Chapter 13:
Role Reversal
Tai opened his eyes to find that he was once again in his room. He yawned and got out of bed. He yawned again and stumbled into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and saw a ten-year-old face staring back at him. He nodded, too tired to really care. He was about to walk back into his room, but nearly ran into a sixteen-year-old Kari. "Tai," she smiled,"Once again, you're younger than me?"
"I'm not in the mood," Tai grumbled.
"Oh, come on," Kari chuckled,"Lighten up."
Tai shouted an obscenity as he climbed back into bed. "You're no fun," Kari chuckled, walking into the living room. She found that everything was the same in her original world. As she walked around the small apartment, she noticed that there was one major difference, everything in the apartment was altered because Kari was the oldest. Cheerleading and gymnastic trophies replaced soccer ones, there were more romance DVD's along the wall then action movies. Kari was the oldest in this reality, and it was very obvious.
She shrugged slightly, then walked into the kitchen. She started preparing breakfast, when she heard the television set click on. She figured that Tai had finally gotten up. She grinned and walked into the living room. "Hey, little brother," she grinned,"You're finally.....What the?" The television was indeed on, but Tai was still asleep in his room. There wasn't even a channel on, it was just static.
Kari just shrugged and went to turn it off. However, before she did, the static called out to her. "...Kari..."
The girl stopped and stared at the static channel. "S..Sam?" she asked.
"Don't listen...to Derwood," Sam said,"Don't listen to him!"
"Sam!" Kari cried, lightly banging on the television,"Sam, wait? Where are you? Sam!" The television turned back off.
Tai glanced out the window of his now older sister's room. "Well, we don't have any idea what Sam and Sara are really capable of," Tai sighed,"How are we suppose to know that that was really her?"
"It was," Kari said,"There's no mistake." She walked over to her bed and pulled out a small rectangular device. "I wanted to tell you this morning, I found the reality rip, it's at the Nerima Department Store."
Tai just shook his head. "What are we suppose to do? How are we suppose to track them? we don't have any idea where they might be?"
Kari shrugged,"Maybe Izzy..."
"And what are we suppose to tell him?" Tai snapped,"He might believe us, but I really don't want to risk it."
Kari just frowned. "We'll, we have to do something!"
The door to Kari's room opened up and Mrs. Kamiya peeked her head in. "Kids," she said,"Your father and I are leaving now. What are you two going to do?"
Tai and Kari looked at each other, then shrugged. "We're just going to hang out," Tai said.
Their mother nodded. "Alright, but what ever you do, Kari, keep on eye on your little brother."
Tai blushed as Kari smiled,"Sure Mom."
Their mother said goodbye, then left. Tai sighed and rubbed his face,"I'm never going to get used to 'little brother."
Kari grinned,"I like being able to look after you for a change."
Tai grumbled. "Well, maybe..."
The telephone rang. Tai was about to jump up to get it, when Kari said that she should get it, being the older sibling. "Hello?...What? Yeah...but...no....all right, all right! Fine." She slammed the phone down.
"What was that?" Tai asked.
"Derwood," Kari frown,"He wants us to meet him in one hour."
Tai snorted,"Yeah right!"
"If we don't, Sara and Sam are going to be killed."
Tai just nodded,"Where?"
"The Nerima Department Store."
Tai coughed,"You're kidding, right?"
Kari shook her head.
Tai sighed,"Now what do we do? If we go there, we might end up in trouble. Besides, didn't Sam tell you not to listen to Derwood?"
"I know, but...I can't stand the thought that maybe we can save them, but we won't."
Tai shrugged, then smiled slightly. "Alright, older sister."
"Sure thing, little brother."
"Why are you two laughing, and who are Sara and Sam?"
The two siblings twirled around and saw their Digimon staring at them. "Agumon!" Tai shouted.
"Gatomon!" Kari shouted.
The two digimon stared at each other, then back at the humans. "Have you two switched bodies?"
"What?" they asked.
"I'm Kari's partner!" Agumon said.
"And I'm Tai's," Gatomon nodded.
"No, we haven't switched bodies," Tai said. He glanced at Kari,"I guess we have to tell them, don't we?"
"Tell us what?"
Kari grabbed the keys out of her purse,"I'll explain on the way, come on."
As Kari drove towards the department store, Tai explained everything to Gatomon and Agumon, from the first time he woke up in a different reality, to Sara, Sam, and Derwood. Both Digimon listen with their mouths open wide. "Wow, Tai," Gatomon said,"I had no idea that there were so many other worlds out there."
Agumon shifted uncomfortably. "So, this 'Sara' and 'Sam' can help you get our real partners back?"
"Your partners will return after nightfall," Tai said,"But unless we close the rip in reality, we might have to try again later."
Agumon nodded,"So, that device that Kari has will close the 'rip', but we won't be able to look until we fight this "Derwood' guy?"
Kari nodded, but Tai shook his head. "No, one of us is going to look for the rip, the other's are going to face Derwood."
Kari turned to him. "Who?"
"You know how to work the Trans-dimensional Repair unit, right? You and Ga..and Agumon, will search for the rip. Gatomon and I will face Derwood."
"You didn't even want to," Kari pointed out.
"That's not the point," Tai sighed,"You were right, we've got to save them, if this isn't a trap."
"I'm sure it is," Gatomon jumped onto Tai's lap,"But we'll help you, if it means getting our real partners back."
Tai smiled slightly and lightly rubbed the back of Gatomon's back.
The small force entered the mall after Kari parked her car. Gatomon was hiding inside of Tai's jacket, and Agumon was disguised in his trench coat. "Do we split up?" Kari asked.
Tai nodded."We'll look for Derwood. If you see him first, call us."
Kari nodded. She grabbed Agumon's arm,"Let's go."
Gatomon fidgeted inside of Tai's jacket as he walked through the mall. "So, where's Darrenn?"
"My name is Derwood!"
Tai twirled around and saw Derwood standing with his arms crossed, pissed as usual. "So, you decided to except my challenge? But where is your sister?"
"She's busy!" Tai shouted."Where are Sara and Sam?"
Derwood chuckled and turned around,"Follow me." Tai did.
The Reality Policeman lead them through one of the doors to the hallways inside the mall to one of the loading docks. Inside was a giant glowing bubble with two familiar occupants. "Sara! Sam!" Tai shouted.
"What are you doing here?" Sara shouted,"Don't worry about us! You've got to repair reality."
"Reality is just fine, thank you," Derwood laughed,"It told me so, ha!"
Tai glared at him,"Let them go."
"If you defeat me, I will," Derwood chuckled.
"I'm not alone," Tai smiled. He opened his jacket and Gatomon jumped onto the floor.
Derwood laughed. "Neither am I!" He pointed to the ceiling, where a dragon creature descended to the floor."Meet Baham, defeat him, and I'll free your mentors."
Gatomon glanced over her shoulders. "Alright, Tai, do it!"
Tai held out his digivice. "Go!"
"Gatomon digivolve to Angewomon!"
The dragon screeched as he hovered into the air. Angewomon punched him in the stomach. Baham flew out of the loading dock and into the air where the angel and the dragon had more room to maneuver.
Derwood ran outside to watch, but back inside, Sara glared at Tai. "Why did you come after us? Sam told Kari not to come after us!"
"We had to!" Tai shouted,"We weren't just going to leave you!"
Sara grumbled something and turned her head away.
Back inside the mall, Kari and the disguised Agumon followed the signal from the Trans-Dimensional Unit to the food court."It's somewhere in here," Kari whispered.
"But where?" Agumon asked.
Kari pressed a few buttons on the device and the radar on the small screen changed to a smaller version with much more precise details. Kari mentioned to the stands on the left side. "It's over there somewhere, come on."
She lead him to each stand until she came to a burger stand. "It's probably behind there," Kari whispered to Agumon,"Can you create a diversion, so I can get back there?"
Agumon nodded. "Should I digivolve?"
"No, I don't think that'll be necessary. Just fire your Pepper Breath at the sprinkler system. Hopefully, they'll all evacuate, and I'll be able to get behind there."
Agumon nodded. "Right away." He trotted over to one of the corners, so no one would see him. He opened his mouth and fired a fireball at the sprinklers above him. Sure enough, the fire alarm sound a second later and the sprinklers came on. Everyone started running out the door, but Kari quickly jumped behind the stand and ran into the back.
She found reality's tear. Unlike the one in the world where Tai was Kari's little sister, this tear was small enough that it was well hidden in a two inch space between the grill and the wall. The device acted on its own, shooting out a beam of light that entered the small vortex and closed it tight.
"That's done!" she congratulated herself, then joined the remainder of the crowd as they ran outside.
Back at the battle, Angewomon had Baham on the ropes. She pounded the dragon in the stomach, then twirled around and kicked him in the face. The dragon opened his mouth and fired a blast of fire into Angewomon's stomach. The angel recovered herself quickly enough and pounded both of her fists into Baham's snout.
"Beat her!" Derwood shouted.
"Kick that dragon's scaly hide, Angewomon!" Tai shouted.
Baham fired another stream of fire at the digimon. Angewomon flew under the dragon and pointed her hands against the flying lizard's belly. "Heaven's Charm!"
The dragon roared in pain and he suddenly was unable to move. Angewomon flew around to the immobile dragon's face. Her hands transformed into a bow and arrow. "Celestial Arrow!"
The dragon started glowing then exploded apart. Angewomon dropped to the ground and turned into Gatomon. Tai grinned at Derwood."I won. Release them now!"
Derwood growled, then walked over to the glowing bubble. He pressed a button on his watch and the bubble disappeared. The reality policeman glared at Tai. "You won our duel, I will leave in honor, but next we meet..." He growled, then exited the loading dock.
Tai ran over to Sara and Sam. "Are you two okay?"
Sara nodded, then smiled at Tai. "Thank you for coming after us."
Tai grinned,"No problem."
The fire alarm suddenly sounded through the mall. "What now?" Tai asked.
"Come on," Gatomon said,"We've got to get out." She jumped back into Tai's jacket and the humans ran out of the mall.
Later that night at the Kamiya house, Sara and Sam were resting in Kari's room, as the two Kamiyas watched them recover. "Again, thank you." Sara said.
"Yeah, we really appreciate it," Sam smiled.
The door to the apartment opened. Sara and Sam quickly ran over to the balcolny,"It looks like your parents are home. We'll see you in the next world." Sara said, smiling. She and Sam jumped over the balcony edge and vanished in a burst of light.
The two digimon looked up at Tai and Kari. "So, tomorrow we'll have our real partners back?" Agumon asked.
Tai nodded. "Yeah." He knelt down in front of Gatomon,"Thank you for helping us."
"Or course," Gatomon bowed,"Just...take care of yourself, and I hope you get back to normal soon."
"So do I," Tai said. "Kari, good night, and I'll see you tomorrow."
"Good night, little brother," Kari laughed, climbing into bed.
"Good night, older sister," Tai chuckled walking into his room. He climbed into bed and closed his eyes.