Digimon: After the Fight Series
Part One: Shadow Girl
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"We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own."
Ben Sweetland
"Kari, darling!" called a voice from the kitchen. Hikari Kamiya, mostly known as Kari, paused; frightened that her mother had caught her. Kari emerged from her open bedroom door, and peeped into the kitchen.
"Yes mother?"
"Would you be a sweetie and please wake your brother up? I'm making his favorite breakfast, omelet, and I'm afraid he'll be late for it. And besides, I don't want him to be late for school, again."
Kari smiled, relieved. "Okay mom, you got it!" Kari walked to her brother's bedroom door and opened it slowly. She peeked inside and giggled. Taichi Kamiya, or Tai, was tangled in his blankets, snoring louder than Kari's hungry stomach. Kari reached into the room and flipped the light switch. Tai woke up, startled, and tumbled to the floor, headfirst.
"Wake up, sleepy-head!" Kari called.
Tai moaned as he tried to untangle himself from the death grip of his covers. Kari walked over to him and giggled as she freed him.
"Why'd you do that?" Tai whined when he was free.
"Mom said to get ready for school, and she's making omelet."
"That's new," Tai said, standing up. "Usually she'd try to poison us with beef jerky shakes or spinach cookies."
Kari smiled, but it slowly melted off her face. "Do you think she still knows about…you know…?"
Tai gave Kari a weird look. "You mean, digimon?" Tai sat back down on the floor next to his sister. Kari nodded sadly.
"I don't think so," Tai said. "After Oikawa gave himself up to protect both the Digital and the Real World, I guess he must've wiped out everyone's memories of that night."
Kari nodded as she looked away from Tai. She was thinking about that night, when the evil Belialvandemon had tried to destroy both worlds, but all of the digidestinds around the world had helped Kari and the rest of the gang. But not long after that battle, Oikawa's spirit must've somehow wiped the memories of that night from everyone's mind.
Everyone, that is, except for the digidestined.
"Well," Tai said, breaking the silence. "We've got to get ready for school, unfortunately."
It was now January, the end of Christmas break and the beginning of a new year. Tai got up and stretched.
"Do you think Agumon and the others are okay?" Kari asked, getting to her feet.
"Sure," Tai said, looking over his shoulder, still stretching. "All's well in the Digital World."
Kari bit her lower lip. I'm not sure about that, Tai.
"Good-bye, kids! Have fun!"
"Bye mom," Tai called as the door swung shut behind him. He sighed as swung his book back over his shoulder. "Ya comin' Kari?"
"Tai, look," Kari said as she hoisted her backpack on her back. Tai spun around to look at what was bothering Kari. Kari was looking at a…girl. The girl was approaching them, her eyes closed and she was humming to herself.
"Hey!" Tai called. The girl stopped and her eyes flung open. "Are you new?"
The girl stopped humming. She observed Tai. "I am," came her answer.
"So you're the new neighbor?" Kari asked.
The girl nodded. "I live two doors down that way," she said, pointing over her shoulder. Tai spotted the girls large purse under her arms. He also noticed her school uniform.
"Hey, you go to the high school?"
"Starting today," she said, frowning. "I take it you're in high school too?" she replied, observing Tai's uniform.
"Yep," he said. "My name's Tai Kamiya, I'm in year 3 (junior). This is my sister, Kari. She's in middle school."
"Hi," Kari said, realizing she was the only one standing out with her pink-and-white top, yellow shorts, pink boots, pink gloves, and camera accessory. With the snow completely melted in Japan, the temperature increased horribly.
"Well, pleased to meet you," the girl said, a smile spread across her face. "My name's Katrina Tenaiko. I'm 14 and I'm in year 2 (sophomore) in high school."
Tai's mouth opened wide. "No way? Year 2? And you're only 14?"
"A-huh," Katrina said.
"Wow," Tai said. "Well, would you like to walk to school with us?"
"No, it's okay," Katrina said. She heaved her tote bag under her arm and walked by them. "I'll see you guys later!"
Tai and Kari watched her as she descended down the stairs, and then vanish from view down the block. Tai sighed.
"She seems nice," Tai said. He didn't know himself if that was sarcasm or not.
"Let's go," Kari said. "Or I'll end up missing the bus."
"Did you hear about the new girl?"
"Yeah! She's like a foreign exchange student or something!"
"With a name like Tenaiko? No way!"
"Yeah, her father's German I heard."
"They just can't seem to get enough," Sora Takenouchi said. She was leaning on the desk behind her, which belonged to Tai and listening to the gossiping girls in the corner. "That new girl is the new talk of the school."
"Yeah," Yamato Ishida, mostly called Matt, put in. Tai rocked on the back legs of his chair. He frowned at Matt.
"Well, I met her this morning," Tai remarked.
"You did?" Sora said, lifting her head off of the desk.
"Yeah," Tai said, now back on four legs. "She didn't seem all that. But, she must be really smart. She skipped a grade."
"She's a year 2, right?" Matt asked.
"Yeah, just like Izzy."
Matt, Sora, and Tai pondered on this thought. Koushiro Izumi, nicknamed "Izzy", matched with a girl who's supposed to be a year 1 (freshman)? Tai laughed at the thought as the bell rang.
"Well, our main focus right now is to find out what's happening in the digital world."
"But Tai," Matt said as the teacher walked into the room. "We've tried and tried, but there's no possible way we can get that portal open. Even the D-3's don't work!"
"Attention, class," the teacher replied in his usual dreary voice. "Mr. Ishida, please take your seat."
"We'll try to find a way," Tai muttered as Matt walked to the front of the class into his desk. "I hope."
"Alright, class dismissed."
Katrina Tenaiko breathed a sigh of relief. She only had two more class periods to go. English and then P.E. She looked at the desk next to her desk. A boy was occupying the seat, deep in an exam paper.
"Um, excuse me?" Katrina said, shyly.
The boy looked at her with his pitch-black colored eyes. "Hm?"
"I was wondering, what exactly do we do in English class? Is it the same as it is in America?"
"How would I know," he snapped at her. "I've never went to school in America."
Katrina glared at him. "I was only asking for help, y'know! You don't have to be so self-absorbed!"
The boy sighed, but his scowl remained on his face. "Sorry, sheesh. All girls are the same."
"Men!" Katrina growled.
The boy turned to look at her, his face was full of…jealousy?
"You're Izumi, aren't you?" Katrina asked.
"It's Izzy, and yes. I am," he replied coolly.
"Well, I'm Katrina," she said, trying to be nice.
"That's nice," Izzy said and he was absorbed into his exam paper again.
"Hey, I don't like being ignored!" Katrina said.
"Well that's just too bad," Izzy said, not taking his eyes off of the paper.
Katrina jumped to her feet, knocking her chair over. Izzy looked up at her in surprise. The teacher opened the door, only to find half the class was on their feet.
"Class is in session," the teacher called, impatiently.
"Listen, you don't have to be jealous," Katrina said, trying to lower her temper.
"What on earth makes you think I'm jealous of you?" Izzy replied, flabbergasted.
"Oh, let's see, getting called on for every question, answering it correctly, and reciting a whole French poem fluently without messing up once. And because of the fact I'm only fourteen!" At this, Katrina grabbed her bag and stormed out of the classroom. The teacher, and other peers, turned to look at Izzy. "I need to go to the bathroom," he lied, steaming. He left the classroom with his book bag too.
Neither of them returned to class.
"I don't believe it! How dare she!"
"She was only angry; you should've been a lot nicer to her, Izzy."
"Oh, so now you're on her side, Cody!"
"Yolei, I didn't mean to-"
"Yeah right!"
"Stop it, both of you!"
Miyako Inoue (Yolei) and Iori Hida (Cody) both looked at Izzy in surprise. Izzy was clacking away on the "special" computer of the middle school computer lab. Only Izzy, Yolei, and Cody were occupying the room.
"Sheesh, I was just taking your side, Izzy," Yolei said, defensively
"I don't need your support," Izzy replied. He was beating at the keys on the keyboard in fury.
"Would you like a stress ball?" Cody said, watching in amazement.
The door slid open and Takeru Takaishi, nicknamed T.K, walked in with Kari. Daisuke Motomiya (Davis) strolled in behind them, looking grim. Kari and T.K were giggling.
"Would you mind?" Izzy scoffed.
"Sorry," T.K said, laughing. "Sheesh Izzy, you look like you need anger management."
"Don't even joke," Yolei warned, frowning. "That new girl's got Izzy ticked off."
"New girl?" Kari repeated. "You wouldn't happen to mean Katrina Tenaiko, would you?"
The atmosphere in the room changed from bad to worse.
"Who?" Izzy said.
"Izzy," Kari started, but the computer shut off. Izzy's face showed a fusion of shock and anger.
"DAMMIT!" he shouted, hitting the monitor.
Cody, Yolei, T.K, Kari, and Davis all gave him a frightened look. Izzy stood up and turned to the digidestined.
"We'll try again tomorrow," he said calmly and then stormed off. T.K blinked.
"That was one side of Izzy I've never seen before."
Kari was shaking. "That was scary. Is that girl really that evil?"
"Don't say such a thing," Yolei said, comforting Kari. "He's just moody and jealous. C'mon, let's go home."