The Tamers reuniting with their partners, a giftfic for CyberXIII.
I actually had a scene that would have technically counted as that in this one draft that's almost 22K of angst I have no idea how I'm going to turn into an actual fic, but since it's going to take too long to polish that up, I decided it was best to write something else.
I am in the process of editing all my work to use the original names and terms instead of the dub's, but while I've seen a lot of the Adventure sub, right now the only version of Tamers I've seen is the dub.
'What Comes Next' by Starshone covers around this period and is worth reading: there needs to be a fic that focuses on the scientific and political circus post-Tamers, but that would have shifted the focus from the Tamers and their partners to the adults as they tried to run interference for the kids...
They found the portal the same day.
Takato wanted to show his parents where Guilmon had stayed most of the time… and he was missing Guilmon already.
"So, it's still there," Yamaki said, taking his sunglasses off to look at it. Takato thought it would have made more sense to take them off when he walked into the tunnel where it was dark, but, well, that seemed to be Mr. Yamaki.
"Is it… Okay?" Takato asked.
He turned to look at Takato and frowned. "You're not planning to go in there now, are you? I'd like the time to build an improved communication device."
"I mean, you're not going to cover it over with concrete or something?"
"Why would I…" Yamaki sighed. "The Digital World isn't going to go away, Takato. We can't stick our heads in the sand. First the Wild Ones – Digimon – now the D-Reaper. We need to know what's going on there in order to keep the world safe. Both worlds. Since Digimon and humans worked together against the D-Reaper, we may need their help again. We need to find out how many of them are still alive, and if they're willing to work together with us to stop the next D-Reaper. The government is going to want to send diplomats, that kind of thing." From the way he rubbed his temples, Yamaki seemed to agree with Takato that he wasn't suited to being diplomatic. "I'm not going to stop you," if Takato tried to run for the portal, "but people want to know what happened. What the Digimon are really like. After the D-Reaper, people might end up terrified of everything that comes from the Digital World."
"You should tell them about Guilmon," someone said from the entrance to the shed.
"Ryo?" Takato asked. "How did you get here?"
"I saw your parents come back without you and head over to Yamaki and the Monster Makers," Ryo said, looking past Takato and Yamaki at the portal. "They looked like something was up, and it looks like I got lucky. Sorry about leaving you guys to apologize to my dad, but I need to get back to the Digital World. Once I find Hopmon, I'll bring your partners back to the real world for you."
"You know how Digimon are traveling to the human world from inside the digital one?" Yamaki asked.
Ryo shrugged. "It's pretty straightforward. If you want, after I drop the other kids' partners off here I could take some of your guys back with me. Give them the guided tour. Of whatever's left," he said, staring at the portal guiltily, and sighed. "Well, I'd better get in there before someone else starts taking the place apart."
"You're going back right now?" Takato said. "You're not going to stay, at least long enough to get some things together? A lot of new cards have come out since you vanished."
"I've had enough of interviews and being the Legendary Tamer," Ryo said. "Henry and Terriermon are the ones who deserve the credit, I didn't really do anything. And you need to tell them about Guilmon. It's not like I can tell them about Cyberdramon without giving Digimon a bad name. Monodramon's great, but… Well, hopefully we can burn up enough energy as Justimon that he'll be able to stay Monodramon most of the time now. I have to thank you guys for figuring out biomerge Digivolution. I was getting really afraid that if he evolved any further, his next evolution would be rational even less often and it'd be all my fault."
Takato winced. "Yeah, Megidramon was scary, and that wouldn't have happened to Guilmon if it weren't for me. It's not your fault Cyberdramon goes berserk, though." Not like Megidramon was Takato's fault.
"He thinks he needs to protect me from something. I thought that what he was sensing was the D-Reaper, but I could feel him when we were Justimon and that wasn't it." Ryo looked grim for a moment before smiling at Takato. "Well, I'd better get in there before my Dad tracks me down," he said, giving them a wave goodbye before he walked into the light.
"After practically encouraging minors to go to the Digital World twice, I really hope that's safe," Yamaki said, once the last trace of the color of Ryo's shirt had vanished. "Judging from Shibumi's research, it should be perfectly safe as long as you believe it's safe, like biomerging… And I shouldn't have said that in front of you."
"Oh no!" Takato realized.
Instantly Yamaki was focused, hand reaching for his cell phone. "What's wrong?"
"If Ryo went, how are we going to stop Rika from going?" It really wasn't a question. "There's no way, and Rika's… really not diplomatic."
"I'll see if Riley can cover for me long enough for me to rig up another communicator. I know why you couldn't get through most of the time before: I can reuse some of what let the Ark get through…" Yamaki put his sunglasses on and walked out of the shed. "Riley, how long do we have until reporters are allowed into the restricted area?"
Purple Yaamon screamed as he fell through the air towards the rough, pitted surface of the Digital World. It looked eaten away by acid; it had to be the work of the D-Reaper.
Calumon screamed with delight, and Caprimon and Gigimon joined in.
"Why are we yelling?" Gummymon wondered.
"I don't know," Gigimon said, twitching his red batlike ears. "Everyone else was."
"This is all very exciting!" Caprimon sounded pleased, but he was wearing a helmet and could use his blue and white-ringed tail to correct himself so he wasn't spinning around as he fell.
"I'm screaming because look at the ground! We're not going to survive that like this, and I have to get back to… Oh," Yaamon realized when Marineangemon flew over to turn him around so he could see the approaching dragon.
Azulongmon summoned a cloud beneath them and they fell into it, rolling over a few times before coming to a stop.
"I'm glad to see you are alright," a small brown Chocomon greeted them, bowing her three-horned head.
"Lopmon?" Gummymon wondered. "How'd you get here before us?" They still looked like each other, except Gummymon was a very pale green and only had a single horn lump on his head.
"A strange field appeared around the room where the adults were working, and while I was examining it I thought about how worried I was about the Sovereign. I found myself here."
"That human is alright," a small yellow Digimon with wings and a long orange plume on top of his head chirped. "She has kicked her father's shins, and ordered her 'brother' to inform him that she will never speak to him again. It isn't justice for the untold millions of Digimon that human condemned to death, but still. This pleases me."
"Thank you," Chocomon said, and bowed again.
"Why are you… wait, you're not?" Gummymon stared.
Pokomon walked over on her small yellow legs, tail in the air. "Chicchimon… are you the Sovereign Zhuqaiomon?"
"Oh really?" Calumon walked over and laughed with delight. "You're my size! Let's play!"
Chocomon rushed to stand between Calumon and her master. "The Sovereign is resting! All of them gave up their other digicores so that Sovereign Azulongmon could remain in this form and use his power to transport the surviving Digimon to safe areas."
"My rookie and champion evolutions are humanoid," the baby bird chirped, disgusted. "Unless I need to fight, I'd rather stay in this form. A lower evolution conserves strength, and will help me regain it faster so I can assist Azulongmon with the relocations. Several of the planes of the Digital World are in the process of falling apart."
"The Digital World is falling apart?!" Hopmon's fanged mouth widened in horror, small purple fins flailing. "Oh no!"
"No," Azulongmon's voice rumbled around them. "The Digital World will survive, and thanks to your brave efforts we will no longer have to live in fear of the D-Reaper."
"Yay!" Calumon said, and began to dance around.
"I have the power of clairvoyance," Chicchimon said. "Watching you kill other Digimon on the orders of you human masters disgusted me. You did not even absorb their data, so their strength was lost and they died knowing that they could do no more to defend other Digimon against the True Enemy. However, I am forced to admit…"
They heard a whine followed by an exhausted, "Will you please keep it down?" A smile white head poked up out of a pile of cloudstuff. "You got a chance to rest before the True Enemy attacked; I was on blob-clearing duty when it started."
"No, I did not get a chance to rest after my shift holding it back," the bird said.
"That was your own fault," both the Plotmon and Azulongmon answered, although there was an extra word in the Plotmon's reply.
Gigimon's red ears perked up. "Takato said that's a bad word and-"
Pokomon shut his mouth by covering it with her tail.
An Otamamon poked his own head up to say, "You're all noisy."
"Definitely noisy," agreed an Armadillomon curled up next to him. "Why are these babies here, Azulongmon?"
"I thought you might want to congratulate them on saving both our worlds?"
"Fine fine."
"Congratulations."
"I owe you my life and the lives of the Digimon in the Western Region, but be quiet! The next person who wakes me up is getting smacked with a Happy Paw, because I won't be happy."
Azulongmon sighed and the part of the cloud with Plotmon, Armadillomon and Otamamon separated from the rest. "They'll be grateful once they've had some sleep."
"The Sovereign have been fighting since the D-Reaper first attacked," Pokomon said. "It's amazing there's still enough strength even among the… five of you for one of you to remain a mega."
"Don't you need to sleep too?" Calumon wondered, holding a hand to his mouth.
"I'm going to go find Ryo," Hopmon said, bouncing towards the edge of the cloud.
"It's not safe out there," Azulongmon told him. "There are a great many wounded Digimon, desperate for data so they can retain their mega evolutions."
"Even while we fought the true enemy, Digimon still turned on each other for the data to heal themselves. Just as the humans intended." Chicchimon glared at nothing, at least nothing they could see. "Let him go, Azulongmon. Let that human's slave suffer the consequences of how the humans made us."
"I'll be fine," Hopmon said. "Anyone who tries to absorb me won't be, though!"
"If you fall, who knows where you'll end up," Pokomon said, the little fox running to get between him and the edge of the cloud. "If we work together it will be easier for us to find a way back to the human world."
"But I know the way," Hopmon said, tilting to the side. "I just have to get enough data to fly again."
"No remorse for killing your fellow Digimon for the sake of a human."
Hopmon shifted again, and then fell over on his side. "Right, Digimon don't come back to life." He pushed with the short fin on that side in a rhythm until he managed to rock himself back upright. "I keep forgetting…"
"Wait," Gummymon said. "You mean that when you were going around killing everything as Cyberdramon, you thought they were going to come back to life? Like in the anime? Wow." He laughed. "How did the Digimon King end up with such a dumb partner?"
"Yes," Pokomon agreed. "The competition for Rika was fierce."
The purple Digimon frowned thoughtfully and tilted to the side again. As some of the others leaned towards him to hear the answer, Hopmon tilted, and tilted, and finally fell over again. "I can't remember."
Yaamon, Gummymon, Chocomon and Pokomon fell over too. Or rolled over, in Yaamon's case.
"Look," Gummymon said, when he got to his feet, or rather his pad again. "Stick with us, and we'll get you back to your Tamer, ok? Otherwise you'll probably get lost, and then how's he going to find you."
"It's okay," Hopmon said, waving for them to relax with the fin that was sticking up, still lying on his side. "Ryo will always find me."
"Just like Takato!" Gigimon said, and laughed happily, bouncing over to Hopmon and pushing him back upright with his nose. "Let's wait for Takato together, okay?"
"If Ryo is coming to find you, you should stay in one place," Pokomon said. "If you're both wandering around, you might miss each other."
"Stay in one place so Ryo can find me…." Hopmon's tilting left him leaning against Gigimon. "That sounds right!"
"With that horn up top and your head so empty, no wonder you're top-heavy," Yaamon muttered. "But I gotta get back to my Tamers too." His ears perked up. "Hey, since we did save the world and everything, that's gotta be worth…"
Chicchimon snorted. "If we had mega amounts of data to spare, I'd be helping Azulongmon move the survivors to stable planes."
"How's that supposed to work?" Gummymon wondered. "You're all fiery and burny."
"Perhaps we should take the other Sovereigns' advice and sleep on it?" Pokomon said, raising her voice slightly.
"Hey!" Calumon poked the cloud. "Aren't you tired too?"
Azulongmon coughed. "Actually, I was sleeping when I sensed your fight with Zhuqaiomon. He was recovering from his own battle against the D-Reaper, and I was resting up so that when Baihumon became exhausted, I could take his place slowing down the D-Reaper's advance. That's why Antylamon was at the South Gate: it's one of the duties of the devas to guard us while we recover our strength. Otherwise some power-hungry mega might get lucky."
"And I doubt a Digimon willing to kill one of the defenders of the digital world would be willing to take your place holding back the D-Reaper," Pokomon curled her tail.
"When I fight – when I fought, Zhuquaiomon acted as my spotter. While I recovered, I would handle the business of the Sovereign while Ebonwumon fought, Baihumon spotted for him and Zhuquaiomon rested for his own battle. After Zhuqaiomon exhausted his strength, it would be Baihumon's turn to face the True Enemy, and then mine again." The cloud shook as Azulongmon chuckled. "Once we've rebuilt the digital world, I don't know what I'm going to do with all that free time."
"Something will come up. And that's if Ebonwumon doesn't retire and separate permanently. You've found all the Digimon in this area, drop them off and move on to that area in Baihumon's Quadrant."
"Are you certain? I sense more distress from both of the regions in-"
"Panicking fools. Those planes are more stable than they think."
"In that case, I'll go to the west next. Why don't you get some sleep, Chicchimon? I'll wake you when I need you to look for any unconscious Digimon I missed."
"I'm not here to set a good example for these heretics," the little bird squawked, but he was sound asleep by the time a human fell out of the orb in the sky.
What with the chronic fatigue, 'You saved the world, I'm really very grateful, but you are standing between me and my bed and if you don't move I don't care who you are, I will murder you,' is very relatable for me.
Given the mechanics of Adventure's immortality, absorbing the data of an Adventure!Digimon is the last mistake a Tamers!Digimon would make even if it wasn't that Digimon.