"I wonder why Rika's so upset." wondered Michael out loud.
"Because your twin said that Rika wanted to be like her mom," Takato stated, trying to keep his anger inside but failing. Of all the tamers, he wore his emotions on his sleeves, and it showed. And when someone hurts Rika… why in the world do I react? He asked himself.
They were currently in the process of walking to Rika's house. The U.S. Tamers were surprised to see Rika power-walking away in anger. Michael was the most confused. Whenever he asked her about her family, she would just shrug it off and say that he had an uneventful family. Apparently she was lying. Michael didn't mind being called a twin, however his sister was a different matter altogether.
"We're not twins, you… Jolly Green Giant!" she gritted out almost Rika-like.
"Huh?" Takato was wondering where that came from. True, he might be tall, but he certainly wasn't in a jolly mood and he wasn't wearing any green clothes, so the comment was pretty much null and void, in his opinion. He just stared at her in mild anger.
Sensing the anger directed at her, she she looked at Kazu. "So, does Ms. 'Nonaka' always act like that?"
Kazu smiled and glanced at Susie, knowing that this was a perfect time to bait his worst friend, replied "Yep, she even acted like that when I asked her to marry me…"
Before anyone could react to his lie, he was kissing pavement. Everyone stopped and looked.
"Oh, dear!" declared Guardramon, picking up his Tamer. Kazu got support from his Digimon, not currently ready to be on his own two feet.
"Ow! What was that?" he asked no one in particular. Nobody knew, but Takato ventured a guess:
"Renamon?"
Everyone stared at him.
"Remarkable! I only saw a yellow-colored blur!" blurted Guardramon. Everyone stared at him.
"Why would Renamon step on Kazu?" asked Alisha.
"I think Kazu is on Renamon's bad side right now," Takato said.
"You mean Renamon has a bad side?" Asked Mike incredulously. She always seemed to be a level-headed Digimon.
"Yeah, you should…" Kazu winced, as if waiting for the blow to come. "…have seen her when her 'sister' walked into Takato's back room. I've never been so afraid of Renamon before."
"He leaked," commented Guardramon. The other Tamers laughed.
"Hey! Let's see you hold in your pee when Renamon gives you a death glare." This sobered the native Tamers, but the U.S. ones were still laughing.
Kazu was about to go into a fuming rage, when Michael asked "I would like to see a Renamon death glare," laughing the whole time.
"It's a lot like a Rika death glare." Kazu replied nonchalantly as possible.
This sobered Michael up instantly. He had seen many a-death glare from Rika, and when he mixed it with Renamon… he inwardly shuddered at the imagined sight. "I see what you mean," he said reassuringly
"Rika couldn't be that bad." Alisha stated.
Everyone looked at her incredulously. She did not just say that! Did she? Was the thought that was running through each and every mind present, save for three: Alisha, Elecmon, and Pixiemon. The thoughts running through the two Digimons' minds was She must be really bad. Maybe even worse than Alisha when she's angry.
Alisha got the opinion that they thought that she was. She would reserve judgment until she knew more about the person.
Rika felt Renamon's presence a split second before she walked out of the shadows. Rika could see that she was smiling.
"So, did you find out who Henry's girlfriend is?" Rika asked, trying to forget the "Rumiko-wannabe" comment. The comment irked her to no end, mainly because it wasn't true. She walked quickly home and got into her room without saying hi to her grandma. She knew that the others would be there in about ten minutes.
"Not exactly," Renamon responded still smiling, confusing Rika.
"Does he have some secret family that we don't know about?" she asked a bit put off by Renamon's cryptic response.
"Not yet," was Renamon's even more cryptic response.
"Who's his wife?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm, showing she wasn't liking this run-around via her tone of voice.
"Alice McCoy," Renamon stated, getting out of her humored tone to relay a bit of straightforward information.
This mildly surprised Rika. "Henry's married?"
"Almost," she responded, getting back into her humored tone.
Rika put the pieces together. "He got engaged." Renamon nodded. Rika smiled. "Well, I'm happy for him. In a way I was expecting Kazu to get into a bad relationship and get married." She smirked at her own thought. "I have a very high opinion of him, don't I?" Renamon didn't respond, waiting for her Tamer to continue. "When did they get engaged?"
"Today." Renamon stated. Her grin got bigger. "The circumstance that surrounded it are… amusing." Rika raised an eyebrow, wanting to know more but also knowing that she might not get it.
"His… future wife…" Renamon paused, searching for the right word.
"Fiancée?"
"Yes. His fiancée wasn't even phased when she saw Jeri on the couch…"
Rika cursed, interrupting Renamon's narrative. She, as well as the other Tamers, had completely forgotten about her. "Might as well call Henry and tell him to drop off Jeri here, as well as invite him," Rika grinned "as well as his fiancée." Renamon grinned with her.
Rika took out her phone and stopped, staring at it wearily. Renamon saw this and nodded her silent encouragement. Rika nodded her thanks and dialed Henry's cell phone number.
Henry's cell phone went off, distracting Henry who was staring into Alice's eyes. The ringing also made Jeri start. Alice noticed her reaction, but didn't say anything. Henry reached into his pocket and got out his cell phone and frowned when he saw Rika's name on it. What's her problem now! He asked himself irritably. "What do you want!" he asked with irritation into the phone, surprising Alice. She hadn't seen him react like that, but then again she hadn't seen him when the subject of his girlfriend was brought up.
"Jeri," Rika simply said. "If she's up, bring her to my house, and bring your fiancée with you." Henry heard humor in the last part, but didn't know where it came from.
Henry's eyes got wide. "How did you…" they quickly narrowed. "You sicced Renamon on me."
"I didn't sic Renamon on you. If I sicced Renamon on you, you would be dead. I told Renamon to spy on you. Do you know how foolish it is to be without your Digimon? A 'wild one' could cause a big problem with you." Usually Henry wouldn't have fallen for that subtle play on words, but he was in a bad mood and not thinking clearly. "Come on over; we'll congratulate the two of you, not stare at you or your future wife like the two of you have turned into a Digimon overnight."
Henry smiled, knowing what she was doing. "Okay, but I bet you've met her before. Her name is Alice McCoy." Alice smiled, seeing Henry get out of his shell.
"I- wait… That name is familiar. Where have I headed it before?" The fact that Henry might keep it a secret surprised her.
There was a pause. "Do you remember the girl that had the Dobermon, during the D-Reaper incident?" He whispered so that only Rika could hear him.
Rika instantly was reminded of a blond Teenage girl that seemed to be sad all the time and wore all black.
"Well, I hope that you will be able to make her happy," Rika said, not believing that it was possible. It seemed as if Alice was devastated when Dobermon had to sacrifice himself to make the Tamers biomerge in the real world, and Rika wondered if she had ever gotten over it. "Just come to my house a-" she was cut off. He looked at his phone and found it dead.
"Just come to my house and introduce Alice to the rest of us, OK?" Rika waited for Henry to respond. When he didn't, Rika looked at her Cell and was angry to find that it had just died. Sure, I've been spending a lot of time on the cell phone, but not that much. Rika then got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Rika!" Renamon growled out.
"What is it, Renamon?" Rika asked, looking at her partner. She could see Renamon's hackles were up.
"Don't you feel it?" Rika nodded, sort of knowing what was going on.
"Darkness."
Outside of Rika's house, the Tamers are stopped by Guilmon's growl.
"What is it, boy?" Takato asked, thinking he knew what it was. He would later find out that he was half-right.
"Darkness," Guilmon growled, pointing his snout to Henry's apartment. They begin running there as fast as possible.
They didn't even notice when Rika came running out of the house, saying "Bye Grandma!" as she ran out. Nor did they notice when Rika passed them.
"Would you like to use my cell?" asked Jeri, startling Henry. She then looked at her phone. "Hmm. My phone seems to be dead, too," she said surprised.
Something seemed to want to click in Henry's mind, but it didn't have the momentum to click all the way. It got as far as: Deva, Electricity loss, and… some specific bird. "Alice, would you mind trying to turn the lights on?" he asked. Despite the strange request, she went to the light switch and flicked it to the On position. The lights remained off. She flicked it back to the Off position. The lighting in the room didn't change from the same dreary gray from the light that the clouds outside would let through.
Rika got to the front of the apartment complex that had Henry's apartment in it. She, as well as Renamon, had a gut feeling that this was the place where the next "Deva" was going to show himself.
Getting in a protective stance, Rika turned around and faced the building on the other side of the street, waiting for the Deva to show himself. Rika was panting, out of breath.
"Hey Wildcat!" Rika almost burst a lung sighing in frustration.
"What… do… you… want… Ry…o?" she asked breathlessly. Ryo was walking calmly up to Henry's apartment, totally oblivious to the danger that would soon be coming. Cyberdramon was following him, his normal non-talkative, brooding self.
"I just came when my Digivice went off. Apparently, you ended the party before I could get here." Ryo said smiling.
"Well count… yourself… lucky:… I think… another… party's going to b-be happen…ing."
Hearing footsteps, she turned and watched as the other Tamers came to the building, hoping to protect their friend. Rika's eyes instantly went to her currently second-least favorite person in the whole world. She could already see Alisha glaring at her with a glare that seemed familiar and foreign at the same time. Where have I seen that look before? Rika's asked herself.
"Who's the babe?" Ryo asked, nodding his head at Alisha.
"My least favorite person in the world right now." she said, having regained her wind. She then smirked and added "You two would work out perfectly," glancing at Ryo at the end, then quickly returned to her staring contest with Alisha. Ryo looked confused by the comment, but didn't say anything, knowing that Rika would answer at her own time if she so chose.
However, Rika didn't have long to dwell on where she saw the glare before, because a Digital Field popped up between Rika and Ryo, and the rest of the Tamers, separating them. It was then that their Digivices went off, signaling a powerful Digimon was in the process of Bio-emerging. Henry got out of the door to see Rika's and Ryo's backs to him. Alice and Jeri soon followed him.
"Another Deva," stated Henry, surprising everyone in their little sphere of existence.
"How do you know?" Rika asked, then noticed that Alice, who was not wearing Gothic clothing, was about to ask a question herself. Rika smiled apologetically, then turned her attention back to Henry.
"I added a program on the D-Siren, making it go off any time a Deva was bio-emerging. I guess that it's a good idea I did." He just finished the sentence when the Deva fully bio-emerged, revealing that they were fighting against the rooster Deva. I should have known! Which Deva has the ability to suck electricity out of wires?
"Shinduramon," he answered his question out loud. He noticed that the Deva seemed to be growing! When he stopped growing, he was almost three stories high, surprising Henry. "Last time I saw him he was only a quarter of that size." Henry thought aloud.
Ignoring that comment, Rika just looked at Renamon, and they both nodded. "Biomerge activate." Rika and Renamon became Sakuyamon. Ryo did the same thing with Cyberdramon, becoming Justimon.
Seeing this, Henry knew that he had to help out or Rika would kick his butt. "Terriermon!" he called out. No response. Looking around, he couldn't find his Digimon. He then remembered that he gave him to Susie. "Rika!" Sakuyamon turned around to look at Henry. "Do you know where Susie is?" he asked a little worried. If I can't protect my future wife the day we get engaged…
Sakuyamon smirked and said "Across the fog barrier," pointing her staff at the approximate area that the other Tamers were.
"So Henry, how did you defeat this Deva before?" asked Rika, looking at the four-story chicken.
"Hydro Blaster!" A jet of water shot out and hit the Deva, and another Deva came out of the concealing fog: The bunny Deva. The water, however, didn't have the desired effect; all it seemed to do was run down the Deva, not doing any real damage, and not even grounding him. "You are bigger than I remember." Antylamon commented dryly.
"Terriermon!" Henry shouted, hoping to get his partner's attention. But when he didn't get any reply (or he didn't hear the reply), he decided to try the Blue Card. True, biomerging would be a safer bet, but he wasn't close enough, and he didn't want to risk a dash to the far side. However, no matter how hard he concentrated, he couldn't get any of his cards to turn into a Blue Card.
Jeri offered her suggestion: "Maybe Terriermon is still unconscious."
Before Henry could react to the comment, Jeri tensed. Looking over, Henry saw a Digimon that had been on maybe, at the most, two Digimon episodes.
Henry wasn't the only one who noticed that Jeri had frozen. "Why does Jeri look like she sees a ghost every time she sees me?" Asked SaberLeomon.
"Long story," said Sakuyamon and Henry at the same time. Alice also pretty much guessed the same thing: Jeri lost her partner Leomon, and a Digimon that was more or less his Mega form kept on showing up.
"Corona Blaster!" A purple orb of energy hit Shinduramon, knocking him off-balance but without the force to make him fall. He retaliated by throwing a bolt of lightning at an incoming Beelzemon. True, that an Ultimate Digimon shouldn't have too great of an effect on a Mega, but for some odd reason, the "Cloned Devas" seemed to be stronger than any normal Ultimate. Beelzemon was thrown against the apartment, sliding down and saying "OW!" when he landed on his tail.
Justimon jumped up and sliced the Deva with his blade. However the blade didn't go all the way through the Deva's armor, but it was enough of a distraction for one Mega.
"Invincible Sword!" Gallantmon, Crimson Mode called out as he rammed his sword into Shinduramon. However, the Deva seemed to be made of electricity on the inside, because he was hurled back by a bolt of electricity that came out of Shinduramon's chest. And the bolt kept coming out and hitting everything and everyone in sight. Rika saw this and wondered how she could stop it. She then noticed that there was a manhole cover nearby. She also remembered that she, Sakuyamon, was a Shaman-type Digimon. This is gonna stink! she thought disgustedly Steeling herself for the gross task, she cast a simple spell that would make water levitate. Sewer water shot the manhole cover off, and the water then went straight towards the bad Deva. Rika's messy plan worked. The electricity went into the water the moment that it hit Shinduramon. However, due to the amount of electricity in Shinduramon, the sewage was evaporating making it so that Sakuyamon had to keep pumping sewage at the Digimon. The only good thing about the sewage was that it was keeping stray arcs from hitting any Tamer or Digimon. The bad things that could be said about it was that it created a bad stench, which Rika, and even Renamon, had a hard time ignoring. They both almost lost their lunch. Also, it was potentially unhealthy. But what other grounding sources were nearby? None that would work.
Finally, the Digimon's last erg was sucked up by Mother Earth and Father Water, and his data dispersed. Sakuyamon then ended the spell, making sure that the sewage would go back into the manhole. She then collapsed to her knees, reverting back to Renamon and Rika.
"Water is not my element," was all that Renamon could say before the gag reflex tried to take over.
"Magical Tale!"
Rika looked up and saw Pixiemon twirling his staff. There arose a great wind, blowing the stench away. Rika tried to get up, but was too shaky on her feet, so she sat down. Takato walked over and helped her up. When Rika looked at him, he looked worse for wear, with soot over a large percentage of his body. When Rika looked over to Jeri, she could see that she was being supported by Alice, staring at something. When Rika followed her line of sight, she could see a badly injured SaberLeomon.
"You just did that to get on my nerves, didn't you?" Alisha asked slightly put off, glaring at Ms. Rumiko.
Alisha, in her childhood, had a bad experience with walking down in the sewers of her city. She was only five when she saw an open manhole and decided to go exploring. What she encountered would be ingrained in her memory for the rest of her life. She ran into a big rat. She hated the stench. She even thought she saw a mutant, but when she was older, she came to the conclusion that it was some sort of sewer worker. Luckily someone found her before the day was out and brought her up to the land of the living. But whenever she sees the sight of sewage, or even the scent of it, she can quickly get into a cold sweat.
"I just hope we don't have to deal with anyone else for now," commented Michael, hoping to diffuse the situation. They heard a rumble and everyone groaned, knowing that it wasn't thunder. Rika just glared in the direction of the sound, not in the mood to fight, but intending to beat up the guy that was keeping her from going to sleep.
However, she didn't need to worry about staying, because she fell asleep resting on Takato, much to Takato's embarrassment, Kenta and Kazu's entertainment, and Ryo's disappointment.