Heck! Reuploading this because I forgot I wanted to address peoples comments at the beginning of the chapters again! Cuz lots of people are anons.
ElleWhitson - Glad you're enjoying it so far! I'm much better at setting aside time to write now, so hopefully updates will continue to be more common
ADChipmunk - thank you!
Yuutojaden - I plan to
Lightus - thanks m8
Puberty7756 - That's right! I'm back baby! And hopefully will finish this story, I assure you I have every intention to. I've grown a lot in the past four years and I know I can do this
Guest - thank you!
Blackwater - I'm not going to enroll him in school, with who the teacher is I think it would just over complicate things
Guest - here's Calumon for ya!
Thank you all for you're reviews, they really make my day!
oOo
"I now commence this meeting!" Takato called out. Rika just stared at him and popped her bubblegum. Henry have a supportive smile, and TK just shifted nervously from his seat on the ground.
"We don't have 'meetings'." Rika did little quotation marks in the air to emphasize her point. Takato's shoulders slumped a little and Henry quickly jumped it.
"So, is this the guy?" He asked, and Rika rolled her eyes. TK played with the strings on his hoodie.
"Yeah! Guys, I want you to meet TK." He gestured over to the boy, who gave a small wave in return. Rika's eyes roved over him before deeming him boring and a non threat. Henry just smiled and extended his hand.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Henry." TK shook the hand, eyes the two new faces. Henry was tan, reminding him of Tai, and he wondered if the boy did any sports. His hair was a similar cobalt blue to Joe's.
"Nice to meet you TK." His partner, a Terriermon, said with confidence from his perch on Henry's head, also extending his hand. TK carefully held the small Digimon's hand in his hand a gave it a soft shake. It made him think of Willis and his partner, and idly TK wondered how that trio was doing, if they had recovered from their hurt and heartache yet.
"I don't see your partner." Rika said, glancing around.
"Well, um-" Takato started, obviously trying to not offend TK.
"I don't see yours either." TK replied, and the girl sent him a somewhat appraising look. She sort of reminded him of Sora in her tomboyish nature and red hair, although she was much colder than any other digidestineds he could recall having met. "Actually, I don't have a Digimon." Rika's eyes widened, probably as surprised as she got around someone she didn't know well, and Henry fell backwards and Terriermon pushed off of him.
"What do you mean you don't have a partner?!" The digimon asked, squinting at him.
"If you don't have a digimon, then how are you a Tamer?" Rika asked cooly, eyes narrowed. TK reached into his pocket and withdrew his digivice, showing it to the others. Terriermon immediately reached out and he let the little guy take it.
"I mean, I got my digivice before Guilmon showed up." Takato considered bringing up the fact that he technically did have a partner, his partner just wasn't here, but he didn't want to further complicate matters needlessly, so instead he kept his mouth shut and let the others come to their own conclusions.
"Well, welcome to the group." Henry said with bright smile, and Rika nodded though her face was expressionless. He felt Takato sag with relief as his friends accepted TK.
oOo
Mr. Matsuki wiped his hands on his apron, sending up clouds of white around him and ducking his head as he sneezed, thankful he at least hadn't sneezed in the kitchen. That would have been disastrous. At least there was a chance to go on his lunch break - his wife could easily manage on her own. As he walked over to the kitchen to fix himself a sandwich, or maybe see if Takato had already had all their leftovers from dinner a few nights ago, he passed the bathroom, seeing a figure standing there.
It was the boy they had found on their doorsteps a few nights ago, TK, looking at his reflection in the mirror, turning his head this way and that. He couldn't help the frown that came across his face as he saw the boy. He did indeed look a lot like the TK he knew, and the coincidence might be took much but… but he didn't look the same. And maybe he was looking for reasons not to act, but the facts just didn't add for this to be his TK.
His TK was younger than this boy. If TK had been in the digital world this whole time he shouldn't have aged, and if he had been in the real world he should be much, much older. If at any point he had come over to the physical world Izzy would have known right away. Coincidences did exist in this world, and he didn't know if it was tearing up all these roots he'd put down on one. He had a son now, and a wife, and he couldn't stir things up again over this, not when they were relying on him.
Mr. Matsuki (and he repeated the name internally, like it would help to reinforce the wall he had built between this self and his old self) sent one last look at the boy he may have known, in another lifetime, and continued to walk to the kitchen, trying to leave the ghost of the past behind.
Standing in the bathroom, TK glanced over, thinking someone had been standing in the hallway. But by the time he looked, whoever it was had left.
oOo
TK had yet to enroll in school, and if he had his way he never would. He assumed once he found the rest of the digidestined they'd find out what was going on, how to save the world, and then hopefully make their way back home. While Takato was at school TK would walk the town, keeping an eye out for any familiar faces. A part of him was always hopeful for when his digivice would vibrate, hopefully to tell him that Patamon was within range somewhere. He had been fiddling with the new device a bit, but had yet to find out whether or not his armor was still on here or it had somehow been lost during the upgrade. He hoped not, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if it was. First of all, it's not like he had a digimon to use it on anyway. Second of all it had never been his favorite way of digivolving in the first place. Despite how it was neat and extremely useful against the dark spires, it was just easier and felt more natural for Patamon to digivolve in Angemon. Call it personal preference.
Today TK was sitting in the park, not exactly his best or most valiant attempt to find the others, but it was nice to lay on the grass and absent mindedly push the buttons on his digivice. So far there had been multiple digimon attacks while he had been here, something that seemed semi-common for Takato to deal with. He usually tried to steer clear of them, of course checking first to see if his Digivice reacted in any unusual ways while they were happening, hoping that it would have good news. After a while watching and waiting, trying to see how Takato did tings, it was with a degree of surprise and almost shock that he realized that there was no going to the digital world - unless he did it during school. As far as TK knew Takato had never even been there. It was weird a little disconcerting.
Then there was the mystery of who had made the Digimon card game - cards which had the deliberate coding in them to be used with digivices. It was something else he'd have to investigate.
"Do you want to play?" TK started a bit and shot into a sitting position, opening his eyes to see Calumon plopped down on the grass next to him. Over the past few days TK had been introduced to Calumon, a sweet little Digimon with no child - or Tamer as Takato referred to digidestined as. He just popped up randomly, and while TK's digivice didn't seem to have any information on Calumon he had to assume they were an In Training Digimon from their childishness and cutesy nature.
"I was actually just thinking of hanging out today. And thinking. Alone." TK felt bad to try and shrug off Calumon like that as he did like the small Digimon, but he had been hoping to organize his thoughts and attempt a plan of action for going forward. Calumon's ears retracted into his head, making him look smaller, his eyes lowering down to the ground. It made TK feel like the devil incarnate, the worst person on the planet.
"Oh… Then I'll be alone with you!" He exclaimed and the little ears popped right back out as he hopped closer, and a small sigh came from TK's mouth. Somehow both exasperated and happy with Calumon's determination to be with him.
"Yeah, okay." He gave in and Calumon popped onto his lap happily, leaning his head up against TK's chest. God sometimes he forgot how much he missed Digimon. It reminded him of back when he had Tokomon for a while when he was younger (for some reason during his second adventure Patamon rarely returned to his In Training form). "Hey Calumon?"
"Yeah?" He replied, looking up with his huge eyes.
"Why do you like me so much?" Despite how Takato had said Calumon pretty much goes where the wind blows, TK had found that more often than not when he was out of the house the small digimon found his way over to him.
"You're like me!" He chirped the reply happily, but then paused and tilted his head. "Well, more like you used to. Like there's an echoey thing in a big tunnel." TK frowned, trying to decipher what he meant.
"Thank you? I think?" He replied, and Calumon hopped up happily.
"We should play tag now!" TK rolled his eyes but had a small smile on his face as he got up, a little running around would do him some good. As he stretched out his legs he looked to see if Calumon was still there or if he had already ran off, but oddly enough the small digimon was standing stock still, his ears up and staring intently further into the park. Despite the sunny weather a thick fog was creeping it's way across the park, sending shivers and sparks across TK's skin in a non unfamiliar feeling. He took a step in front of Calumon, glaring at the fog as it overtook them, trying to find any figures in the shadows.
oOo
"Sir, we have another wild one." Riley said into her comms as she started to tap away on her colorful keyboard, keeping up with the flashing colors and their different meanings. "It appears to be attempting to bio-emerge."
"Well stop it." Yamaki's voice was harsh and rough, commanding, and for perhaps the millionth time Riley thought about how different he sounded, what time and stress and sorry had done to him. Though at time he scared her to be around, nothing scared her more than the thought of who he would be or what he would do if left alone.
"Sir, it's too far into the process, I don't think we can."
"Well try anyway." He barked the words, never taking his eyes off of the display in front of him reporting the activity of data bubbling just below the surface of their world. The anomaly was already halfway through, by the time they started to attack it, it would be long gone. She hoped those kids could handle it, hopefully it wasn't anything quite as terrifying as a Devimon. Something easy for them to handle. She knew Yamaki had a dislike for them, but he had his reasons. Not necessarily reasons she could get behind, but reasons.
oOo
"O-Ogremon?" TK asked as the green figure stepped out of the fog. The monster just continued to stare at him and gnash his teeth, so obviously not the one him and his friends had known. Calumon's ears were small once again and he climbed up TK's back to sit on his shoulder, trembling slightly as he gripped TK's hoodie.
"He doesn't look too happy." Calumon warbled out, voice slightly muffled as he buried his face into the fabric. The Ogremon took another step forward and TK reached for his digivice, wondering if it'd be any use in this situation. He already knew all he needed to know about Ogremon, so that display was useless. What he really needed was a partner digimon to help him deal with all this.
"Shoot- Hold on!" He shouted and reached a hand up to keep Calumon in place as he made a desperate lunge to the side as th Ogremon swiped it's club down at the ground. Old instinct die hard, and TK had never been grateful for that.
"Terriermon, go for it!" A somewhat familiar voice cried. Calumon relaxed slightly at the voice. TK felt his digivice vibrate at the proximity to another digidestined. Not a moment too soon.
"Bunny Blast!" The high pitched shout of the Terriermon from earlier filled the air followed by a bright green energy ball that smacked Ogremon in the back, dragging his attention away from TK and Calumon. "Hey big and ugly, try picking on someone half your size!" He yelled with bravado before nimbly dodging to the side. He continued to keep firing his attacks at the Ogremon, too small and quick for the Ogremon to land any hits. Finally he let out one last Bunny Blast and the Ogremon fell backwards into data that drifted into the air. The fog lifted.
"Great job Terriermon!" Henry said as he jogged over, giving his partner a small high five.
"Too easy." Terriermon replied with a small wink.
"That looked like fun!" Calumon hopped off of TK's shoulder and hurried over to play with Terriermon, surprising Henry.
"Oh hey Calumon, I didn't know you were here. What're you up to?" He asked, kneeling down.
"Playing with TK!" Henry glanced up and smiled, and it was with relief that TK realized he was pleased to see him.
"Well it's a good thing you were with him." Henry said resolutely before getting up and walking over. "That explains why my Digivice was buzzing. Thanks for helping Calumon out, little furball can't seem to keep himself out of trouble." He gave a small sigh. "I wish he'd just stick with one of us for once, instead of traipsing around on his own."
"It's not a problem. Happy to help a digimon in need." Tk bit his lip nervously. "Uh, sorry if this is a weird question, but why did the digimon just appear like that? Is that normal?" Henry shook his head.
"No, well, yeah, sort of. We're trying to figure out how they keep coming over like that, and stop them. I think some of more powerful digimon that have been coming over have to do with that." TK nodded, digging the toe of his shoe into the dirt.
"I know I don't have a partner right now, so I'm not that useful, but do you think you could help me catch up? I'd like to know what's going on." Henry beamed.
"Of course! Let me treat you to lunch or something and we can talk about it there." He turned to the two digimon. "Terriermon, come on, we're getting lunch!"
"Good, I'm starved!"
"N-no you don't-" Henry just nudged TK with his elbow.
"Do you want to get caught up or not? It's more for Terriermon than for anyone else, he loves an excuse to eat out." TK paused before catching, up a smile on his face.
oOo
Another chapter, another day! Hope this was an enjoyable read - I'm actually having a lot of fun rewriting this story and breathing new life into it. I hope you're having a lovely day, and if not I hope that an update helped you to feel at least a little better :D