Digimon Adventure 06: Data

by YukiraKing

Three years have passed since Yggdrasil's defeat, and the digidestined thought they had brought about peace, but things are not always as they seem. New foes threaten that peace, and the digidestined struggle to hold on to what little they can. Will they be able to fend off these foes, or will peace elude them forever?

1. Here We Go Again

Y/N: I wrote almost all of this entire chapter. It was both refreshing and difficult to get back into these characters after having written them as parents in the epilogue, but I have really high hopes for this new trilogy, and we're hard at work completing it. We're having a lot of fun with it, and with some of the story lines and friendships. I hope you enjoy this second trilogy of ours, and if you care to drop us a review, it would be most appreciated.

U/N: Firstly, since my sister didn't say anything, I shall. I would like to explain that this is not a continuation from the epilogue. It is a continuation from 05 in which the Epilogue is of no importance. Neither our epilogue, "Happily Ever After" nor the epilogue from the show are necessarily being considered within the writing processes here. So this is an alternate ending sort of deal in which we take what we already know about the world we built off of the base the show provided. And also, it has literally nothing whatsoever to do with Digimon tri. We planned this before the information of a sequel was released, and we went ahead and wrote it anyway.

It is obviously another adventure, but it is told in three parts. So, a trilogy. The chapters are shorter as a result, but it also makes more space to develop a different, and at times more realistic (and at times completely insane) process of moving from where 05 left off. There is one difference between this story and the main series of events, and that will be the driving force for this trilogy.

More importantly, we decided to do this story, not because we felt the story was unfinished, or needed a more satisfying conclusion, but because we just wanted to. It's kind of like a writing journal now. We write this and eventually we'll get better at writing. It'll happen. Probably. It certainly has gotten better since 03, and in each section of this story I learned something about how my/my sister's writing works, and that's the goal here, obviously. There are a lot of things we could have done better in each of those, such as planning. We could have planned better. This time we planned, but we thought it was alright until we were halfway through writing. It's better than 05, god it's better than 05. But we're working on the next part and it is way better. Betterrr. But ultimately the point of this obnoxiously long author's note is to say that this story is a way for us to look at our mistakes (Putting parent plots in 05 after everyone else already had plots so they had no time to focus on their parents missing)(Always confusing your and you're)(Mixing up dub names in 03)(Taking Takeru seriously when he said in the epilogue "Now everyone has a digimon partner") We're now looking our mistakes in the eye and being like "Hey. We can do better. Let's keep writing fanfictions until we're better writers." And that's the plan.

Now, I know a lot of the people who read the other ones won't read this one, because why would you? xD and there weren't that many people reading it in the first place. But whoever does read this, even if it's only one person, would you please review and help us be better? Thanks :D And also, this whole thing is written, and a chapter will be up every other day, so read whenever you want to... :D

Raawwwrrr :D

Title: Digimon Adventure 06: Data

By: YukiraKing and UrazamayKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Part 1: Whispers

Chapter 1: Here We Go Again

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Friday, May 29, 2015

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Yamato Ishida:

"This is ridiculous." Yutaka was saying. Somehow everything he said seemed so very distant. Like nothing mattered. Nothing except the piece of equipment in my hand. There was a possibility it could help us. A possibility that we could go back. This was my hope.

I heard the door to the room open but ignored it. It was probably my dad coming back. He'd gone to grab us some food. We'd more than likely be here a while anyway.

Then Yutaka reached out and tapped my shoulder. I shrugged him off but he flicked me in the side of the head, and finally I turned to face him, my hope held tightly in my hands. I shot Yutaka a look, but it fell quickly when I saw the person standing in the room. My arms fell limp and I dropped the device where it crashed on the floor. "Sora!" I gasped. She'd just come from outside in the rain. Her dress was soaked, her hair was matted and stuck to her face, where her makeup had run wild. Yet she was still beautiful.

"Yamato." Sora said, starting to cry. "You're okay."

"O-of course I am." I said, panic rising quickly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Don't." Sora said quietly. "Just let me have one moment. I know that's horrible, but I really just need this." I nodded and swallowed nervously. She was looking into my eyes and although it seemed to be making her calm down, it was simply increasing the panic building in my chest. She broke the silence with a shaky voice. "Yamato... I-I'm sorry."

"Why?" I shot loudly, not in control of my voice. "Why are you sorry?"

As if it needed to be any more dramatic, the rain that was pounding on the window grew loMoretsunar and the glass shook, thunder booming from outside accompanied by a violent flash of lightning.

"Because they're gone."

Her voice echoed in the still room, all eyes transfixed, unmoving. She had all the attention, and for once I wish she didn't. I wanted her to go away and take back what she said. I didn't even believe her. I didn't know what to say, but my panic took over. "What?" I asked, "They're gone? What do you mean? Who is?"

"Everyone." She said, her voice catching in her throat. "Gone."

---

Two Months Earlier

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Kiyoko Izumi:

"And I said 'You can't be serious? Me order that costume?' The guy couldn't come up with an excuse fast enough," Satoe said with superior sort of laugh. She took a quick sip of her tea—made with one sugar cube, and nothing else—and set her delicate white tea cup onto its saucer. Both cup and saucer had tiny, hand painted flowers along the edges in a pale pink that had taken hours to paint. It had been a grueling task—daunting almost, knowing how picky Satoe could be. I spent ages trying to pick which colour would suit Satoe, and I nearly went with red, but she wasn't the harsh woman she used to be, she was much softer, and I thought the pink really demonstrated that change.

"You really don't strike me as a clown," Yuuko agreed with a laugh. Her teacup was very different from Satoe's. I used three colours—red, orange and yellow—and painted splashes of colour, looking like small explosions to represent both her personality and her cooking abilities.

"Heavens no," Yoshie said. "What would that make-up do for her complexion?"

"Exactly," Satoe said. "And that's what I made sure the manager understood. Kiyoko, dear, these teacups are adorable. Wherever did you get the idea?"

"I just wanted to make something special," I said nervously. "For our meetings. Something that was just for us. I was walking through a store with Mari, and I saw a set of white tea cups. The idea just came to me then. I could see it. Each of us with a personalized cup that no one else would use."

"That's very sweet," Yoshie said, looking at her own white cup, with the intricate deep green ivy that swirled around.

"Speaking of sweet," Yuuko said. "Isao and Aimi are set to celebrate their first anniversary soon. I can't believe it. It seems like their wedding was just yesterday."

"I know," Natsuko agreed. "Of course, neither of them is getting any younger, so their quick courtship was to be expected."

"I like that they're older," I said. "It makes me think that love is always possible. Especially when both of them had such hard luck with their first spouses."

"Do you know if Jou's gotten better about it?" Yuuko asked me. "Hikari's mentioned once or twice that he wasn't happy about the whole thing."

"I don't think he likes her very much," I admitted. "I don't really talk to him though. I don't know if we're even friends or not. I don't talk to most of them really..."

"You should just talk to them more," Kae suggested, her teacup raised halfway to her mouth. She was pleased with the simplicity of it, a single—yet large—flower painted in blue on the side of the cup and the centre of the saucer. She was always saying how simple is best. "You're such a sweet boy. They'd really like you."

"I don't want to push it," I said. "I'm just glad they all forgave me, especially Miyako. What Sigma did to her was unforgiveable."

"And it was Sigma who did it," Natsuko said in her no nonsense way. Her teacup clinked loudly as she placed it forcefully onto its saucer to make her point. I'd had trouble coming up with the design for hers, but I settled on pale blue and light yellow, to represent her two sons, which I knew she appreciated, though she never said anything. The colours were in little squares, creating a checkerboard pattern around the rim. "It's to be expected that they forgave you. You did nothing to them."

I'd had enough meetings with Kurayami to know that it wasn't appreciated when I continued to correct people of that. I knew it was still my fault, no matter how unintentionally or indirectly. But Kurayami always got mad when I tried to take that blame. She was a mean therapist. She always asked the hard questions, the ones she never answered for herself. The ones I didn't want to share with anyone. So I never did. That made her mad too. I tried to avoid her whenever possible. I hated our therapy sessions. And while I knew I shouldn't hold that against her as a person—she was only helping after all—I couldn't help being afraid of her. I quit going to her as soon as possible, when I'd finally quit blurting things out accidentally. I was so relieved, since she'd been pregnant at the time, and I was terrified I'd say something about her being fat. I didn't want to die yet.

"So," I said, forcibly changing the subject. "You're still dating that guy?"

"You know that I am," Natsuko said simply. She knew why I changed topics. And she knew that I knew it too. She was too good at reading people. It came from her job, and she had a lot of experience. She let it slide though, and for that I was grateful.

"Hiroaki's friend?" Satoe said, leaning forward, hoping for something interesting. "His best friend?"

"That's the one," Natsuko said, rolling her eyes and reaching to the platter of sandwiches in the middle of the table. She grabbed a cucumber sandwich and took a big bite—effectively removing herself from the conversation for now. She couldn't talk with her mouth full after all.

"She met him again at the wedding," Yuuko said simply. "And it's been smooth sailing from there. I'm so happy for you Natsuko. You really deserved this."

Natsuko nodded her thanks and poured more tea into everyone's cups. Well, except mine. I didn't really like tea. It usually took me an entire meeting to finish drinking just the one—and even then I'd try to sneakily dump it out.

"It's so beautiful here," Kae said, noting that Natsuko clearly didn't want to talk about herself. "We should really meet here more often. I'm glad you thought to meet here, Kiyoko."

Getting the table put out here was a challenge. Digitamamon didn't really want me to build a cafe, since it would affect his business, but he also didn't want to alter his own menu just to satisfy the members of—the now officially named—Team Mom. So, in an attempt not to anger my very first architectural client, I petitioned to Taichi to allow us to add a cafe to the Temple market place. He wasn't sure how well that would work, since I didn't want to have to run it, and there really wasn't much room. In the end, Yoshie decided she would work there, since Koushiro was grown and moved out, and she didn't really enjoy spending her time alone. It became a secondary establishment for Digitamamon, which pleased him, and on Sundays we could all meet here without interrupting Yoshie's workday. The cafe was built just outside the Temple walls, a short walk from Taichi's house, and was quite small. There was a lot of outside seating though, which is where we were, at one of the smaller tables available, with matching chiavari chairs. I spent a long time working to get just the right balance of elegance and casual when it came to the decor of the cafe. We were sheltered from strong winds, because of the forest around us, and we were close to the Temple, so we didn't have to walk far when we entered the Digital World. It was a win-win scenario.

And Kae was right. It was beautiful. Though we could see no water, there was a waterfall far enough away that it didn't interfere with conversation. This waterfall was what fed the moat around the Temple, which we weren't too far from. The moat was filled with beautiful mist that swirled through the air, and glistened in the sunlight. No one knew how deep the moat was, so we did keep a velvet rope fence by it, so no one would accidentally fall in. We didn't want customers—friendly or otherwise—falling to their doom.

"I wish Dorumon took more time away from Knight training," Yuuko sighed. "He'd love this place. Has he ever dropped in?"

"No," Yoshie said. "I hope they aren't working them too hard."

"They only really meet each day for four hour sessions," I said. "The rest of the time they are free to do as they please. Neo doesn't want them overworked, since they could be called upon at any moment to save the world. He can't have exhausted Knights."

"Then why won't Dorumon visit me?" Yuuko asked sadly. "I wish he missed me as much as I miss him."

"You visit him every Tuesday," Satoe pointed out. "And sometimes on Thursdays as well."

"I don't want him to forget about me," Yuuko said. Then she smirked. "And it gives me a perfectly logical reason to drop in on my son at work, since he also never leaves the Digital World. If he can help it anyway."

"He meets at Mimi's every week still," I corrected.

"Well you should suggest that he come and visit his parents the next time you see him. It's lonely without him and Hikari around all the time. And now that Hikari is living with Iori and Natsuni, I see even less of her than I did when she lived in America. That doesn't make sense," Yuuko complained.

"You could always just go and visit her," Satoe said. "It works for me. Drop by unexpectedly, and then stay for a few days, so they can't ignore you."

"That only works for you because you live in another country," Natsuko pointed out dryly. "I sent emails to my boys informing them of my impending presence, so they can either come up with excuses or prepare. If there are excuses, I reschedule until there are none. They know they can't avoid me forever. Try it, you'd be surprised by the results."

"I often have trouble seeing Digitamamon too," Yoshie told Yuuko. "But we've worked out a system that works for us, even if we have to schedule our visits as business meetings. Just talk to him, I'm sure Dorumon would find a way to make sure you're happy too. The relationship isn't entirely one-sided. The digimon waited for us to meet them. They spent their whole lives wondering about when we'd show up. I only wish I could have met him sooner."

"I feel the same way about Minervamon," Satoe said. "She's the best friend I could've asked for, and I wasted so much of my life without her. Of course Keisuke doesn't understand. He's always off complaining. 'Why don't I have a digimon? It's not fair!' It's quite aggravating really, since he puts no effort into going to find his own partner."

"Kazuya does the same," Kae told her. "Only he doesn't know if he really wants one or not. I keep telling him how happy Coronamon and I are together, and how Ken wouldn't be the same without his Wormmon, but he's quite adamant about it. Says he's too busy to have a proper relationship with one."

"I wish Susumu spent more time with Kamemon. But he's too busy. He's always off doing something. When he's not at work, he's gone to friend's house, and comes back far later than Kamemon can stay up. The poor dear is trying to compensate with his collections. I think he pours all the love and affection he has for Susumu into those things. He brought home a bucket of bottle shards yesterday. He's planning to make a mosaic top for the coffee table," Yuuko said. "It will go smashingly with the stain glass windows he made, and the wind chimes he made with colourful, little, glass bottles."

"You've got your own little home decorator right there," Natsuko teased. "Everything will match if you give it enough time."

"The kids' old room is full of shelves and bins with his other collections," Yuuko sighed. "There's the ever-growing rock collection, the spare change jar, the bottle caps, the pushpins, the sunglasses, the feathers, the stamps, the shells, Taichi's broken old toy cars, the watches, and key chains. He brings home a new item every week."

"That's adorable," Kae said.

"It's like having another child, is what it's like," Yuuko corrected. "I don't know how Fumiko handles Meiyomon with such ease. It's like she's always had two sons."

"There's more now. What with her marrying Hiroaki. She's got two new—and older—boys now," Satoe said, and then paused, turning to Natsuko. "No offense."

"Why would I take offense?" Natsuko asked. "I was at the wedding, I know she's my boys' new step-mother. Just don't forget the step part, and there's nothing wrong with it. They're too old for her to sway them against me, and we're not enemies."

"You're so mature about this," Satoe said with a bit of a pout.

"Of course I'm mature about it," Natsuko said. "I'm a grown woman. I can't rant and complain about everything being unfair, especially when it isn't. Hiroaki and I weren't working, we were pretending we were, and we weren't. We were the ones being unfair. To each other. Now Takeru has a big family that he's so excited about, and Yamato has another maternal figure in his life to resent."

I thought I detected more than a bit of frustration in that answer. It seems it still bothered Natsuko on some level that her ex-husband replaced her with Iori's mom.

"If it makes you feel any better," I said. "I know that Iori hates it as much as Yamato does."

"Why would I need to feel better?" Natsuko said, though it did seem to perk her up a bit. "What about you, Kiyoko? You're letting us talk about everything under the sun, but you haven't said anything at all about you."

"There's nothing different from last time," I said quickly. "Why don't we talk about how Fumiko first married a guy named Hiroki Hida, and then got re-married to a guy called Hiroaki Ishida? I think it's just too coincidental to ignore."

"Oh my god," Satoe gasped. "I never even noticed the similarities. That's so odd."

"It's just a coincidence," Yoshie insisted. "I don't think it was intentional."

"I hope not," Kae said. "It would just cause a scandal."

I grinned at Natsuko, who looked mildly impressed by my ability to distract the others. There was also the promise in her eyes that she'd target me again, and she'd find a way to get answers too.

"You know," Yuuko said. "Why haven't we invited her to come with us to these things? She's a mother too you know. And it's Team Mom."

"By that reasoning, I shouldn't be here at all," I pointed out.

"But you have to be here," Satoe said. "You're the reason we're a team at all. You invited us to that final battle. Without you, we'd have missed the whole thing."

"I doubt you could've missed it," I said wryly.

"But we'd have been alone and terrified," Kae insisted.

"Would it be too weird to have Fumiko be here, though?" Yoshie asked. "I know you're being so mature about it, but would it make you feel awkward, Natsuko? I don't want you to be uncomfortable. You're an original member."

"It wouldn't be awkward at all," Natsuko declared. And I knew she'd make sure it wasn't. Even though she wouldn't question Fumiko about Hiroaki...ever. And I doubted anyone else would either. To be honest, I figured Fumiko would feel more awkward about it than Natsuko ever would.

"Well, if we're nominating future members," Yuuko said. "I suggest Toshiko. I know she'd love to get out and talk to people who understand her situation. There really aren't a lot of people in the world who know what it's like to send a child off into battle, not knowing if they're ever coming back."

It was silent for a moment, as we remembered the time when Toshiko's daughter really didn't come back—well Mimi, Yamato and Neo fixed it, but it was a heartbreaking time for mostly everybody.

"I second that motion," Yoshie said firmly. "Toshiko definitely should come. She was on Hiroaki's team the first time we parents were needed. She's had some experience."

"How open are you to young blood?" Satoe asked. "Because Kurayami and Momoe both are mothers now, and it would only be fair."

"Momoe's good," I said.

"And Kurayami?" Satoe asked.

"No..." I said slowly. "She's just such a new mom. I doubt she's got any time to come to these kinds of things. And really, we're outside all the time, and it's misty. I don't think it would be a good environment to bring a baby into. He's only two months old. He doesn't have a very good immune system yet."

"It seems to me like someone doesn't like his team mate," Natsuko said with a glint in her eye. "Why don't you tell us about it?"

"She's scary," I said. "And she doesn't know everything about me...but she knows too much, and I don't want her to share my secrets. I know, I know, the doctor-patient confidentiality thing should be in effect, but really Kurayami's not a trained therapist, and the idea that she knows so much about me, more than even Hideto...I don't like that. She makes me uncomfortable."

"There's so much more to you than what you let us see, isn't there," Yoshie asked sadly.

"I'm getting better," I insisted, though I knew I was still very broken. All of Alias III were. We tried our best, but we still needed time. And there were so many things I was ashamed of. I didn't think I'd ever reach the point where I could share myself freely with Hideto, let alone Kurayami.

"Speaking of Hideto," Natsuko said, trying to liven us up. "How are you two?"

"Same old, same old," I said. I couldn't help smiling though. Just the sound of his name did that to me. "He's having a movie day with Tapirmon today. Which is really sweet, and I'm glad he's taking the time to bond with him. I know I have to work with Warg and Melga, but they're already so open, that I don't know what to do with them. I don't want to copy Hideto, so I'm going to put a lot of thought into it."

"It sounds like dating with digimon is the same as dating with kids," Satoe joked.

"I think it really is," I said. "No matter how much I care about Hideto, if he and Tapirmon didn't get along...I don't know that I could be with him. Even if I really wanted to."

"But it's okay, because Tapirmon gave me a glowing report on Hideto," Yoshie said with a smile. Tapirmon worked with Yoshie sometimes, because he liked spending time with her, and he thought it would make it seem like a genuine Digitamamon establishment, since Digitamamon also had a Tapirmon working at his restaurant. I liked that he got out and made a life for himself, rather than being cooped up in our dingy old apartment every day.

"Yeah, he gave me one too" I said with a smile.

"Ah, young love," Satoe sighed. "I really miss it."

"You and Keisuke still act like newlyweds. I didn't think you could miss it," Yuuko snorted.

"You were married quite young," Kae remembered. "Weren't you?"

"I was seventeen," Satoe said. "And it was demanded of us by both of our fathers. We had to preserve the family honour, what with us having Mimi already. We got married because it was expected of us, but our relationship was pretty new the entire time. We'd only known each other less than a year before I found out I was pregnant. I was a bit of a wild child. But we're happy, and I'm glad of it."

"I was surprised by that," Kae said. "That you were so young when you married. Everyone was always saying how young marriages never last, so I waited longer than I would've to marry Kazuya. I didn't want to be a statistic. And I wish we'd married sooner, we might've gotten more time with Osamu that way."

"I wish the opposite," Natsuko said. "I love my sons. I do. But if we'd waited to get married, if I wasn't nineteen and 'so in love' with my twenty year old boyfriend...we might've realized a lot earlier what a bad fit we were. We wouldn't have wasted so much time. But at the same time, I would lose Yamato and Takeru if that were what happened, and I can't live without them..."

"I think Masami and I did the right thing. We married young, yes, but a lot of people were doing the same. And we wanted children right off. And we got one. If we weren't already married and trying, Koushiro might not have come into our lives. We would've passed on the opportunity presented to us, and who knows where Koushiro would've ended up. It was a lot to handle so early on, yes, but I love our son so much," Yoshie said, with tears glistening in her eyes. "And the thought of missing out on being a part of his life...I can't handle it."

"I was married young, but Susumu waited," Yuuko said. "I'd met him when I was eighteen, and he was ready to settle down. I wanted to explore the world, and see everything. But I loved him and I didn't want to lose him to what I thought were childish dreams. So I married him after only knowing him a year. He was twenty-six by then, and desperately wanted to start a family. And so we did. Taichi was born the following year, and three years later, we had Hikari."

"But you're happy right?" Satoe asked.

"Of course I am," Yuuko said. "Or I wouldn't still be with him after twenty eight years."

"Twenty-eight?" I asked. It seemed like such a long time to me. Longer than I'd been alive. The idea that she'd spent that many years married to someone, loving that person, creating a family with him. That was something that really struck me as important. Like I could have that someday, if I worked at it. And now that I'd thought about it, I wanted it. Bad. I just didn't know if Hideto did.

What made it even better, was that there was a seven year age difference between Yuuko and Sususmu. That was bigger than the six between Hideto and myself—which everyone poked fun at.

"Oh!" Satoe gasped. "I just remembered something that Minervamon told me, and I thought you might be able to shed a little light on the situation, Kiyoko. She was headed to the Olympus XII for their monthly meeting, and she heard whispers of a rumour involving that singing digimon. Now what was his name...Etemon?"

"Yeah, what about him?" I asked.

"Well, according to the Vegimon she was talking to—who heard it from a Blossomon, who overheard a Cherrymon talking two a couple of Vilemon—Etemon has left the building!"

"It's probably just a publicity stunt," Yuuko said, rolling her eyes.

"What an Elvis wannabe," Natsuko said, thought I could see the gears in her head turning. She was definitely going to ask Yamato or Takeru for more information. She never settled for just one source.

"You know what they say about rumours," Kae said warningly. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear."

"I agree," Yoshie said. "I don't want to generalize, but aren't Vilemon...bad? If you rearrange the letters in their name you get evil, and even if you don't change them at all, it's still vile. They sound like troublemakers if you ask me."

"I haven't heard anything about Etemon," I told Satoe with an apologetic shrug. "I'll let you know if anyone says anything, but I don't think Etemon has acted up in years. I've never even seen him."

"Oh pooh," Satoe sighed. "I was really hoping to get that cleared up. I thought maybe he was planning to take over the world next."

"Nope," I said. "The Digital World's at peace. Everyone's pretty sure it's going to stay that way."

Michael Washington:

I really didn't like when he came around with us. I wasn't always allowed to walk around alone though, and even when I pleaded and begged I was told I had to bring him, just in case I got any stupid ideas. 'Stupid' being a term used to describe everything that comes out of my mouth. Or so says my manager.

He never did like me much. I think he had a crush on my dad—he was his publicist too. It could explain why he hated me. Though how likely was that? A man destroyed when his childhood crush marries someone else and then holds a grudge against the child of the union simply because he didn't win his beloved's heart.

Well, I'd heard it before, so it had to be possible.

Either way, Mr Smith was our publicist, and he was just as annoying as our manager, and yet less ruthless. My manager was quick to remind me upon every meeting that the only reason I was still in business was because I was attractive, and not because of my abysmal performances. I was never allowed to retort though because, and I quote, "We do not speak to those who are as perfect as I, when we are as imperfect as you."

Which was simply rMoretsuna.

And yet humbling. There was no way I was ever going to get a big head while working with these clowns. And for that I was grateful. As were my friends and family I'm sure.

I flicked my eyes away from the tall form of Mr Smith and looked to the others. Willis was walking, his hands in the pockets of his favourite black spring jacket. His blonde hair was messed up exactly the way he liked it and he was wearing a red hoodie over his intentionally ripped jeans. I knew he had just broken up with his newest fling of a girlfriend just by looking at him. There was an air of relaxation about him—and there was no way it was the weather that was relaxing him.

For having just gone through a particularly rough winter, this spring was surprisingly not pleasant. The wind was harsh and cold and it stung at my face, drying my skin—which was bad because, again, I was apparently only in the line of work because I was pretty. If I wasn't pretty anymore, then... well, what was I to do?

Jenna was walking with a spring to her step, and it wasn't because of her moon shoes. She'd stopped wearing them after the staircase incident... I shuddered just thinking about it. She was however dressed entirely in steam punk clothing, and not just subtly either. She was... well, she was never subtle. Her blonde hair was shoved through some strange device on her head and it stuck out at odd angles, she was wearing a dress that appeared to be made entirely of metal and gears, and her boots looked like they were made for some sci-fi movie based in the 1950's. Her eyes were wide and looked full of life and excitement, as usual.

Ever since she started seeing this guy she'd been ecstatic about everything. The day they met we'd all been tortured with an hour long speech about how he was simply the one.

Never met him.

Never want to.

Tatum's cold fingers were sucking all the heat out of my own as she held tightly to my hand. I wanted to suggest a coffee break just so she could hold something warm before holding my hand again, but I didn't want to be rMoretsuna. Besides, I could handle it. Her hair was braided elaborately and wrapped around her head. She was wearing a green dress under a black jacket. I wished she would have worn more clothes. Maybe then she wouldn't have to take all my heat...

And of course, there was Betamon. I made a promise that I'd never go anywhere without him, and I'd so far kept that promise. For the most part anyway. He had this thing where he refused to sit in the bathtub with his eyes closed while I... used the washroom. He said it was undignified and really he didn't need to be watched all the time.

And I knew that. But every time I looked at him I was reminded of the pain that he went though... and the pain I went through by causing him to go through his own. His fin was still deflated like a poorly blown up beach toy, the scars on his back, though healing gradually, were still as visible as the ocean is from space, and he still walked with a limp.

Waddled? Slid? Hopped? He moved with a limp.

Tatum squeezed my hand and caught my attention. "You okay?" She whispered. I guess I wasn't very good at hiding my emotions. For an actor I wasn't very good at acting... maybe I really was just a pretty face.

"Could we stop in here for a bit?" I diverted Tatum's attention from me as smoothly as I could, "I'm a bit cold."

"Baby," Jenna joked, looking up at the dingy sign of the cafe I decided to stop at. Though it didn't look any cleaner than the litter covered sidewalks of the street we were on, there was no wind in there, and it would be a good place to stop and relax for a moment.

We all turned our heads to Mr Smith who nodded stiffly and we all moved inside. Mr Smith followed us from behind, like always. I didn't really know who he thought he was, I guess he sort of fancied himself to be some sort of bodyguard, but he was about as useful in a fight as Daisuke's new baby.

Walking through the door was like walking from an ice palace into a sauna, and honestly it was the best feeling ever. Jenna was in the lead, pushing her way through the crowd of people who all smelled strongly of smoke, until she found a place in the corner and sat down. She flopped into the corner seat and the rest of us sat around the table. I pulled Betamon into the chair next to me, leaving Mr Smith with no place to sit, but I wasn't about to offer him my chair. He pursed his lips as if we'd caused him great emotional pain and turned around, taking a chair from the table behind us without asking.

"Uh, hey, we need that." A girl said in a gravelly voice. I looked toward them and winced. I certainly wouldn't want to get into a fight with her. She looked like she could pick me up and throw me across the entire state of New York.

"Get your own." Mr Smith spat rMoretsunaly. The girl didn't respond but made a loud show of annoyance as she pulled a chair from a separate table.

"A bit cold." Mr Smith said in a whiney voice.

"I said that," I told him.

"I know," He scoffed, "I was mocking you."

I rolled my eyes and saw that Tatum, Willis and Jenna all did the same. It was like a wave of eye rolling. That would be cool if a whole stadium did that. Though... you wouldn't really be able to see it—but it would kind of be cool anyway I bet.

"So how's... what's her name?" Tatum asked, embarrassed that she couldn't remember Willis' newest girlfriends name.

"Tiffany?" Willis asked.

"I thought you dumped her already..." Jenna said slowly.

Willis nodded, snatching the salt shaker into his hand and playing with it idly between his fingers, "She wanted to get back together." He nodded. "And so we did, but I dumped her."

"Why's that?" Tatum asked, not at all sad or comforting. It was hard to be comforting when I swear he somehow managed to dump more girls than he dated. Something about a year ago happened, though none of us were really sure what exactly it was, and he just started... well, flirting. Flirting with everyone and after flirting comes—dating! Briefly!

Willis shrugged, but didn't answer her, instead he unscrewed the top of the salt shaker and poured some of the contents onto the table, and began stirring it around with his fingers that were red around the knuckles from being out in the cold for so long. Tatum raised her eyebrows but didn't press the issue any further.

"So Mom and Dad are thinking of coming to visit again." Jenna said casually, "They let me know last time I was there asking for money."

"Oh but that must have been so long ago," I said sarcastically, "You hardly ever ask for money!"

"Hey!" She dared, pointing her pale finger toward me. "Dad's got a money tree in the basement and I want to make good use of it." He actually did. One day he decided he was going to buy a small apple tree, and keep it inside, which was fine... I didn't live there. He dug the basement deeper—which I didn't think was safe, but he did it anyway, planted a blasted tree and stapled money to it. Just to say he has a money tree

"Why do they keep coming over though?" Willis groaned, which usually would have been uncalled for, but for the past couple months they've been coming over at least twice a week for dinner. It was just kind of... lame. Not that we didn't love them and all. We even agreed to start calling Willis' mom our mom, and Willis did the same with dad, but living alone with your girlfriend, your two really cool siblings and five digimon was a blast. Then of course it was understandable why having parents come and invade our home would be disheartening.

"Is the help ever going to get here?" Mr Smith asked.

"Patience is a virtue," Tatum said politely.

"Well why is that?" Mr Smith asked, "Why isn't 'hurry the heck up' a virtue?"

"Why don't you go find someone and see what's taking them so long?" Jenna asked, "Instead of whining about it?" Mr Smith got up, offended and stormed off, his stolen chair scraping loudly against the wooden floor.

Betamon sighed with relief upon his disappearance. "Good Digi-God why does he have to come everywhere with us?" I laughed and patted his head gently.

"I think it's because he doesn't trust you," Willis said honestly, leaning back in his chair and cracking his shoulders. "Either he doesn't trust you, or your manager wants him to make sure you don't do anything you don't have permission to do." He shrugged his shoulders.

I nodded, leaning forward and propping myself up with my arms on the table momentarily before I realized how gross the tables were. I pulled back and furrowed my brow at the sight of the sticky substance that was now on my sweater sleeve. "I think it's both." I said, reaching for a napkin to wipe it off.

"I think you should stop telling him when we're going out." Jenna suggested.

"If he did that, then someone would get a picture of him and he'd get in trouble." Willis said without thought. "He can't leave without supervision. It's actually required by law. He signed a contract."

"Dummy." Jenna pouted, "You should have read the contract first."

"I... had my manager read through it." I said sheepishly. I'd realized the fault years ago, but the contract wasn't permanent, so that wasn't so bad. I could ride it out. Just a few more years. Jenna looked like she wanted to punch me—and she would have too, if she wasn't at the other end of the table.

"It must be horrible to feel trapped all the time, like you're in prison." Betamon said sincerely, reaching his fin over to pat my leg, "to not be able to get out, and feel like every decision you make is going to cause your downfall."

"Betamon," I said airily, stroking his head again. "I'm sorry." I didn't like when he brought up his time in captivity. Honestly I was fairly certain he didn't even know he was bringing it up half the time, just making conversation. It was everyone else who picked up on the subconscious hints his speech was pulling from his brain.

He shook his head and smiled, pushing his head into my hand like a cat wanting to be pet more. I smirked at him, but heard something behind me. It was the girl with the gravelly voice from earlier, but I didn't catch all she said, just 'prison'.

Were the people at the next table eavesdropping on us?

"What are we even doing here?" Willis asked, "None of us are getting anything, clearly."

"No one has come to take our order..." Tatum pointed out. Willis seemed a bit snippy today, but no one seemed to want to figure out why. I had a feeling it had to do with Tiffany, but who was I to make an assumption? I was no mind reader.

I absentmindedly reached up and started adjusting my hair using the napkin dispenser as a mirror during the silence that followed. It wasn't in place perfectly, though I couldn't really blame myself here, it was rather windy outside. But still, I had to look my best.

"You look fine." Betamon assured me. I turned to him to acknowledge him but saw someone standing behind him. I looked and saw that it was a man with a white mustache, but no hair on the top of his head. He pulled the chair right out from the table and dragged it toward the table where the deep voiced woman sat. Betamon leapt off of it and onto the floor, whipping around to look at him. "Hey..." Betamon mumbled.

"Yeah." Willis said sharply, dropping the salt shaker he had resumed playing with. He stood up and looked toward the man. "Someone was using that chair."

"Hardly." He mumbled. Or said? Maybe his enormous mustache just tampered with the volume and clarity of his voice.

"You took one of our chairs, and we needed it." The woman who we had spoken to earlier said. Her dry white hair flipping backwards as if she was going for some nineties wind swept look.

"And there it is." Willis said, not backing down for a moment. I helped Betamon up onto the chair in question, trying to ignore the argument. Some people were just jerks. Both Betamon and I knew that. Jenna and Tatum knew that too, though Jenna usually wouldn't let anything slide... she was just like that. But Willis would usually be the passive one. He must have really been in a bad mood. "It was empty. Why didn't you just take it back?"

"Don't mind if I do." One of the other men at the table said, a thick cigar held casually between the fingers on his left hand. He spun back and grabbed Betamon's chair, tipping it forward and dumping Betamon onto the ground.

"Okay." I said, slamming my hands down on the table. "Do you want to have a go?" I asked, jumping to my feet to stand with Willis who was already pushing my chair aside to get into their faces. Like I said, I was usually not one to get into an argument, but if the douche wanted to boil some blood, then he was going to get an angry Michael in return. Angry, in this case, with a capital A.

The man's friend took a long drag of his cigar and slowly blew the smoke out, grating my every nerve before he set the cigar down and stood up.

Well. He was certainly bigger than he looked sitting down...

"You want to fight me?" He asked.

I was about to tell him that my friend who Jenna and Tatum were now helping was a magical sea creature that could grow in size until he became an enormous metal snake that once killed the devil, as if that was even possible, but I didn't get the chance."What's going on!?" I turned sharply to see Mr Smith rushing toward us, his hands flailing about like a school girl. "What. Is. Going. On?" He panted, grabbing my shoulder roughly and pushing me away from the man. He slammed me against the wall and spun me around. "You fool."

"What?" I asked, annoyed, "I know I'm not supposed to cause a scene, but I mean, really—"

"Well if you know, then why were you doing it?" Mr Smith asked, "Why cause a riot when you know you are not permitted to do so?"

"Because he was—"

"Oh, I don't care!" Mr Smith snapped, both with his voice and with his hands. "Could you imagine what would happen if he hit your face? You'd be out of a job. And so would I. You're nothing without your face. Nothing without your looks. You think you can do what you want in this world—all you teenagers do. But you can't. You don't realize that we adults know better. Do you honestly think you could make it out there in the cutthroat world of media without me? You just do as I say and keep your face looking fresh. M'kay?"

"I'm not a teenager." I practically pouted. I didn't really know what else to say. I never did when it came to Mr Smith.

"Don't care, m'kay?" He said smacking his lips. "Let's go, alright?" This place is not good for publicity anyway." He grabbed my shoulder and began directing me roughly out of the cafe. I spun my head around and saw Tatum ushering Willis along as Jenna hurried behind with Betamon in her arms. Once we were out of the throng of people Mr Smith found the door and kicked it open, throwing me out into the fresh, and yet freezing wind of the outside world.

"Mr Washington!"

I groaned, but turned with my usual carefree smile to the paparazzi. "Hey!" I smiled as the others finally made it out of the building. Jenna passed Betamon off to me as the flashes started going off. I held Betamon tightly and smiled the best I could until the man was satisfied.

Mr Smith waved him off politely and waited until he was gone before turning to me. "One more thing..."

"What's that?" I asked, checking my friends to see if they were alright. Willis looked even angrier than before, straightening out his jacket, but the girls looked fine. Cold, but fine. Betamon looked hurt—not physically though, so that was good. We'd just have to get home and cheer him up.

"You need to stop bringing Betamon around." Mr Smith said.

"No," I said quickly, turning to walk home. Going for a calming walk wasn't as fun anymore anyway. I just wanted to curl up by the fire and thaw out.

"It's just some friendly advice," Mr Smith said, following me like a puppy dog. Willis looked like he had a genius plan to trip Mr Smith into the oncoming traffic and pretend it was an accident, so I put my hand on his shoulder and he jumped, turning to me, he smiled—or tried to, but I knew he was still annoyed.

"I don't think it's really all that friendly." I shrugged. "In fact it kind of makes me feel the opposite of friendship toward you."

"What would that be?" Jenna wondered aloud. "If hate is the opposite to love, then what's the opposite to friendship?"

"I guess enemy?" Tatum offered. With a soft "Ahh." Jenna was satisfied.

"I just mean that you're getting a lot of bad press for carrying the little guy around." Mr Smith said. "I mean, he's cute and all, but that factor died out a while ago and now everyone is sort of upset."

"Is there a rule that says I can't bring him with me?" I asked, turning to face him.

"N-no..." Mr Smith spluttered.

"Then too bad." I snapped. "Betamon comes with me wherever I go. He's my friend." Mr Smith looked like he wanted to protest, but I didn't let him. I learned a few things from Jenna, and the look of pure evil that I was giving Mr Smith was one of those things.

I turned to set off home. We were going to watch movies, sit by the fire, eat carrots, Betamon's favourite—and have hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was to cheer Willis up. I didn't like seeing him upset any more than I liked seeing Betamon upset, and I was upset too. And I wasn't going to feel any better until they did. Tatum and Jenna seemed alright though... so they could make the hot chocolate while I peeled the carrots.

And Mr Smith? Well, he could just go home. I didn't want him around anymore.

Ken Ichijouji:

"This is awesome," Yakuin told me with a smile as he took a large bite out of his cupcake. They were painted with blue frosting with little silver handcuffs embossed on the top. He was right of course, the cupcakes were awesome. But not only that. This send off for the best boss ever was amazing. Tons of people who'd been affected by him while he was the Chief Superintendent, past employees of his, and his current team—including me and Yakuin—were all here to celebrate his long term as our Chief, and to celebrate his retirement. He could finally relax!

"I'm going to miss him though, I think," I said thoughtfully. "Who could possibly replace him?"

"Dunno," Yakuin said. "But he better be awesome too."

"I hope so," I said. "I don't like that we're losing the best boss ever so quickly after gaining employment. I wouldn't change what we've experienced with him, but I almost wish we'd gotten out of school after he'd already retired. It's almost guaranteed that the next guy will be a disappointment."

"Now, now," Chief Keishi said, sneaking up behind us and scaring me half to death. "Morestuna is a very capable man, plenty experienced and well qualified for his new position. He might take some getting used to. No two Chiefs are the same after all. But just stick with it. He'll settle in nicely. Just wait and see."

"He's no you, sir," Yakuin said, sucking up to him.

"Well, I'd hold your tongue boys," Chief Keishi said. "Morestuna is going to make an appearance tonight. I'm going to officially introduce him as my replacement. This is a way for you to get to know him in a slightly less formal setting, so that by the time you actually start working together, you'll already know what to expect. Pretty genius plan, if I do say so myself."

So he was a little vain. Who wasn't?

I could actually think of quite a few people who weren't... But he deserved to be. He was a brilliant Police Officer in his day—which was why he was promoted all the way up to Chief! He was the best man I'd ever met. Which was saying something, because I knew several people that literally saved the world...but he was out there with us actually trying to defend the world against Yggdrasil's robot army. It was one of the main reasons I was so keen to be on his team. I didn't think he knew that I'd been a part of saving the world, since Katsue's video mostly dealt with the happenings on Earth, and I was in Yggdrasil's den at the time, and was kind of in the background when it came to the final battle.

I'd watched the movie like twelve times trying to find myself. It was sad really. Miyako actually banned the movie from our apartment, saying it wasn't healthy to be as obsessed by it as I was.

Which was probably true...

"You are so right, sir," Yakuin gushed. "It's probably the best idea I've ever heard."

"Now I know you're just sucking up," I muttered. Yakuin looked down to me. He was taller than me by several inches—a fact he was never going to let me forget. He looked rather sharp in his uniform, which we were all wearing. I kind of looked like I was drowning in mine. It wasn't as bad as when I'd started though. I'd really packed on some weight since then.

The good kind of weight.

Muscle.

I needed it to be an effective officer of the law. I was still working out daily, trying to get properly toned. It was a process I started in the academy, but I hadn't been taking it nearly as serious as I should have. Now that I was out on the force, I needed to be able to chase after suspects that decided to run—which actually happened. It was something I hadn't expected, since it happened on all the television shows, but it was actually true. After Yakuin had managed to catch a perpetrator when I'd nearly passed out—after just fifteen minutes of running—I knew I had to get my act together. He acted like it was no big deal mind you. He said fifteen minutes of straight out running was impressive. He did manage to let it slip that he could run for forty five minutes before getting tired.

So my new goal was fifty minutes.

Just to beat him. Granted all of my written work—reports and the like—were far better than his. He had a tendency to forget about them until the last minute, and then throw a bunch of words at the page. So, I mean, we both had our areas that we excelled in.

I just wanted to excel more than he did. Was that so much to ask?

Anyway, he was tall, sturdy, and while Miyako had assured me that I was much more her type, it was clear that he was very attractive to the ladies. He looked generally what a police officer might look like on television. It was kind of annoying, but he was a good guy, so I tried not to dwell on the fact that he'd be the main character and I'd be delegated to the sidekick role.

"I am not," Yakuin hissed at me.

"You are," Chief Keishi said with a smirk. "But it's okay. I kind of like it. Not that it matters anymore, since I'm not your boss. You should really be thinking of getting on Morestuna's good side. Ah look, here he is now. Morestuna! Glad you could make it."

I looked to my new boss and stifled a groan. He was nothing like Chief Keishi. I could tell even before he started to speak. He was as tall as Yakuin, but looked nothing like him. He didn't have the good looks of a television star. He had a very severe haircut too. Military style: extremely short on the sides, with a little extra hair on top. His face was clean shaven, and he wore a well pressed uniform. Nothing stood out of place. He wore a badge, and I could see his gun in its holster at his waist. Why did he need a gun for a retirement party? I didn't want to ask. He stood like a soldier at ease, his arms folded behind him and his feet shoulder length apart. He looked around thirty five, maybe a bit older...thirty seven maybe? His eyebrows were thick and bold. I wouldn't call them bushy though. Every hair was perfectly in place. All sloping down over his eyes, furrowed as they were. He looked angry and strict.

Chief Keishi was shorter, rounder—though not overly so, just in a gentle sort of way that reflected his personality. He was only strict when he had to be. He was slow to anger. He was the perfect starting boss. I didn't want this scary new guy.

I didn't have a choice.

"Sir," Morestuna said firmly, nodding briefly in Chief Keishi's direction. "It's an honour to take your place. I do hope to do my best to improve upon your success and wipe the streets of crime."

"It's a big task," Chief Keishi said lightly. He looked a bit out of sorts. Morestuna had basically told him he hadn't been doing a good enough job. "But I'm sure you're up for the job."

"I am indeed sir," Morestuna said. His voice was stiff, cutting through the air like a hot knife on butter. No one would ever dare speak while he was. I could just tell he wouldn't stand for it either. "I just hope this team if up for their new management."

"I suppose many of them did think the new Chief might be one of them," Chief Keishi admitted, causing several of the higher ranked officers to gulp nervously, praying that Morestuna didn't identify them and their ambition. "But I think the higher ups were right. We did need some fresh blood in the place. Experienced fresh blood."

"There are new recruits then," Morestuna stated. He didn't ask. He didn't need to.

"The newest are Officers Yakuin and Ichijouji," Cheif Keishi said, gesturing to Yakuin and myself. We both stood at attention under Morestuna's scrutiny. His eyes passed over Yakuin quickly enough, deeming him decent. He took his time with me though. I wished then more than ever that I wasn't standing next to Yakuin. Any other time, in any other circumstance, it wouldn't have mattered. But I didn't look like much of anything next to him. Especially since I didn't quite fill out my uniform perfectly. Most people didn't notice, but I did. And I was sure he did too. His glare intensified and I almost wet my pants.

"There's room for improvement," Morestuna announced. "In the small one especially."

"RMoretsuna," I muttered before I could stop myself.

"Care to repeat that?" Morestuna said. But it didn't leave room for choice. He wanted to humiliate me in front of my co-workers, more than he already had. But I wasn't going to give in. No matter how much he terrified me.

"I said 'I agree,' Sir," I said loudly.

"Good," he said coldly. "At least you're aware of it. There won't be time for parties or gossip under my command. We will fight for the people against any and all threats. We will lay our lives on the line to ensure that justice will prevail. You all took an oath. I intend for you to stick with it. If that frightens any of you, the door is over there. You can leave the squad with your old Chief, and search for another career, because obviously this one is not for you. This is the only time you will be offered this choice. I will be tightening the ropes around here. We will be a well oiled, well manned machine. We will do our jobs down to the letter, and I expect every man and woman in this room to follow my directions explicitly. Is that understood!?"

"Yes sir," we all chorused. I saw Chief Keishi out of the corner of my eye. He didn't seem so pleased to be giving his reigns over to Morestuna anymore. In fact he looked horrified. He hid it well, but he'd never been too good at disguising his eyes. They always told us exactly what he was thinking. Well, that, and he had this habit of sweating at the back of his neck when things were getting to him. And his neck was glistening. His hands were shaking ever so slightly; he was straining to keep them from becoming fists. He couldn't do anything to help his work 'family' as he'd called us all. Not without giving up his retirement and even that wouldn't necessarily help us. He could just be reassigned elsewhere. Besides, not a single one of us would ask him to give up his retirement years just because we were afraid of his replacement. We wouldn't do that to him. Never. We'd just suck it up and get through it. It couldn't last forever, right? Chief Keishi was only chief for the last twenty years.

Twenty years...

I wondered how long it could take for me to get a transfer.

"No takers?" Morestuna asked, raising one of his thick eyebrows out of his glare. "I thought for sure there'd be at least four, including the small one."

No.

I wouldn't get a transfer. I'd suck it up too. I'd work harder than ever before. I'd been faced with end of the worlds scenarios multiple times and always pulled through. I had a team this time too. No, they weren't digidestined, but they were police officers, and they were well trained, which is more than I can say about any of the digidestined. We could do this as a team. We would do this as a team.

"I'm almost impressed," Morestuna said. "Almost. I expect one hundred and ten percent from each of you each and every day. We will win the war against crime. Understood."

"Sir!" we all shouted in agreement.

"Dismissed," he said.

"But the party," Chief Keishi said.

"Is now over," Morestuna said. "You're no longer in command, and as this is now my station, I want it cleared off all party goers. Get home and get some rest. We begin the fight tomorrow!"

"Sir!" we all shouted again.

"Now march!" he ordered.

Everyone raced to the door, trying not to look too pleased to be out of the new chief's presence. Chief Keishi followed out after Yakuin and me. He didn't look very happy.

"Cheer up, sir," I told him. "Your freedom starts today."

"At the cost of all of yours," he said miserably.

"Don't worry about us. You've earned it," I told him. "I know for a fact that your wife's waiting at home for you. Maybe you two can make some travel plans now that you've got all of this free time."

"Maybe," he said. I waved down a taxi, and sent him on his way. I would miss him very much.

"Why'd you do that?" Yakuin said. "He might've stayed. If we'd asked."

"We can't do that to him. He's done so much for this city. So much for all of us," I told him. "Not one other officer even thought to ask him to stay."

"Stop making me feel guilty," Yakuin said, bumping my shoulder. "I'm scared to go in to work tomorrow."

"Me too," I said. "But I'm going to show up. Because he doesn't expect me to. He thinks I'm going to quit. That I'm not cut out for this. I am though. And I'm going to prove it. I also really need this job. I've got so many stMoretsunant loans to pay back, not to mention rent and..."

"And...?" he asked, looking intruiged.

"Nothing," I said awkwardly. Miyako hadn't even told me yet, I couldn't go around telling other people. I mean, she didn't exactly know that I knew, but she wasn't exactly hiding it well.

"Fine," he said dramatically. "Be that way. Go home to your wife and plan your escape route. I'm thinking of transferring to Tokyo, but I doubt they'd take me."

"An officer running from his boss?" I said skeptically. "Somehow I doubt it too."

"See you tomorrow," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Bright and early," I told him sternly. We both started laughing, but cut off abruptly when Chief Morestuna walked out of the building behind us. I took the coward's way out this time by waving down a taxi and hoping in, feeding the driver my home address. I could hear Hawkmon singing to himself from the hallway. Wormmon's voice was warbling right along with it, though his was much softer, and I didn't hear it until I'd unlocked the door and slipped inside.

They were not good singers.

At all.

"Oh, hi Ken," Miyako said. She was smiling, but the skin around her eyes was tight, and I knew it was forced. "How was the party?"

"It got cut short," I told her. And then I told her all about Morestuna, and how I really didn't want to work for him, but I had to, because I had so many loans, and we needed food and shelter. We had four mouths to feed. And that was just right now.

"I guess this isn't a good time to tell you that I quit my job," she said quietly.

"What? Why?" I asked. It came out a little harsher than intended, and she winced. I felt like a huge jerk for scaring her. "You loved that job," I reminded her in a much gentler voice.

"I know I did," she said. "And I still do. But I can't do it right now. The things we do there. There are a lot of experiments, and sometimes things don't get contained very well. And usually it's not so bad. And I didn't want to get moved to a desk job like my old co-worker did. I wouldn't do good at a desk job, just answering phone's all day. But I can't keep working there. It's not safe."

"What kind of experiments do you do?" I asked horrified. "Have they always been unsafe?"

"No," she said. "They're actually safe for most people. It's just right now, I don't think it's safe for me."

Oh. It was one of those things.

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" I asked. "Like why it's only not safe for you?"

"No," she said. "I just don't feel comfortable there anymore. So I thought, why not ask Mari if I could work at the library again. There's nothing potentially dangerous about working with books."

I could've listed a few things, but decided to let her have her way. It didn't look like she was going to tell me any time soon.

"Did you eat anything before the party was cancelled? I can make tuna sandwiches, and you could tell me if they need more tuna. Get it? 'Cause your boss's name is Morestuna? It sounds like more tuna?" she said. Wow. She really didn't want to talk about it. Not if she was offering me Daisuke level jokes.

"Sure," I said. She smiled and proceeded to practically run from the room. Hawkmon and Wormmon looked to me, having stopped singing to watch her hasty exit.

"She still hasn't told you, I take it?" Hawkmon asked.

"Nope," I said.

"And she still thinks she's hiding it?" Wormmon asked incredulously.

"Yep," I said.

"But she keeps the pills on the counter," Hawkmon said.

"Uh-huh," I said.

"And she leaves books all around the house," Wormmon said, pointing to one of them on the coffee table right in front of him.

"I know," I said.

"And she left the test in the bathroom," they said together.

"Yeah," I said. "She's really not good at hiding anything. Do you think I should just tell her I know?"

"No!" they both protested.

"She's really proud of herself, I think, for keeping it a 'secret' so long," Hawkmon explained.

"But she should tell Ken," Wormmon protested.

"It's not really up to us," Hawkmon said. "I still don't understand how it works." I opened my mouth to explain, but he held a wing up to me. "I don't want another lesson. It's not necessary for me anyway."

"I know," I said. "But it's really frustrating me. Did you know she left a note on the counter reminding her to call Kiyoko to see how much he'd charge to design a nursery? She's going to tell him before me. Maybe if it was Hikari, it would make sense, but Kiyoko? She doesn't talk to him. Like...ever!"

"Who don't I talk to?" Miyako asked, coming in with a tray of tuna sandwiches, enough for all of us.

"Uh..." Wormmon said nervously.

"You know..." Hawkmon said, coming up with a blank.

"Koushiro!" I shouted, picking the first name that came to mind.

"You know," she said. "You might be right. I should call him and see what he's up to. Maybe we could talk over coffee later this week. Well...I won't drink coffee, since I've decided that it's bad for me, but he can, if he likes."

Sure, it's bad for her. More like bad for the baby. But I didn't officially know she was pregnant. Because she hadn't told me. I really wished she would though. I was getting sick of being excited in secret. I wanted to shout it to the world. I was going to be a dad! That was huge. But she didn't want to share with me. Why? I didn't know. But if she didn't tell me soon, I'd have to trick it out of her.

Mimi Tachikawa:

"Thank you for visiting Mimi's," I said to the customers that were just leaving the restaurant. "I hope to see you again!"

I was on hostess duty, since Michan, my newest employee was getting frustrated by it. If I'd known she'd be such a terrible worker, I might not have hired her, but she was a friend of mine once upon a time, and I felt like I owed it to her to try and get that friendship back. She was one of my many friends from before the Digital World, and was the one I held onto the longest after finishing my first adventure. Our friendship wasn't strong enough to last through the distance, after the hit it took from my adventure, and I'd always felt bad about the way things had ended between us.

Besides, I really did need a new employee. Hideto and Izumi were great, but I was only one person, and I couldn't handle both the business side of things and being a full-time employee anymore. Not that hiring Michan helped, since I was still doing both things and paying her for doing next to nothing. But I didn't want to stir the pot. I wanted the friendship to grow, not get utterly destroyed by firing her. Besides, I needed to have more non-digidestined friends. My one friend that hadn't been one, Izumi, turned out to be the one responsible for leaving the crests in the first place. And my second attempt was Hideto, and well, he was evil for awhile, and then he joined us with the crest of Pride. I was just hoping that Michan didn't turn out to be the mysterious digidestined of trust. I didn't think I could handle it if it happened again.

Not that I thought I would. She'd never once mentioned the word digimon to me. And I was a part of that documentary that Katsue released just weeks after the final battle. My face was right there for the world to see, just like my mother always wanted, only I didn't have to pretend to be someone I'm not for it to happen. It was nice that we both got to win.

The bell on the door rang, and I straightened up, looking to see that there were three men coming through the door. I grabbed three menus and smiled brightly at them.

"Hello, welcome to Mimi's," I said to them. "I'm Mimi. A party of three today?" They nodded, looking disinterested in my speech. I wasn't particularly into it either, but I was at least putting effort into the charade. They could too, you know. "Alright, if you'll follow me, I know just the table." I led them to a table in Hideto's section. Izumi was in the kitchen today, so he got to be the waiter. They liked to switch it up every now and then. They hadn't offered Michan the same deal. She was always late, and complained a lot. I didn't trust her as a waitress, let alone the chef. Hideto was very good at putting on airs and appearing pleased even when faced with difficult customers. Not that I wasn't giving these gentlemen the benefit of the doubt. It had just been a long day and there were several financial statements that I needed to get through, and I'd really have preferred to be doing that. Even though it was terribly boring work. I just wanted to be done with work when I went home, instead of bringing work home with me. I was turning into Koushiro. No. I was becoming worse than him, because he'd started asking me to put my work away. You know things are bad when you're working more than Koushiro. He never sleeps! He prefers to be working during that time.

I was strung out and exhausted, and I really didn't care whether these guys were just antisocial or not. They were going in Hideto's section, and he could deal with them. And then, I'd get Michan to refill the salt shakers or something else that she couldn't possibly screw up.

"Here you are gentlemen," I said with my rather amazing forced smile. "Would you like a moment, or could I get you started with some drinks?"

They rattled off their drink order, and I smiled at them before whisking myself into the kitchen. "Hideto, you've got a table of three," I said. I went immediately to the dishwasher, preparing to unload. I pulled some glasses out, and set them on the counter. "And Michan, can you get three glasses with ice?"

"Can do, boss," she said with a wink, like I wasn't actually her boss. But I was, and she still hadn't moved to get those glasses. I continued unloading, hoping—praying really—that she'd get off her lazy butt and do something. But she didn't.

"I'll get them," Izumi said rolling her eyes. "It's not like I'm cooking for the customers right now or anything." Of course the sarcasm was the thickest I'd ever seen it, since she had four pans going simultaneously. She stopped though, so that she could go get the glasses and fill them with ice, glaring at Michan the entire time. And Michan did nothing other than sit there, smiling at me. But she was my friend. And I wanted her to be, so I clenched my hands into fists and smiled at Izumi.

"Thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to do someone else's job," I said sweetly, but I could see Michan's smile falter. "I hope this didn't inconvenience you in any way."

"No problem, Mimi," Izumi said purposefully saying my name. It was probably in some show of dominance. I wasn't just Izumi's boss. I was her friend too. And she didn't need to prove it. Why couldn't Michan be even half as good an employee as Izumi. Or even Hideto. Koushiro would do a better job at this, and it really wasn't his forte.

"What else can I do, boss?" Michan asked.

"You can reload the dishwasher with the latest dishes, and then proceed to wash them," I suggested. "Which really, is always an option. Or you could check and see if any sugar dispensers need filling. Really, any of that sort of thing. Or, you know, you could go back to being hostess."

"I'll fill the dishwasher," she said sounding bored. As if all the options weren't important enough, or interesting enough. Every little thing has to work together to keep this restaurant running. Including the financial reports, which I needed to be working on. Also, my shoes were starting to hurt my feet. I wasn't wearing running shoes like Izumi always suggested. Those were too boring. I needed to wear something fun. So I was wearing fringed boots that sort of pinched my toes.

"Apparently, they want a few minutes to think it over," Hideto announced, swinging the doors to the kitchen wide open. "Of course they let me stand there like an idiot for five minutes before telling me that. Why can't people ever tell you exactly what they want? Why do they expect you to assume?"

"Some customers like to be troublesome," Izumi said with a shrug. "It's in their nature."

"I'd better get back to the hostess stand," I sighed. "Unless you'd like to Izumi, so I could cook?" I batted my eyes at her. She snorted.

"Not on your life," she said. "You didn't hire me to do that."

"I didn't hire myself either," I grumbled.

"Then why not get rid of her?" Izumi whispered to me, careful not to let Michan hear.

"I can't do that," I said tiredly.

"Why not?" she wanted to know.

"I don't even know anymore," I said shaking my head. But of course I knew. She was my friend, I wanted to keep it that way. I continued to repeat this to myself over and over. It became my mantra as I seated more and more customers. I kept an eye out on those three men though. They ordered more drinks, but they continuously waved Hideto off, saying they needed more time. The hours went by, and still they didn't move.

"These guys are really ticking me off," Hideto growled as he passed by me and two new diners.

"Have you asked them what they want?" I asked, getting more stressed as each hour passed. When were they going to order? There were only two hours until closing. And we were busier than ever. I really wished they'd just order so they could eat and get out of here. I could really use that table.

"Consistently, every five minutes since they got here," he said, exasperatedly. "Six hours ago. Six! Who sits with a menu in front of them for six hours? It's ridiculous."

"It is," I agreed. "Tell them that they need to order, or leave. This is a no loitering zone."

"Will do," Hideto said. He was grinning at the idea of finally being rid of them.

"You're really sending him?" Michan asked, sounding disappointed, sneaking up behind me. She startled me, and I dropped the menus I was carrying, making me look incredibly unprofessional in front of my two new customers.

"Get to work Michan," I hissed. "Now."

She looked upset by my harsh words, and I caved and apologized. But still sent her on her merry way. My two diners were starting to look unimpressed by our services, and so I gave them one of our best tables. It was one of the few that actually gave the diners a sense of privacy. They seemed to like it at the very least, so I wasn't too worried about them.

I didn't exactly have time for it though.

"What did you just say to us?" one of the men I'd sent Hideto to get rid of growled loudly. Everyone—diners and employees alike—stopped talking at once, turning to stare at the interaction.

"I said get out," Hideto snarled.

"You don't want our patronage?" the second man asked, snorting. "Isn't that what restaurants need to continue functioning? You really need to get your head on straight."

"Yeah," the third laughed. "Now send us what we asked for."

"No," Hideto said. "That's not an option."

"We saw a girl here," the first said. "She'll do."

What in the hell were they fighting about? Did they not want a male server? Didn't they know that servers had sections? And did they not realize that if they'd asked for a female's section I would've given them to Hideto anyway, because that could end up in a creepy territory.

"Excuse me," I told my newest diners, and started walking toward the protesting customers. "What is going on?" I used my cold, commanding voice. One that I hardly ever used, because it wasn't all that cute, but it usually put people in their place, and that's really what I was going for.

"They refuse to be served by anyone other than Michan," Hideto said, his voice bordering on murderous.

"She's not trained yet," I told the men, plastering on a fake smile, and trying to placate them. "Hideto or myself are the only options."

"See, that's not gonna work for us," the first guy said. "We've been waiting patiently for someone to serve us, but he kept showing up. And then we realize that you're no better."

"Say what you want about me," Hideto said. "But leave Mimi out of it."

"We should've known," the second guy sighed. "If you hired one, you were bound to be one yourself."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said impatiently.

"No!" Hideto shouted, trying to shut the first guy up when he opened his mouth to explain. Of course, the man's distain for Hideto kept him from actually listening.

"You were in that movie. You help those monsters. You're on their side," he said.

"What, digimon?" I asked incredulously. "Of course I am. They're the good guys—most of the time."

"Isn't there anyone is this wretched place that isn't working with those creatures?" the third guy asked. "We refuse to be served by anyone who thinks positively of them."

"I'd be happy to help," Michan said bubbly. "What can I get you?"

"Michan," I said slowly. Hideto's eyes widened, and he took a step back. Evidently he could tell I was about ready to explode. "If you take these men's orders, you're fired."

"What?" she gasped. "For doing my job?"

"You're not doing your job. You've never done your job and I'm sick and tired of always picking up your slack. You were not hired to be a server, and therefore you will never be a server. You were hired to host, but even that is too far out of your range of capabilities. You were given orders today, and I can tell by looking at the tables that you gave up on that after about a minute. How hard is it to fill freaking salt shakers?!" I yelled at her before turning to the three men. "And YOU! You will get out of my fine establishment, and never come back. You've been banned. And if I ever see you again, I will alert the authorities. Digimon are good, digimon are better than that. Palmon is my best friend in the entire world. She was literally made for me. And in case you didn't realize, this restaurant—the old version at least—was the home base for the digimon in that movie. I don't know why you thought you could get any service here that wouldn't be connected to digimon in some way."

"Mimi," Hideto said warily. "Maybe you should breathe?"

"I wish I could, Hideto, I wish I could. But Michan won't do her job, these complete IDIOTS won't leave when they're told! And I haven't had a break in three weeks. If you three aren't gone within the next two minutes, I'm calling the cops," I hissed.

"You can't do that," one of the men dared to say with a laugh. "That's not going to fly with the police. You need a real reason."

"Good day gentlemen," I said with a sickeningly sweet smile, pulling my phone from my pocket. One of them seemed ready to speak again, and the smile melted from my face, being replaced with what Hideto had dubbed my you're-dead-to-me look. The one that made grown men cry. "I. Said. Good. Day."

The three men stood up and acting all casual, like it was their own idea to leave, headed towards the door. "You haven't seen the last of us lady. You'll wish you'd just gave us our way."

"That sounds like a threat," I snapped. "And wouldn't you know it, police take threats very seriously!"

The door finally closed behind them and I was able to breathe freely. I sank onto one of their chairs and let my head fall to the tabletop. My shoulders started shaking uncontrollably, followed by my hands. I drew in broken breaths, and I couldn't help but to start crying—sobbing really.

"Mimi?" Hideto asked, gently rubbing my back. "I wish you would've just let me handle this. It's kind of my thing. Look at you. You're a mess."

"I heard what happened," Izumi said.

"It was hard not to," Hideto laughed.

"Mimi, I think you should go home. We can deal with things here. Michan is useless, yes, but Hideto and I? We can handle just about anything. We always have," she told me confidently. "You though? You need rest. Go home, curl up with a cup of tea and watch a movie. Just...relax. Okay?"

I thought about it, and nodded. I couldn't exactly get any words out, the sobbing was coming too strongly.

"I'll handle everything on the floor," Hideto assured me. "Izumi's on kitchen detail still. I'll whip Michan into shape, you'll be surprised when you come in tomorrow." Izumi elbowed him hard. "Or the next day, or whenever you're ready."

A bubble of laughter found its way out of my throat. It was kind of gross sounding, but they understood. Izumi found my purse, and Hideto grabbed my coat, and then they pushed me out the door, before heading back to the like thirty customers we still had. I felt horrible for not helping, but they hadn't really left much room for compromise. And the customers had all seen me break down. It was definitely best if I went home. Maybe I could actually watch a movie. No. There was so much that absolutely needed to be done. There wasn't any time for lazing about.

Why hadn't any of us digi-destined become an accountant?

Oh yeah. Because it's boring. And who likes paperwork anyway. Why didn't I just go into acting like Mom wanted me to? I didn't want to pretend to be someone else. It would have made me miserable. But really, wasn't this paperwork doing the same thing? I was miserable. I wanted to be a chef, I didn't want to be an office worker.

I missed cooking.

My sobs had subsided, and my crying was reduced to two small trickles of tears running down my cheeks. People stared at me on the bus, but I was too busy mentally preparing my depressing evening schedule of work to really be bothered. I made my way home from the bus stop in a daze, and I tried to unlock and already unlocked door, before just walking inside.

"I'm home!" I called, trying to disguise my misery.

"Mimi?" Tentomon asked, flying in from the living room. "You are early."

"Sure am," I said. "I got kicked out."

"Is that so?" Tentomon asked, sounding genuinely curious. "Why?"

I decided I couldn't tell him the whole story. It would just make him feel bad. I would protect our digimon from anything, even words if they could hurt them. "I'm just stressed."

"You have been crying," he noted.

"I have," I admitted. "Don't even worry about it though. What's for supper?"

"Koushiro stopped by Daisuke's noodle-cart and brought ramen home for each of us," Tentomon said.

"Ramen, that sounds good," I said with a smile.

"By each of us, I was referring to Koushiro, Palmon and myself," Tentomon clarified.

"Right," I said. "Because I usually eat at the restaurant. That makes perfect sense."

"You aren't mad?" Tentomon asked cautiously. "You seem upset."

"No," I said, waving my hand as if it didn't bother me. "I don't need to eat."

"I disagree," Tentomon said. "I was under the impression that that is one of the few things humans actually do require. Sustenance."

"Yes...well...I'm too busy to eat," I said frustrated. "I've got paperwork coming out my ears. I'm going to commandeer the desk."

"Koushiro is actually using it right now..." Tentomon said, trailing off when he saw the sheer stack of paper I pulled out of my purse—it was more like a backpack really, but I needed it to fit a whole bunch of stuff!

"I know," I whined. "Look at it all. I'll be working until morning. And then I'll have to go to work without any sleep whatsoever, and I'll be even worse than I was today. When will I ever get a break?"

"I suppose you will get a break when you next schedule one," Tentomon said, being entirely uncomforting. I rolled my eyes and kicked my boots off in the general direction of the shoe rack, and sort of stomped my way over to the desk—where Koushiro was working on something that looked super important. It had to be, since he didn't even look up when I was making so much noise. I sighed and dropped my stack of papers on the coffee table and fell to the floor. I looked at the first page and groaned. Finances. I hated finances.

"What's wrong, Mimi?" Palmon asked. She was seated on the couch next to me and I felt bad for not even noticing her presence, despite the fact that she'd been making no noise and was buried in blankets.

"Everything," I sighed, trying to make heads or tails of the financial statement and giving up, moving on to scheduling for the next two weeks. Izumi and Hideto's were hard, because I didn't want to overwork them, mine on the other hand was easy, since I just wrote in that I'd work every single day. Michan's was the worst. I knew hiring her was a terrible decision from a professional standpoint. I'd already had to pay overtime for both Izumi and Hideto, and I couldn't ask any more from them...but I was paying Michan too. And really I'd rather pay time and a half for both of my good employees than pay anything for her.

Did that make me a bad friend? Or just a good businesswoman?

"What are all these papers, Mimi?" Palmon asked. "Can I help?"

"I wish you could, Palmon," I said. "But I wouldn't subject you to this. It's torture."

"What's torture?" Koushiro asked. I looked back at him, and he was closing his laptop. The lucky guy was finished work for the day. I had to admit I was jealous.

"Paperwork," I cried. All of my frustration came bubbling back to the surface and before I knew it, I was crying again. "I hate it. I hate all of it. I hate being a hostess because Michan won't do it. I hate mean customers, and I hate pinched toes. I don't understand half of the stuff I'm working on, and I'm miserable. I should be happy! I've got my dream. Why does my dream make me so miserable?"

"Because this isn't your dream," Palmon said. "Your dream was being the chef at your restaurant. You're not being the chef."

"I don't have time to be the chef," I said, wiping my tears away with my sleeve. "I have to do everything else. I can't do it much longer. I need a break. I need help. I need to set fire to this stupid pile of paperwork!"

"Why don't you let me do the paperwork," Koushiro suggested, sitting down at my side and sliding the paperwork across the coffee table until it was right in front of him.

"I can't let you do it," I sobbed. "That would make me the mean girlfriend."

"This is my forte, Mimi," he said with a small smile. "Let me do what I do best, and you relax. You should've told me things were getting out of hand. I could've started helping a long time ago."

"I wanted to prove I could do it," I told him. "But I'm a failure. I can't do it at all. I'm not good enough."

"Maybe not with paperwork," he allowed. "But in the kitchen, that's your forte. That's where you're happiest. When I'm in the kitchen, it's just to find flyers for takeaway. That's the extent of my abilities. We both excel at different things. If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree...and all that."

"Yeah, yeah," I said nudging him with my shoulder and leaning my head onto his. "Look at me. I'm an emotional wreck."

"You do something else for awhile, and I'll see what I can make of these," he told me. "Alright?"

"Yes sir," I said. "But are you sure you want to? I mean, you're already the head researcher, and you run your division, and on top of that you're on the Digimon Council."

"I live for work," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Besides, I don't mind adding to my workload if it'll make you happy. No one's happy when you're not. It's just a fact of life." I smiled at him. "Besides, I'll probably get this stuff done faster than you could. So it's really not that big of a deal to work this stuff into my future schedule."

"Whatever, brainiac," I sighed. He had to ruin a perfectly beautiful moment with something like that. It was admittedly the probable truth, but still. He could've waited. "I am hungry though. Maybe I'll whip something up. It's been ages since I've used a stove."

"I'll help!" Palmon volunteered. It wasn't long before the kitchen counter was covered with bowls and pans. I'd hate myself later, when it came time to do the dishes, but for now, I planned to have a ton of fun. I put a casserole in the oven to bake, and turned to Palmon who was putting the finishing touches on a Caesar salad.

"What next?" I asked.

"Oh! Cookies!" she squealed.

"Alrighty then," I told her with a wink. "I'm thinking sugar cookies."

"I'll get started on the icing," Palmon cheered.

I leaned back against the counter and sighed contentedly. Was it really just this afternoon that I was dealing with miserable customers and dreading a stack of paperwork? I wished everyday could be like this moment with Palmon. Just cooking whatever struck our fancy. We'd have the fridge stocked for a week with leftovers. No more take out for my guys. Palmon was just happy to be in the kitchen with me.

"How do you feel about fresh buns?" I asked her.

"With butter?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement. I nodded. "That sounds delicious!"

I grabbed the bag of flour on the island and the nearest bowl. There was a lot of baking to be done before the night was out. And it wasn't going to do itself. I couldn't wait!

Taichi Yagami:

I let out a rather loud exclamation of frustration. Where the hell could he be? I've looked all over my stupid, way-too-big house and I couldn't find him anywhere. Why didn't I plan something smaller, like the cottage Kiyoko originally pitched me when I asked for real-estate designs? But no, I had to go big. Big enough for Greymon if that's what form he decided to be in the house. It made it practically impossible to find anyone when I needed them.

"Still haven't found him, huh?" Rei asked, dropping slices of lemon into the pitcher of lemonade in front of her. God I loved her. Not only was she super awesome as a person, but she made everything from scratch in a way my mother just never could. Even something as simple as lemonade tasted like a gourmet dish when she made it. Granted, anything anyone made was pretty much guaranteed to be better than anything my mother made. Except Katsue. I heard somewhere that she could burn water—and really, didn't that make her just a teensy bit worse than my mom? At least Mom could make things. And most of the time they were edible. They just didn't taste good. At all. The asparagus and orange cake she made for Rei's and my first anniversary was proof enough of that.

"No," I said moodily. "Have you seen him?"

"Sorry," she said apologetically. "Have you tried the study? I know he likes to play video games."

Yes. I put my game consoles in my study. Don't judge me.

"It was the first place I checked," I sighed.

"Maybe he's gone in it since you checked?" she suggested, though we both knew it was a stretch.

"If I went by that logic, he could be in any room in the house, and I'd be on a continuous loop until I found him...if I ever find him. We've got a meeting in half an hour, and it takes ten minutes to get there," I complained. "If he doesn't show up soon, he's going to miss it!"

"Well, maybe one of your friends has seen him, or might at the very least have an idea of where to look," she offered. "If it comes down to it, I'm sure they'll help you comb the entire Digital World to find him. I'd go with you, but it's dangerous to leave Pal and Pul alone in the house."

"Don't I know it," I muttered. She thankfully ignored my mumblings. She was quite forgiving and knew that I said a lot of stuff that I obviously didn't mean whenever I was frustrated, angry, upset...just a lot I suppose. She was really good at knowing what I meant, versus what I said.

But, in this particular instance, there was nothing she could argue about. Those two were menaces. And while she never called them as such, she couldn't really claim they weren't either. She just thought they were adorable. Annoying little bundles of energy, in my opinion. But the general consensus of almost all females is that they're adorable. And only about fifty percent of my male friends agreed with me. And that might be rounding up.

Even Agumon was on her side.

"Fine," I said decidedly. "Yamato's got a concert or something...Hikari's getting ready for her first big job, so I don't want to distract her. Jou's at work. Koushiro's probably already at the Temple... I don't really want to get the Knights involved if he's just hiding out around here somewhere..."

"Why don't you just give Sora a call?" Rei sighed. "I'm not jealous of your relationship with her you know. You can bring her up in conversation."

"Sora?" I asked dumbly. "Right! She's back. Totally slipped my mind again. I keep thinking she's still away at school and keeping contact with her best friends in the entire world to a complete minimum."

"You goofball," Rei laughed. "Get on the phone, and invite her along. I hope you're the only one forgetting about her. I'd hate to hear she's stuck at home all alone because all of you abandoned her."

"I can honestly guarantee that she's not abandoned," I said confidently. "By most people. I'm sure."

"Get going," she said, rolling her eyes. "Chicken or beef for dinner?"

"Beef," I said, heading towards my office. "Always beef."

"Why do I even ask?" Rei said with a smile.

I collapsed on my desk chair and grabbed my phone. It's always a dangerous thing, to let me sit in that chair. It was the best chair in the entire world. It swivelled, it changed heights, it leaned back. It gave freaking back massages! It was the best thing ever. I was so caught up in my love for that chair that I forgot I was even trying to call Sora. I did remember though. Eventually.

She must've been sitting next to the phone, because she answered after only one ring.

"Hello, this is Sora Takenouchi speaking, who may I ask is calling?" she said formally.

"You've got caller display, Sora," I reminded her awkwardly.

"I know that," she insisted. "I was just testing it out. Does it sound professional? Please tell me it does. I've been trying it all day and no one will take me seriously. My own mother just laughed at me."

"It sounds way more professional than when I answer the phone," I said.

"There's that at least," she said with a sigh. "So, what can I do for you?"

"I need your help," I admitted. "I seem to have lost my very best friend somewhere in my house, and I cannot find him no matter where I look."

"Dummy," she said with a laugh. "He's not lost in some hidden crevice of your house. He's here with me."

"What?" I asked. My mind could not comprehend what she was telling me. She stole my digimon partner? Hideto was like the only who'd ever done that to another digidestined before, and he only did that when he was evil. Did Sora come back from school with evil tendencies? Was I ready to face an evil Sora—one that wasn't just a vision created by Kurayami to induce nightmares for months?

"What are you going on about?" Sora demanded. "I'm not evil Taichi!"

Whoops. I guess I said that out loud.

"Then why'd you take my digimon without asking!?" I wanted to know.

"For your information, Taichi, I did ask. I asked Agumon," she said smugly. "He's got a mind of his own, Taichi. I needed his help—help only he could provide me—and he agreed to help me. I didn't ask you because it's not really any of your business. Stop snapping at me and just tell me what's gotten into you."

"I'm just stressing out, okay?" I asked. Well, I more or less screamed it into the phone. I'd thought I'd done a good enough job at hiding it, but apparently that was not the case. Not if Sora could tell something was up through the phone. She couldn't even see me to point out all of my tell tale signs.

Although one of those signs was being unnecessarily mean, and unlike Rei, Sora was never one to just overlook it and figure out what I meant. She would just fight against me until one of us eventually cracked—usually me. Then I'd have to explain everything to her.

"About what?" she asked sounding proud of her deduction skills.

"You know, I'd love to just hash things out with you, but I'm on a bit of a time limit, and I don't have the hour and half it would take to explain everything," I said peevishly. "I need Agumon, like ten minutes ago." Of course, we wouldn't have been cutting it so close if I hadn't gone off to La-La-land thinking about my chair, but I wisely didn't mention that.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked. "He said he was free all day."

"He was wrong," I told her smugly. "Because we've got a meeting with the Digital Council today, that I'd really rather he didn't miss."

"I'll send him right through," she said calmly. "But really, Taichi. All you had to do was ask nicely and we could've gotten him there a whole lot sooner. And don't think I'm letting you off the hook mister. You're explaining things as soon as you find the time. I won't take no for an answer."

"What," I asked a little snidely. "Looking for you next gossip fix?"

"You are so lucky you're on the phone and not talking face to face," she warned me.

"Just send him," I said. When there was an awkward silence I caved and gave her what she was waiting for. "Please."

"He's on his way," she said. "And I'll expect an apology with the explanation."

"Whatever," I said, hanging up the phone rather pouty. She always won our arguments. It wasn't fair.

That's about when I realized I was acting like a petulant child, and not like the ambassador of an entire world that was late to a meeting. I grabbed the briefcase I took to every meeting. There were a few notebooks and pens in it, and a couple of snacks. But I hardly ever used it. Koushiro was the one that took all of the notes, I only jotted things down sometimes to appear invested in the subject matter when they were boring me to sleep. Usually I ended up playing hangman with Ogremon.

The computer on my desk lit up, and I slid my chair out of the way. Agumon was standing there when the light dimmed, looking at me with suspiciously.

"Is there really a meeting today?" he wanted to know. "Or are you just mad I made a decision without asking you first?"

"There's really a meeting buddy. There's a meeting every week on this day, at this time. We're already gonna be late," I said. "can we please not be any later?"

"Fine," he said. "But I'm going to keep helping Sora. She's our friend, Taichi. And while she was wrong when she said I was the only one that could help her, she really did need me."

"I know," I said childishly. "I'm already gonna get a lecture from Sora. I don't want one from you too. You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Let's go, Taichi," he said with a laugh. "You're weird when you're stressed."

"I'd be less stressed if my partner wasn't pulling digi-disappearing acts," I said stubbornly.

"Sure you would," he said sarcastically. "I'm not the reason you're stressed Taichi, and we both know it."

"Yeah," I said. "And I'll be more stressed after the meeting, I'm sure."

"We'll see," he said. "But I'm sure it'll be good news today."

I really hoped he was right.

Rei was standing by the door, looking at the clock. She heard us walking towards her and her eyes brightened. The dazzling smile that spread across her face literally stopped me in my tracks for a moment. She was that beautiful when she smiled. "You found him," she said happily. "I knew you would. I'm going to make extra for dinner, because Neo's coming over with Dracomon. I thought about asking over Hikari and Takeru too, but we don't have enough potatoes for what I'm planning, so I thought maybe next week we could invite them and your parents over for a special dinner."

I opened my mouth to answer but she held up her hands and shook her head.

"I know," she said. "You're late. Just think about it if there's any boring bits, okay?"

"You're the best," I said, kissing her soundly.

"Eww!" Pul groaned. "Why do you guys always gotta do that?"

"Shut up, Pul," Pal said dreamily. "I think it's beautiful."

"It is not," Pul protested, sticking his tongue out at his sister.

"You're just asking for a fight," she told him, putting her fists up in the air. "Let's go little brother!"

"You're on!" Pul said, accepting her challenge.

Agumon and I slipped out the door as quickly and quietly as we could, wishing Rei the best of luck dealing with her little digimon children. They needed so much attention, it was like having a pair of toddlers in the house. Only, without actually having toddlers. Thank god. I didn't think we could handle kids. Not that I wouldn't maybe want like one in the future or something. But by future, I was thinking the far, far, far off future. Like ten years maybe. I didn't know how Jou managed. And I didn't know what to think of Daisuke.

But that job was not for me, and I was always thankful of it.

Agumon and I rushed to the Temple, and pretty much ran up all the stairs and into the room, where everyone was just sort of sitting around, waiting for me to get there. Some—like Babamon and Tinkermon—looked annoyed by our lateness, but overall, most of them didn't seem to mind, which I was very thankful for.

"I see you finally decided to grace us with your presence," Neo drawled. Yeah, he was on Babamon's side. He always was.

"Agumon was digi-napped," I told him. "I was held up."

"I was not," Agumon protested quietly, slipping into his seat next to Gabumon. The two quickly started a whispered conversation, tuning out the outside world. They were gossipers that almost rivaled Sora.

"Okay, let's get this meeting started," I said. "Unless you've already done that, in which case, let's just continue."

"We'll start," Babamon said. "We are considerate enough to wait for you to begin."

"Neo, we'll start with you," I announced. "How're the Knights."

"Bored stiff," he said. "They've gone on small scouting missions a couple of times, but nothing big is going on and most of the time, they just want to go out and find a battle. Well, I mean it's mostly Dorumon and Kotemon, but the others are getting restless to."

"Don't they realize that having no problems is a good thing?" Tinkermon wanted to know.

"I understand where they're coming from though," Benjamin said. "Training ceaselessly for a battle that may never arrive...well...I don't know if I know of any more dedicated digimon in existence." Centarumon and Andromon—both official Knights—preened at his praise. Just a little bit. They were classy fellows. I could be sure they'd pass on the compliment if Neo didn't. Agumon and Gabumon looked pleased as well. The Knights were still their pet project, and they insisted that at least one of them sat in on any training sessions that went on. They didn't want Neo to change their original game plan too much. But after a couple of years, they've decided that Neo was trustworthy enough to run the Knights' training by himself at least twice a week.

"Alright," I said. "So we come up with something for them to do. I don't think that's going to be too hard. Divermon's not here again."

"I'm getting worried about him," D'Arcmon said. "Do you think there is unrest in the water domains?"

"You'd think we would've heard about it by now if there was," Tinkermon said. "This is the fourth meeting he's missed. It takes less than a month for news to travel over the Digital World. And he's not the only digimon that travels from the sea to the mainland."

"You're right," Babamon told her, sounding very surprised by her own admission. Tinkermon for her part looked like she wasn't sure whether to preen or scowl.

"Someone should definitely look into it," I said. "We can't leave one of our own to face a potential threat on his own."

"This is all assuming he's not just shirking his duties, of course," Ogremon said.

"I think he has too much pride in his position to do that," Leomon protested. "He cared deeply for his place on the council, and for bringing a voice to the water digimon."

"He was a tad arrogant," Ogremon agreed. "But I haven't heard even the faintest of whispers of any upcoming attacks from a dark digimon. If there's something going on, it's either a sneak attack, or a civil dispute."

"You think the water digimon could be at war with themselves?" I asked skeptically.

"Why not?" Koushiro asked. "The insect digimon were at war for centuries."

"Well they're not anymore," MetaLifeKuwagamon reminded him. "Maybe it's some other type of digimon's turn. I for one wouldn't be too surprised. I'd like to see how someone else handles the problem. You were always complaining about my methods."

"That's because you never did anything!" Tinkermon told him.

"It was a difficult situation," he insisted. "I had to try very hard to remain unbiased."

"Okay, so the insects are doing fine?" I asked. When both Koushiro and MetaLifeKuwagamon nodded, I continued. "And the dark digimon aren't up to anything..." Ogremon shook his head. "What are the plant digimon up to?"

"Photosynthesis, I suppose," Babamon said dryly.

"Very funny," I said. "I'm going to assume nothing strange is going on there."

"Your assumption would prove true," she said.

"Production is at a standstill," Andromon said. "But, more machine digimon are moving back to town with each passing month. Soon Factorial Town will once again be a thriving part of the Digital World."

"That's actually great news, Andromon," I said cheerfully. "I'm happy to hear so many digimon are making their way home. I was worried for a long while there. It's been so long since the Dark Masters took over the place, and Devimon created his black gears. I was starting to think I'd never get to see Factorial Town in all its glory."

"It's a shame you'll get to," Babamon snipped. "It was so much better when it wasn't expanding and taking over the forest."

"It's not like it creates any pollution," Agumon defended. "Just be glad we're not on Earth. The factories there poison the air."

"No," Babamon and Tinkermon gasped.

"It's true," I said. "You guys got lucky with this atmosphere and general perfection."

"I must admit that I haven't travelled far from the Temple in this last week," Centarumon said. "And unlike Andromon, I did not have a messenger picked out. I do not have much to report."

"Sorry, Taichi," Koushiro said sheepishly. "We needed his expertise in the research lab."

"Between the research and the Knights, I didn't have much time to gather Intel," Centaurumon said with shame.

"I travelled far throughout the continents of Server and Folder," Leomon told us. "There were many whispers, but no solid rumours I can report on."

"Keep trying," Neo suggested. "Something's going on. I don't think Divermon can come. Something's messing with our peace."

"How can you tell?" Andromon asked.

"I can feel it in my bones," Neo told him. "I've only felt something like this twice before. Once when my plans were finally starting to bear fruit and Sigma hacked our way to the Digital World, and the second was when Rei started crossing that road. Both times had horrible outcomes."

"Don't you think you're jumping the gun?" Agumon asked.

"Yeah, relax," Tinkermon said. "I haven't heard anything off about the flying digimon. And Neverland's been a dreamland. There's nothing bad to report at all. And while I'm at it, I fly over deserts all the time, and they've been unusually peaceful recently."

"That could be a bad omen," Neo warned her.

"Or signs that the peace the legends spoke of is finally upon us," Centaurumon offered, though it didn't look like he believed it at all.

"You heard anything, Gabumon?" I asked. He shook his head, stubbornly refusing to answer in a room so crowded, despite the fact that he'd been a part of the council for years now.

"There has been no issues with the holy digimon either," D'Arcmon offered, though everyone rolled their eyes at that. There was never any problems to report on those angels.

"The Temple's actually doing really well," Benjamin reported. "More and more shops and stalls are opening up, and as such our financial security is secured with their seasonal rent. The introduction of the tea shop has really brought more of the refined digimon to our little city, and it's a nice change of pace. Everything looks spectacular too. Kiyoko's designs are getting better with each new project."

"Speaking of Kiyoko's new projects," Tinkermon said excitedly. "I have the new plans right here for the chain of spas we've been working on! Okay, now we're obviously going to have different sized buildings depending on the location and the target digimon customers. A Tyrannomon isn't going to fit in a building that's designed for say...Lilymons. I've even got all of the spa packages sorted out!"

I zoned out after that opening. I had a lot to think about. We were going to have to send someone to check on the water domains. See if the seas were at war with one another. And if they weren't...well...it looked like there was job for the Knights after all.

The other problem at hand?

Did I really want to sit through a whole dinner with my parents and the horrendously adorable couple that was my sister and Takeru? I didn't think I'd make it through the meal. It was always awkward to have Dad at my house. He just wasn't comfortable with the idea of being digital matter whilst in the Digital World. It gave him the heebie-jeebies. And it was cavity inducing—nearly tortuous—to witness "Takari" in full force. Was I really thinking in couple names now...?

I looked around me and realized that Koushiro was now rambling—with Centarumon's assistance—about his discovery of the week. I didn't need to listen to that. He'd already told Neo, Agumon, Gabumon and I at our last digidestined dinner meeting. He was really excited about it though. I pulled my notepad out of my briefcase and started up a game of hangman. I nudged Ogremon, and he smiled. Let the games begin!

Next on Digimon Adventure 06: Slugs Attack as we try to catch up with the digidestined after their three year absence from our stories. Yeah, like what's even going on, we don't know because I don't even think there are many 'Moments' to go between 05 and 06. So, you should probably read this to find out.