Author's Note: First off, I hoped that everyone had a Happy Halloween, on a full moon as well! Also, I'd like to give a really big thank you to NeoMiniTails and melia2 for their reviews! P.S. I've reuploaded the chapter because for some reason, the website was acting up and it didn't go through.
Drowned Out
Chapter Eight
A brief coughing fit gripped Matt as he made his way down the hallway to the kitchen.
Ugh…this cold just isn't letting up, he thought, wiping his nose with a tissue, at least my headache and nausea are finally gone. Maybe now I-
He didn't have time to finish his thought when two enormous sneezes came barreling out of him. Frantically, he dug his hands into his pockets, pulling out more tissues and blowing his nose before discarding them in a nearby trash can.
There was nobody in the kitchen, much to his surprise, not even breakfast laid out on the table. Concerned, Matt began to look around the apartment but he soon found his father, mother, and brother, all seated in the living room.
"Matt," Hiroaki began, "your mother and I have been discussing what we can do to help get your voice back. And we decided that speech therapy would be a good first step."
"We managed to find a speech therapist who specializes in cases of psychogenic aphonia similar to yours," Nancy added, "and we scheduled an appointment for you next week."
"It'll be a weekly session, Son," said Hiroaki, "and we'll take turns driving you to your appointments."
Nancy then slowly got up from the couch and wrapped her arms tenderly around her son.
"It may cost us but to hear you speak again will be worth more than anything."
T.K. then spoke up.
"We're not gonna give up on you, Matt," he said determined, "We're still family and we're with you every step of the way!"
Matt was so overwhelmed by his family's love that he became choked up with emotion. Lowering his head, he returned his mother's caress, hoping that none of them saw the tears that were silently running down his face.
As the day wore on, Matt's strength began to return. He seemed well enough that Nancy and T.K. decided to return back to their apartment. But before they left later that evening, the younger blonde was able to sneak Patamon back to the Digital World.
Soon, after two more days of seemingly endless coughing and sneezing, Matt's cold symptoms abated.
However, as his health continued to improve, he didn't notice that one by one, the triangle marks on his Digimon's egg were gradually becoming darker and less vibrant.
…
In the morning, as he was getting ready to go back to school, Matt picked up his digivice to check the time, only to find the screen completely black.
Puzzled, he tried pressing on the device's blue buttons hoping it would reactivate it, but to no avail.
Turning his gaze to his bed, a look of horror spread across his face.
Gabumon's digi-egg was completely drained of color and was now a lifeless gray instead.
What does this mean? Matt thought, staring at both his digivice and dull digi-egg.
I've got to let Izzy know about this! Maybe he can figure something out!
Sticking the device in his pocket, Matt grabbed the egg, hiding it among his school supplies and headed out the door.
…
I'm out sick for about two days and the teachers give me make-up homework that would take me two weeks to finish!
Matt gave a weary sigh as he gathered his things, trudging down the hallway once the final school bell rang.
The blonde was just a foot away from leaving the building when he heard his name being called.
"Matt! Hey, Matt! Wait up!"
He turned and saw Tai, Sora, and Izzy walking towards him.
"We're here to help you with your make-up work." explained Sora.
Izzy nodded. "We can use the computer lab as a workplace, Davis and others won't be there since Ken has a soccer match at his school and had invited them to go and watch."
"Yeah, and you're in luck, Matt," Tai said, as they made their way to their destination, "all of us happened to take good notes for you while you were out!"
The Bearer of Courage proudly presented an overstuffed notebook, with papers from other classes sticking out of it.
Izzy rolled his eyes. "At least some of us are more organized."
Sora giggled. "Even going to the Digital World doesn't change some things."
"Oh, and uh…speaking of which," Tai started, his tone shifting from casual to solemn, "T.K. told everyone what happened…back in the Digital World, and we're all really, really sorry about Gabumon."
Matt felt a lump forming in his throat at the mention of his Digimon partner. Feeling his eyes sting with tears, the Bearer of Friendship hung his head, clutching his schoolbag close to him where the digi-egg was hidden inside.
I should have been there for him…
Taking notice of Matt's change in mood, Tai gave his friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay, Matt. Like we said before, we're here for you."
Blinking the tears away, the blonde smiled in response.
The teens decided to split the assignments into three parts: Tai would help Matt with an essay, Sora chose history, and Izzy would handle math and science subjects.
…
Once Matt had completed most of his make-up work, the group decided to head for home. As Tai and Sora were getting ready to leave, she accidentally dropped her pencil.
Quickly bending down and handing it back to her, Matt's heart began to flutter when Sora's fingers brushed lightly against his when she took the pencil from him.
Sora smiled. "Why thank you, Matt."
Matt gave a small smile back and turned away, hoping that she wouldn't see the growing blush forming on his pale cheeks.
The Bearer of Love looked perplexed for a moment, but shrugged her shoulders and followed Tai out the door.
Izzy was about to join them when Matt stopped him and handed him a written note.
"Need to talk." Izzy read, "It's about my digivice."
"What's wrong with it?" he asked.
Matt handed his digivice to Izzy, who in turn took out his own for comparison.
"Hmmm…" the redhead murmured, as he studied both devices, "very unusual."
The Bearer of Knowledge pulled out his yellow laptop, opened up a blank document and began typing.
"T.K. told me that Gabumon's digi-egg came out of your computer the night he died," Izzy said as his fingers clacked against the keyboard, "Do you have the egg with you?"
Matt nodded and took out and placed the egg on the table for Izzy to analyze.
This is just like what happened when the Dark Masters were conquering the Digital World, Izzy thought, holding the digi-egg in his hands, the eggs in Primary Village wouldn't hatch due to the Dark Masters' evil corrupting everything.
The redhead genius looked over the digi-egg carefully, setting it down and then glanced over to his friend's digivice as he typed away.
But this doesn't make sense, we defeated the all four of the Dark Masters, so why is Gabumon's digi-egg like this?
Then, a new thought came to him.
"Matt, weren't you sick when your brother found the egg?"
The blonde nodded.
"This is only a theory," the Bearer of Knowledge started, "but I think that the digi-egg and your health might be linked together somehow."
Matt gave Izzy a bewildered look.
My health? But I'm over my cold, so why hasn't it returned to normal? Unless, he means my aphonia…
Matt shook his head, growing frustrated.
No! Both of them were fine when T.K. gave me the egg…urgh!
Izzy continued. "It's also possible that Gabumon's egg reconfiguring in the Real World may have weakened it and it could explain why your digivice isn't working."
"I'll e-mail Gennai and see what he thinks regarding this."
Matt nodded his thanks as Izzy returned both the digi-egg and digivice.
As soon as Matt left the room, Izzy looked over his typed analysis on his laptop. He opened up an e-mail file ready to send his findings to Gennai when the monitor suddenly started glitching.
"W-what?"
The words on the screen began to mingle and merge together, deleting letters and steadily increasing in font size before his eyes. He made several attempts at trying to shut it down, but the laptop continued to glitch and buzz wildly as if nothing had changed.
Then it ceased.
All that was once his written document was gone, replaced with only two words, Izzy felt his blood run cold as his eyes read,
"DON'T INTERFERE"
And then, the laptop shut down.
-To be continued…