Author's Note: Let's complicate things further. Adventure and 02 were really classic. The plot lines are truly amazing when I watched them again as adults.

Digimon is not mine.


Side: Takeru

3 August 1999. It was a day Takeru could never forget. It was the day the world was saved with the defeat of the Dark Masters, the day they became the heroes for saving the world and the day they lost one of their own.


*Flashback*

"Taichi!" Yamato and Jou were riding on Garurumon while Sora and Takeru returned on Birdramon. They were rushing to help Taichi to battle Piemon.

Piemon jumped aback at the sight of their return.

"You had made a late entrance. But no matter, the result will be the same either way."

Takeru could never forget how his brother's eyes widened at the sight of Taichi who sprawled on the ground as a pool of red liquid pooled around him. Takeru could not explain it. It was a different kind of fear they had ever experienced. It was different from the times when they watched how Vandemon destroyed Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon.

"Taichi…" He muttered picking him up turning him over and placed his head on his lap. Takeru did not understand much but he knew Taichi was badly injured, red dying his shirt in increasing range.

Jou looked away frantically searching for any first-aid items. He handed Yamato a towel to stop his bleeding but the towel was soaked in red as soon as he placed on his wound. Taichi grimaced in pain.

"Taichi, hang in there!" Yamato cried. Takeru came to his side with Sora and Koushirou watched on fearfully while Hikari attempted to approach her brother with her trembling legs.

He was aware how it hurts to get a cut so Taichi-san must be in terrible pain having a hole in his chest. His face scrunched in pain and he had trouble catching his breath while trying to speak to his brother.

"You are finally here…" Taichi said in a barely audible voice. "I… waited all… these time for… you to get here…" Taichi coughed out blood.

"Save your breath." Yamato tried to calm him down. Sora brushed Taichi's hair in an attempt to help him feel better. Takeru watched on tearfully. He did not know how he could help Taichi.

"Oniichan…" Tears welled up Hikari's eyes.

"I knew… you'd come. I… believed… you would…" Taichi continued talking to Yamato.

"Thank you for believing in me but I'm sorry I was so late. Taichi, you are my true friend! I won't let your friendship be in vain!" Yamato declared. His Crest of Friendship lit up. Garurumon closed in to nuzzle WarGreymon on his head restoring him to full health. Piemon was taken aback.

"Yamato's Crest of Friendship gave me the power to restore WarGreymon back to life." Garurumon explained.

Thank you Garurumon. Now I can fight again!" WarGreymon was grateful. Garurumon reverted to Gabumon to prep himself for Warp Evolution. Yamato was relieved at the revival of WarGreymon but was troubled at the sight of the Taichi whose condition worsened instead.

"Shit! His wound is not healing!" Yamato realized in horror at the overflowing blood from his wound. "Taichi, you got to hang in there, you will be alright! Jou, do something!" Yamato ordered to only see Jou sniffing and shaking his head. Takeru was fearful. Was there no way to help Taichi-san at all?

"It's ok… Yamato…" Taichi smiled weakly lifting his blood-stained hand to be caught by Yamato. "You… are a better… leader than I… ever could be…." A drop of tear trickled down Taichi's cheek. Takeru saw Taichi looking at his direction. By then his eyes seem to have lost its light. At that moment, Takeru could sense fear from his eyes.

"End… the… battle, save the… world… Keep… everybody… safe… It's ok… if I leave… the rest… to you… right?"

"No… Taichi, you will be…" Before Yamato could finish, Yamato watched as Taichi's eyes closed and his hands had fell limply to his side.

"NO, TAICHI!" Yamato screamed when Taichi breathed his last. Takeru hugged Patamon tightly when Taichi's body turned into data and dissipated like those Digimon who died did.

The fact that Taichi died had hit hard on them. He cried as hard as Hikari did. He could not imagine how she felt to lose her beloved big brother right before her eyes.

*End Flashback*


Time passed by Daisuke, Miyako, Iori and Ken eventually joined them as the new Chosen Children. When Takeru got into writing, he tried checking with Ken on his adventure. Ken had never spoken of what he had been through before becoming the Digimon Kaiser but Takeru could tell that it had been a painful experience.

Was becoming a Chosen Child a painful experience? They had their share of fun and hardship. Takeru was glad to have met them, Patamon, the Digimon and their fellow partners. Without their experience, he might not be that close to his brother now, he wouldn't have gotten close to Hikari. he would never been friends with people like Sora-san, Koushirou-san, Jou-senpai, Mimi-san, Daisuke, Miyako-san, Iori-kun, Mochizuki-san and also Taichi-san either.

"Taichi-san, I was able to protect everyone!" Young Takeru reported excitedly.

"Great job, Takeru!" Taichi was relieved they were safe.

Takeru had always believed strongly that Taichi had been watching over them, hence, they were able to get through their adventure and saved both worlds again and again.


A reboot happened years later. It had not occurred to him the possibilities it brought after than his fear of losing Patamon. Patamon lost his memories of him when they were reunited.

"If Digimon die in the human world, they can't be revived. That's where a reboot comes in. All those guys who died over there come back." Said the evil Gennai look-alike came close to his face in a flash. He was frozen stiff by his sudden action. Thankfully Patamon helped him out attacking him on his face granting him time to escape.

These words from Dark Gennai echoed in his mind.

"Reboot?" Hikari blinked in confusion.

"What if…" Some crazy ideas came to Takeru's mind. Koushirou and his brother probably had the ideas way before he did. Takeru was getting excited. Until now, Takeru still questioned if Taichi-san could be like those Digimon who died in the Primary Village, to be reborn in the Primary Village. Nobody heard or seen Taichi since then whether in Digital World or in the Real World since his apparent death. Maybe there was a chance with the reboot.

He was interrupted before he could share with Hikari about his idea.


Iori moved quickly to block Takeru and Hikari from Daisuke with both his arms extended wide open, giving Daisuke window to evade from Takeru's questioning earlier.

"I'm sorry." Iori shook his head. Iori would share what he could. He would bring them somewhere first.


"No…" Hikari shook her head in disbelief. Iori brought Takeru and Hikari to the grave of 'Yagami Taichi' after Daisuke took off with V-mon.

"This cannot be. My brother had gone missing. He shouldn't even have a grave in the Real World." Takeru recalled there was a makeshift grave for Taichi which was gone after the reboot.

"Hikari." Tailmon called out realizing some not-to-be-said words had slipped from Hikari.

"Oniichan, are you really back?" Hikari traced her fingers over the engraving of the name on the grave of her precious brother. Takeru placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her with Patamon looking down sadly on his hat. It was really unbelievable.

"Does Aniki know?" Takeru asked trying not to lose it if his brother really kept this fact from him. Iori nodded.

"Koushirou-senpai and Yamato-senpai did ask us to keep a look out during our travel." Iori said quietly admitting they had eyes on Taichi. Takeru was getting pissed. Why didn't they let them know. Why didn't Yamato and Koushirou bring him back home?

"It was not long ago when we found him in the States. Daisuke didn't want to affect his life at first but to observe him, since like all Digimon who had rebooted, he didn't have memories of his past. He had been living his life by another name." Iori continued with his eyes focused on Taichi's name on the grave.

Why didn't he realized earlier that they have other agenda on top of Daisuke and his 'Ramen' trip? He could have followed them on their trips. He realized how much he did not know about them. Life had caught up to them so much that the two of them had drifted apart from Daisuke and the rest. They did not even realize that Daisuke and the rest was held captive by Yggdrasil and gone missing for months five years ago.

"I'm sorry, Iori." Takeru muttered. No amount of apology could make up to this blunder of theirs. They failed as their friends. Iori shook his head. All was done and over with. They should look past that and moved on.

"Is Kamiya, Taichi-san?" Takeru asked carefully. Hikari turned towards Takeru upon hearing the name and grabbed his hand in need of comfort. Hikari was sensitive. Even without having to hear Iori's response, she was sure Kamiya was the name her brother went with. His apartment would be exactly like what her brother's room would be like if he was still around.

"Taichi-san died from a heart ailment." Iori said. Takeru eyed him closely. Iori was not one who would lie. He would give himself away. Yet that was what was stated in the Agency's report Iori shared with him. This was unbelievable since not even Hikari knew that Taichi was suffering from such a serious illness.

"Hikari, I…" Takeru did not know how he could comfort her. He pulled her into his arms and allowed her to cry.

"Why did Oniichan have to die?" Hikari's hands reached out to Taichi's grave in tears. Her brother must be very lonely when he died in the hospital not knowing that he still had a family, a sister. He must have died in regret. Takeru did not know how he could answer her. While they keep talking about changing their destiny, Taichi was never able to escape.

"Iori…" Armadillomon tugged his partner's hand sadly.

Takeru felt there were more to it. He noted that Iori bit his lips. He watched Iori dug for his phone from his pocket.

"This is Hida Iori." Iori dropped his phone after hearing what the other party had to say.


Takeru could not believe it when the three of them arrived at the HQ of the Incorporated Administrative Agency. The cell Koushirou was detained in exploded. This day had been as hellish as it was.

Hikari was trembling. After hearing the tragic news about her brother, now it was Koushirou-san? Iori could not believe his ears when he heard what had happened from the security guard at the entrance as the Agency had ordered a lockdown.

"It's the work of Menoa Belucci." An agent who looked annoyed walked towards Iori said. "This is why we wanted to locate her lab fast. Izumi Koushirou just wouldn't give it to us."

"Agent Kaho." Iori greeted politely.

"Oh, Agent Hida, aren't you with Agent Motomiya? You guys are really role models of the Chosen Children those Children who only keep Digimon as their pets should follow. Pets should be kept in cage." Agent Kaho remarked after noticing Takeru and Hikari's presence. Takeru noted that this agent was disgusted at the sight of their Digimon judging from his expression.

"Pets?" Takeru was not happy to hear that. He did not know better. How much Patamon had done to save the world? Angemon had even sacrificed himself once. How much effort, tears, sweat and sacrifices the others had made to save the world? Digimon were never pets. They were their partners, their friends.

"I want you to apologise to them." Takeru raised his head to Hikari's direction. She was pissed off by the comment as well.

"Apologise." Hikari said again in a serious tone.

"Save for those like you, the other Chosen Children, had they ever dealt with Digimon incident? Have they even bothered other than keeping them at home as company." Agent Kaho did not take them seriously.

"I say all Chosen Children should be deployed to fight at the frontline. After all, you are chosen by Homeostasis to defend the Digital World. With such powerful weapons like Digimon on hand, you should do more to defend us to justify all the tearing down of buildings in battles." Agent Kaho scoffed at the two of them and walked off.

"Apologise." Hikari cried out loud at his direction and her body glowed suddenly. Because they were Chosen Children, they were obliged to be watched and to fight like soldiers? Hikari was in tears. It was not like they wanted it in the first place. Taichi would not have died if he was not a Chosen Child. The light that engulfed Hikari subsided. Takeru caught her in his arms as she collapsed. She was too drained.

"Hikari." Tailmon called Hikari who looked so distraught. She probably seen something when her body glowed earlier.

"Oniichan…" She cried in Takeru's arms. Takeru patted her head holding her and allowed her to cry.

"Iori, I'll take Hikari-chan home first." Takeru tried to compose himself with Patamon flying beside him, watching quietly. Iori nodded in understanding. It was hard to keep going now.


Takeru held on to Hikari's shoulder to help her walk home. She was unable to walk on her own, having to lean against Takeru to walk. She must be devastated. They were silent throughout the journey.

"Oniichan is still alive. " Hikari said suddenly when they passed by the playground near Hikari's place.

"What?" Takeru could not believe his ears, his eyes fell on Hikari who was staring on the ground.

"That Digimon… he is Oniichan..." Hikari muttered under her breath. Her eyes widened in horror. Takeru was aware she was sensitive. This was still inconceivable. Takeru rubbed her arms to comfort her.

Tailmon tugged Hikari's hand. She believed her. Now it made sense.

"The vision Eosmon showed me was Taichi's memory." Tailmon concluded. "The only question is, the memory doesn't belong here." The feline Digimon pinched her chin in thought.

"I guess I'll really have to speak to Daisuke." Takeru decided himself. They needed to do something if Hikari and Tailmon was right about that Digimon.


Takeru managed to get Daisuke to meet him after sending Hikari home. He was expecting Daisuke to reject him outright but surprisingly, he wanted Takeru to meet him at the hospital Jou-senpai was working in.

He spotted Daisuke and Mochizuki when he passed by garden of the hospital. V-mon and Meicoomon was not with them. It was just the two of them. Takeru decided to eavesdrop since they probably would not share anything they did not know, and it was likely regarding dimensions travelling Daisuke and the rest were involved in. Hikari and his D-3 just would not work when they attempted to follow them once. The two of them somehow received an error message, 'Access Unauthorised'.

"Mochizuki-san, aren't you happy, now that a timeline with a new possibility had been created?" Daisuke did not sound happy about it. Takeru realized they were doing something behind their back. He was shocked that Mochizuki had a big role.

"Takeru?" Patamon whispered.

"Shh…" Takeru knew Patamon was worried.

Mochizuki Meiko looked away from Daisuke and walk past him before she stopped. Her gaze raised to the starry sky above. The weather was clear, the sparkling of stars was not very obvious where they were in a city. Her palms clapped together as she prayed to the sky even so.

"I just can't bear to see him suffer anymore." Meiko said. Daisuke did not look happy with her answer.

"And Koushirou-senpai needed to be sacrificed for this. I can't understand." Daisuke said quietly and pulled his fringe, his expression was unreadable.

"Do we need to exchange a life for a life? Is there any other way? I know he is fighting hard in many dimensions in his timeline even though I won't be able to know the outcome. I believe in one of the them, he would make it alright." Daisuke continued talking. Takeru pulled off his hat and clutched it to his chest. He had too many questions.

"But not in any of my memories, he made it!" Meiko replied, raising her voice a little. She sounded desperate. "So I have to create one on my own."

"Mochizuki-san!" Daisuke yelled, his hand clenched into fist.

"It was not what we agreed!" Daisuke grabbed her on her shoulder shaking her as he could not take it any longer. He wanted her to wake up. "We can't create any new timeline. Do you understand how many lives will be affected? What about their happiness and their pain? In this dimension, we need not go through all these! I made a mistake before and I can't allow you to do the same. You and him will have to carry the guilt of causing Koushirou-senpai's death for the rest of your life."

"Izumi Koushirou is not dead. I promise." Meiko exclaimed. Tears welled up her eyes. Daisuke's eyes widened. He calmed himself down as he stared into Meiko's eyes in disbelief. Daisuke's eyes seemed to fill with hope after digesting her words now.

"What are you talking about? What kind of mistake was made? What is it about sacrifice? Is Koushirou-san still alive?" Takeru said stuttering. He decided to show himself with Patamon flying beside him. He felt really confused and he wanted answers.

Meiko looked shocked at Takeru's presence and she turned to face Daisuke who seemed to have known of this. Daisuke's D-3 had reacted to Takeru's D-3. He just wanted Takeru to chance upon them this way so Meiko would be forced to involve Takeru into her plan.

"Well, if Koushirou-senpai is alive, I'm fine with it." Daisuke answered seemingly recovered from his anger. He seemed very excited now.

"We'll need to locate that missing crest and fulfill Nishijima-sensei's request soon with his help. There will be a change in the possibilities this dimension can have." Daisuke gave a pat on Takeru's shoulder walking past him with a huge smile plastered on his face. There was a big plan in place.

They would create another destiny outside his and Yagami Taichi's 'standard' with their own hands.


Author's Note: There are two standard timelines in my fanfic: Taichi-centric and Daisuke-centric where either one would get to do a dimension travel with their team they did to DigiQuartz in Xros Wars. Takeru and Hikari would belong to Taichi's team (Daisuke's team didn't have Takeru and Hikari in Xros Wars). What if the first time Daisuke met Taichi, he realised he doesn't appear in his life? Daisuke vaguely remembered Taichi from soccer club when he was in grade 2, encountered him during Vandemon's siege but could not exactly remember him until he met him again during the events happened in Xros Wars?