*AN: It's here! Finally! Chapter 1! Sorry it took so long. But I have no real time right now. I actually took time out of my homework time (have to do my lit hw now, BOO) to finish this chapter, since I was so inspired. Yay! So yeah. This is the beginning of T.K.'s book. Now this chapter has a lot to deal with their meeting and stuff, and I know some of the history (practically all of it) isn't the way it went in Digimon season 01, but leave me alone. It's my story and I write it the way I want to. =D Let me know what you think. It's not my best stuff but I tried to get it out as soon as I could for the sake of my loyal readers. *waves to readers* And one of the reviews told me that they thought it was cool how Kari found the book in her bag. She actually packed it there. It was T.K.'s Christmas present to her, if you didn't read the end of "Together Again." And I'm still toying with whether or not Hope gets a boyfriend. So yeah. Oh and I'll try to get chapter 2 up soon, but don't expect anything for another week or so. Okay? Now… enjoy.*
Disclaimer: They're not mine. I think you know that by now.
One Light, One Hope
To Kari, my angel of Light, with all my love. ---T.K.
*Without Light there is no Hope, and without Hope there is no Light*
Chapter One: Meeting
It all started at the tender age of eight.
Now, you may or may not have heard about Digimon, or you may have forgotten, but I have those creatures to thank. Without them, I might have never known this wonderful person that has changed my life and become a huge part of me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
A long, long, LONG time ago...there was an imbalance in the Digital World, and there were eight Chosen Children, or Digidestined, picked to help restore the balance of good and evil. However, we were faced with one problem… we couldn't find one.
The seven of us—Tai, our leader; Matt, his sidekick and my older brother; Sora, the lovely lady those two fought over endlessly (even if they didn't want to admit it back then); Izzy, our resident genius; Mimi, who seemed superficial, but really was a genuine and loyal friend; Joe, another genius type and our medical advisor, who was always there to assist us whenever someone was hurt; and me, little T.K., the "runt" of the group (as Matt lovingly dubbed me)—were on a desperate search to find this eighth Digidestined. The balance was getting harder and harder to maintain, and we needed this one child—a child innocent and pure, worthy enough to bear the Crest of Light—to help us save the Digital World. For you see, that Crest of Light was the most powerful of all our crests, and without it, we didn't have the power necessary to do our job right.
You may be wondering how I got involved with all of this. Well… it started one day at summer camp, when it began to snow. That was weird. And then we—we being the seven mentioned above—got these weird beeping devices that looked like mini TV's. We later found out that they were Digivices, these little machines that helped our Digimon… change, if you will, and then we realized how important we were to the Digital World, and how badly our Digimon were needed to combat the evil forces at hand. So, with that said, back to my original thought.
During our search for this child, I had secretly hoped that he or she would be my age. I mean really… all of the other Digidestined were older than me. The only reason I had come to the camp anyway was because my parents thought that Matt and I should spend some "quality time" together, and this was the only way to do it without them having to have much interaction (they've been divorced since I was six). The closest one I had was Mimi, only because she acted so childish that we kind of related. But it just wasn't the same…
So anyway, we were back in Odaiba when the phone rang. I was staying with Matt for the weekend, so I was able to listen in on the conversation.
"Oh, hey, Tai! What's up? Uh-huh… yeah… REALLY? You did? T.K. and I'll be over there right away!" Matt had exclaimed hastily, dropping the phone (thankfully, onto where it charged) and breathlessly told me, "T.K., we've got to get to Tai's house. He thinks he may have found the eighth Child!"
I felt my eyes widen. "Well, then, let's go!" As we rushed to our fearless leader's house, I felt the strengthening of my crest—I was hoping (get it? haha) with all my heart that I could find a really really close friend in this eighth Child. We finally arrived at Tai's house and found the rest of the Digidestined, sans Mimi, lounging around in the living room. "Would anyone like to try some of my spinach cookies?" Mrs. Kamiya offered, bringing a plate of the most disgusting looking green discs towards us.
"Sure—" Izzy had begun to accept until Tai cut him off. "Uh… Mom, it's okay, we're all gonna go get some food later," Tai quickly turned her down. "Oh, hi guys," he then said, finally acknowledging us. "Find a seat," he instructed, waving a hand around the room. Matt sat on the sofa next to Izzy while I sat in one of the chairs. Tai was impatiently tapping his foot and glancing at the clock. "Mimi's late."
Right about then, the door burst open and there stood Mimi, laden with dozens of bags. "Sorry, everyone, but there was this huge sale at the mall, and like, I had to go buy stuff!"
Sora rolled her eyes. "Shopping. I hate shopping."
Mimi found a seat next to Joe and dumped her stuff all around her. "Well, when you get older, remind me to quote that for you."
"Anyway," Tai interrupted, "now that we're all here, I have an important announcement to make. At first I wasn't too sure, but with Izzy's confirmation, I'm positive. I've found the eighth Child."
"Seriously?" Mimi exclaimed. "Who is it?"
Before Tai could answer, a small, fragile looking girl—who looked to be just about my age—came walking into the room, holding something in her small hands, asking, "Tai? What does this button do?"
"Don't press it, Kari," he instructed, before turning to the rest of us. Apparently he didn't have to explain anything to the older kids—they were all staring at him in disbelief. I, on the other hand, was oblivious to this. "So who's the eighth Child, Tai?" I asked innocently.
"It's Kari!" Matt and Sora exclaimed, in unison. "See, she's even got a Digivice."
"Eighth Child?" Kari—I guess that was the girl's name—repeated, looking confused. "Who are the other seven… oh."
"Kari, sit down with us," Tai prodded gently, and he steered her towards us, eventually sitting her down in front of me. I looked at this girl closely, feeling something—I don't know, it was all very new to me—something like I wanted to reach out and help her or something. Anyway, as Tai was explaining to us our new plan, she went into a coughing fit, and Tai looked at her sympathetically. "Are you okay?"
She nodded weakly. "Yeah."
"Do you want to go back and rest for a while until I'm done talking to them?" Tai offered.
Kari shook her head determinedly. "No. I'm part of this team now, right? I should know what's going on."
"That's my Kari." Tai patted her on the head before continuing.
"Except… I don't know what's going on," she quietly stated, so quietly that only I heard her. I tugged on her sleeve and she turned around to face me. "It's okay. I'll explain it to you later, if your brother doesn't."
"Thank you," she said, smiling at me. Her eyes looked me over carefully and then she asked, "How old are you?"
"I'm eight. I'm the youngest of all of these people here."
"Really? I'm eight too." Kari smiled again. I smiled back this time. Finally, a person my age.
"What's your name?" she asked me.
"I'm Takeru… but people call me T.K. for short. My big brother is over there," I told her, pointing to Matt.
"Oh, I know him. He's Tai's best friend. My name is Hikari, but you can call me Kari. Most people do."
"Okay. I will."
"So, does everyone understand what we're doing?" Tai asked, looking in our direction. Kari and I looked at each other and we shrugged. "Not really," Kari admitted.
"Don't worry, little sis, I'll explain everything to you later."
"But Tai," Matt begun. "Do you really think this is a good idea?"
"Do you have any other suggestions?" Tai countered.
That did it. Those two got onto a debate, with the other Digidestined trying to make rational ideas, but Tai and Matt wouldn't hear of it. So I turned to Kari and began explaining to her what our mission was, what the Digivices did and what the crests were and everything. When I was done, she got kind of a sad look on her face. "Kari, what's wrong?"
"Two things…" she said quietly. "First of all, I'm only eight years old! How am I supposed to save the world when I'm so little?"
"Hey, it's okay. I'm eight, too, remember? Sure, it's been hard, but we're a team. We help each other out. And I promise you that I'll always be there for you whenever you need me. We can do this together."
Kari smiled at me. "Thank you. I'm happy that I have someone my age that knows what he's doing." Then her smile faded into a quizzical look. "But… where's my Digimon?"
I looked around the room. Everyone else had their Digimon with them—they were all pigging out in the kitchen. I looked over to the balcony of the Kamiya apartment and saw a small glinting of light there. "Come on, I think I know where she is."
We quietly snuck away from the argument and onto the balcony. Sure enough, there was a small cat-looking Digimon there. Kari's face lit up. "I know her! She and I play together all the time!"
"Hi, Kari!" (no pun intended, of course) the small white cat exclaimed. "Are you coming to play with me again?"
"Not really… are you my partner Digimon, Gatomon?" Kari asked her, scooping the cat into her arms.
"I don't know… am I?"
"I don't know either. Let's go inside and ask them."
"Okay." The three of us walked into the kitchen and Patamon flew onto my head. "Whatcha up to, T.K.?"
I looked up at him. "Do you know this Gatomon?" I asked him.
The rest of the Digimon stiffened when they heard that. "Get away from her!" Palmon screamed. "She's an evil Digimon!"
"No she isn't!" Kari yelled back. "She's my friend!" I saw tears well up in Kari's eyes and told Palmon, "Are you sure she's evil?"
"Don't you remember, T.K.? She was the one that was with Myotismon!" Gomamon pointed out. "Look, I know there's a lot of Gatomon out there, but the one with Myotismon had a tail ring… and… look, she's got one too."
"It's not true," Kari said, half to herself and half to Gatomon. Gatomon looked up at Kari with those big blue eyes of hers and nodded. "It's not. Myotismon was using me as his slave, and I hated being there. I didn't want to hurt you at all. But I was so alone and defenseless, I couldn't do anything about it. The only friends I've ever known are Wizardmon and you, Kari… but Wizardmon's gone now."
"How can we be sure that you're telling the truth?" Agumon asked, his eyes narrowed.
"You just have to trust me on this one."
All the Digimon stood there, tensely, until Tai, Matt, and Izzy came over and cleared it. "What's going on here?" Tai asked.
"Tai!" Agumon exclaimed. "Don't you recognize this Gatomon?"
Tai looked at the small white cat in his sister's arms. "Yes, I do. Kari, where did you find her?"
"She and I play together all the time," Kari explained. "I found her on the balcony."
"We think she may be Kari's Digimon partner," I told them.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Izzy stated. "We have to go to the Digital World."
-In the Digital World-
"Okay, Kari… you've got to make Gatomon Digivolve."
"But how do I do that?" she asked. Before we could answer her, a huge roar could be heard in the distance and we turned, our eyes wide. "Guys… I think we have a battle on our hands."
Tai stood his ground, the fearless leader that he was, and stated, "We're going to have to fight him. It looks like one of Devimon's creations." We began to head towards the sound, but Kari stayed behind, looking afraid. "I don't know if I want to do this, T.K.," she said. "I don't like fighting."
"I don't either, but if it's to save our world, we've gotta do it. Come on, Kari, I'll be with you all the way."
"Okay." She slipped her hand in my outstretched one and together, we followed the rest of them.
We stopped short at seeing the rest of the group standing there, shocked. "It's Piedmon!" Joe yelled, and Piedmon cackled at seeing us there. I felt a bit of fear well up in me, but I knew I had to be strong, not just for Kari, but I had something to prove. Our battle began, with all of our Digimon Digivolving. That is, except for Kari's. She stood in shock as she saw all of these little, happy creatures she had come to know turn into wondrous fighting machines. "Kari, you need to make Gatomon Digivolve!" Matt yelled over the din.
"But I don't know how!" she yelled back, to no one in particular. Suddenly the battle turned, in favor of the opposition, and Joe's and Izzy's Digimon were sent back to their rookie forms. Kari closed her eyes at the scene. "I don't want anyone to get hurt!" she yelled, and suddenly, there was a blinding flash of white light.
When the light subsided, there stood an awe-inspiring angel, similar to Angemon but not quite. This one was a girl, with pink ribbons and such flowing through her long hair. I was amazed. Was this Kari's Digimon? Kari was staring up at the angel and the angel said to her, "I am Angewomon. I am Gatomon's Ultimate form, and only you have the power to get me here, Kari."
"She is my Digimon partner!" Kari exclaimed. Then a look eerily familiar to her brother's took over her face, and she commanded, "Now go and help them out!"
Angewomon nodded and she went and relieved some of the Digimon. I myself sent out Angemon to go help them. But alas… it was to no avail, for our Digimon were sent back to their rookie forms and slowly, all our friends were turning into keychains, courtesy of Piedmon. All of a sudden, I looked at Piedmon and what he was doing, and yelled, "Noooooo!!!!!!!!!" My brother was turning into a keychain. I couldn't let him stay like that forever. Sora was the only one of us left, besides Kari and me, and she knew that Piedmon was going to take her. "T.K., you're the only one that can protect Kari! Promise me you'll take care of her!" she yelled before she was turned into an inanimate object.
"I will." I turned to Kari, and suddenly we found ourselves hanging on for dear life, about to fall into a never-ending hole. Kari was above me, struggling to pull me up with her. "Kari, you have to let go of my hand!" I yelled. "Save yourself!" I had to let her go on—she was our only chance of beating Piedmon.
"I won't let you go, T.K.!" Kari yelled.
"You have to!"
"No!" Kari yelled, and our rope vanished from inside our hands, and we both began to fall. I grabbed Kari's hand just to make sure she was there with me, and we began falling, falling,
f
a
l
l
i
n
g
into the huge hole.
But don't worry, we made it out. Obviously.
After that episode, I began to respect Kari for who she was, and got to know her better as a person. She was really nice, and a great friend to me, especially at a time when I didn't have anyone my age around. After the final defeat of Daemon into the Dark Ocean, I felt so much better—I didn't have to deal with Digimon anymore, and just live a normal life, having fun with friends and stuff. But I was wrong.
"T.K., I got a job at a prestigious newspaper the other day," my mother told me. "The only problem is, this place is not convenient for it."
I didn't really understand the big words she was saying, but I knew that we'd have to leave. "Why do we have to leave now?"
"T.K…. this is a wonderful opportunity for me and I can't pass it up."
"But I'm leaving everyone… and I'm leaving Matt! How could you? You already took him away from me once, now you're taking him away from me again!" I yelled, then ran up to my room and curled myself up in my bed. I didn't want to leave. I had finally found some friends, real friends, and was close to my brother again.
In the end, my mother won out (parents have a strange way of doing that) and I said goodbye to Odaiba and some wonderful memories. I knew, in my heart, that I'd be back, though… someday.
There's a reason the button's there! Press it!