Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Digimon. ::sniff sniff:: But I do own all of the characters that I created. So don't use them without my permission.
~ Chapter Two ~
Dream Girl in the Digiworld
The next morning came extremely fast. The sun rose over the tops of the skyscrapers, making the glass windows shine and dance in the light. Mrs. Kayima and Kari sat in the kitchen eating their breakfast and watching the morning News. "And in sports this morning, the Odaiba High School Panthers have calmed the State Soccer title yesterday in a heated match against the Orange Star Wizards. There was only one major accident during the game. The center forward from the Panthers, Tai Kayima, had to be taken to the hospital after being kicked in the head by opposing team's center, Chris Sono. Kayima was taken to Odaiba General Hospital and was soon after released with only a minor concussion."
Kari looked up at the television. "Only a minor concussion? Please, what about his arm? That jerk Chris kicked Tai in the arm too, ya know." She said loudly.
"Not so loud, dear. You'll wake your brother." Mrs. Kayima said quietly.
Suddenly, a soft creek came from Tai's bedroom door. "It's okay. I'm already up." Tai said. He walked into the kitchen in a pair of loose jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt on that had a skater company logo on the front. His goggles hung around his neck as he flopped into his seat at the table. "Please pass the cereal." He asked tiredly.
Kari slid her brother the box of cereal and then the milk. As Tai sat there pouring his food, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Kari said, rising from the table. Placing her dishes on the counter, Kari ran for the door. When she opened it, Matt and T.K. stood there smiling. "Hi guys." Kari smiled.
"Morning Kari. Are you ready to leave?" T.K asked.
"Hang on, Let me just run and get Tai." She said. Kari ran from the door and around into the kitchen. Within moments, she returned with her backpack and her brother. "Okay, we're ready." She said, placing her hand into T.K.'s.
Tai reached up onto the coat rack and grabbed at his varsity jacket, but was thrown back by the pain in his arm. "Here Tai. I got it." Matt said, handing his friend his coat.
Tai pulled on his jacket slowly. "Thanks Matt." He said as he grabbed his backpack.
"No prob. That's what I'm here for." Both of the teens stepped outside and Tai shut the door. As they walked over to the elevator, Matt looked over at his friend. "It is so cool that we don't have to wear our uniforms since you guys won the Championship."
Tai didn't answer back. "Hey, what's the matter?" Matt asked.
Stopping in front of the elevator where Kari and T.K. were waiting, Tai looked up at his friend. "Correction to your previous sentence: It is so cool that we don't have to wear our uniforms since our school's soccer team won the championship."
"Tai, don't talk like that. You scored two of those goals. The victory is has much as yours as it is the rest of the teams." T.K. said reassuringly.
"Maybe..." Tai said, his voice fading.
*****
When they arrived at school, Matt, T.K., Kari, and Tai where greeted by streamers of dark blue and white. Banners hung all over the lobby in the entrance to the school, which read things like, "Panthers Are STATE CHAMPS!" or "Panthers are Number One!" The sounds of the pep band filled the halls as the small group of musicians marched down the hallway happily playing. The cheerleaders ran down the hallways, their pom-poms shaking in the air. "Wow! When did they find time to do all this?" T.K. asked, pushing a streamer out of his face.
"They must have been here since last night doing all this." Kari declared. Lifting up her camera, Kari took two pictures of the lobby. "Those will make great shots." She said happily.
"Come on guys. Let's go drop our stuff off." Matt said smiling. Leaning over towards Tai, Matt whispered with a grin on his face, "Besides, I just saw the cheerleaders head in that direction."
As the four teens headed towards their lockers, an announcement came on the loud speaker, "Attention Students. Because of the wonderful victory at yesterday's soccer game, all classes will be cancelled today and instead we will have an all day celebration. Today's festivities include a trophy presentation to the players and a dance in the gym. Have fun!"
When the speaker finished their announcement, activity resumed in the halls. Students ran around laughing and celebrating their school's win. Tai reached up with his good arm and began to unlock his locker. "Man, they sure are making a big deal over our win. It was just a game, so what's the big deal?" He asked Matt and the others, his eyes still on his locker.
"You must have been hit harder than we thought, Tai." Kari stated, shutting her locker. Looking at her brother, she looked worried. "You have never sounded so down about soccer before."
Tai placed his last book into his locker and shut it with a slam, causing the others to jump. "I'm sorry. My head still hurts a lot. My medicine hasn't kicked in yet, so all this shouting is really getting to me." Tai said, a smile coming to his face.
"HEY TAI! MY MAN!" A voice said from behide the group of teens. Glancing over his shoulder, Tai saw his teammates running towards him. "Hey Kayima, how ya doin'?" A tall built young man asked loudly, slapping Tai hard on the back.
Grabbing his footing, Tai turned to his teammates. "Hey guys. You did great after I left. I wish I could have been there to see it. But unfortunately for me, I was seeing stars." Tai said laughing. The rest of the team burst into laughter. "So, what happened to Chris after I left? Did they allow him to play?" He asked.
One of the shorter players came over to Tai and rested his arm on his shoulder. "Tai, you should have seen it. Chris was kicked out of the game and he is suspended from ever playing soccer again. He was so angry."
"And you should have seen coach's face when he saw you get hurt. Damn, I didn't even know that your veins could pop out of your neck. Ya know, we came to visit ya right after the game." One of the older players said.
"Really?" Tai asked, for he had not been told that his whole team had come to see him.
The senior head player laughed. "Yea. The nurses were pretty angry when we showed up. Man, Chris really did a number on you."
Tai rubbed his head and smiled, "No kidding. I gotta go. I'll see ya later, okay?" Tai stated. The team smiled and nodded, leaving Tai and the others at their lockers once more. "God, I thought they would never leave." He said, sitting on the floor.
"They were just really happy to see ya, that's all." Matt said, sitting down as well.
Tai looked over at his friend and sighed, "But did they have to talk so loud? God, my head's throbbing!" He yelled, grabbing his head.
"Come on Tai. Let's go see the others. Since Sora and Izzy are on the dance committee, they're probably in the gym." T.K. stated as quietly as possible.
*******
Although being congratulated by every person he passed Tai and the others finally reached the open doors to the gym. The huge room had been decorated in only the school's colors. Balloons and sparkles flew around in the air, making the place look as if it was from a fantasy. Sora, Izzy and Joe stood over by the DJs table. "Hey Sora! Izzy! Joe!" Matt called but quickly covered his mouth, seeing Tai rush to cover his ears.
Seeing the others waving over to them, Sora, Joe, and Izzy placed the papers they were looking over onto the table and ran over to their friends. "Hey guys! What's up?" Izzy yelled threw the gym.
Izzy's shout hit Tai's ears and vibrated hard against his brain. Covering his ears, Tai bent over at his waist and began to just breathe. "God...that really hurts! Does everyone have to yell?" Tai thought angrily. Standing up straight once again, Tai was met with his friends looking at him strangely. "Sorry...But please don't yell. My head really hurts." Tai said, blushing a bit at how he was acting.
Izzy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Tai. I didn't know."
"It's okay." Tai said, smiling.
Sora smiled her sweet smile as usual. "So guys, what do you want to do for the next three hours that we have until the trophy presentation?" She asked.
The seven digidestined looked at each other in silence. No one had thought about what they should do for the time they had until the presentations started. Suddenly, an idea came to Joe. "Hey, how about a little trip. Let's go visit the Digital World and see the Digimon."
"That's a great idea, Joe." Tai exclaimed. Reaching into his jeans' pocket, Tai withdrew his small Digivice. "Let's do it." He said, sounding like his leader-like self again.
The others pulled out their digivices and smiled. "To the Digiworld!" They all shouted happily, their voices echoing through the gym and through Tai's head.
"Okay. Since we're going, Mimi will probably want to go too." Sora started. Brushing her hair out of her face, she looked over at T.K, Kari, Izzy and Joe. "Let's split up and find her. She's with the cheerleaders, so all you have to look for is the pom-poms. Kari, Joe and I will search upstairs, while T.K, Izzy, Matt and Tai search downstairs."
Tai smiled at the others. "Cool. Let's meet in the new Mac Lab upstairs in about twenty minutes. Okay?"
Nodding, the Digidestined ran out of the gym to find Mimi. As T.K., Izzy and Matt rushed around through the halls looking for their friend, Tai lagged behide. His head was pounding and so was his arm. The hallway kept going in and out of focus as he walked around. "Damn, why can't I see straight? I guess I should take some of my medicine." He thought. Stopping, Tai leaded against the lockers and pulled his backpack off his shoulders. Placing it onto the ground, he began to look for his painkillers.
"Tai, what are ya doin'?" Matt asked, running back to his friend.
Smiling, Tai withdrew his medicine and a bottle of water from his backpack. "I need to take this. My head feels as if I'm being hit with jackhammer." Tai stated, holding up the prescribed medicine. "The Doc says to take two pills a day; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Since I didn't take one before I left this morning, I'm taking it now." Nodding, Matt ran off in search of the other Digidestined.
Within the twenty minutes, the entire Digidestined team sat in the computer room. The new room was fill with the latest models of computers. The sunlight made the glass screens shine as Izzy opened up the program. "Okay. This shouldn't take long, guys. All I have to do is set up the info-red connection to the World Wide Web. Then enter the proper codes and send the connection to the portals in the Digital World, to let them know that we're coming."
"Um, Izzy. Could you repeat that in English this time?" Tai asked, blushing.
Izzy typed even faster than before. "I'm going to open a portal for us to use." He stated slowly.
"Why didn't you just say that?" Tai asked, sitting on an empty chair.
"I thought I did." Izzy whispered to himself.
Mimi sat on top of one of the desks in her cheerleading uniform. She had her legs crossed in her short skirt and her posture was perfect. This made Joe, T.K. and Matt stare a bit, but not enough for her to notice. "This is great. I'm going to be able to see Gabumon again." Matt said happily.
"Okay guys. The portal's opened. Let's go!" Izzy said happily.
Standing around the monitor, the teens held up their digivices. "Let's do it!" They shouted in unison. And with that, they vanished into the screen of the computer.
*******
Suddenly, the Digidestined found themselves standing in front of the portal that was covered in vines. They were back in the Digital World. "All right! We're back!" T.K. shouted happily. He looked around the woods in amazement. "Everything seems the same...except...not as big as before."
"It only seems smaller, T.K., because of the fact that you grew about three feet since we were last here." Kari said, laughing.
"Come on, guys." Tai said, running onto the path in front of them. "Let's go for a walk."
The Digidestined strolled slowly down the dimly lighted dirt paths of the Digital Forest. The plants on the sides of the road were a bit over grown as they walked. The trees created a nice shield from the rays of the sun. "This is really nice." Mimi said, brushing her hair from her face.
Tai walked a bit separate from the group. He kept his eyes on the path below him, watching his feet take one step at a time. His thoughts began to wander away from the Digiworld and into his own. Tai's memory became overwhelmed by the thoughts of his dream. 'That girl...' He thought.
Suddenly, Tai's thoughts came rushing back to the world around him when he and the others heard an explosion. "What was that?" Tai asked.
"It came from over there." Sora shouted. With the others close behide, Sora ran into the woods.
It seemed as if they ran forever, but at last they found the source of the explosion. Two large Champion Digimon were battling in a clearing in the woods. "Whoa. That's a Hawkalmon fighting a Tigermon. Prodigious." Izzy said as he watched the battle rage on in front of him and the others.
Tai's eyes scanned the area of the battle. The two Champions blasted each other with blinding masses of energy. As the fight raged in front of the Digidestined, a faint voice came from across the clearing. "Get him, Tigermon!" Tai looked over in the direction of the voice and felt himself go white. A teenage girl ran into the clearing. Her shoulder black hair blew behide her as she ran. She wore a black tee that had a goth symbol on it. Her dark blue bellbottoms covered her black boots as she stopped. "You can beat that Hawkalmon!" She shouted.
Tigermon roared as a white light shot from its mouth, which caused Hawkalmon to go flying backwards. As the bird Digimon regrouped, it rose up into the air. Suddenly, the massive bird shouted, "Raging Winds!" The gust of wind was so strong, that it threw Tigermon off of his feet and into the air. But as he flew into the sky, the blast was redirected at the girl.
Jumping out from the safety behide the trees, Tai ran towards the girl. "Hey! Watch Out!" He shouted. Grabbing the teen by her waist, Tai pushed the girl out of the way of the attack. As Tai grabbed the girl, a warm feeling rushed over him. 'What's going on? What is this feeling..." The two teens skidded on the ground, becoming covered in dust. When they reached the edge of the clearing, they slid to a halt. Sitting up, Tai released the other teen's waist. "Are you alright?" Tai asked, looking down at her.
"I'm fine. Thank you." The girl stated gratefully. As the girl looked up at Tai, her hazel eyes met his brown ones. She stared at Tai for a moment then smiled. "You saved me. Why?" She asked.
Tai stood and dusted himself off. Then he extended his hand down to her. "I really don't why. I guess I'm just a nice guy like that." He said smiling.
Suddenly, a loud thud came from the middle of the clearing. "Tigermon!" The girl shouted. She jumped to her feet and dashed over to the cloud of smoke. As Tai watched the smoke clear, it revealed the large tiger Digimon lying on its side, breathing heavily. "Tigermon! Speak to me!" The girl pleaded.
"So sad, isn't it? Such a strong Digimon was easily taken down by my Hawkalmon. Such a waste of data your Tigermon is." A voice said from above.
Shooting his eyes skyward, Tai saw Hawkalmon hovering above the clearing. But on his back, there was a teen about Tai's age riding on it back. The boy wore fearsome samurai armor with the facemask drawn down. As the boy descended, the others ran over to Tai, their eyes facing upward as well. "Tai, are you okay?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered as he continued to look up.
As the bird landed, the teen jumped from its back. "You people actually think you will be able to defeat me? The mighty Digimon Warlord?" He said laughing.
"The Digimon...Warlord?" Joe repeated.
"Listen," The girl stated, rising from her Digimon. "I can't see why you want to destroy this place, you jerk. Why do you want to do it?"
The samurai laughed. "Simple. All I want to do is have my own world to rule over. For both of us to rule over." He stated, grabbing the girl's hand.
Tai watched as the girl struggled to break free from the teen's gasp. "Hey! Let go of her!" Tai yelled, causing the warrior to look over at him. 'What am I thinking? Why did I just say that? I feel as if I should protect this girl...but why?' Tai thought, looking down at the ground.
"You are brave...a lot braver than when you are on the soccer field. But tell me, how did you manage to get here, Tai?" The warrior asked.
Stepping back backwards a bit, Tai's eyes widened in shock. "What?" He whispered.
Laughing, the warrior climbed onto the Hawkalmon once again. "Until we meet again, Kayima." He shouted as he rose into the air and suddenly vanished.
Tai continued to stare at the sky. 'What the--? How did he know my name?' He thought.
"I'm glad you saved me. Thank you." The girl said smiling.
"Who are you?" Matt asked. "Where are you from?"
The girl walked over to Tigermon, who began to stand steadily on the ground again. Climbing onto the Digimon's back, she smiled. "My name is Ava Cononoshi. It's a pleasure to meet you. Maybe we'll see each other again someday." She said, a haunting smile spreading across her lips. Looking down at her Digimon's head, Ava whispered, "Let's go home." Tigermon bolted out into a full out sprint into the woods and fanished from their sights.
"Ava? Do you think she could be a Digidestined like us?" Mimi asked the rest of her group.
Tai walked over towards the rim of trees that surrounded the clearing. "Maybe Mimi, but I just don't-" Suddenly a jolt of memories rushed back into Tai's thoughts. 'My dream...the red-haired girl called the girl with the Digivice...Ava...' Tai's vision became blurry. Finding the nearest tree, he grabbed it for support. "Tai, What's wrong?" He heard Matt ask.
"That girl...I've seen her before." Tai panted out. His head was spinning and he didn't know why. The ground moved under him like a violent earthquake and the visions from his dream flowed back to him. Tai felt his knees beginning to give from underneath him. "It's her...she's the one." He breathed again. Finally, Tai's knees gave out, and he fell to the ground.
"Tai, what's wrong?" Kari shouted, rushing to her brother's side.
Tai looked up at his sister's blurry face. "Kari...I don't know. All I know is that...she's one of us." Falling into his sister's arms, Tai fell asleep.
********
"Kari what happened?" A voice said from above Tai. The voice sounded like it was far above him, like he was underwater.
"I don't know. All he said was that, 'She's one of us' and then he went out like a light." Kari stated, she too, sounded muffled.
"Hey! Maybe he took these." T.K.'s voice said. Tai heard a bottle shack with something inside it. "The label says that he should take one before going to bed."
"Yea. I saw Tai take those in the hallway. He must have mistaken them for another type of medicine." Matt said.
Tai opened his eyes slowly. He was laying on something soft and something warm was drawn over him. Sitting up, Tai looked around slowly. He saw that he was in the nurse's office in his school. "Huh? How did I get here?" Tai asked groggily.
"Morning, Sleeping Beauty." Izzy said happily. Looking over next to him, Tai saw the others sitting on the opposite bed from his. "Ya know, you should really learn to read the labels on your medicine." He stated smiling. Holding up the bottle, Izzy read the label. " 'Take one at night to help with sleep.' What happened? Did you grab the wrong pain killers this morning or just forgot to have your coffee so you couldn't read any of the labels?"
Tai smiled a bit. "How did I get here?" He questioned, rubbing his eyes.
"We carried you back through the portal and then ran to get a teacher to help us carry you. All we had to say was that you fainted and it worked like a charm, too." Matt stated in his usual cool way.
Tai shook the sleep from his eyes. "When did we get back?" He asked. "I feel as if I have been asleep for hours."
Mimi giggled. "We got back at least ten minutes ago."
"Really? Dude, did you see where that girl went?" Tai asked, getting back on track.
Joe sighed, "Man, you said that she was one of us. Tai, have you known about this girl and neglected to tell us?" He asked.
Tai swung his legs onto the floor. "No. But...when I grabbed her, I felt something between us. As if we are connected in some way." Tai said softly. Looking down at the floor, he sighed. 'Ava, we are connected...and I know you feel it too." Tai thought.
~ Chapter Two ~
Dream Girl in the Digiworld
The next morning came extremely fast. The sun rose over the tops of the skyscrapers, making the glass windows shine and dance in the light. Mrs. Kayima and Kari sat in the kitchen eating their breakfast and watching the morning News. "And in sports this morning, the Odaiba High School Panthers have calmed the State Soccer title yesterday in a heated match against the Orange Star Wizards. There was only one major accident during the game. The center forward from the Panthers, Tai Kayima, had to be taken to the hospital after being kicked in the head by opposing team's center, Chris Sono. Kayima was taken to Odaiba General Hospital and was soon after released with only a minor concussion."
Kari looked up at the television. "Only a minor concussion? Please, what about his arm? That jerk Chris kicked Tai in the arm too, ya know." She said loudly.
"Not so loud, dear. You'll wake your brother." Mrs. Kayima said quietly.
Suddenly, a soft creek came from Tai's bedroom door. "It's okay. I'm already up." Tai said. He walked into the kitchen in a pair of loose jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt on that had a skater company logo on the front. His goggles hung around his neck as he flopped into his seat at the table. "Please pass the cereal." He asked tiredly.
Kari slid her brother the box of cereal and then the milk. As Tai sat there pouring his food, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Kari said, rising from the table. Placing her dishes on the counter, Kari ran for the door. When she opened it, Matt and T.K. stood there smiling. "Hi guys." Kari smiled.
"Morning Kari. Are you ready to leave?" T.K asked.
"Hang on, Let me just run and get Tai." She said. Kari ran from the door and around into the kitchen. Within moments, she returned with her backpack and her brother. "Okay, we're ready." She said, placing her hand into T.K.'s.
Tai reached up onto the coat rack and grabbed at his varsity jacket, but was thrown back by the pain in his arm. "Here Tai. I got it." Matt said, handing his friend his coat.
Tai pulled on his jacket slowly. "Thanks Matt." He said as he grabbed his backpack.
"No prob. That's what I'm here for." Both of the teens stepped outside and Tai shut the door. As they walked over to the elevator, Matt looked over at his friend. "It is so cool that we don't have to wear our uniforms since you guys won the Championship."
Tai didn't answer back. "Hey, what's the matter?" Matt asked.
Stopping in front of the elevator where Kari and T.K. were waiting, Tai looked up at his friend. "Correction to your previous sentence: It is so cool that we don't have to wear our uniforms since our school's soccer team won the championship."
"Tai, don't talk like that. You scored two of those goals. The victory is has much as yours as it is the rest of the teams." T.K. said reassuringly.
"Maybe..." Tai said, his voice fading.
*****
When they arrived at school, Matt, T.K., Kari, and Tai where greeted by streamers of dark blue and white. Banners hung all over the lobby in the entrance to the school, which read things like, "Panthers Are STATE CHAMPS!" or "Panthers are Number One!" The sounds of the pep band filled the halls as the small group of musicians marched down the hallway happily playing. The cheerleaders ran down the hallways, their pom-poms shaking in the air. "Wow! When did they find time to do all this?" T.K. asked, pushing a streamer out of his face.
"They must have been here since last night doing all this." Kari declared. Lifting up her camera, Kari took two pictures of the lobby. "Those will make great shots." She said happily.
"Come on guys. Let's go drop our stuff off." Matt said smiling. Leaning over towards Tai, Matt whispered with a grin on his face, "Besides, I just saw the cheerleaders head in that direction."
As the four teens headed towards their lockers, an announcement came on the loud speaker, "Attention Students. Because of the wonderful victory at yesterday's soccer game, all classes will be cancelled today and instead we will have an all day celebration. Today's festivities include a trophy presentation to the players and a dance in the gym. Have fun!"
When the speaker finished their announcement, activity resumed in the halls. Students ran around laughing and celebrating their school's win. Tai reached up with his good arm and began to unlock his locker. "Man, they sure are making a big deal over our win. It was just a game, so what's the big deal?" He asked Matt and the others, his eyes still on his locker.
"You must have been hit harder than we thought, Tai." Kari stated, shutting her locker. Looking at her brother, she looked worried. "You have never sounded so down about soccer before."
Tai placed his last book into his locker and shut it with a slam, causing the others to jump. "I'm sorry. My head still hurts a lot. My medicine hasn't kicked in yet, so all this shouting is really getting to me." Tai said, a smile coming to his face.
"HEY TAI! MY MAN!" A voice said from behide the group of teens. Glancing over his shoulder, Tai saw his teammates running towards him. "Hey Kayima, how ya doin'?" A tall built young man asked loudly, slapping Tai hard on the back.
Grabbing his footing, Tai turned to his teammates. "Hey guys. You did great after I left. I wish I could have been there to see it. But unfortunately for me, I was seeing stars." Tai said laughing. The rest of the team burst into laughter. "So, what happened to Chris after I left? Did they allow him to play?" He asked.
One of the shorter players came over to Tai and rested his arm on his shoulder. "Tai, you should have seen it. Chris was kicked out of the game and he is suspended from ever playing soccer again. He was so angry."
"And you should have seen coach's face when he saw you get hurt. Damn, I didn't even know that your veins could pop out of your neck. Ya know, we came to visit ya right after the game." One of the older players said.
"Really?" Tai asked, for he had not been told that his whole team had come to see him.
The senior head player laughed. "Yea. The nurses were pretty angry when we showed up. Man, Chris really did a number on you."
Tai rubbed his head and smiled, "No kidding. I gotta go. I'll see ya later, okay?" Tai stated. The team smiled and nodded, leaving Tai and the others at their lockers once more. "God, I thought they would never leave." He said, sitting on the floor.
"They were just really happy to see ya, that's all." Matt said, sitting down as well.
Tai looked over at his friend and sighed, "But did they have to talk so loud? God, my head's throbbing!" He yelled, grabbing his head.
"Come on Tai. Let's go see the others. Since Sora and Izzy are on the dance committee, they're probably in the gym." T.K. stated as quietly as possible.
*******
Although being congratulated by every person he passed Tai and the others finally reached the open doors to the gym. The huge room had been decorated in only the school's colors. Balloons and sparkles flew around in the air, making the place look as if it was from a fantasy. Sora, Izzy and Joe stood over by the DJs table. "Hey Sora! Izzy! Joe!" Matt called but quickly covered his mouth, seeing Tai rush to cover his ears.
Seeing the others waving over to them, Sora, Joe, and Izzy placed the papers they were looking over onto the table and ran over to their friends. "Hey guys! What's up?" Izzy yelled threw the gym.
Izzy's shout hit Tai's ears and vibrated hard against his brain. Covering his ears, Tai bent over at his waist and began to just breathe. "God...that really hurts! Does everyone have to yell?" Tai thought angrily. Standing up straight once again, Tai was met with his friends looking at him strangely. "Sorry...But please don't yell. My head really hurts." Tai said, blushing a bit at how he was acting.
Izzy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Tai. I didn't know."
"It's okay." Tai said, smiling.
Sora smiled her sweet smile as usual. "So guys, what do you want to do for the next three hours that we have until the trophy presentation?" She asked.
The seven digidestined looked at each other in silence. No one had thought about what they should do for the time they had until the presentations started. Suddenly, an idea came to Joe. "Hey, how about a little trip. Let's go visit the Digital World and see the Digimon."
"That's a great idea, Joe." Tai exclaimed. Reaching into his jeans' pocket, Tai withdrew his small Digivice. "Let's do it." He said, sounding like his leader-like self again.
The others pulled out their digivices and smiled. "To the Digiworld!" They all shouted happily, their voices echoing through the gym and through Tai's head.
"Okay. Since we're going, Mimi will probably want to go too." Sora started. Brushing her hair out of her face, she looked over at T.K, Kari, Izzy and Joe. "Let's split up and find her. She's with the cheerleaders, so all you have to look for is the pom-poms. Kari, Joe and I will search upstairs, while T.K, Izzy, Matt and Tai search downstairs."
Tai smiled at the others. "Cool. Let's meet in the new Mac Lab upstairs in about twenty minutes. Okay?"
Nodding, the Digidestined ran out of the gym to find Mimi. As T.K., Izzy and Matt rushed around through the halls looking for their friend, Tai lagged behide. His head was pounding and so was his arm. The hallway kept going in and out of focus as he walked around. "Damn, why can't I see straight? I guess I should take some of my medicine." He thought. Stopping, Tai leaded against the lockers and pulled his backpack off his shoulders. Placing it onto the ground, he began to look for his painkillers.
"Tai, what are ya doin'?" Matt asked, running back to his friend.
Smiling, Tai withdrew his medicine and a bottle of water from his backpack. "I need to take this. My head feels as if I'm being hit with jackhammer." Tai stated, holding up the prescribed medicine. "The Doc says to take two pills a day; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Since I didn't take one before I left this morning, I'm taking it now." Nodding, Matt ran off in search of the other Digidestined.
Within the twenty minutes, the entire Digidestined team sat in the computer room. The new room was fill with the latest models of computers. The sunlight made the glass screens shine as Izzy opened up the program. "Okay. This shouldn't take long, guys. All I have to do is set up the info-red connection to the World Wide Web. Then enter the proper codes and send the connection to the portals in the Digital World, to let them know that we're coming."
"Um, Izzy. Could you repeat that in English this time?" Tai asked, blushing.
Izzy typed even faster than before. "I'm going to open a portal for us to use." He stated slowly.
"Why didn't you just say that?" Tai asked, sitting on an empty chair.
"I thought I did." Izzy whispered to himself.
Mimi sat on top of one of the desks in her cheerleading uniform. She had her legs crossed in her short skirt and her posture was perfect. This made Joe, T.K. and Matt stare a bit, but not enough for her to notice. "This is great. I'm going to be able to see Gabumon again." Matt said happily.
"Okay guys. The portal's opened. Let's go!" Izzy said happily.
Standing around the monitor, the teens held up their digivices. "Let's do it!" They shouted in unison. And with that, they vanished into the screen of the computer.
*******
Suddenly, the Digidestined found themselves standing in front of the portal that was covered in vines. They were back in the Digital World. "All right! We're back!" T.K. shouted happily. He looked around the woods in amazement. "Everything seems the same...except...not as big as before."
"It only seems smaller, T.K., because of the fact that you grew about three feet since we were last here." Kari said, laughing.
"Come on, guys." Tai said, running onto the path in front of them. "Let's go for a walk."
The Digidestined strolled slowly down the dimly lighted dirt paths of the Digital Forest. The plants on the sides of the road were a bit over grown as they walked. The trees created a nice shield from the rays of the sun. "This is really nice." Mimi said, brushing her hair from her face.
Tai walked a bit separate from the group. He kept his eyes on the path below him, watching his feet take one step at a time. His thoughts began to wander away from the Digiworld and into his own. Tai's memory became overwhelmed by the thoughts of his dream. 'That girl...' He thought.
Suddenly, Tai's thoughts came rushing back to the world around him when he and the others heard an explosion. "What was that?" Tai asked.
"It came from over there." Sora shouted. With the others close behide, Sora ran into the woods.
It seemed as if they ran forever, but at last they found the source of the explosion. Two large Champion Digimon were battling in a clearing in the woods. "Whoa. That's a Hawkalmon fighting a Tigermon. Prodigious." Izzy said as he watched the battle rage on in front of him and the others.
Tai's eyes scanned the area of the battle. The two Champions blasted each other with blinding masses of energy. As the fight raged in front of the Digidestined, a faint voice came from across the clearing. "Get him, Tigermon!" Tai looked over in the direction of the voice and felt himself go white. A teenage girl ran into the clearing. Her shoulder black hair blew behide her as she ran. She wore a black tee that had a goth symbol on it. Her dark blue bellbottoms covered her black boots as she stopped. "You can beat that Hawkalmon!" She shouted.
Tigermon roared as a white light shot from its mouth, which caused Hawkalmon to go flying backwards. As the bird Digimon regrouped, it rose up into the air. Suddenly, the massive bird shouted, "Raging Winds!" The gust of wind was so strong, that it threw Tigermon off of his feet and into the air. But as he flew into the sky, the blast was redirected at the girl.
Jumping out from the safety behide the trees, Tai ran towards the girl. "Hey! Watch Out!" He shouted. Grabbing the teen by her waist, Tai pushed the girl out of the way of the attack. As Tai grabbed the girl, a warm feeling rushed over him. 'What's going on? What is this feeling..." The two teens skidded on the ground, becoming covered in dust. When they reached the edge of the clearing, they slid to a halt. Sitting up, Tai released the other teen's waist. "Are you alright?" Tai asked, looking down at her.
"I'm fine. Thank you." The girl stated gratefully. As the girl looked up at Tai, her hazel eyes met his brown ones. She stared at Tai for a moment then smiled. "You saved me. Why?" She asked.
Tai stood and dusted himself off. Then he extended his hand down to her. "I really don't why. I guess I'm just a nice guy like that." He said smiling.
Suddenly, a loud thud came from the middle of the clearing. "Tigermon!" The girl shouted. She jumped to her feet and dashed over to the cloud of smoke. As Tai watched the smoke clear, it revealed the large tiger Digimon lying on its side, breathing heavily. "Tigermon! Speak to me!" The girl pleaded.
"So sad, isn't it? Such a strong Digimon was easily taken down by my Hawkalmon. Such a waste of data your Tigermon is." A voice said from above.
Shooting his eyes skyward, Tai saw Hawkalmon hovering above the clearing. But on his back, there was a teen about Tai's age riding on it back. The boy wore fearsome samurai armor with the facemask drawn down. As the boy descended, the others ran over to Tai, their eyes facing upward as well. "Tai, are you okay?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered as he continued to look up.
As the bird landed, the teen jumped from its back. "You people actually think you will be able to defeat me? The mighty Digimon Warlord?" He said laughing.
"The Digimon...Warlord?" Joe repeated.
"Listen," The girl stated, rising from her Digimon. "I can't see why you want to destroy this place, you jerk. Why do you want to do it?"
The samurai laughed. "Simple. All I want to do is have my own world to rule over. For both of us to rule over." He stated, grabbing the girl's hand.
Tai watched as the girl struggled to break free from the teen's gasp. "Hey! Let go of her!" Tai yelled, causing the warrior to look over at him. 'What am I thinking? Why did I just say that? I feel as if I should protect this girl...but why?' Tai thought, looking down at the ground.
"You are brave...a lot braver than when you are on the soccer field. But tell me, how did you manage to get here, Tai?" The warrior asked.
Stepping back backwards a bit, Tai's eyes widened in shock. "What?" He whispered.
Laughing, the warrior climbed onto the Hawkalmon once again. "Until we meet again, Kayima." He shouted as he rose into the air and suddenly vanished.
Tai continued to stare at the sky. 'What the--? How did he know my name?' He thought.
"I'm glad you saved me. Thank you." The girl said smiling.
"Who are you?" Matt asked. "Where are you from?"
The girl walked over to Tigermon, who began to stand steadily on the ground again. Climbing onto the Digimon's back, she smiled. "My name is Ava Cononoshi. It's a pleasure to meet you. Maybe we'll see each other again someday." She said, a haunting smile spreading across her lips. Looking down at her Digimon's head, Ava whispered, "Let's go home." Tigermon bolted out into a full out sprint into the woods and fanished from their sights.
"Ava? Do you think she could be a Digidestined like us?" Mimi asked the rest of her group.
Tai walked over towards the rim of trees that surrounded the clearing. "Maybe Mimi, but I just don't-" Suddenly a jolt of memories rushed back into Tai's thoughts. 'My dream...the red-haired girl called the girl with the Digivice...Ava...' Tai's vision became blurry. Finding the nearest tree, he grabbed it for support. "Tai, What's wrong?" He heard Matt ask.
"That girl...I've seen her before." Tai panted out. His head was spinning and he didn't know why. The ground moved under him like a violent earthquake and the visions from his dream flowed back to him. Tai felt his knees beginning to give from underneath him. "It's her...she's the one." He breathed again. Finally, Tai's knees gave out, and he fell to the ground.
"Tai, what's wrong?" Kari shouted, rushing to her brother's side.
Tai looked up at his sister's blurry face. "Kari...I don't know. All I know is that...she's one of us." Falling into his sister's arms, Tai fell asleep.
********
"Kari what happened?" A voice said from above Tai. The voice sounded like it was far above him, like he was underwater.
"I don't know. All he said was that, 'She's one of us' and then he went out like a light." Kari stated, she too, sounded muffled.
"Hey! Maybe he took these." T.K.'s voice said. Tai heard a bottle shack with something inside it. "The label says that he should take one before going to bed."
"Yea. I saw Tai take those in the hallway. He must have mistaken them for another type of medicine." Matt said.
Tai opened his eyes slowly. He was laying on something soft and something warm was drawn over him. Sitting up, Tai looked around slowly. He saw that he was in the nurse's office in his school. "Huh? How did I get here?" Tai asked groggily.
"Morning, Sleeping Beauty." Izzy said happily. Looking over next to him, Tai saw the others sitting on the opposite bed from his. "Ya know, you should really learn to read the labels on your medicine." He stated smiling. Holding up the bottle, Izzy read the label. " 'Take one at night to help with sleep.' What happened? Did you grab the wrong pain killers this morning or just forgot to have your coffee so you couldn't read any of the labels?"
Tai smiled a bit. "How did I get here?" He questioned, rubbing his eyes.
"We carried you back through the portal and then ran to get a teacher to help us carry you. All we had to say was that you fainted and it worked like a charm, too." Matt stated in his usual cool way.
Tai shook the sleep from his eyes. "When did we get back?" He asked. "I feel as if I have been asleep for hours."
Mimi giggled. "We got back at least ten minutes ago."
"Really? Dude, did you see where that girl went?" Tai asked, getting back on track.
Joe sighed, "Man, you said that she was one of us. Tai, have you known about this girl and neglected to tell us?" He asked.
Tai swung his legs onto the floor. "No. But...when I grabbed her, I felt something between us. As if we are connected in some way." Tai said softly. Looking down at the floor, he sighed. 'Ava, we are connected...and I know you feel it too." Tai thought.
