A/N: I hope you enjoy this fic! I worked hard on this episode, and I hope you enjoy it more than Back To My Heart. ^_^'' Daisuke, Iori, Miyako, Wallace, and Michael are in this fic, I just didn't have time to put them in this episode!!! *rueful grin* Anyway...
Disclaimer: I don't own em.
Digimon, Digital Monsters: The Chaos Realm
Episode 1: The Pathway to Nowhere
"This just doesn't seem right, Tai," said Agumon, sniffing the air. "We've been walking much too long. I think there's something fishy going on here."
"I agree, Tai," said Matt, stopping momentarily. He looked around the group. "Everyone's tired, maybe we should stop-"
"We're keeping going." Tai cut Matt off. His eyes were closed, his head facing the ground, his body set with determination. "I know there's a destination we have to reach, so we're keeping going."
"But Tai," Sora struggled to voice what the others thought, "Don't you think this is a little reckless? We've been walking since dawn, and it's almost dark. The sun's been pretty hot, and we haven't had anything to eat. I'm-I'm afraid we might not be able to make it. If there was somewhere to go, wouldn't we have gotten there by now?"
"Sora, Sora, please don't get him angry," said Biyomon to the girl softly.
Tai raised his head and snapped around, an angry look on his face. "You're questioning me? I'm the leader. You do what I say." He marched on.
"Um, Tai," said Izzy, "Having a quick stop so we can freshen up would be the most logical thing to do. What if we're attacked, and our Digimon can't Digivolve because they're so hungry and tired-"
"They won't be," said Tai, keeping his eyes ahead and not faltering his death march. "And besides, we have a large group. No one would bother attacking thirteen kids with Digimon. It would be in their downfall, anyhow."
"'Safety in numbers' hasn't stopped our enemies before, has it?" Izzy asked tersely.
"Will you guys stop your bitching?" Tai asked, stopping like he had after Sora had spoken, except this time he was angrier. "We're keeping going-and that's final!"
The others stared at him. Mimi was shaking her head. "He's crazy. Simply crazy."
T.K. rolled his eyes. "And I thought you were reckless, Dais,", referring to the boy his age who thought Tai as his role model.
Matt folded his arms. "I, for one, am not continuing this death march."
Tai narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?"
"I don't want a fight," Matt continued, "But I will not be pushed around by you, Tai. To be a good leader, don't you think you should understand the others' needs so you can fulfil them?"
Tai was staring at Matt as if the blond had suddenly gone insane. "I'll worry about the others later. When we get to our destination point." He spoke as if it was the final choice again.
The others were hesitant. Tai shrugged. "Fine! If you guys want to be left behind, stay behind! It's your funeral." He continued on, and stopped, narrowing his eyes as his Digimon stayed put. "Agumon. Come on."
Hesitance flickered in the yellow dino-like Digimon's blue eyes.
"Agumon," Tai said sharply, "I said come." He aimed a kick at the Digimon. Everyone gasped.
"Tai's what's gotten into you lately?" Kari asked, her eyes on the ground, her voice trembling. "You know Tai, I'm beginning to think Matt was right when he said you were obsessed with winning and war. But that was so long ago, I thought you changed..."
"Kari, we had that all ironed out, please don't go around bringing up past disagreements," Gatomon pleaded.
"I am not obsessed with winning, or war!" Tai spat angrily back at his eleven-year-old sister. "Let's just get a move on already!" Angrily he began to walk on.
"Tai, I think the Crest of Courage has gone to your head," said Agumon softly, apparently not fazed by his Digipartner's act of violence towards him. "I sort of knew something was up. After you got it-way back when we were being fought by Etemon-" Agumon's voice began to break, "-you put too much faith in yourself, and me. You believed you could do anything you wanted with it. You remember what happened, don't you?"
"Agumon Digivolved into SkullGreymon," Sora continued. "And remember when WarGreymon defeated MetalSeadramon but we lost Whamon?"
"You were too intent on looking ahead to look back and mourn them," Matt said, his face now pale. "But Tai, it hasn't just happened to you-"
"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Tai yelled angrily. "I don't need you to put my memory through its paces, because I remember for myself, thank you very much! Oh yeah, and Big-Shot-Ishida, how would you know that it's happened to someone else in the group, huh?" he sneered. "You don't go around with everyone fighting your ideas!"
Matt looked like he was about to be ill. His face had turned from pale to a greyish colour as he tried to speak, but no sound came out of his mouth.
"See?" Tai snarled. "You have absolutely no reason to say that the same thing happened to other people in the group because it didn't happen! You're just trying to make something out of nothing."
"It happened to me," Mimi said bluntly. "Remember Tai, Joe, when we were in the Gekomon's castle and I became so fazed with all the royal treatment that my Crest of Sincerity almost became useless?"
Tai was obviously still angry, but now looked thoughtful as well. "Okay, so maybe that time."
"And my Crest of Love almost didn't glow because DemiDevimon had nearly convinced me because I had no love inside," Sora said encouragingly.
Matt was still blanched, but he was able to speak. "It-it happened to me."
"Huh?!" Everyone's heads snapped around.
"Um...remember when Puppetmon was playing with T.K. at his mansion and we were battling Kiwimon?" Matt asked sullenly.
"I was so obsessed with finding T.K. that my friendship began to fail. I thought T.K. came first, not defeating Kiwimon. That's why Gabumon had the Digivolving problem.
"Then when I left you guys right after T.K. came back, the Lord of the Forest, Cherrymon, convinced me there was no other way I could change unless I defeated Tai. That's why when I came back I was so cold.
"After we found out why we were chosen to be the DigiDestined, I left to truly find myself. And when MetalGarurumon defeated Puppetmon, I could've went back with you guys, but I still felt like a fifth wheel. And later..." Matt faltered. He had never told anyone this much about him before, except for when he and Gabumon had been lost in the cave of darkness, created by the dark feelings harboured in Matt's own heart.
The others were staring at him sympathetically. "And?" T.K. asked.
"I-I thought I wasn't wanted. I thought I was no good, and I had kept to myself because I didn't want anyone to know my true feelings. But, um, sometimes they showed." He gave his brother a small smile. "But Gabumon convinced me that I had friends, and that they cared about me. Gabumon plays a big part in my life, he does." Matt blushed slightly, and laid a brown-gloved hand on Gabumon's silky white, blue-striped head, just before his horn. The Digimon blushed, obviously pleased Matt had put him in such limelight.
"Well, gee Matt, I'm sorry," said Tai softly, looking at his friend. He turned to the others, and looked down at the ground, shame written all over his face. "You guys-I'm sorry. We can stop now. This path seems to be going nowhere."
"Finally!" Mimi said, with false aggravation. She giggled, and sat down.
"We'll go look for some sticks," Kari said, and she and T.K. rushed off.
Patamon flew up into the air, eyeing the trees to see what ones bore the best fruit. Aiming with a few careful Boom Bubbles, he knocked down the choicest ones into Mimi and Joe's waiting arms.
Once Kari and T.K. returned with sticks for the fire and to roast the fruit on, everyone relaxed. On the left side, Agumon lit the fire, while on the right, Gabumon did. Teamwork was always best, even for small situations.
Matt took the roasting sticks and fitted a fruit on to each of the points, that had been carved by Gatomon's razor-sharp Lightning Claw. All of the kids roasted the fruit and ate them ravenously, grateful to eat.
The black, velvet-like sky began to become dotted with gleaming white stars. Matt walked a little ways away from where everyone had begun to doze off, and began to play his harmonica in his traditional, mournful tune.
"Hey, bro." Matt jerked suddenly at T.K.'s voice.
His brother was leaning against a tree. "Your harmonica playing is really good." He arranged himself to sit next to Matt.
"Thanks," Matt stammered. He hoped it was dark enough so T.K. didn't see him redden.
"Look dude, I'm sorry." The apology came quickly out of the younger blond's mouth.
"Huh? For what?" Matt looked at T.K., his azure eyes questioning.
"Well-for being a brat, I guess." T.K. said, fastening his gaze onto his lap.
"Who said you were?" Matt inquired.
"Well-when you told everyone earlier that you got so worked up about me during the Puppetmon arc, I felt really bad, because I remembered I had well-told you off a while before that."
"T.K., it's okay. Really."
"No Matt, it's not. I just want to tell you that because you told me this, it affected my a lot. It made me realize that you were so protective of me because you love me."
"And because I'm your brother," Matt added hastily.
"Yeah," said T.K. "Brothers forever?"
"Brothers forever," Matt agreed.
T.K. nodded, and got up. He walked back over to the group, and ate another roasted fruit before he fell asleep.
Now Matt had some things to ponder over...
A/N: So, did you like that? Please review. Oh, and to all you sick people out there: Matt and T.K. are BROTHERS. Nothing more than BROTHERS. So now that that's smoothed out...
Watch for Episode 2: Valley of Darkness soon!!
~~Jane Ishida~~