-Howdy! Whew, I'm almost home! I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter posted, but I've had some personal issues to deal with that have been slowing me down. Plus I had difficulty getting into writing this installment, so it's probably not as good as I could've made it… Just consider it a speed bump before I get to the really good stuff in the last few chapters. I promise I'll do my best to make it worth your wait!
To Hell With Destiny!
Alzulamon examined the wreckage of what use to be the spheres of Hope and Light. He knew this would eventually happen sooner or later, but that knowledge couldn't overcome the feeling that he had lost a part of himself that night. A single tear escaped his eye, as his mind shifted to the children. In order for the spheres to lose their power, that meant the light inside the children had to have burned out and Alzulamon was well aware of that. However, the reasons behind that will have to wait for another day. He prayed they could get it back before it was too late.
"I know this doesn't dull the pain any Alzulamon, but we both knew this was coming," Genai told him.
"Your right, it doesn't," the ancient Digimon sighed. "I find it ironic. I floated here and knowingly watched what I had sworn to protect with my life be destroyed. I made sure the conditions in the Digital World were right, but deep down I was hoping the children of Hope and Light would… Let's just say I never expected this day to come."
"Indeed." Genai looked over at the time mirror, and found an escape from this rather touchy subject. "So, how are things in the future looking at the moment?"
"See for yourself. The newest sequence should be starting over as we speak. Just allow me to adjust my thoughts for a second…"
"Oh yeah, I wasn't expecting a show. And to think here I am without my popcorn."
The two Digimon elders looked up at the time mirror, as the images began flashing across the screen. Alzulamon explained what he took from the images earlier to his friend, as the pictures of each child came and went. "I'm afraid they keep getting stranger and stranger by the hour. Ken and Yolie fall on hard times and resort to using drugs until they both get stoned one night and awake in the middle of town… In their underwear. Joe has a sex-change operation and moves to Thailand where he joins a nudist cult, and effectively changes his name to Mother Josephine. Mimi takes a job as an exotic dancer in some west Boston beer joint, and… Well I'll be, Matt's still an astronaut."
Genai giggled softly, and then paused choosing his next words carefully. "Try not to worry about them too much. They'll pull through. All of them. Just have faith in them Alzulamon."
"Oh trust me, I do Genai. Otherwise I never would've agreed to this. I just hope they can handle what lies ahead." The old serpent Digimon's skin crawled as a vision of Satamon held firm in his mind.
********
"Come on Kari! Open the door!" Tai commanded, as he drove the side of his fist repeatedly into her bedroom door. "I just want to talk, I'm worried about you! Maybe if you tell me what happened I'll be able to help you!"
"Forget about it Tai!" she sobbed from the other side of the door. "I took your advice once today already, and look where's it gotten me! I didn't want to talk to TK, but you guys made me and now everything's all… Just leave me alone! Please leave me alone…"
"Kari, don't make me break this door down!"
He looked ready to do just that when Sora grabbed him by the arm. "Just leave her be Tai. I think we've done enough damage tonight already…"
"I know, and it's driving me nuts!" Tai fumed. "I knew we should've stayed out of it! Forcing them together didn't help anything, and it only made matters worse! I have to talk with her. If I don't find out what happened out there soon, it's going to eat away at me until I do!"
"Stop thinking about yourself for a minute, and think about Kari!" she scolded, but not in a gentle tone. "You know how much she's hurting right now, and your only going to add to the pain by forcing her to talk about it."
"Stop telling me how to handle my sister!"
"I'm not trying to!" Sora yelped defensively. "Weren't you the one that said she needed some time to sort things out on her own, and then she'd come to you when she was ready?"
"But this is different!" Tai snapped rather aggressively. He was angry and to a level he didn't reach that often, but when he did he wasn't pleasant to be around. If he did, it was normally reserved for his sister. He wasn't angry at Sora, TK, or anyone in particular. He was angry at the entire situation, knowing full well the emotional hell his sister was going through with no way for Tai to pull her out of it. He had to take it out on somebody, and unfortunately for Sora, she just happened to be the closest person to him at the time. "If you had listened to me when I said that in the first place, none of this would've happened! I knew we should've let them handle this on their own, but no! You guys wanted to force them together before they were ready! I let you and Matt talk me into getting involved, and look what happened! I don't know why I bothered listening to you two in the first place!"
"Hey, we were only trying to help! Maybe it was a mistake, but there's no need to blow up at me for it! We couldn't control what happened! Remember Taichi, I am the Digidestined of Love so I think I have a little general knowledge of how to handle these situations!"
"Oh, you mean like you handled things with Matt? I saw how you handled that! Yeah, you really seem to know what your doing!…" Tai froze, immediately regretting saying that. It was nothing he meant, just something that slipped out but it was cruel and hateful none the less. He stared at Sora apologetically, who looked like she was fighting off the urge to cry. "Sora I'm sorry I…"
"No, maybe your right Tai," Sora cracked. "Maybe I really don't know what I'm doing. I'm obviously causing more trouble then I'm wroth, so maybe I should just go."
"Sora, you don't have to do that," he pleaded with her, as she stormed towards the door. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that! Sora…"
Sora's only response was a hard slam of the door. Tai didn't bother going after her, knowing it was going to take some time to reverse the affects of what he'd just done. He dropped to the couch like a stone, and hid his face within the shelter of his hands. He was well aware it would probably take him the remainder of that night to pry his foot out of his mouth, he'd drove it in there so far back. He mentally asked himself how stupid he could've been. He'd spent the better part of a month trying to help her get over Matt, and he had just reversed all of that with a few very poorly chosen words. A funny pattern appeared to be developing in that family as of late. Not only did he have his sister to stress over, now his friendship with Sora was hanging over a cliff along with it.
"SHIT! Why the heck is this all happening?! When did everything start going to hell?…"
----------
"Look TK, if your going to lay in my bed and drown yourself in your tears, please tell me so I can at least grab a pillow and a blanket and crash on the couch!" Matt hadn't overheard the closing moments of his and Kari's conversation, so he wasn't exactly sure what had been said that would have sent his brother into the condition he was in. Obviously it couldn't have been good. He wasn't about to let TK walk all the way to his place in the state he was in, so Matt walked him over to his apartment to stay the night. He wasn't trying to be insensitive, he just wanted to get any kind of response from his younger sibling that he might be able to squeeze out of him. He'd been laying flat on his face across Matt's bed since he drug him up there, and TK hadn't mumbled more then two words in the past hour.
"Don't worry, I'm done," TK snapped, as he rolled over and sat up. His eyes were red and puffy, but had seemingly been dry for quite a while by force. "I'll sleep on the couch, and I'm not about to cry over that little… She doesn't deserve my tears."
"Yeah right," Matt smirked. "Just what did she say to you to get you so upset anyway? If you don't mind me asking I mean."
"No, what do I have to hide?!… She didn't say much. Just that we weren't friends anymore. That's all."
Matt's eyes widened. "Oh, TK. I'm so sorry… You know she couldn't have meant that…"
"It's no sweat off my back if that's the way she wants to be, I don't need her! I just lost my best friend that's all…" TK sniffed, as he felt the need to cry again. He fought it hard, and managed to hold his tears back.
"Don't even start that TK," Matt said, as he sat down next to him. "This little game has got to stop. You've obviously lost more then your best friend here TK."
TK turned his head away. "She's nothing special."
"She is to you, and you know it. Why the hell do you think your having such a problem with this? Not just today, but the past week or two? Think about it. Tai and I fight all the time, but neither one of us have ever crawled into a corner and cried over it like your doing now! What do you think that's saying TK?!"
"And so what if it is like that Matt?!" TK shouted back. "What does it matter now?! It's over… I never thought it would end like this… That's the exact reason why I never told her anyway…"
"Why is that?" Matt asked.
"Because I didn't want us to end up like you and Sora!" TK wasn't exactly sure how that slipped out, but it did and there was no going back on it now. Maybe the emotional stress he was going through. They stared at one another blankly for a moment before Matt finally pushed some words though his mouth.
"What do you mean by that?… How would you and Kari wind up like myself and Sora?"
TK hung his head, and chose his words carefully. "Kari's friendship meant the world to me, and I never wanted to lose that… That's one of the reasons why I never tried to pursue any kind of romantic relationship with her… At first I was merely afraid she'd turn me down or it would ruin our friendship, but then after you and Sora started going out that planted an entirely new garden of doubts into my mind…"
"Like what?"
"Well… You two were really good friends long before you two ever started going out. Of course it didn't work out, and now you two have little if anything to do with each other. I don't know if your still uncomfortable, if there's any bitterness between you guys or what, but I didn't want anything like that to happen to me and Kari… Its kind of ironic isn't it now that I didn't do anything like that, but it still happened?"
Reality rained down on Matt like a ton of bricks. TK had hit the nail right on the head, and Matt hadn't even noticed it was sticking out of the wall until right then. That was exactly what he'd been doing since he broke it off with Sora. He had been avoiding her, and even was doing it intentionally at times. He wondered how that must've made her feel. How it made his friends feel. How did it make him feel? "My God… That's exactly what I've been doing. Not only have I been shutting her out as a lover, but as a friend too… Hell, I've been shutting off everybody…Maybe that's what Tai's been getting at all this time…"
"Are you okay Matt?" TK asked, noticing his brother had zoned out.
"Yeah, I'm fine TK… Don't give up. It's not to late for you and Kari yet. Maybe it's not to late for me either…"
********
"No, that's not right either!" Izzy grumbled, as he stared at the computer screen. His eyes were blurry and droopy, his body was tired, and his thoughts were clouded. He'd stayed up all night trying to decipher Davis's prophecy, and still hadn't made any headway whatsoever. For the first time in his recent memory, Izzy was completely stumped. Maybe frustrated would've been a better word, but the experience wasn't doing much to boost his confidence. All he'd been able to determine so far was the references to Courage, Friendship, etc. did have something to do with their crests but even Tai had enough presence of mind to deduce that. An entire night of intense work, and he was still without even one halfway decent theory he was satisfied with. "This is ridiculous! All the data I've gathered on the Digital World over the past five years, and none of it has helped me one bit!"
Davis was listening in on Izzy's conversation with himself from the outside of his room. The walls around Izzy's apartment happened to be rather thin, allowing him to hear everything that Izzy was saying perfectly. He and Ken had dropped by to see if Izzy had gotten anywhere in analyzing the prophecy. Izzy had asked them to leave him be for a while, so he'd have some time to think in peace. They were more then happy to oblige him since he was obviously irritated. Davis knew a good opportunity when he saw one, so he was determined to drive Izzy's patience as far as he could.
Davis swung open Izzy's door, and asked the same question he had on four previous occasions. "Hey Izzy! Have you figured anything out yet?!"
"Like I told you ten minutes ago, NO! NOW GET OUT, AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Okay, okay! Geez! I was just asking!"
After a few more seconds of waiting, a flush of the toilet came from the bathroom proceeding Ken walking out of it.
"You know I think that sound really fits you Ken. It should proceed you every time you walk into a room!" Davis joked.
"Very funny," Ken said without a change of expression. "How's Izzy doing?"
"Ah, he's still cranky!" Davis muffed. "I don't think he knows what he's doing anyway!"
"He's doing the best he can Davis. We shouldn't put too much on him you know. Give him some time."
"I just don't think he's up to it, and of course he's to stubborn to let any of us help him out. Then again, he's always been too good for us hasn't he? Mr. Genius Koushiro Izzumi, and of course the rest of us aren't smart enough for our opinions to even matter!"
Izzy overheard nearly everything that came out of Davis's mouth. Banking on the hope Izzy could, Davis purposely raised his voice above normal levels. Izzy rolled his chair closer to the wall, and leaned his head towards it trying to listen in on the conversation.
"Of course he has to try to rub it in at every opportunity. I wonder if he knows why nobody really likes him. Actually, when it comes right down to it I don't think Izzy's as smart as he thinks he is. He knows a few big words so he thinks he's Albert Einstein! "
Ken looked at Davis like he was crazy. Of course he had no idea what Davis was doing, but Davis had to make Izzy think Ken did for his plan to work. "Davis, what are you talking about?!"
"You know what I'm talking about Ken! You complain about him more then I do! You can't tell me you haven't noticed how he tries to rub it in our faces all the time! The boy never wastes a second before letting us know when we're wrong, and he thinks he's the only one who knows anything around here. The one thing I'm sure he knows is how to get on peoples nerves! Hell, he did it again last night! Who was the one giving all the answers, and telling people what to do! Who was the one running his mouth the entire time, effectively not giving anyone else a chance to get a word in edgewise! Izzy, that's who! If he's so smart then why can't he see how everyone really feels about him!"
"Davis! Quiet down before he hears you!" Ken said in a low whisper. "Why are you going on like this anyway?! I can't quite understand your change of heart all of a sudden, but no one else feels that way about Izzy! Izzy was the one who suggested we all think the prophecy over ourselves, and give our thoughts about it tonight! What in the world brought all that on anyway?!"
"Relax Ken, I'm only trying to motivate him," Davis lied quietly. He cleared his throat, and raised his voice up high again. "I'm glad you agree with me! Let's get out of here! Izzy obviously doesn't want or think he needs our help, so we might as well blow this dump!"
Ken frowned, unsatisfied with Davis's answer. "You've got a strange way of motivating people!"
Davis knocked on Izzy's door, and opened it before getting permission. Izzy scrambled back to his computer desk, and pretended nothing was out of the ordinary. "Hey Izzy! Since you obviously need some space to think things through on your own, Ken and me are gona go ahead and leave. We'll see you at the meeting tonight. Hope you figure something out soon!"
"Yeah, sure… Goodbye Davis."
Davis blew right by Ken to avoid making eye contact with him, but he could still feel Ken's eyes glancing at him suspiciously. Davis shook off that guilty feeling that had become all too familiar since those haunting dreams began. He didn't bother to wait for Ken to follow him out, who didn't take his eyes off of him until he exited the Izzumi apartment. "He's sure been acting strange lately. I don't know what's up with him, but I'm going to find out!"
As soon as Davis slammed his bedroom door shut, Izzy's face melted. Davis's words sunk in like a dagger that had been plunged into his back and dug into maliciously, ripping his insides to shreds. He hadn't heard most of what Ken had said, but judging by the way Davis talked he assumed it was merely more slams against him. "I never thought I was being bossy or overbearing… I always assumed my insight was welcome and expected… It's my role on the team after all isn't it? Though I don't mind it, it's not exactly a role I savor filling. It's a lot of pressure when everyone's relying on you to have all the answers. Are they relying on me?…"
"Don't let him get you down Izzy! He's merely jealous of you. They all are, because your better them all of them. You superior intellect makes you so. They call you a geek, a dweeb, a computer nerd. This is because they envy you. They wish they could only be 1/3 as intelligent as you!"
"Yeah… That's it. I can understand them being slightly jealous… I guess I can't even blame them. Not everyone can be a genius. It's a demanding responsibility. I wouldn't say it makes me better than them though…"
"Don't sell yourself short Izzy! You are obviously superior to those imbeciles! You don't need them, they need you! You could easily get along without the likes of them! They don't care about you, so why should you care what happens to them? Those fools would be lost without you, and in your heart of hearts you know this to be true. They should be kneeling down before you, and thanking you for blessing them with your wisdom! Not ridiculing you for being superior to them! They owe you Izzy. They owe you…"
Izzy grabbed his head, and then rubbed his face roughly. "No! Don't think like that Izzy! You should be ashamed for even thinking that way!" Izzy's face froze as his thoughts literally took control of his mind once again.
"Then again, maybe they're right. Maybe you're not as brilliant as you lead yourself and others to believe. Maybe you really know nothing at all… You can't even solve that simple little prophecy Davis put in front of you, can you? If you can't even lend your brain to your friends, what else do you have to offer them?"
"What do I have to offer?… My knowledge is the only thing of value that I have, and what do I have beside that?… Nothing. I'm completely useless! The others are counting on me to decipher this damn jumble of gibberish, and I can't even make one lousy line make sense! Maybe I'm losing it… Maybe I never had anything to offer in the first place… Maybe I am useless…" A solitary tear of false clarity leaked out of Izzy's right eye, as he laid his head down against his computer desk. "Maybe I've been fooling myself this entire time…"
********
The forest was still and quiet, not a creature stirring in sight… Except for the small blue dragon-type creature flying through the air, his panicky screams filling the air. Veemon crashed landed, upside down, into the base of a large tree.
"No fair, you guys cheated…" Veemon stammered, as he slipped down to his shoulders leaving his small body in a rather precarious position. He stayed that way for a brief moment, and failed to even notice the rustling beginning in the mound of leaves just below him. Within a second, Gatomon's head popped out, and Veemon was one of the first things she noticed.
"Veemon! What are you doing? Seeing if you can shake some sense back into your head by standing it?"
"Very funny. In case you haven't guessed so already, I just finished having my rear end kicked in. Thank you so much for your concern." Veemon tipped over, landing flat on his stomach. He spit some mulch out of his mouth, and picked himself up as Wormmon crawled out of the hole followed by Patamon. "So where have you guys been, while we were getting Pearl Harbored?!"
"Chatting with an old friend," Gatomon chimed gleefully.
"Rough day partner?" Wormmon funned with him.
"You can say that," Veemon grumbled.
Patamon smirked. "That's what you get for trying to fight airborne Digimon with nothing but a head butt to defend yourself with."
"Now somebody tells me!"
"Never mind that!" Gatomon took charge. "Let's find Agumon and the others quick! There's been a slight change in plans."
The group didn't have to travel very far before running into Agumon and the rest of their friends, who were still darting around like pinball's trying desperately to avoid their relentless attackers.
"Gatomon! You guys are okay!" Agumon greeted her. "Where have you guys been?!"
"There'll be plenty of time to explain that later!" Gatomon panted. "All I'll say is that a portal has opened up somewhere nearby that leads to the human world, and all we have to do is find it! Let's forget about these birdbrains, and get moving! I'm picking up a strong energy pattern already!"
"That's all I need to hear! Lead the way!" Agumon called out to the rest of his friends, hoping to God everyone could hear him. "EVERYBODY FOLLOW GATOMON! DON'T ASK WHY, YOU'LL FIND OUT WHEN WE GET THERE!"
Nobody had to be told twice. As soon as Agumon's order caught their ears, the Digimon crew took off after their fleeing friends. Tentomon was at the tail end of the group. "Well, at least it's a better plan then being used for target practice!"
"The enemy is retreating sir!" one of the Rageramon informed his commander.
"Hum, hum, hum… They're wrapping themselves up in a nice little package for us. ATTENTION RAGREMON SQUADRON! PREPARE FOR NEW ORDES! FORM A CIRCLE, AND SURROND THE ENEMY! THIS WILL BE LIKE SHOOTING FISH IN A BARRELL!"
Hawkmon skidded to a mid-air stop when he realized something was amidst. "What in the?… Why did they stop attacking us?"
"Here's a better question for you. Why the heck are you complaining?!" Palmon shrieked.
"I'm not. I just noticed they seem to be forming some sort of circle in the air."
Gabumon quickly deduced what they were planning. "Wait a minute everybody! Stop running!"
"Are you crazy?!" Biyomon shuttered. "If we stop moving we'll get smoked!"
"Don't you guys see what they're doing?!" Gabumon began to explain. "Up until right now we've been scattered all over the place, so they've been forced to come after us one on one instead of ganging up on somebody. Now that we're all bunched up together, were making one big target for them to shoot at!
This is exactly what they want us to do! We're playing right into their claws!"
"He's right… Everybody stop!" Agumon gritted his teeth and came to a screeching halt, burning up a trail of mud and grass with his feet. Everyone else followed his lead, rather erratically, but everymon remained in one piece regardless. "Besides, I'm sick of running! I don't care how tough the odds are, I'm fighting back this time! Everybody fan out, and make sure they don't gang up on you! Gatomon, you go ahead of us, and find that portal! As long as one of us makes it to the human world and finds our friends, then that'll be enough! Now get moving!"
"Are you sure about that Agumon?…" Gatomon was prepared to argue, but the stone cold stare Agumon gave her told her he wasn't taking no for an answer. "Alright, I'm going! You guys be careful!
Now that that was out of the way, Agumon turned to address the rest of the group. "If anybody sees an opportunity to make a break for it, then do it! Until then the rest of us will hold them off as long as we can!"
"Damn! They're splitting up again!" the Rageramon commander cursed as he surveyed the area below. "OKAY EVERYONE! BACK TO PLAN A! EVERYONE LOCK ON YOUR TARGETS, AND COOMENCE ATTACK!"
It won't be so easy this time," Agumon smirked as he readied himself to attack. "Pepper breath!"
The Rageramon commander flinched as a hot fireball struck one of his comrades in the wing.
"Ack, I've been hit!" No. Three cried, with half of his body on fire. "I'm going down! Mayday, Mayday!"
"What the crap?! Quick everyone, commence our defense plan!"
"Uhh… We don't have a defense plan sir," No. Nine gulped. "We weren't counting on them fighting back…"
"What?! What kind of goofball ignoramus came up with the idea to walk into the middle of a war zone without a defense plan?!"
"Umm… It was yours sir. You said this would be a piece of cake, and we'd be done with them by lunchtime…"
"Well… Um… That's beside the point! No. Six you…" the Rageramon commander began but paused as No. six was fricasseed by a streaking lighting bolt, sending him sprawling out of the sky. "No. Four! Signal the others to take evasive action, and counterattack!"
In the meantime, Patamon was outmaneuvering a pair of Rageramon who seemed particularly interested in him for some reason. He led the two birdbrains to a specially selected spot where Gabumon was lying in wait for them. He waited patiently right up to the point when one of the Rageramon was right in front of his face. "Howling Blaster!"
"I've been hit!" No. Ten cried feeling himself fall out of the sky. "Tell my wife I love her!"
"Your wife?!" No. Two scoffed. "You've never even been on a date before!"
"Sure, rub it in!" he shouted right before imploding into a tree.
It couldn't have been much more then a minute before Gatomon discovered what she was looking for. Her ears perked up excitedly, as her eyes landed on the bright glowing light shooting out from the computer screen. Unfortunately, she could feel the portal's energy diminishing rapidly. Though Wizardmon may have neglected to mention it, she figured he could only hold the portal open for so long. She knew well what Agumon had ordered was of the utmost importance, but she couldn't just escape to the human world alone while her friends were locked in the middle of a tough battle. Besides, she hadn't gotten that far, so it wouldn't take her long to get the others and lead them back there. Certain Agumon would understand, she darted off towards where she'd last seen the others.
"Pepper Breath!" Agumon fired only to watch his blast sail in-between two of his intended targets. They'd been lucky enough to catch their enemies off guard at first, but now that the Rageramon had regained their senses and seemed to realize what was going on, the battle was getting much tougher. Firmly concentrated on the fight in front of him, the only thing able to break that concentration was Gatomon bounding into the field of battle. "Gatomon?! What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be searching for that digi-port!"
"I've already found it, and it's not that far away from here!" Gatomon explained. "I'm sorry but I couldn't just leave you guys out here! If your done playing with those overgrown feather dusters then let's get out of here!"
Agumon didn't have to dwell on the topic long. They had dwindled the Rageramon's numbers in half, and some of his allies who didn't have projectile attacks weren't doing much more then providing extra targets for their enemies. Besides, defeating these new enemies wasn't what was important now, finding their friends and keeping the others safe was. "EVERYONE LISTEN UP! IF ANYONE GETS A CHANCE, MAKE A BREAK FOR IT AND FOLLOW GATOMON! THE REST OF US WILL STAY BACK AND HOLD OUR ENEMIES OFF!" Agumon turned his head towards Wormmon and the group around him who were basically useless against their airborne enemies, signaling them out in particular. "You guys go with her! You can't be of much help here anyway!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Armadillomon said, already chasing after Gatomon.
"You guys be careful," Palmon said, right before turning around to run with Wormmon close on her heels.
"You too Veemon." Agumon nudged his nose to his backside motioning for Veemon to follow the others. There isn't much you can do to help here either."
"No, I'll stay here. You go with them!"
"Don't talk crazy Veemon! I'm staying right here! What do you expect to accomplish by staying behind?! Think with your head for once!"
"But I am thinking with my head!" Veemon wiggled his little body excitedly. "Hear me out! It would be better if you go with Gatomon and the others because you know your way around the human world much better then the rest of us do! Gatomon's a sensible digimon, but she'll probably be as lost as anybody about where they are once they get to the human world. They really need you to lead them around out there! I can hold down the fort for you back here! I know I can't do much from a fighting standpoint in my rookie form, but I can watch the others backs can't I?"
Agumon stared at Veemon while he sorted through all his possible options. The energetic little scamp did have a point. "Are you sure you can handle it Veemon?"
"Sure I can!" Veemon flexed his muscles confidently. "You said yourself that I have a lot to learn. No better time then the present is there?"
Agumon smiled at the younger Digimon prodigy. "Alright Veemon, I'll leave it to you then. Don't overextend yourself though. If you get a chance to run then by all means take it!"
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Don't worry about me, you have to catch up with the others."
With that Agumon took off after Gatomon and the rest of his fleeing friends. The Rageramon commander identified the Digimon leader as the retreat-y, and that gave him a most splendid idea. "Hey I got it!… I'll order a retreat to make them think we're withdrawing, and once they let their guard down I'll order another preemptive strike!"
Veemon's eyes widen at seeing his enemies suddenly retreating, but he wasn't about to ask questions though remembering clearly what Agumon had told him. "NOW'S OUR CHANCE GUYS! LET'S GET OUR BUTTS OUT OF HERE WHILE THEY'RE STILL FOOT FREE!"
"I don't quite understand the second part, but the first part sounds just fine to me!" Biyomon chirped, as she followed Veemon's lead.
Gabumon quickly darted off after them. "I assure you I'm no coward but the key to survival is knowing when to walk, and knowing when to run!"
"What?! Hey they're running away!" one of the highly observant Rageramon shouted out.
"What?!" The Rageramon commander flapped his wings violently. "The nerve of those!… They ruined everything! Quick men, after them!"
"Quick guys, in here!" Gatomon called, as she waved her arm for her friends to precede her in. She cringed noticing the digi-port's power was diminishing much faster then she had thought. They may only have a minute at best before the thing gave out on them. Palmon and Armadillomon quickly hopped into the portal, disappearing into the computer screen. She looked out into the distance at Wormmon who had lagged behind considerably. "Hurry up Wormmon! The portals energy signal is getting weaker by the second! It can phase out at any give moment!"
"I'm hurrying as fast as I can! I've only got ten legs you know!"
Wormmon made it up to the portal eventually. They were both ready to hop through the digi-port when Gatomon caught a glimpse of someone charging towards them. "Agumon! What are you doing here?!"
"Well, I thought I had a free ticket to the human world. I'm guessing this is the digi-port isn't it?"
"You guessed right, but you better hurry! I don't know how much longer this thing's going to remain open!"
"Then what are you wasting time talking to me for?!" Agumon asked, now just a few feet away from them. "Get your butts in there, and I'll meet you there in a minute."
"Right!" Gatomon confirmed, as she leapt through the portal. Wormmon was preparing to do the same until he noticed Agumon was making no move whatsoever to join them.
"Hey Agumon… Aren't you coming with us?" The insect Digimon asked him.
"Not yet," Agumon responded. I want to stand watch out here for a while just in case some of the others decided to make a break this way. Don't worry about me, I'll make sure I get through before it closes."
"Alright. As long as you know what you're doing," Wormmon said right before disappearing into the computer screen.
"I'm all for running and living to fight another day, but we don't have a clue where Gatomon and the others even went!" Patamon spoke to Veemon after they'd ran a little ways from the battle scene.
"We'll just have to hope we bump into them eventually," Veemon huffed, running as fast as his little feet could carry him. Gabumon, Gomamon, and the bird Digimon were bringing up the rear while Tentomon was a little ways out in front of them. "Gatomon said it wasn't very far, so it shouldn't be that hard to find."
"A computer monitor glowing with the same frequency of a supernova shouldn't be all that hard to notice anyway!" Tentomon remarked. His keen eyes caught a glimpse of what looked like Agumon off in the distance. "Speak of the devil, I think I see Agumon a few feet ahead of us!"
Agumon waited as long as he could, but the light from the digi-port was getting dimmer and dimmer by the second. Faced with the realization he may get stuck in the Digital World, Agumon was forced to give up hope that his friends would make it there in time. He practically had one foot in the portal when he heard Tentomon's sarcastic voice calling out to him.
"There you are Agumon! Don't tell me you were going to leave without us! I'm offended!"
"I told you I could handle it Agumon!" Veemon bragged, as he waved his arm in the air to grab Agumon's attention. "Granted it was only twenty seconds, but I did it!"
Agumon cheered silently when Veemon and the rest of his team came into view behind Tentomon. "Hey guys, you better hurry! This portal is going to close at any second!" With that, Agumon jumped into the digi-port.
"What did he say?!" Veemon asked towards anyone for clarification.
"He said the portal's beginning to close!" Tentomon answered him. "So in other words haul ass, or get left behind!"
Almost as if the urgency gave them a push in the back, the little Digimon put on the afterburners. Charging as hard as he could, Tentomon just managed to sneak through the portal just before it sealed up. Patamon wasn't so lucky, and the only reward he received for his hustle was his face getting slammed into the computer screen. Patamon bounced off, slamming into Veemon who in turn crashed on top of Gomamon. Gabumon and the birds kind of stood back and stared at the jumbled heap their friends made, and tried there hardest not to laugh.
"Would you two mind getting off of me?!" Gomamon screeched, his face taking a bright red coloration. "And Veemon… Your tail is lodged into a very sensitive part of my body, and it's causing a lot of pain at the moment. Would you kindly REMOVE IT?!"
"Oh, sorry about that," Veemon giggled, as he removed his tail. His face flushed with embarrassment.
"Well," Hawkmon snickered. "Veemon said to avoid getting anyone's foot jammed up or rear ends, but he never said anything about tails!"
"Oh shut up," Gomamon hissed, his focus completely concentrated on the stinging pain radiating from his anus.
----------
"WHOAHOH!" Tentomon cried, as he freefell to the ground. Usually the digital gates entered and exited through computers, but for some reason this time the other end of the digi-port was represented by a giant hole in the middle of the sky. Go figure. Tentomon was halfway to the ground when he realized something. "Oh, that's right! I know how to fly!" Tentomon opened his wings calmly, and floated the rest of the trip to the ground where his friends were waiting for him. However, their entrance's weren't near as easy as his was. "Hey guys. Are you all okay?"
"We're fine," Armadillomon grunted. "The concrete broke our fall."
Agumon moaned as he sat up painfully. "Glad you made it Tentomon… Where are the others?"
"Well, they were right behind me, but the portal was nearly closed when I came through. They should've dropped in right behind me if they made it…"
Agumon and company waited for a minute or two, with no signs of the rest of their friends. "Well I guess it's just us then…"
"What do we do now?" Palmon asked.
"We find our friends," Agumon was quick to answer. He examined the area around him. "I think I recognize this place. Tai's house isn't that far from here, let's get going!"
"Wait a second!" Tentomon buzzed. "Remember, this isn't the Digital World so we can't run around freely without drawing attention to ourselves! We don't want to freak out the populace while we're here!"
"Relax Tentomon," Gatomon purred. "Just be careful, and try to blend in."
"That's easy for you to say!" Tentomon scoffed. "Whenever a human sees you all you have to do is Meow and look cute, and people say look at the pretty kitty! When people see me they yell EWE! GIANT BUG! KILL IT, KILL IT!"
"We get the point Tentomon!" Agumon jeered, hoping Tentomon would take the hint to shut the hell up. "We'll just have to lay low, and hope nobody spots us. Now let's get going. The sooner we find Tai and the others, and get back to the Digital World the better. That is hoping there's a Digital World to come home to by the time we do. I jut hope Veemon and the others can hold down the fort while we're gone…"
********
Matt picked at his guitar, but every note that came out seemed so hollow somehow. That's the way it had been for a while now, but even more so today. Not that you'd really be able to blame if you could only climb inside that head of his, and see he had just about everything on his mind but music at the moment. He only had his brother's problems, this entire mess with Sora, Davis's prophecy, a possible new threat in the Digital World threatening existence itself, and this new stressed induced ulcer burning a hole in his stomach to worry about. This damn band rehearsal was the last place he wanted to be right now, and the disgusted looks his band mates were giving him were really starting to get under his skin.
"Do you guys have a problem? Why do you keep looking at me like that?"
The other band members had a quick discussion amongst themselves before answering Matt. After a brief quarrel, the band's drummer, who apparently drew the short straw, approached Matt with a stern look on his face. "Look Matt, we need to talk. We don't know what's up with you, but it's obvious your mind hasn't been on our music lately."
"Brilliant deduction Sherlock! Did you figure that out all by yourself?" Matt looked at his friend, fighting off a frown. "I've had some personal problems to deal with lately. It's nothing you need to concern yourself about."
"Yes it is Matt, because it's starting to affect the rest of us! We all have problems and they can be distracting, but we don't let them bring down the rest of the group like your doing right now! This has been going on for over a month now Matt! Me and the guys have had a talk, and we've reached a decision. Either you need to start getting serious about our music again, or we need to look into finding ourselves a new guitarist and lead vocalist! It's as simple as that Matt! Are you in, or are you out?"
Matt laughed in disbelief. "Ha! Are you threatening me?! You know what?! I don't need to take this crap, so if that's what you want then it's just fine with me!" Matt threw his guitar at the feet of his now ex-band before walking away. "You can take my guitar, and this band and shove it up your Asses!"
The other band members stared at the ground where Matt's guitar laid, bewildered. None of them had actually expected Matt to walk out on them, at least not that easily. "No one's irreplaceable you know Ishida! You'll be sorry once we're world famous! You hear me! Matt!… Damn!"
An instant sense of relief flooded Matt's body, like he'd just dropped a hundred pound boulder off this back. Sure he was angry, but he'd been looking for an excuse to leave the band and they just gave it to him. One less little nuisance in his life he'd have to put up with. That only left about 6 million more to go.
At the same time Matt was walking out of the music business for good, another young man was taking some time to sort out his thoughts. Oddly enough they were almost identical to Matt's. His concerns mostly revolved around his younger sibling, and a certain young lady in his life, oddly enough the same girl Matt had been concerned over. Tai hadn't chosen any road in particular to walk down, but somehow it still led him straight into Matt.
"Hey Matt!" Tai called out to his long lost friend. "What brings you out here this time of night?"
"Oh, hey Tai," he greeted callously. "Just getting a monkey off my back."
"It's a good thing I ran into you. I've been meaning to talk to you about some things, but I could never catch you at home."
"If it's all the same to you Tai, I really don't feel like talking right now," Matt said, as he walked away.
"Don't walk away from me Yamato!" Tai demanded, but Matt kept on walking. "You've been doing too much of this lately! We have important issues to discuss, and they're not going to be resolved if you keep ignoring them!"
Matt stopped dead in his tracks and spun around quickly, his anger taking him over. "I'm not ignoring anything! We're having that meeting about Davis's stupid prophecy tonight, and we've already tried and failed to help TK and Kari! There's nothing else to talk about, so just leave me alone!"
"I will not, and I'm not talking about any of that Matt! I'm talking about you!"
"Talking about me?!" Matt scoffed. "Yeah right. You're worried about Kari and Sora! You don't give a damn about me."
"Of course I'm worried about you Matt! You've been acting weird for months now! You'll have nothing to do with anyone, you won't talk to your friends, and your acting even colder then you did when I first met you! Something's obviously wrong with you Matt, and after all we've been through together I think I deserve to know what! I know if you were in your right mine you'd never be doing what your doing to Sora right now!"
Matt gritted his teeth together, trying to keep his head from blowing off his shoulders. "There you go again! Why can't anyone seem to talk to me for ten seconds without bringing up her name!"
"Because it needs to said Matt!" Tai shouted with conviction. "Do you have any idea of how much you hurt her, especially with the way you're treating her now?!"
"Of course I know Tai! I see it every time I look into her eyes! You think it's easy for me! Hell no! It kills me every time I think about it, but I have problems of my own to worry about!"
"Like what?" Tai asked calmly, his mood softening slightly. If he didn't know better he could almost swear he heard tears cracking in Matt's voice.
"What do you care?! The only reason your even bothering to talk to me is because you're worried about your precious sister! If the little bitch hadn't of run her big mouth she wouldn't have to…"
What ever Matt was about to say would stay to himself. Tai seized Matt by the collar of his shirt and slammed him hard against the brick wall behind him, his fist already reared back and ready to put Matt's lights out. "Damn you Matt! Don't you ever talk about Kari like that! DON'T YOU EVER!"
"Go ahead Tai! Hit me!" Matt urged him on. "That's what you want isn't it?! Smash your first into my face right now! You know you want to! If not for Kari then do it for Sora! Hell, do it for both of them, or just do it for yourself! Come on Tai! HIT ME!"
Rather then firing him up to go through with it, Matt's little rant actually slapped some sense into Tai. He lowered his fist, and looked towards the ground at his feet. "I will not!" Tai said as he let go of Matt's shirt. "This is stupid! I've worked to hard to grow out of that stage to throw that all away now. We shouldn't fight our siblings battles for them!"
Matt looked guilty as he loosened up his shirt collar. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean what I said about Kari. I got a bit over emotional… You just don't understand how it feels…"
"How do you know that? If you tell me what the problem is, maybe you'd be surprised."
Matt concentrated hard, apparently thinking over what he should say. "No, you don't know how it feels! How it feels to know all your friends are all worried about how Sora feels, how she's hurting and letting me hear about every time I turn around, while none of them give a damn about how you feel!"
Tai was taken back. "Of course we care about how you feel. What makes you think that?…"
"Nobody's been acting like it!" Matt snipped. "For the last month all I've been hearing about is how much Sora's been hurting, and everything she's been going through! Well, what about me?! No one seems to care about I feel! I've been going through hell too! I guess I just should've stayed in a loveless relationship just for the sake of not hurting the other person involved?! We both deserve better then that! You think I enjoyed hurting her! No! I'm hurting over this as much as she is, but no one seems to be worried about me do they?"
"Matt… I had no idea… What do you mean by loveless relationship? Sora loves you…"
"I know… But my feelings for her just weren't as strong as I originally thought… Besides she didn't even want me…"
Tai laughed in disbelief. "Matt, what are you talking?…"
Matt interrupted him. "She wanted you!"
Tai's eyes widened but that was the only part of him that moved, as the rest of him froze. "What?…"
"She wanted you, but you never made a move or anything," Matt explained. "She got tired of waiting for you, so she settled for me. You don't want to know what it's like going through a relationship knowing the person your with would rather have someone else…"
"Matt… Is that what's been bothering you? Because she… I mean me?"
Matt smiled weakly. "That's one of the little things, but I could've lived with that one. I just had to get out of the relationship first… I didn't think I'd have to go through this much hell just to… I have a lot of other problems I have to deal with besides that."
"Like what," Tai asked.
If Matt had managed to keep himself from crying before, all that resolve was way by the boards now. Matt dropped to his rear end allowing a few tears to fall freely into the sleeves of his shirt. "It's back, and I'm not sure I can beat it this time…"
Tai placed his hand on Matt's shoulder, and sat down next to him. "What are you talking about Matt? What's back?"
"The darkness I felt when I was in the Digital World when we fought the Dark Masters," Matt sniffed, instinctively wiping his nose with his shirtsleeve. "I thought I'd gotten rid of it, but it's all coming back and it's even stronger this time. I can't help but feel I've lost something, but how am I even supposed to start looking for it when I don't even know what it is I lost?! I've never felt more afraid or alone in my life…"
Tai's eyes soften, obvious concern for his friend setting in along with a little bit of guilt. All this time he had been trying to nurse Sora through her ordeal, he never really stopped once to think Matt might be going through the same torture. Tai just never thought Matt was the type of person to let things like that get to him this badly, and this definitely wasn't a position he ever expected to see the young Ishida boy in. "But your not alone Matt… You have me, Sora, TK, and all the others too… Despite what you might call us in name or rank, we're still your friends."
"I know… I didn't mean to shut you guys out, I really didn't… I've never been one to go crying to other people about my problems… I thought I could get through this myself at first but… The pain just kept getting worse, like it was plunging deeper and deeper into my soul until it got a hold of me and now it won't let me go! I didn't want to bother you guys because I didn't think anything mattered anymore… I felt my life was so meaningless I…"
"Meaningless?!" Tai gawked at his friend. "Earth to Matt! You are a Digidestined in case you've forgotten! There's a whole lot of meaning behind that!"
"Is there really Tai?" Matt asked. "You can't even call us the Digidestined! We weren't destined to do anything, we were chosen by the luck of the draw! If we hadn't stumbled across a couple of overgrown stuffed animals beating the tar out of each other, we wouldn't even have that!"
"Think that way if you want to Matt, but I just don't agree with you. I think there's a lot more to it then that… I may not know what it is yet, but I'm confident there's something."
Matt didn't seem so sure. "Even if that is true then it gives me a whole new set of things to get depressed over. What if I never was a Digidestined? What would my life have meant without it? What would I have made of myself? Let me ask you a serious question Tai. Would we have still been friends? If we had met each other off the streets instead of being sucked into the Digital World together? Would you still have liked me?"
Tai thought the question over a moment, and smirked slightly. "Well, I'd like to say we would've been friends regardless, but judging on our first impressions of each other probably not. That's beside the point though Matt. We are both Digidestined, and we did become friends after being forced to spend all that time together despite the fact we didn't like each other all that much at first. All that matters though is it did happen, and I'm glad it did."
Matt smiled slightly, but wasn't ready to give in just yet. Maybe it was his competitive side coming out, but he was determined to convince Tai of what a pathetic loser he was one way or another. However, it was more likely just an overflow of pent up emotion that had come spewing out of his mouth like water from a hole in the kitchen sink pipes. "I use to think being a Digidestined was the one thing that made me different, but even if that was, now that's pretty much gone too isn't it? Since Davis and the others arrived, us older kids have pretty much become obsolete. After that I thought, well at least I'm TK's brother, but he doesn't need me anymore and he hasn't for a long time. Even with what he's going through right now, he needs someone to help him through it but I don't even know where to begin. Hell, I'm not even any use as a friend! You, Kari, Sora, TK, Izzy, and everybody else all seems to have something they can offer to the group. Everyone but me that is… What do I have to give anybody unless they want to borrow some styling gel?! I'm completely useless…"
Tai went silent for a moment before replying. "Your there Matt. That's more then enough."
Matt seemed confused. "What do you mean I'm there?!"
"Your there as a friend Matt. That's all anyone has ever expected of you, or any one of us expects from anyone else for that matter! Trust me, you do little things you may not notice, but you do them. You keep my ego in check for one. Whenever I think I'm getting to good at something, I can always rely on you to show me up at it in someway or another. You contribute a lot to the team Matt, it's just not always noticeable. Not that any of that matters you see. You're our friend Matt, and that's all that's important to us."
"Tai I…" Matt mumbled, lost for any other words.
Tai put his arm around Matt's back, and squeezed the side of his arm. "You are a jumbled mess in there aren't you Yamato? Don't worry, I'll help you get it straightened out."
Another tear escaped his eye, not of pain this time but of happiness. To think Matt had originally thought Tai would be the last person he'd want to talk to about this, but it wasn't at all like he would've expected it to be. He wasn't laughing at him or ragging on him, calling him a crybaby or anything of the sort. He was simply there listening, and giving Matt some heart felt advice whenever he felt it was appropriate. Just like a real friend should. He was even secure enough to give Matt a slight hug, even though it was dark out and no one else was around. Matt smiled, feeling a slight bit of what he'd lost seeping back into him. "Thanks Tai… I appreciate everything, but I really do need some time to think things out on my own."
"I understand. Don't keep me in the dark for long though, and don't be afraid to talk to me if you need to. If I don't hear from you soon, I'm going to grab the others and we'll come get you!"
"I'll keep that in mind Tai."
********
Davis couldn't believe his luck, though he wasn't sure if this was good or bad. He was heading home when he just happened to bump into Kari, who'd decided she needed to get some fresh air. One thing lead to another, and now Davis was sitting on a park bench with Kari next to him crying into his shoulder. Normally, Davis would've more then welcomed this, but this situation definitely wasn't normal. He hated to see her in this kind of pain, and being forced to hold the guilt of his actions deep down in his heart. That wasn't the only thing bothering him at the moment though. Having Kari sitting so close to him, looking towards him for comfort was stirring up some old feelings he had hoped he'd never have to deal with again.
"This can't be happening to me! I thought I was over her! No, I know I was over her, but now… Seeing her beautiful face, even if it is soaking wet, just inches away from mine… Forget about it Davis. Think about this for a moment. She may be leaning on your shoulder right now, but she's been thinking about TK this entire time. You know they're meant to be together… That's most of the reason this entire mess I'm in started!" Davis wiped a strain of Kari's hair out of hers eyes, as she continued to vent all of her problems in life to him. Davis snickered slightly, picking up the name TK in almost every other sentence. That reason, and also because he finally realized something. "No… I think I'm misinterpreting my feelings again. I'm not in love with her… I'm confusing concern and pity for a close friend with something else… Maybe even a bit of lust involved, and a whole lot of guilt of my part. I'm really sorry I had to do this to you Kari. God knows I didn't want to… I can't stand hurting you, but I know deep down everything will work out. You guys can beat this, I know you can."
"I can't believe TK would… Why doesn't he believe me Davis? Why did things have to turn out this way?… Why?"
"I'll give you the reason why Kari. Because TK's a jerk! He doesn't deserve a friend like you! In fact, that sorry sack of cow dung isn't fit to breath the same air as you! I always knew he was an idiotic loser! To hell with him! Just forget that jackass and…" *SMACK!*
Davis's face reared back, as Kari slapped him straight across the face. "Davis, don't you ever let me hear you talk about TK that way again, you hear me?!"
Davis put on his best mock shocked expression. "What was that for?! You just spent the last twenty minutes calling him every name and curse word under the moon!"
"That's different! I can talk about him whatever way I want, nobody else can! You haven't earned the right!"
Davis rubbed his face, and smiled as Kari stormed away. "Maybe this is working after all?…"
What neither Davis or Kari knew was that they were by no means alone. Ken had just happened to walk along and noticed his two friends getting a little too comfortable with each other to look right. After a closer look it did appear to Ken that Davis may simply be trying to console the girl, but he was curious enough to hide himself behind a broad tree for a little spy work. Ken hated to accuse Davis of anything but knowing Davis's history with both Kari and TK, Ken feared Davis might be trying to manipulate the situation for his own self-gain. His first thought was of course not, but when Kari slapped him something set Ken off. Still wanting to give his friend the benefit of the doubt, Ken approached Davis wanting to hear the story straight from the horse's mouth.
"Davis." Ken startled his friend who was still looking off in Kari's direction. "What are you doing?"
"Ken? What are you doing here?…" Davis started, but held up. He figured Ken must've seen the entire thing, and he sensed a genuine opportunity he just couldn't pass up. "I mean what's it to you?"
Ken was surprised by the rough tone in Davis voice. "What do you mean what's it to me?! What did you say to Kari to make her slap you?"
"That's none of your business!" Davis growled, as he stood up from the bench. "What are you trying to accuse me of anyway?!"
"I haven't accused you of anything, but the way your acting is making me think you're up to something! You know as well as I do how vulnerable Kari is right now! I just want to make sure your not trying to take advantage of the situation!"
"And so what if I am? Hey, if TK snoozes he loses. I think it's about high time I tried to go and get what I want for once, and I'm not going to find a better opportunity then this one."
"What?!… I can't believe you'd stoop that low!" Ken's eyes widened in response to what his ears didn't want to hear. He didn't want to believe it, but this new revelation shined a light on another thought Davis had made all to clear to Ken. "Wait a minute… Those rumors. You started them didn't you?! Just to get to Kari?!… If that's what you wanted, there are much more subtle and much less damaging ways to go about it!"
Davis tried to look insulted, but guilt shown through more than anything. Lucky for him, Ken was too disgusted to notice at the moment. "Excuse me?! You mean you actually believe I'd do that? I'm insulted Ken. Do you really think I'd stoop that low?!"
"I don't want to think that Davis, but if you'll stoop to one low then what's stopping you from stooping to another?"
Davis felt his heart dancing with his kidneys right about then. He bit his lower lip from the inside of this mouth, trying desperately to maintain his composure. "Maybe I did start those rumors Ken, then again maybe I didn't. Hell, who knows who did it. Maybe it was you!"
"Me?!" Ken scoffed, and shook his head. "Trying to put the blame on me isn't making you look anymore innocent Davis! What in the world would I have to gain from TK and Kari fighting anyway?!"
"Maybe just the satisfaction from doing it. Remember, out of the two of us standing here, I'm not the one who used to be evil. Do you not remember your days as the Digimon Emperor? You'd do things like this to kill time! Maybe it's just some of the old you coming out? Old habits are hard to break after all."
"I would never!… That was a long time ago Davis! I wasn't even really in control of myself back then… Hell, you've told me that more times then anybody whenever I doubted it myself! I've come a long way in putting the sins of my past behind me…"
"Oh, have you now?" Davis chuckled spitefully. "I bet you always knew what you were doing, and you still do now! This clever disguise you put on doesn't fool me anymore Ken. I don't think you've put anything behind you. I think your just buying your time until your ready to let the real you come out again."
"But you always said…"
"Don't believe everything you hear! I'll admit I use to feel sorry for you, but that died a long time ago! I don't know how you could've ever been a Digidestined in the first place. I never liked you anyway, and I trust you about as far as I can throw you!"
Ken stepped back, and grabbed his forehead. Maybe it was the overflow of emotion, but something was causing his head to pulsate with pain. A sharp splitting pain that hurt so badly, Ken feared his skull might split in half if he didn't hold on to it. "Uh… Davis… I thought we were friends?"
"Maybe that's your problem Ken," Davis sneered, as he turned his back to him. "You think too much."
Ken allowed one lonesome tear to escape his eye, but that was all. "Fine Davis. If that's the way it really is then…" Ken walked away with his held up high. He wasn't going to give Davis the satisfaction of seeing him otherwise. He would wait until he was by himself before he broke down.
"Please don't believe that Ken…" Davis clenched his fist tightly, and would've loved nothing more then to hit himself for what he'd just done. However, some part of him deep inside seemed to be slightly more forgiving.
"You could feel and see his pain Davis, and Kari's too. Isn't it wonderful? I can feel you savoring every moment of it. It kind of makes you think this is what you were born for doesn't it?"
"No, it's making me miserable!" Davis screamed, as he grabbed his head. "I'm not thinking this way! I'm not! I can't deal with this right now! Leave me alone! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Davis screamed into the night and ran as fast as he could, headed for somewhere not even he was quite sure of.
********
"Don't sweat it guys!" Agumon said, urging the others forward. "I'm sure we're close by! We'll be arriving at Tai's doorstep any second now! You have to trust me on this."
"We have been trusting you…" Tentomon took a deep breath. "FOR THE PAST THREE HOURS!"
"We've been going around in circles!" Gatomon complained. "If you don't know where we're going then just say so, so we can figure out another way to find Kari and the others."
"How would we do that?" Wormmon asked.
"Well… We could always check for a map in one of those telephone booths, or at the subway station…"
"What good is that going to do us?!" Tentomon asked sharply. "What are you expecting to find? A big dot with 'Tai's House' written in big bold letters?!"
"It's just a suggestion!" Gatomon snapped defensively. "We've got to try something."
"I'm telling you we're close!" Agumon insisted. "I can feel it. We're just barely missing something somewhere…"
Armadillomon stopped to admire a small tree he was passing. "Hey, I think I've seen this tree before."
Palmon rolled her eyes… Well, as much as she could anyway. "Of course you've seen that tree before! It's the same one you relieved yourself on the first time we past through this area!"
"Oh yeah! I thought that smell was familiar."
While the other Digimon were busy arguing over how they should go about finding the kids, or complaining about other Digimon doing things to make others stomach's churned, a more observant Wormmon noticed something that might help the group out a whole lot. "Hey guys… I think I might know how to get to Tai's house."
"Oh, and how would you know that?!" Agumon asked, agitated that he hadn't been able to locate his partner yet.
"Well… I'm no expert on how to get around in the human world, but I'm pretty sure we can get to Tai's if we follow Kari wouldn't we?"
"What?! Kari?!" Gatomon shot over to where Wormmon was standing, and practically swatted him away as she searched for any sign of her human friend. Sure enough, there she was pacing along rather slowly, not all that far away from them but out of hearing range. "What are we waiting for?! Let's go!"
The Digimon tailed Kari past a stoplight, nearly causing the slower moving Armadillomon, Palmon, and Wormmon to get flattened by an eighteen-wheeler, and around the corner. Not much later, they took cover in a dimly lit alley as they watched Kari enter a large building across the street from them. Both Agumon and Gatomon immediately recognized it as the place they called home whenever they were in the human world. Well… One of the little rooms near the top of the big building anyway.
"Hey, stop leaning against my shell!" Armadillomon yelled at Tentomon, who was trying to get a better look around the corner of the building. "I just got it waxed."
"You did not!"
"I told you we were close! I just couldn't quite pinpoint the exact location!"
"Excuses, excuses," Gatomon teased him, as they charged across the street.
"Kari your back!" Tai exclaimed, the sight of his sister causing him to immediately drop what he was doing. He had hoped Kari's walk would help clear her mind just a bit, but from the looks of her it only made matters worse. "Kari?… I was going to ask if you enjoyed your walk, but I'm afraid I might get slapped if I do. Did something happen out there?"
"No, nothing much!" Kari sniffed angrily, as she stormed towards her bedroom. "Just that jerk Davis had the nerve to call that other jerk a jerk, so I slapped the jerk and came home!"
Tai flinched, as Kari slammed the bedroom door behind her. "Kay… If you say so."
A sudden knock at the front door surprised Tai, causing his head to turn in that direction. As he understood it, his parents weren't due home until later that night, which wouldn't make much sense anyway since they would've simply let themselves in or used their keys. Tai couldn't think of anyone else would be knocking at their door at this time of night. Sora maybe on any other day, but she was kind of pissed off at him at the moment. Maybe Matt had felt the need to talk a little more, or possibly Izzy with some new information surrounding Davis's prophecy. Not wanting to temp fate, rather than opening the Door, Taichi called out to whoever was standing outside his apartment. "Hello. May I ask who's there?"
"Pizza delivery!" a voice buzzed from the other side.
"I didn't order a pizza." The echoing like sound of the voice was familiar to the young man, but that thought didn't dwell on Tai's mind all that much. "Then again, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth… Whatever the hell that expression means."
Tai opened up the door cautiously, but instead of some acne-riddled teenager, he found a giant cockroach hovering just above his head. "That'll be thirteen forty-five. I hope you don't mind anchovies and Digi-blue berries." (Sorry folks, I don't know how US currency translates into Yen, and frankly I don't give a rat's hinny)
"Tentomon!" Tai gasped. He looked down at his feet and found Palmon, Gatomon, Armadillomon, and Wormmon looking up at him.
"You see, I told you this was the right door!" Gatomon stated triumphantly.
"Sorry about the pizza thing, but I wanted to surprise you," Agumon said, as he made his presence known to Tai by walking in front of the others.
"Agumon!" Tai scooped the reptilian digimon up in his arms and laughed merrily, embracing his old friend tightly against his chest. His scaly skin was scratching some of the flesh off Tai's face, but that was a moot point at the moment. "It's great to see you again old buddy! Don't worry about the pizza though, I hate anchovies and I'm not sure I'd even want to try any kind of berry that comes out of the Digital World. Last time I did that, I had the runs for a week! What on earth are you guys doing here anyway, and how'd you get here?!"
Tentomon spoke up. "Well, that second question isn't important, but I can answer that first one for you. Remember that big black cloud I told you wasn't a problem. Well, I lied! It's a big, BIG problem!"
Tai's expression grew serious. He set Agumon down inside of the apartment. He never had been comfortable with holding his digital partner that way. He'd seen his friend save the world as War Greymon to many times to feel he had the right to cradle Agumon like he was a small child, despite what form he may be in. "I understand. Let's go inside, and you guys can tell me all about it."
"What, no tip?" Tentomon joked, as he flew inside.
After Tai had ushered all the other Digimon inside, Gatomon looked up at him. Tai already knew what she was going to ask. "Kari's in her bedroom Gatomon. It's a good thing you're here too. She could really use some cheering up right now."
"What? Why?! What's wrong with her?!" Gatomon demanded, concern evident in her eyes.
"Her and TK have been fighting a lot lately," Tai sighed. "That's all I'm going to say on the subject. I'm sure Kari will vent it all to you soon enough anyway."
Gatomon frowned. "Kari is fighting with TK?! Why?! That doesn't make any sense?!
"I know, it's ridiculous. Don't believe everything she tells you either. She's a little over emotional right now, and she has been stretching the truth to fit her own perspectives a little bit."
"I'll keep an open mind Tai. If you'll excuse me, I've been waiting a long time to see my old friend."
Tai smiled. "Go right ahead."
Kari sat at her desk staring into the mirror, her eyes still wet and stained from crying for hours on in. She wasn't sure why she'd gotten so angry with Davis. He merely echoed the exact sentiments she'd been saying about the boy for the past several days, but of course she didn't mean a one of them. She still thought the world of the young man, and couldn't bear to hear anyone else speak ill of him. Sure he had hurt her, but it wasn't TK or Davis she was truly upset with now. She was crushed by a few horribly chosen words that may have cost her one of the closest friends she ever had. "Why did I have to get jealous and angry instead of just telling him how I feel about him?… I could've avoided all of this, and maybe have finally gotten what I really wanted… I guess I'll never know now. I can never take back what I said, and I wouldn't blame him if he never…"
Kari felt the now all to familiar sensation of wetness in her eyes, as she laid her head against her forearm. Busy drowning in her own sorrow, she didn't even noticed Gatomon nudge her bedroom door open. The feline digimon's ears lowered at the sound of her friend's soft sobs. She pushed her excitement to see Kari to the side and approached her cautiously, not wanting to startle her in the delicate condition she was in. She hopped up on the desk next to her head, and gently nudged her on the shoulder.
"Go away Tai," she mumbled, apparently not noticing Tai had grown claws. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You don't have to talk about it, but I'm not going away. Besides, I'm not Tai."
Kari tilted her head up slowly, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Eventually, the three Gatomon's merged into one slightly distorted image of the feline digimon looking at Kari with concerned eyes. "Gatomon!" Kari cheered, as she hugged her friend tightly similar to the way her brother had done to Agumon moments earlier. Despite being overjoyed to see her friend, Kari could only manage the weakest of smiles. "What in the world are you doing here?!"
"There'll be plenty of time to talk about that later. Right now I'm more concerned with what's going on in your world. There isn't all that much in either of our worlds that surprises me anymore, but hearing the names TK and Kari and the word 'fighting' all in the same sentence is certainly one of them. Now tell me, what in the world could possibly put you at odds with your best friend?"
That one weak smile faded quickly. "That's just the thing Gatomon. We aren't friends anymore…"
"What?!"
"You heard me!" Kari cracked, with a hard sob. "I should know, I made it official myself! Because I was angry, and opened my big mouth!"
A few of Gatomon's own tears filled her eyes as Kari returned to the same position in which she found her, expect this time she was crying hard enough for Gatomon to fell a trace of her pain in her own heart. "Kari… What in the world is going on here?
********
Matt Ishida pulled his jacket a little tighter around his body, as a cool spring breeze blew against his body. "I wonder if Tai really meant everything he said… He's a horrible liar after all. I rarely see him get over emotional unless he's angry, and lord knows he's not the type of guy who'll do the kind of thing he did for me for just anybody…" Matt smirked slightly. "At least there's one person out there who still cares… No, you know that isn't true Matt. Sora cares, and you know it. I really need to patch things up with her. I still care about her even if it isn't in the same way I did before. I should at least show her I'm still there for her as a friend. I owe us both at least that much…"
"I can't believe this," Ken rambled to the wind. "Davis couldn't have meant what he said could he? He was always my staunchest supporter! If it wasn't for him I may never have joined up with the other Digidestined kids, so why the mood swing all of the sudden? Why would he have gone to all that trouble if everything he said was nothing but a bunch of lies and bull crap? Why?!"
"But that isn't the real question here is it?" A voice inside of Ken's head clicked. "The real question is, is he right? Are you just biding your time until your dark side is ready to be unleashed again? You know it's still lurking deep down inside of you… You can't run from it forever Ken, and you really don't want to do you?"
"No, of course not! That wasn't me! All those evil tendencies were from the dark spore. That's all that was, and it has no affect on me now!"
"Yes, that's the little speech you recite to yourself every time you have doubts don't you? Aren't having doubts enough to tell you it's not really gone. Dark spore indeed. What if the spore had nothing to do with it Ken? What if that all came from you? After all, anyone would have to question the intentions of someone who wished their own brother dead. That was even before the spore wasn't it?"
"I never wished by brother dead!… Why do I keep thinking like this?!" Ken cried, as he gabbed his head. "I'd gotten over this hurdle! Why are all these doubts popping into my mind all of a sudden?!"
"Because you're so-called friend Davis so thoughtfully reminded you of them. They've always been there, you've simply been trying to deny your true urges. Think about it. Your best friend, or so you thought, doesn't even trust you. Do you really think any of the others think any different of you? They're whispering behind your back as soon as you turn around, and watching your every move just waiting for you to mess up. Waiting for any little sign of the real you to come out, and then they have you…"
Ken grunted as he rammed into someone of considerably larger size, effectively snapping him back into reality. He started to fall back, but a pair of strong hands held him steady.
"I'm sorry Ken, I didn't see you walking there."
"Huh… Matt?"
"Sorry about that. I was lost in my thoughts, and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
It seemed to take Ken a moment or two to pick up what Matt was saying. "Oh really… I guess that makes two of us then."
Matt's face hardened with concern. Ken's voice was distant, and his face was noticeably emotionless. In fact, Ken's demeanor was a little too similar to the way Matt had been feeling recently for his liking. "You okay kid?"
"What do you care?" Ken said coldly, and walked away.
That did it. Now Ken sounded exactly like him, and Matt wasn't going to let him walk away just like that. Matt reached out, and reclaimed Ken's left shoulder. "Your not supposed to answer a question with a question you know. What's with the attitude anyway? It's not like you to be rude like that."
Not taking him long to realize what he was doing, Ken's expression drooped with guilt. "I'm sorry Matt… I didn't mean to seem hostile. I've got a lot weighing on my mind at the moment…"
Matt flashed an understanding smile. "I know that look, and I think I know what your feeling. Anything you want to talk about?"
"Not in particular…" Ken paused as a thought crossed his mind. He wasn't sure where it came from, and truthfully it sacred him a bit. Was it out of spite for what Davis had done to him, or was it his dark side trying to peak through? Whatever it was, he was debating on whether or not he should dare tell Matt. "Hey Matt… I know something that might interest you."
"Oh yeah, like what?"
"Well… What if I told you I have an idea of who is really spreading those rumors about your brother?…"
"Huh? What?!" Matt yelped excitedly, and maybe a little too aggressively. Matt grabbed Ken by the sides of his arms, and stared him straight in the face. "Are you serious?! Do you actually know, or is it just an idea?!"
"Whoa, settle down!" Ken giggled, enjoying the reaction Matt was giving him. He could really get Davis back good with this. "I'm ninety-nine percent sure. Though he wouldn't say it directly, he practically admitted it was he. I can't rat out a friend just like that, but if you could guess who it is it wouldn't prey on my conscious too much."
"Fine, what ever floats your boat, now get on with it!" Matt urged him on.
"Well… think about this question for a minute. Who do you know that would have the most to gain from damaging Kari and TK's relationship?"
"I have no idea!" Matt sneered, growing irritated. "Stop dancing around the subject, and tell me already!"
Ken sweat dropped. If anything, at least he'd learned that the overprotective older brother gene wasn't limited to guys with younger sisters. "I'm getting there! Let me put it this way then. Who do you know who's had a serious romantic interest in Kari?"
"TK!"
"Besides TK! Think along the lines of someone who's had some issues with TK in the past, and might be willing to go to those kind of extremes to get her."
Matt quickly put two and two together. "Well… Davis, but I can't see him stooping to that low. They grew out of that stage a long time ago, just like Tai and I did and they get along great now. Even the old Davis wouldn't do that sort of thing… Would he?"
Ken nodded his head. "I'm afraid so. I caught him earlier this evening cuddling up with her rather closely, and making some sort of suggestive comments to her that were bad enough to get her to slap the dimples off his face. Remember, you didn't hear any of this from me though."
Finally calming down a reasonable bit, Matt let go of Ken. "Interesting… I'll have to look into it. Tell me one thing though Ken. I'm not calling you a liar, but if Davis did do this then why are you ratting him out to me? I thought you two were best friends?"
Ken lowered his head, a hint of sadness filling his eyes. "Well, I guess you have my problem then Matt. You think too much."
********
Izzy stared at his computer with disinterest. He wasn't sure if he even cared anymore. The others didn't think he could do it, so why should he care anyway? "Let somebody else do it for a change. What's the point of that anyway?! They'll just come crawling back to me, begging for me to solve their problems!… *sighs* Maybe I'm the problem. Heck, I can't even figure out the meaning of all this gibberish! I guess I just don't have it in me."
Izzy laid his head down next to his keyboard, and stayed there for a little more then thirty seconds when his mother knocked at the door. "Izzy hon, your friend Tai is here to see you."
"Probably here to bug me about the prophecy. Won't Tai be surprised…" Izzy grumbled under his breath. "Tell him to go away Mom! I'm busy right now, and don't wish to be bothered!"
"Nonsense Izzy! You are not going to be rude! He says he only needs a minute of your time anyway, and he has a surprise for you."
"Fine!" Izzy growled.
Tai walked into the room, smirking slightly as he shook his head. "Hard at work huh guy?" Tai asked, assuming that was the only logical explanation for Izzy's attitude that evening. "It sounds like your having some trouble. Not that easy is it?"
"WHAT ARE YOU SUGGESTING?!" Izzy whirled around and glared at Tai with a fire in his eyes that nearly singed his eyebrows. "THAT I CAN'T SOLVE IT?! IS THAT WHAT YOUR SUGGESTING?!"
"No, not at all Izzy!" Tai begged off. "I was simply suggesting it wasn't easy! If you can't solve the prophecy I doubt anybody can!"
"Exactly!… I'll admit I haven't gotten as far as I'd like to be, but I'm getting close! Wait until tomorrow morning, and maybe I'll have something!"
"But I thought we were supposed to meet tonight?"
"I need more time!" Izzy yelled, without looking back at him.
Tai's eyebrows sunk low over his eyes, not caring for Izzy's attitude one bit. "That's beside the point! The entire point to meeting tonight was to get all our insights, not just yours! You said that yourself didn't you?!"
"Fine, do what you want!" Izzy snapped. "If you guys think you can come up with a better explanation then I can, then go right ahead! I don't care! If you don't need me, you don't need me!"
"I never said we didn't need you Izzy!" Tai gritted his teeth in frustration. A year ago he might've, no definitely would've inserted his fist into Izzy's face by then. Lucky for the young genius, that boy was now three-fourths of the way to a grown man. Still, Tai could still manage a look frightening enough to make people like Izzy wet their pants. Tai grabbed the back of Izzy's chair, whirled him around to face him, and pushed his face so close to his friends their noses were less then an inch away from touching. "Look, I'm going to let your attitude slide this time and assume it's just the lack of sleep talking, but the next time you speak to me in that tone we're going to be exchanging more then words, got me?!"
Izzy felt most of his anger, and all of his courage fade away with one loud gulp. "Uh, yeah sure Tai…"
"Good," he said, as he stood upright. "I'll leave you to your work then. I only stopped by to drop off a friend anyway."
Izzy sighed, and released the death grip on the arms of his chair. "Whew… Wait a minute? A friend?"
"It's your turn now," Tai said towards the ground, as he walked through the hallway. "Maybe he'll be in a better mood once he sees you."
"I hope so… Hey Izzy… Can I come in?"
Izzy's head perked up at the sound of the familiar voice. "Tentomon?!"
"In the exoskeleton!" Tentomon announced, as he edged his way into the doorway but was reluctant to precede any further.
Izzy wanted nothing more then to leap out of that chair and greet his digital companion, but he stopped himself sensing the uneasiness in the little Digimon. "Are you okay Tentomon? You seem a little shaken up about something… Why don't you come on in?"
"I'd love to Izzy, but I want to make sure it's safe to come inside your room first," he laughed uneasily. "After all, you do seem to be displaying some homicidal tendencies this evening…"
Izzy hung his head in shame. He realized Tentomon must've gotten frightened by the harsh way Izzy had spoken to Tai just moments earlier. Izzy wasn't normally the type to get aggressive or let his temper get the best of him, and that unfamiliar sight worried the insect Digimon. Izzy wasn't even sure what brought that on. He knew Tai wasn't even trying to criticize him, but Izzy was wound up so tight at the moment that any little gesture that even appeared to be an insult would've set him off right then. "I'm sorry about that messy little display Tentomon. I've been a little bit, how do you say, on edge lately? It's okay, you can come in."
Tentomon hesitated, and then flew inside. "I hope you don't mind my curiosity, but I have two questions for you. First, what is this prophecy Tai was talking about, and second why did you get so upset when Tai suggested you couldn't solve it?"
Izzy rubbed his sleepy face, thinking over his inquisitive little friends expected questions. "The first question is a long story that I'll tell you in full detail some other time. As for the latter one well… I guess I'm feeling slightly insecure because I'm afraid he might be right…"
Tentomon wasn't exactly sure what he meant. "Well… Yeah, so what if he is? Does it really matter? I mean it's not exactly the end of the world is it?"
Izzy frowned. "Quite possibly the end of both! That's not what has gotten me upset though… What if I can't figure this out Tentomon? My role on the team is to handle things like this, is it not? If I fail and let the others down, then what use to the team am I? I've always prided myself on my intelligence… What if I'm not as smart as I think I am?"
"But Izzy! You're the smartest human I know!… Granted I only know a little more then a dozen of you but…"
"Not much of a pep talk Tentomon," Izzy giggled sadly. "I'm glad you still look at me that way though… Now that I know how the rest of my friends really think of me…"
"Izzy, what are you talking about?!" Tentomon demanded. "Did your friends do something to make you feel they think ill of you?"
"Don't worry about it Tentomon. I don't want to talk about it right now…"
"But Izzy! Why won't you talk to me?! What's the matter?!" Izzy ignored him, and turned his head in the other direction. "Izzy!…"
----------
"Palmon, it's so great to see you again!" Mimi squealed with delight, as she swung the little plant Digimon around in her arms.
"And for the twelfth time, It's good to see you too Mimi!" she giggled. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but don't you think you overreacting just a bit?"
"Oh, I'm sorry Palmon, but I just can't help being excited! I really needed something to cheer me up after the week I've had…"
"What do you mean by that?" Palmon asked. "Didn't I hear your mother say earlier that your father had found a job in Tokyo, and they were moving back here the first of the month? That's something you've said you've been wanting, so shouldn't you be happy about that?"
"It was at first," Mimi sniffed, beginning to tear up. "That was before I found out my friends didn't want me around anymore…"
"That's a bunch of horse crap Mimi!" Palmon barked. "Your friends have not been saying those awful things about you, I don't care what Davis says or thinks!"
Palmon's words just couldn't seem to penetrate the funk Mimi was trapped in. She seemed to drift away a little more with each passing second, despite how jubilant she may have been to see her old friend. "How do I know that Palmon? In a way I have been acting just like Davis said I was. When I think about it I guess I do act like a snob sometimes, and I do tend to complain a lot but… I never thought I was being overly cruel or insensitive to anyone… I thought I…"
Mimi stretched herself across her bed, and hid her face in her pillow. Though Palmon couldn't see her, she could still hear Mimi sobbing. "Your not a snob Mimi! Sure you complain a lot, but that's just the way you vent your frustration. You're certainly not being cruel to anyone! Well… I guess you can get a bit nitpicky about little things, but that's not a big deal! Your just, how do you humans say it?… Brutally honest?"
Mimi lifted her head up off her pillow, and frowned. "Brutal?! So your agreeing with them now Palmon?!"
"No, no! I'm only saying you say what's on your mind! You don't mean any harm by it… I can understand how some people might take that the wrong way, but your friends know better then that! They love you and accept you for who you are!"
"Oh you think so Palmon! That's why they had a going away party when I moved to New York, after I moved! Nobody wants me here Palmon… They put up with me because I just happen to be another Digidestined…"
"Mimi!" Palmon cried one last time, but anything else she would say would fall on death ears. Mimi buried her head into her pillow, her mindset now unapproachable to anyone. Not even the closest of friends…
----------
Cody stared blankly out of his bedroom window, nothing out there in particular gaining his interest. Armadillomon watched him solemnly from the end of the bed.
"What's the matter Cody? Are you seriously considering staying behind? The Digital World needs you."
"You guys don't need me," Cody pouted, without removing his gaze from the window. "I'd only be in the way… The other's don't want me around anyway."
"Of course we need you Cody," the shell-backed Digimon said, as he walked over next to Cody. "You wouldn't be any more in the way then any of the other kids… I don't know what exactly Davis or any of the others said about you if anything at all, but if it's any consolation I want you around Cody."
Cody inched his head around slowly. He stared at his little partner for a moment, before cracking a small smile. "Thank you Armadillomon. I'll think about it okay?"
"Okay Cody…. I'm sure you'll make the right choice…" Armadillomon mouthed the last part to himself. "I hope…"
----------
"And that's the entire story," Kari finished with one last sob. She was lying across her bed, with Gatomon resting firmly on her stomach.
Gatomon nodded her head. "Oh, so that's the problem? It all makes sense now. This all came on because you're jealous."
"I am not jealous!" Kari barked. "Its just… I, I…"
"Don't feed me any lie's Kari," she scolded with the utmost of composure. "Don't forget who your talking to now. The same Mon who found all those sheets of paper with TK's name written in little hearts, or all those sweet little love poems you've showed me and were so proud of. Did you really think I didn't know who they were about? Or how about all those times I sat in your lap and listened while you went on about how cute and sweet TK was or…"
"Okay, okay I'll admit it! I was jealous!" Kari gave in. "I had every right to be! What do you want me to do about it?!"
"Tell the boy how you feel about him?!" Gatomon responded, almost sounding agitated. "It's not that hard! I don't know why you humans turn into such wussies when it comes to things like this!"
"That's easy for you to say! You don't know what's it like to watch a bunch of hormone driven bimbos crawling all over somebody you really care about, when you know he should be with you! My feelings run a lot deeper then that, and it hurts when he seems to enjoy their company more than mine… Do you know how it feels to have to worry about telling someone how you feel, while worrying how they'll react and what consequences might come if you do?! I don't think so!"
Kari might as well have slapped her, for the sharp wince that appeared across Gatomon's face. "I wouldn't be too sure about that…"
Kari seemed somewhat surprised. "What?… Gatomon?… Your not talking about Patamon are you?"
Gatomon blushed, and shook her head violently. "That's besides the point right now! We're not at each other's throats at the moment! The important thing is deciding what you're going to do to try and fix this!"
Kari rolled her head off to the side, as if she wasn't distant enough as it was. "I'm not going to do anything."
"What?! Why not?!"
"There's nothing I can do Gatomon… He doesn't want me in that way, and he doesn't trust me as a friend anymore… There's nothing left to save… If this is the way it's going to be all the time and if I'm always going to feel like this, then I'd just as soon live without him anyway…"
"Kari!" Though Tai had warned her that Kari wasn't in the highest of spirits, there was no way she could've prepared herself to actually see the condition Kari was in. There was much more to it then just moist eyes, and a tear soaked face. That same face was blank and expressionless, like a wax dummy that had part of her face melted off. More descriptively her smile. No matter what Gatomon tried, she just couldn't get even the slightest smirk to cross the girl's lips. Besides that, her entire body seemed void of life unwilling to move unless she found it necessary to raise her arm or move her jaw to speak every so often. Who ever this little girl, who's arms Gatomon was cradled up in, was she was no longer the spirited Child of Light the Digimon had grown to love and protect. All she'd been left with was the mere shell that used to encase that girl. "I wish Patamon had made it through the portal with us… Then maybe he could tell me what TK is feeling right now… Oh Kari, how could you let this happen to you?"
----------
TK was tired. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy from countless hours with little if any sleep. He'd dozed off maybe two, three hours at best since the entire scene with Stacy occurred almost four days before. It was bad enough just knowing Kari was angry with him, but now sleep had become a distant dream with Kari's final heart breaking words stuck in his head. He tossed and turned violently in his bed, dripping with sweat, trying desperately to get himself to sleep. However, a little voice ringing in his head continued drilling reality into his mind, reminding him of what he'd lost and what he could never have again.
"Maybe we're not friends anymore… Come on Takeru, why do you act so surprised to hear that? Are you really that naïve to think she could ever love someone like you? It's ironic isn't it? All this time you've been hiding your feelings from her out of fear of losing her as a friend, and you wind up losing her anyway. Face it, she never really cared about you. If she did she wouldn't be acting the way she is. It's a shame, the girl you fell in love with isn't the person you thought she was, and now your hearts gone with no way of getting it back…"
TK let out a groan of mental anguish, and shot straight up in his bed. He grabbed his head, which was throbbing from lack of sleep, and stumbled towards his bedroom window, leaning up against the wall for support. "It was all a lie! It was all a damned lie! I can live life without her loving me, but I don't know if I want to live like this!… Why did she pretend to care about me for all that time if she really?… She was just stringing me along, and playing with my emotions for her own amusement! She's not worth my tears! She's not worth getting upset over!… But then why does it hurt so much?…"
Almost as soon as he started, TK suddenly stopped crying. He stumbled backwards groggily, and collapsed across his bed. All the stress, all the pain finally overloaded the boy's mind and body, and within seconds he was off to sleep. Truthfully, he may not of minded if he never woke up again at all.
********
Davis hung his head in shame, as he exited the elevator. In a matter of a few seconds he probably went and ruined a special bond that had taken months to take hold. He just alienated his best friend, and contradicted everything about life and friendship he'd tried to teach Ken after his stint as the Digimon Emperor was over. Not only that, but he had ruined another sacred friendship that had lasted nearly six years. He had practically done the impossible with that feat, proving that he was doing his job extremely well. How did that make Davis feel? Truthfully speaking, for the first time in his life the energetic young man wished he were dead. Davis may not have been thinking that if he actually knew just how close he might have been to having that arranged. The normally short walk to his family's small apartment seemed to take hours, and Davis was more then surprised to find Matt standing in front of his door waiting for him. To say Matt looked unhappy, would've been like saying the sky was blue.
"Matt? What are you… UGH!"
Davis didn't have the time to finish that question. Matt yanked the collar of his shirt, effectively strangling Davis with, and slammed him up against the wall. "I've got three questions for you! One, did you spread those rumors around school about my brother?! Two, why the hell did you?! And three, give me one good reason why I shouldn't break every bone in your puny little body?!"
Davis coughed as his face turned red. He tried to look tough as he glared back at Matt, but truthfully he wanted to pee in his pants. "None of your business, still none of your business even if I did do it, and go ahead and try if you think your tough enough to beat on someone half your size!"
"Don't get an attitude with me you little rat! Who do you think you are anyway?!"
"Why are you even defending them anyway?!" Davis wheezed, most of the air being chocked out of him. "If you heard half the things they say about you behind your back…"
Matt loosened his chock hold on Davis, but made up for it by ramming him hard into the wall twice. "Don't start any of your crap with me, because I'm not buying it! I know what you've said to Ken and Izzy, and I'd really like to know where you get off telling Mimi those lies about me! Who the hell do you think you are boy!?"
Matt tightened his grip on Davis's shirt tight enough where the boy couldn't even speak, and squeezed until Davis's head looked like it was about to explode. Matt may have just popped it like a bag of puss, if an old raspy voice hadn't commanded him to stop. "Let him go Matt."
Matt released his hold on Davis, recognizing the familiar voice. Davis dropped to his knees, attempting desperately to get some air back to his head and lungs. "What… You?…"
"The answers to all those questions are simple. He's doing those things because I've ordered him too. He's not doing it of his free will in the least, trust me. He's been dead set against it from the beginning, but he knows he has to complete the task ahead of him for the sake of both our worlds."
Matt's mouth hung open. "Genai?… What the hell's going on here?!" (Yeah, who didn't see that coming a mile away? I wasn't exactly trying to fool anybody. )
"That's Genai?!" Davis coughed. "How did he get so old so fast?!"
"It's all a long story. Come with me Matt. I'm sure your wanting an explanation for what's going on here, and you certainly deserve one. Since you've wandered into the middle of this, I guess it was your time to figure it out anyway. Besides… I think you can be a big help to us."
End.
-That's all for part four. Once again, I apologize for the lack of quality, but I will make it up to you in the last couple chapters. There should be two more… Possibly three if part six runs too long, which I fear it will. I may split part of it off into an epilogue if needs be. Part five is looking real good so far… At least I think so. Tons of mush, and really long too. Until next time, thanks for reading!
-This is a quick overview of what I want to do with part five. I want to touch on a few of the things Toei so conveniently forgot about over the course of the series, and answer some of the questions they left unanswered in whatever way I want to. Because I have the power, and I can! Such as, what the heck ever happened to the Undersea Master of the Dark Ocean that made one lone appearance? What the heck is the special power inside of Kari he was after? Things like that. If you can think of anymore you'd like to see me include, let me know and I'll see if I can fit it in here.
