#(IT'S KOUSHIRO WHO HELPS WITH THE DIGIVICES AFTER ALL)
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Digimon Adventure: Our War Game, Part 2 of 2
Previously on Digimon Adventure: After recovering her hat from the Digital World in a wild spinoff adventure that lasted at least 45 episodes, Mimi went on vacation to Hawaii and is living her best life. All of her friends miss her terribly to the point that Jou ended up vandalizing her family nameplate out of grief, which goes to show what a vital and important cornerstone of this team she is.
Meanwhile Tokyo's phone system is glitching out 'cause too many people are prank calling each other or something. IDK the B-plot didn't seem that important.
While Taichi is contemplating how unbelievably difficult the task of getting a hold of Mimi has become, Koushiro returns.
Yuuko: Oh, welcome back. Koushiro: Thank you. What's wrong, Taichi-san?
His answer is to once again flop helplessly over the couch.
Cut to the interior of Susumu's office, where Koushiro's once again at work with the computer while Taichi lies helplessly on the floor. I choose to believe Koushiro dragged him in here by his ankles.
Koushiro: Hawaii, huh? Taichi: We're completely screwed! Koushiro: We won't be able to assemble everyone, will we?
Unless we have a way of reaching Mimi in Hawaii, no. For the first time, the team's going to have to make do with whoever they have on-hand, rather than the whole crew coming together for the big fight.
Well, I say 'first time' but two out of four Dark Masters and MetalEtemon were fought that way.
Taichi: By the way, where'd you run off to?
Koushiro holds up an unusual looking black phone.
Koushiro: This is a satellite phone. Taichi: Satellite? Koushiro: With this, we'll be able to directly connect with foreign access points without having to go through NTT's switchboard. Taichi: So then we can call Yamato and the others-- Koushiro: That won't be possible. Local calls still go through the switchboard. Taichi: Oh, what the hell!
Sat phone is going to bring us back from the brink of Complete Annihilation, but isn't going to solve all of our problems.
In the dub:
Yuuko: Hi, Izzy! Welcome back! Izzy: Thank you. So, uh... When's everybody coming over? Tai: NYAAAAGH!!! (flop) (Cut to office) Izzy: Cheer up already! Tai: What happened to the good ol' days when we were a team? Izzy: We are a team, Tai. But we're just kinda spread out right now. Tai: By the way, where did you disappear to? (Izzy shows him the sat phone) Izzy: Well, I went to pick this up. Tai: What is it!? Izzy: A satellite uplink. We can get onto the internet by tapping into the military satellite system! Tai: Izzy, you're a genius! How does it work!? Izzy: Well, do you know what a semiconductor is? Tai: ...a guy who works part-time on a train? Izzy: Never mind.
The dub misses the kind of important detail that we can't call the others on the sat phone. The put the semiconductor quip where that should go.
Which is a pretty good quip. XD A funny joke that also plays off the relative difference in Tai and Izzy's knowledge bases, so there's some neat characterization embedded in it.
The dub adds that we'll be accessing "the military satellite system" specifically.
Well, if we can't use the sat phone to contact the others, there's one other option.
Koushiro: Why don't you call 171 and see if we have any messages? Taichi: Oh, right, I forgot about that!
Taichi calls the number, and he and Koushiro listen in.
Recording: Playing message. Yamato: (beep) Moshi moshi? This is Yamato. What was so urgent? Koushiro: We did it! Taichi: I knew we could count on him!
The boys record a message for Yamato, and we cut to grandma's villa.
Koushiro: (beep) You both have your Digivices, right? Yamato: Koushiro...? (Back to Yagami residence) Takeru: (beep) We have them. Yamato: Hey, what's going on here? (Back to Grandma's) Koushiro: (beep) Please find a computer to use. A new kind of Digimon appeared inside the internet. Taichi: We need you to help us fight! Takeru: ...this is really bad. (Back to Yagami residence) Takeru: (beep) We have our Digivices, but there's no computer here at Grandma's house. Yamato: There may not be any at all. We're in Shimane, after all.
The Shimane prefecture is one of the least populated regions in all of Japan. They are deeply rural right now. This realization causes Taichi to flop right back over onto the ground.
Taichi: (overdramatic) WE'RE COMPLETELY SCREEEEEEEWED!!! Koushiro: (beep) Please, try to find a computer! There has to be a computer somewhere in Shimane!
Matt and Takeru sprint out of the house, descending a long staircase from their grandmother's home.
Yamato: Hurry, Takeru!
Fingers crossed 'cause it's a ten-hour train ride back to Tokyo. We're not gonna be able to ford the Tokyo Bay on Zudomon's back with this one.
In the dub:
Tai: Is it hooked up yet? Izzy: Almost. In the meantime, check the messages to see if anyone called back. Tai: Oh! I forgot! (Tai checks messages) Matt: Hey Tai, it's Matt. So what's the big emergency? Call me back? T.K.: WAUGH!!! Matt: Oh, I gotta go. Grandma fell asleep on T.K. again. Izzy: Good ol' Matt! Tai: I knew that somebody on the team would come through! (Cut to Grandma's) Tai: (beep) Hey Matt, did you and T.K. bring your Digivices with you? Matt: Did you pack them? (Back to Kamiya residence) T.K.: (beep) This is T.K. Of course we have them! What's going on? (Back to Grandma's) Izzy: (beep) An evil Digimon has taken over the internet. Agumon and Tentomon are fighting it now but they need help! Get your Digivices to a computer as fast as you can! T.K.: ...what do we do now? Matt: (beep) Guys, the closest thing our grandmother has to a computer is an egg timer! We're going into town to find one.
The dub snips a round of phone tag, including Taichi comically flopping back over and wailing about how screwed we are. But to avoid losing the vital exposition that computers are hard to come by in Shimane, they play Matt's final message over the footage of the boys racing down the stairs.
Izzy lies to Matt and T.K. here. Agumon and Tentomon are resting, not fighting Infermon right now.
With Yamato and Takeru now on-mission, Koushiro finishes reconnecting.
On the screen, the images of Kabuterimon and Greymon ready to fight appear. Uh, having somehow re-evolved to Adult-stage without Taichi and Koushiro connected to them. But Infermon's icon is missing.
Koushiro: Alright, we're connected! Taichi: The satellite phone worked! Koushiro: Hang on, it isn't there! Did it leave NTT? Taichi: Hey....
A new email comes in from Infermon. It has a new message, all in Katakana like the others. It reads "ă€ăă€ă€ăă€ă Inai inai ba!" Pretty sure the last letter is the creature making sounds, while ăăȘă inai in Hiragana means "Not here".
The message seems to be, "Not here not here BLEH!" Infermon is taunting them. More importantly, the email address it's using is "@@@@@@djm.dot.gov.ny.us".
Koushiro: Found it! This thing... It's in America! Taichi: America?
While that's going on, Yamato and Takeru roam the long stretches of land in Shimane searching for a functioning computer they can connect to the internet with. The first house they stop at is no good, as a man out on the porch explains to them.
Man: Computer? I have one, but it's broken right now.
At the next house, the now out-of-breath brothers are again turned aside by a middle-aged woman at the door.
Woman: A computer? I don't have anything like that.
At the third house, as the brothers now gasp for air, they're met with further failure from an elderly couple.
Old Man: A com... what? Com....
Leaving there, the boys wander the street looking for new options.
Yamato: Like I thought, there's no computers anywhere in Shimane!
Well, the good news is that when Infermon collapses society, Yamato and Takeru will be well-insulated where they are.
In the dub:
Izzy: The uplink's working! We're back online! Tai: Now let's exterminate that bug! Izzy: ...he left the phone company!? Now where is he? Tai: Look! He sent another email!
As with Infermon's previous messages, the dub rewrites the email in English. This one reads "I'm close to him." Presumably referring to Willis.
Tai: "I'm close to him"!? Close to who!? Izzy: He's in America! Tai: He doesn't even have a green card!?
By pure serendipity, this time we are in fact talking about the United States. The dub didn't have to change this one. Infermon is in America.
The following scene featuring the boys' search for a computer was cut.
Yamato and Takeru's search continues until, suddenly, they strike gold.
The boys discover a small storefront called ăżăŻă·ăżă§ăăTakushita Denki, or Takushita Electric. Writing on the shop window generically advertises "ăăȘăăźèĄăźă§ăăăăă Anata no machi no denkiya-san" or "Your town's electric appliance shop!" Probably don't need much of a pitch in Shimane.
It's not exactly Radio Shack but it's in the right ballpark so we should be able to--
Woman: I'm sorry, but I don't have an internet connection for this computer.
At this point Takeru is straight-up crying. The boys are so fucked that it provokes an argument between the man and woman running the shop.
Man: Oh come on, just let them use it. Woman: (pointed) Sho-chan, don't you have deliveries to make? Sho: I feel bad for them! Woman: (getting heated) But it doesn't connect to the internet! Man: (pounds fist on the table) Then hook it up! Woman: SHO-CHAN-- Yamato: Hey, hey, both of you....
Yamato puts a stop to this before it gets ugly, and we cut to the boys on Sho's delivery motorcycle.
Yamato: Where are we going!? Sho: Leave this to me!
Three cheers for the random deliveryman who wouldn't hang these boys out to dry.
As with the rest of the boys' search, the dub cuts the electric shop too. All we get is the boys on Sho's motorcycle, which is quickly recontextualized to explain who he is.
Matt: UNCLE AL!!! I SAID SLOW DOWN!!! Al: STILL CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!
As with "Sora's cousin Duane", the dub's invented a new relative to transport the Chosen Children. I wonder if the kids accepting rides from strangers made the censors uncomfortable?
Meanwhile, in the United States, Infermon rampages unchecked across American systems.
Devouring everything in its path, we see multiple effects of the havoc it's unleashing.
Bus destination signs flickering into gibberish. Cab drivers' navigation systems replaced by static images superimposed by Infermon's face. The same happening to the giant screens in New York City, as well as airplane and flight control instruments at airports.
There's also one really cool metaphorical shot, gradually zooming out on an American flag while Infermon crawls up one of its stripes like an infectious parasite. Gives me the heeby-jeebies.
Finally, we end Infermon's rampage on a shot of NYC at night, as lights flicker in every building and police sirens scream through the night.
Taichi: Bastard! It's having fun! Koushiro: Despite being Perfect-stage, it's still a newborn child. There's no way to know what it's going to do. Taichi: Can't someone do something about this? Koushiro: I'm sure there's adults out there who've figured out that they aren't dealing with an ordinary computer glitch. But they have no way of realizing that it's a Digimon causing all this. Taichi: Then... What can we do!? Koushiro: All we can do is have Agumon and the others fight it. Taichi: But even then....
Taichi is pissed. He whips out ăăźéé konoyarou, one of anime's favorite vulgar Fuck Off And Die insults.
The dub plays Infermon's American rampage for fun times. They set it to the song "All My Best Friends are Metalheads" by Less Than Jake.
Izzy: Well, the Digimon's in New York. He's eaten all the data at Kennedy Airport and he's headed for the subway system. Tai: Good! That will definitely slow him down, for sure! Izzy: I'd better email Willis and let him know that Infermon is heading in his direction. I do have one question, though. What do you think that Digimon would have been like if the virus never attacked him? Tai: I have a question too: WHY ARE YOU STILL DRINKING THAT JUNK!?!? Izzy: Look, just because you don't like to eat healthy, doesn't mean that I don't. Tai: Don't say I didn't warn you....
This isn't even a different take; They flat-out replaced this scene with a brand new one. Referencing Infermon's new goal of finding Willis and making jokes (and foreshadowing) about Yuuko's recipes.
Also, Izzy ponders what Infermon would be like if it wasn't infected by the virus, which is a funny question to ask when the dub added that detail in the first place. Speaking from the Japanese side? The same, Izzy. It's the same. Without a virus, Infermon is the same.
Well. Less talkative, so the virus did change some things, but not as much as you might think.
Suddenly, the boys receive a videocall. Man, it's a good thing Infermon left NTT 'cause good luck finding a satellite phone in Shimane.
Taichi: Yamato! Yamato: Sorry to keep you waiting! Takeru: We have our Digivices! Koushiro: I see. That's good. You found a computer? Yamato: Uh, well....
Cutting to their perspective, we see that the brothers are at a computer in a barber shop. The barber does not seem very thrilled about letting them use his computer.
Barber: Are you sure it's okay to let these kids touch it? Sho: (jolts upright) Stop whining and let them use it!
While I doubt it was intentionally tactical, Takeru's waterworks worked. Sho is invested in getting the boys online. They are, however, not exactly in a private space.
Elderly Man: Those are Kinu-san's grandchildren. Elderly Woman: Life in Tokyo sure is different. Taichi: Hey! What's wrong, Yamato! Hey! Yamato: N... No... It's nothing.
Returning to Odaiba, Koushiro chugs his glass of oolong tea from the tray they brought.
Taichi: Whew. You know, I was worried there for a moment. Koushiro: Taichi-san, can I have your oolong tea? Taichi: Haven't you drank too much already?
Koushiro doesn't wait for Taichi's answer. He chugs Taichi's glass too.
In the dub:
Tai: Matt! Matt: We've got the Digivices! T.K.: Now what? Tai: Awesome! We'll tell Gennai to upload Gabumon and Patamon onto the net! Matt: You can do that? Barber: That sounds like fun! Usually I just play Solitaire on that thing, but I-- Al: (jolts upright) Careful, Floyd! You almost cut my ear off! Elderly Man: Kids today are so smart, aren't they? Elderly Woman: I still can't set the time on my VCR. Tai: Hey Matt, who are all those weird people? Matt: (loudly) They're not weird! They're my best friends! (bitterly mutters) Considering this is the only computer in town! (Meanwhile, Izzy chugs his glass) Tai: Gennai's transfer of the Digimon is almost completed. Izzy: Hey, can I have yours? Tai: (despondent) Izzy, you're the bravest kid I've ever known....
The dub adds the detail of Tai "having Gennai move Gabumon and Patamon onto the net", which is a pretty detail to add. The barber is also a lot more friendly about letting random children use his computer.
It's ironic that Random Stranger Sho is a lot more gung-ho and aggressive about helping these kids than Uncle Al. Al got them to a computer too, but he's not throwing hands with everyone in Shimane over it. XD
Inside the internet, Agumon and Tentomon fly through cyberspace, ready for another round.
Tentomon: Aren't the others connected yet? Agumon: If not, we'll just have to fight it again by ourselves. Tentomon: Yeah, but-- Gabumon: Agumon! Tentomon! Both: Hm?
Gabumon and Patamon enter the circuit they're flying through from another tunnel.
Tentomon: Ah! Gabumon and Patamon! Patamon: We're coming too! Gabumon: Sorry we're late! Yamato: We're counting on you, Gabumon! Takeru: Ganbatte, Patamon! Koushiro: I'll guide all of you. Digimon: Okay! Agumon: This time, we'll definitely defeat this thing!
Reminder: Ganbaru is the Japanese cultural value of perseverance through tremendous adversity via hard work and dedication.
Arrows appear along the path, marking the route and guiding the Digimon to a new virtual space. This one is full of floating construction beams everywhere.
Perched atop one of those beams is Infermon, along with a video game compass marker helpfully pointing it out and a sign. A sight that has only gotten funnier in this modern age of gaming.
It's not Koushiro doing that part, though. The sign's origin is clear from the fact that it's simplistically written in strictly Katakana, like Infermon's earlier messages. It reads ăłăăăăšăŒăł Kotchidayoun, which translates to ăăŁăĄă ăăŒă Kotchida youn which translates to "Over here".
Yamato: Is it playing with us!? Taichi: Yamato, let's go all out! Yamato: Straight to Ultimate level!
Yes. Yes, it is playing with us. Its age can be measured in hours. This is all a game to it.
In the dub:
Agumon: We're going back in! Tentomon: I assume Izzy and Tai were unsuccessful in finding anyone else. Agumon: Then you and I will just have to beat that thing by ourselves! Gabumon: Sorry we're late! Patamon: I was surfing the net and I wiped out! Agumon & Tentomon: Huh!? Tentomon: Gabumon and Patamon! Patamon: Is T.K. on this ride? Gabumon: He's not tall enough. Yamato: Hey, Gabumon! T.K.: Patamon! Izzy: Say hello later! We have work to do! Tentomon: Keep your legs and wings inside this ride at all times! Izzy: Just a little further, guys. Just remember: He's dangerous so stay focused! (The Digimon spill into the new area of the internet) Infermon: I'm looking for the programmer; Don't interfere! Matt: He's teasing us! Tai: Oh, yeah!? Then let's get him! Matt: It's time to Digivolve!
Patamon "surfing the net and wiping out" is a nice bit of wordplay for his punny quip, though I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean in a literal sense.
Izzy does not offer to guide the Digimon to their destination, the message remains untranslated in Katakana, and Infermon explicitly wants them to stay away from him rather than goading them. So. I sincerely have no idea who put the pointing arrow over Infermon in this version. It just kinda happens.
As Taichi and Yamato agreed, it's time to evolve straight to Ultimate.
While Agumon and Gabumon Warp-Evolve, we jump around the globe once again to people watching their evolution sequences. This fight, too, will be broadcast worldwide.
I'm really fond of how this is presented. Show Me Your Brave Heart begins like usual when the Digimon evolve, but we jump to a different country and different group of people with each note of the song.
The dub uses their typical Warp Digivolve reprise of their opening theme, but they aren't able to time the shots to the notes for obvious reasons. It still flows pretty well.
Also, for Digimon: The Movie synergy, there's a blond boy watching in one of the shots that you could totally assume is Willis. Maybe he is! Or he could be Michael from 02. Who knows.
WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon take turns boxing Infermon around, making hit and run swipes at it.
Taichi: Nice! Takeru: Patamon, you evolve too. Patamon: Uh-huh!
A neat detail of Patamon's attempted evolution is that the stock animation footage appears diegetically on a screen directly behind him. We see him with the screen at an angle while the startup "Digivice meter rises and overtakes the Digivice" bit plays.
(This might be why Infermon can interfere with evolution sequences. Others have fucked with evolution before but not this directly. It's never been implied that a Partner Digimon in-universe stands there frozen in place for upwards of 40 seconds when evolving.
But we're not in the Digital World right now. We're inside the internet itself, so maybe the data stream is something that can be seen and interacted with. Or something.)
Whatever the case, Infermon's not letting them get away with this one. It lunges, undergoing its own evolution into Diablomon.
Yamato: It evolved!? Taichi: How is it so fast!?
I'm not sure if Taichi means it's moving fast, it evolved fast without a fancy sequence like the Partners have, or that it evolved quickly in the sense that it's gone from Digitama to Ultimate in the span of like a few hours. Honestly, all of these are valid questions.
In its new form, Diablomon has stretchy rubber-band limbs, which it demonstrates by punching Patamon out of his evolution sequence and pinning him against a girder.
Takeru: Patamon! Tentomon: Patamon--DAUGH!!!
Also, it has two arms, so Tentomon can have one too.
In the dub:
T.K.: Patamon, you'd better Digivolve! Patamon: Right! Patamon, Digivolve To.... Infermon: Infermon, Digivolve to: Diaboromon!
"Diaboro" is an obvious r/l mistranslation of "Diablo", the Spanish word for devil. What's less obvious is whether they did that by accident or on purpose. Might be an error, might be they fudged the name on purpose to remove the Satanic reference. Both are plausible.
Matt: What's going on!? Tai: He Digivolved.... Diaboromon: CABLE CRUSHER!!! (Diaboromon punches Patamon out of his evolution) T.K.: Look out, Patamon! Tentomon: I'll save him! (gets punched)
The stretchy arm punches are called Cable Crusher in the dub.
Gotta love T.K. yelling "Look out!" like a second after Patamon already got hit. XD THANKS. HELPFUL.
Takeru and Koushiro check on their pinned down Partners.
Takeru: PATAMON!!! ARE YOU OKAY!?!? Koushiro: Tentomon! Tentomon: I'm fine... Patamon.... Takeru: (crying) Patamon, I'm coming to you! Patamon! Patamon! Patamon!
Meanwhile, at the barber shop, everyone's dropped what they're doing to stare at these strange boys getting very emotional about whatever they're doing on the internet. Even Sho and the barber have stopped midway through Sho's shave.
Yamato: How dare you... HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO PATAMON!!! Taichi: YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!!!
Resuming the fight, MetalGarurumon goes for Diablomon first. MetalGarurumon unloads his freezing missiles, Diablomon gets pummeled by MetalGarurumon's shots. At speed, it's hard to tell if the blasts are hitting it or if it's dodging, but the freeze-frame clearly shows Diablomon getting tossed around.
Recovering, Diablomon returns fire with a fireball from its chest which hits MetalGarurumon dead on.
WarGreymon pushes through the smoke and closes distance. Diablomon tries to deflect WarGreymon's attack at range, using its own stretchy claw to break WarGreymon's right Dramon Killer off. WarGreymon adapts, turning a stab into a punch and breaking Diablomon's goddamn face.
Taichi: Tentomon! Look after Patamon. WarGreymon, stay on the attack!
Koushiro, next to Taichi, begins sweating and seems to be having, let's say, trouble with something....
As WarGreymon closes distance, the process repeats. Diablomon snaps off WarGreymon's other Dramon Killer, and WarGreymon connects an unguarded left hook into Diablomon's face.
In the dub:
T.K.: Ahh! Patamon, are you alright!? Izzy: Tentomon! Tentomon: I'm fine! What about Patamon? T.K.: Patamon! Speak to me! Come on, get up! Say something! I'm coming! I'll come get you! Matt: T.K.... You can't. (to MetalGarurumon) BUT YOU CAN!!! Tai: WIPE HIM OUT!!!
The dub names MetalGarurumon's missiles Ice Wolf Spikes, despite usually calling it (and most of his other moves) Ice Wolf Claw. Diablomon's fireball is Web Wrecker. WarGreymon's punch is just a punch, though to be honest I was expecting it to be Terra Force or, like, Nova Punch or something. XD
Tai: Tentomon, circle around! WarGreymon, attack!
For some reason, the dub has Tai tell Tentomon to "circle around" Diablomon, as if he's supposed to be moving in for a flanking strike. Um. No. His job is to go make sure Patamon didn't die a moment ago.
Unfortunately, while this is happening, Koushiro continues to have his crisis.
Koushiro: T-Taichi-san.... Taichi: Go! Keep it up! Koushiro: (straining) Taichi-san! Taichi: Right there! Get it! Koushiro: TAICHI-SAN!!! Taichi: The hell!?
Startled, Taichi finally turns his attention to Koushiro, who is visibly in a lot of pain.
As Taichi turns his attention to Koushiro, the line "Show me your brave heart" from their triumphant battle theme gets stuck. The soundtrack begins stuttering, playing that same line over and over and over like a broken record. Our first warning that things are now suddenly going awry.
Koushiro: I can't hold it anymore.... Taichi: What!? Koushiro: I have to use the bathroom, please....
Without another word, Koushiro stands up and staggers out of the office.
Taichi: (dismayed) Hey... Why now of all times...? Hey!
Meanwhile, in the fight, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon both power up their attacks to throw at Diablomon.
Yamato: That's it! Finish it off! Taichi: Huh!?
The pair fire off attacks together that... Sort of look like Cocytus Breath and Gaia Force reimagined by a new art direction.
Taichi: Please! This has to hit!
It does not. Diablomon leaps straight up and hurdles their shots at the last second.
Taichi: FUCK!!!
Frustrated, Taichi smacks the computer monitor and causes it to Blue Screen. He freezes in horror when he realizes what he's done.
Yamato: What's happening, Taichi!? WarGreymon stopped moving!
This is karma for the Andromon episode of the Devimon arc, where Taichi kept smacking computers.
Taichi tries shaking the monitor a couple of times to try and get the connection back, but it's hopeless. Thankfully, Koushiro returns from the bathroom here to discover what Taichi's done.
Koushiro: Sorry about that. Taichi: (desperate, teary) It isn't working! Koushiro: Eh!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!?
Our polite little Koushiro shoves Taichi away from the computer so that he can get this fixed.
Taichi: I didn't do anything! It's your fault for using the bathroom at a time like this! Koushiro: It's useless.
Koushiro gives up on trying to get the system back on and hard reboots the computer instead.
In the dub:
Izzy: It's... no... use.... Tai: What are you talking about!? We're winning! Izzy: Owaaaaaaugh... goh... This could be it.... Tai: Yeah! Great, huh? Izzy: Not that! Tai: What's going on!? Izzy: There's something... wrong with me.... Tai: What is it!? Izzy: I think it's your mother's recipes.... (Izzy runs off for the bathroom) Tai: See!? I hate to tell you I told you so but... I told you so!
In the original, he just needs to pee. He drank too much oolong tea and now his body needs to drain the excess fluid. He leaves Taichi unsupervised with the computer for less than a minute.
Here, he's got some kind of indigestion or food poisoning going on, which will be similarly quick to handle.
Matt: Tai! Look! Something's wrong! Tai: Huh!? (The Digimon attack) Tai: Oh no! They're slowing down! (Diaboromon dodges) Tai: Huh!? COME ON!!! (Tai smacks the computer and it blue screens) Matt: Tai, where'd you go!? WarGreymon has practically stopped moving! (Tai shakes the computer a couple of times) Tai: Oh no! Oh no! Izzy: (returns) Ah, I feel a lot better. Tai: I didn't touch anything, I swear! Izzy: AH!!! (shove) TAI, WHAT DID YOU DO!?!? Tai: It wasn't my fault! Besides, who told you to go to the bathroom at such an important time!? Izzy: Like I had a choice!
In the original, Taichi and Yamato are gung-ho about landing these shots and finishing off Diablomon. The dub asserts that they're moving slower, which is a later plot point that the dub's incorporating early.
They may have brought this in early to explain why WarGreymon suddenly shuts down when Tai's connection breaks. It's never been a thing before that a Digimon suddenly goes into stasis if their Partner isn't nearby. That's a weird thing for the original to have happen, so the implied whatever-the-fuck could be an attempted story patch.
While the computer's rebooting, Koushiro vents at Taichi.
Koushiro: Why did you freeze the system!? Taichi: I didn't think that would happen! Koushiro: This is why you're bickering with Sora! Taichi: (wounded) I did nothing...!
Jesus. I don't think we've ever seen Koushiro this upset, and he once fought a guy that wanted to eat his parents. Taichi is silent for a moment, nursing the critical hit that remark struck.
Taichi: I just... (mutters) ...got her a present. Koushiro: A present?
We cut to Sora, sitting in her windowsill and watching a jet go by in the sky as Taichi finally opens up about what happened.
Taichi: Her birthday was coming up, so I got her a hairclip. But then she starts saying things like, "(sneering) Oh, you think this hat doesn't suit me!?" So we started fighting....
As Taichi finishes his story, we return to Taichi and Koushiro, with that same jet visible out the window. They're far apart, physically and emotionally, yet under the same sky all the same.
Koushiro: So that's it... Taichi: Yeah, but... I'm supposed to apologize, right?
Taichi's impression of Sora, literally the tone he uses when quoting her, is mean and uncharitable. But that's not unexpected for someone who's in the midst of a quarrel and doesn't understand what he could possibly have done wrong. So far as Taichi figures it, Sora snapped all of a sudden over the hairclip and started yelling at him for no reason.
Okay. We need to take a moment and talk about the hairclip. What did Taichi do wrong? Well. They don't give us a lot of information to go on. We never hear Sora's side of the story. This is all we get.
But from what we know of Sora, we can surmise some things. The explicit point of contention is Sora's hat. Taichi gave her a pretty hairclip and her kneejerk reaction was that he was telling her not to wear her hat.
This is what she's reacting so negatively to; The implicit statement Taichi hadn't realized he was making that Sora's hat is bad. Or, specifically, that it is 䌌ćăăȘă niawanai, unsuitable for her. That she is the kind of person who wears pretty hairclips and not the kind of person who wears hats like this.
Let's take a moment to think about the context Sora exists in. The longstanding personal drama of her life is her conflict with her mother's expectations. Her mother is iemoto, the grandmaster for a school of ikebana, a traditional art of flower arranging. Sora was born to step into the shoes of a very traditional and feminine discipline, which she did not take well to.
Rather than following eagerly in her mother's footsteps, Sora became more invested in sports, a traditionally masculine activity. She presents herself with long pants, short hair, and that big helmet over most of her head, which she's now swapped for a floofy winter cap. She has conversations with Mimi about how assertive and strong she is compared to the more feminine Mimi.
Sora has, for years, felt like her self-expression is under siege by expectations of traditional femininity. And then Taichi comes to her and implicitly says to her, "Hey, you should change your self-expression to be more feminine." Of course she blew up. Of course she did.
Taichi, of course, had no idea the hairclip would be taken that way. He's... just... terrible at understanding other people's feelings. This was stupidity, not malice. But even though Sora and Toshiko have reconciled, that doesn't mean all the sore spots have disappeared. Taichi stepped on an emotional landmine buried in the Demilitarized Zone that Sora and Toshiko's arguments left behind.
Not to be too charitable to Taichi since he was there when she explained all this. He's an idiot who doesn't think things through and isn't good at understanding people. But he didn't mean any harm by it and now has no idea why it created so much tension.
In the dub:
Izzy: Oh, why did you crash the computer!? Now I have to reboot! Tai: Well, it's not like I did it on purpose or anything! Izzy: Yeah, right! Just like it wasn't your fault with Sora! Tai: That wasn't... my fault... Oh, okay, maybe it was my fault. Izzy: What happened? (Cut to Sora) Tai (V.O.): It was stupid. I gave her this really great hairpin for her birthday and then she got all mad and said, "(sneer) Oh, you don't like my hairstyle!?" and I said "Who could tell? You're always wearing a hat!" and then she said "So! Now you don't like my hat, huh!?" It's very confusing. (Cut back to Tai and Izzy) Izzy: That's what you fought about? Tai: I tried to apologize to her but she won't return my phone calls!
Tai and Sora's argument in the dub is a bit longer. A subtle but critical difference here is that Sora in the original is getting mad over whether her hat is suitable to her while Sora in the dub is getting mad over whether Tai personally likes her aesthetic.
Suddenly, the computer finishes reconnecting with an audible chime.
Koushiro: Ah! We're back to normal. Taichi: WarGreymon-- Ah!
The boys reconnect to find the battlefield they left behind has become a debris field. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon lay motionless, lifeless amid the debris.
Yamato: TAICHI!!! KOUSHIRO!!! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU GUYS DOING!?!? YOU GODDAMN MORONS!!!
Koushiro's only crime was having to pee, and his Digimon was barely even a participant anyway. He probably doesn't deserve to be called 銏éčżéé bakayarou, which is the anime classic 銏éčż baka or "stupid" but in a really mean and vulgar way. It's for when you wanna call someone baka but spit it like a curse word, no playing.
For Taichi, however, the obscenity is well-warranted.
Taichi: (teary-eyed) WarGreymon! WarGreymon! WARGREYMON!!! WARGREYMOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!
While Taichi's screaming for his Partner, we take another cuts around the globe. To all the people silently watching in stunned horror as he all but begs his Partner to be alive.
WarGreymon: T... Taichi....
Finally, Taichi's voice reaches WarGreymon and he opens his eyes again.
The dub catches that an audio cue is supposed to alert the boys, and uses that old 90's dial-up tone.
Izzy: Ah! We're back online! Tai: WarGreymon! (Debris field, half-dead Digimon) Matt: Hey guys, where were you!? You two sure picked a lousy time to take a lunch break! Tai: (teary-eyed) What happened to him!? WarGreymon! (Silence as we jump around the globe, then back to WarGreymon) Tai: WarGreymon.... WarGreymon: ...ugggggh... Tai, I can't move!
The emotions are dialed back quite a bit here. Matt gives them a snarky scolding instead of yelling obscenities in Tai's face while Tai's fear and grief doesn't quite match the bloodcurdling screaming that Taichi's doing.
Good news is that WarGreymon isn't dead. But this is still pretty bad.
Taichi: If I.... If I'd been here, this wouldn't have happened. Koushiro: You lost again? Taichi: WHAT!?!?
Taichi whips around like them's fightin' words to see Koushiro reading emails from the laptop.
Koushiro: And now from Canberra: "You were so close to winning. What were you doing!?" This one's from Berlin--
Out of nowhere, Taichi shoves Koushiro. Then he grabs him by the scruff of his shirt.
Taichi: The hell!? ASSHOLE!!! Koushiro: I was just reading the emails we received! Taichi: Koushiro, you piece of-- Yamato: Cut it out! This isn't the time to fight each other! (beat) Taichi: Keh!
Taichi pushes Koushiro back to the ground and returns his attention to the computer.
Taichi: What's with these emails anyway!?
What gets me about this bit is that it's not a misunderstanding. His ăăźéé konoyarou comes before he clarifies, but even after, Taichi still gives him a æć temae. That's the second-person pronoun you use when you want to say "you" in a way that expresses contempt.
Taichi isn't confused here; He is legit trying to punch the messenger.
In the dub:
Tai: I let him down! I should have been there! Izzy: Your Digimon's a loser. Tai: What did you say!? Izzy: How could two Mega-level Digimon get beat by one lousy bug!? WarGreymon quit like a coward--OW!!! (Tai shoves Izzy and grabs him) Tai: YOU TAKE THAT BACK OR I'LL-- Izzy: I WAS READING AN EMAIL FROM ANOTHER KID!!! Tai: You didn't have to read it so well! Matt: Hey, you two! This isn't the time to be fighting! (beat) (Tai shoves Izzy down and goes back to the computer) Tai: Stupid emails....
The dub does play this more for misunderstanding. They take out the parts where Koushiro says "This one's from Canberra" and "This one's from Berlin", so it sounds to Tai like Izzy's being mean and cruel out of nowhere.
Tai doesn't apologize after Izzy clarifies, but he also doesn't double down like Taichi does.
Additionally, the kids emailing seem to be a lot better informed than in the original. It's not too big a deal that they can namedrop WarGreymon since Tai/chi says his name multiple times while begging him to be alive. But they also name-drop Mega Digimon and seem to understand what that means.
From here, we go to Diablomon in the depths of the internet.
It's holding a cute pink clock, revealed to be the true source of its weird cackling back in the first Infermon fight.
Clock: Yahahahahahaha! Yahahahahahaha! Yahahahahahaha!
Diablomon waves its hand over the cackling clock and makes it disappear. Cut to an ominous shot of the jet flying in the sky, and then back to the boys.
Diablomon appears on the computer screens in front of Yamato, Takeru, and Taichi. It doesn't send an email this time; It simply composes one in real-time for them to see, typing out letter by letter.
Diablomon types ăă±ă€ăČăąăăă€ă«ăă ăăŒăŹă Tokei wo motteiru noha daareda. Which translates to æèšăæăŁăŠăăăźăŻèȘ°ă Tokei wo motteiru noha daareda. Which translates to "Who has the clock?"
Incidentally, this message is sent from the FactoryMark server so it looks like Diablomon's back in Japan. It did what it needed to do in the U.S.
Takeru: Clock?
This message is then replaced by two entirely different things to freak out about. The first is a red timer counting down from ten minutes. The second is Diablomon's image in the background dividing into two, and then those two dividing into four. Then those four into eight.
Yamato: It's copying itself.... Taichi: These numbers-- Koushiro: What do we do!? Taichi: Huh!?
Koushiro isn't looking at the screen. He's still at his laptop reading emails.
Koushiro: A middle school student from Taiwan hacked into the Pentagon, and they say that a nuclear missile was launched from an American military base thirty minutes ago. Taichi: HUH!?!? Koushiro: It was fired by a computer error. (freaking out) Of course, it was actually that thing that did it! Taichi: Then this number is.... Koushiro: The estimated time until the missile reaches its target.
OH. OKAY.
THAT IS PROBABLY BAD.
In the dub, Diaboromon talks over the ticking of the clock, which is not itself cackling.
Diaboromon: Wahahahahahaha! Go back to the beginning....
His email is rewritten in English once again. This time he types out, letter by letter, "Who can count backwards from ten?"
Tai: Another email!? "Who can count backwards from ten?" Huh!? Is he giving us a math test!? (Cut to T.K. and Yamato) T.K.: What's that? (Timer appears and Diaboromon begins dividing) Matt: Hey, what's with the timer? Tai: He's making copies of himself! (Cut back to Tai and Izzy) Tai: He's multiplying! Izzy: It gets worse! The U.S.A. just launched two nuclear missiles! Tai: Huh!?
Yep, there's two missiles in this version. Also, they were recently fired, as opposed to having been fired half an hour ago.
The dub edits the footage again to remove Koushiro's Taiwanese pal and replace him with Willis.
Izzy: Willis says the government has no explanation for it, but he found out that Diaboromon's in the Pentagon's computers. I hope I didn't lead him there with my satellite uplink! (gasp) One of the missiles is headed for Colorado! THEY'RE GONNA LAND IN LESS THAN TEN MINUTES!!! Tai: That explains the timer. But what's in Colorado!? Izzy: I have no idea! In the meantime, Diaboromon keeps multiplying!
Willis, of course. One missile for the original target and a second missile for Willis.
We cut again briefly to the "jet" leaving its trail in the air. Now with an unsettling new context.
Taichi: Y-You're messing with me.... Koushiro: The nuclear missile is called One-Shot Peacekeeper. Range of 20,000 km, which is nearly the entire Earth. Top speed is 15,000 mph. Taichi: ...what's that in kmph? Koushiro: In parentheses, "Mach 23". Taichi: T... Twenty-three...?
The Earth is a little over 40,000 km in circumference so Koushiro's math checks out. Depending on which direction you shoot in, you can cover almost everything on the planet with that kind of range.
Additionally, the speed required to achieve orbital velocity is about 17,500 mph. So this missile can't reach orbit, but it's close.
As Koushiro says that, we cut to Mimi in Hawaii watching the "jet" suddenly streak by overhead. Seems to be heading westward from the continental U.S.
Mimi: Oooooo!
She has no idea what she's looking at. It's probably just a cool plane going super fast in the air.
Koushiro: But we don't know what its target is or where it is in the air right now. Only that it's going to detonate somewhere in the world... in nine minutes.
Meanwhile, in Shimane, the people in the barbershop have no idea. The elderly couple discuss dark clouds moving in over the region.
Elderly Man: It's getting cloudy. Elderly Woman: So quiet, though. I should probably go bring in the laundry right away. Elderly Man: Right away!
The old woman offers Yamato a grocery bag.
Elderly Woman: Would you bring these things to Kinu-san? Tell her they're from Yasuko. Yamato: ... Yasuko: Huh? Are you even listening?
They are not. Yamato and Takeru stare at the computer screen, paralyzed with terror by the reality in front of them.
An interesting note is that it's only one missile. Diablomon isn't going Full Skynet and trying to annihilate humankind. It only has one target it intends to utterly destroy.
In the dub:
Tai: But the military has the power to stop it, right? Izzy: Every country is trying to intercept them, including Japan. But Diaboromon has infiltrated all the computers and is rerouting them to fall harmlessly in the ocean near Hawaii! Mimi: (Hawaii) Ooooo, fireworks! Izzy: I've got the trajectory for the other missile. Let me calculate. ...carry the two, times three... TAI, IT'S AIMED RIGHT FOR THIS NEIGHBORHOOD!!! Tai: (frustrated) Ugh....
SPOILERS, IZZY. FUCK. I mean, I think most people already guessed that, but still.
Following Tai's incredibly understated groan, the Shimane scene is cut.
When Izzy says Diaboromon is "rerouting them to fall harmlessly in the ocean", the wording here is a little confusing. I think he means that Diaboromon's sending every country's counter-missiles to Hawaii? But the way he words it makes it sound like he's sending the two nukes to Hawaii.
It's a bit of a word salad to try and justify why Mimi's seeing a missile streak by in Hawaii. Which... is kind of a fair question, because Hawaii isn't between the continental U.S. and Japan. It's pretty far south, between Mexico and the Philippines. So I have no idea why the missile passed directly over Mimi's head.
(It heard how cool she was and wanted to swing by to see for itself. It has more than enough range for a detour.
Back at Taichi's home, more emails come in.
Koushiro: This email's from Indonesia: "You must defeat the enemy somehow." Over here, from Armenia: "You're the only ones who can defeat that monster." From Qatar: "Please ganbatte." Taichi: We should ganbaru...
Watching the screen, they're now up to 64 Diablomon and still dividing.
Taichi: But we can't defeat all of them! Koushiro: A nuclear missile can't detonate unless the fuse is activated. If this is supposed to be a game, then which one of those things has the clock? Defeat that one and the fuse won't activate. Taichi: But how do we find that one? Koushiro: That is... We'll have to defeat them one by one. Taichi: But that will take too long!
Koushiro slowly turns around to face Taichi, so Taichi can see how serious he is.
Koushiro: But that's the only choice we have. Taichi: (stunned) ....
Taichi is left speechless by how dire their predicament is.
In the dub... the hack and slash job continues. The scene continues, but they don't use the footage for it. Instead, remember that bit they cut out where Taichi cries "WE'RE SCREWED!" and falls over? Yeah, they past that part in for the footage of this section.
Izzy: Tai, look! Emails from all over the world! "Get that evil Digimon! You're our only hope!" Here's another one: "Be home by six o'clock!" ...oh, wait, that's from my mom. Tai: I'M TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD AND YOU'RE READING FANMAIL!!! Izzy: WE JUST LOST OUR CONNECTION!!! Tai: (falls over comically) Greeeeeeeeat. Izzy: Don't worry, I'll get it back! Listen, I think if we defeat the original Diaboromon, the rest will disappear. Tai: (gets back up, excited) WHAT!?!? Izzy: All we have to do is destroy each one until we've found the original.
They then use a shot of the "jet" flying in the sky to reset the positions of the characters and join back up with the original footage at "But that will take too long!"
Tai: Sounds great! How many are there so far? Izzy: Oh no.... (Izzy slowly turns around) Tai: Spit it out, Izzy! How many are there! Izzy: ...there are over 75,000 and counting. Tai: (stunned) ...
In addition to the hack and slash job, we are now wildly off-script.
They keep the basic idea that there is one specific Diablomon we must defeat. But the relationship between that Diablomon, the detonation of the nuke, and the little clock Diablomon showed the camera earlier? Completely wiped off the board.
Along with it goes the characterization that Diablomon is still, even in this form, playing games.
In its place, we get the connection going out for like half a second, which adds nothing to this scene. That's clearly there because they cut out this comical footage of Taichi falling over earlier and wanted to use it somewhere.
And the dub also claims that there are now 75,000 Diaboromon. We're at like 64 or so. The Americans inflated the hell out of these numbers.
While Taichi struggles to process this situation, WarGreymon suddenly reaches out.
WarGreymon: Taichi.... Taichi: .... WarGreymon: Taichi...! Taichi: .... WarGreymon: Taichi! Taichi: (gasp)
That shakes him out of it, and he returns his attention to the screen. The Ultimate Digimon begin to move, ready to go once again despite their injuries and damaged armor.
WarGreymon: Taichi... Pull yourself together, Taichi, and let us handle this. Taichi: WarGreymon.... MetalGarurumon: Do we know where it is? Yamato: MetalGarurumon.... Koushiro: Guys.... (steeling himself) I'm sending the address now! MetalGarurumon: Please.
An exit from their current server appears, and the pair of Ultimates exit into the internet once more.
Taichi: (quietly) You're right. It's the only way. I'm sorry. Koushiro: (quietly) Yeah....
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Yuuko checks on her cake.
Yuuko: Seven minutes left!
Across Tokyo, Jou scrambles to finish his entrance exam.
Announcement: Seven minutes left! Jou: (writes frantically) OH NO!!!
Seven minutes left!
Yuuko's cake provides a curious timeframe. It's been twenty-three minutes since she put it into the microwave, and the nuke was fired thirty-three minutes ago. This means the nuke was launched ten minutes before Yuuko put the cake in the oven. Ten minutes before the fight with Infermon, ending in Infermon using the NTT system to shut Taichi and Koushiro out of the internet.
The timeframe is honestly fascinating, as it implies that the nuke was one of the numerous errors that emerged during Kuramon's hatching. Like when Jou missed his train because the doors wouldn't open. The nuke was fired then, during the opening credit sequence, and has been in the air this entire time.
In the dub:
WarGreymon: Tai.... Izzy: What's that? It didn't sound like my stomach. WarGreymon: Tai! Tai: Ah! (Tai returns his attention to the computer) WarGreymon: Have faith! I'll find... the original! Tai: WarGreymon.... MetalGarurumon: Mrrrgh... I'll help you.... Matt: MetalGarurumon! Izzy: They're so slow.... It's because of all the emails! They're slowing down our Digimon's processing speed! I've gotta write to everybody and tell them to stop emailing us until the Digimon are back to full strength! Tai: Are you crazy, Izzy!? Do you know how long that will take!? There's no time! Now we're-- (Cut to Yuuko) Yuuko: --just about-- (Cut to Joe) Announcer: --FINISHED!!! Joe: (writes frantically) IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!!!
Love what the dub does with those Yuuko and Jou cuts. Beautiful.
So here we get the explanation for all the "WarGreymon is slowing down for some reason!" stuff. The emails coming in are screwing with his and MetalGarurumon's processing speed.
This is actually a plot point from the original. The dub went ahead and introduced it way earlier so they could build up to it. And use it to explain that weird moment when WarGreymon suddenly froze up after Taichi disconnected. Good call. A+
Seven minutes left!
As WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon fly through the internet, more and more emails come in... including a couple of fairly significant cameos.
One is a certain little girl with purple hair that we'll be getting to know better next season.
Another is a boy named Ryo Akiyama. Ryo is the main playable character for a series of Adventure-adjacent video games that take place in the margins around the anime's continuity. We'll be seeing him cross over more and more into the anime proper with not only the next season of Adventure, but also Digimon Tamers.
Despite Tamers being in a separate continuity. It's weird.
Koushiro: There's so much email flowing in.... "Ganbare WarGreymon" from Costa Rica. "Don't lose this, MetalGarurumon," from the Philippines. Takeru: (gripping Yamato's shirt) Onii-chan... Don't give in.... Yamato: I won't give up... not to the very end. Taichi: I will never give up....
As the boys steel their resolve, the clock ticks down.
The dub plays a snippet of Here We Go by Jason Gochin here for a rock interlude. They snip out Koushiro's dialogue about the email, though they still use the footage so we see his lips move silently.
T.K.: Tell me... Will they make it...? Matt: I'm not sure, T.K. But they're gonna try. Tai: Don't give up, guys. No matter what happens, don't give up!
An interesting note is that the dub treats Tai and Matt as passive observers here while the original treats them as active participants. This is because they may not be the ones throwing the punches but it's their power that WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are wielding.
Six and a half minutes left!
WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon arrive in an area that has been completely overrun with the growing Diablomon swarm.
Yamato: They're... How many of them are there? Koushiro: 4,000... 8,000... It copied itself again! 16,000! They keep making more!
In the dub, the Diablomon are uttering a chorus of "Don't interfere!" over and over and over again. Presumably referring to his plan to drop a nuke on Willis.
Matt: How many copies of Diaboromon are there now!? Izzy: To be honest, I don't know. I stopped keeping track a while ago. It's gotta be well over a million!
It is not. No reason not to use the original numbers; Dub team's scrawling in some extra zeros for American machismo.
No time to get our bearings. At once, thousands of Diablomon open fire on our boys.
WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are forced to try and weave through the barrage of incoming shots. They don't last long. MetalGarurumon is the first to start taking hits.
Yamato: Ah! Taichi: MetalGarurumon!
While Taichi's eyes are on MetalGarurumon, several shots catch up to WarGreymon, pummeling him as well.
Taichi: Ah! Takeru: They're moving really weird! Koushiro: It's because of all these emails flooding in from around the world! Having so many emails come in is slowing down our processing speed! Takeru: If this keeps up, we'll lose! Koushiro: (typing frantically) To everyone around the world: WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon's responsiveness is dropping! I'm begging you to stop sending emails!
Anyone who's seen a thousand-strong office "Please stop Replying All" chain knows that ain't gonna cut it.
In the dub:
(MetalGarurumon is hit) Matt: Ah! Tai: METALGARURUMON!!! (WarGreymon is hit) Tai: Ah! T.K.: WarGreymon has started to slow down again! Izzy: It's the emails! They're coming in faster than ever! They're slowing down the processing speed even more! Tai: They're sitting ducks out there! Izzy: (typing frantically) Please, guys, stop writing! I know your intentions are good but you're really hurting our cause! Your emails are putting our Digimon in danger!
The dub seems to think the emails are only affecting WarGreymon. They may have gotten confused over the -tachi suffix. WarGreymon-tachi is being affected.
The -tachi suffix is how you pluralize a group of people in Japanese. When stuck to a name, it basically means, "and others in their group" using only two syllables. In this case, MetalGarurumon is the -tachi.
Despite Koushiro's best efforts, the damage is done. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon float unmoving in the void once the barrage of enemy fire lets up.
Taichi: WARGREYMON!!!
Letting out slow, hollow breathes, Taichi slowly reaches for the screen. Reaches for his partner. Drawing closer and closer and--
Yuuko: (opens door) Koushiro-kun, will you be eating lunch with us? Koushiro: (doesn't notice; mutters) It's useless. I can't stop these emails. There's only five minutes left... What do we do? Yuuko: (smiling) I'm sorry for disturbing you.
Yuuko quietly closes the door. Then, suddenly, she opens it again.
Yuuko: Huh? Where did Taichi go?
A shot of the room reveals that, indeed, Taichi is gone. Koushiro is alone in Susumu's office.
In the dub:
Tai: (gasp) WarGreymon...!
In the original, the music is silent here. The only sound we hear is the echoing of Taichi's hollow, ragged breaths. The dub adds this incredibly loud, eerie background music that drowns out both Tai's breathing and also the new dialogue they gave him.
Tai: WarGreymon... I've got to help... There must be a way... Somehow.... (Yuuko enters) Yuuko: More juice, Izzy? I just squeezed some onions! Izzy: No thanks! I'm rerouting incoming data from the remote server into local memory. Yuuko: (clearly did not understand that) Oh. Whoops. I'll just leave you two alone. (Yuuko departs, then comes back in) Yuuko: Wait a minute! Where did Tai go?
Koushiro is both freaking out and hyperfocused to the point that he notices neither Yuuko entering the room nor Taichi's mysterious exit from it. It's an established character trait that he sometimes doesn't notice other people when he's hyperfocused.
(It got him thrown off a cliff once. By me.)
But Izzy has the presence of mind to briefly chat with Yuuko.
So, where did Taichi go? Into the computer, of course.
That big square window that the children appear in during all these fights? Taichi passes through his to enter the internet and reach WarGreymon.
He slowly descends until he reaches WarGreymon.
Taichi: WarGreymon! WarGreymon: ...
Some distance away, Yamato does the same. He passes through his light window and enters, floating down to MetalGarurumon.
Yamato: Metal... MetalGarurumon! It's me, Yamato. Can you hear me? Open your eyes! Taichi: Yamato....
Taichi watches Yamato for a moment, then does the same thing.
Taichi: I'm here! I'm here too! I came so we can fight together! WarGreymon: ... Taichi: You... You don't have to fight alone anymore.... WarGreymon: ... Taichi: I'm right here! I'm here with you, WarGreymon!
I love how the screens are angled to create the imagery of the children descending upon the near-dead Digimon like angels from heaven. I see what you did there.
In the dub, Kari's voice-over pops back up to try and explain this.
Kari (V.O.): None of us are sure how, but Tai's bond with WarGreymon was so strong that Tai himself became digital!
"None of us are sure how." Kari, go have some more birthday cake. You weren't even here for this.
This is neither the first nor the last time a Chosen Child's holy light will open a gateway between realities.
Tai: WarGreymon... I'm here.... (Matt descends from the other screen) Matt: MetalGarurumon! Wake up! Don't quit now! Why won't he answer me, Tai? Tai: Keep trying, Matt! (Tai looks down at WarGreymon) Tai: Listen. I don't have a whistle to wake you, but I want you to know you're not alone, okay? WarGreymon: ... Tai: And the mail keeps coming! It won't stop! WarGreymon: ... Tai: Kids from all over the world are writing to you. They need your help. You're the only one who can do it! Feel their hope! Feel their strength!
"I don't have a whistle to wake you" is a reference to Kari's whistle being used to wake Greymon in the first OVA's battle with Parrotmon. Since the OVA formed the first portion of Digimon: The Movie, they reference its events here.
Taichi's speech to WarGreymon is personal and focused on their bond with one another. Tai's speech is about how much the entire world loves WarGreymon, which does segue pretty well into this next bit.
WarGreymon: ...u...urgh....
In the dub:
WarGreymon: ...I feel them!
WarGreymon's body shakes slightly. He doesn't open his eyes; Instead, the holy light glows from within the eyeholes of his helmet.
All around them, a wall of emails appears, forming a barrier between them and the Diablomon swarm. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon don't come to, but instead seem to vibrate and jitter.
Then WarGreymon disintegrates into data, which collects and pours inside his helmet. The same happens to MetalGarurumon.
Through those email boxes, holy light from all of the kids watching gathers, entering the data space in the glowing silhouette of each child. They collect, pooling into energy between the twin helmets of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.
Meanwhile, at the barber shop:
Barber: (suspiciously) Hang on, where did your brother go!?
The barber looks around for Yamato. Poor Yasuko, on the other hand, just watched a preteen boy phase inside of a computer screen and looks like she's about to have a heart attack.
Takeru: He's here.....
The energy forms the shape of an egg made of pixels, which then slowly peels back to reveal a new Digimon inside.
Koushiro: WarGreymon and... Takeru: ...MetalGarurumon... Koushiro: ...combined!
The technical term is Jogress Evolution. Jogress is a mechanic from the V-Pet that hasn't yet appeared in the anime, in which two Digimon fuse together to form a Perfect or Ultimate Digimon. Many of the Digimon we've seen throughout the anime could only be achieved through Jogress in the original V-Pets, such as Piemon or WereGarurumon.
The arrival of Omegamon, or Omnimon in the dub, marks the first time this mechanic has been brought into the show. We'll be seeing more of it in Adventure 02.
(The only reason Takeru and Hikari don't have a Jogress with each other is because EnbyAngemon would be so game-wreckingly badass that no villain could ever match them.
Or, more realistically, because predominately heteronormative writers often struggle with the idea of two characters from opposite sexes doing a Fusion. Their eyes bug out and they bluescreen while muttering, "But how would that even....")
The dub crops the barbershop to cut the barber out, though his reflection remains visible in the mirror, but leave Yasuko's stunned face. This is despite the fact that they cut the setup scene for this gag, with Yasuko saying goodbye to Yamato and Takeru.
Barber: Where'd you brother go!? Hjbyhjbyhjby....
They play the barber as freaked out and melting down. In the original, like Yuuko, he didn't see the disappearance happen (but Yasuko did). He just... doesn't trust these random kids to be unsupervised in his shop, and really doesn't like the fact that one stray child is now unaccounted for.
T.K.: They combined! (Omnimon is revealed) Izzy: Part WarGreymon.... T.K.: Part MetalGarurumon.... Izzy: They Digivolved together to become-- Omnimon: OMNIMON!!!
It's nice of Omnimon to introduce himself since we don't have rundowns to tell us about him. For the record, his signature weapons on his arms made from the helmets of his component Digimon are called the Garuru Cannon and Grey Sword. "Cannon" and "Sword" being the English words themselves, as usual.
With Taichi and Yamato perched on his shoulders, Omegamon is born.
The swarm opens fire immediately. Drawing his Grey Sword, Omegamon deflects all of their shots into a line of Diablomon, annihilating a huge chunk.
Koushiro: Amazing!
Koushiro hasn't seen anything yet. With his Garuru Cannon, unloads shot after shot into the enemy ranks. Each blast wipes out a huge chunk of the Diablomon swarm.
The dub uses this as an opportunity for another musical interlude, playing Let's Kick It Up by Paul Christian Gordon over the carnage. They also have Omnimon call these attacks, naming them Transcendent Sword and Supreme Cannon.
Only one Diablomon remains standing when Omegamon's done.
Koushiro: Right there! That's the last one! That one has the clock!
Awfully inconvenient that the one with the clock just so happens to be the only one who survived Omegamon's bombardment.
Diablomon starts moving quickly around the room, making evasive maneuvers to try and run down the clock. Every time Omegamon turns around and aims at it, it darts away again.
Taichi: It's not here! Koushiro: WE HAVE LESS THAN A MINUTE!!!
Cut to Jou desperately trying to finish his exam.
Jou: ONE MINUTE LEFT!!!
And Yuuko watching her cake cook.
Yuuko: (cheerful) One minute left!
Finally, we cut up to the "jet" in the sky... which turns out to actually just be a jet, as another much faster object enters the airspace, criss-crossing its contrail with the jet's. Closer inspection of the new object reveals it to, in fact, be the One-Shot Peacekeeper missile approaching Odaiba.
This, I should note, is the first we learn of its destination in the original. No one knew where it was in the air or where it was going to land.
In the dub:
Izzy: Tai, there's the original! Get him! We're running out of time! Tai: Omnimon, quick! Attack!
Awfully inconvenient that the original just so happens to be the only one who survived Omnimon's bombardment.
Like, they changed the plot mechanics behind this fight but this is still a glaring contrivance. XD You could have left it at "We have to destroy every last one" if you wanted to patch this.
Tai: Where is he!? (Diaboromon dodges more) Tai: One minute to go! (Cut to Joe) Joe: ONE MINUTE TO GO!!! (Cut to Yuuko) Yuuko: (cheerful) One minute to go!
Tai calls out the time remaining here rather than Izzy, even though he can't see the clock from here.
As the missile's coming in, the dub also adds some dialogue from some military guys.
Soldier: Squad leader to command: We were unable to destroy the target. The missile will impact. Repeat, the missile will impact!
This ties in with the added detail from earlier, that every nation in the world is attempting to intercept the nuke and failing.
Inside the battlefield, the last Diablomon is still moving too fast for Omegamon to get a bead on it.
Takeru: Onii-chan! You have to find it quick! There's no time left! ONII-CHAN!!! HURRY!!!
45 seconds left on the clock. Koushiro works the problem in his head.
Koushiro: Its speed is too high. At this rate, even with tremendous power, we're going to lose due to the difference in reaction time. What can we do?
Thirty seconds left. Cutting over to the barber shop for a moment, we see that Yasuko's husband has popped over to watch the screen too. No explanation is offered.
(I guess he wants to find out what all the commotion is about? Yamato fucked off all of a sudden and Takeru is shrieking at the computer like it's the end of the world. I'd be curious too.)
Takeru: THIRTY SECONDS LEFT!!! Koushiro: (gasp) That's it....
Koushiro looks at all the incoming emails on his laptop.
Koushiro: A transfer! I can forward all of this email to that thing's address!
Koushiro quickly types in the current address that Diablomon is at, presumably the FactoryMark server we last saw it at.
Koushiro: GO!!! (click)
Koushiro dramatically presses the Enter key. Inside the battleground, Diablomon lands on the wall and prepares to make its next move, but then stalls all of a sudden. It struggles, shaking in place, but can't move. A little Windows hourglass appears over it; the loading symbol for computers from that time.
In the dub:
Tai: He keeps moving! Every time we get him in our sights, he jumps somewhere else! He's too fast for us! (45 seconds remain) Izzy: We have the power to destroy him now, but we don't have the time. Willis was right; We have to find some way to slow down Diaboromon.
...Willis said that after the first fight with Infermon. That he foresaw this exact predicament that far in advance is fucking wild.
T.K.: THIRTY SECONDS LEFT!!! Izzy: (gasp) The emails! If I forward him all the emails, it will slow him down just like it did us! Keep sending them, kids! (Izzy prepares to forward) Izzy: YOU!!! GOT!!! MAIL!!! (click)
Using "You got mail" as a battle cry here is pretty fucking sweet. For those too young to remember, an early form of internet was AOL which had a robot voice chime "You got mail" whenever you received an email.
With ten seconds remaining on the clock, Omegamon moves in for the kill.
Koushiro: Ten seconds left!
Koushiro counts down the seconds while Omegamon moves in. A brief cut of the barbershop shows that now everybody's paying attention to what's happening on the computer screen. Even the barber.
At one second, the attack lands. Omegamon drives his Grey Sword through Diablomon's skull.
At the same time, Yuuko's cake is finished! She takes it out of the microwave to find it grotesquely burnt.
Yuuko: Ah!? It's ruined! That's so weird. It should be controlled by the microcomputer....
COMPUTER YOU SAY
One last bug for the road. Diablomon ruined Yuuko's cake.
Outside, time's up. The nuclear missile crashes into the Tokyo Bay. We briefly see Sora in her room. With Diablomon dead, Taichi's email finally makes it through to her.
In the dub:
Tai: TEN SECONDS LEFT!!!
Again, despite not being able to see the clock, Tai is the one who counts down the seconds in the dub rather than Izzy.
(Omnimon stabs Diaboromon in the head) Diaboromon: Connection... Terminated....
The dub not only gives Diaboromon a line upon being stabbed, but rearranges scenes. Two upcoming shots get moved up to here. The first is of Diaboromon's face melting away to reveal the stabbed clock. The second is the timer stalling out and flickering between 00:01 and 00:02.
This serves to assure the audience that we got it, we stopped the detonation, earlier than in the original. The original keeps the tension ratcheted up as the missile lands, with it not yet clear if we killed Diablomon fast enough.
Yuuko: (ruined cake) Ugh, lousy microwave. How come every electronic appliance has to have a bug in it!? (Missile crashes into the bay) Sora: (email arrives) Huh? It's about time!
I mean. By Dub Yuuko's own admission, this was the first time she ever used flour to make a cake. It's just as likely that she's the culprit here as it is the microwave. :P
As the missile lands, Koushiro sprints out onto the balcony, distraught.
Koushiro: We didn't make it in time!
Cut to the internet battlefield. Diablomon's face melts away, revealing the clock pierced by Omegamon's blade. The timer stalls out, flickering between 00:01 and 00:02.
Meanwhile, Sora reads Taichi's message and notices the little heart he accidentally added when Hikari startled him. She's touched.
Sora: Ehehe... (affectionately) Stupid Taichi....
Success! Taichi accidentally fluked his way into forgiveness!
Out by the bay, people gather to look at the undetonated nuclear missile. It tips over due to its weight and falls flat into the water.
Up on the balcony, Koushiro breathes a sigh of relief.
Koushiro: (exhausted) We... We... We.... Taichi: (exhausted, also on balcony now) We made it in time!
Which is where the OVA ends! Abruptly! On Taichi quite reasonably looking like he's about to cry and then pass out. What did you do for your spring break, kids? Oh, I thwarted nuclear motherfucking Armageddon.
There is an epilogue of sorts in the form of ending slides in the credits. We'll address that in another post.
In the dub, this final sequence plays out with The Impression That I Get from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones playing in the background. Sora reads Tai's English email.
Sora: (reading aloud) Dear Sora, I'm sorry I threw up, hat, so what's a few raindrops between friends, love Tai. ...aww... (affectionately) Stupid Tai.... (Missile tips over into the water) Izzy: (exhausted) I'm... about... to barf.... Tai: (exhausted) Wait 'til you try the cake....
The dub closes on one last Yuuko cooking joke. To be fair, the cake legitimately did come out horribly. :P
There will be no epilogue slides for the dub, because it segues into the third part of Digimon: The Movie from here. We'll talk about that when we get to Hurricane Touchdown.
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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 Daisukeâs hair in color and style. In other words, he looked like a Pomeranian dog. Koushiro labeled that digimon form as âPomeranimonâ 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 heâs 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 couldnât 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 foeâs army. So this was the thing they were looking for, right? Something something Digimental of⊠Darkness? He didnât 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 couldnât for much longer.
It was when Magnamon ordered Natsu to go back and ask for the groupâs 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 Miyakoâs hands. Sheâs 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 couldnât 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 whatâs wrong and the kid says something is not right. Why would Papillonmon let Daisuke and Magnamon set free all of a sudden? Kiyoko gasps, âAre you saying dad is still in his hands!?â but Daichi denies it, and adds that it was another thing.
What thing? The thing is⊠He didnât 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 Papillonmonâs spell, but not under his control. Hence why heâs 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 âyesâ, yet they had nothing in hand to confirm their suspicions.
Would the adults believe them? Not without Daisuke and V-monâs 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 childrenâs 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 heâs 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, heâs stuck in that form until Koushiro can fix it. Chibimon complains, he wants to be pampered too! Elise uses her free hand to scratch Chibimonâs belly, who feels so pleased and relaxed⊠Until Natsu switches to Digimon form in order to get some belly rubs too. Elise complains, she canât give love to all of them at the same time!! Her partner Zebra also complains because he wanted Eliseâs attention too. She calls for the othersâ help, and then Jin tells all of the digimon to stop bugging Elise.
Daichi calls everyoneâs 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 wasnât his fault if he was brainwashed. The rest look at the boy, who snaps at them for that: I WAS JUST STATING THE FACTS, YâKNOW!? 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 itâs 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 donât know what theyâre 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 kidsâ best artist -- Reika -- tried to capture the image in the paper. When she finished, they all looked at it. Taisuke says it looks like âa Worldâs Cup trophy-thing, but in cold colorsâ and everyone glanced at him. He does âWhat? I think itâs what I see here! Evil Soccer Cupâs Trophy.â -- Hoshi growls, this wasnât 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 heâs out. The kids agree. Daisuke says he wants to go, but Natsu says she and Ulforce can protect Daichi for him. With everyoneâs 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 canât 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⊠Thereâs 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 didnât 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 wouldâve 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 heâs 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? Heâs 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 wouldnât 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 didnât want to⊠But Daisuke smiles at him and says he didnât 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, itâs not like Taichi and Ken hate each other, but theyâre 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⊠Everyoneâs 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 Imperialdramonâs 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 wasnât 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 didnât 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 âYouâre always busy, olâ manâ which is heard by the digimon and Daisuke (because, since heâs in a digimon form his senses are pretty superhuman now) and they look at the boy. Daisuke babbles immediately that he couldnât 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, heâs concerned about this form though -- If heâs really free from Papillonmonâs 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 Taichiâs 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 Agumonâs 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 -- Itâs for their childrenâs safety. And then entrusts Daichi and Kiyoko to those three.
Taisuke blushes, somehow. He didnât 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, theyâre 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 Daichiâs decision to use that gimmick to save Daisuke.
Still, thereâs 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 âbasically ominousâ 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 Daichiâs 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 couldnât know where they were going, so he decided to label them by himself. She laughs kindly and reveals they couldâve 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 DIDNâT YOU TELL US FIRST!?Â
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. Sheâs partnered with a YukiAgumon called Blitz. Yume knew those three were suspicious, and believed they came from the future. Sheâs 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 theyâre looking for, and offers to help them, in return for a favor. What is her deal? To use Daichiâs 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 Daisukeâs Pomeranimon form. They had Gennaiâs 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 Papillonmonâs 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 digimonâs 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.Â
When Daisuke asks her why she says sheâs just upset that no one wants her giving them a hand because sheâs seen as too young for that. Except sheâs 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 sheâs too young to help them, and children around her age say sheâs 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 ânormalâ person. Daisuke replies saying itâs okay to be different, and that people should accept her for who she is. He knows Koushiroâs reasons to refuse Miraiâs help was due to the fear of him still being under the enemyâs 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 âBe yourself, do what you do the best. Leave the adults to me.â 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, itâs just Daisuke being a dramatic dad and wanting Daichiâs friends to help his son as much as they can.
Mirai and Daisukeâs convo are interrupted by a Phantomon. The small pup form for Daisuke wasnât able to beat a Perfect level digimon, and yetâŠ!! 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 Miraiâs arms and throws himself at Phantomonâs face. Mirai and Koh scream, and then⊠Miraiâs digivice shoots a light on Daisukeâs Pomeranimon form.
He evolves⊠Back to Lupinmon -- Except itâs Fairytail Mode Lupinmon. That new digimon form is stronger and he destroys Phantomon, but before destroying it, he snatches something from the digimonâs robes and is caught by Koh. Mirai wonders if she just formed a link with Daisuke and heâs 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 Darknessâ 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. Daichiâs opinion is maybe she has a reason to not tell them where she got that info, Natsu and Ulforceâs are sheâs fishy, better not trust her at all.Â
Said Digimental was there, Ulforce and Natsu could feel it, though they couldnât see it. But before that, what would they do? Grab the Digimental and leave? According to Daisukeâs 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 âDigimental Up!â 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 wouldnât 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 itâs when they learn that the changes in the past wouldnât 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 donât 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 thereâs 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 worldâs 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 âeasyâ 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 âundoâ 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 itâs just like what happens to human beings, but they couldnât let the digimon return to those peopleâs hands. So theyâre 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. Theyâre 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.Â
Some of those cases ended up with the rest of the kids unlocked Adult and Perfect evolution for their partners:
Elise: BlackGabumon â B.Garurumon and B.WereGarurumon
Mike: Floramon â Sunflowmon and Lilamon
Jin: Kamemon â Gawappamon and Shawujinmon
Reika: Armadimon â Ankylomon and Triceramon
Mitsuki: Tsukaimon â Pidmon and HolyAngemon
Miraiâs 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 âImura Kyotaroâ) would put a stop on any program or project involving this kind of research and manufacture.
But a part of their worries was definitely Papillonmonâs plans -- where did he go and what will he do now?
Clash Between Daichi and Soleil
The âSpace trioâ -- Soleil, Lune and Ătoile -- 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 donât go and threaten people like him. Soleil is so sure Daichi, Ulforce and Natsu are disobeying the âdivineâ 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 wouldâve been more âinterestingâ -- no one besides Lune herself knew what that meant (it means she wanted to study Daichiâs methods and philosophy, thatâs it.)
Ătoile suspiciously drops a card on Natsu, asking to meet her later⊠Without Daichi and Ulforce. The card also meant it wasnât a trap, just a human-to-digimon talk. Natsu accepts the terms, and waits for Ătoile 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⊠Ătoile is not human.
Natsu noticed it by the fact Ătoile did not appear as Ătoile, 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 meanâŠ??
Arsenemon says that heâs 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, theyâre not a god-like figure, itâs 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 couldnât 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 Natsuâs 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 thereâs 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 thereâs still something off with Daisuke and they couldnât take their eyes off him. When the kids asked why, Daisuke changed his mind and said he must stay under surveillance. Mirai frowned, this didnât sound correctâŠ
Actually Daisuke, for being able to âevolveâ into Lupinmon again because of Mirai⊠Had made Daisuke himself concerned of not being free from Papillonmonâs 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 Ătoile⊠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 Worldâs agents (aka Gennaiâs 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 âdo you know this girl?â but Daichi completely ignores their question and replies to Yume with a nod and adds that he couldnât 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 theyâre 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? Thatâs fishyâŠ!!
But Yume takes them to the area where the one she knows the most reigns and itâsâŠ
Baihumon.Â
Kiyoko blinks, âShouldnât we be meeting a blue dragon instead?â 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 âthey died in combatâ and Daichi frowns, he goes straight to the point: âAre you related to the fifth Chosen and their digimon?â
Baihumon interrupts them, asking why Yume brought those people and digimon to him. She gently says theyâre 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 wasnât that interested in the theories revolving around what happened to Aegiochusmon, but he definitely got some interest on Yumeâs 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, heâs 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 didnât say anything regarding his fifth old comrade⊠Hoshi notices that Daichi is too quiet to the point itâs suspicious, so once theyâre back to the human world she asks him whatâs going on. Daichi mentions heâs 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 thereâs a digi-crisis happening right now and they shouldnât 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. Itâs futile to discuss with them, but she also thinks it wonât hurt to research about some fellow Chosen Child while they wait for the Holy Beastsâ decision.
Meeting Baihumonâs Human Partner
With the power of Mirai and Mitsukiâs 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 Yumeâs 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 sheâs 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 (heâs 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 Yumeâs path.
It doesnât 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? Itâs when the man writes down a few things on a paper napkin and hands it to Natsu (assuming sheâs an adult human and responsible for them) with the vague phrase of âDo not let her know about this, but search it by yourselves.âÂ
They left after a brief break to eat a few pastries and non-alcohol drinks from the cafĂ©, praising Nishijimaâs 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 Worldâs library -- the Tree of Knowledge. That sounded like a good plan!! But Taisuke just thinks they should ask for Miraiâs help. They look at the boy for a moment and Daichi says, with a deadpan face, âBoth? Both. Both is goodâ -- 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 Makiâs Secret Life
Nishijima didnât clarify things enough. The kids and their mons were wondering what kind of role this Himekawa Maki person would have in Yumeâs life, but then they would just find a picture of this person in the database and realize that⊠Himekawa Maki is Yumeâs 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 werenât 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 Taisukeâs backup plan!! Thereâs 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, thereâs something behind this all and they had to pass by a permission key wall. Itâs when Mirai chuckles and starts bragging about her new âgimmickâ -- 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. Hidaâs digivice.
But why should they use a Digimental data to bypass the permission wall? And then, she reveals about Kohâs armor evolution -- Searchmon. Everyone isnât 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 Searchmonâs attack might have worked as some sort of key-gen and generated a permission key to access those archives. Hoshi asks why wouldnât they just protect those archives with a strong password and then Taisuke smirks and gushes that Mirai wouldâve found her own way to bypass that too. Kiyoko reminds them that her and Daichiâs mother is an excellent hacker too, so it wouldnât 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.Â
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 Yagamiâs group. And that those five kids faced the Dark Masters trio, but they were beaten. Himekawaâs anger led Megadramon (Bakumonâs 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 Bakumonâs 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 Mugendramonâs 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 wouldnât say anything about it.
But⊠Does it mean Yume learned the truth? She was kinda bugged by Taisukeâs question and Daichi mentions he heard her saying âthey died in combatâ -- so maybe Yume's not aware of the truth, but maybe some sort of fakery story where her mother died as some heroine?
Yes. Yumeâs 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 wasnât 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 couldnât leave him inside a cage like a lab rat! Hoshi says she shouldnât have done that, because they donât know if mr. Motomiya is trustworthy in this form. Kiyoko growls âHuh? Are you saying MY dad is sketchy and cannot be trusted!?â but Daisuke interrupts the possible fight to remind them they donât know if heâs totally free from Papillonmonâs power. But Eijiâs curious about why Mirai would bring him with her, it didnât feel like she was just taking him for a walk (Daisuke: Hey! Stop treating me like Iâm a pet!! đŠ) 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 youâre in a place with tons of information and itâs called âTree of Knowledgeâ, it might have the answer to that main issue. At least itâs what Mirai thought.
But going back to the main subject, Daichi realizes that âNishikawaâ 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 identityâŠ?
Yumeâs 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, âWhoâs Mastemon?â and then they start scrutinizing the Tree of Knowledgeâs 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 sheâs 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 heâs 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 heâs 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 shouldnât do that, that it wonât 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 Natsuâs 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, heâs trustworthy!! But Taisuke thinks they could leave it with the Holy Beasts, they could be able to secure that power from anyone else. But Daichiâs 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 shouldnât 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 youâre not a burden and I admire you for being this strong to carry this responsibility. Daichi jokes that âyeah, I can't be trusted with a power like thisâ and Ulforce and Natsu just agree with him, seriously.Â
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 âtime loopâ -- 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 Daichiâs idea is in conflict with what was told by Aegiochusmon: Dark, so it would make no sense unlessâŠ
Oh no.
That Yume came from the past. Not from the future.Â
But what happened to the Yume from their actual time? Did she vanish or something?? The actual Yume wouldâve 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 -- Itâs 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 thatâs possible thoughâŠ
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 placeâŠ
⊠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 âWell, like now?â and then they all look behind and here she and Blitz are. Taisuke gasps, shouting âDID SHE HEAR US!?â 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 wasnât a heroine but some villain. Yume didnât want to believe it, and she wouldnât. She keeps demanding them to help her save Himekawa because her mother wouldnât have done something cruel like that and that everyone was lying about her. Daisuke tries to calm her down, saying something like âshe wasnât a villain but more like someone who got a terrible traumatic experience in the pastâ Daichi realizes his father is talking about something he doesnât 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 Worldâs 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 thatâs 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 motherâs life?!
Itâs when Daisuke just jumps from Miraiâs purse and stands in front of Yume. He wants to just talk to her, but she keeps refusing them. Itâs when he just reveals what Natsu was trying to hide from Daichi -- That he was also a victim of the digimon, BUT that didnât make him hate them at all. Daichiâs eyes widen, and the kids just exclaim âWhat!?â -- Yume included. Natsu was silent, but she thinks Daisuke didnât 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 Vamdemonâs 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 Hikariâs digimon partner. But he also adds that that encounter didnât 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 didnât 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 heâs 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 peopleâs hearts.
Blitz says Yume and her should go back to 2024 and abandon that idea of saving Yumeâs mother. Yume understands, but she wants to stay in the future now⊠Natsu says she canât and that this was creating a time paradox with the Yume from 2029, in which they canât exist in the same place at all because sheâs not from a parallel world. Kiyoko gets some interest on why canât 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 itâs 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 Papillonmonâs next moves, right?
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(My original/older commentary under âread moreâ!)
{Note: The movie was since released!}
@ TOEI I DIDNâT WANT TO BE RIGHT
ALSO UM EXCUSE ME @ TOP CAP BECAUSE
KABUTERIMONâS THERE (ANGEMON TOO) ]
AND THEN AGUMON GOESÂ â LETâS SAVE EVERYONE â ( 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
#digimon adventure last evolution kizuna#yagami taichi#izumi koushirou#digimon adventures#digimon last evolution kizuna#kizuna spoilers#kizuna caps#kizuna trailer 2 caps#kizuna trailer 2 theories#kizuna trailer 2#kizuna theories#izzyizumi caps#izzyizumi posts#izzyizumi theories#(IM YELLING)#(@ TOEI DIDN'T I ALREADY WRITE THINGS LIKE THIS)#(@ TOEI THAT WAS AN ORIGINAL IDEA DO NOT STEAL)#(OK BUT THIS WAS LITERALLY GONNA BE THE PLOT OF)#(YOUNG ME'S OC FICVERSE AND I'M Y E L L I N G)#(YOUNG ME YELLING INFINITELY INTO THE BACKGROUND ' I DID THIS FIRST !!!!! ')#(ANYWAY GDI @ TOEI I BETTER GET TAICHI SCREAMING FOR KOUSHIRO AS KOUSHIRO LOSES CONSCIOUSNESS)#(IF KOUSHIRO'S NOT GONNA BE THE MVP OF THIS ONE EXCEPT HE'S STILL GONNA BE LBR)#(IT'S KOUSHIRO WHO HELPS WITH THE DIGIVICES AFTER ALL)#(OK DON'T IMAGINE KOUSHIRO AS HE LOSES CONSCIOUSNESS STRETCHING HAND OUT TOWARDS TAICHI THEY BRUSH FINGERTIPS A N D T H E N)
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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"
youtube
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).
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Shihanneâs Kizuna meta -- Part 1: The meaning behind Kizuna, and the actual cause of partnership dissolution
Kizuna is a very easy movie to misunderstand, and itâs 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 movieâs 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, âdonât be too trapped in nostalgiaâ -- represented by Menoaâs 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 canât move on (yeah, they werenât really subtle about that part...). But as a result, the idea behind the movie is often taken the wrong way -- does this mean that theyâre trashing on the very series theyâre 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! Isnât 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 isnât just violently cutting everything away -- in fact, it considers that to be another unhealthy extreme that it warns against. Itâs 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 Menoaâs statement at face value. Itâs her statement as presented in the official trailers and a lot of the advertising material, so itâs easy to think that sheâs supposed to be the deliverer of the movieâs message, but that is very much not the case! Understanding this is key to understanding the core theme of the movie, and what itâs trying to say in terms of a lead-up to the 02 epilogue.
Menoaâs statement on adulthood, which is what the concept of partnership dissolution is supposedly predicated on, is the following (quoted from onkeikunâs translation of the Dash X Bunko novel, which uses the movie script):
Do all of you know why itâs children who are chosen to be partners with Digimon?... Itâs because children are full of possibilities... The future is rife with limitless choices. You grow as a person by making those choices. âGrowthâ and âpossibilitiesâ together produce vast energy. As Iâm 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 âtheoryâ based on her own experience. Sheâs convinced that her âchoiceâ to become an adult was what took Morphomon from her. Sheâs 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, sheâs 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 sheâs one of the oldest Chosen Children, itâs natural that she might think that this might be a universal phenomenon and that it might not have âkicked inâ for everyone else, but nevertheless, sheâs 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 âconfirmsâ the partnership dissolution phenomenon, note that he does not actually confirm Menoaâs theory.
Unfortunately, you are experiencing the case where your partnership is dissolving... But if you guys still have infinite possibilityâŠThen itâs possibleâŠ
The fact that Gennai refers to it as a âcaseâ is very important (itâs 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 itâs not necessarily a thing that comes with adulthood like Menoa thinks. Whatâs more, he even acknowledges that âhaving infinite possibilityâ is still possible for adults -- something that doesnât fit with Menoaâs theory on Adulthood Being Bad and how it diminishes possibility.
As the movie eventually goes into Menoaâs plan for âsavingâ Chosen Children, she justifies her motive by saying that losing partners is âfateâ (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.
âWhat youâve chosen wasnât a mistake!â âBut no matter what waits for us after making that choiceâŠ!â âWe have to live with the decisions that we make!â... âWe might not be able to change our fate. But!â âWe can change our destiny!â
In essence, Taichi and Yamato are disproving both parts of Menoaâs theory on Adulthood Being Bad. Itâs not that choices are inherently bad, itâs just that sometimes there are consequences of said choices...but itâs not like said consequences lead to dead ends. Taichi and Yamato, in contrast to Menoaâs belief in âfateâ, believe in âdestinyâ (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 donât think it was fate.
Itâs 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 theyâve had choice in manipulating the events and changing what seems normally inevitable.
So if Menoaâs theory about partnerships dissolving in adulthood is questionable to begin with, then what does cause partnership dissolution? Again, itâs 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 Yamatoâs Digivices, they had this conversation:
âYou should take Gabumon with you to your classes,â Taichi said jokingly. Yamato smiled wryly. âDonât be stupid. Why donât you take Agumon to your classes?â âItâs not that simple. I have my own life to live.â
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, âDonât bother me!â 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. âI need to focus on this right nowâŠâ She had said as her excuse, and looked away.
And in Menoaâs case, a certain something shows up in the Shueisha Mirai Bunko version of the novel -- itâs implied in the movie itself, but the novel itself says it pretty explicitly:
Waiting in front of the swing at her familyâs home, where theyâd always played together when Menoa was a child, was her beloved friend. Lately, sheâd been studying so much that they hadnât been talking to each other at all, so she wanted Morphomon to lavish her with praise. She wanted her to say, âMenoa, youâre amazing!â
See a pattern? All of the known cases of partnership dissolution involved neglect of their Digimon partners in pursuit of âadulthoodâ.
Taichi and Yamato ditched Agumon and Gabumon at the start of the movie and left them with their siblings. Agumon hadnât even been to Taichiâs room before, even though Taichi lives by himself and is clearly lonely -- his reaction when Agumon finds his AVs, âyou have to be an adult -- â tells all, because he clearly thinks of Agumon as âa childâ who shouldnât be near his New Adult Life. Sora may have apologized later, but it sounds like thereâs been a constant pattern of her starting to focus so much on her studies that sheâs emotionally neglected Piyomon. And, of course, Menoa herself rushed so much to become âan adultâ that she neglected her beloved partner in the process -- they werenât 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 âbecoming an adultâ.
(Note how Menoa constantly talked through the movie about the fact she and Morphomon had âalways been togetherâ, 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 doesnât seem like coincidence that Taichi and Yamatoâs 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 âhaving their own lives to liveâ. 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 âbecoming an adultâ.
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.
Thatâs why partnerships seem to dissolve with adulthood, but itâs not from the simple act of becoming an adult -- it happens when you take that adulthood and decide that youâre going to reject all of those âchildishâ 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 arenât just momentary moments of weakness; they build, and build, and build, and build, until youâre 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 Menoaâs 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 werenât sure on what to do with their lives at the beginning of the movie, should not have lost their partners. But âemotional neglect from the obsession with growing upâ tracks even with our âoutlierâ cases -- Menoa âforcedâ herself to become an adult at the very-not-adult age of 14 and lost her partner, while Oikawa also didnât actually get to âmeetâ Pipimon until he accepted that exact same thing -- that he needed to embrace the âpower to dreamâ instead of considering himself a âtainted adultâ.
(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 Kaiserâs 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 Wormmonâs 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 Kenâs own inner self, the metaphor of Ken being in perpetual internal conflict of constantly trying to outwardly reject his own heart for being âweakâ yet never truly being able to escape it until heâs 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 âneglectâ does not feel like an appropriate word.)
When you look back at Menoaâs 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 thereâs nobody else who understands how she feels, and we also learn in her flashback that she had an obsession with doing things âon her ownâ, 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, âlosing touch with your inner self and having no connection to the happiness of your childhoodâ is fundamentally synonymous with becoming an adult. Thatâs how she develops her mentality of âadulthood is drudgery and has no value, and weâd be better off never getting thereâ -- 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 donât 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 doesnât mean that those it does happen to made some âmistakeâ or âmessed upâ, though -- press materials and the BD commentary made it clear that this was not a movie intended to endorse âone way to liveâ, 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 Taichiâs road to becoming a diplomat.
So whatâs the solution? Although itâs still left to everyoneâs imagination to figure out the details, at the very least, figuring out yourself and snapping yourself out of this very unhealthy relationship with âgrowing upâ and holding yourself to arbitrary, false standards is probably a great start! Menoa had her âvisionâ of Morphomon the moment Taichi and Yamatoâs words reached her within Eosmon. Gennai specifically says that partnership dissolution will cause the Digimon to disappear in terms of losing their âformâ (sugata), but given that Digimon in the Adventure universe are supposed to represent a part of yourself, theyâre 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. Thatâs why Menoa never figured it out this whole time in the last eight years; she was so busy focusing on âscientificâ 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 thatâs why the movieâs climax is about Taichi blowing the whistle to wake everyone up -- itâs still about moving forward, but itâs 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 doesnât actually seem that particularly difficult compared to how Menoa made the problem initially sound like. Itâs not like every adult is going to inevitably have this happen as a process, and thus itâs not like everyone has to find some magical technical solution thatâll rectify one of the laws of the universe. The solution is really more somewhere between the unhealthy extremes presented in the movie -- Menoaâs 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 âadulthoodâ -- and figuring out how to use and cherish your childhood, past experiences, and inner self to move forward.
And given Soraâs 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, theyâre already on their way to figuring things out. Or, in other words, itâs likely that theyâll get their partners back simply through the natural course of making their way to the epilogue. Taichiâs 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 âromanticâ 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 sheâs 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 âinfinite possibilityâ -- 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.
âWeâll definitely come to see youâ -- indeed, they will.
(Next is the sequel to this meta, where I discuss Kizunaâs relationship with not only 02âČs epilogue but also 02 itself as a whole, and the reason the 02 group has such an unusual position in this movie.)
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Okay. Okay. Itâs 2020, most of the world is shut down and the first episode of Digimon Adventure aired yesterday, missing a âButter-Flyâ and with a colon to spare. Life sure is something.Â
Gotta say Iâm 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 â go BORING â down to excruciating details right from the first episode, why not? Thatâs what brains are for. So thatâs what I did.Â
Should have saved all that energy.Â
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.Â
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 Iâm very interested in seeing how theyâll 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.Â
Since all weâve got is the introduction to the series, Iâll 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 thereâs a fair amount of fan-girling and itâs all seen through my very biased Adventure-stan-colored lens. Donât say I didnât warn ya.Â
â99 starts with an image of our planet, and â20 starts almost the same. This time, though, we can see we arenât alone. âThe Digital World affecting the Earthâ is something that happens, I believe, in every Digimon reincarnation. In â99, itâs deeply affecting our climate. Now, the issue doesnât seem so drastic that itâs able to reach influence organic matter and mess up many Natureâs cycles across the globe, but itâs still not looking so good for our kids. (Itâs the first episode and Hikari and Yuuko almost get train-sandwiched, but I suppose that almost having your head chopped off, courtesy of Kuwagamon, isnât lovely either.)Â
Anyway.Â
I think this Digital World/Network shot isnât actually part of the episode? I think itâs part of the opening (I mean, not the OP sequence with the song, obviously), and that weâll be seeing it before each episode starts. Still, itâs an interesting juxtaposition, isnât it?
A Glorious World is upon us! I wasnât actually expecting Butter-Fly or anything similar to it, donât worry. Iâm glad the new OP is its own thing! I want Digimon Adventure â20 to be as authentic as possible without losing the originalâs heart. The song is nice enough. I donât want to compare it to Butter-Fly, but Iâm only human. Give me a few episodes. Gotta let go.Â
The OP has way more Taichi than the others. No surprise there. Heâs our goggle boy. (Still, since they went for a quick throwback to the original opening, itâs a shame only Taichi was shown falling down towards the Digital World).Â
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.Â
Itâs 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 partnersâ 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 Vamdemonâs castle. Maybe she feels connected to Tailmon and follows her somehow? Angemon wasnât shown in the OP with the older six childrenâs partners, just Patamon. I wonder if theyâll try to make us grieve for Angemon a second time. Itâd work with me. Either way, I imagine weâre in for another last-minute Patamon evolution when everything looks hopeless.Â
This time, though, weâve 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 whoâs 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.Â
Anyway. Toei isnât fooling around, in the OP we can see MetalGreymon in a very scary-looking, glitchy fashion that Iâm LIVING for, WarGreymonâs silhouette and, good grief, thereâs 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 monstahhhhhrrrrrrsssâŠ.which is fair.)
MetalGreymon looks dope here. The others, though, are only shown up to their Adult evolution, even Gabumon. I donât 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 wouldnât 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 â how many seasons â this new timeline gets, Iâm not giving up hope just yet. Let me have Phoenixmon, Toei, you heartless thing.Â
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 ainât gonna be Hikariâs favorite cat-like creature for long.Â
Speaking of Hikari, LOOK AT THIS WITTLE BABY GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2020 Taichi right off the bat was Taichi for me. Heâs talking to Yuuko and yells âHikariii~â 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 sheâs worrying about (her summer classes, probably). Such a sweet, natural little moment that flashes both characters out. I want more of that, please.
Weâre then introduced to Koushiro! Iâm not gonna lie, I cringed the first time I heard him speak. I thought the voice didnât fit him very well. This impression faded quickly enough, though, and Iâm 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 â around Taichi, of all people! In this version, theyâre just meeting for the first time, so itâs very in-character for him. Guess I was kinda shocked seeing Koushiro not feeling at ease talking to Taichi. Poor thing is Anxious! And heâs overthinking about Summer Camp! And heâs happy Taichi is his neighbor! That certainly wouldâve helped during the Vandemon arc back in â99.Â
Koushiro gets a little bit over his awkwardness upon hearing the news regarding the cyber attack, something heâs 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 donât 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!Â
And now to one of the most interesting parts of this adaption, is that theyâre showing us the Crests early on and HOW theyâre doing it.Â
Taichi is able to meet Koromon because heâs being brave.
I mean, the first time, he was chosen because of his courage, too, but they all go in together. Theyâre taken. Theyâre 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, itâs sort of bittersweet they werenât pulled in together. Donât get me wrong, Iâm glad they didnât try to introduce all of them AND the Digital World at the same time again. But⊠â99 established them as a âteamâ within seconds. Itâs interesting, though. Iâm VERY curious to see how their bonding will go this time around!
Taichi and Koromon meeting was beautiful. I was worried the soundtrack wouldnât 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, Koromonâs ears twisting into how we represent the DNA while he was evolving was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SUCH A GOOD DETAIL!!!!!!Â
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 Appmonâs style, I think? I canât 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.)Â
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 âDigitalâ part of âDigital Monsterâ very much present. It reminded me a bit of Hosodaâs 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 arenât called monsters for nothing.Â
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: Hikariâs soft smile when she realizes her big brother managed to help them.Â
Alternatively, this first pic had killed me on the spot.
FINALLY, we get to see Yamato, and of course, heâs staring down dramatically at Taichi on top of Garurumon like the intense person he is. And, no big deal, thereâs a cyber attack in a U.S military base and, uh, apparently the next episode is the 2020 version of Bokura no War Game?!Â
Iâ WHAT?!
No pressure, am I right? I donât know about you, but Iâd rather be falling off a good olâ cliff with my camping buddies.Â
To be honest, if they intended to end it like this, it felt like this shouldâve been a special episode. Maybe one-hour-long or so? WhyâŠâŠâŠ.HOWâŠâŠâŠ.. They wanna go from the pilot straight to a Bokura no War game tribute?! The very movie that introduced Omegamon. I swear, if Omegamonâs debut is the SECOND episode, Iâm gonna break. How is this gonna work. Well, at least they have us⊠intrigued?Â
The ED is so Yamato-focused itâs almost weird that his voice actor isnât 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.Â
This is my favorite one!
I lost count of how many times I listened to this song!! It also got me hooked up. Whatâs 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 heâs a good friend.
Be right back, Iâm gonna tattoo this pic to my face.
Bonus commentary!
I bet I wasnât the only one looking for random cameos whenever they showed us crowds. Didnât find anyone we know, but Iâm sure this will change. 02 characters cameos, Iâm ready for you.Â
Soooooooooo the Tachikawa own a tech company this time?? For all we know they own Japan. Thatâs 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 whatâs the point of my entire existence?Â
I canât wait for next Saturday! Even if solely to yell âWHY??????â at my screen. Â
I canât thank you enough if you read this far!
#digimon#digimon adventure psi#psi spoilers#bea with the tea#I SPENT THE WHOLE DAY WRITING THIS AND........ IT'S NOT EVEN GOOD.......... OK#long post
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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. :)Â @taioraweek for more Taiora love!
Setting:Â Adult AU (Last Evolution Kizuna-inspired) / Canon Divergent
Tags:Â Adventure, Romance
Other Characters: 01 Chosen Children and their Partners
Notes:Â Iâm 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 Taichiâs. ;-;
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.Â
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.Â
Suddenly, Taichiâs 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 Koushiroâs text message said before picking up his phone to read it:
âA Digital Gate is opening up. Need reinforcements.â
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.Â
But Taichi didnât 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.
âTaichi,â she had answered after the first ring.
âSora. Looks like dinnerâs gonna have to wait,â he said, turning to Agumon who stood by waiting for Taichi to move.
The alarm echoed from Soraâs end. âIâve gotta go,â she shouted over the alarm. âTheyâre telling everyone to find cover or leave the area. Iâll make sure our parents are safe and Iâll head out soon.â
âOkay, I love you.â
âI love you, too. Be safe.â
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.
âTaichi,â Koushiro said from his ear piece. âYou on your way?â
âItâs about damn time,â Yamato grunted.Â
âWhat?! Dinnerâs not happening?â Mimi yelled from one end.
âThis isnât the time to be asking about that, Mimi!â 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.
âTakeru and Hikari are already closest to the electromagnetic readings on the map,â Koushiro added. âEveryone else, stay alert.â
âRight!â 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 Taichiâs 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 Digimonâs 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.Â
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.
âHEELLPP!â the woman cried, causing Sora to feel as though she jumped out of her skin.
âSora!â Piyomon cried.
Sora shook off her fright immediately and grabbed hold of the womanâs arms in return.
âMaâam, are you okay?â Sora asked, staring into the womanâs eyes to try to get her to focus and calm down.
âItâs coming! Itâs coming!!â
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.Â
The large silver insect Digimon had crashed into a building two blocks away, which Greymon had ultimately pushed him into.
âTaichi! I told you not to be so reckless!â Koushiro shouted.
âWeâre trying not to be!â Taichi groaned.
Sora was torn between feeling relieved at the sound of Taichiâs voice and fighting the urge to scold him more than Koushiro had just done. But, she had to stay calm.
âGet into the restaurant,â 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.
âAh! Another gateâs opening up!â Koushiro announced. âJust down the street! We need to get it there now!â
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.Â
âWait! Whereâs it going?â Takeru asked.
âAngewomon, stop him!â Hikari cried. âHeâs going the wrong way!â
Okuwamon sped through the street between the tall buildings, right in Soraâs direction.
âNow, Piyomon!âÂ
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.
âSora!â Hikari called to her when the wind died down, running towards her as she stood up. âAre you okay?â Â
âSora?â she heard Taichi in her earpiece. âGlad you could join the party. Iâm sure youâre dazzling in whatever youâre wearing tonight.â
âSave the sweet talk for later,â Koushiro interjected. âWeâve got to get Okuwamon to the gate!â
Sora exchanged embarrassed smiles with Hikari before returning to face the battle, where Birdramon had released herself from Okuwamonâs grasp, making the opening for Angemon to throw his Hand of Fate against Okuwamon and further down the street.
âAwesome!â Takeru shouted.
âYour turn, Angewomon!â Hikari yelled, as Angewomon flew out of the way for Angewomon to shoot her Celestial Arrow.
âTheyâre heading toward the gate!â said Jou with panic in his voice.
âWeâre on it!â Yamato said in response. âTaichi and I are headed that way!â
âSora, hop on,â Birdramon told her, and Sora and Hikari jumped onto her Digimonâs 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.
âYou two - pin him down right when he gets there!â Taichi instructed his and Yamatoâs partners, both which Sora heard growled in agreement.
Sora believed in them to finish this fight.
~*~*~*~*~*~
âThe gate is closing soon!â Koushiro announced. âTry not to get too close to it!â
Taichi and Yamato jumped off of the bike as soon as they parked near the gate.
âHow soon, Koushiro?â Taichi asked.
âTwenty seconds!â
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-
âLook out!!â Yamato exclaimed, and Taichi jumped in the opposite direction from him as a bolt of lightning shattered the asphalt where they had just stood.
âThatâs not supposed to happen!â Koushiro cried. âYou twoâd better get out of there - this gate is the most unstable one Iâve seen!âÂ
âTaichi! Taichi!â Sora shouted. âAre you alright?â
âSora, Iâm alright-â
âAaagghh!â Angewomon yelled as she crashed against the ground. Taichi got back on his feet and saw that Okuwamon had broken free of the angel Digimonsâ 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.
âTen seconds!â
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.
âFive seconds!â
They still werenât at the gate. Greymonâs 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.
âFour!â
Garurumon was on the ground, and so was Angewomon. Ikakkumon was too far away.
âThree!â
Okuwamon was strong, pushing back against Angemon and Togemon - strong enough to force them all to fall backward against the ground.
âTwo!â
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 Soraâs 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.
âKoushiro! Whatâs happening?â Taichi heard Yamato ask. He couldnât see where everyone had gone, and he had fallen against the asphalt.
Taichi couldnât get up.
âThe gate is closing - but itâs creating seismic waves!âÂ
âYou mean, an earthquake?!â Jou asked.
âTake cover!â
He wasnât sure if he hit his head, but his vision blurred, and the sound of rumbling had grown faint.
âTaichi!â he heard a growl from a far. Greymon? He wasnât 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.
âAre you alright?â 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.
âAkemi-kun!â came a frantic shout. A woman rushed over to her son and scooped her up in his arms, sobbing. âThank you,â she added tearfully to Sora and Birdramon.
âOf course,â said Sora, looking up at Birdramon to share a smile.
âSora, Sora!â she heard in her ear suddenly.
âKoushiro,â she answered, putting her finger up to adjust her earpiece.
âGet over to the gateâs location, quick! Taichiâs not responding!âÂ
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 Taichiâs brown hair, with his hand laying back, unmoving.
She immediately turned to Birdramon, who mustâve recognized the horrified look on Soraâs face. She lowered to the ground, allowing Sora to jump onto her back, and together they flew towards the site.
Soraâs mind seemed to race as quickly as Birdramonâs 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 couldnât 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 Taichiâs side just as Greymon had devolved back into Agumon, and looked on at Taichi worriedly.
âTaichi, bakaâŠâ she began, hearing the crack in her own voice. âHow many times did we tell you not to be so reckless?â She ran her fingers gently through his hair before cupping her palm on his cheek.
And then, she felt Taichiâs hand against hers, and she watched his eyes flutter open.
âHi, there,â he said softly as his lips curled into a smile. âYou really are dazzling tonight, Sora.â
âHow could you be smiling at a time like this?â Soraâs eyes welled into tears. âCan you move?â
âCan I moveâŠ?â 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. âI think thatâs a âyesâ.â
âWhat... are you doing?â Sora couldnât fathom why he was being so casual after the likelihood of suffering head trauma. âTaichi, are you hurt at all?â
For some reason, Taichi let out a chuckle. âDepends on your answer, Sora.â
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.
âTaichiâŠâ
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. âI was going to do this in front of our parentsâŠâ
âIâm sure theyâre watching right now,â 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.
âWell, I didnât think Iâd make a big show out of this⊠but, you are my star, Sora. You are the only future Iâve always been so sure about. So⊠will you marry me?â
Sora felt her heart swelling with happiness. Staring back into his hopeful brown eyes, she only had one answer to give:
âYes, Taichi!â
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, didnât 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 Birdramonâs 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 Soraâs and Taichiâs 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 Taichiâs 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 didnât know whether a new Digital Gate would appear and where, or if another earthquake would follow. They didnât know how long theyâd be able to see their Digimon partners, given the few times theyâve had to say goodbye, each time believing that it was their last. Sora didnât 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.
#taioraweek2020#taioraweek#taiora#digimon fanfiction#takenouchi sora#yagami taichi#sora takenouchi#tai kamiya#chosen children#digidestined#kizuna spoilers#last evolution kizuna#prompt fics#noctiswriting#noct writes taiora week 2020#taiora fanfiction
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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. Letâs write this while Iâm 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. Itâs 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 canât 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 heâs 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, itâs 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 doesnât 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, Greymonâs and Togemonâs coordination, the use of the environment, the use of every part of a digimonâs body, not just the hands, the animation at its best since episode 3... everything was great here...
Which is why itâs 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 didnât they use that? Why doesnât Greymon evolve to MetalGreymon during the lulls in the fight? Why is the show trying to convince us that he canât 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 didnât Lilimon ever show up? The episode has so many great things, but the very basis of it is so flimsy that I couldnât 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 donât solve the problems, but this one? Nah, thatâs 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 canât take it seriously.
NO EVO SEQUENCE FOR GREYMON! Okay, the MetalGreymon one came later and it felt shoe-horned and bad, but at least itâs an improvement.
Koushiro showed the most strategist skill this episode, but Taichi and Mimi both had their moments too, like when theyâre 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.
Koushiroâs laptop got an upgrade after his evolution. Since we already know itâs linked to his digivice because of episode 1, I wonder if this means weâll 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.
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Hi! For the soft summer prompt: going down the shore with Ken/Yamato? Please? :)
đ» 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 canât resist to put a hint of mimato (aand a bit of taiora, daitakari, and kenyako) because I CANâT HELP IT LOL iâm still feeling @ashandpikachuâs 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 kenâs struggle with the darkness, i guess you may proceed. itâs 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 hadnât gotten out yet for almost thirty minutes (âI SWEAR TO GOD THAT I WILL GIVE MY BLESSING TO TAKERU INSTEAD TO DATE MY SISTER IF YOU DONâT GET OUT WITHIN SECONDS!â), which caused him to be yelled back by Soraânow 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 Yamatoâs merciless meal.
The victims werenât 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, Koushiroânot surprisinglyâwas dealing with his laptop. Jyou and Takeru were just sitting casually, but not as casual as Mimi who conveniently leaned in her boyfriendâs shoulder. If only Yamato wasnât strumming his guitar, she probably would just put her head on his lap.
All of a sudden, Jyou suddenly asked, âHow come you never play your harmonica again, Yamato?â
Yamato stopped playing and looked up. Mimi gave an eye to Jyou with sudden curiosity.
âHe actually still carries it in his pocket wherever he goes,â Takeru pointed out; always a caring little brother, indeed. âI think he uses the harmonica for a part of his next song with the band.â
âHey, why donât you play it now, then?â Mimi nudged him with a playful smile. âThe song that you always played back in the Digital World. I always like it, you know?â
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 defeatâhe would never win against Mimi and her famous puppy eyes, at the very leastâbefore resting away his guitar. âFor your information, I donât always bring it,â 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 wasnât around, the guilt constantly slapped him in the face and the pain wonât stop, thus the dark Digivice and Kaiser came as an antidoteâa very bad one.
After the school ended, little Ken didnât 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 Osamuâs age or perhaps a bit younger, and little Ken wasnât 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 wasnât the one who felt lonely or missing in this worldâothers 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 wasnât 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 wasnât because of the sunlight, turned out) glanced up.
âYamato-san,â Ken smiled lightly. âThank you so much.â
Thank you for saving me back then.
âAhâŠ.â Yamato wasnât sure with the words, but he accepted the glass. He thought that Ken was just thanking him for the dinner. âNot a big problem.â
Kenâs smile was still lingering, nevertheless. It even made Mimi squealed like a fangirl as he moved on to distribute other glasses. (âGosh, Yamaâhe was so charming, now I understand why Miyako and other girls are so crazy about him!â)
#digimon#by me#fic#digisoftsummer#yamato ishida#ken ichijouji#yamaken#HOLY SHIT THE PAIRING NAME WAS YAMAKEN#DO YOU MEAN YAMAZAKI KENTO??#mimi's a shipper of yamaken!!#and ofc yamato was playing back then because he missed gabumon <3#it was a year after their summer adventure#anw hope you like it sam!#WAIT SAM IS THE DUBBED NAME OF OSAMU RIGHT??#ahhh too much tag for this post...#AND THIS FIC IS LONGER THAN I THOUGHT#BUT I LIKE IT
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[10-Â Emergencial Reunion!!]
âYou said it was an emergency so you have to be straight and tell us whatâs going on.â
Iori didnât 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.
âItâs about himâ Ken said with a serious tone.
Everyone stopped talking or complaining, creating a heavy and uncomfortable atmosphere in the room. It wasnât 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 wouldâve Taichi explain that without revealing that Daisuke is one of the DigiChosen?
âWhat did you get?â Miyako broke the silence, yet her voice was cold. They were talking about her husband after all.
âWe never learned what happened to himâ Ken began, âTwo 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.â
âThat we know, Ichijoujiâ Takeru vaguely commented.
âThe 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.âÂ
âThen, what have you discovered about the case?â Taichi acted as the good and old leader once again âYou said on the phone that it is connected to the Roar of Freedom, am I wrong?â
âItâs an assumptionâ Ken explained âThis 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.â
âAre they threatening usâŠ?â Yamato clenched his fist, but Takeru calmed him down.
âWe didnât give up on finding Daisuke, and this may be the very first clue we got since two years ago.â
â... What you want us to do?â Koushiro asked him, and that was everyoneâs question as well.Â
Ken hated to feel pressured by glares, somehow it brings him bad memories from his childhood. However, he was on Daisukeâs 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.
âNothing for nowâ he answered a few moments later, trying to formulate words in his mind.
âYou want to go there and investigate, am I wrong?â Taichi said, then looked at the others.
âIf Ken goes, Iâm goingâ Miyako raised from her seat âDaisuke is not only our friend, itâs my husband. And I have to protect my family.â
âIâd like to go too but⊠Iâm busyâ Iori mused.
âI have a lot to do tooâ Hikari, Mimi and Sora replied, some frowns were visible.
âThe hospital needs me, Iâm sorryâ 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.
âI could go, butâ Takeru spoke âI have a book release to attend. After that, I can lend you a hand Ken.â
âThe next mission is settled to the next weekâ Yamato was pouty âI will help giving support here. Could go investigating those cases in the meanwhileâ then he glanced at Taichi.
âSorry, I canât goâ and he answered âI had been a target, while I can still fight⊠Handling with the role as a Chosen Child and as the digimonâs Ambassador wouldnât be good. I trust you two though. If you need help, I will do my best to send backup.â
âTaichi, our identities are a secret!â Yamato argued âYou canât simply ruin all of our efforts to keep our families safe!â
âI wonât, I prefer to call Kenâs unit to give him and Miyako support.â
Daichi was sleeping when someone had entered in his room. Luckily, Ulforce and Natsu were still spending the night at the old Daisukeâs 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.
âDaichi, please wake up and helpâ Kiyoko was the one he saw now that his vision went back to normal âThis lilâ guy is needing some help!â
âLil⊠W-wait, thatâs a digimon!?â
âNo, itâs a plush. Duh, of course he is!â
âWhat happened?!â he got up from the bed âWhere did he come from!? Where did you find him!?â
âUhh, long story short⊠He was running away from some baddie and de-evolved back to this form. Is it a⊠Poromon right?â
âHm yesâ he examined the borb-like baby âI think it is.â
âWhy donât you use that shining thing on your desk?â
âShiny thing--â he looked back and realized he didnât hide the D-TimeRune before going to sleep!! âAa- Um, that thing!? Itâs a phone! A normal phone!! Old phone I meantâŠ!â
She smirked, âI know youâre hiding something from me dear brother. Because after getting your message, I phoned Mitsuki and he said you werenât at his home. I also phoned your other friends and they said the same!â
He gasped.
âYou canât hide it from me, Daichi. Iâm sly as a fox, faster like a cheetah and your sister.â
âA⊠Uh⊠Please, donât tell anyone about thisâ Daichi sighed âIâve got a digivice and a digimon partner.â
âYOU WHAT!?â
âY-youâre going to wake mom up!!â he whispered to her âPlease donât tell mom or anyone else.â
âFine fine!â Kiyoko muttered and pouted âNow please help me with this digimon, he seems hurt!â
Daichi grabbed the digivice and told Kiyoko to follow him to the room no one ever had opened since Daisukeâs disappearance. When they stood in front of the door, Daichi muttered:
âThis is also a secret, donât let anyone else know,â 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.
âAww, theyâre cute!!â she was looking at them and almost squishing the hurt Poromon âWhat are they? Digimon too? Thatâs a Chibimon and⊠I never had heard of a pink bun!â
âDaichi isnât your identity supposed to be a secret?â Natsu squinted her eyes but her expression changed to concern âUh-oh, you have an injured digimon here! Let me heal itâŠ!â and she switched forms in front of them, took the Poromon from Kiyokoâs hands and put it on the couch by Ulforceâs side. she send an energy from her hands to the bird-like digimon, healing him slowly.
âA secret?â Kiyoko glanced at Daichi âI thought you wouldnât hide something from meâŠ!â
âNatsu said to me to not tell anyone else, thereâs some things you cannot know--â
âAnd thereâs more!? And you canât trust me!?â
âI think yâall should tell herâ Ulforce interrupted the heated discussion. Both Daichi and Natsu looked at him âSorry guys, the girl needs to know now that sheâs aware of us here.â
âFine, Daichi tell her Iâm busy to give details. But you must keep quiet about it, Kiyoko.â
âI⊠I will, donât worry!â the girl nodded âNot even mom and dad must know rightâŠ?â
âEspecially them, or else they will lock me in the depths of the Digital World.â
âOkâŠ?â Kiyoko wasnât able to understand that, but she promised to not tell anyone about whatever it was Daichiâs secret.
â... Mom and dad are legendary heroesâ Daichi began âRemember of those stories about the Digital Worldâs warriors? They were real⊠And our dad is a brainwashed enemy right now.â
She stared at him for a while. Then she snorted and laughed but not too much loud.
âSeriously? Have you been talking with Junya lately? Our parents are heroes!? How funny!â
âKiyoko Iâm deadly serious here! They are, I just saw--â
âWait, How can a digimon researcher and a worldwide famous chef be secret heroes? It makes no sense, big bro. Youâre talking like Junya about the conspiracy theory of ambassador Yagami hiding the truth from everyone about the legends.â
â... He is right. But not for something evil, actually itâs about our safety.â
âDaichi, I donât know what happened to you to jump from âour dad is deadâ to âour dad is alive, and our parents are part of the legendary Chosen Childrenâ but I know dad is on a business trip and our parents arenât heroes.â
âHeâs telling the truthâ Natsu turned back and stared at Kiyoko âDaisuke, Miyako and Taichi are DigiChosen. Most of their friends are.â
âI⊠Itâs strange knowing that our babysitter is a digimon but...â
âKiyoko, my sweetie⊠Iâve been with your parents from a long time ago that Iâm basically an honored digimon partner. Believe me, I tell no lies.â
âWhy would dad be an enemy? Heâs a good person!! Makes no sense!â
âHe had been captured, but Daichi knows how to fix it⊠You have to stay here and not tell anyone about it--â
âUrkâŠâ the Poromon woke up, his vision being pretty blurred but slowly coming back. His noise called the kids, Natsu and Ulforceâs attention though âI need to find the⊠C-Chosen Children.â
âDonât talk, youâre badly injured!â Kiyoko said, worried with the poor bird âYouâre safe, please rest.â
âWhy is he looking for them?â Ulforce tilted his head.
âWhat happened to him, Kiyoko?â Daichi asked calmly.
âI donât know, I was coming back from school andâŠâ
 ⊠It fell from the skies devolved in front of me.
âHey little one, are you okay?!â 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:
â... Human kid-- W-watch outâŠ!!â He said and then he shove me to the ground. A light hit this poor Poromon and he fell again on the floor.
âUgh, h-hey why did you-- Huh!?â 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.
âSo, someoneâs looking for himâ the boy mused âAnd, probably is going after you now.â
âYeah, I think soâŠâ
âDo you think it chased her at home?â Ulforce looked around âI mean-- Not like I care of someone trying to invade your home...â
âThe house is safeâ Daichi said âThereâs alarms and mx. Hawkmon lives here. Heâs momâs partner after all.â
âUh⊠About thatâŠâ The three looked at Kiyoko â... Mom and mx. Hawk are not here, they went to an important meeting.â
âSo weâre all alone!?â Ulforce babbled in panic, then he started to verify every corner of the room âAre we safe!?â
âAre you scaredâŠ?â Natsu smirked âArenât you the grand hero Ulforce?â
âMe!? Scared!?â the tiny-mon took the bait âI gonna show ya how great I am! Daichi kid, evolve me and I will protect everyone for the night!â
âUh, no need to--â 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.
âWha-what was that!?â the girl asked âIt sounded like someone crashing the restaurantâs entrance doorâŠ!â
âStay hereâ Daichi whispered, âUlforce come with me.â
âF-fineâŠ??â he nodded, then jumped to the boyâs arms. The duo left the room, leaving Natsu and Kiyoko to protect the injured Poromon.
â... Momâs going to not like if they damage the restaurantâ Kiyoko mused âNatsu, can you see if thereâs someone inside?â
âI donât feel anything from here, and Poromon is injured we canât--â
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.
âItâs⊠Itâs that one who was chasing me!!â Kiyoko shouted, Daichi glanced at her but turned back to the battle âP-please donât damage the restaurant, dad wouldnât like itâŠ!!â
âI wonât!â He assured her âUlforce, Kiyoko, Natsu, try to lure it to the outside!â
âWait will you put YOUR SISTER in danger!?â Natsu babbled.
âSheâs fine, sheâs with us!â
âYes, but do you forgot sheâs a not a tamer!?â
âOh screw that!â Kiyoko yelled âWith or without a digimon, Iâve raised to fight! Iâm made of fire!â then she ran towards the mysterious silhouette, with the Poromon in her hands âHey, dummy dumbo thing! Come catch me, leave this place alone and come after me!â She left the restaurant by the main entrance, forcing the shadow to chase her.
âGood job, Kiyoko!â Daichi nodded, then looked at Ulforce and Natsu âLetâs go, we need to prevent that thing from hurting Kiyoko and the Poromon.â
âOkâ they nodded and with this the three left after the shadow.
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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 sheâs going back to her momâs 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.
Writerâs 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, âI guess I really donât have anyone who truly cares about me. I know they donât allow friends to visit if one has EDEN Syndrome, Mom is doing her first book abroad, Takumi is studying in America so Iâm happy that they donât know about my physical state right now.â She talked quietly to herself feeling alone and homesick. âRyota is too worried about Sakura and Sakura is all crazy about this Jimi Ken singer. Kyoko and Mirel know about whatâs really wrong with me, Yuuko might have an idea, but as for Nokia and Arata, they think Iâm perfectly fine.â
She looked at Nakanoâs 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 Amiâs mom called asking why Ami hasnât 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, âYou 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 Iâm offering you a ride to your residency. This case that Date gave you also took quite a bit out of you. So, Iâm giving you the rest of the week off so you can get your school work done and relax. Good thing todayâs Monday, right?â
âReally, but what about the cases?â Ami asked.
âIâll take care of them, so shall we get going? In case you havenât noticed, Iâm not giving you an option to refuse. Your digivice now, please. This way your friends canât try to get you to help them for free,â Kyoko responded holding her hand out.
Ami hesitated but gave her boss her digivice,âThank you so much Kyoko. I was just going to ask you for the weekend off.â
Kyoko didnât 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. Heâs been trying to get a hold of her to ask about the âweird stalkerâ guy. Sure, he hasnât 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 storeâs 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.
âI absolutely refuse to buy-â the unknown boy was saying to Ami until -
âAmi!â Arata yelled causing both of them to stop and turn around to face him.
âArata?â Ami asked tilting her head to the side. Once Arata got closer, she spoke again, âDid something happen to Mari or Nishino?â
âMari is recovering and Nishino is still a victim of EDEN Syndrome. The question that should be asked is where have you been?â Arata responded sticking his hands in his pockets. âIâve been trying to get in contact with you for the last two days!â
âKyoko has my digivice,â Ami responded. âSheâs letting me have this week off.â
âOh, and you didnât bother to tell anyone that?â Arata huffed. âHere I am worrying about you and you just so happen to be perfectly fine.â
The other male tapped Ami on the shoulder, âIâll catch up with you later so I wonât be included in this conversation. Still okay for me to come by your momâs place later tonight?â
Ami nodded, âYou know you are always welcome, Ryota, whether it be my momâs place or my apartment.â
âThanks, Iâll see you later than,â Ryota said before taking off. Arata turned and watched Ryota run towards a girl with a blank expression and brown pigtails.
âWhy doesnât it surprise me that heâll happily spend more time with Sakura?â Ami said fondly before shrugging her shoulders. âKyoko asked me to give her my digivice so I really didnât have time to notify anyone.â
Arata turned his attention back to her, âAnyway, where have you been?â
âMomâs place and the library,â the cyber sleuth responded. âIâve seen you at the library as well. You usually are to focused in the magna section or you are trying to understand medical terms.â
â...why didnât you say something then?â
âBecause I didnât want to bother you, plus Iâve been busy trying to self-teach myself all the information Iâve missed from school along with helping Ryota get caught up again,â Ami explained. âI honestly didnât mean to make you worry.â
âYeah, well, donât do it again,â Arata said with a kind smile. âHow 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 âweird, stalker guy.ââ
âEasy enough,â Ami smiled placing her hands behind her back. âMomâs place isnât too far from here. Did you want to get your books first?â
âUh, yeah,â Arata said looking away briefly. âGive me one minute.â Ami smiled and shook her head as Arata went back inside the shop. âHow did she know I have books?â
The guy at the checkout desk was grinning from ear to ear at Arata when he approached, âWhat?â
âArata, man, when did you get a girlfriend? Especially one with the beautiful looks that she does?â the check-out guy asked.
âSheâs not my girlfriend,â Arata defended. âSheâs just a good friend of mine I met online.â
âOh, then do you think that I have a -â
âNo,â Arata interrupted. âYou do not.â
The checkout guy laughed, âYou do have a crush on her. I donât think I have ever seen you act so protective before.â
â...Shut up,â Arata said paying for his books.
âDonât do anything that I wouldnât do,â the clerk yelled as Arata left the store.
âWeirdo,â 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, âKenji has the hots for both-â
âIâm sorry, Lily,â Ami interrupted as she acknowledge Arata, âbut I really must get going. Tell everyone in the occult club I say hi please.â
âOccult club?â Arata asked confused.
Lillyâs 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, âShoot, my breakâs over. Iâll see you later.â
Lilly went back inside a nearby building which caused Ami to let out a sigh, âI just wanted to know how everyone is doing. Not the latest gossip.â
âYou happen to be a member of an occult club as well?â Arata asked with a raised eyebrow. âNo wonder itâs never boring when you are around.â
âIâm not a member,â Ami said. âIâve just had to solve one and a half cases for them.â
âI thought you was a cyber sleuth?â
âYeah, they thought Kyokoâs business dealt with the occult and not cyber crimes,â Ami responded. âShall we get going?â
âHow dare that police woman try to keep me away from my true love!â a voice yelled causing Ami to sigh.
âHereâs the guy who you wanted to know about, âAmi said as she started to walk away from the shops and in the direction of the residential area.
âI have now realize that the florist girl was just a decoy, a test of my love,â the voice continued to shout. âI have passed that test. My true love is that cyber sleuth who was asking about the disappearance.â
The color in Amiâs face washed away as Arata asked, âTrue love?â
âHell no,â she responded grabbing Arataâs wrist, âIâve dealt with him once. Not dealing with him a second time.â 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. âWell,â Arata spoke first. âI can understand as to why heâs a âweird, stalker guyâ now.â
âPlease, Nishino was his first target and wanted her personal information, her address, EDEN account information, it was bad,â Ami said shaking her head. âI talked to Nishino who said that he was stalking her. I donât know why but something snapped and I confronted him. He was the one who told me about the Comic Mania forum.â Ami spun around as she looked at Arata, a bright smile on her face. âOr the Commani forum for short.â
âShut up,â Arata said. âJust donât tell anyone, okay?â
Ami laughed as she turned back around, âYou arenât the only one who reads manga you know. Remember that I work in Nakano and have become good friends with the bookstore clerk there.â
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. âHey! Hey! Where do you think you are going?â Arata asked as he stayed on the main sidewalk. âDo you know whose house that is?â
âYeah, itâs my momâs place,â Ami responded. Arata just stared at her like she was crazy.
âI highly doubt your mom is Yukino Kido,â Arata stated crossing his arms.
âWhy is that hard to believe? The fact that my last name is Aiba?â
âYou used your last name as your username in Digi-line?â
âThat is not the point!â Ami exclaimed placing her hands on her hips. âWhy do you not believe that Yukino is my mother? Because I donât look like her?â
âCalm down,â Arata said placing his hands in the air. âItâs mostly just because you donât 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?â
Arata walked up the stairs and continued following her up the stairs. âI honestly didnât 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 didnât realize I was actually going to be using it.â
Arata watched as she unlocked the front door and a mass of brown and black fur rushed out of the door jumping at Amiâs legs. Ami laughed and bent down to pick up the moving mass of fur which was a little Yorkshire Terrier. âYes, Jyou, Iâm 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?â
Jyou stuck out his tiny paw towards Arata waiting for him to shake it. Arata chuckled under his breath as he shook the paw, âYou have a really good trained dog.â
âHeâs never done that on the first meeting before,â Ami responded confusion evident in her eyes and voice. âIt took him two months to get used to Ryota and he still hasnât shook with him.â
âI must be an âirregularâ than,â 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 Arataâs Tentomon was in the tree above them taking a nap in the warm sunlight.
âYes, I do approve of this Arata Sanada boy,â the old man said towards another Gomamon.
Gomamon stared at him with wide eyes, âHe has had trouble with the law and you approve of him? Jyou, are you feeling okay?â
Jyou laughed and patted his digimon partnerâs head, âIâm feeling fine. I havenât seen her smile like that since Yukino got a better journalist job that leaves Ami alone most of the year. Besides, Iâm not 100% sure but I do believe that Mr. Sanada is related to Koushiro since heâs so young and already a skilled hacker.â
âYou never fail to surprise me Jyou,â Gomamon said watching the two teenagers with Jyou. âYouâve become a proud grandfather.â
~~Back In The World Story Takes Place~~
âSo Jyou here doesnât know how to shake,â Arata started to ask as he sat at the kitchen while Ami made them some tea, âbut he shook hands with me?â
âStrangest thing that dog has ever done,â Ami responded bringing two cups of tea over to the table. âHeâs even snuggling up to you. The only other male that heâs acted this way with is my grandpa who is named after.â
âWell, heâs about as strange as his owner,â Arata smiled waiting for the tea to cool down. âSo, how much homework do you have left?â
âAlgebra, German, Psychology, and Med I,â she responded. âThe only hard one is my Med I class.â
âYou are a cyber sleuth but taking classes to become a doctor?â
âFamily tradition for the Kidoâs, my momâs side of the family. My great uncle never had children so it falls upon me to become a doctor,â Ami said taking a sip of her tea. âSo, why exactly were you worried about me? I know itâs not because of the stalker guy.â
âShouldnât we be working on your homework so you could enjoy the rest of your week off?â Arata asked trying to change the subject.
Ami had her tea cup close to her mouth with her eyes closed when she spoke, âAre you afraid of me making fun of you?â
âNo, you already know most of my secrets and we havenât known each for long.â
Just the way that Ami slowly sat her teacup down made Arata think he said the wrong thing however, he wasnât quite sure. Especially since Ami laughed as she got up, âYou donât want to lose your âcoolâ. I understand. Iâll be back with my homework.â 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. âDid I say something wrong?â
Jyou jumped off of Arataâs lap and went towards his grey pillowy pet bed.
Ami leaned against her bedroom door, looking at the ground. âHe showed more concerned for Marippe and Nishino than he is for me. I know I shouldnât be disappointed in it, but it would still be nice to know people worried about me.â She pushed herself away from the door and grabbed her school bag.
Arata was still sitting at the kitchen table when Ami returned, âYour dog left me.â
âHe probably got tired of your lap,â Ami shrugged as she sat her bag down on the table. âAre you sure you wish to help me with my homework?â
âI donât talk back on my offers,â Arata deadpanned. âI came here to help you.â
âThen which one do you wish to help me with,â Ami spoke pushing her bag towards him.
âItâs going to be the only one I can help you with, Algebra.â
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 couldnât 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 Sakuraâs behavior, so Ami was left alone...again.
She looked at Jyou, âShall I finish my homework on the couch?â He went to the couch and waited for the female. âIâll take that as a yes.â
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 Nokiaâs 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. âItâs getting worse. Hopefully, the cure will be found before glitching out becomes common,â she whispered to herself, trying to calm herself down.
Ami met up with Arata, a smile on her face as he shook his head, âYou helped Nokia first,â he said watching her nod, her smile disappearing. âThat idiot is going to get whatâs coming and you'll be the one swooping in to save her, you know that?â
âI always wanted to be a knight in armour coming in and saving people,â Ami spoke.
âWeirdo,â Arata grumbled. âAnyway, letâs go.â
He turned around and went to head towards the subway, âWait a minute,â Ami said. âPlease.â
Arata rolled his eyes and turned around to stare at her, watching her go to the EDEN portal. âIf you need to do something before we start than do -â Ami held her hand up and Arata watched as a blue and white portal opened up and Amiâs body turning into little data blocks before the portal vacuumed them it, â-it. Ami?â He walked over to the portal, looked around it, lifted his hand up to it...nothing. âHa, ha, this isnât funny, Ami.â
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.
âWhat the hell Ami? This isnât normal,â 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 âOh noâ. Her digivice started ringing and she answered it, expecting Kyoko to call her and tell her about Asakua only for Arataâs holographic image to appear.
âWhat the hell happened, Ami? Iâve been trying to get through to you. Where are you?â Arata questioned.
âAsakusa,â she said almost like she didnât wanted to respond and that she was confused as well. âLook thereâs-â
âAsakusa!? How the hell did you get there? Look, donât move, donât do anything until I get there, okay?â Arata said before ending the call.
Ami sighed as she emailed Kyoko, âSo much for Arata not knowing.â
She had planned on taking care of the Digital Shift before going back to do Arataâs quest, but she did owe him for making him wait as she took care of Nokiaâs quest first, then ending up in Asakusa.
âOkay,â Arata said as he finally stood in front of her, his hands on his knees bent down, and trying to get his breath back.
âDid you run all the way here?â Ami asked.
âNo, I took the subway and than ran from the subway to here following your digivice signal,â he responded. âNot everyone can teleport like you can.â
âFirst time it happened this far, usually I appear within the area still,â Ami spoke causing Arata to look at her with a glare. Then she realized that she just admitted to Connect Jumping to someone who doesnât know sheâs pure data wearing a disguise, âHaha, letâs get going into Asakusa Digital Shift now before Date shows up.â
Arata looked at the gate as Ami went in which he followed, âI still have questions that you need to answer.â
âI will later,â Ami spoke welcoming her digital friends, Lillymon, Antylamon, and Ikkakumon. âSuedo is already here, I talked with him briefly while waiting for you.â
After their discussion with Suedo, many random digimon battles, Ami happened across a dead end causing Arata to cross his arms, âDo you not know how Asakusa is laid out?â
Ami turned around and faced him, âItâs been awhile since I was last here.â
âAnyway, what happened in Shinjuku to get you to come here?â Arata spoke.
âWe donât have time for that right now,â Ami spoke trying to get around Arata only for him to block her way by stepping in front of her.
âOh? I think we have plenty of time and I want my answers,â Arata responded with a frown. âSo, what happened?â
âItâs called connect jump,â Ami said.
âWhat the hell is a connect jump? Ah, where do you think you are going?â Arata asked grabbing Amiâs 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, âI want answers. Now whatâs a connect jump?â
âItâs what Kyoko calls it, the ability to go into the connecting links of databases,â Ami spoke. Her Digimon must not see him as a threat otherwise they would have attacked.
âNo way, you can go into the very basic of wiring of EDEN?â Arata asked amazed.
âOf any electronics,â Ami spoke, tempted to tell him that she uses the TV in Kyokoâs office to get to EDEN a lot. âIâve fixed the old A/C and heater in Broadway plus a game app. Now can we go?â
âNo. How are you able to do this?â Arata asked. âBecause seeing my friend get turn into data blocks before getting sucked into a portal isnât normal.â
âArata, whereâs our Digimon?â Ami asked now realizing that the rapid buzzing of Lillymonâs wings, the curious and inquisitive comments made by Antylamon or the loud heavy thuds of Ikkakumon moving, were gone.
âDonât be changing the subject,â Arata spoke. âHow can you connect jump?â
âBe careful,â Ami spoke as she escaped his grip by glitching, the blue blocks moving around his hands. âGround is about to shake.â
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, âWe need to hurry otherwise when it moves, we move with it.â
She stared as she turned the corner and saw all four of the Digimon asleep, âAmi-â
âI have what Kyoko dubs a âhalf cyber bodyâ, she can explain more,â Ami spoke waking her Digimon up.
Within the shadows, overhearing the conversation, two hands rubbed together in glee, âHow 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.â
~~The End~~
#Digimon#Digimon Story#Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth#Ami Aiba#Arata Sanada#no shipping this time#just basic friends#Jyou Kido#Koushiro Izumi
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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 couldnât move from her spot next to Sora. The girl tried to make her evolve, but her digivice didnât 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.
âThis placeâŠâ Piyomon murmured, shivering. âIt reminds me of the orbâŠâ
âItâs going to be okay!â The girl promised, extending an arm to caress the birdâs head. âWeâre together! Weâve escaped from a place like this before! As long as we have each other, weâll be fine!â
Piyomon nodded reluctantly.
âTakeruâŠâ Yamato murmured, looking at the void below with empty eyes. âI couldnât do anything to protect him⊠I never could⊠â
âDonât be so hard on yourself!â Gabumon told him, stretching an arm in the boyâs direction. However, Yamato got out of his reach. The boyâs body was slowly descending, sinking into the darkness.
âYamato-kun!â 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 Koushiroâs explanation about the orb being a subjective space affected by her emotions. If the place they were in was similar to that orb, Yamatoâs negativity could bring him a dire result.
âPiyomon, can you push me in Yamato-kunâs direction?â Sora asked.
âIf I do that, youâll be out of my reach! How would I get you back?!â Piyomon questioned.
âI need to get to Yamato-kun!â Sora retorted. âHeâll be in danger if I do nothing!â
âYou could be in danger if I launch you in that direction!â Piyomon protested. âWe donât know where we are or what will happen if you go down there!â
âThatâs exactly why I canât let Yamato-kun out of my sight!â
âDonât do this to me again!â The bird digimon pleaded. âDonât make me watch as you sacrifice yourself for someone else again! I canât⊠IâŠâ
âPiyomonâŠâ Sora muttered, pulling her partner into a hug. âItâs not like that time. I donât want to help him because I think itâs my duty, because I want to prove something or because of my self-loathing. I wonât do that again! I promise Iâll never put you through that again!â
âBut if you go-â
âIâll come back with him!â She vowed. âThereâs 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 doesnât share his burden with anyone⊠who buries his fears⊠his insecuritiesâŠâ
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 wasnât 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 didnât want anyone else following that painful path. She wanted to help Yamato for his own sake.
âAlright, then⊠but you have to come back to me!â Piyomon said. âPromise youâll come back to me!â
âThatâs not a reasonable request.â Gabumon commented.
âIâll come back to you, Piyomon.â Sora told her partner, breaking the hug to show her a reassuring smile. âWeâll all be fine and get out of here.â
Piyomon grabbed the girl and launched her in Yamatoâs direction.
Yamato was sinking into the dark void, but didnât notice it. He couldnât 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. Â 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 didnât ask for help with his homework or anything else. He didnât 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 wouldnât 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 parentsâ. That way, his father and mother wouldnât 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 didnât 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 didnât 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 wouldnât let his mother think he needed her, he wouldnât 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 didnât even come home. Other times, he came and spoke incoherent things with a sad expression. The man didnât 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 didnât 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 didnât talk much.
Yamato didnât 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 didnât want to give his mother the impression that he wasnât doing great without her. What if she noticed something and became worried? She shouldnât 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 motherâs 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 brotherâs sacrifices werenât necessary. They werenât needed, they werenât wanted. What was the point of all that, then?
What was the point of him?
âYamato-kun!â
That was Soraâs voice calling him. An increasing warm sensation was spreading over his hands.
âDonât say such sad things, Yamato-kun!â She told him in a pained tone. Was he saying things aloud without noticing?
âTakeru-kun loves you a lot! Things arenât as bad as you believe!â Sora insisted.
âIt doesnât matter.â Yamato said, staring into the darkness surrounding him. âHe shouldnât love me⊠nobody should⊠Iâm such a disappointmentâŠâ
âNo, youâre not!â She stated. âI might not have known you for long, but I know that youâre a caring person and that you put other peopleâs needs before your own! And that you try to keep a façade of being well-adjusted, so people wonât worry about youâŠâ Soraâs voice became weaker. âYou built a wall around your heart and tried to keep everybody away. You didnât want anyone to see you crumbling in the inside, drowning in your self-deprecating thoughts⊠because youâre afraid of what theyâd think if they saw who you really are.â
Yamato now realized that the warmth on his hands were the girlâs own trembling ones, holding him tightly. In his front, the silhouette of someone very close to him was slowly taking shape.
âHow do you knowâŠ?â He asked in a whisper. âI t-thought I had hidden it⊠does e-everybody see through me as well? Does TakeruâŠ?â It was getting harder for him to hold back the tears.
âFor a long time, I believed that my parents⊠especially my MomâŠâ Sora hesitated for a few seconds. âSheâs an Ikebana Master and I was supposed to be her heiress, but I didnât want to be that. I thought Mom didnât really love me⊠I made her into an enemy that I wanted to hate⊠I forced myself to be everything I thought she wasnât, but the truth was that⊠I couldnât deal with the idea that I was a disappointment to her. To think that she didnât 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 ashamedâŠâ
âBut youâre strong!â Yamato protested, almost outraged. âI heard what you did for Takeru and the others! You put yourself in danger to lure that vampire away from us not long ago! Youâre not⊠you canât beâŠâ
She couldnât be both strong and fragile, virtuous and flawed, brave and scared⊠people werenât like that. If you were one thing, you couldnât be its opposite. Yamato knew that. But if it was possible, if those things werenât mutually excluding⊠what would that make of him?
âMy friends helped me to see that I wasnât the despicable person I thought I was.â Sora said. âBecause 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!â
âAre you two getting along now?â Yamato asked. âAfter everything⊠was it still possible for you twoâŠ?â
âItâs never too late when thereâs love.â 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 Soraâs words. Maybe it was time for Yamato to do something for himself.
âMaybe⊠I could call my motherâŠâ He whispered.
âYou should.â She encouraged him.
He could no longer stop the tears from escaping his eyes.
âItâs okay to cry.â Sora told him. âItâll make you feel better.â
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.
âPiyomon evolves to⊠BIRDRAMON! Birdramon evolves to⊠GARUDAMON!â
The giant digimon took Gabumon in one hand and then flew down to take Sora and Yamato in the other.
âAre you okay?â Gabumon asked him.
âI guessâŠâ 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.
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Digimon OTP Week Day #3: Soulmate AU
Day 3!Â
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 (itâs like midnight here in Germany now). But donât 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.
Taichiâs 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 wasnât good.
Of course they had been fighting for way too long and their Digimon had to be on their last legs, but they also couldnât 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 hadnât 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 â which already felt like forever ago, even though it couldnât 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.
Taichiâs 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 itâs 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 â which was unusually late â 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 Taichiâs 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 hadnât 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 didnât 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 didnât even know.
InsteadâŠ
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.
âI donât think we should do this, Taichi.â
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 wasnât very far from it.
âWhy did you kiss me then? Hell, Yama, why are we doing this if you are not even giving us a chance?!â
âHow do you imagine it?! We canât even have a normal discussion without punching each other in the face! Weâre completely different people!â âWe can make it work. Dammit, donât act so fucking cold! I know that you feel the same way about me!â
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.
âLetâs give it a try, Yama. Please.â
He shook his head, averting his eyes.
âI canât. I just canât.â
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.
âWeaklings! WEAKLINGS!â
He felt his heart lurching into his throat as he suddenly grasped the whole situation â and what it meant for him.
His friends were still fighting their own battles, none of them having the time â or the energy â to focus on the main enemy right now.
âAgumonâ, 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 â judging by his sluggish, but forceful movements and frustrated sounds that sent tiny puffs of heat onto Taichiâs 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 â already shooting at him before Taichi even tried to command his tired legs to move.
But it didnât hit him.
Instead, there was a flurry of green and black and blond, followed by a pained scream that iced the blood in Taichiâs veins.
He knew that voice.
He knew who had just stepped in front him â to save him, to take the attack.
For him.
âYamato!â, he screamed, watching the boy go down right in front of his eyes, body limp.
He grabbed his shoulders, shaking him.
âWhat did you do?! Why did you do that?! You stupid, stupid moron! Whereâs Gabumon?! Why didnât he stop you?!â
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 friendâs pained face, hands clutching at his chest, fingers digging into the black fabric of his shirt â right where Malomyotismonâs attack had hit him.
âYou werenât movingâ, he choked out, and Taichi wanted to slap him, tell him to shut up, to say something cliche like âsave your strengthâ.
âYou⊠You canât die on me, Yama. I promise Iâm gonna murder you if you die on me nowâ, 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.
âJOU! JOU, PLEASE COME HERE!â, he screamed, begged, even though he knew his fellow Chosen was too far away to hear him, while Yamatoâs 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.
âNoâ, Taichi whispered, bile rising into his throat.
Why had he never considered it?
âWeâre completely different people!â
âNo, no, no, no, no.â
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.
âFuckâ, 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.
âIâm so sorry, Tai. Iâm so sorryâ, he whispered, voice giving in.
Taichi just shook his head, unable to grasp any of this.
This couldnât be happening.
âDonât. Please donât leave me.â
He took Yamatoâs hand in his, suddenly remembering the moment they had let Angemon and Angewomon shoot arrows at them, their hands shaking and intertwined.
Yamato didnât squeeze back though.
The countdown wasnât audible, but Taichi still heard it, like gun shots in his ears.
His soul mate stopped breathing the second it hit zero.
#digiotpweek#day 3#soulmate au#digimon#digimon adventure#digimon tri#taito#taiyama#taichi yagami#yamato ishida#tai kamiya#matt ishida#tw: death#death /#death mention
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We were always gonna be forever
â 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]
âCrap!â Taichi swears once theyâve left the zombies behind them and shoved themselves into an empty alley, âwe need to go back!â
Heâs patting at the pockets of his ill-fitted cargo shorts, hands growing more restless each times he comes up empty handed, and Yamatoâs throat constricts in apprehension.
âDid you lose you Digivice?â
Thereâs nothing else Yamato would ever consider going back to a compromised zone for, but for this...heâd walk in more dangerous situations than that for a Digivice, no matter whose. Thereâs the sentimental value, of courseâthat alone would be enough to make him risk a lot of things for themâbut also these things havenât even begun to lose power after sixteen years of extended use without battery change. Theyâre 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.
Theyâve 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 campâs safety.
Sentiments aside, the Digivices are just too essential to lose.
âWho do you take me for?â Taichi hisses with a look of indignation to make a shier man cower, âOf course I didnât lose my Digivice!â
âThen what are you making a fuss for? Weâre not going back there.â
âBut weâve got to!â
Taichiâs 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. Theyâre 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.
Thereâs 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.
âTaichi,â Yamato insists, hoping itâll be the end of it, âweâre leaving.â
âNo!â
They wince at the same time when Taichiâs 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 doesnât 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 Yamatoâs guts.
Even through the end of the world, they still have each other, if nothing else.
âWe reallyââ 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: âWe need to go back. Iâve got toââ
âYouâve got to let go,â Yamato interrupt, waiting until heâs done hissing to breathe in, âIâll knock you out and put you on my back if I have to but thereâs literally nothing in the world Iâd be willing to let you risk your life for!â
âBut itâs for you!â
Yamatoâs too stunned to reply immediately, and the long, plaintive sound of a dying animal punctuates the silence that follows, Taichiâs harsh breathing too loud between them as he tries to get it back to normal. In his chest, Yamatoâs heart feels like itâs holding its breath, making itself tiny to leave Yamatoâs brain enough space to process the declaration.
âWhat do you mean, âitâs for meâ? What was it?â
The emotions warring over Taichiâs face are so intense itâs 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:
âItâs a ring.â
Well. You have to give it to Taichi: he neither stuttered, nor muttered.
Yamatoâs brain, on the other handâŠ.
âA what?â
âA ring,â Taichi repeats, face still redder than Koushiroâs hair but head held high, âwith your crest on it. Had it custom made and everything.â
Thereâs Yamatoâs what on the what now?
What?
âWhy would you even buy me a ring?â
Taichi shrugs, like heâs fully accepted that this is the moment he diesâwhether he thinks the cause will be embarrassment or Yamato is still unclearâbefore he gives a rueful little smile and asks:
âWhat do people usually buy rings for?â
Oh, okay! Thereâs something wrong with Yamatoâs 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.
âWere you gonnaââ
âYes.â
âAre youââ
âYou know me,â Taichi challenges, the red slowly going out of his cheeks, âyou tell me if Iâm serious.â
Yamato would answer that, he really would! Itâs just that his brain doesnât quite remember how to make his mouth work.
Of course Taichi wouldnât 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 wouldnât just step all over that with a joke on that topic.
Somehow though, knowing that doesnât 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 itâs necessary. Instead Yamato is stuck in place in a part of town theyâve got no business in, feeling like a certain bushy-haired someone just drop-kicked him into the Twilight Zone.
âAre you okay?â
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.
Thereâs really no proper answer to that question.
Well. Yamato could go for the familiar route and swear until the staticâs gone from his brain. Or, you know, just ask what the fuck is wrong with Taichi.
Thereâs so much vulnerability in Taichiâs eyes now, an incertitude he rarely ever unveils in front of anyone, Yamato canât 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.
StillâŠ.
âWeâre not even dating!â
Yamatoâs voice pierces at his own ears, too high and strangler to be fully intelligible, but Taichi must get it because he winces, the âyeaaaaah, about thatâŠ.â written all over the tight tilt of his mouth. At least Yamato isnât the only one freaking out here.
âI know, itâs stupid,â Taichi apologizes at last, hand moving away from Yamatoâs shoulder, âletâs just forget it.â
âWhaâoh no you donât!â
Itâs easy to snatch Taichiâs wrist out of the air and hold it tight, a lifeline as much as a shackle destined to keep him right where he is. Itâs 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 otherâs head.
It makes it easy to give Taichi a hard stare and warn in a low voice:
âYou donât get to drop a bomb like that and walk away! Start explaining, Yagami.â
Taichi rolls his eyes at that, but his shoulders unwind a little and, to Yamatoâs relief, thereâs a small smile playing at the edge of his lips.
âRemember when we had dinner with the Russian ambassador?â
âUh, duh?â
To be fair, itâs 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 couldnât hurt. Itâs not like he minded people thinking he was Taichiâs 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 wouldnât be relevant until the real outbreak three months later.
Anyway. Yes, Yamato does remember.
âYou were perfect,â Taichi smiles, as impervious to Yamatoâs sarcasm as he ever was, âI swear Iâve 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.â
âWhat else was I gonna do? Tap dance on the table?â
Taichi blinks, then snorts at the remark, laughing for longer than the joke truly warrants, but itâs not like Yamatoâs about to complain. Itâs always been easy for him to make Taichi laugh, but it never got any less rewarding.
âThereâs my favorite asshole!â Taichi wheezes after the worst of his laughter has passed, âI missed that.â
âI never stoppedââ
âNo, I mean...during the meal. At the embassy. Everyone was so charmed and fascinated and I kept thinking it wasnât you. I wished youâd say something kind of offensive or start making sarcastic quips or whatever. I couldnât wait until we went home and weâd spend an hour bitching about how ridiculous the thing was.â
The way Taichiâs expression goes from amused to wistful, eyes never leaving Yamatoâs before he starts his next sentence is so fascinating, Yamato couldnât look away even if he tried.
âIt took a while before I remembered âhomeâ didnât mean the same place for both of us.â
Yamato remembers that, too. Not the âhomeâ 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:
âSo you decided proposing was the way to go?â
âTo be fair,â Taichi says with a small smile and a helpless shrug, âI did consider offering we shared a flat first, or at least asking you out.â
âGood to know you remember what normal people do.â
Yamato makes sure to squeeze at Taichiâs wrist as he says it, relieved when Taichiâs eyes drift skyward in answer.
âYes,â he says with the obnoxious patience of one trying to explain something really simple to someone whoâs being unusually slow, âI do remember. But I thought about it and I figured...weâre past dating now, arenât we? I mean. Maybe Iâm wrong but...going to restaurants and sitting there like awkward idiots while we ask each other surface-level questions? Really? You already know what Iâm 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 justâdatingâs temporary, you know? And I guess I justâŠI wanted us to be forever, you know?â
âWe were always going to be forever, you idiot.â
Taichiâs mouth goes slack at that, and Yamato snorts as the flush returns to his friendâs cheeks, moisture shining at the corner of his eyes. Taichi wasnât wrong, with his little speech: they do know each other better than anyone.
Theyâve known each other for seventeen years, have been facing death for just as long. They know each otherâs 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.
Itâs just as well they care about each other too much to ever intentionally use the otherâs weakness to hurt.
âIâve known that since we first got Omegamon.â
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 wasnât even a judgment of Taichiâs ability to care for a child, really, more of a statement of Yamatoâs ability to trust anyone other than himself.
Heâs learned to trust other people since, of course. At least twenty-four of them. Itâs just not the same, though. Building Omegamon isnât like in the fantasy books, where the protagonists get cut open and someone elseâs heart is shoved next to their souls, but it does require the knowledge that, should this kind of things happen, itâd be okay.
Yamato would never want what he feels to bush Takeru so closely, for many reasons he couldnât name if his life depended on it, but with Taichi...yeah. He thinks he could deal with his soul touching Taichiâs.
Heâs not sure how to convey that exactly but, lucky for him, he doesnât have to. Taichi...heâs 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 heâs feeling in a simple squeeze of his fingers and know heâs been heard is one of the many perks of that.
âSo,â Taichi says after a long, pregnant but somehow comfortable silence, ânot that I want to ruin the moment or anything but, with regard to what I saidâŠ.â
On impulse, Yamato leans forward to plant a kiss on Taichiâs cheek, warmth curling in his belly before the words are even out of his mouth.
âIâm sure we can find someone wiling to perform some kind of ceremony.â
Technically, same sex marriages arenât legal in Japan yet but hey, itâs the zombie apocalypse, and theyâve saved the world three times already.
The law can suck it.
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Writing News
Hey guys! Â Iâm gonna talk a bit about whatâs on my plate writing wise beneath the cut. Â Iâm talking about Nanowrimo, too.Â
Soooo, unfortunately I canât participate in Nanowrimo (an event where people all over the world write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November) because I am going on vacation during November.  My husband suggested doing it anyway, but taking two months instead of one. Frankly, Iâve only written about 35,000 words this year, so Iâm not sure if I can write 50,000 in two months⊠ But itâs not like Iâll lose anything by trying.
This year has been so tough⊠ I wrote over 100,000 words in 2016, but Iâm seriously trailing behind in 2017.  A lot of this is due to having a difficult new job, starting up strength training, and playing guitar.  It turns out that even I, a lady whose philosophy is always âIf you have time to complain, you have time to work,â can hit a point where Iâm overloaded and run down.  I should probably soften my stance a bit O__O
If I do my two-month Nanowrimo, my project will be completing Seeking Resonance.  Right now, I have the next chapter written (but in need of tweaking), and the next five chapters outlined.  This is roughly⊠ 35,000-45,000 wordsâ worth of material.  From there, it will be a gentle wind-down to the conclusion.  The idea right now is that Eimiâs illness forces everyone to re-evaluate their priorities, and the remainder of the story is devoted to the choices they make afterward. Â
I think completing the story by the end of 2017 is unlikely.  If I manage to write to the end of the next six chapters, I will still have the wind-down remaining, which is probably⊠ three or four more chapters?  So, optimistically, I will finish SR by the end of Q1/2 in 2018 (meaning in the window of March-May).
Iâm not sure what to work on after that.  Iâm having such a hard time fitting writing in that I feel kind of⊠Like Iâm failing at it?  And Triâs treatment of Koushiro kind of throws me off my groove with him; I find myself questioning the interpretation Iâve built since I was 10 and seeing this⊠hormonal kid who gets distracted from his work to ogle cute gals and quarantines himself in an office and is suddenly an inventor and a fashion disaster and kind of a joke???  But at the same time, has massive growth at the end of Kokuhaku, but is somehow still this⊠clueless genius?  I donât know???  I really miss the Koushiro that would sneak out of his apartment at night to follow the signal from the eighth digivice.  New Koushiro keeps missing the leads that are turning cartwheels in front of his faceâŠ
Send help O__O
Iâm also dreaming of holding a hard copy book of my fics, even if itâs just one for me. Â And of course, that means editing, since Iâve learned so much and made so many mistakes since I started writing as ahiddenpath in 2012. Â The problem is that my fics are MONSTER BEHEMOTHS GOOD LORD. Â I donât even want to think about editing a story thatâs over 400,000 words long O__O
I dunno, loves.  What story do you all want to see from me after I finish SR?  Should I move onto the sequel to Growing Up with You?  Thereâs Four Years, too⊠ I have ideas for isolated chapters, but Iâm not sure what the overall arc will be moving forward.  There is definitely part of me that would like to wrap things up before moving forward, but that means abandoning a lot of ideas for a long time.
Uh⊠ Thoughts?
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When Koushiro leaves the group
Part 1: When Sora leaves the group
What do you do when your best friend is missing? How do you react when your other friend walks out? Shouldnât you, of all people, be used to this feeling of loss by now?
Why did she leave you? Did she really think that you wouldn't be useful? Aren't you useful? What more can you possibly do to prove yourself?
Whatâs the possibility that he could be dead? Whatâs the possibility that he fell into another parallel dimension?
What do you say when there's no one left who will listen to your ideas?
Do you even bother to say good bye?
These are questions I want to ask about Koushiro, my other favorite character, when he decides to leave the group.
Koushiro brings a unique perspective to this time period. He is inquisitive, and he still wants to explore. He is an orphan, and he strives to be helpful without being a bother. He is extremely loyal, but he has a difficult time expressing his emotions. Koushiro does not open up his heart easily, especially to people who donât act interested in his ideas.
What drives Koushiro to leave?
Losing Taichi, and Koushiroâs guilt
Koushiro would be profoundly affected by losing Taichi. Like Sora, he considers Taichi his best friend. I think that Koushiro feels extremely grateful to Taichi for becoming his friend, since Koushiro is painfully shy. This makes Koushiro a little blind to Taichiâs faults early on, but even as time passes, Koushiro always sees the good in Taichi and remains loyal to him. So naturally, Koushiro would be devastated at losing him.
However, thereâs another layer to his feelings. Like Sora, I think that Koushiro feels guilty. After all, Koushiro was the person who solved the secret of the pyramids and drafted the plan to rescue Sora. He knew it was a risky plan. He surely told everyone that. Especially Taichi. Koushiro knew full well that he, Taichi, or any of the others could die in the attempt. But Taichi still agreed with his plan, and readily accepted the most dangerous role along Koushiroâs side.
Taichi fully understood the risks. That was what made his actions brave, and allowed him to activate his crest. And Taichi was mature enough to feel responsible for his earlier reckless behavior; he would never want Sora and Koushiro to blame themselves for his own choices.
However, itâs in Sora and Koushiroâs nature to blame themselves.
Like Sora, a mixture of love and shame motivates Koushiro as well.
And something else.
Curiosity
Koushiroâs crest is called Knowledge, but we can tell that the true meaning of his crest is more like Curiosity. He doesnât grow as a person because he happens to know a lot of facts; he grows because he wants to learn about how beautiful the universe is. He grows because he maintains an open mind and an inquisitive heart even when the world around him is ugly and cruel.
For example, when Taichi disappears, Koushiro does not give into hopelessness. He maintains an open mind, because he knows that there are many possibilities to explain what happened to his friend. In spite of the bleakness of the situation, Koushiro maintains his confidence that he can solve this mystery; it is a problem, but there has to be a solution.
At best, Koushiroâs abstract priorities make him wise. At worst, they make him naĂŻve. Heâs one of the most trusting characters. The best example of this is his relationship with Gennai.
Gennai, the Man with the Answers
Gennai is a fascinating character to me in season 1 of Adventure because heâs morally gray. He brought in elementary-school aged children from another world to risk their lives and fight monsters. He guides them on their journey, and he even gives them shelter at one point, but he is not apologetic and he is often judgmental. He doesnât seem to have any moral qualms about letting the children fend for themselves.
What I love about this is that the writers seem aware of Gennaiâs flaws and they donât excuse him. Gennai is a flawed mentor figure who is allowed to be ambiguous and even unlikeable. The writers want us to feel ambiguous about him because they write the relatable children characters as having different responses to him. Taichi and Yamato are liable to insult him as âOld Man,â while Jou is nervously respectful to him.
But Koushiro latches onto him in a way that nobody else does. He views Gennai in a positive light because Gennai can deliver real answers to his questions. While all of the children eventually come to respect Gennai out of necessity, since he does give them practical advice, Koushiro is the only one who is eager to become close to Gennai. Most of the children find it at least a little difficult to trust him. Koushiro trusts him implicitly, eventually giving him easy access to his laptop.
I think that Koushiro is so trusting of Gennai because he realizes that a connection to Gennai boosts his own usefulness to the group. Koushiro is self-aware of his role as the âBrain,â the person who solves mysteries and proposes solutions. Itâs a vital, useful role. Koushiro does not view himself as brave or caring (though he actually has those virtues in abundance), but he does view himself as intelligent. A naturally gifted child who shouldnât bring shame to his adopted parents. Koushiro doesnât realize that his adopted parents would still love him even if he wasnât gifted. Instead, he connects his entire value as a person to how useful he can be to them, and to his peers. He doesnât expect to be loved, since he believes it is likely that his biological parents did not want him, and he believes that his adopted parents care for him out of duty instead of love. He has a desperate desire to feel wanted, to belong, and so he strives to be helpful without being a bother.
Gennai is a mysterious figure who can help Koushiro to be helpful. So itâs easier for Koushiro to overlook Gennaiâs flaws. Gennai is an obvious route to finding real answers.
Beyond that, Koushiro genuinely is curious about Gennai, and he wants to know more about him for the sake of knowledge on its own.
Is Taichi alive?
I wrote about this question in my last essay. I think that Sora believes that Taichi is alive, while Yamato believes that Taichi is dead. Even though they donât objectively know, itâs what they have to believe to keep their sanity. Sora and Yamato are stubborn people. But how does Koushiro, the most open-minded character, answer this question?
Actually, the premise of this question is uniquely terrifying for Koushiro when you consider that he has been asking himself âAre my parents alive?â for years and he doesnât know. How does he cope with that? He shuts himself off. Itâs a forbidden topic, a question he canât allow himself to ask out loud. Itâs an excruciatingly painful topic to even think about.
But now his best friend Taichi has disappeared, and suddenly Koushiro has to think about these things again. He has to find the strength to maintain an open mind and an inquisitive heart, even if the answer hurts.
But once Koushiro starts to think about it, I think that he finds a lot of reasons to be hopeful.
Koushiro saw Taichi and Metalgreymon vanish with his own eyes. He didnât see them die. Therefore, it is entirely possible that they are alive.
Taichi activated his crest before disappearing. He was the first to do it. The full extent of the crestsâ magic is unknown, but it is possible that Taichiâs crest and digivice protected him.
Finallyâand most importantlyâKoushiro now knows that parallel dimensions exist. He did not objectively know this before coming to the Digital World, but now it is a verifiable fact. This means that Taichi could have merely been transported to another world.Â
This is speculative of me, but that last observation is especially enticing becauseâŠif Koushiro follows this logic, then he can apply it to his biological parents too. Now Koushiro can logically consider the possibility that people move to another dimension when they die. Itâs a tempting train of thought. After watching Patamon resurrect; after watching Taichi just vanish, then life after death in other dimensions starts to feel like a real possibility. He knows itâs possible that his biological parents could have wanted him, but died. And if itâs possible to travel between dimensions, thenâŠ
But Koushiro still has to think about Taichi first. Itâs still much easier to think about Taichi than his parents. Itâs even hopeful to think about Taichi, because Koushiro has logical reasons to see it is plausible that Taichi is alive. He doesnât have to rely on faith when he can comfortably rely on logic.
It takes courage to ask those questions to himself. Now Koushiro wants to ask Gennai, the Man with the Answers.
But does anybody else want to talk to Gennai?
The Confrontation
Sora: Letâs look for them! Letâs keep looking for Taichi and Agumon until we find them!
Yamato: Itâs impossible. Weâve already been searching for a month and a half. Thereâs no trace of them anywhere.
Koushiro: Gennai-san⊠he should know something! Letâs go look for Gennai-san!
Jou: We donât even know where he is. How would we begin to find him?
Mimi: I just want to go home.
Takeru: *yawns*
In this situation, Sora and Koushiro find themselves on the opposite side to Yamato and Jou. Sora and Koushiro want to keep searching. Yamato wants to stop, and Jou seems to agree with him.
I think that Yamato and Jouâs combined voices are formidable. They are the two oldest boys. They are the tallest children with the deepest voices. I realize that Iâm describing shallow characteristics, but I think theyâre subtle advantages. Yamato and Jou are both likely to assume âI know whatâs best for the younger kids.â I still view Yamato and Sora as having the most authoritative voices, but being a boy does help Jouâs standing. After all, Sora felt like she had to inspire him to be her leader earlier, in order to give him confidence.
Sora and Koushiro have subtle disadvantages because Sora is a girl and Koushiro is one of the âyounger kids.â Sora and Koushiro were surely both oddballs on the boysâ soccer team back home, but Taichi still considered them his best friends, and he even respected them more than Yamato and Jouâthe two squarest team members. But now Taichi is gone.
Sora eagerly speaks up first: letâs keep looking for Taichi and Agumon. Yamato tells her itâs impossible.
Koushiro knows that itâs not impossible. He is always polite and hesitant, but he speaks up now, eager to prove himself, especially to his friend Sora. Koushiro tries to explain that they need more answers before they give up on the search. So after Yamato says that they canât find Taichi, Koushiro suggests that they focus on Gennai. He isnât forgetting Taichi; heâs looking at the big picture, and he sees Gennai as a source of answers who can tell them both where Taichi is and how they can go home. Koushiro even knows itâs possible that Taichi isnât in this dimension, but theyâve seen holograms of Gennai in this dimension, so it must be possible to communicate with him, somehow.
But Jou immediately shoots Koushiro down: we donât know where Gennai is either. You donât know what youâre doing.
In his haste to suggest a solution, Koushiro forgot that everyone would view his plan âLook for Gennaiâ as too similar to what theyâre already currently doing: looking for anything that would help. Koushiro lacks the confidence to argue, so he shuts up.
Mimi and Takeru donât offer solutions. Unlike Koushiro, they donât feel intense pressure to prove themselves. They know their own worth.
Losing Sora, and feeling inadequate
When Taichi disappears, I think itâs a natural reminder to Koushiro that his biological parents could have died, but they could have still wanted him. Before Taichi disappeared, he still wanted Koushiro by his side in the pyramid.
When Sora leaves the group, itâs a reminder that his parents could have lived and abandoned him.
Koushiro clearly wanted to keep exploring, and he felt closer to Sora than anybody else on the team. Besides Taichi, Sora is his other old friend who frequently asks for his opinion. Koushiro is most loyal to Taichi and Sora.
Koushiro would quickly understand why Sora left everyone else. He has a practical mind. But he doesnât understand why she didnât bring him with her. Thatâs what makes his heart ache.
Koushiro tries so hard to be useful. When Sora leaves the group, then Koushiro feels inadequate. He could have helped her!
Sora was too independent and ashamed to think of asking her younger friend to abandon the group with her. But Koushiro doesnât know that.
What Koushiro does know is that he doesnât fit in the group with Yamato as the default leader. Yamato has become close-minded to the idea that Taichi is alive. And while Yamato is concerned for Koushiroâs well-being, heâs not interested in Koushiroâs theories. Nobody else is particularly interested in Koushiroâs ideas. Not after weeks of useless searching. In other words, Koushiro canât fulfill his role as the âBrainâ in Yamatoâs team. In other words, he sees himself as a useless burden to them.
On top of everything else, Koushiro simply doesnât feel as loyal to Yamato and the others. They werenât his friends before summer camp. Unlike Sora, Koushiro doesnât worry about being missed.
Does he say goodbye?
There are two ways to interpret Koushiroâs departure: he leaves without telling anyone, or he says goodbye. In the show, I believe that it is implied that he sneaks off. In the PSP game of Digimon Adventure, then Koushiro explains himself to the group before leaving.
To be clear, I adore the writing in the PSP game, from everything that Iâve seen. I think that the game treats the characters excellently. But in this case, it personally works for my interpretation better if Koushiro leaves without telling anyone.
Sora and Koushiro have similar personalities in that they hide their feelings, while Jou and Mimi are more straightforward people. So I like the ideas that Sora and Koushiro donât say goodbye; Jou would have said goodbye if he had meant to leave permanently; and Mimi loudly announces her departure.
This is how Koushiro leaves in the show:
*We see the silhouettes of Sora and Piyomon leaving at nighttime. They exit stage left.*
*We see the others walking through a sandstorm in daytime. Yamato leads the way. Jou and Takeru are right behind him. Mimi is in the back.*
Tokomon the narrator: âAfter that, everyone left after the other.â
*We see the silhouettes of Koushiro and Tentomon walking left in the sandstorm.*
I think that the implication is that Koushiro and Tentomon snuck away during the sandstorm. Yamato probably told everyone to stick close to him, and Koushiro disobeyed. It was a perfect opportunity and he couldnât pass it up.
Koushiro is motivated to leave by his feelings of love, shame, inadequacy, and curiosity. He is determined to solve the mysteries of Gennai, the crests, and Taichiâs whereabouts. No matter how long it takes.
And heâs blind to the fact that, when the sandstorm lifts and everyone can see again, his other friends will miss him.
#Koushiro Izumi#Koushirou Izumi#my analysis#Digimon meta#This essay is heavier than 'When Sora leaves the group'#It's also more speculative and I would imagine that plenty of people feel differently about Gennai or Koushiro's parents#If you read this whole thing#then give yourself a cookie#You're awesome#And thank you <3#This is my early contribution for Odaiba Day
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