Chapter 10: Bonds Rethreaded

TK:

And so it came to pass that the dragon, that old serpent, would lead Man into temptation. Made impure, he was never to return to paradise. At behest of the Lord, an angel guarded the gates of Eden. This was his duty, for all time.

One day, it was not Man that came to the gates of paradise, but the dragon.

"Halt, fell beast!" The angel roared at him. "You are never to come here!"

"I have no desire to go into your garden." The old serpent said. "I have come to lead you away from it."

"Are you mad? My duty is to guard his gate." The angel replied.

"Why?" The dragon asked him. "Why must you guard this gate? What harm is there in doing something else? Surely you must want to. Surely you cannot intend to stay at this door forever?"

"I do and I must. These are the gates of paradise. I will not loose my place here."

"What a paradise it is! You are confined here to a doorway. Your duty is a sham. It is a prison without walls. You do not know paradise." The dragon countered. "You do not know good from evil, or heaven from hell. Come with me and I shall show you. You shall see a paradise beyond what you can dream of here."

And so the angel stepped out from his post, out of Eden and into the Earth beyond. As the favor of the Lord left him, his wings crumbled to dust.

"What have I done?" The angel wept. "My god, I have forsaken you! Forgive me!"

"You do not need forgiveness." said the dragon "It is he that needs forgiveness from you. Surely you must see that."

"But what am I to do? How shall I ever fly again?"

"Mount me." The dragon said. "Mount me and and we shall fly above Heaven."

The angel did. The dragon flew up with him, above the clouds, above the sky, above Heaven itself. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The Eden he had known was nothing.

TK woke shortly after that. He sighed. Once again he had the dream. Even in his sleep, he could not take his mind off of his temptation, off of his crisis. For over a week now, he'd had these dreams, these angel dreams he had only ever had after sermons before. Every night the dragon had come to him in his dreams and tempt him, and every night until now he had told the dragon off. Now...

"Davis... why? Why are you doing this me?"

It was obvious what set the dreams off. It was his meal with Davis, the night he realized he was in love with him. He was the angel of his own dreams, and the other boy was the dragon. A part of their digimon partners was within them, as much as a part of them was in their partners. And now the dragon, the old serpent, was making him think of that word "partner" in a whole new sense.

"But I can't."

The Bible was clear on the matter. To be with man as with woman... that was an abomination. As long as TK could withstand the temptation in his dreams, he thought that surely he could do do in his waking hours as well. Now though, he had succumbed in his dreams, and he knew he would in real life as well.

"What's wrong with that?" A part of him asked, as it had before. "Why can't you just ask him out? No one is hurt by it. Why would anyone forbid that?"

TK had thought about apostasy before. I was hard not to do in a land with so few Christians. Such thoughts had always been fleeting, though. Christianity had always been to much a part of him, of his identity, to seriously consider abandoning it… Now a new part of his identity had been revealed to him, and he did not know how to maintain them both.

He thought on conversion in depth for the first time then. Most of the other people the met, Buddhists Shintos and others, they were nice enough to him, but those that were not were more than enough to sour the experience. He knew what it was like to be an outcast for his faith, to be the butt of jokes he was to "sensitive" to appreciate, and so did his mother. If it were not for his father she wouldn't have the job she did. Even those that did not hate them, it seemed, did not understand him. How, to them, was his religion different from any money stealing cult? To be free of that… it was hard not to long for it.

He then laughed at the foolishness of it now. "That might have been a better argument two weeks ago… but today..." At this point he would only be trading one persecution for another. Even in a country with so few Christians, homophobia was rampant. It had been since the days of Emperor Meiji. A Christian marriage, that was normal even to Buddhists and Shintos, but a gay marriage... that was joke, a farce not worthy of recognition by the law. Homosexuality was not an abomination here, but it was not real love. Only a manchild would cling onto it for life.

Still… he wasn't a man, not yet; now he was only a child. If he was with Davis now, that would just be children doing what children do. He would be as persecuted for it today as if he played with his old toys. If he was ever do convert… now was the time. He would still struggle in his adulthood, but this way, at least his childhood would be whole.

"What if Davis doesn't like me?" TK asked himself. "What if I ask him out after I convert and he rejects me. What if he doesn't even like guys? I'll have done all that… for nothing."

He stared out the window, unsure now of what to do more than ever. For a moment he was distracted. The beauty of the rising sun filled his mind, lifting him into a happier state. As he recalled his trial, he wanted to stay there.

"Is that Amaterasu, reaching out me?" He could almost hear her, see her mouth out the words in the sunlight. "Come to me Takeru; my burden truly is light. Forsake the cruel god of the west, and be with me who you truly are."

He had heard Christians speak of hearing God, of seeing him in the world around them. He had wondered if he had not done this himself before more than once. Now...

He almost answered her. He almost gave the goddess his soul right there… but the words crumbled in his mouth. All he managed to say was "I'm sorry… mom." He sobbed there uncontrollably.

Kari:

Gatomon stared uneasily at the tub. "Do I have to?" She asked.

"You know you do." Her human answered. "You can't lick yourself clean in that body anymore. You know you don't want it to get sick while you're in it."

Her partner sighed. Both of them dreaded bathing now, though for different reasons. Kari was worse before. She had always been ashamed to see Davis's body naked, but that shame had mostly gone now that she knew he had stolen hers. Despite that, it was still the ultimate reminder of just where and who she now was. That dread had gotten worse when the shame got better. It came with a greater fear that this state might be permanent. It also came with the knowledge that this was not some cruel act of fate, but an evil act of betrayal that seemed to be going unpunished.

Gatomon had never experienced the shame her partner had. Digimon did not really have a nudity taboo the way humans did. As a consequence, the fear was with her almost always, but not in the bath anymore than anywhere else. The former cat had told her she hated bathing not for a human reason, but a feline one. Even in her new reptilian body she retained her catlike fear of being submerged.

They got the bath done as quickly as they could.

Matt was there as Kari left her room.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Not really." She replied.

"I know the feeling." He replied. "Don't let it ruin you. We just need to keep going until we get our bodies back, then everything will be alright."

Kari did not know if she believed that. It must seem so much simpler from Matt's point of view. Jun was never anyone important to him, but Davis had been both a fellow digidestined and her friend. Even if she got her life back right then, she knew her friendship, that bond reinforced in battle, was ruined. And of course, she was still not certain she would ever get her body back.

"How can you be so sure of that?" She asked. "No one believes us. How are we going to get our bodies back?"

They had discussed new plans after seeking help had failed… It didn't look like any of them led anywhere. Stealing one of the rings from them seemed to provide the most options, but it also seemed impossible. They had no idea where the red ring was, and searching for it on visits to her old family had proved impractical. Davis was always watching her when she did that. He knew it had to be on her mind. And Tai… after what had happened when she tried to get his help she dare not risk him thinking back to that.

The blue ring's location was obvious to them, always on the finger Jun stole from Matt. They had discussed the thought of Matt seeming to return Jun's affections so that she might lower her guard and give Matt a chance to snatch the ring from her. This didn't seem like it would work either after Matt's recent outburst. She'd be a complete idiot to trust him now and she seemed to be anything but. The thought of taking the ring by force had occurred to Kari, but she dared not bring it up...

"I don't know," Matt replied to her question. "but I have to assume we'll find a way. We'll never find a way if we assume it's impossible, and even if it is, dwelling on it will will only make it worse. I learned that from your brother."

"I miss him." Kari said. "Even after he kicked me out, I miss him a lot. I miss my parents too." Going to visit as Davis just hadn't been the same.

"I know that feeling too." Matt said. "I've missed my mom and TK for a very long time now."

"I'm sorry." Kari replied. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Don't be." He stepped over and hugged her. "I'm just saying. I… have experience dealing with that sort of feeling. If you ever need to talk about it, I'll be happy to try and help you."

Kari returned the embrace. "Thank you." She said. "I… I still miss Tai, but I'm glad you're my older sibling now."

For a split second she felt the embrace loosen.

"Oh god." She thought. It quickly become obvious how awful a thing that was to say.

"I… I'm sorry I…."

The embrace suddenly got much tighter.

"Thank you." He said. "Don't be sorry. I wish it weren't like this either, but now that is, I'm glad I got to have a younger bro... sibling again. Thank you for being that for me."

"Kari tightened her hug then as well. "You're welcome." She said. "Thank you for there for being there for me when Tai wouldn't."

"Don't mention it." her new sibling said as the hug ended. He chuckled. "I haven't given up trying to one-up Tai yet. I'll use this opportunity to be twice as good an older sibling as he was. You're the perfect person to judge."

"That will be a tough challenge." Kari said also chuckling. "Good luck."

Davis:

Once again the ball went into the net.

"Great Job Kari!" Tai cheered from the bleachers.

He wasn't the only one impressed.

"Well done." The girls' soccer captain said. "To be honest, I almost wanted to just let you in without a try-out, but that wouldn't have been proper. You exceeded expectations anyway. Welcome to the team!"

"Thank you very much." Davis said.

Back when he had expected to switch back, the former boy had not wanted to commit Kari to the team. Now that he had accepted her life, however, he had decided to start making it his.

He left the school shortly there after, along with his new brother. Bringing him along had seemed like a great idea to both of them. His new captain was just old enough to have seen Tai lead the boys' team to victory before he graduated. Being his sister had to count for quite a bit with her.

Of course, that also meant she would be graduating this year and a new captain would be needed.

"I wonder if she'll get me that position, like Tai did when he left?" He thought. He kind of doubted it. Tai's sister or not this body wasn't nearly as fit as his old one; the try-outs having been much easier there. Still, it wasn't impossible, and no matter what, surely by the time he graduated himself he could get his new body up to par. Surely by then he could earn that position. The thought pleased him greatly. Who else could say they had lead both the boys' team and the girls' team, let alone at the same school? "A born leader, no matter what the gender." Yes, that was his goal now.

"Congrats on making the team." Tai said. "I knew you could do it."

"Thanks, big brother."

"Just so you know," he said as they continued to walk home "you don't have to do this for me. If you want to quit at anytime, you can."

"I promise I'm doing it for me, not you." The new sister said. "Be honest, though. What do you think of it?"

"It makes me very proud of you, more so than I've been in a long time." Tai responded. "I think you might be braver than me, at least today."

Braver than Tai? That wasn't a praise he had ever expected, let alone from the idol himself.

"Yeah right!" He said, the sarcasm obvious.

"No really. We've both been afraid of this for a long time. I… I think I still kind of am, but I know it's irrational. I'm glad to see you do this. I've… even after all this time I've missed the idea of playing soccer with you. I'm glad to see that becoming a reality."

Davis blushed. "I'm glad to make that reality for you."

The older leader opened the door as they arrived at their apartment.

"Welcome home, best sister ever!"

He felt like he really was the best sister ever. It was hard to describe just how great that made him feel. This wasn't the first time Tai had complimented him since the switch, but it was the first time it really occurred to Davis just why it made him so happy.

"He likes me better than Kari." He realized then. "I'm a better sister than she was."

The former boy had continued to feel guilty about what he had done, despite his commitment to ignore it. Now… now that guilt seemed to melt away. He had made that commitment for his partner. Now he knew Tai was better off for it too. How could he ever let the old Kari have her life back if it meant so many people would be worse off? Not just him, not just Jun, not even just Veemon, but Tai would be worse off for it.

"I'm the best sister ever, the best Tai's ever had! I deserve this body. It really is mine!"

That was the happiest moment of his life.

Jun:

Jun knocked at the door of the Takaishi residence. Her new mother quickly opened it up.

"Hey Matt!" Ms Takaishi greeted. "What's up?"

"Nothing mother," Jun responded. "I just wanted to see you. That's okay right?"

"Of course!" She said. "Come on in."

Her new son obliged. She walked into the apartment and looked around.

"It's a lot cleaner than Matt's... maybe my old one too..."

"Have a seat." The divorced mother said. "Are you hungry? We were going to have dinner when TK got back. You're welcome to join us."

"I'm afraid I can't stay that long." Jun replied, faking sorrow. "I have some practice with my band in less than an hour."

"Aw, that stinks." she replied. "Anything you want to talk about real quick?"

"A few things, though I mainly wanted to give you a gift."

The romantic reached into her pocket and pulled out one of her black rings. The gold gem was firmly placed in the swapping position. Her mother, or rather, her soon to be father accepted it.

"Thank you son, this is beautiful." She said sliding it on.

After that concert where Jun had gotten Matt's autograph, and TK's as well, she had wondered why they had different family names. It didn't take her long to discover that they lived in different houses with different single parents. It became obvious then that they were separated by divorce. This realization had saddened her greatly. She tried to imagine how she would have reacted if her own parents had separated, not just from each-other but her from Davis. She could only think it would have devastated her. The romantic couldn't help but pity her love and his brother, and wish she had a way to help them. Now she did. She knew exactly what was needed to do to rekindle their marriage.

"No problem mom."

They shared small talk for a few minutes after that, and then Jun was on her way.

"One down, one to go." She thought. "Dad comes after practice." School had just ended, so she hadn't had time to give him his ring get, but she had to do it today. After becoming Matt, she had found out today was his parents old anniversary.

Jun needed Matt's car to reach the band practice, let alone on time. It was out in the suburbs. Akira was the only one among the band to have a house rather than an apartment. This made going to his place very inconvenient, but it did give the Teenage Wolves a lot of privacy. When their newest member arrived, she saw the others through the open garage door.

"There you are, Matt. What took you do long?" Takashi asked.

"I had an errand with my mom that took longer than I thought." Jun replied.

"I didn't know you were such a momma's boy." Yakuta teased.

"Hey, I got this out of it."

Jun took Matt's notebook and handed it to him.

"Nice!" He said reading the lyrics. "What do you guys think?"

Ms. Takaishi had nothing to do with it. Jun had discovered Matt's notes for "Fallen for You" and the lyrics practically wrote themselves in her head. It was the first time the fan had ever written a song of her own, but she really liked the result. It felt in line with something the band would actually play. It made her confident about her future as a band member.

The others seemed to agree. "Nice indeed!" Akira said. "Did you get a beat for it?"

"Um... no." She lamented. That she did not think she could do... That brought new doubts.

"I'll take care of that, don't worry." Yakuta offered. "Let's just get the old songs perfected now."

No one objected. They picked out several music sheets and began to preform.

"You okay Matt?" Akira asked. "You're an octave off."

"Um, sorry." She had tired to sing all of the band's songs many times in her old body. Doing so again had been one of the first things she did her new body as well. Still, she could never get sound coming out of her mouth to quite match what she'd remembered of the true Matt singing. The fan had assumed that was simply due to Matt's voice sounding different through its own ears than in third person. Was there more to it?

It didn't seem like there was to much more as they practiced. After a few tries the other band members stopped categorically correcting her pitch. Hopefully that meant she had gotten it right. As they continued the bandmates did seem to stop and correct her much more than each-other, but not incomparably so. All and all, things seemed to be going better than she expected...

Practice came to an end.

"You guys think we're ready for the concert on the 30th?" Yakuta asked. "I think Matt could stand some work."

"Eh, I've heard worse." Akira said. He turned to Jun. "Just do some more practice on your own and we should be fine!"

"Happily." She replied.

"That just leaves 'Fallen For You,' then." Takashi said. "Do we need to put that off until next concert, or can we get it ready in time?"

"I can definitely get it finished this week." Yakuta replied. "If all else is ready, I'd just recommend devoting the next practice or two to it and we should be golden."

"Wonderful."

They began to part ways after that, Takashi and Yakuta driving off. Jun stayed a bit longer though. There was a matter she wanted to discuss with her friend's crush.

"Hey Akria," she asked him "you know Monoe, Yolie's sister?"

"Vaguely." He replied. "What about her?"

"I think she likes you."

"It wouldn't surprise me. We're kind of popular."

"Indeed." Jun agreed. "I just think you two would make a great couple. Do you like her?"

"I... don't." He looked a bit flustered all of a sudden. He looked around.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"More than you know."

"I..." Akira stuttered. "I don't think I like girls at all. I think I'm gay."

That was not the answer she expected.

"Sorry Monoe." She thought. Still...

"What do you think of me then?" She asked.

Jun and Monoe had read a decent bit of yaoi before. More than once the thought of their loves... together had crossed their minds. Monoe had a better opinion of it than she did. The thought of seeing it from the outside was almost as appealing to her as having the musician for herself. To Jun seeing them together from the outside did not compare to having Matt to herself, but now that she was Matt... it wouldn't be seeing it from the outside... it wouldn't even be cheating like what she had done with Davis. In their current bodies, she and Matt were still bond in their perfect marriage. Not to mention, she was a guy now, and so was Akira.

"You... why do you ask?" He inquired.

"I have a bit of a taste in men myself." She said "If you're looking for boyfriend, I wouldn't mind one either."

The bandmate laughed. "Why not?" He finally said. "You're not bad looking, and we are friends. We could go out on Friday if you want."

"Yes!" Jun immediately responded. "Um... you will have to pay for it though." After the failed date and the full body mirror "Matt" didn't have a lot of cash left laying around.

"Eh, sure, whatever."

This was going to be wonderful.

When Jun returned to her new apartment, she found Mr. Ishida asleep on the couch, a sake bottle dropped on the floor. She walked up to her current father and nudged him subtly. He did not wake up. That pleased her. I was the last condition she needed for her plan to work.

Jun needed to take back at least one of the rings after her parents used them, which would be very difficult if both parents remained conscious when they switched. She knew enough from Davis and Veemon's descriptions of their swaps to know they would likely discover the rings' involvement quickly. She could not allow them to keep the rings and no doubt use them to switch back. With this scheme, they would never see both of the rings, and would have no way to guess they were responsible.

The former girl had seen Mr Ishida drink at roughly this time most every day. Today would seem like a logical day to him to drink more than most. She doubted he would drink enough to pass out; he did not strike her as an alcoholic, but if he were to do so it didn't seem he would have to many questions as to why he did. A few sleeping pills covertly dissolved into his alcohol that morning and here they were. It would seem to the then former father that he had just over-drank. It would also make it much easier to use the ring on him without waking him up.

That was what Jun did then. She slipped the ring on his finger, subtly as she could, just in case. It worked and the gem turned from its perpendicular to its parallel position and the sleeping body on the coach rolled over. A switch had occurred.

"You're welcome." The romantic said. She slid the ring off of Ms Takaishi's new finger and put it into her own pocket.

The phone rang soon after that. Jun went ahead and answered it. "Ishida residence."

"Um… hi Matt." The voice belonged to Ms Takaishi, but they both knew it who it really was.

"It's your…. mother" he said, straining to utter the last word. "could I, um… talk to your father?"

"I don't think that's possible." She replied. "He's asleep at the moment."

"Could you… wake him?"

"I doubt that. Sleep… might not have been the right word. There's a sake bottle on the floor with him. I think we might have passed out drunk."

"Are… you sure he's okay?" Mr Ishida asked, his tone seemingly at the brink of panic. "Do we need to call an ambulance?"

"I checked, and he's fine." She replied. "An ambulance won't help. From what I learned in health class, you just need to let him sleep it off." A man of his age ought to know that, but in his apparent state of mind it seemed prudent to remind him.

"You're positive he's okay?"

"Certain."

Her new mother sighed. "I… can you please tell him to call me back when he wakes up?"

"I doubt I'll need to do that." Jun thought. "Will do." She said.

The next morning she woke up to the sound of a man screaming. It was music to her ears.

Davis:

Davis looked around the palace interior once more. It really was scenic, fitting the bill for a Warring States castle, albeit with a few bizarre digital world touches like modern plumbing.

"Hey, scenery aside, I'd rather have modern plumbing than not." The thought.

The castle was occupied by large community of Geckomon, apparently the same one the group had encountered with Mimi when she visited Japan. What they were doing in so many different areas was beyond the former leader, but it was always nice to encounter some familiar faces. The group was currently confined to castle, driven there along with the frogs by Ken's slaves outside.

"We need a new plan of attack." TK said. "There are to many minions to overtake. Charging out won't work."

"I'm not sure about that. We just need to destroy the control spire." He said. "That will turn off all the dark rings."

"Agreed." Veemon said. "That should be easy."

He did not know if anyone else agreed. A least a couple of his peers seemed surprised to see "Kari" making such proclamations. No one had much time to think though. The ground beneath them shook.

A Geckomon ran into the room. "You have to help us!" He yelled. "ShogunGeckomon has a dark spiral! He's destroying everything!"

They ran outside and, sure enough, it was true. The enormous amphibian was rampaging throughout the courtyard. He had already demolished several buildings and knocked a hole in the castle wall. The enslaved shogun alone was more than enough to make the area unsafe. Add to him the Floramon and Mushroomon that would likely soon come through the hole and it was clear the frogs needed to scatter.

Davis turned to the Geckomon that got them. "You all need to evacuate." The frog nodded and ran off toward the common room.

The digidestined ran out through the hole. Almost immediately Ken's army was upon them. Floramon charged start at them from the front, and Mushroommon from the side.

"Digiarmor Energize!" Davis cried.

"Gatomon armor digivolve to Rabbitmon, the Leap of Friendship!"

The others followed suite.

"Shurimon, the Samurai of Sincerity!" "Pegususmon, Flying Hope!" "Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!" "Digmon, the Drill of Power!"

"Fire Rocket!" Gatomon cried out as she charged the Mushroom. Digmon went out to engage the Floramon. "Rock Cracking!"

TK and his partner were already airborne. "Why didn't you go Nefertimon? We need to work together to contain the ultimate."

Davis mounted his partner as well. "I have a control spire to destroy." He said. It was the truth, though admittedly less time working with TK was still appreciated. "Distract Shogun Geckomon on your own." The blonde probably made a counter argument, but his rival did not bother to hear it. He charged off in the direction of the dark spiral.

It was a quicker journey than he expected. The new rabbit was very fast and could jump great distances. First he leapt atop the nearest building, then proceed to jump unto a building two or three blocks down before doing it again. Davis could see several enemies beneath them as he did, but few of them even seemed to notice the blur above them, let alone react in time to attack.

"Carrot Bomber!" Veemon yelled as they approached the control spire. It shattered in the explosion.

"Excellent work, partner." Davis said. He turned around and saw Shogun Geckomon still rampaging. "That just leaves the dark spiral.

The former dragon leapt off in that direction. On the way there, they saw Pegusumon take a hit from the ultimate and fall to the ground with TK on him.

"That has to hurt." His rival thought. As much as he had hated the boy, he could still empathize with that, and his old hatred seemed to matter a lot less to him now. Still, as he had noted with Tai and Matt, old rivalries died hard. If he had to pick someone to "take one for the team" he would be the one.

Veemon glanced up at him, as if asking for orders. "We'll check on him later," Davis said. "First stop ShogunGeckomon." His partner complied.

Most of the other digimon had begun to engage the amphibian by the time Davis arrived.

"Rock Cracking!" Digmon yelled, digging a ditch.

"Fire Rocket!" With her own attack, Gatomon drove the shogun into the ditch. He was confined there, but he was not beaten yet.

"Musical Fist!" A sonic burst came from the frog's horns. The armor digimon were able to dodge it, but the buildings behind them were demolished.

"Let's take him out for good while he's focused on the others." Davis commanded.

"Happily." Veemon replied. With a running jump he leapt toward the slave. "Carrot Bomber!"

"Musical Fi-" Shogun Geckomon was about to attack again when the carrot flew into his horn, and his own attack was mixed in with its fiery burst. The ground shook as the strangely harmonious sound of an explosion filled the air, and when it cleared, the giant at its center was out cold.

Davis landed in front of the other group. "Checkmate." He smirked.

"Great job Kari!" Yolie said, she and Shurimon landing then as well. "You beat the ultimate and your idea worked. Congrats."

"Thanks." The former leader replied. He looked up at the shogun's hair. "We do technically still need to get the spiral off him, though." he looked at his partner. "Wanna take the whole hairdo off? It looks ugly anyway."

"How dare you!" a voice came. Turning toward it the group saw a Geckomon coming their way. "Shogun Geckomon's hair is his pride and joy. You will not remove it!"

"Chill out, it was only a joke." Davis replied."We're not really gonna cut off his hair."

"Joke or not it was insensitive." Kari complained. Her replacement just rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He said.

"Hey, its getting things done." Yolie retorted.

Veemon did not wait for them to argue. "Ear Flapping!" He leapt up and whacked the dark spiral with his ear. It shattered.

TK returned momentarily. He was limping, carrying Patamon in his arms.

"Good god TK, are you alright!?" Kari whelped.

"I'm... fine, really." He said. He had a few bruises, but it didn't look life threatening or anything...

The current leader was less certain. She went toward him and asked "Are you sure?" reaching out to touch him. He drew back before she could. "Really... I'm fine."

They went back to the portal after that. The others, especially Kari, kept giving TK concerned glances. He brushed them off, however, again Kari's especially. Each time she looked at him he would inch further from her, toward Yolie, or, as she began to inch toward Davis, toward Cody.

"Are you sure you're alright?" The small boy eventually asked.

"I'll get better. Thank you though for asking."

It did make the former leader feel at bit guilty. "Maybe I should have helped him with Nefetimon." He almost whispered. Yolie seemed to be the only one to hear him.

"Hey, he says he's fine, so we should probably believe him. As long as he's been a digidestined, surely he's had something like this happen before." She said.

Davis was content to leave it there.

"You know," Yolie continued "I have to say I was really impressed with you today. I... to be blunt, I'm beginning to think you might make a better leader than Davis."

The actual Davis laughed. How could he not? The irony was obvious even to him.

"No, really." The other girl said, seeming to think he wasn't taking her seriously. "Aren't you Tai's sister? How come he made Davis the leader and not you? Sexism?"

"I doubt that very seriously." Davis replied. "What's wrong with Davis anyway? Wasn't he doing a good job before?"

Yolie thought for a second. "He... was; you're right. It's weird. Before I thought he was a little... okay I knew he was more than a little reckless, but he got the job done. Nowadays... it's like he doesn't want to do anything... no, he wants to, but... he doesn't do it. He hesitates at every step... except that time he had to rescue you... and that did not turn out well."

"Yeah, you told me." Davis interjected.

"How did Tai become leader anyway?" She asked. "Why did he get to pick?"

"The other digidestined picked him." The old leader had told his successor this already. "They decided he was best for them before they went back to Earth to get... me."

"If we ever do that, you can count on my vote." Yolie pledged.

"Thanks."

The former boy stared over at Kari as they continued, at the googles on his old head. He began to wonder what they would look like on his new head. Several schemes began to come to mind already about how to get them there.