Hi everyone! We're back.

MC: Indeed we are!

Yeah! And it's time for a brand new chapter! This is where Kari finally visits Cory for the first time since his illness was announced.

MC: Yeah. I wonder what will happen?

Let's find out! Enjoy!

Disclaimer:... you already know...

Chapter 3: Visiting Cory

"Kari!"

The nine year old gasped as she saw her best friend, hanging from a cliff, over a pit of fire. Cory tried to hang on, but the branch he held on was getting slippery. Kari reached down, "Quick! Take my hand!" She cried.

Suddenly, she heard a menacing voice, "Oh no you don't."

At that moment, Kari was grabbed by someone from behind, as Cory's hand slipped from the branch, as he fell to the fire below, "Kari!" Was the last thing he said before the flames devoured him.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Kari screamed as tears fell.

The person who grabbed her laughed demonically as he threw her to the ground. Kari looked up and gasped in shock... it... was her father. Also known to Jake and his friends as the evil tyrant Shawn. Not only best remembered as a villainous mastermind, but also best remembered as a serial sexual monster.

"You.. But, what are you doing here?! I thought I defeated you." Kari asked the tyrant in complete shock.

"Oh but you did, but you know as well as I do that evil like me shall never die. They can always haunt you in your dreams for the rest of your miserable life."

Kari just whimpered as Shawn grabbed her by the neck and pulls out a sharp dagger, aiming it close to her neck.

"And just like me, it's only a matter of time before your friend Cory dies. And you have yourself to blame for putting him in this position in the first place."

"No... it's not my fault... it's not my fault!" She cried, struggling to escape from him.

"Yes.. it.. IS!" He said as he sliced her neck. Blood began to pour from the wound as she gagged and stared at the villain in horror, as he added this not only to upset her more... but also break her.

"You were the one that kissed him on the cheek, even though you knew you were contagious. And it's because of you, your friend is about to die and it is all your fault."

Kari wanted to say something, but the cut prevented her from doing so as the tyrant continued to talk, "You're suppose to be there and not let any of your friends suffer severely, and here you go doing just that to your closest friend Cory."

Kari shook her head, trying to deny it. But sadly, as much as she tried. She couldn't escape the fact that Shawn was actually right. The tyrant smirked as he said this last thing, "Long story short.. You're nothing more.. than a murderer.."

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

Kari woke up with a scream, breathing heavily, sweating hard. Realizing how scared she was, she began to cry, just as her father walked into the room to check on her, "What happened?"

"I had a bad dream..." She whimpered through her tears. Jake frowned as he hugged his daughter, trying to comfort her, "Well it's over now, don't worry."

"But it was terrible!" She shrieked. "Cory fell into fire! I tried to save him, but I was stopped by the evil man... you know, the one who kidnapped me. He cut me, and kept telling me about how it was my fault that Cory died, and how I gave him that illness! And... and...!"

She was talking so fast, Jake could barely understand her. But Kari couldn't complete her sentence as she just broke down into a fit of hysterical and uncontrollable sobbing. Jake continued to try and calm her down as he shushed her quietly, "There, there Kari. Whatever you had in your dream was just a dream. That's all."

After a few minutes, Kari calmed down a bit, "Just make sure to remember that." He told her.

"Okay, Daddy... stay with me... please?" She asked sweetly.

Jake smiled, "Sure."

Later on the next day, Kari decided it was finally time to see Cory at the hospital. However she felt extremely nervous about this. She looked up at her father, as he took her hand and smiled, "There's nothing to be worried about."

Kari took a deep breath as they walked into the hospital, where the nurse led them to Cory's room. Upon arriving, Kari saw her friend sitting up in the hospital bed, drinking some orange juice. Cory looked up to see Kari, and smiled, "Hi, Kari..."

Upon seeing him, Kari quickly began to tear up. She started to run towards him and hug him, but then realized that she probably couldn't touch him. So she quickly backs off. "It's okay... you can touch me..." Cory said.

Although she wanted to, she felt that she shouldn't, she didn't want to risk Cory becoming possibly worse than before. "Cory... how are you feeling...?" She asked.

"Still under the weather..." Was his reply, as he immediately coughs hard yet again.

It broke Kari's heart to see him like this as she looked back at her father, who only smiled back in return for comfort, "I'm sorry I didn't come yesterday. I had a hard time dealing with the news..." She admitted.

"That's okay. I understand."

Suddenly, Cory fell into another coughing fit for a few seconds, before clearing his throat and smiling at her, "I just can't wait to get outta here. I don't wanna miss the Thanksgiving dinner.

Kari frowned even more. It seemed that Cory was unaware of the illness he had, and did not know that he may die from it, Just then one of the doctors came into the room with a needle, "Okay, Cory. It's time to take your medicine." She says.

Kari paled at the sight of the needle, thinking back to what happened last night. That, and the fact that she hated needles. But Cory didn't look so worried. But Kari started to feel sick.

Before she knew it, she was on the floor, passed out.

Later on...

Kari slowly starts to awaken, as the first thing she saw was her fathers face as he smiled a little.

"Oh good, your awake."

"What happened?" She asked.

"You passed out."

Kari frowned as she looked around. And suddenly laid her eyes on one particular item in the room... another needle. And that only made her more fearful upon laying her eyes on it.

She whimpered as Jake tried to comfort her, aware of her fear of needles. "Calm down sweetie, I won't let you get punctured by another needle."

"Cory... where's Cory?" She asked frantically.

She noticed that Cory was suddenly not in the room, making her extremely concerned, "Cory... CORY!" She exclaimed.

Jake tried to calm her down, as he hugged her tightly. But Kari broke free from his hug in panic, "Where. Is. CORY?!" She demanded, tears falling. Before Jake could reply, she began to shake uncontrollably in fear, "Where is he...?" She whimpered.

One of the doctors suddenly walks into the room, hearing Kari's frantic cries. "Is everything okay?" She asked in concern.

"Not exactl-" Jake started to say,

"WHERE. IS. CORY!?" Kari screamed at the doctor.

The doctor and Jake both got startled by Kari's sudden outburst, then the kind doctor calmly began to explain, "Honey, just calm down... Cory is fine. We're just testing him right now."

Hearing that made Kari calm down a bit at first, until the nurse added this, "But we'll have to make an incision..."

That made Kari pale again... An incision means that they have to cut him.

Suddenly... she started to hear a voice in her head... an evil familiar voice. "I told you so child."

Kari screamed loudly as she held her head. "Kari?" Jake said, noticing Kari's sudden scream. He then hugged her tightly as he tried to comfort her. "Easy there honey, I'm here." He whispered.

After a few minutes, Kari calmed down as the doctor said, "Cory will be just fine... trust me..."

"Okay... I trust you..." Kari replied.

And for her sake, let's hope she was right. Another few minutes went by, as Jake and Kari were waiting outside. Soon enough, the doctor came in, "Okay, you can see Cory now."

Wasting no time, Kari walked into the room, to see her best friend sitting on the bed, "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"A little tired, but I feel okay. I'm hoping to feel even better for when the dinner comes." Was his response, though that made Kari frown a little hearing that. If only Cory knew the truth.

"Okay... I guess."

With that, the friends spent the rest of the day with each other, talking about different things, having a few laughs, and kid stuff. Right now, it was 8:35 in the evening, as Jake walked into the room, "It's time to go Kari."

"Aw... already?" The nine year old whined.

"I'm afraid so.."

Kari then looked back at her friend, "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow..." She told him. Cory smiled, "Sure thing, friend."

So Kari and Jake head out, and drive back home. Cory decided to rest up a bit as he watched television. As he did, he noticed... a letter on his bed. He picked it up and looked at the front, for it said 'An apology... to Cory... from Kari'. He was a bit confused, why is Kari apologizing to him? She didn't do anything wrong. Curious, he decided to read it...

The next day...

Kari and her family were making their way to the community building, to help prepare more for the dinner, "Daddy, when can we see Cory?" She asked her father.

"Soon, honey." Was her father's response.

With that, they walked into the building and down the hall to the dining hall, where a scream was heard. Upon entering, Jake, Izzy, and Kari saw a most horrendous and shocking sight. The dining room was in ruins, with the curtains torn, tables turned over, plates and bowls were shattered on the floor, and the food was gone, with some scraps of it on the floor.

What could have happened here?

Tony and Robyn's mother ran over to Jake, "Oh, it's terrible. I came over to check up on the arrangements for the dinner, and when I got here, it looked just like this!" She said, "Everything is ruined."

Jake walked over to the mess, and looked at it closely, but then notices something that wasn't there before.

"Hey.. what's this?"

He picked it up... it was a dagger. For some reason it looked a bit familiar to him. He took a closer look at it, and glared as he did, "I think I know who did this."

"Who?" Kari asked.

"Blake."

"Who?" Danielle asked, clearly having no idea who Jake was talking about. The former pirate explained for her, "He was a former Dark Pirate back when me and Izzy lived in Neverland when we were still kids. And we have been massive rivals since then, with him always trying to ruin everything."

"You think he might have something to do with messing up the dinner?"

"Probably."

Suddenly, as if on cue, the former villain walked into the room, with a smug smile that annoyed Jake, "I heard somebody talking about me, so I just had to drop in to see what all the commotion is about." Blake said.

Jake got to his feet and stared down his rival, "Save the talk Blake, I know it was you that ruined this special Thanksgiving dinner."

"Oh? Now why would you ever think it was me?!" Blake asked as the former pirate show's the former dark pirate the dagger he found on the floor. Blake looked confused, that sure wasn't his dagger at all.

"There's no way that could be my dagger." He suddenly pulled out his own dagger within his belt. "I still have mine with me."

Jake only glared at his harder, He still didn't believe him, and just to make sure...

"Oh hi, Blake!" Danielle greeted, "This is the Blake you were talking about? Oh, I invited him to the dinner."

Jake looked at Danielle in shock, "You.. invited him?!" He asked the woman, who nodded, "Of course. We're next door neighbors, and he sometimes babysits Tony and Robyn." This made Jake even more shocked! Since when does Blake even babysit kids?!

Blake smirk smugly, as he looked at Kari, "And here's the little murderer."

The child yelped as she hid behind her mother, who was confused, "Murderer? What are you talking about, Blake?"

"Kari. Why don't you tell your mother the truth about why Cory is going to die."

Kari only whimpered as she felt tears forming. Blake chuckled, Izzy could tell from how she was suddenly crying, there was something she was hiding from her. "Kari... what's the matter, darling?" She asked.

In a fit of tears, Kari told her mother everything. As for Izzy's response, "Kari, don't think that you were the reason Cory got sick. Don't listen to what Blake has to say. He's just trying to make you feel like a bad person. And you're not."

However, what happened next would make Izzy realize Kari was actually telling the truth, as Jake (Who was told about this already by Kari) explained, "It's true, Iz. Remember when Kari got sick on Valentine's day...?"

Izzy soon realized that Kari was right... "Oh... I remember now... I saw you giving Cory a little kiss on the cheek... I thought it was so romantic..." Izzy told Kari, who blushed. She blinked, suddenly realizing what this meant.

Her mother was aware of her love for Cory.

Blake chuckled again, "Looks like for once I was being honest. Kari is the reason Cory is severely ill, and is about to die."

"Don't you dare say that!" Izzy warned him, "Just because my daughter was sick when she kissed Cory, it doesn't mean she was the reason he's so ill! You're just trying to mess with her head."

The villain frowned as he started to leave, "To be truly honest for a change.. For once.. I actually WAS telling the truth. Cause I asked the Doctor about Cory's sickness, and it showed that it had the same viruses from with Kari's sickness, only they were far more deadly since they were transferred from one sick body to a fresh one due to the kiss."

"Liar!" Kari shouted out.

"Ask him yourself, he'll tell you everything."

With that, Blake left. Kari was upset. She knew that he was actually telling the truth for once, and she felt bad about it. Jake placed a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her, "Kari.. There's no way you could have meant for this to happen, we both know how much you like Cory."

"I know..."

Izzy then whispered something into Jake's ear, and he smiled upon hearing what she had to say, "Say now, that's a great idea Izzy."

Kari listened to her mother's plan, and smiled too. This was sure to make the Thanksgiving dinner... even better.

Well, we got a few cute Kari and Cory moments.

MC: Yep. But what do you suppose Izzy's idea was that made Kari so happy?

I don't know. But I'm sure we'll find out next chapter.

MC: Guess so.

Yeah, so until then, we'll see you guys later! And don't forget to review, please. Thank you.