Takato's Hatchling
By milesprower06
Chapter 3 – To Tell or Not To Tell
MATSUKI BAKERY / RESIDENCE
SUNDAY – 7:45 AM
Takato woke up to something wet and slimy lapping against his cheek. As he came to, he realized it was Guilmon, licking his face, encouraging him to greet the new day.
"Alright, alright boy, I'm up." Takato told his partner. So much for not setting his alarm clock; Guilmon seemed to fit its purpose just fine. He sat up, lifted the covers aside, and climbed down the ladder, bringing Guilmon down afterwards. Knowing that he was probably hungry, Takato decided to bring Guilmon another bread roll and bottle of milk. But his parents were probably already in the kitchen, preparing for when the bakery opened in about two hours.
'But they don't have to know it's for him.' Takato thought to himself, getting an idea. He set Guilmon gently down in the box.
"Stay put this time, okay boy?" Takato asked his partner. He slid open his bedroom door, stepped out into the hall, and closed it, as he had almost no faith in Guilmon's ability to listen, or even understand him, for that matter. It would be best to hurry, though; if he took too long, Guilmon might not only scratch at the door, but also start whining like he did last night, and he didn't really want to explain Guilmon to his parents.
Takato went down the stairs into the kitchen, where his parents were indeed going about the front and back, preparing for the morning's inevitable business.
"Morning." he greeted, going to the fridge.
"You're up awfully early for a Sunday. Sleep well?" his dad asked.
"Yeah. Something just wouldn't let me get back to sleep." he said, not wanting to give them too big a hint for why he was down here this early. He opened the fridge, grabbed the jug of milk, poured a glass, returned the milk to the fridge, and on his way out, grabbed one of the fresh warm rolls.
Upon returning upstairs, Takato slowly slid open his bedroom door, expecting Guilmon to be right on the other side. He wasn't however, and to Takato's surprise, Guilmon was where he had left him, sitting in the shoebox waiting for him to return. The dino's excitement grew when he saw Takato come through the door.
Of course, Takato gave him the customary "good boy", as he walked over to his desk, twisted the cap off of his bottle, and poured in the milk from the glass. It was cold this time around, but he didn't believe Guilmon would mind. With the bottle and roll in hand, Takato knelt in front of Guilmon's shoebox, and offered him the fresh bread.
As much as he enjoyed last night's day-old bread, Guilmon dove into the fresh roll mouth first as if he hadn't eaten in weeks, and finished it in record time. Takato then picked his partner up, and fed him the bottle of milk.
'I wonder where it all goes.' Takato wondered, as Guilmon hadn't answered nature's call after hatching. He didn't want to think about it too hard, lest he jinx it and suddenly have diapers to change.
'Probably gets converted to data or something.' he concluded, gazing around his room, his eyes coming to rest on his backpack. School started up again tomorrow…
Takato's body tensed suddenly, and Guilmon took note of this, making a curious groan.
'Oh no! School's tomorrow! But what'll I do with Guilmon?' Takato wondered, looking down at the dino he held in his arms.
'He can't just stay cooped up in here all day…he needs food, and attention! What if he were to get out? What if -?'
Takato's stomach dropped, and he felt a lump in his throat as the situation began to get the best of him.
'Okay, get a hold of yourself, Takato. There has to be something you can do. Let's see…'
He spent the next several minutes drawing a blank. His friends, Jeri, Kazu, and Kenta, were all in school with him. He went down the same roads of thought again and again, only to arrive at the only one realistic conclusion.
'But…Mom and Dad…would…well, they would freak! But…'
But there was no other option.
He had to tell them.
'Best not do it right now.' Takato thought to himself. They had customers to attend to in about 30 minutes, and they certainly didn't need this on their minds right now. All the more time he had to figure out how to tell them.
This was going to be worse than the time he brought that cat home…
--
MATSUKI BAKERY / RESIDENCE
6:30 PM
Takahiro and Mei Matsuki were downstairs in the kitchen, finishing up the dishes. Business-wise, it had been quite a prosperous day, as they had discovered upon counting down the register. What wasn't sold went in the pantry for the night to be offered the next day as discounted day-old items. The two bakers heard their son come down the stairs into the kitchen.
"Hey, how was it today?" Takato asked.
"Pretty good. We almost had to come get you." Mei said.
"You've been spending a lot of time up there today. Is everything okay?" Takahiro asked. Takato looked uneasy.
"Well, um…I have something I need to show you guys."
"What is it?"
"It's…kinda hard to say."
"Takato, do you have anything up in your room we should know about?"
He now had the attention of both his parents.
"Uh…you remember when I…uh, brought that cat home?"
Mei immediately gave him one of those common mother looks.
"You brought another animal home? What part of no –"
"Not exactly. Uh, come up and see."
Takahiro and Mei followed their son up to his room, wondering if they should know what to expect. Takato had always been an animal person. So what did he mean when he said, 'not exactly'?
"Alright – I hope I can make you understand what I'm about to show you – just don't freak, that part I can't stress enough." Takato told them. He took a breath, then slowly slid open his bedroom door.
Guilmon, upon hearing the door open, poked his head up out of the shoebox beside Takato's bed.
"What is…oh dear Lord!" Mei exclaimed.
"Mom! What do you think when I said 'don't freak'? I don't want you to startle him." Takato said, walking over to the shoebox and picked the crimson raptor up, then slowly came back to his shocked parents, ready to introduce them to his partner.
"He hasn't seen any other people other than me, so I didn't know how he'd react." Takato explained, standing in front of his dumbfounded mom and dad.
"Takato, what is that? A lizard?" Takahiro asked, his wife still too shocked for words.
"Well, his name's Guilmon. Uh, you see, he's a Digimon."
"You mean that TV show you always used to watch? They're…they're real?"
"I guess so. Here, I'll try my best to explain."
Takato carefully slipped Guilmon into his father's arms, and went over to his desk.
Guilmon noticed how calm and off-guard Takato was around these two new faces, so he immediately decided to treat them as friendly. Mei just stared at him in complete and utter disbelief.
Takato returned moments later with his drawings of Guilmon and his Digivice.
"Alright, here it goes. Friday morning before school, Kazu, Kenta, and me were playing cards. I accidentally spilled my cards, and as I was picking them up, I found this weird blue metal card that I definitely don't remember having. I slashed it through my card reader, and at first, I thought I had fried it. I went back to it after school, and it had transformed into this." he explained, holding up his Digivice.
"I guess it's a variation of the ones from the show. I got the idea in my head to scan drawings of a Digimon I thought up, and an egg appeared on the screen." he showed them his drawings that he did outside of class on Friday.
"Saturday afternoon, the egg vanished from the screen, and a compass function on this thing led me to a construction site downtown, where it appeared as soon as I got there."
"So that's what you had under your hoody last night."
Takato nodded, and continued.
"It hatched after dinner last night, and I've been feeding him milk and bread. The reason I decided to show you is because I have school tomorrow, and he can't stay up here all day alone. I need someone to watch him. I know it's asking a lot. Mom, I know we're not allowed to have pets, but I believe I was meant to find him. It would mean so much to me if you guys helped me take care of him."
There. He had stated his case. Now what would they think? His story was a bit out there, for sure, but with his drawings, the Digivice, the remnants of the egg he had gathered on his desk, and not to mention Guilmon right there in his dad's arms, he was hopeful that they would believe him. But getting them to believe him wasn't even half the battle…
"Takato, this is a lot to take in. Your mother and I should talk about this downstairs. Well let you know what we decide." his dad said, handing Guilmon back over to Takato, and left with Mei, sliding the door closed behind them.
--
Takato didn't know what to think. Aside from her initial reaction, the fact that his mom didn't say a word worried him. Now, they were downstairs, discussing his fate, or rather, the fate of his infant partner.
--
"A digital dinosaur? How is that even possible? Mei asked her husband, finally able to break her silence.
"I'm not sure, and I don't think Takato is, either, but he explained it as best he could. He was always crazy about that Digimon stuff."
"You sound like you're actually considering letting him keep that thing!"
"Mei, he came to us. It shows that he trusts us. He came to us because he obviously had nowhere else to turn. Whatever Guilmon is, Takato wants our help in looking after him."
"I can't believe I'm hearing this! It's crazy! We don't even know what he is!"
"He seemed harmless enough. Try to look at it from Takato's point of view, Mei. He's worried about what'll happen to him if he just keeps him up in his room. If we involve the authorities, or anyone else for that matter, it'll most likely mean trouble. I'm not afraid of helping Takato take care of him – I'm afraid of what Takato might resort to if we don't."
Mei looked like she still needed convincing.
"Mei…do you trust him?" Takahiro asked, the question firm and direct.
Mai carefully thought the situation over for several moments, and then nodded.
"Yes, I trust him."
Takahiro nodded in return.
"Alright. So let's help him out."
--
Takato sat anxiously in his room, awaiting his parents' decision. He had set Guilmon back down in the shoebox, and was now sitting at his desk, staring at the drawings of Guilmon he had done late last week.
'What was I thinking, putting my drawings into that slot? I mean, a real Digimon's cool and all, but why didn't I think of what would happen when I have to go to school?'
His mom had certainly thought nothing of keeping her voice down downstairs, but now things had quieted down, which made him wonder. What…what would happen if they didn't help him? If they said no…?
His mind screeched to a halt when he heard his bedroom door slide open again. He immediately turned to face his parents, who were coming in. His heart pounded against his chest. His dad cleared his throat. This was it…
"Well…at least we know what to feed him when you're at school."
Takato leapt out of his chair, nearly knocking it over, and threw his arms around his mom and dad.
"Thank you! Thank you so much…" Takato said, overjoyed, nearly in tears.
"Just don't let it affect your schoolwork, alright?" his mom asked him.
Takato slowly took a step back, nodding. It must not have been easy for her to accept this, so he might as well try his best to set her mind at ease. He walked over to Guilmon's box, picked him up, walked back over to his mom, and offered his partner to her. She took him in her arms, and when he looked up at her with that curious, goofy look, she couldn't help but smile in return.
"You know, he's kind of cute."
"Thank you again. You don't know what this means to me."
Takato couldn't remember when he last felt so relieved.