Author's Notes: Having access to the Superman wedding comic released a decade ago (or so) and attending a friend's wedding in real life in the past summer, I think I should be able to wrap this up nicely. Sorry for the long wait… a lot of things bogged me down.

Disclaimer: I'm just writing this story purely for fun. If I do get contacted from the owners of Digimon telling me to take this down, I'll do so right away.

Unions

Part 1: The Hell that is Wedding Planning (and other minor pains)

"If you want my advice, sweetie…"

How many times had Rika heard those words from her mother? If she had been paid 100 Yen for each time she heard that phrase, she would be filthy rich.

It started with the announcement of the engagement and subsequent congratulations from their friends and family. Some of the male members of the DTF gave their condolences to Takato after they saw the 'love tap' that their commanding officer left on his head but they meant it in good jest.

Then came the planning… and this is perhaps one of the more trying aspects of having a formal wedding. How many guests to invite (both human and Digimon), what type of ceremony to go for, the location to hold the ceremony, the location for the reception, details for the reception and ceremony… it seemed like a list that would never end.

Every spare hour awake and out of work was spent on planning. The cost of the wedding would be covered by her mother as part of her wedding gift (although Terriermon would look more of it as a dowry so that Takato would be happy to take Rika off her hands). The other part of the gift would be to pass on the deed of the home that the bride-to-be had lived in for as long as she could remember. Rika tried to refuse the deed but her mother insisted on passing it on. She had intended to pass the deed over to her daughter on the day that she was ready to start her own life with her own family.

The parents of the groom-to-be wanted to contribute in their own way and so they sat down one day to start working on a grand wedding cake. Of course, the actual baking won't be done until the wedding day but they could at least figure out what type of cake to go for, what ingredients would be needed, special cake designs and layers and so forth.

When it came down to figuring out what would work best for wedding details like the dress and the flowers used for the bouquet, Rumiko had repeatedly offered advice on those matters, even though she had not married herself. The older woman's daughter tried to take the polite path by letting her chat away on some areas. Eventually, she started trying to turn her mother down gently but then the guilt act would commence. Basically, her mother would get all depressed and Rika would feel bad about not letting her mother give her a perfect wedding.

So she had to stretch her reserves of patience to new levels which is somewhat of a miracle by itself. Her grandmother and Renamon tried to distract Rumiko's attention once in a while to give her breathing room but she would simply go back to looking up more information and giving suggestions for the wedding. "I think that the reception hall should have roses."

Rika started to wonder if it was a mistake deciding to go for a Western style ceremony rather than a traditional Shinto ceremony. "Mom, I don't think that the roses will fit in the atmosphere here."

"What about lilies? I saw this lovely arrangement at a colleague's engagement party a few weeks ago…" Rumiko trailed off after noticing the irritated look on her daughter's face. "Well, what would you like to go for? This is after all your wedding and your decision. I do hope that your fiancé gets a say in this as well."

"He's willing to check some things out once we have a reception hall to actually decorate. I told you that we should have settled that detail first but you just wanted to go looking into dresses, catering and flowers right away. Grandma's checking out the locations that I like so far so at least that's settled for now."

Rumiko sighed. "I suppose that's alright. Now as for what type of food to serve…"

At that moment, Renamon phased into view. "If I may offer a suggestion, I recommend getting Thai. The guests would certainly be in the mood for cuisine that isn't as bland as traditional Japanese food."

Both women simply glared at the fox Digimon, not even caring about why she had dropped by. "Are you crazy? Renamon, this is the only wedding…"

"She's…" "I'm…"

"… going to have and I want it to be perfect!"

Renamon simply blinked at how strange the two women sounded when speaking in sync with each other. She couldn't understand why they didn't really like Thai but she figured that it must be Japanese conservatism speaking. "Why are you here, Renamon?"

"You wanted me to remind you when it was three in the afternoon, Rika."

The young woman glanced at the clock. "It's time already? Damn… let's get the dress fitting done and over with!"

It only took the mother and daughter duo ten minutes to get ready and leave the house to go down to the dress shop. When Renamon felt that they were well on their way, she headed back to the meeting point that had been arranged by the eldest female member of the household. "They're gone."

"Then let's get to work!" The elder woman pressed a button to let the other members of her team know that 'Operation: Bridal Shower' was ready to proceed. Within two minutes, four cars and thirteen DTF members had assembled to start putting together a little surprise for their commanding officer. Among the members was a dark skinned male who had the misfortune of being designated the 'Pack Mule' earlier. It would seem strange for him to be a part of the DTF Japanese division but he had wanted to be part of the exchange program that had been set up shortly after the American branch of the DTF finally got off the ground (which was surprisingly around the time that his commanding officer received the marriage proposal six months ago).

"Why did I agree to be a part of this again?" complained the young man.

"Because you're the big strong Gaijin, blessed with Gaijin Power! This is why your colleagues thought that you would be perfect for this! And you're too nice to say no!" replied his partner Digimon.

"Again with the Gaijin Power, BT? You're spending way too much time reading those editorials." The male grunted as he carried most of the supplies needed to throw the party. "Besides, remember the time you tried to pull off the whole Gaijin Smash thing against her?"

He was doing his best to look confident, cocky and maintain that smirk on his face but his conscious was nagging how this was a stupid idea that is guaranteed to make a fool out of him in front of her of all people. There's no way he could back out of it now that his partner has started the Gaijin Smash speech.

"Ha ha! As you can see, my tamer has already won this fight. In moments, he will unleash the awesome power of his Gaijin Smash. He acquired this attack when he was born with a bigger body than yours. Over the years, he developed it by maintaining a steady diet of McDonald's and by parking in the closest spaces to wherever he went when he obtained his driver's license. It's the perfect attack!"

"…………………………………"

BlackTerriermon started to sweat. This wasn't in the script. Shouldn't they be terrified of the Big Bad Black Gaijin and his Black Gaijin Digimon by now? This looks a bit bad.

"………that was interesting. Now can we please get on with this little spar?" asked Rika in an impatient tone. Renamon rotated her arm briefly to warm it up.

Scratch that. This looks really bad.

"How was I supposed to know that she had experience dealing with non-Japanese people before? It was worth a shot, DC," replied the small rabbit Digimon.

The man known as DC (who had been given that name by his friends thanks to his hardcore love of DC comic titles such as Teen Titans) simply sighed and focused on setting up. The quicker he did that, the faster he could get out of the house. After all, BT would never let up if he actually stuck around for a bridal shower.

OOOOOOOOOO

"I have to admit… even though those tuxedos make you look sharp, they are quite confining," complained Takato. He had tried on the tuxedo (consisting of a pair of black dress pants and a black jacket, a white dress shirt and a white tie) that he would be wearing at his wedding and was now examining himself in front of a full body mirror.

"Hey, if that woman of yours is willing to go through the trouble of wearing a wedding dress, you should be man enough to go through this. Come to think of it, she presents more of a manlier aura than you do, man."

The future groom grumbled. "Just can it, Masaru."

"Don't hate me for saying the truth," commented Daimon Masaru with a grin as an employee of the tuxedo rental shop measured his waist size with measuring tape. The young man came into Takato's life a few years back as a brash youth who solved problems with his fists. That eventually got him into trouble with the authorities. What made him fall under the DTF's jurisdiction was that an Agumon had been acting as his follower (most likely after being impressed with Masaru's 'manly' attitude). Eventually, Masaru slowly came to understand that relying solely on his fists to tackle real life is not a wise idea. Takato had played a large role in getting Masaru to understand that concept.

Henry emerged out of another booth with the tuxedo he was planning to wear wrapped up in the bundle. "So how come you're not lending your artistic talents to design a great wedding cake, man?"

"Well, that's an interesting little story…"

"Why are you giving me such a hard time over this, Takehiro? This fruit design is simple and doesn't contain as much calories! I'm sure some of the guests would appreciate that!"

"Honey, this is a once in a lifetime event and we need to pull out all the stops to create a very delicious and sweet cake. Chocolate would be a much better choice of design!"

The red Digimon watching the couple bicker in the bakery's kitchen decided to pitch in his own idea. "Ooh!! I got it! A Black Forest Guilmon cake! There's a bit of chocolate and fruit in there too!"

"Are you crazy? Guilmon, this is the only wedding my son is going to have and I want it to be perfect!"

The combined glares given at Takato's partner caused him to slowly back off. "S-scary…"

Henry gave a good laugh as Takato finished his tale. "So that's what happened? No wonder Guilmon avoided the bakery for a day! What did your parents decide on for a cake design in the end?"

"Dunno. They're telling me it's a surprise. Speaking of surprises, where are Kazu and Kenta? Shouldn't they be here getting fitted too? Knowing my luck, they'll probably be wearing Batman bowties at my wedding."

The Chinese tamer realized something as his friend mentioned bowties. "That reminds me… how much would it cost to get a custom fit bowtie for our Digimon?"

OOOOOOOOOO

The trip didn't take as long as she had thought. Only fifty minutes for total travel time and the actual fittings themselves. "I have to admit that the dress you picked doesn't look so bad. It's kind of dignified."

Rumiko opened the door to the household and stepped inside. "Well, I've always known a thing or two about fashion and that dress definitely suited you. You can place the dress in the living room while I put my coat away."

As soon as Rika stepped into the living room, she was greeted as her colleagues, a few Digimon and her grandma all shouted "SURPRISE!"

Her face was one of absolute shock and she didn't snap out of it until she heard some clicks go off with the party members taking pictures with their digital cameras and cell phones to cement the moment. "What's all this?"

"It's your bridal shower!" echoed two small Digimon in armour known as PawnChessmon. One was in black armour and the other was in white.

DC spoke up next. "And I believe that's my cue to exit. Have fun, ladies!"

"Excuse me but if I recall correctly, you're the designated Pack Mule. We'll need your help to clean up later!" exclaimed a Lalamon who was the partner of one of the party attendees.

The young man simply held up his cell phone. "Just call me whenever you're done. It'll take a while anyway and to be honest, it would feel awkward for me to be part of a bridal shower."

"Besides, he wants to salvage what's left of his manliness after that horrid first impression against the boss lady," piped up BlackTerriermon.

"That impression was your idea in the first place!"

"If you were more of a man, you could have come up with something better and more dignifying than what I suggested!"

"Well excuse me for not being super suave and stylish like James Bond!" DC didn't want to have this petty argument in the house so he quickly headed out to the streets to explore the city for a bit since he hardly had the time to do so during his time in Japan.

During his stroll, people would often stop and gawk at him for a few moments. It wasn't often that a foreigner walked the streets, especially a foreigner with an actual Digimon accompanying him. "Seriously, why do you always have to insult me like that?"

The small Digimon felt a little guilty at hearing his tamer's dejected tone. "I'm not really insulting you but it's just that you overreact to certain things which makes me look bad. When a Digimon partners up with a human, each partner's actions has effects on how people view the duo. Take me for example. By being a humorous, witty and strong character, people will view you to have similar characteristics. If you want another example, look at the chemistry that the boss lady and Renamon have."

"Okay… so what's wrong with me?"

"You took your last relationship too seriously and now whenever I mention your old girlfriend's name or nickname, you basically act like Brock from Pokémon whenever someone mentions the name Ivy to him. You're not quite as pathetic but still…"

"Really?"

"D-chan," mentioned BlackTerriermon in a flat tone.

He stopped and brought both his hands to his forehead. "ARGH!!!" More people stopped and stared at him.

"Momentai! Anyways, I can see a bookstore up ahead a few blocks. If we're lucky, we can get something for you there that can help you out with the stuff that I mentioned."

He got over the reminder of D-chan fairly quickly and resumed his walk. "Like what?"

"Ever heard of 'The Alphabet of Manliness'? It should be enlightening reading material…"

"Don't tell me that you staged that whole conversation back there so you can have a legitimate excuse to buy that book…" DC made a sharp left turn to enter the bookstore that his partner had pointed out earlier. "Besides, it's doubtful that Japanese bookstores would carry foreign books in stock so easily."

There were multiple aisles of books with sections for textbooks, guidebooks, novels and manga. As the duo browsed through the shelves, they ran into another DTF colleague, a young Chinese man in glasses, who was leafing through a novel. He wore a military uniform much like DC's except his rank badge indicated that his ranking was of a captain class. He was cleanly shaven and he had short black hair.

The chain of command for the DTF worked similarly to the Japanese Self-Defense Force. Of course, while the JSDF separated themselves into Air, Maritime and Ground units, the numbers of the DTF were far from impressive and as such, they only needed one set of military ranks.

"Epsilon-taichou, I've got what I wanted." A strange looking Agumon came out of an aisle. He looked like a standard Agumon but had a few extra inches in height and had a pair of red battle gauntlets decorating his claws. Perhaps his most distinguishing feature is the red crystal tooth that was on his left side. He noticed their other two colleagues and nodded crisply. "Greetings, DC and BlackTerriermon."

"Hm?" The officer who went by the code name of Epsilon looked up from his book briefly. "Oh… hey, guys. Here to pick up an interesting book as well?"

"Uh… yes, sir… that is if you call 'The Alphabet of Manliness' interesting reading material," replied the dark young man.

"It's not just interesting reading material… it's unbelievably enlightening and manly reading material," corrected his Digimon partner.

Their superior officer smiled. "Well, in case you're in the mood for something else, let me recommend the Gospel series. It's an interesting take on Digimon as the author uses that as a backdrop for the war between Heaven and Hell to continue."

"So… a fusion of Digimon and Spawn?" asked DC.

"More like Digimon with elements of Angel Sanctuary."

"I see. By the way, I've been meaning to ask you about how you were able to get that increase in rank so quickly. Last I recall your rank was that of a Warrant Officer," said DC as something from the past started to bug him.

"It's quite a bit of a story. I'll be more than happy to tell it to you at the party… assuming that Kazu and Kenta can secure the location."

The dark young man blinked. "What party?"

"You didn't check your e-mail this morning? It was all there," replied Epsilon.

"I was… busy. Let's leave it at that." There's no way in hell that he's going to admit that he got dragged to a bridal shower as a 'pack mule'.

"Well, I may as well fill you in. Kazu and Kenta want to set up a huge bachelor party for their buddy in a bar somewhere in the Digital World. According to their invite, there will be 'booze and a kick ass BBQ (sadly, no bikini babes)'."

"Why go for a bar in the Digital World? Are there even bars there?"

"From what I can tell, those guys really want to visit the Digital World, even if it's only one trip. This may as well be their golden opportunity to go. Besides, considering how many guys and Digimon will be attending the party, a lot of local bars are worried how badly their insurance premiums will increase if a bar brawl broke out," reasoned the Chinese man.

"And with quick-tempered humans and Digimon among the guest list, the odds of a bar fight happening are extremely high," added Agumon as Daimon Masaru easily came to mind.

"Sounds like a lot of fun… sign us both up!" piped up BlackTerriermon.

"What?!"

"Think of it this way, DC… this is a sure fire way to reassure yourself that you're still a manly man by hanging out at a bachelor party and getting involved in a bar brawl!"

He gave a loud groan. 'Proving my manliness is really starting to get troublesome…'

Well, it's almost a year later but I'm somewhat back in my Digimon groove. There will be more to come, including a more detailed explanation about the strange Agumon that DC encountered in the bookstore and the truth about how the Tamers made their initial trip to the Other Side in the first place. Until then…