Manipulation

Part 1

Shuu Tamura was standing in an unfamiliar environment. Darkness stretched out around him. He could hear trees rustling in the wind and the trickling of a nearby stream. He should feel scared but instead he felt unnaturally calm as though there was something dulling his emotions.

"How goes your defence of the human world?" a sinister voice asked from the dark.

Shuu jumped and had to swallow a lump in his throat before replying. "We've been able to defeat most of the infected digimon we have battled but the last digimon that attacked was too powerful. We had to rely on the DigiDestined's help. Maybe they should be allowed to help out."

"Do you really believe the defence of your world should be left to children?" the voice asked.

"No," Shuu said.

"Good," the voice answered. "You should continue to fight the infected digimon. I haven't led you wrong yet have I?"

"No," Shuu said. "Of course not Cherrymon."

"Good," Cherrymon said. "Now it's time to wake up Mr Tamura.

Sora

Sora was in class staring absent mindedly out of the window. It was such a nice day outside. She'd rather be out there doing … something than sitting in class worrying. Sora remembered what Biyomon said yesterday after Tai called, you worry too much about other people Sora. But Sora couldn't help but worry, especially about her two stupid boys. Matt was angry and upset at Tai and Tai well … Sora wasn't quite sure what was going on in Tai's head but she knew that his fight with Matt had hurt him more than he would let on. Most of the time it wasn't so bad. Matt and Tai usually had each other's backs but when they were fighting Sora felt that a lot of the responsibility of looking after them fell on her.

It wasn't just Matt and Tai who were worrying Sora. While digimon were attacking the city they were all in danger. Sora sort of understood where Tai was coming from that perspective. He was just worried too, it didn't make him right though. There was also Izzy. Sora hadn't spoken to him since the meeting but she didn't need to to know he probably hadn't left his computer yesterday, desperately trying to find a way to help but not taking care of himself. And although she had pushed it to the back of her mind in the wake of the digimon fiasco there was still her worry about her activities and her future. Soccer or tennis? What will she do after highschool?

Luckily Sora's thoughts were interrupted by the lunch bell. Sora got something to eat and went outside. She was soon joined by Matt. Sora felt her heart flutter as he sat down next to her. Stop it, she told herself.

"Hi Sora," Matt said.

"Hi," Sora said nervously. She was never sure how to act when she was alone with Matt. It was easy when everyone else was around but when they were alone it was too easy to pretend it was three years ago and they were still dating.

"Gabumon wanted to come to school with me today." Matt said. "I felt bad leaving him alone but I don't think he knows how boring school is!"

Sora laughed. "Biyomon wanted to come too. I left her at the flower shop with mum, she seemed happy there."

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Sora looked carefully at Matt. Although he appeared relaxed Sora was good at reading Matt and she could see the worry written on his face.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

Matt smiled. "Yeah, just …" he made a vague gesture with his hand. Sora knew what he meant. He was still thinking about his fight with Tai. While Tai usually came to Sora to complain about Matt, Matt preferred to keep Sora out of their fights.

Sora knew she was heading into dangerous territory. "I think if you spoke to him calmly he might be ready to listen. Especially after what happened yesterday.

Matt looked up sharply. "What happened yesterday?"

"Tai didn't call you?" Oops.

"No," Matt growled.

"Oh umm." Tai why do you do this to me! "There was another attack yesterday. Joe and Cody dealt with it. This digimon wasn't infected though."

"And Tai didn't think I needed to know that? Joe either?" Matt asked.

"Tai was probably just worried about what you'd say," Sora said. "There's something else. Apparently the digimon attacked because they were angry at the government for interfering."

"What! I knew something like this would happen!" Matt jumped up.

"Matt! Wait!"

"No! I'm going to find Tai! That idiot!"

"Matt please!" Sora grabbed onto Matt's hand pulling him back. "Please just calm down! He's upset too and I don't want you to fight!"

Matt paused and looked down to where their hands were still joined. Sora felt herself blush.

"OK, umm" now Matt looked uncomfortable. "Hey Sora … umm my band is having a practise show tonight. Do you maybe want to come? We could do something after?"

Sora felt her heart flutter. It wasn't fair Matt was the one who broke up with her! Why was he doing this? "I'm sorry, Mimi asked me to come over to her place tonight. Maybe some other time?"

"Oh," now Matt was blushing. "Yeah some other time."

Sora watched him walk away with a smile. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.

Tai

Tai felt a little better after his talk with Joe. He was still worried about the responsibility that came with leading the DigiDestined in a dangerous time but he thought maybe Joe was right, maybe he just needed a bit of time to think things over.

Tai was putting his books back in his locker when he was joined by Izzy.

"Here you go." Izzy said handing Tai his digivice. "I was able to put Kawagamon in the digimon analyser and I've isolated the infected data. But I don't understand it yet, Ken and Yolie are coming over to help me later."

"Hello Izzy, how are you? I'm good," Tai said sarcastically.

Izzy huffed. "Sorry. I've been working on this all night."

Tai looked at Izzy. He did look tired. His skin was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. Tai instantly felt guilty. What right did he have to put his responsibilities aside while Izzy was working so hard?

"That's great Izzy but maybe you should have a rest, you look exhausted. I'm sure Ken and Yolie will be OK on their own. I mean Ken created his own digimon remember?"

Izzy smiled. "Yeah I remember but I'm fine, really."

Tai was about to answer but was distracted when he spotted Matt storming towards him.

"Uh oh."

Matt came right up in front of Tai. "Why didn't you tell me about Joe?" he demanded.

Tai sighed. He suddenly felt as tired as Izzy looked. "Can we please do this later?"

"No! We can not do this later! You're keeping things from me just because you don't want to admit I was right!"

"That's not what happened!"

"OK," Izzy said. "I think that's my queue to leave." He looked nervously between Matt and Tai before hurrying off.

Tai took a deep breath. "I don't want to fight with you Matt." He noticed people were staring so he grabbed Matt's arm and dragged him into an empty classroom.

"I don't want to fight with you either," Matt admitted after Tai shut the door.

The two boys looked at each other in silence for a moment. "I wish you hadn't done that," Matt said. "I think people already think we're secretly dating."

Tai tried to smile. "No, I told you before we're married."

Matt smiled too but it didn't reach his eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Joe and MarineDevimon."

"I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Tai felt his eyes filling with tears and tried to look away

"Hey," Matt stepped closer and grabbed onto Tai's hand, pulling him to sit down on a desk together. "Tell me what's going on."

"I'm so confused," Tai admitted. "I don't know what the right thing to do is anymore. I thought listening to Shuu and the government was for the best but now it's not just the infected digimon we have to worry about. Those digimon yesterday only attacked because of the government fighting. If Joe and Cody hadn't been there people would have been hurt.

"Joe thinks I need some time away from the group to think things over," Tai said.

Matt's face was impossible to read. "Is that what you want?"

"I don't think so. I thought he was right but I don't think I can do it," Tai admitted.

"OK, well I promise I'll be there to help you even if you change your mind," Matt said.

Tai smiled, "thank you Matt. To be honest I'm surprised you weren't angrier before."

"Oh I was," Matt admitted. "But Sora asked me not to fight with you."

Tai laughed. "And you listened? I wish I could get you to do what I wanted that easily!"

Matt blushed. "Shut up!" He paused before continuing, "I asked her out."

"Oh."

"Do you mind?" Matt asked nervously.

"I don't get why you broke up with her in the first place," Tai said.

"I mean…"

"I know what you mean," Tai interrupted. "I … I liked Sora but that was a long time ago and she never felt the same way anyway. It's really fine. Just don't hurt her again OK."

"I wouldn't. She didn't say yes anyway."

"What?"

"She said she was busy but maybe another time," Matt said.

"Well that's not a no!"

"It kind of felt like it."

"Maybe that's for the best," Tai said trying to listen the mood. "I don't think I'm ready to share you again."

Matt smiled. "Oh my God shut up! We're not married Tai!" He shoved Tai gently. "I should get going, I want to look over my notes before class."

"K, bye nerd."

Matt's only response was to stick his finger up at Tai on his way to the door.

After school finished Tai went home to collect Agumon and then went to the park where he had arranged to meet with Agent Tamura. Tai wanted to know whether the government had changed their minds after the MarineDevimon attack. Kari didn't think the meeting was a good idea and they had to convince Gatomon to stay behind.

When Shuu arrived Tai noticed he looked tired. His face was stoney as Tai described the brief conversation Joe had had with MarineDevimon.

"So you're telling me that it is no longer only infected digimon that are a threat? The digimon have declared war on our world?" Shuu asked.

"Yes," Tai said. "I mean no, not all digimon! Only MarineDevimon and maybe a small group. I don't know but it's not all digimon. I think they feel like our human government is sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. Maybe if the DigiDestined where allowed to fight alongside the government it might help."

"MarineDevimon attacked your friends as well."

"Yes, I know that but he was only there because…"

"That's enough Mr Yagami. I've said all I've had to say. You and your friends need to leave things alone or the next digimon my team faces may very well be one of yours."

"But…"

"Goodbye Mr Yagami," Shuu said immediately walking away.

Tai huffed and looked at Agumon. "I don't think that could have gone any worse," he said. Agumon nodded in agreement.

"What do you think we should do?" Tai asked. "Should we back off?"

Agumon looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't think so. If MarineDevimon was telling the truth you were right he only attacked because of those humans. Us digimon trust the DigiDestined to help in times of need. If those people keep you out of the fight more digimon might join MarineDevimon's cause."

"Yeah," Tai said. "That's what I thought."

Sora

Sora was relaxing on Mimi's soft bed listing to Mimi's pop music. Even though a lot of Mimi's things were still packed in boxes Sora could see Mimi's influence in the room, from the pink bed spread to a beautiful print on the wall. Sora laughed when she saw the cactus on Mimi's desk, she wondered if Mimi had bought that with Togamon in mind or if it was a coincidence.

Biyomon and Palmon were playing a game together in the corner. Already Biyomon had accused Palmon of cheating twice and even given her a peck in retaliation. Sora was considering taking the game away but was distracted by a frustrated squeal from Mimi.

"What's wrong Mimi?" Sora asked.

"I can't find anything nice to wear!" Mimi said. She was surrounded by a pile of cloths that she had pulled out of her cupboard.

Sora sighed but got up to help. "What are you trying to find cloths for?"

"School tomorrow," Mimi said. "I want something nice to wear to cheer practice."

"Why?" Sora asked.

"Umm, no reason," Mimi said. Was she blushing? "So Matt asked you out today?"

Sora sighed. "I don't know! I mean he asked me to come to practice with him but I don't know if it was supposed to be a date or not!"

"It probably was," Palmon interjected. Biyomon nodded her head in agreement.

"Did you want it to be a date?" Mimi asked.

"I don't know," Sora said. "Maybe."

"Yes, she did," Biyomon said.

"Be quite Biyomon!" Sora said.

"So … you still like Matt then?" Mimi asked. "You don't like anyone else?"

"No, why?" Sora asked.

"No reason," Mimi was smiling. "How about this?" Mimi set out an outfit on her bed.

"That's OK," Sora said "But what about …" she swapped the shoes for a pair of long boots she would never wear but looked great on Mimi and added a jacket and necklace.

"That's perfect!" Mimi said with a smile. "You're really good at this Sora! I should get you to pick my outfits all the time!"

Sora smiled. "I'm glad to help." She spotted a nice shirt on the ground. "What about this? It's nice?"

"Oh," Mimi said, "yeah but it was a rip."

"I can fix that," Sora said finding the hole. "You won't even be able to tell."

"Really? You can keep it if you want to." Mimi said.

"Thank you Mimi!" Sora said.

"You know you don't have to fix everything don't you?" Mimi asked.

"Ha?" Sora looked at Mimi with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Just, you try so hard to fix everything for us all the time." Mimi said. "This thing with Matt and Tai … you know it's not your responsibility to fix that too?"

"I… thank you Mimi," Sora said.

"That's OK, now come here! I want to see what other outfits you can put together for me!"

Sora rolled her eyes but she was smiling. Today had turned out pretty well.

It was starting to get dark by the time Sora left Mimi's. She was carrying Biyomon in her arms listening to her talk about her game with Palmon.

"… it was so much fun but she was cheating! You saw her cheating right!"

"I don't think she was Biyomon."

Biyomon lifted her head suddenly. "Did you hear that Sora?" she asked.

Sora was about to say no but then she heard it too. A piercing screech cut through the sky. "What was that? Please don't tell me…" Sora didn't finish her sentence because she spotted the source of the sound. It was giant bird type digimon. It was eerily similar to Birdramon but it was covered in black flames. Sora could see the digimon flickering, it was infected.

"That's Saberdramon," Biyomon said. "She evolves from Biyomon too."

Sora wanted to take Biyomon and run but she knew she couldn't. Saberdramon swooped down onto a building, smashing the glass windows with her claws. Sora could hear screaming from inside the building.

"Can you beat her?" Sora asked.

Biyomon nodded confidently. She flew out of Sora's arms and started glowing. Sora had to look away. When she looked back Biyomon had evolved into Birdramon.

"Birdramon! You need to get her away from those buildings! Take the fight up to the sky where she can't hurt anyone!" Sora yelled.

"Right!" Birdramon spread her wings and sored up into the sky. Saberdramon took off chasing after her. Birdramon turned around and both birds let out a tremendous screech as they crashed together.

Talons and wings were cutting through the air in a violent flurry of motion. Sora's heart clenched when she hurt pained cries but she couldn't tell which digimon the sounds were coming from. On the ground people were running away past Sora.

Birdramon hooked her claws into Saberdramon's side and pushed, putting some space between the two birds.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon's attack hit Saberdramon square in the chest and Saberdramon exploded in a cloud of data.

Sora's relief was short lived as Birdramon fell from the sky. "Birdramon!"

Birdramon hit the ground with a pained sound that made Sora feel sick. She ran towards Birdramon just in time to see her turn back into Biyomon.

Biyomon was covered in scratches and Sora could tell she was very woozy. Sora's eyes filled with tears. "Biyomon. Biyomon are you OK?"

Biyomon smiled weakly. "I'm fine," she said before she passed out in Sora's arms.