1TAMERS
RELOADED
Whassup! Sorry about the weird spacing. First of all I would like to clear up a few things that I noticed that were not made clear before. All of the tamers in this story are at the ages between 16 and 18. As for my other fics they will be getting updated at a really slow pace b/c of that stupid homwork from my teachers and exams. ( I can't wait! Til graduation!!!!!'08 !!!!!! U Know!!!) Sorry about that I just had to get out that little bit of frustration out of my system.
Ages:
Rika , Takato - 17
Alice, Henry - 16 ( going on 17)
Seto- 18
Also the reason behind the key below is b/c the tamers will go on a little trip in future chapters.
Future Tamers-(o)
Past Tamers-(y)
Now enough of my babbiling and back to the story.
Prologue
It has been a year since the D Reaper incident , each Tamer had gone back to the way their lives were before they met one another, all except for Rika of course. She now hung out with only two of the tamers Alice and Takato. The reasons behind this are simple ; 1 She can have a real conversation with them, 2 It would let a certain legendary tamer know that she had absolutely no interest in going out with the acclaimed Digimon King and 3 There really wasn't anyone else sane she knew that still stayed in Shinjuku that she was associated with. Kazu , Kenta and Jeri's families moved away after the Parasimon incident out of fear of something like that would happen again. Like that would keep them safe. Henry and his family moved back to China where Henry's dad had a better job that would make more money and allowed them to be closer to relatives. The tamers still kept in contact with their friend through MYSPACE though. Having a conversation with Ryo was definitely out of the question all the guy would do the entire time is hit on her and that was another headache Rika didn't need .
It had been a real pain when the D reaper incident ended , everyone wanted their autograph , a picture or an interview. The tamers even got an invitations to make movies but to the public's surprise as well as their peers the tamers wanted nothing to do with the fame & fortune. Even Ryo , he was a little conceited to say the least, didn't want to be in the lime light; all the tamers wanted was to be left alone.
Unfortunately the paparazzi didn't want to give up that easily , resulting in the latest rumor that was spreading around that even convinced Rika's mom and grandmother. Rika unfortunately had no clue of the rumor since she had just came back from visiting her cousin Zoey in Shibuya , where the tamer media had died down a bit.
Waking up a bit dazed the former ice queen reluctantly slid out of her bed, took a shower and, with her Japanese robe still on, slowly plodded into the kitchen where her grandma had made breakfast.
" Morning Grandma. Morning Mom." she greeted running her hand through her hair as her mom sat at the table reading a magazine she had gotten from the mailbox just minutes before Rika came in.
Walking into the room Rika grabbed an empty paper plate left over from the Parasimon incident from the last summer and piled it with pancakes , eggs and sausage. Finally sitting down Rika poured herself a glass of orange juice , she began to eat her meal. The Nonaka family sat in peace eating their food while watching the TV that sat on the wall within the entertainment center. The news woman was again ranting on the tabloid news , flashing several photos on the screen of her and the tamers when they were fighting the D reaper and the Parasimon. Then stopped at a picture that looked like it was very recent that had her and Takato in the park. Making nothing of it the family of women continued to eat in a comfortable silence, Rika and her Mom had been getting along better lately and didn't have the tense filled silent fights they had before making the Nonaka home a pleasant one. The warm household was about to be shaken by what the reported said next.
' In other news we have confirmation that the tamers Rika Nonaka and Takato Matsuki are officially an item.'
Rika glanced up momentarily from her meal in between bites thinking to herself with a smirk. ' This ought to be good'
Matsuki Bakery
Takato was just getting up , rushed around his room after taking a shower searched for some clothes to wear. Finally settling on a pair of white sneakers, loose blue jeans, an orange t-shirt with the element emblem in black , and a black jacket with a gray hood attached. He rushed downstairs to the kitchen , greeting his parents with a quick hello while they watched the tabloid news reporter speak avidly to the camera.
Takato stopped in his tracks at the mention of his and Rika's name , it wasn't anything new for the two friends to be in the ET news but it was the way their names were mentioned.
/ Rika and Takato were spotted in Shinjuku park kissing just yesterday/
The goggle head completely turned several shades of red as the picture was enlarged to a full screen. His entire body turned to stone as he looked on in shock as the photo flashed onto the screen thinking.
' Rika is going to kill me.'
He gawked scandalized for a couple of moments before he was snapped out of the daze by a comment from his father.
" I didn't know you and Rika were dating." he stated with a sly smile.
" No Dad...It's... we're..not..." the leader of the great tamers that saved the world from the D reaper was stuttering over his words and fidgeting searching for any words to say.
" Well I'm glad you finally have a girlfriend dear."
" There's NOTHING going on!!!!" the goggle head yelled out of frustration.
The small kitchen was in silence as Takato dashed out of the room with his cell phone in hand and dialed the number to Rika's house he ran toward her house through the allies.
NONAKA HOUSE
" cough... cough ... cough"
Rika was still in a series of coughing fits as the picture was being enlarged on the screen. Her mom gave her a glass of juice to wash down the large
lumps of food that she had swallowed over the course of 2secs while her grandmother rubbed her back.
" Are you alright Rika ?" asked a concerned Rumiko.
"I'm fine." she replied feeling her face turning a dark crimson as she stood up abruptly and dashed to her room.
' How were they able to find us?' thought a very frustrated Rika as she hopped into a pair of boot cut blue jeans , a dingy yellow shirt with the design of a Japanese dragon and a picture of a classic stone Japanese castle with a river and forest in the background, white sneakers, her brown tamer belt and a silver fossil watch. When she opened her bedroom door , Rika came face to face with her alleged boyfriend. Takato was catching his breath as he halted in front of her door, greeting her with a sheepish grin.
" So, have you seen the news lately ?"
" What do you think goggle head ! How were they able to find us ?"
" Don't know but I think we should go hide out at Alice's place for safety."
" Alright let's go." she stated as she headed for the front door.
" Wait." he warned as he grabbed her on the shoulder.
" What 's up now Takato?" she asked in annoyance as she turned to face him.
" Just take a look outside." he said rather bothered himself. Even though Takato was a pretty lay back person , he had it with the media trying to track them down everywhere they went. It was a complete invasion of privacy!Rika climbed up the pile of rocks in a hunch position and carefully peered down at the main entrance. Grimacing at the hoard of reporters , cameramen and photographers , she rolled her eyes before turning her gaze onto Takato.
" OK." she walked up to him with her infamous glare. " If they were storming my house then how did you get in?"
" I used the back way." he said confidently
" What back way?" she asked with an eyebrow raised and her arms crossed.
He walked over to the tree that was in their back yard and bent down beside it.
"What are you doing goggle head?"
" Look." he said slyly , the leader moved the away the branches of the bushes at the foot of the tree to reveal a surprisingly large tunnel.
" Don't tell me.." Rika replied dully as she lightly smacked her self in the head with the palm of her hand
" Yep Guilmon dug it a while back when we first came to your house." He stated sitting on the ground in front of the yard's man made lake.
" Wait. What?!" she sat on top of a nearby boulder glaring at him.
" Um.. Well .. You see... while I was talking to you about the dream" he rubbed his head sheepishly with grin. " I had ordered him to stay outside but unfortunately he didn't and just tunneled in. Sorry."
" Fine. What 's done is done." she hopped off of the stone , grabbed him by the arm pulling the goggle head to the tunnel entrance. " Let's get out of here before they try to beat the door down."
" What about your -" he halted in his tracks momentarily with a look of concern.
" They'll be fine I'll call them when we get to Alice's house."she shoved her friend toward the tunnel entrance. " Now let's go goggle brain."
Takato hung his head in defeat knowing that getting to Alice's house wouldn't be an easy task seeing as the media would probably end up tracking them down in a matter of minutes. The Tamers soon emerged out of the tunnel hastily not wanting the 'enemy' to catch up to them any time soon. They dashed passed numerous people before finally reaching a large apartment building on the east side where the computer wiz stayed with her uncle Dublin.
" We're almost there." Takato said happily as they spotted the building a couple of blocks ahead.
" Not so fast goggle head." Rika stated worriedly as she glanced behind them.
" Wha-" He looked behind them to see a large cloud of brown smoke heading straight for them that was filled with a bunch of flashing lights. Takato, being the goggle head he is, stands there for at least five
minutes before realizing what the cloud was while Rika went ahead. He stood frozen in shock as he stared cartoonishly at the approaching danger with a scared anime look plastered on his face letting out a small squeak for a yell.
" Come on goggle head!" Rika yelled as she pulled the obviously dumbfounded leader by the arm and she dragged him to the apartment entrance where there was an elevator. " Yes!"
The two of them finally had a glimmer of hope for escape but as they approached the elevator they saw a large yellow sign on it stating; OUT OF ORDER.
"You have got to be kidding me!?" Takato exclaimed staring at the door in disbelief.
" We'll take the other one!" Rika was referring to the elevator on the opposite end of the building. The two of them found the elevator in just where Rika had remembered it being with the paparazzi right on their heels. Takato continually tapped his thumb on the elevator button until the double doors swished opened and they staggered into the small confinement breathing heavily from the long run. Rika pressed the level numbered 57 which was the top floor of the building before collapsing onto the tiled floor beside Takato. The elevator at the building was running rather slow at the time, probably because of the repairs being done to the other one not to mention the fact that the buildings main system for the elevators was out of date compared to the ones at other apartment buildings.
The Tamers' leader rested his head against the side of the wall as they sat in silence with only the sound of the ding as they slowly went up each level. He stared down at his sneakers as the thoughts of why they were running ran through his mind. The kiss in the park yesterday evening.
FLASHBACK
Takato walked through the lush Shinjuku park toward the hideout where he sometimes went to think not knowing there was someone else already there.
Sauntering to the entrance he realized that the metal door was ajar swinging in the wind. The Tamer tip toed his way into the hideout to see nothing was there.
" Hey goggle head."
Takato nearly jumped out of his skin, he twisted his body completely around as he backed away to the wall. His heart had accelerated immediately , feeling like it would jump out of his chest.
" Are you OK?" she asked with a smirk. Rika watched him in mild amusement while he rubbed the back of his head , embarrassed.
"Yeah. I thought you weren't going to be back until tomorrow."
" Well," Rika turned her face away from him hiding her slightly red face. " It was kind of boring there and you" she turned back to face him. " Still owe me a rematch Goggle head."
Rika sat on the ground directly in front of her friend with her deck in hand and Takato responded by getting out his own. Ever since he started to hang out with Rika he had become more competitive. Both tamers had rubbed off on one another causing them to become better friends, best friends in fact. Rika had ,even though she wouldn't admit it , become a nicer person and learned to control her temper a little better. Except around those like the Digimon King , she could only tolerate so much.
" Ok lets play." he said with a daring smile of his own.
The two played until the sun was setting , it was almost time to go home. Ending their game with a winning card, Rika collected her deck and put it in her pocket. The Digmon Queen stood up abruptly giving Takato a brief but sincere smile.
" Looks like we better get out of here , you know."
" Yeah." he replied following her out of the hideout and closing the gate behind them. " Um Rika can I ask you a question?"
" What's up ?" she asked stopping at the beginning of the staircase.
She stared at her friend a moment , his face wasn't the usual laid back
one that she was used to it was different. His eyes were filled with ice as if he were contemplating something that was very important.
" Do you care about me ?"
" Duh goggle head of course I do." she answered nonchalantly glaring at him curiously.
"No not that way."
" What are you talking about Takato?" she asked breaking his hard gaze.
" I know I'm not the type of guy that you would ... but I.. Was wondering if .. You aren't too busy...maybe ..."
" .." It finally clicked in Rika's mind what he was about to suggest , making her start to become nervous which she was scorning herself for in the process. She could feel her face becoming hot and changing shades of red.
'Why is this happening ? Takato 's just a friend I mean , it's Takato!'
" Rika?"
" ..." she shot her eyes up from the ground and onto Takato who she could tell was really embarrassed by even admitting his feelings.
" I can see that your kind of freaked out I'll just"
Rika just did something that she wouldn't have dreamt of doing. She grabbed Takato by the hand causing him to turn around and gently pulled his head down by the collar of his jacket low enough for her to reach since he was a couple of inches taller thanks to his father's side of the family. The ice queen moved her lips dangerously close to his , she could feel his body tense up before their lips finally connected. That was when Takato relaxed , gently kissing her back neither of them knew what they were doing but quickly adapted to the new situation.
Strangely enough it wasn't as awkward as Rika had thought it would be;Takato didn't try to force his tongue down her throat or anything like that, it was ...natural.
The two broke the kiss at the sound of Rika's cell phone going off , they both were nearly scared to death when they heard it. Rika silently backed away from Takato with a , to the male Tamer's surprise, smile. He could tell that she was getting herself back into her normal demeanor before she answered her phone, this made Takato's smile even wider.
From his small observation he had broke the Digimon Queen , he had never seen Rika smile that much before not even in the Matsuki bakery when the Tamers had to make bread.
" I have to go."
Takato turned his attention back onto the present pushing back his thoughts for the moment.
" Yeah..." he placed his hands inside his jacket pockets. " Me too."
" I guess I'll see you later. Ok. Takato."
" Alright I'll call you later tonight."
He smiled at Rika as she trotted down the steps with her ponytail swaying in the wind but then suddenly stopped. She ran back up to him, placed one more long kiss on his lips and smiled at him.
"By the way the answer to your question is yes. I would n't mind dating a goggle head just tell me the time and the place tomorrow."
" Time and place for what ?" he asked innocently obviously playing coy.
" You know what I'm talking about you stupid goggle head." she warned as she punched him in the shoulder.
" It's a surprise. I'll pick you up at 6pm." he stated as he ran down the steps while Rika just stared at him callously as he flashed a smile turning behind him. " And where your Digi world gear!"
END FLASHBACK
" Takato."
The resident goggle head blinked a couple of times in surprise as his friend, or girlfriend as of yesterday, snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"Y-Y- Yeah?"
" I asked you what you were planning on doing with me today?!" she said impatiently as she stood to her feet , the elevator had reached the 57th floor.
Takato said nothing as the two of them waltzed out into the hall and headed toward the McCoy's apartment.
" Well?" Rika said again but this time more calmly.
" I did tell you it was a surprise." he said slightly mocking her , imitating her tone to a tee.
" ..." Rika said nothing thinking to herself creating a small smirk on her face. ' Goggle head must have something good planned if he was this bold.'
The two of them finally reached the apartment room , knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. Almost immediately after they knocked on the door a young woman with natural bleach blond hair up in a high ponytail , ice blue eyes, wearing a pair of blue jeans, a pair of fuzzy slippers , white t shirt and a silver & black college basketball jersey.
":It took the two of you long enough to get here." she stated letting them in. " I was wondering if you would ever arrive."
The three of them sat on a couch in the living room where there were scattered notes , disks and pencils all over the coffee table surrounding a black laptop with a silver Celtic symbol on the back. There was also an empty coke bottle beside the laptop on a coaster.
" So let me guess the press has been hounding you for that little photo they've been showing on Hollywood, ET and all those other media shows."
" Unfortunately ." the two said in unison.
" So is it true?" she asked casually as she typed away on her PC.
" NO!!!" the two said still in unison. " We're not ! I mean!"
Alice smiled happily at her friends , glad that they had finally decided to take a chance , knowing the two of them they'll probably will be one of those rare high school relationships that stay together after high school.
" I'll take that as a yes ." she said with a slight laugh.
Both Rika and Takato were a beat red, Takato just stared down at the floor and asked where the bathroom was. Alice gave him the answer, leaving her alone with Rika still glaring at the fellow Tamer.
" What are you working on this early in the morning ?" Rika asked changing the subject.
" Yamaki has been getting my uncle to investigate some strange readings from the digital world's main frame."
" What's up?" asked Takato , he just came in moments ago while Rika asked the question.
" We already know that after a digimon's data is destroyed that it automatically disappears but lately there have been packets of this data that have been heading to one area." Alice pulled up video footage from the digital world , that showed the bright data floating towards an area in the forest mountain region.
" Yamaki was working on tracking the power house but last time he tried it took out the entire Hypnos computer mainframe. My uncle has been working there for 24 hours making repairs."
" So what are you doing looking at this?" Rika asked slyly glaring playfully at her friend.
" Well it's not like they weren't going to ask us to look into it so I decided to do a check on my own and tell the rest of you about it sometime today." she shut down her PC and un hooked her black and grey D- arc. " I already sent an E-Mail to Henry in China and now I'm telling you. I don't think we should tell the others until we're completely sure of what we're dealing with."
" You're right we shouldn't put the others into any more danger than we have to." Rika said stoically as she took out her own D-arc and walking over to the wall window.
" Besides" Takato leaned over placing elbows over his knees interlocking his fingers. " I don't think it would make a difference anyway what ever we are dealing with can potentially interfere with the real world."
" Right now we can go to the Digital World by creating a portal with our D arcs."
" Why don't we just leave now ?" Asked Rika staring out at the city horizon.
" The portal needs at least four D-arcs to be created and I think we should get some Tamers with more experience. I've heard from the digimon sovereign that there were a couple other Tamers chosen in another part of Japan."
" There are other Tamers ?!" Takato asked in shock.
" Yeah."
Both of the other Tamers stared at Rika in shock neither of them knew about the other Tamers except Alice and Yamaki.
" While visiting my cousin Zoey in Shibuya she told me that she was a Tamer too and so were some of her friends as well."
" There's a start. We need to contact them so they could help us out." Takato said sternly. " But I still think that we should go see what the big deal is in the digital world before we put others into the mix. Why don't we meet up back here within two hours , check out the problem and if we do need some more help go to Shibuya when we get back."
" No problem we can go to Shibuya later by train." Rika suggested walking back over to the sofa and sitting beside Takato. " I could ask my mom to get us train tickets to Shibuya."
" Do you think your mom will mind ?" the goggle head asked " I mean it is a long trip from here to Shibuya and I doubt she would lke the fact that we are going back to the digital world to fight ."
" It's alright she'll probably be too excited that I have a boyfriend to care." Rika stated casually taking his hand. This caused the Tamer leader to blush over a dozen shades of red but excepted the gesture anyway.
" HMM ... If you two love birds don't mind.." Alice said teasingly as she countered Rika's death glare with her own ,somewhat saying that she wasn't seriously going to kill the computer wiz anytime soon. " Let's get ready to go Henry should be here in about that time."
" We're going to have to do all of this without Yamaki finding out."
" Don't worry about it ," Alice said fanning her hand at them lightheartedly as she took her bottle and tossed it in the trash can in the connecting kitchen. " They're too busy trying to fix up the remains of Hypnos."
" She 's probably right Takato but they aren't the ones we should be looking out for." Rika said dryly as she pointed outside at the crowd of reporters outside the apartment gates.
" I have the perfect way to get them to leave us alone once and for all." the goggle head stated boldly as he grabbed his girlfriend by the hand. " Come on. I have an idea."
" What are you doing-" she asked glaring at him suspiciously as they went out of the apartment room.
" We'll call you a little later Alice to tell you when to meet us at the hideout."Takato said as he and Rika exited the room.
" What are you thinking about in that goggle brain of your's ?" Rika demanded as the elevator doors shut.
" You don't care what other people think about you right Rika."
" Of course I don't." she said leaning against the railing.
" Then you won't mind my idea then." he said cheerfully as he stepped closer in front of her.
" Takato I know what you're going to do and I don't care what those idiots outside think." Rika paused for a minute thinking of the right words. " But if they new that we were actually dating each other they will hound us over ten times as much as they did when we defeated Parasimon and the D Reaper. You get that right ?" she stated glaring at him and not stirring her ice queen tone.
" Yeah , but there is no way I'm going to let those people scare me away from you." he stated firmly before kissing her lightly on the lips and grinning optimistically at her with a big
smile. " Besides if push comes to shove you could order Renamon to ruff them up a bit."
" Very funny," Rika said with a smirk as the elevator halted to a stop at the bottom floor. " Looks like its time to start the show."
The double doors opened to a large crowd of photographers and reporters pushing mikes in their faces and flashing camera shots. Takato and Rika were bombarded with questions that were completely out of context .
" Hold on!!! All of your questions will be answered momentarily !" Rika commanded with a wide smirk still playing on her lips as she walked outside side by side with Takato.
" One question at a time!" Takato said nervously holding his hand in front of his chest defensively.
" There are rumors going around saying that the two of you are an item . Are they true?" asked a very flamboyant young blond haired reporter wearing a ton of make up on her face and a mike the teens' faces along with her camera man.
Takato simply took Rika by the hand as she leaned her head up to the mike and said " We will show you rather than just telling you." Rika kissed him passionately on the lips causing the entire crowd to go into to total shock. Everyone who was watching the broadcast had their eyes wide and their mouths gapping. Unlike mostpeople Rika and Takato's parents were content with the relationship and so were the Tamer's friends. Alice and Zoey were literally smiling ear to ear while they talked to their TV s saying one statement in unison.
"IT'S ABOUT TIME."
Leaving the crowd in awe, Rika and Takato dashed past the crowd and headed for their own homes to finish up the plans for getting to Shibuya.
NONAKA HOUSE
Rika climbed out of the hole, still reeling from what she had heard earlier and the plans that were going to commence. The former ice queen walked into her room without making much noise and gathered the things she would need for the trip to the digital world. After about an hour and 30 min of packing she decided that it was time to tell her mom and grandmother what she was about to do.
Taking a deep breath she walked into the living room where her mom was sitting on the couch drawing up some new designs and her grandmother was on her computer chatting with her friends online. Rika's mom had started her on line of clothes through her various connections which was very good since now she other people doing the work for her and that gave her more time to be with her family.
" Rika I'm glad that you've finally gotten yourself a boyfriend and a handsome one at that." Rumiko said excitedly with a large smile.
" By the way Rika ," the oldest of the three women turned off her computer and looked up from the screen and put her attention onto her granddaughter. "That was quite a show the two of you put on earlier today."
"Yeah...well" Rika said sitting beside her mother on the couch with her face turning a slight red as she tried to regain her composure. " That
was the only way we could get those idiots away from us besides it was Takato's stupid idea not mine."
" Well if it was all his idea," Rumiko said slyly as she calmly continued to work on her latest design. " Why did you go along with it so easily?
Your usually not one to bend that easily." She gave her daughter a playful glare as she glanced up from her drawing.
" Well does it look like I had a choice!" Rika exclaimed looking at her mom as if she had grown a second head; not noticing that she was turning as red as a beet from embarrassment.
" Stop messing with her Rumiko." Seiko said cheerfully with a laugh and lightly tapping her daughter in the shoulder.
" We're only teasing you Rika."
'Yeah...right' the Tamer thought as she crossed her arms over her chest getting into a serious tone. " I really need to tell you something."
" What is it honey?" Rumiko asked worriedly, putting down her pad and pencils.
Rika then told them what was going on in the digital world and how it might include her cousin Zoey in Shibuya.
" And that's the story we really need your help mom there is no way we can get out of town without being spotted now.
It's very important that Yamaki and the news media doesn't find out." Rika stated adamantly
" Your right Rika they will turn the whole thing into a circus." Rumiko said wisely.
" And I doubt that Mr Yamaki would like the attention on his organization." Seiko analyzed.
" So will you help us?"
" Of course sweety." Rumiko replied smiling at her daughter with a wink. " Besides I think I have the perfect way to get all of you out of here without being seen when you get back. "
" Be Safe." Rika's grandmom said with a warm smile.
" Don't worry I will and thanks." she said giving her family a hug before leaving to her bedroom to finish packing her things.
MATSUKI BAKERY
Takato sat in his room putting things into his grey backpack, reaching under his bed he searched for his trademark headgear.
Smiling brightly he remembered where he had last seen them and rushed over to his desk , shuffling through his drawer. The Tamer triumphantly pulled a new pair of goggles out of the compartment. The goggles had gold tinted lenses , black framing , dark crimson trimming and a black sash with the same ancient writing as on his D-Arc. Placing them on his head the Tamer glanced at his watch;11 o clock am.
'I'd better-' the Tamers thoughts were interrupted by the familiar voice of his mother.
" Yeah Mom." Takato greeted as he marched down the steps.
" It's your girlfriend Rika, here." she handed the cordless phone to him with a teasing smile.
" Thanks." Takato took the phone to his ear and headed back to his room. " Hey Rika what's up?"
" My mom agreed to help us to get out of here if we have to so we can go ahead to the digital world. I already told Alice. She told me that Henry arrived in Japan a little over an hour ago his friend Seto is with him and the three of them are meeting us at the park."
" Great! Who is this Seto guy that's coming with Henry?"
" Him and Henry have been friends forever so I guess he can be trusted. Alice says that he's hot so I'm not complaining."
" Hey!"
" I didn't now you were the jealous type, Goggle head." Rika stated slyly on the other end.
" Well what do you mean by hot?" Takato exclaimed nervously at the receiver. So much so that he nearly fell out of his desk's seat.
" Don't your underwear in a bunch goggle brain, Alice will probably try to get with the guy besides I already have a hot boyfriend."she said calmly." Are you alone ?"
Takato looked at the receiver confused , before answering.
" Yeah?"
" Good."
The receiver went dead and a light brown duffle back was tossed into the Tamer's upstairs bedroom. Turning towards the balcony, Rika stood there at the door wearing the same thing she had on earlier except she was wearing a pair of tan timberland boots.
"So are you going to let me in or what ?" she demanded with a smirk.
" How did you get here?" he asked as she sauntered past him and sat on his bed.
" The stairs. Your dad drove me here and said it would be ok for me to come in this way." she answered simply taking a look around the goggle heads newly arranged room. Rika had only been in his room a couple of times since Takato always went to her house. He had gotten rid of the bunk bed and replaced it with a single decorated with a red and blue bedding, he had a bigger desk but it was still messy as ever and the walls were decorated with cars and motorcycles. " I see you got a new room change." She laid back onto the covers and stared up at the ceiling.
" Yeah." he pulled his seat from under his desk and sat down with the back of it in front of him. " It was one of the presents I got on my 16th birthday but why are you here so early anyway it's only a couple of minutes after 11am."
" Can't I come over to my boyfriend's house if I want to?" she dully with a sigh . "Besides our parents thought it would be better that we go out together since we might still run into those idiots with their cameras. "
He just smiled at her with his head over his arms on the backrest and laughed.
" What's so funny Goggle head?!" she said turning over on her side and glaring at him.
" You haven't changed since we were younger have you?"
" And what's that supposed to mean I haven't yelled at you since then and I don't threaten you like I used to." she protested throwing a nearby pillow at his head.
" Yeah right what was that?" he exclaimed tossing it back at her.
" Payback." she said kissing him lightly on the lips." Have you told your parent's what's going on ?"
" Yeah they're ok with it but ..." his gaze suddenly turned serious. He stared her straight in the eyes with unnerving steel.
" What's wrong Takato ?" she asked noticing his sudden change in demeanor.
"You'll probably think I'm crazy but ever since I first bio-merged with guilmon I've been able to feel when there is going to be a major fight ahead. Don't you sense it."
" Unfortunately." she said simply. " It seems like I know what ever we will be going up against will be something that will be completely different from anything else we have faced ."
" And will be even more dangerous."
CHAPTER 1
Deep in the mountain region of the digital world a fox like digimon perched herself onto the top of one of the tallest trees in the forest , taking in the surroundings. Her sharp eyes turned stern when she witnessed a pack of remnants from a destroyed digimon float through the air toward a darker part of the forest.
' What do we have here?'
The swift yellow furred fighter leapt though the shadows of the forest , following the pack of data. After pursuing the packet for a while through several levels of the mountain forest , she tracked it to a clearing that seemed like just a lot of trees but once the packet of data appeared it turned out to be only a shield for a large base that looked to be the size of the Pentagon. There were soldiers surrounding the base that looked like they were human wearing black office suits , white collared shirts and black shoes.
The pocket of data was then transferred to the base's main antenna that extended from within the base automatically when the barrier was lowered. That was when Renamon decided that there was something very wrong about this and teleported into the building.
" Come on Henry we're going to be late!"
Alice stood inside the living room of her apartment waiting for her old friend to come out of the guest room where he was collecting some of the electronics items that he had brought with him from China. He finally stumbled out of the room wearing a pair of light brown cargo pants, a green t shirt , a puffy dark blue vest, a pair of white and green etnie sneakers and a backpack that looked like it would bust at any moment, filled with several gadgets thanks to Kaiba corp.
" You guys ready?"
' Finally.' thought a boy wearing a pair of blue jeans , a striped collared shirt with thin various brown and white stripes vertically down his shirt, the tails were out , the sleeves were unbuttoned at forearm length and a pair of black sneakers. The guy had a decent built not too bulky but enough to satisfy a certain ice blue eyed Tamer that was sitting on the couch. His hair was a chocolate brown and styled in a short cut that made him look even more mature for the age of 18 and had piercing ocean blue eyes. He was the lone wolf type of person who would have rather been out there doing things on his own. The only reason he was here was because Henry had asked them to. Right now he was staring out at the city lights while brooding over what had happened between him and the young woman that was taking an angry glance at him.
Even though he was a handsome guy Alice had soon figured out why Henry was his closest friend. The two of them had bumped heads earlier over the situation and ended up arguing for the entire time they had been at the apartment. Turns out that the guy has almost a worse attitude than Rika did before she became friends with the other Tamers. The only reason that Alice and Rika are friends are because the two had similar views on social dynamics. In other words they were both outsiders at their former private schools that they went to together back when the D reaper incident had first ended. Even though Alice wasn't as threatening as her tomboyish friend , she would not hesitate to speak her opinion in a situation. In turn leaving the two very opinionated people at a silent stand still, agreeing to disagree.
" We've been waiting for you." Alice stated dully as she glanced over at Seto Kaiba who glared back.
"Sorry." Henry said with one hand behind his head.
Alice glanced at her watch noticing that it was eleven fifteen , she got up and pulled her backpack over her shoulder.
" We better get goin."
" She 's right let's go." Henry said walking out the door before noticing that his friend was still staring out the wall window.
" Come on Kaiba."
The young business man realized what he was doing and hurried out behind them.
' Could it really be him?' was the last thing that Kaiba thought before climbing into the elevator with his companions.
Meanwhile Takato and Rika were already at the hideout sitting on the ground floor of the shelter, actually Takato was the only one sitting while he watched his girlfriend impatiently leaning against a wall with her arms crossed.
" Why don't you sit down for a minute Rika?" Takato suggested with a warm smile.
" I can't just sit around while I feel like this. It's like I'm being pulled in a hundred different directions. " she said frustrated waving her arms around in the air as she spoke.
" I now it's hard Rika." Takato got up and stood face to face with her, only a small space separated the two bodies from one another. " I feel the same way you do. There is so much anger and frustration inside you to get up and do something to make you're anxiousness go away."
Takato's voice was now at a harsh whisper , his eyes were now as cold as her's making Rika feel a bit taken back by the look in his eyes, it was a focused primal image on his face that looked all too familiar. " But you can't..."
" This is similar to how you felt during the battle with Beelzemon in the digital world isn't it?" she asked calmly with a sympathetic look in her eyes that made the goggle head turn his back to her.
"...Yes...it was..." he said with a slight crack in his voice. His body began to shake uncontrollably as he clenched his fists not knowing that Rika could see the tears that he was trying to hide. The leader suddenly felt a pair of hands turn him around to look into Rika's violet eyes. The young girl pulled him into a gentle hug while continued to let the tears fall freely from his eyes. Rika could feel his body tremble in her arms as his hands clenched her jacket. She couldn't see how he was able to carry all of this baggage around without anyone noticing. He had become just as good as she was at hiding his feelings or even better.
The leader finally calmed down after a few minutes and were now both leaning against the column holding each other. Rika glanced at her watch ; it was 11:35. The others hadn't arrived yet because Alice lived further away from the park then they did so it wasn't surprising. Knowing her, the group would be there in about 20 minutes. The digimon queen moved to get their bags from off the floor but was stopped when Takato tightened his grip around her waist.
" Please don't let go yet." he whispered, almost pleadingly, placing his chin on her shoulder and placed his lips to her neck. The action caused Rika to lean into him not caring about who would see them ,all she wanted to do was be there for him, help him through his pain and vice-versa. She could hear the anguish in his voice when he spoke ,he sounded so fragile that it was as if he was a different person. The Takato she knew was always happy ,shy and optimistic this other person Rika was with now was damaged. He needed to be helped before the Takato she knew would be gone forever.
"Hmf ..." Rika took in a sharp breath as he lightly bit in mid-kiss over the crook of her neck. Her breath became a bit labored and her pulse accelerated exponentially, feeling like she was drowning.
" Why don't we take this to some where less open." he murmured against her neck.
Before she could object Takato took her by the hand turning her completely around so that they faced each other. The hazel eyed teen lightly forced Rika to the cold concrete wall. He lustfully pressed his lips to hers and entwined his fingers with hers. The leader of the Tamers attempted to take control over the situation and seductively kissed her on the lips. Unfortunately they were forced to stop when they heard distant footsteps coming to their level.
Successfully pulling themselves together the couple met up with their friends at the entrance ; Rika was leaning against the wall that Takato was kissing her just moments before while Takato himself stood in front of her with his goofy goggle head smile. Rika knew that he had put up that barrier again since she could do the same and saw that he was truly thankful to her. It was in his eyes that she had seen both his lighthearted, goggle head side as well as his darker tormented one. Thinking back she could tell that there were so many signs before that showed it was there.
' How could I have missed it!' Rika thought as Takato cheerfully greeted their friends as they came down from the upper levels. That smile he always showed was merely covering up his inner battle with the demons he had been going up against for all these years. He was the strongest person she had ever known.
" Rika?" Alice asked with a confused look on her face.
The digimon queen looked up to see that everyone was staring at her in expectation.
" What?"
" Rika are you OK ?" Alice asked seeing the expression on the ice queen's face. " You looked spaced out when we first came up."
" Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing." Rika could tell that her friend wasn't really convinced so she changed the subject. " How do you like this Seto guy?"
" That jerk." Alice said stubbornly " He's nothing but a cynical, opinionated, tech who thinks he knows everything there is to know about the digital world."
" Sounds like someone I know." Rika said slyly glaring at her friend suggestively.
" Don't start Rika I don't..."
" Yeah right ." the digimon queen said with a chuckle. She turned their gazes on the older Tamer. " He looks cute to me."
That was when Alice caught Seto's gaze at her , causing her to turn away from him in a fluster. Rika caught this and took a glance over at Takato who saw the same thing on his end smiled.
" Looks like to me that you do have a thing for the guy."
"..."
Alice just turned away from her friend and stared up at the city landscape with a light blush on her cheeks. " So are we going or not?"
Alice held out her D-arc abruptly trying to get the attention off of her and back onto the task at hand. Rika followed suit as well as the other Tamers forming a circle. The lights of their D-arcs combined into one causing a blinding light to burst through the room and everything went dark.
Elsewhere in the digital world, Renamon was searching through the various corridors of the secured building. She had easily avoided the guards for some time and was now looking in at an apparent laboratory where there were two figures one looked human and the other was a digimon that she heard of only in legends called Daemon. The human wore a very expensive suit and looked to be in his late fifties smoking a cigar in his mouth.
"So Daemon what has brought you to this conclusion?"
" Those kids are a threat you know that Kaiba , we can not underestimate the Tamers." the digimon stated as he walked up to a large machine that was in the model of a humongous portal.
" We have to hurry and gather more data before they find out about this scheme of ours."
" Don't worry so much," the old man blew smoke from his nostrils. " If they do come here my Orgeman will take them down easily. They were specifically designed to take on the Tamers abilities."
" Well they must be sleeping on the job." Daemon said angrily taking his sights off the portal and onto the corner where Renamon was hiding. " We have an intruder."
That was when the swift fighter dashed out of the room but once she reached the outside corridor she was face to face with a horrid creature that stood at least a foot above her and was a pale white with sharp fangs , bulging muscles and sick red eyes. It morphed its hand into a blaster cannon and sadistically smiling, fired it at point blank range.
'Rika.'
The forest was completely silent ,no digimon were roaming the area leaving nothing but the bodies of four Tamers lying unconscious on the ground. Rika was the first to wake up in the group while the rest of her friends were knocked out. Her head was pounding making her vision a bit blurry and everything around her seemed like it was spinning. When she attempted to stand she was immediately brought back down by her condition leaving her disoriented. Feeling around she realized that there were some large leaves on the lower half of her body, it was apparently a make shift bed.
After a few moments she regained her vision and took in her surroundings. Her friends were lying around her in their own make shift and soon began to wake up as well. Takato held his head in pain mumbling; " Is everyone alright?"
" Yeah" Alice said with groan. " but it looks like the transition might have been a little too much for our bodies."
" You think?"
The group turned around to see a slightly tattered Kaiba walking up with his bag slung over his shoulder and with crowd of four digimon following him; two champions and two rookies.
" Takato!" Guilmon said exuberantly as him and this two other friends ran up to their respective Tamers. They greeted their friends with hugs and greetings of happiness all were accounted for except for Renamon. Rika glanced around for her partner but found nothing.
" Where's Renamon?"
Rika's eyes were solely set on the green and tan big mouthed rabbit with her coldest glare. Her voice turned to ice and her hands were clenched into fists when she saw all of the digimon eyes downcast. " Someone going to tell me or not?"
" Wedon'tknowwheresheis!" Terriermon continued with a fast pace as he hid behind Henry's head.
"Butthelasttimewesawherwaswhenshewentintothisinvisabledomethingy!" "Paraphrase Henry." she said sternly picked up her duffle off of the ground.
"The last time any of them saw Renamon was in this forest and she disappeared into some type of dome."
'Great.'
Looking around the digimon queen noticed what looked to be a Flamedramon standing beside Kaiba that was glaring at her. Taking him in Rika noticed that there was along jagged scar trailing down its left arm, from the looks of it the injury was from a large toothed blade.
" He's your partner Kaiba?" Rika asked still eyeing the Flamedramon that stood beside Kaiba with a dominate gaze.
" Yeah this is Flamedramon." he said callously.
" How long have you been awake ?" asked Henry as Teeriermon hopped onto his shoulder.
" Not long, these guys weren't that far from here but I think I found our problem."
Kaiba led them down a winding stone path through the forest for what seemed like hours.
" Um...guys.. Do you notice something strange?" asked a concerned Henry as he shifted his bag on his shoulder.
The Tamers knew exactly what their friend was talking about. The whole time they had been in the forest , including when they first woke up, there hadn't been any sign of digimon in the area. No mauve spheresof stray data, no sounds in the trees , there wasn't even a village from what they saw. One Tamer in particular was having a sinking feeling that she had been here before. The trees were decorated in a cornucopia of vast colors on their leaves , there were small boulders and fallen over trees covered in greenery all around them. The only thing missing were the..
Her eyes widened at the realization and stopped dead in her tracks.
" We need to stop."
Everyone turned around , looking at her attentively.
" What's up ?"asked a curious Takato. He gave Guilmon a piece of his bread from the bakery and stared at her with his innocent eyes.
" Trust me we need to find some higher ground." she motioned them to follow while she headed off of the intended path and into the uncharted forest. The group followed her down off of the path with their partners by their sides. " Back when we first came here Renamon and I stayed here to rest and found Calumon."
" Yeah and the two of you came out of nowhere and met up with the rest of us." said a puzzled Henry. " We just had assumed that the three of you were carried back by a data stream."
" If that wasn't how you found us. Then how did you get out of this area?"asked Takato.
" We were-" Rika was abruptly cut off at the sound of a deep roaring echoing around them.
"Um... What's that?" asked a very nervous Takato. Guilmon was snarling viciously and glaring with his eyes shaped into sharp splints at the end.
He wasn't the only one sensing either the rest of the digimon were in defensive stance as if waiting for something. The rumbling soon became louder and the earth beneath their feet began to shake violently. Rika knew what was coming , they had to get out of their.
" WE NEED TO GO! NOW!" Rika yelled over the rising shrill of thunder that hollered through the sky, she took off running into the woods at full speed while the others followed behind.
" Where are we going?!" asked Henry as he ran up on Takato's side.
" Well..." he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with one hand and darted away from his friends' gazes.
" You don't know either do you?" Alice said dully as she stared at their leader cartoonishly with her eyes in flat slits.
" How could you tell?" the goggle head said with a nervous laugh.
The three other tamers gave a deep sigh of embarrassment , pondering how they followed this type of leader and why Rika of all people went out with him. To the boys it was a complete mystery but to Alice it wasn't that weird at all. Don't get her wrong she knows that Takato can act like a real goggle head some times but that is what balanced the two out. Rika would compensate for Takato's goggle head syndrom while he made up for her temper. It was a simple ying-yang philosophy. It was surprising to her that Henry hadn't figured it out, seeing he was so smart, but then again he was a male and that made him very dense on the subject of relationships with the opposite sex.
Rika , meanwhile heard their pace slow down and turned her head to see what the problem was . Unfortunately when she did the tamer stumbled on something under her feet. The aggravated turned around to kick the object but something stopped her. The blue D-arc attached to her belt sounded allowing a large 3-D compass to appear on her screen and lock onto the small balled up object. It seemed to have bruises and cuts covering its entire body. The ball of fur wasn't moving almost as if it were dead and Rika could hardly tell if it really was a digimon Taking a closer look Rika knew exactly who it was and scurried to pick up the battered yellow furred digimon. The others were just catching up to her when a loud boom, rattled their eardrums like nails on a chop board. So much so that they were forced to their knees in pain and to top it all off the group came face to face with what Rika was trying to warn them about...a tsunami.
CHAPTER2
Takato awoke with a loud whirl rushing through his ears , opening his eyes he noticed that he was in some type of room. He could feel some warm covers over the majority of his body. Sitting up the tamer held his head in his hand as he winced from a sharp pain that set into his head. He sucked in air sharply while swinging his feet onto the medieval stone floor and took in his surroundings.
The room was a small royal type bedroom that looked like that it hadn't been used before everything looked completely new and unused. His bed reminded him of the ones that him and his friends had slept in at the tower Ryo had led them to on their first trip there. The obvious difference was that everything was right side up and in color , in fact the room was rather warm. The sheets and covers were a cornucopia of warm shaded colors and the bed posts were a dark brown. The rooms walls were also stone and there was a fireplace on the far side of the room along with a armoire , rug and full body mirror.
With a small effort the tamer trudged over to the area, while eyeing the ragged rug that looked like had suffered from what Takato called a Guilmon attack. It was torn to pieces on the edges , filled with small holes and flipped on its under side.
" Looks like Guilmon's around here somewhere must be a pretty safe place."
" Well it should be after all the work I put into it."
Takato turned around to see his girlfriend standing in the oak doorway wearing an outfit that looked similar to what Ryo had on while he was in the digital world. Her hair was up in a high ponytail rather than the low one she had sported in the real world; she wore a pair of light grey cargo pants , a black belt w/ holster and her D-arc hooked onto it , a pair of black metal toed shoes , a dark mauve elbow shirt embroidered with a black heart on her chest and a pair of knuckle gloves on her hands.
" Rika !" he said excitedly as wrapped her in bear hug. " You're okay."
" Yeah I'm OK goggle head." she said with smirk as she hugged him back. " Now get some clothes on we're all down stairs waiting for you."
" Where are we?" he asked curiously . " And what did you mean by you worked hard in this place, did you build it?"
"Some what." she said cryptically as the digmon queens gaze hardened onto the fire that burned inside the fireplace.
" Rika." Takato walked over to her cautiously as she wrapped her arms protectively around her waist. " Are you OK?"
" Yeah." she said sternly as she turned around her body to face his and slipped out of the embrace. " It's nothing."
" ..."
Takato said nothing as she walked to the other side of the room and opened his armoire. She took out a couple of hangers and handed them to the goggle head.
" Put these on." she said with a sly smile on her lips; just before she walked out of the room the former ice queen took a quick glance at him. " I don't think that everyone else wants to see you with only a muscle shirt and a pair of sweat pants. I'll be waiting for you outside the room and hurry it up."
Rika left her boyfriend to change into his new clothes , leaving her to the thoughts running through her mind. It had only been a couple hours earlier that the team was nearly crushed by a tidal wave.
Flashback
Rika came face to face with the wave , at first she couldn't think of what to do next while her friends were still suffering from the ringing that was coming from within the forest. The resilient tamer stood to her feet , clutching her partner to her chest turning around to a familiar tree that was covered in vines and moss that started to glow a light blue & grey.
' That's it!' Rika dashed to the tree and planted a her free hand on the face of the hard mildewed trunk. A bright light enveloped the Tamers as the large wave thrashed over the entire forest landscape.
! End Flashback!
' Now what do I do?'
Renamon suddenly appeared at her right with her bandaged arms folded and with a stern demeanor written on her face.
"Rika."
"Yes Renamon."
" Their asking questions."
" I know."
" Do you want me-"
" No." Rika's eyes immediately transformed into a dark golden tint and her voice became darker. " I will tell them when the time arrives."
" As you wish." Renamon stated obediently before vanishing into the darkness.
' I can't tell them about you yet ...' Rika nervously bit on her thumbnail as her eyes reverted back to their normal state and her eyes soften. She reached into one of her cargo pockets to reveal a pair of blue lense goggles. ' ...Father...'