Rika opened her eyes. She could see the outlines of three faces. "Mom? Renamon? Dad?"
One of the faces came closer and became sharper... it was a furry face underneath a cowl. "You gave us quite the scare, young lady!" he said in her father's voice.
Rika groaned. So it wasn't just a dream. "Dad, why did you come?" she groaned as she sat up.
Her father looked hurt. "Does a loving father need an excuse to visit his two lovely daughters?"
Rumiko frowned. "And who am I, the nice lady from next door?"
Taomon sighed. "Rika, your mother told me about the... unusual memory holes you have been suffering from during the past few days. Are you sure you are fine?"
'Yeah, I'm fine...' Rika thought to herself. 'My Dad turned into the male version of my Digimon partner's Ultimate form, only that she is my elder sister now. Sure I'm fine... just peachy!'
"I'm okay..." she said in a silent voice. She then glared over to where Reppamon was standing. "What's he doing here?"
"Rika, where are your manners?" her mother scolded.
Taomon grimaced. "Reppamon is one of my younger colleagues. He told me he met you during his mission in the ruined laboratory which belonged to Prof. McCoy. So I figured, why not taking him along for the visit?"
"Actually, it was my idea," Reppamon spoke up. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all..."
'So, our father is working for the Digimon police force in this reality,' Renamon realized. 'I wonder what he did back when he still was a human...'
"Rika..." Her father looked down at her sternly. "I'll be honest with you, I don't like it how you and your friends put yourselves in danger. Reppamon told me what happened. Did you ever think what may have happened if Myotismon managed to drink your blood?"
"We can get by, thank you very much, Daddy!" Rika grumbled. "And for your information: It was me who defeated Myotismon! All by myself! Renamon didn't even have to help!"
"So I heard," he nodded. "And I can't say I'm not proud of you. So, seems you are more like me than we thought, huh?"
In Rika's opinion, that wasn't the best thing to say, even though she knew that he meant her Hybrid powers.
"Dad, you weren't there when I found out that Renamon was my Digimon partner. Why are you interested in what I do now?" She might not know how exactly she got her D-Power in this new version of history, but she still figured it must have been unusual to be the Tamer of your own sibling. Then she thought of Takato and Guilmon and sighed.
"Maybe because I never had the time to come," Taomon said while crossing his arms. "Don't think for one minute that I didn't care about you two. I got the shock of my life when I looked at my TV screen and saw that two of the heroes that were fighting the D-Reaper were my two daughters. Were it possible for me, I would have come and brought you to safety."
"But we defeated it, didn't we?" Renamon asked.
Taomon looked at her. "It seemed to me that your friend would have been fine by himself. What was his name again, Takato? He and his brother seemed to have the situation under control."
"Now that's enough!" Yumiko shouted. "Roshi, do you honestly think it would be better for Takato to fight the D-Reaper or evil Digimon? Why? Because he's a boy? Takato and Guilmon have worried parents as well, you know?"
"That... that's not what I meant," Hiroshi Taomon Nonaka protested. "They are just children! They shouldn't put themselves in danger! Our troop is responsible for threats from the Digital World."
"And look how well your men handled the situation!" Rumiko snapped. "I used to think like you, Roshi! But I know that our daughters aren't just teenagers calling for attention... they are true heroes! Don't you think I'm not afraid that... something horrible might happen to them?" Her eyes grew teary. "Still I know they have good friends, and they all can watch out for each other! I trust in them, I know they are doing the right thing! The Sovereigns believe in them too, so why can't you?"
"Not all of them do," Taomon said darkly.
'Great, that's just what we need, Daddy!' Rika grimaced. 'Being reminded of that giant firebird jerk who can't keep his beak shut! Thank you very much!'
"Look, I know you two want to search for that Yamaki guy," Taomon said to his daughters. "But please, leave that to the police! He is more dangerous than you can imagine!"
Renamon frowned. As much as she loved having a father who cared about her, enough was enough. "On the contrary, father..." she whispered. "I think he is more dangerous than YOU can imagine!"
Taomon was stumped. He must not have expected his older daughter to talk back to him. He sighed. "Renamon, listen to me... you have every right to be proud of your powers and your feats, but according to the law, criminal Digimon have to be taken care of by the police. I have to deal with them every day, and they are a reckless bunch... they believe they can act here as if they were in the Digital World. I wouldn't want any of you to be hurt..."
Those words sounded familiar to Rika.
"So, criminal Digimon are bad news, we got it!" she said grimly. "Why don't you go and tell that to GRANDPA?"
Taomon went silent. Even though it was not visible through his fur, his face went as white as a sheet.
"Wh-what did you say?" he whispered.
Meanwhile, the Matsuki family was having lunch.
"It's so nice of you to take care of Eiko again, especially since you're leaving by tomorrow!" Compsomon smiled at Kai. "You must get along better than I thought."
"Yeah, well, she's a nice kid..." Kai muttered. He still felt bad about what he had said to her the last time she was here.
"Still, why do you have to watch her in our room?" Takato asked in an annoyed tone of voice. "You know I have some homework to do."
"You can still do them in the living room, right, Takato?" his father asked.
Guilmon giggled. "Maybe Takato doesn't like it that Mom can always come in and look over his shoulder."
"My, what an excellent idea!" Mie grinned, showing of her sharp teeth.
"Thank you very much, Guilmon..." Takato grumbled.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"That must be Eiko and her Mom now," Mie said, looking at her watch. "Oh, they're certainly early."
"I don't mind, I'm already finished," Kai said as he stood up from the table. "I'll take her upstairs."
"Okay, but don't let her touch my CDs!" Takato shouted.
Kai opened. Eiko and her mother were standing in front of him.
"Hello, Kai!" Eiko shouted and gave him a tackle-hug.
"Um, hi, Eiko..." Kai stammered. "Uh, you're not upset at me anymore?"
She shook her bulbous head. "Nope, just glad I'm here!"
"Thank you so much for watching her again, Kai!" her mother smiled. "You know I wouldn't bother you, but this appointment I have really is urgent..."
"Ah, she's never a bother," Kai grinned. "I'll take care of her."
"Well, thank you! A pity that you must leave by tomorrow, Eiko really grew to like you."
"So I see," Kai smirked as he looked down at Eiko, who was still clinging to his leg.
"Well, have fun, you two! Bye, Eiko!"
"Bye, Mommy!"
The door closed.
Kai looked at Eiko. "So, what do you want to do?"
She grinned. "Mario Kart!"
Later, they were still sitting in front of the small TV in Takato's room, just having finished a race of 'Mario Kart: Double Dash'.
"Kai, why can't you stay here?" Eiko asked.
He smiled. "Hey, my parents are waiting for me. And I have to go to school."
Eiko pouted. "School is yucky! Yui told me all about it. I don't wanna go there..."
"Well, all big kids will go to school some day, I'm afraid," Kai explained.
"That sucks!" she whined. "Why not stay in kindergarten?" Sure, many of her playmates back there were babies, but at least she got to have fun.
"We all are getting older, and older kids have to go to school... just like me," Kai said. "Man, I'm getting thirsty... I'm going to fetch some soft drinks. You want one?"
Eiko smiled cutely. "Sure!"
When Kai was gone, she pondered over what he just said.
"If Kai would be my age, he wouldn't have to go to school..." she murmured. "And if his parents would live in town, he wouldn't have to leave at all."
She looked up to the computer of Kai's cousin. It was still running, Takato left it on before he went downstairs to do his homework.
Eiko floated in front of the monitor. She recognized the running program... it was that game-making program Kai had been using.
She looked in one corner of the screen and grinned when she saw the options.
"Create Character?" she read. "Well, I know what kind of friend I would create if it were possible..."
She liked the idea of creating her own friend and reached for the mouse. She knew how to use it, as her mother allowed her to play solitaire back at their own computer at home.
She opened the menu and muttered: "Let's see... a friend like I have in mind would have to be just like Kai..." She entered his name and his profile appeared. "But he has to be as old as me..." She changed the age to six. "And he must live here in town." She changed his place of residence accordingly.
She scratched her head. She knew that most boys her age were annoying little brats, so her friend would have to be a girl...
"And I want her to be a Digimon as well," she grinned. "That way we are more like each other."
She changed Kai's race to 'Digimon' and a list of Digimon species appeared. But as she had decided on her age to be 6, only In-Training Digimon appeared.
After thinking about it for a while, she simply selected 'Random' and saved the changes.
She smiled as she looked at the profile of the new Digimon. "There, that's a friend I would like to have!"
"Eiko, what are you doing there?" Kai's suddenly asked as he entered the room, carrying two glasses of soda. "You know you can't go at Takato's computer without... uh..." Kai staggered around. "What... what's happening?"
One of the two glasses slipped out of his grasp and fell down to the ground... but before it broke apart in pieces, something like a bright flash appeared in front of Kai's eyes... and then he found himself sitting in front of the TV, next to Eiko.
He gasped. "Eiko! Since when are you so big?"
Eiko looked at her friend in confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about, Kei?"
'Kei?'
Looking down at him... HERself, she realized that she had changed. She now had the bulbous body of a Digimon... a Digimon In-Training, to be exact. She also was quite female now.
Kei shook her head/body, which made the two leaves on her head flop around. "Eiko, what... what happened to me?" She was surprised at her high, squeaky voice.
Eiko grinned. "I beat you at Smash Bros. Melee... AGAIN! That's what happened!"
The little Tanemon looked up at the TV screen in confusion. Sure enough, the screen was showing that the character Eiko preferred to use while playing the game - Pikachu - was the winner, while Kai's favorite fighter, Yoshi, had lost.
'But didn't we play Mario Kart before?' she wondered. 'And how did I turn into a Digimon? And why doesn't Eiko remember a thing?'
She looked up at the computer, which was showing an image of the RPG Maker on its screen. 'I caught her sitting in front of the PC... but if she made a change, why wouldn't she remember? She is a Game Master as well, isn't she?'
The door then opened and Takato came in, carrying the very same two glasses with soda Kai had been carrying.
"Here you go girls, the drinks are on the house!"
"Yay!" Eiko cheered. "Thanks, Takato!"
Takato smiled as he put the drinks down in front of them. "Hey, I'm supposed to take care of you two, I can't have you die of thirst."
He then turned to the little Tanemon named Kei. "Kei, your mother just called. She's coming early to fetch you, which means today you two only have a bit more time together."
"Awww..." Eiko pouted. "Oh well, I can still play with her tomorrow, in kindergarten, I suppose..."
Kei's lil' head was spinning. Mother? Kindergarten? Why would his mother come all this way to fetch him... her?
"Takato?" she asked in her squeaky voice.
He sat down next to her. "What's up, kiddo?"
She winced when he called her that. "You are my cousin... aren't you?"
Takato laughed. "You would like that, huh? Aw, I'm flattered you like me that much, but it would be pretty weird if your mother would be my aunt.
She was just going to ask 'why?', when Takato's mother entered the room. "Kei, your mother is here!"
She stepped aside to reveal a beautiful Digimon woman standing behind her, who looked in every way like a flower fairy.
Nami Lillymon Asaji smiled down at her. "Hi there, sweetie! Sorry that Mommy is so early, but I figured, when I'm coming past here on my way home, why not pick you up?" She then greeted Kei's babysitter with a smile. "Hello, Takato!"
Takato grinned back. "Hello, Mrs. Asaji!"
'Mrs. Asaji?' Kei wondered. 'Takato's teacher is MY mother? Eiko, what have you done...?'
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(Posted Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:55)
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