Chapter 123: Countdown Part 3

Hello everybody. I hope that you're all doing well.

Wow! This story passed the 900-review milestone this month! I can't believe that it has managed to reach such a huge mark and I never thought that I'd get so many reviews when I started this fic. Thank you to everyone who has left a review for this story and helped The Wave of Darkness surpass 900 reviews! :D

I'd like to say a special thanks to those of you who post regular reviews and are continuing to read this story. It really means a lot to me that you're still following what I write and you help to motivate me to keep writing until the end of The Wave of Darkness. All of your feedback has been really helpful. Thank you so much :D

Thank you to Gadget30thAnniversery, Shar94 and Sakura0410 for your recent reviews that have helped this story pass the 900-review mark. I really appreciate your feedback and your honesty. You'll get to see how Metalseadramon and Dragomon modify their approach to things soon, and whether they're just recovering or doing something else.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has had their interest peaked by the teaser for the new Digimon Adventure movie. Hopefully this will be a good film, and let's hope that they finally make TK and Kari a canon couple in it. They've teased us enough already, so it's time for them to become an official couple.

Now it's time for me to get on with this chapter :)

Kari could feel heat building in her cheeks as she ran her hand through her silky hair. She knew that she was blushing right now even though this wasn't the first time that she and TK had gone underwear shopping like this. The pink tint of her cheeks was probably from a combination of things, not just where she was, what she was doing, and who she was with.

Couples went underwear shopping all of the time, and the young woman knew this. Heck, TK had picked underwear for her on plenty of occasions before, so this wasn't anything new. Still, it was kind of an intimate thing and did broadcast certain things to the people around them. Although, they were a married couple, so why should it bother her?

Part of it was because they'd gone to a normal store before coming to this one. While there, Kari had been measured and had it confirmed once again that she was way too busty to have a chance of buying bras from a normal shop. She wasn't too surprised by this because she was already having to shop at plus size places to get bras that fit her properly. However, Kari did have it confirmed that she'd grown two whole cup sizes and, while she was there, she'd been on the end of a lot of jealous stares from women older than her.

The label on the pink lacy bra that had a tanga with it confirmed to the brunette teen that she was now the same bra size as Mimi. She was tied with her friend for the biggest boobs out of all of the Digidestined girls, which was something that she'd never expected. Some eyebrows would be raised when the other girls found out and Kari wondered if some of them would be jealous too.

She took the pastel pink underwear off the rack before looking at some more of the pink sets next to it. The pink and black ones caught her eye, so she sifted through them to find the right size before doing the same with a pink and white lacy set. This particular brand was very good with their sizes, so she knew that they would fit properly if she bought them.

"How about these?" TK asked, making her turn to face her husband. "I think these would look good on you."

Kari smiled as she saw him holding three pairs of lacy green underwear of varying shades and it was kind of obvious what his favour colour was. Then again, she wasn't against wearing green because she liked it too and she did like to make sure that she looked good for TK. He also had a racy black bra and thong in his hand that made her cheeks heat up a little more. There was a less risqué black set and white set in his hands too, which reminded Kari that she should probably get some white underwear so her bras didn't standout when she wore her school shirt. That, of course, assumed that she was going to finish school and that they didn't kick her out for getting pregnant.

"Sure." Kari smiled as she gazed up into her husband's eyes. His cheeks were rather pink too and she guessed that it would be a lot more embarrassing for TK to be searching through women's underwear in a store like this than it would be for her. "I like them."

"Great." A smile spread across his lips as well before he glanced around. "Is there any other underwear that you want to get?"

"Yeah." She nodded before she also gazed around the store. "I want to get some blue underwear too. Some yellow ones would be nice as well and I need more white pairs for when I'm wearing shirts. Oh, and I need sports bras as well."

TK chuckled. "That's quite the shopping list. Are there any here that you want?"

"Well, I'm having to replace all of my bras here," Kari sighed as she looked at the underwear that she was already holding. "We can pick out what we like here before going to look in some other stores. Also, I still need to get some maternity clothes, like we told Tai and my mum that I needed to get."

"At least we don't have to worry about money." Her husband gave her a wink before he turned and walked over to some of the risqué underwear near to them. He selected another black set and a white one before lifting them up for her to see. "How about we get these too?"

"Sure." Kari nodded before picking up a bra that caught her eye. "What about this one?"

Kari smiled as she watched her mum and Nancy place all of the different foods on the dining table. Both her father and TK's dad were working, which was a shame because Kari had wanted to see them too. She knew that TK would have really enjoyed the chance to sit down and have lunch with both his mother and father at the same time.

"Did you get what you needed?" Yuuko asked as she and Nancy joined the couple at the table. "Did you find some clothes that are a better fit?"

"Yeah." Kari nodded as she glanced over her shoulder at the bags behind her on the floor. She could feel her face heating up a little, knowing that new underwear made up a notable percent of things that she'd purchased. "I found some really nice maternity clothes."

"You'll have to show me. I bet you'll be adorable in them." Her mother smiled as she started filling her bowl with some of the various foods laid out on the table. "Itadakimasu."

"I will do," the younger brunette replied as she returned the smile. Kari took this as her queue to start getting her food too, so she picked up her chopsticks and grabbed some of her favourites. "Itadakimasu."

TK, Nancy, Patamon and Gatomon repeated the traditional thanks as well before they started enjoying their lunch. It had been so long since Kari had eaten with her mum or Nancy that this suddenly make her feel very nostalgic. She missed her parents but focusing on battling Dragomon and liberating Tokyo had helped her put those feelings to one side. Although, right now, those emotions had returned to the forefront of her mind and she wanted nothing more than to be able to sit down and have dinner with her family once again.

The smile on Kari's face turned to a content one as she enjoyed the moment, not knowing quite how long it would be before she'd get to do this again. Glancing to her left, she could see a similar expression on TK's face that let her know that he was feeling the same way. It made Kari hope that their plans to defeat Dragomon would work and that they could finally put an end to the war.

Kari took a bite from her tempura before contemplating whether she should mention their plans to her mother and Nancy. After all, they did know about Digimon and it wasn't like they were going to go around telling everyone about it. However, she wasn't sure if it would worry her mum that they were about to get into the largest battle that they'd ever been in. Kari chewed her food for a few moments more as she contemplated whether she should say something or not.

"So how many new bras did you get?" Yuuko asked out of the blue just as her daughter swallowed her food. "And what cup size have those big girls of yours reached now?"

Kari began coughing as the food went down the wrong way and her face turned really hot really quickly. She kept coughing as she tried to get the food out from her windpipe and down the right hole, which she eventually managed to do. Her eyes then opened wide as they fixed onto Yuuko. "Mum!"

"I'm curious," she replied nonchalantly before taking a bite from her food and swallowing it. "I had quite a bit of growth when I was pregnant with you."

Nancy nodded. "Don't worry, Kari. It's perfectly normal and nothing to be ashamed of."

"Come on," Yuuko teased as she grinned. "Out with it. It's not like you have anything to be embarrassed about and I bet TK was the first person to find out how big you've gotten. Also, don't try to pretend you've not grown in the chest department because I can clearly see that you have."

Kari didn't think that her face could get any hotter at that moment and she guessed that she probably looked like a tomato. While she had discussed this kind of thing before with her mum, especially when she had to make the swap from off the hook stuff in normal stores to her plus-size bras, it wasn't exactly the kind of thing that they'd discussed over the table while eating lunch. The young woman really didn't know what to say or whether she should still try to pretend that underwear shopping wasn't the main reason for her trip now that she'd been called out on it.

She stared at Yuuko and could tell that her mother wasn't going to let this go. "I've gone up two cup sizes over the last few months. I think one cup is from me just growing normally and the other is because I'm pregnant."

"I went up two cup sizes when I was pregnant with Tai, and maintained one cup size from that." Yuuko gestured to her own very large boobs. "However, when I was pregnant with you, it was like wow. My boobs got bigger and stayed big. I went up three cup sizes and managed to keep them that size too."

Kari froze and felt her chopsticks slip from her hands. She heard them clatter as they hit her bowl and landed on the table, but she didn't care. "What? Three cup sizes?"

"Wow!" Nancy didn't even bother to hide how impressed she sounded. "I only went up one cup size for Matt and another for TK. I did manage to keep my cup size too, but I know that some women return to their normal cup size afterward. It seems to vary from woman to woman."

"Three cup sizes," Kari repeated herself before staring down at her own chest. "I'm already big enough right now. I don't want to grow two more cups and stay that big."

"You'll get used to it," Yuuko smiled and waved off her daughter's concerns. "You shouldn't worry about it because it won't make too much of a difference. You're already way bigger than the average woman."

Kari felt very self-conscious at that moment as she continued to stare at her breasts. "I don't know. I'm happy with the size they were and any more feels like too much."

"You'll be fine. Trust me, I had the same worries but it worked out fine for me." Her mum winked at her as Kari finally looked up. "And sorry about bringing this up over lunch, but it's the only chance I'll probably get to warn you. I think you've inherited my genes and I wanted to make sure you knew before you ended up being surprised by it."

"Um, err … thanks," the younger brunette replied quietly before she tried to force a smile and finally picked up her chopsticks. She really didn't want her chest to grow any larger than it already was even if she did know that she would be able to cope with it. Kari guessed that it was a good thing that she knew what to expect though because she could now prepare for it beforehand.

Glancing to her left one more, she could see that TK was sitting there quietly eating his food and not wanting to engage in the conversation. She couldn't blame him, and his bright red face told Kari all that she needed to know. Her husband was definitely not wanting to discuss the topic at hand either and it was something that Yuuko should probably have left for a more personal chat at some point.

"I bet you'll look adorable in your maternity clothes." Nancy changed the subject to the other things that Kari and TK had gotten during their trip. "I kind of want to see you in them."

Kari was glad that her mother-in-law had moved the conversation onwards and saved her from the embarrassment created by her own mum. It wasn't lost on her that, right now, Nancy seemed to be a lot more accepting of her being pregnant compared to when they had initially told their parents about the baby. TK's mum and Kari's dad had both been very angry with them about what had happened, so Nancy's stance seemed to have shifted somewhat to something similar to that of her mum and TK's dad. Maybe she'd accepted that it was happening and that she was going to be ok with it?

"I can show you what I've bought." A large smile spread across Kari's face as she felt the heat in her cheeks ebbing away. It meant a lot to her that TK's mother was beginning to accept this and, while she was sure that Nancy might still harbour some anger and disappointment about the situation, it was definitely a positive sign. Kari had always looked up to her mother-in-law and admired her, so being accepted into the Takaishi family despite everything that had happened lifted a heavy weight off her mind.

"I'd love to see them." Nancy smiled back. "You'll have to start thinking about baby clothes soon too. I can imagine she's going to be so beautiful and cute."

Yuuko nodded several times as her eyes lit up. "Yeah, she'll be so adorable. We need to start looking for baby clothes right away. I bet pink will be perfect for her, or maybe yellow."

TK glanced to his right at his wife and the couple shared a look. "It looks like our daughter is going to have both of her grandmothers doting over her."

Kari couldn't suppress the giggle that escaped her lips. "It certainly looks like it."

"I've always hoped to be a grandmother." Yuuko pouted as she gazed at her daughter. "While it's sooner than I would have liked, I'm still going to treat her the same as I always planned to. I've always dreamed of having granddaughters and grandsons."

Kari shared another glance with TK and it seemed like he'd picked up on what her mother was hinting too. Given their age and the many problems created by being a teenage mother in Japan, one child would be enough for them for several years. Kari did want more kids in the future but she knew that she definitely wanted more planning to go into adding more members to their family next time. She didn't need to be able to read TK's mind to know that he felt the same way.

"I think you might be getting a bit too far ahead of yourself, Mum." Kari gazed at her mother sheepishly. "One kid will be enough for us to raise for at least the next five or so years. We want to finish school and go to university, which is going to be hard enough as it is now that I'm going to be a mother."

"Yeah." Nancy nodded as a more serious expression formed on her face. "While I want to be a grandmother too, this is too soon and I would like to wait those five or so years that Kari is planning before becoming a grandmother for a second time. Let's not have any more unexpected surprises in the next couple of years."

Yuuko held up her hands. "I didn't mean that it had to be right away. There's plenty of time for you to have more kids when you're ready to have them. Besides, I expect Tai to also start a family and give me some grandchildren too one day."

Kari pursed her lips. "Hopefully it'll be a few more years before I become an aunt. Noriko is the same age as me and TK. She and Tai have only been together for a few months as well."

Yuuko sighed and shook her head. "As I said, I don't mean right away. I expect Tai to wait several years until he's ready for a family too."

"I hope Matt doesn't have any mishaps," Nancy said quietly before taking a bite of her lunch. "Sora seems very sensible, so I expect her to make sure that Matt doesn't do something he shouldn't be doing."

Kari shared another glance with her husband to see if he had the same thoughts on that comment as she did. It was obvious from his expression that TK didn't know if his mother knew about Matt and Sora nearly ending up in the same situation as him and Kari. If what Nancy had said was anything to go by, nothing had been said about Sora almost becoming pregnant after she was injured during that battle a few months ago. It was also clear from TK's expression that they shouldn't bring it up, so they both returned their focus back to the conversation.

The subject remained on their daughter as Yuuko and Nancy talked about various aspects of raising a child. Kari listened as her mother and mother-in-law moved from talking about clothes again to what they will need to buy for their daughter to, rather embarrassingly for the young mother-to-be, breast feeding. Eventually, they'd all had their fill of food and their plates were empty, signalling that it wouldn't be long before she and TK had to leave.

The thought popped up in Kari's mind again that she should probably mention something about their plans to reclaim Tokyo. After all, Yuuko and Nancy would probably want to know if their kids were going to be involved in a massive battle in the next week or so. Now was probably the best chance that they'd have to say something before they had to head back to base via the Digital World so that they could go on their daily patrols.

"We've got important something to tell you," Kari announced as there was a lull in the conversation and her mother was about to tidy the table. "I feel that I should say something before we go because I think you should know."

Yuuko and Nancy stopped clearing the dishes and focused on the young woman. Serious expressions formed on their faces, telling Kari that they'd picked up on her tone. They waited as she shared another glance with TK.

"We're planning to start a large offensive soon to drive Dragomon and the Deep Ones out of Tokyo," Kari announced before taking a deep breath. "We've come up with a series of strategies that we think will work, so we're going to put them into action before it's too late. If everything goes to plan, we'll be ready to begin in the next week or so."

"We've been getting ready and setting things up for a while now," TK took over from his wife. "We've got a lot of help from our Digimon friends and the other Digidestined from around the world. A lot of Digimon are willing to help us, so we've basically got our own army to fight back and beat Dragomon."

Silence hung thickly in the air as what the couple had said settled in. Yuuko and Nancy both looked like they were in deep thought for a few moments before they gazed in the other's direction. Their attention returned to Kari and she wasn't quite sure how to read their expressions.

"You're both going to be fighting in this, right?" Yuuko's tone was serious as she sighed. "You'll be in the middle of it all, won't you?"

"Yeah, we will be," Kari sighed too, knowing where her mother's train of thought was heading. "I need to be there and we'll be leading one team. There isn't much time left until we'll have to stop and prioritise our daughter's safety, so we need to end this as soon as possible. We'll be giving it our all and, with a bit of luck, we'll be able to come out victorious."

"Don't worry about Kari and her baby," Gatomon added calmly. "Patamon and I will make sure that nothing happens to them. We'll protect them."

Patamon nodded. "The other Digimon will help us too. There will be thousands of really strong Digimon protecting them from the bad guys and making sure that they don't get hurt."

"We have to do this and we need to be involved," TK took over again as he reached out and placed his hand on Kari's. The couple laced their fingers together before TK gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Both Kari and I have to do our part in this if we're going to win this battle and beat Dragomon. If we don't help out, there is a distinctly lower chance of this plan working and many of our friends could die because of it."

"I guess you knew what I was going to say," Nancy sighed as she glanced down at the table. "I don't like the idea of Kari being in such a position while she's pregnant. However, I do understand that you have to do what you need to do. You are the protectors of this world and the digital one, and you have to do your duty."

"I know that you'll do what you need to do to save the world regardless of whether I approve or not," Yuuko added as she looked Kari in the eye. "Do your best and I believe in you. I believe in all of you and I know you can do this. I'll be cheering you on from here and praying everything goes just as you've planned. Just look after yourselves and come back in unhurt this time, ok?"

"I'll be cheering and praying for you too." Nancy took a deep breath. "I don't want to go through what happened last time again, ok? Please don't do anything reckless and please don't get hurt."

"Thanks," Kari replied as she and TK nodded. "We'll do our best to make sure that we're safe and that we don't get injured again."

"Well try our hardest to make sure that nobody else is hurt too," her husband added. "We all want to end this war and make sure that everyone goes home without any injuries."

"Good." Yuuko nodded before she paused for a moment and smiled. "You should come for dinner one evening before the battle and have a meal with us. Bring Tai and Noriko with you, and Matt and Sora too. Oh, and of course, get their Digimon to come along because they'll need the food before the fight. We'll get your dads here and Sora's parents too. It'll be a big family meal before you go off and fight. It'll help you relax and take your minds off things before you have to do what you need to do."

Kari shared another glance with TK, who gave her a nod as he smiled. She returned the smile before focusing back on her mother. "That would great, Mum. I'll have a word with everyone and see if we can organise something. I'll let you know what day will be best for us as soon as Tai gives his approval."

To be honest, I didn't actually expect the lunch scene to be as long as it was. However, there were a few points that I wanted to cover and future scenes that I wanted to set up. What are your thoughts on Yuuko putting together a meal before the big battle that's coming up? Do you think that they'll be able to have this meal or do you think something bad will happen beforehand?

Please can you let me know your thoughts on this chapter by posting a review? And thank you again to those of you who have posted reviews that have helped this story pass the 900-review milestone :D

I hope you all stay well and take care :D