Last Time: It was every Takari fan's nightmare. TK and the real Kari fought, with TK storming off, leaving Kari dumped. But undaunted, the real Kari is still bent on going to her prom and getting some answers. Little does she know that her clone is ALSO going to the prom. And if Etemon has his way…so will he.


Double Play: Part 8


Kari sighed deeply. "And that's the whole story. I still can't believe what's happened."

Kari could feel that Mimi had stopped doing her hair. The holder of the Crest of Light turned around to see the look of utter shock on Sora and Mimi's faces.

"I don't believe it," Sora said solemnly. "That doesn't sound like TK at all."

"Why would he think he saw you kissing Davis?" Mimi asked. "Did you?"

"No! I didn't kiss Davis! But for some reason, he thinks I did. I've tried getting in touch with Davis, but he's not around. I really hope I see him soon, because I want answers!"

"Kari, can I ask you a question?" Mimi asked, as she resumed doing Kari's hair.

"Sure thing, Mimi. What is it?"

"If you and TK are broken up…then why are you going to prom?"

"The way I see it is…this is a special night in a girl's life. Senior Prom should be a night full of memories that last a lifetime. And I'm not going to miss out, even if I don't have a date anymore. I still want to be there."

"That's very admirable, Kari," Sora smiled. "You're not letting this setback hold you down."

"I still hope it'll be a great night," Kari said…before frowning. "I just wonder if TK will be there."

"I don't know if he'd even bother to show up," Mimi said frankly. "I don't even think he has his head on straight." Mimi let go of Kari's hair. "Ok, you're all set."

Sora took Kari's hand and led her to a mirror. Kari didn't recognize the person staring back at her. Her hair was done in a neat bun that hung from the back of her head. Her makeup matched her lavender dress and gloves. Looking for another opinion, Kari turned around.

"What do you think?"

Gomamon looked on in amazement. "You look beautiful!"

Kari smiled. "Thank you, Gomamon." She sighed one more time. "This isn't gonna be easy."

"Well…we could always come along if you want," Sora suggested. "If you need us, we'll be right outside."

"You'd do that for me?" Kari asked.

"Of course!" Mimi replied cheerfully. "We've got nothing important to do anyway. The designs can wait for one more day."

"Besides, SOMEONE has to watch Gomamon, right?" Sora smirked. "And maybe Mimi and I can be on the lookout for Davis."

"That's a good idea," Kari concurred. "Especially since I'm still not getting an answer at Davis's house. Ok, then I guess we'd better go."

Gomamon jumped into Sora's arms and everyone got ready to go. Kari was ready for her prom night and though it wouldn't be the special night she hoped for, it didn't mean she'd miss out on any potential lifelong memories.

Yes, Kari was still going to her prom…even if she didn't have a date.

TK adjusted his bow tie again. "I still don't know why I'm going. Kari's going with Davis. Why should I bother?"

TK turned his head to face the nearby stool and a huffy Patamon, who didn't look too happy with his partner's attitude.

"TK, you just…PUNCHED Davis without even giving him a chance!"

"A chance for what? I saw him kissing Kari!"

"You don't know that for sure! Maybe she was getting something out of his eye or something!"

"Patamon, you don't understand! You don't know what I saw! If she really didn't kiss him, then she wouldn't have run away."

"And what did Davis say?"

TK paused. "Well…I didn't really give Davis a chance to say anything."

"TK, you only have one side of the story! This might all just be a misunderstanding!"

TK stared at his partner coldly. "You…don't know what I saw! It was NOT a misunderstanding! I know what I saw and I saw Kari kiss Davis!"

"You at least owe Davis a chance to explain!" the stubborn Patamon persisted. "And besides, TK, it's your prom night. You think I could forget how you went on and on about how tonight's supposed to filled with memories that'll last a lifetime? You should still go, even if it isn't with Kari."

TK sighed. "I guess you have a point. About the lifetime memory thing, not about Davis. I guess I'll go."

"And you already paid for the tux, right?" Patamon grinned.

TK chuckled. "That's right."

Patamon flew into TK's arms. "Ok, let's go."

TK dropped Patamon. "I meant I'M going! You're staying here."

"Aw, you're no fun, TK," Patamon pouted.

"I promise I'll bring you back some ice cream," TK grinned.

Patamon quickly perked up. "Ok!"

Patamon perched himself on TK's bed and tried to put on a behavioral act so blatant that there might as well have been a halo on the little Digimon's head.

This was TK's time now. Dressed in his black tuxedo and lavender tie and vest, TK started walking out. Even without a date, he was still determined to make the best of this night.

Davis adjusted his hair again, trying to slick it back. He couldn't believe he was going out without his goggles, but this was a very special night. He didn't expect to actually have a date for prom, but not only did he have a date…but it was with the girl of his dreams.

For many years, Davis had pushed Kari Kamiya out of his mind. She had just been an afterthought to him now after having a crush on her for so many years. He had come to accept the fact that she and TK were together. But in the past day…things had changed.

Somehow, Kari had fallen for him. For some reason, she didn't want TK anymore. She wanted him now. And after spending the day with her yesterday, Davis began to notice that the feelings he once had for Kari…were coming back. Though it felt more like…those feelings never left.

While Davis struggled to work his hair, the doorbell rang. He immediately froze and his heart skipped a beat. He knew who was behind that door. So he slowly walked towards the front door, his knees shaking the whole way. He closed his eyes and hesitated as his hand touched the doorknob. Finally, Davis sucked it up and opened the door. He definitely wasn't disappointed when he did.

In a lavender dress that went all the way down to the ground was Kari Kamiya. Davis's heart skipped another beat. Now he felt his legs completely stiffen. He was unable to move.

Kari smiled, which melted Davis's heart. "Are you ready?"

Davis slowly nodded as a dreamy smile spread across his face. "Yeah."

Kari took Davis's hand and started leading him out. Too bad they didn't get very far.

"Hey Davis! Were you planning to leave before we got pictures?"

Davis sweatdropped. "Mom…Dad…"

Sure enough, Davis's parents quickly rushed to the living room and Davis's mom was armed with a camera. Davis looked past them to see his older sister, Jun, smugly leaning against the wall, trying to hold in some snickers. Davis's dad quickly lined the couple up against the door.

"Ok, smile!" he said cheerfully.

Kari giggled and smiled. Davis smiled sheepishly. The flashbulb went off, leaving Davis's eyes swirling. Now it was DAVIS who was leading Kari out.

"Well that's great, Mom and Dad. But we have to go now. We don't want to be late. See ya!"

Davis quickly led Kari out the door and started dashing down the street. After a few minutes of walking briskly, he finally stopped and looked back. Knowing he was far away from home, Davis breathed a sigh of relief. At least now he could have a moment alone with Kari.

"You look beautiful."

Kari blushed. "Thank you."

Davis would have been happy with that blush, but something about Kari looked…distressed. As if her mind was elsewhere. At first he thought it was Davis's eye that was bothering her. Yes, he did have a black eye from the day before when TK knocked his lights out.

"Are you ok?" Davis asked.

Kari spaced out for a moment, but then came back to reality and nodded. "I-I'm fine. I guess…I just can't believe tonight's already here. I feel…excited."

Davis grinned. "That makes two of us! Let's go!"

With that, Davis and Kari walked down the street arm-in-arm, determined to make this night one they would never forget.

Arriving at the school without a date, Kari began to feel a little awkward. She was beginning to have second thoughts about showing up. She wanted to turn back and head home. But as she turned around, a hand from the nearby bush grabbed her hand.

Sora stuck her head out of the bush. "Where do you think YOU'RE going?"

"This was a bad idea, Sora," Kari moaned. "Maybe I should just go home."

Mimi stuck her head out. "We didn't take all that time to do your hair and your nails just so you can turn back now. You march in there, Kari Kamiya, and have the time of your life!"

"Don't make us drag you in there!" Gomamon added.

Kari sighed and begrudgingly headed back for the school. Amidst the crowd of couples, Kari began to feel out of place. Then things got a little better when she accidentally bumped into someone. The girl she bumped into turned around.

"Kari?"

"Yolei?"

Yolei looked very elegant in her green dress, so unlike how she looked on most occasions, even though she DID strive to be as trendy as Mimi. But what confused Kari was that…she was alone.

"Where's Ken?" Kari asked curiously.

Yolei pointed over towards the distance. Ken Ichijouji was bashfully making his way forward, looking like he was trying to lose someone while he was at it. It looked like someone was following him around with a video camera. Ken caught up to Yolei and ducked behind her.

"Do you mind?!" Ken snapped.

The face behind the camera revealed himself to be a grinning Cody Hida. "I'm under strict orders. Right, Yolei?"

"That's right," Yolei said. "I want you to capture every moment of this, Cody. Keep the camera on us at all times! Ken, will you relax? Are you camera shy or something?"

Ken nervously looked into the camera. "Not really. But aren't you going a little overboard, Yolei?"

"I want this to be a night we can look back at again and again," Yolei explained. "This is a magical night and I want to get it on tape." Suddenly, she stopped and turned to Kari. "Hey…where's TK?"

Kari frowned. "I take it you didn't hear what happened. TK came by my house yesterday and started yelling at me. He kept going on about me kissing Davis."

"You kissed Davis?" Ken asked.

"NO! But for some reason, TK won't believe me. He made me so mad, I slammed the door in his face. So we're not exactly on good terms right now. But I want some answers. Have any of you seen Davis?"

Yolei shook her head. "Davis hasn't arrived yet. Well…WE haven't seen him, anyway. Maybe he's already inside."

"Thanks, Yolei. Just wait 'til I find him! If I find out he's been spreading lies, then you just wait and see what I do to him!"

With that, Kari stormed off into the crowd again…to look for Davis.

Yolei shook her head as Kari walked off. That had to be the worst thing that could happen to her. Yolei wished she could help. She also wished she could knock Davis's head off if he really WAS the reason TK got the wrong idea.

"You think Davis really WOULD sink that low?" Yolei asked.

Ken, still dodging the camera, stood up for his best friend. "Davis would never do anything to hurt Kari and TK's relationship. It's probably just some misunderstanding."

Cody put the camera down and pointed out into the distance. "Is that Davis over there?"

Yolei looked over and saw that Davis HAD arrived. But what amazed her was that he was with Kari…and they were coming arm-in-arm.

"What…is THIS?" Yolei muttered in shock.

"Uh…didn't it sound to you guys like Kari wanted to KILL Davis?" Cody pointed out.

"When did she let her hair down?" Ken added.

Yolei started walking towards Kari and Davis. "Let's go find out."

Yolei wandered towards Kari and Davis with Ken and Cody following right behind her. When she reached them, Yolei positioned herself in front of the couple with Ken and Cody standing behind them.

"I see you found Davis," Yolei said curtly. "And you WONDER why TK was upset?"

Ken leaned over towards Davis's ear. "How did you pull THIS off? From what she was telling us earlier, I thought she would have wrung your neck. And why didn't you tell me?"

"What happened to your eye?" Cody asked.

Yolei suddenly noticed Davis's black eye. "I'm guessing TK DID find out about you two!" She turned to Kari, who was quickly flinching. "Is THIS why you wanted to find Davis?"

"Stop hassling her, Yolei!" Davis growled. "What's your problem?"

"MY problem? Have you two thought about TK at all?! Kari, I know DAVIS is a jerk and I've come to expect this sort of thing from him by now. But I didn't think YOU would be capable of something like this!"

Davis calmly pushed Yolei aside. "Excuse us, you're in our way."

Yolei stepped aside and shot Davis a death glare, one which he happily returned. She couldn't believe their unmitigated gall. And she felt sorry for TK. He must have been crushed.

Trying to forget that unpleasant exchange, Yolei motioned with her hand to Cody. "Turn the camera back on, Cody."

Cody pressed the 'ON' button and resumed taping. Yolei reached for Ken's hand to go into the prom, but someone caught up to them. It was Kari.

"Well, did you find him?" Kari asked.

"I think you know the answer to that," Yolei grumbled. "I still can't believe you'd do that to TK, Kari! How could you?"

"What are you talking about?" Kari responded. "Have you seen Davis or not?"

Ken blinked. "Weren't you just with him?"

Cody touched Kari's hair. "When did you style your hair again?"

"This isn't funny, you guys!" Kari growled. "Look, if you aren't going to help me, then I'll just find Davis myself!"

Having said that, Kari stormed off. Yolei, who was feeling angry a second ago, now felt…confused.

"Does anyone want to tell me what just happened?" Ken asked.

"Kari's acting weird," Cody tried answering.

Yolei put a hand to her forehead and sighed. "Ok, maybe we got this night off on the wrong foot. Let's go inside…and start over. Cody, did you rewind the tape?"

Cody pressed the button. "Got it."

Yolei grabbed Ken by the hand and led him inside. "All right! Let's go!"

Davis couldn't believe his friends for acting the way they did. He couldn't believe Yolei was chiding HIM for what happened. She didn't know the whole story. For that matter, DAVIS himself didn't really know the whole story. But he didn't want to pry into the reasons Kari was now going with him instead of TK. Instead, he just wanted to focus on tonight…his prom night.

But Kari stopped. "Davis…can we stop for a second?"

"What's wrong, Kari?"

Kari was frantically looking around, as if she were expecting something to leap out at her. "I…I…I don't feel…safe. I…"

Kari started running off. Davis ran after her. By the time he caught up to her, they were by the side of the gymnasium where the prom was being held. Davis saw Kari sitting down, hugging her knees, shaking frantically, with her back turned to him.

"I should have been ready," she said under her breath to herself. "I'm not ready for something to happen. I would have been ready. If only I had opened a port to the Digital World like I was supposed to."

Davis blinked. "You needed to open a port to the Digital World?"

Kari gasped and turned around. "Davis…you weren't supposed to hear that!"

"Kari…do you need to open a port to the Digital World?"

Kari looked up at Davis curiously. "You can do that?"

"Of course I can!" Davis said proudly. "I never forget my Digivice!"

Sure enough Davis was carrying his Digivice in his tuxedo pocket. He took it out and pointed it out into the distance.

"So…what part of the Digital World do you need to go to?"

Sora was getting exhausted having waited for so long. She hadn't gotten much sleep in the past few days and this night was starting to take its toll on her. In fact, it was up to Mimi to keep her awake by nudging her constantly. They hadn't seen Davis come in and it was looking like he might have gone in through another path. But Sora didn't notice, for her eyelids were drooping again. That's when she felt something nudge her in the kidney.

"Hey! Mimi, would you stop that?"

Sora turned around and saw that it wasn't Mimi who nudged her. It was Tai and Matt.

"What are you two doing here?" Sora asked.

"We were about to ask you the same question," Matt grinned.

"We brought Kari here," Mimi answered. "What are you two doing here?"

"First of all, it's not just us two," Tai began. "Joe? Izzy?"

Joe and Izzy wandered in right behind Tai and Matt. The small area behind the bush was quickly becoming crowded.

"Hey, Joe! I was hoping to see you!" Gomamon said cheerfully.

"When did YOU get here?" a surprised Joe asked.

"Why did you two get dragged along?" Mimi asked before Gomamon could reply.

"Tai wants us to cover the perimeter from all angles," Izzy explained. "And he wants us to get as many pictures of Kari and TK as possible."

Sora shook her head. "Tai…did you even BOTHER to notice that Kari and TK aren't going to the prom together?"

Tai blinked. "I spent most of the last few days at Matt's planning this out. What happened?"

Sora sighed deeply. "Have a seat and let me explain it to you."

Etemon tapped the microphone again. "Mic check, one two."

The microphone was in working condition. The stage was all set, positioned in the back of large truck. All that was left was for Etemon to drive it. So he jumped off the stage and just as he did…he saw the one thing he was waiting to see since he was reconfigured.

He saw a port being opened. A port to the real world was being opened.

Etemon grinned evilly as he got in the driver's seat of the stage truck. It was finally Showtime.


Next Time: All the DigiDestined, past and present, are either in the vicinity or are on their way. And guess who else is on his way? It's Etemon! Come back next time as Etemon meets up with the DigiDestined ONE MORE TIME!


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