DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or any video games, books, films, TV shows or pieces of music referenced in this story. Original characters owned by me are stated in my profile.
Here it its - the conclusion to the IceDevimon episode. Big thanks to all my reviewers, particularly I'm Yu for the detailed input on my OCs.
Chapter Eight: Tundra
Somewhere…
Rika opened her eyes and looked around cautiously. Endless fields of ice and snow stretched as far as she could see in every direction.
Where am I?
The girl looked up, seeing a moonless night sky filled with cold stars. When she looked back to the ground, the redhead was shocked to see that a fifty-metre wide crater had materialised in front of her. Floating above the crater, high enough that Rika had to crane her neck slightly to see all of it at once, was a sphere of ice covered with a light dusting of snow. Rika peered closely at the sphere, seeing the faintest of glows emanating from its depths.
"What…is this place?" she whispered to herself, and was shocked when she received an answer.
"I'm surprised you don't recognize it, my dear," a voice chuckled, and the girl turned to see the familiar form of IceDevimon.
"You! What have you done to me? Where am I?"
"You really don't know, do you?" he said and laughed cruelly. "Oh, this is going to be fun…"
"Why the hell should I know? I've never seen this place before!"
"That is because you never looked…"
"What are you…" Rika began, but stopped as a biting wind blew over her.
"Cold-hearted bitch…" a distorted yet familiar female voice whispered in the redhead's ear.
"Who's there?" she demanded, turning around to see nothing but the floating ice-sphere. Cold-hearted bitch? The last person to call me that was that bitch Ebony…wait…it can't be…
"And the penny finally drops!" IceDevimon laughed, placing one taloned hand on each of Rika's comparatively-tiny shoulders. "This is the part of your consciousness that you humans choose to refer to as your heart."
"No…this isn't…this can't be my…" she mumbled, so shocked she didn't even notice the fact that the fallen angel was touching her. "This is a trick. It has to be…"
"This is no trick, my little Ice Queen. This is the reason I chose you to be my Tamer - we are the same, you and I."
"No!" Rika shouted and span around to face the Digimon. "I am nothing like you! I'm not some cold-hearted monster and that is not my heart!"
IceDevimon merely laughed cruelly at the Tamer's outburst. "Oh, but you're not arguing with me, my dear - I cannot influence the appearance of this place. What you see is your opinion of yourself."
"No! You're lying…trying to trick me…"
"Oh really? Then answer me this: you are stood in the middle of a field of ice, no sun in the sky, wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Why are you not cold?"
Rika's mouth opened to answer, then quickly snapped closed. He's…he's right. I can tell it's cold, I can feel the cold, but I'm not…it's like I'm…
"It's because you are so used to it," the Digimon chuckled. "This cold emptiness has been a part of you for so many years, you don't even feel it any more. Any other human would have been hypothermic within seconds of arriving here."
"It can't…I…I…" Rika stammered as the wind picked up again, whispering every playground taunt, every snide comment, every bully's remark in her ear.
"…I heard she kissed a guy and he died of hypothermia…" "…cold-hearted bitch…" "…they should send her to the North Pole, stop the ice caps melting…" "…she's not an emo - if she cut herself her blood would freeze to the razor…" "…Digimon Ice Queen…"
"Are you really so blind? Everyone but you has been able to see it your whole life. Just accept it - you are cold!" IceDevimon whispered in the girl's ear as his forehead gem glowed white and he embraced her with his ragged wings.
A bright white light washed across Rika's vision, and she found herself in the living room of a traditional Japanese house. A sudden spark of recognition flashed in her mind and she frowned in confusion as she realised where she was.
This looks like my old home back in Japan! But…it's different. We got rid of that old sofa years ago and…
"Daddy!" a voice rang out, and Rika turned to see a girl of about five run into the room from the garden.
That…that's me! But how…?
The little girl had long, red hair and was wearing a blue dress. She was also crying and clutching her right hand.
I remember this! I'd just been bitten on my hand by a spider…but that means…this is the day that…
A relatively short, pale-skinned European man in his early twenties with short red hair walked quickly into the room, his violet eyes full of concern. He swept the crying girl up in his arms, hugging her tightly and whispering soothing words in her ear.
Dad? DAD! Why can't you hear me? DAD!
It's like I'm not even here…
James Nonaka carried his crying daughter over to a leather armchair and sat down, sitting her on his knee and hugging her some more. As the young Rika shifted in his lap and began crying even harder, the man began to look decidedly uncomfortable. After about a minute, he suddenly picked up the still-crying girl and placed her on the nearby sofa. The man ran to the kitchen, and the apparently-invisible Rika followed him, hearing him muttering "I can't do this anymore" over and over again as he grabbed his wallet, coat, passport and mobile phone. James ran back into the living room, giving the young Rika one last hug.
"Listen, honey. Daddy has to go away now, mummy should be back soon. Just wait here for her, you'll be fine."
"W-w-when will you be b-back?" the little girl sobbed as her beloved father practically ran towards the front door.
The man never answered her.
"How long was it until your mother came home? How long were you left there, in pain and alone?" IceDevimon's voice whispered in Rika's mind. "Three hours? Four? How many weeks did it take before you realised he was never coming back?"
The redhead just stood there staring at her younger self, tears fighting to break free from her eyes. "Please…make it stop…"
"As you wish…" the Digimon whispered as the white light enveloped the girl once again.
Near Le Bonhomme Joli Holiday Village, Loire Valley, France - 8:32pm
Renamon fought to hold back her own tears as Rika's pain was transmitted to her through their link. The kitsune staggered and fell to her knees as she landed heavily after jumping from a nearby tree, her concentration shattered by her Tamer's emotional anguish.
"Renamon? Are you sure you're okay?" Takato asked, wincing as the vulpine Digimon glared at him.
"I am fine, now please stop asking me that!" she snapped, leaping angrily to her feet. "Rika is close…I can feel it."
"Takatomon! I can smell a Digimon - it's in those hills up ahead!" Guilmon growled, his pupils narrowing to feral slits.
"That is where Rika is. Takato, use a Hyper Speed card on Guilmon and I'll carry you. We will reach them faster this way."
Takato did as Renamon asked, ordering his partner to run on ahead as fast as he could. A second later, the boy was swept off his feet by the kitsune for the second time as she activated her Kohenkyo ability.
"Hold on Rika…help is on the way!"
"Nobody loves you, everybody hates you! Halfbreed's gonna die alone!" a chorus of children's voices sang out as the white glow enveloped Rika yet again. IceDevimon has just forced her to relive a memory of a day at school when she was six. A group of over twenty boys and girls in her year group had taken advantage of the teacher's distraction by a nearby fight and chased the redhead around the playground, chanting and pulling her hair.
When the light dissipated, Rika found herself at her old home again, in her bedroom. Looking around, she saw a seven-year-old version of herself laid on a lilac futon looking incredibly unwell. The girl was dressed in jeans and a red T-shirt, with her hair up in the trademark ponytail once again. As the Tamer watched, the bedroom's sliding door slammed open and a bearded Japanese man with long, dark hair staggered into the room. The man was obviously drunk, and he glared at the girl angrily before grabbing her by the hair and pulling her forcefully to her feet.
"Get out of bed you lazy shit!" he slurred, dragging the girl out of the door and into the living room. "Keep me up all night throwing up, will you? You're not bloody sick, you're just faking it for some attention! That shit might fly with your mum, but not with me, you hear me?"
By this point the man was yelling in the girl's face and shaking her forcefully at the end of every sentence. "Let go!" the seven-year-old cried, trying to break free of the man's grasp. When the man refused to let go, she resorting to kicking him in the shins.
"You little shit!" he roared and punched the girl in the stomach, winding her. "Don't you fucking kick me! I'll smash your whiny little skull in you bitch!" he continued, grabbing the girl by the hair again and slapping her in the face.
The man dragged the little girl through the house and threw her into a small closet in the bedroom he shared with her mother. Rika winced as she saw her younger self hit the floor hard and break down in tears. The drunk man shouted some more abuse at her before slamming the closet door shut, leaving the girl sobbing in the dark.
"Yamato Shimazu," IceDevimon whispered in her mind. "Your mother's only long-term partner after your father left. She was with the man for almost a year. She even left you with him several times when she went away on business trips. She ignored your protests, failed to notice his drinking or your bruises. They only split up when your grandfather spotted the bruises and confronted him. He beat the man half to death before your grandmother intervened."
"Please, stop! Why are you doing this to me? Why?" Rika sobbed as she remembered the hellish year.
"You will see…" he laughed, summoning the white glow again and depositing Rika in a hospital room full of doctors performing CPR on a man's body. "…and then less than a year later your grandfather - your only protector - was dead. Stabbed in an alley for a few Yen and his mobile phone."
"Make it stop! Please, don't make me watch this again!"
"You had a quiet few years after this," the fallen angel continued, ignoring the redhead's protests, summoning the white light again. "Your grandmother moved in with you, the daily grind of teasing and hatred slowly wore you down. Then your mother moved away and you had your moment of weakness…"
"ENOUGH!" Rika roared, the force of her rage dispelling the light and depositing her back in the frozen wasteland of her heart at IceDevimon's feet.
"My, my…is that a touchy subject then?" the Digimon smirked as the girl got shakily to her feet.
"Why?" she croaked, glaring at her tormentor. "Why did you show me all of…that? What do you want with me?"
"I told you, my dear - I want you to be my Tamer."
"And I told you - I don't want to be your Tamer! I already have a partner, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't want to be partnered with you!"
IceDevimon sighed and shook his head sadly. "Oh, Rika…why do you bother fighting to protect humanity from Digimon like me? Everything I just showed you proves that it is not worth saving. With your skills and my power you could make yourself ruler of the entire world!"
The Digimon gestured with one of his massive claws, summoning a sphere of darkness in mid-air. As Rika gazed into the sphere, she saw images beginning to take shape as her captor described them.
"You could march at the head of a digital legion, thousands of warriors killing millions in your name! You could lead them against the pitiful forces of the humans, crushing them one nation at a time. Monuments would be built in your image, mankind would revere you as a goddess in human form. Join with me, and you shall become immortal!"
"You…you're a monster!" the girl gasped, backing away from the sphere of darkness, only to be gripped by the throat and lifted into the air by an angry IceDevimon.
"Why do you protect them?" he roared in her face. "You owe mankind nothing! NOTHING! After all it has done to you, you have earned the right to rule your world!" The fallen angel turned, forcing the redhead to look into the darkness and whispered in her ear. "You could make them pay. You could make them all pay…"
Rika's eyes widened as she saw a pile of mutilated corpses over ten metres high. As she gazed at their shredded, eyeless faces, the girl felt a wave of horror rising from her heart. Every single corpse belonged to somebody who had hurt her. There was Yamato Shimazu, the children from her old school in Japan, Ebony, Ruby, Kate, Luke Aaron and his henchmen. The list went on and on as the girl's eyes climbed the pile, and she let out a horrified gasp as she saw what lay at the top.
The creature was hideous. Its skin was ash-white and laced with diseased black veins. Ragged white wings emerged from its back, hands ending with wicked blood-stained talons. Its eyes were red, its mouth was filled with fangs and its tongue was long and barbed - but by far the creature's most disturbing feature was its face.
It was Rika's.
The Rika-creature let out a shriek of rage as a male silhouette appeared in front of her. She slashed with her talons, emitting a chilling laugh as she held up the severed head of James Nonaka.
"You could make him pay…"
Outside Digital Field near Le Bonhomme Joli Holiday Village, Loire Valley, France - 8:40pm
"Damn it!" Takato yelled and kicked the dome of solid ice in front of him. "How the hell are we meant to get through this stupid ice?"
"Maybe if I use Pyro Sphere again…" Guilmon suggested hopefully, frowning as his Tamer shook his head.
"It didn't even make a scratch last time - and that was with a Power card!" the boy groaned and buried his head in his hands. "This is so stupid! Rika's in there, just a few metres away, and we can't even get to her!"
"I. Will. Not. Be. BEATEN!" Renamon roared as she was shrouded with blue fire. "Power Paw!"
The kitsune leapt at the wall of ice, hitting it with a deafening thud and throwing up a massive dust cloud. When the dust cleared, there wasn't even a crack in the ice. With another roar, she threw herself at the dome again and again, refusing to yield to this last obstacle.
"No," Rika said, her voice as hard as iron.
"No? What do you mean 'no'?" IceDevimon growled, spinning the girl around and glaring into her eyes.
"I mean no!" she yelled at him, returning the glare and stunning the Digimon into silence. "I am not going to turn into a monster like you! I'd rather be dead than be your partner! NOW GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
IceDevimon dropped the redhead and staggered back with a roar of denial as the glow from the sphere of ice around Rika's heart intensified and cracks began to appear in its surface. He glared at the ice, then let out a snarl and looked back at the girl.
"It looks like I was wrong about you - you are just as weak as the rest of your pathetic planet!" the fallen angel spat angrily, then turned and flew towards the crumbling prison of ice, darkness gathering around his claws as he landed on top of it. "I will make you regret this day, Ice Queen. NOBODY REJECTS ME! Touch of Evil!"
IceDevimon sunk his claws into the massive ball of ice, sending a torrent of darkness flooding into its interior. As the dream world the Digimon had created slowly crumbled into dust, the light emanating from the sphere began to grow dim. The last thing Rika saw before she blacked out was a river of pure black pouring from the cracks in the ice sphere's surface, twisting in mid-air and flying straight towards her like a liquid serpent…
Digital Field near Le Bonhomme Joli Holiday Village, Loire Valley, France - 8:50pm
Rika gasped in agony as the IceDevimon tore himself brutally from her mind, the gem on his forehead growing dark once again. The fallen angel cast the girl's limp form aside with a contemptuous snarl, laughing coldly as she landed dangerously close to the edge of the plateau and the long fall to the river below.
"How foolish of you…" he sneered, glaring coldly at the unmoving form. "Did you really forget why you created that icy prison around your heart in the first place? Did you forget the loneliness, the fear, the depression you tried to suppress? When you started to break the ice, you gave me access to that darkness. There was more than enough ammunition to use against you. Now you will spend the last few seconds of your pathetically short life drowning in seven long years of repressed misery and pain."
"Let him end it!" a voice hissed in Rika's mind. "What do you have to live for anyway?"
Renamon…Rika whimpered mentally, causing a second voice to burst out in gales of laughter.
"She doesn't care about you - nobody does! Your father left you, your mother tried to - if your little pet knew how weak you really are, she'd leave in a second!"
That's not true…
"Of course she would! You're holding her back with your pathetic morals and beliefs. You're just a weak little girl, and you're going to die here, alone and unloved."
"No…" Rika whispered weakly, trying and failing to return her depression to its icy tomb.
Renamon staggered as she was struck by a massive psychic shockwave emanating from the centre of the Digital Field. The vulpine Digimon grinned savagely as she realised she could no longer sense IceDevimon in her link with Rika. She is breaking free!
"What was that?" Takato asked, rubbing his head and gritting his teeth in pain while Guilmon gave him a concerned look.
He felt it too? Strange… "That was a psychic shockwave. Rika is breaking free from IceDevimon's-"
A deafening cracking noise interrupted Renamon before she could explain further. The boy and two Digimon looked up to see a spider web of fissures expanding across the ice dome in front of them.
"The dome's collapsing!" Takato exclaimed happily.
"Rika's bid for freedom has weakened him! He can't maintain the field!" Renamon shouted over the noise, then gasped as she felt a sudden tide of all-consuming darkness flow down her link with her Tamer.
What is happening? I have never felt anything like it! I can feel it eating away at my strength…I have to get in there!
Renamon let out a roar of "Power Paw!" and leapt at the wall of ice in a desperate attempt to get to her Tamer before the darkness rendered the kitsune completely useless.
A loud crash resonated through the icy dome, and IceDevimon turned to see a humanoid silhouette wreathed with blue fire, a large chunk of the frozen wall collapsing behind her.
"Power Paw!" Renamon called and leapt at the white figure in front of her.
IceDevimon leapt to the side with a contemptuous sneer and lashed out with his talons. "Frozen Claw!"
The attack struck the kitsune in the back, sending her flying through the air. She landed on her feet and turned back to face her foe, ignoring the rivulets of digital blood running down her back.
"Well, well, well - it looks like the so-called Ice Queen's little pet has come to play. I must say, your timing is excellent - I was just starting to get hungry!"
Renamon leapt at the fallen angel and launched into a long series of punches and kicks. Her opponent dodged or blocked them all with ease, then lashed out with another shout of "Frozen Claw!", catching the vulpine Digimon in the chest and sending a spray of digital blood into the air. She screamed in agony and fell to her knees, struggling to get back to her feet.
"I heard that Renamon were meant to be some of the most powerful Rookie Digimon around," IceDevimon sneered, pacing in circles around the barely-conscious kitsune. "You appear to be a little off your game today. I wonder what could be…" he muttered and froze as the gem on his forehead flashed briefly white, then grinned and walked over to Rika's still-unmoving form. "The darkness I released from your Tamer's heart is draining your strength? Oh, how delicious! I must say, if I had known how weak being tamed would make me, I never would have bothered with this little fiasco. Tell me, Rika - how does it feel to know that your partner is going to die because of your weakness?"
"No…" the girl whispered, provoking a laugh from the demonic Digimon.
"Oh, yes! Now, I wonder which would be more entertaining? Should I kill your partner and make you watch, or kill you and make your partner watch?"
"Get away from her!" a boy's voice called out as a bright white light caught IceDevimon's eye.
Seconds earlier…
"Come on, boy, keep digging!" Takato yelled as he struggled to move a massive block of ice with his bare hands.
"I'm digging as fast as I can Takatomon!" Guilmon replied, having a surprising amount of trouble digging through the ice that had made up IceDevimon's ice dome.
When Renamon had used her Power Paw attack to break through the weakened ice dome, a large portion of the wall had collapsed behind her, preventing the boy and his partner from coming to her aid. The pair had been digging relentlessly, trying to break through the remains of the wall for several minutes, but to no avail.
We'd need industrial-strength drills to break through all this crap in time! Takato thought despondently. Wait a minute…
"Digi-Modify! Digmon's Drill Claws activate!"
Guilmon's claws glowed white and morphed into massive metal drills. The saurian leapt at the wall of ice in front of him with a roar of triumph, breaking through in a matter of seconds, revealing IceDevimon stood over Rika's prone form.
"…kill you and make her watch?" the fallen angel hissed, apparently unaware of the two new arrivals to the battleground.
"Get away from her!" Takato yelled, gripping his D-Arc tightly in his right hand. The boy blinked in surprise as beams of white light tore from the small device's screen.
GUARDIAN SPIRIT ACQUIRED - DIGIVOLUTION UNLOCKED
DIGIVOLUTION
"Guilmon Digivolve to…"
The red dinosaur was encased in a glowing red data sphere two storeys tall. The sphere shattered after a few seconds, revealing a much larger black-striped red dinosaur with a shaggy white mane, stubby horns and a pair of massive blades extending from his forearms.
"…Growlmon!"
The massive Digimon let out an earth-shaking roar and glared at IceDevimon. The fallen angel glared back, his eyes changing from their normal red to an icy blue.
"Finally - an opponent worthy of my time! Tundra Freeze!" he snarled, sending twin beams of cold, blue energy from his glowing eyes.
"Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon roared, launching an enormous ball of orange fire from his mouth.
The fireball passed straight through the freeze rays, dissipating them and smashing into IceDevimon's chest. The white Digimon shrieked in pain as he was sent flying out over the edge of the cliff, flapping his wings rapidly in a desperate attempt to arrest his fall. After a few seconds he succeeded and flew into the air, hovering several metres away from the edge of the cliff.
"I will make you pay for that, you insolent lizard! Avalanche Claw!"
Growlmon shattered most of the frozen missiles with one slash of his claws, ignoring the few that hit him as if they were no more irritating than an insect bite. The dinosaur launched another "Pyro Blaster!" at his demonic foe, only for the cold-hearted Digimon to dodge the slow-moving fireball with ease.
"Looks like you're at a disadvantage, my fiery friend," IceDevimon laughed, his eyes glowing blue again. "Tundra Freeze!"
The massive Digimon ducked beneath the freeze rays and launched a third fireball, which IceDevimon dodged yet again. The attack gave Growlmon some breathing room, however, which he used to speak with his Tamer.
"Takatomon, use Hyper Speed and Hyper Wing! If I can get another good hit on him, he's toast!"
Takato gulped, remembering the near-disastrous results of his last experience with the Hyper Wing card. "Uh, are you sure boy? I mean, last time you nearly got smashed by BlackGorillamon."
"I know I can handle it - trust me Takatomon!"
Here goes nothing… the boy thought nervously, drawing the two cards. "Digi-Modify! Hyper Wing activate! Hyper Speed activate!"
Three pairs of glowing white wings materialised on Growlmon's back and he leapt into the air, flying straight at IceDevimon with surprising speed. The dinosaur slammed his fist into the fallen angel's stomach, stunning him and leaving him open to attack. The larger Digimon's arm blades began to glow blue and crackle with electricity as he announced his second special attack.
"Dragon Slash!"
IceDevimon screamed in agony as the plasma-coated blades bit deep into his torso, slicing him in two. NO! I cannot be defeated! Time seemed to slow almost to a standstill as the fallen angel began disintegrating into free-floating data. As he turned his cold gaze upon Rika's catatonic form, an idea began to form in the demonic Digimon's mind.
"Avalanche…Claw…" he croaked, sending a storm of icicles roaring past his draconic foe straight at the defenseless redhead.
The last thing IceDevimon heard before oblivion claimed him was Takato screaming the girl's name as the area around her exploded in a massive cloud of dust and debris.
Rika screamed as she felt the ground give way beneath her, shocking her from her catatonic state. The redhead began the long fall to the ground below, only to be stopped as something grabbed hold of her right wrist, nearly wrenching her arm from its socket.
"I've got you, Rika!" Takato's voice called down to her, and she looked up to see the goggle-wearing Tamer holding on to her arm with both hands. The boy began to pull her slowly back up to safety, his face turning purple with the effort. He fell backwards as he finally managed to haul the girl back over the edge of the cliff, and let out a yelp of surprise when she gripped him in a crushing hug, buried her face in his shoulder and began sobbing softly.
"What are you doing?" a dark voice groaned in Rika's head. "Look at yourself - sobbing like some Damsel in Distress! You're pathetic!"
"Well done, 'Ice Queen', now you look like a complete wimp!"
"Does 'ickle baby Rika need a hug? Like anybody would ever hug you! Gogglehead's gonna leave you just like everyone else…"
Rika was starting to believe the dark voices, and began sobbing all the harder. She was about to let go of Takato, deciding to save him the trouble of breaking the embrace himself…
…And was thus pleasantly surprised when the brown-haired boy wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug.
"Sshh…it's okay, Rika. He's gone now, we got him. You're safe now!" he whispered softly, trying not to allow any of the pain the redhead's death-grip was causing him into his voice.
"He doesn't really care! He's just…"
Rika blocked the dark voices from her mind, their hold over her broken by an act of basic compassion from a fellow human being. The girl resumed her fight against the darkness inside her, pushing a greatly-diminished version of it back inch by inch into its frozen prison once again. After several long minutes sobbing in her fellow Tamer's arms, Rika finally managed to get control of herself and pushed the boy gently away, rising shakily to her feet as Guilmon de-digivolved in a flare of white light.
"Rika, are you…?" Takato asked tentatively.
"I'm fine," she replied, much more sharply than she had intended. The redhead took a deep breath and spoke again, this time much more softly. "I'm okay, I just needed to…Renamon!"
The Tamer noticed her wounded partner and ran to her side. With a muttered curse, she swiped a Seed of Health card, restoring some of the kitsune's energy.
"Renamon, are you okay?" she asked worriedly, helping the vulpine Digimon to her feet.
"It is I…who should be asking…you that question…" Renamon gasped, leaning heavily on her Tamer and switching to telepathic conversation. "I could feel…what he was doing to you…what he made you watch…the darkness…through our link. Are you…?"
"I'll be fine. Everything's back where it belongs now," Rika replied and swiped a second Seed of Health card.
The kitsune gave her an odd look at this last statement, not quite understanding what her Tamer was talking about. With a shrug, she decided to drop it for now and ask later if the opportunity arose.
"Uh, Rika?" Takato asked as he finished congratulating Guilmon. "I think we should be getting back. Steph and Cam can only cover for us for so long."
"Go on without me, I just need…I need some time to think," the redhead replied and the boy nodded, turned and started to walk away slowly. "Hey, Gogglehead? If you ever tell anyone about my little-"
"Don't worry," the brown-haired Tamer interrupted with a reassuring smile. "I won't."
Takato turned and started walking again, trying to think of an excuse for being out so late.
"Takato?" Rika called timidly, causing the boy to stop and turn once again. "Thanks…"
"Hey, what are friends for?" he replied with another smile and started the long walk back to Guilmon's hideout.
He called me his friend… Rika thought, not knowing how to reply to the boy's casual quip. I have…friends?
The last two full days of the trip went much more smoothly than the preceding five. There were no Digimon attacks, no strange feelings, no half-glimpsed shadows and no emotional breakdowns. During these two days, Takato and his friends noticed some small but quite serious changes in Rika's attitude towards them. While she was far from being outright friendly, the redhead began treating the three children with significantly less hostility and stopped acting as though merely being in the same room as them was a great chore. Once, she even cracked a tiny smile at one of Cam's better jokes. Rika did, however, get incredibly frustrated very quickly at the fact that Takato, Steph and even Cam acted like they were treading on eggshells around her. While the two non-Tamers didn't know about her minor breakdown, they did know that her experience with IceDevimon had been…traumatic. Cam was, surprisingly, the worst of the three, asking Rika if she was okay or if she needed anything every three seconds and constantly watching over her like some Z-list guardian angel (minus the wings, halo, good looks, perfect teeth, general 'goodness' and any concept of personal hygiene). And I thought he was annoying when he was trying to be funny…
When Friday morning came around at last, Rika couldn't have been happier. The night before, as she had dialled her home number for her nightly conversation with her grandmother, the girl had been pleasantly surprised when her mother picked up the phone. Apparently Rumiko had come back from London a day early to make sure she would be there to greet her "darling little angel". Not even that little remark could dampen the redhead's spirits, and when she fell asleep on the long journey home, she did so with a small smile on her face. When the coach finally pulled up outside Redcliff Mount at 11:45pm, Rika found herself enveloped in one of her mother's bone-crushing hugs. For the first time in more years than she cared to remember, the girl returned the hug in kind.