Chapter 21:

The Crest of Fear

When Tai opened his eyes, he already knew which world he was in. He had returned to every one except the one world that he really did not want to return to. He quickly shut his eyes again and mentally counted off the world he had already been to. Yup, there was only one left.

He slowly opened his eyes and surveyed his room. White and pink walls, a matching desk with stuffed animals covering it. There was a closet filled with female clothes of all sorts, next to a white dresser. He threw off his white sheets and saw that he was wearing a pair of yellow and pink pajamas, with white stars. He pulled at the collar and looked inside. He saw a white bra covering his breasts. He pulled away the waist of the pants and saw a pair of white panties.

"Yup," she thought,"I'm back in the body of my female alter-ego." She climbed out of bed and onto the white carpet and walked towards the door. She grabbed a robe behind her door and pulled it on.

After an uncomfortable trip to the bathroom, she walked into the kitchen to find that her mother had set the table for three plates. Tai saw that her mother was busy making breakfast, so she walked over to her. "Hi, Mom."

"Good morning, Tai," she said, pouring into a frying pan,"Did you sleep well?"

"Not since the world I woke up in and found that I was Kari's younger brother."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," she smiled sweetly,"What's for breakfast?"

"The usual," her mother said,"I'm making extra because your brother's coming over early?"

"My brother?" she said outloud.

"Yes, Tai, remember I told you that your father was bringing him over for the weekend?"

"Yes, but I...didn't think he was coming this early," she lied convincingly.

"I know," Mrs. Kamiya said,"But, your father's flight was moved to this morning."

The doorbell rang. "Could you get that?"

"Sure," she said, walking over to the door. When she opened it, she had to cover her surprise. Her father was standing on the other side, with a familiar 12-year-old boy. "Kari!"

"Good morning to you too," her father sighed.

"Oh, uh, sorry Dad."

He smiled and hugged her. "That's okay. How's my little girl?"

"Um..just fine."

Mrs. Kamiya came to the door a second later. "You guys are even earlier, huh?" she said.

Mr. Kamiya shrugged. "I don't want to be late, that's why you'll excuse me if I make this quick." He placed his hand on Kari's shoulders,"Behave young man."

"I will," Kari fidgeted, slightly blushing.

He said goodbye to Tai and Mrs. Kamiya, then ran down the hall. Mrs. Kamiya hugged Kari tightly. "It's good to see you again."

"Um, you too, Mom," he said, walking inside.

"I made the guest room all up for you, so you can put your things inside, breakfast will be ready in a minute."

"I'll help her, er, him with those," Tai said, grabbing a light suitcase and followed Kari into the room that Mrs. Kamyia had mentioned. Once they were inside, they shut the door.

Tai grinned. "Well, little brother!"

Kari frowned. "Don't call me that."

Tai laughed slightly. "It's not so funny when it happens to you, is it?"

Kari sighed. "So, big sister, Mom and Dad are divorced in this world?"

Tai shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't see Dad the last time I was here. I kinda thought he was dead. Maybe there not divorced, just separated."

"Whatever," Kari shrugged,"All I know is I woke up this morning wearing a tank top and a pair of boxer shorts." He mentioned to the area between his legs,"It feels really weird having something extra there. And it's really painful!"

Tai crossed her arms. "What happen? Did you get it caught in the zipper?"

Kari blushed. "Tai!" He smiled slightly,"You've got some pretty cute pajamas."

"That was low," she shook her head.

After breakfast, the two were once again in the guest room. Tai was waiting as Kari pulled Sam's device out her suitcase. "Here we go."

"You know," Tai said, "If we see Sam later, remind me to ask her how that device ends up with you every time we change worlds."

"Kind of late now, isn't it?" Kari asked,"Never mind. I've got a lock on the reality rip."

"Where?"

"A few blocks away. Get dressed and we'll go."

Tai sighed then walked into her room. Kari walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. A second later Tai emerged from her room, wearing a blue skirt and a matching t-shirt. "Ready?"

Kari giggled.

"What?"

"Why are you wearing a skirt?"

"Shut up!" she said, pulling on her shoes.

"Tai!"

"I'm sorry." She took a few deep breaths, before saying,"Kari, I was just..curious, okay?"

"Uh, sure," he said,"Well...I guess I was a litter curious to see what it would be like to wear boxer shorts and have a...well, you know."

Tai just nodded as she followed her younger brother out the apartment.

Outside, the Emperor Tai stood atop the building and watched as Tai and Kari walked onto the street. He stared at Kari until she was out of sight. He sighed deeply. "I have to do this, I have to take her Crest of Light. Hers is the last I need, I'm so close. I have to do this now!"

He leapt across building roofs until he had gotten in front of Tai and Kari. He quickly ran down the stairs and onto the street. He ran into the nearest alley and waited in the shadows. When Tai and Kari walked by, he grabbed Kari into the alley.

"Kari?" Tai asked, turning around,"Kari?" She ran back to the alley and looked inside. What she saw made her gasp. Her evil double was standing over Kari, who was lying on the ground.

Tai ran over to the Emperor Tai and tried to knock him off, but being in a weaker body, Emperor Tai threw her off easily. He stared into Kari's eyes, his hand quivering. He couldn't move, he couldn't do it. He screamed in frustration and ran off.

"Kari, are you okay?" Tai asked, running over to her little brother.

"Yeah, I think so. He didn't take my powers. Why?"

Tai shook his head. "I don't know."

The two siblings continued to follow the signal from Sam's device until they reached their destination: well, as close as they got was a row of stores along a main street sidewalk..

The two walked through the crowd of people and almost ran into a boy and a girl. The girl wore a denim skirt and a yellow tank top and was Tai's age and the boy was Kari's. They instantly recognized them. "Hey, Sam" Tai grinned,"Sporting a different look?"

Sam fidgeted. "Yeah, well, I've only had the form of a boy a few times. It always made me feel strange."

"Why did you?" Kari asked.

He smiled at him. "Well, so you wouldn't feel alone."

Kari grinned. "Thanks."

Tai turned to Sara. "My double tried to take Kari's Light powers, but he couldn't."

Sara was shocked."Seriously?"

Tai nodded.

"He probably wants to do it at a latter time. Maybe he realized that there was too many people around or something like that."

"I don't know," Tai said, "I mean, he is me, right? Maybe he's just confused. I've been thinking about Alice, maybe he's just being used by her."

Sara nodded. "Maybe, but I don't know. I realize it's never easy to accept your dark side, but.."

"Hey guys!" Sam called,"Can we find that reality rip so we can leave? I'm very uncomfortable like this."

"Me too," Kari grinned,"Let's go."

As they continued down the sidewalk, Tai turned to Sara. There was something that she needed to know, and she wasn't going to wait any longer.

"Sara, in the last world, you started telling me about your world."

"Yeah?"

"You told me about a powerful enemy that gained control of your world and then your world needed to be sealed away. You never told me who the enemy was."

Sam stopped and turned to them.

Sara hesitated, "I...I don't know."

"You don't know?" she asked.

"No. Sam and I were able to escape, but all we knew was what I have already told you."

"All this time, you've been helping us, and you don't have any idea what's happening either?!"

"I didn't say that," Sara smiled,"My friends are still trapped inside our world, but one of them was a..reality jumper like ourselves. I have been mentally keeping in contact with him."

"Who's that?" Tai asked.

"He doesn't want you to know right now, but you will soon. You've already met him."

Tai sighed as she crossed her arms. "Well, I guess I've trusted you this long, so I've got no choice, huh?"

They were about to respond, when they heard someone shout out their names. They turned around and saw Emperor Tai running after them.

"Oh no," Tai said,"He's back?"

"We've got to run!" Sara called,"Now!"

The group quickly ran down the sidewalk and into a large clothing store. Tai was mentally smacking herself for choosing to wear that skirt, as it was now riding up on her. She was also afraid that Emperor Tai caught a glimpse of her panties as she dove into the store. The group quickly hid behind a row of mannequins. Emperor Tai glanced inside the store, then ran down the hall.

Kari breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close."

"Since when does he carry a gun?" Tai asked.

Sara shrugged. "I don't have all the answers."

Tai sighed. "Great, now what do we do?"

"Maybe we should get out of here before he comes back?" Sam asked.

Tai ran over to the door and glanced outside,"He's not there. Let's go." The group successfully managed to run out the door and back down the sidewalk. They didn't stop until they were certain that Emperor Tai wasn't behind them. Tai fell onto her knees and panted loudly. "That was close."

Kari let out a sigh of relief as well, then noticed his device was still beeping. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. "Hey, this thing says that the rip is still in front of us!"

Sam walked over and lifted it up. He looked it over, then frowned. "It's malfunctioning."

"Why?"

Sam handed it to him. "It's running low on power. I didn't think it would take so much to keep it changing worlds with you."

"All right," Tai said,"How do we charge it?"

Sam lightly rubbed his chin. "Well, if we can just charge it enough to locate the reality rip and close it, we won't need it again."

"Why?" Kari asked, then he realized,"This is the last world, isn't it?"

Sara nodded. "That's right."

"Okay, how do we charge it?"

"I'll need an electronics store. That should work."

"There should be one in the mall," Kari said,"If this mall is the same as the one back home."

"Probably has an electronics store anyway," Sara said,"That's pretty common. Come on."

When the group entered the mall, they found there was a familiar group of kids gathered by the door. "Oh no," Tai sighed,"It's Matt."

A blond haired guy with a guitar strapped to his back noticed Tai's group and started waving. He ran over with a red-headed boy and a brown haired girl. Kari recognized Matt and Mimi, but he was schoked when he recognized the boy as Sora. There were other kids that soon came over, Yolei, and Cody were all their normal selves, but Izzy and Joe were both younger then normal. Tk was there too, but surprisingly, he was now a girl, wearing a tight pair of jean shorts and a tight tank top. Davis was a girl also. She waved at Kari. "Hi!"

"Oh, uh, hi," he said, smiling slightly.

"What are you guys doing here?" Matt asked, grinning at Tai.

Tai mentioned to Sara and Sam, "There are my, uh, cousins, and we were taking Sam to an electronic store. She-uh, he needs some computer equipment."

"Really?" Izzy asked, his eyes lighting up,"I was on my way there too."

Tai gave herself a silent smack. Her plan was to get them away from the other Digidestined, but that plan had backfired. "Um, I..." She looked at Sara and shrugged slightly.

"What was that about?" Mimi asked.

"Um, nothing," Tai quickly said.

"Well," Izzy said, to Sam,"I was on my way to the store too, if you want to come?"

"Yeah," Kari said,"Come on Sam."

"Hold on," Tk said, running next to him,"Do you mind if I come too?"

Kari frowned to himself. "No..not at all. Come on. Um, Tai, I guess we'll meet you and Sara later."

Tai nodded. "Yeah, we'll meet back up here in an hour?"

"Sure, see ya." The group of boys left. Tai and Sara stared uncomfortably at the other teenagers.

"We were going to the arcade," Matt mentioned to the other guys, "If you girls want to come?"

"That's okay," Mimi grinned,"you boys go and have fun. We'll have a little 'girl time."

Tai sighed, then forced a smile. "Great."

Mimi grabbed her and Sara and dragged them towards a clothing shop. "There's the cutest little outfit that I want to show you."

Outside the mall, Emperor Tai stood in the parking lot, staring at the entrance. He felt that someone was staring at him from behind, then turned around to see a familiar blond girl. "Alice."

"Good afternoon Taichi," she said, walking over to him,"What happened before? Why couldn't you take the Crest of Light?"

"I am doing this my way," he said,"I knew that the time wasn't right."

Alice snorted as she crossed her arms. "I know that you're lying."

Emperor Tai didn't say anything.

"You've got to remember how Sora turned her back on you."

Tai started to flinch.

"Remember how she left you. Remember the hurt and rejection you felt at the concert."

"S..stop it," he said,"Stop it!"

"Davis and the others betrayed you. They turned their backs on you. They followed Matt instead! They would have killed you. They want to kill you, but you have to get them first!"

Tai was shaking with rage. "I..hate them!"

She started moving her heads on an odd way. "You have a power inside of you, one that that will help you. You still have love for your sister, but you cannot. You are afraid, but you must draw your fear out, pour it out of you body. Get rid of it! Infect others with it! Use it as a weapon!"

Emperor Tai growled as a glowing object appeared around his neck. "What is this?"

"The Crest of Fear," Alice grinned,"Use it to take the powers of Light. It will draw the Fear out of you. Now go and complete your mission!"

Kari and Sam were thankful that the Izzy of this world was a computer lover like his counterpart, otherwise the two boys might have had to deal with him while they looked for the parts that Sam needed. They left Izzy drooling over the new computers when they found a selection of wires and batteries. "What exactly are you going to do?" Kari asked.

Sam grabbed a bunch of packages. "I should be able to charge the device through an power outlet, but I need to build something that will convert it into the main motherboard and..."

Kari held up his hand. "I trust you."

Sam shrugged. "Come on, the sooner I fix this, the sooner I'll be able to leave this world."

"Lucky you," Kari sighed, crossing his arms,"I've got to wait until later tonight."

Tk suddenly came around the corner. "Hey guys!" she waved,"Why'd you move so fast? It was like you wanted to ditch me."

Kari was about to respond when Izzy came running towards them. "Hey, you're not going to believe this, but I just saw Tai! A..a male Tai running through the mall!"

"He's back," Kari sighed.

Sara stood in front of the dressing room. "Okay, she's gone."

"I'm still not coming out!"

"Tai, you're a girl in this world, no one is going to think it's strange for a girl to wear that!"

"I'm still not coming out!"

"Well, Mimi has your clothes out here, so if you don't want to wear that home, you're going to have to come out and take them."

Tai sighed then opened the door. She came out wearing a green bikini that she was sure every guy in a hundred mile radius was staring at. "I feel ridiculous, where is Mimi?"

"Right here!" she chirped, running over with a pile of clothing. Tai could see that her clothes were on the top. She grabbed them and dove back into the dressing room. A few second later, she came back out, wearing her skirt and t-shirt.

Mimi frowned. "Awe, you didn't like that bathing suit?"

"It was too revealing," she dropped it back into the other girl's hands.

Mimi giggled. "That's how you get the guys to notice you!"

Tai was about to respond, when the three of them heard the people in the mall screaming. They ran to the store's door and heard some people yelling about the electronics store.

"That's where Sam and Kari are!" Tai gasped. She turned to Mimi,"Sara and I are going to get them. Find Matt and the others."

"A..are you sure?"

"Yes!" Tai yelled, running down the mall,"Go!"

Sara and Tai ran through the group of people until they reached the electronics store. The Emperor Tai was standing there, with Kari and Sam in front of him. There was a glowing pendant hanging around the evil Tai's neck. "Hey!" Tai shouted.

The three boys turned to them. "Tai!" Kari shouted.

Tai clenched her fists. "Stay away from Kari!" she shouted.

The Emperor Tai stared at his double. "Well," he said, in a deep voice, "You look different, are you doing something with your hair?"

"Very funny. But there's something different with you. What's that thing around your neck?"

The Emperor Tai looked down,"This is my Crest of Fear!"

"A Crest?" Sara gasped, "You have a crest?"

He smiled. "That's right. Here, let me show you how it works!" He raised his hand and fired a blast of dark light that struck Tai. She fell over backwards and landed on the ground.

"Tai!" Kari shouted, "Tai!" He twirled around and stared at the Emperor Tai. "What did you do to him?"

Emperor Tai grinned. "She is just experiencing her worst fear."

Kari turned to where his older sister was lying on the ground. "Worst fear?"

"Yes," Emperor Tai said, "Now, I believe that you have something that I need."

Sara and Sam jumped in front of him. "Run Kari. Leave, now!" Sara shouted.

Before he could react, Emperor Tai sent Sara and Sam flying into the walls. He stared at Kari. "Now, give me your crest powers!"

Kari stepped backwards. "No! You're not going to take mine!"

Emperor Tai grinned. "I don't recall giving you a choice!" He raised his glowing palm, and Kari hovered into the air, unable to move.

"Let me down!" he said,"Please, you don't want to do this."

"Yes I do," he growled, "Your Light powers are now mine!" Kari started screaming as a glowing stream flowing from his chest and into Emperor Tai's palm. He laughed as Kari's power flowed from his body and into his palm. "Yes! I've got it!" Kari fell to the ground, while Emperor Tai continued to laugh. "No one can stop me now! No one!" He laughed again and ran out of the mall.

Sara and Sam slowly crawled along to the floor to try and reach the two Kamiya siblings. "Tai!" Sara called.

"Kari," Sam moaned, "Hang on, we're coming.":

When Tai opened his eyes, he found that he was lying on the ground, in an apartment that he instantly recognized. It was Sora's, but everything was oddly larger then normal. When he inspected himself, he felt a wave of horror pass over him. He was back as a cat!

The door to the apartment opened and Sora walked inside, wearing her school uniform. When she saw Tai, she knelt down and started rubbing the back of his head. "Hi Tai!" she smiled.

Tai? She knew who he really was, but how?

The redhead got up and walked over to the cabinets. She pulled out a box of cat food and poured it in a bowl, which she laid on the floor for him. She walked into her room, but left the door open for him. He followed and watched as Sora pulled off her school uniform. Soon she was in nothing but her undergarments. She noticed Tai staring at her. "You know, Tai, if you were still human, there would be no way that I would want you to see me like this, but since you're just a cat, I know that there's nothing you can do."

Sora pulled on a pair of jeans and an orange sweater. She lifted Tai and sat down on the bed, with Tai on her lap. She started petting him. "I hope you like living with me and Mom. I know it's difficult for you, to live as a cat since that impostor destroyed your body. Kari wanted to keep you as a pet, but I knew that you'd rather live as my cat. I've never had a pet before, so I hope I'm doing an okay job taking care of you."

The doorbell rang. Sora gently lifted Tai up and placed him on the floor. She ran through the apartment and opened the door. "Matt!" she grinned, "hi!"

Matt stepped inside and kissed Sora. "How's my girl?"

"Fine," she giggled.

"So, are you ready to leave?"

"Yup, let's go."

Tai watched in horror as Sora walked out of the apartment with Matt. "No! No, it can't be! This can't be real! No..no...."

"Tai, wake up! Wake up!"

Tai opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor of the mall, still inside of her female alter-ego. If she was still there, then that must mean...

She quickly jumped up and saw that Sara was standing next to her. "What happened?" she asked.

The blond girl sighed slightly as she mentioned to Kari, who was still lying on the floor. "Her light powers are gone," Sam sighed, "Your double id gone."

Tai was going to say something when sirens started blaring. "We'd better get out of here. Help me take her." She and Sam carried Kari as they ran out of the mall.

They took Kari back to the apartment to rest. He stayed there with Sam, while Sara and Tai focused on closing the reality rip. Sam had re-charged the device, and now the two girls were trying to use it.

"Do you know how to use this?" Tai asked.

Sara nodded. "Yeah. Sam's really the computer expert, but I've used this a few times."

The two girls walked down the sidewalk where the signal lead them. "I hope that Kari's okay," Tai said, putting her hands into her skirt pocket.

"She'll be okay," Sara said,"She's just a little weak, that's all."

"If Emperor Tai has all of the crest powers, then that means he can break through that shield, right?"

"Well, yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

"The entrance to my world was hidden in another world. If he wants to break through the shield, he'll need to go to that world first."

"Do you think he knows where it is?"

"No, but I bet whoever is behind Alice and Yamaki does. We'll send you and Kari to that world next, to try and stop them. It will be out last chance."

Tai nodded. "I got it."

Sam's device started beeping. "We're here," Sara said.

Tai looked up and saw a that they were in front of an alley. "The rip must be inside there."

"Yeah," Sara said, "Come on." The two girls walked inside and found the small glowing circle next to the dumpster. "Well, this is the last one." She handed the device to Tai, "Why don't you do the honors?"

Tai grinned and pressed the large button. The glowing circle shrunk, then vanished. "The last one, finished, wow."

Sara put her hand around Tai's shoulder. "Come on."

Later that night, Kari sat on the edge of Tai's bed. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let him do that to me."

"It's okay," Tai said, putting her hand on his shoulder, "We still have a chance to stop them. In the next world. Now get to sleep."

He nodded, slowly leaving the room.

"Kari."

He turned around and saw Tai smiling slightly. "It wasn't your fault, really."

"Yeah," he sighed, closing the door.

Tai took one look around the room before closing her eyes.