Digimon: A Courageous Camping Trip
Chapter 1: Something Seems Off
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Digimon related. This is for entertainment purposes only.
Tai always thought that the one thing that made him the happiest was seeing his friends happy.
It's been a few weeks since the defeat of MaloMyotismon, and everyone had agreed that throwing a party was the best way to celebrate the occasion. Naturally, Tai gave the idea his seal of approval. Everyone from the original and new teams were able to make it, with the exception of Mimi, but they promised to throw another party the next time she could visit. The party started off great, everyone talking and laughing, it was just fun.
Tai was currently talking with Izzy, it's been a while since they could talk without the topic of saving both the Human and Digital worlds showing up.
"It's just...nice, you know?" Izzy spoke with clear relief in his voice. "It might be selfish to say, but it feels good to not have the world on our shoulders for a while."
Tai nods, "I know what you mean. The pressure that gets put on us is crazy, but I think we handle it pretty well." He raise his glass to offer a cheers, and chugs his remaining soda. Izzy does the same and finishes his tea.
"Despite the fact that the world was in danger, it was pretty fun. Right?" Tai asks.
Izzy pauses for a moment before giving an honest answer, "It was a little fun, I'll admit. Discovering new things about a world that very few humans knew existed was like a joy ride for me, but I don't think I would do it again." He opens another tea bottle and takes a sip before continuing, "Thinking back on it in hindsight, it was a wonder that we made it as far as we did with relative little struggle."
Tai frowns a bit, while it was a miracle, he didn't think it was all that bad. "So you wouldn't want to do it again?"
Izzy takes a breathe, "Ideally, no. I know we were chosen," he gestures at everyone else at the party, "but the barrier was closed, and we can't open it, so that's that. I'm sad, don't get me wrong, I'll probably never see Tentomon again, but I know he'll want me to focus on my future than live in the past."
Before Tai could continue the topic, Izzy changes it, "Speaking of our future, do you have an idea of what you want to do? Did any of those soccer teams seek you out?"
"Huh? Oh, no. I don't think soccer is really in my future, that's more for Ken or Davis. Um...you first?"
Izzy smiles at the question, "Well, I've been thinking. I'm gonna start my own company. One that develops new technology and can keep the world moving forward." He scratches the back of his head, "Or that's the plan at least. I don't think I'm charasimatic enough to lead a company, so I'm probably just gonna work for one instead."
Tai watched Izzy with wide eyes, thinking, 'He's got everything figured out, and here I am still hoping to graduate.' Tai never really thought much about his future. As a kid he always thought about being a pro soccer player, but the games he played in high school showed him that he wasn't enjoying the game like he used to. The only thing that seemed to hold any second of his interest was Digimon. He just couldn't think of a future without them, but BlackWarGreymon repaired the barrier. They couldn't go to the Digital World anymore. Tai's train of thought was broken by the sound of snapping fingers.
"Tai. Tai. Are you there?" It was Izzy.
Quickly berating himself, Tai responds, "Yeah! Yeah, was just thinking. The future, right? Well, I haven't given it a thought yet. I'm just gonna focus on school right now." The answer seemed good enough for Izzy and the two of them stopped speaking.
Gazing at all of his friends he began thinking, 'All of them seemed to have their whole lives planned. Matt's got his band, Izzy's gonna start a company, Joe is becoming a doctor, Mimi wants to go into fashion, and Sora was thinking about helping her mom in the flower shop. And here I am. Still kidding myself with the idea that I'll still be fighting evil Digimon into my adulthood. I wonder if the youger ones think the same'
When his focus shifted towards the younger kids, he noticed something was weird. He only counted five people. He looked all over for the missing person, but he couldn't find them. 'Where's Davis? Why hasn't anyone said something?' Tai was having trouble figuring this out. 'It's not like Davis to miss out on a group event without telling at least Ken or Kari.'
Tai saw Ken and Yolie talking, he didn't want to interrupt, but the situation called for it in his mind. "Hey, Ken, can I ask you something?"
Ken's jumped a bit, not expecting to be called out by Tai, but he gave a slight bow to Yolie and approached Tai. "Hello Tai, what can I help you with?"
"Have you seen Davis? I don't think I've seen him yet."
Ken looked pretty schocked, "What? He isn't here yet? He seemed pretty excited for this event. He wouldn't stop talking about it."
Tai was hoping that Davis was just sick and told Ken that he couldn't make it, but this was the worst outcome he could imagine.
"C-could you go see what's up with him?" Ken asked out of the blue.
"W-what?" Tai was a little taken aback, Ken never really asked for something, he didn't want to bother other.
"Davis really looks up to you, and I think that if you go and check up on him, it'll 'fire' him up in a sense."
Tao thought for a moment. It made more sense for Ken to go, seeing as Ken is his best friend, but Tai saw this as an opportunity to have a talk, leader-to-leader. "Okay, I'll go make sure he's alright. Stay here and try to enjoy yourself."
Ken nodds and goes back to talking to Yolie. It seemed that Tai was the only one that noticed the small frown on his face. Taking a deep breath, Tai prepares to head out to find the missing goggle wearing goofball, but as he's about to open the door.
"Hey, Tai," a voice called from across the room. Tai turned to meet the voice, it was his little sister Kari. "Where are you going? Everyone's right here."
"Not everyone, Davis isn't here. Did you not notice that?" Tai asked, a little surprised that his sister could forget about Davis so easily.
"Really? I thought he was here. I could have sworn I saw him," Kari thought for a moment, "but if he's not here, maybe he doesn't want to come?"
"What? That's ridiculous, Ken even said it was all Davis could talk about. There's no way that he would want to skip this," Tai felt certain about one thing, Davis was the type of person who wants to see his friends happy. "Besides even if he doesn't want to come, he and I are overdue for a talk."
"Oh? What are you gonna talk about? Are you gonna get the goggles back?" Kari asked.
Tai nearly choked, "W-what are you talking about?"
"Well, I mean, there isn't a threat anymore, so it's not like he's a leader anymore," Kari reasoned.
"That's obsurd. Why would you think that? Davis has been such a huge help, he's done things I don't think I could even do."
Kari's face dropped, "I doubt that Tai. All Davis does is try to copy you, and even if he doesn't, all he's ever done is get lucky."
Tai couldn't believe what he was hearing, how could his sister talk like this. It wasn't right. 'There's no way they all treat Davis like this, right?' he began thinking. "I-I'm going to go now. See you." Tai needed to talk to Davis as soon as possible.
It was getting dark and most of the families that would be out and about were inside getting ready to sleep. Once he was a good distance from his appartment, Tai checked his pockets. He noticed right away that he forgot his phone and keys, but in their stead was a familiar object. He pulled it out and gazed at his Digivice. "I remember when you first appeared. I thought the summer camp was going to be fun regardless, but you made it a lot more interesting." Tai whispers to the device, as if it was alive. "I know I shouldn't feel this way, I know that I should grow up and start looking for a job, or start thinking about college, but I can't help but be drawn back to you." Tai sighs and looks around at the empty lot around him, "It feels like I'm in a race, and the others are leaving me behind in the dust because I want to look at your face in the crowd some more."
Tai takes a deep breath and stops walking, "Is it bad to feel like that? To not want to leave something so important behind. I feel like a stranger to my friends. They're all wanting to become adults and here I am still trying to be a kid. Is it so bad that I'm..." the words get stuck in his throat,"...I'm afraid okay!" he shouts, tears were starting to form. "I know, Tai the crest of courage is afraid. Well, it'd be funny if it wasn't so depressing." Tai looks at the digivice again, tears now falling freely, despite his desire to keep them in. He wants to hate it and move on with his life like the others. Instead, he's met with memories: memories of meeting Koromon, defeating countless evil Digimon, of digivolving to MetalGreymon for the first time, of saving Kari from Myotismon's clutches, of finally defeating Myotismon once and for all. With each new memory, Tai's frown slowly turns into a smile. "But I can't. How could I hate the biggest part of my life?"
After a few moments, Tai starts chuckling, "How can I help my junior when I can't even fix my own problems?" Tai looks around, luckily no one was around to witness his breakdown. He slaps his cheeks and wipes away his tears, "Okay, got that out. Now it's time to talk to Davis." Tai puts his digivice back into his pocket, and continues his walk. He starts looking at the scenery of his neighborhood, noticing things he never did before, but failing to notice the faint orange glow comming from his digivice.
A/N: Hi, I know after reading this you have some questions. Let me put some of them to rest. Yes, I will be using dubbed names and terminology for the most part. The dub is what I grew up watching and have more meaning to me than subbed terminology, but there will most likely be some exceptions. Yes, Kari is acting very out of character for the moment. This isn't a Kari bash or anything like that, but just know there is a reason further down the line. It will be annoying but it fit for the story and the ideas I have planned, so wait for the long haul. This is practically my first story with the existing characters from the series, so forgive me if I get some continuity stuff wrong.