Return of D-Reaper 5
Playing Host
"You are such a fool, Takato Matsuda," the D-Reaper told its new host, "to give yourself to us."
"I did it to keep you away from Jeri," Takato muttered as it paced inside his unearthly cage, "I'm not going to let you capture her again."
"How do you except to do that when you are here?" it demanded.
"My friends will stop you," Takato said fiercely, "for good this time!"
"Your behavior is much different than that of Jeri Katou. We don't sense the constant feeling of misery and despair—longing to be eliminated."
"You are wrong!" Takato snapped, "Jeri isn't like that. You took her at a time when she lost her digimon partner. That made her upset. I won't believe for a minute she wished to be dead."
"You were not here when she tried to take her life."
"What?"
"She knew we were using her. That she was the reason the world was going to be eliminated. She said if she wasn't alive anymore then the world would be better. She is most right."
"You lie!" Takato cried. "The world would not be better without Jeri. Not mine!"
The D-Reaper laughed. "It does not matter. Jeri Katou gave us the necessary energy to defeat your world. But you don't."
"That's because I'm feeling different emotions, D-Reaper," Takato said hotly, "I'm not depressed and I'm not thinking the world is going to end."
"Then we would just have to make you feel that way, won't we?" said the D-Reaper.
"Go ahead and try," Takato muttered.
"Or, we can use your connection to Jeri as our advantage."
A mound of tendrils lifted up, forming a humanoid body. Takato stared in shock as it took on a perfect mirror image of him.
"That's…me," Takato mumbled.
"We did something similar with Jeri," Takato's double replied, in his voice mingled with Jeri's. It sounded very disturbing. "We sense a powerful connection between you and Jeri. We will use that to our advantage."
"You tricked me!" Takato took a step forward and the tendrils bounded his legs to keep him from coming any closer. "You led me into a trap!"
"We didn't really know how strong this connection was until you gave yourself to us. Nor did we know you would give yourself to us so we haven't made a trap. This has turned out quite nicely for us"
"You're going to use me to get to Jeri?" Takato demanded. "Then let me go! I've got to warn her!"
"No, you stay here and relax," the T-Reaper grinned devilishly; "we will go and see Jeri!"
"Stay away from her!" Takato barked.
Laughing, the D-Reaper morphed back into the tendrils, sank through the cage and out to the world to find Jeri. Takato tried to break free but the D-Reaper's tentacles wrapped around him head to toe, pulling him into the wall.
"Guys, it's a trap!" Takato called out, believing somehow that Henry and the others would hear him. "They're going to go after Jeri! You have to warn her. JERI!"
But Henry and the others had no idea Takato was trying to call for them. They were trying to contact Hypnos and the others for help. There was no way they could save Takato with the three of them. However, they were having much difficulty getting through.
"Still no luck?" Rika asked.
"Yeah," Henry moaned, "we just can't get through."
"This is crazy!" Rika exclaimed. "What are we going to do? Just sit here and let the D-Reaper take over everything?"
"Of course not," said Ryo, "we'll just have to find another way to get help. Maybe the D-Reaper's causing this."
"We might have to go back through the digiport," Henry suggested, "if it's still there."
"I wonder if Takato's okay," Guilmon whispered, "I can't protect him if he's in there."
"Momentai, Guilmon," said Terriermon.
"C'mon," Rika urged, "I can't stand it anymore. Let's try and get back to Earth before the D-Reaper does!"
The Monster Makers were gathering information from Kneazlemon about her data. They wanted to make sure she was a strong enough digimon against D-Reaper. They were rather amazed with their handiwork and wondered what her digivolutions would be like. They studied Jeri as well and made cat scans and other sorts of test to see how a human can live within the D-Reaper.
Jeri didn't understand how this was able to help anything. While she was taking all these weird tests Takato and the others were in the Digital World fighting the D-Reaper all on their own. What if they didn't succeed? What if they never come back? She never got the chance to tell Takato how she felt about him.
Jeri realized that she had to fight the D-Reaper and help the others. There was no point in denying that the D-Reaper had returned. Takato had designed Kneazlemon and the Monster Makers made her real. After witnessing Kneazlemon protect her, Jeri had to let Kneazlemon join the fight. However, Jeri was only half-hearted about it. She still didn't' want Kneazlemon to fight. She wanted to take her back to the digital world. But what would be the point? The D-Reaper would just delete her anyway. She just wished things could be different.
After much persuasion and nagging from Kazu and the others, Jeri gave in and let Kneazlemon spar with the other tamers' digimon for practice. Kazu wanted to know what kind of moves and attacks Kneazlemon could do. Jeri thought it was useless. She didn't have time to play games. However, it was a good way for her to practice as well. She totally forgot how to digimodify. Of course, she had only done it once. She was never a real tamer anyway. She would need to know how to use what cards whenever a crisis would arise.
"Your digimon's fast, Jeri!" Kenta exclaimed. "Look at her go!"
"Yeah," Jeri said, "well, I used a speed card…"
"You didn't have to," Kenta insisted, "she's fast enough."
"Is playing around like this really going to make a difference?" Jeri wondered aloud.
"Of course, Jeri," Kazu said, "the little munchkins could use the practice too." He nodded over to Suzie and the other kids with their digimon.
"Did ya call my pahtnhas munchkins?" Impmon demanded.
"Yeah," said Kazu, "but that's a good thing."
"Oh, well, okay," said Impmon.
"I wonder how Takato and the others are," Jeri said, "you think they're all right?"
"Of course, Jeri," Kenta said good naturedly. "They've been tamers longer than we have. They'll be back in no time. Once they top the D-Reaper in the digital world, everything will be back to normal over here."
"One more go," said Kazu, "Knealzemon and Lopmon."
"Lopmon was a deva," Jeri said softly.
"It's all right," said Lopmon, "just like Kazu said. Suzie would enjoy the practice."
"You sure, Suzie?" Jeri inquired.
"Let's go!" said little Suzie enthusiastically. "I want to be great tamer, like Henwee!"
"Right," Jeri sighed, "ready, Kneazlemon?"
"Ready."
"Digimon to the line," said Kazu in a referee like voice. Lopmon and Kneazlemon stepped to the line Kazu had drawn on the ground.
"Tamers, get your get digivices."
Jeri frowned and Suzie laughed excitedly as they reached for their digivices.
"Aaaand—BATTLE!"
As Lopmon sent her Blazing Ice attack, Kneazlemon ducked low to the ground to avoid it, narrowingly missing her ears. Kneazlemon rolled away and lifted her claws.
"BLAZE CLAW!"
Lopmon was also quick on her little bunny toes. She ran to the side and dodged the attack.
"Yay, Lopmon!" Suzie cried.
"TINY TWISTER!"
Kneazlemon wasn't so quick this time. The twister caught her in mid jump and brought her down. Luckily she landed on her feet.
"Cats always do land on their feet," Kneazlemon said playfully.
"Use a modify card, Suzie," Jeri suggested.
"Oh, okay," Suzie whispered, "which one should I use…?"
"Anything!" Kazu exclaimed, "just pick something!"
Suzie reached into her little purse and flipped through her collection of modify cards. She didn't have very many to choose from.
"I think your brother has most of the cards," Kenta said.
"I'll use…this on," said Suzie and picking out the card she needed she prepared to card slash. "Digi modify! POWER ACTIVATE!"
Swirls of data came to Suzie's rookie digimon, making her stronger. Knealzemon stepped back and looked at her tamer.
"Wait, Knealzemon," said Jeri.
"BLAZING ICE!"
Lopmon blew a shower of ice crystals at Kneazlemon. Kneazlemon reared up her claws. "BLAZE CLAW!"
Her attack melted most of the ice away and Kneazlemon didn't have enough time to jump out of the way to avoid the rest of the ice. They pierced her arms and made her fall down.
"Oh no!" Suzie cried, "I'm sorry!"
"It's all right," Jeri said softly, "Kneazlemon will be fine."
Kneazlemon shook her body and arched her back as she got back to her feet. "Nice work, Lopmon."
"I hope I didn't do too much harm," Lopmon anticipated.
"I'll be okay," Kneazlemon said roughly. She looked up at her tamer, wondering why she let her lose. All Jeri had to do was slash a card and Kneazlemon stopped Lopmon's attack. "Shall we try again?"
"No, let's go home," Jeri answered, "I think we've had enough practice for one day. Come on, Kneazlemon."
"See ya, Jeri," Kazu said.
"Yeah."
Jeri walked off with Kneazlemon at her heels.
"Why didn't you use a card on me?" Kneazlemon asked her tamer.
"I didn't think you'd need one," Jeri said, "and besides, Suzie is just a little kid. I wanted to go easy on her."
"Jeri, you can't go easy on everyone," Kneazlemon hissed, "they'll take advantage of you. You don't expect go easy on the D-Reaper, do you?"
"Of course not!" Jeri retorted, stopping dead and looking at her new partner in disbelief. "Look, Kneazlemon, the D-Reaper is very dangerous. We're going to stop it. But we don't have to destroy Lopmon to prove it. It was only practice anyway. It wasn't a real battle."
"How do you expect us to prepare for real battles unless you take them seriously?" Kneazlemon inquired.
Jeri didn't reply. She wasn't sure exactly how to answer it. She was still in denial that it was all happening.
"I…I dunno, Kneazlemon," Jeri said finally, "I'm sorry, okay? I just didn't want to hurt Suzie's feelings. She's just a little kid."
Kneazlemon turned and perked up her ears, "Jeri, I hear something."
"I don't hear anything," Jeri stated.
"I do," Kneazlemon insisted and she sniffed the air. "Something's coming this way…"
The bushes rattled and Jeri turned. Out stepped Takato, looking quite unlike himself. He was still wearing the same clothes he wore the day he left for the digital world but there was something strange in his eyes.
"Takato?" Jeri asked.
"Jeri."
"What are you doing here?" Jeri inquired, "Where's Rika and the others? Are they with you?"
She started walking to Takato and Kneazlemon looked on, trying to put the things together. When Jeri got closer to Takato, he grabbed her wrist quite hard.
"Takato," Jeri whispered, "what is it? Ouch! You're hurting me!"
"You can't hide from us, Jeri Katou," Takato said, his voice full with malice.
"Jeri, get away!" Kneazlemon cried. "That's not your friend!"
"Takato, what's the matter with you?" Jeri inquired.
"We've come back," said Takato.
"No," Jeri said, "the D-Reaper—you've got—you've got Takato, don't you? You've copied him and took his voice—just like you did to me!"
She wrenched her hand out of the fake Takato's grip. "If you hurt Takato, I'll make you pay!"
"Oh, we haven't hurt him," the T-Reaper said idly. He's sitting peacefully back at the D-Reaper's nest."
Kneazlemon stepped in front of her tamer protectively and attacked the ADR posing as Takato. "CAT SCRATCH FEVER!"
The D-Reaper agent, easily deflected Kneazlemon's attack. "You can't stop me."
"Don't be so sure of that," Jeri said, pulling out a card, "the real Takato made her! Let's show him what you've got, Kneazlemon!"
"Sounds good to me!" Kneazlemon exclaimed.
Jeri swiped the card in her digivice, "Digi modify—DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"
DIGIVOLUTION.
"Kneazlemon digivolve too…"
The outer layer of Kneazlemon's body removed itself, showing the many yellow criss-crossed lines of data making her up. She stretched out on hind legs and her body began growing as more data was added to her. After the data lines shaped her new figure, a new layer of skin and appeared. The orange speckles were gone and now her body was orange-yellow. She now looked like a female version of Leomon with a human-like lion face with green eyes and short spiky orange-red hair. She wore black jeans with the stitches on the sides revealing skin and a red midriff top. Like Leomon, she had a number of belts on her arm. Only the belts were red and they were on her left arm. Her claws were red and the tufts of her ears were yellow. Around her neck she wore a necklace resembling Leomon's. Instead of only having one peicred ear like Leomon, both ears were pierced with two hoops. On her lower back she kept a short curved sword called a scimitar. The champion version of Kneazlemon finished her digivolution, glaring at T-Reaper.
"LEONEMON!"
"You look," Jeri whispered, "so much like Leomon!"
"There are more things in common besides our appearance, love," Leonemon said in a British accent.
She ran toward the T-Reaper and threw a powerful punch into his stomach. He skidded about five feet, bringing up earth and rock. Jeri began shuffling through her cards, ready to digi-modify when Leonemon needed it.
"Take him down, Leonemon!" Jeri commanded.
Leonemon jumped up and stretched her powerful leg out in a kick to the head. The ADR reaper had barely enough time to block it.
"Let's see you block this!" Leonemon exclaimed, a sword appearing in her hand. "FIRESTORM SWORD!"
She slashed the sword multiple times and huge balls of fire fell from the sky like meteorites, landing all around the T-Reaper. One hit im in the shoulder and he let out a yelp.
"Get him!" Jeri cried, running behind her partner, digivice in one hand and a card in the other. "Finish him off!"
"Gladly," Leonemon muttered, raising her sword and preparing to run the T-Reaper through. Then without warning, more ADR came to the T-Reaper's aid. "What?"
"Look out!" Jeri warned, "I gotta do something." She slashed the card she had in her hand. "DIGI MODIFY! HYPERWING ACTIVATE!"
A pair of dragonfly-like wings appeared on Leonmone's back and she took flight. "FIRESTORM SWORD!"
A few of the ADR caught fire and were destroyed. T-Reaper looked around him and decided to leave.
"I'll leave you for now, Jeri," he muttered, "but we'll meet again soon. I know where you live."
Jeri shuddered and tightened her hand around her digivice. "N-no…"
With a smirk, the T-Reaper left with the other ADR.
Seeing the fire falling from the sky and knowing that a battle was taking place, the remaining tamers ran to see if Jeri was all right. Kazu stopped dead.
"Look, it's a Lady Leonemon!" he cried.
"No way," said Kenta, "it's a—a—Leowomon."
"You're both wrong," Jeri said, "her name's Leonemon."
"Leonemon?" Kenta and Kazu said together.
"I'm sorry, Jeri," said Leonemon, "I didn't mean to let him leave."
"Who?" Mako asked.
"Something's horrible has happened!" Jeri said tearfully. "The D-Reaper has Takato!"
"Takato?" Kazu inquired in shock. "How? What happened?"
"I don't know!" Jeri retorted and she wiped her tears away. "But they got Takato somehow, and they made a copy of him. Just like they did to me!"
"You mean, Takato is the new host?" Kenta asked worriedly.
Jeri nodded as she triped to keep herself from wailing. "That's who we were fighting just now. The D-Reaper's using Takato to get to me. It even knows where I live."
"We've got to tell Hypnos," said Kenta nervously, "and see if there's anything they can do. I wonder—I wonder if we can contact Ryo and everyone."
"They'd try to return if they could," said Kazu.
"Oh, this is all my fault!" Jeri moaned, putting her forehead into her palm.
"Jeri, stop it," Kazu grabbed her arm and she gasped in surprise. "Nothing is your fault. We got you back and we're gonna get Takato back too."
"Y-you sure, Kazu?" Jeri asked.
"I'm positive," Kazu insisted, "now let's get to Hypnos and see if they've got a plan."
Kenta was trying to keep Jeri calm as Kazu explained to the Monster Makers what happened. They pressed Jeri for every detail she could tell them but she had already told them all she knew. She didn't' know how they got a hold of Takato and why they haven't heard about it from Henry. She had no idea how long Takato was the D-Reaper's prisoner.
"See if you can contact Henry and the others," Mr. Wong told Mr. Yamaki urgently. Yamaki nodded and went to the computer. He tried time after time to get a connection and finally he got hold of them.
"Henry, Ryo, Rika—can you hear me?"
"Mr. Yamaki!" Henry exclaimed, three blurry faces scrunched together on the screen. Henry looked nervous, Ryo relieved and Rika frustrated.
"They've got Takato!" Rika said quickly.
"We know," said Mr. Yamaki and the other monster makers and tamers crowded around him so they could talk. "We've met Takato's clone."
"You mean, they made a double of Takato already?" Henry asked. "And it went to the other side?"
"It attacked Jeri, man," Kazu explained, "trying to get her back."
"Typical," Rika muttered, "they're just using Takato to get to Jeri!"
"You three had better get back here," Mr. Wong said.
"We've tried, Dad," Henry said, "but we've lost the digi-port! I think it's easier to get into the digital world than it is to leave it!"
"What?"
"We've even tried contacting you," Ryo added, "but we were getting too much static. I guess you have more of an advantage there."
"Unless we do something," Yamaki said, "you can all be stuck there."
"No!" Jeri cried, rushing over. "I won't believe it. Tell me you can find a way to bring them back!"
"We'll try," said Mr. Wong, "Henry, how did the D-Reaper get Takato?"
"Takato just gave himself up," Henry replied.
"He did what?" Kazu demanded. "Is he out of his cotton pickin' mind? Why did he do that for?"
"He wanted to protect Jeri," Rika retorted. "It's a thing called sacrifice, Kazu."
"Takato gave himself up for me?" Jeri mumbled in disbelief. "But he shouldn't have. It went after me anyway."
"What are you going to do to save Takato?" Guilmon asked. "Is there anyway you can make me digivolve without him?"
"We'll see what we can do, Guilmon," said Daisy, "now just keep out of sight. We'll see if we can go after you or make another ark."
"We'll try," said Rika, "but it's easier said than done!"
"Chaos is everywhere," Ryo told them, "digimon here are dropping like flies. I don't know how much more the Digital World can take! I think—,"
The picture went fuzzy and the transmission went dead.
"Henry!" Mr. Wong gasped. "Come back!"
"Ryo!" Yamaki exclaimed. "Rika! Can you hear us?" He slammed his fist on the desk and turned to the others. "We've lost connection."
"No!" Suzie whined. "Henwee, Teweewahmon!"
"What are we going to do?" Jeri asked. "Is there anyway…anyway to get them back?"
"We'll get working on something right away," Yamaki promised.
"Someone will have to alert Takato's parents," Daisy stated.
"I'll do it," Jeri mumbled.
"But Jeri, what if Takato's clone waiting for you there?" Kazu asked. "You can't go by yourself!"
"It's because of me the D-Reaper's got Takato," Jeri grunted.
"No it's not," said Kazu, "you heard what Rika said. He gave himself up."
"I know, so he can protect me. Don't you see? This is my fault."
"Jeri…"
"I'll tell Takato's parents," Jeri said. "If Takato's double is there, then I have to warn their parents. They won't be safe either."
"What about you and your family Jeri?" Kenta asked. "You said the T-Reaper knows where you live."
"They can stay with my grandmother," Jeri replied, "she lives far from here and the T-Reaper doesn't know where that is. Takato's never met my grandmother."
"Yeah, but what about you?" Kazu inquired. "You gonna just stay at your hosue alone where he can get you?"
"I—I'll think of something," Jeri said.
"Hey, why don't you stay with us?" Ai asked suddenly.
"Huh?" Jeri mumbled.
"Come stay with us," Ai repeated.
"No, I couldn't," said Jeri.
"Oh come one, Jeri," said Impmon, "this way you'll have two digimon to protect you instead of one. Besides it's the least I can do…after what…what I did."
Jeri paused before saying anything. A small smile appeared on her face. "All right then. If it's all right with your parents, I'll stay."
Jeri was worried that the Matsudas would be angry with Jeri about what happened but they weren't. They were worried about Takato's well being but moved about his sacrifice. They knew that he really must've cared about Jeri to do such a thing.
"That's just what Takato would do," Mrs. Matsuda said tearfully. "We taught him to think of others. I just hope he's okay!"
"Jeri, you were in the same spot," Mr. Matsuda said, "what would be happening to Takato now?"
"Well, the D-Reaper would be boasting probably," Jeri replied, "trying to make him think that help was never going to come and make him feel worthless. AT least, that's how I felt. But Takato's different. I'm sure he's staying strong."
"It won't—kill him, would it?" Mrs. Matsuda inquired.
"No," Jeri replied, "not yet. It wants to kill the digimon first and then everyone else. It's just using Takato…to get to me."
"He'll be okay though, right?" Mrs. Matsuda inquired. "The others are working on a plan to get him back?"
"Of course," Jeri replied,"they are right now. Don't' worry, we'll get Takato back. We'll stop the D-Reaper for good!"
"How long will it be?" Mr. Matsuda asked.
"Not sure," said Jeri, "but we'll get him back if I got to do it myself!" She felt her self confidence rise as she spoke. She couldn't' let them see her look doubtful. She had to believe that Takato was all right.
"Jeri, it's too dangerous," said Mr. Matsuda, "I'm sure Hypnos can find a way to bring him back without risking anyone's lives."
"Takato risked his life for me many times," Jeri stated firmly. "Takato made me the best digimon in the world and there's no way I can lose!"
Kneazlemon perked up, looking surprised. "You mean me, Jeri?"
"Of course I mean you, Kneazlemon!" Jeri laughed. "Who else?"
Kneazlemon purred as Jeri picked her digimon up. "We're going to save the Takato and stop the D-Reaper, right?"
"Of course," said Kneazlemon.
"Takato's going to be all right. I can feel it."
After telling Takato's parents about Takato's condition, Jeri told her family they had to take off and visit relatives where the T-Reaper wouldn't find them. Jeri didn't want them to get hurt. They tried to talk her out of it but Jeri insisted they didn't have much of a choice. If they stayed the D-Reaper would find them.
"I'll be at Ai and Mako's until this is all over,' said Jeri, "I'm going to have to fight the D-Reaper and I can't let anyone get hurt."
"But Jeri…" her dad began and she cut him off.
"Please, you have to stay with grandma where you'll be safe," Jeri stated, "now if anything happens to me or anything I just want to tell you how much I love you."
Her dad and step mother stared. Jeri smiled. "Satsuki, I want to apologize the way I acted when you married dad. I shouldn't' have been so mean."
"Jeri…"
"Thanks for being so nice to me, even when I wasn't' nice back," Jeri said tearfully. "And Masahiko, I'm so glad to have a little brother like you."
"Really?"
"Really," Jeri stated, "The T-Reaper could be coming any minute so there's no time to waste. Please be careful."
Having changed a lot in the last few hours, Jeri picked up her old treasures and looked them over. Her dingo hand puppet and pink dingo-face purse. She used her puppet to get by with her mother's death, her dad's remarriage and everything that upset Jeri. She didn't need it anymore. She threw it away with her old purse. She took off her green jumper dress and yellow top and threw those away as well. They reminded her the way her mother used to dress her. Now she wanted to be different.
Jeri went to her closet, pulled out a khaki skirt with large pockets and put it on. Kneazlemon watched with interest.
"Why are you changing, Jeri?" she asked. "Don't you like your clothes?"
"Those used to belong to the old Jeri," Jeri replied, "now there's a new Jeri now."
"New Jeri?"
"Yes," said Jeri and she pulled on a black and orange striped shirt. "It's about time I changed my ways and the way I dress. That stupid jumper dress made me feel like a kid. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a tamer and a good friend of mine is counting on me."
Jeri took her pigtail down, clicked her d-arc to a belt loop and stuck her cards in one of the large pockets of her skirt. Shaking her brown hair loose, she grabbed her backpack and looked to her digimon.
"Let's go, Kneazlemon."
To Be Concluded.