CHAPTER FOUR: RENAMON IS…GONE?
It was the morning of the next day: Tuesday morning. As the sun shun brightly at the break of day, inside the Nonaka residence, the auburn-haired form of Rika was now arising from a night of restful sleeping. Yawning groggily and scratching the back of her reddish-brown hair, Rika got up from her bed and stretched herself out a little bit.
"Ooh great, another day…another time for me to spend with gogglehead and the others," Rika said to herself while stretching out her arm muscles, "I wonder what is on the agenda for today."
Rika walked over to a medium-sized year calendar. It was stuck on the wall of her bedroom and peering narrowly at the calendar, Rika looked at that day's date. Scribbled underneath the date number were the words 'Patrol the city. Meet in park for 9 am' in black marker.
"Looks like I'll have to patrol the city with the others today," Rika said still watching the calendar, "ha! How wonderful? It's a bright and sunny day and gogglehead decides for us to patrol the city instead of just hanging by the beach. What fun! Oh well, hopefully Kenta and Kazu will do something stupid like they usually do and that always gives me a good laugh."
Rika looked away from the calendar. "(Yawns) Well since I'm supposed to meet the others for nine this morning, I guess I better…go back to sleep," Rika said before jumping onto her bed and sprawling out.
"Aah…now this feels great. Nothing like a nice nap before a big patrol around West Shinjuku," Rika said smiling contentedly, "you know, it's kind of strange when I think about it. Here I am going to bed again when I already had a great night's rest. Oh well…that's just how I am I guess,"
Rika then rolled over onto her left side and yawned jadedly. "Hmm, if I had such a good rest, I wonder how Renamon must be feeling right about now," Rika said considerably, "after all…she was acting a bit odd when I talked to her last night."
FLASHBACK…………
Rika: Renamon? Where are you going? Don't you know what time it is?"
Renamon: I am very much aware of the time Rika; I'm just…going for a walk that's all.
Rika: A walk? You've been doing that a lot this week.
Renamon: So, what's wrong with that?
Rika (suspicious): Renamon, are you by any chance…hiding something from me?
Renamon: N…No I am definitely not hiding anything from you Rika.
Rika: Are you sure? Because you've been acting weird lately. Is everything alright?
Renamon: Everything is fine Rika; I just have……a lot of things on my mind recently.
Rika: Like what? Do you wanna talk about it?
Renamon: No, I rather not talk about it Rika.
Rika: Are you sure?
Renamon: Yes.
Rika: Oh okay.
Renamon: Good.
END OF FLASHBACK……….
After her little flashback of the previous night, Rika turned on her front with her back laid to the bed. Staring absentmindedly up at her bedroom ceiling, Rika recapped on one key statement that Renamon had made to her.
FLASHBACK……….
Renamon: Everything is fine Rika; I just have……a lot of things on my mind recently.
END OF FLASHBACK……
"Hmm Renamon? What were the things that were on your mind recently and worst yet, why wouldn't you talk to me about them?" Rika said to herself, "urgh! Just listen to me, I'm talking to myself. Anyways, why should I not, after all I am worried about Renamon."
Getting off of her bed, Rika walked from her room and out on the porch outside of her house. From there, Rika took a seat on and just gazed out at the sun; the calm morning breeze blowing vigorously through her reddish roots.
"(Sighs) So much for taking another nice long rest," Rika said with her hand on her chin, "and this is all because of Renamon. I mean, what is wrong with her? Why was she acting so peculiar last night? I'm just going for a walk…yeah right? Something is definitely up with Renamon. Too bad I can't put my finger on what it is?"
Rika then stared up at the sky. The weather was perfectly clear that morning; the sky was its usual cerulean blue shade and the clouds were just plain cumulous. As she glanced up at the skies, Rika focused her attention on the clouds…one cloud in particular which, in Rika's personal perspective, was outlined exactly like Renamon. This sort of thing, made Rika think for a second.
"Hmm? Maybe I should talk to Renamon again," Rika said thoughtfully, "after all, this trouble does have to deal with her."
Straightening her back and closing her eyes, Rika opened her mouth and uttered the one word that only one golden-yellow and white fox would ever respond to. "Renamon," Rika said in low tone of voice.
Normally whenever Rika uttered Renamon's name, the golden fox-type would always appear…however, this time Renamon did not turn up at all. This caught Rika by surprise.
"That's funny. Renamon didn't show up," Rika said astonishingly, "perhaps I should try calling her again."
Closing her eyes once more, Rika uttered softly, "Renamon."
Rika now waited good-naturedly for her digimon partner to come springing from the shadows to meet her. Yet, for the second time, Renamon did not emerge. Now Rika was becoming irritated.
"Okay now this is ridiculous," Rika muttered fairly aggravated, "Renamon…where the heck are you?"
Folding her arms, Rika frowned heatedly and a 'humph' escaped her mouth. But as Rika did this all of a sudden, the sound of deafening footsteps were heard from inside of her bedroom.
"(Gasps) What was that?" Rika gasped, "could that be Renamon inside there? If it is, then it's about time that she got here."
Speedily jumping to her feet, Rika dashed inside her bedroom. She was expecting to find Renamon there but instead the only person Rika found was her grandmother, Seiko Nonaka.
"Grandma?" Rika said goggling at her grandmother.
Seiko looked up at her granddaughter and gave her a smile. "Good morning Rika, did you have a good night's rest," Seiko said good-heartedly.
"Yes…yes I did," Rika answered, "er…grandma? Was it you who was walking around in my room just now?"
"Yes, it was me. I just came into your room to gather your laundry," Seiko replied, "why did you ask?"
"Oh no reason, I just thought that you were…someone else that's all," Rika said.
"Okay dear," Seiko said, "now, time to get this laundry downstairs."
Bending down on the ground, Seiko took up a navy blue basket full of Rika's dirty clothes and walked over to the bedroom door. "Breakfast will be ready shortly after I do the laundry, okay Rika dear?" Seiko said.
"Alright grandma," Rika answered.
"And another thing Rika, one of your friends called while you were asleep," Seiko said, "I think it might have been that Takato boy, he told me to tell you to meet him and your other friends in the park for nine this morning."
"Okay, thanks for the info grandma," Rika said.
Seiko gave Rika a small nod before walking out of the room, leaving Rika alone. Once her grandmother had left the room, Rika took a seat on her bed. She sat there for the while and all Rika did was sulk desolately. She was very fretful for the weird desertion of her digimon partner.
"I don't understand," Rika said, "Renamon never showed up…even when I called her twice. This sort of thing has never happened before……never."
Rika plopped herself back on her bed. Her facial expression was filled with trepidation as she stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom yet again.
"Renamon…what has happened? Where are you?" Rika muttered noiselessly as he fingers forgetfully tapped the bed sheet of her bed; no more than to soon slip underneath her pillow. It was there that Rika found something of curiosity.
"Hey? What's this?" Rika questioned as she pulled the something from below her pillow. Taking a look at it, Rika saw that it was only a piece of brown parchment. The parchment was folded in half and was slightly tattered to say the least. Rika eyed the piece of paper peculiarly.
"Huh? I wonder how this ended up underneath my pillow," Rika said, "maybe someone else placed it there for me to find. Question is…who it is."
Rika then opened the brown parchment. But what she found was no more than…a letter. The letter was written in what seemed to be brown, muddy dirt and the essayist of the letter wrote in a very untidy yet readable handwriting. Rika observed the letter closely.
"Hmm? I wonder who wrote this," Rika mumbled, "and whoever it is, this person definitely needs a lesson in forming their u and w."
Despite the muddled calligraphy, Rika read the letter on the parchment of paper. Line from line…sentence to sentence…word for word; Rika read everything. And by the time she had finished reading the entire letter, Rika suddenly covered her mouth; gapping at the piece of parchment…for she had just realized from whom the letter was from. It was from…….
"R…Re…Renamon," Rika managed to say, trying her best to fight back the tears that were now gathering in her lilac eyes.
"Ooh! Where is she? She should have been here by now," said a very disgruntled Ryo Akiyama.
"Relax Ryo, I'm sure Rika will be here soon," Jeri said reassuringly.
Ryo merely snorted. It was nine and before now the entire digimon tamers' group, alongside their digimon partners, had gathered in the West Shinjuku Park. Whilst their digimon played in further end of the park, the tamers all stood by the old metal-gate shack (which used to be Guilmon's place). They were awaiting Rika, whom was the only tamer who had not arrived.
"Guys, I'm beginning to get a funny feeling about this. Why hasn't Rika arrived here?" Ryo said agitatedly.
"Urgh! For the umpteenth time Ryo, stop whining," screamed Jeri in frustration.
"Yeah Wyo, momentie," advised Susie.
"I don't know you two, maybe Ryo has a point," Takato said, "us knowing Rika, she should have been here by now."
"Maybe one of us should go to Rika's house and get her," suggested Mia looking monotonously up at the others from her seat on the grass.
"Hey that's a great idea Mia," Henry said, "I volunteer to go."
"Um? As much as you'd like to volunteer Henry, I think it is better if I went and got Rika," Ryo said.
"Oh and why is that?" Henry questioned.
"Because…I am the better person to go get wildcat," Ryo answered, "besides I was the one to go get her back in the digital world in the year we fought the D-Reaper."
"True. During that time we were all trying to get ourselves back to the Real world and away from the terror of the carnivorous red chaos and I admit…yes; you were the best suitable person to go find Rika then," Henry said honestly, "but for Pete's sake Ryo, this is the Real world. No more D-reaper here. It is just a simple task of going to get Rika at her home and I think I still should be the one to go get her."
"Ha! Um Henry, no offense but…frankly I'm the better tamer and person so I should go," Ryo insisted.
"No I should go," Henry said tenaciously. He was getting pretty annoyed with Ryo's persistence.
Ryo frowned at Henry for he too was infuriated by his persistent behavior. "Henry, stop being so stubborn," Ryo said, "I will go get wildcat."
"I'm the one being stubborn!" Henry said taken aback, "look Ryo, I already volunteered to get Rika first and I will."
"No I will!" Ryo yelled.
"I will!" Henry bawled.
"No I will!" Ryo screamed.
"I WILL!" Henry exclaimed.
"Urgh! Will you two please zip your traps and shut up!" Jeri suddenly bellowed.
Both Henry and Ryo immediately stopped their feuding and looked up at the incensed brunette appearance of Jeri. Jeri glowered at either male tamer but after a second, she calmed herself down.
"(Sighs) Well that's good. It's about time you two hotheads cooled down," Jeri spoke unperturbedly with her hands on her hips, "geez, I don't know what you two were quarrelling about. Ha! I should be the one to go get Rika. How silly."
"She's right you know," Mia said in agreement, "it was pretty dense of you two to be fighting over a thing like that besides in the end, neither of you were even going to go get Rika."
"Oh and why is that?" Ryo inquired.
"Because here she comes blind man Buff." Mia answered unsympathetically.
Ryo frowned at Mia's austerity. He afterwards directed his attention to Rika. Certainly the ginger-haired digimon tamer was coming…she was running hastily up the steps to Guilmon's old hideout.
"Rika! Thank goodness that you have come," exclaimed Jeri enthusiastically as Rika stopped directly infront of her; panting profoundly.
"Jeri is right. Where were you Rika?" Takato questioned inquisitively, "we were all worried about you."
"Some more than others," Kenta added casting a smirk at Henry and Ryo, who each blushed from shame.
"Th...Thanks. I...pants…appreciate…pants… your concerns," Rika gasped finally recapturing her breath.
"Quit the sarcastic act Rika," Ryo said gravely, "now seriously, where have you been?"
"Where do you think I was Akiyama? Home…duh!" Rika answered harshly, "but anyways that's not the point, we have more important things to take care of. Now where are your digimon?"
"They're all on the other side of the park playing," answered Ai.
"We could go get them if you want," suggested Mako.
"That's great Mako," Rika said, "because we're gonna need all of the digimon."
"Oh yeah, we're gonna need them all right. Need them to kick some evil digimon butt," said Kazu excitedly.
"No! That's not what I need them for Visorboy," Rika said, "what I need the other digimon for is search for…for……
"For what Rika?" Henry asked.
"For………Renamon," Rika answered hesitantly.
"WHAT!" exclaimed everyone else in surprise.
"You heard me. I need the other digimon to find Renamon," Rika repeated, "she's lost and I can't find her."
"What? Lost! Rika, are you telling us that Renamon is…GONE!" Takato shouted.
"Yes," Rika answered despondently, "I believe so."
"How do you know that that's true?" questioned Alex.
"Because I found this letter under my pillow," Rika replied showing everyone a folded parchment, "I believe it's from Renamon. Here, read it for yourselves."
Rika handed Takato a folded piece of parchment. Takato unfolded the parchment paper and with the other tamers peering over his shoulder, he began reading the letter aloud.
LETTER………
Takato (reading): Dear Rika, I am deeply sorry that I have to say this now. It has come to my full attention that I do not belong in this world…the Human World. Although my other digimon companions may fit in, I surely do not. I belong in a place where I can be treated as a friend and not as a plight of danger. So thus, I have left this world and have returned to my home in the Digital World, where I belong. Please do not come looking for me because I have already made my decision. Goodbye Rika. You have been the greatest friend that I have ever had. Say goodbye to the others for me and…take care of yourself.
Your Loyal Friend Always
Renamon.
END OF LETTER……….
Once he had finished reading Renamon's letter, Takato looked up from the parchment at the faces of the other tamers. Each one of them wore the same expression on their faces as he did: shocked and confused.
"W…Well, isn't anyone else gonna… say something about this?" Takato asked, his voice trembling.
"What can we say Takato," said Jeri, "this is all very depressing news."
"Yeah, I can't believe it," said Mia unhappily.
"Me neither. Who knew that Renamon could actually write," Kazu said with a big grin on his face.
"Kazu! Focus!" Mia bellowed loudly clouting Kazu on the head, "don't you see that this is a serious matter."
"Hey! Watch the visor, will ya!" Kazu yelled clamping his hands over the indigo and green visor on his head.
"Aargh! You are so naïve Shiota!" Mia scolded angrily.
"Same goes for you Istosh!" Kazu retorted.
"Guys! Stop your feuding. You're not helping Rika," Kenta said resolving the two tamers' argument and pointing a steady finger at Rika.
Rika was standing with her back to the others. Her head was drooped downwards in utter grief.
"Awh Wika, are you okway?" asked Susie concernedly tugging on Rika's shirt.
"Do I look okay to you Susie," Rika answered, "I just lost my digimon partner you know and the worse part about it is…Renamon just got up and left. She didn't even say goodbye."
"You mean Renamon just left you for no reason at all?" Mia inquired.
"Yes, isn't that strange?" Rika answered.
"It is and it makes no sense either," Takato said rubbing underneath his chin.
"Hey I have an idwea, why dwon't we ask won of the digimon if thwey know where Wenamon may have gone?" Susie suggested.
"That's not a bad idea Susie," Kazu said, "but I'm afraid none of our digimon even knows that Renamon has left."
"And it's gonna stay that way," Takato said, "this sort of the news might shock them to an extent."
"Hmm? What about Wenomon? We cwould ask him," Susie implied.
"That's…good Susie but finding Renomon will be like finding a needle in a haystack; absolutely impossible." said Kenta.
"So no good idwea?" Susie asked.
"No good idea," Henry answered shaking his head at his sister.
Susie then heaved a sad sigh.
"Ha! Well that's nice. Great plan Susie," Alex said mockingly.
"I was jwust twying to help figure out a way to fwind Wenamon. I want her bwack," Susie said.
Rika stooped down infront of Susie. "I know you want Renamon back Susie," Rika said as she stroked Susie's brownish-mauve hair, "and I want her back too."
"We all do," Takato said.
Susie looked up at Rika's face and then to the face of Takato and with that, she smiled slightly and sighed again.
Whilst the tamers all grieved for the disappearance of Renamon, they each did this in total silence. However, little did either of them know…some creatures are eavesdroppers! Secretly hiding in the bushes opposite the old metal-gate shack (Guilmon's old hideout) was three nosy digimon. All of whom had been listening on the tamer's conversation and had heard everything.
"(Gasps) Did you guys here that," said one of the three in an astonished tone.
"Yeah, I can't believe it," said another digimon, "Renamon is…….
"GONE!" finished the last of the three digimon.