Chapter 196

Harry, Nejire, and Eri arrived at the Kamiya's household and went to Tai's room, there they found Tai cleaning his soccer shoes, they all sat around him and just rested while he did his thing, though soon enough, Nejire lay down with her head on Harry's lap, which had him smiling at her in amusement, Kari soon arrived home as well and Eri immediately ran to her and gave her a big hug, which had Kari happily smiling.

Both then went to Kari's room so she could change, a few moments later, Kari walked into Tai's room with Eri, she quickly smiled at Harry and Nejire in greeting and then took a seat in Tai's computer chair with Eri sitting on her lap and leaned back so she Kari could hug her, which she did.

Kari then relaxed for a few moments, and then suddenly began to speak "I saw a whole side of you Tai, that day we were all talking after Ogremon came to the real world".

Tai continued to clean his shoes but did respond to Kari's words, though he had an idea what she meant "Yeah? Why's that?".

Kari hugged Eri like a teddy bear even more than she already was doing and then said "What you said the other day, about Joe wanting to come but couldn't".

Tai stopped cleaning his shoes and looked up at his sister, who then began to speak her thoughts about the situation "I think that Joe is still trying to figure things out, so why don't you go and talk to him?".

Tai looked down and went back to cleaning his shoes, though he narrowed his eyes as he thought about Kari's question for a few seconds, before just saying "Just let it go".

Kari looked confused at Tai's response, she could really understand why Tai seemed to want to stay out of the situation with Joe, so she questioned him "But Tai?"

Tai sighed and then explained himself "It's clear that there are things he doesn't want to face".

Kari rested her head on top of Eri's and sighed "You really think that includes being one of us, being one of the DigiDestined?".

Tai looked at his soccer shoes in silence for a few moments and then said "Look, if I talk to him, he'll have to face it and that might drive him further away".

Kari nodded, she now understood her bothers thoughts about Joe, he was of course worried for him, but it seems that Joe needs time to think, or at least, that's what Tai believes, she then turned her head towards Harry "And you? Why haven't you gone to see Joe? I'm sure if you speak to him, he'll come around".

Harry nodded and then smiled at Kari "That's exactly why I haven't spoken to him yet, and why I told you guys not to tell him I'm back.

Joe is already an adult, I can't keep holding his hand and tell him what to do, if I do that he'll grow to eventually resent me for it, no, I have to let him come to his own answers and decisions, so he can make the right choices for himself.

I have faith in him, in all of you, but you're no longer children, Kari, and at some point, you're all going to have to make these kinds of decisions, sure, if you come to me and ask for help, I'll gladly do so, but, it has to be your choice".

Kari nodded, and looked down towards Eri, who was looking up at her "What about you Eri? What should we do?".

Eri smiled at Kari and then said "Popcorn and a movie?"

Kari giggled at Eri's answer, while Tai just grinned, Nejire sat up and fist pumped in excitement "Ooh! That sounds like fun! Let's do that!".

It was then, that the Kamiya's had a movie night along with Harry, Eri, and Nejire, luckily for everyone, Harry was the one who made the popcorn and not Miss Kamiya, otherwise most of them wouldn't be able to enjoy them.

-----

Meanwhile, Joe was back home and once again studying hard, though he suddenly stopped and took a look at a picture nearby, one that was taken a long time ago, a picture where all the DigiDestined and Harry were standing together and happily smiling.

Joe looked at the picture for a while, frustration and sadness building up inside him again, along with the guilt and he teared up, but he quickly rubbed his eyes so he wouldn't cry, suddenly, Gomamon called out to him "Joe!".

Joe quickly looked away from the picture and turned his chair around to speak to Gomamon, who had stepped into his room with a big bowl of ramen on his head, Gomamon smiled at Joe and then said "I made you a midnight snack! and I even added an egg!".

Joe smiled and stood up from his chair, he walked over to Gomamon and nodded to his Digimon Partner "You're so good to me".

Gomamon smiled at Joe and said, "I'm here for you! Whatever you need! You need food? I'll get it, you need a pencil? I'll get it, you need sleep, then you might have to help with that one! but I'll still help you!".

Joe, just felt horrible now, Gomamon has always been a great friend to him, the best, and here he was full of doubts and self-loathing, everything that Joe had been holding in his heart came rushing out and he couldn't stop it "Gomamon... I'm sorry...".

Joe couldn't help the tears of frustration running down his face anymore and he started to shake, which Gomamon noticed, he didn't understand what was wrong with his friend, all he knew, is that whatever it is, it was hurting Joe a lot.

Not wanting to cause more distress to Joe, Gomamon decided to leave him be, so he pushed himself out of Joe's room, though he stooped by the doorway and looked back with a smile before saying "Joe, don't let the food get cold, okay?".

With that said, Gomamon left Joe's room, now alone, Joe dropped to his knees and began to punch his tights in frustration, tears now fully dropped from his eyes, tears that fell on top of the ramen that Gomamon made and brought for him.

-----

The next morning, Joe woke up with Gomamon missing, which got him very worried, so he hopped off his bed and began to look for him all over his room, he soon saw his cellphone, so he went to get it and checked his messages to see if Gomamon sent him one or something.

He found one right away, one from Gomamon that said "Thank you for everything" which confused Joe a lot "What's this supposed to mean?".

-----

Meanwhile, in Izzy's office, Tentomon was speaking with Gomamon "You can stay here, but you're going to have to help me eat all of this food, can you handle that?".

Gomamon, who was already eating said food, cheerfully nodded "I'll try~".

Tentomon nodded and then said, "I'll ask Izzy but I'm sure it won't be a problem, no sweat! cause I can't sweat! Plus we could use a helping hand, err helping claw, someone to make things like snacks and so forth".

Gomamon smiled and nodded "Great! Count me in!".

Suddenly, Izzy came running into his office, he immediately headed for his computer, which grabbed Tentomon and Gomamon's attention, Tentomon then decided to ask what his friend was doing "Izzy? Why are you running, I just said no sweat".

Izzy quickly began to type something on his computer "Something important came up, I have to investigate".

Tentomon took off flying and then flew towards Izzy "Lay in on me sister".

Izzy smiled at his friend and quickly began to explain "I got an email from an unknown sender, so I just figured it was some kind of spam, I scanned it just in case and didn't find a virus, but did find a something else"

Izzy quickly typed something on his computer and then opened a window with some sort of message in some strange kind of language, Gomamon and Tentomon both took a look at the computer to see what had Izzy in a tizzy, and both quickly recognized it, but it was Tentomon who said what it was "That's Digicode!".

Gomamon nodded "Yeah, but why?".

Izzy quickly explained further "It shares a source with the Digital World code, it says 'the universe has two sides like a coin, those that have power must seek the darkness but look past it'...".

Tentomon couldn't help but comment on what he had just heard, thinking that it was some kind of joke or something "Is it some kind of prank?".

Izzy shook his head "Well, it could be, but we still have to confirm that and figure out, who would have done it".

Both Gomamon and Tentomon shared a look of confusion, this was a bit too difficult for them, though they were more than happy to help Izzy try and figure out the email.

Izzy also texted Harry, thinking he might be able to help, though Harry did respond right away and told him he had some things to do first the next morning, but that he will meet up with him later on to see what they can figure out together.

-----

~Next Morning~

Maki was in her office drinking some coffee and getting ready to start her day, when she suddenly received an email in Digicode as well, she took out her cellphone and made a call, as soon as someone answered she began to speak "Yes, the Digimon who you are concerned about is being watched over by her human partner... but still, something could always try to take advantage of the situation... we have to be careful... right".

Maki finished speaking what she wanted to say to the person on the other line and hung up, an agent soon walked inside her office and called out to her "Agent Himekawa, here's the debriefing of the data concerning recent digital distortions".

The agent walked over to Maki and then placed a map on her desk, he then pointed at a location, "We think we can predict the locations where they'll occur and will need more security".

Maki nodded "Understood, we'll increase security in those areas... especially the more populated ones".

The agent nodded but then pointed at a specific location "Right, but unfortunately, there's a school festival happening later on today".

Maki widen her eyes in surprise towards the agent and then, looked down at the map with a concerned look on her face, things were moving too fast, even for her and that had her worried.

-----

~Later that morning~

The DigiDestined's school was full of excitement and cheer as the students ran around to get everything they need ready for the school festival, Maki soon arrived and met with Daigo, who quickly reported to her "We increased security in the school and we have permission to evacuate the area if needed".

Maki nodded "Understood, have you told them?".

Daigo shook his head "How could I break the news? Today is supposed to be a fun day, look they're DigiDestined second and kids first".

Maki frowned but didn't say anything and just kept walking around with Daigo to keep a watch on everything going on in the school festival.

-----

~Meanwhile, in Mimi and Meiko's classroom~

Mimi arrived at her class and was about to open the door when Meiko suddenly opened it before she could and cheerfully smiled at her "Mimi! Good your here!".

Mimi jumped in surprise and held her chest since Meiko jump scared her a bit, but she soon recovered and then noticed that Meiko was wearing a cheerleader uniform "Meimei! You look incredible in that cheerleader uniform!".

Meiko blushed and nervously began to wave her arms in front of her "Ah! Well, Nejire is here and she saw the uniforms and then she said she was going to wear one, then Eri asked me to wear mine and I... couldn't say no...".

Mimi giggled at Meiko's little panic attack, poor Meiko fidgeted a bit while blushing, but soon smiled and then said "Err... I wanted to wear it too!".

Mimi stopped laughing and then stared at Meiko, waiting to see where she was going with this, Meiko continued on "We talked about designs and came up with this! Well... it was really you who had the idea and well... Sora and Harry were the ones who put it together, but like you said, it made me happy".

Mimi's eyes widen as Meiko told her how happy her idea and working on it made her, Meiko then gave Mimi a soft and very beautiful smile "I thought that your idea might make everyone happy and how I can help out by wearing this! and so-".

Mimi cut off Meiko and hugged her tightly "Meimei! Thank you".

Meiko began to blush deep crimson red while being hugged so tightly by Mimi "Ah! Mimi!".

Mimi giggled and let go of Meiko, she then looked Meiko over and nodded "I just knew you would look great in this, I can wait to put mine on!".

Meiko stopped fidgeting and blushing and then remembered something "Oh! That's right! Harry told me to bring you to him when you got here! He has your uniform ready, but he has some things to do later, so we have to hurry!".

Mimi excitedly grinned and then grabbed Meiko's hand and pulled her with her to go find Harry, though Meiko had to yell at her to tell her where Harry is waiting for her because Mimi had no idea where to go after all.

-----

~Sometime later~

Mimi and Meiko arrived back to the classroom, this time, Mimi was wearing her cheerleader uniform, Nejire and Eri arrived with them as well, Nejire was also wearing a cheerleader uniform and was all smiles and excited to help in this school festival, especially with Mimi and Meiko.

Eri just walked inside with her big old witches hat on her head and holding Meiko's hand, she looked around in excitement for the event Mimi's class has organized, however, the other girls in the class were all just wearing a blue apron on.

They all refused to wear the cheerleader uniforms Mimi proposed, but Mimi just laughed when she saw this "I knew we would be the only ones wearing the uniforms!".

Eri stared at the other girls who were gaping at Mimi, Meiko, and Nejire, no one could blame them though, these three looked pretty cute and beautiful in their cheerleader uniforms, Eri tilted her head and then said "Hm? Why isn't anyone else wearing the pretty uniforms?".

The girls all turned to look at Eri and immediately gushed at how cute she is, most wanted to walk towards her and give her a hug or a head pat, but Eri just shook her head in disappointment and then said "How boring...".

All the girls flinched as if they were being stabbed through the heart by Eri's words, some even dropped to their knees in pain and defeat, Mimi and Meiko just smiled at the girls, while Nejire laughed, emotional damage from Eri is pretty painful and funny to see after all.

-----

Meanwhile, Izzy was showing Harry the email he received in digital code, after handing Mimi her cheerleader uniform, Harry immediately went to Izzy's office, since Izzy asked him to come over to his office and Harry agreed to do so after helping the girls a bit and was now checking the email, though it made him frowned as he began to read a part of the email out loud "If true power must see the darkness but move past it? What does this even mean?".

Izzy shook his head since he didn't have an idea "I don't know, I can't figure it out, but the fact that it's in Digicode makes me think that it has to do with the current situation".

Harry stood up straight and sighed "Yeah, it seems like that's the case, did you figure out who sent it?".

Izzy, once again shook his head "No".

Harry frowned and turned to look at the Digimon who were all eating some food he brought for them, they all seem to be having fun speaking with each other and eating as much as they can.

It made Harry smile to see them so cheerful and happy, he then turned his head towards Leomon who was just relaxing on a couch with his eyes close, Tentomon suddenly called out to him "Leomon, do you want to eat anything?".

Leomon just shook his head, the Digimon all sweatdropped while Harry chuckled at what Tentomon said next "Or just sit there and look intimidating...".

Suddenly, Izzy received a message and quickly took out his smartphone to check it "Oh... Joe wants to know where Gomamon is".

Harry and Izzy then turned to look at Gomamon, who was eating a donut, Izzy then decided to call out to him "Gomamon?".

Gomamon stopped eating and turned his head towards Izzy "What happened?".

Izzy quickly informed Gomamon of what was going on "Joe is asking everybody where you are".

Gomamon sadly frowned and looked "Oh yeah, right...".

Izzy looked at Gomamon confused, Harry hummed and then asked a question "Did you tell him where you were going?".

Gomamon continue to look down and then shook his head "Noooo...".

Harry frowned at Gomamon "Gomamon, what's going on?".

Gomamon sighed "I have my reasons to leave... please don't tell, Joe where I am".

Harry shared a look with Izzy but then sighed "Fine, but I expect you to explain at some point, it's too dangerous for this sort of thing to be happening, do I make myself clear?".

Gomamon nodded and then saluted to Harry "Yes sir!".

Harry just chuckled and shook his head, he and Izzy then went back to investigating the email and trying to figure out what it means.

-----

Meanwhile, Joe was getting text messages from everyone, letting him know that they haven't seen Gomamon anywhere, which only made Joe very worried for his friend "Where are you Gomamon?".

-----

~Sometime later~

The school festival was now starting and everyone was getting ready to begin and have fun, though Meiko was having a small panic attack now that the time has come "I can't! I really can't! Don't make me do it!".

Mimi was trying to coax Meiko out of her hiding spot "Oh come on! You want to make everyone happy don't you?!".

Meiko shook her head and held on tight to the table she was holding while crouching down beside it, Mimi sighed, Nejire laughed a bit finding the whole thing funny, and Eri tilted her head and then waved her hand towards Meiko, who started to float, Meiko gasped and shook her head "Nooo! Eri don't do this to me!".

Eri just smiled and said, "Daddy and Big Sister Sora worked hard on these uniforms, it would be a shame if no one got to see you wear one Big Sis Meiko!".

Meiko gave up and just let Eri float her out of her hiding spot, she gave Eri a look of pure betrayal, but Eri just smiled and set her down on the ground, after that little debacle, Mimi and Nejire pushed Meiko to the classroom's door where everyone was waiting on them to begin.

Though the rest of the girls still looked defeated and gloomy, looks like they haven't recovered from Eri's words and the emotional damage they received from them, though they still went on with their event, the doors were soon opened.

The customers came in and poor Meiko was very embarrassed and nervous, that she began to sneeze, but Eri stayed with her and held her hand to help her go through this more easily, it certainly helped Meiko a lot and didn't let go of Eri's hand, in fact, the little Potter even helped her served tables.

Meanwhile, Mimi and Nejire were having a lot of fun serving tables and looking cute while doing it, the poor boys that would go there would sometimes stutter or get nervous, whenever Nejire or Mimi would serve them their orders.

-----

~Meanwhile~

Maki and Daigo were walking around and keeping an eye on everything, though Daigo was trying to get Maki to relax a bit, he even began to offer her to get her some food but Maki refused and even told Daigo that she thought that school festivals were lame.

Daigo just smiled and shook his head while reminding Maki that she had said the same thing in high school, Maki rolled her eyes at Daigo for bringing up her past, but then Daigo stopped walking and looked up "Though, you know, back in middle school you couldn't get enough of them".

Maki sighed "Well, we can't stay kids forever... that's what I think, I used to think a lot when I was a kid, but I never found the answers I was after... no matter how much thinking I did... high school was not an easy time for me".

-----

At the same time, Maki was talking to Daigo, Joe was becoming more and more worried about Gomamon as time passed by, he was really beginning to miss his friend, and he just hopes that someone could find him soon, otherwise, he'll go and look for Gomamon himself.

-----

~Back with Daigo and Maki~

Daigo smiled and shook his head "So you had some growing pains, everyone does but you were never childish Maki".

Maki didn't say anything and just close her eyes for a second, after that, she opened them and began to look around for anything suspicious until she suddenly spotted someone on the rooftop of the school "Is that Ken?".

Maki was about to run over, but in a blink of an eye, the so-called Ken was gone, so Maki stopped and stared at the spot, where she saw him in shock, though she quickly began to look around everywhere for Ken.

Daigo noticed this and walked over to Maki "Is something wrong?".

Maki stopped looking around and looked down perplexed at what she saw, as Daigo stared at her, Maki was trying to make sense of the fact that someone who looked like Ken was in the school.

-----

~In Mimi and Meiko's classroom~

The event prepared by the class seems to be a big success, a lot of people came to eat and just have fun, though a lot of the guys going to the event, were there to see Nejire, Mimi, and Meiko, and most of the girls went there to see Eri as rumors of an adorable little witch was spreading around school rather quickly.

Suddenly, Daigo and Maki arrived, Daigo immediately walked in and said "A table for two please!".

Mimi was serving some drinks but she quickly turned around to look at Daigo and smiled "Come on in, we'll get you a table soon!".

Mimi then called out to Meiko "Meimei! It's your turn!".

Meiko shyly walked forward while holding Eri's hand, surprising Daigo and Maki, Meiko then nervously said "I-I'll show y-you to your t-table now...".

Maki stared at Meiko with wide eyes full of surprise and suddenly began to laugh, Meiko blushed and shook her head "I'm sorry!".

Mimi soon arrived and hugged Meiko with one arm since she was holding some drinks with her other one "Don't let her fool you! Her whole shy attitude is getting her a lot of fans!".

Meiko shook her head and tried to hide her face with her free arm "Ah, no don't say that Mimi!".

Everyone shared a laugh at Meiko's embarrassment and soon after Meiko, took Diago and Maki to a table, as she took their orders, Maki decided to ask a question "Where's Meicoomon?".

Meiko quickly answered Maki's question "Oh! She's over at Izzy's with the other Digimon, they're having a play day with each other and having a ton of snacks! Harry went there to bring them to the Digimon!".

Maki nodded "Oh".

Daigo smiled and then said, "We'll, at least Harry is there with the Digimon, I'm sure he'll make sure they don't get into trouble".

Meiko nodded "Yup! The Digimon all respect and listen to Harry, plus he has his way of handling things".

Maki looked intrigued, but before she could ask for more details about Harry, Daigo asked about Izzy "So, is Izzy there too?".

Meiko nodded, Daigo frowned and said "So Izzy isn't here either huh...".

Meiko smiled and then explained, "Well, he's busy with some research".

Mimi suddenly twirled her way behind Diago and added her opinion into the conversation "Even though this is the big festival!?".

Meiko was about to answer, but she was cut off when some music began to play in the classroom, Meiko paled and began to panic, while Mimi smiled and turned around to call out to someone "Nejire! It's time!".

Meiko shook her head in panic and looked terrified "Oh no... it's here!".

Poor Meiko tried to run away, but Mimi and Nejire caught her by the arms and began to pull her back, Nejire grinned and then cheerfully said "Oh no you don't! It's show time! Let's go Meimei!".

Mimi nodded and cheerfully smiled as Meiko tried with all her might to get away from them and run away, but, she couldn't "Please don't make me do iiiit!".

Mimi laughed and then said, "Come on, just give it a try!".

What happened next, was Mimi, Nejire, and Meiko doing a little cheerleader dance and show, which got everyone in the classroom excited, though Meiko kept trying to get away and hide, but Nejire and Mimi didn't let her.

In the end, even though she was embarrassed and nervous, she did end up having a lot of fun, though she still kinda wished Nejire and Mimi had some mercy for her, Eri just clapped as she watched the trio dance around and have a lot of fun.

Daigo chuckled and then said "I wished Izzy and Harry could see this'

Maki hummed and then took out her phone, she quickly took a picture and sent it to Izzy.

-----

~Back with Harry and Izzy~

Both Izzy and Harry were still trying to figure out what the email meant when Izzy's smartphone began to ring, Izzy quickly checked his smartphone and looked surprised "Huh? A text from Agent Himekawa?".

Harry looked over to Izzy as he began to read the text, the dragon god then asked "An emergency?".

There was a picture attached to the text so Izzy opened it, only to get a picture of Mimi dancing in her cheerleader uniform, Izzy raised an eyebrow and turned his head towards Harry "Why is Agent Himekawa sending me a picture of Mimi?".

Harry shrugged and shook his head "Who knows? Though I got to say, Mimi looks like she's having a lot of fun, I wonder how everyone is enjoying the school festival".

Izzy smiled and then stood up from his desk "Then how about we go? We're not having any luck with the email, might as well have some fun, plus I'm hungry and the Digimon ate all the food".

The Digimon sweatdropped and turned their head towards the table where they had the food, and indeed, all the food was gone, only trash remain, Dorumon sighed and shook her head "Guys... I told you to take it easy with the food..."

Everyone looked chastised by Dorumon, even Leomon as well, even though he didn't eat any of the food, he still didn't stop his friends from eating it all, Harry just chuckled and then took out his smartphone "Well, let me just text Mimi and the others to let them know that we're coming".

Izzy nodded and went to clean up the table from all the trash on it, Dorumon immediately had all the Digimon help with the cleanup, with a glare, Leomon even got up and helped as well, a glare from Dorumon is that powerful.

Meanwhile, Harry finished texting Mimi to let her know that Izzy, the Digimon, and he are coming over to the festival.

-----

~Back in Mimi and Meiko's classroom~

Mimi's smartphone suddenly began to vibrate and she quickly took it out of her pocket, boy was she glad that Harry sewed pockets into the cheerleader uniforms, she quickly checked her phone and smiled as she read the text.

Mimi then spoke up to Meiko, Nejire, and Eri "Hey guys! Harry and Izzy are coming over!".

The girls looked very happy about the fact that Harry and Izzy were coming over to have fun with them, however, Daigo was confused as to why Maki did all of that "Maki, what did you do?".

Maki just shrugged "Like you said, they're ordinary kids first and Digimon's partner second, at least for today they are, I guess I agree with you".

Daigo smiled at Maki and seemed happy that Maki agreed with him, meanwhile, Meiko suddenly realized something "But what about Meicoomon and the other Digimon?".

Eri smiled and then piped in "Did you forget what we can do Big Sis Meiko? You don't have to worry about the Digimon with Daddy there".

Meiko smiled and nodded at Eri "Oh your right! I keep forgetting about the amazing things you and your daddy can do Eri".

Maki looked interested and decided to try asking for more details about what Harry can do "Oh? What kind of things?".

Mimi frowned at Maki, she quickly realized that she was fishing for information on Harry, Meiko looked like she didn't want to say anything, while Nejire hummed as she stared at Maki, Eri however grinned "Ah! Well, Daddy can turn into a massive gold and silver dragon! He can fly, use all types of elemental magic, and control time, space, and even the fabric of reality!

He's also the Master of Death! So he can control souls and even bring back the dead, well, practically, Daddy can do anything you can imagine~ someday I'll be able to do the same as well! and I can't wait for that day to come! Can you imagine? Destroying universes with a snap of your finger! Doesn't that sound cool!?".

Maki stared at Eri in silence, while Meiko gaped, Mimi was thinking, since it seemed like Harry can do way more than he used to, Nejire just laughed at Eri's way of unloading so much information.

Maki suddenly rubbed her forehead and stood up "Right... if you don't want to tell me that's fine... but young lady, you shouldn't be making up such stories".

Eri just smiled and shrugged, she was telling the truth after all, if Maki didn't believe her, it wasn't her problem, Daigo stood up as well and said something about checking up on Harry and Izzy just in case and left the classroom with Maki.

Eri then began to giggle seeing as she had pranked Maki, Meiko turned her head towards Nejire and asked "Can Harry really do all of that?".

Nejire nodded and smiled "And much more too!".