Chapter three

Chapter three

"What time is it?"

"Ten forty."

"Shit! We're gonna be late."

Daisuke climbed out of Ken's bed and began the task of getting dressed quickly. Ken followed, but at a less frantic pace. Once they were presentable, they gathered that they would need and left the apartment. Daisuke grabbed Ken's hand and dragged him through the streets in order to get from Ken's apartment in Tamachi, to the park in Odiba not too much after eleven. When they reached the park, they were met with a surprise.

"They did say we were meeting here at eleven, didn't they?"
"They did."

"What time is it now?"
"Five to."

"So where is everybody?"

~~*@*~~

It wasn't even noon yet, and already the day was going to hell. He couldn't find anything clean to wear. When he went to check his email, he discovered that his computer was being slowly attacked by a virus. He was in the midst of trying to get rid of the virus (which for some reason was forcing him to play Go with it), when his mother poked her head into the room.

"Koushiro, I made some sandwiches for your picnic."

"Picnic?"

"Don't you have a picnic today?"

Koushiro checked the clock on his computer and gasped. Shutting down the computer, he jumped to his feet and took the bag from his mother.

"Thanksmom.Ihavetogonow.I'mgoingtobelate.Bye." he said, running out the door.

~~*@*~~

"Joyu, time to get up."

Joyu yawned, feeling his teeth lengthen and shorten as they usually did when he woke up. He groped the night stand for his glasses. Last night, he had been up late playing a game over the internet.

Debating whether or not to simply roll over and catch just a few more minutes of sleep, he glanced at the clock and bolted upright.

"Shit."

~~*@*~~

"Don't you think you have enough?"

"I guess you're right. But some of our friends can be such bottomless pits at times. And I'm not talking about the digimon."

"True. But if we don't get going soon, we're going to be late."

"We're late?! Well, let's go!"

~~*@*~~

"Yama! Hurry up in there. We don't have all day."

"Keep your shirt on TK. I have to fix my hair."

"Your hair's fine. We have to go."

"Don't rush the hair."

"Who're you trying to impress? Taichi?"

"I'm not trying to impress Tai. He's my friend, and that's it."

"So who is it? You said you don't like Sora or Mimi as anything other than a friend."

"I'm not trying to impress anyone."

"Then stop fussing with your hair. None of us care if your hair isn't perfect. I swear, you act so gay sometimes."

"I'll be done when I'm done. And I'm not gay."

"But we're late."

~~*@*~~

"Tai, you're not going to be executed. You can walk a little faster."

"But what if they don't accept me. What if they hate me?"
"Tai, they're your friends. They won't hate you."

"But…"

"Have some faith. It's a good chance that not all of them are homophobic. Besides, I'm pretty sure he likes you back."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's a part of my crest. I can look at two people and see if they're right for each other or not. I've been thinking of turning it into part of my career once I graduate."

"What do you think Kari? Kari? Kari?"

"Something bad's going to happen today. I can feel it."

"Kari?"

"I hate when that happens. I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

~~*@*~~

"Daisuke! You're early."

"And apparently everyone else's gonna be late."

"How come you're early. It's not like you."
"We didn't have to wait long for the train in from Tamachi."

"That, and we practically ran the entire way here."

Taichi took a seat near where Daisuke was leaning against Ken. Hikari let Gatomon down, and then took a seat under a tree. Within a few minutes, Koushiro ran breathlessly into the park, followed closely by Joyu. They slumped in the shade of another tree.

"What happened Joyu? You're usually earlier."

"I overslept."

"You overslept?"

"Yes I did. I had a late night and forgot to set my alarm."

Ken sighed and absentmindedly began to toy with a strand of Daisuke's hair. Sora sat down next to Taichi, while Koushiro discovered that the battery of his laptop had died.

"I told you we were going to be late."

"We're not that late."

"We were supposed to meet here at eleven."

"So?"
"It's eleven fifteen."

"Oh. Well, let's get going then."

"We can't. TK and Yama aren't here yet."

"Oh hey guys! Sorry we're late."

"It took Miyako a while to pack the food."

"I just wanted to be sure we had enough."

"So, you felt it too?"
"Felt what?"

"Never mind."

"Where on Earth can Takeru and Yamato be?"

~~*@*~~

"Where were you guys? We were supposed to meet here half an hour ago!"

"Yama had to make sure his hair was perfect."

"Now that you are here, we can get going. No doubt Mimi's been waiting for us in the Digital World."

With that the group of eleven kids and six assorted digimon headed to the computer that would transport them into the Digital World. Sneaking into the school was no problem as usual, and soon they had opened up a digiport.

~~*@*~~

After they had defeated Arukinimon and Mummymon, the digidestined had decided to have a picnic in the Digital World as soon as all twelve of them were able to get together. And today was that day. It had taken a lot of planing, but here they were. Mimi sat on the blanket she had brought, with the older children's digimon –apparently telling them some sort of story- when the others arrived through the portal. With the initial apologies over the lateness of their arrival out of the way, the picnic began in earnest. Once most of the food had been eaten, and before everyone could drift off to do their own thing, Taichi spoke.

"I have something to tell everyone. This is kinda hard to say, and I'm not sure where to really begin. A couple of weeks ago, I realized something about myself and came to terms with it. I'm bisexual."

For the moment, everyone was quite. Those who knew, had already given Taichi their reaction to his big news. Those who didn't apparently needed a few moments for everything to sink in. Daisuke was the first to react, simply shrugging while Ken played idly with his hair. Neither of them really cared about what Taichi had said. To them, it just didn't matter who Taichi was attracted to (as long as it wasn't one of them. Or if it was, Taichi made no move to date him). Mimi also looked like she didn't care; brushing crumbs off the blanket.

"So you're all okay with this?"

"TK! You have to come quick!"

"What's wrong Patamon?"

"We were playing tag, and we found an abandoned temple. Only none of us remember it ever being there before. The others asked me to come and get you guys "

"I guess we should check it out then."

~~*@*~~

"I can see why this place was abandoned."

"It reminds me of some of the pictures I've seen of the Greek and Roman ruins. But these hieroglyphs…"

"Hey guys! I found something interesting."

"What is it Miyako?"

"It looks like a prophecy or something. And there are five symbols that kinda look like the crests, only I've never seen them before."

"I think it looks a little creepy. What language is that?"
"I'm not sure."

"Hmmm…

Heed my warning Children of Destiny,

Or doomed will you be.

Three worlds-

Three fates interwoven.

You come to a crossroads.

Do nothing, three worlds will end.

Hate and ignorance will destroy Innocence.

With Innocence gone, Compassion will turn a blind eye.

Loyalty will be torn between two duties,

And Happiness will pay the price.

Without Happiness, Empathy will do what Compassion could not-

And the fate of all life will be sealed.

Seek out the five

Bind them together

But remember: the path to salvation is never easy.

Dark forces must be fought

To negate the death Empathy would have wrought.

Est opus me. Fatum est. Deflegrati muri intervalia."

"I wonder what that"