Sora's feet sunk into the soft sand as she walked through the vast dessert that lay before her, darkened by the deep night sky above her. The only light being given off was that of the pale moon that hung in the blackness, softly ilumintaing the thousands of tiny grains of sand. One step after another, she continued to walk, continued to look for him. Her mind was telling her that it was no use, she'd been here before, she'd done this before and she knew she would not find him. She knew that he was not here, when this happened before, he was in the real world. She wanted to keel over from exaugtion and give up, but a voice was tearing away in the back of her mind, he's here. Her legs grew heavier with each step as they begged her to stop, but she pushed the thoughts away with another, he's here. She'd been searching for him for waht seemed like hours with no luck, the hills turnred into valleys and the valleys into rolling hills then into the dessert strech that she found herself in now. The voices plaeding to stop became more and more tempting as she kept her pace through the sand. Then something caught her eye, a figure about twenty feet away, about six feet tall stood perfectly still, staring up at the moon. Her pace quickned as a flicker of regignition rustled her mind, the pale light blanketing the sand gave her thoughts a grain of hope. The figure came into focus as she drew closser, his large mess of hair queitly swaying in the soft wind that grazed the desert sand. She sped into a jog as her hope grew inside of her, it has to be him, she thought, she broke into a run "Tai!" She shouted as she approached him, he gave no response, the moon the only thing that seemed to register in his world. Her mouth was just opening, the words only beginging to form on her lips when he took of running. Sand kicked back off his shoes as he bolted towards the strip of trees to his left, without a thought Sora took off after him. He had a lead on her but only slightly "Tai!" She shouted as she chassed after him, her legs rejuvinated by the adrenaline "It's me! Tai stop!" He gave no response, nothing showed that the wrods where even reaching his mind. The small scattered trees turned to clusters of leafy trees, then the spaces between them filled with towering, thick, leaf covered trees that blocked out the moon's already fragil light. Branches tore at her face, leaving a sting as they traced across her cheek as Sora raced through the woods. He wasn't that far ahead of her, she chassed his back through the forest, her legs screamed out to stop with each step, vines tried to entagle her feet as they slammed agaisnt the moss covered ground. No matter how hard she ran she could not ctach him, he ran in front of her by about twelve feet, not surrendering an inch as he fled. The air burned the aubrun haired girl's now raw throat as her breaths turned to huffs, sticks whipped past her, twigs snapped under her feet as she despratly tried to ctach him "Tai! Stop!" She shouted forwards, the cold night air ripping at her throat "Please!" She despratly screamed. The boy would not slow his pace as he continued to tear through the woods. Sora's already exausted legs burned with each motion, her lungs burned through her chest and her heart was thudding against her skull. It was hopeless. Her heart sank as she continued to perssue him, she had no idea why he was running from her. A shard of pain stabbed her chest. Her eyes began to tear up. No. She told herself as she swolled hard and leaped over a dead log that blocked her path. Her hand slid across the moss covered log as she flew over it, her feet slid against the forest floor. Tai was'nt missing a beat, leaping over fallen stumps, ducking under low hanging branchs. The ground was becoming over run with roots that sharply stuck out from the loose dirt and vines that creeped along her feet. The moonlight struggled to break throught the thick canopy of leaves that hung eerily down from the towering dark trees around her. Sora glanced down to her feet and scanned the path ahead then back up to the boy who looked like he was running for his life in the darkness ahead of her. The feeling of the root hooking over her shoe registered too late, her left leg was still thrashing forward when her right leg refused to follow. The force of her moentum shoved her forwards as she slammed to the ground, skidding thorugh the dirt and roots. A sharp pain tore across her face as she came to a stop. She could instantly tell her leg was badly hurt. Sora looked around her, trying to spot Tai in the darkness that surrounded her, her hard breaths the only thing she could hear in the abscense of snapping braches. All the girl saw was his figure plunge deeper into the night ahead of her, braches swayed in his wake as he dissapeared, she could not follow him "Please!" She cried for him, the words ripped her throat as she pulled them into the air "Tai!" Tears cleaned the dirt from her face as they left a streak down her face as she sat on the cold, silent forest floor.

"Sora?" Snapped her off the cold, dark forest floor and back onto the beach where she had fallen asleep "Come on sleepy head, we found him" Tai grinned at her from above, kneeling down beside her. Sora rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wipe away the groggy daze that still coated her thoughts. Tai must have taken note of the look on her face, one of horror, shock and sadness, he knew this look "Sora?" He asked cautiously, the sadness in her eyes was obvious "Did yo-" his sentense was cut short when she reached up and warped her arms around him.

"Tai" She said softly as she reached for him. Tai returned her desprate embrace as she tried to regain her breath. The confort of his body agaisnt her and the comforting words he whispered in her ears slowly calmmed and anxious and scared Sora. Tai knew exactly what she was going through and he was the only one who did. Niether of them told anyone else about the horrible nightmares that plagues thier thoughts. They were terrifying, it was one of the few bad things that have stuck with them from the digital world. Theyre would be nights when Sora wouldnt dare close her eyes to sleep for fear of the horros her mind would unleash on her. Nights when Tai, the bearer of the crest of courage, would wake up shouting and panting. Tai's never told Sora what causes him to wake up terified, but she knew it was starting to take its toll on him. The grip on her shirt relaxed as the moments passed, her mind calmed and she regained her grip on reality. Tai slowly helped her up to her feet

"We found Joe" He smiled to her "Izzy's gone to get the address" He said as if nothing had happened

"Oh, alright" Sora smiled back to him "Let me just clean myself up a bit" She said then started to wipe the sand that clung to her body misted with sweat off as she walked towards her car. Tai bit his lip as he made his way back to a waiting Matt, who no doubt took notice of what just happened. It tore his heart out to see her like that, he did what ever he could do for her when she would have one when he was around, but he knew that they where much more frequent and horrifying for her then she let off. They started, well she told him they started about a year ago and Sora was too proud to tell him what exactly they were about. He so desprately wanted to help her, but he knew there was little more he could do besides what he had already done. Still, little more was better than no more for him. He glanced back to her, her shaking hand doing damage control on her battle worn hair. He was just starting to turn his body to run to her when a sudden wall apeared in front of him, wait no it was just Mimi

"Is she okay?" She asked, concerned, unaware she had just stolen Tai's thunder

Tai let out a heavy breath, he hadnt noticed, but he had been holding it for who knows how long "Yea, she'l be fine" He said as he tried to conjure up a smile, he knew it must look fake but it was better than letting his actual emotions mold his face.

"Whats the matter with her?" She was oblivous to the actual problem since Tai and Sora agreed not to tell anyone "Bad dream or something?"

Tai was a bit suprised that her guess had been right "Yeah, something like that" A crease formed between his eyebrows, his face grew worried. He knew that Sora could handle and has been, for the most part, handling the dreams on her own but still he worried. The whole situtaion made him feel so helpless, as if he was watching her through a payne of glass. He could worry and watch all he wanted, pound on the glass and shout encouragement but he was unable to have a noticiable effect on the situation. Tai wanted to steer the conversation else where, not wanting his urning to help Sora become obvious to the whole world. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as Mimi perked up and smiled as Izzy happily strolled up to them.

"Did you get the address?" Mimi asked through a smile

"Mimi" Izzy replied matter of factly "I can recalibrate the system of the entier motherboard of one of the most sophiticated computer systems in the country in under five minutes" He boasted "So of coarse I was cappable of getting a simple address" Izzy held up a small scrap of paper, Tai bit his lip, just waiting for Mimi to make some sort of remark at his comments or give him a smack. Her response suprised him

"Of coarse you are" She said playfully, the smile took on a more seductive edge as she spoke. Tai made a mental note to ask Sora if she knew anything about what was going on between the two. Izzy dropped his head, clearly he was just tickled pink by her smile. In a moment of pure giddy school boyishness Izzy let the words pass his lips

"Aww shucks" His face grew red as he heard himself speak, he didnt realize he had said the words aloud. He gave himself a mental smack for being so foolish and cleared his throat "So ummm let me go program this into your GSP, Tai"

Tai couldnt help the grin on his face "Aw shucks, Izzy. You'd do that for me?" He couldnt help himslef, a short sput of laughter slipped out before he could contain himself. He was never going to let him live that one down.

"Kiddo now!" Joe cringed as the commanding voice tore through the air of the clinic. Joe quickly dropped the book he'd just begun to divulge, jumpped from his unconfortable wooden chair and ran out into the crowded hall. He weaved through the crowds of people, all waiting to recieve thier yearly flu shot, and reluctantly pushed open the heavy wooden door. He poked his head inside and immidiatly regredeaded it

I could have hid. I could run now, i dont think he's spotted me yet. Joe thought as he spotted exactaly what he had hopped he wouldnt. He had walked into, as the resisdents of the clinic call it, the bug room. There werent really any bug inside, this was the room where they were admistering the flu shots. They deemed it the bug room because half of the people who walk through the doors have already contracted the flu and are hopping that the vacine will cure the bug. Joe didnt hate much about his internship, except for this. The endless ocean of sweaty, sick people who washed through the door almost repulsed him. It wasnt the sick people who were doing the repulsing, it was the fact that he was stuck in the tiny closet of a room, trapped with the heavy, stale air and the overall feeling of well sickness. Joe was seriously considering bolting back into the staff room and locking himself in the small bathroom, but he was too late.

"Ah, Kiddo" Joe's father smiled to him as he stood up "It's my lunch break, so i need you too take over the bug room" As he spoke, the patient who was rolling her sleeve back down gave a wierd expression at the mention of the bug room. It probably wasnt a very pleseant thing to hear; someone calling the room where you had just gotten a vacine the bug room. "Leave the band-aid on until the bleeding stops" He said plesenatly to the paitient, Joe stepped aside he held the door open for her. Joe swallowed hard, he only had two weeks left, no point in getting this far only to lip off to the resident doctor, who just so happened to be his father.

"Sure thing, dad" He conjured up a smile "I mean, Dr. Kiddo" He corrected himself and his father left the room. He gave off a heavy sigh as he plopped himself down on the warmed wooden chair in front of the large table covered in everything he could possibly ever need to admister the vacine, and then some. Person after person, syringe after syringe, he repeated the routine. A friendly smile, explain the procedure, sterliaze, fill the syringe, inject, band-aid and one last friendly smile. The time slowly dragged on as the air in the room grew thick and hot, he hopefully glanced over to the window, it was already open. Defeated, he pressed his lips together and strongly exhaled, creating a sound that resembled a motor as he slumpped down into the chair, ready to repeat he routine. Joe was preparing the syringe when he heard the door open "Take a seat" The practiced smiled appeared on his face

"No way I trust you with that thing" A fermilair male voice filled the stuffy room

Joe looked up and his rehearsed smile was replaced by a real one "T.K, Kari" He said suprised as he stood up from the chair

"Hey Joe" Kari smiled brightly, sure that the suprise ambush had worked

"Hey guys, its good to see you" He smiled back before he said what he was really thinking "Don't take this the wrong way guys, but what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" T.K asked as if the ansewr hung in front of his face "Were here to rescue you. Come on, everones outside waiting" The blond haired boy grinned proudly

Joe thought for a moment, they came to rescue him from an internship for which he worked for months to receive. Thats didnt make much sense, he'd never been teribbly close to any of them in the first place, with him being two years older than them. He had graduated before them hadnt had the chance to form as solid of bonds with the others as the rest of them had. Dont get him wrong, he cared for them and they were still some of best friends, he jusy never clicked with one of them they way they did, like Sora had with Mimi and Tai. Joe pushed up his glasses, he didnt want to seem ungratfull "Well guys, i dont real-" He was cut off by a high pitched, rapid beeing eminating from the pager on his belt, before he could reach down and silence it, a voice called for him from the hall

"Joe! Room four!" Joe cringed at the shouting voice "Now!"

"Coming!" He yelled back, not even bothering to turn his head towards the open door, Kari got the sense that this happened alot. He silenced the beeping from his pager as he spoke "Tell you what. I can't leave right now and im schedualed for a double shift today, but i would be more than happy to show you guys around tomorrow?"

"Alright, see you then" Kari smiled

"Good, see you then!" The older boy yelled back to her as he took off runing down the hallway and into an equaly as dingy looking room.

"Now what should we do?" Kari asked and turned to face T.K, who looked just as suprised and dissapointed about Joe's early departure as she did.

"I dont care what we do as long as we leave this room" T.K replied, shuttering as he glanced over towards the abandonded syringe pilled table

"Oh dont be such a baby" The girl teased "They dont bite or anything"

"Yea and niether does your cat, but that didnt stop him"

Sora let out a long, exauhsted sigh coaxed from the relentless boardome of unpacking escape her lips. She had only been unpacking for around ten mintues or so but the heavy, groggy feeling of bordome had alrready over taken her. She pulled herself off from her bed and took a look around the small room. There was a bathroom right off the entrance, two twin beds linned the far wall, seperated by a small nightstand, and a large dresser topped with a television set sat awkwardly placed on top of it near the foot of the beds. The light that she was sure was pouring in through the large windows to her right only a few hours ago, now gave off only the dusky glow of the fadding sun. She was sharing a room with Mimi, while Tai and Matt did the same, Izzy insisted on having his own room and after some clever sentences and lots of convinving, T.K and Kari were sharing a room. Then, like a ton of bricks she noticed that Mimi had never returned from getting the last of her things from the car. Thankfull that she now had something to do besides go and bug Tai, Sora happily walked out of the room and into the hall. It wasnt a far walk to her car, the hotel wasnt big and couldnt have more than fifteen rooms. She spotted her car through the large glass doors in the lobby and was struck by a wave of confusion when she spotted Mimi digging around the trunk of car. Sora was only starting to push on the doors when she stopped dead in her tracks. Mimi triumphantly turned around with a grin on her face and flaunted a peice of papper to a smiling Izzy. Sora's jaw dropped from her head and to the floor as she watched the scene in front of her unfold. Mimi placed the peiece of papper in his waiting hand and the red haired boy rewarded her with a long, lingering kiss. Sora turned on her heel and tried to conceal the growing grin on her face as she tried to peel her eyes away from embrassing couple.