CHAPTER 5: The Search

"Oh, where could she be? This is all my fault. I shouldn't have pulled her into our argument. What if we don't find her, Shouri?" Shouri looked at his friend. When he saw the look in her eyes, he didn't have the heart to answer. So for another hour everyone walked on in silence. Tai was still pale. What if Akira's right? He asked himself. What if we DON"T find them? He looked off into the woods. They're out there, somewhere. I hope they're ok. Shouri tried to change the subject. "So," he said to Rick. "You never told US your name." Rick looked at him, then realized he was talking to him. "Oh, sorry. Yuuki fell on me, and that kind of made me forget. My name's Rick." Akira stopped walking and stared at him for a moment. "You aren't from Kentucky, are you?" Rick stared back. "How'd you..?" His eyes widened. "Akira?" Akira just grinned at him. "Wow, I can't believe it's you!"
"I can't either! I've waited all this time, and now, here you are! This is so cool!" Shouri and the others stopped short. "Do you mind telling me what's going on here?" Shouri asked. "Ok. Shouri, remember that I told you about a friend named Rick who was a great artist?" Rick blushed. "Yeah..."
"Well..." She motioned towards Rick. Shouri stood there a minute, then the light seemed to click on in his head. "You mean, this is him?! That's so cool!" Izzy seemed puzzled, and he decided to find out a few things. "Wait, wait, wait. You mean to tell me that all three of you know each other?" Akira nodded. "Hmm, that's just like Tai and the rest of us... There could be some connection. Hey!" He looked at his laptop. "There's an email from Gennai!" The three newcomers looked at him, obviously puzzled. "He's a digimon, and looks like an old man. He's a great help to us. He's given us so much information about the digiworld." Sora answered. "Oh..." Akira didn't fully understand, but this was enough for now. "Well, what's he got to say?" Tai asked, pushing Izzy over and looking at the email. "Hey! Don't mess with my computer!" Tai ignored him and continued reading. "Hey, alright! That's good to know!" He continued reading the email. "Um hum, yeah... we know that... ok. I'm done!" Everyone just stared at Tai. "What?!" Sora put her hands on her hips. "Well, what'd Gennai say?"
"Well..." Tai began, trying to make this as drawn out and suspenseful as possible. "Gennai said... that Matt found the kids, and that he's bringing them back. He also said-" Akira interrupted him. "You mean he found them! Thank goodness!!!" Tai, slightly offended by the sudden outburst, continued with his story. "As I was saying, he said something about your digimon, you guys. They're on their way." Shouri's eyes grew wide. "My, my digimon?" he stuttered. "My own digimon? This is so cool!" Rick and Akira looked at each other. "You ready for this?" Akira asked. "Ready as I'll ever be."