"Hi Mrs. Kamiya, it's T.K."
"Oh, hi, T.K., I haven't seen you in a while, how have you been?" T.K. was surprised at how much Kari's mother sounded like her on the phone.
"Well, I've been better. I was just wondering if Kari was around."
"I'm sorry T.K., but she must have gotten off to school early today. I can never keep track of her cheer leading practices."
"Oh, okay then, thanks anyway."
He was about to hang up when Mrs. Kamiya went on, "You guys were out pretty late last night, do you think you're going to have to go back to 'you-know-where' tonight?"
T.K. really hoped not but he said, "most likely," covering for Kari, in case he couldn't find her today.
"Oh, well if you see Kari tell her to be careful. It would really be awful if she got hurt the day before the big dance. Speaking of which, I haven't had a chance to talk to her about the dance because she's been so busy lately. I was wondering if you and Kari were going together…"
"Well…I'm not really sure…"
Mrs. Kamiya laughed, "how can you not be sure? Did you ask her?"
"Oh, I asked her, but…uh…her answer wasn't exactly clear. That's why I called, so I could talk to her about it," T.K. improvised.
Kari's mother laughed again, "I wouldn't worry about it too much T.K., you're Kari's best friend and we all now how much she loves you."
T.K. felt suddenly uncomfortable, "well it was nice talking to you Mrs. Kamiya, but I have to get going now, bye!"
"Bye T.K. You be careful to now."
T.K. hung up the phone, shaking slightly, and more determined than ever to find Kari. He knew he wasn't going to bother going to school today, but he rushed through his morning routine so as not to worry his mother.
Patamon and Gatomon climbed into his backpack and zipped it halfway closed. He slung the bag onto his shoulder and headed down the hall. Mrs. Takeishi was standing in the kitchen holding a glass of orange juice for him. He took the glass with a word of thanks, and drained the cup in one drink. Kissing his mother on the cheek he headed for the door. As he was leaving she reminded him that she was heading to Kyoto for the day and that she would be back tomorrow before the dance to see him off. T.K. told her to have a nice trip and headed to the elevator.
He hung back in the doorway for a few minutes until he saw Yolei and Cody leave the building. He knew that he might wish for their help later but he didn't want them to be involved in something that could be potentially dangerous.
Instead of taking his normal route to school he headed towards the university where he easily spotted Izzy on his laptop computer in a comfy chair in the library.
"Izzy!" T.K. said a little too loudly, forgetting momentarily which type of building he was in, and causing Izzy to jump slightly in his chair. "I need your help."
"T.K.?" asked a befuddled Izzy, "shouldn't you be in school?"
"There's no time for that now Izzy, it's an emergency."
"What's going on? I'd love to help, but I have to be somewhere in less then twenty minutes," said Izzy, although obviously concerned.
"Kari's disappeared. I think she might be in the digital world and I need you to help me find her," he recited desperately. Behind him Patamon and Gatomon poked their heads out of T.K.'s backpack, nodding in agreement with him.
"Are you sure she didn't just go there to be alone for a while? I talked to Yolei and Ken online last night and they suspected that you and Kari were in an argument."
"Izzy!" interrupted Gatomon, "I saw her vanish!"
"And Izzy, can you think of any situation where Kari would go to the digiworld alone, without Gatomon or her digivice?" T.K. added, raising Kari's D3.
"In that case," said Izzy as he turned back to his computer, "I have to agree with you. It's very possible that Kari could be in some sort of danger."
T.K. watched as Izzy clicked open several different files and entered some information on his keyboard. Suddenly, a map of the digital world filled the screen, and when T.K. held Kari's digivice up to it, a blinking pink dot materialized off to the left.
"That's odd," Izzy commented, "Kari is in the same area where the disturbance that you guys checked out last night occurred. The very same disturbance that you couldn't find any trace of. This is more than just a coincidence, I think you better hurry."
"Thanks Izzy," T.K. said while setting his backpack down so that Patamon and Gatomon could climb out and follow him through the portal to the digirworld.
"You three go on ahead and find Kari. When you find her get out of there. While you're gone I'll send out a message to everyone so we can go together and fight this thing. If you don't find her then look for us, okay?"
"Izzy, that's crazy," interjected T.K., "you said yourself that you have to be somewhere in ten minutes. I'm sure we can handle this, so it's probably better for everyone if you guys don't get involved this time. Besides, I don't think Davis can afford to miss a day of school."
"My conscience is telling me to keep you from doing this, but I really have to go. I'll keep checking up on you and if I can't get a hold of you then I'm calling Tai, and you know how serious Tai will take this."
"Okay Izzy, it's a deal. Thanks for everything," said T.K. as he held his D3 up to the computer screen. Izzy shut his eyes against the blinding light his computer screen was emitting and when it was gone, so were T.K., Patamon, and Gatomon.