Destination "I have got to get back on Tokyo time," Davis muttered, reaching for the telephone, still half asleep. Though he had been back in Japan for days now, Davis had no desire to readjust to the time zone and wound up asleep at all sorts of odd times. Odd for those around him, that is. His watch--set to Paris time--kept him informed that his sleeping schedule was quite normal. The phone rang again. Davis fumbled to get untangled from his assortment of bedding and leapt for the phone before the machine would pick it up. He never liked answering in the middle of a message; it was rather odd. "Allo?" he asked, inwardly slapping himself for using the customary French opening. "Davis?" The person on the other end asked, affirming the answerer of the call. "Yeah." "Great, hi. It's TK." "Oh, hey TS, what's up?" Holding the phone with one hand, Davis set out to use the other to pile his sheets back on his surprising uncomfortable futon. "I just wanted to talk to you about something," TK said uncertainly. "How about you come over? No one's really been around since the party a few days ago and Veemon's been bugging me to make crepes again." "Uh, sure. See you in ten minutes, okay?" "Okay, by the way what time is it, anyway?" "Around two thirty." TK answered after a pause, undoubtedly checking a clock in the next room or the like. "Tokyo time," Davis muttered, reprimanding himself as he set the telephone receiver down after saying good-bye. True to his word, TK arrived ten minutes later; Patamon perched on his white hat, which was in turn neatly situated on his head. He entered the Motomiya apartment even more uncertain than he had seemed on the phone. Not saying anything, TK followed Davis into the kitchen, where Veemon was easily carrying a large sack of flour. It was for the crepes, Davis explained. TK would talk and Davis would cook and then they would all eat. Fun. "I've been thinking," TK began slowly as Davis mixed batter, "if I'm going to be a good writer, I should see as much of the world as I can, right? Knowledge of places outside of the Digital World and Japan would really come in handy." "Yeah, yeah, great experience and all that," Davis said, remembering all the propaganda he had been given when making the decision to go to France. "Do you thing I should go somewhere, Davis?" TK asked, "Is the experience really that unbelievable?" "Aw, I can't tell you what to do, TA," Davis said, flipping the crepe maker into the batter. The crepe maker resembled a reversed frying pan and was used by the surface being dipped into a pie plate of batter and cook for a few minutes. Davis would then scrape the baked crepe off of the maker and viola! A crepe, ready for fruit, chocolate or whatever else the eater desired to place on the thin pancake. "But do you think it's a good idea?" TK asked, unconsciously leaning closer. "Well, of COURSE it's a good idea," Davis said, dumping the first crepe onto a plate. "I think I should test the first few out," Veemon said, squeezing between his human partner and the counter to snatch the plate. Davis, TK and Patamon chuckled as the small dragon loaded chocolate sauce onto the crepe before folding it like Davis taught him to and stuffing the entire thing into his mouth. "I'm not sure, though," TK muttered. "I'd miss Mom, and Dad and Matt. Sora, too. It wouldn't be like in college when I could come home every few weeks. And Kari. I'd have to leave her as well; she already committed to teaching next fall and there's still so much training and paper work for her to do. Even if I kept my traveling to the summer, she couldn't come. You left everything behind, Davis. Was it really worth it?" "In a word," Davis said, his voice never wavering, though his mind kept repeating one name over and over again. Catherine. "Yes. If you've got the opportunity, go." "You're not trying to get rid of me, are you?" TK asked, mirth evident in his voice. "TP, TP, TP, I just got here. Give me at least a week before I'm trying to get rid you," Davis joked, "What do you take me for?" "A pretty good chef," TK said, taking a bite of a strawberry jam crepe. "You really should consider that restaurant thing." "Tell you what, it'll be my back up plan. Patamon, do you want chocolate or jelly?" "Chocolate!" The digimon chirped. "Shoulda known," TK said, "Digimon have sweet tooth's." "Yeah, remember how Yolei always had to bring so much junk food before we went to the Digital World?" Davis mused. "How could I forget? Patamon's a pig sometimes." "I am not a pig, TK." Patamon's statement probably would have had more of an impact had the digimon not had chocolate sauce smudged on his cheeks. As it was, the chubby flying creature was met with laughter. "Have you talked about this with Kari?" Davis asked, returning to the original subject. "Yeah," TK nodded, "that's how I know for sure that she can't come." "What does she think?" "She doesn't want me to go. She didn't say it, of course, but I can tell. I think I'm the only one who can always tell what Kari's thinking." "Probably," Davis agreed. "The thing is, though, that I really want to go," TK said. "When I first thought of traveling-- when you got back and were in French-mode-- I spoke to Matt first. He thought it was a great idea, but then, his whole career is based on going places when you think about it. So then I talked to Kari, and she didn't like the idea. I spoke to my brother and my girlfriend, that's the two people I'm closest to. I figured as the person who's dropped everything and left, you're the ideal tie-braker. I might talk to Cody, too, if I'm still really unsure about going." "What about Patamon's opinion?" Davis asked pointing at the digimon who had returned to his place on TK's head. "I want what TK wants," Patamon said "If he wants to go, I think he should go. And I'm going with him, too. There's no reason for me to stay behind like Veemon did." The dragon digimon's response to this comment was an unintelligible murmur about digimon rights, or the lack thereof. If Veemon hadn't had a mouthful of crepe, understanding him probably would have been easier. "Sorry, buddy," Davis said, turning to Veemon, "but my old school only sponsors students. TS is using his own money, so nothing's limiting Patamon." TK nodded. "So, where are you thinking of going?" "Well, I've been to the U.S. and France for a few hours, so I thought I'd try Italy and see where that takes me. I thought backpacking around Europe might provide me with a lot of material and experiences." "You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?" "Yeah," TK said, "but I don't want to be stiff about it, I want to be free, I guess." "Free that 'artist's soul' of yours?" Davis asked sarcastically. "Yeah, like Matt did." "Huh?" "Well, remember when Matt was doing really well with music? He never made much money, but he really enjoyed what he was doing. That was the important thing, it was like his tortured soul was at peace." "I think the important thing is that Matt was so strapped for cash that he joined the Air Force," Davis said, deadpan. "But by then he had unlocked himself so to speak, and that was how he was able to move on and grow to love flying as much as music." "Really big on metaphor, eh TA?" "I could write a book based on Matt," TK said, "the older son of a broken family struggles to find his way--" "--When, suddenly," Davis interjected overly dramatic, "he gets sucked into an alternate world and overcomes his own, uh, life stuff...to become a hero!" "That's not what I meant," TK said. "His valiant younger brother, KT could have a role too, and at the last minute, saves the day!" "DAVIS!" "You know," Davis said, his voice returning to a conversational tone, "they say every author writes himself into his characters at least a little bit, they just get so good at that no one notices." "I think if I gave a character initials for a name and a Patamon, people would notice." "Then you can write about me! The courageous Davis Motomiya, soccer player extrodinaire, savior of the Digital World, partnered with the ultra-powerful Exveemon and he makes a damn good crepe to boot!" "Yeah, you'd like that wouldn't you?" "Of course, and he could have a beautiful blond sidekick, too." ********************** Kari Kamiya's life had few traditions. She was in a transition period, which to her, meant any thing goes. She was young; weren't the early twenties a time to find one's self? She had always assumed so. After college, she went her own way. Starting small, she rented out a one bedroom apartment in Odaiba and kept in touch with her the same friends she had known most of her life in addition to her college acquaintances. The time in her life allowed for her to begin new traditions; such as every other Tuesday was laundry day and Gatomon made dinner--usually something fish related, salmon nine times out of ten--every Thursday. Kari's favorite tradition, however, was lunch with Yolei every Wednesday. It had been a scheduling nightmare during their college years, but sometimes it was the only way they could steadily see one another. Life could be hectic and a girl just needed to spend time with her closest female friend. Thus gossip over cheap ramen every Wednesday became a tradition. As usual, Kari seated herself at a park bench near the ramen stand to wait for Yolei. The concept of being prompt was somewhat lost on the lavendar-haired girl, which coupled with the fact that the office building she worked in was seven city blocks away meant Yolei was late every week. They could, Kari mused, just push back the meeting time fifteen minutes, but no, that would break tradition. So Kari waited, tapping her shoes against the pavement. Yolei arrived in a huff, having ran the entire way as tradition provided. She could have caught a bus or rode her bicycle, but she preferred to run. Besides, it helped her keep her figure! "Kari," Yolei asked between breaths, "are you okay?" Kari drew her gaze away from her tapping shoes to look sadly at Yolei. She gave a curt nod. The lavendar-haired young woman dropped down beside her brunette friend. "Oh, no, you're not," Yolei said, "something's wrong." "I'm fine, really, Yolei. Thanks for your concern, though. Come on, let's get lunch." Kari stood up, but Yolei grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to the bench. "We're not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong," Yolei said sternly. "So spill it." "It's TK," Kari said, swallowing hard. "Is he okay?" Yolei asked, worried. "He's fine, it's just yesterday he told me that he decided to go to Italy. We talked about it a few days ago and I thought he wasn't going to go. He said he wouldn't be gone long and that it was something he really wanted to do. To help his writing." "So what's the problem?" Yolei asked. A vacation did not sound so terrible to her. "I just don't want him to go. I know it's selfish of me, but I'd miss him so much," Kari said. "I can't stand being apart from him for long periods of time," "Well, I know how that is," Yolei interjected. "I can't stop him from leaving, though," Kari said, "it would hurt him. So I guess I'll just have to miss him." "Eh, love hurts," Yolei said with a slight smile. "You won't ever deal with anything like this," Kari said pointed out, "you're engaged." "I," Yolei said, standing up, "am in a relationship with one Ken Ichijouji. The boy is pain personified." She turned to Kari and flashed a smile. "Now, let's get some lunch. I've only got an hour break, you know, Miss Teachers-Don't-Work-In-Summertime." "Okay," Kari said and likewise stood up. Yolei started walking first and Kari trailed behind her, sighing inwardly. Sensing her that her friend did not feel any better, Yolei stopped abruptly. "Kari, don't give up hope; he'll see the light." Yolei paused for a moment. "Pun intended!" Kari laughed and the two continued to the ramen stand. "He's still going to leave, though," Kari whispered to herself. ********************** Correct grammer curtisy of Kat-chan and Patapata. Thanks! Disclaimers same as the previous chapter