Chapter 1- Pepper and Sugar
The slim girl walked down the hallway and turned into a door leading to the girl's washroom. After a quick glance around to make sure no one was around, she looked critically in the mirror at herself. 'TK was right, I do look tired.' She thought dispiritedly. She smiled at the memory. TK was so often like this, kind, caring and so sweet. 'It's those dreams again. I just can't stop them, and I just know that they're all going to happen. And I know something's going to happen soon, and I don't like it. Are we really ready for this?'
"Don't be silly." She said aloud, the loudness of her own voice startling her. "Of course we're ready. We've beat everyone now, what's this little one got against us?"
"Kari?" A familiar voice asked.
"Oh, Yolei? Hi there." Said Kari, relieved that it wasn't one of her friends that didn't know about the Digital World. She didn't think she could stand Terry's ceaseless babble today, or Kiana's ever-present fashion musts.
"I couldn't stand Davis' pep talks anymore, so I escaped here." A tentative smile escaped the purple haired girl's lips.
"Davis and pep talk just doesn't go together." Kari agreed. "They're like, say, pepper and sugar."
Yolei made a disgusted face. "Eew, pepper and sugar?"
Kari laughed dryly. "Davis' favorite combo, if DemiVeemon's to be believed."
Yolei smiled again. "Well, Davis is dumb, and pepper and sugar together is dumb, so, really, it matches."
They laughed together. It felt good to laugh again, no matter how falsely. Then Yolei made a face. "But what he's saying is true. We do need that queen's help, even if it means more work, 'cause we're going to be facing more enemies, and last time with VenomMyotismon we were nearly beaten. Wish that evil would just be wiped out for good, and not keep coming back."
Kari sighed. How many times she herself had wished that. "How am I supposed to explain, Yolei?" Her friend gave her an odd look. "You see there is a precarious balance to things in the worlds." She struggled to find the right words. "There is something like a set of scales for everything. For example, if you have a lot of love in your life, then you must also have an equal amount of hate. If you have talents, you must also have shortcomings. It's the same thing with the forces of good and evil. If there is more evil in the world than good, then the scales become unbalanced and the people who fight for good have to go through… things almost like tests, so that the scales will be even again. If there is more good, then there will be an unbalance again, and here it is also not good, because then the evil will have been sitting unknown, and burst when we least expect it. So, the scales must be even, but there hasn't been an actual balance for centuries now. Sure, the scales tip to the left and back to the right, but it hasn't been equal for a very long time. That's why we're here, to try and rebalance the scales."
Yolei understood what Kari was saying, but she wondered where Kari had gotten the information. Just then Kari looked at her watch and started. "Yolei, it's almost twelve fifteen and we haven't eaten lunch yet!"
As the two girls dashed down the hall, several of the other girls gave them an odd look. What could have persuaded Kari, the most popular girl in the school, to take up with Yolei, the fashion senseless computer freak? But they shrugged and passed it off as normal Kari behavior- she tried to be nice to everyone, even that horrible Davis kid.
Lunch table
It was 'Senior's' Day at Kari's school, which meant that the school's graduates like Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Joe and the like came to visit the younger students and take their choice of classes. Tai naturally chose to go to Kari's classes, and Matt went to TK's. In other words, they were together most of the day. "Where were you two?" Sora asked.
"Who can tell with girls?" TK said. And then "Ow!" as Kari's hand hit his at full speed.
"Yolei felt the urge to escape Davis for a sec there, so she went to the girl's room." Kari grinned as Davis completely melted at her smile.
"Hi there, Kari." Said a voice that didn't belong to this school.
"Ken?!" Said Yolei, obviously shocked at the appearance of the former boy genius and Digimon Emperor at her school. "What are you doing here?"
"And it's nice to see you too, Yolei." Ken said pointedly, before turning back to Kari. "Well, I'm here. Can you believe how long it's been since I've seen this place?"
"Hello Ken." Replied Kari. "I see you decided to come for Senior's Day after all. It's not that bad to have half the school swooning over you, is it now?"
Ken made a tortured face. "What are you talking about? You should hang around after my soccer games!"
Kari laughed a little at that. "And you should stick around mine. There are guys by the dozen! What for, I really don't know."
Davis was seething. After all, he thought it might be a relief not to have TK and Kari flirting, but Ken and Kari?
Kari sat down next to TK (Davis' face fell abruptly) and promptly devoured her lunch. "Hey, if you aren't going to eat your snack, can I have it?" Yolei, Ken, Sora, Tai, Matt, Izzy, Joe, Cody and TK shrugged and pushed their snacks towards Kari. "Thanks!" With that Kari stuffed half of them in her bag and ate the rest. "Ummmm… Let's see. She gets the chocolate, fish pieces, sushi, salad and seaweed thins. Oh well, that'll have to do for today." Everyone knew 'she' meant Gatomon.
"Kari's gonna get a lot fatter if she keeps eating like that!" Piped up DemiVeemon. The newer Digidestined tended to keep their Digimon around, one, because they fit in bags and such as in-trainings and two, because they still didn't know much about the real world and would probably get run over or something.
At this, everyone except Yolei, Ken, Cody and Davis burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" said Cody. "She will." This sent the group into hysterics again.
"It would be a mercy if she gained anything at all!" said Sora as soon as she could stop laughing. "Kari hasn't gained any weight since she was, like, eight!"
"I have too!" said Kari, pretending to be offended.
"Oh, yeah, like what, half a pound?" said Tai.
Kari looked over her friends carefully. Tai, still brave, still bullheaded and still her favorite (and only) brother. Matt, still a bit rebellious, still protective of his brother, but he was much less moody since their first trip to the Digital World. Sora, mostly the same, except that the worried look she had carried around in the Digital World was gone, and she was playing tennis instead of soccer. Izzy was still in the world of computers, but at least he had a living best friend-Tentomon- and he noticed the environment around him, even if he was on the Internet. Yolei- hyper, but kind-hearted really, and always there to help, if not always willing. Cody was quiet and sensitive, and didn't get angry often, which good- when you needed a cool head, that is. Ken, now that he realized that Digimon were actually living, was kind and usually reliable. Davis was stubborn, stubborn, stubborn, persistent, and brave. All easy so far, but then her gaze came to rest on TK. TK. He had grown up a lot too, but… in some… different ways then the rest. He was taller and stronger, that much was plain to see, but he was also… well, more mature, but in a different way. He managed to combine a sort of wisdom with pure innocence. 'Probably why I'm just so, drawn to him." Kari thought. 'I hope he doesn't care for me. I don't want to hurt him when… when…" She let her thoughts drift off.
"Hey, Kari!"
Kari jumped, startled from her thoughts. "Wha- what?" she said, shaking her head as if to clear it.
Davis smiled what he hoped was a charming smile towards Kari and said, "I was saying, since you seem to know so much about the Digital World, if you had any suggestions on where to start our search for the Digimon Queen."
"The Meadow of Beginnings would be a good place." Kari found herself saying. 'Now why did I say that?' Kari wondered. It was as if someone had put the words into her mouth. She looked up to see TK looking at her strangely. She averted her eyes quickly.
"Meadow of Beginnings it is then! Um, where is that exactly?" Davis was burbling.
"It's on File Island. I don't know the exact location, but any crest should be able to guide us there." Kari said automatically. 'And how did I know that? It's as if someone is speaking through me. And I wish that I could come right out and tell, but no, I'm not allowed. We have to waste all this time looking for the Queen.' She noticed that TK was watching her, a strange light in his eye that she couldn't quite read. It was almost as if he… knew or something.
Everyone was now looking at Ken. "What?!" he exclaimed. Everyone looked at him more pointedly. Ever since the battle with Apocalymon, Ken had been the only one with an actual solid crest. They all still held their crest, of course, but they no longer had the actual solid symbol. "Oh, right, sure, we'll use my crest." They all stopped staring at Ken.
TK noticed that they were getting many envious stares from the surrounding tables. Probably Ken and Kari, he surmised. He had seen something in Kari's eyes he'd never seen anywhere else. There was a kind of… almost resigned sort of dullness. Yet there was still strength in there. Still a fight left. He couldn't remember when he had met her, or where he had met her. All he remembered was caring for her forever, it seemed. And he was watching her now. TK was confused. He couldn't ever remember Kari averting her eyes from his. He'd always loved watching her amber eyes, but she had never, ever, turned away from him. He suspected that she knew more about the Digimon Queen then she let on, but he wasn't one for pressing for answers. He let out a small sigh of frustration.
Kari looked at TK and smiled a bit. There was that little worried frown again, the one he always wore when he was worried or confused about something. "Penny for your thoughts." She whispered to him.
TK looked up, startled. "Make it a quarter and we'll be even." He bargained to cover it.
"Ooh, you're wicked!" She complained. They often played at flirting like this. He grinned at her and she had to smile. She loved his cerulean eyes. They were so often fixed on her, too, so she had a lot of time to contemplate them.
He loved her smile. It was so genuine and kind, and he was the only one who could make her smile when she obviously didn't want to.
"Nickel." Kari challenged.
"Twenty cents." He countered.
"Dime."
"Fifteen."
"Eleven."
"Fourteen."
"Twelve."
"Thirteen."
"Oh, give it up. I guess your thoughts aren't all that important." She pretended to not care, and then she looked at him. 'Well?' her eyes seemed to say.
TK moved closer to her, and then spoke in an undertone. "I think that you know more about the Digimon Queen than you let on."
"And why do you say that?" Kari queried, in the same level of quietness. She was feeling acutely alone with him, despite the fact that there was still a lunchroom of shrieking kids around them.
"Your eyes, for one thing. And you seem to be struggling with something. Like you can't decide whether or not to tell us. And just before, when you said Meadow of Beginnings, it was as if you weren't going to say that at all, like someone was speaking through you like that one time before."
Kari looked at him. How did he know?… "And just when were you watching me so closely?" She teased. She knew it would make him turn pink. She couldn't help it; she just loved making him blush. It was so easy, and it had such satisfying results.
TK blushed, as Kari had expected, at that, but nonetheless continued. "And you just always seem to want to say something when we ask a question, and then stop yourself in the nick of time."
Davis turned and saw TK and Kari, so close Kari was almost using TK as a headrest, and TK whispering to Kari. His face turned red from anger and he acted quickly to break up their conversation. "Hey, Kari, wanna go to the store for something?"
The two started at his interruption and moved apart unconsciously. "Davis, it's almost the end of lunchtime, and my next class is math. You know Mr. Fujiyama doesn't like latecomers, and I have a record to keep. Then again, go with TK, then I can beat him in early coming 'stead of tying."
TK looked at her in mock horror. "You? Beat me? Never!" He pronounced in an awful spoiled rich lady's voice.
Kari poked him in the stomach, causing him to double over. "Quit acting, you're horrible at it, TK. Try singing."
TK pretended to be an opera singer and opened his mouth. Kari ducked her head and covered her ears. "Hey, I'm not that bad!" He protested normally.
Kari laughed. "Yes, you are."
Then she was off through the lunchroom door and TK was after her, both laughing.
Tai looked at them amusedly. "They're always like that now?"
Davis was shocked. TK and Kari, alone? That wasn't right! It should be him and Kari!
Sora smiled. "Are they official yet?"
Davis was seething. TK and Kari, official? As if! Kari was his!!!
Izzy looked up from his computer (for once in his life). "Probably, after all, they were marked out from the start by Mimi, remember?"
Matt laughed as he remembered the scene that had happened when Mimi had 'marked' TK and Kari as Most Likely Couple. "And now, the Most Likely Couple Award goes to…" he imitated Tai's voice. Mimi had written out the speech for him. "TK and Kari!"
They all burst into hysterics as they remembered the youngest two's faces, TK completely red, looking very much like what a tomato would if it grew blonde hair, blue eyes, and a nose and mouth, and Kari's murderous eyes as she stalked a whimpering Tai.
Davis couldn't take much more. "STOP IT! STOP IT! KARI'S MY GIRL!!!!"
At this everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Davis. "Your girl?" said a girl at one table.
"Ladies," said another. "I think, in the absence of a friend to all of us, we have to deal with this cheeky little one for Kari." All the girls agreed.
"Um, what are you going to do with me?" Davis asked nervously.
"Oh, nothing." Said a large group of wickedly smiling girls…
