Ch.2: Koushiro
I remember that day. It always rings insistently in my mind. It was just one of
those days in your little mind's databank of history that you would never forget for the
rest of your life. That kinda day. It was a day like any other, at least in the morning.
Work went as usual: just the computers and me. Entering data. Researching. Developing new
theories that could improve the current computer technology. But I knew that nothing would
work. The "Age of the Computers", as I often say, was never over. But as my close friends
know, I almost always am never sure, and I often say the things contrary to what I actually
think. For example, take the word I say the most, prodigious. I can mean it in a good way:
"The new palm pilot complete with a phone is quite prodigious", or in a bad way: "Um, yeah,
that is VERY prodigious. I'm sure others would share your enthusiasm about it..."
Prodigious. That reminds me. I'm getting off the topic here. It's not that I
wouldn't like a totally boring lecture on prodigious for the entire day, it's just that this
isn't what I actually meant to talk about.
He wrote.
No, I take that back. HE, the infamous top-of-the-world lead guitarist that had led
the world to both jumping up in excitement to crying bitter tears of resentment, the
sarcastic, cocky, self-confident Yamato Ishida, had written to me. In all ways, he should
be despised, an outcast who thinks too highly of himself, a tyrant who knows how to rule a
country of helpless people, a man without a heart to pity those with less fortune than him,
the kind that laughs instead of being generous. I should just chain him to the walls and
beat him up, torture him, make him suffer for those lashed by his insensitive tongue.
Instead, Matt is one of my closest friends. And I am sure that I will never let his
friendship go. Never in all my years have I met someone so incredibly helpless, so
incredibly unsure of himself, so unable that he has to resort to wearing a mask, a stoic
mask, the mask of silence, the mask of mocking. He may seem the most secure of us all, and
in some ways he is, but actually he is the most insecure. He isn't sure of anything in his
life anymore, and he just is there, for a reason, always there, whether or not he's strong.
Such is a sign of a friend that will never desert you, even when he is the most wretched
creature on the face of this world.
"Prodigious, isn't it, Yolei? These new computers just get smaller and smaller,
don't they?", I heard myself saying. "I got this one online, off of Ubid.com. At first, I
wasn't even sure that they sold such refurbished things, but I guess I was wrong. It was
just a hunch that they actually might have what I want. What do you think?" I held up the
little device that fit snugly into the heart of my palm, and held it up to the camera
situated over my computer, on the rack of endless disks of data, all carefully labeled. I
could change it any time, because if I pressed down on the wall, the whole CD rack would
turn a 180 degree angle, and provide me with all the data on what I've gathered about the
Digital World, the Digidestined in all parts of the world that we live in, and their
Digivices.
The girl shook her long purple hair, and looked enviously through the screen of my
computer. She gave a pout, and said in her best bratty voice, "I want one too!" Time
stopped for a moment as she let me take a moment to let that sink in, then we both collapsed
into laughter. I don't believe I've laughed that hard in a while. After we had finished
wiping the last tears of mirth from our eyes, Yolei signed off with a last cheerful goodbye
and the promise that she would call again soon, if her studies didn't overtake her. I
remained on the computer, solitary, until a little browser window popped up.
It read:
You have one new e-mail message. Do you wish to read it?
I clicked "OK", and up came another browser window. I was just about to dismiss it as
another commercial and another piece of spam, when I read the 2nd line, the line that listed
the sender. And suddenly I didn't want to click it off anymore.
Receiptant: TentoIzzy@digimon.net
Sender: GaruluMatt@digimon.net
Message:
Izzy,
From the heading, I think you can guess who this is, and who is writing to
you this minute of this outrageously cold day. I met Tai today. He seems the same, but
thing that surprised me the most is the extent that he predicted what I was going to
propose. He guessed it the moment I said the words, "I'm going to stay in the DigiWorld
permanently." It just kinda shows how much he knows me, even though we're oceans away, he
still hasn't forgotten a single detail about me. Izzy, he's said he's going to come. Just
make sure you can round the rest of the old gang, and the new, too. I want Tai to have the
best vacation back to Tokyo. I think he deserves it, fully. He's been working himself too
hard; there are dark bags under his eyes, and his smile is kinda waned, not the old
energetic smile he once had. Maybe it can't be brought back, but I guess we have to try,
don't we?
Guess who?
Matt had left a way to reach him. I sat at my desk for a few moments before I began to
type. I couldn't think of anything to say back to him. Matt rarely let his inside feelings
spill out like this, so when he did, he meant it. He wanted a reply, and fast, before he
ran out of ideas. He wanted to get a reply from me, to see if I could think of anything.
He was, in a way, testing Tai and my friendship, seeing which places need to be fixed
because they are weak, and which places need nothing, just a constant upbeat of bring that
particular subject up once in a while, or else it becomes weak.
I began to write a reply to him. "Matt, I'm glad you wrote because I was starting
to get worried..."
No. That didn't sound right. It didn't sound like ME, it sounded like any other
person. Matt, as well as all others that were in our little team so many years back, all
knew me to be quite unpredictable sometimes, creating theories that mightn't be true, but
sounded right back then. I was the brainiac, the thoughtful one, the one who held the Crest
of Knowledge, and I was also the practical one. I never believed anything unless someone I
knew who wasn't going to lie to me said it, or I would have to see with my own eyes.
So I started typing again. This is what it read:
Receiptant: GaruluMatt@digimon.net
Sender: TentoIzzy@digimon.net
Message:
Matt,
I got your message. If I know Tai, he's the reliable type, and even though
not always punctual, he always get to the end sooner or later. I can say, on this
e-mail, but not out loud, that he really is a bright kid. Or, for that matter, man,
now. I'm glad he said he would come. Come say, I was starting to get anxious
because Tai wasn't the type to turn people away, especially not his best friend. I
hope I got the address to the café that he goes to every morning right. Matt, I
hope, as much as you do, that he will find a bit of solace once he's here; we won't
let him go that easily, and I hope you won't leave all that soon for the DigiWorld,
because you 2 really should catch up on each other, and make amends. I mean, you 2
haven't seen each other in -what, 5 years? I think he deserves a little attention
from you before you go. And plus, I don't believe you've told your parents yet.
I was overstricken by a momentary pang of guilt for a moment. The memories of our days in
the DigiWorld came rushing back at me, replaying for the millionth time in my life here, in
this so-praised "Most Brilliant Scientific Mind". I was guilty of many things, but I won't
forget the day that Tai came to me and just wanted someone to comfort him. He told me that
he had fallen for Matt, a long time ago in fact, and when he asked the future rock star that
he was in love with him. Matt, shocked, had no answer, so Tai just took it as a no. But
later, Matt came to my place to sort things out. He told me everything, and I told him back
that he should make up his mind before making another move. And so now, after 5 years, he
finally made his decision? Even then, I highly doubted that Tai still believed in this
foolish, one-sided love affair. It was just plain madness, I should tell him. It didn't
seem right, and to me, it never would seem right. So on this subject, I wrote:
You need to tell him soon. He can't spend the rest of his life waiting for you to answer
the question he's been dying for you to answer for so many years. He is human, too, and I
don't think he can hold onto this selfish hope for much longer, if he hasn't let go already.
You can't forget his words, as vague as they seem, and I pray that you'll come to your
senses soon.
Your prodigious friend,
Koushiro the Brainless
I erased the whole message, and typed up another lame one.
* * *
There came a knock on my door near lunchtime, and I figured it would be one of my
employees, trying to impress me with a lunch out, so I called out, "Come in." After all, a
free lunch is better than paying for your lunch. Always take advantage of anything that has
"FREE" written all over it. But when the door opened, I was mildly surprised, for once,
that it wasn't one of my workers, but one of the Digidestined, the one who inherited my
Crest of Knowledge.
I could tell, even though I had not seen him for -at the very least- 2 years, I was
sure this was the patient, caring, almost anti-social character that I had met so many times
in those years long past. And as I grew to know him, I myself assured that there was no
other person on the face of this Earth that deserved the Crest of Knowledge more than he
did. He did everything I did that was actually right, and avoided the things that were my
mistakes. He learned from all of us, by observing us, by replaying each action and command
that we gave or did, he was able to find out what he should do, and not repeat the things
that didn't need repeating.
Still, I had my doubts that this tall, brown -haired lad that appeared before me, in
my very office, was Cody. I didn't have all that hard time of guessing; I only knew one
person who still wore his hair in a bowl cut, refused any girl who wanted to date him save
Yolei and Kari (who wouldn't have dated him anyway), and had a D3 strapped firmly to his
backpack. He had his growth spurt, I thought to myself. Now he's even taller than me. Who
am I going to be able to tease now, about height, that is?
He bowed low to me, but his green eyes twinkled merrily when I stood and did the
same for him. We locked gazes for a moment, then both of us burst our laughing. He threw
his backpack on the floor beside the chair, and plopped himself down on the couch in front
of my desk. After a few more chuckles, he got up again and grabbed the jelly bean jar
before I could stop him. He unscrewed the lid, and chose a few for himself, then placed it
calmly back on the desk, where I snatched it and hid it from prying eyes into the drawer.
He gave me a pouty look, then laughed.
"Aww, Izzy, can't you spare me a few? There were so many in that jar! You wouldn't
mind if I took just a few more, do you?" His voice had become low and husky, but of course,
his voice had always been low and husky. It's just that his voice had just changed from
tenor to bass. I couldn't help but stare at this transformation. A short, unspeaking boy
of in his mere teens became a tall, handsome young man that actually told jokes? This was
too comfortable, too much had changed between us. His laugh seemed a little too loud and a
little too forced. His eyes, that had been twinkling just a few moments ago, were too
happy, too fake. And as fast and as knowledgeable my mind was, I still couldn't upset my
boundaries. THAT, by itself, told me a much.
Something was wrong. Cody was acting strangely. As comfortable as he becomes, he
can't be so comfortable and host-like that he actually made jokes. Something was definitely
wrong. I didn't like it, whatever it was.
So I asked him straight out
"Cody, what's wrong?"
He stopped for a moment, and looked at me, still in mid-laugh. Then he gave a
resigned sigh, the kind you give when you give when you find you've been found out, and
dropped his hands. He looked at me, his green eyes solemn, and when he spoke, his voice was
soft and low, and I knew something was wrong, even before he opened his mouth. "Koushiro",
he murmured, "have you checked your e-mail, the personal e-mail account?"
Something in his voice made me turn around, flip my computer up, and furiously type
in the URL to my other e-mail account. As fast as I possibly could, I typed in my user
name, and my password, as my mind whirled to face last week. Yes, I thought. I had not
checked my e-mail since the beginning of the month, ignoring everything but my work, and not
paying attention to anyone or even the thought of "DigiWorld". Even Joe's constant calls of
worry were ignored. I wasn't paying attention to anything but the papers and pencils on my
desk.
But part of that was because I had felt there was something to come, something that
was just lurking around the corner, a piece of something that I hadn't realized I'd earned
or owned, but rediscovered. By now, I was staring at the site that read my Inbox. There
was 1 new message, dated a week ago. I took a glance at Cody, who looked on with
determination. He knew that this was coming. His eyes caught me looking at him, and he
gave me a nod. I clicked on the message.
It read:
Receiptant: TentoIzzy@digimon.net
Sender: DigCody@digimon.net
Message:
Izzy,
Yesterday I was just finished with my dinner when I heard something at the door. I
was curious at what is was when the thumping came again, and then I opened the door. It
was practically a snowball from trudging in the snow outside the door. I wiped the snow
off, and I saw, with a kinda shock, that it was Gabumon. I set him down right beside the
heater with about 20 towels under him to catch the water, but I think something's wrong, and
I want you to come over and take a look at this disk he has on his collar, which I found was
Matt's tag and crest, as well as Matt's digivice. Something is very wrong. Come over as
soon as you can.
Cody
I stopped short, and then my hand went up to run my fingers through my red hair. I frowned,
then turned back to Cody. Very simply I put my next statement. "There's more to this.
You couldn't have just come here to let me know this. Tell me what happened to Gabumon. He
isn't there, anymore, is he?"
The Japanese lowered his head. "Iiee", he said softly. Izzy sighed, and asked him
another question. "Did he say anything? Or did he just die peacefully in his sleep?"
Cody looked up for a moment, and a sparkle returned to his eyes, only to be
overtaken by a sense of puzzling confusion. He thought, then said slowly, "He told me that
I would 'find' something, that the Digidestined would 'find' something, not just now, but
for keeps forever. When I asked him what he meant, he just kinda smiled in his sleep and
told me that I would understand sometime soon. I got the disk played, with my own fiddling,
and it told me-" The young kendo master burst into tears here, and gave me a horrible
startle. Panic seized me for a second, and I hurried over and took the taller man in my
arms. He leaned gratefully in my weight, and I guided him to a chair. Boy, he was heavy.
He sniffed, dried his eyes, and looked up at me with bleary green eyes. "Izzy", he
said. "Matt's dead."
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
Author's note:
I'm mean, aren't I? Well, you'll find out later what I really mean by that. I
can't tell you anymore, or else I'll just give the whole thing away.
Andrea Weiling
I remember that day. It always rings insistently in my mind. It was just one of
those days in your little mind's databank of history that you would never forget for the
rest of your life. That kinda day. It was a day like any other, at least in the morning.
Work went as usual: just the computers and me. Entering data. Researching. Developing new
theories that could improve the current computer technology. But I knew that nothing would
work. The "Age of the Computers", as I often say, was never over. But as my close friends
know, I almost always am never sure, and I often say the things contrary to what I actually
think. For example, take the word I say the most, prodigious. I can mean it in a good way:
"The new palm pilot complete with a phone is quite prodigious", or in a bad way: "Um, yeah,
that is VERY prodigious. I'm sure others would share your enthusiasm about it..."
Prodigious. That reminds me. I'm getting off the topic here. It's not that I
wouldn't like a totally boring lecture on prodigious for the entire day, it's just that this
isn't what I actually meant to talk about.
He wrote.
No, I take that back. HE, the infamous top-of-the-world lead guitarist that had led
the world to both jumping up in excitement to crying bitter tears of resentment, the
sarcastic, cocky, self-confident Yamato Ishida, had written to me. In all ways, he should
be despised, an outcast who thinks too highly of himself, a tyrant who knows how to rule a
country of helpless people, a man without a heart to pity those with less fortune than him,
the kind that laughs instead of being generous. I should just chain him to the walls and
beat him up, torture him, make him suffer for those lashed by his insensitive tongue.
Instead, Matt is one of my closest friends. And I am sure that I will never let his
friendship go. Never in all my years have I met someone so incredibly helpless, so
incredibly unsure of himself, so unable that he has to resort to wearing a mask, a stoic
mask, the mask of silence, the mask of mocking. He may seem the most secure of us all, and
in some ways he is, but actually he is the most insecure. He isn't sure of anything in his
life anymore, and he just is there, for a reason, always there, whether or not he's strong.
Such is a sign of a friend that will never desert you, even when he is the most wretched
creature on the face of this world.
"Prodigious, isn't it, Yolei? These new computers just get smaller and smaller,
don't they?", I heard myself saying. "I got this one online, off of Ubid.com. At first, I
wasn't even sure that they sold such refurbished things, but I guess I was wrong. It was
just a hunch that they actually might have what I want. What do you think?" I held up the
little device that fit snugly into the heart of my palm, and held it up to the camera
situated over my computer, on the rack of endless disks of data, all carefully labeled. I
could change it any time, because if I pressed down on the wall, the whole CD rack would
turn a 180 degree angle, and provide me with all the data on what I've gathered about the
Digital World, the Digidestined in all parts of the world that we live in, and their
Digivices.
The girl shook her long purple hair, and looked enviously through the screen of my
computer. She gave a pout, and said in her best bratty voice, "I want one too!" Time
stopped for a moment as she let me take a moment to let that sink in, then we both collapsed
into laughter. I don't believe I've laughed that hard in a while. After we had finished
wiping the last tears of mirth from our eyes, Yolei signed off with a last cheerful goodbye
and the promise that she would call again soon, if her studies didn't overtake her. I
remained on the computer, solitary, until a little browser window popped up.
It read:
You have one new e-mail message. Do you wish to read it?
I clicked "OK", and up came another browser window. I was just about to dismiss it as
another commercial and another piece of spam, when I read the 2nd line, the line that listed
the sender. And suddenly I didn't want to click it off anymore.
Receiptant: TentoIzzy@digimon.net
Sender: GaruluMatt@digimon.net
Message:
Izzy,
From the heading, I think you can guess who this is, and who is writing to
you this minute of this outrageously cold day. I met Tai today. He seems the same, but
thing that surprised me the most is the extent that he predicted what I was going to
propose. He guessed it the moment I said the words, "I'm going to stay in the DigiWorld
permanently." It just kinda shows how much he knows me, even though we're oceans away, he
still hasn't forgotten a single detail about me. Izzy, he's said he's going to come. Just
make sure you can round the rest of the old gang, and the new, too. I want Tai to have the
best vacation back to Tokyo. I think he deserves it, fully. He's been working himself too
hard; there are dark bags under his eyes, and his smile is kinda waned, not the old
energetic smile he once had. Maybe it can't be brought back, but I guess we have to try,
don't we?
Guess who?
Matt had left a way to reach him. I sat at my desk for a few moments before I began to
type. I couldn't think of anything to say back to him. Matt rarely let his inside feelings
spill out like this, so when he did, he meant it. He wanted a reply, and fast, before he
ran out of ideas. He wanted to get a reply from me, to see if I could think of anything.
He was, in a way, testing Tai and my friendship, seeing which places need to be fixed
because they are weak, and which places need nothing, just a constant upbeat of bring that
particular subject up once in a while, or else it becomes weak.
I began to write a reply to him. "Matt, I'm glad you wrote because I was starting
to get worried..."
No. That didn't sound right. It didn't sound like ME, it sounded like any other
person. Matt, as well as all others that were in our little team so many years back, all
knew me to be quite unpredictable sometimes, creating theories that mightn't be true, but
sounded right back then. I was the brainiac, the thoughtful one, the one who held the Crest
of Knowledge, and I was also the practical one. I never believed anything unless someone I
knew who wasn't going to lie to me said it, or I would have to see with my own eyes.
So I started typing again. This is what it read:
Receiptant: GaruluMatt@digimon.net
Sender: TentoIzzy@digimon.net
Message:
Matt,
I got your message. If I know Tai, he's the reliable type, and even though
not always punctual, he always get to the end sooner or later. I can say, on this
e-mail, but not out loud, that he really is a bright kid. Or, for that matter, man,
now. I'm glad he said he would come. Come say, I was starting to get anxious
because Tai wasn't the type to turn people away, especially not his best friend. I
hope I got the address to the café that he goes to every morning right. Matt, I
hope, as much as you do, that he will find a bit of solace once he's here; we won't
let him go that easily, and I hope you won't leave all that soon for the DigiWorld,
because you 2 really should catch up on each other, and make amends. I mean, you 2
haven't seen each other in -what, 5 years? I think he deserves a little attention
from you before you go. And plus, I don't believe you've told your parents yet.
I was overstricken by a momentary pang of guilt for a moment. The memories of our days in
the DigiWorld came rushing back at me, replaying for the millionth time in my life here, in
this so-praised "Most Brilliant Scientific Mind". I was guilty of many things, but I won't
forget the day that Tai came to me and just wanted someone to comfort him. He told me that
he had fallen for Matt, a long time ago in fact, and when he asked the future rock star that
he was in love with him. Matt, shocked, had no answer, so Tai just took it as a no. But
later, Matt came to my place to sort things out. He told me everything, and I told him back
that he should make up his mind before making another move. And so now, after 5 years, he
finally made his decision? Even then, I highly doubted that Tai still believed in this
foolish, one-sided love affair. It was just plain madness, I should tell him. It didn't
seem right, and to me, it never would seem right. So on this subject, I wrote:
You need to tell him soon. He can't spend the rest of his life waiting for you to answer
the question he's been dying for you to answer for so many years. He is human, too, and I
don't think he can hold onto this selfish hope for much longer, if he hasn't let go already.
You can't forget his words, as vague as they seem, and I pray that you'll come to your
senses soon.
Your prodigious friend,
Koushiro the Brainless
I erased the whole message, and typed up another lame one.
* * *
There came a knock on my door near lunchtime, and I figured it would be one of my
employees, trying to impress me with a lunch out, so I called out, "Come in." After all, a
free lunch is better than paying for your lunch. Always take advantage of anything that has
"FREE" written all over it. But when the door opened, I was mildly surprised, for once,
that it wasn't one of my workers, but one of the Digidestined, the one who inherited my
Crest of Knowledge.
I could tell, even though I had not seen him for -at the very least- 2 years, I was
sure this was the patient, caring, almost anti-social character that I had met so many times
in those years long past. And as I grew to know him, I myself assured that there was no
other person on the face of this Earth that deserved the Crest of Knowledge more than he
did. He did everything I did that was actually right, and avoided the things that were my
mistakes. He learned from all of us, by observing us, by replaying each action and command
that we gave or did, he was able to find out what he should do, and not repeat the things
that didn't need repeating.
Still, I had my doubts that this tall, brown -haired lad that appeared before me, in
my very office, was Cody. I didn't have all that hard time of guessing; I only knew one
person who still wore his hair in a bowl cut, refused any girl who wanted to date him save
Yolei and Kari (who wouldn't have dated him anyway), and had a D3 strapped firmly to his
backpack. He had his growth spurt, I thought to myself. Now he's even taller than me. Who
am I going to be able to tease now, about height, that is?
He bowed low to me, but his green eyes twinkled merrily when I stood and did the
same for him. We locked gazes for a moment, then both of us burst our laughing. He threw
his backpack on the floor beside the chair, and plopped himself down on the couch in front
of my desk. After a few more chuckles, he got up again and grabbed the jelly bean jar
before I could stop him. He unscrewed the lid, and chose a few for himself, then placed it
calmly back on the desk, where I snatched it and hid it from prying eyes into the drawer.
He gave me a pouty look, then laughed.
"Aww, Izzy, can't you spare me a few? There were so many in that jar! You wouldn't
mind if I took just a few more, do you?" His voice had become low and husky, but of course,
his voice had always been low and husky. It's just that his voice had just changed from
tenor to bass. I couldn't help but stare at this transformation. A short, unspeaking boy
of in his mere teens became a tall, handsome young man that actually told jokes? This was
too comfortable, too much had changed between us. His laugh seemed a little too loud and a
little too forced. His eyes, that had been twinkling just a few moments ago, were too
happy, too fake. And as fast and as knowledgeable my mind was, I still couldn't upset my
boundaries. THAT, by itself, told me a much.
Something was wrong. Cody was acting strangely. As comfortable as he becomes, he
can't be so comfortable and host-like that he actually made jokes. Something was definitely
wrong. I didn't like it, whatever it was.
So I asked him straight out
"Cody, what's wrong?"
He stopped for a moment, and looked at me, still in mid-laugh. Then he gave a
resigned sigh, the kind you give when you give when you find you've been found out, and
dropped his hands. He looked at me, his green eyes solemn, and when he spoke, his voice was
soft and low, and I knew something was wrong, even before he opened his mouth. "Koushiro",
he murmured, "have you checked your e-mail, the personal e-mail account?"
Something in his voice made me turn around, flip my computer up, and furiously type
in the URL to my other e-mail account. As fast as I possibly could, I typed in my user
name, and my password, as my mind whirled to face last week. Yes, I thought. I had not
checked my e-mail since the beginning of the month, ignoring everything but my work, and not
paying attention to anyone or even the thought of "DigiWorld". Even Joe's constant calls of
worry were ignored. I wasn't paying attention to anything but the papers and pencils on my
desk.
But part of that was because I had felt there was something to come, something that
was just lurking around the corner, a piece of something that I hadn't realized I'd earned
or owned, but rediscovered. By now, I was staring at the site that read my Inbox. There
was 1 new message, dated a week ago. I took a glance at Cody, who looked on with
determination. He knew that this was coming. His eyes caught me looking at him, and he
gave me a nod. I clicked on the message.
It read:
Receiptant: TentoIzzy@digimon.net
Sender: DigCody@digimon.net
Message:
Izzy,
Yesterday I was just finished with my dinner when I heard something at the door. I
was curious at what is was when the thumping came again, and then I opened the door. It
was practically a snowball from trudging in the snow outside the door. I wiped the snow
off, and I saw, with a kinda shock, that it was Gabumon. I set him down right beside the
heater with about 20 towels under him to catch the water, but I think something's wrong, and
I want you to come over and take a look at this disk he has on his collar, which I found was
Matt's tag and crest, as well as Matt's digivice. Something is very wrong. Come over as
soon as you can.
Cody
I stopped short, and then my hand went up to run my fingers through my red hair. I frowned,
then turned back to Cody. Very simply I put my next statement. "There's more to this.
You couldn't have just come here to let me know this. Tell me what happened to Gabumon. He
isn't there, anymore, is he?"
The Japanese lowered his head. "Iiee", he said softly. Izzy sighed, and asked him
another question. "Did he say anything? Or did he just die peacefully in his sleep?"
Cody looked up for a moment, and a sparkle returned to his eyes, only to be
overtaken by a sense of puzzling confusion. He thought, then said slowly, "He told me that
I would 'find' something, that the Digidestined would 'find' something, not just now, but
for keeps forever. When I asked him what he meant, he just kinda smiled in his sleep and
told me that I would understand sometime soon. I got the disk played, with my own fiddling,
and it told me-" The young kendo master burst into tears here, and gave me a horrible
startle. Panic seized me for a second, and I hurried over and took the taller man in my
arms. He leaned gratefully in my weight, and I guided him to a chair. Boy, he was heavy.
He sniffed, dried his eyes, and looked up at me with bleary green eyes. "Izzy", he
said. "Matt's dead."
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
Author's note:
I'm mean, aren't I? Well, you'll find out later what I really mean by that. I
can't tell you anymore, or else I'll just give the whole thing away.
Andrea Weiling
