#(IT'S KOUSHIRO WHO HELPS WITH THE DIGIVICES AFTER ALL)

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DigiTimeLines: Document format [pt2]

[part 1] | [AO3 version] | @digimonadventuretimelines (blog; outdated)

Part 2 is not totally focused on the next villain arc, but a few arcs involving a few kids and foreshadowing for the next segment (yes, part 3 confirmed, but not sure if it will be the closure to this big plotline) -- also there's some canon divergence in it, but this is a multiverse story project, so different sources of canon can still exist in their own timelines.

[pixel Crest art by Lurils & me]

The Prelude To A New Enemy

No one knew how to explain what happened to Motomiya Daisuke. He was alive, of course, but in front of them all was… A small dog-like baby digimon with fur resembling Daisuke’s hair in color and style. In other words, he looked like a Pomeranian dog. Koushiro labeled that digimon form as “Pomeranimon” but Daisuke hated the idea of being called like that!!

Oddly, his voice sounded babyish and childish (like in Hurricane Touchdown movie) instead of the voice of an adult man. Taichi wanted more to know what happened after he got captured, but Daisuke being alive and safe now was enough for him. Ken is the one who deserved to know that info (but Taichi still wanted to know, so were the others in the room) -- but Daisuke says he’s too tired to talk. Miyako grabs her tiny and furry husband and starts demanding him to explain things NOW, and he just agrees to.

At first, Daisuke and Wingdramon managed to beat the enemies but couldn’t go home. They knew if they opened the gate, the enemies would go after Ken… So they stayed on the run and tried to survive. It was when a strange thing happened -- they met a strange Digimental in the jungle, being secured by the foe’s army. So this was the thing they were looking for, right? Something something Digimental of… Darkness? He didn’t remember very well of that part. But Ken was needed because of the Digivice of Darkness. They were trying to bring the Kaiser back and then use it to show how the humans were evil beings only interested in turning every digimon their slaves.

Daisuke and V-mon thought about taking that Digimental with them before they could use it, but Papillonmon appeared and threw those shadow butterflies against them. Then, that vile digimon forced Daisuke to use that Digimental on V-mon, armor evolving him into a black-armored Magnamon. Papillonmon then used his special attack to transform Daisuke into a digimon and labeled it Lupinmon. Since then, Daisuke and V-mon were fighting hard to regain control of their bodies but couldn’t for much longer.

It was when Magnamon ordered Natsu to go back and ask for the group’s help, but she ended up being chased by the evil enemies for five years and had no chance to get back to the human world until that day she met Daichi.

As Daisuke finishes his report, he yawns and falls asleep in Miyako’s hands. She’s about to shake him to keep him awake when Daichi intervenes saying to let him rest for a while. The adults are quite upset with their children, but they are at least relieved everyone was back and safe. Taichi tries to talk with them, but Taisuke just says he only wants to shield them, and he leaves stomping his feet on the floor. Hikari looks at Taichi, as if she knew something was wrong with them all, but she couldn’t blame those kids for trying something risky: They did the same around their ages too.

Ken mutters that they were chosen in the past, but then they made the choice to stand up and fight. Have Taichi forgotten that?

Kiyoko and Eiji follow Taisuke, trying to talk with the boy that maybe the adults were afraid of their old friend killing their children. Daichi and Hoshi come later, but Daichi seems… off. They ask what’s wrong and the kid says something is not right. Why would Papillonmon let Daisuke and Magnamon set free all of a sudden? Kiyoko gasps, ‘Are you saying dad is still in his hands!?’ but Daichi denies it, and adds that it was another thing.

What thing? The thing is… He didn’t see that Digimental his father mentioned there. So, obviously… Papillonmon retrieved it from Magnamon before leaving the Manticoremon soldiers try to get rid of them all. This made Eiji muse about that detail: Maybe Daisuke is still under Papillonmon’s spell, but not under his control. Hence why he’s still a digimon, but devolved this time. Hoshi asks if this means her dad is in danger again, and the group only assumed this could mean ‘yes’, yet they had nothing in hand to confirm their suspicions.

Would the adults believe them? Not without Daisuke and V-mon’s help.

Space-Time Traveling, Again

Once Daisuke and Chibimon had their energies recovered they were kidnapped by Kiyoko and Taisuke. The iconic 2-TOP duo were facing the children’s eyes and watching them mutter something to each other. Daisuke loses his patience, as if he was a teacher finding his classroom was merged into chaos while he was out. Mirai finds this whole situation enjoyable! A human turned into a digimon!? This must be studied! Mitsuki jokes about Mirai wanting to dissect the poor Daisuke-mon and Kiyoko snaps at them! NO ONE IS GOING TO LEND A HAND ON HIS FLOPPY FUR! (Daisuke, annoyed: Stop reminding me that I have fur!!)

Reika asks them all to behave and respect Daisuke, because he’s still an adult. Though he felt that form humiliating, only to have Elise scratch the back of his dog ear. Somehow this helped him to relax… Well, he’s stuck in that form until Koushiro can fix it. Chibimon complains, he wants to be pampered too! Elise uses her free hand to scratch Chibimon’s belly, who feels so pleased and relaxed… Until Natsu switches to Digimon form in order to get some belly rubs too. Elise complains, she can’t give love to all of them at the same time!! Her partner Zebra also complains because he wanted Elise’s attention too. She calls for the others’ help, and then Jin tells all of the digimon to stop bugging Elise.

Daichi calls everyone’s attention to their main topic, and Daisuke raises an eyebrow: What is it? His son then asks him if he or Chibimon had seen the Digimental he mentioned again, when they regained consciousness -- Daisuke and Chibimon looked at each other for a moment: OH NO, they forgot about the Digimental!! Daichi and the other kids grimace when they hear that.

Daisuke laughs nervously, and dramatically cries about him being stupid. Taisuke says, in his most tsun way, that it wasn’t his fault if he was brainwashed. The rest look at the boy, who snaps at them for that: I WAS JUST STATING THE FACTS, Y’KNOW!? Daichi wonders if he should go back in time and secure the Digimental, but Natsu says that could be wrong!

Daisuke muses that they could go back a bit further in time, but he thinks it’s risky and he should leave it to Ken and the others. Eiji counter-arguments the enemies might be after his dad now. With no other options, Daisuke sighs. He knows if he allows those children to risk their lives, their parents might unleash their wrath on him. Ulforce suggests they send just Daichi and him there, but Daisuke says they don’t know what they’re looking for! Mike suggests he describe the Digimental and that they would draw it, like the police do with suspects. Chibimon shrugs, can Daisuke be able to describe something? Daisuke squints his eyes at his own partner, and decides to go with that suggestion.

As Daisuke described the Digimental, the kids’ best artist -- Reika -- tried to capture the image in the paper. When she finished, they all looked at it. Taisuke says it looks like “a World’s Cup trophy-thing, but in cold colors” and everyone glanced at him. He does “What? I think it’s what I see here! Evil Soccer Cup’s Trophy.” -- Hoshi growls, this wasn’t the right hour to think about soccer!! Daisuke, with a deadpan face, looks at the kids and just agrees with Taisuke.

They have a plan, and then Daichi now tells them to keep everyone, mr. Ichijouji Ken included, safe while he’s out. The kids agree. Daisuke says he wants to go, but Natsu says she and Ulforce can protect Daichi for him. With everyone’s agreement, Daichi, Ulforce and Natsu go to the Dimensional Space dungeon again.

Daisuke still thinks everything is his fault, so he asks Taisuke, Hoshi and Eiji to take him to Taichi and Ken. Chibimon cannot evolve if Daisuke can’t use his digivice, so they have to be protected by those kids.

Hard Task: Talking to Taichi & Ken

The Ichijouji siblings could manage to call Ken for a small talk with Daisuke, but can Taisuke contact his dad for this too? The answer is… There’s a lot happening between Taichi and his son, Taisuke definitely hates the fact his dad is a busy man and since this whole crisis started, Taichi didn’t get time to rest and be with him and his mother. So, Taisuke is definitely out of his reach right now. But Daisuke needs to talk with Taichi immediately -- Maybe the best scenario would’ve been with both at the same time.

Hoshi knows Taisuke has a beef with her uncle Taichi. Eiji knows Hoshi and Taisuke do not get along either. And he’s a shy person, a bookworm. He cannot raise his voice and stop any clash between his sister and his cousin-and-best-friend.

Daisuke frowns: This is too much for him. If he were still human he could act as the responsible adult he is, but as a… digimon? He’s small and cannot do much! So, he had to count on Eiji for this. The moment Hoshi and Taisuke started arguing about how to call Taichi, things began overwhelming Eiji. The digimon with them were trying to help to reach a conclusion, but those two human children are hard to deal with.

Daisuke tries to call them out, but yup. His small dog-like shape cannot stop those two. Kitty, Sting and Draki as well, they were almost arguing between themselves too. It is when Eiji snaps and shouts. His hair went all over his face, resembling Ken in his child days. He tells them to stop, that this wouldn’t help anyone and that mr. Motomiya wanted their help for something important! Everyone glances at the boy in shock. Daisuke blinks, and comments this reminded him of when Ken used to snap at the others when he got angry. Eiji starts apologizing for that, that he didn’t want to… But Daisuke smiles at him and says he didn’t do anything wrong. Everyone agrees, they were wasting their time with that nonsense.

Eiji comments that if they get to talk to their dad first, they can manage to get him to call uncle Taichi with his help. Chibimon wonders if this is possible. Daisuke muses that as well, it’s not like Taichi and Ken hate each other, but they’re always kinda… awkward together… The kids agree with this too. But if this could help fight the enemy, they will cooperate with each other.

Taichi and Ken managed to meet with their kids and Daisuke. Their digimon were also present, because this is about their enemy. Daisuke took a deep breath before he could reveal something he knew. Then, when he starts… Everyone’s eyes were widened:

The enemy was trying to bring the Kaiser back, yes, but they also wanted to use him to invoke a greater threat to the world: Imperialdramon. They wanted to use Imperialdramon’s power to cause havoc in the human world, and force the humans to banish every digimon from their world, and then closing the gates around the human world.

Ken stroked his chin: This means the problem was bigger than he thought. At least it wasn’t related to some-other-digimon-he-knew (aka Millenniummon) so he was a little relieved. Chibimon could sense Wormmon was in shock, and then he added that they learned that while he and Daisuke were trying to steal the Digimental of Darkness before they could snatch it.

But that didn’t work, of course. Taichi asks why they didn't tell him before, and Daisuke looks at the floor and stays quiet. Taisuke mutters something like ‘You’re always busy, ol’ man’ which is heard by the digimon and Daisuke (because, since he’s in a digimon form his senses are pretty superhuman now) and they look at the boy. Daisuke babbles immediately that he couldn’t do that before but now he did it. Chibimon adds that Daisuke and him were ashamed of getting captured and brainwashed.

Ken muses if he is still a target, after all… Daisuke has been rescued and is back to his senses now. Daisuke frowns, he’s concerned about this form though -- If he’s really free from Papillonmon’s control. Taichi understands what that meant, and tells the kids to leave Daisuke and Chibimon with the police. Hoshi says in a serious tone that she thinks this is too harsh on them. Daisuke smiles and says Taichi’s right, he and Chibimon might still be under the enemies control and he is asking for surveillance too. Eiji frowns, but he leaves Daisuke and Chibimon in Taichi and Agumon’s hands. Kiyoko is going to kill us -- Taisuke whispers to the Ichijouji siblings. Daisuke sighs, and then makes it clear to the kids are aware that he heard them -- It’s for their children’s safety. And then entrusts Daichi and Kiyoko to those three.

Taisuke blushes, somehow. He didn’t expect to get an important task like that. Taichi and Ken ask Daisuke if this was okay and then Daisuke nods -- Those were the children who rescued him after all, and they all should trust them like their families trusted them all to beat Apocalymon and Vamdemon ages ago. Taichi nods and smiles -- Yup, they’re our children after all.

Searching for the Digimental of Darkness

Daichi, Ulforce and Natsu were looking at the infinite number of doors in that space. Ulforce wonders if they can find the right door since all of them are the same! Daichi smirks and says he had been labeling all the doors they opened with a label printer he had borrowed from Mitsuki. Natsu and Ulforce are impressed, but did he label the first door too? He reveals he had brought it with him since the first time they did space-time travel. Ulforce says HOW, but then Natsu reminds him they had been there briefly before Daichi’s decision to use that gimmick to save Daisuke.

Still, there’s a ton of doors unlabeled yet. So how could they find the one leading them to the time Daisuke and V-mon found the Digimental? Natsu suggests asking ClavisAngemon and that mysterious hooded person.

And, since she was “basically ominous” just by that mention, the woman in the hood appears in front of them. She also summons ClavisAngemon in order to lend the trio a hand. The woman notices the label printer in Daichi’s hands and asks why he had that in hands. The boy says since all of those doors have the same design and no labels, they couldn’t know where they were going, so he decided to label them by himself. She laughs kindly and reveals they could’ve used the digivice for that, since the D-TimeRune can scan the doors and point out where they could go through them. The trio stares at her, and screams in a very angry tone: WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US FIRST!? 

Daichi takes a deep breath to calm down. He just then breathes out, and shows the drawing to them -- They needed to find the door leading them to this Digimental, a door from their timeline. ClavisAngemon and the woman gasp, and her eyes are widened too. They ask why they are looking for that forbidden power, and Natsu informs them that the enemy in their timeline-bar-world had acquired and used it to put a DigiChosen against them. The woman was aware of that as well, since she can see through the doors about the past, present and the future. She is actually an overseer entity.

The trio uses the digivice this time, finding the correct door and opening it. But to their surprise, the door leads them to the human world instead. There they find a girl named Nishikawa Yume, whose appearance was pretty… familiar. She’s partnered with a YukiAgumon called Blitz. Yume knew those three were suspicious, and believed they came from the future. She’s basically the same age as him (14yo). Daichi ignored that girl and focused on finding the Digimental of Darkness quickly, BUT it felt like an impossible quest: The place Daisuke said to be where he and V-mon found it… Has no Digimental when they got there. Finding it too suspicious, Natsu uses her pendant to move through time and reach the moment the Digimental appeared. EXCEPT Yume and Blitz managed to sneak into their magical bubble-shield and witness their secret. Ulforce gets annoyed by those two, but Daichi interrupts him and asks how they got there. Yume smiles and says she knows what they’re looking for, and offers to help them, in return for a favor. What is her deal? To use Daichi’s power in order to protect someone important to her. Natsu finds it fishy, but the boy accepts the offer and makes a deal with that girl. Yume then mentions the existence of a dark passage in that area, leading them to another parallel realm where the Digimental is locked to not be caught by no one. Ulforce asks how she knows that, and she says better they do not know.

Small Yet Helpful

Koushiro, Jou and Miyako were studying Daisuke’s Pomeranimon form. They had Gennai’s help as well, but it seemed that none of them could find an answer to why Daisuke is still a digimon. Daisuke was afraid of him still being under Papillonmon’s control, hence why he asked to be kept locked and under surveillance. What if he hurts someone!? He would never forgive himself if something like that happens. Miyako ran a few more tests on Daisuke, ones that could detect digimon’s coding and digital waves on him, but thankfully nothing was found. So, something else was preventing Daisuke from returning back to his original human form. But what?

Mirai drops by and asks the adults if she could help in something, but they are still not sure if they could let her do anything. They just ask her to keep protecting the digimon and humans while they work on it. Mirai fakes a smile and then leaves. But at night she just comes back and kidnaps Pomeranimon. 

When Daisuke asks her why she says she’s just upset that no one wants her giving them a hand because she’s seen as too young for that. Except she’s too smart compared to the children from her age, and this makes her frustrated because she does not know what to do then -- adults say she’s too young to help them, and children around her age say she’s too different from them to play with her. The exceptions were Taisuke and Elise (who are the same age as her), because they also feel different and weird. Daisuke frowns, and she says she wants to be a “normal” person. Daisuke replies saying it’s okay to be different, and that people should accept her for who she is. He knows Koushiro’s reasons to refuse Mirai’s help was due to the fear of him still being under the enemy’s power… So he reveals that to her. He also says maybe she could help him out, but that they kept that a secret from the others. Mirai asks what it is, and then he says “Be yourself, do what you do the best. Leave the adults to me.” With this, Mirai nods and says she will then use her expertise to find out how to bring him back to normal, but Daisuke asks her another favor -- to help Daichi as much as she can for him.

All of those requests given to the children… They sounded like either Daichi was in trouble, or Daisuke was about to die. But rest assured, it’s just Daisuke being a dramatic dad and wanting Daichi’s friends to help his son as much as they can.

Mirai and Daisuke’s convo are interrupted by a Phantomon. The small pup form for Daisuke wasn’t able to beat a Perfect level digimon, and yet…!! Mirai calls for Koh (the KoKabuterimon) help, who evolves into Kabuterimon and faces the enemy. Koh is not used to fighting, so all he does is prevent Phantomon from capturing Mirai and Daisuke. He grabs them and retreats, but Phantomon chases them. Daisuke knows he has to do something, but… Heh, he just jumps from Mirai’s arms and throws himself at Phantomon’s face. Mirai and Koh scream, and then… Mirai’s digivice shoots a light on Daisuke’s Pomeranimon form.

He evolves… Back to Lupinmon -- Except it’s Fairytail Mode Lupinmon. That new digimon form is stronger and he destroys Phantomon, but before destroying it, he snatches something from the digimon’s robes and is caught by Koh. Mirai wonders if she just formed a link with Daisuke and he’s also confused -- So, this digimon form can be linked to digivices!? Can he link himself to his old D-3 and then evolve V-mon again!? Maybe… Sure, why not try it!?

The Digimental of Darkness’ Hidden Dimension

How did Yume know about that? They were told that they were better not to know the answer, but they would go investigate that later. They managed to go there without her and Blitz, so they could have a talk about what they think of her at least. Daichi’s opinion is maybe she has a reason to not tell them where she got that info, Natsu and Ulforce’s are she’s fishy, better not trust her at all. 

Said Digimental was there, Ulforce and Natsu could feel it, though they couldn’t see it. But before that, what would they do? Grab the Digimental and leave? According to Daisuke’s report, the enemy had secured the Digimental and was hunting Ken down for his digivice. But what were Daisuke & V-mon thinking to do next? Just flee? Hide the Digimental? Take it to Koushiro or Gennai? Destroy it? They had no idea what they should DO with that thing!!

Of course Daichi was aware of how Digimentals work -- you say “Digimental Up!” and then it activated the Armor Evolution. But Daichi also knew Ulforce is a V-mon, and V-mon species had an affinity to Digimentals. He wouldn’t risk turning Ulforce or Natsu into a feral monster and let them run amok. They needed a strategy.

Searching the area for the Digimental they found its guardian -- Aegiochusmon: Dark. Prepared for battle, Daichi puts Ulforce and Natsu on hold and tries to explain to Aegiochusmon why they were there. Aegiochusmon understood them, but it’s when they learn that the changes in the past wouldn’t erase/destroy the future or present, and yes that Daichi was creating new alternative timelines for them all. But how did Aegiochusmon know that? Daichi was in denial now. Natsu stays silent, and Ulforce tries to attack with his V-Bracelets. Aegiochusmon then repels the plasma shots and threatens to send them to the null area if they don’t leave.

Daichi keeps refusing that information, Ulforce orders Aegiochusmon to give them the Digimental, but the other refuses to. Natsu grabs both Ulforce and Daichi, thanks Aegiochusmon and leaves immediately. The boys complain hard and criticize her behavior, but she ignores them. Daichi was feeling she was hiding something from them. Then, she suggests they find the Digimental of Miracles to counter-attack the Digimental of Darkness. Ulforce wonders why Miracles and not Light -- The Digimental of Light is the opposite of the Digimental of Darkness after all. The logic lied more in the sacred power and high defensive stats the Digimental of Miracles could give them.

With this… They returned to their present again.

Another Kind of Trouble (?)

Remember when I said there’s two main enemies before? The other issue making Taichi lose brain cells to put an end to the conflict was the anti-digimon people. Despite having the entire world’s populace partnered with digimon, some of those people hated them and had awful relationships with the digimon -- might become a bit heavy here, but -- such as abusing them, harming them and even trying to end their lives… Or using them for crimes.

Criminals are “easy” to deal with, at least. You arrest the human and send their partner to some sort of a victim protection program to keep the digimon safer from the toxic human tamer… And then “undo” their partnership -- not that they end the connection between human and digimon, but they send it back to the Digital World to be taken care of by a special group of caregivers formed by digimon and humans habiting the DW.

As for abuse, harm or murder attempt cases… Those are harder and it’s just like what happens to human beings, but they couldn’t let the digimon return to those people’s hands. So they’re completely sent to the same group of caregivers and under the victim protection program. Things might be harder than dealing with a human being though, and no one wants those digimon victims to be devolved into digiegg stage.

The rest of the Neo Chosen group is focused on saving the digimon from bad partners, while Daichi is out. They’re forced to protect the digimon before the human partner triggers a dark evolution and go amok, so many times those kids had no other choice but revert the wild feral dark evolution into an egg or baby form. With the help of the police, the adults would arrest the toxic tamer and never let their digimon see them again -- unless they redeem themselves and repent for their actions. Because yeah, those kids and their parents/relatives would hope for the best and happy ending.

But digimon taking control over their partners also exist. Criminal digimon abusing their human partners, forcing them to commit crimes, to evolve them so they could hurt and destroy stuff also exist and are on the top of the list for things the Neo Chosen and their families have to combat. In this case the human is protected from the digimon, and the digimon is forced back to digiegg state. 

Some of those cases ended up with the rest of the kids unlocked Adult and Perfect evolution for their partners:

Elise: BlackGabumon → B.Garurumon and B.WereGarurumon

Mike: Floramon → Sunflowmon and Lilamon

Jin: Kamemon → Gawappamon and Shawujinmon

Reika: Armadimon → Ankylomon and Triceramon

Mitsuki: Tsukaimon → Pidmon and HolyAngemon

Mirai’s partner, Koh, would super evolve later, but at this point she was just busy working behind the curtains and working as some sort of navigator-esque character.

Another problem they have to face is people very Menoa-like trying to build mindless human-made digimon for military and war purposes. Taichi & co. hated this case so badly that the authorities and agents like Yamada Kyotaro (also known by “Imura Kyotaro”) would put a stop on any program or project involving this kind of research and manufacture.

But a part of their worries was definitely Papillonmon’s plans -- where did he go and what will he do now?

Clash Between Daichi and Soleil

The “Space trio” -- Soleil, Lune and Étoile -- kept working on their own way: In the shadows and doing the sneaky job. They met with Daichi in the meantime, when the boy was seeking for the Holy Beasts. Soleil uses a prophetic voice tone saying Daichi is too soft for the world-saving job and that he was selected as the savior of the worlds by Homeostasis. Natsu and Ulforce definitely argue with Soleil that Homeostasis don’t go and threaten people like him. Soleil is so sure Daichi, Ulforce and Natsu are disobeying the “divine” orders and unleashes his fury on them -- claiming himself to be the embodiment of Justice.

A fight happens between Flaremon and AeroV-dramon. Lune realizes Ulforce is an interesting digimon specimen and tells Lekismon to stop the fight by putting Flaremon and AeroV-dramon in sleep. Soleil growls at the interruption, but he calms down when Lune justifies just letting Daichi and co. roll with it, because things would’ve been more “interesting” -- no one besides Lune herself knew what that meant (it means she wanted to study Daichi’s methods and philosophy, that’s it.)

Étoile suspiciously drops a card on Natsu, asking to meet her later… Without Daichi and Ulforce. The card also meant it wasn’t a trap, just a human-to-digimon talk. Natsu accepts the terms, and waits for Étoile later, on a… Digimon bar. This bar had everything -- Alcohol and non-alcohol, also oil and other non-human drinks. Why would a human kid want to meet her there?!

Turns out that… Étoile is not human.

Natsu noticed it by the fact Étoile did not appear as Étoile, and yes as an enigmatic and elusive digimon named Arsenemon. He was like her and Arukenimon & Mummymon, or Bakemon species -- a digimon able to shapeshift into a human being. He had chosen that form in order to hide from Lupinmon and protect his archnemesis Herlockmon -- now devolved into a purple Pokomon/Viximon subspecies. Natsu realized something was familiar to her… Daisuke was Lupinmon, but he did not turn back to normal and just reverted into a small baby II level digimon after he was rescued. Could this mean…??

Arsenemon says that he’s aware that Daisuke did not do anything purposely and was a victim, but he was so done with Papillonmon and his lackeys for that. But he also suspected that someone was pretending to be Homeostasis and just manipulating Soleil and Lune under the curtains. Natsu nods in agreement -- Homeostasis does not talk like that at all, they’re not a god-like figure, it’s just a security system for the Digital World.

But who?

The Holy Beast, Yume and Daichi

Before continuing, Daichi and co returned and reported to Daisuke and the others about their discoveries -- Daisuke got a little sad they couldn’t prevent it from happening, but Eiji says that might be for a good cause… They talked to the adults about this too, and then Ken mused about Natsu’s idea to use the Digimental of Miracles to counter the Digimental of Darkness. Yet they had no idea what would happen next, like what Papillonmon would do, or if there’s a way to bring Daisuke back to normal. Then, he asked the kids to search for an old acquaintance of the group, one of the Holy Beasts he and the others had met before in their childhood. Daisuke suggested going with them, but Hikari quietly asked if it was safe to let Daisuke go with them in this state. Koushiro interrupted them saying there’s still something off with Daisuke and they couldn’t take their eyes off him. When the kids asked why, Daisuke changed his mind and said he must stay under surveillance. Mirai frowned, this didn’t sound correct…

Actually Daisuke, for being able to “evolve” into Lupinmon again because of Mirai… Had made Daisuke himself concerned of not being free from Papillonmon’s power, not from his mind control (this one was already undone by Daichi) -- so he feared running amok soon or later.

Now, after facing Soleil and Natsu had talked with Étoile… the trio plus Taisuke, Kiyoko, Eiji and Hoshi wander through the Digital World, as a group. They ran through a few issues, but nothing big. To meet the Holy Beasts, they have to contact one of the Digital World’s agents (aka Gennai’s kind, or Gennai himself) -- But this is where they… had no idea how to meet an agent.

Yume appears with her partner YukiAgumon (named Blitz) and she asks Daichi if he got what he wanted. The others minus Natsu and Ulforce glance at Daichi and “do you know this girl?” but Daichi completely ignores their question and replies to Yume with a nod and adds that he couldn’t get the Digimental but they came up with another plan to countermeasure it. Then, Yume asks what it is and Hoshi whispers to Daichi to not tell that girl anything… Except he ignores his friends again and tells Yume that they’re looking for the Holy Beasts.

Yume smiles and says she knows those digimon, making everyone exclaim in shock. Natsu raises an eyebrow because how could that human girl know the Holy Beasts? That’s fishy…!!

But Yume takes them to the area where the one she knows the most reigns and it’s…

Baihumon. 

Kiyoko blinks, “Shouldn’t we be meeting a blue dragon instead?” and the group confirms it. Yume says Baihumon is an old acquaintance of her father, and that they barely meet nowadays. Taisuke wonders if the Holy Beasts are all partnered with humans and then Eiji -- in his very smart aleck mode -- remembers them about the fact some books and digimon folklore mentions that four of the five Chosen Children digimon have ascended into the final form as the Holy Beasts. Ulforce, Natsu and the rest of the digimon confirm it. Taisuke then asks what happened to the fifth digimon from that group and then none of the digimon or Eiji knew. Yume then slips something like “they died in combat” and Daichi frowns, he goes straight to the point: “Are you related to the fifth Chosen and their digimon?”

Baihumon interrupts them, asking why Yume brought those people and digimon to him. She gently says they’re looking for the Digimental of Miracles, to counter the power of the Digimental of Darkness. Baihumon seems surprised by the mention of that wicked Digimental, and then asks the kids what happened to its guardian. Again, none of them know what happened to Aegiochusmon: Dark, but Taisuke jumps into the conclusion that that guardian had betrayed everyone! Eiji thinks the most realistic conclusion is either that or that the enemies beat the guardian.

Daichi wasn’t that interested in the theories revolving around what happened to Aegiochusmon, but he definitely got some interest on Yume’s behavior when Taisuke asked about what happened to the fifth kid and their partner digimon. But this is everything Yume wanted, actually -- to lure Daichi into her own selfish plan.

Baihumon then decides he will talk to the other Holy Beasts and pass their reports to them, he’s a courteous but not so friendly digimon though, but he kept contact with human beings because of Qinglongmon and his human partner. Seems like he was hiding something too, considering he didn’t say anything regarding his fifth old comrade… Hoshi notices that Daichi is too quiet to the point it’s suspicious, so once they’re back to the human world she asks him what’s going on. Daichi mentions he’s not very sure why, but both Baihumon and Yume were acting strangely when Taisuke asked that question, and Taisuke himself starts wondering if they should investigate that. Kiyoko and Eiji remind them that there’s a digi-crisis happening right now and they shouldn’t get distracted by this. Hoshi suspiciously agrees with Taisuke -- that they should go with it. The kids look at Natsu for a while, and she shrugs. It’s futile to discuss with them, but she also thinks it won’t hurt to research about some fellow Chosen Child while they wait for the Holy Beasts’ decision.

Meeting Baihumon’s Human Partner

With the power of Mirai and Mitsuki’s investigative skills, the group reach a man running a coffee shop in Tokyo called Nishijima Daigo. He was possibly in his late forties and was different from the kind of partner the group had thought of -- He was a completely charismatic, caring and lovely person… Also a walking mess.

Meeting mr. Nishijima made Daichi even more curious about Yume’s true personality -- there was something off in her, yet something… familiar. The kids ask the man about the Digital World he had met in the past, and his reaction is… He completely changed his mood to someone more serious. He asks those young Chosen how did they know about him and his connection to Baihumon, and then Hoshi says his daughter told them. He almost burns his coffee brew by the mention of Yume. He sighs, so she’s doing that again huh… But how they knew about his child was a mystery. Daichi then explains to the man that they met before, a few years ago in 2024 during a mission (he’s not sure IF he can give the details of holding the power to space-time travel though… So not many people are aware of Daichi having said power… yet) and it makes Nishijima wonder which kind of mission would this kid have been involved in to cross with Yume’s path.

It doesn’t matter, Nishijima then tells them to not let her convince them from doing something risky. This makes Eiji raise an eyebrow -- What does Nishijima mean? It’s when the man writes down a few things on a paper napkin and hands it to Natsu (assuming she’s an adult human and responsible for them) with the vague phrase of “Do not let her know about this, but search it by yourselves.” 

They left after a brief break to eat a few pastries and non-alcohol drinks from the café, praising Nishijima’s cuisine and cooking skills -- which made the man go back to his good mood and bubbly personality.

Once they left, they had to think about where to go to search for… a person named Himekawa Maki. Eiji suggests them searching in the Digital World’s library -- the Tree of Knowledge. That sounded like a good plan!! But Taisuke just thinks they should ask for Mirai’s help. They look at the boy for a moment and Daichi says, with a deadpan face, “Both? Both. Both is good” -- The mention of that meme makes them realize Daichi is in better shape than he was years ago. So they go to the Tree of Knowledge with Mirai and Koh.

Himekawa Maki’s Secret Life

Nishijima didn’t clarify things enough. The kids and their mons were wondering what kind of role this Himekawa Maki person would have in Yume’s life, but then they would just find a picture of this person in the database and realize that… Himekawa Maki is Yume’s mother.

Or to be more accurate, was.They learned through those archives that she died in a digimon incident after she had given birth to Yume, months later.

The causes of her death weren’t totally depicted to the public archives, which lead the kids to think something more and more serious had happened and their parents had to hide from the public. If they ask their families, there is a high chance of leading them to more misleadings than someone being pretty honest about this. Something… Maybe Nishijima wanted to hide that from Yume and asked them all to keep it a secret? So Ulforce asks them what they should do now, and then Taisuke dramatically gestures to the Know-It-All Genius Junior Izumi Mirai. Oh, that was Taisuke’s backup plan!! There’s nothing that Mirai cannot discover!!

So Mirai starts inspecting the files, the database and even running into some archives protected by password. Seeing a key requirement made them believe that yeah, there’s something behind this all and they had to pass by a permission key wall. It’s when Mirai chuckles and starts bragging about her new ‘gimmick’ -- a virtual replica of the Digimental of Knowledge, containing the Digimental data stored into her D-TimeRune Digivice. Everyone was so impressed by that that they wondered how she managed to get a Digimental for that, and then she said she copied the data from mr. Hida’s digivice.

But why should they use a Digimental data to bypass the permission wall? And then, she reveals about Koh’s armor evolution -- Searchmon. Everyone isn’t sure what that meant, but then she proceeds to demonstrate that trick. She armor evolves Koh with that data to Searchmon, and then Koh uses his Jamming Hertz special move on the wall. Thanks to it, the wall malfunctioned and then it opened the files, as if the key was input. Taisuke asks how she did that, and then Eiji theorizes that Searchmon’s attack might have worked as some sort of key-gen and generated a permission key to access those archives. Hoshi asks why wouldn’t they just protect those archives with a strong password and then Taisuke smirks and gushes that Mirai would’ve found her own way to bypass that too. Kiyoko reminds them that her and Daichi’s mother is an excellent hacker too, so it wouldn’t be that hard. (Was Kiyoko jealous? Who knows~)

Once they get access to those files, they start reading them all and looking for anything that could lead to answers… Until Kiyoko finds out something. 

The group gathers to the screen she was reading and they learn that Himekawa and Nishijima were part of a prior group, one before ambassador Yagami’s group. And that those five kids faced the Dark Masters trio, but they were beaten. Himekawa’s anger led Megadramon (Bakumon’s perfect level form) to evolve further and then become Mugendramon -- who would later be corrupted and then become the forth Dark Master. The other four kids and their digimon had unlocked the form of the Holy Beasts for their partners and they had no other choice but destroy Mugendramon, reverting it into a corrupted Digiegg. Gennai and the others had to hide this secret from Himekawa for ages, that Bakumon’s egg had hatched later and then that Mugendramon turned into the same tyrant ruler of the Metal Empire area ambassador Yagami and the others had faced in 1999. This secret was kept from everyone else, so none of the Tokyo Twelve (Taichi and Daisuke groups, actually) were aware of it. But Himekawa ended up doing everything she could to bring Bakumon back from the Dark Area, leading to a brand new digimon crisis… And in the end, she was killed by her own partner once she managed to get Mugendramon’s data. This was months after she and Nishijima had a child on October 19 2013, named Yume. Nishijima begged everyone to hide this info from his daughter, so of course he and Baihumon wouldn’t say anything about it.

But… Does it mean Yume learned the truth? She was kinda bugged by Taisuke’s question and Daichi mentions he heard her saying “they died in combat” -- so maybe Yume's not aware of the truth, but maybe some sort of fakery story where her mother died as some heroine?

Yes. Yume’s story about her mother was totally covering the bad parts of it: She was trying to help the Chosen Children, but sacrificed herself in order to save everyone.

No one noticed until now, but Mirai had brought Daisuke inside her purse (because… She was convinced that he wasn’t a baddie anymore, and they were bonding quite well as mentor-mentee) and he did witness the entire story. He gets out from the purse and exclaims that they never had imagined that! The kids get surprised by this sneaky Pomeranimon and Mirai babbles that she couldn’t leave him inside a cage like a lab rat! Hoshi says she shouldn’t have done that, because they don’t know if mr. Motomiya is trustworthy in this form. Kiyoko growls “Huh? Are you saying MY dad is sketchy and cannot be trusted!?” but Daisuke interrupts the possible fight to remind them they don’t know if he’s totally free from Papillonmon’s power. But Eiji’s curious about why Mirai would bring him with her, it didn’t feel like she was just taking him for a walk (Daisuke: Hey! Stop treating me like I’m a pet!! 💦) and she confesses she just thought he could help them out too, also having access to the data there could help her to find a way to turn him back into a human being.

Could this be possible? Well, if you’re in a place with tons of information and it’s called “Tree of Knowledge”, it might have the answer to that main issue. At least it’s what Mirai thought.

But going back to the main subject, Daichi realizes that “Nishikawa” might not be her real name, and yes some portmanteau of her parents names, an ALIAS. They checked the database and there was no Nishikawa person affiliated to Nishijima, he never got married again. But why would she hide her true identity…?

Yume’s Real Plan

If anything, Yume had an ambitious plan which her father had already discovered: She wanted to go back in the past and prevent her mother from sacrificing her life to save the world. In the same napkin he handed to the kids had also a plea: Please do not let Yume discover the truth, and do not let her get in touch with Mastemon.

Kiyoko frowns, “Who’s Mastemon?” and then they start scrutinizing the Tree of Knowledge’s database in order to discover about this Mastemon. Then they learn about this jogress digimon, able to travel through space-time and create portals. Natsu blinks, and then she looks at her pendant. Daichi and Ulforce look at her, and she mentions that… she possibly had inherited those powers from Mastemon -- but she’s not Mastemon herself!

So this means when Yume caught them in the past it probably drove her into the idea of using that power to go back in time and save her mother, and this sounded too familiar for Daichi… To the point he’s ashamed. Well, now he knows that no matter what he does in the past, it only creates a new setting of events for a brand new divergent timeline. He explains it to the kids, now that he’s less obsessed with that power. Kiyoko frowns again, so this means no matter what Yume does, she might never bring her mother back in this timeline… Natsu nods with a sad expression on her face.

But how to convince Yume she shouldn’t do that, that it won’t change their reality and will only cause her more grief? They started to think, and think… Daisuke sighs and says the only option is to tell her that, and hope for the best. Hoshi politely asks what would they do if she does not listen to them, and then Daisuke says they should just break Natsu’s pendant then. Natsu babbles desperately that she cannot destroy it, what if they need it later!? Mirai suggests leaving the pendant with mr. Gennai then, he’s trustworthy!! But Taisuke thinks they could leave it with the Holy Beasts, they could be able to secure that power from anyone else. But Daichi’s opinion is that they should keep it with that hooded woman from the Dimensional Space, or with ClavisAngemon. There were so many options… Daisuke keeps insisting they shouldn’t play with things involving space-time powers, that this is too much responsibility and no one responsible enough should be trusted with it. Then Natsu just thinks this is a burden because she was hated by people for having it, and Daisuke says you’re not a burden and I admire you for being this strong to carry this responsibility. Daichi jokes that “yeah, I can't be trusted with a power like this” and Ulforce and Natsu just agree with him, seriously. 

Daichi blames himself for making Yume get interested in time-travel, possibly because this means something happened back in 2024 and gave her those ideas, so maybe he accidentally made a “time loop” -- and now he, Natsu and Ulforce are stuck in it. Kiyoko raises an eyebrow: If you said that anything you altered in the past created new events for new timelines, how can you be so sure it was you who met Yume in the past and gave her that idea?

Mirai also agrees that Daichi’s idea is in conflict with what was told by Aegiochusmon: Dark, so it would make no sense unless…

Oh no.

That Yume came from the past. Not from the future. 

But what happened to the Yume from their actual time? Did she vanish or something?? The actual Yume would’ve been a little older than Daichi, right? If she was born in 2013… Taisuke and Daisuke gasp and think that both cannot exist in the same place!! Mirai agrees, the digimon also nod sagely, while Hoshi gives up on that talk -- It’s too much for her brain. Eiji deduces that Yume actually caused some kind of time paradox. Hoshi now is not even paying attention to the whole geek-like conversation and just started playing some game on her phone. Kitty asks if the two Yumes gathered into one? The others question if that’s possible though…

Daichi interrupts them to say maybe they should just send Yume from the past back to 2024 and tell her to not mess with space-time. But then… Draki (BlackAgumon) asks how Yume came to the future in the first place…

… They look at Daichi, who takes a moment to notice that maybe she had followed him there.

Oh well… Ulforce says they have to talk with her soon or later, and then Captain just “Well, like now?” and then they all look behind and here she and Blitz are. Taisuke gasps, shouting “DID SHE HEAR US!?” and hides behind Kiyoko and Hoshi. Seems like Taisuke was afraid of that girl since she met them and he innocently asked that question. Daichi asks if she heard them all, and how long she was there, to only have her stare at them seriously.

So everyone lied about his mother, about everything. She wasn’t a heroine but some villain. Yume didn’t want to believe it, and she wouldn’t. She keeps demanding them to help her save Himekawa because her mother wouldn’t have done something cruel like that and that everyone was lying about her. Daisuke tries to calm her down, saying something like “she wasn’t a villain but more like someone who got a terrible traumatic experience in the past” Daichi realizes his father is talking about something he doesn’t know, something Daisuke himself was hiding from him. Yume refuses to hear them out, and she keeps thinking none of them care about saving a victim. She knew the Digital World’s entities were cruel, and it made Blitz kinda sad. Blitz is the only friend Yume had her whole life, but not much talkative. But then Blitz tries to reason with Yume, saying that’s not true, after all they became friends and then partners!! Was Yume forgetting their bonds now? To condemn the Digital World to be the one to take her mother’s life?!

It’s when Daisuke just jumps from Mirai’s purse and stands in front of Yume. He wants to just talk to her, but she keeps refusing them. It’s when he just reveals what Natsu was trying to hide from Daichi -- That he was also a victim of the digimon, BUT that didn’t make him hate them at all. Daichi’s eyes widen, and the kids just exclaim “What!?” -- Yume included. Natsu was silent, but she thinks Daisuke didn’t need to go this far to talk about his past.

Then, Daisuke tells them that a digimon named Vamdemon had invaded Odaiba when he was a kid, on August 3rd 1999. He was just seven years old and he and his family were captured by Vamdemon’s minions and taken to the Tokyo Big Sight. There, he was separated from his family and put in a room with all of the kids residing in Odaiba, or the visitors from that day. He heard some of those bad guys talking about finding the Eighth Chosen Child, and he remembered seeing Tailmon for the first time in his life, way before he learned Tailmon was Yagami Hikari’s digimon partner. But he also adds that that encounter didn’t make him hate the digimon because he saw Taichi and his friends with their partners too, and how they saved Odaiba made him wish to be as strong as them. He admits he didn’t trust the digimon before, but once he met V-mon three years later, he had the chance to learn more and change his mind.

Daichi then asks Mirai if Chibimon was inside the purse and she chuckles nervously. (Yes he was inside too, but sleeping like a rock)

Yume blinks, how can a digimon be so sure about her feelings… Daisuke says he’s human trapped in a curse for now, but being a digimon for a while is making him realize how hard it might be to those digimon, and he thinks now the digi-rebels might not be entirely evil and yes digimon afraid of the unknown. She gives him a timid smile, maybe Daisuke really had a way to change people’s hearts.

Blitz says Yume and her should go back to 2024 and abandon that idea of saving Yume’s mother. Yume understands, but she wants to stay in the future now… Natsu says she can’t and that this was creating a time paradox with the Yume from 2029, in which they can’t exist in the same place at all because she’s not from a parallel world. Kiyoko gets some interest on why can’t there exist two Yumes from the same timeline, and why Natsu is implying that if one of them came from a different world this would be okay. Eiji explains that it’s because this Yume came from the past, which means the future Yume cannot exist anymore if had time-travel to the future. Hoshi thinks this is too much for her head all over again and decides before they send Yume back, they should just have fun together, at least.

Now that they solved that part… Maybe they could focus on Papillonmon’s next moves, right?

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure 02 (manhua) - Vol. 1

Eurgh...I think this one is even worse than the first series. However, it is mercifully short (2 volumes), so at least it will be over quick. I think copies of this manhua in English are kind of a rare commodity so I'm just reading scans.

Ch. 1

-Back at it with the rushed adaptations as illustrated by Yuen Wong Yu. So far, the art in this is looking pretty good, but the writing is a mess, just like the previous series.

-This was a super condensed intro to 02. Veemon, Hawkmon, and Armadimon are all introduced simultaneously and the 01 kids don't even attempt to hide the Digiworld from the 02 kids. It bugged me that when Daisuke got his digivice he was like "so this means...!" How does he know what anything means?? He just got sucked into a computer with zero context.

-Charmingly lame translation. Daisuke says stuff like "mad skillz" and "dag yo." Honestly, he would. Sooo funny how they kinda-sorta incorporated the Japanese names. "I'm Daisuke, but my friends call me Davis." That's like saying "I'm Maxine, but my friends call me Meredith!" Just...a completely different name lol. (Then again, I guess East Asian people do choose "American" names, so maybe it's not so crazy).

Ch. 2

-I really wonder about the production of this manhua. 01 was 5 volumes, but for 02 we only get 2. The writer/artist must have known from the start that they would only get 2 volumes because of how blisteringly fast the pace is. Was this based on bad sales for the first manhua? Or maybe the fact that the second season of the anime wasn't as popular?

-This chapter starts with Koushiro saying "I found out why digivolution isn't working," but we never had a scene showing digivolution not working lol. We also see all of the armor digivolutions in this chapter...without any chapters of those getting introduced. So yeah, this is another adaptation that assumes you've seen the show so they skip all the exposition that would be helpful to a newcomer.

-Daisuke said "wiggedy wack"

Ch. 3

-Lol at Koushiro calling the 02 gang "kids" when he's like 2 years older than them. Middle schoolers do be like that tho...

-They just threw all the new digimon armor evolutions together in a way that I thought didn't really make sense. They find the digimentals and can't lift them up, but then later in the same chapter the digimentals just fly over to the kids and work? Why couldn't they pick them up the first time? Were the vibes off or something?

-I was sad to see they cut out the part where they make fun of Ken for calling himself the Digimon Emperor/Kaiser. I did enjoy Iori's "how does he do that with his hair?" bit tho lol

Ch. 4

-Wow, this one was laughably bad. Somehow we're already on Ken's redemption arc. The instant after Wormmon's sacrifice Taichi appears literally out of nowhere (he wasn't in the previous scenes at ALL) to be like "guys it's okay, Ken's brother died." WTF? How did he know that and where did he come from?? Clunkiest exposition ever. They could have at least thrown in a separate "Ken backstory" chapter to make this go down a lot smoother.

-Daisuke literally says "Dag. This thing got the bling bling" when he finds the miracle digimental loool. Why.

Ch. 5

-In horrible 90s/2000s slang news, in this chapter Daisuke calls Veemon "boo," randomly shouts "Extreme!" and says "that's straight." (I don't even remember that last one being a thing).

-I liked how they drew Stingmon. His face is a little more Wormmon-like than it was in the anime. I always prefer it when digivolutions bare a resemblance to their earlier forms instead of being totally random.

Ch. 6

-In this chapter, Daisuke calls Ken "homeslice." He's the only one they made talk "street" (or whatever you want to call it). The other characters are just like "Wtf?" lol. Of course, I'm sure none of this was in the original Chinese.

-Not gonna lie, going through this again is just reminding me how dull 02's story is :/ I think they kept presenting questions "who is this mysterious lady??" but then the answers we eventually got were underwhelming, so you were left feeling like "what was the point...?"

Ch. 7

-They mention the dark ocean, but it's completely without context because they didn't bother to adapt that episode lol. So much of this manga is out of context in general and would be a nightmare to read without prior knowledge.

-Weirdo dialogue when Hikari saves Miyako from falling off a cliff and says "I believe in you!" and Miyako's reaction is "wow! That was really nice, thank you!" As if Hikari was mean to her before...? Just awkward.

Onto the next! I bet it will be just as underwhelming (especially since the 2nd half of 02 isn't that great in the first place).

[izzyizumi]

(My original/older commentary under ‘read more’!)

{Note: The movie was since released!}

@ TOEI I DIDN’T WANT TO BE RIGHT

ALSO UM EXCUSE ME @ TOP CAP BECAUSE

KABUTERIMON’S THERE (ANGEMON TOO) ]

AND THEN AGUMON GOES “ LET’S SAVE EVERYONE ” ( NEAR END OF TRAILER AFTER A LOT OF ANGST )

KOUSHIRO AND TAKERU ARE 100% GONNA HAVE THEIR CONSCIOUSNESS TAKEN BEFORE THE END OF THE MOVIE

[shihalyfie]

Shihanne’s Kizuna meta -- Part 1: The meaning behind Kizuna, and the actual cause of partnership dissolution

Kizuna is a very easy movie to misunderstand, and it’s not helped by the fact that the official translation kind of sucks. (Seriously, I highly recommend you check out the translation of one of the novels -- the Dash X or the Shueisha Mirai version -- because of how badly the official one sucks.) On top of that, a lot of its information is packed in the subtleties of a lot of its lines, which means that, without paying very close attention, you can walk off with a completely misleading interpretation of what the movie is trying to say. A lot of times I see people talking about how the movie’s message is about adulthood sucking, or partnership dissolution being an inevitable thing...when the movie actually makes multiple indications that this is not the case.

(The rest of the post contains major spoilers for the movie, so be warned.)

Do note that the below is only my personal interpretation, and because there is a lot to unpack with this movie, please feel free to disagree with or disregard any of my interpretations here.

Kizuna has a lot of things to say about adulthood, but the most obvious theme is, of course, “don’t be too trapped in nostalgia” -- represented by Menoa’s desire to trap everyone in Neverland so they can never move forward, and, on a meta level, the ridiculous amount of Adventure imagery associated with people who can’t move on (yeah, they weren’t really subtle about that part...). But as a result, the idea behind the movie is often taken the wrong way -- does this mean that they’re trashing on the very series they’re meant to honor? Is the movie about people having to swallow adulthood being painful? After all, the movie says that partners disappear when you become an adult! Isn’t the movie saying we all have to accept that (even though the sheer existence of the 02 epilogue should imply otherwise)?

Nope! The movie actually does have another inner layer about what it means to become an adult, and how to develop a healthy relationship with your adulthood that isn’t just violently cutting everything away -- in fact, it considers that to be another unhealthy extreme that it warns against. It’s just that this theme is a little more latently hidden, and you have to connect the dots a little to figure that out.

I think a lot of the reason so many people miss this is predicated on the fact that you are not supposed to take Menoa’s statement at face value. It’s her statement as presented in the official trailers and a lot of the advertising material, so it’s easy to think that she’s supposed to be the deliverer of the movie’s message, but that is very much not the case! Understanding this is key to understanding the core theme of the movie, and what it’s trying to say in terms of a lead-up to the 02 epilogue.

Menoa’s statement on adulthood, which is what the concept of partnership dissolution is supposedly predicated on, is the following (quoted from onkeikun’s translation of the Dash X Bunko novel, which uses the movie script):

Do all of you know why it’s children who are chosen to be partners with Digimon?... It’s because children are full of possibilities... The future is rife with limitless choices. You grow as a person by making those choices. “Growth” and “possibilities” together produce vast energy. As I’m sure you guys are already aware, the evolutions of your Digimon partners are triggered by your growth... When that power is gone… Your partnership with your Digimon ends.

Keep in mind that Menoa has built this “theory” based on her own experience. She’s convinced that her “choice” to become an adult was what took Morphomon from her. She’s convinced that Adulthood is Bad, and that Choices are Bad. Menoa is very much biased from her own experience, and her theory is not reliable. Seriously, do you think someone who eventually decides that forcing everyone into an eternal loop of their childhood is an excellent idea is a reliable source for these kinds of things?

Not only that, she’s also claiming that this is supposed to apply to all adults just because this happened to her. Although she claims that this is part of her research, there clearly have not been enough cases of partnership dissolution for this to be a well-known issue. Given that she lost Morphomon at a young age, and she’s one of the oldest Chosen Children, it’s natural that she might think that this might be a universal phenomenon and that it might not have “kicked in” for everyone else, but nevertheless, she’s committing a major no-no in scientific research -- extrapolating based on a painfully small sample size, and letting her own biased perception of events manipulate what she sees as the result.

When Gennai supposedly “confirms” the partnership dissolution phenomenon, note that he does not actually confirm Menoa’s theory.

Unfortunately, you are experiencing the case where your partnership is dissolving... But if you guys still have infinite possibility…Then it’s possible…

The fact that Gennai refers to it as a “case” is very important (it’s very clear in the Japanese line too, jirei). This is a thing that may happen. It is not a thing that is guaranteed to happen, and it’s not necessarily a thing that comes with adulthood like Menoa thinks. What’s more, he even acknowledges that “having infinite possibility” is still possible for adults -- something that doesn’t fit with Menoa’s theory on Adulthood Being Bad and how it diminishes possibility.

As the movie eventually goes into Menoa’s plan for “saving” Chosen Children, she justifies her motive by saying that losing partners is “fate” (shukumei). She thinks that losing partners is an inevitability. She thinks that this is just something that comes with adulthood, and that unless she forces everyone to stay in their childhood, their only recourse will be to suck it up and to be miserable.

This is why the climax is dedicated to Taichi and Yamato proving her wrong.

“What you’ve chosen wasn’t a mistake!” “But no matter what waits for us after making that choice…!” “We have to live with the decisions that we make!”... “We might not be able to change our fate. But!” “We can change our destiny!”

In essence, Taichi and Yamato are disproving both parts of Menoa’s theory on Adulthood Being Bad. It’s not that choices are inherently bad, it’s just that sometimes there are consequences of said choices...but it’s not like said consequences lead to dead ends. Taichi and Yamato, in contrast to Menoa’s belief in “fate”, believe in “destiny” (unmei) -- the difference being that they believe in being able to change that predetermined fate by their own efforts.

The concept had come up earlier in To Sora, too --

Hey, Sora-san. I think it was destiny that we became Chosen Children. But I don’t think it was fate.

It’s a completely different conversation, but Mimi is basically talking about the philosophy that pushes the Chosen Children forward -- that sure, some things seem to be predestined and beyond simple luck, but also that they’ve had choice in manipulating the events and changing what seems normally inevitable.

So if Menoa’s theory about partnerships dissolving in adulthood is questionable to begin with, then what does cause partnership dissolution? Again, it’s not actually established that this is something that happens to everyone. We only have four confirmed cases within the scope of the movie: Menoa herself, Taichi, Yamato, and Sora. So what do they have in common?

Well, the night before the ring appeared on Taichi and Yamato’s Digivices, they had this conversation:

“You should take Gabumon with you to your classes,” Taichi said jokingly. Yamato smiled wryly. “Don’t be stupid. Why don’t you take Agumon to your classes?” “It’s not that simple. I have my own life to live.”

And during the events of To Sora -- which presumably happened right before the ring appeared for Sora -- this happened:

When Piyomon had come to inform her that Koushiro had sent a message, Sora had said to her angrily, “Don’t bother me!” The distress and irritation of her practice not going well had caused Sora to take it out on her. But even when lashed out by that irrational anger, Piyomon had been the one who apologized. When she saw Piyomon hanging her head apologetically, Sora had felt a surge of regret but no room in her heart to apologize as well. “I need to focus on this right now…” She had said as her excuse, and looked away.

And in Menoa’s case, a certain something shows up in the Shueisha Mirai Bunko version of the novel -- it’s implied in the movie itself, but the novel itself says it pretty explicitly:

Waiting in front of the swing at her family’s home, where they’d always played together when Menoa was a child, was her beloved friend. Lately, she’d been studying so much that they hadn’t been talking to each other at all, so she wanted Morphomon to lavish her with praise. She wanted her to say, “Menoa, you’re amazing!”

See a pattern? All of the known cases of partnership dissolution involved neglect of their Digimon partners in pursuit of “adulthood”.

Taichi and Yamato ditched Agumon and Gabumon at the start of the movie and left them with their siblings. Agumon hadn’t even been to Taichi’s room before, even though Taichi lives by himself and is clearly lonely -- his reaction when Agumon finds his AVs, “you have to be an adult -- “ tells all, because he clearly thinks of Agumon as “a child” who shouldn’t be near his New Adult Life. Sora may have apologized later, but it sounds like there’s been a constant pattern of her starting to focus so much on her studies that she’s emotionally neglected Piyomon. And, of course, Menoa herself rushed so much to become “an adult” that she neglected her beloved partner in the process -- they weren’t even talking anymore! And the fact that the swing is discussed in past tense, when Menoa was a child, indicates that Morphomon may not be the only thing Menoa had tossed away in pursuit of “becoming an adult”.

(Note how Menoa constantly talked through the movie about the fact she and Morphomon had “always been together”, as if Morphomon had been ripped unfairly from her suddenly and for no reason...only for the revelation that Menoa was guilty of neglect to drop at the end. I repeat: Menoa is not a reliable person to be taking words at face value from.)

It really, really doesn’t seem like coincidence that Taichi and Yamato’s Digivice rings appeared the day after they flippantly laughed at the idea of taking Agumon and Gabumon to school because it would get in the way of “having their own lives to live”. Recall that Digimon in the Adventure universe have always generally been taken to represent an alter ego, or a part of oneself. (They were literally developed to represent part of the human soul in physical form.) On a symbolic level, your partner disappearing is representative of you losing touch with yourself -- and your own childhood innocence -- because of some arbitrary, societally-enforced standard of “becoming an adult”.

Fun side note? As mentioned in the movie, Eosmon is named after the Greek goddess of the dawn, who also has another interesting story about her: she fell in love with a mortal man and, not wanting him to die before her, requested that he be given eternal life, but neglected to ask that he be given eternal youth, and was forced to watch as her lover kept living on and on and withered further and further with age. Neglected the concept of youth, huh.

That’s why partnerships seem to dissolve with adulthood, but it’s not from the simple act of becoming an adult -- it happens when you take that adulthood and decide that you’re going to reject all of those “childish” things about yourself in pursuit of that goal, and lose yourself in the process. And sure, they may have tried to fix it right away, but these things aren’t just momentary moments of weakness; they build, and build, and build, and build, until you’re at the point of no return and need to take drastic measures to get it back.

And in fact, if you inspect the staff interviews (which have been, presumably, deliberately vague about this in the hopes of having the audience figure it out), they hint at it, too:

For this movie, we had the concept of "separation from their Digimon", which means being able to completely separate yourself from your past self, or rather, wondering if it might be better to cut yourself entirely from your past adventures in becoming more like an adult.

Not only that, but this explanation tracks much better than what Menoa claims is the case. Under Menoa’s explanation of choices diminishing possibilities, characters like Daisuke and Jou who had their paths already determined from an early age should have lost their partners a long time ago, and conversely, Taichi and Yamato, who weren’t sure on what to do with their lives at the beginning of the movie, should not have lost their partners. But “emotional neglect from the obsession with growing up” tracks even with our “outlier” cases -- Menoa “forced” herself to become an adult at the very-not-adult age of 14 and lost her partner, while Oikawa also didn’t actually get to “meet” Pipimon until he accepted that exact same thing -- that he needed to embrace the “power to dream” instead of considering himself a “tainted adult”.

(Ichijouji Ken, who could be argued to be guilty of emotional neglect of Wormmon in some sense, initially seems like a violation of this principle, but closely observing the Kaiser’s behavior during 02 indicates an often paradoxical thread of behavior implying that he seemed to have been rejecting and yet wanting him nearby at the same time, which is part of the reason Wormmon’s death breaks him so badly. In fact, it often feels like he goes out of his way to acknowledge Wormmon for the specific purpose of rejecting him. In a metaphorical sense, knowing that Wormmon is representative of Ken’s own inner self, the metaphor of Ken being in perpetual internal conflict of constantly trying to outwardly reject his own heart for being “weak” yet never truly being able to escape it until he’s finally forced to accept it for good is not lost. It was not a positive relationship with Wormmon by any means, but it was, nevertheless, a conscious and active relationship, for which “neglect” does not feel like an appropriate word.)

When you look back at Menoa’s life and backstory, it then becomes clear how she made her mistake in her theory. Menoa basically threw away her childhood in order to become an adult, and she never learned to embrace the happy medium between having an unhealthy attachment to the past and violently cutting it off. Late in the movie, she claims that there’s nobody else who understands how she feels, and we also learn in her flashback that she had an obsession with doing things “on her own”, or in other words, she cut off any potential friends or people who could help her (Morphomon seems to have legitimately been her only friend and confidant). So in her mind, “losing touch with your inner self and having no connection to the happiness of your childhood” is fundamentally synonymous with becoming an adult. That’s how she develops her mentality of “adulthood is drudgery and has no value, and we’d be better off never getting there” -- and that adulthood strips people of possibilities and therefore provides no recourse from losing your Digimon partner, and that the only way to reclaim anything from your childhood is to just shove yourself back into its box. Her own life had no such hope in it, so she projects that lack of hope onto everyone else.

With that in mind, the two major questions that come from this:

Will this happen to everyone? Hard to say, but I don’t think it would necessarily. Remember, even though Menoa is one of the oldest Chosen Children and had this happen to her at an abnormally early age, not everyone has such an unhealthy relationship with adulthood, nor is as likely to neglect their partners nearly as much in the process of figuring out what adulthood means to them. That doesn’t mean that those it does happen to made some “mistake” or “messed up”, though -- press materials and the BD commentary made it clear that this was not a movie intended to endorse “one way to live”, and sometimes the degree of introspection and experimentation with what adulthood means to you does result in momentarily trying to cut things away until you figure your life balance out, especially if you want to take on a challenge with as high of a hurdle as Taichi’s road to becoming a diplomat.

So what’s the solution? Although it’s still left to everyone’s imagination to figure out the details, at the very least, figuring out yourself and snapping yourself out of this very unhealthy relationship with “growing up” and holding yourself to arbitrary, false standards is probably a great start! Menoa had her “vision” of Morphomon the moment Taichi and Yamato’s words reached her within Eosmon. Gennai specifically says that partnership dissolution will cause the Digimon to disappear in terms of losing their “form” (sugata), but given that Digimon in the Adventure universe are supposed to represent a part of yourself, they’re probably still there (just not there)! In that light, getting them back...is probably not actually all that hard, if they can sit down and take some time to figure themselves out. That’s why Menoa never figured it out this whole time in the last eight years; she was so busy focusing on “scientific” ways to get Morphomon back, and staying perpetually stuck in a twisted nostalgic version of her past, that she never actually sat down to think about herself and what she was doing. And that’s why the movie’s climax is about Taichi blowing the whistle to wake everyone up -- it’s still about moving forward, but it’s about using your past to move forward, instead of gravitating to the extremes of either latching onto it eternally or attempting to abandon it outright.

So really, the solution is for everyone to get some damn therapy.

Given that, the path to the 02 epilogue doesn’t actually seem that particularly difficult compared to how Menoa made the problem initially sound like. It’s not like every adult is going to inevitably have this happen as a process, and thus it’s not like everyone has to find some magical technical solution that’ll rectify one of the laws of the universe. The solution is really more somewhere between the unhealthy extremes presented in the movie -- Menoa’s fixation on nostalgia and the past being the only good thing in her life, and Taichi and Yamato (initially) rejecting said childhoods in favor of “adulthood” -- and figuring out how to use and cherish your childhood, past experiences, and inner self to move forward.

And given Sora’s revelation in To Sora about taking care of herself more, and Taichi and Yamato starting to settle on their career decisions for real by the end of Kizuna, they’re already on their way to figuring things out. Or, in other words, it’s likely that they’ll get their partners back simply through the natural course of making their way to the epilogue. Taichi’s starting to value his childhood experiences as important in his future work in diplomacy. Yamato, according to the Shueisha Mirai version of the novel, is becoming an astronaut to entertain the “romantic” dream of going to space with Gabumon. Sora, as per the 02 epilogue, will end up known not for being an iemoto heir but a kimono designer -- a skill that she’s presumably going to be discovering on her own, and not under obligations to others. Gennai himself said that there was hope as long as they still had “infinite possibility” -- something that Taichi, Yamato, and Sora were closing up on themselves at the beginning of this movie, but were starting to re-open the door to again once they started reconnecting with themselves and embarking on some proper paths by the end of it.

“We’ll definitely come to see you” -- indeed, they will.

(Next is the sequel to this meta, where I discuss Kizuna’s relationship with not only 02′s epilogue but also 02 itself as a whole, and the reason the 02 group has such an unusual position in this movie.)

[holyhikari]

Okay. Okay. It’s 2020, most of the world is shut down and the first episode of Digimon Adventure aired yesterday, missing a ‘Butter-Fly’ and with a colon to spare. Life sure is something. 

Gotta say I’m relieved. (For now, at least.) Sure, yeah, I got into the hype train for the reboot from the get-go and determined to just have fun, but. If I can picture all the ways something can go wrong — go BORING — down to excruciating details right from the first episode, why not? That’s what brains are for. So that’s what I did. 

Should have saved all that energy. 

I want to share with all of you my thoughts on this episode, break it down a little bit; how it made me feel, the few character introductions we got, the pace, the plot and its possibilities. 

As much as I want to approach this series keeping the idea of authenticity in mind, it is a reboot. They chose a certain set of (popular!) pre-existent characters to explore, to work with; a balance between creating and adapting. And I’m very interested in seeing how they’ll combine the core elements of Digimon Adventure with all there is unique to this generation of kids, teens and, you know it, adults who stuck around. 

Since all we’ve got is the introduction to the series, I’ll be contrasting TOKYO DIGITAL CRISIS to how the original Adventure kicked off back in 1999 with  ADRIFT? THE ISLAND OF ADVENTURE!

I did try to keep this as coherent and review-like as possible, but there’s a fair amount of fan-girling and it’s all seen through my very biased Adventure-stan-colored lens. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya. 

‘99 starts with an image of our planet, and  ‘20 starts almost the same. This time, though, we can see we aren’t alone. ‘The Digital World affecting the Earth’ is something that happens, I believe, in every Digimon reincarnation. In ‘99, it’s deeply affecting our climate. Now, the issue doesn’t seem so drastic that it’s able to reach influence organic matter and mess up many Nature’s cycles across the globe, but it’s still not looking so good for our kids. (It’s the first episode and Hikari and Yuuko almost get train-sandwiched, but I suppose that almost having your head chopped off, courtesy of Kuwagamon, isn’t lovely either.) 

Anyway. 

I think this Digital World/Network shot isn’t actually part of the episode? I think it’s part of the opening (I mean, not the OP sequence with the song, obviously), and that we’ll be seeing it before each episode starts. Still, it’s an interesting juxtaposition, isn’t it?

A Glorious World is upon us! I wasn’t actually expecting Butter-Fly or anything similar to it, don’t worry. I’m glad the new OP is its own thing! I want Digimon Adventure ‘20 to be as authentic as possible without losing the original’s heart. The song is nice enough. I don’t want to compare it to Butter-Fly, but I’m only human. Give me a few episodes. Gotta let go. 

The OP has way more Taichi than the others. No surprise there. He’s our goggle boy. (Still, since they went for a quick throwback to the original opening, it’s a shame only Taichi was shown falling down towards the Digital World). 

Everyone got a part, though. Shout out to Takeru and Hikari for being yet again the ominous, powerful baby-faced duo that is definitely up to something. 

It’s so interesting that, while the other crests are shown very clearly and surrounded by sparkles, Light and Hope are only shown briefly shining in their partners’ shadows. Why is Takeru so far away from us, why is this so sinister-looking. Hi, mysterious plot. Nice to meet you.

Wherever Hikari is by the end of the OP, it reminds me of Vamdemon’s castle. Maybe she feels connected to Tailmon and follows her somehow? Angemon wasn’t shown in the OP with the older six children’s partners, just Patamon. I wonder if they’ll try to make us grieve for Angemon a second time. It’d work with me. Either way, I imagine we’re in for another last-minute Patamon evolution when everything looks hopeless. 

This time, though, we’ve got Hikari from the beginning (yes, I am VERY excited about this, thank you for asking, THIS IS WHAT I DESERVE), and, while I think Patamon is more powerful in regular conditions (as in, Angemon can probably take Angewomon in a fight despite the level imbalance, but as soon as Hikari starts glowing you know who’s winning), he will now be sharing the spotlight with another Archangel evolution… as his friend or as his foe, considering that Tailmon might be a double agent of some sorts in the beginning. Welp. 

Anyway. Toei isn’t fooling around, in the OP we can see MetalGreymon in a very scary-looking, glitchy fashion that I’m LIVING for, WarGreymon’s silhouette and, good grief, there’s even a glimpse of Omegamon. Talk about too much information. Maybe chill out a little? (I say this, but the adults already know all of their evos, and the kids just want MOOOOOOORE monstahhhhhrrrrrrsss….which is fair.)

MetalGreymon looks dope here. The others, though, are only shown up to their Adult evolution, even Gabumon. I don’t think they will have only Gabumon and Agumon reaching their Mega forms, and then fusing into Omegamon while everyone else only gets as far as Perfect.  Again.

They wouldn’t do this to us. Right? Yeah, they would. Maybe we can have Holydramon/Ophanimon and Seraphimon later on, as a treat. Aaaaaand, depending on how many episodes — how many seasons — this new timeline gets, I’m not giving up hope just yet. Let me have Phoenixmon, Toei, you heartless thing. 

Moving on to the actual episode… The first non-Digimon character to show up is the true protagonist. Our queen is back. Our little Digivice thief, Miko herself.

Just you wait, you ain’t gonna be Hikari’s favorite cat-like creature for long. 

Speaking of Hikari, LOOK AT THIS WITTLE BABY GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2020 Taichi right off the bat was Taichi for me. He’s talking to Yuuko and yells “Hikariii~” so loudly Hikari hears it from where she stands, the short cutie. Their mom just hands down the phone for her without missing a beat so Taichi can comfort her through whatever she’s worrying about (her summer classes, probably). Such a sweet, natural little moment that flashes both characters out. I want more of that, please.

We’re then introduced to Koushiro! I’m not gonna lie, I cringed the first time I heard him speak. I thought the voice didn’t fit him very well. This impression faded quickly enough, though, and I’m already attached to his new voice. Later, I realized that part of the reason he sounded off to me was because of how nervous he seemed — around Taichi, of all people! In this version, they’re just meeting for the first time, so it’s very in-character for him. Guess I was kinda shocked seeing Koushiro not feeling at ease talking to Taichi. Poor thing is Anxious! And he’s overthinking about Summer Camp! And he’s happy Taichi is his neighbor! That certainly would’ve helped during the Vandemon arc back in ‘99. 

Koushiro gets a little bit over his awkwardness upon hearing the news regarding the cyber attack, something he’s curious about, and finally steps towards Taichi instead of away, which is spot on. These two fall into an easy camaraderie, as they SHOULD, and they head to the train station together, where Taichi decides to, I don’t know… run like crazy on the tracks until he gets to the rogue train where his family is and stop it with sheer force of will? Yeah! Sounds like him! 

And now to one of the most interesting parts of this adaption, is that they’re showing us the Crests early on and HOW they’re doing it. 

Taichi is able to meet Koromon because he’s being brave.

I mean, the first time, he was chosen because of his courage, too, but they all go in together. They’re taken. They’re washed off the Earth. And while Taichi had no idea he was going to be pulled into the Net, he chose to try to save Hikari and his mom (and, a few moments later, he chose to dive in towards Koromon). This time, it feels so much more personal. The screen switched back and forth between the Crest of Courage, Taichi and Hikari, who I believed called his name. The scene worked so well! (Following this pattern, Koushiro gets his Digivice when expressing curiosity, the will to pursue an explanation for what was happening!!!!)

On the other hand, it’s sort of bittersweet  they weren’t pulled in together. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they didn’t try to introduce all of them AND the Digital World at the same time again. But… ‘99 established them as a ‘team’ within seconds. It’s interesting, though. I’m VERY curious to see how their bonding will go this time around!

Taichi and Koromon meeting was beautiful. I was worried the soundtrack wouldn’t even stand a chance against the masterpiece that is the original one, but the musing playing was so delicate, so majestic. I felt I was witnessing a precious moment. Also, Koromon’s ears twisting into how we represent the DNA while he was evolving was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SUCH A GOOD DETAIL!!!!!! 

It cracked me up when Koushiro said that what was happening was very surprising while not sounding surprised at all. I wonder how long the kid has been looking into the cyber attacks. Oh, and the Network is pretty. Prettier than I had anticipated, though not that different from Appmon’s style, I think? I can’t wait to get a look at the actual Digital World and see if it has that unique feeling and that odd, watercolor painting aesthetic. I hope I can trust the OP:

 Did you notice that Agumon giggled a few times? He looked at Taichi with such love, familiarity and devotion and like he knew something. It felt… right. My heart. My poor, poor heart. (I know this Agumon probably has met Taichi before inside of this very Universe, like the Hikarigaoka incident in the original version, but I like to think about Universe-hopping platonic soulmates.) 

Overall the sound work was fantastic, but this scene deserves a highlight. The noise of the Kuramon lookalike moving after evolving was genuinely disturbing. And look at how pretty this is:

Speaking of evolution, AGUMON EVOLVING INTO GREYMON WAS THE SHIT. I loved how straight-up FERAL it was, while still keeping the “Digital” part of “Digital Monster” very much present. It reminded me a bit of Hosoda’s Greymon (most amazing Greymon to this day!) in the Digimon Adventure Movie and, now that I think of it, of him fighting in some Tri. Reunion scenes. Scary Greymon is the best Greymon. Yes. I like it when the Digimon manage to disturb and scare me, okay? They aren’t called monsters for nothing. 

I mean we got to see his horn literally bursting out of his skin. This is low-key terrifying. 10/10.

BUT WHERE IS THE EVOLUTION THEME SONG

I am: deceased. Cause of death: Hikari’s soft smile when she realizes her big brother managed to help them. 

Alternatively, this first pic had killed me on the spot.

FINALLY, we get to see Yamato, and of course, he’s staring down dramatically at Taichi on top of Garurumon like the intense person he is. And, no big deal, there’s a cyber attack in a U.S military base and, uh, apparently the next episode is the 2020 version of Bokura no War Game?! 

I— WHAT?!

No pressure, am I right? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be falling off a good ol’ cliff with my camping buddies. 

To be honest, if they intended to end it like this, it felt like this should’ve been a special episode. Maybe one-hour-long or so? Why……….HOW……….. They wanna go from the pilot straight to a Bokura no War game tribute?! The very movie that introduced Omegamon. I swear, if Omegamon’s debut is the SECOND episode, I’m gonna break. How is this gonna work. Well, at least they have us… intrigued? 

The ED is so Yamato-focused it’s almost weird that his voice actor isn’t the one singing lmao. That amount of Yamatoness got me by surprise. Some of the pics look like a PowerPoint presentation of CD cover ideas for his yet-to-exist (or not) band… and I say this lovingly, okay? I love him so much. 

This is my favorite one!

I lost count of how many times I listened to this song!! It also got me hooked up. What’s up with Takeru and how the writers took the whole Angel aesthetic to a whole new level?! Is he sick? Is he dying? Is this why Yamato is so sad and lonely throughout the ED?????? EVERYONE GO BEFRIEND HIM. I heard he’s a good friend.

Be right back, I’m gonna tattoo this pic to my face.

Bonus commentary!

I bet I wasn’t the only one looking for  random cameos whenever they showed us crowds. Didn’t find anyone we know, but I’m sure this will change. 02 characters cameos, I’m ready for you. 

Soooooooooo the Tachikawa own a tech company this time?? For all we know they own Japan. That’s scarier than the Diablomon-like virus giving Trump a headache. If so, Mimi is gonna be way more spoiled than before. Oh, dear.

I HOPE WE SEE MORE OF THESE PIXEL BABIES! That was a perfect Easter egg.

If none of these icons at the bottom is the Digimon Analyzer, then what’s the point of my entire existence? 

I can’t wait for next Saturday! Even if solely to yell “WHY??????” at my screen.  

I can’t thank you enough if you read this far!

[noctisfishing]

Into the Future

Day 7 - Future

#noct writes taiora week 2020 [ 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 ]

@noctisfishing for Taiora/Digimon writings and more. :) @taioraweek for more Taiora love!

Setting: Adult AU (Last Evolution Kizuna-inspired) / Canon Divergent

Tags: Adventure, Romance

Other Characters: 01 Chosen Children and their Partners

Notes: I’m tagging this as a spoiler to be safe. This was inspired by the first scene of Kizuna. This fic turned out to be mostly a Sora show (something that was lacking in the actual movie) (not salty at all /s) BUT Sora deserves to be a star in my eyes, more importantly in Taichi’s. ;-;

This fic is also the longest but I wanted to end with a bang!! I hope you enjoy this. <3

~*~*~*~*~*~

"You look so grown up, Taichi."

Taichi stood in front of his mirror and had just buttoned up his dress shirt and straightened the cuffs when Agumon said those words from behind him. He had always liked to roll his sleeves towards his elbows for a more casual look, but tonight, he kept the sleeves long, and he even attempted to iron out the wrinkles of the shirt beforehand.

"I guess I do, huh?" Taichi asked in response.

The concept of growing up was so foreign to him. Even when he was on his way to graduating university, he wasn't sure if he wanted to jump into the life of an adult, in which he would work the typical five days a week, earn to make a living, and find less time to spend with his friends.

But tonight was a special occasion, after all. He needed to look the part at tonight's dinner with Sora, their Digimon, and both sets of their parents. 

Kneeling down in front of his dresser, he opened the top drawer, observing his pair of goggles and his old digivice - two items from his childhood that he treasured. Then his eyes fell onto a small box in between them.

In that box was his future. Out of all the choices he had to make, inside that box represented the one that he was certain of making by the end of the night. 

Suddenly, Taichi’s phone beeped on his table. Even as he stood a few feet from it, he was able to recognize Koushiro's name on the backlit screen.

Taichi already knew what Koushiro’s text message said before picking up his phone to read it:

“A Digital Gate is opening up. Need reinforcements.”

It was a group text sent to all of the Chosen. Taichi knew that Koushiro was always on alert, having his computer hardware readily available to monitor readings between the Digital World and the Real World. 

But Taichi didn’t have time to think who else was available or too busy to make it; all he knew to do was to call Sora, who was probably already at the restaurant with their parents.

“Taichi,” she had answered after the first ring.

“Sora. Looks like dinner’s gonna have to wait,” he said, turning to Agumon who stood by waiting for Taichi to move.

The alarm echoed from Sora’s end. “I’ve gotta go,” she shouted over the alarm. “They’re telling everyone to find cover or leave the area. I’ll make sure our parents are safe and I’ll head out soon.”

“Okay, I love you.”

“I love you, too. Be safe.”

Once he hung up, Taichi grabbed the small box and placed it in his pocket. On his way out with Agumon, he hooked his bluetooth earpiece and pushed its button to turn on.

“Taichi,” Koushiro said from his ear piece. “You on your way?”

“It’s about damn time,” Yamato grunted. 

“What?! Dinner’s not happening?” Mimi yelled from one end.

“This isn’t the time to be asking about that, Mimi!” Jou shouted.

Taichi began his sprint down the street with Agumon quickly following beside him. Even as the other Chosen were bickering in his ear, he trusted that none of them mentioned his plan out loud, especially if Sora happened to be listening in.

“Takeru and Hikari are already closest to the electromagnetic readings on the map,” Koushiro added. “Everyone else, stay alert.”

“Right!” they all said in unison.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sora stood watch at the front of the restaurant on the street corner. A light breeze blowing against the skirt of her modest lace and chiffon dress drenched in blue. Piyomon was at her side as Sora urged her and Taichi’s parents to head into the restaurant and stay furthest from the windows. She had been listening in on the action from the others in her earpiece, and she knew that she and Piyomon would have to be ready to fight at any moment.

It was only a few blocks away from her that Okuwamon had appeared. She heard Mimi cheering for Togemon after she had jumped into the air and threw a Mach Jab against Okuwamon.

The ground rumbled slightly, and it followed with a shout from Jou - Ikkakumon had just been thrown against a few parked cars.

The Chosen worked to improve their Digimon’s fighting styles since high school, especially after the final fight with Ordinemon had caused the most damage to their city. Mainly with the help of Koushiro, the Digimon learned to maneuver through the streets while using their defensive tactics to fight against rogue Digimon that came through the Digital Gates at any given time. 

Focused on the battle that she could only hear through her earpiece, Sora waited for any sign of how Taichi was doing. However, she was interrupted by a woman that grabbed either of her shoulders, screaming her head off in a panic.

“HEELLPP!” the woman cried, causing Sora to feel as though she jumped out of her skin.

“Sora!” Piyomon cried.

Sora shook off her fright immediately and grabbed hold of the woman’s arms in return.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” Sora asked, staring into the woman’s eyes to try to get her to focus and calm down.

“It’s coming! It’s coming!!”

Another rumble on the ground, more violent than before, and Sora and the women held each other to keep each other from falling. But as Sora looked up, she saw it. 

The large silver insect Digimon had crashed into a building two blocks away, which Greymon had ultimately pushed him into.

“Taichi! I told you not to be so reckless!” Koushiro shouted.

“We’re trying not to be!” Taichi groaned.

Sora was torn between feeling relieved at the sound of Taichi’s voice and fighting the urge to scold him more than Koushiro had just done. But, she had to stay calm.

“Get into the restaurant,” Sora told the woman, patting her in comfort. Appearing to have calmed down, the woman nodded with tears in her eyes and ran through the doors behind Sora.

“Ah! Another gate’s opening up!” Koushiro announced. “Just down the street! We need to get it there now!”

Sora stood alert as she watched Okuwamon recover and fly up and away from Greymon. Its screech echoed into the air, and its wings made a loud buzz as it swirled before heading into a new direction. Sora reached for her smartphone in her pocket with her fingers tight around its edges. 

“Wait! Where’s it going?” Takeru asked.

“Angewomon, stop him!” Hikari cried. “He’s going the wrong way!”

Okuwamon sped through the street between the tall buildings, right in Sora’s direction.

“Now, Piyomon!” 

In a bright flash of white light, Piyomon glowed as she evolved into her larger bird-like form, spreading her wings with flames burning away to reveal her orange talons.

And with that, Birdramon appeared, launching toward Okuwamon to block him from going further, then she was thrusted backward in the air as Okuwamon crashed against her.

Sora ducked and held her hands over her head for cover as a huge gust of wind from the impact nearly knocked her off her feet.

“Sora!” Hikari called to her when the wind died down, running towards her as she stood up. “Are you okay?”  

“Sora?” she heard Taichi in her earpiece. “Glad you could join the party. I’m sure you’re dazzling in whatever you’re wearing tonight.”

“Save the sweet talk for later,” Koushiro interjected. “We’ve got to get Okuwamon to the gate!”

Sora exchanged embarrassed smiles with Hikari before returning to face the battle, where Birdramon had released herself from Okuwamon’s grasp, making the opening for Angemon to throw his Hand of Fate against Okuwamon and further down the street.

“Awesome!” Takeru shouted.

“Your turn, Angewomon!” Hikari yelled, as Angewomon flew out of the way for Angewomon to shoot her Celestial Arrow.

“They’re heading toward the gate!” said Jou with panic in his voice.

“We’re on it!” Yamato said in response. “Taichi and I are headed that way!”

“Sora, hop on,” Birdramon told her, and Sora and Hikari jumped onto her Digimon’s back. As they followed Angewomon and Angewomon carrying Okuwamon toward the gate, Sora noticed the large flat screen monitors on the buildings turning on, all showing the local news video feed of the large ball of flashing colors in the middle of an empty street, its lights flickering and sparks flying all around it.

The Digital Gate was not too far up ahead. Sora looked beyond Okuwamon and spotted Garurumon and Greymon, and Yamato riding his motorcycle with Taichi sitting right behind him.

“You two - pin him down right when he gets there!” Taichi instructed his and Yamato’s partners, both which Sora heard growled in agreement.

Sora believed in them to finish this fight.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“The gate is closing soon!” Koushiro announced. “Try not to get too close to it!”

Taichi and Yamato jumped off of the bike as soon as they parked near the gate.

“How soon, Koushiro?” Taichi asked.

“Twenty seconds!”

Taichi looked to Yamato and exchanged a nod, but a loud buzz reached their ears. They turned toward the gate and noticed the top was glowing brighter, with sparks of light crackling faster and brighter-

“Look out!!” Yamato exclaimed, and Taichi jumped in the opposite direction from him as a bolt of lightning shattered the asphalt where they had just stood.

“That’s not supposed to happen!” Koushiro cried. “You two’d better get out of there - this gate is the most unstable one I’ve seen!” 

“Taichi! Taichi!” Sora shouted. “Are you alright?”

“Sora, I’m alright-”

“Aaagghh!” Angewomon yelled as she crashed against the ground. Taichi got back on his feet and saw that Okuwamon had broken free of the angel Digimons’ grasp and was flying further away from the gate.

But not before Garurumon pounced on top of Okuwamon, pinning him down a few yards away from his final destination.

“Ten seconds!”

Okuwamon had lunged forward his attack which threw Garurumon back, but appeared caught by surprise when Angemon and Togemon double teamed him with their punches.

“Five seconds!”

They still weren’t at the gate. Greymon’s Nova Blast would easily force the rogue Digimon into the gate, but Taichi knew that they had already done enough damage to the city as it happened.

“Four!”

Garurumon was on the ground, and so was Angewomon. Ikakkumon was too far away.

“Three!”

Okuwamon was strong, pushing back against Angemon and Togemon - strong enough to force them all to fall backward against the ground.

“Two!”

A loud shriek was heard from behind him, but what happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. Like a burst of flames Birdramon flew by, with her large claws clenching into Okuwamon and flying him right into the gate. Right above Birdramon, he caught sight of Sora’s blue dress and her fiery red hair blowing against the wind. She turned around, as though she knew that he was watching, and she flashed a smile.

He had never been more ready to see what the future held for him.

At the moment Koushiro should have finished his countdown, Birdramon had released her claws and soared higher above, and the light of the Digital Gate had begun to consume Okuwamon.

But the ground began to rumble. Violently.

“Koushiro! What’s happening?” Taichi heard Yamato ask. He couldn’t see where everyone had gone, and he had fallen against the asphalt.

Taichi couldn’t get up.

“The gate is closing - but it’s creating seismic waves!” 

“You mean, an earthquake?!” Jou asked.

“Take cover!”

He wasn’t sure if he hit his head, but his vision blurred, and the sound of rumbling had grown faint.

“Taichi!” he heard a growl from a far. Greymon? He wasn’t sure, but the next thing he saw was his eyesight fading, and darkness looming like a shadow casting over him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sora was back on the ground, covering a small child as Birdramon hovered with her wings spread out above. They heard a scream during the earthquake, where a small child was too scared to move away from a lamppost that was threatening to break loose. Birdramon has swooped down in time for Sora to embrace the child in her arms until the earthquake stopped.

“Are you alright?” Sora asked the child, who stared up at her with a frightened look in his eyes. But he nodded at her, and he seemed to cheer up after she gave him a smile.

“Akemi-kun!” came a frantic shout. A woman rushed over to her son and scooped her up in his arms, sobbing. “Thank you,” she added tearfully to Sora and Birdramon.

“Of course,” said Sora, looking up at Birdramon to share a smile.

“Sora, Sora!” she heard in her ear suddenly.

“Koushiro,” she answered, putting her finger up to adjust her earpiece.

“Get over to the gate’s location, quick! Taichi’s not responding!” 

Sora gasped and looked up at the large monitors that others were already watching. The Digital Gate was no longer there, but Sora saw her friends crowding around Greymon, who had just risen from a pile of rubble. Underneath him, she could make out Taichi’s brown hair, with his hand laying back, unmoving.

She immediately turned to Birdramon, who must’ve recognized the horrified look on Sora’s face. She lowered to the ground, allowing Sora to jump onto her back, and together they flew towards the site.

Sora’s mind seemed to race as quickly as Birdramon’s speed of flying. She tried not to think about the worst, but as she thought about her life, the career path she finally decided to choose, she hoped to the gods above that Taichi was okay.

She couldn’t imagine her future without him.

As Sora had suspected from the live video feed, she and Birdramon arrived to discover that Taichi was unconscious. Sora rushed to Taichi’s side just as Greymon had devolved back into Agumon, and looked on at Taichi worriedly.

“Taichi, baka…” she began, hearing the crack in her own voice. “How many times did we tell you not to be so reckless?” She ran her fingers gently through his hair before cupping her palm on his cheek.

And then, she felt Taichi’s hand against hers, and she watched his eyes flutter open.

“Hi, there,” he said softly as his lips curled into a smile. “You really are dazzling tonight, Sora.”

“How could you be smiling at a time like this?” Sora’s eyes welled into tears. “Can you move?”

“Can I move…?” As though he was wondering aloud, Taichi carefully moved his head from side to side, and then he removed his hand from hers and rotated his wrist. She watched his other arm fidgeting next to him. “I think that’s a ‘yes’.”

“What... are you doing?” Sora couldn’t fathom why he was being so casual after the likelihood of suffering head trauma. “Taichi, are you hurt at all?”

For some reason, Taichi let out a chuckle. “Depends on your answer, Sora.”

That was when Sora noticed his fidgeting arm, with which he lifted his hand, revealing a small opened box that revealed a diamond ring.

A gasp escaped her lips.

“Taichi…”

Sora covered her mouth with her hands, finding no words to express her emotion, but she let her tears stream down her cheeks.

Taichi sat up, then got into a kneeling position. “I was going to do this in front of our parents…”

“I’m sure they’re watching right now,” Biyomon interjected, and Sora turned around with Taichi to see that the large building monitors had the two of them in the spotlight.

And behind them, the Chosen Children with their Rookie partners, all looking on in excitement.

“Well, I didn’t think I’d make a big show out of this… but, you are my star, Sora. You are the only future I’ve always been so sure about. So… will you marry me?”

Sora felt her heart swelling with happiness. Staring back into his hopeful brown eyes, she only had one answer to give:

“Yes, Taichi!”

She flung her arms around him, nearly toppling him over and crashing her lips against his. She could feel the hum of his laughter as he kissed her back. Behind them, their friends erupted into cheers. Mimi and Palmon began to sob while Gomamon and Patamon shouted with glee.

They broke off the kiss only for Taichi to slide the ring onto her ring finger. Sora noticed his tears of joy streaming down which only made her cry even more.

~*~*~*~*~*~

What happened next was no surprise to anyone: a handful of reporters arrived at the scene hoping to catch an interview with the Chosen Children. The Digimon loved posing for the cameras every single time. It became routine for Yamato, Mimi, and Taichi to handle the interviews on the scene - and sometimes, Koushiro spoke to news anchors through video conferencing - but the others, including Sora, didn’t mind answering questions whenever they asked.

This time, while Mimi chatted freely about Togemon to a few reporters, others found it most interesting to interview Sora, especially after Birdramon’s valiant efforts, but mainly because of her new ring. She spoke to them with grace and poise as she normally did, although she knew her cheeks must have been bright red with Taichi and Agumon cheering her and Piyomon on from beyond the camera.

None of the Chosen had ever thought the general public would change their tune on Digimon. Sora wanted to get used to public relations for her career, but she still had her moments of shyness in front of a live camera.

Both Sora’s and Taichi’s parents ended up meeting them at the site to congratulate them on their engagement. Feeling guilty, Sora offered for her and Taichi to join them for dinner, but all four parents urged them to go home and rest, and that they could have a proper dinner celebration another time.

The Chosen and their partners went their separate ways, and Sora asked to stay over at Taichi’s small apartment for the night. Sometimes they shared his bed, and sometimes he let Sora sleep on the mattress while he slept on the floor; but there were some nights like that night when Agumon and Piyomon fell asleep back-to-back, leaving both Taichi and Sora to get used to sleeping on the carpet.

Taichi had been wanting to move out of his studio apartment, and he knew that he had to make that want into a reality now.

Both he and Sora sat against the side of his bed, listening to the two Digimon snoring softly behind them. Sora nestled her head in the crook of his neck and he put his arm around her as she held out the back of her right hand, admiring the sparkle of the diamond. Marrying her was another want that he was ecstatic for her to accept, as much as he was relieved.

Neither Sora nor Taichi knew what was to come. They didn’t know whether a new Digital Gate would appear and where, or if another earthquake would follow. They didn’t know how long they’d be able to see their Digimon partners, given the few times they’ve had to say goodbye, each time believing that it was their last. Sora didn’t know how her career track would work out, and Taichi was still undecided.

But they knew they would always have each other, tonight, tomorrow, and into the future.

[o-w-quinlan]

Digimon Adventure 2020, episode 14 reaction (and over-analysis)

So, first time I saw this, I recognized its strengths but hated it for its flaws. Second time I saw it, I recognized its flaws but enjoyed it for its strengths. Let’s write this while I’m still in a positive mood.

For the past 9 episodes, Koushiro has had nearly no characterization, other than being Mr. Exposition. It had gotten to the point I considered him the worst character in this series. Fortunately, this episode does something I personally love, which is recontextualize flaws in the writing as things to overcome (see also: Legend of Korra Book 4), having Koushiro be relying on his laptop, but really his role as the exposition guy, to an unhealthy extent be the source of his conflict. It’s seriously affecting seeing how he has put all his self-worth on his capacity to provide other people with information (the animators for this episode seem to have mastered kicked-puppy-dog eyes), how helpless he feels once he can’t fulfill his self-imposed role.

Tentomon enshrines himself as one of the best digimon partners this season. His hotblooded bravado here is both endearing and awesome, his determination to help Koushiro realize how he has worth outside of his computer skills is touching, even his exposition role introducing both insect digimon seems like he’s aiding Koushiro in a way. After trying to subtly show Koushiro that he still has worth even when his laptop is broken down throughout the entire episode, he finally gets fed up and simply tells him how it has never been his tools but him that was doing the work, and I have no idea whether this was in the Japanese speech, but the subs I read made him sound somewhat disdainful of the laptop. It reminds me in a way of Yuu and Gaomon in Digimon Next, this combination of strategist-with-low-self-steem kid and hotblooded-shonen-hero-hype-man digimon that complement each other perfectly.

Then, of course, it’s the evolution moment, and unlike all the others it does not happen during the fight, but in a hiatus, when Koushiro has already achieved his character growth and seems like he could potentially solve this without it. It doesn’t feel like a solution to his problems so much as a reward, and that makes it stand out from all the others so far.

And then the action, of course. As far as fights go, this competes with episode 1 and episode 9 for the title of the best episode of the series so far. The enemy strategy, Greymon’s and Togemon’s coordination, the use of the environment, the use of every part of a digimon’s body, not just the hands, the animation at its best since episode 3... everything was great here...

Which is why it’s so frustrating that none of it feels necessary, that everything in this episode could have been avoided if only they had acted in a way that actually made sense. Why are they going through the maze at all, when they could have gone above it and eliminate any risk of getting lost, or ambushed? All 3 digimon can fly in an evolved form, so why didn’t they use that? Why doesn’t Greymon evolve to MetalGreymon during the lulls in the fight? Why is the show trying to convince us that he can’t do it after receiving an attack, when we have seen him evolve right after being hit by Andromon just two episodes ago (and Andromon should be much stronger than those Kuwagamon)? Why didn’t Lilimon ever show up? The episode has so many great things, but the very basis of it is so flimsy that I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy it the first time I saw it. Every single other Digimon series has managed to justify why the other evolved digimon don’t solve the problems, but this one? Nah, that’s too much work.

Other notes:

Man, Jou is so earnest, and Yamato is so done with it, and Sora just humors him when he talks about trackers (because of course someone who bought everything Sora did in episode 4 knows what a tracker is). My huge issues with episodes 11 and 13 aside, at least the dynamic they built for those 3 is great.

Real World scenes came back, and they really feel intense, with the car crashes and the fires, offering a great contrast to the lightheartedness of the previous scene. I just wish they gave us a time-period for it because it still feels like just the same day and I can’t take it seriously.

NO EVO SEQUENCE FOR GREYMON! Okay, the MetalGreymon one came later and it felt shoe-horned and bad, but at least it’s an improvement.

Koushiro showed the most strategist skill this episode, but Taichi and Mimi both had their moments too, like when they’re discussing the relative strengths and weaknesses of their position during a lull in the fight.

Mimi once again looks overwhelmed by all the violence around her until Koushiro gives her the solution.

Koushiro’s laptop got an upgrade after his evolution. Since we already know it’s linked to his digivice because of episode 1, I wonder if this means we’ll get introduced to a Gennai or Homeostasis-like figure later on.

In short, I consider this a better version of episode 10, with all the great stuff that necessitated the non-focused-characters to act like idiots to happen. Next episode looks like it may suffer from the same thing. Hopefully not.

[variouscolors-old]

🎵

♬ - a friend/best friend memory • [prompts]

It hadn’t been a long time that he had met those people in his life. Actually, it felt like it was yesterday when he went to the summer camp with Takeru and ended up stuck in another world.

Tsunomon was the first thing he saw when he woke up. A round fluffball with a big horn at the top of his head. It was a very shy creature, but was happy to see him. But he, Yamato, had no idea why the tiny creature knew his name. Even Tsunomon wasn’t aware why, but he felt the desire to meet Yamato someday.

As the adventure went, he made important friends with those people and digimon -- the name of those creatures -- and had been terribly concerned about Takeru. But Takeru had a better grip at his emotions (or this is what he believed) and everyone treated him like an equal. Was Yamato the problem? No, he only had bad memories of the divorce (just like Takeru, since it was all a façade and the poor tiny kid had been stuggling with it just like him) despite not regretting the decision he had taken a long time ago.

Gabumon being all shy and gentle, yet pretty alike him somehow, helped Yamato to grew as a person. If weren’t for Gabumon (and those seven kids plus their digi) he wouldn’t have been in a band three years later, and being more sociable.

Him becoming the mentor of three new kids seemed a bit a hard task, especially with those who were stubborn or had the tendency to be too defensive, but he helped them grow together. Despite him and Gabumon not being too “useful” and it making both upset lots of times, they did everything they could. When Iori suddenly came to talk to him about Takeru’s past, he somehow was able to understand Ken’s experiences too. He had no hard feelings, and preferred to let the time heal everyone’s wounds. Yamato offered to go to Mexico with Ken, and there he noticed that boy wasn’t like the cocky Digimon Kaiser anymore.

In that same year, Sora revealed her feelings for him. It was a bit of a surprise, and he was a bit afraid... But deep down he felt the same for her since a long time ago as well. So they started dating. Despite them feeling this couldn’t work, or every time he felt she was concerned, he solved to give a sample of his love for her. It was pathetic the time he was bribed by Taichi to do tap dancing to rescue her and the girls from Boltmon. But in the end, everything went well.

Eight years later, or recently, he had struggles to become an adult. He didn’t know WHAT to be one. He had no idea about what the future he wanted for himself. He still kept contact with a few, but he was driving away again from people... but this time from Gabumon as well. When the ring appeared in his smartphone and digivice, he was angry about that fate. He cursed fate for trying to take Gabumon away from him, but also he had to work harder to save a good chunk of the Eosmon’s victims. In the meanwhile, he asked Daisuke a favor after learning he was in New York. His request was to investigate about Menoa and her assistant Imura, while he himself went after Imura to unmask him.

Turns out the enemy wasn’t Imura at all, and yes Menoa. She had taken Takeru, Hikari, Mimi, Jou and Koushiro already. He feared for Sora. He really feared for his beloved junior team as well. And he was also having more and more trouble to deal with that pain... He had to fight, but he wanted to spend the last moments with Gabumon at the same time. Taichi was right, they were the only ones able to save everyone. So he embraced it, he would fight until the end for the others to have their own choices regarding their destinies.

After the fight and saving everyone, Yamato spent the the last minutes with Gabumon. Gabumon doesn’t ask much but... What to do tomorrow? But when he found the answer... Gabumon had vanished.

It was sad, he cried like when he had been crying in his first Adventure. His beloved Gabumon, his friend, his buddy... gone.

But if he learned anything with all of those years -- this separation wouldn’t be the fist nor the last. He started to work harder on the day he would get Gabumon back. He was enamored to the idea of going to space with Gabumon.

Yamato’s memories of Gabumon kept living in his heart and mind, every day he woke up he would look at the photos of his partner. He was getting better and better. He started to play harmonica again, and the first person to hear it for the first time for a while was Gabumon.

He crafted a new melody, one that seemed to reflect his heart and desire to meet his beloved digimon again.

And now, he works to create this new future he dreams with every single night -- A world in which the digimon and the humans live together. Just like Taichi had presented to him and Koushiro in that week.

[earlgreymon]

Hi! For the soft summer prompt: going down the shore with Ken/Yamato? Please? :)

🌻 ken + yamato // [24] going down the shore

this can be a sequel to my takari drabble, where the kids renting a beach house for the summer. i know this was supposed to be a heavy ken/yamato, but i just can’t resist to put a hint of mimato (aand a bit of taiora, daitakari, and kenyako) because I CAN’T HELP IT LOL i’m still feeling @ashandpikachu‘s mimato drabble from last night hehe.

nevertheless, just to be safe, i will put a tw: loneliness, darkness, and sadness/depression for this one. but if you can cope with ken’s struggle with the darkness, i guess you may proceed. it’s very mild, i think.

___

Yamato was in charge of dinner that night, and somehow, they were all agree to have his infamous deadly curry. For a challenge, Taichi claimed. Ironically, he was the one who was currently slamming the bathroom door furiously, screaming at Daisuke who hadn’t gotten out yet for almost thirty minutes (“I SWEAR TO GOD THAT I WILL GIVE MY BLESSING TO TAKERU INSTEAD TO DATE MY SISTER IF YOU DON’T GET OUT WITHIN SECONDS!”), which caused him to be yelled back by Sora—now his girlfriend. She was preparing some peach tea in the kitchen, along with Ken and Iori who were still cleaning up the dishes, to help them unwind from Yamato’s merciless meal.

The victims weren’t only Taichi and Daisuke. Miyako and Hikari were actually occupying the second-floor bathroom right now. Figured that they must be way less hostile about the turn.

In the living room, Koushiro—not surprisingly—was dealing with his laptop. Jyou and Takeru were just sitting casually, but not as casual as Mimi who conveniently leaned in her boyfriend’s shoulder. If only Yamato wasn’t strumming his guitar, she probably would just put her head on his lap.

All of a sudden, Jyou suddenly asked, “How come you never play your harmonica again, Yamato?”

Yamato stopped playing and looked up. Mimi gave an eye to Jyou with sudden curiosity.

“He actually still carries it in his pocket wherever he goes,” Takeru pointed out; always a caring little brother, indeed. “I think he uses the harmonica for a part of his next song with the band.”

“Hey, why don’t you play it now, then?” Mimi nudged him with a playful smile. “The song that you always played back in the Digital World. I always like it, you know?”

Yamato stared at Jyou, Takeru, and Koushiro (who finally put an interest in the conversation), then turned to Mimi who plead with a hopeful grin. He sighed in defeat—he would never win against Mimi and her famous puppy eyes, at the very least—before resting away his guitar. “For your information, I don’t always bring it,” he revised. But that night, he pulled the small instrument, blowing through the holes and creating such a perfect symphony all over again.

Oddly, the nostalgia did not only strike the elder kids, but also for Ken Ichijouji.

 He paused with the dishes as the melody filled the whole house. It felt like he was being taken away to the summer 2000, not long after his big brother Osamu killed in the accident. It was one of the darkest moments of his life, and just when Ken thought that it was better if Osamu wasn’t around, the guilt constantly slapped him in the face and the pain won’t stop, thus the dark Digivice and Kaiser came as an antidote—a very bad one.

After the school ended, little Ken didn’t usually go straight home. He went to a park on the shore of Tokyo Bay, overlooking the artificial island of Odaiba, and then pondered alone. The thoughts usually revolved about how his parents fell into a great abyss of sadness without considering his existence as their other, alive, son; how the word of mouth spread among their acquaintances that he would never be as good as his big brother; but most importantly, he always questioned whether it was the accident who killed Osamu or his words instead.

There was one day when the darkness choked him too far. It felt as if he was struggling by himself.

But suddenly, a song came up with the wind. Ken looked up, searching for something that sounded so distant at first. However, when he found a boy less than a mile away from where he stood, the music got louder as it was clear that he was the source of it. The boy was probably around Osamu’s age or perhaps a bit younger, and little Ken wasn’t sure what instrument he was playing or whether his hair was light because of the sunlight. The melody, on the other hand, resonated a certain feeling of loneliness and the longing of something, yet it knocked him right in the soul as if it tried to give him the solitude he was seeking since the death of Osamu.

(As if it was telling that he wasn’t the one who felt lonely or missing in this world—others feel the same thing and it was justifiable.)

Once the boy finished playing, he glanced towards the direction of Ken, but before he could recognize the face, Ken immediately ran away for fear of being caught watching. However, although he wasn’t a virtuoso, he remembered the song correctly for it had saved him momentarily in the past.

The claps pulled him back to reality. Ken glanced at the living room where Mimi was busy praising her boyfriend for such an amazing live session. Just before Sora left the kitchen with her prepared peach tea, Ken offered himself to help. He then held out the first glass right in front of Yamato, which made the blonde boy (it wasn’t because of the sunlight, turned out) glanced up.

“Yamato-san,” Ken smiled lightly. “Thank you so much.”

Thank you for saving me back then.

“Ah….” Yamato wasn’t sure with the words, but he accepted the glass. He thought that Ken was just thanking him for the dinner. “Not a big problem.”

Ken’s smile was still lingering, nevertheless. It even made Mimi squealed like a fangirl as he moved on to distribute other glasses. (“Gosh, Yama—he was so charming, now I understand why Miyako and other girls are so crazy about him!”)

[noctilucentstorm]

Digimon Adventure: Review

Eposide 4: Birdramon Soars

Taichi finds himself in the Digital World, not with Koushiro, but with his friend Sora.  Luckily, she’s a badass.

Spoilers below.

The episode has quite a lengthy recap, but I suppose that makes sense given the hiatus.  We then pick up exactly where the last episode finished.  Like Taichi, Sora’s phone stops working as soon as they enter the Digital World.

The digivices reveal another nifty trick: they can translate digicode for the user.  Whether this applies to all digicode, or just holy texts connected to the Chosen isn’t exactly clear, but it raises another interesting bit of world-building.

The light points from Taichi’s digivice to a distant rainbow-looking mountain and the three begin their journey towards it.  While the animation quality predictably seems to have dropped a little, the backgrounds have remained gorgeous.  I really hope they keep that up at least.  They also pass by different digimon, who rather than getting an introduction via a digimon analyser, just have their name in the bottom corner.  Personally, I like this method because although it is a little clunky, it saves on time (and animation) while still introducing us to the different species.  I don’t know about you, but I learn names much faster when I see them written down.

Suddenly, Piyomon jumps from the bushes to be caught by Sora.  Given that all the Digimon they have encountered so far have been indifferent or friendly towards them, Sora’s lack of fear perhaps isn’t all that surprising. However, they’re soon given a reason to be afraid when Snimon reveals himself as Piyomon’s pursuer, angry because it thinks they’ve stolen its food.  Snimon’s animation is probably the clunkiest, which is a shame given how fluid some of the fight scenes have been so far.  

Taichi shows his recklessness by trying to hold off a digimon with scythes using a stick and luckily only winds up with said stick getting sliced apart.  They make their escape by jumping into a river and Snimon seems to decide the pursuit is no longer worth the trouble.

OK, this might just be the translation, but I couldn’t help but laugh at this line.  There’s literally only been one incident!  New headcannon: Taichi totally exaggerated the digimon fights and Sora has no reason to doubt him.  Also, Sora please ditch your hat.  You look so awesome without it!

Koushiro calls and it turns out he’s in the Network and has managed to meet his partner, Tentomon. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Koushiro’s laptop still works where the other electronic devices don’t.  Something to do with its mysterious upgrade?

While Koushiro plans to search the Network, Taichi and Sora decide to continue to the mountain.  Sora’s suggestion of following the river is a good one and she soon reveals why the bag she was lugging around seemed so heavy:

I was a little confused why Sora was so chill after arriving in a new world, but it turns out she is overly prepared for exactly this!  Her shopping trip, which I’m assuming was prompted by news of the expanding blackout, has given them all the tools they need to survive (although I’m a little surprised that mini saw could cut such large pieces of wood – eh, let’s chalk that up to it being the Digital World).

On the river, things don’t go as smoothly as they hope as they run into rapids and Coelamon.  It also seems they didn’t manage to evade Snimon as well as they thought and it attacks Piyomon and Sora while Taichi and Greymon are fighting Coelamon. Unlike previous episodes, Agumon gets an evolution sequence, which personally I found a little less impressive than the one from the previous episodes, but it’s still cool.  

Sora tries to save Piyomon from Snimon’s jaws and manages to activate her digivice. It’s interesting because so far everyone has obtained their digivice in slightly different circumstances. It also raises the question: if Sora managed to get to the Digital World without hers, does that mean it’s possible for the Chosen to accidentally drag anyone nearby in with them?  It could make for some dangerous situations in the future if that is the case. Then again, she was already Chosen without her digivice, so more likely than not she was able to go with Taichi because of that (and to move the plot forward).

The animation of the fight with Snimon picks up again and Birdramon looks pretty impressive!  I’m not sure how I feel about the evolution/fight music. It’ll probably grow on me, but it felt a little generic.

After the fight Greymon devolves, but Birdramon doesn’t.  That it happened due to a lapse in concentration could turn into an interesting weakness.  From above Sora and Birdramon spot their true destination in the distance.  At first, I thought Sora had amazing vision, but she was actually just using her new binoculars.

Not sure if anyone else has tried reading the digicode, but I can’t make sense of it.  More importantly, Seraphimon’s statue is clearly visible. In the next frame we see Ophanimon, Varodurumon and… Angemon?  The last one is a little unclear. 

However, it looks like Taichi and Sora have a pursuer (yay!).  And just in case you thought we’d skip the cliffhanger, Koushiro and Tentomon are suddenly swallowed by Whamon!

Final thoughts:

I enjoyed the episode and it made me want to continue watching.  However, I think the weakness of introducing this cast in this order is quickly becoming apparent.  Taichi, Koushiro and Sora have always been the most competent of the team under fire, and without Takeru to worry about, plus knowledge of the Network, Yamato is similarly capable.  Because of this, the current cast’s reactions have felt a bit of a let-down and personally I didn’t think this episode added much that was new.  Of course, it has introduced us to the Digital World, so I imagine the reaction from newcomers will be much more positive than mine, but from a character point of view, the episode felt a little flat.  Taichi and Sora know each other and Piyomon didn’t have enough input to really change the dynamics.  Compared to episode 4 of the original Adventure, which also featured Birdramon evolving for the first time, I didn’t feel I got a great impression of Sora or Piyomon’s characters beyond the superficial.  I’m hoping this changes with the addition of the rest of the cast, since in the original Sora came into her own from her interactions with Jou, Mimi and Takeru.

I’m also a little nervous for the next episode, particularly with that preview.  The foreshadowing of the Digital World’s lore has been really interesting so far, but I really want them to focus a bit on the characters before revealing the Chosen’s purpose… maybe that’s just me though.  Oh well, at least Koushiro and Tentomon will get a chance to shine.  Hopefully the next episode will focus more on them and Ogremon.

[ladyanatui]

Daiken Ultimate Playlist, Pt. 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

This is the abridged version of my Spotify playlist for all things Daiken, organized from the start of 02 to…eventually.

Part 4 specifically covers from the episode where Paildramon first evolves to Imperialdramon through the end of the series (ignoring the epilogue obviously).

TRIGGER WARNING: This post discusses depression, suicide, emotional abuse, and PTSD quite a lot. Take care of yourselves, folks!

Spotify Playlist

Click the song titles for YouTube links (apparently you can’t have more than five videos in a post), and otherwise, enjoy me rambling about Daiken.

One final note: Within the lyrics, I’ve emphasized meaningful words, such as night/nightmare, dark/darkness, miracle(s), kind/kindness, courage/bravery, friend/friendship, sun/star/light, fire/burn/ignite, angel(s), and words related to water/drowning.

“Take on the World” by You Me at Six

And it's the fight, and the fight of our lives You and I, we were made to thrive And I am your future, I am your past Never forget that we were built to last Step out of the shadows and into my life Silence the voices that haunt you inside

And just say the word, we'll take on the world And just say you're hurt, we'll face the worst Nobody knows you the way that I know you Look in my eyes, I will never desert you And just say the word, we'll take on the world

While the lyrics lend themselves to describe Daisuke and Ken’s relationship in general, I specifically associate this with episode 39 when the Chosen Children meet with Gennai at Koushiro’s and Daisuke goes to Tamachi to help Ken. This is the episode where Paildramon first evolves to Imperialdramon, who incidentally can fly fast enough to go around the world in seconds (why they didn’t just use him to destroy all the Dark Towers instead of splitting up, I’ll never know), and the next three episodes are the World Tour sequence.

But most importantly, this is episode marks the first time that Ken calls Daisuke by his first name. It’s a really big moment, especially for Ken, who has so much trouble getting close to people. And then, you know, they go pick up the rest of the group in Imperialdramon and literally take on the world (tour).

“Satellite” by Starset

Satellite Shine on me tonight I will be your gravity I will stay and never leave My satellite Are you here tonight? Shine your light and set me free Take the darkness out of me Shine on me

Because Starset only writes songs about space and the sun is a star, a lot of their lyrics are applicable to Daisuke and Ken. I’m not sure I really need to explain this one. The lyrics say enough.

“Enemy” by Eve 6

The autumn sun burning logic in my brain I'm asking why there is pleasure when there's pain I'm here to pay for my mistakes in a humiliating manner If there is a next time, I'll cover up I feel alone, I feel shaky and uncertain A kind man shakes my hand and draws the curtain In a word he saves my life, and then I exit out the enter door and smile

Okay, so then we skip over the World Tour because they’re separated for those three episodes. And what comes next?

Three of my favorite episodes in the season!

Demon/Daemon happens. Buses of children about to die happens. Oikawa kidnapping kids happens. And of course, Ken opening the gate to the Dark World happens.

This one focuses on Ken and his decision to go with Oikawa in an effort to the protect the kidnapped children. He knows how dangerous it is, he knows he’s being manipulated and used, but he has to go because there are young children who’ve been manipulated as well and need his help. (The final two lines of the quote refer to Daisuke when he finally manages to rescue him, but the following songs go in between.)

“Don’t Let Me Down” by The Chainsmokers ft. Daya

Crashing, hit a wall Right now I need a miracle Hurry up now, I need a miracle Stranded, reaching out I call your name but you're not around I say your name but you're not around

I need you, I need you, I need you right now Yeah, I need you right now So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down

While Oikawa has him prisoner, literally tied up (which doesn’t seem to bother any of the kids who insist they weren’t kidnapped? what?), who do you think he hopes comes to save him?

Yep, it’s Daisuke.

Okay, he calls for Wormmon too, but Daisuke is first. Because Daisuke is his knight in shining armor, and he knows Daisuke will not rest until he has Ken safe again. He has such utter faith in him, and it’s beautiful. (And I probably don’t need to point out that the song says “I need a miracle” and the fact that Daisuke is the only person who uses the Digimental of Miracles and that miracles has basically become synonymous with Daisuke in the fandom, right?)

“The Last of the Real Ones” by Fall Out Boy

I was just an only child of the universe And then I found you You are the sun and I am just the planets Spinning around you You were too good to be true Gold plated But what's inside you I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you But not as much as I do

And here’s another song that puts Daisuke in the role of being the sun with Ken revolving around him and, of course, in the role of Ken’s savior. It’s a pretty damn accurate depiction of their relationship and of how Ken views Daisuke. As the leader of the 02 Chosen Children, Daisuke is a source of hope for the whole world, though, and while Ken certainly doesn’t begrudge the world for needing Daisuke (he is the one who basically saves the day by being his normal optimistic self in the final episodes), I’m not so sure he wants to share.

“Tidal Wave” by Owl City

I forget the last time I felt brave I just recall insecurity 'Cause it came down like a tidal wave And sorrow swept over me Then I was given grace and love I was blind, but now I can see 'Cause I've found a new hope from above And courage swept over me

This song always stands out to me on the playlist because it directly mentions depression and also uses water metaphors to describe things. Between Oikawa and Demon, Ken is absolutely terrified, and even though he’s helped the Chosen Children throughout the previous fifteen episodes or so, he has cast himself in this role of being very insecure and needing to make amends. But it’s finally time for him to start to truly move on from his past and accept that not everything was his fault. Part of that means facing Oikawa, who manipulated him into becoming the Digimon Kaiser, and part of that means facing Demon, who is a blatant symbol for the darkness that haunts him. And during all of this, he has Daisuke there to be his courage and his miracle and help him through it all.

“Dodging Raindrops” by 311

I'm letting go, giving up the control Yeah, I'm ready to go wherever the wind blows I wanna see where the road's gonna lead Time is ticking and the world is not waiting on me

I've been dodging raindrops for far too long These clouds over my head, they won't move on I've been dodging raindrops, trying not to get wet I've been dodging raindrops for far too long Dodging raindrops But they're all in my head, all in my head

This whole song is basically a giant metaphor for depression and deciding to stop ignoring the symptoms and actually deal with them. Because of that, it seems appropriate for the moment Ken decides to use the power of his dark digivice to open a gate to the Dark World. It’s an incredibly risky thing to do and he has no idea whether it’ll actually work, but he knows it’s the best chance they have and he’s willing to take the risk.

“Trials” by Starset

These trials make us who we are, who we are, we are We're motivated by the scars that we're made of These trials make us who we are, who we are, we are We take our places in the dark And turn our hearts to the stars

I think it’s pretty safe to say that all of the Chosen have trials to face in order to achieve what they do to battle the darkness. But no one faces more trials and tribulations than Ken, and that’s incredibly apparent to the other five when he forces open the dark gate, truly facing his darkness and fighting against it.

“Get Up” by Shinedown

If you were ever in doubt Don't sell yourself short, you might be bulletproof Hard to move mountains when you're paralyzed But you gotta try And I'm calling out

Of course, everyone comes to support Ken. He’s finally fully one of the group, but the order everyone comes to his aid is important.

First is Hikari, who probably understands Ken’s relationship with the darkness and the Dark World the best since it too called to her. Then Takeru, who has always felt so strongly about fighting the darkness, which is super obvious in this season (Takeru totally has PTSD and anger issues from Angemon dying in the first season, but really, at this point, which Chosen Child doesn’t have PTSD?). Next is Miyako, who was super hesitant about him joining the group, but once she was on board with the idea, she was fully committed. Last, of course, is Iori, who was the last person to accept Ken, and this moment feels like another moment that Iori realizes how far Ken has really come and accepts him even more.

But Iori isn’t actually the last person. For once, Daisuke remains behind.

“Light Up the Sky” by Yellowcard

I can't find a wall to pin this to They're all coming down since I've found you I just wanna be where you are tonight I run in the dark looking for some light And how will we know if we just don't try We won't ever know

Let me light up the sky Light it up for you Let me tell you why I would die for you Let me light up the sky Light it up for you Let me make this mine I'll ignite for you

Logically, it could be argued that Daisuke should have been the first one at Ken’s side to support him while he opens the dark gate. He’s Ken’s biggest supporter and closest friend, after all. It would be easy to assume they left Daisuke for last purely because he makes a big speech, and for the sake of story tension, that speech needs to come after everyone else already jumps in to help. It would be easy to assume that.

But to do so is to ignore who Daisuke is at his core.

Yes, story-wise, they keep his speech till the end to give the most impact, but it has to work on a character level as well. And on a character level, Daisuke--sweet, wonderful Daisuke--has always believed in Ken and will always believe in Ken. He believes in Ken with every ounce of his being, and it is because of that that he isn’t the first person at his side.

“Weight of Living, Pt. 1″ by Bastille

There's an albatross around your neck All the things you've said And the things you've done Can you carry it with no regrets Can you stand the person you've become Ooh there's a light Ooh there's a light

Your Albatross, let it go, let it go Your Albatross shoot it down, shoot it down When you just can't shake the Heavy weight of living

Daisuke believes Ken can do this because Ken is strong enough to face his demons (while quite literally facing a Digimon called Demon), and when Daisuke finally steps in to help, he does so with one of the most moving speeches in the whole series:

You’ve been troubled, suffered, and broke free of the power of darkness, right? Haven’t you atoned for what you did? So there’s nothing to fear anymore. Believe in yourself! You can’t lose to the power of darkness. We’re here for you.

It’s important to note that the majority of his speech has far more to do with telling Ken to believe in himself using a logic most people don’t assume he’s capable of. It’s only until the last line, after he’s already broken through to Ken, that he iterates the fact that the rest of them are there to support him.

To Daisuke, it’s most important that Ken realize he is strong enough to fight this, that he doesn’t need to be afraid anymore, that he’s changed.

“Dream” by Imagine Dragons

We all are living in a dream But life ain't what it seems Oh everything's a mess And all these sorrows I have seen They lead me to believe That everything's a mess But I wanna dream I wanna dream Leave me to dream

Unfortunately, there isn’t much time between the Daemon Corps and when the Chosen Children follow Oikawa and the kids into the Dream World. After BelialVamdemon reveals himself, he sends the Chosen into a trance-like state where they envision their deepest dreams. The others see illusions of their broken family becoming one, humans and Digimon living together peacefully, seeing their dead father, or getting all the attention they want from their parents, but what does Ken see?

“Dear Agony” by Breaking Benjamin

Suddenly The lights go out Let forever Drag me down I will fight for one last breath I will fight until the end

And I will find the enemy within 'Cause I can feel it crawl beneath my skin

Oh yeah. He sees himself as the Digimon Kaiser essentially getting lynched by all the Digimon he hurt while under the influence of the Dark Seed. That’s not fucked up at all.

Obviously, Ken still has a long way to go as far as dealing with his trauma, but there’s one really important thing to note: He sees the lynching from an outside perspective, as if the Kaiser chained to the Dark Tower is not actually himself. I’m sure whether to accept his actions as the Kaiser as his actual actions, knowing he was manipulated by the Dark Seed, is something he struggles with regularly.

“My Demons” by Starset

I cannot stop this sickness taking over It takes control and drags me into nowhere I need your help, I can't fight this forever I know you're watching I can feel you out there

Don't let me go I need a savior to heal my pain When I become my worst enemy The enemy

His vision is then interrupted by his brother Osamu coming onto the scene and telling him to forgive himself and move on, so this vision has some good points as well.

Osamu: Ken, you have suffered enough. You have already paid for your sins. Ken: My sins have been paid for? Osamu: Yeah. Ken: It’s over. It’s over now.

He obviously still believes he deserves to suffer for what he did, but what he wants more than anything is to move on from that and not have it affect him anymore.

Wormmon, of course, is there to remind him that that isn’t possible, that we can’t live in the past (before Osamu died) and we can’t pretend the bad things didn’t happen. There’s too much at stake--not just the fight against BelialVamdemon, but to pretend those things didn’t happen means we don’t learn from our mistakes and we don’t improve.

“I Want to Live” by Skillet

All I ever needed was a reason to believe You help me hold on, you ignite the fire in me You always come for me, you know just what I need Don't make me wait for this, save me from this darkness I reach for the light

I want to live my life The choice is mine, I've made up my mind Now, I'm free to start again The way I want to live (to live) and breathe (and breathe) The way I want that's right for me I may not know nothing else But I know this, I want to live

Daisuke and Takeru show up then, and then the rest of the group, and they’re each there to support him, to show him they believe in him.

I find it interesting that all Daisuke says when he shows up is, “That’s right, Ken!” Once again, while everyone else says something that’s meant to lift his spirits and guide him in the right direction, Daisuke simply affirms Ken’s decisions and thoughts. He knows Ken will come to the right conclusion, and he doesn’t have to say any more than that.

Then, of course, they go back to the Dream World to fight BelialVamdemon for the final battle.

“King and Lionheart” by Of Monsters and Men

But you're a king and I'm a lion-heart And as the world comes to an end I'll be here to hold your hand 'Cause you're my king and I'm your lionheart

Obviously the world doesn’t come to an end because they defeat the bad guy and save the world and everything is magical again because Oikawa does something useful with his life (death), but the sentiment stands.

“Difficult Year” by Keane

Some days it seems okay Got some good friends around me But I'm still scared of losing my head I guess there's just something selfish about me

I've had a little bad luck Well, it's mostly my own making I thought I had it all sewn up But I was so badly mistaken

The series ends here, a little after Christmas but definitely before New Year’s, as New Year’s is a huge deal in Japan and, even around the climax, I don’t think they could get away with pretending it wasn’t happening. Considering the show started at the beginning of the school year, which is April in Japan, the series lasts about nine months, and boy has it been a trying year for all the Chosen Children.

Obviously, it’s been more than trying for Ken, and while he’s made tons of improvements throughout the season, he still has a long way to go to heal from his traumatic experiences, and Daisuke will be there with him along the way.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

[digimonadventuretimelines]

[10-  Emergencial Reunion!!]

“You said it was an emergency so you have to be straight and tell us what’s going on.”

Iori didn’t want to sound rude, but considering everyone at this point is full of work to do, like Joe having many appointments with hurt or sick digimon as example.

“It’s about him” Ken said with a serious tone.

Everyone stopped talking or complaining, creating a heavy and uncomfortable atmosphere in the room. It wasn’t like they had given up on Daisuke, and yes that they had no clues to solve that issue. Taichi had gotten no time to search for him, and had given a lot of excuses to the media to keep everything under control. If not… How would’ve Taichi explain that without revealing that Daisuke is one of the DigiChosen?

“What did you get?” Miyako broke the silence, yet her voice was cold. They were talking about her husband after all.

“We never learned what happened to him” Ken began, “Two years ago, we got a message on our digivices about a mysterious S.O.S. signal. Daisuke and I went to check it out, but we had been ambushed by a digimon.”

“That we know, Ichijouji” Takeru vaguely commented.

“The jogress was an option for us but, we got separated in combat. When we found each other, Daisuke shoved me into the gate to save me from being captured.” 

“Then, what have you discovered about the case?” Taichi acted as the good and old leader once again “You said on the phone that it is connected to the Roar of Freedom, am I wrong?”

“It’s an assumption” Ken explained “This group had been spotted on the same area Daisuke got caught, and they know who we are. Because after someone executed the Strikedramon brothers… We found that they left a message addressed to us.”

“Are they threatening us…?” Yamato clenched his fist, but Takeru calmed him down.

“We didn’t give up on finding Daisuke, and this may be the very first clue we got since two years ago.”

“... What you want us to do?” Koushiro asked him, and that was everyone’s question as well. 

Ken hated to feel pressured by glares, somehow it brings him bad memories from his childhood. However, he was on Daisuke’s position in the group -- While Taichi is the first and Yamato the second… Daisuke is somehow the third. And Ken does not like to be the lead despite being the head of the Special Digimon Cases Unit.

“Nothing for now” he answered a few moments later, trying to formulate words in his mind.

“You want to go there and investigate, am I wrong?” Taichi said, then looked at the others.

“If Ken goes, I’m going” Miyako raised from her seat “Daisuke is not only our friend, it’s my husband. And I have to protect my family.”

“I’d like to go too but… I’m busy” Iori mused.

“I have a lot to do too” Hikari, Mimi and Sora replied, some frowns were visible.

“The hospital needs me, I’m sorry” Joe was honest as ever, deep down he wanted to do more for the group but he was the most busiest of the them right now.

“I could go, but” Takeru spoke “I have a book release to attend. After that, I can lend you a hand Ken.”

“The next mission is settled to the next week” Yamato was pouty “I will help giving support here. Could go investigating those cases in the meanwhile” then he glanced at Taichi.

“Sorry, I can’t go” and he answered “I had been a target, while I can still fight… Handling with the role as a Chosen Child and as the digimon’s Ambassador wouldn’t be good. I trust you two though. If you need help, I will do my best to send backup.”

“Taichi, our identities are a secret!” Yamato argued “You can’t simply ruin all of our efforts to keep our families safe!”

“I won’t, I prefer to call Ken’s unit to give him and Miyako support.”

Daichi was sleeping when someone had entered in his room. Luckily, Ulforce and Natsu were still spending the night at the old Daisuke’s office room so no one suspected about them.

A very quiet voice was what made Daichi wake up, seeing a blurred human holding a pink ball.

Wait.

“Daichi, please wake up and help” Kiyoko was the one he saw now that his vision went back to normal “This lil’ guy is needing some help!”

“Lil… W-wait, that’s a digimon!?”

“No, it’s a plush. Duh, of course he is!”

“What happened?!” he got up from the bed “Where did he come from!? Where did you find him!?”

“Uhh, long story short… He was running away from some baddie and de-evolved back to this form. Is it a… Poromon right?”

“Hm yes” he examined the borb-like baby “I think it is.”

“Why don’t you use that shining thing on your desk?”

“Shiny thing--” he looked back and realized he didn’t hide the D-TimeRune before going to sleep!! “Aa- Um, that thing!? It’s a phone! A normal phone!! Old phone I meant…!”

She smirked, “I know you’re hiding something from me dear brother. Because after getting your message, I phoned Mitsuki and he said you weren’t at his home. I also phoned your other friends and they said the same!”

He gasped.

“You can’t hide it from me, Daichi. I’m sly as a fox, faster like a cheetah and your sister.”

“A… Uh… Please, don’t tell anyone about this” Daichi sighed “I’ve got a digivice and a digimon partner.”

“YOU WHAT!?”

“Y-you’re going to wake mom up!!” he whispered to her “Please don’t tell mom or anyone else.”

“Fine fine!” Kiyoko muttered and pouted “Now please help me with this digimon, he seems hurt!”

Daichi grabbed the digivice and told Kiyoko to follow him to the room no one ever had opened since Daisuke’s disappearance. When they stood in front of the door, Daichi muttered:

“This is also a secret, don’t let anyone else know,” and he opened the door. They walked in and he closed the door, turned the lights on and made the sleepy digi-duo wake up.

“Aww, they’re cute!!” she was looking at them and almost squishing the hurt Poromon “What are they? Digimon too? That’s a Chibimon and… I never had heard of a pink bun!”

“Daichi isn’t your identity supposed to be a secret?” Natsu squinted her eyes but her expression changed to concern “Uh-oh, you have an injured digimon here! Let me heal it…!” and she switched forms in front of them, took the Poromon from Kiyoko’s hands and put it on the couch by Ulforce’s side. she send an energy from her hands to the bird-like digimon, healing him slowly.

“A secret?” Kiyoko glanced at Daichi “I thought you wouldn’t hide something from me…!”

“Natsu said to me to not tell anyone else, there’s some things you cannot know--”

“And there’s more!? And you can’t trust me!?”

“I think y’all should tell her” Ulforce interrupted the heated discussion. Both Daichi and Natsu looked at him “Sorry guys, the girl needs to know now that she’s aware of us here.”

“Fine, Daichi tell her I’m busy to give details. But you must keep quiet about it, Kiyoko.”

“I… I will, don���t worry!” the girl nodded “Not even mom and dad must know right…?”

“Especially them, or else they will lock me in the depths of the Digital World.”

“Ok…?” Kiyoko wasn’t able to understand that, but she promised to not tell anyone about whatever it was Daichi’s secret.

“... Mom and dad are legendary heroes” Daichi began “Remember of those stories about the Digital World’s warriors? They were real… And our dad is a brainwashed enemy right now.”

She stared at him for a while. Then she snorted and laughed but not too much loud.

“Seriously? Have you been talking with Junya lately? Our parents are heroes!? How funny!”

“Kiyoko I’m deadly serious here! They are, I just saw--”

“Wait, How can a digimon researcher and a worldwide famous chef be secret heroes? It makes no sense, big bro. You’re talking like Junya about the conspiracy theory of ambassador Yagami hiding the truth from everyone about the legends.”

“... He is right. But not for something evil, actually it’s about our safety.”

“Daichi, I don’t know what happened to you to jump from ‘our dad is dead’ to ‘our dad is alive, and our parents are part of the legendary Chosen Children’ but I know dad is on a business trip and our parents aren’t heroes.”

“He’s telling the truth” Natsu turned back and stared at Kiyoko “Daisuke, Miyako and Taichi are DigiChosen. Most of their friends are.”

“I… It’s strange knowing that our babysitter is a digimon but...”

“Kiyoko, my sweetie… I’ve been with your parents from a long time ago that I’m basically an honored digimon partner. Believe me, I tell no lies.”

“Why would dad be an enemy? He’s a good person!! Makes no sense!”

“He had been captured, but Daichi knows how to fix it… You have to stay here and not tell anyone about it--”

“Urk…” the Poromon woke up, his vision being pretty blurred but slowly coming back. His noise called the kids, Natsu and Ulforce’s attention though “I need to find the… C-Chosen Children.”

“Don’t talk, you’re badly injured!” Kiyoko said, worried with the poor bird “You’re safe, please rest.”

“Why is he looking for them?” Ulforce tilted his head.

“What happened to him, Kiyoko?” Daichi asked calmly.

“I don’t know, I was coming back from school and…”

  … It fell from the skies devolved in front of me.

“Hey little one, are you okay?!” I approached from, super duper concerned with him. I took from the ground and examined him for a few seconds. Then he talked to me:

“... Human kid-- W-watch out…!!” He said and then he shove me to the ground. A light hit this poor Poromon and he fell again on the floor.

“Ugh, h-hey why did you-- Huh!?” I looked behind me and saw a shadow. It was trying to catch the Poromon so I grabbed the bird orb from the floor and ran away.

  Daichi, Ulforce and Natsu looked at Kiyoko, then to each other. To Daichi, that sounded like the plot of one of the old games he and his father had played together.

“So, someone’s looking for him” the boy mused “And, probably is going after you now.”

“Yeah, I think so…”

“Do you think it chased her at home?” Ulforce looked around “I mean-- Not like I care of someone trying to invade your home...”

“The house is safe” Daichi said “There’s alarms and mx. Hawkmon lives here. He’s mom’s partner after all.”

“Uh… About that…” The three looked at Kiyoko “... Mom and mx. Hawk are not here, they went to an important meeting.”

“So we’re all alone!?” Ulforce babbled in panic, then he started to verify every corner of the room “Are we safe!?”

“Are you scared…?” Natsu smirked “Aren’t you the grand hero Ulforce?”

“Me!? Scared!?” the tiny-mon took the bait “I gonna show ya how great I am! Daichi kid, evolve me and I will protect everyone for the night!”

“Uh, no need to--” suddenly a noise was heard from outside. Kiyoko grabbed the Poromon and hid behind Natsu, while Daichi took the D-TimeRune to see if it was a digimon signal.

“Wha-what was that!?” the girl asked “It sounded like someone crashing the restaurant’s entrance door…!”

“Stay here” Daichi whispered, “Ulforce come with me.”

“F-fine…??” he nodded, then jumped to the boy’s arms. The duo left the room, leaving Natsu and Kiyoko to protect the injured Poromon.

“... Mom’s going to not like if they damage the restaurant” Kiyoko mused “Natsu, can you see if there’s someone inside?”

“I don’t feel anything from here, and Poromon is injured we can’t--”

Kiyoko left the room and Natsu sighed. No matter how much she worked to keep the siblings safe for the sake of their lives… Those two always find a way to get into trouble. Quite like their parents.

When the girls arrived at the restaurant floor, they saw Ulforce on child level already and chasing a shadow, with Daichi going after the blue digimon.

“It’s… It’s that one who was chasing me!!” Kiyoko shouted, Daichi glanced at her but turned back to the battle “P-please don’t damage the restaurant, dad wouldn’t like it…!!”

“I won’t!” He assured her “Ulforce, Kiyoko, Natsu, try to lure it to the outside!”

“Wait will you put YOUR SISTER in danger!?” Natsu babbled.

“She’s fine, she’s with us!”

“Yes, but do you forgot she’s a not a tamer!?”

“Oh screw that!” Kiyoko yelled “With or without a digimon, I’ve raised to fight! I’m made of fire!” then she ran towards the mysterious silhouette, with the Poromon in her hands “Hey, dummy dumbo thing! Come catch me, leave this place alone and come after me!” She left the restaurant by the main entrance, forcing the shadow to chase her.

“Good job, Kiyoko!” Daichi nodded, then looked at Ulforce and Natsu “Let’s go, we need to prevent that thing from hurting Kiyoko and the Poromon.”

“Ok” they nodded and with this the three left after the shadow.

[rdmfavcpls]

I Wished Someone Care

Title: I Wished Someone Cared

Rating: T

Category: Digimon

Pairing: Ami x Arata friendship

Summary: After Chapter 6 when Arata finds out that Nishino had fallen to Eater Syndrome and walks away from Ami. Ami goes back to the agency to file her report but tells Kyoko that she’s going back to her mom’s house. Arata comes by later on to find Ami is away from the Agency.

Disclaimer: I Do Not Owe The Rights To Digimon Or Its Franchise.

Writer’s Note: I have the original digi-destined mentioned in here with the ending of the second season. Mentions of Jyou and Koushiro. Does not match with the games events.

~~Story Begins~~

Ami watched sadly as her friend Arata Sanada walked away. She waited for his black rumpled hair and white overcoat with blue stitching that matched the front of his full body undercoat to get out of her eyesight before walking towards Kuremi Agency. The wind blowing her small red side ponytail in front of her blue eyes, her digivice goggles getting some of the hair caught, her yellow backpack was filled with much needed items for her dearly beloved Lillymon and hanging on her black and yellow shirt with circles on the front, her black skirt blowing against her long legs, yellow knee high socks and black shoes completed her outfit.

She wrapped her arms around herself as she kept walking, “I guess I really don’t have anyone who truly cares about me. I know they don’t allow friends to visit if one has EDEN Syndrome, Mom is doing her first book abroad, Takumi is studying in America so I’m happy that they don’t know about my physical state right now.” She talked quietly to herself feeling alone and homesick. “Ryota is too worried about Sakura and Sakura is all crazy about this Jimi Ken singer. Kyoko and Mirel know about what’s really wrong with me, Yuuko might have an idea, but as for Nokia and Arata, they think I’m perfectly fine.”

She looked at Nakano’s building and the feeling of being homesick grew. She heard a dog bark and looked to the side seeing a young man walking his Russell Terrier past the pet store. She smiled and walked inside the building as she thought about returning home for the weekend.

Kyoko Kuremi was a very busty woman who enjoyed showing off her long blonde locks and curvaceous body, but her brown eyes and intelligent mind (except for when it came down to coffee), proved she knew a lot more than most. When she saw her assistant walk in to file her report, she had a feeling that Ami would need time off. Especially since Ami’s mom called asking why Ami hasn’t turned in any of her schoolwork leaving Kyoko to call her school and explain that she was focusing on solving a very dangerous case.

Once Ami turned her report into Kyoko, Kyoko spoke to her, “You have done wonders since becoming my assistant but I guess I forgot you are also a high school student. That is one of the reasons as to why I’m offering you a ride to your residency. This case that Date gave you also took quite a bit out of you. So, I’m giving you the rest of the week off so you can get your school work done and relax. Good thing today’s Monday, right?”

“Really, but what about the cases?” Ami asked.

“I’ll take care of them, so shall we get going? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not giving you an option to refuse. Your digivice now, please. This way your friends can’t try to get you to help them for free,” Kyoko responded holding her hand out.

Ami hesitated but gave her boss her digivice,”Thank you so much Kyoko. I was just going to ask you for the weekend off.”

Kyoko didn’t have the heart to tell Ami that she heard how bad her case of homesickness was.

~~Two Days Later~~

Arata Sanada was trying to figure out if he said or did something wrong to Ami. He’s been trying to get a hold of her to ask about the ‘weird stalker’ guy. Sure, he hasn’t known Ami long but for her to call him that and than that man being arrested - obviously Arata was missing parts of the picture.

Arata was browsing through the book store in Shibuya trying to figure out if he should ask around in EDEN about Ami when he looked out of the store’s window. Right outside was Ami with her hair being out of the small side of the ponytail, the ends of her hair resting against the middle of her shoulder blades, her usual black and yellow outfit was replaced by a baby blue t-shirt and a black skirt with blue stars that was the same length as her usual skirt. Ami was walking past the shop talking to a boy that was wearing a local Shibuya school uniform and blonde hair.

Arata quickly went to the checkout desk, leaving the books he plans on buying there before running out of the shop. Thankful that the workers there know him and that he was a frequent customer.

“I absolutely refuse to buy-” the unknown boy was saying to Ami until -

“Ami!” Arata yelled causing both of them to stop and turn around to face him.

“Arata?” Ami asked tilting her head to the side. Once Arata got closer, she spoke again, “Did something happen to Mari or Nishino?”

“Mari is recovering and Nishino is still a victim of EDEN Syndrome. The question that should be asked is where have you been?” Arata responded sticking his hands in his pockets. “I’ve been trying to get in contact with you for the last two days!”

“Kyoko has my digivice,” Ami responded. “She’s letting me have this week off.”

“Oh, and you didn’t bother to tell anyone that?” Arata huffed. “Here I am worrying about you and you just so happen to be perfectly fine.”

The other male tapped Ami on the shoulder, “I’ll catch up with you later so I won’t be included in this conversation. Still okay for me to come by your mom’s place later tonight?”

Ami nodded, “You know you are always welcome, Ryota, whether it be my mom’s place or my apartment.”

“Thanks, I’ll see you later than,” Ryota said before taking off. Arata turned and watched Ryota run towards a girl with a blank expression and brown pigtails.

“Why doesn’t it surprise me that he’ll happily spend more time with Sakura?” Ami said fondly before shrugging her shoulders. “Kyoko asked me to give her my digivice so I really didn’t have time to notify anyone.”

Arata turned his attention back to her, “Anyway, where have you been?”

“Mom’s place and the library,” the cyber sleuth responded. “I’ve seen you at the library as well. You usually are to focused in the magna section or you are trying to understand medical terms.”

“...why didn’t you say something then?”

“Because I didn’t want to bother you, plus I’ve been busy trying to self-teach myself all the information I’ve missed from school along with helping Ryota get caught up again,” Ami explained. “I honestly didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“Yeah, well, don’t do it again,” Arata said with a kind smile. “How much school work do you still have to finish? I might be able to help you with it if you tell me as to why that one nerd is a ‘weird, stalker guy.’”

“Easy enough,” Ami smiled placing her hands behind her back. “Mom’s place isn’t too far from here. Did you want to get your books first?”

“Uh, yeah,” Arata said looking away briefly. “Give me one minute.” Ami smiled and shook her head as Arata went back inside the shop. “How did she know I have books?”

The guy at the checkout desk was grinning from ear to ear at Arata when he approached, “What?”

“Arata, man, when did you get a girlfriend? Especially one with the beautiful looks that she does?” the check-out guy asked.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Arata defended. “She’s just a good friend of mine I met online.”

“Oh, then do you think that I have a -”

“No,” Arata interrupted. “You do not.”

The checkout guy laughed, “You do have a crush on her. I don’t think I have ever seen you act so protective before.”

“...Shut up,” Arata said paying for his books.

“Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do,” the clerk yelled as Arata left the store.

“Weirdo,” Arata said outside. He looked around for Ami and spotted her across the streets.

Ami was talking to another person who was wearing a kitty maid outfit. Arata walked over and stood next to Ami as the other person kept talking, “Kenji has the hots for both-”

“I’m sorry, Lily,” Ami interrupted as she acknowledge Arata, “but I really must get going. Tell everyone in the occult club I say hi please.”

“Occult club?” Arata asked confused.

Lilly’s eyes seemed to have a glint in them as she noticed how close Arata was standing to Ami and she opened her mouth to make a statement when her alarm started to go off, “Shoot, my break’s over. I’ll see you later.”

Lilly went back inside a nearby building which caused Ami to let out a sigh, “I just wanted to know how everyone is doing. Not the latest gossip.”

“You happen to be a member of an occult club as well?” Arata asked with a raised eyebrow. “No wonder it’s never boring when you are around.”

“I’m not a member,” Ami said. “I’ve just had to solve one and a half cases for them.”

“I thought you was a cyber sleuth?”

“Yeah, they thought Kyoko’s business dealt with the occult and not cyber crimes,” Ami responded. “Shall we get going?”

“How dare that police woman try to keep me away from my true love!” a voice yelled causing Ami to sigh.

“Here’s the guy who you wanted to know about, “Ami said as she started to walk away from the shops and in the direction of the residential area.

“I have now realize that the florist girl was just a decoy, a test of my love,” the voice continued to shout. “I have passed that test. My true love is that cyber sleuth who was asking about the disappearance.”

The color in Ami’s face washed away as Arata asked, “True love?”

“Hell no,” she responded grabbing Arata’s wrist, “I’ve dealt with him once. Not dealing with him a second time.” She started to run making Arata stumble before he started to run with her.

Once they got to the residential area, Ami finally slowed down to a walk, letting go of his wrist. “Well,” Arata spoke first. “I can understand as to why he’s a ‘weird, stalker guy’ now.”

“Please, Nishino was his first target and wanted her personal information, her address, EDEN account information, it was bad,” Ami said shaking her head. “I talked to Nishino who said that he was stalking her. I don’t know why but something snapped and I confronted him. He was the one who told me about the Comic Mania forum.” Ami spun around as she looked at Arata, a bright smile on her face. “Or the Commani forum for short.”

“Shut up,” Arata said. “Just don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Ami laughed as she turned back around, “You aren’t the only one who reads manga you know. Remember that I work in Nakano and have become good friends with the bookstore clerk there.”

She turned the corner and proceeded to go up the stairs that led to a two story house that had fruit and sakura trees in the front. “Hey! Hey! Where do you think you are going?” Arata asked as he stayed on the main sidewalk. “Do you know whose house that is?”

“Yeah, it’s my mom’s place,” Ami responded. Arata just stared at her like she was crazy.

“I highly doubt your mom is Yukino Kido,” Arata stated crossing his arms.

“Why is that hard to believe? The fact that my last name is Aiba?”

“You used your last name as your username in Digi-line?”

“That is not the point!” Ami exclaimed placing her hands on her hips. “Why do you not believe that Yukino is my mother? Because I don’t look like her?”

“Calm down,” Arata said placing his hands in the air. “It’s mostly just because you don’t act like someone whose mother is considered a celebrity throughout the world. Seriously? You used your last name as your handler online? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”

Arata walked up the stairs and continued following her up the stairs. “I honestly didn’t think I would have time to be online as much as I was, let alone in EDEN, so I just created an account because I had to for school. I didn’t realize I was actually going to be using it.”

Arata watched as she unlocked the front door and a mass of brown and black fur rushed out of the door jumping at Ami’s legs. Ami laughed and bent down to pick up the moving mass of fur which was a little Yorkshire Terrier. “Yes, Jyou, I’m home. I missed you too. Now I want you to meet my friend, Arata. Be nice to him and be nice to Ryota who is coming over later, okay?”

Jyou stuck out his tiny paw towards Arata waiting for him to shake it. Arata chuckled under his breath as he shook the paw, “You have a really good trained dog.”

“He’s never done that on the first meeting before,” Ami responded confusion evident in her eyes and voice. “It took him two months to get used to Ryota and he still hasn’t shook with him.”

“I must be an ‘irregular’ than,” Arata responded shaking his head.

~~In A Parallel World Somewhere~~

An old man with grey hair, oval framed glasses covered his black eyes as he watched from his window where Ami and Arata was talking outside. Ami was holding onto a Gomamon in her arms while Arata’s Tentomon was in the tree above them taking a nap in the warm sunlight.

“Yes, I do approve of this Arata Sanada boy,” the old man said towards another Gomamon.

Gomamon stared at him with wide eyes, “He has had trouble with the law and you approve of him? Jyou, are you feeling okay?”

Jyou laughed and patted his digimon partner’s head, “I’m feeling fine. I haven’t seen her smile like that since Yukino got a better journalist job that leaves Ami alone most of the year. Besides, I’m not 100% sure but I do believe that Mr. Sanada is related to Koushiro since he’s so young and already a skilled hacker.”

“You never fail to surprise me Jyou,” Gomamon said watching the two teenagers with Jyou. “You’ve become a proud grandfather.”

~~Back In The World Story Takes Place~~

“So Jyou here doesn’t know how to shake,” Arata started to ask as he sat at the kitchen while Ami made them some tea, “but he shook hands with me?”

“Strangest thing that dog has ever done,” Ami responded bringing two cups of tea over to the table. “He’s even snuggling up to you. The only other male that he’s acted this way with is my grandpa who is named after.”

“Well, he’s about as strange as his owner,” Arata smiled waiting for the tea to cool down. “So, how much homework do you have left?”

“Algebra, German, Psychology, and Med I,” she responded. “The only hard one is my Med I class.”

“You are a cyber sleuth but taking classes to become a doctor?”

“Family tradition for the Kido’s, my mom’s side of the family. My great uncle never had children so it falls upon me to become a doctor,” Ami said taking a sip of her tea. “So, why exactly were you worried about me? I know it’s not because of the stalker guy.”

“Shouldn’t we be working on your homework so you could enjoy the rest of your week off?” Arata asked trying to change the subject.

Ami had her tea cup close to her mouth with her eyes closed when she spoke, “Are you afraid of me making fun of you?”

“No, you already know most of my secrets and we haven’t known each for long.”

Just the way that Ami slowly sat her teacup down made Arata think he said the wrong thing however, he wasn’t quite sure. Especially since Ami laughed as she got up, “You don’t want to lose your ‘cool’. I understand. I’ll be back with my homework.” With that being said, she left the kitchen.

Arata looked down at the dog, the dog was looking up at Arata, his eyes half closed almost like he was glaring at the hacker. “Did I say something wrong?”

Jyou jumped off of Arata’s lap and went towards his grey pillowy pet bed.

Ami leaned against her bedroom door, looking at the ground. “He showed more concerned for Marippe and Nishino than he is for me. I know I shouldn’t be disappointed in it, but it would still be nice to know people worried about me.” She pushed herself away from the door and grabbed her school bag.

Arata was still sitting at the kitchen table when Ami returned, “Your dog left me.”

“He probably got tired of your lap,” Ami shrugged as she sat her bag down on the table. “Are you sure you wish to help me with my homework?”

“I don’t talk back on my offers,” Arata deadpanned. “I came here to help you.”

“Then which one do you wish to help me with,” Ami spoke pushing her bag towards him.

“It’s going to be the only one I can help you with, Algebra.”

So Ami listened to Arata who was explaining on how to do complex equations along with the geometry part of it, something in which she couldn’t understand. When he left, Marippe digi-lining him repeatedly asking for him to come over to watch a series with her, Ami was caught up in Algebra. She was only two assignments behind in that class to begin with.

Ryota had messaged her, stating that he had to cancel to hang out with Sakura more and that something was bothering him about Sakura’s behavior, so Ami was left alone...again.

She looked at Jyou, “Shall I finish my homework on the couch?” He went to the couch and waited for the female. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

It was quiet once Ami got back, nothing unusual besides the normal unusual for a while than Ami was caught in between Nokia and Ararta. She got Nokia’s quest done first for reasons. Nokia is impatient, she has little experience in Digimon battles, and she could easily be taken advantage of. Arata would be upset but understanding, plus he can take care of himself when push comes to shove.

On the way to Shinjuku, where Arata was waiting for her, her body glitched out once before returning, she rubbed her temples. “It’s getting worse. Hopefully, the cure will be found before glitching out becomes common,” she whispered to herself, trying to calm herself down.

Ami met up with Arata, a smile on her face as he shook his head, “You helped Nokia first,” he said watching her nod, her smile disappearing. “That idiot is going to get what’s coming and you'll be the one swooping in to save her, you know that?”

“I always wanted to be a knight in armour coming in and saving people,” Ami spoke.

“Weirdo,” Arata grumbled. “Anyway, let’s go.”

He turned around and went to head towards the subway, “Wait a minute,” Ami said. “Please.”

Arata rolled his eyes and turned around to stare at her, watching her go to the EDEN portal. “If you need to do something before we start than do -” Ami held her hand up and Arata watched as a blue and white portal opened up and Ami’s body turning into little data blocks before the portal vacuumed them it, “-it. Ami?” He walked over to the portal, looked around it, lifted his hand up to it...nothing. “Ha, ha, this isn’t funny, Ami.”

No response. He pulled out his digivice and tried to call her, no connection. He sat down and proceeded to try and find her signal. No signal.

“What the hell Ami? This isn’t normal,” Arata said as he kept trying to call Ami.

When Ami arrived in the front of the Asakusa gate where a Digital Shift was happening, the first thing she thought of ‘Oh no’. Her digivice started ringing and she answered it, expecting Kyoko to call her and tell her about Asakua only for Arata’s holographic image to appear.

“What the hell happened, Ami? I’ve been trying to get through to you. Where are you?” Arata questioned.

“Asakusa,” she said almost like she didn’t wanted to respond and that she was confused as well. “Look there’s-”

“Asakusa!? How the hell did you get there? Look, don’t move, don’t do anything until I get there, okay?” Arata said before ending the call.

Ami sighed as she emailed Kyoko, “So much for Arata not knowing.”

She had planned on taking care of the Digital Shift before going back to do Arata’s quest, but she did owe him for making him wait as she took care of Nokia’s quest first, then ending up in Asakusa.

“Okay,” Arata said as he finally stood in front of her, his hands on his knees bent down, and trying to get his breath back.

“Did you run all the way here?” Ami asked.

“No, I took the subway and than ran from the subway to here following your digivice signal,” he responded. “Not everyone can teleport like you can.”

“First time it happened this far, usually I appear within the area still,” Ami spoke causing Arata to look at her with a glare. Then she realized that she just admitted to Connect Jumping to someone who doesn’t know she’s pure data wearing a disguise, “Haha, let’s get going into Asakusa Digital Shift now before Date shows up.”

Arata looked at the gate as Ami went in which he followed, “I still have questions that you need to answer.”

“I will later,” Ami spoke welcoming her digital friends, Lillymon, Antylamon, and Ikkakumon. “Suedo is already here, I talked with him briefly while waiting for you.”

After their discussion with Suedo, many random digimon battles, Ami happened across a dead end causing Arata to cross his arms, “Do you not know how Asakusa is laid out?”

Ami turned around and faced him, “It’s been awhile since I was last here.”

“Anyway, what happened in Shinjuku to get you to come here?” Arata spoke.

“We don’t have time for that right now,” Ami spoke trying to get around Arata only for him to block her way by stepping in front of her.

“Oh? I think we have plenty of time and I want my answers,” Arata responded with a frown. “So, what happened?”

“It’s called connect jump,” Ami said.

“What the hell is a connect jump? Ah, where do you think you are going?” Arata asked grabbing Ami’s arm. She almost made it past him but by the time she could take a step back, Arata had her trapped more. Her back pressed against one of the buildings, his hands gripping both of her arms tightly, his grey eyes were glaring at her own blue eyes, “I want answers. Now what’s a connect jump?”

“It’s what Kyoko calls it, the ability to go into the connecting links of databases,” Ami spoke. Her Digimon must not see him as a threat otherwise they would have attacked.

“No way, you can go into the very basic of wiring of EDEN?” Arata asked amazed.

“Of any electronics,” Ami spoke, tempted to tell him that she uses the TV in Kyoko’s office to get to EDEN a lot. “I’ve fixed the old A/C and heater in Broadway plus a game app. Now can we go?”

“No. How are you able to do this?” Arata asked. “Because seeing my friend get turn into data blocks before getting sucked into a portal isn’t normal.”

“Arata, where’s our Digimon?” Ami asked now realizing that the rapid buzzing of Lillymon’s wings, the curious and inquisitive comments made by Antylamon or the loud heavy thuds of Ikkakumon moving, were gone.

“Don’t be changing the subject,” Arata spoke. “How can you connect jump?”

“Be careful,” Ami spoke as she escaped his grip by glitching, the blue blocks moving around his hands. “Ground is about to shake.”

Just as she was back in one piece, the ground shook, resembling that of an earthquake. It lasted for three seconds but those seconds felt forever to Arata. Once the ground stopped shaking, Ami spoke, “We need to hurry otherwise when it moves, we move with it.”

She stared as she turned the corner and saw all four of the Digimon asleep, “Ami-”

“I have what Kyoko dubs a ‘half cyber body’, she can explain more,” Ami spoke waking her Digimon up.

Within the shadows, overhearing the conversation, two hands rubbed together in glee, “How interesting, Ms. Aiba, perhaps the tidbits of information you gave me will be most influential into not only my work, but also in convincing your young friend there to join me experiments.”

~~The End~~

[lightchildofthespring]

Reverse dark cave

Sora, Yamato, Gabumon and Piyomon stopped falling. They were floating in a dark space. When the bird monster flapped her wings, she couldn’t move from her spot next to Sora. The girl tried to make her evolve, but her digivice didn’t react. Piyomon shot an attack upwards; her fire hovered a few meters above their heads.

A couple of meters in front of Piyomon and Sora, Gabumon floated next to Yamato. The digimon looked with concern at the boy. Yamato was staring at his arms extended in front of him, with horror. It was possible he was thinking about how he had nearly lost an arm, but far, far more likely he was worried about Takeru.

“This place…” Piyomon murmured, shivering. “It reminds me of the orb…”

“It’s going to be okay!” The girl promised, extending an arm to caress the bird’s head. “We’re together! We’ve escaped from a place like this before! As long as we have each other, we’ll be fine!”

Piyomon nodded reluctantly.

“Takeru…” Yamato murmured, looking at the void below with empty eyes. “I couldn’t do anything to protect him… I never could… ”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself!” Gabumon told him, stretching an arm in the boy’s direction. However, Yamato got out of his reach. The boy’s body was slowly descending, sinking into the darkness.

“Yamato-kun!” Sora shouted, getting no reply from him. She tried to go after him, but kept floating in the same spot. What was happening to Yamato? Where was he going? The girl remembered Koushiro’s explanation about the orb being a subjective space affected by her emotions. If the place they were in was similar to that orb, Yamato’s negativity could bring him a dire result.

“Piyomon, can you push me in Yamato-kun’s direction?” Sora asked.

“If I do that, you’ll be out of my reach! How would I get you back?!” Piyomon questioned.

“I need to get to Yamato-kun!” Sora retorted. “He’ll be in danger if I do nothing!”

“You could be in danger if I launch you in that direction!” Piyomon protested. “We don’t know where we are or what will happen if you go down there!”

“That’s exactly why I can’t let Yamato-kun out of my sight!”

“Don’t do this to me again!” The bird digimon pleaded. “Don’t make me watch as you sacrifice yourself for someone else again! I can’t… I…”

“Piyomon…” Sora muttered, pulling her partner into a hug. “It’s not like that time. I don’t want to help him because I think it’s my duty, because I want to prove something or because of my self-loathing. I won’t do that again! I promise I’ll never put you through that again!”

“But if you go-”

“I’ll come back with him!” She vowed. “There’s a person lost in destructive thoughts in need of someone to help him out. Someone who demands too much of himself… who blames himself a lot, who feels responsible for everything and doesn’t share his burden with anyone… who buries his fears… his insecurities…”

Takeru had told the girl that she reminded him of Yamato. Despite knowing the older boy for less than one day, Sora had already understood so much about him. First, she thought she could be projecting herself on him, but then realized it wasn’t the case. The reason for her to see so much of herself in Yamato was because they did share some core personality aspects, including flaws.  And it was because of  what Sora learned from her experiences with her friends and family that she didn’t want anyone else following that painful path. She wanted to help Yamato for his own sake.

“Alright, then… but you have to come back to me!” Piyomon said. “Promise you’ll come back to me!”

“That’s not a reasonable request.” Gabumon commented.

“I’ll come back to you, Piyomon.” Sora told her partner, breaking the hug to show her a reassuring smile. “We’ll all be fine and get out of here.”

Piyomon grabbed the girl and launched her in Yamato’s direction.

Yamato was sinking into the dark void, but didn’t notice it. He couldn’t see anything around him. His mind wandered through his past.

His parents argued many times, but there were occasions when they got along. They talked normally, his father told jokes, his mother and Takeru laughed at them, Yamato smiled. He believed that was the true nature of their family. His parents could disagree, but they loved each other and would make amends.  Yamato tried to make things easier for them. He helped in the house chores, asked his mother to teach him how to cook so he could help her out, and watched Takeru when his parents were busy.

He didn’t ask for help with his homework or anything else. He didn’t bother his parents with his problems in getting along with the other children in his class. Yamato strove to be as independent as possible. He wanted to be reliable like a grown-up, not only because then his parents wouldn’t worry about him, but also because if Takeru perceived him as a mature and strong person, the little boy would seek his help instead of their parents’. That way, his father and mother wouldn’t be troubled. The thought of sacrificing himself for them made him feel proud of himself.

Yamato also felt satisfaction when Takeru asked him to play along. The kid was happy, but sometimes talked to him about his concerns. The older brother assured him that everything would be alright. For a time, Yamato really believed in that. When his parents argued and Takeru cried on his lap, Yamato said that the adults would make peace with each other and their family would be together forever. The older brother was doing his part; everything should work out in the end. His words soothed Takeru, who thanked him.

But things didn’t work out in the end. When Yamato noticed it, he was standing between the two adults with a crying Takeru by his side. His parents were getting a divorce, his father was moving away, his family was breaking into two: Ishida and Takaishi. Yamato didn’t want his father to be alone, nor did he want Takeru to be away from his mother. So, he did the mature thing, again, and he kept doing it, without complaining. Not certain if it was out of obligation or out of habit, Yamato just knew that he had to sacrifice himself for their happiness. He wouldn’t let his mother think he needed her, he wouldn’t worry her.

Did Takeru think he was a liar when their parents divorced? Was Takeru disappointed at him for not stopping that from happening? Was he lonely without him around?

His father worked all day, every day. Many times, Hiroaki didn’t even come home. Other times, he came and spoke incoherent things with a sad expression. The man didn’t joke anymore. Instead, he told his son to be sure not to fall for someone incompatible with him. Hiroaki at times went to smoke on the balcony and looked at the street while bearing a lost expression. The boy knew he should be in pain, but didn’t know what to say to him. Nevertheless, he did everything to take care of his father. He cleaned, cooked and watched TV with him. However, they didn’t talk much.

Yamato didn’t talk a lot to Natsuko when she brought Takeru over. Hiroaki seemed sad with her presence, what if seeing Yamato interacting with her was painful to the man? Besides, Yamato didn’t want to give his mother the impression that he wasn’t doing great without her. What if she noticed something and became worried? She shouldn’t worry about him. Nobody should. Yamato still wanted them to think of him as mature and strong.

Most of his days were lonely. He played the harmonica, saw old photos, cooked, despite being unable to imitate his mother’s food. It became easier with time. Yamato hid his sadness so well that nobody noticed it. He should be proud of that, like he should be proud of his brother for surviving without him in the Digital World and for risking himself for the sake of rescuing Yamato. Takeru was the youngest child, in need of being protected. But in reality he was far stronger and braver than his older brother. The older brother’s sacrifices weren’t necessary. They weren’t needed, they weren’t wanted. What was the point of all that, then?

What was the point of him?

“Yamato-kun!”

That was Sora’s voice calling him. An increasing warm sensation was spreading over his hands.

“Don’t say such sad things, Yamato-kun!” She told him in a pained tone. Was he saying things aloud without noticing?

“Takeru-kun loves you a lot! Things aren’t as bad as you believe!” Sora insisted.

“It doesn’t matter.” Yamato said, staring into the darkness surrounding him. “He shouldn’t love me… nobody should… I’m such a disappointment…”

“No, you’re not!” She stated. “I might not have known you for long, but I know that you’re a caring person and that you put other people’s needs before your own! And that you try to keep a façade of being well-adjusted, so people won’t worry about you…” Sora’s voice became weaker. “You built a wall around your heart and tried to keep everybody away. You didn’t want anyone to see you crumbling in the inside, drowning in your self-deprecating thoughts… because you’re afraid of what they’d think if they saw who you really are.”

Yamato now realized that the warmth on his hands were the girl’s own trembling ones, holding him tightly. In his front, the silhouette of someone very close to him was slowly taking shape.

“How do you know…?” He asked in a whisper. “I t-thought I had hidden it… does e-everybody see through me as well? Does Takeru…?” It was getting harder for him to hold back the tears.

“For a long time, I believed that my parents… especially my Mom…” Sora hesitated for a few seconds. “She’s an Ikebana Master and I was supposed to be her heiress, but I didn’t want to be that. I thought Mom didn’t really love me… I made her into an enemy that I wanted to hate… I forced myself to be everything I thought she wasn’t, but the truth was that… I couldn’t deal with the idea that I was a disappointment to her. To think that she didn’t love me hurt so much, I continuously lied to myself… and kept on hurting myself and the people who cared about me. I felt so guilty… so ashamed…”

“But you’re strong!” Yamato protested, almost outraged. “I heard what you did for Takeru and the others! You put yourself in danger to lure that vampire away from us not long ago! You’re not… you can’t be…”

She couldn’t be both strong and fragile, virtuous and flawed, brave and scared… people weren’t like that. If you were one thing, you couldn’t be its opposite. Yamato knew that. But if it was possible, if those things weren’t mutually excluding… what would that make of him?

“My friends helped me to see that I wasn’t the despicable person I thought I was.” Sora said. “Because I understood how my way of thinking distorted reality, I considered that I could be wrong about my Mom. I talked to her about everything and she was honest with me. I finally understood how she felt and how deeply she loved me, I was so glad!”

“Are you two getting along now?” Yamato asked. “After everything… was it still possible for you two…?”

“It’s never too late when there’s love.” Sora assured.

Yamato wondered if his mother and he could have that as well. If he talked to her honestly, if he told her how much she mattered to him and how much he missed her, would she accept him? His mother could get worried… his father could not like it… would that be okay? Would they forgive him?

His thoughts were getting clearer after Sora’s words. Maybe it was time for Yamato to do something for himself.

“Maybe… I could call my mother…” He whispered.

“You should.” She encouraged him.

He could no longer stop the tears from escaping his eyes.

“It’s okay to cry.” Sora told him. “It’ll make you feel better.”

A flaming aura surrounded Sora, allowing Yamato to see her completely. She was giving him a large and beautiful smile. The flames kept on spreading, bringing light to every corner. Above them, Piyomon was flying. Fire surrounded her.

“Piyomon evolves to… BIRDRAMON! Birdramon evolves to… GARUDAMON!”

The giant digimon took Gabumon in one hand and then flew down to take Sora and Yamato in the other.

“Are you okay?” Gabumon asked him.

“I guess…” Yamato muttered, glancing at Sora, who was by his side while Garudamon flew upwards. The sight of the girl with fire in her spirit ascending to the heavens would never leave his memory.

[crest-of-courage]

Digimon OTP Week Day #3: Soulmate AU

Day 3! 

I actually wanted to post the second part to my Sci-Fi-Story today but I thought of what I was gonna write for the Soulmate AU and the idea just hit me a little too hard and wanted to be written immediately :D So you are getting this AU very on time (it’s like midnight here in Germany now). But don’t worry, the second part for the Sci-Fi AU will still come!

So this is a Soulmate AU based in the Tri canon.

Hope you enjoy!

Pairing: Taito/Taiyama/Taichi x Yamato

Word Count: 1696

Summary: Finding his soulmate had never been a priority to Taichi Yagami. Especially when there were a lot more important things on his mind, like saving the Digital World from destruction by a recurring Malomyotismon. What he had not expected was to find the truth about his destined partner in the heat of this battle - and the knowledge that the revelation might even be too late.

There was too much going on around him.

Taichi’s grip tightened around the pulsating Digivice in his hand, his heart rate beating in time with it.

He knew that his Digimon was reaching his limits, could feel it.

Just as the thought passed his mind, Wargreymon suddenly started to stumble, light surrounding him and almost blinding the Chosen with its brightness.

Taichi tried to shield his eyes, while his mind started to race.

He knew what this meant.

And sure enough: As soon as the light faded, they could all see that Wargreymon was shrinking, slowly sinking back onto Rookie-level.

This wasn’t good.

Of course they had been fighting for way too long and their Digimon had to be on their last legs, but they also couldn’t withstand a second without them.

Not against an enemy like MaloMyotismon.

They should have known that this was a possibility after the Reboot, but actually being face to face with the Mega-Level Digimon again felt like a nightmare coming true.

As if the whole mess with Meicoomon hadn’t been bad enough already.

Koushiro was furiously typing away on his laptop, hair standing out messily.

He had been trying to figure out how some of the occupants of the DigiWorld had been able to evolve so quickly ever since they had come back to it after the Reboot – which already felt like forever ago, even though it couldn’t have been more than a few days.

But now that these evolutions posed an actual, serious threat to them by targeting the Chosen and their Digimon directly, he was working on the solution even quicker, sure that he could work it into an actual plan.

Taichi’s gaze hefted on him, a figure far away, desperately hoping that his research was coming to an end now.

All the Chosen were battling furiously; MaloMyotismon not being the only Digimon that had suddenly decided to attack them mercilessly.

What were they going to do if all their Digimon were too exhausted to fight?

His feet miraculously managed to carry him over the uneven ground of the forested landscape without tripping, and soon he had reached the slumped over Agumon.

Cradling him in his arms and pressing him close, Taichi suddenly noticed something blinking on his wrist.

It took him more than a few moments to realize what he was looking at, and when he did, it felt like someone had hit straight through his rib cage, catching his heart in a vice like grip, squeezing it until it threatened to give out.

The usually black ink had turned blood red. The countdown neared it’s last five minutes and Taichi felt shivers running through his body, causing the hairs at the base of his neck to stand on end.

Meeting his soul mate had really never been one of his priorities.

Sure, when the countdown appeared on his wrist by the end of age 9 – which was unusually late – he had been excited, showing it to Hikari and his mother and going on and on about what his soul mate is gonna look like, be like and when he would meet them.

As he was chosen as one of the DigiDestined and later given (or taken) the role of the leader of the little group though, he had found far more exciting and also much more important things to focus on.

Like saving the world.

And doing so again years later.

And another time now.

Maybe he had had time to think about his soul mate in between these troubles, but somehow the events in the DigiWorld had altered his view on the whole thing.

People might find the idea of a soul mate romantic or beautiful.

But the way the whole thing went down was, at least in Taichi’s world, more than just cruel.

Watching the numbers go down until his soul mate died.

Getting the conformation that it really was them seconds before.

How was any of that romantic?

It all came crashing down now, when the countdown kept ticking away, the life of his soul mate, the person he hadn’t even had the chance to meet, slowly fading.

Somehow he had known.

Which was why he had chosen to wear a wristband ever since he had accepted that his life had chosen a different path for him, one that didn’t involve him living a happy picket fence life with whoever fate had chosen for him.

Or at least that what he had been sure of since the day they had first been thrown into the Digital World.

It had been selfish of him.

Never giving him or her a chance to meet him.

Maybe they had been waiting all their life and Taichi had been too busy focusing on everything that had been going on in a world they didn’t even know.

Instead…

Instead his heart had settled on someone else.

Someone that might have been easier distance-wise, since he was one of them, but sure as hell not easy when it came down to any other aspect.

He himself had made that much very clear.

“I don’t think we should do this, Taichi.”

Blue eyes looked at him, almost warily, as if he were scared that the other boy would jump at his throat and rip it apart.

Taichi had to admit that he wasn’t very far from it.

“Why did you kiss me then? Hell, Yama, why are we doing this if you are not even giving us a chance?!”

“How do you imagine it?! We can’t even have a normal discussion without punching each other in the face! We’re completely different people!” “We can make it work. Dammit, don’t act so fucking cold! I know that you feel the same way about me!”

Taichi felt anger bubbling inside of him, anger at how stupidly calm Yamato acted about all of this, even though he knew that this was affecting him just as badly.

“Let’s give it a try, Yama. Please.”

He shook his head, averting his eyes.

“I can’t. I just can’t.”

They had left it at that and the whole thing had made Taichi even more reluctant to everything relationship.

Just as the countdown hit two minutes and Agumon was finally moving again in his arms, he suddenly heard a booming voice right in front of him.

“Weaklings! WEAKLINGS!”

He felt his heart lurching into his throat as he suddenly grasped the whole situation – and what it meant for him.

His friends were still fighting their own battles, none of them having the time – or the energy – to focus on the main enemy right now.

“Agumon”, he whispered, but received no answer.

The Digimon was too weak to even turn his head up, even though he desperately seemed to try to get back into battle – judging by his sluggish, but forceful movements and frustrated sounds that sent tiny puffs of heat onto Taichi’s arms.

Suddenly, the air around him was moving.

Looking up, he saw Malomyotismon charging an attack, black ball of energy unfurling between his hands, growing bigger and bigger – already shooting at him before Taichi even tried to command his tired legs to move.

But it didn’t hit him.

Instead, there was a flurry of green and black and blond, followed by a pained scream that iced the blood in Taichi’s veins.

He knew that voice.

He knew who had just stepped in front him – to save him, to take the attack.

For him.

“Yamato!”, he screamed, watching the boy go down right in front of his eyes, body limp.

He grabbed his shoulders, shaking him.

“What did you do?! Why did you do that?! You stupid, stupid moron! Where’s Gabumon?! Why didn’t he stop you?!”

Hot tears were gathering in his eyes and Taichi angrily grit his teeth at his own weakness.

When had he become so weak?

His guts twisted as he looked down at his best friend’s pained face, hands clutching at his chest, fingers digging into the black fabric of his shirt – right where Malomyotismon’s attack had hit him.

“You weren’t moving”, he choked out, and Taichi wanted to slap him, tell him to shut up, to say something cliche like “save your strength”.

“You… You can’t die on me, Yama. I promise I’m gonna murder you if you die on me now”, his words had turned into a desperate whisper, bruised hands gripping at his shoulders, his mind racing, unable to come up with ways to help him.

“JOU! JOU, PLEASE COME HERE!”, he screamed, begged, even though he knew his fellow Chosen was too far away to hear him, while Yamato’s breaths became slower, eyes slowly falling shut.

Seeing this, it suddenly hit him.

Painfully slow his gaze wandered back to his wrist, where, as if it had been waiting for him to actually see it happening, a name slowly engraved itself into his skin.

Yamato Ishida.

“No”, Taichi whispered, bile rising into his throat.

Why had he never considered it?

“We’re completely different people!”

“No, no, no, no, no.”

His words had somehow given his best friend the energy to open his eyes, if only by a bit, eyelids already growing too heavy to do it properly.

When he saw what Taichi was looking at though, his eyes actually widened for a moment, face growing impossibly paler.

“Fuck”, he choked out and suddenly, there were tears spilling on his dirt-coated cheeks, pain and emotions taking a hold of him.

His expression was one of pure hurt and regret.

“I’m so sorry, Tai. I’m so sorry”, he whispered, voice giving in.

Taichi just shook his head, unable to grasp any of this.

This couldn’t be happening.

“Don’t. Please don’t leave me.”

He took Yamato’s hand in his, suddenly remembering the moment they had let Angemon and Angewomon shoot arrows at them, their hands shaking and intertwined.

Yamato didn’t squeeze back though.

The countdown wasn’t audible, but Taichi still heard it, like gun shots in his ears.

His soul mate stopped breathing the second it hit zero.

[terresdebrumestories]

We were always gonna be forever

✗ TECHNICAL DETAILS

FANDOM: Digimon Adventure 01/02/Tri RATING: General Audiences. WORDCOUNT: 2 431 words PAIRING(S): Taiyama (brand new) CHARACTER(S): Taichi Kamiya & Yamato Ishida, with background cameos from zombies. GENRE: It seemed like the right thing to do. TRIGGER WARNING(S): - SUMMARY: Taichi seems willing to risk his life for the weirdest things. NOTE: I honestly wish I could have done a 10k + fic digging into the how-s and why-s and how much-s of this whle fic (where zombies are, really, more of an excuse than anything else) but alas, I neither have the time nor the energy, so have this instead <3

DIGIOTPWEEK 2017: [Day 1: Coffeeshop AU] [Day 2: Fantasy AU] [Day 3: Profession AU] [Day 4: Mythology AU] [Read on AO3]

“Crap!” Taichi swears once they’ve left the zombies behind them and shoved themselves into an empty alley, “we need to go back!”

He’s patting at the pockets of his ill-fitted cargo shorts, hands growing more restless each times he comes up empty handed, and Yamato’s throat constricts in apprehension.

“Did you lose you Digivice?”

There’s nothing else Yamato would ever consider going back to a compromised zone for, but for this...he’d walk in more dangerous situations than that for a Digivice, no matter whose. There’s the sentimental value, of course—that alone would be enough to make him risk a lot of things for them—but also these things haven’t even begun to lose power after sixteen years of extended use without battery change. They’re the only way they have to help their digimon partners digivolve, act as distress signal, maps and, with a little mastery of the Morse code, communication devices.

They’ve gotten Yamato and the others out of more than one delicate situation, allowed them to rescue Mr. Inoue and Mr. Kido out of a horde of corpses, and generally greatly contributed to their camp’s safety.

Sentiments aside, the Digivices are just too essential to lose.

“Who do you take me for?” Taichi hisses with a look of indignation to make a shier man cower, “Of course I didn’t lose my Digivice!”

“Then what are you making a fuss for? We’re not going back there.”

“But we’ve got to!”

Taichi’s face looks pleading, twisted with distress at the idea of leaving whatever it is behind, but Yamato refuses to be budged. There are at least fifteen corpses in this grocery store. They’re both black and brown with grime and blood as it is, breathing short and heartbeats fast after escaping by the skin of their teeth. Even assuming they survive a second run in the shop, which is a big assumption already, getting this late would mean skipping on their pharmacy run and risking being out of camp at night anyway.

There’s no way Yamato is going to let either of them go back there, especially with Weregarurumon and Greymon stuck at camp to help with the repairs.

“Taichi,” Yamato insists, hoping it’ll be the end of it, “we’re leaving.”

“No!”

They wince at the same time when Taichi’s voice echoes against the buildings on either side of them, the tone of his despair lingering against neatly parked but abandoned cars. It only takes a glance for them to move out of the alleyway, one rattling corpse already moving toward them, and Yamato doesn’t bother repressing a sigh of relief when Taichi moves away from the grocery store and toward the old commercial center their community chose as a base of operation.

They jog rather than run, keeping their strength even as they put some distance between them and danger, slipping into practiced synchronization without needing to think about it. Their hands find each other as they run, the comfort of a familiar gesture easing the knot of fear in Yamato’s guts.

Even through the end of the world, they still have each other, if nothing else.

“We really—” Taichi has to pause so he can gulp more air, sweat drawing lines in the layer of dirt and blood on his forehead before he can finish: “We need to go back. I’ve got to—”

“You’ve got to let go,” Yamato interrupt, waiting until he’s done hissing to breathe in, “I’ll knock you out and put you on my back if I have to but there’s literally nothing in the world I’d be willing to let you risk your life for!”

“But it’s for you!”

Yamato’s too stunned to reply immediately, and the long, plaintive sound of a dying animal punctuates the silence that follows, Taichi’s harsh breathing too loud between them as he tries to get it back to normal. In his chest, Yamato’s heart feels like it’s holding its breath, making itself tiny to leave Yamato’s brain enough space to process the declaration.

“What do you mean, ‘it’s for me’? What was it?”

The emotions warring over Taichi’s face are so intense it’s almost like watching a movie in stop motion: anguish, fear, crimson embarrassment flicker over his features in rapid succession, then something like intense resignation and a deep breath for courage before he says:

“It’s a ring.”

Well. You have to give it to Taichi: he neither stuttered, nor muttered.

Yamato’s brain, on the other hand….

“A what?”

“A ring,” Taichi repeats, face still redder than Koushiro’s hair but head held high, “with your crest on it. Had it custom made and everything.”

There’s Yamato’s what on the what now?

What?

“Why would you even buy me a ring?”

Taichi shrugs, like he’s fully accepted that this is the moment he dies—whether he thinks the cause will be embarrassment or Yamato is still unclear—before he gives a rueful little smile and asks:

“What do people usually buy rings for?”

Oh, okay! There’s something wrong with Yamato’s ears.

Or his brain.

Or maybe the past three months were nothing but a massive set of nightmare, and this is the part where something so weird happens that Yamato wakes up.

“Were you gonna—”

“Yes.”

“Are you—”

“You know me,” Taichi challenges, the red slowly going out of his cheeks, “you tell me if I’m serious.”

Yamato would answer that, he really would! It’s just that his brain doesn’t quite remember how to make his mouth work.

Of course Taichi wouldn’t joke around about proposing, especially not with Yamato. The guy knows what his issues are, how uptight he can be on making words match the exact and real nature of a relationship. Taichi wouldn’t just step all over that with a joke on that topic.

Somehow though, knowing that doesn’t help.

Today should have been an ordinary day, okay? Run into an abandoned store, take what they can carry to help the group survive, run back, try not to get eaten. Rinse and repeat as long as it’s necessary. Instead Yamato is stuck in place in a part of town they’ve got no business in, feeling like a certain bushy-haired someone just drop-kicked him into the Twilight Zone.

“Are you okay?”

Yamato got to the ground, somehow. He can feel the cold of it seeping into his ass, the harsh solidity of a wall with peeling paint at his back. Taichi, crouched down to put their eyes at the same level, has a hand on his shoulder, partly for comfort and partly as a way to keep himself upright.

There’s really no proper answer to that question.

Well. Yamato could go for the familiar route and swear until the static’s gone from his brain. Or, you know, just ask what the fuck is wrong with Taichi.

There’s so much vulnerability in Taichi’s eyes now, an incertitude he rarely ever unveils in front of anyone, Yamato can’t bring himself to do that. Taichi has been the most important person in his life for over sixteen years now, after all, so Yamato knows exactly how much of a gift this level of emotional openness is.

Still….

“We’re not even dating!”

Yamato’s voice pierces at his own ears, too high and strangler to be fully intelligible, but Taichi must get it because he winces, the ‘yeaaaaah, about that….’ written all over the tight tilt of his mouth. At least Yamato isn’t the only one freaking out here.

“I know, it’s stupid,” Taichi apologizes at last, hand moving away from Yamato’s shoulder, “let’s just forget it.”

“Wha—oh no you don’t!”

It’s easy to snatch Taichi’s wrist out of the air and hold it tight, a lifeline as much as a shackle destined to keep him right where he is. It’s an old dynamic between them, this tug of war between their respective brands of emotional constipation and their mutual desire to know what goes on in the other’s head.

It makes it easy to give Taichi a hard stare and warn in a low voice:

“You don’t get to drop a bomb like that and walk away! Start explaining, Yagami.”

Taichi rolls his eyes at that, but his shoulders unwind a little and, to Yamato’s relief, there’s a small smile playing at the edge of his lips.

“Remember when we had dinner with the Russian ambassador?”

“Uh, duh?”

To be fair, it’s Yamato who offered to come along. Taichi was nervous about misstepping or appearing too conciliatory or weak, and since Yamato lived in Russia for a year, he figured a little bit of a cultural bridge couldn’t hurt. It’s not like he minded people thinking he was Taichi’s boyfriend, anyway, so they marked him as a plus one.

Four hours of painfully stiff attempts at polite conversation later, Yamato was about ready to strangle Taichi right then and there if it meant getting out. Also they heard the news about the very first case of Zombie sickness that evening, but it wouldn’t be relevant until the real outbreak three months later.

Anyway. Yes, Yamato does remember.

“You were perfect,” Taichi smiles, as impervious to Yamato’s sarcasm as he ever was, “I swear I’ve heard about you being a perfectly delicious person enough times after that night to last me a lifetime. Your behavior was impeccable through and through.”

“What else was I gonna do? Tap dance on the table?”

Taichi blinks, then snorts at the remark, laughing for longer than the joke truly warrants, but it’s not like Yamato’s about to complain. It’s always been easy for him to make Taichi laugh, but it never got any less rewarding.

“There’s my favorite asshole!” Taichi wheezes after the worst of his laughter has passed, “I missed that.”

“I never stopped—”

“No, I mean...during the meal. At the embassy. Everyone was so charmed and fascinated and I kept thinking it wasn’t you. I wished you’d say something kind of offensive or start making sarcastic quips or whatever. I couldn’t wait until we went home and we’d spend an hour bitching about how ridiculous the thing was.”

The way Taichi’s expression goes from amused to wistful, eyes never leaving Yamato’s before he starts his next sentence is so fascinating, Yamato couldn’t look away even if he tried.

“It took a while before I remembered ‘home’ didn’t mean the same place for both of us.”

Yamato remembers that, too. Not the ‘home’ thing, but he remembers looking at Taichi somewhere just before dessert, hoping for comfort and finding him lost in thought instead, melancholy etched in every inch of his face as he looked down at his hands.

At least now he knows what brought that on.

His voice is more gentle than it normally would be when he asks:

“So you decided proposing was the way to go?”

“To be fair,” Taichi says with a small smile and a helpless shrug, “I did consider offering we shared a flat first, or at least asking you out.”

“Good to know you remember what normal people do.”

Yamato makes sure to squeeze at Taichi’s wrist as he says it, relieved when Taichi’s eyes drift skyward in answer.

“Yes,” he says with the obnoxious patience of one trying to explain something really simple to someone who’s being unusually slow, “I do remember. But I thought about it and I figured...we’re past dating now, aren’t we? I mean. Maybe I’m wrong but...going to restaurants and sitting there like awkward idiots while we ask each other surface-level questions? Really? You already know what I’m looking for in a relationship. I know the things you hate. I know about your messed up brain, and the things that make you cry and everything. So I just—dating’s temporary, you know? And I guess I just…I wanted us to be forever, you know?”

“We were always going to be forever, you idiot.”

Taichi’s mouth goes slack at that, and Yamato snorts as the flush returns to his friend’s cheeks, moisture shining at the corner of his eyes. Taichi wasn’t wrong, with his little speech: they do know each other better than anyone.

They’ve known each other for seventeen years, have been facing death for just as long. They know each other’s ticks and quirks, like how Taichi knows what angles to use to get Yamato to budge out of a position his stubbornness would normally keep him into, or how acutely aware Yamato is that he can leave Taichi gutted with a well-timed bout of emotional straightforwardness.

It’s just as well they care about each other too much to ever intentionally use the other’s weakness to hurt.

“I’ve known that since we first got Omegamon.”

In his more emotional moments, Yamato almost feels like he got his first inkling of it when he realized he could trust Taichi with taking care of Takeru. It wasn’t even a judgment of Taichi’s ability to care for a child, really, more of a statement of Yamato’s ability to trust anyone other than himself.

He’s learned to trust other people since, of course. At least twenty-four of them. It’s just not the same, though. Building Omegamon isn’t like in the fantasy books, where the protagonists get cut open and someone else’s heart is shoved next to their souls, but it does require the knowledge that, should this kind of things happen, it’d be okay.

Yamato would never want what he feels to bush Takeru so closely, for many reasons he couldn’t name if his life depended on it, but with Taichi...yeah. He thinks he could deal with his soul touching Taichi’s.

He’s not sure how to convey that exactly but, lucky for him, he doesn’t have to. Taichi...he’s not always the most emotionally perceptive person in the world, but he gets Yamato in a way no one else does, and they rarely ever have trouble communicating.

Being able to put what he’s feeling in a simple squeeze of his fingers and know he’s been heard is one of the many perks of that.

“So,” Taichi says after a long, pregnant but somehow comfortable silence, “not that I want to ruin the moment or anything but, with regard to what I said….”

On impulse, Yamato leans forward to plant a kiss on Taichi’s cheek, warmth curling in his belly before the words are even out of his mouth.

“I’m sure we can find someone wiling to perform some kind of ceremony.”

Technically, same sex marriages aren’t legal in Japan yet but hey, it’s the zombie apocalypse, and they’ve saved the world three times already.

The law can suck it.