#but I do miss the Digimon fandom and I FINALLY decided to finish Tri

[digidorkmon]

Rumour has it she is, in fact, a digimon, making her reappearances every 3 years or so whenever the digital gate opens~

[ashxketchum]

Writer’s Month - 2

Wow, not me writing something for two days in a row? This one is a stand-alone oneshot for now, but I think there is a lot of potential for a sequel, I even have some part of it clearly planned out so if time allows me to sit down with my laptop sooner than later, I’ll work on that! 

Fandom/Pairing: Digimon/Mimato (friendship, yes I am capable of writing something other than romance between these two hahahaaa) 

Prompt: Coffee shop setting, cold (Yamato is very cold here, it’s actually kinda angsty) 

Setting: Post Tri but pre Kizuna. Yamato is in his first year of college and Mimi is in her last year of high school. The basis for this fic is solely the dialogue in To Sora, I wanted to explore the idea of Mimi and Yamato growing closer and having important conversations with each other, but it had to have a rocky start and this is that rocky start! 

~

“I’ll have a venti matcha berry frappe, nonfat, refrigerated chilled milk, absolutely no ice, extra whipped cream, which, make sure, is layered perfectly, with three pumps of caramel syrup and two of vanilla.”

He could feel his manager’s eyes boring into his back, so Yamato did what any other good employee in his place would, he kept a straight face and diligently noted down the customer’s request before moving on to ringing it up without once bothering to look at the girl standing behind the counter or ask for her name. He wondered if his manager would find it strange, that he hadn’t taken the customer’s name, but seeing as Yamato was already putting all his effort into concentrating well on his job and not explode on the brunette who seemed to take some pleasure out of his misery, he decided that he was allowed this one slip and he’d deal with his manager later, since the bigger problem was in front of him, eyeing him with a teasing glint in her caramel eyes as he picked up the paper cup and moved over to the work station to begin working on her order. He did however, kept a track of what his manager was doing from the corner of his eye, and the minute the older man was out of sight, Yamato breathed a sigh of relief and spun on his feet.

“Please Mimi, by all means, go ahead and make my job more difficult.” Yamato seethed, managing to keep his voice low so as to not attract any attention to them.

“Well, if you’re going to ask that nicely.” Mimi smirked, as always she had the upper hand in the conversation due to the safety guaranteed by being a customer at the shop.

“Just take the drink and go, let me work in peace.” Yamato attempted to maintain a superior tone as he begged her to leave, turning again to add the finishing touches to her order as quickly as he could, before his superior caught whiff of his not so welcoming attitude towards their customers.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Mimi beamed at him, as she accepted the finished product from his hand, her fingers brushed against his for a brief moment, suddenly making Yamato hyper aware of the spot at the back of his hand.

“Don’t you have anything better to do? Entrance exams to worry about?” He asked exasperatedly, she seemed too carefree for someone who was in the last year of their high school, remembering his own experience of it from the previous year.

Mimi scoffed in reply, waving a hand in the air to brush aside his concern for her education, instead of turning to make her way out of the store now that she had received her order, she settled on the empty bar stool on the other side of the pick-up counter, resting one elbow on the counter top as she took careful sips of her drink from the other hand. He watched her like a hawk, Yamato wouldn’t put it past the brunette to make fake claims about the taste of the drink just to get him into trouble. 

This had been going on for a few months now, every time he had a shift during her after school hours, Mimi would make it her life’s purpose to show up and annoy him to no extent. He’d attempted to explain to her, that he really needed to keep this job to maintain his life expenses, but apparently the pleasure she took from watching him stumble around while making coffee seemed to take precedent over his livelihood.

Of course, Mimi wasn’t the only one to blame here, if only his roommate at the college dorm wasn’t a bigger pain in the ass, Yamato would never had have to take up this part-time job in the first place. When he had complained to his father about not being able to get along well with his roomie, instead of agreeing to raise his monthly allowance so that Yamato could move out and rent a place of his own, his father had promptly told him that as an adult, he should learn to solve his own problems from now on. Yamato had half a mind to remind his father that him and his friends had not only solved the Digital World’s problems on multiple occasions, but also saved their own world by doing so, but he had stayed quiet and accepted his fate. On Takeru’s recommendation he had taken up a part-time job at this popular coffee joint, the pay was decent and the hours weren’t too bad and well Yamato always had had a knack for being good in the kitchen, so it had been suiting his purposes of saving up to move out of the college dorm as soon as possible just well.

Until Mimi happened to walk in one day and decided to take matters into her own hands.

She had been surprised to see him behind the counter, and at first she had just been curious, about what he was doing here or what he had been up to since the graduation ceremony. Yamato had to admit, that ever since he had graduated high school, he’d finally understood what Jou had been struggling with for the longest time, it wasn’t easy to maintain friendships when one was thrust with the responsibility of taking care of every single aspect of their lives and somehow pursue studies on which one’s future life depended at the same time. He considered himself lucky, if he was able to have a phone conversation with Takeru that lasted more than 5 minutes in a day. So he hadn’t been wary of Mimi popping up every now and them, updating him about her and Koushiro’s school life, and sometimes Jou’s and Sora’s too. It gave him a way to stay connected with everyone without having to make time for them, and while he did feel guilty about this on multiple occasions, he was grateful for it too.

That was before Mimi got bored with just talking about their lives, and decided to spice up their encounters by getting him to light trouble with his manager. It was usually just silly little things like claiming he got her order wrong or giving extremely complicated and hard to follow requests, and she had never pulled something huge that would seriously get Yamato in trouble, but it was still frustrating and it ruined his mojo for the rest of his shift.

There was also the question of why Mimi had suddenly taken such a liking to spending time with him, of all people, since they had never been close enough for a relationship like this. They’d spent time together before sure, and they’d had their fair share of agreements and disagreements when it came to matters related to the Digital World, but apart from that Yamato could barely remember any interactions with her that didn’t circle back to the Digital World or their Digimon Partners. So the thought always nagged at him, at the back of his head, when she would appear with a skip in her step and fix him with one of the brightest smiles he knew.

But then she would go on to do something diabolical, and he’d be reminded of how similar she was to his little brother, which led to him missing Takeru and left him irritated and wishing for her to leave.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Yamato turned his attention towards the brunette sitting in front of him, she had set down the drink on the counter top and was currently surveying the store with her bright eyes, the mischievous glint in them indicating that she was just looking for something that could serve as prop of the day in interfering with his work. Relieved that he had caught her while she was still in her planning phase, Yamato decided to take control of the situation before his manager returned and reprimanded him for being rude to their customers.

“You really don’t have anything better to do?” Yamato began icily, making Mimi turn her gaze towards him, the challenging look on her face seemed to put the last nail to his patience’s coffin as he snapped at her, “Don’t you have any friends?”

He regretted it the minute those words left his mouth, biting his tongue in an attempt to stop himself from groaning outwardly.

The effect on Mimi was immediate, all colour drained from her face and her eyes shone with a blanket of tears just waiting to fall, but with a single blink she managed to keep them at bay and faced him with a hardened look as she replied quietly, “I thought that’s what we were.”

And before Yamato could make any attempts to take back his statements or even begin to apologize for his behaviour, Mimi was out of the door, leaving behind her drink on the counter and without sparing a single glance in his direction.

Yamato allowed himself to groan out loud when he picked up her cup to clear the counter and found that it was still heavy, she had barely begun to drink it. He couldn’t help but chide himself internally, for missing on something that was so obvious, for even deliberating on an answer that was right in front of his eyes this entire time.

Yamato couldn’t believe that he, of all people, had missed out on the signs of their budding friendship, had pushed it aside as nothing but an occasional nuisance within his routine. 

His optimistic side hoped that he would just explain himself to her when she’d show up tomorrow, even offer her her favourite drink for free as a token of his apology, but a tiny voice at the back of his head reminded him, that there was no way Mimi would come back to spend time with him after this.

Unfortunately, it was the tiny voice that prevailed in its prediction, as Mimi didn’t show the next day or the one after that, or after that.

At first Yamato consoled himself by devoting himself to the tasks at hand, happy to finally be able concentrate on his work, he managed to win praises from his manager on multiple occasions which pushed Mimi’s absence from his surroundings out of his head, and for a while it worked.

But then there were slow days, when he didn’t have much to do but stand behind the counter and look at all the people sitting around in groups of twos and threes, laughing and chatting loudly as they sipped their coffees and munched on their food. The sight would tug on an invisible string in his heart, make him long for Mimi’s teasing smile as she rattled off with an order comprising of the most incompatible ingredients, laughing loudly at the look of horror that would take over his face as he wrote down her instructions. There were days when the shop would be eerily silent, and he’d hear her voice in his head, telling him about something that had happened at school. There were days when someone would walk by with a pet, cuddling it and showering it with affection, making him miss Gabumon’s soft fur and he’d instinctively turn towards the pick-up counter, hoping to tell Mimi about it but was met with emptiness instead.

He hadn’t realised, just how much he had managed to share with her during their encounters, and how he had begun to depend on her company to get him through his mundane work life. And in true Yamato fashion, he had gone ahead and messed it all up by thinking about things from only his perspective.

His father’s words echoed in his mind once again, he had to learn to solve his own problems, and what better time to start than now?

[the-digimon-tamer]

Chapter 23 - Visitors Not Welcome is out now on FanFiction.Net and ArchiveOfOurOwn! Check them out with the links or find it after the break!

Title: The Tamer v2.0 - In HIs Name

Fandom: Digimon

Rating: T

Synopsis: In the next adventure of the Digimon Tamer, the lives of Juri, Rika, and Henry change forever when digimon begin crossing over into the human world. But it’s all just a story, right? Just a book series by an author no one has seen in a long time. Why are they here and can they save their world before something worse follows the digimon?

The Tamer v2.0: In His Name

Chapter 23: Visitors Not Welcome

Everyone screamed as they felt themselves pulled down, up, back and forth in an endless void of swirling colors and blinding lights. A few times, it felt like they were drowning in water. Other times, it felt like they were suffocating from air. And sometimes, it just felt like standing on solid ground. Through it all, Kazu screamed, “What the hell is going on!?”

“Language!”

“Really Henry?”

“I’ll do what the hell I want! You’re not my mother!” he spat out. 

“Where even are we?” Rika shouted out. 

“The space between worlds!” Takato’s voice rang out in the endless voice, “This gate is a little sloppier than my usual ones. Give it time! It’ll get better. Probably. We should land whenever we get there.”

“Land where? All I see is bright lights!” Terriermon shouted back. 

“Maybe there?” Juri pointed at what looked like a floating piece of land. As soon as she said that, they all found themselves flying towards the ground at break neck speed. Or falling. The perspective was just plain messy at this point. And as quickly as it started, it subsided as they gently rolled into a mound of sand in the desert. Rough, coarse sand blowing straight into their clothes and battering their face as it struck them. Then the wind died down and they were able to gather their bearings.

Juri dusted herself off, coughing as she tried to get sand out of her mouth, “Is it always like that? If it is, then I don’t want to do it anymore.”

“Only when you’re crossing the boundary between worlds,” Takato answered, poking his head out of the sand and trying to clear it out of his hair to little success . Rika scoffed, “So all the time is what you’re saying.”

He clicked his tongue, “I didn’t say that at all. Ah! Home sweet home! It’s a lot dustier than I remember. Andromon, how long was I gone for?”

Andromon spun his limbs and his neck to remove the sand from his joints, whirring and beeping grotesquely. Once he finished, he scanned around the desert, “Information: The Digimon Tamer’s last recorded sighting in the Digital World was...Error. Time dilations detected, unable to verify passage of time since last sighting.”

“Oh that’s bad. That is very bad,” Takato frowned, retrieving his digivice from his pocket to examine it carefully, “Okay, better be quick then. We don’t want to spend too much time here.”

“Hold up! What was that about time…dials…whatever?” Kazu asked quickly. Takato put a hand over his eyes to block the sun and started scanning the horizon, ignoring Kazu’s question. Kazu called again, “Takato?”

“I thought I already explained this Kazu. Time’s become convoluted,” Takato answered back, “We may have been here for about a minute, but that doesn’t mean time is flowing the same back in the human world. Days, weeks, months, years could’ve passed. And we’re a few days behind Makuramon in that world. Who knows how far behind we are here! Or how far ahead we are! We could be here before Makuramon arrives, which gives us an advantage but it’s not like we know which is which.”

“Okay, that hurt my head,” Leomon grumbled. Frustrated, Terriermon shouted, “Are we going to just sit here and talk about this or are we going to go find Calumon already? This heat is killing me and I don’t like sitting around here doing nothing!”

“Terriermon’s right. We should get moving,” Henry agreed solemnly, wiping his brow, “The sooner we get out of this heat, the better. Where to first?”

“If I had to guess, that would be a good place to start,” Rika pointed off into the distance. Somehow, in the confusion of their arrival, they all missed a giant glowing orb of light over the horizon. It was almost like a second sun, but closer to the ground and nowhere near as blinding. Takato took a good look at it and asked, “Hey, Andromon. When were you going to tell me about the big glowing light in the Digital World that wasn’t here last time?”

“Answer: The light was not present during departure for the human world. This light is unknown at this time,” Andromon answered flatly, staring at it intensely, “Optical Zoom at 50. Moving figure spotted. Unable to identify at this time.”

Kazu pointed straight at it, waving the flag in his hand, “Well I say we go that way! I betcha Calumon is right there.”

Rika raises up her digivice “What about our digivices? I mean, it can detect and identify digimon when they come from the other side, right? Why wouldn’t it be able to find Calumon here?”

“Maybe?” Takato examined his own, “My old one broke and I can’t still figure out how this specific model works. It’s like…going from a computer to a calculator.”

Rika cycled through the options on her digivice but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. In truth, she hadn’t done much to experiment with the digivice since she got it. It usually just set off alarms whenever something happened and powered up Renamon when she swiped cards through the card reader. And from the looks of it, neither Henry or Juri had either. Renamon folded her arms at their hesitation and grunted, “We’ve been sitting idle for long enough and I’m not hearing any better ideas. Let’s go…and everyone stick together. The last thing we need is to get separated from each other in a dangerous place like this.”

“Hang on!” Kazu shouted aloud to stop them. He reached into his bag produced a collapsible pole that he reassembled and a piece of cloth that he mounted on top. With a firm shove into the ground, he shouted, “This is one small step for ‘mon! One giant leap for ‘mon kind!”

“Alright! It’s picture time!” Kenta added happily, waving a digital camera in the air excitedly, “Come on guys! What are you waiting for! Kodak moment for our first time in the Digital World.”

“What is he talking about?” Leomon looked at the rest of them in confusion. Rika closed her eyes, “It’s a thing people do in our world. They take photos of every little thing to make memories of whatever. It doesn’t matter how unimportant it is.”

“Oh don’t be like that Rika! This is important! It’s our first time in the Digital World! Come on!” Juri cheered excitedly, taking hold of the poor girl and dragging her over to the flag. Rika wanted to protest but saw Renamon already perched atop the pole. Rika couldn’t believe what she was seeing, “Not you too, Renamon!”

“I’m curious Rika. Besides, I get a pretty good view from up here. I can scout for danger while our photos are taken,” Renamon answered flatly. Rika sighed in defeat and went along with getting their pictures taken, watching the others assemble beside the flag. Kenta took his time with each photo: first everyone, then just the humans, then just the digimon, the girls, and finally just the boys. Once they were done, Kenta excitedly started examining the pics only to groan, “Oh, what? What happened to my pictures? They’re all fuzzy and blurry.”

“That’s never happened before,” Takato called out, snatching the camera to see for himself, “I definitely remember Dizzy’s computer worked fine. I wonder what happened here?”

“Well we are in another world. Maybe it’s messing with the electronics?” Henry assumed quietly. 

“That sucks. I brought this camera for nothing,” Kenta sighed in defeat. Kazu picked up the flag and declared, “Don't worry about it. We got a lot more stuff to do. Let’s just bring home some souvenirs while we’re here!”

“What souvenirs? There’s nothing but sand for miles,” Kenta pointed out quietly. He marched along with them but sounded entirely annoyed by the loss of his photos. Rika decided now would be a good time to message her mom. She was probably worried sick about her already and started typing her message. She pulled out the D-Terminal and opened the lid. To say it was like nothing she’d ever seen would be an understatement. It was like a crammed keyboard and screen but it ran like it was a brand new computer. Still, part of her was just a little excited to think that her dad used to be one of the characters in her favorite book and that this was his D-Terminal. Without even thinking, she started typing aloud as she spoke, “We made it and we’re all okay. We’ll message you more later.”

She wasn't sure which of the contacts were her mom so she simply hit send all. She closes the lid once the message was sent and noticed everyone was looking at her with the biggest of smiles. It was creepy in how unnerving it was, “What?”

“Just admiring how much more you’ve been opening up lately,” Juri answered, folding her arms behind her back as her smile widened. Rika grunted, closed her eyes and put the device away, “Whatever. Let’s get going already.”

“Leomon, is the entire Digital World like this? Just miles of desert in every direction,” Juri asked her partner aloud. Leomon grunted, “No. I don’t know where this is but I’ve seen a lot of the Digital World: vast oceans, thick forests, steaming jungles, high peaked mountains, frosted glaciers, and more. The whole of the Digital World is as varied and diverse as your world I imagine. Unless I’m mistaken in thinking your entire world is just one big city.”

“Yeah, I guess that would be silly if the world were just one big desert,” Juri giggled quietly. Takato pocketed his hands, “Don’t be too sure of that. There are lots of worlds that only have one kind of environment, if they have any at all.”

“And how would you know that?” Kazu rolled his eyes in disbelief. Without skipping a beat or even cracking a smile, Takato answered, “Got stuck outside reality for a while - it was an abstract void of nothingness. Took me forever to find a way back to the Digital World. Went through a lot worlds in the process. One with naked giants trying to break down a wall, another where the whole world was flooded and dry land wasn’t a concept, another where the only light came from a fire that everyone was really anxious to throw themselves into so it would burn a little longer. That world was…different. Also, does anyone else feel like something is off?”

“We’re in another world goggle head! What part of this isn’t weird?” Rika snapped at him. Takato laughed, “You have me there. No, I was thinking about how…I don’t know…it feels like your world still. Like we never left.”

“Well you said that there were two versions of our world sitting on top of each other. Maybe this is the same thing?” Kenta reasoned quietly. Takato’s eyes widened and he spun around to face him, “Say that again.”

“What?”

“Again! Say it again!”

“I was just saying that maybe there are two digital worlds sitting on top of each other,” Kenta repeated quietly. Takato slapped a hand to his forehead, groaning in disbelief, “Of course! Of course! I’m an idiot! Henry! You’re dad said he invented digimon! But the Digital World is infinitely old! UNLESS! He didn’t build this Digital World! He built another one with his friends. And it started to intersect with this one! I’m an idiot! How did I miss that? It’s no wonder nothing makes sense! There aren’t three worlds sitting on top of each other! There are four! Not just two human worlds with conflicting histories and realities! Two digital worlds! That’s what all of this is!”

“He’s doing that thing where he’s not making sense again,” Kazu scratched the back of his head in confusion. The rest of them nodded in agreement but Terriermon chimed in, “He may not be talking sense but he‘s got more sense than any of us when it comes to this stuff. I say we keep listening to him and maybe we’ll all make it out of this okay!”

“So basically do what my parents did back when they were our age?” Rika took the chance to shoot him a dirty look. Takato frowned at that, throwing up his hands defensively, “Your mom has issues with me. Actually, so did a lot of them. That’s alright.”

“Wait, I thought you said you couldn’t remember much,” Kenta pointed out. Takato smiles back, “Yeah, but being in the Digital World is helping to make it easier to remember things. It’s like...oh! It’s like when you have a horrible headache that finally goes away for the first time.”

He said that with gleefully, and Terriermon commented, “Wow. That bad, huh? It’s no wonder you do crazy stuff some times.”

...

Juri had no idea what any of them were talking about. It was so confusing. But being in a strange new world like this was kind of exciting. And she was eager to learn as much about it as she could.  So she looked to her partner, “Hey Leomon. What can you tell us about the Digital World?”

A big toothy grin came across his face and he beamed at her “What would you like to know Juri?”

“Anything, really. I don’t know a whole lot about digimon. A lot of what I do know is just from what’s been going on,” she answered sheepishly. Leomon beat his chest proudly, “I will be happy to tell you any and all tales that would suit you, Juri. How about I tell you the story of the fallen hero? Or perhaps a tale of the Royal Knights? Stories of monsters and villains. I can even share a little history, but that’s not really my specialty.”

“A story sounds nice. What was that one about the Royal Knights?” Juri asked excitedly. She noticed Leomon begin breathing heavily with excitement as he began, “The Digital World has been home to many a hero in its time. But the Digital Knights were among the greatest of these heroes, gathered together by Imperialdramon during a dark time to help strike back and bring order. Of these heroes, one rose to become their leader: Alphamon, the Knight of the First Seat. In his absence, the Knights are led by Omegamon or some say Omnimon. And there were many strong digimon in their ranks: Gallantmon or some say Dukemon, Dynasmon, BanchoLeomon, Magnamon, UlforceVeedramon, Crusadermon, Examon. Together, they served to enforce order in the Digital World at the behest of its one true ruler: a being they call the king. That which is sublime, they preserve. That which is weak, they protect. That which threatens, they destroy. Some call them the first heroes of this world. But, as with all heroes and all unions, it was only a matter or time before they were driven apart - some say it started with The Great War, the war that threatened to tear our world apart. Each had their own ideas on how to end it, and their unity was tested by it. It broke, as they turned on each other. Some say they slew each other, others say they went into hiding - knowing their struggle was threatening to destroy an already fragile world. Whichever it was, they haven’t been seen in a long time as a result. It is said though, that they will reveal themselves when the Digital World needs them most, doing all they can to save it before disappearing again. In my time I’ve seen at least two: Magnamon and Imperialdramon. If I live long enough, I would like to see more.”

Kazu threw his arms behind his head, “That’s lame. They only show up when you’re already screwed. What’s the point?”

Juri didn’t agree. If anything, she felt the story was kinda sad. What would cause these heroes to turn on each other like that? “So...what was this war thing that drove them apart?”

Leomon sighed, “No one can say for sure. It was so long ago that few digimon remember what the reason even was. The few who did are either dead, in hiding, or no longer with us.”

“Isn’t that a fancy way of saying dead?” Henry looked back, joining the conversation too. Juri looked ahead to see the rest of the group looking back at her and Leomon. She was t sure when that had happened but she was embarrassed to suddenly be the center or attention. Leomon was much more welcoming of his listeners and answered, “Not at all! Life and death is different for digimon compared to you humans. I understand that human life ends upon death. But for a digimon, and all digital life really, that is much more complicated.”

“Yeah, you guys reformat or something, right?” Henry asked aloud, “I remember that part from the books. The weak lose their memories, but the strong can retain their memories and part of their personality, right?”

“That is only if our data is able to disperse freely. It takes time but it can coalesce back into an egg. But for others, that isn’t the case. You noticed I absorbed Indramon’s data when I defeated him. He is dead but not dead. It would be more accurate to say we became one. He is in me or rather, I have absorbed him into my being. We are one entity, sharing thoughts, knowledge, memories, and skills. However, I am the dominant personality. If you’re still following me.”

Juri’s head spun in confusion at that annoying explanation. If it even was supposed to be one. Rika must’ve understood it though because she asked, “Wait, does that mean you know what the Devas were up to? If you have his memories, why don’t you tell us? Renamon! Why didn't you tell us?”

”What else was there to add that we didn’t already know?” she replied matter of factly. Rika raised an eyebrow, “How would we know that? So does that mean you already knew?”

Renamon shook her head, remaining stoic in her answer, “Not at all. In truth, I’ve learned nothing I didn’t already know. Well, besides WarGreymon perishing. That is a serious loss to all the Digital World. And also explains why the devas were in such a panic. Other than that, there was absolutely nothing I could have shared that we didn’t already know. The devas are looking for the catalyst, there’s some kind of danger coming that scared them and the Sovereigns, and they were desperate enough to try and break the barrier between worlds.”

“Is that why digimon started showing up in our world?” Henry asked, looking over to Terriermon. Terriermon’s ears perked up, “Hey! You brought me to your world. That had nothing to do with me.”

“Many digimon knew there was a great danger coming, so we scrambled to become stronger. We turned on each other. How we ended up in the Real World is something I can’t answer though. For me, the gate just appeared and I felt a calling to you. You were looking for a strong digimon partner and i was the strongest there at the time,” Renamon said to Rika, her expression as unreadable as ever. Than didn’t help Rika from looking like she was trying to hide the biggest scowl ever. After an uncomfortably long silence between them, Leomon offered, “To be entirely fair to Renamon, I don’t think any digimon outside the sovereigns really know what’s going on.”

“The sovereigns. If I remember from the show, those are Azulongmon and three others, right?” Kazu asked excitedly, “So are we going to go meet them? Cause dude, that’d be so awesome to get to see those guys in real life! I even have his card! Do you think he’ll sign it?”

He excitedly produced his deck and scanned through it before holding up a card for them to see. On it was an azure dragon with long flowing white hair, wrapped in chains and curling in on itself. Upon seeing it, Takato snatched the card from him, “This was him! Azulongmon! That’s his name! Right! And Zhuqiaomon, the vermillion bird of the south! And there was...um...Ebonwumon! The tortoise of the north! And Baihumon, the tiger of the west! These guys are the protectors of the Digital World! It’s all coming back now! They were...I...uh...oh...”

“Spit it out gogglehead,” Rika snapped at him, “You keep doing that thing where you get excited and talk a mile a minute. Don’t also start pausing for no reason. What is it?”

“Sorry,” Takato shook his head, trying his hardest to avoid eye contact with them, “Renamon, you said WarGreymon was gone, right?”

“Yes, why?”

“What happened?” Takato murmured. Renamon shrugged and looked at both Andromon and Leomon. Both shifted uncomfortably, but the silence said more than words could. Then Leomon added, “We wanted to tell you. We just...weren’t sure how to.”

Takato gave no answer, sheepishly handing Kazu his card back and continuing walking ahead without them. Kazu shouted to get his attention but he didn’t even look back, “Hey! Takato! What’s with him?”

“If he is who he claims, then it’s no surprise,” Renamon folded her arms, “The Digimon Tamer had a partner of his own. WarGreymon - one of, if not the bravest digimon in the Digital World. The two were close to each other in a way that can’t be put into words. Until The Digimon Tamer vanished. WarGreymon stood guard in his absence. If he is The Digimon Tamer, it can be said that he is truly alone now.”

“Why is that?” Juri asked. Renamon started walking after him, “I will explain as I walk...or rather, Leomon can since he was there. My knowledge is second hand.”

Leomon grunted quietly, “She is right, The Digimon Tamer is truly alone now. You recall that conflict I mentioned, yes? The Great War as it’s called. It didn’t just threaten our world. It threatened all worlds. The Digital World. The Human World. All other worlds. A long time ago, perhaps before even the sovereigns themselves, there was a race called the Digital Agents, but they had other names. Today, we refer to them as the Ancients. Although he seems insistent on calling them the Guardians. From atop their holy bastion, they looked down upon the lesser life forms of this world and others - sworn to observe and guide only when needed, for the Ancients had one thing that no other race could. They could see the ebb and flow of destiny: what was, what is, what could be, what must be, what can’t be, and what must not. But something came, something out of the cold dark outside their purview. What it was is forgotten today but the Ancients waged a war against it. A war so devastating that it spread across other worlds like wild fire. In the end, the war destroyed countless worlds and altered the very fabric of reality. The only survivors of that long forgotten war were The Digimon Tamer and his partner WarGreymon. Everyone else perished. And now, with WarGreymon gone, it would seem that The Digimon Tamer is the last. One can only wonder what that kind of isolation does to a mind.”

“All the more reason to keep up with him in case he does something really stupid,” Renamon added, hurrying her pace. Juri’s eyes were fixed on Takato now, wondering what exactly was going through his head. He always became uncharacteristically quiet when something was bothering him. And he was very quiet right now. 

They continued on towards the bright light in the distance in silence after that. Well, mostly silence as Kazu and Kenta chatted excitedly about what exactly they’d get to run into in the Digital World. And soon, they found themselves getting passed by a dozen small glowing balls bouncing along the ground, “What is that?”

“They look like tumble weeds. Digital tumble weeds? Is that a thing?” Kazu said aloud, watching them bounce along. Andromon finally spoke, “Information: These are data fragments from deleted digimon that haven’t reached Primary Village, coalescing into barely sentient entities with barely any will of their own.”

“Oh, that’s so sad,” Juri said quietly, watching the balls bounce along and wondering just who they were before they became this. Could they think? Could they feel? Were they even aware that this is what they were? It didn’t help that Renamon added, “This is the Digital World and that is its only real law: the weak die, the strong live. Don’t feel too sorry for them.”

“What happened here?” Takato asked at just above a whisper.

“Where are they going anyway? There’s no wind,” Kenta pointed out, adjusting his glasses to see what lay just ahead of them. Andromon pointed ahead, “Observation: they’re probably fleeing from that.”

They followed his pointed finger to see Takato still walking with his head down. And just ahead of him was a digimon whose body was made of bright orange flames. It slowly stomped towards him, spreading out his hands to create two burning flames as he shouted, “Who are you and what are you doing in my domain?”

Takato didn’t answer. In fact, he didn’t even seem to register Meramon was there. He just kept walking right up to it. Guilmon had already rushed ahead to growl at him but that didn’t stop either of them from walking towards each other. Rika groaned, “That idiot! What is he doing? Renamon! You have to help him before he gets himself killed to that Meramon!”

Meramon. Juri looked ahead at the digimon and wondered just why Takato was ignoring it. And that was definitely annoying the digimon more. Just as Meramon raised his fist to deal an attack, Renamon and Guilmon dashed ahead, “Pyrosphere!”

“Diamond Storm!”

Both attacks took Meramon by surprise and he instead moved his arms to defend himself, “You fiends, attacking me with your numbers. You won’t beat me with such tactics!”

“Takatomon!” Guilmon called out to him, rushing at the boy and sliding between his legs to throw him onto his back. The boy didn’t even register that he was was on his partner now as the digimon started retreating back to the others - leaving Renamon alone to deal with Meramon. Guilmon slid to a stop beside the others and Rika scolded him, “What’s the matter with you Gogglehead? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Takato didn’t answer and was still spaced out. Henry waved his hands in front of his face and even snapped his fingers to get his attention, “He’s definitely out of it. Maybe we should leave him be for a while.”

“Leave him be? We’re in another world where the first person we met tried to kill us and he wants to...do whatever this is!” Rika shouted out angrily, “You know what? Forget it. Well take out Meramon on our own! Renamon! Kick some of this sand on him to douse his flames!”

“Excellent idea, Rika!” Renamon complied, whipping her tail along the sand to kick up a small cloud of want at Meramon. The digimon roared in disgust, covering his eyes, “More cheap tricks? You won’t get me with that! Learn to fight with honor!”

“I take offense to that,” Renamon spat out, charging straight into Meramon and kicking him across his jaw, “Take this!”

The digimon staggered back in surprise, angered that she’d gotten the drop on him, “Grah! You think you’re so strong! Take this!”

He threw a fireball at Renamon, who managed to leap over the attack and kick more sand at Meramon. Watching the fight play out, Terriermon couldn’t help but state, “I’m all for watching a good fight, but does anyone else think it’s kinda one sided? I mean, Meramon hasn’t even gotten a hit in.”

“And here I thought you would’ve wanted to join in,” Henry murmured. Terriermon shrugged at that suggestion, “I don’t know, I still might if Meramon gets a lucky hit in. If, Henry. If. Don’t look at me like that.”

“Well, I don’t think he’s going to anytime soon,” Kazu folded his arms behind his head just as Renamon got another good kick in, throwing Meramon onto his back. The fiery digimon lay on the ground, holding his hands up in defeat, cursing at them furiously, “You fiends! You’ve defeated me! Just go ahead and finish it already! You…you…dirty, vile cheaters! Using cheap tactics like that.”

“We’re not finishing anything,” Renamon answered seriously, offering him a hand to help him stand up, “As for cheap, you’re the one who attacked a defenseless human boy who didn’t even realize you were there. Now stop your whimpering and tell us why you attacked.”

Meramon became defensive, “You entered my territory! All I wanted was a little peace and quiet, but you crazy digimon keep coming here trying to pick fights. I don’t care if you want to fight each other until you’re all dead just do it away from me! But if you’re so insistent on fighting me to the death, then finish it already so I don’t have to deal with this conversation.”

“I ALREADY SAID WE’RE NOT DOING THAT!” Renamon said more loudly, but it still didn’t seem to register with Meramon. Juri looked at Leomon in confusion, wondering if all digimon were like this. Her partner shrugged back, just as lost as she was. Then Terriermon provided another observation, “Talk about melodramatic. Look buddy, we’re not going to kill you! We’re looking for one of our friends. A little digimon named Calumon. He was taken by a monkey called Makuramon. Have you seen them?”

“Wait, so you’re not here to kill me?” Meramon looked up at them with a raised eyebrow. Rika scoffed, “Are you kidding? We’ve been saying that!”

“He’s kinda slow, isn’t he?” Terriermon turned his head. Andromon shook his head, “Negative. Meramon’s speed is within acceptable parameters for his type. Renamon simply moved faster than he could.”

“It’s called a joke buddy, learn what that is,” Terriermon frowned in disbelief. Meramon pushed himself up, dusting the dirt off himself before answering, “Well, I haven’t seen a monkey ever. And I don’t even know what a Calumon is. Is that a baby digimon?

“I mean…you’re not wrong,” Terriermon answered, earning himself a smack from Henry, “Be nice.”

“What? He is kind of an odd ball,” Terriermon said in his defense. Henry just sighed, covering his face in disbelief at his partner’s own disregard for polite behavior. Juri giggled a little though. It was nice that the fighting was over, especially since it seemed like the only thing that got hurt was Meramon’s pride. Then she looked over at Takato who still appeared to be stuck in a daze. All this had transpired, and it seemed like he hadn’t noticed.

She could feel herself shaking, worried for him. But then the shaking didn’t stop. In fact, it seemed to be getting stronger. Kazu asked, “Is there an earthquake?”

“Not an earthquake, a stampede,” Terriermon said as his ears perked up. He pointed off into the horizon towards a small dust cloud and a beam of light coming towards them, “I can hear it! It’s coming from over there!”

“What is that?” Kenta asked, adjusting his glasses to get a better look. Juri felt her digivice beep again and examined it, watching an image come on screen of what looked like a dog covered in rocks with a plant for a tail, “Jagamon, a vegetable digimon that are known for migrating in large herds. Is that bad?”

Leomon explained, “Only if we get stampeded. Maybe we should move. Meramon, is there a safe place nearby where we could hide?”

“Sure, I’ll just invite you in,” Meramon began with an insincere tone, “It’s not like I said I want to be left alone. What’s with all these visitors I’m getting today? Forget that, JAGAMON! IF YOU COME ANY CLOSER, I WILL DESTR-Wait! I SAID WAIT! Uh-oh! AARGH!”

His threats fell on deaf ears as he was summarily run over by the stampede. Renamon leapt back  to Rika’s side before she could be trampled by the horde of digimon and warned, “We should get out of the way.”

“Good idea,” Henry said, already turning to run out of their path. Henry, Terriermon, Juri, Leomon, and Guilmon carrying Takato all moved to one side of the stampede. Rika, Renamon, Kazu, Kenta, and Andromon retreated to the opposite side. Both groups could only look on at each other and the stampede of Jagamon as they continued streaming past in some kind of collective panic. In fact, when Juri concentrated on what they were all saying, it sounded like they were all screaming, “Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away!”

“What are they running from?” Juri asked Leomon, following the stampede back to see the pillar of light inexorably advancing towards them. Leomon pointed at it, “Likely that. It’s a data stream. They became a lot more frequent in the Digital World lately. We’re not entirely sure what they are beyond the fact that they just pull you to another part of the Digital World. Only it’s entirely at random. Don’t worry. Based on its path, it’ll go right past us.”

Juri traced the path with her own eyes, uncertain of Leomon’s assessment and gasped. It would miss them. It would also hit the others. And they didn’t even notice because they were too busy watching the Jagamon run past to notice, “GUYS! RUN! DON’T LET THE LIGHT HIT YOU!”

Rika shouted something back but it was hard to hear over the roar of the stampeding Jagamon. Juri pointed at the light and shouted again, “LOOK OUT FOR THE LIGHT!”

Rika shouted again. It was no use. They couldn’t hear each other. And then they started bickering - at least that’s how it looked from where she was standing. Henry tried his luck next, “Guys! Look out for the light!”

It was still no use. And then, like some kind of cosmic prank, they finally realized the pillar of light was coming straight at them. It was too late for them to run from it, and too late for Juri or the others to do anything to help them. All they could do was watch in silent terror as the light sucked them up into the sky. Leomon frowned, “Well. That’s bad.”

“We need to go after them!” Juri declared pointing at the pillar of light as it continued on. Before she could even try to run after it, Leomon grabbed her by the shoulder, holding tight despite her protests to chase after it, “I understand how you feel Juri, but that’s not a good idea. If we jump into the light, there’s no guarantee that we’ll go where they went. It’s better for everyone if we don't.”

“We can’t just leave them!” she protested. Leomon nodded, “I’m not saying we abandon them. I’m saying we look for them the old fashioned way. It’ll be easier to start from where we know we are than it will be for us to chase after them and getting just as lost.”

Juri felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. They'd only been in the Digital World for an hour and they were already separated. Takato was out of it. Half of them were lost, some place else in the Digital World. She hoped this wasn’t a signal of things to come.

[miscellaneousfurbies]

Previous years: 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 It is again time for the annual roundup! It feels this was not a particularly good animanga year in terms of amount of series consumed, but when it comes to enthusiasm Attack on Titan has single handedly offered more excitement than anything else in the past... I dunno, 3 or 4 years. Attack on Titan

Finally ended up giving this a proper chance, mostly by accident, and I'm still in that hole. I'd say that a sizeable amount of my appreciation for this manga comes from how it stands out from all the other action shounen I've read in terms of how it deals with common shounen characters, themes and tropes, but as of late I've learnt to appreciate more how it stands on its own as well. Also as upset as I am that I'm so late to the party at least catching up to happened at a relatively good spot, since I found it was easier for me to get into the new arc without the main cast when I just had gotten some 50 chapters worth of material with my favourites. And with the new developments the wait was definitely worth it, even if I'm as thirsty as everyone else for the rest of the main cast's new designs.

Awards given: Best manga, Best boy (Eren), Best OP that I didn't actually see (didn't watch the anime outside listening to some music), Best friendship (Eren and Historia), Best mentor (Levi)

Made in Abyss

Heard this got a lot of praise so I decided to check it out too, knowing only that it's supposedly pretty grim. At first it seemed like just a "plucky kids go on an adventure" kind of show, even if the darker elements were always there (like how the main characters embarked on their journey fully aware that they won't be coming back). The upper layers of the titular Abyss felt pretty easy for their rumoured danger level, but when things finally went south they did so spectacularly. Very bad things happen to children in this show! Overall I really liked the Abyss as a location, the characters were great and especially the female characters were way above average (as in, pretty much got treated equally with the dudes). 

Awards given: Best anime, Best OP I actually saw

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

This one I watched just because it looked cute. Which it was I guess, KyoAni's animation is always a pleasure to watch, but I got little else out of it. Kanna teeters between actually cute and manipulative-and-kinda-disgusting.

Awards given: Best cute animation, Best side boy (Fafnir)

Spirit Circle

Finally bothered to get into another manga from one of my favourite authors, and it was definitely worth it. The story revolving around the two protagonists reincarnating in different periods and often ending up killing one another was definitely something more unique than usual, the plot was well thought out, and the character work was just as great as I had learned to expect from the author (plus the female characters don't suck). On top of it all there is the strange calm and positive atmosphere despite sometimes grim subject matter that Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer also had. The art still isn't that amazing and sometimes the space-time talk gets way over my head but otherwise an excellent read.

Awards given: Best girl (Kouko (and iterations)), Best laughs, Best romance

One Piece

Not sure if it's because of the quality of the manga itself or because Attack on Titan dethroned One Piece from the top spot, but my interest in OP has waned a little in the past year. I haven't been able to get into Sanji's family drama, and the stuff with Big Mom has raised some good expectations but so far hasn't quite managed to live up to them. However my interest has only decreased in relation to the series itself, and compared to everything else I've consumed OP still stands tall, and Best Bunny Carrot even got to do something so I'm good I guess?

Awards given: Best side girl (Carrot)

The magical girl corner:

Doki Doki! Precure

I thought this was from last year but apparently no. So here it is, my least favourite magical girl series of all time! Might also be the least favourite anime in general (judgement pending)! Those interested can find a long rant here, but the tl;dr is that the show revolves around glorifying the main character who has no flaws, has no character development since she's amazing from the start, gets all the other characters' personal storylines be about her too, gets the story to bend so that she's always right in the end, and so on. Ugh! Though I must say that at least that in a way the series was interesting in how blindly and confidently it assumes everyone in the audience has the default assumption that the main character is the most amazing thing to ever grace this earth with her presence.

Awards given: Worst anime, Worst girl (Mana), Worst “romance"(whatever it is when everyone proclaims their 'love' for Mana), Worst friendship (Mana being the center of everyone's universe)

Kira Kira Precure a la Mode

Tried watching an ongoing Precure series this time, and while I'm still some episodes behind it could be a lot worse. Overall a really lackluster season and suffers from the same problems as the other Precure seasons I've seen: generic, unambitious, noncommittal, repetitive... There's very little going on with the plot, and while I do like some of the characters it's hard to care when the show is so adamant at doing nothing interesting with them. However it's still the best out of the Precure seasons I've seen so far properly, which probably says more about the other two's (HapiCha and DokiDoki) quality. And I do have to commend KiraKira for sticking to the sweets theme; at least it's clearly about something.

I've also watched some Go! Princess Precure which blows the other three Precure I've seen out of the water, but I haven't made very far. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it next year.

Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero: Washio Sumi chapter / Hero chapter

Why is it always the dark magical girl shows that try anything new and interesting!? I find that the new YuYuYu stuff has had some really clunky and awkward direction, stock characters, limited animation and ham-fisted drama, but I still appreciate what it's doing with its plot. Also gotta love the veteran magical girl's reaction to the new magic system which allows them to trade defence barriers for +1000% power: "lol back in my day we didn't have any shields in the first place!"

Awards given: Best magical girl outfits

Also finished Flip Flappers (final verdict: cool premise and looks interesting, execution a little uneven but still worth watching), Punchline (an uneven but still interesting little thing with great character designs), Uta Kata (a slow moving dark magical girl show with some nice ideas, good outfit designs, poor animation and awkward fanservice) and Pop in Q (mostly forgettable upbeat magical girl thing; though it did manage to hold interest for its short length).

Awards given: Biggest WTF (Uta Kata's poorly implemented fanservice), Best character designs (Punchline)

I also watched the second season of Hibike Euphonium, but I can't remember if it was at the end of 2016 but either way I don't have a lot to say about it.

Animal Crossing Pocket Camp

Good old Animal Crossing in mobile form, there's not much else to it and there's very little to do, but I'm a sucker for collecting and the leisurely and friendly atmosphere is worth it. Seeing Tom Nook ask for real money this time was definitely the highlight even if I'd never pay for a mobile game myself.

Awards given: Biggest Time-Waster (but I still keep playing it)

I've also kept playing Pokemon Go but there's not a lot to say about it, like can you add some new gameplay stuff to it please? Also did not get Ultra Sun/Moon. I didn't care too much for Alola and most of the new content seems to be about the Ultra stuff which is unlikable to me by default; I've never been into the legendary/mythical/ultra/save the world from apocalypse aspect of the games, like just let me train my pets to become the very best like no on ever was.

Not a lot of negative awards this year it seems. The bad stuff I read was just forgettable instead of bad in a funny way or so bad it's fun to hate it.

Plans for 2018:

Finally watch the Attack on Titan anime to catch up with the rest of the fandom and prepare for my favourite arc getting adapted

Finish with the mostly disappointing Digimon Adventure Tri.

Watch the newest Precure as it airs, finish Go! Princess and at least one of the earlier seasons

More magical girls! Maybe finally check out Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card arc, finish Matoi the Sacred Slayer (which has been on my list since 2016...), Pretear, series where the magical girl is a side character (Concrete Revoutio, Samurai Flamenco, re:Creators, Invaders of the Rokujyoma!?)

Finally watch Neon Genesis Evangelion (been working on it since 2005) and finish Gurren Lagann

Finish reading Neuro

Read Sengoku Youko, NaruTaru and Rozen Maiden

maybe get a Switch and the new Zelda and Mario games for it

Maybe I'll get to at least a fourth of these...?