Daisuke’s breath was visible against the cold, winter air.  Behind him, Ken stuck close enough that Daisuke could hear his quiet breathing. As the two moved their way between thick pine trees, trudging through snow, they each kept a wary eye out for any enemies.  They had been separated from the others and, without their partners, Daisuke and Ken would have to fight alone.

The snap of a branch caused the two boys to freeze and Ken turned to face the source, his back against Daisuke’s.  He only had a moment to react as something shot towards them.  Grabbing Daisuke, he threw them to the ground just in time for the projectile to whiz over their heads and shatter on the near-by tree, spraying them with snow.

Thinking fast, Ken pulled Daisuke up by his arm and dragged him towards the largest tree in the immediate area.  When they reached their destination, Daisuke crouched down with his back against the tree, looking out in the direction the attack had come from while Ken caught his breath.  

“There’s at least one out there.”

Ken was about to respond when a pained shout cut through the forest.  Daisuke was immediately on his feet.

“Takeru!”

He stepped towards the noise, but was wrenched back by Ken, causing him to land in Ken’s lap. Daisuke twisted around just enough so that he could see Ken’s face.

“We have to help Takeru!”

“It’s probably a trap,” Ken hissed in response.  “You said it yourself, at least one of them is nearby and I doubt they walked away just because we hid behind a tree.”

Daisuke glared in the direction that Takeru’s voice had come from, his chest feeling tight.  Finally, he stopped struggling and Ken relaxed his grip.

“All right.  We’ll deal with whoever’s out there first.”

Packing the snow together tightly, Daisuke made a couple of snowballs – one for each hand.  Ken followed his example and stayed crouching, but ready, as Daisuke looked from around the tree.

The clearing they had ended up on the edge of was quiet.  So quiet that it was almost eerie.  The wind was light, so would barely rustle the trees.  Every so often, a clump of snow would become too heavy for the branch it was on and it fell to the ground.  Ken and Daisuke both stood ready.  There was definitely still someone out there.

“I’ve got your back,” Ken whispered as Daisuke stepped out.

Daisuke’s steps were cautious as he slowly walked towards the location where the first attack had come from.  He knew this wasn’t a good idea, but didn’t really see another way of drawing out their enemies.

A sudden flash of movement caught Daisuke’s eye and he threw his first snowball without thinking. Yamato barely stopped in time, the snowball whizzing past his chest.  He turned to look at Daisuke with a smirk.

Daisuke scarcely had enough time to switch his second snowball into his right hand before Yamato launched his attack.  Daisuke ducked, but didn’t aim properly, causing his retaliating shot to come up short. Yamato was already packing together another snowball, but was forced to leap away when Ken took a shot at him.

Ken stepped aside just enough that Yamato’s snowball grazed his shoulder, leaving a thin trail of snow along his jacket sleeve.  However, the way Yamato had dodged the hit had left him vulnerable, allowing Daisuke and Ken to regroup faster while he struggled into a crouching position.

Daisuke stood up to launch a final attack on his senior when Ken pulled him back.  Daisuke felt his heart drop into his stomach as a rogue snowball zoomed past his face.  He and Ken turned together to see Taichi stepping out from behind a tree, another snowball in his hand.

“Not bad, guys,” he complimented with a confident smile.

Despite his relaxed demeanour, Taichi looked ready to fight.  Their shock at Taichi’s arrival had given Yamato enough time to recover and already he was standing up ready back up Taichi.  Ken, knowing they were outmatched in this position, grabbed onto Daisuke’s hand and pulled him away.

“Run!” he shouted.

He and Daisuke ran for the cover of the trees, changing their paths in order to dodge the volley of snowballs coming from Taichi and Yamato.

“This isn’t going to end like last year,” Daisuke said only just loud enough for Ken to hear.

Ken tightened the grip he had on Daisuke’s wrist in reassurance.

“They’re heading for higher ground,” Yamato observed, following their tracks with his eyes.

“We can’t give them time to regroup, but charging in is dangerous as well.”

Yamato smirked.  “You took away my line.”

“Figured it would save time.”  Taichi retorted before pausing to think.  “We’ll keep either side of their tracks, but far enough away that they can’t hit us together.”

Yamato nodded, already scooping up some new snow and fashioning a weapon as he followed the footprints in the snow.  Taichi moved further to the left, every so often glancing over towards Yamato to make sure they were still a good distance from each other.  Their friends were counting on them to win.

Daisuke and Ken were breathing heavily as they raced up the hill, almost knee deep in snow.  The snow was getting thicker the higher they climbed and they were expending enough energy just to keep moving at a reasonable speed.  The trees had thinned a little in their new location, but there were still enough around to provide cover.  Suddenly, Daisuke tripped over something and fell face first in the snow.

“Are you all right?” Ken asked with concern, pulling Daisuke back to his feet.

Daisuke shook the snow out of his hair and looked back down the hill where Taichi and Yamato had yet to appear.  His eyebrows knitted together in a frown.

“Let’s build a fort.”

“Daisuke, we don’t have time!”  Ken exclaimed, but did little to stop him as Daisuke began scooping out a hole in the ground with his arms.

Glancing nervously back down the hill and still seeing no sign of the older boys, Ken sighed in exasperation before joining Daisuke in digging.  

“Pack all the snow on that side,” Daisuke said, pointing to an already growing pile of snow facing the direction they had just come from.  “We can use it as a barrier.”

They worked quickly, with Ken glancing around every so often to check whether he could see Yamato and Taichi.  The pile of snow was just getting high enough that their heads would be covered if they sat in the shallow hole when Ken tapped Daisuke’s shoulder.  The two looked down to see Yamato and Taichi walking carefully towards them.

Daisuke and Ken nodded to each other in silent communication and Ken began making them a supply of snowballs.  Daisuke placed his goggles over his eyes and peeked over the top of their barrier, only to duck under a moment later as a snowball skimmed over the top.

Ken passed him a snowball and began lobbing them over the side, aiming towards Taichi and Yamato. While they were distracted, Daisuke stood up and aimed a shot directly at Taichi.

Taichi froze, unable to move in time.  Closing his eyes and accepting his fate, he was surprised when he only felt a few flakes of cold on his face.  Standing facing him was Yamato with a smile on his face.  He had taken the hit in Taichi’s place.

“You better win.”

With renewed vigour, Taichi grabbed some snow and leapt over the snow barrier Daisuke and Ken had constructed, pelting Ken with a snowball and diving into a forward roll to dodge the retaliating shot.  Taichi and Daisuke both ran in opposite directions, each finding shelter behind a different tree.

Ken sat down with a sigh, watching the two face off.  Yamato walked up to him and brushed off the snow that had settled into his hair.

“Nice job back there,” Yamato complimented.

“We’re going to win this year.”

Yamato laughed, although it wasn’t unkind.  “We’ll see.”

Daisuke and Taichi threw a few shots at each other, but soon seemed to realise that there was little chance of victory when they were both hiding behind a tree.  Cautiously, they each stepped out and began circling. Daisuke was the one to lose patience sooner, throwing his last snowball at Taichi.  Taichi dodged it and took a moment to aim.  Daisuke grit his teeth, silently cursing his lack of patience.

Suddenly, a snowball hit him in the back of the head, the fragments bursting over his hair and settling on his shoulders.  For a moment, no one moved.

Taichi turned to look at Yamato and Ken, completely bewildered.  Ken had moved his hand in front of his mouth, trying to hold back his laughter.  Yamato had no such qualms, openly laughing at Taichi’s expression, despite knowing that they’d lost.

“Looks like you two weren’t the only ones left,” he said, pointing to someone behind Taichi.

Taichi turned and blanched when his younger sister waved at him, a bright smile on her face.

“I guess that means we win.”

Yamato and Ken slowly walked towards the three with smiles on their faces.  Suddenly, Daisuke gave a massive whoop, jumped up and grabbed Hikari and Ken into a hug.  Yamato placed a comforting hand on Taichi’s shoulder.

“We’ll have to get our revenge next year.”

—

Kaiju ( 怪獣 , Japanese): Giant Beast.

Digimon ( デジモン , Japanese): Digital Monster.

—

rewrite coming up

—

tbc...

Note: Many many thanks to the lovely @ex-machiina for beta-ing, and for listening to my rants every time I wanted to give up and delete this entire thing. She motivated me to keep on writing. As did @eruriku and @thewalkingweapon, so they deserve a lot of credit too. You guys really were a tremendous help. I can’t express my thanks enough. :)

There was no safer place than by Yamato’s side. Gabumon didn’t know the exact reason why that was true. He could wonder if it had something to do to their destined bond, or if he just simply enjoyed Yamato’s presence and loved the time he spent with him. Truthfully it didn’t matter. After not seeing Yamato for so long, he was finally with him again. That simple pleasure held more meaning than anything else.

“Woah…” Gabumon’s gasp ended with a soft giggle, “Your room is cleaner than the last time I was here.”

“Aha, very funny,” Yamato rolled his eyes as he put Gabumon down on his feet, “It’s not like I like leaving it messy, I just get busy and forget to tidy up.”

Gabumon shook his head pretending to be unconvinced, “You know Yamato, slacking off on cleaning is not a good habit to have.”

“Again, very funny,” Yamato said with a stale monotone voice. His curtness didn’t last long. Soon he was gently smiling at Gabumon’s light banter, “Do you need anything right now? Water or something?”

“No, no. I’m fine.”

“I see, well I’ll be right back so you can just relax for a little bit okay.”

“Okay.”

Yamato nodded as he left the room with the door ajar. Gabumon smiled back at Yamato’s gentle demeanor as he stood in his friend’s room.

Even if it had been a year since they’ve last seen each other, they were still able to go back to their normal routine as if no time had passed. Gabumon couldn’t help but feel a little relieved at that. He was the same, he’d always be the same. But Yamato was no longer the child he once was. He had grown, to a degree Gabumon didn’t even expect, even if it had been ‘just’ a year. It felt like Yamato was a different place than where he was….

Gabumon shook his head and puffed out a breath through his nose. There was no need to think about such down thoughts right off of the bat, he had just reunited with Yamato after all!

Glancing around the room Gabumon noticed some differences since the last time he stayed with Yamato in the human world. Other than the layout being neater, he noticed a few things changed from the books on Yamato’s desk to the placement of his bed. There were new posters up on the walls that Gabumon couldn’t recognize. And the colors of the room weren’t as dark anymore.

There was Yamato’s bass case propped up in the corner of his room.  Followed by a small stereo system and some CD’s scattered around it. Gabumon trotted along the floor toward the small music space that Yamato created. Careful to not disrupt the pen and paper with notes scribbled along the margins, the small digimon shuffled through the CD’s with mild interest.

Music was an integral part of Yamato’s life. Even if Gabumon didn’t know too much about it, Yamato was always kind enough to explain it to him. Everything from the difference to guitar and bass to how harmonies and music bars were created. Gabumon took part in Yamato’s passion just from listening to him explain how music was.

As he was flipping in and out of the CD’s he did notice a few things wrong. If he remembered correctly, the Teen-Aged Wolves were a J-Rock/Pop band. They’re songs were mostly upbeat, catchy, meant to drive a crowd’s mood in a happier plane. Yamato specifically listened to bands that followed that motif, even if it wasn’t something that he liked right away. He did so to stay in line with what the band’s theme was.

But the stack of CD’s weren’t like that at all. Most of them had harsher cut images than the ones he remember seeing in the past. Their band names were rougher, steelier. And Gabumon couldn’t spot a single name that was remotely familiar with him. These were not the same kinds of CD’s that he knew Yamato liked to listen to for inspiration.

“Okay I’m back,” Yamato patted his hands on his shirt as he entered the room, “Sorry I just wanted to call my dad and update him with what’s going on.” He shrugged casually, “Not that he’ll mind anyway. But it’s better to keep him in the loop.”

“Oh,” Gabumon still had the CD’s in his hands as he was looking up, “That’s fine then. I haven’t seen your father in a long while too.”

“Yeah…well he won’t be home tonight…but when he comes back I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.”

Gabumon smiled nodding as he put the CD’s back down in the exact fashion as he found them. He looked at the plastic covers with the dark art and strange twist of unfamiliarity. He heard Yamato shuffle behind him, unconcerned with Gabumon handling his music collection. Gabumon looked up slightly to see Yamato sitting at his desk quietly and the digimon shifted slightly, “Yamato, mind if I ask you something?”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Well it’s…” Gabumon picked up one of the CD’s to make his question clearer. The CD cover was entirely black, with the band name in red and their faces barely lit under dramatic lighting, “These aren’t the same bands that you were studying before right? What happened with the other music? Wouldn’t it be bad if the Teenage-Wolves didn’t have the same style of music?”

“Hm?” Yamato hummed slightly as he stared at the cover in Gabumon’s paw. He unintentionally scoffed, before gently edging that tension away, “Oh. The Teenage-Wolves aren’t a band anymore.”

“What?” Gabumon jumped, not bothering to put the CD away properly, “What happened? I thought you liked being a band!”

“Yeah well…we spilt up. We stopped agreeing with each other about what was best for the band and once that’s starts happening you can’t really stop it.” Yamato said monotonously, “It’s fine though, I’m part of a new band now. We’re called Knife of Day now.”

“Knife of Day?”

“Mhm.”

“…I see…” Gabumon looked down at the new music collection.

Yamato noticed the solemn look in his partner’s eyes. He leaned forward, “What’s wrong?”

“Hm? It’s nothing.” Gabumon forced a smile to try to seem like his normal self again.

“Gabumon.” Yamato insisted. Even if he didn’t say anything else. The sternness in his voice was apparent enough. Imploring Gabumon that this wasn’t the time to try to keep his thoughts to himself.

Gabumon blinked, looking away. It wasn’t like he didn’t know that. Out of everything in this world and his, Yamato and his bond where one of the few where they could be completely honest with each other. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to tell Yamato…he was just…a little embarrassed that’s all.

“Well it’s obvious enough…” Gabumon started quietly, “But you’ve really grown up.”

“Well, yeah—”

“It’s a little sad for me to be honest,” Gabumon interrupted, “That you grew up without me.”

Yamato flinched, looking downward, “Gabumon…”

“I mean, it was definitely going to happen! I mean you’ve been living your life here while I’ve been in the digital world after all!” Gabumon ended in soft laugh, “It’s just a little…what’s the word? Saddening? I thought I understood you and all of your interests…but I don’t.” Gabumon looked up directly at Yamato, “It’s not like I’m not happy to see you grown up…it’s just I don’t know. Lonesome? In a way. It makes me wish that I had been here through that change instead of being surprised by it…”

Yamato stayed silent, biting the inside of his lip as his digimon stated the truth. Gabumon mirrored that silence. The sun was setting, making the light of the room a tan orange. Even if the light was technically bright and warm enough. Yamato didn’t know what to say to conjecture his partner. He didn’t feel like he was much different, but the evidence proved otherwise.

When he thought back to the days when he was first in the digital world. He remembered being confused and scared about what to do next. Whether they were doing the right thing, and being immensely afraid of doing the wrong thing. Even if he swung back and forth all the time, Gabumon was always by his side supporting him no matter what. That was his safety net. Knowing no matter what happened, he would still have a friend who supported him.

He wasn’t sure how to give back the same kind of feeling back. Even if he could argue against what Gabumon said, his heart wouldn’t be in it. He couldn’t change the truth of what has happened this past year.

“…” Yamato looked away from his floor as he leaned back in his chair. He sighed out and aimlessly glanced around his room, “Hey.”

“What is it?” Gabumon asked, sitting down against the bed.

Yamato reached over toward the small shiny case propped against the corner of his desk. He rubbed the dust off of the box first, before opening it up and pulling out the small brass harmonica, “I still remember how to play this though.”

Gabumon’s eyes lit up instantly, “You still have that?”

“Of course,” Yamato ran his thumbs over some of the scratches and nicks that he got on the brandishing. He experimentally blew into it. Nodding as he noticed it was still in tune, “I wouldn’t be able to get rid of this. Not with all of the memories in it.”

“I haven’t heard you play your harmonica in so long though!” Gabumon perked up his ears.

Yamato kept his laugh to himself. He knew how much Gabumon loved listening to him play when he was young. But he did find it cute how Gabumon was like a puppy wagging his tail at seeing him with his instrument again, “You want me to play you a song?”

“Yes of course!”

Yamato leaned back, once again blowing into the harmonica to get a feel for how he should play the instrument. Gabumon got more comfortable, climbing up onto the bed even as he sat down with his paws in his lap. Yamato blew a high note, easing it into the melody that was ingrained into him since he was a child. And started playing the song that he couldn’t ever forget.  

It was hard saying that ‘nothing was the same’. The idea that so much had changed without them realizing it was a hard truth to accept. A part of Yamato wanted to still believe that everything was like how he remembered.

Yamato opened his eyes slightly, seeing Gabumon sit straight with his paws in his lap. His eyes were fussed closed, and his ears twitched every so often. Yamato smiled against his harmonica.