Last Time: With TK and Davis blindfolded, Kari was given a sponge bath. And as if things couldn't get any worse, TK now needs to make a delivery to his older brother, Matt. There's immediate fear of going out in public since TK and Davis are wearing nothing more than robes and pants while Kari's stuck in pants and a poncho. But that's when Ken gets an idea.


Three's Always A Crowd: Part 7


After taking Davis to the bathroom (AGAIN!), everyone had now converged in Ken's backyard. No matter how much Kari wished for this all to be over, things only appeared to get worse. Not only was she STILL handcuffed to TK and Davis, but now TK had to bring Matt his guitar. And as soon as he did, there would naturally be a lot of questions. But Kari had a bigger fear and that was going out in public like this. It was hard enough to take the subway the first time, but now things would only get worse.

"So what's the plan, Ken?" Kari asked.

"Well…you all need to make a delivery before 5 o'clock," Ken explained. "And you obviously can't go into the subway like that. But…what if you didn't take the subway? What if you were to FLY back to Odaiba?"

Kari blinked. "Fly?"

Ken glanced at his Digimon companion. "Go ahead, Wormmon."

Wormmon smiled. "Ok, Ken."

**Wormmon…Digivolve to…Stingmon!**

Kari now looked up to see the much-bigger Stingmon. The bug-eyed Stingmon quickly flew a few feet in the air to demonstrate Ken's idea. Kari knew exactly what Ken had in mind now.

"Stingmon can carry you back to Odaiba," Ken said proudly. "Your weight shouldn't be a problem at all. He's got enough strength to carry you there and back whenever you're done."

"That's good thinking, Ken!" Davis exclaimed. "Now we shouldn't have any problems at all!"

"That's nice to hear, Davis," Ken grinned. "Now you can concentrate on what you're going to tell Matt when he sees you all handcuffed to each other."

Davis sweatdropped. "I'll think of something. I always do."

Yolei snickered. "I'm glad I won't have to see that. HEY!!"

Before Yolei could say anything else, Stingmon picked her up and put her over his shoulder. Yolei tried pounding on the champion Digimon's back, but to no avail. Stingmon wasn't about to put her down.

"Who said YOU weren't going?" Ken grinned.

"You mean I have to go, too?" Yolei whined.

"You've come this far," Ken pointed out. "You might as well go along with them."

"You're just as big a part of this as I am," Yolei shot back. "You should be going, too!"

Ken shook his head. "I can't. I have to wait here in case the key comes in the mail."

Yolei groaned. "Ok, fine! I'll go! Just tell him to put me down!"

Upon hearing that, Ken signaled and Stingmon placed Yolei gently on the ground. Now that everything was agreed upon, it was time to go.

Stingmon walked up to the handcuffed threesome and paused momentarily to think about how he was going to do this. Then he picked Kari up by her waist while TK and Davis held on for dear life on the big bug's own waist. With his other arm, Stingmon picked up Yolei.

"Keep them safe, Stingmon," Ken instructed. "I don't want to hear that you dropped Yolei on your way to Odaiba."

"That's NOT funny, Ken!" Yolei shouted angrily.

With his four passengers in hand, Stingmon took flight and flew high in the sky. His destination: Odaiba. More specifically…TK's apartment.


After about a five-minute flight, Stingmon finally landed behind the apartment complex. The flight was very brief, but Kari was counting down the seconds until it ended because she kept getting the feeling that the wind was blowing up her poncho. And that made Kari feel VERY uncomfortable.

Once Stingmon landed, he put Yolei down gently on the ground. But putting the handcuffed trio down was a little more difficult. Kari landed on her feet, but both TK and Davis fell over and took her down with them. They all picked themselves up and TK reached into his pocket. He pulled out a pair of keys and handed them to Yolei.

"Get into my apartment and look for the guitar. I think Matt left it in the first closet to your left."

Yolei took the keys and ran into the apartment complex, leaving Kari, TK, and Davis standing in the back alone with Stingmon.

"Well…I've got to admit," Kari thought. "This wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be."

"Yeah, it really wasn't," TK agreed.

"I was actually expecting much worse," Davis added.

Unfortunately, things got worse. Kari heard a familiar sound. She turned around to see that Stingmon…

"NO!!" the handcuffed threesome all shouted. "DON'T DEVOLVE YET!!"

It was too late. Stingmon had devolved back to his in-training form, Minomon. Kari couldn't believe her luck. It would take hours for the larva-like Digimon to Digivolve back to Wormmon and it would take even longer for Wormmon to be able to Digivolve back to Stingmon. That left the obvious question.

"So…if he's Minomon now…who's flying us back?" Davis asked.

That seemed to be the most obvious question, but before anyone could answer, Yolei came back out. And she had Matt's guitar in her hand. That's when she also noticed Minomon.

"That's…not a good thing, is it?" Yolei mused.

"So what are we supposed to do about getting back to Ken's house?" Kari asked.

"Ken's not the only one with a flying Digimon, you know," Yolei pointed out. "All I have to do is make a quick call to the Digital World and get Hawkmon down here."

"We can do that when we get back," TK said. "But we're on a deadline. Let's get this down to the high school. Even though now that means…we'll have to WALK there."

Kari took a seat and hugged her legs. "No way! There's no way I'm going to let people see me in JUST this poncho!"

"I can't let anybody see me in JUST this robe!" Davis added. He sat right beside Kari.

"You think I want people to see me like this?" TK pointed out. "But you aren't the ones with a big brother breathing down your neck! We HAVE to go!"

Yolei cleared her throat. "Uh…I think I'm starting to understand why Ken wanted me to come along."


Kari, TK, and Davis stayed ducked behind a bush while Yolei, who was carrying Matt's guitar in her hand and Minomon on her shoulder, stood out in the open. It had been like this for the past several minutes. Yolei would look ahead to see if anyone was coming and when the coast was clear, she waved them all forward. It was like one big stealth mission…except the main task was simply to get to the high school.

Yolei looked out again and waved them all forward. "Ok, all clear."

Kari, TK, and Davis moved forward and ducked behind another bush. Kari could only hope that things would stay this easy. But suddenly, Yolei gasped. Kari got a sinking feeling…and she soon found out what made Yolei gasp like that.

"Oh, hey Yolei!"

"Uh…hi Sora!"

Bad luck had struck again. Of all the places to run into sixteen-year-old Sora Takenouchi, this was the one place Kari didn't want to see her. This was only making things more difficult…and awkward.

"Is that Matt's guitar?" Sora asked.

Yolei smiled sheepishly. "Uh…yeah…Matt asked me to deliver it to him."

"You know, I've been meaning to see Matt today," Sora said. "How about I come with you?"

Kari, TK, and Davis all sweatdropped. They all crossed their fingers in the hope that Yolei would be able to come up with some excuse to keep Sora away. Unfortunately…

"Um…sure."

…she didn't.

Things got a hundred times harder now that Sora was tagging along. Kari, TK, and Davis soon found that they were on their own. So they watched Yolei and Sora as they were walking down to the high school. They waited for everything to be clear before running in a straight line down the street to duck behind another bush. But Kari looked up and realized that they wouldn't have to do much more hiding. After a few more minutes, they had already made it. They had made it to Odaiba High.

Once the coast was clear again, the handcuffed threesome walked behind Yolei and Sora to the high school's auditorium. Yolei stood by the closed door while the other three stood behind some more shrubs.

TK whispered out into the open. "Ok, Yolei…go inside and deliver the guitar. Tell Matt I had something to do…"

"Hey, TK."

Kari sweatdropped when she heard that voice. It was the worst thing that could have happened at that moment, but the auditorium door flew open and out came sixteen-year-old Matt Ishida. But luckily, he wasn't focused on TK's wrist, but on his guitar…and Sora.

"Hey Sora! I wasn't expecting you."

"I'm more than happy to surprise you," Sora beamed. "You're lucky I ran into Yolei down the street. But…why'd you say 'TK'? I don't see TK anywhere."

TK tried to duck in the bush along with Kari and Davis. But there was no hiding from the observant eye of Matt Ishida.

"Don't you see him? He's right here. Come on out, TK."

TK sheepishly stepped out into the open, but made sure to keep his left wrist hidden from sight. But Kari knew this was only delaying the inevitable. There was WAY too much to hide from and their luck couldn't last.

"I can't believe I forgot my guitar back at Mom's place. But we can't have rehearsal without it. Thanks for bringing it…TK…uh…what are you wearing?"

Kari closed her eyes, unable to even look at what was about to happen. But TK tried as best he could to keep his cool and act naturally.

Sora blinked. "That's…a nice robe, TK."

"Um…I told you that you caught me at a bad time," TK gulped. "Uh…I…tore my shirt…on…"

"…Ken's fence!" Yolei piped up.

"Oh…well, you should put the other sleeve on," Matt said. "Let me help you with…"

Silence.

Kari felt a hand on her wrist. She couldn't keep her eyes closed anymore, but that didn't mean she wasn't petrified. She slowly turned her head to her left to see that Matt had a hand on her handcuffed wrist. To say that he and Sora had a look of shock would be a total understatement.

No longer able to hide, everyone came out of the shrubs. Matt and Sora were now seeing TK, Kari, and Davis all side-by-side…all handcuffed to each other. And that's when Matt and Sora asked the obvious questions.

"Kari…TK…Davis? Why are you handcuffed to each other? What are you three wearing?"

"TK…are those MY handcuffs?"

TK gulped and answered Matt's question first. "Well…I may have borrowed them."

"You DO know I lost the key, right?" Matt pointed out.

"I do now," TK muttered.

"What's going on here?" Sora asked. "Why are the three of you handcuffed to each other…wearing THAT?"

TK immediately shot Davis a cold stare. "Well, you started this! You explain!"

"M-M-Me?" Davis stammered. "Well…I might have handcuffed myself to Kari to try a magic trick, but it ended up backfiring. But it's as much TE's fault as it is mine, because HE handcuffed himself to her other wrist!"

"S-So…this isn't what I think it is?" Sora asked.

Kari thought about that. "Why? What do you think this………………OH MY GOD, NO!!! IT'S NOT THAT AT ALL!!!"

"No menage-a-trois?" Matt asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"NO!!" Kari shouted. "Never! Especially not with THESE TWO!!"

TK and Davis both hung their heads down, both realizing that they were still on Kari's bad side.

"The only reason we're all like this is because neither of us has a key," TK explained.

"And we can't even break these things!" Davis added. "We tried everything!"

"So…does this mean what I think it does?" Sora asked.

Kari sighed and nodded. "We're all stuck like this."

Slowly, a smiled appeared on Matt's face. And that's when he started laughing. Kari, TK, and Davis sweatdropped, but the laughter grew contagious because soon Sora was laughing right along with him.

"Stop that!" TK growled. "This isn't funny!"

"You don't know how hard it's been for me to go to the bathroom like this!" Davis whined.

Matt tried to hold in his laughter. "I'll bet it HAS been hard. I mean…I can imagine. Eating…sleeping…going to the bathroom…all while attached at the wrist." Finally, he couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into laughter again.

"I'm sorry, Kari," Sora said, trying to hold back her own laughter. "This has to be the worst for you. I mean…being stuck at one wrist is bad, but being stuck at BOTH WRISTS? That's gotta be…" Sora fell back and resumed her laughter.

Kari couldn't believe this. She was feeling beyond humiliated and all Matt and Sora could do was laugh. She wanted this whole traumatic nightmare to be over.

Kari turned to TK and Davis. "Well, I hope you two are happy! We'll NEVER hear the end of this!"

Davis tried to put a positive spin on this. "Well…at least it can't get any worse."

But just then...

"Matt? What are you laughing about out there?"

Upon hearing that voice, Kari turned completely white. Her knees immediately started shaking and she felt her stomach sink. She said this about a lot of the scenarios of the past few days, but this time she truly meant it. This was the WORST thing that could have possibly happened. She turned her head to see that TK and Davis were both completely frozen and catatonic when they heard the same voice.

The voice…of Tai Kamiya.


Next Time: What…do I EVEN need to tell you what's about to happen?! Just come back next time…and watch the fireworks go off!


Any comments? Then mail me at AmericanCaptor@hotmail.com and don't forget to review below!