TK

TK wakes with a sweat, it is the same dream again. Tai falling in the battle, his little sister absolutely devastated when TK and Matt give the news. The look of utter shock morphing into pure hatred, before quickly shifting to nothingness, it still haunted his dreams. Taking a deep sigh, he flips over in his bed and reach over to his night stand. TK looks at his nonoperational Digivice, a not-so-gentle reminder of both his greatest memories and his worst traumas.

Matt unofficially filled in the shoes Tai left behind, none of them really knew how much they followed Tai's example until he was gone. Try as he might, the group was not the same. Quiet, more nerves being stepped on, and struggling to work together. But the biggest change came from the youngest member. Everyone tried to be there for her, try to make her happy once more and support her, but Kari was always just out of reach.

Kari, he thinks to himself. Tomorrow would be the start of the new school year. If he recalls correctly, she attends his new school. TK wonders if he will end up in the same classroom. Will she still give him dark looks and ignore his attempts at friendship? He misses that girl he first met long ago before that faithful battle. That kind-hearted, full of light, Kari. Under all the anger she still harbors, TK knows that Kari is in there. He can only hope that one day her light returns.

Placing his Digivice back on the nightstand, TK flips over on his bed and shuts his eyes. Tomorrow is a new day. New friends, a new beginning. In the morning he will figure out what to do. For all he knows, his class could be separate from Kari. Even if not, his nightmare was of the past. It has been some time since he last saw her, maybe things have changed. Maybe years later, the old Kari is back.

Gatomon

Gatomon can only watch as her homeworld becomes corrupted. Digimon don't know who to trust, anyone can turn against them out of fear of being controlled. Atop her perch she can see it all. Gatomon wishes she could do something else but she is aiding in this darkness. Just like with Myotismon, she is at the bidding of someone else. At least this time there is no fear of abuse. Just the fear of losing her to the darkness even more.

It is the only reason Gatomon has yet to leave. If she abandons Kari, the only friend the digidestined hasn't driven away, that would send her into a darker spiral. Gatomon waited years to be with her partner, she won't give up on her yet.

Gatomon scans the area from the tree branch, waiting for any escapees to run by. She might have been order to stop them but that can't stop her from telling them it's better not to struggle. It's better to just listen and obey like a good little digimon.

Rustling leaves grabs her attention. Gatomon jumps down in time to see a red and blue digimon stumble out of the bushes, gasping for air. Elecmon. It takes a moment for it to regain its surroundings before freezing when seeing the cat digimon looming over it.

"You have three choices right now," Gatomon states without hesitation, knowing time is short. "Either you can keep running and hiding and hoping you don't get captured, stop running and just listen to her commands, or get captured by her and her rings and I don't think you want the latter. So why don't you just stop running?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Elecmon asks with a growl.

"Would you rather keep running and hiding, hoping you don't ever get caught but live in fear the whole time or lose your sense of self. Wouldn't you rather do neither?"

Elecmon takes a moment to think. Running is tiring. Always looking behind your back in fear of a dark ring. There never will be a moment of peace. Like most everyone else, Elecmon just wants to not feel afraid but that doesn't mean giving up on yourself. You have to fight to live.

"No," It tells her.

Gatomon sighs, ears drooping. It is pointless to fight and hearing noise behind her, she knows time is up. "Suit yourself."

Before Elecmon can answer, something cold wraps around its' neck. A brief moment of struggling ends with Elecmon's eyes turning a bright red. It's now a captive of the Digimon Empress.

"I told you, converting never works," A voice says from behind. "I don't know why you started to do it."

"Doesn't hurt to try. Sometimes they put up less of struggle. They use to listen to you. Some still do."

"You're too kind, Gatomon." Kari steps out of the shadows. Her face is hidden behind a dark hood and glasses. Gatomon cannot read her partner's face as she speaks more. "Even if they use to listen to me, many don't now."

Kari waves away the Elecmon. She and Gatomon watch it leave, darting back into the bushes. "Come on, there is still a lot to do today."

"Okay, Kari…"

A/N: First off happy Odaiba Day!

Second, this story has it's own backstory that needs to be explained. So my writer friend (Psy, who I forget his FF account...) and I were talking once and I asked him to give me a digimon idea. We both are suckers for angst and hurt/comfort. So what was given to me was yes what this idea of the fic is, Tai dies and that ends up leading Kari to becoming the digimon empress rather than Ken. But a mix up happened. At first he said a KenKari fic but then when i asked him for help starting it off a bit later (he helped write the first half of this) he forgot what he said before and sent it as a Takari fic since thats my otp and yeah here we are. A role reversal au of sorts with Ken and Kari but its Takari (welcome to what happens when two dumbasses help write together)

Anyway I might get chapter 1 out today, no promises as I have to edit something. If I don't it will get posted next week but after that it will be on a bi-weekly update. Only so I can have more time writing. I only have so much written up already and I am working two jobs at about 40 hours a week SO yeah. But I have a lot outlined and it will get done eventually. If i run out of queued chapters I will let you know but yeah. Enjoy as I try to take a different spin on this idea.