Disclaimer: If Digimon was mine... well, there'd be some major changes. I can tell you that much!

Summary: Energized by their coming of age and released to their new found freedom, Davis, TK, and Ken decide to go on a road trip on their way to nowhere in particular. Along the way, the best friends learn more about themselves and each other as they face the challenges this road entails.

Chapter 1: Davis' Idea

Business could not have been slower. He hadn't had a single table in the last hour which was something he might have expected on a weekday, but this was a Friday night. People should have been pouring in, buying their newest special (That he personally thought was made from the same repackaged meat it always was), or getting their hands drenched in sauce from the chicken wings.

The teenager ran his hands through his shaggy, blonde hair. It had become an almost compulsive habit to the point where if he ever lost his hair he'd probably end up constantly petting his head instead. Also, according to his brother, "Girls love messed up hair."

Right when he was about to give up all hope of actually working during his shift, two familiar figures walked through the front door and up to the podium he was currently slouched over.

"TK, you're never going to get any customers with posture like that," one of them nagged in a joking manner.

The teenager, TK, gave him an incredulous look. "There hasn't been more than a person or two come in here all night! My posture isn't scaring away that many people, Davis."

"If you're sure," The spiky-haired brunette shrugged.

The other person with Davis, a blue-haired, skinny young man decided to cut in. "Well if it's not your posture, it's probably this," he explained as he took a crinkled newspaper article out of his pocket and handed it to TK.

TK had acquired a knack for speed reading and scanned the article quickly before getting a nauseating look on his face. "Ken, please tell me that who I think wrote this didn't actually write it."

With a bit of shame Ken replied, "I'm afraid I'd be lying."

"A dump? Uses rotten meat? Boss is a cheapskate? Ugh," TK grunted angrily as he banged the article down on the podium. "Is he ever going to understand that investigative journalism requires actual research and facts?"

"It's his dad's paper, so what Reagan says goes," Davis roughly replied also with an unpleasant look on his face.

All three boys had personally known Reagan before his job as a journalist. He had graduated high school last year but had first been introduced to the boys a few years previous while in a writing course with TK. As TK began leaning towards writing short stories, Reagan had been sold to the idea of writing for a newspaper like his father because, in the words of Davis, "he's a spoiled daddy's boy who's only survival skill is kissing up." Without his father, there's no way he could have gotten a job because, as TK puts it, "The only thing his writing shows is that he knows how to use spell check half the time, and can aim at the paper when he's throwing up."

TK had known the answer before he asked, but he still had to hear it, "So Reagan single-handedly destroyed this place probably for the sake of jazzing up his dull article, and that's why no one's here?" TK had worked at McDougall's restaurant for two years now and had required an odd attachment to it, even if the kitchen did smell like sweat socks.

Giving his friend a reassuring smile Ken said with forced cheerfulness, "Don't worry. There's no way that the famous McDougall's could ever go out of business… and Davis and I can eat here right now."

"I just ate dinner," Davis informed.

Ken rolled his eyes at Davis's oblivious comment. "Then eat again. Besides, you said you had something to tell us?"

"Oh, right!" Davis exclaimed as he began to walk over to the nearest table. He had been here to eat so often that he didn't need TK to escort him.

TK couldn't help but smile at Ken's attempt to cheer him up. He then followed Davis and Ken over to the table to get their order before heading back to the kitchen to inform the cook.

Afterwards he sat down at the table with them. It wasn't like anyone else was there for him to waiter to.

"So what was it you wanted to tell us, Davis?" TK prompted.

Tapping the side of the goggles on his head, his own personal habit, Davis began to explain; "Now we all know that today is a momentous occasion. Today the last member of our trio has his coming of age."

"This isn't about my birthday, is it?" TK asked worriedly. To Davis's full knowledge, TK had never wanted to make a big deal out of his birthday. Davis had never really understood why since he wouldn't take "birthday's are just emphasized to give people a false reason to celebrate" as an answer since TK could fully enjoy anyone's birthday but his own.

With an agitated sigh Davis assured, "It's not just about that. It's about how today is your eighteenth birthday. We are all adults and as adults I think we should be able to do adult things."

"And by adult you mean what?" Ken inquired hoping Davis would get to the point soon.

Donning a serious look on his face, Davis did get to the point, "We have graduation in a few weeks and college in a few months, so I propose that in between we enjoy and relish in our freedom. Boys, we're going on a road trip."

If Davis, the resident goofball, hadn't had such a solemn expression, Ken would have laughed off the idea. He wanted to go on a road trip; Now of all times? There was prepping to do, supplies to buy, a future to prepare for! Ken couldn't possibly drop everything and leave.

Before he got a chance to try and convince Davis to forget the idea, TK decided it was best to respond bluntly.

"Why?"

Davis's brow furrowed. "Let's call it a last stand."

TK shrugged, "Alright, I'm in."

Ken was, to say the least, a bit taken aback. TK was supposed to be the rational one. Ken tended to get too caught up in things while Davis never seemed to think before acting.

Ken looked sideways at TK; "You're going along with this?"

"Sure, it sounds like a good idea before it all happens,"

"It all?"

TK suddenly looked sheepish. "Uh, you know college and stuff."

Ken continued to disagree. "We don't need a 'last stand.' It's not the last anything! The whole thing is pointless. It's reckless. It's… it's-"

"Fun?" Davis cut in.

The genius glowered at him. "That's not the word I was looking for."

"Come on, Ken. Loosen up! It won't hurt anything." Davis was becoming increasingly annoyed with his friend. Ken seemed to worry too much about everything. For a previous boy genius, he couldn't learn how to have a good time.

Ken couldn't help but sigh in defeat. If both TK and Davis wanted to go on this trip so bad, who was he to ruin it?

Ken grimaced, "Fine, I'm in. After graduation we're going on a road trip."