"In the admiration of a fiction, we do little to truly understand it as we often want to twist it in ways we desire…

But what if the fiction is real?
How can what we thought was only a product of our imagination, and that is now real…How will it react to us and what we first believed?"

Chapter 3 : Fiction and reality

"The authorities have reported no new information concerning those mysterious monsters that suddenly appeared at Pheonix High School's courtyard. And as long as their investigation is finished, the school has been temporarily closed-"

Kylee turned off the television with the remote, annoyance and worriness displaying in her face.

It was now late in the day but right now, the situation was not really simple, and much troubling.

---

"How can Regan be here again?" Kylee asked as she, Impmon, Riza and Veemon were walking away from the courtyard. All of them had decided to leave before the authorities would come. They didn't want to answer any possible questions, especially since it may force them into revealing Regan's existence…and Kari's…
"Like if we could know." Impmon said. "But if he's back, why isn't Lizomon with him?"
"And instead, it's Kari that's with him." Riza said. "It doesn't make sense."
"Yeah, and why did Regan was so weird with us?" Veemon asked.
"I don't know…but what both he and Kari had was really weird…you saw what happened to Kari when it was over?" Riza said…

---

Both Tamers had decided to go find Regan on the next day, the current situation of today giving some problems with that. Plus, finding Regan may not be an easy task.

As Kylee lied in her bed, she gazed at the ceiling, many thoughts in her mind.
"Regan…where are you? What happened to you and Kari? Why are you here again?"
As those thoughts continued to wander in her mind, she suddenly shivered, not due to a sudden cold, but to a sudden realization, a terrible, dreaded possibility…
"Is it starting again?
Has everything we did been for nothing?"

---

"Come on Impmon! We gotta hurry!"
"Geez, wait up Kylee!"

The next morning had been…'unusual'…
Considering that Kylee had woke up quite soon in the morning and hurried to dress, eat breakfeast, and then go outside to meet up with Riza. Impmon had nearly been dragged along the way, and the fact he had been a bit slow.

Right now though, both she and Impmon were running toward the park, and Impmon had some troubles keeping up with his Tamer.

"Kylee, aren't you going to stop?!?" Impmon yelled.

And she did just that…though Impmon didn't managed to quickly react…and smacked right in Kylee's legs, nearly sending his Tamer down….though she soon fell down a few seconds later, obviously failing to catch her balance.

"Ow, Impmon! Why you have to be so slow?" Kylee nearly shouted at her partner, both of them still on the ground.
"Hey Kylee, I'm not the one going over clocking! And what the hell's wrong with you anyway? I've never seen you act like that!" Impmon said harshly to his Tamer.
"Uh…" Kylee remained stunned for a while.

Impmon was true. She had been acting unusual. She looked down, clearly worried.

"I'm worried for Regan….something really seems wrong in all of this…
And…" Kylee said, tightening one fist, which started to shake.
"What if everything's starting again? What if we didn't manage to destroy Ragnaok?"

Impmon remained slightly open-mouthed for a while. "That's what you were worried about? Why didn't you said so?!?" he said.
"But honestly though…I don't really think that Ragnarok survived. Whatever trouble there is, it's something else.

You're right about Regan needing our help…but if we overdo it, if we really go careless on that one, who knows if we won't make it worse?" Impmon added, calming himself a bit.

Kylee remained silent, looking down as she remained in a sitting position.

"You're right Impmon…I think I was overdoing it…and I that I was really scared…
Sorry…I didn't really used my head a lot right now…" she said.

"Like if you're using it often." Impmon said with a sly smile on the face, looking mockingly aside.

"What was that about?!?" Kylee yelled to her partner angrily.

Fortunately, a stomping sound interrupted them before the arguing could escalate further.
Raidramon stopped right near them, Riza on his back.
"Hey guys, sorry that I've been a bit late, but I guess it would help to come with Raidramon." Riza said.
"No you're fine…I just hurried too much…" Kylee said.
"Anyway, let's go to find Regan's hiding place. Who knows where he could be?" Impmon said.
"Honestly, I think he must have gone back to that hideout he used the first time. But there's still a problem…" Riza said.
"Yeah…we always came there through the air, never from the ground. It may be a bit tricky to find it" Raidramon added.
"Even then, we have to find him. He needs us more than he probably admitted." Kylee said, determination returning in her eyes.
Riza nodded before giving down a hand to Kylee so to help her climb on Raidramon while Impmon simply hopped behind her.
Right after, Raidramon soon turned and ran away.
"So…we have to search for some old building right?" Riza said while holding on the running Raidramon.
"Yeah. That's where Regan and Lizomon had made their hideout last time. He's probably there with…Kari…" she finished, hesitating on her last word.
"I still can't believe that she's here with Regan…" Riza half-muttered.
"Yeah…" Kylee weakly answered.

"But what if their hideout vanished when everything seemed to have returned to normal?" Kylee thought.
"…Well…I guess we'll just have to find out…"

---

Regan slowly opened his eyes…and realized he had somehow fallen asleep, still sitting at the table…

"Ow…definitively not the best way to sleep…" Regan muttered as he slowly rose from the chair, holding a hand to his forehead.

He turned around, toward the couch to see Kari still sleeping…at least that's how she looked like.

He went up to her, and slowly took her hand to check on her pulse. Perfectly normal.
Sighing, Regan kneeled down to a closer level to Kari before putting a hand on her cheek, still uncertain, still troubled.

As he did, she stirred, her eyes slowly fluttering open. "Regan?" she spoke tiredly.

"Yeah…it's me…" Regan said, though there was some discouragement in his tone.
The look in Kari's eyes also turned sadder. "And I hoped this was all a bad dream…" she muttered sadly.

Regan sighed again before rising up and walking to the other side of the couch before sitting near her feet. "So do I…" he replied darkly, looking down.

Kari stirred more, and finally rose up, sitting on the couch, slightly holding her head.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Regan asked worryingly.
"I'll be fine…" Kari replied.

For a moment, both Digidestineds remained silent.

"Let's see if there's still some food here…" Regan said after a while and raising up. He went up to the 'kitchen' to see if there was anything left…that was still eatable that is…

In opening the refrigerator, he found a bag of bread…
He remembered that last time, with Lizomon, he hadn't finished that exactly same bag…

But even if it would have been left in the refrigerator for a long amount of time, surely the bread would have been in a worse state.
But it looked as if it had only been yesterday that the bread had been in the refrigerator. How could that be possible?

Had only a few days passed since he had left this world?
That wasn't possible, since it wasn't consistent with the claw marks from Lizomon that still remained in the tree in the park. He remembered that Lizomon had unintentionally left them on the branches. And from their looks, it seemed that it had been a few months since Regan had left this world and destroyed Ragnarok.
So how can the bread be seemingly 'intact'?

He took it out from the refrigerator, and after a close and careful inspection of one slice, he could be confident the bread was normal…though that was definitively suspicious. It was doubtful that Kylee and Riza would have stayed in here some times. They were the only ones that knew of the place anyway, and even then, they couldn't be completely sure of where to find the building, since they had always been brought here from the air thanks to Lizomon.

At least the water from the tap was still working, and there wasn't too much to worry about it.

"Found something." Regan finally said to Kari. "But it'll only be good for this time."

A while later, after eating whatever remained of the bread and took some drink of water, Kari seemed ready to ask for some explanations.

"I don't understand Regan. You seem to know about where we are, so…where are we, really?" Kari said, still sitting on the couch.

Regan, sitting on the other side of the couch, sighed again before looking at Kari. He knew she was going to get a hard one. "Like I said yesterday, we're in the Real World…but not ours. It's another Real World…

And one in which your adventures in the Digital World, along with those of the other seven Digidestineds, are known as a TV show. That includes what happened with the Digimon Emperor and later on, MaloMyotismon." Regan explained.

Kari's look in her face definitively went bad. "You can't be serious…" she said, a very worried expression visible on her face.

"I am…" Regan replied, directly staring at her. "And I know what you must feel about it…"

"No…" Kari said. "You can't…really…" she added, crestfallen, discouraged.
"But at least I can understand some of it!" Regan said, exasperated and raising up from the couch.

---

Meanwhile, Raidramon and its riders had finally located the building they were looking for.

"That's definitively that one." Kylee said, pointing at it.
"Okay. Now let's find Regan and Kari." Riza said as he climbed down from Raidramon, soon imitated by Kylee and Impmon before Raidramon de-digivolved to Veemon.
All of them soon went inside the building then started climbing the creaking stairs that were leading up, and hopefully, to the rooms Regan was using.

---

Both Regan and Kari heard the noise. Regan's eyes narrowed as he eyed the door. "Go hide Kari." Regan said as he rose and walked up to the door, his digivice glowing before data poured out of it and stuck itself on Regan's hands, back and sides of his head, adding up the 'Lizomon parts' once more.

Kari remained unsure, halfway standing up.

"Do it…" Regan insisted.

Unsure, Kari still nodded before going behind the corner of that lead to the bedroom.

Regan remained on the blind side of the door, one clawed hand raised and ready.

After a while, the door opened, Kylee entering the room. "Regan? Are y-"

Her words were suddenly interrupted short as claws were suddenly held right in front of her, a few inches to her neck, Regan filling most of Kylee's view.

Riza and the digimon simply remained unmoving, obviously panicked, and unsure what to do. One possibly wrong move…and Kylee could pay it…if Regan wasn't friendly anymore…

As for Kylee, she simply remained unmoving, scared and completely unsure what to do as she simply stared helplessly at Regan.

Regan stared at her for a while before lowering his hand. "You again..." he said. The 'Lizomon parts' glowed before vanishing, absorbed in Regan's digivice again. As the last bit of data vanished, Regan's right hand briefly shook before Regan tightened his hand in a closed fist.

Kylee did notice the hand shaking, though she was still much shocked from what just happened.
Regan sighed before he lowered his head a bit, his expression discouraged. "Well...come on in..." Regan said weakly as he turned away, going back for the couch.

Kylee soon started to slowly walk in the apartment, followed hesitantly by Impmon, Riza and Veemon.

But as soon as they entered inside the appartment, they saw Kari peek out from the corner, looking worryingly at who it was.
And as soon as they saw her, both Tamers and and digimon breifly stopped, half-stunned again to see Kari.
Kari didn't really react well to that, being even more unsure.

Regan, standing between both the Tamers and Kari, sighed and looked down, unpleased.

"I think we'll really need to talk here…Come on everyone…" Regan said.

Kari, eyes cast aside and looking down, nodded a bit and finally came from the corner of the wall to sit on the couch, not looking at Kylee or Riza.

Once again, for a while, everyone was much silent. Until Kylee cleared out her throat.

"So…ehm…" she started. "How did you got here? And where are Lizomon and Gatomon? What happened with them?" she suddenly added.

"Kylee…that may be too much for them…" Riza said.
"Oh…sorry guys…" Kylee said.
"It's okay…" Regan mumbled. "…As for how we got here…we don't know…just as we don't know where our digimon partners are…or what could have happened to them…"
"All we know is that we were attacked, but right after that digimon used some special attack, Lizomon did something. I heard him shout 'Eject!'…but I wonder if he had actually said that to Gatomon…" Kari added, looking down and still worried.

Hearing her speak made Kylee and the others feel…a bit excited…
Kari Kamiya…one of the Digidestineds from the show…she was talking to them…more or less though…

"But, hem…Regan, Kari…what's wrong with you two? I mean…your bodies?
How could you change like that?" Riza asked.

Kari looked troubled again, and Regan looked a bit down and away from the Tamers as well.
"Let's just say…that it was something that…involved…Ragnarok…

And also…that injection of Digimon data in a human body isn't exactly…healthy…" Regan said hesitantly, and sourly.

"It's not like we wanted that to happen to us…We don't like this at all…
But that's the best thing 'someone' managed to do for us…. Kari added sourly.
Regan chuckled darkly, with a slightly unnerving smile. "Besides…that was better than the alternative…"
"Hem…and that alternative…it was…?" Veemon asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.
"Death…" Regan said grimly, the smile completely fading off his face.

The Tamers and digimon looked even more worried before looking at each others. Riza motioned them to move a bit away.

Taking one glance at Regan and Kari, who seemed rather absorbed by their bad thoughts, Kylee turned to Riza and the digimon.

"So…what now?" Riza whispered.
"They're really aren't fine…but what's wrong with them?" Kylee whispered.
"I hope it wasn't because of me asking them about that alternative…" Veemon whispered with a sad face.
"Nah." Impmon whispered, arms crossed. "It's something else. I think we should try to change off their moods by talking about something else. Any ideas?"

Kylee looked dubtious as she thought, then a slight hesitant and mischevious smile crossed on her face. "I wonder…" she muttered.

She turned back to Kari and Regan, imitated by the others. "Hey…Kari?"

Kari looked at her, some sadness visible in her face, yet curious about what that girl wanted to ask her. "Yes?" she said.

Kylee was hesitant, unsure yet so tempted to ask that question. "Hum…well…Who do you like. Davis or TK?" she asked.

Kari's cheek turned pink as she looked surprised…but immediately after, she looked away…and was looking even sadder and troubled…and even seemed ready to cry…

"You…" Regan had raised himself so quickly, eyeing Kylee.

"IDIOTS!"

*SMACK*

Regan struck each and every of the Tamers and their digimon in their face, knocking them on the ground.

Kylee shook her head and put a hand on her cheek, where Regan had struck her, then eyed him in shock.

Regan was eyeing her hardly, his right hand tightened hard in a fist which was shaking with rage.

"Have you any idea of what you've said?!?" Regan yelled. "You just didn't understand anything at all of what Lizomon once said to you!!!

THE SHOW IS REAL!!! Damnit! You didn't have gotten that in your heads or were they really thick that day?!?" Regan added, still yelling at them, his anger clearly visible.

The Tamers were just purely shocked, along with their digimon.

"If the show is real…then so are the 'fictional' characters...
And that means, they're humans, just like you and me. They have feelings, lives and things they want to keep to themselves." Regan continued, still very angered, but seemed to have calmed down…a bit…

"How do you think Kari has reacted when she discovered about the existence of other realities, other Real Worlds, in which, everything she did in the Digital World, everything she, her brother, her friends, is known as a simple television show here, and possibly in other realities?!?" Regan shouted again.

"How would you feel if you would have suddenly discovered, that a critical part of your live have been somehow, and suddenly known by hundred, perhaps even thousands of people?!? Hell, perhaps even millions!" Regan added, much angered, as he pointed to Kylee, Riza and their digimon.

Behind Regan, Kari started crying, burying her face in her hands.

Regan lowered his hand…and both of his hands tightened hard…as he looked down toward his feet, eyes closed…and some tears coming out of them…

"That's how she's feeling…and worse…
She's now in a world in which she was nothing more than a fiction.
Now, it's reality." Regan said more 'calmly'.

He opened his wet eyes and turned back to Kari, coming to sit besides her on the couch.
Regan hesitantly put his hands on Kari's shoulders before she stopped crying to look at him with clearly wet eyes as well.

She clutched him tight as she sobbed on him, Regan hesitantly hugging her, himself still being sad.

While that happened, Kylee, Riza, Veemon and Impmon simply watched all of this silently, and surprised.

"We've been jerks…"

Kari and Regan briefly stopped before they slightly looked toward the Tamers, to see Kylee, having fallen on her knees, eyes closed hardly, as tears were slowly coming out of her own eyes.

"I'm sure the others were probably thinking like I did when I asked that…
But we've been so idiots…real jerks…
We hadn't really thought it would really have mattered to you…Kari…
But…how could I said that to you?!?" she said, opening her eyes, and glaring hardly at Regan and Kari, with tears in her eyes.

If Kylee seemed angered to a point…it was obvious that she wasn't angry at Regan or Kari…but after herself for having said what she had asked to Kari…

"You're human beings! Just like us!" she yelled then fell on her hands, head low.

Riza, shocked, gently put one knee down, putting one hand on Kylee's shoulder while Impmon was looking really worryingly at his partner, knowing she had spoken much of the truth, no matter how hard it was.

"Yeah…you two are human beings…even if you got…those 'weird things'…" Impmon said.
"Come on Kylee…" Riza said. "I think we should go. We don't deserve to be here…"

"No…"

Kylee, Riza and their digimon suddenly looked at the one who spoke that word : Kari.

She looked at them, tears still in her eyes; she seemed to have managed to regain herself to some point.

"Please…don't go…
I don't want that we should be alone…" she added, removing herself from Regan's grip and now having brought her legs close to herself, hugging them tightly.

Regan looked down, his saddened expression speaking much of what he thought on that subject.

"Well…now that you're asking for it…" Impmon said.
"You really want us to stay?" Kylee said, looking uncertainly at Kari.
"You're human beings too. You can't know everything, least know how someone else can feel…" Kari answered, her eyes half-closed as she started to dry off her tears.
"Yeah, please stay with us, at least for a while." Regan said, drying off his own tears.
"You know, I haven't gotten your names yet." Kari said.

"Oh, sorry Kari…" Kylee said as she finally rose up, wiping off what remained of her tears. "I'm Kylee Henke. Phoenix City's best Tamer, along with Impmon!" she said, going back a bit more on her usual tone.
"And I'm Riza Ryuzaki. Veemon's my partner, and I'm Kylee best friend along with being Pheonix City's second best Digimon Tamer."
"And you can be sure you won't get the first rank as long as we're there!" Impmon said, raising a fist in the air at Riza.
"Oh yeah? One day we'll beat you Kylee." Riza added.
"Well, you're free to try anytime." Kylee said with a smile.

"You two sure looks like good friends." Kari said, a smile coming on her face.
"Uh well…" Kylee started as both Digidestineds looked at her, hints of blushing coming in their faces. "We're just childhood friends."
"Oh, I see." Kari said. Even though she was smiling somewhat, her heart wasn't truly doing so.
"Oh sure." Impmon said. "You two are always sharing lunches together at school."

That sentence got Impmon rewarded with two punches on his head.
"Shut up Impmon." Kylee said, with her punch still above Impmon's head.
"Yeah, it's always because of you." Riza added, with his own punch above Impmon as well.
"You know, it reminds me that L-" Kari started, and then stopped, eyeing Regan worryingly.
"Yeah, Lizomon." Regan said grimly. "He's often been annoying the two of us, a bit like Impmon does with you two, Kylee and Riza."

The true reason though that had made Kari stopped was about having mentioned Lizomon, and thus, reminding everyone around about both Gatomon and Lizomon's unknown fates. Of course, Regan hadn't failed to notice that.

"What are you two gonna do now?" Veemon asked.
"We're not sure…" Kari said, looking a bit down, waved her feet a bit.
"It's obvious we'll need to try to find a way to get back to the Digital World, and find our digimon." Regan said. "But since it seems we're going to be stuck here for a while…Why don't you tell us about you two? I'd like to know about what happened in this world.

I've noticed something ever since I got back here.
How is that possible that everything seemed to have changed as if nothing happened at all?" Regan asked.

"Hum well…your guess is as good as ours…" Riza said, rubbing a hand behind his head.
"What do you mean Regan? What happened with you in this world anyway?" Kari asked.

That surprised the Tamers and their digimon a bit. "You mean you don't know what happened here?" Kylee asked to Kari. "I thought Regan would have told you since he would probably explain why he was gone for a time."

"Actually…we had thought him dead…
But apparently, he lied, saying he didn't remember what happened when we thought him gone." Kari replied, eyeing Regan.
"Why…Why Regan?" Kylee said.
Regan rose and walked a bit away from the others, his back facing them. "I don't need to explain myself right now." He said neutrally…and a bit of pain slightly 'visible' in his tone.
A sad frown slightly came on Kari face, as if knowing something about Regan that made what he meant understandable to her.
"Well…since we'll be staying in this world for a while…
Kylee, could we go shopping?" Kari asked.

"What?!? You just got stuck in another world and you wanna go shopping with another girl?" Impmon said, rather taken aback.
"You really don't think a lot Impmon." Regan said. "She wants to go shop for new clothes and perhaps somekind of makeup or hair dye."
"Oh, I get it. She can't really keep her looks like that. Everybody who may see her will probably think that she's either some really good cosplayer or that she's really Kari." Riza said.
"Exactly." Kari said with a sigh. "Regan, I'll need your cloak again."
"Sure." Regan answered as he removed his cloak and handed it to Kari.
"So Kylee? Could you do it with me?" Kari asked.
"Uh well, of course I will." Kylee answered.
"What about you Regan?" Kari asked to him.
"I'll stay here. Besides, what could I do? I'm not certainly accompanying you two. That's some girl stuff that you're going to do anyway." Regan said.
"Fine." Kari said, putting Regan's cloak on her then putting the hood over her face. "You're ready to go Kylee?" she asked.
"Sure." Kylee answered. "Let's go Impmon."
"Alright…" Impmon replied as he, Kylee and Kari walked outside the apartment.
"Well, I'll check on something elsewhere. I won't be long Regan." Riza said.
"Okay." Regan said, sitting on the couch and leaning on it. "I have a question though. Did you or Kylee came back here while I was gone?"
"Hum, no." Riza said. "Why?"
"Oh, nothing…" Regan replied off-handedly.
"Okay then." Riza said. "Let's go Veemon."
"Right." Veemon said as he followed his partner out of the apartment.

As Regan was left alone, he closed his eyes, thinking.

If it wasn't Riza and Kylee who came into the apartment, did someone else came in?
If not, that definitively didn't help him in wondering about how could that bread in the fridge being 'intact'.

Then…he realized something.

---

A few minutes later, Riza came back with Veemon.
"Hey I'm back Regan…" Riza said.
No answer.
"Regan?" Riza said as he looked around.
"Hey Riza, look at this." Veemon said, pointing to a note on the table.

Riza picked it up then read it.
"Gone to the graveyard. I may be back soon.
Regan."

"What's he going to do at a graveyard?" Veemon asked, confused.
"I got no idea, but we should check on him." Riza said.
"Alright."