Chapter 37 - Changes
I lay on the couch, passionately kissing TK, before panting as his kisses trailed away from my mouth down my throat. We were alone, so I wasn't too concerned about our current state of dress.
Or lack there of…
I grinned impishly to myself.
Until the door opened. TK froze on top of me.
Mom's not supposed to be back for hours…
It wasn't mom at the door. It was worse. More specifically, it was Tai.
Tai just stood there for a moment, eyes very, very wide. Then his face turned red and he spun around. Tai didn't start to yell, which scared me. A yelling, screaming Tai I could handle. This new, seemingly calm Tai was something new. When he spoke, his voice was like his countenance. Eerily calm.
"TK, Kari, please get dressed. After that, you should probably leave TK."
I've never seen anyone get dressed and leave faster. I don't think that even BlackGuilmon with a hyper speed card could go that fast. When TK was gone and I was dressed as well, Tai, obviously suppressing something, spoke again.
"Kari, I don't think I can handle this here. Come on, we're going to my place."
We got into Tai's car and drove off to his apartment. On the drive over, Tai concentrated on the road, the only signs of his agitation were his silence and the handprints left on the steering wheel for gripping it too hard. When we got into his apartment, he still hadn't spoken a word; he simply motioned for me to sit on a couch. I sat and began fidgeting.
Oh boy… What's he thinking? What's he going to do?
Tai remained standing and began to pace.
"Okay, Kari. I'm trying to do this as calmly as I can. You're a big girl, but you're still my little sister, and I'm trying to come to grips with the fact that you've grown up a little."
I opened my mouth, but he held his hand up to stop me.
"Please, let me finish. You're old enough to make your own decisions, but I still have an obligation to protect you as best I can. So I need to know a few things. I'm not going to ask questions I have no right to know the answers to, but I do need to know a few things, so that I can figure out where to go from here. First, do you have protection?"
I went beet red, I'm sure of it. I nodded weakly, far too embarrassed to speak.
"Two, do you know how everything works? I mean-"
I cut him off before I died from lack of circulation to anywhere but my face.
"I had the same course on it you did, and I had 'the talk' from mom. So you don't have to-"
Tai cut me off then.
"Maybe, but I need to feel like I did something here. I need to say something before things go too far between you two…"
I suddenly found the floor very interesting and ground my foot into the carpet as I mumbled something under my breath. Tai cocked his head at me, and placed a hand behind his ear.
"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."
I felt even more blood rush to my face.
"I said… it's too late?"
"Hmmm…"
Tai nodded a few times speculatively as I looked on. Then, his eyes rolled back up into his head, he keeled over backwards and passed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was dark out as I wandered through the frost-covered park, just remembering what it was like the last time I was here.
With Joe…
One of the images burned forever into my mind was Joe standing there on that shore, pleading with me to stay, not understanding that it wasn't him I was frightened of.
It was the monster behind him. With those horrible tusks, and that wicked looking hammer.
I shuddered at the memory.
Joe didn't - doesn't understand that they can't be trusted. They're terrible.
I sighed again and walked down near the river, and over to the bridge, just thinking of how it used to be back then. Joe was kind thoughtful, and even if he would never admit, one of the wisest people I'd ever encountered.
I remembered how soft his laugh was, and how he'd do anything for a friend. How nothing that happened ever seemed to worry him much, and how confident he seemed even when something did.
For Joe to have a lapse in judgment like that is… unthinkable…
I stopped on the bridge and looked out over the water, just thinking for a while, as I had been all day, and most of the time since Joe had left. I turned, with every intention of going straight home.
It was miserable, being there without him.
It was then that I slipped on a patch of ice and fell off the side of the bridge, going straight through the ice and into the freezing water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hate the holidays.
Well, not really, but buying something for Jun is an exercise in futility. The problem was not that I couldn't find anything Jun would like. She would have liked a lot of the things I'd seen. But because I was her boyfriend, I felt obligated to find something… unique. Something rare, something special. Something that simply screamed 'Buy me for Jun'.
Something that she'd treasure for the rest of her life.
Or, more specifically, something that will make her forget about trying to wheedle wedding proposals out of me.
I wasn't finding anything in any department stores. I'd given up on that early on. Fighting the crowds…
I shuddered at the mere thought of attempting that. Holiday shoppers could turn dangerous at some else getting the last of some item.
No, malls are definitely a bad idea.
Online shopping wasn't much better. The things there were a better prospect than what was left in the malls, but still not good enough. So now I was looking through those strange little shops that sold odd knick-knacks and assorted oddities.
The store was a very small place, tucked back in a small corner of an equally small shopping center. I glanced at my watch.
I'd better hurry; this place is going to close soon.
I almost passed right by it. I would have if I hadn't almost tripped over a small toy box.
But it was right there on the floor that I found it.
The absolutely perfect gift.
Something that would make Jun squeal like a schoolgirl, and forget all about the wedding last week.
Stuffed bears are awesome that way.
Laying like it was on the ground, it came up to my knee with grayish-brown fur. But what made it special, was the way it looked, the attitude it projected.
It had two red marks under each eye, and a broad blue belt worn like a sash across its middle. On it's hands were several more belts, and it was wearing a baseball cap of the same color blue, turned backwards, so that the 'BEARS' was facing front, and the picture of a teddy bear's head on the front of the cap was facing back. I grinned like a maniac.
Perfect.
I picked it up, but while soft, the thing weighed a ton. It was still warm, most likely from the heater, too. I carried it through the cramped but mostly empty rows to the back counter, where the old man who ran the shop was. He looked at the bear carefully.
"Oh ho, so someone's buying that, eh? Most people give up when they experience the weight."
I smiled.
"A little weight isn't going to stop me. I need this present."
The old man smiled.
"Younger sibling?"
"Girlfriend."
He smiled knowingly.
"Ah. Must be a special young lady then."
I just smiled and nodded, paying for the bear, then toting him out to my old car, placing the bear in the back seat.
I am so glad that's over with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the water closed in above my head I panicked, which was never a good thing. I struggled to reach the surface, but I was too weighted down by my coat. I frantically tried to get the coat off, but the zipper was caught and I couldn't get it loose. Blackness started closing in…
But then I was jostled back into alertness by a school of strange fish pushing me up towards the hole where I popped out, and the school ran me over onto dry land, before simply fading from sight.
What the…
Then a white head with an shock of orange hair appeared at the hole, shaking a moment to get the water clear.
"Hey, are you…"
He trailed off, looking at me like a ghost. I froze from panic, and because my dip in the ocean had left me too weak to move properly.
It's one of them…
It may have been the beginnings of hypothermia, but another voice in my head spoke up.
Maybe this one's nice. He did just save my life…
"AHH!"
He seemed to panic more as my vision swam and I passed out.
"Ugghh."
That was the sound I made as I came to. I glanced around, seeing the head I had earlier, attached to body with four fins for appendages. It was sleeping, or at least that was what I assumed from the noises it was making.
I tried to sit up, but my vision blurred, and I was forced to recline again. There was a startled squawk, and I looked down past my feet to see a rather large pink bird. It seemed panicked, which was happening a lot lately, and yelled.
"Ah! Sora, come quick! She's awake!"
With that, a red haired woman around my age came in. When she saw me up, her eyes got wide.
"Are you okay? The doctor said you'll be fine, but…"
I nodded a little. I was a little cold still, and I was pretty weak, but otherwise okay.
"Where?"
The woman, Sora I assumed, blushed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Sora. You're in my house. After Gomamon found you, he didn't know what to do with you, and brought you here. I called my family doctor."
I looked over at the white… fish… thing, which was beginning to stir a little. He blinked a little, and then saw me.
"Hey, you okay Carmela?"
I froze.
How…
Sora seemed just as confused as I did.
"Gomamon, how did you know her name?"
He blushed a little.
"Umm… It's a little… complex…"
Her eyes narrowed.
"Gomamon…!"
He sighed.
"Fine. She and Joe… well, umm…"
Joe? How does he know Joe? What's going on?
Sora's eyes got wide, and then she spun to look at me.
"Oh… my…"
She just stood there staring at me. I was getting a little angry. It wasn't like me, but between my dunking, these people… things, and their mentions of Joe, I was getting a little annoyed.
"What's going on here?!"
Sora blushed.
"Oh. Right. Sorry."
She pointed to the bird.
"That's Biyomon, she's my partner digimon. And this is Gomamon, Joe's partner…"
She seemed to break down a little. Gomamon cleared his throat.
"Um, Carmela, have you seen Joe at all?"
What? Don't these people…
I shook my head.
"No. I haven't seen Joe ever since that day on the shore when he had that… that… thing with him…"
I trailed off as I realized that that might not be the best thing to say with some of them in the room. Sora mumbled something about soup and left the room, taking Biyomon with her. Gomamon looked indignant.
"That 'thing' was me, I'll have you know!"
I blinked.
"But… how? That guy was huge, and you're…"
Gomamon smiled.
"Small? Yeah, we're small. Until we evolve. Then we get bigger in a hurry. Joe and I were trying to help defeat MetalSeadramon, that big snake in the sky."
Flashes of my mother's death flew through my head.
"I-I don't understand…"
Gomamon grimaced.
"What? You think we're all like MetalSeadramon? I saw some guys shooting other humans on TV the other day. Should I judge you all like that?"
"That's ridiculous. That's only a small percentage of the population causing problems for the majority… Oh."
He smiled.
"Yeah. Oh. Most of us just live our lives, back in our world. Some of us are lucky enough to partner with humans and get to come here. But the moment you do that, you're marked. The human becomes a Digidestined, and as Digidestined with partner digimon, we have to watch out for threats to both worlds. Most of the time we can stop them in the digital world. Sometimes, though, like Myotismon all those years ago, they manage to make it here and rip things up. Or Piedmon last year. That was nasty."
I was a little intrigued now, and I began to understand what Joe had been doing, why he had to run off all the time.
Making sure that no one really got hurt…
Then something occurred to me.
"You asked if I had seen Joe. Why?"
Gomamon looked troubled at this, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"After that day with MetalSeadramon, and you, well, ran off, Joe wasn't the same… A little after that he just… disappeared. We haven't seen him since."
I just gaped in shock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning I got a call.
"Hello?"
[Kari? Have you seen TK?]
"Matt? No… I haven't seen TK. Not since last night, anyways…"
Matt sounded frantic on the line. And justly so, too.
[Kari. TK never made it home last night.]
I lay on the couch, passionately kissing TK, before panting as his kisses trailed away from my mouth down my throat. We were alone, so I wasn't too concerned about our current state of dress.
Or lack there of…
I grinned impishly to myself.
Until the door opened. TK froze on top of me.
Mom's not supposed to be back for hours…
It wasn't mom at the door. It was worse. More specifically, it was Tai.
Tai just stood there for a moment, eyes very, very wide. Then his face turned red and he spun around. Tai didn't start to yell, which scared me. A yelling, screaming Tai I could handle. This new, seemingly calm Tai was something new. When he spoke, his voice was like his countenance. Eerily calm.
"TK, Kari, please get dressed. After that, you should probably leave TK."
I've never seen anyone get dressed and leave faster. I don't think that even BlackGuilmon with a hyper speed card could go that fast. When TK was gone and I was dressed as well, Tai, obviously suppressing something, spoke again.
"Kari, I don't think I can handle this here. Come on, we're going to my place."
We got into Tai's car and drove off to his apartment. On the drive over, Tai concentrated on the road, the only signs of his agitation were his silence and the handprints left on the steering wheel for gripping it too hard. When we got into his apartment, he still hadn't spoken a word; he simply motioned for me to sit on a couch. I sat and began fidgeting.
Oh boy… What's he thinking? What's he going to do?
Tai remained standing and began to pace.
"Okay, Kari. I'm trying to do this as calmly as I can. You're a big girl, but you're still my little sister, and I'm trying to come to grips with the fact that you've grown up a little."
I opened my mouth, but he held his hand up to stop me.
"Please, let me finish. You're old enough to make your own decisions, but I still have an obligation to protect you as best I can. So I need to know a few things. I'm not going to ask questions I have no right to know the answers to, but I do need to know a few things, so that I can figure out where to go from here. First, do you have protection?"
I went beet red, I'm sure of it. I nodded weakly, far too embarrassed to speak.
"Two, do you know how everything works? I mean-"
I cut him off before I died from lack of circulation to anywhere but my face.
"I had the same course on it you did, and I had 'the talk' from mom. So you don't have to-"
Tai cut me off then.
"Maybe, but I need to feel like I did something here. I need to say something before things go too far between you two…"
I suddenly found the floor very interesting and ground my foot into the carpet as I mumbled something under my breath. Tai cocked his head at me, and placed a hand behind his ear.
"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."
I felt even more blood rush to my face.
"I said… it's too late?"
"Hmmm…"
Tai nodded a few times speculatively as I looked on. Then, his eyes rolled back up into his head, he keeled over backwards and passed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was dark out as I wandered through the frost-covered park, just remembering what it was like the last time I was here.
With Joe…
One of the images burned forever into my mind was Joe standing there on that shore, pleading with me to stay, not understanding that it wasn't him I was frightened of.
It was the monster behind him. With those horrible tusks, and that wicked looking hammer.
I shuddered at the memory.
Joe didn't - doesn't understand that they can't be trusted. They're terrible.
I sighed again and walked down near the river, and over to the bridge, just thinking of how it used to be back then. Joe was kind thoughtful, and even if he would never admit, one of the wisest people I'd ever encountered.
I remembered how soft his laugh was, and how he'd do anything for a friend. How nothing that happened ever seemed to worry him much, and how confident he seemed even when something did.
For Joe to have a lapse in judgment like that is… unthinkable…
I stopped on the bridge and looked out over the water, just thinking for a while, as I had been all day, and most of the time since Joe had left. I turned, with every intention of going straight home.
It was miserable, being there without him.
It was then that I slipped on a patch of ice and fell off the side of the bridge, going straight through the ice and into the freezing water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hate the holidays.
Well, not really, but buying something for Jun is an exercise in futility. The problem was not that I couldn't find anything Jun would like. She would have liked a lot of the things I'd seen. But because I was her boyfriend, I felt obligated to find something… unique. Something rare, something special. Something that simply screamed 'Buy me for Jun'.
Something that she'd treasure for the rest of her life.
Or, more specifically, something that will make her forget about trying to wheedle wedding proposals out of me.
I wasn't finding anything in any department stores. I'd given up on that early on. Fighting the crowds…
I shuddered at the mere thought of attempting that. Holiday shoppers could turn dangerous at some else getting the last of some item.
No, malls are definitely a bad idea.
Online shopping wasn't much better. The things there were a better prospect than what was left in the malls, but still not good enough. So now I was looking through those strange little shops that sold odd knick-knacks and assorted oddities.
The store was a very small place, tucked back in a small corner of an equally small shopping center. I glanced at my watch.
I'd better hurry; this place is going to close soon.
I almost passed right by it. I would have if I hadn't almost tripped over a small toy box.
But it was right there on the floor that I found it.
The absolutely perfect gift.
Something that would make Jun squeal like a schoolgirl, and forget all about the wedding last week.
Stuffed bears are awesome that way.
Laying like it was on the ground, it came up to my knee with grayish-brown fur. But what made it special, was the way it looked, the attitude it projected.
It had two red marks under each eye, and a broad blue belt worn like a sash across its middle. On it's hands were several more belts, and it was wearing a baseball cap of the same color blue, turned backwards, so that the 'BEARS' was facing front, and the picture of a teddy bear's head on the front of the cap was facing back. I grinned like a maniac.
Perfect.
I picked it up, but while soft, the thing weighed a ton. It was still warm, most likely from the heater, too. I carried it through the cramped but mostly empty rows to the back counter, where the old man who ran the shop was. He looked at the bear carefully.
"Oh ho, so someone's buying that, eh? Most people give up when they experience the weight."
I smiled.
"A little weight isn't going to stop me. I need this present."
The old man smiled.
"Younger sibling?"
"Girlfriend."
He smiled knowingly.
"Ah. Must be a special young lady then."
I just smiled and nodded, paying for the bear, then toting him out to my old car, placing the bear in the back seat.
I am so glad that's over with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the water closed in above my head I panicked, which was never a good thing. I struggled to reach the surface, but I was too weighted down by my coat. I frantically tried to get the coat off, but the zipper was caught and I couldn't get it loose. Blackness started closing in…
But then I was jostled back into alertness by a school of strange fish pushing me up towards the hole where I popped out, and the school ran me over onto dry land, before simply fading from sight.
What the…
Then a white head with an shock of orange hair appeared at the hole, shaking a moment to get the water clear.
"Hey, are you…"
He trailed off, looking at me like a ghost. I froze from panic, and because my dip in the ocean had left me too weak to move properly.
It's one of them…
It may have been the beginnings of hypothermia, but another voice in my head spoke up.
Maybe this one's nice. He did just save my life…
"AHH!"
He seemed to panic more as my vision swam and I passed out.
"Ugghh."
That was the sound I made as I came to. I glanced around, seeing the head I had earlier, attached to body with four fins for appendages. It was sleeping, or at least that was what I assumed from the noises it was making.
I tried to sit up, but my vision blurred, and I was forced to recline again. There was a startled squawk, and I looked down past my feet to see a rather large pink bird. It seemed panicked, which was happening a lot lately, and yelled.
"Ah! Sora, come quick! She's awake!"
With that, a red haired woman around my age came in. When she saw me up, her eyes got wide.
"Are you okay? The doctor said you'll be fine, but…"
I nodded a little. I was a little cold still, and I was pretty weak, but otherwise okay.
"Where?"
The woman, Sora I assumed, blushed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Sora. You're in my house. After Gomamon found you, he didn't know what to do with you, and brought you here. I called my family doctor."
I looked over at the white… fish… thing, which was beginning to stir a little. He blinked a little, and then saw me.
"Hey, you okay Carmela?"
I froze.
How…
Sora seemed just as confused as I did.
"Gomamon, how did you know her name?"
He blushed a little.
"Umm… It's a little… complex…"
Her eyes narrowed.
"Gomamon…!"
He sighed.
"Fine. She and Joe… well, umm…"
Joe? How does he know Joe? What's going on?
Sora's eyes got wide, and then she spun to look at me.
"Oh… my…"
She just stood there staring at me. I was getting a little angry. It wasn't like me, but between my dunking, these people… things, and their mentions of Joe, I was getting a little annoyed.
"What's going on here?!"
Sora blushed.
"Oh. Right. Sorry."
She pointed to the bird.
"That's Biyomon, she's my partner digimon. And this is Gomamon, Joe's partner…"
She seemed to break down a little. Gomamon cleared his throat.
"Um, Carmela, have you seen Joe at all?"
What? Don't these people…
I shook my head.
"No. I haven't seen Joe ever since that day on the shore when he had that… that… thing with him…"
I trailed off as I realized that that might not be the best thing to say with some of them in the room. Sora mumbled something about soup and left the room, taking Biyomon with her. Gomamon looked indignant.
"That 'thing' was me, I'll have you know!"
I blinked.
"But… how? That guy was huge, and you're…"
Gomamon smiled.
"Small? Yeah, we're small. Until we evolve. Then we get bigger in a hurry. Joe and I were trying to help defeat MetalSeadramon, that big snake in the sky."
Flashes of my mother's death flew through my head.
"I-I don't understand…"
Gomamon grimaced.
"What? You think we're all like MetalSeadramon? I saw some guys shooting other humans on TV the other day. Should I judge you all like that?"
"That's ridiculous. That's only a small percentage of the population causing problems for the majority… Oh."
He smiled.
"Yeah. Oh. Most of us just live our lives, back in our world. Some of us are lucky enough to partner with humans and get to come here. But the moment you do that, you're marked. The human becomes a Digidestined, and as Digidestined with partner digimon, we have to watch out for threats to both worlds. Most of the time we can stop them in the digital world. Sometimes, though, like Myotismon all those years ago, they manage to make it here and rip things up. Or Piedmon last year. That was nasty."
I was a little intrigued now, and I began to understand what Joe had been doing, why he had to run off all the time.
Making sure that no one really got hurt…
Then something occurred to me.
"You asked if I had seen Joe. Why?"
Gomamon looked troubled at this, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"After that day with MetalSeadramon, and you, well, ran off, Joe wasn't the same… A little after that he just… disappeared. We haven't seen him since."
I just gaped in shock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning I got a call.
"Hello?"
[Kari? Have you seen TK?]
"Matt? No… I haven't seen TK. Not since last night, anyways…"
Matt sounded frantic on the line. And justly so, too.
[Kari. TK never made it home last night.]