Author's Note:

Can't post this chapter without giving a quick shout out to Crazyeight, who inspired the idea behind it in a conversation we had long while ago. Having trouble finding the exact context of said conversation, and digging through old PM threads isn't yielding anything just yet. I just know this idea came up one day, I liked it, and I filed it away for future use.

Also decided that I'll be splitting this entry into two chapters, as it's the longest chapter so far even after being cut in two like this. Good news is that the second part is already done, and I'll be posting it as soon as I get a second to proofread.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. Please support the official release.

Perfect Reflections

Takato took a sharp turn around the street corner, using a telephone pole as leverage to keep himself from falling over. In the corner of his eye, he noticed Guilmon almost trip over his own feet, barely managing to stay upright and keep pace.

The afternoon had started with a text from Rika, claiming there was an emergency at the Nonaka household and that they needed to get there stat. Knowing Rika wasn't one for melodrama, Takato had basically dropped the chores his mother had asked him to complete and tore out of the Matsuki bakery as fast as his legs would carry him. All things considered, they were actually making pretty good time.

As focused as he was on getting to their destination, he wasn't so lost in thought that he missed Henry coming down a different road as they reached the same intersection. With Terriermon attached to his shoulder, Henry adjusted his pace so that he and Takato were jogging alongside each other.

"You too?" Takato questioned, more for small talk than for an actual answer.

"Yep..." Henry replied, concern in his voice. "Did she give you any details?"

Takato shook his head. "Not unless you count all the exclamation points in her message."

"You'd think something bio-emerged in the middle of her house," Terriermon commented.

"Doubt it," Henry said as the Nonaka residence came into view. "Hypnos would have sent out some kind of warning."

Takato took half a second to consider the possibility, and found himself agreeing with Henry. Hypnos aside, the neighborhood around them was calm and quiet, making it highly unlikely that a wild Digimon that Rika and Renamon couldn't handle had appeared. A voice in the back of his head said that something else was going on.

"Moment of truth..." Takato muttered as they arrived at the front door. He hit the doorbell immediately, and reflexively started holding his breath as he waited for someone to answer.

Renamon answered the door, with the lack of any obvious injuries to her person leading to some relief. Still, she gave them know verbal greeting, which brought up a whole number of other questions.

"What's the sitch?" Terriermon asked, breaking the silence.

Renamon hesitated before looking back into the house. "It would be easier to show you."

No objections were given as she led the four of them inside. They walked in silence with the exception of Guilmon, who lifted his nose and sniffed into the air as they walked.

"Smell something weird?" Takato asked.

"I..." Guilmon glanced around uncertainly. "...don't know."

Takato wouldn't get the chance to ask a follow-up question. Rounding the last corner leading to the house's backyard, he froze in his tracks as he saw the person waiting for him, needing a couple seconds to process who he was looking at.

Granted, he liked to think he could pick this person out of any crowd, so it wasn't her identity that stumped him. Instead, it was how she presented herself that caused his brain to crash, wearing a light blue sundress with her red hair tied in a loose ponytail.

"Hey," Rika said nervously, her face turning a light shade of red as she looked away from him.

"Hey..." Takato repeated, his brain registering how long he had been staring. "What's the emergency?"

"You're looking at it."

Takato blinked, taking another couple seconds to realize that Rika's mouth hadn't moved when she had answered him. It was definitely her voice, however, and ruling out ventriloquism at least for the moment, he slowly turned his head to where he thought the voice had originated from.

Sure enough, off to the right with more typical attire was Rika, her arms crossed and a glare on her face. Flanking her were Jeri, Suzie, and Lopmon, though their presence didn't seem like the most pressing question at the moment. Looking back and forth between the two Rika's, Takato finally began to wrap his head around the situation.

"Oh..." Takato said without thinking.

"Yep," Rika grunted, impatiently drumming her fingers against her arms.

"This is-"

"A disaster, I know, let's deal with it."

"You don't think you're exaggerating a tiny bit?" Suzie asked snidely.

"Don't you dare," Rika growled as she turned to point a finger at the younger Tamer. "Especially since this is your fault."

"How?" Suzie spat back. "The sparring session was your idea!"

"And using a Mega-level modify card was yours!"

"We don't even know that's what-!"

"Alright, enough!" Henry cut in, silencing everyone. After waiting a second to make sure they weren't going to continue arguing, he looked directly at Jeri. "What happened?"

Jeri sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It was my fault. I spaced out while they were talking about how they handled that last bio-emergence. The next thing I knew they were arguing, and that turned into Rika having Renamon and Lopmon spar to make a point. Suzie swiped a card, Lopmon began to glow, and suddenly that Rika just faded into the middle of the yard."

Another pause fell over the group, and for Takato at least, it became a bit clearer as to what had happened. The "new" Rika had slipped into their reality from a parallel universe, something the Tamers had contended with in the past. Exactly how Lopmon had tapped into this power was unclear, but Takato imagined it was among the many things they would have to figure out in the near future.

Before he could point any of this out, however, he noticed Guilmon had approached the other Rika, eyeing and sniffing her with an innocent curiosity.

"Everything alright, Dinoboy?" she asked, anxiously taking half a step back as he approached.

"At least now I know why my nose was so confused," Guilmon answer, before pausing and recoiling a bit. "Sorry, am I annoying you?"

She paused herself, almost as though she were considering Guilmon. A playful smile suddenly finding its way to her face.

"Nope!" she proclaimed before reaching out with both hands and scratching Guilmon under the chin. Guilmon acted surprised for a split second before melting into her hands.

"Oh my Sovereign..." Terriermon looked on with wide eyes and a blank expression. "What am I watching?"

"Stop staring," their Rika ordered.

"I really would if I could."

"Hey..." the other Rika stood up straight and approached the rest of the group. "I know I'm the outsider here, but shouldn't we focus on a solution to this whole mess."

"No, you're absolutely right..." Takato replied, though found himself pausing with a single question on his mind. "Your name is Rika, right?"

She raised an eyebrow in a manner that was both annoyed and familiar. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Renamon stepped forward and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "It's a long story, but rest assured we will do everything in our power to get you home."

Henry nodded when all eyes fell on him. "Right, I'll head over to Hypnos to do some digging."

"Can I stay here?" Terriermon asked eagerly.

"No," Henry answer, completely ignoring the mischief in his partner's voice. "I actually might need your help."

"Aw..."

"We should go too, in case we can lend assistance," Lopmon suggested to her own partner.

"Yeah..." Suzie exchanged glares with Rika. "Probably for the best."

"Would it be better if I came with you?" the other Rika asked.

"That's a good question." Henry placed a hand on his chin, taking a moment to consider. "Do you have a DigiVice?"

"A what?"

"Then maybe she'd be more comfortable here until we need her," Takato suggested. While he still didn't understand the science of it, he knew that their individual DigiVices had signatures unique to their realities. Without one of her own, this Rika wouldn't really have much to do at Hypnos besides sit around and wait.

"I'm fine with whatever," she said with a nod.

"She's surprisingly agreeable," Jeri commented.

Rika shot her a sideways glance. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"I was making an observation." Jeri raised an eyebrow. "I just assumed you two would have the same temperament."

Rika crossed her arms. "Well, you were wrong on that count."

Jeri rolled her eyes, followed by a slight smirk coming to her face. "She actually reminds me of Kari a little bit."

Rika's eyebrow started twitching, though she seemed to simmer out. "Satisfied?"

"I am, actually." Jeri turned away from Rika and towards Takato. "I'm gonna go with Henry. You can babysit the twins."

"Wait, what?" Takato finally realized how the groups had just been divided.

"Don't get any funny ideas while we're gone, Takato!" Terriermon called back as the Hypnos team migrated out of the house.

Takato didn't dare look back at either Rika once they were alone. In this moment, he couldn't imagine anyone fantasizing about this kind of situation.

Rika was angry, made all the worse by the fact that she wasn't entirely sure where to direct her anger. Part her understood that no one within her field of vision was in the wrong, but that only meant she had no one she could justifiably vent at. Instead, she tried to sit apart from everyone else and ignore them until everything was resolved. Of course, that was seeming more and more to be easier said than done as friendly conversation around her continued.

"So you know what Digimon are, but you're not a Tamer?" Takato summarized, a mixture of politeness and curiosity in his voice.

"Bingo!" Rika's double chirped, enjoying the attention a little too much as far as Rika was concerned.

The nature of the multiverse and the deviations between their two realities had naturally come up, though the only determined differences between them were the ones they already knew about. Their worlds seemed more or the less the same, and the event that had led this version of herself to come into existence still wasn't clear. Of course, Rika wasn't in any hurry to find out what said moment was.

"What do you think you're up to in that world, Renamon?" Guilmon asked, convincing Rika to pause her own thoughts and look up.

"Hard to say, really. I could be doing anything." Renamon paused, glancing in Rika's direction. "Probably feeling a lot less fulfilled, though."

Takato paused himself and looked downward. "Yeah, I can't really imagine a world where Rika never became a Tamer."

"Yep..." Rika's double chimed in, her upbeat demeanor dropping away and she stared at Takato with an empty look in her eyes. The yard around them stayed quiet long enough for everyone to notice.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed upon realizing this. "That sounded a bit more narcissistic than I meant it too."

"No, by all means," Rika commented, almost unable to help herself. "I'm sure you'd make a great asset to the team."

"Okay, seriously, what is your problem?" her double snapped back, obvious irritation bubbling beneath the surface.

"I don't know what you're talking about." It was not lost on Rika that she received stares from Takato, Renamon, and even Guilmon.

"Oh, give me a break!" Her double stood up and crossed her arms. "Look, I get that having me here isn't ideal, but this isn't how I wanted to spend my afternoon either, so maybe take five seconds to breathe and stop acting like such a brat!"

Rika stood as well. "What did you just call me?"

"So, what, you're a deaf brat too?"

"Hey, here's a thought!" Takato leapt upwards and positioned himself in between the two of them. "Let's talk about anything else!"

Rika's double paused, taking half a second to calm down and put on an innocent smile. "Sorry, I really don't mean to be such a pain."

"Don't worry, it's no problem." Takato nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Yes, it is, but thanks for being so patient." Her hand gently rested itself on his elbow.

"Alright, I've had enough of this," Rika muttered as she turned right around and marched away. She wasn't sure if she was going to her bedroom, the bathroom, or even out of the house entirely, but she knew she had to remove herself. Ultimately, it wouldn't matter, as footfalls fell into step behind her immediately after she tried to leave.

"Rika!" Takato called after her.

"Now's not the time, Takato," Rika stated as she stopped to face him.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Concern and sincerity were written all over his face.

Rika sighed "I mean, you say it every chance you get."

"Because it's true."

Rika hesitated, guilt for how she was acting taking over. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I just want to wrap this all up and pretend it never happened. Is that alright?"

Takato's eyes sank to the floor. "I guess so."

Feeling stuck like this wasn't a new feeling for Rika. It was too familiar, a common byproduct of her innate ability to always say the wrong thing. She had always been able to tell herself that this was just who she was, and her friends accepted her and she didn't need to change.

Except now she was in the vicinity of proof that this wasn't necessarily the case. The version of her that had just dropped herself into their reality seemed easy to talk to, free of whatever damage that had made Rika as cold as she was. Rika couldn't blame her friends for taking a liking to this variant of her, as she was a step closer to the friend they all deserved.

Before Rika could even entertain the idea of verbalizing any of these thoughts, however, the sound of the front door opening echoed in the distance, and it dawned on Rika that things were still very capable of getting worse.

At no point had Henry known what to expect when he had arrived at Rika's house. Multiverse doppelgangers aside, he had not been expecting to find his younger sister at the center of the emergency he had been called to help resolve. Jeri had mentioned a bio-emergence from earlier that day, one he had not been aware of, though it was common practice for Hypnos to only alert the Tamers closest to the disturbance.

Regardless, what was done was done, and Henry knew what was best was to focus on the present. Knowing there wasn't much they could do on their own with limited resources, he led his group to a less bustling corner of Shinjuku, where a pair of inconspicuous office buildings marked Hypnos' current base of operations.

Hypnos' original headquarters had been the center of the D-Reaper's invasion of the Real World, and had sustained significant damage as a side effect. While repairs were under way, Hypnos and its staff were relocated to this facility, and even when repairs to the Metro Building were complete, it was decided the nature of this location was a better fit given the sensitive nature of Hypnos and its work.

Of course, a new base meant new amenities, most notably a sizable basement that had been repurposed into a meeting area reserved for the Tamers. Resources included a training room, dedicated computers of their own, and the small common area Henry's group currently found themselves in, waiting on one final person to arrive so they could get to work.

"Alright, where do we start?" Alice asked as she pushed her way through the door. Henry had already explained the problem to her over the phone, so she was likely looking to get to work.

Henry stood up. "Yamaki has everyone on alert in case things deteriorate like they did last time. They'll help if they can, but this is our project."

Alice nodded. "Are there any other details we might not be considering?"

"Maybe..." Jeri answered from her corner of the room. She scratched her temple, taking a second before looking at the rest of the group. "There wasn't a tear or portal like we've dealt with in the past. Lopmon just let out a burst of energy and the next thing we knew, there were two Rika's."

"Could you describe this energy?" Alice kept the tone of her voice neutral, her way of staying objective and making sure she only got the facts of the problem she was trying to solve.

Jeri paused for only a brief second. "White... and wavy."

"Wavy?"

"It looked like the tears we've seen before, but calmer."

"You have a theory?" Henry asked after Alice didn't put forward a follow-up question.

"Not quite yet." Alice looked over to Suzie and Lopmon, who just approached the rest of the group. "What card did you use?"

"This one," Suzie replied calmly as she presented them with an Ophanimon card.

The card's presence in his sister's collection wasn't a surprise to Henry. Lopmon's status as a Data-type Digimon meant she was could be less effective against Virus types, so Suzie tried to supplement this with Vaccine cards. In addition, Suzie had always favored the Gatomon evolutionary line.

Alice leaned forward to inspect the card. "Is there anything special about Ophanimon?"

"She's one of the Celestials," Lopmon explained. "There's a few myths surrounding them, but if they ever did exist in our Digital World, they're long gone now."

Alice stood up straight and crossed her arms. "The question becomes whether or not they can move through realities like the Sovereigns can."

Suzie shrugged. "One way to find out."

She motioned to swipe the card through her DigiVice, and Henry made it over to her just in time to catch her arm before the card made contact with the device.

"Hold on a sec!" Henry ordered, too much having already occurred to take any unnecessary risks.

"What?" Suzie looked back up at him, confusion and annoyance all over her face.

"That's how this all started."

"That wasn't my fault!"

"You weren't completely blameless either." Henry tried to speak softer, hoping to better get his point across. "You're making rash decisions, acting like you don't understand the consequences of your actions."

Suzie paused, breaking eye-contact. "I do understand."

"That's just it..." Henry shook his head. "I know you're smarter than this, but we can't trust you with this until you act like it."

Suzie took a couple seconds to look back up at him, wide eyes betraying a stare he rarely saw from her anymore. His words had hurt her, more than he thought they would.

"Fine..." Suzie essentially shoved the Ophanimon card into Henry's hand before sulking off, Lopmon not more than a couple steps behind.

"Henry..." Jeri said softly, clearly wanting to help as she always.

"It's what she needed to hear." Henry told himself he would apologize later, when they'd all had a chance to calm down.

"Besides, we need to confirm if it's the card that caused this," Alice added. Her voice stayed neutral, but the fact she was agreeing with him at all doubled as a sign of support.

"Okay then..." Henry looked to his own partner, who had been uncharacteristically quiet during the whole exchange. "Time to suit up, Terriermon."

Terriermon didn't say anything at first, only replying with a raised eyebrow.

"That's a very pretty dress."

Rika tried not to hold it against her mother for trying to make polite conversation. As unrealistic as it might have been, Rika had hoped to have her double sorted and sent back to her reality before her mother and grandmother returned home, but luck was clearly not on her side. With explanations now out of the way, everyone was now crowded into the kitchen, with Seiko trying to stay busy by one of the cabinets while Rumiko fixated on the copy of her daughter that sat directly across from her.

"Thank you," Rika's double replied nervously. "You gave it to me, actually."

Rumiko snapped her fingers. "Yes, I thought it looked familiar. An industry contact of mine designed it. I thought about buying one for my Rika, but then I realized I knew better."

"Please don't start," Rika grunted softly.

Rumiko shrugged. "I'm not, but you have to admit that it looks good on you."

Rika crossed her arms and averted her eyes. "Wouldn't know, I've never tried it on."

"Right..." Rumiko turned her attention elsewhere. "What do you think, Takato?"

"I..." Takato froze, eyes bouncing around the room once he realized that everyone was looking at him. He stood and sputtered for a few more seconds before his shoulders sank, likely realizing he had gone too long without giving an answer.

"I'm gonna go see if the pond out back is deep enough for me to drown myself in." Without another word, he spun around and dragged himself outside.

"Takato..." Guilmon whined as he chased after his Tamer.

Renamon did a quick double take before giving the rest of them a polite bow. "I'm sure he's only joking, but in an overabundance of caution..." She quickly stepped out as well.

"You should be nicer to your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Rika snapped as she turned to face her double, not looking for anymore commentary on her life.

Seiko coughed from her side of room, turning around when she realized everyone had stopped to look in her direction. "Sorry, these cabinets are dusty..."

Spinning back around, the other Rika rolled her eyes. "Could've fooled me."

"Don't see how." Rika got up from her seat, with the intent of leaving the room.

"You know what?" her doppelganger said loudly and clearly. "That's actually good to know."

"And why's that?" Rika asked through her teeth.

"I have no way of knowing when or even if I'll get home." Her double put on a show of acting innocent, speaking softly and placing her index finger on her chin. "Takato's really sweet, and I'm clearly his type, so I figure it's worth a shot to try building a life here."

Rika instinctively started clenching her fists together. "Yeah, sure, why not...?"

"Would he be weirded out if I sang for him?"

"Okay, conversation over!" Rika slammed her fist onto the table, as an alternative to slamming it somewhere else. Still, her double only stared back at her, no sign that she was intimidated in the slightest.

"Rika..." Seiko finally stepped forward, her words and disapproval apparently directed at the both of them. After a couple second, the pair of them begrudgingly relaxed.

"Whatever..." Rika's double shook her head. "Another unresolved argument to add to the pile. When does Dad get home so we can round out this afternoon?"

Rika's chest went cold, realization finally clicking into place. For hours she had been trying to piece together what moment in her life had led to this deviation, what her own mistake had been that led to this perfect version of herself. As it turned out, it wasn't a choice she had made, but one someone else had.

On a good day, Rika could tell herself she was over how her father had walked out on them. It still hurt sometimes when she thought about it, but it didn't have any say in how she lived her life. Apparently, however, it had more than a say. Rika couldn't even bring herself to be mad at her doppelganger, instead knowing that she just had to sit with her own damage.

"What?" her double asked after the silence had gone on for a few seconds.

"He's not coming home," Rumiko answered calmly, in a way that only twelve years of acceptance could allow her.

"Why not?" Rika's double looked from face to face with a nervous fear. "He isn't-?"

"No, he's alive," Seiko assured her.

"As far as we know," Rika added, deciding she was past hiding the venom at this point.

The kitchen went quiet again, her double's eyes falling on the table in front of her. She was calmer, no trace of confusion on her face. It wasn't lost on Rika that this was what her friends saw when she was lost in thought, or how difficult she could be to read for that matter.

The silence was finally broken by Takato charging back into the kitchen, cellphone in one hand and DigiVice in the other.

"We've got a problem."

"The interdimensional kind?" Rika asked, at the very least knowing that she could use a distraction.

Takato paused, collecting himself. "Uh, no, the normal kind, actually. Bio-emergence, and Hypnos says we're the closest."

Rika nodded and moved to the door. "Perfect, let's get to it."

Her double quickly stood up to try and intercept her. "Rika, wait-"

"Save it." Rika didn't bother turning around all the way to face her. "Once we're back, we'll check in with Henry and hopefully get you back to living your own life."

She was out the door two seconds after that, with Takato, Renamon, and Guilmon close behind. When she got back, she would just stay clear of her double, not needing any more reminders of her own defects.