Later, the Hybrid Tamers were all sitting back in the cab that was bringing them back through the barrier between the Digital World and the human world.
Suzie tried to forget how that creepy man had kidnapped her, so she looked out of the window.
"How can this car fly?" she asked in awe.
"It's not flying," the Divermon cab driver chuckled. "It's driving along a data stream that's connecting the two cab stations."
"I think I'll prefer not thinking about how this might work," Takato sighed. "After all, this is one of the many things that came into existence after Kai and I changed reality..."
"Changing reality..." Harmony shivered. "A scary concept. You know, I'm really glad that I can't remember being a boy. That would have been TOO creepy."
Terriermon shook his head. "I could never imagine you as a boy. You are way too cute for that." He then covered his mouth with his paws. "Did I say that?"
Harmony smiled at him. "You're too sweet, you know that?"
Takato nodded to himself. Yup, the relation between Terriermon and his Tamer has indeed changed quite a bit from before the change.
Rika didn't pay attention to anything the others were saying. She was just staring down at her feet. Guilmon was starting to worry about her.
"Um, Renamon?" he quietly asked her sister. "I don't like it when Rika acts like this. Can't you do anything to help her?"
"I'll give it a try, Guilmon," Renamon replied. "But you gotta remember that this isn't easy for me either. Remember, Doumon is my grandfather as well, not only Rika's."
She sighed. "I might be too young to remember him, and he IS one of the Seven Great Demon Lords, but... I would still feel bad, fighting against a member of my family."
"I guess I understand," the red dinosaur nodded. "I wouldn't like it very much to fight a member of my own family..."
"He is not my grandfather," Rika suddenly spoke up. She still looked down at her feet, but her fists were suddenly trembling. "We might be related biologically, but I will never see him as a member of my family. I never knew of him, he never considered coming for a visit, he downright embraces his evil side."
She gritted her teeth. "He can tell me what he wants, I will never see him as a part of our family. And that's why I will never hesitate to attack him, should he ever decide to harm anyone."
Her friends looked at her, uncertain how they should react. They wanted to cheer her up, but somehow, neither of them could bring himself to do it.
"Please lean back into your seats, we'll be landing soon," the Divermon then said. "I hope you had a pleasant journey with Border Crossing Service!"
----
Takato and Guilmon got out of the cab. Divermon even brought them all back to their respective homes.
"Thanks for bringing us back," Takato said as he took his backpack out of the car's trunk.
"All part of our service," Divermon smiled. "A good day to you, sir!"
"Bye, Takato!" Jeri said and waved, leaning out of the cab window. She, Rika and Renamon were the last ones Divermon had to bring back.
She waved until Takato's house vanished behind the next curve. She sighed and leaned back into her seat.
Rika was still staring down at her feet, saying nothing. Renamon was sitting next to her, looking uncomfortable.
"Rika... are you going to be alright?" Jeri hesitantly asked.
"I'm not a baby anymore, Jeri!" Rika muttered. "I can take care of myself."
"Oh, s-sure... just wanted to tell you, if you need someone to talk to, I'm there for you."
"Need no one..." Rika grumbled. Jeri was taken aback by the coldness of her voice.
"Rika, Jeri only wants to help you," Renamon softly said.
Rika's posture sagged as she put her head down onto her arms. "I know... I know, it's just... Sorry, Jeri, but I just have a hard time coping with all this."
"Well, I just figured you might use some help. And just in case you might have forgotten, I was in a similar situation once, remember? D-Reaper used me, similar to how Doumon wants to use you. Okay, it's not quite the same situation, but I know I can help you to deal with the situation."
Rika looked up at Jeri. She gave her a nervous smile. "That... would be great, Jeri! Thank you!"
Jeri smiled back at her. "Hey, I might not know you as long as Harmony, but you are my friend as well. If you like, I can call Mom and Dad and ask them if I can stay at your place for the night... that is, if your mother is okay with it."
Rika smirked faintly. "A sleepover, huh? Never had one of those, especially not at my place. Sure, why not? I could use some distraction..."
----
Tired from the day, Takato and his brother entered the house. "We're back!"
"Hey there, boys!" Compsomon greeted her sons. "How was your visit at the Sovereign's palace?"
"Well, stuff happened..." Takato muttered. "We don't know where Yamacus is, we learned a few things about our Hybrid forms... Oh yeah, and there's a new group of bad guys in town."
Mie sighed. "Anything else new? I supposed something like that was going to happen. Still, did you like Azulongmon's palace? I only saw it once in my life."
"Uh, it was nice, I guess... Mom, can we talk later? I'm really tired and want to go to bed, right now..."
"Uh, that's fine with me... Oh, I almost forgot: Kazu and Kenta came to see Kai, and they brought some friends as well."
Takato sighed. "Just great... hopefully they won't bother me for too long..." He slowly dragged his tired body upstairs.
Guilmon exchanged a look with his father, who was peering out of the bakery.
"So, you tired as well? Or do you still wanna have something small for dinner?"
Guilmon thought about it. He was tired as much as Takato was, but once again, his tummy was quicker than his mind.
"I'll have a few bits of Guilmon bread before I'll go upstairs," he said.
His father grinned. "I knew you would say that!"
Takato sighed before entering his room. Hopefully Kenta and Kazu only wanted to show Kai a few cards, to interest him in the Digimon card game... still, he would ask them if they could continue this some other time. He really needed to sleep right now...
He opened his door... and blinked in surprise when he saw not only Kai, Kenta and Kazu, but also Impmon, Ryo and Monodramon.
"Ryo? What are you guys doing here?"
They turned around from the computer screen to face him. "Ah, Takato!" Ryo said. "Kai told us you were in the Digital World, to see Azulongmon. How was it?"
"Um, nice... But can you tell me what the heck...?"
Impmon frowned. "Short version of a long story: Ai has been kidnapped, Kai told us about this kooky game of yours, and Kenta and Kazu bought another version of it."
"Another version?" Takato asked in confusion. Tired as he was, his brain was a bit sluggish in the evening.
Kenta raised the empty package of the 'RPG Reality' game he and Kazu bought. "The same game as yours. Same game, same uses... with one crucial difference."
"Yeah," Kai nodded. "It can't be used to change reality."
"Not?"
"Not," Ryo nodded. "We tried it out on your parents' PC... It can be used as a regular RPG Maker, to create your own Digimon video game... but that's all it can do."
"Okay... and what does that mean?" Takato asked.
Kai shrugged. "It means that only your exemplar has those powers. And we won't have to worry anymore that there might be other people misusing these powers to form the worlds to their liking."
"Still, the main question remains," Kazu pointed out. "How did your version of the game get these powers... and why?"
"I wish I knew..." Takato groaned. "Guys, I bet this is all very interesting and stuff, but... I just came home and I'm very, very tired. So, please... can we talk about this tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure," Ryo nodded. "No problem. Monodramon, are you coming?"
"But... what about Ai?" Impmon asked. "We have to find her, and I need your help..."
"Impmon, I'm sure she is going to be all right," Ryo said. "You saw that Betamon wanted her alive, right?"
"And besides, you won't achieve much by nighttime," Kai pointed out. "By now, they are long gone, and you wouldn't be able to track them down in the darkness."
"I promise we will help you find her after we had a good night's rest," Takato assured him. "But right now I'm just too worn out to be of any use for you. Same with the others."
"I see..." Impmon sighed. "I guess I have no choice then..." He turned around to leave. "See ya guys tomorrow..."
"Um, yeah! Later, guys!" Monodramon waved and Ryo nodded as his friends, before they turned around and left as well.
"Um, I guess that leaves us," Kazu said. "Takato, Kai asked us to leave the game we bought today here, so he can take a closer look at it. So, we'll come by tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay, see you then," Takato nodded.
They left, and Takato collapsed on his bed.
Kai looked at him with pity. "Rough day?"
"You have no idea..." Takato groaned.
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(Posted Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:10)
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