Disclaimer: Much like the Energizer Bunny, this disclaimer keeps going and going. By the way, I don't own the Energizer Bunny either.

DIGITAL MANIFEST

KEEPERS

Chapter 7: Reading Within the Lines

"Nnnnngh…"

Chris looked at his friend worriedly. "Under normal circumstances, this would be where either you or Caramon would have said I told you so."

"Uuuugh…"

Ryan fell back onto his pillow and closed his eyes. The sudden rush of memories had been just a little too much for him, but at least now the nausea was passing. At least that's what he hoped. He still didn't feel too good in either case, but that didn't matter much to him right now. All he could think about right now was Richoemon. He pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes.

Oh Richoemon…Why did this have to happen to us?

"How is Richoemon?"

Chris looked at Ryan sadly. "I think that's a subject that's definitely going to wait until after you're feeling better."

"Rrrrgh!" Shakily Ryan clicked off the TV, threw back the covers, and swiveled his body around.

"Um… Ryan? What're you doing?"

Ryan lifted himself off the bed and set his feet down on the floor. Still supporting himself on the side of the bed he took a deep breath. His legs were shaking.

"What's it look like I'm doing, Chris? I'm going to see Richoemon. Where're my clothes?"

"I saw them lying on one of the visitor chairs in the corner. Ryan, I don't think you should leave…"

"Too bad. I'm checkin' out."

"Somehow, I don't think that the hospital staff will let a minor, a sick one at that, just 'check himself out'."

"Like I care. Read my lips Chris; 'I want to see Richoemon'."

"Dude, don't make me have to call a nurse. You're in no condition to go anywhere so why don't you rest up a bit and worry about Richoemon later? You deserve it."

Ryan glared at Chris. "You of all people should know better than to tell me to 'worry about Richoemon later'…"

"Okay, yeah, that was the wrong thing to say, but if you try to do this you won't even make it out of the room…" Ryan either wasn't listening or didn't care because he let go of his grip on the bed and stood up, only to have his legs give out on him a second later. Chris caught him and helped him back into bed.

"Told you so," said Chris as Ryan finally settled down. "Look, why don't I worry about Richoemon until you done recuperating, huh? I know you're worried, but you're not doing yourself any favors by killing yourself, and I know Richoemon would want you to stay in bed to."

Ryan scowled. "Fine," he said. "You win, but I'm doing this under protest! I'll stick it out here for today, but come tomorrow I'm getting out even if I have to climb out the window and jump into traffic."

Chris smiled. "We'll see." Tomorrow was another day after all and he just about had his fill of today. "You need anything?"

"How about asking one of those 'Hypnos' guys to get me a book? I could use a good read."

"How'd you know about Hypnos? I haven't even gotten around to telling you about my day since you passed out."

"The agents that stopped by to check up on me introduced themselves when I woke up. What? Did you think that they'd just poke their heads in and leave without saying hello?"

"The thought didn't exactly occur to me."

"Thought so. Now about that book…"

"We're in Japan dude. You can't read Japanese."

"How come you always gotta rain on my parade?"

"Because someone has to. Man, you are a cranky one today."

Ryan snorted. "I feel sick, you won't tell me what happened to my best friend after I passed out, and I'm being held captive in a hospital against my will, so I've got reason to be. Speaking of which, whose bright idea was it to take me to St. Jude's? Didn't you tell me once that St. Jude represented 'Lost Causes' or something like that?"

Chris tried to grin but failed. "Close enough. Anyway, while you were out I brought the Tamers up to speed on our 'activities' in the digital world. Renamon thinks that it was something other than that Azuredramon that we ran into that prompted those other digimon to attack us."

Ryan's eyes narrowed. "Hang on. When you 'brought them up to speed', what exactly did you tell them?"

"Er, eh, oh hey! Speaking of which, I thought that you might like to know that those two digimon that Takato and the others fought were the same ones that were after us. Weird, huh?"

"Chris…"

Chris sighed. "No, I didn't tell them about 'that'. Jeez Ryan, I'm not that dense."

"You told Rika."

"Not really. She just happened to be in the same room when I mentioned it."

"There's a difference?"

"You know, I really don't know what your deal is. Any other mon would've been flattered from the sort of attention you were getting from Sukamon and Chuumon. Especially Chuumon. I mean, after she…"

"CHRIS!" Ryan shouted before a wave of nausea seized him. Once it passed Chris clapped his friend on the back and laughed lightly.

"Nice to see that you've kept some of your humor. I've got a feeling that you're going to need it."

"Rrrrgh… I swear Chris, you are so going to die tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know." There was a knock at the door and the two boys noticed a man in a suit at the room's entrance. Chris sighed It was one of the agents that accompanied him to the hospital. "Look, I gotta go. Yamaki only let me come down here to check up on you for my peace of mind, but he wants me back so that we can go over some stuff. He thinks that what we went through in the digital world could be responsible for what ever caused Hypnos's equipment to get fried. Maybe I can get him to find us a place to stay until we can go home. Hmmm… going to have to ask Yamaki if he can spring us some plane tickets for a trip back to America…"

"Who's Yamaki?"

"Hmmm? The agents didn't tell you? He's the head of Hypnos."

"Oh. Hey where's Caramon? I'm surprised that he's not with you."

Chris made a face. "Hospital wardens wouldn't let him past the waiting room. Had something to do with that Terriermon of Henry's when he dropped you off."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?"

Chris smiled. "Guess that depends on how closely you listen to the gossip. I gotta go now and get some things sorted out. I'll try and stop by later to see you again before I turn in. And by the way, Leomon and Jeri are on their way here, though I highly doubt that Leomon will be able to get in unless Jeri's very good at persuasion. Either that or Leomon decides to threaten people with that sword of his, which ever one they decide to go with first I guess…"

"Most likely the persuasion part. I don't think that Leomon would threaten people just so he can see if I'm alright."

"Meh, you never know. Anyway, I'll see you later."

Ryan waved goodbye and turned his attention to the window, not even hearing the door click shut. He sighed. As right as he knew Chris was about the necessity of him staying put, he really didn't want to stick around. He wanted out. The place was to sterile, to cold and devoid of human closeness for him to feel comfortable in. Probably because in places like this, despite the presence of people who cared enough about sick people to work here, those who ended up here were more like a statistic. Roll 'em in, roll 'em out, either healthy or in a body bag. But this wasn't his main concern. Ryan's deal with hospitals was nothing serious, just little more than a feeling that was so much background clutter that he could easily push away. He was more concerned about Richoemon than his own discomfort. Ryan turned his gaze onto his now all-black digivice and visibly shivered as the memory of Black Terradramon's cold gaze played in his mind's eye. He still couldn't believe that had happened, and not only that, but that it had gotten worse. Before he used to think that he had only Richoemon's digivolving to ultimate to worry about. What do I do if everything about Richoemon ends up like that? He'll be just as much a danger to us as those digimon that we fought earlier. Ryan thought about that last bit and cursed a second later. He had forgotten about what Chris had told him about Black Nightmon and Nightmare Blitzmon having followed them to the real world. Too caught up in my own worries. He flopped back onto the bed and groaned, not liking this development at all.

Chris made it down to the first floor with the agent and picked up Caramon from the waiting room, thanking the nurse that had detailed to watch him and make sure that he didn't do anything 'rash' (she in turn thanked Chris, as she had found the experience more fun than dangerous, to her own relief). As he exited the building he found the agent's car waiting for him and he walked towards it. He didn't make it very far however as a familiar yellow figure materialized in front of him, making him jump back and land on his rear, dropping a startled Caramon onto the ground.

"GAAAH! RENAMON!"

Renamon chuckled. "Sorry. Didn't mean to frighten you." Chris grumbled as he stood back up.

"You know, we've only known each other for about a day and already you're having fun at my expense. Tell me, do you do this to the regular Tamers or is this how you initiate newbies?"

Renamon just looked at him. Chris sighed.

"You know," said Caramon. "If this is initiation, I'm sure getting paddled by a piece of wood would be easier than having a near heart attack."

"CARAMON!"

Renamon held back a sigh of her own. These two almost reminded her of Henry and Terriermon.

Chris returned his gaze to Renamon. "So, since you're here, where're Rika and the others?"

"They're still at Hypnos, though Henry had to take Terriermon home to 'take care of something'." She saw no need to tell the two about the rabbit's latest adventure. He'd find out soon enough on his own no doubt. Chris took Renamon's explanation at face value.

"Okay. Does Rika know that you're here?"

"Not here, specifically," Renamon said. "But she does know that I'm out. I just happened to be passing by and thought that I'd check in on your friend. How is he?"

"Grumpy. Practically tripping over himself just trying to get out of bed and he's hurling chunks on top of that." He stopped and looked at Renamon for a moment. "Sorry if that's a little too much information."

"Not at all. Did you say that he tripped trying to get up?"

Chris scowled. "He's not feeling up to par right now, but he's too stubborn to admit it. But that does make me think of something. Since you're here could you do me a favor and make sure that he doesn't try to leave the hospital today? I know that's a lot to ask from someone that I barely know, but I can't keep an eye on him right now and I have a feeling that he just might decide to do something stupid."

"Well…" Renamon had been out looking for someone who might want to know that Leomon was back among the living, but…I suppose that he can wait a little longer though.

"If you're certain that it's necessary."

"Hey, maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to give Ryan the benefit of the doubt, but I know him. He can be stubborn at times and he really wants to see Richoemon…"

"Then why stop him?"

"Renamon, the way he is right now you could knock him over just by sneezing on him. That may be mean, but when I saw him he could barely walk, let alone stand."

"Then perhaps you have nothing to worry about."

"Actually," said Chris. "That's precisely why I'm worried."

Renamon cocked her head to one side, apparently wanting Chris to clarify this reasoning.

"Just trust me on this, okay? I know Ryan; he's not going to want to stay on bed rest if there's something big going on, especially since it involves him and his partner. Right now he wouldn't be doing himself any favors by trying to get around. So will you, please, watch over him for me?"

Renamon looked as though she were giving this request some serious thought before finally nodding. Chris exhaled.

"Thanks Renamon. I owe you one. By the way, the hospital staff is going to be edgy about having digimon trying to get in to see him…"

Renamon gave a light laugh. After Rapidmon's little misadventure that didn't surprise her much. It made her wonder what the reaction would be when Leomon showed up, if he hasn't already. "Don't worry Chris, I'll keep an eye out, and I won't be seen." Chris nodded.

"Okay; his room number's 134. Now I gotta go back down to Hypnos and check up on Richoemon, see what's up with him. I'll see you later. And…um…Renamon?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks. I really appreciate this."

Renamon nodded and watched as Chris scooped up Caramon and join the Hypnos agents in their car. Once the door slammed closed Renamon leapt into the air and vanished.

Takato splashed water onto his face as he leaned over the sink. Man, what the heck is Ryo trying to do? Kill me? He thought sardonically thinking back over what the Legendary Tamer had said about him being Rika's White Night. Frankly he was surprised that the hotheaded Tamer hadn't tried to kill Ryo for saying that. Rika wasn't a big fan of fairy-tales, and despised being associated with them in any way, shape, or form. Pretty ironic considering that Ryo was referring to the incident with Parasimon, in which Rika wound up in the role of damsel in distress and Takato of all people as the knight in shining armor that rescued her. And she had never once threatened him on the matter since. To be honest, Takato didn't know which was more distressing; that Rika had actually needed saving that time or that she hadn't tried pummeling him for rescuing her.

Yup. Without a doubt the world moved in mysterious ways.

The bathroom door opened and in walked Ryo with a sympathetic smirk on his face. "Heh. Still hiding out in here, huh? Sorry about pulling that on you earlier, but I just couldn't resist."

Takato groaned. "Did you have to do that? The way she gets sometimes I'd almost rather face D-Reaper again then the Digimon Queen when she's on the warpath. At least with D-Reaper I know that I'd have an even chance at getting out alive."

"Look on the bright side Takato, at least you got away in one piece."

"Great. So I'm only putting off the inevitable."

"You know, you really shouldn't be complaining. After all, you're not the one who makes her angry."

"It doesn't help if I get caught in the crossfire. Why do you always do that with Rika anyways? Most people have more common sense than to cross her, probably because they know that there are a lot less painful ways to die."

Ryo laughed. "Yeah, I know, but it's just so fun getting a rise out of her. She gets cute when she's angry, but I don't think that she'd appreciate hearing that from me."

Takato shrugged. "I don't think that she'd like hearing that period, especially since it involves the word cute. But I don't think that you came here just to apologize about almost getting me beat up."

"Well, I do need a place to hide from her until she cools off…"

Takato blinked. "Never thought I'd see the day that the Legendary Tamer would actually flee from danger."

"Hey, I may be brave, but I'm not stupid."

"Um…somehow I think that you've chosen a bad place to hide in. I mean there is only one exit."

Ryo had to chuckle at that. Come to think of it, a men's room sign probably would make a poor shield when it comes to the temper mental Digimon Queen. And Rika says he's dense…

"Anyway," said Takato. "What was up with that question you asked us back in the mess hall, about the whole Aesir thing? I know you said that you heard about it from someone in the digital world, but why did you think that it was important enough to bring up? And who was it that told you about it?"

Ryo thought about it for a second, debating just how much to tell. "When those kids first showed up, did they mention anything about a girl named Raven?

"Raven? That's a weird name for a person to have. But no, I don't think they said anything about anyone named Raven. Rika might know since she had them stay at her house last night, but I kinda doubt it. Why? Is it important?"

"Probably. She had the same kind of digivice that Ryan and Chris have."

"Hmmm…I sometimes wonder if they're like some kind of digi-destined or something. Maybe we should ask Chris when he gets back. Hey! How come you didn't mention this back at the meeting?"

"I wanted to think about it for a bit before I brought it up. Besides, even though they seem like good kids, you can never know for sure. I wanted to see if they told you guys anything that they might have left out at the meeting."

Takato thought about what Rika had asked Chris after he had finished his story but didn't bring it up. If she thought it was important she'd tell them about it. Until then… "Don't you trust anyone, Ryo?"

Ryo looked at the goggle-wearing Tamer with sad eyes. "Only so far Takato, and that's from experience. I just don't know those kids well enough to put blind trust in them. I'm sorry, but that's how I feel." Takato looked at Ryo for a second, digesting what he just said.

"What did happen to you in the digital world? You never talk about it."

Ryo didn't show it, but he was touched by this question. It was one thing that he liked about Takato; he was always concerned for others. You could tell him your problems and be sure that he would listen and keep it in confidence. Ryo didn't think that there were many people out there like that. He almost wanted to tell him, but instinct and habit were to deeply ingrained in him for that.

"Sorry, Takato. Maybe someday I'll tell you, but not now." Takato nodded in understanding. That was another thing that Ryo liked about him. As much as he wanted to help, he never pushed things if a person was unwilling.

There was a brief period of silence between them. One that Takato interrupted.

"So," he said coughing politely. "What about this Raven character? Would you rather talk about that?"

"Heh. Maybe. I want to give it some more thought though. It was kind of weird how I met her. Her and that druid guy she was with." Takato raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry. Look, I know that you want to hear what I have to say, and I'm thinking that I should say something, but I want to do some more checking around first, especially with Ryan and Chris. Hmmm…you said Rika let them stay at her house last night? Maybe I should see what she knows."

Takato winced. "Um…maybe you should let me do that. The way you get her going I wouldn't be surprised if she tries to kill you. The last thing we need is a fatality on the team, especially an important member of it."

"So you're going to throw yourself into the jaws of the tiger in my place? I'm touched Takato. You really are the self-sacrificing hero that everyone makes you out to be. No wonder why they all look up to you."

Takato scratched the back of his head and looked away nervously. "I was only saying…"

"Hey, I understand. And believe me, I meant what I said. It may not look it, but the others do respect you. Even Rika, and that's not an easy thing to accomplish. You could say I'm an authority on that."

Takato gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that…"

Ryo grinned. "If Kazu and Kenta were here they'd say 'of course he's right' and they'd believe it to."

"Ha! That's because it'd be coming from you. If it was anyone else they'd think they were, to quote Kazu, 'crazier than a tuna fish sandwich!'"

Ryo laughed and clapped Takato on the shoulder. "You're a good guy Takato. Just don't let it go to your head. Now, why don't you go hunt down that Wildcat Rika, huh? I could use some alone time here."

"I did not need to know that."

Henry unlocked the door to his home and stepped inside. One of the perks to having his dad working at Hypnos was that every now and then Janyu would have an agent provide transportation for his son or the other Tamers when they were at Hypnos. Yamaki wasn't always happy with it because he considered every one of his employees too valuable to be detailed to the duty of car pool but as the Tamers were also valued members, unofficially that is, of Hypnos he was willing to look the other way. And if anyone had a complaint, they didn't voice it.

Henry closed the door to an empty apartment. He wasn't too surprised by this. His mother was out and so were his two older siblings, and Susie was off at a friend's house on a play date (though she had protested vehemently against calling it such a thing). Wasting no time, Henry stepped into the bathroom, set Terriermon on the toilet, and got the bathwater going. As he waited for the water to get warm Henry looked over at his partner and sighed. He had tried to get the worst of the mess out of Terriermon's fur while he was waiting for his ride, but it hadn't helped much. All he did really was muss it up.

"Terriermon, what am I going to do with you?"

The dog-bunny grinned sheepishly. "Admit it Henry. Without me your life would be boring."

"I'll concede that point. Before you came along I never had to worry about live digimon plotting to destroy the world. I just wish that you didn't have to add the Hypnos chef to that already very long list."

"Momentai Henry. If worst comes to worst, I'll just test all his food before anyone else gets it just to be on the safe side. Though I can't promise that Guilmon will be too happy about it."

"Terriermon…"

"Henry? Do you realize that a fair amount of our conversations involve me doing most of the talking with you interrupting every now and than just by saying my name? And that you usually sound irritated saying it?"

"That's because you're usually the source of that irritation, Terriermon."

"Oh. And here I was hoping we could expand on your vocabulary base…"

"Rrrrgh…Just get in the tub."

Henry picked up the long-eared digimon and plopped him into the shallow water before turning off the bathwater.

"YOUCH! HENRY! THAT'S HOT! I just know that I'm going to get all pruny because of this!"

"Terriermon, you've taken plenty of baths and I've never once seen you get pruny. Now here," he said handing Terriermon a washcloth. "And be thorough about it."

"Do you want me to clean my ears too, Henry?"

"As big as those ears are we'd both be an old man and mon by the time you got done."

"Hey!"

"Better get started," said Henry. Grumbling, Terriermon did just that. Henry looked at his partner as he splashed about. "Hey Terriermon. Back in the fight with that Apemon did you feel anything…strange happen to you?"

Terriermon gave Henry an odd look. "You mean getting beaten on by that poor excuse of a mon-key wasn't strange enough?"

"Terriermon…"

"See? There you go again! We do need to expand you vocabulary…"

"I'm serious Terriermon! For a second in that fight I thought I saw one of your arms destabilize. And then when you fired those rockets at him as Rapidmon…There's just something very odd about what happened today, and what happened with Ryan's digimon just muddles the waters even more."

Terriermon continued scrubbing at his ears, though now in a mechanical fashion as he thought over what his Tamer had said.

"You're right, Henry," said Terriermon finally. "It was weird. In that fight I felt a strange tingling feeling whenever I got too close to Apemon, like something was working on me, and it was taking a lot just to keep things together. It wasn't exactly bad at first, but after a while it kind of started to feel painful." Henry looked at his partner sadly as the digimon continued scrubbing away.

"Terriermon? What have we gotten ourselves into?" Terriermon forced a giggle.

"The same thing we get into every night, Pinky. Trying to save the world!"

Henry sighed in exasperation. "I've said it before and I'll say it again; you are incorrigible."

Jeri walked through the halls of St. Jude's ignoring the stares and the usual feelings of discomfort that usually accompanied her treks to hospitals. Leomon strode beside her feeling a mixture of pride and anxiety directed at his Tamer. Pride in the fact that he was once again confirmed in his belief that his partner had the heart of a lion, and anxiety at how that heart could manifest at times. He almost pitied that poor doctor who had tried to halt their progress, almost, but not quite. He had a hand in things too of course; after all, what kind of partner would he be if he didn't back his Tamer? The doctor in question had told the girl that under no circumstances was she to bring the massive lion warrior inside with her. Jeri, a normally understanding girl, had told him that Mr. Leomon was a friend of one of the hospitals patients and that they had come to see him. When the M.D. still refused Leomon access the girl turned a withering gaze on him.

The girl had been miffed. No question about it.

"The nerve of some people," growled Jeri. Had Leomon been a lesser mon he surely would have missed a step. For a second there Jeri did sound like an angry lioness.

"I'm sure that he was only doing what he thought was right," said Leomon. Jeri huffed in frustration.

"That Terriermon…" All right. Sure, in the end both she and Leomon were let through, but did that rabbit have to make things difficult for them to do that? Oh well, she could understand his reasons for it and Terriermon did mean well after all.

They stopped in front of room 134 that, according to the nurse in the waiting room, was Ryan's room. Jeri opened the door and they stepped inside (Leomon having to stoop and turn his body to the side just to squeeze through the door). They came up to the bed where Ryan lay. His eyes were closed and he was breathing lightly, and he had an almost peaceful look about him that had been absent the last time that they had seen him.

"Do you think that he's asleep?" Asked Jeri.

"No, he's not asleep," said Ryan with his eyes still closed. Jeri almost jumped in surprise. Ryan opened his eyes and looked at her. "Thanks for asking though." He shifted his gaze over to the girl's partner and a small smile bloomed on his face.

"Hey Leomon. Chris said that you and…Jeri right?" Jeri nodded. "Chris said that you two would be stopping by, though I'm surprised to see you here big guy. Chris told me that the hospital might not let you in."

"Well," said Jeri trying to restrain a giggle and failing. "Mr. Leomon here was able to get those doctors to see the errors of their ways."

"Really?" Asked Ryan eyeing the great lion suspiciously. "And just how, pray tell, did he accomplish that? I imagine Chris might find it handy for his next visit."

"She threatened to have me demolish the waiting room."

"LEOMON!"

Leomon ignored his partner and, looking unflinchingly at Ryan, mouthed what looked to him were the words lion's heart. Ryan grinned as he revised his original opinion of the girl. And here I thought that she was more the girl next-door type. Shows what I know.

"I'm sure she was just bluffing. You wouldn't really have gone all out in here…uh…would you?"

Leomon just closed his eyes and crossed his arms as though he were in silent contemplation.

Ooookaaay… "So, um…how's Richoemon?"

Jeri looked at Ryan in surprise. "Didn't your friend tell you?"

"I was a little… under the weather at the time, so he wasn't as forthcoming as I would have liked."

Jeri's face became downcast. "Well, when last I saw him your partner was unconscious and…um…I don't know if I should be the one to tell you this but he's…changed color."

Ryan was speechless. He didn't quite know how to respond to that except for… "What do you mean by he's changed color?"

For some reason Jeri was fiddling around with her right hand, as though she were nervous about something. "He's…he's become gray. He's not orange anymore."

Now Ryan was utterly speechless.

"Ryan? Are you all right?"

Ryan tried to talk, but his mind was all mixed up. Richoemon…gray colored? How? Why? An image of BlackTerradramon filled his mind followed by the shadow like form that he saw come off of the Mammothmon that he saw in the digital world. He looked down at the black-colored digivice that he held in his hand. It's all that stupid shadow's fault…

"What did you say Ryan? What was that about shadows?"

Ryan looked up at Jeri. He hadn't realized that he had said it out loud. "I was just thinking about that incident in the digital world with that Mammothmon. How everything just started to go downhill because of that…whatever it was that attacked me."

"Ahuramon's shadow."

"Huh?" Ryan's attention snapped up at Leomon, suddenly confused. Even Jeri looked surprised at this sudden revelation.

"Ahuramon's shadow," said Leomon calmly. "While I was traveling through the digital world I had heard talk about creatures that had no shape that could possess a digimon. I had never quite believed the tales until we met that Mammothmon."

Ryan looked at Leomon skeptically. "How come you never mentioned this before, like when we first met that thing, or even today when we fought that Apemon?"

"We had other things to worry about, and the information wouldn't have helped us in either case. Besides, you never asked."

"You're right. I didn't. Chris did, and as I recall he was quite vocal about it too." And while I'm not sure about this, I think I heard you say that you 'didn't know' in response.

Leomon looked at Ryan without blinking and said, "You are mistaken then. Your memory from that time has not always as it has been." Jeri looked at Leomon, one eyebrow cocked in curiosity as a small flicker of surprise registered on her face. As for Ryan, he knew that Leomon was right about the whole memory issue, as his memory had indeed been spotty ever since his encounter with the strange Mammothmon shadow, but on this he was quite sure. He felt anger rise but he forced himself to bite back a scathing response as a wiser part of him told him that confronting his friend about this now, especially in front of his partner, who would no doubt defend Leomon more than listen to him (he was after all a stranger with an aforementioned memory problem, and Leomon was… well… her partner). Ryan pulled back his anger and decided to let the matter sit on the back burner for a bit until he could find a more appropriate time and have himself, Chris, and Leomon in a private sit-down. He didn't want to rock any boats before he was certain, absolutely certain that something was up.

Ryan shrugged and looked away. "Eh, maybe you're right," said Ryan, hating himself for going along with this charade. Jeri eyed him carefully.

Takato left the cafeteria and scratched his head in frustration. He hadn't seen Rika when he came back (nor did he see the lunch that he had left behind either, but he wasn't to concerned about that), so he had hung out for a bit, waiting to see if she had gone to the bathroom but after a few minutes he had become restless with doing nothing so he decided to see if he could find Kazu and Kenta. He hadn't seen them in a while and wondered what sort of trouble they were getting into.

Sometimes I feel like a baby-sitter when it comes to those two, he thought. Well, not really, but they can act so immature sometimes. 'Course, they'd say the same thing about me and they'd be right. Maybe I should ask Yamaki or Henry's dad if they've seen them. Actually scratch that. That probably would sound bad saying that I can't keep track of my teammates. Turning a corner Takato looked down another bland hallway just crawling with closed doors. Wow, they sure have a lot of rooms here. I wonder what goes on in some of them. We never get the full tour of this place…

"Hey! Gogglehead!"

Takato turned towards the source of his voice and his eyes met the violet ones of Rika, her head tilted to the side in a questioning manner and her eyebrows raised, hinting at slight annoyance, which indicated that she wanted a quick response. She also carried a medium sized container that you could get down at the mess hall.

"Oh, hey Rika. I was just looking for you…"

Rika walked up to him. "Apparently you weren't looking hard enough, you walked right by me without so much as a hello. Tell me, do you try to be unobservant or does it just come naturally?"

"Sorry. I was just thinking about things."

Rika shrugged her shoulders, indicating that she wasn't really interested in his excuses. She handed him the container that she had. "Here, I saved some of your lunch from earlier when you didn't come back. What took you anyway? You didn't have an accident when you were in the bathroom did you?"

Takato went a bit red in the face. "No, no. It was nothing like that, I was just talking with Ryo about Chris and Ryan and he wanted to know if they had mentioned anything about a person named Raven while they were at your place last night."

"Probably not," said Rika. "They passed out almost as soon as we got there, but then, I wasn't with them 24/7 so I can't say for sure. Why are you asking me this and not Ryo? I thought you said it was his question."

Takato laughed lightly. "Well, it is. I just volunteered to ask it in his place because I thought he might get you angry again."

Rika frowned at the goggle-headed Tamer. "Takato, just because I get annoyed at Ryo's antics doesn't mean that I'm always going to try to hurt him. As a matter of fact…and if you tell anyone about this you'll be getting a one-way ticket to the emergency room…I happen to have some respect for him. Just a little bit though. He can hold his own when it comes to digimon and when it comes to that partner of his I don't think there are many who can handle his situation nearly as well."

"Wow," began Takato jokingly. "Does that mean that you respect Kazu and Kenta too?"

Rika's eyes narrowed in such a way that Takato had to fight the urge to flinch. "Please, don't get me started on those two numbskulls. Kenta's all right but Kazu and that oversized dump truck of his couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. I don't know what the digital world was thinking when it made those two partners."

"See? This is precisely why we all act like we're stepping around broken glass with you."

"Is that why you bailed on me earlier? Because of that stupid comment that Ryo made?"

"No," said Takato starting to feel nervous. "I really…ahem…really had to go to use the bathroom."

Rika crossed her arms. "You're a terrible liar Gogglehead."

"No, I mean it." He did sort of mean it. He needed a safe place to retreat to in case Mt. Rika decided to explode on poor Ryo as he climbed it. Rika just hmmphed, not believing him one bit.

"Takato, I'm not going to hurt you just for leaping to my rescue, even if you looked stupid doing it. We're friends, and that means that we look out for each other."

"Wow, and too think that just a year ago you were trying to download Guilmon's data. What was I worried about?"

Rika thought about this for a second before leaning in and lightly, lightly…rapped her knuckles on his head, causing Takato to cry out more in surprise than in pain.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"That was for calling me an idiot back on Locomon! I never got the chance to pay you back for it. Now come on. Let's go find the Doofus Twins. They've been gone way too long for me to feel safe."

Takato complied, rubbing the spot where Rika had hit him. Girls are so weird, he thought.

15