Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Digital Manifest

Keepers

Chapter: 24/ That which Connects us

Rika found herself in the depths of the city wearing her violet colored sunglasses and trench coat. An all too familiar fog surrounded her on all sides and a cold wind swept by her. There was something in front of her as well. Something that glowed…

Burned? Whispered a thought in the girl's mind but at the moment she paid no heed to it. It wasn't fully realized yet, but in no more than a few moments she would be able to analyze the digimon that was bio-emerging and prepare an affective strategy against it. She already had a few cards ready of course. The basics. Speed, strength, and power, but as with all things you never knew when you were going to need something with a little more oomph to it or that extra little trick to get you out of a jam. She had learned that the hard way quite a few times in the past.

The form of the glowing digimon began to take shape within the digital field. As it began to finalize its realization Rika slowly reached up and took off her shades as though she were completely unconcerned with the danger that she was about to be in. Subconsciously a strange feeling of familiarity nitpicked in the back corner of her mind. For some reason she felt as though she had done this before. Been in this particular situation before. But that was a rather pointless thought. She had been in these battles plenty of times. Aside from the opponent they all tended to be the same, and they all ended with her victory…

Hold on, Rika thought as the digimon finally came into view, her eyes narrowing as she raised her digivice. Something's off here.

A large, white furred fox stood in front of her, glowing with the light of the pale moon that hung in the sky above them, and eyes that looked out at her with a pale blue color to them that held an air of the supernatural. It certainly wasn't any digimon that she recognized that was for sure. And judging from the readings from her blue trimmed digivice it wasn't any digimon that it recognized either.

What's going on here? Thought Rika with a frown. Well, it didn't matter anyways. A fight was a fight, mysterious digimon or not. She'd just have to be more careful about what kinds of cards she used. Stick to the general ones that had either a multi-purpose affect or had power to them. She couldn't afford to slip up against an unknown…

"Interesting," spoke the white fox suddenly in what was decidedly a female voice, jarring the girl out of her reverie. "So this is how you two met."

Wha…? What's this thing talking about? Renamon? But this isn't how we… Hold on. Where is Renamon?

The golden furred kitsune that was her partner was nowhere in sight, and at the same time beyond the senses of the bond that they shared. The how and why of the matter made a cold feeling run its way through her body but she glared defiantly at the white fox. The fox simply chuckled as though at an old joke but was making no threatening moves towards her. As to why this was Rika had no clue. But if it meant that she could use this to find a way to escape until she could find out what happened to Renamon then…

The white fox motioned her head upwards towards the source of the light above them, as though quietly saying that she might want to see what was causing it. For some reason, all thoughts of flight and battle left her mind and curiously Rika raised her own head and followed the white foxes gaze. She wasn't sure why exactly. It was just the moon after all…

Rika's breath caught in her mouth as her eyes connected with the dim, translucent light above them. It wasn't the moon. Not by a long shot. Floating above them was the figure of a boy, looking for all the world like he was scared out of his mind, holding a digivice that was, aside from the difference in the color of the trim, exactly like her own. And what was more, she knew him.

Takato? What's he doing here? What's going on?

"That's what I'd like to find out," said the white vixen as she turned her head back to the red haired girl. "I must say I wasn't expecting anything like this. It seems that there's a connection here, one that I mean to investigate so that I can have a better idea of the Dreamer's capabilities. This is most fortunate indeed, and to have it tie back to you of all is even better. The Mjolner's are now unnecessary…provided that is if I can get an understanding of your friend and the bond you share with him. Loki…"

The vulpine creature paused and looked at Rika, who had been staring at her with a mixture of surprise, confusion, and caution. Yet, no fear clouded her eyes or her soul; just a crystal clear desire to protect the friend that the fox was now showing interest in. The fox chuckled once again.

"You think that you can stop me? That you can stop the Manifest? Our rebirth? I know that you've heard all this before; I can sense it in your memories. But I mean what I say. Your friend will help fuel the Manifest one way or another. Even if I fail to deliver his power others will come and will recognize him for what he is. And your new friends…" the foxes face suddenly became sad as she looked at Rika full in the eyes. "They will draw them. However unwittingly they will draw my brethren. After all, they share fragments of the same power, the power of dreams. But once they see your friend up there…" the vulpine indicated the now fading form of Takato. "They will come after him. Unlike the others, his dreams aren't fragmented. Just…asleep."

Rika's eyes narrowed dangerously as her body tensed. She didn't understand half of what was going on here, knew nothing about this Manifest or whatever it was and she didn't know why this…thing saw Takato and the two new Tamers (or Keepers if that was what they were) as being so important. She felt as though she should know, that it was knowledge that lay just underneath the surface. Regardless. She realized that she didn't really care. All she knew was that whatever was coming threatened them, threatened a friend of hers in particular, and she would do whatever it was in her power to make sure that they wouldn't get their hands on him.

Before she knew it, Rika's form had shifted, altered to match that of her biomerged form with Renamon. Her mouth set in a grim, determined line Sakuyamon hefted her bronze staff and took a step forward.

"You won't have him. I don't care who you are but you are not touching Takato. Not him, or any of my friends!"

The fox gave a small grin, admiring the girl's fiery spirit; it's strength almost a bonfire in the dark of the night that surrounded them.

"You speak as though you have a choice in the matter."

"I make my own destiny," said Sakuyamon in Rika's voice, and she lunged forward, summoning four foxes of fire, water, wind, and lightning to aid her.

There was a flash of light as the two combatants made contact with each other, and then all was silent.

When Rika Nonaka woke up in the real world she would have no memory of what had transpired.

Daylight streamed through the window of Henry Wong's bedroom as the children gathered inside sat on whatever surface was immediately available to them. Rika looked over each and every one of them, her expression that of disinterest while inside she felt somewhat bored. Tired too. She hadn't slept all that well last night and when she woke up she felt as though she had just gone through a fight with a Wild One. It confused her a little, but then it was just yesterday that she, Ryo, Takato, and Chris had been released from the hospital (likewise for their partners who had been involved in the battle with that red colored Sakuyamon). She supposed that she was still recovering, just like Takato was doing even though he was no longer being held at the hospital. They had given him a clean bill of health and even Hypnos had run him through some tests just to make sure that nothing was amiss (to which nothing was). A good thing too if not surprising. Rika had seen Takato get torn out of his Mega form. She would have expected something a little bit more out of that given the brutality of the move.

Wasn't the intention to hurt him, thought Rika out of nowhere before dismissing the thought as just a symptom of her own exhaustion. Rika took another moment to glance over each of the Tamers and two Keepers that were gathered in Henry's room, frowning at the fact that Takato and Jeri were missing. She knew full well why though. Jeri's Welcome Home party for Leomon had been delayed from everything that had gone on two days ago. It was supposed to have kicked off yesterday in fact but she had it canceled because she didn't want her friends exerting themselves after their battle, and with the increasing frequency of Wild Ones (as they still called them) bio-emerging and wrecking havoc they would all need their rest. Takato however had persuaded her to try and have it today, stating that this way they could all have fun and relax without having to continuously think about the trouble that was coming their way. Rika found this line of thought to be rather naive of him since they had to stay prepared for whatever was coming their way but she had to admit that he did have something of a point in the relaxing part.

Don't know why he had to go and help her though. She said that she was almost done…

Rika sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, berating herself for that thought. If things weren't so hectic she would have considered helping out herself. Jeri had gotten Leomon back, and he had come through the Hypnos tests without any trouble at all. There was plenty of reason to celebrate. She felt pretty bad for the puppet-loving girl after she had lost Leomon the first time. She should take a moment to celebrate.

Still. Wish that I didn't sound jealous of Gogglehead going with her to help out…

Rika wanted to smack herself for that thought. This was not the time for such things.

At least Ryo's being good, thought Rika as she opened her eyes again, making note of the fact that the Legendary Tamer had been unusually quiet towards her. But then she had made it quite clear from the get-go that she wasn't in the mood to deal with him today. Given that she had yawned shortly after saying that Ryo had easily gotten the point. Sighing a little Rika's mind rejoined the conversation that had been going on around her since she had arrived here. From what she could immediately recall they were all trying to figure out how Ryan and Chris's digivices worked. They could just as easily talk about it with the Hypnos bunch but they were currently busy with the hard science aspect of that. Until they heard something from them there was little else that they could do except think.

Probably would have been better if we were all at Jeri's helping out instead of just Takato, but she said that there wasn't a whole lot left to do.

Rika just shrugged at the thought and began to pay closer attention to the conversation.

"I don't know…" said Chris from his spot on the floor. Caramon lay next to him, bathing in the gentle light of the sun. "Sounds kind of…kind of…" Chris tapped his chin as he tried to think of a proper way to express what he was trying to get at. "It sounds like it's too simple I guess. To clear cut."

"What's your point?" Asked Kazu from his spot a short ways down.

"Just that it's too easy. I don't think I've ever seen anything work that simply in the digital world."

"C'mon! You guys ran across a temple in the middle of nowhere and it brought you home! How simple is that?"

"Well…yeah. I guess so but we nearly didn't make it through. I'd hardly call that simple, especially given that the place was kind of falling apart around us…"

"It was like that in the TV show too you know. First season in fact…"

"Yeah, but you were talking about the second season, which I haven't seen yet. Heck, I haven't even finished the first and Ryan never watched any episodes as near as I can tell. But that's beside the point. You've admitted yourself that getting to the digital world wasn't easy…"

"Yeah, but you said that you and Ryan were told that you haven't used your digivices to their full potential and Ryo did say that that Jane person that he met could go back and forth between worlds…"

"Yeah, but…" Chris grimaced as he thought over what he was about to say. "Ryo didn't say anything remotely resembling what you were describing for going to the digital world. You're telling me that if I go up to Henry's computer and hold out my digivice," Chris hefted his red trimmed, T-shaped device for all to see. "And shout digi-port open I can go to the digital world, and get deposited directly in front of a funny looking television set…"

"Well, probably not exactly like that," said Kazu, grinning slightly and rubbing the back of his head. "But I still think that you should try it. It's not like we have a whole lot of ways to experiment here. Your digivices don't have buttons on them or anything. You…I guess you activate them with your thoughts?"

"That's an apt way of putting it," said Henry from his computer chair. "Kazu does have a point. It might not work since that idea of the digital portal was specific to the TV show and we never found an equivalent in the real world, but digivices do seem to work from the heart of its user no matter what model they are. If it works then we have an easy way going to the digital world and finding your friend."

Chris scratched the back of his head.

"Still seems kinda contrived…"

Caramon rolled his eyes.

"Just give it a whirl already, would ya?! Sheesh. What a time for you to get all wishy-washy!"

"I'm not being wishy-washy," Chris mumbled as he got to his feet and went over to Henry's computer. Henry made room for the boy and everyone got up and walked over to watch the show. Pun not intended.

Chris looked at the computer screen and then at his digivice, feeling a little foolish trying out some plot from a television show but…well, it was like Henry said. They did need to try something out here. And Kazu was right about how these digivices seeming to respond to thoughts. Every time something happened, be it calling up a digimon's stats or activating a scanning program, even digivolution, it had always been a mental call for it. Never something that they consciously realized right away however and it had taken them forever to learn some of the basics about the stupid things. Maybe this time…

If Jane can do it why can't I?

Closing his eyes Chris concentrated for a brief moment and then raised his digivice, pointing it at the computer screen.

"Digi-port…OPEN!"

…

…

"…Um…please?"

The computer just sat there, not a single thing happening that would indicate that he had been successful. Unless that is you're of the opinion that their reflections are really their mirror image in a digital version of Henry's room but Chris somehow doubted such was the case.

"Wow," said Terriermon as he dangled from the edge of Henry's seat. "Guess that it doesn't like you."

Chris glared at the little dog-bunny, cheeks flaming for all they were worth. Now he had something of an idea as to why Ryan disliked discussing a certain incident in the digital world involving Suukamon and Chumon.

Rika hmmphed and stepped forward.

"You're probably not doing it right," she said reaching out towards the digivice.

Suddenly a spark of electricity reached out and zapped Rika's hand as it closed in, causing everyone to jump back as Rika gave a shout of surprise and pain. Startled, Chris dropped his digivice.

"Aaah! Wha…?"

"Rika!" Exclaimed Henry as he bolted out of his seat, only to pause as the familiar form of Renamon phased into view next to the girl. Rika grimaced as she flexed her hand. The pain was already fading away. It hadn't been anything serious. Just a mild shock. Hardly anything more than what one would get from rubbing their feet on a carpet and touching a piece of metal. But it had been so unexpected…

Renamon glared at Chris, who unconsciously took a step backwards.

"S-sorry. I don't know what that was all about. Honest! It's never done that before!"

Renamon sighed inwardly and nodded, relaxing her hard gaze. She had no reason to be angry with the boy. So far he and his friend hadn't proven himself false and he was just as surprised as the others about that unexpected occurrence. It was just that she didn't like surprises, and she disliked them even less if they attempted to harm her Tamer.

"Rika…?" Renamon began but the girl interrupted her.

"I'm fine," she said, making a visible effort to not sound irritated, all the while disguising the surprise and pain that she had experienced. Flexing her hand again Rika found that the flesh was where she had been shocked was red and a little angry looking, but at least the pain was rapidly disappearing.

"I'll get you some ice," said Henry as he headed for the door only to be stopped by Renamon.

"No need. I'll get it myself." With that Renamon phased over to the door, opened it and disappeared all together from sight before returning a few seconds later with a plastic bag filled with the item in question and handed it over to Rika, who took it with a nod of thanks and pressed it against her hand.

"Someone want to tell me what's going on now?" Asked Kazu pointing at Chris's fallen digivice. As one the children turned to look at it, and a fair number of eyebrows were raised as they noticed the halo circle that hovered above its screen. Bending down to one knee Chris tentatively reached out for his digivice, and upon finding that he wasn't going to be shocked by it, picked it up and looked at the data that was being shown to him. The others crowded around to have their own look-see at the information.

Ryan, who had been quiet during the majority of the meeting frowned and read the data aloud.

"Kuzu…noha?" He stated before repeating it again. "Kuzunoha? Any idea what that means?"

Chris frowned as he looked above the name and at an image of what looked to be a white colored fox accompanied by a set of characters underlying the identifying information. He couldn't read them but he was pretty sure that they were Japanese. There was something about the name though that tugged at his mind.

"It sounds familiar…" Chris began uncertainly, pausing as he wracked his brains for any more information that he might have. Unfortunately he came up with none, but for a change of luck someone else did.

"Kuzunoha's a kitsune spirit," said Rika. "A Kami to be more precise. I read a story about her in school last year…"

The other children and assorted digimon were now staring at her expectantly. Rika rolled her eyes.

Next thing you know they'll be expecting me to explain the universe to them or something…

In the ruins of an ancient temple, its walls scarred and broken by the fierce battle that had taken place little more than a week ago, a dark form stepped out of the shadows, cape billowing around it. It's head swiveled around the darkness of the temple, darkness that was only broken by the flood of light that was coming in through the entrance. As though on some unspoken command, rubble began to shift and move, lifting upwards as the shadows cast by the sunlight and pushed them towards the entrance, becoming more and more solid as the light from the outside world faded until finally the entrance was completely blocked off, leaving nothing more than darkness and the sound of rock scraping upon the ground as they were forcibly moved. Strange shapes moved in the darkness as the sound of stone moving about echoed within the chamber and after many hours the darkness was once more broken by light. This time it was not sunlight that shattered its rule over this temple. This time, it was a light that had shown itself once before when two children and digimon were fleeing from their pursuers. The light that lay in between worlds.

Soon. Soon I shall claim my prize, the dark form thought as it wrapped its cloak closer to its body and stepped forwards into the light. The burning brightness enveloped it for a brief moment and then vanished.

The sound of stone doors slamming together as they closed could be heard, and after a brief moment of dust and rubble settling back down, stillness and quiet reigned once again in the temple beneath the sun of the digital world.

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