Chapter 4
Night was fast approaching, and Tai knew that soon they would have to give up the search for Matt. "I don't understand. That trail should've led us right to him," Sora sighed, putting her head in her hands.
"I keep telling you that something probably walked off with him. There are still a lot of digimon that are loyal to Piedmon," Joe told her.
"But we can't give up hope!" Kari insisted as she and Gatomon stared off into the trees. While most had disappeared when Puppetmon had been destroyed, this section of the forest seemed undisturbed.
"Kari's right, we can't stop searching," Agumon agreed.
"But Agumon, where do we even start looking? For all we know, Piedmon has Matt," Tai replied softly, thinking back to what had happened on Spiral Mountain. "It's all my fault. I was always getting into fights with him, and all he really wanted was to make sure TK was all right. Now that Kari's here, I see where he's coming from. And then when it mattered most, he saved me. If we don't find him, I'll never forgive myself."
"Don't worry so much, Tai. It's not healthy," Gennai stated as he walked up next to him.
"Gennai!" everyone said in shock.
"Who were you expecting? Piedmon? But that's not important right now. Your other friends are waiting for you, so follow me."
"You found Mimi, Izzy, and TK?" Sora wondered.
"Why yes. They were out in the middle of these woods, much the same as you are. Come on, we'd better hurry. Night's not exactly the safest time to be out, you know."
"Wait Gennai, have you seen Matt?" Biyomon questioned as they grabbed their stuff and began following the small man.
"Of course I've seen him."
"You have? That's great!" Gomamon cheered.
"Is he all right?" Gatomon wondered.
"He had quite a nasty run-in with Piedmon, but he seems fine." Tai breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do the others know he's all right?" Joe inquired.
"The other Digi-destined are with him. Ah, here we are." Gennai led them to a large rock wall with a small cave entrance. He walked right through without a second thought, but Tai and the others paused.
"How will we ever fit through that?" he asked.
"Maybe we could crawl through," Kari suggested. Suddenly the "rock" disappeared, leaving a small house with its door open. Mimi and Izzy were standing just inside.
"Come on in everyone," Izzy told them. Once inside, Mimi offered them food and drinks, then they all went into the blue living room. A small fire was already blazing in the fireplace. Lying in front of the fire was TK, Matt, and a girl about Matt's age.
"Matt!" Tai yelled as the blonde boy carefully sat up.
"Hey Tai. I guess Gennai found you guys."
"Are we glad to see you," Sora told him, sitting beside Mimi on the couch. Joe put down his bag and looked Matt over for a minute or so.
"I thought Piedmon got you with his sword?"
"He did."
"Then why isn't your shirt a bloody mess?"
"That's due to this wonderful invention of Gennai's," Izzy spoke up. They all turned to see him holding a red laptop similar to his own. "The program on here allows digital matter to be formed into an object or food. The technology is really quite advanced. Watch this." He typed in "soccer ball", and one instantly appeared beside him. "And if you made a mistake, all you do is hit delete, and whatever you just created goes back to being digibytes." The ball vanished as he said this.
"Wow, that's handy. Can it create new digimon?" Tai wondered.
"Sorry, but the program isn't designed to create living things," Gennai confessed as Izzy put the laptop down. Kari then turned to the girl at Matt's side. She sat in front of her and smiled sweetly.
"My name's Kari. What's yours?"
"I'm Amber. Pleased to meet you, Kari."
"Are you a Digi-destined too?" Sora asked.
"No, I'm afraid I'm not. I'm Gennai's daughter."
"Daughter?" Joe finally spoke after a few minutes of silence.
"Her mother was a digimon who became human for a year," Matt explained as he stood up slowly.
"Cool. Where's your mother now? Maybe she can help us defeat Piedmon," Tai suggested. Amber looked at the floor for a moment. When she spoke next, her voice seemed smaller.
"My mother was killed by the Dark Masters years ago. But I can assure you that I will join in your fight against that killer clown." Kari hugged her, and Amber was momentarily surprised. But then she remembered that Kari was like that, and so hugged her back. Gatomon was staring at her strangely, and the brunette turned to face her. "What's wrong, Gatomon?" The cat digimon paused for a moment.
"You have a tail," she finally said. Amber's black tail rose off the floor and waved at her, and Gatomon smiled and waved her own tail.
"Why do you have a tail? That's a bit freaky," Tai stated. When Amber looked down in embarrassment, Matt defended her.
"Don't make fun of her. Her mother was Panthramon, a feline digimon, and the reason Amber has a tail is because of her."
"Matt, chill out. I didn't mean to hurt her feelings."
"If you two boys don't stop fighting, you'll never work out a plan to defeat Piedmon," Gennai spoke up. "Amber, I really must be getting back to the lake. I'll leave you to keep the Digi-destined from arguing." After Gennai left, Amber closed the door of the house and turned to face the others.
"So what happened on Spiral Mountain that stopped you from defeating the last Dark Master?" she asked. Tai and Izzy began explaining to her what happened. Matt sat down in a chair, hand over his stomach. He knew he should be taking it easy, but Piedmon was still out there.
"Are you all right?" Joe wondered, standing in front of him.
"I'm fine."
"You know, you really should be resting. If you keep exerting yourself, you might make it worse."
"Piedmon has to be stopped, and I'm not going to sit by and watch him destroy any more of our friends." He remembered how only a few weeks ago he'd broken off from the group to try and find his purpose in it. And when they'd finally gotten back together, they'd all watched as Piedmon struck down their digimon allies. With Primary Village tainted by evil, no one would be coming back until the last Dark Master was defeated. Suddenly, Amber whirled around to face the front door, and the digimon stood up as well.
"What's wrong?" TK wanted to know.
"Piedmon's coming. I can smell him a mile away," Agumon replied. Amber and Gatomon both hissed, and Tai went to the open window that was next to the door. Piedmon was coming through the trees, and Amber quickly shut the window.
"No one make a sound. My house has a shield around it that makes it look and feel like a rock, but I'm not willing to take any chances." She opened her laptop and typed in a few commands, and a picture of the outside of the house appeared on the screen. They all held their breath as the clown stopped right in front of the "rock" and looked around.
"Where could those blasted children have hidden themselves? Those Garbagemon said they'd seen a few near here," he was saying to himself.
"I say we go out there and challenge him right now," Tai whispered.
"No, stay here. We're safe as long as we're in the house," Amber told him. She wanted to go out there and fight Piedmon as well, but she knew that they were unprepared and would lose. Finally Piedmon walked back towards Spiral Mountain, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was too close," Mimi stated, hugging her knees to her chest. Palmon patted her hand, then gave her a hug.
"Might I suggest we retire for the night and come up with a suitable plan of attack in the morning?" Izzy said to them.
"Izzy, why can't you just say we all need sleep?" Tentomon demanded. Everyone laughed as Izzy blushed.
"Because he's Izzy," Tai pointed out as he yawned and stretched. "But sleep sounds good right now."
"I'll show you to your rooms," Amber offered, leading them down the yellow hallway. They passed the room where Matt had stayed, and then they reached the end. A wooden door was on either side of the hallway, and another was set into the third wall. "Sora, Mimi, and Kari, you three can stay in here." When she opened the door, Mimi squealed in delight when she saw the pink walls, rug, and sheets on the beds.
"I really must have the name of your home decorator." Sora and Kari giggled as they shut the door behind them. The next room was done in green, and the boys all chose a bed to crash on.
"Where are you staying, Amber?" Matt wondered.
"My room is the one at the end of the hall. If anyone needs anything, I'll be five feet away. Goodnight." She closed the door, and Tai poked Matt in the ribs a few times.
"Gee Matt, I would've thought you liked blondes."
"What are you talking about, Tai?"
"Your girlfriend. She's got dark hair, and I thought you liked blondes better." Matt blushed, and Izzy, TK, and Joe snickered.
"She's not my girlfriend. We just spent a lot of time talking before any of you guys got here."
"She's pretty," TK spoke up.
"Oh don't worry about it, Matt. Joe likes Mi-" Gomamon started to say before Joe clamped a hand over his mouth.
"I do not like her!" he yelled, shaking the red-haired digimon.
"Why don't we all try and get some sleep," Gabumon suggested. "Good idea, I'm exhausted," Agumon agreed as he and Tai rolled over and fell asleep. Soon everyone else was asleep, all except for TK and Matt. The younger boy got out of bed and walked over to Matt, who was staring up at the ceiling.
"Something wrong, TK?"
"Matt, are you gonna die?" he asked softly.
"What? No, of course not. Why would you think that?" He reached down, picked up his little brother, and sat him on his lap.
"Because Joe and them kept saying that you were losing a lot of blood, and if you didn't get help, you might die."
"Amber helped me. I won't die, TK. I promise you."
"How did she help you? It looked like you were hurt real bad." Matt thought for a moment and then lifted up his shirt to show TK the bandage. Then he pulled off the tape that held it in place and peeled it back. The gash on his stomach had been sewn shut with black thread, but a few of the stitches had pulled loose. "You should get those fixed."
"I will TK, don't worry. Maybe in the morning I'll ask Amber. But now I think it's time for you to go to sleep."
"Just between you and me, I think Amber likes you," TK whispered before he left. Matt shook his head and lay back down for a few minutes. TK's words and images of Amber all jumbled together in his head as he tried to sort things out. 'She doesn't like me, does she? Amber's a Healer, and she was just doing her job.' But then the images from that afternoon came back, and he recalled how she had blushed when he took her hand. 'But I'm sure that's just because I was the first human her age she ever met. She probably has more in common with Joe anyway, seeing as how they both like to help people.' But a nagging thought was still pressing against his mind, so he closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep.
* * *
Amber was fast asleep, but the sound of her door opening forced her to awaken instantly. She sat up and saw Matt standing just outside her room, and she motioned him over. "What's wrong?" she asked as he sat down next to her on the double bed.
"I like you," he told her softly, almost whispering it.
"What?" she asked, not quite sure what was happening.
"I like you," he repeated. "You're pretty, caring, and a great fighter."
"Matt, I don't understand. We barely know each other."
"Just answer me one question: Do you like me?" Amber opened her mouth to say "no", but stopped halfway. Here was Matt, carrier of the Crest of Friendship, asking her if she liked him. Matt with the caring blue eyes, rebellious nature, and a desire to protect his brother and friends. And he was asking her if she liked him? Did she, daughter of Gennai and Panthramon, like him? Did Amber, the digimon Healer, like Matt? Did she with the tail, claws, and fireball attack really like him?
"Yes. I like you, Matt." They both smiled and blushed, and Amber's tail curled around his waist.
"Tai probably won't stop teasing me when I tell him."
"Well, if you want to get him back, just remember that he has a crush on Sora," she told him.
"He does?"
"It's so obvious, but neither one will admit it for a long time." Matt snickered as he thought back to all the times that Tai had paired himself with Sora. He'd always assumed it was because they were old friends. "So is that the only reason you came in here? To tell me you like me?" Amber wondered. Matt shook his head and lifted up his shirt to show her the pulled stitches. She ran her ran lightly over them, and he winced. "I told you to take it easy. Getting stitches hurts, and it's easier if you're asleep first."
"But then again, Matt never takes the easy route," Joe said from the doorway. "I had to go to the bathroom, and noticed he wasn't in his bed."
"Bathroom's at the other end of the hall. When you're done, I'm going to need your help," the brunette girl replied. Nodding, Joe walked back down the hall and returned a few minutes later.
"What can I do?"
"I need you to redo a few stitches. I'll hold him down."
"Sure. I was hoping you wouldn't make me do that. I'm not exactly the world's strongest guy." Amber giggled, but Matt swallowed nervously. He stared at the needle and black thread as Amber and Joe measured, cut, and tied it off. When they were ready, the blue-haired boy took a deep breath.
"You ready, Matt?"
"Sure," he lied. Amber made him lie down, and she put her hands firmly on his shoulders. Joe stuck the needle into his flesh, and Matt winced. Amber changed positions so his head was in her lap and she could wrap her arms around him if needed. As Joe continued sewing, Matt suddenly found himself holding Amber's hand. He couldn't remember grabbing onto it, but she didn't seem to mind. When at last the stitching was done, Joe rewrapped the wound and taped the bandages in place.
"And this time, take it easy," he ordered.
"Or else what?" Matt mock-challenged.
"Or I'll sucker-punch you," the soon-to-be-doctor sternly warned. Matt got the hint and nodded. Joe smiled and headed back to bed, and he was ready to follow, when Amber pushed him back down.
"I am not going to risk you pulling any more stitches. You're confined to bed until tomorrow afternoon."
"You want me to stay here?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Because this is your bed." Amber slid off the bed and curled up on the floor. With her hair spilling out around her and her tail lightly thumping the floor, she really did look like a big cat.
"See, problem solved."
"You don't have to sleep on the floor." She gave him a sideways glance and curled up. After a few minutes, Matt asked, "Do you think we'll be able to defeat Piedmon?"
"I hope so. With all the digimon working together, we stand a chance. It's the fight with Piedmon's boss that frightens me."
"His boss?"
"My father mentioned something about facing an even tougher digimon after we defeat Piedmon. If the Dark Masters were this bad, what can their boss be like?" Matt sighed and stared at the ceiling for a moment.
"Ever since we came here, it's been one battle after another. Mimi and Joe said Leomon thought that Devimon was a test. And I guess that would have made Myotismon a test too. Maybe we've just been tested so we'd be strong enough to defeat this boss digimon."
"I guess the only thing to do is wait and see," Amber stated.
"Looks like it."
"Goodnight Matt."
"Goodnight Amber."
"Is there room for one more?" Gabumon wondered as he sleepily trudged into the room.
"Did Joe wake you up?" Matt wondered.
"No, I woke up and saw that you weren't there, and Joe said you were in here." The furry digimon climbed onto the bed and curled up next to his human partner. "Goodnight Matt. Goodnight Amber."
"Goodnight Gabumon," the two teens replied, closing their eyes. The three of them were soon fast asleep.
Night was fast approaching, and Tai knew that soon they would have to give up the search for Matt. "I don't understand. That trail should've led us right to him," Sora sighed, putting her head in her hands.
"I keep telling you that something probably walked off with him. There are still a lot of digimon that are loyal to Piedmon," Joe told her.
"But we can't give up hope!" Kari insisted as she and Gatomon stared off into the trees. While most had disappeared when Puppetmon had been destroyed, this section of the forest seemed undisturbed.
"Kari's right, we can't stop searching," Agumon agreed.
"But Agumon, where do we even start looking? For all we know, Piedmon has Matt," Tai replied softly, thinking back to what had happened on Spiral Mountain. "It's all my fault. I was always getting into fights with him, and all he really wanted was to make sure TK was all right. Now that Kari's here, I see where he's coming from. And then when it mattered most, he saved me. If we don't find him, I'll never forgive myself."
"Don't worry so much, Tai. It's not healthy," Gennai stated as he walked up next to him.
"Gennai!" everyone said in shock.
"Who were you expecting? Piedmon? But that's not important right now. Your other friends are waiting for you, so follow me."
"You found Mimi, Izzy, and TK?" Sora wondered.
"Why yes. They were out in the middle of these woods, much the same as you are. Come on, we'd better hurry. Night's not exactly the safest time to be out, you know."
"Wait Gennai, have you seen Matt?" Biyomon questioned as they grabbed their stuff and began following the small man.
"Of course I've seen him."
"You have? That's great!" Gomamon cheered.
"Is he all right?" Gatomon wondered.
"He had quite a nasty run-in with Piedmon, but he seems fine." Tai breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do the others know he's all right?" Joe inquired.
"The other Digi-destined are with him. Ah, here we are." Gennai led them to a large rock wall with a small cave entrance. He walked right through without a second thought, but Tai and the others paused.
"How will we ever fit through that?" he asked.
"Maybe we could crawl through," Kari suggested. Suddenly the "rock" disappeared, leaving a small house with its door open. Mimi and Izzy were standing just inside.
"Come on in everyone," Izzy told them. Once inside, Mimi offered them food and drinks, then they all went into the blue living room. A small fire was already blazing in the fireplace. Lying in front of the fire was TK, Matt, and a girl about Matt's age.
"Matt!" Tai yelled as the blonde boy carefully sat up.
"Hey Tai. I guess Gennai found you guys."
"Are we glad to see you," Sora told him, sitting beside Mimi on the couch. Joe put down his bag and looked Matt over for a minute or so.
"I thought Piedmon got you with his sword?"
"He did."
"Then why isn't your shirt a bloody mess?"
"That's due to this wonderful invention of Gennai's," Izzy spoke up. They all turned to see him holding a red laptop similar to his own. "The program on here allows digital matter to be formed into an object or food. The technology is really quite advanced. Watch this." He typed in "soccer ball", and one instantly appeared beside him. "And if you made a mistake, all you do is hit delete, and whatever you just created goes back to being digibytes." The ball vanished as he said this.
"Wow, that's handy. Can it create new digimon?" Tai wondered.
"Sorry, but the program isn't designed to create living things," Gennai confessed as Izzy put the laptop down. Kari then turned to the girl at Matt's side. She sat in front of her and smiled sweetly.
"My name's Kari. What's yours?"
"I'm Amber. Pleased to meet you, Kari."
"Are you a Digi-destined too?" Sora asked.
"No, I'm afraid I'm not. I'm Gennai's daughter."
"Daughter?" Joe finally spoke after a few minutes of silence.
"Her mother was a digimon who became human for a year," Matt explained as he stood up slowly.
"Cool. Where's your mother now? Maybe she can help us defeat Piedmon," Tai suggested. Amber looked at the floor for a moment. When she spoke next, her voice seemed smaller.
"My mother was killed by the Dark Masters years ago. But I can assure you that I will join in your fight against that killer clown." Kari hugged her, and Amber was momentarily surprised. But then she remembered that Kari was like that, and so hugged her back. Gatomon was staring at her strangely, and the brunette turned to face her. "What's wrong, Gatomon?" The cat digimon paused for a moment.
"You have a tail," she finally said. Amber's black tail rose off the floor and waved at her, and Gatomon smiled and waved her own tail.
"Why do you have a tail? That's a bit freaky," Tai stated. When Amber looked down in embarrassment, Matt defended her.
"Don't make fun of her. Her mother was Panthramon, a feline digimon, and the reason Amber has a tail is because of her."
"Matt, chill out. I didn't mean to hurt her feelings."
"If you two boys don't stop fighting, you'll never work out a plan to defeat Piedmon," Gennai spoke up. "Amber, I really must be getting back to the lake. I'll leave you to keep the Digi-destined from arguing." After Gennai left, Amber closed the door of the house and turned to face the others.
"So what happened on Spiral Mountain that stopped you from defeating the last Dark Master?" she asked. Tai and Izzy began explaining to her what happened. Matt sat down in a chair, hand over his stomach. He knew he should be taking it easy, but Piedmon was still out there.
"Are you all right?" Joe wondered, standing in front of him.
"I'm fine."
"You know, you really should be resting. If you keep exerting yourself, you might make it worse."
"Piedmon has to be stopped, and I'm not going to sit by and watch him destroy any more of our friends." He remembered how only a few weeks ago he'd broken off from the group to try and find his purpose in it. And when they'd finally gotten back together, they'd all watched as Piedmon struck down their digimon allies. With Primary Village tainted by evil, no one would be coming back until the last Dark Master was defeated. Suddenly, Amber whirled around to face the front door, and the digimon stood up as well.
"What's wrong?" TK wanted to know.
"Piedmon's coming. I can smell him a mile away," Agumon replied. Amber and Gatomon both hissed, and Tai went to the open window that was next to the door. Piedmon was coming through the trees, and Amber quickly shut the window.
"No one make a sound. My house has a shield around it that makes it look and feel like a rock, but I'm not willing to take any chances." She opened her laptop and typed in a few commands, and a picture of the outside of the house appeared on the screen. They all held their breath as the clown stopped right in front of the "rock" and looked around.
"Where could those blasted children have hidden themselves? Those Garbagemon said they'd seen a few near here," he was saying to himself.
"I say we go out there and challenge him right now," Tai whispered.
"No, stay here. We're safe as long as we're in the house," Amber told him. She wanted to go out there and fight Piedmon as well, but she knew that they were unprepared and would lose. Finally Piedmon walked back towards Spiral Mountain, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was too close," Mimi stated, hugging her knees to her chest. Palmon patted her hand, then gave her a hug.
"Might I suggest we retire for the night and come up with a suitable plan of attack in the morning?" Izzy said to them.
"Izzy, why can't you just say we all need sleep?" Tentomon demanded. Everyone laughed as Izzy blushed.
"Because he's Izzy," Tai pointed out as he yawned and stretched. "But sleep sounds good right now."
"I'll show you to your rooms," Amber offered, leading them down the yellow hallway. They passed the room where Matt had stayed, and then they reached the end. A wooden door was on either side of the hallway, and another was set into the third wall. "Sora, Mimi, and Kari, you three can stay in here." When she opened the door, Mimi squealed in delight when she saw the pink walls, rug, and sheets on the beds.
"I really must have the name of your home decorator." Sora and Kari giggled as they shut the door behind them. The next room was done in green, and the boys all chose a bed to crash on.
"Where are you staying, Amber?" Matt wondered.
"My room is the one at the end of the hall. If anyone needs anything, I'll be five feet away. Goodnight." She closed the door, and Tai poked Matt in the ribs a few times.
"Gee Matt, I would've thought you liked blondes."
"What are you talking about, Tai?"
"Your girlfriend. She's got dark hair, and I thought you liked blondes better." Matt blushed, and Izzy, TK, and Joe snickered.
"She's not my girlfriend. We just spent a lot of time talking before any of you guys got here."
"She's pretty," TK spoke up.
"Oh don't worry about it, Matt. Joe likes Mi-" Gomamon started to say before Joe clamped a hand over his mouth.
"I do not like her!" he yelled, shaking the red-haired digimon.
"Why don't we all try and get some sleep," Gabumon suggested. "Good idea, I'm exhausted," Agumon agreed as he and Tai rolled over and fell asleep. Soon everyone else was asleep, all except for TK and Matt. The younger boy got out of bed and walked over to Matt, who was staring up at the ceiling.
"Something wrong, TK?"
"Matt, are you gonna die?" he asked softly.
"What? No, of course not. Why would you think that?" He reached down, picked up his little brother, and sat him on his lap.
"Because Joe and them kept saying that you were losing a lot of blood, and if you didn't get help, you might die."
"Amber helped me. I won't die, TK. I promise you."
"How did she help you? It looked like you were hurt real bad." Matt thought for a moment and then lifted up his shirt to show TK the bandage. Then he pulled off the tape that held it in place and peeled it back. The gash on his stomach had been sewn shut with black thread, but a few of the stitches had pulled loose. "You should get those fixed."
"I will TK, don't worry. Maybe in the morning I'll ask Amber. But now I think it's time for you to go to sleep."
"Just between you and me, I think Amber likes you," TK whispered before he left. Matt shook his head and lay back down for a few minutes. TK's words and images of Amber all jumbled together in his head as he tried to sort things out. 'She doesn't like me, does she? Amber's a Healer, and she was just doing her job.' But then the images from that afternoon came back, and he recalled how she had blushed when he took her hand. 'But I'm sure that's just because I was the first human her age she ever met. She probably has more in common with Joe anyway, seeing as how they both like to help people.' But a nagging thought was still pressing against his mind, so he closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep.
* * *
Amber was fast asleep, but the sound of her door opening forced her to awaken instantly. She sat up and saw Matt standing just outside her room, and she motioned him over. "What's wrong?" she asked as he sat down next to her on the double bed.
"I like you," he told her softly, almost whispering it.
"What?" she asked, not quite sure what was happening.
"I like you," he repeated. "You're pretty, caring, and a great fighter."
"Matt, I don't understand. We barely know each other."
"Just answer me one question: Do you like me?" Amber opened her mouth to say "no", but stopped halfway. Here was Matt, carrier of the Crest of Friendship, asking her if she liked him. Matt with the caring blue eyes, rebellious nature, and a desire to protect his brother and friends. And he was asking her if she liked him? Did she, daughter of Gennai and Panthramon, like him? Did Amber, the digimon Healer, like Matt? Did she with the tail, claws, and fireball attack really like him?
"Yes. I like you, Matt." They both smiled and blushed, and Amber's tail curled around his waist.
"Tai probably won't stop teasing me when I tell him."
"Well, if you want to get him back, just remember that he has a crush on Sora," she told him.
"He does?"
"It's so obvious, but neither one will admit it for a long time." Matt snickered as he thought back to all the times that Tai had paired himself with Sora. He'd always assumed it was because they were old friends. "So is that the only reason you came in here? To tell me you like me?" Amber wondered. Matt shook his head and lifted up his shirt to show her the pulled stitches. She ran her ran lightly over them, and he winced. "I told you to take it easy. Getting stitches hurts, and it's easier if you're asleep first."
"But then again, Matt never takes the easy route," Joe said from the doorway. "I had to go to the bathroom, and noticed he wasn't in his bed."
"Bathroom's at the other end of the hall. When you're done, I'm going to need your help," the brunette girl replied. Nodding, Joe walked back down the hall and returned a few minutes later.
"What can I do?"
"I need you to redo a few stitches. I'll hold him down."
"Sure. I was hoping you wouldn't make me do that. I'm not exactly the world's strongest guy." Amber giggled, but Matt swallowed nervously. He stared at the needle and black thread as Amber and Joe measured, cut, and tied it off. When they were ready, the blue-haired boy took a deep breath.
"You ready, Matt?"
"Sure," he lied. Amber made him lie down, and she put her hands firmly on his shoulders. Joe stuck the needle into his flesh, and Matt winced. Amber changed positions so his head was in her lap and she could wrap her arms around him if needed. As Joe continued sewing, Matt suddenly found himself holding Amber's hand. He couldn't remember grabbing onto it, but she didn't seem to mind. When at last the stitching was done, Joe rewrapped the wound and taped the bandages in place.
"And this time, take it easy," he ordered.
"Or else what?" Matt mock-challenged.
"Or I'll sucker-punch you," the soon-to-be-doctor sternly warned. Matt got the hint and nodded. Joe smiled and headed back to bed, and he was ready to follow, when Amber pushed him back down.
"I am not going to risk you pulling any more stitches. You're confined to bed until tomorrow afternoon."
"You want me to stay here?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Because this is your bed." Amber slid off the bed and curled up on the floor. With her hair spilling out around her and her tail lightly thumping the floor, she really did look like a big cat.
"See, problem solved."
"You don't have to sleep on the floor." She gave him a sideways glance and curled up. After a few minutes, Matt asked, "Do you think we'll be able to defeat Piedmon?"
"I hope so. With all the digimon working together, we stand a chance. It's the fight with Piedmon's boss that frightens me."
"His boss?"
"My father mentioned something about facing an even tougher digimon after we defeat Piedmon. If the Dark Masters were this bad, what can their boss be like?" Matt sighed and stared at the ceiling for a moment.
"Ever since we came here, it's been one battle after another. Mimi and Joe said Leomon thought that Devimon was a test. And I guess that would have made Myotismon a test too. Maybe we've just been tested so we'd be strong enough to defeat this boss digimon."
"I guess the only thing to do is wait and see," Amber stated.
"Looks like it."
"Goodnight Matt."
"Goodnight Amber."
"Is there room for one more?" Gabumon wondered as he sleepily trudged into the room.
"Did Joe wake you up?" Matt wondered.
"No, I woke up and saw that you weren't there, and Joe said you were in here." The furry digimon climbed onto the bed and curled up next to his human partner. "Goodnight Matt. Goodnight Amber."
"Goodnight Gabumon," the two teens replied, closing their eyes. The three of them were soon fast asleep.
