Clouds:

Prologue:

A/N: I was rereading this chapter, and I realized it was full of numerous grammatical errors and missing words, and was actually fairly choppy, so I made some edits and added a little more material to make it make more sense.

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.

I guess it all really began at around 11 am on the first day of summer break, after my 10th grade year. I was being lazy, as I'd been so much, just looking up at the clouds. It reminded me of something that puzzled me, and I'd thought about it a lot recently.

You know, when you're little, you spend a lot of time looking up at the clouds. But as you grow, you don't just cease to look up at the clouds, you cease to remember that it exists, on clear days. Clouds, once fantastic figures, once almost dreams, become nothing.

I wasn't quite sure. I mean, as we grow up, we still chase these clouds; in the same way we chase our fleeting dreams. It's just that we can't remember what we are chasing, and we never see it. I mean, what's the point of having dreams, and chasing them, if you don't even know what they are?

But on this particular day, the clouds were indistinguishable from one another, because they blocked out the sun. If clouds were dreams, then this was an accurate metaphor for my life; so full of dreams that I couldn't pinpoint any of them, and so chaotic that the dreams were no longer light, but dark, suppressed by their own ambition, and inner turmoil.

Indeed, it'd been a long time since I'd had a bright future. My GPA had fallen, my social life had eroded, and my stress had increased. I'd gone from being brilliant, cute, popular, and carefree, to being of average intelligence, of average looks, a nobody, not good or bad, and edgy as all hell.

It'd all started going down-hill when the digidestined had passed on the torch, and it'd gotten worse since we'd all seperated... Much, much 'd all lost self-esteem, drive, and something mystical, almost as if we had some sort of superpowers while we were the digidestined, and they were gone now that we were back to being just normal kids again.

So, if we're normal kids, maybe it's time to step things up a notch for basketball, and see if I can't just break free. After all, I really do just need to convince myself it's possible again, right? I thought, looking away from the sky as I brushed my poorly kept hair out of my eyes.

I began the short walk to the school with my basketball, deciding to practice for the first time in a very, very long time. 10 minutes later, I was at the high school I now attended. I tried to take a shot, but I missed the basket entirely. As I ran over, and retrieved the ball, somebody laughed, and I whirled around to see who it was. He spoke before I could turn entirely, and I groaned a little inside, just hearing his voice.

"Hey, T.K! Long time, no see! I see you still suck at basketball." It was Davis, who, no matter how much I had come to respect him, was still annoying as hell.

"No, just out of practice." To be honest, I was mortified that Davis had seen me miss that particular shot; I would never live it down. I mean, it could have been worse; Kari could have seen me miss the shot instead… I didn't really know why I felt that way, as I knew she really wouldn't care, but my feelings for Kari confused me. I was so afraid of losing her friendship that I wasn't willing to be anything more than just a friend, because romance was more likely to fall apart than friendship, and then things would be more awkward, but at the same time, I wanted that very romance that I was afraid of; I liked her a lot, and really, considering how much we had in common and how well we got along, such a relationship would be too good to miss.

Too good to miss| But too good to risk I thought, and then laughed aloud at the slant rhyme; it was just a little bit ridiculous.

"What's funny?" Davis asked, bringing me back into the real world.

"Nothing." I said.

"Alright, whatever, man, I see you're also still a little weird."

"Yeah, coming from the guy whose life dream is to open a noodle cart, I practically take that as a compliment." I pointed out, laughing slightly

"At least I don't miss a basket by twenty feet from the top of the key."

"Whatever man, you would too if you had taken a shot in 6 months."

"Hey, it's not MY fault you're lazy."

"I'm not lazy; I just have had other things to do."

"Yeah, like sitting around and playing games… and sitting around, and sitting around… That's not lazy at ALL!"

"Hey, I don't JUST sit around in my room and play games."

"Really? Like what?" Davis asked, almost dubiously.

"Well, I do my homework." I replied weekly, realizing that I really wasn't doing anything other than sitting around.

"Right… Doing the bare minimum isn't lazy at all."

"And you've been doing what all this time, Mr. Work Ethic?"

"Absolutely nothing. But at least I don't pretend otherwise."

"True." I conceded, "Very true. You're proud of your lone accomplishment over the last couple of years; watching your life slip away."

"And what have you done?" He asked, sounding as if that one had been too accurate for him; so accurate that it had vaguely hurt, even coming from me.

"Watched my life slip away, fell from hero to zero… But at least I don't enjoy it. Come on, man, you have to admit, it's a little weird that we've all fallen apart at the same time."

"Maybe we just don't really have any reason to try anymore. I mean, we don't have a world to save. We aren't constantly in contact with people who expect the world of us, and really, what's left to achieve when you've saved two worlds twice?" Davis speculated.

"True. True." I admitted, wondering why I hadn't thought of that, and then taking another shot.

I missed, but not by half as much.

"Getting closer." Davis said, "But 'close' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but since that was only closer and not close, and since that was neither a horseshoe nor a hand-grenade, so you still fail."

I smiled to myself, commenting, "That was too wordy to be funny, Davis. Cut it down a little."

Davis laughed, "Whatever, dude, I've got to get home for lunch."

"Fine. I'm going to go back to practicing." I said, and chased after my basketball.