Disclaimer: Same as always... I don't own Digimon. I just write fan fics. Enjoy Part IV!
Part IV-Fire
Sora sat by the dying fire and listened as Mimi told her story to the rest of the group. They had moved camp into the forest to where Mimi had almost been stabbed.
"I was walking in the woods and then I stopped for a second. Then I felt like I was being watched then these blue eyes appeared out of nowhere and I couldn't move. The eyes disappeared and the next thing I know a knife was flying through the air for me," Mimi related.
Sora saw Tai shoot Matt a suspicious glare.
Matt also saw.
"You think I did it, don't you? Everyone does. I didn't though!" Matt yelled.
"Well, you do have blue eyes," Tai replied.
"Oh, so now I'm a murderer just because I have blue eyes? Better watch out for TK, he's got blue eyes, too, you know," Matt shot back.
Izzy had managed to sit up in his sleeping bag to work on the prophecy again. He looked up from his work and said: "I don't think we should go around making undue accusations. I didn't see any blue eyes."
Tai sighed and apologized: "Matt, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be saying it's you if I'm not sure who it is."
"Maybe the prophecy says who it is," Kari suggested.
"How's it going, Izzy?" Sora quarried.
Izzy again looked up from his computer and replied: "I've got a piece of the first line down now, but this code is confusing. I don't think what I've got right now will help us much."
"Well, go ahead and tell us what you do have," Joe encouraged.
"All right, but it's not much. All I have right now is: A new evil will arise."
"Well, we sort of figured that out," Mimi retorted, fingering the new hole in the sleeve of her dress. "Good job, though, Izzy."
~*~
Kari was deep in the woods. . . Alone. She could hear the others calling out for her, but she couldn't return their calls; the words stuck in her throat.
A thick smoke was floating through the threes, making it harder and harder to breathe. A choking cough tore through her. She realized with a shock that a fire had started in the forest.
"Kari! Kari, where are you!? Answer me!" she heard Tai shout. He sounded very far away.
Another cough escaped her mouth and Kari shouted out: "Tai, I'm here!" Her words seemed to be swallowed up by the thick smoke.
A different sound was becoming louder and louder: a roar-the roar of an approaching wild fire.
It was unlike anything Kari had ever heard before. "Tai, help me!" Kari shouted. Her cries were dwarfed by the rising noise. The forest was becoming hotter and hotter.
Kari ran, her eyes tearing from the heavy smoke getting into them. A flaming branch fell to the ground directly in front of her. Kari turned the other way, trying to see where she was going, but the smoke was only thicker.
A wall of fire was rushing toward her from behind. Kari turned in a circle. Fire to the front, fire to the back-fire everywhere. She was in a ring of fire and it was closing in on her.
"Help!" Kari screamed as the fire came closer and closer. . .
Kari's eyes snapped open. A dream, just a dream, she thought. But was it? Smoke. . . Thick black smoke was clogging the air. There really was a fire. . .
~*~
"Is everyone out?" Joe asked once the Digidestined had arrived back in the clearing they had originally been in.
"I think so," Sora panted, exhausted from the run.
"Wait, where's Kari?" Tai asked, looking around frantically for his younger sister.
"Wasn't she right behind us?" Mimi asked.
"She's still in there!" TK cried.
Tai immediately began running back into the fiery woods.
"Tai, wait! It's too dangerous!" Izzy warned, but Tai was already too far away to hear. . .
~*~
"Kari, Kari where are you!?" Tai screamed through the roar of the fire. He couldn't believe his younger sister was still in the woods.
He strained his ears to hear anything that could possibly be his sister, but heard nothing.
"KARI!" he shouted again.
Still no reply. The smoke was stinging his eyes and making him cough, but he still pressed on.
He stumbled into the area they had been camping in and found Kari, seemingly unconscious on the ground.
"Kari! Wake up, Kari!" Tai shouted.
Kari suddenly sat straight up. "It's not a dream!" she cried.
"Come on, Kari, we have to get out of here," Tai choked out.
He pulled Kari to her feet and began running back toward the clearing dragging Kari behind him.
"Tai, I can't run this fast!" Kari shouted, trying to be heard over the fire.
"Just try, Kari!" Tai shouted back over his shoulder.
The smoke was extremely thick. Tai didn't even know if he was going the right way.
He tried to tell if they were even on the path anymore, but he wasn't able to see the ground at all. Then his salvation came: "Tai! Kari! Where are you!?"
Tai coughed and shouted back: "I'm here! Where's the clearing?!"
"Out here!" another voice answered.
Tai raced forward and shouted: "Am I closer?"
"Yes!" a third voice replied. "Keep coming the way you are!"
Kari looked straight ahead and saw the clearing through the smoke. "We're almost there," Kari murmured.
Just as they got to the edge of the woods, fiery branches crashed down in front of them, narrowly missing the two siblings.
"We have to go around!" Tai shrieked. He turned around and saw fire burning directly behind them.
"No, not like my dream..." Kari whispered.
There was no way out. It was a ring of fire and it was closing in.
"Come on, Kari," Tai ordered, racing toward the fiery wall in front of them. He went through backwards quickly to shield Kari from being burned. Just as suddenly, they emerged into the clearing.
"Tai, Kari, you're all right!" TK cried out upon seeing them.
Tai coughed violently and passed out from all the smoke he had inhaled.
"Is he going to be OK?" Sora asked, her eyes wide.
"I hope so," Izzy replied. . .
~*~
I was lucky, Kari thought. She gingerly touched a burn on her shoulder. I only got a little burn.
She looked over at her brother lying in his sleeping bag. He was still unconscious hours after the fire. His face had a burn on one cheek and his hair was singed in some places. Kari knew he had serious burns on his arms and legs as well, but she couldn't see them through the sleeping bag.
Kari couldn't stand it. If she had woken up earlier, she would have gotten out with everyone else and Tai wouldn't have had to come in after her. She cried gently.
"I'm sorry," Sora comforted. "He's going to be OK."
"Do you really think so?" Kari sniffled.
"Of course," Sora lied. She had no idea if Tai was going to survive or not.
Sora held back the tears that were threatening to come from her own eyes and wiped Kari's tears away.
"How do you think the fire started?" Kari wondered. "We put out the fire that we made."
Izzy answered this question: "The fire wasn't an accident. Somebody had to have started it themselves. There's no way a forest fire could start from a dead fire."
"But who would do that?" Mimi whispered, her voice trembling fearfully.
"My guess would be the same person who's been doing the other stuff," Joe replied.
"Then who was it?" Matt coldly questioned. "I know what everyone probably thinks. You all think it's me, don't you?"
A long and uncomfortable silence followed this remark.
"It wasn't," Matt finally whispered. He glanced over at his best friend and shivered. The only thing he could do now was hope for the best. . .
Part IV-Fire
Sora sat by the dying fire and listened as Mimi told her story to the rest of the group. They had moved camp into the forest to where Mimi had almost been stabbed.
"I was walking in the woods and then I stopped for a second. Then I felt like I was being watched then these blue eyes appeared out of nowhere and I couldn't move. The eyes disappeared and the next thing I know a knife was flying through the air for me," Mimi related.
Sora saw Tai shoot Matt a suspicious glare.
Matt also saw.
"You think I did it, don't you? Everyone does. I didn't though!" Matt yelled.
"Well, you do have blue eyes," Tai replied.
"Oh, so now I'm a murderer just because I have blue eyes? Better watch out for TK, he's got blue eyes, too, you know," Matt shot back.
Izzy had managed to sit up in his sleeping bag to work on the prophecy again. He looked up from his work and said: "I don't think we should go around making undue accusations. I didn't see any blue eyes."
Tai sighed and apologized: "Matt, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be saying it's you if I'm not sure who it is."
"Maybe the prophecy says who it is," Kari suggested.
"How's it going, Izzy?" Sora quarried.
Izzy again looked up from his computer and replied: "I've got a piece of the first line down now, but this code is confusing. I don't think what I've got right now will help us much."
"Well, go ahead and tell us what you do have," Joe encouraged.
"All right, but it's not much. All I have right now is: A new evil will arise."
"Well, we sort of figured that out," Mimi retorted, fingering the new hole in the sleeve of her dress. "Good job, though, Izzy."
~*~
Kari was deep in the woods. . . Alone. She could hear the others calling out for her, but she couldn't return their calls; the words stuck in her throat.
A thick smoke was floating through the threes, making it harder and harder to breathe. A choking cough tore through her. She realized with a shock that a fire had started in the forest.
"Kari! Kari, where are you!? Answer me!" she heard Tai shout. He sounded very far away.
Another cough escaped her mouth and Kari shouted out: "Tai, I'm here!" Her words seemed to be swallowed up by the thick smoke.
A different sound was becoming louder and louder: a roar-the roar of an approaching wild fire.
It was unlike anything Kari had ever heard before. "Tai, help me!" Kari shouted. Her cries were dwarfed by the rising noise. The forest was becoming hotter and hotter.
Kari ran, her eyes tearing from the heavy smoke getting into them. A flaming branch fell to the ground directly in front of her. Kari turned the other way, trying to see where she was going, but the smoke was only thicker.
A wall of fire was rushing toward her from behind. Kari turned in a circle. Fire to the front, fire to the back-fire everywhere. She was in a ring of fire and it was closing in on her.
"Help!" Kari screamed as the fire came closer and closer. . .
Kari's eyes snapped open. A dream, just a dream, she thought. But was it? Smoke. . . Thick black smoke was clogging the air. There really was a fire. . .
~*~
"Is everyone out?" Joe asked once the Digidestined had arrived back in the clearing they had originally been in.
"I think so," Sora panted, exhausted from the run.
"Wait, where's Kari?" Tai asked, looking around frantically for his younger sister.
"Wasn't she right behind us?" Mimi asked.
"She's still in there!" TK cried.
Tai immediately began running back into the fiery woods.
"Tai, wait! It's too dangerous!" Izzy warned, but Tai was already too far away to hear. . .
~*~
"Kari, Kari where are you!?" Tai screamed through the roar of the fire. He couldn't believe his younger sister was still in the woods.
He strained his ears to hear anything that could possibly be his sister, but heard nothing.
"KARI!" he shouted again.
Still no reply. The smoke was stinging his eyes and making him cough, but he still pressed on.
He stumbled into the area they had been camping in and found Kari, seemingly unconscious on the ground.
"Kari! Wake up, Kari!" Tai shouted.
Kari suddenly sat straight up. "It's not a dream!" she cried.
"Come on, Kari, we have to get out of here," Tai choked out.
He pulled Kari to her feet and began running back toward the clearing dragging Kari behind him.
"Tai, I can't run this fast!" Kari shouted, trying to be heard over the fire.
"Just try, Kari!" Tai shouted back over his shoulder.
The smoke was extremely thick. Tai didn't even know if he was going the right way.
He tried to tell if they were even on the path anymore, but he wasn't able to see the ground at all. Then his salvation came: "Tai! Kari! Where are you!?"
Tai coughed and shouted back: "I'm here! Where's the clearing?!"
"Out here!" another voice answered.
Tai raced forward and shouted: "Am I closer?"
"Yes!" a third voice replied. "Keep coming the way you are!"
Kari looked straight ahead and saw the clearing through the smoke. "We're almost there," Kari murmured.
Just as they got to the edge of the woods, fiery branches crashed down in front of them, narrowly missing the two siblings.
"We have to go around!" Tai shrieked. He turned around and saw fire burning directly behind them.
"No, not like my dream..." Kari whispered.
There was no way out. It was a ring of fire and it was closing in.
"Come on, Kari," Tai ordered, racing toward the fiery wall in front of them. He went through backwards quickly to shield Kari from being burned. Just as suddenly, they emerged into the clearing.
"Tai, Kari, you're all right!" TK cried out upon seeing them.
Tai coughed violently and passed out from all the smoke he had inhaled.
"Is he going to be OK?" Sora asked, her eyes wide.
"I hope so," Izzy replied. . .
~*~
I was lucky, Kari thought. She gingerly touched a burn on her shoulder. I only got a little burn.
She looked over at her brother lying in his sleeping bag. He was still unconscious hours after the fire. His face had a burn on one cheek and his hair was singed in some places. Kari knew he had serious burns on his arms and legs as well, but she couldn't see them through the sleeping bag.
Kari couldn't stand it. If she had woken up earlier, she would have gotten out with everyone else and Tai wouldn't have had to come in after her. She cried gently.
"I'm sorry," Sora comforted. "He's going to be OK."
"Do you really think so?" Kari sniffled.
"Of course," Sora lied. She had no idea if Tai was going to survive or not.
Sora held back the tears that were threatening to come from her own eyes and wiped Kari's tears away.
"How do you think the fire started?" Kari wondered. "We put out the fire that we made."
Izzy answered this question: "The fire wasn't an accident. Somebody had to have started it themselves. There's no way a forest fire could start from a dead fire."
"But who would do that?" Mimi whispered, her voice trembling fearfully.
"My guess would be the same person who's been doing the other stuff," Joe replied.
"Then who was it?" Matt coldly questioned. "I know what everyone probably thinks. You all think it's me, don't you?"
A long and uncomfortable silence followed this remark.
"It wasn't," Matt finally whispered. He glanced over at his best friend and shivered. The only thing he could do now was hope for the best. . .