Runaway

Dr.M

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. But the names of the Kingdom's were thought of by me. And I'm not entirely sure on what Rika's mother's name is, my information comes from other fanfics And I'm using their dub ages in this, so they're thirteen instead of ten. But Suzy is still seven.

The council looked on as they waited for their queen to arrive. Then they all bowed as the queen and her daughter walked down to their thrones.

"All hale Queen Rumiko." One said.

"All hale Queen Rumiko." The crowd followed. Then the queen raised her hands and the people bowed down.

"Attention everybody." The queen said. "I have come to announce that there will be a great jousting tournament tomorrow. The prize will be my daughter, the princess Rika's hand in marriage in the future." Then the entire crowd cheered, all except for Princess Rika.

"I can't believe she's doing this." Rika thought to herself. "Treating me like I'm some kind of prize and forcing me to get engaged to a man that I don't even know."

Later on in the night, Rika put a cloak on and tied some sheets up. She made a rope out of them and hung it out the window. Then she climbed down and landed outside the tower in her room. Her Digimon partner Renamon spotted her.

"Rika, where are you going?" Renamon asked.

"I'm leaving this place forever." Rika said.

"But what about the kingdom, they need you."

"All they want me to do is pass me off as a trophy. Forget it Renamon, nothing you say will make me change my mind."

"But at least let me come with you."

"All right, but don't let anybody see you. I don't want them to know who I am." Then Rika took a horse from the stable and then she climbed onto it and rode off, away from the castle. After a while she passed through the village and she was lucky enough for nobody to notice her. She continued riding until she left the Kingdom of Roch and into the forest. After a while, she and Renamon made it to a place called Drenvock, but the second her horse stepped on the land, some arrows flew at her.

"Stop right there intruders." One of the archers said.

"We know you're a spy, so back off and we'll let you live." Another one said.

"But I'm not a spy!" Rika called out to them. But they didn't hear her and one of the arrows shot the horse right in the body. Then a few more hit it and caused it to fall. Rika hit the ground hard and was knocked unconscious. Then Renamon picked her up and outran all of the archers and entered Drenvock.

Rika awoke on a cot inside a small cottage. She looked around and spotted a small girl by her bed. When the girl saw that she was awake, she ran out of the room.

"Henry." She said. "That girl you brought woke up." Rika was puzzled, she was in a place she had never seen before and Renamon was nowhere in sight. The next thing she new, a blue haired boy with green eyes entered the room.

"Hi." He said as he handed her some water. "Welcome to the orphanage."

"Hi." She replied.

"I hope you're ok, I found you unconscious in the forest."

"Well, thanks for finding me."

"No problem. My name's Henry. What's yours?" Rika was sort of shocked by his question. She didn't want to give out her real name because her mother might start looking for her.

"My name is Rena." She said.

Meanwhile at the castle, the queen was in distress at the disappearance of Princess Rika. A lot of knights were by her side, and then the drawbridges opened. Then a knight riding a white horse entered and a young boy was by his side. The squire looked about the same age as Rika and the knight looked a little older.

"All hail prince Ryo!" The squire said as the knight climbed off his horse. "All hail prince Ryo, the greatest fighter in the world!"

"Please, you're embarrassing me Kazu." Prince Ryo said. Then they both bowed to the queen as she discussed her problem.

"Fair knights." The queen said to them. "My daughter Princess Rika has disappeared, as well as her Digimon partner. I fear that she may have been kidnaped or worse. I offer five thousand pieces of gold to the one who finds her." All the knights agreed and they rode off in search of the princess.

Back at the orphanage, Rika had gotten out of bed and Henry was going to show her around.

"So are there any other kids living there?" Rika asked.

"Yes, I'll introduce them to you." Henry said as he took Rika out of her room, where she spotted the young girl who was in her room earlier.

"So you're up." The girl said. "Nice to meet you, I'm Suzy, Henry's little sister."

"Hi." Rika said. "I'm Rena." Then she turned to Henry. "She's a nice girl."

"Yeah." Henry said.

"Must be pretty tough not having parents."

"It is. I don't know what they're like, they died when I was young. All I remember was my older brother and sister. But for some reason, they had to leave me. The last thing I remember my brother saying was to take care of Suzy."

Henry took her outside the village and to a bakery. There they spotted a young, brown haired boy with Lavender eyes, and he was their age.

"Hey Henry." He said. "So, who's this new girl?"

"This is Rena." Henry told the boy. "Rena, this is Takato."

"Hi." Rika said.

"Hi Rena. By the way, Jeri's at the medicine man's house, I think you should get her."

"You're right." Henry said as they left. Rika noticed the sadness that was in their voices when they mentioned Jeri. Then they went into this house and spotted a young girl who was their age too. She had light reddish brown hair and brown eyes.

"Hi Henry." The girl said. She turned to Rika. "Hi, you must be new, my name's Jeri."

"Hi, I'm Rena." Rika said.

"Nice to meet you Rena." Jeri started coughing after that. They headed back home and Jeri climbed into a bed. Henry put some blankets around her.

"What's wrong with her?" Rika asked.

"Jeri's been really sick the past few months. Others think that she may get better if we had some more food, but it's tough getting some because we're poor. Takato's been working at the bakery to help her."

"He must really be worried about her."

"He is. Jeri's been Takato's closest friend ever since his parents were locked in the dungeon because they weren't able to pay the king his taxes. He came to live with us after that and she made him feel welcome."

"But will she live?"

"We don't know, we just don't know." Those words really stuck to Rika. Night came later on and Rika went outside the house while everyone was sleeping. There Renamon spotted her.

"Good thing I found you Rika, I was worried something bad had happened to you." Renamon said, but Rika just remained silent. "Is there something wrong?"

"I never knew there was so much pain outside the castle." Rika said as a tear fell from her eye.

To Be Continued.