Chapter Twenty-two- Campfires work in Mysterious Ways



The feet of thirteen digimon slowly wandered through the forest in search of their digidestined.

"I'm scared," Patamon whined.

"I'm tired," Flotsymon grumbled.

"I'm hungry!" Gomamon said.

"You know I think I've seen that rock before," Biyomon said.

"Who's bright idea was it to let Veemon lead the way anyhow?" Gatomon complained.

"Hey! I'm a natural leader, Davis taught me everything I know!"

"Oh brother.. Now I KNOW we're lost."

"Maybe we can make Tentomon into a radio antenna and call for help!" Agumon said, and grabbed a hold of Tentomon.

"Hey! Don't touch my antennas! And don't touch my tree!"

"Sorry, sorry."

"I'll fly up and see where we are," Biyomon said as she flew up above the canopy.

"What do you see up there!?" Agumon called.

"I see some cotton candy, a lampshade and a feather duster walking through the woods over there!"

"Mimi!"

"TK!"

"Tai!" yelled Palmon, Patamon, and Agumon.

"Which way?" Gabumon called. Biyomon flew down and perched on a tree branch.

"That way," she said.

The other digimon followed Biyomon through the dark woods after their digidestined partners.

"Is it just me or does it seem strangely quiet all of a sudden?" Hawkmon said, looking around cautiously.

"Maybe it's naptime," Armadillomon replied.

"Hey wait, what's that?" Patamon said in his squeeky voice.

"I don't hear anything," Agumon whispered.

"It must be those huge ears of yours," Wormmon said.

"Shhh... Listen!"

"Davis stop stepping on my foot!"

"Well maybe if they weren't so big I wouldn't step on them!"

*SMACK*

"Ow!!"

"Stop fighting or I'm going to smack both of you."

"I think I scratched my laptop when we were running away from that boulder."

"You can blame Davis for that."

"Hey! Why is everything always my fault!?"

"It's them!" Patamon smiled.

"Hey guys!" called Agumon, "We're over here!"

"Agumon!?" He heard Tai's voice call.

"Tai!"

The Digidestined and digimon raced towards the sound of each other's voices. They all ran up and greeted their Digidestined when they reached them.

"I missed you Mimi!!"

"I missed you too Palmon!!" Mimi and Palmon started blubbering like crazy.

"Sheesh.." Tai grumbled.

"Ken is everything alright?"

Ken kneeled down and hugged Wormmon tightly. "Everything is ok now Wormmon."

The Ken felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw TK looking down at him with a very worried face.

TK turned his head and Ken looked in the same direction. He saw Jesi holding Kari's hands trying to comfort her. Poor Kari was looking worse every minute.

"Come on Kari sit down and rest for a minute." Jesi said and helped Kari sit down on a log. Then Tai came over and put his arms around his sister.

"Down worry Kari, we'll make it through this, as long as we're together."

"Thanks Tai.." Kari said in a shaky voice. Her face had lost all its color and the sparkle was fading from her eyes.

"The darkness is so strong, she can hardly bear it." TK said. Ken looked over and saw his friend starting to weep.

"She'll be alright with you to care for her." Ken said softly. TK turned and surprised Ken by hugging him tightly. Ken was shocked for a moment, then put his arms around TK and returned his act of friendship.

"I'll be here for you my friend."







Izzy and Yolei walked slowly back to the others. The Digidestined had made a campfire in the woods and were resting.

"It's no use," Izzy sighed. "The digiports won't open, I've tried everything."

"You mean we're stuck here?" Tai said as he stood up in front of Izzy.

"I'm afraid so."

Tai grabbed onto Izzy's shirt. "You better find a way to get us back to the real world right now! Kari's getting sicker, she could die if we don't get home!!"

Tai felt a hand grab his shoulder and fling him away from Izzy. Tai stumbled and fell backwards. He looked up at Matt.

"Tai, it's not his fault! You can't start blaming people for this, we're all in the same boat."

Tai stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes. "Don't start with me Matt." he said without looking up.

Matt reached over and brushed the hair out of Tai's eyes. Tai looked up into Matt's face.

"Tai, I know you worry about your sister but she'll be ok. She has all of us here for her and we're all going to beat this monster together."

Matt smiled down at Taichi.

"I don't get it..." Tai thought. "How can he stay so cool in such a tense situation? He hardly ever loses it. Maybe Matt would make a better leader than me, I just can't control my emotions sometimes."

Tai pressed up against Matt and clutched his shirt. He felt his eyes starting to water. Matt put his arms around Tai.

"Yami...."

Matt ran his fingers slowly through Tai's hair and sighed.

"Joe, she's burning up, the water isn't helping." TK said as he dabbed a wet cloth on Kari's forehead. In the past few hours, Kari had developed a high fever and was drifting in and out of consciousness.

"I don't know what to do." Joe said, and sat down and to TK. "There's nothing in the medical books about treating monster sickness."

TK stared down at Kari. Her face was covered in sweat and was very pale. He ran his finger along her cheek.

"You have to hang on Kari...." he said in his mind.

Ken was leaning against a tree watching TK tend to Kari. The glow from the fire lit up his face. Jesi walked over and stood next to him.

"Kari's so sick...She's not getting any better, only worse." Jesi sobbed.

"I can't help thinking this is my fault. That thought has been haunting me since we got here, that I caused all this."

"Ken..." She put her hands on Ken's shoulders and leaned against him. "Ken, you need to stop blaming yourself, please. It's not your fault, Arukenimon did this, not you."

Ken sighed and rested his chin on her head. He stared into the fire as the flames flickered up and sparks landed on the ground next to the Digidestined.

"Still... I wish I could have done something to stop this." He said softly. "It's tearing me up," he thought.

"Why aren't there any Digimon in these woods?" Mimi said. She put her arms around her self trying to keep warm.

"They probably all moved to someplace safer. I guess you can't blame them, it's creepy and dark here." Sora said.

Mimi sat down next to Sora. Cody was asleep, with his head resting in Sora's lap.

Sora looked down at Cody and laughed a bit. "As grown up as Cody acts I guess when you come down to it, he's just a little kid."

Mimi smiled. "Oh he's so cute! Heehee!"

"Shh! You'll wake him up!" Sora and Mimi both giggled as Cody slept.

"It's nice to see someone's having fun...." Davis grumbled.

Mimi frowned and stood up. "Do you have a problem?"

"Hey, I'm tired, my legs hurt from walking all day, I'm hungry, and I really need a shower!"

"You can say that again!"

Davis glared and Mimi and Mimi glared back.

"Are you saying I stink!?"

"I'm saying you could smell a little better!"

Mimi and Davis were right in each other's faces now.

"Uh oh." Sora said, who was still sitting with Cody in her lap.

"Well guys aren't supposed to smell all pretty like you Mimi!" Davis shouted.

Mimi stopped glaring at Davis and stepped back. "You think I smell pretty?" Mimi twirled her hair around her finger.

"Huh?" Davis felt his face turning red. "Well.. yeah I guess." He scratched the back of his head.

Davis and Mimi started at each other for what seemed like an hour until...

Davis grabbed the sides of Mimi's face and pulled her to him. His lips pressed against Mimi's as he gave a her a long, deep kiss. Mimi, surprisingly didn't push him away. She flung her arms around Davis. Sora's jaw dropped open. Just then Cody awoke from his slumber. He sat up and yawned.

"What's going on?" he said sleepily.

Sora simply placed her hand over Cody's eyes.

"Cody... Don't look now, but I think we've all gone crazy."