Adventures of the Spore Kids

Episode 3: Takashi's Team

Author's Notes: This story covers Takashi, the younger brown haired boy who wanted to be a baseball player and who got a Poyomon for a partner. Enjoy!

Date: January 24th, 2004

Time: 4:00 pm

Place: An indoor Little League-sized baseball field, somewhere in Odaiba...

Takashi kissed his mom goodbye as he scooped up his baseball and bat in one hand and Poyomon in the other. He was excited because today's meeting was themed around baseball, and there was going to be a pickup game all the kids where going to play!

He had been told in an email that the kids would have to come straight from school with any baseball equipment they had, so Takashi had made arrangements with his mom to bring his ball and bat with her in the car after he was picked up from school. Now Takashi need to know where to put the stuff...

As he looked around, he thought of what had happened over the previous month. His family had gotten used to having Poyomon around, even if his dad sometimes derided the Digimon as a "squishy ghost". Meanwhile Takashi himself had some leftover feelings to deal with: he had recognized Ken but refused to listen to his pleas to not accept the Spore, which lead to the conclusion that he could've done something to stop the agony but didn't... and with that came guilt as well. Also, he was the first out of all of the younger kids to recognize that Oikawa had not taken them to the Digital World as promised, and Takashi had felt at least partly responsible for the agony unleashed in the wake of his statement.

Though getting Poyomon was a good thing, Takashi would forever think of that New Year's Eve as "the day innocence died", for seeing all the hurt in the older kids and all of the other kids scared into self-defeating thinking merged to create a depressingly sorrowful impact on his outlook. Fortunately, much talking with Ken combined with seeing the positive impact in Noriko and Hiroshi over the previous two meetings had broken what feelings he had built up the previous weeks and also had allowed him to make several new friends. Now his life was slowly returning to some semblance of normalcy, assisted by helpful emails sent by various older kids on dealing with a number of issues.

However, looking around at the various kids and Digimon running around on the field nearby, waiting for the game to begin, Takashi knew that some things would never be normal...

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Takashi noticed two of the older kids talking nearby, one of which he quickly recognized as Ken. He rushed over to where they were talking and caught part of their conversation:

"Relax, T.K. We'll be able to make it work somehow." Ken was saying.

"But are they even able to play? Do they know the rules?" T.K. replied, pulling uneasily at the brim of his soft white hat.

"Which 'they' are you talking about...?" Ken started to ask before noticing, out of the corner of his eye, Takashi looking up at them.

Takashi blushed as Ken and T.K. stared down at him. He mentally debated whether to ask them his question, but before he could do anything T.K. asked him what he was looking for.

"Umm... where do I put these?" Takashi stated, holding up his ball and bat.

T.K. pointed to a small rack with a box underneath it. Takashi thanked him and went over to the rack. He slipped his bat into an empty spot in the rack and tossed the ball into the box.

As he looked back up, he noticed Patamon laying on T.K.'s head and pointed it out to T.K. "Thank you, but it isn't a problem." T.K. replied as the younger boy walked back over. "He gets a good view without having to work his wings, and he isn't that heavy on my head."

Takashi looked up at T.K. with a confused look, obviously wondering why a person would let a Digimon, even one as small and cute as Patamon, perch on his head.

T.K. chuckled at Takashi's confusion. "You'll understand one day." he stated. "Your Digimon will look like mine one day ya know."

"Really? How do you know?" Takashi asked.

"Because... I just know." T.K. stated, quickly turning somber.

"Well, how would you know? Your Digimon wasn't ever a baby, was it?"

T.K. sighed, and looked over at Ken. Takashi guessed from that that he had touched a sensitive point somewhere, and he blushed again as he shamefully looked down at his shoes. "I... didn't mean..." Takashi started to say.

"No, it's fine, Takashi." Ken stated, preempting a response by T.K. Ken immediately stooped down so that he could look the younger boy in the eye. He continued: "It's related to a... very painful memory, one he'd rather not remember."

"Oh..." Takashi quietly said. "Then should I...?" he began to ask.

"No, you don't have to. Your Digimon can stay here." T.K. cut in, also stooping down (being careful not to tilt his head and let Patamon fall off of course).

"Is it a... sad story?"

"Yes it is."

"Is it like the story of Kari's Digimon?"

"You mean Gatomon? Yeah, it kinda is. That's one reason Kari and I are such close friends."

"Is it like your story?" Takashi asked Ken.

"Yes, it is. All three of stories have one common element in them." Ken stated. "You will hear all of those stories eventually, and then you will understand."

Takashi looked down thoughtfully at Poyomon, then back up at T.K. and Ken.

T.K. smiled and said "We'll tell you the stories some time later, alright? Right now though you need to get to the visitor's dugout. That's where the other kids are waiting."

Takashi looked across the field and noticed the other kids sitting in the bleachers. He was about to head over there when he thought about Poyomon. "Umm... where do I put my Digimon?" he asked.

"Poyomon goes with you down to the bleachers. He watches from down there." Ken answered.

"Oh, OK, thanks!" Takashi said as he began walking briskly towards the bleachers. But before he got far he thought of another question. He turned to face T.K. and asked "What is T.K. short for?"

Both T.K. and Patamon chuckled a bit before T.K. gave an answer: "Well, my surname is Takaishi, close to your name, and my first name is Takeru, so T.K. just became a convenient nickname when I was younger, and I guess it just stuck with me."

"Oh, OK." Takashi said as he rushed to the visitor's dugout. Despite the casualness of his response, the thought of having T.K. as his mentor was growing on him, and it excited him inside as he made his way across the field...

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"Have fun, OK?" Takashi said as he put his Poyomon inside a special pen set up by the older kids as a place where the baby Digimon could play and watch the game in safety. Poyomon nodded, then bounced away to join the other babies.

"Hey Takashi!" someone called.

Takashi turned to look and found that Hiroshi had called him. He was sitting nearby, with Noriko next to him. "You want to sit here?" Hiroshi asked, pointing to an empty spot on the bench near him, on the opposite side of him from where Noriko was sitting.

Takashi nodded uneasily and sat down. "You feel ready for the game?" Noriko asked him.

Takashi shrugged his shoulders; he wasn't much sure of anything at the moment. "Why so uncertain about it?" Hiroshi asked.

"Well, I don't even know what we are doing. I mean who are we going to play against, the older kids?" Takashi replied.

"I'm sure it'll be fun. It is baseball, after all." Noriko pointed out. Takashi shrugged again; it was obvious he didn't particularly like the way the conversation was going.

After a minute of awkward silence, Takashi tried to get a conversation going in a more comfortable direction. "So, uh, I heard you two found your mentors." he tentatively stated to Noriko and Hiroshi.

Immediately the two others brightened. "Oh, yeah, we have." Hiroshi responded with some effort. "Right now I'm seeing whether I can help with drawing up in-store displays for the flower shop Sora's mom runs, and Noriko has been in touch with both Matt and Kari, trying to figure out where to help out."

"Oh, that's good." Takashi replied in a neutral tone of voice. This caused Hiroshi and Noriko to stare at each other in concern, then Noriko to ask if something was wrong.

"Well... I don't know." Takashi quietly stated. "I would really like to find my mentor, and I don't want to be the last one..."

Hiroshi nodded. "I don't think you would be the last one, because Keiko hasn't found hers yet either, as far as I know... Do you have a lead?" he asked.

"There's T.K..." Takashi quietly stated. "But I can't be sure..."

"T.K.? Yeah, that would sound about right..." Noriko said.

"How do you know?" Takashi asked, suddenly looking over in interest.

"Don't you read the emails? They sent one out a couple days ago showing how a particular Digimon would turn out to look like. You have a Poyomon, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, then it would be T.K. because Poyomon would become like his Digimon. That's how we found our mentors: we found the older kids who had Digimon who are the ones ours are going to look like one day."

"Oh, well, um..." Takashi smirked, still unsure about the theory.

"Hey, relax, will ya?" Noriko smiled. "I'm sure things will work out the right way for you."

Takashi flashed a look that seemed to indicate "That's easy for you to say."

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Hiroshi opened his mouth to reply to Takashi look, but before he could say anything a shrill whistle was heard from the other side of the dugout. All three of them looked up to see Kari, wearing a pink baseball cap and a whistle dangling around her neck instead of the digital camera that was usually there.

Kari blew the whistle again before starting to explain the game to the now attentive kids. "OK, everyone, you are going to play against all of our Digimon. They are going in the field first, so I need you to line up according to the batting order I'm going to give to you." Kari then started listing out names: "Noriko, Hiroshi, Keiko, Takashi..."

Takashi hurriedly scrambled, following Noriko and Hiroshi, toward Kari and the front end of the bench. Once there, he quickly sat down between Keiko and another girl. He turned to Keiko and shyly smiled at her. Keiko responded in kind, but looked out toward the field with some confusion.

Takashi noticed this and stated, "Yeah, it's going to be weird playing against the Digimon. How would it even work?"

"Oh, they must've worked out something. Otherwise, Kari wouldn't have told us that we were playing them." Keiko responded, still staring out to the field. Takashi followed her gaze and saw various Digimon scattering to the field positions; in particular he noticed Kari standing with her brother by a pitching mound that had been elevated by the placement of an inverted green dome-like object on top of it. As they talked, Takashi also noticed Kari's Digimon climb up on the same mound.

He didn't quite know what to make of it, but before he could do anything else Matt stopped by the dugout carrying the bats that had been brought. Takashi grabbed a bat along with some of the other kids, and was told to practice their swing before going up to bat. He nodded and went over to the batter practice box with Hiroshi and Keiko as Matt flashed a thumbs-up to the other older kids across the field.

Seconds later, Takashi heard one of the older kids (probably Davis) shout "PLAY BALL!"

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Takashi quickly lined up behind the other kids in the batter's box. To pass the time, he took some practice swings with the bat, limbering up with only a bit of confidence. He looked around, noting the Digimon positioned on the field and Noriko waiting for Kari to let her up to bat. He also noticed, from the dugout opposite the one he had been in, the older kids watching. He saw T.K., who waved at him. Takashi took a moment's pause to wave back, then resumed practicing.

Seconds later, a speaker nearby squealed to life and voices Takashi recognized as belonging to Tai and Yolei started speaking in a overly serious sports commentator manner that almost made him break down in giggles:

"Hey there sports fans, welcome to the first ever Digimon Classic! I'm Tai Kamiya and with me is Yolei Inoue. Today is a day for the history books: the first-ever baseball game played between human kids and Digimon!"

"That's right Tai! This game will certainly be like none ever seen before, so let's get down to business!"

"Right! The Digimon decided to play in the field first, so the kids are lined up to bat for the top of the first. First up to bat is Noriko, who dreamed to be teaching others one day."

Takashi saw Kari send Noriko out to home plate, which snapped him back to practicing his swing. Looking around, he noticed the older kids, and also the younger kids' Digimon (including his Poyomon) watching with fascination. He thought he saw one of the kids holding a video camera pointed to the field, and Kari had her digital camera ready to take snapshots. Seeing these things unnerved him a bit, and he put his focus back on his swinging to dissipate his nervous energy...

"Facing her on the mound is Gatomon." Tai's voice came from the speaker.

"Ah, yes, 'The Psychic' they call her." Yolei's voice replied. "It has been rumored that she can alter the direction and speed of the ball in mid-pitch, or even just before it crosses the plate! An excellent choice to start on the mound!"

"Indeed, Yolei."came Tai's voice. Takashi looked out to the field to notice Gatomon confidently standing on the elevated pitching mound, tossing a baseball in her right paw. He turned to notice Noriko's smirking face, then reminded himself to get practicing.

He started swinging the bat again, standing himself in a standard batting position. He saw Gatomon throw the first pitch out with surprising skill and speed for such a small Digimon. The surprisingly fast fastball crossed above the plate, Noriko whiffing her swing and getting a strike. Agumon, acting as catcher, caught the ball and flung it back at Gatomon. The latter smirked at Noriko, who looked a little stirred up but not completely shaken.

Takashi saw the second pitch get thrown out, which looked like another fastball. However, just before the ball crossed the plate, it dropped down closer to the ground, apparently without explanation. Noriko whiffed again, giving her a second strike. "Oh, that was a beautiful drop-out pitch!" Yolei exclaimed through the speakers. "It's very hard to do physically, but for 'The Psychic' it's just a matter of directing the brainwaves in the right direction."

Noriko mumbled something to herself, trying to keep "in the zone". Agumon returned the pitch, then Gatomon fired again with something that looked like a right hook. Noriko whiffed again, making the third strike and out. She shrugged and left the plate, letting Hiroshi up to bat.

Takashi worriedly watched between practice hits as a similar scenario played out with Hiroshi. Despite more confidence on his part, he just couldn't get a hit off her changing pitches: first the slowball that went higher over the plate, then the left hook, then the fastball. Looking around, he saw Hiroshi join Noriko in the bench, both dejected-looking. He turned to Keiko and wished her good luck as she went up. "You too." she replied.

"Next up is Keiko, who loves the smell of baking in the morning." Yolei blared through the speaker. Takashi shook his head at how nutty they were being, then resumed practicing knowing he was next.

He saw Keiko step up to the plate, eying Gatomon, still on the mound. The Digimon threw her first pitch, a curving fastball, and Keiko whiffed, swinging too late and getting the first strike. Fortunately, she had been watching what the other kids were doing and had realized that swinging wildly would get her nowhere, so when Gatomon delivered a slowball down the middle for the next pitch, Keiko held out the bat in an attempt for a bunt.

The ball dinged off the bat to the ground in front of Keiko, and she bolted for first base, letting the bat drop through her fingers as she did so. The field immediately came alive, as both Agumon and Gatomon raced for the ball. "I've got it!" the latter exclaimed, as she scooped up the ball and winged it to Veemon, who was the Digimon team's first baseman. Keiko dove for first base and managed to get her hand to touch the base before Veemon (who had one foot on the base) caught the ball.

"And she's safe!" Tai exclaimed through the speakers as Veemon tossed the ball back to Gatomon and Keiko got up and dusted herself off as she stood on the base. Now it was Takashi's turn to bat...

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Takashi gulped nervously as he passed Kari and took his place in the batter's box. He heard Tai's voice announcing him stepping up to the plate, but he wasn't paying attention to it. Instead, he nervously stared at pitcher Gatomon, who stared back with a confidence that unnerved him even more. Holding up his bat in readiness, he briefly looked around to see if he could find support anywhere else.

He glimpsed his Poyomon and the other baby Digimon watching from their play area. He glimpsed Tai and Yolei sitting in the commentator's box. He glimpsed the other older kids watching, T.K. among them. He heard T.K. yell "You can do it, Takashi!"

Those words echoed through his mind, giving him confidence. He turned to face the pitcher, who immediately delivered the first pitch, a fastball that dropped in front of the plate. Takashi swung... and missed as the ball dropped below the bat.

Takashi stamped his foot in the ground. "Rats!" he said to himself as he got back into batting stance. Agumon returned the ball, and Takashi looked over to T.K., who mouthed at him to try it again.

Takashi put on a determined face as he returned his attention to the pitcher. She fired the second ball, a right hook. Takashi was determined not to bunt like Keiko did, despite her indications from the base that he should. He swung... and missed again; strike two on him.

It was now or never: he would win the battle swinging a homer or he would go down as the third out. He looked over at T.K., who gave him a thumbs-up, an indication to keep trying.

The next moments seem to play out in slow motion: he turned to face the Digimon pitcher, she served the pitch (which seemed to move far slower than it should have), Takashi aimed the bat, and with eyes squeezed shut swung with all his might...

End of Part 1