I'll admit that I'm sort of an off and on fan of Digimon. There's some times whenever I can't get enough of it, and others where I completely forget about it. This is during one of the on moments, though. Anyway, I've only just thought of this idea a few minutes before writing this, so I apologize if it's not very well thought out.
It was another day in the city of Shinjuku. Two months have passed since the defeat of the D-Reaper, and life has gone back to normal, or at least as normal as you could get considering the city got nearly wiped off of the map.
Inside the building where the headquarters of Hypnos is located, Yamaki was staring at the screen inside of the control center, absentmindedly flipping his lighter open and closed repeatedly.
As for Riley and Tally, they were both hard at work in their seats keeping an eye out for any new breaches between their world and the Digital World. However, there hasn't even been a blip for god knows how long now, so they didn't really have much to do.
Tired, Riley lifted her visor and looked over at Tally. However, before she could say something to her, she noticed Yamaki standing where he was.
"Sir, are you alright?"
The click of the lighter stopped.
"I'm fine. I've just been thinking."
Tally removed her visor as well as she spoke up.
"Really? What about?"
"It's been two months since the D-Reaper was destroyed, and there's been only minimal activity within the plane between our two worlds. I'm beginning to think it might be a good time to take a break and head out for once."
"But, are you sure, sir? Shouldn't we be here just in case a Wild One shows up?" asked Riley.
The flat stare Yamaki had on his face gave Riley enough of an answer, as she remembered the fact that there have been no sightings in over a month.
Sighing, she turned towards Tally.
"Do you want to go get something to eat?"
"Sure, I'd love to. How about you, sir?"
Yamaki paused to think before answering.
"No thanks. I'm gonna head to my office."
Riley opened her mouth to try to convince Yamaki to come, but she noticed Tally shake her head, and she knew that meant to let him go.
"Is there any time that you want us to come back?" she asked.
"Don't worry about it. Take all the time you need."
Both Riley and Tally traded looks before lowering their chairs and hopping out of them, heading out the door as Yamaki continued to stare at the screen.
In his mind, Yamaki was debating whether or not to do what he told the girls he would do. As much as he wanted to keep an eye on the screen to see if there was any activity, he knew that it was useless, especially considering how long it had been.
So, after a few more seconds of thought, he put his lighter into his pocket and turned away from the screen, heading through the door as he decided that he was going to get some lunch himself.
However, just as the door closed behind him and he began making his way towards the front door of the building, nine blips suddenly appeared on the radar before disappearing a few seconds later.
Inside the confines of West Shinjuku Park, Takato Matsuki and his friends were enjoying the nice day, having just gotten out of school. Kazu and Kenta were playing a round of the Digimon card game in their usual spot while Suzie was watching. Sitting just outside of the structure were Rika and Ryo, who were spending their free time resting, looking up into the sky.
Finally, sitting next to a tree near where everyone else was Takato, Henry and Jeri. Compared to everyone else, there was a much lighter atmosphere between the three of them, as they laughed and talked.
"Man, it's great just having the chance to talk and not have to worry about anything for once." said Takato as he leaned against the tree.
"What, you mean besides school?" asked Henry.
"Well, yeah. School doesn't exactly compare to fighting against something like the D-Reaper."
Both Henry and Jeri's faces fell, looking away from Takato as they remembered what they had to go through that day. Realizing what he said, Takato attempted to change the subject.
"Sorry about that. I didn't realize that it was still a bit of a touchy subject. Anyway, how did your day go, Henry?"
Unfortunately, rather than answer his question, Henry asked something that caught Takato off guard.
"Hey Takato, do you ever think about Guilmon sometimes?"
Takato nervously scratched the back of his neck, not sure how he should answer the question. Although he did understand why they had to go back to the Digital World, he still missed his friend quite a lot.
Even though he would never publicly admit it, every time Takato was in his room, he would pull his old D-Power out of his drawer and spend some time staring at it, hoping that something would happen. Unfortunately, it remained blank to this day.
"Uh…well, yeah. I mean, why wouldn't I, especially with all of the stuff that we went through?"
Takato looked at Henry, hoping that his expression didn't lead to Henry asking more questions than he wanted to answer. Thankfully, though, he appeared to be satisfied, and Takato took the opportunity to ask the question himself.
"How about you?"
Henry paused for a second before answering.
"Sometimes. Although I imagine Suzie must have taken it a bit harder than I did."
With Henry having given his answer, Takato was about to turn to ask Jeri when he suddenly realized that with what happened with Jeri's partner, she might not be taking this conversation too well.
But as Takato nervously met his eyes with Jeri, he found that she wasn't depressed at all. She was actually still in a pretty positive mood. Takato didn't even have to ask her the question, as she immediately went into her answer.
"Whenever I'm feeling down, I think about what Leomon said to me."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, though? Doesn't it just remind you of what happened?" asked Takato.
Both Takato and Henry looked at Jeri, nervous that being reminded of Leomon's death would just lead her down a dark path. However, what she said next made them realize how ridiculous that sounded.
"Yeah, I do. It does hurt sometimes, but I know that he wanted me to be strong, no matter what happens in life. That helps quite a lot."
"It's good to see you're putting all that past you, Jeri. We were getting worried about you when that was happening."
Jeri smiled.
"Thanks for sticking with me, you guys."
Henry and Takato smiled back, but just as they were about to change the subject and talk about something else, Takato noticed Rika walking up towards them.
"Hey Rika. What's up?"
"Nothing. I just figured I'd join you guys since Ryo's not exactly being very open at the moment."
Takato looked over at Ryo, who was still in the same place that he remembered seeing him last, still staring into space. Takato gave him a weird look before returning his focus to the group in front of him.
However, before they could continue talking, Henry suddenly got up.
"I'd better head over there so I can keep an eye on Suzie. I'm pretty sure Kenta and Kazu are too busy with their game to bother."
Without waiting for an answer, Henry walked over to where Ryo was sitting, standing on his toes as he looked into the structure.
"You doing alright in there, Suzie?"
"I'm fine, Henwy." said Suzie as she turned around to face her big brother.
"Alright. I'll be right outside if you need me. Hopefully these two don't cause you any trouble." he said as he looked at Kazu and Kenta.
"Hey, I heard that!" said Kazu as he gave Henry an annoyed look.
However, Henry simply rolled his eyes before sitting down next to Ryo, giving him a look before deciding to strike up a conversation.
"You still in there, Ryo?"
When he didn't reply, Henry snapped his fingers in front of Ryo's face a couple times, finally snapping him out of it.
"Oh…hi, Henry. Sorry, I was a little out of it."
Ryo added a nervous chuckle, but Henry wasn't too worried about it.
"Well, as long as you're still with us, that's fine. Anyway, was there something on your mind?"
Ryo paused before answering.
"To be honest, yeah. After living in the Digital World for so long, it's kind of tough to get used to real life again. I'm not really sure if I'm cut out for this."
"Don't say that, Ryo! You'll get used to it. Sure, it's gonna take some time, but it'll be worth it in the end."
Ryo smiled.
"Thanks for the support."
Henry simply nodded, before he noticed that the street lamps were turning on.
"It's getting late. We should be getting home."
Ryo nodded, standing up and walking towards the other group. Henry, meanwhile, stuck his head back in the structure where Kazu, Kenta and Suzie were.
"Come on, you guys. It's getting late."
As Henry helped Suzie down from the structure, Kenta groaned.
"Awww…I was actually doing good for once!"
"Hey, I was just having an off game! That's not gonna happen again." said Kazu, giving Kenta a look.
Reluctantly, the two packed away their cards before they hopped out of the structure and headed towards everyone else just as they said their goodbyes and started to head home.
Takato finally made it back home just as the sun finally set to find his parents closing up the bakery for the night.
"Hi, mom! Hi, dad!"
Both Takehiro and Yoshie looked up from their work to find Takato standing in front of them with his bag slung around his shoulder, smiling.
"Hey, Takato. How did school go?"
"It was fine, dad. It actually went pretty well for once."
Takato was about to head upstairs to stow his bag in his room when his mother suddenly spoke up.
"Hey Takato, I'm sorry to have to send you out at this time of night, but would you mind doing us a huge favor?"
Takato looked at his mom curiously.
"Uh, what kind of favor?"
Rather than answer, Takehiro ducked behind the counter and pulled out a large basket full of bread.
"We just received an order not too long ago, and we just finished it when you came in. Would you mind taking it out to where it's supposed to go? The address isn't too far from here."
"Yeah, I'd do it myself, but we've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to make dinner yet." said Yoshie.
Takato didn't really expect to have a job to do so soon after getting home, but he knew he couldn't just refuse to do it.
"Okay, mom. Just give me a second to put my bag up in my room and I'll take care of it."
She nodded, and Takato ran up the stairs to his room, tossing his bag on his bed. However, he paused before heading back down the stairs, walking over to his drawer and pulling his D-Power out once again.
He continued to stare into the screen, trying to see if anything would happen, but of course the screen remained as blank as ever.
Sighing, he was about to put it back into the drawer when his mother's voice came from downstairs.
"Takato, what's taking you so long? The bread's getting cold!"
Takato started, not realizing how long he was taking. He immediately turned around and ran towards his door, absentmindedly slipping his D-Power into his pocket and heading out the door.
"Sorry, mom! I'm heading out right now!"
Takato quickly grabbed the basket and headed out the front door, completely unaware of the arrow that suddenly appeared on his D-Power.
Thankfully, Takato managed to deliver the basket of bread to the customer and collect his payment without any problems.
As he began making his way back home, his mind began to wander as he listened to the chatter of some of the people walking near him. However, as he listened, Takato began to hear a weird noise that was cutting through everything else. Confused, he looked around for the source.
Unfortunately, he found nothing that could have made that kind of noise in the area. Still confused, he was about to just ignore it and head home when he realized that there was vibrating coming from his pocket.
Reaching in, he found that he had his D-Power with him and he realized that he must have forgotten to put it back into the drawer. But when he caught a look at the screen, his eyes widened in surprise.
"What the…?"
There was a large arrow on the screen, pointing towards the direction he just came from.
As much as Takato wanted to follow the arrow and see where it would go, he knew that his parents would probably end up getting worried about him. He debated in his head for a few moments before deciding he was gonna be quick and hope that they wouldn't be too mad.
So, he began following the arrow, running through the city as it continually changed directions. Takato was already beginning to think that the D-Power was leading him on a wild goose chase.
"I shouldn't have done this. They're gonna be so mad." he said to himself, giving his D-Power a couple whacks with his hand.
After another few minutes of following the arrow, Takato found himself in front of a tunnel, unsure of whether he should try to go in or not. He sighed heavily, deciding that there must have been some reason he was led here.
"Here goes nothing."
Takato began making his way into the tunnel, but he didn't have to go far before a pair of yellow eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness.
Takato froze, thinking that he might have disturbed some kind of animal's nest. He began to slowly back out of the tunnel.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."
He finally reached the end of the tunnel and stepped into the open air once more before realizing that the eyes were still there. He froze in place once more, hoping that it wouldn't attack him, when a voice he recognized almost immediately came from the tunnel.
"Takatomon?"
Takato's jaw nearly fell open.
"G-Guilmon?"
