Fleeting Hope

Chapter 1

Hi everyone, :) I started hyper fixating on Digimon recently even though I literally watched it for the first time like 10 years ago, but I hope you all enjoy this anyways!

"Takeru, wake up!" Natsuko yelled across the small apartment, "I swear you are later and later every day."

All Takeru could manage to do was give her a tired, cheeky grin as he stumbled out of his room, hair sticking up in almost every direction possible.

"You look like a wreck," she scowled, fumbling with his hair in an attempt to make it presentable. He brushed her hands away, moving towards the bathroom in order to fix it himself.

Takeru sighed as he saw the state he was in, "Gee mom I knew it was bad, but you could've been a little nicer." There was no malice behind the boy's words as he smiled brightly, quickly making himself as presentable as one would feel the need to be at school.

Natsuko could merely roll her eyes with a smile at her youngest son, ushering him out the door. He gave her a small salute as she practically slammed the door in his face, her message of urgency extremely clear.

"I am so over waiting for you every morning," Miyako appeared behind the boy, giving him a smack on the head with her textbook for good measure.

Iori frowned, but it wasn't completely genuine, "Be nice Miyako, I'm sure he had his reasons."

Flashing a bright smile at Iri's words, Takeru repeated them, "Yeah, Miyako, I have my reasons."

The girl in question just scowled, "Let's just go before you make us late!"

Takeru laughed loudly as he ran to catch up with the girl, his worries from the previous night retreating to the far reaches of his mind.

--------------------

"Can't believe I beat you guys here," Daisuke had a smug look on his face, "see Hikari, I'm much better than Takeru!"

Hikari giggled at his antics, turning towards the pair the boy had so blatantly called out, "is everything alright?" Her small smile was genuine, but the worry swimming in her eyes was obvious.

"Everything would be fine if Takeru didn't keep sleeping through his alarms," Miyako groaned, giving the girl puppy dog eyes, hoping to get consoled.

Takeru smiled, "Don't worry I'll never sleep through the worry and rage of my mother!"

The comment pulled laughter out of the entire group, but Hikari couldn't help but glance at Takeru, making sure his smile reached his eyes. When he smiled brighter at her look, she couldn't help but relax her shoulders a bit with a content sigh.

The kids all whipped their heads to the sound of a teacher clearing their throat at them, pointing at the clock on the wall. They all silently hoped Iori had made it to his own class on time as the elementary was slightly farther than the middle school. "See you later Miyako," Hikari cheerfully waved as she quickly followed behind Daisuke and Takeru.

--------------------

The day couldn't have dragged on any longer if Takeru had been trying to make it long. He was itching to get to the digital world as with there being peace and all, it had been several weeks since he had been able to see his best friend. Takeru was glad things were normal, but he had to admit normal could be pretty boring. Some of his best memories were made in the digital world and 'normal' got in the way of that.

"Looks like you're not last this time Takeru," Hikari teased as the boy entered the computer room of their middle school. It was different, but similar to the one they had used in elementary to travel to and from the digital world.

Before Takeru could respond, Miyako ran into the room panting, glancing at the two in front of her, "Yes! I beat Daisuke!" Her loud cheer echoed throughout the room as Daisuke ran in right behind her, running into Takeru before he could stop himself. Hikari offered both boys a hand to help pick them up off the floor.

Daisuke grumbled in defeat, "let's just go before Ken and Iori think something happened to us." It sucked, but they no longer could all meet up in the same place to go together because of everyone's different schools. And next year, Miyako would be off to high school, leaving them as a group of three until another year later when Iori would be in his first year of middle school.

The four middle schoolers stumbled in an attempt to keep their balance as they arrived in the digital world, one perk of getting older was definitely getting better at not crushing each other each time they entered or left the digital world.

"Takeru!" Patamon chirped happily as he dove into the boy's arm, similar reactions of the other Digimon reaching the boy's ears.

Takeru couldn't help the earsplitting smile that reached his face at the sight of his partner, "it is so good to see you Patamon." The two giggled as they hugged each other tightly.

"What brings you all here?" Hawkmon asked.

Miyako gasped in fake hurt, "are you saying you don't want us here?!"

"Of course not, Miyako!" the bird-like Digimon quickly explained, flapping his wings dramatically while moving around and doting on her as if to make up for his 'hurtful' words.

She laughed, giving Hawkmon a hard squeeze, "I don't actually think that."

Daisuke stepped forward to explain their reasoning for being there, "we just missed you guys is all, have you seen Iori and Ken?"

As if completely on cue, Iori and Ken ran out of the forest in their direction, Wormmon and Armadimon in tow. The two came to a stop in front of the other chosen children, panting slightly.

"Took you guys long enough," Ken smiled softly, "we already have a nice place set up to hang out by the water."

Daisuke jumped excitedly at his words, "well what are we waiting for?!" He ran off in the direction of the ocean, whooping as Veemon yelled after him, struggling to keep up.

"We can't let them have all the fun!" Hikari called out, running after them, Tailmon in her arms.

Takeru nodded his head, giving a determined look to Patamon, "she's right, let's go!"

Miyako groaned and began running after them with Iori, Ken, and their Digimon, "wait for us!"

--------------------

Takeru flopped into his bed, exhausted, "what a long day." He sighed to himself, closing his eyes in content.

His eyes ripped open at the sound of the familiar scream, but he wasn't in his room anymore. He opened his mouth to call out the person's name, but he realized he couldn't quite put his finger on why he knew the scream.

"Patamon...?" He called out quietly, unsure of what dangers may lie nearby

The Digimon in question appeared before, but his eyes had lost their sparkle, they were a solid blue, almost as if the Digimon were dead. Takeru heard his partner mumble something but couldn't quite make it out.

Stepping forward to take the Digimon in his arms, he asked, "is everything alright, buddy?"

"There is no hope." The muttering became louder, loud enough for Takeru to pick up on his words.

Takeru laughed nervously, "what do you mean? There's always hope."

The Digimon, however, did nothing to react or respond to what Takeru was saying. He merely began repeating his phrase over and over, each time raising his volume. This continued until he was practically screaming, Takeru had to drop his partner in order to keel over in pain, covering his ears.

"Patamon stop!" He cried out, letting out a sigh as silence filled the air around him. He began to look up to question his partner's antics, but when he finally raised his eyes, he was alone.

Before Takeru could do anything, he was suddenly in his bed again, staring up at the ceiling. He wondered what the dream meant and if anything could ever make his partner truly believe there was no hope. And if there was something with that power, what was it?