Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, durr.

Digimon is a franchise I grew up with and despite having never written for it prior to this I hope to do this franchise the justice it deserves; all I ask is that you settle down and enjoy, for the road ahead is a long one and there is much to be done.

Degrees of Succession

I

You don't know the shape I'm in
This isn't the real me
Know the shape I'm in
Living half asleep
Just live with the pain
I've got a job to do
I'd never make it without you

The Shape I'm In - I Am The Avalanche

July Seventeenth

Takato Matsuki

The cries of car horns sang out together, their rackety symphony the same awful tune as every other morning whilst people slowly went insane waiting for someone to move amidst the rush-hour traffic. It was still far too early and everyone was running low on patience, they were so wrapped up in their own lives as they attempted to navigate the stagnating chaos that one lone teenager sprinting down the street in a mad dash hardly seemed all that special to anyone who bothered to spare him a glance.

As he tore down the street like a wanted man in a futile attempt to make it to school on time, Takato Matsuki couldn't help but start to panic as he weaved his way between the jostling crowd with well practised ease; Miss Asaji is going to dump me in detention for the rest of the week! The thought spurred him on, twisting and turning to avoid colliding with the endless mass of people with his shoulder bag rocking back and forth against his lower back as he pushed himself to go faster still - he really didn't need another detention for tardiness.

A few people cried out as he nearly crashed into them, clearly annoyed; "Shomry!" Takato tried shouting over his shoulder, but his apology was muffled by his breakfast, a pastry he'd pinched on his way out of the bakery's back-door, but the man who he had bounced off of just looked at him in disapproval before shaking his mop of black hair in disbelief. Trying his best to to wave an apology instead the young man skidded around another corner, barely staying upright, wincing as the stitch in his side made itself known.

"Awwww… nuts!" Takato groaned to himself, arms flailing in the air as he caught his balance, taking off again with renewed vigour. Though in his rush he failed to catch a few of the questioning looks he got, forgetting he must have looked a little odd talking to himself in broad daylight as he weaved his way down the street.

The dark, mandatory uniform jacket that all the boys had to wear wasn't exactly making things any easier on him; helping him to work up a sweat under the glare of the summer sun. Doing his best the runaway student undid the first few buttons hoping it would let him cool off a little, knowing his luck it wouldn't help much. Under his black jacket was the standard, long-sleeved, button-up shirt, still half open and creased in his rush to get out the door with a baggy blue t-shirt whilst the black slacks he had to wear looked a complete mess (seeing as Takato was at that awkward point were everything was either too short or too long in the leg and nothing seemed to fit him properly), the ends a shredded mess of loose thread and fabric. His black, red and white high-top converse trainers hammering off the pavement.

This has to be a new record for me, Takato thought as he cruised around another corner he couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of relief when he spotted Shinjuku Central High School just up the street, located on the other side of the road. Almost there… he though with relief, panting as he ran a hand through his mop of brown hair, which was (as per usual) a complete mess; half a dozen strands falling down over the chequered white-and-black head band he wore to hang in front of his ruby eyes with the rest flying out in every possible directions.

The grounds of Shinjuku Central High School blurred past him when he finally made it past the school gate just before the janitor could lock it, jumping up a set of small steps before finding another in his path. If he had had time, he might have stopped to admire the grounds, not to mention the cherry blossom trees stationed near the picnic benches on the grass made for a great places to take shelter from the sun. Instead he shouted a thanks back to the janitor, who in turn wished him luck with Miss Asaji as he dashed up the last set of steps to the main entrance, taking the white stone steps three at a time before wrenching the front doors open and skidding across the wooden floor of the entrance hall.

His trainers squeaked horribly against the freshly polished floor and Takato almost lost his balance in surprise; the floor must've just been waxed. Thankfully he was able to avoid falling on his face, he'd done it before and had no desire for a repeat performance and the exhausted eleventh grader ground to a halt right in front of his locker with surprising accuracy. Tearing it open as soon as he entered the rushed combination, swapping out the books he would need before lunch for the ones he wouldn't. It paid to have a locker in line with the door, he thought, taking a moment to catch his breath before wolfing down the last of his pastry in a manner that would make Guilmon proud.

Thanking the universe for cutting him a break, he slipped off his trainers and placed them in his locker before grabbing his uwabaki and slamming his locker shut. Jumping on the spot for a moment, he tried to slip on the soft white slippers one at a time before eventually taking off in the direction of the stairs at the end of the corridor, having succeeded in getting the shoes on without landing on his face.

Takato made the stairs in good time seeing as his classroom was on the second floor before flying down the last stretch to the other end of the corridor, where room two-three awaited him. But to his great dismay someone stood outside waiting for him. Throwing on the breaks as fast he could, he was lucky to not crash straight into the displeased form of Miss Nami Asaji. Though he had thought her gone forever when he left elementary and escaped into middle school, she had returned with a frightening vengeance upon his entry into high school.

"Why, good morning, Takato," Miss Asaji said in that false calm voice she always used when annoyed and Takato forced a chuckle, rubbing at the back of his like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Please do tell; what was it this time?"

Takato did make to answer, opening his mouth, but for once his brain was on point and he caught himself - thinking better off it before he could make the hole he stood in any deeper. In the end he settled for looking at an interesting spot on the floor, resigning himself to whatever fate Miss Asaji had for him. Detention, he knew it was coming, and on the week before summer vacation, too. My luck blows...

"I think you can wait out here while I try to decided what to do with you," again Takato nodded, shoulders slumping, he really should've known. Sighing, he positioned himself against the wall by the door, so that Miss Asaji would still be able to see him from inside of the classroom and prepared for the long stand that was ahead of him.

Well, Takato thought, sourly, today is off to a great start...

Mundane wasn't the right word, Takato told himself, tapping the end of his pen against his desk. Boring didn't seem like the right word either he decided as he listened to Mr Morimoto, an elderly man who had a strained, croaking voice that went well with his rubbery skin and watery eyes, all of which made him look like a mutated toad, drone on and on for what seemed like forever.

He could hear the dim tick-tick-tock of the clock hands echoing from the front of the class as they dragged themselves around the clock face as Takato's mind did what it did best - wander. It was something he'd noticed over the years: the last fifteen minutes before the end of the day always dragged on, taunting him, knowing well and good all he wanted was for class to end. He supposed that Mr Morimoto being one of those teachers who could open his mouth and find his entire class asleep in front of him wasn't helping the situation.

Takato just resigned himself to his fate, chin resting in the palm of one hand with his head lolling off to the side, eyelids dipping and a yawn stuck in the back of his throat. He'd lost interest in the lesson as soon as it began; instead he'd spent his time staring out the window by his desk.

The young brunette was vaguely aware that Mr Morimoto was drawling on about a report he wanted them to write over the summer describing in English an important event in their life and how it had changed them as a person with the stipulation they make the chosen instance sound as interesting as possible. So far Takato had worked his way down a laundry-list of words that summed up his life whilst trying to conjure an event he could write about. Nothing he could think of really seemed to fit the criteria. Sure, as the son of bakers he met all sorts of people when he helped his parents out and working in the bakery was fun, but it was hardly life altering.

The only thing Takato could think of that had ever happened to him which was even remotely interesting, that had helped him to grow as a person, was something he was forbidden to talk about by the government as it was classified top secret. His time as a Digimon Tamer was unknown to anyone but those who had lived it with him during those precious few months that had changed him forever.

It was now rather depressing when he looked back on it all.

Nobody but a lucky few knew the truths of the ups and downs, struggles and sacrifices that he and his friends had made in order to protect one another, the city and Digital World from those that had sought to do them harm.

The reward they'd gotten for all the hard work they'd put in? They'd lost their Digimon back to the Digital World after which they'd all been given a pat on the back and a non-disclosure agreement shoved into their hands: the government's rather unsubtle way of telling them to keep their mouths shut. In the end the government had spun tall tales for the population at large in an attempt to explain everything that had taken place. The existence of Digimon had been denied and the truth swept under the rug and people had accepted it without even batting an eye; the world just wasn't ready for Digimon according to the stiffs in suits.

Guilmon… Takato thought with a smile tugging at his lips, memories of his Digimon partner happily stuffing his maw with mountains of bread coming to mind. It'd be five years on November ninth since he last saw the childish red dinosaur, five years since he had been a careless twelve year old boy who was living out his dream. Five years since he'd made a promise he now knew was impossible to keep.

He and Guilmon would never play together again though not for a lack of trying. No sooner had Shinjuku pulled itself back together had Hypnos and the Monster Makers gotten to work trying to find a way to bring the Digimon back after Takato had stumbled across the portal in Guilmon's old shed and though it had only lasted a handful of hours it had given them all hope.

Hope that had quickly flickered and died as reality came crashing down on top of them.

According to tests and assessments done by Hypnos on orders from the cabinet, the damage done to the barriers between worlds had somehow been repaired in the aftermath of the D-Reaper's attack and the higher ups in the government had decided that was how they would stay. Enough of the cabinet had come to believe that the problem with the Digimon and D-Reaper had been caused by Hypnos in the first place, or at least allowed to come to pass because of the damage done to the barriers between worlds by Hypnos. They were shut down before they could do it a second time.

Supposedly, anyway. The Hypnos Foundation was terminated just months after the defeat of the D-Reaper and the Monster Makers once again all went their separate ways.

Prevention was better than cure, or so said the stuffy government officials until they were blue in the face when Yamaki, the former head of Hypnos had called the Tamers in to explain the situation to them personally. And, just like that, Hypnos was gone and with it went their last chance the of getting their Digimon back after Takato's portal ended up a bust.

It hadn't taken long at all after the news for the Tamers themselves to fall apart. It hadn't really occurred to Takato that without the Digimon to keep them together that the group would fracture until it happened right in front of him. Without the Digimon they'd lost the very thing that had given them purpose and without their partners they themselves were lost and confused and in an attempt to find their way again they'd all stumbled off in different directions from each other.

They'd all slowly grown apart as they proceed to grow up and move on with their lives.

His mother had said it was only natural, that was just how life went sometimes, that he honestly couldn't expect them all to stay friends forever. But he'd refused to accept that: people didn't go through what he and the other Tamers had only to drift apart over time. They couldn't, could they...? In the end he had waged a losing battle against life itself; there were just some things he couldn't stop no matter hard he tried. People moved on and changed, that was just an inevitable fact.

That was how the real world worked.

Jenrya's entire family had moved to Kyoto after his father had gotten a job there shortly after Hypnos' termination; despite strenuous debate and protest from the rest of the Wong family. Jen's father just wouldn't hear any of it, claiming that what he was being asked to be apart of in Kyoto was of the utmost importance. The pair of them had originally made an effort to stay in touch via email but it hadn't lasted very long, Takato wasn't sure when it happened, but after a while both he and Jen had just stopped talking; he didn't know if his old friend was even still living in Kyoto.

To the surprise of no one Ryo Akiyama disappeared off of the face of the earth after the D-Reaper had been defeated. Whilst Takato had never really known him to begin with, he still thought of the older Tamer as a friend and his absence had been felt throughout the group even if he had only been with them briefly. Takato still had hope that wherever Ryo was the Legendary Tamer was well.

Juri was an interesting case; despite her wishes to stay with what remained of the Tamers and her other friends, on request from her father, Juri had gone to a different middle school from everyone else, and eventually a different high school so as to be closer to home. Takato still kept in touch with her, but admittedly they weren't nearly as close as they had been even if they still saw one another on the odd occasion she was passing through Shinjuku and stopped by his family's bakery.

The one that hit the hardest was how things had ended with Rika. Or rather how they had blown up. Somewhere along the line during their adventures they'd become close and over time she'd become his best friend. The copper haired girl was the one he'd counted on above all others, trusted without question, the one who would have his back no matter what happened. Or so he'd thought until he'd screwed up royally.

But despite all the friends he'd lost over the years, both real and digital, he wasn't alone.

He still had Kazu and Kenta, the pair of them having ridden out the years with him; how they'd managed it Takato would never understand.

Even now Kazu was sitting in front of him, mindlessly doodling in his textbook so as to pass the time. If someone had told his twelve year old self that one day Kazu would become his best friend he would've said they were crazy. Kenta had always been the one he had preferred to hang out with when they were younger but over the years the bespectacled boy had started to apply himself and break away from Kazu's shrinking influence which had resulted in some rather nasty fights between the pair and Takato had somehow become the middle man during it all.

When Takato found himself hanging out with just Kazu he was surprised to find out that the other boy could be rather laid back and generally fun to be around when he wasn't acting the fool in attempt to impress everyone else with his antics. They had found things besides Kenta and Digimon to bond over and things had snowballed from there. The pair of them had become all but inseparable in and out of school.

Meanwhile Takato wondered if Kenta now felt how he had once upon a time, an outsider among his own supposed friends. The thought had once made him feel guilty that he might be alienating the other boy, but Kenta had found himself other friends to spend time with at school and only ever wanted to hang out with Takato when he knew Kazu wouldn't be around.

A part of him had grown to be content with things as they were but Takato couldn't help but hope for more. He wanted all his old friends back again, he wanted Guilmon to come back and for them to have new adventures as Tamer and Partner – to laugh and play together again like the old days. He wanted to matter, to feel that what he did meant something. That his contribution was important – that he'd lived and not just existed.

He didn't want to be average. He didn't want to keep carrying his regrets around with him everywhere he went.

Why am I thinking about this…? It was all in the past, nothing could change what had happened and to mope over what was and could've been was simply a waste of time, he knew that. Still, sometimes he just couldn't help himself. His mind always had a nasty habit of wondering. It was all because of that stupid assignment for Morimoto,

Sighing, Takato turned his ruby eyes away from the board were Morimoto was writing something in his shaky scrawl to chance another glance out of the window.

The reflection that stared back at him was that of a young man with still maturing features and mossy brown hair that was spiky and unkempt, tickling at the at the base of his neck. His trademark yellow and blue goggles where long gone and he still thought he didn't look right without them. He wasn't a Tamer any more so he had no right to wear the goggles, having buried them in a box at home alongside his old Digimon cards and D-arc; which had been dead ever since the portal in Guilmon's shed had vanished. He'd tried to fill the void his goggles had left with a chequered headband but it wasn't the same. Not even close.

But just as that thought crossed his mind, he almost went flailing out of his seat as the piercing shriek of the school bell rang throughout the school. The noise was met with a silent chorus of cheers as almost every student in Takato's class moved as one, a single purpose uniting them as they all scrambled of their bags – getting home or heading to whatever after school activity they had.

Sighing in relief, Takato copied everyone else and grabbed his bag off the floor whilst hurriedly stuffing his books into it. Sweet freedom at long last, pity he would be back again tomorrow - at least summer vacation was only days away. Shaking his head the former Tamer grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair, haphazardly pulled it on over his shirt. Lifting the strap of his bag over his head, he let it drop onto his shoulder and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants he headed for the door were Hirokazu Shiota waited for him.

"Today is good, y'know?" Kazu joked as he leaned against the wall by the door. The other teen was tall, the tallest in their class in fact with a head of mahogany hair he kept stuffed under a plain white beanie, dark eyes twinkling. He too was otherwise dressed in the mandatory boy's school uniform, though his school jacket was ruffled, and the collar of his white shirt upturned and the top few buttons left undone, partially showing off the logo on the t-shirt he wore bellow.

"Sorry," Takato replied, rubbing at the back of his neck with a slight chuckle to which Kazu rolled his eyes.

"So what's the plan? Your practice got cancelled, right?" Kazu asked and Takato shrugged, he suspected his parents might want his help in bakery as the basketball team's practice had been cancelled when coach Takashi called in sick that morning. Admittedly whilst he wasn't the greatest basketball player the school had ever seen he was still good enough to make the team.

Kazu on the other hand ran as a member of the track team – something he'd opted to join because he thought just having to run wasn't all that a hard of a task for a sports club - given the schools healthy living policy required them to join in some sort of sports or after school club. It turned out to Kazu's dismay that he actually had to put in much more work in than he'd expected, something he never failed to complain about given his lazy disposition.

"Probably spend some time working in the bakery," Takato didn't mind the idea of having to go home and help out in the bakery, he'd been looking forward to practice but as long as his mother didn't follow up on her threat to make him clean his room he didn't mind. The red-eyed boy would do anything his mother wanted, anything but clean his room. He'd be there for days trying to organise the mess. Even Morimoto's assignment was a more appealing alternative. "You?"

"Work," Kazu grumbled, there was no pleasing him. If he wasn't complaining about how exhausting track was then it was how boring work was.

"Dude you work at the arcade, don't sound so excited," Takato joked, recalling a time when Kazu had been thrilled at the idea of getting a chance to work at the large arcade at Shinjuku's largest shopping centre. It seemed as though the reality hadn't lived up to his friend's expectations.

"Yeah, wandering around the arcade making sure no one is misbehaving and never actually getting to play anything, real fun." So began another one of Kazu's rants about never getting to do the fun stuff, that he only ever got stuck doing the boring tasks that took way more effort than they were worth. With practised ease, Takato just nodded in time, tuning the beanie wearing teen out having heard it all a hundred time before.

Okay, so he wouldn't change his friend for the world, Takato thought as he and Kazu reached the school's front doors but sometimes he wished he came with a mute button. Shaking his head, the former Tamers parted ways at the gates to the school when they finally reached them, heading in opposite directions, giving each a half-hearted good-bye and promise to talk later.

With his sights set on home, Takato headed off, cursing his lack of lack of a jacket as sudden winds came from nowhere, almost knocking him off balance as the sky was overrun by a heard of grey clouds. Just another reason to wish practice hadn't been cancelled, he thought as he ran head first into the oncoming wind in hopes of getting home before the rain fell from above.

His luck sucked, Takato decided as he dropped into the old wheelie chair in the middle of his room, slumping down as he spun from side-to-side. He'd run home, making good time and avoiding the rain, only for the clouds to disperse as he reached his families bakery. Of course his mother had decided that as he no longer had practice there was nothing to stop him from finally cleaning his room seeing as the bakery was almost abandoned.

Running a hand through his hair, he chanced a glance over his shoulder out of his bedroom window; the sun had returned in full force, having scared away the clouds though the wind was still going strong. Somewhere out there someone was laughing at him, he knew it. Giving into the inevitable he decided he might as well just get it over with. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll finish, Takato thought to himself with a sigh, recalling his father's favourite saying when it came to getting him to do something he really didn't want to do.

Pushing off of the armrests of his chair he figured he might as well change out of his uniform before starting. Pulling off his shirt and throwing it back onto his wheelie chair as headed for his closet in hopes of finding something clean. He got half way through pulling on his worn, baggy black jeans, a fresh pale blue t-shirt still only half way on when an ear splitting screech that cut the silence so suddenly Takato went flailing to the floor in a mad attempt to cover his ears, landing with loud thud and a long drawn out groan.

"Nuts," Takato cursed in a murmur, his head finally popping out of his t-shirt as the screech trailed off into a dull buzzing noise. Rolling onto his side before quickly clambering to his feet, hoisting his jeans back up and securing them around his waist with his belt before dusting himself off. "The heck was that anyway?" he wondered aloud, rubbing at the back of his where it kissed the floor.

"Takato, I sent you up there to clean your room, not make a bigger mess," his mother's voice rang out from down in the bakery, and he instinctively cringed as the mental image of his mother reprimanding him appeared in his head. Some things never changed and even at seventeen, Takato knew that that the image of his mother reprimanding him would forever haunt him when he got into trouble.

"Sorry, mom," Takato called back, "I just dropped something I was moving, I swear I'm cleaning!" he decided to take her silence as her acceptance of his answer, so he set about trying to find the source of the noise.

Grabbing his favourite sleeveless white hoodie, the zip-up one with the slight collar, of the end of his bed, he knelt down in front of his desk, trying figure out which draw the buzzing was coming from. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be the bottom one and the brunette pulled it open without much thought, only to find an old lunch box, some used note pads and a bunch of damaged deck boxes alongside a lot of dust. He blinked, realising the buzzing was coming from inside the old launch box - but there wasn't anything in there except old Digimon cards and his goggles.

Apart form his D-Arc.

Snatching the box up Takato wasted no time in emptying the contents all over his cluttered bedroom floor. It was stupid, he knew, but he couldn't help the excitement from building inside of him as soon as he worked out what the source of the noise from earlier was. He almost punched the air when he saw he was right; sitting on a pile of his old Digimon cards and goggles was his D-Arc, screen full of static and more active than it had been in years.

But why now...? Why is it suddenly working after so long? Unless... Guilmon was coming back.

He couldn't think of any other reason why it would just start working again after so many years of inactivity. Guilmon...! Reaching out, he tried to pick his D-Arc up, but all he got for his trouble was a nasty shock, reeling back he collided with his desk, the draw handles digging into his back as things that had been teetering on the edge went tumbling to the floor with a crash.

"I really gotta stop doing that..." Takato groaned, trying his nurse his sore back.

"Takato!"

"Sorry, mom," Kazu was right, his mother did have super hearing, "I tripped!" Hoping the answer would satisfy her, Takato looked back towards his D-Arc, engulfed in white light and beeping wildly. "I hope it's supposed to be doing that," Takato murmured, the last thing he needed was for it to break right after it started working again. Kneeling over the device which seemed to be changing shape before his very eyes he remembered how his card reader had once done the exact same thing all those years ago.

In the end the entire transformation had taken all of a few seconds and where Takato's D-Arc had once been sat the most underwhelming thing he'd ever seen.

His Digivice had become some strange hybrid between a wrist watch and a small touch phone: a white rectangle with a large screen, with the left side expanded outwards into a curved shape so there was room for a few buttons that were laid out akin to his old D-Arc with a few extras and an adjustable red Velcro strap so he could wear it on his wrist. Tentatively, he picked it up so he could have a closer look. The device still had a thin slot of slashing cards, though it was on the front for some reason and instead the flat side had a slot of a stylus and what looked liked ports for inserting some kind of external chip or plug-in. The underside had the stylised D symbol that the Blue Cards used to have.

"Who designed this thing?" Takato asked no one, but quickly flipped the thing right way up when the Digivice beeped again, the words: Upgrade Complete on the screen. Then with another beep, the thing began projecting a image much like his D-Arc used to do, showing the one thing he'd hoped more than anything to see. A profile on Guilmon, and underneath the red saurian's image was another message that read: Digimon Partner. Status: re-materialization imminent.

The update quickly flickered out of existence before the compass feature from the D-arc came to life in its place, though it was far more advance than Takato remembered. There was a detailed map of Tokyo in its entirety and his location was marked with a flashing dot, with a blue arrow above pointing in the direction he needed go and he could use buttons on the left side to zoom in and out and make the map as large as he wanted, even making it to scale.

This is it, he thought, brushing aside some of the cards that lay atop his goggles so he could pick them up. Guilmon's finally coming back... he looked back and forth between the dusty old goggles in his hand and his bedroom door.

What was he supposed to do in this situation?

How would his parents respond? He knew his parents would never refuse him keeping Guilmon but what about his life as a Tamer? Would they approve, and let him continue were he'd left of? No, of course not. The would never allow it despite knowing it was something he had to do.

It was a conversation they'd all had not long after the D-Reaper's defeat. Although his father had championed his decision to go to the Digital World, saying Takato was growing up and needed to make his own choices, both he and his mother had agreed that the D-Reaper was the end of it. They had stated that if Guilmon ever returned he was more than welcome in their home but they had explicitly forbidden him from resuming his life as a Tamer, not wanting to see their son risk his life again. He'd done his part, it was time for someone else to take over the good fight his father had said with foreign finality.

Takato decided there was only one path he could take. Hurriedly pulling on his new Digivice, he strapped it around his left wrist after taking off his watch before grabbing one of the old deck boxes from his desk drawer. Picking up an assortment of random cards and stuffing them into an old deck box that he attached to his belt. Pulling his hoodie on, he pushed the sleeves of t-shirt up to his elbow and headed for his bedroom window.

It took him a moment but he stopped, realising something was still missing. Looking back over his shoulder, he spotted his old goggles, which in his rush he'd placed on his desk. Without even thinking twice about it, he snatched them off the desk and put them back on over his headband: back where they belonged. He hadn't felt so complete in a long time and he was ready for anything either world could throw at him.

For once he was in luck, his father's delivery van was parked just bellow his window. His parents would most likely murder him for this later, or rather his mother would, but he could worry about that when the time came. Grabbing his phone off of his desk and slipping it into his back pocket he slipped out of his window and onto the ledge before shutting the window behind him, hoping no one saw him.

This is monumentally stupid, y'know that right? A voice in the back of his mind said, then again even Takato didn't need a voice in his head to tell him how stupid this was but he was desperate, and desperate people did do stupid things, that much was proven fact when it came to the human race.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped off the ledge and dropped down onto the roof of his father's delivery van.

It wasn't a large fall by any stretch of imagination but boy-how did it make one hell of a bang when he landed. Wincing, he rolled off of the roof as quickly as he could, looking back and forth madly to try and see if anyone had spotted him in his escape. No one had. Sighing in relief, Takato almost collapsed against the side of the van facing away from the bakery, heart in his throat. His mother was defiantly going to murder him. Still, he hadn't been caught yet, which was strange in and of itself. My luck is never this good, what's going?

"And just where do you think you're going, huh?" Why'd he ask again?

Leaning out around the open doors at the back of the van was a young woman in her early-to-mid twenties. Her usually wavy caramel hair was pulled up into a messy bun at the back of her head, honey eyes glittered with mischief as she grinned at him, clearly giddy about the fact that Takato was up to something he clearly shouldn't be. Only half a head shorter than Takato she was actually much taller than the average woman her age and though she was covered in dough and dressed in a baggy work sweater and old jeans that weren't faltering in the least she he was still, admittedly, very beautiful young woman.

Bubbly and full of good will, Takato wouldn't deny the young woman was a lot of fun under normal circumstances, when she wasn't teasing him relentlessly. She was best friends with his eldest cousin and he suspected perhaps a little more than friends with his basketball coach, if how outrageously they flirted whenever he stopped by the bakery to visit her was anything to go by. Originally his father had only agreed to let her help out in the bakery as work experience because his cousin had such wonderful things to say about her friend (the begging might have helped) and she needed a way to put herself through culinary school. Having not long graduated she was still at the bakery for the time being, until a better opportunity arose. Though, when the time finally did come for her to move on, he wasn't sure his parents would be willing to let her go easily.

"Eh, hey!" Takato tried weakly, adding a wave and putting on his best 'I'm totally innocent' smile.

"Of all people, Takato, I would've never expected this from you," she was playing with him, but still he couldn't help but panic, every moment he stood talking to her was another that his mother could come outside to check on them and catch him. It must've been all over his face because his parent's assistant stepped out fully from behind the van, folding her arms over her chest. "Takato, just what are you doing?"

"Listen, please, I need to go," Takato said, begging with her, "I know this must look bad, but this is important, I swear. As soon as I finish doing what I need to do I'll come straight back and accept whatever punishment my parents have for me. Please, I need to do this."

For one long minute there was only silence between them as they stared back at one another, his father's apprentice giving him a long, appraising look as she tried to measure the sincerity of his words. But in the end, she gave a small nod after taking a long glance at the new Digivice around Takato's left wrist, a flash of recognition flashing across her face.

"I'll give you five minutes, then I'll tip of you mother to the fact you're gone," she agreed, turning away before adding over her shoulder; "Hope it goes well, Takato." She smiled at him, offering him a victory-V as a show of support.

"Thanks, I owe you one, Mimi!" Takato called, pushing off the van and dashing off down the street in the direction the compass was pointing him, and in the distance he could hear his father's apprentice shout back: "Damn right you do!" All he could do was smile as he tore around the corner at the end of the street.

I'm coming Guilmon...

Of all places... Takato thought as he ran through Shinjuku Central Park, turning up another foot path and running like his life depended on it. He wasn't paying much attention to the map as he'd already worked out where Guilmon was going to Biomerge on his own as seeing which way the arrow was leading him.

After running for what felt like forever, he skidded to a halt, a large grin on his face. He couldn't help but find it funny that of all the places in the world for Guilmon to return it would be the old children's play park where Takato had first found the Blue Card that had started it all. The place hadn't changed at all, well, everything was a little on the used side and there was the odd bit of graffiti on the old dinosaur, the clock now broken but otherwise nothing had changed.

A swift crack made Takato look up, the dark grey clouds had returned in force to dwell over head and his phone was going wild in his back pocket - his mother most likely. The loud rumble of thunder split the air before a flash of lightning followed and the goggle-head had to throw his arms up in front of his face as pink mist exploded out from the dinosaur clock. Grateful he remembered everything from his time as a Tamer so thoroughly, he pulled his goggles down over his eyes as the mist swam out in every direction and carried on into the centre of the old park.

This was it.

It took a minute or two but Takato was finally able to spot something red in the mist as things cleared up a little. The old dinosaur clock had been melted, a smoking waste left in its place as Takato heard something padding around nearby as his Digivice gave another beep. Looking down to see what was going on, the Tamer found that Guilmon's profile was once again being projected though under it was a loading bar, and the image of the old Guilmon shattered into dozens of tiny pixels, replaced by two words: updating profile.

Takato never had much time to question the whole as a deep growl echoed out of the mist and he spun around to find a few feet in front of him was Guilmon. Except it wasn't Guilmon, at least not the one he remembered.

This new Guilmon was somehow slimier than the old one, lithe and built for speed rather than bulky and muscular like originally designed, taller too (Takato guessed the saurian would match him in height it he stood upright properly). His claws also seemed less paw-like and more like those of an actual velociraptor, predators claws, his feet had also changed to match, even gaining the signature curve claw toe. His body marking had also been altered, and had become more pronounced like his battle-like ears. But out of all the changes that shocked Takato, it was Guilmon's golden eyes, cold and bestial, narrowed in anger: feral.

"Guilmon, it's me; it's Takato." Gulping, the goggle-headed Tamer peddled backwards when Guilmon snarled at him, not hint of recognition present, flames frothing at the mouth. Awww... nuts! Not this again! He knew what was about to happen all to well.

"Pyro Sphere!"

A/N: I hadn't planned for this chapter to be a weird parallel of the first episode of Tamers, that's just what it developed into as I worked on it and going forward I thought it worked so why not? Homages and mythology gags ho!

Things are more jaded than is the norm as I wanted to approach the return of the Digimon from a different angle. Something I loved about Tamers was how it took the core trio time to come together as a team and I've admittedly hit the reset button which will result in a similar period learning to work together again through the first few chapters as the Tamers adjust to the changes they've all gone through over the years whilst working through lots of shiny new baggage.

As far as names go, I'll be using what I like best across the board; some Digimon and human characters will use their Japanese names whilst others will use their English and in a few cases I've used both: one example is I've gone with Jenrya Wong for Henry, simply because Jenrya sounds better given he's half Chinese but I like Wong better than Lee.

Finally I have altered/updated the design of a few Digimon. Some will get in story explanations whilst others won't, I hope this isn't a big issue seeing as Digimon have received canonical visual updates over the years but primarily it's because I want to give the Digimon a feeling of development and individuality, that every Digimon can develop unique quirks in their appearance and letting them grow with the Tamers in more ways.

Now that the needlessly long author note is done I say: until next chapter, don't forget to be awesome, people. Peace out.