Fordina: Sorry this took so long to put up…

Soccer Chicka: We've kinda been on the hiatus for a little while.

Fordina: Both been away… or working…

Soccer Chicka: Yeah, I'm doing the working one.

Fordina: You pretty much did both! I was gone for a week and I got my part done before I left. I get back and yours still isn't done!

Soccer Chicka: So? I had to work.

Fordina: -_-**

Ken: Could we just start the chapter?

Tai: What he said.

Fordina: Agreed. Chicka? You do the disclaimers.

Soccer Chicka: Fine! We don't own Digimon or Card Captor Sakura. But we do own Jen, Traci, James and Karen.

Fordina: And I'm going to warn you, that this chapter contains insanity. Much insanity.

Soccer Chicka: So I get a little carried away.

Fordina: :: looks at her skeptically :: A little?

Desperate Days

By: Fordina and Soccer_Chicka

Chapter 11

Sighing Li laid back on his bed. "This just doesn't make any sense… how can that thing be there one minute… and not the next? And after it disappeared I couldn't even feel it. Usually with most magical things I can at least feel them after they've… vanished or whatever…" he mumbled.

"There's no point fretting about it. We'll figure out what it was. And soon at that." Eriol told him closing his book, "But for now, we need to concentrate on studying." He grabbed another one and opened it, "Now, tell me what the definition of platonic is." Li groaned and covered his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well now Li, you will finally learn some manners and etiquette." Eriol stated as he and Li walked into the rather large TV studio.

Li glared. "You shouldn't talk pretty boy."

Eriol frowned and smoothed out his pants. "Pretty boy? That's a new one. It just shows how terribly uncultured you are. And besides, I'm the prime example of good taste." Li punched Eriol in the arm.

"Listen Eriol, just 'cause we study that junk doesn't mean you have to use it in every freakin' sentence!" Li shook his head and walked into a small meeting room reserved for the IQ contest participants.

"I'm practicing." Eriol replied holding his head high. "And I advise you to do so also. I won't always be there to save your ass." With that, Eriol sat down in one of the many chairs in the room.

Already the room was crowded with students ready for the presentation to begin. Li noticed several people from last time, but none were the guy that made the ground shake. It was him he was waiting for. Then he spotted someone else, someone that he dreaded almost more then Meilin…The evil Karen… "HI LI!" Karen cried across the room. She jumped onto her chair and started to wave, much to Li and Jen's dismay. "COME OVER HERE AND TALK TO ME!" Li hid his face in his hands. This day was going from bad…to worse, quickly. Li shook his head in Karen's direction and managed a small and unenthusiastic wave. Karen turned to Jen, getting off her chair.

"Well that's funny. I'm sure Li would've wanted to come over here to talk…"

"Maybe he's having a bad day?" Jen suggested thinking about her own bad day the day before.

"I guess so. Well, he'll cheer up, they're teaching us how to be on TV!" Karen squealed, causing several other people to look her way.

"Yes, Karen. Now will you calm down?" Jen almost pleaded as she noticed Izzy and Ken walk into the room. She waved them over. "Hey Izzy! Over here! I saved you two seats!" Izzy, seeing Jen quickly pulled Ken over to where she was sitting.

"Hey Jen. Glad you saved us seats, pretty soon there won't be any!"

Ken nodded. "It seems someone made the mistake in thinking this small room would be enough for a whole bunch of teenagers!" Jen laughed lightly.

"And some who just don't know how to sit still." She gestured to Karen, who had returned to standing on her chair, now trying to get Eriol's attention.

"ERIOL! ERIOL! HEY OVER HERE!" Karen shouted over the crowed. Izzy and Ken sweatdropped and slowly moved their chairs closer over to Jen and farther from Karen.

"I see what you mean." Ken stated. "Look Jen, I'm sorry I brought so much trouble to you yesterday. I didn't know that Tai would be so defensive."

"Yes. He was completely in the wrong. I'm sorry he asked you to leave. I tried to help, but as usual, what Tai says, goes." Izzy added with almost a bitter tone to his voice.

"Well, it's not you guys I want an apology from. It's him." Jen stated firmly. "You guys had no fault in it."

Izzy sighed. "I'll talk to him, but I doubt it'll do any good. He's a s stubborn as a…well, pardon my language, but he's ass stubborn as an ass."

Jen muttered at this. "He is an ass…"

Ken blinked. "Pardon?"

Jen blinked back. "Nothing."

"Whatever you say…" Ken answered.

"Thanks Ken. I never realized how much you idolize me." Jen gave him her best grin.

"Wha…?" Ken stuttered.

Izzy waved it off. "Don't worry Tai did that to Matt once. It's not temporary."

Jen turned on Izzy. "Please don 't mention his name or make any reference to him and I until I am not mad at him any more. Which will be never so don't mention him ever again." She decided this with a nod of her head.

Ken blinked at Jen again. "Wha…?"

Izzy thought for a moment. "That was a run on sentence, Jen."

"What? Are you my English teacher?" Jen asked.

"Well, no…but I was just practicing."

"I see. Well, Izzy, are you free this afternoon? I know you have to study, but even geniuses have to eat." Jen questioned.

Izzy stuttered. "Pardon?"

Ken smiled. "I'd love to come."

Jen looked at him. "What?"

Ken smiled again. "Well, you asked if we'd like to come to lunch with you. How nice of you."

"No…no I didn't, I said—" Jen was interrupted by Ken.

"No, you said we." Ken answered firmly.

Jen scrunched her nose. "Ken, are you all right?"

"I will be after you take us for lunch." Ken seethed through his teeth as he pointed to the door. There James and Traci had just come in looking flustered. James' face was red and Traci was bent down trying to catch her breath. Overall, it looked as if they had run the whole way there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Way to go James…" Traci muttered under her breath as both of them walked past the already filled seats.

"It wasn't my fault! You were the one that took hours to get ready!" James pointed out as they gave up on looking for seats and just sat on the floor.

"Well you shouldn't have let me take so long!" Traci yelled, as quiet erupted throughout the room, blushing she looked around, "Ehehe… nothing!" Traci bowed her head and stared at the ground, and the crowed started their conversations once again. James snickered, "Don't even start James…"

"I'm sorry… but if I had known you didn't WANT TO LAST THAT LONG, I would have ended it long before then…"

Jen's head snapped to attention, a grin slowly forming on her face, "James…?"

The noise that had once filled the room, was no more as all heads turned to look at the two sitting on the floor, Traci bright red, and James with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Why did you have to do that James…?!" Traci asked, head still bowed.

James shrugged, "You keep on telling me that I should be more out going."

"But not like this!" She pushed him over.

"Hey!" He sat up and pushed her back.

"Oh, so you want it that way do ya?! You like it rough huh?!" Traci got her balance back and jumped him, sending him sprawled across the floor, her lying proudly on top of him. "Having fun yet?" She asked smiling.

"Traci… get off me…"

"No."

"Traci…"

"I said no James."

"What are you two doing?!" Jen yelled from behind them. "Isn't this a little too public for you guys? I mean geez… at least use the washrooms!"

Traci turned her head to look at Jen, "Bugger off Jen."

"No, I got my seat saved so I'm good for now." She sat down beside them, "So James… having a little fun are ya?" She asked grinning like a mad man—er woman.

"Get lost Jen…" James growled.

"Heh, you used my real name. And no, I'm quite comfortable here. I think I'll stay a while." Jen said flicking his head.

"Hey, ow!"

"What are ya gonna do huh? Nothin', that's right. Nothin'," She flicked him again, and again, and again…

"Stop it… I swear…"

"Oh you what? You swear?! Oh no! Not the swear asshole!" She flicked him again.

James grabbed her hand, "I said quit it."

"Hey… ow… James… let go of me…" Jen pouted trying to get her hand back.

James let go, and stared at the ceiling, "Traci get off of me."

"But—"

"No, just get off."

Traci frowned; "Fine…" got off and sat next to him. "You started this you know."

"And I'm ending it," James got up and started to walk towards the doors.

"James! Where are you going?!" Traci yelled.

"Away!" He yelled back walking through the doors.

"That can't be good," Jen told her putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Shut it Jen."

"Hey, I'm only trying to help."

"Yeah well, you're not helping."

"Don't take that tone with me. I thought you only used that on people you have a thing for."

Traci looked at her sharply, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh I don't know… the name Ken ring any bells?"

"That has nothing to do with you."

"It does when he comes to me looking for help. Look, you really hurt the guy…"

"I said this has nothing to do with you!" Traci said standing up. "Will you just stop intruding in on my life?! I get enough of that from my parents!"

"Traci…"

"No! I've had enough of this," she turned and walked towards the doors, braking out into a run as she passed Ken.

"Traci!" Jen yelled as she ran through the double doors. "Ah crap…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jen slumped her shoulders. "Damn, that's two…" She sat back down beside Ken and Izzy. She sighed loudly.

"Two what?" Izzy asked, turning to face her.

"Two people angry with me…I wouldn't be surprised if you guys erupted on me too." She answered plainly, looking at her hands.

"We're not mad!" Ken exclaimed, confused. "We have no right to be."

"Yeah, and free lunch sounds good to me." Izzy nodded, agreeing. Ken glared at him. "Well, it does…I haven't eaten since yesterday…"

Jen pulled out her purse and look inside her wallet. "Hmm…Looks like I'll have to stop at the bank…sounds like we'll need more money…"

The double doors on the other end of the room opened and the teacher from before entered. She looked frazzled as always and gave the contestants a welcoming glare. "Well everyone, I hope we're ready to participate in some good old television etiquette. I'll start with roll call, which will take the better part of an hour, then as a group we will all go down to the station. Once there, we'll split up into groups of about ten pairs. Any questions?" She didn't wait for a reply. "No? Ok, good." She went on to call the contestant's names out, and wasn't pleased to find Traci and James missing. "Does anyone know where Ms. Kazaki and Mr. Crusher went?"

Jen rolled her eyes, what she did for her friends…. "They just took a trip across the street to get some food." She lied like a pro, and if it hadn't been for Izzy stifling his laughter, she would have convinced the teacher.

"Getting food… eh? I highly doubt that." She took this opportunity to get some well-needed revenge on a student. "I believe you may find them in the janitor's closet… but we won't bother them… let them come when they're ready." The students had a good laugh at this, considering the behavior they displayed before they left. The teacher smiled to herself and walked out of the room for a well-needed break.

Ken looked up at the teacher in horror. Then he looked at Jen in horror. "They're in the janitor's closet?" Jen laughed nervously. "Why would they be in the janitor's closet?"

Izzy patted Ken's shoulder. "There, there Ken. It's ok to be naïve. They're only making babies."

Jen stared open mouthed at Izzy. "Izzy! What the hell?!"

Ken looked as if he were going to cry. "Ma-ma-make babies? Not in th-th-the way I th-think…. is it?"

Izzy had an evil look on his face. "Oh Ken, it's much worse then that. Much worse…"

Jen started to strangle Izzy. "IZZY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Izzy smiled at her serenely. "OH MY GOD…ARE YOU NUTS?! Please tell me you've just had too much sugar…?"

Izzy smiled broadly, "No, no…. revenge is sweet."

Jen looked at him. "Sweet like sugar?"

Izzy nodded. "You got it babe."

Ken looked at Izzy. "Did you say what I thought you said? I mean, you sound like you want to make babies…"

Izzy glared. "Don't say it…"

Ken grinned. "What are you gonna give me?"

Izzy sighed. "I-I don't know…"

"Then I'll say it."

"Ken please—"

"I don't know…it'll need to be something good." Ken laughed at Izzy, who was now blushing profusely.

"How about my entire set of deluxe collectable genius bobble heads?" Izzy tried.

"That's good stuff…what else you got?" Ken smirked.

Izzy started to sweat. "Ahh, well there's my—no…I can't give you that…"

"Give me what?" Ken asked.

Izzy stroked his backpack. "My…My…precious…."

"Pardon?"

"I mean… my laptop. You can't have it."

"Can I borrow it?"

"No."

"Yes I believe I can."

"No…you just can't, I have some important stuff on here…Private stuff."

"No, no…I believe it can be made public." Ken reached for his backpack and Izzy, who feared for his laptop like it was his own life, fell off his chair.

"Please Ken, have mercy…" Izzy pleaded.

Jen looked at them both with her amusement showing plainly on her face. "Could I borrow it then?"

They both turned to her. "NO!" They both screamed.

"Oh…well Ok." She answered looking perturbed. "No lunch for you."

Izzy looked at Jen. "Don't you start too…"

"This all would end if I could just borrow your laptop for one day…Just one measly day…" Ken said menacingly.

Izzy snorted. "It would take you five minutes on my laptop to embarrass me for the rest of my life."

"Precisely." Ken nodded, his blue-black hair falling into his eyes.

Jen winked at Ken. "And…there's no lunch if you don't give the laptop to Ken."

Izzy could have cried just then. He sniffed loudly and glanced down at his laptop. "Goodbye, Pineapple Plus Processor with 300 Mega Bytes of Ram, 80 Mega Bytes of hard drive, CD, DVD, Cassette, VCR compatible, CD-RW 200x Burner, large 18'' monitor, easy scanner hook up cable, portable colour high-speed printer—"

"Oh God, this could go on for a while.." Ken rolled his eyes.

"—Digimon analyzer and port for Digivices, Internet ready, high sound speakers—" Izzy continued.

"Whoa! Back up there!" Jen cried.

Izzy started again, eager to show off his computer's capabilities (and to stall for time), "Goodbye, Pineapple Plus Processor—"

"No, no farther than that."

"80 Mega Bytes of hard drive—"

"Farther."

"VCR compatible—"

"Farther still!"

"Large 18'' monitor—?"

Jen shook her head. "Oh my God, the part about the Digimon already!"

"Oh that."

Jen stared at him. "What do you mean… "Oh that."?! That's the most impressive feature on there! What exactly does it do?"

Izzy laughed. "Well, it analyzes Digimon."

Jen shook her head. "No way!" She relied sarcastically.

Izzy looked at her strangely. "Actually, it does."

Jen sweatdropped, "Keep going."

"Well, I either enter data of a Digimon from a Digivice, or data from the Digimon itself." Izzy explained, showing her the special Digivice port. "It's come in handy once or twice."

"So if I saw a Digimon, that thing could tell me what it is?" Jen asked poking the port curiously.

"Only if you had a Digivice, or if I was with you." Izzy answered, pushing her hand away from the precious laptop.

"What about a D-Terminal?" Jen asked smacking Izzy's hand and continuing to poke the port.

"No. Digivice. That's all there is to it. And plus, you don't have one anymore. Remember?

Jen's face fell. "Aww…crap. Damn temper. It was Tai's fault."

"Actually, it was." Ken piped in. "Now the laptop please."

Izzy glared at him. "I'm not finished saying goodbye."

"How long does that take? We don't need to know every single program on the dumb thing." Ken stated.

"Oh yeah the programs!" Izzy exclaimed excitedly.

"NO!" Ken and Jen both screamed.

The rest of the room stared at them. Izzy laughed nervously. "They're just mad because I'm going to win." Every one nodded their heads and continued their conversations.

"Now that you've made a fool of us, that's two days." Ken said, smirking as he reached for the laptop. "But if you're good, I might be lenient."

Izzy sighed and handed his beloved Pineapple Plus Processor with 300 Mega Bytes of Ram, 80 Mega Bytes of hard drive, CD, DVD, Cassette, VCR compatible, CD-RW 200x Burner, large 18" monitor, easy scanner hook up cable, portable colour high-speed printer— (Fordina: ENOUGH SC!!! ENOUGH WITH THE PROCESSOR! WE GET THE POINT!! Soccer Chicka: You mean the Pineapple Plus Processor with 300 Mega Bytes of Ram— Fordina: -_-******)

Jen patted Izzy's shoulder. "You're gonna get a big lunch, don't you worry." Izzy smiled half-heartedly.

Ken looked greedily at what was in his hands. Time for some fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Li looked on at the three kids sitting next to his cousin, who at that moment seemed to be in her own world. "Must have been that guy again…"

"What guy?" Eriol asked.

"Nothing."

"Sounded like something."

"Well it was nothing okay?"

"Sheesh Li, calm down. What's gotten you so tense?"

Li slumped his shoulders, "You know that James kid?" Eriol nodded, "Well I'm convinced he's got some sort of power. It's nothing that special from what I've seen… but he can make the ground shake."

"Is that all?"

"I'm not sure. It was hard enough to get that out of him, never mind getting him to spill the rest, if there is a rest."

"How long have you known this?"

"Not that long in certainty, but I've known that there was something about this guy since the first time we met. I'm surprised you didn't feel anything. The energy was just pulsating off this guy."

"Perhaps I'm losing my touch."

"Probably."

Eriol frowned, "We'll get to the bottom of this. Don't worry."

"I'm not worrying."

"Good, just checking."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The teacher walked back into the room. She was gone for what…fifteen minutes and utter chaos reigns. She shook her head and took her place at the front of the class. Scanning the room she saw many of the pairs she felt had a good chance, there was that Izumi boy and his partner Ichijouji, Li and Hiirigazawa, Minobe and Harper, Kazaki and…Wait a minute…Where was Kazaki and Crusher?! Still gone? Where have those two been? She was about to actually check the janitor's closet when the racket reached a higher level. This couldn't and wouldn't go on any longer. "QUIET!" The teacher screamed. Sometimes, however smart these kids were, they still got on your nerves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"James!" Traci yelled running after him.

"Get lost Traci!" James yelled walking further away.

"God damnit James! Will you just stop for a second?!" James stopped abruptly and Traci ran into him, causing her to fall.

"Happy?"

"What did I do?" She asked quietly, still sitting on the ground and rubbing her back.

"Just forget it Trac," James said reaching out a hand.

Traci took it, "But I want to know what I did wrong," dusted her self off.

"I said—"

"Look, I know what you said! But you've known me long enough to know that I do not give up when I want to find something out. Now please…" she wrapped her arms around his shoulder, "Just tell me?"

"You really want to know?" James asked looking up, for he didn't dare to look down.

Traci smiled, "Of course I do. You're one of my best friends, I want to know when I've done something wrong."

"Then just…"

"What?"

"Let go of me."

"What?" Traci asked surprised.

"Let go of me." James repeated.

"But Ja—"

"You said you wanted to know."

"Well yeah but… I never thought…"

"I said let go."

Traci slowly and un-surely let her hands drop to her sides; "I'm sorry James…"

"I don't know if we should do this IQ thing anymore…"

"But James!"

"Traci, I think I need some time away."

"Away…?" Traci asked flinching.

"Yeah, away."

"I—I don't understand…"

"You don't have to."

"What did I do that could have brought this on?"

"That doesn't matter—"

"Doesn't matter? Doesn't matter?!" Traci cried, her eyes stinging.

"Traci… please… don't yell… and please… please don't cry…"

"Damnit James! What else am I supposed to do?! Just accept this?!"

"It's not like it'll be forever…"

"And how am I supposed to know that James? How am I supposed to know how long this'll take if I don't even know what I did wrong?!"

James' anger started to spark, "You don't want me to tell you…" he whispered.

"Yes James, yes I do."

"No, you don't."

"Don't tell me what I don't want! I want to know why my best friend doesn't want to see me anymore!"

"Because I'm in love with you!" James yelled.

Traci gasped and took a step back, "You… you're what?" she asked softy.

"That's right. I love you Traci. And not just in a sisterly kind of way. I am in love with you." He pronounced every syllable.

She took a step forward, "J-James… I… I didn't know…"

"And I was hoping to keep it that way. But it seems that when you want to find something out, you really do push until you know what it is."

"James I'm sorry—!"

"It doesn't matter anymore Trac," he turned around, "I'm leaving."

"James!" Traci yelled but didn't run after him, knowing that would only make this worse, "James please come back here! James! Come on James…! James…" She whispered.

"Oh god what have I done…?" She cursed as she walked back to the building. Once inside she knocked on the door, then walked in, "Miss?" She asked, and all the heads in the room turned to look at her, "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

The teacher sighed, "Oh, alright Ms. Kazaki. I'll give you a minute."

"Thank you Miss, this'll only take a second."

The teacher walked over to the doorway and walked out, looking back once more to glare at the children.

"What is it Ms. Kazaki?" She questioned.

"Um… James and I are dropping out of the competition."

She looked at her strangely, "Why?"

Traci sighed, "We had an argument and he told me he didn't want to do this anymore. He didn't really want to do it in the first place… I kinda pushed him into it. So yeah…"

"This is unacceptable."

"I realize this but you see it's really out of my hands—!"

"I don't care. You do not just 'drop out' of something like this!"

"Well guess what, I am!" Traci yelled turning on her heals.

"Ms. Kazaki!" She yelled as Traci marched down the hallway.

"Deal with it Miss! You just got yourself your first two drop outs!" Traci cried once more before walking out of the building.

The teacher sighed, "This is unexpected… and I had such high hopes for those two…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~