-4-
While walking back to the hospital with Agumon and Gabumon by his side – he had volunteered to go get them while Yamato waited for him at the hospital with the rest of the guys – he couldn't help but think of everything that had been going wrong since Kuwagamon appeared again on the skies of Tokyo. He had died and came back, his teacher died, his sister had managed to create a dark evolution of her digimon, Yamato had been destroyed, he had fight with Yamato more than usual, everyone in Tokyo thought digimon were evil… he had forgotten his younger friends…
That was the heaviest set of thoughts on his mind. Taichi still couldn't believe that he had forgotten Daisuke, Ken, Iori and Miyako. He couldn't believe that, until he saw them on that freaky lab he couldn't remember they were part of his team.
Some leader, huh…
"Taichi!" Agumon's voice broke through his musings. "Are we close?"
"Yeah, buddy. Really close."
"Yamato is waiting there, right?" Gabumon asked. Taichi had to convince Yamato's partner to leave the apartment without the blonde. Gabumon was super responsible and didn't want to leave the house without Yamato telling him it was okay to do so.
"Yeah, Gabumon. Then we're going to the Digital World and straight to Primary Village to find the rest of the digimon…"
"I can't wait to see Veemon and the guys again!" Agumon chirped from the other side and Taichi sighed.
"Agumon? Gabumon?" both digimon looked at him, waiting "While we were fighting and stuff… did you remember Veemon, Wormmon, Armadimon and Hawkmon?"
"What do you mean, Taichi?" Agumon was scratching his head in confusion.
"It's weird, buddy. But I wanted to know if you guys haven't forgotten the rest of the guys. We… somehow we couldn't remember Daisuke or any of the younger chosen… not even Hikari and Takeru could… so I was wondering…"
"Huh…" was all Agumon said about it.
"It's not like we forgot about them, it's more like they were really on the back of our minds. There was always something happening and somehow we didn't pay attention…" Gabumon's explanation made more sense
"But… when Imperialdramon appeared…"
"Well, you said Ichijouji-kun was evil again and we believed you… besides, there was the infection running through our codes already so… maybe we were malfunctioning someway…" Gabumon shrugged "I still feel bad that we thought Ichijouji-kun was evil again. He's always very kind to me when he's with Yamato. It didn't make sense that he was evil again"
Taichi's heart stopped inside his chest. Gabumon was right. They were so sure Ken was evil again as soon as they saw the Kaiser appear with Imperialdramon by his side. They didn't question why or how the Kaiser was there again. Just assumed that Ken somehow was turned to evil again and was attacking them for no reason. It just made him feel even worse.
Gabumon was right. Because Miyako, Iori, Ken and Daisuke were his friends. Ken and Daisuke were his soccer teammates. Iori was the voice of reason when everyone was acting crazy and Miyako was the one to solve technological problems and butt heads with Daisuke when he was acting weird. More than once he had laughed at their antics when they were screaming at each other while Ken pulled Daisuke aside and Iori did the same with Miyako, while the digimon watched like a tennis match.
How could he not only forget his friends but also doubt Ken's loyalty? How could he believe Daisuke and Ken could send Imperialdramon to attack them?
"Taichi!" Agumon screamed and he tried to focus on their surroundings. The digimon had stopped a couple of steps behind him while he kept walking "Isn't this the entry?"
Taichi shook his head and caught up with the digimon to enter the hospital. Yamato and Koushirou agreed with Jyou that they would use Jyou's brother's office to send them to the Digital World so no one would notice them vanish inside a computer in the middle of the waiting room. Especially if the Ichijoujis and the Motomiyas were still hanging around.
He remembered his conversation with Yamato while they visited their friends earlier and couldn't help the sadness to invade his body again. It was like he was feeling twice the amount of sadness he usually had.
Ken and Daisuke were on the beds, side by side, machines beeping loudly on the silence that reigned in the room. Taichi and Yamato approached the beds cautiously, like any wrong movement could cause them damage. Half of Daisuke's face was covered in bandages and Ken's hair was pushed to the left leaving a huge gash on the right side of his forehead uncovered. Bruises everywhere and casts on their wrists, the boys were a collage of injuries.
"This is my fault…" Taichi whispered, standing close to Daisuke's bed.
"No, Taichi…" when he was going to rebuke, Yamato didn't let him "It's OUR fault. All of us… how could we forget them?"
Taichi felt like his heart was getting heavier and heavier. A dark feeling invading his thoughts and making feel even guiltier than before. He had forgotten his team. He had forgotten his friends. He was a terrible leader.
"You're not a terrible leader, Yagami!" Yamato grumbled from Ken's side. Taichi looked at him shocked "It's not hard to figure your thoughts, you know? There must have been something that could be done"
"YOU didn't forget them, Yamato…"
"But I didn't do enough to find them, either. I could have pushed harder, make Himekawa tell me anything. But I didn't…"
"At least you tried."
Taichi looked at Daisuke's face. He looked so relaxed there. The last he had seen of Daisuke was him squirming and screaming all their names while being loaded to the ambulance. Before that… it was blurry but the last he could remember was that last outing when they talked about jogress evolution and feelings. He couldn't remember if they had a game later on, or if they went to the coffee shop before they disappeared. And it had been more than a month now… it had been more than a month before they were discovered in that lab. He needed justice. He needed to do something… he needed revenge.
"We need to know what happened to them. Gennai… he did something to them and we have to figure out what he did… and then make him pay for it!"
Yamato looked at him, alarmed. It had been a long time since Taichi felt the need to act so aggressively, but he felt the need to defend his friends.
"We need to think and then plan something. And we also need to find Gennai and make him speak" Yamato said then, after looking at Taichi for a long time "And we need for the guys to get better. Because they could actually tell us what happened then…"
Taichi nodded and looked out of the window. Looking out of the window was better that seeing Ken and Daisuke hurt or the sadness on Yamato's face. But then he remembered something.
"Yamato… their digivices… where are they?"
Yamato went to look through Ken's stuff on the little table at the corner and Taichi did the same with Daisuke's. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Daisuke's blue D-3 there with his broken goggles, the D-Terminal and the yellow gloves stained with blood.
"Uh… Taichi? It's not here"
"What?!" he went to Yamato's side and hoped to see the black D-3 lying there but there was nothing. Just the D-Terminal and a little chain that Taichi recognized immediately as the crest of Kindness. "Wait… what is this doing here? Didn't he use this to stop some sort of explosion in the Digital World years ago?"
"Yeah… I seem to remember something about that… but Taichi, his D-3 is gone!"
"Do you think his parents might have it?"
"To do what? No, I don't think they would take it. We need to figure out where is his digivice or his digimon will always stay in baby or child form and he won't be able to enter the Digital World alone"
Jyou chose that moment to tell them that it was time to leave the room so Hikari and Takeru could have some time with their friends and they could prepare to go to the Digital World. Taichi asked for a few more minutes and Jyou sighed before closing the door again.
"Let me go and get the digimon, Yamato. I can go and get out fast and that way there's less chance of endangering one of us…"
"I thought we were clear on this, Yagami. We're both going, we'll find the digi-eggs, and we'll come back here and give them the eggs. Period. There's NO way I'll stay here while you go solo to the Digital World"
"But there are no more distortions… or infections."
"But Gennai is still out there. And being honest, I don't trust Homeostasis or Yggdrasil… so… We're both going and that's final, Taichi" Yamato didn't leave room for argument when he turned to look at Ken again "You're Daisuke's sempai, Taichi, and I get it. I feel kind of responsible for Ken. I know you guys always joke about me being his sempai but… he's like another younger sibling, you know? I want to protect them as much as I want to protect Takeru from danger… and that won't change. I want to bring Wormmon's egg to Ken. I want to be here when they wake up and want to hear what happened to them… I want to be their sempai as much as you are. Because I care about them. And if I have to fight Yggdrasil, Gennai and a few digimon in the way to be sure they and YOU are protected again, then so be it"
He wasn't used to Yamato giving speeches… even less than he was used to Yamato expressing his feelings like that. So… it was a little shocking, and surprisingly good to know they were both on the same page about all this. He still felt the need to protect Yamato from everyone and everything but he understood his best friend.
"So, I'm not your only otouto anymore, onii-chan?" Takeru said from the door with a smile "I'm hurt, onii-chan!"
Hikari was behind him and they both came into the room and stopped beside their respective brothers. Taichi wanted to reach out and hug Hikari but he wasn't sure she would take it well after the whole fiasco of the previous night. He saw how Takeru went to bump his shoulder against Yamato's and then they both smiled. Taichi also saw shockingly how Takeru was almost the same height as Yamato. They were so similar it was ridiculous.
"I guess we should leave you guys here" Taichi said while side-stepping Hikari and smiling at Takeru "We have things to do…"
"Yeah… we need to do this quickly before there's more danger or anything" Yamato agreed and Takeru side-hugged his brother. "We'll be back soon, okay."
"Okay… be careful, onii-chan. Please…" Takeru whispered softly on Yamato's ear.
"We will…"
Taichi smiled at Takeru and went to follow Yamato out of the door when he felt a light touch on his arm. He turned, shocked to see Hikari watching Ken but with her arm still half raised in his direction.
"Take care…"
Taichi smiled even more now. He winked at them and left the room, somehow encouraged to go there and come back even faster now.
He was inside the office of Jyou's brother with Koushirou and Yamato while Jyou kept an eye for anyone coming that way. Agumon and Gabumon were both waiting patiently by their side. Tentomon, having being called from the cyberspace with Gomamon, were trying to figure out what Koushirou was doing on the computer.
"Okay, so, I managed to stabilize a gate close to Primary Village. You need to see if Elecmon can help you guys find the eggs faster and then let me know through your digivices that you're ready to come back and I'll open back the gate, okay?"
"Okay…"
"I need to be sure you understand that we have to be quick. There's so much we don't know about the digital world after the reboot and I haven't been able to stabilize the gate for long periods of time so… Yamato, are you even listening to me?" Koushirou said with an eye-roll. Yamato just sighed.
"Yes. Get in, find Elecmon, get the eggs, and come back. Quickly too… got it, Koushirou." The younger one shrugged and went back to typing "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about Ken's D-3…"
"I will try to track Ichijouji-kun's D-3 as soon as you come back here from the digital world… I promise, I just don't want to destabilize the gate if I use too much data from the same computer"
"Don't go all techno on us, Koushirou. Just send us to the digital world; we'll talk about Ken's D-3 when we get back with the digi-eggs"
"Right. The gate is ready. You guys can go now" Koushirou said all this while typing on the computer. Yamato took his digivice and the gate opened.
When Taichi looked around and could see giant colorful blocks on the distance he knew it had worked. They couldn't access the digital world with their digivices for years and now, it was real…
"So… we're back…" Yamato's little comment made him look around.
"I guess we are"
"Taichi! We're in the Digital World!" Agumon was running around in circles and Gabumon was just looking at Yamato with a smile.
"We are, Agumon. We need to find Elecmon quickly, before Koushirou starts yelling through the digivice"
"I'm hearing you, Taichi-san. It's not funny!" Koushirou's voice came through the digivice and Taichi almost dropped it in the process. Yamato snickered behind him "Move it, now… you don't have much time"
"Okay, I heard you the first twenty times you said that, Koushirou!" Taichi put the digivice inside the pocket of his shorts, sometimes he wondered why he put up with Koushirou always making rush through things.
"Move, Yagami. You're a little slow today!" Taichi jumped at that and saw that Yamato and Gabumon where a few meters away walking towards the huge colorful blocks in the distance.
"Oi! Wait for us!" Taichi ran to catch up with his best friend. Agumon following clumsily behind him.
Primary Village was just as Taichi remembered. Baby digimon everywhere and it was all so cozy and fun. It was a good way to remember their childhood. Yamato stopped in front of a row of cradles and smiled.
"What?"
"I remembered when we had to come here to get Takeru. Remember? The first time we were in the digital world after Devimon separated all of us." Yamato smiled softly while running a hand on top of a cradle "I was so scared that I wouldn't find him or that he would be injured. But he was here all along. And having fun with the babies and Elecmon"
Taichi laughed "I remember Takeru with like twenty baby digimon all over him. On his hat, on his shoes, on his shoulders, on his arms… everywhere! Patamon was kind of jealous after that!"
"I can't believe how long has been. Where did the time go?" Yamato asked while looking around.
"Your baby brother isn't a baby anymore… just like my baby sister isn't either…"
Yamato just nodded and suddenly pointed in one direction. "Look! I think Elecmon is that way"
They started running trying to catch the digimon. Taichi remembered that he was very protective of the babies and wouldn't let just anyone touch them. He hoped they could find him soon.
Taichi saw a red blur not too far from they were standing and went for it. "Elecmon!"
The child digimon turned to look at him and Agumon by his side "Humans?! Who are you?"
Crap, the reboot! Taichi wasn't sure how he was going to convince Elecmon to let him and Yamato take four digi-eggs with them. "Uh… yeah, I'm Taichi Yagami. This is Agumon"
"I'm his partner digimon, Elecmon. And we've met before" Agumon added, approaching the digimon with a smile.
"You seem familiar… I have to admit. What do you want?"
"We need your help. A few of our friends are here again and we need to reunite them with their partners" Gabumon added coming close to them again "I'm Gabumon. Hello, Elecmon"
"Uh… how do I know you are not tricking me into giving you my babies? I don't even remember any of you!" he said while crossing his arms. Taichi sighed.
"Look, we don't really have much time and we really need to find those digi-eggs, right Yamato?" Taichi then turned around and didn't see Yamato by Gabumon's side like always. He was a few rows behind just staring at something "Uh… Yamato?" Taichi went to his side. He always remembered Takeru and Gabumon saying Yamato gave in to despair so badly he didn't move from his spot until Gabumon made him realize he was worthy and he was loved. Taichi had to admit it was a frightening thought to see Yamato like that "What's going on?"
"I'm feeling… like we should go that way" he pointed to somewhere in front of them.
Elecmon came to their side and looked at Yamato closely "You seem even more familiar… why?"
Yamato smiled at the digimon "You're good friends with my brother, Takeru." He pulled out his phone and showed a picture of Takeru when he was eight to the digimon "See, this is my little brother"
"Oh! The kid! I know him! And Patamon, too!"
Yamato kept smiling "We need to take our friends' digimon. Please, Elecmon?"
"Oh, fine! But I don't know where they are"
Taichi sighed; of course they would have to search all Primary Village for the digi-eggs! But then he felt some confidence inside of him. They were going to find the eggs quickly and return them to Miyako, Iori, Daisuke and Ken!
"I know where to look!" Yamato said while starting to move. Taichi looked at both Agumon and Gabumon trying to find an explanation but shrugged and went to his friend's side. In front of Yamato where a few cradles but there was one with two digi-eggs side by side. One blue with golden stripes and one light-pink with purple hearts. On the cradles beside that one were a fuchsia egg with white and green teardrop forms and a violet and white striped egg. "There they are" Yamato whispered softly.
"How… how do you know?" Taichi asked while looking at the eggs.
"I can feel it… can't you?"
"Uh…" the brunette tried to think and somehow he wanted to lift the eggs and feel their warmth. "Kind of. We need to be absolutely sure…"
"Those eggs appeared a while ago. No matter what, they won't hatch. I tried everything but… nothing worked"
"Why there's two in one cradle?" Taichi asked Elecmon and the digimon shrugged.
"I don't know. They appeared together and we left them that way"
Yamato then looked at Taichi "Those are Veemon and Wormmon! They died while in a jogress! It makes sense, Taichi"
"Yeah, I know what you're talking about… Elecmon, we need these four eggs. Our friends need them and they need our friends. They won't hatch until they're reunited with their partners"
Elecmon doubted for a moment but then sighed and nodded "That seems fair… those poor eggs have partners so they should be with them. Make sure they're happy and safe, okay. Or I'll hunt you all down"
"You have our word, Elecmon. Thank you" Yamato said. He went and grabbed the two pink eggs and smiled, Taichi went to grab the other two. "We will return when it's safer with them, I promise. So you can see them for yourself, okay?"
"Yeah, okay… say hi to your little brother for me. And Patamon too!"
"Will do… thanks again, Elecmon!"
Taichi gave one of the eggs to Agumon and grabbed his digivice. "Koushirou, we're ready whenever you are!"
"Okay. I'll open the gate again!"
Taichi only had time to grab the egg again before the light blinded him.
Oh, man, Koushirou did work fast with computers!