Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. This is a nonprofit, fan-based story. Please support the official release.

Falling down was something that Sora Takenouchi had grown quite accustomed to. It could be argued that her and her friends had made a career out of it. On this particular occasion, however, things felt a bit different.

Sora clutched at her right shoulder, still in pain from the fall she had taken not more than half an hour ago. It had been because of a stupid mistake, one that she should have known better than to make. The school nurse had assured her that it wasn't broken, but she should take it easy the next few days to keep it that way.

"I thought the point of switching from soccer to tennis was that you spent less time on the ground," Biyomon, Sora's digimon partner, said. At the moment, the two of them were the only occupants of the girls' locker room. The pink bird was currently standing on a bench near Sora's own locker.

"It was a little more complicated than that, Bi," Sora replied as she shut her locker. Sora had loved playing soccer as a kid and, more importantly, loved being part of a team. Tennis, on the other hand, provided her an opportunity to prove herself as an individual. Who she was proving herself to was not something she was exactly sure about, but that didn't make it any less important to her.

"So, what's next?" Biyomon asked cheerily, obviously having no interest in pushing the matter. They had had this conversation at least once before.

Sora sat down next to her partner and began to mull the question over. She knew that Biyomon had meant the question in the more immediate sense, but Sora couldn't help but worry about the long-term. The right kind of injury was capable of ending careers. While many students dropped their sport of choice after high school, Sora had no intention of doing that. Still, there was always the possibility that the choice could be taken out of her hands, which made Sora worry she had poured too much of her time into the sport.

"Are you okay, Sora?" Biyomon asked softly after a few seconds of silence.

"I think so," Sora answered, smiling in the hope that she could keep her partner from worrying. "I just need to go home and get some rest."

Then, almost on que, the cellphone in her pocket started ringing. Biyomon eyed Sora's pocket, looking like she was holding back laughter. Sora's parents and each of the eleven Digidestined each had their own personalized ringtone. The song that playing at the moment was an American pop song that had always made Sora think of Mimi Tachikawa, the Digidestined of Sincerity. Sora pulled out the phone and considered letting it go to voicemail for a split second. She then felt guilty immediately afterwards and answered the call.

"Hello," Sora said, trying to sound more upbeat than she was actually feeling.

"What's wrong?" Mimi replied without hesitation.

"What're you talking about, Mimi?" Sora cursed inwardly, not knowing how a single word had tipped Mimi off.

"Don't play dumb with me, Sora Takenouchi. Is it Tai? I swear, that boy can be such a-"

"Whoa, easy, Mimi," Sora said instantly. "This has nothing to do with him."

"So there is something wrong," Mimi declared triumphantly.

Sora sighed away from the phone. She had played right into Mimi's hands. Biyomon giggled quietly, likely able to hear both sides of the conversation due to her heightened senses. Sora tried to wave the digimon away, but she was enjoying the show too much to stand down.

"Yeah, something happened," Sora confessed. "It's nothing that bad. We can talk about it some other time."

"Are you sure?" Mimi asked. "Because I can come meet you right now."

"I'm positive," Sora stated, relieved the topic was dropped. "So, what's going on?"

"Oh, right!" Mimi almost shouted into the phone. "Are you still at school?"

"Yep."

"Would you mind swinging by the computer lab? Yolei and I left Izzy there and I want to make sure he went home."

Sora checked the time. "You really think he's still there at this time?"

"You know how he loses track of time when he's deep into what he's working on."

"What was he working on?"

"That portal and gateway stuff he's been obsessed with. At least I think that's what it was. I tried to ask and all he said was 'This is complicated and technical research, Mimi. I'm not sure you would understand it.'" Sora could have sworn she heard Mimi adjust an imaginary pair of glasses as she did her imitation of Izzy, which struck Sora as odd because they had never known him to wear glasses. Sora also couldn't blame Izzy for that particular response, as the last time he tried to explain something he was working on to Mimi, she accused him of making up words.

"Okay, I'll go check on him right now," Sora assured her friend.

"You're the best, Sora!" Mimi replied. "I'll talk to you later."

"I know you will." Sora looked back at Biyomon, who was looking back at her with a tilted head. "What?"

"I was just thinking," Biyomon responded. "You talk about wanting to go home and rest, but I don't think that'll end up happening."

"And why's that?"

"No matter how hurt your shoulder is, you'll always let your friends lean on it when they need to."

Sora opened her bag and presented it to Biyomon. "Are you saying I need to think about myself more often?"

"I'm not sure you'd be Sora anymore if you did." Biyomon shifted into her In-training form and hopped into the bag. "Besides, I think being with them helps you just as often."

"Maybe…" Sora couldn't think of any occasion that disproved her partner's theory, but also felt like this particular day needed to be the exception. As she left the locker room and made her way up to the computer lab, she told herself she was going to get this done fast and go home.

At this point in the day, the school was completely devoid of life, with Sora not seeing or hearing anyone as she walked through the halls. At least, this was the case until she got closer to the lab. She heard rapid-fire typing against a keyboard coming from the room. As the room came into view, she saw Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi working at the station closest to the doorway.

Mimi had not been exaggerating when she claimed the Digidestined of Knowledge had become obsessed with his current line of work. With the defeat of Ordinemon and a subsequent adventure afterward, Izzy had taken it upon himself to figure out the particulars of interdimensional travel. He claimed his main goal was to figure out a safer and more reliable way of reaching the Digital World, but Sora and the others knew that his curiosity went well beyond just that.

At the moment, Izzy's eyes were fixed on the screen in front of him. It was pretty obvious that he was unaware about anything going on around him. Sora waited a few seconds before loudly clearing her throat. Izzy was just startled enough that he jumped in his seat.

"Sorry, Sora," Izzy said as he turned towards her and tried to collect himself. "I didn't see you there."

"Yeah, no kidding," Sora replied. "How long have you been at this?"

"Not that…" Izzy trailed off as he looked at computer's clock, likely having not looked at it for quite a while. "…long. Well, either way, I should be done soon."

"Uh-huh." Sora moved closer to the station. Mimi had only asked her to check on Izzy, but the implication had been to get him away from the computer. While Sora didn't like to dictate how her friends should spend their free time, Izzy likely hadn't been outside of a classroom or this lab all day. "Are you working on anything important?"

"Nothing life-or-death, if that's what you're asking. Just helping a friend with a problem. Still, I'm backing everything up as I go just in-"

"Prodigious!" Sora reached behind the computer and flipped the reset switch. Izzy stared blankly at the empty screen, but ultimately didn't protest. "Let's get you out of here before you're locked in for the night."

Sora and Izzy were both quiet for the initial portion of their walk home. Sora knew that this silence had nothing to do with what she did in the lab, as Izzy didn't have a spiteful bone in his body. Izzy was more than likely still lost in his own thoughts, still trying to figure out whatever problem he had been working on.

There was a voice in the back of Sora's mind that told her to let him be. They would both be able to get home faster if they didn't waste time chatting. The rest of her, however, knew that this assertion was completely false. Izzy had always been more productive when he had someone to bounce ideas off of, regardless of whether or not they actually understood what he was talking about.

"So, you never told me exactly what you were working on," Sora pointed out with a smile.

"Are you sure you want to hear about that?" Izzy asked as he turned to face her. "This research can get a little-"

"Complicated and technical."

"Essentially," Izzy replied with a laugh. "Have I become that predictable?" he added after a pause.

"Only to the people who know you best."

"How's your shoulder?" Izzy asked suddenly.

"Fine," Sora answered quickly. It was only then that she realized she was holding her left hand against it. Others outside of the Digidestined often labeled Izzy a robot who only cared about computers, and it was moments like these she wished those people could be privy to. While he was occasionally insensitive while he was in the middle of his work, he did have a genuine concern for those around him.

"Just thought I'd ask," Izzy said. Sora had never known him to pry into her or the others' personal lives, and didn't seem interested in starting today.

"You're still avoiding my question."

"I'm trying to think of the easiest way to explain." Izzy looked off into the distance for a moment. Once it seemed like he organized his thoughts, he turned back to towards her. "What is it that you think I'm working on?"

"I guess I've always assumed you were working on a new way to travel to and from the Digital World." Sora kept her eyes on Izzy as she spoke, hoping his reactions would indicate if she were on the right track. "The digiport's become a bit unreliable, so I assume you want a doorway that's more accessible to the rest of us."

"You're not far off. Let's stick with your doorway analogy. Think of the Digital World as a well-fortified building."

"A really large, well-fortified building." Izzy gave Sora a raised eyebrow in response. "Sorry, you were saying…"

"Now imagine the digiport as the main door. Right now, the only way to open said door is with the right kind of key, which only six people in the world have right now. That doesn't make travel easy for everyone else."

"So you want to make your own entrance? Like the rifts used by the infected digimon?"

"Not exactly," Izzy replied. He was getting into the discussion now, which didn't surprise Sora in the least. "I would say those rifts are more like broken windows than anything else. For a little while I played with the idea of creating a new door, but lately I've been curious about what would happen if I just took the existing door off the hinges."

"When you talk about making travel easier for everyone else, you're not just talking about the other Digidestined, are you?" Sora looked at her friend questioningly. She didn't need to understand the technical aspects of Izzy's work to grasp the implications of it.

"I'm talking about making it so that anyone could, hypothetically, travel between the two worlds." Izzy looked to Sora again and his expression changed, possibly because he was picking up on her reservations. "Obviously I wouldn't make such a unilateral decision on my own, but I do feel like we have to look at this outcome as inevitable."

"Why's that?"

"Because the whole world knows about the digimon now. I highly doubt I'm the only person trying to troubleshoot this particular issue." Sora couldn't bring herself to disagree with the Digidestined of Knowledge. Someone would force their way into the Digital World eventually, and she preferred that it be someone who cared about the safety of both worlds. Still, she had a couple other concerns.

"Aren't you worried about how this could be taken advantage of?" Sora didn't want to sound somber, but she had to know that Izzy had thought of everything.

"Of course I am," Izzy answered softly. He ended up stopping in his tracks.

"Then why keeping pushing for this to happen?"

"A few reasons, I guess." A little more energy returned to Izzy's voice. "For starters, the worst of the Digital World has always found its way here one way or another. Myotismon, Armageddonmon, and the infected digimon all forced their way into the Real World."

"The fact that people get shot all the time doesn't justify giving a loaded gun to a kid."

"I know that. It's just…" The two of them resumed walking and were both quiet for a couple seconds. "I don't think we should let fear impede progress."

"Is it fear or is it common sense?" Sora tried to tell herself that she was only playing devil's advocate. Izzy's ideas had saved them in the past, and she did not want to be the person who tried to kill one of them. He had always known what he was getting into and there was no reason she shouldn't trust him now.

"Look at how people reacted to the infected digimon." Izzy lowered his voice as he brought up the example. Like the rest, he had not been happy about how so many people were quick to judge all digimon based the actions of the few afflicted ones. "They chose to be afraid of what they saw rather stop to understand it. I don't want to live in that future."

The final word stuck in Sora's mind. She had almost forgot how fixated she was on the notion less than an hour ago. She decided to save these thoughts for later, as this conversation was not about her.

"You realize you can't control the future, right Izzy?" Sora asked after a pause.

"There's also no surefire way of predicting it either," Izzy stated. "The best you can do is make educated guesses with the information available and make the most of what you have to work with."

"That sounds familiar." Sora felt her spirits lift a bit.

Izzy smiled as he continued. "We've never known what was coming our way and we've won anyway. I've got to believe that as long there's a small group of people willing to try and make this world better, everything will turn out alright in the end."

It was at that moment that they conveniently found themselves at the corner where they had to part ways. They both stopped for a moment before Sora started to turn the corner and Izzy began to cross the street.

"Well, you're right about most things," Sora said with a smile. "Hopefully you're right about this too."

"Hopefully," Izzy repeated. "Anyway, thanks, Sora."

"For what? I doubt I helped you figure out whatever you were working on."

"Maybe not, but it helps to talk this stuff out with someone. Like I said, I don't want to make these decisions in a vacuum. It's good to know that I have you guys in case I ever go too far."

"Anytime, Izzy." Sora began to walk in the direction of her home. "I know you're dying to get back to work, so I won't keep you."

They both waved each other off and parted ways. Sora couldn't help but let a sense of relief wash over her. This was mostly because she was glad to have helped her friend in some capacity, but also because she was ready for this day to finally be over.

Sora entered her bedroom and gently shut the door behind her. Before doing anything else, she opened her bag and, after a flash of light indicating digivolution, Biyomon emerged. She flew over to and landed on Sora's bed just as Sora herself laid down. It would have been real easy for Sora to fall asleep right then were her partner not hovering over her.

"So?" Biyomon chirped.

"So what?" Sora replied, not trying to hide her exhaustion.

"Have you thought about what Izzy said?"

"He made some fair points. I trust him to make the right decision."

"Not about that." Biyomon placed her wings on her hips. "I meant what he said about the future."

Sora rolled over and propped her head up with her left arm so she could look at her partner. The digimon obviously wanted her to apply some of Izzy's assertions to her own situation. Sora assumed Biyomon was particularly fixated on Sora pushing ahead despite current reservations.

"Can't I think about that tomorrow?" Sora asked. She was mostly serious, but part of her did want to get a rise out of the digimon.

"Absolutely not!" Biyomon shot back. "Sora, everyone loves you, but I think we can agree that 'mopey Sora' is the worst. I'm not risking letting her wake up tomorrow."

"What would you have me do instead?" Sora resisted the urge to laugh at her partner's antics.

"Just go do something. Go find one of your friends. Let yourself lean on them the way you always let them lean on you."

"They're all probably home or busy. It's not always as simple as calling them up." Just as Sora finished the thought, her cellphone started to ring.

"Is it, though?" Biyomon commented a bit triumphantly.

Sora checked the caller I.D. despite not having to do so. The ringtone playing was song from a band she and Tai both liked. Sora sat up and waited a few seconds. Knowing how long the song would play before going to voicemail, she waited until the last second before answering.

"Hello," she said neutrally.

"Really?" Tai asked. "That's the greeting I get?"

"Who is this?" Sora couldn't come up with a reason to not keep her "act" up.

"Really, Sor? We're playing this game?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir. Look, I think you have the wrong number-"

"Fine…" Tai groaned. She imagined him shaking his head and trying to collect himself. "This is Taichi Kamiya. Most people call me Tai."

"Sorry, but the name doesn't sound familiar."

"Oh, you have to have heard of me." Tai was getting into the bit, likely because he was getting ready to stroke his own ego. "Fearless leader of the Digidestined, keeper of the Crest of Courage, savior of the world at least a half a dozen times over."

"You know what? I think I might have heard of you. Way too cocky and headstrong for his own good and stupid for days." Ever since they were kids, Sora had always taken it upon herself to keep said ego in check.

"You know, those labels sound very subjective, and a little hurtful."

"Of course! Stupid Tai Kamiya! How could I forget?"

"I can't imagine…" Someone else might have believed Tai was offended, but Sora knew exactly how far she could push things before that actually happened.

"Are you upset? You sound a little upset."

"You know what? I'm suddenly not in the mood to take this abuse."

"Oh, please don't hang up!" Sora called out faux-dramatically. "What would I do without you?"

"Get absorbed into Etemon's Dark Network, for starters."

Sora raised an annoyed eyebrow at the comment. "You need a new shtick, Tai. That one's so old that Gennai used to hear it when he was just a single strand of ones and zeroes."

"You're funny…"

"Don't you mean 'funny looking'?" It was the exact kind of thing he would have said back when they were eleven.

"I think we both know I don't think that." Tai's tone changed to what he often thought was an endearing one.

Yet, it seemed to have the desired effect. Sora couldn't help but calm down and let off a small smile. Biyomon laughed a bit upon noticing Sora's change in composure.

"What're you doing?" Sora asked, allowing her own tone to return to normal.

"Talking to you," Tai answered, now playing dumb a bit.

"Okay, why are you talking to me?"

"Well, at the very least, to hear your voice."

"And at the most?"

"Got any plans for dinner?" As Tai asked the question, Biyomon cleared her throat suggestively.

"Where'd you have in mind?" Sora asked, trying to ignore the digimon.

"Your pick."

"Are you sure about that, Kamiya?" Sora teased. "I'll have you know I have expensive tastes."

"I'll take my chances," Tai replied confidently. "It can't be any worse than those places Mimi drags us to."

"Just be grateful I'm your girlfriend and not her."

"Trust me, I am. Besides, I'd hate to do that to Izzy if he ever got wise."

"If," Sora emphasized. "He's been pretty preoccupied as of late."

"What's your professional diagnosis, Digidestined of Love?"

"Honestly, I'm too tired to be objective about that right now." As she spoke, Sora noticed Biyomon tilt her head a bit. She was likely worried that Sora might turn down Tai's offer.

"Bad day?" Tai asked, his tone becoming serious.

"More like a rough day." Sora paused for a beat to weigh her options. "I'll tell you about it later." Biyomon let off a sigh of relief.

"I'll hold you to it. I'll be by to pick you up later."

"I'll be waiting," Sora said as she hung up.

Sora stood up and stretched out both her arms. Her right shoulder still hurt, but it was nothing that she couldn't manage. She looked over to Biyomon, who had made her way to the edge of the bed.

"What changed your mind?" Biyomon asked. "Besides my encouragement, of course."

"Izzy was right," Sora answered confidently. "It's stupid to stop moving towards the future because you're afraid of what it might hold."

"Any thoughts on what you might find when you get there?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe Tai and the others can help me figure that out." Sora looked outside her window, finding that the sun was just beginning to set. "I know what I'd like to find."

At the moment, what was more important to Sora was knowing there were still options available to her. Things that she had no control over would inevitably happen, but that didn't mean she and her friends were locked into one particular destiny. Like she had been told earlier, they just had to be willing to fight for the future they wanted.

Not 100% sure where this one came from. Honestly, it probably didn't come from any one place.

The genesis of it was actually the scene between Sora and Tai. A while ago I was stuck while writing something else and I eventually ended up writing that scene pretty much off the top of my head. The rest came in the weeks that followed. Funniest thing is the scene really isn't all that important for the story that came of it. Objectively, it goes on too long and I probably should have cut it down. I ended up keeping it because it is where this story started.

As for the story itself, it a was mix of things. Part of it was just timing, with me finding myself asking questions not super dissimilar from Sora's. The rest was curiosity regarding Sora herself, as the Sora we meet in 01 is a bit of a far-cry from the one in the 02 epilogue (if anyone is having flashbacks, stay with me). I guess I wanted to figure out how she got there, as well as obviously plant the notion that it's not where she has to end up.

Anyway, leave a review and tell me what you think if you feel up to it. I'll see you guys around.