All it took was one month before the town of Odaiba was back to its normal self.
The roads were all paved, Le Daiba's entrance was back to being crystal clear, and the citizens breathed a little easier with each passing day.
With Leiko and the trial – she saw the battle that occurred versus Dragomon. She saw Davis and them fight against evil. How could she go on knowing that she was in the wrong?
The trial was dropped, surveillance was taken away, and Leiko immediately backtracked on her prior statements of the DigiDestined, knowing full well what they were capable of in dire times.
However, the people still lived with a bit of fear in them that evil may return one day. As such, the Digimon were kept in their respective homes, having to keep themselves occupied while their partners were away.
Life, as everyone knew it, changed after that Christmastime – some for the better, others for the worst.
"Guess who got an A on his math exam?"
"No way, really?"
"…Okay, it was a B-, but still…"
"Still nothing, Davis, that's awesome!"
As school resumed shortly after the New Year's, Davis kept on with his good studies from the prior finals, impressing his parents, his partner, and his sister.
"So, what's been going on here?"
"Eh, same old for me," Veemon said, raising his hand, "been keeping myself away from people and such when out and about."
"Good," Davis said, slapping the raised hand of Veemon, "it's best to be safe until the summertime unless you want to be held captive again."
"Oh no, anything but that!"
"Don't worry – we'll make sure that doesn't happen," Jun said as she engulfed the blue dragon in a hug.
"I'm so glad you're willing to keep me safe," Veemon muttered.
Davis laughed seeing his partner being immersed by Jun – all was well for the Motomiya's for the time being.
"Okay, so a compound is made up of two elements; an example of this is table salt, which mixes one atom of sodium and one atom of chloride."
"…Um, okay, I think you're right on the first statement, now let me see about the second…"
Yolei scratched her hair as Hawkmon continued to look up her answer.
"So, I have something called Na—"
"That's sodium."
Hawkmon looked through the back of the book, reading it thoroughly.
"So…d…yum." Hawkmon pronounced the word in the periodic table. "Okay, what makes up ch…lor…ide."
Yolei giggled, "You're getting better at reading – the compound is Cl."
"Right you are…and thanks," he said, blushing at her compliment.
"I think I'm good for tomorrow."
"Are you sure, it's only been…" he looked at the digital clock on the nightstand, "one hour."
"I'm confident that I'm ready."
"Okay; if you fail, don't come crying to me."
"Oh, you…"
She sat on her bed with her partner, gently rubbing his feathers through her fingers.
"Hey, stop – that tickles."
"Oh, sorry; never knew that bothered you before."
"Well…I never noticed until a bit ago when—"
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Dinner's ready."
"We can talk afterward, okay?"
"Sounds like a plan!"
As Yolei scooped up Hawkmon in her arms, she felt protected and safe.
'When it comes time to fight again, I'll say yes because I have you.'
Armadillomon called the fight off before it got too out of hand.
"Okay, retreat to your corners!"
Chikara and Cody heard the armadillo's command.
"I say it's getting rather late – would you want to call this a draw?"
"Whatever you wish to call it, Grandpa," Cody responded with a bow.
As both fighters put down their bokkens, Armadillomon made a mad dash over to one.
"Alright, now it's my turn."
As he held the bokken with his front claws, he turned towards Cody and asked, "Would you be willing to fight me?"
"Maybe some other time – like Grandpa said, it's getting late."
"Oh…okay." The armadillo set down the bokken in defeat.
"Would you like a little bit of yogurt before bed?"
Armadillomon's eyes lit up. "Oh, you betcha, I would love some!"
As he made his way over to Chikara, who had the patch already opened to give to the armadillo, he started to slurp from the mouth.
"Oh yeah, this hits the spot; thanks Pap."
"Oh, you're more than welcome," Chikara responded, patting the armadillo's head.
Cody smiled as the scene unfolded before him – under one roof, things could be alright moving forward.
"You know, it's been a while since we've had one of these nights," Nancy said.
"Yeah, the last one was interrupted by fighting – now, we can actually relax in peace."
TK and Nancy exchanged worried looks before smiling at the Digimon.
"What? Did all of that not happen?" Patamon asked as he sipped his hot cocoa.
"No, it did – but it's a nice little memory to put up here," TK said, tapping his temple.
"I guess you're right."
"You guess?"
Nancy laughed, "Oh, you two are like an old married couple."
"Well, with everything we've been through, it certainly feels like it."
TK nodded at Patamon's statement as all three parties looked outward into the nighttime sky. Calming stars overlooked all of Odaiba as not a single cloud was in the sky.
This was something the trio could get used to for a long time.
As the alarm rang off on the nightstand, Kari was the first to stir awake.
"It's only Tuesday," she said feeling a bit downtrodden.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Tai said as he got up from the top bunk and made his way out to the kitchen for some breakfast.
As she heard Agumon snore from above her, she sat up in her bed, looking for Gatomon.
A sliding glass door closing gave her the answer she was looking for.
"Hey."
"Hey."
As Gatomon made her way up on the bed, she asked her partner, "Did you sleep okay?"
"…Yeah, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Yeah, it's going to take a while for things to calm down up here," Kari said, tapping her temple, "but I'll survive. I've been through worse."
"If you say so," was all the feline had to say. "I'm going to get some food."
"Okay, be out there in a minute."
As Kari sat on her bed, she had one singular thought on her mind.
'If all the dark was defeated, why am I still getting these nightmares?'
"Okay, I got five minutes before I need to leave – spill."
"Okay – I'm worried about you again."
Ken sighed at Wormmon's response. "You shouldn't be too worried. We defeated all of the dark—"
"What about Daemon?"
Ken went silent – they, the whole DigiDestined crew, forgot one member of the Corp they needed to thwart.
"And you think he's causing this new wave of darkness over me?"
Wormmon nodded. "I'm scared that you'll be back to your old ways soon."
As tears filled up in the worm's eyes, Ken gathered his partner and brought him in for an embrace.
"You don't need to worry about that – as long as I have you and my parents, along with my friends, I won't go back towards the dark."
He reassured his partner with a few comforting rubs before placing him back on the bed.
"I need to go – when I get back, we'll talk more, okay?"
"Okay."
As Ken left for school, Wormmon took some time to ponder to whoever would hear him.
'Please don't let him go back…'
Out in the Digital World, lurking behind some trees was Daemon – he did not want to be seen by any Digimon.
"I'll let Odaiba and here relax for now," he whispered, "but trust me when I say this; one day, I'll be back stronger than ever, ready to take down those digital twerps and their partners."
As Daemon went away in a warp, some hundreds of miles away, Mummymon felt an uneasy nerve appear within him.
"Who's there?" he asked, turning around in the desert.
Nobody answered him, as it was so throughout the last month.
He has wandered these parts of the Digital World in the hopes of rekindling something that was lost.
"I'm ready to be taken," he said, and as he digivolved, he put the gun to his head.
He cocked once and was ready to pull the trigger.
If not for a distant sound, he wouldn't have stirred awake from his nightmare.
He let the gun down and continued on his walk in the hopes of finding someone, anyone, to be his companion.
Not his one true companion, as that has left him.
Someone he can call his friend, his ally, his true friend.
He walks alone until he can find someone.
Like all Digimon, they wander alone until they find their pack, their chosen, their purpose.
For some Digimon, their purpose has been lived out – for others, they are still waiting for theirs.
Let one thing be certain – for their lives, they choose either good or evil. Let them not live in denial of their choices so long as they shall live.
And that is how I complete my long-standing fanfic! Thank you all for reading and reviewing this fic - until next time, Pan is out! :)