Sorry it took so long to write this chapter. I've been working on some of my other fanfics, and I just kept putting this one off. I promise that it won't take me as long to update next time. *grin* Now, onto the story.
Digital Danger
Ken hands felt like ice as he ran them along the wet rock, trying to find some sort of opening in the cold stone of the cliff. He had been searching for what seemed like an eternity, even though he knew that it couldn't have been more than half an hour. Still, he was beginning to become discouraged.
Just as he was about to give up though, his hands sank into a small opening. Not daring even to even breathe, he leaned in close and found himself staring at what appeared to be a small cave. He let out a quiet sigh and, without saying a word, grabbed Yolei's arm and pulled her over towards him.
She gave him a curious look before he nodded his head towards the small, almost invisible hole in the cliff. They stood still for a moment, looking into the deep darkness of a tiny cave. Then, with a fearful look in his eyes, Ken let go of her arm and leaned in close to the cave's entrance.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly reached up and pulled himself up a few inches so that he could climb into the cave. He stared into the murky darkness for a moment before turning his head back towards Yolei. He forced his mouth to turn upwards into a reassuring grin. "I'm going to go and see where this goes, and then I'll come back to get you."
Her eyes widened suddenly in fear at his words. With terror shining in them, she vehemently shook her head. "No! Are you crazy!? You're going to go climbing down into some dark hole, leaving me behind to be attacked by whatever comes by, so that you..."
"...can try and find a way out of this place that doesn't involve getting one of us killed!" Ken finished in a slightly loud voice. He looked Yolei straight in the eyes and tried to reassure her the best that he could. Then, without letting her anything else, he turned and slowly pulled himself into the small cave.
Before he got very far into the darkness, he turned and shot one more look back at her. Yolei slowly gave him a slight nod of understanding. Then, with a few tears still in her eyes, she watched as Ken slowly faded into the darkness.
She stood in front of the cave for what seemed like ages - pacing slightly as more and more time passed. After a while, she couldn't stand it anymore. With a worried look around her, she turned and started crawling into the darkness.
She had only gotten a few feet before she found herself face to face with... Ken. He gave her an exasperated look as she slowly backed out of the small cave. "For some strange reason, I thought that I told you to stay here."
Yolei shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "You were taking forever, Ken. I was worried about you. I thought that... Wait a minute, Ken - haven't you done the exact same thing before? Like the time when Davis..."
The Digidestined of Kindness quickly placed his hand over her mouth, knowing very well what she was talking about. He smiled gently as he leaned down and let their lips touch for a brief moment. It ended rather quickly, however, when the same sound screaming noise they had heard earlier broke the eerie stillness. They looked into each others eyes for a moment before Ken pushed her into to cave. "If you go in for a few meters, there's a tunnel. I didn't follow it all of the way, but I think that it leads where we need to go."
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As Kari finished explaining to her friends what had taken place in the last several hours, she looked around at her friends. Matt, Sora, and Izzy looked like they at least partly believed her, but T.K. had a very skeptical look on his face. She shot him a quick look, and he slowly nodded in understanding. He wouldn't do anything...
Kari quickly turned her attention towards Tai. After a moment their eyes met, and she quietly let out a sigh. In one swift movement, she grabbed her brother's arm and twisted it as far around as she could. "Be a good onii-san and behave," she whispered quietly to him.
Tai gave a very fake-looking grin as he looked over at Ryo and Spiritmon, who still standing back away from them. With a worried look in his eyes, Tai turned his gaze back towards his little sister. "Are you sure we can trust them?" he quietly murmured back to her, his voice telling her that he obviously thought that the idea was absurd.
For a moment, Kari didn't say a word. She slowly blew a long lock of hair out of her eyes and let her gaze wander around them for a moment. Then, without saying a word, she immediately looked her brother in the eyes. After a moment, Tai slowly looked away - the steely determination in her eyes answered any question he could ask. "Fine. I'll trust your instincts... this time," he whispered back to her in a voice that was practically dripping with sarcasm.
Kari stood there for a moment, a slightly shocked look in her eyes. After a moment though, she looked around at where the others were standing. She could tell that they couldn't hear what the two of them were saying. Slowly, she turned her gaze back towards Tai.
Neither of them said a word as they stared into each other's eyes. After a few moments, Kari gave a weak smile. She knew very well why her brother was being like this - Tai was in full overprotection mode. Slowly she let out her breath. "Taichi," she whispered in a dangerous-sounding voice. "Stop being such an ass."
Tai shot her a startled look before slowly letting his eyes wander over to where Ryo was still standing. Then, with a tired look in his eyes, he turned his attention back towards Kari. "I am acting like an ass, aren't I?"
She didn't say a word, but the look on her face answered his question. Tai let out a weak sigh before slowly nodding his head. He let his eyes wander over to Ryo once again. "Fine then, I'll try and behave."
Kari slowly reached over and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. Then, she turned and started walking over to where the others were standing. Before she got very far though, Tai quickly reached out and grabbed her arm. "One thing though..."
The girl immediately shot him a curious look. Tai merely smiled at her as he glanced over towards where T.K. was standing. "If I catch you and T.K. making out, I can't be held responsible for what I do."
Kari stared at him for a moment, her mouth open in shock. After a few seconds though, she seemed to find her voice. "Taichi Kamiya! Don't you dare threaten my boyfriend!"
As soon as she said that, Kari's face turned bright red. She wasn't the only one though. T.K.'s face was turning an even brighter red, and Tai's wasn't far behind. His however, wasn't red with embarrassment. Kari looked into her brother's eyes for a moment before quickly turning towards the group of kids behind them. "Matt, you might want to keep my brother away from yours."
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Davis stiffly stood up and tried to shake some of the sand off of him. Just as suddenly as the sandstorm had started, it had stopped - leaving the kids and Digimon covered in a rather thick layer of sand. With a tired sigh, he let his eyes roam around them - trying to catch sight of the other group. There was no sign of them, though.
Trying to erase the worried look on his face, he turned back to the rest of his group. Joe was once again checking on Ken and Yolei, while Mimi tried to brush some of the sand off of them. Cody was standing up, trying to both brush some of the sand off of himself and look around the desert landscape at the same time. The Digimon were standing - and sitting - around their respected partners, trying not to appear too worried.
The desert was eerily silent, almost like there was nothing alive there but them. If he hadn't know any better, Davis might have thought that they were the only living things out here.
Without warning, a sharp - very familiar - scream rang through the air. With an annoyed look in his eyes, Davis slowly looked over at Mimi. Anything that he had been planning on saying though, faded away as soon as he saw what she was screaming about. Ken and Yolei both seemed to be fading in and out of reality.
