Seven Children huddled together inside of a single cabin as they waited the freak blizzard to wear itself out. Tai was beginning to get worried. How was it that there was a snowstorm here? Snow Bear was in a city! What was probably worse was the fact that the camp hadn't let him tell his parents about Kari! He'd be having "words" with someone about that, or his mother would- one of the two. "I can't believe this storm knocked out my Infrared Internet connection," he heard Izzy, who Tai knew from school (he technically was the reason that Izzy was here), say.
"Seriously? Those tend to be finicky at the best of times," the tallest boy questioned, curious as to why this was such an astonishing event.
"Normally true but I made this one myself. It's incredibly reliable. Once while my family and I were on a trip we got caught in a minor hurricane, this baby kept us connected and at full speed the entire time," Izzy replied a hint of pride in his voice.
"Just what grade are you in?" the older blonde asked.
"My parents want me to have friends my age so I'm still in fourth, but I do take online college classes," he stated not looking up from his computer.
'Huh, learn something new every day, it can survive a hurricane,' Tai thought. Then he noticed something, or the lack of something… the wind wasn't howling anymore! "Hey guys come on, storm's over!" 'There's a lot I could worry about right now, but nothing I can do about any of those things so I might as well enjoy what I can!'
"Tai… Tai… Tai, wake up! Come on, wake up!" Tai heard a very familiar voice say.
And so he replied in his usual manner, "Koromon, not now, I'm sleeping- besides what if mom hears you?" Only for him to realize there was a problem with that statement. Koromon was at home- that made him jolt awake. Upon seeing that he was in a combination of Forest and Jungle questions began spilling out of his mouth like water from an open faucet. "Where are we? How did we get here? Where's Kari?" all came out in one breath.
"Who's 'mom?' We're in the Digital World, I don't know," and "Who's 'Kari?'" were how Koromon answered still bouncing up and down like the one time his mom had left an extra creamed an sugared coffee out.
"What do you mean 'Who's Kari'? My sister- you know, the one who's sick- and that I asked you to watch this morning! Did you bonk your head on impact or something! 'Cause you seem really happy about being in a world neither of us have been to and presumably have no idea how to get back home!" Tai shouted back, a slight insanity creeping into his voice.
"Tai, you're scaring me," Koromon sobbed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just met you today, but I've been waiting for you for such a long time… And today you came! But why are you mad?"
Tai looked like he was about to begin shouting again but when his mouth opened no sound came out. He stayed in that position for a minute, before opting to take another stance and begin again, but still no words came out. After this process had been going on for about a minute, Koromon perked up and asked, "Oh, are we playing 'Charades'?" Tai merely let out a frustrated grunt and massaged his temples at the question.
"Let me get this straight, you've never met me before today?" Koromon shook his… well his body signifying no. "And you've never been to my house?" No. "Never met my family?" No. 'Okay, so not the Koromon I grew up with.' "And you've been waiting for me for a very long time?" This time, he got a nod. "Dare I ask why?"
"Because we're… Partners!"
"Says who?" Tai asked, not meaning to be disrespectful or hurtful to the little guy, however he was dubious about the whole thing.
Koromon seemed not to mind if some of those tones leaked into Tai's voice when he replied, "I don't know. I just know it's true," while still smiling. Tai could feel a headache coming on. "Why'd you think I knew you, Tai?"
"A Koromon's been living with my family ever since he hatched from an egg that came out of dad's computer. I thought you were him," Tai replied. "Sorry I freaked out on you. You didn't deserve that."
Koromon still looked sad. The In Training was in deep thought over it. 'Another Koromon? And Tai was obviously close to him… But I'm supposed to be Tai's partner! Not him! But then, what do I do? If I try to take his place, Tai will probably reject me, but if I let this be, I'll be alone when everyone else has someone. I don't know what to do…'
"Hey, Tai, I hard you freak out. Are you okay?" Izzy asked coming into view.
"Yeah, moment's passed," Tai sighed, scratching the back of his head.
"Well at least of the others are around we won't have to look for them. That yell was unmistakable, though why were you asking about Kari?"
"Long story…" Tai drifted off and refused to elaborate.
"Okay, so we're the only humans here, our supplies are limited, and we have no shelter to speak of, at least we have our health," Tai muttered the last part looking at the other people around who varied from acquaintance- to I-know-your-name- to Izzy, who he had been in soccer club with. So they were somewhat friends.
"What makes you think we're the only ones here?" Matt asked defensive.
"Because it's the Digital World, its only inhabitants are Digimon. Besides I didn't see any more of that 'Sky Mail,'" Tai responded in monotone. He turned to Koromon, "You guys need a better package delivery system, ever heard of FedEx?"
"Nope." "Figured."
"What are we going to do tonight?" Sora asked.
"Who said anything about there being a night? For all we know it could be blue skies twenty four hours a day, seven days a week," Matt stated.
"That would be illogical," Izzy snapped.
"Izzy," Tai sighed, "think back over today. I'm pretty sure Logic left with Summer. Or are you telling me that this is perfectly normal? As in, do you normally hide from two story tall bugs inside of metal trees? But anyway, let's try and find a cave or something."
"Well you seem to know what's going on," Sora pointed out.
"Really? I know a little about this place but not much," Tai said stunned. "I've bunked with one of this little dude's siblings for the last four years. He's told some interesting stories. But since he was born in our world he didn't know much."
"But what about the bathroom?" Mimi asked.
"Tree," came the straight-faced answer of everyone else except TK.
"That's disgusting!" Mimi said revolted.
"What if we're attacked?" Joe asked. "We could be mauled, or mutilated and killed and we're nowhere near any medical facilities!"
"Well, first off we stay in a group," Tai said trying to keep the boy calm. "We're less likely to be attacked if we stay together. And if that doesn't work then these little guys are usually pretty good in a fight."
"And you know this how?" Joe asked nervous.
"Remember that attack on the Heighten View Terrace bridge four years ago? Yeah, that wasn't terrorists. That was Greymon protecting me and my sister while he wailed on a Parrotmon."
"Oh, yeah, I remember seeing that!" "Me too!" "I was cheering for the dinosaur."
"Wait a minute," Izzy said. "We all saw that event, as in with our own eyes, saw it?" he received a round of nods. "And we all just happened to go to the same summer camp and were whisked away here? Does that sound like a coincidence to anyone else?"
"No," Tai admitted. "But by that logic, Kari should be here too."
"Fair enough," Izzy conceded dropping it for now.
Felt I should add why Kari was left alone in the series last chapter, just forgot about the note.
Koromon just learned something very important about Tai, he doesn't have a Big Brother STREAK, he has a HIGHWAY. And that he might jsut have some competition, but he's at least going about it in a different way... for now.