Digimon Tamers Zero Two

by MasterCaedus

Tasuke, or Taj, was raised by his 'Uncle' Henry Wong, ever since his parents left when he was very young. In that time, Taj has come to hate his parents and anything related to them. Especially Digimon, the fictional creatures his parents had loved when they were around. But when he gets a real Digimon, Taj must fight Digi-agents of other countries for a chance to find his parents.

49. Rewind:How Many Get a Second Shot?

AN: Hey everyone. It's been a long time. I was really, really busy with my final classes and my Master's Thesis in the last year and have been struggling to write since finishing that huge paper. Still, it's done now. It'll still be slow as I spend most of my time on a job hunt, but I am still writing.

Episode 2.02: Rewind: How Many Get a Second Shot?

I ignored the glare coming at me from across the table and kept my focus on the TV in the corner. There had been another Digimon appearance in New York. Some kid had shown up with a Digimon and a hundred bloodthirsty idiots chased them down until it Dark Digivolved. A dozen dead, more wounded, the Digimon dead, and the kid catatonic from the shock and his wounds. "Taj. Stop ignoring the question."

I sighed and looked away from the screen. "Fine. Yes. I did give BG the last Cinnabon when we hung out last time."

"Not what I was talking about. But I'll be watching next time," Davis replied. He leaned back from the table. "This Brynn girl. What are you thinking?"

"Bold of you to assume," I joked back. He didn't laugh. I sighed. "I don't know. She already has a D – er, a club interest." I stopped myself as I remembered we were in public. And I had just watched a report on a Digimon lynching, so maybe not the best word to say out loud. "Why not let her into ours?"

"Because the teacher in charge of the club said to run it by her first. Now we have to keep it a secret from her, too?" Davis replied smoothly. He shook his head. "Is it cause you like her?"

"I've spoken to her twice, Davis," I retorted dryly. "I didn't even remember she'd been sitting behind me in English all year, apparently."

"Wow. You're kind of a jerk."

"We were busy. With a lot, you know." I shook my head. "What, with our job you still had time to make other friends?"

Davis glanced away, embarrassed. "Yeah, that's what I thought," I shot smugly. I shrugged. "Besides, I wasn't going to just let her flounder once she showed up. That'd be even worse, right?"

Davis nodded. "Yeah, I guess," he admitted begrudgingly. He poked at the food in his bowl. "And like you said, she already had an interest in our club. Better she learn about it from us than the guys who have no taste." The criminals, he meant. Not too many of them being public, but they used to try to rob banks before D-CARD cracked down hard. Or, worse, run into some kind of extranational spy and get Diginapped and tortured since a Salamon could be pretty powerful as a weapon.

"See? I trusted my gut and I made the right choice like always!"

Davis just glared at me, not an ounce of agreement in his disgusted eyes. "Well, better her than me, I guess," he said, finally letting my comment go. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes, smiling. "I'm just going to enjoy my retirement knowing my job is done."

"Boooring," I shot, rolling my eyes. "I can't believe it's just me now."

I felt a lightbulb go up in my head. "But, not like you guys could work much anyways. With May permagrounded and all, you must be working hard to sneak around her parents' backs for the ol' smoochin' time."

Davis cringed. "Do you have to put it that way?" He chuckled. "But, yeah. It's kind of fun, actually. I get to put all my skills to use -"

"Gross, that's my cousin!"

"Not what I meant and you know it!" he snapped.

We glared at each other for a few moments. Then, at the exact same moment, we burst out laughing, real and deep from the belly. It drew a lot of attention as we guffawed together for a good minute, slowly coming down and gasping for breath. "Man, I'm glad we're friends again," I muttered under my breath. I shot a sideways smile at Davis. "Still, if you hadn't had your job then her parents definitely would've caught you by now. And May's dad looks like twelve feet tall – he'd snap you in two."

"Ha... yeah." He suddenly grew bitter, brow furrowing. "I just wish everyone would listen. Her parents. My mom. The entire damn world. It feels like we went through all of this, everything, just for... just for it to cost us what little we had before."

I glanced at the table. Henry going crazy trying to do... something, Takato and Rika going to Japan, and losing May? "Digimon saved everyone. Suze's message saved everyone," Davis growled, fist clenching on the table. "But they're going to use them as weapons. It'll be everything all over again."

"Maybe," I admitted, knowing lying to him wouldn't actually make him feel any better. "But the world can barely send a phone call from the east coast to the west coast right now. They're blind and scared and stupid. But you can still enjoy your retirement, G-Man. I'm on the job, after all."

Davis snickered, the tension flowing out of his features immediately. "Somehow, that's not very comforting."

"Well, I'll have backup eventually, so don't worry about it," I supplied. I grinned. "See? Brynn's a good investment. And I didn't even have to beat her up and kidnap her."

"But then how will you teach her anything?" Davis retorted, causing the pair to laugh again. It toned down a bit and Davis looked at the tv again. "Communications are hard right now, but I saw a rumor the other day. About Digimon and Tamers being gathered in China for an attack." He looked towards me. "Are you worried about Takato and Rika?"

I crossed my arms and sighed. "I mean, obviously. But it's not like I can do anything, and those two are some of the strongest people out there. They can take care of themselves, probably," I supplied. I shrugged. "Besides, what kind of luck would I need for my parents to say, 'Be back soon,' only to never come back not just once but twice?"

The two of us stared at one another after the bleak joke was made. Slowly, we both began to chuckle. After all, what else could we do?

X X X

May glared into her bowl of ramen, eyes locked angrily with a specific noodle she had picked out when she had sat down. It was incredibly interesting. More than her parents on the other side of the table, at least. Her eyes flicked up to see them glaring into their own bowls as they all ate in the government supplied apartment. May saw her younger brothers all glancing anxiously between their parents and her, with Dan's eyes taking on an especially concerned look. She felt a flash of pity, wishing that it was different. All of her brothers missed Dorimon, but Dan especially had loved the Mon. He was almost as hard hit as she herself had been when their parents had banned the Digimon from the house. But no amount of her youngest sibling crying had been able to change their parents' minds.

May decided to ignore it all and cast a glance at the TV droning on in the corner of the room. May couldn't help but brighten up when the news changed to government propaganda. Because unlike attempts to get her to donate to a political campaign, it was Aunt Suze and Lopmon playing commercial for D-CARD. "... friends with Lopmon here since I was only seven years old. She's kept me safe from all kinds of things since then. Humans, and – I will admit – Digimon. Because just like us, there's bad and -"

The TV was shut off before it could go further. May turned her head and snapped at her father, who was holding the remote. She rolled her eyes and lowered her eyes down to the ramen again. "Can't even see my family on tv," she mumbled angrily.

"Watch your tone, young lady," her father growled. He put the remote back on the table."What did you say?"

May just rolled her eyes and looked away. "You do not treat your father that way. Speak up if you're proud enough to say something," Jaarin said. May's siblings were growing more and more anxious, sinking into their seats to avoid being yelled at next.

"Whatever," May mumbled again, tossing her chopsticks into the ramen and leaning back. She stared at the blank TV, letting her parent's increasingly loud shouting turn to quiet droning as she drifted off to her own thoughts. She could feel that place in her mind, a corner both far off and close. It was Dorimon, or at least it felt like Dorimon. She shut her eyes, imagining what Dorimon might be doing. She was at Taj's place, probably laying on the couch, her heart not totally in to annoying BG but doing it anyways. Maybe Momentai was there, barking at them both. Then Taj walked arguing with Dorimon and BG about their fight. And then that girl, Brynn would -

"- never let you be around your uncle. Then that Dorumon never would have shown up to ruin your life."

"WHAT!?" May screamed, surging to her feet. Her ramen bowl went flying, sending its contents across the table and shattering against the ground. "What did you say? Dorimon is my best friend! She's part of me! You can shut up about Dorimon around me!"

"Don't you dare talk to your mother that way!" her father shouted back, standing up and pointing at May. "That thing has done nothing but put you and our entire family in danger since it found you. Everything we have learned – your boyfriend kidnapped you, and the Digimon devil almost killed us just to anger you? Have you even thought about how much danger this puts your brothers in!?"

"If it wasn't for Dorimon and me, that devil would've killed everyone anyways! Stop being so stupid!"

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" her mom screamed.

"Better than being around self absorbed morons!" May screamed back, kicking her chair over and running to her room.

"And don't bother coming back out!"

"LIKE I WOULD!" She screamed back as she slammed the door shut. She stomped her foot and screamed again. She fell on her bed and buried her face in her pillow "I hate this I hate this I hate this!"

Dawn kept screaming into the pillow for a few minutes, slowly draining her energy until she was panting and sweating. "I hate this..." she muttered. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, suddenly acutely aware again that her 3D was locked in a desk a room away. She shut her eyes. Getting it back wouldn't be hard, but it would just cause another fight. "Ugh, I was so stupid... This is just going to make everything worse!" Not that it didn't feel good in the moment, she had to admit. But long run... "Ugh..."

She draped one arm over her eyes, letting the darkness fall as her brain moved through a million thoughts a second. Her thoughts turned again to Dorimon, who had moved to Taj's room in her imagination. Was she as sad as May herself was at their separation? Dorimon was watching Taj explain the cards to Brynn and a Salamon while BG wrestled with Momentai. Did Dorimon feel alone in that room, even as May had felt at the dinner table?

"May?"

May's eyes flew open and she scrambled up to one arm. "Who -?" She paused as she saw little Dan peering through a crack in the door. "What are you doing in here? Mom and Dad'll get mad."

"Yeah, well... they went to their room. We all did," he whispered. He pushed the door open more. "I wanna show you something, May!"

May sighed. "You can show me another time," she replied drearily, wanting to return to her dream of Dorimon. She laid back on her bed and shut her eyes.

And then Dan jumped on her bed, landing flat across her. "Hrgh!" she coughed, eyes flying open.

"Now!" he demanded petulantly, eyes furrowed like what he imagined a serious face looked like based on TV he'd watched.

May snorted and shoved him off her. "Okay, Twerp. Let's go," she agreed. How could she refuse that dopey face. So, she got up and followed him into his room.

Dan stood in the center of the room, suddenly incredibly nervous. He was clutching the sides of his pants and wobbling from foot to foot. May grew worried. "Dan, come on." She crouched down and grabbed his shoulders to steady him. "Are you okay? Did something bad happen?"

"No!" he said, almost too loud. "Er, I mean... No. I think it's really cool!" He nodded. "But Mommy and Daddy might not like it."

"Well, now you have to show me," May offered with a reassuring smile.

Dan smiled back at her, clearly still nervous. But he moved towards his bed and crawled beneath it. May stood up straight and watched him wrangling something out of a huge pile of stuffed animals. "Um... this is my friend," he said as he walked up, clutching one of them. It was like a little baby, with a tan pacifier in its mouth. A single ahoge of yellow spikes crested from the middle of its silvery-gray body..? Head? And under Dan's armpit... a 3D.

"Uh... Danny, she's scary," the little Digimon said, shrinking back into Dan's arms.

"Huh? No way, she's my big sister! She might be grumpy and smelly sometimes, but she's not scary, Pusumon!"

May was staring in shock. She shut her eyes and slapped her cheeks, wondering if she had maybe fallen asleep. She cracked one eye open to see her brother and a very confused baby Digimon staring at her. "Okay, I guess this isn't a dream." May walked over to Dan's bed and fell to her back on it, throwing her arm over her eyes. "I... I just know I'm gonna get blamed for this," she muttered.

X X X

The Tamers of Japan were standing nervously on the large, empty roof of HYPNOS. They had spent the time since the defeat of that Revelamon completely consumed with worry. None of them had had the same breakdown as they had when their partners had died, but it was a constant terror settling on their shoulders. Especially for Jeri, who had clutched her Digivice close ever since that day. It was working now; for the first time in decades, her Digivice was working.

Yamaki opened the door a few moments later. "I suppose you're wondering why you're here?" he asked. He walked in with an assistant, looking over documents even as he spoke with the Tamers. None of them answered, simply staring at the older man.

Yamaki handed the documents to his assistant. "No guesses? Not even you, Kazu?" He shook his head and pulled out his old lighter, idly fiddling with the lid. "Well, I don't think there's any reason to hold the surprise back from you." He moved to a power junction and pressed a button on it.

The door to a cargo elevator for the rooftop slides open. "PIH PIH PIH!" A tiny pink thing shoots forward on wings, crashing into Kenta.

"MarineAngemon!" Kentamon excalimed excitedly, hugging the tiny Digimon with both arms. Tears began to pool in his eyes as relief hits him all at once, combined with the decade of absence. "This – I'm so happy!"

Everyone watches in surprise... then turn to see the others. Kazu runs forward first, slamming into Guardromon, shouting about how much he missed the big lug. Impmon looks awkwardly at the ground until his partners pull him into a tight hug together.

But Jeri can barely see any of that. Her knees give out as the eight foot tall lion man walks up to her. Tears stream down her cheeks. She's sobbing and gasping with joy. "Leomon..?"

He crouches down on one knee and puts his hand softly on her shoulder. "Hello, Jeri. I am happy to see you, my lion hearted partner."

Jeri threw herself forward and hugged Leomon tight, sobbing into his mane. "L-Leomon!" she cried, her nearly three decades of pain from losing him suddenly ending all at once. She clutched at his shoulders. "I missed you, Leomon! I thought you were gone forever!"

Leomon hugged her tight. "I know, Jeri. I am sorry."

Takato and Rika walked out of the elevator with their partners. "So, you two managed to come back with more Digimon than you left with. I take it the fact Terriermon isn't here means you went to America first?" Yamaki asked.

The four glanced sadly between each other. Renamon finally explains, " We did, but... No. Terriermon... he laid down his life to save the world."

Yamaki's thumb flicked the lighter shut. "Then Henry..."

"He wasn't doing well when we left America. But he was doing better than before," Rika explained as Takato stared at the ground. He was still... angry, to an extent, about Tasuke choosing to stay with Henry. Rika herself was hurt by it too, but she also knew Henry needed Tasuke and Tasuke needed Henry. "He and Terriermon knew it would happen when they Digivolved past Mega, but it didn't make it any easier."

"And you left your son behind. Smart – he's been through enough given what our chatter says." Yamaki flicked the lighter shut again. "Communications across bodies of water are still down, but the little intel we have says things are getting dangerous over here. He doesn't need to deal with that, again. And neither do you."

"It's our home. If anything happens while we're still here, you better call us in," Takato stated resolutely, still glaring at the ground.

"Yeah! But can you get me bread and peanut butter first?" Guilmon asked, his stomach whining loudly. "I'm hungry..."

The government agent frowned. "There's more to it, isn't there."

"Just personal stuff," Rika cut in as Takato's fist clenched slightly. "Nothing you need to worry about."

"... For now." Yamaki's words were simple, but heavy. And both Digimon-Tamer pairs knew better than to push it, even now. His gaze turned to the other Tamers. "How did you manage to get Leomon back?"

"Lucemon had Loaded the entire Digital World. So when he died, the Data automatically returned to its original format. Every Digimon that ever got Loaded was recompiled." Renamon's words are a pretty clear warning. Multiple Devas, IceDevimon, and who knows what else? The other Demon Lords, the Royal Knights..? Something worse?

"Hm. That's... concerning," Yamaki muttered. There were quite a few dangerous Digimon the Tamers had fought over the years, to say nothing of Digimon other nations had ended up defeating. Forays into the Digital World especially had resulted in the appearance of some very powerful enemies he didn't particularly want to risk sliding into the human world.

They turned silently towards the other Tamers enjoying their reunion with their partners. Jeri, especially, was sobbing joyfully into her partner's shoulder. Takato let his dark mood slowly fade away at the sight of his old friends he had not seen in a decade meet up with their other halves, all of whom they had felt die. Jeri especially deserved this. She'd suffered longest, lost the most. He decided to bask in that moment instead, his hand finding Rika's to share the moment.

"I'll never let anything or anyone take you again, Leomon. Never ever ever!" Jeri exclaimed tearfully.

X X X

"Memory playback partially recovered. Play partially reconstructed memory? [y/n]"

"y... Available memory playback engaged..."

ChaosGallantmon charged his three opponents, his plasma lance slashing like a sword at InJESmon's head. His eyes turned quickly, following Dexmon and MadValkyrimon in their path to attack him. He was forced to abandon his assault, spinning midair. Gorgon took Dexmon's massive claws while his plasma lance hit the ground and created an explosion of data, the cloud settling around them to hide him from view.

He flew straight up and began to fire bolts of his plasma lance at the cloud of dust, knowing his job was to buy time and not to win. Everything hinged not on him, but on the Digimon that was inside his lab. "Come on, you really going to let it be that easy, Davis!?" He stopped midair, frowned behind his helm, then turned suddenly and barely blocked MadValkyrimon's lance. The force of the blow completely overwhelmed his ability to fly and he was sent rocketing back down towards Dexmon and InJESmon. ChaosGallantmon was barely able to dodge Dexmon's Process 0 attack, an unending beam of death that he wasn't quite sure even his Gorgon could have deflected. But his quick dodge left him wide open for InJESmon to coming swinging in with a Fallen Blade, the five blackened weapons on his body moving in scarlet arcs.

ChaosGallantmon deflected the first with his plasma blade and punched the others away with his shield, only for the tail blade to swing around the edge and leave a painful but shallow cut through his armor on his left side. He screamed in pain and lashed out with his shield. "Shield Charge!" A small bolt of emerald energy exploded from the gem at the center of the shield, crashing into InJESmon and sending him flying away even as ChaosGallantmon hit the ground and tumbled through the dirt. He caught himself with his flight and groaned in pain as his cloak fluttered wildly around him. A single breath... then he launched forward.

"JUDECCA PRISON!" He held his shield in front of him as he flew, letting it charge up as he used its nearly unbreakable body to deflect the constant small shots from his enemies. But this was all a trap. He let the charge fall and looked up just before MadValkyrimon appeared. Her eyes widened as he aimed his Plasma Lance at her. "FAFNIR'S EDGE!" The emerald blade exploded into being and MadValkyrimon screamed, one of her wings vaporized in the attack. His attack though was a double edged sword.

MadValkyrimon's lance caught one of his pauldrons, shattering it and blasting him. "FERAL LANCE!" A bolt of pure lightning exploded inside ChaosGallantmon's body. Armor shattered and the two were blasted away from one another, trailing smoke as they flew. ChaosGallantmon barely noticed as he was tossed through a wall of their base, data arranged into cement and steel shattering under the force of his impact.

He didn't even have time to recover, with InJESmon already swinging his weapons wildly in that same unnervingly silent way that all three of his former friends did, now. "Come on, not even a word?" ChaosGallantmon asked, hurriedly deflecting the attacks to minimize damage along his Chrome Digizoid armor before turning and delivering a powerful back kick midair that sent InJESmon flying. "Hell, you guys were a lot more fun the first few times we fought! Did your boss drain all that out of you!? Fafnir's Edge!"

InJESmon was blasted even further back, cursed armor crackling and smoking. Then Dexmon shot a Process 0 past her injured partner, close enough that ChaosGallantmon briefly wondered if Dexmon didn't care if it hit her team mate. He barely raised Gorgon in time to take the brunt of the attack, forcing him to pour as much power as he could spare into the shield to keep the deadly attack from vaporizing him. The wave of deadly energy surrounded him, barely cut in two by his glowing shield. ChaosGallantmon screamed in defiance as he saw the Chrome Digizoid of his shield begin to slowly crack and shatter, flakes of the metal disintegrating with every moment. He roared again and began to power up the shield. "JUDECCA PRISON!"

The X-Antibody crystal at the center of the shield exploded, destroying the shield and shattering his left arm, but channeling an unbeievable amount of energy forward. Dexmon screams in pain as the wave of energy carves through her attack, an uncontrollable wave that cleaves through her left arm and vaporizes it. She screams and her biomerge suddenly ends, DexDorumon and May tossed away from each other into the dirt, a pool of blood leaking from the woman's left shoulder.

ChaosGallantmon doesn't have much time to react to a screaming, enraged InJESmon. He's already injured and missing his shield as it is, so the Cursed Knight's blades skewer him through non-critical locations as he barely twists in time. It hurts. Damn, it hurts. But a blade through his shoulder, one through his forearm, and another in a leg. "YOU HURT HER!" InJESmon snaps.

"Ha! Finally made you talk!" ChaosGallantmon threw his still healthy hand forward. "FAFNIR'S ED-"

But before he could skewer InJESmon through the chest, a lance slammed through his shoulder from behind and electricity enveloped him completely. ChaosGallantmon screamed as he was finally defeated by his severely injured opponents, MadValkyrimon's javelin through his shoulder on one side unleashing a storm's worth of electricity into his body and through into InJESmon's. It was agony. The pain caused his two minds to desync.

Tasuke screamed in pain as he hit the ground, his arms useless and his body still reeling from the electric current running through his body. "DAMMIT!" he snarled as he clutched at his body and tried to roll over to reach for BG. "NO! NONONO! I can't give up! BG, we can't give -!"

Within the lab, Herrismon and Danny could only stare in horror at the screen as the heavily damaged Biomerged Megas advanced on their defeated mentor. "No..." Danny also couldn't help but look at his sister and DexDorumon, laying on the ground as InJESmon crouched above her, showing emotion that they had never seen InJESmon have. MadValkyrimon crouched above Tasuke and BG, her damaged wing still smoking.

Then MadValkyrimon stepped back, giving space for a Digital Portal to open. An old woman walked through, flanked by a corrupted BlackLeomon. Tasuke snarled. "Katou! Always helping the wrong side!" he snapped, trying to get to his feet only to fall to his face from the pain.

"There's no reason to fight us, Tasuke. They've given us everything we've asked for. Peace. Prosperity. You and these people are the only ones that resist," she says, kneeling beside him and checking his wounds. "Why? Don't you want peace? Happiness?"

"Slavery!?" BG growled.

"That's such a dirty word. It's a world where we don't have to risk the lives of our Digimon. Of our friends. Of our families. If you join us, you won't have to hurt your friends!" Jeri Katou countered with a gesture at the dangerously wounded Mayumi. "A world where Digimon can live freely among humanity. The side that the Digital World has chosen for its Digidestined to side with."

"Yeah, well, screw the Digital World... I don't like your side," Tasuke snapped. He pushed her away and slowly, painfully forced himself to his feet.

"Yeah. We like keeping our minds for ourselves!" BG snapped, standing too.

"Even if Henry is on our side?"

Tasuke flinches. "You..." he said, voice shaking with hatred. "Henry? What happened to Henry is even worse than what your boss did to you or my friends! He's a puppet wearing Henry's skin. You decided to be wrong, even if you got coerced into doing it... But your bosses killed all three of my parents! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THEM FOR THAT!" He screamed, his pure rage giving his broken arms enough strength to grab his gun and swing it up at Katou -

And then Black Leomon's sword was through his chest.

"NO!" Danny screamed, rushing forward towards the screen.

BG was roaring, a rage that seemed to shake the air outside he shot towards Katou for revenge. But he didn't fare any better. Injured and tired, he was bisected and his Data floating away a moment later.

"NO! NO! Tasuke! BG! NONONONONO!" Danny screamed, grabbing the screen. "NO! PLEASE! NO!"

"Danny! Let me out, we have to get out there!" Herissmon screamed, pointing at the button that Tasuke said was a release.

"Yeah, we have to get everyone out of here!" Danny agreed, slamming his fist on the button as he forced his tears behind a wall. "We-"

"Emergency Activation. Beginning T-Mail. Compressing data."

"What!?" Danny exclaimed. He looked at the screens with Herissmon and their eyes widened. "He... lied? Taj lied to us?"

"T-Mail commencing... Data compression at 50 percent."

Herissmon looked down to see he was rapidly dedigivolving. "D-Danny?"

"Herissmon? Heriss -"

"Compression at 100 percent. T-Mail engaged. Tachyon drive spooled. Emergency message... accuracy within 5 percent of target... Error: Excessive data. Data corrupted. T-Mail safety protocols: undo compression. Error: Emergency overrides safety protocols. Data corruption within tolerable levels. T-Mail engaged. Sending... Now."

The egg that Herissmon had become vanished...

And reappeared years earlier beneath the bed of a very young Dan.

Memory corruption encountered. Continuing training on Matrix E...

X X X

"RIKA!" Rika flinched from setting up the Tea Set on the central table as her mom crashed into her, the older woman still looking 30 years younger than she actually was as she cried happily into her daughter's shoulder. Rika looked at her husband with a slightly uncomfortable look, but he was crushed between his own gray haired parents.

"Hey, Mom..." Rika finally acquiesced, hugging her back.

Renamon smiled softly from nearby then yelped as Rika's mother yanked her into the hug, too. "Thank you for keeping her safe, Renamon..." Rumiko said, crying now into the yellow fur of the Digimon.

"I... You're welcome," Renamon said quietly, accepting the hug just like her partner had. It may have been her duty to protect Rika, and something she wanted to do all these years. But Rumiko's thanks was so heartfelt it deserved the response.

Rika slowly extricated from her mother's hug, patting the woman's back then instinctively looking around to make sure the building is safe. She knew Yamaki wouldn't lie to her about this Safehouse where he'd moved their parents, but spending so long in the digital world meant she was used to being cautious everywhere. The warehouse they were in was split up into a variety of apartments defended by the Juggernaut program and a few Government Tamers and Digidestined whose sole job was to keep the Original Tamers' families safe. "Are you all comfortable?" Rika asked after a moment of looking around.

"It's awful!" Rumiko said dramatically, earning a soft chuckle from Rika. "It's not bad. I miss my house, obviously, but I'll survive. Your grandmother is in my apartment if you want to see her."

Rika smiled softly. Her grandmother's ashes. It had been years since she'd had a chance to light incense at the family shrine... "I'm happy that she's here with you," she said, holding her mother's hand.

"And where's my grandbaby?"

That drew everyone's attention. Takato's parents looked around too. "Yeah, where is Tasuke? You're back, so why isn't he here?" his mother asked, stepping up to her son. She put her hands on her hips and suddenly it felt like she was twenty feet tall and yelling at Takato for staying up too late again.

"He – I – uh -"

"Hey, easy now, Yoshie. Even if he's an adult, Takato is still scared of you it looks like."

"Who isn't always a little scared of their mom..?" Takato mumbled to himself. Only the Digimon and Rika – whose senses had been strengthened by Biomerging so many times – were able to hear.

"Fine..." Yoshie Matsuki took a breath and let her son have some space. "But where is he?"

"I did always think that when you came back, he would be, too," Takato's dad added on, agreeing with his wife.

"It is more complicated than that," Renamon answered when Takato and Rika fell quiet, unable to answer. She walked softly to the center of the group, kneeling at a table on the floor, pouring tea for everyone present. "Please. Sit."

It took a few moments, but all the humans eventually acquiesced to the Digimon's request. "Yay, we're all sitting together!" Guilmon exclaimed as he plopped down with his head in the laps of Takato's parents.

Renamon nodded at the older humans on one end of the table, then offered the floor to Rika and Takato at the other end. Takato grabbed Rika's hand tight under the table. "Tasuke decided to stay in America. And... once our trip here is over, we'll be heading back to stay."

"But you just got back -!"

"Yoshie." Takehiro's soft but firm tone cut both her and Rumiko off. He sighed and looked his son in the eyes. "Takato. I'm proud of you."

Takato blinked in surprise. "I..."

Takehiro held his hand up to quiet the younger man. "You believe staying in America is what's best for Tasuke?"

Takato looked down. He hadn't explained everything – the fact that Tasuke had chosen Henry over them, for instance – but he had to think that through for a moment. Is this what's best for Tasuke, rather than what was easiest? Did Takato hate it because it hurt him, or because it was wrong..?

"... It... is," Takato admitted. It was like cold water hitting his veins. This... anger that he hadn't known he was holding onto just... melted away. Henry... Tasuke... "It's what's best for him. And... I want to be there for him."

"And for Henry?" Takehiro said. He'd always been more insightful than anyone expected, often playing dumb simply because he thought it was best for people to let things out on their own terms. But he could see that Takato and Rika needed to be asked. And that it was for their friend.

"... Yeah," Takato said quietly.

"Henry... he raised Tasuke. So they're family. And... when Tasuke saved the world with his friends – it... Terriermon died."

The room went quiet for a moment. They all remembered Jeri's response to the death of Leomon, and so had a good idea of how Henry was being affected. Takehiro broke the silence first: "Then like I said, I'm proud of you as both a man and a father. Just make sure to visit with both of them once this whole world gets stable again."

"We will," Rika said for her husband after seeing he was starting to tear up a bit. "I promise."

Rumiko sighed, deciding that her in-laws were correct. "Fine. But stay here for a while longer at least. I'm not letting my baby run off after only one night back home," she demanded.

Takato laughed, this new joy spreading through his body. "That's the plan. After all, Guilmon's been complaining about missing his favorite foods since we left."