Chapter 11: Love at the Next Level
"Hello? No, must be the wrong room." The nurse from the waiting room peaked her head in the door; she was looking for Kazemon, unaware that she was Jennifer.
"Wait, I'm the one you're looking for." Jennifer spoke up and ran her down as she began to walk back down the hall.
"What? I'm sorry young lady, but..." The nurse shook her head.
"I can't explain how right now, but I'm the one who brought in Joey. Is he okay?" A somewhat comical, somewhat serious look spread across the nurse's face.
"Well we have him stabilized, but I'm afraid it isn't good. Has he always had seizures? Are you his...?" The nurse began to ask, but stopped thinking that Jennifer was far too young.
"What!? No!! I'm just a really good friend. I don't think he's had seizures before."
"Okay, that's good." The nurse looked back at the clipboard she was carrying.
"How is that good?"
"The doctor assumed that this was his first seizure. I'm not sure why, but he had a gut feeling. Anyways, we think he'll be fine, but he is going to take some time to recover. How long was the seizure before you got here?" Jennifer thought to herself. It had started in the castle, during the passage between worlds, at the camp, during the flight, and for the entire time in the hospital.
"I don't know; maybe about ten minutes."
"Good lord! Poor child; you can come visit him in a few hours; he's sleeping right now."
"Thank you." Jennifer began to head back to Sora's room, but stopped. "How did you know that I was here?"
"The people in the waiting room mentioned room 211 and that, um, you and an older woman had gone there to see the older woman's daughter." Jennifer could tell that the nurse was still bothered by her entrance as Kazemon.
"Oh, thank you for coming." Jennifer walked back into the room. The nurse walked up to the nearby nurse's station.
"Could you go check that room? I want to know everything about the person in there." The nurse whispered to the nurse in charge of the hall.
"Sure thing." The head nurse reached under the counter and produced another clipboard. She then walked around and towards Sora's room. Meanwhile, Ms. Takenouchi and Jennifer were talking again.
"You're not from around here, are you?" Sora's mother had finally noticed Jennifer's looks and accent.
"No, I'm American." Jennifer looked down. For the first time since she had left, she thought of home. Ms. Takenouchi noticed Jennifer's sudden change of mood.
"Do you have any friends or family you can stay with here?" Jennifer looked up.
"No. I haven't thought of where to stay yet. We just got here." A puzzled look came across Ms. Takenouchi's face.
"We?"
"I came here with some friends."
"From that other world?"
"Yes ma'am." Jennifer felt uncomfortable being so polite. She didn't know the customs and was doing her best to make sure she didn't offend anybody. "There were five of us. Myself, Joey, another girl named Kristen, a boy named Chris, and..." Jennifer stopped. She had forgotten about me.
"And... who?"
"Another boy named James. He didn't come with us." Ms. Takenouchi looked away.
"Oh." Sora's mother hesitated a moment before she spoke again. "Was he killed?"
"I don't know." They didn't even notice the nurse who had come in. She was busily recording things on Sora's chart and shifting things about. She left the room when she was 'done'. A few moments passed before either Jennifer or Ms. Takenouchi said anything.
"You speak pretty good English." Jennifer searched for conversation to lighten the mood.
"Excuse me?" Ms. Takenouchi looked at Jennifer as if she was crazy. "I don't know how to speak English. Did you learn Japanese in school?" Jennifer stared at Ms. Takenouchi. She could swear that she was speaking English, word for word. She watched her lips move and they matched the words she spoke—English.
"That's very funny ma'am. Don't kid around like that." Ms. Takenouchi looked at Jennifer the same way she had looked at her. She heard and saw Japanese, no doubt about it.
"You're speaking Japanese...aren't you?" Jennifer began to say something when she noticed that her digivice was glowing ever so slightly until Ms. Takenouchi stopped talking, then it faded. She pulled it out and spoke.
"No, I'm not speaking Japanese," the digivice glowed again, "but I think this thing is."
"Can I help you?" The nurse looked up to see two kids run into the waiting room.
"Yeah! Did you see a girl come in here?" Chris and Kristen had gotten a ride to the hospital from the man back at the camp.
"Excuse me? Oh, you must mean..." The nurse thought to herself for a moment. "Yes, she's in room 211."
"Thanks." Chris absentmindedly said as he turned to run down the hall. He stopped for a moment. "Um... where exactly is that?"
"Down the hall, up one flight of stairs to your right, take another right when you're done, and it should be on the right."
"Right." Chris took off again.
"You may want to get those cuts looked at!" The nurse yelled down the hall after the two as they followed the nurse's directions. They went up the stairs and, sure enough, found Jennifer sitting in room 211.
"Jennifer, where's Joey!?" Kristen had beaten Chris to the room.
"I dunno, down the hall somewhere." Jennifer had her mind on me again. She stared into space.
"Are these the others you were talking about?" Ms. Takenouchi's voice broke Jennifer from her trance.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah!"
"What's she talking about? Who is this lady? Who's that in the bed?" Chris didn't have the same politeness that Jennifer had. Ms. Takenouchi gave a weak smile.
"This is Ms. Takenouchi and that is her daughter." Jennifer leaned on Ms. Takenouchi's shoulder and pointed to Sora.
"Okay, and that means what to me? Does 'she' have a name?" Chris was irritated. He didn't really care about the girl in the bed. He figured there were hundreds just like her in similar beds throughout the hospital.
"Her name is Sora Takenouchi." Sora's mother spoke before Jennifer could snap at Chris for being rude.
"Wait, you don't mean..." Chris quickly changed his attitude.
"Yeah Chris, the digidestined Sora; I promised I would help her."
"How? What happened?" Ms. Takenouchi looked away.
"I'll tell you later Chris." Jennifer attempted to save Ms. Takenouchi the trouble of repeating the story. "First we need to find a place to stay. This chair is nice but I'm not going to be able to sleep in one sitting next to her or Joey."
"Then you can come and stay with me." Everybody turned in shock at Ms. Takenouchi. They hadn't expected to be taken in by a stranger upon their arrival in Japan. "Just promise me you will be a little more polite... what was your name?" Ms. Takenouchi looked at Chris. He blushed out of humiliation and answered her politely, wanting to make up for his earlier transgression.
"It's Chris. I'll be polite, I promise." He felt like he was talking to his own mom.
"Okay. Let me go speak with the nurse. It will be nice to have company anyways. It will keep my mind busy." Ms. Takenouchi stood up uneasily and began to walk out of the room.
"Wait! How long has Sora been here?" Jennifer quickly asked as Sora's mother tried to quickly leave the room.
"A few days."
"Then why were you in the emergency waiting room?"
"I needed to get out of this room; I've been here with her the entire time. You understand, don't you? I just wanted to get away somewhere for a little while. It's just coincidence that you came in when you did. Now come on"
"Oh, okay."
"Make sure you take off your shoes." Everybody was reminded of staying with Gennai. Before they had left the hospital, Ms. Takenouchi and Jennifer had it arranged so that Joey was moved to the empty room beside Sora. When they were satisfied, they left in Ms. Takenouchi's car.
"Yes ma'am." The crew replied in unison and stepped inside laughing about how odd it had sounded. They left Joey's pack in his room so he would have something to mess with when he woke up. They took the rest with them.
"Make yourselves at home. I'll see about making something to eat for you all. I assume you're hungry?" An exclamation of acknowledgement ensued. They hadn't really eaten since the forest, but had been too preoccupied with one event after another to think of food. "I don't have much; I haven't been grocery shopping lately. I guess I'll just make some noodles." Chris' stomach lurched at the thought of more noodles.
"Thanks; I guess." Chris murmured under his breath and Kristen elbowed him in the side. He let out a short yelp and rubbed where she hit him. "Where are we going to sleep?"
"I think Sora keeps some extra blankets in her room. You can sleep on the couches in the den; that's what everybody does. Or at least what they used to do."
"What do you mean?" Jennifer felt a connection with Ms. Takenouchi. She was like a mother to her. Jennifer couldn't really explain it, but the promise to help Sora had seemed so predetermined, like she knew she was going to help her before she knew she needed help. Ms. Takenouchi stopped what she was doing for a moment.
"Sora used to have her friends over all the time. I remember Tai would always fall asleep on that couch right there. She and Matt first kissed right outside the door." She waved in the general direction of the door as tears began to come to her eyes. "I would always have to get on to TK and Kari about chasing each other around the table." Her voice began to waver. "Izzy would always ask if he could use our phone line for his computer. Joe would always bring over his books when she forgot them at school. Dav..." At this point she finally lost it; the last sentences being lost in a flood of tears. Jennifer ran over to her.
"Calm down. She'll be okay! Just calm down; I said I would help her and I am!"
"I just want her to be happy like she used to be!" Ms. Takenouchi wept and collapsed onto Jennifer. Jennifer nearly buckled under the sudden weight; she hadn't expected to have to catch the older lady.
"She will be. I swear by my digivice, she'll be happy again."
"What's your name?" Joey stood in the door way to room 211. He had woken up and was now running about, hyper just as before. He stood looking at the older girl leaning against the back of her hospital bed. She didn't answer.
"Are you okay?" Joey began to creep into the room. "Is something bothering you?" Sora looked away towards the window.
"It's okay. I won't tell anybody." Joey innocently jumped up and sat on the hospital bed. "Are you sad about something?" A tear came to Sora's eye as she turned and looked at Joey.
"TK?" Her voice was weak and she spoke in a whisper. At the first sight of the short child with rough blond hair, she was reminded of her old friend.
"What? No, my name's Joey. All my friends say I would look like TK if I wore green." Joey was referring to the cartoon.
"You know TK?" Sora voice strengthened a little, but was hoarse and off pitch.
"What? No, but Genai told me that I would get to meet him. Do you know him?" Sora's eyes widened at the mentioning of Genai's name. She couldn't understand why the name seemed so familiar to her.
"Yes, well, I used to." Joey tilted his head a little and swung his feet back and forth as they hung over the edge of the bed.
"You did? He sure used to be a crybaby. Not me though! I'm tough!" Sora laughed.
"How old are you?" Joey's carefree mood was contagious.
"Eight. How old are you? And what's your name? You still haven't told me!"
"I'm twenty years old. My name is Sora." Joey stopped swinging his legs.
"You are!? Cool! Look at what I have! I'm a digidestined like you!" Joey pulled out his D-X from his jeans pocket. He had found his clothes lying in a chair by his bed when he woke up. He didn't like running around half-naked with only the hospital robe on. As soon as he showed it to her, a blast of light shot out of it and glared in Sora's face, blinding her. As Sora's memory came back to her, the light faded.
"I remember." Sora stared forward.
"What?" Joey had a comical, inquisitive look.
"How did you get that?"
"BRRRRRRRRRRIING!" The phone rattled on the receiver. Ms. Takenouchi ran up and answered it.
"Yes? Really! Oh thank you! You too! Everybody come on! They're awake!"
Chris looked up from over the couch. He had taken a slouched position on the couch with his limbs hanging off of the sides while watching television. "What?"
"Joey and Sora are awake! We're going to the hospital!" Jennifer and Kristen ran down the short hall and into the living room, already ready to go. Chris hopped over the couch, nearly tipping it over. They loaded up into Ms. Takenouchi's car and rode to the hospital.
"Sora!? Sora!!!" Ms. Takenouchi steamrolled her way into Sora's room, knocking over a nurse as she did. Jennifer helped the nurse up while Chris and Kristen ran into Joey's room next door. "I was so worried about you! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay." Sora looked down and away from her mother. "Who is that?" Sora noticed Jennifer standing in the doorway.
"That is a friend of yours." Ms. Takenouchi turned to look at Jennifer.
"Mom, you've lost it. I don't even know her. She isn't even my age." Jennifer produced her D-X and showed it to Sora. "Oh my god, another..."
"What's that?" Jennifer handed it to Sora.
"That kid next door has one of these. His name's Joey, I think." Joey walked in the room as she said this. There were a few tears in his eyes.
"Jennifer! I missed you, but couldn't you have come a little later?" Joey was hugging Jennifer around the waist.
"Why's that?" Jennifer held up her arms at Joey's sudden affection.
"Cause they just got done giving me an X-Ray and they gave me a shot before they did it." He let go his hold on Jennifer and rubbed his shoulder. Everybody laughed. "Come here, I wanna show you something!" Joey ran out of the room.
"I'll be back in a minute Sora." Ms. Takenouchi turned and nodded to Sora as everybody left the room.
"So let me guess, she wants you to talk to me." Jennifer turned to respond to Sora's cocky voice. Sora spoke again before Jennifer could say anything. "I don't care if you are a digidestined; you can't help me.
"And why's that?"
"You couldn't possibly understand what I'm going through. Hah, I got the Crest of Love, what a joke." Sora looked out the window.
"So did I." Jennifer breathed deeper than before. She had to make sure to keep her calm.
"Oh really? I assume you have parents at home that love you? I assume that you have a boyfriend that cares about you more than anything?" Sora assailed Jennifer, who finally lost her composure.
"Absolutely not! My parents abandoned me! A boyfriend that cares!? I don't even know what that is! People at school call me a whore because of how many boyfriends I've had! They've all been the same; just a bunch of jerks trying to get me in the bed!" Sora was a taken aback at this sudden outburst. Since Jennifer had walked in, she had been the calmest person, but now...
"Then why do you have the Crest of Love? I bet there's somebody you love." Jennifer thought about it. She thought about all the boyfriends she had ever had and decided they were all jerks. She thought about some of her friends' boyfriends, but they were the same. She thought about me and... "Well, maybe one person." She couldn't help but remember when I had approached her that night at Gennai's house.
"See, you at least have one guy you love! And I bet he loves you too! Me? I don't have anybody. I used to love somebody, but he never really meant it. He was just like all the guys you talk about." Sora looked out the window.
"Then why did you get the Crest of Love?" Jennifer had become calm again.
"It was a mistake. I was never supposed to be there." Sora looked down again.
"Wow, you have no idea how wrong you are." Jennifer laughed under her breath and shook her head.
"Excuse me?"
"Everybody who comes to the digital world comes for a reason. Maybe because they are chosen, maybe because of fate. All I know is even those who shouldn't be there are there for a purpose. You got a crest when you went and the rest of them wouldn't have made it if you hadn't come." Jennifer squeezed tightly on her digivice. "I'm sure that whoever it was is sorry for what they did to you to make you like this and that they love you. And I know that you love him too." Tears crawled down Sora's face.
"Then why did Matt leave me? Why did dad leave me? If they had loved me they would have stayed!!!" Sora screamed and ran out of the room. It was a good thing that a nurse had decided that Sora didn't need her IV's a few hours before, or they would have been caught up in her quick exit. Sora dashed down the hall and out the hospital into the oddly empty street. "Why did you take them from me!!? Why god!? Just stop torturing me and end it!!!" Sora collapsed to her knees and cried into her hands. Jennifer ran out in pursuit.
"You mean they died?" Jennifer was beginning to panic. Gennai hadn't told her any of the digidestined had died.
"Matt left me for his stupid band and dad... dad..." She exploded into another wave of tears.
"That doesn't mean they still don't love you." Jennifer kneeled down beside Sora.
"What do you mean?" Sora looked up for a moment, but turned away to wipe away her tears, not wanting to look childish.
"Did either of them ever tell you they didn't love you? Did you ever stop loving them?" Clouds began to roll in the sky. Sora waited a moment before she answered.
"No."
"Then why would you think that they don't still love you?" Silence followed for a moment. Jennifer looked down at her digivice. It was glowing brilliantly. "See, I know you still love them and that they love you. Why else would this thing be glowing like a flashlight?" Sora looked down and saw the programmed crest in the D-X and gave a weak laugh. "Come on, let's get inside. It looks like it is about to rain."
"No, it isn't." Sora stood up and her eyes grew wide.
"What? What's wrong?" Jennifer stood up and took a step back.
"They're coming." Sora looked up. Jennifer looked up to see what she was talking about and nearly screamed.
A massive hole had ripped open in the sky. From it, a huge, black digimon came down from it, laughing hysterically as he flew down at Jennifer and Sora. Jennifer scanned him quickly before she dived to the ground. "Devimon!?"
"What are digimon doing here!?" Sora looked up in fear, but soon began to calm down, balling up her fists as if she were going to fight Devimon herself.
"They must be coming through the gate! Spirit Code Activate!" Light ripped around Jennifer as she digivolved. "Digivolve to... Kazemon!" Sora watched in awe as Kazemon flew into the air. "Hurricane Wind!" She gusted upon Devimon, but it didn't do anything to him. He laughed again and turned around.
"Touch of Evil!" The attack slammed into Kazemon, driving her into the road below.
"Jennifer!" Sora ran up to Kazemon after the dust settled. Devimon floated above them. "Are you okay!?"
"Ohhhh. That jerk, I'll..." Jennifer's digivice exploded into light before she could finish though. Eventually, it focused into a single beam that materialized in front of Sora. A few moments later, a digivice floated in front of her.
"My digivice. I lost it so long ago..." Sora quickly grabbed her digivice and held it tightly, closing her eyes for a moment. "... I can't believe I have it again, after so long."
"Tempest Twist!" Kazemon flew forward towards the devil, landing on her hands to spin kick him. Devimon caught her leg, letting out a chuckle. "What the...!?"
"Urrrrgaahhh!" Devimon slung Kazemon into the air by the leg, sending her into an out of control spin. "Touch of Evil!" The attacked crashed against Kazemon and she rolled over from it, beginning to break up slightly.
"You see this! We beat you before and we'll beat you again! I know we will!" Devimon turned to Sora, her eyes snapped to a fiendish gaze on Devimon. Sora's digivice glowed with Jennifer's as light began to surround her again. "You can't stop us! You can never stop us!" The light around Jennifer solidified into data streams around her, raging about, sending powerful gusts of wind that send up clouds of dust and debris from the street.
"Kazemon digivolve to... Arashimon!" As the light faded a new digimon floated over the small crater where Kazemon had hit just a moment before. She looked a lot like Kazemon, but now wore a heavy breastplate. Her other armor was also extended, covering most of her previously exposed body. Her hair had more than doubled in length and had turned white. Two sashes, one purple, one white, now wrapped around her, fluttering slightly in the wind, while her wings now glittered brilliantly as if they were jeweled. "Jet Stream!" With a beat of her wings, Arashimon sent a blast of wind at Devimon, sending him reeling back.
"I don't care if you are an Ultimate or not! Your data is mine! Touch of Evil!" Devimon's arm extended out rapidly, but Arashimon floated to the side slightly and dogged it completely. "Grrr... AHHH!" Devimon went berserk, attacking wildly as he tried to hit Arashimon. "Stop moving!"
"Ha! Are you kidding me!? This feels great!" Arashimon floated leisurely back and forth as Devimon attacked. Meanwhile, Chris, Kristen, Joey, and Ms. Takenouchi ran from the hospital.
"What happened? Who are they!? Is that Kazemon?" Kristen looked up as Arashimon dodged another attack.
"I got my digivice back and she digivolved to ultimate!" Sora yelled at them as they came close. "Devimon doesn't stand a chance!"
"Wow, this is cool." Joey stared into the sky along with the rest of them, except for Ms. Takenouchi. She looked at her daughter with a few tears in her eyes. She knew Jennifer had kept her promise. It would take time for things to return to normal, but her daughter would be okay. Devimon finally tried to tackle Arashimon, but missed and flew into a building. The people inside ran screaming to the other side of the building.
"That's enough! It's time to take you out before anybody is hurt!" The armor around her wrists extended, creating what looked like half-cuffs around Arashimon's hands. The extended out past her closed fists and locked as she slammed them together. Wind began to blow violently as the clouds above and around the portal Devimon had come through began to swirl. Wind poured into Arashimon's hands, which now looked like a gun barrel. Finally, an orb of wind and energy formed at the end of the barrel, which was at least a half-foot in diameter. "Fajita Cannon!" The orb blasted out and ripped into Devimon, gusting tornado winds against the evil digimon and the building. Arashimon was careful not to blow clear through him, as it would destroy the building Devimon was shoved against. Finally, the attack stopped and Devimon fell to the ground, breaking apart the entire way. He was gone before he hit the ground. Energy whipped around Arashimon as she landed and devolved. Jennifer stood for a moment and fell down.
"Jennifer!" Chris ran up to her as she fell. "Are you okay!?"
"Oh yeah, I'm just tired. Being a digimon can really take it out of you!"
"That was awesome! You were even cooler than Angemon!" Joey jumped about and began to describe how Angemon had beaten Devimon on the show.
"I don't know about that Joey. Angemon was pretty cool when he beat him." Sora smirked and looked at Jennifer. Jennifer just smiled.
"Still think your crest was a mistake?" Jennifer weakly said as Chris helped her up.
"Not anymore. All I need now is Biyomon and I'm back in business!"
"Then come on, let's go get her." Jennifer pushed Chris away as she regained her strength.
"What do you mean? She's here!?" Sora began to get excited about seeing her old friend.
"Her digiegg is in my pack in your room at home. You think you're ready to go? You aren't going to hurt yourself or anything are you?" Jennifer was half serious, half joking.
"Nah, I guess not." Sora looked away.
"Alright. Let's go in and see what we can do about getting you checked out of this place." They walked out of the street as sirens began to come hurtling down the road.