According to Angel: Part Seven

*Reality Check*

Gennai explains to them about how he changed the course of destiny in order to keep the Digital World from going completely chaotic. Kari breaks down after learning that she might have ended up with Ken. Ken and Yolei confort her, and now she must face her own husband. Angel and Tony make it back to the real world, accompanied by Patamon and Gatomon.



*Present Day*

TK knocked on the door softly.

"Come in," Kari called.

TK slowly opened the door. He was nervous. He didn't know what had happened with Ken, and what she would do about it.

He sat down next to her. They were silent for a moment, then suddenly, TK laughed. "I haven't been this awkward around you since we were teenagers."

"It shouldn't be this way," Kari said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"We should never have to feel awkward around each other! It's wrong; don't you see? You're my husband. I should be able to be at ease with you. I love you. It shouldn't be so hard."

TK nodded. "I agree."

"And secondly, I don't care how the outcome of our lives might have been if I'd married someone else. Because I married you. You're all that I want. And all that I need," she said.

"I'm sorry this had to happen," he said softly. His hand reached up to stroke her cheek, and she clasped it tightly. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

*~*

Needless to say, we screamed our heads off. It's not every day you see a bunny cat and a batpig sitting on top of your friend's computer.

After a few minutes, when we realized how moronic we were being, we stopped. "Talk about enormous lung capacity," Gatomon grumbled. She hopped down off of the computer, and Patamon followed her lead.

"Whose house is this?" he asked.

"Mine," Tony said. He stood, and brushed himself off, then offered a hand for me. I took it gratefully, and stood.

"Where's your house, Angel?" Gatomon asked.

"About three doors down," I replied.

"Let's go there, then!" she said excitedly. "I can't wait to see your parents again!"

"Not so fast, girlfriend," I said. "I can't have them see you! Otherwise, I'd get in major trouble."

"I understand," she sighed. "Can we at least watch them from a hiding place or something?"

"Sure, as long as they don't find you." I rubbed the back of my neck where it had landed on Tony's knee. "Let's go back to my apartment. We can stay there until Mom and Dad get home."

"Alright," Tony said. "We'd better hide these guys, in case the neighbors see us."

"Right." We hid the two of them in a duffel bag, then slipped out the front door. We tiptoed down the hallway until we got to my front door. I reached into my pocket, and rummaged around for a key.

"I hate skirt pockets," I grumbled. I finally found my key, at long last, then opened the door.

"Hello?" I called softly. There was no answer.

"They're not back yet," I said. "Shut the door, lock it, then close the blinds."

Tony quickly turned the lock on the door, and I shut all of the blinds in the front living room. He unzipped the duffel bag, and Gatomon and Patamon hopped out, sweating like mad.

"Why is your duffel bag insulated, pray tell?" Gatomon asked, panting.

"For winter. It keeps my basketball uniform warm in the cold locker room."

"Ahhh..." Gatomon nodded, not completely understanding.

"I'm hungry," Patamon said. "Is their anything to eat?"

"Uh, well, ah..." I was hoping food wouldn't be a problem with these two, but it was obvious that it would be. "I don't know what we have."

"Anything is okay." He flapped over to the refridgerator and attempted to open the door. Attempted, but failed. "It's stuck!"

"Here," Tony said. He walked over to the fridge and pulled it open. "Let's see...do you guys like watermelon?"

"Yeah!" Tony cut the watermelon into slices, then put out two plates. We had already eaten, so we weren't hungry.

Obviously, these two were. They wolfed it down within seconds. "Mmm!" Patamon said, licking his lips. "That was delicious!"

"I haven't had a meal that good since before the Emperor came to power!" Gatomon joked, but the joke was lost on me.

I sat down next to her. "What Emperor?" I asked, curious.

Gatomon's eyes darkened. "The Emperor," she said angrily, "is some Digimon that came to power in the Digital World only recently. No one, except his closest advisors, has ever seen him. Awhile ago, he seemed like a pretty good guy. But then his reign of terror began.

"He began enslaving Digimon, using the old technics of the Black Gears and Dark Rings and Spirals to turn them evil. Anyone who spoke out against him was either put in captivity or ran away. Naturally, being the Chosen Digimon, we felt obligated to fight him. Needless to say, we lost in the end.

"We managed to escape his wrath a few months ago, and have been hiding out in that cave ever since. Until you came along, that is. If we can get all of the new Chosen Children to the Digital World, then we can bring all of the Chosen Digimon back here, and devise a plan to defeat him, and restore the peace there once again."

"But are the other Children really just our friends from school?" I asked, puzzled. "Kara, Brad, Chino, Lei, and the others?"

"Yes," Patamon said, his mouth full.

"But how can we fight him?" Tony asked. "We're only kids, after all. And pretty lazy ones at that. I'd just like to see Flora try and handle a gun."

"You don't fight in the Digital World using guns and knives and other weapons," Patamon explained. "You fight using us."

"You?" I said, resisting the urge to laugh. "But you're so small! How can you handle someone as high and mighty as this Emperor dude?"

"We may be small," Patamon said, "but we're strong! Go get something you don't mind having destroyed, and we'll show you."

"Alright," I said, uncertainly. I went back into my room and brought out a huge cardboard box of bottle caps that I had collected when I was seven. The box came up to my waist.

I set it out in the middle of the living room. "What are you going to do with it?" I asked nervously.

"Just watch," Patamon said, grinning. He took a deep breath. "Boom Bubble, pop!"

A huge bubble flew out of his mouth, and slammed right into the cardboard box. The box was ripped into pieces, and bottlecaps flew everywhere. I held my hands up to my face protectively. Gatomon dove under the couch, and Tony ducked behind a chair.

The bottlecaps finally settled. I moved my hands, and looked at the box. It had been torn to shreds, and bottlecaps were everywhere. I glared at Patamon.

He grinned sheepishly. "Oops," he sqeaked.

"Oops is right! My parents will be home any minute! How am I gonna get this cleaned up in time?"

*~*

TK closed the door and tiptoed down the hall to the living room. Sora and Matt were back, and the four of them sat on the couch together.

"Is she--" Sora started.

"Shh. She's fine. She's sleeping now," TK whispered. "She's out cold. I don't think we're gonna make it home tonight. Do you think we could stay here, Matt?"

"Anything for family," Matt replied, grinning. "Were you guys able to work it out?"

"Yeah. It was truly--an experience."

"You two can stay here if Kara and Chino can with Angel tonight. I don't want them in the apartment in case the two of you decide to get--physical. I don't particularly want to be here either, but the landlord said..."

"It's alright, they can stay with her," TK interrupted smoothly. "Let me just call Angel and fill her in with the details. Then you can talk to Kara and Chino."

"Phone's in the kitchen."

TK walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone. He dialed the number for their apartment, and Angel picked up the phone. Her voice was somewhat panicky. "Hello?"

"Angel? It's Dad. Is everything all right over there?"

"Oh, everything is just...dandy over here."

"Well, that's good to know. Anyways, I'm calling to tell you that your mother got very tired this afternoon, and she and I will be staying at your aunt and uncle's apartment tonight. Kara and Chino are going to stay at our apartment with you tonight, and keep you company. Do you three think you can handle being there alone?"

"I'm sure will be fine Dad," Angel said, relieved. "Ow! Watch it!"

"Angel, are you sure you're alright?"

"Everything's fine," she said, irritated. "Thanks for giving me a heads up."

"Anytime. Kara and Chino should be over there in an hour. You mom and I will be back by noon tomorrow."

"Alright, I'll see you then. 'Night, Dad."

"'Night, Angel." He placed the phone on the receiver. I'm sure they'll be fine, he thought. Angel, Kara, and Chino are responsible children. What could go wrong?

*~*

Angel sighed with relief as she hung up the phone, and another bottlecap seemed to fly out of nowhere and hit her on the back of the head. She ignored it. "My parents aren't coming home tonight, thank God. They won't be back until tomorrow. Kara and Chino are coming over, though, and they're gonna spend the night."

No one seemed to have heard me. Patamon was inspecting the damage he had done, Gatomon had out a photo album of Mom and Dad, and Tony was fishing bottlecaps out of his pockets.

"Huh? Oh, well, that's good," Tony said, distracted by the task at hand.

Gatomon shut the photo album. "We can also explain to Kara and Chino about the Digital World. That way, we'll already have four people who understand it when we explain it to the others."

Tony gazed around the room. "Patamon, I can't believe that such a little guy could cause such a huge mess."

"That's only the beginning," Patamon said proudly. "When I Digivolve, I could destroy this entire building if I wanted to! Of course, I probably wouldn't since I'm a good Digimon and all."

"I still don't understand about all this..Digivolving," Tony said.

"Well, see," Gatomon began, "when someone or something is in trouble, a Digimon can change it's shape in order to save it. When they change, they usually become bigger and stronger. With a Chosen Digimon, the human has to have a Digivice, or a D-3, somewhere nearby. And the human has to have the Crests in order for the Digimon to Digivolve to the Ultimate level."

"Level?"

"There is a minimum of four levels for every Digimon: In-training, Rookie, Champion, and Ultimate. Right now, I'm in my Champion stage, and Patamon is at Rookie. There are other levels, such as Armor, Mega, DNA Digivolving, Fighter Mode, and so on."

"Do stay the same when you change shape?" Tony asked. "I mean, are still Gatomon, but just...bigger?"

"Nope," Gatomon said, smiling. "I turn into Angewomon in my Ultimate level. Patamon is Angemon at Champion, and Magnaangemon at Ultimate. He is Tokomon when he is In-training, and when I'm In-traning and Rookie, I'm Nyaroumon and Salamon."

"It's all so confusing," I said, shaking my head.

"You get used to it pretty quickly," Patamon said.

Just then, the doorbell rang. "I bet that's Kara and Chino," Tony said, getting up.

"Hide, you guys!" I hissed. "You don't want to freak them out just yet!"

They dove under the couch. Tony looked through the peephole, then opened the door.

Kara bounced in, and Chino followed. "Hey, guys, what's--whoa! What happened here?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "I guess we do have some explaining to do."

"First of all, you guys have to promise not to freak out too much," I said.

"Uh, okay," Chino said, standing behind Kara.

"Come on out, guys," I said. "It's okay."

Slowly, Patamon and Gatomon climbed out from under the couch. Kara and Chino's eyes widened.

"What the heck....?" Kara trailed off.

"Son of a bitch, Tony, I didn't know you two still played with stuffed animals!" Chino said.

"They're real, Chino," I said softly. "They're called Digimon. And they're as real as you and I."

*~*

TK typed furiously at his laptop. I can't believe I forgot about this stupid article, he thought bitterly. He heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

Matt opened the door slowly. "Hey," he whispered, as not to wake Kari. "What are you working on?"

"This stupid article I forgot," TK grumbled. "The deadline's at midnight."

"So are you coming to the concert or not?"

"Depends on whether I get this in on time. I'll probably bring Angel, but I don't know if Kari will be up to it."

"What do you not think I'm up to?" Kari asked, sleepily. She stretched.

"I thought you were asleep," TK said.

"I was. I just now woke up," she said. "What am I not up to?"

"Matt's concert tomorrow," he replied.

"I'll go," she said. "If I get eight hours of sleep, I'll go."

"Great!" Matt said. "Good night, you two."

"'Night," Kari and TK said at the same time.

"So," Kari said after Matt had left the room, "where is everybody?"

"We're staying here tonight," he replied. "You were fast asleep, and I didn't want to have to wake you up so you would have to drive all the way home."

"What about Angel?"

"She's fine. Kara and Chino are staying with her tonight. I called her just a little while ago. Matt didn't want them in the house in case we, um, decided to, um, get....physical."

Kari smiled.

*~*

"Oh, my, kami-sama," Kara said. "You mean to tell me that there's an entirely different world next to ours, that has special little creatures called Digimon that change shape and fight evil?"

"Uh, yeah, that's about it," Tony said.

Kara and Chino exchanged a glance. "No offense or anything, guys," Chino said slowly, "but you two are nuts." They bolted for the door. Gatomon got there faster, and stood in front of it. The two of them backed away.

"Not so fast, guys," she said. "You're a part of this, too."

"What do you mean? I don't want anything to do with this," Kara said, panicky.

"You two are DigiDestined, just like us!" I said. "I'm not too sure what that is yet, but I know it's something that we are obligated to. We have to help them!"

"Come on, guys, we can prove it to you!" Tony chimed in. "Just follow me back to my apartment, and we'll show you."

Kara and Chino looked uncertain. "Do you think we should?" she whispered to her brother.

"I don't know. They've never lied to us before. And how can you explain that flying pig and the rabbit?"

"I guess we can trust them." They turned back to us. "Prove it."

Tony led us out of my apartment and over to his. He switched the computer on. Automatically, the Digimon Game popped up. He opened it, and the portal came up again.

I took a deep breath. "You do it this time," I told him nervously.

He nodded, just as nervous. He held his Digivice up to the monitor screen, face forward. "Digiport open!"

Zoom. The six of us were suddenly flying through the gateway that would lead us to another world.

Thud.

I sat up and groaned. "We really need to work on our landings," I grumbled.

Kara and Chino sat up and looked around. Kara's eyes early popped out of her head. "Whoa."

"It's...amazing," Chino said, awed. "Where are we?"

"The Digital World," I said, gazing around. I was still trying to get used to things myself.

Our clothes had changed again. I was back in my denim outfit, and Tony was back into the one he was wearing before. Kara had on denim flares, and a red sleeveless turtleneck. Chino had on baggy Levi's and a blue teeshirt that said "Instant Human: Just Add Coffee."

I pointed and laughed. "Nice shirt."

He looked down, then back up at me and grinned. The wind blew around his chestnut hair, and he looked off into the distance.

"I guess you guys were right," he said guiltily.

"It's okay, you had every right to doubt us," Tony said, slapping him on the back. He smiled, and Chino smiled back.

"So come on!" Gatomon said. "Let's go get the others!"

I strapped my Digivice back onto my beltloop, and broke into a run after her. The others followed me, and before long, we had reached the cave.

"In here," Gatomon said, and we followed her. Before long, we came to the huddled mass of Digimon.

"They're back!" Palmon said, standing up. The others followed her lead, and they crowded around us. Kara and Chino shrank back.

"Don't be afraid," Biyomon said, smiling. She walked up to Kara, and took her hand in her wing. Kara smiled, and looked a little less nervous. "What's your name?"

"I, uh, ah, um...My name is Kara!" she blurted out.

"I'm Biyomon," Biyomon replied. "I haven't seen you since you were a baby."

Kara freaked a little at this, and I put a hand on her shoulder. "We met a long time ago, we just don't remember," I said softly.

Kara was shaking. "I wish I did."

Chino was looking Gabumon up and down. He didn't look the least bit frightned. It almost seemed as though this was...normal. "You look awfully familiar," he commented.

"I should. You might not remember, but we've met before!" Gabumon said, smiling.

"I think I do. Your name is Gabumon, right?" I was a little shocked that Chino could remember that far back, but then again, he was older than the rest of us. But only by a year...it was still amazing, nontheless.

"That's right."

"I remember you, for some reason...I don't think it was here, though...we were somewhere else."

"Do you remember anything else?" I asked.

"Don't think so, cuz...wait! Something about a boat...and a horse...and an...angel? That can't be right," he mused.

Angel. Angewomon.

Huh? Where had that thought come from? It was spooky. I shook it away. Suddenly the image of a horse--well, a half horse, half...human, I think--stood fresh in my mind.

"I remember something about a horse, too," I said softly. "Only it wasn't an entire horse. It was half horse, half human."

Tony stood from his squatting position. "I remember now, too," he chimed in. "And for some reason--I recall the angel. I don't remember anything but the angel. But, when I saw her...she made me cry. I don't remember why, but she did. She was beautiful. "

"I remember something else!" Kara said. "I remember, we were on the boat, and something came out of the water and attacked us...I think. I don't remember anything after that."

This was all so strange. We were able to remember things that had happened nearly fifteen years ago. Isn't that kind of...impossible? Oh, well. This whole day has been impossible.

"Whose going to go back with Kara and Chino?" Gomamon asked, breaking my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, well, I guess, we'll have to do the same thing we did before...you know, check their Digivices," I said.

"Our whats?" Chino said, bewildered.

"That thingy on your waist," Agumon pointed.

The looked down. They too had the little Digivices hooked onto their beltloops. Only, theirs was a different model. It was square, and smaller than mine and Tony's. Kara's was red, and Chino's was blue.

"There's a name scratched on the back of it," Tentomon instructed. "What does it say?"

Chino flipped his over. "Matt," he said. "Hey, that's my dad's name! Does that mean..."

"That means you're with me!" Gabumon said, smiling. Chino gave a half smile, but I could see he was still confused.

"What does yours say, Kara?"

She flipped it over. As expected, someone had scratched SORA out on it with something sharp. "It says Sora. That's my mom," she said. "Why..."

"You're with me, then!" Biyomon squaked happily. Kara gave her a big grin.

Tony looked at his watch. "We'd better go," he said. "My grandpa will be home soon, and if I'm not there when he gets home, I'm in trouble."

Agumon looked sad. "Well, you better come back soon!" he said. "With the others."

I smiled at him, hoping to cheer him up. "We will, I promise. Either tomorrow or the day after."

"Alright, I guess. Bye!"


"Bye!" we shouted, heading to the entrance of the cave.

Suddenly, we heard a low rumble. It began getting louder, and louder.

"Rockslide!" Gatomon shouted. "Everybody get out of the cave!"

Heavy rocks and boulders started falling from the sides of the cave. We ran towards the opening, and the eight of us made it before we were crushed. I turned back to look at the cave. The entrance was totally blocked in.

"Oh, no!" I screamed. "They're trapped!"

*~*

Ah...I'm really getting good at this cliffhanger stuff. ^_~ Email at jazzgirl1488@hotmail.com. Chapter Eight coming up soon!