Fast update. Let's see if I can keep a good streak going. Have fun with this one, the action is finally starting.
June 1st. File Island, Digital World.
Sora
Tai, Kari and I headed to the Digital World through Tai's computer after taking it easy all evening once we finished organizing the party. After greeting Izzy, Yolei, Cody and all of our respective digimon partners, who met us at the digiport in File Island, we made our way to the beach restaurant where we would throw the engagement party. All of them congratulated us and we had a good time catching up with them. It was kind of sad that all of the digidestined, or well, better said the first ones, would only gather together for special events, such as this one. But I decided to be happy about it, after all, these moments were rare and it was best to just enjoy them as much as you could. We made it to the restaurant, where a group of Burgermon were more than happy to host our party for the night. I felt kind of guilty and I promised Birdramon and the others that we would come out frequently and share food with them since they were too big for the restaurant.
You must be wondering why we even had them digivolve in the first place. Well, we didn't. We weren't the only ones that grew up, our partners did too, a lot more than us in plenty of ways. You see, our partners' default level was their Champion forms instead of their Rookie ones now. How did that happen? Well, we weren't quite sure and there were some theories. The first one was the one I mentioned: they simply grew up. Because they wouldn't have just grown up in appearance, our partners became a lot more mature and wise over the years, it was like they were kids when they were always rookies and now were adults in every sense of that word. This provided a "biological" explanation to why Gatomon was always far more emotionally mature and aware than the others. And speaking of her, this brings us to the second theory. She got to remain in her champion form unlike the others because the poor thing was whipped into that shape by Myotismon. Unlike Gatomon though, our digimon partners went through a far more forgiving and good kind of training. Just because there was peace, our partners figured that that was no reason to slack off and they kept training regularly, under the guidance of Leomon, Piximon and other friends that we made over the years. They had gotten far stronger than ever before, and we were absolutely ready if for some reason something like the Dark Masters coming back were to ever happen again, so we wouldn't be caught by surprise. Which theory was more correct? Maybe the second one. For example, in the case of Kari's partner, her default form was Angewomon now, the Ultimate level. How did that work without her crest? Well, it only happened once, but Kari had her "digivolve" with her crest of Light and what actually happened was that Angewomon got far stronger. Not like she could actually digivolve, since we need two crests to go to Mega. Anyway we really couldn't be sure of what was the answer, and the first theory could not be discarded either, as there are a lot more stories that prove what I'm talking about when I say our partners were more mature. You'll understand what I mean in a little while. To sum up, after all these years, there were still many things yet to discover and understand about digimon.
As I was saying before, I was promising our partners to come out often and bring them food, since I felt sorry for them and didn't want them to feel left out. I turned around and made my way into the restaurant. Then, I heard something or someone running full speed at me, and Tai put himself in between by instinct. After a collision noise I saw that someone was hugging Tai.
"Congratulations, man!" Davis, always making a loud entrance.
"Damn it, Davis. You had me scared for a moment there" Tai scolded with a chuckle.
"Sorry!" Davis grinned as he broke the embrace "Sora! You gotta give me a hug, too!" he said before hugging me as well. I couldn't help but laugh "I'm so happy for you guys, you can't even believe how much!" he continued. I honestly couldn't understand how he still had the spirit and physical energy of a hyperactive kid in him when he was a grown man now. I was a bit jealous, actually "Ken! Get over here you slowpoke!" he yelled behind him.
"Davis, did you seriously think I would start running full speed all of a sudden for no real reason?" Ken sighed as he caught up "Congratulations, guys" he smiled as he shook our hands "I didn't confirm to Kari that I was coming. I didn't think I could make it at first, but I managed to make time. I hope it's not an issue"
"Don't be stupid. Of course it's okay and we are so happy to see you!" I smiled. Always so ridiculously polite. It was unreal to hear what Yolei told me about him. I could not picture this sweet boy saying those things to her. Then again, he used to be the Digimon Emperor. But that was all in the past, Ken was a great guy now, at least most of the time.
"Are we late?" Davis asked.
"Nah" Tai waved "You're not even the last ones here. Let's get inside with the others, though" he said as we stepped in "it's an all you can eat burger buffet, so if you're hungry you don't have to wait"
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Davis yelled as he disappeared and was eating in an eye-blink. Ken offered a sympathetic smile to us before going after him.
Both of them greeted all the others. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife when Ken and Yolei greeted each other. But they simply exchanged greetings, minded their own business and avoided each other after that. Which was not great, but the atmosphere was still good all around with everyone else. Tai and I then greeted the two guests that got there before we did.
"Meiko! So glad you could come!" I smiled as I greeted Joe's fiancée. She weakly smiled back, she was a bit shy.
"Thank you so much for inviting her, guys" Joe smiled at us from her side.
"Come on, man. She's part of the family too at this point" Tai smiled. Meiko truly was one of us. She had been a friend of Mimi when they were kids, she was also a digidestined with her partner Meicoomon, and now she was the future wife of our good old reliable Joe. She even attended the same school as we did. Why it took so long for her to actually join our little group was a mystery to me.
"I'm really honored to hear you say that, Tai" she blushed.
"But you are. Of course we invited you. Our promise of taking care of you while Joe's gone still stands" I told them. Both Joe and Meiko smiled before we were approached by Yolei and Cody.
"Guys. I have to ask" Yolei started.
"Yolei..." Cody tried to stop her, to no avail.
"What's the deal with Greymon and Birdramon?" she asked anyway. Tai and I sighed as we figured this question was coming "they were too close. It was almost, like, affectionate"
"Because it was" I replied "They're... something"
"What?" Yolei gasped "Like...?" she questioned as she made a gesture where she put both of her index fingers together.
"Yeah..." I sighed. This was what I was talking about when I mentioned that our partners were more mature. When Tai and I started dating little Agumon and Biyomon could not understand what we were and what we felt each other, and here they were 7 years later, it turned out they were very capable of romance and they felt that for each other. It was beyond weird and neither Tai or I had gotten used to it yet.
"I don't know how to react to that" Yolei answered.
"Neither do we" Tai shrugged.
"Guys, it's not that weird. Angemon and Angewomon are something, too" Joe spoke up.
"But they are human-like, so I get that, I guess. But Greymon and Birdramon? How does that even work?" she asked.
"Well dinosaurs are the ancestors of birds, so..." Joe thought aloud.
"You're thinking in real world science, which doesn't really apply here. Maybe it's the fact that both are part of the Dragon's Roar family, and that makes them... compatible" Cody spoke up.
"So they can... you know... breed?" Yolei asked.
"Can we not talk about that?" I interrupted them. To say it made me uncomfortable was an understatement. The logistics were extremely disturbing to think about. Not to mention that Birdramon was family to me. To even think about her doing such things... Nope. Nope. Nope.
"Are you guys talking about Digimon reproduction?" Izzy joined the conversation.
"No, we're not" Tai shut it down. He was just as uncomfortable with this as I was.
"You were, I heard everything" Izzy insisted "Guys, calm down" he chuckled as he looked at both me and Tai "Digimon reproduction has been one of our latest research topics and I think I'm going to put your minds at ease" he started "No, Yolei. Digimon don't exactly breed like that, they don't even have genitals" he explained "the crazy part is that the digimon reproduction phenomena is very recent. They were simply created by data for the longest time. But now, with the Digital World and the digidestined expanding at such speeds, Digimon have found a new way to create more beings and adapt to this exponential growth, and the answer is similar to how we reproduce in the real world, but not exactly. You see, we should know better than anyone that Digimon are more than capable of love, so yes, they find a partner and have an offspring with each other, but the process is different. When two digimon start pair-bonding both of them upload their data in some way to Primary Village. When their bond is deep enough, a new digiegg is created that combines the data of both of its parents. Isn't that prodigious?" he explained.
"That's actually beautiful..." I let out.
"It is!" Yolei agreed.
"Huh... and what digimon would Greymon and Birdramon create?" Tai wondered.
"I don't know. That's what's so fascinating. It could be an Agumon, a Biyomon, a different digimon or even a completely new species! You guys have to let me follow their progress" Izzy got excited.
"Our partners aren't your guinea pigs..." Tai complained.
"You know I didn't mean it like that" Izzy defended himself. Then, I saw the two people that I was just wondering where they were at.
"We'll talk about that some other time, Izzy" I interrupted "Matt and Mimi just got here" I announced.
"Let's go say hi" Tai said as he took my hand and we walked over to the entrance. Tai and I looked at each other with amusement as we noticed they were quite close in terms of personal space. You see, Tai and I (as well as Izzy and Kari) knew that Matt and Mimi would eventually end up together, since in our last adventure the Digital World itself predicted so, just like it predicted us. So we were following their progress, we had been for quite some time now, because they sure were taking it slow. When Joe and Mimi broke up we thought it was just a matter of time, but then Mimi moved to America, so it got delayed. But then Matt also moved to America, and Mimi moved to the same city shortly after, and at that time it seemed inevitable and Tai and I made a bet. Tai said it would take 5 months tops, while I was more cautious and said a year. But it turned out that even I was far too optimistic, as it had been more than a year and it did not happen yet. And they were so close personally, even more than the average couple, so I couldn't understand why they weren't together yet. Following their story was the most addicting soap opera to me, same for Tai although he won't admit it.
"Mimi!" I squealed as she saw me.
"Sora!" she squealed back as she ran to me and we trapped each other in an embrace "Congratulations! You have no idea of how proud and happy I am for you right now!" she said as she cried a bit. Mimi was the only one that knew just how badly I wanted this for a couple of years now.
"Thank you" I said as I cried a bit as well. We remained in that hugging position for a long while, I heard Matt and Tai exchange some words and saw them hugging themselves.
"Tai!" Mimi yelled as we broke away "What took you so long, you idiot?" she asked as she hugged him too.
"I don't know" he chuckled.
"Sora" Matt caught my attention "Congratulations. Really" he said as we embraced each other as well.
"Thank you so much, Matt" I smiled. Maybe it was odd that we were this close with our exes. But it didn't feel that way to me. Mimi was my best friend, a friendship that survived the worst of emotional blows and drama, and we were closer than ever. And it was the same with Matt and Tai. We didn't hate them, we loved them, and they loved us right back. It might seem weird to others, but it just wasn't to us. After everything we went through with each other... our friendship could and would survive anything.
"We were starting to think you guys wouldn't show" I joked.
"Well, someone was almost impossible to wake up" Mimi explained.
"I did warn you" Matt shrugged.
"It was ridiculous. He didn't even hear me screaming at him from the door. Seriously, he makes Tai and me look like early birds" she went on.
"That's because I'm actually exhausted these days. I'm not just a sleepyhead like you two" Matt countered.
"Hey guys! Very happy you made it" Kari appeared and greeted them.
"TK will be here soon, I promise" Mimi spoke up after they hugged "he's a dead man if he doesn't"
"Alright" Kari smiled.
We did some catching up with each other as we all sat down together and ate the hamburgers. I was a bit distracted as TK did finally show up, and I kept a close eye on him and Kari considering what she told me before. It didn't look bad at all. They were talking normally and I could also see some smiles. It appeared they were solving their differences. With that worry settled, I joined the conversation.
"So. All of team friendship is in Houston now, huh?" I asked.
"Ugh" Matt rolled his eyes.
"Please don't tell me that's back..." Tai complained as well.
"It was never gone!" Mimi smiled.
"What's that about?" Ken asked.
"Well as we told you after our last battles 7 years ago, we need two crests to digivolve to Mega. But not just any combination of crests, we are divided in two teams: Team Courage which is Tai, Sora, Kari and Izzy; and Team Friendship which is Matt, TK, Joe and yours truly" Mimi explained as Tai and Matt grunted when the names were mentioned "Matt and Tai hate these names though, either because they are too humble or because they find them too cheesy"
"Definitely the latter" I added.
"It is pretty remarkable that all of you are in Houston and all of us are in Tokyo right now" Izzy thought aloud.
"Digidestiny, Izzy. It's a thing!" Mimi joked. We all laughed.
We kept eating and just talking. There was not much drinking, after all, most of us had to get up early to work next morning since it was Sunday and it was morning for Team Friendship. We would be calling it a night early, but we still had a couple of hours left and Davis performed his usual duty as DJ in such events. He also might have been encouraged to do so and play certain songs by a secret text I sent him earlier. The sound of a beautiful orchestra suddenly echoed through the place and I saw Tai freeze. He glared at Davis as Steven Tyler started singing "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing".
Tai has always loved Aerosmith, but he used to like the "old" Aerosmith, since he was too cool and manly and only listened to their "hard" stuff, so he hated their more recent and "corny" songs. That was until we started dating, when I convinced him to enjoy them. Our story with rock music goes way back. Tai used to listen to a lot of classic rock and blues as a kid, something that his late father passed down to him and it has been with him ever since. Since I would come hang out all the time at his place, I got into it as well. As we became teenagers and we drifted apart though, I would start listening to pop and more modern rock while Tai got really into genres like punk or heavy metal, even learning how to play them on guitar. After being apart half of our teenage years, music was one of the many things we became very different in and we would have to find ways to reconnect. In the end, hard rock power ballads did the trick, music wise. Tai pretended to hate them for a while but he loved them just as much as I did, and "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing", the corniest song that Aerosmith has, ended up being our song. He turned around and looked at me with a doubtful expression, I simply smiled and extended my hand. He walked up to me.
"I guess you want to dance..." he said.
"Not with that attitude, I don't" I crossed my arms. He sighed.
"Would you grant me this dance?" he asked with a bit more excitement as he extended his arm.
"If you insist" I laughed as I took his hand and we slow danced to the soundtrack of Armaggedon.
"Don't wanna close my eyes. I don't wanna fall asleep 'cause I'd miss you, babe. And I don't wanna miss a thing" I started singing when the chorus started. Tai was blushing furiously "'Cause even when I dream of you. The sweetest dream would never do, I'd still miss you, babe. And I don't wanna miss a thing"
"I'm not singing" he declared as the first chorus ended.
"You know you want to" I laughed "you're going to sing your favorite part and you know it"
"No"
"Come on" I said as I rested my head on his chest "for me?" I looked up. He didn't reply. I pretty much yelled the second chorus to him, encouraging him to give in, and to my delight, he did.
"I don't wanna miss one smile, I don't wanna miss one kiss" he started.
"Woo!" I screamed. Tai wasn't precisely a good singer but I really loved it when he gave in to the music.
"Well, I just wanna be with you. Right here with you, just like this. I just wanna hold you close, and feel your heart so close to mine. And just stay here in this moment, for all the rest of time. Yeah! Yeah!Yeaaaahhhhh!" as he finished trying to emulate Steven Tyler's screams, some people laughed, but not me. I simply smiled and rested my head on his chest again. Enjoying this absolutely beautiful moment, fully. We would keep dancing to the next songs that Davis would play.
Mimi
All eyes were on the recently engaged couple as they danced. Sora was in absolute bliss, and even Tai was into it as well, at least when he wasn't glaring at Izzy or Davis when they cheered him on. Trust me, Tai had to be really enjoying himself if he was singing in public, only Sora could get him to do something like that. Watching those two at that moment was beyond heartwarming, they were truly made for each other and it was simply beautiful. As Davis played the second song and Tai and Sora kept dancing, I did exactly what I was trying to avoid: look at Matt and wonder if that could ever be us some day. Ever since I told Joe the day before, all the thoughts and feelings I had been surpressing for years came out all at once. I was suddenly just like those girls in the romcom movies, hopelessly in love and acting like an idiot around him, at least that was how I saw myself, and I hated it. It wasn't like me at all. When I liked a guy, I just acted on it, I didn't start blushing and feel embarrassed around him, which was exactly what I was doing with Matt all day. When I went to his house and he finally woke up after banging on his door and yelling, he answered the door shirtless. I felt the blood on my face and started acting like a fool, which I didn't understand since I already saw him like that before countless times, even in a sexual way, yet there I was, flustered beyond belief, hoping he wouldn't notice it, which made me even more nervous.
It was ridiculous. I had been thinking about Matt all the time the day before and I even lost sleep over it, replaying potentially romantic moments that we had in the latest years over and over in my mind, hoping I could find any clue to determine if he felt the same way I did, but I found nothing. Then I would obsess over my conversation with Joe the previous day. Joe straight up revealed that Matt was the very reason he broke up with me, in more ways than one. Matt and Joe spent countless time with the other back when Matt was finishing his college degree and Joe would help him study, although that wasn't everything they did, they would also stay up a lot of nights, spilling their guts to each other while having some drinks. Apparently, Joe had an epiphany during one of those bonding sessions, in which Matt talked to him about how he knew that Sora had always been in love with Tai all along, he specifically talked about he would see "doubt" in her eyes and how that was replaced with "light" when she was with Tai. Joe then told me that Matt had put in words what he always saw in me, that my eyes were full of "doubt" in our relationship and he saw that "light" in them only when I was with Matt. He then confessed how hurt he was for a while (which made me feel like absolute shit), but that eventually he did the right thing that Matt wished he did, he broke up with me and moved on. I cried and apologized, but Joe insisted that he was fine, that it wasn't my fault and he was engaged to the woman he was supposed to be with now. If anything, he was saddened by how "stupid" Matt and I were for not getting together after all this time, avoiding love when it was right in front of us. Then I explained why that was, that our romance would have started by being unfaithful to Tai and Sora and we would hate ourselves even more, and he called us stupid again. Then he said he was happy for me for "finally opening my eyes" and that he was sure that Matt would open his soon enough. But I did not see things like Joe did. Whatever obvious feelings Matt had, I could not see them or were buried deep within.
"Mimi" Matt brought me back to earth.
"Hm?" was all I could say, hoping I wasn't blushing, again. He stared at me for what felt like eternity.
"You want to dance" he stated, more than asked.
"Oh, no, don't worry about it" I waved off.
"Come on" he said as he took my hand. I felt like pulling it back at first, but I reminded myself to be cool. This would have been something that I would have done with him not that long ago and wouldn't think it was a big deal. Dance as friends. I could manage that. Or so I thought when I heard a synthesizer note that I knew all too well. I had my suspicions that Davis was simply playing Sora's playlist, but now that was crystal clear. "Is This Love" by Whitesnake, a power ballad that was in Sora's top 5 songs ever, that was 3 of them Davis played so far. A song that I normally loved because of how beautiful it was, but hated then because it was playing at the worst moment possible. I kept looking away from Matt as he put his hand on my hip and grabbed my other one, while I did my best to match his grip and not have my hand on his shoulder shake. As we danced I couldn't help but look deep in his eyes when David Coverdale, Sora and other people there started singing.
"Is this love that I'm feeling? Is this the love that I've been searching for?" yeah... talk about a song that speaks to you... "Is this love, or am I dreaming? This must be love, because it's really got a hold on me" for a moment, when everything I heard was the music and Matt and I stared deeply into each other's eyes while we were dancing, it just felt right. But then Matt looked away, and I had to do the same.
I kept up appearances for the rest of the song, looking away from Matt more often than not and doing my best to not let anyone know how embarrassed I was. We would dance again to the next song, which thankfully, was more upbeat and wouldn't trigger anything in me. He would smile at me when it ended, I smiled back and thanked him for dancing with me, to which he nodded and went back to talk to TK. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. This rollercoaster of emotions was doing a number on me. I thought of ways to distract myself. First I though about chatting with Meimei, but she looked very happy with Joe and I didn't want to interrupt that. So I opted to make Davis confirm my suspicions of Sora putting him up to this, reminding myself to not lash out at him for playing that song since it wasn't his fault and I had to at least appear nonchalant. I was shortly interrupted by Izzy who was already leaving. I made a comment expressing my disappointment, but I smiled as we said good bye, I was happy he showed up, since I rarely saw him anymore. As I resumed my walk to Davis' improvised DJ booth, it turned out that Kari had beat me to it and I couldn't help but listen to what they were saying.
"So are you going to just keep playing whatever Sora told you to, or can I expect you to actually be a DJ tonight?" Kari asked. Davis laughed.
"Don't worry Kari, just this song left and then it's whatever I want. I'll even play one of your favorites" he winked.
"You don't have to" Kari laughed.
"I absolutely do!" Davis grinned "You have something to celebrate! That is, besides your brother being engaged"
"And what would that be?" Kari raised her eyebrow.
"Well... it turns out that the principal of our elementary school loves my ramen. He did mention they need a new teacher, and I might have mentioned I knew somebody..."
"You didn't..." Kari widened her eyes.
"Now, I only managed to get you an interview. But I'm sure you'll get the j-" Davis was interrupted by Kari giving him a hug.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Kari squealed. Davis laughed as I couldn't help but smile. Good for Kari. But then I saw someone else that was also seeing this. It was TK, with a scowl on his face. I only hoped he didn't start thinking stupid things like he seemed to like doing lately, and to my disappointment, that's exactly what he did. He coughed (loud enough to hear him over the music) to let them know he was witnessing the exchange.
"Dude, it's not what-" Davis started to explain, but TK interrupted him.
"Whatever" he huffed as he stormed off. I thought about following him and giving him an earful, but Davis beat me to it, and as he left, the music stopped, and everyone stopped dancing, talking or whatever they were doing. I then saw Kari with a completely pissed off expression, and I was about to console her. But that wasn't the only drama that was unfolding. As the music stopped, we could now hear Yolei and and Ken yelling at each other, as well.
"I can't believe I ever loved you!" Yolei yelled at him.
"Like you loved all of those spanish guys, right?" Ken replied. Then a smack thundered across the room. Yolei had slapped Ken.
"Fuck you, Ken Ichijouji!" Yolei shouted as she stormed out as well. Ken covered his cheek as he walked out too, but I assumed he was not going to run after her.
Tai
Sora let go of me as soon as the music suddenly stopped. I looked at Davis looking for an answer, but he was gone. Yolei and Ken were kind of yelling, but I wasn't listening since I was scanning the room, and then a loud smack forced me to pay attention. I looked to see Yolei running off and Ken covering his cheek. Oh boy. That still didn't answer what happened to the music though, and I decided that was the bigger issue for me right now, not that I could do much for the former couple, to begin with. So I walked towards where Davis used to be, only to see Mimi there.
"What the hell happened?" Sora beat me to it.
"Kari was talking to Davis. He got her an interview for a teacher position at the school" Mimi explained.
"But that's great news" I raised my eyebrow.
"Yeah, the problem is that Kari hugged him to thank him, and TK saw that and then he stormed off" she sighed.
"God damn it..." I shook my head.
"Davis ran after him, that's why the music stopped"
"And where's Kari?" Sora asked.
"She just ran off to the bathroom, I was going after her" Mimi replied.
"Tai, I'll talk to her" Sora told me. I nodded "let's go" she told Mimi as they went to the ladies room.
As Joe and Meiko asked me what happened I told them what I knew, and after requesting them to inform the rest I went out to get some fresh air. I sighed. Everything went to shit in an instant.
"How would you handle this, dad?" I said aloud. I found myself talking to him when I was alone.
I didn't like to talk about it, as the death of my father was something that really hurt me and I didn't like to show weakness. It probably wasn't healthy, but I had to be strong for my mom and my sister, it's how he raised me. It took me a long time to see it, but I owed so much to him. I was truly my father's son in every way: from my love for soccer, to my music taste, to being a leader. He gave me everything, even my courage. My dad was the one who led the human assault on Myotismon's forces to fight back in that summer of 1999, he was a brave man that inspired others. Some insisted that I was following in his footsteps, but honestly, I thought I'd be lucky to be half the man he was, and I didn't feel anywhere near there. I really regretted how badly we got along when I was a teenager, which I guess is the case for plenty of people, but I lost him way too early. I missed him so much the night before when we told the family about our engagement, I really wished he was there with me to celebrate.
I reminded myself that he was there, seeing everything. You see, I felt my father's presence, sometimes. It took me a long time to actually feel him, as in the first months without him I only paid attention to the pain I felt from losing him, but then one day when I was lying in my bed brooding, I swear I heard him talk to me, repeating the same words he would tell me when I was a little kid that I had long forgotten: "Keep On". And that's what I did ever since, endure, and he lent me the strength I needed. He gave me the will to wake up every day and go to my insufferable and low paying law firm job, because that's what men do, we earn and provide for our families, and I was starting one. Even deciding to propose to Sora, that was his doing. It's strange to explain, but I saw a lot of "signs" about marriage one day, and then that night, my mom gave me the engagement ring. You might think it's superstition or something, but I was convinced that that was my dad speaking to me from beyond the grave. And I would make him proud, since I failed far too many times to do that before. As I was outside of that beach restaurant looking for strength, I suddenly felt that determination as I saw Davis sitting on the sand, looking very depressed. I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry we ruined your engagement party..." he looked up to me.
"It wasn't your fault" I told him.
"I do feel responsible..." he sighed.
"Dude, you got my sister an interview for her dream job and she thanked you from the bottom of her heart. I honestly don't know what's wrong with TK but that's his problem, not yours" I insisted.
"It's not just that... I also saw Ken on his way out and he had another fight with Yolei. I don't know. I'm supposed to be the leader of this group, and instead of fixing it, I'm helping it fall apart. I'm useless"
"You're not helping it fall apart. You are fixing it. And unlike another leader I know, you didn't cause it" I started.
"Tai, that was different. You didn't-" he interrupted me.
"I'm not beating myself up just because" I cut him off myself "the point is, you're not a useless leader, Davis. The opposite. Better than me in many ways. I'm not just going to let you give up"
"You're right" he said as he stood up "I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep knocking some sense into Ken" he announced.
"Attaboy" I smirked as I patted his back.
"Tai" he said before leaving "thank you. Really" I simply nodded in response as he was off. I made my way back to the restaurant as I saw Matt come out.
"There you are. Sora went out looking for you just now" he told me "I thought you snuck out to smoke a cigarette or something"
"Yeah. With Sora a couple of feet away from me. That would be a great idea" I sarcastically replied. He laughed "are you doing that?"
"Hell no. Mimi would kill me"
"Yeah, she would"
"Don't start..." Matt sighed.
"I didn't say anything" I defended myself.
"Your stupid smirk is saying it all" he snapped back.
"I'm going to kill your brother, Matt" I changed the subject.
"Not before I do... It's what I came out for. Did you see him?" he asked.
"No" I shook my head.
"Well, I'll find him" he announced before leaving.
Since Matt told me Sora was outside looking for me, I looked around and it didn't take me long to spot her auburn hair. She was facing away from me and looking in the direction of a couple of rocks. I frowned as I made my way to her.
"Sora, what are you-"
"Shhh" she shushed me. I could finally see what she was looking at. Greymon and Birdramon were behind those rocks, just lying down in the position that birds do (fun fact, dinosaurs rest like that too, at least the digimon) very close to one another. I think I heard what sounded like purring.
"Spying on them? That's creepy, hun" I whispered.
"Shut up" she whispered back "I was bringing this to them" she showed me a bunch of burgers she was carrying "but I just couldn't interrupt" I nodded in return "it's weird... now that Izzy has told us the specifics, this doesn't feel weird to me. I find it adorable, actually" she smiled.
"It's not that bad, no" I smiled back "Kari?" I asked.
"As good as she can be..." she sighed. Then, our partners noticed us and quickly broke away from each other.
"Sora..." Birdramon spoke up.
"Oh, don't mind us" Sora grinned.
"You saw us?" Greymon asked.
"Yup. Don't worry. Sora thinks you're adorable now" I told them with a laugh.
"Really, Sora? It doesn't make you feel uncomfortable anymore?" Birdramon asked her.
"No" Sora shook her head "I'm sorry for being weird about it. It was just a bit shocking at first. But I'm very happy for you now" she smiled.
"Thank you..." Birdramon nodded.
"Are you cool with this too, Tai?" Greymon asked me.
"Yeah" I said as I grabbed one of the burgers that Sora brought "proud of you, man" I said as I threw it at him.
"Thanks" he said as he caught the burger with his mouth and instantly swallowed it.
"Love is blooming all over the place" Sora said as she put all of the burgers down for them.
"What do you mean?" I asked as Greymon and Birdramon chowed down.
"Apparently, Matt and Mimi were dancing to Is This Love as intimately as we were" she laughed.
"Really..." I smirked as I thought about Matt's reaction earlier "I guess that was a bonus to your plan?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"This is the part where you admit that you made Davis play those songs"
"I don't know what you're talking about" Sora said as she put on an innocent smile.
"Greymon" Birdramon spoke up. I looked at them to see that they were in a defensive stance as they stared at the summit of Infinity Mountain.
"Yeah. Something's wrong" Greymon added.
"What is that?" I asked as I saw something, like a dark purple cloud hovering over the top of the mountain. All of a sudden, the cloud starting moving and took the shape of two huge arms. Then I saw it. A digimon was in between those arms.
"It can't be..." Sora said as both of us were hit with a sense of déjà vu. The digimon then spread its wings. I had the same thought Sora did when I saw the black demon like figure "Devimon?"
"No..." I pointed out as its massive size, even bigger than when Devimon became a giant all those years ago, made me see its distinct features. It was completely black, with only some red lines over it. Its face was definitely different: yellow beast like eyes, pointy teeth and it had its purple tongue out. The best way I can describe it is like a fusion of both Venom and Carnage from the Spider-Man comics. Then it let out a roar that was extremely loud even for us, so far away from the top of the mountain.
"Greymon, I hope you're not rusty" I declared as I pulled my phone out of my pocket.
"I should say that about you" he replied as he got ready. It was time to put Izzy's latest invention to the test. I couldn't help but look at my phone, that had just gone "digivice mode" and an orange glow came out of its screen.
"Sora!" Birdramon joined Greymon. Sora nodded as her phone started glowing red as well.
That's right, our phones were also both our digivices and crests now. Our original ones were stored in our nightstands back home. I'm not sure how he did it, but Izzy worked his magic and managed to link their powers to our telephonic devices, something that every human practically needed back in the real world, digidestined or not. I was very glad to see that the "app" was working perfectly: the screen of my phone had my crest's symbol displayed on top of an orange background, just like my original crest, and it started glowing with more and more intensity until a flash of light came out of the phone. It became a giant crest of courage that shrouded over Greymon. The same thing happened with Sora's phone and Birdramon, although with the differences of a red light and the crest of love.
Greymon digivolve to! MetalGreymon!
Birdramon digivolve to! Garudamon!
"Be careful!" Sora yelled as the armored therapod and giant human like bird flew towards the mountain. The monster didn't seem to care about our two partners, though, as it was too busy looking for something, and it looked like it found it. Then, its mouth started glowing as it charged an attack. My eyes widened in realization.
"It's targeting the restaurant!" I yelled as I ran towards it, Sora not far behind me. I watched in horror as an energy wave came out of its mouth and it was indeed headed right towards our friends.
"Giga Storm!" MetalGreymon answered with his own energy wave, which came out of his chest, I sighed in relief. For a second there, I forgot that he could do that now. It was a new attack of his, obtained through a lot of training. As both energy waves collided, there was an explosion that almost made me lose my balance. As everything settled, I saw that MetalGreymon had finally gotten that monster's attention, and it was flying towards him now. I saw Joe, Meiko, Cody and Kari run out of the restaurant, not many words were exchanged as the battle that just broke out was the absolute priority in that moment.
"Wing Blade!" Garudamon attacked, as the huge fire blast made impact. The giant demon didn't even flinch. Garudamon grunted as she charged another attack "Fire Hurricane" she yelled as she spun around and created a fire tornado.
"Giga Destroyer!" MetalGreymon shot its missiles into the tornado, creating a devastating combo attack that again hit our enemy. After the huge explosion, I thought that that must have done some heavy damage, but as a cloud of debris dissipated, the demon remained in the same position, without a scratch. Then it started laughing maniacally, taunting our partners. "Why you!" MetalGreymon shouted as it prepared its metal arm for an attack, but suddenly, the cloudy hands that I mentioned before shot out of the demon, and before our partners could react, they trapped them.
"Hand of Fate!"
"Celestial Arrow!" the two angels screamed as back-up arrived and their two attacks collided againt the demon. Unlike MetalGreymon's and Garudamon's, they had some effect. It stopped laughing and now it had a purely rageful expression. I noticed that the effect the attacks had were more psychological than physical, as it started chasing the angels, who flew away and dodged, while the monster stayed on the chase. Its cloudy hands still held a tight grip on MetalGreymon and Garudamon, who were struggling to break free but ultimately trailed behind the demon.
"Flower Canon!" Lillymon shouted as she shot the hand that was holding Garudamon.
"Wolf claw!" WereGarurumon also attacked the one that held MetalGreymon. Their attacks seem to work and our partners were finally freed.
"Sorry we're late!" I heard Mimi yell as I saw her appear with Matt and TK.
"What the hell is that thing?" Matt asked.
"Devimon..." TK sort of answered as it stared at it.
"It's not Devimon, it's different" Joe countered as he also stared at the fight. Whatever it was, it was handling all of our partners with ease, who could not hurt it "it's ridiculously more powerful, too" he added. For a second there, I expected Izzy to inform us of what digimon it was, but I remembered he left right before everything went downhill.
"It has to be Devimon! It clearly holds a grudge against Angemon!" Mimi yelled as it attacked the angel once again, who was protected by Zudomon, who also joined the battle. Ankylomon and Meicoomon stayed behind as they could not digivolve to Ultimate.
"Then what are you suggesting? That he came back and digivolved?" Sora asked her.
"It wouldn't be the first time, would it?" Matt countered. He had a point. And it wouldn't even be the second time something like this happened. Or the third. Our enemies sure had a habit of doing this.
"Ok so let's say he is a digivolved Devimon. That still doesn't explain how he is handling our trained and ultimate partners so easily" Kari spoke up. The damage that this digimon was doing was insane. Garudamon, Lillymon and Zudomon were already defeated, who were dedigivolved and on the ground as they were hit by its 'shadow hands'
"That's because it's a Mega" Cody replied "DoneDevimon, the Mega form of Devimon" he explained as he must have identified it with a phone app that Izzy shared with him.
"A Mega? Shit" I spoke up. The Digital World had not dealt with a Mega level threat in 7 years. This was very serious, as it was not supposed to happen. Gennai kept a very close eye on things and for him to miss this meant a lot of troublesome things "thanks, Cody" I had to tell him. He simply nodded in response. I didn't need to say anything else, as Sora took my hand and nodded at me. Both of our phones started vibrating intensely and straight up shining as they shot lights into the sky. Next thing you know the entire sky is orange for just a second, and the orange light returns from the heavens as it wraps around MetalGreymon.
MetalGreymon digivolve to! WarGreymon!
Seeing my partner's Mega form after so many years made me smile for a moment. The way it happened was also different, being far more spectacular than it used to be. I also looked down at my phone, which was still shaking, and it displayed both crests of courage and love on its screen. The spectacle of this digivolution was not just for show, as there was something else that was very different. Greymon had been training a lot, but I wasn't sure if that explained why the WarGreymon I was seeing right now was leagues above the one before in power. Saying he was faster was an understatement, my eyes could not keep up with his speed, as in less than a second he became a ball of fire and had already attacked DoneDevimon, sending him flying all the way back to Infinity Mountain. The demon was screaming in frustration, as it had somehow withstood the strongest attack I had seen my partner use, ever. After that, the rage it displayed earlier magnified.
"This is bad" I heard WarGreymon's voice through my phone. This was a new feature Izzy implemented into our phones that we just found out about "I'm not sure how to explain it, but Devimon is harnessing the power of negative data, which makes him extremely dangerous" then the sky turned blue for a second, and I looked at Matt and Mimi, who reacted like this to WarGreymon's statement.
WereGarurumon digivolve to! MetalGarurumon!
"Garuru Tomahawk!" Matt's partner wasted no time and attacked as soon as the blue light subsided and revealed his Mega form, shooting a missile from his chest that pinned DoneDevimon even deeper into the mountain. The attacks of our partners at least were working now, as wounds were visible on the monster. The anger kept building on it, and its speed was dramatically increasing, too. Thankfully it was matched by WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, because without me being able to see it, it turned out that they had just saved Angemon and Angewomon. My partner was standing in front of my sister's with his Brave Shield deployed and stopping one of DoneDevimon's shadow hands that shout out of its back. The other hand had attacked TK's partner and the armored wolf had also rescued him.
"WarGreymon... thank you..." I heard Angewomon say through Kari's phone.
"How dare he attack you with such a cheap shot..." my partner replied, with deep anger in his voice. Next thing I knew he was up in the air and charged his signature attack. I have to mention WarGreymon's increase in power again, because believe me, it was like staring at the Sun from Mercury, that's how I can begin to describe it "Terra Force!" he yelled as the gigantic ball of fire fell down to DoneDevimon.
"Burst Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon also let out a ridiculous amount of gunfire to the demon before WarGreymon's attack made impact. All of us braced ourselves for the incoming impact, and not even Angemon and Angewomon shielding us could fully protect us from the fallout of the blast. It was all black for me for a couple of seconds, and then I heard coughs. I opened my eyes and had to emerge from tons of the beach's sand, which covered all of us after the collision.
"Is everyone alright?" I asked. All of the digidestined present answered one by one, and I was relieved that no one had been injured. I was beyond shocked with WarGreymon's rage and the attack he just unleashed. It was a good thing that the Terra Force only harmed evil enemies, because I seriously believed that attack would have blown up all of File Island, otherwise.
"He couldn't have seriously survived that" Cody spoke up as he looked into the direction of the mountain.
"No fucking way..." Matt said as I also saw that DoneDevimon was still there. Heavily damaged and injured, but still standing, nonetheless. Its shadow hands attacked and our literal guardian angels were knocked out of the way. Then, I saw a flicker of light emanating from our foe. I can't really explain what happened after that as my body just moved on its own, but I threw myself towards Kari and Sora, who were to my right, and forced all 3 of us back into the ground. The next thing I felt was a gust of wind and the sound of an explosion that completely deafened my ears. I looked up and everything was in slow motion, my head was killing me and all I could hear was a loud beeping sound. I was overcome with dread asDoneDevimon headed our way, but it suddenly turned from black to icy blue, which was MetalGarurumon's doing. Then WarGreymon, who was an orange ball of light to me at that point, landed below and then a fire tornado burst into life, destroying the ice. That was finally the end of DoneDevimon, who was nothing but dissipating data. As the beeping in my ears stopped and I started to feel somewhat like my normal self, I finally managed to move.
"Are you girls alright?" I asked my sister and fiancée, who I was on top of.
"Yes..." Sora managed to respond. My sister could only nod, as I could see she was deep in shock.
"Tai" WarGreymon called as he landed in front of us. He then started glowing and became bigger, dedigivolving to Greymon. It was odd to see him powering down and dramatically increase in size, but that was the way it worked now "Are you ok?" he asked. I helped Sora and Kari get back up on their feet.
"Yeah..." I responded as I dusted myself off "that was fucking insane" I told to myself more than anyone else, as I saw Matt help Mimi up, and Cody and TK standing next to them.
"Meiko!" I heard Joe scream from behind. All eyes turned to their direction, Joe was kneeling in front of her, while she was lying down on the sand unconscious "Meiko!" he yelled again.
"Oh no!" Mimi screamed as she knelt down beside them. Sora followed suit.
"Meiko! Answer me! Please!" Joe shouted between tears as everyone gathered around them.
"She must be only unconscious, I don't see any injuries" Matt pointed out. I wanted to believe him, until I saw blood below her from my angle.
"Guys, step aside" I commanded "Joe..." I said gently as the other ones gave them some space "I need you to be 're the only one who can handle this. Please, stay calm as I show you..." I said as I pointed to the blood.
"No..." he cried as I also heard some gasps.
"Joe. Get a grip. You can still save her. You will save her" I insisted. He cried a bit more.
"Joe... come on..." Sora said in a soothing voice "You can do this"
"Alright" Joe calmed down and took a deep breath. He then changed his expression and went full doctor mode "there's a pulse... thank god" he said. He then carefully turned her around, and then we saw it, a huge cut on her back. I saw the looks of despair on the others, but Joe was strong and remained calm "we need to safely transport her to a hospital" he declared.
"Angewomon can carry in her the safest way possible" Kari declared. Angewomon nodded.
"Okay" Joe nodded "Angewomon, please follow my instructions. Cody, TK, please go ahead and open the digiport for us" TK and Cody nodded as they wasted no time and did as told. Joe gave instructions to Angewomon, who carefully lifted Meiko up and slowly flew to the digiport, Joe and Kari right behind them.
"Please be ok, Meimei..." Mimi cried.
"She will. Let's follow and help in any way we can" I replied. Sora and Matt nodded as we trailed behind them.
What a fucking mess. Just an hour ago we were celebrating in a peaceful Digital World. And now we had just been through a brutal battle that had nothing to envy from others in the worst times. Even worse, as this one could also be the first with a fatal digidestined casualty. But we were going to do everything in our power so that wouldn't happen. There would be more time to worry about the fact of Devimon coming back, as a fucking Mega nonetheless, later.
To be continued...
Like I said... winks to Kizuna and the 2020 reboot. I loved writing this chapter and I hope it's just as fun to read. Am I evil enough to bring Meiko into the story just to kill her off? I guess you'll have to wait and see.