Chapter 39: Define "Back"
Henry walked into the plant more ashamed than ever, and he even had tears running down his face.
Rika looked at him as he was walking in, and she asked, almost without knowing that she was being a social creature, "What happened to you?"
"Takato…! He's gone! They got him!"
"Got him? He's…dead?" As much as she tried to deny her heart, Rika couldn't help feeling her stomach wrench over the loss of Takato.
"I don't know what they did to him…but they took him away, and there was a human helping them!"
"A human? Who?"
"Nobody I know…oh! Yolei's going to kill me for this if I don't kill myself first!"
"Hmph…I guess we're going to have to get him back then, huh?"
"How? How can we ever find him back?!"
"The D-Arcs, duh!" Rika held hers up, and Takato's digivice was on the screen, moving away from them.
"I'll get Yolei."
******
"You accomplished the mission, but not at the cost we expected."
"You can build another gauntlet. How tough can that be?"
"Not very. The one you lost was incomplete, anyway. In future, do not allow such losses."
"Don't worry; I won't." There was a short pause. "One question…how come you had me go through all that trouble, anyway? What good is he to you? Is he a Digidestined?"
"We saw him digivolve his digimon. He must be."
"I don't see what good he'll do you at this point."
"Even if the human does none at all, his digimon will. We need more genetic information to succeed."
******
"I'm sorry, Henry…but we just don't have the time to go after him."
"What do you mean?!"
"I don't know how to put this…but, to put it bluntly, he's just not that important. There are people dying every minute just because we didn't get to them in time. If Takato's already dead---"
"He can't be! If they'd wanted him dead, they'd have killed him and left his body to rot right in front of us! This was a kidnapping job, not a seek-and-destroy! And if they want him alive, there's no telling what it could be for! We need to get him back---!"
Yolei shook her head. "Enough of this…you're just emotionally unstable because you've lost him. I'd love to be able to say, 'Never leave a man behind!' and send a team to get him, but I can't. We just don't have the resources. Please, go get some sleep…you need it."
"But---!"
"GO."
Henry sighed. He walked to his room to begin weeping into his pillow.
Tina passed him as she was walking to the TV lounge. She saw the tears on his face and she felt him smack her shoulder going past her, and he hissed at her, "You and your mother!" Tina was taken aback.
Youngdramon looked up at her. "Should I eat his Terriermon for that?"
"I don't think that's what's called for…maybe we should go to the horse's mouth on this."
"Your mom or Henry?"
"My mom. If Henry were the horse's mouth, he'd bite me." Tina walked into Yolei's office. "Mom, how come you're always ticking people off?"
"Hey, it comes with the job description: I can't please everyone."
"Henry's…he slammed into me in the hall. He said to me 'you and your mother'."
"He's just upset. He'll get over it…after a while."
"What happened?"
"I told him we didn't have time to go after a friend of his that was kidnapped."
"Kidnapped? Who?"
"Takato."
"Mom, it's a lot of gratitude that we're showing by not going back after him! Look at how much he's done for this place!"
"It's not like that, honey. We all need to give some to live around here."
"And, for all he's given, he gets to die?"
"We don't know that he's going to. Honey, I don't have time to argue with you. I know that your heart is too big to let Takato stay in their clutches, but we have refugees to keep safe! …And don't even think about going after him yourself. You're still not allowed to leave the plant, young lady!"
"How would I know where to look, anyway?" Tina turned around and walked to the door.
"Is that all you have to say?"
"I came in here because I wanted to know what's with Henry. That's all---" Tina did a double-take out the office door. "Uh, Mom, did you say that Takato was the missing guy?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Because that guy over there looks conspicuously like Takato!"
Yolei got up from her desk and looked---and it was Takato!
"Takato?" she asked. "How did you get back?"
"I just jumped out of that---thing's claw, and it didn't run after me to try to get me back…I can't explain it!"
"What about Guilmon?"
"I don't know, but, if they kill him, his data goes straight back to my digivice."
"Then…until you get him back, you'd better stay in the plant. Go to your room and get some rest."
"Thanks."
Yolei sighed. "Well…one problem solved itself."
"I guess," Tina said.
As they were walking away from the office, Youngdramon asked, "Now, doesn't it seem a little weird to you that Takato isn't the least bit scared about what's going to happen to Guilmon?"
Tina shrugged. "Maybe he just doesn't show it."
"Maybe."
******
Big Blue was stirred from his sleep by a loud, "Hey, check this out, Gabumon!"
"What is it?"
"It…looks like Sora's old fanny-pack. You know, the one she was wearing when we were at that summer camp, right before we were beamed into the Digiworld the first time."
"You think it's a coincidence that this same type of pack is here?"
"I dunno, Gabumon…last I remember, Sora was a CEO for a big company. I don't know how she would've gotten to America…if that's where we are."
"I distinctly remember the Digiworld being destroyed," Gabumon insisted. "This can only be Earth."
"If you say so, Gabumon. But didn't they stop making these fanny packs? And even if Sora was here, how would she have it with her?"
"Something turned you into a kid, again…and, when you were transformed, you were wearing the same clothes as when you were a kid, weren't you?"
"Well…yeah…"
"Then Sora might've gotten her fanny pack back when she was turned into a kid, too."
"But where would she have gone from here?"
"I have one guess…"