Digital Directions

"Wait up, Kari!" A young boy of about eight years of age ran down the beach towards another child, a young girl of eight as well, who turned around and smiled at him. He breathed heavily as he leaned on his knees, and the girl smiled patiently and waited for him to catch his breath. The boy stood straight and grinned at her, his gentle eyes shining with glee.

"Sorry, T.K. I guess I had a lot of energy to burn today." He chuckled, and so did the two Digimon, Patamon and Gatomon, on both of their heads.

"Nah, that's fine. That was fun, but I don't think the others will-"

"Hey, could you guys slow down a little!? We're supposed to be waiting for you, not vice versa!" The two looked in the direction T.K. had come, and smiled knowingly as the rest of the Digidestined gang came running to rejoin them.

"-Appreciate it too much…" The two youngest of the group sweat-dropped as T.K. finished his previous sentence, and continued to stare as the other six Chosen Children finally met them and rested on the sands.

"I…never knew you could…run so fast…T.K." Matt commented as he struggled to speak between gasps for air. The eight-year-old laughed at his older brother's comment, and then Kari joined in, collapsing in the warm sand as the others smiled at them. The laughing session was interrupted, however, when suddenly a great many cries filled the air, and the earth began to shake as footsteps pounded on the ground, one after the other.

"Hey, I-Izzy, what's m-making th-is?!" Tai asked as he turned to his friend, trying his best to make his speech audible as the ground continued to shake.

"Almost there…got it!" The computer genius exclaimed as he sat on the trembling ground, his laptop on his knees while he searched for the name of the oncoming Digimon. "They're called Atriomon (I made them up!), and apparently they can tear up entire mountainsides in one sneeze! Hey wait…it says here they're blind! Better get out of here now!"

"Why? They're blind, aren't they? They won't be able to see us, right?" Tai remarked.

"Exactly. It's the fact that they can't see us that makes them so dangerous."

"But what does that mean, Izzy? I mean, sure, they're Digimon and all, but that doesn't mean they're miracle workers, does it?" Sora asked quizzically. Abruptly, the boy's eyes grew wide.

"No time to talk anymore! We have to move! Now!" At Izzy's warning, the party knew to run. They high-tailed it down the beach until the shaking of the ground ceased and the cries were quite distant.

The Digidestined breathed heavily from their almost-encounter, when Mimi inquired about the Atriomon.

"What's so special about those Digimon, Izzy? And how can they see us if they're blind?"

"Well…" Izzy flipped open his laptop again, and was about to answer when they suddenly heard a frantic cry.

"Kari! Hold on!!" It was T.K.'s voice, and the rest of the group quickly realized that the children were not with them, and thus ran back to find T.K., Gatomon, and Patamon watching in terror as Kari was held by one of the weirdest Digimon any of them had ever seen. The Atriomon that was holding Kari had red eyes, abstract red markings all over its face, and the body of a bird mixed with a lion. Its mane and tail were lightning and fire combined, and its whole aura gave off the essence of no mercy.

"Kari!" Tai cried, terrified for his little sister. He was about to step in, but instead, T.K. took charge.

"Patamon, Gatomon, you have to Digivolve, now!" He looked at the two monsters at his side, and they glanced at him determinedly.

"Way ahead of you, buddy!" Patamon replied. "Patamon Digivolve to…Angemon!" A male warrior angel took form in the background of blue, and then it was Gatomon's turn.

"Gatomon Digivolve to…Angewomon!" This time, a female warrior-archer angel flew up into the sky, and they immediately sprang into action.

"All right, let's go!" They affirmed simultaneously, lunging toward the huge offender as they sent their attacks at it.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon cried, and he thrust his mighty, glowing fist towards the creature. It stumbled back, nearly letting the poor girl in its clutches fall, but it held its grip.

"Your turn, Angewomon!" T.K. told the female angel Digimon, and she assumed position.

"Celestial Arrow!" She stretched her bow back, ready to deliver the blow. An arrow of the purest light took form in its respected area, and the angel let it fly straight into the Digimon's data core, turning it back into a Digiegg. Therefore, his hostage was no longer held captive, and she began to fall through the air towards the ground. By now, Angemon and Angewomon had de-Digivolved back to Gatomon and Patamon; meaning, there was no one to catch her. She screamed as she fell, waiting to feel the hard, painful impact of the ground, when she suddenly landed on something gentle and soft, not painful at all. She opened her eyes to see her brother standing there; he was staring at her worriedly as he usually did when she got herself into trouble. He gently put her down, and examined her closely, noticing a small cut on her knee that was still bleeding. Learning from past experiences, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bandage, quickly putting it on after managing to stop the bleeding beforehand.

"Are you okay now, Kari?" He looked up at her from his kneeling position, and she smiled at him.

"Yeah, thanks. No need to worry, Tai, I'm fine, thanks to you and T.K. And Angemon, and Angewomon, of course!" She sat on her knees and hugged him, and he clenched her in return, both smiling that the danger was over and done with. Everyone stared with relieved expressions as they saw the siblings embrace, and they pondered the reason Tai and Kari got along so well; it truly was a mystery, but a beautiful one at that. When they pulled from their hug, Kari spotted T.K. a few feet away from them, holding hands with Patamon as they did their own version of the "victory dance". She laughed slightly, and grinned back at her brother, who whole-heartedly beamed and ruffled her hair as they both stood. She ran over to her rescuers, and they stopped their dance as she rested in front of them, both grinning wildly. "Thank you, T.K., and you too, Patamon. I would have been in a lot of danger if you hadn't noticed I was in trouble." T.K. was about to reply when she leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, causing him to stare at her and blush madly, utterly speechless. When he finally regained his voice, he looked at the ground nervously as he answered her.

"No, I'm just glad y-you're okay. T-Tai would have rung my neck had I let an-nything happen to you. Besides, I couldn't let anything happen to one of my friends, no way! You're much more important to me by far!" He glanced up at the girl, and was instantly worried when he saw that there were tears in her eyes. "Kari? What's wrong? Did I-"

"You didn't do anything!" She replied joyously as she embraced him tightly, and he hugged her back as the rest of the Digidestined watched the scene unfold before them. Matt simply stared at them, puzzled and joking at the same time.

"Now why can my eight-year-old little brother get a girl, and I can't?" At this, everyone burst into laughter, including T.K. and Kari. As the commotion ceased, Izzy got an idea.

"Hey, guys," Everyone looked at him. "Since we're at the beach anyway, why not just spend the day here in the Digital World?"

"Yeah!"

"Boy, that sounds great!"

"Good idea, Izzy!" Tai complimented.

"Should we swim in our clothes?" T.K. asked.

"They'll dry eventually anyway, so it doesn't really matter." Joe speculated.

"What?!" Mimi exclaimed, and everyone peered at her. "This is a designer's dress, are you crazy?! I can't swim in this!"

"But, Mimi, you'll ruin the day for the rest of us because we'll be feeling sorry for you because you won't join us!" Sora reminded her, and the girl's facial expression immediately changed as she sighed.

"Well, if my best girl friend says I have to do it, then I will!" They all cheered. "But, if this salt water doesn't come out, it'll come out of your pocket at the drycleaners!" Sora kicked the sand in defeat.

"Drat!" Mimi tapped her shoulder and the tomboy turned around to see Mimi winking and giving her the peace sign as she smiled.

"Just kidding! I could care less if this was a designer! I'd rather pay extra at the dry-cleaners than miss a day with my best friends!" Sora grinned.

"See, I knew you weren't that heartless!"

"Hey!" Both girls beamed playfully at each other, and then burst into laughter as they hugged. Tai and Matt just stared on in wonder and horror. ()

"What is it with girls and their hugs?" Tai asked.

"Beats me…" Matt shrugged, and both boys sighed and hung their heads in the atrocity of it all. Suddenly, the girls sprang in front of them, fire in their eyes and shooting from their mouths. The boys jumped, startled and fearing their lives, backed away while trying to calm them down.

"W-Well, you have to admit, it does look pretty weird! You have to at least agree that it's a little…silly?" The girls began to get madder, and he tried a different tactic. "Maybe?" The next thing either of them knew, here were running down the beach as if they were naked, fire-breathing girls hot on their tails.

"Why did you have to say that, Tai?!" Matt huffed angrily.

"You should know by now that I can't keep my mouth shut!"

"Well, yeah, but…hey, good point, genius!" The 'cool guy' mocked, but both soon felt flaming hot breath on their necks and quickly sped up to a surprising speed. Matt glanced at Tai, who was about to shout something at them, and swiftly clamped a hand over his friend's mouth. "Don't say a WORD"