Ebacusta: Oh my god you guys I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I meant to have this up weeks ago but school kept me super busy and any free time I did have was dominated by chores or the need for sleep. Please forgive me. I think I even had mimi angel worried. But here's the ext chapter.
Willis: Now, we want to extend a huge thank you to every one who reviewed:
animedaisy
Written by the Music
Mim angel
Syao
Sailor Sayian
shauna
BlackBlaze
miaow227
Sailor Neo. If we missed anyone, yell at ebacusta in a review and she'll put you in. *smile*
Kari: Really not much we can say to you so, we might as well get right into the fic. Disclaimer! *digidestined raise their hands* Tai.
Tai: Okay. Ebacusta does not own any part of digimon. The idea of powers belongs Digifriends. She does own some made up characters including Yamazaki, Rei, Kei, Rei Esaki, Hilga, Tisha Fusaki, and others.
T.K.: That said and done, on with the fic.
By ebacusta
Chapter 10:
How did you get here? -The Powers of Fire, Ice, and Sky
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T.K., Willis, Ken, and Kari all walked down the stairs. They were all wearing their hats and had once again put in their contacts.
"I think going to this party is a good idea," Willis said.
"Relaxation," Kari exclaimed.
"That's why we're going," T.K. clarified.
"But, we'll still have to be on guard for anything suspicious," Ken noted. They nodded and emerged into the lobby. They went into the big room where they said the party would be.
"Wow," they all four breathed.
"Let's eat first," Ken suggested. The others agreed and they all approached the buffet table. Kari handed them all plates and went to turn around but bumped into someone.
"Oh I'm sorry," Kari said. She looked up. It was boy. He was looking closely at her.
"Kari?"
"Tai?"
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Kari and Tai were silent as they stared at each other not quite believing it. Kari reached out her hand and touched his arm to make sure she was not hallucinating. He was real.
"Tai?" she said slowly. He was here! He was really here! "Tai!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around her brother. He hugged her back.
"I was worried about you," Tai said.
"I love you, Tai" Kari said. "Thank you so much."
"For what?" Tai asked.
"For being an awesome big brother," Kari replied. The two pulled apart when they realized they were holding up the buffet line.
"Hey Tai," T.K. and Ken waved.
"Hey," Tai replied. He looked at Willis. "You're Willis right?" Willis nodded. The five of them quickly went through the line. Kari and the others followed Tai towards a table. As he approached with the others, Matt looked up. His eyes widened.
"T.K.!" The other digidestined followed his gaze and in a minute they were all involved in a group hug. When they broke apart Matt went back to his seat.
"T.K. come sit over here," Matt said. He grabbed a chair from another table. But, since he hadn't been paying attention, he didn't realize he actually took the chair from underneath a teenage girl who was about to sit down.
"Uh, Matt," T.K. said in emotionless voice. A scream escaped the girl's mouth as she crashed to the ground.
"What?" Matt asked.
"Who do you think you are? How dare you-?" the girl yelled as she stood up but trailed off when she saw his face. "Oh…"
"Oh, was this your chair?" Matt asked. "I'm so sorry."
"Oh no, that wasn't my chair. I just thought you were someone else," the girl blushed. She turned back around and began gushing with her friends over how cute he was. T.K. sat on half of the chair and let Kari sit on the other half.
"How did you get here?" T.K. asked.
"Well," Izzy said, "if you must know, we used an ancient gate technique to get into this world and then traveled from a Sakura tree forest and came up north using the subway looking for you guys."
"How did you know we were up north?" Ken asked.
"I managed to get a lock on your digivices, but, we had originally planned to go farther north tomorrow morning and only got off on this stop because everyone was tired and hungry," Izzy informed them.
"Well, I guess we can leave now," Kari said. "We're all set."
"What do you mean?" Izzy asked.
"Well," Kari said, "you guys used an ancient gate technique to get here, so we can use the same technique to get back."
"I'm afraid it's not that easy Kari," Izzy sighed.
"What are you getting at Izzy?" Willis asked.
"Well, that gate is only supposed to be accessed on the first day of spring, or the first day of fall," Izzy confessed. "Really, the gate could have malfunctioned since yesterday was neither the first day of spring or fall."
"Wait a minute, you did it once, how come we can't try again and just hope for the best?" Kari asked.
"Because Kari, hoping for the best isn't the smartest thing to do when you're traveling through worlds. What we did yesterday was a huge risk. We could have ended up in some random world with no way of getting back to our own," Izzy replied.
"But the first day of fall is five months away!" she exclaimed. "What about school? No doubt by now I've missed so much of it, I'll definitely fail out of the grade."
"Actually Kari, our school our school in the real world was destroyed and furthermore, since we opened the gate on an "illegal day" so to speak, we warped time so it's not in harmony with our world anymore," Izzy told them.
"What do you mean Izzy?" Sora asked.
"Well, time in this world compared to time in our world could go two ways. It could either slow down time in this world to where five months could equal five years in our world, or it could speed it up to where five months is only five minutes," Izzy explained.
"Izzy! Why didn't you tell this to us before?" Tai asked.
Mimi spoke before Izzy could answer Tai's question, "Well Izzy, is there a way we can tell which path the time thing is going to take?"
Izzy shook his head. "There's no way we'll know how time passed on Earth until we get back home."
"What about our digimon?" Matt asked.
"What about them?" Izzy asked. "They're in the real world,"
"So they really can't do anything?" Joe pondered aloud.
"Nope. If all goes well, they won't have ever missed us," Izzy emphasized. They all nodded slowly. There was a live band that began to play. People began gathering on an open area.
Kari stood. They looked at her. She smiled, "Well then, in that case there's nothing we can do until the first day of fall so we might as well live life to the fullest. I'm gonna go dance. Anyone want to join me?"
"I will," T.K. said standing. Yolei stood as well, "Why not?"
"Might as well," Ken said as he and Davis followed them to the floor.
"We have nothing better to do," Cody said as he and Willis stood and followed them.
********************
"Hey guys," Kari said as they bunched up on the dance floor. "Let's make up our own dance." They nodded and began deliberating. When they were done, they all began to dance the dance they had made up. They spilt into one group of five and two groups of four and began.
Kari was with T.K., Yolei, and Ken. They jumped and put their right hands into the middle of the circle they had formed. Their hands were covering each other's with Ken at the bottom, Yolei on top of his, Kari's on top of hers, and T.K.'s on top of them all. They all angled their bodies turned so their arms would be perfectly straight and began to walk in a circle.
After four steps they stopped and turn their bodies in a 180 degree fashion until they were facing opposite how they had been facing a minute ago and jumped. They now put their left hand into the circle and took four steps in walked in a circle. They stopped four steps later, and jumped and put their right hand out into a new circle. Their old one disbanded as the group went into four different circles.
Other people began to join in. Kari was now with Willis, and two other males. They did the same thing. Willis grinned at her.
"You were the true mastermind behind this," he said.
"You thought of the whole jump and turn thing, which made this dance really cool," she reminded him. They smiled as they jumped and swirled off into different circles. Now Kari was with two females and a male. She recognized one of them as the girl Matt had pulled the chair out from under her. Kari smiled.
Thirty minutes of dancing and Kari was back in same group as T.K.
"Where have you been?" she asked.
"Everywhere," he replied. "You?"
"Same." As they finished off this round, Kari and T.K. went and found the other digidestined who were dancing.
"Hey guys, do this one with me. It's my own version of the Macarana," Kari said.
"Show it to us," Yolei answered. They formed a square to copy Kari's movements. She stepped forward and then pulled her left so her feet were side by side. She put out her right arm and then her left arm. She swung her right hand and then her left up to the back of her head.
Then she pulled down her right hand down to her left shoulder and her left hand down to her right shoulder. Then she dropped her right hand down to her left hip and her left hand down to her right. Then she clapped her right hand on her right butt cheek and her left hand on her left butt cheek and then moved her middle in two full circles. She jumped and turned to her right as she did so and started again.
After she had gone in a full 360 degree motion, the other digidestined joined in. Slowly the dance floor cleared so everyone could get a clear view of what the teenagers were doing. They watched as the kids did the dance. One by one other people joined in until everyone on the dance floor was doing it.
Step. Step. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Circle. 90 degree jump. Right foot, left foot, right hand out, left hand out. Right hand behind head, left hand behind head. Right hand to left shoulder, left hand to right shoulder. Right hand to left hip, left hand to right hip. Right hand to right butt cheek left hand to left butt cheek, swing middle in two full circles. Jump and turn 90 degrees. Start over.
******************
"Look at them," Sora said. "So much energy."
"I know, they've been dancing for 6 hours," Izzy agreed. Matt and Tai nodded.
"Speaking of time, what time is it?" Joe asked.
"It's almost two," Mimi answered after checking her watch.
"Should we go get them?" Tai asked.
"I'm surprised none of them have come back to get any food," Matt added. "I mean we're talking about five teenage boys here." The others nodded.
"Hey, here they come now," Sora interrupted.
"Man, I'm beat," Kari replied.
"Me too," T.K. agreed.
"How long were we dancing?" Kari asked.
"Six hours," Izzy said.
"What? Really? Man six straight hours of dancing," Yolei said.
"And it wasn't slow dancing either," Ken said.
"Are you guys ready to leave?" Davis asked. Tai was on his feet in a minute. The others got up and cleared the table of the Styrofoam plates and chopsticks tossing them in the garbage can.
"Where's your room?" Kari asked Tai as they left the room.
"834, yours?"
"1227."
"What are we going to do tomorrow?" T.K. asked.
"Well, I guess we'll look for a school and an apartment or some place we can stay," Izzy said.
"An apartment? Can we even afford one of those?" Ken asked.
"Don't worry. You've got Mimi here, who's equipped with seven credit cards," Mimi chirped.
"Seven…" Kari began.
"Credit…" T.K. added.
"Cards…" Yolei finished. Mimi nodded enthusiastically.
"I guess the rest of us will all have to get jobs if we want to support 13 people for 5 months," Sora reasoned.
"I guess so," Joe said.
"Tomorrow I'd assume we also have to go job searching, buy food, and anything else we'll need," Izzy said.
"So we have a full schedule then," Willis replied.
"Well," Kari said. "We'll come down to you guys' room tomorrow morning and we'll spilt up and go from there I guess." They nodded.
"Good night!" Kari, T.K., Willis, and Ken called as they charged up the stairs.
"Night!" everyone else called after them.
****************
"I'm glad everyone else is here," Kari said as they all sat on their beds. Once again Kari had insisted she sleep on the ground while Ken and Willis got the beds and T.K. slept on the couch.
"Yep," they all agreed. They all lay down and pulled the covers over them.
"Night you guys," Kari said.
"Night Kari," they replied.
"Night Ken and Willis."
"Night T.K."
"Night Willis."
"Night Ken."
****************
Kari and the others stood outside room 834 and knocked. The door opened. Tai stepped aside to let them in. The four of them entered and saw Matt, Sora, Mimi, and Izzy sitting on the couch. Yolei, Davis, and Cody were sitting on the beds. Joe was sitting in the desk chair. Tai joined Cody on the second bed. T.K., Kari, Ken, and Willis all sat down on the floor, putting their stuff beside them. The TV was on.
"Okay, so what should we do first? Find a job, find a place to stay, find a school, get food, other things we need to do?" T.K. asked.
"First we should find a school, then we should find a job, then we should look for a place to stay, then we should go shopping for food," Izzy said eyeing the grocery bags that were sitting next to Willis. "Assuming that what Willis has is food."
Willis looked beside him, "Oh yeah, this is food."
"Wait, why that order?" Matt suddenly asked.
"Because, if we get caught by the police, they might ask where we live and well have to make up some address and the people living at the address be warned or arrested, so we need to get a school first. Then we need jobs to support ourselves. Then we can look for a place to stay because if all else fails we can come back here and stay another night.
"Hey, Kari, did you what something other than that?" Mimi asked looking at the uniform skirt.
"Yeah, that would be nice," Kari said smiling. Mimi got up and went to her bag. Kari got up as well and followed Mimi. When Kari emerged a few minutes later, she was wearing a track shorts and a white tank top with "Princess" in sparkling, curvy, pink letters written across it.
"Thanks Mimi," Kari said.
"No problem," Mimi replied shrugging. Suddenly on the screen flashed four pictures.
"Missing children Hikari Kamiya, Takeru Takaishi, Ken Ichijoji, and Willis Summer have still not been found. If you see them, please call 1-800-MISSING."
"You guys are missing?" Tai asked.
"From where?" Sora inquired. So, Kari, T.K., Ken, and Willis told the everyone else everything the had happened to them.
"Oh man," Joe said.
"So this Hilga Riverton, do you know anything about her?" Izzy asked. They shook their heads.
"Well we should probably get going," Joe said. They all stood and grabbed their bags. They left the room and went downstairs turning back in their keys.
"Thank you for staying," the woman said as they left.
"Wait a minute," Kari said. "We don't know of any close high schools."
"We should probably ask someone for the closet one," Matt said. Kari ran back into the hotel.
****************
"Ma'am, could you tell me where the nearest high school is?" When the woman looked at her strangely she added. "My younger cousin said she went to one around here but I forgot where it was. I'm from a different country."
"How old are you?" the woman asked.
Kari said the first thing that came to mind, "Me? Oh, um…21."
"Well, the closet one would be the Sakura High," the woman said.
"Where is that?" Kari asked.
"About two miles to the east of this hotel," the woman replied.
"Oh yeah, that's right! Thank you," Kari said bowing before she ran out the door.
"Sakura High," Kari said.
"Interesting name," Sora commented. "I wonder how it got that name."
"How do we get there?" Tai asked.
"The lady said it was two miles to the east of this hotel," Kari replied. They all began to walk towards the subway station, which was only a few blocks to the south. After studying the map, they all made a mad dash to catch the train that would be arriving in one minute.
"If we get separated, we'll meet in front of Sakura High," Sora yelled as they ran.
Quickly they bought their tickets and ran as fast as they could to get to the subway. The bell signifying that the doors would be closing soon rang loudly. They dived. Everyone but T.K. and Kari made it in the closet door. They charged through the crowd and dived in barely making it as the doors closed firmly shut.
After apologizing to the people they had either crushed or run into on the subway, they packed in with everyone else.
"What stop are we suppose to get off on?" Kari asked. T.K.'s eyes widened.
"I don't know. I forgot with all the excitement of trying to make it onto the subway train," T.K. admitted. They stood and when the train stopped and the doors open, T.K. and Kari peeked out to see if the other digidestined were getting off. They didn't see anyone and went back inside. As the doors closed and the train started moving again, Kari and T.K. groaned when they saw Tai pointing at them.
"Why do you pick on us?" Kari moaned to no one. At the next stop, T.K. and Kari ran out of the train. They ran up the stairs and out into the morning air.
"How far away do you think we are from the high school?" Kari asked.
"I don't know, let's ask." He stopped someone. "Excuse me sir, can you tell me how far away I am from Sakura High. I got separated from the people I was traveling with and I don't know my way around the city that much."
"One and half miles west. Just follow this road that way," the man said pointing. T.K. bowed.
"Thank you," T.K. said. He pointed and he and Kari began running with their bags slung across their shoulders on their elbows. They shouldered their way through the busy streets and keep running while keeping a firm hold on each other.
"This could only happen to us," Kari panted as they ran. T.K. nodded in agreement.
**************
"Man, weren't they listening when we said which stop we were to get out on?" Tai asked impatiently. "I hope Kari's okay though."
"They might have forgotten," Sora said.
"Maybe," Matt agreed.
"Hey, here they come now!" Mimi exclaimed. They followed her finger and saw two teens spiriting towards them. One was a girl, the other a boy wearing a white hat. When the two reached them they rested their hands on their knees.
"Weren't you listening when we told you the stop we wanted?" Tai demanded.
"Gomen. We forgot," Kari panted.
"So we got off on the next stop and sprinted one and half miles to get here," T.K. gasped.
"That would explain why you're only eight minutes late rather than fifteen if you had just normally run the whole thing," Izzy said.
"Do you time everything?" Matt asked.
Izzy grinned. "Sorry, it's just a habit I've picked up."
"In any case we should probably go and check out the school," Joe said.
"Wait a minute, they'll be suspicious if teenagers without their parents are requesting to come to the school," Yolei said.
"She's right. We'll need some kind of a disguise," Cody agreed.
"Here's an idea," Mimi spoke. "Sora and Tai will be the "parents" of Kari and Davis. Matt will be the father of T.K., and Willis. Izzy and I will be the parents of Cody and Yolei. Joe is the parent of Ken. All taken care of. We can enroll ourselves while pretending to be our own parents."
The others nodded and the group entered the school. A girl ran into Kari.
"Gomen nasai," the girl said bowing. She was about to run off when Matt exclaimed, "Wait!" The girl turned around and nearly fainted when she saw his face.
"Yes?" she asked blushing seemly forgetting whatever made her in a rush anyway.
"I was just wondering if you could tell me where the office is," Matt replied.
"Oh," the girl said. "It's that way at the end of the hall."
"Thanks," Matt said. The girl dashed off.
"I think she was kind of disappointed that you didn't ask her out," T.K. said to Matt as they walked down the hall.
"Why would she expect me to ask her out anyway?" Matt asked.
"I don't know. Girls just expect weird things like that from boys," T.K. said. Kari hit the back of his head. "Ow what was that for?" T.K. asked grinning.
"You take that back Takeru Takaishi!" Kari exclaimed.
"Why should I?" T.K. challenged.
"Because I said so," Kari growled. The older digidestined began laughing. The all stopped. Mimi knocked politely on the door.
"Yes?" a voice, asked through it. "Come in." Mimi opened the door and the group entered. "Can I help you?" the administrator asked.
Mimi nodded and smiled, "Yes, we would like to enroll our children in this fine school." The other digidestined smiled.
"And who are you?" the administrator inquired. The digidestined froze and the smiles dropped off their faces. They looked at each other, panic filling their eyes. "Who are we?" Sora repeated.
"Yes, who are you?" the administrator asked standing.
"Well," Sora said slowly, "I'm Sally," she gestured towards Tai, "and this is my husband Tim." Tai nodded grabbing Davis and Kari and pulling them in front of him.
"These are our kids," he said.
"I'm Katherine," Kari said before she quickly added, "You can call me Kay for short."
Davis spoke next, "I'm David." Tai looked at Matt.
"I'm Mark," Matt added. "These are my sons."
"I'm T.K.," T.K. said. "Tee for short."
"My name is Will…" Willis trailed off. "Please to meet you."
Mimi smiled and then said, "I am Georgia, and these are my children." She pointed to Yolei and Cody.
"Hi," Yolei said. "My name is…uh, Rachel." She smiled convincingly.
"My name is Calvin," Cody answered the woman's questioning stare.
"I'm their father, Brian," Izzy said.
"How do you do? I'm Jim and this is my child…" Joe trailed off.
"Kevin. Nice to meet you," Ken finished. They all smiled at her.
"Nice to meet all of you," the administrator said. "I'm Kathy."
"Hello Ms. Kathy," they all chorused.
"Now, if you don't mind. I just need to know, who are you enrolling." Kathy sat down at her desk and grabbed a pen and a cube of post-it notes.
"Well," Sora piped, "We want to enroll these two and our other children who aren't with us today. Their names are Sarah and Tom." Kathy made note of this on the post-it.
"I'm enrolling Will and T.K. as well as my other son Alex," Matt said.
"Is T.K. short for anything?" Kathy asked looking up from the notes she was taking on the post-it. T.K. shook his head, "No ma'am."
"We would like to enroll Rachel, Calvin, and our other two, Bryce and Gigi. By the way, you can call her Gee for short," Mimi interjected.
"I'd like to enroll Kevin and his brother John," Joe said. The woman nodded.
"I'll call the principal so he can talk to you," Kathy said. She picked up a phone and dialed a number. After a minute she said, "Hello? Yes, some parents are here to enroll their children. Okay? Okay. Yes. I'll have them do that." She out the phone down.
"He requests for you to wait and he'll be here in a few minutes," Kathy said. She pulled the post-it off the top of the cube and handed it to Sora. "If you'd be a dear and give that to him when he comes in." Sora nodded dumbly and Kathy went back to some papers she had been working on.
True to his word, a few minutes later a rather large man with black hair entered the room. "Hello. I'm Mr. Dane (Dawn-Nay). I'm the principal of Sakura High."
Sora held out her hand offering him the pink post-it. He took it and scanned it quickly. "Okay, if you would just please follow me," he said. They followed him out of the room closing the door behind them.
******************
Sora and Tai sat with Kari and Davis in the principal's office. Tai shifted uncomfortably. Sora smiled knowing how many times Tai had sat in a chair similar to the one he was sitting in now.
"Okay," the Principal said. "Kathy tells me that you are looking at sending your children to school here."
Sora nodded, "Um, yes. We'd like to enroll our, um, four children." Tai nodded and tried to smile convincingly.
"Four? I only see two," Mr. Dane said quizzically.
"Yes. Our other children aren't here with us today," Sora said. Mr. Dane nodded slowly. Sora's mind filled with worry. The way he looked, he looked like he wasn't quite buying their story.
He finally spoke slowly, "So what was your children's schooling prior to wanting to enroll them here at Sakura High?"
"Homeschooling," Tai blurted. He smiled sheepishly.
"Yes, homeschooling," Sora agreed. "I'm sorry but I forgot to bring their grades with me. But, I'll bring them by tomorrow."
"But, their grades are good and they're well-behaved," Tai said.
"Most of the time," Sora added truthfully. Tai eyed her strangely. She merely stared at him and then turned her attention back to the Principal.
"Well speaking of your children. Where are the other two?" Mr. Dane asked. Sora and Tai froze.
"Where are they?" Sora repeated dumbly.
"They're in America of course!" Tai exclaimed brightly.
"They are?" Sora asked before quickly correcting herself, "Yes they are."
Tai continued, "Well, they were in America. As foreign exchange students. They got back a few days ago and went to visit their grandparents and we're going to pick them up today or tomorrow or the next day. Depends on what they want, but they'll definitely be back home by Saturday."
"And, and," Sora added, "they can tell their classmates what it was like being a foreign exchange student in America." Kari and Davis watched Tai and Sora's plight in amusement but kept their mouths shut. Suddenly outside the door someone erupted loudly in laughter. There were as commotion for a few seconds and the laughter died down.
Mr. Dane nodded slowly. "Well if you don't mind," he spoke, "I'd like to interview your children one by one and then interview each of you to see what your other children are like." Sora and Tai nodded. Mr. Dane pointed at Kari, "I'll start with her." Davis, Tai, and Sora stood up and left closing the door behind them.
******************
"Can you hear anything?" Yolei asked.
"Yes," Mimi said, "Pipe down." The other digidestined were crowded on both sides of the door listening to the conversation. Joe, Izzy, Matt, and Cody were still seated.
"Four children they're enrolling," Mimi whispered. After a second she said, "Caught them with having only two present now."
A few seconds later Yolei said, "Prior schooling was homeschooling. Tai said they're well behaved and Sora said 'most of the time'" Silence.
"Tai said his children were in America and are now visiting their grandparents. Said they'll be picked up Saturday," Mimi informed the group.
"Sora just said that the kids can tell their classmates about what it was like to be a foreign exchange student," Yolei said. Matt, T.K., and Willis burst out laughing.
"Shh. Shh," Mimi silenced waving her hand frantically for them to be quiet. "I can't hear what's going on." Matt began to snigger as Mimi put her ear back on the door. Suddenly she said, "They're coming out, back to your seats!" The others rushed away from the door and started up random conversations to make it look like that's what they had been doing all along. Sora, Tai, and Davis waliked out of the office.
*******************
"So Miss Katherine, if you don't mind there are a few questions I'd like to ask you," Mr. Dane said. Kari nodded slowly.
"Okay. What were your past experiences with school like?" he asked.
"They were nice," Kari replied politely.
"Do you try hard?" he asked.
Kari nodded eagerly, "Oh yes, at everything. Especially situations involving my family and friends."
"Very well. What would you like to be as your after school activity?"
"Um, well, I'd like volleyball and track," Kari stammered.
"Finally, what are your grades?"
"They're all As and A-s," Kari said.
"That is all. Please go get your brother David," the principal requested. She stood and bowed her head, "Yes sir."
*******************
"Excuse me, Mr. Dane has asked me to deliver these to you. All of your children have been accepted to this school. There are some forms you need to fill out and these surveys need to filled out by your children," Kathy announced. They nodded slowly and accepted the clipboards and pens handed to them.
"First question," Kari said to T.K., "What class do you prefer as you first class? What are the choices?" she asked looking up.
"Japanese, English, PE, Math, Geography, Science, Home Economics or History," T.K. muttered.
"What do you think?"
"English, then PE, Math, Geography, Science, Home Economics, and finally Japanese," T.K. suggested.
"Yeah, but there's one more question," Kari said.
"What is it?" T.K. asked.
"In what conditions do you learn best?" Kari read aloud. Kari and T.K. eagerly scribbled down an answer and then offered to take them to Kathy. The younger kids handed over their clipboards. The older digidestined kept theirs and continued to fill out the papers on them.
*********************
Half an hour later they stepped outside. Yolei stretched and shielded her eyes. They began walking down the park.
"Remember guys, next week on Monday is when we're do to start," Sora reminded them. They all nodded.
"But where to now?" Yolei asked surveying the area.
"It's simple," Izzy said. There was a silence as the others waited for Izzy to finish. After a few minutes Tai spoke, "Well?"
They stopped in a park and dropped to the ground. Izzy sat up like the other older digidestined. "Like I said, it simple. We have to find jobs now. How else are we to support ourselves if we have no form of income?"
"But what about finding a place to live?" Davis and Ken asked at the same time.
Mimi answered, "Izzy said this earlier in the morning. We can always stay in another hotel if it comes to that but before we can buy or much less pay for an apartment or any other place of living we need some form of income to support 13 people."
"Okay then, I guess we should spilt up into pairs," Tai said laying on the ground. "Kari and T.K., me and Matt, Sora and Mimi, Izzy and Joe, Davis, Willis, and Cody, finally Ken and Yolei. Is that okay with everyone?"
"Yeah."
"Uh-huh."
"Sure."
"No prob."
Tai stood up. "Then let's go."
"Let's meet back at this exact spot okay? In three hours!" Sora yelled to everyone as they spilt to go in different directions.
"Okay!" came the reply from the others. Sora nodded and willing followed after Mimi.
********************
Kari yawned, "This is so boring. All this time and not one help wanted sign has been found. How much time do we have left?"
"Thirty minutes," T.K. replied looking at his watch. "I honestly can't believe how few vacancies there are today. Honestly, how many offices can you pass by and not find a sign? Seriously!" T.K. opened his eyes. A white sign that in red block letters declared: HELP WANTED. "There!" he exclaimed pointing.
Kari opened her eyes as well. "Yes! There really is a sign. Let's hurry before someone else gets it!" The two sprinted down the street and into the towering office building to which the sign belonged.
"May I help you?" a middle-aged woman inquired looking over her desk.
"Yes," Kari gasped. "We're here to ask about the help wanted sign in the window."
"Oh? How old are you?" the receptionist asked.
"We're both 15," Kari answered lowering her head.
"I see," the receptionist replied. She began typing rapidly on her computer. "I see," she repeated. "Very well then." She stood and pinned One-Day Pass buttons on their shirts. "You'll want to go up the stairs and stand in the foyer. Someone will greet you there."
Kari bowed her head again, "Thank you. Thank you very much." She and T.K. crossed behind the counter and proceeded up the stairs.
The receptionist picked up the phone and pressed: *5274.
"Hello?" a feminine voice answered.
"This is Stacey. Two fifteen year olds are on their way up to ask for a job. Would you be kind enough to send someone down to the second floor foyer to greet and interview them?"
"Yes, thank you for informing me. I'll go right away," came the response before the woman hung up.
******************
"Are you the two looking for a job?" a woman with flaming red hair asked.
"Um, yes," Kari said. "If you don't mind, may I ask who you are?"
"Why of course! I am Phoebe the boss's secretary. It is a pleasure to meet you two," the woman exclaimed. "Do follow me." She lead them to an elevator. After pressing the button for the top floor she turned to them, "And who are you two bright young children?"
"Oh! Please forgive my manners," Kari said politely, "My name is Kay and I am 15 years old and in my first year of high school."
Phoebe nodded, "And you?" she turned to T.K.
"I am Tee and I'm also 15 and in my first year of high school," T.K. said.
"Excellent!" The elevator doors opened and the two teens followed her down the hall and into a conference room. "Please do have a seat," Phoebe said walking to a file cabinet. She pulled out two sets of papers and a pen before coming over and sitting across from the two. "If you don't mind, I'd like to interview you. I have 26 questions." The two nodded. Phoebe spoke again, "Thank you. Here is the first one. Are you a hard worker?"
"Yes, I think I am," the two said in unison.
"What are you hobbies?"
"Well, I like hanging with my friends and family," Kari smiled.
"And I like those as well as basketball," T.K. agreed grinning.
"Such youthful smiles, sincerity, and energy," Phoebe muttered before asking the next question, "What do you think you can do for this place?"
"Um well, we can run errands, move stuff, copy papers, and other stuff like that," the two replied together.
"Amazing," Phoebe whispered. T.K. and Kari looked at her puzzled. "Anyway! When can you work?"
"Um, every day from 6 to 10 pm," Kari said.
"Including weekends," T.K. added.
"Where do you go to school?"
"Well, we're in the process of transferring from being homeschooled to Sakura High," T.K. revealed.
"I see," Phoebe said writing down his answer. "What are your grades?"
"As," they both replied shortly.
"Why do you want to work here?"
"We want to prepare ourselves for life in the real world," they agreed.
"What are your real names?"
"I am Katherine Yagami. But please call me Kay," Kari answered.
"And I am T.K. Ishida. Call me Tee though," T.K. told her.
"Would your parents approve of you working here?"
"Yes, they wanted us to find a job," came the reply.
"Now, Tee could I ask you to please leave the room for a few minutes?"
"Uh, yes," T.K. said uncertainly casting a worried glance at Kari as he left.
"So, Kay, how would you describe yourself?"
"Well, I think that I'm nice quiet, submissive, pretty, kind of shy around new people, hardworker, determined, decisive, friendly, smart, and a fast learner," Kari replied blushing.
"You like him don't you?"
"What? I, uh…"
"You can't hide it from me. You should tell him. I can tell her likes you back," Phoebe shrugged. Her eyes began to sparkle, "Ahh young love. It's so refreshingly sweet. Well, would you be kind enough to go out into the hall and send in the young man?"
"Um, yes," Kari said getting up and leaving the room. A moment later T.K. entered.
"Okay, now the question your friend Kay was asked was how do you view yourself?"
"I think I'm nice, funny, athletic, brave, friendly, determined, decisive, caring, fast learner, and thoughtful," T.K. shrugged.
"Excellent," Phoebe commented as she wrote this down. "KAY! You can come in!" Kari entered and returned to her seat.
"Okay, the next question is, what do you think about your friends?"
"Well," Kari began slowly. "I think Tee is cool, kind, caring, funny, friendly brave and cute. Plus, he always hopes for the best. His older brother Alex is nice, friendly, cool, caring, and outgoing. My older brother Tom is courageous, strong, and a hard worker. His girlfriend Sarah is motherly, athletic, beautiful, kind, caring, smart, a hard worker, and loving."
T.K. picked up, "Gigi is pretty, kind, sincere, and thoughtful. Bryce is smart curious, interesting, and knowledgeable. John is reliable, smart, kind, and logical. Rachel is nice, boy-crazy, and smart. Kevin is a genius, kind, thoughtful, and cool. Calvin is reliable, smart, quiet, serious, and logical. David is friendly, outgoing, head strong, stubborn, courageous, hopeful, kind, and caring."
Kari interrupted, "Will is cute, nice, kind, smart, friendly, and cool."
T.K. jumped back in, "And Kay is caring, pretty, nice, quiet, kind, smart, friendly, cool, determined, decisive, a fast learner and deep. Plus, her smile just lights up the world around her." Kari blushed.
Phoebe smiled and shook her head slowly and knowingly from side to side. "Moving on, are these people a good or a bad influence on you?"
"Good. They're a very good influence on us," Kari replied.
"Do they want you to make your own money?"
"Yes," T.K. answered nodding.
"Who are your parents?"
"Mine are Sally and Tim Yagami," Kari said slowly after a slight hesitation.
"And my dad is Mark. I don't know my mom. My parents divorced when I was really young," T.K. shrugged.
"I'm sorry," Phoebe said quietly.
"Don't worry about it. I've had plenty of fun with him and my bro. If it was up to me, I wouldn't want to change a thing," T.K. grinned. Of course, if it was his real family, there were plenty of things he would have liked to change. First being the divorce of his real parents.
"Well then what do they do?"
"My dad is a magazine writer and my mom is a stay at home mother," Kari lied.
"Same here. My dad works at the same magazine as her dad. They're really good friends," T.K. smiled.
"And how old are you?"
"We're both 15 years old," T.K. responded.
"When is your birthday?"
"I was born on April 9th," Kari answered.
"And I was born on May 31st," T.K. smiled.
"What is your eye color?"
Kari spoke, "Red."
"Blue," T.K. said immediately after her.
"Hair color?"
"Brown," Kari answered,
"Blonde," T.K. sighed.
"Height?"
"I'm 5' 6"," Kari said.
"And I'm 5'8"," T.K. yawned.
"Weight?"
"121 pounds," T.K. interrupted.
"115 pounds," Kari shrugged.
"How old is your father?"
"37," they both replied in unison.
"And your mother?
"36," Kari announced.
"And what will you do with the money you earn?"
"Use it to buy things that we want," the two replied.
"What's your phone number?"
They both froze. Kari began to laugh nervously, "Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. You know what; we just realized that we forgot it."
"Okay," Phoebe said quizzically. "How about your address?"
"We forgot that too," Kari admitted.
"But you see, we just moved her a few days ago. We're trying to remember them, honestly. But, if you hire us we'll let you know tomorrow."
Phoebe nodded. "I'll be right back. Don't move from this room please." She stood and left. 10 minutes later she reentered. "You're hired! Just don't forget to bring your phone number and address with you tomorrow. Report here at 5:30pm tomorrow afternoon."
They nodded, "Thank you very much." They left the building.
"We are so late!" Kari exclaimed.
"I know. But at least we have a job," T.K. grinned.
"Yep!" Kari agreed. The two dashed off down the street towards the park.
*****************
"Please, please, please let us have the job. We'll work very hard. I promise," Tai begged.
"And what could you write about?" a man asked dubiously.
"We'll write about the school scene. And we'll do reviews on movies, books, and CDs!" Matt exclaimed.
"Yeah! So please, please, please," Tai agreed.
"Fine! Just get outta here. And report for work at 4 tomorrow," he advised.
"Yes sir! Thanks!" they dashed out of the building towards the meeting spot.
******************
"You're hired."
"You're hired." Sora and Mimi emerged from the super center where they had just found work.
"Mimi I still think you would be better for fashion," Sora said.
"Oh no Sora, you'll do just fine!" Mimi exclaimed.
"Thanks Mimi," Sora smiled.
"No problem!" Mimi smiled back. "After all, it's true!"
******************
"Oh, you two are smart. I think you'd really like working for this medical journal. Plus the pay is good. So what do you say?"
"Fine I guess. What do you think Joe?" Izzy asked.
"Okay," Joe sighed.
"Excellent. You'll do the research," the man said pointing at Izzy, "And you'll do the writing," he finished pointing at Joe.
*******************
"I love working at noodle shops!" Davis exclaimed as he entered.
"Then you're hired!"
"Really?"
*******************
"Hmmm, a law firm. I guess," Cody thought as he entered. "Hello? I was wondering if you needed someone to run errands for your firm?"
"Why actually, we do. And is you'd like the job, it's yours."
"Thank you."
*******************
"Do have any experience with computers?"
"You bet!" Willis exclaimed. "I know tons!"
"You look like a smart boy. I'll assign you to computer troubleshooting."
"Thank you so much," Willis acknowledged.
*******************
"Do you like books?"
"Yeah!" Ken said enthusiastically.
"Um yeah, I guess," Yolei groaned.
"Then, if you like and know your books, then your hired!"
"Yes!" Ken exclaimed. Finally a job.
"Woohoo," Yolei said sarcastically. Great, a job at a bookstore. Of all the places in the world to work I get to work at a bookstore. But I guess if it makes Ken happy.
*******************
"Sorry we're late!" T.K. exclaimed as he and Kari jogged up to the rest. "We got a job running errands for big shot executives."
"We're working at a magazine," Tai informed the others.
"I'm working in the fashion department of a superstore," Sora admitted.
"And I'm working in the food section," Mimi replied.
"We got roped into working for a medical journal," Joe sighed.
"I'm working at a restaurant the serves noodles," Davis exclaimed.
"I'm running errands for those in the law firm next to the place where Davis works," Cody said seriously.
"And I'm working at the computer store right next to the law firm," Willis yawned.
"Yolei and I are working at a bookstore!" Ken said. Kari smiled at her lilac hair colored friend.
"Hey, I'm starving," Matt commented.
"Me too, let's eat," Tai replied.
"Yeah!" the others agreed.
********************
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"What's that?" Sora asked.
The ground shook beneath the group as the sound got louder. "I don't know," Yolei said.
Suddenly, "Target Identified."
"Sentinels!" Kari yelled. "Move!" She dived into Yolei, Tai and Sora knocking them to the ground. T.K. grabbed Matt, Davis, and Cody. And Ken getting Mimi, Izzy, and Joe. Willis stood in the middle and attempted to activate his powers. Nothing happened.
"Willis!" Kari exclaimed.
"It's not working! My powers, they're not working!" Willis replied.
"Watch out!" Matt yelled. He glowed blue. Ice shot up to protect Willis from the oncoming tendrils.
"Thanks Matt," Willis acknowledged.
"Sure, just be more careful," Matt nodded. He formed an ice sword and cut up the tendrils and following them back to the lead sentinel. Three others were behind him. Matt used his newly found ice powers to blast off one's head. Stab through another one, and slice on completely down the middle. After they were destroyed, Matt fell to the ground unconscious.
"Matt!" Tai exclaimed.
"Don't worry," Ken assured him. "It's normal. He just tired himself out by using his powers." Tai nodded slowly.
******************
"Can we pay for this apartment with a credit card?" Mimi asked.
"Just once," the apartment owner answered.
"Please remember we only want a five month lease," Izzy reminded him.
"Then I'd like to pay with a credit card," Mimi said.
"Then please follow me," he replied. Mimi left with him.
"Hello there." They turned around and saw a woman standing in the hall. "I was wondering if you needed a couch or TV. We've only had it for one month but my husband wanted a new one and I was wondering if you wanted them."
"Oh yes. We would. Thank you very much," Sora said gratefully. They moved the couch and TV into the apartment.
"Well, I guess we should go get some food and cheap furniture," Yolei yawned.
*******************
"Thank goods for Mimi's seven credit cards," Yolei replied looking around the room. Sora had begun to put away the newly bought pots, pans, and food. She sent Ken to the bath rooms to put in toothpaste, toothbrushes and soap. Tai and Davis were bringing in blankets and comforters. T.K., Kari, and Willis all hauled in three stools that needed to me assembled. Izzy and Joe brought in a table, while Mimi brought in all the cleaning supplies and rugs. Tai went out with Davis to retrieve the other stools.
"Goodness," Kari stretched after she had leaned her stools on the wall. The living room was pretty. Around the door was and elevated area surrounded by a white banister. Stairs led down into the living room which connected to the kitchen. There were 3 stairs that went up and into a different hallway leading to the 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
"This apartment is so nice and pretty," Mimi said. "I love the soft yet lively and bright color scheme they have." She wondered off into the back and was soon followed by Izzy, Willis, Davis, Joe, and Yolei until only Kari , T.K., and Tai remained in the living room. Matt was lying unconscious on the couch.
Kari walked over towards the kitchen when suddenly the dark T.K. appeared in between them and her. Tai began to glow red and shot fire at him, but the dark T.K. simply moved out of the way. He blocked their sight of her. Kari gasped as the sword he had brought with him penetrated her skin and stabbed right through her stomach. She bent over part way her hands were shaking a few inches from the offending sword and her fingers were slightly bent.
Her eyes glazed over and the sparkle in her eyes disappeared. Blood was staining her clothes as he skin and face paled. Kari gasped, "Uh…uh…uh…" She fell backwards pushing the sword up and a little ways back through her. Blood poured from her onto the wood floor forming a pool. Sora who saw the whole thing looked on in horror. The dark T.K. turned and ran out of the room. Sora chased after him leaving the front door wide open.
"Stop!" Suddenly she began to glow sky blue and suddenly it began to rain on him. Lightening attempted to strike him. He teleported and she collapsed to the ground.
******************
Finally able to see, T.K. and Tai took in the scene in shock.
"NO!" T.K. screamed.
"NO!" Tai yelled at the same time.
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I'm so evil! Another cliffhanger! *laughs evilly* The faster you review the faster I'll get up the next chapter. And this time I promise to. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. See ya later! Don't forget to review!
ebacusta *~.^*
P.S. Sorry if the last part of the chapter sounds a little rushed. 2