Concurring Overwrite
Data Fragment 31: Roaring

Takuya is a cute kid, Kari thinks. So is Shinya, but Shinya's not a Digidestined, at least. He should be safe. Or as safe as innocent bystanders can be when the world shakes.

Takuya right now, though, is miserable. Half his friends haven't shown up to his birthday party and the others are angsty at the disappearances. First it's JP who's sick and Zoe who's not picking up her phone. Then it's a frantic call from Yutaka Himi searching for his little brother and coincidentally bumping into Koichi Kimura at the train station. Then a call back to them won't go through, and the pair have presumably vanished as well.

In the end Koji goes home with a piece of cake, too busy worrying about his own brother, and Takuya is left with his brother's kindergarden teacher, a noodle cart owner and a Doggymon none of them know what to do with.

"I'm not taking him home," Kari says immediately, when Davis turns to him. "We went through this last time with Tai and the Gotsumon."

"Probably won't work anyway." Davis scratches his head. "You've got cats."

Gatomon and Miko. So she does, and she counts her lucky stars Gatomon is a holy angel time and comes outfitted with a holy ring, and Gennai saw fit to return said ring before all the craziness started.

Still, she misses her brother and she wonders if she could have been happy like him without it.

"Kari?" Davis asks.

She forces a smile. She doesn't do a good job, she can tell. Davis is as good at reading her nowadays as TK used to be.

TK, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, Joe, Matt, Yolei, Cody… and Tai, of course.

The only ones left are the two of them, and Ken and Willis. And she's honestly not sure about Davis but the other two are still the same for sheer force of will. The idea of mutating with a virus is abhorrent to both of them. The scars from the digimon emperor, from Diaboromon, run too deep. And for them, those scars are Myotismon, and maybe that's why Gatomon can't let go of her ring.

She supposes the scars from Devimon ran along a different vein. Patamon could have digivolved to access his holy ring but he hadn't.

And now there's a new group of children being similarly affected.

"Well." Davis stands, suddenly. "Guess you're coming with me, then."

The Doggymon growls its disapproval.

Takuya sighs. "Guess you can stay, then. But no causing trouble for my family!"

The Doggymon perks up.

The adults frown simultaneously. "Is that a good idea?" Kari hedges. "Who knows whether this Doggymon is infected, or not."

Takuya shrugs. "He's kind of a friend, anyway. We raced together, didn't we?"

Davis leans over to Kari. "Why won't it talk?" he asks.

Kari shrugs, but that's concerning her as well. All digimon can talk, even if the baby ones only say a few words. But it'll take a fight to get the Doggymon to go with them, so they don't force it.

"Then…" Davis frowns. "We'll keep an eye out for your friends. And send Willis your way."

"In the meantime…" Kari's sure she's carrying a few spares, and thankfully she finds them buried in her purse. She should clean it out sometime, she muses. She never does seem to get around to it.

She lays the items of jewellery on the table. They're poor copies of the holy ring but Willis can only do so much and they're his latest design. "These contain an anti-virus. It should stop the virus from spreading, at least until we can come up with something better.

Takuya picks up a bangle, turning it. It catches the light and throws it, but in the end it's a cheap imitation and they all know it. "Is it just us Digidestined?" he asks. "But you thought Doggymon too…"

"It's most so us Digidestined," Kari replies, "but our friends in the Digital World have been affected too. It might be everyone and everything, in the end."

Takuya considers. Aside from the bangle, there's two rings and a necklace chain. Koji should have waited… but there's still not enough for all of them. Not to mention there's Doggymon to factor in now as well. And who knows how many other Digimon have slipped into their world.

"Willis can make more," Davis says, noting the frown. "I've got a few spares too, but I left them at home. Ken would have a few as well. We'll get enough for all your friends."

"Alright," Takuya agrees, and squeezes the bangle over Doggymon's wrist. He accepts it easily enough, and Takuya picks up a ring. One fit snugly onto his pinky and he keeps it on. The other one's slightly too big for his middle finger and should fit Junpei's, he thinks.

He means to go over as soon as the two adults take their leave, but he doesn't. Doggymon is growling again.

Shinya peeks out. "You got a dog for your birthday? No fair!"

Behind him is the shadow of something else.

"Shinya!" Takuya shouts, but he's too slow.

Doggymon, thankfully, is not. He roars and pounces in a blur of gold and Shinya, pushed by the backlash, stumbles safely into the living room.