The new Hypnos Central looked very different than it's original design. Instead of the giant dome screen, they now used several standard computer terminals. The bodysuits were gone, and more casual clothing was the norm. But the greatest change was the complete removal of all the equipment created for the destruction of Digimon. That sort of thing was no longer part of the purpose that Hypnos was now meant to serve. Riley sat in her pants and sweatshirt in front of one of the two primary terminals, working alongside Daisy to help Hypnos monitor the remarkably thin border that existed between Earth and the many levels of the Digital world. They tracked any of the bio-emergences, and then determined the status of the Digimon who appeared. The data types of Digimon were normally left in peace, unless they actually became harmful to humanity. Virus types, on the other hand, were encouraged to return to the Digital world where they belonged, by the use of force if it was needed. A soft tone focused Riley's attention to her screen, and after double- checking the data she announced, "We've picked up the initial traces of a bio-emergence. It's in Tokyo, near the center of the city, refining location now." Daisy, sitting across the room from her, quickly bent over her own terminal. "Confirmed," she agreed with Riley calmly, "Tokyo, in the central park," she continued as she consulted her own monitor and ran through the standard procedures. A field team was activated, though they wouldn't move out unless a virus was confirmed. "Is it a Digimon we know?" Yamaki asked them both calmly. His trademark black shades were long gone, but he still stuck with his formal wear as he calmly walked across the computer lab in a dark blue business suit. "I'm checking the data against our records," Riley reported calmly. They heard the computers run for a few moments, and then "We have a match, it's..." She stopped, looking surprised. A grin stretched across her face, "Sir come look at this!" She rolled her office chair away from the screen to give him room to look He bent over the monitor curiously, reading the data she had called up there. A smile spread across his face too as he said, "Well, well, looks like an old friend has finally made it back." He walked over to his desk and grabbed his coat, pulling it on as he said, "Riley, you drove your car here today, right? Why don't we go let the tamer know?" "We could just send them an e-mail," Riley helpfully suggested, even as she stood up from her own chair to grab her coat as well. 'Hey, any reason to get out of the office for awhile!' she thought with a happy smile. Yamaki laughed softly as he replied with a grin, "Sometimes, you just have to do out and do things in person." "I'll stay and hold down the fort," Daisy said with a melodramatic sigh. Of course, once Riley and Yamaki had left, she flopped down in her seat, brought up her favorite website, and laughed as she read the latest posts. They stood together at the front door, looking rather hesitant for two such very powerful government officials. After exchanging a few worried glances, Yamaki finally mustered his courage, and knocked on it gently. They heard the sound of quick footsteps, and the door opened. Yamaki saw who it was, and his face grew pale. Rika's Grandmother stood in the doorway and glared at the two of them with such force that poor Yamaki took an involuntary half step backward to try and escape. "Oh, it's you two again," she said with a fierce looking frown, "you haven't come back here to try to recruit Rika for that damned organization you work for, again?" Riley had to cover her mouth with her hand to conceal her impish smile. She loved watching the tough older woman turn the determined executive that Yamaki was back into a little kid receiving a scolding from an adult. "Oh no, no" Yamaki quickly protested his innocence, waving his hands in front of him frantically, "I wouldn't think of it!" "So why, exactly are you two here, then?" Grandmother demanded, not letting up with the fierce frown. Riley bowed to her respectfully, "We were wondering if we could speak with Rika for a moment? We have some important news for her." Grandmother relaxed a bit, and gave a smiling nod just to Riley. "Certainly, I'll go get her. Please sit in the living room," she instructed them as she went to get Rika. "How do you do that?" Yamaki asked Riley with an envious sigh. He wished he could charm the older lady like Riley was able to. Riley sighed softly. "She doesn't blame me for what happened to Renamon," Riley answered him sadly. Yamaki visibly winced at that. Grandmother checked Rika's bedroom first, only to find the small room empty. She walked down the corridor and listened at the door at the end of the hall. The soft sound of rapid typing, and soothing instrumental music could be heard coming from the small office that they had constructed for Rika's personal use. She knocked on the closed door gently, and after a moment heard the typing stop and a voice answer, "Come in." Rika sat in front of the powerful computer, a focused expression on her face as she stared at the body of text she had just written on the screen. The twenty year old had matured into a beautiful looking young woman. 'No, not beautiful,' her Grandmother had to admit, 'she's more handsome, really.' She wore her red hair short on top, with a long, braided tail swinging down the back. She stuck with wearing jeans and T-shirts, mostly, but she would dress up on special occasions, or at her mother's rare insistence. Her eyes were inevitably drawn to the large bookcase, and the section that held the several books Rika had written under her professional pseudonym. Mostly high fantasy, a few science fiction, and even a romance novel or two, all of them published under another name Rika had chosen in a moment of mischief: Rena Monica. "What's up?" Rika asked, getting up and stretching out the many kinks sitting at the desk sometimes gave her. She looked at the screen as if by sheer force of will she could tame the unruly words that rested there. "Those two are back again, supposedly with important news," Grandmother answered with a wry smile on her face. "They came back?" Rika echoed. She grinned, "Gee, Yamaki must be braver than I thought, to come back after the flaying you gave him." "I didn't flay," Grandmother answered Rika with falsely wounded dignity. "I merely pointed out," she said with a bit of real anger, "what a totally dirty, underhanded thing they did to you and your friends, all those years ago." "You're preaching to the converted," Rika answered her with a smile. The slightly taller girl put her arm over her Grandmother's shoulders comfortingly, "Let's go find out what they want so we can get them out of here as soon as possible." Yamaki sat up straight, forgetting the cookie he had been eating, leaving it hanging half out of his mouth. A quick elbow to the ribs from Riley jogged him enough to chew and swallow, and he chased it down with a bit of tea. "So what do you want?" Rika demanded. Rika really didn't like Yamaki, even though she did feel forced to respect him, just a little. It couldn't have been easy to run the small- scale war against the D-Reaper, but he had done it, maybe helping save the whole world in the process. But his means to that end had cost her dearly, and for that she would never forgive him. "We've picked up the early signs of a bio-emergence in Tokyo," Yamaki said calmly. "The data we've gathered is partial, and the conclusions we've drawn are tentative, but..." Getting tired of her boss beating around the bush, Riley finally had to burst out, "We think it might be Renamon!" Rika and her Grandmother looked at the two of them in stunned silence. Rika recovered first, "What are we waiting for? Lets go!" "We'll drive you," Yamaki said, quickly getting to his feet. "I'm going too," Rika's grandmother said firmly. Yamaki looked like he wanted to argue, but one of her frowns quieted him down. A few moments later they were on their way, Rika and her Grandmother in the back, Yamaki riding shotgun up front with Riley. They were going to the park where the Digimon had disappeared from this world, all those years ago. "I wonder why she's coming back there?" Rika asked herself thoughtfully. Yamaki took it as a serious question. "We're not entirely sure. The Monster makers think there's a degree of weakness in the border between worlds there," Yamaki said, keeping most of his concentration on his driving. Looking for something to fill the car's silence, "So, uhm, how's the new book going?" Riley elbowed him in the ribs, again. 'That has to be the worst thing to ask an author,' she thought to herself wearily. Rika smiled wryly to her Grandmother, who rolled her eyes. "I'm on the final stretch," Rika said with a small smile, "just a few chapters to go." Riley smiled a little as she used the opening to ask Rika, "Has the trouble over your last novel died down yet?" "Mostly," Rika answered, smiling impishly. Before she could say anything else, the car rolled to a stop and they quickly disembarked. Riley helped Rika out and Yamaki chivalrously offered a hand to Grandmother. They stood a moment at the gateway, until a soft beeping could be heard. Rika quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out her digivice, which was emitting the soft beeps. An arrow was on the small screen, pointing into the park. "Looks like we're in the right place,' Rika said, walking forward. In just a few moments they stood on an open section by a pond, and the readout indicated that they had reached their destination. There was haziness in the air, almost like rippled glass, and a hint of movement behind it. The digivice began to glow softly, then suddenly shot a beam of energy right into the distortion. "Remarkable," Yamaki said softly, even as the distortion seemed to stabilize a little bit. The pixilation effect they had seen before appeared and began to expand, until it was nearly human height. A figure appeared, then carefully stepped through. "Renamon?" Rika asked softly. Then, "Renamon!" as she ran forward. The fox Digimon clasped Rika close and twirled her around, nearly picking her off the ground. "Rika," Renamon said softly, holding the young woman close to her. She had been a bit surprised at how much Rika had grown, hoe much time had actually passed, but she would know her tamer anywhere! 'The distortion and the pixilation are both done,' Riley mentally noted. She gestured as subtlety as possible to both Yamaki and Rika's Grandmother as she quietly said, "Let's give them some time alone, shall we?" Grandmother nodded, following Riley away, Yamaki just behind them. "You have no idea how much I've missed you," Rika said softly, her face against Renamon's soft shoulder. "I've missed you, too Rika. I just wish I could have returned to you sooner," Renamon said quietly. "The digital world was in ruins when we returned, and all the Digimon's efforts were needed to try and restore it," she explained. "There's still much to do," she finished, "but all the sovereign Digimon released me, Gillmon and Terriermon to return to our human partners." Rika began to sniffle a bit, then she started crying. "I'm sorry," Rika said, wiping at her eyes, "it's just I'm so happy to see you." "I feel much the same," Renamon softly answered, her hands still gently resting on Rika's shoulders. "Do you think," Renamon asked her shyly, "we could go... home?" "Yes, please," Rika said with a smile, wiping a few tears away. 'Renamon thinks of the house as home,' she thought to herself happily. "Only, how?" she asked with a frown, as they walked together towards Riley's small car. Renamon smiled, bowing respectfully to Rika's Grandmother, "It's good to see you." She looked a great deal more dubiously over at Riley and Yamaki, standing nearby. "It's good to have you back," Riley said, her sincerity obvious in her voice. Yamaki looked a bit embarrassed. "I'm glad you've returned," he said, then hesitantly added, "and I'm sorry, for what I did." Renamon looked over at Yamaki considering, even as Rika simply gaped at him in honest surprise. 'I guess I never would have thought he'd apologize,' Rika thought, deeply startled by his atypical actions. "I saw the damage the D-Reaper did to the Digital World," Renamon finally said, then smiled at him gently, "I can understand you wanting to prevent it here." Yamaki's shoulders seemed to rise, almost as if he had been released from a great weight he had carried for far too long. Rika's Grandmother looked a bit disapproving, it was obvious she was much less willing to forgive and forget. "It's nice to have you back," she said with a smile, and then hugged the surprised Digimon. It was pretty funny, Renamon standing there stiff as a board until she relaxed enough to gently hug the older woman back. Renamon looked at the three, a small smile on her face. "Would the rest of you mind meeting me and Rika back at the house?" she asked them courteously. "Certainly," Yamaki said, after exchanging a gaze with Riley and Rika's Grandmother, "but how are you... ?" In a single motion, Renamon swept Rika up into her arms, eliciting a loud squeal of surprise. She bent her knees a bit, then leapt high up into the nearest tree's branches. They saw her bounding away, and heard Rika's faint laughter receding into the distance. "Just like a prince holding a princess," Riley said with a small smile. She looked sideways at Grandmother as she asked, "That doesn't worry you?" The older woman smiled to herself serenely, "As long as Rika's happy, I think I'll manage." Then she shrugged a bit, "Besides, it could be worse. She could have brought that Rio boy home." She made a face at that. Yamaki smiled, shaking his head, while Riley just laughed.
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