Epilogue
It was hard to fit all twelve of the Digidestined, as well as most of their Digimon, into Izzy's room. Extremely hard...but compared to the events of three weeks before, it was nothing.
From his seat on the bed, scrunched in next to Sora, with Joe and Cody-Upaamon in his arms-crowded in on either side of them, Tai looked around the room with a smile. Things were as back to normal as they could possibly be, considering all the revelations made during the battle with the virus, which Izzy had dubbed the Black Despair in a moment of surprising poetic inspiration.
Izzy himself was sitting in the computer chair (where else), with Davis perched on his desk. Mimi and Matt sat on the floor by the bed, their Digimon next to them, and TK and Kari had grabbed the pillows off the bed and were sitting over by the door with Patamon and Salamon.
Yolei got the only other chair in the room, an overstuffed thing dragged in from the living room, in honor of the blue fiberglass cast she wore. The entire cast was covered in multi-colored scribbles, including an ink claw-print from Hawkmon. Ken was perched protectively on the arm of her chair, and they both also held their Digimon.
Looking down again at Koromon, peacefully sleeping in his lap, Tai smiled. It had been a long, tough haul, but they'd gotten through it, together.
"There's one thing I don't understand," Davis spoke up from his seat on the desk. "What happened back there after the virus got destroyed, Kari? I could have sworn you were...you know..." He frowned. "I mean, I saw you stop breathing! How do you fix something like that?"
Kari shrugged. "It's pretty simple, really. I'd already figured out that something like that might happen by the time it did. See, my crest is Light...but that virus was the essence of Darkness. My antithesis, I guess you could say. I was already starting to feel the effects back there; I was cold, and scared, and kind of shaky. It must have been just waiting for me to be weakened enough to strike, and when I was...attacked...it got its opportunity."
TK shivered, remembering. "So that's what happened?"
"Exactly," Kari agreed, taking his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "The actual blows didn't hurt me *that* much; it was the virus trying to strangle the light inside of me that almost did me in."
"You say 'almost'," Sora said, curious in spite of herself. "So what stopped it?"
"TK and Davis," Kari said with a smile, "and eventually all the rest of you."
"You knew!" Davis exclaimed suddenly. "You knew the whole time, didn't you? We could still save you...that's why you told us to make up!"
"Yup," Kari said. "When you two reconciled, your friendship and hope burned off the virus. That kind of lifted the pressure on me, and then you lot on the Internet took it off entirely with your Vengeful Blossoms, or whatever they were."
"Budding Vengeance," Tsunomon and Tanemon corrected at the same time, and giggled.
"Whatever," Kari grinned. "Anyway, after your, um, Budding Vengeance, I only had my original injuries to heal, and that was just a matter of time."
"I don't care if they were called Aggravated Petunias," Tai said with a shrug. "They saved my sister, and that's all I need to know. Thanks, you guys."
Both little Digimon blushed.
"It was nothing," they chorused.
"I think it was a lot," Kari said warmly. "You two were great back there; TK and Tai told me all about it, and you were both really brave. I'm impressed."
"Well...maybe it was a *little* something," Tanemon said eagerly. The room roared with laughter.
"Yup, things are just about back to normal," Tai said with cheerful weariness as the laughter died down, putting an arm around Sora's waist. She shook her head.
"To the contrary, Taichi," she said, raising an eyebrow at Matt and Mimi, their heads bent together as they shared some small joke, TK and Kari's intertwined fingers, and the concerned caring in Ken's eyes as he watched Yolei's smiling face. With a small chuckle, "The world will never be the same."
Back in the Digital World, undergrowth was already beginning to grow over the battered trail left by the rogue Tortomon. However, a path had been pushed through the light vegetation to one particular tree. On the bark of that tree, the characters for the names of two proven-again heroes stood out in carved lines, faded to a pale brown with time and weathering. The portentous carving had stood silent and unattended to until the day before, when its creator had paid it a quiet visit.
A fresh cut in the wood showed up orange against the bark, finishing the carving begun three weeks and an eternity before.
The heart was complete.
**OWARI**
(c) Bandit 2001
(Props to everyone on ff.net who reviewed and kept me going long enough to finish this fic with your support and encouragement. I love you guys! Peace, and may the Dudefish be with you. -Bandit O_o)
It was hard to fit all twelve of the Digidestined, as well as most of their Digimon, into Izzy's room. Extremely hard...but compared to the events of three weeks before, it was nothing.
From his seat on the bed, scrunched in next to Sora, with Joe and Cody-Upaamon in his arms-crowded in on either side of them, Tai looked around the room with a smile. Things were as back to normal as they could possibly be, considering all the revelations made during the battle with the virus, which Izzy had dubbed the Black Despair in a moment of surprising poetic inspiration.
Izzy himself was sitting in the computer chair (where else), with Davis perched on his desk. Mimi and Matt sat on the floor by the bed, their Digimon next to them, and TK and Kari had grabbed the pillows off the bed and were sitting over by the door with Patamon and Salamon.
Yolei got the only other chair in the room, an overstuffed thing dragged in from the living room, in honor of the blue fiberglass cast she wore. The entire cast was covered in multi-colored scribbles, including an ink claw-print from Hawkmon. Ken was perched protectively on the arm of her chair, and they both also held their Digimon.
Looking down again at Koromon, peacefully sleeping in his lap, Tai smiled. It had been a long, tough haul, but they'd gotten through it, together.
"There's one thing I don't understand," Davis spoke up from his seat on the desk. "What happened back there after the virus got destroyed, Kari? I could have sworn you were...you know..." He frowned. "I mean, I saw you stop breathing! How do you fix something like that?"
Kari shrugged. "It's pretty simple, really. I'd already figured out that something like that might happen by the time it did. See, my crest is Light...but that virus was the essence of Darkness. My antithesis, I guess you could say. I was already starting to feel the effects back there; I was cold, and scared, and kind of shaky. It must have been just waiting for me to be weakened enough to strike, and when I was...attacked...it got its opportunity."
TK shivered, remembering. "So that's what happened?"
"Exactly," Kari agreed, taking his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "The actual blows didn't hurt me *that* much; it was the virus trying to strangle the light inside of me that almost did me in."
"You say 'almost'," Sora said, curious in spite of herself. "So what stopped it?"
"TK and Davis," Kari said with a smile, "and eventually all the rest of you."
"You knew!" Davis exclaimed suddenly. "You knew the whole time, didn't you? We could still save you...that's why you told us to make up!"
"Yup," Kari said. "When you two reconciled, your friendship and hope burned off the virus. That kind of lifted the pressure on me, and then you lot on the Internet took it off entirely with your Vengeful Blossoms, or whatever they were."
"Budding Vengeance," Tsunomon and Tanemon corrected at the same time, and giggled.
"Whatever," Kari grinned. "Anyway, after your, um, Budding Vengeance, I only had my original injuries to heal, and that was just a matter of time."
"I don't care if they were called Aggravated Petunias," Tai said with a shrug. "They saved my sister, and that's all I need to know. Thanks, you guys."
Both little Digimon blushed.
"It was nothing," they chorused.
"I think it was a lot," Kari said warmly. "You two were great back there; TK and Tai told me all about it, and you were both really brave. I'm impressed."
"Well...maybe it was a *little* something," Tanemon said eagerly. The room roared with laughter.
"Yup, things are just about back to normal," Tai said with cheerful weariness as the laughter died down, putting an arm around Sora's waist. She shook her head.
"To the contrary, Taichi," she said, raising an eyebrow at Matt and Mimi, their heads bent together as they shared some small joke, TK and Kari's intertwined fingers, and the concerned caring in Ken's eyes as he watched Yolei's smiling face. With a small chuckle, "The world will never be the same."
Back in the Digital World, undergrowth was already beginning to grow over the battered trail left by the rogue Tortomon. However, a path had been pushed through the light vegetation to one particular tree. On the bark of that tree, the characters for the names of two proven-again heroes stood out in carved lines, faded to a pale brown with time and weathering. The portentous carving had stood silent and unattended to until the day before, when its creator had paid it a quiet visit.
A fresh cut in the wood showed up orange against the bark, finishing the carving begun three weeks and an eternity before.
The heart was complete.
**OWARI**
(c) Bandit 2001
(Props to everyone on ff.net who reviewed and kept me going long enough to finish this fic with your support and encouragement. I love you guys! Peace, and may the Dudefish be with you. -Bandit O_o)