"When are Kari and Gatomon arriving?"

"In an hour or so, I think. She didn't tell me"

T.K. dried off and spent a good five minutes picking clothes. He was very nervous. She had gone to his house many times, but not his father's. At least, never like this. It was the first time they were going to have a serious dinner with him, Matt and Sora. Or as serious as that could be, anyways. His father wasn't as stressed out as he usually was, and he was cooking (usually, that would have been enough to worry T.K.), but there were rumors that he could be fired anytime, and that had clearly affected him. As for Matt, he had recently had a fight with Sora and even though they both claimed to be alright, they weren't nearly as affectionate as they used to be.

"T.K.! That's not a shirt, those are your pants!"

"Oh. Ha, you're right Patamon. I don't know what I was thinking".

"You keep trying to lie to me and you've never been good at it!"

"You read me like an open book. I guess I am just a bit nervous"

"Why? Are you afraid Kari is going to chew with her mouth open?"

"Ha. If only"

Patamon chuckled. T.K. liked having him around. Most other Digimon chose to stay in the Digital World, but Patamon was spending most of the time in the Human World nowadays. His child-like optimism and outlook never failed to cheer him up, and he needed that.

"Patamon… you know you can go back to the Digital World whenever you want, right?"

"I know! But if I could I'd be here with you at all times. We're partners, T.K."

"We were partners when the worlds needed DigiDestined. We're friends now"

"But we are best friends!"

He often wondered if Patamon understood human problems. He had changed a lot since they first met, but Patamon was the same, only more mature and confident. When any of their friends had an argument, they had a fight and then they were even closer. It wasn't quite that easy now. For a Digimon, that was probably hard to understand.

"That we are"

As he was setting up the table, Matt arrived. He wasn't looking his best. Only a few months ago he had to disband the Teenage Wolves because his studies were taking their toll on him. He had lost some weight and didn't sleep often. T.K. had tried to calm him down in the past, but Matt always told him he was fine and that he shouldn't have to worry. In many ways, Matt was slowly turning into Joe, even though he didn't want to admit it.

"How was your day, Matt?"

"If I tell you I'm about to explain something very important, and then proceeded to spew a bunch of nonsense, what would you think?"

"That you didn't have a very good day"

"Actually, I would say that's an average day! What are you dressed up as? I thought you had just invited Kari, not the circus!"

But in many ways, Matt was still Matt. But he was willing to admit he was probably dressed up too elegantly. Maybe he should change clothes again. What if everyone else was wearing casual clothes? He had assumed his father would dress up, but maybe he was asking too much. And what if he switched to casual clothes and Kari thought he didn't care enough?

"Kari and Gatomon!"

"Oh, hi, Patamon. How is it going?"

"T.K. has been worried all day, I've been trying to cheer him up"

"You're worried?"

"No I'm not, Patamon is exaggerating as always"

"I'm not!"

"Mmh, it's fairly evident one of you is lying. Takeru, you shouldn't lie to your older brother. What would Kari think?"

Matt kept teasing him for a few minutes. He feigned outrage, if only because Matt loved to do it. Seeing him laugh was worth the jokes, and hopefully he'd run out of them by the time Kari arrived. His own brain and his brother's words convinced him of the contrary.

Sora arrived half an hour later. If his father's house was bigger, he could've probably told himself Matt had sounded excited when he greeted her. His father was probably happier to see her. When she got closer, Patamon flew straight to her. The two of them had always gotten along, and Patamon seemed unaware of the tension. T.K told himself not to be overtly friendly, but he was very happy to see her. If it weren't for Sora, he would've probably never gotten far with Kari.

Sora sat with Matt, and the four of them watched tv while their father cooked (the charred smell would've worried most people, but they all had tried his father's food already). Sora and Matt didn't say a word to each other, but that was better than witnessing another snark contest. She had always been an attractive girl, but it had been more noticeable lately, since she put a lot more effort on her appearance nowadays. At least, she was wearing clothes far more expensive than his own, so he wouldn't stand out as much as he had previously feared.

He had tried to bring up something to talk about for the last fifteen minutes, to no avail. Patamon fared better, when he mentioned the last time they had gone to the Digital World, just two weeks ago. Tai, Yolei, Ken, Kari and T.K. had gone to see their Digimon and eat with some of their friends, when an Allomon and a Tyrannomon interrupted them in a rather brutal fight until Greymon put an end to it. He made both of them apologize and then hug. Thinking back, he might have gone too far, but everyone laughed. Wormmon, Hawkmon and Gatomon went to the Real World afterwards for the first time in some weeks, whereas Patamon had been living with T.K. for close to two months already. Agumon stayed, as he wanted to make sure Tyrannomon and Allomon wouldn't threaten anyone else.

Most of the Digimon chose to live in the Digital World, since for the last few years there had been many politicians who claimed any Digimon, no matter the kind, was a threat to the Real World, and since they didn't want to cause any trouble they only stayed in the Human World for a few weeks at a time. Izzy was the exception, as he usually worked alongside Tentomon and as a result Tentomon only went back to the Digital World whenever groups of Kuwagamon went rogue.

Kari was ten minutes late already, and he was starting to get even more worried. Kari was never late, she hadn't texted or called, and Sora and Matt had already started with some unfortunate remarks. The dinner wasn't looking too good either way but it's not like that surprised him, he had joked around with Patamon before about how they'd have to go buy dinner.

"T.K., where is Kari? If this were a normal dinner, she'd be late", said Sora.

"I don't know, I'll call her and see if she's alright"

Her phone didn't work, even though he called her three times. He tried to contact her with his D-Terminal, but after five minutes, she didn't reply.

"Why isn't she replying?"

He probably sounded much more worried than he wanted to.

"Have you tried phoning her house?"

"Oh, right! Yeah, she's probably there…"

He kept telling that to himself, but it didn't make any sense. It was Tai who answered.

"Tai? Tai! How are you, Tai? Tai! Could you, please, ask Kari when is she coming?"

"Who is that?"

"I'm T.K. Takeru. T.K."

"Oh, T.K. What are you talking about? Kari left like forty minutes ago"

"Ah… did she have to do anything before coming here? Maybe buy something? Perhaps?"

"Wait a minute, T.K., are you telling me Kari isn't there?"

"No, she's not!"

"Did you call her?"

"No. I mean, yes, yes I did. Her phone is not working and she's not replying with the D-Terminal. Oh, no, what if… what if something bad has happened to her?"

"She was with Gatomon"

"What if something bad has happened to the two of them? Maybe she's doing something for your mother, could you ask her? Please?"

"T.K. are you kidding me? My mother gave her some cake or pie or something like that for you because she didn't want you to go buy dinner this late, she didn't tell her anything!"

"But then…"

"Are you seriously telling me Kari is missing?"

"Tai… I…"

"I'm calling Davis, he has to bring Agumon here. T.K., stay home and if anything, anything happens, call me immediately"

"Matt and Sora can stay here in case she appears. I'm going out to find her with Patamon"

Patamon didn't have to wait for T.K. to explain. Matt asked something but T.K. didn't listen. He was already running towards the door when his brother was only starting to get up.

And, after a long time, he once again shouted "Digi-Armor Energize".