Chapter 51

Joe POV

It just me and TK at our camp site right now, as the other are gathering food, water and wood that we will need for the rest of night. I then take the thermometer out of TK mouth and right down the results, thirty-seven points eight degrees Celsius. Good just as I predicted TK body temperature is staying close to what it should be, I'll check again in the next five minutes. My thought is then interrupted by TK when he said "Joe why do keeping checking my temperature? I thought you said it was fine ten minutes ago?"

I then look down at TK and sigh I need to make sure his body is stable, I can't let the group down any more than I already have… "Well TK, just looking at your clothes that alone tells me that you broke into a very high fever." As I was saying this I grab TK shirt and show him that it looks like he jumped into a pool with his clothes on. "This means you had a very nasty fever and when I first checked your temperature your body was around forty-one… that was very serious but the weird thing about it was that it keeps dropping way too quickly." I then flip my note book around to show TK each temperature I taken in the last half hour, I then point to the first three and then say "The first two tell me you have a fever but then at the third one your temperate is where should be and has stay there for the last twenty minutes… I just want to make sure you're not going to spike or drop suddenly." I sigh and then look around to see if the other have gotten back from their chores and realize that no one back yet. I then turn to TK and say "TK there no one around but just us, so how about you tell what happen up there to you to put your body in this shape… I can only help so much without knowing what cause this… I figure by the way you were dodging everyone question is that you don't want people to find out but I promise I won't tell anyone what happened…"

As I was finished talking to TK, I see TK sigh and look away from me… Great the only thing that I can do for the group is offer what little medical advice I happen to learn from my dad and brothers… Which basically boils down to checking vitals and dressing wounds… Right now, Gomamon is the only one out of our original group that can't reach his Mega level… Everyone is reaching these new heights yet, I've stay the same since our first adventure... Zudomon wasn't really able to help at all with the fight against Barbamon or the fight against Demon and Beelzebumon… Then there the problem of Matt… I then hear TK speak up break my chain of thought for a second "I don't want the other to know about this Joe… Plus I don't have any facts to back it up other than what I saw and felt at time…" I see that TK is now looking at me with worry in his eyes and then I nod at him to let him know I won't tell the other. TK then sighs and says "When I found Kari up on the temple… I think she was almost dead Joe… from using that white light too much. I scream at Seraphymon to heal her but before he was able to move forward, Azulongmon use this yellow ball of light to communicate with me… He said that a piece of fruit that had my crest on it would heal Kari painlessly and only thing she had to do was eat a small bit from it… Well I did just that Joe and feed Kari a piece of that fruit but then I began the worst experience of my life… I felt like my body was hosting the sun inside it, that I been ran over by several cars, I couldn't hear anything due to ringing in my ears and I threw up about a year worth of food. While this was happening I then noticed that Kari was glowing the same yellow light of my crest while I was being bathed in the same pink light of Kari crest… I think she was using my body somehow to heal her, Azulongmon was right it did end up being painless for Kari but he didn't warm me about anything the fruit was going to due to me… I still would have feed Kari that fruit even now that I know what it does to me… Worst thing about what happen is that Azulongmon made it sound like Kari was a tool to be used and they didn't even care what happen to her…" At this point TK starts crying as he uses his arm to wipe the few tears that are in his eyes.

I just look down at TK well now I know what TK went through to make his body look like this and I don't like it one bit… Are we really just tools for the digital world to use at its disposal and then toss away when our jobs are done… "TK, I know you would have done it anyways even if you knew the consequences, there isn't any doubt in my mind… Maybe Azulongmon couldn't fully explained himself in the time he had to tell you and his words just came across differently then what he was trying to say… But right now, we need to worry about your health so you can be fit as fiddle!" When I was done saying that, I really don't know if I was able to cheer up TK or not as he done wiping the remain tears out of his eyes and then sighs at me before he rolls over on his side away from me. I feel like I'm constantly failing everyone, either I don't show up or even when I do I don't add much to the group…

Davis POV

This is so frustrating! Here my chance to show how much I care about Kari, yet I can't lift her mood at all. We been sitting in silence for way too long and this sandstorm doesn't look like it going to be letting up anytime soon… I look over to Kari and see Gatomon has now fallen asleep in her lap as she is looking up at the ceiling while staring at nothing. Veemon is leaning against my right side as he is sleeping, he then moves slightly and his head falls to my lap. I then hear Kari say in a quieter voice so she doesn't wake the digimon "Do think this sandstorm is ever going to end?"

Just as she finished saying that the entire building shakes as a powerful gust of wind rushes over the building. I then sigh and speak my mind "I mean it has to, right? We know that when we first came here there wasn't a sandstorm… So, it not like this sector of the digital world is a permeant sandstorm. I'm sure that if we keep waiting the storm, it will pass and then we will be able to go searching for Tai and Sora!" I really don't know how many times I said this to Kari but I don't think it helping as she pulls out her Digivice and goes to the scanner option to see if she can see Tai or Sora Digivice for the eighth time… She then sighs and then puts her Digivice back into her pocket… "Still no sigh of them?"

Kari then shakes her head at me and then says "No… but at least now I don't feel like they are in danger anymore…" she now looking at me and she looks confused about something for a moment and then she sighs. That when we both noticed that the sandstorm outside is now calming down and then it stops, Kari holds Gatomon in her arms as she suddenly stands up and shouts "Sandstorm has end!"

Gatomon opens her eyes slowly and says "Kari, you didn't need to yell so loudly…" Kari is quickly running to the door now that the sandstorm is over. Gatomon does a quick stretched and jumps out of Kari arms before they reach the door.

I then bolt up and quickly grab our bags to follow Kari out the door as I do I hear Veemon shout "Ouch my head! Davis why did you do that?" I then point towards the open door that Kari ran out to show Veemon that the sandstorm has end. Veemon while rubbing his head says, "Oh, the sandstorm end…"

"Yep, now let get moving buddy or else Kari will leave us behind!" As I was saying this, I realize while I said it as a joke… Kari might actual leave us behind… She wouldn't do that to TK… I then snap out of it and run out the door to see Kari is now looking down at her Digivice as Gatomon is standing beside her.

As I run up behind her I hear her say "Davis, it looks like we don't need to go find them as they are coming toward us!" She then spins around as shows me that two red dots are moving close together and are coming quickly towards us to the…err, I quickly look at the sun to gather my bearing and then I look back down and see that there coming from the east. Kari then pulls me into a hug and says, "Davis you were right they were safe!" I start to blush when I feel Kari chest being press up against mine. The hug doesn't last long as I want as Kari then spins around and now trying to spot Tai and Sora as they are flying towards us.

"See I told you they were going to be fine!" as I was saying this I see something off in the distance and as it is growing closer to us I then realize that it Hououmon with Tai, Agumon and Sora waving at us in the distance. I then start waving back with both arms and I shout at the top of my lungs "HEY GUYS!"

After a few minutes, they land beside us and then Kari runs over to Tai and gives him a big hug "Tai, I was really worry about you two! I'm glad you two are safe and sound now!" Tai then hugs back Kari and is smiling now.

I then ask them "So where did you two end up holding out during the sandstorm then?" as I ask them that, Tai and Kari let go of their hug. Then Tai and Sora look at each other for a quick moment, as they share a funny look that I can't quite place.

Sora then answer me "Well we found Zhuqiaomon temple by accident when we were blown around in the sandstorm… We should be getting back there as she left the temple defenses down so the four of us could wait for the demon lords inside her temple…" Sora then grips her arm around Hououmon leg and then looks up at her says "Do you think you be able to carry everyone back to the temple Hououmon?"

Hououmon looks at everyone and then nods while saying "I believe so Sora… but I will need a long rest after this." she then lowers her wing to the ground and then says, "I believe with this many of you, you will have to ride on my back."

I can't help but smile other than this sandstorm finding this temple was a piece of cake "I can't believe that you already found the temple! Now all we have to do is watch out for the voice that shout at us when we first enter the digital world! Plus, I can't wait to meet Zhuqiaomon! Ebonwumon was really cool to meet!"

Tai then gives me nervous chuckle and that when I noticed that Tai, Agumon, Sora and even Hououmon look nervous about something "Well we already talk to Zhuqiaomon and we think she want to be left alone for a while… Plus that voice was Zhuqiaomon, Davis…" I now confused didn't that voice threaten us to leave or it would kill us? Tai then sighs and says, "Come on Davis, we will explain everything as we are flying over to her temple…" As Tai was saying this Kari, Gatomon, Agumon and Sora have climb onto Hououmon back and now it just me and Tai standing on the ground. I sigh and then begin to climb onto Hououmon back, I'm sure Tai and Sora will explain everything…

Matt POV

I sigh as I watch over the fire at our campsite for the night as it starts to turn into dusk, today has been horrible… I fail to protect Mimi from Barbamon because we weren't strong enough and when I tried to talk to Tai and Sora about what happen everything just blew up in my face even more than it already did. Well at least Tai hates me now, instead of being super nice to me like nothing happen between us. I look over to see TK sitting beside Joe as he in a new change of clothes since this afternoon, Joe must have gotten him new ones from Tai apartment at some point since they look Tai's old clothes. At least he looks a lot better now than when he first came down off that island but Tai words start to ring in head as I remember what he said this afternoon "I am hoping that you're at least willing to fight with TK and not ditch him or very least having him around will stop you from turning on us and joining the demon lords side!"I sigh, I wouldn't do that… Well with how I treated Tai and Sora recently I can see why he would think that…

"Hey guys! Look what Hawkmon found! We found so many berries we be eating like kings and queens tonight!" I hear Yolei shout this as she and Hawkmon emerges from the brushes holding arm full of red and blue berries.

As they are walking over to the group Hawkmon says "Well if we do need more, we know where to find them now." They then place the fruits on top of giant leaves that me and Gabumon brought back while we were collecting fire wood for the campfire. Joe helping them place the fruit on the ground so they don't end up bruised.

After they place the food down on the leaves Yolei looks around and says, "I see Cody or Ken isn't back from forging… I thought they would be back by now?"

Joe then shakes his head at Yolei and says "No they haven't come back yet, I'm sure they will be back soon. We should wait for them to came back before we eat any of this food, that way if they have more food we be able to ration it better." I see Joe swat Gomamon hand away from the fruit pile as he was saying this.

Yolei then sighs and then sits down beside me and says "Well I guess that make some sense, I hope they get back soon enough… Also, shouldn't Mimi and Izzy be back from Baihumon temple by now? It been hours since they left, what could they be doing that making them take so long?"

TK shrug and says, "Well knowing Izzy if they found the temple he be asking everything he could possible think of to Baihumon or they were having a hard time finding the temple." I see everyone nodding their head at TK suggestion as it mostly likely the truth. I throw couple more small sticks onto the fire and stare back into the fire. God damn it why did I have to mess up my relationship with both Sora and Tai… They were some of my only true friends unlike those who only start talking to me after my band got popular and then I had to mess everything up with them. I don't see how I can help them if they won't allow me to talk to them… they have every reason not to talk to me… At this point I would rather Tai kick the shit out of me and then we can patch things up like when we were younger…

I then see someone waving their hand in front of my face and then I hear Yolei voice saying "Hello! Matt are you in there? I was asking you a question!" I then turn my face towards Yolei and she pulls back her hand to her side and then looks at me for second weirdly before saying "Well now that I got your attention Matt…" There was a slight pause before Yolei continues awkwardly saying "So I was wondering… How are you feeling about you know… Tai and Sora?" I then noticed that she looks back and forth between Joe and TK while she was talking to me. I blink and then turn back to look at the fire as I ignored Yolei question, why is she asking me this? I barely talk to her since we talked in the dark ocean on our scouting mission and I can't tell if she hates me like everyone else… Well maybe she cares a bit if she is asking me how I feel about it… I hear Yolei scream in frustration then say "Asshole! I was trying to help you! At the very least you deserve to tell them your side of the story before they cast you out like a mutt!"

I flinch when Yolei done saying that and all I was able to say to her is "Sorry…" and then I sigh as I throw more wood onto the fire.

I then hear Yolei sigh before she begins saying "Look I'm not saying you not in the wrong for what you did but they should at least hear you out…" She then goes quiet and then says, "So do you want to talk about?"

I sigh maybe if I tell her what happen then maybe she can help me patch things up with Tai and Sora… I was beginning to tell her what happen between me, Sora and Tai when I hear Armadillomon shout "Look at all this meat we found growing in the wild guys!" I turn my head to see that Ken, Cody, Wormmon and Armadillomon are back from forging each of them are carrying a hand full of meat. As they are walking over, I just don't feel comfortable tell this many people at once about what happen with Tai and Sora.

Joe help them place the meat beside the fruit that Yolei brought back and then start dividing the food. Joe then looks up at Cody and says "Cody, why didn't you tell that you cut your knee as soon you got back?"

I look over to Cody and see that is pants has a rip in them and there a dark spot forming around it that must be blood. Cody sighs and says, "Well I didn't think that it was that bad… Sorry Joe."

Joe sighs and shakes his head and says "Well let us get this patch up and then we will eat some supper for tonight. Also, I divide the food up so just grab a pile and dig in." Joe then walks over to his medic bag and looks inside and sighs "Damn almost out of gauze for bandages, I will have to grab some more tomorrow morning." Joe use a lot of his gauze to patch up my back after the fight with Demon and Beelzebumon, Joe did a really good job with the bandaging my back up as I barely feel them as I move around. I can hardly feel burn marks and cuts that I got from one of Barbamon attacks… By the sound of things, I use up most of his supply that he initially brought with him… Why does everything have to be my fault…

I then feel someone shaking me and then I see Gabumon is the one doing it, he then says "Matt, aren't you going to grab something to eat?" I blink and realize that other than Joe and Cody I'm the last person to grab food. I sigh and nod at Gabumon as I walk over to grab some food from one of the remaining piles. As I go back over go back over to where I was sitting before, I grab a stick and push it through a chuck of meat and place it over the fire to cook. I then start to eat a piece of fruit as the meat is cooking… As I look around the campsite, I see that Joe is almost finished bandaging Cody knee up and that Yolei keeps look at me as I believe she not going to let the early conversion end so easily. I sigh I think this is going to be a long night…

Beelzebumon POV

Damn kids almost killed Demon… I sigh and chug what left of my Dark Ocean Beer and open a new can that beside me. I look at Demon while he is laying on one of med bays beds as he still hasn't woken up yet since he somehow managed to get back to the castle… I still going to murder those kids for almost killing him… I then chug down another beer and throw it at the steadily increasing pile… I can't believe that Barbamon and Lilithmon were also sent to med bay today as well… While I do enjoy a great battle, they have way too many Megas level digimon now for me to fight them by myself… "FUCK!" as I shout this Demon stirs and I smile, good he finally awake now. I smile and hand him one of Dark Ocean Beer while I say to him "Here have one of my Beer to celebrate you staying in the land of the living!"

Demon then stares me down before grabbing the beer out of my hands and opens it before he starts chugging down the beer he looks at me and ask me "So what did I miss, while I was out cold?"

"Well we about to go over that as soon as we get up to meeting room. We were just waiting for your lazy ass to wake up!" As Demon was listening to me he chugs down the beer and then stands up. We then start to walk up to the meeting room in silence. It doesn't take long for us to reach the meeting room and I see that everyone is in the room already.

Lucemon than speaks "It looks like it time revoke the rule on no killing the Digidestined, since they manage to stop us from kill Ebonwumon and Azulongmon as well almost destroying our portal system." I raise an eyebrow at this, I hear some alarms going off early was that what they meant? Lucemon then looks over to Barbamon and ask him "What is the damage report Barbamon?"

Barbamon looks piss off when he begins to speak "The child of Knowledge was able to plant a virus, in our system that took a while to activate. While I was able to stabilize the crystal, he causes permanent damage to it. We should be able to open a single portal every ten minutes, without cause any more damage to crystal."

"Hey, shouldn't we be talking about how those brats now have nine mega level digimon instead of the portals! Also, Barbamon I thought you told us they didn't have access to the Golden Digi-Egg thing! While I love a challenging fight nine Megas are way too many to handle by myself!" As I shout this and then point towards Barbamon, right now I don't give a rat ass about the portals. I want to know how we are dealing with those brats instead.

Lucemon then sighs at my outburst and then says "Beelzebumon is right we need to split the children up to divide their power. We will launch our attack on Zhuqiaomon early tomorrow before she begins her part of the event. Lilithmon, Demon and Barbamon will not use the portals so they can arrive there so Digidestined can't track them. While Beelzebumon will open a portal to human world and wake up Belphemon in their home town, they will be forces to defend their homes…"

I didn't dare interpreted Lucemon as he was speaking but as soon as he done talking I stand up and shout, "You want me near Belphemon when he is waking up! I thought he was our back up plan if we missed any of the Harmonious ones!" We all know that waking Belphemon is bad news, he so enrages he can't tell friend from foe…

Lucemon then sighs "Beelzebumon you don't need to fight with Belphemon, all you need to do is stay close and open portal for him if it looks like the children will deleted him." I sigh and sit back down in my chair, well now I grateful this doesn't sound like a completely suicidal mission as long as keep my wits about me I should be fine tomorrow. Lucemon then continues "As soon you all full heal, you three will head out for Zhuqiaomon temple, Barbamon you will oversee when to tell Beelzebumon to wake up Belphemon tomorrow. I will stay here at the castle in case the children get any bright ideas to attack our castle tomorrow." We all nod our head at the boss plan, if I'm going to be dealing with Belphemon tomorrow I want to get super drunk tonight.