Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon: Digital Monsters, or anything relating to it. It is owned by Saban, Toei, FoxKids, and/or Bandai and other people or corporations. I do not claim to own Digimon: Digital Monsters or the characters thereof. I do, however, own the ideas included in this story. You know the drill.
Now on with the story!

"Honestly, I don't see what's so great about a stupid old meadow," complained Tai as they tramped through the edge of the woods that separated the meadow from the mountain. "In here we'd have shelter from the rain, and... and..." his argument trailed off as he noticed that the three girls were staring at him: Kari had a pleading look in her eyes, Sora was glaring at him, and Mimi's expression said quite clearly that she'd be more than happy to fight him. Or, at least, scream. "Fine, fine..."

Matt laughed. "Wow, Mr. Know-it-all Leader is getting bossed around by his baby sister!"

Tai said nothing in return, but treated Matt to a glare -- the direct effect of which being that he ran headlong into a tree while he wasn't looking. Trying to ignore the group's laughter, he kept walking and tried not to rub the side of his face where it had gotten scratched by the tree.

Izzy was the one to change the subject. After examining a leaf plucked from one of the tall trees overhead, he remarked, "You know, I don't think we're going to have to worry about rain too much. From the structure of these leaves, I'd say this area doesn't usually get too much rain. And even with that, they're still pretty dehydrated."

"Not to mention," pointed out Kari, "that there isn't a cloud in the sky right now." She winked at the other kids. "Or, as Izzy would say, the meteorological conditions are not favorable to the de-localization of liquid precipitation."

"Precisely!" Izzy praised, causing Tai, Matt, and the others to break out in laughter again.

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A few hours later, they all would have been glad for a laugh. They had trekked aways into the meadow, until the girls had said that it "felt" like it was as pretty there as it was going to get, and spent awhile just enjoying the sunshine, flowers, butterflies, and time off from "Digidestineding." When the novelty wore off, though, it wore off fast. The sunlight, which had been so pleasant during the day, disappeared rapidly, and without the protection of a cave or forest, it got cold faster than they had expected. They didn't dare light a fire, either, because they could easily set the entire region ablaze -- including themselves, if they were unlucky enough to be asleep at the time. To make it worse, it was now too dark and too far to be able to make it back to the forest to sleep.

Tai tried to put a cheerful face on things, though, as always. "Well, this'll be great! Sleeping out under the stars, just us and our Digimon, with this soft grass for a bed... Much better than being in a mucky old forest, with all those sticks and rocks... Ugh!"

Noone believed that he meant that, but even so it cheered them up somewhat. TK even ventured the comment that if they snuggled up close to their Digimon, they wouldn't be cold at all!

"And I'll be nice, too, and not steal your fur, Gabumon!" joked Mimi with a wink. Gabumon just blushed and stammered.

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Despite his outward show of enthusiasm, Tai was less than happy with sleeping arrangements. Or any of the arrangements at all, really. They were out in the open, with no shelter from the weather and the cold, still without such basic supplies as blankets or anything more advanced than a rock to cook with, nothing to carry water with... He lay down and suppressed a wince as the dried grass cut into his arms and legs. Yeah, so much better than sleeping somewhere warm and safe.

But he was leader. Of course, if he'd known about all the responsibilities, the soul-wrenching fears, the horrifying thought that lives depending on each and every one of his decisions... Not only the lives of his friends... and family... but also the lives of countless strangers. The fact that they weren't human didn't make the prospect of making a mistake, failing somehow, sometime, even just once, that would sentence other beings to death, either by his own commands or by his failure to save them...

Those were all thoughts for later, though. Now he had keep up his cheery face, his optimistic demeanor. Even in the wilderness, there was no solitude.

Tai smoothed back his bushy hair, and settled back to sleep for the night. His last conscious thought was if a Digimon finally did kill them all off, at least he wouldn't have to worry about any of this anymore...