Wonder Future

Chapter 1 : Echos

Anytime Takato was even remotely near Shinjuku Park, he'd check his hiding place. Sometimes it'd be once a week, others it would be once a month, and there was even a good year where he only checked the place once. Even though it had been seven years, Takato was still looking for Guilmon.

On this morning, he just glanced into the renovated shed- this place didn't even look like Guilmon's old home anymore. Heck, there were plenty of new sheds that sprung up in the interim: he might not even be looking in the right one. Even if he might never see Guilmon again, and if even Takato thought that this compulsive check was pointless, he still felt the need to come here. In the seven years since their partners left, a lot of things had happened and honestly, memories were fading. At the very least, even if the shed looked completely different from when he was a kid, it helped him remember a little bit better.

Takato stared into the shed for a moment, before sighing and moving his gaze forward. He hurried through the park and made his usual commute to school. By sheer coincidence, he met the gaze of a familiar face on the way to school.

While waiting to cross, Takato politely waved over to Rika: now with short shoulder-length hair. She went to a different school, thus the different uniform, and barely acknowledged her fellow tamer. She just looked at him, and then looked back down at her phone. It has been about six months since they talked proper, and now it was just occasional acknowledgements from across the street.

Naturally, the thought of Rika sprung Henry into Takato's mind, and so he pulled his phone out as well.

Hey Henry, do you want to hang out sometime this week?

It didn't take long for a response.

Sure. Do you want to eat at the regular spot around eight?

Yeah, that sounds good!

Takato grinned as he turned off his phone and completed his journey by entering Konaka High School.

The final bell rang and Takato began gathering his things, when a pair of his friends approached him. Kazu shoved a PS4 game right into his face and grinned.

"Hey Takato, look what I got from my part time job money?"

Kenta wasn't far behind, as he gaped at the game that Kazu was showing off.

"Is that the new Cybersleuth game? How- It's not even out in stores yet!"

Kazu smirked at the two as he handed his video game like a sacred artifact.

"I have my… connections. So, how about coming to my place and playing it?"

Takato stared at the Digimon on the cover of the game. It was kind of odd how Digimon were still such a part of pop culture now- when he was a kid it was this amazing thing that Guilmon and company were from his favorite video games and anime but now, after all he experienced it was honestly pretty jarring.

"Sorry, Kazu. I'm kind of doing something with Henry."

Kazu glared at Takato for a moment, before sighing.

"Oh, so it's a Tamer thing."

"You say that, but it's not as if we weren't Tamers," said Kenta.

"That's not the point! Takato- we're a little over a year from being out of high school. We only have so much YOUTH left to waste on video games!"

Takato sighed.

"Kazu, it's not as if I can't play Cybersleuth with you tomorrow."

"Is that a promise?"

"Sure."

"Awesome. So tomorrow- You. Me. Kenta. Digimon. Just like the old days!"

Takato and Henry's "Usual Place" was a pretty average Japanese diner. It was a little seedy, but just cheap enough for Takato to enjoy a decent meal on the meager amount his parents gave as an allowance. Henry hadn't really changed that much: he was always the most mature out of the original Tamers. He basically just looked like a younger version of his dad at this point, minus the glasses.

The two ate in silence for a second as their food came: Takato began wolfing down his beef bowl as Henry enjoyed his omurice. Finally, Takato spoke up.

"So, guess who I saw today?"

"Let me guess… a celebrity?"

"No, I saw Rika."

Henry stopped eating for a moment.

"Oh."

"Yeah, I see her every so often on my way to school. When was the last time you saw her?"

"You know this. I haven't seen her since the breakup."

"Right... Why did you guys break up again?"

Henry groaned.

"You ask me this question every time we talk. We just had too many differences and too many responsibilities to make it work."

"That's a very… adult answer."

"So?"

"Nothing. Nevermind."

They ate in awkward silence for a few moments before Henry finally spoke up.

"So- I need to talk to you about something. It's been weighing on my mind."

Takato stopped eating and gave his friend his complete attention.

"Yes?"

"Do you think- rather, do you worry that what we did as kids, when we were Tamers- that that's going to be the most important thing that's ever going to do?"

Takato took a moment to process the information.

"I mean- we saved the world."

"Yeah, I know but- we're going to be officially adults soon, after we graduate. Do you think that after everything we did back then, our adult achievements just- aren't going to matter?"

"...I can't think about it that way. So what if it does overshadow those things. Henry, we lost so much. We lost our partners, first of all, but people got hurt. Especially Jeri-"

Takato stopped himself as he found his voice getting louder. Another awkward silence began as he began eating again.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. That was… dumb of me."

"It's fine- it's a legit question. Honestly, I'm more scared of losing those memories than being haunted by them. Every day, it feels like there's less detail of those days- it's hard to remember Guilmon's face until I take a look at a photo. I promised him that we'd meet again but it's been almost a decade. I'm probably never going to see him again-"

Takato heard his voice shaking, his heartbeat accelerating, and a couple tears dripping down his face.

"I get it," said Henry as he smiled at Takato again. "My memories are fading again too- I don't know what to do about it anymore, so I focus on the future. Sometimes, I don't want to remember Terriermon or I'll just feel horrible. But- we have to move on."

"Yeah… Um, so Henry?"

"Hm?"

"Why don't we ever talk about Tamer stuff?."

"It's to help forget, honestly, but we should. Next time- we'll talk more about 'Tamer Stuff'."

One in the morning cram sessions were fairly normal for Takato. But by now, he should've realized that his brain wasn't nearly at full ability at that time of night. So, when he thought he saw his D-Power flash he ignored it. Then the flash happened a few minutes after that, and then after few minutes after that. Then, his brain completely woke up.

Takato stared into the dead D-Arc that had a permanent place at the corner of his desk. The flash of light happened again and that finally confirmed it for Takato. On pure instinct, he grabbed his coat, and raced out of his room with his digivice in hand- to Shinjuku Park.

Even if going to the park at this time of night was suicide, Takato needed to do it. He used his cell phone as a flashlight and ran directly to the old shed he checked on pure instinct. The moment he scanned the inside of the hut and didn't find anything was the moment he felt like a crazy person. Until he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"Takatomon?"

Author's Notes: I'm kind of mixing and matching with Dub-isms here, but if you can't tell I'm going with the original Japanese ages, with dub names. Please let me know what you think!