Chapter Thirty- Those Who Play Together, Stay Together
"Well Yolei? Is the red light on?" Izzy called over the hum of motors and gears turning.
"Red light and green light are on Izzy!" Yolei called back, who was sitting in front of a small control panel.
"Ok then," Izzy slid out from the machinery and closed a panel behind him. He stood up and walked over behind Yolei. "Now just turn the key and everything should start up."
"Here we go!" Yolei turned a large rectangular key and lights started flashing above them.
"The Mega Coaster is up and running!" Izzy said. Izzy and Yolei, the mechanical geniuses of the group had done it again, and figured out how to start up some of the rides in the park, including the main roller coaster.
"Yeah but, do you think it's safe?" Yolei asked.
"Of course it's safe. Tell me, have I ever been wrong?"
"Well there was that one time where you only got a 99.4% on Trigonometry Trivia."
"Ok, one time."
Just then Izzy and Yolei's conversation was interrupted by an excited voice. Mimi, Davis and Cody were sitting in the roller coaster cars.
"Well, start it up already!" Mimi said.
"Yeah! I'm gonna ride till I puke! Then after that, I'm gonna eat till I puke!" Davis yelled.
"This is your idea of fun?" Cody said.
"Who cares, let's go!" Mimi said.
Izzy leaned over Yolei and pushed the start button on the controls. The roller coaster car started moving slowly up the track to the top of the first rise. Mimi's screams were heard in the distance as they sped down the hill and into a tunnel.
"Does it say anywhere how many times the cars go around?" Izzy said. Then Yolei realized Izzy was still leaning against her looking at the control panel. His whole chest was pressed up against her back and she could feel his heart beating. Yolei's face started to turn red.
"Uh...what...was the question?"
Izzy leaned back until he was un a normal standing position and put his hands on Yolei's shoulders. "Is something wrong Yolei?"
She could feel a sweat drop starting to form on her forehead. "Izzy has pretty strong hands for such a small guy, must be all that typing. Wow, I never noticed before but Izzy is kind of cute. We do have a lot in common, wait a minute, what am I thinking!?" Yolei thought to herself.
"Eh, no nothing's wrong!"
Elsewhere in the park, Tai stood in front of a game stand shooting balloons with a dart gun. Sora and Joe stood nearby with Matt who, as usual, had his hands in his pockets.
"Five in a row!" Tai yelled as he shot another dart. "Don't stop me now! I'm on fire!"
Matt sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Hey what do you think is going to happen to us now? Last time the digital world was out of danger the Digiports closed on us. And what about us older kids, what if we're not needed anymore?" Joe said while pushing his glasses up on his nose.
"Stop worrying Joe, you really need to get a new hobby." Matt said.
"But Matt, Joe is right." Sora chimed in. "Usually only children are allowed in the Digiworld, what happens when we get too old?"
Matt sighed and reached up to brush some hair out of his eyes. "How old is too old?" He said softly.
"Yes!! Ten in a row! Did you see that Matt?" Tai yelled happily.
"Lucky Tai, he'll never grow up." Matt thought.
"Hey Tai, lemme take a shot at that thing," he said. Tai handed the gun over to Matt and he leaned over the counter and took aim.
"Go ahead, but I bet you a million dollars you can't hit as many as me!"
As Tai said this, Matt shot down a whole row of balloons one right after another, with perfect rhythm and accuracy.
Matt stood up and handed the gun back to Tai. Then he held out his hand.
"So, where's my million dollars?" Matt said with a smirk on his face.
Tai looked at Matt's hand for a second, then smiled. "You can have it, but only if you catch me first!" Tai pushed the gun to Matt's chest and dashed away.
"Hey come back here!" Matt tossed the gun into the booth and ran after Tai, laughing the whole way.
"How long do you think it will be before we see those two again?" Sora said.
"Probably a few hours," Joe replied.
Sora and Joe smiled wryly at each other and started heading towards the main refreshment stand to see how all the digimon were doing.
"How do I look?" Kari said. She was lying in the grass next to TK wearing his hat. The white bucket hat, however, was a little too big for her and hung down over her eyes.
"Cute, Kari," TK, who had been sitting, now lied down next to her. The grass tickled the sides of his face.
Kari rolled over onto her stomach so she was facing TK. Her mouth turned up in a sweet smile and stuck TK's hat back on his head.
"How come you always wear a hat anyway?" she asked.
"I don't know, how come you always wear pink?"
A little half sigh, half laugh was heard in Kari's throat. They had been lying in the field of grass and flowers outside the amusement park for hours, and it was late afternoon now. White puffy clouds rolled overhead and bright yellow sun beams peeked through them.
TK was smiling as he looked up at the sky, but for some reason it seemed like something was still bothering him. Now that Kari thought about it, it almost always seemed like TK was troubled deep down inside, but never told anyone and did his best not to show it. His brother Matt was the same way.
"I wonder what makes them this way?" Kari thought. Her smiled softened until she had kind of a sad look on her face. "Is it because of their parents divorce? But that was so long ago, could it really effect a person that much?"
Kari moved over until she was leaning against TK.
"It's a beautiful day isn't it Kari?"
"Mmhm..." Kari sighed. "Hey TK, when we were little in the digital world for the first time, did you have a crush on me then too?"
"Well, yeah a little. When you were sick that one time, and Tai was so worried you were going to die, I was really worried too. I felt like it was my responsibility to take care of you when Tai wasn't there. I guess that's what made me start caring about you so much. As we grew older, and when I moved back to Odaiba, the feelings got even stronger."
"I'm glad, I guess the Kamiyas and Ishidas were meant to be together." Kari obviously had the same view on this subject as her older brother.
"I guess so."
"I wonder what Matt and Tai are doing right now?" Kari said, not really expecting an answer, but for some reason this statement seemed incredibly funny to TK. He held his hands over his mouth, keeping back a laugh
Kari raised an eyebrow and leaned over him. "TK, what's so funny?" Then Kari began tickling him and TK started laughing like crazy. He pushed her away playfully and rolled on top of her without even realizing the awkward position this put them in.
Kari was shocked, and let out a little gasp. TK stopped laughing and got a look of bewilderment on his face. He swallowed nervously but didn't move off of Kari. She didn't try to move away either.
"Kari..." He leaned over and touched his lips to hers. Kari moved her arms around him and savored the taste of his kiss. She ran her fingers through his blonde hair. TK planted tiny kisses along Kari's cheek and down her neck.
TK moved his face down and pressed his head against Kari chest. She was expecting him to take her camera off from around her neck, or unbuckle her belt, but instead she felt TK's body shaking. To her surprise he was crying.
"TK? What's wrong?" They both sat up and TK wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Kari pulled him to her and rubbed his shoulder. "TK, why are you crying?"
"It's just, you know...stuff."
Kari sighed. She held TK in her arms and rocked him back a forth like a little baby. "TK, what is locked down so deep inside you that you won't even tell me?" She said to herself, and they sat in the field together for a long time.
Jesi and Ken walked through the Fun house together. All around them were scary faces and booby traps. Ken held onto Jesi's hand and helped her up a tall spiral staircase.
"I don't think I've had this much fun in a long time," Jesi said as she stepped gingerly up off the top step.
"I don't think I've ever had this much fun." Ken said. He held her close to him with his hands on her lower back. Jesi closed her eyes and stood on her toes. Ken bent down a little and touched his lips to hers.
In a little while, as they were walking through a dark hallway in the fun house, Ken let out a quiet sigh.
"Ken, is something wrong?"
"I'm just thinking. Jesi, you don't think what we did in the woods last night was...wrong, do you?"
"Did it feel wrong to you Ken?" she said.
Ken smiled a bit and shook his head, causing his navy blue hair to sway back and forth. "No."
"Look Ken!" Jesi said and hurried out of the hallway. "It's some of those big fun house mirrors."
Jesi stood in front of one and her reflection looked like a tall, curvy super model.
"Wow, I'm actually tall!" she giggled.
"Your height isn't the only thing that's bigger," Ken said, pointing at her reflection.
"Ken!" Jesi started to blush and covered her chest with her hands. She laughed and pushed Ken in front of one of the mirrors. "Let's see what you look like!"
Ken's reflection was short and very distorted. "You look like Wormmon!" Jesi chuckled.
Ken looked at the mirror for a moment without saying anything, and then burst out laughing. Jesi seemed surprised to hear such a sound coming from Ken's mouth.
"Ken I've never heard you laugh so hard, it's so cute!"
Ken's face turned bright red when he remembered what an unusual laugh he had.
"Oh, don't be embarrassed Kenny, I think your laugh is adorable!"
"Kenny?"
In a moment Ken and Jesi both looked like they were about to burst, and soon the whole fun house echoed with their laughter. For the first time in his life, Ken was truly happy.
