Simply for this story to make sense, there's a small change from the epilogue in the anime to this one. In this story, Taichi's son is leading the group.
Day 5 - Courage: What Courage Means
"Daddy!" Takato came running inside the house and threw himself into his father's arms, making him fall to the ground.
"Hey kid!" Taichi grabbed him in his arms and lifted him a little. "How was your stroll to the park with auntie Hikari and your cousin Yamazaki?"
"It was so cool! I had so much fun."
"Really? I'm happy to hear that."
"That's true, he really did have so much fun." Hikari said. "He's so little but he has so much energy. He reminds me so much of you when you were a little older than him."
"Well, you can't deny the DNA." He said playfully.
"I guess not." She joined her brother on the laughter.
"What did you there?"
"I went to a small rollercoaster with Yamazaki and then we tried to get some stuffed toys, but auntie Hikari is so bad at it."
"Hey! You said you weren't going to say it." She started tickling her nephew.
"Sorry, auntie Hikari." Takato burst into laughter.
"You see what I have to deal with here?"
"Not anywhere near as much as I do." Taichi shot back in a light tone and smiled. "What about you, Yamazaki? Did you have fun?"
"I did. The Ferris wheel was the best."
"Isn't it? We should really go the one we have nearby."
"We should!" The child said excitedly.
"What is it? Let's get the younger Yagami worried and scared to death day?"
"Oh come on, sis. You should really try going in the Ferris Wheel again."
"I could, but not today. Someday, maybe." She sighed. "I should really go home, I'm dead tired."
"Alright." Taichi stood up and walked to Hikari. "I'll walk you to the door."
"Thank you."
"Thanks for spending the day with Takato, Hikari."
"You're welcome, Taichi." Hikari smiled. "He's a very agitated child, but also very lovely."
"Yeah, it takes quite some energy to keep up with him. Akiko complains about it sometimes."
"I totally get her. I have to deal with a few kids like him, so I know how to deal with them. Alright, Yamazaki, say bye to your uncle."
"Bye uncle Taichi." Yamazaki hugged him.
"Bye, kiddo." Taichi hugged him back. "Do you want to sleep over next weekend? We can have some pizza and bake a cake together."
"Can I, mommy?" He looked up at his mother.
"Sure. It's totally fine by me, if Akiko has no problem with it."
"I'm sure she won't. She loves having him here too."
"Good, then it's settled. I'll see you next weekend then."
"Of course. Thanks again."
"You're welcome." Hikari said over her shoulder and then turned around. "Oh I almost forgot, Takato said he did a drawing at school a couple of days ago and wants to give it to you."
"A drawing?"
"Yeah. But don't tell him I told you about it. I promised him I'd keep it a secret."
"Okay, I won't tell him you told me. Thanks for informing me about it."
"You're not talking to a business partner, Taichi." Hikari teased with a smile.
"I guess it was better than me, I'm sorry." He couldn't help but smile too.
.
Taichi walked back inside his house and headed to his son's bedroom.
"Hey, kiddo." He sat on Takato's bed. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm a little tired. I could sleep all the way from now until the morning."
He couldn't help but laugh. "You must have played a lot to be this exhausted. Your energy doesn't end that fast most of times."
"A lot." Takato dramatically let himself fall on his bed, rubbed his eyes and sighed. Taichi laughed more. "Aunt Hikari said I was very courageous for going in that rollercoaster today."
"Really? And what did you say?"
"I said I thought so, but I never heard that word before. What does that mean, daddy?"
"It means that you have a lot of Courage."
"Ohhh." Takato made a shocked face. "What is Courage?"
"Courage is… it is…" Taichi couldn't find a good explanation to define it for his son. He then realized he didn't exactly know what it meant anymore. Eventually he shook his head and changed the subject. "So a pink bird told me you did a drawing at school this week."
"Aunt Hikari told you, didn't she?"
"No, it was a pink bird."
"Daddy?"
"Yeah?"
"Pink birds don't exist."
"Whatever." Taichi ruffled his son's brown hair. "Anyway, where's the drawing?"
"It's in my school bag." Takato ran to it and took out a transparent folder, opening it right away and pulling a paper out. Then he ran back to his bed and sat down next to Taichi. "Here."
"Can I see it?"
"Sure." Takato handed him his drawing.
Taichi grabbed it and looked at his drawing carefully, but he couldn't take his eyes out of a special detail on it. There was a sun on the top of the drawing and some triangles around it, which reminded him a lot of his Crest of Courage. The thing is that he never told or showed Takato about it before.
"Son, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, daddy." Takato looked at him with curiosity. "What's it?"
"Do you usually draw the sun like this?"
"Yes. It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"It is." Taichi returned his attention back to his son's drawing. "Did you came up with it or did you find it somewhere?"
"My teacher said I had to take pictures of things related to the solar system to class and I found a drawing of the sun on your desk and thought it was cool."
"I see."
"Daddy, you're not angry at me because of this, are you?"
"No, son." He shook his head and smiled at Takato. "Don't worry, I'm not angry at all."
"Okay. Can I go play with Koromon now?"
"Of course. Go play with him."
"Thanks, daddy." Takato smiled and rushed out of his own bedroom, yelling his partner's name while he ran to the living room.
Taichi was left sitting on his son's bed, staring at his drawing with a lump on his throat. It still struck him how his son managed to make memories from his childhood and teenage years come rushing back into his mind and made a simple question get stuck on repeat in his head non-stop. His thoughts were so all over the place he didn't even realize tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
.
Taichi couldn't stop thinking about Takato's drawing and his question ever since the night before. He couldn't understand why they affected him that much and was barely able to pay attention to the traffic ahead, so he had to pull over to get himself together.
"Taichi, what's wrong?"
"Takato did a drawing of the Crest of Courage as the sun and asked me what courage meant." He rubbed his face quite roughly. "I didn't know what to tell him."
"Why not?"
"I don't know, Agumon. What was I supposed to tell him? I don't think I have a good answer for that."
"Don't you remember what it means?"
"I know the definition, but that's it. Somewhere in the past, I forgot what it means to me and can't seem to remember it." Taichi looked at his partner in the passenger seat. "What is courage to you?"
"What is Courage to me?" The Digimon repeated the question confused and thought about his answer for some minutes. "Courage to me is feeling confident I can win a battle against an enemy."
"I don't think that's the kind of answer Takato is looking for." He said a little frustrated.
"I'm sorry I can't help you, Taichi."
"That's okay, Agumon." He assured his partner. "I… wait a moment, what did you say again?"
"I can't help you?"
"No, silly. Your definition of Courage."
"Oh. To me it's confidence to know I can win a battle because I trust myself."
"That's it, Agumon!"
"What?"
"Courage is all about trusting yourself and knowing you can do or overcome anything that comes your way."
"That's right. And you've done that many times."
"We did. I wouldn't have done it without you."
"Neither would I. If I had to choose one word to describe Courage, it would be you."
"Me?" Taichi was completely taken aback with his partner. "Why?"
"Because you did what you had to do and never felt afraid of it. And that pushed the others to do the same for them too. That's what Takato did at the park yesterday, I'm sure."
"But we were fighting for survival, buddy. It's a complete different situation. He was in a park."
"I know, but he still had to overcome something. He overcame his fear and faced it, that's true Courage to me."
"When you put it like that, it makes total sense."
"I wouldn't expect him to be any different. He's your son, after all."
"Yeah." Taichi said somewhat proud and nostalgic. "I wish I still had my Crest with me, so I could show it to Takato."
"It would have been amazing to show him the tag and the Crest. Too bad you can't make it shine through your heart anymore."
"I know, but I'm sure it's still here after all these years." He placed his hand over his heart. "I can feel it."
"I think so too."
"Come on, buddy." He turned on his car again, feeling relieved and happy he was able to remember what his Crest meant to him.
.
Next Saturday came very fast. The Chosen Children decided to take their children to the Digital World for the first time. Taichi could barely sleep from anxiety, so he got up earlier than he usually does on weekends. He went to his son's bedroom and slowly and carefully opened the door and looked at him, who was still sleeping peacefully in his bed. Or so it seemed, because Takato couldn't hold his smile as his father approached him.
"Looks like someone's awake already." Taichi said with a smile and leaned his Takato. "I think this means tickling time."
"No!" Takato protested between laughter as he tried to get away from his father, but failing. "No, daddy!"
"No?" The man was barely able to hold his laughter now. "That's a code for more tickling."
"What's going on over here?" Akiko leaned against the door of Takato's bedroom and watched the funny war between her husband and son.
"He was pretending to be sleeping again." Taichi replied without taking his eyes from Takato and then pulled away. "Alright, kiddo, it's time to get ready because we are going to the Digital World today!"
"What?! Are you serious?" The child stood up on his bed with the brightest face ever. "Can I take Koromon with me?"
"Of course! You can't go to the Digital World and leave your partner behind."
"Cool!" He started jumping on his bed.
"Darling, you will break your bed if you keep jumping like this."
"Let him, he will stop soon. He's just excited about the stroll to the Digital World." Taichi approached his wife and leaned against the wardrobe.
"I know, he's been excited for it since you told him."
"Are you sure you don't want to go?"
"No, I have to leave some things at my mother's house. Besides, I think this should be a father and son moment. We can do something tonight, after you two come back."
"I love that." He ran his hand through her arm and kissed her briefly. "You would love to go there, I'm sure."
"I know, I really want to go. Maybe next time we will."
"I'll make sure you won't forget it." Taichi smiled at her and moved a lock of her long dark hair from her face before turning to their son. "Alright, Takato, let's get ready or we'll be late to meet everyone. You don't want your aunt to kill me, do you?"
"No." Takato said smiling and left his room running."
"You can have a glimpse of how he's gonna be there."
"There will be a bunch of other kids there. He will be with no energy within no time."
"Daddy, I'm ready."
"Already?" He leaned to his right to look into the hall. "Alright, so let's go. That was fast."
"I have already prepared his small bag."
"That certainly explains it. You've been spending too much time with Sora." Taichi couldn't help but smile. "I'm sure Yamato and their kids didn't have to worry about anything."
"I guess not." Akiko smiled too. "But from what I hear, she's always been like this, right?"
"That's right. She was always the mother of the group. I wouldn't be surprised if she made a whole mean to everyone."
"That seems so like her." She clapped her hands together. "Now get going you two, or you will actually be late for the meeting."
.
Takato was in awe with everything in the Digital World. He didn't expect the Digital World to be so similar to the parks in Odaiba.
"Looks like someone is amazed by it." Taichi looked down at his son, feeling very grateful for being able to share such a special moment to him with Takato.
"You can tell he really liked it here." Agumon spoke on his partner's right side, with Koromon on his head.
"I didn't expect it to be any different. He's always been fascinated by nature."
As the two duos kept walking, the babbling noises got louder and the figures of the other Chosen Children started getting bigger.
"Are we late?"
"No, we just got here." Hikari replied with a smile. "Everyone seemed to think about arriving at the same time."
"You can go play now." Mimi knelt beside her son and placed her hand on his shoulder.
Taichi took a long proudly look at all of his friends and adventure partners. They all now had at least one child. He couldn't help but think their children were the second generation of Chosen Children. He was brought back to reality when he felt Takato tugging on his pants and looking at him somewhat desperate.
"What's wrong, kiddo?" He knelt down in front of his son.
"All my friends are looking at me." The child replied and looked over his shoulder towards the group.
"Huh?" He looked past Takato's head and saw all the kids gathered together behind him. He couldn't help but smile as he grabbed his son's shoulders and looked right into his eyes. "Takato, do you remember what you asked me the other day?"
"Not really."
"You asked me what Courage means. Courage means believing yourself and knowing you can do anything, as long as doesn't hurt other people. Your aunt Hikari said you were very courageous because you overcame your fear of rollercoasters. That's also what Courage is about."
"Ohhh!" Takato seemed to understand it finally.
"Now you need to face your next challenge: be their leader." Taichi couldn't help but laugh at Takato's confused expression. "It means they will follow you and what you do."
"Like the Follow the Leader game?"
"Exactly like it. Can you do that?"
"Yes!" He said with confidence and turned to the group of small children behind him. "Who wants to play tag?"
All the kids started speaking and squealing together and followed Takato as he ran farther from the adults. Taichi stood up with a proud smile and Hikari joined him right after.
"So you found the drawing, huh?"
"He showed me." Taichi looked at her. "You won't believe what was on it."
"What?"
"My Crest of Courage. That's right." He added after she made a confused expression. "Turns out he found a drawing of it on my desk and thought it was the sun."
"It makes sense."
"He asked me what Courage was after you left with Yamazaki. I spent the whole week thinking about it, trying to find an answer."
"And did you?"
"Yes, I did." He looked at his son happily playing with his friends and their Digimon. "It was inside me the whole time. I just needed to be reminded of it again."