Day 1 - Hikari & Agumon: The Best Part of Me

Taichi wasn't sure how to bring up the subject with his sister. It had been days since that very big dinosaur had appeared and simply vanished and since then Hikari had been sad and not speaking a word at all. Both their parents were very concerned with her situation, but Taichi said he would talk to her and see what was going on. The truth is that they wouldn't believe anything they'd say because it would be just bizarre.
"Hikari?" The seven year old boy called his sister, but received no reply from her. He then climbed the small ladder that connected her bed to the floor and noticed she was staring at the ceiling. "Hikari, are you okay?"
"Egg." She said simply, not taking her eyes away from the ceiling.
"You mean the egg we found here a few days ago?" Taichi sat down on her bed and looked at her. "Hikari, he's gone."
"No." Her eyes got teary and tears started to fall from them. "Bring him back, brother."
"I can't." He grabbed her little hands and pulled her up, wrapping his arms around her and embracing her. "I don't know where he is."
"Bring him back, Taichi." She cried on his pajamas for some minutes.
Taichi simply stroked her hair softly and waited until her crying and loud sobs ceased and then stopped completely.
"Do you think he's afraid?" Hikari spoke again and sat down beside him.
"I don't think he's afraid of anything. He's huge. I think other monsters are afraid of him, actually."
"He's not a monster, Taichi." She called him out with a frown. "He's my friend."
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry."
"I know he will come back again."
"Hikari, he's not…"
"Why are you doing this?" Hikari asked in a very hurtful tone. "Don't you want him to come back?"
"I didn't say that."
"So don't you like him?"
"I… uh… I mean, he's alright."
"He's our friend." She lay down on her pillow again, with her head hidden from her brother.
"You should go to sleep." Taichi said as he started to crawl towards the small ladder again, but was stopped when something wrapped around his leg. He looked to his right and saw Hikari holding it as tight as she could for her age. "Hikari."
"I'm scared, Taichi. Can you sleep here tonight?"
"I'll be in the bed below, sister. I'll be right up here if you need anything."
"No." She was about to cry again. "Please, brother."
"Okay, I'll sleep here tonight." Taichi returned to his previous position and sat with his back against the wall.
"Thank you." She smiled and handed him her favorite toy. "Here."
"But Hikari, you love sleeping with this one. It's your favorite."
"I know, but you can sleep with it tonight. He said he wants to."
"He said that, huh?"
Hikari simply nodded affirmatively after she put her pacifier back into her mouth. She stared at her brother for some seconds before slumber took over her and her eyes closed. He waited some seconds to make sure she was actually asleep and then he felt his own eyes starting to shut and his body collapsed on her mattress, in the opposite side as hers.
"Good night, big brother."
"Good night, Hikari."

.

"Agumon, wait!" Taichi yelled from where he standing on a sidewalk in Odaiba. He couldn't stop staring up at the huge hole in the sky that connected the Earth to the Digital World and watched his partner fade away little by little.
"Goodbye, Taichi."
"Agumon!" He gave one more step towards the hole, but something held him back. Or someone, to be exact. "Hikari."
Taichi could feel his sister's forehead touching his back while their fingers remained intertwined on each other.
"I want you to go back home and wait for mom and dad."
"But Taichi."
"Please, Hikari." He shut his eyes and resisted the urge to stay in Earth and take care of her. He kept in his mind he needed to find the rest of the group and finish what they had to in the Digital World. And he also couldn't stand being away from Agumon anymore. "I have to go back. The hole is going to close. I need to go."
"Taichi."
"I promise I'll come back soon." He assured her and removed his hand from her grasp. He then threw his hand in the air and was immediately drawn into the hole too.

"Taichi! Taichi!" Agumon shook him with more strength than necessary.
Taichi squinted and then sat up all of a sudden. "Hikari!"
"She's not here, Taichi. She stayed on Earth."
"Right." He said after some seconds, when he was fully adjusted to their new reality. I'll be back before you know it. The words he wanted to tell Hikari and didn't have time still echoed in his mind. "It was for the best."
"You wanted to stay with her, didn't you?"
"I don't think I'll ever get used to these tough falls." Taichi chose to say instead. Then he covered his mouth with his hands. "Hey, everyone! Where are you?"
"They don't seem to be here."
"Great." He kicked the sand in front of him and had to admit it made him feel much better. The touch of Hikari's hand on his and her head touching his back still lingered on him and he didn't think it would go away that easily.
"It was the best decision." Agumon reassured him. "Being here would be difficult for her."
"I know." Taichi closed his hands into fists and felt his body tremble at the mere image of leaving his sister behind, especially when she was sick and had no one to take care of her. He was supposed to protect her.
"You could have stayed back there."
"No." He said firmly, cutting his partner off. "I need to look for Yamato and the others. I can't simply leave them behind on their own.; Besides, there are things we still need to fix here before we return to our homes for good."
"Taichi." Agumon grabbed his hand and the partners shared a look before they looked ahead again.
"I swear I will be back. No matter what."
"You will. We're gonna work together to make sure everything here is fixed and all of you are able to return to your homes and families."
"Agumon."
"I'm ready to fight whatever enemies come our way. We'll fight them together as the best duo we've always been."
"You're right! We make a good team. So let's get going and start looking for the others."
"Let's go."

.

Taichi kicked a small rock he found nearby to ease his rage and his frustration for not being able to save Tailmon from Vamdemon.
"Damn it." He punched his palm with his hand. "Hikari is going to be so upset at me."
"Taichi." Agumon said concerned. "We will do whatever it takes to rescue her. We will tell the others and they will help us."
"I should have tried harder and saved her."
"You did what you could. I'm sure Hikari will understand it."
"What am I supposed to tell her, Agumon?"
"Be honest with her." Agumon held his partner's hand and they shared a look. "Hikari is a nice girl, she won't be angry at you."
"I just hope you're right." He squeezed Agumon's claw tighter. "Come on, let's go home."

"Taichi!" Hikari ran to her brother when he was removing his shoes in the entrance of the apartment. "Where's Tailmon?"
"Vamdemon took her." Taichi felt his whole body shiver and was unable to look at his sister. "We couldn't save her, I'm sorry."
"What?"
"I didn't try enough, but I swear I'm going to do it first thing in the morning."
"You can trust us, Hikari." Agumon assured her. "We will get everyone to help us, but I assure you we will bring her back."
"Agumon is right. We will do whatever it takes to get her back to you safely."
"Thank you, brother." She hugged him when he stood up and turned around.

"I told you Hikari wouldn't be angry at you." Agumon said while Taichi was walking towards his bed after turning off the lights. "She knows you did your best at the time."
"I know, but I still feel bad about this. I keep thinking she just got her partner and had to go through this, you know? It doesn't seem fair to me."
"It isn't. But we will find a way to defeat him and save her and both worlds."
"Yeah." Taichi said in a low tone. "Well, tomorrow is another day. So let's try to get some sleep, so we'll be ready for it."
"Good, because I'm dead tired already."
"What a surprise." The boy laughed and turned to his side. "Good night, Agumon."
"Good night, Taichi."
About a minute or two after the room fell silent, Agumon shook his partner so he could wake up.
"What happened, Agumon?" Taichi rubbed his eyes and said in a sleepy tone.
"You fall asleep really fast." The Digimon stated.
"Shut up."
"Hikari is up."
"What?! Where?"
"There." Agumon pointed towards their glass door that led to the balcony and Taichi sat down, leaning to his left to look at her.
"Tailmon." She said softly as she looked through the door.
"We'll get her tomorrow, sister."
"I know. Do you think she's okay?"
"I'm sure she is. Vamdemon won't do anything to her."
"Yeah, and we'll make sure he pays for that."
"For now, try to sleep. Can you?"
"Yes." Hikari slowly turned around and headed to her bed again.

.

"Taichi?" Hikari called his name softly when she walked into their bedroom. "Where are you?"
She looked around the room and there was no sign of him. She then looked towards the balcony and saw his left arm through the door.
"There you are." She slid their glass door open and walked into the balcony. "Are you okay?"
"Not really." Taichi remained sitting next to the door with his knees pressed against his chest and his arms embracing them.
"I know what you mean." She sat down next to him and looked at the light blue sky. "It's hard adjusting to our new reality again after everything we've been through in the Digital World."
"Yeah." It was all he brought himself to say.
"I didn't get to spend as much time with Tailmon as you did with Agumon, so I don't think I can say I completely understand how you feel." Hikari sighed. "But I miss Tailmon a lot too. It will be hard to go back to my old life before her."
"I wonder where he is and how is he doing right now." Taichi's tone was the saddest Hikari has ever heard before in her life.
"I'm sure wherever he is, he's missing you too."
"I really want to see him again." He finally looked at Hikari and she was surprised and a little shocked to see that he had been crying the whole time.
"You know what?" Hikari turned to him and placed her hands on her thighs. "I said the same thing to Tailmon a few days ago when I was saying bye to her. I'm sure we are all going to see each other again. I don't know exactly when it will be, but I'm positive about it."
"How can you stay so positive about this?" Taichi turned to her with a curious expression.
"I'm struggling and suffering too." She said simply. "But I'm trying to be strong for you."
"Hikari." He felt tears in his eyes again and threw his arms around his sister in an impulse.
"I love you, Taichi." Hikari said when she hugged him too. "Just have faith that wasn't the end for us. I'm sure there will be many other adventures in store for us soon."
"You're right." His tears were replaced by a bright smile. "We will meet again soon. I just know it."
"That's the spirit." She pulled away from him. "Agumon wouldn't want to see you that upset. He wants you to be happy always."
"I know."
"If you ask me, we will be together forever. I just can't feel it. A strong bond just doesn't go away like that."
"That's right. We do have a very strong bond."
"Yes, and I don't like seeing you so upset, brother. It makes me upset too and I don't know what to do to cheer you up."
"You're such an amazing sister." Taichi hugged her again. "I won't be upset anymore, I promise."
"Good. Now we should really get going because the others are probably waiting for us already."
"Alright. Let's go." Taichi held her hand and they stood up. "Oh and Hikari?"
"Yes, brother?"
"I love you too."

.

Hikari walked home that evening feeling devastated. She couldn't even begin to say how frustrated and angry she felt to herself for not being able to stop Agumon from being taken by the Digimon Kaiser.
"Hikari?" Tailmon looked up at her. "This is not your fault, you shouldn't blame yourself."
"I know, but…"
"Tailmon's right." Daisuke said and she looked at him. "We were caught by surprise, but we'll do anything it takes to rescue Agumon and bring him back."
"I'm sure of that, but…" Hikari bit her lower lip. "How am I supposed to tell Taichi about this? He's going to be devastated."
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"Thanks." She smiled at him. "But I need to this alone."
"Okay, I'll be around if you need anything."
"Thank you, Daisuke."

Hikari walked inside her apartment and immediately released Tailmon, who still remained by her side and grabbed her hand reassuringly. The duo shared a look and the girl smiled before they walked to Taichi's bedroom.
"Taichi, are you in there?" She asked calmly, though she felt her heart was going to explode and also felt tears in her eyes.
"Yeah, come in." Taichi spun around in his chair when she twisted the door open. "I was talking to some… what happened?"
"You can do this, Hikari." Tailmon held her hand tighter to give her partner the strength she needed to keep going.
"We have to talk."
"Okay." He could feel tension growing inside him already. "What is it?"
"First, I want you to know we tried everything we could, but nothing worked."
"Hikari, you're scaring me. Did something happen in the Digital World?"
"Agumon…" Hikari pressed her lips together to try to stop her tears from falling, in vain. "Agumon was captured by the Digimon Kaiser."
Taichi couldn't be more thankful for sitting on his chair because he felt his whole world had fallen apart. He was already suspecting something bad had happened, but it definitely wasn't anything close to this. "He what?"
"The Digimon Kaiser made something he called the Dark Spiral and is going to test it on Agumon probably. We weren't able to stop him from doing it, I'm sorry."
"Why haven't you told me sooner?" He asked harshly though he didn't mean to. He was nervous with the whole situation."
"I'm sorry!" Hikari was crying uncontrollably then. "We didn't know how to tell you and you were in class and we didn't want to freak out in the middle of it."
"That's right."
"I should have tried harder." She sat down on the floor in front of him and covered her face with her hands. "I'm so sorry."
"Hikari."
"Hey." Taichi sat down in front of her and removed her hands from her face. "I know you did your best to stop it."
"So you're not angry and upset at me?"
"Of course not." He smiled. "I know it seemed that way, but it's because of the situation."
"Oh I'm so glad for that." She threw her arms around his neck and her body towards her brother.
"We're going to do what it takes to save Agumon." Tailmon said determined.