Hey there everybody. We got your weekly fix of Secrets right here. Hope you all enjoy it and continue to show your support for the story. Means a lot to hear from you guys every week.
"Firehedgehog" - Yeah, it really sucks to be him right now... though, we do plan on making it up to him so, yeah.
"dracomancer6491" - Being complete Digimon is going to be really rough on the boy and yeah, he has been puth through a lot of rough crap at once huh? Don't worry though, we plan on giving him plenty of sweet moments as you will soon see in the future.
"The Keeper of Worlds" - Certain liquid lady? Sorry buddy but I'm not sure I understand. FC doesn't quite understand either. As for Ceberumon, we'll see what happens.
"I have a dictionary here" - It's an interesting idea but you won't really know what happens here. Happy you're enjoying the story though.
"wentvoltage123" - Well, the guy's a dick but Takuya's still got a conscious. No one deserves to get mauled by a fire breathing hellhound with scary green fire and sharp bladed claws and... yeah, no one wants to be mauled by that.
"Kameo1" - You pretty much hit the nail on the head there buddy. At least he has the best friends anyone could ask for. It could be so much worse for the guy.
"Ten Commandments" - Yeah, Cerberumon is the worst huh? That guy's just plain evil to take Takuya's data like that. Sucks to be Takuya.
"Digidestinedkid6" - I might not be able to tell you how Takuya gets out of this one but I can tell you that we have a lot of torture in store for the boy... lots and lots of psychologically scarring torture... Mwa ha ha ha ha!
Well, now that we got that out of the way, let's get to the chapter shall we? Here you guys go.
Chapter 24: Beaten and Tired.
Takuya sat for what felt like hours in that dark alley. He fought to stay awake despite how badly his exhaustion had taken him over. It was important that he'd stay awake unless he'd risk his opportunity to finally be out of this mess.
He had long since lost track of time but figured it to be late into the night. Maybe Kouichi and Tomoko were probably worried sick and looking for him.
As time passed by Takuya began to feel paranoia seep through to him. What if his friends don't find him? Kouichi and Tomoko were the only ones nearby to search for him and there was just too much to search for just two people. Or what if Cerberumon found him? There was no place to run. He didn't even have the strength to fight back. He'd be at the evil dog's mercy.
His eyelids fluttered tiredly. The boy's heart still raced with fear. A soft moan escaped him as he felt himself succumbing to sleep. His head bobbed as he fought to stay awake.
"Takuya!"
The boy's head jerked up. He swore he just heard someone calling his name. Kouichi maybe? Was he even out looking?
"Takuya!"
He heard it again, this time he was certain he'd heard someone. He couldn't tell who it was just yet and felt nervous calling back.
"Takuya! Where are you?!"
Takuya heard it once more and could make out a male voice. It came to him a little more clearly but not enough to give him cause to call back. He then made out the sound of footsteps. Someone was approaching.
"Takuya!"
Kouichi. He was certain of it now. The voice belonged to him. The fire Digimon groaned as he tried to sit up. He took a breath to try and find his voice. "K-Kouichi… Kouichi…" he continued to call out a little more loudly.
"Takuya?" he had heard Takuya's call and stepped towards the alley. "Takuya, are you…" Kouichi stopped when he saw his friend lying limp against the wall. "Oh my god Takuya!"
The younger boy smiled weakly. "Kou.. Kouichi..." he gasped.
He immediately went to Takuya's side, inspecting the boy's injuries carefully. "My gods, Takuya... what happened to you?"
"C-cerberumon..." Takuya said shakily, "Shinoba... attacked..."
Kouichi tilted his head in confusion, but shook it off. Details later. He had to help Takuya first. He lifted Takuya's arm around his shoulder and helped the Digimon stand up. "Easy now Takuya... just take it easy. Can you walk?"
Takuya nodded tiredly, "I'll try."
"Come on, mom's got her car parked nearby. Let's get you home."
The Digimon boy nodded his head again as Kouichi helped carry Takuya to the car.
Kouichi wanted to be quick to get to Takuya to safety. He didn't want to show it but finding Takuya in his current condition had terrified him. He needed immediate attention.
Once seeing the boys, Tomoko stepped out of the car and ran over to their side. She let out a frightened gasped upon seeing Takuya's condition. "Hurry, let's get him in the car. Takuya, everything's going to be okay now."
Takuya didn't respond to the mother's attempt to reassure him. The world became dead to him as he began to pass out. Kouichi helped his mother take Takuya into the back seat before they took off back to the house.
"Just relax Takuya. We'll take care of you." Tomoko soothed. She and Kouichi quickly lifted the injured boy much to his protests of pain and put him in the back seat. Kouichi sat beside him as his mother put the car back into drive and turned the car around.
Kouichi grimaced at Takuya's injuries, "What happened?"
"S-shinoba surprised me..." Takuya rasped, shaking, "Cerberumon... my data... my human data..."
"You're human data... You mean Cerberumon took it?!" Kouichi finished, piecing the horrible truth together.
Takuya didn't respond to the Kouichi's attempts to talk to him. He was too tired and exhaustion was close to slipping in and out of consciousness.
Tomoko couldn't understand what they were talking about; she figured the Ceberumon creature was just another monster but the thing about data just confused her even more than she was now. For the time being, helping Takuya recover was her priority one. She could ask questions later.
They made it back to the household and instantly got to work on wrapping Takuya's wounds up. The Digimon boy moaned and struggled but Mrs. Kimura had managed to bind Takuya's chest and arm up snugly. The slashes were deep and normally would have required stitches but with Takuya's remarkable healing abilities, they were slowly starting to close up on their own.
"Mom, he's going to be okay, right?" Kouichi asked, discarding the bloody rags used to clean Takuya up.
The mother nodded and wiped away the sweat from her brow. "He should be fine so long as he doesn't exert himself."
Kouichi looked at her, "You do know this is Takuya. He can't sit still."
"He'll have to if he wants to heal properly." she replied. Takuya had fallen asleep, his face still pained but otherwise peaceful. "This poor child..."
"He's been through a lot," Kouichi said softly, "I hate to see him suffer like this."
Tomoko nodded, "I couldn't agree more." She pulled her son into a tight hug, "You're a good friend though Kouichi. Come on, let's get ourselves cleaned up and let Takuya rest."
Kouichi nodded and followed his mother into the kitchen.
"Kouichi, You said something about data in the car- what were you talking about?"
"Um…" Kouichi wasn't sure how to respond to his mother's questions. He couldn't fathom how to even begin explaining the whole Digimon thing.
"Kouichi, please, tell me everything you know." Tomoko insisted.
The boy sighed. He really had no other way of getting out of it. Maybe it'd be best if she was filled in on the whole thing. "Well Mom… it's a long story."
And so Kouichi began telling his mother everything he knew from the Digimon and Digital World to the Warrior Spirits and their adventures. In hindsight, it may have been too much for Tomoko to take in at once because she just sat in her seat silently with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Mom?" Kouichi called out to her, worried if it had been a good idea or not to tell her everything.
Tomoko snapped out of her chain of thought and gave her son her attention. "I'm sorry… your story is just… difficult to comprehend. So there's this… other world where these creatures come from?"
He nodded, "Yes. There are a lot of different kinds of Digimon too. Most of them are nice too, it's just a few of them that are evil."
"But what do they want with Takuya?" she asked, concerned that Cerberumon might turn up in the middle of the night.
Sensing his mother's concerns, Kouichi tried to calm her nerves. He laid a hand on her shoulder. "We're not sure just yet Mom... they've been stalking him for months now and making his life miserable. And we can't help him."
She sighed softly, pulling Kouichi into a hug again. "This is so horrible to watch Takuya suffer like this..."
"We're trying our best to do what we can form him…" Kouichi told her to try and reassure his mother. He really wanted to believe he could help his friend but it seemed like all they could do right now is try to help him heal.
The mother bit her lip and glanced over to the poor boy. He was in so much pain. "He can't keep doing this on his own. I can't imagine what would happen if something else happens to him while he's like this."
Kouichi kept quiet. These Digimon seem to be able to find him wherever he goes. Ceberumon could show up at any time and take advantage of the situation.
"Someone has to know about this… to help him…" Tomoko muttered.
"We can't Mom… we can't tell anyone, not with Takuya the way he is. They could really hurt him if the wrong people know…" Kouichi replied, terrified of what else could happen.
She knew exactly what her son meant. Many people would try to hurt Takuya even more; lock him up or exploit him. "The poor child..." she whispered. Kouichi urged her there wasn't much more they could do for him at this stage.
Tomoko sighed again and carefully draped a blanket over the injured Digimon. She and Kouichi sat down near the boy and watched over him as he slept. Kouichi fell asleep not long after, head bowed forward. Tomoko smiled, and found another blanket for her son before retiring to the guest bedroom herself.
The night passed on with no incident; Takuya's injuries, while serious, did not cause much discomfort due to medications given to him to numb the pain.
Tomoko was the first one to come back downstairs and her first priority was to check up on the injured boy. The wounds that had cut deep into his chest and his arm had healed but only to a small extent despite his admirable healing abilities.
She sighed weakly and adjusted the bandages so Takuya would at least be a little more comfortable.
"Good morning Mom. How's Takuya doing?" Kouichi asked, coming downstairs himself shortly after.
"He's still asleep. When did you go to bed last night?" she asked, looking up at her eldest son.
Kouichi grinned, "'round 2, Takuya woke me up. I think he shifted onto his arm and it was hurting him. I moved him so it wasn't aggravating his injury."
Tomoko smiled proudly. "How about some breakfast?"
"I can cook mom," Kouichi offered, "You've done a lot already."
She smiled again, "Thank you Kouichi."
He disappeared into the kitchen shortly there after and began to prepare breakfast for three people, well two people and a Digimon. Kouichi bit his lip, the fact of Takuya losing his human made him feel uneasy and kinda of sick to his stomach. How would this impact Takuya? He would be confined to the house.
Takuya was desperate to retain even just a single shred of his life and this had just about torn away any that remained. Takuya was still trying to recover from everything that was happening with his family; this was only going to make things worse.
Kouichi groaned, having trouble thinking of any solutions to help his friend out. His frustration grew after nearly burning their breakfast due to his distracted thoughts.
"Kouichi, everything going okay over there?" his mother asked, noticing the bothered look on his face.
He was snapped out of his trance and nodded slowly. "It's okay Mom. Just a lot on my mind right now."
Tomoko nodded knowingly went over to her son's side. "I know how you feel. With everything that's happened, it'll be difficult to help him. Right now, the best we can do is offer our support; you, me, all your friends…"
"I know, I just wonder if it'll be enough? Takuya's pretty tough but this is just..." Kouichi trailed off, sounding discouraged.
The mother nodded knowingly. "I know sweetie. We'll have to try though."
He sighed, "Yeah. I'm going to go call everyone else and get them filled in."
"Go ahead." she said warmly, "I'll finish up making breakfast- or remake it..." she added after seeing the state of the toast.
Kouichi grimaced at it, "Sorry."
Kouichi went into the living room and contemplated on who to call first. He knew calling his brother would just make him worry senseless. It wouldn't do Kouji any good to worry while he was away.
So he dialed up Zoe.
"Hello, Kouichi? What's up?" he heard her answer.
"Hey Zoe…" Kouichi was hesitant about how to answer. He wasn't sure how to break it to her without her possibly going ballistic. "Uh… we got some bad news…"
"Kouichi, what happened? Is Takuya okay?" the blonde asked, getting straight to the point.
"Well… there was another attack." Kouichi started. "Takuya got hurt really bad… Zoe, he fought with a Digimon, Cerberumon. I think it took his human data."
"What!" she shrieked.
Kouichi flinched at her voice, "Oww... Zoe calm down. Takuya was injured, but he's healing already."
"How is he besides that?" the blonde asked.
"He's been out since last night. He's exhausted..." Kouichi paused, "He's gonna need you when he wakes up."
She swallowed, "I know... I'll be over as soon as I can. Just keep an eye on him."
"I am." Kouichi replied, he noted his mother waving to get his attention from the kitchen "can you call JP and Tommy? My mom needs me."
"Yeah," Zoe replied. She paused then asked, "You guys are at Kouji's right?"
"Yeah."
She sighed, "Just making sure."
"I'll see you guys when you get here." Kouichi finished and hung up. He sighed tiredly, but was glad to know that he'd have some help with Takuya when everyone would arrive. It wouldn't take too long for any of them to arrive. Kouichi just had to do his best to help Takuya when he wakes up.
Breakfast went off without a hitch, though Mrs. Kimura did need to start over from scratch. Takuya didn't wake up though even with the delicious aromas from the kitchen filling the air.
Tomoko went to Takuya's side after finishing up her breakfast. He was still deep in slumber and the look on his face was that of discomfort, the wounds still aching with dull pain.
"Kouichi, can you watch over him while I go get more supplies?" The mother asked, noticing that they were short on much of their medical supplies, what with how much Takuya's been going through these past few months.
He nodded, "Of course! Zoe, JP and Tommy will be here soon, they can help."
"Perfect. I'll be back as soon as I can. Keep him calm- no excitement. If Takuya's in pain, give him an aspirin and make him rest."
"You can count on me Mom." Kouichi replied with a mock salute.
Ms. Kimura rolled her eyes, "No excitement."
"No excitement. I'll try and keep Zoe calm then."
She laughed lightly and departed, leaving the boy to wait for the rest of his friends to arrive and for Takuya to wake; whichever came first.
Takuya moaned, his eyes fluttering open weakly as he slowly woke up from his sleep. "w-where…?"
"Takuya? You're awake." Kouichi went to his friend side. "You're back at Kouji's. Do you remember what happened? Mom and I found you last night and brought you back."
The Digimon boy groaned and tried recalling what occurred the other night. He remembered being hounded by Shinoba, and then the battle with Ceberumon. Takuya tried sitting up suddenly but stopped, feeling pain surge throughout his body.
"Whoa there, take it easy. You shouldn't be forcing yourself up yet." Kouichi told him and tried to lay him back down gently. "You need to rest and recover."
"But… I cant… I need to…" Takuya whined weakly, unable to find the strength to resist and laid back down.
Kouichi pulled a blanket over him, "You need to relax and let yourself heal. You were hurt pretty badly last night."
"I was?" Takuya asked groggily, not really able to recall how badly the fight had ended.
"Yeah, You were." Kouichi replied shortly, "Just- relax okay? Your body needs time to recover and acclimate to being fully Digimon."
Takuya stared at him, disbelief splashed across his face. "F-full D-digimon?.That... wasn't a dream?" His voice was laced with fear as he looked up at Kouichi. The look on the elder boys face told him it was indeed, real. Takuya's heart sank into his stomach. He felt like he was going to be sick.
"I'm sorry Takuya... Cerberumon..."
The flame Digimon shook his head, "It's not your fault... I screwed up…" Takuya started, remembering what had happened. "I was distracted… and it took advantage of it… I never stood a chance… and now… I'm not even human anymore…"
It was Kouichi's turn to shake his head. "You're still you Takuya… you can't think of it any other way…"
"Kouichi… I'm not human anymore. You can't spin it any other way…" Takuya replied bitterly. "I'm not even half…"
"Takuya… please, don't do this to yourself…" the older twin tried to tell his friend before he could completely self-destruct on himself again. "Look, we're all here or you… Zoe and the others are coming to give their support…"
"Zoe's coming?" Takuya looked up, his eyes a mixture of happiness and fear, "She's going to kill me..."
Kouichi couldn't help but smile a bit, "Nah, She cares about you too much. She will lecture you though."
Takuya groaned, pulling the blanket over his head. "This is just getting better and better."
"Lighten up okay?" Kouichi coaxed, "She won't hurt you. She might yell, but she sounded more worried than mad. Besides, my mom explicitly said no excitement, and I plan to keep it that way."
The boy just groaned more. "Everything hurts."
"I can give you an aspirin." Kouichi offered.
Takuya shrugged, "Not right now. It's mostly just sore... my chest hurts the worst, but I can manage at the moment."
"You don't need to be a hero. Zoe, nor my mother for that matter, would appreciate it."
"I guess… alright, I'll take it." Takuya finally complied, nodding under the blanket.
Kouichi smiled in response. It was a relief to have the boy cooperate. "Good, I'll go get the aspirin then, in the meantime, take the blanket off your head. You look like one of those silly bed sheet ghosts."
Takuya groaned in response and pulled the sheet down off his head. He sighed weakly and tried to get comfortable in his spot. The boy was sore all over and found it hard to just lie back against the cushion.
"I'm back." Kouichi told him. "Just say ah." He said, holding the pill in his hand.
The Digimon boy looked at the pill in his friend's hand. "You can't be serious. I can take care of it myself." He replied, trying to pay no mind to the ache in his injured arm.
The older twin just sighed in response. "Just let me give you the pill."
Takuya grunted but allowed Kouichi to put the pill in his mouth, and hold a glass of water up to his mouth so he could swallow it.
"Are you hungry?" Kouichi asked nonchalantly, organizing what remained of the first aid kit on the coffee table.
"Yeah, food sounds good to me right now," Takuya replied, his stomach growling in agreement.
The elder boy stifled a laugh, "Let me go see what I can get for you."
"Thank you." Takuya said graciously, allowing himself to lean back and relax as best as he could. His arm was throbbing but the aspirin would dull that shortly once it took effect. He closed his eyes, trying to figure out what he was going to do about Cerberumon and his human data.
He couldn't change back to his human form that was certain. He couldn't go out in public anymore. Extreme measures would have to be taken if Takuya was even going to take one step outside.
Takuya could appreciate that everyone he knew at least was aware of his situation. All of his friends, Tomoko, Mr. and Mrs. Minamoto; they all understood what was going on with him. They all were willing to lend him a hand.
"You okay Takuya?" Kouichi asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just… thinking about a few things." Takuya answered softly. Kouichi left the breakfast on a tray for him. Takuya couldn't help himself from devouring every last morsel of his meal, ignoring the dull pain in his arm.
"Easy Takuya, you don't want to choke on it." Kouichi warned him, amazed with how fast the boy was shoveling food down his throat.
He smiled sheepishly after swallowing the last bite of food. "Sorry... I was hungrier than I thought..."
Kouichi smiled back, laughing lightly. "It's okay, just, calm down- Mom said no excitement remember?"
"I know..." He flexed his hand, putting the plate aside. "This is so weird..."
"What is?" The elder twin asked, taking a seat on the chair beside Takuya.
Takuya looked up from his hand and at Kouichi. "Being all Digimon... Do you think anything will happen to me?" he asked, becoming fearful, "I-I mean... do you think I'll change...?"
Kouichi stared at him, taken aback by the question, "Change how?"
"Well… I'm not human anymore…what if… I go crazy." Takuya answered weakly. "What if I lose control… Digimon aren't supposed to be here… I… I don't have that human part of me anymore…"
"Takuya, try to calm down." Kouichi tried to stop his friend from losing it. "Nothing like that is going to happen to you. You're going to be okay."
Takuya bit his lip, not sure what to believe. "I… I don't know. Kouichi… I'm scared… I'm really scared…"
The older twin held Takuya by the shoulders. "Hey, you're going to be fine. It's been a day Takuya, nothing's happened. I keep telling you you're going to be fine."
The Digimon boy wanted to believe his friend. He honestly wanted him to be right. Takuya was just so scared. Bokomon kept telling him that bad things would happen with a Digimon entering the human world.
Kouichi sighed heavily, knowing he wasn't going to get far without backup. "I know what Bokomon said, but the Digimon we've encountered, besides being huge pains, were normal. You're still normal. Everything will be okay. You'll only go crazy with worry."
He shivered, "I guess so..."
"Just-" There was a knock at the door, interrupting Kouichi's thought "Thank goodness." Kouichi stood and went to answer the door, inviting Tommy, Zoe and JP inside.
"Takuya!" Zoe went straight to the boy's side, looking him over and examining his injuries. "Oh my... Takuya..." JP and Tommy stood behind the blonde while Kouichi sat back in a chair, relieved that help had arrived.
"Cerberumon did this to you?" JP asked in disbelief, "I thought you purified him!"
The Digimon snorted, "So did I."
"Oh man Takuya…" Tommy looked at the wounds, worried that his friend might still be in pain. "Does it… really hurt much?" he ventured to ask.
Takuya shook his head, trying to shake off any of the numb pain he could still feel. "I'm fine, I'll be okay. Kouichi gave me some pills to numb any of the pain. I heal really fast too so I'll be okay." He tried to assure their youngest friend.
Zoe gave Takuya an apprehensive look. "Are you sure you'll be okay? You still look tired."
"I'll be fine, really."
The blonde didn't seemed convinced however, giving him a look that screamed 'you better not be lying to me'. She just sighed afterwards. "Let's just get you comfortable. Just to rest a little." Zoe persisted.
"Zoe I'll fine! I swear!" Takuya insisted as she made him lie back.
She gently ran her fingers through his long bangs, brushing them out of his face. "Taku..."
He sighed, "If it'll make you relax, I'll take it easy. I'm too tired to move anyway..."
"Good." Zoe seemed satisfied with his answer for the time being. The others found a place to sit in the living room while Kouichi went into the kitchen to get some light snacks for his friends and make some tea.
"So do we call and update Kouji?" JP asked, "He'll be mad if we keep him in the dark."
Kouichi shook his head, "I know, but at the same time he'll just worry while he's away. It won't kill him to find out later."
"If you say so. He is your brother." JP shrugged and peaked over at Takuya. "So what're we going to do about this… uh, situation?"
Kouichi signed in response, clearly having no real plan in mind. "There's not much we can do. We just have to take care of Takuya for the time being."
Tommy bit his lip. "What about Ceberumon? What if he shows up?" The little boy shuddered at the memory of the dark dog. It would have killed all of them if Takuya hadn't become Agunimon and beat it.
"I don't know what to tell you. But I'm sure we'll figure something out." Kouichi tried telling him to reassure everyone including himself.
The others nodded trying to accept the elder twin's words.
Zoe sighed weakly. "Let's just… try to comfort Takuya through this."
"Easy enough, Right?" JP said with a smile. Tommy nodded eagerly, grinning widely.
"We need to have a plan ready if Cerberumon appears again..." Kouichi pointed out, "He is not a Digimon who'll go down easily..."
Zoe huffed, "That Digimon was one of the nastier ones we ever encountered. He was soulless and mean."
"It almost killed me and Takuya!" Tommy said softly, remembering that Kouichi knew nothing about Cerberumon. "He can breathe green fire and open up portals to a dark dimension!"
Kouichi nodded, "Good to know ahead of time- and he clearly holds a grudge."
"But how do we get Takuya's data back? He's the only one who has a chance against him and Takky's pretty beat up!" JP exclaimed, "I wish we could help him! I hate not being able to do anything..."
"We all feel that way JP… none of us wants to feel this helpless…" Zoe replied and looked to Takuya before turning back to the others. "if only we had our Spirits."
"Ceberumon couldn't beat Agunimon." Tommy added, and wistfully thought back to his time as a Warrior. If just one of them had the chance to become a Digimon to help Takuya, then maybe things would be different.
JP and Zoe nodded, remembering the battle as well. It had seemed so easy for Agunimon to defeat the evil hound. "There's got to be a way to get our Spirits back." JP started but the look on Kouichi's face shot him down.
"As much as I'd like that to be true, I just don't know how we can do that. If we were going to get our Spirits, we would have gotten them back by now." Kouichi explained.
"What about Takuya's dream?" Tommy said suddenly, "With ShadowSeraphimon? What if he's why we can't help Takuya?"
JP and Zoe looked at the boy. "You could be onto something little buddy," JP said patting the younger boy on the shoulder.
"Mercurymon hated Takuya too,- He'd want to see him suffer," Zoe whispered with realization, "He must be doing this- somehow..."
"Maybe so, but that doesn't get us our Warrior Spirits or help Takuya," Kouichi said bluntly, "I think we're bound by our human limitations this time around guys..."
'So it's all on Takuya…" JP stated, feeling like they hadn't gotten anywhere with their discussion.
"What about Agunimon? Takuya's got his D-Tector, maybe he could find the Spirit?" Tommy offered again, hoping that this idea wasn't shot down. Zoe nodded. "Maybe. The D-Tector did help us out a lot."
"I could try tinkering with it." JP offered, taking out his tool box. He stopped nervously however. "Do you think it's safe to mess with it with Takuya the way he is?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he's full Digimon now… if I screw up with the D-Tector…" JP started fearfully, "I'm just worried something else might happen to him."
They all stopped and considered the consequences; none of them besides possibly unlocking Agunimon's power sounded very good.
"Serious and irreversible damage could be done to Takky- and I'm not willing to risk his life any further." JP stated flatly.
The group sighed. "So we can't do anything then?" Tommy asked softly, looking at Takuya's sleeping form sadly.
"It looks that way..." Kouichi replied.
"So what do we do now?" JP asked.
Zoe shrugged, "We stay by Takuya's side and we help him through this."
"We can do that." Tommy replied and turned his attention back to his brother figure. Takuya seemed to be resting peacefully, though his wounds seemed to be causing some slight discomfort.
"He looks comfortable enough." JP stated and tried relaxing in his seat.
Kouichi nodded in agreement. "Well, his wounds really shouldn't bother him for the time being. They should heal over soon. They'll ache but that's about it."
"Thank goodness for that." Zoe felt like she could take any good news she could get. After all the bad, some good was greatly appreciated. "You think he'll be a sleep for a while still?" she decided to ask.
"Probably. It's just been a day. He'll need at least a few more days before he could even get back to his feet." Kouichi answered.
Zoe smiled softly, "If we know Takuya, He'll push himself and be up by tomorrow."
They laughed. Takuya's ears twitched as he stirred, woken by their laughter. "Mmm, Guys? What's going on?" he asked groggily, yawning widely.
"Sorry Taku, we didn't mean to wake you." Zoe said, going to the Digimon boy's side. She stroked his mane gently. Takuya started to purr as her hand moved behind his ears.
"Oh... that feels so good..." he mumbled, melting at her touch.
Zoe smiled at Takuya, relaxing at the sound of his purring. It didn't seem to be hurting him despite his wounds. And so she continued to scratch behind his ears making him purr even louder.
"That's the spot…" Takuya signed dreamily.
Kouichi watched them, glad to see that they were on good terms with each other. Then an idea came to his mind.
"Hmm?" JP looked to the older twin and saw the evil grin on his face. He could tell that Kouichi was concocting some maniacal plan. "Kouichi, buddy… what are you thinking?"
"Oh nothing." Kouichi replied nonchalantly. His voice said nothing but the look in his eyes said something entirely different.
Kouichi grabbed Tommy and JP and pulled them into the kitchen. "Okay guys, here's the plan..."
Zoe nor Takuya paid them any mind; they were in their own little world. Takuya purred loudly, while Zoe stroked his thick mane. She smiled at him.
"How're you feeling Taku?" she asked the blissful Digimon.
He cracked one eye open to look at her. "Really good," he murmured. Takuya leaned against her side, eyes closed contently.
Zoe's smile widened, relishing the peace and joy they had in their moment together. "Just sit back and relax."
Takuya just nodded and nestled in closer to her. He eventually found himself resting his head on her lap, his tail wagging lazily as she continued to stroke his mane. "This is… so nice."
The blond girl couldn't help but giggle at how cute Takuya was acting. He really was like a kitten. Especially with how he was purring. "This is just far too cute."
Takuya didn't bother with a flustered reply, too content with how relaxed and comfortable he was.
She continued to stroke his mane until Takuya slipped off again. She smiled fondly at the boy, happy he was safe and content. "Sweet dreams Taku," Zoe whispered softly.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Kouichi, Tommy and JP were concocting a plan to help Takuya and Zoe's relationship flourish again. The pair still cared for each other but things had been rough, Takuya's life plummeted into a downward spiral. Neither had been able to express their feelings for fear of hurting the other.
"So you guys go the plan right?" Kouichi reaffirmed.
Tommy and JP nodded, "Saturday. Got it."
Kouichi grinned, glad to have the both of them in on his plan. Now he just had to make sure the preparations were set. "Alright then. I'll make sure Mom's all set with the plan."
They nodded again, both smiling at the idea.
"So, how're you going to keep Takky from finding out about it?" JP asked looking over to the sleeping Digimon boy.
Kouichi shrugged. "Simple, we just don't mention that little tidbit while we're setting everything up. He'll be none the wiser."
"Sounds good to me." Tommy stated, grinning excitedly. He seemed eager to put their plan into motion. "This is gonna be great!"
Kouichi nodded with the youngest. "I know right?"
"What are you three up to?" Zoe asked suspiciously.
The boys looked up innocently. Kouichi held up his hands, "Nothing at all Z, what would give you that ridiculous idea?"
"Catnip." She said flatly.
The boys immediately adverted their gazes, remembering the harmless shenanigans gone awry. "We promise, no hijinks." JP said olding his hands up now.
"There better not be," Zoe said with an even tone, "Now keep it down, Taku fell asleep again."
"We'll be quiet." Tommy told her, hoping to appease the girl. "Promise."
"Good." Zoe gave them each an apprehensive look, letting them know that she'll be watching them, before going back to the living room to be by Takuya's side.
Tommy gulped nervously. "She sure is scary sometimes."
"Which is why we better be careful around her too." Kouichi added, earning nods of agreement from the two. "Neither of them can find out about this, clear?"
"Don't have to tell me twice." JP replied and wiped the sweat off her brow. "Last thing we want is to piss her off again."
The elder twin just shivered, remembering the tone in her voice when she threatened them and the incredibly sharp pinches. Just the thought of her pinches made Kouichi ghost his hand over the spot. "Agreed."
