Chapter 36

Mimi POV

Okay, I'm happy that I could get Izzy away from his computer but do I want to flirt with Izzy or do I want to try and act normal with him. I don't think it the time for flirting, we must save the digital world from the demon lords first before I should make a move on Izzy. The I remember what happen with Sora and Tai, Tai took too long to tell Sora and he miss his chance. I don't want to miss my chance with Izzy, I try and think if Izzy mention liking any girls but I come up on a blank. I then feel someone grab my arm and pull me backwards and then I see a bus flying past me millimeter from my face. I then hear Izzy shout "Mimi you have to look where you're going!" I then turn around to see that Izzy has a worry face as he was shouting and then he sighs before he continues "Mimi, what is bothering you? You been very quiet this whole walk here, that is very atypical of you."

I gulp when Izzy tells me that, I don't know what to say "I, err nothing is bothering me Izzy! I promise I would tell you if something was the matter." I wave my hand in front of my face, as I lied to Izzy I feel horrible and like a hypocrite. I always tell people that they should speak their mind, I see the grocery store across the street and I check both ways before I cross the street this time when I grab Izzy arm and say "Come Izzy! The Grocery Store is right across from us."

Once we across the street Izzy say "Well Mimi if that what you want to tell me, that fine I guess I won't push this any farer." Izzy then sighs and was the first one to walk into the Grocery Store. Crap I need to fix this, I don't want lose my chance to date him before I can even ask him out.

"Izzy! Wait up please!" I shout after him as I enter the Grocery Store. Izzy is there waiting inside with a basket to carry all the food we're planning on getting. Izzy, I think look relieved that I shout after him. I guess I could tell part of the reason of why I wasn't talking on the walk here. "Izzy, your right something was bothering me before… I just hate how these Demon lords show up and causing trouble right now, it messing up everything… I just thought that everyone was thinking the same thing and it didn't need to be said… I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." I hope he buys that, since if he doesn't then I guess I should tell him how I feel about him.

I look over Izzy and I see him smiling and shaking his head. Is that a good thing? "Mimi, your right I think everyone is thinking that but if it was bothering you that much you should have told me or someone else. I would of gladly of help you, how ever I can." I smile and I can feel my checks going red, no stop that checks I don't need Izzy catching on that I like him before I tell him myself. Izzy quickly changes the subject and says "So Mimi, what are we getting for food the group then? You're the chief here so I bet you will know the best stuff to buy for everyone!" Izzy flashes me a very caring smile when he finished saying that.

My checks feel like there burning up, I know one thing is for sure! I'm buying the ingredients need for the omelet that I made Izzy. He really enjoyed that omelet, so it makes sense that I should have more ingredients on hand to make more of it. Other than that, we basic need some protein that will last everyone and lots of veggies. "Well we need to pick up protein and some veggies! We got to have a balance diet here!" Izzy just nods his head at me as I start to pick of veggies, I think I might make stew that should last a while. "Hey Izzy what is your favorite meal? Maybe I can try making it for you, if you want?" I just blurt that out by accident, I was just thinking that and my mouth said it.

I look over to Izzy and he looks surprise that I ask him that. Izzy laughs and then says "Well I really don't have favorite meal to be honest, I'll eat anything to be honest. I'm sure you hear the story how I eat Tai's mother cooking once and I enjoy it before it almost killed us when my stomach reject it, I'm just glad I got the computer working after Tai broke it. If I must give you a concrete answer then I would go with French cooking style, I haven't eaten any French cuisine that I haven't enjoy."

I smile at Izzy and reply back to him with "Well I don't know that many French recipes, but I think that something I going to have to learn now." I wink at Izzy and then turn around to pick out the meat I going to get. I see that beef strips are on sale, plus they will go good in a stew. I pick up about ten packages of it and put it in the basket that Izzy is holding. As I turn around I see Izzy is blushing from my comment and he looks cute when he bushes.

Izzy then says "Well Mimi, you don't have to do that for me. Honestly, I sure I will enjoy anything you make…" Izzy trails off and I laugh at him acting all flustered, I never seen Izzy act like this before. Maybe there a chance for me as well.

"Don't worry Izzy I want to learn about French cuisine, I haven't try making anything like that before so it might improve my cooking." I might be saying this because it true but the real reason is I want to impress Izzy as best that I can. I'm having a good time hangout with Izzy, I wish that these stupid demon lords didn't have to show up. That way I can hang out with Izzy more with the worry that digital world is in danger, plus I could do something fun instead of going to pick up food with him.

After I gotten the veggies that I need and hand them over to Izzy. Izzy looks at me and says "So Mimi is this everything then?" I turn to him and nod at him with a smile. He grins and says "Good this basket is starting to get heavy so let's go pay for this and then head back to the others. I need to start to working on finding the rest of the temples." I sigh when I hear this, I know this isn't exactly the most fun thing in the world but Izzy need a rest plus why does it always has to be Izzy who figures everything out for us.

"Izzy why don't you take a break until tomorrow morning… I mean you were barely able to stay awake when you were trying to get us in the digital world when we thought the younger kids were in trouble. I know we pump you full of coffee to stay awake but this can't be healthy for you, so why don't you rest your big brain of yours for one night." As I saying this I was giving Izzy my puppy dog eyes, I really worry about him, he pushing himself to hard and too fast.

Izzy sighs and then says to me "Well Mimi, to be honest I think your right about needing a break… but I don't think I can allow myself to take one. We going up against an enemy we don't really even know that well, I mean sure we can assume something about what they want to do… that the problem I don't know what the end game is for them. I need to find out everything I can so we can beat them, they already beaten us four out of the five time we face them. Plus, they even manage to turn WarGreymon into an Egg, they plan that for who knows how long. So, their using tactics and have stronger fighter than we do… I want to level the playing field the best I can so we don't lose anyone." I sigh when I hear this, I know he right on some level.

"Izzy what you said is right but do you think that you be able to do all that when you're so tired you're not functioning correctly. I not saying take a week off, I'm saying one night so your brain has a chance to rest and come back at the problem at hundred percent." I hope this get through to Izzy, I'm really worry that he going to work himself to the bone or worse.

Izzy sighs and then shakes his head "I promise I won't pull all-nighter or anything but I do want to try some ideas for locating the temples before I go to sleep tonight. I won't be able to sleep if I don't try some of the ideas, we need this so we can be prepared for the upcoming fights…" I give him a dirty look to say that I disapprove as I getting out the cash to pay for the food.

As we leave the Grocery Store I say one thing to Izzy as we walk back "Well I staying up with you then to make sure you get some sleep tonight!" I will make sure he doesn't work himself to exhaustion. Izzy was about to say something but I wasn't having any of it. I just look at Izzy and say "If you don't want me to do that. Then go take a break and go sleep at a reasonable time then!" Izzy looks defeated, I don't know if this will make him sleep tonight but I can hope. I know that at 12:00am I'm taking his computer away if he likes it or not.

Kari POV

I look across the room at Sora as she and Tai are talking about something on the couch. I feel bad about how I treated her, I want to apologize to her but I not sure how to handle it. TK was right, none of this was Sora fault about what happen with Tai. Lilithmon play everyone into thinking she was a real double of Sora, I even thought that she was real and was happy for Tai. I mean she could of ask Tai out instead of getting Matt to find out… but as TK point out we both in a similar position yet we didn't do that. I was afraid to lose TK as my best friend and we only become close after the digital world. So how do I apologize to Sora without being a completely jerk to her? I feel a hand resting on my shoulder and I turn around and see TK, he smiling at me. I ask him "TK, what do you want?"

TK smiles and lends over to whisper in my ear "Don't worry about what you're going to say Kari, I'm sure it will happen naturally. Just go over to her and ask to talk in private with her, you can do this Kari. I believe in you; the easy way is just to ask for forgiveness and example yourself." TK throws me a smile and I'm sort of shocked that TK knew I was worry about talking to Sora. I look around the room to see if I was being that obvious with my attention. I then hear TK say "Don't worry about that I don't think anyone else noticed, through if you give Davis some more time he might." My checks go red not because of TK mentioning Davis but how sweet TK is being to me right now.

I look behind me to look at TK and whisper back to him "Thank you TK." I get up off the couch and head over to Sora. He right, thinking about how I'm going to approach this isn't going to help me. I probably won't even think of the best way to do this, even if I do I probably won't act on it.

As I was approaching the couch with Sora and Tai on it, Tai notices me heading over to the couch and he says in a lower voice "Hey Kari, is everything okay? You were acting really weird in the kitchen this morning… I was wondering if you want to talk about it?" I smile at Tai as he was saying this as he always has my best intertest at heart. As Tai was talking to me, I see Sora is not sure what to make of me... I don't blame her I wasn't being exactly kind to her and my words to her was were very harsh.

I gulp and then look at Tai "No I think I'm okay Tai I don't need to talk you…" I pause then look at Sora as I continue "I would like to talk with Sora in private in my room. If that okay with you Sora?" Sora doesn't really look like she knows what to make of my request. I guess she must be wondering if I'm going to yell at her and blame her some more. Tai look a bit shocked that I want to talk to Sora but he quickly gets over it as I bet he happy that I'm willing to talk to someone.

Sora sighs and then gets up off the couch and says "Sure Kari we can talk in room if you like." She leaves it at that as she begins to walk towards my bedroom. As I follow a short distance behind, I hope I can start to mend my relationship with Sora. I gulp I hope I haven't cause a permanent damage to our relationship, I always saw Sora as the closes thing I would get for a sister while growing up.

As we enter my room I see Sora has taken a seat at my computer desk, I swing around and close the door and lock it so I don't have anyone barging in unannounced. I might be ready to apologize to Sora and Yolei for how I acted, the other can't be trusted yet and I don't really want to stir up that beehive if possible. Right now, I don't know if can trust them or not and I know I don't want to make thing worse for myself in future if I have to apologize to them as well. I sigh and then turn to Sora and she currently has her eyebrow raise at me waiting for me to say something. I might as well start off simply "Sora I'm sorry for everything."

As I was saying this I studying Sora face to try and read her reaction. She seen a little surprise that I was saying sorry to her and then her face goes blanket for a while before she said "You sorry?" she now looks confused about what happening to her right now.

I sigh and then say "Yes Sora, I'm sorry about the way I treated you when you were trying to get into Tai room to help him with his depression… I said some harsh words that at the time I believe were true… but now I see I was wrong to say what I said, plus I should have let you in to go see Tai as well."

Well Sora changes her faces from being confuse to her blank face again as she thinking about what I said to her. Sora eyes narrow at me and then she say "So you blame me for causing Tai depression as much as Matt, and now you change your mind about that?" I gulp, Sora looks like she going to take my head off, I only nod in respond. Sora sighs and then says "Well to be honest… You mostly like right about that… I didn't exactly handle anything to do with Tai very well, most definitely when Lilithmon show up two week ago. I was sort of freaking out at him almost every other day plus your right I didn't even bother to find out what happen I assume the worse…" I see Sora head now looking down in her lap and she starting to cry now as I see tear falling and hitting her jeans. "I feel like crap for the way I treated him and I want to make it up to him…"

I gulp is this the sort of effect that I'm having on people? "Sora, I sorry I made you feel this way… TK was the one who point this out to me… Maybe Lilithmon plan was to make you freak out and blow up at Tai, I mean she can read minds, right? So, she would know how to act make you blow up at Tai so he was pushed away from you and towards her… maybe she knew you were in the park when you were listening to Tai and her date, she would know exactly what she need to say to push you over the edge." Sora is now looking up at me and I continue "I even thought she was your double and I didn't really give her much thought because she was making Tai happy. Sora, I didn't even know about my own brother depression until I saw you wearing that red jacket on the first day back to school. By the time, I figure out that Tai should be depressed and was looking for it and all I saw was Tai being happy with your double… I should of saw the signs early then I did…"

I look over to Sora and I see tears are still rolling down her checks but a lot slower than before. She doesn't bother to wipe them away as she speaking to me "So what if she manipulated me for the two weeks when she was here… that doesn't example why I treated Tai like shit before that. I mean he was always coming out to support me, and I barely made time for him. I took him for granted, I mean if I look at it all I would have been able to see Tai did more stuff for me than Matt ever did when we're dating. I know I love him and want to make things better as we move forward but I still feel horrible to a degree with how I treat him in past… I don't want Tai to be wrap around my fingers, I was basically manipulating his feeling for me without even knowing it."

"Sora, you were most driven to get back Agumon Egg, plus you were the only one who was able to snap Tai out of his depression after we got back from his battle with Beelzebumon. Sora I been looking at Tai and I must say while he looks like something is bothering him at times, when he around you he seen generally happy. Sora before you dated Matt, I always hope that you and Tai would become a couple… Also, if your worry about manipulating Tai or anything don't be, we both know Tai the longest and when has he ever done something that he didn't want to do… other than when he eats my mother cooking." I try and add that joke in to lighten the mood. I didn't realize that I hurt Sora as much as I did with my words, I sigh and think why did I do this. That because so far Lilithmon was right about Joe and Matt, you must keep your guard up to keep both you and Tai from being hurt. NO I need to stop thinking like that, not everyone here is going to hurt us like that. Yes, while that is true not everyone is going to hurt you like that but someone will so why bother taking that chance.

I was broken from my chain of thought when I hear Sora speaking "I know your right, and I will stand by Tai no matter what… but I want to make it up to him like he tried to do these last few years." I sigh, I want my brother to be happy and I can't be the reason why his relationship with Sora doesn't work out.

"Sora that was in the past, I'm not saying forget about it but you need to learn to move past it. Plus, as Tai little sister, I will say that you will make Tai the happiest by just being with him. So please don't think you're not worth of dating my brother, at one point I thought you would be the only one worthy to date my brother and I know now that still holds true. I'm really sorry for saying what I did, can you forgive me Sora? I would understand if you can't." As saying this Sora, I see her wiping away her tears and she has stop crying.

"Kari, what your saying is right or I want to believe that it is right. So, I can forgive you but I want to know one thing?" Sora said to me and I feel a little bit happy that I could help Sora and maybe earn her forgiveness.

"Sure, Sora what do you want to know?" I be willing to do almost anything to get back my relationship with Sora. We been very distance since she started to date Matt, I want that to change.

Sora sighs before she says "Well I want to know what made you act like you were… You're the most sweetest and kind girl I know, and I never seen you act like you have been acting for the last few days after we got Tai back from his battle with Beelzebumon." As Sora was saying this I gulp.

I collect my thought before I say anything to Sora. I sigh and then say "It's what I hear Lilithmon say to Tai about our friends was very revealing to be honest. She was right about Matt and Joe, so what she said about you and the other might also be true. I was trying to keep my brother safe, I am worry that if something like this happens again… We won't be able to pull him out of his depression." You shouldn't have said that to her. I trust Sora, so it fine if I tell her what bothering me right? No now she will tell the other that your thinking about that, and they be on their guard so that you can't stop them from hurting Tai and you. I must stop thinking like this, they won't hurt Tai or me. We have each other backs, they just remained me of that in our last battle.

Sora sighs breaks me out of what I was thinking and I look over to her and see her frowning "I know exactly what Lilithmon is capable of… she manipulated me into fighting her instead of just grabbing Agumon egg and running. I want her dead for she did to Tai… You shouldn't really pay attention to what she said, like you said she knows exactly what to say put doubt in your mind." Sora then sighs and she goes quiet for a second, Sora looks like she wants to say more. I was about to say something but then she continues "Kari, I won't tell the other what has been bothering since I can relate to you. What Lilithmon said to me is still haunting me, I know I wouldn't want anything she said to get out to the others. That being said I will be here for you, if you want to talk please don't feel like you can't approach me…" I smile at Sora when she said this. I knew it was alright for me to trust Sora.

Demon POV

"Barbamon where is Leviamon? He should be back from killing Ebonwumon by now, he has more than enough power to crush him in single combat." I said this to Barbamon as we walk up to upper reach of the castle to discuss the exact details of the next step of the plan. I think Lucemon was a fool to give in to Leviamon request to handle Ebonwumon himself, definitely with those damn Digidestined still running around.

I hear Barbamon chuckling beside me "Knowing him he taking his time enough with such a fine meal as Ebonwumon. You heard him rant on how much he hates Ebonwumon, I must agree with him that it was unfair to make Ebonwumon ruler over the ocean and lands when Leviamon was a much better fit for the part. Then again all the Harmonious ones got special treatment since they were once partner digimon of the first five Digidestined." Barbamon then begins to howls with laughter before he continues "I bet he taking his sweet time to remain Ebonwumon of the past."

I look over to Barbamon this start to getting my blood to boil, I remember what happen all to clearly. "Yes, Barbamon we should be thankful to Lord Lucemon, for he found us so we can all get our revenge on them." Once we were betrayed by them and banished to this world I thought that all was lose, until Lucemon found all seven of us. With his plan, we shall see the digital world again, I almost give my life for the digital world and this is how it shows it thanks by betraying those who help the them in time of need. I will follow Lucemon until the end, for he should be the true ruler because he speaks the truth. I should be honor that he is even giving us land to rule over after we complete our task. He only given us two rules to follow while under his commander, both are very easy to follow. The only problem is the second one only makes things harder to completely our jobs assign to us by Lord Lucemon.

We open the chamber doors to the meeting room and I take my place at the table. Barbamon then sits down on the opposite side farer down beside Lilithmon. I look around to see that we are not the last to arrive to the meeting, Leviamon and Belphemon are of course not here yet but also Beelzebumon is also late. That damn idiot of a drunk, he cares more about his food, drinks and battling more than about the mission. If it was up to me, I would already put him line ages ago. I hear the chamber doors slam open and I see Beelzebumon walking in and his jacket is repair, good I don't need to hear him shouting about that stupid jacket. "Sorry that I'm late and all but I don't feel complete without my jacket!" I want to hit him so hard as the idiot sits down beside me.

We all hear Lucemon clears his throat we all know to shut up now. "I see Leviamon is not back from his task yet? I wonder if he failed his job that he was so adamant about doing himself?" I hope not it would complicate everything…

I hear Barbamon speak up "Well don't think so Lucemon, even with the child of knowledge track us when Ebonwumon starts the event of restoration he shouldn't be able to open a portal for at least an hour by my estimates. That had to give him enough time to kill Ebonwumon I bet he just enjoying his meal as he would so elegantly put it…" The room is then quiet for moment as we wait to hear Lucemon thoughts on the matter.

Lucemon then speaks up as he tapping his fingers on his chair "Well we move on the next step of the plan, we will assume he died if he not back before then… if that so we must assume that Digidestined have some stop him, just like Lilithmon failed to stop them from stealing back the Egg."

Lucemon was about to say more when he was interpreted by Lilithmon "Hey now, I might of want her as a toy but that doesn't mean I wasn't following the stupid rule that you made! If I could do want I want, we wouldn't be having any problem with them!" Lucemon looks angry right now that he was interpreted but it quickly fades away.

Beelzebumon then stands up and shouts "I have to agree with Lilithmon on this that rule makes no sense! I can't go full out when I battle either and it super annoying!" While I agree with the both of them that rule makes things harder for us. If Lucemon wishes for the rule to stay them I will follow it until the end no matter what, even if I disagree with it.

Lucemon then sighs "I sure we will see them tomorrow when we set the next step of the plan into motion. If they come to our door steps again, I will personal deal with them and if I can't then I will revoke the rule that you speak of. I will not have them have messing up the plan!" I smile this will spell the end for them for sure. Lucemon then continues "Also with Leviamon being a no show, I don't want any more personal vendettas we will be sticking to pairs from now on when we launch an attack. Demon and Beelzebumon will face Azulongmon tomorrow together no question asked!" I don't like the fact that I have to work with Beelzebumon but I can't wait until tomorrow when I'm burning Azulongmon to ground.