The Ultimate Summer Vacation

Chapter 1

"Thanks again for coming with me, T.K." Kari smiled as she fastened her chair's buckle around her waist. The flight attendants were walking up and down the aisles between the passengers, demonstrating the proper method of tightening the seat belt.

"You don't have to thank me, Kari," he replied with a smile. When the flight attendants had passed their row, he stood up to close the overhead apartment where Gatomon and Patamon were going to have to hide during the duration of the flight.

"Are you guys going to be ok up there?" he whispered to them.

"We'll be fine," said Patamon, "Matt gave us a deck of playing cards for the trip."

"I'm going to teach Patamon how to bluff at poker," Gatomon added.

Kari laughed as T.K. reluctantly closed the latch and took his seat.

"Make sure to buckle up you two," the flight attendant said as she made her walked back toward the front of the plane to take her own seat.

T.K. fastened his seat belt and leaned back in his chair. They had a long flight ahead of them. He looked around, as if to make sure no one was listening to their conversation before he asked Kari for the millionth time if she was feeling well.

"Of course I am, silly. Why do you keep asking me that?" Kari asked as innocently as she could manage.

T.K. turned back to face the front, disgruntled at her for not taking his concern seriously. The captain was speaking through the overhead speakers as the plane lurched underneath them, beginning its roll down the tarmac. "No offense, Kari, but you've been acting pretty strangely lately. Is the Dark Ocean bothering you again?"

Kari frowned. "T.K., I already told you that everything is fine. I really wish you would stop asking me."

There was a moment of hesitation while the people in the cabin could feel the plane's small tires leave the ground as the wings were lifted into the air. T.K. agreed to drop the conversation and quit asking her questions, though he did not believe her answers were entirely truthful. He knew her well enough to know when she was not telling him something. Kari had been very quiet since their recent defeat of Malomyotismon.

"So tell me again why you want to visit Mimi in New York?" he asked, as it had been her idea to take this vacation to America to visit their old friend.

Kari smiled, though T.K. could see the strain of it around her mouth. "I just felt like it was a good time to go visit her. After all of the times she came to Tokyo to help us save the digital world, I think going to see her is the least we can do. Besides, I think we deserve a vacation after saving the world."

She spoke as if she had planned the trip with the intention of him joining her, though in reality, he had been the one who insisted upon accompanying her. T.K. knew there was something she wasn't telling him about this trip and about her strange behavior, but he didn't pester her. If there was something she didn't want to tell him, then he would wait. She'd tell him eventually, she always did; they never kept secrets from each other.

By the time the plane had leveled at its optimal height, T.K. was snoring in his seat. Taking advantage of the momentary solitude, Kari turned her attention out her window where white clouds were flying by. She hated keeping things from T.K., he was her best friend, though she was going to keep her secret from him for as long as she could. She blinked away the tears that were forming in her eyes; she couldn't tell him because she wasn't ready to face it yet herself.

Suddenly, the plane lurched and rocked, making Kari jump and cry out in fright. She grabbed T.K.'s arm, jolting him awake. Then the rocking stopped. The captain's voice came back on the intercom advising the passengers to return to their seats as they might feel some slight turbulence.

Kari looked around the cabin, noticing how the other passengers were staring at her. Blushing, she leaned back in her chair, as if to hide from their mocking faces.

T.K. laughed at her. "Geez, Kari, you'd think this was your first time flying."

"It is," she told him. "I mean, it's my first time flying without a digimon."

"Well, there's nothing to be afraid of." She loosened her grip on his arm enough so that he could take her hand in his. "Turbulence is nothing, it happens all the time; the plane's built to handle it. Besides, if anything were to happen, Gatomon and Patamon could just digivolve and save everyone."

Kari smiled, she could picture Angemon and Angewomon carrying the plane to safety with the passenger's faces smashed against the window to get at their angelic rescuers. "They're good heroes."

T.K. leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes to try to fall asleep again so Kari did the same. When the plane lurched again she squeezed his hand, but didn't scream this time. After a few minutes of attempting to find a comfortable position in the torturously small chairs she gave up and let go of T.K.'s hand.

He opened his eyes to see why she broken their contact, but closed them again when she lifted the armrest between their two seats, and laid her head on his chest. He draped his arm around her and they soon drifted off to sleep, momentarily escaping their worries. In sleep, T.K. let go of his worry for Kari, and his curiosity as to her real motivation to fly to America, and Kari let go of her profound fear of what she knew was awaiting them.