Authors note: This fic takes place in the first season and spans a period of time about fifteen years. None of the new digidestined (Davis, Yolei, Cody, Michael, Wallace) or any other I'm not aware of are in this, just the eight original digidestined.
Dedication: I'm dedicating this to moonchild, thanks for letting me put your fanart and fanfiction on my site!
Disclaimer: I do not own digimon that'll happen after world domination.
~ Immortal Destinies ~
Prologue
"Argh! This is so unfair!" Tai shouted to no one in particular, "We should have beat him! We had him, we were so close!"
"Don't worry Tai, we'll get him next time," Sora assured half-heartedly.
"What makes you so sure Sora? It's been months and we still haven't beaten Devimon! Every time we get close enough to fight him he sends his digimon lackeys after us! We're never going to beat him, and do you know why? It's because we never had a chance in the first place! We're nothing more then children fighting a war we don't belong in!"
The group of children took in their leader's words with a pained sigh. If Tai was admitting defeat then all hope was lost. They each hung their head in silence, no longer able to look one another in the eye.
"You know what Tai?" Matt spoke up after a few seconds of unbearable silence. "You really are a jerk!"
Tai's head snapped towards Matt in shock and anger. Matt was staring at him, his usually warm sea blue eyes as hard and cold as ice. Tai met Matt's stare unwavering, only his gaze was one of defeat, perhaps even shame, but still he didn't turn away.
"How is that Matt? It's not like what I said wasn't true. We don't belong here, we never did!" Tai almost screamed, clenching his fists, readying himself for the inevitable fight that was to come.
"It doesn't matter!" Matt screamed back, stepping closer to Tai. "You have no right taking their hope away from them! We might not belong here, and we might not win, but there's no one else we can count on but each other, and thanks to you we don't even have that now!"
Tai, again was taken back by Matt's words, but his own pride wouldn't let him back down, "Screw you Matt! You think you know what's best for the team? Then you be leader, you get to make the mistakes and you get to deal with the consequences!"
Tai threw his fist at the blond haired boy, but Matt ducked throwing a punch of his own hitting Tai in the stomach. Tai doubled over trying to suck in the air that was forced from his lungs. The others looked on unable to decide if they should intervene or not. Maybe Tai needed some sense knocked into him?
"You want to try that again Tai?" Matt smirked, "You better get yourself together before you break up the whole team Tai."
"You're right Matt," Tai gasped straightening himself up, "I don't know what I was thinking, we need to stick together."
The others exhaled with relief, thinking that there just may be enough hope to beat Devimon.
"It's all right Tai," Matt's smirk faded into a smile, "The pressure was bound to get to you sometime."
"Yeah… we should set up camp for the night," Tai muttered.
Silently the others began to set up camp. They had been in the digitalworld for so long that they now had a routine for setting up camp and could do it under an hour. Mimi would fetch water, Sora and Tai would collect food, TK and Matt would find firewood, and Joe and Izzy would start a fire, while their digimon would clear a spot for them to stay the night.
This time though they took a little longer in their tasks, slowing down to think over the past few days and the future. They were no close to beating Devimon now then they were when they first arrived in the digitalworld and they all wanted to return home to their families and their lives.
They ate a dinner of fruit and fish in an uncomfortable silence before turning in for the night. Tai volunteered to take the first watch knowing that he wouldn't fall asleep for hours due to the confusing thoughts running through his head. He watched the others and their digimon tossing and turning on the ground knowing that the exact same thing was happening to them.
"Tai?" a small almost quivering voice asked from behind.
Tai sighed with contentment when he recognized the voice, "What's wrong Sora?"
"D-did you really mean what you said before?" she questioned nervously, sitting down beside him in front of the roaring fire.
Tai bit his bottom lip in thought, "No… I didn't mean it at all."
Sora smiled, watching the flames dance across her line of vision. "I keep thinking about what you said Tai, and I realize that you were right. We don't belong here."
Tai looked at Sora to see tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry Sora, I never meant to make you cry."
"It's not you Tai," Sora promised, "I just… I want to go home so badly. I want to see my mom and my friends. I want to have a normal life, I don't want to have to look over my shoulder every five seconds and wonder which one of my friends is going to die first."
By this time tears were streaking down Sora's face and Tai brought his fingers up to gently wipe them away. She accepted his gesture and laid her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her supportively. "If I had the power to make everything like it was Sora, I would. For you and for the others. I know it's not my fault but I'm going to fix it any ways. I'm going to get us through this alive, and I'm going to get us home."
"I know you will Tai," Sora whispered, her cries declining, "Thank you."
* * *
"Do you need any help Mimi?" Matt asked the small slender girl beside him.
"Umm…" Mimi thought pulling on the rod that she was using to fish with. Surprisingly she had caught a fish, a really big fish that was giving her a lot of trouble. It was incredibly strong since it almost pulled her into the pond with it until Matt grabbed her by the waist and pulled her upright. "Yeah I think I do," Mimi admitted bashfully.
As Matt placed his head on her shoulder he realized just how perfectly he could hold her in his arms. Still holding her waist, Matt grabbed onto the fishing rod she held, "On the count of three we pull, kay?"
"Kay," Mimi nodded determined not to make a fool of herself. She was glad that Matt couldn't see her face, otherwise he'd see the huge grin plastered there.
What was happening was everything she dreamed of, minus the fish, and almost being pulled into the lake, and her clothes, and the whole outdoors scene. In fact the only thing that was really in any of her fantasies was her and Matt, which was just fine for her.
"One, two," Matt counted readying himself to pull back, "Three!"
They pulled as hard as they could, falling back onto the ground together. The four-foot fish that they pulled out of the water lay convulsing on the ground beside them. Mimi sat between Matt's outstretched legs, her back to his chest and her hands tightly grasping the fishing rod.
Matt still had his arm protectively around her waist and his other on the rod in her hands.
"We did it!" Mimi squealed with delight, "Look at how big it is Matt!"
Mimi turned her head to look at Matt and was caught even more off guard by the way he was looking at her with his shocking cerulean eyes. Seeing his handsome face made Mimi forget all about the fish and she let herself get lost in the sea of blues and greens that flashed across his eyes.
Matt's breath grew shallow as Mimi looked at him with her sparkling cinnamon brown eyes, his heartbeat sped up, and his body wouldn't respond to his mind. The only thing it seemed that he could do was gaze into her eyes, watching her unknowingly open her soul to him. Swallowing hard Matt leaned in placing a quick gentle kiss on Mimi's lips for the first time.
"W-we should get back to camp," Matt said shakily after pulling away.
"Wait!" Mimi almost shouted when he moved to get up.
Taking his face in her hands, she pulled him in for one final kiss before standing up and brushing her pink dress off.
Matt sat on the ground, in total daze. That is until a wry smile crept across his face.
"Well?" Mimi grinned, a blush setting into her cheeks.
Matt cleared his throat before answering, "Well what?"
"Aren't you going to help me carry this huge fish back to camp?" she questioned placing her hands on her hips.
"On one condition."
"What's that?" Mimi asked skeptically.
"You have to kiss me again," Matt enlightened picking himself up off the ground.
Mimi tilted her to look at him with one eyebrow raised. "You have to carry it alone then."
"You're on, deal?" Matt agreed.
"Hmmm… let's see, carry a big smelly fish all by myself or kiss Matt Ishida," Mimi said to herself, but loud enough so that Matt could, "deal!"
Shamelessly Mimi walked up to Matt and placed a slow sensuous kiss on his lips.
"I'll give you a little time to get back to camp," Mimi smiled, taking off, "the fish is pretty big."
By the time Matt got back to camp the others were getting extremely impatient and he reeked of fish but that was fine with him. The kiss that Mimi gave him was worth that and more.
"What's with Ishida?" Tai whispered to Sora.
Sora smiled knowingly but didn't answer. The instant Mimi had returned to camp she pulled Sora to the side to tell her what had happened at the pond.
"You're holding out on me, aren't you Sora?" Tai pouted.
"It's a girl thing," Sora whispered back.
Tai crossed his arms in defeat knowing that Sora wasn't going to confess.
"TK! Get back from the fire or you're going to get burned," Joe screamed when he saw TK three feet from the fire.
"Relax Joe," Matt snapped out of his trance when he heard TK's name, "TK's not even that close."
"Whoa! That's the biggest fish I've ever seen!" Tai blurted out excitedly jumping up from his spot by the fire.
"And I caught it!" Mimi beamed excitedly.
"No way!" Tai gasped.
"Yes way!" Mimi cried, "with Matt's help, but mostly me!"
"Matt?" Tai turned to him questionably.
"It's true, Mimi did most of the work," Matt smiled at her before replacing the smile with his usual smirk.
"Well, let's fry it up! I'm starving!" Tai ordered.
"When are you not?" Sora joked.
Everything had returned to normal, or as close to normal as they could get it. It was as if the fight the day before had never happened.
Everyone burst out into laughter leaving Tai to pout by himself.
"Lighten up Tai," Sora gasped, "I was just joking."
"I know," Tai sighed, then a huge smile spread across his face. "I get to cook!"
"NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" everyone one of the digidestined screamed.
Izzy and Joe moved in to grab Tai before he could get the fish and Matt had already began to clean it as quickly as he could so he could cook it before Tai got free.
"Come on guys!" Tai pleaded, "My last meal wasn't that bad!"
"Tai, we were practically paralyzed for a week!" Izzy argued trying to hold Tai down while Matt put the fish on the fire.
"I said I was sorry!" Tai struggled.
"We'll let you go if you promise not to go anywhere near that fish until it's finished," Joe said loosening his grip on Tai.
"Fine! I won't touch the fish!" Tai promised, sitting up. "I'm going for a walk, anyone want to come?"
"No thank you," Izzy assured returning to his computer, "I have some programs to write."
"Sora?" Tai questioned.
"Sora can't go!" Mimi blurted out. "I have to talk to her some more."
"Matt?"
"I'm the master chef," Matt reminded Tai.
"Joe?"
"I'm sorry Tai, I'm allergic to walking for short periods of time," Joe whined.
"I though you were allergic to walking for long periods of time?" Tai scrunched his forehead with frustration.
"I am."
"TK?" Tai asked hopefully.
"Matt? Pllllleeeeeaaaaasssseeeee," TK begged, with big puppy dog eyes.
"No TK," Matt decided looking evilly at Tai.
Tai shrugged then headed away from the camp with Agumon trailing behind.
"Tai! Wait up!" Agumon shouted after his companion.
"You really need to grow a little, you know that buddy," Tai chuckled looking up at the passing clouds.
"Tai! Watch ou-" Agumon shouted but it was too late.
"Ow!" Tai swore tripping over the metallic base of a holographic projector. "What's that doing there?"
"How should I know?" Agumon walked over to Tai.
"Greetings Digidestined," an elderly old man appeared at the base of Tai's feet.
"Who are you?" Tai, rubbing his head and Agumon, staring wide eyed asked.
"I am Gennai," Gennai said matter-of-factly.
"Huh?"
"I have a proposition for you Courage, if you're willing to listen," Gennai offered with bother hands behind his back.
"A what? You got to speak normally dude, I'm not Izzy," Tai reminded.
Both Gennai and Agumon sighed noticeably, "I have a offer for you," he rephrased.
"Oh! Shoot!" Tai sat cross-legged in front of Gennai, naïve to the fact that Gennai was a hologram that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Rolling his eyes under his almost closed eyelids Gennai continued on, "I heard you the other day when you said you wanted to go home. I've heard you all talk about your homes and your families and I must admit I feel extremely guilty for bringing you here. So I've decided to give you the choice."
Tai stared wide-eyed at Gennai, "You mean you're the reason why we're here?"
"Yes I am," Gennai nodded.
"An we get a choice to be here or not?"
"No, you get the choice."
"Why me? Why do I have to choose for the rest of the team?" Tai started to panic.
"You are the leader aren't you?" Gennai questioned motionlessly.
"Y-yes but-" Tai was cut off before he could protest any longer.
"Then you will make the decision."
"What decision?" Tai asked taking a deep breath.
"I'm giving you the choice to stay here and fight for the digitalworld or return to your past lives at the moment before you were destined to arrive here," His words were as solemn as his face.
"Y-you mean we can go home?"
"Precisely."
Tai wasn't sure but he had guessed that Gennai had just said yes. "Can I ask the others?"
"No, this is your choice and your choice alone. You will not get another chance."
"Argh! This is so unfair!" Tai huffed thinking more then he had ever thought in his life. "What would you do?"
"That is not my decision to make Courage," Gennai was obviously no help at all.
"Agumon?"
"I'm sorry Tai, but Gennai's right, we can't make that decision," Agumon replied sadly.
"Okay, Everyone does miss their family and Sora really wants to go home. TK probably misses his mom and our parents are probably worried sick about us right now. But what about our digimon? What will happen to them if we go home?"
"It is not my place to tell the future but choose wisely and consider all your options."
"All my options… all my options… all right. Pros and cons right? My mom use to do it all the time. Umm… if we go home everyone gets to see their friends and families. That's a pro. We get to live normal lives, that's also a pro and we don't get eaten, or squished, or set on fire, that's defiantly a pro. The only cons I can see, is never seeing our digimon again and eating my mom's cooking."
"What is your decision Courage? My generosity is lessening with the growing of my appetite."
Tai's hands were beginning to shake by now and his eyes darted around his surroundings as if for answers. "Umm… oh shit… How do I know if my decision will be right?"
"You won't know until it's too late. You will return the precise moment before you received your digivices there for will have no memory of this timeline. You will go on living your lives as you normally would have," Gennai explained impatiently.
Tai ran his hands through his thick brown hair taking a deep breath, "If I make the wrong choice will we ever get a second chance?"
"That is not for me to decide."
"ARGH! You are no help, you know that?" Tai burst out.
"It is not m-"
"Place to be helpful, right?" Tai ridiculed, "Yeah, I know! Listen Agumon, I'm sorry man."
"Y-you're leaving, aren't you?" Agumon gasped tears in his eyes.
"Agumon I'm sorry," Tai kneeled down beside his digimon so that he could look him in the eye. "You're my best friend Agumon, and the best digimon anyone could ever have, but it's not just me who wants to go home. Everybody does, and our families need us. You understand, don't you buddy?"
Agumon's eyes shifted from Tai to the ground then back to Tai, "I understand Tai."
"All right, I'm going to do this! Everyone wants a normal life, well they're going to get one! Its not like the digiworld has changed their lives in any drastic way, so let's do it!" Tai insisted hugging Agumon one last time.
"Is that your final decision?" Gennai narrowed his eyes until they were completely closed.
Tai nodded.
"Is that your final answer?"
"Open your eyes dude! I said yes!" Tai almost screamed.
"So be it," Gennai whispered divinely before everything went black.
* * *
"How was summer camp Tai?" Tai's little sister Kari asked as he stepped through the door with his bags in hand.
Tai had just gotten home from his summer camp trip. A summer camp trip that Kari had missed out on because of a cold. She knew she had to stay though, even if she wasn't sick she knew she couldn't go.
"It was great Kari! Oh man, you would have had so much fun! Too bad you were sick," Tai sighed dropping his bags at the door and heading for the fridge.
"Everything happens for a reason Tai," Kari said, a wisdom shining through her eyes that was well beyond her years. "So tell me about it."
"Well it was really cool," Tai began frowning at a tofu salad his mother had made. "Do you remember Sora?"
"Yes, you go to school with her, don't you?" Kari asked sitting at the table to watch her brother search through the kitchen for some decent food.
"Yup, well she was there and we had this great game of soccer! It was amazing! I've never seen a girl play like that before! There was also this guy named Matt, he was okay, had a major attitude problem though. His little brother TK was pretty cool, and there was this guy named Izzy who never got off his computer! And there was this guy named Joe who was allergic to everything, it was getting kinda annoying though. Oh and this girl named Mimi who would not stop talking about clothes and hair, well that is when she wasn't staring at Matt. I think he had the hots for her too."
"Wow, I'm starting to think I really missed out now," Kari smiled watching Tai pull out the cereal and start to eat it straight out of the box.
"You did, and the weirdest thing happened."
"What's that?"
"It snowed! Can you believe it? It's the middle of summer and it snowed!" Tai exclaimed gulping the milk down straight from the carton next.
"It snowed?" Kari asked quietly, her eyes clouding over with uncertainty.
"Yeah, did anything weird happen here?" Tai asked giving a puzzled look to his little sister.
"Well…"
"Well what Kari?" Tai worried sitting down across from her.
"I… I've been seeing monsters… but I don't see them anymore Tai." Kari muttered, "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"You're eight years old Kari!" Tai put on a goofy smile, "You're not suppose to see monsters any more."
"I know," Kari smiled back at her brother reassuringly, but something just did feel right to her.
"All right Kari, I'm going to make you some smiley face pancakes, with chocolate chips!" Tai decided pushing himself off the table.
"No!" Kari groaned, "You cook worse then mom!"
Tai turned to her sister a look of pure agony and hurt on his face.
Kari rolled her eyes, "All right, but I'm not promising I'll eat all of it."
"You just have to take a bite. Trust me, these ones are going to be better the ever! Matt showed me how to make them. He think he's da man, which he's not, but he's a really great cook." Tai winked pulling out all of the ingredients.
Kari sat by, ideally watching her brother burn the pancakes, while thinking about what Tai said and about the monsters she had been seeing. She use to see them all the time, in the city, on TV, on the internet, but just a few days ago they had all disappeared. That fact all in itself disturbed her immensely, something was extremely wrong, she just couldn't figure it out.
As the years went by, she felt more and more out of place. Nothing seemed right, she didn't seem right, her brother didn't seem right, her brother's girlfriend Sora didn't seem right, even her best friend TK didn't see right. She knew it, but nobody would listen, nobody cared, to them, everything was bliss.
* * *
"AHHHHHHHHH!" a shrill female voice rang throughout the small apartment.
"Kari!" Tai called, bursting into her room with Sora right behind him.
"I told you! I told you the monsters were real!" the fourteen year old girl screamed, backing into her brother as she kept her frightened brown eyes fixed on the monster outside her window.
End of Prologue
Dedication: I'm dedicating this to moonchild, thanks for letting me put your fanart and fanfiction on my site!
Disclaimer: I do not own digimon that'll happen after world domination.
~ Immortal Destinies ~
Prologue
"Argh! This is so unfair!" Tai shouted to no one in particular, "We should have beat him! We had him, we were so close!"
"Don't worry Tai, we'll get him next time," Sora assured half-heartedly.
"What makes you so sure Sora? It's been months and we still haven't beaten Devimon! Every time we get close enough to fight him he sends his digimon lackeys after us! We're never going to beat him, and do you know why? It's because we never had a chance in the first place! We're nothing more then children fighting a war we don't belong in!"
The group of children took in their leader's words with a pained sigh. If Tai was admitting defeat then all hope was lost. They each hung their head in silence, no longer able to look one another in the eye.
"You know what Tai?" Matt spoke up after a few seconds of unbearable silence. "You really are a jerk!"
Tai's head snapped towards Matt in shock and anger. Matt was staring at him, his usually warm sea blue eyes as hard and cold as ice. Tai met Matt's stare unwavering, only his gaze was one of defeat, perhaps even shame, but still he didn't turn away.
"How is that Matt? It's not like what I said wasn't true. We don't belong here, we never did!" Tai almost screamed, clenching his fists, readying himself for the inevitable fight that was to come.
"It doesn't matter!" Matt screamed back, stepping closer to Tai. "You have no right taking their hope away from them! We might not belong here, and we might not win, but there's no one else we can count on but each other, and thanks to you we don't even have that now!"
Tai, again was taken back by Matt's words, but his own pride wouldn't let him back down, "Screw you Matt! You think you know what's best for the team? Then you be leader, you get to make the mistakes and you get to deal with the consequences!"
Tai threw his fist at the blond haired boy, but Matt ducked throwing a punch of his own hitting Tai in the stomach. Tai doubled over trying to suck in the air that was forced from his lungs. The others looked on unable to decide if they should intervene or not. Maybe Tai needed some sense knocked into him?
"You want to try that again Tai?" Matt smirked, "You better get yourself together before you break up the whole team Tai."
"You're right Matt," Tai gasped straightening himself up, "I don't know what I was thinking, we need to stick together."
The others exhaled with relief, thinking that there just may be enough hope to beat Devimon.
"It's all right Tai," Matt's smirk faded into a smile, "The pressure was bound to get to you sometime."
"Yeah… we should set up camp for the night," Tai muttered.
Silently the others began to set up camp. They had been in the digitalworld for so long that they now had a routine for setting up camp and could do it under an hour. Mimi would fetch water, Sora and Tai would collect food, TK and Matt would find firewood, and Joe and Izzy would start a fire, while their digimon would clear a spot for them to stay the night.
This time though they took a little longer in their tasks, slowing down to think over the past few days and the future. They were no close to beating Devimon now then they were when they first arrived in the digitalworld and they all wanted to return home to their families and their lives.
They ate a dinner of fruit and fish in an uncomfortable silence before turning in for the night. Tai volunteered to take the first watch knowing that he wouldn't fall asleep for hours due to the confusing thoughts running through his head. He watched the others and their digimon tossing and turning on the ground knowing that the exact same thing was happening to them.
"Tai?" a small almost quivering voice asked from behind.
Tai sighed with contentment when he recognized the voice, "What's wrong Sora?"
"D-did you really mean what you said before?" she questioned nervously, sitting down beside him in front of the roaring fire.
Tai bit his bottom lip in thought, "No… I didn't mean it at all."
Sora smiled, watching the flames dance across her line of vision. "I keep thinking about what you said Tai, and I realize that you were right. We don't belong here."
Tai looked at Sora to see tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry Sora, I never meant to make you cry."
"It's not you Tai," Sora promised, "I just… I want to go home so badly. I want to see my mom and my friends. I want to have a normal life, I don't want to have to look over my shoulder every five seconds and wonder which one of my friends is going to die first."
By this time tears were streaking down Sora's face and Tai brought his fingers up to gently wipe them away. She accepted his gesture and laid her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her supportively. "If I had the power to make everything like it was Sora, I would. For you and for the others. I know it's not my fault but I'm going to fix it any ways. I'm going to get us through this alive, and I'm going to get us home."
"I know you will Tai," Sora whispered, her cries declining, "Thank you."
* * *
"Do you need any help Mimi?" Matt asked the small slender girl beside him.
"Umm…" Mimi thought pulling on the rod that she was using to fish with. Surprisingly she had caught a fish, a really big fish that was giving her a lot of trouble. It was incredibly strong since it almost pulled her into the pond with it until Matt grabbed her by the waist and pulled her upright. "Yeah I think I do," Mimi admitted bashfully.
As Matt placed his head on her shoulder he realized just how perfectly he could hold her in his arms. Still holding her waist, Matt grabbed onto the fishing rod she held, "On the count of three we pull, kay?"
"Kay," Mimi nodded determined not to make a fool of herself. She was glad that Matt couldn't see her face, otherwise he'd see the huge grin plastered there.
What was happening was everything she dreamed of, minus the fish, and almost being pulled into the lake, and her clothes, and the whole outdoors scene. In fact the only thing that was really in any of her fantasies was her and Matt, which was just fine for her.
"One, two," Matt counted readying himself to pull back, "Three!"
They pulled as hard as they could, falling back onto the ground together. The four-foot fish that they pulled out of the water lay convulsing on the ground beside them. Mimi sat between Matt's outstretched legs, her back to his chest and her hands tightly grasping the fishing rod.
Matt still had his arm protectively around her waist and his other on the rod in her hands.
"We did it!" Mimi squealed with delight, "Look at how big it is Matt!"
Mimi turned her head to look at Matt and was caught even more off guard by the way he was looking at her with his shocking cerulean eyes. Seeing his handsome face made Mimi forget all about the fish and she let herself get lost in the sea of blues and greens that flashed across his eyes.
Matt's breath grew shallow as Mimi looked at him with her sparkling cinnamon brown eyes, his heartbeat sped up, and his body wouldn't respond to his mind. The only thing it seemed that he could do was gaze into her eyes, watching her unknowingly open her soul to him. Swallowing hard Matt leaned in placing a quick gentle kiss on Mimi's lips for the first time.
"W-we should get back to camp," Matt said shakily after pulling away.
"Wait!" Mimi almost shouted when he moved to get up.
Taking his face in her hands, she pulled him in for one final kiss before standing up and brushing her pink dress off.
Matt sat on the ground, in total daze. That is until a wry smile crept across his face.
"Well?" Mimi grinned, a blush setting into her cheeks.
Matt cleared his throat before answering, "Well what?"
"Aren't you going to help me carry this huge fish back to camp?" she questioned placing her hands on her hips.
"On one condition."
"What's that?" Mimi asked skeptically.
"You have to kiss me again," Matt enlightened picking himself up off the ground.
Mimi tilted her to look at him with one eyebrow raised. "You have to carry it alone then."
"You're on, deal?" Matt agreed.
"Hmmm… let's see, carry a big smelly fish all by myself or kiss Matt Ishida," Mimi said to herself, but loud enough so that Matt could, "deal!"
Shamelessly Mimi walked up to Matt and placed a slow sensuous kiss on his lips.
"I'll give you a little time to get back to camp," Mimi smiled, taking off, "the fish is pretty big."
By the time Matt got back to camp the others were getting extremely impatient and he reeked of fish but that was fine with him. The kiss that Mimi gave him was worth that and more.
"What's with Ishida?" Tai whispered to Sora.
Sora smiled knowingly but didn't answer. The instant Mimi had returned to camp she pulled Sora to the side to tell her what had happened at the pond.
"You're holding out on me, aren't you Sora?" Tai pouted.
"It's a girl thing," Sora whispered back.
Tai crossed his arms in defeat knowing that Sora wasn't going to confess.
"TK! Get back from the fire or you're going to get burned," Joe screamed when he saw TK three feet from the fire.
"Relax Joe," Matt snapped out of his trance when he heard TK's name, "TK's not even that close."
"Whoa! That's the biggest fish I've ever seen!" Tai blurted out excitedly jumping up from his spot by the fire.
"And I caught it!" Mimi beamed excitedly.
"No way!" Tai gasped.
"Yes way!" Mimi cried, "with Matt's help, but mostly me!"
"Matt?" Tai turned to him questionably.
"It's true, Mimi did most of the work," Matt smiled at her before replacing the smile with his usual smirk.
"Well, let's fry it up! I'm starving!" Tai ordered.
"When are you not?" Sora joked.
Everything had returned to normal, or as close to normal as they could get it. It was as if the fight the day before had never happened.
Everyone burst out into laughter leaving Tai to pout by himself.
"Lighten up Tai," Sora gasped, "I was just joking."
"I know," Tai sighed, then a huge smile spread across his face. "I get to cook!"
"NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" everyone one of the digidestined screamed.
Izzy and Joe moved in to grab Tai before he could get the fish and Matt had already began to clean it as quickly as he could so he could cook it before Tai got free.
"Come on guys!" Tai pleaded, "My last meal wasn't that bad!"
"Tai, we were practically paralyzed for a week!" Izzy argued trying to hold Tai down while Matt put the fish on the fire.
"I said I was sorry!" Tai struggled.
"We'll let you go if you promise not to go anywhere near that fish until it's finished," Joe said loosening his grip on Tai.
"Fine! I won't touch the fish!" Tai promised, sitting up. "I'm going for a walk, anyone want to come?"
"No thank you," Izzy assured returning to his computer, "I have some programs to write."
"Sora?" Tai questioned.
"Sora can't go!" Mimi blurted out. "I have to talk to her some more."
"Matt?"
"I'm the master chef," Matt reminded Tai.
"Joe?"
"I'm sorry Tai, I'm allergic to walking for short periods of time," Joe whined.
"I though you were allergic to walking for long periods of time?" Tai scrunched his forehead with frustration.
"I am."
"TK?" Tai asked hopefully.
"Matt? Pllllleeeeeaaaaasssseeeee," TK begged, with big puppy dog eyes.
"No TK," Matt decided looking evilly at Tai.
Tai shrugged then headed away from the camp with Agumon trailing behind.
"Tai! Wait up!" Agumon shouted after his companion.
"You really need to grow a little, you know that buddy," Tai chuckled looking up at the passing clouds.
"Tai! Watch ou-" Agumon shouted but it was too late.
"Ow!" Tai swore tripping over the metallic base of a holographic projector. "What's that doing there?"
"How should I know?" Agumon walked over to Tai.
"Greetings Digidestined," an elderly old man appeared at the base of Tai's feet.
"Who are you?" Tai, rubbing his head and Agumon, staring wide eyed asked.
"I am Gennai," Gennai said matter-of-factly.
"Huh?"
"I have a proposition for you Courage, if you're willing to listen," Gennai offered with bother hands behind his back.
"A what? You got to speak normally dude, I'm not Izzy," Tai reminded.
Both Gennai and Agumon sighed noticeably, "I have a offer for you," he rephrased.
"Oh! Shoot!" Tai sat cross-legged in front of Gennai, naïve to the fact that Gennai was a hologram that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Rolling his eyes under his almost closed eyelids Gennai continued on, "I heard you the other day when you said you wanted to go home. I've heard you all talk about your homes and your families and I must admit I feel extremely guilty for bringing you here. So I've decided to give you the choice."
Tai stared wide-eyed at Gennai, "You mean you're the reason why we're here?"
"Yes I am," Gennai nodded.
"An we get a choice to be here or not?"
"No, you get the choice."
"Why me? Why do I have to choose for the rest of the team?" Tai started to panic.
"You are the leader aren't you?" Gennai questioned motionlessly.
"Y-yes but-" Tai was cut off before he could protest any longer.
"Then you will make the decision."
"What decision?" Tai asked taking a deep breath.
"I'm giving you the choice to stay here and fight for the digitalworld or return to your past lives at the moment before you were destined to arrive here," His words were as solemn as his face.
"Y-you mean we can go home?"
"Precisely."
Tai wasn't sure but he had guessed that Gennai had just said yes. "Can I ask the others?"
"No, this is your choice and your choice alone. You will not get another chance."
"Argh! This is so unfair!" Tai huffed thinking more then he had ever thought in his life. "What would you do?"
"That is not my decision to make Courage," Gennai was obviously no help at all.
"Agumon?"
"I'm sorry Tai, but Gennai's right, we can't make that decision," Agumon replied sadly.
"Okay, Everyone does miss their family and Sora really wants to go home. TK probably misses his mom and our parents are probably worried sick about us right now. But what about our digimon? What will happen to them if we go home?"
"It is not my place to tell the future but choose wisely and consider all your options."
"All my options… all my options… all right. Pros and cons right? My mom use to do it all the time. Umm… if we go home everyone gets to see their friends and families. That's a pro. We get to live normal lives, that's also a pro and we don't get eaten, or squished, or set on fire, that's defiantly a pro. The only cons I can see, is never seeing our digimon again and eating my mom's cooking."
"What is your decision Courage? My generosity is lessening with the growing of my appetite."
Tai's hands were beginning to shake by now and his eyes darted around his surroundings as if for answers. "Umm… oh shit… How do I know if my decision will be right?"
"You won't know until it's too late. You will return the precise moment before you received your digivices there for will have no memory of this timeline. You will go on living your lives as you normally would have," Gennai explained impatiently.
Tai ran his hands through his thick brown hair taking a deep breath, "If I make the wrong choice will we ever get a second chance?"
"That is not for me to decide."
"ARGH! You are no help, you know that?" Tai burst out.
"It is not m-"
"Place to be helpful, right?" Tai ridiculed, "Yeah, I know! Listen Agumon, I'm sorry man."
"Y-you're leaving, aren't you?" Agumon gasped tears in his eyes.
"Agumon I'm sorry," Tai kneeled down beside his digimon so that he could look him in the eye. "You're my best friend Agumon, and the best digimon anyone could ever have, but it's not just me who wants to go home. Everybody does, and our families need us. You understand, don't you buddy?"
Agumon's eyes shifted from Tai to the ground then back to Tai, "I understand Tai."
"All right, I'm going to do this! Everyone wants a normal life, well they're going to get one! Its not like the digiworld has changed their lives in any drastic way, so let's do it!" Tai insisted hugging Agumon one last time.
"Is that your final decision?" Gennai narrowed his eyes until they were completely closed.
Tai nodded.
"Is that your final answer?"
"Open your eyes dude! I said yes!" Tai almost screamed.
"So be it," Gennai whispered divinely before everything went black.
* * *
"How was summer camp Tai?" Tai's little sister Kari asked as he stepped through the door with his bags in hand.
Tai had just gotten home from his summer camp trip. A summer camp trip that Kari had missed out on because of a cold. She knew she had to stay though, even if she wasn't sick she knew she couldn't go.
"It was great Kari! Oh man, you would have had so much fun! Too bad you were sick," Tai sighed dropping his bags at the door and heading for the fridge.
"Everything happens for a reason Tai," Kari said, a wisdom shining through her eyes that was well beyond her years. "So tell me about it."
"Well it was really cool," Tai began frowning at a tofu salad his mother had made. "Do you remember Sora?"
"Yes, you go to school with her, don't you?" Kari asked sitting at the table to watch her brother search through the kitchen for some decent food.
"Yup, well she was there and we had this great game of soccer! It was amazing! I've never seen a girl play like that before! There was also this guy named Matt, he was okay, had a major attitude problem though. His little brother TK was pretty cool, and there was this guy named Izzy who never got off his computer! And there was this guy named Joe who was allergic to everything, it was getting kinda annoying though. Oh and this girl named Mimi who would not stop talking about clothes and hair, well that is when she wasn't staring at Matt. I think he had the hots for her too."
"Wow, I'm starting to think I really missed out now," Kari smiled watching Tai pull out the cereal and start to eat it straight out of the box.
"You did, and the weirdest thing happened."
"What's that?"
"It snowed! Can you believe it? It's the middle of summer and it snowed!" Tai exclaimed gulping the milk down straight from the carton next.
"It snowed?" Kari asked quietly, her eyes clouding over with uncertainty.
"Yeah, did anything weird happen here?" Tai asked giving a puzzled look to his little sister.
"Well…"
"Well what Kari?" Tai worried sitting down across from her.
"I… I've been seeing monsters… but I don't see them anymore Tai." Kari muttered, "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"You're eight years old Kari!" Tai put on a goofy smile, "You're not suppose to see monsters any more."
"I know," Kari smiled back at her brother reassuringly, but something just did feel right to her.
"All right Kari, I'm going to make you some smiley face pancakes, with chocolate chips!" Tai decided pushing himself off the table.
"No!" Kari groaned, "You cook worse then mom!"
Tai turned to her sister a look of pure agony and hurt on his face.
Kari rolled her eyes, "All right, but I'm not promising I'll eat all of it."
"You just have to take a bite. Trust me, these ones are going to be better the ever! Matt showed me how to make them. He think he's da man, which he's not, but he's a really great cook." Tai winked pulling out all of the ingredients.
Kari sat by, ideally watching her brother burn the pancakes, while thinking about what Tai said and about the monsters she had been seeing. She use to see them all the time, in the city, on TV, on the internet, but just a few days ago they had all disappeared. That fact all in itself disturbed her immensely, something was extremely wrong, she just couldn't figure it out.
As the years went by, she felt more and more out of place. Nothing seemed right, she didn't seem right, her brother didn't seem right, her brother's girlfriend Sora didn't seem right, even her best friend TK didn't see right. She knew it, but nobody would listen, nobody cared, to them, everything was bliss.
* * *
"AHHHHHHHHH!" a shrill female voice rang throughout the small apartment.
"Kari!" Tai called, bursting into her room with Sora right behind him.
"I told you! I told you the monsters were real!" the fourteen year old girl screamed, backing into her brother as she kept her frightened brown eyes fixed on the monster outside her window.
End of Prologue