CHAPTER NINE

Kari tore down the streets on her bike, smoke coming from the tires, following the trail of the limousine. Her tears were blurring her vision under her helmet, and she couldn't wipe them away.

She had a new determination now, a new goal- Davis!

She had to find him! She had to tell him how she felt, before it was too late.

She skidded round a corner; the bike's back wheel sliding out behind her. Flashing down the street, she checked the roads leading off to the sides, searching for the distinctive color scheme of the JFS limo.

Flying down the road, her bike's fittings appeared to be just one small silver blur in a mess of black.

Then, she could see it…! The limo coach was ahead of her, stopped at a red light near the road leading out of town.

She knew that street; it was a two mile long road.

She turned to chase the limo just as the light turned green and it started off.

She revved the engine!

She narrowed her eyes squarely upon her target, and powered forward. Skirting round the cars, she closed the distance easily. She sped up, and about halfway down the two-mile stretch, the limo came to another set of traffic lights that allowed the crossroad to go through.

Kari felt relief rush through her. She knew she would catch up now.

She revved her engine again, and sped forward.

That's when the sound of a wailing siren started up behind her- the siren of a police cruiser.

Kari looked around, her eyes widening in horror. The cop in the passenger seat pointed twice towards the side of the road in an unmistakable gesture.

"No!" she groaned softly "Not now! This can't happen!"

Worse than that, the limo passed through the road at the green light, and got further and further away, and out of sight.

The cop signaled for Kari to pull over again, and she had no choice but to comply.

She twisted the handlebars over towards the left, and pulled over to the side of the street. The cruiser pulled in behind her.

The cops got out of their vehicle- one man and one woman- and walked over to her as she pulled off her helmet, her hair falling around her shoulders. If the cops recognised her, they gave no sign of it.

"Do you have any idea of the speed you were driving at, young lady?" asked the woman cop.

Kari shook her head.

"I thought not." and she began to write up a ticket for Kari, and her partner began to notice Kari seemed a little antsy and kept looking up the street.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

Finally, Kari confessed about the limo, about Davis, and how she felt, which made the two cops on the spot, and the lady stopped writing.

"If I don't catch that limo soon, he'll be out of my life forever." Kari cried.

The lady cop then stared down blankly at the incomplete ticket she had written.

Her partner then got a good look at Kari, "Hey, I know you, you're one of those Digi Destined kids."

Kari nodded.

"You kids sure did us a heap of a service." he looked at his partner, even though she knew it was against procedure and could get himself and his partner in trouble.

"I say we let her go."

Realizing who Kari was, melted by her story, and seeing the edginess in her eyes- the story was true- she sighed "I hope I'm not going to regret this." And she stowed the ticket away in her jacket. "Go, catch up with him before it's too late, just don't speed so much anymore. You can't break the law."

Kari was shocked, "But what if-"

The lady blew her whistle at Kari frightening her to her senses, and she donned her helmet and took off on her bike down the road.

The two cops watched as she sped off, standing side-by-side, and holding hands- they were actually a married couple, and they understood what Kari was feeling despite their obligations to their jobs.

"Reminds me of us when we met." the wife said to the husband.

"Yeah, you pulled me off the road just to talk to me, and you threatened to arrest me if I didn't ask you out."

His wife smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

Unfortunately, because of the duo's interfering, Kari had a hard time trying to track down the limo. It had gone too far ahead to tell which way it had gone, but she wasn't going to give up now.

The bike roared under her, and she sped down the road, keeping under the limit this time.

She came to a fork in the road, and looked back and forth between the two different roads. She had to pick one and try it, and so she turned right

…Which was the wrong way as the limo had taken the left road.


Veemon was snoozing on the cushy seats, while Davis was looking downhearted, as he had been since the journey started.

"Davis?" asked John.

He looked up.

"Was that your girlfriend?"

Davis' eyes snapped open, "Oh, no… no, no, no. She isn't."

The older man's eyes narrowed, "But you wanted it to be, didn't you."

Davis couldn't hide anything from anyone these days, especially not from himself anymore.

"I'm starting to feel like I made the wrong choice. I should have properly taken the time to tell her how I feel. I mean, I just blurted it out once, but..."

"Davis?"

The younger man glanced at him.

"If I know anything about being in love, and I'm still in love with my wife after 12 years of marriage.

As for you and her…"

"Kari."

"Right…

Well, she didn't need to be told. Some things don't need to be said to be understood. I think she knows perfectly well how you feel, so don't worry."

Davis lowered his head. Then spoke sadly, "I still should've told her. It would've helped."


Kari carried on riding down the opposite hand fork of the road, and when she could find no sign of the limo anywhere, she pulled over off the road, sat down next to her bike and burst into tears.

"I've lost him!" she sobbed "I lost him!"

Eventually, she managed to find a little strength to ride back home.

Tai opened the door of their apartment.

"Kari?"

He had never seen her so frazzled, and so pale looking before, and her eyes—her red-eyes form obvious crying told him enough.

"Oh, Kari…!"

He held his sister tightly, letting her cry.

Gatomon peeked around from the living room corner, and her head hung low.


Davis had spent weeks training with his new team, and he would call his family, and send emails to the others, including Kari.

He always looked forward to her answers.

"I'm so proud of you, Davis."

"Make the team and the country proud."

Unfortunately, neither one of them was willing to say those magic words. It didn't feel right to do it over the internet.

They both decided enough was enough, and the next time they saw each other they would say it, no ifs, ands, buts, or fears.

Two months later,

The autumn winds were blowing about, and the leaves were falling off trees. Kids and teens had been back at school for two months now.

It was a couple of hours before the first Match of the Youth season; and Davis' team felt ready after weeks, and weeks of training.

Davis himself, the new team captain, was really looking forward to this. All his years of hard practice and waiting were about to pay off, even if he and his team wouldn't win the game, it was still such an honor and privilege to be on a high class soccer team as this.

All his teammates felt the same.

They were all young men about his age from other countries, including Andy McNamara from Scottland.

"Ah! It's bloody freezing out there." he said "And I thought comin' to Japan would be a tad warmer."

Davis chuckled, "Just wait until the game starts. Then we'll all get warmed up."

Andy grinned and nodded.

Later, as the boys all dressed in their official JFS uniforms, with a "JFC" logo on it, John came in and brought the bad news.

"We're down one man." he said to Davis.

"You're kidding me."

"Nope. Joe Blesky- our Polish player- got the flu this morning."

Davis sighed.

"What about the substitutes? We can bump one of them up can't we?"

John shook his head. "The sub's bus has broken down. We're stuck with ten men. So you if you know anywhere we can get a replacement striker, please tell me!"

Davis smiled, an idea hitting him. "I think I know just the guy."

Ken and cell-phone's both rang.

"Hello?"

"Ken!"

"Davis?" exclaimed Ken "How are you, I was just getting ready to watch the game on TV."

"Never mind watching it." said Davis "How would you like to be IN it?"

He told him of the team's situation, and how John was allowing him to appoint a substitute.

Ken's eyes bulged, "Me…?!Play for the JFS?!"

"So are you guys in or what?" asked Davis "If you say you will, John says he'll give free tickets to the gang so they can come and watch the game in person."

Ken didn't have to think twice, "You got it, man!"

Davis smiled over the phone and gave John a thumb up, and John went off to arrange for quick transport for the new stand-ins and friends bound to be coming.