Here's the next chapter! Sorry for the wait ~Witchgirl590, I hope you like this chapter!
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Disclaimer: Digimon (c) Yukio Kaizawa
Claimer: everything else (c) me
Chapter Fourteen: Painful Goodbyes
Rika's grandmother opened the door.
"Hello, Mrs. Nonaka," they greeted with a bow, except for Rika.
"Hi Grandma," she said warmly.
The older woman bowed back. "Why hello there. It's nice to have some of Rika's friends over," she returned, looking at Kori, Patamon and Gatomon. "You three must be Rika's new friends. How do you do?"
"Fine, thank you," Kori replied courteously. "My name is Kori Hinagaya, and these are my partners, Patamon and Gatomon."
"Hey Grandma, is Mom home?" Rika inquired.
"Yes, she's in the living room, why?" her grandmother asked her, noticing that Rika's tone sounded hurried yet sad.
"We need to talk with you both, Mrs. Nonaka," Takato answered.
Patamon blinked large blue eyes. "We're going back to the Digital World," he announced.
"Hmm… we'll need to talk to your mother about this, Rika," her grandmother told her before escorting them to the living room.
"Hello there, Mrs. Nonaka," Kori greeted Rika's mother. "I'm Kori Hinagaya, one of Rika's friends. These are my partners Patamon and Gatomon."
"It's nice to meet you Kori," the older woman replied cheerfully. "It's always nice to have friends of Rika's over to visit."
"Actually, mom," Rika began in a small voice while looking away, "we needed to come talk to you because we need to go back to the Digital World."
Her eyes widened in shock. "What?!" she exclaimed, "Absolutely not! I nearly lost my little girl the last time you went!"
After taking some time to explain the situation, Rika's mother calmed down a bit.
"Is it absolutely necessary that you have to go, Rika?" she begged desperately.
"Yes, mother," she replied tersely. "If I don't go with them, our world may be destroyed."
"She'll be in good hands, Mrs. Nonaka," Kori assured.
Rika looked at her friends with a sigh. "You guys go on ahead to the next place, I'll stay and try to convince my mom to let me go. I'll meet with you guys at the hideout."
Nodding, they bid their goodbyes and left, heading to Jeri's house for the confrontation with her father.
- - -
"Father, may I please go with them to the Digital World?" Jeri asked politely.
He grumbled, glaring at Kori, "You'll take good care of my little girl?"
"Of course," the teen promised. "I know Leomon will take good care of her too."
The large lion Digimon dipped his head. "I will protect Jeri with my life," he swore.
Jeri's dad looked back between Jeri's friends for a moment before grumbling, "Okay, but you'd better come back safely or else you're going to be in big trouble."
"Thank you Father!" Jeri cried, throwing her arms around her father's waist as he hugged her back tightly.
"We'll still be able to make contact with the real world while we're gone," Kori informed, "so we'll keep you all updated on what's going on in the Digital World. Once our mission is accomplished, they'll be back here as soon as they can."
Patamon raised a paw. "We'll take good care of Jeri!"
"You can count on us!" Gatomon added.
"Momentai!" Terriermon agreed.
"Thank you," he said, dipping his head towards Kori's direction, and she nodded in return, her eyes grave, knowing she wouldn't be returning with them. She wouldn't get to see the happy reunions of them reuniting with family and friends.
- - -
As they drove towards the Matsuki Bakery, Henry noticed that Kori's knuckles were white as her hands clenched down hard on the steering wheel, her expression hard and stern. Her golden eyes were filled with sadness though, as well as pain.
"Kori, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly."Is something bothering you?"
Her hands tightened even more on the wheel, and she bit her lip. "You all know very well that if our mission is successful, I won't be returning with you guys here, right?" she wanted to clarify.
"Is that what's been bothering you?" Takato inquired.
"It's just that… coming with you all to say goodbye to your families, and ever since I witnessed the D-Reaper's defeat and your return to the real world, it always kind of made me feel a bit lonely, considering if I returned I wouldn't have a family to return to," she explained painfully.
"You have us," Jeri replied optimistically.
"And you have me," Henry added, shooting her a soft smile.
As Kori parked the car and they all got out of it, people gave them strange stares at the 14-year-old that drove the car, not to mention the Digimon that were with them.
"Mom, Dad!" Takato called as he walked through the main door.
"Hi Takato dear." His mother greeted as she walked over to the group and their Digimon from the counter of the bakery. "And who is this nice young lady?"
Kori bowed slightly. "Kori Hinagaya," she introduced, Patamon flopping onto her head.
"And I'm Patamon!" he exclaimed cutely as Gatomon popped up from Kori's shoulder.
"And I'm Gatomon!" she added, "We're Kori's partners!"
"Why it's nice to meet you all," Takato's mother replied happily.
Takato bit his lip in hesitation to tell his parents what was going to be happening. "Um… Mom? D-Did you feel that earthquake not too long ago?" he started off.
She nodded. "Scared your father half to death," she commented. "Was it caused by one of those Digimon?"
"Well… um… yeah…" he retorted, shuffling his feet uneasily. "We need to go back to the Digital World to take care of things… if that's okay with you?"
The older Matsuki blinked at them as Guilmon added quickly, "We'll all take good care of each other!"
"I'll make sure that these guys are well taken care of," Kori assured. "Plus, all you need to do is talk to Yamaki and he has a communicator that can contact us. Don't worry about Takato, he'll be fine."
She looked worried, then turned back to Takato. "I'm not sure about this, Takato," she said quietly.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Matsuki," Henry said, "we'll take good care of Takato."
After much reasoning, Takato's mother finally agreed. She packed a huge backpack of various breads for them and Takato carried the heavy backpack with him. The group departed from the bakery not long after the Matsuki's strained goodbyes.
"One last stop," Kori announced as she drove them back to the apartment.
- - -
As the doorbell rang, Mr. Wong went to fetch the door, opening it to see Henry, Kori, their Digimon and their friends standing at the door.
"Hi everyone," he greeted warmly.
"Hey Dad, can we talk to you?" Henry began nervously.
He blinked, gesturing them in. "Sure," he replied. "What about?"
"Mr. Wong, we're heading back to the Digital World," Takato told him. "We need to take care of some business and stop the evil Digimon from coming back into this world and threatening the people here."
He blinked. "And must Henry go with you guys?"
"Of course, Dad!" Henry replied, as if the fact was obvious. "I can't let my friends risk their lives for the rest of the world while I sit home doing nothing and worrying about them every day they're not here."
Kori placed an easy hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his talk. "Don't worry, Mr. Wong. We'll take good care of him."
"Especially me!" Terriermon agreed, raising both ears. "Momentai!"
Mr. Wong looked specifically at Kori, tilting his head towards the window in gesture of speaking to her alone. She followed him to the window as the others waited both patiently and impatiently for them.
"You'll take good care of him, Kori?" Henry's father inquired worriedly.
She grinned. "Only the best," she reassured. "And you know Terriermon will help me protect him."
"Does Suzie have to go?" he asked in concern for his youngest daughter.
The tamer shook her head. "And preferably I don't think it's best if she even knows about this. I don't want her to be constantly worrying about her brother," she answered quietly. "You understand, right?"
He nodded. "Now… is there any way to communicate with you guys like last time?'
"Yes. Just refer to Yamaki for that part. I'll be giving him reports when I can," she replied.
Mr. Wong sighed in understanding and a sort of defeat. "Very well… Henry may go with you. Just please take care of my son."
"Of course," she said as they returned back to the others.
"Alright Henry, you may go with them," he announced.
The tamer tackled him into a hug. "Thanks Dad!" he exclaimed. "I'll be very careful in the Digital World."
"Let's get going," Kori said, "we don't have much time to waste. Yamaki will be awaiting for us at the clubhouse. Now… one last stop at my house to pick up something and let's get going."
As they went next door to Kori's apartment, opening the door and walking in.
"Alright," she sighed, walking over to a picture frame of a vase and bouquet of flowers and removing it, revealing a built-in safe.
A hand pad was revealed, and an eye scanner popped out and scanned the 15-year-old's hand and eyes before the safe clicked open, revealing a white hilted standard sword in a white sheath resting inside a glass case. A black, standard police gun rested beside the case. A single modify card rested in another smaller glass case next to it, the true value of the card hidden from their point of view. Yamaki's communicator lay beside the other items, and Kori took it first, placing the device in her pocket.
"Whoa!" Takato gasped, "You're the real deal here."
She smiled as she opened the glass case and took out her sword, the weapon of light instantly vanishing from her hand.
"Excellent, now we're ready," she said, eying the gun momentarily before reaching out to grab the modify card from the case and slipping it into her deck at random.
"What card is that?" Guilmon inquired.
She looked at them with despairing eyes. "Not a particularly a good one for the darkness," she replied. And my health too, she added silently.
"Now that all of the goodbyes have been settled, let's head to the hideout to meet up with Ryo and leave," Kori continued, allowing some of her healing abilities to flow into her bracelet.
All of a sudden, her eyes fluttered and she swooned slightly before collapsing sideways with exhaustion.
"Kori!" Henry exclaimed in surprise, catching her and setting her down against him.
Her head rested against his shoulder and she sighed tiredly. Patamon and Gatomon hurried over to their tamer's side in concern.
"Mmm…" she groaned. "Okay… tired…"
Very carefully, Henry picked up the girl in his arms, laying her down on the couch, her head resting against the pillow sitting on the armrest.
"Hey, are you sure you're well enough to go to the Digital World today?" he asked quietly.
Honestly, she shook her head. "But once we get to the Digital World, we can rest. I'll make sure that the portal opens up near my sensei's place. He'll take care of us. He's strong enough to block out the darkness from entering the dojo."
"But Kori…" he chided quietly, kissing her on the forehead. "We're so worried about you."
"I know, but we have little choice. It's either that or allow Serena to destroy a fifth of the world by tomorrow," she sighed in reason, sitting up. "We only just made it through today."
As she slowly stood up, Henry and Takato helped her stand and she smiled, gently pushing them away so she could walk on her own.
"Come on, let's get going," Renamon said.
"Renamon's right," Rika agreed. "We'd better get going. Yamaki and Ryo are waiting for us."
"Well… let's go," Kori sighed, giving one last glance around her apartment before they left. Hmmm… I guess I'll have to hand that apartment back to Yamaki, considering I'm not coming back. Well… I suppose I'll give the others a letter to take back to that guy before the sacrifice, she thought grimly. Ah well… can't ponder that now. It's not as important as the real task at hand.
Taking the van, Kori drove the group over to the park, where they ran over to the hideout where Yamaki, Ryo, and Monodramon were waiting for them.
"Hey guys," Takato shouted as they approached them with haste.
Yamaki handed Kori a small booklet of pages. "Here, this is the file that you wanted," he said.
The tamer opened it, her eyes hardening as she read through it. She sighed, "It's as I suspected. Anyway, thanks Yamaki." She folded it up and shoved it into her coat pocket.
He nodded in response. "Now… be careful, Kori," he warned. "Things may have changed in the Digital World since you last went there."
"I know," she replied. "We'll keep in touch through the communicator." Using a fraction of what was left of her powers at the time, she opened up a pixel-looking portal to the Digital World.
"Thanks Yamaki," Takato said.
"Good luck, all of you," the man wished as they all walked through, the portal closing behind them.
Their latest journey in the Digital World had just begun.
Well... now it seems that things are getting interesting... HMMM... I wonder what's going to happen?
Well... find out next time (aka next chapter, lol)!
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