Author's Note: Here's part 2! Yay! In this little Digimon parallel world, Owisaka has been defeated without the 'everyone gets a Digimon' ending. 'K? 'K. Oh, by the way, I recently had the honour of watching Digimon dubbed in French. It was frightening. Everyone called Patamon 'Potatomon' and he had an extremely high girly voice.
Disclaimer: I own Jack, Dipsquat, Zip, and Zero. See? *holds up a litter of kittens* Ain't they cute?
It had been almost two years since Sora and Matt had had their adventure in the Digital World. Tai seemed to have gotten over the shock. At least, he was smiling and laughing again. He didn't speak to either Matt or Sora unless the situation demanded it, though, and even when he was speaking to them, he could never meet their eyes. His remaining friends couldn't help but notice the haunted look of pain that came into his eyes whenever he saw them together.
The only time Tai didn't (and couldn't) avoid Matt and Sora was when it was Digimon-related; he had no choice. Sora had thought he might have abandoned the Digidestined for good, just to avoid them, but his sense of duty and his love for Agumon were too strong.
It was a bright Saturday morning when one of these Digi-duties popped up. An urgent summons from Izzy sent all twelve of them (Mimi had convinced her parents to let her move back to Japan and now goes to a boarding school nearby) running to his house.
"What's wrong?" Tai demanded when they had all assembled.
"Something funny." Izzy replied, hunched over his computer keyboard. "There's some sort of virus storm in the southwest quadrant. It's been warping and corrupting data and Digimon left and right. If it gets out of hand, we might be faced with another rift."
"So we just have to control, contain it, destroy it, and deal with the Digimon it corrupted." Kari put in.
"Exactly." Izzy replied.
"I'll go." Tai volunteered automatically.
Izzy nodded curtly. "Good. Matt and Sora should go, as well." Everyone stared at him like he had completely flipped. Izzy gave Yolei, who was closest to him , a barely perceptible wink. She caught on immediately.
"Perfecto! They're the best we got." she pulled out her D3. "I'll just open the gate now! No sense in wasting time! We've got a crisis on our hands. Let's move!"
By now the rest had caught on to the ruse and pulled and shoved the protesting teens through the digital gate. The light blinked off and the gate closed. Tai, Matt, and Sora were left staring, dumbfounded, at the small TV set and Izzy's face peeping out at them.
"Head southwest for a while. Agumon, Gabumon, and Biyomon will meet you that way and show you the source of the disturbance. We'll check on you tomorrow and open the gate if necessary. Have fun!" The TV screen went blank and the trio was left with their jaws dangling in the wind.
Sora broke the awkward silence that followed. "Well, looks like we're trapped in the Digital world. Again."
"Um, yeah." Tai gunted. "Which way do we go now?"
"Southwest." Matt replied, just as shortly.
"Fine. Let's go." Tai marched off uncomfortably. Matt and Sora glanced at each other silently before following Tai.
As Izzy flipped off the computer, Kari looked at him skeptically, one eyebrow raised. "Is there really a situation, or was that just a load of crap you fed them to force them to be together for at least a day?"
"Oh, no." Izzy replied. "There's a situation."
"Enough to warrant the attention of the three most experienced Digidestined?" TK asked, as skeptical as Kari.
Izzy pretended to consider this for a moment. "Nope. Anyone for pizza?"
The three marooned Digidestined trekked generally southwest for almost two hours in almost complete silence. Tai walked ahead, stone-faced, and Matt walked behind, equally stone-faced. Sora tried a few times to start a conversation, but as she was met with dead silence from either side, the feeble attempts soon petered out into nothingness.
They met up with their partners as planned. The Digimon looked none the worse for the wear, but Agumon was clearly worried about Tai's taciturn deep funk. Even the arrival of the Digimon did nothing to improve the silence; if anything, it grew even more oppressive. They did find out, however, that the virus storm had more or less dissolved already. There were only a few wisps remaining of the original storm, but the affected Digimon still had to be dealt with.
When they arrived at the site, Agumon immediately warpdigivolved and went for the virus storm. He took it out while Gabumon and Biyomon were still digivolving. Most of the Digimon who had been affected by the storm had shaken off the lingering effect; however, there were three who had been trapped right in the middle of it, so were affected the worst. It was these that the Digidestined had to face; a Monochromon, a Darktyrannimon, and, worst of all, a Skullgreymon.
Wargreymon went for the Monochromon, Metalgarurumon faced off with the Darktyrannimon, and Sora and Garudamon tried to distract Skullgreymon while Matt and Tai finished the other two off. This part of the plan didn't work so well.
Matt heard Sora scream as he and Metalgarurumon were sending Darktyrannimon off on his way. Matt whiled around to see Garudamon pinned under one of Skullgreymon's huge claws and Sora struggling high in the air grasped by another. Matt through caution to the wind and galloped full speed for Skullgreymon. Tai had also heard the scream and was swooping down to free Garudamon. A Metal Wolf Claw attack to the claw holding Sora was enough to make Skullgreymon drop her. She screamed again as she fell, but Matt was there and caught her deftly before she hit the ground. He headed for cover while Tai renewed the attack on Skullgreymon.
Matt headed for the series of caves that extended into the cliffs nearby. He settled Sora back against one of the walls and checked her for bumps or bruises. As his hand brushed over her ribs, she sucked in her breath.
"Dammit, Matt, that hurt!"
"Sorry, Sora." Matt frowned. "Skullgreymon had you pretty good. He probably cracked a few ribs, at least." he frowned again. "Never do that again! You know that Skullgreymon is more than a handful for any single Digimon!"
Sora tried to laugh, but found it too painful. "You sound like Joe."
Matt laughed, too. "I probably do. But I'm serious. Never do anything like that again. I'd go crazy if something happened to you."
"I know, Matt," Sora reached up with one hand to stroke his cheek. "Same goes for me."
Matt held the hand that rested on his cheek. "Then we'd both better stay safe."
A sudden rumbling filled the cave. Sora glanced up worridly. "What's that?"
"I don't know," Matt replied. "But I think we're about to find out."
Out of the gloom of the cave, Tai came running towards them, shouting "Skullgreymon! He's collapsing the cliff! Ruuuuuuuuuun!!"
"Shit!" Matt stooped and gathered Sora up in his arms. With a glance backwards at the oncoming rockfall, he pelted after Tai into the maze of caves. Skullgreymon was shaking chunks of rock from the ceiling and sides of the cave, so Matt was constantly ducking and dodging to avoid them. Gabumon and Biyomon ran and flew slightly ahead of them, looking for the best paths through the stalactites and stalagmites that littered the cave. Sora clung to Matt, sobbing with fright. Matt ran faster, disregarding his burning lungs. The rockfall and Sora's fright egged him on even faster.
Matt's speed was his downfall. In his haste, he tripped over a low stalagmite and went sprawling to the sandy floor of the cave. Sora flew out of his arms and landed a short distance away. Her head cracked against an outcropping of rock and she slumped down to the ground. Matt lunged for her, ignoring the stabbing pain from his left leg. He could hear the rumbling and grumbling of the rocks all around him, and his last conscious act was to fling himself over Sora to protect her from the falling rocks.
When Sora swam groggily up from the darkness finally, she had no clue how long she had been out. It could have been minutes, or even hours or days. The first thing she saw was Matt's face. His eyes were closed, there was a large purple bruise on his cheek, and there was a cut trickling blood from his forehead. Sora tried to sit up with the deadweight of Matt on her and gasped as it jolted her ribs. She managed to squirm out from under him and see the damage.
Matt's legs were buried underneath the rubble. She wondered why just them, but a glance up told her that they were under some giant tree whose roots protected the cave. She tried to shift the rocks, but was still dizzy and weak from her blackout. She managed to move a few tiny ones before collapsing against the rubble.
As small sound from the dimness of the cave made her look up. She squinted, and the form of Tai (who could miss the hair) materialized as he came forward. She looked up at him, and was surprised to see his face twisted in – what? Anger? Fear? Jealousy? Annoyance? Some weird melding of the four? The look lasted for only a second, and his face smoothed into worry.
"Tai…help," Sora asked weakly. Without a word, Tai started shifting the rocks mechanically. When Matt was free of the rubble, he lifted him up and led Sora out of the cave to a smaller one, which had a single shaft of light falling from the ceiling. Tai put Matt on the floor, not exactly dumping him, but fairly close. He faded away into the gloom as Sora limped forward.
She knelt beside the unconscious boy, her face twisted with worry. He was breathing, shallowly, but still breathing. His face was mangled, as were his legs and one arm that had been trapped under the rockfall. From the odd angle one leg was at, Sora supposed it was broken. His jeans were damp with blood, a product of the sharp rocks. Sora fussed at him until she passed out again from exhaustion, slumping beside him in the faint glow of light.
Matt woke up slowly, shooting pains from his whole body causing him to lie still. He couldn't remember what had happened at first, but the memory came swimming back, along with a monumental headache. He shifted his legs, expecting to feel them restricted, but they moved freely, but not without a lot of pain. He cracked one eye open, turning his head slowly to take in his surroundings. His gaze rested on Sora. Matt struggled up to a sitting position, taking Sora's head in his lap. She looked fine, except for a huge bump on the back of her head and the ribs he knew were broken. Her regular breathing suggested she was just sleeping. Matt breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. There was no sign of the rockfall that had chased them into this cave and separated them from their Digimon friends. Matt frowned. Something didn't click…..
Tai materialized out of the darkness again, making Matt jump. He glared sullenly at the blonde boy cradling Sora protectively. Matt glared back. After a minute, Tai turned away.
"I'll look for a way out," he said gruffly. Then, in a softer tone, "Take care of her." He walked off into the darkness again. Matt stared after him, shaking his head. He opened his mouth to call after Tai's retreating back, but nothing but a croak came out. Matt lay back down, as it was easier than sitting, and wrapped both arms around Sora. He lay in the dark, fighting the pain, until it receded to a corner of his mind and stayed there, a minor nuisance, but not distracting. The light through the hole in the ceiling grew dimmer and dimmer, disappearing finally until the faint glow of the moon came in. It didn't reach the floor of the cave, but Matt could see it if he looked up.
Sora slept on, and Matt couldn't sleep. Tai never came back.
It was some hours after the sun had gone down when Matt heard shouts from above. He raised his head and listened intensely. Davis' semi-authoritative voice was calling contradicting orders, while Yolei was arguing with him and Kari and TK were discussing strategy. Mimi was wailing in the background. Matt opened his mouth and croaked. He tried again, and called weakly, "TK! Kari! Mimi! Davis!"
The voices stopped, except for Davis', who kept on yelling orders. Kari shushed him. Matt tried again, stronger this time. "TK! Kari!"
"This way, guys!" TK called.
Matt kept yelling until faces appeared at the hole, blocking out the moon. A flashlight shone down, temporarily blinding Matt with the glare. There was a brief babble of contention until Izzy's sensible voice rung out, "I saw a cave back that way! It could go down there!"
After a short bout of organization, it was agreed that TK, Davis, Izzy, Yolei, and Kari would look for the cave entrance, and Mimi, Cody, and Joe would stay at the hole.
The commotion up above had roused Sora. She stirred and murmured in her sleep, snuggling closer to Matt. By the time the Digidestined trooped out of the darkness, she was fully awake and sitting up. TK made his report, saying from this cave to the outside it was fairly simple. There had been no sign of Tai in any of the caves or tunnels they had passed through.
With his brother on one side and Izzy on the other, Matt limped back through the twisting caves, occasionally being manhandled to a higher shelf or over a rock pile. Limping out into the open air was a relief; moving clear of the cave entrance he sank to the ground and took a few deep breaths, relishing the feel of not being enclosed in rock walls. TK fussed while Izzy went back to help carry Sora out. She groaned as the cool night air hit her face, and Matt automatically strained to comfort her. They laid her on the ground, with Davis' coat as a pillow, while Yolei went back into the real world and called an ambulance. She also took Izzy's laptop down into his backyard, so Sora could be easily removed. No one was sure what the transfer would do to her, how she would land on the other side, or even if she would make it in her unconscious state. But the gods of the Digital world were kind, as Kari used her D3 to open a portal right over the prone girl and Matt, who had, against his brother's orders, crawled to sit beside Sora, stroking her hair with one hand. With none of the usual disorientation of the trip, they arrived in the same positions in the real world. Yolei moved the computer so the rest of them wouldn't land on the two injured ones in their (normal) tumultuous journey. Kari stayed behind, to wait for Tai to come back.
The ambulance arrived quickly. Everyone had scarpered, save for Yolei, Izzy, Matt, and Sora, which meant there was only four stories to corroborate. They decided that the four of them had been playing in the large tree in Izzy's backyard and the dilapidated treehouse. Matt had jumped onto the treehouse to prove it was safe, and as Sora was stepping to join him, it had shifted and sent them both to the ground. The paramedics didn't ask many questions, though, and neither did the doctors, except to ask the angle that it had broken at. They did get a few odd looks, though, when the dust on Matt's jeans and claw marks on Sora's arm couldn't be readily explained, but these were forgotten in the view of the obvious seriousness of the injuries. Sora woke up on the hospital bed while Matt, a bed over, was almost finished having his cast put on.
As soon as he heard her voice, saying "Wha—", he turned and grinned through the pain. "Oh, you're awake, love. We must have fallen out of Izzy's tree I don't know how many times when we were kids, and somehow we manage to do all this."
"Izzy's tree . . .?" Sora blinked, confusedly.
"Don't you remember?" Matt hissed in pain at a sudden movement of the doctor. "His treehouse collapsed on us and we fell."
"Right!" Sora caught on. "I thought that was a dream . . ."
"You were out for quite a while, Miss," the doctor said, putting the finishing touches on Matt's leg. "You have quite an impressive collection of bruises and bumps, and two cracked ribs I may add." He shook his head. "I don't know how you kids do it sometimes. With the injuries I've seen kids get, you must be saving the world on a regular basis!"
Leaning against the wall behind the doctor, Izzy doubled up in silent laughter, and Sora struggled to keep a straight face as she replied, "You know, Doctor, climbing a tree, saving the world—very similar, they are."
"I'm sure." He smiled briefly, then turned to look at a set of x-rays behind him. "Now, if you would just let me . . ."
***
Two hours later, Matt and Sora were sitting outside the hospital, waiting for their parents to pick them up. Matt's leg was in a cast from his knee to his toes and there was a bandage on the side of his face where he had been scratched. Sora's ribs were wrapped tightly with plaster and the claw marks on her arm were stitched up and bandaged. Matt sat in a wheelchair and tried not to concentrate on the headache pounding war drums in his temples.
"Matt . . ." Sora said timidly.
Matt reached up to take one of her hands. "Yes, love?"
"You . . . I . . . I could have been crushed under all those rocks. You never thought of yourself. Tai—I don't think he would have done that."
"Sora . . ." Matt rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "If I had to be dumped in a vat of acid to keep you from breaking a nail, I would. You are more important than anything to me. I—if you had been serious injured, and I had walked away with nothing, I could never have lived with myself. I don't know if you get what I'm saying—"
He was cut short as Sora abruptly leaned down and kissed him, long and deeply. "I get it," she said, out of breath when she finally leaned back. "I would do the same." She kissed him again, but this time they were interrupted by a honking car horn close by. TK stuck his head out the passenger window and yelled, "Hey! No sucking face in my presence!"
"You do the same to Kari!" Matt called back, blushing. Sora laughed. "I'll help you into the car."
As Matt settled into the seat, he leaned over for a goodbye kiss. "See you tomorrow."
"And the day after that," Sora smiled. "Don't go falling out of any more trees on me!"
***
A lone figure climbed onto a newly formed jumble of rocks in a remote region of the digital world. With the soft moonlight illuminating him, he took a look at the waste around him. Face twisted in a frightening combination of anger, grief, and bitterness, he howled one, anguished note to the uncaring sky. Hard eyes glittered in the moonlight. "I will get them," came the hiss on the wind.