Pre-chapter notes:

[1] Hi again! After typing the 19th chapter for my main fic, I got hit by the drive to make another one-shot. Well... it waaaaaaaaaas intended to be a one-shot. But I liked the introductory scene so much, I decided to change it into a two-shot fic.

[2] Capped at just a little bit higher than 3000 words. Tailmon's the main character for this one, and it's in first person POV! This takes place during an undetermined time between July and December 2004, just two years after the BelialVamdemon battle. Everything that happens here, like in Rude Awakening (my first one-shot featuring Daisuke and Chibimon), is directly tied to the events/backstory of my fic. There WILL be references, but nothing significant enough to necessitate reading the main story.

[3] BTW, since I am not used to working with Tailmon or Taichi, if you see anything wrong with the way I handled their characters, please inform me ASAP through PM or review.

[4] Hope you enjoy this! All feedback are welcomed.

It was official.

We were celebrities. All twelve of us.

Digimon Adventure was released in Japan on the first week of January 2004, chronicling the Chosen Children's struggles for survival in another world as they led a brutal fight against the forces of evil, each aided by a loyal, friendly creature that many have come to know as digital monsters—often truncated into "digimon".

"OH MY GOD THAT'S ME!" A hand suddenly jabbed the air, accidentally striking the side of my head. I let out a vicious snarl to indicate my annoyance.

"Oops, sorry Tailmon."

That was Taichi Yagami. Seventeen years old. One hand in a bowl full of popcorn and the other holding a bottle of beer with the index finger pointed at the screen.

What brought about this obscene display of immaturity?

My cerulean eyes rolled towards the LCD screen propped up four feet by a small, brown cabinet containing nothing but gaming consoles, DVD CD's, and the like. On the screen was an animated picture of a young eleven year-old clothed in blue, strutting around a forest that had a strange, exogenous ambience attached to it. Walking around in sneakers, with oversized goggles strapped to his bushy hair.

"Damn," Taichi said, taking a gulp from the bottle, awe-stricken by the sight of himself. His younger self. "Who knew those artists could make me look so effing awesome!" His brown eyes sparkled brilliantly, turning the teenager—tempered into maturity by the very adventures he was watching on the screen this very moment—into a wide-eyed child marveling in wonder.

I shook my head at that comment. That's because it's animé, you dolt. Still, whoever was in charge of turning Taichi Yagami's younger self into a drawing deserved applause. All the artists had were pictures of the eight Chosen Children as kids. Taichi's famous bush-hair was just a regular afro in real life, a bit messy and wild, yet seemed to complement his face's bone structure.

We digimon partners were easier to draw since we didn't exactly develop the way our human partners did. Contrary to popular belief, our bodies do grow over time, but typically digimon undergo so little physical changes as they mature, whenever you compare two pictures separated by several years, the only thought in mind would be: "they never really changed".

Hikari, my partner, had a picture on her bedside desk. It was a cute one of her, Takeru, Patamon, and of course, myself. All in one. Snapped on from an upward angle. Takeru, who decided to stop wearing his fisherman's hat since his 13th birthday this year, had my human half in his arms, donning a confident grin on his face. Hikari Yagami's head was leaning on Takeru's chest, her long hair flowing down to his waist. Eyes closed, as if reveling in the serenity of the moment.

Directly behind us, on the grass, one could easily see Patamon sitting in front of me. The camera couldn't quite catch it, but let me tell you, at the time, sweat was coming out of his pores like bullets, giving the hamster's hazel fur a disgustingly damp feel to it. Fear and determination were mixed in his eyes while the only thing that gazed back at him was me… indifferent, aloof, and well… there was a bento box for me to my left and I was hungry.

That was the day Patamon confessed his love for me.

This photograph was taken just last month, and it was obviously a private event between him and my partner. Being their digital halves and loved siblings, we were invited to the celebration by default. As usual. In other words, we were completely alone.

I suppose that had something to do with why Patamon insisted Takeru to let Veemon tag along during his first day as a teen. Daisuke's Veemon. I can't even remember how they managed to work this out without the Child of Miracles demanding he accompany his childish partner, but in the end, the three of them arrived at our house to pick us up.

Veemon was the one who snapped that photograph. Neither Hikari nor I understood why he was finding difficulty to suppress his babyish giggles while he was up the tree preparing for the shot. Patamon kept shooting anxious and irritated glances at him but I never cared. I thought he was just as annoyed as the rest of us.

Taichi always said hindsight was 20/20. Veemon was actually watching Patamon, excited at the way the hamster's confession was turning out . Caught up in his own amusement . I realized why Patamon wanted him there to begin with the next time I watched him flap his oversized bat-like ears—wings—earwings (?) and fly towards Veemon for a quick chat, who responded with a high-five, a big grin, and a playful noogie on his small, furry head.

Set right beside that picture was a photograph of Hikari, holding me, a white, long-tailed, big-eared cat, in her arms. It had been taken sometime after our battle with BelialVamdemon two years ago, in this very apartment unit. If memory serves me right, Yuuko (Hikari and Taichi's mom… and mine as well, by extension) wanted to formalize my incorporation into the Yagami family.

Mothers.

Going back to the physical development of digimon, as we mature, we do not—do NOT—change as much as humans do… or any other creature in the Real World, if I had to be technical about it. Compare the first photograph with the second one and you'd see no difference between the two as far as I'm concerned. Hikari… grew her hair long, became a little taller, and developed these curious things called "boobs".

Taichi was nudging a pink blob of flesh sitting in-between his legs. "Look," he nagged. "Look, Koromon, look."

A pair of eyelids fluttered, revealing two crimson pools that gazed sleepily at the Child of Courage. The foot-long tendrils that were Koromon's ears perked slightly, awaiting an explanation from the elder Yagami. Of all the things he could've said, the only syllable that went out Koromon's wide mouth was a groggy "huuuhh?"

Taichi took another gulp of his beer. "It's you as Greymon! My god, those artists really got you good!"

Why was he so impressed anyway? There's nothing special about it. It was just animation. Animé. Mere drawings could never do reality justice.

"Hey Tailmon." Taichi regarded me as he swallowed a mouthful of popcorn. "Why aren't you so ecstatic about this? We're on TV." He paused. I could visualize a light bulb turning yellow next to his head. "Hikari should be—

The moment he mentioned my surrogate sister's name I acted. You are not dragging Hikari out of bed for this! It was seven in the evening, and she's dead tired from a school project she worked on for two days straight. "That's because I wanted to know how your 'Digimon Adventure'"—sarcasm accentuated the second word. What they went through wasn't an adventure. It was a battle for survival! For purposes beyond mere fun and aimless wander. (That's what Pokémon is for.)—"played out before I came in."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Tailmon, you were—

"Being raised by Vamdemon."

He released an awkward chuckle. "Oh yeah." Scratching his head, "Sorry, you've been with us for so long, I… kinda forgot." That was a forgivable mistake in my book; Taichi wasn't my partner. Simple as that.

A few minutes passed before the show finally went on a commercial break. Taichi considerately lifted Koromon from his lap and settled him down on the maroon couch before making a mad dash for the bathroom. I look at the Baby-level slumbering before me. Baby digimon sleep a lot, that's a fact.

While I waited for the commercial break to finish (and sadly, my respite from Taichi's immature exclamations with it), my mind started to wander. Why did we choose animation? We weren't animé characters. We were real. Us. Our human halves. Our trials and struggles. Drawing from my excellent memory, I knew for a fact Taichi never looked as "awesome" in real life the way hired artists rendered him as a kid. Agumon wasn't so cute either—he was actually terrifying. At first glance. He'll grow on you. Cross my heart.

Those who'd disagree vehemently with me (barring the digimon himself) would be met with my favorite response: how would they find a live monster that looked just like a Tyrannosaurus Rex with front arms and long, sharp claws out in the open for all eyes to see?

It took a bit getting used to, I observed. During the entire first year after the BelialVamdemon battle, all the digimon in our tight-knit group of twelve had to endure all the weird stares and awkward moments from our partners' families. Well, all of us except Wormmon, Patamon, and yours truly. Patamon and I were "normal" enough for assimilation into mundane, everyday life. Wormmon graduated this gauntlet of acceptance earlier than the others did, simply because Ken introduced him (as Minomon) to his parents, Ayumi and Kiriha, a few months ahead.

But, there was also the "talking pet" barrier. It's already the year 2004. We've been living with our partners and their families for two years and counting! I still couldn't believe it's already been that long, yet only a few of us have actually penetrated that stupid thing. Just because we weren't humans didn't mean we acted on pure instinct alone and were devoid of emotions and reason. Whenever I hear Chibimon complaining how the Motomiyas sans Daisuke treat him like a "dumb animal" and constantly refer to him as an "it" and "pet" until now, or Patamon grumbling about Natsuko (Takeru's mom) always giving him factory-manufactured, chemical-laden pet food, it makes me happy—really, really happy—Yuuko and Susumu insist Agumon and I sit at the table with the rest of the family. (Off the record, I feel really bad for those two! The digimon, not my partner's parents!)

I sighed. Since people obviously had trouble accepting the fact digimon were just like humans in all but physiology, isn't—wasn't—live-action a better choice versus animation? The audience and everyone connected to them MUST internalize the fact digimon are real. That we are real. That some of us aren't so good to look at in real life. That some do.

I wish Hikari and I were there when they made the decision to go animated. Daisuke had let it slip it had something to do with marketing and promotion of my race's redeeming qualities. In response to that incident in America earlier this year, on the fourth of July.

The Fourth of July massacre.

The first time a digimon, along with her—or his? I couldn't be too sure—human partner, was placed as a prime suspect in the massacre of an entire clan of people. Everyone knows about it. Even Hikari is aware of the rough details, along with what we—the Twelve—had done to address it and the sole survivor, a brown-haired, fifteen-year old teenage girl scarred for life.

Everyone dealt with the Fourth of July incident and its political repercussions in their own way. Mimi, being a US resident, approached the sole survivor—her name was Lucille, she told us during one of our group picnics in the Digital World—to provide emotional support. Daisuke and Ken teamed up to beat up—or "quell", as Ichijouji keeps insisting—anyone who tries radical, usually violent methods on digimon. (This decision to exclusively work together also spawned tons of gossip... among the fans and among ourselves.)

That reminded me. I looked up at Taichi, who just returned from his stint in the bathroom with a very placated expression on his face. He fell naturally into the couch between me and Koromon, narrowly squishing his sleeping partner's smooth, long ears underneath his butt. "Taichi."

I was so happy the commercial break wasn't over yet. The Child of Courage gazed at me, attentive. We didn't talk very often, and whenever we did, it was often serious. "I never got to ask you, but how'd your visit to the UN House go?"

The consequent damage done by the Fourth of July incident to the immaculate image and reputation of digimon everywhere had been so strong Taichi developed an interest to pursue political science… and apply to the United Nations as an ambassador representing the Digital World. (If he actually succeeded, he would be the youngest diplomat ever. I'm not a fan of politics, but as far as I know, they're all conducted by a bunch of dirty, old men with equally filthy intentions.)

Taichi laughed. "Tailmon, that was months ago!"

My right eye twitched in annoyance. "I know," I hissed, my tone clearly implying I was mentally chastising myself for forgetting all about it.

"Weeeeeeelllll..." Taichi deliberately broke eye contact. "Turns out I have to go through a ton of tests…" He was boasting last year how his "intimate knowledge of another world and its rational monsters" would land him a diplomat position by now.

"Oh really?" I queried, unsurprised by the developments. He obviously hasn't informed Susumu about this. He probably hasn't gotten around to telling the others yet, not even Hikari. I snickered. That'll change when we go to school tomorrow. It'll spread like wildfire when I tell everyone. (And by "everyone", I meant my fellow Chosen. We often hung out on the rooftops, away from sight and blessed with tons of privacy. We even had shade!)

"I'm being grilled constantly for cultural norms in the Digital World," he muttered. "Top of that, since I'm Japanese and," he puffed up his face and enacted who I presumed to be a senior ambassador or consul for the Japanese government, "'shall concurrently represent the Japanese people while speaking for intelligent extraterrestrial creatures', they're making me go through the traditional application process.

"That means long—really long—written tests, oral exams by myself and with other people, and"—a chuckle—"a bunch of more depressing crap that measures my aptitude for diplomacy. The only good thing is what'll happen if and when I pass."

"What?" I asked him. "Is there something bad for just passing?"

"I've been told hundreds of qualified applicants are put on an effing waiting list, and if they aren't hired by the time their waiting time expires—

"You got to do the whole thing again," I completed his sentence, understanding him in an instant. "So, if you pass the process the first time…"

My mind was working in full gear. Having grasped his situation so readily, my intuition told me my brother-by-extension had something other applicants didn't have.

"My intimate knowledge of another world and its rational monsters are sure to make me a diplomat by September next year!" his bragging came back to me.

Taichi caught on to me, forming the overconfident smirk that characterized him so well. "I'll be hired on the spot as the UN's first ambassador for the Digital World then shipped off to their HQ in New York within the next three months."

A small smile pulled my lips back slightly. "Good for you," I congratulated, speaking with genuine happiness for his own fortune.

He scratched his head, blushing. "Don't praise me just yet, Tailmon. I've got a written test on international history this weekend."

I paled. He has an exam this weekend and he's spending his free time WATCHING AN ANIMÉ SERIES? THAT FEATURES US? "Where the hell are your priorities?" I censured. How egotistic could you get?

"Shh!" he brought his index finger to his lips, cringing. "Not so loud." Taichi sighed, chugging down the remains of his bottle. "Geez, can't I have some time to wind down?"

"We'll see if you'll have 'some time to wind down' after I tell Hikari and your parents about this when we're having breakfast tomorrow."

If there was one thing Taichi, Agumon, Patamon, Chibimon, and… well… everyone who's ever had time to to know me personally despised, it was my tendency to be a supervisor. A parent. And a strict, tenacious one, at that.

I was raised that way. Growing up under Vamdemon's "guidance" had its merits, and that's the best I can say about him even though I detested that vampire so much I never felt sorry for him when we deleted him two years ago.

"Crap, I'm dead," he mumbled under his breath.

I heard that. "No kidding," I retorted, just as the commercial break finished and the Digimon Adventure episode resumed.

When the credits started to roll (after a cliffhanger ending), Taichi rose and sauntered to the kitchen, assaulting the fridge for another bottle of beer. I heard the bottle cap pop. "Soooo," Taichi began, walking back in from the open arch in the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen, "how's your 'Tamer Training' thing going?"

"Huh?"

"You asked me about my business. My turn to ask about yours."

I coughed. This was something Hikari and I did every weekend with Takeru and Patamon, and it was our way of responding to the Fourth of July incident. After all, the population of digimon partnered to humans was exponentially rising and that was not good when my brethren's collective reputation was falling at the same time.

A good idea, really.

But what I go through practically every time was terrible! It embarrassed me to even try recalling it.

"Just what do you see in that batpig?" a random voice echoed in my ears, presumably from one of my past sessions.

"You're better off asking Hikari," I attempted to dismiss him. "Of the two of us, she's the one who's really doing the work."

"Oh c'mon!" the elder Yagami whined. He dropped a cold can of beer—a foreign brand (and I can't read English letters well)—in my gloved paws. "Just tell me what happened last week."

"It's… something I don't want to talk about."

"Why?" pressured Taichi, curiosity seizing him like a net. "It can't be as bad as—

"It has something to do with us being famous."

His grin widened. "Interesting." I felt his hand wrap around my shoulder and pull me right beside him. Taichi's attention was focused completely on me to the point he didn't seem to notice how peacefully Koromon was sleeping beside him.

"Take a sip and let me hear what you got to say." The Chosen Child took a big gulp of the cold, refreshing, golden-hued liquid.

I sighed. Taichi was well-known for his persistence. Even if I adjourned this right now, he was bound to pester me tomorrow night and thereafter. It would interfere with his studies, as well as my own privacy. No choice but to tell the story then. I opened the can he gave me with one flick of my claw and guzzled a couple of mouthfuls.

"So there I was…"

Post-chapter notes:

[5] The process to becoming a diplomat, as Taichi described, is actually real. Well, it was real on 2004 (what a coincidence lol! You can find the source on .com/10887/What-does-it-take-to-become-an-ambassador-or-high-consular-officer). Since it's been 7 years, who knows what changed? XD