Third re-upload of this chapter, making this version 4. I'm sorry, but I wasn't pleased with what I had up. I removed about fifteen lines from V. 2, mainly because I thought that it was too much info for one chapter. Don't worry, I'll add the info later in the story.
Cat Fight
"So you're telling me I met a changeling and not the actual Mr. Robinson?" Asked Yamaki. Everyone was at Hypnos, listening to Rika tell all she knew about the current situation, which, to her embarrassment, wasn't a lot.
Rika nodded her head. "That's what it sounded like when the WereGarurumon laid out the pieces. He said he sent a changeling. I wonder what Digimon could change into a human," she was looking at Ryo, waiting for him to answer. Unfortunately, he didn't.
"I thought Mr. Robinson was acting strange that day. So this Digimon wanted to take you out. I wonder why," commented Michael.
"He probably thought she was a big enough threat to get rid of. But I wonder why you and not, say, Takato," wondered Henry.
"He thought Takato was weak," she said sarcastically.
Many people thought this was funny. They all either heard or saw Takato single-handedly take the whole Parasimon army out with just one attack. To say that Takato was weak would be like saying that Rika was in love with Kazu.
After thinking about that analogy, Rika got to thinking about various types of "Weaknesses." One instantly got stuck in her mind.
Do you think the reason why he thinks Takato's weak is because he shows his feelings? She asked Renamon silently.
Possibly. Renamon respond just as silently. And the reason why he thinks you are strong is because you hide emotions.
"Was there anything of interest before you came to the dark room?" asked Yamaki, snapping Rika out of her thoughts.
Rika made a quick glance in Takato's, then Ryo's direction, which nobody caught except Renamon. Not even Renamon saw the early part of Rika's dream, to which she was very grateful. "No. Nothing of great importance," she responded.
"Probably getting married to Takato," whispered Kenta to Kazu. They both snickered. Rika heard the comment and the snickering. Rika just glared at them, but it was marred by the fact that she was blushing.
They inhaled, getting ready to chant: "Rika's blushing!" But one look from her told them that she would get them later, when there wouldn't be witnesses. They decided, wisely, to do the embarrassing chant later.
"I wonder if he thinks you're strong because you bury your feelings?" wondered Michael out loud.
Rika shivered when she heard him. I hate it when he does that! "I wondered the same thing," responded Rika. She then bowed her head in thought. "White-faced goggle-head," she muttered silently to herself. "feelings don't make people weak! Not acknowledging them makes you weak. Takato is probably the most-"
"Those views sound very similar to yours, don't they, Rika?" Rika glanced at Henry, glad that he had interrupted her silent ravings. I didn't like the direction they were taking.
"I once thought so, but I've learned a lot since then," responded Rika, casting a discreet glance in Takato's direction.
"Really?" responded Michael incredulously. "Then why were you cold and emotionless when you were in the U.S.?"
"She might not have been comfortable enough to show her feelings to anyone," responded Henry.
"You sure? Because the last day…"
"Michael," Rika butted in sternly.
"Why don't you let him talk?" Asked Alisha. Yamaki sighed and shook his head. I don't want two Rikas fighting in here.
"It's OK, Alisha. It would be better if she would talk about her college experiences instead of me." Michael said, hoping to avoid confrontation.
He didn't succeed. "No Michael. I want to hear how often she paints her toenails, not to mention what kind of make-up she likes."
The room got deathly quiet. The final insult had been thrown out. She would pay, one way or another.
Rika snapped. She was now glaring openly at Alisha, wanting to throw her off the top of the building. Renamon, sensing this, put a calming paw on her Tamer's shoulder. Rika just shrugged it off. Renamon now knew how serious she had just been insulted. Nothing short of blood would calm her down.
Michael tried to calm her down. "Uh, Rika, I don't think-"
"Can it, flyboy," she said flatly, not even looking at him.
Alice had gotten nervous. Come on, she had plastic surgery to look like a daughter of Rumiko, of course she would wear make-up and toenail polish. Unless… No. She is probably an admirer gone to the extreme, she thought. She wanted to run. She might act like Rika when she is unsure of herself or angry, but when she's afraid, all she wants to do is run away and hide.
"Do you have a death wish or something?" asked Terriermon cheekily, getting everyone but Rika to look at him. "I mean, come on! Only an idiot insults Rika by calling her a 'Rumiko-wannabe' and asks what kind of make-up she wears! I mean, not even Kenta and Kazu ask those questions anymore!"
"Why? Is she some sort of tomboy?" she asked incredulously.
"Yes," almost everyone replied. Her face was frozen in the incredulous expression, her eyes darting from face to face, looking for deception, but finding honesty and pity.
Alisha suddenly felt a presence to her right. Turning, she saw Rika's hard face. She looked into her eyes and noticed that they were violet. Probably wearing contacts… OOOWW! Rika's right hand landed on Alisha's left shoulder. Her thumb instantly went to the pressure point right under the shoulder. Although she didn't cry out, everyone knew she was in immense pain. She took her right hand and hit Rika's hand with her palm, (A/N: I don't remember what it's called when you hit something with your palm. It's annoying me, too!) dislodging her hand. She then got into a fighting stance and jabbed her in the face. Rika was taken a bit off guard, but recovered quickly, getting into a fighting stance of her own. Everyone instinctively moved out into a circle, surrounding the fighting females.
"Ooh!" Terriermon squealed, than began to chant "Cat fight!" Kenta, Kazu, and Guardramon joined the chanting. However, Terriermon stopped his chanting when Henry glared at him.
"Rika, cut it out!" Takato yelled. All during the fight, he was trying to get Rika to stop fighting her enemy, all to no avail.
After a few punches were exchanged, Henry decided enough was enough. "Renamon," he called, looking at her. Renamon turned, and Henry could tell that she had a look of concern on her face. "I think we need to split these two up. Will you help me?" Renamon's face returned to her normal unreadable expression and nodded. They dove into the fight, not really caring who got who. It ended up that Henry got Rika, and Renamon got Alisha. Rika was still trying to get away from Henry, but Alisha was happy to be split up from the demonic fashion princess-wannabe.
"Renamon, Take Alisha outside the room. I think Rika needs some time to cool," Henry ordered. She nodded. Although her Tamer wasn't happy that she got interrupted from the fight, Renamon knew that some day she would thank her. Some day. Pixiemon followed his tamer outside the room. When Alisha was outside the room, Rika stopped struggling and Henry let her go.
"Now that that little bit of entertainment," Yamaki said disdainfully "is out of the way, can we get back to the issue at hand!" He was irritated, they could all tell.
Takato got things going. "What I don't understand is why Myotismon looked so old. I mean, on the TV shows he looked like a good-looking young guy, but this one looks more like Tichondious (sp?) from Warcraft III."
"Without the horns," Rika stuck one finger up. "or the smoky, red eyes." another finger went up. "Other than that, I would agree with you."
"Oh, come on! Warcraft's so old!" commented the new Gogglehead Toshi.
Ignoring him, Rika continued. "And the fact that the WereGarurumon was wearing a jacket was stupid. Isn't his fur warm enough?" She asked.
"She certainly is a fashion freak," said Alisha with her ear to the door.
"No, just practical," commented Renamon.
Alisha just looked at her and asked "Does she live with Rumiko Nonaka?" sarcastically.
"Yes, she does, considering that she is her daughter," commented Renamon, slowly loosing her patience.
She scoffed. "Probably got adopted when she saw how happy she was to see a fan so devoted." Her attention instantly went back to the door.
Renamon couldn't believe her ears. Alisha was acting like an imbecile! She had never acted like that in all the time that she knew her.
"Excuse me. I need to use the bathroom," she said, getting up and walking down the hall.
"And we thought that our Tamers would get along great." Renamon looked over and saw Pixiemon hovering in the air.
"Yes, but there were some wrinkles we didn't talk about," Renamon said.
Pixiemon nodded. "Such as Alisha's idol being your Tamer's mother,"
"Or the fact that Rika hates dresses," smirked Renamon.
"Now there is a barrier between the two…" Pixiemon said sadly, being cut off by a shout from the other side of the door.
"You're Ryo Akiyama!" shouted Michael's voice. "The Digimon King!"
Pixiemon smirked. "They tend to be slow at recognizing their idols. That and Alisha is jealous of Rika's looks."
Renamon looked at Pixiemon, finally recognizing why she was acting the way she was.
Alisha came back, frustrated. "I can't find the bathroom. Do you know where it is?" She asked Renamon. She grinned and nodded. She was going to go the long way, just because…
"Maybe he's hiding something," said Kazu. Kenta nodded in agreement.
Rika scoffed. "Hiding something? He more or less blurted out the pieces that his master wanted me to put together," Rika commented.
Something seemed to click in Henry's brain. "You said that he wanted you to put the pieces together?" he asked. When Rika nodded, he got more nervous. "I think he wants you to join him."
Rika almost laughed when she heard this, but Henry's serious face stopped her from doing it. "You honestly believe he wanted to recruit me?" she asked. He nodded. "Why would some white-faced vampire want to recruit me into his army?"
"I don't know. Maybe he thinks your strong enough, and/or stupid enough, to join his ranks," commented Michael.
"And maybe he thinks you're pretty," joked Ryo.
Seeing Ryo, Michael came up to him and asked "Do you know a Ryo Akiyama, known as the Digimon King?" When Ryo looked at him like he was an idiot, Michael's eyes got big and he shouted "You're Ryo Akiyama! The Digimon King!" He began to stare at him as if he was the success of his life.
"Once again, Michael, you're slow on the draw," Rika said dryly.
Ignoring them both, Henry asked Yamaki "Have you been able to contact the Sovereigns?"
He shook his head. "No, the network's too congested. We can't get anything in to it, and nothing comes out but gibberish."
"Except for the Cloned Devas," Henry amended soberly. Yamaki nodded, not too happy with that.
"Maybe something big is coming through," Elecmon threw out, since his Tamer probably wouldn't recover from the shock for a while.
Rika nodded, then shook her head, then asked "When did you send your last request?" to Yamaki.
"Five minutes ago," was his response.
Scratch that idea, she thought. "Couldn't be his army coming through," she thought out loud.
Everybody reacted to that statement negatively.
"Army?"
"Yeah, what army?"
"Why didn't you tell us before?"
"Uhh… are you sure that there's an army coming through?"
"Momentai! It couldn't be that big! Could it?"
Just then, a cloud developed right in the middle of their little fighting circle. Everybody got ready, with the Digimon getting in front of their Tamers.
"Good afternoon," came a deep male voice that Takato, Guilmon, and Rika recognized as Myotismon. Guilmon started to growl. The fog dispersed showing a flickering 3D hologram of the Digimon with what looked like the holo-projector. The description of his face was mostly accurate, except his head was more spherical than ovoid. The remainder of him, however, was dressed in the normal Myotismon costume.
"What do you want?" Rika asked, a little afraid. In her dreams, she could feel Renamon, but now… she was who knows where, leading the demented Tamer to some place far away in the building.
He grinned. "Apparently you are stronger than I thought. Reaching your mind across time and space just to learn what I was doing. I'm impressed."
"Man, this guy gives me the creeps!" whimpered Kazu, backing up. Myotismon glanced in his direction. Kazu would have wet his pants if his bladder wasn't empty. Prior to entering the room, he went to the bathroom, in dire need to empty its contents. Now he was grateful of the fact that he didn't have to embarrass himself in front of everyone by having wet pants again.
Guardramon stepped into Myotismon's line of sight, blocking Kazu from his gaze. "You will not make my Tamer leak!"
Myotismon smirked and said "Looks like he's trying to, but isn't succeeding. Something must be wrong with him."
"Hey!" Myotismon turned to look at a slightly more confident, or maybe just angered, Rika. "I'm the only one who has a license to insult, and even beat up, Dumb here!"
He just continued smirking and said "I have an unofficial license."
"Why are you here?" asked Henry, getting to the reason why Myotismon's holo-projection was there. He had a feeling that if Rika and Myotismon went at it, they would be here for a long time.
"I've come to warn you Tamers that you are about to be destroyed." Everyone waited for him to continue. He didn't.
"You going to say something else, or are we going to stare at each other all day?" asked Terriermon.
"Terriermon!" Henry reprimanded.
"As a matter of fact," Myotismon interrupted the known lines before they had a chance of getting any longer. "I do." He glanced at Rika. "Rika Nonaka. Abandon your friends and join me, or die!"
Idiot! Nobody orders me around! Thought Rika angrily. "In… your… dreams… bloodsucker!" she gritted out.
"As you wish!" he said in a regretful tone. In a flash of light, his image disappeared back into the projector. It began to beep.
And then the beeping got faster.
And faster…
"Rika!" Renamon could be heard as she rammed into the door, making it fly off its hinges, and in Rika's direction. Rika ducked. The door missed her by sailing over her head.
The beeping turned into a constant tone. A red beam fired from the holo-projector, hitting the door, which was fully "blocking" Rika, and making it explode. Fortunately, the explosion wasn't a big one, but it still made Rika sweat.
"Guardian Barrage!" Guardramon aimed for the holo-projector–turned–killer–laser, knocking it out.
"Rika! Are you all right?" Rika could see Renamon was worried, and she herself was a little shook up. All she could do was nod. When Rika looked around, she could tell that everyone else was in shock.
"Too bad we didn't get to learn why the network's congested," Terriermon said, trying to get the nervous atmosphere out of the room.
"Probably bringing his castle through," Kazu said before he could think, getting stares from everyone. "What? Vampires in the movies always live in castles!"
"And you think that this is the movies?" asked Henry. Kenta shook his head vigorously.
"What did Rika say?" everyone turned to look at Alisha as she walked into the room. She sniffed the air, as if she could smell something but couldn't place what it was. Kenta stopped shaking his head, realizing that he was dizzy.
"Nothing, sister. We just got visited by an aged Myotismon who tried to kill Rika." He stopped talking, realizing that he should have stopped earlier. "And so help me, even if you're my bigger sister…" he stopped dramatically, waiting for her to say it.
Thankfully, she didn't. She apparently learned her lesson from the fight. "So, is there anything else we need to know about?" she asked, looking at Yamaki.
He shook his head and said "Not that I know about."
Rika nodded. "Good. Now, for you two's sleeping arrangements," she said, turning to Michael and Alisha. "I don't think that you" she pointed to Alisha. "can stay in my house, and I don't think that you two will like being separated. Henry, what about your parents' apartment?" she asked, still looking at Michael and his sister.
"They moved into a smaller one, so I don't think so." Henry said, shaking his head.
She wasn't happy about that. "Hm. Takato's house is out of the question, and I doubt Kazu will be a complete gentleman with any girl sleeping in his house…" Rika was cut off.
"Hey!"
Ignoring Kazu's outburst, Rika continued "Kenta always seems to be doing something or other in his guest bedroom,"
"And I've moved into my own apartment," Kenta added.
"And I don't know enough about the younger tamers to make you go to their houses," she finished.
Pixiemon flew over to Michael and whispered something in his ear. When he was finished, Michael looked at him as if asking about his sanity. Pixiemon just nodded, making Michael sigh. "Rika, do you think that you could get my sister to stay at Rumiko Nonaka's house?" he asked hesitantly, waiting for her to kill him.
Rika glared at him, not happy with the situation. "Maybe, maybe not," she said curtly. "Renamon, go and ask mother if we can have a visitor for a while." Renamon nodded and disappeared. The room got quiet, everyone waiting for her to return. It was five minutes later that she got back, and from the look on her face everybody could tell that the answer was unpleasant. "Well?" Rika demanded an answer.
"Only one guest at a time," was all Renamon would say.
"Perfect." Rika was happy about that, and it showed. "Michael…"
"I think I could stay over at Takato's house," Michael said, not wanting to get into an awkward situation with Rika. True, it would only happen on a strange day if Rika drank 120-proof alcohol, but he didn't want even the hint of the temptation. That, and he thinks that Pixiemon has something planned for his sister and Rika.
Rika's face contorted in anger. "Fine!" she spat out. She turned around, then back around, with a look of resignation on her face. "You can come to my house," she said pointing at Alisha. "And you," she looked at Michael, pointing at him. "can stay over at Gogglehead's." Michael got confused, looking at Toshi, who was wearing Takato's old yellow-rimmed goggles. "The older Gogglehead: Him!" she said, pointing her thumb at Takato. Michael was more confused. Rika just sighed, feeling the adrenaline leave her bloodstream. "Gogglehead, explain."
"Uh, heh. I had a pair of goggles that I used to wear in my early Tamer years that I have gave to young Toshi here," Takato explained, pointing to Toshi at the end.
Rika blinked sleepily, trying to hold off the drowsiness as long as possible. However, almost everyone noticed this.
"Aww, does Ms. Nonaka need her beauty sleep?" Alisha asked childishly.
Rika only response was a drowsy "Shut up," that few people heard.
"Need a ride home?" Yamaki asked, smiling.
Rika sighed. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."
Yamaki's car drove up to Rika's house. The stop woke Rika up, who was having unpleasant nightmares about the vampire and his henchman. Renamon was also taking a little nap, which was a bit strange. Usually Renamon was walking on rooftops, watching for anything that could be causing problems, which could be as big as a bio-emerging Digimon or as small as Impmon causing trouble. Curious about this, Alisha asked "Why are you napping?"
Renamon just said "I wish to protect my Tamer in any way possible."
"Okay," Alisha said simply.
They, with Pixiemon, were the first ones out. Rika got out slowly, trying to stay awake. Alisha, feeling pity, walked over to help her. Renamon was about to run to her Tamer's aid, but Pixiemon held his staff in front of her. Renamon looked at Pixiemon in confusion and pain, wanting nothing than to go to her Tamer and help her. Pixiemon just glanced over at the two women, as if to say, "Just watch." Renamon did just that.
"What do you want?" asked Rika, glaring at Alisha.
"I want to help you, with or without your permission," Alisha said, wrapping her arm around Rika's shoulder and helping her up.
To Rika's surprise, Alisha had a surprisingly strong hold, and she knew that it wasn't just because she was sleepy.
She wasn't happy about it, but she couldn't see any way out of it. "Fine! Just let go of me before…"
"Rika!" Alisha looked and saw her childhood idol with a look of dismay on her pretty face.
"…My mom sees me," she finished in a depressed tone.