Chapter 10
"Well, why don't you introduce us to your friends, TK," Tai invited, gesturing to the four.
"Right, introductions," TK muttered, shaking his head for a moment. "Alright, Ryo you already know; the digimon with him is Strikemon, Cyberdramon's Champion form. The blonde boy next to him is Willis. The bunny's with him are his twins, Terriermon and Lopmon. The redhead is Natasha, and her partner, Guardromon. And, well…"
"I am Catharine," the blonde girl supplied, stepping forward. "It has been a long time, TK."
"Yeah, it has, hasn't it," TK sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Can we talk?" She nodded and the two moved over to the far side of the playground, away from the others.
"Well, I'd love to be a fly over there right now," Ryo grinned, jumping up onto a swing. "It's good to see you guys again."
"Hey man," Matt grinned, coming over and giving Ryo a high-five. "It's good to see you again."
"You too, man," Ryo grinned, but it rapidly left his face and was replaced with a frown. "Alright, we're here to talk to TK and Ken, but from what we heard, the rest of you just got brought in."
"They deserved to know," Ken repeated.
"We aren't saying that they didn't, Ken," Natasha replied. "We are simply wondering if you want to bring them in all the way, or just tell them the basics."
"I'd go with basics, if I were you," Willis supplied from his place on a bench. "I don't really want to remember some of the shit we went through."
"True," Ken sighed. "Why did Kat come?" The last was directed to Ryo, who shrugged.
"Beats me. She was at 'Tasha's when I got there to call this meeting, and she insisted on coming along. Alex and Chris are off doing their own thing and you know how hard it is to find Kamon, Yong is still MIA, and Michael's dad just got out of the hospital from a stunt gone wrong, so I omitted him."
"I didn't think that she ever wanted to talk to TK again," Ken sighed, shaking his head.
"Do you blame her?" Willis wondered.
"Does someone want to fill us in?" Kari wondered. Ryo suddenly went pale, and glanced at Ken, who subtly shrugged.
"Kat and TK used to be an item," Willis supplied. "But they haven't talked too much since we got back from fighting the Emperor."
"It's ahh, it's good to see you again," TK began, taking a seat on a park bench as Catharine leaned against a brick wall of an apartment building.
"You as well, TK," she replied, her eyes never leaving his.
"So, why did you come?" TK finally blurted out. "I mean, we're through and all, why are you here?"
"I was spending a week at Natasha's house when Ryo came and told us about this little council of war. I am hurt that you did not tell me personally," she added.
"I didn't think you wanted anything to do with the digital world anymore," TK confessed.
"I don't," she agreed. "What Danielle's death proved was that we humans have no place in that world. Let the digimon take care of the digital world. We have enough problems in our own." Her face slowly formed into a mocking grin as she continued. "Except of course for the great Takeru Takeshi. After all, what is TK if not saving the world. And you can't do that in this reality, so you continually go fight wars in the digital world, where things are simpler. No matter who pays the price for your failure."
"That's enough," TK growled. "I am sorry for what happened to Dani, Kat, more than you know, but I refuse to wallow in guilt about it for the rest of my life. I made the call that had to be made at the time, and I don't regret making it. You'd still be just as mad if Ryo or Alex had made that call."
"Oui, mon cher," she nodded, leaning down and kissing him on the cheek. "But you are the one who let my sister die," she hissed in his ear, the only warning he had before she leaned back and slapped him hard across the cheek. She then turned and began to walk away. "Goodbye, TK," she called over her shoulder. "I hope that we never meet again, and that you have better luck with this crusade that your last one; if only for the sake of your 'friends.'"
"That's always been one hell of a woman," Willis sighed, shaking his head as the others watched as Catharine slapped TK and walked away. "Nothing like Little Dani."
"Yeah, I know," Ryo shook his head. "One of these days, she's going to wake up to the fact that she wasn't the only one who lost someone special with Dani."
"So who was this Dani?" Davis wondered, smirking and leaning back against the fence that had been Tai's spot earlier.
"Danielle De'Beriass," Ryo sighed. "She was Kat's twin sister. Dani was younger by about a minute, but she and Kat were always so different. Kat's always been a firebrand, ready to leap into things at the drop of a hat. But Dani was a lot meeker, more willing to step back and observe, but much more active when she truly believed in something than Kat would ever be. She was also fairly closed off most of the time that we knew her."
"Kat tried protecting her in the digital world when we got called, but TK began to take up a lot of her time and pretty soon we all realized that she didn't really need any help. She and her Floramon could talk in a way no one else could figure out, but she was the strongest of us after myself and TK for a long time."
"How did she died?" Kari wondered, voicing the one question that all the Odiba Chosen had on their lips, but were afraid to voice.
"She got crushed to death, when she got stepped on by a massive, evil digimon that the Emperor unknowingly unleashed," TK replied, solemn after his confrontation with Catharine. "She was trying to stop it from killing a village full of Biyomons."
"Alright, boss, what's the plan?" Willis spoke up.
"Why is he the boss?" Davis wondered. "He got one of your teammates squished."
"Close your trap, boy," Ryo growled. "TK gave the order to fall back when we were outnumbered twenty-to-one. It was the right order. Dani didn't listen. She felt that she needed to hold back the Emperor's army long enough for the Biyomon to get away. She did, but by the time they were out, most everyone had already pulled back. She knew what she was doing the entire time."
"Do not question TK's leadership," Natasha spoke up, some of the first words she had spoken since arriving. "He is a good leader. And we all follow him."
"Damn right," Willis grinned. "Now what's the plan?" TK sighed, and his shoulders slumped for a moment, before he straightened up once more and looked around the assembled group.
"We could really use all the help we can get," TK began, addressing the assembled Odiba Chosen. "If you don't want to get involved, that's fine. I won't hold it against you."
"I'm in," Matt and Kari replied, simultaneously, quickly followed by Tai and Sora.
"Of course I'm in," Ken replied.
"I'm going where he's going," Yolei replied.
"I'll do what I can," Izzy smiled, nodding.
"I'll try and help, but I'm not sure how much help I can be," Mimi replied.
"I've got exams in a few days, but after that, I'm with you," Joe smiled.
"Nope," Davis replied.
"No?" Tai wondered.
"I don't trust him," Davis replied, pointing to TK. "I don't think he's a competent leader, and I don't want to follow him. If we happen to have overlapping goals, I'll work with him, but we've got our own mission at the moment. Ken, Yolei, Kari, you guys are part of my team, remember? I need you guys to help protect the rest of the digital world, like we were told to."
"Davis!" Kari flared, but TK placed a restraining hand on her arm.
"My loyalties are to TK first, Davis," Ken replied. "I was a member of his group before I knew any of you. I'm sorry."
"I'm going where Ken's going," Yolei reiterated, latching onto his arm. "I never agreed to blindly follow you before, Davis, I'm not about to now."
"But you're willing to blindly follow him?" Davis growled.
"I don't want anyone blindly following me," TK replied, still outwardly calm. "And you don't realize that this is more important. But, I'm not going to force you to follow me. Cody?" Cody hesitated, swinging back and forth between both sides, before sighing and hanging his head.
"I'm going to have to agree with Davis on this one. Let these Guardians deal with the Emperor if he's that big a threat."
"Alright," TK nodded. "Ken, Yolei, Kari, you guys are going to stick around with us, right?"
"Of course."
"Yep."
"Like you could stop me."
"Alright, Joe, Izzy, Mimi, Tai, Sora, Matt, I want you guys to stick around here, then. Fill in with Davis's team when you can. Davis is right, he's still got a mission."
"I'm sorry, but if Kari and you are in this, than so am I," Tai replied, shaking his head. "And I'm pretty sure that the rest of us agree."
"So you're going to leave Davis and Cody on their own?" TK demanded. "Tai, that's a shitty decision and we all know it. Go with Davis for now, he's going to need your help more than I am."
"I'm not going to let you and my sister face this thing alone!" Tai retorted, his voice rising slightly.
"Remember Machinedramon?" TK's question caught Tai by surprise.
"Of course, why?"
"Do you remember why we fought him when we did?"
"We were trying to get medicine for Kari," Tai answered, still confused. "TK, where the hell are you going with this?"
"Do you remember having to make a decision like this before?" Tai's eyelids narrowed dangerously as the extent of TK's argument hit home.
"That's low, TK. There's a difference between a command decision made during the heat of battle and one made during peace times."
"Yes, but if you could make the smart decision then, when we had who-knew how many digimon after our hides, why can't you make it now, sitting in a playground in the middle of Odiba." Tai and TK stared at each other for close to a minute before Tai hung his head.
"Damn you, Takeshi," Tai murmured.
"Too late," TK replied, holding out his hand. Tai stood and took it, then turned to the assembled Chosen.
"Alright gang, listen up. We're going to play this TK's way for now. Kari, Ken, Yolei, you guys go with TK and keep him on the straight and narrow. The rest of us are going to keep doing what we've been doing. Keeping the peace in the digital world. But, if he needs us at all, TK's going to give us a call, and we'll come running." The last was directed at TK, who grinned and nodded.
"Right," nearly everyone chorused. Davis simply nodded and Cody remained silent.
"Nice group of friends you have, TK," Natasha commented, coming up behind him and kissing him on the cheek. "It is good to see who influenced you so much. It helps make you less of a mystery."
"Where are you guys staying?" TK asked, trying to fight the blush that threatened to ruin his otherwise command like posture. Ryo shrugged.
"I sort of planned on going back to the digital world, and taking these guys back home," he shrugged. "I imagine that Kat's already used the portals to go home, or at least back to 'Tasha's place."
"Probably home," Natasha shrugged. "There's not much at my place, and I imagine that Catharine was getting homesick."
"That's alright, she shouldn't be involved in this," TK nodded. "Alright, I've got room, so you seven get to be borders for the night. Tomorrow, we'll meet at my place, and we'll try and track down the others."
"One quick question, if I may," Willis ventured. "How do you want to do this? Ryo doesn't really live in this dimension any more, so no one will really miss him, and the same with 'Tasha and I, but what about you guys? Hit and run didn't work last time, and there's nothing saying that it will this time." TK sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
"I honestly don't know. It's going to depend, but we're probably going to have to hold back for a few months until we get out of school. Then, we can attack in force."
"Are you sure that that's a good idea?" Willis wondered. "I mean, holding back like that could be fairly costly…"
"I know, Willis," TK sighed. "Unfortunately, I can't really think of anything else at the moment."