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Chapter 1: What's Future is Prologue

The Rainbow Bridge was on fire.

...Or maybe it had been, or would be? Salamon shook their head, knowing how easy it was to lose track of what was and what could be if they didn't concentrate.

Thankfully, Salamon's memory quickly grounded itself. Pushed into a corner, it had been decided that fleeing Odaiba was the only option left. Traveling by air or by water were both vetoed to avoid drawing attention, leaving only one reliable route off the island. At least until they were ambushed.

Salamon stood, scanning the patches of flame and overturned vehicles for everyone else. The sky was darkening as the evening set in, though the smoke from the previously mentioned flames did more to obstruct vision than the lack of light. Their group hadn't been particularly large to begin with, so many of them having stayed behind to stall for time, so Salamon focused on finding their partner. Akira was not only a personal priority, but maybe everyone's best chance of getting out of this.

A sudden gust of wind caught Salamon's attention, however, dragging it towards an approaching figure bathed in shadow. Large and humanoid, with the silhouettes of a blade on its right arm and a cannon on its left, it didn't look like it was in any kind of hurry. Instead, it seemed to follow in the wake of its companion, who burst forward.

Green skin and entrails poked out of the joints of black and purple armor, an ensemble capped off by yellow eyeballs on its shoulders and knees. Argomon's hulking and bipedal form cast an intimidating shadow of its own, and Salamon knew the Mega had enough power to support its demeanor.

Argomon leapt forward, though before Salamon could even flinch, another figure crashed into their attacker. As Argomon rolled backwards, another Mega poised his four legs into an attack position. Black and gold armor damaged, though orange wings still beating, Imperialdramon roared as he flew forward again.

This time, however, Imperialdramon's mass shifted. His data glitched and his bones and joints snapped and cracked as he took on a humanoid shape. Salamon sighed, instantly recognizing the strain being put on Imperialdramon's mode change. Something had happened to one or both of his partners, and it was a sheer miracle of will that he could hold himself together.

Still, Imperialdramon held his ground. As Argomon fired an energy blast from its mouth, Imperialdramon threw his right fist forward, pushing through the beam and connecting with his opponent. On contact, the cannon on his forearm sparked to life, firing and forcing Argomon back further.

Imperialdramon likely would have followed up the strike too, had a shadowy blade not extended forward and pierced his right shoulder. As he fell to his knees, the dark silhouette slowly floated forward, glowing red eyes locked on Salamon.

Yet the greatest sense of dread Salamon felt came from beneath them. While their current position didn't give them a decent view of Tokyo Bay, Salamon felt a pulse echo from the waters below. Within it, they sensed not only their own potential end, but also the potential end of everything that was, had been, and could be.

Imperialdramon stirred, momentarily distracting the dark warrior by leaping up and blocking his path. As Argomon jumped back into the fray, Salamon used the brief distraction to sprint away from the fight.

Up until this point, Salamon had been hesitant to make another jump, the previous two having been risky enough as they were. With the void below ready to swallow all of them, however, opening another tear was their only chance.

Salamon jogged past Mari, Rei, and their respective partners, finally locking eyes on their own partner.

"Akira!" Salamon called out as they jumped up and down on the unconscious boy's chest.

Hearing if not consciously understanding, Akira's eyes opened instantly. The digivice on his waist lit up, filling Salamon with both strength and relief.


"I think you checked that rack already."

Sora Takenouchi's fingers paused on the clothing display in front of her, realizing the statement she had just heard was true. Sora turned to her left, finding Hikari "Kari" Kamiya smiling back at her. While there had been warmth and a light tone to her words, the younger girl had a slight hint of concern in her eyes.

"Who can tell?" Sora replied with her own smile. "They all kinda look the same."

The words came out without much thought, though Sora would never prop herself up as any kind of fashion expert, herself usually dressing for functionality rather than simply for appearances sake. Case in point, she had chosen a simple light red t-shirt, white capri shorts, and sneakers when getting dressed that morning. Not that she expected Kari to judge her for the sentiment, her having opted for a pink shirt and a denim skirt. For the both them, these trips to the mall were more an excuse for them all to spend time together than anything else.

Still, I probably could design a better outfit than this… Sora thought as she glanced at the nearest mannequins in the department store. At the very least, she felt like she could do a half-decent job of mixing and matching the store's current inventory.

"Is that really it?" Kari asked, her thoughts obviously having not strayed from their current conversation. Not all that surprising, given Kari could be just as perceptive and persistent as she was kind. She understood and respected boundaries, though seemed to make exceptions for a select few individuals.

"Yep." Sora kept smiling.

Kari raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"You're not gonna out-mom me, Kari."

"Okay!" a different voice called out as the door to a nearby changing room swung open. "I think I've almost got this figured out!"

Mimi Tackikawa stepped out, proving that while Sora might occasionally get bored with the activity of shopping, she never got bored of the people she did so with. A number of different tops and skirts in her arms and back to wearing the purple dress she had started the day with, this outing had mostly been her idea. Mimi being Mimi, this was mainly a pretense to get the girls together the day before the Digidestined's annual August 1st meetup, claiming she needed an outfit for it. By this point, she had mostly gotten over the fact that Yolei hadn't been able to make it.

"Sounds good," Sora confirmed as she moved away from the clothing rack.

"Sora…" Mimi pouted. "You're supposed to be having fun."

"I am having fun," Sora argued, not sure what kind of energy she was currently giving off to her friends.

"She seems a little distracted," Kari added, managing to keep smiling while pointing an accusatory finger in her direction.

"Traitor…" Sora replied under her breath.

Mimi squinted in her direction. "You're worrying about those boys of yours, aren't you?"

Sora rolled her eyes. "You mean the intrepid crusaders?"

Up until this point, Sora had not been thinking about Tai and Matt and their more frequent trips to the Digital World as of late. She would always worry about the pair of them a little bit, but she also trusted them, and they usually only came back from their misadventures with scratches and bruises.

"They'd probably let you go with them if you asked," Kari offered, herself likely doing a fair bit of worrying about her older brother.

"I know," Sora replied with a sigh. They had actually asked her to go on a few occasions, but there were other factors in play. "I haven't been able to, between school and Mom having me pick up extra shifts at the store."

"Uh-huh…" Mimi nodded and took few steps closer. "So you and your mom had a fight."

"No!" Sora snapped defensively, perhaps a little too much so. Pausing for a brief moment, she tried to collect herself. "We just had a… discussion."

"A discussion in which you happened to disagree about something," Mimi countered smugly.

Sora stayed quiet, partially because she was trying to make sense of how they had even ended up in this conversation. It didn't help that Sora and her mother's conflicting personalities were well known amongst the Digidestined. For as many of their differences that the two of them had worked through, Sora still wasn't sure her mother always listened to her when they disagreed on a matter.

"Did you disagree on when lunchtime was?" another voice asked after a moment.

All three of them glanced upwards at one of the store's higher fixtures, finding Kari's digimon partner, Gatomon, waiting for them. The white feline digimon lounged on the shelf, though wide and alert eyes said she was actively waiting for an answer to her question.

"What are you doing up there?" Kari was the first to ask. Luckily, they were the only occupants of this corner of the store at the moment.

"Waiting for you all to finish," Gatomon answered calmly, without skipping a beat.

"And what if someone sees you?" Kari's tone was once again light with a hint of concern in her eyes.

Gatomon shrugged. "If they do, I'm just an ordinary house cat."

"An ordinary talking house cat?"

"Me-ow," Gatomon deadpanned, causing her partner to smile and shake her head.

"Not enjoying yourself much?" Sora chimed in, despite the answer being obvious.

"They're enjoying themselves enough for the three of us." Gatomon pointed one of her gloved paws back towards Mimi's changing room.

Biyomon and Palmon, Sora and Mimi's partners respectively, poked their heads out, having been listening in on the humans for a while. Unlike Gatomon, the two of them had attempted to disguise themselves, with Biyomon wearing a pink hoodie to match her feathers while Palmon wore a sun hat and baggy t-shirt. It was a method of allowing their partners to move around in public the Digidestined had employed since they were children, one Sora more and more questioned the effectiveness of the older they got.

"Hey," Mimi piped up again, waving a finger up at Gatomon. "Don't belittle my assistants."

"She can belittle all she wants," Biyomon declared confidently. "We've almost got this outfit picked out."

"Which one is your favorite?" Palmon eagerly asked the bird digimon.

"Hm…" Biyomon placed a wing on her chin and eyed the clothes Mimi had collected. "The pink one."

"You always pick the pink one."

"Like you're not eyeing the green one."

"Maybe I'll just go scout the food court," Gatomon said as she stood herself up and stretched.

"Alone?" Kari questioned, her concern becoming a bit more recognizable in her voice.

"I can go with her if it'll make you feel better," Sora offered without having to think about it.

"You don't have to," Gatomon insisted, though her her usual confidence seemed to briefly flicker.

"But I want to," Sora countered as she took her first couple steps towards the exit.

Waiting for Gatomon to hop off the shelf, Sora exchanged nods with Kari and Biyomon, any worries still lingering on the future clearing themselves up as she made her way outside. Her thoughts did very briefly return to Tai and Matt, but she quickly told herself that everything on that end was going fine.


Everything was going fine, at least for the most part. That's what Taichi "Tai" Kamiya told himself, even as the side of the building he and his friends were moving through was torn apart.

Luckily, just before the floor could give out beneath his feet, a pair of arms grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him backwards, causing both of them to topple over. Tai looked over his shoulder, giving a thumbs up to Yamato "Matt" Ishida, who only rolled his eyes in return.

"Come out, humans!" a booming, gravelly voice echoed into the interior. "Let's settle these negotiations!"

Tai glanced back at the hole in the building, getting line of sight on the digimon responsible for creating it, Reapermon. Skulls adorned the towering mechanoid digimon's gold and gray armor. Armed with a large scythe on his right arm and a cannon on his left, the Mega succeeded in at least looking threatening.

Rumors had been circulating the last couple weeks of a digimon trying to muscle in on Machinedramon's old territory, rumors that their group had quickly been able to corroborate. Tai had come to this section of the Digital World with the express intent of not starting a fight, though Reapermon seemed pretty intent on making sure peace talks never got off the ground.

Still, Tai knew he had to try anyway. Standing back and stepping forward, Matt immediately shook his head disapprovingly, which Tai ignored, as well as the sigh that followed. Had Matt actually seemed nervous, Tai might have taken his friend's concerns more seriously, but he seemed more inconvenienced than anything else. Probably because he had chosen to wear boots and skinny jeans that morning, which Tai had repeatedly told him not to do on days they would be doing a lot of walking or running.

"Are you ready to talk then?" Tai asked as he stepped out of the shadow of the building. On this floor, he was able to talk to Reapermon at eye-level. He was a little exposed, but that was why they never went on these diplomatic missions without Agumon and Gabumon. The pair were literally two steps behind him, and more than capable of jumping in at a moment's notice.

"What authority have you to deny me my territory?" Reapermon questioned, leering at them as he spoke.

"This isn't your territory," Matt shot back as he stepped forward, returning the glare twofold.

Reapermon stiffened. "By right of might, it is."

"We'll see about that." Matt's knuckles were white as he clutched his DigiVice.

"I thought we weren't here to fight, Matt," Gabumon said as he gently grabbed his partner's hand and looked up at him.

"We always find one though," Agumon commented. "Tai?"

"We don't have to resort to violence," Tai said calmly, keeping his eyes forward. "That way isn't a path to a better future."

"Who's to say my way isn't the better way?" Reapermon asked, arrogance coloring his words.

"The innocent digimon you've struck down, that's who," Matt answered. "Your way is conquest, not peace."

"You presume to know better? The last despot this world saw was a human slaver, after all."

"That doesn't justify what you've done," Tai countered. "We're giving you one chance to walk away before we make you."

Reapermon paused, to look at each of the four of them. "I fear no Royal Knight."

Tai grabbed his DigiVice. "Sorry to hear that."

As Reapermon prepared to swing his scythe, Agumon and Gabumon flew past Tai's shoulders. Glowing and spinning in a helix of orange and blue data, they grew and changed shape into the heads of their respective Mega forms, said heads eventually extending into a pair of arms. Between those arms, the Digidestined's secret weapon took the shape of a white knight with a billowing cape: Omnimon.

Before Reapermon could swing downward, a sword with runes etched on it extended from Omnimon's left arm. Instead of blocking, however, he swung sword at Reapermon's elbow, cleaving off his forearm. Reapermon howled in pain, attempting to bring up his cannon, but Omnimon was quicker on the draw. A cannon of his own forming from the knight's right arm, he didn't hesitate to fire it pointblank.

The smoke cleared after a moment, revealing Reapermon's head and upper torso had been disintegrated. A couple more seconds passed, and the rest of his body followed suit, bursting into data.

Tai sighed, letting his shoulders sink and the rest of his steadfast demeanor fall aside. While this wouldn't have been his first choice of outcome, the situation in this section of the Digital World had at least been resolved. In that sense, they had put in enough work for one day.


Sora looked forward and brought her mind back to the present. Thankfully, they weren't wading through a particularly dense crowd, so their walk to their destination was relatively peaceful. Still, the lives they led meant that could change at any moment.

Glancing over to Gatomon, who was treading lightly on all fours, Sora couldn't help but notice her repeatedly looking over her shoulder, as though she heard or saw something only to find it wasn't there. A year after the battle with Ordinemon and the fallout of it, a little paranoia with taking the digimon out in public was still common amongst the Digidestined, and even the digimon themselves. With that in mind, however, Sora was getting the sense that her current companion's worries had a different source.

For one, Gatomon clearly wasn't nervous about moving in plain sight around humans. Despite her previous comments, yellow and red clawed gloves, purple tufts of hair on her ears and tail, and a golden ring looped around said tail made her a bit more exotic looking than the average house cat. Plus, the fact that she was out here to begin with was another flag to Sora. While all the digimon were protective of their respective partners, Gatomon was extra so when it came to Kari. This said to Sora that Gatomon was less expecting danger and more actively looking for something.

"Everything okay?" Sora asked, deciding that they were far enough away from the nearest person that it was okay to chance a conversation.

"I don't know," Gatomon answered, attention still focused on scanning their surroundings.

"Any theories?" Sora questioned further, slightly surprised but mostly relieved she got an answer.

"None…" Gatomon shook her head, facing forward again. "Just a feeling that makes the hairs on my back stand up."

Sora gave the area a once-over. "Have you told Kari?"

"Tell her what?" Gatomon finally looked up at her. "Every time I turn around there's nothing there. I don't want to worry everyone over nothing."

Sora hesitated, not having a confident response given that such a significant part of her was hoping that what Gatomon was sensing turned out to be nothing. Though she never liked fighting to begin with, Sora hoped more and more that each battle she and her friends fought would be their last. It was funny in its own way, as she never imagined she would be thinking about any kind of retirement at the age of eighteen.

Unfortunately, any chance at voicing even these concerns was cut short, as the people in front of them were suddenly panicking and fleeing. A few meters ahead, white and wavy energy pulsed to life, converging on a single point. Pausing to check on Gatomon, whose back was arched in a ready position, Sora felt a familiar anxiety take hold of her.

From the midst of the energy, a four-legged figure sprinted out. While appearing to be a large gray mountain goat, long golden horns, a silver and gold collar, and a similarly ornate head shield with a red gem at the center left Sora unable to doubt that this was a digimon. Sora paused for only half a second, mainly to mentally berate herself for leaving Biyomon with Mimi and Kari, though her feline companion sprang into action to compensate.

"Hey, pull over!" Gatomon shouted as she leapt forward.

As Gatomon latched onto their collar, causing the goat digimon to stumble and nearly trip over their feet as they skidded to a halt to Sora's right. From this position, Sora instantly saw a small boy clasping onto the goat's fur. Noting the energy they emerged from had dissipated, she quickly ran over to them.

Gatomon let go of the goat digimon and dropped to the ground, though kept a suspicious eye on them. Hesitating at first, the boy slowly let himself off the digimon, each of his feet touching the ground before letting go of their fur and letting his eyes wander around his surroundings.

To Sora at least, the boy didn't look to be any older than seven or eight years old. Wearing a white t-shirt with some cartoon character on it and tan pants and his short brown hair only slightly disheveled, Sora held in place briefly as she got a good look at the boy, his facial features managing to look both familiar and foreign to her. Eventually, his blue eyes looked downward.

"Gatomon?" he asked, sounding surprisingly calm given he had just been on the run not even a minute ago.

"Have we met?" Gatomon replied, peeling her own blue eyes away from the goat digimon, though the suspicion remained.

"You don't recognize me again?" The boy's shoulders sank, though his voice sounded less like he was outright upset and more mildly disappointed.

"Are you alright?" Sora asked, finally approaching and kneeling down in front of the boy.

"I'm not hurt," the boy answered, looking her over with a notable curiosity. Again, not scared or nervous, but a little confused.

"That's good." Sora nodded and smiled, instinctively looking the boy over for injuries. She found none, though his skin and clothes were covered in soot and ash. Her eyes ended up drawn to the silver D3 on his waist. "What's your name?"

"Akira."

"Nice to meet you, Akira. My name is-"

"Sora!" Biyomon's voice rang out from behind them, prompting all of them to turn around.

Biyomon flew right to Sora's side, with Mimi and Palmon sprinting just behind, stopping just a meter away from their little group. Mimi held for a moment, raising an eyebrow at the new digimon and Akira before looking back to Sora.

"We dropped everything as soon as we heard the ruckus," Mimi explained, voice soft yet uneasy. "What happened?"

"We're still working that out," Sora answered, eyes drifting as the last member of their group stopped at Mimi's side.

"What do we have…" Kari began, only trailing off upon getting a good look at the situation. Her eyeline gravitated to the small boy. "...so far?"

"Mommy!" Akira's eyes, on the other hand, lit up. With all the energy of a kid getting picked up early from school, he ran over to Kari and wrapped his arms around her waste.

Kari's body went rigid at first, eyes still focused on the child hugging her. The area around them, having long been vacated of normal people, somehow became even more silent. After a few more seconds, Kari exhaled, lowering herself to Akira's level and returning the embrace with the same motion.

Not taking her eyes off them, Sora began to mentally and emotionally steel herself. As innocent as the moment in front of her was, the circumstances around it did nothing but declare to her that another battle was coming for the Digidestined.


Author's Note:

Well, here we go again…

I'll throw out the usual heads up for my Digimon stories, that they take place within the same continuity and this one is a sequel, though its main plot is mostly its own thing. Some character arcs and world building will get carried over, but will be incorporated gradually over time as needed for this story.

Basically, the only thing new readers absolutely need to know is that the Digidestined have had contact with the Tamers and Frontier casts prior to this story via multiverse shenanigans. The guide to my stories on my profile page should help clarify and provide reading suggestions to anyone who wants to be completely caught up.

Anyway, to readers new and old, thanks for taking the time to read. Leave a review if you feel up to it and I'll talk at you guys later.