Am I Dreaming?
(…I dunno, are you?)
…Chapter 10
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To all of my AWESOME readers and reviewers:
Vigatus
MY girl
Sapphire Dragoness
Tristar
Crazy With Happiness
LittleFirefly44
Matt
One Hit Wonder
Martiny
Rubberman2025
Beth
MeLaNY8
THANK you so much! From the bottom of my heart! I am so excited and honored by your reviews. You were the reminders that kept me going.
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Actually I don't really believe in all that psyche stuff. But it is very fun to write about, isn't it?
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Disclaimer: I do not own digimon, or time travel.
Focus: Taichi Kamiya, age: 16
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Tai walked into Izzy's room, clenching his hands into fists. He was trying to remain calm about this entire situation, but it really wasn't working. He was stressed, upset, freaked out, and angry. And all of that emotional turmoil added together was more than he could handle. Why couldn't things just be simple like they used to be when he was a kid?
Izzy sat up when the group entered the room. "You guys are here?" he asked tiredly, still looking gaunt and pale, but a whole lot better. He wore a very worried expression, however. "What are you doing here? You should be at the digital world!"
"We came here first," Davis stated proudly, probably unaware that he was both stating the obvious, and repeating what Izzy just said.
"Yeah, but why?" Izzy scowled.
Tai rolled his eyes and decided to be the one to answer. "We wanted to make sure you were alright, and then discuss plans. You seem to know the most about this digimon, and despite the fact that Ken is intelligent enough to figure stuff out on his own, he wanted to come here and ask you questions. So…here we are." He spread his hands out to the sides, indicating the group, and shrugged. "Now to decide who's going and where."
Izzy gave a little "ah", half-heartedly, and laid back down on the bed. "Just what I need," he grumbled. "All my friends seeing me in a hospital gown."
Davis laughed out loud and patted Izzy's shoulder. "That's the spirit," he teased. "So tell us what you think!"
"Personally?" Izzy glared at the little squirt, "I think you should go check on Mimi. She tried to attack the digimon who was attacking me and Kari, and now she's lying on a hospital bed too. My Mom is with her…"
"What?" Matt exclaimed. "What's this about a digimon attacking?"
Izzy sighed and closed his eyes. "Didn't you wonder what was killing Kari and me? It was an invisible digimon, attacking us. Mimi saw it, and started attacking it with her hands. It left Kari and me alone, and then turned on her. But, according to Mimi, she scared it off. I still think she's in bad shape…it attacked her a lot harder."
"Makes sense," Ken commented dryly. "She was the more serious threat."
"Exactly." Izzy sighed. "Tai, I think you can figure out who to send. Just ask Ken to see if he can track down where the trouble is, and transport yourselves nearby. At least do something!"
"Send a scout," TK agreed. "Davis and I can go. We'll get a hold of our digimon, and then let you guys know where to meet us."
"Sounds good," Tai shrugged. He glanced at Ken. "Can you do that?"
Ken glanced at Izzy, and getting no response, nodded and got to work on Izzy's laptop.
That left Tai feeling anxious again. There had to be something more he could do! After all, he couldn't help feeling like all of this was his fault. He was the only one who knew that they had been caught in a time loop—well, he and Kari. But now he just felt useless. It was frustrating!
"Don't beat yourself up, Tai," Izzy said from his bed. He met Tai's frustrated look calmly. "You worked very hard to get me to figure out what was happening, and if not for that, we'd never know this attack was happening in the first place. You should feel proud, not upset."
"Proud?" Tai blurted. He ignored everyone's looks as they turned and pinned them on him. "You, Mimi, and Kari nearly died. Why should that make me proud?"
"Can you snap out of it, please?" Matt groaned. "Seriously, why do you always do this? It's not all about you, okay? Just deal with the situation at hand as best you can, and don't stop to beat yourself up about things you can't change!"
Blinking, Tai tried to focus on Matt's words. He was right…this wasn't helping. Funny how Matt always took him by surprise with his straight down logic. "You're right," he droned, and tried to follow his advice. It was much easier said than done, and still, he could only focus on his frustrations.
Ken raised a fist in the air in quiet excitement, and looked up. "Got it," he said quietly. He could be so mellow sometimes…the complete opposite from the Digimon Emperor he used to be.
"Got what?" Matt demanded.
"I've located three of the digidestined, and opened a portal so that we can go to them. I think it's best to split up into six groups so we can reach all of them. They're dying, remember? And there's six of them."
"Have you contacted our digimon?" Izzy asked. "We can't fight without them."
"A good point," Matt agreed.
Ken nodded. "Yes, they're all okay, and they're waiting for us. They haven't been fighting because they've been waiting for us, and they can't digivolve without us." He shrugged. "Split us up, Tai, and send us out."
Tai sucked in a breath of air, and made a quick headcount. Ken, Matt, Davis, TK, Yolei, Cody, Sora, Joe, and himself. Izzy, Mimi, and Kari were unable to go. How would he split them up? He himself was reluctant to go, and figured it would be best for him to wait until the other three digidestined were found. He might as well send out three teams now.
"Davis, you and Ken can go on the first team," he said slowly, then held up his hand at Ken's open mouth. "Don't protest. Izzy seems stable now, and we need everyone we've got."
Ken chewed his lower lip in frustration, but nodded. He handed Izzy the computer and looked sidelong at Davis. "I guess we'll go for the first one."
Davis nodded.
"Yolei and Cody, you two can get the second one," Tai continued. The two stood next to each other and nodded. "Sora, you and Joe can find the third one. Once you find them all," he said, addressing everyone, "try to meet back together at a safehouse or something. The rest of us will go as soon as Izzy find the last three. Got it?"
"Got it," nearly everyone replied in unison. They held out their digivices and Izzy typed in the code, and vanished from sight in a flash of light.
Tai let out a sigh of relief and turned to the two brothers. "TK, You and Matt will go next," he said. "Then we'll remake the teams to find the others. I'll join you as soon as I can."
"Why? Where are you going?" Matt demanded.
"I need to talk to Kari," Tai frowned. "It's important. I'll join you when I can, okay? Izzy will keep us all informed."
Izzy smiled weakly. "Yup!" he said, trying to look cheerful. "I'll call your mom, Tai, and she can come and bother the nurses so they cant take my computer away."
Tai chuckled, picturing his mother doing just that. "She'd love it," he agreed. Then stepped toward the door. "Head out as soon as you find the next one," he called back, and then went straight to Kari's room.
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Kari looked awfully small and weak, lying silently still upon the hospital bed. She was covered in blankets like she couldn't keep warm, and a cool cloth was placed over her eyes. Tai crept in as quietly as he could, stealing into a chair beside her, and felt a pang of guilt in his guts. Why hadn't he paid closer attention to her? He should have known that she was far more than just sick. What if she had died?
A faint smile flickered across her mouth. "I wouldn't have died, Tai," she whispered. "I'm too stubborn for that."
Tai started in surprise, but then got over it and placed his large warm hand over her small, chill one. "Keep on being stubborn," he said quietly. "I can't afford to lose you."
Kari lifted part of the cloth away from one eye with her free hand, staring at him through a glassy, tired expression. "Trust me, I wont," she said. "I've seen the day I die and it's not until I'm much older."
Tai stiffened at her words, thinking back on what Matt said earlier. Could it be true?
Dropping her hand, Kari chuckled. "Yes," she said. "It is." After a pause, she placed her cold hand over his, making a sandwich between both hands. "Does that make me a freak in your eyes? That I've got psychic powers?" Another chuckle escaped her lips.
"You've always been freaky," Tai teased, but he felt cold inside. After a long moment of drawn out silence, he sighed. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"You wouldn't have believed me," she replied simply.
It hurt him to realize that it was true. He wouldn't have. "Sorry," he shrugged. Then he frowned. "Wait…Kari…do I…? Have I got it too?"
"I don't know. Do you?"
Thinking back on the chill words inside his head from the digimon Lucemon, Tai shivered. "I think so…a little bit at least. But not like you. I can't read what's in people's heads."
"Maybe you've just never tried."
That too, made him feel weird. He hadn't tried. But he would have if he'd thought he was able to. Sighing, he rubbed his eyes with his other hand. "Kari, what are we going to do?"
"What we always do. We're going to save the digital world. Do you doubt it?"
You should, came the taunting, sneering voice of the evil digimon. This time I know what to expect, and exactly how to fight it. Your stupid little friends are falling into my trap.
Kari's eyes flew open, her body shuddering. The monitor that displayed her heart rate began to go wild, her breathing coming in gasps, and Tai struggled to calm her down. After the first initial moment, she seemed to find control, collapsing weakly back into the bed with a faint cry.
Tai clasped her hand in his, tightly. "You hear him too?" he whispered.
Kari nodded, throwing her cool cloth aside and looking straight at him. "I could only hear him through your head, not in my own. It was…horrible…" she shuddered again. "How can you bear it? Hearing his voice in your mind like claws down a chalkboard…"
"Calm down," Tai instructed, glancing at the monitor. "It's okay. He can't do anything to me, just talk to me."
"And hear everything we say!" Kari blurted. "Everything! He knows it all! Tai… you can't let him do this!"
"CALM," Tai ordered, exasperated. "I wont let him, ok? I promise. We'll figure something else out. We'll just not speak, if that's what we have to do."
As if that would help you.
Both siblings shivered.
"I fear it may already be too late…to stop disaster from happening," Kari whimpered. "He'll win this round for sure."
"Kari…." Tai argued. "He wont! I wont let him!"
"He will!" Kari wailed, her eyes wide. But then she smiled, shaking her head very slowly in a definite "no". "He knows what to expect."
Finally, someone gets the idea, Lucemon's voice chuckled.
And Tai smiled grimly. He was catching on. Lucemon could hear what was in his mind, but he could not see through his eyes. They had a way of tricking him. Make false plans and say them out loud, then change them through writing to each other on their digivices.
Kari was right. They could defeat him.
Smiling, Tai nodded. "I can't just give up," he said aloud. "Even if he can hear us, he can't defeat us. We'll never stop fighting."
"Be careful," Kari whispered, eyes wide with fright she barely contained. "He could kill you."
"I'll be careful," Tai insisted. He stood and walked toward the door. "I just have to stop by and check on Mimi and Izzy, then I'll be back. I wont leave you, Kari. I can't."
"Tai…" Kari pleaded. "They need you…"
"Not as much as you need me right now," he insisted, winking. "I wont leave you. I can't."
Then he turned and marched out, determination in his steps. He would defeat Lucemon… if it was the last thing he did!
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Sorry it's short, but hey, it's an update! Thanks for your patience. I'll update more soon!
Rika195