#adv hikari

[kbondoxxxxav]

actor au i made on twitter 

[taichi-x-koushiro]

Digimon Adventure ~ 25th Anniversary Pop-Up Shop + Taichi Yagami & Koushiro{u} Izumi (+with Agumon & Tentomon) (Higher quality art from the character stand previews!)

{Note how Koushiro has mainly ORANGE (Taichi), Dark fuschia pink (Hikari) and green (Mimi) splashes, with a significant amount from Taichi too} (Koushiro also seemed to land a hit or two on Agumon!)

{Crop'd by Me} (Please ASK to Use) (DO NOT RE POST Without Asking Please)

[hikari-m]

{D i g i m o n Adventure:} (2020 Reboot/Spinoff Anime) ~ {DIGI-GIFT} for: Jun. 2024 + (2020!) S O R A Takenouchi & H I K A R I Yagami

This is from a series of calender months-based artworks featuring various characters from the various series. Last year also showcased previous Leader characters, along with some others, including from other series. This is the very first image featuring "Adventure:" designs {from the 2020 series}, specifically! It features Sora and Hikari during June, which is during Japan's rainy season, viewing Japanese hydrangea flowers in bloom. If you look closely, you'll see a rainbow behind Sora...!

{Shared from the official account here!}

[koushirouizumi]

{Updated 25th A n n i v e r s a r y A R T}

+For ADVENTURE Exhibition in J A P A N!! {Aug 10th~25th 2k24!!}

[izzyizumi]

Meanwhile on DigiAdvs

PATAMON, agHAST Voice: You KICK Patamon??? You kICK PATAMON LIKE A FOOTBALL?!! Oh! Oh! Shut in the school at night for Takeru and Daisuke (and Miyako, and Yamato, aND--)! Shut in the school at night for One Million Years!!!! Takeru: ...Patamon, but we'd have graduated by--- Patamon: SHUT IN THE SCHOOL at NIGHT for ONE BILLION Years!!!!! DAISUKE: tAKErU---- YAMATO: Koushiro, mental sighing: (I'll just leave some extra keys by the doors and... other places.) Taichi, trying to keep from cracking up nearby: (pppFFFFT....) Tailmon: (It could have been me, but Hikari knows to not "kick me like a football", so I don't care.) Hikari: (... I'll have to be careful when I nudge Tailmon next time.)

[variouscolors-old]

.:Hikari’s memories

Taichi always felt Hikari was a little unusual from the other kids around her age. She was more quiet as a baby and would only blow the whistle. She only talked when a Koromon appeared in their lives. Said short encounter was enough to awaken some spiritual power in her – Hikari could see those monsters while none of those people couldn’t. 

At 8 years old, she became the target of evil digimon and of the Chosen Children, since she was the Eighth child. She then met Tailmon, and their destiny as partners were sealed – Tailmon was waiting for her, but she never went to the Digital World with the other Seven kids. Tailmon ended up becoming Vamdemon’s servant while Hikari was at home because of a cold (this time not a really dangerous one, and she "recovered" [?] pretty fast actually) – and once they finally met, she was forced to say goodbye to Tailmon’s loyal friend Wizardmon.

They went to the Digital World in order to save it from the Dark Masters, but she fell ill again and panicked Taichi – triggering his traumatic backstory about how Hikari won’t voice her own needs in order to not bother the others. She got her medicine and recovered, though she also witnessed the sacrifice of the Numemon in order to save her.

During the spat between Taichi and Yamato, her psychic powers made her get in contact with “The one who wishes stability” and then she became a vessel for said entity. Homeostasis is not a god-like figure, but rather a security system of the Digital World, and she and them seemed to be in agreement to use her body in order to talk with the kids.

Once they beat the Dark Masters, and fought Apocalymon… Hikari was sure this wouldn’t mean the final goodbye to Tailmon, so she said ‘See you someday’ instead. And she was right – Three years later, she and Tailmon became important to fight enemies like the Digimon Kaiser, Arukenimon and Mummymon, and BelialVamdemon. Also, she had a part in her adventure in the US by helping Angewomon to evolve into Holydramon, and invoke the power of miracles and destiny for V-mon and Gummymon. A year later, she and Angewomon assisted Omegamon in order to beat Diablomon for all at once, but the enemy had a trump card in hands. 

Thanks to Miyako and their heart-to-heart talk inside the Dark Ocean dimension, she discovered the strength to start voicing her own needs and desires, instead of just keeping them inside.

This is why now she’s so vocal about her wanting to go to Spain with Daisuke and co. in order to have Miyako involved in their trip years later.

[shihalyfie]

There's something bugging me since I saw a statement from Producer Shimomura in a Spanish interview being linked to Rui's page (and consequently, the Chosen Child's page) on a wiki about a question which was "Rui is way younger than Maki and Daigo who're the first Chosen. How so?" My assumption of that question was like "the interviewer was assuming things (thanks to the fact now everyone who sees the mentioned Five Previous Chosen from Adv'99 as Maki and Daigo's team thanks to ▽) and is not well aware of the math lore",

But then... Shimomura's answer was like "Oh this is new for me too. Anyway Rui is not exactly a Chosen Child and is more likely a special and unique case" which is basically contradicted by everything 02TB-related as well -- interviews, promotional stuff, etc.

(also the interviewer misquote Rui's statements in-movie, since Rui was not even aware of that term and the ones to claim he was indeed the first there were the 02 kids.)

I've been talking with a friend about this quite recently and i'm confused now... What does that whole question even MEAN what's up with that answer!?

(I hope this is not ▽ negative tho, because i do love Maki-Daigo and i want them to coexist with Rui, i'm trying to make them WORK with the lore... Even by soft-retconning a few details of them orz)

Yeah, so about that...I apologize for the language, but this is one of those rare occasions where you just have to flat-out discard an official statement as bullshit. Shimomura's answer doesn't make sense by any kind of logic whatsoever:

In Adventure continuity, being a "Chosen Child" has an extremely loose definition (which is even acknowledged in Two-and-a-Half Year Break). The only consistent definition of a Chosen, and the one thing that distinguishes cases like Oikawa, Hiroki, and Hikari and Taichi in 1995 from kids who can actually be called Chosen, is that Chosen Children have Digivices (i.e. them being "chosen" is not for anything specific, but being formalized with a Digivice means they now have a responsibility). So by definition, as a kid who was sent a Digimon and a Digivice by some entity, Rui is a Chosen. There's no good argument for him to not be a Chosen.

And of course, even if in the movie they didn't claim that Rui was the first Chosen with that exact wording, basically every bit of promotional and advertising material and member of staff has referred to him as the first Chosen. Like this isn't a "Menoa says that Digimon disappear because they became adults" situation where the advertising would have this "they learn from Menoa that..." indirect tone about it; everyone else has been completely unambiguous about the fact Rui is meant to be taken as the first Chosen. Otherwise, why would they make such a big deal about picking that specific year for Rui to meet Ukkomon, or, hell, what's the point of naming the movie "The Beginning"? That would arguably make advertising the movie as being about the first Chosen into advertising fraud or something.

This is a response to a question asking how Himekawa and Nishijima would be Chosen if Rui was the first Chosen Child, because the contradiction makes this not make sense. But even if you take Shimomura's idea of Rui being the "first one to form a partner relationship with a Digimon", that still doesn't explain anything nor does it resolve the contradiction because Himekawa and Nishijima also clearly had partner relationships with their Digimon in their childhoods too. Like again, it's practically advertising fraud if Rui isn't the first something.

As for why Shimomura would say something like this, the whole "this is new to me too" already hints at the idea she wasn't very well-informed about this issue or series Deepest Lore (in particular, it's pretty likely she didn't know much about tri., given she was two producers ahead of it, and her article series on Digimon Partners suggests she's pretty new to Digimon production as a whole). So I doubt this answer was very well-thought through, especially since everyone else involved in the movie has been pretty clear about being timeline-precise.

The other likely reason is that, when you think about it, this question is inherently an unsolvable trap for a producer like her. If you know the actual Digimon Adventure series production timeline, tri. was unilaterally the one that went off-kilter here; Adventure lore alone dictates that you can't have Chosen before 1995, so there is a correct answer here, and it's simply that tri. messed up and that going back to original Adventure canon for Kizuna and 02TB required throwing a lot of it out. This has generally been the implicit stance that's been taken since even back during Kizuna; most glaringly, tri. was just flat-out omitted in an official timeline, which has to carry some meaning because one does not just accidentally omit a series that was advertised as an Adventure sequel and was basically the core of the franchise for five real-life years.

I don't get the impression it's "tri. isn't canon anymore" as much as it's "we have to ignore so many substantial details of tri. that it may not be correct to call it the same thing anymore," which is consistent with the way "canon" has been loosely treated in the franchise in general. But the thing is, the reason why they're being implicit about it instead of saying it all-out is that, yeah, if they say it in explicit words, that's going to piss off everyone who's going to see that as five years being tossed down the drain, let alone tri. fans who will basically see their favorite being spit on in public. (If you ask me, I don't see "messing up lore points" as having inherent ties to writing quality, and I don't think the creators do either, but lore can be Serious Business to Japanese fans, so officially saying that something violates lore can easily be taken as public shaming; even the few times they've brought up lore contradictions have gotten people mad in some way.)

So while I definitely wish she'd have given an answer that was less obviously bullshit, Shimomura did kind of have to give a bullshit answer in order to not piss someone off, since her job as a producer is less about the creative writing and more about juggling the interests of the movie as a whole. This also wouldn't be our first instance of this kind of situation; it's generally been hinted by staff members that Seki's claim of every version of Akiyama Ryou being the same character was also something she was forced to say in order to not have to say something like "yeah the WonderSwan games aren't canon actually" (which would piss off their fans and Bandai).

[digitalgate02]

The UPDATED (OG) Adventure universe’s Partnership double year math count

Updated Digimon Adventure OG Timeline’s Partnership Math Count List 

Not particularly spoilers from the movie, just stuff stated by the official timeline from the pre-release stream for the movie in Japan (Oct 26)

Early 80s - Oikawa Yukio & Hida Hiroki make the first contact with the Digital World, befriend Pipimon (no partnerships)

1995 - Hikari and Taichi find a Koromon egg* (no partnerships)

1996 - 2 (Rui; someone else gets a digimon later in that year*)

1997 - 4 (Menoa)

1998 - 8 (Possibly the previous 5 mentioned from Adv’99 anime/novels)

1999 - 16 (Adv Eight, Meiko*)

2000 - 32 (Ken*)

2001 - 64 (Michael)

2002 - 128 (Daisuke, Miyako, Iori)

2003 - 256

2004 - 512

2005 - 1,024

2006 - 2,048

2007 - 4,096

2008 - 8,192

2009 - 16,384

2010 - 32,768

2011 - 65,536

2012 - 131,072

2013 - 262,144

2014 - 524,288

2015 - 1.048,576

2016 - 2.097,152

2017 - 4.194,304

2018 - 8.388,608

2019 - 16.777,216

2020 - 33.554,432

2021 - 67.108,864

2022 - 134.217,728

2023 - 268.435,456

2024 - 536.870,912

2025 - 1.073.741,824

2026 - 2.147.483,648

2027 -  4.294.967,296

2028 (02 Epilogue) - 8.589.934,592

↓ Original notes + "Why there's still no retcon of the lore" below ↓

First, the OG notes from the outdated post:

→ This count is not about “which was the very first digimon-human contact”, and yes about people with a digivice. Because if we were going to count who was the first human to have contact with a digimon, it’s actually two and they’re Oikawa Yukio and Iori’s dad, Hida Hiroki.

→ I’m ignoring all the inconsistencies with other material (WS & ▽) because they seem to not match well with the original count. So, in this case, Ken’s statement in the anime (Aug 2000) is the one to be accounted for here. I don’t know if Ryo counts as Chosen (possibly yes, judging by 02 flashbacks) but I’m not sure where to place him here.

→ I’m only adding Michael to the count, even if he’s not a main character and yes a side character, because 02 ep 14 had this statement regarding him. And I like Michael too so, let me have him there :V

→ Menoa states in the movie she met Morphomon when she was nine, and according to the Dash X novel version, she’s the same age as Taichi. Which means she became a Chosen in 1997.

→ I couldn’t think of how to include Maki & Daigo’s group in this because ▽ contradicts with the original lore’s math – The fact the Pt4 book released with the movie on Japanese theaters state them being in Elementary School the time they went to their adventure in the DW, and later the confession scene means they’re in University/College makes them possibly been Chosen Children way before 1995, and I’d take it granted that they were chosen by someone else IF weren’t for the Homeostasis being involved in the scene and the digivice being way too modern for that time (it was basically Taichi group’s model. If you look at Rui’s digivice in the leaked footage from DigiFes2022, his model seems to be different and an older version)

→ That said, Meiko is the only character in ▽ that does not fall into contradiction with the math count. Because in 1999 there was not only Taichi’s group, but also other 8 non-featured Chosen according to Kakudou’s notes. So we can consider Meiko one of those other 8 children.

→ When it comes to Wallace, I prefer to think he is game in the original math – Taichi and Hikari met that Koromon in 95, but they had no digivice until 1999. Which means it can be possible that Wallace had encountered Gummy-Choco’s egg before 1995 and only became an official Chosen Child later.

Now, the new notes:

→ To avoid spoiling any detail about the movie itself, I’ll make sure to tell you they might have changed how the math works only. It’s not like, “everyone gets a digimon at the same time” but rather… “A X number of people get partnered with a digimon in different periods of a year” – Which means yes, you can still count Rui and Ukkomon as the origins of the Digimon partnership, but that later in the same year someone else (or, say, Wallace in the main timeline) got a partner months later.

→ That said, I’m opting to update this list and work within the idea that various sources of partnership (Homeostasis, Holy Beasts, etc) can be counted in the math. Remember – Homeostasis (not referred to as this in the OG series but yes in the novels) had selected Taichi & co., but the Holy Beasts chose Dai-Miya-Iori. And some other entity probably chose Ken in August 2000. This could explain why there’s a higher number of partnerships happening at the same time in Adv’99 and 02.

→ As I mentioned before, and indirectly supported by the staff (check the official timeline at the top of the list), ▽ has violated the lore to the point it goes in direct conflict with the new 02 movie and the entire timeline. So I guess it’s better to consider ▽ as its own timeline/Alternate universe than forcing it into the main timeline.

→ That said, and since Meiko does exist in Kizuna/main timeline, I suppose Maki and Daigo also do exist, and maybe they got their “ages” retconned and down to something suitable to the universe’s math count. They can still be part of the previous five kids mentioned in Adv’99 anime/novels, but they are probably around their teen years, or even early 20s instead, not fully adults working for the government I suppose. Or alternatively, just not Chosen yet. Pick your favorite route, Maki/Daigo fans!!

→ Yes, the Koromon from the very first movie IS NOT THE SAME PARTNERED WITH TAICHI. This never was confirmed, and was just fandom's theory. Considering how ▽ also made this mistake and possibly was one of the lore's violation, I prefer to believe this means it's not the same Koromon/Agumon partnered with Taichi in Adv'99.

[jubilines]

another digimon adv + 02 crossover au — this time with skip beat!

headcanons under the cut!

miyako -> kyoko:

tired of competing with all her siblings for attention at home, miyako follows her idols into show biz

(i think it’d be funny to have wallace as the platonic shou-equivalent)

a hot mess and she knows it; she gets enrolled in the Love Me Section as its first member due to her deep-seated self-loathing

romance arc: initially a huge fan of ken, then 180s when she meets him in person and he’s a jerk to her; eventually learns to like him for real as he slowly opens up and she realizes how strongly he feels about acting and why he was so harsh on her

ken -> ren:

“perfect” guy that everyone idolizes, using an alternate identity to escape his dark past + guilt over someone close to him dying in a car crash? weird that it’s happened twice

romance arc: starts off harsh towards miyako bc of her shallow reasons for joining show biz, but learns to respect (and love) her positive attitude and determination

daisuke -> yashiro:

i would LOVE to see daisuke as the hyper-competent manager/shipper-on-deck wingman

also daisuke as the walking techbane cracks me up

takeru -> kanae (moko):

50% headcanon-ing takeru here because i think he’d rock the love me uniform

also miyako + takeru as the first partners in crime of the love me section seems like a perfect recipe for fun chaos

but i think he also has some interesting parallels with kanae - i can see him being a very good actor, but struggling with family-centric roles/scenes due to his own complicated family background

hikari -> chiori:

same backstory as chiori: did really well as a child actress but got scarred by an accident during a dark role, and afterwards kept getting typecast into scary roles

her arc diverges in how she joins the love me section: she tries getting a fresh start as an actress under a new name, but doesn’t get much attention because she’s afraid of getting typecast again

acting with miyako helps her break free of that fear, and she joins the love me section to relearn how to love acting

iori -> hiou:

child actor, comes from a family that specializes in teaching martial arts for actors

other actors often don’t take him seriously because of his young age and assume he gets roles bc of his family

respects takeru since takeru doesn’t treat him like a kid and acknowledges his own talent + hard work

[monsterwithasweater]

I just did one for the Adv kids, so why not?

[taichi-x-koushiro]

{D I G I M O N} Adventure (Series) + M U S I C V I D E O {25TH A n n i v e r s a r y Ver.} Various New M o m e n ts of ~ CANON {A D O P T E E}!Koushiro{u} & I Z U M I s + Koushiro & Chosen {as F R I E N D S} + Koushiro & T e n t o m o n + Koushiro x Taichi {KouTai} / {Taishiro[u]} (Relevancy)

Bonus:

Caps by @izzyizumi / koushirouizumi / hikari-m / taichi-x-koushiro {Do Not Re-post} {Do Not Copy} {Do Not Remove Caption} {Do Not Re-produce My Work Under Any Circumstances Without My Permission Whatsoever!}

Image usage rules under the ‘read more’!

{Usage of gifs may be allowed if permission is asked / or if credit is given. However, read my about & FAQ pages first. Please do NOT use / ask if you match anything in my “Do Not Interact” sections.}

{Please agree to my banners/blog rules BEFORE Interacting}

REGARDING EDITS/GIFS USAGE:

-they must NOT be used to spread negativity for the canon/fandom! {INCLUDES: in regards to Adventures AS A WHOLE, Adventure (Original series), 02, Tri, Kizuna, Adventure & 02 movies, Drama CDs, any spinoff materials} -they must NOT be used to promote ship-warring within the fandom -they must NOT be used to attack any Adventures character focused on

IF I SEE YOU DOING THIS I WILL LIKELY BLOCK WITHOUT M E R C Y

{usage may be allowed IF PERMISSION IS ASKED TO USE.}

{Please also LIKE this post if you are wanting to use!} {Once you have “Like’d”, You must contact me directly or privately to ask for permission!} {However, read my about & F.A.Q pages first. Please DO NOT use / ask if you match anything in my “Do Not Interact” section.}

{I MAY POLITELY DECLINE USAGE REGARDLESS. Please do not take it personally!}

{if you are unsure if you can use you can SEND ME AN ASK} {I will check your blog; if you do not match anything on my “D.N.I”; [CHECK THE FAQ FOR MY D.N.I SECTION/S] you will likely/may pass the check and can use!} {However please note my ENTIRE FAQ sections on such} {It is possible I may not grant permission for other reasons} [i.e.: You post a lot of something I have blacklisted]

PLEASE ALSO NOTE: {My head-canons for the characters of this series VARY} {for Main human characters in this set particularly [Adventure+02 Chosen / various Advs charas]; I headcanon most as/on the M-spec/Multi gender attracted {spectrum}*} {this post/my edits ARE NOT for people who cannot respect this fact or M-spec people / M-spec headcanons / MF relationships, Queer identities, etc. in general!}

[PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL AND FOLLOW MY RULES] {OR DO NOT INTERACT WITH THIS POST/MY CONTENTS}

(Note: Tagging/commenting/discussing Positively/respectfully is OK!!)

[hikari-m]

02 Fandom: Today we lost our dear friends, the rest of 02 Fandom. 02 fans who have been here since Livejournal days or even before if not Elsewhere: STOP TELLING EVERYONE WE'RE DEAD 02 FandomTM and possibly also the rest of Adventure franchise fandom: Sometimes I still hear their voices...!!

[koushirouizumi]

Me: Today is Making Fun of Yamato{+Takeru} hours M E: Who am I kidding, EVERY DAY is Making Fun of Yamato (& Takeru) Hours

[izzyizumi]

m E, Digimon Advs+02 Fan: Good morning to Hikari Yagami and Hikari Yagami oNLY

[detectiveichijouji]

Case 35 - The Forgotten Yesterday

[AO3 version]

DISCLAIMER: The content in Ken's backstory from this chapter is pulling a canon divergent route since it’s too hard for me to mix all Adv-02-and-Tamers material here as it was presented to the audience. I may love Adv-02 but i can't make every single extra material work with it (especially ones involving Tamers) As for why I don't go with the games and such, there's the possibility of both game and anime staffs were not communicating enough for details of each other's projects.

I ask you please to not come correcting me about said backstory with stuff from the WS games or Tamers material.

------------------------------------//-------------------------------------

He hated this, the fact that no matter what he does to avoid getting involved in something BIG …

… Everything ends in his hands.He’s always the one chosen to be the one who could change the course of something.

“...”

Noel’s words were still stuck in his head, and he felt like he had to tell Ken about this.

“Daisuke…?”

V-mon noticed his hands trembling,

“I’m… I’m fine, but… Why me?”

“Hmm… Because you’re Ken’s Jogress partner?”

“It’s only a matter of time until Noel learns that Ken was the one who broke that wicked Digimental and started all of this…”

The next few weeks, other random faux Digimental of Desire shards were placed around randomly and without any explanation. The group destroyed them as soon as possible, before they were synced with anyone’s desires -- be them people, digimon or animals.

“If the fake Kaiser wasn’t Tsukiyono Seishiro… Who could they be?” Iori mused.

“I’m convinced that person is toying with us,” Miyako growled, then took a sip of her milkshake.

The group had gathered at a fast food restaurant this time. They were discussing what had happened previously and trying to find anything they had missed before. A small detail, perhaps?

“...”

“Daisuke-kun?” Hikari looked at him, and with this everyone also turned their attention to the boy who was just staring at his order for a good chunk of minutes now.

“... I met Noel last night,” he said with a serious tone but avoided looking at his own friends.

“Huh?” Patamon tilted his head.

“... He said he knows who the fake Kaiser is, and he also knows that we were hiding that from him and his other two teammates.”

“By ‘that’, you mean…?” Armadimon asked.

“He knows the truth about Ken’s past.”

The group gulped in silence. It’s true that the group was hiding that fact from anyone else not involved directly from the events from the year of 2002, but mostly because there’s a LOT to unwrap and explain to everyone than fearing to talk about it. Besides, when you have people like Youta and Mizuki who would condemn Ken by this and possibly turn into his enemy…

“This is no good…” Wormmon grimaced.

“He promised to not let those two know tho, but that’s not important! He said the person pretending to be the Kaiser is someone who doesn’t exist anymore!”

“What?!” the group gasped, not being sure if they misunderstood Daisuke or not.

“What do you mean??” Takeru decided the best for everyone was just ask Daisuke to explain that information, “You mean like a ghost… A spirit?”

“No, he said… Someone who got his entire existence removed from this world,” at this point not even Daisuke himself was sure what that meant, but he tried his best to explain, “Like, Noel said this person… Was completely erased, so he does not exist at all.”

“Someone who faked their own death perhaps?” Iori mused.

“Beats me,” Daisuke shrugged, “But he said this person knows Ken well enough because…”

“Because…?”

Daisuke took a deep breath before continuing.

“What is it, Daisuke?” Ken asked.

“You’re going to freak out if I say so…”

“Spill it, Daisuke!” Miyako stared at him, threatening the google boy with a french fry.

Takeru placed a hand on Daisuke’s shoulder, since he was sitting next to him, “If this could lead us to catch that guy before someone gets severely hurt, you should not hesitate to tell us.”

“Exactly,” Hawkmon agreed in a nod.

“Ok, so… Uh… How can I say this without sounding weird--”

“Say it already!” they all said, impatiently now.

“This person was Ken’s friend before they got canned!” he blurted it pretty quick, but still understandable.

“A… A friend?!” the kids and their partners exclaimed.

“I… I had a friend before?” Ken was perplexed, “But the only friend I had before you five was…”

He hesitated to say that name, he didn’t even want to believe this could’ve been a possibility.

“... Ryo-san, right?” Wormmon said for him, though.

“Who?” Patamon asked.

“Akiyama Ryo,” Ken finally answered, he closed his eyes and sighed.

“Do you think it’s this person, Ichijouji-kun?” Hikari made the next question this time.

“I… I don’t know,” Ken frowned, “This is the only person I met before, he was Osamu’s classmate. But we only got closer when I met him in the Digital World… He also helped me a bit when Osamu passed away, as if he were a brother figure to me.”

“Hmm…” they all were musing.

“I don’t want it to be true” Ken opened his eyes and glanced at Wormmon, frowning.

“Hey, maybe there’s a reason for that!” Daisuke said in an attempt to comfort Ken, “Like, maybe he’s brainwashed or somethin’?? Evil clone? Maybe he’s not gone mad!”

“Daisuke is right,” Miyako nodded, “I don’t think this would be purely intentional. Sounds more likely to be someone under an evil digimon’s control.”

“Thanks…” Ken smiled, timidly. But deep down he doubted it. He never had talked with Ryo since he became the Kaiser.

I don’t even remember if I saw Ryo-san after that incident…

Meanwhile, Noel was just distressed with everything happening right now. He knew the 02 Group would solve this crisis, because he believed them. But on the other hand, he…

He was upset.

“...”

Miss Espimon was with him this time, and she tilted her head.

“What’s up, boss?”

“I don’t know…” he sighed, “Motomiya-san and the others are destroying the faux shards, but they’re now popping out everywhere and at random. Something is off… Is he desperate for Ichijouji-san’s attention?”

“Oh… Right… So far we have 15 fake shards recovered and destroyed.”

“Only 5 left…” Noel massaged his forehead, “This makes no sense… Unryuuji Naito is his accomplice, they’re manufacturing those shards. We might have found the factory, but…”

A quick flashback passed through the boy:

“Alrighto!! We found it, boss!!” Miss Espimon had chirped in a murmur, she and Arsenemon had been in front of the factory Unryuuji Naito was using for those sketchy schemes. “Heh, nothing can beat the grand magician phantom thief Asenemon and Mademoiselle Espimon~” Arsenemon had said with a smug face. They had sneaked inside the building and had inspected the rooms, with Miss Espimon’s radar trying to catch the readings of the manufactured Digimental’s pieces. Since Arsenemon is very experienced in infiltration missions, he had managed to pass by the guards and the surveillance devices in a snap of fingers. His magic tricks had helped him to omit his own image from the cameras, and Miss Espimon had used her own abilities to disable the alarms by hacking them. It had been going well. They had finally found the room supposed to be the headquarters of the villains. Expecting for the worst, they had opened the door and… “Huh??” … It had been empty?! “H-how can this be possible?!” the cyborg digimon had panicked, waving her arms, “The readings were pointing to this place!! Am I malfunctioning now?!” But Arsenemon had known this meant something had been off.  “No, it’s not empty,” he had said, then had turned to her, “Change to your thermal vision mode.” Miss Espimon had obeyed him and had switched her vision modes, revealing another view of the room. Yes, there had been a digimon inside, and a human figure as well. This meant… “... We’re not alone.” The human and the digimon there, ready to ambush them, had indeed been Naito and the eyepatched Impmon. Espimon then had hijacked the system to turn the lights and the alarms off, letting Arsenemon and her hide in the pitch dark. “Gah, the lights!!” The eyepatch Impmon had panicked. It had been when Arsenemon had trapped the devilish digimon in an invisible magic box “Eh?! I can’t move?!!” “So… you’re here, Arsenemon” Naito had been wearing the helmet though. It allowed the human to see in the dark just like his opponents. He had dodged Espimon’s long robotic arms extending in his direction and had repelled Arsenemon’s cards with a cane. “We know you’re the one causing this mess!” Arsenemon had stood in front of him, “You are the Digimon Kaiser imposter messing with my friends!!” “Oh? Well done, but… I’m not him , you see? ” Naito had scoffed. Then, someone had pressed a button and the lights had turned on, and next a cage had caught the phantom thief and Espimon quickly. “?!?! H-how?!” Arsenemon had growled. He and Espimon had spotted a third person, the one wearing a hoodie and a mask, coming from a hidden entrance in the room, “Dang it… There’s two of them… I forgot that.” “So you were aware of my existence?” the masked, faux Kaiser had said nonchalantly, “You were looking for the shards, right? Well then, I promised Ichijouji Ken that we would stop if he could catch all the 20 pieces we fabricated so far.” “Why are you so obsessed with Monsieur Ichijouji?” Arsenemon had asked, staring at the masked human. “Because… We once were friends, after all.” “Friends?” Miss Espimon had raised an eyebrow, she had gritted her teeth, “What kind of friend causes troubles for the others?!” “It’s because of him… That I cannot exist in this world anymore.” “What..??” She had gasped. “That voice… You’re not using that voice filter right now, won’t it ruin your act? I know who you are, and I could tell Monsieur Ichijouji right now,” Arsenemon had asked, bluffing of course. “I don’t care, he will come to me. Sooner than you think.”

Arsenemon and Espimon had managed to escape later, but this fact was now tormenting poor Noel, because… Everything felt like a terrible trap to catch Ichijouji Ken and his friends.

“... Why would he let me know about that?” Noel asked, rhetorically.

“Well, he had a beef with us too,” Miss Espimon replied to his question anyway,  “Because you pretended to be his old forgotten pal once,” and shrugged.

“Uh, about that… it was… twice. But it doesn’t matter…”

“Geez, should we do something, boss?”

“... Our priority was catching the genuine shards, we collected them all with the help of Motomiya-san and the others” he shrugged, "Now we just have to keep Soleil-san and Lune-san from discovering Ichijouji-san's secret."

“In other words… Nope?”

“Oh, au contraire, we’re still needed here.”

“Huh?” she blinked.

The next day…

The 02 Team was also aware of the remaining quantity of fake shards, and this gave Ken a very very terrible feeling.

Five left… And if you exclude him from the count, his group has five people.

“... Please pay attention to your surroundings,” Ken said to them, using the communicator earpiece, “I’m having the impression those random shards were a decoy.”

“A decoy?!” the group asked together.

“Ken, whaddya mean?!” Daisuke said, “How can they be a decoy?!”

“They do not have priority rather than burn the remaining pieces to a specific number.”

“So, you suspect they are leaving the five left to be used on us,” Iori mused.

“This is bad…” Hikari commented.

He was expecting the worst to happen.

“They wouldn’t attack Takeru-kun again, would they?” Miyako asked, concerned, “They used him before… They tried to make Takeru-kun kill us before.”

“... I’m afraid they could try it again. And that they will, Miyako-san.”

“But… I don’t see anything strange so far, guys” Takeru replied, trying to keep them all calm, “Should we gather at someone’s house and spend the night together?”

“Oh that’s a good idea!” Daisuke replied with enthusiasm, “Whaddya think, Ken?”

“This could reduce the risks of someone getting ambushed alone, ” Iori pondered. 

“Yes, that could be a good strategy,” Ken smiled, though none of them could see it. A smile of relief, a smile that nobody would be in danger if they were together.

But…

“...” Wormmon, who was on his shoulder as the boy was heading back home, noticed something following them.

“So, we should meet at someone’s house, someone they don’t expect us to be in the first place,” Ken continued talking with the other five on their private line, “Hmm, right. Then, anyone is up at camping at Hikari-san’s--”

“Ken-chan,” Wormmon whispered to Ken, “Someone is stalking us.”

“... One moment, guys.”

Ken stopped and then looked back, then around. He didn’t see anyone following him. But he would never doubt Wormmon’s senses.

“Let’s do like this,” he whispered to Wormmon, “Pretend you didn’t see them, and immediately shoot your silk net at them the moment they appear again.”

Wormmon nodded.

“Well, I think I’ll have to hang up now,” Ken replied to the others on the private line, “We’ll gather there later. If someone would be following me on that idea, maybe while we go home, let me know.”

“Huh??” Daisuke and Miyako exclaimed, but Ken hung up from their group line.

As Ken resumed his walk, something approached then. Wormmon was ready to throw the silky net on the stalker, but…

The suspect stood in front of them instead and Ken got surprised by…

“Oh, Ichijouji-kun!”

“...?! Nokita Yuu?” he and Wormmon exclaimed together.

“Oh, sorry. I saw you leaving school early and I was a little worried.”

“We’re fine,” Wormmon replied, “Thank you for your concern.”

Nokita seemed to ignore Wormmon though, he looked at Ken with a smile, “I heard your group found pieces of that Digimental around, and destroyed them before anyone could get in direct contact with them.”

“Yes, we did,” Ken replied with a nod, “But how did you know?”

“There’s many rumors about those incidents and pieces,” Nokita said nonchalantly, “Besides you and your friends still have that BBS website right?”

“Yes, we do,” Wormmon blinked.

“Then, here’s the answer to your question,” the other boy smiled.

“...”

“Oh look at the hour, I need to go” Nokita checked the clock on his phone’s screen, “Well have fun at your friend’s house.”

Ken was silent, but Wormmon was a little surprised by that commentary. To not sound awkward and give any suspicions in his mind, Ken nodded his head and smiled.

Once Nokita Yuu wasn’t around anymore…

“There’s something that does not track with what we know.”

“Huh?”

“Sorry guys, Jun came to visit us right the moment I was leaving  and my parents had to keep me for dinner!!”

As usual, Daisuke was the last to arrive at the group’s gatherings. Miyako raised an eyebrow, “Didn’t you say she would come next week?”

“She changed the plans when she heard the news about what is happening around” he sighed, “And I kiiiiiiiiiinda told my parents what happened to me by accident too.”

“Then they told Jun and Pulsemon and they came immediately” V-mon shrugged, “At least to make sure we were fine and if we didn’t need extra help.”

“That’s kind,” Hikari commented, “She really cares about you.”

“She thinks I’m still a baby!” Daisuke pouted, “I let those things happen to me because I let my guard down! Not because I’m reckless and irresponsible and a little kid! I’m almost an adult, y’all know that!!”

“By what I get here… He’s still having a beef with his sister, dagya” Armadimon sighed, the others agreed by nodding.

“H-Hey!!”

“...” However, Ken was still silent.

“Ichijouji-kun?” Takeru called him, and then everyone turned to Ken.

“Nokita Yuu… He was eavesdropping on me.” he said aloud, but without turning to the group, “Maybe… Nokita Yuu does not exist, and this is a fake identity.”

“You mean…” V-mon started, but Daisuke interrupted him:

“Who’s that guy, Ken? I think you mentioned that name before, but… There’s so many things happening that none of us paid attention to that name.”

“Nokita Yuu is a student from Ken-chan’s school,” Wormmon explained while Ken was still musing (this time in silence), “He looked for us before, just to introduce himself and say maybe one day he would need our help?”

“Huh…” Hawkmon raised an eyebrow.

“He met us a couple of times too, and then something happened next, like a fake shard turning a new victim into a digimon…”

“So this person…” Patamon said, at the same time everyone looked at Ken again.

“Do ya think it’s him, that Akiyama Ryo guy, dagya?”

“We don’t know…” Wormmon shook his head, “But for Ken-chan’s safety, better Nokita Yuu not be Ryo-san.”

“We know,” Tailmon answered calmly yet seriously, “but no matter what happens, we won’t let this person keep antagonizing Ken.”

“...”

Daisuke then remembered Noel’s words -- You might be the key to beat the imposteur, I suppose -- and he gulped. The enemy is possibly someone who knows Ken better than him and everyone in that room, and he was beating himself to decode what he can do to help Ken beat the faux Kaiser.

“Ken…” Daisuke went there and put his hands on the boy’s shoulders, and with a serious voice, he continued, “You have to tell us more about that Akiyama Ryo guy. I know it might be hard for you, because you told us he helped you in the worst time in your life, but…”

“...”

“If he’s the one causing all this trouble around, hurting innocents and especially trying to frame you… We will need to fight him. Because you’re our friend and we don’t want to watch you suffer like that.”

Ken looked at Daisuke, perplexed. Then he glanced at the others behind Daisuke, and they were also in agreement with that. They nodded. Then, the boy took a deep sigh.

“Alright. I will tell you what I remember about him.”

“Akiyama Ryo-san was from the same school Osamu attended when he was still alive. Judging by my brother’s complaints, Ryo-san was not that smart at first sight, and just liked to goof around, being loud and chatty.” “Osamu simply detested him, and didn’t talk much about him in a positive light. But… I think he was the only person who managed to become my brother’s friend.” “They weren’t alike either, but… I could catch my brother hissing on the phone at someone called ‘Akiyama’ once. I remember Ryo-san was talking about… Monsters or something? But Osamu shouted saying ‘monsters don’t exist, you birdbrain!’ and was really stressed by that exchange.” “But once we had the digivice appearing in our room… Osamu knew what that meant, It meant what Ryo-san said was legit. Osamu took the digivice from me and claimed it to belong to him. He put the strange toy inside the desk drawer and forbade me from touching it. But, one day…”

(“But you couldn’t resist, right?” Daisuke commented, “You took it from the drawer…?”)

(Ken nodded, a bit bummed by that decision he had taken in the past, and continued.)

“I went to our room, opened the drawer and took the digivice. Suddenly, Osamu’s computer turned on and the digivice sent me to the Digital World.” “There… I was lost for a while, until I was found by Wormmon and then… We met Ryo-san. None of us knew each other’s existence. Osamu didn’t even mention me to Ryo-san… And he never mentioned Ryo-san to me. And Osamu hated to take ‘friends’ home, he felt it would disturb his studies. He was a very smart student after all...” “... I suppose Ryo-san didn’t know I was Ichijouji Osamu’s little brother until he learned my family name.”

(“Was Osamu-san mean to you?” Hikari asked, frowning.)

(“I think it was more that everyone at that home was too obsessed with the title of ‘genius boy’ to think of anything else,” Ken sighed, “Osamu with his high grade scores to keep that title, mom and dad with his fame, and me… Loathing Osamu’s ‘natural’ talents.”)

“But… I learned that for a simpleton like my brother used to call him, Ryo-san was actually skilled in many things. First, he had survival skills because he used to travel around the world with his parents and then go camping in many places around the world. Second… His chatty personality made him gain allies pretty quick. And third…” “... He was another kind of Chosen Child. He wasn’t partnered with a digimon, he was… Able to evolve a digimon without being partnered with one. He had a digivice, like the one I had… But he had no digimon partner tied to him, like us.”

(“A Chosen Child without a digimon partner?” Iori raised an eyebrow, “Is it possible?”)

(“I mean, we don’t know much about the Digital World and the Chosen Children, right?” Miyako frowned, “And Ken-kun was also able to evolve Taichi-san’s Agumon before too…”)

(“And he could evolve V-mon to XV-mon for Jogress purposes too,” Daisuke added, “This is why I let him have V-mon a few times before”)

“Ryo-san let me tag along with him, and… he had a V-mon with him too. Not sure if it is the same V-mon we know and is partnered with Daisuke now, but… Him, Wormmon and I never understood why Ryo-san had no digimon like me.” “We had a brief adventure together, and then… we parted our ways. And then Osamu passed away. My coping mechanism was just study and study… To replace Osamru’s place. To make everyone happy.” “It was when Ryo-san learned the news. He kept contact with me via email though… He kept supporting me, emotionally of course.” “A few months later, I was called by the Digital World once again. And there was Ryo-san waiting for me. And during that new adventure, he started teaching me survival skills. How to turn anything in my range into a useful tool to defend myself from threats, which mushrooms and plants were edible… A ton of things he learned by camping.” “It was when Ryo-san became some sort of second brother figure to me. He was… my role model inspiring me to get stronger. To give me a chance to survive in this world. I wanted to be like him.”  “I couldn’t evolve Wormmon back in time, but we learned so much with him that we were useful against this menace… I forgot its name… It was a digimon… Able to warp space and time…? Ryo-san’s horde of digimon allies beat that new threat.” “But then… The enemy digimon attempted to beat us with one last resource… It sent something strange in Ryo-san’s direction and I shoved him out of the sight. It was when I got the Dark Seed in my neck.”

(“Wait… what?” Patamon blinked, “The thing Oikawa wanted sooo badly and implanted on those kids he, Arukenimon and Mummymon kidnapped years ago?!”)

(“Yup” Wormmon nodded, “That one.”)

“I fell ill and was sent back to the human world with him. Ryo-san took the blame, told my parents it was his fault, that something happened while we were playing together but I’d be okay. My mom forbade him to talk and see me anymore, and kicked him out of our home.” “I was scolded for breaking the rules, for not warning them I wasn’t studying. And that I wasn’t allowed to take detours when going and coming from school anymore.” “I don’t remember anything else, because I passed out. I spent months at home, asleep. Once I got healed… I never heard of him ever again. Until now, I guess.”

“... You think that Nokita Yuu person is that old friend of yours, right?” Tailmon asked, once Ken finished his report.

“This is the only person I’d suspect to have been something against me, and might have been ‘erased’ from this world, yes.”

“Man, your parents were hella harsh on you two,” Daisuke pouted, “I’m glad they stopped being like that now…”

“I do understand their side…” Ken frowned, “I think this is what happens when you’re about to lose another child… We all committed mistakes, I did commit mistakes too… Most of those incidents happening in Tokyo right now are my fault after all--”

“It’s NOT !!” Miyako shouted, “Yeah, you brought a Digimental, but you’re not the one spreading those pieces and turning people or digimon or animals into unstable monsters!”

“She’s right, Ken…” Daisuke nodded, “And when Miyako is like this… You can’t argue back.”

“So If This fake Kaiser is Akiyama Ryo… I wonder why he wants to turn your life into a nightmare…” Takeru mused, “I’d understand if it were because you caused him trouble, but…”

“It makes no sense,” Iori added, “After all, he took responsibility for you taking the bullet for him and getting ill. And if he was deeply worried about your welfare after the loss of your brother…”

“Why would he turn against you only now then?” Hikari asked rhetorically.

“We can’t rule out that someone might be pulling the strings too,” Hawkmon pondered, “Just like Daisuke-san meant before.”

“Huh, me?”

“Yeah, it was you who said that before, dagya.” 

“Hmmm…” Daisuke stroked his chin, “Yeah, looking this way… It doesn’t seem to be him anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Wormmon blinked.

“Look, if I were someone who was closer to Ken before I got my entire existence removed from the universe and suddenly I came back here to make Ken’s life miserable and frame him for all the bad things I’m doing by using his old Digimon Kaiser identity… I wouldn’t be someone who tried to help Ken in any way! Because! It would make more sense if I were someone who got erased because of Ken, right?”

Everyone was speechless.

“Daisuke, are you really Daisuke or are you Noel disguised as Daisuke again?” Miyako squinted her eyes.

“No, the way in which he put it was in a very Daisuke kind of logic.” Tailmon turned to Miyako, “It’s that he said something that made sense again.”

“... D-did I??”

“Someone who got his existence erased because of me , you say?” Ken blinked, yet he was unable to think about someone who would’ve been like this.

“Hmm…” Wormmon was also trying to think.

“If the Kaiser is not Ryo-san… Then this means Nokita Yuu is not him.”

“Not your friend or not the Kaiser?” Patamon asked, confused.

“Nokita Yuu mentioned he was aware about the current cases of the shards around Tokyo, but…”

“But…” they all repeated together.

It was when the Yagami residence’s phone rang. Mrs. Yagami went to answer the call. The group was still at Hikari’s room and then something made Hikari get up from the floor and ran outside, panicking.

The other five kids and the six digimon went after her, knowing this meant something bad. If your psychic friend had a bad feeling

“DON’T ANSWER IT--”

“Huh?” Yagami Yuuko blinked, and watched Hikari snatch the phone from her hands, “H-Hikari, what is happening, you never--”

“We’re sorry, Yagami-san!” Miyako babbled immediately, and then proceeded to explain to the adult woman why Hikari was acting weirdly. She escorted mrs. Yagami to another room.

The rest of the 02 group looked at Hikari and, and then to the phone.

“Should I…?” Hikari asked, still covering the phone’s microphone to avoid whoever called to hear them.

“Hmm… Yes, you should,” Ken replied with a nod. The other agreed with that decision as well.

Hikari then answered the call, hesitantly, “Hello?”

White noise.

“What…?” she gasped, “It’s just noise…?” she looked at the others, and then Ken gently took the phone from her hand.

“We know it’s you,” he said with a firm tone, “So you either stop antagonizing everyone or…”

“-- Wait!! Ichijouji, what are you doing at my parents’ house?!”

“?! T-Taichi-san?” Ken babbled, “I’m sorry… We came to spend the night together at Hikari-san’s house--”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, Hikari told me. I forgot, hehe. My bad.”

“Why would Taichi call at this hour…?” Tailmon raised an eyebrow. Then she turned to Hikari, “Wouldn’t he be at work right now?”

“Taichi…?” Hikari frowned, then she immediately pressed the speakerphone button on the device and shouted, “Who are you, why are you pretending to be my brother now?!”

“What the?!” Daisuke exclaimed, and the others were also surprised by Hikari’s behavior.

“... Pretending to be who?? Hikari, it’s me! The real Taichi!”

“Ok… If you’re Taichi…” Hikari had a smug face right now, “You might know that Taichi calls me ‘Hikarin’ and not ‘Hikari’ !!”

“?!?!?!?” the group blinked, confused. Hikari was clearly lying right now.

“I’m too busy to use nicknames, man!”

“You’re not Taichi.”

“Eh? Just because I didn’t call you ‘Hikarin’?”

“It’s because the real Taichi would just say ‘What the heck is that?? I never called you like that, Hikari!’ instead of believing that he had a nickname for me!!”

“!!!”

“What do you want?” Tailmon shouted, “You can’t keep playing dumb, you imposter!”

“...Heh.” the voice changed to the usual filtered voice only one person had, “It’s hard to pretend to be someone pathetic like that man.”

“The fake Kaiser!” V-mon shouted.

“What do you want?!” Daisuke then repeated Tailmon’s question, “We’re not playing your stupid games anymore!”

“Oh you will. Meet me at the rooftop alone, Ichijouji Ken. Or else your friends will be in danger.”

Ken clenched his fist, This means he was right. The final five fragments were supposed to be used against his friends.

“What should we do?” Hawkmon asked, with a serious gaze at the group. Miyako had left the room with mrs. Yagami in order to explain what had been happening until now.

“... He wants us to meet him…” Ken was well aware this could be a trap.

 “Shall we go then, dagya” Armadimon asked.

“You have 30 minutes,” and then the faux Kaiser hung up.

“It’s definitely a trap,” Iori commented, “We should proceed with caution--”

“AAH!!”

“What was that?!” Patamon gasped.

“Miyako-san!!” Hawkmon ran to the room he heard that scream, panicked. The room they heard the scream belonged to Taichi before he had moved out last year, but there were a few things out of the boxes.

The boys opened the door and then saw Miyako on the floor. Yagami Yuuko was unconscious on Taichi’s bed. While the digimon and the boys were inspecting the crime scene, Hikari tried to get Miyako up and ask what had happened.

“I don’t see anything here…” Wormmon frowned.

“...” Iori went to check with Miyako something, and then noticed something shiny attached to her hand, “Is that…?!”

Hikari was pulled by Takeru immediately, to avoid contact with Miyako.

It was a fake shard.

[reliablejoukido]

NaNo Project Update #5: Week 4/Finale

"Somewhere Only We Know" Chapters 11-16

Chapter 11/16: Hikari and Takeru, mostly Hikari POV - 100% COMPLETE!

Chapter 12/16: Daisuke and Ken, both POV - 100% COMPLETE!

Chapter 13/16: Miyako and Koushiro, mostly Miyako POV - 100% COMPLETE!

Chapter 14/16: Ensemble adv cast, mostly Taichi POV - 0%

Chapter 15/16: Sora and Joe, mostly Sora POV - 0%

Chapter 16/16: Ensemble 02 cast, Mimi & Joe - multiple POV - 0%

I set out at the beginning of NaNo to write only SOWK, hoping to finish the story. Obviously it didn't quite work out that way, but I'm happy with getting 3 out of 6 chapters accomplished. I will make a more comprehensive project update soon, but in essence, I'm taking a break from writing this story until the spring. I WILL be posting the 3 finished chapters much sooner though.

_____________

"The Universal Language of Friendship" Chapters 1-6

ON HOLD - about 35% done

Still on hold. Still not feeling it. But I do have plans to return. Thank you to everyone supporting me.

_____________

"(Don't) stop flirting" - Daiken oneshot (rated M)

100% COMPLETE!

I'm really proud of how this one turned out, even though it was relatively short.

_____________

"Bar-Crossed Lovers" - Daiyako multi-chaptered (rated M)

100% COMPLETE!

I got this one up past 11k, which helped my NaNo numbers a lot. I adore Daiyako/Daimiya and I want to explore this ship more in the future. At first, with this fic, I was worried everything was too way silly. But then I realized I didn't have to make it serious if I didn't feel like it. So this is the most unabashedly romcom-y story I think I've ever written. And I've written a lot of romcom.

_____________

"Backstreet's Back" (working title) - Daikenkeru oneshot (rated explicit)

????%

I've had bits and pieces of this Daikenkeru threesome fic written for a few years now. Most of my writing for it took place after I reached 50k, but I'm still counting this as a project I worked on during NaNo. The fic is chaotic and sexy and weird. And if you know the real reason why the working title is "Backstreet's Back", I love you.

I want to take my time during December on this one, since I'm technically supposed to be taking a writing break. I'm sure there are people out there interested in reading this type of fic, so I've been wanting to actually finish it for a long time.

_____________

I accomplished 50k and beyond! All in all, my first NaNo was pretty fun. Everyone in the Camp Digimonth server was wonderfully kind and supportive, as well as my followers and mutuals here on tumblr. I'm really glad I took a chance with NaNo. I have to admit that I did get stressed out a few times trying to stay ahead of the game with my wordcount, causing me to panic about how I wanted to move forward with the month. But talking it out with encouraging friends was a blessing.

Work projects, my cousin's wedding, the 02 film, a bad headcold, Jou Weekend, and Thanksgiving all threw hurdles at me, both good and stressful. But I prevailed and I'm proud of myself. I still can't believe I decided to work on 5 projects over NaNo instead of one, but I think in doing that, it helped keep the momentum going. Whenever I got stuck on something with SOWK, I was able to pick up a different project and work from there. And all of those separate projects were something exciting to work on.

Anyway, I hope everyone who participated in NaNo 2023 had a good one, no matter where you ended up progress-wise with your projects. And a BIG thank you to everyone who was supportive of the people doing NaNo this month!