Whew! This is the first non-Zootopia ongoing story I've started in a really, really long time! I recently got a hankering to do something new, and I settled on this. A long time ago, I wanted to do a story in this word – a 'reboot' of sorts. Well, that story never got off the ground, and it's a good thing because there were a few similarities to the 2020 Adventure series. This was something I came up with as my own take on what I think might happen post-Kizuna, from the point-of-view of the Zero Two Digidestined. It also picks up a couple of loose threads from tri. that Kizuna did not, and adds a bit of connective tissue between Kizuna and the Zero Two epilogue.

So, before we get into it, I need to say that Digimon belongs to Toei Animation and Bandai.

DIGIMON ADVENTURE ZERO TWO

DESTINY'S REVERSE

Two months have passed since the 'Eosmon Incident', which saw a deranged former Digidestined abduct the world's Digidestined and force them to live inside a permanent fantasy of themselves as children with their Digimon. Since then, several of the Digidestined have lost their Digimon, while the remainder have focused on figuring out how to stop, and even reverse, the process.

Without the original Digidestined to help, when a new threat rises from the machinations of an old foe, it is up to the third generation of Digidestined to step up and fight the forces of darkness that may emerge from the Digital World.

The Change

It was a… peculiar request. Surprised was one way to describe Kari, and that surprise stayed with her throughout the journey across town.

"What are you thinking, Tai…?" Kari mumbled to herself. But, then again, Tai had been acting a bit strange this past two months. Not quite himself. It wasn't surprising: he had lost Agumon, his supposedly life-long Digimon partner, following that fight with Menoa and Eosmon. Kari didn't remember what had happened after Eosmon had appeared in front of her, but she remembered waking up in that reality, as if awoken from a really long dream that seemed so clear when she woke, but faded the more time passed. She remembered the feeling, though: the forced happiness. It wasn't natural: nobody could be happy all the time. Life wasn't just one constant state. Tai was right: you had to move forward.

Unfortunately, moving forward had cost Tai Agumon. As Gennai had explained it, he had lost his 'potential', and that potential had been at its strongest when they were children. On the flip side, though – their Digimon were reflections of themselves. Perhaps the problem was less that their potential ceased when they reached adulthood – after all, Menoa was not an adult when she lost her Digimon, Morphomon – and more that the Digimon represented the 'potential' themselves, and that they risked discarding that potential when they grew up. Gennai had told Tai that it wasn't a certainty that they would lose it when they matured, so it made some sense that the process could be avoided altogether – possibly even reversed.

Another interesting counterpoint was that Izzy, Joe, and Mimi were now the oldest Digidestined still with Digimon, and they had not (yet) suffered the effects of the Separation.

Perhaps it was more that, by maturing, they risked leaving themselves behind in some way. Tai did start leaving Agumon with her more and more often, as if Agumon would somehow get in the way. It was understandable: Tai was in college and working hard towards his thesis. Kari, TK, Davis and Yolei all kept their Digimon close to them regardless, and after the disappearance of Agumon, Gabumon and Biyomon, they had agreed to keep to it afterward.

In an effort to help the Digidestined better-understand the process, and perhaps even prevent it, Gennai had agreed to what amounted to 'counselling' for the remaining Digidestined. A small sliver of hope had emerged during these sessions: at the very least, Tai was on the way to reversing the Separation process by his own actions.

There were other matters that they discussed in those sessions – things that would have seemed like non-issues years ago, but became worries now the Digidestined had taken their first steps into adulthood.

Kari had been talking with Gennai about her reluctance to talk about her feelings with others. It was something she had suffered since she was a child – she didn't want to be a bother to anybody, and so she always thought that it was best to keep her feelings and troubles to herself. It stemmed from when Tai had gotten in trouble from when she was very young – he was supposed to have kept an eye on her when she was sick, and he took her to a soccer game, where she got worse. Kari had been known to suffer bouts of illness when she was younger, and she had usually tried to keep it to herself when it happened so that she wouldn't trouble others – especially not Tai. She had mostly grown out of that, but not the tendency to not want to burden others.

"Perhaps… that is the issue," Gennai had told her. "Even if you try to hide something for so long, people still pick up on it. You should be more open, but that change won't happen overnight, and it won't happen with everybody all at once. Start small, trust somebody close to you with your problems. Is there somebody who comes to mind?"

Despite the advice, Kari still felt a compulsion not to choose Tai. She could confide in Yolei, but… there were some things even she couldn't help with, despite their bond.

There was one other person she was close to, but she knew she would find it difficult to fight that same compulsion with him too. Having said that, he was one of Kari's oldest, closest friends. If she could trust anybody, it was him.

Shaking those thoughts from her mind, Kari reached for the doorbell to Tai's apartment, but the door opened before she could press it. Tai stood there, looking a little unsure of himself.

"Hi, Kari," he said. "Um… thanks for doing this."

"It's weird asking me to do this," Kari responded, stepping inside Tai's apartment.

"Yeah, I know I could just go to the barbershop, but… this is kinda personal, and I trust you to do it."

During the phone call Kari had gotten from Tai earlier in the day, Tai had asked Kari for a simple favour: to cut his hair. And not just to trim it, but to cut it short. It had taken a moment for Kari to understand just what was being asked of her – as long as she could remember, Tai had always had that long hair, spiked up. Now, he had asked for a change.

"And it would cost money with how much hair you have," Kari quipped.

"Aaaand it would cost money," Tai grinned sheepishly, going along with Kari's joke.

"But, really… you want most of it gone?" Kari said.

"Yeah…" Tai nodded, his eyes darting to a photo on the counter separating the kitchen and living areas. It was of happier times, back when they were all a lot younger. Eight of them, with their Digimon, taken just after the end of their first adventure in the Digital World.

"You know, it's normally the girl who cuts her hair after their relationship ends," Kari remarked. Her eyes followed Tai's gaze to the counter. Tai's goggles sat next to the photo. He hadn't touched them since Agumon's disappearance. Next to them were a pair of scissors. Kari picked the scissors up and Tai pulled a chair up to face the mirror attached to his closet.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" Kari asked, a slight hint of pleading in her voice. It was as if she wasn't ready herself for the change.

"I'm sure."

Breathing deeply, Kari approached Tai. She took hold of a handful of Tai's hair, brought the scissors close, and…

"Do it," Tai said. Though Kari couldn't look directly into his eyes, she saw his serious expression in the mirror. Her eyes flitted back to the hair in her hand, and she closed the scissors, chopping it off. She stared at it for the moment, before letting it fall to the ground.

"When did you grow up, Tai?" Kari asked.

"We all grew up," Tai smiled sadly. "Maybe not all in the right ways, but… change has to happen. I don't think what's happened is because we changed."

Kari continued working, cutting at Tai's hair. Slowly, it started going down.

"You've been talking a lot with Meiko lately," Kari remarked. Meiko Mochizuki had moved to the area four years ago, attending the same school as Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi and Izzy. It had transpired that she too was a Digidestined, and her partner was Meicoomon. Unfortunately, Meicoomon was also the source of an infection which caused Digimon to go berserk. Eventually, she lost all sense of self and became a threat to both the Digital World and the Real World.

Kari had said she would never forgive Tai if he chose to destroy Meicoomon to save both worlds. She had been upset at losing Tai at the time, relieved when he returned, and angry that things had come to this. She didn't mean it. She knew Meicoomon had to be stopped. And that had turned out to be the only way.

When Meicoomon had passed, Kari had felt a relief wash over her that she had not felt since the Digidestined had battled Cherubimon three years prior. Come to think of it, Meicoomon and Kokomon were similar in many ways. The key difference was that Willis got to see Kokomon again. Meiko would likely never get that opportunity with Meicoomon.

After Meicoomon's death, Meiko's family had moved back out to Tottori, where she originated, but Meiko had kept in touch. Ever since Agumon disappeared, she had been in touch more often. Particularly with Tai.

"We talk sometimes, yeah," Tai agreed.

"Meiko knows what it's like," Kari said, a touch of sadness in her voice.

"She told me that she's planning on moving back here soon. At least for a while."

"Oh? Well, that'll be nice. You'll get to see her face-to-face for a change."

"Well, yeah, but she's looking forward to seeing all of us."

"But especially you."

A small blush crept onto Tai's face.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Tai. Even Sora sees it, and she's not even around that much anymore."

"Yeah, well, her crest was…"

"Aha!"

"Tch! What about you?"

"Eh? What about me?"

"You and TK have been getting on like a house on fire."

"No more than usual."

"Hasn't he asked you out yet?"

"Tai! It's not… we're not like that!"

A small grin crept onto Tai's face.

"Hmm… you sure?"

Kari blushed.

"You know, it's not nice to tease your sister like that. Especially when she's carrying a sharp object that her dumb big brother asked her to."

"Okay, okay."

Snip, snip, snip. More of Tai's hair fell to the floor.

"But if he does ask you out, he better treat you right. I trust him, but he's gonna be sorry if he hurts you."

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Heh, some things won't ever change."

"Hey, I've gotten better about being honest with my feelings!"

"Ah, one of the 'good' changes Gennai's been talking about."

"Speak of which…" Kari said, lowering the scissors. Tai stared ahead at his own reflection. His fingers reached up and brushed the shortened fringe to the side. Standing up and stepping up to the mirror, he moved his head, looking at his new hairstyle from several different angles.

"Well, you look a bit weird, Tai," Kari remarked.

"Ah, I guess everyone'll get used to it. Thanks, sis."

"Hehehe…"

A single, hooded figure stood among the darkness. He hadn't expected to have been sent here afterwards. The portal had instead brought him to the Dark Ocean. He had lost the ability to travel into the Digital World proper after Homeostasis had deactivated King Drasil.

Still, he had that. The Dark Bit he had retrieved after Ordinemon's destruction.

"Apocalymon's data… Hehehe… No matter how dark things are here, this trumps it all."

He stood on a beach, the grey sand underneath his feet, the waves of water as dark as night lashing the shore. Time didn't matter here. He could have been here for years for all he knew.

He turned away from the ocean and walked across the beach. He could feel eyes on him. The creepy grin plastered on his face, he carried on as the shadows around him took form.

"Oh? Was one sacrifice not enough for you? Hehe… you don't have the power to take me now."

A dark aura appeared around the man, and the shadows retreated as if conceding they were outclassed.

Raising his hand, the figure watched as a strange rift opened up in front of him. He tried to cross over into it, but found it was solid.

"Ah, so I still can't get through… Doesn't matter how many obstructions my goody-goody other self puts in my way, I will return! But until I do… let's make his friends sweat a bit… it's time! Diaboromon! Be reborn and enter the network!"

The Dark Bit flashed, and a wave of dark energy penetrated the portal.

"And that's just the opening act! Soon, I'll have what I need to begin the main event!"

Dark Gennai grinned evilly, in anticipation what was to come.

A weird note to start on, I know, but I thought Tai would cut his hair after losing Agumon. Kari's right here: usually, the trope is that a girl cuts her hair after the loss of a relationship. I thought it was as good a reason as any though.

So, after watching both tri. and Kizuna, two things struck me: that tri.'s ending better-connects to the other Digimon Adventure media than Kizuna does, and that Kizuna not only forgets to even truly acknowledge what happened in tri., but it essentially retreads it in many ways. There are differences (for instance Menoa wants to inflict the 'undo' on everybody else, whereas Himekawa wanted that for herself only at the expense of everybody else). The big takeaway, though, was that tri.'s ending set up the possibility of Dark Gennai returning as an antagonist, and it could have continued on right into the 25 years later ending of Zero Two. It's much harder to reconcile that ending with Kizuna, but unfortunately, both are canon.

I ship Takari, and after tri., I started shipping Meichi, so I wanted to include a few hints here. This story's not meant to be a romance, so I'll not be focusing on that particular element. I'm also not going to be featuring the Adventure kids much – after all, they had seven movies prior, so I wanted to put some focus on the Zero Two kids. That doesn't mean ignoring the Adventure kids entirely – hence this chapter.

Also, I was tempted to write this with the Japanese names instead. However, I'm not nearly familiar enough with it to be comfortable playing in that sandbox.