Gatomon blinked and then blinked again. This is very, very bad, she thought. She leaped over to the computer desk and picked up Kari's D3. The light and the vibrating had stopped as swiftly as Kari had disappeared. Gatomon placed the digivice carefully between her teeth and swung open the sliding glass door on to the balcony.
The digimon rushed down the fire escape, jumping from floor to floor, barely touching the iron wrought stairs. She was only slightly out of breath when her paws hit pavement, but that did not slow her down. She ran down the street dodging people and cars, ignoring the curious look the humans were giving her. It wasn't long before she made a right turn off of the busy city street. Panting heavily now, she made several more turns until she reached the building she needed.
She circled the building inconspicuously before crouching in the shelter of a flowery shrub. Unfortunately, this apartment building was different from Kari's in the fact that even if she jumped higher than she ever had, she still could not reach the fire escape.
After thinking it through, Gatomon smiled slyly as a plan formed in her mind. With that she trotted out of the bush towards the short wall that separated the terrace on a first floor apartment from the sidewalk. In one smooth movement she hopped over the wall and moved towards the open doorway. Still holding Kari's digivice in her mouth she stepped silently into the apartment.
The television was blaring loudly and a very fat man sat in fixed in the chair in front of it laughing hysterically. He did not even notice the digicat creeping through the room behind him. She approached the front door and slowly reached up and twisted the handle. Sneakily, she stepped out into the hallway and shut the door quietly behind her.
Bolting down the corridor she passed the door marked "Stairs" and slid to a halt in front of it. I need to work out more, she though as she climbed the stairs three steps at a time. Finally she reached the right floor and ran down yet another hallway, although now her speed was slower than before.
She reached the right door, turned the knob, and…it was locked.
Frustrated, she pounded on the door with her gloved fists but no one came. I know Kari wouldn't approve of this, she though, but something is very wrong. She extended her claws and slipped a thin nail into the lock. The door clicked as she twisted her finger. She gently pushed in open and closed it behind her, not bothering to muffle the sound this time.
Her stomach dropped as she crept through he silent apartment, but her hope was renewed when she heard snoring coming from one of the bedrooms. Knowing this was the right room, she shoved through the door and spit out Kari's digivice.
"T.K. wake up!" she said as she leapt onto his bed.
Groggily he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Gatomon?" he grumbled.
"T.K. something bad has happened to Kari," she began, but he cut her off.
Now fully awake, he interrupted her, "What happened? Where is she? Is she O.K.?" he asked hurriedly.
Hearing T.K.'s comments, Patamon awoke and asked, "What is everyone doing up? It's not morning yet."
"Kari's gone!" added Gatomon quickly. "I saw her vanish…I don't know what it means, but I don't think it's anything good."
"Do you think she went to the Dark Ocean? There's got to be a way to find her," said T.K., always hopeful.
"I don't know where she is T.K., and it's going to be difficult finding her since her D3 didn't go with her." Gatomon slid off of his bed and retrieved Kari's D3 from the floor.
"Maybe her D3 can tell us where she went," Patamon suggested. So T.K. and the two digimon make themselves comfortable on T.K.'s floor and began to fiddle with the buttons on Kari's D3. Almost an hour had passed and still they had found nothing useful.
"You know, Izzy would probably know how to find Kari, maybe even without her D3. Except that we'll have to wait until morning to get a hold of him," T.K. stated.
"I don't think we have any other choice T.K.," said Patamon, "but while we wait we can get back to sleep."
After Patamon had drifted back into a peaceful slumber Gatomon turned to T.K., "I have a bad feeling, I can sense that she needs us."
"I know what you mean Gatomon. I want to help Kari just as much as you do. I promise that I'll do whatever it takes to find her and bring her back safely," replied T.K., determination and hope shining brightly in his eyes. "There's nothing more that we can do tonight, so why don't you try and get some sleep? I think you're going to need all of the strength you can get."
Gatomon nodded and curled up beside Patamon. T.K. knew that he should try to take his own advice, but he also knew that there was no way that he could fall back to sleep while Kari was in danger. Pulling out his own D3 he leaned back against the side of his bed and set to work once more.