So this is the new story that you've chosen to read. I hope you enjoy.
This story focuses on all the digidestineds but Koji a little more than anyone else.
Ages:
Tommy 15
Koji, Koichi, Takuya, Zoe 17
JP 18
This story takes place 5 years after the series and it's been 4 years since they last talked to each other.
CHAPTER 1: Long Time
Lately he had been forgetting. He told himself that he should never forget—that it was too important to ever leave his thoughts, that doing it might be a mortal sin, but times had changed. He was much older now. He had grown not only in physical appearance but also in his world view. He suspected that they all had.
After a year or more of close contact they had grown apart, separated because of schools and new friends. He wished to see them again, but the thought made his throat clench. What if there was no connection left? What if by seeing them again all the wonderful memories of the past would be shadowed by the present? He didn't want such good times ruined in the depths of his mind.
"Tommy, you mustn't dawdle or you'll be late?" His mother's voice carried with a dull muffle through the walls of his room, alerting him.
"Coming." He answered bolting down the hallway grabbing his book bag and the piece of toast his mother had set aside for him. "Bye, Mom." He was out the door in no time, hurriedly going down the stairs of his apartment building two at a time. As he reached the bottom he heard his mother calling out his name. Turning around and giving a wave he saw his mother holding up a blue satin tie.
"Now I'll really be late." Tommy muttered as he threw his bag to the ground and raced up the stairs.
It was by no means a difficult task; however he had never been one for willingly seeking exercise, being naturally thin as he was. Once, he reached his mother, she placed the tie around his neck and quickly tied it. He cursed the fact that he hadn't bothered to learn, or else he might have done it on his way to school.
"Ok, you're looking sharp." His mother gave a warm smile and patted his shoulder.
"Thanks mom." With that he was off again, flying down the stairs.
"Don't forget your bag, honey." Tommy gave a wave back in her direction as he snatched his bag from where he had thrown it and ran out of the parking lot. On his way, he said good morning to all the people he went by. Flashing a goofy smile and maneuvering his way as quick as possible. At last the school was in sight, and by the looks of it he would be perfectly on time.
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"You're sure cutting it close." Tommy had just sat down at his desk, a bead of sweat threatening to drop, whence he was greeted. "It's only been a week, too."
"Oh shut it, James." Tommy said while dismissing the boy's comment. "In middle school you were late all the time."
James smirked, "Oh right, I forgot about that. But, still I was in good with the teachers back then, you're new here and still have some schmoozing to do."
"I'll remember that." Tommy said with little enthusiasm. James had been an old friend of his, despite their different personalities. All throughout middle school they were known as the mirror duo. There looks and personalities reflecting the opposite. James was tanned and golden haired, like a surfer, while Tommy was fair skinned and brunette; James was a sneaky trickster while Tommy was an innocent angel. Tommy moved in his third year of middle school, returning two years later. The new high school fostering a cheery reunion of the pair.
Thinking on it, made Tommy a little sad. Why could this friendship last, but not all others? James was the original friend whom had helped him when he felt deserted by his older friends; maybe that's why Tommy valued him so much.
After first period had finished, Tommy went off to his locker to put away his things. The halls were slightly crowded and he wished he was small once again in order to dart through the people. Darn, that growth spurge. Last time he believed he checked out at 5'6." He couldn't complain too much, but it was still semi-short for being 15. Distracted by his thoughts, he hardly noticed as he walked into another person.
"Oh, sorry about that." He said still a little dazed as he rebounded from the hit. Looking up he stared into the eyes of a very familiar face.
"Don't worry about it." The boy said while smiling warmly.
"Gosh, Koichi, you're so nice to the underclassmen. I would've told him off." Someone from the group of friends surrounding the boy said.
Tommy stared dumbstruck. "Koichi?"
He had changed a lot since their last meeting over 3 years ago. He was tall, 6 foot by the look of it and had his black hair ruffled messily. He looked lean and well fit, and had a much more sophisticated, yet playful, look than one might expect from a 17 year old.
"Do I know you?" He asked kindly.
Tommy's heart sank a little and he remembered his thoughts from earlier about keeping memories as memories. "No, sorry." With that he scampered away to his locker. His morning was defiantly turning out to be full of anxiety.
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"That kid was a little weird don't you think?" The boy standing against the wall commented.
"Cute though. What do you think, Koichi?" The brunette girl looked at the boy in question. "Um, is there something wrong with you?"
Koichi quickly resumed a friendly smile after realizing he had been lost in thought. "No, nothing at all. He just looked a little familiar, that's all."
The other boy pushed off from the wall and patted his shoulder while walking away, "You worry too much."
"He's right you know." The girl added.
"Who ever said I was worrying?" Koichi defended.
"It's obvious when you worry; you scrunch up your eyebrows and screw up that cute face of yours. But, don't think about all that right now let's hurry off to class."
"Yeah, ok." The girl grabbed a hold of his wrist and dragged him down the hallway.
The rest of the day went as usual. Midterms of the winter trimester had just passed, therefore class projects and essays were handed out in most classes. "Time to prepare for exams," said his teachers, not giving them a brake to recover from the last ones. It always seemed like that's what they were doing. So, tugging his loaded backpack onto his shoulders Koichi exited the school. He saw the boy from before far off on the grounds and still felt the tugging at his brain to remember the kid. Pulling out his cell phone he pulled up the message screen readying to text, but paused.
First off, he didn't know what to write; secondly it seemed like a random thing to bring up especially when they hadn't spoken in a while. Yes, it was better not to text his brother about the boy, he would figure it out on his own.
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"Zoe. Zoe. Zoe!"
"I know. I know!" The two girls let of shrieks of excitement.
"I can't believe it. He asked me to meet his parents. This means it's serious, right? You only meet the parents if it might actually go somewhere, right?"
"Of course it does. I'm so excited for you Leeann." Zoe held her friends arms as they bounced up and down on the bed. Her long blond hair freeing it self from the loose ponytail and dancing in the air.
"What am I going to wear?" Leeann stopped the bouncing immediately a look of horror on her face. "What do you wear when you meet the parents?"
"Umm, what has he said about his parents?"
Leeann put her hand up to her forehead in thought, "that they're pretty liberal, probably got some hippie blood running through them."
"Well, they must be fun then. Come, let's look in my closet." The girls got off the bed and walked the few feet to the sliding doors. "I'm sure I'm got some really cute stuff in here from my last trip to Italy."
"Thanks Zoe, once again you've saved my life." Zoe laughed while pulling out some nice and slightly conservative clothes just in case. As she lay them on the bed Leeann called out from behind her, "Who's Takuya?"
"Huh, what!" Zoe flung around and saw Leeann holding a letter that must have fallen from her closet shelf.
"Why didn't you send this letter?"
Zoe swiped the letter from her hands with fire in her eyes, "It's none of your business."
"Wow, you don't need to get so bitchy over it, Z."
Zoe's eyes softened and took on a sad gleam. "I'm sorry, Leeann, I'm not much into picking out outfits anymore. How about you come over tomorrow?"
Leeann was perplexed at her friend's odd behavior and was about to complain about the clothes, but when she caught sight of Zoe's sad eyes again she decided against it, "Sure, it's not for another week." Leeann grabbed her stuff and made for the door, turning as she left to say, "I thought we didn't keep secrets Z?" She shut the door and Zoe fell back onto her bed.
That had been a long time ago, but she still kept the letter that she'd written to him. After their adventures, once she could write a letter at home, the group had moved on and it wasn't worth it anymore.
She missed the good old days, where she and her five best friends were always together. That was a long time ago. That was a very long time ago.
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"Shinya, hurry up or I'm not going."
"Come on, I can't find my wallet. Help me look for it Takuya."
Takuya plopped on the coach, "Find it in the next minute or I refuse to go." He smiled as he heard his brother cursing at him from the bedroom. The words "excuse not to take me" stood out in his head, mostly because they were true.
"Found it!"
"Arghhh." Takuya sighed as his brother entered the room. "Remind me again why I'm going."
"Oh, it's a surprise." Shinya wore a sadistic grim.
"Yay, I love surprises." He responded sarcastically.
"Don't worry you'll like this one."
The brothers walked out of the apartment building, Shinya leading the way. After hoping on the tram for a short way, they walked about a mile before Shinya announced they were here.
"Here, as in where? This is just a neighborhood. You could have at least taken me to a soccer field, or someplace with food." Takuya complained.
"Stop yapping, you'll love this." Shinya walked up to one of the houses and knocked on the door. Footsteps were heard inside and soon enough the door opened. "Surprise!"
Takuya stared in shock. "JP is that you?"
"In the flesh."
Takuya stepped up and gave the older boy a hug. "Good to see you, man."
"I met him at the middle school the other day and wondered why you stopped hanging out, so I thought that I'd get you guys to meet." Shinya boasted.
"Thanks, Shinya." Takuya added while messing up his hair.
"Hey—"
"Well, come on in so we can talk." JP offered. They all walked in and sat down on the roomy couches. "Well you look good."
"So, do you." It was true, Takuya thought. JP had lost most of his baby fat; while still large it was more of an intense muscular build. A great football player he thought. "I see you've abandoned the jumper."
"I've evolved into a jeans and T-shirt man. And you? Abandoned the goggles?"
"Funny story, the strap snapped shortly after the last time we were all together." JP let out a few deep laughs.
"You always did have a big head, I'm surprised they lasted that long."
"I'll try not to take offense to that." Takuya responded coldly as JP and now Shinya continued to laugh.
After they had calmed down, the two, well technically three, of them continued talking until it had gotten very late.
"It was good seeing you again." JP said while waving them off.
"You, too, big man. Give me a call some time and we'll do it again."
"Definitely."
As JP returned to his house Takuya grabbed a hold of Shinya and gave him a nuggie, "You're winning points on that one, bro. I'm thinking ice cream before going home."
"Really?" Shinya asked skeptically as his head was released.
"Certainly."
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"Lobo Kendo!" The luminescent sword glowed with a dying blue sheen.
"Are you really that weak, that you can't even conjure up that small amount of power?" A little girl's high pitched voice rang out. "I thought you would be the most fun when playing my games, but I guess I was wrong."
Loboman sword's light intensified and he moved in for attack. "Lobo kendo!" The little girl dodged it easily doing cartwheels and back flips that looked unnecessary.
"That's wasn't very nice, now was it?" She scolded in her sickening sweet voice, twirling one of her brunette ringlets with her finger. "But at least you've made this more interesting."
Loboman was breathing hard, and the girl was too far away and too fast for him to hit in his condition.
"You're not finished already are you? O'well. Pink icing wrap!" Pink icing shot from her hands, expanding as it grew near to him until finally it hit and covered everything but his head. The icing hardened on contact leaving him completely immobile. A thump sounded as his body hit the ground. Data engulfed him for a second, when gone it revealed 17 year old Koji Minamoto lying on his side in a bed of dried frosting pieces barely conscious.
The girl approached. Her frilly pink skirt and white knee high socks were all that he could see from his squinted eyes. Then, her face appeared right in front of his.
"Eight days, 13 hours, 2 minutes, and 45 seconds. You've lasted much longer than anyone else. But, I don't get it. Why didn't you call your friends? If you had mommy would have let you go? But, now you've had to suffer by yourself. I don't get it, I don't get you. Stupid humans. I want mommy." The girl knelt on her knees and cried, "Mommy!"
If Koji could have managed he would have clung to his ears in pain. The screech must have alerted anyone within 5 miles. Once the scream stopped and he heard footsteps of someone arriving.
"Yes, Lollymon?"
"Mommy, I don't—"
"Lollymon we've talked about this, in public you are not to call me mommy."
"Sorry. Phreniamon, I don't understand this boy."
Because of Lollymon's kneeled body Koji wasn't able to see the 'mommy' of this girl, but just from the voice she sounded like a strict digimon with a love of everything wicked.
"It's complicated. Humans have certain emotions and loyalties that must be broken before they follow orders." Koji felt a finger slide down his neck and knew that Phreniamon was behind him just out of sight. As she spoke again he felt the chill from her mouth. "But they will be broken."
"Like hell." Koji whispered with ice in his voice. He felt a great force smacked him across the head and he grew farther from consciousness.
"He has a bad mouth, mommy, but he's sooooo cute." Lollymon cooed her voice making the sound of a five year olds.
"Lollymon, what did I tell you!" Phreniamon snapped at the child.
"Sorry, Phreniamon"
"He's the only one," Phreniamon continued looking past the misuse of her name, "that knows how to cross from the human world to the digital world, so I'm sending him back to collect the others."
"Phreniamon, can I say goodbye first."
"Do as you like."
"Thank you. Goodbye warrior of light." As Koji's eyes slipped shut he felt the presence of something cool on his lips.
"That's enough Lollymon. He's leaving now."
Koji felt the something remove itself from him as his body began to tingle before being thrown into a whirlwind.
"Goodbye by darling Light. I'll be waiting for another kiss when you return."
Koji held onto his last piece of consciousness as long as he could. No, not my friends. They can't go to the digital world or else they will—
He slept.
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