…
A jolt woke me from my sleep, bringing my consciousness back to the surface of my mind.
I let out a grunt as I stretched my back and opened my eyes slightly.
I was greeted by the slightly worried and tired gaze of a boy with square glasses and dark blue hair.
"Mn... oh, hey, Joe, what's up?"
"We're here," whispered the boy with glasses before walking away to wake someone else.
I let out a satisfied sigh as I stretched my hands again before fixing my eyes on the little silver hedgehog sleeping soundly in my lap.
...and staining my pants with his drool.
"Gross," I muttered as I carefully picked up Pusurimon and carried him in my hands. I got up from my seat, glancing back briefly to see Joe waking Mimi and Sora from their sleep.
Without wasting any time, I quickly got off the bus, where I could see a couple of teachers talking to each other as they checked the list of children who had attended the camp. Which was a little silly because it was just the eight of us.
Shrugging, I walked over to where Izzy, Matt, Tai, and TK were gathered; I noticed that all of their Digimons were also asleep.
I quickly approached them, nodding my head in greeting. "Hey, what's up?"
"Not much," Matt replied as he watched TK balance a sleeping Tokomon on his head. "Be careful."
"I've done this before!" TK exclaimed with a smile.
'Actually, that's how I usually saw them in Tsunomon Village.' I wondered how everyone in the village was doing, although possibly nothing had happened to them, or BlackGarurumon would have already returned there.
"We have things to discuss," Izzy said, frowning at Matt, but Matt ignored him as he continued to look at his younger brother.
"Uhh, what do you mean?" Tai asked in confusion. "I mean, it's not like there are any Digimon here, right?"
Matt, Izzy, and I gave the boy with the goggles a grim and complicated look, causing him to look at us as if we were crazy.
"...Right?"
Matt and I looked at Izzy with questioning looks on our faces, causing the youngest child to sigh. "Okay, I'll give you a summary, but first I want the other three to be here."
***
The conversation wasn't very long, nor was it very interesting, but it served to bring Tai up to speed on the situation at hand.
We tried to come up with a plan of action, but we soon realized that we had to wait for Vamdemon and his army to make the first move before we could do anything, since we had no way of tracking him. In the end, we ended up sharing each other's phone numbers; in case of an attack by Vamdemon or his minions, we would call to warn the others of the attack. I also suggested that, if we were to take action against Vamdemon or any of his three Commanders, there should be at least two people for safety.
Shortly after, we all went our separate ways, each walking home.
After so long, seeing people walking down the street felt strange. Waiting for traffic to pass, watching the traffic lights change. Everything was so normal, yet so nostalgic. For this world, we were gone for only two hours, maybe less; for us, it was almost four or five months of fighting to survive and discover what the Digital World was.
I never thought I would end up living a real adventure like in games and manga.
Tai and I walked side by side in thoughtful, but not uncomfortable, silence. It wasn't the first time we had walked together, as we lived in the same block of buildings, but this time the mood was noticeably different.
"A penny for your thoughts?" I asked quietly as I tried my best to stifle a growing yawn; it had been an extremely long day and it was starting to take its toll on me.
Training with Mimi, facing off against the Vamdemon Commanders, going to Vamdemon Castle, defeating MadLeomon, arriving in Japan only to worry about a very likely invasion of beings capable of blowing up buildings with ease.
'I really don't get paid enough for this'
"You don't have money for that," Tai snorted amusedly as I gave him a blank stare and let out a small chuckle. We fell into another silence, this time lighter than the previous one, but I could see the gears in Tai's head slowly starting to turn.
"You know," the boy with the goggles began with a nervous look on his face. "When I was sucked into that explosion, I didn't end up here right away."
I blinked before frowning and narrowing my eyes slightly. "You didn't? Then where did you go?"
"If I knew, I'd tell you, really, but I have no idea. You guys were in the Digital World for almost a month and a half after I disappeared, right? I mean, before we all came back here," Tai asked, to which I nodded, causing him to grimace. "Well, for me it was only a couple of hours, maybe not even that."
It took me a second to understand what he meant before I rubbed my head in irritation with my eyes closed. "It's official, I hate time travel."
Tai let out a laugh that quickly turned into a guffaw as I let out an annoyed grunt. "Haha! Me too, man, this sucks!"
The conversation after that was about what had happened in the month and a half we had been in the Digital World. About the fight Matt and Sora had, about BlackGarurumon and Piximon, Gennai, Vamdemon, and other minor things. I was a little surprised to learn that Tai hadn't read almost any of the notifications the Digivice gave us, although come to think of it, he's not the most patient person in the world.
"So what was the place you went to like, and what was there?"
Suddenly, Tai fell silent for a moment before letting out a quiet, almost inaudible murmur.
"There was another kid there."
I stopped walking almost immediately when those words reached my ears. Tai took two more steps before stopping and turning to look at me with concern and guilt. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, thinking maybe he was joking, but the complicated expression on his face quickly made that thought disappear. Annoyance and anger grew in my chest as I held back the urge to yell at the idiot in front of me.
In the end, all that came out was an irritated sigh as I resumed walking, wondering why the hell he hadn't told Izzy that information. Something that, as far as I can see, is ridiculously important.
"There was another kid there." Doubt crossed Tai's gaze for a moment; it was the kind of look someone had when they knew what they had seen but didn't know how to explain it. "We didn't talk much, since some strange beings made of Data chased us like crazy zombies, but the point is that he was with me and he didn't come back with me. I mean, he's not here with me, right?"
"Clearly," I replied dryly as various thoughts raced through my head. It seemed like the problems never ended; they only seemed to increase now that we were back in Japan. "May I ask why you decided to keep that to yourself until now and not tell Izzy?"
"I forgot..." At least he had the decency to look ashamed. "I was too distracted by coming back here, okay?"
The sound of footsteps briefly filled my ears as two possible options formed in my mind.
"Either he's still there, wherever 'there' is, or he came back here to Japan, but to a different place. Those are the only options I can see right now," I replied through clenched teeth. What was his name? Maybe Izzy can contact him somehow, if he's in Japan."
"His name was Ryo Akiyama and his Digimon partner was a Strikedramon; he was quiet but extremely protective of Ryo," Tai replied with a smile on his face as a memory flashed through his mind. "They were both a bit like Matt and Gabumon, only the other way around."
"So there are more Chosen Children out there..." I muttered to myself as we climbed the stairs to our respective apartments; I lived one floor above Tai.
"Oh! That was another thing!" exclaimed the idiot with the goggles. "He wasn't a Chosen Child, he was a Tamer!"
"Tamer?" I asked in confusion, only for a holographic screen to appear on the side, which I quickly closed.
"All the reading I'm going to have to do... God, I just want to sleep and see Mom!" I thought with resignation.
"Yeah, he had a different Digivice and everything. I remember him saying that his duty was to keep Digimon away from our world and prevent people's feelings from entering the Digital World... something like that, it was a little confusing, to be honest."
"Tai." I stopped the boy with the goggles by putting a hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn and look at me with a raised eyebrow. "If anything happens—"
"You don't have to worry so much!" The idiot dismissed me as he turned away and waved goodbye. "See you later, Mr. Sleepyhead!"
"Goggles idiot..." I muttered resignedly before turning around and continuing up the stairs to the top floor.
After passing through several doors, I came across a peculiar door with a series of numbers and letters on the side that looked very familiar.
1405 – TATSUMI
I allowed myself to let out a sigh I didn't know I was holding before raising my hand to knock, but before my hand touched the door, it stopped in midair.
'It's the same door I've seen all these years, so why do I feel so nervous?' I thought to myself self-deprecatingly as I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. I could see Pusurimon briefly open one of his eyes to look at me before closing it again.
Suppressing the nervousness in my chest as best I could, I knocked twice on the door.
Footsteps sounded behind the door, growing louder and louder until they stopped on the other side.
The sound of the door unlocking echoed in my ears.
And the door opened.
...
A/N: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Sorry for the slight delay, I literally have no internet right now (I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another). I hope you're having a great time this last week of the year (even though there are still like two days left until the end of the year, but you know what I mean). Have a wonderful start to the new year!
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