Goggles.

-------------------------------

By: Sonfaro

---------------------------------

Davis: Emulation

-------------------------------

They were a gift to him from the greatest guy on the face of the planet.

At least, Davis Motomiya thought he was the greatest guy on the planet.

Davis knew he wanted to be more like Tai the minute he laid eyes on him. He was a laid back kid in middle school, and one of the best soccer strikers Tokyo had seen in a long time. He had friends. He had family. And he seemed at least two years more mature than any of the other middle school kids. (Nearly a year in the Digital world will do that to you, Davis later found out.)

And so Davis set out as a young lad to, in essence, become Taichi Kamiya, right down to the goggles. He became a decent Striker (though most everyone admitted he was better on defense.) Made some friends (though most of them were jerks.) And even tried to get closer to his family. (But you can only get so close to Jun without being drowned in unnecessary perfume.)

But no matter how hard Davis tried, he couldn't BE Tai. His words would get mixed up. He would be insulting and rude for no reason. He was playing a caricature of a close friend. And everyone knew it.

It wasn't until Davis was brought to the digital world that he understood just what those goggles were for.

He had asked Tai one day, during a friendly one on one game of soccer, why the others weren't respecting him when it came to strategy and battle against the Digimon Emperor.

His mentor had simply yawned. "Have you tried being their friend?"

"Huh?

"When we went to the Digital World, I had no intention to be the leader. Most of us followed Matt around really. He was the 'cool' one." Tai laughed and shook his head. "It wasn't until my friends needed me that I started to stand out. Heck, I didn't even notice I'd become the leader until we almost lost our chance to get home."

Davis frowned. "But Tai, you said EVERYONE voted for you when it came down to it. When the cards were stacked against you guys they turned to you!"

"But only because I was the only one available." Tai sighed and picked up the soccer ball. "At the time, Mimi was too flighty to really be Leadership. Joe was to pessimistic. Izzy still had trouble paying attention to the rest of us. TK was only Eight. Sora was still getting over Demi Devimon's lies. And the Digimon pretty much simply followed us around. The choice came down to me and Matt really. And Matt was more worried about TK. So naturally…"

Davis shook his head. "But HOW did they do it? I mean, what did you do that I'm not doing?"

"I was… well, I was being me."

Davis blinked. "Huh?"

Tai ran his fingers through chocolate brown hair. "I never changed who, or what I was in the Digital World. I let my instincts take over, I looked at the big picture." He shrugged, the ball under his arm. "The leader was inside me. I didn't have to change the way I act or feel to become him.

"What I'm saying Davis", he said to a confused teen, "is that you shouldn't force yourself to be the leader. If they follow you, so be it. If they don't, accept it. Those goggles on your head don't mean leadership. They mean courage. They were important to me, and I gave them to you because you needed that courage more than me. You have it now Davis. Don't worry about what the others think of you. Just be yourself."

Those words rang true for Davis for the next few hours. During which Tai proceeded to beat the younger kid at soccer 5 to 2, but Davis' mind wasn't on the game. He had always thought of the goggles simply as a cool souvenir. Having them made him feel so much different.

The next time Davis showed up in the digital world, he decided to drop all pretenses. Though he still argued with Yolei, thought TK was an arrogant jerk, and was utterly ignored by Kari, he noticed that everyone was a little nicer to him. He wasn't so much a carbon copy of the man whom he looked up to. He was his own person, and they loved him the more for it.

The goggles had become more to Davis than just a representation of his mentor. They had come to represent acceptance.

And Davis cherished that even more than a kiss from Kari…

…

Well, about the same as a kiss from Kari.

-------------------------------------

End Emulation…