TK couldn't believe he was going to school the next day. It was as if his adventures in the digital world meant nothing here. Did they not see the other world upside down above them or the battle between the digidestined and Apoclymon? Did they just not notice the kids floating into the air or the giant battle with a vampire? TK had grown us so much, he wasn't prepared to have to do it all over again. Worst of all, he would have to do it without Patamon or any of the other digidestined. School was a place of despair, not hope.
...
The next day came too quickly. His new class was full of cry babies who didn't understand what it felt like to fight for their friend's lives. For their own lives. His new teacher, Mrs. Yasumi, had them go around introducing each other with their names and what they did over summer break. They wouldn't believe him if he tried. He knew because he had.
"And here is the scar I got from Devimon's talon. On my shoulder I have another one from rope lash from when I climbed to save Kari from Piedmon. Anyone from last year knows I am right handed but I am left handed and have odd joints because I was put together wrong when I returned from Digital Data. Over all, this summer I save the Digital World and all of your lives so you're welcome."
"Takeru! What astounding lies!" His teacher said, taken aback.
"Did you not see the international crisis on the news? The world flying upside down over you?" TK had asked her, struggling to maintain his dignity.
"It was mass hysteria and you know it. Why, after the event everyone heard that it was just a mass hallucination." His teacher had proclaimed. It was at this point that young TK would have given up and pretended like it had never happened. But it had happened and he had made a promise to never give up the fight.
"It did too happen! I risked my life to save the universe and this is how you repay me?" TK had said, perhaps a bit too loudly in his outrage.
"That is it! You are going to the principal's office!" His teacher had commanded. TK had marched back to his seat, picked up his backpack and gone to the office.
"But maaa! You saw it happen and they wouldn't believe me!" TK told his mother in protest.
"That gives you no right to disrespect your teacher and you know it. Now, I don't know what happened to you in that terrible world to change you into a smallish and rude child but it's got to stop!" His mother had told him.
...
A few years passed, TK was just starting sixth grade. The past few years had been mostly uneventful, TK would sometimes blow and get sent to the principal's office but he had never gotten into any physical rights because nobody ever physically threatened him. TK had, however, had to channel some of his anger into something so his mother had given him the choice of basketball or soccer. Basketball was the obvious choice, TK didn't feeling turning into Tai. Unsurprisingly, TK was really good at basketball and gave it his all, most of his energy not actually in the game but in the struggle to not foul.
"Alright Daisy, would you like to read the next selection out loud?" The teacher asked the small and shy girl who sat in the corner.
"Um- okay. Riso stepped up proudly and took of his cap. He was losing and he knew it. It didn't matter. Riso would never give up the fight, never..." TK stopped listening after that, caught up in his own promise to himself to never give up the fight. He vaguely heard the bell ring, time for lunch.
TK wandered down the hallways. He still managed to get lost on his way to the lunchroom, despite the past that he had been going to this school for a month now.
"Listen weakling, either you do what I want or you get hurt- bad." TK heard a voice. The voice of one of the seventh graders on the opposing basketball team.
"No." TK heard a small voice squeak. He turned the corner to see the seventh grader holding Daisy to the wall by her throat. The last straw. This was the fight. He might be small but he would never give up. His vision turned red and blurry and instead of a seventh grader he saw a familiar black demon holding an angel to the wall.
"No." He heard himself say.
"Ha, look who's trying to play hero. If it isn't little weakling TK." Digimon said, but not for long. TK trapped the demon and ripped his hands off of the one he was tormenting. His vision was still red, it was time to finish the job.
...
"Takeru Takaishi you are expelled from this school! I greatly recommend you take anger management counselling if you think that beating someone up is the right way to stop a bully. Now, I am calling your mother and you are going to clean up!" The principal told him, outraged. TK nodded numbly and walked into the boy's bathroom.
In the mirror, TK did not see his usual, happy self. Instead, he saw a bitter and angry bully with a bloody nose. The reflection flickered to Piedmon, just for a moment but long enough for him to punch the glass, shattering it into thousands of pieces. The glass cut into his fist and his own blood mixed with the blood of his enemy but he didn't care. He hadn't given up the fight, he had won.
...
"Welcome to the Public Counselling Society, how may I help you?" Asked the woman at the redemption desk.
"Erm, appointment for Takeru Takaishi anger management please." TK said, his mother had dropped him off.
"Oh, so you're Takeru," said a nearby therapist. "I was just coming to get you."
"TK," TK said. "Call me TK." He quickly signed in and followed the therapist through a sleek blue door.
"Okay, so I heard you beat up a boy at your school," the therapist said. "Why did you do that?"
"What's your name?" TK asked him, ignoring the question. The therapist frowned.
"My name's Dr. Brown. But why did you beat up a kid at your school?" He repeated.
"He was bullying another kid in my class." TK responded simply.
"And that gave you the right to break his nose, jawbone, two ribs, and right arm?" The therapist asked.
"He was bullying another kid in my class." TK repeated.
"But why didn't you just report him to the authorities?" The therapist asked. TK had thought of that too, wasn't it better to fight smart rather than by brute force? No, it needed to be done and the authorities wouldn't be able to handle it properly.
"Because I promised my brother that I would never give up the fight." TK said. Yes, that was reasonable enough.
"So why don't we bring your brother in next time and have a talk with both of you?" The therapist suggested. TK knew that Dr. Brown should be helping but he was getting angrier with every minute.
"My brother rogues with my dad. My parents are divorced." TK told Dr. Brown.
"So? We can still bring your brother in to have a chat with him." Dr. Brown said.
"My brother was a key chain at the time. He wouldn't remember if you asked." TK explained, knowing perfectly well that he was confusing the poor therapist to no end.
"A key chain?" Dr. Brown asked, writing down what seemed vaguely to be 'mad, bonkers, off his rocker.'
"Look sir, you remember the widespread hallucinations a few years ago? The battle with Apoclymon in the sky?" TK asked.
"Of course I remember. Those were the busiest weeks of my life, trying to calm thousands of delusional people." Dr. Brown told him.
"Yes but did you see it," Dr. Brown nodded sheepishly. "Then you saw the eight children," another nod. "I was the small blonde one. It really happened. I have fought for my life and for the life of my friends, not to mention for the well-being of two worlds. You can't expect my story to make sense and you can't expect me to just roll over and let injustice walk past me." TK said bitterly.
"Even if what you are telling me is true, you need to fight smarter not harder. Whenever you see injustice you need to make a plan, hopefully consisting of two or more people helping you before you charge in there blindly and fight." Dr. Brown told TK.
"Alright, see you next week." Said TK, checking the clock on the wall before walking out of the office, leaving Dr. Brown very confused. TK wasn't the least bit sorry.
...
The rest of the school year past and TK was home schooled by his mother under the condition that he would go to therapy every week. Dr. Brown helped TK by walking him through situations and having little exercises where they would plan what the best course of action would be. Over the summer TK moved to a little apartment in Odaiba and a few weeks after the next school year started his therapist said he was allowed to go to school. Finally, on his first day, his mother let him outside the tiny apartment as long as he didn't get into trouble. TK passed a few kids who evidently lived in his apartment and learned that their names were Cody and Yolei, both going to his new school. TK smiled and made the interaction as nice as possible even though the Yolei girl was such a loudmouth and Cody was so calculating it made him nervous.
On the way to school, TK passed a boy who looked almost like Tai but with half the hair. Also, in his homeroom, he was seated next to Kari, another past member of the digidestined. Finally, somebody who would understand him when he leaned over and whispered his opinions about his new teacher. At last, TK was out of class and joking with Kari when he heard an angry voice.
The boy who had looked like Tai, who's name was Davis, was approaching him. After accusing TK of 'stealing his girl,' who TK figured out was Kari, and blotching his a million times in the same sentence, TK felt his fist clench itself up. Then, he remembered his therapy and relaxed, coming up with the perfect plan. He would pretend to be with Kari to make Davis upset so that when somebody blew their top... it wouldn't be him. TK's next grin was genuine. Yes, he was going to do much better at his new school.