Writing this fic was very soothing for me as I'm going through a similar journey to Tai in many ways minus having a digimon partner lol. I hope this is comforting to people reading who may experience similar struggles to me. This is written for Feb Whump 2022 for Day 13: Won't regain consciousness. I skipped Day 12 because it's a prompt I have already written for and none of the alt prompts called out to me. This is post-Kizuna so spoilers for that but before the 02 epilogue. Tri is not canon in any of the fics I write. Hope you all love it!

What kind of test was this? No matter how fast he walked, Tai could not seem to reach Agumon. He was curled into a ball and would not regain consciousness no matter how much he called out to him. How had things ended up like this? Gennai had said after all the research he had been doing into helping the human and digital world co-exist peacefully with one another, it had brought about a chance to get Agumon back. Because he had learnt what he needed to learn.

However, as he had held out his digivice to the computer, the place he was sucked into was not the digital world but instead it was a dungeon, a cage that he stood outside of while his partner lay there, completely still. It didn't make sense. Gennai had said this was the way to get Agumon back, then why wasn't his partner hearing him?

"Agumon!" Tai called out. "Wake up, please! Answer me!"

"You have to believe in what made your bond strong in the first place," Gennai had told him. "You're an adult now, you have responsibilities but what's the one thing that hasn't changed? You must believe in that."

What was the one thing that hadn't changed? It wasn't the battles – that had become tiring even when Agumon was around – with all his adult responsibilities, being a DigiDestined had felt like one he didn't need. Agumon had been a mark of his childhood, yes, but also a reminder of the responsibility that came with being a DigiDestined. But Agumon wasn't childish. His friendship with the digital creature wasn't childish, no matter how society defined it. But he had never really had the courage to accept that part of his childhood and take it with him into adulthood as well.

Was that what it was? What Gennai had meant he needed to do in order to get Agumon back? He placed a hand, stepping closer to the cage, reaching out and touching the unconscious body of his friend.

"Agumon," Tai said softly. "I'm growing up, settling into my career, and becoming I guess what everyone else decides an adult should be in our society. But you know what? Screw them. I'm okay doing all those things but I want you with me every step of the way, on every decision I make, I want us to work as partners…in everything. I don't care if anyone else is okay with it or not. I'm okay with it."

It was like those words were what he needed to realise because the bars disappeared and the symbol of courage glowed in his heart, shining on Agumon who slowly opened his eyes.

"Welcome back, Tai," Agumon said softly. Tai felt his eyes sting slightly, but he smiled.

"Welcome home, Agumon."