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.

40. Looking for Trouble: Another Boring Day

AN: Hey, sorry it's been a while. I actually get even more busy after finals. When I'm on break from school, I spend all the time I can with my family. It's nice, but not a lot of time to do much else. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Anyways, responses:

To Guest: Yeah, Jaarin's response isn't entirely logic based, but at the same time there is something to it. The D-Reaper only turned into what it became because Shibumi's Algorithm altered the Digimon. She knows the D-Reaper was manmade, but it only showed up when they were kids because of the Digimon and the Tamers. And for Jaarin, the only thing she can control is how close Digimon are to her family, at this point.

To smartalec121: The Cyberdramon variant was just cool looking. Ryo is somewhere, but how much I get into that depends on a few other things – mostly my life outside of writing the story. As for the consequences of sending Suzie away... well, the Digimon are tied to their partner's emotional states.

To Wardragonmon: I'm glad you love the story! I hope that the rest entertains you just as much! Unfortunately, Xros Wars Cyberdramon was just something I thought was cool. Ryo and his absence might tie in, depending on how my own life is going as this story goes on.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the first chapter of the new year!

Episode 40: Looking for Trouble: Another Boring Day in Primary City

I could tell that BG was starting to get annoyed being the engine for a train of little Digimon that were bouncing after him with excited shouts and bubbly noises. It would have been funny if it wasn't annoying me, too. Off key singing from bouncing balls wasn't exactly the best soundtrack to have when waiting for May to finish figuring out the Node. Especially not on repeat for three hours. So, with a quick use of a Hyper-Wing card, me and BG had managed to fly off to the only place no one was really hanging out right then – the rookery with all the eggs.

BG seemed a little apprehensive when we finally touched down and walked through the silent area, occasionally passing a Rookie that stayed to help out Guardromon and MarineAngemon, but not really getting their attention off their jobs. Eventually, we went far enough that none of them were really left where we'd headed out to. We settled on top of a hill and plopped down. I pulled out some food that Guardromon had given us and tossed half to BG before beginning to pick at my own and staring up at Earth.

I was about halfway done when I turned to him and nearly jumped out of my skin. "You gonna eat that?" I asked incredulously.

He glanced over at me and huffed. "What? You're acting weird, BG." I raised an eyebrow and looked around. "You know... you're not the same guy as when you were in the Nursery."

He looked at me and growled. "It's not that," he scoffed.

Okay, weird. "Then, uh... what?"

"Digimon don't have 'parents,'" he remarked, and I immediately knew where this was going. I gobbled down the last bite of bread and decided to sit up straight. "The annoying hag should finish with the Node very soon, right? Are you ready for what that means?"

"It's been too long since I've seen Henry," I replied, knowing that wouldn't answer his question. I let it pause for a moment, then let out a drawn out and tired sigh. "Fine. I'm not... totally ready."

"How ready then?"

"Like... 12 percent."

"... That's basically zero."

I glowered at him. "What do you know, you just said you don't even have 'parents,'" I grumbled, half as a joke.

He snickered at it anyways.

I frowned and leaned back on the grass, hands behind my head. After a moment, he rolled himself around and laid on his back, too. It didn't look nearly as comfortable for him, though. I took a deep breath before starting, knowing I'd only say what I was about to say because we'd come so far together. He'd listen, no matter what. "I'm... kind of scared that they'll hate how I react? Don't get me wrong, I want to see them, but... I'm more excited finally finding Henry than I am about seeing them again. And what if that makes them hate Henry? He's wanted to see them for years, BG. Years."

"Well, if they're half as good as Henry seems to think, they won't hate him for it," BG pointed out. "And if they aren't, well all the more reason to choose Henry, right?"

"That seems a little too simple an answer," I told him dryly.

He shrugged. "Exactly why it works. You don't want to hurt someone's feelings, but that happens no matter what. So just do it and let everyone else deal with it on their own. Or aren't they Champions – er, adults."

I stared quizzically at him, then let out a single, loud laugh. "HA!" I shook my head and shut my eyes, leaning back and feeling comfortable again. "You know, your brand of dumb is pretty damn smart sometimes. Even if I'm fairly certain I don't have the... social ineptitude to follow through."

"And your brand of smart is pretty dumb sometimes," he shot back.

I opened my eyes. "Hey now..." I grumbled before laughing. I looked back up. "You bored, too?"

"I could fight something," he agreed. "There's nothing to do here, except play follow the leader."

"You love it," I said dryly. "I mean, a little bit. Better than running in terror, right?"

"At least running in terror gets quiet eventually," he grumbled under his breath. He let a puff of fire flow out of his nostrils and rolled over. "Can we at least leave the city for a while? Even a stupid forest would be better than this."

I shrugged. "Whatever. At the very least we might get to meet something out there we can get into a fight with."

BG grinned. "I like the way you think, Partner!" He pushed himself up. "So, let's get going!"

His grin vanished pretty quickly once we got back to the city and another small train of Digimon followed us out into the meadow beyond. We made tracks, followed by the laughing, bouncing babies and a rookie keeping an eye on them. BG seemed to be doing his best to ignore them, scanning the area with his nose and ears to see if anything was hiding out there. So far, just the Digimon following us.

BG let out a low growl as the Digimon began to bounce around him in a circle, singing along excitedly as they did. He glared at the space in front of us, pretending that they didn't even exist, but I could tell from the smoke rising out of his nostrils in time with their beat that he was painfully aware of their behavior. The fact he was tolerating it was pretty surprising, actually.

And apparently the Lalamon with us had noticed, too. She rushed forward when one of the Digimon tried to bounce on BG's back, catching it and beginning to herd the four away from us. I breathed out a thank you she probably didn't hear, and we continued on our way. BG was already less than half as annoyed now, and so was I, but we both wanted to find a fight to get the other half out, too.

After a little while of walking towards the trees at the edge of the meadow, BG got his first sniff. His ears flicked back and a ripple traveled down his scales. "What do you smell?"

"Champion," he told me as he sniffed the air again to try and triangulate the position. He sighed. "Not exactly what I was looking for."

"I get what you mean. After fighting Reapmon and Lucemon, it feels like a Champion is just beneath us, huh?" I joked. I sighed. "I mean, come on... that's barely playtime once you Matrix-Warp Digivolve, BG."

"And with your cards, we'd have him down without trying in Champion," he agreed with a chuckle and a shake of his head.

We were quiet for a moment before looking at one another. "Want to go bully him if he's evil?

BG let a feral grin cross his face. "Thought you'd never ask!"

We turned and ran into the forest, following my blood hound of a partner's nose to zig and zag between the trees and things grew darker and darker. I brought up my Digivice to give me some light, and BG slowed ever so slightly to make sure that I wouldn't get lost. His ears flicked and he stopped a second later. I slid to a stop beside him, nearly crashing into a tree. "What is it?" I asked, panting slightly and suddenly thankful that Davis had forced us to run so much during our training.

His ears twitched again and he turned his head. "Do you think the Lalamon would let the annoying ones in the forest without her?"

"No?"

"Then she's dead and they're about to be," BG explained. He dug his heels in and we were sprinting off again with renewed speed. "We're getting close, but something is wrong. It's heading... underground."

We ran towards the source of the scent, occasionally hearing the whipping of vines just in front of us, until we finally slid to a stop in front of a cavern that shouldn't really exist. It was like it was tunneled into the air itself, just floating in the middle of nowhere with only trees behind it and to either side. "Well, that's something you don't see every day," I muttered.

"Really? Huh, now that you mention it, there weren't many of these in the park..." BG muttered, as if the idea hadn't even occurred to him. Which, clearly, it hadn't.

Deciding to ignore that, I frowned and said, "This is a smart place to draw us. He must have noticed our fight with Alphamon," I explained. "There's no way you can make it Ultimate in a cave this small. Hell, it looks like there isn't enough room for Champion even."

"So you're saying it's an actual challenge, then," BG growled back.

"That's... one way to look at it," I agreed, chuckling as I did. "After all, what's a little danger?" And with that, we knew it was time to see what we could do.

The cave was just as impossible on the inside, with the stone walls continuing in a tunnel through the air. "It's like a pocket dimension," I muttered, running my hands along the wall as we walked. I pulled up my Digivice and opened the scan function, running it over the walls, too.

"What are you doing?"

"May," I explained while the Digivice scanned the walls we walked by. "What if she could do something like this? Or more?"

"You overestimate her."

"You just don't like her."

BG grumbled but refused to deny it.

The scan was over by the time we reached the last room of the cave, along with the excited laughing of our enemy and the worried screaming of the little Digimon that had been taken. "Oh, come on, I won't Load you!" the first voice exclaimed. "I have to have some kind of fun, first. Once we deal with our guests, one of you can play with the current champ and I'll see if I can get another meal!"

We made our way in after that, cards at the ready, and found ourselves glaring over at a green, misshapen vegetable. Rotten to the core, a Weedmon, Veggimon's nastier cousin. All around him, there were dozens of small cages. Some were filled with the Digimon that had been following us, some others with different Digimon. But all of them, each and every one, was In-Training. Not a single rookie... including the Lalamon... And off on one wall, a makeshift pen – no, a makeshift arena.

"You make them fight each other?" I asked, disgusted. My fist trembled on the Digivice. "They're – they're babies! Why!?"

"Well, like you said, they're In-Training? What good is Loading something like that?" the Weedmon wondered. He chuckled. "You, you're human, right? I found some Biological data that I absorbed once – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A Rookie's data is more than just a bunch of In-Training it Loads."

"Don't care," BG growled. He launched himself forward, flames rising in his jaws that snapped down just inches shy of Weedmon's face. One of the weed's tendrils had wrapped around his midsection, then raised him into the air and slammed him into the ground hard. BG stifled a cry of pain and bit down at the vine, flaming teeth cutting just deep enough that the Weedmon snapped in pain and tossed him at the wall. BG snarled and twisted in the air, hitting the ground on his feet hard and stumbling to the side just fast enough to dodge another powerful blow from Weedmon's vines. "Pyro Grenade!"

"Nuh uh!" Weedmon's vine whipped backwards, and he quickly yanked one of the small Digimon in front of him like a shield before BG's attack could be let loose.

I grimaced and shouted, "BG!" BG responded with a snarl and turned his head slightly to the side, letting the fireball shoot just by Weedmon and his small living shield. Weedmon laughed and tossed the tiny Digimon at BG, then leaped after it.

He landed on top of BG who tossed the tiny one away right before Weedmon let out a cry of, "Deadly Ivy!" His vines glowed a dull green and came down hard, crashing into BG's face and chest over and over. He picked up BG and slammed him into the ground.

BG growled and slowly pushed himself up, only to be slammed into the ground again. I swiped a card to heal him as best I could, only for another blow to send him to the ground. "I'm..." BG began, struggling to his feet and glaring at Weedmon. The little Digimon began to cheer him on, but he ignored them and let smoke rise from his nose. "I'm going to stir fry you, Ugly."

Weedmon glared at him, unsure what he was thinking. Then slammed him into the ground again. "I'll just Load you now, then," Weedmon grumbled, and he raised his vines.

"Dammit!" I shouted, scanning through my cards. The baby Digimon were all getting in the way, there was no space... It was starting to look like BG and I had bit off more than we could chew...

And then my eyes settled on the only card I had that I had no idea what it would do. I lifted it up and shrugged. Better try something than die, right? "Digi-modify! Digitamamon's Diner, activate!" I slashed it through my Digivice, and the world around us began to slowly restructure. Wireframe was revealed as data was stripped away and restructured. The cages and the pens were shredded and reformatted, data slowly changing into...

Linoleum topped tables from a 50s style diner. A counter with a glass case full of pies showed up on one end of the room, black tiles leading all around.

Weedmon stopped and looked around, completely confused by the sudden reformatting of reality around him. His vines flicked around and slapped against tables, knocking plates away and sending food tumbling to the ground. And that was the point when everything changed for him. The shattering of plates was accompanied by a voice I hadn't heard since the last time I'd watched the show: Digitamamon himself. Just the voice, but still: "Hey, now, what're you doing? You know how many dishes you have to do to pay fer all that!?"

Weedmon stumbled backwards at the sound of the voice, sending more plates flying and flipping a table. The in training Digimon shouted in surprise as a plate of food crashed into the wall above them. "I said to stop with that! You know, time for you to start paying that debt back, you get it?"

BG and I watched Weedmon swing his vines around in an attempt to find the source of the voice. Digitamamon's voice just shouted about more debt, and that was when the cloud of data flowing out of Weedmon became large enough for us to notice what was happening – his debt was being handed right over to BG himself. I could see the feral glow in his eyes get brighter, energy coursing through his body as he grew stronger – and Weedmon seemed to wilt at nearly the same speed. This right here, this was our chance.

Somehow I could tell that BG agreed. "Digi-Modify! Power, activate! Let's smoke this – wait, I'm not even making that joke," I grumbled, interrupting myself before this could get too far. I pointed at Weedmon. "Waste him, BG!"

BG watched more data flow out of Weedmon, who was looking less and less healthy every second. "PYRO GRENADE!" he roared, a vortex of flames surging from his jaws and towards the now defenseless Weedmon.

Weedmon turned as he broke another table, a glass flipping over on top of his head. "Ah, blazes -" And then he was vaporized, data exploding away and being quickly devoured by my voracious partner.

X X X

BG and I led the quiet, still very scared baby Digimon back to Primary City, feeling better for having worked out some of our aggression on something that deserved it. We were just beyond the edge of the city when they decided to bolt, all except a small, reindeer like In-Training Digimon. "Thank you."

Me and BG looked down at the Digimon and cocked our heads to the side as one.

"Thank you, for saving us before the Diner could delete us!"

Me and BG looked at one another, then back at the small Digimon. "Uh, n-no problem," I said, earning a grin from the little Digimon who hopped after the others on his tiny legs.

We watched him go for a moment, then slowly turned to one another. "You, uh... didn't know, did you?" I asked BG. "That the Diner was Loading their Data, too?"

He looked up at me and grimaced. "You didn't either, did you?"

I turned from my partner and glared at the ground. No, it hadn't crossed my mind. We'd gone out of our way to find them, but once we'd actually gotten into the fight we hadn't kept more than a cursory eye on them. Yeah, hitting one with a Fireball is bad, but it's not different than using the Diner to kill them on accident. "But we did save them, either way," BG offered quietly. "So, it's okay, right?"

It felt hollow even coming from him, but he was trying. "Sure," I agreed, but neither of us felt great about it. When had we stopped even paying attention to the little Digimon? I wasn't sure – I just remember wanting to kill the Weedmon once BG got hurt, and nothing else really mattered beyond that. Nothing but winning – or just not losing, I guess. "We shouldn't rely on luck, though."

"We'd be dead if we'd worried too much," BG pointed out. "And like I said – we saved them in the end. We just need to focus on that until next time, got it?"

I crossed my arms and closed my eyes. "Yeah. Sure."

"BIOMERGE, ACTIVATE!"

My eyes shot open; in the distance, we saw Alphamon suddenly appear in a flash of light. She laughed and threw her hands up, excited that she'd been able to replicate the process of Biomerging. BG huffed beside me, growing annoyed that we hadn't even come close to doing it again but those two were already completely proficient. "Specifically focus on that," he growled at me. "We made it to Mega first but now we can't do it again!? This isn't fair, dammit!"

"BG, it will happen. But only if you stop asking."

He glared at me. "That's not how that works... Is it?"

I shrugged and walked on, moving towards Alphamon at a leisurely pace. "Taj? Taj! Answer me!"

Alphamon's head turned towards us even after we fell quiet. The massive, black armored figure held up a hand and waved in a downright wrong manner, waving like an excited teenage girl. "And there goes any ability I have to watch Tri again," I muttered under my breath as she stopped an walked towards us. There was a bright glow about halfway towards us and Alphamon separated into Dorumon and May once more. I nodded in greeting. "So, why you out here?"

"Just waiting for my programs to compile on the Node. When it's finished, my computer should be shielded from the energy and act like an interface," May explained, sounding pretty pleased with herself. "This whole 'write code and it becomes real' thing... I could get used to it."

"Whatever, Izzy," I remarked dryly, earning an eye roll for my trouble.

"Oh, please, you know you wish you could do it. Lucemon or Gethen or whatever he is, he may be an evil jerk but that doesn't mean his Digital weapon thing wasn't cool," she pointed out.

I shrugged. "Fine, you got me there," I grumbled. "As long as you code something as cool as a Zero Arms next time, I'll stop mocking you."

"Zero – Oh, right. You're lucky I just watched Frontier with Dan or I wouldn't know what the heck your nerd butt was talking about." She shrugged. "Besides, I feel like an impossible weapon is more in Henry's wheelhouse. He's the expert, you know?"

"Good point. Don't want second rate work from a newbie," I replied.

Dorumon cocked her head to the side and glanced between me and BG. "I sure am glad you two have gotten enough experience that you aren't second rate newbies, now," she said. She saw May giving her an annoyed glare and sighed. "And neither are we, now. Happy?"

May just rolled her eyes. "So, why were you two out there?"

"Bored," me and BG said at the same time. I glanced over at the sound of metallic clanking getting closer – Guardromon and MarineAngemon were incoming with the Node and May's computer held carefully in their respective grasps. May flipped out seeing the tiny Mega level Digimon holding her fragile computer by its dangling nub arms and rushed over, ignoring me and charging over to grab it. Impmon, trailing behind, laughed at the whole situation as it unfolded, him and BG lightly mocking May for it.

"Bored, you say?" Guardromon replied after I had to answer the same question again. "Then did you find what you were looking for out there?"

"Ah, well..." I fell quiet.

"A Lalamon got killed and Loaded. The Weedmon is dead, so she might show up here again soon," BG cut in bluntly. Impmon gave him a sidelong look when he said it, but didn't do anything about it "But the In-Training that were stalking us got back here fine enough. "

"Taaaaact..." May grumbled under her breath.

Guardromon let out steam from his vents. "Well, that is quite unfortunate," he said, getting literally steamed from the news. "I will not let this happen again. MarineAngemon and I will find more Champions to engage in patrols." He paused and looked at me and BG. "Both of you, thank you for this."

I felt a little awkward taking his thanks... especially when we weren't even letting him know that we'd probably accidentally Loaded the Lalamon. I'm willing to bet that the most recent data the Weedmon Loaded would be the first data taken by the Diner card, and the most recent data was definitely Lalamon's.

"Sure," I just replied instead. I turned away and waited for May, who was sitting on the ground with her computer in her lap and the Node right in front of her.

"KayKay, I'm uploading those coordinates you gave me into the function. Once I run it, we'll be on our way," she said. She looked up at Guardromon and MarineAngemon. "We could use more help, you know."

"I am quite aware," Guardromon said simply. He looked towards me. "However, the news that predatory Digimon are encroaching so closely on Primary City... it bodes ill. We are required here."

"Yeah, I know," May muttered. She looked down at her computer. "What point is winning if there's nowhere for new Digimon to show up?"

"An unfortunate truth, Ms. Anderson," Guardromon agreed. "But that difficulty is no reason to try any less, and we do what we must." He nodded at all four of us and stopped at me. "Are you ready, Mr. Matsuki?"

I frowned at the name. "... Doesn't matter, does it? Like you said, we do what we have to," I replied.

"We've been doing pretty well like that so far," Dorumon supplied. She grinned at me and I couldn't help but grin back. "You've got this, Dummy."

"Hey, even I'll be there for youse, if that even matters, eh?" Impmon said with a shrug.

"Taj... we'll be there for you. KayKay?"

"... Thanks for letting us stay here, Guys," I told Guardromon and MarineAngemon. "I'll let Henry know you said hey."

I turned to the Node. "Let's just get going."

May stared sidelong at me, but sighed and ran her program. "Fine, Taj. Let's go. Travel begins in ten, nine..."

"Your parents miss you, Mr. Matsuki. Regardless of what else you think about them, know that your safety is of paramount importance in their eyes," Guardromon explained. "Lucemon will not stand a chance when they are helping you."

The world vanished in a sudden explosion of pink energy, and reappeared just as suddenly. My stomach did a little flip and I stumbled to the side before catching myself on BG's stable form. "I think that was them!"

I groaned and clutched my head. Davis, it sounded like. Wasn't too sure, though – my ears were still ringing from the trip. "Where are we..?" May asked, laying back on her partner.

"Tasuke!"

BG shoved me up to my feet. "Hey, that's Henry calling for you." I wobbled but he stepped hard on my foot and I yelped in pain, the feeling bringing clarity. He laughed at me. "There. Got you!"

"Jerk!" I growled, shoving him off.

"Tasuke?!" I froze. Two voices, those two... I had no idea who they were, which meant that it could only be...

They burst into the small forest clearing we'd shown up in, and my stomach stopped spinning. Instead, it was like I'd swallowed a big chunk of ice that was just sitting there freezing the rest of me solid. My dad, the same red eyes and messy hair that I had. My mom, the same face and bright hair as me. Beside the two of them were a pair of Digimon – one, a bright yellow fox and the other a crimson velociraptor. Just like in my dream. Renamon and Guilmon. But I looked right past all four to Henry and his partner, the Terriermon hanging fron his shoulder by an ear and holding on with one tiny hand to Henry's sleeve. Henry smiled softly and nodded at me.

But I didn't move.

His smile lessened and he shot a glare at the Terriermon the moment the Digimon's mouth opened. He shut his mouth and grinned nervously at Henry, who turned back to me and motioned with his eyes. I still didn't move.

"May!" Davis pushed past the group, running up and gripping May in a tight hug. His shout cut through our tension and I tore myself away to look at him.

"What? No greetings for us?" I asked, hiding my discomfort behind a smirk.

Davis' grip on May loosened and he slowly turned to me. He glared me in the eye for a while before sighing. "I missed you too, Taj."

My eyes widened. "I... Thanks, Man," I replied with a chuckle. I slapped his shoulder. "I'm glad you're safe. You too, Knife face."

Huckmon rolled his eyes. "As if we couldn't handle things that came our way," he said confidently.

"Other than Gankoomon handing us our own sword covered butt?" Davis supplied.

Huckmon flinched. "Come on, just let us sound cool for a minute, Davis! You don't have to be so serious all the time!"

"When it comes to a fight with Gankoomon I do!" he retorted dryly.

May chuckled and brushed her hair back slightly. "Well, I'm glad he didn't thrash you too hard. I'd hate to go Alphamon on him. I beat Omnimon!"

"Only because he didn't expect you to fight like a human," BG growled.

I nodded in agreement, "And there's no way he'd go all out right next to Primary City. Come on, you know we're right."

"Shut up, Dummy, we're awesome!" Dorumon snapped.

"Huh..." We all turned and were surprised when we saw that Guilmon had come over during out reunion, and was now staring BG directly in the eye. The two acted like reflections, tilting their heads in tandem to continue reflecting one another. Then the other way. The two walked around each other in a circle, sniffing the entire time, and came to a stop in their original positions. They both leaned forward, sniffing cautiously, then leaned back. They circled in the other direction and stopped on opposite ends, with BG closer to my parents and Guilmon closer to me. They leaned in to each other again, and - "BOO!"

Guilmon yelped and toppled backwards, hitting the ground while BG began to laugh boisterously from where he stood. "Hey, that wasn't nice, Not-Me-Guilmon!" Guilmon shouted, voice eerily similar to BG's if he didn't growl everything. It was almost childlike.

"But it was funny," Terriermon supplied, laughing too as he flew over to BG's back. "You and me are gonna get along realnice."

"Terriermon..."

"Momentai, Henry, he's a hoot!" At which point Momentai, held firmly in Henry's arms, yipped at the sound of his name. "Oh, don't start that again!"

Terriermon rolled his eyes and turned towards me instead. "So, little Tasuke, all grown up." He jumped from BG's back and landed on my shoulder before I could respond, poking at my cheek. Guilmon stumbled to his feet and Renamon appeared beside me, too. Then, as one, they leaped into me and tackled me to the ground. "Good to see ya again, Kid!"

"Yeah, I missed you, Tasukemon!" Guilmon exclaimed, plopping down on my chest and driving the air from my lungs – weighed as much as BG.

Renamon lifted me from under the two of them, letting me get back up to my feet. Her hand came around to my shoulder and tapped it warmly. "We all missed you very much, Tasuke."

"Uh... thanks?" I said as the whisper of memories about the three came back to me. Crying on the floor, and before that – "Sorry there's no roof for us to sit on, Rena."

Renamon's eyes widened. She shut them after a moment and looked down, letting out a small laugh. "Yes, we missed you so."

I smiled back and turned to look at Henry, still grinning. But it faded once I saw him standing beside my parents. They looked... I don't know. Unsure. The same as me. Except I was unsure because I wanted to say hello to the person beside them. But I didn't want to hurt them. It would hurt him.

Thankfully, Henry knew all three of us pretty well. He met my eyes, a solid and steady look in the steel. He put on a big grin and walked forward, giving me a side hug. "I know it's been a while, but stop being nervous. Tasuke, this is Takato and Rika. Guys, this is – this is your son." He looked over at me and smiled. "I told you they'd come back."

I fidgeted, grabbing hold of the goggles on my head. "Yeah. I... I missed you guys."

They walked over slowly, hands clasped in one another. "A gogglehead?" Rika – my mother – asked, her voice breaking. She turned and punched Tak – my father – in the shoulder. "This is your fault." And then she turned and gave me a tight hug.

My father pulled us both into a hug, reaching out to bring Henry in. "Thank you, Henry. Thank you so much."

Henry and I matched gazes. "Yeah. Thanks, Henry," I said quietly. I wanted to say more, about how much I missed him, ad how happy I was to see him again. And, yeah, I was happy about seeing them too, but... They were my father and my mother. Henry's my dad. It felt too confusing to me even without them there, but now? With them hugging me tight for the first time in over a decade? What I'd wanted for so long that I'd started to hate them? With so many conflicting emotions running through my head, all I could do was just hug them all back. "I missed you."

X X X

Rika has only on very rare occasions mentioned her father. Even to me. His existence remains a mystery, beyond the rare memory that she allows to cross her mind or the few stories her parents have told me. The situations are far from the same, of course. He left for far less... magnanimous reasons. But I am unsure if the reasons are what affects her most deeply. They certainly cut deep, but I believe the absence alone is from where she derives the core of the pain. She would have once welcomed a reunion. She still might. But absence... things would never be the same as once they had been. In my time with her as my partner, I have learned that much.

Perhaps we shall see those changes in the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.