Disclaimer:  We do not own Digimon or Mahjongg.

The Dark Scepter—Chapter One

By Fenris5000—Angelica

Izzy sat at his desk click clacking away at his computer.  This school project was not due for another three weeks, but he was just so excited about it that he couldn't wait.

"Hey Izzy." Tai said from his perch on Izzy's bed.  "How much longer till they get back?" He was twirling his soccer ball on his finger, or at least trying to.  It kept falling off.  "I wonder if Matt's still coming.  Do you think he forgot?"

The red haired boy shook his head.  "Of course I don't think he forgot.  He phoned a while ago before you got here and said his band practice might go a bit over schedule." Izzy turned back to his computer.  "And as for TK, Davis, Yolei and Kari, they should be back any time now." He glanced at his homemade android clock on the wall above his bed.  "They've only been gone for two hours."

Tai gave up with the soccer ball and placed it on the floor.  "I hate waiting.  I should have gone with them, then at least I wouldn't be sitting here doing nothing but waiting." He looked up at his friend's computer.  "Hey, what are you working on, anyway?"

Izzy shrugged.  "It's a project for my advanced electronics class.  I won't bore you with the details…"

"Meaning I won't understand anything you'd say anyway." Tai interpreted with a sigh.  Izzy was a nice guy, one of Tai's best friends actually, but he sure did have some complicated interests.

Izzy turned back to his keyboard and started typing again.  Tai rolled his eyes and continued to sit there being bored.

"Maybe I should call Matt and see if he's on his way yet." Tai said, pulling at a thread on Izzy's green bedspread.

"Tai, if you're that bored, why don't you play a game or something." Izzy suggested.  "I do have Mahjongg on my laptop."

The big-haired brunette groaned loudly.  "Izzy, do I look like I want to play Mahjongg?  Even if I wanted to play a game it sure wouldn't be Mahjongg.  I haven't ever won that one." He flopped onto his back.  "After playing that stupid game, all I see are tiles every time I shut my eyes."

"Fine, it was just a suggestion, Tai." Izzy said irritably.  "Why don't you have a nap then."

Taichi Kamiya groaned even louder.  "I don't want a nap." He pouted.  "I want Matt to hurry up and get here."

Izzy sighed.  "Why do you want Matt to get here so badly?  It isn't like he can get TK and the others back any sooner."

Tai rolled over.  "Yeah, but then there would be two of us bored.  We would outnumber you and force you to find some way to entertain us."

Knock.  Knock.

"Come in." Izzy said.  The door opened and Matt Ishida slipped in panting hard.  His black shirt was damp with sweat and slightly askew, and his hair's state was not much better.

"Wow!  I never thought I would use the words Matt and disheveled in the same sentence." Tai drawled from his recumbent position on the bed.  "What happened to you, Dude?"

Izzy turned back to his computer screen.  "Yeah, you're not that late.  You didn't have to run the whole way you know, though I'm glad you did.  Tai is driving me nuts."

"Ha, ha.  Very funny." Tai said, not laughing.  He watched Matt collapse beside him onto the bed and make a sour face.  "Come on Ishida, spill it, or I'll set Izzy's pet tarantula loose."

Matt's eyes widened in horror.  "I thought your mom was donating Squiggles to the zoo." He glared over at Izzy.

"She did." Izzy said simply.  "Tai is just trying to drive you nuts now."

"Oh." Matt said, sitting up and raking his fingers through his hair.  "Please don't, my sanity is already hanging by just a thread as it is." He readjusted his shirt with a grimace.  "We had a little audience during rehearsal."

"So?" Tai prodded.

"They were not invited."

"And?"

"Jun Motomiya."

Tai gulped.  "My deepest sympathies, Dude.  Actually, you look like this encounter of the Jun-kind was rather light.  I don't see any scratches, tears or hair loss this time."

Matt glared at his best friend.  "I think I set a world record for the one mile sprint.  My legs feel like licorice right now, okay?"

"Okay, okay.  Sheesh Dude, don't lose your cool."

Izzy hit his mouse button one last time and turned with a pleased smirk.  "There.  Done."

"Just in time too." Tai said, sitting up with alacrity.  "The Digiport's opening.  The others are coming back." He got off the bed and started dancing around excitedly, only to trip over his beloved soccer ball and crash to the floor face first.

Matt let out a laugh.  "Looking for something, Tai?"

"Owie." Tai moaned, getting up.  "Hey, did I get a rug burn on my chin?"

Matt rolled his eyes.  "No.  Now will you please sit down and wait for the others nice and calmly like Izzy and me?"

Tai pouted, sitting down.  "You're no fun at all, you know that, Matt?"

Matt did not reply as a bright light accompanied by a humming sound erupted from the Digiport program running on Izzy's PC on his desk.  A jumble of arms, legs and assorted colorful little balls with faces came tumbling through, making enough noise to wake the dead, or bring Izzy's mother running.

"Kari!" TK yelled, trying to untangle himself from Yolei's ferocious grip.  "Let go!  I have to go back!"

Matt, Tai and Izzy looked at each other in apprehension.  One of the digidestined did not make it back?

Tai grabbed Davis Motomiya, the team leader, by the collar and lifted him out of the din.  "Where's my sister, Davis?"

Davis turned bright puce.  "Easy Tai, don't you worry about a thing.  TM and me, we're going back right now to get her, see?" He limped towards TK and gave him a hand.  "Hey, let go of him Yolei, we've gotta go back and save Kari."

Yolei continued her hold on TK's arm with her left hand.  Her right arm hung awkwardly by her side, her wrist was a deepening eggplant color and swollen to twice it's normal size.  "No, you can't go back there guys, not until we fill everyone in on what's going on in the Digiworld."

"Let go, Yolei." TK warned her through gritted teeth.  "Just get out of my way."

Matt frowned.  "That's enough TK.  We're all worried about Kari, but there's no call for being rude to your friends." He stepped between TK and the digiport.

TK glared up at his very calm older brother.  "We don't have time for this Matt." He shook himself out of Yolei's death grip and continued in a voice that sent tingles down Matt's spine.  "You didn't see what we left behind.  We don't know what these monsters are capable of doing, and they have captured Kari."

Tai dropped down onto Izzy's bed with a worried expression.  "Kari?"

Izzy stepped forward.  "And that is all the more reason to take this slow and do it right TK.  I've already e-mailed the others to get here on the double.  We're in luck, even Mimi's in town this weekend for a visit." He checked his messages.  "Yeah, they've all responded and are dropping what they are doing.  Well except for Ken and Cody."

"What a great time to get the chicken pox." Davis said with a dour expression.  "If they'd been along, we would have been able to DNA digivolve and send those creepy little demon thingies back to where they came from."  He limped over the bed and plopped down on it beside Tai, content to wait.  He couldn't exactly get through to the Digiport without first seriously harming Matt, and he felt a little bit outnumbered in Izzy's room.

Izzy looked over at Yolei's swollen wrist, then his eyes wandered to Davis's swollen ankle.  "Um, you guys okay?"

"Yes." They said in unison, eyes darting around at light speed.

"TK." Matt stated with a worried expression.  "Your eye." It was getting puffy and was pink going on purple.

TK scowled.  "We're fine.  We're all fine.  Would you quit with the concern?  We're here.  We're fine.  Kari is who knows where, possibly being tortured or worse.  Now is not the time to be sitting here on our butts wasting another minute."  He took a menacing step towards Matt.

Matt held his ground.  "We are not going anywhere.  Do you see Gatomon jumping at the bit to go back?"

Gatomon looked up with worried blue eyes.  "They're right TK.  We need all the information and help we can get before we even try going back.  Remember what happened the last time we tried to fight them?"

"Who is them?" Izzy asked, opening his laptop and logging on.  "I'll upload one of your digivices."

"They're called Acolytemon." Yolei said, handing him her device with a sigh.  "Hey Izzy, does your mom have any ice?"

"Yeah.  Hey Tai." He waved a hand in front of the unnaturally quiet Tai.  "Could you go ask my mom for some ice packs for these guys."  He saw Tai's eyes light up.  The poor guy needed something to keep his mind off his missing younger sister.  Mentioning torture had not been the brightest idea TK had ever come up with.

TK finally turned away from Matt in defeat and started pacing instead.  "When are they going to get here?  Izzy, you did tell them this is a matter of life and death, right?"

"Yes." Izzy stated shortly.  "Sit down TK.  You are making me nervous."

Davis pulled TK to the spot on the bed next to him.  "Come on TW, if we work together, I think we could take him." He motioned in Matt's direction with his very expressive muddy brown eyes.

TK watched his older brother standing casually right in front of the digiport, hands on his hips, watching Yolei and Izzy working on the laptop earnestly.  TK shook his head.  "Are you nuts?  For one thing, Izzy, Yolei and Tai are all on Matt's side.  A second thing, Matt's a way dirtier fighter than both of us put together, and a third thing, you are seriously gimped." He pointed to Davis's ankle.  "I'll bet you and Yolei get left behind on this rescue mission."

Davis jumped up.  "No way, they can't do that.  I'm fine, see?" He limped across the floor with a strained grin on his face.  "It doesn't hurt a bit." He tripped over Tai's soccer ball.  "Aaaah!  Ooooh.  Oh.  Yeah.  It doesn't hurt a bit."

"Then why are you crying?" TK whispered, giving him a hand up.  "You'd better rest, Davis."

Davis pouted.  "Did I get a rug burn on my chin?"  He asked, rolling his eyes this way and that way, trying to get a look at the damage.

"No." TK said, sagging.

Patamon came up beside him.  "Don't worry TK.  Kari is very strong.  Just like you are.  We'll save her and everything will be all right again.  You'll see."  He smiled.

"Patamon's right TK." Gatomon said, patting the boy wearing the white hat on the leg.  "It wasn't your fault she got left behind either."

TK straightened.  "Yes it is."

Izzy's bedroom door flew open and Tai came in with an armload of ice packs.  "Oh cold.  Oh cold." He said, throwing one at Davis.  "Here you go.  One for Davis, one for Yolei." He handed it to the girl with purple colored spaghetti hair, who was absently stroking her little pink in-training digimon.  "And one for TK." Behind him came Sora, Mimi and Joe.  All three were out of breath.

"What is so important that I had to leave my manicurist before she could buff my nails?" Mimi asked with her trademark million dollar smile.

Joe looked worried, but that was not unusual.  "The message sounded really intense Izzy.  Not much ruffles your feathers; so what's going on?  Trouble in the Digiworld?"

Izzy nodded.  "Big trouble."

"Kari's been captured!" Davis blurted out, bending over to place the icepack on his tender ankle.  "Yeowch!  This is cold!  Where did you get it Tai, the North Pole or something?"

Tai frowned.  "Um, the freezer Davis.  It is an icepack."

"TK, what happened to your eye?" Sora asked with concern, moving closer and reaching out to touch him near his temple.

"It's fine." TK snapped angrily, shrugging her off.  "Could we forget about my stupid eye and Davis's stupid ankle, and Yolei's stupid wrist and get on with this update?  We're all here.  Kari's been captured by Acolytemon so lets get a move on and digiport already!"

Everyone looked at TK as if he had grown another head.

"TK." Matt said evenly.  "You need to calm down.  Tell us exactly what happened.  Start at the beginning."

TK bristled.  He resented Matt talking to him in such a patronizing tone.  "Okay.  We were on a routine patrol." He said flatly, looking at his older brother with contempt.  "Everything looked okay.  The digimon were all in their rookie forms, except for Gatomon, and we were just leaving the Gotsumon village.  We took a new path, thinking it was a shortcut, but it ended up taking longer.  Anyway, we almost made it to the TV when…"

"The whole landscape was suddenly crawling with these horrible little black trolls!" Davis interrupted.  He made some snorting-snarling noises and squinched up his face.  "Seriously ugly little guys."

"Not so little." Izzy stated, pointing at his laptop.  "Acolytemon.  They live to serve their master.  These guys you fought are the little fish, Davis."

"That's all the more reason for us to get moving." TK stated agitatedly.  "We don't know who has Kari.  We have to go and save her before it's too late.  Tai?" TK appealed to Kari's worried looking older brother.  Tai at least would agree with him.  After all, he was an overprotective older brother, just like Matt.

Tai rubbed his neck.  "OK.  TK's right." He said softly.  "Our number one priority is to find and rescue Kari." He looked up searchingly.  "I'll understand if the rest of you guys don't come with me.  We don't know who has her or what they want with her, so we'd be going in blind."

"Tai, how can you even think we wouldn't go with you?" Mimi exclaimed.  "We are a team after all."

"Yeah!" Davis yelled, raising his fist in the air as he leapt to his feet.  "Ow!" He staggered back down.  "We're all here for you." He continued, rubbing his ankle briskly.

"Thanks guys." Tai said.  "I know all of you would move heaven and earth for Kari and me, and anyone else on the team."

Davis puffed up proudly.  "Yeah.  We're there 24/7 for anyone in trouble.  That was a great pep talk Tai.  Let's get going." He jumped up again with a yelp of pain.

Matt pushed him back down onto the bed.  "He's not done yet, so sit down and be quiet, Davis."

Tai nodded.  "He's right Davis.  I have one more thing to say.  TK, Yolei and Davis, I'm sorry, but we are going to have to leave you three behind."

"WHAT?" TK and Davis bellowed at the same time, this time the both of them leaping up off the bed.

"No, no, no." TK shook his head firmly.  "You are NOT leaving here without me."

"TK." Matt began softly.  "You know it's for the best."

TK glared at his older brother.  "It is not for the best Matt.  Kari needs me."

"Look, all three of you have been injured." Izzy replied.  "You need medical treatment before heading back to the Digiworld, and we can not wait that long to go back.  Therefore logically, you three need to stay here until you've recuperated."

"I'm fine." TK growled.  "All I've got are bruises."

"Sorry TK." Matt shook his head.  "I just don't think it would be a very good idea."

TK bristled.  "You don't think it would be a very good idea.  Who gave you the right to veto my place on the team?  I'm coming.  There is no time to bring it before a committee."

"Yeah.  Same goes for me." Davis exclaimed.  "Me and TM have to come along.  We were supposed to be looking out for Kari.  The only one we managed to save was Yolei."

Yolei glared at them.  "You saved me?  That's a laugh.  If I hadn't shoved the both of you through the computer portal, all four of us would have been captured instead of just Kari." She looked up at Tai sadly.  "I'm only sorry I couldn't shove Kari through as well."

Tai nodded.  "Thanks Yolei.  Davis, you'd seriously slow us down with that bum ankle of yours."

"What bum ankle?" Davis asked innocently.  "My ankles both feel just great."

Matt rolled his eyes.  "Right.  That's why you keep whimpering every time you put your weight on it."

"Well if TW goes.  I go."

"Neither one of you is going." Matt replied through gritted teeth.  "This is not a topic up for debate."

TK put his hands on his hips.  "Okay.  I agree.  Yolei and Davis are injured and are both in need of medical treatment.  I'm fine.  And I'm coming too.  You guys need someone who can armor digivolve, remember?"

"TK." Matt said.

"You're not the boss of me, Matt." TK said stubbornly.  "I've got just as much right as you do, if not more to be in the digiworld, and I won't stay back on just your say so." He turned away from his brother.  "I'll only stay behind if it's a unanimous vote.  But just to let you know, I'll make your lives miserable until the day I die if you don't let me come."

Sora looked up at TK sadly.  "TK, Matt isn't doing this just to make your life miserable.  You can't see it, but you're too close emotionally to Kari.  You are thinking with your heart instead of your head.  We're only trying to protect you."

TK pounced.  "You guys are always trying to protect me.  Ever since I was a little kid.  Well you don't have to anymore.  I'm the same age you all were, even older than some of you the first time we were in the Digital world.  And Tai has just as many emotional ties to Kari as I do and I don't see you forbidding him from coming." By the time he had finished his tirade, TK's cheeks were flushed red in anger.

Tai sighed.  "Okay.  TK you can come." He turned to Matt.  "Don't bother arguing Matt, he has an air-tight argument and besides, he's right.  We do need someone who can armor digivolve and use a D3 terminal."

Matt nodded.  "I won't argue, but I still think this is a bad idea."

"No one asked you for your opinion." TK stated crisply.  "Now let's get going already.  Kari needs us!"

TBC…