I don't own Digimon or Pretty Cure.

Story 89

The birth of Riko Izayoi

Maki Himekawa breathed a sigh of relief.

After what felt like an eternity of traveling, they had made it. After a relatively uneventful journey that was frustratingly interrupted by the digital world. Why did it have to send down all those digimon but refuse to give her partner back. Couldn't it see that she had suffered enough without Tapirmon? No, that was asking far too much from that stupid entity. No, it needed to throw everything but that her way. Because of course it did.

'Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're not supposed to be here?' Homeostasis inquired and Maki rolled her eyes. Of course the peanut gallery had to add in her two cents here. One of these times, she would've liked to have some peace and quiet. Much like getting her partner back, that was well out of Homeostasis's skillset. That, or she was purposefully ignoring the opportunities to use it. Likely a mix of both in her book. Which made it all the more annoying here. Oh well, not the end of the world. Her goal was just in sight. Perhaps once she got some answers, then she could rest. That, or the world would kill her. Either outcome was possible and she was ready. Or at least, the government official felt that she was. Whether or not she actually remained to be seen. Especially as this was the hardest obstacle to the destination - a prison. Located in some sleepy town whose name escaped her, this had been chosen as the place where Menoa Bellucci was being kept. Mostly facades to give the illusion of a proper town, the few actual buildings appeared to be used by prison staff. Nothing in the way of cars though. Did they have some other kind of way that they got into the prison proper or was there something else going on here? Maki couldn't say for certain. Nor did she care enough to find out. Instead, her gaze turned ahead. There, a small stone building awaited. Done up to look like an unassuming building, it was almost too obvious. Like they wanted her to head that way. Oh well. Who was she to defy the expectations thrown out here.

Heading for the building, Maki ignored the eyes on her. They probably saw her coming, but had no clue her identity or her reasons for approaching this place. All part of her brilliant plan. Even if said plan pretty much boiled down to walking in, asking to see Menoa and/or breaking in if they refused to let her through.

'Your plan is stupid.' Homeostasis announced as they reached the door. Pulling it open, a nondescript police station stared back. A single clerk sitting behind a desk was pretending to look busy, mostly in the hopes that they wouldn't need to talk to Maki. Sadly, that option was not available. Though, I honestly don't like listening to her either. Bygone hag who believes she is better than everyone else. The only other thing of note was a door leading further into the bowels of this place. Please don't have the interior of an Order Base. My retinas would thank you if that shit remains out of this world.

"I am here to see Menoa Bellucci." Maki announced and watched the clerk roll their eyes. Not at all amused

"What makes you think I'm going to let you visit our one and only prisoner? We're under strict orders to not let anyone through as a result of the events from the last couple days." the clerk countered and Maki rolled her eyes. Of course they would say that. Oh well. She had other ways of getting around this small obstacle. Digging into her pockets, out came a government ID card. Flashing it in the clerk's direction, she was treated to an eye roll. That should've worked. Why hadn't it?

"Ma'am, this ID card is listed for a dead woman on top of being expired. Try harder next time, okay?" the clerk answered, only to be treated to a kick to the chin. Knocking them and the chair to the floor, that was Maki's chance to jump over and look over at the clerk's PC. Mostly games of solitaire and sudoku, what looked to be the controls to open the door awaited. Wasting little time, Maki got to work. Not even looking to see if the door had actually opened, she instead leaped over the desk. Getting met with no resistance here, she had somehow managed to ignore the figure leaning against the wall. Dressed in a skirt suit, a smile hung to her face.

'You clearly got lucky.' Homeostasis announced, her comment fell on deaf ears. Especially as Maki stepped through.

Compared to the room she had just left, a blinding white hallway laid ahead. For fucks sake. How do they even expect people to actually traverse such a facility? The answer, as it would turn out, was quite simple. Just have blinding strips of blue light to denote turns. Just… slow clap. To be honest with you, I'm not surprised. These were the same people who thought that creating mutated children would not hilariously backfire and then get super confused when they did betray them. Of course they would go with the stupidest option when it came to providing visual clarity. Not that Maki is really hindered by this fact. If anything, it almost seemed like she thrived in this environment for one reason or another. Not quite to the same level that Delta did, but their near-immunity could be chalked up to the number of places that they had to go into in order to achieve something resembling peace. Not that what followed helped in that regard. Oh well. Hindsight is almost always like that. Though, there's always the alternative - everything continuing on, forever and ever. God, that would suck. Though, Harlequin is probably sealing her fate by just referencing such a fact. Uh… pretend that I didn't.

'Oh god. These nutjobs.' Homeostasis announced as Maki came to a stop. While there was nothing in the way of anyone blocking the path, for once it felt like her distracting passenger might have some useful information. At least, the government agent hoped it was useful. She had been burned far too many times by this bitch.

"Care to elaborate or are you planning to keep me in the dark?" Maki muttered and was treated to chuckling in her mind. Wonderful. Just the sort of thing that you want to be hearing when asking a question related to an organization that

'I guess.' Homeostasis muttered as Maki chose to continue on. Oddly, the path was beginning a slow descent downwards. Just how deep were they keeping Menoa? This almost seemed like overkill. 'At the most basic level, the Order wished to control the world. Not in the traditional sense of World Domination or control of global finance. No, those assfucks wished to control fate itself.'

Maki raised an eyebrow, slowing her pace as she did. Of all the things that Homeostasis could say, this was not what she was expecting to hear.

"What do you mean by… 'fate'." Maki muttered as the next obstacle came into view - yet another door. In retrospect, perhaps it would've been a good idea to bring along the computer that the clerk was using. Maybe then she would have an easy way to get through. But that was asking too much from Maki Himekawa here. No, the government just needed to do things in the hardest way possible. The only saving grace here was the lack of actual security here - a simple twist-knob. Locked from the other side, it's actually kind of laughable. In a sad kind of way.

'It's exactly as it sounds. They managed to find the one and only person capable of scribing fate. What followed was a fight, yet the outcome I do not know. Perhaps that was by design.' Homeostasis muttered as Maki kicked the door. Watching it open, dread filled the government agent's head. Someone was very much watching her. 'As for why I don't know who won, someone reset everything before an outcome could be recorded.'

Maki rolled her eyes, ignoring the feelings that were trying their hardest to worm their way into their mind. As long as she remained strong, there was nothing to fear here… right? Of course. That was just the way that things would work out here.

"If everything was reset, then how does this place exist then?" Maki countered, her question being drowned out by her footsteps. Even if Homeostasis had heard it, the answer would've likely been something along the lines of 'fuck if I know' or something similar. A typical answer from the entity in charge of the balance between both worlds. Because why give straight answers when you can just mess with your host. That sounded like tons of fun. In the worst possible way, imaginable. Of course it did.

'Beats me. Those fuckers probably did something to make it so.' Homeostasis muttered as Maki picked up her pace. This hallway into the earth had to end eventually… right? That would make sense, on top of being logical. Considering that The Order does not understand either of those concepts, it's likely not to be the case. I wonder if one of them died by food poisoning in this timeline. Probably not. That was always a cop-out of a death in my book. Even if it was quite ironic that she died while watching the one thing she hated the most. But I digress.

Sloping down, red stains decorated the slight incline downwards towards the last line of defense - a cute sign. A basket had been set off to the side, making it even more charming.

Warning: Any device with a wireless connection brought into the cell block could result in unwanted entities being let in. For everyone's safety, please leave such devices in the basket until your business with the prisoner has been completed - Julia.

Maki rolled her eyes. Of course this would be the last line of defense. Obviously she wasn't going to fall for that silly little trick. No, Maki Himekawa would hang onto her phone. How else was Homeostasis supposed to be a dick to Hikari otherwise?

Passing by the sign and basket, the hallway opened up. Leading right into a large open room, a glass box hung from the ceiling. Within, stood Menoa Bellucci. Dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, it did little to dispel her beauty.

Cracking a smile in Maki's direction, the government agent rolled her eyes. Heading to the edge of the platform, it took everything in Maki's power to not say something stupid. There, a crank to extend out a platform awaited. Getting to work on it, there were so many things she wanted to say here. How dare the world decide that she had to die while that bimbo got to live in solitude. It wasn't fair! She had worked her ass off just to get to the point where she was at and yet, Menoa got everything handed to her on a silver platter. Uh… I'm not certain I quite agree with you on that front.

Don't get me wrong. I fucking despise Menoa. What kind of person invades your realm and uses it in such a way that it was never intended for.

"And you thought I was crazy for what I wanted to do." Menoa announced as she watched the walkway reach out to her cell. Watching Maki stop twisting, what followed was the government agent heading over. Taking care to not fall off and just… die, what sounded like chuckling echoed Menoa's mouth.

'Oh. It's you.' Homeostasis announced, only to be treated to a raised eyebrow from her opponent. The nerve of this bitch. The least she could do was give her respect here. No, that was asking far too much from a woman who wished 'to protect those partnered with digimon'. What a brat.

"Oh. You brought the god of the digital world with you. How quaint." Menoa greeted, the sound of Maki's phone ringing echoing across the walls. Ignoring it for now, Maki's gaze remained on her archnemesis. "Are you going to pick that up? It sounds mighty important."

Maki flipped her off. How dare she use the excuse of the phone ringing to get out of this super important meeting. No, she was trying to lead her into a trap. Nice try. But it wasn't going to work. She would just continue talking while the phone rang.

"A little birdie told me you screwed the pooch, even after I explicitly told you not too." Maki countered and got an eye roll from Menoa. The nerve of this woman. Couldn't she see just how important the work they were doing was? Yes, her death had thrown a spanner in the works. But that wasn't a good reason to wait a couple years and pull off an even stupider plan.

"What makes you think that I was ever on your side? You were clearly planning to betray everyone for a single digimon." Menoa countered and puffed her chest out. But that accomplished nothing here. If anything, it probably made the phone that much louder. Not that I can tell here.

'You killed many chosen in the twisted hope of saving them.' Homeostasis countered, her words falling on deaf ears here.

"At least I had the basic decency to keep my plan to a simple goal." Maki countered and watched Menoa lean forward.

"Oh. how scary." Menoa muttered and gave her audience a silly face. At this point, perhaps it should've been clear to our dear government agent that she wasn't going to get the answers she wanted. Or any information at all. But that was simply not the Maki Himekawa way. No, she would just answer her phone and continue interrogating Menoa at the same time. What could possibly go wrong. A lot of th-

Pulling her phone out, Maki didn't even take the time to look and see who was calling. Instead, she just held the device up to her ear.

*Thank y0u f0r l3tt1ng m3 1n." the voice on the other end announced and a chill ran down Maki's spine. Crumpling to the ground, it was clear that this was not what Maki expected to happen here.

'You stupid fuck! Have you considered thinking with your head for once?!' Homeostasis screeched, only for Maki to stand back up. Amber eyes gave way to violet eyes, a look of frustration hanging to this humanoid's face.

"1t'5 n1c3 t0 m33t you, M3n0a B3llucc1." 'Maki' announced, a twisted smile forming on her face. Leaning into the glass shell, that was Menoa's cue to step back. It doesn't matter though. Do you think something as silly as 'walls' is enough to stop her? No, those barriers only serve to incentivise "1 mu5t thank y0u f0r what y0u d1d. N3v3r 1n the Jester of Dreams l1f3 d1d sh3 th1nk that s0m30n3 w0uld actually br1ng h3r d3ath."

Menoa froze, uncertain of what to do or even say.

"Please tell me that you have a different speech pattern that whatever the fuck you're doing there." Menoa announced and the Jester of Dreams chuckled, 'Maki's' head splitting right down the middle.

"Of course not. I just wanted to fuck with you." the Jester of Dreams chuckled, their legs giving out under their newfound weight. Falling to the walkway, their torso remained in place. "It was remarkably easy to pull this soul back, if just temporarily."

Menoa raised an eyebrow. Nothing about this was making a lick of sense. That makes two of us. Though in my case, the answers are even more temporarily out of reach.

"Let me make one thing clear, Menoa Bellucci. You're on thin ice. Not only did you breach my inner sanctum, you let the timekeeper in. That's a big no-no." the Jester of Dreams continued, her smile doing a full rotation for good measure. Just to be certain that our dear prisoner knew just how fucked she was. Very, very, very, fucked in this case. But that went without saying. Even an outsider could tell you that. "So I'll give you the short version. Call off your followers and maybe, just maybe, Menoa and the Jester of Dreams could be friends. How does that sound?"

The middle finger showing through the glass says everything here. The Jester of Dreams chuckled, her body twisting and shaking about. Clearly, someone else had their eye on this body. Not so thankfully, they were easily quelled.

"Fine then. The Jester of Dreams didn't want to be your stupid friend, anyway!" the Jester of Dreams shouted as gravity took hold of her torso. Falling down, her head remained focused on Menoa. "I just hope that Menoa doesn't regret her decision. Goodbye."

With that, Maki's body took its last breath. Doesn't explain why it rolled off, though.

.

Opening her eyes, Maki Himekawa found herself floating in a sparkly pink abyss.

"Hello?" the government agent called out, her voice echoing across the void. Because of course it did. Once more, the reaper had gotten her. Yet, this time felt different.

"There you are!" a voice called out, the source remaining frustratingly out of reach. Maki rolled her eyes and calmed herself. There was no use in getting frustrated here. If anything, that was likely what the entity wanted. No, she would remain ca-

Staring down, Maki was met with the reveal of her body slowly being erased.

"Sorry. We're behind schedule on your destiny. While I understood clearly why the broken woman did what she did, the least she could do was give me a heads-up."

Maki raised an eyebrow. What the fuck were they even talking about here? It was bad enough that she was getting erased. Now she had a talkative entity that refused to answer her questions. Questions that could mean the difference between life and death here.

"What are you talking about here?" Maki screeched, the tone coming out far lighter and juvenile. Staring out ahead, she was met with a figure. Most of the details had been obscured, but a pair of green eyes are the only detail to stick out. Oddly, Maki could make out what appeared to be a flower in this strange figure's eyes.

"A happy ending, silly!" the figure answered and reached out to Maki's hand. Squeezing it tight, that seemed to speed up the disintegration process. "There's someone important waiting for us! It would be a shame if we kept hi- her waiting any longer."

With that, Maki felt her eyelids grow heavy. No attempt at fighting the feeling was made, the government agent instead choosing to let this slumber take her in.

.

A hospital, magical world

A baby girl opens her eyes for the first time. Her father and the doctor on staff gasp in relief, even if their little bundle of joy doesn't quite understand or grasp the situation she has found herself in.

"Mr, Mrs Izayoi, it's a girl." the doctor announced and got a chuckle from the woman. Looking over to her husband, the question of a name came through crystal clear.

"Riko." the mother announced, blissfully unaware of the destiny that awaits her daughter. Perhaps that's for the best.

Harlequin's Notes:

What in the absolute fuck?