and continued "What were they talking about? Please talk Jeri. I need to know if this is the same guy, it's very important.
When you saw this guy talking to Rika, could you make out what he was saying to her, like what they were discussing?". Moments pass as Jeri collected her thoughts, she finally answered "All I heard was something about it all ending after tonight. Something, I'll be out of your life something, I'm sorry I couldn't make out the rest". But that little bit of information was all Henry needed to realize that this was very, very bad.
Whatever Tallos was planning involved both Takato and Rika, leaving Henry in the dark and out of the loop. "Thanks Jeri don't you worry though, soon as I get Terriermon I'll" Henry slowly started. However it arrived too little too late to the boy's realization that it was quiet, too quiet. Henry blinked "Why didn't Guilmon and Takato come back inside yet?". Jeri and Henry quickly looked outside and gasped, Guilmon and Takato were gone.
There was a small note left near the fountain, the children quickly ran to it without hesitation. "Hey Henry, heads up" Terriermon shouted. Henry's high flying bunny eared Digimon had returned, smiling big and bright as he landed beside his tamer. Jeri smiled "Awe hello there Terriermon". Terriermon giggled "You sneaks, starting the party without me huh", "Terriermon we've got to go right now" Henry said as he crunched the note.
The Digimon blinked a baffled glance at his tamer, fury crunching tightly into Henry's fingers smashing the note. "Hey guys what's shaking?" Takato shouted, Jeri and Terriermon looked back to see Guilmon and Takato. The girl sighed "So there you were, we were wondering where you were silly". Takato chuckled "Just got a little sidetracked by a pesky little bagel, that and Guilmon playing tag with a squirrel". Everyone but Henry laughed softly.
The silent boy turned his back to the gang without saying a word, in seconds Henry started to walk off. Terriermon blinked "Looks like someone sure lost their sense of humor, not to mention direction, hey Henry home's the other way". But nothing but silence answered the tamer's Digimon. "Geez Henry did something bad happen while I was away? I mean is everything okay?" Takato asked. Henry angrily demanded for Terriermon once again and left.
Regretfully the long eared Digimon followed his tamer, concerned and confused at Henry's bizarre behavior. "Takatomon did I make Henry mad somehow?" Guilmon asked, the boy sighed "No boy it was nothing you did, at least I think. Whatever set Henry off he sure seems upset about it". A worried Jeri was about to suggest they go and talk to Henry, but Terriermon shouted back "Don't worry I'll Momenti Henry he'll be good as new".
The 2 kids smiled and waved goodbye to Terriermon and the silent Henry. Guilmon smiled "That tag game was sure fun Takatomon, I can't wait to do it again, next time you join in too, okay?". Laughter echoed from the boy's smiling face "Sure thing boy, but you better get inside before someone sees you. Just make sure you be careful and stay out of trouble", the Digimon nodded "I promise Takatomon. Bye Jeri, and next time bring more bread".
"Guilmon" Takato exclaimed, the Digimon snuck back into his house laughing loudly. The children too laughed at the dinosaur's obsessive love for bread. The golden warm rays of the sun slowly started to melt away behind the city's silver towers, sunset was rapidly approaching. A cold breeze chilled Jeri, she rubbed her bare legs together shivering "Boy it sure got cold around here fast. I better get home before it gets really chilly".
The young boy watched as Jeri was slowly beginning to walk away, sweat dribbled down Takato's goggles. Panic was taking over the young lad as he was feeling strange. Takato's knees felt weak, his head felt hot, cheeks flushed, is he in love, is he dreaming, is this a sign, what could it mean? Takato bit his lip, closed his eyes and simply blurted out "HEY JERI", she turned to him. "Yes, did you want something Takato?" Jeri asked kindly.
Bashfully staring at his green sneakers, Takato softly mumbled "I was just wondering, or thinking rather. If you liked, or didn't like, cause whichever is cool with me but I uh, what I mean is um. Would you uh w-w-would you like it if I uh I mean I……walked you home?". A warm rosy color of pink blushes appeared on Jeri's cheeks, the girl stifled a giggle and replied "Sure that'd be……Nice". Takato's eyes widened as he too blushed very brightly.
Meanwhile……
"Henry's what's the matter, you haven't even told me to shut up yet, so something must be wrong" Terriermon yipped. The tamer stacked his cards and Digivice into his pocket jeans, Henry remained speechless as he walked out of his apartment. "I'll be back soon" Henry shouted to his family. Terriermon gulped "This looks bad, not even momenti can relax Henry now, I wonder what's gotten into him". The Digimon quickly followed his tamer.
The mysterious reason for Henry's unexpected mood swing remained unsolved in Terriermon's mind, unaware how close the answer was to him. Lying in a crunched up ball inside of the boy's trash can, was the note, the same one that had set him off. Inside the note was written in bright red ink, or so it seemed. In truth, the letter had been written in human blood. Large letters were carved from that dried blood, unveiling its contents slowly.
STAY AWAY FROM MR. MATSUKI OR ELSE!
To be continued...
