Twisting Paths of Twilight

I don't own Digimon

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"Talking"

'Thoughts'

"Partner and Tamer talking within the sphere"

)-( Scene change

(--) Different point of view

(-:-) Flash back

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Chapter 21

Her mind keeps replaying the incident where Takato offered her his arm before stepping through the gate. She sighs, wondering about his true interest in her. She knew that Takato had a crush on Jeri, back during the time they were just learning to work together to defeat the Devas up to their defeating the D-Reaper.

It hadn't escaped her notice the looks Henry and TK had given Takato and herself, she's kind of uneasy that people had seen how Takato had focused in on her. She lies in her futon in her room that she shares with some of the Digidestine, the girls to be precise. She glances to where the others lay resting, it was about midnight and after thinking it over, since she couldn't sleep, she gets up out of bed. She grabs her card deck and D-Ark, then leaves the room after clipping her D-Ark to her jeans and putting on her belt. She glances to her left to find Renamon standing there by the porch.

She takes a deep calming breath and then quietly makes her way to the front gate, once there she heads a few blocks away from her house. Once their far enough away, Renamon Digivolves into Kyubimon, she smiles softly as she climbing up onto her best friend and trusted partner's back. Soon the nine tailed golden fox Digimon moves swiftly through the streets, avoiding busy street as well as roof hopping at times to avoid being seen.

Kyubimon lands on the roof of the bakery and she climbs carefully off of her partner's back onto the slanted roof of Takato's parent's home and work place. Then walks cautiously towards the edge of the roof, she checks to make sure she's right over the balcony before leaping onto the balcony that leads into Takato's bedroom. She knocks gently on the glass window and waits for Takato to answer.

"Rika?" Takato says softly after opening the window, then he yawns, clearly tired. "We need to talk, Takato." She admits. Takato looks startled and the teen blinks a few times, clearly surprised that she's even here on his balcony. "Oh? What about?" Takato asks, looking more alert then he had a few seconds ago.

"Why did you do that, before we step through the gate? You've never shown an interest in me before…" She says, trailing off, not really comfortable about discussing this kind of thing. Takato presses his lips together as he stares off into the distance. "Didn't any of the Digidestine say anything? I mean, I though Kari would at least attempt to drop hints and such. I can see Tai taking you aside to 'talk' with you as well." The goggle wearing Tamer says as he frowns slightly.

She jerks her head in surprise, not sure if she doesn't believe that. "You mean you really are interested in me in that way?" She asks, stunned. Takato blushes slightly as his gaze lowers to study the wall under his window. "Well, I've had a few years to think things over and I've come to the conclusion that I would like to have a different relationship with you. I really like you, Rika. I wouldn't mind a chance to see if it can work." Takato admits, shifting his weight around, clearly nervous about her reply.

She blinks, she's touched that Takato's opening himself up like this; it really makes her uncertain on how to proceed. She looks off into the distance, her mind swimming with a lot of different feelings. She finds it really hard to say anything, she needs time to think about this and doesn't want to act rashly.

"I need some time to think about this." She's finally able to admit to the goggle wearing Tamer. Takato just nods in agreement as he says, "I expected nothing less, it is a large step, especially considering everything we've been through and how it'll affect our friendship." She smiles, relief that while Takato does seem to know what he wants, but he also knows that she needs time to consider things before they decide to take their relationship in a whole new direction for them.

(-Tai-)

They lounge in the park that's the usual hang out for the Tamers. He glances over to where their partners and Calumon, Petitmamon had disappeared when that energy egg had dissipated to reveal Gallantmon and Magnadramon holding Kari, were playing catch with a tennis ball. They were all waiting for Sora to say what she had to say, he also wondered why Sora kept looking to Takato for support.

"Ok, I know that some of you may be or may not be aware of the tension between Matt, Tai, and myself. I know I haven't really been helping to decrease that tension either." Sora finally says, he's not the only one to look startled about this conversation. "Takato's been aware of who I like for some time now, but I made him promise not say a word about who I've come to like as in like." Sora says after taking a deep calming breathe.

He glances to Takato, surprise that Takato would agree to stay quiet about something that big. 'Especially when Takato prefers for things to be resolved as quickly as possible before people feelings get hurt. I know that the fact that Kari and TK's relationship hasn't advance frustrates him to no end, especially when Takato worked so hard to keep me from having that 'chat' with TK right after that accidental kiss.' He thinks, he smiles slightly as he remembers how hard Takato had worked to get him to calm down and to stop freaking out about that kiss.

He glances over to his other best friend; Matt and him exchange looks before they look away. Sora shifts slightly and then continues. "I really didn't mean to cause any strain on any body's friendships, especially Tai's and Matt's. I am really sorry if I have misled either of you, I hope you can forgive me." Sora looks first at Matt and then at him

Sora then finally reveals who is her crush. "The person I like is Izzy." He blinks dumbly; if he wasn't already sitting down he would have sat down soon after hearing which of the Digidestine his childhood best friend has come to like as in like.

(-Takato-)

He spends time hanging out with Tai and Kari, though oddly enough, the link binding his home reality and his adopted reality. Something really unusual was happening with that link and because of it, the Digidestine have yet to return to their home reality.

So the Digidestine were edgy since they really did want to return home but found that they couldn't since the link between their realities is unstable. The Digidestine had taken up to either hanging out with the Tamers or finding other things to do. Oddly enough, TK seems to be hanging out with Henry and Izzy, he knows something's going on between those three, he just doesn't know what.

Kari and Yolei seems to be hanging out with Rika and Jeri, though if Mimi joins in with them, Rika seems to head off to do her own thing. Sora seems to enjoy hanging out at some of gym; she plays tennis most often then not while at the gym. Matt, Tai, Davis, and Ken hang out with Ryo, Kenta, and Kazu. Joe seems to enjoy studying medical text books his been borrowing from the local library.

He usual can be found at the bakery, his parents seem reluctant for him to leave the bakery and he kind of wants to reconnect with them so he spends most of his time at the bakery. The Digimon have taken to hanging out in the park without anyone supervising them, which could have gone badly if it weren't for the fact that Gatomon seems to be able to keep them from attacking the food vendors that attempt to sell food in the park.

Though that means that they visit the bakery more often then not when they get hungry. He grins as he remembers when the Digimon decided one afternoon that they were interested in helping his parents and him with the task of baking. They did a good job helping out, though sadly they tended to eat what they made.

So it's been about two weeks since Grandracmon has been defeated and the Digidestine were still around. He catches Kari's eye and his adopted sister smiles in a sad kind of way. He studies Tai's for a few minutes, he wonders if the elder teen was still affected by Sora's announcement about a week after GranDracmon's defeat.

Tai catches him staring at him and the bearer of the crest of Courage gives him a sad smile. He sighs slightly and then glances around to see if he can spot their waiter with their lunch. "Still no word about the gate?" He asks, breaking the silence between them.

"Nothing new, they have yet to figure out who this outside force is that's affecting the link." Tai muses. "I have to admit, I'm curious as to who's making the link unstable. They must have some reason to keep us here." Kari says and he looks thoughtful. "True, but who could do such a thing?" He admits. "It's most likely a mega Digimon." Tai muses and he nods in agreement.

Their lunch arrives after a few minutes of silence between them. They soon dig into their meal, each lost in their own thoughts. His head snaps to the entrance as mist begins to enter into the building. His eyes widen as he notices that a pair of Digimon glance around before glaring at them, already the other people of the restaurant were trying to get away from the pair of Digimon, they exit through the fire exits, soon only Tai, Kari, and himself were the only humans within the building.

"That's him! That's the one we're been sent to capture!" The insectoid rookie out of the two says, pointing in their direction. "Then get him!" The other scowls at the insect type Digimon. He ducks under the table as the insect Digimon uses a special attack.

He groans mentally when he notices that the table was bolted to the floor, which made it hard for them to knock over to slow them down as they bolt to the nearest fire exit. Tai rams the insectoid Digimon while Kari attempts to swing at the other Digimon. They bolt while the pair of Digimon try to recover from their sudden attack.

They find that the whole street is covered in mist and they just groan, he pulls his goggles around his eyes while Tai and Kari take out the sun glasses they bought with them just in case they run into a wild one Bio Merging. They races off in the direction of the park, they ignores the cries as they duck and weave as they attempt to put as much distance as they can from the gang of Digimon that were currently searching the street around the restaurant that they decided to have lunch at. He doesn't doubt that Rika and Ryo were on their way with their partners, since Cyberdramon doesn't seem to enjoy the company of his fellow Digimon when he's not Monodramon and Renamon… he just doesn't know how the yellow fox Digimon can teleport around.

'They'll be the first ones to arrive.' He thinks as he matches Tai's stride, he can hear Kari running slightly slower behind him. He doesn't look back to check on Kari, he has to trust that his adopted sister can at least keep pace with Tai and him.

(-Rika-)

She glares at the pink fox Digimon that has scythe like arms. The Digital pink fox has blue mane and cross marking on his head. Kyuukimon is the Digimon's name and it's an ultimate level mythic beast Digimon. She watches as Kyuukimon uses Blade Twister against Taomon's shield.

She glances to where Beelzemon is going about deleting the horde of ultimate Digimon that were attacking him. She thought she saw Guilmon with Agumon and Gatomon heading pass her location, most likely heading to where Guilmon can smell Takato. 'Or maybe Guilmon is locating Takato through their bond…' She muses before returning her attention to the fight going on between Taomon and Kyuukimon.

Kyuukimon pauses in his attack and turns to look in her direction. She notices the calculating expression in the pink fox's eyes, before anything can happen though, Taomon shouts out, "Talisman of Light!" The attack causes the ultimate to forget about her and focus once more on her partner.

Without a second thought, Kyuukimon uses his Blade Twister to attack Taomon. She slowly lets go of the breathe she had unknowingly been holding when Kyuukimon turned to her with that calculating look in his eyes. She's reminded of IceDevimon when Kyuukimon looked her way, she shakes her head rapidly to dispel those memories of that particular Digimon and how it affected her.

Her face hardens as she pulls out a few cards from her card deck. She goes through them and picks one of them, she returns the others back into her card pouch. "Digimodify! SkullSatamon's Bone Blaster activate!" She shouts once she's done swiping the card through her D-Ark.

"Bone Blaster!" Taomon shouts once Kyuukimon stops twirling around. The attack hits the pink fox Digimon in the head, Taomon follows through with Thousand Spells, the last attack finishes Kyuukimon off. She blinks as notices that Beelzemon had mode changed into his blaster mode and has successfully taken out the rest of the ultimate level Digimon, Beelzemon glows and Impmon is kneeling on the ground taking deep breathes.

She puts her sun glasses away as the mist fades. "Rika!" She glances up to find TK riding on Pegasusmon, she nods at the blond Digidestine. Pegasusmon lands and TK motions for her to get on, he says, "Izzy says that they're congregating around the warehouse district. We think that's where they've herded Tai and them." Before she climbs on she attempts to pick up the rookie, but Impmon waves off her attempts and she climbs on behind the blond on the orange horse with golden armour.

"Taomon." She says and her partner replies, "Rika." Pegasusmon takes off once Taomon nods at the flying horse Digimon. Taomon disappears in a swirl of wind once Pegasusmon is about eight feet away. She nods once on noting her partner's decision to teleport away. It most likely means that her partner was already in the warehouse district, most likely observing what's going on while she remains hidden.

)-(

Once the others arrive, she calls Renamon. She had been observing the horde of enemy Digimon with her D-Ark; she had only been viewing what Renamon had seen. She smiles ever so slightly at the startled looks that her partner received when she appears in their mist.

"If this keeps up, I'll be having a heart attack before I'm twenty!" Kazu complains. "Then maybe you should lay off the fast food!" Terriermon comments and Henry just groans in reply to his partner's blunt comment, she just shakes her head, still amazed that even after all this time, Henry is still embarrassed by the rude comments his partner makes. 'It kind of reminds me of how Guilmon stills keeps calling Takato, Takatomon.' She muses to herself as she glances down towards the mist covered land below their vantage point.

She thinks about the leader of the horde of enemy Digimon, Matadormon. There was just something about how that one acted that reminded her strongly of someone, she just doesn't remember who though. She glances around the group, hoping to see Takato or one of the Kamiyas among their number, but she doesn't spy Tai or Kari.

"So, who are we facing this time?" Davis asks warily. "Some Digimon by the name of Matadormon, I think this guy just might have been GranDracmon's second in command from the way the horde of Digimon acts." She answers the remaining goggle wearing teen in the group. "The question is, if we take out Matadormon, will they retreat or continue to fight until we're force to delete the whole lot." Matt wonders out loud, some of the nod thoughtfully in agreement with what Matt said.

"Guess we'll just have to find out, won't we?" Ryo comments and they soon began to discuss what to do. She spares a thought about how Takato and them were doing as they continue to come up with a plan of attack. 'You better be safe, Goggle head.'

(-Kari-)

They were currently hiding in a basement of this building that ended up on the receiving end of an Okuwamon X's Scissor Arms Omega Cubed attack. They were remaining quiet as squads of rookie and champion level Digimon move about over head, most likely trying to find their bodies under the rubble. They're most likely fortunate that the enemy Digimon thought them on the main floor or they would have already been founded by the Digimon searching for them.

Tai and Takato have both checked the window at the back of the basement and they were very slowly working to open it up so they can escape through the window while the enemy Digimon continue to search through the ruined building. She keeps watch from the front of the boxes that conceal their position from view if any Digimon comes into the basement.

She stiffens as a hand lands on her right shoulder, she turns her head sharply only to find Tai standing there, her elder brother puts a finger to his lips. She nods and Tai lets go of her shoulder, she notices that Takato's already out of the basement through the window. Tai boosts her up and Takato helps pull her through the window. They each grab one of Tai's arms and help pull the bearer of the crest of Courage through the window.

They creep away from the building, slipping down deeper into the alley, then climbing up the fire escape. They climb into the first open window and then walk quickly through the room to the front door. The slip through the door and head up the stairs until they reached the sixth level, they had started on level three.

They head out of the stairway and they check each room for a fire escape. They locate on their seventh try and they climb onto it. They climb down the opposite side of the building, they then keep to the alley way leading north east.

As they reach a bit of thinned mist did a shout of alarm can be hear echoing from their searchers as well as orders relating to finding them and capturing them. Their shoulders sag for a few seconds, having hoped that they might have at least been farther away before the Digimon figured out that they had escaped. She shrugs and they continue in the direction where Takato thinks the park is located, it's kind of hard to tell which direction they were headed in since the fog was so thick that it obscures their view for about five feet in any direction.

They still have their eye protection on as they navigate through the fog. From the few thoughtful looks on Takato's face, she doubts that this is natural Digi Field behaviour. They pause when Takato stiffens, then Takato charges forward with a great big smile on his face. "Takatomon!" Guilmon's childish sounding voice can be heard and soon the large red rookie Digimon is on Takato's chest, pinning her adopted brother to the ground.

"Kari!" "Tai!" Something lands in her arms and she smiles at Gatomon, she turns and notices Agumon's hugging Ta. Tai pats Agumon on the head as her brother says, "We're fine, Agumon! But how did you guys know where to find us?" "Guilmon lead us, he said he can feel where Takato is, so we followed him trusting that he'd lead us straight to you guys." Agumon replies as the dino Digimon lets go of her brother's waist.

She glances at Takato with an eye brow raised. Takato scratches the back of his head as he answers her unspoken question. "I was kind of following the pull to where I felt Guilmon was." "A very useful ability it is." Gatomon comments, praising the pair's ability to locate each other, which causes Guilmon to grin while Takato smiles ever so slightly.

"So now where do we go?" She muses out loud. Guilmon just shrugs and Tai looks thoughtful. "I guess we just sit tight and wait for the others to arrive." Her brother related through blood advices. "Guess so." Gatomon agrees. They then head off to find a defendable spot to wait at until the others arrive to rescue them.

(-Rika-)

As Sakuyamon, Renamon and her had off with GuardiAngemon to the north part of the warehouse district, they're job is to keep the enemy Digimon from fleeing in their direction or join the battle if a certain signal is released. Only those with partners that can go mega were giving the job of guarding points of entry and most likely emergency escape routes.

Matt with MetalGarurumon was partnered up with Kenta and MarineAngemon, Ryo and Cyberdramon as Justimon were on partnered with Imperialdramon, Davis, and Ken, which left Henry and Terriermon as MegaGargomon and Sora with Phoenixmon to guard an entrance. MarineAngemon and MetalGarurumon with Matt and Kenta on his back headed to the east Justimon and Imperialdramon with Davis and Ken in the protective shielded dome on Imperialdramon's back headed south, which left Phoenixmon with Sora and MegaGargomon to safe guard the west.

The rest headed into the middle to see if they couldn't take out the undead ultimate that's leading the horde of enemy Digimon that once served under Grandracmon. If they need help, they'll signal for it. Meanwhile, it means she's alone with TK, who just happens to also be Takato's best friend from the Digidestine dimension.

Within the sphere a slow smile appears on her face as she realises that TK would know every embarrassing thing that Takato has ever done while being raised in that dimension. She just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some good dirt about Takato. Once they arrived to an ok site, they deleted the sentries stationed there and stood watch; she slowly goes through ideas on how to start up a conversation with the blond who's the Digidestine of Hope.

)-(

The whole thing with the horde of Digimon ended kind of anti-climatically, though it did turn out that Matadormon was actually GranDracmon. So instead of deleting the mega, the virus Digimon ended up losing his current form and returning to his ultimate form. Those that had entered into the middle to fight the Digimon had signalled them when some of the strange Digimon with those Xs at the ends of their names began to DNA Digivolve with each other to become mega level Digimon., otherwise, they had things well in hand.

It took them about an hour before they remembered the Digimon in the downtown arrive were still there. They arrived in time to help defeat a mega level Digimon by the name of Metamormon. The mega Digimon had the ability to transform into different Digimon at will, some times even confusing them about which of the pair of Digimon was the original and who was just mimicking the partner Digimon. It took some doing, but according to Izzy, the chest is where the mega keeps his memory and that if they destroyed that, then Metamormon would be easy pickings. It was Suzie's partner that destroyed the memory system and it was Lillymon that dealt the final blow which deleted Metamormon.

That happened yesterday and now with Matadormon out of the way; the Digidestine had the go ahead to leave this reality. She watches as Kari and Takato hug as the gate materialises. Everyone is teary as the Digidestine step through the gate, Tai is the last one and the bearer of the crest of Courage glances at Takato as he steps into the energy tear. The shimmering gate closes and the energy vanishes, they drift off soon it's just Takato and her standing in the room. She places a comforting hand on Takato's shoulder. Takato turns and smiles sadly at her, then they walk out of the room and head to the elevator to get to the main floor so they can exit out of the Hypnos buiding.

She watches as Takato, Calumon, and Guilmon head to Takato's parent's bakery. She watches those three leave, she can see that the parting of the Digidestine affected those three the most. She kind of wishes that there was a way for Takato to visit his adopted family and his friends from that reality.

(-Takato-)

It's been a whole year since he last saw his adopted siblings and his friends disappear through the dimensional gate. A lot has happened in that year, he had to reconnect with practically everyone knew before the beginning of his second childhood. It had taken a lot of adjustments, but his previous relationships were once more running smoothly.

He blinks as he notices Calumon dancing in the air. "What's gotten into you?" He asks the white Digimon and Calumon only grins. "They're going to arrive any second now!" Calumon answers and he blinks as a gate begins to form in front of him. He feels Calumon land on his head and he smiles softly as someone he thought he'd never get to see again walks out of the gate. "It's been a while, huh?" He says. They only smiles in return.

To Readers:

I would like to thank all of you who have readed this story from start to finish, I especially like to thank those that took time to comment on the story. This is the first story that I tried to have 5,000 word average for each chapter, that was a challenge but I hope you guys enjoyed all of my hard work that went into this story. My next one isn't going to have as many words as this chapter had though. I need a break of doing huge chapters.

Here's a sample from my next story called Woven Threads of Angels, Goddesses, and Digimon:

"So you're Zor's uncle?" Naruto asks curiously. "I guess if you put it that way, then yes I am." Matt says while he begins to takes out old shirts he once wore when he was six. "Cool!" Naruto exclaims. "Where is Zor? Or did he head off to meet Ken?" Matt asks the young blond. "He went off to meet his other frather." Naruto says and then the young blond climbs onto a chair by the table, he glances in Naruto's direction to find the kid looking at the old cloths.

Naruto picks up an orange shirt and then grabs a pair of pants. Without saying anything the blond races off to put them on. He smiles and Matt chuckles slightly. "Cute kid, are you sure you didn't want to go shopping for cloths instead of letting him have these?" Matt asks. "I'm sure, bro. I've been on too many shopping sprees to last a life time." He says, he shivers slightly as he remembers the kind of shopping sprees Urd use to take him on.