Return to Darkness: Part 3:
When Tai opened his eyes he noticed that the room he was now in was not much different then Davis's room.. He pulled off the covers and examined what he was wearing: a pair of blue pajamas.. He spied a mirror on the desk and glanced at his reflection. "Tk," he sighed,"I'm Tk."
He was still rather tired, so he stumbled out into the hallway and examined the apartment."This Tk's apartment is just like the one back home. Miss Taka..er..Mom, are you home?"
"In here, honey."
He walked into the kitchen as saw Miss Takashi placing a plate of eggs down at the table. "I've got to go into work early today, Tk," she said. She walked over and gave him a small kiss,"I'll see you when I get home. Bye."
"Bye." He watched her leave, then he saw the food on the table. "Breakfast!" he grinned. He sat down and started eating.
"What am I going to do? I know that Sora payed someone to murder my mother and father, how am I going to find out who she hired? I suppose I could call her, but..that might seem too awkward. Besides, what am I going to say?"
He thought for a few more minutes, then decided that it was the best thing to do. He quickly dialed her number, but the voice that picked up the phone was not Sora's. It was very familiar, but it wasn't Sora's. "Kari?"
"Tai, is that you?" she asked,"Where are you?"
"I'm at Tk's apartment..er..I guess I am Tk, heh."
"I'm Sora," Kari said.
"You are? All right then, listen, I want you to search through her room, try to find anything that might tell us who the murderer is and when the killing is going to take place. Can you do that?"
"You go it!" Kari said,"I'll get to work right away."
"I'll be there in a few minutes," Tai said. He hung up the phone and ran back into Tk's room. He threw on a pair of green shorts and a black t-shirt. He wondered where Patamon was, but figured he was probably in the Digital World, which was good. He really didn't have time to explain himself to Tk's partner.
When he got to the Takenouchi's apartment, Kari opened the door, wearing Sora's tennis uniform. "We've got to hurry," she said,"I've got to be at Sora's tennis practice in about an hour."
"You can't play tennis," Tai protested.
"As I recall, you don't know ballet either, but you did okay."
Tai frowned, remembering the time as his ten-year-old female self. "Let's just hurry."
Kari lead him into Sora's room, which looked exactly the same as her room in the world they were from. Tai started sorting through Sora's desk, while Kari searched through the closet. They moved in silence for about fifteen minutes before Kari spoke up. "Hey Tai?"
"Yeah?"
"Since we're still in this world, do you think the evil Tai has been able to find all of the powers that he needs?"
"I don't think so," Tai said,"Remember, Sara and Sam said that time continues along the same path in every world. My double was in this world for the past two days along with us, so if he is in another world right now, he'll have to stay there for only a day. And hopefully, we'll find what we need, so we can leave tonight too."
Kari sighed, as she flipped through boxes on the closet's shelf,"I sure hope so." She found one box that was filled with pictures. As she started looking through them, she called her brother over. "Tai, look at this."
Tai ran over. Kari was holding up a picture of Sora, Matt, and the Emperor Tai. They were standing outside a music stadium. Matt was in the center, the guitar still hanging around his neck. He had his arm around Sora, and she was grinning wildly. Tai, on the other hand, had a smile on, but it was obvious that it was forced.
"I wonder what happened when the picture was taken?" Kari said.
Tai shrugged. "Who knows, Come on, we don't have much time."
Kari found another picture, this one of the Digidestineds at the beach. This time, however, Tai and Sora were standing together, while Matt was off to the side. Judging by the ages, she figured that this picture must have been taken right after their first adventure in the Digital World. What ever happened to make the Tai of this world in the Digimon Emperor must have happened afterwards.
"I really wonder where the Evil Tai is," Kari said,"I wonder who he's after this time."
"Hey," Tai said,"Why don't I try that 'mind-meld' technique?"
"I don't know Tai, remember what Sara and Sam said?"
"Yeah, yeah, but, just think about it. I could find out all of his secrets, I could know exactly where he's going, and all that stuff."
Kari shook her head again,"I really don't..." She glanced at the clock on the wall,"Oh great. I've got to go to tennis practice."
"All right," Tai said,"I'll stay here.."
"And what's Mrs. Takenouchi going to say when she sees you in Sora's room alone? We'll have to keep searching later."
Tai frowned. "All right." He watched as Kari grabbed Sora's tennis bag, then the two of them left the apartment.
"I'll call you when I get back," Kari said,"It should only be for a few hours."
"Sure," Tai said,"Don't worry, I'll keep myself busy."
"Don't do that mind-meld thing," Kari warned,"Remember how dangerous.."
"Yeah yeah."
Once Tai got back to Tk's apartment, he thought about Cody's report, but that was in Davis's office in the Digital World. Besides, he read that inside and out, he couldn't find anything as the the clue of the murderer. He started thinking about the mind-meld, and how he might be able to stop Emperor Tai before any more people were hurt. It was risky, but maybe he could beat his evil double once and for all.
He walked into Tk's room and laid on the bed. He closed his eyes and pictured his evil double. He concentrated hard and began to feel his presence all around him. He focused on Emperor Tai's mind, his soul. He was now inside of his double's mind.
He watched through Emperor Tai's mind as he walked through a field of grass until he came to a playground. Emperor Tai quickly hid behind a group of bushes. He glanced over to where a group of young children were busy playing. Good Tai couldn't believe it, it was all of the older Digidestineds! Sora appeared to be around one or two, wearing a diaper and a sleeveless pink shirt. Her red hair was almost in a buzz cut and she was sucking on a pacifier. She waddled over to where a group of five-year-old boys was playing with toy soldiers. Good Tai recognized Joe, who was wearing a pair of white jeans and a matching sweater, and Matt, who had on a pair of jeans and a green shirt, but he could hardly believe who the other boy was, it was Mimi! She, or probably he, was wearing a pair of bagging shorts and a blue t-shirt. Her once long hair was now a curly mess at the top of her head..
Emperor Tai turned his gaze over to where two girls were playing dolls on a white blanket. One of the girls, who appeared to be Izzy, was wearing a purple jumper with a matching shirt underneath. She had long red hair, which was cover on top by a blue hancker cheif. Most surprisingly was the other girl, that Good Tai determined to be the Tai of this world. She was wearing a yellow sleeveless shirt and a pair of red shorts.
Emperor Tai then turned to where a group of older teenagers, probably 16 or 17 were seated on benches, watching the young kids. Good Tai recognized Kari and Yolei. Kari was dressed in a pair of lose fitting jeans shorts and blue t-shirt. She had a pair of goggles over her brown hair, which was now slightly messy and tangled. Yolei was wearing a pair of brown shorts and a short sleeve red t-shirt. Her long purple hair was now a crew cut red, and she now longer had glasses. She was carrying a laptop shaped backpack with her.
The Emperor Tai kept his gaze on the group for a few minutes longer and Good Tai recognized the others: they were Davis, Tk and Cody! Tk had a mess of blond hair, and had a guitar at his side. He was wearing a pair of black pants and a matching short sleeve shirt. Most surprisingly were Davis and Cody, they were girls!
Davis now had pink hair that reached his-er, her shoulders. She was wearing a tight fitting blue t-shirt that ended above her bellybutton, a white mini-skirt, and a pair of white boots that reached her knees.
Cody, on the other hand, now had red hair that reached her shoulders, and wore a pair of thick glasses. It appeared she was wearing the green school uniform skirt, but had a white sweater over top.
Good Tai quickly realized that he wasn't in a world that he remembered. Sara told him that the Reality police had closed off all the other worlds except the ones that he visited, so how could Evil Tai be in this world? Then the answer hit him, Sara was wrong. Derwood and the Reality Police had closed off all other worlds except the ones that he had visited, not the Emperor Tai. Sara told him that the Emperor Tai probably took a different path down reality to reach Good Tai's world then Good Tai did to return to it. That means there could be any number of worlds that Emperor Tai was able to travel to without them getting there.
Kari stood up. "Tai!" she shouted, in a very deep voice,"It's time to go."
The Tai of that world gathered up some of her dolls. "Okay, Big Brother, I'm coming." She ran over to Kari, who lead the young girl out of the park. Good Tai then realized that the younger Digidestineds and the older Digidestineds had been reversed in this world, but the older Digidestineds were the younger siblings of the younger group. Tai and Kari had switched, just like Matt and Tk, Yolei and Izzy, Davis and Mimi. Cody must be the older sister of both Sora and Joe, because of his red hair and his glasses. Cody was always the youngest Digidestineds, which meant that Sora was now the baby.
"Come on, Izzy!" Yolei called,"We've got to get back."
"Owe, do I hafta?"
"I'll let you use my laptop!"
"Yeah!" the younger girl cried. She gather her dolls and left with Yolei.
Cody bowed nervously in front of Davis. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye," Davis waved. Cody walked over and lifted up the baby Sora, then held Joe's hand as they left. Soon, only Mimi and Davis were left.
Emperor Tai stood up and walked over to the bench. Davis looked up and him, then blushed."H..Hi."
Emperor Tai grinned. "Hi, mind if I sit down?"
"No, go right ahead," Davis giggled slightly. Good Tai knew that this wasn't the Davis from his world, but he was having a hard time accepting that.
Emperor Tai slid over slightly.He mentioned to Mimi. "Your younger sister?"
Davis looked at him oddly. "He's my younger brother."
"Oh, sorry. S-he, looks like a girl I use to know."
"Really?" Davis asked, batting her eyelashes,"Do I remind you of anyone?"
Good Tai could feel Emperor Tai's uneasiness. Even though he knew that this world's Davis was a girl, he couldn't stand someone he always knew as a guy start to come onto him. He would have to make this quick. "I want to show you something."
"Really?"
Emperor Tai reached into his pocket and pulled out a square shaped device. "What's that?" Davis asked, very interested.
"You'll see," Emperor Tai laughed. He placed the device over Davis's chest, and a beam of white light flowed from the teenage girl and into the device. Good Tai realized that he was stealing the powers of the Crest of Miracles.
"No!" Good Tai shouted,"Stop it!"
His field of view suddenly turned into blackness. "What's going on?" he asked.
"You've been poking your nose into places where it doesn't belong."
Tai turned his head up and saw Alice floating in the darkness. "What do you want?" he demanded.
She grinned slightly,"You've caused us quite a bit of trouble, haven't you? If it hadn't of been for you, he might have already succeeded in his goal!"
"What are you talking about? The Emperor Tai's been one step ahead of us this whole time!"
Alice chuckled,"I wasn't talking about the one you call, Emperor Tai."
"What?"
Alice didn't respond. She just pointed her palm at Tai. "You're through, do you hear me?! You won't bother us any longer!" A massive dark shadow formed behind Alice, it's red eyes glaring at him. When Alice spoke, her voice was now deeper and much more evil. "You don't have any idea whom you're dealing with! Feel my power!"
A blast of dark energy slammed into Tai's head. He screamed in intense pain, and the world around him was shattered. He was only able to catch a glimpse of photographs zooming towards him from the darkness before he blacked out.
Kari didn't wait before the elevator door was more than a few inches open before she charged down the hall of the apartment. She didn't even change out of the tennis uniform before she made the run to the building where the Takashi's apartment was. As soon as she returned to Sora's room she started searching again. She found what they were looking for!
When she reached the door, she knocked as hard as she could. "Ta..Tk! Tk! It's me, Sora! Are you there?"
There was no answer, so she used the keys that were on Sora's key chain to unlock the door. The lights were on, so she figured someone was home. "Miss Takashi?" she called, still no answer. She checked through all the rooms until she reached Tk's bedroom. When she opened the door, she almost screamed. "Tai!?" Her older brother was lying on the bed, his eyes rolled back into his head, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, and saliva dripping down his chin.
Kari ran over to him and gently started to push him ."Tai..Tai!" She needed to call for help. She was about to run for the phone, but when she turned around, she saw Sara and Sam running through the door.
"Oh, thankgoodness you two are here," she panted,"Something's wrong with Tai."
"We know," Sam said, as Sara ran over to examine Tai,"As soon a we felt Tai's energy start to change, we came as fast as we could."
"Change?" Kari asked.
"What happened?" Sara demanded,"Were you here when...?"
Kari shook her head. "No, I was...I found who the murderer is, and.."
"Never mind that now," Sara sighed, looking at Tai,"We've got a big problem here."
"What happened to him?" Kari asked.
"Well, as near as I can figure, his mind, his very self, his soul, has been lost."
"You mean he's dead?!" Kari shouted.
Sara shook her head quickly. "No, he's alive, but everything that made him..Tai, has been lost, or more specifically, scattered."
"Wh..what do you mean?"
"Something happened to Tai's mind," Sara explained, sitting down in the desk chair,"Something so traumatic that it cause his minds, his self, his soul, to be split apart. Without that essential part of himself, he won't have a..a mind, I guess you could say. I would have to say that he'll just believe himself to be whoever he was last in contact with, that would be Tk."
"Wait," Kari said,"He was talking about that mind-meld, thing.."
"Darn it!" Sara shouted, slamming her fist into the desk,"This is why I didn't tell him about it before! I knew he was too reckless, I shouldn't have ever told him about it."
Kari looked at Sam and Sara,"So..what does this mean?"
Sara sighed as she glanced at Tai. "It means that his soul was still shattered, but it was shattered inside of the Emperor Tai's mind."
"So..he'll think he's the Emperor Tai?"
Sara shook her head,"It means it was lost in a place that is void of physical substance. Even we don't know the power that the mind has. He could very well be lost in Emperor Tai's memories, however, he was Tk in this world, he wasn't Emperor Tai. That means that he's lost somewhere inside of that evil Tai's body, and since we don't have any idea where he could be, the most we can do is just wait, and hope Tai can find his own way back."
Kari shook her head, and grabbed hold of her brother's hand. "No. Tai! Tai!"
Tai felt a surge of discomfort pass over him as he slowly opened his eyes. He sat up and saw that he was still in his room. He knew he had a nightmare about something, but couldn't figure out what. He just shrugged, then he remember what day it was, the first day of school!
He jumped out of bed and ran over to where his clothes were. He quickly pulled on the clothes he had set for himself the night before, and ran into the hallway. He started to knock on his parent's room. "Mom! Mom! Mooooom!"
"What?" the reply came back.
"Wake up, I don't wanna be late for school!"
His mother laughed slightly as she opened the door. "Tai, honney, we have plenty of time."
"No!" he jumped up and down,"We're gonna be late! We gotta go!"
Mrs. Kamiya continued to smile,"Don't you want some breakfast?"
Tai stopped jumping."Can you..make it fast?"
"Sure can," she said, moving over to the stove,"Why don't you watch some television before breakfast?"
"Okay!" he called. He walked into the living room and turned the television set on.
"Tai!" he heard a voice call his name.
"Mom? What is it?"
"I didn't call you, sweetheart."
He shrugged and went back to watching t.v.
He felt another twitch of discomfort, and found himself sitting down at a long wooden table with a bunch of other little kids.
Most of the kids he knew from around the neighborhood, but there was one girl sitting at the end of the table that he didn't know. She had short red hair and was wearing a yellow dress. When it was snack time, he walked over to her. "Hi!"
She looked up at him nervously. "H..Hi."
"My name's Tai!"
"I'm...Sora."
"Sora, that's a funny name!"
"Tai! Listen to me!"
She looked back up at him. "No its' not!" she pouted. She started to cry. Another boy came over and looked at Tai.
"What did you do ta' her?"
"I didn' do anythin'!"
"Matt! Tai!" the teacher shouted. The two boys flinched and turned to her. "What did you do to Sora?"
"He hurt her!" Matt said, pointing to Tai.
"Did not!"
"Tai! You've got to come back!"
Another twitch of discomfort, and Tai was now much older. He was running down a soccer field with the ball in front of him. He spied the goal net, but he heard Sora's voice from beside him. "Pass me the ball, Tai!" she shouted,"I'm open!"
"No way!" Tai said to himself,"This is all mine!" He was about to kick the ball into the net, but a player on the other team easily stole the ball from him and charged the other way.
"Nice job, Tai!" Sora said, sarcastically,"I could have made the pass you know!"
Tai frowned. "I just wanted to impress you," he thought,"I screw up at everything."
"Tai! Please, it's Kari!"
Another twitch, and Tai was once again in the Digital World, battling against Piedmon. The evil clown attacked by firing his Clown Trick at Wargreymon. Tai was hit also, and thrown to the ground. He heard Izzy and Kari call out to him, but he felt himself start to slip away. He fully awoke again when he heard Sora's voice call out. "Sora! he thought,"She's here."
He managed to flip onto his stomach, and saw Sora, but she was riding on Garurumon with Matt. Her hands were tightly wrapped around the other boy's chest. "W..what?"
They both helped Tai to his feet, while Garurumon digivolved to Metalgarurumon. "Don't worry, Tai," Matt said,"We'll beat him together."
"Yeah, together." he said. Secretly, his mind was starting to develop hate for Matt Ishida. He could have beaten Piedmon, but he had to show up to steal the show away from him.
"Tai! We're running out of time!"
Another twitch, and Tai was outside of the middle school. He saw Sora walk down the stairs. "Hey, Sora!" he waved.
"Oh, hi Tai, what's up?"
"Oh, well, Sora, I was wondering if you were going to the dance with anyone?"
"No, I want to be available in case Matt is free afterwards."
Tai's entire world fell apart. He could feel his heart breaking in two. "Oh..Matt, huh?"
Sora nodded, keeping her gaze to the ground. "I'm sorry Tai, but.."
"N.No, it's all right. Have fun with him, okay? Bye Sora." He quickly ran off.
Another twitch, and he was standing in front of Izzy, who had a camera pointed at them. He turned and saw Matt with his arm around Sora. That blond jerk stole him away from her, without Sora, he had nothing, no way to ease the pain. Nothing.
After the picture was taken, he derided to go back home. He sat in his room for a long time, before glancing at his digivice. It hadn't worked since the day that he came back to Earth, but decided to try it anyway.
He held it up to the screen and the Digi-Port opened.
"Tai, the murder is going to happen tonight!"
Another twitch and he was standing in front of an army of digimon, all wearing dark rings around their arms. "This is it!" he laughed to himself,"This is the day that strike back! Being a Digidestineds caused me nothing but pain! Kari's dead, Sora's in love with Matt! Well, I'll show this entire world who I really am! Army of Darkness, attack and destroy the Digital World!"
The Digimon began to march of the tunnel, while Tai laughed to himself as she sat on his throne. "This will all be mine! Then Matt and Sora will both learn, they'll both learn."
Another twitch, and the Digidestineds were assembled in front of Tai. "It's over, Digimon emperor!" Matt shouted,"I don't care who you are, I'm going to stop you now!"
"Ha!" Tai laughed, jumping off of his throne,"You can't stop me! I am the Digimon Emperor!"
Matt punched Tai square in the nose. He stumbled backwards, then Matt punched him again, this time in the stomach. Tai found himself on the floor in front of his throne. "Give up yet, Tai?" he asked.
"Never!" he shouted. He swung his legs around to know Matt onto his side. He grabbed a dagger from inside of his cape. "No, Matt, I will finally have revenge!" He slashed the dagger down and cut open Matt's throat.
"Matt!" Sora screamed as th other Digidestineds tackled Tai to the ground. Sora knelt beside him. "Matt."
He just reached up and grabbed her hand tightly before she felt it go limp. "Matt!"
"Tai! Tai!"
Another twitch and Tai was inside of his cell, writing in a notebook. "Night is the best time. A possible mixture of truth serum with ancient incantations will allow a soul to pass through reality barriers."
"Tai! Tai! Tai!"
Another twitch, and Tai was lying on his bed, waiting until the clock struck midnight. Once it did, he held up a small vial of a bluish liquid. "Down the hatch," he said to himself and he drank.
"Tai! You've got to wake up! Please, Tai!"
Tai slowly opened his eyes and saw Kari, Sara and Sam staring at him. "H..hey, guys. Kari, you did you keep calling me?"
"Tai, you're back!" Kari cried, wrapping her arms around him,"I was so worried about you!"
"W..what happened?" he asked.
"You tried that mind-meld, after I specifically told you not to!" Sara shouted,"Now do you see you dangerous it could have been? If it wasn't for Kari, you might not have found your way back!"
Tai looked over at his sister. "Thank you."
She returned the smile. "No problem, I'm just glad to have you back. Listen, we've got to hurry, the murder, it's going to happen!"
"When?" he asked, jumping out of the bed,"Who?"
"I found everything in a safe in the back of Sora's closet," Kari explained,"It was a set of letters from Sora to the murderer."
"Who?" Tai asked,"Who's the murderer?"
Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya walked into their apartment. "What a day," Mr. Kamiya said, wiping his forehead,"I hate busy days at work."
Mrs. Kamiya smiled slightly as she walked over to the refrigerator. "What would you like for dinner tonight?"
"Oh, I don't know, whatever," he sighed as sat down on the couch in the living room.
His wife started to gather food out of the refrigerator,"I hope you like stew."
As the couple continued on their daily lives, they were totally unaware of a dark figure lurking in the closet. Mr. Kamiya got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, where he found his wife was crying. "What's wrong?"
"Oh," she snifflied,"It's these onions, you know, they really..."
Mr. Kamiya hugged her. "It's all right, I miss them too."
"But...but Tai was a murderer! Is it...is it right to miss someone like that?"
"He's our son, of course we'll miss him."
The figure slowly crept out of the closet. "You'll soon be there to see him," it whispered. It slowly moved behind the couple, who were lost lost in their own grief, that they did not hear the assassins approach. The figure got ready to strike...
The door suddenly flung open and Tai, Kari, Sara, and Sam ran inside. The Kamiyas jumped slightly, but the group was more concerned with who was behind them. "Agumon!" Tai shouted,"Don't do it!"
The small dinosaur gave no resistance as Tai, Sara and Sam tackled him to the ground. However, he did stare up at Kari,"You! You turned me in? Well, if you think I'm going to keep quiet, guess again! You hired me, and everyone's going to know it!"
"Why?" Tai asked, trying not to cry,"Why did you do it, Agumon?"
"That was all Tai left to me, hate and anger. I trusted him, and he placed that...that black ring on my shoulder. This is how I get back at him."
Tai watched as Sara and Sam lead Agumon away. He turned to Kari and whispered,"I'd better bring you in too."
She nodded, and put her hands behind her back. Tai handcuffed her, then lead her out the door. He walked over to where Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya were huddling each other. "I..I'll tell Davis to send some counselors over."
Mrs. Kamiya was sobbing loudly, but Mr. Kamiya just nodded. "Yeah, t..thanks."
Tai wanted to comfort them, but it probably wasn't going to be a good idea. He bowed slightly, then left. There were tears in his eyes when he heard his mother's sobs.
Later that night, Tai was lying in Tk's bed, staring up at the ceiling. He thought of Kari, who was now inside of a cell in the Digidestined prison. Sara and Sam told him that as soon as she fell asleep, she would move worlds with him. So he wasn't worried about her.
He thought of Sora and Agumon, who both wanted revenge on the Emperor Tai so badly, that they were ready to kill Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya. As far as they knew, Emperor Tai was dead, so they would have killed them just out of hate. Well, they both were going to have plenty of time to think about it.
He and Kari were finally going to leave this world and get on with their mission, and after they captured the Emperor Tai, it would be time to go home. He couldn't wait.
He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.