Digimon: After the Fight Series
Part Four: Katrina's Family Secret
"Interesting," Izzy murmured. "Could I use that as a means to get by the data realm?"
"Be my guest," B.Gatomon said, extending the digivice to Izzy. He took it and held it to the screen.
"Digiport," Izzy said, confidently. "Open!"
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"Once you choose hope, anything's possible."
-Christopher Reeve
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"Open!"
Kari, Tai, Yolei, T.K and BlackGatomon all watched the screen, smiles lightening their faces. The smiles melted off quickly when the gate remained shut.
"Huh? What could've possibly have gone wrong?" Izzy pondered, staring at Katrina's digivice.
"Well," B.Gatomon explained. "I had to use the power of the crest to open it for Gatomon."
"And you didn't tell us this before?" he looked at her through narrowed eyes. She grinned.
"Well, tap into your crests," B.Gatomon said impatiently.
Izzy looked away from the cat and gave Kari a somber look. Kari returned it. "We don't have crests anymore," Kari said quietly. B.Gatomon laughed. Everyone, except Yolei, shot her dark looks.
"You guys, I thought you'd have learned from Apocalymon, you always have your crests with you. All you have to do is tap into the power."
"That's right," Tai said. "Even though he destroyed our crests, our digimon were still able to digivolve into their ultimate form."
"So, we tap into our power, and that'll open the portal?" T.K asked.
"Well, what about me?" Yolei spoke up.
"What about you?" T.K frowned.
"I don't have a crest!" Yolei whined. "Unless you've been too blind to notice! You can have my glasses if you need 'em!"
"Well, just use your D3," Tai said, resolving the matter. "Use the digieggs too, I bet that'll give the port a major boost."
"Oh yeah," Yolei muttered, pulling out her D-Terminal. She clicked it open and sighed at the two eggs. With that, she burst into tears.
"I-I was kidding!" Tai said, panic written all over his face. "Or you could pretend you had a crest!"
"Oh brother," Kari cursed. She walked over to Yolei and embraced her. "It's okay, Yolei. We'll see Hawkmon and Gatomon soon."
Yolei's tears flowed slower. "You mean that, Kari?"
Kari pulled back and looked Yolei in the face. "From the bottom of my aching heart."
"Does that mean she has heartburn for Gatomon?" T.K muttered to Tai.
"KATRINA!"
Yolei, Kari, Tai, T.K, and Izzy jumped in surprise.
"Did that come from the computer?" T.K asked, taking a step towards Izzy.
"Katrina! Wo bist du, tochter?"
"In here!" Kari called, running into the hallway.
"What are you doing?" Tai asked, running after her. "Are you crazy?"
"Someone's come to rescue us," Kari explained as a figure moved down the dark hallway towards them.
"Who is 'cot-ah-ree-nah'?" T.K said as he caught up with them.
"It's a man's voice," Kari explained. "I think he's looking for Katrina."
"Katrina! Wo bist du? Ich habe sie gesucht, tochter!" the figure was about 8 feet from them.
"He's speaking German," Tai said. "Wasn't Katrina German?"
"This must be her dad," Kari said.
"Great, any of you speak German?" T.K moaned.
"IZZY! Get in here!"
"What do you want?" Izzy snapped as he and Yolei joined them in the hall. The man was now a few feet from them. In the dim light, the 'destined could see him clearly. He was a tall man that looked about in his mid-30, but his black hair didn't have a speck of grey in it.
"Hallo, sind sie freunde von Katrina?"
T.K, Tai, Kari, and Yolei all turned to look at Izzy. He gulped.
"Um, sprechen sie Japaner?"
"That's it?" Tai said, glaring at Izzy. "I could've done that!" Izzy shrugged giving a weak laugh. The man blinked.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said in Japanese, his accent strong but understandable. "I didn't realize I was speaking German. Forgive me."
"It's alright, sir," Izzy remarked. "Where you looking for Katrina?"
"Ja," he answered, a worried look spread across his broad face. "Meine tochter, my daughter. She ran away after she got home. Chantal was there."
"Chantal," Yolei repeated. "You mean, Chantal Wyatt?"
A weak smile spread across his face. "Yes. I thought Katrina would talk about her. Katrina's been devastated by her mutter's death about 8 years ago. I was also grieved by my wife's death, but I moved on and Katrina should too. The poor girl's been depressed since then."
"I told you she wasn't so bad," Yolei whispered to Izzy.
"Shut up or I'll leave you here in Japan," Izzy muttered through gritted teeth.
Yolei gasped. "You wouldn't!"
"Anyway," Tai put in. He turned to Katrina's dad. "Is there anything we could do to help, Mr. Tenaiko?"
The man roared with laugher. "Es tut mir leid, sorry. Nein, my name's Jonathan Strauss, but call me Jon. Tenaiko was the last name of Katrina's deceased mother who was full Japaner. I thought it giving Katrina her mom's last name would help Katrina move on."
"I see," T.K said. "Well, Mr. Jon, what are you doing here?"
Jon's face turned serious. "I've been looking überall for her, and I…decided to look for her here. Well, now that we've got that out of the way, allow me to drive you guys home."
"Are you sure? I mean, shouldn't you be looking for Katrina?" Tai said. He wanted to stay there to wait for Matt and Sora, or maybe even get back to the Digital World.
"Not a problem," he said. "Besides, du und deine schwester, Kari, live two doors down."
Tai sighed. He had no choice but to go.
After fifteen minutes; Tai, Kari, T.K, Yolei, Izzy, and Jon were packed into the relatively small white Durango and underway. BlackGatomon was squeezed in the back a long with the blankets, backpacks, and other items left from their 'campout'. Jon managed to push the car through the heavy blizzard.
"So, you're freunde von Katrina, oder?" Jon asked.
"What'd he say?" Tai asked, leaning to the front passenger seat where it was occupied by Izzy.
"He said 'we're friends of Katrina.'" Izzy remarked, looking out of the snow-filled window.
"Yeah," Tai said. "You already know me and Kari. That's T.K Takaishi, the one with the goofy hat-"
"Hey!"
"That's Yolei Inoue," Tai continued as Yolei gave a friendly "hi". "And that great kid up there is our very own Izzy Izumi."
"Aw, quit it Tai. You're making me blush," Izzy teased.
"Izzy Izumi?" Jon asked, looking at Izzy through the corner of his eyes. "Katrina's always talking about you."
"What?" Izzy said, caught off-guard. "I…never knew…"
"Well," Jon said his focus back to the slick roads. "You're better than she describes…and…"
"And what?" Tai pressed on.
"And…well…"
"Just say it already!" B.Gatomon jumped up from the trunk, landing on Kari's lap.
"What're you doing?" Tai asked, trying to push her to the ground.
"It's okay, Tai," Jon said. "Ohne BlackGatomon I wouldn't know where Katrina was."
The kids all stared at Jon.
"You know…BlackGatomon?" T.K asked from the far back seat.
"I do," he nodded. "And I wish I didn't."
"What's going on here?" Izzy asked. "I thought everyone forgot about digimon except digidestined?"
"Does ex-digidestined count?" Jon asked.
Silence wove through the car. Even the wind-shield wipers were quiet.
"You were…" Tai finally spoke up. "A digidestined?"
Jon looked through the rear-view mirror at Tai, a reassuring smile on his face.
"I was," he said. "I was what you guys call, the 'original digidestined.' My wife, Mai, a freunden of hers, Rikko, some guy from our school, Tiron, Chantal und Chantal's bruder, Tobias, and I were the six original digidestined. Unfortunatly, the only thing I didn't count on was Mai and I falling in love, and having unsere tochter become a digidestined too. After you guys saved the world from Myotismon four years ago and destroy Apocalymon again, just like us original digidestined, Katrina was thrust into the digital world, and she came back two years later with B.Gatomon at her side. I was used to losing my family, but I lost both my wife and daughter to the digimon."
"Yeah," B.Gatomon nodded, now cuddled on Kari's lap. "Mai Tenaiko died as a victim of Demon."
"Thanks for rubbing it in," Jon teased. B.Gatomon shrugged. "When Parrotmon and Greymon fought those eight years ago, exactly fifteen years after my Digital World adventures ended, the Digital World sent a digivice to Katrina. Mai refused to let Katrina go to the Digital World, so she tried to destroy the digivice. However, with Katrina's destiny already written out, just like du kinder, the digivice remained solid, so I took it and hid it. Mai died the night after Parrotmon and Greymon's dual, Demon had escaped through varies computers and household appliances and threatened Mai with her fears to find out where the 'Digidestined of Peace' was located. Unfortunately, Demon was confused, and he thought that the 'Digidestined of Harmony' war die 'Digidestined of Light.'"
"So, Demon went after me?" Kari asked. Jon smiled at her.
"Genau, he sent Parrotmon after you like a dog after a stick, but the Digital World knew of this and sent the Botamon egg to you and Tai to protect you."
"Botamon?" Yolei asked.
"It's the fresh form of Agumon," Izzy explained. "Mr. Strauss, I still don't understand what we have to do with this."
"Let me finish my story, Izzy," Jon said. "And at least call me Jon. Anyway, when Greymon defeated Parrotmon, Demon was angry. He cornered Mai and she managed to send him back to the Digital World…but the poor girl wasn't strong enough to overcome her fear, and when I got there…"
Another awkward period filled the car. Izzy looked at Jon's saddened face.
"Well," B.Gatomon said. "There's one more important detail you left out, I was Mai's partner."
"You were?" Kari asked, stunned. She wondered why all these secrets surprised her a lot.
"Yeah," B.Gatomon said. "Unfortunately…after Mai died, I became one of Demon's henchmen."
"What?" Kari said. "Well, what a coincidence, Gatomon was one of Myotismon's henchman too. I guess you must've been really lonely."
B.Gatomon looked in Kari's face and nodded. "I was, but then I met Katrina, I became a good guy."
"Which could explain why Demon's so obsessed with Katrina," T.K added from the far back seat next to Yolei. "It's because he's trying to get even with you."
"There's also one more detail I left out," Jon said as he slowed the car down. "When Mai refused to give Katrina her digivice, the Digital World gave Katrina a weird power-"
"Teleportation, right?" Izzy said. Jon nodded in surprised.
"I guess B.Gatomon's already told you, oder? Anyway, it's been the cause of a lot of trouble. When Katrina finally did show up those two years ago, I was shocked, unfortunately, that was when I started dating Chantal. When Katrina kept running away and became depressed every time Chantal was around I finally decided to move to Miami with Katrina and B.Gatomon. She was happy, but she was lacking the mutter idol in her life. Then we finally got orders to come back here to Odeiba and, well, as you can tell, all hell breaks loose."
"Again," B.Gatomon added. Silence once again reigned in the car as it now came to a stop.
"We'll help," T.K said.
"Help what?" Tai asked, dumbfounded.
"Help get my brother, Sora, and Katrina back. After all, she's not the only digidestined. Sure she's had her digivice longer than us, but we know the real deal. What do you say we meet again tomorrow, since with all this snow, there will be no school tomorrow?"
"Sounds perfect!" Yolei said.
"Uh guys, you're missing the problem," Tai said, opening the car door. "What if it takes longer than a day to get into the Digital World, and then get back out?"
"Oh yeah," Yolei said, frowning.
"Don't worry about it," Jon said a grin on his face. "I got these free airline tickets for five to go on a trip two-day to the national museum of rice down in Hong Cong; I was worried I'd have to give them away."
"This reminds me of the time you, Matt, and Izzy agreed to go camping to cover us up," T.K prompted.
"Well, I need at least one of you to join me," Jon frowned.
"I'll go with you," Izzy said. "After all, I know a lot about getting back and forth between the two worlds."
"No you won't," Tai said, abandoning the car door and grabbing Izzy's shoulders. "You're going to go with the others to the Digital World; they need you to guide them."
"But, what about the museum trip?" Izzy whined.
"I'll go," Tai said. "And I'll try to get Joe or Davis or Ken to come too. Although, it's a ticket for five people right?"
"Genau," came the answer. "But it's you, me, and a special guest that'll help us. So that means you can get two more of ihre freunde to come along."
"Special guest?" Tai repeated.
"Well, now that that's settled," T.K said. "We have to get packing for tomorrow."
"Well, good luck," Jon said as Tai and Kari stepped out. "I'll call your parents later. Right now I have to get T.K, Yolei, and Izzy home."
Kari and Tai waved as the car sped away. T.K and Yolei moved up to the middle row.
"I suppose while we're there we could do the Digital World a favor and destroy Demon," Yolei said.
"Yeah," T.K said. "Look, here's our stop."
Yolei and T.K climbed out the car and thanked Jon.
"Where do you live, Izzy?" Jon was asking.
"Wait," Izzy said, before the car door shut. "Not just yet…there's something I need to talk about before I get home."
T.K and Yolei watched the car as it vanished around the corner.
"T.K, what do you suppose Izzy needs to talk to Mr. Jon about?" Yolei asked as she opened the door to her apartment door.
"Beats me. With Izzy, you can never know."