Chapter 10:
My enemy, myself
Cat Tai slowly opened his eyes and glanced around. He was still in the cat bed, still as a cat. He would have sighed if he could, but it came out as a slightly meow. He stood up and stretched his back, still feeling weird.
He peeked his head out of Kari's room and glanced down the hallway. He couldn't see his evil double, so he moved over to his food dish. He hadn't really eaten anything lately, but he was so hungry now that he had to swallow his pride, and ate the cat food. He understood finally why Miko always wanted to eat at the table, his neck was killing him reaching for the food bowl, not to mention that it smelled horrible.
Cat Tai's ears shot up when he heard the front door open. He quickly scampered and hide behind the refrigerator. He peeked around and saw Kari walk in with the evil Tai that had stolen his life.
"You were great today," Kari said, dropping her book bag near the table,"I don't think anyone could have kept up with you."
"Hey," the fake Tai said, balancing a ball on his foot as he hopped in on the other,"What can I say? I am the man!"
"Ha!" Kari laughed, grabbing a can of soda from the refrigerator,"You're going to give me a ride later, right?"
"Yeah," fake Tai said, following her to the couch,"I wouldn't want to be accused of not helping my little sister on her first date."
Cat Tai who was slowly making his way towards the back of the coach, suddenly stopped. "Kari's first date? I'm going to miss it! That is my little sister! The fake lost his!" Cat Tai slowly made his way to the side of the couch where fake Tai was sitting. He leaned back on his back legs, then leapt over the couch arm.
"Ahh!" fake Tai said. Cat Tai leapt onto his arms and slashed his claws across.
Fake Tai flung Cat Tai aside. "You little..." he screamed. Cat Tai quickly leapt onto Kari's lap, his sister would protect him.
"Miko Jr.!" Kari shouted, looking down at the brown cat on her lap,"You're not suppose to attack Tai!"
Cat Tai laid down and use his back leg to scratch around the black collar. "Miko, I'm sorry," Kari said,"But Tai says that you need that flea collar on." She smiled slightly and looked at fake Tai,"Maybe that's why he doesn't like you."
Fake Tai just got up from the coach to dress the bleeding scratching on his arms.
"Come on," Kari said, lifting Cat Tai up and bringing him into her room. She put him on her bed,"You can't attack my brother, or my parent's aren't going to let me keep you."
Cat Tai turned his head away and laid down, still mentioning to the black collar. "I'm sorry, Miko," Kari said, compassion in her eyes,"but you've got to keep it on."
Cat Tai woke up when he heard a loud noise sound through the room. He looked over and saw Kari, barely dressed, holding a pink dress in front of her. "I'm sorry, Miko," she said,"I didn't mean to wake you."
Cat Tai quickly turned his head away, not wanting to see his sister in only her underwear. He turned back when Kari was fully wearing the pink dress. Cat Tai jumped slightly when the door opened and Fake Tai appeared. "He's here."
Kari exited the room, followed by Cat Tai, who almost choked up a hairball when he saw that Davis was standing in the doorway, wearing a three piece suit. Cat Tai was completely shocked, he had never seen Davis in a suit before.
Cat Tai heard stomping, and he dove under the couch in time to watch Fake Tai walk past with the car keys. Although he didn't want that impostor driving his little sister anywhere, it did give him time to check his desk drawers, maybe there was way to get the collar off. He waited until Fake Tai had left with Kari and Davis before he trotted into his room.
He hoped onto the bed, then onto the desk. He crouched down as much as he could then reached his paw out and tried to slid open the top drawer. It was no use, it was locked. Cat Tai tried to think of a way inside, but there was no way he could do it, but someone else could.
He jumped back onto the floor and walked into Kari's room and jumped onto her desk. Luckily Kari had a pad of paper laid out on top, and it was a simple matter to knock over the pencil jar and grab one with his teeth. He started jerking his head back and forth before he was able to draw the words "Kari...help...real...Tai...cat..." He had no idea how long he had been doing it, but he soon heard Fake Tai calling out that he was home.
Cat Tai was going to jump down and hide, but Fake Tai peeked inside of Kari's room and saw him. He launched over and grabbed him by the stomach, squeezing tightly. He looked at what had been written, then threw it into the trash. "I can't believe you!" he sneered,"I gave you a chance, you could have lived peacefully as Kari's pet for the rest of your short life, but you had to fight back. Well, now you're going to die!"
Suddenly the front door opened and they both heard Sora cry out. "Hello, Tai!"
Fake Tai flung Cat Tai onto the floor and ran into the living room. "Hi, Sora."
"Tai!" she cheered, kissing him. Cat Tai was so angry that his fur was standing up on its end. He stared out the crack between Kari's door and the wall. Fake Tai and Sora walked over to the couch and sat down. Cat Tai quietly stalked to the back of the couch and waited. He was going to try to get the collar off with Sora's help.
He waited until Fake Tai had gone to the bathroom, before he made his move. He trotted around and jumped onto the couch right next to Sora. She jumped slightly, but smiled when she saw him. "Why hello," she grinned as Cat Tai climbed onto her lap,"Who are you?"
Cat Tai sat down and started purring. It was involuntary, his cat body just started doing it, but it felt so good. He almost didn't want it to stop, but he knew he had a mission to accomplish. He started scratching at the collar around his neck with his back legs.
"Oh, is that too tight? Well, I think we should keep it on."
Cat Tai was going to scratch harder, but unfortunately, Fake Tai returned from the bathroom at that time. He growled at Cat Tai, who decided it was better to hide then face him. He jumped off of Sora's lap and charged into Kari's bedroom. He jumped up and hid himself under the covers. If he was able to, he would have cried himself to sleep.
He jumped awake with a start when he heard a loud bang throughout the apartment. He quickly jumped off of the bed and was going to run outside, when he noticed that the house was not on fire as he originally thought. His parents and Kari still weren't home yet, but Sora wasn't either. He quietly walked over to his own room and peeked inside. Fake Tai had a sodering iron and was using it on what appeared to be a computer mother board. "Soon," he muttered,"Soon I'll be master of all realities!"
Cat Tai heard the front door open and he quickly ran back into Kari's room and dove under the covers.
He awoke the next morning with Kari forcefully kicking him. He peeked his head out from under the covers and saw that Kari was slowly sitting up. She looked down at him and smiled,"Good morning, Miko."
Cat Tai quickly jumped off of the bed and ran over to the garbage can. He jumped up and pulled it over, knocking the contents onto the floor.
"Miko!" Kari said, shocked. She walked over to pick up her trash, when she noticed what Cat Tai had written the night before. She glanced at Cat Tai, her eyes open as far as they could possibly open. She then smiled, shaking her head. "No, that's impossible..." She just hummed to herself and tossed the paper back into the garbage. Cat Tai wasn't going to give up, he had to convince her.
While Kari exited the room to use the bathroom, Cat Tai jumped back onto the desk and grabbed a pencil with his teeth. He started jerking his head again, writing the same message as before. This time when Kari saw it, she fell onto the ground, backing away from Cat Tai.
"No...this is impossible.....I can't be.....you can't....."
Cat Tai wrote again of the paper,"Yes I am."
"B...But if you're Tai, then who is...."
"He is a Tai from another world."
Kari and Cat Tai twirled around and saw a little blond girl and an older brown haired girl standing in the doorway. "Who are you?" Kari demanded,"What are you doing in my apartment?"
Cat Tai quickly charge in front of the two girls, standing firmly. "Miko...er, I mean...ah..."
The bond girl nodded. "That cat is your brother, Tai. The Tai that has been living with you for the past few weeks is an impostor, a very dangerous criminal from a world in which you are dead, and he has become a vicious criminal."
"Who are you?" Kari demanded.
The blond girl bowed,"I am Sara, this is Sam. We have been helping the Tai from this world."
Kari glanced down to Cat Tai, who nodded as best he could. "So....that really is my brother?"
Sara nodded.
"Oh Tai," Kari said, lifting him him,"What's going on here?"
Sara and Sam quickly jumped inside of Kari's room as Fake Tai entered with what appeared to be a Zapper gun from an old Nintendo system. This Zapper however was connected to a computer board on Fake Tai's wrist. "I see that I've been discovered."
"What are you doing here?" Kari asked, squeezing Cat Tai tightly in her arms.
"I came to this world after it became apparent that I was going to be executed for my crimes," he explained,"Back in my own world, I was the Digimon Emperor, not Ken Ichijoji as in this world. The Digidestined had captured me, but I couldn't be held prisoner, I had too much work to do."
"Breaking through time and space?" Sara asked.
"That's right, little brat," Fake Tai said, holding the gun firming pointing at the group of girls and one cat,"Doing research I discovered how I could break through reality. I escaped to this world, remaining here with this device." He opened his shirt to reveal a dark ring around his shoulder,"This keeps me from changing forms when I fall asleep, much like the one on the cat's neck."
Kari looked at the cat in her arms. "Oh Tai, I'm so sorry..."
"But, I must bid you all ado," Fake Tai said, pointing the gun at Kari's closet. He pulled the trigger and a black vortex appeared directly in front of the doors to the closet..
"Where are you going?" Sam asked.
"To the reality with ultimate power!" he laughed,"The reality where I will become master of all time and space. Farewell!" He dove through the vortex, which disappeared shortly after.
"He's gone!" Kari shouted,"That....that impostor fooled all of us, and now he's going to win."
"No he isn't," Sara said, reaching into her pockets,"We can follow him anywhere, except where he can't go."
"What do you mean by that?" Kari asked, placing Tai on the ground.
"I bet the impostor Tai is going to have to go through each world before he gets to the reality he's looking for," Sara said, sitting on Kari's bed,"but Tai's capture by the reality police has closed all realities except for the ones that Tai has already visited." She turned to Cat Tai,"When you were in Derwood's custody, he sent you through all your other forms except the forms you were already in, correct?"
Cat Tai nodded.
"Then impostor Tai has to go through each world until he gets to the one he's looking for," Sam nodded,"and we've got to close each of those realites off."
Sara turned to Cat Tai,"You're mission isn't done yet. You've still got to capture the evil Tai. We can leave when you're ready."
"When we're ready," Kari said,"I'm coming too."
Sara grinned,"I was hoping you'd say that. Just be warned, Kari Kamiya, when you travel through worlds, you're body will also change."
"I can take it," Kari said,"I just want to stop that impostor before he hurts anyone else."
Cat Tai rubbed against Kari's legs, purring. "We're coming after you, 'brother'," Cat Tai thought,"and you're not getting away!"