"Okay, smile!"
The phone screen flashed, and clicked with a synthetic shutter sound. Takato accepted the small handful of coins and bills.
He handed the phone back to the con-goer, who bounced away gleefully.
"Okay, who's next?"
It was a few hours later, and the line in front of Takato's booth was just about through. Jian approached, Terriermon hanging off of his shoulders.
"Hey Takato. Where's Guilmon?"
"He wandered off." Said Takato, scrawling his name in sharpie on a Guilmon plushie he was handed. "Said he wanted to go exploring. I think I saw him off doing vape tricks for a group of fans."
Jian chuckled. "He sure makes friends fast, doesn't he?"
Takato grinned. "Yeah. That's for sure. "Hey, are we still getting everyone together for dinner like we planned? I mean, Ruki and Renamon totally disappeared. Are they still in?"
"I just texted Ruki." Said Jian. "Renamon never answers their texts. Anyway, she says they're still on board."
"Ok, cool. I'll finish up here in a few minutes. Want to help me find Guilmon, then we can all head over together?"
"Sounds good." Said Jian.
"Yep." Said Terriermon.
Just then, a whoosh of flame and a small explosion sounded from across the hall.
"Ut-oh." Said Terriermon. "Looks like you-know-who has finally showed up again."
"Isn't he banned from attending this year?" Said Takato.
"He's banned for every year. All the way up until the end of linear time." Said Terriermon.
"And every year he crashes the place anyway." Said Jian. "I actually kind of admire his dedication."
Beelzebumon stood in the center of the convention hall, throwing fireballs up in the air.
"That's right, fools! I'm the new king of this convention! I'm the greatest digimon in this stinkin' place, so start groveling!"
"You think we should go say hi?" Said Takato, as he signed a poster.
Beelzebumon kicked over a trash can, spilling its contents across the floor. Two security guards approached him, with their data-scramblers at the ready.
"He looks busy." Said Jian. "Maybe we'll catch each other later."
Later, at the restaurant, Takato, Guilmon, Jian, and Terriermon were escorted into a walled-off VIP dining room. Light sconces on the walls cast an amber glow throughout the room, which was decorated in a seamless blend of modern and traditional Japanese styles. There was even an indoor waterfall cascading down one of the walls, and into a pool of smooth stones. Ruki, Ryo, Hirokazu, and Kenta were already seated at a long table with their respective digimon partners.
"Hey guys! You're finally here." Said Hirokazu. "Did you get lost on the way or something?"
"Hey, it's Guilmon's fault we're late." Said Takato. "He decided to borrow a foam lance from a Dukemon cosplayer, and start an impromptu jousting tournament."
"And I would have won it too, if the guy I was riding hadn't dropped me."
"So what do you think of this place?" Said Kenta. "Pretty fancy, right? And we've got the whole room to ourselves tonight. Saving the world sure has some nice perks."
"I hope one of those perks is fast service." Said Takato, placing a hand on his stomach. "I forgot to eat lunch before the panel. I'm so hungry."
Guilmon mimicked the gesture. "I'm always hungry."
"Well come join us." Said Guardromon. "It's been too long since I've seen all of you. We have a lot of catching up to do."
Once everyone had taken their seats, Ruki cleared her throat.
"Now that we're all here…" She glanced at Renamon, who nodded. "Renamon and I have something we would like to say. We're-" She blushed slightly. "We're dating. Each other, I mean. Queerplatonically, of course."
Ryo frowned. "I didn't know you dated at all, Ruki. You told me you were aromantic asexual."
"Do you not know what queerplatonic means?" Ruki shot back. "It has 'platonic' right there in the name. If you can't figure it out, go google it."
Takato already had his phone out. After a few seconds, his eyebrows bunched up.
"I don't really get it." He said. "What's the point of being in a relationship if you don't do…" He gestured vaguely. "Relationship stuff?"
"It figures that Ryo and Takato wouldn't understand." Said Ruki." You two are probably the most basic straight boys I've ever met. Anyone else have questions or complaints?"
"No, of course not." Said Jian. "I think you two make a great couple. Congratulations."
"Same goes for me. Congrats!" Said Terriermon.
"Yeah, I'm really happy for you two." Said Kenta. MarineAngemon squealed in agreement.
"Hear, hear!" Said Guardromon.
"I always knew you two would end up together." Said Hirokazu.
"I guess even if I don't get it, I can still get behind it." Said Takato. "Congratulations."
"It makes perfect sense to me." Said Guilmon, smiling. "I know you how much you two must really love each other."
Cyberdramon growled. It was hard to tell whether it was a growl of approval, or a growl of disapproval, or just a plain menacing growl, but everyone seemed to take it as a positive.
"Thanks, everyone." Said Ruki. That means a lot to us. Really. The thing is though, we're trying to keep this information private, so we'd really appreciate your discretion."
"Absolutely. You can count on us." Said Jian. "But do you mind if I ask why? It's not as if you've told us anything scandalous."
"It was my decision." Said Renamon. Everyone turned to stare at them.
"People will misinterpret the nature of our relationship. They would make it into something more- salacious than it is. I am not comfortable with that."
"So anyway," said Takato, breaking the ensuing silence, "what do you mean I'm basic? I saved the world, remember?"
Guilmon's stomach growled. The sound was loud enough that everyone at the table took notice.
"Sorry." He said. "I guess I'm hungrier than I thought."
"Oh yeah?" Said Jian. "Then let me show you guys something really cool. He pulled out his phone, and tapped the screen a few times.
"Give it a minute. This takes forever to process."
Slowly, Jian's phone started to glow bright white, then in a flash, a round loaf of bread appeared on the table, surrounded by the opaque fog of a digital field.
"What the fuck? How did you do that?" Said Takato.
Guilmon picked up the loaf, then after examining it on all sides, stuffed the whole thing into his mouth.
"Mmh!" He said through the mouthful. "Iss gud!"
"Seriously," said Kenta "what was that?"
"It's actually nothing you haven't seen before." Said Jian. "I just ran a program that constructed the bread in the digital world, than created a localized wormhole to bring it into physical reality. It's the same principle as when the Wild Bunch created Grani using nothing more than lines of code and my digivice. There's a whole department at IFO that has been working on refining and implementing the process. Apparently, the hardest part was structuring the proteins so that they don't dissolve back into data as soon as you bite in."
"That's… that's maybe the coolest thing I've ever seen." Said Hirokazu.
"You have no idea." Said Jian. "It takes in incredible amount of cloud computing power now, but there are are a few promising workarounds for that in development. Once it's all lightweight enough for widespread distribution, it's going to change everything. It will completely eliminate hunger in any part of the world with a wi-fi signal. We'll be able to disrupt the agriculture industry, and turn farmland into wildlife preserves and green energy plants. And that's just the beginning. We'll be able to generate endless human tissue for medical procedures. We'll be able to buy any product online, and materialize it instantly in our own homes. We're going to blow right past 3D printing, and go straight to meta-digital manufacturing. It's going to bring us into a whole new, post-scarcity age."
"Sounds like your company is going to get a lot richer, then." Said Ruki. "Aren't you worried about the kind of prosperity gap that could cause for people who can't afford the technology?"
"That's the thing." Said Jian. "Once the technology has proven to be efficient and safe, we're going to release it totally open-source. If it's really going to change the world for the better, it has to be accessible instead of just profitable."
"A lot of people will lose their jobs."
"And they won't even need to have jobs anymore."
"And what about safety concerns?" Said Ruki. "Couldn't people use that to make guns or something? It seems irresponsible to have no restrictions at all."
"Listen, Miss Lawyer," said Terriermon, "Jian can press a button on his phone and turn my hands into rocket launchers. If you want to worry about that stuff, I think the ship has already sailed."
"Hmm. Fair point."
"There are other possibilities too." Said Jian. "Really wild stuff, like you wouldn't believe. I've heard it theorized that if we manifest a network of computers in the digital world itself, it could potentially create a new layer of reality, just like how the digital world was created by our existing network. Populate that new layer with more computers, and so on, in a pattern of infinite recursion, and you could create unlimited computing power. Enough to create a one-to-one simulation of our entire universe. It suddenly lends credibility to the crackpot theory that we're already living in a simulation."
"Oh man," said Kenta, "my head it starting to hurt just thinking about it." MarineAngemon let out a concerned coo.
"Tell me about it." Said Terriermon. "Can you believe I have to listen to this guy everyday?"
Takato turned to Guilmon. "Guilmon, I'm not basic, am I? C'mon, Ryo, back me up here."
Much later in the night, Renamon walked alone through the city. The dinner had ended well. Terriermon had told a joke that made Guilmon shoot his drink out of his nose, and almost cough up a fireball. Hirokazu had pulled out his battered deck of trading cards, and had trounced Takato in an old-fashioned digimon battle. Ryo had complained about not having anything important to do during the D-Reaper battle. Ruki had challenged him to a drinking contest, a gambit which ultimately produced no winners. Renamon had helped their partner stumble back to the hotel room, and climb into bed, and then, just before she fell asleep, she had whispered 'I love you.'
It was a good night. Renamon had gone out, intending to savor the feeling for as long as they could in the nighttime air, with nothing but the muted sounds of a sleeping city to keep them company. They stifled a yawn. It had been a long day. Perhaps it was time to turn in. They slowly circled around and headed back towards the hotel.
On the way back to their room, Renamon ran into Guilmon, who had his arm around an unfamiliar man.
"Renamoooon!" Said Guilmon, his voice a little slurred. "This is my boyfriend, Kaito."
"Oh?" Said Renamon. "I did not realize you were spoken for. When did you two meet?"
"Just now! Kaito's gonna show me what his hotel room looks like."
"Indeed." Said Renamon, narrowing their eyes skeptically. "I imagine it looks much like all the others in this building. And do you know what's going to happen after that?"
"Huh? I dunno." Said Guilmon, putting a claw to his chin. "Although if I had to guess, I would say that we're probably going to fuck each other silly."
Kaito blushed. "Yes, I think that's the plan."
"Hm. Carry on then." Said Renamon.
They turned to leave, but Renamon called out, "Wait. Guilmon, could I speak with you?"
Guilmon looked apologetically at Kaito. "Go on ahead. I'll catch up." Then to Renamon, "What's going on?"
"Nothing, I- just feel like I haven't properly thanked you yet."
"Huh?" Guilmon cocked his head. "What for?"
"For when we were separated from our partners." Said Renamon. When we were all forced to return to the digital world, and they were not able to follow."
"Ummm." Said Guilmon. "Sorry, but what did I do again?"
"You kept us going. You kept us together. You held out hope when we all wanted to give up. I never thought you had it in you to be a leader, but you proved me wrong. You were brave enough for all of us." Renamon drew an unsteady breath. "When I- When I wanted to part ways, and go on alone, you convinced me to stay. If it weren't for you, I don't know- I don't know if I would have ever gotten her back."
"Don't say that, Renamon. You wouldn't have given up, even if you were all alone." Guilmon stared at his feet, his eyes tearing up. "I wouldn't have given up on you either. No matter what happened, we were always going to get everyone back together, no matter what. I promise, we would have found a way."
Renamon smiled. "We did find a way."
Guilmon looked up, and wiped his nose.
"You know, Renamon, back then, being brave was actually the easy part. You know why?"
"Why?"
"Because," Guilmon's face split into a wide grin, "I always knew Takato would come back for us."