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Chapter 21: Promises Kept

Rika gripped her staff tighter as Gallantmon walked closer to what was left of his double, sword in hand and likely prepared to use it if necessary. Rika shook her head, angry at herself for letting the scene in front of her make her so nervous. The fight was over and they were all in one piece, so she should have been more relieved than anything else.

Unfortunately, the truth was that this fight wasn't entirely over, as one of its combatant's fate was still yet to be decided. Again, Rika had no idea what she was worried about. There was no way Takato would actually go through with killing his doppelganger, as striking down a defenseless opponent went against everything she had ever known him to stand for. She found herself pausing at that last notion, especially after looking at the version of Takato currently regaining consciousness.

Rika had meant what she had told Takato the previous night. The future would be full of days where they would have to make difficult decisions. Still, she found herself wishing she could take what she said back. Even the smallest chance that Takato could fall into his double's line of thinking was suddenly too large a chance in her mind.

"It won't come to that," Renamon assured her, speaking quietly so no one else could hear.

"I know," Rika replied calmly.

Takato would do the right thing, just like he always did. If that included making sure his double never hurt anyone else, Rika knew that she was more than fast enough to step in and do the deed herself. It would be only one more thing for her conscience to carry, and she would rather Takato be upset with her rather than give up an important part of himself.

Gallantmon finally reached this reality's version of Takato, who was now sitting in an upright position. The Royal Knight pointed his broadsword at the boy and waited for the two of them to make eye-contact. This brief moment told Rika everything she needed to know.

At first, Takato's double looked back up at him with conviction in his eyes, much the same way Takato himself often did. He seemed ready to accept his fate. Upon closer inspection, however, it became apparent that this wasn't entirely the case. Despite the show his eyes were putting on, the boys hands were shaking, betraying the fear he felt at that moment.

Gallantmon let his sword fall to his side, likely having noticed this as well. The knight sighed before splitting apart. Rika glanced up at MegaGargomon before exchanging a nod and both dropping out of their Mega forms as well.

"Why'd you do it?" Takato asked.

"I think you already know why," his double answered weakly, likely a combination of sadness and exhaustion. "When did you figure it out?"

"I had my suspicions after you attacked Jeri. It became even more obvious as the fight went on."

"Wait, I'm confused," Terriermon cut in. "What exactly are they talking about?"

"It was all a show, Terriermon," Henry explained. "He wanted one of us to kill him, probably so he couldn't hurt anyone else."

"Well, that's... kinda dark." Terriermon's gaze shifted to the ground, probably having a little trouble with the answer he had just received.

Not that Rika could blame him. Knowing Takato as well as she did, this revelation didn't surprise her, but it did cause her chest to clench up a bit. She wanted to chalk this whole scenario up to Takato's doppelganger not using his brain, but couldn't due to the pain she knew he was feeling.

"That's just how things are now," Takato's double stated, before returning his attention to his counterpart. "You were right. I'm too unstable to be trusted anymore. Even in that last fight, there were moments when I couldn't control myself."

"That doesn't mean there aren't other options," Rika countered, almost without thinking. She hesitated for a split second, looking to her friends to see if they wanted to speak in her place. "You don't have to die."

Takato's double gave her his attention for a split second before looking away again, shame plastered all over his face. "I'm not sure that..." He trailed off as this reality's version of Henry finally approached.

Henry's double wore a mostly emotionless expression, making it difficult for Rika to guess what he was thinking. His Terriermon was in his arms, bits of data falling off him. Not the worst Rika had ever seen a digimon suffering from Juggernaut's effects, but still something they would have to deal with soon.

"Henry..." Takato's doppelganger began. "I'm so-"

"There's no time for that," Henry's counterpart said instantly. "Can Guilmon stop the reality tears or not?"

"I... don't know."

"Well, it's time we found out. The way things are going, the city doesn't have much time." He received no immediate response, with everyone taking a second to consider the point he had just made.

"Wait a sec there," Beelzemon chimed in. He hobbled into the group while clutching his mangled wing. "They ain't exactly in good shape right now."

"Your point?"

"Using absorbed powers ain't easy when ya haven't had da crap beatin' out of ya." Beelzemon cursed under his breath as he tried to manage his injury. "You mix dat wit da fact dat it's Big Bird's powers were talkin' about, and Pineapple-head could tear himself apart."

"You think I want things to be this way?" Henry shot back, all his emotions coming back at once. "Look at where we are right now! There's no other way!"

"Come on, guys..." Takato said as he tried to step into the escalating argument.

Despite the situation in front of her, Rika found her attention being drawn back to Takato's double, who still hadn't moved from his spot on the ground. To his right, Guilmon had made his way over to his vicinity. The saurian was currently sniffing his own counterpart, who himself was starting to regain consciousness.

Tears came out of Takato's eyes as he took a couple seconds to look at his partner. While Guilmon still didn't display any of the traits Rika associated with his counterpart, he did lift himself off the ground and wipe a tear away with one of his claws. Takato responded by resting his forehead against the digimon's snout.

"I'm so sorry, boy," Takato choked. Rika needed no clarification as to the decision he had just made.

Suzie hadn't argued when Beelzemon asked her and Lopmon to watch Jeri. They had been outclassed during their last confrontation with ChaosGallantmon, and Suzie once again felt a little guilt for letting Jeri out of her sight earlier. They simply ended up sitting tight until the fighting died down and gave them the opportunity to rejoin the others.

The walk to Shinjuku Park had been mostly a quiet one, with only some light conversation between Ai and Mako filling the silence. None of them got anything from Jeri, not even the sadness the older girl had been giving off earlier. This left Suzie unsure as to where to even begin talking to her.

Finally reuniting with Takato's group didn't really do anything to remedy the silence. Most of them stayed quiet other than getting them up to speed. The situation seemed to be that, with the fighting now over, this reality's Takato had agreed to close the reality tears.

"So, how's this supposed to work?" Suzie asked her brother. She still couldn't bring herself to be surprised that he'd found his way to them.

"The other Takato says they absorbed Zhuqiaomon while bio-merged," Henry answered, straining a bit due the wound on his shoulder. He had claimed it was nothing serious, but that didn't mean that Suzie wasn't going to make sure he saw a doctor when they got home. "He claims that the only way for them to access those powers is through their Mega form."

"You don't believe him?"

"I don't know..." Henry shook his head and looked over to the Tamer in question. "Honestly, I think he just doesn't want Guilmon to be alone in case he doesn't survive the process."

Looking over to Lopmon, who was standing at her side, Suzie found that she could more than sympathize with the sentiment. Put in the same position, she would likely do the same rather than try to live in a world without her partner.

"How do you think a Juggernaut cure will factor into this?" Suzie inquired further.

"That I really don't know," Henry stated, now seeming uncomfortable with their line of conversation. "If closing the tears doesn't kill them, dispersing the cure into both cities probably will."

Suzie had no response for that statement, which meant complete silence once again followed. As it looked right now, there didn't seem to be anything left to do other carry out the plan.

"So, what are we waiting around- Ow!" Mako began before Ai whacked him on the back of the head. He took that as a signal to keep the thought to himself.

Silence again, this time lasting until Takato stepped forward and approached his double and stuck his hand out to him. "Thanks for doing this," he said.

The other Takato hesitated for a couple seconds, seeming like he was unsure how to respond. He nervously took hold of the hand presented to him and shook. "Just promise you'll look after them," he replied as he looked from Tamer to Tamer.

"Always." Takato grinned, doing a pretty good job at seeming optimistic.

"Should we be letting them touch like that?" Terriermon asked suddenly. "Can't that make the whole universe explode?"

"That's time travel," Henry explained. "And I'm pretty sure that's only in movies."

"And how would you know that?" the other Terriermon asked weakly. "Have you ever time traveled before?"

"Well, no, but-"

"So, what you're saying is the universe could be getting ready to blow up as we speak," Terriermon cut back in.

"Terriermon..." Henry's double warned.

Suzie found herself smiling at the scene, as it helped her take her mind off of everything that had happened over the last couple days. That said, she was pretty sure that neither version of Henry would miss having two versions of Terriermon around at all times.

Terriermon turned his attention to Henry's double and his own. "Are you guys going to be okay?" he asked.

"You mean other than the fact that I feel like I'm dying right now?" his counterpart responded.

"We'll pull through," the other Henry said as he looked to his reality's version of Takato. They exchanged a glance before turning away from each other again, which caused Suzie's heart to sink a little bit. Given everything that had transpired, this was likely the closest thing to a goodbye that the two would share.

With that in mind, Suzie moved over towards Ryo, who was standing by watching the whole thing with his partner. She was relieved and a bit surprised that the two hadn't tried to sneak off once the fight was over.

"I guess this is it," Ryo said casually.

"What's next for you guys?" Suzie asked, trying to match his tone. "Back to the Digital World?"

"Actually..." Ryo paused for a second to glance at the city skyline in the distance. "I think we're gonna stick around for a little while. Cyberdramon was just telling me how he thinks it'll be fun to play superhero for a bit."

"Yeah..." Cyberdramon growled. "Fun like a cereal bowl full of glass."

"I'm excited too, pal."

Suzie only hesitated for a split second before closing the distance between them and hugging her old mentor's doppelganger. She managed to hold back any tears as he returned the gesture, mainly because she was more relieved than sad. At least one of this world's Tamers might be able to start putting his life back together.

"No goodbye from you, Wildcat?" Ryo said suddenly, causing Suzie to twitch.

Of course... Suzie thought as she pulled away from Ryo.

"Goodbye," Rika deadpanned. While Suzie didn't know Rika as well as the others, she knew that that was the most Ryo was going to get out of the redhead without starting to annoy her. Suzie found herself repeating the thought as she took her place next to the Digimon Queen.

The only thing that was able to shift Suzie's attention again was Jeri making her way into the middle of the group. She stopped in front of this universe's Takato and waited for him to make eye-contact with her. Suzie looked around the rest of the group, finding that everyone seemed to be waiting to see which of them would speak first.

Neither of them ended up saying a word. Instead, Jeri gently wrapped her arms around the boy. Takato's double went stiff for a second before putting his left hand on Jeri's back and placing his face on her shoulder. They held that position for a few seconds before separating.

Things seemed to kick into high gear from there. Takato's counterpart pulled out his D-Power, resulting in him and his partner once again becoming ChaosGallantmon. At first, the knight paid the rest of them no mind, raising a hand at air in front of him. Within seconds, the familiar energy of a reality tear came to life.

Suzie held her breath as ChaosGallantmon finally acknowledged them, but rather than attack, he motioned for them to step through. Takato was the first to comply, followed by Guilmon and then everyone else. Now back in their own universe, none of them had second thoughts about looking back at the tear to see what was to come next.

At first, nothing happened, with it seeming like ChaosGallantmon was unsure of what to do next. Then the knight's digicore lit up with a white light that matched the glow of the reality tears. This was immediately followed by the air around them starting vibrate, and they braced themselves for what was to come next.

Data streaming off both his hands now, ChaosGallantmon pointed one in the direction of the Tamers and the other in the direction they had come from. The data flew at and around them, seeming to be trying to cover the entire city. This continued right up until the tear they had traveled through disappeared in flash.

The first thing Suzie did when she regained her sense of sight was look to her brother, hoping for some kind of reassurance that they had succeeded. Henry gave no concrete answer, but proceeded to look around the park and the city beyond. Shinjuku seemed calmer than it had in days.

The group ended up deciding to go their separate ways for the day. There had been some talk about going with Henry to a nearby hospital, but the Tamer in question had come down against the idea. He had argued that the closest hospitals were probably a bit busy at the moment, and that he could just as easily head back over to Hypnos to see their on-hand medical staff. Also making the point that he still had some things to grab from his cubicle, no one pushed the matter any further.

Jeri was currently only a block away from her own home. The walk there had been quiet despite the fact that two individuals had opted to accompany her. Jeri turned to her right, causing Suzie and Lopmon to dodge her gaze yet again. She had repeatedly caught the pair looking at her like she was going to disappear. She almost wished that she'd insisted a little harder that she didn't need to be walked home.

Everyone would cope with recent events in their own way, and Jeri knew they would all end up alright in the end. The fact that Takato and Rika were her biggest concern at the moment was actually a relief in its own way. The two had left together when the Tamers had parted, which Jeri chose to take as a sign that they were going to have that talk she had tried to get them to have a couple days ago.

"I think what happened was for the best," Lopmon declared suddenly, attracting both Jeri and Suzie's attention. The digimon shrank a bit at the attention before nervously continuing. "I-I mean not everything, obviously. Ruki dying was terrible and I wish we could've saved her, and-"

"We know what you meant, Lop," Suzie said calmly. "Just speak your piece."

"Of course!" Lopmon paused for a second before directing her words at Jeri. "It's just that they were all stuck in a rut before we got there, where things could only really get worse for them. They might get worse still, but at least there's a chance that things can get better for some of them."

"What about Takato?" Jeri asked. Lopmon's thought was a nice one, but that didn't change the facts. The other Takato and Guilmon may have died putting things right, and Jeri could only come up with a very finite list of scenarios where that was better than living.

"He's finally at peace," Suzie stated before taking a turn at being flustered by her own words. "Well, that's the kind of thing my mom would say. I'm not sure I buy into the whole heaven or afterlife thing, but a lot of other people do, so..."

Jeri stayed quiet at first, not wanting to give pair the impression that their words weren't helping. If nothing else, their efforts felt familiar. They were currently running through the things Jeri remembered people saying when her mother had passed away. Like then, Jeri wasn't sure if any of it helped, but she had come to appreciate those peoples' intentions.

"Anyway..." Suzie continued. "I think the point Lop's trying to make is you probably did more good than you're giving yourself credit for."

"It doesn't feel that way yet," Jeri replied.

"That doesn't mean it's not true. The fact that you even tried makes a difference, and I should know that better than anyone."

At that, they finally arrived at their destination. They kept their goodbyes short, and Jeri watched Suzie until she was out of sight. Thinking back to how far the younger girl had come over the last few months, Jeri allowed herself the brief satisfaction of admitting that she sometimes got it right.

Said satisfaction was quickly interrupted by something soft and round landing on top of her head. Jeri looked up to find a familiar white and purple digimon.

"Hiya, Jeri!" Calumon shouted. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Have you now?" Jeri asked, finding it difficult to not smile.

"Yeah, I figured I'd better. Your dad's been going all kinds of nuts trying to figure out where you went."

"Crap!" Jeri had completely forgotten that she had disappeared for two days without a word to her father. She had no idea if he had eventually gotten any details from Hypnos, but knowing him it wouldn't matter. She ran inside, fully expecting the worst.

"And do I have a story to tell you," Calumon continued happily. "I had the craziest weekend."

"I bet you did."

Jeri fully intended to hear the digimon's story, and not just because she was about to be grounded and have nothing better to do. Lending an available ear to a friend was the least she could do.

"So everything's died down here?" Henry asked as he shut off the computer at his workstation. Packing up his things was a little slower due the sling on his right arm, but the handicap wasn't drastically impeding his progress. His taking the time to get a recap of things from Alice was probably doing a better job at that.

The girl in question stood off to the side by her own computer, already set to leave herself. Henry considered asking about her waiting on him, but decided to put that off at least for the moment.

"That's what I was told at least," Alice answered. "All tear activity is at absolute zero at the moment. Any anomalies being reported upstairs are just what's typical for this city."

"In other words, it worked."

"Seems that way..." Alice paused for a beat as though she were considering her next question. "Does that mean that Juggernaut's not an issue anymore either?"

"I think it's still too early to be sure." Henry paused himself to pull his bag over his left shoulder. "I'll run some tests later this week. Either way, we'll know soon enough."

"Later this week, huh?" Alice raised an eyebrow, a reaction that shouldn't have surprised Henry. She obviously had not been oblivious to his fixation with Hypnos's "digimon killer," so she probably wasn't expecting his casual response to her question.

"Honestly, I want to just believe it worked for a little while," Henry explained. "Someone one died trying to disperse the cure."

"Someone who was spending his free time indiscriminately cutting down wild digimon," Alice pointed out. "As far as I'm concerned, that was the least he deserved."

"It was more complicated than that."

"Or are you just saying that because he looked exactly like your best friend?"

Henry hesitated before responding, which seemed to answer the question. Not that Alice seemed to take his silence as some kind of win. On the contrary, she seemed just as down by his lack of a response. Henry supposed her constant challenging him had nothing to do with wanting to be right all the time. Looking back at their past arguments now, he wondered if they had more to do with trying to get him to consider different points of view and look at things more objectively.

"Anyway..." Alice said suddenly, breaking his train of thought. "Yamaki told me to take the rest of week off. I'm assuming I have you to thank for that."

"Could be," Henry replied with a shrug, which also resulted in a sharp pain in his shoulder. "He told me the same thing."

"And then it's back to business as usual next Monday?" Alice stepped out of cubicle, which Henry took as a sign to follow her towards the elevator.

"I'm... not sure." Henry paused yet again, not really sure how to follow the answer up. Not that this mattered, as he now had Alice's attention.

"Did something change in the last few hours?"

"I don't know if I can explain it."

"Try me." For once, Alice's eyes were rightfully accusing him of something.

Henry took a deep breath. "The other me... He had no problem letting his reality's Takato sacrifice himself. Kept saying that there was 'no other way,' just like my father did after we beat the D-Reaper."

"I've met your father, Henry. There are worse people you could become."

"I know, it's just..." That was the less pressing issue on Henry's mind. Sending Terriermon and the others away had been one thing, but letting a friend go to his death without a second thought was a completely different game altogether. "I don't know if I want to be the guy who makes those calls."

With that thought, they arrived at the elevator. Before Henry could fumble with his things to hit the call button, Alice pushed it for him. The two of them remained silent until the elevator arrived.

"I guess that means I'm going to have to quit too?" Alice asked before hitting the button for the lobby.

Henry grinned, but waited until the doors closed to respond. "You're going to miss me, aren't you?"

"I did not say that." Alice kept her voice low, but Henry recognized the tone she used when she was irritated. "I just don't want to be stuck with double the work load."

"Which would be made even worse by how much you'd miss me."

"I hate you," Alice muttered as she finally turned away from him.

Henry let her have the last word, feeling that they could both agree he had won that argument.

Sunset in Shinjuku Park had a calming effect in Terriermon's mind. It lacked both the daytime's foot traffic and the sense of unease that nighttime seemed to put some people under. It was also the most pleasing scenically, but Terriermon's current companion wasn't exactly someone he wanted to take in a romantic view with.

"Why're you out here instead of home again?" Impmon asked as he jumped from one tree branch to the next.

"I could ask you the same question," Terriermon answered as he followed suit.

"Ai and Mako are settled and I needed some air." Impmon stopped to let Terriermon catch up with him, even though Terriermon could have easily caught up on his own. "You, on da other hand, have been complainin' about yer partner not being around fer weeks. Den da second he starts ta come around you run da other way."

"I know where to find Henry if I need him. I'm not gonna hover over him." Terriermon then put his ear to the air at the sound of familiar voices. He grinned upon confirming their identities. "Besides, there's something going down here tonight that I want a front row seat to."

Terriermon didn't hesitate to head off in the direction of the voices, coming to a stop on a tree branch just above one of the park's walkways. Below him, both completely unaware of his presence, were Takato and Rika.

"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me," Impmon growled once he caught up.

"Just keep quiet," Terriermon whispered back. Not that there was much to hear at the moment. The two teens were just standing there, just out of arm's reach from each other.

"I got a bad feelin' about dis."

"A sign of good sense, in my opinion," Renamon's voice echoed as the kitsune appeared right behind them. She zeroed in on Terriermon. "Leave. Now."

"And if I don't?" Terriermon asked back, though he had a pretty good idea of how she was going to respond.

"Then I'll remove you."

"And you'd probably succeed." Terriermon maintained eye-contact, enjoying the challenge being presented to him. "But who knows how much noise I'll make in the process? How do you think Rika will react knowing I was present for any part of their conversation?"

Renamon glared back at him, which was the closest thing he would get to a display of anger. Terriermon glanced towards Impmon, who looked like he wanted to make himself scarce. Not that Terriermon let this bother him, as he felt pretty confident at the moment.

"So..." Rika's voice brought all their attentions downward again.

"Yeah..." came Takato's nervous reply. If this was any indication, Terriermon hadn't missed much.

"Things should be getting back normal around here, right?" Rika asked awkwardly. Terriermon guessed that Rika's hatred of small talk came from the fact that she was awful at it.

"Yeah, I guess," Takato answered, obviously with something else on his mind.

"Just... promise me you'll never turn out like that. One psychotic Goggle-head was more than enough."

"I don't think that'll be an issue as long as I've got you." Takato tried to smile, but that fell away when Rika turned away from him.

"Bleh," Impmon whispered, which resulted in another glare from Renamon.

"Look, Rika..." Takato said softly after a few seconds. "Can we just talk about... things?"

"I guess there's no putting it off," Rika replied, taking a second herself before continuing. "Okay... why me?"

Takato's eyes widened, almost as though the question didn't compute. "How many reasons do you need?"

"Takato..." Rika's nervousness became irritation for a brief second.

"I'm serious!" Takato seemed to be getting his confidence back. "If I listed off every reason floating around in my head right now, this conversation would turn into a scene from one of those movies I know you hate."

"Betcha there's part of him that wants to give that speech," Terriermon commented.

"Like I said, bleh," Impmon added.

"But I don't expect you to feel the same way," Takato continued, looking downward as he spoke. "And I'd rather learn to live with that fact instead of letting this come between us. A couple days in a world where we're not friends is more than enough for me too."

Rika looked away from Takato too now. Terriermon even felt bad for listening in for a split second, but this went away on closer inspection of Rika. She was definitely mulling something over in her head.

"I..." Rika began, almost straining to speak. "...never said I didn't feel the same way."

"So you're saying..." Takato responded, hope coming back to his eyes.

"That's all I'm saying." Rika turned as though she was about to leave before quickly pivoting to face the boy again. "Leave it to you to take a good thing and make it complicated!"

"I'm sorry..."

"Well, you should be!" Rika shook her head, irritation and anger winning out. "'I want to be with Rika.' What does that even mean to you?"

"I'm..." Takato scratched the back of his head. "...not really sure."

"Of course you're not..."

"Hey, don't try to put this all on me." Takato looked right into Rika's eyes. If Terriermon didn't know better, he'd say the Tamers' leader was becoming frustrated. "Obviously it means something to you too, or this conversation would be over already."

"And look what it's doing to me!"

The pair went quiet for a few seconds after, with the silence being broken by both of them laughing under their breath. This left Terriermon confused, as he was now stuck trying to figure out if the two of them were actually fighting.

"I guess we've still got a lot of stuff to work out," Takato said once he stopped laughing.

"We might have to put a pin in that for now," Rika replied as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm still on edge from everything we've been through. All I really want to do right now is go home and see Mom and Grandma."

"Yeah, I've never seen Guilmon run home so fast for something that wasn't food." Takato looked off in the general direction of his home before returning his attention to Rika. "So when do you think would be a good time to... unpin all this?"

"What are you doing after school tomorrow?"

"I guess dat's it," Impmon pointed out.

"It is," Renamon confirmed. "Now I think the two of you should leave before-"

Terriermon never gave the kitsune a chance to finish. That ending had seemed anticlimactic to him, so there was no way he was going to let humans leave things at that. Wrapping an ear around the branch he was standing one, he dropped down into the teens' line of sight but still out of their reach.

"Why put things off til tomorrow?" Terriermon called out to them. "There are a couple sturdy tree branches up here, if you know what I mean."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rika yelled, with angry being a conservative way of describing her. Takato merely sighed and let his shoulders sink down. In other words, exactly the reactions Terriermon expected from the two.

"Being the best wing mon Takato could ask for," Terriermon answered proudly.

"That's not how I'd describe it," Takato said, not hiding his resignation.

"Don't be like that, buddy. Who else is up to the task of helping you win your dream girl?"

All emotion seemed to drain from Takato's face. He looked to Rika, who looked like she was about to snap.

"You told him?" Rika asked quietly. Terriermon wondered if this was what it felt like to be in the eye of a hurricane.

"W-Well, the whole situation was a bit more complicated than that," Takato explained as he slowly backed away from the redhead. "You see-"

"Oh, don't be so hard on him, Rika," Terriermon chimed back in, which caused her glare to find its way back in his direction. "True love's hard to keep on the inside."

"Renamon!"

Rika's intentions didn't register with Terriermon, at least not until a foot slammed down on the ear he was using to secure himself to the tree branch. His grip loosened and he plummeted to the ground below. Looking up to find Rika standing over him ominously, Terriermon's first reaction was to try and slip away, though he found this to be difficult once she grabbed hold of the ear that hadn't been stomped on.

"Ow!" Terriermon cried out. "What is with you people and my ears?"

"I just wanna make sure you can hear me," Rika growled down at him. "Now if you tell anyone else about..." She trailed off upon noticing that Takato was slowly walking away.

"Oh, hey..." Takato said nervously once they made eye-contact. "I was thinking that you're probably right. We're all on edge and tomorrow would be a great time to try and have this talk again."

"Takato, get back here right now or so help me-"

"You know, whoever said angry girls aren't pretty never met you."

"That..." Rika's face started to redden. "...has nothing to do with anything, you stupid Goggle-head!"

Sheesh... so much for our fearless leader, Terriermon thought as Takato used Rika's flustered state to finally make a break for it. Apparently he could face the Zhuqiaomon, the D-Reaper, and alternate-reality doppelgangers, but the thought of facing the Digimon Queen's wrath was where he drew the line.

Terriermon tried to use the distraction to leave himself, but the attempt only caused Rika to hold his ear even tighter. He looked back up at her and sighed, deciding that he really didn't have much less to lose at this point.

"So..." Terriermon said casually. "When are you two gonna start having kids?"

As he waited for Rika's reaction, Terriermon tried to tell himself that at least the universe wasn't collapsing around them. That, of course, led to a completely different train of thought. He wondered if there was a reality where Rika currently didn't want to kill him and if there was a way to travel there at that moment.

And... there it is. After nine months, though, I think it's about time. Longer than that, now that I think about it, as the very earliest version of this story predates Just a Universe Apart. Kind of glad I ended up sitting on it a little, as I got to use that fic as this one's foundation. In my opinion, this version is infinitely better than my original idea.

Anywho... shout outs to Zerato, Takawai, Naito Writer, He Who Seeks Joy in Life, and callofcamo for reviewing. Special shout out to Crazyeight, who's reviewed consistently almost since I started posting this story, which in turn helped to shape some aspects of the characters and plot.

It's funny, but I knew I wanted to write this story by the time I finished my last one. Right now, I'm not sure what's coming next. I guess time will tell. Until then, leave a review if you feel up to it and I'll talk at you guys later.