Friday, December 27th

            I'm going to be a father, TK thought as he lay in bed with Kari early in the morning.  It had been a wonderful Christmas, but he knew that it would be over soon and he would have to return to the problem of the digital world.  That thought immediately killed any chance he had of going back to sleep.  With a sigh, he gently disentangled himself from Kari's arms and rose to pull on a pair of pants.  He softly moved to the living room and turned on his computer.  He checked his instant messenger board and grinned when he saw that Willis from America was still on.  He opened up a chat window and signaled Willis that he needed to talk to him.

FlyingHope: Willis, I need to talk to you.

TwinTerrors: Hey TK, what's up?

FlyingHope: Did you get a chance to look over that stuff I emailed you a few days ago?

TwinTerrors: Yup.  Nasty shit man.  Where did you get it?

FlyingHope: Catharine of the French digidestined found it with her group during a sweep.  So, it is some kind of virus?

TwinTerrors: Little worse than that, man.  It's some kind of digital mutater.  Kind of like the virus that gives us Dark Digimon, except this thing is a thousand times more powerful.  I'm not even sure that you could make this kind of thing in the digital world.  And no, I didn't send it to Izzy for a double check, although between him, Yolei and Ken, they could have told you this.  So why did you send it to me?

FlyingHope: *shrugs* Let me go back a sec.  You think it was made in the real world?

TwinTerrors: Or a combination of the two.  There's some serious high level programming in this thing.  It almost got out of the firewalls I had set up around it.  Damn near lost my computer to it.  That's how I found out for sure what it was.

FlyingHope: How?

TwinTerrors: I didn't have a problem with it until Lopmon wandered in the room.  Then it went crazy and tried to get out and infect him.  But as soon as he left the room, dormant again.  Freaky.

FlyingHope: Damn.  I was afraid of that.  So it's basically programmed to infect digimon.

TwinTerrors: yep.  Oh, that other code sample you sent me matched on a basic level.  What ever that second code you sent me was, it's the predecessor to this nasty thing.

FlyingHope: Shit.  Alright, thanks.  Can you get away for a few days?  I think I'm going to need your help on this one.

TwinTerrors: TK, you've got Izzy, Yolei and Ken practically on your doorstep.  Not that I'm complaining, but why me?

FlyingHope: I'm hoping that this isn't as serious as I think it is, but if it is, then I want the rest of the Odiba Chosen to stay behind as backup.

TwinTerrors: You think we might need someone to haul our asses out of the fire.

FlyingHope: And who better than Imperial Dramon and Omnimon.

TwinTerrors: And if worst comes, there's always Imperial Dramon Paladin Mode.

FlyingHope: Plus, the Host.

TwinTerrors: SHIT!  You think it might be important enough to involve the Host?  Christ!

FlyingHope: You've seen this thing.  What do you think?

TwinTerrors: I wish I could disagree with you.  Alright, I got to go.  Tell the others I said hi and give Kari a kiss for me.

FlyingHope: Hey, lay off my fiancé.

TwinTerrors: Congrats, man!  The bunny's want you to say hi to Patamon for them.

FlyingHope: Don't I get a hello?

TwinTerrors: They say no.J  Later, amigo.

FlyingHope: See ya.

            TK logged out of Instant Messenger and frowned at the screen for a moment.

            "So, how are Willis and the twins doing?" Kari asked from where she was leaning against the wall, a robe wrapped around her shoulders to keep out the cold.

            "He's fine.  He says hello.  You should head back to bed.  It's still fairly early."

            "Why did you need to talk to him now?"  TK sighed and hung his head.

            "I'm going to have to go back to the digital world."  Kari's reaction was immediate.

            "NO!  TK, the Guardians said that we'd done what we had to do, our responsibilities to the digital world are over.  That's why there are so many digidestined.  Hell, that's why they created the fucking Host!  So we don't have to face these things.  Just let them handle it.  Please."  She came over and crouched by his chair, laying one hand on his knee.

            "Please, don't make me do this behind your back.  I have to do this.  I'm going to call a meeting and fill everyone in at the same time.  Please, Love, try to understand."  TK rose and drew her up and into a hug.  Kari sighed against his chest.

            "Let me go with you, then."

            "I can't and I'll explain why this afternoon," TK assured her.  "Please trust me."  Kari nodded, obviously not thrilled about this turn of events, but content at the moment to just let it go.  Finally, TK let her go and moved to the phone.

            "I have to call the others," he explained.  "Go back to bed.  I'll be there in a minute."  Kari mutely nodded and returned to their bed.  After a few minutes, she felt the bed sag slightly and turned to pull TK into a fierce embrace.

            "What ever is going on, promise me that you'll come back OK," she whispered.

            "I promise," he replied.  The couple remained locked in the embrace for the next several hours, until they had to get up to prepare for the meeting.