Part 5
'Change into Digital Champions.."
Tai almost dreaded opening his eyes this time, but forced himself to. The room looked so similar to the way it did in the last world that Tai thought he was still a girl, and he soon wished that he still was.
He found that he was lying at the foot of a king sized bed with pink sheets. Glancing up towards the head, he saw a figure lying under the sheets. He wondered how that was, and was about to look, when he realized that his whole body was now only taking up about a foot and a half.
He quickly glanced at himself and realized he wasn't wearing any clothes! On top of that, he was covering in brown fur! His feet were much bigger then they should have been for his body size, and his hands were covered with yellow gloves with large claws. on them. He spun his head completely around and found himself staring at the mirror on the back of the closet door and caught a very good reflection of himself.
He looked exactly like Gatomon, except for brown fur and his regular mop of hair on the top of his head. He got up and walked over to get a closer look, surprised how easy he found it to walk on all fours. After closer examination, he found that he was once again male, so he found that comforting at least.
He spun around when he heard the person in the bed moving. It was Kari. "Good morning Taimon," she yawned.
"Taimon, huh?" he thought,"I must be her Digimon partner."
"Good morning," Kari said again.
"Oh, ah, good morning,"Tai said quickly,"Did you sleep well?"
Kari shrugged, walking out of the room,""I guess."
Tai followed her out of the room and into the kitchen. He saw that one of the chairs had a smaller seat inside. He figured that was for him, so he jumped onto the booster seat and glanced around the table.
"Hi guys," Mrs. Kamiya said, walking over from the counter and placing a dish in front of Kari and Tai,"Bon appetite!"
Tai found it hard to eat the food with giant claws, but he soon was able to get the hang of the chopsticks and finished. Tai glanced up as Kari walked over to him, dressed in her usual attire with a backpack in one hand. "Come on," she said, picking him up by the mane on the back of his neck,"You know the drill."
She shoved him into the backpack and zipped it closed. "Just great," he thought, as he felt Kari swing the backpack onto her back,"I'm being forced to travel as a text book. At least there isn't any girly perfume or anything for me to accidentally spray on myself. I wonder where we're going though..."
Tai didn't know how long he was inside of Kari's backpack, but he soon felt himself touch the ground and Kari unzipping the top. "We're here," she grinned.
Tai stuck his furry head out and saw that they were in the computer lab of the school. The other Digidestined and Digimon were there also.
"Hi, Taimon," Patamon said, hovering over to him,"Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, why?" he asked.
"You seem slightly...different."
"No, I'm just fine!" he quickly said.
"Okay guys," Yolei said, holding her Digivice to the screen,"Let's go!"
Tai felt the familiar rush of light and wind, then found himself in the Digital World soil once again. He glanced around and saw that they were in a well wooded forest. "What are we doing here?" Tai asked.
"We're destroying the Control Spires," Kari said,"I'm really starting to worry about you."
"Wait..now I remember," Tai lied,"Sorry, must have had something else on my mind."
She just nodded, then walked over with Yolei. "Come on!" she called. Tai quickly treaded after her.
Tai never realized how difficult the Digimon actually worked before. He had spent the better part of the entire day destroying the dark towers. He found that his attacks where the same as Gatomon's. His paws did hurt from using his Lightning Paw attack, but the good news was they had destroyed a large number of the towers.
"That sure is tiring," Veemon sighed, sitting down for a rest,"how many did we destroy?"
"I don't know," Davis said,"I lost count."
Tai's ears suddenly shot up. "What is it?" Kari asked.
"I don't know," Tai said, spinning around to glance at the top of the hill where they were resting,"Someone's up there!"
"It's the Digimon Empress!" Davis shouted.
"Empress?" Tai thought, straining his eyes. The figure was dressed in the garb of the Digimon Emperor, but was definitely a girl, one that Tai recognized. "Sam? The same girl from the last world. That dog-like Digimon at her feet with...blond fur? It looks like...Sara?"
The Empress clenched her fist together,"You've destroyed nearly a lifetime's worth of work! You're going to pay dearly for this! Attack them Saramon!"
The dog like Digimon leapt forward and knocked Tai to the ground. The two of them rolled over into a darkened cave, too small for the other Digidestined to crawl into. The other Digimon had problems of their own as the Empress started attacking with a horde of enemies.
"Alright," Tai said, swinging his paw at Saramon,"What is going on here? I know that you know!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Saramon grinned, kicking him off of her.
"Then why are you smiling?" he shouted, standing up,"I just want to get back to my own world, that's all."
"And what if you can't?" she asked.
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean, 'Taimon', is that there are an infinite number of realities out there, you come from just one possible reality."
"I figured that much out myself already, 'Saramon'."
The blond dog Digimon smiled slightly,"I bet you didn't know this: the walls between each reality don't merge together by themselves..."
"Are you saying somebody is doing this to me?" Tai demanded.
Saramon crossed her paws,"Tell me, does reality change around you, or are you moving into different worlds?"
"I...I assumed I was moving into different worlds."
"That is correct," she said,"Now, you are filling the role of yourself in different realities, right?"
Tai nodded.
"And each time you move into a different world, the Tai from the previous reality returns to his role, correct?"
"I guess."
"Then isn't there a void?"
"What do you..." suddenly light dawned on his furry face,"My world!...Are you saying that the one who is switching me between worlds, is....another me?"
Saramon just grinned. She raised her paw and slammed it into her jaw, then propelled herself out of the cave. "Wait!" Tai cried, running after her, but found she was already in the arms of the Digimon Empress. The other Digimon had defeated the Empress's soldiers.
"This war isn't over!" the Empress shouted,"This war isn't over!" She and Saramon vanished in a cloud of smoke.
"We won!" Davis shouted,"Yes, another victory for us!"
"Taimon," Kari ran over to him,"What did you do to Saramon? It looks like you really hurt her."
"I didn't do anything," he thought.
Later that night, Tai sat on the edge of Kari's desk, staring out the window at the night sky. "What if what Sara was talking about is true? Did another me steal my world for himself-or herself! I know there is at least one other reality where I was a girl, but why would she want to become a boy? Could it be Taimon, but why would he leave Kari? He's her Digimon partner. It couldn't have been my baby self, he's barely old enough to talk. " A chilling thought entered his mind,"What if I haven't even seen his world yet. Maybe it's so horrible that that was the only way out." He felt a shiver down his spine that no doubt made the hair on his back arch up.
"Taimon!" Kari called,"Time for bed."
Tai jumped off of the desk with ease and jumped onto the edge of Kari's bed, where she was already starting to drift off."I just hope there is a way to get back to my own world," he thought, drifting to sleep.