The streetlights of nighttime Tokyo led his car as the asphalt road turned to paved sidewalks and materialized the metropolitan building in all its glory. Other cars were already parked nearby and his was the last one.
Takato approached his friends with a click of his car key, the following beeping adding to the white noise that he hoped would keep him awake for a while longer.
"Rough night?"
Takato shrugged, a smile gracing his lips despite the ungodly hour he was woken up to.
"You look much worse, Hirokazu."
"That I do," the zombie in pajama replied back with a chuckle. "It's the examination week, so I haven't got a decent sleep recently."
"Whatever would you do without me, Hiro." Juri shook her head and handed them both a cup of coffee. "How are you, Takato?"
Takato accepted the elixir of life and refrained himself from inhaling it in one go, if only to not scald his tongue.
"Been fine. Still looking for a job, though. You?"
"Got my hands full looking after the boys." At this, she gestured to Kenta and Ryo who were sleeping against each other by the bench. On either of their sides were equally snoring Ai and Makoto.
"I'm glad we decided to only have one girl," Jenrya gleefuly chimed in with Ruki in tow. Unlike the rest of them, the two were in high spirits. "And maybe two if we're lucky."
Ruki sighed in exasperation at him but there was no doubting her smile.
"It was supposed to be a secret, but somebody just doesn't know when to shut up."
"I can't help that I'm such a loving father and husband."
Hirokazu rolled his eyes. "Stop rubbing it in. The whole Japan knows you love each other."
Takato nodded sagely. "I have to agree."
Juri chuckled. "Me too, honestly."
"Oh but we're not done yet." Jen grinned and they talked until the topic shifted to the reason they were called here in the first place.
"So, they're back huh," Takato said. Silently, he took out his D-Ark and traced his finger on the golden rim, feeling the bumps and curves he'd memorized over the years. "It's been so long."
Jen and Ruki held each other's hands, their eyes meeting in silent conversation before turning to them again.
"Terriermon would get along well with our daughter. That I'm sure of," Jen said.
Ruki followed up with a snort. "And Renamon can take care of them both."
Hirokazu stared at the sky wistfully. "I just want to do boy stuff with Guardromon like the old times. We missed out a lot on our bonding time."
"And I want to stuff Culumon's cheeks with bread, cakes, chocolate..."
"Back up, back up. Do you want to choke him to death, Juri?" Hirokazu teased.
"What? It's not like there's a candy store in the Digital World. Culumon loved those..." At that she stopped. "I hope they've been eating well."
Takato considered her words and vowed to make the best bread ever to celebrate his own partner's return.
Their conversation was cut short when the front door of the building opened up. Yamaki-san arrived with an entourage of men and women in black. In the midst of them were the Wild Bunch members and a group of children.
Takato faintly noted a boy that could have been his younger self if not for the patch of red above his forehead.
"Dad, is something wrong?" Jen asked Li-san who was carrying a pair of toddlers in his arms.
"Oi, Kenta, Ryo! Wake up!" Hirokazu hissed.
Kenta fixed his glasses. "Bwuh? Hiro? Where are the Digimon?"
At that, Ai and Makoto immediately woke up.
"The Digimon are here?!"
"Where?!"
"That's what we're trying to figure out." Ryo yawned before standing next to Jenrya. He pointed to the expectant eyes looking up at them. "Who are the kids?"
It was as if time froze when two of those eyes caught Takato's gaze. They were a familiar deep yellow he couldn't mistake anywhere, because the only one who had them was–
Before he knew it, his legs guided him towards the child, hands outstretched. Gently, he took the child from Li-san and caressed the child's face.
"Guilmon... I-is that you?" Tears pooled in his own eyes when the child answered with a nod. If there was any doubt Guilmon was in his hands, it was all but dispelled by the words that followed.
"Takato, do you have bread?"
Sputtering and laughing, he nodded and patted Guilmon on the head.
He hugged Guilmon close.
"I don't right now, but we'll make some for you later, okay?"
"Juri!" The other toddler in Li-san's arms jumped and stumbled towards his rushing friend.
"Culumon! I missed you!"
Soon, cheery voices cried out as Tamers and Digimon reunited. Takato watched his friends cry out their hearts and make up for lost times.
"Monodramon? You're lighter than a feather!"
"Ai, Mako. You're so tall now..."
"MarineAngemon? Do you still remember me?"
"Huzzah! Me and Renamon are family. Argh, Ruki, no! Not the kiss! Jen, Renamon, help!"
"I'm so gonna have fun washing your mouth with soap and putting a filter in there."
"Hirokazu. I'm sorry I couldn't come back sooner."
Takato soon reluctantly shifted his gaze from Guilmon to Yamaki-san and the Wild Bunch, voicing what he presumed everyone was thinking as well.
"Why are the Digimon children? Did something go wrong?"
Yamaki-san nodded to the Wild Bunch and before soon, each one of the Tamers received a folder filled to the brim with papers.
"Medical reports?" Takato hefted Guilmon on his hip as he flipped through the papers to see barely legible blocks of texts inside them. A line of letters of numbers caught his attention the most. "Genetic match over fifty percent? What?"
He looked up to Daisy who'd given him the folder. The woman shook her head with a frown. He couldn't blame her. She looked worse for wear than any of them present.
"I'll let Dolphin explain the rest. Just know that right now, your Digimon are human children and you Tamers are their biological parents, technically speaking."
Takato gaped as he looked at Guilmon and then to Yamaki-san. Dolphin thankfully stepped forward to dispel their confusion.
"I'm sure you remember when we asked for your DNA during our last meeting."
Juri raised her hand like a student asking questions in class. Dolphin chuckled and let her speak.
"Yes. You said you had a breakthrough and wanted our DNA samples to experiment with it further."
"Correct. What we discovered was that your Digimon's data reacted with your digitized DNA for reasons we weren't aware of. Because we wanted to bring them back without risking taking the rest of the Digital World with them, we decided to test it out."
Makoto raised his hand next. "Then does that mean the Digimon were already human back in the Digital World? Was that why they reacted to the samples."
At that, a voice from behind Dolphin spoke up. It was another child around eight years old. His demeanor however reminded Takato of military officials with his hand behind his straight back. Babel led boy to the front.
"I can answer thy question."
"Lopmon, where have you been?"
"I apologize, Shiuchon's father. The building was a maze of distractions and..."
"He got lost looking for the washroom," Babel supplied.
"...yes. But never mind that." Lopmon coughed for attention, blush tinting his cheeks. "While we weren't humans back in the Digital World, we were already undergoing unexplainable physical changes. And..."
He paused briefly, eyes glancing over his audience as if looking for someone. His partner.
But Shiuchon was in China.
Takato winced at the implication.
"...Before we arrived here, our form was already halfway transforming into that of human youngs. And then a zone materialized and I was sucked in together with Guilmon."
Ruki frowned. "You weren't all together in the Digital World?"
Lopmon shook his head. "I was alone for half of the time there before reuniting with Guilmon. Only today did I get to see the rest of my friends."
Gasps resounded around him as Takato took in the information. He looked at Guilmon in concern, the rest of the Tamers doing much the same.
"You were alone in the Digital World?" He choked but Guilmon only smiled back.
"Yeah, but Lopmon was there too!"
Takato hugged Guilmon, promising in-between chokes to not ever leave him alone again.
"It's late and you all need your rest," Yamaki-san said after awhile. "I suggest you take the children home. If any complications arise, do contact us or the Wild Bunch. Have a good night."
The Tamers all agreed with that. Takato was about to take Guilmon to his car when the boy tried to wiggle out of his arms.
"Guilmon, what's wrong?"
"Lopmon," was all Guilmon provided.
In his worry to not hurt his partner, his grasp failed him and the boy rushed towards Jenrya and Ruki before stumbling over his steps.
"Uh-uh. You can barely walk as is. I'm taking you there," Takato said and picked the boy up again and carried him to where his friends were.
Terriermon noticed and waved them over while Renamon offered a bow in greeting.
"Lopmon! Don't leave!" Guilmon cried as he wiggled out of Takato's arms again to ram into Lopmon. "I want you to stay."
Takato exchanged a glance with Jenrya and Ruki. They knew not to interrupt, but this topic was to be discussed later.
"I am not going anywhere, little one. I am simply asking Shiuchon's brother about her whereabouts. She... hath not forgotten me, hath she?"
Jenrya bent down to Lopmon's height so they were eye-level.
"My sister misses you very much, but she's far away right now. You'll see her soon, I promise."
That answer satisfied Lopmon enough to have him nod cheerfully and look more like his current age.
"Stay with me and Takato, then," Guilmon said as he tugged on Lopmon's shirt. He looked up to Takato with those big, begging eyes. No, not just begging. He was scared. "He can stay with us, right? Right?"
An invisible hand squeezed Takato's heart as he nodded with a thin smile. "Of course, as long as Lopmon doesn't mind."
There was something Guilmon wasn't telling him. Silently, he looked at Terriermon and Renamon who met his gaze with an oblivious smile.
The last time their group had gone to the Digital world, they'd left with two less and one impostor. What had their Digimon gone through in the last sixteen year then?
Ruki's hand reached his shoulder, giving him a semblance of a shoulder squeeze. But Ruki being Ruki, what he got instead was a shoulder crush.
"We'll talk later about this," she assured him.
Takato nodded while nursing his shoulder, hoping it didn't bruise.
"Takato, I hope I do not overindulge by asking to stay with thee," Lopmon said, his hand held tight in Guilmon's. Tight enough to block blood circulation and leave it white.
Takato felt this was about to be the beginning of many half-hearted smiles in the future.
"Don't worry about it. Come on, my car's over here."
Ai and Makoto waved their goodbyes as they left on bike with Impmon. Jenrya seemed to want to stay longer to talk with his dad so Ruki and Renamon were left to tend to Terriermon's antics. The most lively sight though had to be Juri and her so-called boys.
She and Kenta were herding their Digimon–Kids now– to their van but a dead asleep Hirokazu was blocking the door. Ryo was the driver and seemed to like not having to drive for awhile more. Culumon especially was revelling in the chaos, bouncing and cheering at the show.
Takato unlocked his car and made sure his own kids were comfortably seated before starting the car. They hit the road, Lopmon sitting beside him and Guilmon strapped safely on the eight year old's lap with a seatbelt. Soon, the whirring of the engines blended in with the sounds of the wind.
"We'll be spending the night at my home. Tomorrow we'll go to my parents' in Okinawa. Shiuchon will meet you there," he said, addressing Lopmon. When he didn't get any reply, he glanced to the kids only to see two lolling heads too tired to stay up.
Despite everything, Takato felt a warm smile pulling at his lips. Their Digimon were back. As kids, yes, and with secrets to boot. But their reunion had been long overdue. He could figure out what they were hiding later. For now, he was just glad that they were back.
"Good night, Guilmon, Lopmon."
Tamers age:
Takato and co: 26
Ryo: 30
Shiuchon: 23
Ai: 22
Makoto: 20
Digimon age:
Guilmon, Culumon: 4
Terriermon, Lopmon: 8
Impmon: 6
Renamon, Monodramon, Guardromon: 10
MarineAngemon: 12
A/N:
This fic will be divided between four alternating chapters since the cast is too big:-
1. Okinawa Days: Takato, Shiuchon, Guilmon, and Lopmon
2. Shinjuku Days: Jenrya, Ruki, Terriermon, and Renamon
3. Nishi-Shinjuku Days: Juri, Ryo, Hirokazu, Kenta, and their Digimon
4. Shibuya Days: Ai, Makoto, and Impmon