ABOVE & BEYOND
"Wow! Look at that!" Kari stared through her telescope at the shooting star in complete awe. "Let me see." Tk playfully nudged his girlfriend out of the way so that he could take a look at this "amazing" falling piece of space junk. "Wow, stellar!" He said sarcastically as he handed the optic tube back to his girlfriend, who was obviously more interested in aliens and far away galaxies that she would never visit then in her handsome boyfriend (or so Tk was convinced) who was standing right beside her. "Very funny," Kari said rolling her eyes at his lame attempt at space humour.
"What could be better on a clear night like this one then to sit by the window and stargaze?" Kari asked, hoping that her boyfriend would at least pretend to be more interested in the subject. Tk smiled his most devilish smile before replying. "I can think of one thing" he said, wrapping his arms around the girl's waist and pulling her into a warm embrace. Then, lowering his head, he brushed his lips against hers and shared a passionate kiss. "Men; Is that all you ever think about?" Tk smiled again, but didn't reply this time. Instead he lowered his head once more and expressed his love a second time. "I better get going Kari. It's getting pretty late." Reluctantly Takeru Takashi loosened his grip on Hikari's waist, then turned and walked out the door.
Kari shut the door behind Tk then returned to her telescope. "We'll, Tk might not be interested in the mysteries of space, but I am." She examined this unknown world for a long length of time before giving in to her heavy eyelids and deciding to go to bed. She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, then returned to her room to undress and slip into her nightgown. She was almost ready to hop into the warmth of he bed when the familiar buzzing of her digivice called for a change of plans.
"Gennai never calls us to the Digiworld at night. This must be something serious" she thought worriedly. "Well, duty calls! A Digidestined's work is never done" she sighed, as she held out her digivice and was encompassed by the traditional pink light that had come to take her to her home away from home. She probably wouldn't get to sleep tonight, but at least she and Gatomon would soon be reunited. The comfortable surroundings of the young girl's bedroom slowly faded away and then rematerialized in a different world where danger and adventure lurked around every corner. She found the other Digidestined gathered around the solid oak table inside of Gennai's kitchen.
"What's going on?" Kari asked as she walked toward an empty chair beside Sora at the table. "We have no idea" Izzy replied. "Gennai's been studying that scroll since we got here" Tai added. All of the Digidestined knew that interrupting Gennai when he was reading would result in a long drawn out lecture about the importance of patience and concentration. Kari was anxious to hear some news about a new evil or something exciting, but for the sake of all of her friend's ears, she decided to leave him until he was ready to acknowledge their arrival. Finally after what seemed like hours, the old man looked up from his paper and greeted his heroes. "I'm sorry that you had to wait so long Digidestined, but before I gave you this news I had to make sure that everything was prepared." Gennai looked around the table seeing the exact same puzzled looks on eight different faces. Finally Matt was the one who spoke. "Prepared for what Gennai? Is the Digiworld in some sort of trouble? " Mimi shot an annoyed glance at her boyfriend. "Duh, why else would we be here?" Gennai took a step closer toward the table, then laid the paper that he was looking at out flat for all eyes to see. "Is that a.... SPACESHIP?" Izzy stared at the paper, which was now recognized as blueprints for a space travel vehicle. "You are correct Izzy. The problem is not in the Digital World itself, but in Digispace. Much like earth's solar system, the Digiworld is also part of a vast galaxy. The trouble lies inside of the Digital Space Station, which has been part of an ongoing spatial war for the past few weeks. The operators of the DSS have been able to hold off the attacking fleets up to this point, but their defenses are running thin and they need some help." "Are you saying that we're going into Digispace" Joe asked, already feeling the signs of motion sickness coming in? "That's exactly what he's saying!" Kari exclaimed. She seemed to be the only one who was thrilled about the idea. "I can't believe that I'm going to be able to see the stars up close!" She was hardly able to contain her excitement until a thought came to mind. In all of the talk about trouble she had forgotten about her earlier feelings of excitement that had arose when thinking of Gatomon. "Are the digimon coming too?" She asked. "Yeah, where are Agumon and the other digimon Gennai?" Tai asked reinforcing his sister's query. "The digimon have already been transported to the DSS and are awaiting your arrival. You'd better suit up. There isn't much time." "Uh, Gennai? Don't we need some sort of spacesuit or something to be able to travel in space?" Sora pointed out. "Yes Sora, I've got all of that covered. Follow me Digidestined." One by one, the teens rose from their spots at the table and followed the old man down a long stretch of winding stairs and into a deep dark basement. "Cool! We've never seen this part of your house before Gennai," Tk exclaimed. "There is a lot of more of my house that you haven't seen yet," Gennai replied. "Yeah right! How many more rooms can you fit in this tiny cottage?" Matt asked doubtfully. "Gennai stopped in front of a dead end wall and turned to face his Digidestined with a smile on his face. "Appearances can be deceiving. You should now that by now, considering you've spent all of that time in the Digiworld. Oh well, that's not important right now." Gennai turned back to the wall and searched for a hidden switch. "Ah, here it is!" What once was a wall in front of them opened up to reveal a secret room which contained eight Digi-Spacesuits and a familiar looking spaceship. "This is the spaceship from the blue prints!" Izzy noticed the paper drawings come to life. "And look at these really cute spacesuits!" Mimi exclaimed. They each were custom made for the Digidestined that would be sporting them. Each suit was painted with a specific crest and covered with the corresponding colour of the digivices. Gennai watched happily as all but Izzy, who was examining the ship ran toward their spacesuits in a frenzy of excitement. "How do I look?" Tai asked Sora as he modeled his orange "spacesuit of courage." The girl giggled as her boyfriend struck the famous model poses one after the other. "You look great!" She replied after slipping into the final piece of her red suit as well. Mimi and Matt turned the corner each dawning a their own personalized space gear. Mimi's was green and Matt's was blue. They walked toward Tai and Sora with huge smiles on their faces. "You guys look awesome" Matt commented as he slapped Tai a high five. "Yeah" Mimi agreed. "Our suits match the colour of our crests exactly." Sora and Tai both rolled their eyes upon hearing the comment. "What? A girl's gotta be fashionable.... Even in space." Soon they were all packed and ready to go. Izzy got some last minute flight instructions from Gennai before climbing into his purple suit and slipping into the driver's seat. Joe, looking extremely traditional in his gray suit, had just finished going over the flight plan and making sure that nothing would be forgotten. He took his place next to Izzy and buckled up. "Okay, all set!" Joe exclaimed. He was quite surprised that he hadn't already chickened out, but he figured that if he could survive the dangers of the Digital Earth, then he could certainly manage in Digital Space. "Let's go!" "We can't go yet Joe. We're missing two passengers" Tai pointed to the pair of empty back seats where Tk and Kari were suppose to be seated. "Where are those to anyways?" Matt asked looking around the room for his younger brother. "We're right here" Tk replied, rounding the corner in his bright yellow gear. Kari followed directly in tow wearing a bright pink outfit. They climbed into their seats and secured themselves for take off. "Hey sis? Where'd you get that mark?" Tai teased, noticing the huge hickey on Kari's neck. "Owww!" Matt howled jokingly. "Tk you dawg!" The young couple turned red with embarrassment as their friends gawked at the size of Kari's "love mark." After the group had finished ridiculing the youngest members of their team, they closed the hatch on the ship, waved goodbye to Gennai and prepared for countdown. After a few minutes a recording of Gennai's voice was heard through the speakers. "Initiate countdown...10...9...8..." Kari hopped up and down in her seat. "I'm so excited!" "5...4...3..." Tai clenched his fists in front of his face. "Here we go!" "Blast off!" The countdown ceased and the Digidestined were hurled out of Gennai's cabin and into the stars. "One small step for the Digidestined..." Sora started, but was cut off by Tk. "...One big problem for evil digimon!" "Uh guys? One problem..." Mimi looked around anxiously. "What is it Meems?" Matt put a comforting hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "I have to go to the washroom!"