Chapter Text
Gatomon needs Hikari.
She needs a lot of things, actually. A vacation, a nice fish maybe, a nap—the digital world to not be tearing itself apart at the seams for longer than a few seconds. But right at this instant, she’d give anything to see her kid again.
Hikari would know what to do, or actually, Tai would know what to do. He and the other kids would show up, get themselves in over their heads like they always did and then miraculously get themselves out, and in the process save the whole damn world because that’s how the Digidestined worked. But the kids weren’t here. Her and the rest of the partner digimon were on their own, at least until Tentomon figured out a way to get in contact.
“THERE SHE IS!”
“DON’T LET HER GET AWAY!”
“FOR THE GRAND EMPEROR!”
“Damnit.” She clicks in frustration. “How did they find me so quickly?!”
She’d thought she’d done a better job of covering her tracks, but maybe she’d been sloppy. It’s not like any of them had had a lot of time to rest or just fucking breath in the last year or so. Not since-she doesn’t have time to be frustrated with herself, if only because she suddenly has an enemy digimon to worry about.
“Where do you think you’re going, cat?” the unimon all but growls at her, snorting and pawing at the dirt. He’s got a couple of pixiemon with him, all bearing that blue and flame patterned scarf that demarks them as serving the Grand Emperor, and looking more than ready to turn her into a pin cushion with how they wave their spears around.
“Well, I was thinking of taking a little stroll. The weather’s so nice after all…” She says, backing up very slowly. She’s cornered, can’t see a way out, but there has to be something. Some way for her to get out of this. Tentomon’s going to get in contact with their kids, and Hikari is going to show up and then they’ll be able to fix this and save the digital world. But they can’t do that if she lets herself get captured here. How do I get out of here?
“Enough talking!” the unimon barks, stomping at the ground. “Gatomon, you stand accused of leading a rebellion against the ruler of this world, the great and illustrious Grand Emperor. For that crime, only one punishment seems fitting: death!”
Holy Shot!
Takeru is excited.
It feels like it’s been forever since the last time he was in Odaiba. Maybe, it has. They’re living in a new apartment building, a little smaller than the one he and Yamato had grown up in three years ago. It feels good to be back. To be living a little closer to his friends now. He’d heard from his brother that Hikari would be going to the same elementary school as him. It’d be nice if they were in the same class. Maybe he could make some new friends too.
“Hey Mom, I’m leaving!” He says, voice raised just enough to carry down the hall, taking a moment to rinse the bowl he’d used for breakfast in the sink before setting it in the dishwasher.
“Careful on your way to school!” She calls back, neck deep in research papers and files.
“Yes ma’am!”
He’s excited, he decides. Because no, he doesn’t have Patamon with him, and everyone is kind of all over the place now, and they haven’t heard from the digimon in a while. But no news is good news, right? Right. If something really were wrong, they’d know. If not immediately, then very soon after the fact. C’mon TK, you’re overthinking this!
“Good morning,” Takeru greets as the elevator doors slide open, two kids already inside. The girl, older and purple haired with glasses, seems stunned for a moment before she bows back, making space for him as he enters. “I’m Takaishi Takeru, but you can call me TK. My mom and me just moved in.”
“Inoue Miyako,” the girl says, taking a moment to adjust her glasses.
“Hida Iori,” the other kid, a boy, offers. He can’t be more than a year or two older than Takeru was when he and the other Digidestined were saving the world. No wonder Yamato and Tai were always losing their heads when he and Kari were in danger. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
The walk to school goes fast with company. Iori’s pretty quiet, but Miyako blooms into a chatterbox after only a few minutes. She’s incredibly smart, put her in a room with Izumi and they’d probably have a super computer built and functioning by the end of the day. It all goes over Takeru’s head, but she seems happy enough to just have someone listen to her info dump.
“HEADS UP!” someone calls and Takeru suddenly finds himself catching a soccer ball, in the air and fast approaching but slower than any digimon attack that’s ever been lobbed at him. He dribbles it a little, or tries to, clumsy but not entirely unfamiliar with it. He manages to kick it back to the kids who were using it at the very least.
“You have good reflexes.” Iori notes, readjusting the case on his shoulder before they resume their walk.
“That was nothing!” and he’s not, technically, lying. “Lucky shot, is all, really.”
“My name’s Takaishi Takeru. It’s very nice to meet you all, please take care of me.” He greets, bowing deeply. The teacher motions him to one of two empty desks, and he’d been hoping he’d get to be in Hikari’s class, now they can sit next to each other.
“Long time no see.” He greets as he takes his seat, hanging his backpack on the hook of his desk. Hikari smiles back, but it feels wrong. Subdued. “You ok?”
Hikari spares a glance to the other desk but doesn’t say anything for a moment. “Later.”
Later, Takeru finds out, is going to take a while.
Miyako comes darting into their classroom like a demidevimon is on her heels, visibly confused.
“Hey Yagami-san!” she calls, handing Hikari a piece of paper. “Do you have a brother by the name of Taichi? He sent this email.”
There’s a second of silence that feels more like three hours when Takeru catches sight of the words, his heart feeling like it just dropped into his stomach.
“Nii-san needs help!”