Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.
Fandom: Digimon Adventure 02
Title: Trashed
Characters: Takeru, Natsuko
Word Count: 2,310||Status: One-shot
Genre: Humor, Family||Rated: PG
Feedback: All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Summary: [one-shot, What-If Challenge, Takeru] Takeru has one hat. And it's just been shredded beyond repair.

Today wasn't a good day to wear a hat, Takeru decided. Normally his stayed on no matter what kind of antics he found himself caught in, but anything could wear out, especially if it were worn on a regular basis for as long as he'd worn this one.

He slammed himself against a tree, not at all surprised when the hat began to slip down to cover his face. He shoved it back up, saw what was coming toward him, and for a moment considered pulling it back down. If the oncoming Digimon had been almost anything except bloodthirsty Devidramon, he might well have. But while some Digimon could be convinced by the 'if you can't see them, they can't see you' argument, Devidramon listened only to their senses, and every sense they had would be telling them that he was a juicy morsel just waiting for dinner. As the main course, no less.

He dodged around to the far side of the tree and grabbed a low-hanging branch, pulling himself up. He didn't know where the Digimon were, or the other Chosen, only that right now, he was completely on his own, and the sooner he found a good place to hide, the better.

He scrambled up another few branches before he settled against the trunk and looked around. Devidramon could track almost anything, doing so almost as well as Agumon or Gabumon could, so this wouldn't last long.

What's got them riled up today? This wasn't the first time something like this happened and still no one knew exactly why sometimes some Digimon simply attacked. It was just his bad luck that he'd come across these two, who'd abandoned whatever argument they had with each other and struck out at him.

He'd figure that out later, he decided. Right now, safety was still his highest priority, and finding out where Patamon and his friends were. They'd come here just for a little vacation during summer break, and no one had expected to encounter rampaging Digimon. Now that he thought about it, they probably should have. Even if they hadn't, being prepared wouldn't have hurt.

Takeru leaned down a little to get a look at what was going on and winced at the sight of the Devidramon circling the tree. Both of them sniffed the base of it, then looked upward, roaring at the sight of him. This is not my day.

His D-Terminal would've been very useful right now. Unfortunately, it lay several yards away at the closest and he couldn't be entirely certain if it had been crushed underfoot or not. He'd been too busy running for his life to stop and pick it up and he hoped someone else had.

One of the Devidramon slammed into the tree and Takeru grabbed onto the nearest branch with both arms and legs. This was not how he'd planned to spend his first day of summer break. Picnics. Maybe swimming if they found a good place. Hanging out with his friends. That was what he'd planned for today. Not hugging a tree and hoping these Digimon got bored and left.

His hat started to slide down again and Takeru couldn't spare a hand to put it back where it belonged. If it came down to it, he'd gladly sacrifice the hat for his own hide anyway. He could always buy another one if he needed to. Buying a new body was a little more difficult.

For a moment he couldn't see anything at all as the hat dropped across his face. That wouldn't have meant much, if the two Devidramon below hadn't chosen that exact moment to slam into the tree again. He gripped harder, the hat catching on his nose, and ground his teeth. He didn't dare spare even a second to pull his hat away, or risk losing his grip.

What had his life become that it hung on what happened with a hat?

Another swipe at the tree dislodged the hat, sending it spiraling downward between the two Devidramon. Takeru sighed. Good-bye, hat. Hopefully not good-bye life.

"Hand of Fate!" A gleam of impossibly bright light shot from above, striking in between the Devidramon. If his hat had survived the fall, it most certainly hadn't survived that. Takeru saw no room to complain, since the Devidramon backed off from Angemon's strike and roared at him, eyes glimmering with rage.

Takeru tilted his head back enough to see his partner hovering a short distance away. He hadn't even noticed when his Digivice glowed and Patamon evolved. Though in all fairness, he'd been more than a little occupied at the time.

Aquilamon and Angewomon appeared moments later, adding their attacks to the attempt to drive off the Devidramon, with Ankylomon, XV-mon, and Stingmon helping from land and air. Before very long, Angemon hovered in front of his partner.

"Need a lift?" The angel tilted his head to the side, examining Takeru as the other released his grip inch by careful inch. "I think I can still carry you."

Takeru looked downward, then over to his partner. "Let's find out." He could see the other flying Digimon hovering near, and he didn't have to be told to know they were watching, just in case Angemon couldn't get him down safely. He hadn't even considered how to get down when he'd been too busy getting up.

As soon as his feet once again rested firmly on the ground, he brushed himself off and looked at the others as they came closer, the Digimon de-evolving down to their Child forms.

"Everything all right?" Daisuke asked. "They didn't bite off anything important, did they?"

"No. I don't think my hat made it, though." Takeru ran his hand through his hair; it had been a while since he'd been able to do that freely. He wasn't sure if he liked it. His head felt colder already.

"Well, as long as that was the only casualty." Iori folded his arms over his chest, clearly more worried than he wanted to let on. Takeru wasn't surprised; Iori had a tendency to keep his emotions to himself, even now.

Takeru spied a small scrap of fabric caught on a thorn bush not too far from the tree he'd taken refuge in and bent to pick it up, turning it over in his hands. "I think this is all that's left of it." He shrugged; buying another hat wasn't that big of a deal. But having to explain to his mother that he'd lost it because of attacking Digimon? That would be difficult.

He hoped that she believed this more than she did the one about the Gigadramon that blew up his science project.

"Your hair feels funny." Patamon said, gripping harder in order to make certain he didn't fall off. Takeru sighed.

"It's just because of the hat not being there." Takeru decided he would get a new hat as soon as he could afford one. They weren't very expensive, but he didn't have a great deal in the way of spare cash at the moment.

"I suppose. Your hair still feels funny."

Takeru said nothing else, more because he was opening the door to the apartment than anything else. His mother sat in the living room, bent over her computer, hard at work on some article for her newspaper. The minute he took his shoes off, she sat up and looked toward him.

"Takeru?"

"It's me." Oh, he didn't look forward to this. But he had to tell her.

She stepped into the hall, mouth open to say something, but words failed her the moment she looked at his head and saw, or didn't see, what wasn't there. "What happened?"

He considered himself lucky that he'd brushed off most of the mud and leaves he'd ended up with after his life-risking run through the woods away from the Devidramon. If he'd shown up with all the dirt and damages on him –and he was just as glad that he hadn't acquired anything more than a few scratches, most of which could be easily covered by his clothes- she would've lost it. He knew that for a fact.

"Ran into …well, away from, really, a couple of Devidramon." He wanted to brush it off and make sure she understood that he hadn't had anything to worry about. Angemon and the others had been there, so he really hadn't. He could see the worry flickering in her eyes, though.

"Well, as long as you're all right." She looked him up and down, eyes fastening on where Patamon rested, and a hint of a frown touched her lips. "Are you all right? Both of you?"

"I'm fine." Takeru reached into his pocket and pulled out the only remaining scrap of his hat. "My hat has seen better days, though."

She looked down at it, lips thinning for a heartbeat. "Oh."

Takeru didn't remember every birthday gift that he'd been given, but he remembered clearly the day his mother had given that hat to him. She touched her fingers against what was left of it before she nodded.

"You should go wash up. It's almost dinner time."

Both he and Patamon nodded, and Takeru headed quickly to his room. He wanted to say something else to her, but none of what he wanted to say actually felt right to say. He would have to make do with some apologies. And as much as he knew he could replace the hat itself, it still wouldn't be quite the same. For one thing, she'd bought this one for him. For another, even if it looked identical, it wouldn't be the same hat.

It's a hat. He tried to remind himself, but it didn't do a great deal of good. After wearing it almost constantly for all those years, it was more like a part of himself that he didn't want to let go of. Not that he had a choice, but he didn't want to all the same.

Takeru stared at the small array of bills and coins in front of him. I didn't think it was this bad. Counting out his available money showed him that not only did he not have enough to get a new hat, the only way he would have enough to get a soda would be if Miyako could be persuaded to give him a discount at the Ai Mart.

I wonder if they could use someone to sweep up for a few weeks. He'd already gone a week without his hat. Patamon still complained that his head didn't feel right to ride on, and his head still felt kind of naked anyway.

Well, he wouldn't know until he asked. He pushed himself up to his feet, shoving what he had of money into his pocket, and started out. Patamon was spending today in the Digital World with the other Digimon, so he didn't have to keep an eye on him, and his mom was off shopping for something. It wouldn't take any time at all to go check with the Inoues.

He hadn't even reached the apartment door when the key rattled in the lock and the door swung open to reveal his mom there. She smiled the moment that she saw him. "Oh, good, I'm glad you're here."

"I was just going out, actually," he said. She had a box with her, but he didn't recognize the name of the store. She gestured for him to follow her into the living room before he could say anything else. He did so, a little curious as to what she wanted him for.

"Here." She held the box out to him and he blinked a few times before he took it. "Go on, open it."

It's not my birthday and it's not a holiday… He didn't rule out the possibility of her getting him something 'just because' but it wasn't something she normally did. Still, he wanted to go talk to the Inoues. The sooner he found out what this was about, the better.

It only took a moment to get it open; it wasn't a very large box, nor was it all that heavy. His first thought was that it was a shirt of some kind. Then he saw what actually was there, and his jaw dropped.

"Mom?"

She smiled at him. "I thought you'd like that. You do, don't you?"

He picked up the hat, one that looked just like the one he'd had before, and ran his fingers over it. "I could've got it myself." Not that he was complaining, not really, but he was fifteen. He could buy his own hats, if he had the money for them.

"I know. But I wanted to get this for you." She pulled it away from him and fluffed it out. "You don't mind, do you?"

Takeru wasn't sure of what to say at first. He'd been so focused on getting it for himself that this just hadn't occurred to him. Then he shrugged. "Why should I?" He had a hat, one that his mom had given to him, and everything was once again right with the universe. "Thanks, mom."

She settled it on his head, and he reached up to tug it properly into place. "There you are. You look like yourself again."

"Who did I look like before?" Takeru couldn't help but ask, and she chuckled.

"My son, but without his hat on."

Laughter echoed off the walls for a few moments before he glanced toward the door again. "I really should go down. I was going to the Ai Mart." He didn't need a job now, at least not with intent to replace his hat. But maybe he could get that soda, if Miyako were working and would give him a discount.

And he could show off his new hat, too.

The End