Hikari Kamiya left her bedroom in the morning. What had the strange dream meant? Why did she get such a vivid description of her own death? How was she going to concentrate on school?
Kari walked around the apartment in daze. She was back to her usual pink glove wearing, camera carrying self. But every little noise had her jump with fear. Tai was concerned.
"Kari are you alight?"
"I'm fine Tai. I just had a bad dream."
"You want to talk about it?"
"I'd rather not." Kari went through the same conversation with two of her teachers, three of her friends, and TK. All were concerned about how jumpy she was. Kari breezed through the whole day fast, because her mind wasn't concentrating on the time, but rather analyzing the images she saw last night. She ate little dinner, watched no TV, and went to bed early. She was looking forward to a good night's sleep. And tomorrow was Saturday, so she could spend it relaxing with TK, Yolei and the rest of her friends. She laid her head on the pillow after kissing Gatomon goodnight, wishing for that peaceful sleep.
Kari opened her eyes and looked around. She was standing on a sidewalk, in the middle of a forest; how strange. She walked along the path a little ways. It was hard to see beyond the curves because the foliage of the trees was so thick. When she rounded another bend, she saw a building, a small tourist information stand. She saw a 'you are here' sign by it, and she saw that this was simply part of a large National Park. The name on the board said 'Tianvey Suspension Bridge'. Kari caught a look of herself in the reflection of the glass, and she screamed a bit. She was once again in the yellow shirt, with the whistle, and shorter. She was younger again, just like last time.
There was something very different about this dream. First she noted, that she was aware that she was dreaming. Second was the smell; she remembered that your nose and dreaming are controlled by different parts of the brain, so she shouldn't be smelling the pine trees around her. She also shouldn't have been able to read for the same reason. Whatever was happening to her, was effecting all of her, not just one portion of her brain like a normal dream would.
"Kari, come on! Everyone's waiting for us!" Kari turned and looked to the other side of the tourist booth, where TK was waiting for her. But this was the small TK with the green hat she'd known four years ago. "Come on!" He ran of out of her sight. Kari ran to catch up to him, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the suspension bridge. TK was already a few meters out onto the seventy meter bridge. Kari glanced down into the gorge. It was a staggering hundred and fifty meter drop. There was a small river running, but the water was no more than ten centimeters deep, plenty of chance to see the staggering sharp rocks that formed the valley floor. TK was waving and her to join him out on the bridge, that was held in the air by just a few lines of cable. She looked beyond him and saw her brother, and Sora on the other side urging her to come across. Kari hesitantly set her foot on the first of the boards of the bridge, and found it solid. She then brought he other foot beside the first, gripping the handle wires tightly.
"You scared Kari?" TK asked. She looked up at him and nodded. "It alright, look!" TK jumped as hard as he could on the boards to show her they were indeed strong. Kari was reassured and trusted TK, and she began to follow him out on the bridge. She was moving slowly and surely. When she was halfway across, she stopped to look around at the view. She was able to look down the gorge and see the clouds in the distance. It was very pretty here, the air was clean, and it was quiet. Kari took one more step toward the other side, and the plank gave way.
Kari fell forward and gripped the planks in front of her, but he small size was easily able to slip through the hold made by the missing board. TK grabbed her hands as everything below her shoulders dangled out into space. He wasn't able to hold on very securely. Tai and Sora were running out along the bridge to rescue her, but their running on the bridge, and TK's young hands cumulated into her falling.
Kari felt her hands part of TK's, and her stomach turn as she began to fall. She screamed as much as her lungs could. She seemed to remember back when they were falling under Machinedramon's city.
"Help me Tai!" Kari's scream echoed around the canyon. She drew in breath and started moving her arms. The change in air around her caused her body to rotate to she was facing the ground. She saw the sharp rocks coming toward her at lightning speed, but the whole situation moved so slowly. Just when she thought she would never hit the ground, she saw the rock's uppermost point begin to rip through her shirt and flesh.
Kari snapped up in bed, her breathing and heart easily audible to anyone in the building. She was scared almost to death. Tai, and Gatomon were standing over her looking at her with wide eyes.
"Kari, are you OK?" Tai asked.
Kari didn't know. What was she dreaming about dying? Why were the dreams so real? She needed to know, but all she knew was that her sheets were wet from her sweat, her knuckles were white, and her face was red. But she also knew that in the real world, her brother, and Gatomon were right there with her.
