#or I could say that Koushiro was confused

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x27 - Vamdemon's Castle of Darkness / The Gateway to Home

Previously on Digimon Adventure: PicoDevimon bullied Sora into remember that her mom never loved her so she realized she can't love anyone and quit. But then she realized the truth: Her mom loved her, her friends love her, she loves her friends, and PicoDevimon loves being punted like the football.

After a disappointed Vamdemon petulantly whined at ominously warned the Chosen Children that their doom is still to come, they're left with time to breathe and figure out what all that was about.

The truth is something they could not possibly expect. And something that I had to read a 15-page Argentinian short story to digest.

Taichi and Jou use plastic bags to collect drinking water from the river we were decompressing at last episode.

Jou: These bags are useful, aren't they? I swiped them from the restaurant. Gomamon: I thought you were always honest and straightforward, Jou! Jou: No comment.

Hahahaha Jou looted the fucking diner on their way out the door. I guess even Mr. "Decay of Japanese Society's" sense of social propriety has its breaking point. We are a bad influence on this boy.

However, while they're collecting water, Mimi sits nearby looking distraught.

Jou: Mimi-kun, cheer up. Mimi: But now that Vamdemon's shown up, we'll have to keep running away from him like we were with Etemon, won't we? Jou: (dour) I guess that's true.... Taichi: What? Only for a while. Palmon: We have to be brave! Mimi: You're right.

Taichi is unsurprisingly flippant in the face of a new asshole trying to kill them, but that infectious courage is what Mimi needs right now.

In the dub, Joe's theft is retained but Gomamon doesn't call him on it.

Joe: Hey, check it out, Mimi! How about this for an instant bath? I'm glad I took these bags from the restaurant. Gomamon: Gee, now you'll be able to go soak your head the next time you have an allergy attack. Joe: Right. That was so funny, I forgot to laugh. Mimi: Now that Myotismon's chasing us, we're gonna have to keep running like a bunch of crazed shoppers at the mall! He's just a big creep, if you ask me! Joe: I have to agree with you on that. Tai: Yeah, he's small potatoes for us! Palmon: My wish is to never see him again, period! Mimi: Mine too!

Okay, so we're off to a bad start. Gomamon congratulating Jou for pragmatically breaking character is now another quip about Joe's allergies. Mimi's fears about another round of Kill the Children is played more light-hearted and goofy. And then we wrap it up with everyone being as flippant about Myotismon as Taichi was in the original.

Suddenly, Koushiro runs up with news.

Koushiro: TAICHI-SAAAAAAN!!! Taichi: What is it? Are all of you finished preparing the food? Koushiro: It's not that! It's Gennai-san! Taichi, Jou, & Mimi: Gennai is here!?

This is the same in the dub, except they give Tai, Joe, and Mimi separate remarks spoken all at once.

Mimi: Is this a scheduled visit? Joe: Hope he's found a way to get us out of here. Tai: What is it this time?

Mimi and Joe completely drown out Tai. As they should.

The kids gather around Gennai and very respectfully inquire about his message.

Taichi: What's up, Geezer? What is it this time? Gennai: I have both good news and bad news, so which would you like to hear first? Jou: I'd like to say we should leave the good news for last, but.... Yamato: We're going to be disappointed either way so let's hear the good news first. Gennai: Okay then. We'll start with the good news. Truth is, I've found a new member for your nakama. Sora: Nakama? You mean the Chosen Children!?

Gennai tries to be hip with the youngsters and use that word Taichi's been throwing around. Sora gets confused and demands specifically terminology for this context.

Gennai: Yes. There are actually supposed to be eight Chosen Children. Group: EHHH!?!? Pyokomon: Hey, wouldn't that mean there's supposed to be another Digimon in our nakama too? Sora: Yeah, it would.... Gennai: The important thing is that without all eight of you, the distortions in this world can't be corrected. That means the distortions in your world also won't be corrected. Do you understand? Taichi: Of course. Sora: (nods) Mm. Takeru: I wonder what this person is like? Mimi: I hope we meet them soon! Taichi: So where is this person? What's their name? Gennai: Their name is... Uh... I don't know. Taichi: GEEZER!!!

Gennai living down to the ageist slur jiji that Taichi keeps hurling at him every time they meet.

In the dub:

Tai: Well!? Don't keep us all in suspense! What's this all about, anyway? Gennai: Well, I've brought you some good news and some bad news. Which would you like to hear first? Joe: Save the good news for last; I hate being depressed. Matt: He's a basket case anyway! Let's start with the good news! Gennai: Actually, you all look like you could use some cheering up. I've been told another child will be joining your group. Sora: Another child? Who tells you these things anyway?

Joe and Matt's exchange rewritten so that Matt can be mean to Joe despite more or less expressing the same sentiment.

Meanwhile, Sora's asking the real questions here. Gennai, being a complete asshole, ignores her. Keeps right on expositing as if she never said anything at all.

Gennai: Well, this is someone you shall want as a friend. This someone is a DigiDestined. Group: Whoa! Really? Yokomon: Oh, I hope this new one will have a Digimon that will be able to help us! Sora: You and me both! Gennai: The important thing to remember is that all eight of you must be together. As long as you are separated, the worlds will not be in harmony with each other. Everything will go whacko. So we must find that other child as soon as possible. Tai: How do we do that? Sora: (nods) Hm. T.K.: I hope it's someone my size! Mimi: I hope she's my size so we can swap clothes! Tai: Tell us something about this kid! Like, what's his or her name? Gennai: Uh, the name? Tai: Yeah! Gennai: It's... I forgot.

We cut to a commercial break here. I hope you remember that dumb shit he just said after the commercials because we're picking right back up where we left off after the break, with Tai yelling at him for it.

Tai: GENNAI!!!

"We need all eight of you in order to correct the distortions in our world, which are causing the distortions in yours," is the point here.

What Dub Gennai says is, "If the eight of you are separated then the worlds won't be in harmony and everything will go whacko." What?

He makes it sound like Hikari not going to camp is the reason rice paddies are drying up and New York is buried in snow.

Once the kids have expressed their frustration with Gennai, he continues updating them on the situation.

Gennai: Sorry about that. But I do know where the child is located: Japan. Group: EHHHH!?!? Taichi: Japan!? Gabumon: Where is that? Agumon: It's in the word Taichi and the others are from. Koushiro: Oh yeah, you went there once, didn't you, Agumon? Agumon: Yep. Jou: But... That means we can't find this person. Gennai: Don't be so disappointed! Taichi: Yeah? What's the bad news? Gennai: Uh... Vamdemon knows everything I just told you. He's gathering an army to invade Japan and kill the child. Taichi: VAMDEMON IS GOING TO JAPAN!?!?

Seriously. What the fuck, Gennai?

"By the way there were actually supposed to be eight of you all along and either I just figured that out even though I'm part of this whole shebang or I've been withholding it all this time. But I just found out Vamdemon's after the other kid so I'm throwing all of this at you at once OKAY GO TO JAPAN NOW BYYYYYYE!!!"

Jiji is the fucking worst. He was legit just going to hang out and hope for the best with understaffed Chosen Children. I don't think he had any intention of ever bringing this up until Vamdemon forced his hand.

In the dub, it's time to finally set in stone a setting for where the kids are from. California? New York? Florida? At long last, where have they been localized to?

Gennai: Calm down. I do know of the location of the child. It's Japan. Group: Huh? Tai: JAPAN!?!? Gabumon: Where is Japan? Agumon: Japan's a big island in the far east. Izzy: Agumon and Tai were transported there when our two worlds converged. Agumon: Mmhmm. Joe: If they ever converge again, maybe we'll all get to go home. Mimi: Yeah.... Gennai: Remember, that was the good news. Tai: Can't wait to hear the bad. Gennai: Myotismon has heard of the eighth child and will be going to Japan soon. He's gathering his forces as we speak. If he gets to the child first, both of our worlds will be doomed. Tai: DOOMED!?!? WE NEED SOME SPIES ON THE INSIDE!!!

That's right! With the looming threat of an entire goddamn arc spent in Japan, the dub officially throws up its hands and gives up on any possibility of localizing to an American setting. We will not be visiting Japanifornia in Digimon Adventure. We are returning to Japan, in English and in Japanese.

Though still talking about it from an American point of reference, of course. "Japan's a big island in the far East," Agumon definitely explains to the children watching at home and not to the Digimon around him because it makes zero sense in context.

Fortunately, the dub up to this point has mostly set their origins in a region-neutral void of geography. They never said it was the U.S., so they can make the transition to Fine It's Japan Okay smoothly. Contrast Ace Attorney, which is in too deep and now has to make up shit like "A village of Japanese immigrants!" to explain away their explicitly Japanese settings.

(Maybe it's a good thing that they skipped the OVA. Can you imagine if the OVA came out first and was like, "Once upon a time in Chicago....")

We cut to Vamdemon's castle, where we see he's aggressively recruiting. Various Vegiemon, Numemon, and Scumon are here. I guess something about the job listing sounded super appealing to Adult-stage junk evolutions and no one else.

Speaking of which:

PicoDevimon is not impressed by the recruits.

PicoDevimon: (sigh) They look like a bunch of useless clods. Nanimon: Nothing to worry about! I'll whip them into shape!

Fellow junk evolution Nanimon descends the steps to train these junk recruits while the narrator gives us his rundown.

Nanimon is an Adult-stage Virus-type Invader Digimon. He's the bottom-tier Digimon that evolves into Digitamamon. He's named for the expression you give when your Digimon evolves into this abomination: "What."

Narrator: What is this Digimon? No, that's his name. A drifter whose true identity is unknown, nicknamed Oyaji. His special attack is poop.

His nickname, oyaji, can refer informally to a father or more generically to any middle-aged man. Contrast ojisan, a respectful way of addressing an older man. And jiji, the rude and disrespectful terminology that Taichi regularly uses for Gennai.

PicoDevimon: I'm counting on you. Only a sensei with years of military experience like yours is fit for this job. Nanimon: Got it. PicoDevimon: Well, they're all yours! (wanders off)

In the dub, DemiDevimon's as unsubtle about his feelings as PicoDevimon.

DemiDevimon: Bah! The noodle-brainer team! Nanimon: Don't worry, I'll whip 'em all into shape! These dweebs will be unbeatable when I get through with them.

DemiDevimon handles our rundown here.

DemiDevimon: Nanimon is an Invader Digimon. I'd tell him what I really think about his sunglasses but his Power Punch would flatten me!

The dub keeps the name Nanimon but pronounces it differently. In Japanese it's Nani-mon, where in English it's Nanny-mon.

DemiDevimon: Okay, big boy, we know you can talk the talk but now it's time for you to do your stuff! Nanimon: Just watch! DemiDevimon: I don't wanna. (wanders off)

No mention of Nanimon's military service record. Rather, he just seems to have made some promises about being able to train these Digimon.

Coming in the gate, a couple of new recruits volunteer to join the training session.

Agumon & Palmon: (flamboyant) Yaaaaay! Palmon: Hey, is it ~true~ that you're recruiting soldiers? Agumon: Can we sign up? Nanimon: Who are you? Agumon: I'm PunkAgumon! Palmon: And I'm ReggaePalmon! Agumon & Palmon: Yaaaaay! Nanimon: (looks at the assembled junk evos) ...They might be better than these guys. (turns back to the new recruits) Okay! You're in!

I sincerely wonder which kid came up with this. We can probably 1:1 them and say Taichi's a fan of punk and Mimi listens to reggae. Those aren't localizations of Japanese genres, either; They say "Punk" and "Reggae" in English.

(When will the Digimon video games officially acknowledge PunkAgumon and ReggaePalmon as proper evolutions? The ball's in your court, Bandai.)

In the dub, Nanimon notices Agumon and Palmon and calls out to them, rather than them having to call out and get his attention.

Nanimon: Can I help you two!? Agumon & Palmon: Yup! Palmon: We're a couple of renegade soldiers looking for a battle to fight! Agumon: We may look silly but underneath our cool exterior, we're fighting machines! Nanimon: Is that so? Who are ya? Agumon: I'm PunkAgumon! Palmon: I'm ReggaePalmon! Agumon & Palmon: Yeah! Nanimon: (looks at the assembled junk evos) ...What a couple of weirdos. (turns back to the new recruits) You're perfect! I'll take ya!

Between "we look silly" and "couple of weirdos", you can feel a localizer cringing over these disguises. Nanimon, you have no butt yet still throw poop. You don't get to talk shit.

Sadly, that costs us Nanimon's point that even these two clowns are an improvement over poop-throwing junk evos.

(A point he makes despite being a poop-throwing junko evo himself, but you heard what PicoDevimon said about his service record. This particular Nanimon is trying to make the leap to Digitamamon.)

Meanwhile, in Vamdemon's library.

He sits at a desk lit by a candelabra, poring over a musty old tome. Suddenly, there's a knock at the door.

Vamdemon: Enter. PicoDevimon: (pushing open the doors) Vamdemon-sama, reporting in. Soldiers are pouring in from everywhere. Vamdemon: Are they any good? PicoDevimon: Uh... Maybe?

Suddenly, a new voice roars with laughter, echoing through the room.

New Voice: AHAHAHAHAHA!!! Those alleged soldiers are pathetic. PicoDevimon: W-Who's there!?

She's not wrong.

In the dub, DemiDevimon lies to Myotismon's face.

Myotismon: Come in. DemiDevimon: Myotismon, I have some good news to report! The soldiers are assembled and we're ready to move out! Myotismon: Are they worthy of me? DemiDevimon: Yes, my Master. New Voice: Hahahahaha! They're a bunch of helpless sea slugs if you want my opinion. DemiDevimon: Who are you!? New Voice: (approaching in silhouette) Greetings, little blue one.

This new servant of darkness steps forward into the light of the candelabra, revealing herself.

The narrator goes straight into the rundown. Tailmon is an Adult-stage Vaccine-type Holy Beast Digimon. Her name comes from the English word Tail, likely to draw attention to the Holy Ring on her tail. It's kind of a big deal.

Narrator: Tailmon. She looks like a cute kitty, but pretty roses have thorns. Using her long, sharp claws, her special attack Neko Punch holds considerable power.

In the dub, she's called Gatomon. For the spanish word "gato", meaning cat. DemiDevimon handles her rundown.

DemiDevimon: Gatomon! Gatomon might look like a harmless little kitty, but deep down inside, she's an out-of-control wildcat! Don't ever cross her path!

Once intros are out of the way, Tailmon lays into PicoDevimon.

Tailmon: Are you planning to make a second-string army out of those useless idiots? PicoDevimon: Rrrrgh, if I had the chance-- Tailmon: (provoking) What? Gonna do something? Vamdemon: (rising from his chair) Stop that. More importantly, Tailmon, have you found anyone useful? Tailmon: Yes, sir! As you ordered, I've searched the world and found many!

As she speaks, we see the silhouettes of Tailmon's recruits. They look more formidable than Scumon, to be sure.

Vamdemon: I look forward to seeing how useful they are. Tailmon: Yes, sir!

In the dub, Gatomon and DemiDevimon do not implicitly threaten each other with violence.

Gatomon: Just where did you manage to find that group of goofballs anyway? DemiDevimon: RRRRRRGH!!! YOU CAN DO BETTER!?!? Gatomon: With my paws tied! Myotismon: (rising from his chair) Gatomon, don't waste your time on him! Have you done what I asked of you? Gatomon: Yes! Purr your instructions, I searched everywhere and found the most ferocious Digimon I could find. You'll be very pleased. Myotismon: I knew I could trust you, Gatomon. I look forward to meeting them. Gatomon: Thanks.

Dub Gatomon isn't quite so formal when speaking to Myotismon. Tailmon speaks directly as if she were a soldier talking to a commanding officer, bowing and kneeling in deference with respectful barks of "Hai!" to respond to him.

Gatomon is more playful, even making cat puns, which causes her bows and kneel to come off a bit more sarcastic. She is also incredibly well-voiced, holy shit. Her actress is having the time of her life.

Suddenly, a Bakemon floats through the wall.

Bakemon: Excuse the interruption, Vamdemon-sama. Vamdemon: What is it? Bakemon: The stone room is ready for your inspection.

Vamdemon turns back to Tailmon and PicoDevimon.

Vamdemon: You can go. Both: Yes, sir.

Tailmon's "Hai!" is, again, forceful and alert, like a proud underling. PicoDevimon's is weaker, sounding reluctant and obligatory.

In the dub, Bakemon makes no apology for intruding on Myotismon. Instead, he makes spooky monster noises like he's trying to frighten everyone.

Bakemon: NYAAARGHHHH RRRRRRGHHH.... Myotismon: (annoyed) What is it? Bakemon: We've prepared the room and it's ready for your inspection. Myotismon: (turning to the other two) Fine, the two of you are dismissed. Both: Right!

Gatomon and DemiDevimon deliver their lines in identical cadences, no real difference between them.

I have no idea why they thought Bakemon should snarl and gnash at Myotismon. And then he just goes straight to talking normal the second Myotismon talks to him. XD Like he was just trying to be as annoying as possible so he wouldn't have to wait around for Myotismon to address him.

Once Tailmon and PicoDevimon have left, Vamdemon uses a hidden lever in the bookshelf to open a secret door. He descends a long stairwell to a chamber deep underground, with a stone pedestal and a large metal door.

Bakemon: Vamdemon-sama? What is this, if I can ask? Vamdemon: Something passed down in myths from ancient times: The door to the other world. We will use this Gate to invade the human world!

Pretty straightforward. No changes in the dub.

Outside the castle walls, the kids confer with Gennai again.

Gennai: The Gate that connects to Japan should be somewhere inside this castle. Koushiro: So the reason Vamdemon left PicoDevimon to deal with us is because he was busy preparing to open the Gate. Gennai: That's right. Taichi: But what are Agumon and Palmon doing? They disguised themselves to enlist in the army and help us sneak in, but we haven't seen them since.

Closing the circuit on why Vamdemon didn't just come kill us all like Etemon would have. It's clear that he prioritizes the Eighth Child far above the other seven.

In the dub:

Gennai: According to my information, the Gate to the other world should be somewhere inside this castle. Izzy: My theory is that Myotismon sent DemiDevimon to distract us while he stayed behind to prepare the Gate. Truly an ingenious plan on his part! Gennai: A good theory, indeed! Tai: Agumon and Palmon have certainly been gone a long time. It's not that I'm worried, it's just that... Well, I hope they're looking for the location of the Gate.

Everybody here is wrong.

Izzy, your theory is bad and you should be ashamed. DemiDevimon wasn't distracting you from the Gate, he was trying to steal your Crests.

Gennai, don't encourage him.

Tai, the plan is not for them to go find the Gate all by themselves. Why would that be the plan? That's a terrible plan.

Inside the castle, Nanimon's working these recruits hard.

Doing pushups with the others, Palmon and Agumon can sense that they're being talked about.

Palmon: We'd like more than anything to help.... Agumon: But we're kind of busy right now! Nanimon: Next! Bunny hops!

The Digimon switch from pushups to hopping.

Nanimon: Listen up! Stretch those earholes wide open and listen good! Only the toughest survive on the battlefield! So toughen up, shut up, and ganbari!

Remember ganbaru from Jou and Yamato's episode? The cultural construct of hard work and perseverance through difficult times? Yep, Nanimon's trying to use it to whip his recruits into shape and they are not having it.

Numemon: We're supposed to ganbari? They haven't even fed us! I can't take any more! Nanimon: Hey! No chatting over there! As punishment, you're skipping dinner! Numemon: Oh no! I only enlisted because I heard I could eat my fill every night! Other Numemon: This sucks!

Honestly, nobody looks good here. These recruits are ill-suited to what PicoDevimon expects of them and Nanimon isn't helping.

Meanwhile, the dub makes the -ahem- questionable decision to keep Agumon silent while only Palmon whines about the training.

Palmon: I'm wilting! I wanna get out of here now! Ugh! Nanimon: Now hop like Bunnymon! Get the jelly out of your legs! I want you grunts to be tough! This battle's gonna be big, so get with it, you worthless warts! You gotta try like you've never tried before! Numemon 1: He's right! We've never tried before! Numemon 2: So why should we start now!? Nanimon: Listen up! Everybody that mouthed off will go without dinner tonight. You do understand me, don't you!? Numemon 1: No way! The food's the only reason we joined this dorky army in the first place! Other Numemon: Yeah yeah yeah....

Gonna file that under Mimi slander by proxy. Hmph!

But the rest of it does a pretty good job of making the bit work without ganbaru to lean on. "We've never tried before so why start now?" got me. XD

A short time later, the exhausted recruits take a break while a pair of Vegiemon massage Nanimon's biceps.

Yeah, this seems above-board and not at all an abuse of power.

Palmon: (whispering) if this keeps up, we won't have a chance to sneak everyone in. Agumon: (whispering) We have to do something about Nanimon.

The one Scumon in the group overhears Agumon, but hopefully not Palmon, and offers his two cents.

Scumon: I used to be in the same squad as him. Agumon: What? Scumon: Back then, he liked to throw his weight around but whenever a real battle started up, he'd get wasted on sake and do nothing at all. Chuumon: We should get him drunk on sake! Palmon: He's a heavy drinker, huh? Agumon: That just might work. Palmon: Eh? Agumon: We'll give him sake and get him to drink himself to sleep! Scumon: Great thinking! Chuumon: Nice idea! Agumon: But the two of us will stick out like sore thumbs if we try to sneak off. Palmon: You're right.... Numemon 1: Leave it to us, then! Numemon 2: There's so many of us here, he won't even notice if a few are missing! Palmon: Can you do it? Numemon 1: Of course! I'm pissed off that he won't let us eat! Here I go.

In the dub, Palmon and Agumon are just complaining about how tired they are. Sukamon comes up with the idea to mess with Nanimon, apropos of nothing.

Palmon: I'd like to soak in a hot tub for about two months! Agumon: I've got blisters on my blisters! Sukamon: I think we have to stop this guy and I know how to do it! Agumon: Yeah? Sukamon: I was a soldier with him before. He likes to drink soda but the bubbles go right to his head and make him as dipsy as a doodlemon. Chuumon: He gets real kooky and he'll do anything you want! Palmon: Even let us escape!? Agumon: I must be exhausted! Palmon: Why? Agumon: I thought I saw a little pink thing pop up and talk to us! Sukamon: His stomach will fill with bubbles. Chuumon: Yeah! He's sure to explode! Agumon: But if it explodes, won't he make us hang around and clean it up? Palmon: You're nutsy. Numemon 1: Forget the mess! We can all escape! Numemon 2: One of us should go and get some soda. He won't miss one of us. Palmon: That might work! Numemon 1: After that slob wouldn't let us have dinner, I'll open the bottles and pour 'em down his throat myself!

I sure am glad Sukamon is on the ball here because our Partner Digimon are fucking useless. Viruses over here making the plan to get our kids inside while Agumon and Palmon get high and contemplate the existence of Chuumon. Holy shit, this one's bad.

Why does everyone suddenly think we're trying to escape? Agumon and Palmon are here to infiltrate and the others want to be part of this army; They just don't like Nanimon specifically. It's not hard to see why.

The alcohol censorship is unsurprising, of course. You know how people with a low soda tolerance get. That soda goes straight to their head and makes 'em goofy. In fact, I'm gonna crack open a Dr. Pepper right now and take the edge off.

While Nanimon's massage keeps him distracted, that one Numemon slimes his way up the wall and through an open window.

Nanimon stands up suddenly.

Nanimon: ALRIGHT!!! Time to make a pyramid! Whole Squad: (feigning excitement) Yaaaay!

In Japan, kumitaiso or the human pyramid is a controversial gymnastics exercise that children of all ages are made to do in schools. Kind of odd as a military training exercise, but it's a point of reference that kids watching at home can point to and go "Oh, shit, yeah. That's hard!"

Numemon makes his way straight to the liquor cabinet and grabs a couple bottles.

Numemon: Just you wait. The grudge of food is deep and terrifying....

In the U.S., however, human pyramids are primarily associated with cheerleading. Not exactly a point of reference most kids will recognize. But also it's girly. Which I feel like was the deciding factor in how they take this, because what they replace it with isn't exactly standard elementary-school P.E. either.

Nanimon: Next up: Contact sports! How about wrestling!? Whole Squad/Sukamon: Oh boy!/You're the boss, yeah! (Numemon climbs in the window) Numemon: I wonder where... There! (grabs the bottles) This is what he gets for not feeding us!

Yeah, that's really more of a high school extracurricular sport. It fits the aesthetic, though; Nanimon certainly looks like a pro wrestler.

Nanimon leads the Digimon in an activity that's definitely wrestling and not at all that other thing.

Good ol' battle royale wrestling, where we all get in a big pile of bodies together and see what limbs we can grapple. Agumon's winning!

Nanimon: Hey! Hey! You pipsqueaks shouldn't get tired just from this! Don't lose focus!

While they're holding Nanimon's attention, Numemon sends a bottle floating out the window with a little parachute.

Nanimon: Huh? What's this? (catches the bottle) I-It's sake!

Which, in the dub, becomes:

Nanimon: Oh boy! Me likes orange.

Just as planned, Nanimon proceeds to get absolutely shitfaced as more and more bottles rain down.

Nanimon: (visibly wrestling with himself) Oh no! My body's moving on its own!

Nanimon tries to stop himself, but he can't. He's just gotta dance! He starts moving to a beat in his head, while rhythmically repeating the word yoi, for when something's pleasant or nice. The others do not help him.

Nanimon: Yoi-yoi-yoi-yoi.... Group: (cheering) YOI-YOI-YOI-YOI!!! Nanimon: ...yoi-yoi-yoi-yoi! Ahhh, I feel great!

Immediately after that announcement, Nanimon passes out.

The Digimon gather around him to celebrate their accomplishment.

Squad: HOORAY!!! Agumon: SUCCESS!!! Palmon: (to Agumon) Okay, let's go!

In the dub, meanwhile, Nanimon's getting bubbly.

Nanimon: (visibly wrestling with himself) Hey, anybody wanna go dancing? I'm light on my feet! (Nanimon starts dancing) Nanimon: Whoa ho ho whoa! Group: GO GO GO!!! Nanimon: (various grunts) Ha! Love that soda!

Courteous of him to remind us in the middle of his dance that he's high on carbonation fizz. It's just carbonation fizz. Remember, it's just carbonation fizz.

It's not super clear what takes him out all of a sudden, but he loudly vocalizes "WHOA!" type flailing grunts so I think we're meant to take it as him tripping and bonking his head. Nonetheless, the squad celebrates as if this was part of the plan.

Agumon: It worked. Group: YEAH!!! Agumon: Let's get out of here! Palmon: Before he wakes up! Agumon: YEAH!!! Palmon: Bubble fizz won't last forever!

It's just carbonation fizz.

With Nanimon out of the way, Agumon and Palmon are able to complete their part of the plan.

The kids wait impatiently with Gennai in the bushes outside their planned rendezvous.

(Can... Can we turn him off? We're trying to infiltrate here and he's a glowing rainbow hologram. What if a passing guard saw that shit?)

Taichi: (whispering) Aren't they here yet!? Yamato: (hissing) Be patient!

Palmon's vines suddenly lower from the tower above.

Mimi: Ahaha, Palmon! Palmon: Sorry for the wait! Taichi: Hooray!

As the kids make for Palmon's vines, Gennai leaves them with a warning.

Gennai: I won't be able to contact you in the castle, so you're on your own from here. Taichi: We'll take care of it! Gennai: You must stop Vamdemon's plans and protect your colleague (nakama) in Japan! Palmon: (sending the vines back down) Next! Hurry!

The dub shifts Tai's opening line to make his tone more sympathizing.

Tai: (whispering) I'm worried. Matt: (hisses) Just be patient. (Palmon's vines lower) Mimi: Hey, look! They're back! Palmon: Sorry, we had a big bruiser on our hands! Tai: Let's go! (The kids run for the vines) Gennai: My signal is useless inside the castle, so you are on your own. I'm counting on you. Tai: We got it covered! Gennai: I hope so! You must stop Myotismon from carrying out his plans and protect your friend in Japan! Palmon: (sending the vines back down) We'd better move it!

Aside from that small tonal shift in Tai's characterization at the start, it's mostly the same. Though, just as a fun note, they play a slide-whistle sound effect over Palmon retracting her vines to pull up Tai and Mimi. In the original, there's no sound effect associated with the vines stealthily pulling them up, though we do get a tiny wooshing sound as she sends them back down in both versions.

Either way, probably not as audible as Palmon shouting down at them to hustle. She is not good at espionage.

Inside the castle, Vamdemon contemplates a set of cards in his library, which are clearly computer chips.

Vamdemon: The key is within my grasp. Once I understand the meaning hidden in these cards, I have to place them in the proper order. Then the door to the other world will open. Chosen Children, no matter how hard you try, it's already too late. Hmhmhmhmhmhm.....

In the dub:

Myotismon: I must find the secret to the Gate. Once I understand the meaning of these cards, the key will open the lock. Then I will be able to enter the path to the human world. You DigiDestined think you're so smart but in reality I am always one step ahead of you! Hmhmhmhmhmhm....

Dude we just met last night. The insecurity of this man!

We go to commercial and come back to the kids exploring Vamdemon's castle in separate groups. I guess they split up?

And discovering for themselves that the castle was seemingly designed by M.C. Escher.

Patamon: That's.... Takeru: What's wrong? Patamon: Something's weird. Takeru: What is? (The kids approach the torch, burning in the wrong direction; Everyone gasps) Yamato: WHY!?!?

Yamato just sort of tuning into this conversation and then suddenly screaming at the torch got me. XD

Dub's about the same, but Matt's outburst is just a vocalized gasp. Instead of him. Yelling at the torch. For being wrong. XD

Meanwhile, the girls are with Jou. He's trying to break an iron lock off a wooden door by fiddling the lock with his bare hands.

Gomamon: How's it coming? Jou: It's very sturdy. That must mean that this is a very important room! Mimi: But doesn't this lock look rusty to you? Sora: Yeah. Maybe this room just hasn't been used in a long time. Jou: (stops) .... Pyokomon: Let's look somewhere else. Sora: Sounds good. (The girls start to leave while Jou remains frozen) Gomamon: Let's go, Jou! Jou: (distraught) I was so sure this was it. Eh.... (reluctantly follows the girls)

The dub removes Jou's comical oversight from this exchange.

Gomamon: Making any progress, Joe? Joe: No. This lock's ancient, but I still can't break it. Mimi: Maybe if we had the key, it would open. Sora: Yeah, and maybe if we had a cannon, we could blast our way in. Joe: (stops) It's no use! Yokomon: Maybe there's another way in! Sora: Let's check! (The girls start to leave while Joe remains frozen) Gomamon: Joe, let's go. Joe: (distraught; sigh) How come I never get to be the hero? (sighs again and reluctantly follows the girls)

It's always weird when they take gags out of the lighter and goofier dub version. It doesn't happen often, and it always makes me wonder what they didn't like about this bit. The new, weaker punchline is still Joe being humiliated; It's abstract humiliation about his role in the plot instead of direct humiliation about his bad decision-making.

Is it because Jou was shown up by girls? IDK.

Meanwhile, Taichi and Koushiro find themselves on opposite sides of the same bridge.

Taichi: I think we're lost. Agumon: Shit! Taichi: I'm sure we've passed through here before. Koushiro: (from below) Taichi-san! Taichi: (leans over railing) Koushiro!? You guys were searching down there? Tentomon: Eh? That's a weird thing to say. You two are below us. Agumon: No, you guys are below us! Koushiro: No, you are! (Taichi and Koushiro see each other over the railing) Taichi: Hey.... Koushiro: What the...? Group: Ehhh!?

This one's the same in the dub too.

Meanwhile, in his library, Vamdemon's ready to go.

Vamdemon: The time is ripe. Gather the soldiers in the stone room! PicoDevimon & Tailmon: Yes, sir!

Unlike last time, this time PicoDevimon and Tailmon reply to Vamdemon with the same energy. Once they're gone, he withdraws the computer chip cards from his cloak.

Vamdemon: I've made many preparations to open the Gate for the sake of my goals. But to think we're finally using them. First comes the eighth Chosen Child. Your dead body will serve as the foundation for my ambitions!

Shut away in his castle, Vamdemon has been researching and studying and planning this for a very long time. Ravenously devouring every last scrap of Chosen Children lore and other ancient secrets, while preparing this assault on Japan to kill the Eighth Child.

But now that it's finally here, that it's no longer theoretical but actually something we're doing, he takes a moment of privacy to orient himself.

In the dub:

Myotismon: I'm ready to proceed. Go now and tell our forces that no sacrifice is too great in this moment of glory! DemiDevimon & Gatomon: Right! (The pair departs) Myotismon: There's certainly no need to tell them that they won't be sharing in the rewards! I hold all of the cards, and they are no longer a mystery. Now all I need is to find that DigiDestined Eighth Child!

"Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make!"

While Vamdemon prepares for departure, the kids manage to find each other again after... whatever made them split up to begin with.

Koushiro: This place is strange. The space here must be warped. Taichi: This isn't the first time we've seen this world acting weird. Yamato: But this place seems weirder than the others. Maybe it's because Vamdemon's power is so great. Jou: Don't say that.

I don't know about that, Yamato. Remember that time Nanomon's program made a short tunnel between two distant points in space? I feel like that's about as weird as contextual gravity.

Given everything we've seen of Vamdemon to this point, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that his castle's like this because he's extensively well-researched and is pretty good at coding. I bet he wrote the entire castle himself.

Over in the dub, the kids seem to be under the impression that they've been made. Which given that "Make any sacrifices!" order Myotismon gave, might be true in this version.

Izzy: My theory is that Myotismon has set up these optical illusions to deter us from finding the Gate. Tai: Well, I'd say he succeeded! We're still as lost as we were before we started! Matt: All we've done so far is go round and round in circles, and we don't know up from down! Joe: It's making me dizzy!

This weird Escher painting of a labyrinth is like that as a fiendish plot to delay the DigiDestined from coming in and dying at Myotismon's hand! Instead of the castle just... being like that.

Hey, Izzy? If this is a trap, why aren't there any traps? Just saying. Mr. "Alien scheme" is still using many words to confidently and intellectually assert things that are wrong.

Suddenly, Gomamon notices movement nearby. Over on another bridge, oriented upside-down from our orientation, Tailmon's actually tough recruits march to the Gate chamber. They say no words, only giving off various horrifying bestial sounds.

The dub cuts out most of the horrific monster noises and just has them quip.

Unknown Digimon 1: I'm itching to fight! Unknown Digimon 2: Why, 'cause you got fleas?

Not nearly as intimidating. The kids watch in silence as the monsters pass by, then whisper to each other.

Yamato: They're about to depart. Sora: We should follow them. Taichi: Agreed. Let's go!

No change in the dub.

The kids follow Tailmon's creatures, crossing their own bridge to enter the same structure as the Digimon did. Inside, both Tailmon's forces and PicoDevimon's meager recruits assemble in front of the pedestal to open the Gate.

As his recently-hired mercenary force assembles, Vamdemon gives them their instructions.

Vamdemon: Listen up! Your target is the Eighth Chosen Child. Find them and put an end to them. Envelop everything in darkness and dark power!

He lays out the cards on the table and gives a, uh... magic incantation, of a sort.

Vamdemon: Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius!

This passphrase to open the gate between worlds is actually the title of a short story from Argentina. That connection is... Honestly fascinating? The story details the efforts of a conspiracy of men to invent a fictional world, Tlön, in which objective reality doesn't exist. The only true reality in Tlön is the reality that we perceive. Reality is a collective delusion, a product of our agreement that it exists.

Tlön is a fiction, a fantasy of a place where this is true. But over time, as it becomes known, it begins to impose itself on material reality. Objects and ideas from this fictional world of speculative reality begin to emerge into material reality, invading the real world and making themselves real.

You. Uh. You can see the connection between that idea and Vamdemon's invasion of Japan, right? The Digimon World is a digital Tlön, a world of subjective reality constructed from collective ideas. Vamdemon exists because vampires and demons are things that exist within the library of humanity's cultural creations, and so in this subjective space born out of the accumulated data of the Earth, vampires and demons take material form.

Now Vamdemon's subjective reality is about to impose itself upon the material world pretty fucking hard. Essentially, we are experiencing the imposition of Tlön into the world from the side of Tlön, after spending months lost in its impossible wildernesses.

After much research, Vamdemon has determined that this Argentinian tale is the pass phrase to begin the invasion - as if the story itself was the key to imposing subjective reality upon the material. Invoking Tlön to empower the Digimon World to do to the real world what was done to the fictional world in the story by the fictional-fictional world of Tlön. Layers of subjective reality.

The dub, meanwhile, seems to be under the impression that Myotismon is going alone?

Myotismon: I shall now be embarking on a journey to another world. There are forces which must be neutralized before our victory here can be complete. But never fear! I shall return in triumph! Gathered Forces: YEAH!!! WOOHOO!!! Myotismon: (lays down the cards) It's time to stand back and watch me work my magic! OPEN THE GATE TO MY DESTINY!!!

Not gonna mark them down for not expecting nine-year-olds to know an obscure Argentinian short story. That's one of the least surprising changes in the anime.

But. Like. Myotismon, what the hell did you gather all these soldiers for if you aren't taking them with you? Are they just supposed to stand here and watch the Gate? He mobilized them all here so he could tell them "Buh-bye" and scoot?

Contrary to the speech Myotismon just gave, Tailmon/Gatomon nonetheless begins moving her forces through the Gate the instant it opens. The dub even lets them make monster noises this time, particularly an eerie high-pitched wailing like the screams of the damned.

So. I guess Myotismon wasn't talking to them. ...who the fuck was he talking to? This was a weird speech.

As his troops pass through the portal, Vamdemon heads for his carriage. Before he can get in, Taichi calls out from the staircase.

Taichi: Hold it! You won't get away with this! Vamdemon: Oh, you're finally here. But you're too late. Look well upon this historic moment! Taichi: Cut the crap! Vamdemon: Unfortunately, I don't have time to deal with you. PicoDevimon? PicoDevimon: Yes, sir! Vamdemon: Stop them. PicoDevimon: Understood!

Vamdemon's last line is delivered with little energy, as if he doesn't honestly expect this to go well for PicoDevimon. Less "VANQUISH MY FOES!!!" and more "Uh, get 'em, I guess; Have fun with that." He's tactically throwing PicoDevimon to the wolves.

Their real forces, Tailmon's army, are already through the portal and have entered Japan. If PicoDevimon and his recruits all have to die here to buy Vamdemon five seconds of time to pass through, it's no skin off his back.

In the dub, either Myotismon forgot who these kids are or he's patronizing them.

Tai: You're not going anywhere! Not as long as we can help it! Myotismon: What is your name? Do you work for me? Can't you see I'm busy at the moment? Tai: Yeah, right! Myotismon: DemiDevimon, would you please take care of this annoying gang of hoodlums? I have better things to do. DemiDevimon: Of course, sir. Anything you want. I'm at your service!

Vamdemon's "Stop them" is so devoid of any real energy or enthusiasm that they get away with compositing his lines into one here. During DemiDevimon's last line, Myotismon's lips flap for it, but it's super easy to overlook if you don't already know it's there.

While Vamdemon gets in his carriage to depart, Nanimon brings PicoDevimon's forces forward.

Taichi: WAIT!!! PicoDevimon: (moves in to block the kids' pursuit, backed up by Nanimon and the others) Taichi: You still think you can win after all the times we've beaten you? PicoDevimon: This won't be like those times! Sensei, get them!

PicoDevimon retreats to the back of the group while Nanimon replaces him, stepping up to lead his forces into battle.

Nanimon: Got it! I won't let you pass! Taichi: DON'T GET IN OUR WAY!!!

We briefly see Vamdemon enter his carriage silent to depart while Taichi's shouting.

Nanimon: Soldiers! SEIZE THEM!!! Soldiers: (unenthused) Rargh! Agumon: I don't want to fight any of you, but we're running out of time. Palmon: Please forgive us.

Nanimon and PicoDevimon are the only ones enthused about this battle. Including Vamdemon.

In the dub:

DemiDevimon: I'm not letting you get past this Gate! Tai: Fat chance, you little twerp! DemiDevimon: I brought reinforcements! It's all yours, Nanimon. Nanimon: (steps forward to replace DemiDevimon) Right! Don't even think about passing by me, you got it! Myotismon: (entering his carriage) Farewell, DigiDoomed! Nanimon: Okay, let's FIIIIIGHT!!! Soldiers: (unenthused) Yeah! Agumon: We don't wanna fight you guys but the future is at stake. Palmon: You'll have to forgive us!

Taichi's line is changed so that Myotismon can drop some parting jabs about how definitely screwed the kids are in the face of this overwhelming force. Between this and the tonal shift in how his orders were given, Myotismon seems way more optimistic about DemiDevimon's chances than Vamdemon is.

At long last, it's go time. The Partner Digimon evolve to meet the forces arrayed against them! A fierce battle is ready to explode!

PicoDevimon's soldiers immediately break ranks and nope the fuck on out of there.

Nanimon: HEY!!! EVERYONE!!! FLEEING FROM THE ENEMY IS A FELONY!!! Numemon: Who cares!? You didn't even feed us! Scumon: I'd rather go work for an honest living!

In the dub:

Nanimon: I ORDER EVERYONE BACK INTO RANKS!!! Numemon: Right now!? Nanimon: Come on, I'll buy you dinner! Sukamon: Too late now! We're going for some fast food!

The two versions are very different, but both serve to pay off the ongoing subplot about Nanimon denying them dinner.

That's okay. We've still got Nanimon. The odds may seem against PicoDevimon's defense force, but Nanimon is a veteran soldier with a master plan that he's ready to put into action.

Nanimon: Surrender! I surrender! PicoDevimon: Sensei, you can't do that! Nanimon: Shut up! Only the toughest survive on the battlefield, but you won't survive if being tough is all you have. Escaping from a fight is also a victory, right? Taichi: GO HOME!!! Nanimon: (bolts from the room) PARDON THE INTRUSION!!!

So ends the saga of PicoDevimon's fiendish army.

In the dub:

Nanimon: Whoa! Y-y-you're big! (contemplative) Hm mm mm... (white flag) Anybody need a wrestling coach? DemiDevimon: HEY!!! YOU CAN'T RESIGN!!! Nanimon: You wanna bet, pipsqueak? When it comes down to having my fanny kicked, I'm out of here. And if you don't believe me, you might check the fine print on my contract! Tai: WE'RE COMING THROUGH!!! Nanimon: (bolts from the room) DON'T LET ME STAND IN YOUR WAY!!! WHOA HO HO!!!

Both versions of PicoDevimon's forces collapsing are pretty good. Of note, the dub seems to be trying to preserve Nanimon's dignity. Both versions are craven, but Nanimon's confidence never falters in the English version; He's proud of his cowardice.

A difference of "LOL I'm out of here bitches!" vs "FUCK THIS!!! I CHOOSE LIFE!!!".

Which is, in its own way, equally ridiculous. The dub's idea that Nanimon was just a paper tiger grifting DemiDevimon this whole time meshes pretty well with Scumon's anecdote about Nanimon getting wasted and never showing up to battles. Though, ironically, that part of his backstory got thrown out with the sake when it came time for Sukamon to tell the tale.

Sadly, we lose Taichi snapping "GO HOME!!!" and Nanimon instantly complying, which is the funniest part of this entire confrontation.

As Nanimon flees, he shits himself, leaving behind a single poop which lands on PicoDevimon's head. PicoDevimon is so panicked, he doesn't even notice.

Yamato: So, what will you do now? PicoDevimon: Th-This isn't fair! It's five against one! Takeru: Hey, let's get rid of this guy and hurry on through. PicoDevimon: E-Even you would say that? (crying desperately) Damn it, how did this happen!?

When even Takeru is like, "Can we just waste this asshole?" you know you've fucked up.

In the dub, the kids try to take DemiDevimon prisoner or something.

Matt: You might as well give up! DemiDevimon: I'm outnumbered! Good help is so hard to find! T.K.: Just admit you picked the wrong side and give it a rest already! DemiDevimon: If you're trying to prank me, it won't work! (crying desperately)

DemiDevimon just vocalizes exaggerated teeth-grinding crying noises for the second half of that last line. This bit does not flow well at all.

In sheer desperation, PicoDevimon attacks suddenly with his Pico Darts. Patamon knocks his syringes out of the sky with an Air Shot, sending them clattering to the ground at PicoDevimon's feet.

But then a new player enters the field.

Sora: The Gate is closing! Taichi: Playtime's over! Let's go!

The kids sprint for the door. But before they can reach PicoDevimon's position, a new reinforcement arrives. Tailmon, standing guard at the Gate, leaps over in front of PicoDevimon to intervene.

Tailmon: Honestly, I can't stand watching this anymore. Jou: Another small fry. Shoo-shoo! Out of the way! You don't want to get hurt, do you? Tailmon: I see you underestimate me. Watch this.

Tailmon proceeds to demonstrate her strength with a show of force.

Leaping up into the air, she uses consecutive Neko Kicks to lay out Greymon, Kabuterimon, and Ikkakumon.

To edit out the syringes (even though we already saw them last episode), the dub cuts everything from PicoDevimon throwing his Pico Darts to here. The conversation with Tailmon takes place with visible syringes on the ground so that has to go too.

For their version, we go straight from DemiDevimon crying to Gatomon kicking Greymon, with just one line to bridge the gap.

Gatomon: You haven't dealt with me yet!

It's the largest single chunk of carved-out material thus far.

Which is kind of a shame, because this bit is a really interesting characterization moment for Tailmon. The way she intervenes and takes over right when they're about to kill PicoDevimon is... ambiguous. Did she come back to protect him and help him through the Gate? Or is she just trying to prevent the children from passing through? An interesting question.

In the dub, she attacks out of nowhere and is pretty clearly just the last evil minion standing between the children and the Gate.

The dub also plays comical bonking sounds for each of her kicks. Additionally, when they fall over, they add in the tree-falling effect usually associated with cartoon "TIMBERRRRRR!!!" lumberjack bits.

Togemon and Garurumon move in to engage Tailmon. Togemon tries to crush her with a punch, but Tailmon springs into the air, landing on Garurumon's snout. From there, she bounds back and forth between them, keeping away from their punches and slashes.

Taichi: Now! Sora: Let's go!

While Garurumon and Togemon keep Tailmon busy, Taichi sees a chance to run for the Gate and takes it. The rest of the group following on his heels. But Tailmon spots them out of the corner of her eye, and she isn't going to let them go.

Tailmon: YOU WON'T GET AWAY!!!

The ring on Tailmon's tail glows with energy, causing gargoyles at the top of the room to come to life, becoming more of those beasts pulling Vamdemon's carriage.

Which we are finally formally introduced to.

This is Devidramon, literally the Devil Dragon Digimon. An Adult-stage Virus-type Evil Dragon Digimon. Despite his obvious resemblance to Devimon and DemiDevimon, Devidramon has no relation to them on the evolutionary chart.

Narrator: Devidramon. An evil dragon Digimon called the Multi-Eyed Demon. His nails can tear through flesh and skewer his enemies from long distance. His special attack is Crimson Nail.

Not to be confused with WereGarurumon's Kaiser Nail.

Gatomon handles the dub's rundown.

Gatomon: Devidramon! He's one nasty dragon guarding the gate. Devi doesn't like losing. If you want a real surprise / Look into his eyes! / You'll be hypnotized.

I have no idea why she suddenly starts rhyming. But it sets up what comes next pretty well.

The Adult-stage Partners open fire on the three Devidramon that Tailmon awakened. However, as usual, trying to shoot something with three dimensions of agility proves futile, as shots miss left and right. Flying is OP in a projectile-based combat system.

The Devidramon's eyes glow and the air shimmers around the Partners, stopping them in place momentarily. Then the Devidramon move in and slash with their Crimson Nails.

PicoDevimon: That's it! That's it! Get 'em! Get 'em! Togemon: Keep up the assault!

The team finds their second wind and renews their attack. Kabuterimon throws a Devidramon against a wall, where Greymon and Garurumon pummel it with Mega Flame and Fox Fire. The Devidramon disintegates into pixels under their assault.

PicoDevimon goes for the Gate, but Patamon's taken a guarding position there. He batters PicoDevimon with an Air Shot to launch him back into the room with everyone else.

With two Devidramon remaining, Greymon tackles one to force open a path to the Gate. In the dub, he taunts:

Greymon: Come to Papa, lizard breath!

But the second Devidramon cuts in to block the kids once more. Taichi's determination super-evolves Greymon into MetalGreymon, instantly changing the tide of the battle.

The kids take cover behind MetalGreymon while he fucking erases the two Devidramon with his Giga Destroyer, then reverts to Koromon.

Taichi: Thank you, Koromon. Let's go, everyone! Others: Right!

The path now clear, the kids sprint as fast as they can to reach the door. However, someone else has already gotten there.

Patamon: HURRY!!! EVERYONE!!!

Patamon screams at them, still wrestling with PicoDevimon. Gatomon, already within the Gate, bats Patamon aside and frees PicoDevimon to make it through as well. Much more explicitly taking action to protect him.

In the dub, it's DemiDevimon who speaks here.

DemiDevimon: GET OFF OF ME!!!

Once PicoDevimon's through, Tailmon turns her attention back to the children.

Tailmon: Can't let you guys pass!

Tailmon's tail ring glows again, awakening two more Devidramon.

In the dub:

Gatomon: Sorry, but you're too late! I'll miss you in Japan!

This doesn't connect very well to the action she's taking, but still works as a taunt.

The Digimon dogpile on these two to keep them out of the way. Dub Tai inexplicably orders his group:

Tai: Get ready to jump!

Even though there is nothing for them to jump over.

But it's too late.

Tailmon: Bye-bye!

Seconds before Taichi at the front can reach it, the Gate closes, closing off the children from reaching Japan and leaving them still trapped in the Digimon World.

Taichi: It can't be.... Sora: We were so close!

Taichi pounds his fist on the iron door, to no avail. His voice breaking up.

Taichi: DAMMIT!!! Now the Eighth Child will be....

While Dub Tai is about as broken up.

Tai: NO!!! OPEN UP!!! OPEN!!! It can't be.... (vocalized sobbing)

The episode closes here on this hopeless moment.

And debuts the unbelievably tone-destroying lighthearted and upbeat new EP! Which is riddled with spoilers, holy shit.

Hikari's identity as the Eighth Child was already pretty clearly stated way back in Taichi's return home episode. But they give away who her Partner Digimon is (which is kind of a big fucking reveal) and also all of the remaining Perfect-stage Evolutions, including Angemon's evolution which won't come into play until the very end of the series.

And then they end on WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon just for good measure. Man, sometimes I forget how unapologetically spoiler-heavy Japanese media is sometimes. They do not give a fuck.

Assessment: I've always kind of felt like Myotismon was just Devimon But More. Same personality type. I was okay with that, since Myotismon is an evolved Devimon. But I'm seeing more nuance here, going through this.

Vamdemon does have his own niche, distinctive from Devimon and Etemon. Devimon was kind of a tinkerer. He had an evil plan, but it was something he constructed from the ground up. He made these gears and he was going to infect the world with them, and he had a bunch of way he could manipulate his tools to great effect. That was his thing.

And Etemon was... Etemon.

Vamdemon is a scholar. The reason he's been inactive through the arc thus far is because he's been sitting in his library ravenously devouring ancient histories and secret myths and as much Chosen Children lore as he could possibly find. Learning everything he possibly can about everything he possibly can.

He's better read than Gennai, as demonstrated by Gennai fumbling to keep up with him in this episode.

He's evil Koushiro. Right down to the fact that this arc would have been over several episodes if he just put down the tomes, went outside for five minutes, and throttled some children while they were still separated. He's a little too invested in theoretical physics when practical application is amassing its forces around him.

There's also something appropriately Bram Stoker about first meeting Vamdemon on his turf, only to have to chase him back to our home country and protect a young woman from his malevolence.

For the dub, I'm gonna call this another butcher job. There were a few points where they didn't have much choice due to censors, like Nanimon's love of sake, but there's also a lot of just weird lines and questionable choices in this one.

But credit where it's due, I super appreciate that we've stopped talking around it, aren't trying to gaslight the kiddos about it, and are finally just saying "Japan." There are plenty of dub teams that would swear up and down that we're going to Southern California, but Digimon Adventure has decided they're gonna take that leap.

[bagerfluff]

You Might Be A Nerd, but Your My Nerd

Older Izumi Koushiro x Non-Binary

Prompt - Nerd/Jock AU

“Are you listening man?”

You were in fact, not listening. You were too busy staring at Koushiro. He was down the hall at his locker. He was putting stuff away since the last class of the day just gave out.

You were standing with your friends, if you could call them out. You all mostly hung out because you were on the same sports team for the school.

You never really liked them. Loud, annoying, bullies, but you never stood up to them, you just didn’t take part in their not so nice activities.

So you weren’t really listening in the first place.

You didn’t want to hear about the girl they hooked up with or the kid they bullied. But you really didn’t listen when Koushiro showed up down the hall. He was a nerd, that's what they called him.

\He was in the computer club at school and he was one of the smarter students. That made him a laughing stock for your ‘friends’. You never laughed at him, mostly because you found him cute.

His short height, compared to yours, he was actually quite tall. His short red that you wanted to run your hands through. Was it soft, or rough?

Was there actually enough hair on his head that you could run your hands through it? That’s what you were doing. “Y/n!” You looked over at the guy to your left. “Yeah?”

You asked and the guy just shook his head. “Never mind man, we’re going to the field. Want to come?” You glanced back at Koushiro. He had closed his locker and was slowly walking to the main exit of the school, which means he was walking towards you.

“No”, you said before walking away. You heard your ‘friends’ sigh and mumble something but you didn’t care. You were busy trying to find out what you were going to say to Koushiro.

You had tried to become his friend before but he mostly ignored you. Probably because he thought you were going to bully him. But you weren’t! You weren’t like the other jocks. You just happened to play the same sport as them.

You really wanted to be Koushiro’s friend, maybe more. “Hey Koushiro!” You called out with a smile on your face. Koushiro looked over at you. “Hey Y/n”, he said before looking away.

“How was your day?” You asked while walking next to him. “Good, no computer club today though”, you also didn’t have practice today. You nodded but didn’t say anything else.

You walked next to Koushiro, talking to him every once and a while. Koushiro talked more since you started befriending him a few months ago. You found that if you got him talking about coding and tech he rarely stopped.

You loved listening to him talk about the stuff he liked.

He always sounded so passionate about his work, Though you had no idea what he was talking about, that caused you to ask questions and for Koushiro to talk more. You loved it.

Once you both got to the door you sped up and held the door open for Koushiro. You pushed it open and held it with a sly smile on your face. Koushiro said thank you with a slight blush on his face.

You closed the door and speed walked to get back to Koushiro’s side. “It was nice talking to you Y/n, but I have to get home”, your smile fell a bit.

One of the main reasons you talked to Koushiro was because you wanted to ask him out. You’ve been thinking and you thought that Koushiro had a crush on you.

Plus, you’ve seen Koushiro hanging out with his friends and his friends were laughing and pointing at you and Koushiro. That was the same thing the popular kids did.

So you really wanted to ask him out, so you could know if you should stop trying to romance Koushiro or not. You stood there watching Koushiro get farther away, wondering if you should.

“Wait!” You yelled out and ran to Koushiro. Koushiro stopped walking and looked back at you confused. “Let me walk you home?” You asked.

That was a start, plus, if you wanted to ask Koushiro out you’d know where he lived. Koushiro didn’t say anything for a bit, “okay”, he said. You smiled and started to walk next to him.

You two made small talk as you walked to Koushiro’s place.

You told him about your practice and how hard you were working to keep your grades up. Koushiro talked about his work, though he didn’t go into too much detail about it.

You still liked hearing him talk.

You shifted the conversion to Koushiro’s friends. You saw him with at least one of them everyday, for being a ‘nerd’, Koushiro had a decent amount of friends. Though it looked like it, you didn’t really have any real friends.

You didn’t count your teammates as real friends. They only really talked to you to brag, talk about games, practice, or to whine that they are failing half of their classes.

Only really half of those things matter to you. You seemed popular, because you were a jock. People at school envied you. You had status, friends, good grades, good at sports, and could get any one you wanted.

But in reality, you envied them.

You frowned when you thought about it. “Everything okay?” You looked up to see Koushiro looking at you with concern, he was also a few feet in front of you.

You hadn’t realized that you had stopped walking. Koushiro looked concerned, like you were his friend. “I’m fine”, you walked to Koushiro, “just thinking about an up and coming test”, you walked past Koushiro.

Koushiro started walking next to you again. Koushiro still looked concerned, “you sure?” He asked again. You glanced over at Koushiro. He was cute when he was concerned.

“Yes, don’t worry your pretty little head about it”, you said with a flirty tone. Wasn’t the first time you flirted with Koushiro. You had no idea if Koushiro liked the flirting, but you liked the blush that overtook his face when you flirted.

Nothing else was said until you got to Koushiro’s home. “Thank you for walking me home”, Koushiro said as he opened the door. “Of course, but Koushiro?”

You said. Koushiro had opened the door and was about to step inside. You took a deep breath and gathered your courage. “Can I take you out on a date?”

You asked nervously. Koushiro blushed again, making his face darker. Koushiro didn’t say anything until you looked away and stepped back.

“Yes”, Koushiro said and caused you to look at Koushiro. “You can take me out on a date. Sunday”, you smiled. “Thank you, nerd”, though people say that as an insult.

You said it with love.

[nami-moittli]

My headcanons behind all the dub names for digimon:

Adventure:

Taichi —> Tai. Very simple, making the name shorter

Yamato —> Matt. Took a try or two to get to this nickname, but also a pretty simple nickname

Koushiro Izumi —> Izzy. At first he was called “Kou” but then one day someone called him “Izzy” instead, because it was ‘more fun to say’ and it stuck

Takeru—> T.K.. When he was like, in kindergarten or first grade, there was another kid named Takeru, so T.K. Ended up being called that

Hikari—> Kari. Once again, a very simple nickname

02:

Daisuke —> Davis. Noticed that all of his friends have nicknames, and wanted one too. Davis was the first thing he thought of

Miyako —> Yolei. Probably was just hanging out one day and decided that she wanted to give herself a weird nickname, Yolei was the one that made it out

Iori—> Cody. Yolei’s the only one who really calls him this, furthering the idea that they were just hanging out one day, and gave each other nicknames

Extra: Wallace—>Willis. Someone mispronounced his name, and now no one knows which is right

Tamers:

Jianliang—>Henry. He got tired of everyone mispronouncing his name, that he just started saying, “Call me Henry”

Ruki—>Rika. A mispronunciation of her actual name. She hates it, but it won’t leave her alone.

Shaochung—>Susie. One day Henry told her that people have a hard time saying their names, so she should pick out a nickname.

Hirokazu—>Kazu. Once again, a very easy nickname.

(Think that’s all?)

Frontier:

Takuya—>Taky. Very easy nickname.

Izumi—>Zoe. A nickname she got from her friends in Italy. She liked it so she kept it when she got back to Japan. Sometimes shortened further to Z.

Junpei—>J.P.. he wanted to act cooler, so along with the magic and chocolate, he started to introduce himself as J.P. Zoe called him out on this when they first met on the Trailmon.

Tomoki—>Tommy. Again, very easy. Like how Thomas becomes Tommy.

Data Squad/Savers:

Masaru—>Marcus. I’m not even sure. His name just got corrupted one day and it stuck. He sometimes doesn’t even respond to his actual name now

Thoma—>Thomas. Thomas is his name, though sometimes people take off the ‘s’

Ikuto—>Keenan. Ikuto is his birth name, though when he got to the digital world, no one knew that, so they just called him “Keenanmon” Keenan eventually dropped the “mon” though

Chika—>Kristy. A corruption of her name that came about one day.

(I think that’s all?)

Xros wars/Fusion/Young Hunters:

Taiki—>Mikey. Jeremy wanted to see how many people he could get to believe Taiki’s name was Mikey, so one time when he was helping out a club, he yelled, “Go Mikey!” It confused the heck out of Taiki, but now people don’t know which is right. Tagiru just calls him “T.M.” At this point

Zenjiro—>Jeremy. First it was shortened to Jiro, then Jiro became Jeremy. Probably through a mispronunciation mixed with how the name Thomas became Tommy

Akari—>Angie. Jeremy is also behind this one. Probably the same reason he calls Taiki Mikey.

Kiriha—>Christopher. Christopher’s just his middle name.

Yuu—>Ewan. Tagiru gave him this one. Though, he’s not sure how the “an” part of that nickname came to be.

And, I think that’s it. Cause Hunters and Appmon weren’t dubbed, 2020 is just a reboot, and I’m not sure if/when Ghost Game is getting dubbed, so I can’t say.

[beginningobserver]

“Ok, this is has been buggin’ me since last year,”

Daisuke gathered all of the group for an URGENT mission. And yes, he included Rui and Ukkomon in it as well. The other five were confused and some of them a little concerned, since when Daisuke says something is IMPORTANT, then… It could mean many things.

"What is it, Daisuke?" Ken was one of those that was completely worried about the gravity of the problem.

Daisuke had managed to convince Koushiro to let him borrow one of those rooms where they usually make reunions at Izumi Corp. The young adult man was sitting in Koushiro’s seat, wearing he orange shades on, arms on the table and intertwined fingers in front of his face. Like… that iconic scene from Ev※ngelion.

Somehow that whole scene was making Rui get an ugly anxiety just by watching Daisuke’s cryptic and ominous pose.

“It’s not a problem, it’s… an important question.”

“Daisuke-kun, what is it…?” Hikari asked, she was frowning.

“Do you all remember when we first met Rui, right?”

“Yes, we do” Iori said, and his curiosity picked his next choice of words, “Is it something related to that encounter?”

“Yep.”

“Then… What is it?” Takeru asked this time.

“Uh… I think… I know what it is…” Rui commented awkwardly. The other five turned to him.

“Do you!?” they all exclaimed.

“As expected, heh” Daisuke adjusted his sunglasses and did that shining lens effect from countless anime series.

“If Rui-kun knows…” Miyako started, “Then it’s something about him , right?”

“As you always say, BINGO.”

“Then… what is it!?” she snapped.

RE:CONNECT [Yes?] [No?]

※ Chapter 11 is out!! ※

[atsoraasayoma]

Takari Week 2024

Fourth Day: Fourth Contact:

Title: Digimon ‘Whirled’ Tour Misunderstandings

Summary: Hikari, covered in ink and tired from her journey while traveling home on Imperialdramon after her trip to HongKong has some interesting conversations with Koushirou and Takeru. These talks lead to some misunderstandings due to some poorly timed phrasing from their partners and even hers as well where she will have to clear her name.

***

It had been forever since Hikari had seen Takeru. Ok, maybe less than twenty four hours thanks to Imperialdramon’s blistering light speed taxi that dropped them off to all corners of the world and then back again...But still. She couldn’t wait to see him again yet wished it could have been under better circumstances.

The briny scent of the ink from the three brother’s Octomon Digimon clung to her hair like a sticky sweat. The burning sun and dusty winds also did not help, Hikari feeling worse for wear. Koushiro himself had come out of it unfazed, having somehow been so interlocked and focused on his planning/computer work it shielded him from any Digital or environmental hazards.

Hikari had not noticed she had been staring at him, Koushiro looking a bit nervous, pausing, and then resuming typing on his computer. “Hikarichan,” he said, “I can’t concentrate when you’re looking at me like that. Do I have something on my face or something?”

Hikari shook her head a bit. “N-no,” she said, “Its just that I’m just surprised. How is it that I look like I’ve walked through a wilderness and a pen factory, but you look like you just got out of the shower? We were both at the same place so I’m just wondering how can you be so clean after our last adventure?”

The typing of hands tapping on Koushiro's keyboard immediately ceased. His eyes locked onto the screen, but as if he was looking at something else.

“Koushirousan?” she questioned, Koushiro not turning away.

Sweat beaded down Koushiro's face, his breathing shallow.

“Oh no,” Tentomon said, crawling up on his back inspecting him with his pincers. “It’s happening again.”

Hikari stared at them both confused. “I’m sorry, did I miss something?”

“You wouldn’t know it,” he answered, “But Koushiro has what you call post traumatic stress disorder,” he said. “My Koushiro has been living with it for a long time.”

“PTSD?!” Hikari said a bit shocked. “I had no idea! I can’t believe that our Digimon Adventuring left that much of an impression on you! But you’ve never showed that side of yourself before,” she said calming down. “What changed?”

“Hmm?” he said, turning towards Koushiro, Koushiro weakly glancing at him and nodding his head.

“Oh, you don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“The terror of soccer.”

“Terror of soccer?”

She glanced up, Koushiro's face turning even more despairing as if he had just accepted he would die. His hands trembled, his eyes shivering as if not wanting to relive something unpleasant.

“You see,” Tentomon buzzed manner of factually with his pincers, “Koushiro told me about it. Back when he was little he often went to Taichi’s soccer games.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” she said, Tentomon glancing at Koushiro and patting his back.

“But, that’s the problem!” he gestured holding them both up. “That was back when Taichi was not, shall we say, very good.”

“Oh?”

“I still remember it quite well,” Koushiro said his breathing shallow. “Hey Koushiro! Koushiro look at me! Watch this! You’re not paying attention!” he said repeating inflections, placing his thumb and index finger spread apart touching his cheeks so the small curve of skin between them was pressed to his lips shaking.

“I used to watch his games, but the moment I looked at my computer a soccer ball came flying at me. No matter what I did, or position I maintained, I always locked on me somehow like a heat seeking missile- even when I actually sat in a tree watching from overhead!” he said incredulously over the bizarre situation. Over time I learned how to handle such trauma,” he sighed out. “...I never want to go through such a learning curve ever again.”

“Well, that and Taichi did get better,” Tentomon said making sucking squishing sounds between his tiny fangs in his mouth, Hikari a bit creeped out by it, but realized that must have been how he laughed.

“But by that time my Koushiro had adapted natural reflexes towards anything coming his way. Regardless it was a soccer ball or a Digimon attack, Koushiro could dodge it or bat it away and continue his work on the computer as if nothing had happened.

“That’s...impressive,” Hikari said glancing at Koushiro a bit differently as if he was a battle hardened soldier. It was no wonder he got so perturbed so easily when he multi tasked and someone interrupted him.

“Regardless,” Koushiro said, “The only way to snap him back out of this was either green tea or...lavish praise.”

“What, like saying ‘good job?” Hikari questioned.

“Yes, but you’d have to take it up a notch by a scale of 100!”

“Huh,” Hikari pondered.

“And it can’t just be one or two people. It has to be everyone present. Even you Tailmon.”

“Even me?”

“His pride won’t let him recover until everyone in the room acknowledges him.”

“Huh, you’ve got it tough,” Tailmon acknowledged. “All right, I’m in.”

“Very well,” Tentomon said. “I’ll start. Follow my lead,” he said holding up his claws and waiving them as if conducting a symphony. “And a one a two,” he said, “And a now! Koushiro is an outstanding upstanding citizen!”

“That’s a compliment?” Hikari said having a hard time believing they were actually doing this.

“Anything works!” Tentomon said still holding up his claws. “In fact I accidentally told him one time he was the smartest pizza maker! I think he just honed in on the ‘smartest’ part.”

“I think I get it now,” Hikari said having understood. “We just need to inflate his ego.”

“Let’s try it Hikari,” Tailmon smiled nodding her head

With that all three of them started singing Koushiro's praises one by one, some of them even starting to overlap together, this continuing on for several minutes, Hikari starting to feel dazed at the chaos of their words clashing like three symphonies overlapping and their notes narrowly avoiding colliding into each other. Worse, she had been running out of things to say!

Koushiro seemed to still be out of it, Hikari's’ turning having come around again.

“Hikari?” Tailmon said looking at her expectantly.

“Don’t stop now!” Tentomon said trying to keep everyone together. “We need one last push! Anything! Make it up if you have to!”

Hikari searched her mind this way and that, and knew she just had to say something. “K-Koushirou is the only one who can handle my mom’s special recipes!” she yelled raising her voice, Tentomon stopping.

Tentomon stopped, the imaginary rhythm he had been connecting coming to an end.

Koushirou stared at his computer, blinked his eyes a couple of times and glanced up at them all having regained his composure.

“I’ll have you know,” he said, “Those recipes are delicious,” he said. “I could eat blueberry bean spinach casserole any day of the week!”

“Koushirou!” Tentomon said relieved giving him a hug, “You’re back with us!”

“Yeah, I’m here,” he said calmly typing on his computer again. “Though, I don’t remember why I stopped working to begin with. Did something happen?”

Tailmon and Hikari exchanged glances, both of them silently acknowledging the same thing: Koushirou had become so traumatized he had blocked the memory out completely.

Don’t worry about it. Oh look,” Tentomon said flying over to the barrier wall and sticking to it. “Looks like we’re at the next stop!”

***

Eventually Imperialdramon had reached the other locations, the Digidestined greeting each other and catching up, Hikari a bit winded from this Reunited Digidestined Celebration. Lastly they started to slow down landing on the ground with a bit of a rumble, Hikari wishing Imperialdramon had seat belts, but thankfully none of them suffered jet lag...except Jou of course being comforted by Gomamon.

As it slowed down, Hikari felt her heart leap as Taichi and Takeru came up. A pretty girl with blue eyes and blonde hair and a Floramon waving at them. Both Taichi and Takeru waved back,Taichi grinning stupidly which meant that Hikari knew by his mannerisms he had gotten involved more than he probably should have. But that shouldn’t be a problem.

As the other Digidestined greeted them, Takeru walked over to the gleaming blue light and leaned back into the wall sighing out.

“Welcome back...Takerukun,” she said having turned away from him a bit.

“You to Hikarichan. Felt like I haven’t seen you in forever, even though it’s only been less than a day. Kind of weird huh?” he smiled Hikari turning his way, realizing he must have also missed her. She couldn’t react too strongly though in case he might think she cared for him more than what she was letting on, even if it was true.

“Mhm. Time flies when you’re...on Imperialdramon,” she said, Takeru just staring at her.

“And I thought I was tired,” he said lifting up his head and sliding to the ground, Hikari just glancing down at him a bit anxious.

“Hikari, you’ve been standing up this whole time. You sit too,” Tailmon said grabbing her by the hands and making her sit down next to him.

She then sat down as well, Patamon having found comfort curled up resting on Takeru’s hat.

She glanced down at Tailmon who had already passed out, her head nodded down against the wall.

“Our Digimon are really something,” he said. “They work so hard for us. We couldn’t ask for better partners.”

“Mhm,” she said stroking Tailmon’s fur, her ears folding back a bit.

Takeru glanced up at Patamon and tickled his ears a bit, both Digimon mumbling in their sleep.

“Anything interesting happen?” Takeru asked. “You know, aside from probably needing a shower.”

Hikari glanced away from him wishing he had not noticed that. Of course, that would have been impossible.

“Aside from this, nothing,” she said not wanting to talk about herself.“What about you?” Hikari asked, “Taichi was smiling so wide something must have happened. And he’ll never tell me, just get mad and tell me not to worry about it.”

“That sounds like Taichisan all right,” Takeru chuckled. “But, no nothing I could think o-”

“-Takeru,” Patamon moaned sweetly in his sleep, “Why are you kissing that girl?”

His eyes froze, Hikari staring at him, her mouth open.

She wanted to say something, but refrained herself at least for now. She could only could think about that blonde haired girl Katherine she had seen him wave to earlier. She was really pretty too.

Hikari pursed her lips holding them shut not wanting to imagine him kissing another girl. She could have sworn she heard voices in her head saying ‘What’s wrong with them?’ And another voice saying ‘The Lovebirds are being dramatic again’ but she just looked up at him expectantly for an answer.

She wanted to ask it. To ask if it was true he did that to say-

“-All right Hikarichan,” Takeru smirked, “I know you want to ask me if I really kissed a girl. Probably the Katherine girl, am I right?”

Hikari lowered her head and nodded.

“Well, I actually did. And Taichi too!”

Hikari felt her heart sink and then her stomach twist hurt and then horribly confused at the same time.

What kind of situation or relationship would Takeru and her brother and Katherine have to be in to...have such a...relationship? She imagined Katherine wasn’t so nice and had them chained like dogs enacting all kinds of torture on them with chains and a whip and the dogs enjoying it.

“Hikarichan? Hikarichan?” Takeru said having interrupted her imagination.

“Hmm?” she said glancing at Takeru like a dog as if he was beneath her. She couldn’t believe the Takeru she knew so well had-

“-I think you’re misunderstanding something,” he said with a wry smile. “In France people greet each other with a little kiss on the cheek.”

“On the cheek?” she said turning her face his way.

“Mhm, It was pretty awkward for me and Taichi but we managed to do it near the end of our adventure there. Part of my family has a french background. It felt kind of...familiar. I don’t remember ever going there though. It must have been while I was little.”

“Oh,” she said, Her face staring back down not wanting to look up at him. She should have realized the context of all of this. Why was she so flustered? Takeru was her friend. He had the right to do anything he wanted to. They were not going out or anything. It felt wrong of her to even think of him in a negative light.

She sighed out. “I’m sorry Takerukun,” she said. “I could only imagine about what you said when the both of you had kissed her.”

“Right?” he smiled as if a bit relieved. “I mean it’s not like I would come to any weird misunderstanding about you if I heard something about-”

-Tailmon meowed out loud like a yawn, holding up one paw weakly as if warding something away. “No, get away. Hikari, you can’t allow all three of them to surround you like that! Those brothers are dangerous.”

Hikari stared down a bit nervously, a strange pressure glaring down at her from overhead. She slowly lifted up her head to see Takeru smiling, but it wasn’t a happy smile. It seemed kind of...angry.

“Well, I’m sure YOU must be tired from your journey Hikarichan,” he said as if looking past the situation. “I’m sure all the attention really must have been exhausting. Since YOU put yourself in that situation maybe YOU should just sleep it off,” he said, Hikari irritated by his inflections.

“N-no That’s not it!” She protested. “I didn’t choose to! They came at me!”

“What? They came at you Hikarichan?” Takeru said turning seriously, his now icy blue eyes glancing her way and cracking his knuckles in a fist that somehow made Takeru look not only incredibly attractive to her, but also kind of dangerous.

Hikari didn’t know what to do anymore about the situation. She hit her head back against the blue barrier of Imperialdramon wanting to snap herself out of it. She couldn’t lie. Just like she imagined Takeru having once been that Katherine’s ‘Pet’ she couldn’t stop her mind from seeing Takeru beat up a bunch of guys, Takeru shielding her in a seductive manner. It was even worse, or in this case better than Miyako sharing her romantic fan fiction stories with her.

“So, did you get their names?” he asked. “Maybe I’ll have Imperialdramon fly back after everyone else gets off.”

“No, don’t do that,” she said with an exhausted smile. “I can already tell what you’re thinking. But really it was no worse than Daisuke if there was three of him.”

Takeru’s eyes lit up a bit as if having snapped out of it. He also leaned back against the barrier resting his head against it. “I don’t know...if I could win against that,” he sighed with a smile.

“Thankfully I’m gone now though,” Hikari agreed. “I might have had a nervous break down if I had stayed any longer.”

Takeru snickered Hikari returning his back with a sweet smile. She really did miss him. Despite what they thought happened to each other, it was just one big misunderstanding after all. Maybe he even felt jealous too?”

The thought seemed so pleasant, Hikari’s mind drifting back to her imagination about Takeru. She couldn’t get that image out of his mind...in a good way.

“Hikari!” Miyako exclaimed running over to her and sliding down next to her. “Oh, good, your warm. I have the latest chapter on my fan fiction by the way. I wanted to know if you wanted to read it.”

“Maybe later,” she said. “It’s good to see you Miyakochan. “Did you have fun?”

“Of course!” she said. “And I got to meet Yuri, one of the cutest boys I’ve ever met! Man, I’m so lucky! I probably had the best romantic chance meeting yet out of all of us. And there was no weird misunderstandings,” she said both Takeru and Hikari smiling at each other, as if it was there own little secret. “In fact, I’m sure none of us had any-

A shocked gasp escaped from in front of them as everyone looked at Ken.

Both Sora and Mimi stood on either side of him both angry and demanding.

“What do you mean Ken clinged to a little girl?!” they said in unison towering over him.

“Wormmon!” Ken snapped agitated. “Phrasing! Phrasing!”

Hikari couldn’t help but smile just a little more matching Takeru’s smile with her own.

Just then Iori walked over to them a bit wary of them.

“Whatever’s the matter Iorikun?” Hikari asked.

“Come have a seat with us!” Takeru added.

Iori started to slowly back away from them. “You look like your enjoying this,” he said. “Is it that fun to take joy in watching one of your friends suffer?”

“What?” Hikari said turning towards Takeru.

“That’s not what we’re doing,” he said. “Really Iorisan you have such an imagination.”

“I’m not imagining!” he said defensively. “And you’re not answering my question!”

“N-no you’re just misunderstanding,”Takeru said getting up. “Look we’re almost back to Japan!”

Hikari adored him as he continued playing with Iori, dodging his question, Takeru turning back towards her with gladness.

She smiled back, Miyako glancing up at her. “Seriously, would you two just cut it out and stop telepathically communicating while smiling? I haven’t gotten that far even in my fan fictions!”

She could only be amused by her, Hikari knowing this must have been exactly how Takeru felt. She missed that about him; His jokes, his witty sense of humor, his protective eyes that would cut someone to pieces if anything threatened her. Sometimes he even made her feel safer than her own Digimon who could go to the mega level!

She glanced at him a bit differently affectionately retaining the image in his mind of the Takeru she knew so well. Whether being serious or joking and laughing with her, Takeru was Takeru. And no misunderstanding or fantasy could ever change that.

[dutchforstrangers]

Taishiro x Some sensual advice from that other redhead

For @taikouvember 2023 - Day 7: Free day A prude Taichi and sexual innuendo ahem

A/N: What can I say? I like my Sora sassy and supportive when it comes to these boys. Oh, and very much skilled, heh… Taichi could learn a thing or two from her. A concept that has been sitting in my WIPs for YEARS and I finally had an excuse to write it :') It was a blast, hope you guys like it. Slightly nsfw-themed, you've been warned~ And shout out to @seventeenlovesthree and @darkened-storm for helping me get the dialogue on track :D Summary: Taichi is confused. Not knowing how to please his boyfriend, his confidence sinks and shame takes over. Luckily for him there's another redhead that has her ways of boosting his knowledge and courage.

Taishiro + Sora one-shot | Genre: sexual advice provided by a friend (so romance and friendship I guess?) | Characters: Taichi Yagami (POV) x Koushiro Izumi, Sora Takenouchi | Wordcount: 2.306

How to please your boyfriend by boosting your own personal confidence 101

Soft sounds of drizzling rain tapped on the thin roof, creating a dance on its own. The same dance was performed on the water of the lake before him, the shimmering of the moon reflecting on the water, shining a light on everything. Including his thoughts.

Confusion. Shame.

It was their first vacation as a couple and Taichi had wanted it to be special. Even with the presence of the other Chosen, he had been able to create little moments for just him and Koushiro. Like tonight. The mood had been right, the setting too. He had it all figured out in his head, but when the time to shine and act was there, Taichi froze completely.

He still heard Koushiro’s words, asking him if he was okay, his face all flustered mirroring Taichi’s own face. But where Koushiro was blushing from the rising tension, Taichi’s blush was from confusion and shame.

He had apologized and then excused himself only to run outside to think. Looking at the waves of the lake, his elbows being supported by the wooden railing. Trying to think, but all there was in his head, was a blank space and the last image of how he had left the room.

“Can’t sleep?” Came a female voice he knew all too well.

“S-Sora!” Taichi turned around, face red again. He felt trapped, especially with the image of his boyfriend popping up so vividly in his head mere nano seconds before Sora barged in.

“You look like I caught you doing something forbidden,” she said, one eyebrow raised and arms folded in front of her chest.

“H-How come?” He couldn’t help his stutter.

“The way you speak and stumble and…” Sora confirmed first, then pointed to his face, the grin on her face in place, “how your face is all red.”

Now he knew he was red all over and Taichi could only flash an awkward and uncomfortable smile. Words were far away.

“It also looks like you were in very deep thought. Something I can help with?” Sora asked as she closed in, just passing Taichi with an inch to lean on the same wooden railing Taichi stood against, her face directed to the lake.

“What? No! Nooooo no no, not really.” Taichi tried defending himself. He turned back around to face the water again like Sora, trying to relax his shoulders and face in the hope he would be able to hide his embarrassment. “It’s, erm— something I have to figure out myself…”

Sora looked at him, nodding understandably. “Okay, if that’s what you want…”

It didn’t sound genuine and Taichi felt she was trying something. He answered with a confirmative sound and for a minute he was convinced Sora would leave him alone.

“Does it have something to do with Koushiro-kun?” She eventually broke the silence, with that throwing Taichi off guard once more.

“W-What? Jesus Sor, since when are you so nosy and persistent?”

“Since when are you so shy about everything?” She fired back with ease. “I know you’re not good at talking about your feelings, or stuff at all, in that regard I’m not much different. But you were never a prude and you look like you’re hiding things from me that you can use help on!”

Taichi thought deep for a second, contemplating whether it would be a good idea to let her in.

“Okay then,” he said, eventually deciding on a yes. “One more question though.”

“Mmhm.”

“Why would it be about Koushiro?”

Sora smirked, making Taichi doubt his choice to let her in again.

“Heh, because the last time I saw you blushing like that was when we accidentally walked in on Koushiro-kun changing his clothes.”

His already red cheeks started to show even redder and Taichi felt like puking and crying all at the same time.

“And it wasn’t even that revealing… I can only imagine what you might have seen by now.” Sora continued with a wink.

“Sora!”

“You’re so easy, Taichi,” she teased. “Now quiet, you’re waking up the others. What can I help you with?”

Exhale.

“So erm… Koushiro and I…” Taichi started, his uneasiness masked by vague confidence. It only made him look more like a prude he thought to himself. “We… we did ehm… he tried… I…

“— tried to ‘satisfy’ him?” She filled in for him.

She was right.

“You could put it like that,” he replied, again able to at least breathe more steadily.  

Somewhere, from there on, he had hoped the conversation would get easier and Sora would give him some sort of break, now knowing enough. Knowing she couldn’t help him with that. He himself could have known though that would have never been the case, especially with Sora being in this mom-mode.

“What did you do first?”

So Taichi decided to just go with it, answering her question as honest and confident as possible.

“We made out, like we’ve done more often by now.”

“Just lips and face?”

“Yeah, never further below the cheek line. We have also always kept our clothes on.”

“Hands exploring though?”

“Mhmm, just through fabric. But then…” Taichi stopped.

The images of what had happened came back to him like an old movie stuck on repeat. Sweat formed in the back of his neck and he swallowed in anticipation of Sora’s curiosity.

“Then what?” Her voice sounded warm and Taichi knew she felt he was struggling. A lot. It finally made him more at ease.

“Koushiro went quite low with one of his hands. He even went, well… you know…” he hesitated, “into my pants?”

“Koushiro-kun?” Sora’s expression changed from curiosity to a baffled one. Taichi felt that, he had been the same when he had felt Koushiro acting so focused and courageous, going after what he wanted.

“How bold of him, I had no idea,” Sora chuckled.

“Not into my boxers though! Just my pants.” He quickly added, not wanting to put Koushiro in that sort of light.

“Anyway, yeah. I think I flinched a little, I didn’t expect him to be like this, I always thought I would make that first step. It did turn me on though.”

“How much?”

Now she went too far.

“You can’t just ask that like that! That’s very private!”

“I bet you became stiff in seconds.”

Even further than too far.

“SORA!!!!!!!” He shouted quietly, his face not only red from embarrassment, but from sheer disbelief of his friend being that direct. He had no idea she could be like that.

“I know how a man’s body works, okay?” She responded with a collected calmness he could only admire, talking about all things sex like an expert working on her daily job.

“You don’t have to tell me how a man responds to physical touch like that. And I know how soft Koushiro-kun is, so him being that bold only makes it more arousing.” She said as he nodded confirmatively. “Taichi, you can’t hide that from me.”

“Fine.” Taichi sighed, for the umpteenth time deciding to let Sora in on this very private matter. “So what I did was responding with a hand of my own in his pants. But because I wanted to be first, I did go into his boxers and there I found his… ehm…”

“I get it, continue.” She nudged him to continue.

“So I took ‘it’ into my hand, but then…” Taichi bit his lip, finally at the point where it all had gone wrong. Where the confusion and embarrassment had first started and the redness on his face made place for a softer shade showing off how desperate he felt and still did.

“I just had no clue what to do with it.”

Sora looked at him. Her eyes were wider than before, surpassing every form of amazement and eventually her full body moved into a loud laugh that almost sounded manic. “Oh Taichi, you’re such a kid sometimes!”

His feelings of being desperate rose, accompanied by misplaced anger due to Sora’s laughing. It wasn’t funny! He wanted to straight up tell her that. But he couldn’t, instead furrowing his eyebrows and biting his lip, looking away like the kid she had called him out for. He waited for her to cease her laughing and he watched her wipe away a single tear from the corner of her eye.

“I take that you pleasure yourself?” She finally asked as she composed herself.

“Yes…” Taichi answered both annoyed and uncomfortable.

“Then you should know what to do, right?” Sora said with her tone back to her normal self again. She then continued with the same collectedness like before. “Start at the tip, then slowly—”

It infuriated him.

“Okay okay! I get it! God, I really hate your confidence…”

“You don’t.” She boldly stated. “Actually, you want another piece of advice. Am I right?”

She had said it as if it was the truth and she was indeed right. Even though she had laughed in his face, telling him he was bad at everything, that he was a little kid not knowing anything about all this, he still wanted to hear what she had to say. Because he cared about her opinion. Because he knew she cared about his and Koushiro’s happiness.

Because she was his friend. And an amazing one at that. Who else would listen to his failed sexual adventures and musings and actually give advice? He hated her for acting the way she did, but he loved her even more for the way she was able to help them in every possible way.

Not to mention, they –Koushiro, Sora and himself— had been pretty ride or die for each other as younger kids. And Sora was proving once more that she had not changed one bit, jumping through fire, even for his and Koushiro’s romantic shenanigans.

Not that he was going to admit that to her.

“Maybe…”

Sora smiled knowingly, a gentle hand placed supportively on Taichi’s shoulder. His eyes looked straight into hers. “I get that you forgot about this, since you can’t do this to yourself and Koushiro-kun is your first man, so you must have never tried this or have been able to practice, but… you do know you can use your mouth too to pleasure him, right?”

He had no idea why exactly she to look at him that intensely when telling him that, but it did help to make him see what he couldn’t figure out himself.  

“Damn… you’re right.”

And he definitely forgot how easy it could be. Orally, of course…

“I know, just…” Sora shrugged, her fingers soft on his shoulder, her voice starting to sound more deep, the tempo going slower, making it more intense and.. sensual… “Go slow, make it sensual, while you’re at it, use your fingers to caress his lower stomach. When I do that to—”

“YOU CAN STOP NOW.” Taichi grabbed Sora’s wrist to get the hand off of his shoulder.

Sora smirked and giggled, her cheeks finally a little flushed as well. It didn’t compare to the heat in his own face.

“Taichi-san, where were— Oh hey Sora-san. What are you two talking about?” Came Koushiro’s soft and oblivious voice from behind them.

Taichi and Sora turned around to see Koushiro standing in the door’s frame, his head slightly tilted to the right like a confused puppy that wanted to join the conversation. It made Taichi flinch, blush intensifying and body tensing up. It was an overstimulation of his thoughts, Sora’s words and touch and Koushiro’s presence that made his head spin.

“NOTHING.” He managed to get out. It only earned him more confusion from his boyfriend.

So he looked to his right where Sora –who definitely seemed more calm than him— was standing, with just his eyes asking her to jump in. She nodded, showing him she understood.

“Like Taichi said,” she said with a very small apologetic bow towards her co-redhead. Then shifted her direction towards Taichi again, flashing him a final smirk. “Now if you excuse me, I have some unfinished business left to do in my bedroom.”

Taichi’s jaw dropped as he watched her pivot and sashay away, her hips swinging from side to side more than ever before, performing a choreography spotlighted by the light of the moon. He looked at her giving Koushiro a wink, one hand sensually placed on his chest as she gave both boys a “good night~” in the most seductive tone he had ever heard from a woman.

Taichi shook his head, with it trying to wake up from this weird dream he was in as Koushiro approached him after Sora had disappeared.

“She’s insane,” he concluded.  

“I don’t get it…” Koushiro responded with soft confusion.

He was never able to explain this to Koushiro, as he would probably be way too rational about it. Taichi knew it was just better to show him to get his boyfriend out of his head. And so he thought back to his conversation with Sora, figuring out she wasn’t just telling what to do, but how to do it.

Confusion turned into understanding and knowledge. Shame became confidence and courage.

“It’s more fun when I show you~” Taichi purred, his fingers soft on Koushiro’s shoulder, his voice sounding deeper and more slowed down, making it all more intense and sensual. Just how Sora had showed him.

His hands travelled down Koushiro’s arm to grab his hand, intertwining his fingers with his to pull him with him back to their bedroom after they shared a passionate kiss underneath the moonlight that threw Koushiro off guard. And while making the journey to the said bedroom, knowing what he had to do once returned between the sheets with Koushiro, Taichi made a mental note to thank her in the morning for boosting his mojo.

[love-for-yamato-and-sora]

There are too many parts of Yamato and Sora in the official novel. I never knew where to start, so after thinking about it for a long time, I decided to continue to publish it according to the plot. In Tokyo, the parts of Yamato and Sora have increased. This part is the same as that in TV version. There are some differences, so I will post them for comparison.

There are still some small easter eggs in the adventure in the early novels. After I update all the main plots, I will talk about the small easter eggs that only belong to Sorato.

the first part: https://at.tumblr.com/love-for-yamato-and-sora/in-fact-according-to-the-booklet-of-the-unsigned/81qlm4djfnre

the second part: https://at.tumblr.com/love-for-yamato-and-sora/digimon-adventure-official-novel/i5ctg94gtlny

the third part: https://at.tumblr.com/love-for-yamato-and-sora/i-will-then-post-the-official-novel-section-sora/su4ut9ay9hca

In TV version, Sora was arrested because he participated in extracurricular football activities, and then escaped from the place with the help of his mother and Mimi, and then met Taichi and said where Yamato and Hikari were,and then Sora Just meet Yamato.

“Sora, I need to talk to you.” She wasn’t expecting her mother to be home already. “Please don’t think that I’m saying something stupid, but… Could you tell me where you were this afternoon?” She saw Birdramon. Her mother’s tone of voice wasn’t accusatory. She spoke hesitantly, as though she was unsure and confused. That only made it harder for her to find a more ideal moment to talk to her mother about Piyomon. If I knew this was going to happen, then maybe I should have brought her in with me instead of telling her to come through the window. What would be the best way for her to tell her Mom what was going on without giving her too much of a shock? Sora thought about it, but immediately got overwhelmed. She got the sense that it would be best if she told her mother everything from the top, and then had Piyomon come in at the end to meet her. “Mom… It’s kind of a long story, but will you hear me out?” Piyomon was left spending more time waiting outside the window.

https://digitalscratch.pmsinfirm.org/7967#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSora%2C%20I%20need,outside%20the%20window.

The Bakemon atta cked them just when Sora had more or less described how they had gone to the Digital World, their adventures, and then had invited Piyomon to come into her room through the window. “Is this… Piyo-san?” “Pleased to meet you. I’m Piyomon.” Sora’s mother Yoshiko timidly stretched out her hand just as the door flew open behind her and Bakemon swarmed in. At first, Piyomon’s “Magical Fire” drove them back. But gradually, the number of Bakemon surging in was too great. Piyomon flew out of the window and evolved. “Piyomon, evolve! Birdramon!” The Bakemon closed in around them even as she evolved. Yoshiko pushed Sora towards the windows, then turned to face the Bakemon herself, pushing for time. “Run, Sora!” Sora clung to Birdramon’s legs, and when she turned around to look, Yoshiko was already surrounded by the Bakemon. There was no way to retrieve her from outside the window. “Mom! I’ll come back to save you, I promise!” As Yoshiko was dragged away, Sora thought that she saw her mother smile.

https://digitalscratch.pmsinfirm.org/7967#:~:text=The%20Bakemon%20attacked,her%20mother%20smile.

Hikari hid herself in its dark belly. Yamato, Gabumon, Yamato’s father Hiroaki, Sora, Piyomon, and Koushiro were also with her.

https://digitalscratch.pmsinfirm.org/7967#:~:text=Hikari%20hid%20herself%20in%20its%20dark%20belly.%20Yamato%2C%20Gabumon%2C%20Yamato%E2%80%99s%20father%20Hiroaki%2C%20Sora%2C%20Piyomon%2C%20and%20Koushiro%20were%20also%20with%20her.

Koushiro eluded the Bakemon wandering aimlessly around the area, and followed the reactions on his digivice to reach the construction site. In turn, Taichi left Big Sight. Tentomon went alone to check their surroundings. Piyomon and Gabumon needed to rest and recover the energy that was spent on their evolutions, so he was the only one capable of moving at the moment.

○

When Tentomon returned, he made his report. “I didn’t see anything that looked like an exit anywhere. The fog is so thick that no one can get through. However…” Tentomon pointed directly above him. “The fog up above is thin and I could see stars. It’s pretty high up, but we might be able to get through if I evolve to AtlurKabuterimon.” But it was also highly likely that Vamdemon would spot them along the way. “Satellite communication!” Yamato’s father, Hiroaki, murmured. “We might not be able to send regular radiowaves, but if we use satellite communication, it’s possible that we can communicate with the outside.” Naturally, Fuji TV had a facility for that. The possibility of it was low, but it was worth a try. Tentomon could evolve to Perfect level and force their way out after if they had to. Hiroaki, Koushiro, and Tentomon left the construction site and snuck into Fuji TV station.

The only ones left were Hikari, Sora, Piyomon, Yamato, and Gabumon. Somewhere in the background was the sound of water dripping. A wind gently lifted up one end of the cloths covering the building under construction. Without anyone noticing, two streaks of red lightning extended through that gap. They hit Gabumon and Piyomon directly. The wind rose into a gust, blowing the cloths wide open to reveal Vamdemon waiting for them outside.

https://digitalscratch.pmsinfirm.org/7967#:~:text=Koushiro%20eluded%20the,for%20them%20outside.

Because Zudomon was now evolved to Perfect level, Jou’s digivice unlocked the ability to detect his friends’ digivices and thus their locations. “If only I had this earlier, then I wouldn’t have had to make Takeru-kun and you two wait so much.” Jou laughed, but it didn’t work at relaxing everyone’s nerves. The digivice showed that three of their friends were in one spot, while the other three were off at a distance. “But this direction looks a little different from where we live…” Jou tilted his head in thought. The three closest dots didn’t look like they were at the condominiums, as he was expecting, but closer to Fuji TV station. Zudomon headed that way. As he did so, the three dots that were further away looked to be heading their way. One of the dots from the three closest to them broke off from the group. Jou didn’t know that the three dots at a distance were Taichi and Mimi, with Taichi holding Hikari’s digivice, while the one dot that separated was Koushiro. From the ocean, they saw a building in front of Fuji TV station that was under construction. They could see a dark, caped shape ascending from inside. “It’s Vamdemon,” Patamon said in a low voice. Luckily, Vamdemon had his back turned to them. Vamdemon disappeared at the top of Fuji TV station at the same time that Zudomon reached the shore. They also heard sounds of destruction inside the construction site. After Zudomon let Jou and the others off his back, he hurled off the cloths covering the building with one flick of his hammer. Yamato and Sora were inside. They were each holding Gabumon and Piyomon close to them. With them were a giant praying mantis, Snimon, and a dinosaur with two giant horns like those of a bull protruding out from its shoulders, Tuskmon. Snimon’s scythes easily cut through steel beams, and the power from Tuskmon’s charges could easily bulldoze Digimon of the same level. What’s more, Vamdemon’s earlier attack prevented Piyomon and Gabumon from moving, so they had no way of defending themselves. But for a Perfect level like Zudomon, they were no threat. “Hammer Spark!” Zudomon struck the Thor Hammer in his right hand at the closest steel beam. Sparks flew. The real power of Zudomon’s attack was neither from the hammer nor the destructive force that came from his arm strength. With one focused swing, the sparks that were created when both the Chrome Digizoid and his force of will combined could destroy the data composition of Digimon itself. The steel beams of the building stood in lines so close that Zudomon couldn’t slip through them, but the sparks became a dazzling striation that flew and hit Snimon and Tuskmon directly. The two of them were paralyzed, breaking down into particles in the next moment.

Yamato and Sora turned around slowly. Next to a large Digimon that they’ve never seen before was Jou, running towards them waving one arm. Takeru, Patamon, and Natsuko were there too. “Mom…” Yamato was dumbstruck. “Thank goodness we made it!” Jou said, beaming. It was Sora who recovered first. “Vamdemon has taken Hikari-chan!” Jou learned that he hadn’t made it.

https://digitalscratch.pmsinfirm.org/7967#:~:text=Because%20Zudomon%20was,hadn%E2%80%99t%20made%20it.

In the novel version, Sora's mother was arrested at home from the very beginning, Sora fled directly at home and joined Yamato directly.

Mimi became a person fighting and facing all these things, and then Taichi came and rescued Mimi. Then it was the same plot, all protecting Hikari, but it failed. So this part is different.

[digitalworid]

@glassesandpassion

"Miyako-senpai...!"

Hikari trotted up to her with a somewhat awkward smile.

It was surprisingly hard to get a moment alone with the girl known as Inoue Miyako. At first it was confusing. Now, with Miyako refusing to turn around and continuing away from her, it was clear that the avoidance was deliberate. The awkwardness grew by several magnitudes.

To begin with, she'd started this interaction because she wanted to apologize - for the chosen children monopolizing the computer lab which was technically Miyako's clubroom. But the level of hostility she felt from the older girl was much stronger than expected, enough to make her question how dearly important her club might've been to her, or if Hikari had somehow personally slighted her..

The girl felt only guilt and regret, not reciprocating even an ounce of that animosity. When someone glared at her, Hikari only thought to apologize for hurting them. And well, she'd already prepared an apology to begin with.

"Senpai, I got you a present!"

With that, the surprise was ruined, but there would be no surprise if Miyako wouldn't give her the time of day.

Hikari gently held the gift forward. It was the new peripheral Miyako had wanted for her computer.

"I...I know it must be annoying for you that we keep hogging the computer lab...! And that you probably only tolerate it because Koushiro asks you to...So...I wanted to say thank you!"

She summoned all her energy and held the peripheral out further, smiling with a warmth that could cut through a blizzard.

"I asked Koushiro what you would want. Is it ok?"

[asknarashikari]

From this ask: https://asknarashikari.tumblr.com/post/730343372766789632/jumping-off-from-here#notes

Yukimi: Are you sure you’re okay?

Keiwa: Igara-

Yukimi: Call me Yukimi, Keiwa-kun.

Genta: And me Genta, it'd be too confusing if you called us by our family name.

Keiwa: Right.

Keiwa: I’m alright, Yukimi-san.

Keiwa: In the end I was the target and not your son.

Yukimi: Still, for it to happen on the day we were away.

Yukimi: I’m starting to think that the powers that be won’t let us have a normal vacation trip.

Keiwa: It’s fine, really.

Keiwa: It’s not like your family was targeted.

Yukimi: How about this,

Yukimi: You invite some people over and we’ll leave you guys have the bath house all to yourselves.

Keiwa: I co-

Yukimi: Please?

Yukimi: It’s the least I could give you for keeping my little Koushiro safe.

Keiwa: You literally hired me to do so.

Sakura: I’m pretty sure running for your life while carrying the baby wasn’t part of the deal.

Ikki: Just accept it.

Daiji: It’s the least we could do.

----

Yukimi: How do we repay him?

Hiromi: No worries, Yukimi-san, I have it covered.

Hiromi: Just pay the agreed upon fee and I’ll take care of the rest.

Hana: What connection are you flexing this time, Hiromi?

Hiromi: Nothing.

Hiromi: I just heard he’s trying to become a police officer.

Hana: Don’t tell me.

Hiromi: No, he’s free to join whatever organization he wants.

Hiromi: I’m just offering Blue Bird’s training facilities to him for the next year or two, for free.

Hiromi: And I think Daiji and Tamaki could use a new sparring partner in the training area.

Sakura: Isn’t the facility only for exclusive use of Blue Bird’s workers… and us because we’re Daiji’s family? Hiromi: I didn’t say anything about him being a part timer.

"What connection are you flexing this time Hiromi"

Bwahahahahah as if he's not going to use this opportunity to subtly truly recruiting his hubby's tanuki kouhai XD He's gonna bribe him with training sessions, tanuki soba and housekeeping tips XD

He's not going to let go of someone with as much potential as Keiwa if he could help it :P Everyone else should just suck it lol

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure 02 (Blind Watch) - Episode 17

Wait...I literally just remembered that the parents (plus a bunch of other people) saw all the digital world stuff by the final episode of season 1. What exactly is the IRL awareness of digimon?? The kids have to hide that they're going to the digital world from their parents, but maybe that's more because it's dangerous? Or was there some memory wipe thing I'm forgetting about. (This ramble triggered by a line in the dub where Matt says "Don't tell me Myotismon destroyed the studio again!?" to his dad...)

Anyway, putting my confusion aside, I really enjoyed this one. It had the good kind of callbacks instead of some cheap repeats. It was especially nice to see the S1 kids finally sit down with the new kids and tell their story. Probably should have done that already by now, but better late than never!

There was...no battle in this one?? Wild...

Notes:

-I think the movie director in the beginning of the episode had the same VA as Joe. Low key distracting.

-I liked the concept of not just a ghost being caught on camera, but a ghost that changes its movements every time you play the video back. Not sure I've seen that done before...

-Very heartwarming that they've turned Aug. 1st into a special day of remembrance amongst their friend group. I've seen fans making posts about the date before and maybe I'll start celebrating it too! (I'm an August baby so it feels extra special).

-Aside from Bakemon who doesn't count, I guess this is our first ghost digimon? Really unfair that Wizarmon didn't get to be reincarnated like everyone else :'( I wonder if we'll see him again?

-I sighed a small sigh of relief when we got hat!Mimi back. More importantly, her ridiculous pink/starry hair is gone! I hope this isn't just a temporary change. She looks really cute with pig tails

-Didn't really think about the difference between living with a single dad vs. a single mom until Takeru and Yamato had a discussion about it. Is every single mom in this series a homemaker...? (Nothing wrong with that, but it would be awkward if there wasn't at least one mom with a job).

-They censored the curry in the dub lol. American kids in the early 2000s didn't know what curry was I guess

-This episode featured a bunch of MD players to the point where it felt suspiciously like an ad. I had to google what an MD was and it's a mini-disc (like GameCube game sized). Of course, they just called it a "CD player" in the dub

-Dead at the dub line "Don't mind him dad, he's just not a happy little buffalo!" LOL (American kids also don't know what sutras are apparently)

-They addressed a question I had in my earlier post about how they were stuck using the computer lab to enter the digi-world. Koushiro finally figured out that they could connect from any computer and that the D3 device was more important. (Honestly, they should have thought of this sooner, but I guess everyone's busy with school lol).

-It felt kind of weird to me how Wizarmon was showing up on TV to get Tailmon's attention, but we never really see the kids watching TV or catching any of these appearances. They kinda just stumble across him instead because Tailmon's Wizarmon's senses start tingling. Oh well, all's well that ends well...

-Very rare episode where there's no battle and the digimon only evolve to their rookie forms. I feel like this shows that the writers trusted the kids enough to sit through an episode without all the usual stuff, so that's nice.

-I'm going to go ahead and qualify this as a Halloween episode because ooky spooky

-Wizarmon continues Gennai's tradition of giving super vague and unhelpful information. Thanks for nothing! (I guess he was mainly hinting that Ken is a victim of "the darkness." Okay, Kingdom Hearts...)

-Sad Tailmon tho ;-;

[genork-the-fandork]

Merry Digi-mas, @smackins ! I was your Digimon Secret Santa!

(This is my writing blog, but my main is @animegenork - I know it's confusing)

I had to think about this one quite a bit, as I mostly dabble in writing rather than art, and what can I do with Digimon lines and writing? ;w; Not much...

But! I took a peeksie around your blog and saw your icon was Kunemon (excellent choice), and your letter said you also love Tentomon! An idea took shape, and the result was this little crossover fic! I hope you like it, and I hope you have a very merry holiday season!

Thank you to @digisecretsanta and @sluggybasson107 for the excellent hosting of this event! 💕

So Much for Rescue

Word Count: 1508 | Universe: Survive x Adventure [Tri] Crossover | Characters: Ryo Tominaga, Kunemon, Koushiro Izumi, Tentomon | Dedicated to smackins

Ryo pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes for the fiftieth time that day. The others had suggested that he go outside and take a breather, maybe clear his head a little. It wasn’t working in the slightest. Not only had Kunemon followed him outside—the thing was like a ninja! He could barely hear him move!—but his head was still swirling with all the thoughts that kept bombarding the sides of his skull like bullets. Ha! Bullets! That was the last thing he needed to be worrying about right now!

Beside him, Kunemon sat quietly, his two front legs folded quietly in front of him. Resting his cheek on his right hand, Ryo peered down at him, narrowing his eyes. He supposed he was getting used to the weird creature, but it was hard. What did “Kew” even mean? How did the other monsters even understand any of that? He could barely wrap his head around where they were, much less try and figure out why this monster who spoke in chirps was following him around all the time. “Are you ever gonna be able to talk?”

Kunemon turned his head toward Ryo, his head tilting the slightest bit. In a way, that was fair—Ryo couldn’t remember if he’d interacted directly with Kunemon besides the screaming in the first few minutes. Since then, he’d only ever tried talking to the other kids… or to himself. After a few seconds, supposedly of making sure Ryo had indeed been speaking to him, Kunemon’s beak parted, and he let out a simple “Kewkew!” in response.

“Wish I had a translator around for this,” Ryo muttered, sighing. Besides the fact that he was probably going to get jumped at any moment, going off alone had been a terrible idea. Especially with this horrible communication problem between him and Kunemon.

“Guess we should go back,” he surmised, pushing himself to his feet and dusting himself off. Kunemon appeared to raise himself up on his legs, but it was hard to tell, considering he was so close to the ground compared to Ryo himself.

As they turned toward the school building, there was a popping noise behind him. Ryo nearly leaped six feet in the air. He whipped around so fast he nearly fell over. Kunemon made a chittering sound and leaped in front of him, not that his presence reassured Ryo at all. Where was Agumon and Takuma when he needed them?

A ball of blue light appeared out of nowhere, floating menacingly in front of them. It gradually widened, and Ryo took a nervous step back. In a few seconds, the blue sphere was more of a mirror-like shape, round and glowing. Kunemon scuttled near it, and if Ryo didn’t know any better, he’d say the little guy was sniffing the… whatever it was. Portal? It looked like a portal. But why would there be a portal here?

Did it lead back home?

There was a strange buzzing noise, and a large red insect came flying out of the portal. Ryo yelled and ducked down, using his arms to cover his head. Kunemon made a screeching noise, and a voice said, “Whoa! Sorry! I didn’t know there was anyone here.”

Looking up, Ryo saw the red insect thing land on the ground. Upon closer inspection, it seemed more like a robot bug than a full-fledged insect like Kunemon. Was this another strange creature? “Wh-what are you?”

“I’m Tentomon. And this is—Koushiro-han! Hurry up!”

“You’re the one who went flying through before I could check that the portal was stable.” Another voice sounded from the other side of the portal, a distinctly human voice. And Ryo was right, because out of the portal stepped a boy about his age, maybe a year or two older, with dark red hair and dark eyes. The boy was wearing his summer school uniform, a white collared shirt and a navy-blue tie paired with navy blue slacks and green shoes. He wasn’t familiar, though, which meant he probably hadn’t been on the camping trip. So much for a rescue operation.

“Oh, a person. Tentomon, are you sure we calibrated the portal correctly?” The boy opened a laptop computer he’d been holding under his arm, a frown crossing his face once he (assumedly) realized he had no connection. “That’s odd. If this was the Digital World, I would be able to connect.”

“Maybe this isn’t the Digital World, Koushiro-han!” Tentomon buzzed, gesturing his claws (were they claws?) at Kunemon and Ryo. “At least, I haven’t heard of more humans showing up there.”

“What the hell is the Digital World?” Ryo blurted, glancing back and forth between the two strangers. “Does it have anything to do with what’s going on around here?”

“I’m afraid not.” Koushiro closed his laptop and gave Ryo a guilty smile. “I think I accidentally opened a portal into a completely separate dimension from the one I intended. Well, I always suspected that was possible, what with the various gates, but to think I ended up in a totally different universe is…” He scratched the back of his head. “I wish I knew how I did it.”

Kunemon turned to Ryo, who hung his head in disappointment. “So definitely not a rescue party.”

“Rescue party?” Something flashed across Koushiro’s expression, and it was enough that Tentomon peered up at him. “Why are you waiting for a rescue party?”

Ryo gestured helplessly toward the school building. “The others and I are stuck here in these woods with these weird monsters, and we keep getting attacked every five seconds by something! Just last night we had to deal with a huge spider that nearly ate one of us!” Dokugumon’s face flashed in his mind, and he covered his eyes with a hand. “This place sucks!”

Above him, he heard Koushiro chuckle. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No, no.” Koushiro hid his smile behind his hand. “It’s just… This all sounds remarkably familiar. I went through something similar, you see, when I was in elementary school. About six years ago now.”

Kunemon let out another of his chirps, though this one sounded surprised and confused. Exactly how Ryo was feeling. Glancing up at Koushiro, who politely sat across from him, he murmured, “You’ve been stuck like this, too?”

“I have. And we were all much younger than you.” Koushiro lips turned up in a weak smile before he looked at Tentomon, placing his hand gently on the head of the robo-insect (Ryo still wasn’t sure which he was). “But we had our partners, and they kept us safe. They still keep us safe, even years later.”

Ryo looked at Kunemon. “Partners, huh.” He tentatively reached his hand out and placed it on Kunemon’s head, eliciting a delighted “Kew!” from the creature. The beginnings of a smile caused Ryo’s face to twitch at that. This wasn’t so bad. “I wonder if you’d be able to keep me safe, Kunemon. Not that I can understand you.”

“Tentomon, do you know what Kunemon is saying?” Koushiro turned to his partner creature, who began buzzing in thought.

“Sort of. He said, ‘Oh!’ in a surprised way. I think he’s not used to physical affection. But he seems to like it.”

For the first time since he’d gotten into this mess, Ryo let out a little chuckle of his own. “After all I’ve put him through, he deserves it.” His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked at Koushiro once more. “Do you think we’ll be able to make it out of this?”

“That’s up to you.” Koushiro placed his hand over his heart. “It’s up to you and the others to decide whether you’re going to make it out of this. You can’t just sit around waiting for it to happen.”

Ryo nodded. “That makes sense.” He looked at Kunemon and smiled. “Think we’re going to make it out of this, Kunemon?”

“Kew!”

“He says, ‘Let’s do it!’” Tentomon translated.

Koushiro pushed himself to his feet, and Ryo scrambled to do the same. “I should get back. I need to recalibrate the portal.” He held out his hand. “I wish you luck.”

Ryo took Koushiro’s hand and shook it. “Thanks. Good luck with your, ah, portal.”

“Thanks.” Koushiro turned toward his portal, and Tentomon saluted before flying through. “Oh, and by the way.” The boy turned back. “What was your name?”

“Ryo. Ryo Tominaga. Nice to meet you.”

“See you around, Ryo.” Koushiro stepped through the portal, and faster than it had appeared, it shrank in on itself until it was completely gone.

“Let’s head back, Kunemon.” Ryo slipped his hands into his pockets and smiled down at the little creature. Koushiro was right—working together was probably better than screaming and being afraid all the time. Now to put that into practice.

Scuttling along after him, Kunemon did a little hop, his beak turned up in what Ryo could only assume was a smile. “Kew kew!”

Ryo decided he liked the sound of that, whatever it meant.

[koushirouizumi]

Meanwhile with Digi-02's Daisuke+Co. [and some O.C.s]

Daisuke: So... O.C. Inter-national Chosen Shane, Casually Chilling Nearby in the place Daisuke's staying at because this O.C. absolutely *has nothing else to do* except Hang Around Daisuke Forever: Daisuke: WELL... Shane: DAISUKE: Shane: Daisuke: I mean... why me though? Shane: If I could have chosen to 'hang around' *my* {other?} friend (Mutual O.C. Hikaru) I would have by now. Daisuke, Maybe-Dating ? Hikaru: I know. Daisuke, Confuse: So.... Shane: YOU were the one who nearly killed *yourself* trying to use the Digimental of "Miracles" again after being warned NOT TO. DAISUKE: Daisuke: (Oh) Shane: Anyway, since you did that, you're stuck with me now. {Mutual O.C.} Hikaru can't see me anyway, I tried-- Daisuke: --When you were at Hikaru's place back then. When we were still teens (And you met ME.) Shane: right. Hikaru couldn't see me but YOU Could. Shane, Musing: Don't you think there's something strange about all this? It doesn't even feel like the right *narrative*. For either of us Daisuke: ("Narra-what?") Maybe, but... well, you were friendly to me "back then" too. Shane: (Yeah, maybe I Was.) It's not that I *dislike* you or anything Daisuke: Shane: Daisuke: Shane: ... Shane: Anyway, I don't hate you. I don't really "hate" anyone so. ("Too Much Effort.") Daisuke: (That's Ok... I guess) But then *why* are you... Shane: "Attached to the physical realm"? I don't know. Maybe there's "something else" I need to do here while stuck as "Digital". (And pretty much "dead".) Daisuke: Which is why you're... Shane: Hanging around *you*. Daisuke: (I might need to actually talk to Koushiro about this Issue, but I'm not sure *Koushiro* is able to see them either.) Shane: (Not possible. Tried there too. Not even Taichi. *You're* the one that came closest to "death", here. Which feels like it should be Saying Something if even *theM*---) Daisuke: (*groAN*) I get it, I get it...

[bagerfluff]

My Lap > Stupid Office Chair

Older Izumi Koushiro x Non-Binary Reader

Prompt - Sitting in someone's lap

“Get out of my chair”, Koushiro said while glaring at you.

You placed your foot down to stop the chair from spinning. You stopped it so you were facing Koushiro. You looked at a slightly blurry Koushiro, “No, this is fun”, you said before going back to spinning.

Koushiro sighed, he had only left for a few minutes and he came back to you spinning in his chair. Normally Koushiro wouldn’t care, but he needed to work.

And to work he needed to sit in his chair.

The one you were currently spinning around in.

No matter what Koushiro did, he couldn't get you out of his chair. Koushiro looked over to his right, Tentomon and your Digimon were peacefully eating some food that you brought to Koushiro’s office.

You had come to Koushiro’s office a few hours after he did, you had nothing to do. Koushiro thought you wanted help with something or needed a quiet place to study or something like that.

But no, you just wanted to see him.

That’s what you said, “I just wanted to hang out with you, you’ve been busy this past week”. That may have made Koushiro’s heart beat faster.

You hadn’t really done anything since you got here though. You mostly talked with the Digimon, watched TV, or asked Koushiro what he was working on. But now, you were being a little annoying.

“Come on Y/n, I have to work”, Koushiro said. He tried not to make his voice sound as mad as he was. You stopped spinning again, facing Koushiro with a smile on your face. “That’s why you want me to get off?”

You asked, which made Koushiro confused. Yes, that's what Koushiro wanted. Koushiro nodded, and you smirked. You leaned up and grabbed Koushiro’s arm.

Koushiro was about to say something but his words got caught in his throat. You had pulled Koushiro into your lap. He was sitting with his back to your chest and Koushiro could feel your arms wrap around his waist.

Koushiro’s face got red and his heart started beat increased again. You moved yourself up so you were sitting straight, “you know, this isn’t as fun as spinning around but”, you buried your head in Koushiro’s shoulder, “I like it”.

Koushiro squirmed around in your arms. “L-let m-me g-go”, Koushiro stuttered. You turned your head so you were facing Koushiro but your head was still on his shoulder.

“But this is what you wanted right? This is what I want too. I want to stay in your chair and you want to work”, you said. Koushiro looked down at his lap.

Your hands were clasped right in the middle of his lap. Koushiro liked the feeling. He could feel your breath on his shoulder and your heart beat on his back.

Koushiro nodded and looked up at his computer and turned it on, it had fallen asleep during all of this. You smiled and placed a kiss on Koushiro’s shoulder blade.

Which didn’t help his blush.

[lightchildofthespring]

Awkward story time. So, I had begun writing chapter 13 of “The fantastic adventures of Takeru Takaishi” (AU story, kind of weird and difficult to explain the plot) and, after writing three pages of Koushiro angst, I realized that I had already sort of established in chapter 9 a different death for Mr. izumi, so... I couldn’t actually include this whole part in chapter 13 because it would contradict chapter 9.

But I already wrote the whole scene and can’t just erase it now. Well, I can, but I don’t want to. Anyway, if anyone wants some out of context AU Koushiro angst (and a bit of taishiro angst, maybe), I’ll just leave this here.

When he was fourteen years old, by his calculations, Koushiro had dreamed about Mr. Izumi riding his favorite horse, Thunder. Then, the horse got frightened by a snake... Mr. Izumi fell from the black horse, hitting his head on a nearby rock.

He woke up, shaking. Although he had been having nightmares like those every night since he had resurrected, that had been the first time it had involved someone he knew. Masami Izumi, the kind elderly man who, along with his wife, had allowed him to live in their farm since he was rescued from the ocean... Koushiro had just seen his death.

“Save the people you'll see be wronged. Show me that you're not another selfish human being.”

Justine's words echoes in his mind. He had to save him! But how? Koushiro had never told the Izumis about his past on Shrimp Island, about how his parents were killed and he fell from a cliff, much less about how he met Justine and gained the ability to see the future. He couldn't just tell them the truth, he couldn't... they wouldn't believe him... who would believe in such a story? Nevertheless, he had to do something!

That night, he went to the stable and freed that horse. Koushiro watched as the animal trotted towards the horizon. That should be enough. He had saved Mr. Izumi's life.

The next morning, Koushiro woke up to only find Mrs. Izumi at home.

“The Kurosawa boys came here earlier, they said they had seen Thunder on the open fields. Masami must've forgotten to close the stable last night,” she explained. “Masami went to retrieve him. He should be back soon.”

As dread filled him, he ran past the woman and left the house, not answering when she asked where he was going. No, please! No! Don't ride that horse, please! Koushiro begged, mentally. Maybe if he ran fast enough, he could find Mr. Izumi in time. He could still save him!

However, before Koushiro could take twenty steps, he saw old man Kurosawa coming in his direction, pulling his white horse by the saddle. On the horse's back lay the corpse of Mr Izumi.

As Mrs. Izumi screamed and ran towards her husband, Koushiro felt as if all his strength had left him.

“Masami was already on his way back with Thunder when the horse got scared by a snake,” old man Kurosawa told Mrs. Izumi. “It all happened too fast, there was nothing anyone could do... a true tragedy!”

He had done that... Koushiro was the one who had caused that... he had a vision of a tragedy he would be responsible for... in trying to save Mr. Izumi, Koushiro had killed him. Never, in his entire existence, had he felt despair like that.

The funeral took place that afternoon. Overridden by guilt, Koushiro remained silent the entire time, not responding to anyone. Not even Taichi's words, nor Hikari's, were able to reach him. Koushiro couldn't hear anything, he couldn't see anything. His mind kept replaying Mr. Izumi's death over and over again, and he kept repeating to himself: I killed him!

He wandered off, not noticing that Taichi and Hikari were following him. Until he felt someone pulling on him and pressing his body against the ground.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU IDIOT!” Taichi cried, on his back; he was the one pining him down. It was when Koushiro looked ahead and noticed where he had been heading.

“I was... walking towards that cliff?” Koushiro asked no one in particular. “I was going to fall...”

Again.

Taichi turned Koushiro over to face him. The other was crying profusely.

“Don't you ever do this again! Don't you ever scare me like this again!” Taichi shouted. “Promise me you'll never do something like this again!”

“Mrs. Izumi can't be left alone now,” Hikari told Koushiro in a serious tone. “She already lost her husband, she can't lose you as well! If you don't think of yourself, then think of her! Do you want her to suffer more?”

Koushiro tried to speak, but found himself unable to. All his words were lost, replaced by grunts of guilt and desperation. He felt as his eyes got flooded by tears. There was nothing that could stop them from falling down.

Taichi sat up and pulled him up, to a tight hug.

“We're here for you! We'll always be here for you! You're not alone!” Taichi told him, trembling.

Hikari got close to Koushiro and whispered in his ear:

“What happened today was inevitable. It wasn't your fault. I know you were just trying to help him. He knows that too.”

After saying that, Hikari stepped back, showing Koushiro a sad smile. Hikari knew... he didn't know how, but she did. And she was telling him that what had happened hadn't been his fault. Hikari was mysteriously wise, she knew things nobody else could know. If she was telling him that, it had to be true.

“I'm sorry...” Koushiro said, hoping that Mr. Izumi could hear him. “I'm so sorry!”

Hikari held one of his hands and told him:

“You are forgiven.”

[izumiyagami14]

Rain on windows

Day 13-16: rain/shine

summary: while waiting for the rest of their friends to arrive, Koushiro and Hikari have time to talk about the rain… @koushirohikari

“Looks like we are the first ones here,” Hikari let out a breath, gazing out the damp window at the glowing neon lights from afar. The soft glow of pink and red from the bright sign that screamed Bowling for Ice Cream fell delicately on her pale skin.

“Looks like it.” The response came from the boy in the driver seat as he clicked the car into park. Koushiro’s eyes avoided the warm, naturally radiant figure in the passenger seat and looked out at the cool raindrops slowly drifting down the side of his window. He sighed, thinking about the numerous miscalculations his friends made prior to this moment.

One minute he was over at the Yagami residence discussing different cheat codes in a new game that he was playing with Taichi, and then the next Taichi received a phone call from Mimi. She was in town from America and wanted to see if the group could meet up for a couple rounds of bowling and some ice cream. So the two masterminds on the phones exchanged plans, rather poorly, how the group would meet. Taichi insisted on picking up everyone in his new SUV, but once he realized that his car can only sit six people, it was too late. It was then that Taichi asked Koushiro to drive Hikari to the place while he kept his promise and drove the rest of the group. It took some convincing, but Koushiro complied to the request. He didn’t realize until now how much extra time he was going to have now…

Now he sat there, staring at the falling raindrops sliding down the window, patiently waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. He wondered how the rain could create such an infinite amount of little droplets each reflecting the fluorescent lights to put on a silent show. He pondered on what emotion flooded into his mind when observing such a display. Sadness? Confusion? Longing? He couldn’t pinpoint it.

He looked over at the girl sitting next to him for an answer. She mirrored his actions, except she was tracing the drops with her tiny finger as they fell from view of the window. His eyes narrowed a bit, analyzing her actions to see if he could pick up her thoughts. Was she conducting a race with the water droplets? Or was she thinking the same questions he was? Koushiro caught a glimpse of light in her eyes when she placed her hand down on her lap and kept her gaze to the rain. Was it longing, too? Or was it filled with hope? She didn’t seem to look at the rain sadly, but rather looking for her love in the rain.

“Why do people associate rain with sadness?” She said, quiet enough for him to hear.

Her voice caught him off guard, causing him to look out the windshield. He let out an unknowingly held breath. “What makes you say that, Hikari?”

“Well,” she began, a bit hesitant in her next words. “For most, rain makes people sad. They had a negative connotations it. Connecting bad feelings to something that is not necessarily bad.”

Koushiro slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, make sense. So what are you trying to get at?”

She took a breath and looked at the boy next to her. “It is important to know that the rain can make some people sad, but only until we see closely the beauty of a single raindrop is when we start to appreciate the little things in life.” She brought her gaze up to meet the boy’s dark eyes. A nervous laugh escaped her lips as she shook her head and looked at her hands on her lap. “I mean, I guess I never had any negative feelings toward the rain.”

“So you have positive ones?”

She smiled softly, light from the environment reflecting off it. “With Taichi. We used to wish for rain so badly so we could jump and play in the puddles.” Then she started to giggle. “Or with Sora and Mimi. We went window shopping when it started to downpour. All we could do was laugh like crazy because there was nothing we could do.” She then paused for a moment. “I think those are some of my favorite memories with them.”

Koushiro chuckled at her stories. “I see.”

A hum came from the passenger seat. “Do you have any favorite memories with any of our friends?”

Koushiro turned his head to face her. Their eyes met, making Hikari let out another nervous laugh.

“I mean, it doesn’t necessarily have to do with rain, so anything could do.” The words rushed out of her mouth to fill the vacant air between them.

Koushiro brought a pondering hand up to his chin in thought. “Who were you thinking?”

“Taichi.” His name was the first one to pop in her head.

He stopped and thought for a couple minutes, thoroughly running through all the records and files in his brain to think of a find memory he has associated with that name. “I think when Taichi and I stopped for some snacks on the way to movie theater. He tried to shove as many treats and snacks into his shirt as he can without being suspicious.” He looked over at Hikari’s raised eyebrow. “Taichi paid for them, of course. He just looked so ridiculous!”

Hikari could help but smile and moved her gaze back to him. “How about Sora?”

He again stopped and thought for a couple minutes before speaking. “When she brought me some yellow flowers for my promotion I received at my job.

“Yamato?”

A couple beats passed by before Koushiro could answer. “Probably when he came over to help me study. He started playing his harmonica, and I swear it is the only thing that helped me pass that exam.”

She laughed at that that story. “Excuse me, what? Yamato helped you?”

He chuckled and looked at her. “Yes, I hate to admit it sometimes,but I don’t know everything.”

She laughs hung in the air for a bit before the drops of rain overwhelmed it. A pause intruded before she broke in. “What about me?”

In an instant, Koushiro looked down at her hands and smile softly Hikari could see the memory flowing easily through the boy’s mind as he spoke. “It was at your house. Taichi invited me over, but for some reason, he wasn’t home yet. Just you. You suggested that we play Nintendo in Taichi’s room. After some negotiations, we agreed on Mario Kart. You said you were not good at that game, but you managed to win every round. And every round, you were so happy to take the lead and win. You would laugh, cheer, and pretend to be a sore winner by rubbing it in my face. But I know we were just playing around and buying time before your brother came home. Seeing you smile was better than winning I suppose.”

When eyes reached her, the realization of what he just said hit him the a turtle shell in Mario Kart. His cheeks felt hot and he started to stutter. “I mean, there are so many memories with you, it’s so hard to pick one…”

She leaned toward him to catch his dark eyes in hers again. “I guess we will have to make more then.”

The tiny taps of the raindrops on the roof of the car played with the pitter-patter of his heartbeat. Before he could respond, solid knocks bombarded the pair. Koushiro turned his head to see a taller boy.

“Hey, guys; we’re all here! Sorry it took so long! Let’s get going; I’m hungry!” Taichi screamed through the still-closed window and started to walk toward the entrance of the bowling alley. The group of the remaining Digidestined were right behind the leader. Taichi started splashing in the puddles, gaining some scowls from Yamato and Sora and some light laughter for Takeru.

Koushiro slowly turned to look back at Hikari. She only shrugged her shoulders.

“Ready to go?” She asked.

“I guess so,” he responded.

As they both exited, the rain continued to pour heavily; however, it did not give Koushiro a negative feeling like prior. The rain falling down on him reminded him of Hikari. It was falling rather hard, and now, he was too.

[dutchforstrangers]

Digiweek 2021 - Day 4 Dark/Light | Shades of red; a Taikoura fanfiction

Chapter 4/7. Amory

Chapters [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Characters: Taichi Yagami & Hikari Yagami (background Koushiro Izumi & Sora Takenouchi) Genre: Hurt/comfort, family Rating: T Wordcount: 2.179

!Trigger Warning!: Depression, angsty feelings

Art by Sanni @seventeenlovesthree

The untouched phone on his bedside table had been there for days, only using it to call in sick to work. He had been in this state before, when he was only seventeen. Back then he was more resilient, better able to hide it all away. Now, more than ten years later, it was tough to put on that mask again, even though the reason was a much more different one.

Everything tasted the same, everything smelled the same. All the clothes he owned felt heavy and itchy around his skin. Actually, everything felt heavy around him. His stomach dropped to the bottom, his legs feeling as if filled with a thousand stones making every step heavier and tougher to make. Not to mention his heart felt at pain due to all the doubt and confusion that was consuming him.

The bright lights that lit up the sky outside the window pane of his childhood bedroom were nothing more than unwanted distraction to him. The noise that came from the lights got mixed up with the constant beeping of his phone. He knew what those beeping sounds meant, but he didn’t care. Just like he didn’t care about the colors anymore, they no longer had meaning. Through his eyes they all looked the same, plain and dark grey with no specific color and no specific shades. No blues, no greens, no yellow, pink, purple, orange or red.

Red…

Taichi sure had been a mess before, but this plight felt as if someone had extinguished a harmless fire. His fire. Taking away all his precious reds.

A soft knock on his door made him wake up from his ever heavier growing thoughts. Even though the knock wasn’t as loud as the fireworks nor his phone beeping, he could still hear it. It usually meant food was brought to him, but knowing it was past 12am he expected something different. He expected the same thing as those beeping noises wanted to tell him. So he buried his face deeper into the pillow, telling the one behind the door to come in anyway, his voice muffled by the pillow.

“Happy new year,” he heard Hikari softly say as she took place on the edge of his bed. He lifted his head slightly so she was able to hear him without his voice being muffled against the pillow again.

“Did you close the door?” Taichi asked her, not wanting their parents to interfere too. He had celebrated Christmas at their place and was supposed to go home afterwards. Instead he had found himself staying after he felt himself slipping into a deep dark hole, not able to take care of himself anymore. Somewhere deep inside he felt grateful for their care, he knew that, it was just hard to show it.

He looked up when no verbal answer came only to see Hikari nod in the confirmative, his bedroom door behind her indeed closed.

“They are worried you know…”

He knew that, but he didn’t care. And as much as he wanted to care, he simply couldn’t. He didn’t know how to anymore. Just like he didn’t know a lot more. It reminded him that literally everything looked and felt grey.

“I’m worried too…” Hikari continued. Taichi turned his head towards Hikari, his eyes now looking at his younger sister. If there was one person in the world who could drag him out of darkness and depth, it was this girl sitting on his bed. He knew she was worried, he could feel it and it did have an effect on him. But just like everything else he didn’t feel able to properly act on it. So he stayed quiet, replying with a swallow as he let his head hang down, gently nodding to let her know he knew she was worried.

They stayed quiet for a little while. Taichi just stared into the unknown while Hikari played with her fingers. “Do you have any new year’s resolutions?” She eventually broke the silence. He had no answer to that.

“Taichi please, talk to me…”

He had no answer to that either.

“Taichi…” She tried again which he answered with another silence. “Taichi!”

Unable to ignore his sister, growing agitated he replied “Just go, I—”

“No.” She interrupted. “I’m staying and we’re going to talk. Like it or not.” Her voice was louder than usual, determined and worried. This affected Taichi and he couldn’t ignore her anymore. He sat up as straight as he could on his bed against the wall, taking the pillow with him to tightly hug it against his from the heaviness aching stomach.

“Listen, I don’t know what’s happening underneath that big brown mess of yours, but the last time you were like this I had to yell at you too. To wake you up… And I’m doing it again if I have to.”

“I already received that note,” he said, tiredness seeping through his words. “Go ahead, scream. I can take it.”

“I rather talk to you instead of yelling, so let’s start with that.”

Taichi sighed, biting his lip, hugging the pillow a little tighter as he decided to talk, no matter how heavy it felt. She deserved to know at least something. “I have this strange feeling in my stomach upon seeing or thinking about a… er, certain someone…? My head gets dizzy, I can’t think straight, I feel both nauseous and happy at the same time… Hikari, I’m confused…”

As he looked at her he saw her smiling, letting out a giggle and shaking her head a bit. He didn’t understand what was so funny, but before he could ask her, she already spoke.

“Sounds like you’re in love.”

He was. “It’s complicated…” He hesitated.

“Hm-mh, I bet.”

“No like, really complicated.”

“Then tell me what you mean exactly with ‘really complicated’.”

This was it. The one thing he was trying to avoid. The one thing that had him slip down. And now his sister had asked him to give it a name. Them a name. The darkness surrounding him was slowly fading at the moment Hikari stepped into the room and forced him to talk. His thoughts were getting a bit more clear and he felt a spark of courage glowing inside of him, ready to open up. Even if it was just a little bit.

“Er… There’s this… boy…” Taichi said, almost in a whispering tone. He could feel his face lit up a little by the thought of him alone. A small blush. He remembered the color pink.

“So you are—”

“… and a girl.” He quickly added, not wanting Hikari to think he was gay. Was he? Maybe…? His face lit up a little more, seeing the face of the girl before his eyes. He couldn’t be gay when he felt the exact same towards the girl as he felt towards the boy. Was he bi? Could be… Taichi felt more like he could fall in love with anyone, as long as he felt attracted to him or her. Or they. Them.

His mind started racing. Trying to focus he checked Hikari for her reaction. She was thinking, processing everything he had told her moments before. Taichi felt anxiety kicking in, afraid she would think he was weird. That he needed help. Maybe he did need help…

“As in you’re in love with a boy and a girl? At the same time?” She eventually asked him, sounding more curious than judging.

“I guess…” He answered, looking confused at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking. But he wasn’t able to read her. “I told you it’s complicated. No one is able to safe me from this. Neither are you.” He panicked.

“Safe you from this? From what? Who said you need to be saved?”

“Hikari,” he said, desperate feelings kicking in, “how can one be in love with two persons?! I do have to make a choice, for myself. But it’s so incredibly hard, I can’t just make a choice. Hell, I don’t want to make a choice. But I can’t have both.” His eyes widened, his heartrate quickly speeding up. Anxiety took over, afraid he would lose everything. Lose them. Hikari seemed confused herself, but Taichi rambled on anyway. “I don’t want to ruin the bond I have with them and dating will only make it worse. Besides, what if the other, or worse both of them, can’t answer my feelings—”

“But why would you make a choice?”

From one moment to another his heart dropped, skipping a beat. He had to make a choice, right? Hikari looked at him, stern eyes filled with hints of concern. Taichi wasn’t sure if she just wanted to be polite by taking his side or that she wanted to make an actual point. But for some reason that one question made him feel lighter. She always made him feel lighter. Lighter from both the heaviness and the darkness.

“I said why would you make a choice when you can have both?” She repeated herself, now a bit more urgent.

“Is that a thing?” Boy, did he wanted that to be a thing.

She shrugged, a small smile marking her facial expression, showing him the sweetness he had been missing the past few days. “Apparently there’s this thing called polyamory…” She had said it with an open ending, probably to make him curious. However, it only made him confused more. Something Hikari must have seen, so she continued, the teacher inside of her taking over.

“Polyamory is not so much of a sexual identity, but you could see it as a way of life. It means that you can have more than one relationships at the same time. It’s a beautiful concept and if you’d ask me, I think it fits you. Taichi, you have so much love to give and it wouldn’t be fair to yourself or anyone if you’d shield yourself from any kind of love. Especially a love you want or need.”

Why was she always like this? His mind went blank. He heard everything she said, but couldn’t respond. She definitely made his dark lighter and lighter, bringing back the taste, smell and colors bit by bit. Still that elusive feeling of unknowingness lingered on in a way it felt like it would never leave him alone.

“I think you should confess. It will lighten things up, for you and for them.” She stated when another silence took her too long.

“But how?”

“Well, that’s something you have to figure out yourself. And I’m sure you’re able to do it on your own.” She said standing up from the bed. As she turned around her soothing eyes met his tired ones, tears stung behind his.

“I don’t know…” He sounded vulnerable feeling so incredibly unknowing. But Hikari smiled anyway.

“See it as your new year’s resolutions.” She raised one finger. “Research polyamory,” she raised another, “confess to the ones you love,” and eventually a third, “and become more open about your feelings in general.”

Taichi stared at those three fingers she was holding up in the air. It sounded and looked so easy, but he knew it wouldn’t be as near as easy as she made it sound like. “That’s easier said than done.” He sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

“I know. But you can do it, you’ll figure it out. Just… give yourself some time.”

With those words one single tear rolled down his face. Time was such a relative thing. The last few days he had seen the clock ticking, but it meant nothing to him. The days had been feeling long yet short. Mostly heavy and dark and tiring and useless. But time could also be seen as a solution to his unknowingness. A solution he couldn’t see himself due to all the darkness. Luckily for Taichi he had his sister to bring him the light he needed.

The sound of the fireworks outside died down, a few small explosions could be heard vaguely in the distance. He nodded to Hikari, showing her his gratitude before she walked over to the door of his bedroom.

“Hey Taichi…?” While turning the knob of the door she turned around, her voice filled with carefulness and softness yet sounding curious and a tad bold.  

“Yeah?”

“It’s about Sora-san and Koushiro-san, isn’t it?”

Taichi’s jaw dropped, not expecting her to know that.

“I’ve seen the way you look at them and they truly brighten you up in return.” She continued. Knowing things he was unknowing of. Understanding things he barely understood. And though it was still present, she was able to take away some of the heaviness in his legs, stomach, head and heart. Bringing back the colors and the red he loved so much. All thanks to the light Hikari shined.

He was unknowing. But what Taichi did know was that he could rely on her. Her presence always the reliable light that would guide him through his darkness and back to reality.