Note to all readers: Being a severe Digimon addict, fanatic,
obsessor, and zealot, I have finally decided to write my own fanfiction
taking place immediately after the finale of Season 3. Why? I hate
cliffhangers. Really, really, REALLY hate 'em. The story will include all
of your favorites from Season 3 - Takato, Ruki, Lee, Ryo, Kenta, Hirokazu,
Shuichon, Juri, and more, as well as a new Tamer. In addition, there will
be new as well as old digimon from the series - in fact, email me at
with your suggestions and requests and I'll see what I
can do to fit them in. After all, this fanfic is to see all of our Digimon
dreams come true (sort of, anyway).
Oh, and, btw: This is rated PG-13. I wanted to make it a little more mature oriented, so you might see language, suggestive themes, and even death in the story. Nothing that will ruin it, of course - just some added flavor.
I'm going to go at this one with two main storytelling styles: Narrative and Third-Person. If you don't know what that means, go look it up in your damned grammar book or use your imagination.
Episode 1: Better To Have Loved and Lost...?
Three years have passed since the last episode of Season 3. Takato, 16, is now working part-time at his parent's bakery. Ruki, 16, is still staying with her mother and grandmother. Janrya, 16, has begun to learn extensive programming skills under the tutelage of his father, the Monster Makers, and occasionally from Yamaki. Kenta and Hirokazu, 16, have changed very little - Kenta is still a troublemaker, and Kazu is still his sidekick. Juri, age fourteen, has quickly matured since losing Leomon, and has grown close to Takato. Shuichon, 9, has put aside her dolls and dress- up in favor of art and music. And Ryo? Well, Ryo.... you'll find out.
Amazing. No matter how screwy the world was before Digimon entered it, it was at least twice as bad the day they left it. For one, there was destruction. A lot of it. Cities across the world have been invaded by the D-Reaper - indeed, most of the world had been covered by the sickly purplish-pink mass of... whatever. Frankly, most of North America was trashed - Los Angelas, Manhattan, Chicago, all of the main cities had been nearly leveled; Tokyo and Kyoto were the just about the only two cities in the world that had survived without incredible destruction, and even then... To put a single word to it, the planet had been curbstomped.
And let's not forget the mental aspect of this, both to the worldwide Tamers and the rest of the population. Seeing large masses of essence- deleting goup spreading over what you used to know as forest, plains, mountains, and cities was disturbing to say the least, and yeah, shrinks had their work cut out for them. But let's peek in on our friendly Digimon Tamers - no one specific, at least, not yet - just a general overview. Digimon were partners, allies, and friends: suddenly losing them was like having your best friend die. Tears flowed freely the day Digimon left Earth, to put it conservatively. One good thing about the whole mess: at least when the world had to unite against the D-Reaper threat, wars stopped and conflicts ceased. Indeed, for a long time there would be no more bloodshed or extensive loss of life - humanity had seen enough.
Of course, that's just with Earth. The Digital World had suffered whatever Earth had times ten plus infinity. It no longer even resembled what it had when the first Digidestined set foot in it - or even what it had when the Tamers were visting. It was just alot worse now; desolate, barren wastelands; corrupted air and earth; vicious digital weather that struck anywhere and everywhere at will; and perhaps most unsettling of all, many Digimon had become predators and prey, being slain and absorbed by their own kind on a nearly-regular basis. But don't worry! Our favorite Digimon are still alive, be assured.
Now that you have the general idea of what both world's current status is, let's return to the lives we once left long ago. Panning in from the world view, lets zoom in on Japan. Woosh. All right, into Tokyo. The looks, well, like someone dropped a giant vat of viscous acid on it - thus, clean up was minimal. Skyscrapers tower into the sky, melted at the zenith like a great sword dipped into lava. Well, anyway, let's focus on a certain bakery... yes, you all know which one. The area at this time of night is pretty much deserted, but you can still see the occasional pedestrian heading home from work or a car or truck driving along the streets. There is one person heading toward the bakery, walking slowly on one side of the pavement. A teenage girl. She appears to be rather young, perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old. And there, she just entered the building.
The door chimes jingled, announcing that someone had opened the door and entered. Brown-haired Takato - yes, still wearing the goggles on top of that tangled mess - glanced up towards the entrance and smiled. "Juri! Hey, how yah doin?" He pulled off the white baker's apron to reveal a dark blue tee-shirt with a white stripe down the middle, navy cargo shorts, and sneakers, and walked around the partitioned counter to greet the newcomer, his shoes emitting squeaking sounds on the tiled floor. Juri sat down at one of the booths and sighed. She was dressed in a green long-sleeve turtleneck, blue jean shorts with the cuffs turned up, and sneakers similar to Takato's. Her brown hair was cut to waist length, partially pulled back to show her face and drawn into a ponytail. Her eyes held a haunted, lonely look in them - obviously, something troubled her, and it had been for a long, long time.
"What's wrong?" Takato took a seat at the booth and laid his head on his hands, which sat on the table. "You look like something's really bothering you." His face was somber as he studied her face and demeanor. He could take a wild guess as to what.
She glanced up at him and managed a weak smile. "Takato, it's nothing. I swear, I have to stop coming in here and bothering you all the time with my problems. I should learn to deal with them myself. It's nothing, really. I just came to see you."
"Juri, c'mon, you know you can't fool me. I've known you for a long time. What's on your mind?"
"Well..." She looked at her hands and began to inspect the nails, as if they were suddenly the most interesting things ever. "Well... it's the same thing that's been bothering me for a long time."
Takato knew instantly - Juri had been coming into the bakery nearly every day for months with the same pining look in her eyes and that haunted aura. "Leomon. You miss him." He sighed and leaned back in the booth. "Yeah, I miss Guilmon, too. Our Digimon will always be a part of us, you know, and they always will. It's something that..." He paused, looking for the right words. "It's something that makes it easier for us to bear and, well, makes us sad at the same time. We just have to go on. As hard as that may be - actually, as impossible as that may be."
She nodded, as if she understood, but deep down, she knew that somehow, she would never be able to forget or throw off her veil of grief. "It's not really the same. You lost Guilmon when all of the Digimon were sucked back into the digital world - I lost Leomon when Beelzemon... killed him."
"You still focus on that? Didn't you forgive Impmon?"
She nodded again. "Yes, I did. I don't blame him any more. The only one I really blame now is me." Tears began to trickle down one cheek. "If I had been a better Tamer... if I had used my cards right... if I had guided Leomon better or prevented him from trying to stop Beelzemon..."
Stripping the goggles from his head and slapping them down on the table, he took Juri's hands in his own and looked into her eyes, halting her stream of self-deprevating comments. "Look, Juri... You did what you knew to do, and Leomon did what he thought best. You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened, yah know? And... who knows?" He loosed her hands and shrugged, again reclining in the booth. Hesitantly, he murmured, "Maybe one day, we'll see them again."
"We've tried that, you know. That digital hole you found closed up before we could re-enter it. Mr. Lee and the rest of the Monster Makers have been trying for nearly three years to find a way to get back to the Digital World, or otherwise open up a portal to it. It's..." She was openly crying now. "It's just not possible!" Her voice sounded hopeless, but she was also grasping for straws - a possibility, anything.
Takato got up off of the booth and sat down next to her. "Aww, Juri... you're crying again. You know I can't stand it when you're sad. It makes me worse." He put an arm around her and sighed. "I don't know... maybe it's just this feeling I have. It's been getting stronger over time. I... I dunno." He put one hand in his pocket, the left one. "Do you... uh, still have your D-Power?"
She smiled, happy to change the subject, if only a little. She produced from her own pocket her small D-Power, and as she set it down on the table, Takato pulled out his and set it alongside hers. They were identical, except for the color. Hers was white, his was red. "They don't work anymore. I can still turn mine on and push a few buttons, but the readout keeps showing 'Error.' It's like... like he's gone forever." The tears were back again, this time more so.
From the back in the bakery's core - the kitchen - Takato's father poked his head out. "Oh, hey, Juri. When did you come in?"
"Just a few minutes ago, Mr. Matsuda. How are you?" She turned her head to whipe away the tears coursing down her face.
Takehiro Matsuda grinned happily. "I'm fine, Juri. Nice of you to ask." He emerged completely from the kitchen, himself and his apron covered nearly head-to-toe in floury stuff. "Hey, Takato, I hate to bother you on your break, but - and you're not gonna believe this - we just ran out of flour."
Takato did a double-take. His father was covered in flour, even tracking it in onto the tiled floor. His father wasn't usually this wasteful... "Uh... Okay. I guess I can go get another ten-pound sack at the market. If old Sauzer is still open."
"He is. I just called to reserve a sack. Thanks, son. Oh..." He walked over to the cash register and opened it, withdrawing several bills. "This should cover it. Why don't you and Juri get something to drink while you're there? My treat." He tossed the bills onto the table booth that the two were sitting at.
Takato smiled at his father. "Thanks, Dad." Retrieving the bills, he stuffed them into one of the large cargo pockets on his shorts and got up. "Need anything else?"
"Nope, that's it. No hurry, it's a nice night out." He paused, glancing at Juri's tear-sodden face for a moment, and smiled. "Feel free to take a nice walk in the park on your way." His father nodded, then vanished through into the kitchen again in a cloud of white.
Takato hmmed. "Kinda weird. I could have sworn we had a hundred pounds of flour in the back - how could we have run out so quickly?" He shrugged and glanced down at Juri, who was staring out the window into the night. "You, uh, wanna go and get those drinks like Dad suggested? Maybe take a walk in the park?"
She simply looked up at him and nodded, misty-eyed. "That would be nice." The retrieved their D-Powers, he grabbed his goggles off of the table and tugged them back on, and the two left bakery and retreated into the night.
From within the kitchen, Mr. Matsuda smiled... fiendishly. He walked farther into the house and opened the storeroom door. Inside, along with several heaping sacks of flour, lay the bound and gagged form of... Mr. Matsuda. The fake Matsuda smiled, and his eyes began to grow red as the real Matsuda stared, horrified. Even as his eyes glowed, the Digimon shifted into a different shape, this one dark and shadowy, without a true form. But the red, glowing eyes remained, and from within emanated dark laughter.
"I'm done with your form now, Matsuda. Time to go to that little rendezvous with... your son." The laugher increased in volume as the real Matsuda struggled against his bonds, furiously struggling to free himself.
The two had left the bakery some time ago, and were now walking hand- in-hand through the park. Not far away, the very top of the park stone shed where Guilmon had once been housed could be seen. The two noticed of course, unable not to, the place brought back so many memories... It was good to remember, but it filled them with sorrow, as well. Still, neither would have ever forgotten, even if they could have.
"I remember... I remember coming here with Guilmon for the first time." Takato looked into the starry sky - less city lights after the destruction meant more beautiful skies at night - and sighed. "That was after I figured out that an alley wasn't the best place for the guy." He grinned at the thought of Guilmon running around the school in a cardboard box, scaring the principal, and generally making a mess of the situation. "He was a digger, that's for sure. I wonder what'll happen when one of the park authorities finally find the shed..."
Juri smiled and looked into the sky as well. "They would probably monumentize it. After all, Guilmon was one of the ones that saved this world and the next, remember? You, Lee, Ruki, and Ryo's faced were all over the news, as well as pictures of Guilmon, Terriermon, Renamon, and Monodramon." She laid her head on his shoulder as the walked. "I know the memories hurt... but... I never want to forget. Promise me that you'll never forget either, Takato."
He smiled down at her. "I couldn't if I wanted to. You know that."
Chuckling could be heard from the darkness of the treed park. "Isn't that cute."
The two ex-Tamers jumped and glanced around them, trying to determine the source. The chuckling had quickly surrounded them, and now was no longer a single voice, but multiple ones. The shrubs on either side of the cobbled path began to rustle, and from them emerged men. Not men, really, but older boys. They looked to range from around sixteen to about nineteen, and all of them hefted some sort of bludgeon, which they waved menacingly.
One stepped forward, a skinny, white-haired punk that wore a sleeveless leather vest over bere chest and brown leather pants. "Isn't this just sooooo adorable." He said, in a mocking tone. "We have a pair of lovebirds here, boys. What should we do with the lovebirds, hmm?" His words addressed the gang, but were more centered toward Takato and Juri.
While the gang hooted and jeered, Takato stepped foreword. "What do you want with us? Who are you?"
The white-haired punk grinned maliciously. "I'm Bull. This here is my gang - the Jaggers. Fitting, eh?" Takato rolled his eyes, and Bull slapped him with a vicious backhand, sending Takato careening backwards into Juri, causing her to topple as well. "Let's have some fun with this pair, huh, boys? I got the chick - you all can have the other kid!" With that, the gang, composed of at least a half-dozen, advanced.
TBC in the next - DIGIMON!
2742 words 12371 characters no spaces 15301 characters with spaces 45 paragraphs
Oh, and, btw: This is rated PG-13. I wanted to make it a little more mature oriented, so you might see language, suggestive themes, and even death in the story. Nothing that will ruin it, of course - just some added flavor.
I'm going to go at this one with two main storytelling styles: Narrative and Third-Person. If you don't know what that means, go look it up in your damned grammar book or use your imagination.
Episode 1: Better To Have Loved and Lost...?
Three years have passed since the last episode of Season 3. Takato, 16, is now working part-time at his parent's bakery. Ruki, 16, is still staying with her mother and grandmother. Janrya, 16, has begun to learn extensive programming skills under the tutelage of his father, the Monster Makers, and occasionally from Yamaki. Kenta and Hirokazu, 16, have changed very little - Kenta is still a troublemaker, and Kazu is still his sidekick. Juri, age fourteen, has quickly matured since losing Leomon, and has grown close to Takato. Shuichon, 9, has put aside her dolls and dress- up in favor of art and music. And Ryo? Well, Ryo.... you'll find out.
Amazing. No matter how screwy the world was before Digimon entered it, it was at least twice as bad the day they left it. For one, there was destruction. A lot of it. Cities across the world have been invaded by the D-Reaper - indeed, most of the world had been covered by the sickly purplish-pink mass of... whatever. Frankly, most of North America was trashed - Los Angelas, Manhattan, Chicago, all of the main cities had been nearly leveled; Tokyo and Kyoto were the just about the only two cities in the world that had survived without incredible destruction, and even then... To put a single word to it, the planet had been curbstomped.
And let's not forget the mental aspect of this, both to the worldwide Tamers and the rest of the population. Seeing large masses of essence- deleting goup spreading over what you used to know as forest, plains, mountains, and cities was disturbing to say the least, and yeah, shrinks had their work cut out for them. But let's peek in on our friendly Digimon Tamers - no one specific, at least, not yet - just a general overview. Digimon were partners, allies, and friends: suddenly losing them was like having your best friend die. Tears flowed freely the day Digimon left Earth, to put it conservatively. One good thing about the whole mess: at least when the world had to unite against the D-Reaper threat, wars stopped and conflicts ceased. Indeed, for a long time there would be no more bloodshed or extensive loss of life - humanity had seen enough.
Of course, that's just with Earth. The Digital World had suffered whatever Earth had times ten plus infinity. It no longer even resembled what it had when the first Digidestined set foot in it - or even what it had when the Tamers were visting. It was just alot worse now; desolate, barren wastelands; corrupted air and earth; vicious digital weather that struck anywhere and everywhere at will; and perhaps most unsettling of all, many Digimon had become predators and prey, being slain and absorbed by their own kind on a nearly-regular basis. But don't worry! Our favorite Digimon are still alive, be assured.
Now that you have the general idea of what both world's current status is, let's return to the lives we once left long ago. Panning in from the world view, lets zoom in on Japan. Woosh. All right, into Tokyo. The looks, well, like someone dropped a giant vat of viscous acid on it - thus, clean up was minimal. Skyscrapers tower into the sky, melted at the zenith like a great sword dipped into lava. Well, anyway, let's focus on a certain bakery... yes, you all know which one. The area at this time of night is pretty much deserted, but you can still see the occasional pedestrian heading home from work or a car or truck driving along the streets. There is one person heading toward the bakery, walking slowly on one side of the pavement. A teenage girl. She appears to be rather young, perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old. And there, she just entered the building.
The door chimes jingled, announcing that someone had opened the door and entered. Brown-haired Takato - yes, still wearing the goggles on top of that tangled mess - glanced up towards the entrance and smiled. "Juri! Hey, how yah doin?" He pulled off the white baker's apron to reveal a dark blue tee-shirt with a white stripe down the middle, navy cargo shorts, and sneakers, and walked around the partitioned counter to greet the newcomer, his shoes emitting squeaking sounds on the tiled floor. Juri sat down at one of the booths and sighed. She was dressed in a green long-sleeve turtleneck, blue jean shorts with the cuffs turned up, and sneakers similar to Takato's. Her brown hair was cut to waist length, partially pulled back to show her face and drawn into a ponytail. Her eyes held a haunted, lonely look in them - obviously, something troubled her, and it had been for a long, long time.
"What's wrong?" Takato took a seat at the booth and laid his head on his hands, which sat on the table. "You look like something's really bothering you." His face was somber as he studied her face and demeanor. He could take a wild guess as to what.
She glanced up at him and managed a weak smile. "Takato, it's nothing. I swear, I have to stop coming in here and bothering you all the time with my problems. I should learn to deal with them myself. It's nothing, really. I just came to see you."
"Juri, c'mon, you know you can't fool me. I've known you for a long time. What's on your mind?"
"Well..." She looked at her hands and began to inspect the nails, as if they were suddenly the most interesting things ever. "Well... it's the same thing that's been bothering me for a long time."
Takato knew instantly - Juri had been coming into the bakery nearly every day for months with the same pining look in her eyes and that haunted aura. "Leomon. You miss him." He sighed and leaned back in the booth. "Yeah, I miss Guilmon, too. Our Digimon will always be a part of us, you know, and they always will. It's something that..." He paused, looking for the right words. "It's something that makes it easier for us to bear and, well, makes us sad at the same time. We just have to go on. As hard as that may be - actually, as impossible as that may be."
She nodded, as if she understood, but deep down, she knew that somehow, she would never be able to forget or throw off her veil of grief. "It's not really the same. You lost Guilmon when all of the Digimon were sucked back into the digital world - I lost Leomon when Beelzemon... killed him."
"You still focus on that? Didn't you forgive Impmon?"
She nodded again. "Yes, I did. I don't blame him any more. The only one I really blame now is me." Tears began to trickle down one cheek. "If I had been a better Tamer... if I had used my cards right... if I had guided Leomon better or prevented him from trying to stop Beelzemon..."
Stripping the goggles from his head and slapping them down on the table, he took Juri's hands in his own and looked into her eyes, halting her stream of self-deprevating comments. "Look, Juri... You did what you knew to do, and Leomon did what he thought best. You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened, yah know? And... who knows?" He loosed her hands and shrugged, again reclining in the booth. Hesitantly, he murmured, "Maybe one day, we'll see them again."
"We've tried that, you know. That digital hole you found closed up before we could re-enter it. Mr. Lee and the rest of the Monster Makers have been trying for nearly three years to find a way to get back to the Digital World, or otherwise open up a portal to it. It's..." She was openly crying now. "It's just not possible!" Her voice sounded hopeless, but she was also grasping for straws - a possibility, anything.
Takato got up off of the booth and sat down next to her. "Aww, Juri... you're crying again. You know I can't stand it when you're sad. It makes me worse." He put an arm around her and sighed. "I don't know... maybe it's just this feeling I have. It's been getting stronger over time. I... I dunno." He put one hand in his pocket, the left one. "Do you... uh, still have your D-Power?"
She smiled, happy to change the subject, if only a little. She produced from her own pocket her small D-Power, and as she set it down on the table, Takato pulled out his and set it alongside hers. They were identical, except for the color. Hers was white, his was red. "They don't work anymore. I can still turn mine on and push a few buttons, but the readout keeps showing 'Error.' It's like... like he's gone forever." The tears were back again, this time more so.
From the back in the bakery's core - the kitchen - Takato's father poked his head out. "Oh, hey, Juri. When did you come in?"
"Just a few minutes ago, Mr. Matsuda. How are you?" She turned her head to whipe away the tears coursing down her face.
Takehiro Matsuda grinned happily. "I'm fine, Juri. Nice of you to ask." He emerged completely from the kitchen, himself and his apron covered nearly head-to-toe in floury stuff. "Hey, Takato, I hate to bother you on your break, but - and you're not gonna believe this - we just ran out of flour."
Takato did a double-take. His father was covered in flour, even tracking it in onto the tiled floor. His father wasn't usually this wasteful... "Uh... Okay. I guess I can go get another ten-pound sack at the market. If old Sauzer is still open."
"He is. I just called to reserve a sack. Thanks, son. Oh..." He walked over to the cash register and opened it, withdrawing several bills. "This should cover it. Why don't you and Juri get something to drink while you're there? My treat." He tossed the bills onto the table booth that the two were sitting at.
Takato smiled at his father. "Thanks, Dad." Retrieving the bills, he stuffed them into one of the large cargo pockets on his shorts and got up. "Need anything else?"
"Nope, that's it. No hurry, it's a nice night out." He paused, glancing at Juri's tear-sodden face for a moment, and smiled. "Feel free to take a nice walk in the park on your way." His father nodded, then vanished through into the kitchen again in a cloud of white.
Takato hmmed. "Kinda weird. I could have sworn we had a hundred pounds of flour in the back - how could we have run out so quickly?" He shrugged and glanced down at Juri, who was staring out the window into the night. "You, uh, wanna go and get those drinks like Dad suggested? Maybe take a walk in the park?"
She simply looked up at him and nodded, misty-eyed. "That would be nice." The retrieved their D-Powers, he grabbed his goggles off of the table and tugged them back on, and the two left bakery and retreated into the night.
From within the kitchen, Mr. Matsuda smiled... fiendishly. He walked farther into the house and opened the storeroom door. Inside, along with several heaping sacks of flour, lay the bound and gagged form of... Mr. Matsuda. The fake Matsuda smiled, and his eyes began to grow red as the real Matsuda stared, horrified. Even as his eyes glowed, the Digimon shifted into a different shape, this one dark and shadowy, without a true form. But the red, glowing eyes remained, and from within emanated dark laughter.
"I'm done with your form now, Matsuda. Time to go to that little rendezvous with... your son." The laugher increased in volume as the real Matsuda struggled against his bonds, furiously struggling to free himself.
The two had left the bakery some time ago, and were now walking hand- in-hand through the park. Not far away, the very top of the park stone shed where Guilmon had once been housed could be seen. The two noticed of course, unable not to, the place brought back so many memories... It was good to remember, but it filled them with sorrow, as well. Still, neither would have ever forgotten, even if they could have.
"I remember... I remember coming here with Guilmon for the first time." Takato looked into the starry sky - less city lights after the destruction meant more beautiful skies at night - and sighed. "That was after I figured out that an alley wasn't the best place for the guy." He grinned at the thought of Guilmon running around the school in a cardboard box, scaring the principal, and generally making a mess of the situation. "He was a digger, that's for sure. I wonder what'll happen when one of the park authorities finally find the shed..."
Juri smiled and looked into the sky as well. "They would probably monumentize it. After all, Guilmon was one of the ones that saved this world and the next, remember? You, Lee, Ruki, and Ryo's faced were all over the news, as well as pictures of Guilmon, Terriermon, Renamon, and Monodramon." She laid her head on his shoulder as the walked. "I know the memories hurt... but... I never want to forget. Promise me that you'll never forget either, Takato."
He smiled down at her. "I couldn't if I wanted to. You know that."
Chuckling could be heard from the darkness of the treed park. "Isn't that cute."
The two ex-Tamers jumped and glanced around them, trying to determine the source. The chuckling had quickly surrounded them, and now was no longer a single voice, but multiple ones. The shrubs on either side of the cobbled path began to rustle, and from them emerged men. Not men, really, but older boys. They looked to range from around sixteen to about nineteen, and all of them hefted some sort of bludgeon, which they waved menacingly.
One stepped forward, a skinny, white-haired punk that wore a sleeveless leather vest over bere chest and brown leather pants. "Isn't this just sooooo adorable." He said, in a mocking tone. "We have a pair of lovebirds here, boys. What should we do with the lovebirds, hmm?" His words addressed the gang, but were more centered toward Takato and Juri.
While the gang hooted and jeered, Takato stepped foreword. "What do you want with us? Who are you?"
The white-haired punk grinned maliciously. "I'm Bull. This here is my gang - the Jaggers. Fitting, eh?" Takato rolled his eyes, and Bull slapped him with a vicious backhand, sending Takato careening backwards into Juri, causing her to topple as well. "Let's have some fun with this pair, huh, boys? I got the chick - you all can have the other kid!" With that, the gang, composed of at least a half-dozen, advanced.
TBC in the next - DIGIMON!
2742 words 12371 characters no spaces 15301 characters with spaces 45 paragraphs