It is not an easy thing for a digimon to find their partner when the Digital Gate is open, for they should never need to do so. Homeostasis arranges the first meeting between partner and Chosen Child, and afterwards the digivice should suffice to maintain their connection – at least, in ordinary circumstances. If a digimon needs to undertake such a search, something has already gone horribly wrong.
When the Chosen Children unlocked the memories that had been sealed within Ordinemon, Bakumon remembered everything. It understood who that scary lady whose embrace it had fled from was, and all the things they had shared together. It didn't know where to begin to look for Himekawa Maki, but after all she had clearly been through, and how, without its memories, it had rejected her, Bakumon had to find her and apologize.
But it didn't know where to begin to look. For months and months, it wandered the Digital World, searching desperately for any sign of her. But humans, of course, lived in their own world – and although Bakumon had yet to meet a digimon with an answer, it had heard many who seemed disturbed by the question – especially when, rather than offering a physical description (no easy thing, when it had seen her once since childhood, and spent most of that encounter scared out of its wits) it referred to its partner by name.
Bakumon had lost track of how much time had passed by the time it finally found what seemed like a lead – not to Maki herself, but to some digimon who might know something. "Why don't you ask some other partner digimon?" the Floramon had offhandedly suggested, and Bakumon couldn't deny its wisdom; the problem was that, rather than finding one unknown individual on a vast planet, this just gave it some peripheral individuals who might help, were they any easier to find.
And Bakumon, to make matters worse, was not exactly fast. A typical child-level size and two thick elephantine legs were no way to traverse the continents, and floating could take the pressure off when fatigued, but was an even slower way to move.
Still, with nothing to do but search, Bakumon eventually, perhaps instinctively, made its way to the place where typical digimon were born; the village of beginnings certainly had a large population, but baby digimon, by definition, were lacking in knowledge. Yet by a stroke of luck, the Elecmon who raised them had met the Chosen Children and their partner digimon, and knew exactly where in the digital world to find them.
"What do you want with us?" Piyomon asked, circling menacingly overhead as Bakumon approached, seeming prepared at a moment's notice to unleash her Magical Fire.
"Be careful, everyone, that's Himekawa Maki's partner!" Gomamon shouted, mostly to warn V-Mon, Hawkmon, Armadimon, and Wormmon; they had more reason than any of the group to hate Maki, but they had also been in stasis when the digital world was rebooted, and never learned the species of the partner she had so desperately missed.
"Baby Flame!" Agumon was the first to actually attack, although at their distance, it would be easy enough for Bakumon to float to the side and dodge it.
But Bakumon didn't need to, as Tailmon jumped in front of the fireball and dissipated it with her gloved paw. "It wasn't Bakumon's fault. Let's hear what it has to say..."
"But Tailmon, you got absorbed into Ordinemon and everything!" Patamon cried. "And Hikari suffered so much when you and Taichi disappeared..."
"She's not the only partner to do terrible things..." Wormmon added thoughtfully. "I couldn't stop Ken from becoming the Digimon Kaiser."
"And I've never been able to get Yamato to avoid fighting with Taichi," Gabumon added. "Sorry about that, Bakumon. What brings you here?"
Bakumon gulped, stumbling over its words. Knowing what they clearly thought of Maki, this would not be an easy question to ask; would it just make them attack again? But Bakumon had no other leads, and had to find Maki – and to make things up to her. "Do any of you know where my partner's gone? Or even what happened to her?"
Had any of the later generations of partner digimon known the answer to that question, perhaps they would have had some kind of moral dilemma about whether or not to help Bakumon, when it meant helping Maki as well, but… "We haven't heard from her since the reboot. According to Taichi-san, even Daigo didn't know if she's still alive," Tailmon said, sadly shaking her head. "I'm really sorry."
Bakumon continued to travel the digital world, feeling if anything more despondent than before; the one lead it had traveled so far to track down had shown it nothing, save perhaps for the possibility that Himekawa Maki was dead.
When it saw a shrine to Baihumon in the distance, the first thing Bakumon felt was the same resentment that had driven its partner for so many years: "Why were only four chosen?" And something just felt off about the idea of praying to a digimon it had known as a friend since it was Bearmon.
Besides, now that it was a god, would it even answer? Back when they were saving both worlds together, Homeostasis almost never did. But it was out of options, and after all she had been through, after rejecting her, Bakumon wasn't going to let its pathetic pride stand between itself and a chance, however small, at finding Maki.
So it floated into the shrine, bowed its head, and prayed. And unlike most digimon to do likewise, its prayers were answered.
"Bakumon," a strange yet familiar voice boomed, godly yet ethereal, recognizable as Bearmon's but clearly transformed by evolution. "The one you seek is alive, but she is no longer in the digital world. I will open a gate to where she resides now for you, but beware, Bakumon! It is not a pleasant place."
"I'll go! I don't care how dangerous it is, or where she's gone! I'll go anywhere to rescue her!" Bakumon shouted, eager and determined.
"I wish you luck," Baihumon said, a strange and distant happiness in its voice as Bakumon looked upon the gray and purple portal. "If Daigo were still around, I'm sure he'd come with you..."
"I'm sorry," Bakumon said, its earlier jealousy seeming so foolish; it had prayed so desperately, without stopping for a moment to consider whether the god it was praying to – and an old friend, at that – was in an even worse situation. For a short while, it hesitated, wanting to somehow cheer up Baihumon like Daigo, in their long years apart, had cheered up Maki.
"Go! Even I can't hold this portal open forever! It's what Daigo would've wanted..."
"Right." Bakumon said, then bowed one last time before its ascended comrade and floated into the Dark Ocean.
The waters of the dark ocean were unnaturally calm, as if the tides had vanished together with its color. Bakumon felt disturbed by its very surroundings, wishing for a moment it was a data or virus digimon so it could better tolerate this place – but none of that mattered as long as it could find Maki.
Bakumon walked for a while on the sand, afraid to float into the ocean proper, afraid it had a journey before it as long as, and far more uncomfortable than, the one it had taken in the digital world to get here. Until, anyway, it heard a tentative but familiar voice, and knew its search had ended. "Bakumon? Is that you?"
"Maki!" This time, it was Bakumon's turn to shout and race towards its partner; after rebuffing her when it had been without its memories, Bakumon wanted to leave no doubt about its intentions. "I'm so sorry that I forgot you!"
"I wanted so badly to see you again," Maki said, tears flowing from her eyes as they embraced in a joyous reunion. She looked so much older than the elementary schooler Bakumon mostly remembered, perhaps even older than the agent who had scared Bakumon so soon after the reboot; perhaps this place or her despair had aged her. And she was very clearly pregnant. Bakumon wondered what had happened to her over all those long, miserable years, without it around to devour her nightmares?
"I found you. Let's go back," Bakumon said, but Maki slowly, sadly shook her head, remembering what it meant to feel sorrow.
"There's nothing left for me back there. Daigo's dead. The surviving chosen children hate me for what I did to them, and I can't even blame them; if our roles were reversed I'd hate me too. And my agency probably wants to arrest me for treason or something, I'm sure they've figured out what I did by now..."
Bakumon wanted to argue, wanted to convince her to come home, wanted to get out of the Dark Ocean as soon as possible. But it remembered how the later generations of partner digimon had viewed its own association with Maki, and had to admit she had a point.
"Besides, I have a family here. A husband! A generation of children!" A gray tentacle emerged from beneath the waves, and Maki clutched it lovingly to her chest, as creatures half Hangyomon and half Man peeked out from behind the beach's shadows. "Bakumon, I'd like you to meet Lord Dagomon!"
A giant cephalopod surfaced, attached to the tentacle Maki held: a gray Cthulhu with orange wings and a gaudy, purple necklace made of oyster shells. Maki's two partners glared at one another, hatred in their eyes, each horrified by what the other represented, but neither would strike the other, for her sake. "In that case, I'll stay with you," Bakumon declared, and resolved to learn to tolerate Dagomon, befriend her children, and endure the hostile environment of the Dark Ocean.
Perhaps the day would someday come when a fifth was finally chosen, when Bakumon evolved into Huanglongmon and purified this world, Dagomon, Demon, and all. Or perhaps in this environment Bakumon, too, would be twisted beyond recognition – and some new, dark evolution would join Maki's children and Dagomon when they finally invaded the digital world.
But Bakumon and Maki's searches were finally over – and after so many long years, they were reunited at last.