I really need to tell my friends soon, but how am I going to do that? I want Takato to be my Best Man, but how can he if he doesn't even know who I am marrying? Henry sighed as he took an engagement ring and paid for it. Walking outside the store and into the mall, he sighed and looked at his watch. It read 1:51 PM. They are probably worrying about me, but I'll be fine. He thought as he walked to the parking level.
Little did he know that he wasn't the only one buying an engagement ring that day…
"Where's Henry?" asked Rika, looking at Takato. When he failed to answer, she stated "Terriermon's here, so I would assume that Henry must be close."
Although Takato was used to Rika's attitude, she seemed to be more distant from him, as if trying to prove something. He wasn't aware of the little "prank' that Kazu and Kenta pulled, which was probably for the best: his commenting on it would have probably ended him up in a one hundred-year coma. Luckily for the two pranksters, they hadn't arrived yet. They two would have been in big trouble if they showed up first. Kenta might survive on the virtue that Rika found him less annoying alone, but Kazu would be in the Land of The Dead. Jeri and Susie were the only others there, both oblivious to the fact that Rika was acting colder then usual towards a certain gogglehead.
"He said he had to get something." Takato said. Rika began to open her mouth, but he cut her off. "And no, he didn't tell me what it was." Takato added quickly.
"We're here!"
Rika instantly tensed, waiting for the right time to get rid of them.
The first thing Kazu and Kenta heard when they entered the door was a very emotionless "Leave."
"Huh?" Kazu was confused. "Why should we leave? Just because the news networks didn't include the little 'I love Gogglehead dash Rika' in their morning report doesn't mean that we can't say it here."
"Yes it does. Leave now and I may spare your lives." Rika responded in the same emotionless tone that scared Jeri, Takato, and Susie more than they wanted to admit. She turned her head slowly towards the door. Apparently their stories about her were correct, despite what my brother said, Susie thought. Kenta and Kazu, however, weren't even phased by it. Rika's little hold of the bubbling emotions in her snapped and she walked over to the two who were about to get her wrath. She started walking slowly towards the two, wanting to make pretzels out of them.
However, both Kenta and Kazu were saved by a very unlikely person.
"Kenta, Kazu; For the sake of your lives, leave this house for now."
Rika stopped and turned towards Takato. She then turned back to where Kazu and Kenta were. Who she saw was a very confused Henry looking over his shoulder.
"What did they do now?" He asked.
"Apparently they wrote 'I love Gogglehead, signed Rika' somewhere." Came a voice whose tone was remarkably similar to Rika on a good day. Looking over, Rika was surprised to see Susie acting in such a strange way. She wasn't acting like the same Susie that she knew two years ago, and that attitude seemed familiar…
Rika just turned to Susie and said "That attitude is very unfitting of you, young lady."
Susie's eyes got big for a second then she glared at the door. "I'll be back," was all she said as she walked out the door.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Rika.
Takato was looking nervous, so Henry said his mind: "You've been her role model for the past two years." Rika sighed and rolled her eyes. "And her most prevalent sources of information about you came from Kenta and Kazu. Mostly Kazu."
"So I have been dramatized as a big fat meanie," Rika surmised.
"Worse: you've been portrayed as being pure evil: That despite their best efforts, they couldn't get the Ice Queen to befriend them; that you rejected Kazu's marriage proposal;" he paused to get Rika's reaction, which would have been priceless except for the fact that she was trying not to laugh. One of her worst nightmares ever since meeting Kazu was being or getting married with him. "…and that you tried to murder both of them in your sleep. Yes your sleep." Henry added when Rika looked like she was about to correct him.
"'I'm going to kill you… zzzz. You are not a worthy Tamer… zzzz. Prepare to meet your doom… zzzz.'" Takato acted out by walking with his arms outstretched in front of him, swaying side to side as if drunk or asleep. Rika just chuckled and shook her head at his paltry attempt at acting.
Ring.
Rika half sighed, half groaned. "That's it!" she said as she took her cell phone out of her pocket. She muttered something along the lines of too much phone time and swimming with the koi. She, however, never got that far. Everyone's digivices started beeping and everyone ran outside to find the digital field.
"I wonder why Rika's not here. She should be here. I told her friend, and her friend told me that he would tell her." Michael babbled as he dialed Rika's cell phone number. He and his sister were just outside the airport, each holding their Digimon: Michael had his Elecmon, and Alisha had her Pixiemon.
"Michael, calm down. Everything's going to be Okay. She probably ran into traffic." She didn't get to finish her calming speech before their Digivices went off.
Michael groaned. "Now we won't get picked up. She'll probably go off and fight it on her own."
Alisha just sighed disgustedly. "Come on. Let's see who we're up against." She said as she took out her dark green with red-trimmed Digivice. She let Pixiemon go, and he began to beat his wings.
"Where to, my Tamer?" He asked.
Her response was instantaneous. "Where the Digimon is."
Pixiemon nodded and cast a sphere spell, making it easier to go unnoticed. He then waited while everyone got in it. After everyone was in the sphere, he himself got in it, and it shot into the air before going straight to the Digital Field that was a block away from Henry's apartment.
Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones from Rika's college experience who came to Japan…
The digital field wasn't far away. They all entered the Digital field with Rika's phone still ringing. When the Digimon appeared, Rika's phone stopped ringing, but few people noticed that, mainly because they were up against another Deva.
"Pajiramon," Rika gritted out when she saw the sheep.
"Rika, this Deva has the same aura about her as Vajramon and the dark Garurumon." Rika just looked over at Renamon, surprised that she didn't say anything earlier. "I tried saying the same thing when we met the other cloned Deva, but I didn't have the energy to do that. It's almost as if something had sucked away all of my energy," Renamon commented.
"And I was sleepy." Rika added. She then glanced at her partner, and her partner glanced at her. They both thought the same thing: Biomerge. They both nodded knowing what was needed to be done.
Guilmon and Takato apparently came to the same conclusion, because they were already Gallantmon. Rika said "Biomerge Activate," and she and Renamon turned into Sakuyamon.
"Hey, Rika! Don't you think that that's a little bit of overkill." Rika looked over and saw Kazu, Kenta, Susie, an Andromon, MarineAngemon, and Antylamon.
Both Rika and Renamon said "No" at the same time; Rika testily, Renamon thoughtful.
"Okay, whatever. You're both weird," he said. He turned to Pajiramon and said "You're about to get wasted! Andromon, show her who's boss!"
"It's not nice to beat up a lady, but it will be my pleasure." Andromon responded as he used his Gatling Attack to delete the fellow Ultimate. The explosion was a pretty good one, but it didn't delete the Deva. It didn't even make that big of a scratch (.5 in.). This surprised everybody that hadn't seen the fight against Vajramon, which was Jeri, Kazu, Kenta, and their partners. Henry was about to Biomerge himself, but Antylamon stepped in front of them and momentarily distracted the two.
It was enough for Pajiramon.
Antylamon didn't even know what hit her. All she remembers is getting in front of Henry and Terriermon, and then… nothing.
Gallantmon and Sakuyamon watched in dismay as Antylamon's feet took out Henry and Terriermon. Both were lucky that she de-digivolved before falling on them.
"None shall defy the Dark Sovereign!" Pajiramon yelled.
"Nobody hurts my friends!" Rika gritted out angrily, then shouted "No one! Amethyst Gale!" She swept her staff and a purple light followed her staff. The light then went straight towards Pajiramon doing more damage to her than Andromon, but it still wasn't enough to get rid of her.
"Lightning Joust!" Gallantmon cried out, aiming his lance at Pajiramon. However, it did less damage than Sakuyamon's attack, but it did infuriate the Deva just the same.
"Thunder Stomp" She reared up, then came back down, causing a shockwave to hit everyone. Sakuyamon and Gallantmon were knocked off their feet, same as Andromon who de-digivolved to Guardromon. Everyone got up and groaned, with Sakuyamon and Gallantmon splitting up.
"Foolish humans! You cannot defeat me! I am a Deva to the Dark Sovereign, and all those who defy him shall be destroyed!" The Pajiramon shouted.
"Pixie Bombs!"
What the… where did the Pixiemon come from? Rika asked herself, looking around for the pink little Digimon. The Pixie Bombs didn't do much, if any, damage to the centaur-like sheep. However, that wasn't the only new Digimon that joined the party.
"Howling Crusher!"
The attack goes right through Pajiramon's human back, beginning the deletion process.
Jeri, the first one up, holds out her Digivice and scans the big cat "Saber…Leo…mon," all the memories of Leomon, her deceased partner, comes back to her and overwhelms her. She faints. Rika looks and sees her on the pavement, not moving. She then looks over at the newcomer and uses her own Digivice to get info on their Digimons. "SaberLeomon: Mega, special attack: Howling Crusher." She then scans the other one "Pixiemon: Ultimate, special attack: Pixie bombs." She looked over and saw Michael and his look-alike sister coming out of, what appeared to be, thin air.
"Lopmon!" Susie ran over to where her Digimon had fainted. Takato and Rika run over to their fainted friend, but Takato beat Rika. Rika, growling, then went to Henry, checking to see if he was OK. For the most part, he was; he just got the wind knocked out of him.
Sighing in relief, she asked "How's Jeri?"
Takato looked her in the eyes and says "She's fine. It almost looked like she passed out for no reason."
Rika looked at SaberLeomon, who had de-digivolved back to Elecmon. "Saber… Leomon," she said, understanding why her friend fainted. She then looked at Michael. Although he didn't know he was the cause didn't help him much in Rika's opinion.
"Guys, what are we going to do about Jeri?" Everybody looked over to Takato and Jeri.
Henry notices where they are and says "My apartment isn't that far away. I can take you all there." Everyone nodded except the newcomers, who were a little shocked that a stranger would invite them; and Jeri, who wasn't conscious enough to even hear the request.
"Sounds good to me." Rika responded in a slightly cheerful manner, then she looked over to Michael and his sister. "You two can also come," she added evenly, not knowing where they came from or what they're doing here.
After laying Jeri on the couch, Takato and Guilmon went to meet the Unknown older Tamers a bit better. He already found out that they were from the United States. And he could tell from the Digimon that they were Tamers. And at least one of them knew Rika well enough not to bother her in her current mood. For some odd reason, Takato wasn't surprised that it was a guy, mainly because Rika got along with so few girls. Meanwhile, everyone was getting along (except Rika and Renamon) when Henry looked at his watch and tensed up.
Henry cleared his throat and ordered "Everyone out, please. Susie, take Terriermon." Everyone looked at him, the newcomers with surprise and the local Tamers with defeat and resignation in their eyes. They knew that when he got in one of his "moods" there was no way he was getting out of them, except with time. Everyone got out of his apartment, with Renamon disappearing into the shadows from a glance from her Tamer.
Jeri was left on the couch.
"Is there a reason why he acted like that?" asked Michael on their walk to Rika's house. Henry's change of attitude confused Michael a bit, mainly because he was under the impression that he was a amicable person. They had all decided to walk to Rika's house after Henry booted them out of his apartment, mainly because it was close.
"Girlfriend," Rika stated, not elaborating.
"Girlfriend?" Mike asked, confused.
Takato, knowing that Rika wouldn't explain what she meant, elaborated. "Henry has this secretive girlfriend that we haven't seen."
"I don't know if she's secretive." Added Kazu.
"Yeah, it more like he's secretive of her," added Susie, carrying a still unconscious Terriermon. She looked down at her brother's Digimon and commented "Why do I have to carry Terriermon? I know I played with him when I was younger, but he's Henry's Digimon, not mine!"
"Probably because Terriermon would say everything about his girlfriend because he has a big mouth," commented Rika, grinning.
"Do not," was a sleepy retort that was heard.
Everyone chuckled.
After a few minutes of silence, Michael got to business. "Have you encountered Digimon like that before?"
"Yeah, we beat 'em all before. Guess they want a little revenge," blurted out Kazu before anyone could stop him.
This confused the U.S. Tamers. "You mean that you have fought Digimon with a darkness about them?" Asked Pixiemon.
This confused everyone except Takato, Guilmon, and Rika.
"Vajramon," Rika stated.
"And maybe Renamon's sister." added Kazu, looking around for Renamon. When she didn't come, he asked everyone's thought out loud: "Hey, where's Renamon? I expected that would get her to come out of hiding."
Pixiemon answered his question. "That is because she is not here." Everyone looked at the flying puffball. Rika was the only one glaring at it. "She stayed in the apartment owned by the Tamer known as Henry." Everyone looked at Rika. Rika continued to glare at him.
"Rika, you know it's rude to invade other's privacy," stated Kazu as he leaned in towards Rika. Rika glare shifted from the pink furball to the loudmouth.
There are a lot of different kinds of glares: The glare that Rika gave Pixiemon was saying "Please don't tell," while the glare that she was giving Kazu said "You have no room to speak you dead piece of wasted matter."
Kazu recognized the glare as potentially harmful to his health and stood straight up. And backed up.
"What did you do?" asked Alicia, glancing slyly at Kazu.
"None of your business," Rika answered for him.
Alicia turned towards her and looked her straight in the eyes. "Listen, Ms. Rumiko-wannabe…" The Japanese Tamers stopped and held their breath. Alicia had just done the unforgivable: Saying that Rika was like her mother. Another unforgivable thing to say to her is that she would make a great model. Not knowing that those are the two things that really get to Rika, and noticing that this woman looked like her childhood idol, she made a comment that could have cost her more than dead silence. "…if I want your opinion, I'll ask for it."
Rika turned and faced her fast-becoming enemy. She walked up and whispered in her ear "I am not like my mother!" before walking home, leaving everyone to stare after her like she was some demented being. And it was wise to keep their distance.
Now that Takato had a chance to think about it, Rika did look a lot like her mother, facially, and the only real differences were her hair and frown, not to mention the lack of make-up. His imagination led him to what their children would look like…
Aah! What am I thinking! We aren't even married yet, not even dating, and I'm thinking about children? What's wrong with me? He asked himself as he shook his head. He started to follow Rika, and the others weren't far behind him.
Henry was pacing the floor, worried. She's never been this late before. What's keeping her? He was fiddling with the box that had the ring he bought, opening and closing it almost like Yamaki and his lighter.
Ding-dong!
He almost leaped for joy when he heard the doorbell go off. Shoving the box in his pocket, he ran to the door and opened it as quickly as possible without ripping it off the hinges. He smiled when he saw a blond with pale blue eyes. She was wearing a green t-shirt with khaki pants. They instantly hugged.
"What kept you?" Henry asked as he pulled away from her, his voice full of joy.
"Oh, nothing." she responded, smiling sweetly at him. How am I going to ask him that I want to marry him? Little did she know that those thoughts were going through his mind at the same time.
It had taken her all day to get the courage to buy the ring, then to take the ring with her, then to press the doorbell.
Hearing a groan, she looked over to see a brunette on the couch. She looked at Henry's face to discover it had a look of shock on it. She asked "One of your friends?"
Henry detected no jealousy or any other hard feelings in her tone of voice, so he answered honestly. "Yes, she is one of my friends."
"You really should tell them about us," she said, turning around. Henry thought that she was insulted by this and hoped that his little maneuver would help make her happy. Getting on one knee, he took out the ring box and opened it, looking up at her head and waiting for her to turn around.
Renamon found the situation… confusing. Why don't they just ask each other to marry? It shouldn't be that hard. Wait. The woman looks familiar. Why does she look familiar? She wasn't even aware that Jeri was awake, and Jeri wasn't aware that Renamon was there.
She turned around with another ring box opened in her left hand, but Henry didn't notice it.
"Alice McCoy…"
"Henry Wong…"
They both notice at the same time that they both have a ring for their future spouse. They both ended up laughing.
"Will you be my husband?" asked Alice.
"Will you be my wife?" asked Henry at the same time.
"Yes!" both of them said, and hugged each other again.
Jeri sighed and chuckled at the fact that the most level-headed of the bunch was getting married first.
Renamon also was smiling at the fact that Henry was getting engaged. She disappeared, looking for her Tamer to tell her the news. However, there were now two- no, three- somethings that were bugging her: a name, a face, and a golden cross on a necklace. She felt that something was missing, but what was it? She put it in the back of her mind, knowing they would be answered in their own time.