They were, but Mimi fell asleep on guard duty again. Tai made a note to do something about it. He didn't want to and made it perfectly clear to himself that just because he was the leader didn't give him the right to, he figured that he may have to think of a punishment for her, but for now, he had to wake her up.
He thought of a way to kill two birds with one stone. He walked over to the small pond next to camp. He filled one of the canteens with water and dumped it on her head. She woke up screaming.
Her mouth woke everyone else up just in time to pull her hands away from Tai's throat. "Don't ever do that again, Tai!" she yelled, struggling to get near him.
"You feel asleep on watch, again!" he said.
She stopped. "Oh, I did, didn't I?" she asked, meekly.
Tai nodded. "I really don't want to do this, Mimi, but if you fall asleep again, you will have a turn at watch every night until you can stay awake!"
She moaned, but knew he was right. She didn't say anything as she walked away.
"Okay," Tai said, "Whose got food and water this morning?"
"Me and Matt!" T.K. said, cheerfully.
"Uh, Do you mind if someone else goes with you, T.K.? I need to talk to Matt."
"Sure!" T.K. said,"Do you want to go, Joe?"
"Okay!"
"What's up, Tai?" Matt asked after they left.
"It's about the Dark Masters. Tomorrow night they're holding a part for their supporters and I want to try to sneak in there and learn as much as we can, but I need your support! Like it or not, you're our lose cannon and also my second-in-command! I need you behind me on this!"
Matt was awe struck. It wasn't like Tai to show his feeling like this. "Uh, sure. I'm behind you!"
Tai nodded. "Good!"
"Tai, "Matt said," If you don't mind me saying so, I think that your new relationship with Sora is great for you!"
Tai smiled. "Yeah, she's a special girl!"
The kids followed Tai all day through the forest, but it is what happened at night that needs to be told. Once darkness fell, they decided to stop at a clearing where they could build a fire safely and also where a lake was nearby.
"I wish we brought our swimming suits," T.K. said, disappointed.
"Yeah,"Kari said, echoing his disappointment.
"You'll both need a bath later!" Matt said,"You can go in the water then!"
They both decided that that was better than nothing and walked back to camp to eat dinner.
Later that night, Sora was sitting on a rock watching the lake. She told Tai to meet her there later to talk, she couldn't wait.
Off in the distance, Magicmon watched her. He smiled as his eyes flashed. Sora suddenly found herself back in the 1700s. She was still sitting on the rock at the lake wearing an evening gown on American soil. "What is happening to me?" she asked.
"Is something wrong?" Magicmon asked, walking up to her.
"Oh, nothing is wrong, Jason," she said, sweetly,"Why do you ask my husband?"
"You've seemed..distance lately! I'm just concerned for you, my darling!"
Sora stood up and slipped off the rock. She landed on her head and started to black out. She saw a figure above her. "Oh, thank you..Jason!"
Tai had been walking down to the lake when he saw Sora fall off the rock. He ran over to pick her up when she called him 'Jason'.
"Sora!" he cried, "And who's Jason? Sora!"
She slowly opened her eyes. "What?" she asked,"Tai, what happened?"
"You slipped off the rock!" he said, forgetting about 'Jason'.
"Oh," she said. "Tai, it feels real good to be in your arms like this!"
"Huh?"
She reached up and started to pull off his shirt. "Sora! What are you doing?" he asked as he struggled to keep it on, but she succeeded.
"I just wanted to see your chest," she said, softly. Looking him over she said,"You've got a nice chest!"
Tai was extremely embarrassed. The only thing on his chest was his crest. Sora saw this and said,"Tai, I've learned my crest can do something special!"
"Really?" he asked, interested.
She nodded. "I can create a rapport between my crest and yours!"
"What does that mean?" he asked, a little afraid.
"Its a psychic bond between us! Part of me will be in your head, and part of you will be in mine. I know I'm asking a lot, we'll be able to talk to each other telepathically! I..understand if you say no."
Tai held out his crest. "I say yes!"
The next morning, the kids reached the only black tree in the forest. "This is it!" Tai said.
"So what do we do now?" Joe asked.
"We wait for our guide," Tai said, leaning his back against a rock.
The others saw that Tai sat down, so it was break time. They were so busy talking to each other that they didn't notice Tai staring at Sora.
"She's changed," he thought. He decided to give the rapport a try. "Sora?" he asked in his mind, concentrating on his crest.
"Yes?"
Tai was surprised. She just talked to him inside his head.
"Of course I did!" came the reply," I told you that we can talk telepathically!"
"But I didn't formed a thought, I just felt surprised!" he protested.
"When you called my name, you opened the rapport! We are now completely connected! I can feel what you feel and vice versa! You can close the rapport too the same way you opened it!"
"Okay! I'm going to try!" He concentrated once again, and he felt 'something' disappear! "Sora?" he asked. There was no reply, so he figured that he closed it.
After a few hours, Tai decided that their guide wasn't going to show. Right before he packed everyone up, the black tree moved.
"You are Digidestined?" it asked as it twisted, shrunk and changed into a small Elf!"
"That's Forestmon!" Tentomon said. "He has the ability to become anything in the forest!"
"I had to make sure you weren't a trick sent by Puppetmon to add this forest to those he already has!" he said.
"Are you our guide?" Agumon asked.
Forestmon nodded. "Yes! I can take you to Pidemon's castle and disguise you to enter, but that is all! I'm sorry!"
"Lead the way!" Tai said.
They followed Forestmon through the trees up to Spiral Mountain's peak.
TO BE CONTINUED...