The bonds of Love and Courage
Tai's breathing was heavy and ragged as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Sora was sat on the edge of his bed, working her underwear back up her legs. She crawled back into bed and rested her head on Tai's chest as he pulled the covers over. Tai lazily draped an arm around her shoulder and using his free hand, began to play with her hair. The pair stayed like this in silence for a while before Tai shifted his posistion.
"Hey Sora..."
"Yeah Tai?"
"How's things with Matt?" Sora's heart sank at the mention of her boyfriend's name.
"Things are... Okay" Sora answered, with a slight pause.
"You sure, you don't sound okay... Does he suspect anything about us?"
"No, and that's the problem... Tai, don't get me wrong I love you and I want to be with you, but Matt has done nothing to deserve this, and I guess I just feel really bad for him" Tai understood how she felt. He wasn't happy with the situation they found themselves in either.
"What are we going to do?" Tai questioned.
"I don't know! Can we just drop the subject for a while? Please!" Sora snapped
"Okay, sorry" Tai apologised, Sora instantly regretted snapping at him and apologised herself. For the rest of the afternoon the pair just cuddled together in Tai's bed and watched a movie. Sora was only half paying attention as she was busy planning in her mind what she was going to say to Matt that night.
Later that evening Tai had just seen Sora off at the bottom of his tower block of flats when it started to rain. Tai hadn't noticed as he'd ran back upstairs and turned on his PlayStation, pulled his headset on and turned on walked slowly through the heavy rain, gathering her thoughts and preparing herself for what she needed to do. Sora was soaked through by the time she reached Matt's flat.
"Hey Sora" Matt greeted as Sora walked through the door, taking her coat off and hanging it up and walking through to the kitchen.
"Hi Matt"
"You okay?"
"No, not really" Sora sat herself down at the dining table.
"That doesn't sound good"
"It's not" Matt sat down opposite Sora and listened intently as she told him that she had fallen out of love with him, she loved somebody else and how sorry she was that she had to end their relationship. Once she had finished Sora had tears falling down her cheeks. Matt sat there, speechless for a moment before he ordered Sora out of the flat. Sora stood up and as she walked past him she whispered
"Matt I am really sorry" Matt heard the door shut as Sora left. Matt waited a little while to make sure he wouldn't accidentally run back into Sora before he headed out himself. Wanting to get some fresh air to clear his head.
"Matt?" A familiar voice called out, snapping Matt out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Jun Motomiya running towards him.
"Hi Matt... What's wrong?" Jun asked, noticing the tears in Matt's eyes. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and waited for him to speak. Matt took a moment to decided whether or not to open up to her, but the hand on his shoulder and the smile on her face made up his mind... He took a deep breath and told Jun everything that had happened earlier between Sora and himself. Jun listened sympathetically and waited until Matt had finished before replying...
"Matt, I hate to say it but people don't always stay in love with one person. Yeah it seems shitty now, but a little while down the road you'll be grateful that Sora was honest with you and didn't string you along." Matt thought on what she was saying and as he did, a memory popped into his mind of him, Tai and Izzy ditching Jun when they were planning on going camping while Davis and the other Digi Destined where off trying to save the Digiworld. a wave of guilt and regret hit Matt.
"Jun... Why are you out here helping me? I've been a dick to you in the past" Matt asked
"I dunno, I guess I don't like seeing people upset" Jun answered
"Is there anything I can do to make up for being such an asshole before?"
"Hmm, I guess we could start by getting to know each other properly and maybe become friends?" Jun offered. She opened her bad, took out a scrap piece of paper and a pen and proceeded to scribble something down and handed it to Matt
"I gotta go now, but here you go, call me if you ever wanna talk" She smiled.
Two months later
Matt knocked quietly on Sora's door and waited paitently for the answer.
"Matt..." Sora began
"Don't... I can't stay for long, I've just got something I want to get off of my chest"
"Okay" Sora replied, stepping out onto the balcony
"It's Tai isn't it?" Matt asked "The person you love" Sora swallowed the lump in her throat
"Yeah, it is" she admitted, Matt nodded
"Okay... Look, I just want to let you know, I'm not gonna cause problems for you both. You're two of my best friends and as long as you're both happy then that's good enough for me" Matt admitted to her. Sora took a step towards him, threw her arms around him and hugged him quickly
"Thank you Matt" Sora replied.
Tai, Sora and Kari were sat around in Tai's bedroom. Computer turned on, ready for the Digi Port to be opened.
"Thanks for doing this Kari" Tai thanked his little sister
"Yeah, thanks Kari" Sora added
"No problem guys" Kari replied, she held out her D3 towards the computer "Digi Port open!" Tai and Sora went through the Digi Port, landing in the Digital World.
"This is gonna be a good day" Sora smiled
"It is... Although there is one thing I should have mentioned..."
"What's that?"
"This is actually gonna be a double date"
"What? With who?"
"Hey Tai! Sora!" Agumon called out, running towards them, Biyomon flying over his head
"Sora! Hiya!"
"Agumon! Hey!" Tai yelled
"Biyomon!"
"Sora! It's so good to see you"
"So we ready for this date then?" Agumon asked
"Yep, got the food right here" Tai answered, holding up a bag from Yolei's store
"So... How long has this been going on?" Sora asked, indicating Agumon
"A while" Biyomon answered, blushing
"He treating you good?"
"Yeah, he's the best"
"Good, he ever stops, you kick his ass, got it?"
"Got it" Biyomon giggled
Tai, Sora, Agumon and Biyomon all agreed on a nice quiet spot in a open field for their double date picnic. They were almost to the clearing at the end of the woods.
"Hey, is it just me or has it gotten really dark really quick?" Tai questioned, stopping in his tracks and looking around
"I think you're right Tai" Agumon agreed
"Let's hurry up and get out of here" Sora suggested. They began to run for the clearing but as they did, the colour from the forest seemed to disappear around them. Suddenly they were nowhere near a forest but on a dark and deserted beach.
"Hello Digi destined" A bodiless voice greeted them
"Who is that?" Tai asked
"Biyomon..." Agumon began
"Way ahead of you"
"Agumon Digivolve too..."
"Biymon Digivolve too..."
"Greymon!"
"Birdramon!"
"Tai! Look up there!" Sora screamed, pointing up into the sky
"Myotismon" Tai spat
"That's MaloMyotismon" Birdramon corrected
"Let's go again then!" Sora growled, urging Birdramon to digivolve again
"Nope. Don't forget Digi destined... This is the Dark Dimension. Digivolving is useless here and here wihout the rest of your pathetic friends you're doomed" Sora turned to look at Tai... He wasn't looking at her, he was staring down at the floor, trying to keep the tears that were forming in his eyes from falling.
"Crimson Mist!" MaloMyotismon attacked Greymon and Birdramon, causing them to revert back to their Rookie forms. Tai looked on and as the their Digimon hit the floor Tai fell to his knees
"Tai?"
"It's over Sora"
"What?"
"It's over... Look at Agumon and Biyomon, taken out in one hit. It took all of us to beat him with our Digimon at the Ultimate level last time and it's just us two with two beat up Rookie Digimon... We can't win this one. I'm sorry"
"Tai... we can't give up" Agumon winced, trying to get back to a vertical base.
"Agumon is right, we can't give up" Biyomon added, stuggling back to her feet.
"Come on Tai! FIGHT" Sora yelled. Tai stood up and turned to her
"What's the point? This is all my fault! It was my idea to come here. Sora I'm sorry. We're not strong enough to beat him" Tai sighed, as if all the fight had gone from within him. Tai loved Sora, with all of his heart but it was exactly that love that had led them here.
'If only she'd have chosen Matt' Tai thought. His mind now drifting to his best friend and the encounter they'd had two months ago.
Tai heard the loud knocking on his door, he opened it and was immediately floored by a hard right hook from Matt. Blinking back tears Tai jumped back to his feet, ready for a full on fight but Matt dropped his arms to down by his side, taking deep breaths to calm himself down and to stop him from crying. He uttered a single question to Tai before walking away
"How could you do this to me Tai?"
"Come on Biyomon! We're not giving in just yet" Sora gulped, trying her hardest to muster up all the courage she had, using all of her will to stand her ground and not run away even though it's all she wanted to do.
"Biyomon Digivolve too... Birdramon" The large bird Digimon took off and launched a powerful attack at MaloMyotismon but without inflicting any real damage. Sora swallowed the lump in her throat and called out her encouragement to her friend. Vowing that together they would never give up. Agumon was trying to get through to Tai, hoping to convince him that they needed to fight but Tai wasn't listening, his memories moved on from Matt to Sora.
Tai was laying down on a couch, wincing as Sora cleaned up a large cut in his leg he'd got playing football
"Will you stop being such a baby" she sighed, rolling her eyes at him
"I'm not being a baby... OWWW!" Tai yelped as Sora dabbed more anti septic gel on the gash
"Yes you are. Now don't move" Sora ordered, getting up and walking out to her kitchen
"Yeah? Well... Ga ga... Goo goo" Tai yelled out at her, mocking the baby comments. Sora came back a moment later with a bandage and plaster tape. Sora sat down, and wrapped the badge tightly around the deep cut in Tai's leg, securing it with the tape.
"Now you need to rest that leg mister... So, I'm cooking tonight and you are staying here and doing as you're told for once" She explained, kissing him as she finished
Tai stood at the edge of the penalty area, trying to block out the noise of the crowd and focus on where he wanted to strike the ball... This penalty was to win the cup for his team, he took a deep breath and exhaled as the crowd quietened down. As he was about to start his run up he heard a lone female voice he would know anywhere
"COME ON TAI YOU CAN DO THIS!" Sora yelled out from her seat in the stand. He ran up, struck the ball as sweetly as he could and watched it sail into the top corner.
Tai thought about all he and Sora had gone through together, how they'd grown together ever since their first adventures in the Digital World. Tai got up off his knees in time to see Birdramon get hit by a Crimson Mist attack. MaloMyotismon turned his attention to Sora, who was surrounded by a pale orange glow.
"Crimson Mist" this time aimming his attack at Sora.
"Sora! NO!" Tai screamed out, rushing in front of the blast to protect Sora. Tai opened his eyes to see both him and Sora bore no effects from the attack but Tai now had a red aura surrounding him.
"Agumon Digivolve too... Greymon"
"Sora, are you okay?"
"I'm fine Tai, but what's going on?"
"I don't know, but I'm sorry, I couldn't stand by and watch you get attacked"
"It's okay... But now we need to stand and fight"
"Sora..." Tai pointed at her tag, because instead of the crest of love glowing, Sora was illuminated by the crest of courage
"Tai..." He looked down at his own tag and saw the crest of love glowing brightly
"What does it mean?" he asked
"It means we're not gonna lose"
"Greymon AmourDigivolve too..."
"Birdramon AmourDigivolve too..."
"LiebeMutamon" came the voices of Greymon and Birdramon. LiebeMutamon was a large dragon type Digimon with Birdramon's wings and legs and Greymon's head and arms.
"Woah!" Tai exclaimed
"How did this happen?"
"Sora, your courage, standing to fight MaloMyotismon and Tai, your love for Sora in protecting her awakened the powers of each other's crests in you. We AmourDigivolved because of the deep and powerful bonds you share with each other" LiebeMutamon explained.
"Alright! So you ready to take out the trash?" Tai asked
"We was born ready" LiebeMutamon replied.
"Cupid's Flame" LiebMutamon shot out a powerful burst of flames directly at MaloMyotismon. Destroying him instantly. LiebeMutamon DeDigivolved back to Agumon and Biyomon, exhausted from the fight.
Tai, Sora, Augmon and Biyomon sat down on the blanket Sora had laid out for them
"Finally! We can eat!" Agumon exclaimed happily, grabbing a paw full of food. The double date finally back on track.