"Night Raid!" Wizarmon heard Vamdemon crow, as if he was assured of victory against the Child of Light.
But the mage wasn't going to let that happen. To prove it, he ducked between Hikari and Vamdemon's attack, leaving the young girl and Tailmon with shocked expressions. Seconds before the attack would have connected and almost ripped him apart, a sparkling light appeared. It put up a shield so the Chosen Child of Light and her partner were safe from harm, before whisking Wizarmon away.
To where, he knew not.
When he woke, he realized he was in the Digital World. There were miniature Chosen Children near him? He sat up and blinked, confused. Very confused. There was Taichi, apparently an adult, but there was a smaller Taichi too?
"Daichi, wait-!" Taichi called to his son, before realization took hold of him as he saw Wizarmon. He chuckled, his eyes lighting up. "Hey Hikari, come see who it is. An old friend has returned!"
"Huh? What do you mean..." Hikari started to ask her brother, before trailing off mid-sentence, her mouth agape in awe. "Wizarmon!" she shouted gleefully, wrapping her arms around the Digimon. "I can't believe it!"
"Neither can I!" he replied. "One minute we were fighting Vamdemon and then in the blink of an eye, you're suddenly all grown up!"
"The battle with Vamdemon... has it really been that long?" reminisced Taichi.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," said Hikari. "That shield appeared right as Vamdemon was about to attack and then you just... vanished."
"How peculiar! I don't understand it at all... not that I'm complaining!" Wizarmon hastened to add. "By the way, since you all seem happy and healthy, I'm assuming the battle with Vamdemon went well?"
"Kind of," replied Taichi, shrugging. "We killed him once and he got reincarnated. We killed him a second time and then four years later, he showed up again! But after killing him for a third time, we haven't seen him since. Third time's a charm, as they say!"
"Egad!" exclaimed the elven Digimon. "I always knew he was trouble, but I never could've guessed just how much!"
"Dad?" The child called Daichi asked. "Who's this?" Wizarmon looked closer at the boy now that he had a chance. He was almost an exact doppelganger of Taichi, but the elven Digimon saw the different coloured eyes.
Wizarmon smiled. "You married Sora?" Taichi laughed and nodded; his son's eyes were the dead giveaway.
"My name is Wizarmon," he told Daichi. "I was a friend of your father's and the other Chosen Children... long, long ago. That must've been, oh... a solid twenty years or so," he guessed, judging by the boy's age. "Although it feels to me as if it just occurred..."
"Actually, Koushiro has a theory about that," said Taichi. "He thinks that it was Homeostasis who protected you and sent you through a rift in time. According to him, you wouldn't even feel that any time had passed."
"Homeostasis? Most fascinating," mused Wizarmon, pensively placing a hand upon his chin. "I've heard about it and, from what I understand, it doesn't just kick in at random times. There must have been some sort of reason why it spared my life..."
A wordless cry burst from Tailmon's mouth and she ran over from where she'd been playing with a Plotmon. "Old friend!" Tailmon hugged Wizarmon tightly, not wanting to let go, even when the standard time for a hug had passed. "IthoughtforsureitwasoneofVamdemon'stricks." She spoke so quickly even the adults had a hard time making out what she said.
Hikari gently placed a hand on her partner's shoulder and Tailmon reluctantly let go. The others started coming over, having heard Tailmon's babble.
"It's good to see you again, Wizarmon," Koushiro greeted. He looked ready to say more, but Tailmon interrupted again.
"Homeostasis saved you, because you were going to be the partner to one of the kids."
Koushiro deadpanned at the feline.
"What? How do you know that?" asked Wizarmon, cocking his head.
"Gennai told me a prophecy long ago: something about 'destiny summoning the one who vanished to join the child of a hero,'" explained Koushiro. "I didn't know what he meant at the time, but as we grew older and had kids of our own, they all received Digimon partners... with one exception."
"Well, I suppose I am indeed 'the one who vanished'... but who's the child of the hero?"
A child with deep blue hair came over, after hugging Hikari. "That would be me," the boy said quietly.
Wizarmon was slightly taken aback. The child looked remarkably like Ken, but the elven Digimon saw Ken was married to someone else.
"I adopted him," Hikari explained, understanding the confused look in Wizarmon's eyes.
"Yagami Osamu," the boy greeted in a friendly manner and bowed.
Hikari explained that Osamu's surname had originally been Fukunaga, but his mother was gravely ill in hospital and his father didn't want him. This was eleven years ago; the change in environment had done wonders for Osamu's personality. He was the most loyal friend any of the other children could ask for.
Wizarmon gave Osamu a quick once over and smiled at him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'd love to be your partner," the elven Digimon confirmed, sensing Osamu had been worried that Wizarmon might not want to be his partner.
"Thank you, Wizarmon-san," Osamu responded. When the other kids of the new generation had gotten their partners, but he still had nothing, Osamu wondered if his partner would ever come to him. But now, his wish had finally come true. He was so happy.
Koushiro closed the window relating to the prophecy on Wizarmon, before closing the lid of his laptop down and putting it away. He wanted to spend time with the children now that Osamu's partner was here.
He came out in time to hear Ken's daughter, Hisako, laugh at a joke that Daisuke's son made. Koushiro smiled. Things were brighter.
…
A/N: Thought I'd start getting my Timey Wimeys out of the way. Considered using Homeostasis for this one and my muse decided that was all the bang she needed. Random prophecy and Tailmon's babbling ensued. :P
Challenges: For Prompts in Steps 3.01 – gracious; Diversity Adventure section B13: write a fic of exactly 1000 words; Timey Wimey challenge; and AU Set #2: time/dimension/space travel! AU.