Disclaimer: I...don't...own...Digimon! Get that into your head.
LAST TIME...
It looked as if Cherrymon had succeeded all too well into tricking Tai into fighting his friends. Although Augumon didn't agree with Tai's decision, he promised to follow, no matter what. Augumon warp-digivolved to WarGreymon, and prepared for action. Matt and Gabumon finally found their friends, but the only response they got was a giant blast of energy from WarGreymon. Sora managed to bring herself to help at the last second, and she, Gabumon and Matt tried desperately to reason with Tai, but to no avail. Nothing would stop him from trying to obtain whatever he desired. Fed up and tired of all the violence, Matt considered making the ultimate sacrifice, and attempted to do so. Rather than have Gabumon warp- digivolve and fight, Matt stepped into the line of fire and was prepared to be destroyed if it meant that Tai could finally be at peace with himself, despite Sora's protests. Will Tai really go through with it, or can Matt and the others reach him in very nick of time, like they always oh so conveniently do? Let's read on to find out!
From Courage To Love - Chapter 5
Matt squeezed his eyes shut, but it didn't protect him from the bright light coming from the attack that WarGreymon was setting up. Sora and Gabumon desperately wanted nothing more than to move...get Matt out of the way, but they were frozen - paralyzed - from fear.
WarGreymon flew high into the air, confident that he wouldn't miss.
Tai just stood there with a piercing, cold look, trying to lock his eyes with Matt. And that's when Matt opened his eyes quickly and briefly and saw it. The look in Tai's eyes. Matt's facial expression switched from fear to wonder. His thoughts suddenly started to race like the Indy 500.
Something's not right here, he thought. That look in his eyes...it's wrong. I could feel the look in mine when I was under Cherrymon's influence, and it's definitely not the same one. Could that mean...?
Matt also glanced at Tai's entire face. Tai's mouth curled into a (evil?) smile, and one of his eyes closed.
Matt started to smile as well.
But his thoughts were interrupted by WarGreymon's roaring...
"EAT THIS!"
Matt closed his eyes again, tightly as the bright light came closer towards the ground.
"NO!!!" Sora shouted. She started to move towards them but Gabumon remembered Matt's orders and quickly pulled Sora back by her green school skirt. Sora could have cared less if her skirt had ripped off, but she was too weak from fear to move any more. So she dropped to her knees, covering her face from the light. Gabumon did the same. The only other sound that could be heard was the echoing howl of Cherrymon's laughter.
"TERRA FORCE!"
"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
Sora and Gabumon could hear a voice screaming under the severe, searing pain of the blast but something else was amiss...
...it wasn't Matt's voice.
"Huh?!?" Matt opened his eyes to distinguish the source of the yelling. Luckily, no one had to look far.
Matt smiled contentedly as he watched Cherrymon writhe and struggle in pain.
Sora, Matt and Gabumon were thankful for the sudden turn of events, and simultaneously turned their heads to Tai. Tai looked back at them with the same smile and winked...again.
Though WarGreymon was still floating above in the air, they could make out his "thumbs-up" sign. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. (Except for Cherrymon, that is.)
"Wait a minute!" Matt exclaimed. "If Cherrymon got blasted, then that means...Tai!" Matt ran towards his friend.
"Tai! You...you're..." Tai said nothing but he continued to smile, put a reassuring hand on Matt's shoulder and nodded. Matt smiled as well and nodded, too.
"No! What...happened? Why...didn't it...?" Cherrymon yelled.
Tai turned towards him in utter anger.
"I got news for you branch brain! You think you can just turn me against my friends like that? Think again! Nothing could make me fight them so easily!"
"Nice try, but no cigar!" shouted Matt.
"Can't...believe...!" Cherrymon barely managed to choke out.
"Now, Matt..." Tai said as he turned to his friend. "Whaddya say we clean up this nasty mess?"
"I always wanted to be janitor!" he joked. "Gabumon?"
"Delighted!" he agreed. Running towards the two, he grabbed his partner's hands and nodded.
Matt's digivice started to glow, followed a bright blue light and a gigantic crackle of energy.
"GABUMON! WARP - DIGIVOLVE TO...METALGARURUMON!!!!!"
In a matter of seconds, Gabumon changed from yellow dog-like creature wearing a blue fur coat to a much larger bluish wolf covered in armor, like WarGreymon.
"Let's do it!" yelled the mighty digimon.
"Count me in!" barked WarGreymon, finally coming down from the sky.
"Not...in...this...lifetime!" said Cherrymon stilled covered in ash and bruises from the attack.
"I'm afraid you got no choice!" Tai shouted angrily.
But Cherrymon wouldn't go without a fight. He moved towards his adversaries surprisingly quickly, considering his weakened state. Tai and Matt were more than confident that their digimon partners could handle him, as they were in peak physical condition. MetalGarurumon made the first move. Cherrymon's injuries wouldn't get the chance to heal anytime soon, as his foe shot an icy blast of energy from his armor, almost from point blank. Cherrymon took the full blast, and got shot all the way back into a thick tree. But things were just getting started, as WarGreymon flew up high into the air, and scoped the intense action (and Cherrymon) like a vulture circling its prey. WarGreymon swooped down, went horizontal, and raked his giant, powerful fist across Cherrymon's back, causing him fall forwards on his face. But Cherrymon once again fell backwards as MetalGarurumon charged forward, ramming into his foe like a racing bull.
WarGreymon joined with his ally on the ground, ready for more action.
"Can't...give...up...destroy...you..." said Cherrymon, badly bruised, but still fully conscious.
"Give it up!" yelled Matt. "You can't beat us!"
"Oh, yeah?" rasped Cherrymon angrily. "Try this!" Suddenly, blinding shields consisting of leaves and petals flew out of his hands and into the air, creating a successful wind and fog to mask Cherrymon's actions. But none of them needed a visual aid to anticipate his next attack. Cherrymon's spread his arms out and "ran" towards his enemies, with a matching "war cry".
However, Tai and Matt worked like a true team, and stood their ground, as did their digimon partners.
"Get ready, guys!" Tai shouted through the rough winds.
The two digimon charged up their attacks and waited for their human friends to give the signal.
"WarGreymon..."
"MetalGarurumon..."
"GO!!!!!" they both roared.
"TERRA FORCE!!!"
"ICE WOLF CLAW!!!"
Using their powers in a combined, concentrated effort, the merged blasts hit Cherrymon hard and were finally able to bring him down. Cherrymon laid almost unconscious, smoked, and badly bruised.
"Curse it...you..." Cherrymon barely spoke.
"WarGreymon...finish him off," Tai said coldly.
"Hold on, Tai! That's enough, we don't need to become the next Dark Masters!" warned Matt.
Tai gave Matt another reassuring look. "Don't worry, I never wanted to destroy him. WarGreymon's just gonna refresh him a bit. Go ahead, buddy."
The tall digimon nodded, and lifted Cherrymon into the air. Wargreymon spun him around so fast that all that could be seen was a orange, green and brown blur. He finally was let go of...and thrown off far into the distance. More towards the ocean, to be precise. Hence, Cherrymon's "refreshment" was to begin quickly.
WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon started to glow a bright yellow, and returned to their "rookie" forms. Both Augumon and Gabumon looked okay, but physically they were exhausted.
"Ooh...I need a rest...maybe for the next few thousand years or so," Augumon moaned.
"Uhh...I sure could use a few energy drinks," Gabumon groaned. "A hundred, to start with, would be nice."
Matt and Tai chuckled a little, then looked at each other.
"Uh, so...Tai...are you...okay?" Matt asked.
"I am...for now, I guess. Cherrymon dragged out...a lot of things in my own mind...that I really regret."
"I understand. I felt the same way after Cherrymon messed with my head."
"Yeah, it's just that...well, after what Sora said to me..."
"I KNOW," Matt interrupted, putting his hands on Tai shoulders. "I know. Look, she had absolutely no right to say all that stuff to you. I'm really sorry. I'm gonna have to talk to her about that."
"She said..." but Tai couldn't finish. Fresh tears started to exit his eyes. Matt couldn't explain what happened, but he immediately put his arms around his trusted friend and hugged him.
"I'm sorry..." Matt whispered to Tai. "I'm sorry."
"Thanks, Matt" Tai sniffed. "And I'm sorry that ruined your date with Sora today..."
"Ah, don't worry about it, we all gotta help each other out sometimes...SORA!" Matt yelled. "Geez, in all the confusion, I'd totally forgotten about her!"
While the digimon rested against each other's backs under a shady tree, both boys searched the vicinity for Sora, though they knew it'd be useless. Sora had left.
"She's gone!" Matt noted, even though he didn't need to say it. Matt then looked at his watch and couldn't believe how much time had passed. "Man, it's gettin' kind of late. We should head back, Tai."
"Yeah..." Tai agreed. "Uh, hey Augumon! Gabumon! You guys gonna be okay?"
"Oh, don't worry about us! You just take care of yourself, Tai," said Gabumon.
"Yeah, we just need to rest a bit," agreed Augumon.
"Take all the time you want, guys," Matt said in a generous tone. "You two have definitely earned it!"
And so, the humans and the digimon hugged each other, said their good-byes, and parted.
*********************
It wasn't that late when Tai got home, but it was starting to get dark.
Mrs. Kamiya wasn't really angry, but she wasn't exactly pleased, either.
"Tai, honey, where have you been? Your sister couldn't find you after school!"
"Sorry Mom, something came up, and I had to do some...thinking."
"Well, anyway I'm glad you're home now, but I want you to call me more often from now on, okay?"
"Okay, Mom. I promise," said Tai, trying to put on the best fake smile that he could.
Tai's mother smiled too and kissed him on the forehead. At dinner, he sure didn't say much. He just sat there, with his head leaning against his hand. His younger sister, Hikari "KARI" Kamiya couldn't stand to see him like this, and it was also hurting her as well inside. His family tried to make conversation, but he responded just a little more than a tombstone would.
"Um...so...son, I hear you got a big soccer game coming up next week," Mr. Kamiya began.
"Yup," he replied.
"Uh...Mr. Yujiko called today," Mrs. Kamiya stated. "He said that you did surprisingly well on the last test, and that you could really do even better if you apply yourself."
"Uh-huh." Tai said, putting a fork full of salad and his mom's "mystery meat" into his mouth. He began to chew, then swallowed, slowly.
That's when Kari knew whatever was on her big brother's mind was serious. Tai NEVER ate his mom's meat, let alone even salad. Kari tried to wake him out of it.
"Hey Tai! Guess what!" Kari said a little too loudly. "On the way home from work, Dad got stuck in traffic, 'cuz there was a cow blocking the way! It started milking itself and giving out free samples of chocolate milk!"
"Yeah...uh, wait a minute," said their father, slightly disturbed at her daughter's "story".
"That's great, Kari. Uh...Mom, can I be excused? I'm...not really that hungry."
"Sure, sweetie," replied his mom in her sweet, polite, motherly way. "I'll save some dinner for you in case you get hungry later."
"Thanks, Mom." Tai said as he slowly and sadly walked into his (and Kari's) room.
Kari watched as Tai closed the door, and felt the need to talk to him. She turned her head to her parents.
"Um, Mom...can I...?" she began to ask, indicating her bedroom.
Mrs. Kamiya immediately nodded, and Kari also left the table.
"I wish I knew what was wrong with our boy..." she sighed.
Mr. Kamiya put his hand over her wife's. "Now, now, dear. We can't expect our son to tell us everything, can we?"
His wife nodded in (reluctant) agreement.
*********************
*RRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGG*
"Hello...oh, hi Matt," Sora answered to the phone.
"Uhh...hi. Are you doing anything right now?"
"Umm, no. I just finished dinner. Why?"
"Well, uh...can we get together?"
"..."
Sora was a little uncomfortable with the tone in his voice, but she tried to brush it off.
"Wh...you mean right now???"
"Well, yeah. I mean, I thought we could take a quiet stroll together, since our romantic picnic got canceled today. It's better than nothing, right?"
"Oh! Uh, yeah! Sure!"
"Great, I'll come over now to pick you up! Bye!"
"Oooookay..." said a confused Sora.
Matt came over within ten to fifteen minutes, and briefly greeted Sora's mother before leaving.
It was nighttime by now, but it wasn't too dark, due to the lampposts, and the bright glow of the moon.
It was a little cold, so Sora hugged Matt's arm, like a true girlfriend. As they walked down the street. Sora kept thinking about how nice it was to be so close to him. Matt's thoughts, unfortunately, were elsewhere.
I gotta talk to her about Tai, he thought. She can't just shrug something like this off and pretend it never happened! She and Tai are best friends! She really hurt him!
"So, whaddya feeling like doing now, Matt?" Sora asked.
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky." Matt answered, partially out of it.
"What?????"
Matt suddenly snapped out of it. "Oh, sorry!" He laughed it off, nervously.
"Where's you brain gone, Matt? C'mon, what's going on?"
"Listen, Sora. I need to talk to you about Tai."
Sora just turned her head away. "Wh...what's to talk about?"
Matt grew angry for the fifth or sixth time that day and separated himself from his girlfriend.
"Boy, Sora, what is wrong with you? You're acting like nothing happened today between the two of you! For as long as I can remember, you and Tai have ALWAYS been the closest of buddies, as close as two friends can get! Closer than you and me will ever be!"
"Matt, stop there! You don't know what you're talking-"
"I know exactly what I'm talking about! You almost always make little jokes about him at every turn, and you hardly pay attention to him when he simply tries to talk to you, though nowadays I can't really see why he tries! Do you know? I don't!"
"Matt, I just-"
"I'm not finished! He loves you more than anything in the entire universe! But just because you don't feel that way about him...anymore...doesn't give you the right to act this way! Do you ever stop to think about how all this is affecting him? A friendship that was as strong as the one between you and Tai is pretty hard to come by these days! Do you really want to throw all that away? DO YOU?"
Sora was speechless. What Matt had said didn't hurt her feelings, but it definitely made her think. Because everything he just said was absolutely, positively, and completely true.
"I...I...you can't make me change my mind."
Now Matt was speechless. But only for a few seconds. He shook his head in disbelief at this rift growing between his two friends. It was true that Sora knew Tai longer and better than any of the others. Ever since kindergarten. Maybe even before that.
"Sora, this is incredibly hard for me to say, but...I don't want to get together with you anymore until you do something about all this."
Sora's ears perked up in alarm. "Huh?!? But..."
"Don't say anything Sora," Matt said as he put his hand up. "Just think about what I said, and hopefully soon it'll all make sense to you. I do love you, but right now, I just can't go on like this. Please talk to Tai. Do it for me. Please."
Sora gave up and nodded sadly. "I...I'll try."
Matt put on a pained (sad) smile. "That's my girl. I'll talk to you later, okay? See you tomorrow at school."
With that said, Matt cupped Sora face, closed his eyes and gave her a sweet, little good-bye kiss.
Sora waved him goodbye as she watched him walk down the street back to his own home. She hugged herself as a cold breeze blew by. For some reason...she felt so alone and lost now. Little did she know, a certain brown-haired boy she knew for a long time was also feeling the same way.
Back at the Kamiya's, the atmosphere wasn't much better.
Tai laid down on his bed, and sighed heavily, due to all the craziness that occurred in just one day. He started to think about the next few days that would soon come. He sighed again, in wondering about what the future would hold for him, and soon began to worry.
He didn't even hear Kari come in, even though she approached him with loud steps.
"Tai?" she said with a very worried look on her face. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Not in the least," he replied.
"What's wrong?"
"Absolutely everything."
Kari knew what he meant, but was at a loss for words, which was a rarity for her. But she had to do something. Tai felt a pair of arms wrap around him, and fresh tears approaching. But Kari was the one who made a crying sound first, which surprised him. Tai turned his head to his little sister's face and saw that she was indeed crying as well. She sniffled and lovingly nuzzled her head against Tai's cheek.
"Tai..." she whimpered, sounding like she was an apologetic eight-year old again. "Please don't do anything bad to yourself."
"I won't, Kari," he said, also now in tears. "I promise."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Whew, phew! What a workout for the fingers, I don't mind telling you! As you can clearly see, this is definitely NOT the end, there's much more to come! I can tell you this much, a girl will soon enter Tai's love life, but it WON'T be Sora! And as a bonus, a cameo appearance by Joe! (But not next chapter!) Smell ya later!
LAST TIME...
It looked as if Cherrymon had succeeded all too well into tricking Tai into fighting his friends. Although Augumon didn't agree with Tai's decision, he promised to follow, no matter what. Augumon warp-digivolved to WarGreymon, and prepared for action. Matt and Gabumon finally found their friends, but the only response they got was a giant blast of energy from WarGreymon. Sora managed to bring herself to help at the last second, and she, Gabumon and Matt tried desperately to reason with Tai, but to no avail. Nothing would stop him from trying to obtain whatever he desired. Fed up and tired of all the violence, Matt considered making the ultimate sacrifice, and attempted to do so. Rather than have Gabumon warp- digivolve and fight, Matt stepped into the line of fire and was prepared to be destroyed if it meant that Tai could finally be at peace with himself, despite Sora's protests. Will Tai really go through with it, or can Matt and the others reach him in very nick of time, like they always oh so conveniently do? Let's read on to find out!
From Courage To Love - Chapter 5
Matt squeezed his eyes shut, but it didn't protect him from the bright light coming from the attack that WarGreymon was setting up. Sora and Gabumon desperately wanted nothing more than to move...get Matt out of the way, but they were frozen - paralyzed - from fear.
WarGreymon flew high into the air, confident that he wouldn't miss.
Tai just stood there with a piercing, cold look, trying to lock his eyes with Matt. And that's when Matt opened his eyes quickly and briefly and saw it. The look in Tai's eyes. Matt's facial expression switched from fear to wonder. His thoughts suddenly started to race like the Indy 500.
Something's not right here, he thought. That look in his eyes...it's wrong. I could feel the look in mine when I was under Cherrymon's influence, and it's definitely not the same one. Could that mean...?
Matt also glanced at Tai's entire face. Tai's mouth curled into a (evil?) smile, and one of his eyes closed.
Matt started to smile as well.
But his thoughts were interrupted by WarGreymon's roaring...
"EAT THIS!"
Matt closed his eyes again, tightly as the bright light came closer towards the ground.
"NO!!!" Sora shouted. She started to move towards them but Gabumon remembered Matt's orders and quickly pulled Sora back by her green school skirt. Sora could have cared less if her skirt had ripped off, but she was too weak from fear to move any more. So she dropped to her knees, covering her face from the light. Gabumon did the same. The only other sound that could be heard was the echoing howl of Cherrymon's laughter.
"TERRA FORCE!"
"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
Sora and Gabumon could hear a voice screaming under the severe, searing pain of the blast but something else was amiss...
...it wasn't Matt's voice.
"Huh?!?" Matt opened his eyes to distinguish the source of the yelling. Luckily, no one had to look far.
Matt smiled contentedly as he watched Cherrymon writhe and struggle in pain.
Sora, Matt and Gabumon were thankful for the sudden turn of events, and simultaneously turned their heads to Tai. Tai looked back at them with the same smile and winked...again.
Though WarGreymon was still floating above in the air, they could make out his "thumbs-up" sign. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. (Except for Cherrymon, that is.)
"Wait a minute!" Matt exclaimed. "If Cherrymon got blasted, then that means...Tai!" Matt ran towards his friend.
"Tai! You...you're..." Tai said nothing but he continued to smile, put a reassuring hand on Matt's shoulder and nodded. Matt smiled as well and nodded, too.
"No! What...happened? Why...didn't it...?" Cherrymon yelled.
Tai turned towards him in utter anger.
"I got news for you branch brain! You think you can just turn me against my friends like that? Think again! Nothing could make me fight them so easily!"
"Nice try, but no cigar!" shouted Matt.
"Can't...believe...!" Cherrymon barely managed to choke out.
"Now, Matt..." Tai said as he turned to his friend. "Whaddya say we clean up this nasty mess?"
"I always wanted to be janitor!" he joked. "Gabumon?"
"Delighted!" he agreed. Running towards the two, he grabbed his partner's hands and nodded.
Matt's digivice started to glow, followed a bright blue light and a gigantic crackle of energy.
"GABUMON! WARP - DIGIVOLVE TO...METALGARURUMON!!!!!"
In a matter of seconds, Gabumon changed from yellow dog-like creature wearing a blue fur coat to a much larger bluish wolf covered in armor, like WarGreymon.
"Let's do it!" yelled the mighty digimon.
"Count me in!" barked WarGreymon, finally coming down from the sky.
"Not...in...this...lifetime!" said Cherrymon stilled covered in ash and bruises from the attack.
"I'm afraid you got no choice!" Tai shouted angrily.
But Cherrymon wouldn't go without a fight. He moved towards his adversaries surprisingly quickly, considering his weakened state. Tai and Matt were more than confident that their digimon partners could handle him, as they were in peak physical condition. MetalGarurumon made the first move. Cherrymon's injuries wouldn't get the chance to heal anytime soon, as his foe shot an icy blast of energy from his armor, almost from point blank. Cherrymon took the full blast, and got shot all the way back into a thick tree. But things were just getting started, as WarGreymon flew up high into the air, and scoped the intense action (and Cherrymon) like a vulture circling its prey. WarGreymon swooped down, went horizontal, and raked his giant, powerful fist across Cherrymon's back, causing him fall forwards on his face. But Cherrymon once again fell backwards as MetalGarurumon charged forward, ramming into his foe like a racing bull.
WarGreymon joined with his ally on the ground, ready for more action.
"Can't...give...up...destroy...you..." said Cherrymon, badly bruised, but still fully conscious.
"Give it up!" yelled Matt. "You can't beat us!"
"Oh, yeah?" rasped Cherrymon angrily. "Try this!" Suddenly, blinding shields consisting of leaves and petals flew out of his hands and into the air, creating a successful wind and fog to mask Cherrymon's actions. But none of them needed a visual aid to anticipate his next attack. Cherrymon's spread his arms out and "ran" towards his enemies, with a matching "war cry".
However, Tai and Matt worked like a true team, and stood their ground, as did their digimon partners.
"Get ready, guys!" Tai shouted through the rough winds.
The two digimon charged up their attacks and waited for their human friends to give the signal.
"WarGreymon..."
"MetalGarurumon..."
"GO!!!!!" they both roared.
"TERRA FORCE!!!"
"ICE WOLF CLAW!!!"
Using their powers in a combined, concentrated effort, the merged blasts hit Cherrymon hard and were finally able to bring him down. Cherrymon laid almost unconscious, smoked, and badly bruised.
"Curse it...you..." Cherrymon barely spoke.
"WarGreymon...finish him off," Tai said coldly.
"Hold on, Tai! That's enough, we don't need to become the next Dark Masters!" warned Matt.
Tai gave Matt another reassuring look. "Don't worry, I never wanted to destroy him. WarGreymon's just gonna refresh him a bit. Go ahead, buddy."
The tall digimon nodded, and lifted Cherrymon into the air. Wargreymon spun him around so fast that all that could be seen was a orange, green and brown blur. He finally was let go of...and thrown off far into the distance. More towards the ocean, to be precise. Hence, Cherrymon's "refreshment" was to begin quickly.
WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon started to glow a bright yellow, and returned to their "rookie" forms. Both Augumon and Gabumon looked okay, but physically they were exhausted.
"Ooh...I need a rest...maybe for the next few thousand years or so," Augumon moaned.
"Uhh...I sure could use a few energy drinks," Gabumon groaned. "A hundred, to start with, would be nice."
Matt and Tai chuckled a little, then looked at each other.
"Uh, so...Tai...are you...okay?" Matt asked.
"I am...for now, I guess. Cherrymon dragged out...a lot of things in my own mind...that I really regret."
"I understand. I felt the same way after Cherrymon messed with my head."
"Yeah, it's just that...well, after what Sora said to me..."
"I KNOW," Matt interrupted, putting his hands on Tai shoulders. "I know. Look, she had absolutely no right to say all that stuff to you. I'm really sorry. I'm gonna have to talk to her about that."
"She said..." but Tai couldn't finish. Fresh tears started to exit his eyes. Matt couldn't explain what happened, but he immediately put his arms around his trusted friend and hugged him.
"I'm sorry..." Matt whispered to Tai. "I'm sorry."
"Thanks, Matt" Tai sniffed. "And I'm sorry that ruined your date with Sora today..."
"Ah, don't worry about it, we all gotta help each other out sometimes...SORA!" Matt yelled. "Geez, in all the confusion, I'd totally forgotten about her!"
While the digimon rested against each other's backs under a shady tree, both boys searched the vicinity for Sora, though they knew it'd be useless. Sora had left.
"She's gone!" Matt noted, even though he didn't need to say it. Matt then looked at his watch and couldn't believe how much time had passed. "Man, it's gettin' kind of late. We should head back, Tai."
"Yeah..." Tai agreed. "Uh, hey Augumon! Gabumon! You guys gonna be okay?"
"Oh, don't worry about us! You just take care of yourself, Tai," said Gabumon.
"Yeah, we just need to rest a bit," agreed Augumon.
"Take all the time you want, guys," Matt said in a generous tone. "You two have definitely earned it!"
And so, the humans and the digimon hugged each other, said their good-byes, and parted.
*********************
It wasn't that late when Tai got home, but it was starting to get dark.
Mrs. Kamiya wasn't really angry, but she wasn't exactly pleased, either.
"Tai, honey, where have you been? Your sister couldn't find you after school!"
"Sorry Mom, something came up, and I had to do some...thinking."
"Well, anyway I'm glad you're home now, but I want you to call me more often from now on, okay?"
"Okay, Mom. I promise," said Tai, trying to put on the best fake smile that he could.
Tai's mother smiled too and kissed him on the forehead. At dinner, he sure didn't say much. He just sat there, with his head leaning against his hand. His younger sister, Hikari "KARI" Kamiya couldn't stand to see him like this, and it was also hurting her as well inside. His family tried to make conversation, but he responded just a little more than a tombstone would.
"Um...so...son, I hear you got a big soccer game coming up next week," Mr. Kamiya began.
"Yup," he replied.
"Uh...Mr. Yujiko called today," Mrs. Kamiya stated. "He said that you did surprisingly well on the last test, and that you could really do even better if you apply yourself."
"Uh-huh." Tai said, putting a fork full of salad and his mom's "mystery meat" into his mouth. He began to chew, then swallowed, slowly.
That's when Kari knew whatever was on her big brother's mind was serious. Tai NEVER ate his mom's meat, let alone even salad. Kari tried to wake him out of it.
"Hey Tai! Guess what!" Kari said a little too loudly. "On the way home from work, Dad got stuck in traffic, 'cuz there was a cow blocking the way! It started milking itself and giving out free samples of chocolate milk!"
"Yeah...uh, wait a minute," said their father, slightly disturbed at her daughter's "story".
"That's great, Kari. Uh...Mom, can I be excused? I'm...not really that hungry."
"Sure, sweetie," replied his mom in her sweet, polite, motherly way. "I'll save some dinner for you in case you get hungry later."
"Thanks, Mom." Tai said as he slowly and sadly walked into his (and Kari's) room.
Kari watched as Tai closed the door, and felt the need to talk to him. She turned her head to her parents.
"Um, Mom...can I...?" she began to ask, indicating her bedroom.
Mrs. Kamiya immediately nodded, and Kari also left the table.
"I wish I knew what was wrong with our boy..." she sighed.
Mr. Kamiya put his hand over her wife's. "Now, now, dear. We can't expect our son to tell us everything, can we?"
His wife nodded in (reluctant) agreement.
*********************
*RRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGG*
"Hello...oh, hi Matt," Sora answered to the phone.
"Uhh...hi. Are you doing anything right now?"
"Umm, no. I just finished dinner. Why?"
"Well, uh...can we get together?"
"..."
Sora was a little uncomfortable with the tone in his voice, but she tried to brush it off.
"Wh...you mean right now???"
"Well, yeah. I mean, I thought we could take a quiet stroll together, since our romantic picnic got canceled today. It's better than nothing, right?"
"Oh! Uh, yeah! Sure!"
"Great, I'll come over now to pick you up! Bye!"
"Oooookay..." said a confused Sora.
Matt came over within ten to fifteen minutes, and briefly greeted Sora's mother before leaving.
It was nighttime by now, but it wasn't too dark, due to the lampposts, and the bright glow of the moon.
It was a little cold, so Sora hugged Matt's arm, like a true girlfriend. As they walked down the street. Sora kept thinking about how nice it was to be so close to him. Matt's thoughts, unfortunately, were elsewhere.
I gotta talk to her about Tai, he thought. She can't just shrug something like this off and pretend it never happened! She and Tai are best friends! She really hurt him!
"So, whaddya feeling like doing now, Matt?" Sora asked.
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky." Matt answered, partially out of it.
"What?????"
Matt suddenly snapped out of it. "Oh, sorry!" He laughed it off, nervously.
"Where's you brain gone, Matt? C'mon, what's going on?"
"Listen, Sora. I need to talk to you about Tai."
Sora just turned her head away. "Wh...what's to talk about?"
Matt grew angry for the fifth or sixth time that day and separated himself from his girlfriend.
"Boy, Sora, what is wrong with you? You're acting like nothing happened today between the two of you! For as long as I can remember, you and Tai have ALWAYS been the closest of buddies, as close as two friends can get! Closer than you and me will ever be!"
"Matt, stop there! You don't know what you're talking-"
"I know exactly what I'm talking about! You almost always make little jokes about him at every turn, and you hardly pay attention to him when he simply tries to talk to you, though nowadays I can't really see why he tries! Do you know? I don't!"
"Matt, I just-"
"I'm not finished! He loves you more than anything in the entire universe! But just because you don't feel that way about him...anymore...doesn't give you the right to act this way! Do you ever stop to think about how all this is affecting him? A friendship that was as strong as the one between you and Tai is pretty hard to come by these days! Do you really want to throw all that away? DO YOU?"
Sora was speechless. What Matt had said didn't hurt her feelings, but it definitely made her think. Because everything he just said was absolutely, positively, and completely true.
"I...I...you can't make me change my mind."
Now Matt was speechless. But only for a few seconds. He shook his head in disbelief at this rift growing between his two friends. It was true that Sora knew Tai longer and better than any of the others. Ever since kindergarten. Maybe even before that.
"Sora, this is incredibly hard for me to say, but...I don't want to get together with you anymore until you do something about all this."
Sora's ears perked up in alarm. "Huh?!? But..."
"Don't say anything Sora," Matt said as he put his hand up. "Just think about what I said, and hopefully soon it'll all make sense to you. I do love you, but right now, I just can't go on like this. Please talk to Tai. Do it for me. Please."
Sora gave up and nodded sadly. "I...I'll try."
Matt put on a pained (sad) smile. "That's my girl. I'll talk to you later, okay? See you tomorrow at school."
With that said, Matt cupped Sora face, closed his eyes and gave her a sweet, little good-bye kiss.
Sora waved him goodbye as she watched him walk down the street back to his own home. She hugged herself as a cold breeze blew by. For some reason...she felt so alone and lost now. Little did she know, a certain brown-haired boy she knew for a long time was also feeling the same way.
Back at the Kamiya's, the atmosphere wasn't much better.
Tai laid down on his bed, and sighed heavily, due to all the craziness that occurred in just one day. He started to think about the next few days that would soon come. He sighed again, in wondering about what the future would hold for him, and soon began to worry.
He didn't even hear Kari come in, even though she approached him with loud steps.
"Tai?" she said with a very worried look on her face. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Not in the least," he replied.
"What's wrong?"
"Absolutely everything."
Kari knew what he meant, but was at a loss for words, which was a rarity for her. But she had to do something. Tai felt a pair of arms wrap around him, and fresh tears approaching. But Kari was the one who made a crying sound first, which surprised him. Tai turned his head to his little sister's face and saw that she was indeed crying as well. She sniffled and lovingly nuzzled her head against Tai's cheek.
"Tai..." she whimpered, sounding like she was an apologetic eight-year old again. "Please don't do anything bad to yourself."
"I won't, Kari," he said, also now in tears. "I promise."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Whew, phew! What a workout for the fingers, I don't mind telling you! As you can clearly see, this is definitely NOT the end, there's much more to come! I can tell you this much, a girl will soon enter Tai's love life, but it WON'T be Sora! And as a bonus, a cameo appearance by Joe! (But not next chapter!) Smell ya later!