Henrika: A Tale of Two Tamers

Conclusion



"Come in Yamaki! Yamaki, do you read me?" Tally continued trying to radio her boss from the cockpit of the helicopter. She had been at it for almost an hour.

"Riley, if you're there, please respond!" But no response came. The only thing that Tally got was static and lots of it. Finally, she realised why no one was responding; there was no one there to respond.

"They're gone," Tally sadly said to herself. "They didn't make it out in time."

A tear trickled down from Tally's eye. Realising there was no longer any reason for her to be there, she turned the chopper around and headed back to base.

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It was the middle of the night. Henry and Rika were in the park, sitting on the same bench as they had before. Both of them had been thinking a lot about the events they had experienced that day. After all, this wasn't like any adventure they had been on before.

"So what do you think Antylamon was really planning to use you for?" Henry asked.

"I'm not sure," Rika replied. "During the battle, I heard him yell out 'political puppet'. Of course, we'll never know for certain now. He's been wiped out and terminated. I say good riddance to bad data. …No offence to Terriermon, of course. I mean, I know he was his brother and all but…"

"That's alright. Terriermon's starting to realise he came from a very dysfunctional family. In fact, Terriermon is the only one from his lineage who isn't evil so ironically, he's the black sheep!"

Henry then looked at his watch. He could see that it was starting to get late.

"Speaking of Terriermon," Henry continued, "I really should be getting home now before Suzie decides she wants to play 'makeover'!"

"Yeah, I should be getting home too," Rika agreed. "My mom's gonna wonder where I was and why I wasn't there to try on whatever ghastly new 'outfit' she's bought me!"

The two tamers got up from the bench. They were about to leave, however, Rika looked as though there was still one other thing on her mind.

"Something else you wanted to say?" Henry inquired.

"Well, actually… yeah. I just can't stop thinking about what happened to Yamaki and that woman, Riley."

"Yeah, I know. He may have been prejudice towards all Digimon, but even Yamaki didn't deserve to be wiped out of existence like that."

"That's not what I mean. Riley could've escaped with us but instead she decided to stay. She gave up her life just so that the man she cared about wouldn't have to die alone. I've never seen anyone do something like that before."

"I guess that was pretty noble of her. I use to think stuff like that only happened in movies or fanfics. Apparently, there is still chivalry in this world."

"Well after seeing that, I've been wondering."

"Wondering what?"

"Wondering if I would ever be noble enough to do something like that for a guy. If I was in that kind of situation, I'm not sure whether or not I could make the same choice Riley did."

"Hopefully, you'll never have to make that kind of choice. Hopefully, you'll get to live a long and healthy life with whoever you eventually end up with."

"And just what makes you so sure I'm going to end up with someone?" Rika asked in a stern voice. "I don't even have a boyfriend and I doubt that I ever will."

"Because having a boyfriend would spoil your image and make Rika Nonaka look soft?"

"No, because I don't think you would ever have the guts to ask me out on a date." With those words, Rika smiled and gave Henry a little kiss on the cheek. Rika then turned around and began to walk home.

"Of course if you ever do develop a backbone, you know how to find me," Rika added, pausing for a moment before continuing on her way. Henry just stood there speechless. He placed one hand on his cheek as he watched Rika walk off into the darkness of the night.

"See you around Rika!" Henry called out, finally getting his senses back together. He couldn't tell if Rika had heard him, but he would assume that she did. Besides, there would be other times talk to her. This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship and, if all went well, possibly the beginning of something… even more beautiful.

THE END… OR MERELY A BEGINNING?