Pursuit of Light

by DarkCraze

A Takari story. Kari, separated from Tai and the others by Puppetmon, finds herself lost as she searches for a frightened and lost T.K., while at the same time realizing faint emotions for him and battling her own innermost fears of being alone.

4. Light of Two Souls

Author's Note: I am SO, SO terribly sorry in the long wait in updating.  I'm serious, I never meant for this to happen and I deeply regret that I kept you from the next part of this fic.  I know that I had promised to get more parts up a lot faster than before, and I apparently did not keep that promise.  You see, my computer's hard drive… well, it killed itself about the time I was planning to get that next part out.  And even worse, it looks like it suffered a serious head crash that would not only mean an expensive process of trying to get the data recovered, but the possibility of not even recovering anything at all.  Since then it has yet to be fully taken care of, and hence explains part of the reason I haven't updated.  I've also, since I was able to find the rest of the fic on a disk copy, been working off public computers, and that hasn't been a treat for me.  I hope you can understand that I in no way meant to keep you waiting for so long and I apologize for such an inconvenience.  I hope you can forgive me for what has happened.

Chapter Four: Light of Two Souls

"Move!  Move!  Move!" Izzy cried and spun away as the Woodmon stampeded into viewing sight and raced toward them with unimaginable speed.

The grounds thundered against the unstoppable bodies, pounding with a force that would crush anything it crossed.   A mass of dark brown figures could be seen moving like a wave that covered the floor, sweeping like a plague chasing down victims to claim.

Tai and Sora turned and followed Izzy, as Gatomon hopped onto her paws and sprung into a feline leap.  The boy pocketed both the mini-telescope and his sister's scarf in fear that he would drop them.  Biyomon and Tentomon took to the air while Koromon hopped into Tai's hands and wished his friend would be able to run faster than he would ever be able to all of a sudden.

"Come on!  Go! Go!" the bird shouted as they headed through the woods before them.

The Woodmon's blue eyes pierced through the obscure shadows and caught glimpse of them instantly, targeting them with laser-precision.  They followed their trail without deviating.  Their hunting skills made up for their intelligence tremendously.

Sora glanced back at the mass several yards away.  The amount of distance between them frightened her as she realized they could very well just jump out and pin one of them down.  She only hoped that they were not smart enough to think of that idea.

She turned around and stared forward—just in time to see the tree in her path that she was about to run into.

"Look out, Sora!"

With that shout a hand had reached out and grabbed hold of the back of her shirt, pulling her away only inches before she would have crashed into the tree.  Sora nearly slipped from the sudden action but continued to run away.  She turned to her side, in surprise to see that it had been Tai who had pulled her from her near-accident.

She didn't understand what had suddenly overcome him, but knew she was grateful for his caring.  Yet he wasn't even staring at her, only forward at what he was running through.  He couldn't even hear her whisper a faint, "Thank you."

This only confused the girl more.

"We can't keep running!  We have to fight!" Gatomon shouted back to the Digidestined as she used her amazing feline reflexes to leap against the tree barks and dart quickly in several directions at once.

"We can't!  There are just too many of them!" Izzy argued, holding tightly to the precious laptop of his.  "It would be a waste of time to even try!"

"Well, we have to do something!" Tai yelled.  "If Puppetmon wants a fight we have to give it to him!  We can't let him continue to do this to us!"

"But what can we do?!  They're the ones who have us running!" the pink bird in the air pointed out, flapping her wings endlessly, enough to challenge that of a hummingbird's activity.

Suddenly a tree ahead of them snapped from its base and began to tip over in their direction.  They halted for a split second and screamed as they all cut a quick turn to the left and ran.  The tree came down like a sword, cutting into the tops of those around it.  It slammed into the ground and completely blocked the path they had planned on taking, forcing them into the untouched territories of the forest.

"This is stupid!  They're going to track us down no matter what!" Tai screamed.

"So then do you have any suggestions to what course of action we should take, Tai?!" Izzy snapped, growing painfully tired of the older boy's complaints.

Without warning several more trees began to tilt over from all sides. It became apparent that the Woodmon were pushing them down and using them to attempt a blockade to the Digidestined's escape.  Turning sharply away from the spontaneous threats, they further deepened themselves into the forest itself.

"Try losing them, running in circles, I don't know!  Just keep running and stick together.  We'll figure something out!" Tai replied.

All the while, his main concern continued to be his sister.  Despite the impendent danger he and the others were facing, his thoughts centered on what he could do about Kari.

Kari, I'll get of this and find you.  You'll see…

*  *  *  *  *

Glowing brilliantly with a faint hue, the light hummed through the air and continued to lead the girl across the ground for some time now.  It sparkled for her, as if hoping it would further her interest in it and keep her entranced in its directions.  But there was no need for it, for she was fully interested by it and would continue to follow it, knowing that somehow it would help her or lead her to something that would.

It's so pretty, she thought.  But why does it want me?  Did I remember seeing something like this before?  I know I did, but I can't even remember when or if I did.  My memories are so scattered.  I want to trust this thing, but what if it's some evil trick by some Dark Master?

No, it can't be an evil trick.  It's too beautiful to be from the Dark Masters.  It's something else.  Where are you taking me?  Can you hear my thoughts?

She knew that to some extent it could tell what she wanted to know.  The light could sense her curiosity.  She could tell.  Somehow its essence gave off that knowledge.  She felt like she could trust what it was doing.  But was that what she wanted to believe, to satisfy her own worried thoughts and bring her to ease about what was happening?  Or was that just what the light wanted her to believe, hoping to disillusion her in a subtle manner?

Where are you taking me?  Do you know where Tai is?  Please, you can tell me.  I won't tell Puppetmon, if that's what you're thinking.

The light continued to be silent to her.  The only actions it took was sparkling in its wake across the air and guiding her.  She was surprised by her own ability to move again.  It was as if the light was bringing strength into her injuries and making them numb to her, making it so that she would be able to follow it.  If this light was from an origin of benevolence, then perhaps she would be able to survive.

But she was not ready to let go of her suspicions, seeing how it did not answer any of her questions.

The light suddenly began to lift itself higher, away from the distance between it and her face.  She craned her head back so that she would be able to see it even better.  She walked without staring in front of her, continuing down the path she had taken ever since this entity had come to her.  It had a message, encased somewhere in its cryptic actions.  Kari knew to believe that much.  She only wished that someone like Tai was there.  She knew he was not exactly the brightest one in the bunch, for his actions were foolish many times over, but he was her big brother and knew what it would be trying to do to her.  Anyone else would be able to do it as well, including T.K.

The image of poor T.K. faintly drifted before her mind.  The sweet child was still alone, somewhere in the forest, probably at the hands of Puppetmon for all she knew.  She needed to get back to him somehow.  She had to find him.  She then suspected that this light before her knew the answer to how she would be able to do that, help protect the innocence she had discovered in him earlier.

Do you know where T.K. is? she asked through thought, hoping it knew about the spell the Dark Master had placed over her voice earlier. 

The light slowly came to a stop, in response to her question.  She then realized it could hear what she was thinking.  It could understand her fully, otherwise it would not have sensed her query.  The young girl knew this could prove very helpful to her.

Do you know how I can find him?  I know you want me to keep following you, but I need to find T.K.  Can you tell me where he is?

The light hung in the air with silence, with the exception of the faint hum it placed in the air.  It did not respond to Kari's new set of questions.  Instead, it replied with some disregard of them totally.

Do you know where he is?  Please, tell me.  I know you can.  That's all I want to know.

The light continued to ignore her, which Kari did not find pleasant at all.

You know, you're not really that nice, she thought.

As if in response to the silent comment, the light suddenly began to grow dim.  The life it incorporated through its glow diminished, as it rose higher another foot, and the outer edges of its star-like attributes crisped off into the air and vaporized, taking with it the dazzling edges that constituted its center.  It began to drift off down the path it had so far led her down, flowing against the air and letting it carry it away.

Kari realized her mistake and began to have regrets for such impolite behavior as the light moved away.  Oh, please don't go.  I'm sorry.  I didn't mean it.  Don't go away.

Her thoughts were not answered by the entity.  The light continued to fade, more so as Kari tried to keep up with it.  She extended her right arm and reached up as far as she could, attempting to touch it, hoping that by capturing it in her grasp it would not escape and leave her to the evils of the forest.  But the light would not let her do that.  It had risen too far above her, making it impossible to try.  Yet that did not keep her from letting it leave her.  She focused all of her concentration on the light as it grew even dimmer, its previous radiance sapped away as it slipped into nothing.

Please!  Don't leave me!

The light finally let its last sparkle fly away and fade into nothing, taking with it the warmth and hope that she had believed would stay with her.

She did not see the dive in the ground's elevation and looked down too late to realize that she had come to the edge of a dangerously steep hill.  She could not stop herself in time and felt her feet slide away from solid ground as she flew forward.  Her body slammed down against the side of the ditch and she rolled down swiftly and hard, feeling the jagged rocks and branches that blanketed the floor jab her all over.  She felt them pound and tear against her clothes and skin, flipping all over her too fast that she could not handle suppressing the pain that stabbed her all over.  She opened her mouth in hopes of screaming, but not a sound escaped her throat.

The roll downward ultimately came to a stop.  She came to a rest at the bottom of the ditch and laid there, sprawled in a hurtful position against her back.  Silent and still.  All alone once again, with nobody taking her in but the cold that snipped at her wounds and waited to take her entirely.

*  *  *  *  *

"What's your plan, Tai?  What do we do?" the soft pink head asked as he bounced against the thin frame of their leader.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking, okay?!" the boy yelled in defense as to why he had not formulated a direction toward safety.  He leaped over a small bush that stood in his way, his feet stomping down and taking off into flight once they touched the dirt again.  "Stop being a backseat driver, Koromon!"

The group continued to run through the forest, as the gears in Tai's brain began to work themselves and try at constructing a plan.  It was not an easy task for one like him to work through.  He was known for his simplicity, for his spontaneous leadership and bravado.  It was not his fault if it was difficult to create a plan when running through the dark from an army of their enemies.

Still, that did not alter his productiveness.  He knew they could not defeat the Woodmon when they were currently weak.  They would have to regain their strength before engaging in one-on-one strenuous battles.  They would have to find a different approach to it.  They had to strike without getting themselves hurt, getting by with their standard abilities and whatever they could pull themselves to do.  But he realized there was very little they could do inside a forest…

If light bulbs could flicker above one's head, Tai would have a halo surrounding his, and a very large one considering the size of his hair.

"I think I might have a plan!" he announced.

"Might?  Oh, that's real assuring!" Izzy shouted, surprised by the word choice the kid had utilized.

Tai directed his attention toward the boy.  "Izzy, we need to confuse the Woodmon before we try anything.  Did your laptop say anything about them that could help?"

"No, but we could try something!  All of the Woodmon are concentrating their eyes on us, right?  We could try to blind them somehow at the same time.  A bright flash of light may be able to mess with their vision and momentarily provide us with a suitable cloak to lose them under!" he answered, dodging a branch that nearly took off his ear with its sharp point.

"Perfect!  Gatomon, I need you to give those guys a little taste of their own medicine," Tai instructed, moving his eyes toward the feline.  "Run ahead of us and create our own blockade so they can't follow us for a while!"

"Of course," she fully accepted without argument.  Using her agile reflexes and the gift of springs for tendons, the cat digimon flew ahead of them like a cheetah across the plains.

"We need to distract them now!" Izzy shouted.  "Tentomon, create a flash bright enough to disorient their view."

"Oh great, now what am I, a firefly?" the red beetle asked with a sarcastic undertone as he slowed his flight velocity and turned around to face the oncoming traffic.  He gulped at the glimpse of all the Woodmon headed straight toward him, seeing all of their glaring eyes, concentrated solely on him now, only falling for the children's intention of distraction.

"Super Shocker!" Tentomon exclaimed, sending an illuminating discharge of crackling electricity into the air.

The glow of the electrified particles in the air flashed brightly across the darkness.  The army of digimon halted toward its flanks at the lead, blinded by the light Tentomon had delivered to them.  Those pairs following the ones in the front found themselves on an unpleasant trip as they collided into their bodies and rolled into a pileup of wood.

"Well, my work is done!" Tentomon said to himself proudly as he buzzed quickly after his friends once again, seeing that they had gained some distance since the last time he had looked.

"Lightning Paw!"  A blur to them far ahead, Tai and the others watched as Gatomon did some quick work on two large trees across from one another and sent them tilting toward the fleeing group itself.

"Hurry!  Get past them!  Go!" Tai exclaimed, his eyes watching the twin towers falling down, with them about to take on the full impact.

The children and their digimon managed to break across the ground just in time to narrowly miss their dooms.  The trees slammed hard into the forest floor, causing it to tremor violently.  They had taken down a few nearby trees as well, only adding to the efficiency of their entire purpose.  Seconds after their collapse a fine and complicated mess of shattered bark, clumped leaves, and haphazardly-strewn branches had been left, not only blocking the path but also creating a wall of debris that spanned several yards, an obstacle that would be difficult to get across.  Ultimately, though, it would be breached.

"Good work, that will keep them off our backs for a while," Tai commented, continuing his run although the immediate danger had been halted for the moment.

"But it will… not hold… them back," Sora mentioned in a strain of her breath, although her words were not received by Tai and not handled with a response.

"That's something we can be sure of," Izzy commented, having heard the girl and agreeing with her truth.  "Those Woodmon may be down for the count but they will keep pursuing no matter what."

Having gained some distance far from the barrier they had established after a few minutes of moving quickly and without stopping for mere distractions, Tai began to decelerate and pause for a breath of air.  They had gone far enough to buy some time before they could be found.  Long, extensive trees bordered the small clearing that they had entered, with many broad branches layering them all around.  For some reason about a little over a dozen logs had been cut clean from the forest floor and left there, littering the ground, indicating that an earlier battle had taken them down entirely.  The clutter was easy to navigate through and pass, even move away if give the effort.  Somehow they had been cut down several times from their original sizes, their broken branches and leaves scattered across the floor with very few remaining on the trunks.

But Tai's fatigue took too much away from him to care about the current setting.  His athletic nature had kept him under condition and persistent to the extreme work his body called for, but the long night had finally begun to take its toll not only on him but the rest of the group, and they were beginning to suffer from it.  The boy found it hard to take in oxygen.  His lungs and chest choked for it.  His arms and legs felt like they were on fire.  The cool air could not do much for him.  He could practically feel an aura of heat wrapped around him, threatening to evaporate the precious, cool air. 

Koromon slid out of his grasp and let himself fall down to the ground, giving his friend the opportunity to rest without him as an extra burden of weight.  The others moved near the boy and stopped as well, tired just as much.

"We… need to… stop for a while," Tai managed to cough out, his head lowered so as to level the flow of blood in his body.  "We can't run forever… we have to regain our strength, get to safety."

"Good idea, I think I know where we can rest for now," Biyomon said all of a sudden, lifting up and flying high toward the tops of the immense trees standing around them.

Izzy, having neither the strength nor the motivation to continue standing on his feet, let his knees buckle and guided himself to the welcoming ground.  He set his computer down as he reached back to pull off his laptop-carrying backpack.  "Tai, we are not going to be able to avoid those digimon again," he said as he opened the pack and slipped the computer inside.  "We were lucky enough to stop them for now, I doubt that we will even get a second chance at all.  We have to stop them before they recover.  I can anticipate that none of them will be happy with us the next time we have an encounter."

"I'm trying my best to think, okay?" Tai stated defensively, growing to the point of an outburst against the prodigy's uncanny stating of the obvious.  "I don't see you doing much with that computer of yours, so you don't have room for an argument right now."

The comment stung Izzy and he shot back.  "You know, I'm wondering what allows you to act this way when your actions haven't helped us one bit."

"I'm doing just about everything to help us, so what are you complaining about?"

"Your actions have not helped in getting to your sister.  If you really wanted to find her you would have helped put an end to this problem already!"

The taller boy's eyes narrowed scornfully.  He bit down on his lower lip to keep his rage concentrated on his own body, rather than the option of inflicting it on the other youth's.  "I'm the leader and I will decide on how we deal with these situations.  You don't question the way I get us going," he spat out with a deep, threatening impression, trying to frighten the smaller child enough that he would back down.

The heated argument grew to be too much for the feline to swallow down without speaking out.  She stepped out in front of the two quickly and raised her paws to signal their attention.  "Okay, that's enough!" she snapped at the two, upset with their display.  "I don't care what you two boys have to fight over, you could take care of your human business later on!"

The two now moved their eyes toward Gatomon, sensing her apprehension immediately and interested in what she wanted to contribute.  They had become settled to accepting the white cat as part of the group, especially with her cooperative efforts in the past to fight with the team.  But such an outburst was one they had yet seen, and so they wondered why she would be so angry with them now.

She glanced from one boy to the other with her cool sapphire-blue eyes.  "My real concern right now is Kari, T.K., and Patamon, that's all, and we will not be able to rescue them until we have dealt with Puppetmon's forces once and for all.  If any of us are going to survive we have to fight the enemy, not each other."

"Gatomon's right, we're falling apart here," Sora agreed, stepping into the forum now, moving over to Tai and Izzy.   "You two should just stop acting like little kids because it won't help either of us."

"I thought you all were little kids," Tentomon pointed out, hovering around the group and lending his own observation, although it was not entirely focused on the general topic.

Tai smirked at the subtle humor in the insect digimon's words, yet understood the truth behind the point.  "No," he murmured softly to himself, turning his eyes away from the other's gazes.  "Not anymore."

He caught a look at Koromon and let his eyes fall upon his.  The small creature stared with a worried look locked on his face.  He had most certainly feared the developing change from anger to hate in his human partner, and wondered as to what steps he would take now.  Those thoughts were passed into the air and absorbed into the boy.  He softened his hardened expression and realized the example he had set upon his closest friend.  He understood that such a move was not what he had wanted to take, at risk of losing the established friendship between them.

"We've changed too much now to be just kids anymore," the boy added, "done too much that could keep us the same.  But we're still Digidestined, and that will always stay the same for all of us." 

Tai turned toward the others, stepping away from the place where he had expressed his darker emotions just a moment before.  "We fight now, we get this over with once and for all.  Those Woodmon are going to be sorry they ever came after us."

"Glad to see you're back on track, but we still need a plan," Gatomon acknowledged.  "How do we fight back?  We can't surely take them out all at once, not with us like this."

Just by chance, at that particular moment, several large green vines dropped down and dangled before them.  Tai and the others jumped back at the sudden appearance of the vegetation and peered up to find Biyomon making a descent through the air.

"There you go," she reported, hovering to a position just above their heads, flapping their wings with some strain.  "These vines are strong enough to support all of your weight.  You can use them to climb up into the trees and stay high in them so they can't find us."

The notion of climbing up out of sight seemed to spark some interest to Tai's constructive thoughts.  He reached out and touched one of the vines, feeling them roughly and letting the gears start up again as he realized how he could fight back for sure.

"Biyomon," he began, grappling his fingers around the thick plant life and smiling to himself, "you may just be the smartest bird-brain I know…"

*  *  *  *  *

The void of unconsciousness could not numb pain, for it let it run throughout the centers of the functioning brain activity and made sure it could not be blocked by the powers of the mind.  It continued to act as an unremitting force of nature, untamed and uncalled for, creating great emotional and mental damage to its host after having afflicted the physical.

The pain the young girl experienced urged her to awaken to a state of awareness once again.  Having been battered and tossed like a lifeless accessory, much of her body responded against the call for simple gestures.  Her neck felt as if it would snap and pop itself into dislocation from her spine as she lifted her head.  Her eyes had lost all life, the pure, peaceful gaze of an innocent gone with the security she had naïvely believed was amongst her. 

Where… what… what happened?  How… did I fall?  Where is the… the light?

Her sight wavered and grew blurry for a second, obscuring all ability of sight for a moment.  Any and all strength within her body had been severely compromised.  She could sense it.  It would not be long before she lost completely to the darkness.  The force of life within her soul, her hope for survival, was diminishing at a slow but sure rate.  If she had placed her trust in getting to the rest of the Digidestined in time to find true protection from death under their care, she was soon to be disappointed.

Now I remember, she thought.  The light… it left me.  It left me on my… own again.

Her own thoughts drifted inside her head.  She pressed her palms into the ground beneath her and attempted a push-up.  It collapsed in on itself mid-way, forcing her arms to bend.  She pushed them just in time to get her elbows as support and now had her head away from the dirt.

Suddenly a slick string of blood slivered from her brow down toward the dirt like syrup.  Kari's eyes caught the movement and realized that she had been injured—severely.  Bending her arm high enough, she touched her forehead and felt the sting when her finger crossed over the long open gash.

She knew the sign was very, very grave.

Straining herself, she rolled over onto her back and faced the sky.  She slowly pushed her arms until they locked at the elbows and helped her in sitting up.  Her eyes lowered and she could see the further damage the fall had caused her.  The clothes were torn and caked with so much dirt and blood it would be hopeless to wash them clean.  Her bare legs… they had been dealt the worst.  Scraped, almost to the point where the bones in her shins would be jutting out if slammed against hard enough, they would not endure.  The trails of blood that covered them were a strong indication of that.  She could still feel them, and for that she was relieved.  But she also sensed that if she tried to run they would most certainly become useless and it would be a sorry sight for one to see her try to continue… assuming that one would find her in the remote and silent reign she had come into.

Kari looked away from her body and up at the top of the ditch.  She could not scale the hill again.  The slope would be cruel to her legs and send her back down.  She could not go back the way she came, even if she felt it was the only way she would find the light, that light which had guided her, again.

No… it left me, she told herself, rolling to her side and beginning an attempt to stand.  It let me get hurt.  I made it go away.  It's my fault.  It won't help me again.  I have to help myself… and everyone else.

Her promise to T.K. still lingered inside her head.  It would not perish, and she was glad for it not happening.  Yet she also realized that she would not be able to fulfill it now.  She would not be able to reach him in such a condition, and would most certainly give out before she actually found him and his helpless digimon.  This angered her, not for the situation but for herself.  She had gone on believing her independence would save her, would keep her from harm, but now she was certain it was all a lie.  She was not how she saw herself.  She had not been called upon like the other seven children had in the beginning.  She did not belong to the group until her digimon guided her to them and her purpose.  But just what purpose was there for her?  She was becoming a problem for all of them.  Her inexperience was getting the best of her.

She could not handle any of this.  All of the circumstances that she had found: being attacked by evil digimon, being separated from the others, falling into an environment and situation where she would not be able to survive, it was all just too insane for her.  It was like something was trying to break her, prove to her that she had made a mistake coming to the Digital World in the first place.  Perhaps it was her own consciousness working secretly against her, trying to make her realize she did not belong and that her presence in the DigiWorld was insignificant.  Whether it be the true explanation or not, she was ready to believe the truth, the idea that she had failed to see.

She was an inconvenience to all of them.

It's true, she thought.  I'm not important, I only hold others back.  I would have found Tai, Gatomon, T.K., all of them if I wasn't so stupid.  But I can't take care of myself.  I thought I could, but I can't.  I can't do anything.  I put my friends in danger now.  I messed up everything.  I lied to them and myself.  I can't do anything!

"I want to make Matt proud.  I want him to believe he doesn't have to worry about me.  But I don't know… if I can handle myself being alone without him…"

The scene from earlier that night played in her mind, and the thought of misleading T.K. and bringing his own doom sickened her.  She shook away the thought instantly and pulled up a new inner strength, understanding exactly what she had to do.

No, Tai told me I have something… called destiny.  I was chosen to come here because I'm supposed to help everyone.  I might not be able to keep myself from getting into trouble, but everyone runs into trouble no matter what.  T.K.'s facing the worst of it now.  No, I was brought here because I have a job, and if T.K. is in danger I have to get to him.

This is some kind of test, I know it is.  I'm being tested to see if I'm really a Digidestined.  That's why I've been kept from T.K.  That's why I… I can't find him.  I have to believe that I can do it.  I have to keep trying.  If I'm a problem it's because I'm too afraid, but I'm not going to be afraid anymore.  I'm going… to find T.K.

Straining herself until she was ready to cry, she got her feet flat on the ground and slowly lifted herself up to stand.  Her legs almost let her fall but her light frame and weight dealt with her nicely.  She glanced around and studied her surroundings more thoroughly, seeing the usual expanse that she was becoming accustomed to.  She could not decide on where to go, what direction she should follow next.  She then raised her eyes to the sky and saw that it was lighter than before, much of the shadows having been purged.

The digital sunlight was soon to wash over the tainted land.

It'll be okay, she told herself, taking a slow step forward and feeling the sting in her legs but suppressing it through biting down on her tongue.  Everything will be good again… soon.  I'll find… T.K.

She took several more steps before she moved near the trees and used them as support, worried that she would fall and not be able to get up again.  She moved away from the hill and continued along the leveled ground, in hope that perhaps somewhere around the new particular elevation, she would find the boy and save him from his fears, as she was pushing to do for herself.

But her strength was fading, and with every step she took it would take more and more.  Unknowing of her own true condition, of the severity of her earlier fall, she would soon discover that it had done more damage to her head than she had realized, and would ultimately take her life before she would even know what was going on…

*  *  *  *  *

"Make sure that's tight, I don't think we would want to see everything mess up before they come."

"Don't worry, I'm making it as tight as I can."  Gatomon tugged on the vine until it was firmly wrapped against the trunk of the tree.  She let it go and checked to see if it was secured.  She nodded in response.  "Yep, it's all good.  See, you don't have to get all worried about it."

"I'm supposed to worry, I don't want to deal with those Woodmon again," Biyomon replied.  "It's bad enough that they have us running, but they might have the others as well.  I just want it to end."

"If this works it will."

Biyomon fluttered away and moved across the open expanse between the trees they had climbed high into.  She moved over to Tentomon and Koromon, sitting at the other end, checking the vines that they had pulled across part of the expanse and around the trees.  The bird lowered herself onto a branch next to them and viewed their progress.

"Almost done?"

"Yeah," the head replied.  "But those logs are really hard to move and get into place.  What if—"

"I don't want to think about what would happen if this plan fails," the insect said, cutting him off.  "It's bad enough we're trying it, we don't want to think about the negative possibilities."

"Well, I'm sure it will go exactly as we planned.  We put too much work into it already to—"

"Lightning Paw!"

The sudden call from the cat pulled their attention away for a brief second as they saw several more vines fly down like whips and collected by her, taken and spread down as she climbed toward the floor with several of them. Biyomon glanced back for a moment then turned back to the other two digimon.  "I don't think I would want to tell Gatomon her part has been a waste so far."

Koromon plopped forward and studied the plan they had set up.  Tai had devised it, and although it was considered a last-minute attempt it still seemed likely to help them stop the Woodmon from continuing after them.  The setup had been strenuous and long, and thanks to their previous moves against the enemy they had yet to advance.  But time was growing short, and it was still unknown whether or not their next step was going to work.  All they could do was construct without a guide and pray it went according to the simulations they had played in their minds.  Thankfully, their experience in what they were doing helped, and all they had to worry about was whether or not the vines would do their jobs as expected.

"This has got to work.  I don't want to see Tai behaving the way he is," Koromon said, expressing his thought to the other two.

"What, you mean pulling ideas out of thin air like if nothing?" the bird asked.

"Personally I think it's beneficial considering it's Tai and he doesn't usually keep it going for long," Tentomon said on his part.

"No," the in-training digimon replied, lowering his voice so as to not let the boy, who was not that far away working on his own, ignoring the fact that Izzy was by himself having difficulties of his own and Sora elsewhere among the branches by her own, helping Gatomon in tightening the vines and pulling them up.  "I mean the way he's been acting to the other kids.  Have you ever seen him behave like that?  It's unnatural."

"Yeah, the way he yelled at both Sora and Izzy earlier.  He has never been so hot-headed before," Biyomon agreed.  "I don't think it's fair of him treating them so badly when they haven't done anything to hurt him."

"It's Kari, that's what has him worried," Tentomon pointed out.  "He's the leader and he feels it's his responsibility to care for her and T.K."

"But he never mentioned T.K. once," the pink flyer observed, "he's only focused on Kari and Kari alone.  It's like if by losing her he's afraid of something happening."  She moved her eyes to Koromon.  "Have you ever heard him say anything that would suggest that?"

The digimon lowered his eyes disappointedly and shook his head.  "No, not really.  I don't think he did."

"Hmm, perhaps he's afraid of being grounded?" the insect asked, trying to toss in a few words of humor.

Koromon let himself fall into thought and reviewed his relationship with Tai.  The boy was the only one he had called a friend.  He was the first human he had met and after some fierce battles and proud victories, had grown to love being his digimon.  Yet the boy also called those other human kids, whom he had come to know for the past countless weeks since they were first whisked away, friends as well.  Now all of a sudden he had turned against Matt, who had left the group, and now both Sora and Izzy.  The digimon wanted to conclude that perhaps the missing element contained within the Crest of Friendship and its possessor was the reason he had become this new, angry person.  But it could not be just that.  No, the little digimon feared that it was something natural the boy had chosen to embrace and follow.  He also feared that this callous face he had put on would turn other friendships away—including the one between them both.

I don't want Tai to hate me next, Koromon thought to himself, depressed by the mere possibility that it would be the boy's next step.  He might start yelling at me, too, and want me to get out of his way and leave him alone.  He might think I'm not a good friend to him.

The digimon refused to accept it.  He turned away from the other two whom he had been speaking to and watched Tai from afar.  He could see him vigorously working on securing another part of a log against the branch he kneeled on.

"Come on, Gatomon, put some muscle into it!" he ordered, straining to pull the log up.  "Your end is gonna fall!"

"Hey, I'm no super-kitty over here!" the feline stated, having climbed back into the branches across from Tai and trying to pull the last log up, receiving assistance from Sora as well.

Once the log had reached the level they needed it at, Tai began to tie it against the branch with a durable vine several times over.  The boy seemed tense, as if he was having trouble with the vine.  He tugged at it and grew tenser when it would not work.

Deciding then and now to confront his behavior, Koromon began to nudge himself along the branches, using his ribbon-like ears to keep himself safely against them.  He moved up next to Tai, his movement attracting the child's attention, but only for a second.

"Tai, are you okay?  I'm worried that you are mad with all of us, and we don't know what to do," he told him frankly.

"It's nothing, Koromon," Tai answered, focusing more on the vine that had been longer than expected and was proving difficult to cut through.  He had tried sawing it against the branch to make it weak and easier to rip, as he had done with the others he had come across, but this one was proving to be very hostile.  "People get mad every now and then.  It's ordinary for someone to yell at another person when they are not handling certain things very well."

"But does that mean you are gonna start yelling at me?"

The question pulled Tai's attention away from his chore.  He turned around carefully and faced the digimon.  "What makes you think I would yell at you, buddy?  You know you're my friend.  I would not want to make you think I hate you."

"Izzy's your friend, too," his partner pointed out observantly, "and you yelled at him.  You yelled at him and Sora and they didn't deserve it.  I just think it was not right.  They've helped a lot, and we need everyone's help on this.  Please don't be mad that I told you this.  I just…" He trailed off, finding that he had lost his words and wondered how Tai would reply to him.

Tai, looking into Koromon's face and getting an idea as to how he felt, took the moment to reflect on what he had done.  He turned away, staring off into nothingness, fully realizing that it was true.  His actions were uncalled for, and what he had done was not right to either one of them.  If his own digimon could see that before he could, what did that say about himself?  It was not easy for him to focus on the feelings of others, particularly those whom he had nothing in common with.  Still, it was not his place to throw tantrums at others, and from a leader's perspective it was not at all productive.

Koromon suddenly shot forward at the vine Tai had found trouble cutting through.  He clamped his mouth over it and gnawed at it like a puppy, biting though it with his semi-sharp teeth.  He finally cut through it with hardly any effort and moved back for him to see the work he had done, hoping it would express that he was still prepared to be a trusty ally.

The boy hummed to himself, coming to a conclusion and returning his gaze to the digimon.  "You're right, Koromon," he began, a little hesitantly but still with effort.  "I shouldn't have done all that."  He then turned over to where Izzy was kneeling and decided that he had to make amends with the boy.  "Give me a sec."

Rising up to his feet, Tai stepped across the branch in the direction of Izzy.  He did not look down, for he knew they were some ways up.  Having climbed to approximately thirty feet, a safe twenty-five above what the Woodmon were able to reach, they would work without wanting to do so.  They were near the top of the canopy, and so still had some protective cover to hide behind.  Luckily, to their advantage the branches in the tree were unnaturally wide, enough to accommodate enough walking space without a severe risk of tipping over.  For precaution, however, they used some extra vines to secure themselves to the branches and main trunks of the trees they were in.  They were the only ones who had them tied around their waists, for the digimon would be the main factor of Tai's plan once it was set into motion and could not be held back.

Tai moved over behind Izzy and kneeled.  "Hey, Izzy, are you free for a moment?"

Izzy paused and turned around, facing the other with a stoic look, purposely waiting to judge what he would do.

Tai found it even more difficult speaking to him than he had found to Koromon.  He cleared his throat.  "Look, I'm sorry I was a jerk and, well, yelling at ya.  I didn't want to go there, I'm just upset about what's going on.  Are you still mad?"

For a moment nothing but air passed between the two without carrying a word.  Then Izzy was the first to give a satisfactory reply.  "Not exactly the in-depth apology I would have expected for someone insulting my character, but easy to forgive.  Just don't do it again and I won't say anything about your egregious demeanor."

Not sure about what he had just said, Tai decided to accept his comment as a good one.  "Uh—okay, whatever that means."

Izzy smacked on the pleased smile and was glad to know the coldness between the two had been settled and thawed out.  "Well, then, glad to know you're back.  But don't you think you might also want to talk to Sora—"

"Move it, everyone!"  Gatomon's sudden call interrupted him, directing both of them away from the point Izzy was just about to bring up.

"What is it?" Tai asked, rising to his feet.

"The Woodmon are coming!"

"Already?!" Izzy cried, moving around Tai and over to the trunk of the tree their branch led to, closer to Gatomon's view.  "But we haven't even gotten a chance to test it!"

"So, my nails are sore from cutting down all these things and you don't see me complaining right now!" the feline countered.  "We can't test it, we have to go for it now!"

Sora moved along the branch she had stepped across and over to the digimon, listening to the ground far below them.  She and the others could hear the same rumbling sounds that they had encountered earlier headed in their direction.  It was evident that their enemies were not very pleased with the blow the children had dealt them.  Loud muttering and angry whispers could be heard within their stampeding.

"Okay, we've got to do this now," Tai commanded, fully into his original role once again.  He glanced at the digimon and waved his hand in directions.  "Koromon and Gatomon will stand at their posts and let them go once they've been lured right under the trap.  Biyomon will stay as our air patrol.  Remember: do not cut the vines until she absolutely says so.  We have to move fast and do this as best as we can."

"Tai, you owe me a manicure when this is over!" Gatomon called out to him as she leaped away from where she was standing and maneuvered to where she would separate the vines from the trees.

"I'm still worried about this plan," Tentomon said to himself, flying close to the boys.  "Couldn't we have made some blueprints to have worked off?  We could have taken the time to set this up better, maybe let me make a little treehouse for myself to hide in until it's over, hmm?"

"Now we just need to draw them to the trap," Izzy said.  "Tentomon, I need you to go down and get them to stop right under it.  Once you draw their attention get out of there and leave the rest to us."

Tentomon was not delighted to hear those words.  "Now I'm bait for some forest rejects?"  He buzzed up into the air and descended toward the ground.  "I have got to get a lawyer to protect me from all of this abuse!"  He disappeared from their view beyond the branches and headed off into the danger ahead.

"We have to get in position, too," Tai told the others, moving aside to get near where one of the key vines were set.  He let his fingers slide into his pockets and grasp his mini-telescope.  He raised it to his eye and stared down toward the edge of the clearing to see the insectoid move beyond it nervously.

Izzy and Sora moved to their own respective designations, using the branches to guide them across from one tree to another.  The smaller boy could still see that Sora had yet to be apologized to.  Her awkward silence throughout much of their preparation still suggested that what Tai had done to her earlier was still affecting her mind.  He could only hope that Tai would say something to the girl and bring her out of the mood before it affected her more deeply.

"Tentomon's found them," Biyomon reported, using her bird's vision to see far ahead of the others.

"Are you sure?" Tai asked, unable to tell from his own point of view.

To answer his question, there was a scream of cowardice and the quick shouts of both their representative and their enemies growing loud all of a sudden.

"Okay, here he comes!" Tai exclaimed, eyeing the digimon come into the telescope's line of sight.

"Everyone ready!" Izzy called to them, receiving several nods to confirm that there was no going back.

Under the diminishing moonlight Tentomon could be seen fluttering fast through the small clearing beneath them.  Very close in his wake the wicked digimon followed, trying to reach out and pluck him out of the air.  A rough count of the group was about thirty, maybe a little more.  The number was important now if they were to succeed.

"Yaow!  Hey, guys, can't we be reasonable—eek!" the friendly bug gasped as he tried to outmaneuver them.

A second later he was under the specific point and buzzed up high, far too high and fast to see or stop him but just enough to make them stop where needed.

"Hey, come back here!" one of them snapped in a garble twist of incomprehensible speech.

The bird gave the nod and turned toward Tai.  "Now!"

The boy, still observing through the telescope, lowered the device from his face and revealed the hardened, determined look of a general.  "Hey, you Woodmon down there!"

The army caught the boy's words and glanced up even higher, only discovering the full view of what the Digidestined and their partners had constructed.

"TIMBER!"

With that cry Tai kicked at the vine secured to the tree he stood in, knocking it out of place and sending a domino effect of elevated logs back down again.

"Bubble Blow!"

"Lightning Paw!"

"Spiral Twister!"

Izzy and Sora also kicked and snapped the secured vines they were told to send off.  A tumbling set of logs joined the rest and swept down like thick cinderblocks about to pelter a line of cars—and one flying digimon who had yet to get out of the way.

"Whoa, hey!" he screamed as he shot from side to side, luckily avoiding the logs but shrieking at the peak of his voice.

The first set of logs slammed right into the ground, onto the edge of the army's position, crashing into them so fast and hard they had very little chance of protest.  The force was so hard it turned them into instant digital dust and they vanished.

Just as the others realized that they had been set up and began to make a run for it, Tai leaped over and kicked at another vine, causing it to snap.  "I don't think so!"

Several more Woodmon found themselves lost as a set of three logs were sent into a swinging descent and drove themselves right into the forward flanks.  While some were able to dodge them in seconds, those who were hit were sent flying and vaporized in the air.

"Lightning Paw!"  With one swipe the cat sent more tumbling down.

"Bubble Blow!"  The little digimon's attack was just enough to snap the bark off the tree and cause the vines' knot to unravel.

"Wait a second!  You guys are gonna take me down!" Tentomon screamed cowardly, still not clear from the falling path of death.  "Super Shocker!"  A disburse of energy was enough to cause one log descending in his direction to snap in two and pass by him without causing harm.  That could not be said for the two Woodmon below who were idiotic enough to stand there and stare upward in shock when the broken parts dove right into them and exploded them into dust.

Tai jumped across the branches and kicked at more vines waiting to be released.  "Yeah, take that!  It's working!"

Izzy moved from one branch to another while observing the grounds below them.  He eyed a small bunch attempting an escape, having avoided the other logs and near the point where they could not be hit.

"You guys, they're escaping!" he shouted out, pointing down toward the renegade group.

Gatomon caught their movement and realized she could not let that happen.  She leaped away from her perch and dove across the trees, leaping form one to the other just in time to get within their view.  "Not so fast!" she cried, digging her nails into the bark and staring directly at them, her eyes flashing a light-red luminescence.  "Cat's Eye Hypnotism!"

In sudden unison six Woodmon froze where they stood, unable to move a millimeter, a bizarre freaked-out look locked on all of their faces.  They were trapped.

Tai took the opportunity to kick one log away and let it fly.  The vines brought it into another swing, this time sweeping right into the group and taking them down into a well-deserved flight right into the other trees, causing them to rattle.

Koromon, attempting to send another log down, felt the jarring from his perch and could not secure himself.  He slipped from his branch and began a plummet toward the debris below, screaming.

Within mere milliseconds the airborne bird digimon swept through the air and used her small but effective talons to grab the little creature's ears and stop his fall in time.  He did not know what had happened at first, but then he realized she had saved his life.

"Thanks, Biyomon!"

"No problem!" she told him, carrying him away from the area.

Sora stepped over to release another suspended log and stomped against the vine.  For some reason she discovered it had been secured too well.  She moved closer to it, tugging on her own safety line for more space and tried again to dislodge it.  Suddenly the log snapped away, but caught hold of Sora's drooping line and tugged her along with it.  She fell and grabbed the bark just as the vine against her waist snapped away from the tree and sent her loose.

The girl's screams swung with her as the log, not fully released, slammed into a few more Woodmon during its pendulum imitation, knocking them out cold.  The bark she held on rattled and broke off as the log crashed into the trees Tai and Izzy were standing in.  The shockwave sent her flying upward, shrieking, with her safety vine cracking around like a long whip.

"Sora!" Biyomon screamed, unable to fly to her assistance.

The log broke and tilted over toward the wreckage below, finishing those last few digimon who could not escape the area.  Sora spun into a wild somersault, her arms flailing, hoping to grab onto something before she fell.  Unknowing to her at first, a gloved hand quickly reacted to her vine's close position and caught it.  A harsh tug was driven against Sora's weight as she was stopped and hung in the air, ten feet above the ground.  She swayed over to a nearby tree and grabbed onto its trunk, locking herself onto it.  She looked up to see who had seized the line—and saw it to be the brown-haired boy, his body straining as it tried to stay on the branch while he held onto her with both hands.

Sora was relieved and surprised at the act.  She found it hard to react to it.  "Uh… thanks, Tai!" she called up.

"You've been gaining weight?!" the boy stated as he struggled to hold on, not exactly delivering the thoughtful impression of a hero.

"The Woodmon seemed to have been completely obliterated!" Izzy reported joyously.

"Are you sure?" Tai asked, lowering the vine as much as he could in a preparation to let her go at a safe height.

"I think so.  Any that have fled could not possibly think of coming back again.  I believe we took care of all of those who had followed us!"

"That's great, but can we discuss why all of a sudden you tried to take me out?!" Tentomon demanded hysterically as he watched the small boy begin a safe climb down.

Sora glanced over to Gatomon just as Tai let her drop down safely to the ground.  "That was something different, Gatomon.  I never knew you had that type of attack."

"A good kitty never lets her secrets out of the bag," the feline replied casually, as if she was being greatly honored at a cat show, "although some tend to get out on their own.  Besides, what would you silly humans do without me?"  She leaped down to the ground in one shot, giving her signature "mph" as she touched the dirt.

It took a few more moments before all of the children and digimon returned safely to the earth.  Tai surveyed the ravaged area, seeing the shattered remnants of what had been logs buried into the ground in a terrible heap.  He was actually impressed by the results.  He had not thought that it would work so efficiently.  At first he was not sure whether or not it could take out the majority of the enemy.  But with the results right before him, he had obviously not trusted his luck as much as he had thought.

"We sure showed them," the eldest boy stated to himself, proud of their victory.

"Yeah, it's just a good thing someone was kind enough to leave all these cut trees here to work with," Koromon stated, popping over to his companion's side and viewing the debris as well.

"One wonders who would have left us such a sufficient means of stopping them," Izzy said to himself.

"Well, whoever it was was nice enough to do it," Tai said, not giving it a second thought.  "We won't have to try that again."

"That's a relief, because I most certainly do not want to be a part of your target practice again!" Tentomon complained, although his continuous ramblings were ignored.

Tai looked down at Koromon, who was already staring up at him.  He was glad that it was over with, and that despite the earlier mishappenings he had found his way back to the leader form he had solely established.  He let a smile cross his lips. Koromon saw that it was directed toward him and knew that he could still place his trust in the one he had been proud to call the one with courage.

The boy moved his eyes away and directed his attention back to the matter that had yet to be resolved.  "Let's go find T.K. and my sister."

*  *  *  *  *

Thoughts of finding the young boy grew to a point of desperation as it seemed to be an endless cycle of time with no positive signs turning up.  She had absolutely no way of telling where she was or where she was headed.  The entire forest was a constant torture, teasing her by looking the same everywhere she went and confusing her only further, pushing her to the absolute brink of tolerance against pain.

Come on, Kari, she told herself.  You're stronger than you think.  Just… keep going.

Swaying uncontrollably, the girl had to rely on whatever she could grab on for support, whether it be a low branch or large tree.  Her legs had slowed the bleeding, but the damaged nerves responded against her venture and threatened to give out.  She hoped that they would not, and placed her concentration on the land before her.  Her vision blurred several times, and she started to develop a slight cough, although no sound could be heard from it.  She tried as best she could to ignore the handicaps and forced herself onward.

I'm getting too tired, she thought.  I have to… rest soon.

She shook her head, deciding against it.  Her determination was not going to fail.  She had to do everything in her power to go as if nothing happened, knowing that if any rest was to be had it would come after securing protection for the young boy.

Sweat mingled with blood against her forehead.  She had begun to overheat from the strenuous activity, having pushed herself far beyond what would be considered safe for a girl of her age and condition.  She reached up and wiped the sweat away, feeling the gash sting when her fingers caressed it.  Her face twitched in a negative response.

Eyelids growing heavy, Kari ordered herself to stay focused and alert, no matter how much she wanted to stop and rest.  For a second she closed her eyes and thought she would fall.

No, she did not close her eyes.  They were still open.  It was her vision.  It had blacked out on its own.

A moment later she was able to see the dim settings again, but she realized something that disturbed her greatly.  She had hoped she would be able to walk off her injuries.  At least that was what Tai often called it when he got himself hurt playing soccer.  But this was something serious, something she would not be able to walk off.

She would not be able to survive in time to see the sunrise.

Don't believe that, Kari ordered herself, still intent on finding T.K.  You can still move.  It's not time yet.  Think about what the others would want.

Kari observed how far she had gotten.  She found that she was about to enter a clearing, one somewhat familiar to her.  Her eyes strained to see further ahead.  She could not see far, but she studied the sky and saw it a lighter shade than before, the beautiful mixes of blue and gold becoming more predominant over the murky blackness, but still under the shade of gray in-between.

She lowered her eyes, feeling the weakness overcome her.  She could not hold it back and felt a lapse in concentration.  Her body lost its balance and she greeted the ground, her front landing against the dirt.  The impact stunned her hard, making her bones ache and her injuries ache even more.   She tried to bear it, suppressing it as best she could, but she was no match for it.  She was losing the battle to the darkness, feeling her consciousness slip so slowly now, trying to break her last bit of life before she was stripped of it forever.  It would take her, as her thoughts started to fade into the distant recesses of her brain and she lost all power of existence.

No… no, please, I can't… can't stop… now.

She struggled to breathe, feeling her lungs slow and her heart straining to keep itself active.  Her eyes fluttered as she was able to move her head up just enough to see that she had fallen into the outer edges of the small clearing.  She could barely make out the trees only two-dozen or more feet away.  Thin lines dangled from the branches of one nearby tree, appearing silver against the light.  Far below, only a foot from the base of the tree, was a small figure, lying on the ground face down.  Next to him was what appeared to be a smaller orange shape, encased in a red casing of some kind.

The girl, not able to rise any further, not able to call up enough energy to stand again, continued to look before her.  Yes, she knew it had to be them, knew it had to be and nobody else.  She refused to believe that it was anyone else, and knew that she was not hallucinating and studying an illusion.  The images were real.  She sensed that to be true as the first pure glow of hope she had experienced since her night travels had begun filled her weary eyes.

It's T.K… I found T.K. and Patamon…

The determination in Kari grew stronger, despite her failing mobility.  She slowly moved her arms out, unable to lift herself across the ground and crawl on her knees.  She could not move her legs at all anymore.  They denied her the ability to use them.  Reaching out, she grabbed the ground and began to drag herself across the ground with every little ounce of strength she could call up, routing it only to that purpose.  The dirt scraped and cut at her legs further, making her mind explode with terrible anguish.  She gripped down on them and continued, feeling the ground rub across her clothes and face with pity over the Digidestined girl, wearing her thin like an old dish rag ready to be tossed aside to the trash.

T… T.K. I'm here.  I'm… coming.

It felt like an eternity to her, felt like she had stepped into the deepest perpetual nightmare of her short concluding life, but she managed to drag her body across the clearing fifteen feet before reaching him.  Her body wanted to die already, her breath strained and her heart slowed.  She would not let herself do that, though.  She knew she was strong, not enough to fight death but just enough to be there with T.K. for her last glimpse of life. 

Kari stopped next to his quiet body, reaching out to his arm and taking it.  Very easily she was able to move him over onto his back, with the burden called his backpack still strapped against him.  She would have removed it but suspected that if she tried she would faint from pushing herself more.  It surprised her, though, that he was so easy to move.  But the knowledge of having reached him at last filled her with joy and she did not take notice of it.  She positioned herself closer, seeing his face resting so innocently from where she had come to him.  She could not see well enough to check on Patamon.  Her diminishing sight was just strong enough to let her see T.K.  She was just grateful that the time she had left would allow her to see him.

Touching his chest and trying to awaken him, the girl realized something disturbingly different about the boy.  His breathing had slowed down so much it was impossible for her to tell whether or not he was inhaling air or not.  His face was drained of all color and life.  His body responded limply to her actions.  His head hung loosely to its side… with blood trailing down the corner of his mouth and running down the side of his neck.

No… T.K., no…

Disbelief engulfed the girl as she grew worried.  She tried moving him a little more before her arm grew so heavy to her she had to relax it.  She stared down at the boy's face, studying his every feature, his every curve, his every example of innocence.  The green hat he wore to hide his flat locks.  The small sect of bangs that formed a puff over his forehead.  The cute blond eyebrows that worked so well with his eyes whenever he smiled or laughed at a joke.  This was the boy who had given her a reason to fight against the darkness the entire night.  She had strived to finding and rescuing them, and make sure he would survive to see the real world again.  But now…

T.K… no, please, don't be gone.

She lowered her head close to him, reaching out to touch his neck.  She felt the warm blood cooling inside his skin.  She sensed the pulse fading into an insignificant nothing.  Yes, he was still alive.  His heartbeat, however, indicated strongly that he was slipping away, just as she was.  But judging from the way he looked and that he had suffered from a serious fall, he had his fate sealed long before and was far beyond her point.  He could not be revived in time, and she could not do anything about it.

She was going to die with him and he was not going to be there to tell her not to be afraid about it.

She grew more light-headed, unable to keep her thoughts together.  She felt groggy and exhausted of it all.  She was ready to pass out at any second.

I'm so sorry, T.K., she thought, touching his forehead and letting her fingers brush his exposed golden hair, feeling an immeasurable wave of grief washing over her as she did.  I'm… so, so sorry.  I tried… my promise… I did not want this to happen to you.  I…

Her honey-colored eyes glistened with tears.  She found it much more harder to breathe now.  She had never known this was possible.  She had forced herself to believe it would never happen to her.  But she was naïve and pathetic.  She could not handle the responsibility, the challenge, of being alone.  Her weakness had overpowered her.  Because of that she had let Tai and everyone else down.

I wanted… I wanted to save you.  I didn't want you to… go through it alone.  I'm not going to let you go through this alone.  I'm here… I'm here, T.K.

The youth felt the swell of emotions ready to drown her, climbing up to a call of pure sobbing, but she could feel herself losing consciousness again.  Even if she began to cry, it was not going to be for long.  The internal injuries to her head would not allow it.  The developing clots of blood would see to that.

 "I don't know… if I can handle myself being alone without him…"

T.K… I understand now.  I know… I know what you were afraid of.  I understand you now, T.K.

Her sparkling tears slid down her precious face and forced her to blink.  She moved her eyes away and down over his body, seeing it rest so comfortably like if there was nothing in the world it would ever have to fear again.  Then she noticed something in his left hand.  His fingers were wrapped around it.  A metallic item, resting to his side.  She recognized it to be her whistle.

I… must've dropped it.  I… didn't even know.  He found it for me.  If… if only Tai heard it… he would know I…

Suddenly a thought crossed into her mind.  She could not remember it exactly, the last time Tai had used her whistle, but she knew it was long ago and that it had helped him.  And with her forgotten voice… yes, she knew she could signal for help for T.K.

Kari slowly raised her arm and reached over T.K.'s body, lifting the whistle out from his hand and to her mouth.  She struggled for a breath and blew, making the high-pitched noise scream from the item.  The noise cut itself short.  She tried again to draw in a longer breath, blowing as much as she could.  The whistle let out one final and extensive one escape into the air.  The trees carried it through the clearing, across the expanse of the forest, taking with it the last shred of hope the girl held in her heart.

Her lungs could give her no more air to use and she stopped, lowering the whistle from her mouth and feeling the darkness take her now.  The light in the sky grew dim for her eyes and she started to drift downward, falling back into a void purged of pain, emotion, all that life gave privilege to.  Her body rested aside T.K.'s as her head lowered itself against his small chest.  She could feel nothing else more appropriate than to be with him before letting herself down to sleep, and believe that he who had carried her hope for survival throughout the night would still be there in whatever followed.

With that her eyelids lowered themselves and all became dark as nothing but silence now dominated the forest, bringing to the girl the rest her body had craved for so long, slowly letting her slip into a state of eternal, welcoming nothingness.

All stood still, nothing moving, nothing speaking against the defeat of the two children.  Time had frozen around their weak bodies as a faint glow began to form in the air several feet above them.  The glow grew brighter, its center of light expanding with sprinkles of stardust drifting across the air.  The radiance drove all shadows away as its power stretched throughout the clearing and shrouded the innocents under its protection.

In response to its presence, another light began to brighten.  It did not have the strength to reflect a glow as powerful as the one before them.  It blew a faint pink gleam against the greater's white.  A low whistle accompanied the silence as the young girl's Crest of Light, resting within the exposed pendant against her slowing body, communicated to the entity that had returned to her.

The two glows suddenly grew brighter as the benevolent essence showered down over them.  Miniscule specks of light dropped like dust, falling upon their failing bodies.  The two and the digimon could not respond.  They could not sense it.  Yet they were all familiar to its activity before, for the same light that had taken temporary residence in Kari's body and revealed the truth of the Digidestined's past was responsible for having led the youngest girl through the forest.  Chances were that it had teased Kari purposely by letting her fall and receive the injuries that would bring her end.  Or perhaps it had honestly been leading her to T.K. the entire time.  Its motives could not be certified.

The light sensed the two and comprehended their situations.  A wave of beaming energy descended within the shower of particles.  It touched and faded against their impressions, slowly making the girl's crest grow even brighter, taking them all into a mist of pure light that could not be subdued by even death itself.

The stardust dropped over Patamon, still trapped within the shell that had been placed over his little body by the malicious Dark Master.  Upon its touch the shell began to deteriorate and crack down the middle, setting the digimon loose of the prison.  It shattered completely and vaporized into digital molecules, leaving no indent of earlier abuse as any and all bruises faded away.

The effects on the two, however, were much more miraculous.  The light bathed them, sending streamers of energy around their injured limbs.  The dirt and blood that had stained their clothes washed away in the blink of an eye, as if they had never touched the children at all during their ordeals.  The severe cuts across Kari's skin also started to lift.  The arms and legs were repaired as a stream washed over them.  Her clothes, torn, sewed themselves together into their original design, fading from ragged to soft like a vision through time.

T.K.'s mouth, leaking blood, suddenly stopped and let the substance become whisked away from sight.  His face began to fill with lively color and take back the warmth of his body, mingling with that of the girl's.  The hemorrhaging in her brain halted and receded.  Internal bleeding stopped and reversed itself, bringing her back to her natural condition, and leaving her as she had originally been: a young one free of harm.  The ground around her was purified, as she was, the traces of blood that had been tracked disappearing without existing records.

The two rested there together, silent in their own dreamlike states, as the entity brought their last grips of life back from the darkness and repaired all the horrendous damage that had been done on their bodies and minds… and souls.  The glow that it had let loose then began to recede back into itself and take the power it dropped over them, but leaving them with the renewed strength that they were stripped of by the night's course.  With that the dust it had sprinkled blew into obscurity and the presence shrunk with it.

The light departed just as well as it had appeared.  The shadows, while weaker now than before, found themselves again as the last sparkle of it dimmed and slipped back into whatever plane it had originated from.  Its power now gone, the Crest of Light also dimmed and fell back into a state of dormancy.  The faint whistle that it had shared with the entity could no longer be heard, and silence once again filled the forest.  With it came the birth of new light that peaked over the treetops, as the sunrise had come and brought an end to the long night.

The children continued to lay still, basking in one another's body heat, their bodies nestled together so quietly and with such perfect tenderness it would be difficult to break a bond founded in such deep affection as the kind displayed through their young impressions.  The forest left them undisturbed until the call of a boy broke the immortal silence from a distance.

"Kari!"

The hail was low in resonance but effective enough to travel to the girl's ears, although there was no replying to it.  A few seconds later a repeat of the boy's shout was sent through the air as its source grew closer to the area she was located in.

"Tai, we'll find her, okay?  Do you really think we should just wander like this with no major leads to go on?"

"She'll hear me, Izzy.  Trust me, we'll find them.  T.K!  Kari!"

The mentioning of her name brought her ears to slip into consciousness.  A twitch ran around her right eye as she moaned weakly in response, her throat lifted of the dark magic completely.  She reclined her head back slowly but continued to sleep, believing the voice to be coming from some forgotten corner of her dreams.

"I think she's close by.  I can feel it."  Gatomon.

"What makes you say that?"  Sora.

"I know it.  I can sense her nearby, I just know it."

"Well, then she should be able to hear me," their leader told them.  "Kari!"

"…T—Tai," she replied, her voice having been strained from the absence of use and somewhat difficult to utilize again.  She continued to sleep.  She could hear his voice.  She let her head shift slightly, moving against T.K. in an instinctual attempt to receive it better.  "T—Tai… brother…"

"We're getting closer.  I thought I just heard her voice," the feline insisted.

A few seconds later, the outer limits of the clearing were disturbed by a small exhausted party consisting of three children and four digimon.  They did not take many more steps as the one with large brown hair froze in mid-step and caught the figures lying against the ground at the other end of his view, right across from them.

"Kari!" he cried joyously and with much excitement as he raced across the clearing with unbelievable speed.  "Kari!"

The boy was followed with the same enthusiasm by the cat digimon first, then by the two remaining children and their companions.  They chased after them, their chests filling with great relief that the search had ended successfully.

Kari stirred a little more before her brother had reached her.  He ran so quickly he nearly slipped and rolled the rest of the way to her position.  He let himself fall to his knees right beside her, trying to catch his breath as he was overwhelmed by the greatest amount of happiness his heart had ever experienced.

Tai touched her arm and stirred her, hoping that she was still alive.  "Kari.  Kari, wake up."

The younger sister stirred naturally from the movement.  A small moan escaped her throat in protest of waking up.  She turned her head slowly to the side and let her eyes flutter as they opened.  Her eyesight was strongly blurred, and it took a few seconds before they adjusted.  When they did she found Tai staring at her against a wonderful brightening sky backdrop.

She was confused by his sudden arrival, as it had seemed to her that a few seconds had passed since she had gone to sleep.  "Oh, did you just get here?"

Tai could not hold back his emotions and wrapped his arms around her body in a generous hug.  "I'm so glad you're safe.  I thought I would never see you again.  Please don't scare me again, okay?" he asked through shut eyes on the verge of spilling tears, his face hidden from those who stopped right behind him.

"Don't worry, I won't go off unless you want me to, Tai," she stated.

He shook his head and leaned back to see her face.  "You don't do that, either.  If I say something like that just ignore me."

Kari was released from the boy's hug only to be greeted by another one, this one from her digimon companion who jumped forward to her.  The small creature could not wrap her arms completely around the girl but still attempted to.

"I thought I'd lose you again, Kari.  I would've given up all nine lives to make sure you were okay," Gatomon assured her.

Kari giggled at the thought.  "Now you don't go doing that, Gatomon.  You need them."

The cat, after confirming to herself that her human partner was okay, stepped back to give her personal space.  Tai stared at her, still resting on his knees.  "What happened, Kari?  Were you hurt?  Were you afraid?"

Kari reflected on the questions, particularly on the latter.  She thought about her answer and smiled at him.  "I was afraid, but I'm not anymore.  I know I won't ever be alone again."

She remembered, upon feeling his body still next to her, about T.K. and directed her attention to him now.  The boy was asleep, resting just as she was only a little while before.  But as she stared at him he began to stir.  He turned his head in her direction, feeling her presence from it somehow.  His eyes slowly opened and caught the girl's smiling, gentle face as the first image he woke up to.

"Hi," she told him softly.

T.K. did not respond so quickly to her greeting.  He felt awfully awkward for some reason he could not explain.  He glanced around at his surroundings and tried to piece together what had happened to him.  "Did we sleep here the entire night?" he asked, trying to remember if she had arrived to him some time after he had fallen from Puppetmon's suspending threads.

"Just a little," the girl told him.

The two stared at one another, exchanging looks of sweetness, sensing that somehow, some time during that long night, they had formed some kind of internal link based deep in the sub-layers of their thoughts that they would continue to develop throughout the oncoming journey.

Tai suddenly realized the item he had found earlier in the search and reached into his pocket.  He pulled out the pink scarf and held it out for her to accept.  "Oh, here, I found this and held it for you.  Don't worry, it didn't get dirty."

Kari turned from T.K. and stared at the scarf, surprised that she had forgotten all about it.  She reached out and took it from his hand.  "Thank you," she said as she lifted it up and began to wrap it around the base of her neck, tying it from the back.

Lifting her eyes to the sky, the girl discovered the flow of newborn light spilling over the tops of the trees and splashing the ground and them with morning warmth.  She finished tying the scarf and lowered her arms, watching the digital equivalent of the sun rising against the glorious sky and instilling in her a new look on her own fears.  She knew that although she had nearly lost to the darkness, her inner light continued to shine, and that somehow the entire experience she had undergone was worth it.  In the end, she would gain much more.  If she tried, she would be given all that she and the others would need…

She was sure of at least that much.

Author's Note: Wow, if you've read that entire fic I have to say thank you.  I've enjoyed reading the response it has received throughout the lengthy posting occurrences.  Don't worry, if you think I won't be writing for a while because of my computer, think again.  I'm already working on the next fic, kinda a companion to what happened here with a separate focus…let's just say a Sora and *cough* type of thing.  Yes, you'll have to start reading the next one to figure out what I just said.  And don't worry, if you think it'll be a typical type of fic, you'll be in for another treat, depending on how you see it.

Oh, gotta go.  Kinkos is trying to force me off the computer…just kidding.