A.N.: Chapter Two Get! I've been plugging away at this in the background (and will continue to do so) but as yet there is still no regular update schedule for this fic. It's not forgotten though, and I shall endeavour to make my progress a bit clearer on the progress section of my profile if people are interested.

Part One

Adventure's End

Chapter Two: Consequences

Not long after Mimi returned through the gate, Sora cleared her throat.

"I think we should head home," she said, hugging Piyomon closely. "The evening is getting on, and our parents will be worrying. We're luckier than the others, too. It's a lot easier for us to come back here, because there are so many of us with D3s."

The older children, Takeru, and Hikari all nodded, as did Ken and Iori. Daisuke, Miyako, and the dark seed children looked more than a little worried. Sora guessed it was because their families hadn't known what was going on. No doubt they were worried what sort of reception would be waiting for them.

"Gennai, are we going back to the camp?" she asked, as the others began the process of saying goodbye to new friends from around the world. She noted with amusement that Miyako had found the Russian Chosen and was trying to mime her way through a conversation with them.

He nodded in reply. "I believe that would be the simplest solution, as your parents are awaiting you there. Although Koushiro, I would appreciate your assistance once you return. We have a lot of gates to sort through around the world, as you can see."

Koushiro nodded. "I'd been thinking the same thing," he said. "As we came here without computers, it's going to be a lot more challenging to get everyone safely home again without arousing suspicion."

"Difficult, but not impossible," Gennai said, nodding, as the others gathered around. "Now, you may with to hold on tight - this could get a little bumpy."

Sora clung tightly to Piyomon, and held Noriko's hand with the other. The girl looked up at her nervously.

"Nothing to be afraid of," Sora said. "It'll be just like it was before."

The others drew closer, clinging to partners and each other.

"What I wouldn't give for a trolley car about now," Taichi said, grinning. "Then again, that was a bit more final than this."

"Yeah, I'll take a bumpy landing over that any day," Yamato replied. "Just don't land on me."

If Taichi had been about to reply, they never knew, because the next moment the digital world had vanished, and they were tumbling over each other onto the ground at the shrine. Parents raced over to help them untangle themselves.

Her mother and father hung back, as did most of the families of the older children, allowing the second generation families to reunite first. As soon as she had extracted herself she ran over to them.

"We didn't doubt you for a second," her mother said, pulling her into a tight embrace.

Nearby, other reunions were taking place - each a variation on the same theme, although Daisuke, Miyako, and even Iori had quite a bit of explaining to do.

Miyako was the centre of a cluster of relatives, who were bombarding her with questions. She clung to Poromon, casting envious glances towards where Iori was stood, calmly explaining things to his mother and grandfather.

"Why didn't you tell me?" came Jun's voice, loud and clear. Subtly or otherwise, everyone turned to watch the exchange.

"Coz you're the worst person I know at keeping secrets is why," Daisuke replied.

"How long have you been mixed up in all this?" his mother asked.

Dasiuke grimaced slightly. "Umm, it kinda started back in April. That's when I met Chibimon here."

Chibimon nodded. "And we've been best buddies ever since!"

Jun gaped. "Oh my god, you're that little blue toy Daisuke's been carrying everywhere!"

This time Daisuke just grinned as his parents stared at him, agape. "Yeah, he's kinda been living with us for a while."

"But he's so cute!" Jun cried, pressing her hands to either side of her face.

"Urgh. Forget what I said earlier. This is why I didn't tell you."

January 2003

Life was terrible.

Naturally, that was an exaggeration and Jou knew it, but he rather felt that he deserved to wallow for the time being. Everyone else was happy and jubilant - basking in the fact that they'd saved the world. By rights, he should be doing the same. And yet, while he wanted nothing more than to be happy about their victory, instead he had locked himself in his bedroom with only Gomamon for company, because the trouble with saving the world was that it had caused him to miss a fair amount of studying time, and he was behind with his classwork.

That was bad enough, but it was a manageable situation as long as he focused on his studies for a while. He'd caught up before - he could do it again. What was not a manageable situation was his father's attitude to the whole thing.

You'd think he'd at least be grateful that the world isn't covered in permanent darkness, Jou thought bitterly. But no, he has to act as though it was all a set-up to personally inconvenience him and his reputation. He's done nothing but mutter and complain, these last few days.

He sighed, and pushed his textbook away. There was no point studying in this frame of mind. He knew from experience he wouldn't be able to focus.

"Hey, Gomamon," he said, looking over at his partner. "Should I check and see if the gate's open?"

Gomamon looked up, his expression brightening considerably. Long days stuck with nowhere much to go were taking a toll on his partner's mood. Jou smiled a stroll through the digital world would be good for both of them.

His hopes were dashed a moment later. The gate blinked stubbornly red at him - apparently the open zone had moved along from Japan, because the nearest available access point was somewhere in the middle of China.

"It's okay," Gomamon said. "I'm sure we'll remember in time tomorrow - and Koushiro's working on that update for your digivice, isn't he?"

"He's working on something," Jou said, walking over to the bed. He flopped down beside his partner. "But it's anyone's guess whether or not it'll work."

They lay together in silence for a few minutes. It was a comfort, at least, to know that he would always have Gomamon around.

Someone in the living room laughed loudly. Jou side-eyed his bedroom door, frowning, and got up. It wasn't so much that he thought his father incapable of finding something funny enough to laugh, but it was a sound the man seldom made. He had also made a point of telling Jou to keep quiet and out of the way that evening, because he had an important meeting at home.

Jou's hand hovered over the door handle. Would it be attracting too much attention to open the door and peek?

"Well, I don't see why the sum should be set at this point in time," said an unfamiliar voice.

Jou pulled his hand back, and leant closer to the wood of the door. That didn't sound like any of his father's colleagues.

"We can see how the ratings go," the voice went on. "But I see no reason why it shouldn't be a success. Obviously production times will hamper the topicality, but we can get some advance material out to keep the public interested."

"Of course. Although, it is a shame that we couldn't reach this agreement sooner," Jou's father said. He sounded wistful.

The other man laughed. "I'll be honest, Dr. Kido, if it had been up to me, we'd have bought up the rights the first time you floated the idea. The story is really quite fascinating. Unfortunately, there were a few dissenters at the studio. I don't know if you've met Mr. Ishida?"

Jou flinched, almost knocking into the door. What on earth was going on? He turned to stare at Gomamon, who hopped off the bed and crept over to listen with him.

"I can't say I recognise the name," they heard his father say.

"No? Interesting, interesting," the other man replied. "Well, it turns out he's the father of one of your son's friends. It certainly explains a lot. He's been a bit of a thorn in my side for years. Blocked every attempt I've made to get to the bottom of these monster attacks. When I floated the idea of this show the first time, he convinced the board that it would never sell. Too outlandish, he said, and disrespectful to pass off terrorist attacks as the work of monsters. But now…let's just say the situation has changed somewhat."

Jou sank to his knees. No. Surely he was misinterpreting the situation? He'd only heard the latter half of the conversation, so he had to be missing some vital context which explained things. He couldn't be listening to his father discuss making some sort of public announcement about the digimon. His father hated talking about this. He'd gone out of his way to ignore Gomamon's existence since Jou had first admitted his connection to the digital world. In the wake of Shuu's decision to give up studying medicine, their father had acted as though the Digital world was out to get him personally.

"Changed? In what way, Mr Hayashi?" Jou's father asked.

A small chuckle from the man. Jou frowned with distaste. Perhaps it was just his already poor opinion of the mysterious Mr. Hayashi, but the laugh sounded like that of a deeply unpleasant person.

"Unfortunately I am not at liberty to disclose all the changes taking place. But rest assured, the information you provided for this venture has been very well received. Now. You mentioned that many of these 'digimon' remain in the world at present? Would it be possible to secure a…shall we call it an interview with one?"

Jou paled, and backed away from the door.

"We have to get out of here," he muttered. "Gomamon, quick!"

He bolted to his desk, and grabbed a piece of paper.

~Just popped out for some fresh air. Back later~ he wrote, and opened the window wide.

"Come on," he said, grabbing his partner and coat. They scrambled through the opening, then reached back inside to snatch his phone and digivice from the desk before pushing the window almost closed again and bolting across the garden. They didn't slow down until they were a few streets away.

"Jou, what was that man talking about?" Gomamon asked.

Jou ground his teeth. "I don't know for sure," he said. "But it sounded a lot like my father was…was selling our story to someone!" He clenched his fist.

"How could he do that?" he cried, when Gomamon said nothing. "We explained - we all explained to him how important this was! And then he goes behind our backs and does this? I…right now, Gomamon, I'm ashamed to be his son!"

He stopped walking, and hung his head, sighing. "And now I have to tell Koushiro that we have a leak, and it's my family. I just hope he'll have some idea of what we can do."

As he tapped out the email, he reflected gloomily on his earlier thoughts. He'd been more right than he had even known. Life was terrible, and there was no reason to suppose it wouldn't get worse.

Well would you look at that. A wild plot appeared!

You know, I was super grateful/pleasantly surprised when Ketsui came out, because I had already decided to make Jou's father the requisite Jackass in this fic (I needed someone, and what little we knew about Jou's parents suggested he would be the best fit). That brief scene isn't a lot of characterisation, but it's certainly not the positive, supportive portrayal we get of the other Chosen Children's families. Do I think all parents who pressure their children to succeed academically are out-and-out terrible people who would sell their children's secrets for money? No. Am I going to take advantage of the fact he's the least pleasant of the parents we know of and run with that? ABSOLUTELY.

Also, yes, I know. Short chapter. I will endeavour to make them longer as we get further in, but honestly, this early in it's just kinda...mundane, you know? I don't want to write chapters and chapters of all the different families being introduced/reintroduced to the digimon. This part of the story has always been more a collection of drabbles in my mind. Not for too much longer (in story terms, not update times), I promise.