Archive of Our Own

Nozomi this, Nozomi that...

Just who was Nozomi?

No one he knew, that’s for sure.

He didn’t get why his parents and sister were always talking about them, his friends and neighbors too. He’d ask repeatedly;

“Who’s Nozomi?”

And they’d always give this little knowing smile that he just hated and said-

“Why, you’re Nozomi!”

But that wasn’t right! He was himself, not whoever this Nozomi kid was! And he’d tell them as such, too.

“But that’s a girl’s name, and I’m not a girl!”

Responses would vary differently, then. Some wouldn’t understand (his mom and dad), some would get angry (mean ol’ grandma Manami), but only his older sister Jun would just smile at him and say;

“Well, if you’re not a girl, and your name’s not Nozomi... then what is your name?”

He’d always change it, never being able to settle on just one. There are just so many names, but none of them feel right! Jun never looses her patience, though, she just sits and smiles while he cycles through a never ending list of names that sound even vaguely masculine.

He thinks of that one movie his mom watched, where the main character had put so much importance on their name, which they currently didn’t know. He figures he’s the same as that character- where he wants so badly to find a name but only succeeds at grasping at straws.

There are several facts that he knows as true in his little six year old mind; the sky is blue, girls are weird and have cooties, don’t trust weird Dracula rip-offs with an army of ghosts as they can and will steal you away from your parents, bats are terrifying and should be avoided at all costs...

And mean ol’ Grandma Manami will always be mean ol’ Grandma Manami.

Whenever they had to visit Yokohama to pay the old woman a visit, she’d always find something to harp on about him.

“Nozomi, fix your hair! That’s not ladylike!”

“Nozomi, sit straight! That’s not ladylike!”

“Nozomi, stop playing with that god forsaken soccer ball! That’s not ladylike!”

It’s little wonder that he had come to hate the word.

Not to mention that in almost every single conversation she’d have with his parents, she’d always harp on about his short hair and boyish clothes. Always about how they should’ve left his hair long (too girly), or make him wear the dresses and skirts like Jun wore (too girly), or take away all his “boyish” games and make him play with dolls and the like (too girly).

His parents, luckily, backed him up. They said that he liked his hair short, that he hated the dresses and skirts Jun wore, and he never liked playing with dolls except his beloved plushie- a stuffed green dinosaur which he named Mochi.

It was during one such argument during the two weeks they were staying in Yokohama that he just called it quits, took both Mochi and his soccer ball outside, and took to kicking the ball around in the front lawn of the little suburban house. He stayed like that for a while, having sat Mochi down on the steps so that they wouldn’t get dirtied by the grass, when suddenly another boy was running up to him.

The boy wasn’t that much older than him, maybe a few months, and was only slightly taller. His brunet hair and hazel eyes shone along with the smile on his face, the pendant around his neck and the goggles on his head shining in the light of the afternoon sun.

“Hey, hey! Are ya new here?” The boy asked, and he found himself shaking his head.

“Well, not exactly. I’m visiting my grandma.” He corrected, and the new kid blanched.

“You came outta that house, so does that mean you’re related to that mean ol’ Miss Manami?!” He shouts.

“Unfortunately...” He sighs, gripping the soccer ball in his grip. The other boy stares at him before smiling again, holding out his hand.

“My name’s Marcus Damon, it’s nice to meet ya!” He reveals, and he hesitates before dropping the soccer ball and shaking his hand. “What’s your name?”

“I’m...” He trails off with a frown. “I don’t have a name.” Upon seeing the confused look on Marcus’ face, he quickly added; “or, well, people do call me one, but I don’t like it... it’s too girly.”

“Oh.” Marcus hummed, taking his hand away and placing it under his chin like he was in some detective movie. “So you’re a boy, but for some reason your parents call you by a girl name?”

“Yeah! Yeah!” He nods vigorously, happy that someone finally understood. “Exactly that!”

“Well, then, the answer is simple!” Marcus smiles widely, pumping his fist. “We’ve gotta find you a name!”

“Right!” He cheers, before something strikes him as odd. “Wait, how’re we gonna find me a name?”

“Well, here’s what I was thinking; you’ve only tried out Eastern names, yeah?” Marcus whispers like what he’s discussing is a secret. When he nods, the taller lights up. “Exactly! So, I’ll suggest to you some Western names, and we’ll see if you like any of them!”

“Eh?! Western names?!” He repeated, remembering one of Grandma Minami’s rants about how the Western were too much of this and too little of that. For him to have the same name that a Western boy would have would make her angry beyond belief.

And, oh, all he wanted to do was make her angrier if that meant he could find himself a name.

“I’ve never thought about a Western name before! That’s so smart!” He compliments, and Marcus looks vaguely smug at that.

“Of course it was smart, I’m gonna be the number one person in Japan eventually!” He boasts, and he giggles at that.

“The number one at what, though?”

“Dunno yet! Now, weren’t we gonna find you a name?”

“Oh, yeah! What’re some ideas?”

“Alright! So, here’s what I was thinking...”

They spend a long time in the afternoon there, going over all sorts of names. He finds he likes these more than the Eastern names he’s previously tried, they rolled off the tongue much easier than the others. He still can’t choose one, though, none of them having that spark that really connects him to them.

“Oh, and there’s this one character in this book I like!” Marcus is ranting, his hands practically flying about as he bounced on the balls of his feet. “See, he’s the leader of this group and they all go into this strange world where they’re able to beat up bad guys and make them pay for the bad stuff they did!” He smiles brighter, if at all possible. “In the strange world, he goes by Gambit, but in the real world, he goes by Davis-!”

“That! That one!” He very nearly shrieks, pointing at Marcus in excitement. “ Davis ! That’s my name!  Davis !”

“ Davis ?” Marcus repeats, before giggling with all the excitement that a little kid could have. “That’s perfect!”

He beams, standing up straight and extending a hand towards Marcus, his smile as radiant as the setting sun.

“Let’s start over.” He speaks, a newfound happiness in his voice. “My name’s Davis Motomiya, and it’s awesome to meet you!”

Later on, after Marcus had to go home, Davis practically jumps onto Jun the first he sees her. She stumbles slightly, looking down at her brother with an irritated but expectant expression.

“Jun! Jun!” Davis shouts, as if his sister wasn’t right in front of her. “Listen, listen!” He speaks loud enough that he knows for certain that their parents and Grandma Manami can hear him. “I finally found my name!”

“Oh, really now?” Jun smiles that little smile that would normally annoy him, but now dosen’t even try to temper his happiness. “And what would that name be?”

“ Davis !”

Quite predictably, Davis spends every last ounce of time that he can get practically glued to Marcus’ side for the rest of his stay in Yokohama. They hung out virtually everywhere- the park, Marcus’ house, the arcade, that really good hole in the wall restaurant Marcus somehow knew about- anywhere they could that would earn them the least amount of questions about where their parents were and the most amount of fun.

It was during one of those days, however, that things just had to take a turn to the south.

Davis and Marcus were kicking his soccer ball around in the park, Mochi sitting on a bench off to the side and doing their duty of being the referee. Davis was winning- obviously, he’s the best soccer player in his apartment complex, no matter what that mean girl Yolei from the floor above his own will say!- when Marcus accidentally kicked it too far and it ended up rolling off to where a duo of older kids were gathered.

“I’ll go get it, don’t worry!” Davis had declared, running off after the ball before hearing Marcus’ reply. He’s able to grab the ball quickly, but then one of the older kids from the duo grabs the ball out of his hands. “H-Hey, what gives?!”

“What’s a girl doing, playing with a soccer ball?” The kid asks, and Davis can’t put a name to the cold feeling in his chest. “Shouldn’t you be off playing dress-up with your dolls and such?”

“No! I’m not a girl!” Davis shouts, suddenly angry as the cold feeling in his chest grows. He was a boy, not a girl, why did almost no one seem to understand that?!

“Oh, yeah right!” The other kid scoffs, and Davis grits his teeth. “It’s obvious you’re a girl!”

“No! I’m not!” He’s close to crying now, as he was only a child, but he couldn’t cry in front of them! He was a big kid, and big kids didn’t cry!

That’s when Marcus runs up and punches the one holding the soccer ball square in the groin.

“Let go of our soccer ball, ya big bully!” He declares as the poor kid quickly lets go of the ball in favor of sinking to the ground in pain. Marcus turns to the other kid, a fire ablaze in his hazel eyes. “You leave Davis alone! He said he’s a boy and that’s that!”

“Stupid brat...!” The other kid grit their teeth before hauling their friend to their feet, the duo quickly exiting the scene. Marcus released an angry breath as he watched them leave, before turning to Davis with concern on his face.

“Are you alright?” Marcus asks, frowning when Davis hesitates on his nod. “What jerks! You told ‘em you’re a boy, and they still called you a girl!” Davis looks down at his feet at that, sorrow creeping into his expression. Marcus is quiet before giving a little smile and a laugh, one that has Davis looking up at him in surprise. “Well, that just means that I’ll be Japan’s number one fighter to make sure none of them ever try and hurt you for not seeing that you’re a boy again!”

“You’d really do that?” Davis gasps, his face going pink. “For me?”

“Of course I would!” Marcus says it as easily as he’s breathing. “You’re my best friend after all!”

And oh, oh, didn’t that declaration do something to make the cold feeling in Davis’ chest dissipate into something much more warm.

What was that one saying that his grandpa would always say? That all good things must come to an end?

Well, Davis finds that there’s more truth in that saying than he had previously suspected.

The two weeks in Yokohama are over, and his parents are saying that they have to get back to Odaiba. They tell him to say goodbye to Grandma Manami, but Davis just rolls his eyes and blows her a raspberry instead. He grabs Mochi and runs out of the house before his grandma can even start her daily rants about his “absurd” behavior.

He runs down the street until he reaches a specific house, spying Marcus sitting on the steps in front of it. Upon seeing Davis, Marcus stands up with a smile.

“Hey, Davis! Where we going today? The park? Ooh, we could play in my house-“ He starts to list off where they could go before he noticed the look on the other’s face. He was frowning, and looked close to tears. “Oh, Davis, what happened?” When Davis doesn’t answer fast enough, Marcus pouts. “Was it those mean kids from the park again? I’ll show ‘em a thing or two, just say the word!”

“No, no! It’s just...” Davis rubs at his eyes with the hand not holding Mochi. “Me and my family are going back to Odaiba today...”

“Wait, today’s the day you guys are leaving?” Marcus calms down, but now he looks just as sad as Davis. “But- but that’s not fair!”

“I know! Mom and Dad said we gotta get back because they have work and Jun has school!” Davis stomps his foot as he pouts. “But what about me? I don’t have school! I could stay here with you!”

“But then you’d have to spend more time with mean ol’ Miss Manami.” Marcus points out, and Davis winces.

“Oh, yeah, didn’t think of that.”

They’re quiet before Marcus reaches up and wrestles the goggles up and over his head. He silently hands them out for Davis to take, the morning sun catching the light of the lens and making them glow.

“Here.” Marcus prompts when Davis doesn’t take them, shaking them lightly in his grip. “Keep ‘em.”

“But... your goggles? Why’re you giving them to me?” Davis doesn’t understand, but he desperately wants to. “Weren’t they a gift? From your dad?”

Davis remembers that conversation well, how Marcus had hesitated before admitting that his father had left two years before and left him both his pendant and his goggles.

“Well, yeah, but something tells me you’ll wear ‘em better.” To prove his point, Marcus forgoes trying to hand them off to Davis and instead places them on the shorter boy’s head. He steps back, smiling brightly. “See, I was right! You do wear them better!”

Davis adjusts the goggles on his head so they sit better, and he can’t help the smile on his face. Having these goggles on felt... right, in a way. Like he was always meant to wear them.

One good deed can’t go unrewarded, though, so Davis holds Mochi out towards Marcus without a second thought.

“Here.” Davis prompts when Marcus doesn’t grab the plushie immediately, who takes them with a confused expression shortly after. “Keep ‘em.”

“You want me to keep Mochi?” Marcus squeaks, jumping a bit and fumbling in his hold. “B-But they’re your-“

“Favorite plushie, I know.” Davis cuts him off with a knowing smile. “That’s why I want you to keep Mochi!” When Marcus doesn’t answer, Davis shyly adds; “No better person to keep my favorite plushie than my best friend, right?”

“I’ve never had a plushie before...!” Marcus sounds awed, gaping down at the green stuffed dinosaur. “My aunts and uncles never gave me one sense they say a boy shouldn’t like plushies!” Marcus turns to Davis, and the sun can’t even hope to match the boy’s smile. “I’ll take good care of Mochi for ya, Davis!”

“And I’ll take good care of your dad’s goggles.” Davis puts a hand to them before holding up his pinkie. “Promise that we’ll meet again?”

Marcus smiles brighter, if at all possible, as he wraps his own pinkie around Davis’- and Davis just knows the sight of that smile will be burned into his memory forevermore.

“It’s a pinkie promise!”

Davis would be the first to admit that, yes, he wasn’t the brightest lightbulb in the box.

He’s ten now, with all his excitability intact and still sporting the name that kid from Yokohama gave him- the boy of brown hair, green eyes (or were they brown?), and gigawatt smiles. His parents had accepted that yes, he was Davis, but they still occasionally spoke of Nozomi.

“Nozomi- oops, sorry, I mean Davis!- can you set the table?”

“Hey, Nozomi- sorry, I mean Davis!- mind helping me bring in the groceries?”

“Nozomi- no, no, Davis! Sorry, kiddo!- anyways... Davis Motomiya! Why didn’t you do your homework last night?”

Davis would not so proudly admit that it took him most of his life up until that point to understand that, when they talked of Nozomi, they weren’t referring to some other kid.

They were referring to him.

And all that did was make the situation worse.

He despised the name, it wasn’t his! It was just some girl’s name that was no longer and never was his.

Honestly, he should’ve been more mad at his parents for calling him by that name every two seconds before correcting themselves, but he couldn’t. They were trying their best, Davis could see that clearly, so he let them off the hook.

Didn’t mean he liked the dead name  any more, though.

Yes, that’s what Nozomi was to him.

A dead name.

Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.

Davis hid a chuckle at that, sense he had always wanted a chance to say the line, before taking another look at the world around him- this Digital World.

Honestly Davis could barely believe his eyes.

The day had started off simply enough; wake up, almost get into an argument with Jun for hogging the bathroom, brush his teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, and walk to school. Once he got to school, he was quickly pulled into a game of soccer with the other kids, which he was all to happy to join.

The only people he got along with nowadays were his soccer team members and his friend Kari, after all. It was great to finally get to play alongside other kids his age who didn’t automatically write him off as the “weird girl who likes to be called a guy”.

He still hates that was the first thing that jerk rival captain had thought of when they saw each other.

But he was playing along with the others when someone shot the soccer ball up and out of the gates of the school... and right at some blond boy’s face. To Davis’ immense surprise, the boy caught the ball with ease, tossing it to him with the offhand comment of “those goggles of yours remind me of someone I know”.

The boy left before he could get a straight answer.

Fast forward about half an hour and he’s walking into class, quickly taking a seat next to his friend Kari. The girl just smiled up at him, fiddling with the camera around her neck.

“Ah, Kari! What luck!” He grins, before rubbing the nape of his neck with his hand. “You wouldn’t have happened to complete last night’s homework, yeah?”

“You ask me that question everyday in hopes that I’ll let you copy it, and the answer is always no.” She giggles, covering her mouth with her hand. “If repeatedly asking for the same thing until I say yes is your idea of luck... then I wouldn’t call it luck.”

“Well, ya can’t blame a guy for trying.” He sighs, slacking back in his chair before quietly adding; “Those guys giving you problems with your dead name again?”

“Surprisingly, no.” She shakes her head as she responds in an equally quiet voice. “But thanks for always giving them heck when they do, Davis.”

“Hey, it’s what friends do!” He shrugs. “Besides, they’re dead set on me being a girl and they’re the types that won’t hit girls.”

“That’s the only lucky part about this whole situation for you, huh?”

“You bet! I can’t throw a punch to save my life, after all!”

That’s when class began, and a new student entered the class.

“Hi, my name’s Takeru Takaishi, but just call me TK!”

Turns out that the new kid was the same kid that almost got hit in the head with a soccer ball.

“Together again?” TK whispers to Kari as he sets his stuff down in the open seat next to her.

“Just like old times!” She whispers back, her smile bright.

Turns out the new kid also knew Kari incredibly well, too.

Huh, that’s cool. It’s great that she’s got other friends besides me. Davis hums as he focuses on what the teacher’s writing down on the board. Hopefully he’s not like those stupid kids that use both of our dead name against us, though, that’s not cool wether they’re a friend or not.

“Hey, our teacher looks like an Ogremon!” TK jokes in the background, making Kari stifle her laughter as to not be caught.

...What’s an Ogremon?

After the school day ends, Davis follows Kari and TK back to the former’s locker. His curiosity was begging him to, to find out just what kind of person this TK guy was so that he could know wether he was a good friend or not.

Kari may not be his best friend (that was reserved squarely for the boy who gave him his name), but he’d never forgive himself if he let his friend get hurt by something or someone he could’ve stopped.

“Oh, hey Davis!” Kari calls out, and Davis takes in a breath.

It’s showtime .

“Hey, Kari, what’s up?” He waves as he walks over, before sparing a glance at TK. “And this is the new guy...” He genuinely tries to remember the guy’s name, but he’s never been too good with them. “TL, yeah?”

“Uh, no, it’s TK.” The boy laughs nervously, obviously put off and oh, great, this is already off to a fantastic start.

“Sorry.” He nods before looking between the two. “So, you two friends?”

“Yep!” Kari chirps, smiling happily. “TK and I have been friends even since before...” She waves her hand in a circular motion while looking around. “You know, that.”

“Oh, alright.” He nods, and he knows what she meant to say. She had known this guy even before she went by the name of Kari, then. Well, that earned the guy a plus in Davis’ book.

Just one, though. He still wasn’t too sure what this guy was like.

“Guess you aren’t so bad, TA!” He smiles, and TK groans.

“It’s TK.”

“But that’s what I said?”

“No, no you said T- A, not T- K.” TK explains with a sigh. “This is gonna become a recurring theme, isn’t it?”

“Yep.” Both Kari and Davis nod.

“Gosh darn it.”

Then Yolei comes up to Kari, says something about her brother and the computer lab, and everything just passes by in a blur until, the next thing Davis knows, he’s in this whole new world with both TK and Kari and some oversized blue Tamagotchi.

They’re apparently on their way to find Tai, Kari’s older brother, and the only thing on Davis’ mind is; man, I’m so gonna sleep in past my alarm tomorrow.

There’s this cave ahead of them, now, and Davis sighs. Leave it to Tai to take shelter in some creepy cave when there’s a bunch of digital monsters (Kari called them Digimon... just how much did she know about these guys, anyway?) ready to rip their brains out.

Ok, so maybe not rip their brains out. Injure them beyond a way that can be easily explained to a hospital, though? Yeah, that seemed more likely.

He breaks the goggles by the end of the first visit.

He pretends he doesn’t care when Tai gives him his old goggles as a replacement, he pretends he doesn’t care when he comes home and his parents question him about the new pair of goggles, he pretends he doesn’t care when Jun makes a quiet comment on him “finally getting rid of those old things”.

He can’t pretend not to care anymore when he’s alone in his bedroom that night, grasping his head as the room spins around him.

He promised to take care of those goggles for that kid, because the goggles used to belong to the kid’s dad who had gone missing. He promised, he promised, he promised-

He puts Tai’s goggles on instead of the old ones the next morning, and he feels a piece of his heart drop as the cold feeling in his chest rises.

There are a few facts that Davis knew as true in his eleven year old brain; the sky is blue, not all girls are weird but it’s fun to tease Jun about having cooties when she has a boy over, Dracula rip-off and his ghost army likely won’t show up again for the foreseeable future, bats are still terrifying...

And his group is the weirdest combination of insanity and harmony than he had ever had before.

Veemon- his Digimon partner and best Digimon friend (he can have both a Digimon best friend and a human best friend, shut up Matt)- was basically a small, blue, dragon version of himself. They both had large appetites, they both valued their sleep, and they both put the well being of their friends above all else. Veemon understood Davis better than practically anyone, and promised to help him find his best human friend once he was told about the kid from Davis’ past- the boy of green or brown eyes, the brunet (or was it a mix of both ginger and brunet?) hair, and the smile brighter than the sun itself.

Then there was Kari and Gatomon, who he would say he was currently the second closest too in their group. Yolei was convinced that him and TK were fighting over Kari’s affections, much to Davis’ confusion. Yes, one could interpret some of his actions as flirtatious in nature, but both him and Kari knew that he truly didn’t like her like that. As for Gatomon, she was a level head, something that Davis appreciated from time to time with how over the top all of them could be. Even so, she was a little snarky, but hey! Gatomon wouldn’t be Gatomon without her trademark sass!

Then there was Cody and Armadillomon, the most level headed of the group even if they both had their quirks. So what if Armadillomon ate a lot and spoke like a Western cowboy, or Cody didn’t get many jokes and idolized his grandfather just a bit too much? Davis wouldn’t change the youngest of their group for anything, as he couldn’t imagine them as anything else. He could and would proudly admit that he had a major soft spot for the kid, and that he was like the little brother he’s never had.

Then there’s TK and Patamon. Patamon was nice, a little gullible, but still nice. TK, on the other hand, Davis was pretty indifferent too. They get along at the best of times, but what really irks Davis’ nerves is how much of a coward TK can be- like, how can Patamon, who has one of the coolest Champion forms he’s seen yet, be stuck with a human partner who thinks the only solution to a problem is to run half the time?!- and how he’ll call Davis “reckless” and “uncaring” simply for the fact that he understands that running away isn’t always an option. It bothers Davis a lot- and the fact that his older brother Matt still treats him like scum due to him simply saying that Jun could be a blabbermouth from time to time isn’t doing TK any favors even though Davis knows that TK wasn’t even involved in that conversation.

Then, to finish things up is Yolei and Hawkmon. Hawkmon was in the same boat as Patamon, where Davis liked him but he could be a little gullible from time to time. Yolei, on the other hand, Davis decidedly did not like. At the best of times, they tolerated each other, and at the worst, they were clawing at each other’s throats. So what if he made the wrong decisions from time to time? That didn’t make her any better by her awakening to the DigiEgg of Sincerity by announcing that she sincerely thought of him as a jerk to literally everyone. Sure, they did have their moments of teamwork, but honestly he couldn’t see the two of them ever getting along well at the end of the day.

But, well, they were all still young and their adventures in the Digital World were still new to them. Maybe, with a little effort, they’d form a better friend group over time.

Maybe, if he ever found that boy again, they’d welcome him into the group with open arms.

He could only hope that the boy would forgive him for breaking his googles, and had resorted to wearing Tai’s old ones until he could find someone who could repair them.

So Ken was the (now former) Digimon Emperor, that much Davis knew. Wether he was still their enemy or not, though? That wasn’t as clear cut.

All the others seemed dead set on him still being their enemy, but Davis wasn’t as convinced. Sure, Ken and Stingmon did kill that Thundermon, but it must’ve been for good reason! There was something off about that Thundermon anyway, Davis knew that, but he didn’t know what.

Another thing that struck him as odd was how Kari and TK were so against him joining on account of him killing a Digimon, when they also had to kill Digimon from what he heard of their first adventures. He could understand Yolei and Cody being against it, neither of them or Davis himself were in a situation where the only solution was to kill a Digimon, but Kari and TK supposedly were.

If that was true, then they were more hypocritical than he previously thought.

Davis wanted Ken to be a part of the team, desperately so, but it seems he’d have to do a bit more convincing when it came to his team. Maybe the next day, they’re going back into the Digital World to help Mimi out with those baby Digimon, anyway.

He could only hope that Ken proved him right in that he was a good guy, and not prove the others right in him still being a bad guy.

So turns out Ken was a good guy, after all.

Davis would not so proudly admit that he immediately screamed “I told you so!” at the group when they got back to the Real World.

Ken, without the Digital Emperor persona, was almost shockingly different. He was timid and soft spoken, but he had a blunt, sarcastic side that never failed to make Davis smile. Ken was smart, strong in his own way, and an absolute delight to be around.

And Ken’s smile when truly happy was too much like the boy’s from his memories.

It was bright, and unfiltered, and seemed to put the sun to shame.

As much as Davis liked Ken, he didn’t like that smile.

It was selfish, really. To have associated a smile like that to some little kid he couldn’t even clearly remember (what was the color of his eyes? His hair?) anymore for so long that seeing such a smile on someone else was jarring and unnatural.

But who was he to stifle his friend’s happiness?

So he kept his feelings about the boy’s smile a secret, and watched their group grow closer still.

So the big bad evil guy was a Myotismon, a MaloMyotismon to be specific.

Fan-flipping-tastic.

Not to mention that said MaloMyotismon melted both Arukenimon and Mummymon right in front of the group and had now dropped them all in their “dream worlds”.

Great! Even better...

He takes a deep breath as he looks around the white abyss that is supposedly his dream. It’s honestly off putting, and he takes to just wandering through the blank abyss on a search for Veemon. Somehow the two of them had gotten separated when that strange “dream world” spell hit, and he had yet to find him.

“Veemon!” He called out. “Veemon, where are you?!”

Nobody answered him.

“Ugh, this blows...” He grits his teeth, glaring at his surroundings. “If your plan is to bore me into letting you win, MaloMyotismon, then you’ve got another thing coming!”

Once again, nobody answers him.

He scowls as he crossed his arms. He was getting angry, now. This wasn’t making any sort of sense! Why was it all just a white abyss? Where was Veemon? Or MaloMyotismon?

“Kid...”

Did he not have a strong enough dream? Did he have too strong of a dream that it broke the spell?

“Kid.”

What about everyone else? Were they ok? Were they hurt, or sick, or-?!

“Kid!”

Davis finally snaps out of his downward spiral of thoughts and looks around. Someone was calling his name, but... no one’s there?

“Finally you heard me! Geez, someone would think you had headphones on!”

Davis would not admit to the fact that he shrieked, not even in narration, no sir.

“Hey, hey! Calm down!”

He’s still looking around for the source of the voice, but he forces himself to calm down anyway.

Ok, this was officially weird for Davis.

“Ok, good.” The voice seemed to sigh in relief. “Now, it seems like you’re a little lost, huh?”

“Yeah, no crap.”

“Well, that’s because you’ve got too many dreams you want to come true that MaloMyotismon’s spell couldn’t pick just one!” The voice either didn’t hear Davis’ sass, or was just choosing to ignore it. “If you want to get out of here, you’ve gotta focus on just one!”

“Just one, huh...?” He muttered as he mulled the solution over in his brain.

The voice was right, there were a lot of dreams he’s had that he’s wanted to come true; find that boy from his memories, open a ramen cart, get enough money in order to afford transition surgery once he’s a little older...

But he knows just the right dream in his mind that will help him win this fight.

“The dream I choose...” He mumbled before steeling his resolve. “Is to defeat MaloMyotismon and bring peace back to the Digital World!”

The abyss around him glows, and suddenly five gates open up around Davis. A figure shows up in front of him, one resembling an adult man with brown hair and vaguely familiar hazel eyes. The man is smiling down at the gaping boy, before Veemon suddenly runs up behind Davis and latches onto him.

“Davis, ol’ pal, I knew you could do it!” Veemon cheers, and Davis tears his gaze away from the man to smile down at the Digimon.

“Veemon!” He hugs the other back with a laugh. “Where’ve you been?!”

“Dunno, but I just knew you’d be able to do whatever it is you just did to help me find you!”

Davis grins at that before looking back up at the man. He bows hastily, Veemon blinking before following suit.

“Thanks for the help, mister...?” He trails off in search for a name, and the man chuckles.

“Call me Spencer, kid.” He answers with a nod. “And think nothing of it.” The man suddenly starts to fade out, and he looks close to panicking. “Oh, crap, looks like he found me.”

“ He ?” Davis repeats, tilting his head. “Who’s he?”

“No time to explain, kid, but good luck in your battle! Something tells me that you’ll win, and that we’ll meet again someday!” The man smiles before fading away, his last words ringing in the air. Both Davis and Veemon are silent before looking at each other.

“Davis, what just happened?”

“No clue, buddy.”

Davis diverts his attention to the doorways before looking down at his D3. It was glowing, and he smiled as he thought up a plan.

“So, if this place is my dream world, then that should mean I have control over what happens in here.” He announces, before looking down at Veemon. “You ready for a rescue mission?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be, Davis!”

“Then, Veemon, let’s do this!”

Later on, right after the final hit on MaloMyotismon is dealt, Davis swears he sees Spencer. The man is smiling, looking proud, and Davis smiles right back.

He smiles back because his dream came true.

They defeated MaloMyotismon.

They brought peace back to the Digital World.

Davis is stuck inside a car traveling from Odaiba to Yokohama at the age of thirteen, and he wonders how he got into his current predicament.

Oh, yeah, I remember. That stupid guy decided to try and harass one of my friends while I was there.

He’s quiet before groaning, diverting his attention to the window next to his seat.

Well, no. It’s because of Grandma, but my explanation’s cooler.

Let’s back up a bit...

It was the beginning of Davis’ first year of middle school, thankfully a lenient one that let him wear the boy’s uniform and have his name be “Davis” in their records instead of “Nozomi”.

Unfortunately, there was always that one person who had to ruin it for everyone.

He had been walking into the school one day when he saw a guy cornering Kari and speaking angrily with her. He went up to the jerk, to tell him to back off and give his friend space, when the words “stop pretending to be someone you’re not, Asahi!” fell from his lips.

Davis decided then that peace was no longer an option.

Did he regret punching the boy in the face? Absolutely not! Did he regret doing so just as a teacher walked out of another room? Absolutely, yes.

So now he was in hot water with both the principal and the friends of the jerk who dead-named Kari. Not to mention that his parents were talking of moving the family to Yokohama to help take care of Grandma Manami, who’s health was starting to take a turn for the worse, and this wasn’t looking all that good of a situation for Davis.

“Davis, you really didn’t have to...” Kari says for what feels like the thousandth time in just the span of three days. Davis, like every other time, just smiles and pats the girl on the back.

“Of course I had to! You’re my friend, Kari, and that’s what friends do!” He responds, and Yolei grumbles in the background.

“Friends don’t punch stupid men that simply called their friend by the wrong name.” She seethes, making Davis roll his eyes.

“You’re just mad that you weren’t able to punch that guy first because you were too busy trying to figure out what to give Ken as a birthday gift.” Cody piped up, making Upamon snicker.

“That’s not it!” She swears, but the knowing look on Poromon’s face makes her sigh. “Ok, maybe, but still!”

“I do have to agree with Yolei here, Davis. Maybe hitting that guy wasn’t the correct course of action.” TK hums, Patamon in his lap as he reads his book. “You’re in a lot of trouble with his friends and the principal, now, after all.”

“He’s right, you know.” Ken reaffirms when Davis groaned and buried his head in his hands.

“Well, I think there might be a solution to our problems!” DemiVeemon jumps up, earning everyone’s attention. “Davis, I heard your mom and dad talking last night, and they said all of you were moving to Yokohama!”

...

“ What ?!”

The collective shout had made DemiVeemon cover his ears, grumbling slightly.

“Hey, I’m just repeating what I heard, don’t get mad at me!” The Digimon shouted right back, but hat did little to quell the shock now settled over the group.

“What do you mean Davis and them are moving?!” Yolei picks DemiVeemon up and shakes him.

“They only said they were considering it, not that they were actually going through with it!” Davis stressed, his foot starting to rapidly tap the ground.

“So... we’re not gonna be able to hang out anymore?” Cody sounded vaguely horrified at the idea, clutching Upamon close.

“It... seems like it.” Ken sounded horrified as well, his hands clutching the fabric of his shirt while Minomon petted his hair to try and calm him down.

“Why are you guys even moving?” Kari put a hand on Yolei’s shoulder to stop her from shaking DemiVeemon further. “Did they mention it?”

“Yeah, they said something about a grandma and how she was getting too old to take care of herself, while also complaining that she was demanding they take care of her instead of just letting them take her to this thing called a nursing home.” DemiVeemon recited, holding his head, making Davis groan loudly.

“Of course it’s Grandma Manami, that old hag! Why wouldn’t it be her?!” He complains, making TK glare at him.

“You really shouldn’t call your grandma an old hag.” He commented, and Davis rolls his eyes.

“You’d call her one too if she was your grandma.” He snarks back, lifting his fist up as he began to rant. “She’s always harping on about how I’m not feminine enough and absolutely refuses to call me anything other than my dead name! Last time I was there, she threatened to burn all my clothes when she found out I didn’t own a single dress!”

“...I stand corrected, that woman’s a hag.” TK cringes, patting Davis on the shoulder. “I feel so sorry for you.”

“Ew, dresses.” Yolei stuck out her tongue. “Like, yeah I wear skirts from time to time, but dresses are just so... blah.”

“Wait, so that’s why you have that dress in your closet? The same one you got dared to wear that one time?” Kari asked, Gatomon snickering at the memory of that one game of truth or dare.

The sigh Davis gave was the only answer they would get.

Two weeks later and there he was in the car, heading to Yokohama. A thirty-five minute drive by car, but it might as well have been several hours with the empty pit in Davis’ stomach making the trip seem much longer than it was.

When they got to the house and he saw Grandma Manami, all she did was sneer at him.

“Still pretending to be someone you’re not, eh, Nozomi?”

Yep, it would take a miracle for Davis not to just say “screw it” and walk the whole six hours back to Odaiba so he could get away from the old woman.

Later that day, Kari opens her bag to see Tai’s old goggles and a note from Davis that asked her to give them back to her older brother.

It was official, Davis did not like this new middle school of his.

For one, they refused to use his preferred name and pronouns when he asked about it. Secondly, they gave him the girl uniform.

AKA; an outfit that required you to wear a skirt all day, everyday.

Davis absolutely hated it.

Through a fair bit of pulling at the strings (he refused to elaborate how), he was able to get himself a boy uniform. So what if it was a little small on him? It was better than wearing a skirt!

None of the students seemed to care that he wore the boy’s uniform when he was supposed to wear the girl’s, or when introducing himself used an entirely different name. The teachers, on the other hand? They loathed it. Hell, the principal threatened to give him detention for it until Davis pointed out that what he was doing technically wasn’t against school rules.

He’d have to thank TK this one time for making him actually read the rules in the school handbook, turns out it didn’t matter which uniform you were wearing as long as you were wearing one!

He and the principal still got into fights about it on a daily basis, however.

He really didn’t like this school, but Yokohama as a whole was turning out to be a nice place. Not as great as Odaiba, but still pretty nice.

“Ok, so maybe storming out of the house after getting into an argument with Grandma Manami over my name wasn’t the smartest idea.” Davis says that because now he’s totally lost.

He sighs as he walks through the park, spotting an open bench farther down the way. He jogs over to it and sits down. DemiVeemon peers at him from the inside of his bag, giving him a questioning glance.

“Looks like we’re lost, buddy.” He sighs, and DemiVeemon groans.

“Great, of course we’re lost!” He shakes his head, making the bag ruffle slightly. “Haven’t you tried checking that fancy map thingy on your phone?”

“My phone’s battery is dead, DemiVeemon!” Davis shakes the bag. “If it wasn’t, and if Grandma Manami wasn’t the way she is, then we wouldn’t be in this situation!”

“Ok, ok, I get it! Stop shaking me around!” The Digimon whined, making Davis let out a breath as he stopped shaking the bag and set it back down. “Thank you...”

“Ugh, now what...” Davis very much wished that he knew Yokohama better than he did in that moment, because that cold feeling in his chest (a quick search on the Internet told him that it was called gender dysphoria) was making him feel restless and eager to bolt into the first male’s clothing store he could find.

Why?

Because today was one such school day where the principal won the debate on wether he should wear the girl’s uniform or not, and now he was wearing the stupid blazer and skirt.

Davis very much wanted to die on the spot the second he had to walk into the classroom with the skirt on.

Fortunately for him, this wasn’t the first time they had argued over his state of dress, or the first time the principal was able to win the argument and get Davis to wear the gods forsaken thing, so his classmates were pretty used to it. The one good thing about this school is that everyone seemed to know that they should mind their own business.

Didn’t make everything less embarrassing, however.

“Guess I gotta do stuff the old fashioned way...” He sighed, patting the bag. “Remember; don’t move around too much.”

“Don’t want people knowing I’m around, I got it.” DemiVeemon nods, and Davis smiles apologetically as he stands up and picks up the bag. His Digimon partner never did like staying in his bag all day, but it was better than him staying at home where his family would easily be able to find him.

He takes in a breath, mentally cursing the skirt for what might’ve been the hundredth time that day, and sets out to go find someone who looked even the least bit approachable to ask for directions. He didn’t have to look far, he found a boy wearing the boy’s uniform from the same middle school Davis went to ( lucky guy ).

Good news, the guy seemed like the helpful type at first glance.

Bad news, said guy was currently glaring down two adult men and looked ready to beat them up.

Well... there are worse people in the world to go to. Davis reasoned, hesitating before walking closer. Maybe it’s nothing?

“Get outta the way, brat!” He heard one of the adults sneer as he got closer.

“Like hell I will!” The boy grits his teeth. “You and your buddy kept harassing this girl even when she told you both to stop!”

It’s just then that Davis noticed the girl hiding behind the boy, who looked to be no older then ten at the most. She was a small thing, and was gripping a yellow hand puppet like it was a lifeline.

That made the cold feeling in his chest worsen, but not because of dysphoria. This feeling was from disgust, and anger.

“Ugh, why’s it any of your business what we do with the kid?” The other groans, and Davis can see the boy’s hand form a tight fist.

“It’s my business when you disgusting freaks try to put your hands on a literal child!” He growls out.

Davis oh so badly wants to go over and punch the living daylights out of those two adults, he’s seeing enough red that he could excuse it as a spur of the moment act, but that would make things worse more likely than not- and something tells him that the girl definitely wouldn’t like the situation turning violent.

So he steels his nerves and tries a different approach.

“Hey, there you are!” He calls out, making both the boy and girl face him. He puts his hands on his hips, trying to look the part of the concerned older sibling- if the few memories he has of Jun actually being concerned for him are enough to go off of. “Been looking for you everywhere, kid! You need to stop running off like that without telling me!”

The girl still looks confused before quickly catching on to what was happening.

“O-Oh, yeah! Sorry...” She squeaks out, looking down sheepishly as she toed the ground. She must have a talent for acting, she was good at playing the part of the kid caught doing something they shouldn’t. “I know you said not to run off, but I wanted to do something nice for you!” She spares a glance at the boy and a tiny, victorious smile made it’s way onto her face when she saw the matching uniforms. “So I went and found your friend!”

“So you did!” Davis forces a chuckle and hopes it sounds real. He looks over to the boy, and he notes that the boy seemed to catch onto what he was trying to pull off as well. “What’s up, dude?”

“Nothing much, nothing much.” He speaks easily, but there is still a slight tension in his voice as he side eyes the two adults- who were just standing and watching the conversation in confusion. “Hey, didn’t you mention that your dad’s a cop?”

That certainly made the men pale.

“Yes, he is. Why you asking?” He crosses his arms, and gives a firm glare at the men. “Are these two doing something they shouldn’t?”

“N-Not at all!” The first man stutters out as he backs away. “In fact, we were just leaving!”

“Dude, c’mon! Before she calls her dad on us!” The other urges and the two promptly run away. All three of the kids wait until the men are out of sight before heaving out a much needed sigh of relief, but Davis can’t help but frown. The anger and disgust had ebbed away, and the cold feeling of dysphoria was still present.

“Man, fuck those guys.” The boy grumbled, but his face shifted into one of concern when he looked down at the girl. “You alright, kid?”

“Mmhm.” She nods, looking up at him with a small smile. “Thank you.” She then looks towards Davis, and her smile grows the slightest bit wider. “And thank you, too.”

“Heh, no problem, kid.” He fists the strap of his bag, happy that DemiVeemon hadn’t caused a ruckus. He’d have to give the Digimon some snacks later as thanks. “Just glad to see you’re both ok.”

“That was some quick thinking there!” The boy compliments, and oh, that does something funny to Davis’ heart. “You pulled off the concerned big brother act well!”

“He really did!” The girl nods happily, and the cold feeling in his chest lifts considerably.

“You... you guys aren’t assuming I’m a girl?” He asks, cursing his voice for being ever so slightly shaky.

“I thought it was obvious?” The girl phrases her statement like a question. “Besides, you don’t look too comfortable in that skirt.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re that one kid from my school who gets into an argument with the principal daily about how you should be allowed to wear the boy’s uniform, but he’s being a bigot and half of the time makes you wear the girl’s uniform.” The boy explains with a halfhearted shrug, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants.

“Yep, that’s me...” Davis sighs, raking a hand through his hair until it hits his goggles. His lucky goggles, not the ones Tai had given him. “Guess I’m famous in our school, huh?”

“Yep!” The boy smiles and it’s so bright it could put the sun to shame. Just like that boy’s smile from his memories.

But where that smile on anyone else felt unnatural, the smile on this boy’s face seemed right.

Davis didn’t quite know what to make of that.

So it turns out that the names of the boy and girl were Marcus and Jeri.

Marcus was thirteen and in the same year as him at their middle school, while Jeri was a nine year old elementary schooler who was visiting Yokohama for a few days because of a family emergency.

Where Marcus was loud, Jeri was more quiet. Where Marcus was blunt, Jeri was tactful. Where Marcus was more hotheaded, Jeri was more calm.

Where mostly everyone else in Yokohama seemed to be against him being who he was, both Marcus and Jeri were nothing but supportive.

Davis, for lack of a better term, adored their presence. Where it took time for him to get used to the presence of his team, he seemed to instantly click with the two. Where he seemed to get into seemingly endless fights with his team at times, the most the three of them had were disagreements that were solved easily or just dropped altogether.

Davis didn’t know what to think about him getting along with these two better then the people he literally saved the world with. He decided to take it as a good thing and not put anymore thought into it.

At the very least, DemiVeemon really liked them, even if he didn’t get to meet the personally. If DemiVeemon didn’t like someone then they just weren’t to be trusted and that was Davis’ motto for life at this point.

So it was Marcus’ birthday, his fourteenth to be precise, and Davis was excited to hang out with him. It wasn’t a school day, and they had both agreed that the best hang out spot would be the arcade down the street from their school.

And they’re halfway to said arcade when Davis remembers that he had left his gift for Marcus back at Grandma Manami’s house.

“Shit.” He groans, and Marcus looks at him with confusion on his face. “I forgot to grab my gift for you while I was leaving the house.”

“Wow, good going.” Marcus snickers, and Davis glares are him halfheartedly.

“Just wait here, I’ll go back and grab it.” He instructs, already turning around to retrace his steps.

“You gonna be alright? I could walk back with you so you aren’t alone.” The boy asks, and Davis can’t help but smile at that. It’s a little habit of Marcus’, one that he’s noticed more sense Jeri had to go back to her home in Shinjuku. Marcus always offered to walk them home, wether the distance was far or not.

It did something funny to Davis’ heart, just like seeing that all too bright smile did.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!” He gives Marcus a conspiratorial wink, his hand lightly tapping his bag. “I’m never alone.”

If his bag moves just the slightest bit because of DemiVeemon proving his point, Marcus either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. Davis places his faith solely in the former category simply because he knows just how oblivious this guy could be.

“Yeah, yeah, take your cryptic stuff and get outta here.” Marcus waves him off, a hand perched on his hip. “I’ll still be here when you get back.”

“You better, or I’ll take your gift and throw it away.” Davis threatens.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Just watch me.”

And with that, Davis runs back to Grandma Manami’s house.

Half an hour later, he’s walking back with the red and orange wrapped box safely tucked away in his bag. DemiVeemon is quiet and, if Davis listened closely, he could hear faint snoring coming from him. He smiled as he continued on his jog, slowing down to a walk as he rounded the corner near where Marcus said he’d stay.

“Hey, sorry I made you...“ He starts, before catching sight of what was happening. “...wait”

Good news, Marcus was still waiting where he said he would.

Bad news, he was sparing with someone.

And not just anyone, a Digimon. An Agumon, to be exact.

Davis wasn’t quite sure what to think.

He looked around before spotting a nearby alleyway, and he hurried into it. If he was gonna watch this fight go down, then something told him that he would be better off watching it while hiding than out in the open.

“DemiVeemon, are you seeing this?” He whispers, unzipping his bag before shaking it. DemiVeemon makes a disgruntled noise and a split second later his head pops out.

“What’s going on...?” He rubs his eyes with a yawn.

“Look!” Davis whispers harshly, finding that he can’t take his eyes off the fight. DemiVeemon is quiet before making a noise of confusions

“Is that Agumon?” He asks before quickly shaking his head. “Nope, not our Agumon. This one’s bigger, and wearing fancy bracelet things.”

“I think those are called arm bracers.”

They continue to watch the fight, making comments here and there about what they’re witnessing. Marcus will throw a punch and Davis will comment on him aiming on a not so noticeable weak spot. The Agumon will attack and DemiVeemon will note that his claws are much sharper than an Agumon’s claws normally are.

All the while, Davis notes that there was no Dark Ring or Dark Spiral present on the Agumon.

It was a habit of his, a bad one, that he came to grow after his first few trips to the Digital World. Whenever he came across a Digimon who wasn’t a part of their team, he’d automatically check to see if they were under the control of the Digimon Emperor. He still kept the habit even after Ken had abandoned the persona, and Davis would admit that he was pretty ashamed of himself to still have to check for no Dark Ring or Spiral whenever he saw a new Digimon.

The fight continues on for what might’ve been hours before it finally comes to a stop. Both of them are collapsed on the ground, and Davis can already tell that their plan for the day just got drastically changed.

“Well fought...” The Agumon eventually spoke up.

“You threw some pretty good punches back there...” Marcus complimented. The Agumon then stood up and walked over, holding out a clawed hand to help Marcus up.

“Name’s Agumon.” Agumon speaks simply, and Marcus smiled before grabbing his claw.

“And I’m Marcus.” He pulled himself off the ground. Agumon smiles up at him.

“Nice to meet you, Boss!” He cheers, and Marcus raises an eyebrow.

“Boss?”

“Yeah!” Agumon nodded happily. “You’re the first human to acknowledge my strength, so from now on, I’ll be your follower!”

“Follower, huh?” Marcus repeats, and Agumon nods once more. Marcus smiles, chuckling slightly. “Even though it’s someone as weird as you, it’s fine by me!”

DemiVeemon and Davis look to each other, a bright smile shared between them. If Marcus had a Digimon partner now, then that would mean that DemiVeemon no longer had to hide around him! It was getting tiring having to hide all day, everyday...

Then some random girl in a uniform (Davis wanted to gag at the sight of it, there was too much pink) just had to show up and ruin the moment.

Everything was a blur, then. Marcus and Agumon had run off with the girl and some other Digimon chasing behind them, and Davis was left alone to ponder what the hell this day had turned into.

“Do we just...” DemiVeemon muttered, making Davis look down at him. “Do we just go on ahead to the arcade?”

“That might be the smartest idea.” Davis nodded, cringing slightly. “If he and that Agumon are able to get away from the girl, they might come back here to see if we came back yet. If we’re not, he’ll either just head on home or to the arcade- and my money’s on him going to the arcade in that scenario.”

“I’m holding you to that, Davis.” DemiVeemon swears as he dives back into the bag. “For your sake, I’d rather you not make another round trip back to your Grandma’s.”

“You and me both, pal...”

...

Well, it’s nearing the end of the day, and Marcus still had yet to come by the arcade.

“Looks like you were wrong, Davis! Maybe he did go back home.” DemiVeemon helpfully pipes up, and the boy grunts as he shakes his bag.

“Shut it, you!” He hisses, before sighing. “Well, looks like I just have to give his present to him tomorrow.” He turns to leave the arcade, his hand holding the strap of his bag forming a tight fist. “Let’s go back to the house, DemiVeemon.”

He starts the treck back to Grandma Manami’s house for the second time that day, and Davis quickly puts in his earbuds so that he could at least listen to some music on the way.  He’s humming along to this one Western song (what was it called? Toxic?) when a screech sounds out.

“What the hell-“ He quickly pulls out his earbuds and turns around, spotting a huge Digimon standing in the middle of the street. People are screaming and trying to get away, but Davis just stands still.

The Digimon was a Kokatorimon, if Davis recalled the name correctly, and it was currently just stomping around and harassing every place that sold food. Davis hurried to find a place to hide, opening his bag once he found a spot behind a dumpster in an alley. DemiVeemon jumped out, looking up at the Kokatorimon.

“Why’re there Digimon in the Real World, Davis?” He asked, his stubby arms curled into fists. “Did something happen in the Digital World?”

“That must be the reason, there’s no other way.” Davis nodded as he took his D3 out of his pocket. He stared down at the blue device, his eyebrows knit in confusion. “But that dosen’t make any sense! Digimon can’t travel through the DigiPorts without a Digivice, last I checked!”

“But Arukenimon and Mummymon brought Digimon through the DigiPorts, and neither of them had a Digivice.” DemiVeemon points out. Davis had to hand it to him there, he made a good point.

“Well, we can’t let that stupid, overgrown chicken wreck the place!” He speaks up upon realizing there was no Dark Ring or Spiral on this Digimon. He holds out his D3 as DemiVeemon smiles up at him. “DemiVeemon, Digivolve!”

DemiVeemon cheered as his body glowed. Thankfully, the light was dim enough that it didn’t catch Kokatorimon’s attention.

“DemiVeemon, digivolve to...” With a flash, the Digimon had become bigger and more draconian than he previously was. “ Veemon !” He hopped around happily after the transformation, giggling maniacally. “Oh, it’s been so long sense I’ve been in rookie form! Why do I gotta stay in my In-Training stage so much, Davis?!”

“Because you’re easier to carry around in my bag when you’re about the same size as a stuffed animal than a kid?” He reasons, sparing a glance at the Kokatorimon before looking back at Veemon. He quickly does a double take, however, because now the Kokatorimon was facing off with the Agumon from before- and sense when had that fire started?!

The Agumon quickly lost.

“Now that’s just depressing.” Veemon snarks, and Davis shakes his head.

“It’s an unfair matchup, that’s what. I mean, seriously? A Champion versus a Rookie? The Champion’s gonna win.” He explained, making Veemon roll his eyes.

“Agumon!” A voice yells, and Davis blinks in confusion when he sees Marcus jump off of the Kokatorimon’s back.

“Sense when was he here?!” Davis and Veemon can’t help but yelp as they watched Marcus run over to the fallen Digimon.

“Agumon...” Marcus started shaking the dinosaur, pain in his expression. “Agumon, wake up!”

“Oh, don’t tell me...” Davis drew in a sharp breath, before shakily releasing it as he shook his head. “No, no this is just being dramatic for no reason.” He reasoned, his hands gripping his D3 tighter. “I’m sure Agumon’s fine.”

“It’s...” Marcus stands up, a fire in his eyes. “It’s fighting time!”

“He’s gonna fight that stupid Kokatorimon himself?!” Veemon gasps as they watch Marcus dodge the Digimon’s attack and jump into the air.

He lands a firm punch right to the side of Kokatorimon’s beak, knocking the Digimon over as a strange orange light surrounds his fist.

Davis notices a man walking up beside him in the alley, and the man gives him and Veemon a smile before looking out towards Marcus.

“My fist...” Marcus gasps, and the man steps forward. Davis hurriedly grabs Veemon’s arm and drags him back into the shadows of the alley so they won’t be seen.

“Hey!” Marcus startles and turns around, and the man holds up a strange orange device that makes Davis’ eyes widen. “Heads up!”

The man throws the device at Marcus, who easily catches it, and Davis feels the world around him stop.

That device was a Digivice. A different model than the ones his and Tai’s teams used, but a Digivice all the same.

The next thing Davis knows, Agumon’s Digivolved into GeoGreymon, and is staring down Kokatorimon.

“Davis, Davis! We gotta help!” Veemon tugs at the sleeve of his jacket.

“You just want an excuse to Digivolve!” Davis gripes, but he holds his D3 up anyway. “Lucky for you, I’m just as ready to help out!”

The D3 glows and Davis has a knowing smile on his face. It wouldn’t do well to fight with ExVeemon early on, and this wasn’t exactly that desperate of a fight for Magnamon to be needed. Raidramon was best needed in a wider environment, so that left them with...

“Let’s turn the heat up, Veemon!” He commands, and Veemon lets out a cheer. “ DigiArmor Energize !”

“Veemon, Armor Digivolve to...” The glow from before was stronger this time as Veemon took on a slightly more human appearance. Flames decorated his form as the glow died down, leaving a new Digimon in his place. “ Flamedramon , the fire of courage!”

“Go mess that overgrown chicken up!” Davis nods, and Flamedramon smiles.

“With pleasure!” He roars, rushing out into the battle that had started sometime during the Digivolution process. Using his superior agility in his form, he quickly jumped into the fight.

“There’s another one?!” Marcus shouts, his fists raising up.

“But that’s impossible! The only Digimon signals we’ve gotten were from Agumon and the Kokatorimon!” A lady’s voice rings out, but Davis can’t tell where she was.

“Don’t worry, I’m not your enemy, Marcus.” Flamedramon promises, ignoring the sound of shock that came from the boy. “Mind if I lend a little firepower?”

“Well... uh... yeah, thanks.” Marcus stumbles over his words, and Davis chalks it up to too much happening in one day. Flamedramon smiles and rushes Kokatorimon before jumping high into the air.

“ Fire Rocket !” His body is covered in fire before he dives down, hitting Kokatorimon straight in the beak. He flips over the Digimon’s head and lands on the back of his neck, sinking his claws into the feathers there to restrain Kokatorimon. “GeoGreymon! Now’s your chance!”

“ Mega Flame !” GeoGreymon roars and a torrent of fire is released from his mouth. The attack hits Kokatorimon head on, Flamedramon jumping out of the way just a split second before it made impact. Kokatorimon screeches as it goes up in flames, it’s body glowing and quickly regressing into that of a DigiEgg.

Davis is left wondering what just happened. Digimon had never turned into DigiEggs before when they were defeated in the Real World!

“That’ll teach ya!” Marcus cheers, and that draws his attention back to the here and now. “Don’t mess with my employee!”

“ Employee ?” Flamedramon questions as Marcus laughs, looking beside him to see that GeoGreymon had already DeDigivolved back into Agumon.

“Oh, Boss!” The Agumon whines, his claws clutching his stomach. “I’m hungry...”

“What else is new?” Marcus looks slightly put off, but there’s relief in his voice. “I’m just glad you’re safe.” He then turns to look up at Flamedramon, a grateful look on his face. “And thanks for the help.”

“It was no problem.” Flamedramon nods, and then promptly goes stiff as a board when the same girl from before comes out of nowhere, screeching something about how Flamedramon was an abnormality as some weird flower Digimon appeared next to her.

Then she says something about Flamedramon needing to be “taken care of before he attacks anyone”, and he’s seeing red.

“You’re not doing anything to him!” He finds himself yelling, running out of his hiding space. Everyone looks at him in surprise, but Davis just holds onto Flamedramon’s arm and points a finger at the girl. “I have no clue who the hell you are, but if you think you can turn my buddy into a DigiEgg because of the nonexistent possibility of him attacking people, you’ve got another thing coming!”

“Davis?!” Marcus shouts, but the girl frowns as she steps closer to him.

“So you’ve been illegally harboring Digimon, too?!” The girl accused with a snarl. “And done something to make sure we couldn’t pick up it’s signal! That Digimon is nothing more than a monster, do you know the damage it could’ve caused?!”

“Illegally?!” He repeats, indignation in his voice. Just what was this girl’s problem, and what kind of power trip was she on? “Last I checked, it wasn’t illegal to be friends with Digimon!” His lips are set in a deep frown, and his hand forms a fist. “And you’re wrong about Flamedramon! He is not, and never will be, a monster!”

“Why, you brat!” The girl growls, before she stops and puts a hand to her earpiece. She’s quiet before gasping. “But, Commander, that’s-!” She cuts herself off, and lets out a quiet sigh. “Fine, fine... I’ll bring them both back to HQ...”

“What’s going on...?” Marcus whined, running a hand through his hair.

“Hey, I never agreed to go anywhere with you, lady!” Davis shouts at the girl as soon as she takes her hand off her earpiece, and the whole argument begins anew.

It’s late at night the next day, after returning home from becoming an agent of DATS with Marcus, that Davis contemplates wether or not he should tell his team about this.

He decides not to on account of how different this situation is to what they dealt with, and how he didn’t want to get into trouble with the Commander of DATS when he had stressed the fact that Digimon were to be kept a secret from the general public.

Well, at least he wasn’t so pushy about it like that lady was...

To say his new teammates were a little different from his previous ones was the understatement of the century. They were a lot different, and Davis didn’t quite know what to think of them at first.

First up was Marcus and Agumon, who Davis would say he was the closest too- besides Veemon, of course. The both of them are loud and punch-happy, as well as being confident and loyal individuals. If Davis had to compare Marcus to one of the DigiDestined, he’d compare him to Tai. They both had that leader quality about then, and they were both courageous. Maybe Joe as well with that whole “reliability” thing, but Davis had a feeling that Marcus would be mad if he compared him to someone who was more or less a whimp.

Then there was Yoshino and Lalamon, who were actually not that bad once they both got over that less than stellar first impression. Sure, she was a little prideful, but who wasn’t? She was kind and helpful, explaining the roles of the different DATS members to Davis when he asked without complaint. If he had to compare Yoshino to one of the DigiDestined, he’d go for Yolei. He didn’t even know why, he just got the same kind of vibe from them both- though he decidedly got along with Yoshino better. He’d also compare her to Mimi because both were sincere to a fault, though Yoshino didn’t care for appearance as much as Mimi did.

Then there was Thomas and Gaomon. Davis would not lie, he was a little intimidated by him at first. Graduating from a university at the age of thirteen was no easy feat, and add his various other accomplishments to the mix and you got someone who’s easy to be intimidated by. Davis was quick to realize how awkward Thomas could be, though, so he offered the boy his friendship. It wasn’t exactly accepted, but it wasn’t rejected either- they got along much better than Thomas and Marcus did, at any rate. If he had to compare Thomas to one of the DigiDestined, it’d be a hard tie between Matt and Ken. Matt for how his relationship with Marcus was like, and Ken for how awkward yet smart he is. Maybe also Izzy with his tendency to look more to logic...

Then there was the Commander, plus Miki and Megumi, not to mention their Digimon partners as well... Davis was more or less indifferent to all of them, though he would admit that, just like the other DATS members, he was also afraid of the Commander.

But there was something about this new team of his, though, that just stood out more to him then his former had. Where hanging out with the DigiDestined would get boring and tedious, hanging out with the DATS squad was... fun. A lot of fun, really. Veemon agreed with him too, if the way he took to Agumon and the other Digimon better than he did any of the other Digimon of the DigiDestined was anything to go off of.

Davis didn’t know if he should’ve been ashamed of his feelings or not.

Not to mention the little part of the Digital World that he knew DATS worked out of. It was... different than the part of the Digital World he was used to, that’s for sure. Where the Digital World he knew was more stable, this one was more... glitchy. Like there was something wrong with this part of the world.

Davis would admit that he had a bad feeling that they would find out the cause behind it sooner or later.

“Oh, hey Davis?” Marcus speaks up one lazy afternoon in the DATS headquarters, earning a hum from the boy in question. “You never did give me my birthday present.”

“...Oh yeah, you’re right.” Davis mutters, making Veemon snicker in the background. He reaches into his bag, quickly pulling out a box decorated in slightly mussed up orange and red wrapping paper. He tosses it to Marcus, who easily catches it. “Happy belated birthday, dude.”

Marcus hurriedly unwraps the paper just as Yoshino and Thomas walk into the room, and he lets out a sound of happiness when he sees just what Davis bought him.

“No way, you got me the DVD for Howl’s Moving Castle?!” Marcus’ smile is wide on his face, and he’s bouncing on the heels of his feet like a small child. It’s honestly a very cute sight to Davis, he’d love to see him this happy more often-

Davis cuts his way of thinking off there with a faint blush dusting his cheeks.

“Well, yeah! I remember you saying that you really liked the movie when you saw it in the theater, so I figured you’d appreciate getting it on DVD!” Davis explains, and Thomas blinks at that.

“But didn’t that movie only come out recently? How did you get a DVD copy for it so fast?” He asks, and Davis laughs nervously as he looked away.

“My aunt may or may not know one of the people who worked on the film...” He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. Honestly, he hadn’t even asked for it, but his aunt had mailed two copies of the movie to him- one for himself, and the other for a friend of his. He didn’t know what to do with the copy until, during one conversation, Marcus had offhandedly mentioned how much he liked the movie and how he was going to buy the DVD as soon as it came out.

“That’s so cool, though!” Yoshino chirps, clapping her hands. “Gotta love me some Studio Ghibli!”

“I’ve, admittedly, never watched a Studio Ghibli movie...” Thomas seemed almost shy of this fact, and the gasp Marcus gives made it seem like the other had personally offended him.

“That’s a crime, pretty boy!” He yells, before looking at the group in determination. “Alright, sense the rich kid’s never watched a Studio Ghibli film before, I declare that we’re having a movie marathon!”

“Right now?” Yoshino laughs, and Marcus nods.

“Right now!” He turns on his heel and runs out of the room. “Hey, Commander, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare TV that we could borrow for a few hours, right?”

Almost an hour later, the four of them are curled up in front of a TV in one of the spare break rooms and watching Princess Mononoke. Davis and Marcus share the couch while Yoshino, Thomas, and the Digimon spread out across the floor. Thomas and Gaomon watch the TV with interest, while Lalamon dozes off in a smiling Yoshino’s lap. Both Agumon and Veemon are digging through the popcorn bags in front of them, while Davis’ gaze is glued to the screen in front of him.

He looks beside him to see Marcus, who was sitting with his legs crossed and rapidly tapping them with his fingers. He happened to do that whenever he was happy, Davis noted pretty early on; always tap on something repeatedly. It was cute, something so unexpected from this delinquent-like boy.

Davis longed to see more of it. But, for now, watching Marcus geek out over Princess Mononoke would be good enough.

Davis couldn’t blame Marcus for that, it was Princess Mononoke!

It’s when the four of them meet Keenan, a little boy all alone in the Digital World, and his partner Falcomon, that Davis realizes that the bad feeling he got when he first came to the Digital World sense joining DATS is growing much stronger.

Looks like the Digimon of the day to defeat this time was a Myotismon.

Why is it always a Myotismon?

The second they had come across that cursed Dracula rip-off, the same one (ok, not the exact same one) who invaded Odaiba all those years ago and separated him from his family, Davis would not so proudly admit that he was close to screaming.

And when they eventually saw the absolute mess Myotismon was creating? Davis would also not so proudly admit that he almost started having a panic attack, right there, in front of his teammates.

He was stealing children, children, from their parents in the Real World and conditioning them into becoming partners for his army of Digimon followers so that they could become stronger and take over the Digital World. It was too much like back then, where both him and Jun were dragged away from their parents and tortured just to find out if they were the eighth DigiDestined or not.

The other Digimon- RizeGreymon, MachGaoGamon, and Lilamon- kept the army busy as his teammates saved the children and returned them to the Real World through the portal Myotismon had been using. As for Davis and ExVeemon? They faced down Myotismon themselves.

Davis almost had to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

Here him and ExVeemon were, unable to Digivolve past the Champion stage because of reasons their teammates didn’t know about, and they thought they’d be the best choice to fight against him.

(To be fair, nobody claimed them to be smart when they were in a group. They were smart individually, but together? Nope, they all turned dumb).

ExVeemon is loosing, and Davis was ready to just call it quits and have him turn back into Veemon so he could DigiArmor Energize into the much stronger Magnamon, when Myotismon smirks.

“ Grisly Wing !” He commands with a flourish, and a wave of bats appear from his cape to fly towards them. ExVeemon gets into position to defend himself, the mark on his chest already glowing a telling light.

Except... the bats aren’t aiming for ExVeemon.

They fly past him and grab Davis, who lets out the scream he had been holding back. Too many bats, too many, too many, too many-

“Davis!” He hears someone yell, but he’s already delving into what just might be the panic attack of the century and can’t make out much of anything besides how loud Myotismon’s laugh is and how it’s suddenly physically hurting him to breathe.

“Such a strange child you are... you’ve got such a strong DigiSoul, and it’s so different than the DigiSouls of the other children I’ve collected.” Myotismon’s voice is a venom-laced purr that makes a sob wrack Davis’ body from where it’s now suspended in the air. “You’ll make a fine partner for myself.”

A hand cups his chin, tilting his face upwards, and Davis lets out another scream. He yanks his head back before throwing it forward with all his might, hitting the Myotismon square in the forehead.

“Get the hell away from me!” He barely recognizes his voice as his own. Myotismon growls something out, but Davis doesn’t understand him. He has a feeling it was about him being his partner, however, and that makes the cold feeling in his chest explode until he feels it everywhere.

He hates this feeling. He wants it to stop. He wants it to go away! He wants, he wants, he wants-

“ExVeemon!” He finds himself yelling, and there’s a light out of the corner of his eye. There’s a rush of warmth over his body, one that soothes his panic and makes the cold feeling dissipate from how oddly familiar it feels.

“ExVeemon, DNA Digivolve to...” There’s a voice faintly announcing in the background, and he opens his eyes (sense when had he closed them?). He sees the bats burn off, and feels a pair of familiar arms grab him before he can fall. “ Paildramon !”

...

Eh?

“W...Wha...?” Davis mumbled, looking up to see the familiar helmet of Paildramon. “B-But why...? How...?”

He can barely keep up with what’s happening anymore.

Paildramon turns around and kneels to the ground, handing Davis’ trembling body to Marcus. Davis immediately latched onto the boy, but his eyes are still glued to Paildramon’s frame. The Digimon stands back up and turns around to face Myotismon, his anger clear as day.

“How dare you put your disgusting hands on my friend?!” He hears him growl and oh gods, it’s so weird hearing Paildramon’s voice without Stingmon there too. “Your kind has no right to put your hands on him after all you have done to him in the past!”

“Is this about that other Myotismon? The same one who was crowned the Undead King, the same one who went on to try and take over the Real World years ago, the same one that eventually Digivolved further than any Myotismon had gone before and become both VenomMyotismon and MaloMyotismon?” The other questions with a scoff. “Why rope the rest of us in with that mistake? It’s the girl’s fault for still being so affected by it years later!”

“It is not his fault, and don’t dare try and say that it is!” Paildramon’s voice booms, and Davis sees his claws grasp the cannons strapped to his waist. “I’ve had enough of you!” The Myotismon seems to catch on to what’s about to happen, and promptly turns to flee. Big mistake on his part. “Desperado Blaster!”

The bullets quickly reduced the Myotismon to the DigiEgg he hatched from.

Paildramon glows before reverting back into Veemon. He runs up to where Marcus still held Davis, worry and concern overflowing in his eyes.

“Davis, buddy, are you alright? That Myotismon didn’t hurt ya, did he?” He hurriedly asks as the group collectively moves to sit on the ground, Marcus holding Davis in his lap. He’s too emotionally drained to care. “Do you need some food, or water?” He holds up his hand in a peace sign. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“No to being alright, no to him hurting me, no to food ‘cause I feel like I’m about to throw up, yes I’d like some water, and you’re holding up two fingers.” Davis sighs, a hand coming up to grip the collar of his clothes. Instead of the smooth fabric of his uniform that he had been expecting, however, he feels the soft cotton of a regular shirt.

He looks down and lets out a tired noise when he realizes that, somehow, he was wearing the same clothes that he always wore when traveling to the Digital World with his old team. He fists the fabric of the bomber jacket and brings it closer to him, letting out a shaky breath that devolved into a sob.

He really needed a good cry session. Or a nap. Or both, both would be nice.

It’s quiet for a while as Yoshino fishes a water bottle from her own bag, pushing it into Davis’ grasp. He drinks from it as Thomas taps the back of his hand in a rhythmic pattern, Marcus still holding him securely in his lap. When Davis takes the bottle away from his mouth is when Marcus decides to speak up.

“So...” He hums, and when Davis looks he sees the boy’s eyebrows furrowed in hesitation. “It seems like we’ve got a lot to talk about, huh?”

Davis breaks and tells them everything.

If anyone notices afterwards that none of them bring up Myotismon’s name or the topic of bats ever again... well, that’s between the four of them.

If anyone noticed how Marcus had become much more prone to randomly hugging and complimenting Davis, and Davis himself was much more open to Marcus’ advances... well, Thomas and Yoshino would simply smile at each other and say that it was about damn time.

Davis never liked Chief Hasiba, the man was nothing more than a scumbag high off of his own power in his eyes.

But this... this had to have crossed some sort of line.

Not only had he locked up all the Digimon (Veemon included, the absolute nerve this man had!), he erased Marcus, Yoshino, and Thomas’ memories of Digimon and all of their adventures.

Somehow Davis had been spared. He still retained his memories even though he had gotten the same treatment, and maybe it’s a miracle. He couldn’t imagine having to go through forgetting such a large part of his life. But... it’s hard.

It’s hard having to see Yoshino when she walks by him, chatting with someone and not even sparing him a second glance. It’s hard having to see Thomas when he’s reading some book about medicine, not even looking his way. It’s hard having Marcus treat him the same way he had before the battle with Kokatorimon all those months before, the shine that had been in his eyes when looking at Davis earlier no longer present.

It’s hard being the only one who remembers.

When the Digimon break out of their imprisonment, Davis feels like crying the second he sees Veemon. He’s been on an emotional rollercoaster these last few days, none of the Digimon can even blame him.

They return Yoshino’s memories first, Davis accepts Yoshino’s hug eagerly and smiles brightly when she calls him her little brother. That’s right, Yoshino had always felt like an older sister to him.

They return Thomas’ memories next, Davis pulls Thomas into a hug that he slowly returns and smiles brightly when he calls him his friend. That’s right, Thomas had always been a friend to him.

They return Marcus’ memories last, both Marcus and Davis laughing when they bump their heads together in a rush to hug the other, and he smiles brightly when Marcus calls him his partner. That’s right, while Agumon and Veemon would always be their Digimon partners, Marcus was his human partner.

They hurry off to help Keenan, Commander, Miki, and Megumi at the DATS Headquarters. A new sense of camaraderie is among them and Davis finally realizes just what separates this team from his last.

Where his last teammates were little more than his teammates at the end of the day, these teammates were also his friends.

Paildramon Digivolves into Imperialdramon Dragon Mode.

For some reason, he’s not as surprised as his friends are.

“Holy shit, this is the Digimon you traveled the world in?!” Yoshino gawks. “You’re huge!”

“That’s what she said.” Marcus snickers before being smacked upside the head by Thomas.

“How immature...” He mumbled, before looking over Imperialdramon with a critical eye. “However, I must confess that I don’t see how you were able to travel around the world inside of him.”

“Oh, the answer to that is simple!” Davis hums, going up and patting the dragon’s arm. The hatch on top of Imperialdramon’s cannon opens up, and Davis quickly jumps onto the dragon. He climbs up him with a practiced ease and lands inside the hatch, the dome closing afterwards.

“Oh, that’s so cool!” Keenan, the newest member of their group gasps. “Me want turn, me want turn!”

The hatch opens back up and Davis crawls out, sliding down Imperialdramon’s tail to get to the ground faster. He walks over to Keenan and ruffles his hair, snickering at the whine he gives.

“You can have a turn when we’re not in the middle of a battle for the Digital World itself, ok, kid?”

Thomas betrays them, then promptly reveals that he actually hadn’t betrayed them.

Davis is glad that he was too in shock by how many plot twists were happening in such a short period of time, or else he might’ve done something he’d regret.

Marcus, however? Not in the same boat as him.

He’s, for lack of a better term, fucking livid. He’s yelling, and Thomas is yelling, and Yoshino is yelling at them both, and both Keenan and Davis are watching the shitshow go down while trying to comprehend just what is happening.

Then ShineGreymon Dark Digivolves into ShineGreymon Ruin Mode.

Davis considered himself lucky now that he had never witnessed a Dark Digivolution when he was younger, because he learns rather quickly in those moments that Dark Digivolution is fucking terrifying.

He’s not the one who went through it, so he can’t accurately put words to describe it, but it looked like ShineGreymon was in pain. Marcus himself had that same look on his face that he remembered being on Ken when he saw Wormmon’s sacrifice, TK whenever someone brought up Devimon, and both Kari and Gatomon whenever someone brought up Wizardmon.

It’s a look of raw terror, and despair.

And when ShineGreymon reverts back into a DigiEgg, Davis stays by Marcus’ side. It’s the least he can do, after all. Marcus stayed by his side when he was at his lowest point, so Davis will stay by his side when he’s at his.

Kurata blows up, and the resulting explosion has so much of an impact on both the Digital and Real Worlds that they start to collide.

Davis’ phone is blowing up with calls from his old teammates- Ken and Kari’s are the most insistent, but Cody’s take a close second place and Tai’s take an even closer third.

Davis can’t even attempt to think of answering them when the bad feeling he’s been getting from the Digital World erupts into all sorts of danger signs within him.

So the Royal Knights themselves are against them... what else is new?

If anything, he already dosen’t like the ULForceVeedramon and Magnamon, if only because Veemon dosen’t like either of them. He doesn’t know if it’s because they both digivolved from Veemon like him or what, but he’s not going to ask any questions. If Veemon dosen’t like someone, then they just aren’t to be trusted, simple as that.

Thomas, Keenan, and Yoshino are protecting the Real World while he and Marcus take to the Digital World. Marcus wants to find his father and Davis will be damned if he doesn’t help his friend (or whatever they are, they’re slowly becoming more than friends but they’re not exactly that yet), even if they need to defeat King Drasil first to do it.

They’re both cornered by Omnimon.

Before Marcus can even call on Agumon to Digivolve, Davis and Veemon are jumping into the fight. With Veemon quickly Warp Digivolving to Imperialdramon Dragon Mode, Davis climbs into the hatch just a half second before both Digimon are taking to the air.

“Davis!” He hears Marcus call his name, but he’s having none of that.

“We’ll hold Omnimon off! You go on ahead of us!” Davis yells back, biting off a yelp when Imperialdramon suddenly flies down to avoid a shot from Omnimon’s MetalGarurumon Cannon.

“No, I’m not leaving you and Veemon alone!” He swears, and Davis can’t decide in the moment if he loves or hates how stubborn Marcus can be. “No one, not even you, can keep us out of a fight!”

“Right, we’re helping ya wether you like it or not!” Agumon flexes his claws, and Davis lets out an irritant grumble.

“Well, too bad, because we’re doing this to protect you!” Davis shouts back before an embarrassing noise leaves his mouth as Imperialdramon decides that he just has to barrel roll to the side to dodge an attack from Omnimon’s WarGreymon Sword. “Little more warning next time, Veemon!”

“Sorry, Davis!” Imperialdramon apologizes before flying up higher into the air. “Now, lets end this!”

“Let ‘er rip!” Davis has a smile on his face, but it’s strained. Something tells him that this won’t go the way either of them planned.

“ Positron Laser !” Imperialdramon roars as his laser cannon glows, the energy packed attack firing squarely at Omnimon. The Royal Knight only tuts, and flourishes his own cannon.

“ Supreme Cannon !” The cannon glows before firing at the one Imperialdramon fired. The two attacks clashed, each attempting to continue on their path before hand, when the two attacks cancel each other out. When Imperialdramon had to rest after using his attack, Omnimon flew towards them, the metal of his sword shining in the faint light. “ Transcendent Sword !”

“...Oh shit-!” Davis cries when he sees just what the sword was aiming for, him.

The metal of the sword pierced through the glass of the hatch easily.

“Davis! Veemon!” Marcus and Agumon’s scream is all but background noise as Imperialdramon roars in pain. Davis is huddled to the side of the glass, holding his arm in pain as he glares up at the sword. Omnimon pulls his sword out of what little remains of the hatch, and Davis feels more than sees Imperialdramon fly backwards.

“So this is the legendary warrior who saved the Digital World some time ago?” Omnimon taunts, and Davis finds himself growling. “I’m honestly ashamed that we were saved by someone so weak.” The Digimon shakes his head. “A human child has no place here-“

“You shut the hell up and get off your gods damned high horse!” Davis is standing back up, anger flowing through his veins as Imperialdramon growls underneath him. “Do you think I asked to be a part of saving the Digital World again? No!” His hand releases the wound on his arm and comes up to grab his lucky goggles instead. “But do you think I regret it for even a single second? Hell no!”

But it’s because of that stupid sword, and that stupid cannon, and stupid Omnimon, that he’s in this stupid situation that he’s stuck in, so stupid, stupid, stupid-

Then he happens to catch a glance of Marcus and even from where he is, so high up in the sky, he can see that brighter than the sun smile clear as can be. Something clicks in him at the sight.

That’s right, he can’t push the blame onto Omnimon, the real reason he’s in this whole situation is because he wanted to help. And not just anyone, he wanted to help Marcus. He wanted to help this boy with the bright hazel eyes (the eyes of that kid were hazel too, weren’t they?), brunet hair (the hair of that kid was also brown, huh?), shining pendant (familiar pendant), smile brighter than the sun itself, and the promise to become...

Japan’s number one fighter.

Just like that kid.

Like with Paildramon’s Digivolution, warmth overflows him with the sudden revelation, and he knows Imperialdramon is affected by it too, if his roar is anything to go off of.

“W-What?!” The Omnimon shouts and Davis rounds on him, his good hand quickly moving his goggles down to cover his eyes. He’ll think more on this new information later.

Right now, he and his friend had a Royal Knight to defeat.

“Imperialdramon!” He’s yelling, and his D3 glows white. “It’s showtime!”

“Imperialdramon, Mode Change Digivolution!” Imperialdramon glows, and Davis is left reeling for a split second when he suddenly finds himself atop of his Digimon friend’s shoulder. “ Imperialdramon Fighter Mode !”

“He changed forms!” Marcus shouts in the background, and Davis smiles as he pats the side of Imperialdramon’s head.

“Don’t hold anything back.” His command is simple, but the smile on his face is wild and unrestrained.

“I like the sound of that!” Imperialdramon hums, and the battle begins anew.

Riding atop a Digimon that’s currently in a fight... it’s a strange feeling. He can see why Yolei always had such a blast when riding on top of Halsemon during fights, Kari and TK on top of Pegasusmon and Nefertimon as well. He had never rode on Raidramon during a fight, so he hadn’t experienced the feeling before.

He wishes he had, now. It’s so... freeing. The rush of adrenaline is nothing compared to the feeling of comfort that comes with staying at his Digimon’s side in a fight instead of safely in the background.

The fight is a blur in his mind, but he smiles when he notices Omnimon falter. There’s the opening they need to end this!

“Checkmate.” His voice is calm, but his thoughts are anything but. Imperialdramon heeds his statement and readies up his cannon, the glow already blinding with how close Davis is to it.

“ Giga Crusher !” Imperialdramon fires the cannon, the attack piercing through Omnimon before he can even attempt to fire a counter. The Omimon is quickly reduced back into a DigiEgg, and Davis releases a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.

Imperialdramon lands on the ground before quickly devolving into DemiVeemon, Davis collapsing to his knees as he holds the Digimon close. Marcus is yelling something but Davis can’t make it out, all he can think of right now is the dull ache in his arm and the overwhelming happiness that came with knowing that Marcus was that very same kid he still regarded so highly.

“Well, I just realized something.” Davis laughs, and it cuts off the babbling that Marcus was doing. He looks up at his friend, a smile stark on his face. “We really did meet again, just like we promised all those years ago, huh?”

Marcus is quiet before his eyes go so wide that it’s almost comical.

“Wait, you’re that same kid!” Marcus is yelling again, but his voice is happier than it was before. “The same one I gave the name too!” There’s something warm in his eyes then as his posture relaxed. “I can’t believe you kept it.”

“Have I never told you? Davis just felt right to me, and it still does!” He extends his good arm out to grab Marcus’ hand, and he blushes despite himself when the boy intertwined their fingers. “I couldn’t ask for a better name.”

BanchoLeomon has the spirit of Marcus’ dad inside him.

Davis feels his blood run cold when he hears the man’s name.

Spencer.

The same name of the spirit that had helped him in the battle with MaloMyotismon.

The DigiDestined can only watch the chaos of King Drasil’s rampage on the TV that all of them are crowded around, wishing that they could go and help out.

“Hey, isn’t that...” Sora is quiet before she gasps. “Imperialdramon?!”

“What?!” Tentomon shrieks. “And his Fighter Mode, for that matter! Why would Imperialdramon be there?!”

“If Imperialdramon’s there, then that means...” Ken sounds horrified. “Davis... Davis and Veemon are somehow out facing that thing!”

Before anything else is said, all of their Digivices and D3s start to simultaneously glow. They all look between each other and no words are spoken, but they know what to do. They all grab their Digivices and pray that their strength is sent to Davis and his allies, that they all become strong enough to defeat this threat.

They might not be able to be there in person, but they’re with him in spirit.

—

They win.

They win.

They win!

They defeat King Drasil. They stop the two worlds from colliding. They stop the destruction of everything as they knew it.

They win.

And it feels damn good.

“See, I told you we’d see each other again someday, kid.” Spencer laughs when him and Davis properly meet.

”Guess you weren’t kidding, huh?” Davis laughs along, Veemon hiding his own laughter behind his hands.

The confused expressions of Marcus, Yoshino, Thomas, and Keenan only serve to make their laughter stronger.

Falcomon, Lalamon, Gaomon, and Agumon decide to stay in the Digital World after everything is said and done.

Davis dreads it.

They all spend their last days with their Digimon partners, and Davis makes sure to give Veemon all the attention and care in the world that he deserves. Veemon might be choosing to stay in the Real World beside Davis, but the melancholy of his friends is rubbing off on him.

“I want to go to the Digital World with Agumon.”

Those ten words stop Davis’ world.

And who else would speak them, than the one and only Marcus Damon?

“You’re not stopping me.” Marcus adds when Davis takes just a little too long to form a reply. “I’m going to the Digital World with Agumon, and that’s that.”

“What made you think I’d stop you?” Is what Davis says in retaliation, and Marcus looks momentarily shocked.

“Well, for starters, this thing between us is still relatively new...” Marcus muttered as he waved his hand.

“And what else?” Davis prompts, making Marcus frown.

“Leaving you alone during school, not being able to use hanging out with me as an excuse for getting away from your grandma, the fact that Yoshi and them won’t like me leaving you all behind...” Marcus continues, but he starts to sound less sure of himself. “The fact that I’ll be leaving my family behind just as we became whole again...”

“Hey, none of that.” Davis moves closer to him and cups his face. “I’ll be fine at school, and Grandma Manami’s rants barely bother me anymore. Yoshi, Thomas, and Keenan will all understand why you want to stay in the Digital World.” He smiles as he lists his counter argument. “Your family will know where you are, and they know you’ll have Agumon with you in case you get into any trouble. You’re the great Marcus Damon; Japan’s number one fighter, the hero of both the Real and Digital Worlds! You’ll be just fine.”

Marcus is quiet, and that alone speaks wonders. He’s rarely ever quiet, Davis had quickly learned, that him being so means he’s being completely serious.

“Hey, Davis... you should come to the Digital World with me.”

Those eleven words make Davis’ world start again, but it goes in an entirely different direction.

The next day, him and Veemon watch as the Digital Portal closes in front of them. He can’t help but let his thoughts get the better of him. Did he make a mistake? Would he come to regret this? What if, what if, what if-

“Hey, Davis!” A voice pulls him from the abyss of his mind, and he turns around to see Marcus and Agumon waiting for them a ways away. “Don’t tell me you’re chickening out already!”

“I’m not, don’t worry!” Davis laughs, and he jogs up to him. Their hands intertwine on instinct, and there’s something much more warm in both of their eyes as they look at each other.

Davis doesn’t know if this decision is a mistake or not, but walking with his hand in Marcus’ and having both Veemon and Agumon at his side as they set out to explore the far reaches of the Digital World, he decides that no; he doesn’t regret this.

An emergency meeting for the DigiDestined is called by both Izzy and Joe.

When Ken and his teammates arrive at the former’s house, they see Izzy scouring the Internet and looking like he hadn’t gotten even a bit of sleep. Joe dosen’t look much better, and he’s gripping a newspaper so tightly his knuckles have gone white.

“Read the front page.” Joe demands of them as soon as they walk through the door. Kari and Yolei look at each other and shrug while TK crossed his arms. Cody is the only one who takes the newspaper, reading through it before it falls from his suddenly weak grip.

Ken picks the newspaper up as TK hurried to make sure the youngest of their team was alright, but when he reads the article, his face blanches and he feels like throwing up.

“Thirteen year old boy from Yokohama, Davis Motomiya, declared missing after recent monster attack.”

Ken wants to scream.

There are several facts of life that Davis knows as true; the sky in the Digital World isn’t always blue, he hates how his body has started to look more like a girl’s, only a few Myotismon aren’t obsessed with world domination, bats are still terrifying as all hell...

And time within the Digital World was fucking wack.

Sometimes, it feels like it’s been weeks sense the Digital Portal closed. Other times, it feels like it’s been mere minutes. Davis can barely keep track of time in the Real World, so he’s just given up on trying to keep track of it in the Digital one. He wonders, though, just how long it’s been.

“Hey, what’s your mind stuck on?” Marcus asks, dusting off his hands as he walks away from his latest spar with Agumon. When Davis doesn’t respond, Marcus flicks him in the forehead. He lets out a small noise, looking up at Marcus with a pout. “Those thoughts of yours stuck in your mind again?”

“Kinda?” Davis mutters, looking away in embarrassment. “I guess I’m just... curious as to how much time has passed in the Real World sense we’ve been here.”

“Yeah? I’m pretty curious about that, too.” Marcus crosses his arms and smiles at the shorter. “How about we see if we can find any of those nifty TVs you used to travel through back then, and pop into the Real World to see how long it’s been?”

“Took the words right outta my mouth.” Davis smiles brightly, and holds out his D3. “Veemon, wanna go for a run?”

“Oh ho, heck yeah!” Veemon jumps up from where he had been sitting on the ground.

A minute later and all three of them are on Raidramon’s back as he runs through the Digital World, laughter pouring from their mouths as their worries blow away with the wind.

When entering the Digital World at first, Davis always tended to check his phone. His phone never did work in the Digital World, but he continued to check it out of habit until the battery on it eventually died.

He stuffs it in the bottom of his bag, then. A dead cellphone that won’t even work when it’s charged won’t help them out any.

He forgets about it entirely what feels like months later.

“Yep, it’s gonna leave a scar.” Davis sighs as he wraps the bandages around the bloody gash on Marcus’ arm. When Marcus whines, Davis pointedly glares at him. “Well, it’s your own fault for forgetting Reppamon tails have a mind of their own! Not to mention that their tails are literal knives!”

“Ok, ok! Geez, I get it!” Marcus grunts as Davis pins the bandages shut with a piece of duct tape Davis had found in his bag. There was so much random stuff in that bag at this point that neither of them questioned it anymore. “Well... least we match, now.”

“Huh?” Davis blinks as he dropped the tape roll back into his bag. Marcus points to his arm, and Davis realizes what he’s talking about. “Oh, yeah, the scar I got from Omnimon!” He laughs, a smile tugging at his lips. “Well, I’m not too sad about that scar. It marks the day that we realized we knew each other before the whole King Drasil fiasco, ya know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Marcus nods, before standing up. “C’mon, it’s almost nightfall, we need to start up camp.”

It’s a few hours later, under the light of the moon, where one thing leads to another and the two boys press their lips together. Agumon and Veemon watch it happen from their hiding place, grins on both of their faces.

“About damn time.” Veemon snickers.

“Yeah! Davis and Boss were taking way too much time for already knowing each other’s feelings.” Agumon agrees.

It takes a while, but Davis eventually breaks the habit of searching for Dark Rings and Dark Spirals whenever he meets a new Digimon.

He gains the habit of looking for the mark of the Digimon Devas in it’s place.

The Digital World grows more and more glitched by the day as they enter the southernmost portion of it. Davis takes it as a bad omen.

His bad omen is realized when GeoGreymon and Raidramon defeat a rampaging Kuwagamon, only to watch in shock as the Digimon’s data is deleted instead of being returned to that of a DigiEgg.

There are more children with Digimon partners in the Digital World.

Davis and Marcus are both shocked by this revelation.

They discover this news while on their way to a village with rumors of a possessed motorcycle. Marcus and Agumon, one track minds that they were, were absolutely intent on beating it in a fight. Davis would’ve found that funny if he didn’t have to quickly pull them out of the path of a speeding motorcycle with a Digimon riding on top of it.

“Hey, wait up!” A voice yells, and both of them turn to see a boy no older than twelve try and run after the motorcycle. The boy stops when he notices them, and Davis feels the world around them stop.

Another boy stops right next to the first, followed by a red dinosaur, a green rabbit(?), a Leomon, and a girl.

An alarmingly familiar girl.

“...M-Marcus? Davis?” The girl asks before anyone else in her group can speak up. “Is that really you guys...?”

“Jeri?” Marcus gasps, and Davis feels warmth flood through him. He puts his hands on his hips, just like he did back then, and gives the best smile that he can.

“Hey, kid. Been a while, hasn’t it?”

The girl quickly corrals the both of them into a hug.

These new kids were... less intense than the people Davis had been used too, that’s for sure.

There was Takato and Guilmon, both of whom had been taken under Marcus’ wing. His boyfriend ( boyfriend !) had noticed something about the two of them, and had appointed himself to being their trainer of sorts. Both Takato and Guilmon were good kids with good, level heads on their shoulders, they’d do just fine in the Digital World.

Then there was Henry and Terriermon, and Davis had decided early on that the kid needed to loosen up a little. Too polite for his tastes, and clearly not used to the bizarre events that came with the Digital World. Davis found Terriermon chill, though, and liked him just a little better than Henry.

Up next was Jeri and Leomon, and Davis would admit that him and Marcus could rarely leave her alone. She explained to them everything that had happened ever sense Davis (and later Marcus) had been declared missing in the Real World, while also fueling Marcus’ love for Studio Ghibli by telling him about the movies and projects they’ve worked on.

Then there were the ones that joined later; Rika, Kazu, Kenta, and Ryo.

Rika and Renamon were cool and blunt, instantly reminding Davis of Matt. Where Matt would brush him off, however, Rika at least entertained his questions.

Kazu and Kenta were the one’s Marcus commonly referred to as “TweedleDumb” and “TweedleDumber”. They were both honestly... obsessed with finding their own Digimon partners. Davis didn’t know what to make of them.

Finally, there was Ryo. Marcus didn’t like Ryo. With the title of being the “Digimon King”, it was easy to tell just why he didn’t like the other. Also the fact that he commanded Cyberdramon, who were relatively easygoing Digimon, with a whip.

This team is so different from his friends at DATS, he can already tell that it won’t be as smooth sailing as it had been before. Though... as long as Marcus, Agumon, Veemon, and now both Jeri and Leomon are at his sides, he knows he can pull through this.

Jeri is taken by an Orochimon, but it turns out that they didn’t have to worry. She handles herself spectacularly, and even uses those fancy cards of hers to have Leomon use a move that he normally can’t.

Davis and Marcus are proud of the girl, and she whined when they tell her as such for the third time in a row.

Everything is going fine one day, they’re all making their way to Zhuqiaomon’s palace so that the kids can find their friend Calumon and gain a way back to the Real World. Davis feels fine for the most part, even with Veemon comments on him looking paler than usual. Davis waves it off, though, and continues walking forward.

The next thing he knows, he’s looking up at both the sky and the concerned face of Jeri. Before he can ask what she’s doing, she gasps and looks up from him.

“He woke up!” She cried, then quickly backed away as Veemon, Agumon, and Marcus all proceeded to squash him in a back-breaking hug. Davis wants desperately to hug them back, but the burn in his chest and the sudden lack of airflow makes him start to violently cough, instead.

The three hurriedly get off him as he pushes himself up into a seating position, but Marcus’ hands rest securely on his shoulders. As soon as his coughing dies down, Marcus speaks up.

“Davis, what happened?” His voice is tense, laced with both worry and concern. Davis has never liked seeing worry on the other’s face, it just seemed so... unnatural. “You just started coughing violently out of nowhere and fainted.” He looks down at where Davis’ hand had come up to fist the fabric of his shirt, and something knowing shows up in his eyes. “Wait... ugh, don’t tell me-“

“Not with everyone else present!” Davis hisses, and Jeri hurried to shoo everyone else out of the area before leaving as well. With only Marcus, Agumon, and Veemon present, Davis feels much better about what he’s about to discuss. “Ok, yes, I...” He sighed, pushing his jacket off. Sense when had it gotten so gods forsaken hot? “I decided to bind today.”

“Davis,” Marcus sighs, and Davis groans as he launches into what has become a regular speil at this point. “you don’t own a proper binder! You’re binding with bandages, and that’s not good for you!”

“But, if I don’t, they’re gonna know!” Davis grasps at his head, and Veemon hugs him. He barely notices it. “If they know, then they’ll treat me differently, and- and-!”

Davis can’t finish his explanation, and just delves into another coughing fit. Agumon pats him on the back, and Marcus makes an executive decision.

“Alright, that’s it, we’re getting those bandages off of you.” Marcus sighs, and Davis can’t find the energy within himself to argue any further.

Later, when the kids are allowed to see him again, Jeri gives Davis a hug and calls him the best guy friend she’s ever had. Davis finds it in himself to forget the cold feeling in his chest at that, if only to make Jeri happy that she had cheered him up.

Leomon dies by sacrificing himself for the group.

Davis knows for a fact that the scream that came from Jeri will haunt all of them.

Davis also knows that, while Beelzemon is the one at fault, a part of the kids blame both him and Marcus for arriving on the scene too late. They’re the oldest of the group, the ones with the strongest Digimon, the ones who know better than all of them what arriving at the right place but at the wrong time can do.

But they didn’t arrive in time, and now Leomon is dead.

But, the pain isn’t over yet as Takato forces WarGrowlmon to Digivolve to the Mega level in order to defeat Beelzemon. Instead of a regular Digivolution, however, WarGrowlmon Dark Digivolves into Megidramon.

The Digimon himself is a Digital Hazard that starts to tear the world apart.

The look on Marcus’ face tells Davis that he’s too engrossed in the trauma of Agumon’s own Dark Digivolution, so he takes it upon himself to help right what’s been wronged.

For the first time sense meeting the kids, Davis calls for Veemon to DigiArmor Energize.

For the first time in a long time, Veemon dons the form of Magnamon.

He’s able to quickly disarm Megidramon and knock him to the ground, but Beelzemon is the one who deals the final blow to make him revert back to Guilmon. Jeri is screaming in the background, asking why Takato turned Guilmon into a monster and why Veemon was attacking his friend.

Davis wants to explain why to the poor girl, but he’s too busy making sure Magnamon dosen’t get taken down by Beelzemon to do so.

Then suddenly he hears Takato shouting something about a “Biomerge Digivolution”, and he turns around just in time to watch Takato fuse with Guilmon in order to form Gallantmon.

Davis calls off Magnamon at the sight of the other Royal Knight, and contemplates just how long of a nap he’s gonna need once they’re all somewhere safe.

Jeri... isn’t acting normal.

Well, of course she wasn’t. Davis wouldn’t be acting normal too if he was in her place, but there’s just something about the way she won’t even look in anyone’s direction or speak to anyone that sets him on edge.

Marcus notices it, too, Veemon and Agumon as well. They all want desperately to help their friend, but none of them know how too.

Davis wishes for just a split second that either Ken or TK were there, they were more experienced in these matters than he was.

Henry and Terriermon Biomerge Digivolve into MegaGargomon during the fight with Zhuqiaomon, and they learn of a new enemy called the “D-Reaper”.

Rika and Renamon, Biomerge Digivolving into Sakuyamon, are the first ones to face off against the thing as they rescue Calumon.

They all meet Azulongmon, and Davis finally gets the answer to a question he stopped asking.

He learns of why Veemon was able to DNA Digivolve without Wormmon.

When he had first entered the Digital World with the DATS team, Azulongmon was somehow able to upload a program into his D3 that overrode the original code that stated that Veemon had to fuse with Wormmon in order to become Paildramon and Imperialdramon. Azulongmon refused to elaborate on how or why, but Davis was content to leave it at that.

So long as he had the power to keep his friends safe available to him, he’d be just fine.

They learn of how people in the Real World are devising a way to bring the kids home.

Davis and Marcus don’t know what to make of it at first. On one hand, they’ve found their own way back home! They can see their friends and family again! On the other hand, there’s still so much work they’ve gotta do to make the Digital World stable again. This D-Reaper thing will only get worse if they just leave it be.

In the end, they decide to head back to the Real World. These kids had become their responsibility, and they’d both be damned if they let anything happen to them. Besides, there was still something off about Jeri that made the danger signs within Davis blare in warning.

On a more positive note, at least they’d be able to see their friends and family again.

The Ark breaks upon re-entry to the Real World.

Davis and Marcus both startle at the sight of Shinjuku.

They watch the kids reunite with their families as Veemon devolves into DemiVeemon for the first time in what feels like forever. He quickly dives into Davis’ bag as Agumon lets himself be hidden with Marcus’ Digivice for once. It hits them that, quite technically, they have no place to stay. Their families lived in Yokohama, and Davis’ old teammates lived in Odaiba. Both of those trips were about twenty minutes each, and it was too late at night for a train to be running.

“Hey, Davis, Marcus!” He hears Takato call out just as they start to discuss what they should do. “You guys wanna spend the night at my place?” When neither of them answer, Takato’s cheeks flare pink. “It’s just that you two mentioned once that you didn’t live in Shinjuku like we do, so I figured you’d need a place to stay the night! My parents are cool with it and all too, so-“

“Hey, kid, calm down.” Marcus flicks Takato on the nose to make his ramblings stop. “We’ll take you up on that offer.” He then turns to Davis, that sun-bright smile on his face. “Won’t we, M iracle ?”

And Davis smiles at the stupid pet name Marcus had taken to calling him, based off of his crest that allowed Veemon to be as strong as he is.

“Yep!” He smiles at Takato, his hand reaching out and intertwining with Marcus’. “Like Boss said, we’ll take you and your parents up on the offer.”

If Takato finds their stupid pet names lame or anything, he wisely dosen’t show it.

—

It’s early the next morning when Davis finally fishes his phone and charger from the bottom of his bag, plugging them in so they can get some charge. He’s not sure if his phone will even work in the Real World after spending so much time in the Digital World, but hey, he dosen’t have the Crest of Miracles for no good reason.

It’s a little over an hour later when his phone turns on, miraculously at one hundred percent. He hurriedly unlocks it to an absolute wave of notifications- over a thousand total. He checks the current date and time first; March 25th of 2007.

Exactly three years sense the day him and Marcus first went to the Digital World.

That means that both him and Marcus are sixteen now; Marcus will be turning seventeen in a few weeks time while Davis will turn seventeen during the middle of August.

Davis pushes the concept of time from his brain and goes to check his notifications.

Most of them are calls and text messages from both his parents and Jun, but that’s to be expected. They’re more or less the same; asking where he went and whatnot while apologizing for anything they might’ve done that would cause him to run away.

Davis realizes in a horrible moment of clarity that he never told anyone besides Yoshino, Thomas, and Keenan that him and Marcus were going to stay in the Digital World.

Davis takes in a breath before continuing on.

After his family, there were his old teammates. All of them were expressing worry and asking him to come back home, though Yolei was decidedly more rude about it in the beginning before it delved into her apologizing for how she tended to antagonize him more often than not. Then there was Tai and his teammates, most of them being understanding while Matt was hurling insults like they were bricks and Izzy was providing a multitude of theories as to where he could be and the probability of him returning from said places.

Then there was the calls from Yoshino and Thomas, and ones from an unknown number that revealed himself to be Keenan. They weren’t as panicked as his family and old teammates were, and they instead reminded him to take care of himself and not bind with bandages (he could already hear Thomas’ lecture that would come with forgoing binding correctly just to show the kids that he was, in fact, a guy).

He remembers that day was a Sunday, and that the DATS team had always made it a point to get together on Sunday’s to hang out with each other. He doesn’t know if they’ve kept the tradition or not, but all Davis wants is to hear their voices again.

So he calls Yoshino first, and she picks up after a few rings.

“Hello, Yoshino Fujieda here, who’s speaking?” The familiar silvery voice of the oldest in their group gives Davis a bright smile. He can faintly hear the modulated tenor that is Thomas’ voice and the childish yelling that he knew to be Keenan’s in the background.

“Wow, Yoshi, you still pick up the phone without checking the ID? This is why you get so many spam calls!” He can’t help but joke, and he can just imagine the double take Yoshino is doing right now.

“...Davis?” Her voice is wobbly with disbelief, and he finds his smile growing softer.

“The one and only.”

The shriek Yoshino gives is so ungodly that it sends Davis into a fit of hysterical laughter.

He calls Ken after taking a few hours to catch up with the former DATS members, and he reacts much the same way.

Apparently he was with all the DigiDestined, so Davis had to sit there and listen to how each and every single one of them (besides Matt, but he expected that) babbled off about him and where he had gone and how much they all missed him!

Davis realizes that maybe he had been too caught up in his new friendship with the DATS members at the time that he declared his old teammates to be nothing more to him than that for him to make an accurate statement.

The DigiDestined are his friends, too, even if they don’t support each other in quite the same way that the DATS members do, and that’s alright.

The D-Reaper somehow made it into the Real World.

Marcus breaks a door when he hears the news.

Davis, Veemon, Marcus, and Agumon all face off against the strange beings that the D-Reaper created. The kids are with them too, all of their Digimon at the Ultimate level. Veemon and Agumon, on the other hand, stick to their Paildramon and RizeGreymon forms respectively. They don’t need to be pulling out either of Imperialdramon’s forms or ShineGreymon and his Burst Mode so early on in the fight, that’ll just give their opponents a heads up on them.

Beelzemon, now Beelzemon Blast Mode, saves the kids when they figure out they can’t Biomerge Digivolve in the Real World.

The kids all retreat as Davis and Marcus promise to hold off the D-Reaper attacks. Paildramon and RizeGreymon are able to defeat a good portion of the monsters it summons up while the two of them help make sure any strangling humans escape the surrounding area.

Just as the many monsters start to overwhelm them, in comes the kids and their Digimon in their Biomerged forms.

With the reinforcements, they all put up a good fight, until the D-Reaper grabs a hold of both Gallantmon and RizeGreymon.

“Takato, Guilmon, RizeGreymon!” The group yells as they go to help. Paildramon grabs RizeGreymon by his arm, trying to pull him out to no avail, while Sakuyamon and MegaGargomon tried to save Gallantmon. For a second, everything seemed lost, until...

“ Static Force !” A voice cried out, and a ball of pink and red energy pushed back the D-Reaper surrounding Gallantmon and RizeGreymon. Davis gasped before a smile overtook his face. He looked to the sky, hope making his body feel light.

“I know that voice!” He laughed as he saw a Silphymon fly over the horizon, followed behind by a Stingmon, Birdramon, and Kabuterimon. If possible, his smile grew larger. “Kari, Ken, everybody!”

The Digimon land, a plethora of humans and Rookie level Digimon jumping off of them, before the four Digivolved Digimon jump in to help them out.

“Davis!” Ken cried, immediately running over and throwing his arms around the smaller’s shoulders. Kari and Cody quickly followed suit, while both TK and Yolei jumped on him last. “You’re alright...!”

“Of course I’m alright, just who do you think I am!” Davis laughs as the older DigiDestined gather close. “I’m glad to see you guys, again.”

A scream cuts their cheer off and they all turn to catch a quick glimpse of Gallantmon being pulled into the D-Reaper again despite everyone’s best efforts, and the arrival of a Digimon who calls themself Justimon.

They save Takato and Guilmon, but now they learn that both Jeri and Calumon have been captured by the D-Reaper.

Yoshino, Thomas, and Keenan arrive on the scene shortly after they get Takato and Guilmon out of the enemy, and they collectively decide to go to Rika’s house to recount what it is they know and have learned.

Both Keenan and Izzy’s knowledge prove to be useful, as they point out quite a few bits of information about the D-Reaper in both the Digital and Real Worlds that they had missed. Ken, Henry, and Thomas all help to strategize their next plan of action with Yolei and Joe both providing their own input on how much energy it’ll take and how they needed to save it to make sure they didn’t burn out and lose early.

All of that goes out the window when Tadashi Katou, Jeri’s father, decides to face the D-Reaper himself the very next day.

Davis dosen’t get to witness the fight himself, but Cody does. Cody tells him that Gallantmon, Sakuyamon, and Justimon were loosing to an “agent” (that was the name he learned they were using for the monsters the D-Reaper would summon) of their enemy. They were loosing, especially when the agent took on a new form, but before Cody could Digivolve Armadillomon to help, a being named Grani helped Gallantmon deal the final blow.

Davis decided not to question where it had come from or why it had conveniently appeared when it was most needed.

The kernel of the D-Reaper holding Jeri hostage forms what they have called the Gatekeeper.

It takes all the Digimon just to clear the way for Gallantmon to fly in on Grani.

Davis and Marcus allow Veemon and Agumon to Warp Digivolve to the Mega levels, and ShineGreymon races after Gallantmon. Imperialdramon Dragon Mode, on the other hand, opens his repaired hatch to allow both Davis and Marcus to climb in before joining them. With the addition of both ShineGreymon and Imperialdramon, it considerably evens what was a skewed playing field.

Then Marcus hears something.

“Davis, wait.” He puts his hand on his shoulder. “You hear that...?”

It’s faint, but Davis can hear it, too. A voice rapidly repeating the fact that Beelzemon had downloaded Leomon’s data.

“Beelzemon...” Davis is quiet at the realization. “Beelzemon’s inside the D-Reaper with Jeri and Calumon!”

“We gotta tell them, before anything happens-!” Marcus starts, before Grani is unleashing a laser beam that Gallantmon dubs the Yogoth Blaster right at the Gatekeeper.

The gate crumbles quickly, and Beelzemon goes with it.

Beelzemon survives, but now he’s only Impmon, and the D-Reaper is stronger than ever.

They’re giving this battle their last stand. If they loose, then both the Real and Digital Worlds are lost for good. Davis finds the deja vu ironic, as this isn’t the first time he’s had to save both worlds from certain destruction.

Yoshino, Thomas, and Keenan all have to stay back. Without Lalamon, Gaomon, and Falcomon, they’d only be a hinderance and they know it. They wish everyone else luck, and tell them to be strong.

Yoshino pulls him aside right before they leave and gives him a present, a special binder that would fit him no matter how much he grew. Davis puts it on and he feels like crying because finally, finally, the sight of his body dosen’t make the cold feeling in his chest skyrocket.

He leaves for the final battle with the biggest possible smile on his face, and Davis just knows they’ll win this fight.

Even if the win is achieved by a miracle, he doesn’t have the Crest of Miracles for no reason.

The DigiDestined all take on the agents outside the D-Reaper while Takato, Rika, Henry, Ryo, Marcus, Davis, and their Digimon partners take to destroying the D-Reaper from the inside. Gallantmon and Grani fly ahead while Sakuyamon, MegaGargomon, and Justimon take care of the agents.

As for Marcus and Davis? The both of them are riding on top of Imperialdramon Fighter Mode’s shoulders while him and ShineGreymon follow behind Gallantmon to help him clear a path. Grani gets injured halfway there, leaving Gallantmon to run after them until ShineGreymon helpfully picks him up with his tail.

They’re attacked by an enemy that they quickly call “the Reaper” as they get close to it. Sakuyamon, MegaGargomon, Justimon, and ShineGreymon all attack it. Imperialdramon and Gallantmon are still on course for the center when it forms into a giant version of Jeri’s head.

Davis would not admit that he screamed at the sight, not even in narration, no sir.

Grani suddenly appears to help Gallantmon, and the next thing he knows they’ve fused to become Gallantmon Crimson Mode.

It’s when Marcus calls for ShineGreymon to Digivolve to Burst Mode, and he swears he hears Jeri scream at the D-Reaper to leave her friends alone, that Davis hears it.

Everyone’s hearts beat as one.

“Veemon!” He shouts, and the newly Digivolved ShineGreymon Burst Mode hurriedly grabs Marcus off of Imperialdramon’s shoulder despite his protests. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a miracle!”

“Then let’s make this miracle happen, already!” Imperialdramon rumbles before his form glows white. “Imperidaldramon, Miracle Mode Change Digivolution!” He grows taller and a sword appears in his grasp, shining bright despite the fact that there’s no light present. “ Imperialdramon Paladin Mode !”

The final battle had just begun in earnest.

MegaGargomon’s out of ammo, Sakuyamon is dangerously low on energy, Justimon’s arm is practically useless, ShineGreymon is barely standing, Gallantmon is exhausted, and Imperialdramon is already slowly reverting back to DemiVeemon.

But, it’s all more than worth it.

They’ve saved Jeri and Calumon.

They’ve defeated the D-Reaper.

They’ve saved both the Real and Digital Worlds.

They’ve won.

And it feels damn good

All of the Digimon have to return to the Digital World.

It’s a sad affair.

All of them- Tamer, former DATS agent, and DigiDestined- are at the Digital Portal to see their dear friends off. The Digimon all turn around to enter the portal. Some of them are crying, others have accepted it and are smiling in sadness.

Davis is in denial.

This isn’t how it ends, this can’t be how it ends! Not here, not now, not ever!

He wants a miracle, he needs a miracle, he needs, he needs, he needs-

“Veemon!”

“Agumon!”

Davis shouts the name of his partner at the same time Marcus does, and both of them run at the portal.

Jeri attempts to drag them back by grabbing both of their arms, but due to both of them being stronger than her, it only succeeds in them dragging her along.

“Guys-!”

The Digital Portal closes, and everything fades to black.

When Davis wakes up again, he’s back in the Digital World. He looks around to see Marcus, and all of the Digimon huddled around him. He hurriedly hugs Veemon close as Marcus and Agumon wrap their arms around him.

He pulls away to see Lalamon, Gaomon, Falcomon and Jeri.

“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a stowaway.” Marcus sighed, and Jeri frowns as she hugs Calumon.

“How’re we gonna get back home, now?” Jeri asks, and she sounds so close to crying that it hurts Davis’ heart.

“I’m not gonna lie to ya... I have no clue.” Davis sighs, but there’s a smile on his face regardless. “But we’ll find something. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

It’s a little awkward having to travel with so many Digimon in the beginning.

On the one hand, it was nice to have a little extra protection while fighting a rouge Digimon! On the other hand, almost all of them were stuck at the Rookie level and unable to Digivolve without their partners there. The only real exception to this was Gatomon and MarineAngemon, but Gatomon was perpetually stuck at the Champion level while MarineAngemon was a healer and not a fighter.

So that still left most of the fighting to Veemon and Agumon.

None of the Digimon seem to mind, though, but Jeri does. She always gets a faraway look on her face whenever one of them protects her, and she’ll express her guilt for not being able to help out any after the battle’s over.

That’s what it’s like, anyway, up until the group makes their way to Primary Village on File Island.

Thankfully having been spared the brunt of both attacks on the Digital World, the village was looking better than ever. They were greeted by the guardian of the baby Digimon there, who had Digivolved from an Elecmon all the way to SaberLeomon. Patamon loved catching up with the caretaker, but the second SaberLeomon saw Jeri, he ran off only to bring back a DigiEgg.

A white DigiEgg with yellow markings.

“Something tells me you’ll know who this is.” SaberLeomon smiled at Jeri, before looking towards Impmon. He seemed to get the hint, and quickly nudged Jeri’s Digivice.

Her Digivice glowed at the same time that both Impmon and the DigiEgg did. The light from the Digivice and Digimon flew off of them before joining the light coming from the egg. It seemed to grow brighter for a split second before dying down, the group watching in silence as the DigiEgg cracked open to reveal a slightly larger than normal Punimon.

“Is this...?” Jeri’s voice wavered as the Punimon stared up at her, making small noises of happiness. “... Leomon ?”

“That is correct.” SaberLeomon nods, and Jeri chokes on a sudden sob as she collapses to the ground. She holds Punimon close to her and she cries; about how much she had missed him and how sorry she was that she let the D-Reaper control her.

All of them comfort her to the best of their abilities until she’s smiling and laughing, remarking on how she could now protect them all alongside Marcus and Davis. Punimon is laughing too, and that makes the hole that Leomon’s death left in the group fill up again.

All the while, Davis notices something he hadn’t seen in a long while; one of the white butterflies that had come from Okinawa all those years ago. It rests on one of the trees in front of them, the absolute picture of serenity, before flying off.

He watched it’s ascent into the sky, and contemplates on just how far they’ve all come.

Marcus and Jeri have grown. Davis himself has grown, too. They’ve grown in physical ways, but mentally too.

Jeri is still calm, and still ready to help, but she’s not as sensitive. Where she would first start tearing up at the very implication of them not being able to return home, now she takes it in stride. When the honestly real complication of not being able to return home comes up, she just shrugs and says something about how “if that’s how it is, then so be it”. She’s matured so much from the little nine year old he had met in the park those years before, it’s sad but at the same time it’s a sense of pride.

Davis had learned that Jeri, despite all her maturity, still turned to her hand puppet as a source of comfort.

Marcus has grown too, but it’s not as noticeable with him as it is with Jeri. He’s still impulsive, still all for settling a confrontation with his fists over his words, but he’s more patient than he was before. Where he would normally jump to conclusions and whatnot when the other person took too long before, now he waited until they were able to make a statement or arrive where they said they were going too. He’s much more affectionate now, too, always either holding Davis’ hand or throwing an arm around Jeri’s shoulders.

Davis learns that he doesn’t particularly mind the attention, especially when they sneak away for minutes at a time to share more moonlight kisses.

All of them stick together as they make their way through the Digital World, hoping against all odds that there’s some way to bring every single one of them back to their loved ones in the Real World.

Punimon has grown a lot. He’s quickly gone from Baby stage to In-Training, then from that to the Rookie stage. He helps as much as he can as Elecmon, now, but he still wishes to protect Jeri to the absolute best of his abilities.

So during a fight with a group of thieving Gazimon, Elecmon takes the chance and Digivolves to Leomon.

Jeri, for the first time in a while, cries at the sight.

It’s late one night, and Davis can’t sleep. He manages to push Marcus off of him so he can stand up and makes his way over to the campfire they had set up earlier, sitting down beside the still awake Leomon and Gaomon.

“Is something on your mind, Davis?” Gaomon asks after a beat of silence, and Davis hesitates before nodding.

“I’m... thinking about how long it’s been in the Real World compared to here in the Digital World again.” He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Time here isn’t exactly known for being consistent, but I feel like it’s been longer than the first time Marcus and I were stuck here.”

“I don’t know.” Leomon shakes his head. “If I could tell you, then I would. I’d assume knowing is better then not, after all.”

Davis can’t help but disagree, there. He wants to know, but he doesn’t know if knowing will make anything better.

He breaks the habit of searching for the marks of the Devas after a while, and he no longer worries of there being any more world-ending enemies.

The Digital World is relatively peaceful for the first time in a long time.

Davis thinks that the peace should make him paranoid for the day some enemy does decide they want to take it over and destroy it, yet all he feels is peace. Something tells him that the D-Reaper was the last big bad enemy they would ever have to face. He’ll place his faith in this feeling of his, and trusts his instincts.

He’s gotten this far by listening to what his feelings tell him to do, and he’ll continue to do so. Following his heart is what Davis is the best at when push comes to shove.

They’re walking around the Folder Continent one day when Davis comes across an alarmingly familiar sight.

A lake, with a staircase descending into it.

He runs down the steps with both Veemon and the other Digimon of the DigiDestined chasing after him, leaving the others to trail behind in confusion. When he sees the door, he barrels through it with Veemon tumbling through with him.

They land on the floor of a cozy little home, staring up at the surprised face of Gennai.

“Gennai!” Biyomon cries as soon as she flies down the stairs. Gatomon tackles the humanfied data in a hug, Patamon following suit. The others pile into the house, each of them having their own reaction.

“Woah... an underwater house! Neat!” Lalamon sang.

“Damn, I didn’t know that people could build houses underwater!” Marcus marveled.

“Jeri, I’m hungry. Can I have one of those fishes in the lake?” Guilmon whined.

“Well, look who we got here!” Gennai chuckles, the corner of his eyes crinkling when he smiles. “Hello again, Davis. I see you’ve found me.”

Davis doesn’t answer, he just gets up and gives the man the biggest hug he can muster.

Gennai is older than he remembers him being, but he’s not as old as the original DigiDestined said he was. It’s strange to see that even this digital human has been affected by the passage of time, but he’s used to the strangeness that comes with the Digital World now.

When Davis eventually pulls away, Gennai turns to look at Marcus and Jeri.

“It’s nice to meet the two of you in person.” He nods before bowing slightly. “Hello Marcus Damon and Jeri Katou.” He straightens up, his arms coming to cross over his chest. “I am Gennai.”

“I’d... uh... introduce myself, but you already knew us.” Jeri sounds surprised before her eyes narrow slightly. “Wait, why do you know who we are, anyway?”

“I know of all the chosen children who come into the Digital World.” Gennai hums, before looking between all of them. “Now... it seems as if you are all stuck here, right?”

“Yeah, we are.” Marcus crosses his arms, looking skeptical. “You wouldn’t happen to know a way out, would you?”

“Yes, in fact, I do.”

The group is silent before letting out a collective shout.

“Really? We can go back to the Real World?!” Terriermon gasps, and Gennai nods.

“That is correct.” He confirmed, before looking to Gatomon. “Unfortunately, it is located in what remains of Myotismon’s old castle.” He looks to Davis next. “Is that alright?”

Davis feels his heart stop, but he wills it to start again when he realizes that this may be their only chance to go home.

“That’ll work perfectly.” He gathers his courage and nods. Gennai smiles.

“Then let’s get going right away.”

It’s May 19th, 2012. Five years since Davis and Marcus jumped into the portal, five years since Jeri was dragged in with them, and five years sense the Digimon returned to the Digital World.

Tai dosen’t know what draws him back to the summer camp that changed their lives all those years ago, but he goes anyway. The second he steps out of his car and onto the grounds, his Digivice glows and there’s a voice in his head telling him to go to where he had entered the Digital World when he was a little kid.

He runs to the center of the camp and a huge digital wave forms, a white entryway in the center of it. Tai can only watch in shock as three humans and a total of twenty-three creatures walk through it.

Both parties are silent until one of the humans, characterized by his goggles and a flame-embroidered bomber jacket that has seen better days, smiles so bright that it brings light to the ones around him.

“Hey, Tai! Long time, no see!”

And Tai let’s out what he’ll later deny as a scream because Davis, Marcus, Jeri, and the Digimon are back.

A lot had changed sense the day they returned from the Digital World fifteen years ago.

There had been marriages, and children, and jobs, and so many more encounters with Digimon (thankfully nothing major). Davis chalked the fact that he was able to keep on top of everything to a miracle.

After all, he had always been the Crest of Miracles, and he always will be.

“Papa! C’mon, c’mon, hurry up! We’re gonna be late, we’re gonna be late!”

“Geez, you need to chill out!”

“I’ll calm down when you two stop saying the same things at the same time!”

Davis sighs as he looks up from his current task.

Now, though... he just needs a miracle to get his kids to calm down.

He was trying to get his twin daughters to put on their jackets so they wouldn’t get cold when his son decides to barge in and be impatient. Veemon snickers at his expense from the doorway, a DemiVeemon perched atop his head as two Koromon flanked him.

“Yeah, Davis, hurry up.” He chuckles, and Davis grunts as he finally gets the more quiet of the twins to put her jacket on. The children run out the door as the more excitable one makes sure to grab a specific stuffed dinosaur before following them.

Davis sighs once more. He should’ve known that his children would be overexcitable at the ages that they are, they’re his children after all.

“You ready, Davis?” A familiar arm wraps around his waist as a kiss is pressed to his forehead.

He looks up to see his husband, and the love in those hazel eyes makes him smile.

“As I’ll ever be, Marcus.”

Well, he could partially blame Marcus for the reason the three kids are so excitable, also.

“Hurry up! I wanna go see Jeri!” Agumon whines as he runs into the room. “She promised she’d make us more bread!”

“Alright, alright!” Marcus sighs, going over to the door and taking the keys out of the little bowl that rested on the table next to it. He turned to Davis, spinning the keys around as the light caught the band around his ring finger just right. “You driving, or should I?”

“I’ll drive.” Davis responded easily, his heart light as a feather. He caught the keys when Marcus tossed them his way, a smirk on his face.

“Well, hurry up then, old man.” Marcus jokes, making Davis groan.

“Ugh, don’t remind me...” He opens the door, letting the little family he’s made walk through before closing it behind him. “We’re in our forties, now. We’re old.”

“Better than those ninety-somethin’ years ol’ Manami had though, huh?” Marcus places his chin atop Davis’ head as he unlocks the car, watching the kids and Digimon all pile in.

“At least.” Davis nods as Marcus gets off him so he can make his way over to the driver’s seat. “Though, we can agree that almost anything is better than dealing with her again.”

“Gods, you can say that again.”

Davis starts the car up as soon as they’re all buckled in, pulling out of the driveway before starting the relatively short drive over to where Jeri and her own family lived. The ride proves to be so boring that Davis finds himself reminiscing about the family he’s made for himself over the past years.

Both Davis and Marcus had come so far in their careers, with Davis finally starting up his noodle cart business and Marcus becoming the greatest human fighter in the Digital World while also up on the list of the strongest fighters in the real one. After they had gotten married and their jobs had settled down some, they had adopted the three kids that they were proud to call theirs.

Rider, their son, was the oldest of the three at age eleven. He looked a lot like Davis, though he had taken to wearing Marcus’ pendant. He was partners with a DemiVeemon of his own. He acted a lot like Davis did, though he had Marcus’ tendency to think more with his his fists then his head.

Then there was the twin girls, Aika and Aiko, who were both nine. They both looked like Marcus and while Aika wore Davis’ goggles, Aiko had taken to carrying Mochi- the old doll Davis had given Marcus when they were much, much younger- around everywhere. Both of them were partnered with a pair of Koromon. Aiko was basically a miniature Marcus, minus the ability to fight, while Aika was more reserved and tended to keep herself in her sister’s shadow- Davis didn’t know where she got that from.

He stops his reminiscing about his family as they pull into the driveway of a new house, all of them piling out once the car was shut down. They walk up the path, and the twins delight in rapidly knocking on the door. A man opens it, smiling when he sees just who’s standing there.

“Well, haven’t had y’all come over for a while now!” He laughs, a hand on his hip as he opens the door wider. “Come in, come in!”

“Hi, Mister Koh!” The twins chorus, Aiko with obviously more enthusiasm than Aika.

“What’s up, kids?” He bends down, letting them give him high fives, before he turns to look at Rider. “Kimiko’s in the study, little guy.”

“T-Thank you, Mister Koh!” He hurriedly bows before rushing into the house. Davis can’t help but chuckle, his son’s crush on Jeri’s daughter was as clear as day. It was honestly kinda funny.

Though... speaking of Jeri...

“Marcus! Davis!”

There she is.

Davis momentarily braces himself as the woman quickly rounds the corner and tackles both him and his husband. She pulls away just as quickly, a smile on her face and a giggle tumbling from her lips.

“Jeri!” Agumon jumps up and down. “Did you make more bread?”

“She did.” Leomon pipes up from inside the house, making Agumon cheer and run in with the twins hot on his heels. Veemon snickers as he follows afterwards with the In-Training Digimon.

“C’mon, what’re you two waiting for?” Jeri grabs both men by their hands before dragging them into the house, Koh closing the door behind them. “We promised to meet up with everyone in the Digital World, after all!”

“True, true.” Marcus nods as they all gather just outside the doorway of the house’s study. Seated in a wheelchair in front of the computer was a girl with her father’s ginger hair and her mother’s brown eyes. She pulled away from the computer as one of her hands pushed her glasses up, smiling when she saw Rider standing beside her.

“Now, when did you get here?” She laughs, and Davis watches in amusement as his son’s face goes red. “Wait, don’t answer that.” She looked to the study’s entrance, waving at the adults. “It’s time to leave, huh?”

“Yep!” Aiko nods rapidly, the Koromon atop her head matching her energy.

“Are ya coming with us, Kimiko?” Aika asks, the Koromon in her arms yawning.

“Of course I am!” Kimiko giggled, and an Elecmon pads out from under the desk to jump into her lap. She hugged the Digimon close and Davis is overtaken by how similar she is to Jeri when she was her age.

Kimiko was calm, but with a slight mischievous streak that endeared her to the twins. She was a computer nerd, just like her father, but interested in card games, just like her mother. In fact, she had inherited Jeri’s card collection, the same ones she had used in the Digital World all those years ago. Her and Rider were the best of friends, having grown up together.

Davis could see why his son liked her so much.

Not to mention how well off Jeri and Koh were! Jeri ran a fairly popular restaurant while Koh was a soccer coach at a local middle school. Both were well liked and respected in the community, and they had recently started to do charity work on the side! Davis couldn’t recall what exactly the charity was for at the moment, but he wasn’t surprised in the slightest when they brought the news up.

“Well, what’re we waiting for?” Marcus asks, pulling Davis from his thoughts once more. He was doing that a lot today, huh? “The others are waiting for us!”

“The DigiPort’s open.” Kimiko rolled her wheelchair back to allow space for the others to walk up to the computer. Davis looks to Koh, watching as Jeri pressed a kiss to her husband’s cheek.

“We’ll be back in a few hours, alright?” She asked quietly, having to stand up on her tiptoes just to be somewhat level with him.

“Alright.” He nodded as he gave her his own kiss to the cheek. “You and Kimiko go have fun with the others.” He smiled then as he pulled away. “And ask Takato if I can get the recipe for that bread of his, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jeri laughed, detaching herself from her husband to join the others. Davis smiles as Veemon jumps into his grasp, nostalgia overfilling him when he points his D3 at the computer’s screen.

“DigiPort Open!”

...

“Hey, everybody! Sorry we’re late!”

The whole group turns to face them, and Davis can’t help the smile on his face when he sees them. They had all come so far, they had all grown so much, it was just so incredible.

Tai went out and became a diplomat (Davis would admit he started laughing when he heard the news, who thought Tai would become that?!), while Matt and Sora had married- with Matt becoming an astronaut and Sora becoming a fashion designer. Izzy became a researcher for the Digital World, Mimi created her own cooking show, Joe became the Digital World’s first doctor, Kari became a kindergarten teacher, TK became a novelist, and Cody became a defense attorney. Ken and Yolei had also married- with Yolei being a housewife and Ken being a detective.

Yoshino had gone out and became a police officer, a job Davis knew she was proud to do, and had a son that she was even more proud of. Thomas had become a doctor and the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Prize, with his daughter quickly following in his footsteps to being a kid genius. Keenan worked in wildlife rehabilitation and, while he didn’t have a child, Davis had been hearing him express thought on adopting a son or daughter to raise for himself. Kristy, Marcus’ little sister, had taken to acting and had yet to express any want in having a child.

Takato ran his family’s bakery proudly while saving his art mainly for commissions when he needed the extra money, his son having a talent for art just like him. Henry was a scientist and frequently worked with Izzy when it came to the Digital World, though his son was proving to be difficult with learning in school. Rika and Ryo had married and were settled down with their son and daughter, with Rika being a master at card games and Ryo being a self-defense teacher. Suzie, Henry’s little sister, was a daycare attendant and had a daughter who was just as excitable as she had been. Kazu became a comedian, sometimes even bringing his daughter up on stage, while Kenta became a librarian with a book nerd for his own daughter. As for Ai and Mako, who Davis had later learned to both be Impmon’s tamers, they were the co-owners of a toy shop and both had yet to express wanting children- though Mako and his boyfriend were much more open to the idea than Ai and her wife were.

“Well, would ya look what the Gatomon dragged in!” Yolei laughs, patting Davis on the back as he walked over. They both ignored Gatomon’s cry of indignation in the background. “How’s the marriage going, lover boy?”

“Better than Ken’s proposal to you.” He smirks, watching in delight as Ken went red at the reminder. Would he hold the fact that Ken proposed to Yolei while drunk off his ass over his head until they both kicked the bucket? Yep.

“Oh, ha ha, very funny.” She gripes, and Davis chuckles. He watches Marcus and Thomas bicker over something as Takato and Jeri trade recipes, Tai’s son and Cody’s daughter pulling Aiko off to round up people to play tag. Izzy’s daughter is conversing quietly with Kimiko and TK’s son was in the midst of trying to break Aika’s poker face with as many jokes as he could think of.

Rider is just standing beside Davis’ side, watching the reunion in silence, and his smile goes gentle. His son had, unfortunately, inherited his own prone-to-spiraling mindset and would constantly get like this. He knew just the way to get his son’s mind off these thoughts until they could talk about it later, though.

“What’re you doing here, standing with one of your dads?” He asks, making Rider look up at him in surprise. “Go play tag!”

“Yeah, go show ‘em what tag’s all about!” Veemon cheers him on, and Rider’s frown becomes a big smile- so much like Marcus’, and oh so perfect on his face.

“Alright!” Rider nods, turning to the other kids as they crowd around him- only Yolei and Ken’s youngest son staying back. “So, are you guys ready?!”

“Yeah!” The children’s cheer is loud and undeniably happy.

“Then, c’mon everybody! Let’s do it!” He snickers as he taps Thomas’ daughter on the shoulder before taking off. “Sayaka’s it!”

“Oh, you little-!” Her statement delves into giggles as all the kids hurry to get away from her. “I’m gonna tag all of you, just you wait!”

The children ran off, and Davis feels like the moment is oddly bittersweet. Jeri and Marcus seem to agree as well, with Jeri hurrying to wipe a tear from her eye and Marcus wrapping his arms around Davis’ waist to hug him.

“Hey.” Marcus’ voice is soft, barely a murmur. “Ya know I love you, right, Miracle ?”

“And I love you too, Boss.” He says the words as easily as if he’s breathing, a smile tugging at his lips at the cheesy pet names that held so much meaning to the both of them.

He raises a hand up when he notices a white butterfly flying above him, the insect perching atop of his hand. The moment is peaceful, even when the butterfly flies off his hand to join the others of it’s kind up in the sky, and he takes the moment to reflect on all that this life had given him.

Once upon a time, he didn’t have a name.

Once upon a time, a boy gave him his name.

Once upon a time, he traveled to the Digital World.

Once upon a time, he met his closest friends and the love of his life.

Once upon a time, he saved the world three whole times.

There are several facts of life that Davis knows as true; The sky’s color depends on where you’re at, his body is his own and no one else will change that, not all Myotismon were necessarily evil, bats aren’t as terrifying as they once were...

And to truly love oneself was a matter of miracles and a sense of life itself.