Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or Battle Royale. But thank you for thinking that I did! (Not.)

Author's Note: So sorry for not updating yesterday, guys! I had a terrible headache all day, which made it almost impossible to do anything on the computer. But I am here now, and hopefully this is not too much of a disappointment. Though, I will admit, this chapter has the least amount of Davis, TK, and Kari out of any chapter, but I still like the way it came out. Hopefully you do too!

Also, a thank you to the alpha phoenix who pointed out a very embarrassing typo in my title! I had written Digmon instead of Digimon. Ah! So embarrassing. But I am so relieved that someone pointed it out for me, so I feel the need to reiterate my thanks once again!

As for the length of this story... It's going to end on the very (unlucky) chapter 13. So, we are pretty close to the climax of the story. So, thank you to everyone who is reviewing and reading. It means so much to me!

Enjoy!


Chapter Seven: On Expired Time

TK and Davis were running as fast as their legs could carry them, which was a lot slower than any other day. Davis was carrying all four of their bags, one on each shoulder and one in each hand, while TK carried Kari on his back. They weren't thinking about others on the island at the moment; they were only thinking about each other and getting Kari to the clinic with some blind hope that everything they needed would be there. Every so often, Kari would wake up in a feverish haze to apologize or claim that she was fine before she would drift back off again. This, more than anything, worried TK. It reminded him too much of Machinedramon's territory, but this time, he was pretty sure that they were in even more danger.

They were both dripping with sweat and wheezing by the time the clinic came into view. As much as they wanted to just burst through the doors to find what they needed, the boys knew that they couldn't risk it. They dropped into the bushes just outside the clinic where TK carefully lowered Kari into Davis's arms so that they could both sink to the ground.

"I can't… breathe…" Davis coughed, trying to catch his breath with some difficulty as he held Kari against him.

TK wasn't much better as he tried swallowing in gulp after gulp of air. "I, uh… I'm gonna check… see if… if it's safe…"

He lifted his pants leg to pull the knife out of the sheath. Even his fingers trembled from the exertion. He stayed kneeling in the bushes for a moment longer, his head dropped in his hands, trying to force himself to take slow, steady breaths. Finally, the burning in his chest slowly started to dissipate, and he nodded at Davis before moving to get to his feet. His legs felt like jello beneath him, but he forced himself to remain standing.

"Wait…" Davis said, grabbing TK's wrist weakly. "Just… just in case there's a crazed murderer in there…" He took a breath. "I'm sorry."

TK's gaze softened, and he nodded. "Me too."

As quietly as he could on shaky legs, TK slowly walked the perimeter of the small building. It actually looked more like a shabby house than a clinic, and a lone chicken roamed aimlessly in the front yard. He peered through each of the windows, looking for any signs of life, as he held his knife in front of him protectively. He knew the little thing actually wouldn't be that much use against most of the weapons he had seen so far, but reminded of the situation at hand, TK knew that not all of his shaking was from exhaustion as he finally got up the courage to push open the clinic door.

Empty.

Feeling a rush of excitement and relief that something was finally going right, TK ran back up the stoop. "Davis! C'mon!" he said.

A moment later, TK was clearing off a dusty bench and Davis was gently laying Kari out before the two boys began a frantic search through all of the cabinets. For several minutes, the only sounds throughout the clinic was the opening and closing of drawers, the shaking and opening of bottles, and quiet curses under their breath every time they came up empty.

"I found something!" Davis said.

He threw the bottle at TK who caught it easily and quickly read the label. He turned the bottle over in his hands and frowned.

"It's expired," he said.

"So?" Davis asked, already moving to get Kari a glass of water to take the medicine with. "Does medicine actually go bad?"

TK shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think it loses its potency."

For a moment, the two boys simply stared at each other before moving to Kari's side. This was the only thing they had. They couldn't exactly afford not to give it a try. TK shook two pills out of the bottle before lightly patting Kari's cheek to rouse her from her sleep. She moaned slightly and stared up blurrily at the two boys hovering worriedly over her.

"We got you some medicine," TK said softly, dropping the pills into her hand. "You need to take it, okay?"

She gave a small nod and put the pills into her mouth before taking the glass of water from Davis to swallow them. Kari laid back down as she passed out again. TK looked up at Davis with a worried look. All they could do now was wait.

x X x

"We're in!" Izzy shouted, jumping to his feet.

Everybody in the room jumped. They had been watching the big screen with rapt attention ever since Kari had collapsed. Tai, in particular, had scarcely breathed as he waited to see if his sister would be okay. Izzy looked around sheepishly, realizing that now was probably not the best time to get excited, but a moment later, Tai leapt to his feet as well.

"Wait, you're in? Like… you're in?" Tai asked, trying to make sure he understood.

Izzy smiled slightly and stepped away from his small monitor to show the PASSWORD ACCEPTED message that was flashing on his screen. He had finally managed to get into Battle Royale's system. It had taken many hours and a lot longer than he would have liked, but this was a huge breakthrough after nearly a full day of getting close to nothing done after hitting roadblock after roadblock.

"That's great, Izzy!" Mimi cheered.

Matt joined the computer genius at his computer. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get them out of there!"

Izzy slowly sunk back into his chair. "I'm in. That doesn't mean I can get them out yet."

"But you just said—!" Tai started, angrily.

"And I am," he protested, "but it's not that simple. First, I have to let the computer store it, which is what it's doing now. The system, I suspect will try to boot me out every couple of minutes, and if my computer has the information memorized, I'll be able to jump right back in. I also want to give it this time so that I can know if they see me in their system or not. If not, then I'll have the time I need to try to figure out exactly what's happening here. I don't want to make any changes that will unnecessarily announce my presence in their system until the move that I make is to get them out of there. This way, they'll have less of a chance of catching me before I finish, and I have more of a chance of saving them."

Tai and Matt didn't seem to understand anything that just came out of his mouth. Ken stood from the sofa and stared at the two older men with a slightly grim expression.

"In other words, Izzy only has one shot to score the winning goal. He needs to study the other team's playbook before he can go for that shot or else the game will be over before it even begins."

x X x

Davis found a case of dried brown rice in the pantry of the clinic. He reached in to sift his (now clean, thanks to the sink) hand through the rice, checking out the texture and if it was still any good, before shrugging and carrying the entire thing back into the kitchen. He paused as he saw TK still seated next to Kari, his elbows resting on his knees, his chin on his hands, as he watched her, waiting for some sign that the medicine was working. He was pretty sure the blonde hadn't moved since Kari had passed back out almost an hour ago.

Not that he could blame him. He was worried, too. But it was hard not to feel such a petty emotion like jealousy when he saw that picture, no matter how stupid he knew it was. He shook his head at himself before moving to drop the cast iron pan he found in one of the cabinets on the stove. Two cups of rice, four cups of canned chicken stock that he'd also found in the pantry, a little bit of salt, bring to a boil…

It was easier to focus on cooking than the situation at hand, but he knew he couldn't fool himself forever. He turned the heat down to low and covered the pot with a lid. Davis hesitated for a moment before finally forcing himself to join TK in the other room with Kari. The blonde was checking her forehead again, pressing his palm to her clammy skin, but this time he smiled. Hearing footsteps, TK turned and let out a relieved sigh.

"Her fever's breaking. Looks like the expired drugs work after all."

Davis mimicked his sigh and moved to sit on the floor. "Thank God…"

TK sat next to him and leaned back against the wall exhaustedly. His eyes were shut as he sat there, and his breath started to even out as he finally started to relax. Davis looked over at him for a moment before nudging him in the side.

"Don't fall asleep," he teased.

TK turned a tired blue-eyed glare onto him. "You're a jerk."

Davis just grinned before it faltered with the reminder of their argument earlier. "Yeah, I am… I meant what I said earlier. I am sorry."

"I know," TK said softly. "Me too."

"It's just," he sighed, trying to find the words, "I have to believe that there's a way off this island for all of us. I have to. I don't know what I'd do if there wasn't…"

TK gave him a patient smile. "You don't have to explain yourself to me, Davis."

"Yes, I do," he protested. "Because… Because if I'm wrong, and there can only be one winner…"

"Kari wins."

Davis blinked as TK said exactly what he had been trying to get out. He nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

"Don't worry," TK said with a grim but determined expression. "We're on the same page."

"I hope it doesn't come to that."

"Me too…"

x X x

Across the island outside the very warehouse that had originally been the digidestined's destination were the three basketball stars. Boy number 9, Gai Kudo, was in the driver seat of a truck as he steered it carefully toward the warehouse's open double doors, but the truck wasn't on. Instead, it was being propelled forward by boy number 6, Fumiki "Mickey" Ito, and boy number 2, Tenchi Arai, who were pushing the bed of the truck with all of their strength. All of the boys were no worse for the wear except for Tenchi, who had tissues stuck between his collar and neck.

"C'mon, we're almost there," Gai said encouragingly.

"That's… easy… for you to say," Mickey ground out through clenched teeth.

Tenchi groaned and then dropped his hands. "This is ridiculous! Gai, are you sure the brake's off?"

"Of course it's off—! Oh…"

Mickey's eyes widened and he turned to Tenchi with an annoyed glare. "I'm going to kill him." And then he winced. "Wrong choice of words. I'm going… to steal his record collection when we get back. Remind me."

Tenchi snorted lightly. "I'll do that."

The sudden rustling of leaves from the tree line sent Mickey and Tenchi ducking behind the truck in a flash. Gai leapt across the truck's cabin and quietly exited out the passenger side to sit on the ground with the other two boys. They shot each other alarmed looks as Tenchi reached into his pocket to pull out a stun gun, the only usable weapon the boys had.

"Maybe it was a squirrel?" Gai mouthed, hopeful.

Tenchi lowered himself down onto his stomach and peered out under the truck to see a pair of feet standing there. He shot Mickey and Gai a distressed look as he shook his head in the negative. Not a squirrel.

"Who is it?" Mickey asked, making nearly no sound as he did.

Again, the co-captain could only shake his head. He couldn't tell from the shoes who was standing there. It could have just as easily been one of their classmates as it was one of the transfer students. He didn't exactly pay attention to what everybody was wearing.

"Maybe it's TK?" Gai added, trying not to panic.

Before Tenchi could come up with a response, the person finally spoke, "Tenchi? Guys?"

Mickey popped up before the other two could stop him. "Koreya?" he asked as he stepped around the truck. "How'd you find us?"

Boy number 7, Koreya Kikuchi, smiled softly before holding up the GPS tracker in his hand. "This is my weapon."

Tenchi and Gai, realizing that Mickey seemed to be quite friendly with the guy, slowly moved out from their hiding spot. Gai blinked as he saw the GPS tracker in his hand. He grinned.

"A sensor?" he said, moving to take a look. "That's awesome."

Koreya nodded in agreement. "Only shows me who's around, though. Not the whole island. Seems to be connected to the collars we're all wearing."

Tenchi frowned. "So, you don't know where we are."

Koreya shook his head. "We could be off the coast of Japan, or we could be thousands of miles away. I have no idea."

"Great," Mickey said, throwing his arms up.

"Have you seen TK?" Gai asked.

"No," Koreya admitted. "But I only see everybody's number. Which one is he?"

Tenchi shook his head. "We don't know. He was after all of us. We waited at first, but then that transfer student came running out of the building and headed straight for us, so we took off. We haven't seen him since."

"Have any of you seen Raina or Iria?" Koreya asked.

"Raina was right before me," Tenchi offered, "but she was long gone by the time I got outside."

"Iria was still in the room when I left," Gai said. "And I haven't seen her."

Koreya nodded. "Alright, well, I'm off then."

Mickey looked at him, alarmed. "Already?"

"Koreya, stay with us," Tenchi offered. "There may be a way off this island without all of us having to die. You can help!"

"As soon as I find them, I'll be back," Koreya promised, "but I have to find them first."

Seeing that he was serious, Tenchi sighed. "Alright… We'll be here as long as this doesn't become a danger zone."

"If you run into TK, you'll tell him where we are?" Gai asked.

Koreya smiled lightly. "Of course."

The three boys watched Koreya walk off and disappear through the trees once more. Mickey shook his head sadly.

"He always was a loner," he said.

"How do you know him so well?" Gai asked, moving to get back into the truck.

"We live in the same building," Mickey explained.

"Ready?" Tenchi asked. "Push!"

Mickey and Tenchi pushed the truck into the warehouse. It went a whole lot smoother this time without the emergency brake on, and Gai guided the truck to a nice location before dropping it into park. The boys sighed in relief at their handiwork before Mickey ran back to shut the warehouse doors.

"So… Koreya…" Gai said, unable to let it go. "Why does he have to find Raina and Iria?"

"Yeah," Tenchi added, "I thought he was into Raina?"

Mickey shrugged. "I just said that we lived in the same building, not that we were best friends."

Tenchi moved to sit down at their makeshift table made up of metal crates before he moved to pull at the tissue beneath his collar. It was starting to get uncomfortably damp from sweat. He grimaced as he ran his fingers over the sensitive skin. He could feel the slight swelling just beneath the collar, and even the slightest touches were causing the inflamed area to cry out to be scratched. It was just his luck that these collars had to be made out of partly nickel, the exact metal that he was allergic too. If this continued much longer, he was going to end up with blisters. Not exactly a pleasant thought.

"How's your neck?" Gai asked as he watched his friend with a worried expression.

"As well as can be expected," Tenchi grimaced. He grabbed the collar and pulled on it slightly as he stared down his nose as it. "I wish we could get these damn things off… Wait a minute…"

Mickey blinked. "What? What is it?"

Tenchi brought a finger up to his lips as he hissed, "Shh!" before gesturing them over. He reached into his red backpack and pulled out his day planner and wrote across the pages, not caring that he was ruining the pages for the dates he was writing across.

"They're listening," he wrote. "There's a microphone in the collar."

"No kidding!" Gai said aloud before getting smacked on either side by Mickey and Tenchi. He winced. "Sorry…"

Tenchi rolled his eyes and continued to write, "Your mission is to find the following: 1. 10 meters of wire, 2. Tools (screwdriver, wrench, and whatever else you can find), 3. Rubber gloves." He ripped the page out of the planner and handed it to Mickey. "Got it?"

Gai gave the paper a strange look. "What is this for?"

The co-captain shook his head. "Don't ask questions. Go see what you can find."

Mickey nodded as he folded up the page and put it into his back pocket. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

Tenchi reached into his backpack again and pulled out his camera. "I'm going to go for a little sightseeing."

x X x

Girl number 1, Raina Arakaki, jogged up the trail that led straight to her chosen hideout. It was a daily routine of hers, and though some people might find it a bit obsessive of her to keep it up, she couldn't stop training now. Her sights had been on the Olympics since she was eight, and she couldn't stop thinking about that dream right now, no matter how unlikely it was that she was going to make it out of this.

She was wearing a bright yellow tracksuit as she jogged up to the temple that she had made her sanctuary over the past couple of hours. Her bags were waiting for her on the stoop, and she sat down with a bit of a sigh. She could pretend all she wanted; she knew that she wasn't at home training in the park. After all, a very important part of the training regime was missing.

Koreya…

Raina could just imagine him on his bike as he carried the stopwatch that was timing her runs. Every morning, every afternoon, no matter the time, he had always been there for her, ever since they had been kids. She pulled a towel and a bottle of water out of her bag distractedly. She could not help but wonder where he was now… Raina jumped to her feet as she heard footsteps behind her and dropped into a defensive stance. Boy number 14, Morio Saito, came out cautiously from behind the temple. The crossbow that he had gotten from Masaki Abe in the very first hour of the game was pointed threateningly at her.

But then he realized who he was seeing, and he started to lower the crossbow. "Raina?"

She, however, did not relax. "Go away, Morio. I don't want to talk to you."

As if not hearing a word she just said, he started to walk closer. "Look at you… Practicing even when we might all be dead tomorrow."

"I mean it, Morio! Go away!" she snapped.

"C'mon, Raina," he begged, slowly approaching her. "I just want to talk. I mean, they all gossiped about us!"

"Because of your lies," Raina pointed out. "We kissed in a game of Truth or Dare, and you lied to everyone saying that we slept together."

Morio shrugged innocently. "But I became a legend with the boys."

Raina's chocolate brown eyes narrowed in disgust. "You're pathetic!"

"C'mon, Raina, you know you liked the idea of it," he said in a weak attempt to sound seductive as he finally reached her. "Just stay with me here."

He reached out to touch her shoulder, and she leapt back away from him with a cry of disgust. She glared at him angrily.

"Don't touch me! And I wouldn't stay with you, even if you paid me," she spat out.

"But, Raina… I'm in love with you… For real!"

His lack of sincerity was not lost on the track star who simply crossed her arms over her chest unimpressed. Morio gave a frustrated sound, obviously getting fed up in his inability to get her to just give him a chance. And then a thought dawned on him.

"Hey… you're a virgin, right?" he asked.

Raina went red from both anger and embarrassment. "How dare you—! That is none of your business, and you better stop talking right now!"

A thoughtful look crossed Morio's face. "So, Koreya wasn't man enough to do it with you, after all…"

She balled her hands into fists. "You leave Koreya out of this!"

Morio stepped in close once more. "C'mon, Raina… We're going to die anyway. Don't you want to do it just once before you die?"

Raina reached up and slapped him hard across the face. He cried out and stumbled backwards as he clutched his cheek.

"With you?" she spat. "I'd rather be a nun!" She moved toward her bags, ready to gather them up and storm off. She would find another safe haven instead of sticking around here with that pervert.

Morio growled in his throat and raised the crossbow to point at her. "I should have told you… I've decided to play this game for real."

She shot him a dangerous look of her own. "And I've decided that if I'm going out, I'm going out my way. Nobody else is going to decide that for me. So, you better put that thing down, or I'm going to assume you're deadly, and I'll make you regret ever seeing my face!"

"I've already killed," Morio said, trying to sound threatening. "I'll do it again. And before I do, maybe I'll just take what I want…" His eyes traveled up and down her body in a creepy manner.

Raina narrowed her eyes. "I'd like to see you try."

Angry and insulted, Morio suddenly fired the crossbow. The bolt flew through the air and just barely missed Raina's head by mere inches. Startled, Raina reached into her bag and pulled out her weapon, a switchblade that she flicked open.

"Do that again, and I'll kill you!" she screamed.

"Maybe I'll shoot you in the leg!" he snapped. "Make it so that you can't run from me!"

He grabbed another arrow and moved to reload, but Raina was already running off. He cursed under his breath and followed as he saw her duck behind a tree. Getting the arrow in place, he quietly tried to round the tree so that he could surprise her, but Raina was waiting for him. Without any warning, she kicked the crossbow clean out of his hands, and she moved to stab him in the gut with the blade. He jumped out of the way just in the nick of time before grabbing her wrist and pinning her to the tree. The circulation cut off, her fingers eventually went limp, and the blade hit the forest floor.

Morio chuckled breathlessly. "I got you."

But he celebrated too quickly. Raina abruptly kneed him in the groin, causing him to double over and let her go, before she reached up and grabbed his collar. She pulled, hard, enough where the plastic started to splinter. It started to beep, loud and fast. His eyes widened.

"No… No! Raina!"

And then it exploded. Part of his neck was blown out, showering her with the blood spray, before his body fell forward, dead. She stood there, a little shocked at what she had just done, when she suddenly realized that Morio hadn't been the only person standing there. Just a few meters behind Morio's now dead body was Ami Hidaka, crouched in the bushes, as she watched the scene before her. Ami grinned maliciously as she raised the gun in her hand, and Raina's eyes widened. Then, Raina did what she did best: she ran.

Ami chased after her, firing shot after shot, until she just couldn't keep up with the track star's athletic form anymore.

BOY NUMBER 14: MORIO SAITO, DEAD.

22 PLAYERS TO GO.

x X x

Koreya Kikuchi ran toward the elusive G1 on his GPS tracker. He had finally caught up with Raina, and he wasn't going to let her out of his sight this time, even though he knew that if she wanted to outrun him, she could without even trying. Even so, right now, she was sitting in one spot, and he had to try to get her. His feet pounded against the ground as he headed toward the bridge that crossed over a valley when he suddenly froze.

Raina laid there, her yellow tracksuit covered in blood. He hoped for a moment that the blood was someone else's, but the blood pool forming around her told him everything he needed to know.

"No!" he shouted.

He ran to her side before dropping down next to her. She was still breathing, but her breaths were quick and shallow. She was just barely conscious as she turned her head slightly at the sound. She smiled wistfully up at him.

"Koreya…"

Koreya pulled off his jacket and moved to press it against the gunshot wounds on her chest and stomach. Blood was coming from everywhere, though, and his hands were shaking as he tried to do something to stop it.

"Please don't die, Raina! Just hang on!"

For what, he wasn't sure, but he didn't want her to go. Raina barely heard him. She reached up weakly to touch his face with her bloody fingertips.

"God… If this is a bad joke, please just stop it…" she whispered.

Koreya gave a watery smile. "It's really me, Raina," he said. "I'm here." He sniffled. "Who did this to you?"

"Ami," she answered, a smile on her face now that she knew she wasn't hallucinating. "You have to watch out for her, Koreya… She's dangerous…"

He let out a sob. "I'm so sorry…"

"For what?"

"I tried to find you," he choked out. "Maybe if I had gotten here quicker or if I had talked to you in the classroom and told you to wait for me, none of this would have happened. I promised that I would protect you, and I failed."

Raina gave a watery smile as she cupped the side of his face. "You didn't fail me," she promised. "You're here now, aren't you?"

She struggled to sit up, and Koreya moved to help her, letting her rest her back against his chest as he held her dying form in his arms. She rested her head back against his shoulder tiredly and gave a small sigh of contentment.

"Are you in love with someone?" she whispered.

Koreya hesitated for a moment. "Yeah…"

"Not me." It wasn't a question.

He shook his head anyway. "I'm sorry…"

Raina smiled. "It's okay… Will you stay with me, just like this, and pretend? It won't be long…"

Koreya's body shook as he started to cry, unable to keep it in. She knew that he was crying into her hair, but everything was so fuzzy, she couldn't even feel his tears against her scalp. She stared up toward the setting sun sadly. She would be missing out on so much life left to live that she would never get to experience. But maybe, right now, she could pretend she had experienced just one little piece of it. She turned her head to look up into his face.

"Koreya…" She swallowed thickly. "I love you."

"I know," he sobbed. He pressed his forehead to hers before whispering, "I love you, too."

It was a lie, and they both knew it, but it felt so good for her to hear it in that moment. She leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips.

"Thank you…"

And then Raina was gone. All Koreya could do was cry.

GIRL NUMBER 1: RAINA ARAKAKI, DEAD.

21 PLAYERS TO GO.


Next Chapter: Goodnight and Goodbye