Second Best
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters mentioned within this story. Nor do I own the world within which it takes place.
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The battles had been fought, the war won, and things had returned to how they should be.
Quiet.
Peaceful.
Dull.
There was no driving need anymore, no singular purpose to which they banded together. The status quo had quickly reestablished itself, forgotten victories meaningless in the face of time and life.
Before the world turned upside down he'd had teammates, people he'd been friendly towards, and people he'd wished to be friends with, but nobody he could really call a friend. He hadn't had anyone he could just hang out with after school, complain to about his bad days, and none but family to rejoice with after his victories. Single minded and self sacrificing, his virtues, his drive.
Surrounded, but alone. Forever the odd one out, he wondered why. Two like him had understood. Through them, his connection to the rest. Dwindling, fading, brittle but not broken. A years time made him a near stranger, a face recognized in a crowd, a memory born only of need.
Hardly forgotten, yet barely needed, like time he would simply fade away.
Once upon a time, he'd wished to understand "Why?". One upon a time, a dimension of dreams made manifest, he'd learned.
Another boy, his face thinner, his hair longer. Another boy his partner had stood beside. A name, Akiyama. He didn't exist here, he never did.
But Ken remembered him.
Something had happened to him, something the world had forgotten, and he was gone. Davis was pushed to fill the mold. Years ago he barely fit, and the people around him felt it. Now, he didn't fit at all, the mold broken, and as hard as he tried to reject it, he felt it. Trying to be something he's not, trying to be someone he's not.
Thirteen years old, and he had no place in this world. The only thing he had here was his family, his home, and even that, he wondered, even that was beginning to feel wrong.
How much of this was Motomiya, and how much of this was Akiyama? Often at night, as he watched his partner sleep, the question burned.
How much of this was his life, his friends and his family, and how much of it was put together from what was on hand to fill a hole made by someone else?
How much of this was real?
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Winter holidays were never Davis' favorite time of year. Sure, there was no school, but it was also too cold to go outside and there was a mountain of homework expected at their end. It was like the teachers didn't understand what a break was, or especially how to give one.
A complaint that would certainly hold water, had he not already finished all of his assignments. The work certainly didn't have the insight and thoroughness to earn top marks, but it was all done, and certainly deserving of a passing grade. One of the positive consequences of boredom. Another was constant research of random, inane, or otherwise pointless things on the computer.
Like the other quadrants of the digital world, or the initial time dilation effect the original digidestined had suffered from. Gennai had been a font of information, up to a point at least. He refused to share his insight on time in the digital world, or digimon who could affect time. At least until he dropped the name "ZeedMillenniummon".
Routing that name through Izzy by e-mail had come back with a short description.
"An evil god digimon who traverses space and time." Izzy had also asked where he'd come by that name. He seemed really excited when Davis had responded that he was researching time in the digital world. He hadn't heard from Izzy since, however, and he'd had only one pressing need to contact him since.
It would have been nice if he'd at least responded "No" to Davis' idea of a christmas party. T.K. Cody, and Yolei had been the only ones to respond, they were busy with family.
He had a lot more time for research, as key consequence, but it was just so boring.
"Davish!" Demiveemon had been handling the distance of the other digidestined better than Davis had. Then again, the digimon seemed to have an insular group, their friends being each other and their own destined. "I'm hungry!"
Winter wasn't kind on the tiny dragon digimon. He was tired, always, and when he wasn't sleeping he was eating.
Davis leaned back in his chair, sitting in front of the computer, and looked up.
Nope, same ceiling.
A beep, and Davis looked back down at the monitor. The messaging client was open, someone named "Blue" was asking for permission to talk to him. Thinking it spam, he clicked no.
The messaging client opened regardless.
"Do you want the truth?" Well, that was creepy enough. Davis clicked on the X, even held down alt-F4 and the window refused to close. He'd have to ask Izzy if hackers could do this kind of thing.
"I'm waiting, Davis." Now that was just getting creepy. Going to the start menu, he started the shut-down sequence. It stopped midway and gave him an "Error 404" message.
"This is just getting ridiculous." Davis mumbled as he crawled around the back of his desk.
"I really wouldn't suggest that." Great, now whoever it was had gotten around to using his computer speakers. Well, just a little bit more and -there, got it. Davis pulled the plug on the computer tower and stood up. It was still running.
"What the heck?" This wasn't making sense, none at all.
"Are you done playing around?"
"...Yes?"
"Good. I ask again; Do you want the truth?"
"Davish?" Davis picked up the small blue lizard and sat himself in the chair, Demiveemon in his lap.
"I already know it. Well, part of it."
"Davish? What'sh going on?"
"We speak of your true partner."
"True partner? But Davish... Davish..." The small digimon nodded off to sleep as Davis rubbed the base of his skull. The trick only worked during colder weather, when the tiny lizard was more prone to nodding off anyway.
"He doesn't remember. None of them do. I know he was originally with a guy called Akiyama. What's the rest of the truth?" It was once said curiosity killed the cat. The part about satisfaction was added much later to make the quote more palatable. Another fun fact Davis found on the internet.
"Ryo Akiyama was initially paired with two digimon. One of darkness, one of light. Monodramon, and the Veemon residing on your lap. He was betrayed by your own allies, and at the end of his battle he chose to leave. He was to play a key role in the defense of your world, and it was decided that the Veemon left behind would continue its role." Even as this was said it was typed out in the chat client. The voice itself sounded like the mechanical monotone of the computer.
"And what about his partner, why was I chosen?" The desperation in his voice was thick, this could be it, this could explain everything.
"Of the many possible replacements for the Legendary Tamer, you were least unsuitable." Being called least bad... Was kind of like a punch to the gut. He wasn't being called better in any way, more courageous, a better friend, he was just least bad.
"If... If I hadn't been chosen as his replacement, would I still have been a digidestined? Would I still have my friends? My family?" Desperation gave way to panic, and Demiveemon was beginning to wake up.
"Perhaps. Should you wish to learn more, you must first find Ryo yourself."
"How would I do that?"
"I can drop you off for the first step of your journey, and reveal to you tools that may aid you. The choice, however, is yours." Davis stared at the computer screen, expecting it to shut off any second. His reverie broken only by the loud yawn of the digimon in his lap.
"Davish? What'sh going on?" Davis hugged the tiny dragon against himself. For some reason the room felt cold, but he knew the window was closed.
"Demiveemon, how'd you like to go on an adventure?" The tiny digimon squirmed out of his grip and stood at the edge of his desk, looking up at him.
"Where we goin'?" Davis grinned and picked up the tiny digimon. Ignoring his partners squirming, he started picking things up around his bedroom in his free hand.
"To the digital world, of course. Where else would we have an adventure, the school cafateria?"
"That plashe is pretty fun. Shouldn't we call the othersh though?" Hesitantly, Davis put his goggles on his desk, in front of his monitor.
"Nah, this time it's just you and me, against the world. Sucks to be the world, don't it?" He'd never set his computer up to be a terminal, but he had a feeling this 'Blue' had already set everything up.
"You bet, Davish!" He held the D-three up, and the room was filled with blinding light. When it faded, the room was empty, and the computer screen black.
AN/ Yep, another story. I just liked the idea, but I'd never yet read someone attempt it. Outside of Gigimon's accent, should anyone notice any major issues in my grammar or spelling, don't be afraid to say so in a review.