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Chapter 2 was reloaded to add some small parts here and there to better fit the coming chapter, and some parts were re-written a bit to make it look nicer... I hope... lol

Who's Next?

Chapter 2: Isolated

All attentions were on Tai, who still held onto the piece of paper. His face was rather pale with shock, a drop of sweat formed on his forehead and flowed all the way down the side of his face, dripping on the paper. He felt his heart pounding in his chest as he read it all over again in his mind, for the fifth time.

"Was Joe... kidnapped?" asked Sora, resting her right hand on Tai's shoulder.

Tai stared directly into her eyes, which was filled with concern for their friend. He did so for a few seconds, before he crumpled up the paper and stuffed it into one of his pockets as he made his way to the door.

"Come on. We have to search for Joe. Everyone split up and look for him now!" he ordered. "It would be a good idea if a few of you go and search outside as well. Also keep an eye for anything... anything at all... that might lead us to Joe or tell us what has happened to him."

Everyone scrambled out of the room and split up, each searching in different parts of the beach house. Tai went from room to room, checking under the beds, behind doors, inside the bathrooms, anywhere Joe might be. He opened all the closets, pushing aside all the cloths hanging in there recklessly. Once in a while he could hear the sounds of people running up and down the stairs, all around the house. He poked his head out of Matt and T.K's room and saw Yolei jogging to and fro in the hallways. He called Yolei up and asked her whether she had found anything that might lead them to Joe. Jogging in place, she shook her head and asked Tai the same question. Tai shook his head as well and continued his own search.

Ken and Sora ran around the living room, searching for any clues on the whereabouts of Joe. They both agreed that if someone had kidnapped Joe, they would have to get out of the house and there were two obvious exits they could think of which was through the front door and the back. However, since they were all at the veranda behind the house when Joe disappeared, the kidnapper-if there was one, would have went out through the front door. Sora pulled up the carpet and took a look underneath.

"Eww..." she said, fanning away the dust off her face with her hand.

The cellar door creaked open and a coughing Izzy stepped out of it. Sora saw him and asked if he found anything in the cellar.

"There's nothing down there except spiders, cobwebs and lots and lots of dust," he replied in between coughs while hitting his chest, trying to get out all the dust he breathed in. "Did I mention there were lots of dusts?"

In the kitchen, Davis raided the refrigerator while Cody walked around restlessly.

"Davis! We're supposed to be looking for Joe!" said Cody who obviously didn't like it when Davis took a bar of chocolates from the fridge and took a bite out of it.

"Well, I don't see him here. Do you?" Davis said as he took another bite of his chocolate bar. "I mean, I don't think he can hide in here. Besides, Izzy was in the kitchen when Joe disappeared, right? I'm sure Izzy would have seen something if Joe or anyone else came into the kitchen."

"I suppose you're right," Cody said in a low and disappointed tone and watched as Davis finished his chocolate. He took one final look around the place and saw an opened water container by the cups. He sighed and went over and took the container and closed its lid. "Izzy must have forgotten to close it back," he said.

Outside, three dark figures moved about. The one in the lead was holding a torchlight, which shone on the ground as they slowly walked around the house.

Matt turned around and pointed the torchlight in T.K's direction. "I don't think we'll find anything out here. Let's go back in and see if the others had better luck."

"I think we should keep looking, and will you please point that thing in another direction!" T.K yelled as he shielded his eyes from the torchlight with his hands.

"Why don't T.K and I continue while you go and check how the others are doing?" Kari, who was standing beside T.K, suggested.

"Fine with me," said Matt. "Here T.K, catch!"

Matt tossed the torchlight over and T.K, who was still slightly blinded, caught it although it almost dropped off his hands. T.K heaved a sigh of relief as Matt passed him on his way back to the house.

"Come on T.K. I think we should go a little further down towards the beach," said Kari and she started heading towards the beach area.

"Wait for me!" said T.K as he jogged up beside Kari.

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore was very soothing to Kari. Even though she knew she was supposed to look for Joe, she couldn't help but to feel relaxed, as she enjoyed the sounds of the ocean splashing on the beach. She started to imagine how perfect this scene would be if she didn't have Joe to worry about. She slowly let all of her worries to wash away with the sounds of the waves, feeling the cool breeze coming from the ocean... It would be just T.K and her, at the beach, together... alone... Just the two of them, none at all...

"No no no..." Kari thought as she shook her head. "I shouldn't be thinking about this right now," she told herself, continuing to walk on, with T.K on her right. "We have to look for Joe... who knows what has happened to him..."

A gust of wind caused Kari to shudder as they continued walking. She regretted not wearing her long-sleeved shirt like Tai had told her to. It was starting to get really cold. Kari suddenly felt something warm reaching across the back of her neck, and onto her left shoulder. It was T.K's hand. She blushed slightly as T.K pulled Kari closer, his hand holding firmly on her shoulder, as they walked further down the path they were taking.

Kari had always felt something for T.K, even though she never admitted it to anyone, not even to T.K or to her brother, Tai. They have been best friends since they were eight, but her feelings for T.K never came until the time they were needed back in the Digital World together with three other new digidestined. She didn't realize it at first, but her feelings grew deeper with time, especially when she was in the Dark Ocean. Kari often wondered whether T.K thought of her as more than best friends. There were times when T.K had told her that he cared about her, but she was never certain about it.

For T.K, Kari was the most wonderful girl he knows. Many girls were crazy about him and some of them were really good looking as well, but there was only one girl in the whole world he has on his mind and that girl is Kari. He had told her that he truly cared for her, but her reactions often suggested that she thought he was just teasing her.

T.K suddenly stopped walking and Kari looked up to see why. A few hundred feet in front of them was another beach house. It was similar to the one they were staying in, but this one looked deserted. It was then that T.K realized it was getting quite late. He had been so absorbed in his thought about Kari that he had forgotten all about Joe. T.K mentally kicked himself for it.

"I think we better turn around and head back. We've been gone for some time," said T.K, releasing his grip on Kari.

"Huh? Oh... I guess we should," said Kari, slightly disappointed that T.K had let go of her.

All ten teenagers sat on the sofa in the living room, none of them made the slightest sound. Each of them was lost in their own world of thoughts. There was a depressed look on each of their faces. The only sound that could be heard in the room was the soft tick tock sound of the grandfather clock, which stood next to the television. As the minute hand struck twelve, the grandfather clock began to chime twelve times.

"It's getting very late, everyone should go to bed now," said Tai after the last chime was heard.

Tai stood up and went up to Davis.

"Davis, I want you to stay with Izzy tonight," he said and he turned to face the others. "I want everyone to stay in pairs. We'll call the police first thing in the morning."

It was late at night. Davis couldn't tell what was the time but he guessed it was around three in the morning.

"What's that noise?" he thought sleepily.

Davis was having a nice dream where he was playing for the national team, representing Japan in the FIFA World Cup. He was just about to score the winning goal in the finals when he suddenly woke up. He tried to open his eyes to see what made him wake up from his wonderful dream, but they were just too heavy and tired, so he just tried to guess what was making that strange noise by listening to it again, but it had stopped. Too sleepy to wonder why the noise is gone, he tried to go back to sleep, hoping to continue where he left his dream.

He was just about to doze off when the annoying sound returned. He grunted in anger as he twist and turn in bed. That seemed to have worked, he thought, for the room was silent again. However, it didn't last long. It came back again right before Davis fell asleep. This was it. He forced his eyes open to see what has been keeping him awake. His eyes slowly fluttered open. There was a soft light coming from the desk in the room. He turned his head to the light and saw someone typing away on a laptop.

"Argh! Why is Izzy playing his computer games during this kind of hour? So that's what the strange sound that has been keeping me awake was... I would really love to beat him up right now..." Davis thought as he yawned. "But I think I'll wait until tomorrow for that... I'm just way too tired..."

Davis was so tired by now that even the typing sound couldn't bother him anymore. Soon, he was carried off on the shoulders of his teammates, with him holding the trophy of the World Cup champion...

"Good morning," said Davis, stretching his arms above his head as he entered the living room.

Everyone else was already awake and sitting together at the sofa. There was a grave look on everyone's faces.

"Have you guys made a police report about Joe missing yet?" Davis asked.

"Our cell phones aren't working. The signal here isn't strong enough for us to use them," said Yolei, pointing to several different cell phones on the table.

Davis scowled at the news.

"There's more," said Ken. "We just heard from on the news a few minutes ago that there had been a landslide on the road coming to this beach."

"That means we're stuck here until they can clear up the road, which may take up to a few days," said T.K.

"Well, I guess I'll go make some breakfast for everyone. After that we can check out around the beach and hopefully, we will find Joe," said Sora as she got up and entered the kitchen.

It was almost noon. The group had split up into groups of two to scout the beach, and Izzy was paired with Cody. Izzy trailed behind Cody as they walked by the shore.

"Izzy," said Cody, turning around and looked Izzy straight in the eye. "What exactly did you tell Joe yesterday?" he asked suspiciously.

"What? No-nothing..." Izzy replied rather quickly.

"Come on, Izzy... Please tell me. I have a feeling that what you told him has something to do with his disappearance," said Cody, still looking straight into Izzy's eyes.

Izzy sighed. "If you insist... You see, before we came here, I found out that..."

A few hours later everyone was back at the beach house empty handed. No one had found anything that might lead to Joe at all, not even a single clue. Feeling tired and hungry, each of them made some sandwiches to eat.

Cody had a solemn look on his face as he chewed up his sandwich. The others were already halfway finished with their sandwiches but Cody had just finished a few bites.

"Cody, I know you're worried about Joe. We all are, but you still need to eat," said Sora, looking at Cody.

"I need some fresh air, excuse me," said Cody as he quickly stood up and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Sora was about to go after Cody when Matt stopped her. "Let him be alone for a while."

Sora sat down and continued to finish her sandwich, but even after they all had finished theirs, Cody still hasn't came back yet. Worried, Sora decided to go and look up on Cody. She came out of the dining room and headed for the door. She was about to turn the doorknob open when she caught a piece of paper under the door. Curious, she picked it up and read it:

The sands of time kept on flowing,

Waiting for no one, into the sea of infinity,

Once again I have claimed a victim,

One of knowledge and of reliability,

You can try to find me thought your chances are slim,

Who's Next? We'll just wait and see...

"Oh no!" she screamed, causing everyone in the dining room to rush out. "They've got Cody!"

"Quickly, everyone! He might still be around here!" Tai yelled as they rushed out, hoping to find Cody before he too disappeared like Joe.

Davis was behind everyone else and he thought to himself, trying his best to hide his suspicion as he kept an eye on someone. "It might be him. He is the most obvious suspect… Izzy!"

Sorry Chapter 2 took so long to finish. I hope you guys are happy with it. Please read and review! If you have found anything wrong with my fic, please tell me. Thanks for reading. ^_^