Several minutes later, Yamacus was pacing through his throne room, while Riley and Tally were using their special, clairvoyant abilities to search for a clue about the identity of the unknown battlers. Riley was using her pool of darkness in front of the throne, while Tally was intently peering into a decorated mirror hanging from the northern wall.
"Lord Yamacus!" Riley suddenly shouted in excitement. "I managed to find a match for the digital half of one of the data fields we have scanned last night."
"Really?" The self-proclaimed Digimon Lord whipped around. "Show me!"
Tally, a little bit upset that the LadyDevimon managed to find a clue faster than her, nonetheless came over from her mirror and peered over her dark counterparts shoulder intrigued.
As Yamacus stepped next to his ladies, Riley made a gesture with her right hand. A pattern of data fragments appeared in the air. "See? This is the data cloud from the battle. I'll now remove the unidentified half of the field... And now only the Digimon code remains."
"I see..." Yamacus nodded. "Continue."
Riley made another gesture, and a second digital code appeared next to the first. But this was a complete one.
"This is one of the digital codes of the Digimon we have recorded in our database. Now, if we overlap those two..."
With another gesture, the two digital codes moved over each other... and as it turned out, one half of the new code was identical with the remains of the unknown half-code.
"Interesting!" Yamacus commented. "What is the name of the Digimon with that data pattern?"
Riley grinned. "You'd be surprised... it is none other than Renamon!"
Talley gave off an 'Oh!' of comprehension, while the lord's surprise could only be detected by the slight rise of an eyebrow.
"Well, if that's the case, our dear fox has to explain much... I believe we should invite her for a little... interview."
He sat down on his throne and touched the golden headband around his head. "DemiDevimon... come forth!"
Out of the darkness, a dark blue Digimon that had a spherical body, dark wings and a pair of clawed feet came flying forth and hung down from one of the arches between the hall's pillars.
"You summoned me, Master? Here I am!"
"I have a task for you..." Yamacus explained in his calm voice. "Head for the house of Rika Nonaka... and bring her Digimon partner Renamon to me. Take whatever Digimon forces with you that you believe to be necessary."
"As you wish, Master! Any wishes about the victim's... condition when I bring her?"
"Yes! You may subdue her, but don't kill her or harm her worse than necessary. Understood?"
"I understand perfectly, Master! Leave everything to me!"
And with flapping wings, DemiDevimon flew towards the dungeons of the castle, where His Lordships minions were waiting for instructions.
Riley clung closely to Yamacus, which instantly made Tally feel envious. But as Riley was His Lordship's main advisor, she had to respect her superiority.
"Are you really putting that much trust in that winged bowling-ball?" Riley mused. "Let me take care of that foxy and she'll beg us to let her tell us what we want to know..."
"We don't want to kill or torture her," Yamacus reminded her. "Even if she sees us how we really are, she might still be a valuable ally. Just think of the powers she had shown during the battle with D-Reaper..."
"Very well, I respect your decision... Master!"
Tally couldn't help but feel that Riley said that last word in a manner how someone would call a person 'lover'.
----
Rika opened her eyes. "Wh-where am I?"
Renamon looked over the stirring body of her Tamer. "Back at your home. You fainted, so Jeri and Harmony helped carry you back."
"Jeri and... Harmony?" She groaned and sank back in her bed. "So it wasn't just a dream, huh?"
"I'm afraid not," the yellow-furred Digimon replied. "They are waiting for you in the living room, together with your mother and grandmother. Lopmon has left to bring Suzie home."
"So... could you find out what caused this... how should I call it... change in reality?"
"I suppose that's how you could term it," Renamon said. "But, no, I couldn't find out too much. What I realized is that they see it as perfectly normal for Digimon to move around freely in the human world, even taking on mundane jobs and generally being on good terms with humans."
"And... what about Henry? I mean, Harmony? Whatever..."
"She, Jeri and everyone else seem to believe she has always been a girl... and there is no evidence that would claim otherwise. I could even catch a glimpse of Harmony's passport... it shows her face and indicates her as 'female'."
"So..." Rika sat up on the edge of her bed. "That means we have two possibilities: Either someone or something VERY powerful seems to have changed reality all around us... or the both of us are slowly turning crazy."
"There's also the possibility of someone having changed our memories..." Renamon pointed out.
"In my opinion, that's almost the same than turning crazy..." Rika said while standing up. "And somehow, this all has to do with my new abilities... I don't just believe that all those things happening at the same time is pure coincidence."
"I agree with that."
Rika sighed. "I suppose Mom and Grandma also remember Harmony as a girl?"
Renamon nodded.
Another sigh. "Great... fine, the let's just get this over with. Screwed up reality or not, we still have to consider about that strange Ceratomon. The other ones have to be informed about him."
The two of them went over to the living room, where Rika's family and friends were waiting for them.
"Rika!" Harmony jumped up and approached her best friend. "We were worried about you. Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Rika said with a sigh.
"I'm glad to hear that," her mother sighed in relief. "You gave us quite the shock, young lady."
"Sorry, Mom! But I'm fine now. Everyone..." She took a deep breath. "That may seem weird to you, but Renamon and I have to say something very important."
"Um... okay! Go ahead!" Jeri said, while Harmony sat back down.
Rika sat down as well, while Renamon stood behind her.
"Guys... I don't know the reason for it, but somehow, I don't quite remember everything as you."
"What do you mean by that?" her grandmother asked.
Rika looked sternly at Harmony, which somehow made the half-Chinese girl feel uneasy.
"Harmony... everyone seems to remember you as my friend, but... I'm very sorry to say this, but I do not remember you. From what I know, I saw you the first time in my life this morning."
Harmony gasped. "R-rika-chan..."
"Now, don't worry... that doesn't mean we still can't be friends." She smiled at her. "But... the strangest thing is that instead of you, I seem to remember a boy called Henry... Henry Wong."
"Henry... Wong?" Terriermon asked in curiosity. "Maybe another member of Harmony's family?"
Rika shook her head. "No, in my memories, Henry was the second son of the Wong family... and I always knew him to be your Tamer, Terriermon."
Terriermon looked to Harmony, who was staring at Rika in agitation, and back towards the red-haired Tamer. "But... but that can't be, Rika! In my whole life, I had never any other Tamer than Harmony."
"I believe you, Terriermon. Nevertheless... this raises the question why I am the only one that seems to remember Henry in Harmony's place. And that's not the only weird thing about my memories..."
"There's something else?" Jeri asked in a worried tone of voice.
Rika nodded. "Yes. When you all saw that Gekomon waiter in the ice cream parlor today, you acted as if his being there would be perfectly normal. But... I always knew that our partners are the only Digimon living in the human world."
Her mother had a shocked expression on her face. "Rika... you simply couldn't have forgotten all of this. Digimon... They have become an integral part of our society. They've taken normal jobs, their children go to the same kindergartens and schools as our children and..." For some reason, tears started to appear in her eyes. "They even married with members of the opposite species."
Now that information made Rika cough in surprise. "M-married?"
"Don't tell me you've also forgotten..." A single tear was flowing down her mother's cheek. "Your father?"
THIS made Rika more uneasy than ever. "What...?" she whispered.
"Rika... are you all right?" Renamon asked in worry. Rika didn't answer.
"Rika... don't you remember your father? He IS a Taomon, after all."
It hit Rika like a shock. For several seconds, she couldn't move, not even say a single word.
"Dad's a... Digimon?"
"Oh Rika..." Her mother stood up to embrace her daughter. "What happened to you that you've forgotten all of that?"
"NO!" the girl screamed as she backed off. "It's not true! It just can't be true!!"
And sobbing, she ran out of the room, through the garden and onto the street.
Rumiko Nonaka collapsed next to her mother, sobbing just like her daughter. Rika's grandmother sighed and comforted the distressed woman with a hug.
She then addressed the yellow-furred fox: "Renamon... please, be a dear and follow your sister. I fear that something might happen to her when she's this upset."
Now Renamon shivered herself. Her SISTER?
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Fri, 22 Dec 2006 14:20)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.