Sorry if the last chapter was a little short. I just figured it'd be better if I moved a bit of the ending over here, instead, for the beginning. It gets…kinda confusing (I'm having a few problems…IDEAS PLEASE!!)
This chapter was really hard to write…having Kari talk to him as a little kid was just awful…Not to mention, I was at the school until 9 ever night for the play…Ugh. Hope you like it, them.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, never have and never will.
Lost
Chapter 9: Hopelessly Lost
The phone rang at about 9 in the morning. Kari picked it up on the third ring. "Hello, Kamiya residence." she muttered. "Kari speaking."
"Hello, Kari, dear." Ms. Takaishai's voice came through the receiver. "I need to talk to you about something."
"What is it, Nancy?" Kari started to get a little worried. It was only about three days since T.K. had changed back to his child body, and the mother had been very protective since then. "Something the matter?"
"Well…" the mother seamed a little nervous. "You see, I'm busy with a job today, but Matt's got something big planned with his band and I don't want to keep him here. So, I was wondering if…you'd come over and…"
"Baby-sit T.K.?" Kari asked sweetly, then slapped herself mentally. What the heck am I saying?!
"Oh, you know…" Ms. Takaishai was awkward. "He just seams so…so helpless like this, you know? As opposed to how he used to be…I just want someone here to make sure he doesn't hurt himself."
Kari nodded. "I understand, Ms. Takaishai." she said calmly. "I'll be right over."
"Thank you…" Ms. Takaishai sighed, and was about to hang up the phone before Kari cried out to stop.
"Hang on!" she exclaimed. "We can't tell T.K. who I am, remember? He'll never understand now!"
"Oh…I know." Nancy sighed. "But what if we used a different name? One that sounded like your name, but wasn't?"
"Different name?" Kari asked. "Like what?"
"Well…how about Karen?" Nancy gave a bit of a smile on the other end of the phone. "It's close enough, don't you think? He'd never know!"
"Well…okay, I guess…" Kari sighed, secretly feeling guilty about lying to him. "Goodbye, Ms. Takaishai."
With that, she hung up the phone, then looked longingly at two of the pictures on the wall. A long-treasured DigiDestined picture moment, when the younger six tried to make a human pyramid. One was of the finished stack, but the other was taken just for a laugh, a funny memory.
T.K. had been on the lower left corner, Ken next to him on the right and Davis next to him. Kari and Yolei made up the second layer, Kari on the left and Yolei on right. Cody, being the smallest, was at the top of the point. However, Davis had sneezed, sending the whole pile collapsing on top of each other. T.K.'s arm had shot out under Kari, who'd landed in it with his other arm pressed on top of her when Cody landed on it, and Yolei had scrambled back so as not to hit Davis, pushing Kari up against the boy. The two opened their eyes a moment later, to find that Kari was in his arms, their lips only inches apart. Both had flushed red and that was, of course, when Tai had snapped the picture.
Kari sighed, circling the boy's face with her finger. "Why can't we ever get a break?" she asked the air, then left to head over to the Takaishai residence.
~ * ~ * ~
Ms. Takaishai opened the door of her apartment, smiling warmly to welcome in the old family friend. "Hello, Kari…uh, I mean, Karen." she said with a smile. "Thanks again for coming over."
"No problem, Ms. Takaishai." Kari said calmly, setting her bag down and taking off her shoes as she entered.
The mother turned. "T.K.!" she called. "I'm leaving now!"
"Okay…" the little boy appeared at the doorway, smiling as always. He locked eyes with Kari and smiled a bit wider. "Hi. You're the girl from the other day, right?"
Kari smiled just a bit and nodded. "This is Karen." Nancy said, obviously awkward as well. "She'll be here until I come back, okay?"
"Okie-dokie!" T.K. laughed, and with a final goodbye, his mother left.
Kari stood there, facing the little boy a bit nervously. The child looked up at her, a questioning look on his face, then smiled. "Hi, Karen." he laughed. "Nice to meet you."
"Hi there." she muttered, blushing a bit.
T.K. sat there and stared at her a moment, then got an idea. "Come on!" he laughed suddenly, jumping forward and grabbing her hand. "I want you to see somethin' in my room!"
The eight-year-old tugged his 'babysitter' into the farthest room in the back. Kari recognized Patamon sitting motionless on the bed, pretending to be a stuffed toy. As it was, Gatomon was hiding in her backpack.
"Sit down." T.K. urged, pulling her over to the bed. "I'll just be a minute."
Kari sat down on the mattress, then looked down at the little orange creature. "Hey Patamon." she whispered.
"Hey." the thing whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "Where's Gatomon?"
"Might mere." Kari's pack muttered, and the girl nodded, setting the bag on the bed so the two could talk to each other.
T.K. was digging around in his closet. "Hey, Karen?" he called over his shoulder. "Do you know a girl named Kari?"
Kari stiffened. "Well…Y-Yes!" she gulped. "W-Why do you ask?"
"You look a lot like her." the little boy said, turning back to his work. "She's real nice, too. She's probably my best friend!"
"Oh…really?" Kari asked quietly, very shy.
"Uh huh." he continued to dig, confused now and muttering to himself. "Where'd I put that? It was right he last time I looked!" he glanced around a bit, then looked up. "There it is!" he exclaimed, pulling a box of a low shelf. "How'd it get there?"
"What is it?" Kari asked as he brought it over to him. It was a shoe box, large and old. A small picture was tacked on the top, the last photo they'd taken as a family. Written on it, in blue marker and big, messy, toddler-looking handwriting, was a single word: Memwes.
"I want you to see some pictures!" T.K. laughed, pulling the lid off the shoe box. And indeed, it was filled with dozens and dozens of photos. He reached in and pulled one out. "See? This is the one our friend Mimi took at Kari's birthday!"
Kari picked it up and couldn't help but smiling. There she was, nine years old, wearing a little pink party hat on her head and a small wrapped package in her hands. T.K., wearing that same white hat he'd worn since Diaboromon had attacked the internet, was leaning over his shoulder and planting a kiss on her cheek.
"How cute." she cooed, putting it back in the box. "Do you like her?"
He blushed, looking down. "Well…sortta…" he stammered, turning pink. "I mean…well, she is cute, don't you think?"
"Very cute." Kari smiled, playing along. "I bet she likes you a lot."
"I…guess so…" he said sheepishly, combing through the pictures. Kari smiled. He seamed so content, now, so unknowing…so happy…
That all sudden stopped. His hand had drifted to a familiar picture, one he should have known but didn't. Two teenagers, framed by the backdrop of New York City, standing together and smiling happily. Kari froze as he turned it over and read what he himself had put on the back: "Me & Kari…I still wish it wasn't over."
"Kari…" he whispered to himself, holding the picture up. Past it, he could see the older girl, and the resemblance was obvious. He set the picture down. "You…You are Kari, aren't you?"
Before Kari could answer him, there was a sudden explosion from outside and the window in front of them suddenly crashed inward. Kari dove forward and covered the boy from the flying debris.
They looked up at a high-pitched laugh. A young girl, about ten years old, hovered above them, barefoot and wearing a long, floppy, dark purple robe. Her hair was long and red, wafting loosely in the wind, and her eyes were a sparkling green. She giggled, looking down at them. "Hi there." she laughed down. "Let's play."
"Play…?" Kari wondered, looking up. "What…is this…?"
"Don't let her looks fool you." Gatomon hissed, coming out of her bag. "That's no little girl. It's a Digimon, Psyhumon. There's immense psychic power packed behind that sweet smile."
The girl…Psyhumon…frowned grumpily. "Bad kitty." she scolded lifting her hand. "We just wanna play."
Her eyes suddenly flared completely in an unnaturally bright purple. Gatomon was suddenly lifted off the floor and hurled into the bedroom wall, making a dent and dropping back to the floor, stunned.
"Gatomon!" Kari cried from her place.
"Gatomon?" T.K. asked, looking up. "Y-You mean you…?"
"No time now." Kari whispered to him, gathering the child up. "We've got to get out of here! Gatomon, Patamon, come on!"
She began to run for the door, but Psyhumon was suddenly in front of her. "I don't like tag." she said toyingly. "It's no fun. Let's play catch instead!"
A ball of purple energy appeared in her hand, the same size as a softball. But by the way her eyes glowed the exact same way, something told Kari that this wasn't going to be pretty.
She scrambled away from the creature, just as the bed behind her exploded with the hot purple ball. Psyhumon kept throwing them at the two kids, one after another. Kari finally dove behind a wall, just barely taking cover.
Psyhumon had lost track of them, looking around her with a giggle. "Hide-n-Seek!" she laughed. "That's lotsa fun! I'm gonna get you!"
"That's what I'm afraid of…" Kari whispered.
"I'll get 'er!" T.K. exclaimed, standing suddenly.
"T.K., no!" Kari cried, pulling him back down.
"Patamon and I can stop her!" T.K. insisted, the looked the young woman in the eye. "You know that, don't you? You and Gatomon…you can do it too."
Kari stared at him a moment, then nodded. No point in hiding it anymore. "Okay then." she sighed, standing. "Let's go!"
In a couple of seconds, Gatomon and Patamon had Digivolved to Nefertimon and Angemon, respectively. T.K. was surprised when the tiny white cat changed into something besides Angewomon, but recovered in a moment.
Psyhumon frowned. "You're no fun." she muttered. "I'll just get rid of you right now!"
Spinning so quickly she was only a blur, the Digimon in the guise of a human girl started flinging purple fire in every direction. Kari and T.K. both ducked under Angemon's protective grasp, the Digimon taking most of the damage from the attack.
"Rosetta Stone!" Nefertimon shouted, knocking Psyhumon into a pile of rubble.
Angemon rose and leapt into the fray before the enemy Digimon could recover. "Hand of Fate!"
Psyhumon stumbled out of her mess, looking awful. There was a bleeding cut above her left eye. "You'll pay for this." she growled, taking flight. "My Master has more plans than you think! You'll be punished just for my being here!"
"What…?" Kari asked out loud as she vanished, but she didn't finish.
T.K. shook suddenly, a large spasm across his body, and dropped limp. "T.K.!" Kari exclaimed, catching him. A small dart, purple, like Psyhumon's attacks, was stuck into the major vein of his neck. Kari yanked it out, but it wasn't enough to make his eyes roll back the right way.
"T.K., please wake up!" she cried, shaking the child in the rubble that was left of the room. "T.K., come on! Wake up! T.K.! T.K.!"
