Am I Dreaming?-----------Chapter 7
Happy New Year everyone!
Thank you for your reviews! You guys rock! Thank you Sapphire Dragoness, Berri, Vigatus, Evide, DrumminTater, and Kouzumi93. Your reviews were awesome! I am so happy! I hope you like this chapter as well! Sorry to keep you waiting.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
POV: Yamato Ishida (Matt)
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I stared at Izzy, my eyes wide in shock. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Before me, Izzy was sitting on a wooden chair, eating snacks as if they were the only food he'd ever see again. His face was gaunt and pale, and his eyes sunken in like he was dying. It looked as if he were wasting away by the minute, and heck, it scared me! "Izzy," I breathed, coming forward intensely. I knelt down next to him, my more protective nature taking over. It rarely happens, but when it does, I'm like one of those Mothers who could fight off an attacking animal three times their size just to protect their kid. And right then, that's just about how I felt. "Izzy, what's wrong?" I was sure as heck that something was terribly wrong, and I was going to stop it if I could. And nothing could stop me from doing that.
Izzy seemed to ignore me for a minute, but then he smiled faintly, saying nothing in response. Instead he continued to type furiously away at his computer. Tai stood up from the couch and came to sit next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Izzy, how does it look?" Tai asked, his voice cracking. His face was as pale as Izzy's, but the expression he carried was one of guilt, as if this were all his fault. I didn't understand, but his expression set me off. I began to get angry at him, without even realizing why. I guess that just happens.
"Not good," Izzy admitted presently. He sighed faintly and rubbed his forehead. "I feel terrible." And I believed it.
"You look terrible!" I exclaimed, growing even more angry. There was something going on that Tai and Izzy knew, and they weren't telling me about it. Why did they always leave me out of things like this? "What is going on here? I want to know what's wrong!" I stared from Izzy to Tai and back again, frustrated. Tai is always like this! He always tries to do everything himself! It's so selfish of him!
"Matt, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," Tai snapped, instantly going into defensive mode. "Time's running out. So if you don't mind, let Izzy finish working!" Tai was shaking, tears bottled up behind his eyes. He turned away from me and Izzy and ran for his room.
I watched him go, furious. "How can he be like that?" I demanded. "What does he mean, time is running out? WHAT IS GOING ON? I WANT TO HELP!"
"Calm down!" someone yelled at me. I snapped my head around to find Mimi staring at me. She had just entered through the door, looking miffed at my yelling. Mimi is always one for solving problems, and rarely did I want to cross her. She walked further into the room, taking off her shoes at the gaikan and stepping onto the carpet. "Matt, you're not going to help anyone if you're acting like that. I'm sure Tai and Izzy..." Mimi gasped and fell over onto the couch, her eyes wide with fright, focused intensely on the red-head next to me. "IZZY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Her hand went to her mouth in shock. She could say nothing else, only stare at him.
Izzy leaned back in his chair, relieved, and then looked up at me with a half smile on his gaunt face. "I did it," he breathed. I blinked and frowned, confused. Did what? My eyes must have conveyed the message, because he continued explaining. "It is a digital time warp, and it's only focused on Tai. I reversed it just in time, and now it's not affecting us anymore, even though I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it. But...I did. We're going to be okay." He sighed again and closed his eyes, sitting limply in the chair. He said nothing else.
I stared at Izzy, my mouth half open in a failed attempt to say something. What did Izzy mean by that? Digital Time Warp? Focused on Tai? Bewildered, I turned to Mimi. She was still in shock. And Tai was off in his room, hiding. It looked like I would have to be the one to straighten everything out. I took a deep breath, stood up, and straightened my shoulders. Fine. I would do something. "Mimi," I ordered sharply, shaking her shoulders. "Come out of it. I need you to make sure that Izzy is alright. Okay? You need to take care of Izzy!"
Mimi's eyes watered, and she nodded slowly so that I knew she understood. Then she stood up and went to him. Inside, I felt like smiling. Mimi is a girl, but she's strong, and she does what needs to be done even when it's hard. For that, I respect her. Mimi touched Izzy's forehead, her hand trembling. "What...happened?" she asked in a whisper, her voice choking. "He looks dead!"
"I don't think he is...yet." I shuddered, noticing how cold Izzy looked, and how lifeless. "Call 9-1-1. NOW." There was nothing else that I could do with Izzy. I had to find Tai. Quickly, I dashed into Tai's room, determined to figure everything out. Izzy had said we would be alright. But he had also said that the problem was focused on Tai. Tai would know what was going on. Even if he didn't want to talk about it, I would make him. We had to figure this out, and fast!
I skidded to a stop three feet inside the door, struck with a feeling I couldn't quite place, and I looked around. In Tai's room it was dark, and the room smelled like a room that someone who was sick or dying was staying in. It was strange. The smell was not strong, nor was it a tangible smell. I can't even explain it. I simply felt the smell of the room rather than smelled it with my nose. The feeling made me swallow audibly, and I walked in slowly. That was when I noticed Tai kneeling by his bedside, Kari sleeping in it.
"Kari, please speak to me," Tai whispered, his voice broken. Even I was taken back at the sound. I don't think I've ever heard Tai sound so weak. "Please speak to me. I need you to wake up, Kari. Please!" He continued to hold her hand, crying silently, but like Izzy, Kari was pale and unresponsive.
I walked up to Tai slowly, afraid to say anything. I didn't know what to think. Something big was going on, and I didn't even know where to start asking about it. But I had to say something. Tentatively, I opened my mouth. "Tai," I said quietly. Tai turned to face me, his face streaked with tears. I cleared my throat determinedly. "Tell me everything. Izzy said that the time warp has been stopped."
Tai bit his lip, then stood up shakily. He held onto my shoulder for balance, catching me by surprise, but I didn't say anything. I just let him hold on. "I was caught in a digital time warp, and kept reliving that past 25 minutes over and over again," he said shakily, shuddering at the thought. "Finally, I got Izzy to come back in time with me. But the effort was killing him. He tried to help me, but...Kari says we've almost lost him. She says...he's...almost gone..." Tai broke down, unable to speak further. But all that he had said had only raised more questions. It was like a giant mystery that kept getting worse and worse.
I was frustrated. Heck, I was angry. And I didn't even understand why these things were happening, or why Kari's word was suddenly law! Was there something about Kari that I don't know? I led Tai out to the couch and sat him down on it, noticing that he was almost too worn out to keep standing. Then I turned to Mimi. "How's Izzy?" I demanded.
"He's breathing," Mimi said, her voice trembling. "But..."
"It's going to be alright, I promise," I declared. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed a number. "Did you call 9-1-1?" Mimi nodded, so for the moment, I was satisfied. I put the phone to my ear, and after a few rings, TK answered. Good. At least he still answers when I call. Sometimes he gets upset when I call him in the middle of things, but he promised me he'd always answer unless he was completely unable to. I took a breath, and let an urgent edge enter my voice. "TK, this is Matt."
"Yeah I know that," TK answered back, his voice muffled by people cheering in the background. He sounded carefree, happy, relaxed...I hated to ruin that. "I have caller ID. What's wrong? I can already tell by your voice that something is wrong."
"There's a digital problem," I said, realizing that those words were a huge understatement. I glanced at Izzy, slumped stiffly in the chair. "Izzy's dying, and Tai is completely incapable of doing anything. Kari looks like she's dying too. You need to get over here right away." I spoke harshly--more harshly than I should have--hoping that TK would understand that I was simply worried, and not upset at him or anything. I have a tendency of sounding more mean than I really want to be at times, but I was too worked up to sound less angry.
TK's response was not unexpected. "WHAT THE HECK!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Seconds later, the line was dead. He had hung up.
Satisfied, I turned back to the others, trying hard to come up with the next step. I glanced at Izzy's laptop, still open. It was sitting on the table. Slowly, I reached down and glanced at it, and was rewarded with an instant headache. It was all code, data, and programming. None of it made any sense. How in the world does he live and breathe that computer code like it was the very meaning of life? I could never understand that. But I didn't have to. Izzy was always there to worry about these kinds of things. Frustrated once again, I straighted up and crossed my arms. "Well that's not going to help me any," I mumbled. I sighed and glanced at Izzy. "What the heck is going on here?"
"It's an evil digimon," Tai whispered from the couch. Shocked, I turned to glare at him for more of an explanation. Thankfully, for his own health, he continued. "There are other digidestined at the digital world right now, trying to fight an evil digimon, but they might not be able to do it alone. So in order to stop us from helping, the evil digimon placed a time warp on me. I think the time warp only affected our world, and those digidestined are still in danger on the digital world!" Tai wiped his eyes and tried to stop shaking. "But...I don't know what to do. I feel so lost..."
"Don't worry, we can do this," I assured him, not at all comforted by my own words. In reality, I was thinking 'oh great, we're doomed.' But I wasn't about to let that on. Right then, I was in charge. And I had to be the one to get us through. "We're not helpless! We are digidestined!" I uncrossed my arms and started pacing. "It looks like we're going to have to contact the digital world, and see what's happening over there. Izzy is practically dead, so we can't get him to help us...but..." sudden realization hit me, and I snapped my fingers. "Of course! Ken! He's a genius. He can do it!"
Tai swallowed and sat up straighter, some of the darkness behind his eyes lifting. My words seem to ignite something inside him, the fire that I know is always there, and his eyes hardened in determination. Good. We wont get anywhere with him feeling sorry for himself. Tai frowned suddenly. "But he's in a soccer game...he and Davis..."
"TK will get him here. You'll see." I sighed and rubbed my forehead, hoping to God that TK would get them here like I said. If not...oh well. We'd do something else. Belatedly, I finished my thought. "Then we'll set this right. Whoever is doing this will pay. They'll pay for hurting Izzy...they'll pay." I clenched my hand into a fist and kept pacing, glacing back at Izzy. He seemed to frown slightly, before his face relaxed again, and that gave me hope. Maybe he wasn't dying after all. Maybe Kari was wrong. Heck, what did Kari know anyway? She's probably just sick! Delirious! Right? The heavy weight in my gut suggest that I could be wrong, but I didn't want to think about that.
I just kept pacing around the room, Mimi and Tai watching me in silence, and from the looks on their faces, I knew that they were glad I was on their side. Their expressions startled me, but it was encouraging. Slightly pleased, I tried to hide a smile. What were friends for if not to help and protect each other? Right? Of course I would do anything in my power to make sure everything straightened out! If I didn't do that, what kind of friend would I be?
The sound of sirens caught everyone's attention, and within seconds, paramedics burst through the door. Tai and Mimi were still half in shock, so I took charge. "Izzy," I said, pointing to our friend. "He's fainted, and he looks dead!" I managed to hear one of the paramedics swearing, muttering under his breath. His words sounded like, 'Heck yeah, he looks dead!' That did not, needless to say, give me any hope. Then I pointed to Tai's bedroom. "And Kari, in there. Her too."
The paramedics split, one of them going into Tai's room, the other staying with Izzy. They ordered us to stand back, asking me questions about what happened. What could I say? I made it up. "I came into the house, and saw him sitting there. He looked awful. Then he just fainted, and we can't get him to respond. We don't know what's wrong." The paramedic seemed to think that was fine, and all within 10 minutes, they had him on oxygen and into the ambulence. Kari, too. And then they were about to leave.
I panicked, grabbing Mimi's arm and rushed out the door after them. "Wait!" I demanded, shoving Mimi toward them. "Mimi wants to go too!" I gave her a demanding look, shoved her towards the ambulance, and watched as they took off. I knew Mimi didn't really want to go, but I also knew that someone needed to go. And I needed Tai to stay with me. But it was well after the ambulance was gone from sight before I trudged back into Tai's appartment, slamming the door behind me.
Tai was standing in the middle of the room, looking guilty, tired, and upset. I knew that he felt like everything was his fault, and I wanted so badly to blame him for it. But...I couldn't. Because it wasn't true. "I'm sorry," he murmured, clenching his hands into fists. He was done crying, and all trace of tears had left his now hard face. "I failed."
"No," I said, shaking my head. I walked toward him, giving a big sigh. "We haven't. Not yet." Then I looked at the computer, waiting for TK and the others to make it. That was all we could do. That, and hope.
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Different, aye? Very different. I'll probably go back to Tai's POV next time. But I wanted things to be drastically different. What do you think? Not much was explained because Matt doesn't know much about what is going on. So the answers to all the questions will come later. But anyway, I'm sorry it took so long.
God bless you all!
---rika195
