Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

We were gathered around the large kitchen table, empty plates and glasses from the finished meal still sitting on it. I looked around and at everyone and realized how lucky I was to be found by them; Takato Matsuki, Henry Wong, Rika Nonaka, Guilmon, Terriermon, and Renamon. I shook my head and sighed, extending my right arm. The brown fur on my hands changed to white at my wrists. I focused on myself and idly watched as the fur twisted sideways and vanished, my arm becoming fully human once again, hidden within my shirt sleeve which blended seamlessly with my Digimon shoulder. As I heard the collective gasp I grinned a little. To me this was an unremarkable feat, something I had seen and done countless times before.

"Going for shock and awe are we?" Reppamon, my tail, said jokingly

"If I am, then you'll be the only thing I leave. But, rather than go slow I'll just skip ahead to that part." I replied as the rest of my body quickly changed back to being human.

I looked down at my clothes and realized that, despite all the fighting I had been through recently, they were still intact. From my comfortable running shoes and khaki shorts, to the odd shirt that I loved to wear. It used to be a long sleeve half zip but I had cut the left sleeve short and hemmed so it wouldn't come apart. It was still in one piece and one of my favorite shades of faded blue. I pulled down the zipper and pulled my arm right arm inside my shirt.

"You don't need to take your shirt off, it doesn't matter if you're muscular or not." Rika said

Ignoring her comment I sighed and pulled the right side of my shirt down off my shoulder and stuck my arm out of it. There was another collective gasp, however, this time it was one of horror. I just stared blankly at my arm; I had seen it many times and remained unfazed by it. My right arm was covered in scars, some large and some small, they criss-crossed chaotically over my skin. I stared at it idly before slipping it back into my shirt and zipping it up. Even with the scars out of sight everyone still had horrified looks on their faces and it was deathly silent.

"Suddenly it feels like you're in the graveyard you belong in doesn't it." Reppamon chuckled

"I hate that joke." I said my face falling

"Well, it's not like you're a dead man walking or anything."Terriermon said

"Actually," I said before Henry could speak "that's exactly what it is."

"How?" Takato began before I cut him off

"I'll explain everything I can. I was hit by…something, we still don't know what. It knocked me out on impact and from then I remember very little. I remember I woke up once in the ambulance and felt like pain like I had never thought imaginable before I passed out again. Then I remember floating through an empty void, it was boring, very boring. Then next thing I know I wake up in the hospital feeling better than I ever before."

"How?"

"I'm getting there Takato, patience. My cousin Michael was my doctor at the hospital and when it was finally just the two of us he filled me in on what had happened to me. After getting to the hospital and being put into the ER, where they would fix as much of my arm as possible, I…I died. I was medically dead for one minute, an entire minute, they had called time of death already and were about to unhook the machines from me when my vitals came back. My vitals were stable so they fixed up my arm and put me into a room."

"So you really did die then?"

"Yea, I'm pretty sure that when I was just floating in that boring empty void is when I was dead. Anyway, I might have been stable but I was now in a coma. It could have taken months for me to wake up, and even then, I might not be me. On the second day I was in my coma, Michael was approached by a Kudamon and he had an idea that might truly save me and wake me up. I would be made his Tamer and he would lose his body by healing mine. As a result his mind became part of mine. I didn't understand the finer points of Michael's explanation but all I knew was that I was alive and a Tamer."

I pulled out my D-Power and showed everyone. Its trim and strap were both grey and the main body of it was the same pale blue as my shirt.

"That's nice and all but" Rika began

"How did I start transforming and talking to my, at the time Kudamon, now Reppamon." I finished for her. She nodded her head.

"Momentai, Rika, momentai. If we just stop interrupting I'm sure he'll tell us." Terriermon said

"Listen to the pot calling the kettle black, but he is right. I'm getting there. Where was I? Oh right, I was alive, I was a Tamer and if I understood Michael correctly my Digimon was a part of me. It took a few hours but I finally managed to talk to Kudamon. So despite being alone in the hospital I always had someone to talk to. We went home two days later. I had to keep my D-Power hidden from my family for a few reasons; my brother never shuts up about stuff, my dad would tell my mom, and my mom is a Digimon hater. Of course my brother was the first to find out and proceeded to congratulate me then tell everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, he knew and then they were all clambering to see me. Momentai." I finished holding up my hands to stop any questions

"I'm getting there. My brother had found me curled up in my bed as Kudamon, somehow I had transformed in my sleep. It took at least an hour for us to figure out how to change back. I asked Kudamon why didn't warn me about something like this, as it turns out he didn't even know it was possible. Once everyone found out it wasn't so bad, but, mom… she said I wasn't her son, that her real son had died in the hospital the moment I woke up. So I took my stuff and moved in with my grandparents next door. They saw what happened to and said it was a blessing, a true second chance. They couldn't understand why mom now hated me and neither do I. Michael was MY [b]CHOSEN[b] proxy. If I was in a condition where I couldn't make decisions he was supposed to for me. I picked him for that when he got his MD, I filled out the paperwork, everything. Mom had no right to be mad at him for his choice."

"It sounds like someone was being ungrateful." Terriermon quipped

"Terriermon!" Henry started

"No, he's right, she really was being ungrateful. Anyway Michael managed to get a job at a hospital here in Shinjuku. So, I got all my money out of the bank, set up my pseudonym, told everyone I wanted to keep in touch with about it, and then I entered the Digital World through the gate in Atlanta. That was about two weeks ago right?"

"Two and a half."

"At least one of us has the number right. Before I left my brother caught up with me outside the gate and gave me a Digivolution card. I didn't even know if I could make use of the cards yet but I took it anyway. As it turns out I can, but I have to slash it before I transform and then it activates once I do. If it didn't work, I'd be a very flat person right now; I would have been trampled by an angry Tortamon. Now we're stuck as Reppamon, probably because I don't seem to use up any of my Digimon energy when I'm human. Ok, now you can ask questions."

"Why did you come out in the middle of a road instead of the gate at the Hypnos building?" Henry asked

"Well, we got a little lost, and then that Skull Greymon started chasing me demanding I become its Tamer. So I just ran to the nearest natural portal. We got lucky that we wound up in the right place this time, last time we ended up in Russia. It wasn't too hard to get back we just had to get to Moscow and use the gate there."

This time Renamon spoke up "Do you know when you'll turn back into Kudamon?"

"Like I said it's been about a week, but since I spent most of my travel time in my human form it can't be much longer now, maybe only a day or so."

"In the mean time you should stay here until you find your cousin." Rika said

We all looked at her a little stunned by this statement. Only Renamon seemed to be unaffected by what Rika had said.

"Rika is right you know. This house is large and there more than a few spare rooms where you could sleep." Renamon said

"We know it's just that…well we were surprised to hear Rika be the first one to mention it." Takato responded

"Well where else could he stay gogglehead? Your house? I didn't know your family had a spare bedroom. If you don't what about with you Henry? No, your family has enough people living under one roof already. So that only leaves here, like Renamon said, my house is big and I know we have at least three spare rooms he could sleep in." Rika countered

"I'm fine with that." I said

"Good cause it's not like you have much say in the matter to begin with."

"Momentai everyone, momentai. " Terriermon said soothingly "Rika is right and since it's getting late the rest of us should probably head home for the night."

Everyone agreed on that point me included. While Rika showed everyone out I transformed back into Reppamon and went out into the garden. I walked around for a little while before I jumped up onto the wall that ran the perimeter of the property and started running laps. This served a dual purpose; I got to burn off energy that was keeping me from Digivolving back into Kudamon and I got to watch as the area around changed over the next hour or so. I finally changed back into Kudamon; my body now had more ferret like traits to it, instead of being about 6 feet tall I was now about 3 and half feet tall, all my fur was now white and I had yellow markings on my back, my tail was thin and furry again and was tipped with a brass bullet casing, in my left ear was a small red hoop earring, and around the bottom of my neck was my golden collar. I walked back inside and was on my way to the room Rika said I could use when I passed by her room and heard a soft whimpering. Our curiosity getting the better of us we peeked inside and our jaw promptly hit the floor.

Inside the room we saw Rika curled up in bed whimpering. She was probably having a nightmare, from the sound of things it was a bad one. Kneeling over her sleeping form was Renamon. Renamon gently laid a paw on Rika's cheek and began softly singing a lullaby while stroking Rika's cheek. I pulled my mouth shut and leaned casually against the door frame, closing my eyes. I stood there and listened until Renamon finished singing. She looked up at me and even with my eyes closed I could tell she wanted talk to me outside. So I lead the way back out into the garden.

" You really care about her don't?" we asked

"What's with the double voice?"

"Hmm? Oh this happens when we're both expressing the same thought."

"I see, to answer your question, yes I care for her greatly."

"In order to save her life you wouldn't hesitate to give your own would you?"

"No, wouldn't."

"That's good, a mother's love is always important." Renamon took a swipe at us but we just stepped off the wall.

"It's not something you should be afraid of, embrace it. That is what you should do; embrace it the way you wish to embrace your surrogate daughter." I walked back to the door "You know…if you ever wanna talk about it…I, no we, we will always be there for you."

I walked back into the house but instead of going to my room I curled up in front of Rika's door. I lay there for about ten minutes half-expecting Renamon to show up and beat me senseless any second. I was surprised by her actions when she did finally show up. She knelt down and put her paw gently on the side of my head and stroked my fur gently. She quietly said goodnight and faded into the shadows as I fell asleep.