Chapter 5: Of Geniuses, Prophets, Landforms, and Drugs

They were in Kari's room. All four of them were in there; TK, Jack, Melissa, and Kari herself. TK had just finished telling the tale of Myotismon's last defeat which left Jack as the only who had to tell their own story.

"I was born about and hour upstate." Jack began. "Place was a middle of nowhere town with quite a few idiots, especially around where I lived. I guess than that it almost goes without saying that I kept to myself a lot as a youngster, back in the days before certain hormonal urges." Jack laughed a little at this; no one else thought it was too funny. "Anyway about ten years ago when that whole world in the sky crap was going on I came home from school and found a weird egg and device in my room. Before I knew it this egg hatched and I had a little piece of white goop on my hands, a week or so after that I was taking care of my own little hyperactive skull. Still things were pretty normal, up until seven years ago when a bunch of other digimon decided to use my hometown as a playpen. That was when I first learned about digimon. "Skullmon's a, um," he paused searching for the correct term, "an in training digimon. He usually stays like that because his next form up is a three foot tall skeleton, and it's kind of hard to explain why there's a skeleton in your room. You've already met Skelemon, his form after that, so I'll spare the details. Anyway that's all the digital world stuff I've ever been involved in."

"Time for dinner kids," Ms. Kamiya called up to them from the kitchen. TK's face paled, he hadn't had time to get something to eat earlier, "and bring your appetites with you!"

A cruel smile tugged at Kari's face when she saw TK's expression. This was likely going to be more fun than beating him up. When they got down they discovered that Ms. Kamiya had made burgers; one might say hamburgers but after her infamous fungus cookies no one could be sure what they were made of. Kari picked one up and looked at it dubiously, it looked cooked. TK was busy picking at it, it looked like he was checking to see if it would bounce when dropped; like school food. Melissa had politely declined citing vegetarianism and was now munching contentedly on an apple. And Jack, well Jack was on his third burger by now.

"It's not a can of tuna." Jack stated noting their stares. "I've been all but living off the stuff for the past year." He helped himself to a fourth.

TK took a bite cautiously, "It's not bad." He said to be polite. When Ms. Kamiya turned around he spat the bite out into his napkin, he'd rather go hungry than take another bite.

Noting TK's reaction Kari discreetly put her untouched burger on Jack's plate. She had a pack of gummy worms in her room; they would hold her 'til the morning.

There was a knock on the door and when Ms. Kamiya left to answer it TK mimicked Kari's action and gave his own burger to Jack. They tasted like rat burgers any way. TK tried to follow along with what was said, but it was hard to hear from where he was. However he distinctly recognized the words 'Tai,' 'Koushiro,' and 'Kari' in the conversation. If TK hadn't heard Ms. Kamiya say Izzy's name there was no way he would have recognized the man that walked into the kitchen.

College seemed to have definitely taken its toll on Izzy. He had grown in the past two years and was now nearly as tall as TK. His eyes still burned with knowledge and curiosity, but now they were bagged and bloodshot. It looked like he needed to get some sleep, or another dose of heroine. "Hey Kari." he said his voice the same as always, though slightly more drained and stretched. "I didn't know you had any friends, care to introduce us?"

Kari blinked in surprise and shock at Izzy's appearance she looked almost lost for words, Jack continued eating. "God Izzy," she said, "you look horrible."

Izzy rubbed the back of his neck, the action highlighting just how loosely his shirt was fitting him. Most people gain weight in college, but Izzy had lost it, big time. "I feel fine, honestly. I'm absolutely prodigious." There was something missing from his voice when he used this favorite adjective of his; it was an almost unnoticeable thing, but it sent a chill through TK and Kari anyway.

Kari didn't look like she believed him, but she continued on to the introductions anyway. "Blondie over here is Takeru Takaishi himself," she used his full name and his hated nickname of 'Blondie' just to annoy him, Izzy looked surprised to see them in the same house and both living, "the other blonde is Takaishi's cousin Melissa," Melissa gave a curt nod to Izzy, "and the final member of our merry troupe is Jack, the hungry guy. He's actually working for Matt who's back in protective brother mode. This is Izzy guy's, he's an old friend of my brother and me." She said introducing Izzy to them all.

"The couch is mine tonight," Jack stated, all but one of the burgers was gone by now, "find your own place to sleep."

Melissa looked at Jack in disgust, "Do you have no manners?" she asked. "Izzy hasn't said anything about staying here yet, if he plans to at all."

Jack tapped the side of his head, "Call me Elijah," he told them, "because I'm a damn prophet." Suddenly he smirked, "Plus, the guy's got a bag with him."

"So what?" Melissa snapped. "Just because he has a bag doesn't mean he's planning on staying here."

"Will you just shut up?" Jack complained. "The point is that whether he stays or not he knows that the couch is mine. And the same goes for you" Melissa snorted and rolled her eyes.

Izzy chuckled a little, "At least this kid has a sense of humor." he commented. "I was going to ask if I could spend the night, but if you're low on room …" he trailed off.

Kari shook her head, "There's enough room in here," she told them, "there are bunk beds in both Tai's and my rooms. You can stay in Tai's room until he gets home if you want; Mom loves company, especially old friends."

"So did you come here for a social visit, or did something else prompt you to make the journey down here?" TK asked; despite having lost contact with the Kamiyas he had managed to keep in contact with the other digidestined, save of course Davis, and though things were a bit stretched with some he still knew what they were up to. Izzy for example was attending a technology university up in Maine and a trip down to southern New York wasn't exactly a nice stroll down the block.

Izzy sat down at the table, reached for the last burger, then decided against it. He looked as if he didn't want to say what he was about to say. "There is something wrong in the digiworld." he stated calmly in Japanese so neither Jack nor Melissa could understand. Like the rest of them he didn't know that Melissa could speak the language.

"Tell me something we don't know already." Melissa said sarcastically. "I can, we do, and we are." she said answering Izzy's unvoiced questions.

"What's happening in there?" Kari asked, "Specifically?"

"The geography is being rearranged." Izzy said as he opened his laptop. "I've managed to plot a probable end result and," he paused as he turned the laptop to face them, "you are not going to like the ramifications."

The map showed a large mountain with four different colors swirling around it. Each of the colors represented a different element. "Spiral Mountain." TK breathed.

Izzy nodded, "Precisely." He said. "Right now only one element is actually moving," he told them, "but if memory serves me correctly the master of that element was …"

"Piedmon." Kari said quietly. She was pale and had her arms wrapped around herself, she also seemed to be shivering. Izzy nodded solemnly. "That explains what happened earlier." Kari said, "It wasn't Myotismon that attacked us, it was really Piedmon, he just hasn't finished digivolving."

"You mean Piedmon is here?" Izzy asked.

TK nodded, "Yeah he's here, and it seems that he's been hunting us too."

"Bring me up to speed," Izzy requested, "quickly."

"Us too." Jack requested with a nod towards Melissa.
And so once more stories of the past were told; of Jack and Melissa's past, of TK's trip here, of their encounter with Myotismon, and of the fight against the Dark Masters. By the time they were done it was well into the night. Jack had moved to the couch and fallen asleep, Skullmon lying in the crook of his arm.

He's pretty cute when he's asleep, Melissa noted; annoying as all hell when awake, but cute when asleep. She was thinking about Jack this time not Skullmon.

"Time for bed." Kari said with a yawn before leading them all to their rooms careful not to wake her mother.

It was nearly four in the morning when TK woke up. There was something wrong with the air in the room. It was heavy and too hot and it smelled funky. After a few seconds he realized that the room was filled with smoke, then he saw that the smoke alarm had been disabled, then he saw that someone had piled clothes around the bottom of the door, finally he saw Izzy sitting in the corner with a smoking twist of paper in his mouth. Then TK's eyes got blurry and he slumped silently to the ground.

At half past four Melissa went down to the kitchen because she couldn't sleep. She could never sleep in someone else's house. Jack was already up, dressed, and from the look and smell of it showered. "Couldn't sleep either?" she asked.

Jack didn't turn away from the window he was looking out of. "I'm used to getting up this early." he told her.

"Anything interesting on your mind?" Melissa asked as she poured herself a glass of milk.

Jack sighed, "I was thinking about how much simpler my life would be if I had just kicked Richard out of the show and not invited Kari backstage."

"Oh poor you," Melissa said sarcastically, "well you did and now you're on the adventure of a life time. Tough luck." She wrinkled her nose, "What is that funky smell?" she asked.

Jack took a sniff, "Skunk cabbage." he told her. He blinked as a thought hit him, there shouldn't be any skunk cabbage here. A second later he was following his nose to the source of the smell; Tai's room. He tried the door but it was locked. "Go get Kari." he told Melissa who had followed him there. He went into the bathroom and began pulling the cotton off the end of a q-tip. They had locks like that on the doors in his house too. They worked by pushing a button in. All you needed to do to unlock them was to push something thin through a hole on the knob and pop the button out.

"What's that smell?" Kari asked as Jack exited the bathroom.

Jack ignored her and walked straight to the door. He popped the lock with the practiced ease of someone used to being locked out of the bathroom and opened the door. A cloud of smoke began to billow out and Melissa ran over to the window and opened it so the smoke detectors wouldn't go off.

TK was still on the floor unconscious and Izzy was still in his corner now laughing stupidly, the twist still in his hand. Jack grabbed Izzy by his collar and slammed him into the wall, "Where'd you get it?" he demanded. All he received as an answer was Izzy's demented laughter.

When Kari entered the room she had run over to see if TK was okay. His eyes were glazed and his breathing shallow. She realized that as much as she hated him, she didn't want him to die. She was only wearing an oversized black t-shirt and a pair of panties, but no one noticed; TK was only in his boxers, but she didn't care. Her attention had been caught by a pair of white lines that stretched across his wrists. She knew what they were, scars. That at least explained why he was wearing long sleeves in the summer.

That was how TK was different from her. After their fight she had changed to reflect how she felt on the inside. TK didn't do that. TK just kept it all bottled up inside himself until he cracked and did something desperate. What had it been, she wondered, what had been the thing that broke him? What had driven him to attempt suicide?

Kari suddenly realized two things. The first was that tears were falling slowly down her face; the other was that Jack was looking at TK's eyes and listening to his breathing. "What's wrong? Is he going to be okay?" she asked shakily.

"He's been anesthetized." Jack told her. Kari's eyes widened in fear, "He should be up and fine in a few hours." Jack explained.

Melissa looked over at Jack, "How do you -"

"When these two are back to normal we're all going to go on a little road trip." Jack said cutting Melissa off. Jack left the room, "Be back soon," he told them, "I'm going to go grab my car."

Kari looked around the room, Izzy was now out cold. "Why don't you try to get some more sleep." she suggested to Melissa who nodded her thanks and left. Kari pulled TK over to and then up onto his bed. She grabbed the chair away from Tai's desk and sat on it watching her old anesthetized friend.

She really hoped he would be okay, she was the only one allowed to hurt him. It was as good as law. She could already see the slight discolorations of forming bruises where she had hit him earlier. Inwardly she was somewhat ashamed now that she had found the scars. Even though she didn't want to her eyes began to close and she dropped off to sleep using TK's chest as a pillow.