Not a long chapter but still an eventful one

Sunday

On one of his only days when he wasn't forced to be scrambling around early in the morning to get ready for class, Matt had intended on sleeping in for as long as possible then having a steaming cup of coffee followed by a relaxing afternoon of just him and his guitar.

Instead, Matt awoke to a frustration induced outcry and a phone crashing into the receiver. He sat up quickly, eyes darting around the room, now fully alert and half-expecting a digimon attack or some kind of danger, but his quite college dorm room's only disturbance was a big-haired brunette.

"What is everyone's problem?" Tai spat at the phone. He sat cross-legged on the floor with the phone balanced on his knee.

Matt blinked sleep out of his eyes while saying, "Maybe that it's too early?"

Tai turned, slightly startled to find his roommate awake. "No, that's not it. The problem is that Kari won't talk to TK, Sora won't talk to Joe, Mimi and Sora won't talk to Izzy, Izzy won't talk to Mimi, and Joe put me on hold!"

Matt rubbed his eyes then staggered out of bed knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. "You might want to add to that list."

"Why?"

He growled, "Because if you ever wake me up this early again I'll have to find a new roommate."

Tai rolled his eyes at his best friend's hollow threats. "Hey, did something happen to Joe? He won't talk to me except to rant about how dangerous this is and how we need to stop."

"Um, yeah," Matt started trying to bring his rested but now dulled mind to remember the events of yesterday. "He almost got hit by Piddomon's attack. Things went downhill from there."

"Oh…" Tai's mind immediately launched him into his memories of their first time in the Digital World. Joe was the most cautious, always thinking things were too dangerous or scary. It seemed he was reacting that way now, like it was his first time facing Digimon. Tai couldn't imagine going through that sort of panic and confusion the Digital World had caused the first time all over again.

He tightened his fists. "If this is what losing your memory is like it must really bite."

"Yeah…" Matt uttered. There really wasn't anything else to say. He'd been trying his best to deny, but the proof was right in front of him: they were all losing their memories. Their friendships were a ticking time bomb. These fights weren't going to cause them to drift away; they were just the prelude to completely forgetting one another.

Of course, Matt didn't want to bring that up this early in the morning, so instead he advised, "Let everyone cool off today and try to fix things tomorrow."

Tai turned his head away from his friend and reluctantly said, "Fine, but I'm going to fix this. I'm not giving up on this team that easy."

TK breathed in the fresh spring air as he strolled along a sidewalk alongside the local park. He took in the scenery, cheery people, flourishing trees, a bright pallet of nature colors. Normally this would be quite soothing if his head wasn't pounding from all the pressing thoughts jumbled around in it.

Images kept repeating of a beat up Patamon, Cody shutting the door behind him, Kari walking away back at her locker, Joe snapping at him. No matter how much he shut out the negative, it kept seeping back into his head which is exactly why he decided to take a walk to clear his head.

Again, the walk would be soothing if it weren't for his thoughts… or the soccer ball coming at his head.

"Heads up!"

TK held his hands up at just the right moment and snatched the ball out of the air only to be met by a sheepish looking Davis jogging towards him.

"Sorry," he said, "I was just dribbling to myself, and it got away from me."

"No problem," TK assured. Of all the people he could run into when he was trying not to think about anything digital, it had to be Davis.

"Anyway I was about to head home," the brunette explained pointing in the direction TK was going.

"So was I," TK informed.

"Cool!" Davis exclaimed cheerily, "Then let's go." He began walking down the sidewalk, soccer ball being tossed up and down in his hand.

For some reason, an amused smile found its way to the blonde. Davis had just assumed they knew each other well enough to walk together.

They went along casually, Davis blabbering on about something or other and TK not minding the company. The brunette changed topics quickly, and he must've talked about everything from soccer to Koi fish. It was only when he mentioned a certain someone that TK really got invested in the conversation.

"Hey, Kari's not your girl, is she?"

TK froze; he could feel his legs going numbing, but Davis hadn't noticed and kept walking, so TK quickly sped up to match his pace and as nonchalant as he could muster (which wasn't very) he answered, "No! Of course not, we're only friends!"

Davis, still as oblivious as ever, couldn't see past the other's bad poker face. "Alright, good because I didn't want any bad feelings about our date."

TK physically had to bite his tongue while Davis went on, "It didn't go that great. She seemed… disappointed. I don't know, like it wasn't what she was expecting."

He shrugged cluelessly, but TK knew why. Kari was expecting the old Davis, and no matter how alike this guy was to their old friend, he would never share the same memories or connections to him.

Realizing he'd never responded, TK said, "I'm sorry to hear that," but his words were hollow.

There were a few moments of silence that admittedly weren't that awkward or unwelcome. It was odd, like they were old friends.

Davis broke the silence, "I know how weird this is gonna sound, but you were in a dream I had."

This caught TK off guard. To say the very least, he was curious.

Davis nodded slightly and looked upwards as he attempted to recall it. "It was the night after working with you and Kari on that health project. I dreamt the three of us were in this city in the middle of a desert, and we were talking to this robot. There was an angel there too and a talking cat-"He cut himself of by shaking his head- "But it was stupid. It's not like something like that could happen. I probably just had too much pop before bed."

Davis laughed at the absurd dream, and TK tried to join him but was well aware of how fake his laugh must sound. What Davis described sounded exactly like when they ran into Andromon at Full Metal City. How could he possibly know that if his memory was erased?

"I'm going this way," Davis announced while pointing in the opposite direction TK was about to turn. "See you later, Dude."

TK gave a quick goodbye. His thoughts were still on the discovery of Davis's memory as he continued walking down the sidewalk. The dream couldn't possibly be a flaw in the Memory Wipe... No, no that was all it could be. There was no other explanation.

Only as the brunette morphed into the surrounding crowd did TK remember, so he spun around and called out, "Hey, why are you a junior in health class?"

Davis looked back slightly confused before laughing and shouting back, "I took a cooking class instead last year!"

"A cooking class," TK chuckled, "I wonder if his noodles are any good."

This was getting old.

Mori still refused to tell his wife about his job, or lack thereof, so he had to keep himself busy during the day being anywhere but home.

His leads: None; his connections: Zero; his case progress: Nada.

This was getting old.

That is until a familiar blue-haired man waltzed into the coffee shop Mori had currently stopped in for use of their Wi-Fi.

The man surveyed the small shop uncertainly before catching the investigator's eye. He then trotted over quickly, stumbling twice on the way, and took a seat opposite him without ever being invited.

"Can I help you?" Mori asked suspiciously to which the man only nodded.

"Yes, my name is Joe Kido. A week or so ago you brought me and some… associates in for questioning."

Mori's eyes widened. That was where he knew the blue-haired man from! He was one of the kids with monsters.

Joe rubbed the back of his neck nervously and reminded himself that what he was doing is for the best. He needed to keep the others out of danger and away from that other world. "What we told you before, it wasn't everything. Actually it wasn't anything."

"Oh?" Mori inquired trying not to sound as interested or excited as he was at this possible new development.

"I'll tell you everything," he started, "as long as you promise to stop those monsters."

Mori nodded, a smirk creeping onto his face. "But of course."

Joe sighed in relief. A burden was about to be lifted from his shoulders. "This monster business started eight years ago at summer camp…"

Oh Joe… Thanks for reading!