Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
The fall was a long, long one. And it threw them out like spit balls on top of each other.
"Where the hell are we?"
"Get off me!"
"Oops, sorry."
"Oww, that's my hand you just stepped on, man." Yamato winced loudly.
"Can't see a thing, seriously. Move your leg, Sora!"
"My legs are under me."
"Then it must be mine."
There was a lot of grumbling and snapping and owwing before they finally got untangled.
"Ok, everyone?" Taichi asked as each of them sat up slowly.
"I think."
"It's pitch black in here."
"Did we land in a grave?" Sora wondered.
"I'm gonna kill Gennai for sure this time."
"This place is so . . . small." Sora murmurs as she extended her arms only to be blocked halfway by walls on her either side.
"Someone try to find a doo - ow." Yamato groaned as he tried to stand up and smacked his head with the roof.
"Stupid Digivice. I think the LED is broke." Taichi shook his Digivice angrily, hitting Sora under her chin.
"Ow. Watch it!" she growled angrily.
"Sorry, sorry. Yamato? Found the exit yet?"
"Uh, no, still working on it."
Sora reached to her back pocket and pulled out her Digivice.
"Mine is working." she murmured as she pressed a button on its side. The screen lit up like a beacon of light in the darkness.
"Nice work, Sora." Yamato complimented as he quickly started searching the walls all around him for a door. They could see the ceiling; about five and a half feet above the floor.
"Um, guys, I've got some, uh, bad news. Or good. I don't know."
"What?"
"Ok, this might sound a bit dramatic and I hope this is a mistake -"
"Sora, what is it?"
"- it really can't be true, as weird as it is -"
"Sora!" Taichi and Yamato said simultaneously.
"Ok, ok. So this here says the date today is sixteenth of February and the year is, um, year is 2025."
There was a shocked silence.
"Gotcha." Yamato suddenly murmured as he twisted something. A door to the right of Taichi opened and a bit of light came in.
"2025?" Taichi whispered.
"I think that's what Gennai meant by adding a wee bit of a twist to our Digivices." Sora shrugged helplessly.
"What are we gonna do here?!" Taichi was still too stunned to make much of anything.
"For starters, we can get out of this, I assume, cupboard of some sorts." Yamato offered.
"Come on." Sora stood up, pulling Taichi with her. They all stepped out into a big room with tall shelves lining the walls, full with all sorts of odd things. All three of them breathed deeply.
"2025, huh?" Yamato raised his eyebrows.
"What kind of sick joke is this?" Taichi grumbled.
"You sure your Digivice is alright?"
"I can't see any damage. Nothing looks broken."
"Probably because you fell on me."
"Yeah, Mr. Softie, and Taichi fell on me." Sora started looking at the shelves closely.
"What if aliens have already invaded and are ruling our Earth!?"
"What then?"
"Are you serious? They will fry us alive the moment we step out of this room!"
"Why? I don't think aliens like to eat meat."
Taichi eyed the walls around them suspiciously, "Maybe they are already watching us. Maybe they got cameras here."
"I thought their eyes are supposed to look through walls?" Yamato was dubious.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Hypothetically, their sight is not to be hindered by anything man-made." Yamato made inverted commas in air at the last two words.
"Then we're screwed."
"You two are a pair of seriously imaginative guys." Sora said annoyingly as she marched back to them.
"What, Miss Priss?"
"See these shelves? See what's in them? All sorts of maintenance stuff and workers' clothes."
"So?"
"So. Unless those aliens have become really modest, they don't need clothes."
"That doesn't prove anything. Maybe these are clothes of dead people. Who knows?"
"If these clothes weren't being used, they would have been dusty. But they are clean."
"So what do you think, where are we?" Yamato asked matter-of-factly.
"I'm not sure, some sort of a factory, maybe?"
"A factory where aliens make weapons to kill humans and for that they make dummy humans and dress them as human factory workers -"
"Taichi?"
"- and then practice shooting on them and we could be walking right into their trap -"
"Taichi, just -"
"- because wow who would miss shooting at a live target when all they had were dummies for so long -"
"Taichi!" Sora gritted her teeth.
"- and then maybe they will use our Digivices to get back in time and kill all the dead ones again and all the other Digidestined and it would all be Gennai's fault because oh, he wanted to add a twist and why didn't I kill him earlier, he's seriously evil - no! Don't open that door!"
Yamato ignored him as he yanked open the second door of the day.
"And behind door number two is . . ." Sora called out and was cut short by all the noise on the other side of the door.
"An . . . amusement park?" Taichi said blankly.
"An amusement park!" Yamato laughed out in relief.
"Then these must be the staff clothes."
"And all that maintenance stuff for when one of the rides need some tinkering."
"So that makes that little room, what, the broom cupboard?"
"Or an ex-broom cupboard since there are no more brooms in it."
"An amusement park? Really?" Taichi was still slightly numb.
"Yeah genius, much safer than your alien-making-human-dummies-to-shoot-at-factory."
"Come on, let's go."
x-x-x
"Mama, why do we have to go to park?" Shou asked, putting his head between the front seats of the car. Sora sighed. She knew very well the string of questions to be linked later.
"Because it's fun."
"How?"
"There are really good rides and Uncle Taichi is meeting us there so you will see Takeo."
"So?"
"So you and your sister and Takeo can have lots of fun together."
"How?"
"Like I said all the rides and then there are food stalls."
"So?"
Yamato suppressed his grin by sucking his cheeks in. Sora threw him a glare.
"So you can buy the food and sit on rides and have fun."
"How, Mama, how?"
"Shou, why don't you wait till we get there?" Yamato suggested.
"Yeah, stop bothering so much."
"Natsuko, that wasn't very nice." Sora said sternly.
"Sorry." Natsuko said sheepishly.
"Why can't I bring my coloring book?" Shou asked sullenly.
"Because it might get lost there. The park is really crowded." Sora explained.
"Why can't I stay in the car and color in my book?"
"Because we want you to see if you like the park or not." Yamato replied.
"What if I don't want to go on the rides?" Shou asked anxiously.
"Uuggghhh." Natsuko made an impatient sound, slumping further in her seat. For someone like Natsuko it was hard to imagine someone not wanting to go to amusement park, not wanting to get on the wildest rides, instead wanting to do some lousy coloring in a lousy, boring coloring book.
"Natsuko." Sora chided gently.
"Fine." she murmured.
"Well, Shou, no one's gonna force you if you don't want to go on those rides." Yamato confirmed.
"Will Natsuko and Takeo go on the rides?"
"Of course we will." Natsuko spoke up quickly, "They are fast and scary and really, really awesome and only brave people can sit in it because they get upside down so you have to hang by your fingers and if you let go you fall straight -"
"Oooookay, Natsuko, that's enough." Yamato interjected.
"She's just trying to scare you." Sora said placating, seeing her son's brown eyes reducing to their normal size.
"Alright everybody, we're almost there." Yamato announced after few minutes.
"Yaaayyyyy!" Natsuko bounced up and down in her seat energetically, "Is Uncle Taichi there? Is Takeo there?"
"We'll see." Sora said as Yamato swerved the car in the parking lot.
"I don't like Uncle Taichi." Shou murmured.
"Really?" Sora was shocked, "Why's that?"
"He always asks me if I have made any girlfriends in school."
"Have you?" Yamato asked curiously. Sora nudged him hard.
"Honey, Uncle Taichi's only kidding. Don't worry." Sora said as they stepped out of the car.
"Next time he asks you that question, you just say, more than you can imagine." Yamato advised, smirking.
"Yamato!" Sora shook her head.
"What does that mean?" Shou asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing much but your Uncle Taichi will stop asking you that after today."
"Really, Yamato?"
"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Natsuko jumped eagerly.
"There they are!"
The Ishidas turned around to see a familiar brunette; now tall and with much controlled hair length, walking towards them with his signature grin, holding his son; who was just a younger version of his father, by hand.
"Taichi! Takeo!" Sora exclaimed as she walked forward and hugged Taichi.
"Where's Mrs. Yagami?" Yamato asked, looking around searchingly.
"Mommy's still working." Takeo said importantly.
"Yeah, she got some last minute things to do. She really wanted to come but couldn't make it." Taichi said as he let go of Sora. Sora nodded sadly. She was really looking forward to having a nice time with her and was quite disappointed. She and Sora were the only two people skilled at making Taichi squirm and they never let go of an opportunity to do so whenever they are together. Taichi despised their unity against him.
"Papa said we can ride on the fastest ride." Takeo told his friends excitedly.
"If you promised to do so without wetting yourself." Taichi added.
Takeo rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I know. No problem."
Sora smirked at Taichi's raised eyebrows, "Like father, like son; obnoxious." Taichi rolled his eyes in an exact imitation of his son and only confirmed her hypothesis. Yamato chuckled.
"Shou said he wants to stay in the car and color in his book." Natsuko told Takeo, her friend who shared similar interest of wild excitement.
"Really, Shou?" Takeo asked, surprised. Shou shuffled his feet uncomfortably, angry that his sister told that.
"I . . . don't like rides much." he said defensively. Natsuko noticed the flush on her brother's face, his red ears, and immediately felt bad about making fun of him.
"You don't like rides? How can you -" Takeo was immediately cut off by Natsuko.
"It's okay, Shou. There are some slow rides that you can sit on." the statement had a reverse effect on Shou who turned stubborn.
"I can ride on fast rides too. I'm not afraid of rides. I just . . . don't like them much." he said hotly. Natsuko was abashed and was trying to come up with an appropriate response when saved by her father.
"Okay, kids, let's go." Yamato quipped, trying to avert a possibly complicated situation among his kids. It worked.
"Yeeeaaahhh!" Takeo jumped up and Natsuko momentarily forgot about her brother's anger and joined her friend, jumping up and down.
"Here we go then!" Taichi announced and they all started walking towards the entrance.
x-x-x
"This place is seriously wicked, guys." Taichi exclaimed, staring around, "Even I want to get some of these rides."
"No kidding, these are way advanced than our time." Sora nodded in amazement.
"Some of them are too dangerous even for us." Yamato observed.
"Hey, you old soul, danger is fun."
"These are supposed to be for kids."
"The kids must be as advanced as these swings are, you outdated brainy. That's why there is so much crowd. You sure you don't belong to a pyramid, ancient mummy?"
"Sora, are you gonna listen to him insulting me like that?"
"Mmm, well you are kind of -"
"Sora!"
"Hah!"
"But that's one of my favorite parts about you."
"Yeah, you remind her of a horror movie about a bandaged human. She loves horror movies!"
"Taichi, shut up!"
"What?! You do love horror movies."
"Yamato is more like an old English hero."
"Am I?" Yamato said skeptically.
"Yeah, with a really, really bad accent."
"Ugh, no."
"Then why?"
"Ah, because he's such a gentleman? Always polite and respectable."
"And boring and ancient and really, really bad accent."
"And shows much better manners than you, you jackass."
"Like an old nanny with lots of kittens."
"Old nanny - what the hell! Are you forgetting the simple fact that I happen to have a girlfriend while you are still too immature to have one? That shows how much maturity counts."
"Sora doesn't count as girl, you and I both know the fact."
"Hell yeah, I do." Sora said.
"Yamato, seriously, you still don't have a girlfriend. She's a rare species which lies in neither category. You can call her your tomboyfriend."
"What are -?"
"Wait! That only makes you sound like you're gay. So forget it. What else will be a suitable name when something like Sora gets into a relationship?"
"Jerk."
"Nah! That's rude."
"I'm calling you -"
"How about your girl-but-not-really-friend? Mm, no, that's too long."
"Maybe by now they have finally made a switch that can shut down a human for few hours."
"Days, Yamato."
"Ah, right."
"Attractive idea. What would you want it for, anyway?"
"For you!" they replied in unison.
"Dang! And here I was so busy coming up with a universal name for you that I didn't notice my own friends turning against me."
"Taichi, just - just shut up for a sec."
"Why?"
"Look over there."
They had walked right up to the entrance of the park and were stunned to a halt.
"What the -!"
Entering the park were a group of same amount of adults and kids; three of each. The tall man in the front with a grin and a loud voice bore a striking resemblance to the Taichi right beside them, except for his short hair that were still slightly spiked at the front.
"Come on." Yamato whispered fiercely as he yanked Sora and Taichi behind a tree.
"What?"
"Something tells me we should not be seen by them."
"Is that - is that freakin' me?"
"Looks like it."
"My hair! All my pretty hair!"
"Shut up. How can you care about your hair right now?"
The group of six was strolling by right in front of the tree they were hiding behind and Sora gasped, clutching Yamato's arm. Yamato's mouth was slightly opened with shock.
There, behind Adult Taichi, wearing sea green cashmere sweater and blue jeans, her eyes protected by huge, stylish sunglasses was a tall woman exactly like Sora but with slightly longer yet same shade of auburn hair. Walking right beside her was a man even taller than Adult Taichi, also wearing sunglasses, his short blond hair still spiked sideways, his signature smirk never changing as he replied to something Adult Taichi said, and who looked a lot like Yamato.
"What kind of freakin' nightmare is this?" Yamato murmured.
"At least Sora will dress a lot better fifteen years later."
"And your jungle of a hair will be chopped clean off." Sora said triumphantly.
"I will never let that happen!"
"It has already happened." Yamato smirked, removing any doubt of his being the man walking beside Adult Sora.
"Look. We missed something." Sora whispered urgently.
"What is it?"
"They have kids."
"No way."
"See for yourself."
Holding onto Adult Sora's hand was a girl of about eight, her curly, blond hair tied up in a floppy ponytail, her azure eyes wide as she looked around. Beside her was a boy; about six years old with auburn hair barely touching his shoulders, his eyes a shade of extremely familiar red-brown. Walking with a familiar determined stride, dark brown hair spiked up just like Taichi, was a kid of same age as the little girl, talking excitedly in a loud voice.
"Are - are they -?"
"Yes, Taichi."
"Yikes."
"That's right."
They started following the group at a safe distance.
"That - that's your kid, Taichi. He looks exactly like you."
"Yeah dude, same hairstyle."
"Well, at least my kid's cooler than the adult me."
"What exactly did Gennai said before sending us here? Anyone remember his exact words?"
"Mm, something about how he has added a new feature to our Digivices and that we'll be seeing something of interest."
"He said we were sort of, uh, beta testers."
"This is definitely interesting." Sora murmured.
"Is this just me or, ahem, you guys noticed too that, well, that Sora is holding hand of the kid who looks just like Yamato and Yamato is holding hand of the kid who's like kindergarten Sora?"
Sora and Yamato stared in silence at their adult forms. The way they were acting around kids, around each other, was hinting at obvious.
"Well, I'm sure it might sound crazy but I think you two are married. Or will be married."
The other two turned a shade pinker.
"Uhhh."
"Mmm."
"Yeah, okay, I get that you two are shocked to not being able to speak properly."
"Maybe Sora is, I mean the Adult me is, I don't know, close to Yamato's kid or something like that."
"Yeah, definitely. That must be it."
"Are you two pretending to be stupid or really are bonkers?"
"Taichi, you got no proof. Just because I'm - I mean the adult me is holding Yamato's kid's -"
"Adult Yamato."
"- yeah, right, adult Yamato's kid's hand doesn't mean me and Yamato, well the adult me and Yamato are actually married."
"Bet you 1000 yen that you two are married."
"Taichi, that's very -"
"Hey, listen. I am accepting my kid, right? Why aren't you two accepting that you are -?"
"You make it sound so incriminating."
"Well, if I turned out to be right, which I'm sure I will, it would be too weird. I mean, here you are, just few years since started dating -"
"Two."
"Wow, just two years since you started dating and there are you as adults, fifteen years later, married!"
Yamato and Sora blushed. Yamato tried to ignore his boisterous friend as he stared hard at the group, faking deep interest in their activities.
"You know Taichi, you talk too much." Sora said annoyingly.
"The words of truth never fade! Truth prevails itself. Truth can never - OW!" he yelped as Sora slammed a fist in his stomach.
"Truth hurts, too. Now shut up!"
They followed quietly as the group reached the central part of the park, high-tech rides and swings all around them.
"Mama, Mama, I wanna go on that one!" The little girl tugged on Adult Sora's arm and Sora felt her heart drop. Yamato glanced at her sharply, then looked away quickly.
"See? See? I told ya! You two are married! I mean, will be married." Taichi pumped the air with his fist triumphantly.
Adult Sora was looking questioningly at Adult Yamato who seemed to be observing the ride carefully.
"Come on, it's alright." Adult Taichi supported the two bouncing kids while the small one stood silently by his father.
"Taichi, you say that about every ride." Adult Sora said rolling her eyes.
"Not every ride. Not that Phoenix one."
"That was mainly because of your jealousy with my Digimon. You let them ride on all the Dragon ones just because your Digimon is a Dragon type!"
"What are you talking about? Yamato, can you believe it?"
"Mm, since it's you, I think, yes, I believe it."
"You can't trust anyone these days!"
"Papa please! It's awesome!"
"Fine. You can go on that one."
"Yyyeesss."
"You wanna go, Shou?" Adult Yamato asked the little, Sora-like boy.
"Um, no, not this one." the kid replied carefully, thoughtfully. His sister made a face behind his back.
"Go, Papa, go!" Takeo urged his father to the electronic ticket booth.
"Easy, I'm going."
"Four tickets. I will stay with Shou." Adult Sora called out.
The trio watched the group silently, Sora and Yamato digesting the news, Taichi simply trying to give them their space after his triumphant outburst previously.
As Adult Taichi and Adult Yamato walked away with the two older kids, Taichi turned towards them.
"I'm gonna follow them. You two stay here, keep an eye on her." he nodded towards Adult Sora, now putting away her sunglasses in her pockets, talking softly with the kid who looked a lot like her.
"Finally some peace to our ears." Sora muttered. Taichi opened his mouth to say something, paused for a moment, then just shook his head, smiling and walked stealthily after the Adult himself. They had to owe that much to the Digital World that it taught them how to follow someone without being detected.
Sora and Yamato stared at the Adult Sora quietly for few moments.
"So?" Yamato spoke up.
"So."
"How are you feeling about . . . all that?"
"I don't know. I mean - I don't - can't believe - I guess I don't want to feel anything in particular."
"Hm."
"What about you?" Sora tilted her head towards him. He bit his lip.
"I kinda - I don't wanna say anything until I know what you think of it." Yamato said decidedly.
"Not fair."
"Sorry."
They stared at Adult Sora, Yamato realizing how much he liked her, that grown woman, still miraculously unchanged in her basic traits; hair the same style, clothes still casual and comfortable though a bit more stylish, shoes slightly less sporty but still sneakers. It was amazing for Yamato how she possessed a certain grace in her every gesture even with that attire. Her face was slightly elongated, still tanned but her features sharper, making her look much more attractive.
"What are you looking at?"
Yamato started, "Uh, her, I mean, you, I mean, the future you."
"Why?"
Yamato shrugged, "I can see why the future me married the future you."
"And that's because . . . ?"
"You never changed. Or will never change."
Sora was slightly taken aback by his answer, "Oh."
Yamato gave her a sideways look, "So, wanna tell me what you think of it?"
"Not when you're not telling."
"Ha. Is that so?"
"Yup."
"Fine. How about we both write one word to describe our feelings about this information and show each other at the same time?"
"Good idea. How do we get pen and paper?"
"Well, I have a pen. We can look for paper somewhere around."
"Or just write it on our hands."
"Not the worst idea."
"So the question is; describe in one word what do you think of the decision of Yamato Ishida marrying Sora Takenouchi."
"Or vice versa."
"That too."
"Right." Yamato pulled out a pen, turned away and wrote on his palm.
"There you go." he handed the pen to Sora. Sora quickly scribbled something on her palm and closed it in a fist.
"On the count of three?"
"On the count of three."
"One . . . two . . . three!"
They shoved their palms towards each other simultaneously.
Written on Yamato's palm was the word "Amazing". Sora's read "Real".
"Real?"
"Real."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means it didn't come as a big surprise for me despite the way I acted about it."
"You mean -?
"I mean, I have spent fifteen years of my life, Yamato. You're the only person I felt something different about. You know how I am with boys. But you made the difference and I think it will stay that way."
"Oh. Wow."
"Shut up. You can't say wow to something like that."
"Right."
"So it was real shocking for you?"
"I guess, yeah."
"You were planning to, what, dump me some years later, find a new girlfriend?"
"What the hell!"
"Then what?"
"I guess I just underestimated how you feel about me. Or maybe I really don't think myself as a person who can be good for long term relationships. I always think I'm too much like my father."
"So you think I'll dump you?"
"For the first part, yeah."
"Well, glad I already cleared that up before or you'd think I'm just saying."
"The second part stands, though."
"That part was just you being stupid."
"Oh?"
"Ah-huh."
"How come?"
"Being like your father doesn't mean you lack commitment. Your father is a really committed person. And just because it didn't work out well with your Mom doesn't mean he has problem committing to a relationship. I thought you understand that."
Yamato stared at her for a moment longer, then smiled his sideways smile.
"Sometimes you talk too much sense in too few words."
Sora rolled her eyes.
"Don't make me sound like a bookish philosopher."
"You say it like it's a bad thing."
"What's a bad thing?" Taichi whispered furiously from behind them, making them both jump.
"There goes our break from insanity."
"When did you come back?" Yamato asked.
"A minute ago. They went on one awesome ride!"
"You bet. That little girl was all hyped up about it."
"I really want to sit on one of those."
"You can't, Taichi, you know that." Sora said patiently.
"How come?"
"We don't have the right money. I looked into a ticket counter where people were getting tickets. You need to have a card of some sorts." Yamato explained.
"It sucks."
"Come on. You will be able to sit on them in fifteen years."
"Fifteen years!"
"Well, yeah."
"So, what? You two decided never to date anyone for the next fifteen years and then marry?"
"What? No!" Sora frowned.
"I mean, how bizarre is that? Here are you two, just two years since dating. Is Sora very controlling, Yamato?"
"What are you – no!"
"Maybe Yamato is jealous type of boyfriend, eh Sora?"
"None of your business."
"I mean you two really won't date anyone all that time? You know, play the field a little before marrying?"
"Play the field?"
"Have a couple of other boyfriends."
"No thanks."
"Too bad we didn't get to see your wife, Taichi." Yamato changed the topic.
"My - what?"
"What, your son didn't just drop out of the sky!"
"Oh. Oh right."
"What do you think she would be like?"
"I -"
"Must be nuts to marry him, for starters."
"Good point, Yamato."
"Hey, that -"
"And maybe really crazy."
"Totally."
"And she must talk too much."
"To balance Taichi."
"Maybe she's really, really serious."
"Yeah, like a librarian."
"Always with a frown."
"A standard grump."
"Why would I -"
"She requires absolute silence in her house."
"Pin drop audible."
"No wonder Taichi came here without her."
"She must hate amusement parks."
"She must hate people."
"Hates noise, period."
"Yeeaah." Sora said with relish.
"Hey, that's my wife you're talking about!"
"Aww, look how protective of her he already is."
"Dude, you don't have a wife right now."
"I mean my future wife."
"You don't even know your future wife."
"That doesn't, uh, change anything."
"Aww." they chorused.
"Shut up, you two."
"Hey, we're back." they heard Adult Taichi calling out as the four of them walked towards Adult Sora and her son.
"How was it?"
"It was aaawesome!"
"It was faaast!"
"And we missed Shou." Adult Yamato said, smiling gently at his son. He gave a shy smile.
"Yeah, me too." Natsuko piped in, trying to make amends. Shou smiled at his sister hesitantly.
"So, Shou, made any girlfriends yet?" Adult Taichi asked, as they started walking towards the next ride. The younger trio followed them noiselessly.
Shou blushed furiously, ducking his head. Takeo laughed out loudly. Shou frowned slightly, trying to remember his father's exact words, "Um, more than you can." he said the only part he could recall.
There was silence for, like, half a second, and then Adult Yamato and Sora burst out laughing. Adult Taichi blinked in surprise.
"That's my boy!" Adult Yamato clapped his son's back who smiled hesitantly, not understanding the joke.
About twenty feet behind them, a younger Sora and Yamato were holding their sides as they tried to stifle the sound of their laughter. Taichi's mouth was hung open in shock as he stared at the little boy.
"That was something." Sora said, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.
"Did that kid - did he just -"
"Yeah, he just kicked your ass verbally. Well, your adult ass." Yamato smirked.
"He doesn't look like much."
"He sure as hell can do much."
"Stop laughing, Sora."
"I - can't." Sora tried to sober up but failed.
"Sora!" Taichi called out in exasperation. Almost instantly the red haired grown up from the group in front of them turned around sharply. Yamato yanked his two friends down behind a bush.
"What is it?" Adult Yamato asked.
"I thought - did someone call my name?"
"Um, no? I can't really say for sure with all the noise around."
"Must be something else."
She turned away and the trio behind them drew in deep, relieved breaths.
"Whew."
"That was close."
"Thanks to you."
"What? Me?"
"Yeah, thanks for shouting my name."
"Thanks for laughing like a maniac."
"It was funny."
"Not as funny as you thought."
"Pretty hilarious."
"The kid just got a lucky break."
"I had a feeling Uncle Taichi get his ass kicked on daily basis." Yamato intervened.
"Of course not. I think I'm the best sort of uncle your kids will get."
"Oh please."
"Give me a break."
"Between Yamato's old soul and your take-everything-seriously attitude, I'll be kind of there safe heaven."
"I don't take everything seriously."
"Of course you do."
"I have a very good sense of humor."
"Which stays in a museum to be exhibited once a year only."
"I don't like to joke around unnecessarily."
"Well, Sora, to be honest, you do take things a bit more seriously than normal." Yamato said, scratching his ear.
"That's the spirit, Yamato! Great show of bravery! You can have my crest anytime."
"Shut up."
"Tell me one thing I'm unnecessarily serious about?"
"Well, the time I put salt in Yamato's coffee and you got annoyed."
"It was not funny. Yamato choked. It could have been dangerous."
"And the time I dared Taichi to ask out the head cheerleader and -"
"Which I did, by the way, and she nearly fainted with the sheer joy."
"- and you got nervous that if she found out it was a dare, her feelings would be hurt."
"Which she has not to this day."
"Well, it was still risky and it would not be too nice for you if she found out."
"Not to mention the hair clip."
"The legendary hair clip."
"Not the hair clip!"
"Why not? You overreacted over all the limits."
"I will if you don't shut up about it now."
"See?"
"Ok, new topic," Yamato interjected quickly, "What do we do now?"
"You mean now that we have come fifteen years farther, seen an advanced amusement park, seen our future selves, seen our kids and had about dozen arguments?" Sora asked.
"Yes, Sora."
"I think we should go back."
"Yeah, good, 'cause am starving and you can't buy anything here without those stupid cards."
"Well, aside from your never satisfied appetite, we have to go back at some point."
"How long have we been here?"
"Almost an hour. One and a half minute to go." Sora checked her watch.
"So do we use our Digivices?"
"Mine needs to be repaired."
"So at least I and Sora can leave."
"What?! You're not leaving me here."
"Why not? We can always come back later to collect you."
"No, Sora, don't even think about it."
"Come on, you're not scared, are you?"
"Ugh, of course not. I just don't wanna be the only one trapped here."
"So you are scared."
"I told you, I just wanna -"
"Yeah, dude, and that's called being scared."
"Shut up. You're not going and that's that."
"Fine, what do we do then? Stay here, watch sunsets?"
"Try to contact Gennai to pull us back."
Just as the words left Yamato's mouth, their bodies started feeling light, floating almost. Yamato reached out blindly and held Sora's arm, pulling her close protectively.
"What's happening?" Sora asked loudly but it came as a faint ripple of sound. The air shimmered between the three of them as they start losing their solidity.
"I think it's time out." Taichi yelled back.
"You better be right." Yamato yelled.
The next instant they completely faded away, not noticing the little blond haired girl staring at their vanishing forms with huge blue eyes.
x-x-x
The fall this time seemed longer but they had some idea, or hope, as to what's happening. Once again they came out on top of each other.
"Why do I always have to be at the bottom each time we travel in time?" Yamato asked in a muffled voice.
"Your luck. Sora, get up already."
"Patience." Sora untangled her legs and fell down from the top of the human lump on her back. Taichi rolled off Yamato, who breathed in relief.
"So, how was it kids?" Taichi jumped back to find Gennai nose to nose with him, his old figure bent down to the size of Taichi's sitting form.
"Wooaahh! Get away from me!" Taichi scrambled back on his palms, almost into Yamato's lap.
"Watch it!" They were back in Sora's room, in front of her laptop.
"Welcome back!" Gennai smiled and nodded at each of them.
"Gennai-san!" Sora called out as she sat up.
"How was your trip?" he asked pleasantly.
"I'll tell you how was our trip, you old man!" Taichi stood up angrily. Yamato and Sora launched forward and held on to his arms.
"Taichi, don't be stupid." Sora reprimanded.
"If you can help it." Yamato added.
Gennai laughed and shook his head, "I know you have some questions, but first tell me what you remember about the journey?"
Sora and Yamato looked at each other, frowning slightly. It suddenly became too difficult to recall much of the future.
"I remember falling in the dark room." Sora began.
"And we opened a door to some sort of storage area." Yamato added.
"It was - I think, some sort of park." Taichi frowned.
"An amusement park!"
"Yeah, Yamato's right. It was an amusement park."
"And? What else do you remember?"
Sora walked over to her bed and sat down slowly, her forehead lined thoughtfully. Yamato leaned against the window ledge, biting his lower lip, trying to remember more details. Taichi lied down on the carpet, staring at the ceiling, trying to get hold of what he saw. The images and details were suddenly blurry, faces fading, voices losing their echo, leaving a smudge of color behind them, nothing to make sense of.
"We saw someone." Yamato said after few minutes of silence, "Someone we know."
"I think there was more than one." Sora said quietly.
"Yeah. At least two or three." Taichi added.
"You saw your future selves." Gennai directed their thoughts.
"Yes, that's what we saw!" Taichi sat up excitedly. He could recall a tall man with brown hair but no specifics; he couldn't recall his clothes, or hairstyle, or even face to exact features. Just a feeling of a familiar person.
"I think there were more than three people. I mean, the three were us, but there were others too." Sora said in a soft voice. She couldn't recall the kids. She couldn't even recall the relationship between them. And she had a feeling she was missing something big, something significant to her life.
"Why's that?" Yamato snapped finally, "Why can't we remember any of it?"
"Kids, this is because I and my companions specifically designed this feature so that any memories the people going from past to future develop in future, fades away as soon as they return."
"Why would you do that? Why send us in the future then?" Taichi asked, visibly irritated with all the effort it was causing him to recall those memories.
"It might come into handy some day; this time travel," Gennai shrugged, "But it's better to keep the future unknown if you want to live in present peacefully. You saw things that had the potential to change your view of the world, of each other. It was done for your own good."
"You know how much you and your companions suck, don't you?" Taichi asked exasperatedly. Sora threw a pillow at him.
"Will we be able to travel on our own?" Yamato asked.
Gennai shook his head, "Oh no, we wouldn't want that. It will create chaos of the magnitude hard to contain. You will be only transported to time when you're needed there. Never under any other circumstances."
"Oh." they all were distinctly disappointed.
"But what do you mean by when we are - hey where did he go?" Taichi stopped mid sentence to realize Gennai had vanished, "Jerk."
"Oh well, he will tell us when we are needed." Sora shrugged.
"I'm tired of doing his services. You could've thought he should have started treating us a bit more respectfully instead of popping out whenever we ask too many questions." Taichi grumbled.
"You could've thought you should have learned your lesson by now." Yamato pointed out.
"What, now it's my fault? He's not a pet kitten to be coaxed into coming to you."
"Yeah, but he's old. I bet he get irritated pretty fast."
"Irritated my ass! He can't throw us in all thousands of dimensions and blame us for irritating him."
"Well, he just vanished, so I think he can."
"Enough discussing Gennai! Who wants coffee?" Sora stood up.
"Do you still have those butter cookies?"
"Yes, Taichi, I made some more knowing your appetite."
"Aww Sora, you're seriously my only friend around here."
"And what am I, squashed potatoes?"
"Don't be jealous of our friendship, Yamato."
"Who's jealous?"
"Guuyys! Come on."
"Okay, okay."
Sora closed her laptop, looking thoughtfully at the screen for a moment. For what felt like the briefest moment, she could feel a strong, almost dizzying affection for Yamato, like he was a massive piece of puzzle that would complete her life. And then it was gone.
"I'm getting intoxicated." she thought dismissively and went out of the room.
x-x-x
"What is it, sweetie?" Sora asked Natsuko who was staring at the spot ten feet away from them.
"I saw someone like you and Papa and Uncle Taichi." she whispered.
"Huh? Where?"
"There," she pointed with her finger, "Then they just vanished."
"Who vanished?" Yamato asked.
"Three people. They look like you, Mama and Uncle Taichi."
"Look like me? The one and only handsome Uncle Taichi?"
Natsuko giggled and turned away. Sora stared at the spot for a moment longer, a figment of faded memory teasing her brain, before shrugging and walking away. The park always gives her a feeling of déjà vu anyway, so maybe there's nothing to it.
x-x-x
A/N: Ta-da! Another Taiorato story at your service! Wow, am seriously writing these too fast these days. How many have I written so far? Three? Four? Well, too many in a short time that much I can say.
Okay, so I'm dedicating this story to my best of the best reviewer aleena15. She reviewed to my every story, to every chapter of it beautifully in one of her "appreciating details" manner and I can't help feeling a jolt of excitement every time I get a mail that she reviewed one of my story. Thanks Aleena, for sticking with me for so long!
I named Taichi's son Takeo which means "Warrior" which I think Taichi would like as his son's name.
Anyway, review please? Trust me, I read each and every review like it's the most important one (which it is for me at least). So do please tell me if you like my stories.