Chapter 4: The Morning of Big Picnic
The big day had arrived for Kari's party for the gang, a picnic in the park. While she was off with TK getting the final preparations done for that afternoon, Tai had plans to spend some time with Sora until things were to begin. As he arrived at her place, he was surprised to see Matt coming out of her home this early in the morning. "Hey, Matt, how are you doing?" Tai greeted his old friend. "It's good to see you again."
Matt didn't look at him. "So you're here do deal with damage goods?" Matt was speaking with a very bitter tone in his voice. "You must be static that we broke up, and here you are to swoop in and make her yours. Why is that? What did you see the day we got our final victory?" Matt was accusing Tai of something, and it was only confusing the spiked hair boy.
"Matt are you okay?" Tai tried to ask, but it was too late. Matt was already gone. Tai decided not to let that phase his plans with Sora, his most recent nightmares had already upset his mode, and he was constantly feeling a tug on his mind.
He knocked on the door, and as greeted by an upset Sora. 'I'm glad I made these plans now. No one wants to speak with an upset friend at a party to celebrate all of their accomplishments.' Tai thought as he walked by Sora down the stairs. He needed to get Sora off her depressing thoughts.
"So, Sora, have you seen…" Tai began but Sora cut him sort.
"I thought he loved me." That's all she said to stop Tai in his tracks. When she saw the surprised look on Tai's face she made her choice. "I better tell you my sad tale." Then she began.
Three months ago, Sora was going to be enjoying a day with Matt. No band, no fans, and no friends to get in the way. At least that was the plan for the day. But he was late, and not by a few minutes. It had been an hour and she had not heard one world from her boyfriend. "Matt, where are you?" She muttered looking around from the park bench she was sitting on.
While spying for the boy, she was caught by a surprising sight, a friend aimlessly walking. When she knew who it was, she muttered: "Tai…" It was then that her boyfriend, Matt finally showed up. But there was something different about him, he seemed a little distant, perhaps he was just having a bad day. "I'm so glad you finally made it Matt." She spoke to him.
"Yeah, me too," He replied, but his voice seemed to die off. There was something he was not saying. But Sora was not going to let this ruin their day; she was not even going to mention the zombie Tai she saw just before he got there. This day was to be about them, no one else.
"We better get going before it too late." Sora was eager to get started, but Matt was reluctant to go. "Come on," she said as she pulled on his arm, but he did not move. "Matt…" She was now searching his eyes.
"Sora…" He final was starting to put his thoughts together and composing himself. "There is something I need to tell you." He was now looking at her with hard eyes, and it was scaring her. "I'm done with this charade of a relationship."
Sora was now backing away from him. This was not the boy she knew. "Matt, what do you mean?" She was pleading with him for some clue to what was happening between them.
"We're done. No more." He spoke with colder words now. It was a tone she had not heard since Matt left them as they prepared to face Puppetmon. "I'm no longer going to be your boyfriend, and you my girlfriend." He finished speaking.
"But I thought you loved me? You even told me that." Sora was speaking now on the verge of tears. "This is a joke right? Something we'll laugh about later?"
"No, this not a joke," was all he told her. "I found someone who completes me better than you did."
"What am I supposed to do Matt? I can't just move on as if nothing happened!" Her shaking was getting harder to control and tears were starting to flow down her once blushing cheeks.
"I don't know and don't really care what you do. Go be with Tai for all I care, but were done. So long destine of Love, I'm out of here." Then with that he turned and left her in tears not bothering to look back. He had to get to his new girl who was more important now than a broken friend.
She couldn't take it anymore, and ran home crying. She went straight there. Got to her room and threw herself on her bed and wept bitterly. She spent two years with the young man, looking at no other boy in the same way as him. Her reward for her faithfulness: a broken heart.
When Sora was done telling Tai her sad account, all he could do was hold her as he had had before. There were no words to express the pain he felt for her or his desire to protect her from jerks like Matt had been that day. But he did comfort her as he had been over the few weeks they had been talking. But the feeling he had was growing stronger; he felt he was being summoned. He knew though that it was impossible, Agumon was here and Gennai had not contacted them about anything so he brushed it off.
"Tai you're so good to me." Sora said as she cried into his shoulder. He had not said anything about her break up or about Matt's cold words that morning. He just continued to hold her.
"I do not know what else to do really. I just knew it would work is all." Tai whispered into her ear. He was still pretty confused by his own feelings. They were stranger to him.
"You could of kissed me." Sora quietly told him. "Matt said he would care if we dated."
"I didn't want to take advantage of you like that." He told her. "Besides is that what you really want Sora." Even though she was not noticing anything happening to him, Tai was starting to be pulled away. Even though their digimon friends kept quiet during the conversation, they stirred uneasy as Tai slowly disappeared.
"Tai…" But Sora's word's dropped off when saw that he was gone. "Where did you go?" Her question was asked into the open air, left unanswered. "Agumon," she turned to the orange digimon to question him what had happened, "Where did Tai go?"
"I wish I knew the answer to that, Sora but I have no real idea of where he could have gone. Expect for maybe the digital world." He spoke with a sad tone. His friend had simply vanished before his eyes. "It was as if he was being pulled away from us."
"But why did they only take Tai?" Biyomon quietly asked knowing that there was no real answer to the question. "I hope we get him back soon. I don't want you to hurt anymore Sora. He had been healing and mending your broken heart."
"Me too, Biyomon, me too," Sora agreed with the flying digimon. "I was hoping to pull him back from his sadness, like he had with me." She looked at the dinosaur digimon that was the partner of Tai. "I know something was troubling him. But I was determined to help him no matter how hard or awkward it got between us. Then this happens and none of us can help him."
Tai awoken to a place he had never been before in his life he was not even sure if this was the digital world. But it was definitely not a dangerous place to be. This was radiating with hope, peace, love, kindness; it was a place that no evil could enter, but he was lost as to why he was called here.
He started to look around and was surprised to see a sleeping BlackWarGreymon. He was most assuredly confused as to where he was. "I see you've arrived," said the sleeping digimon, at least Tai thought he was a sleep.
"Did you bring me here?" Tai questioned to once fallen digimon. In response all Tai heard was a chuckle from the black digimon.
"No, the master of this garden did." Then the digimon left. 'The master of this garden?' Tai pondered those words wondering who they meant.
"Welcome to my garden Tai." Said a familiar voice behind where he was standing. "We have much to discuss and not much time to do it in."
"Azulongmon…" Tai's tone reflected the very confused, honored, and humble state he was in. He did not know where to even be start. He had so many questions to ask.
"For starters, Tai," the awe inspiring digimon continued uninterrupted, "your crest has become to grow very dim over the past years. What happened to you to cause that to happen to you?"
After Azulongmon said those words Tai was troubled. 'What did he mean it was grown dim?' Tai questioned himself. He still wanted to know why he was brought here, perhaps this was why. But it seemed like it was not the whole reason.
"Why did you call me here?" He asked the holy digimon. He was afraid he already knew the answer to the question before he asked. But he still needed to know for sure.
"Your dreams Tai… the ones that keep you up at night." Azulongmon told the youth. "An evil has begun to still in the dark. An evil that I have not faced, but one that you have; the same one that nearly took away the life you so enjoy living."
Tai's eyes darkened as his darkest fears at the time came into reality. "Diaboromon really is stirring then." He just looked at the ground as he closed his fist fast.
"And from what I can tell," Azulongmon continued the thought, "he is after you. Only you."
"What am I to do?" Tai asked. His knees finally giving out as he slowly fell to the ground. He was not ready for the coming battle and he knew this powerful digimon knew it was well.
"You must get back the strength you once had. Yours and the other children's together." The digimon looked down at the boy, who was now nearly at tears. "There is not much time for full details at this time. But know this." His words became sober, more so than they were already. "That digimon will not be working alone this time. He needs time to full manifest himself for the battle to come. All of you must be ready to fight when it comes."
BlackWarGreymon had returned at this point. "I have brought the item you told me to get." He said quickly as he let go of a small metal object which began to float before nearing the ground.
"Tai take this and return to our world. You are needed there." The shining digimon instructed him. Tai looked up reached out to the light and found himself holding an item from a distant memory. When he turned to ask about the item, he found he was home. He was on top of his building on Highton View Terrace, in view of a digimon he had not seen in over ten years, Parrotmon.
"He wasn't joking I am needed for this fight." He spoke up has the giant green bird fixed it gaze on the boy. Somehow it knew he would be standing here. "Here goes nothing…"