Chapter 11: Trapped
Matt:
It was the day Matt had been dreading all month.
The guidance counselor had given him a bag of tampons that first day he'd bleed, but they really only stopped the bleeding. He did not know how to handle the cramping. Fortunately all of that had stopped in a few days, but now, after a full month in a female body, the cycle was beginning yet again.
"Damn you, Jun!" he grumbled, not for the first time even since his last... flowering, had ended.
The new girl was vaguely aware that medicine existed to treat the cramping. Unfortunately, he had no idea what such medicine was called or looked like. Looking through the Motomiya's medicine cabinet, he saw several sets of pills he did not recognize. Was the desired treatment among them?
"Estroven" he read from the label of one. "That... sounds like its on the right track..." He pulled it out and was starting to examine it further...
"Matt, what are you doing?"
Turing around he saw his current sibling looking at him.
"Ugh, is there any point to hiding it now?"
Last month, Matt had been to embarrassed to mention what was happening to Kari, assuming his first period would be his last. Surely they would be back in their own bodies in less time than a month. Now that it was happening again... it seemed like asking someone with first hand knowledge what to do seemed to important to refuse.
"I, ugh," the importance did not make it less embarrassing. "I think I'm, um... having menstrual cramps." He finally managed to say it. "I'm hoping the Motomiyas have something to treat it. You... wouldn't know what to look for, would you?"
"I..." Kari stuttered. "um, I'm sorry but I don't."
"Why not, did you not cramp in your old body?'
"I..." the embarrassment on her face immediately made Matt regret asking the question. "I... haven't actually had a period yet..."
"Oh, ugh, I'm really sorry Kari. I should not have asked that."
"Don't worry about it." She replied. "You needed to ask, and I'm sorry I couldn't answer. Um, for what it's worth I think I might have a... guy question I might have to ask you too."
"Is there a guy equivalent of a period I don't know about?" Matt thought.
"Ask away." He said. If nothing else he could appreciate the change of subject.
"I..." the new boy began "I think I'm starting to like girls."
That was new.
"I.. there was a teacher, a woman teacher, that I was indifferent to in my old body. Now... in this body I'm starting to... like her, in a way I hadn't before. And Yolie, sometimes, I… I..."
It was clear she did not want to talk about it.
"I get it." Matt said interrupting. "I... I'm not sure what to say to it, though. What's really the question. Do you want advice?"
"Yes." the former girl said. "I... honestly, this is really freaking me out and I don't know how to deal with it. How are you holding up on your end? Are you... starting to like guys?"
"I don't think so?" Matt replied. It was not a thought that had occurred to him before now. Still, now that Kari mentioned it, the prospect kind of freaked him out too. The Motomiya siblings, they had already taken their names and sexes. For to change their sexualities too... how much more of them was left to take?
He started imagining muscular men in his mind... he didn't feel anything for them...
"I... haven't had the issue." He said. "I haven't noticed any feelings for guys."
"That... why not? I... it has to be this body effecting me right? Why isn't it happening to you?"
"I don't know." The musician replied. "Do you think maybe you were a lesbian before hand and didn't know it?"
"I swear I wasn't!" She replied. "I swear I liked guys before this. I... still do... I just... think I'm starting to like girls too."
"Are you sure you weren't bi before hand and didn't know it?"
"I swear I never felt this way for girls before."
It seemed hard to argue with her. Matt did not know Kari's feelings, but it sure seemed like she was being sincere, though that did beg the question of why this change in sexuality was happening to Kari and not him.
"I... am I a pervert?" Kari asked meekly, apparently thinking the same question.
"Of course not!" Matt blurted. "Don't even think that!"
There had to be a better explanation than that. He began thinking on the matter. What was different about them? Gender was the obvious first thought. It was hard not to to think of it nowadays.
"Maybe a guy's body likes girls more than a girl's body likes guys?"
He did not like that thought at all.
"Then again, the girl's body in question here is Jun's... Davis never creeped on Kari the way she did me... did he?"
Either way he liked that though even less.
"If I'm stuck in this body, am I going to become a creepy stalker like she was?"
He decided to operate under the assumption that wasn't true. Partly for the sake of his own sanity, though if nothing else it seemed like he ought to know if he was on that road already...
What else was different about them? Age was the obvious next thing. Thinking on that, he liked it a lot better.
"I think it's because you're younger than I am." He said. "You just told me you haven't had your first period yet. You and Davis, you guys have a lot more puberty left to go through at 12 years old. I'm mostly finished, and Jun, she might be finished entirely."
That had to be it. Kari had had the first year or two of female puberty in her old body, and now she was beginning to experience male puberty to go along with it.
"I... does that mean I'll stop liking guys if I'm stuck here?" the former girl asked.
"I don't know." Matt said. "I guess it would depend on if Davis's puberty overrides yours or... well, adds to it? I doesn't matter. We'll get our bodies back long before that would happen."
From the look on her face Kari did not seem to convinced.
He decided to change the subject again.
"How are your grades?" He asked.
Their new parents had been quite pleased with their new son's recent performance. Report cards weren't out yet, but from the material handed back, Kari was doing a lot better than Davis had been. She seemed to appreciate the praise that came with that.
Obviously, Matt had been less inclined to share his own grades.
"I..." Kari stuttered. "I... failed the last test. It... it was the first time I did that in months. I... I'm afraid I might be... dumber in this body."
This had not had the outcome he'd intended...
"That can't be true." He said. "How could it be? You still have your old mind, right?"
"I... do." She admitted. "But I have Davis's body. Isn't, like, his brain part of that?"
That... made more sense than Matt wanted to admit.
"I guess it depends on what... actually switched between us." He said softly.
Thinking on the front, he realized it couldn't have been their actual brains. He knew how perilous it was to transplant a heart or a kidney between random people. Shouldn't the same apply to brains? If the rings had teleported their brains into new skulls, wouldn't their new bodies reject them? It seemed unlikely both Kari and Davis and he and Jun were compatible... and that's before he started thinking about Gatomon and Veemon.
"Do digimon even have brains... like organs at all?"
He had seen digimon die several times before, but he never saw any gore. They just... disintegrated.
The former musician decided not to go down that rabbit hole. He assumed that neither human nor digimon actually exchanged brains. That raised the question of what they did exchange though... minds? souls? What were those things anyway?
"Is there a piece of the soul that contains language?"
He decided he would ponder metaphysics later. Returning to issue at hand, he said.
"Whatever we exchanged, I don't think it impacted our intelligence. I... if you're getting worse at school it seems I ought to be getting better. I have the brain of an AP student after-all, but I'm still doing as bad in Jun's classes now as I was when I first got here. You're just stressed out. I am too in this situation."
"I... guess so?" Kari did seem a bit relieved by that.
"Then again," Matt thought "Maybe I'm just behind... Kari would have known all of Davis's material at the start, but I wouldn't have known Jun's..."
That still did not seem right. Most of Jun's classes did build on previous material, but some of them also seemed to be starting completely new units. The latter courses were as mysterious to him as the former...
It didn't matter; there was no way he would share that thought with her.
TK:
Mom was on the phone when TK came home from school. It was easy to notice. It seemed like Ms. Takaishi lived on the phone nowadays, chatting with someone behind her room's door. It was doubtful she heard him come in. Granted, she'd always acknowledge him when she got off, more enthusiastically the she used to in fact, but it was sill a bit jarring; before she had almost always greeted him coming in.
On the plus side, it gave him a flimsy excuse not ask her for… advice. He knew he needed it, but he could not see a positive outcome to asking her for it. One way or another he would be disappointed, and for all he knew she might be disappointed in him...
Still, he was getting very curious what it was she was talking about...
He laid his ear on the door, right where it was hinged to the wall.
"I'm sorry, boss. Really." She said. "I... I'm a bit rusty on the proper formatting... Yes I know I've been here long enough. I, um, I guess I'm not feeling myself lately... I was afraid of that. Can I please get a couple more sick days?"
Was mom sick? That did concern him. Either way it seemed she was in trouble at work. He wanted to hear more but he was then distracted by the ringing of the home phone.
"Mom must be using her cell." The blonde thought. "I still wish I had one..."
Answering the phone, it was his father. "Hey TK." He said. "I, ah, need to speak to your... mother. Is she available now?"
"How much should I tell him?" TK asked himself. He was feeling a bit guilty eavesdropping on mom already; sharing her secrets felt like a further step he shouldn't take.
Deciding against it he answered "She's on the phone now. What is it?"
"It's nothing. I... just needed to ask her for some advice."
"Anything I can help with?"
"No." Mr. Ishida replied. "It's work stuff. You... wouldn't be able to help."
"I'm sorry then. For what it's worth, I think mom is having a similar problem."
What did it matter at this point?
A bitter laugh came through the phone.
"Yeah, I know." dad said. "Can you just tell her to call me back next?"
"I'll do that."
Gatomon:
"Tick, tock, tick, tock."
That was the only sound Gatomon could hear right now. The only thing she could see was a view of the legs of a desk she saw through the hole in the bookbag. All she was able to do was listen to the clock.
Most of Kari's classes involved a lecture. At first the digimon had found them boring, but now they were beginning to feel like her only link to sanity as the day ran by. At times like now, when the students were doing classwork, she did not even have that. Her only input from the outside world were the clock, whatever minutia she could see through the hole, and maybe the scraping of pencils if she listened hard enough.
Eventually the bell rang. The period was over. Kari got up and began carrying the bag somewhere else.
"I can almost move too." She had been stuck in the bag for 8 hours now. Just one more period and she, like her partner, would be able move around again. For the last few moments she could, she decided not to dwell on what else that meant.
It had been over a month since the switch now, but still the former cat had not gotten used to being confined like this. In the years since meting Kari she had had freedom of movement like anyone else. Now… the only thing she could compare it to was life under Myotismon.
"At least I'm not getting whipped when I misbehave anymore..."
It was small comfort. She had been doing everything she could to forget about the years she'd lived with him. Now it was seeming less and less distant…
The bell rang again… she could not escape it any longer...
"What does the name 'Dracula' mean?" The teacher asked.
"Son of the dragon." A student answered.
"Correct." The teacher replied. "Dragons are demonic in Christian theology."
Literature had been Gatomon's least favorite class as of late. At first it was her favorite; it was the last one, afterall. It mean she was almost free… but then then they started reading a new book. And as her freedom approached, so to did these reminders. The nightmares that plagued her had grown much more frequent as of late.
Kari had asked her, after they started this unit, if Gatomon would rather be left in Davis's room on days when the group was not going to the digital world. She had agreed to that at first, but before long the former cat was begging to come back to school instead. Myotismon had placed her in solitary confinement several times before, but even he did not do it for 9 hours a day almost every day. She was to valuable for that.
She rejoiced when the bell finally rang. It the last bell. The ordeal was finally over.
"At least until tomorrow..."
There was no trip to the digital world planned today. That was always a disappointment now. Before the switch it would have been a relief, a break from putting herself in danger. Nowadays she relished those trips like nothing else. They were the only time she wasn't confined, where she could move about the world around her with no restrictions. Moreover, they were the only time she ever felt like an adult anymore. It was like when she lost her tail ring, but ten times worse. At least as a Veemon she had limbs again. Now, stuck as a DemiVeemon… she was pathetic. It was like being a Neomon again… except now she was confined to her partner's bedroom and bookbag.
Matt said hi to Kari as they arrived at the Motomiya household. They went up to their new room and the human let her out of the bookbag. Relative freedom was upon her… but then her new body had give her one last indignity.
"Kari, um… I think I have to… use the bathroom again."
Her partner sighed. It was obvious she didn't like what would follow either.
"Let's get this over with."
The human took her digimon into the bathroom, and held her over the toilet. It was not something she had to do before the switch, but the former cat could no longer climb the john like she could in her old body. As she had dozens of times by now, she urinated there, in front of her partner. Despite attempts to put it off, she defecated there as well. Kari frowned. That required an extra step.
Gatomon had never needed to wipe herself in her old body. In the digital world, as on Earth, it was just something quadrupeds really did not need to do. She was a biped now… but she did not have the benefits of it. The stubby arms of a DemiVeemon could not handle toilet paper. Kari had to do that for her.
"I'm sorry." The digimon said.
"Don't worry about it." the human answered. She finished, flushed the toilet, and washed her hands. They were used to it by now; another day, another indignity.
That was her life now.
She remembered the first time Kari had had to wipe her, and how humiliating it felt. She did not think she would ever forget. When she found out that the switch was deliberate, these incidents became infuriating as well as humiliating. That Veemon would do that to her… the rage that engendered,… and yet…
"Son of the dragon." Gatomon thought of those words again. Even without the subject in school, it was never hard to think of the vampire that had haunted her, and of course it wasn't hard to think of the dragon that did so now. Thinking of them being related was easy, and in the beginning it had been easy to write off Veemon as little more than that. Her rage grew greater with each new humiliation, and each new day confided to a bookbag, but, as the weeks went on, it began to be replaced by a different emotion... The longer she was forced to live like that, the more she yearned for her old life back… and the less she blamed Veemon for taking it from her.
She had begun to wonder, if this had been her body to begin with, if she had been the one given the chance to escape from this lot into someone else's life… she could almost see herself taking that chance, and that was as she was now. As she was under Myotismon… it was obvious what she would have done then; she would have stolen a new life without hesitation. If Myotismon were the son of the dragon, she was its' granddaughter. The vampire had been the closest thing to a father the former cat had ever known, and she had taken after him. Now, she was a dragon in form as well.
Scary as that was… it wasn't the worst thought she'd had as of late. Matt, and especially Kari had voiced many times the fear of being trapped in their new bodies forever. Gatomon wouldn't correct them, but she knew that wasn't truly the case. All three of them, like everyone else in every world, would someday die. If they failed to regain their old bodies before then, it would not matter to her human friends anymore. Matt and Kari would be free of their new bodies, but Gatomon… that would not happen to her. She would just be reborn at Primary Village, in a form just like the one she was in now. She would be stuck in Veemon's body, truly forever.
Kari:
"Really Davis?" The coach asked. "That's not very sportsmanly."
"I promise that isn't the only reason." Kari responded. "I've been thinking about his for a while now. Like you said, I've been... distant lately."
"Distant" was a fair description of Kari's relationship with the boys' soccer team. Even after all these years... she was a little afraid of the sport. She had almost skipped that first practice after the switch, but she went for Davis's sake. That was before his victim new just what he had done. It was also before her failures at leading in the digital world. She was not a fan of sports, but he wanted experience, not with soccer, but with leadership. If she learned how to be captain of the team, surely she could learn how to be leader of the digidestined... right? It turned out to be a fool's task. She had been a digidestined for a third of her life, and she knew their ways well. This game, this sport she had not played in years, that she had feared for so long... she couldn't begin to handle it. She could not be the coach's right hand, like a captain should, and the coach had noticed it.
"I'm afraid I have to find a new captain," he had told her as she came to practice that day. "I'm sorry." Kari's response had been to quit the team all together. She had no other reason to be there.
"I suppose I can't stop you." The coach said. "What a shame."
Shame was indeed what Kari felt then. It was nothing new. For one reason or another that emotion had always been at arm's length since the switch.
"Yeah, it is."
She walked off then, back to the lockers. As she entered, Gatomon waddled over to her. With no one around, there was no risk for her wandering the locker-room, and it seemed obvious that she knew her partner was upset.
"What's wrong?" The digimon asked.
"I... the coach said I couldn't be captain anymore... I went ahead and quit the team."
"Kari... I'm sorry." She replied. "Hey, don't worry about that. We both know you didn't like it here anyway."
"That is true."
The former cat continued. "If anything I ought to be the sad one. This locker room was one of few places I could wonder and not run into anyone."
Those words had the opposite effect of what Gatomon had intended. It was one more thing for Kari to be ashamed of.
Her partner caught on to that quickly. "I... I'm sorry. Really it's okay. I do honestly prefer going home with you to anyway. Don't worry about it."
She then changed the subject. "You're still the leader of the digidestined, even if your aren't of this team. Isn't that more important? Isn't that what you've always wanted?"
That was still true...
"Thank you," Kari sighed. She changed into her casual clothes.
They left then. With Gatomon in her book bag Kari began walking back toward her new apartment. The way was similar to the route she had taken before the switch, in that the easiest route meant passing in front of the high school Tai and Matt went to. Normally its students were still in class when Kari walked by. After trips to the digital world or her recent soccer practices, they had already left. Today, however, was a bit different. The aborted club had added just enough time to her trip that today she arrived just as the high school kids were beginning to leave, filling the side walk as she passed the gate. This would likely have been trivial... had she not noticed a certain face among them... Matt's.
It was not the true Matt. Kari must have missed him in the crowd, but Jun in his body was easily visible. Kari found herself following her then. It wasn't on purpose at first; they were simply going the same direction. But, when Jun did finally make a turn Kari wouldn't have, on a whim she turned with her. By then, the other students around them had begun to thin out. A thought that Kari had buried for a long while was coming back to her...
The new gogglehead had contemplated taking the ring from Jun by force. It wasn't serious at first; it just didn't seem practical. She did not think she could take on Matt's body, even in Davis's, even if Matt in Jun's body helped her. Her partner would also be no help as a DemiVeemon.
That last part, though... it lead her to thinking. She knew an in-training couldn't take out the average human, but it seemed like a Rookie could... and it was obvious a champion could do it easily. As the crowd thinned even further she reached her hand around to her bookbag, feeling where her lunchbox was. It was still there, the energy drink she had bought. The thought of getting Gatomon to digivolve to Veemon with coffee had been given to her the night they switched. She did not know what the Motomiyas had done with the coffee machine since she put the pot back, but she didn't need to. A few sips of Red Bull would do as well. Then add the digi-egg of courage and it was plain Jun could not guard her ring from them even if she were in the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Kari, what are you doing?" Gatomon whispered from within the bag. "This isn't the way home."
"It might be." Her partner replied. "Be quite, please, until we're alone. I might be able to get us our bodies back."
Kari half expected the former cat to scream with joy or at least loudly beg more details, but she turned out to be wiser than that, and stayed silent. She knew as well as her human not to mess this up.
They continued to creep after Jun, and she seemed not to notice them. At one point she pulled out Matt's cell phone and made a call that Kari couldn't hear, but she never stopped walking and never so much as glanced behind her. Soon they were the only students left... could it really be about to happen? Were they really about to be alone together?
If that happened she was home free. Her partner could seize the ring as Flamedramon and this nightmare would be over. She would have undeniable proof of what had happened to them. Tai would have to believe her if she could demonstrate the rings' power. Davis would finally be exposed.
Kari glanced around. There were still people around. For a second the hope that had been building in her began to wane. She dared not have a digimon attack a human in plain public view, she owed as much to the digital world.
The former girl sighed. That was not the only thing she had feared about this idea. The potential of breaking their vows to Gennai, that had not been the reason she could not bring herself to propose the idea to Matt. She feared for his safety. For the same reasons a champion could certainly overtake a human, it was likely to send said human to the hospital. The thought of sending Matt back to his body only for it to be crippled... How could she ask him to endure that? How could she do that to him now, without even asking?
Then it happened. Jun made a turn, not into another street, but an alley between buildings. Shadowy and secluded, it was the perfect place. The ambush could happen and no one else would be the wiser.
"It has to be fate." Kari thought. "Why else would she do that?"
It had been like with MetalGreymon. The soon-to-be-restored girl still did not understand what Tai had told Davis, but she had seen its results. While she had hesitated, he had attacked, and now Agumon was free. Even if she could not agree with the method, it was clear that Matt did; he had helped the attack. Surely he would not be so hypocritical as to shrink from that when his own body was on the line. Then again, was Kari? If the situation were reversed, and Matt were ordering his partner to potentially wreck her body... the thought horrified her. How would that have made him any better than Davis? How would it make Kari herself any better if she did it now?
"I didn't steal anyone's life for one." She quickly thought. "All I'd be doing is using his trick against him..."
She tapped the book bag, and whispered to Gatomon. "Drink the energy drink. You need to digivolve now. We're about to ambush Jun in an alley."
The soon-to-be restored cat gasped, but she did not object. The sound of a can cracking open followed. She was doing it. It was really about to happen.
Kari came to the edge of the alleyway. All that was needed now was to keep Jun occupied until the digivolution. She was sure she could talk that into being. She took a step inward and saw her target halfway through.
"Hey, Jun! I think Matt wants to talk to you!"
That was what she was going to say. Her tongue was forming the first syllable, but then other words came from behind her.
"Hey Kari. What's up?"
The voice was her own. The one Davis had taken from her. She turned around, and there he was, staring at her with a fake grin. Veemon was next to him. It was over before it began.
"Um... nothing?"
No, it couldn't be over! Surely she could talk her way out of this. If she could get Davis to leave maybe she'd have another opportunity...
"Don't play dumb." the villain said. "I know you're stalking Jun."
"Serves her right; I know how she treated Matt even before all this." She thought. She knew better than to say it.
"What are you talking about? I'm just, um... headed home from school."
"Kari, I know where your home is; I used to live there. You're not going that way" The thief said. "Jun called me because she thought someone was following her. I had a feeling it was you."
"How did she know I was following her?" Kari thought. The other thief had not even turned around the whole time…
Did it matter? Could she still take the ring even with Davis and Veemon trying to stop her? The former girl almost laughed at the idea; it was that absurd. There was no way to conceal a fight between champions, and even if there was, it was plain who would win this particular encounter. Gatomon still hadn't digivolved. If Veemon moved now... that was it. There was no way an in-training could stop him. Could she stall until the drink was digested? That was what she had planned to do with Jun anyway.
Then she noticed the ring on her partner's stolen tail. Yolie and Sora had told the others what that red jewelry had done. If Gatomon digiovled right now... it wouldn't matter. Veemon was a fully realized champion. The same advantage still applied.
"DemiVeemon digivolve to, Veemon!"
The cry came from her bookbag then as if to mock her. Still, if she could stall for a Rookie digivolution, maybe she could for an armor digivolution too? Desperate, she began to reach for her D-Terminal.
"Stop right there." Davis said. His partner bore Gatomon's claws. "Unless your arm is faster than falling meteorite, you wouldn't be able to do that in time."
Kari dropped her hand. She looked around. The idea of engaging Veemon was even dumber than she had thought before now. There were still plenty of people around to witness the fight, and she quickly realized that this mattered to her a lot more to her than Davis. A cat clawing at kid would be one thing in the public's eyes but a fiery dragon? Every conceivable advantage was with the villains right now. What had she even been thinking? First she had compromised hurting Matt's body and now this oversight! What was wrong with her?
"Please," his victim said "please don't threaten me. We're friends aren't we? There's no need for this."
"You mean like you were doing to my sister?" He replied. "That's quite a thing for you to say after you were going to ambush your friends' old body. Honestly, I'm surprised at you. I knew you were the selfish one, but I didn't think it was this bad."
"Selfish!?" Kari gasped. It was the first time she had ever been called that, and coming from him... "How can you call me selfish? You're the one that stole my body!"
"No," Davis replied. "you were about to steal my body."
"You know it isn't yours. I was born in that body. It's always been mine."
"No, it's mine." He countered. "You were born in it, but I deserve it. Haven't you seen that by now? I'm a better Kari than you, a better sister. Just ask Tai."
She stood there awestruck for a second. "Wha... what are you talking about?"
"When was the last time you hung out with Tai? Not just ate dinner with him and your parents, I mean did something together you both enjoyed? Have you done that at all since the switch?"
"I..." Kari stuttered. "I haven't."
"Of course you haven't" He replied. "What about before switch?"
"Well, a couple months ago..."
Davis cut her off. "A couple months ago! Really? You hadn't hung out with your own brother for close to month before the switch? That is worse than I thought. I know I did that multiple times a week before, and now that the switch has happened I do it every day. You two have nothing in common, and I have everything in common with him. You were a terrible match with Tai, and I'm a great one. Surely you've seen it, those times you came and visited. Was he ever as happy around you as he is around me? Why would you want to take that away from him? Why would you put your happiness ahead of his?"
"He... I..."
"Your silence speaks volumes." He continued. "Face it, you were never the sibling I am to him. I deserve him and you don't. I wish you had been there when I joined the girls' soccer team. I wish you had heard him call me the best sister ever. For him, I am that. You just quit the guys' team, didn't you?"
"I… yes…" Kari stuttered.
"Figures" Davis responded. "I knew you would at some point, and you aren't at practice today. Tai would be so disappointed in me if I had done that. It's how we met and how we first bonded, and you just threw it away! Heck, the last time you tried to play soccer with him you almost died, didn't you? It literally almost killed you trying to make him proud! That's amazing. Stop pretending you're worthy of being his sibling and go suck up to Matt like TK!"
Kari burst out crying right then. She wanted to deny him, but the tears were the only words she could find.
Expressionlessly, Davis glanced around. People were beginning to stare at the crying "boy" at the edge of the alley. Following his glance into the shade, it become apparent Jun was long gone. The game was truly over. As if he were not the cause of her tears, the villain just walked by her, pretending not to notice.
Kari sat there on the street and continued to wail. Several would come up and tried to comfort her, but there was nothing any of them could say that could possibly help.
"Is it true?" She thought to herself multiple times. It couldn't be. Surely it couldn't be... and yet she couldn't think of a good counterargument. She just sat there, weeping.
Davis:
"Look guys, an escape pod!" Patamon called
The digdestined looked over toward him. Sure enough, there was a tiny submarine poking out of the tower. That being said...
"It only has one seat though." Yolie complained "and not enough room for anyone else."
It was true. Even if one of them escaped, most of them would remain here beneath the oil rig where an enslaved MegaSeadramon had trapped them. Sooner or later, they would run out of air.
"I need to be the one in that pod." Davis thought.
"We can use this pod to get help." Kari said. "One of us can escape and send for Joe and Ikakumon."
"Cody should do it." TK interjected. "He's the youngest. If worse comes to worse, well..."
The blonde did not seem to have the stomach to finish that thought. Davis decided to finish it for him.
"Women and children first, right?" He said.
"Eh, that's kind of sexist." Yolie said. "But I do think it should be Cody. If nothing else he knows Joe better than any of the rest of us."
"One of you should go." Cody cried out. "I don't deserve it. It's my fault we're stuck here in the first place!"
"That's still baloney." Davis thought. Never the less, it was a good opportunity. "You heard him." He said. "One of us should go."
"We can draw for it." Yolie replied. She started rummaging through her bookbag. "But ALL of us are doing it."
When her hand came up the edges of strings were poking out of it.
"One of these has a red tip." She said. "Whoever draws that can leave in the escape pod."
"That looks like a lot more than 5 strings." Davis complained. He quickly counted them. "Why are there ten?"
"She said ALL of us'" Gatomon protested. "Five humans and five digimon make ten."
"Why do the digimon get a shot? You guys get to be reborn if we run out of oxygen. Us humans don't."
Most of the digimon stared at him when he said that. He could tell none of them liked it, but then again, none of them raised an objection. Some of his human teammates seemed displeased though.
"Oh ye of little faith." Kari mumbled.
Fortunately, Yolie seemed not to be. "That is true." She said as he lowered her hand back into her bag. "Come to think of it, they wouldn't be able to reach out to Joe on Earth anyway." She pulled her hand out with five strings sticking out.
"That just doubled my odds." The former leader thought happily.
The bespectacled girl walked over to Cody. "You get first pick."
Suddenly, that seemed a bit suspicious to Davis...
The small boy glared at her, but he silently pulled out a string. The tip was red. The first string to be drawn was red.
The former leader ran over, and yanked out all the strings from the other girl's hand. Sure enough, they were all red tipped.
"I knew that was a scam!" He yelled.
"Of course it was a scam!" Cody bawked. "How much more obvious could it have been? Did anyone here really not guess that?"
"I guessed it." TK said. Most of the digimon nodded in agreement, so with all of the other humans accounted for the rest directed their eyes toward "Davis."
"I... um, didn't" Kari admitted embarrassed.
"I got the riddle and Kari didn't?" the actual Davis thought. "Has that ever happened before? Wait... am I smarter in this body?"
It was another riddle for another day. First thing was first.
"Why did you do that, Yolie?" he asked.
"Come on Kari, you know he needs to be the one. He is the youngest, and he's closest to Joe anyway."
"I'm not going!" Cody yelled again.
"You heard him! I volunteer to go instead. Women and children first, and the youngest child doesn't want to go. Also, you don't count because you cheated, so that just leaves me."
The other girl just looked at him amazed.
"Kari, I've never seen you like this before. Please stop."
After all he had committed to keep his new body, he couldn't have it die.
"I have to live." Davis pleaded. "If I die here, Tai will be devastated. My parents too." Jun would be as well, but he knew better than to add that.
"That's just mean." Yolie countered. "I have a family too. We all do. Stop being this selfish or I won't vote for you."
"Vote for you?" TK questioned.
Davis knew what that meant, even if his rival did not. If he pushed any further he would loose Yolie's support for leadership. That would sting...
"What does it matter if we all die in here anyway?" He thought.
Still... the thing she said before that was getting to him. As much as he loved Tai, he knew the others had families that would miss them too. He could not take that from them.
"If I didn't have this body now," He thought "I suppose it wouldn't matter anyway. If we are going to die, Tai would have lost Kari anyway."
"I'm sorry." He finally said. "You're right. Cody should go."
"I already said I'm not going!" He roared in response. "If you want to go so bad, take my seat and go!"
"That is non-negotiable at this point." The former leader responded.
"You wouldn't dare!"
TK looked over at the new leader, as if looking for approval. It seemed Kari did at least understand what this was, but she did she did not respond to it. It did not seem she would give the approval to force the boy into the pod.
Yolie sighed. "TK, please do it." Davis nodded in agreement. Seeing their consent, TK grabbed Cody and began pulling him to the pod.
"You let me go now!" The small boy yelled. "Armadillomon help!"
"Sorry, partner." The digimon replied "It's for your own good."
"Davis, call him off!"
Kari looked down. "I'm sorry guys."
Cody kept looking at her, hoping that meant she was about to rule in his favor, but she did not. That was all she said. She wouldn't approval of the force, but she wouldn't stop it either. Within the minute, the escape pod ejected, along with Cody.
Yolie sighed. She looked over at Davis and said "I forgive you by the way. Even without THAT, I don't think I could stay mad at you anyway."
Davis figured THAT was the current leader's indecision.
"Good to hear."
There was not much to do will they waited for Cody's return. Before long the group was just sitting down silently. In that silence, a thought occurred to Davis.
"I shouldn't have let him go. Even if they have families I'll still be missed more. What does Cody have, a mom and grandpa? I have both of those things, a dad, Tai, and heck, even Jun still in Matt's body."
He looked around the room. It quickly became obvious how true that was. Kari, in her current body, only really had his old parents to mourn her. Why should he value his old parents feelings over his new? The Motomiyas would morn their child the same as the Kamiyas, and there were no siblings to consider; Matt in Jun's body couldn't count at this point. For that matter, why should any of their parents count over his? Heck, TK's dad had straight up left him. The divorced parents obviously did not love their children as much as his, and should not count at all while they were on the table. Kari, TK, Cody, none of them had serious bids next to his. Only Yolie seemed to resonate at all in his mind. He had Tai and Jun to worry about, unlike the others, but how many siblings did Yolie say she had? 3? That seemed to imply more people would mourn her even than "Kari."
"No," he scoffed at that. "All three of them together could not possibly have the bond with her that Tai has with me. I should have been the one to leave! Why did I have to let that brat go before me?"
He laughed bitterly. It was just like before, except, opposite. Before, back on the night he first arrived in this body, he had lied to Kari on an impulse to keep her opinion of him high. That impulse had payed off spectacularly. He never would have thought to keep this body and everything it gave him and his partner without that dark impose. Now a nicer impulse had put all he had gained and even his own life in jeopardy. How could he have been stupid enough to listen to it?
"I wouldn't be me otherwise."
He sighed. Despite all of that he still knew he had done the right thing. Was he really going to renounce the will to do a good dead? He couldn't do that. He was the good guy, afterall.
Still, he was kind of impressed he'd been able to reason out that justification. It reminded him of how he had seen Yolie's trick coming and Kari hadn't. The former boy knew it ought to have been the other way around. Now as before, he realized that he had to have become smarter, that or Kari became dumber, and that could only be because of the switch.
"It makes sense" The former boy thought. "I guess I have Kari's brain now too if I have her body."
Even if he still had all his old memories, it was logical that a better brain might be able to process new information better. He remembered how much better the computer in his new room was than his old one. It seemed the computer is his head was a lot better too...
"Awesome!" He thought. This, however, made him worry about loosing it more...
"It was the right thing to do." He had to tell himself that.
A loud crack then filled the air.
"TK, what are you doing?" Kari's new voice asked.
Davis turned to see his rival digging away.
"If we're stuck here until Cody gets back, I don't want to just sit around and wait for him." His old rival said. "There's a digiegg here. I say we find it!"
No one objected.
"For once, he actually had a good idea!" the former leader thought.
The whole group, human and digimon, began assisting in the digging. Davis did not know how long it took, but eventually the boy who started the dig called out "Hey guys, I think I found it!"
Sure enough, the blonde had unearthed what obviously must have been a digiegg. He tried lift it up but couldn't.
"I guess it's not mine." TK said. Uneasily, he turned to Kari and asked "um, you wanna try it, Davis?"
"Davis" nodded and attempted to lift the egg as well. She too failed.
"Figures..." She mumbled.
"I guess that means it belongs to Cody." The Christian pointed out. "He's the only other one without a second digiegg."
"How do we know I don't get a third?" Davis thought. He decided not to share it.
"Doesn't that mean I get a new digivolution?" Armadillomon asked.
"Sure does!" Patamon said "Lucky you!"
The armadillo smiled, obviously liking the thought of that.
"I bet I get to be some gallant knight in shining armor, with beautiful flowing hair."
Somehow that did not seem likely to Davis.
"Nah, that'd be to different from what you are now. Most digivolutions seem pretty similar." He said. "I bet you'll just get bigger and grow spikes like a porcupine.
"I hope he's the handsome one." Yolie japed, feigning a whisper into "Kari's" ear.
The whole group burst out laughing.
"Hey maybe," Davis said correcting himself "now that you mention it, my partner went from a cat to a rabbit and yours went from a bird to a ninja. Who knows?"
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
Their conversation was immediately cut off as the room filled with the sound of a battle happening outside. The group ran over to the window. Sure enough, Ikakumon was engaging MegaSeadramon as they had hoped for. Cody, it seemed, had been successful.
"That's the way! Aim for the dark spiral!"
That being said, the engagement didn't seem to be going to favorably.
"Lightning Javelin!"
As quickly as he arrived, Joe's partner was the one being pushed back.
"This isn't good." TK said. "Ikakumon's fought a MegaSeadramon before, but then he got to digivolve again into Zudamon."
"All he has to do is break the spiral." Patamon said. "Surely he can do that, right?"
"It would help a lot if he had some help..." Hawkmon murmured.
It was then that the platform began shaking, and a giant whale's head burst through the wall.
"Is that, Whamon?" TK clamored.
"In the flesh," the digimon said. As it opned it's mouth Joe and Cody were revealed within it.
"Hey guys, good to see you again." Joe greeted. "I had Tentomon find an old friend."
"It's the fastest way to the surface… even if it is a bit smelly." The younger kid continued "Get in while MegaSeadramon is distracted."
As far as they had come already, there was still one more thing to do.
"Before we go, you need to come down here and get the digiegg." Davis said pointing toward it. "We found it buried in here, and it looks like it's for you."
Seeing the egg Joe said "Hey, it has the crest of reliability on it. That's a great fit for you, Cody."
"Yeah," TK agreed "You got us our way out of here, just like we knew you would."
"Not it isn't." Was the reply. "If I hadn't wanted that egg this wouldn't have happened in the first place, besides, I had to tell a lie to get that help!"
"Really?" Davis asked. "You're upset because you had to lie to get to Joe?"
"Yes!" Cody wailed. "My grandpa says there is nothing worse than telling a lie!"
He instantly burst out laughing. Davis could not restrain himself from laughing hysterically right there.
"Wha… why are you laughing?"
"I'm sorry, buddy, but this is just hilarious." Davis said. "Lying really? That's the worst thing your grandpa could think of? I think dying is a lot worse."
Looking around the group was staring at him, especially Kari in his old body.
"Of course she wouldn't understand." The former leader thought.
"Well, he's right you know." Joe said. "Some lies hurt people, but others, like the one you told to get to me, really help or even save people. That sort of lie is acceptable."
"I couldn't have said it better myself." Davis agreed. "It was the right thing to do. Sometimes, that isn't the nice thing."
"Do you really mean that?" the youngest asked.
"Of course."
"I… thank you."
It was then that the digiegg started glowing. Levitating from its spot, the egg flew into Cody's hands.
"See?" The oldest said. "I told you it was meant your you."
The group cheered to that.
"Thank you everyone." Cody said. "I… Armadillomon and I will help Ikakumon! Digi-Armor Energize!"
"Armadillomon armor digivolve to Submarimon, Guardian of the Sea."
"A submarine?" Davis asked. "That's… convenient… shame it kills my idea of a porcupine though."
His next though was "Also, the hot guy… that's a shame too..."