I don't own digimon.

Story 29

In Memoria

Tinkermon couldn't believe it had finally happened. No way that this could actually be real. He had to be having one of those lucid dreams that Panmon sometimes babbled about. Not that she would believe him if their paths crossed once more. Tinkermon highly doubted that would occur. If Panmon did beat the odds, she had clearly engineered it to work out that way.

For so long, they had been trapped in the reaches of Nevereverland. Now, the endless expanses of city streets were his playground. Or at least, his playground to share with a crudton of individuals. But Tinkermon was fine with that. That was pretty much the last couple years with all the digimon passing through Nevereverland. Leave it to King Drasil to overload Primary Village with so many eggs that they needed an entirely separate place to hold them all. Surely they had seen that outcome coming from miles away. No, they had to do what they did best and wreck everything. What an asshole. Especially since they had the very delicate process of making sure that those with a human got the start of their memories returned to them. Hopefully Panmon could handle it all by herself. Probably could, but she would bitch about it in one way or another. Pushing that thought out of his head, he returned to gazing over the surroundings. His partner had to be doing something around here. Or at least, someone was around here that could put him in the right direction. Either one of those things were valid options as he stood on a grassy hill. A tree stood confidently behind him, its shade cascading down all around without a care in the world. Part of Tinkermon envied the plant. It didn't need to worry about whether or not someone remembered it. No, they could go about their day without anything resembling a worry. What he would give for such pleasures...

Yet, his attention shifted to a line of black vehicles. Hearses, he couldn't for the life of him remember seeing so many like that. What could be the special occasion?

"Mr Tinkermon?" a voice called out and Tinkermon spun around. Standing before him was a Tokomon. Relatively plain as baby digimon went, he could only assume they had a human around here. At least, that was what he hoped to be the case.

"Yes, little one?" he cooed and bent down to be on the little pig digimon's level. A careful head pat followed. In turn, Tokomon rubbed their face across his hand. Nice as it felt, why did he get a feeling that this wasn't? Try as Tinkermon might to rack his head for some kind of reason for him to feel that way, the champion digimon came up empty. Hopefully, an answer would come before the day came to an end.

"Oh. I just wanted to thank you for helping me get my memories back." Tokomon announced as they turned around. A smile formed on their face, slightly darkened by the fog out in the distance.

"Your welcome?" Tinkermon answered and watched the little pig digimon head off to parts unknown. For now, Tinkermon returned his attention to the black vehicles. A couple more had joined them, with what looked to be motorcycles followed right behind. Ribbons marked with digivices hung around their necks, the actual digivices nowhere to be found. Probably for the best. Wouldn't want your actual digivice falling out. A very likely chance that would get run over by another motorcycle or worse - a larger vehicle. But they probably knew that. Tinkermon hoped at least. Instead, the champion digimon took care in getting closer to the procession. Not close enough that they would all notice him, but enough that he could get a better look of all that was occurring right now. "Is this a parade?"

Looking about one more time, Tinkermon shook his head. No, parades were usually only done for happy things. At least, that was what Michael had told him the last time he was here. Watching the motorcycles pass on, the champion digimon found himself all alone. By no means the worst thing in the world, it only made the visit by Tokomon all the more odder. Was there something going on that he was unaware of? Entirely possible. For now, it was perhaps best to search for some kind of way to fill himself in all that had occurred since he was last here. But where exactly to start? He would go with something like a newspaper, but the champion digimon could say with certainty that not a single stand had crossed his path. Surely people still used those to get their news. If not, what exactly was being used now. Taking a moment to look about, his gaze found a man on the other side of the street. Dressed in a vest and pants, his bald head stuck out. Even more then the sunglasses covering his eyes.

"Sir, what year is it?" Tinkermon inquired and watched the man look in his direction. For now, he made his way over to them. Kind of hard to have a conversation from across the street. Thankfully, there wasn't anything in the way of cars going about their day and Tinkermon was able to cross with relative ease. On the other side, he slowed down his pace.

"2011. the man answered, taking a moment to look Tinkermon's attire over. On anyone else, the tank top and skirt would probably think that he was some kind of party girl. Not that Tinkermon minded. Once he had rendezvous with Michael, he could ask him for some clothes. Hopefully he wouldn't mind sharing with his partner. "I'm guessing you're a digimon looking for their human partner?"

Tinkermon nodded and took a moment to let out a deep breath. The man was right on the money. Not that it was really hard to come to that conclusion.

"Yes. Did something happen recently?" Tinkermon asked and watched the man look up to the sky. That couldn't be good. Was this somehow in connection to Tokomon? Possible, but incredibly unlikely.

"Well… there was that mess with Eosmon." the man explained and returned to looking at Tinkermon. Getting a gulp, why did he get the feeling that the explanation that would follow was going to be less than pleasant. "Brought a great many digidestined to their knees and some... didn't make it."

Tinkermon looked in the direction of the hearses. Surely Michael had managed to get through this unscathed. Or at least, in a state that he would remember him. But the champion digimon pushed those thoughts out. Little use in thinking about any of that. Especially since he was still looking for Michael. Turning back to the man, he let out a deep breath. Part of him wasn't completely sure for him to even ask this. The man would probably think he was weird for even daring to ask such a question. Yet, it felt appropriate from the perspective of his former position to know the truth. Or as close as one could get here.

"Did the fallen digidestined… get a chance to see their partners one last time?" Tinkermon croaked out, the man letting out a chuckle. A single tear rolled down his eyes, more threatening to fall down and join it.

"Some did, some didn't. Perhaps whoever was in charge had a sick sense of humor or just wanted to leave them with one happy memory." the man explained and stared down at the sidewalk. Tinkermon joined him in the gazing, not completely sure how to feel about any of this. What could these digidestined have done to deserve dying of all outcomes? It made absolutely zero sense! Surely whoever was behind this truly understood the magnitude of their actions and were willing to repent. But Tinkermon highly doubted that. Probably the opposite. Whoever committed this atrocity would never see the justice they deserved to get. Wasn't a use in dwelling on that fury. He still needed to find Michael. Whatever state that he was in didn't really matter. They just needed to reunite and everything would be good.

"By any chance have you seen anyone by the name of Michael Darling?" Tinkermon inquired and brought his gaze back up. The man let out a chuckle, only to look in the direction of the hearses and motorcycles a second later.

"I would get to following the procession, if I were you." the man explained and Tinkermon nodded. Turning in the direction that he saw the vehicles go, he did his best to remain on the sidewalks for now. Tempted as using his wings were, that made him an easy target for whoever might be patrolling the event. Had to be a number of high level digimon around as well. Especially if they didn't want anyone to get a dumb idea and try to attack the place. Or at least, that was what the champion digimon hoped to be the case. Pushing that thought away, he picked up the pace. Last thing he needed was the procession to make a turn and completely lose them before the champion digimon had a chance to catch up in the first place. Nice of a new playground that the city was, he wasn't above its unspoken rules. At least, the ones that Tinkermon could easily guess. Probably a ton that he had managed to break by sheer accident or ignorance. Not that he would be punished for any of that… to his knowledge, at least.

"Where are you, Michael?" Tinkmon whispered as the motorcycles came back into view. Still going at the same speed, the only real difference now was the crowds of people and digimon lining the sidewalks on both sides of the street. Tinkermon came to a stop, the debate of going up into the air nagging about within his mind once more. This was perhaps an even worse spot to fly up. All the digimon here would probably think that he was an attacker and would shoot him out of the sky. At least, the ones with projectiles. Once he was down on the ground, those who were the more up-close types would go to town on him until nothing remained. For now, it was probably best to stay on the sidewalk and wade upstream in the direction of the processi-

"Need a boost up?" a voice called out and Tinkermon focused his attention upwards. Hanging from a thread was a kunemon of all digimon. Coming to a stop, the champion digimon racked his mind for any memory of this particular digimon. At least in regards to his work at Nevereverland. That was probably the explanation here. Or something along those lines.

"Yes, actually." Tinkermon answered and felt the kunemon's string wrap him around his body. Flinging him up into the air, Tinkermon waited a moment before he began flapping. From up above, everything looked so small. Not quite ants, but he could see why some people would think that from this flight. A shame that he was unable to actually thank that kunemon for helping him out there. Maybe once everything was done, he could go find him and give his thanks. Yeah, that sounded like a perfect way to go about it. Tinkermon pushed that thought to the backburner and focused on the task at hand. From up here, it should've been a cinch for him to find Michael. Except he had no idea what kind of person he should be looking for in the first place. There wasn't really a good way to see any of the people driving the hearses. Nor was it helped by all the motorcycle riders wearing identical helmets and jackets. Probably a reason for that, not that Tinkermon could think of or really discern from up above. What he could see was the destination where the procession was heading towards - a cemetery. Quite a large one, at that. The ideal place for laying digidestined to rest. Yet, Michael still eluded his gaze. Where exactly could he be? If he wasn't driving a hearse or motorcycle, where could his partner have been? Had he been asked to deliver a speech in honor of the fallen? The champion digimon could see him doing that. If that were the case, where exactly was he then? Far as Tinkermon could see, there wasn't much in the way of buildings that one could stay in to mentally prepare for an event like this. Trying his hardest to come up with an explanation, Tinkermon found his mind grasping at straws as he descended towards the graveyard. The vehicles were almost there, the crowds following right behind.

"Tinkermon, what are you doing here?" a voice shouted, Tinkermon's gaze freezing up. There, a man in a gray suit stood before him. Brunette hair done up short and businesslike, a set of hazel eyes stared at the champion digimon. Pulling Tinkermon in for a hug, care was taken to avoid crushing his partner's wings.

"I kind of… was sent down here?" Tinkermon explained, unsure on how to answer his partner's question. Beyond, 'whatever entity at work here willed it to be'. But the champion doubted Michael would actually believe that. Not that the current explanation was really that sufficient for the situation. If anything, it made him even less trustworthy in the eyes of Michael. But that could be looked past for now. "By any chance did you see a Tokomon around here?"

Michael's gaze fell to the ground, mumbling echoing from his lips. Tinkermon did his best to meet his gaze, even if he wasn't sure what could have gotten into him here. It was just a Tokomon. The scariest thing abo-

Tinkermon didn't get a chance to finish his thought, mostly because the tokomon passed by and made a beeline for a nearby grave. Jumping head first into the dirt, his body passed through.

"That tokomon's partner was one of the first casualties of Eosmon's attacks." Michael croaked out and brought his head back up. Faced with a confused look from his partner, he gave Tinkermon a squeeze to the hand. Great as that felt, it did little in quelling Tinkermon's confusion. The tears fell down, rain following right after.

Notes:

Sorry about the delay. FFnet decided that it didn't want to have anyone publish stuff yesterday (at the time of writing).