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"An Unpopular Opinion"

"You guys really don't think it's weird?" Takato didn't try to hide the concern in his voice. Even if he wanted to, there really wasn't much point, given he had called an impromptu meeting of his friends at Guilmon's old utility shed on a school morning. Given the dream he had had and how much it bothered him, Takato felt more compelled to be open and honest with them.

"I think everything that comes out of your mouth is weird," Rika answered, not moving from her spot where she leaned against the shed's gate.

"I'm being serious," Takato replied, looking around the shed for a more serious response. "This dream was so vivid and... weird."

"Maybe not as weird as you think," Henry offered, doing a decent job of sounding reassuring. "Not being able to bring the Digimon back from the Digital World is a nightmare I'm pretty sure we've all had."

It was, particularly in the days following finding the portal that was now buried beneath their feet. There had been a lot pushback about using it then, and the decision to allow its use just the one time had apparently come down to the wire. Even two years later, it sometimes felt like a miracle that Guilmon, Terriermon, and Renamon were standing before them in that moment.

"Yeah, but that wasn't the weird part." Takato wished that had been all his dream was about, as he wouldn't have had to call this meeting.

"Right..." Henry raised an eyebrow, though was clearly doing his best to remain open-minded. "You... time traveled."

"No, it wasn't time travel," Takato corrected. "Yamaki said they made some kind of digital clone of me."

"I'm confused," Guilmon said as he spun his head around the shed, likely waiting for someone to explain the parts of the story he didn't understand.

"Apparently the real me had gone missing while looking for a way into the Digital World or something like that."

Henry rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "And they needed you to fight... malware?"

"That sounds really lame," Terriermon whined.

"Terriermon..."

"I'm just saying, I expect better from Takato's imagination."

"Perhaps we should take this more seriously," Renamon commented, her voice somewhere between genuine and sarcastic. "After all, Takato's dreams have held meaning in the past."

Rika snorted and rolled her eyes. "Right, and I'll go look up all our horoscopes to be thorough."

"Hold on, we're missing the big question here," Terriermon claimed as his eyes lit up. "What did Rika sing about in this dream?"

"Rabbit stew, I bet," Rika growled in his direction.

Terriermon crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "You realize I'm not a rabbit, right?"

"Guys, we need to focus," Takato said firmly, earning a brief pause from all of them.

"What exactly is your concern?" Renamon asked, this time with clearer concern and empathy in her voice.

"I guess..." Takato took a deep breath. As much as he could drag out this conversation with the oddball details of the dream, he knew exactly which part of it bothered him the most. "In the dream, we hadn't spoken in a while. Life got in the way and we dropped out of each other's lives."

"But that's not what happened in real life," Henry pointed out.

"I know, but it could still happen with how busy we get sometimes." Takato's eyes sunk to the ground as he kicked at the dirt. "You guys are my best friends, and I don't want to let that go."

"We might not have a choice in the matter," Rika said somberly, looking downward herself as she spoke.

"You're helpful, Sunshine," Terriermon chimed in, though reactions in the group were muted.

"I'm not saying we give up and let it happen." Rika turned to stare out the shed entrance and into the park beyond. "It's just that people leave sometimes, and you can't force them to stay."

"Well, I promise I'm not going anywhere," Guilmon declared as he marched forward and planted himself right in front of Takato. With a warm smile and confident eyes, it was clear that he meant every word.

Takato glanced around the shed one more time, waiting for anyone else to speak. No verbal responses came, though an air of affirmation seemed to be passing between them. Even Rika returned her attention to the group and gave a quick nod.

"Same here, boy," Takato said, resting a hand on Guilmon's shoulder before looking outward again.

Henry checked his watch. "I think that's a good note to end on, considering we're all about to be late for school.

"Story of my life." Takato sighed before leading them back outside. "I didn't even get to tell you guys about the second part of my dream, when things got really weird."

"I'm gonna have to stop you right there, Gogglehead," Rika said quickly. "I'm already at my quota for tales from dreamland."

Takato shrugged. "Yeah, on second thought, might be better to just forget the whole thing."

There was no sure way of knowing what their future held, but Takato wasn't about to let fear keep him from moving forward. Nothing was set in stone, and he was ready to work and fight for tomorrow.

Author's Note:

What's my unpopular opinion here? Truthfully, I don't believe that Tamers needs a sequel.
Yeah, I know that sounds a bit hypocritical coming from someone who writes post-canon Tamers fics, but that's probably why I can confidently say that. I just don't see how it could ever live up to the hype. Plus, the transcript I read for the 2018 audio drama didn't really inspire a lot of confidence.

Anyway, that's a wrap on this little project. It was fun, in some ways more than others, and it's nice to be able to mark a story on here as complete after all this time. As for what's next, hard to say at this juncture. Definitely not looking to start any new ongoing projects while I have two still marked as incomplete, and I still would like to return to WtWNE. We'll see what happens.

Leave a review if you feel up to it and I'll talk at you guys later.