Author's Notes: I don't own digimon or most of the characters in this fic.
I do own the plot though and any similarities to any other fic are
unintentional and I apologise.
A Different Destiny, Chapter 4
The group followed Gennai down maze like corridors that they felt certain that they would get lost in. Even Izzy was having trouble remembering the way that they had cone, and he usually remembered the way out of everywhere. They finally came to a room that was fairly big in size. Inside the room a fire was burning brightly in a marble fireplace on the left, as well as on the right. The room was white with cream furniture arranged in the middle of the room. Gennai walked straight to a chair that was facing the others and beckoned for them all to come and sit down. Tai was the only one who refused; he preferred to stand next to one of the chairs than to seat.
"As I said before, welcome to the Castle of the Royal Family. My name is Gennai, I was one of the closest friends of the family and now I am leading the search to find the Prince and the Princess. I have figured out that you children are the digidestined, but could you please tell me your names and crests so that I have a better view of which I am talking to?" everyone except Tai seemed to relax in the presence of this 'stranger' and Mimi started the group of by introducing herself.
"I'm Mimi and I have the crest of Sincerity. Palmon here is my digimon partner," Mimi's voice was excited and girlish and Tai couldn't help but be annoyed with her. He knew that he shouldn't yell at her for introducing herself, so he kept quiet. He wasn't feeling well either and the presence of Gennai was just making him feel worse. Though the room was warm with the heat of two fires, Tai was shivering. Nobody but Agumon noticed and again he said nothing.
"My name's Joe and my crest mean Reliability. Gomamon is my partner."
"I'm Matt. I hold the crest of Friendship and Gabumon is with me."
"I'm T.K, Matt's younger brother. My crest means Hope and Patamon and I are partners!"
"My name's Kari. My crest symbolizes Light and Salamon is my partner."
"Izzy is what people call me and I have the crest of Knowledge. Tentomon is my digimon."
"My name is Sora and I bear the crest of Love. Biyomon is my partner." There was a pause in the room in which Tai was supposed to introduce himself, but he didn't say anything, "Uh, Tai? Hello, Earth to Tai? Are you okay?" Sora waved her hand in front of Tai's gaze and he seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking, "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
"Forgive my brother. He's been acting pretty strange lately," Tai heard Kari apologizing to Gennai. It made him extremely angry to hear her apologise to the murderer of his parents, but he calmed himself down quickly.
"My name is Tai and Agumon is my digimon partner. I have the symbol for Courage on my crest," he felt like an idiot introducing himself like that, but the others had done it so he had to do it too.
"Well, now that I know everyone's name, I will tell you what you have been brought here for. The Prince and the Princess have been missing for 8 years this very day, the 21st of June. On this day eight years ago their parents, the King and Queen, were murdered by a group of humans and digimon that were unhappy with their rule. We believe that they also kidnapped the Royal Children to teach them their ways of ruling so that when they are found they will rule unfairly. We found this necklace near the scene of the murder and we believe that all members of the group wear these around their necks. A witness said that they saw a boy carrying the Princess somewhere just before she disappeared. Please take a look at this necklace," Tai almost had a heart attack once he saw that the necklace Gennai was holding up was almost exactly the same as the one that he wore around his neck, except that it had a 3 engraved on it instead of a 1.
"I-I've seen this necklace before! Wait a minute, before we got sent here-" Tai cut Izzy off as he pulled out his copy of the necklace. Gennai's eyes lit up when he saw it.
"Do you mean this necklace Gennai?" all eyes turned to him as he spoke on quietly, "Does this mean that I am a part of this 'terrorist group' too?" Total silence covered the room as Tai stared straight into Gennai's eyes calmly. He knew that he had blown his chance of escaping from Gennai's grasp this time, but he would never betray the promise he made to Rena that he would protect his sister at all costs. It was a good thing that he had disguised the Princesses necklace as something else because at least now she wouldn't get caught.
"You're one of them! And don't try to deny it by saying that you received it for a present or anything like that. That is a mark of the terrorist group and it doesn't come off once it is attached. You must have been the boy who kidnapped the Princess!" Gennai's eyes glowed dangerously in the firelight and Tai knew that he was in for it.
"As a matter of fact I got it for my fourth birthday from my parents. And yes, I did take the Princess, but I didn't kidnap her. I was saving her from a dangerous murderer who was after both her and the Prince," everybody but Agumon looked both shocked and angry with him.
"You kidnapped a Princess? You are part of a terrorist group? And I thought that you were my brother for all those years too! I'm glad that you're only my adopted brother; you're a horrible person!" Tai took a deep breath at Kari's harsh words and he wanted to cry, but he kept his face emotionless and continued to continue his staring match with Gennai, ignoring all of the hostile looks he was receiving.
"Who are you really? You say that your name is Tai, but you've lied about everything else so far, so who are you really?" Palmon demanded to know and everyone else seemed to agree with her.
"You wouldn't believe me if even if I did tell you my real name. None of you trust me to tell the truth and I'm not going to break my promise to somebody," Tai's concentration was starting to disappear slowly and Tai thought that it was probably because he was sick. Nobody else realised though, as they were agreeing with what he was saying. Gennai stood up and approached him.
"Where is she? Where is the Princess?" he asked, gritting his teeth, putting on a show that he was outraged that the Princess was missing, but everyone else believed him. Gennai was a good actor after all.
"I don't know. She could be tap dancing on the moon for all I know. I went and gave her to a family and they adopted her before I left and got adopted myself. I kept in contact with her when I could, but she moved away a few years ago and we lost contact," Tai hated lying to anybody, even to the murderer of his parents, but again he knew that it would keep Kari out of trouble.
"You're lying Tai, or whatever your name is. You'd better tell the truth soon otherwise we'll have to resort to other means to get the answers out of you," Gennai picked up Tai's necklace and looked at it intently, as if he was trying to memorize every detail on it. To make sure that it didn't come off, Gennai pulled it as hard as he could, causing Tai to almost fly into him, "Now where is she?" Tai was feeling really dizzy, but he still managed to make up another lie.
"She's playing the flute on Neptune," he closed his eyes for a second, trying to make the dizziness stop. He was also wondering why the room could be so cold with two fires burning. He never really finished his thought though, because the room spun even faster and he collapsed, unaware of what was going on around him.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I can't believe that Tai is actually a part of a rebel group that wants to brainwash the Prince and Princess of the digital world! It just doesn't seem right," Sora said, mainly to break the silence that had engulfed the room after Gennai had left with the unconscious Tai. Agumon had followed them out of the room, claiming that he 'didn't trust someone who lied.'
"Well, it's true. Tai even said so himself. He admitted that he had taken the Princess somewhere and had hidden her. It's his own fault that he finally will have to pay for what he did," Matt seemed glad that Tai was gone. Matt had never liked Tai because Tai was outgoing and though he wasn't as popular as Matt, he still seemed to be happier.
"I don't think that Tai is a part of this 'terrorist group' at all," Joe's statement made everyone turn their gaze on him, but he continued unfazed, "Tai told us to trust our instincts, right? Well, there's something about this necklace that makes me remember someone, from when I was really young. I was in a car crash when I was seven and so I don't really remember my past all that well, but something tells me that Tai is keeping something from us that could tell us what is really going on here." Izzy turned on his laptop on and started typing away, his eyes glued to the screen.
"What are you doing Izzy?" T.K asked, looking at the screen over the young genius's shoulder, "What are you looking for?" Izzy was quiet for a moment before he replied.
"I'm trying to find out what this necklace means. It has to be somewhere on the internet or on the digital world's database," Izzy turned back to his computer and was soon engrossed in it again.
"We have already tried various sources to find out what the necklace stands for, but we've never found the answer," the Chosen children looked up as Gennai walked back in the room, followed closely by Agumon, "It seems that Tai has caught a fever. He is now in the hospital room, for he seems to be really sick." Sora and Kari glanced at each other. Tai had meant the most to the two of them, and they were finding it hard to believe that he was a traitor. But they had to agree that the evidence that Tai gave them was not exactly proving his own innocence, it was condemning himself.
"Will he be okay?" Sora asked quietly, knowing that if Tai was who Gennai said he was she shouldn't be asking that question. Kari, T.K and Joe also looked like they wanted to know the answer too, but Matt, Izzy and Mimi weren't too interested. Neither were most of the digimon.
"Why would we care if he's alright or not? He has betrayed the Royal Family and the Princess and he deserves to be punished," Palmon declared, crossing her arms, "The royal children were nice and they didn't deserve to be kidnapped. Sure the Prince was a bit of a mischief maker, but he was only five when he disappeared. They didn't deserve to be kidnapped, they deserved to have their parents kept alive and for them to grow up here in the castle." Palmon got very emotional whilst she said this and most of the digimon, including Biyomon, Gomamon and Patamon, agreed with her. Agumon was the only digimon who was not nodding in agreement. Even Sora was inclined to believe what Palmon said.
"Palmon, I only asked if he was going to be okay. I never said that he didn't deserve to be punished and I never said that those two children didn't deserve to be here with their parents. I just want to know if Tai's going to be okay," Palmon sighed, but she didn't say anything.
"Tai is going to be-" Gennai was cut off by a Terriermon rushing into the room.
"Gennai, we have found out that Renamon has been raising an army, against your orders. We have brought her back with us to the castle. Do you want me to put her in the dungeon?" Gennai thought for a second before he agreed.
"Yes, take her there. It'll be nice to see two old friends see each other again after a long time. I'll come and escort her there myself," Gennai turned back to the digidestined, "Please forgive me. I'll be back soon." The Terriermon and Gennai left the room swiftly, with Agumon watching them suspiciously. Once they were gone Agumon turned back to the others.
"Agumon, is Tai going to be okay?" Agumon didn't reply at first, he seemed to be having a battle within himself, "Agumon?"
"You guys believe that Tai is a 'bad guy,' don't you?" Sora nodded reluctantly at Agumon's question. It didn't feel right, but she couldn't deny the evidence, as much as her heart wanted her to.
"You can't fight the fact that the evidence is all against him Agumon. I know that you don't want to admit it, bit Tai is actually wrong on this," Kari told the dinosaur-like digimon, "You are his digimon partner and you feel that you can't betray him, but he actually did something wrong and he admitted that himself." Agumon was shaking his head.
"You can't go condemning the innocent if you don't have all of the facts. You are missing two key pieces of evidence, well three now that I come to think about it, so you can't make a judgment against Tai. Believe me when I say that those three pieces of evidence that you are missing are very important. Tai won't let me tell you what the truth is, he muttered something about you having to figure it out for yourselves and then another thing about putting the Princess in danger, but you shouldn't forget the saying 'innocent until proven guilty,'" Agumon paused for a breath, noticing that all eyes were on him, "As for will Tai be alright, that I am not certain of. Tai has not been taken any place that has a doctor; in fact he was thrown in a dungeon. Luckily I kept out of sight otherwise I would have been thrown in there too. That's what Tai meant about two friends seeing each other again; Tai and Renamon used to be extremely good friends." Agumon was giving them a clue in that last sentence, but none of them picked it up.
"But if Tai's really sick and he's in a dungeon, how is he going to get the medical help that he needs?" Joe demanded to know. His father was a doctor, so he knew about many different types of diseases and knew how they had to be treated.
"Renamon is in there now, so there is no need to worry. Renamon would give her life to make sure that Tai's okay, and as she used to be a nurse, she'll know how to look after him," Agumon felt like he was throwing clues at them left, right and center and he felt like he was being too obvious. It wasn't his fault that they were ignoring all of the clues. Silence fell in the room once again, until Tentomon spoke.
"Wait a minute there Agumon! The only people that Renamon would give her life to are members of the Royal Family. Those were the only people that she considered her friends! Why would she give her life to a traitor?" Agumon smiled secretly. Finally one of the digimon had said it so then the children could think about it, so that when they figured out that Renamon was not the traitor they thought she was, they would know Tai's identity.
"But Tentomon, remember that Renamon was a traitor! She was the one who was responsible for the children and she helped the terrorist group get them! That means that she would risk her life for the group that Tai is a part of!" Gabumon piped up, reminding his buddy of what had happened in the conversation before, "So technically it doesn't matter."
"But are you absolutely certain that Renamon is a traitor? Just because the children went missing it doesn't mean that she helped them to escape," Agumon wanted to make sure that the information that Tentomon had told them didn't get forgotten, "We all know how loyal Renamon was to the Family. Why would she change her mind and join this group? And she would die for any of the Royal Family, just like she would die for Tai." The other digimon would not back down though, and most of the digidestined believed what their digimon did. In fact, only Sora and Joe seemed to be having second thoughts about what was being said.
"But why would Renamon give her life to save Tai then? It all doesn't make sense. If the only people that Renamon would die for are members of the Royal Family, why would she die for Tai, who is a part of this terrorist group? You can't deny the fact that he took the Princess away from here, so he must be a part of the group. That would be the only logical reason that there is," Izzy explained, trying to keep it simple, "That is, unless we're wrong about this terrorist group, but that would mean that Tai would be this mysterious Prince. That isn't possible as his birthday doesn't coincide with the Prince's birthday, so the terrorist group is the only way to explain this." Sora didn't believe that for a second, although it was a very logical explanation.
"Wait a minute, Tai explained that riddle that he told us to me. He told me, wait, he said that 'everybody lies to cover up the truth. Only some people have a good reason to, others don't.' Maybe he was trying to give us a clue with that," her instinct was telling her that Tai wasn't a bad guy, but now she had to convince everyone else that that was the case. She sighed as she knew that it wasn't going to be easy, especially when she didn't know the answer herself . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * *
~DREAM SEQUENCE~
Tai was standing in the clearing where his parents had been murdered by Gennai. It was covered with snow, exactly the way it had been on his 5th birthday, those eight years ago. In the center of the clearing stood his parents and they seemed to be waiting for him.
"Taichi, my little boy! You've grown so much and I miss you everyday," his mother told him, tears coming to her eyes and she pulled a white handkerchief out from the air and dabbed underneath her eyes, "I'm sorry that we left you alone." She burst out into tears and was unable to speak. Tai ran over to her and hugged her tightly, ignoring the tears that were running down his own cheeks.
"I miss you too Mum, but you didn't leave me alone. I always had Hikari with me, though she never realised the truth. You don't need to cry, we have gotten by so far," his father had been watching the exchange closely and now he felt that he had to speak before it was too late.
"Taichi, my son, we have to tell you that we are proud of what you have done for your sister, but we want to know how you are going to get yourself out of this situation. We know that you care about Kari, but at the minute your friends are thinking that you are a traitor and that you deserve to be punished. Please be careful Tai, Gennai is a formidable opponent and you should not take his forces lightly. How are you going to escape now?" Tai turned to his father with a small smile on his face.
"My friends will realise the truth sooner or later Dad and they will come and help me. Agumon is giving them as many hints as he can, but he cannot tell them the truth otherwise they will not believe him and then they won't even consider the truth as a possibility. I have faith in my friends and I know that they will find the truth, or at least Sora and Joe and Kari will. The others I am not too sure about, but those three will find the truth, even if it does mean that Kari's necklace is revealed for what it truly is," his parents nodded thoughtfully before his father spoke again.
"We will have to leave you now Taichi, otherwise your sickness will kill you. Remember that we love both you and Hikari and we miss you terribly. But that does not mean that we want to see you up here soon. Please be careful and I hope that your plan works. Have faith and everything should fall into its place soon. Goodbye son . . ."
~END OF DREAM SEQUENCE~
The forest scene faded away rapidly and so did his parents as Tai found himself on the ground facing the bottom of a drab grey wall. He groaned quietly to himself as his head began to throb painfully. He placed his hand on his forehead and moved it away quickly. His hand felt like it had almost been burned, but he was beginning to shiver.
'Why does it have to be so cold in this place?' he thought to himself as he tried to get up to sit against the stone wall so he could take a look around at where he was, 'I feel like an icicle and yet my forehead is hot. That's not a good thing.' He had almost sat up when he heard a quiet voice coming from the other side of the dark room.
"Don't sit up Tai, save your energy. I have a feeling that you are going to need it. I'll be over there in a second," the voice told him. Tai lay back down obediently. He couldn't figure out who the figure that had spoken was, but his body automatically responded to the female's voice. He heard the sound of something moving in water and then a tall digimon approached him. She was mainly a golden colour and she walked with a poise that shouted out 'DANGER.' Tai recognised her from his childhood.
"Rena?" he asked his voice croaky from the lack of fluids, "Is that you?" The digimon continued on her way until she was by his side. She placed a wet cloth on his forehead and Tai instantly felt a bit better.
"Yes Prince Taichi, it is I, Renamon, at your service," she smiled as she said this in a mocking tone, trying to lighten up the mood in the small room, "I told you that you would end up in trouble one day. And look, here we both are in the dungeons of the castle just because we are who we are." She paused for a second before speaking again. "I'm glad that you are alright Tai. I prayed and prayed for your safe return, but I was hoping that Gennai would be a long way away from here so that you would be safe. Is the Princess safe?" Tai nodded, but it hurt his head to do so.
"She's alright, for the time being. I had to conceal it inside something else, but she has it," Tai felt the room spin around him again and the darkness of unconsciousness seized him again. Rena just sighed and kept her place beside the boy, her prayers now about his safety and the defeat of Gennai . . .
End of Chapter 4
Sorry that this has taken a while to get up compared to my other chapters, but I couldn't turn on this computer for a while and this chapter was almost done on this computer, so I couldn't access it from the other computers and yeah. Once school starts in a week, I probably won't be able to update often at all, as all of my teachers delight in giving me homework that is 'more important than writing.' It totally sucks, but I can't do much about it unless I want to flunk out of school, so. I'm just warning everyone that in a week I won't be able to update quickly, like I am now. Just a warning. Anyway, please, please, please review!! Please!
A Different Destiny, Chapter 4
The group followed Gennai down maze like corridors that they felt certain that they would get lost in. Even Izzy was having trouble remembering the way that they had cone, and he usually remembered the way out of everywhere. They finally came to a room that was fairly big in size. Inside the room a fire was burning brightly in a marble fireplace on the left, as well as on the right. The room was white with cream furniture arranged in the middle of the room. Gennai walked straight to a chair that was facing the others and beckoned for them all to come and sit down. Tai was the only one who refused; he preferred to stand next to one of the chairs than to seat.
"As I said before, welcome to the Castle of the Royal Family. My name is Gennai, I was one of the closest friends of the family and now I am leading the search to find the Prince and the Princess. I have figured out that you children are the digidestined, but could you please tell me your names and crests so that I have a better view of which I am talking to?" everyone except Tai seemed to relax in the presence of this 'stranger' and Mimi started the group of by introducing herself.
"I'm Mimi and I have the crest of Sincerity. Palmon here is my digimon partner," Mimi's voice was excited and girlish and Tai couldn't help but be annoyed with her. He knew that he shouldn't yell at her for introducing herself, so he kept quiet. He wasn't feeling well either and the presence of Gennai was just making him feel worse. Though the room was warm with the heat of two fires, Tai was shivering. Nobody but Agumon noticed and again he said nothing.
"My name's Joe and my crest mean Reliability. Gomamon is my partner."
"I'm Matt. I hold the crest of Friendship and Gabumon is with me."
"I'm T.K, Matt's younger brother. My crest means Hope and Patamon and I are partners!"
"My name's Kari. My crest symbolizes Light and Salamon is my partner."
"Izzy is what people call me and I have the crest of Knowledge. Tentomon is my digimon."
"My name is Sora and I bear the crest of Love. Biyomon is my partner." There was a pause in the room in which Tai was supposed to introduce himself, but he didn't say anything, "Uh, Tai? Hello, Earth to Tai? Are you okay?" Sora waved her hand in front of Tai's gaze and he seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking, "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
"Forgive my brother. He's been acting pretty strange lately," Tai heard Kari apologizing to Gennai. It made him extremely angry to hear her apologise to the murderer of his parents, but he calmed himself down quickly.
"My name is Tai and Agumon is my digimon partner. I have the symbol for Courage on my crest," he felt like an idiot introducing himself like that, but the others had done it so he had to do it too.
"Well, now that I know everyone's name, I will tell you what you have been brought here for. The Prince and the Princess have been missing for 8 years this very day, the 21st of June. On this day eight years ago their parents, the King and Queen, were murdered by a group of humans and digimon that were unhappy with their rule. We believe that they also kidnapped the Royal Children to teach them their ways of ruling so that when they are found they will rule unfairly. We found this necklace near the scene of the murder and we believe that all members of the group wear these around their necks. A witness said that they saw a boy carrying the Princess somewhere just before she disappeared. Please take a look at this necklace," Tai almost had a heart attack once he saw that the necklace Gennai was holding up was almost exactly the same as the one that he wore around his neck, except that it had a 3 engraved on it instead of a 1.
"I-I've seen this necklace before! Wait a minute, before we got sent here-" Tai cut Izzy off as he pulled out his copy of the necklace. Gennai's eyes lit up when he saw it.
"Do you mean this necklace Gennai?" all eyes turned to him as he spoke on quietly, "Does this mean that I am a part of this 'terrorist group' too?" Total silence covered the room as Tai stared straight into Gennai's eyes calmly. He knew that he had blown his chance of escaping from Gennai's grasp this time, but he would never betray the promise he made to Rena that he would protect his sister at all costs. It was a good thing that he had disguised the Princesses necklace as something else because at least now she wouldn't get caught.
"You're one of them! And don't try to deny it by saying that you received it for a present or anything like that. That is a mark of the terrorist group and it doesn't come off once it is attached. You must have been the boy who kidnapped the Princess!" Gennai's eyes glowed dangerously in the firelight and Tai knew that he was in for it.
"As a matter of fact I got it for my fourth birthday from my parents. And yes, I did take the Princess, but I didn't kidnap her. I was saving her from a dangerous murderer who was after both her and the Prince," everybody but Agumon looked both shocked and angry with him.
"You kidnapped a Princess? You are part of a terrorist group? And I thought that you were my brother for all those years too! I'm glad that you're only my adopted brother; you're a horrible person!" Tai took a deep breath at Kari's harsh words and he wanted to cry, but he kept his face emotionless and continued to continue his staring match with Gennai, ignoring all of the hostile looks he was receiving.
"Who are you really? You say that your name is Tai, but you've lied about everything else so far, so who are you really?" Palmon demanded to know and everyone else seemed to agree with her.
"You wouldn't believe me if even if I did tell you my real name. None of you trust me to tell the truth and I'm not going to break my promise to somebody," Tai's concentration was starting to disappear slowly and Tai thought that it was probably because he was sick. Nobody else realised though, as they were agreeing with what he was saying. Gennai stood up and approached him.
"Where is she? Where is the Princess?" he asked, gritting his teeth, putting on a show that he was outraged that the Princess was missing, but everyone else believed him. Gennai was a good actor after all.
"I don't know. She could be tap dancing on the moon for all I know. I went and gave her to a family and they adopted her before I left and got adopted myself. I kept in contact with her when I could, but she moved away a few years ago and we lost contact," Tai hated lying to anybody, even to the murderer of his parents, but again he knew that it would keep Kari out of trouble.
"You're lying Tai, or whatever your name is. You'd better tell the truth soon otherwise we'll have to resort to other means to get the answers out of you," Gennai picked up Tai's necklace and looked at it intently, as if he was trying to memorize every detail on it. To make sure that it didn't come off, Gennai pulled it as hard as he could, causing Tai to almost fly into him, "Now where is she?" Tai was feeling really dizzy, but he still managed to make up another lie.
"She's playing the flute on Neptune," he closed his eyes for a second, trying to make the dizziness stop. He was also wondering why the room could be so cold with two fires burning. He never really finished his thought though, because the room spun even faster and he collapsed, unaware of what was going on around him.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I can't believe that Tai is actually a part of a rebel group that wants to brainwash the Prince and Princess of the digital world! It just doesn't seem right," Sora said, mainly to break the silence that had engulfed the room after Gennai had left with the unconscious Tai. Agumon had followed them out of the room, claiming that he 'didn't trust someone who lied.'
"Well, it's true. Tai even said so himself. He admitted that he had taken the Princess somewhere and had hidden her. It's his own fault that he finally will have to pay for what he did," Matt seemed glad that Tai was gone. Matt had never liked Tai because Tai was outgoing and though he wasn't as popular as Matt, he still seemed to be happier.
"I don't think that Tai is a part of this 'terrorist group' at all," Joe's statement made everyone turn their gaze on him, but he continued unfazed, "Tai told us to trust our instincts, right? Well, there's something about this necklace that makes me remember someone, from when I was really young. I was in a car crash when I was seven and so I don't really remember my past all that well, but something tells me that Tai is keeping something from us that could tell us what is really going on here." Izzy turned on his laptop on and started typing away, his eyes glued to the screen.
"What are you doing Izzy?" T.K asked, looking at the screen over the young genius's shoulder, "What are you looking for?" Izzy was quiet for a moment before he replied.
"I'm trying to find out what this necklace means. It has to be somewhere on the internet or on the digital world's database," Izzy turned back to his computer and was soon engrossed in it again.
"We have already tried various sources to find out what the necklace stands for, but we've never found the answer," the Chosen children looked up as Gennai walked back in the room, followed closely by Agumon, "It seems that Tai has caught a fever. He is now in the hospital room, for he seems to be really sick." Sora and Kari glanced at each other. Tai had meant the most to the two of them, and they were finding it hard to believe that he was a traitor. But they had to agree that the evidence that Tai gave them was not exactly proving his own innocence, it was condemning himself.
"Will he be okay?" Sora asked quietly, knowing that if Tai was who Gennai said he was she shouldn't be asking that question. Kari, T.K and Joe also looked like they wanted to know the answer too, but Matt, Izzy and Mimi weren't too interested. Neither were most of the digimon.
"Why would we care if he's alright or not? He has betrayed the Royal Family and the Princess and he deserves to be punished," Palmon declared, crossing her arms, "The royal children were nice and they didn't deserve to be kidnapped. Sure the Prince was a bit of a mischief maker, but he was only five when he disappeared. They didn't deserve to be kidnapped, they deserved to have their parents kept alive and for them to grow up here in the castle." Palmon got very emotional whilst she said this and most of the digimon, including Biyomon, Gomamon and Patamon, agreed with her. Agumon was the only digimon who was not nodding in agreement. Even Sora was inclined to believe what Palmon said.
"Palmon, I only asked if he was going to be okay. I never said that he didn't deserve to be punished and I never said that those two children didn't deserve to be here with their parents. I just want to know if Tai's going to be okay," Palmon sighed, but she didn't say anything.
"Tai is going to be-" Gennai was cut off by a Terriermon rushing into the room.
"Gennai, we have found out that Renamon has been raising an army, against your orders. We have brought her back with us to the castle. Do you want me to put her in the dungeon?" Gennai thought for a second before he agreed.
"Yes, take her there. It'll be nice to see two old friends see each other again after a long time. I'll come and escort her there myself," Gennai turned back to the digidestined, "Please forgive me. I'll be back soon." The Terriermon and Gennai left the room swiftly, with Agumon watching them suspiciously. Once they were gone Agumon turned back to the others.
"Agumon, is Tai going to be okay?" Agumon didn't reply at first, he seemed to be having a battle within himself, "Agumon?"
"You guys believe that Tai is a 'bad guy,' don't you?" Sora nodded reluctantly at Agumon's question. It didn't feel right, but she couldn't deny the evidence, as much as her heart wanted her to.
"You can't fight the fact that the evidence is all against him Agumon. I know that you don't want to admit it, bit Tai is actually wrong on this," Kari told the dinosaur-like digimon, "You are his digimon partner and you feel that you can't betray him, but he actually did something wrong and he admitted that himself." Agumon was shaking his head.
"You can't go condemning the innocent if you don't have all of the facts. You are missing two key pieces of evidence, well three now that I come to think about it, so you can't make a judgment against Tai. Believe me when I say that those three pieces of evidence that you are missing are very important. Tai won't let me tell you what the truth is, he muttered something about you having to figure it out for yourselves and then another thing about putting the Princess in danger, but you shouldn't forget the saying 'innocent until proven guilty,'" Agumon paused for a breath, noticing that all eyes were on him, "As for will Tai be alright, that I am not certain of. Tai has not been taken any place that has a doctor; in fact he was thrown in a dungeon. Luckily I kept out of sight otherwise I would have been thrown in there too. That's what Tai meant about two friends seeing each other again; Tai and Renamon used to be extremely good friends." Agumon was giving them a clue in that last sentence, but none of them picked it up.
"But if Tai's really sick and he's in a dungeon, how is he going to get the medical help that he needs?" Joe demanded to know. His father was a doctor, so he knew about many different types of diseases and knew how they had to be treated.
"Renamon is in there now, so there is no need to worry. Renamon would give her life to make sure that Tai's okay, and as she used to be a nurse, she'll know how to look after him," Agumon felt like he was throwing clues at them left, right and center and he felt like he was being too obvious. It wasn't his fault that they were ignoring all of the clues. Silence fell in the room once again, until Tentomon spoke.
"Wait a minute there Agumon! The only people that Renamon would give her life to are members of the Royal Family. Those were the only people that she considered her friends! Why would she give her life to a traitor?" Agumon smiled secretly. Finally one of the digimon had said it so then the children could think about it, so that when they figured out that Renamon was not the traitor they thought she was, they would know Tai's identity.
"But Tentomon, remember that Renamon was a traitor! She was the one who was responsible for the children and she helped the terrorist group get them! That means that she would risk her life for the group that Tai is a part of!" Gabumon piped up, reminding his buddy of what had happened in the conversation before, "So technically it doesn't matter."
"But are you absolutely certain that Renamon is a traitor? Just because the children went missing it doesn't mean that she helped them to escape," Agumon wanted to make sure that the information that Tentomon had told them didn't get forgotten, "We all know how loyal Renamon was to the Family. Why would she change her mind and join this group? And she would die for any of the Royal Family, just like she would die for Tai." The other digimon would not back down though, and most of the digidestined believed what their digimon did. In fact, only Sora and Joe seemed to be having second thoughts about what was being said.
"But why would Renamon give her life to save Tai then? It all doesn't make sense. If the only people that Renamon would die for are members of the Royal Family, why would she die for Tai, who is a part of this terrorist group? You can't deny the fact that he took the Princess away from here, so he must be a part of the group. That would be the only logical reason that there is," Izzy explained, trying to keep it simple, "That is, unless we're wrong about this terrorist group, but that would mean that Tai would be this mysterious Prince. That isn't possible as his birthday doesn't coincide with the Prince's birthday, so the terrorist group is the only way to explain this." Sora didn't believe that for a second, although it was a very logical explanation.
"Wait a minute, Tai explained that riddle that he told us to me. He told me, wait, he said that 'everybody lies to cover up the truth. Only some people have a good reason to, others don't.' Maybe he was trying to give us a clue with that," her instinct was telling her that Tai wasn't a bad guy, but now she had to convince everyone else that that was the case. She sighed as she knew that it wasn't going to be easy, especially when she didn't know the answer herself . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * *
~DREAM SEQUENCE~
Tai was standing in the clearing where his parents had been murdered by Gennai. It was covered with snow, exactly the way it had been on his 5th birthday, those eight years ago. In the center of the clearing stood his parents and they seemed to be waiting for him.
"Taichi, my little boy! You've grown so much and I miss you everyday," his mother told him, tears coming to her eyes and she pulled a white handkerchief out from the air and dabbed underneath her eyes, "I'm sorry that we left you alone." She burst out into tears and was unable to speak. Tai ran over to her and hugged her tightly, ignoring the tears that were running down his own cheeks.
"I miss you too Mum, but you didn't leave me alone. I always had Hikari with me, though she never realised the truth. You don't need to cry, we have gotten by so far," his father had been watching the exchange closely and now he felt that he had to speak before it was too late.
"Taichi, my son, we have to tell you that we are proud of what you have done for your sister, but we want to know how you are going to get yourself out of this situation. We know that you care about Kari, but at the minute your friends are thinking that you are a traitor and that you deserve to be punished. Please be careful Tai, Gennai is a formidable opponent and you should not take his forces lightly. How are you going to escape now?" Tai turned to his father with a small smile on his face.
"My friends will realise the truth sooner or later Dad and they will come and help me. Agumon is giving them as many hints as he can, but he cannot tell them the truth otherwise they will not believe him and then they won't even consider the truth as a possibility. I have faith in my friends and I know that they will find the truth, or at least Sora and Joe and Kari will. The others I am not too sure about, but those three will find the truth, even if it does mean that Kari's necklace is revealed for what it truly is," his parents nodded thoughtfully before his father spoke again.
"We will have to leave you now Taichi, otherwise your sickness will kill you. Remember that we love both you and Hikari and we miss you terribly. But that does not mean that we want to see you up here soon. Please be careful and I hope that your plan works. Have faith and everything should fall into its place soon. Goodbye son . . ."
~END OF DREAM SEQUENCE~
The forest scene faded away rapidly and so did his parents as Tai found himself on the ground facing the bottom of a drab grey wall. He groaned quietly to himself as his head began to throb painfully. He placed his hand on his forehead and moved it away quickly. His hand felt like it had almost been burned, but he was beginning to shiver.
'Why does it have to be so cold in this place?' he thought to himself as he tried to get up to sit against the stone wall so he could take a look around at where he was, 'I feel like an icicle and yet my forehead is hot. That's not a good thing.' He had almost sat up when he heard a quiet voice coming from the other side of the dark room.
"Don't sit up Tai, save your energy. I have a feeling that you are going to need it. I'll be over there in a second," the voice told him. Tai lay back down obediently. He couldn't figure out who the figure that had spoken was, but his body automatically responded to the female's voice. He heard the sound of something moving in water and then a tall digimon approached him. She was mainly a golden colour and she walked with a poise that shouted out 'DANGER.' Tai recognised her from his childhood.
"Rena?" he asked his voice croaky from the lack of fluids, "Is that you?" The digimon continued on her way until she was by his side. She placed a wet cloth on his forehead and Tai instantly felt a bit better.
"Yes Prince Taichi, it is I, Renamon, at your service," she smiled as she said this in a mocking tone, trying to lighten up the mood in the small room, "I told you that you would end up in trouble one day. And look, here we both are in the dungeons of the castle just because we are who we are." She paused for a second before speaking again. "I'm glad that you are alright Tai. I prayed and prayed for your safe return, but I was hoping that Gennai would be a long way away from here so that you would be safe. Is the Princess safe?" Tai nodded, but it hurt his head to do so.
"She's alright, for the time being. I had to conceal it inside something else, but she has it," Tai felt the room spin around him again and the darkness of unconsciousness seized him again. Rena just sighed and kept her place beside the boy, her prayers now about his safety and the defeat of Gennai . . .
End of Chapter 4
Sorry that this has taken a while to get up compared to my other chapters, but I couldn't turn on this computer for a while and this chapter was almost done on this computer, so I couldn't access it from the other computers and yeah. Once school starts in a week, I probably won't be able to update often at all, as all of my teachers delight in giving me homework that is 'more important than writing.' It totally sucks, but I can't do much about it unless I want to flunk out of school, so. I'm just warning everyone that in a week I won't be able to update quickly, like I am now. Just a warning. Anyway, please, please, please review!! Please!