This chapter is much longer than I anticipated, but I think all of these elements deserved to happen in the same chapter. I hope you guys enjoy!
"Mmmm..." The sound is light and feminine, and TK glances down at the girl who was shifting under the blanket that had been draped over her form. While spreading out her things TK and Takato had discovered that her name was apparently Minami, and TK felt his heart clenched when he looked at her. She was so young, probably the same age that Tai and the other's had been when they'd first gone to the digital world, and TK had grown older he had gained more and more perspective on exactly how young that was. It had been hours since they had found her, and all of them had only grown more worried. At least she was no longer so sopping wet.
The evening was beginning to creep over the sky as the girl opened her eyes, blinking them a few times as she took in her surroundings. TK tried for a smile as her gaze landed on him, but her face stiffened up anyway, fear flashing across it.
"You're awake!" TK stated the obvious trying for as much enthusiasm and kindness that he could muster into his voice. Minami scooted a little away as she sat up, wary eyes watching him.
"Where am I? What happened?" TK briefed her on the events, and while she relaxed slightly it was clear that she was still mostly on her guard. The question as to why she had been pursued in the first place burned brightly in TK's mind. But now was not the time to ask, especially as tears sprung to her eyes.
"TK! Dinner's ready!" Kai called out and TK glanced over at Minami.
"Are you hungry?"
"Not really…" A growl from her stomach said otherwise, cheeks blossoming a bright red as her arms came close to huddle around her tummy. Tk couldn't help the small laugh that escaped from his mouth.
"Come on, you can meet the others." She rose onto wobbly legs, grabbing the paneling of the wall for support. Eventually they managed to stabilize themselves as TK walked to show Minami the way to the dining room.
"Thank you." The words were softly said in the darkness of the hallway, and her small hand came up and grasped TK's. "...for saving me."
"We all helped." TK said, squeezing her small hand one, twice, three times like it would give her the sense of security she was obviously missing but so clearly was in need of. "We also took the things out of your bag to dry. We didn't want to invade your privacy but we also wanted to salvage as much as we could." He couldn't see if she nodded or shook her head, if Minami was angry or relieved, but her little hand didn't let go, and TK took that as a good sign.
The pair of them emerged into the dining room, the smell of delicious foods wafting over them that made even TK's stomach give a growl. They sat down to eat, Minami staying a distance away from the others, seeming to take an amount of security in having space. The other's introduced themselves to the girl, who said a few small, soft words in reply. Whatever had made her this way… TK could feel his old anger boiling up from somewhere inside of him, like a tea kettle on a stove, and he could almost feel the steam coming out of his ears. But for the anger to be displayed here would be to direct it to the wrong people at the wrong time. So he took a deep breath and continued eating.
Halfway through the meal, TK herad Minami's breath hitch and looked over at her quickly, worried that something was wrong. But instead in front of her partially eaten meal Minami's eyes were screwed shut and her face a bright red and tears flowed down her tace.
"What's wrong?" Takato asked, concern evident on his face. Kai's grandpa stuck out an arm and steadied it on Takato's shoulder.
"Sometimes, you just need to cry." He replied.
oOo
"Hey Dad." Henry said, balancing the phone on his shoulder as he unpacked his suitcase and worked on carefully placing his clothing into the drawers of the hotel. In the background the sound of the shower is loud and the sound of Terriermon singing even louder. It made Henry smile without even thinking about it. But the smile didn't last for long. .
"...Joe…" The voice on the other side was strange and double layered, and it sent chills up Henry's spine. Words were hard to make out through the thick static that came over the phone, almost tangible to Henry. "...Joe help me…."
"I- I'm not Joe. Who's Joe?" Henry asked, his hands dropped the clothing to get a proper hold on the phone, close to his face and all attention to put towards it. "Who is this? Are you in danger?"
"...Find them… Find courage. Find friendship…. Joe I am relying on you…" The voice on the other side of the line began to fade, and Henry held the phone all the harder in his hands, a white knuckle grip.
"Wait! Don't go! I'm not Joe I don't know who you're looking for!"
"... it hurts. It hurts to reach out like this. Find them Joe….." The static overtook the voice as it faded into nothingness, and then there was only the lone tone of being hung up. Henry slowly removed the phone from his head and stared at it in his shaking hands.
From across the room the door to the bathroom opened and out came Terriermon, drying himself on a plush white towel. He was still humming lightly to himself but abruptly cut himself off as he saw Henry's wide eyed expression.
"Is everything okay?" He asked, ears quirking up slightly. Henry shook his head lightly and turned his gaze up towards his partner.
"No… I think there is something very wrong."
oOo
"...meanwhile flights across the country may face several delays and difficulties due to the virus' attack on their main systems…" There was a sharp sounds as Rika shuffled her Digimon deck in her hands, pulling out a set of cards face down in a fight against no one. With light steps only audible because they were wished to be so Renamon appeared behind Rika, looking lightly over her shoulder at the card formation.
"You know, several of your attack patterns remind of tarot." Renamon remarked, eyes sliding down the set of cards.
"Hm, how so?" Rika asked as she flipped over a card. Meramon. Her expression soured slightly.
"It's the way you line up the cards. The pattern as if to represent places or times. Past, present, future. A tree. Comets and stars." Another card flipped over. Lunamon smiled back serenly.
"How do you know about Tarot? Is it popular in the Digimon world."
"No, I don't believe so. I suppose it's just part of my coding."
"I've never believed in tarot." Rika declared, flipping over another card. Skullgreymon leered from the card. "I don't think something as random as shuffled cards can tell the future."
"Maybe not." Renamon replied, nodding lightly. She let her gaze wander across the room. It caught on a series of proudly framed photos. Rika at a competition. A small baby Rika held in her mothers loving arms. Her mother at her first fashion show opening with Rika's grandmother proudly sitting at her side, much younger than Renamon had ever seen the old woman. "But many use Tarot as a moment of introspection. A way to view problems that are placed before and find ways to deal with them. A fresh way to look at the world."
"I don't think it can help me right now." Rika said, listening with half an ear to the flight numbers that were read over the radio. Renamon reached out to grab one of the small frames, holding it curiously in her hands.
"Are you concerned for your mother?" She asked, and Rika stiffened. With a stiff hand she flipped over the final card. A proud, holographic Lilymon beamed back at her. Renamon inspected the photograph of the young girl so different from Rika and yet so the same. Same strawberry brown hair, same nose, that purse to the lips. The girl in the photograph wearing the bright pink dress and the vibrant red cowboy hat looked nothing like Rika, adn yet there was a ghost of her daughter there in here, a slight determination in her jawline and the way she held her hands.
Renamon let out a small huff of amusement and sat down next to Rika, taking a small deck to play with her partner as they listened to radio and held prayer of safety in their hearts.
oOo
Minami sat on the small deck to the house, facing the ocean. TK watched as the gentle breeze shifted her hair slightly, her eyes trailing the shoreline. Next to her sat the laptop, opened and casting an almost eerier light into the falling night. From it, an electronic dog barked at her, but she didn't so much as twitch at it's eager exclamations for play.
"Do you mind if I try it out?" TK cursed himself slightly when Minami flinced hard, looking at him with wide eyes for a brief moment before seeming to remember that she wasn't in danger. That she was safe. She took a few steadying breaths and nodded, gesturing absentmindedly to the laptop and fixing her gaze back on the horizon, where the last fingers of sunlight were just disappearing.
Tk settled down next to her and pulled over the laptop, setting it down and slowly checking out the navigation of the page. He dragged the cursor over and fed the digital dog, watching as it ate the fake food and hopped up and down in happiness. He threw a frisbee and watched the dog chase after it, stumbling once and then leaping up and snagging it from the air, proudly marching it back to the screen and dropping it back, almost seeming to look through the screen back at TK expectantly.
"This is pretty neat, you know." TK said, offering Minami a small smile. The shadows in her eyes seemed to deepen.
"I guess."
"You don't like it?" TK gently set the laptop back off to the side and turned his attention fully towards Minami. On the screen, the digital dog laid down almost as it it was enjoying sitting on the porch with the pair.
"That V-pet… it's the first one ever made. My dad, he made the V pat for me. After my dog died. But I don't want some fake dog, I want Mia back!" She exclaimed, and tear shone in her eyes. She pulled her knees up close and wrapped her arms around them, tucking her chin on top, keeping her eyes forward. "It's my fault. My fault Mia died. I can't just replace her."
"Just because something's digital doesn't mean it's fake." Minami didn't respond. Tk went for a different angle. "I'm sure your dad's doing his best. Loss can be… it can be hard." TK's mind went to court dates sitting next to a small Matt, the feeling of feathers turning into egg shell underneath his hands, the feeling of Patamon slipping away from him when they last said goodbye. "But I know that Mia wouldn't want you to let your mourning of her stop you from enjoying life. From letting new good things into your life." He put his conviction into every word. He wasn't even sure that Minami could hear him from wherever she was, deep in her sorrow.
"I'm going to bed." TK said after waiting for a beat, standing up and stretching, letting out an exaggerated yawn. He gleaned down at Minami. "You should probably go to bed too." She gave no indication she heard him. TK let out a silent sigh and went to his bed, lowering himself down and staring at the ceiling until sleep quickly swooped in and overtook him, laying him gently to rest.
"Aiiieeee!" TK's eyes snapped open and sleep left him in a moment, the high pitched scream clashing against his eardrums. TK swung off his bed sheets and swung to his feet, noticing that next to him Takato was doing the same, Guilmon already letting out a low growl as the three of them left the room to follow the scream.
Minami stood in her room, screaming as loud as she could, attempting to dodge away as a Divermon and a Scorpiomon reached for her.
"Back off!" Takato cried out, and Guilmon leapt into action, baring his teeth and lunging forward. He attacked the Scorpiomon, trying to lash out despite the close quarters. The Divermon took the moment of distraction to grab Minami by the arm, causing her to let out another ear splitting shriek in terror. Without thinking TK entered the room, harshly punching the Divermon, not resisting the small sound of disgust as his hand made contact with it's soft and squishy skin, covered in some kind of mucus.
"What the-" The Divermon hissed to look over at TK and then stopped, doing a double take, looking TK up and down. "You! You can't be! But I do not question what I know is true. My master will like you, perhaps even more than the girl!" He declared, reaching a hand out towards TK. Before he could manage to wrap his flipper around the boys arm TK reached out and snagged Minami's hand, turning and rushing outside and trusting Guilmon and Takato to handle things.
"Get the blond one as well!" The Divermon shouted. Kas close behind the pair brandishing a boat paddle like a staff in his hands. Tk stepped outside, and in the light of the moon it became apparent that it was no safer than inside had been, and he felt his stomach plummet. Somethink slimy and squishy gripped his arm, hard enough that TK couldn't help but to release a cry of shock, trying to pull away from whatever Digimon had him in it's grasp.
"Ahhh!" His head swiveled up to lock onto Minami who was also struggling against a Digimon's grip on her. Her cry was full of panic and fear and as it rang out into the night her laptop - still sitting on the porch from earlier that night, began to glow and illumiate the darkness. Pure light leaked out of the screen like a living being and coalesced into a solid form.
The died down and the growl of the beast from the laptop echoed across the beach. It wasted no time to rush over to Minami and made short work of her captor, shining white teeth effortlessly carving through the Digimon and allowing it's data to float away on the ocean breeze. The Digimon was a dog like creature that looked as though it had been carved from a gleaming white marble with subtle yellow accents. It bared it's fangs once across the surf and then approached Minami, giving her a curious sniff and then looking her directly in her eyes.
"Minami." He whispered, voice strong and protective. Minami gave a small gasp as she looked at the Digimon, reaching a hand out as if to pet it, or maybe even just confirm that it was real. The still moment was broken as a large Mantaraymon breached the waves zeroing in on TK and Minami in an instant.
"Look out!" Takato shouted, but TK was only so fast and the sand made runnign diificult.
"No!" The Digimon cried out in anguish and hurled himself at the Mantaraymon, only to be effortlessly batted away, released a high pitched whine as he was struck. TK was dimly aware of Takato trying to call for Guilmon, who was still trying to fight the Divermon. Too far away. Too preoccupied. The Mantaraymon scooped both TK and Minami up and quickly retured to the sea. Quickly, the small island behind them became nothing but a dot on the horizon. TK held onto Minami, and Minami huddled close to TK, shivering from the coolness of night combined with the chill of sea spray, tears streaking down her face.
"Tk, what do we do?"
"I…. I don't know."
oOO
Good lord it's good to be slowly chugging away at my fics again. Gonna try to get back on track with serveral of them including Hope In Tamers since those of you who have somehow been with me this whole time should know I never fully can leave this story alone. Leave a comment if you guys liked the chapter, and if you're interested in seeing some of my other stuff like my art visit me on the-east-art on tumblr or awesome_eleven on insta