Digimon Adventure: Continuing Evolution

Preface

Before you begin this tale, I want you to understand my story. I was the same age as T.K. and Kari were when the English dub of Digimon: Digital Monsters first appeared on the Fox Kids network in America. I had never seen anything like it before, an animated t.v. show that told a single continuous story unfolding over the length of its run, with relatable characters that struggled with deep, real-world issues and didn't tone things down because you were a kid, that taught the value of courage, friendship, and hope...oh, and that just so happened to contain awesome fights with powerful monsters. I was instantly hooked, and watched it religiously through the first season. It felt like I had to wait the same 3 years that the characters did before we were reunited with Digimon again with the advent of the second season (though looking back at the air-dates, only two months passed between the first season's conclusion and the second's beginning). And though "Adventure 02" was very different in some ways from its predecessor, it felt like a progression of the story in the same way that the characters progressed from child into teenager; the world felt more grown-up, and the controversial epilogue that gave us a glimpse 25 years into the future of their lives as adults with their own children blew my 9-year-old mind into smithereens. And I'm still picking up the pieces 21 years later.

I was obsessed with Digimon. I wanted my own digimon partner. I wanted to go to the Digital World. I wanted to know everything that happened to them from the end of Zero Two to the epilogue and waited impatiently for a third season. Instead, Digimon Tamers came along, which completely scrubbed the board clean and started fresh. I felt betrayed; this wasn't Digimon, not how I knew it anyway. (I still watched Tamers of course, and my appreciation of it has only grown over the years as its own thing, but back then I was just gutted we weren't getting more Digimon Adventure). Years went by; in my teens I satisfied my Digimon fix by trawling fanfiction.net for Digimon content (though never contributed any myself), and I often wondered as I grew up exactly what Tai and the others were doing at this moment of their lives, what challenges they were facing, while morosely believing I would never find out.

Then, as I was preparing to move away from home to attend college, Digimon Adventure Tri was announced. Needless to say, my hype levels were through the roof. I knew it was unlikely that it would be able to do justice to its predecessor, and there was no way it could fully replicate the magic of the old show. But I was just happy Digimon was coming back at last, knowing full well I had impossible expectations to satisfy. What we got was...a very mixed bag. It started off decently enough in my opinion, and even had a few moments that hinted of real brilliance, but overall it became a disappointing failure of unrealized potential. The characters were so out-of-character as to be caricatures of their former selves, the 02 cast were absent from the entire series, and the writers clearly didn't have a fully conceptualized plan for the plot. (Also, I ended up hating Meiko. Like, I really, really hate her). I didn't regret that it was made, it just could have been so much better, and when the last movie hinted at more to tell I still hoped there would be another sequel.

Enter Last Evolution: Kizuna, a beautifully bittersweet send-off to our collective childhood. Because of COVID-19, I didn't get the chance to see it until October 2020 when it was released on DVD in America. But when I finally saw it, and a little while afterward, I was not okay lol, and I didn't know what to do with it at first. I'd already rejected Adventure Tri from my headcanon for several reasons, but mostly because everyone seemed so out-of-character. But with LEK, my problem was that the concept of the digimon partner bonds breaking once the Digidestined enter adulthood is a pretty radical idea that seemed to come out of nowhere, and the explanation for why it happens felt lacking/unconvincing. Not to mention it raises some big questions about the 02 epilogue, which appears to contradict this notion (even though LEK clearly still treats the epilogue as canon with all the nods to it that it contains). Yet, and despite my heartbreak, I had to admit it was a nearly perfect love letter to the original anime, and really feels like classic digimon, unlike Tri. My only true complaints are that it wasn't able to explore every detail and tangent that I wanted it to within the constraints of its runtime, and the soul-crushingly sad ending that is left unresolved. I ultimately decided to accept LEK into my personal canon, minus the one small nod to Meiko connecting it with Tri. But I still needed answers, and since I didn't think we were ever likely to get any, I decided to answer them for myself, which is where this fanfic comes in. (But it appears that a new movie post-LEK is in the works focusing on Davis and the 02 Digidestined, so maybe we'll get some legit answers after all!)

I say all that to say this: I am the Digimon Adventure fan. If you were left hollow by the 02 epilogue, disappointed with Tri, and need more than just what Last Evolution: Kizuna gave us, this fanfic is for you. I intend here to create a plausible account of the lives of the Digidestined immediately after LEK and leading up to the 02 epilogue based off of my personal headcanon. Yes, couples relationships will be explored—though I don't consider them the primary focus—and I want to keep which specific pairings a surprise to discover within the fic itself. However, I will say this: I intend to fully honor the established canon of the first two seasons of Digimon Adventure, as well as Last Evolution: Kizuna; there will be no changes or what I would consider true contradictions to them, only a few retcons that expand on certain minor details. The only exception is LEK's weak acceptance of Digimon Adventure Tri as canon: In this story, Tri is not canon, the events in them did not happen, and Meiko--and all other characters introduced in the series--do not exist. The only clear indication that Tri and LEK are in the same canon is the brief shot of Meiko and Meicoomon in the Neverworld, which can be easily ignored. All other similarities to Tri could have happened organically between 02 and LEK without its inclusion.

A final note of interest: I grew up watching the English dub of Digimon, and so my crafting of the story reflects it as such. Most of the time I write the characters' dialogue with the American voice actor's voices in mind (i.e., Tai sounds like Joshua Seth, Kari like Lara Jill Miller, Davis like Brian Donovan, etc.), and I use the Americanized names most of the time. However, having more recently seen the original Japanese version of the show, I have grown to appreciate it in some ways as much as the dub, and so now my headcanon contains a curious mixture of both versions of the characters which at times may manifest within the fanfic, though the English remains predominant. It isn't required to have watched the Japanese version to appreciate my fanfic, but a general knowledge of anime tropes may possibly supplement your enjoyment of it. I also recognize the Japanese version as the ultimate authority in regard to canon, and where differences between the two are present, tend to favor the Japanese version (for example, 3 years passed between the first and second Adventures, whereas the English dub sometimes says it was 4 years).