Reviews:
Clefeifei: Thank you :-) I'm glad you liked it.
Greymon Leader Batx flashpoint: I have a feeling this is the shortest review you're going to leave this whole story, Greymon ;-) Glad you liked it.
Malalala11: And that's okay. Like I said, whether you liked the movie or not does not matter to me. I'm glad you liked it, but I like that we agree that the whole Neverland sequence was terrible. Thanks for your input ;-)
Ackbarfan5556: Thanks.
Music Chick: Yup. Doing my best. This is what I needed to get me back up on my feet.
Sweet Cari: I agree with everything you just said. It was all of that and more. I will do right by Sora and everyone else. I promise you.
Sakura0410: Thank you for the review, and welcome aboard. I hope to see you around more often. Yes, Takari is finally happening :-) You're going to love the moment that comes here.
Special thank you to everyone that favorited and followed the story. The fact I got 11 favorites and 10 follows within the first week must be a record for me. The favorites come from four of my reviewers and from MultiFandomTrash-6, animangafreakZK, FictionGoreti, MsCrayon, Stormsky68, Yutyrannus28, and LightSpecter141.The follows came from most of you but also with Malalala11 and Sakura0410. Thank you all for the favorites and follows. It means a lot to me.
Hey guys and welcome back to chapter 2. I could not wait to put this out for you guys that the week seemed to drag on forever. Since tomorrow is Easter, I figured this would be my Easter gift to all of you. I want to once again thank you all for the tremendous support you showed right off the bat. Kizuna had the best first day in the whole series and that's thanks to the amazing viewers and reviewers like you. Thank you.
Now let's get into the story. I changed some things in terms of what some of the group members are striving to be––Tai and TK most notably. You'll see what they are here. Tai's friends and Matt's friend were not named in the movie, but they were in the novel except for first names that I came up with.
Enjoy!
"Ready…go!"
Tai burst out of his track start and ran against the ropes that were trying desperately to pull him back. His body strained after being put through four previous reps, but his determination refused to let him back down. He gritted his teeth and kept on pushing against the resistance dragging him.
"Come on, Tai! Drive!" his trainer encouraged.
He growled loudly, getting just a few more inches out of the bands. It was now completely maxed out on how far it would allow him to go. Tai kept running and pushing as hard as his body would allow.
"And…time!"
Tai allowed the bands to pull him back to where it could finally relax after being worked as hard as him. He ripped them off and adjusted the headband he wore on his forehead. The brown-haired Jedi of Courage then wiped the sweat off his face with the polyester material of his black muscle shirt. His shorts were also black.
"Good job," said his trainer. "Way to keep fighting there."
"Thanks," Tai panted and took a gulp of air before squeezing his water bottle to pour a stream of Gatorade into his mouth. He set it back down on the floor beside the band station before getting back into position.
"All right. One more set. Let's go."
He nodded and wrapped the bands around his shoulders before getting into position. It would not be long before he had workouts with some of Japan's top soccer clubs––he needed to stay in shape for them. This was his future on the line and he could not disappoint.
"Ten seconds," the trainer counted down the amount of rest he had left.
Tai smirked as he settled into the track start position.
"Three, two, one. Go!"
And he was off.
The rest of the workout continued on like that. Romanian deadlifts; lat pulldowns; curl-ups; back squats with 180 pounds on the bar; and dips. There were also agility drills where Tai had to run up two steps and then back two steps across a line; high-knee carioca going across and back three times; sprint starts; and also penalty kick breakouts. No stone was left unturned during the workout.
A half-hour later, it was finally over. Tai walked around with his hands on his head and took big, deep breaths to try and help get air back into his lungs. He was exhausted, but also felt so good after a workout like that.
His trainer smiled. "Great job today, Tai. You're looking really good out there. Keep giving it your all and you'll be ready for tryouts in no time. Go take a shower."
Tai nodded. "Thanks," he said as the man left the gym. He squeezed his bottle for a sip of Gatorade and wrapped a towel around his neck. Sweat dripped all over him. Every day, he felt himself getting stronger and faster with each workout. Tai would have the clubs drooling all over him at his workout for them.
"Hey, Mr. World Cup!"
The Jedi of Courage frowned at the name and turned to see his two classmates, Yui Nemoto and Seiji Morikawa, standing at the entrance to the gym. Morikawa was a male the same age as him. He wore long-rimmed glasses to go with his slicked back hair and sleek outfit. Nemoto was a young woman with medium-length black hair cut in a bob and wore a simple blouse and skirt. The two walked over to him.
Tai waved to them. "Hey, guys," he greeted. Once they were close, his frown returned. "Don't call me that."
"What's the matter?" Morikawa teased. "Don't like it? It's true."
"Tai, you represented Japan at the World Cup last month," Nemoto added. "You should feel proud of it."
"I am, but you guys don't have to keep reminding me." Tai wiped his face with the towel. "Besides, I really didn't do very much." He then changed the subject. "What are you guys doing here?"
Morikawa cocked an eyebrow. "You promised to meet us at the café this morning so we could work on our project but you flaked," he said. "What happened? Did you forget again?"
Café? Through his exhausted mind, Tai dug through his memory for anything about meeting them at a café this morning.
His eyes widened and he slapped a hand to his face.
"Aw shit," he groaned, sliding his hand down his face. "I'm so sorry, guys. I had an emergency to take care of in Nakano this morning. A parrot wanted a cracker." He then muttered, "A really big cracker."
His two friends cocked their eyebrows in confusion.
"Come again?" Morikawa said.
"A what?" Nemoto asked.
Tai pointed to one of the televisions in the cardio area that was turned on to a news station. A shot of Parrotmon flying through the area around Nakano station with him on its back flashed on the screen. The headline at the bottom said, 'Giant parrot terrorizes Nakano'. Once they saw that, their attitudes changed.
"Oh, okay," Nemoto nodded. "I gotcha."
"One of those Destined Jedi things, huh?" asked Morikawa.
Tai nodded. "Yup. Gave us all we could handle, but we got it taken care of."
He took the towel off his neck and dumped it into the hamper.
"What's that then?" Nemoto asked.
Tai glanced at her. She was pointing to his shoulder. He looked in the mirror and saw a bruise the size of a tennis ball. It must have been from the collision with the pole that morning.
"Just a shiner," he replied. "Nothing to worry about." Tai took one last sip of Gatorade before heading towards the locker room. "Let me shower and get changed. I'll be right out."
It didn't take Tai long to shower off and get changed. Once he got out, he and his friends left the student center and walked out into the bright summer day. The temperature was a little high for July, but nothing unbearable. Those temperatures would be reserved for August, easily the hottest month of the year in Tokyo.
The three of them walked along the cobble paths of the Waseda University campus. They were political science and economics double majors. It was quite a tough load for Tai over his four years, but with his friends' help, he managed to pull through. Now he was so close to graduating that he could almost taste it. One more term after this and that was it. Thankfully, this was a relatively light semester––only three classes total. Today was Tuesday, so he only had his seminar class for a couple of hours. He and Nemoto were in the same class, which made it easy for him to go.
"So, Tai, have you thought about a topic for your Bachelor's thesis yet?" the girl asked.
Tai's face became as pale as a ghost. Panic rose in his chest. He realized that he still had not thought of a topic yet for his senior thesis, and it had to be presented by the end of the semester to his committee chair.
"No, I don't have an idea yet," he said hesitantly.
She and Morikawa gasped.
"Nothing?" she exclaimed in surprise. "Tai, do you even want to graduate?"
"Of course I do! I'm just not sure how this relates to professional soccer. It's not like I'm going to be a researcher or anything."
"Everyone's got to do it. Time waits for no one," Morikawa chastised. He smirked and held up three fingers. "I've got mine figured out and I already have job offers from three highly respected agencies."
Tai glared at him. "Well, gee, maybe I should call you Br'er Rabbit and rub your foot for good luck," he said with dripping sarcasm.
Morikawa didn't seem bothered by that. In fact, it was like he embraced the label.
"Go ahead. Give me a carrot too while you're at it, Br'er Fox."
He made rabbit noises as he got close to Tai's ear, which caused the Jedi of Courage to promptly shove him away. Nemoto laughed at the display and wrapped her arms around them both.
"My boys," she said affectionately. It was so much like Sora when she'd have to get in-between him and Matt. Maybe that was why Tai found it easy to be around her. "Always giving me trouble."
"Because we love you so much, Nemi-chan," Morikawa cracked as they walked inside the College of Business and Economics. He adjusted the strap of his backpack and went toward the stairs because he was in a different class than them. "Well, gotta go. I'll see you guys later."
"Bye," Tai and Nemoto waved him goodbye as he walked up the stairs.
The two walked in silence to their lecture hall before Nemoto finally broke it.
"Everything okay, Tai?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. I just want to slow down a little. My life has been speeding by at a million miles a minute ever since the World Cup."
"I bet. Don't let Seiji get to you. He's just teasing," Nemoto assured.
"I know."
"How's the team search going? You getting any good offers?"
Tai shrugged. He was thankful she changed the subject away from his inability to settle on a topic for his thesis. "Eh, it's alright. Almost all the clubs in Japan have called me. Some teams in Europe and Australia want me too. I'm still waiting to see if FC Tokyo calls though. I'd love to play for them the most."
She smiled. "Well, hopefully things work out. In the meantime, get an idea for a thesis into that thick skull of yours. You don't have much time." Nemoto glanced at her watch. "Speaking of time, we better hurry or we're going to be chewed out for being late again."
She took off.
"They hardly notice anyway," Tai pointed out as he struggled to keep up with her.
TK and Kari were settled in at their table in a restaurant in Shibuya that served those fluffy little pancakes. They had already placed their orders and were just waiting for their food to come. Their drinks sat in front of them, a cup of coffee for TK and a warm green tea for Kari. The restaurant was not that full for a weekday, which didn't matter much to the young couple. They were just happy to be together.
The blonde male opened his backpack and pulled out a notebook and pencil from it. He then opened it and started drawing.
"Man!" Kari sighed in annoyance and took a sip of tea. "Our brothers are so busy these days it's impossible to do something with them. Outside of wrangling these wild Digimon, we never see them anymore."
TK looked up and shot his left eyebrow up teasingly. "Maybe they're tired of us," he said.
"Say it ain't so!" Kari cried in mock shock before the two of them laughed together.
TK kept on drawing as he spoke. "While Matt's been unavailable, I've been spending more time with Raiku after class lately. Since I'm the closest to him in terms of distance, I figure one of his brothers has to be there for him." A smile shot up his face. "We went to the park the other day and had a blast. He's so awesome."
Kari smiled proudly. Raiku was TK's six-year-old half-brother and had just started first grade that year. Over the years since his father remarried, she noticed TK was trying to reach out to his stepmother, Rumiko, and half-brother a lot more often after he wanted nothing to do with her for the first couple of years.
"I'm glad to hear that," she said. "Does that mean you and Rumiko are on good terms now?"
TK nodded. "Yeah. I'm proud to say we are."
"I'm proud of you, TK. I know it hasn't been easy, but you've put your best foot forward over the last few years." Kari took a sip of her tea. "I think Tai might ask Sora to marry him soon. Something tells me it's just a matter of time."
The Jedi of Hope jolted up in his seat, accidentally messing up a line he was drawing. His eyes widened in excitement. "Really? That's awesome." He erased the mark and redrew the line.
"Please don't say anything yet," Kari pleaded. "It's just a feeling. I'm not certain about it."
"No problem. Mum's the word. This is so exciting. Tai's going to be a professional soccer player next, so marriage does seem like the next big step for him."
"I know!" The brunette took a sip of her tea and said something that changed the tone of the conversation in a heartbeat. "Maybe you should buy me a ring too."
Once again, TK was so jarred by her statement that he messed up the drawing he was working on again. He cleared his throat and took a sip of coffee, looking like he was trying to mask that the statement caught him off guard.
"Baby steps, Kari," he said. "Baby steps. The only thing on my mind right now is deciding between being either a novelist or a mangaka. That's why I've been taking art classes this semester. Either way, I'm sure I can't go wrong with either media."
He turned his notebook over to show Kari the drawing. It was of him and Matt when they were in elementary school, roughly around the time their first adventures began. Kari's eyes shined with awe.
"Wow! That's so cool!" she exclaimed. "You've gotten really good lately."
"Thanks. The classes have definitely helped."
He and Kari paused for a long beat, filling the time looking at each other with loving expressions. To any onlooker, it was obvious the two were in love. After five years together, TK and Kari were still going strong. Even so, Kari felt like she wanted more. She sipped her tea.
"TK, we're getting to the stage where we need to decide where the future of our relationship goes next," she said. "I'm getting my teaching degree and you're going towards being an author or a mangaka. Before we know it, we'll graduate and be stuck at this crossroads where we're not sure where to go next." A teasing grin worked its way up her face. "Ya know, behind every strong man is a strong woman."
TK looked over both shoulders. "Where?" he cracked.
They both laughed. The waitress arrived a second later with their food. The two first-year college students adjusted themselves in the booth as she put the food down in front of them. When she put Kari's plate in front of her, she accidentally knocked Kari's teacup over. A yellow light on TK's wrist glowed brightly and time slowed to a standstill. He reached across the table and stopped the cup before it could spill the tea out of it. Time resumed at a normal speed.
"That could have been messy," he said with a nervous chuckle.
The waitress bowed in apology. "I'm so sorry!"
Kari waved it off with a shrug. "It's alright," she assured. Her eyes landed on TK as she finished with, "It happens," before winking at him.
TK winked back as his pancakes were put in front of him.
Matt angled his motorcycle left and settled into a parking spot on the side of the road. He turned the engine off and put his kickstand out before he angled the bars left to keep the bike at a good position for parking. As he stripped off his gear, he saw his friend, Kintaro Abe, roll up and park his Honda motorcycle beside him.
Abe was a handsome male with tan skin, hazel eyes, and brown hair that was styled in the front. Matt had met him his freshman year in his Intro to Engineering class and the two became friends fairly fast, especially since they both rode motorcycles. They were in the same motorcycle club together as well. After their class, they had both decided to go for a drink at a bar they frequented in Yokohama.
Matt walked in first and plopped himself down on a stool at the bar. Hard rock music and the pungent smell of cigarette smoke and cheap beer filled the air. Abe sat next to him and the two shouted out their orders to the bartender. Matt got a bottle of Asahi and quietly sipped it.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, Matt, but is it true?" Abe asked out of the blue.
The blonde put his bottle down and looked at his friend curiously. "Is what true?" he replied.
"That the SDF wants to make you an honorary pilot."
Matt laughed hysterically, but caught himself after a couple of laughs. He wiped some of his hair to the side.
"Get out of here with that stuff, man," he said. "Where did you hear that crock of shit?"
Abe shrugged. "I don't know. It was just a rumor going around." He sipped his beer. "So does that mean you aren't?"
"No, I'm not. If I were, I would have told you. Always come to me first before believing stuff like that."
"I am coming to you first. That's why I asked."
Matt chuckled and took another sip. "Besides, I don't think they'd want to take me in after what happened a few years ago. Let's just say that it would not make good PR for them."
Abe laughed with him. He knew everything about Matt's other life after he told him about it. From the beginning, the other male had accepted him as he was. He didn't harbor any ill-conceived notions about Matt and his friends, and for that the blonde was thankful.
A few quiet moments went by as the two sipped their beers. The bartender asked if they wanted another round and both said yes. A few moments later, they had new bottles of beer in front of them and an order of yakitori.
Abe broke the silence. "The guys are wanting to organize a run out to Matsumoto this weekend," he said. "You wanna go?"
Matt sighed and ate a piece of chicken. "Nah, I can't. I'm working double shift this weekend," he replied. "Somebody had something come up at the last minute and they asked if I'd cover for them. I'm not gonna say no to more money, and it's better to stay busy."
"That's too bad," Abe said sadly. "I think it'd be good for ya to get out a bit. Help clear your head of things. I'm sure your friends can handle these Digimon without you for a bit."
"It's more than that."
"What is it?"
Matt bit his lip. There was no need to continue this conversation any longer. He stood up and put his leather jacket on before tossing out some money for his split of the tab.
"Thanks, Shotaro," he said to the bartender.
"No problem, Matt."
"Where are you going?" Abe asked in surprise. "We're not done talking."
"You may not be, but I am. I gotta go to work. See ya."
"I think you should wait a while."
"A beer and a half doesn't do anything to me. Don't worry."
Matt walked out of the bar, leaving his friend behind. There were some things that did not need to be said.
Hope you guys enjoyed it. To repeat, the names I gave Tai and Matt's friends were in the novel except for first names, which I created. I really did not give a crap about any of them in those scenes, but figured if I had to make do with them then I might as well make you care about them. Hopefully I did that.
The reason I switched TK from being a novelist to a mangaka, which is what people that create manga are called in Japan, is because the best way to get across what happened to everyone over the years is a visual representation and also because manga is hugely popular in Japan (and everywhere for that matter). Sora comes into the picture next chapter, but that will happen next week :p
Happy Easter to all of you and I hope you have a great holiday. As always, leave a review and subscribe if you have not already even though a lot of you did.
See you guys next weekend.
Tootles.