I hope you enjoy your story! :) Happy Holidays. :)

Though ages and years are never explicitly said, I went by technology of around 2004 that Izzy and Ken are comparing things too.

:)

“Thank you for my chess set, Izzy.” Ken said. “I really want to start playing again.”

The two had formed a bond. Ken might not have been a genius anymore, but he was still pretty smart. They had other people in the group they hung out with more, but they really understood each other.

Izzy smiled. “Of course! We should play sometime.”

“Sounds good.” Ken nodded, taking a drink of the Tea that Izzy had prepared for them. “Now about my gift to you…”

Izzy smiled, politely. “I know you don’t have money and couldn’t get me anything. It’s fine.”

“Well…” Ken said awkwardly. “I don’t have any money. But I still have something for you. Thing is, it’s not something I can GIVE to you…. more of a loan.”

“Oh?” Izzy asked, kind of intrigued.

Ken looked away, awkwardly. “You… remember when I stopped being the emperor? How I didn’t come around to the group right away?”

Izzy nodded. It had been a couple years since then, but it was still a sensitive topic for everyone. Izzy really wanted to tell Ken not to bring it up, for his own sake, but he knew there must be a reason he wanted to.

“Well one of the things I did was, before it exploded, I walked around my old base, to see if anything brought back any memories that had been repressed.”

Izzy’s eye’s widened. “Did you have any luck?”

“Not really. But before I went in there, when I first went home, a few memories came back. One of which was about… an old friend, Ryo.”

“You talked about him before. You think he got transported to another world?”

“Yeah.” Ken said. “We know there isn’t just the digital world out there. We know there is the dark ocean, and the world that grants wishes. But there are many more.”

Izzy nodded, stroking his chin. “I’ve theorized that too, but we can’t be sure-.”

“Oh no, we can.” Ken said, confidently. “And that is my gift. I want to show you what I have seen.”

With that, Ken pulled from his pocket, a small rectangle device, with buttons.

“This is what I found in the base. I didn’t know what it was, and most things Wormmon couldn’t help me with, because I…” Ken fought off being down on himself for not being nice to him while he was the emperor. “-Wormmon just wouldn’t have known. But he knew about this, because apparently we both went to other worlds, looking for Ryo.”

“But you didn’t find him?” Izzy asked, curiously.

Ken shook his head. “No… I wish I could though. So why don’t we?”

Izzy looked excited, but skeptical. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

Ken nodded. “Completely.”

“Is there anything dangerous there? Should we take our Digimon?” Izzy asked, still trying to be prepared. If Ken didn’t know any better, he would have thought Izzy was turning into Joe!

“The device makes it so that we are undetected with a type of cloak, unless we want to be seen, we won’t be. The cloak also protects us in case it’s in a different atmosphere.”

Izzy nodded. “Okay, when can we go?”

Ken smiled, as he held up the device. “Right now, if you’re ready.”

Izzy took one more sip of Oolong Tea before smiling. “Prodigious!”

“Okay,” Ken said, as he stood beside Ken. “This will beam out anything within a 5 foot radius.”

Izzy looked a little concerned. “What about the floor?”

Ken shook his head. “The object or life form has to be fully inside the 5 feet, or it won’t transport.”

“Okay.” Izzy said, getting close. “Let’s go.”

Ken nodded and pressed the button. Next thing they knew, they were in a park.

“Where are we?” Izzy asked.

Ken looked around. “I’m not sure. There isn’t anyone aroun-.”

“Gatchmon, be careful, we don’t want you to be seen by anyone else!”

Ken turned around to see a guy Ken’s age, talking to, what looked like, a Digimon.

“He said GatchMON, didn’t he?” Izzy said, blinking.

“I think so…” Ken said, surprised. “Maybe we could talk to him?”

Izzy thought about it. “It would be really cool, but what if he just thinks we’re crazy? Or worse, that we’re his enemy?”

“Good point. But maybe we could just try and talk to him and not say anything about the Digimon, and see if he says anything about it. And if he does react badly, we can just go back to our world.”

“Okay let’s try-”

“Gatchmon!!…” Haru called out, as Gatchmon ran away from him in another direction.

“This is our chance!” Ken said, pressing the button to make them visible.

“Hey!” Izzy protested. “Shouldn’t we have talked about this for a nanosecond more?”

“But we couldn’t have made ourselves visible when they were around, We needed to do it while they were away, to be safe.”

“I guess that’s true.” Izzy said. Before he could say anything else, Gatchmon was right in front of them.

“Wah!” Gatchmon said, falling over in surprise.

“Gatchmon I- … Oh… Hello there…” Haru said awkwardly, as he spotted Ken and Izzy.

Izzy debated for a second about how to handle it, but he shrugged, they had already said Gatchmon…

But before Izzy could say anything, Haru pulled out a device, and Gatchmon seemed to transport into it.

“Sorry about that…” Haru said, trying to think of what to say… “That’s… …. A new awesome toy! Kind of like a v-pet, but it becomes a hologram! It’s really cool!”

Both Ken and Izzy looked at eachother, both fully aware this was a cover, but they decided to go along with it.

“That sounds like a really cool toy!” Ken said.

“Yeah!” Izzy agreed. “Technology really is amazing.”

Haru nodded, smiling. “I haven’t seen you two around here before. Are you new here?”

“We’re just visiting.” Izzy said.

“Visiting family for the holidays?”

“Yeah.” Ken said, “But we aren’t meeting them until later.”

“Wanna get something to eat?” Haru asked happily.

“We would.” Izzy said, looking awkward. “But we don’t have any money…” It wasn’t exactly true, but who knew what kind of currency this place took.

“I have some extra.” Haru said happily. “Do you guys like burgers and shakes?”

Ken and Izzy looked at each other. They didn’t want to impose, but they were curious to do something in this world.

“Prodigious! Let’s eat!” Izzy said, cheerfully.

Haru blinked, confused. “Prodigious?”

Izzy blushed, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s just something I say when I’m happy about something.”

“I see.” Haru said, smile coming back. “The burger place is this way!”

As they walked, they could see more of the city. Izzy and Ken both could tell that they had a more advanced civilization.

Just then, they heard music coming from Haru’s pocket.

“Uh… Excuse me…” Haru said bowing to the others, as he pulled a rectangle device from his pocket, and put it up to his ear. “Hello? Yuujin? Yeah I can meet you later…”

Izzy was in awe. He figured out it must have been a phone, but it was a weird shape. Where was the keypad? Was it in a secret compartment?

As Haru hung up the call, Izzy forgot to act like everything was normal.

“What kind of amazing phone is that?!” Izzy cried out. Ken shot him a look, but it was already done.

“It’s… my WaffleCorp smart phone. You’ve never seen a smart phone?” Haru asked, surprised.

Izzy realized his mistake and back pedaled. “I mean… Of course I HAVE! I just meant, I don’t have one. Mine just has the keypad on the front and you can only make calls.”

Haru frowned. “I didn’t even know they still made phones like that anymore. You guys must REALLY be poor. I’m glad was able to buy you guys some food!”

Ken looked at Izzy with a sad look. He hated the fact that Haru thought they were a couple of bums, but he also knew it was the best way to cover.

“We do alright.” Ken said. “Our family just doesn’t have enough extra for all of us to have a smart phone.”

“I guess that makes sense…” Haru said, as they walked into the burger place. “Order whatever you want guys!”

The boys all ordered, and got their food. As they ate, they talked.

“This food is really good.” Izzy said. The truth was it was a little different from what he was used to, but it was still good.

“Yeah, thank you again.” Ken said, taking another bite of his burger.

Izzy was debating asking a question. But finally he decided to just go with it.

“Haru? I hope I’m not being rude but… could I see your… smart phone?”

Haru smiled, holding up his phone. “Since you don’t have a smart phone, you probably want to see some cool apps!”

“Apps?-APPS!” Izzy caught himself. “Yeah! I always wondered about… what… apps were…”

Ken face palmed.

“Really? You don’t know what apps are?” Haru said, confused. “Well… you can’t afford smart phones for your family, but do you have a family computer or tablet?”

“Tabl-?”

“YES.” Ken interjected. “Yes, we have a computer.”

“Well,” Haru said. “It’s like when you click on a game or a tool on a computer…”

“OH!” Izzy said, excited. “It’s a executable program on a phone! That’s really prodigious!!! … wait… why do they call it an… app? Why not an Executable Program? Or Exe for short?”

Ken couldn’t help but smile at his friend. There was no hope for him. Even so, they should probably be getting back.

“I don’t know…” Haru said, looking confused. “I don’t know that much about computers.”

“Izzy,” Ken said. “We really should be getting back…”

Izzy frowned. He didn’t want to leave, but he knew that they shouldn’t stay too long.

“Aww…” Haru said, disappointed. “Do you have to already?”

“Yeah, we really should.” Ken said, smiling politely. “Thank you very much for your hospitality.”

Haru tried to smile, but you could tell he was sad. “Do you think you’ll ever visit this place again?”

Izzy looked at Ken, and Ken nodded with a smile. “Of course we will!”

Haru smiled. “Good! See you!”

“See you!” Ken and Izzy said, as they walked outside, to an area no one could see them.

“That was fun.” Izzy said. “I felt bad that we couldn’t stay in touch though.”

“We can.” Ken said. “We can just visit here every once in a while.”

“Prodigious!” Izzy said, as Ken hit the button to send them back home.

The End.